Last Wish

Part 14

By

Trycee

Time-Line: Alternative Universe. Season 10 After Home Again and before My Struggle II.

Disclaimer: This is written for fun, not profit.

Scully showered and dressed in fresh scrubs. She walked back down the hall to William's room but was stopped by Father Ybarra. "Dr. Scully, you haven't been working since this all occurred, only working with the one patient. This hospital has had to send patients to other area hospitals. We've held up this ward for far too long now. How long will this continue?"

"Father Ybarra, you know my son is in danger."

"That may be the case, Dr. Scully, but this has already caused a great deal of discomfort for Our Lady."

Scully huffed and shook her head. "It is what it is, Father."

Father Ybarra sighed. "We have a problem, Dr. Scully."

"Yeah? What is that?", she said, on guard.

"According to the Van DeKamp's, Dr. Scully, you have been overstepping your bounds."

Scully crossed her arms in front of her. She could feel Mulder walk up behind her. "What does that mean, Father?"

"It means, Dr. Scully, that you are not allowed to make decisions for William Van DeKamp. You can discuss his care with them but that is all you are allowed to do. And if there are any more complaints, the Van DeKamp's will ask for a different doctor to continue his care until he can return home to Wyoming."

Scully turned to look at them through the glass window where the Van DeKamp's were watching them. Scully glared back at Father Ybarra and then walked off. Mulder watched as she pushed opened the closed hallway doors, past the FBI Agents, leaving Mulder and Father Ybarra alone in the hall. Mulder stared back at the Priest until he stepped away from the taller man. Mulder pushed open the glass door of William's room, slamming it back. He tossed open the other one, much to the shock of the Van DeKamps. Mulder stared at them but said nothing as he grabbed a chair and sat down next to his son. He rested his long arms on his legs and stared down at his feet as William slept.

The Van DeKamps were on edge but they sat down, far away from Mulder.

Scully followed the hall to her office. She opened the locked door and then slammed it shut. She stood against the doorway until she she was calm and then stepped off the door. She was angry, extremely angry but she knew she couldn't react or else she would be banned from seeing her own son. Suddenly, Scully doubled over as the tears began to cascade down. She covered her mouth to silence the sound as she cried. She gulped for air and slumped down to the floor, her pain hitting her like a ton of bricks. This was too much. It reminded her of Emily when she was told that she had no rights to decide her care. She stood back up and made her way to her desk and sat down, grabbing the box of tissues and blowing her nose. She knew she couldn't lose William, not this time. Scully stood back up and made her way to her bathroom located within her private office. Her face was red and her eyes puffed from crying. She scrubbed her face clean, trying to erase the evidence of her tears. Scully stared into the mirror. It wasn't her delicate skin, her stark blue eyes and red hair that she saw looking back at her, it was Williams.

Margaret Scully flashed her I.D to the FBI Agents who let her in the two heavy metal doors that led to William's ward. She walked down the empty halls until she reached his room. She pushed past both doors and stopped in the doorway. Maggie could feel the tension in the room from where she was standing. She walked up to Mulder and placed an aging hand on his shoulder. "Fox?"

Mulder glanced up to her. "Mrs. Scully. Would you like a seat?"

"Yeah, I would," she said, pulling up a chair next to him.

She glanced from the Van DeKamp's who were watching her to Mulder. "What's going on?"

Mulder turned to look back at the Van DeKamp's and then leaned in close to her, whispering. "William had the procedure done this morning with Bill's stem cells."

"Well, that's good, right?", she said.

Mrs. Van DeKamp stood up, walking out of the doors.

Mr. Van DeKamp looked stunned. He stood up. "We'll give you some time," he said, following his wife's exit.

Maggie waited until the door closed behind them. "Fox, what's really going on?"

"The Van DeKamp's have complained to Scully's boss that she's overstepping her bounds. He warned her that if they complained again the hospital would replace her with a different doctor. The Van DeKamps want William well enough to move him back to Wyoming."

"So either we tote the line or they'll stop us from seeing him."

Mulder nodded his head.

"Dana can't lose him again."

"I know," Mulder sighed. "What do we do?"

"If you take them to court, it could be several years before it would even make it before a judge."

Mulder shook his head. "I could probably reach my new contacts to stop the Van DeKamps from blocking us from seeing us. These contacts could probably do something. It wouldn't actually be "legal" though."

Margaret looked at her grandson. "Fox, you'll have to do what they say for now. That's all you can do."

Mulder balled up his fist grinding it into his other hand. He was more than angry but they were in a delicate state and he was powerless at the moment. He knew in order to stay in William's life, they had to abide by the adoptive parents wishes and it made him sick to his stomach.

The door opened and a woman walked in. "Hi, are you Fox Mulder?", she asked, a hospital badge above her heart. "My name is Mrs. Vidao. Father Ybarra sent me to meet with you and Dr. Scully to discuss the delicate situation here. I'm the hospitals social worker."

The door opened again and a cool armored Scully walked in. She glanced around for the Van DeKamps and then focused on the social worker. "Thank You for coming down, Dr. Scully. If you don't mind, I'd like for us to move to one of the empty rooms to discuss thing, alright?"

Scully did not respond, her shoulders squared. She was guarded and visibly upset. The Social Worker opened the door and they followed her out into the hall. The Nurses station was empty much to Scully's surprise but she walked on to an empty room and sat down with Mulder sitting next to her. Maggie pulled up a chair next to her daughter. Mrs. Vidao plopped down on the hospital bed, making herself comfortable. She smiled nervously and then glanced down at her notes.

"Umm...We've never had this situation at Our Lady of Sorrows before. One in which our resident Physician was the biological parent of a patient who was adopted and came in for treatment," she said, glancing at them over her glasses. "This is a very unique situation. I understand that the Van DeKamp's spoke to Father Ybarra stating that you were not valuing them as the adoptive parents, is that right?

Mulder wrapped his arms around Scully's shoulders and pulled her to him. "What else did they say?", Mulder questioned.

"They are feeling that their rights as the adoptive parents are being trampled. Like I said, we've never dealt with such a delicate situation like this before. So, we are at a lost as to where to go from here."

Scully sat up and glared at the woman."Are you saying that I cannot continue to treat my son as of right now?", Scully spit out. "Are you telling me that?"

"No, not yet," Mrs Vidao added. "That action hasn't been taken yet."

Mulder rubbed Scully's arm as he held her to him. He could hear her unspoken conversation, she was cursing and screaming inwardly but outwardly, she lay on his shoulder not moving.

"Then what are you saying?", Maggie scoffed. "This is their child!"

"But they have no rights to him," Mrs. Vidao added.

"I never gave up my rights!", Mulder spoke.

"You could challenge them in a court of law but they could also have you banned from seeing him until then and that would go for his grandmother, Margaret Scully as well."

Maggie's eyes narrowed. "I'm getting upset."

Scully reached out and slid her hand into her mother's, squeezing it

"Look, you have to see it from their perspective, " Mrs. Vidao stated. "They came here to have you meet your son before he passes on, not to give up their parental rights to him."

Mulder's lips thinned as he pulled Scully even closer, her head resting on his shoulder beneath his chin.

"So, can we talk about how you are feeling as the parents to suddenly have the Van DeKamps show up with your son?"

Mulder shook his head at Mrs. Vidao. "What do you think?"

She glanced at the sullen faces of them all and then sighed. "I'll reason with them. Explain your position. I'll try to mediate between the two families. What we want...What Our Lady of Sorrows wants, is to resolve this issue and to make sure the Van DeKamp family is as comfortable as they can be for as long as they are here."

Scully shot up. "This is about money, isn't it! This has nothing to do with their welfare or ours. You are basically telling us to not rock the boat because you assume you are billing them!," Scully fumed. "Actually, you are billing ME. I'm flipping the bill for their stay and William's care because he's MY son!"

Mrs. Vidao sifted through several papers and then looked up at them meekly. "Umm, Oh I see," she said, tapping her pen against the papers. "I see...," she said, thinking. "Well, that does make a bit of a difference. I could have them billed instead."

"I'm not sure they can afford it," Scully said.

"Well," she said, shifting through the forms. "We still have your fee, Dr. Scully and the..."

"Waive that," Scully interrupted. "Don't bill for that."

"Okay...well..."

"How much is it already, " Mulder questioned.

Mrs. Vidao searched her records and then coughed, her head shooting up. "Well...Well...He had stem cell therapy."

"I'm aware," Mulder said, sarcastically.

"It was one hundred thousand dollars just for the stem cell procedures alone, that doesn't include the cost for I.V.'s or medications," she turned to Scully. "You know how it is, Dr. Scully. Hospitals charge for everything from the pillow and blanket to a single aspirin."

Scully's eyes had enlarged. She looked nervously up to Mulder. He winked at her, reassuring her. "Whatever it is, we'll cover it," Mulder said, as Scully sighed in relief. She knew Mulder had quite an extensive fortune from his parents inheritances and sell of their various properties set aside. He lived frugally after all these years and hadn't touched any of it.

Mrs Vidao smirked. "That's sweet of you, Agent Mulder, but you'll probably be paying this off the rest of your lives."

"Or I could cut a check right now," Mulder corrected her.

The Social Worker looked shocked. "You can...," she stumbled. "You can pay that in Billing." She cleared her throat. "Okay, well since you are paying the bill, I'll remind the Van DeKamps of that fact and try to mediate between you if need be. Here's my card," she said, handing each family member.

"So," she said, cheerfully. "I'll bring them in here next. So, let's head out."

She escorted them out the door where the Van DeKamps where waiting. Scully and Mulder gave them icy glares as they moved past them. Margaret Scully, a normally sweet woman, was highly upset and she stared them down as she walked on.

The Van DeKamps nervously moved quickly into the vacated room. Mrs. Vidao closed the hospital room door behind them, waiting until the Van DeKamps had seated themselves."I spoke to Dr. Scully and Agent Mulder, along with William's grandmother."

"Good," Mr. Van DeKamp said, relieved. "How did they take it?"

"Well...", Mrs. Vidao said, scanning the couple. "Did you know your insurance company is not being billed for any of this?"

"What are you saying?", a shocked Mr. Van DeKamp asked.

"Are you aware that they, Agent Mulder and Dr. Scully, are paying for William's care?"

The Van DeKamps turned to eachother. "Excuse me?"

"Yes. They are being billed since the moment he was moved up to the third floor isolation room."

"What?"

"I don't understand...", Mrs. Van DeKamp said.

Mrs. Vidao shifted through her notes. "The cost of the ongoing Stem Cell Treatment so far is over one hundred thousand dollars. That doesn't include the cost for the past two weeks stay so far, and all of the hospital amenities that will be billed."

She watched as the color drained from their faces. "If you want, you can have the bill changed and billed to you."

Mrs. Van DeKamp watched as her husband began to choke uncontrollably. His wife jumped up an patted his back, handing him a tissue. "I think that's a no."

Mrs. Vidao nodded. "My suggestion," she said, as Mrs. Van DeKamp sat down and Mr. Van DeKamp recovered. "My suggestion, off the record, that is."

"Yeah?"

"Get along with them. I would hate to have what could be upwards of two or three hundred thousand dollars billed to you. Dr. Scully waived her fee or it would've been even more. Dr. Scully is a world class physician. And she is working hard to do what she believes is best for your son...Her son, in order to save his life. Your doctor in Wyoming or wherever you take him too could do no better than she could."

Mrs. Vidao stood up and touched Mrs. Van DeKamp's shoulder. "Still assert yourselves as his parents but you have to understand, they just want to be in his life. So, try to get along and if some problems arise, here's my card."

Mr. Van DeKamp grabbed it and put it in his pocket.

"If I'm not on duty, there will always be another Social Worker, available 24 hrs per day, okay?"

They nodded but didn't speak. "Take your time," she continued. "Come out when you like. But again, try to get along, alright?"

"Yeah," Mrs. Van DeKamp answered.

Mrs. Vidao walked back to William's room and entered. She stood in the doorway as Scully drew William's blood. She was surprised to see that his blood had a greenish tint. Scully continued dressing William arm and labeling his blood sample. She turned to see Mrs. Vidao standing there. "Yes?", she said, a hint of an attitude in her voice.

"Well, Dr. Scully, I talked to the Van DeKamp's. I let them know you and Mr. Mulder were paying for William's care. I gave them the option to have the bill transferred in their names..."

"And?", Scully asked.

Mrs. Vidao smiled. "I don't think you'll have too much trouble after this. But, I do have to ask that you try to get along, for his sake."

Scully turned to look at William as he listened to their conversation.

"Call if you need me," Mrs. Vidao spoke, as she pushed opened the doors and walked back down the hall.

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