Scully came out of the operating theatre and Doggett stood up when he saw her. They had agreed it wasn't wise for Mulder to join them at the hospital; it was obvious that somebody knew what was going on. Reyes had gone back to Scully's apartment with him in the hope that they could keep a low profile until Skinner could talk.

"How is he?" Scully gave her, 'it's not good news' half smile that was full of sympathy and regret.

"He's come through the surgery fine, but the bullet did a lot of damage and they don't know if they've been able to stop the bleeding enough to make a difference to his condition. He's unconscious, but we should know more when he wakes up."

"What the hell is going on here Dana? We called Skinner in because he was supposed to be the bad guy, and now he's being shot at to prevent him from talking to us?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I didn't believe that Skinner would do this, not to me. And not to William. You're right, he was shot to stop him giving us information, and now we have no way of finding out what that was," Scully sat down and worked the knots in her neck. Doggett sat next to her and leaned in close.

"If we don't find out what's going on here, how are we going to find William?" Scully looked up at him through misty eyes and blinked back tears.

"I don't know."

Mulder was pacing the apartment and Reyes was getting dizzy from watching him. He hadn't been able to sit still since they got back, it was understandable but he needed to get out of here and do something. How was he helping his son by standing around doing nothing?

"Mulder…"

"I know. There's nothing I can do right now, I just need to sit tight. I know the routine Agent Reyes. But right now I have to get my son back."

"And that's what we all want, but we can't do anything until we've spoken to Skinner."

"If Skinner doesn't wake up then we're gonna have to come up with an alternative way of figuring out what his name in that file means."

"I've been through it a dozen times already, most of the information is blacked out, I'm surprised Skinner's name wasn't omitted too."

"Maybe that was the plan. Maybe we were meant to accuse Skinner of betraying us and bring him into the open for the shooter to take out."

"But I'm the one with a price on my head, why not just shoot me?"

"What if the shooter wants you to get William back?"

"Then why shoot Skinner?"

"Maybe Skinner thinks William is better off where he is."

"So you think that Skinner has betrayed us?" Reyes stood up and ran her hand through her hair; she was tired, and sick of being given the run around by everybody who was supposed to be on their side. None of this could be determined by sides now. It was every man for himself.

"I don't know what to think. To be honest I'm feeling at a loss as to what we're supposed to do."

"Well that I understand," Mulder smiled appreciatively and finally sat down. He had been waiting as patiently as possible for a call from Scully with Skinner's condition, but so far they'd had no news. He had the location of his son in the palm of his hand and there was nothing he could do about it without risking them both being killed. Whoever was trying to prevent William from coming home was doing a damn good job of standing in the way. It was up to Mulder to take them down before they got to him.

Scully and Doggett looked up as doctors raced into the room that Skinner had been placed in after his surgery. They both moved to the door to try and see what was happening and watched helplessly as doctors did all they could in an attempt to save his life. Scully just prayed that her fears wouldn't be confirmed and that they wouldn't lose him before he'd given them the information he was shot for.

As the doctors came out and left nurses attending to a stable Skinner, Scully and Doggett went in to see Skinner lying awake staring at the ceiling. He turned to Scully and tried to speak, when she couldn't hear him she leaned closer and listened to what he said.