Van De Kamp had released his wife from where Mulder had left her tied and gagged; the two of them were now watching Mulder and Doggett from across the room. Nobody was speaking and the atmosphere was toxic. Mulder was struggling to think of ways to get out that didn't involve just running and praying. Doggett was clearly uncomfortable with the prospect of losing his life, but both men knew that they had made all the right calls so far, so maybe fate was on their side for this fight.

"Why are they just staring at us?" Doggett didn't like not knowing what was going on, it made him nervous, and under the circumstances, nerves were not to be thought of as allies.

"I don't know. But we can't just stand here and wait to see what they're going to do."

"So what exactly do you propose?"

"Well Agent Doggett, the best I've got is to run as fast as humanly possible and keep your fingers crossed."

"That's your plan?"

"You got anything better in mind?" he looked at Doggett and they both knew that it was a long shot, but also probably their only one. When they turned and looked back at the Van De Kamps, the wife was standing alone and her husband was nowhere to be seen.

"That's bad right?"

"Yeah, I'd say that's definitely bad," Mrs Van De Kamp approached the two men and they warily stood their ground, not stepping back to show fear or forward to show hostility. Mulder was good at standing his ground and he suspected that Doggett was quite strong willed too. After all, the man was still standing by his side.

"Did you really think that you'd be able to get in and out of here unnoticed?" neither man spoke. "Your silence won't help you. Actually nothing will, we knew you were here as soon as your vehicles were within a miles range. We've been expecting this; we've been waiting for it."

"Waiting for what?" Mulder didn't like riddles, when he was in trouble he liked to know why and what to expect.

"Ah, so you will speak to me?"

"Well sure if you're not going to speak in plain English. What exactly have you been waiting for?"

"You Mr Mulder," Mulder glanced briefly at an alarmed Doggett. The picture was slowly becoming clearer. "Do you really think that if it was William we wanted we'd have made it so easy for you to get in here and take him away? We knew that when your lover gave him up and it was exposed who we were it would draw you out of hiding to help protect your son and the woman you love. We never wanted William; it was just convenient to take him in order to get to the real prize."

"Me."

"That's right. You were never mean to live, but as you did you've sparked an interest in 'them' and They want you back."

"They? They who?" Doggett still liked to resort to 'little green men' as his last option, but he knew that what this woman was implying was that Mulder was about to be abducted again.

"The doctors on Earth don't have the technology or the mind to understand what it is you and Agent Scully managed to create. And if it weren't for you then we'd never have got the chance to figure it out. There are tests to be conducted and decisions to be made."

"Decisions?"

"Yes Agent Doggett, decisions. As to whether we can really stop this here and now with the removal of Mulder or if it is William we need."

"So you let him go not knowing whether it was him you want?"

"It's a risk we're prepared to take to get to you Mulder. We got William once, we can do it again. It doesn't matter where they think they can hide him, we'll know where he is. We'll always know," Mulder felt his blood begin to boil as his fists clenched by his side.

He'd been taken once and he'd had no choice, he refused to believe that he had no choice now. His place was with his family and there was no way that he was going to just wait for the inevitable and not fight to get back to his rightful place. As he searched for an answer, a way to escape, Mr Van De Kamp reappeared and smiled at the two men as he closed his cell phone.

"I made the call, they're on their way."

"Wow, I guess they really are advanced little aliens if you're reaching them through a cell phone," Mulder's humour wasn't appreciated and before anybody could say anything a bright white light filled the room, forcing everyone in it to fight for their vision.

When the light had gone the Van De Kamps smiled to each other as they examined the empty room before them. Both men were gone.