Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Fortunately for me, I have a small area in my office which is designated for keeping children entertained while I discuss more serious matters with their parents, such is the nature of my work. With the boy convinced to engage in some colouring, Mulder and I take our positions on either side of my desk. For the briefest of moments I have a flash back to our FBI days, only this time the desk actually belongs to me.

"Well?" I ask, signalling that Mulder should make with the explanations .

"It's William," he begins, a barely concealed smile appearing on his face. "Our William" he clarifies, which may have been amusing were it not for the fact that the nature of the world that we used to inhabit was such that the appearance of another Emily, would not have been so unlikely.

Outwardly my countenance may have remained the same, but inwardly the butterflies in my stomach calmed upon hearing this information . I nod for him to carry on, to explain how a child I had given up for adoption was now sat less than 10 metres away.

"I got a phone call 2 days ago" he continues " it was Skinner"

"Skinner!" I exclaim, "what did he ? how did he?.."

"Scully…" he admonishes me for interrupting

"Skinner called, he had received a phone call of us own, and wanted to talk"

" to you or to us?"

Mulder fidgets in his chair "he didn't say who specifically.."

"So you decided to take it upon yourself to go and meet him, and tell me about it later"

"Scully….." he almost whines " You had so much on your plate at the moment"

"Mulder, you ditched me"

"Scully please let me just explain" he nods over his shoulder to William. " I admit I wilfully omitted to recount certain events and plans, because I didn't want you to worry. I was going to go meet with Skinner, find out what he wanted, and then tell you. In fairness, I had no idea it would be something like this"

Interpreting my silence as a sign that I am listening intently, he carries on " I met with Skinner yesterday morning. He told me that an informant had contacted him, to say that he had William in his care, and it was in the child's best interests that Skinner call us right away."

"But how…?"

"I'm coming to that. It turns out that the Skinman himself is not above participating in campaigns of misinformation. William Van de Kemp, as he was known, was reported missing on November 23rd 2002, apparently kidnapped from his bedroom during the night. An extensive man hunt of the area yielded no results, and it was eventually presumed that he had died. Skinner suspected that they may have been more to it than that, but he didn't have the resources to investigate further. Given that we were on the run, and not in contact with our friendly FBI buddies, he decided it was best not to tell us."

Mulder reaches out and holds my hand across the desk.

"So, when he received the call, Skinner wasn't too surprised to hear that William was alive. We agreed to meet the informant. It was about a 5 hour drive away from D.C. When we got there, we were taken into this underground bunker. Half of it was done out at what looked to be like labs, and the other half looked like this weird subterranean family home. In one of the rooms we found Will. It was clearly his bedroom, and Scully, on the walls there were different photos of us."

"us?"

"I don't know how or where he had got them from, but there were photos of you as a child, photos of you from our x-file years, photos of me as a kid, photos of the pair of us from the L.A premeire of that godawful film, screencaps from that Cops episode, blown up photos from newspapers….and when we walked in the room, he turned round and saw me, and he called me Daddy" Mulder tries to keep his voice level, but it is obvious he was deeply moved by this.

"So I said to him 'you know who I am?' and he said ' of course I do'. We took William out of there, and I was fully intending on taking him home, and then calling you, but he kept asking where you were and when he could meet you. When I told him that you were at work, he asked if we could come to the hospital, and I said no, but then his little face Scully, he looked so disappointed…"

I smile. Somehow, back when I was pregnant and allowed myself to indulge in such flights of fantasy, day dreaming about the 3 of us being a family, I always knew that Mulder would be the push over parent. Of course in reality, we never had the opportunity to test that theory, until now…

"..So I decided to bring him here, planning on trying to catch you in your office or some place. I specifically told him to stay with me at all times, but then we got here, and the desk clerk said that you were on the Childrens Ward, and he just saw the signs and ran off by himself, leaving me behind to try and catch him up.."

Again I can't help but smile at Mulder getting a taste of what it is like to be on the receiving end of a ditch.

"…and he ran into the ward before I could stop him."

"but Mulder, you still haven't explained why he was taken, and why now suddenly he was returned to us, or how he knows about us"

"I know, I was getting to that.."

"Look what I drew.." bored with his own company, William comes over, waving his picture in front of him. It is a crayola family portrait. There are 2 smaller people who look as if they are on fire, with bright orange flames shooting out of their heads, I realise this is supposed to be William and myself with our red hair. Mulder, a study in black , grey and brown , looks like a cross between the grim reaper and the BFG. I suddenly get an urge to start decorating our fridge with such displays of art.

"That's lovely sweetie" I say, and take him into my arms for our first proper hug. I still can't quite believe that this child is mine, the boy I was never going to be able to see grow up.

"Can we go now?" he mumbles into my hair "It's boring here"

"Yeah Buddy, I think perhaps we should" Mulder stands up, casting me a glance that says "we'll continue this later."

I rise, and gather my papers and coat. "How about we go get some dinner?" I suggest, hunger pangs beginning to gather now that the nerves in my stomach have stopped. "Then Daddy and I can talk…."

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TBC