"So I was thinking that we could drive to liverpool and start asking people around town about Emily. I have a picture from a few years ago so maybe someone will recognize it." Scully said as she Mulder and Clarice sat in the hotel dining room having breakfast.
"Sounds like a good idea." Mulder responded, "I don't see how else we could find her."
Scully looked over at her daughter and noticed her just pushing her food around her plate. Clarice had been very quiet all day. It was weird. "What do you think baby?" Scully asked.
Clarice jumped when Scully addressed her. She had been so distracted by thoughts of Melissa all day. "Sounds like a good idea mom." she said after a moment.
"Are you okay doll?" Mulder asked her, "You seem a little out of it." he commented.
Clarice didn't bother looking up from her plate, "Yeah I'm fine." she lied through her teeth only semi convincingly, "Just a little anxious I guess."
"Understandable." Scully commented still watching her daughter carefully. Something was definitely off.
After finishing breakfast they checked out and quickly hailed a cab to Liverpool. It took less than five minutes to check in and throw their stuff in the hotel room Clarice had organized for Liverpool. They were in room 104. Soon after they set out around town.
After two hours of finding nothing the group decided to break for lunch. Clarice once again spent the whole meal pushing food around her plate, only occasionally bringing the fork to her mouth. Scully and Mulder were getting very concerned but kept quiet for now, hoping that it was only her anxiousness about finding emily like she had said. after spending a half an hour silently eating they headed back out to continue searching. Unfortunately it was to no avail.
"You know, this is totally fine. We can continue tomorrow. It's only the first day, no need to get discouraged." Mulder said as they took a cab back to the hotel. It was at least ten at night and they had been out all day so they were all exhausted.
"Whatever." Clarice muttered. She was leaning against her mother already half asleep, "Emily wasn't in my dream last night and now I'm getting worried. If I don't see her tonight I'm gonna start panicking.
"She wasn't in your dream?" Scully asked concerned, "Mulder, don't you think the connection would be stronger the closer they are to each other?"
"She probably just took sleeping medicine." Clarice said with a yawn, "When I was in the hospital the sedatives they gave me prevented my dreams. It's probably nothing."
"Well that makes sense." Mulder said nodding his head, "So why don't you tell us what did happen in your dream doll? Keep yourself awake until we get to the hotel."
"Okay." Clarice said around another yawn, "Well first I was on the beach so I walked to the house but Emily wasn't there. I figured she wasn't fully asleep yet so I waited a few minutes but she didn't show up. I started looking for her but found William instead. He started bugging me to go to the beach but I told him we couldn't cause mom wasn't pregnant with him yet. He wouldn't let up so I walked him to the door and was gonna let him discover for himself that he couldn't go to the beach when he ran right out the door. I ran after him and we played for a little while then we started building the sickest sand castle like ever. Suddenly William stopped building and just like stood up and stared down the beach." Clarice yawned again, "I noticed someone walking and started calling to Emily trying to show her that William was on the beach. Emily wasn't answering me and she looked weird, she seemed shorter and her hair looked different, so I started walking to meet her." She yawned again, "I reached Emily but it wasn't Emily. It was a little girl with long brown hair and blue eyes. I said to her 'You aren't Emily...'." Clarice yawned again and started to drift off to sleep but kept talking, "She answered me and said 'No. I'm Melissa, William's twin sister'. After that I woke up. I tried to tell you but you two were still asleep." and with that she fell asleep.
Scully and Mulder looked at each other shocked. Could this possibly be true? The cab jerked to a stop and the cabby started demanding his fair. Mulder silently handed him his money before picking Clarice up to carry her to the room.
"Let me take her Mulder, she's light as a feather." Scully whispered as she noticed Mulder struggling to open the door with the teenager in his arms.
Mulder handed Scully her daughter while and unlocked the door, all the while staring at his partner in shock. Neither of them had really let what Clarice said sink in yet.
They opened the door to the distinct smell of cigarette smoke. "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, so nice to see you." the man said from his position perched on the chair that sat in the corner of the room.
Mulder had his gun out and pointed at him before he had finished talking, "What the hell do you want?" Mulder asked moving to stand in front of Scully and Clarice while keeping the gun trained on the man.
"Why Agent Mulder, you can't figure it out. I know about the gift they both posses, I know why you are here." he said calmly.
"You're the member of the syndicate that has been hiding Emily, aren't you?" Scully asked as she moved slightly out from behind Mulder.
"Correct Agent Scully, and I assure you that she is okay." he said taking a drag of his cigarrete.
"Where is she?" Scully asked immediately.
"Safe, I can assure you of that. We just need to discuss a few things before you can go to her." he said still eerily calm, "My personal prerequisites however must be ensured."
"What are they?" Mulder asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"They're simple really. You must both resign from the bureau when you return to Washington first of all. You need to abandone the x-files, no investigating even though you aren't in the FBI. And within the year you need to have moved out of DC, you may go to Virginia, Maryland, where ever just not DC." he said as if he'd rehearsed, "And don't look back. Move on and forget about all of this and be with your children."
Mulder glanced back at his partner and his mind was made up. He knew what he needed to do. "Done." he said simply, "Now where is she?"
The man stood up and handed Mulder an envolope, even though Mulder still had his gun pointed at him, "That will tell you where she is." he said puffing his cigarette again, "I hope you thought this choice through. I wouldn't want to take her away again." he said before leaving the room as unnoticed as when he had entered it.
"Clarice, wake up." Scully said as Mulder started to open the envelope.
"What? Mom, what's up?" Clarice asked sleepily as she was put on her feet.
"We know where Emily is." Scully said staring at Mulder as he pulled a single piece of paper from the envelope.
"Where?" Clarice demanded excitedly.
"Room 103." Mulder whispered before looking up at the connecting door.
"No way." Clarice breathed as she walked over to the door, "You don't think..."
"Try it baby." Scully whispered. Clarice turned the knob and as it rotated in her hand she threw the door open. Sitting in the middle of the bed in the room was Emily, watching some movie on TV, perfectly fine.
"Clarice!" Emily yelled as she noticed her sister in the door way. She jumped up and threw herself at Clarice.
"Em, oh my gosh. I was so worried about you." Clarice exclaimed as she hugged her sister tightly, "Have I got news for you." she whispered in Emily's ear. Clarice didn't remember telling Mulder or Scully about Melissa because she had been so tired at the time.
"How did you find me so fast? Grandpa said it might take a few days or you coould just find me right away. I'm glad it was the second one..." she trailed off as she looked further into the room.
"That's how." Clarice said nodding her head towards Mulder and Scully. Mulder had his arms wrapped around Scully as she began to cry from all the emotions she was experiencing. They were both just watching the girls be reunited. It seemed almost surreal that this was happening to them.
Emily wriggled out of Clarice's grasp and jogged over to the two adults. She was quickly pulled into the tightest hug she had ever experienced, "I missed you guys too." she said quietly.