As earth's inhabitants celebrated their victories against the alien replicants, our leaders devised a strategy designed to end further human abductions. Although these mass abductions had become a rare occurrence, reports of missing persons continued, and it was clear, the alien colonists had not given up in their battle to colonize the planet. Technology was supplied by Japan and India, weapons made in Brazil and China and a line of attack developed by the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia to identify and rid the atmosphere of alien aircraft. Science fiction had come to fruition as lasers and magnetic fields were used to trap and overcome the enemy's force fields, and sophisticated missiles were deployed to destroy their aircraft. Success seemed eminent as the enemy retreated.
"Monica, you need to take it easy, trauma injuries are serious." Scully says following her down the corridor.
They enter Monica's campus office and she motions Scully to sit down. It is small and cluttered with books on child psychology and Spanish language piled on the bookshelf and teaching guides and file folders thrown haphazardly on her desk. She plugs in her computer panel synching it up to her laptop, then hands the panel to Scully, hoping it will add clarity and not confusion to her decision.
"Dana, you've come all this way, you need to meet him. I know seeing him will give you and Mulder some closure and offer you both possibilities."
Scully touches the image of William in her hands. The young man with his dark brown hair and soulful eyes looks up at her from Monica's computer panel. He looks like Mulder, but his expression is all Scully. "I feel lost, I don't know… "
"We both know there is danger, but we've faced this before. You have spent a lifetime doing for others and now you need to do this for yourself. Stay just long enough to meet him. Please." Monica looks at her former colleague and friend with pleading eyes. "We're all here to protect him. John's contacted the Denver's field office. They can arrange a safe meeting place and William doesn't have to know anything."
Scully is silent for moment as she contemplates Monica's words. "All right, how are you going to work this out? You'd better arrange it before I back out."
Monica looks at her reassuringly. "Don't worry, it will be okay."
Will wanders off as he kicks at the pebbles on the brick walkway he's supposed to be sweeping. The landscaping crew sensed his foul mood and has given him a wide berth.
He's familiar with this empty, confused and scary feeling. It's the same as when the social worker told him his parents were dead. Petie's claim that she was enlisting in the army instead of going to college stunned him. He thought she was joking until she started sobbing and apologizing. He didn't know what to say to her, he felt like he'd been sucker punched in the heart.
All the plans he made, the dreams he had for them are gone. She said she didn't want to break up now, but later. How is that supposed to be okay? He doesn't even want to try and understand and he doesn't know how he'll get through his last year of school. He wonders if they ever really loved each other and he wonders if he'll ever fall in love again.
He's made his way to their place, the empty storage shed that they used as their hide away. It's cold, dim and vacant inside, like his heart. He sits down against the wall, his head falls into his hands as he lets the tears of sorrow and bitterness flow freely.
"Walter, we know it can't be Alex Krycek. For one thing the man on the tape, he looks like he's in his late thirties, Krycek should be in his mid fifties by now. For another, it's been almost seventeen years since you shot… since he was killed. Where has this person been all these years? There's something else happening here." Marita's voice is smooth and steady as usual, but Skinner hears the confusion and concern in her tone.
Skinner tries to tone down his own brusque attitude as they talk over the events of the last few days. The surveillance on their home has been increased allowing them to return from the safe house.
"I know. We've eliminated the Alien Bounty Hunter. The chances of that are unlikely and the evidence is weak. Gibson is doing a background check on Krycek. His file was closed when he died, but that was a decade and a half ago. Information has loosened up in the last year, maybe something of interest will come up." Skinner removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose in his own characteristic way.
"They've got the bulk of the Denver field office out in Boulder keeping an eye on Mulder and Dana, Doggett and Monica too, but we both know this situation raises all sorts of questions and concerns and my biggest one is that our lives are being threatened, once again."
"If I ask you not to go, will you listen to me?" Marita asks pointedly.
Skinner looks at her with hard eyes. "If I ask you to stay here, will you listen to me?"
They stare at each other for a moment, before Marita speaks. "I'll pack for both of us, you'd better let Gibson know what we're doing."
The diner is almost empty with the exception of a stray man at the counter having coffee with his pie and a couple of young men watching an old NFL game on a computer panel.
Mulder and Scully sit in a booth waiting for their food, the adrenalin from the news of the day has subsided and fatigue has settled in on them. Neither is hungry, but over the years they've learned, to feel normal they have to do normal things, like eating.
"I found a place to stay outside of Boulder, it's out of the way, not on the main highway. Doggett's arranged to have extra agents on campus and at out hotel." Mulder says as Scully nods and sips her water.
He taps his fork on the table in front of him nervously. "I want you to know, I share your doubts and I'm with you on this… we have to be careful, but Scully, if you could leave right now, without the need to justify or explain your actions to anyone, would you?"
She pauses a moment and lowers her eyes. "No, would you? "
"I've screwed up so many times, I just want you to be sure." His eyes can't hide the anguish he holds within him.
Scully's heart breaks at seeing Mulder like this. His life has been held hostage by a series of riddles and she realized long ago that none of them have been fully answered. His obsession is his only crime, but she has forgiven him time after time and followed him without coercion, for she understands he has given his life in search of the truth.
The waitress brings their order and sets it down in front of them. As they stare at their food, both wonder how they got to this place and time and what is waiting in the wings upon their arrival.
The campus has been buzzing with the news of the missile attack on the school. Homeland Security, the FBI and local police have kept much of the information under wraps for fear of fear itself. The story they stand by is it was one of ours, a test that had gone awry. The residents and faculty member's gawk at the destruction in the parking lot, it's unsettling to many reminding them that the battle with alien colonists has been won, but the war is not over.
Monica and John have been moved into temporary quarters on campus with added security at their door. They've had a restless night concerned for their colleagues and themselves, and on top of this, they know Mulder and Scully are anxious about meeting their son.
The commotion from their attack has settled down and Monica has her own mission to accomplish. This morning she has slipped out on her own in search of Will.
She stops Nick and Jamal as they leave their dorm. An eerie sense of dread has followed her. "Have you seen Will?"
The two boys look at each other before Jamal answers her. "He got up really early this morning and left, must have been way before wake up call."
"Left? Left where? It's important that I talk to him."
"Shit, Ms. Reyes… sorry… I don't know where he went, but I do know he's in a sad way. He and Petie broke up and he's taking it hard." Jamal's tone worries Monica.
"Where can I find Petie? Any ideas?"
"She's probably in class, if we see her, do you want us to tell her you're wanting her?"
Monica's nods and looks off into the distance. She wonders what Will is feeling and what he is capable of doing.
It's late in the day and the snow-capped mountains look spectacular against the blue sky casting long shadows on the city below them. The air is clean and cool, not like the desert or crowded slums he's known intimately.
Alexi shrugs as he hangs up his cell phone. His benefactor is not happy with him and he demands to know why the end results on Skinner and Covarrubius' car accident and Alvin Kersh's shooting had failed. He berated him, stating there is no excuse for the failed missile launch, the distance it traveled was less than two hundred miles and the cost of smuggling in the Saudi produced weapon was substantial. Eliminating the former FBI Agents is the mission. Failure is not an option… or else. Alexi thinks to himself, or else what?
He gets out of the electric car, and uses his computer panel to scan the landscape. He's followed Mulder and Scully to this school for orphaned children. He's curious about this place, the concept is foreign to him, his home and upbringing revolved around the shantytowns outside of Jeddah. He doesn't often feel emotions, his genetic make up precludes it but the thought of a place especially for children without parents hits a nerve, a human nerve. He shakes it off and wonders if this game he's been drawn into will have a winner.