Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files

Note: Huge thank you to Kyouryoku Senshi for being my beta!

I'm Here

At seven, William's favorite video game was Mario Bros and luckily it was Mulder's too. They sat on the couch yelling competitively at each other.
Mulder would bump his son's shoulder and William would put his hand in front of his dad's eyes. General sabotage.

Mulder could hear Scully cleaning up the kitchen and Annie puttering around behind her trying to be like mommy, but really just making more of a mess.

The round ended with William cheering in triumph and jumping up and down on the couch.

Mulder grabbed him around the middle and pinned him down on the couch while tickling his exposed belly.
William laughed, screamed, and kicked until Mulder finally let him go. The tables were turned on him and William pounced on Mulder's back and hung on.

Mulder got up with his son on his back and went to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Scully was washing the dishes and had pulled up a stool that allowed Annie to reach the sink where she was 'washing' the plastic dishes that were reserved for the children.

Annie was singing little made up songs and had bubbles in her curly white blond hair.

Scully smiled down at their tiny daughter as she put a dish in the drying rack and turned to see Mulder and William making their way into the kitchen.

Mulder's eyes went to the swell in her belly and he smiled widely at her. She helped Annie down from the stool and started her way over to him when he started to think again.

No. I am staying this time. I don't want to leave. It was like an argument with himself as the vision before him froze. He closed his eyes and fought the internal battle that seemed constant.

What year is it? Where do you work?

I don't know and I don't care.

When was William born?

It doesn't matter, I like this life.

He felt Scully's hand on his cheek.
"Mulder, I'm here," she said, but the woman in front of him had not moved. She was fading.
He looked to their daughter and saw her fading as well and finally to William who was almost gone.

"No! I don't want to go!" He yelled.

He felt one of Scully's hands running through his hair and he was wondering if he was breaking down from all of the drugs. Everything was black, but he could hear her voice.

"Mulder, it's alright. Come back to me. We need you here."

He felt her lips on his forehead and he suddenly realized that it was real. Scully had come to save him like she always did.

He opened his eyes and there she was. She was not the Scully in his visions; the young pregnant mother who looked like she had never faced evil. No, she was his Scully, the real Scully, who was the strongest person he had ever met. Her eyes were lined and he saw tears in their blue depths.

"Don't cry," he said and took her hand and kissed it.

"We need to go, Mulder," she said snapping back into action, "Do you have the wheel chair?"
She turned her head around and Mulder saw Skinner rolling up a wheel chair next to the bed. Mulder felt paralyzed and he wondered how they planned to get them out of the bed, all he wanted was to sleep. At the foot of the bed stood William watching the scene filled with silent concern.

"Will," Mulder said and tried to get up.

"Woah!" Skinner took hold of Mulder's shoulders and Scully swung his feet out of the bed. "Wait a second, Mulder, you're going to be pretty weak."

Mulder reluctantly let them move him from the bed to the wheelchair and Scully moved him forward, toward Will.

They didn't say anything when William bent down and hugged Mulder tightly around the neck. Mulder felt his son's warm tears on his neck and he rubbed William's back.

"Will, we have to go," Scully said gently as she stroked his head. William pulled away and moved toward the door.

"Gibson?" Mulder said startled by the sight of man in the hall.

Gibson gave him a tight smile, but said nothing.

"He needs to focus to get us out of here," Scully told him quietly.

In front of Gibson stood a young woman who also seemed to be focusing on an invisible space in front of her.

They all began to move when William stopped, "We can't leave all of these other kids here."

The adults turned to look at him, not knowing what to say.

"Honey, we can't take everyone this time. We can come back for them," Scully said to him, touching his face.

"No, they will increase security. We will never get back in! They will probably move this place and everyone in it! They need help!"

"William, we can't. We don't have the man power for something like that."

"So we just leave them here?! They are orphans being treated like lab rats! Someone needs to help them!"

"We will. But we can't right now."

"We at least need to save my friend. She can help us!"

"No, Will. We are leaving now."

William crossed his arms and didn't move, "I'm not leaving until we get Gabby."

Scully was not mad, but anxious. For a moment she saw his father in his blind devotion to helping people against all odds. She looked to the two that were leading the group.

"Fine," said Gibson, "But we have to go now, lead us there."

They moved as quickly as they could down the halls in single file with William in the lead.

Scully could tell that Gibson and Shelly were getting tired and she wished that she could be closer to William. She knew that she needed to trust their friends to take care of him, because for the time being, she was rolling Mulder along. He had passed out again not long after they began moving.

She would take a quick check of his pulse every once in a while, but she was not very worried considering all the drugs in his system.

They stopped outside a room that Scully recognized. The six of them were as close to the wall as they could get.

Will was about to enter the room when Shelly pushed him aside and used a key to enter.

She came out a moment later with the small girl that Scully had seen earlier. She was wearing pajamas similar to William's, but hers were pink.

It disturbed Scully how they tried to normalize this for her. The girl seemed to know what was happening, but also seemed scared.

Scully wondered how old she was. She was a tiny girl who at first glance looked about seven or eight, but she seemed older.

"We have to move," said Shelly, urgently looking around.

Without a word, Skinner picked up the young girl, pulled her onto his back and moved.

The door was in sight. Scully's relief was palpable until she saw someone in the corner of her eye. Someone she recognized from long ago, someone she thought was dead for so many years.

Diana.

It was almost as if Diana could hear her thoughts, because she looked up from her current conversation and looked right at Scully.

She didn't appear to see them, but Scully could tell that the woman knew something was up.

"Gibson," Scully hissed.

"I know," he said tightly but didn't turn, "Keep moving."

The lobby was crowded and they needed to weave in and out a lot, but they were almost there.

"If Shelly or I get stopped, keep going and don't look back," Gibson told the group softly.

As if almost on cue, Diana stepped in front of Shelly who was so focused that she almost ran into her.

She saw Gibson's face take on a pinched look and she could tell that it had become harder to hide them.

She looked at William and noticed that he had closed his eyes and so had the little girl.

Are they helping him? She wondered to herself, amazed.

They didn't stop, but she could see Gibson give a longing look back at her and soon they were through the door.