Scully opened her eyes to a brightly lit room and instantly regretted it as she winced in pain. "Ah!"

"Hey, you're going to be okay," came a voice beside her. It wasn't Mulder's. It was similar, but younger and somewhat unadulterated by the harsh realities of life.

She turned and her eyes adjusted to better see the figure next to her. It was a tall, dark haired young man...a teenager, she guessed. "Who are you?"

He smiled. "I think you know the answer to that question."

"William?"

He responded with a nod. Scully looked at him, entirely at a loss for words. Obviously, she hadn't envisioned meeting him this way. Before she could respond or react, he walked to the opposite side of her bed, causing her to shift slightly. It was only then that she realized she was confined by the IV and various wires attached to her arms. Mulder was in the bed opposite her, but appeared to still be unconscious. "Mulder," she whispered, recalling that he had been near death.

William turned from Mulder to his birth mother. "He was very sick, but I was able to give him the stem cells he needed."

Scully gazed back at her partner. His complexion had made a vast improvement from when she saw him on the bridge. He was still pale, but he no longer looked near death. "William-I-" she felt the tears coming as she moved to remove the IV and devices attached to her arm.

"Dana," he started, moving back towards her. "You're extremely dehydrated, you need to stay here."

Scully took note of the long, slender arms pushing her back towards the bed. She sighed. She had so much she wanted to say, but couldn't find the words. "Is he going to be okay?" She managed.

William nodded. "He's dreaming though...I can tell," he said as he turned to note the way Mulder's body fidgeted uncomfortably. "I don't think it's good, but it's important we don't wake him until he's ready."

"Thank you," Scully said through tears. "You...you don't owe us anything. I can't thank you enough."

William managed a smile. "I've used my powers to do bad things...to hurt people. I want to do something good for a change."

Scully nodded, sitting back in the hospital bed. She wanted to ask him so many questions, but it would have to wait. "Where are we?"

"We're inside the ship."

Scully groaned as she felt her head throb. The spaceship she saw. Mulder said he had seen ones that were created by men. The ARVs.

"The virus," she said simply. "The world is ending."

Just as William could respond, Mulder shifted and winced as he opened his eyes to the brightly lit room.

"Mulder!" She gasped. She moved towards her partner's side as he woke. He reached for her and she took his right hand while placing her left on his cheek, willing him to look at her. "Oh God...oh God, Mulder."

He closed his eyes at the wonderful sight of his partner and then opened them again to look over at William. Mulder looked from Scully to William and then back to her with a question in his eyes. She nodded her response tearfully.

"We don't have much time. I stopped time so I could get to you both."

Scully looked at him skeptically.

Mulder groaned. He looked much better than before, but he was still recovering. "Stopped time? Now there's an X-File." It took him a moment to recall the dream he had. "Scully, the smoking man...Monica...she's," he groaned, trying to get out the words.

"It's okay, Mulder," Scully soothed.

"Yes...my grandfather, he's alive," William offered.

Scully looked back at her son. "William...where have you been all this time?"

He managed a small smile. "With Aunt Monica and Uncle John, but Aunt Monica had to ensure my safety by working with my grandfather. She's also..." William turned to Mulder. "Your sister...and I have a cousin named Alexis."

Mulder looked like a ghost. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back into the pillow.

Scully looked at William in shock. "But how...how can that be?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't have time to explain. It would take hours. But we can reverse this outbreak."

"How?!" Scully asked.

"I'll need to reverse time...to before it begins. We have to change the future."

Was she dreaming? "Dad...Mulder will need to find the smoking man."

"But you?" Scully stated tearfully.

"You will find me again in time, but I won't be the same version of myself."

Scully was heartbroken. She had finally gotten to see her son after all these years.

"I want you to know one thing," he said.

"What?" Scully asked.

"You're going to have another baby."

Before he could continue, Scully laughed incredulously. "That's impossible. Even if it was possible, I'm in my fifties. There's no way I could-"

"I can't say when or give you any more details than that, but you will and it will be a miracle. For her sake, I hope we can change what's to come."

Scully was stunned and had no idea what to say. She didn't dare hope, yet tears welled in her eyes and she looked over at Mulder who had lost consciousness again.

"Oh and don't listen to the smoking man. He's a liar."

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light and then nothingness.

-
Mulder headed down to the office. He was late for work, but he had taken the time to stop and grab some coffee for Scully and himself. Things had been great this past week and he was happy they had made so much progress in finding their common language again. "Scully? I got us some coffee," he said as he walked into the office.

Just as he set the drinks down, he gasped in shock. Scully was behind the desk, laying on the floor unconscious. She had blood dripping down the side of her cheek.

"Shit. Scully? Scully?!"

He knelt down next to her to check her pulse. She was breathing, thank God.

Ignoring the screen of the computer with Tad O'Malley's site, Mulder grabbed the phone on his desk and dialed 911.

END

A/N: As you could tell the end scene left off at MSIII. I decided to wrap up some hiatus stories and figured this would be great to lead into ss11.