Transfer.

Wayfield, Virginia.

May 18, 2010.

Scully pulled up to the little trailer at the edge of the park, where Deloris had made her home since the late eighties. Signs of her drastically younger sister were all over the place – a princess bike parked against the steps, a drawing of an alien dripping down a chalkboard on the lawn, several dozen mud pies baking in the mid-May sunshine. She had left the little girl with Nancy, who was in the middle of a nice three-day weekend. She felt guilty for dumping another kid on the mother of three, but Nancy insisted when she heard what Deloris had done. Scully left out the part about the possessed furniture and the terrifying visions of the future.

She walked up to the door, grimacing at the old ash tray with specs of green floating around in its murky water. Deloris was not a smoker, but she was convinced she could divine things from ashes. She had once almost burned her house down after lighting a phone book on fire.

She knocked three times on the door, waiting to hear someone stirring inside. Her car was not in the driveway, but Deloris had a habit of leaving it places when it ran out of gas. She very well could have been inside, and steadfastly ignoring Scully. She knocked again, getting a little frustrated, and tried to see into the window.

"Deloris? Deloris, I need to talk to you. It's Dana Scully. I'm not mad at you, I just want an explanation. Can you open the door please?"

One of the neighbors exited his house, coming down his steps and approaching her. "She ain't home. She left last night, took all her shit, gave me the keys to her trailer. She won't get it through her skull that I ain't the landlord."

Scully's heart sunk. "Can I see those keys?"

She let herself into the single-wide, pausing in the doorway to get a lay of the place. It was tiny, and decorated mostly in pink. Scully could see why Iden preferred spending time at their house out in the valley – she could actually stretch her legs. Other than a few old dolls and a pile of kids' clothes on the back bed, the trailer was empty. Deloris had taken everything.

Scully went through the empty drawers, her scowl growing deeper the longer she was there. How could she leave her sister like that? Iden had already lost so much.

She found two pieces of paper lying on the couch. One was a voluntary transfer of custody form, and the other was a long, detailed letter stating not where Deloris had gone, but how much better off Iden would be if she lived with Scully and Mulder. The custody form was signed and stamped by a judge, and the letter had a forgery of Scully's signature at the bottom.

"What have you done?" Scully murmured as she left the trailer. She took the clothes and dolls with her. Once she was back in her car, she rested her forehead on the steering wheel.

She felt like she had been blown out of the water. First, it was the night of the living toaster ovens, and now she was the legal guardian of a nine-year-old girl? She felt dizzy. She felt like she had never woken up from her dreams.

Scully went to the courthouse next, sitting outside the judges' chambers for several hours until his session with a crying couple ended. He looked surprised to see her.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Scully."

"Can you tell me what this is?" she asked, holding out the documents.

He took them, skimming over the custody form and glancing at the letter. "Your transfer of custody papers regarding Iden Winter. Deloris and I went over these yesterday. What do you-?" He paused suddenly, his face going pale. "I had a feeling about this."

"You had a feeling," Scully said, nodding. "Well, that's great, Phil. I'm glad you had a feeling. You let her forge my signature and give her sister to me!"

"Where is she now?"

"I have no idea. That's why I'm here. I found her trailer empty except for these documents."

He rubbed his forehead. "I wasn't even supposed to grant this kind of permission without holding a formal hearing, with all involved parties. I'm not even sure how this happened."

Scully let out an angry, shaky breath. "Is this official?"

"I can put her in the custody of the state and get in touch with social services."

"Foster care?" Scully hated the idea of it. When she thought of the furniture creeping up on her, she agreed completely with it, but when she thought of the girl curled up in her arms, sleeping peacefully after a night full of trauma, she couldn't think of anything more terrible. She knew this kid. This was not just some kid. Iden was her friend.

The judge mopped his brow, still looking flustered. "Honestly, I don't know why I did it. Deloris was just so insistent."

Scully shook her head. "No, no, don't change it. I can take care of her. I'm more than qualified."

"But you've never had a child before, Ms. Scully."

"I have," Scully said before she thought to stop herself. She looked away from him. "Just… just forget about this, and I won't bring this up again. I'm sure you don't want anyone else to know what you've done here."

"Are you blackmailing me?"

"I'm telling you how it's going to be," Scully started backing away. "As far as the state is concerned, this document came about through legitimate channels. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something to take care of."

Phil was staring at her, a mixture of surprise and outrage in his eyes, as she walked out of the courtroom. She did her best not to look back, but she watched him in the reflective glass doors. Her heart was racing again. She was only halfway sure of what she was doing.

She called Mulder again as she left the building, tempted to throw her phone when it went straight to voicemail. Again she had forgotten that he didn't have his cellphone. She called the home he was staying in, standing outside of her car while the phone rang endlessly. They weren't home, or he was ignoring her. Either way, her anxiety grew.

"Come on, Mulder, pick up the damn phone" she growled, shoving her phone back into her pocket. She sat in her car for a few minutes, unsure of what she wanted to do next.

She drove to the supermarket, watching Katie Whitehead shove carts around in the parking lot. She didn't seem outwardly distraught. Scully saw no signs that the girl's life was being threatened, but she couldn't simply drive off. Iden had been so terrified the night before. Her insistence that Katie was in danger was enough to convince Scully to investigate.

She got out of her car, trying to act casual as she approached the teenager. "Hi, Katie."

Katie whipped around, grinning. She had been Scully's patient for over six months, ever since her ear drum ruptured during soccer practice one evening. She was sweet, but kind of ditzy, the type of kid parents worried would take candy from strangers.

"Oh, hi, Dr. Scully," Katie responded, completely forgetting what she was doing to give Scully a tight hug. "I thought you just went shopping the other day."

There were only two grocery stores in town, and Scully favored this one. "I did. I came out here to see you, actually. Do you have a break coming up?"

"Um, not for another hour," Katie said, glancing around. "What's wrong?"

"It's probably nothing." She watched the kid for a moment, curious about her wandering eyes. She decided to go for it. "I just thought I saw someone following you earlier."

Katie drew in a hard breath, confirming her suspicions. "You did? Was it a white car?"

Scully did a quick sweep of the parking lot. She didn't see a white car. "Um, maybe. I'm not sure. You knew you were being followed?"

"It's Heath," Katie said, turning to push a few carts into line. She drew them out, looking around again. Scully saw unmistakable caution in her eyes. "Um, I have to get back to work. Will you meet me inside on my break?"

"Okay. I'll be back in an hour."

Scully never left the parking lot. She did a few laps around it, even checking the back of the building for the white car Katie had unwittingly told her about. She had no idea who this Heath character might be, but Katie seemed convinced that he was following her. She was afraid enough to set off alarms in Scully's head. Perhaps Iden was right about this after all.

When an hour had passed, Scully headed inside. She found Katie waiting anxiously by the coin machine, and as soon as she spotted Scully, she grabbed her arm and led her into the back of the store. The break room was empty.

"Where did you see him?" Katie asked. She looked like she wanted to pace, but she stood stiffly instead, skinny arms wrapped around her chest.

Scully urged the girl into the nearest chair, sitting beside her. "That's not important. How long has he been following you? Has he threatened you?"

Katie shrugged, leaning heavily into her hand. "I don't know… He just kept showing up at places I was at… and then I noticed his car everywhere I was. He said it was a coincidence, but I drove around for like an hour last night and he followed me the whole time."

"Is he an ex-boyfriend?"

"No! I mean, we talked and went to see a movie together – it was really awkward, so I stopped texting him. He keeps sending me these long messages and I just…"

"Have you talk to your dad about this?"

"I wasn't supposed to go out with him!" she said, her eyes tearing up. Her words began to run together in a long line of teenage angst. "I snuck out of the house. Dad said he's too old for me – he's a junior in college – and if I tell him… I can't tell him."

Scully had two tracts of thought on her mind. She was sitting with a teenage girl, just shy of seventeen years old, talking about her stalker. His pursuits were not casual. Following someone around all hours of the day was a slippery slope behavior. He could feel inclined to hurt her if his feelings were not reciprocated. She knew what the best course of action was for this – if this had been any other girl. But Iden had dreamt of her. She had seen her being beaten this very night.

What was Scully supposed to do with this information?

"Okay. Do you trust me, Katie?"

Katie nodded, wiping tears away. "Yeah, of course, Dr. Scully."

"You and I are going to tell your dad about Heath."

Katie jumped up immediately. "No! I can't!"

"Listen," Scully said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down into her chair. "Did you know that I used to work for the FBI, Katie?"

Katie shook her head, frowning. "You did?"

"Yes. You and your dad are going to file a police report, and you're going to tell the police everything that's happened between you and Heath so far. I'm going to call an old friend and make sure that there's someone looking out for you until they find Heath. How does that sound?"

Katie sniffled, pulling her shirt up to dry her face.

"When do you get off work today?"

"At six."

"Okay. I'm going to come back here at six and make sure you get home. If I see Heath, he's going to wish he had never met you."

She smiled a little, but it was gone in a second. She took Scully's hand, her voice sinking into a terrified whisper. "Do you think he wants to… what does he want?"

"Nothing that he's going to get," Scully responded.