AN: Drum roll, please! We have reached the end of this story – this is the last chapter. But I have GF4 and GF5 written. They will be posted shortly. Thank you for reading and for your reviews – they are all appreciated – you guys are great!

Chapter 18

"They are indeed, my dear lady. The Mulders and you two are now free to live the lives that you wish to live, though there are still a few loose ends to clean up. You will all have to have some sort of new identities as we cannot explain your new youthful appearance given the ages that you actually were."

"What did you have in mind?" Daniel asked.

"Well, the logical solution, especially for you, Daniel, is to be your own descendent." Sucellos smirked. "You do still look like yourself, after all. We could create a little-known son for you from this lifetime, one that was born before you met Carolyn, and he in turn produced you."

"I'd be my own grandson?" He laughed. "That's ludicrous."

"But I bet it would work," Carolyn said.

"And you, my dear, could still be his wife if you decide to put up with him."

"And us?" Scully asked.

"Well, you could be complete strangers, or something else. I am open to suggestions."

"How about a Gregg? I'd like to be a Gregg," Mulder said and stared across the room at the Captain.

"Fox, you can't be serious."

"But I am," he said, and his voice was filled with sincerity. "You have done something for us, for me that I can never repay. Even though we know it isn't true, I would be honored if you would allow me to share your name. I promise not to embarrass you."

"Mulder," Scully tugged at his sleeve trying to not have him promise things he might not be able to live up to, but he shook her off.

"I mean it, Danny. But if you don't want me to, if you're uncomfortable with this I will understand."

Daniel grimaced at his wife and she and the adult children laughed.

"You're sure you want to belong to him, Fox? He can be a lot to deal with!" Candy teased, and the Captain gave her a look of reproof.

"Yeah, he gets rather curmudgeonly at times!" Jonathan added and they all looked at him.

"Is that even a word?" Carolyn said with a laugh. "Kids, this is something that would involve you too if Fox is serious."

"I am, really," he nodded.

"Do you want him, and of course, Dana and William, to be part of the family?"

"Only if you tell me more about the X-files," Candy said, her eyes lighting in anticipation.

"I guess I can too as long as you keep him in line," Jonathan indicated the Captain who promptly snorted at the very thought.

"Okay, two yes votes from the kids. I vote yes as well. That only leave you," Carolyn said, turning to face her husband who was rolling his eyes as if in pain.

"Must I?"

She knew that he had already accepted the idea and agreed to it but needed to prolong the decision. Fox was sitting on the edge of his seat and looked nervous, he had never looked nervous. Carolyn realized just how sincere he was in that moment. Maybe it was as she and Daniel had once discussed, he really did need a father figure that was a good man, though she wasn't sure that applied to any of them now given that her children were technically older than her.

"If, and I am saying if, I agreed to this, how would this work?" He spoke to Sucellos.

He shrugged. "However, you'd like. He could be a cousin, perhaps even a brother…"

"A brother?" The Captain was indignant. "How could that possibly be? How could a son of mine sire someone like him? A man who is so single minded that he spent his entire life driven to find the truth? A man driven to forego his own happiness if he thought it would help those he loved?" He gave Fox a brief smile. "How could I ever accept such a man into my family?"

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Mulder looked crestfallen until some of the Captain's words began to sink in.

"A man that needs to be reminded that it is all right to live a happy life with his family, and that he should treasure them like nothing else on this earth." Daniel's smile was genuine as he looked at Fox.

The two men looked at each other across the room and the Captain chuckled as he saw Mulder's eyes tear up.

"A man who has learned that, Danny."

"Very well, then." The Captain drew himself up. "I will allow you to be a Gregg."

"Your brother, Danny. Can I be your brother?"

"Stranger and stranger, "Carolyn murmured and exchanged a look with Dana who shrugged.

"You will all accept this?" The elder spirit asked and all nodded. "All right, one thing down."

"What about the timeline? Which one is right?" Carolyn asked.

"The new timeline is what everyone outside of this room will know and remember. The next question is what do you want to remember? Do you want to keep the former memories as well as the current ones? Or let them go in favor of the new timeline? That would be my recommendation as it would be far easier to live with, especially for you two," he said to Jonathan and Candy.

Jonathan shrugged. "I'm good with that. I never knew Bobby Muir anyway."

"Yeah, me too."

"Are you sure?" Carolyn eyed her daughter in concern.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm good. It's all right, really." She turned to Sucellos. "But does that mean we're not going to know that they are really Mom and Dad?"

"Hey, Candy has a point," Jonathan agreed. "Even if they look different we don't want to forget who they are!"

The elder spirit studied them for a moment. "How about this? The two of you only know the part about something strange happening to your parents and the Mulders, the thing that de-aged them and made the Captain a real person. But your past remains the one that goes with this timeline, where your mother raised you along until you moved into Gull Cottage?"

The two siblings looked at each other and nodded.

"Good." Sucellos turned to the Mulders.

"And us?" Dana asked.

"Hmm, a good question. But as you are not directly involved in Carolyn's life from the past, changing those memories have no impact on you." He then looked at Carolyn and the Captain. "You two probably need to remember what happened as it could affect you going forward. I'm not sure how or why, but I think it is better for you to keep the knowledge of what happened."

"You mean I'll have two sets of memories? I'm not sure I'd like that," Carolyn said.

"Unfortunate, but necessary I think."

Carolyn didn't look pleased.

"But what about the present, the here and now?" Mulder asked.

"It is as I said, you will be given new identities which seem to have been determined. The actual identities you had in your normal lifetime will have come to some sort of tragic end. Perhaps a car accident, lost at sea, a plane crash? Something of that nature. The easiest thing would be if you were all travelling together. Hardest to verify would still probably be a ship lost at sea or a plane crash."

"A ship, I think," said the Captain.

"The National investigators are good at what they do. Maybe there'd be something they found that wouldn't match up?" Scully said.

"You are missing the point, either one is acceptable and either one will work because we, the Powers That Be, will make it work. The lot of you will be deceased as far as the world is concerned. You only have to decide."

"Well, I'd hate to die in a plane crash," Carolyn said.

"Or a car crash," Dana offered.

"You'd rather drown?" Mulder asked.

"Less to prove and possibly find if we went down in the ocean," the Captain said with a grim voice.

There were reluctant murmurs of assent from the group.

"Very well, you were all vacationing together when an unexpected storm came up and you drowned at sea." Sucellos paused. "The next item you need to consider is what kind of work you want to do. I will give you some time to mull that over. Once decided you will have the proper credentials and skills to back you up so that you can find new employment if you so desire."

"Wow, really?" Mulder asked.

"Yes, Mr. Mulder, really. And you will both have a bonus of sorts added to your portfolios. The Mulders will have the assets they already had as will the Greggs, with an added bonus. While not filthy rich you will all be well off financially."

The four of them looked at each other and shrugged.

"What do you want to do with your house, Daniel?"

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "My house? Whatever do you mean?"

"Well, technically the will you left behind left it to Candy and Jonathan. There was no clause for your other fictional son or his descendants."

The Captain and Carolyn looked over to the kids who grinned back at them.

"I don't know, Jon, do you think they can be trusted?"

"They look kind of shady to me," Jonathan said with a laugh.

"Trusted? Shady?" The Captain was beside himself, but Carolyn only smiled.

"Kids, what do you want to do?" Then she turned to her husband. "We could move somewhere brand new and start over? We have been here a very long time."

The Captain closed his eyes, the thought of leaving his home obviously painful to him.

"It's okay, Mom, really. We just wanted to tease you guys. This is your house, we would never claim it for ourselves as long as you are around to enjoy it. Besides we have our lives away from here," Candy smiled at her parents.

"You're sure?" She asked.

"We're sure," Jonathan nodded.

"Which brings up another point," Sucellos said. "You two, what do you want to do?" He looked at Candy and Jonathan.

"Do? About what?" Jonathan asked.

"I am offering you a choice which I haven't been sanctioned to do, but at this juncture it seems only fair that you two have a choice as well given what has transpired. But you both must be in accord. Agreed?"

"Sure, why not?" The two adult children shrugged.

"Because time was altered, and you are now Daniel's children in every way imaginable, I can make it possible for you to be with your parents now, again, as their children."

"You'd make us kids again?" Jonathan's mouth dropped open.

"Yes, if you'd like."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because dear Candy it would give you a chance for all of you to be a family as you were meant to be," Sucellos explained patiently.

Brother and sister exchanged a long look.

"But we remember having a childhood with Mom and the Captain. The new one was sometime hard but it all worked out and got us here," Jonathan said.

"We already had our childhood with Mom and Dad. Besides, if we did that what would happen to our spouses and our kids?" Candy frowned.

"They cannot be included in the new timeline, no one else can."

"That means wouldn't be with them now?"

"No, you wouldn't, but it's possible that you would meet someone new and still have a family again," Sucellos said.

"But not the same one?" Jonathan asked in a questioning voice.

"That is correct."

Again, the two of them looked at each other and read the answer in each other's face.

"No," they said in unison.

"Very well." Sucellos mentally ticked off items on his fingers before looking at them again.

"You can never share the knowledge of what happened here with anyone except the people in this room."

"Okay," Candy said, and her brother nodded in agreement.

Sucellos turned to face the Mulders. "And to calm your fears, the alien invasion will be dealt with and they will be defeated, and if you do not go poking into government conspiracies, or seeking out things alien, your lives should be relatively normal." He gave Mulder a stern look. "If you do get involved in such things again we will not be able to save you, for the fate you create will be your own."

"We understand," Scully said and squeezed Mulder's hand.

"Good. Now another matter that needs to be brought up especially since you two ignored my directives and have thus started down this road."

Scully gave the spirit a puzzled look. "And what road is that?"

"Sissy!" William said and laughed as he patted his mother's stomach.

"Oh, that," she blushed.

Mulder rubbed his face and exchanged a look with Scully before he addressed the elder spirit. "But how is this even possible? I mean, William was a miracle…Scully shouldn't be able to get pregnant, I mean, we tried…"

"Yes, you did but that was before you acquired these bodies."

They stared at him with blank expressions.

"Your bodies are reset to a time before those horrible atrocities that were committed on both Miss Scully and you, Mr. Mulder."

"I have ova?" Scully blinked in astonishment and a slow smile began to spread across her face.

The same expression made its way across Mulder's face and they stared at each other.

"Scully?" he gently laid his hand over her stomach.

"Oh my God, Mulder, it's really true?" Her hand covered his.

"It's very true, and you two wasted no time," Sucellos gave them a stern look. "But that being what it is, I need to caution you that though we could restore your bodies to their youth and the production that they are capable of, we could not remove the tampering that had been done to you on a cellular level."

"Which means?" Scully asked with a suspicious gaze.

"That we're part alien," Mulder said with a sigh.

"No, that isn't possible…"

"It is, and you are, both of you," Sucellos said. "In any event, you need to know that any children you have will be…unusual."

"Unusual? What does that mean?" Scully's sharp gaze was fixed on him.

"They will probably all be special, have abilities of some sort, so be prepared for that." He shrugged. "It comes from being part alien."

The Mulder's gave each other perplexed looks and began a conversation with their eyes and expressions that no one else was part of, so Sucellos left them on their own and turned towards the Greggs.

"And us?" Carolyn asked in a hopeful voice.

"You both have completely young, human bodies."

"And we will have normal children," the Captain said with a superior smile aimed at Fox.

Sucellos held up a hand. "Not so fast, Daniel. You were a spirit for an extended period and even though you appear to be a normal man, you still have a sizable number of spirit tendencies within you."

"And they're genetic?"

"Yes, some are." He gave a nod of acknowledgement.

"But I'm still normal?" Carolyn asked, an uncertain note in her voice.

"Not precisely. Due to your many years of …consorting with Daniel…of sharing his essence with him, you now have some latent spirit abilities that may be passed on to your children. You are rather psychic, you know that don't you?"

"I'd always wondered…"

"Well now you know." Sucellos looked around at the group of them. "We are almost done."

"Almost?" Daniel asked in a tired voice wondering what else could be left.

"The one last thing is that on occasion the powers that be may have need for your services, your assistance as it were." He nodded to the group of them.

"But we've already helped you!" Mulder protested.

Daniel only groaned. "I knew there was a catch."

"Hardly a catch, Daniel. Consider it a request, and an infrequent one."

"What does that mean?" Carolyn asked.

"It's not a request," Daniel grossed.

Sucellos beamed at the people surrounding him. "There, I think we finally have everything settled. Thank God! That took long enough."

The family in the room looked around at one another and after a long silence back at the elder spirit.

"Now what?" Carolyn asked at last.

Sucellos gave them all a beatific, benevolent smile. "Now you live your lives."

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Back at their home later that night, Mulder and Scully lie in bed panting from their exertions.

"Mulder, that was…"

"Yeah…" he offered her a tired smile.

"Why did we take so long to get to this? We could have been enjoying each other so much sooner." He gave her a lewd look.

"Because we weren't ready, I guess." She rolled over and raised herself on her elbow so that she could look him in his face. "Probably a good thing we didn't jump in bed right away."

He frowned. "And why is that?"

"We had one night together, and you already knocked me up! Jesus, Mulder! We would have had a carload of kids. Hard to solve X-files when you're dragging kids around." She laughed but he regarded her with a somber expression.

"We would have figured it out, Scully. I wouldn't have been such a shit as to leave you to raise them by yourself."

"Back then you didn't want this," her hand gestured at the air around them.

"Maybe I did but it just took you to make me realize that I wanted to get out of the car and stand on solid ground. It was easier to chase monsters than to build a real life." He traced a meaningless pattern on her arm.

"You would have raised a family with me and still worked on the X-files?"

"Of course. I think I must have always loved you, it just took me a while to figure it out." He snorted. "And it took you even longer."

She hit him on the chest and he laughed as he pulled her to him. She rested her head there while he stroked her hair.

"Mulder?"

"Yes?"

"Are you glad we have this chance? Can you live with a normal life?"

"You know what? I think I can." He sighed. "That doesn't mean that I'm not interested in pursuing my investigations of the paranormal, but I have my priorities straight, you and the rest of our family come first." A wondrous grin spread across his face and he kissed the top of his wife's head.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?" She looked at him.

"For her," he touched her flat belly.

"Oh, Mulder, a girl. A little girl of our own." There were tears of joy in Scully's eyes as Mulder pulled her in and held her tight.

They stayed wrapped in each other's arms until the tendrils of sleep pulled them into its silent embrace, and the couple entwined with each other fell into a deep sleep.

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Dinner was quiet and romantic, lots of long lingering looks, touching, and hand holding. When they were done they finished off the wine they had started at dinner, and with a brush of her lips against his, she went upstairs to get ready for bed.

He sighed and closed his eyes and after a few minutes opened them again and then followed his wife up the stairs. When he entered the room, he saw that Carolyn had got ready for bed in record speed and now was propped up against the headboard in a delicious silk negligee. The thin straps dropped down to the material that barely covered her bosom and clung to every curve. The sheet lay down around her lap and was open on his side of the bed. The look of desire in her eyes was so beckoning that he found himself walking over to stand before her. He leaned over and kissed her, gently probing, but with a lack of heat, loving but not passionate. When they broke the kiss, she looked at him in confusion.

He gave her a gentle smile and cupped his hand on her cheek. "My dear, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am very tired. Exhausted. I believe my transformation is taking quite a lot out of me." He gave her a smile and she could see the weariness in his face.

"I understand, it's all right," she said but he could hear the disappointment in her voice, and dropped his head feeling bad for disappointing her. In a moment she felt her fingertips under his chin as she got him to look at her. "It is all right, Daniel. We have the rest of our lives, remember?" She laughed. "I'm still trying to get used to being young again. It's just that I have all of these…urges…and I'm not quite sure what to do with them."

"Urges? You've always known what to do with your…urges," he chuckled.

"Maybe, but we've never had our bodies at this age when we've been together. And my body is telling me that it wants to have its way with a tall, handsome man that I am hopelessly in love with."

"Ahh, yes, a bit of a transition for you as well. Again, I am sorry, my love, but I cannot." He paused and looked over at the sofa. "If you prefer I can…"

"No, not everything is about sex, you know that. Come sleep with me and let me wake up in your arms and fall asleep to the sound of your beating heart." Her eyes glistened with happiness.

"And that will be enough for you?"

"That is more than enough. Undress and join me in bed."

With a nod to her he divested himself of his clothing, except for his boxers, and slid into bed beside her. He opened his arms and she settled in to a spot against his chest and heard the sound of his beating heart. He could feel her smile against his chest.

"My love?"

"It's the most amazing, simplest thing. We're alive, we're young, and we're together."

"Indeed, it is, my love, indeed it is." His voice was slurred ever so slightly, and she knew she was already losing him to sleep. She settled against him, feeling his warmth, hearing the steady beat of his heart, and knew that at long last, she was home.

THE END (for now)

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AN: And if you are inclined to leave one last review for GF 3 on the overall story – you will make my day. Many thanks for reading.