The car's engine grinded to a halt. Mulder cranked the handbrake up and left the keys dangling in the ignition as he studied the blissful cul-de-sac. He checked again the address scribbled on the shabby bit of paper. He was in the right place.
The house in question was across the street. The driveway was empty but it was around about the time kids would be turfed out of school, they'd be back soon.
Mulder shifted, pulling a crumpled photograph from his back pocket. He unfolded it carefully and ran his thumb along the crease trying to flatten it out. Smiling back at him was a cheerful baby boy, his son, William.
A blue people carrier pulled up in the driveway and the driver's side door was pushed open. Out stepped a young woman. She pulled her cardigan around her and fiddled with something in the back seat.
Mulder watched as she carefully lifted the tiny baby from his child seat, holding him close into her chest. She closed the car door after her and found the house keys in her handbag.
"William, honey, come on" She called back.
The passenger door eked open and a little boy jumped down from the seat, pushing the heavy door closed after himself. He slung his school backpack over a shoulder and followed his mother into the house.
"Mom, can I have some of my birthday cake?" The boy grinned.
"You can have some for dessert after dinner, okay sweetheart"
The mother kissed her son on his head. The voices grew distant as they entered the house and shut the front door behind them.
Mulder sat alone in silence for a moment. He picked out the small wrapped gift from the glove compartment; green dinosaur-wrapping paper with a little red bow. He knew it was against the rules. He shouldn't be anywhere near him, but he felt an overwhelming sensation that it was the right thing to do.
He got out of the car, checked around to make sure the coast was clear and approached the house. He made it as far as he dared to the threshold and tucked the little wrapped gift on the step before turning on the spot and darting swiftly away.
From the safety of the car he was about to start the engine and head off before the little boy burst through the front door, mitt and baseball in hand and a golden retriever barking excitedly in tow.
The boy jumped the first few steps and then stopped in his tracks, picking up the present and studying it quizzically as the dog jumped around his feet.
He searched around him, hoping to find the source of the token gift but no one was in sight.
Mulder sunk into his drivers seat trying to divert his attention, he should leave, he told himself, but he couldn't help but watch.
The young boy sat down on the step and unwrapped the present in hand. He held the Apollo keyring up against the light admiring it.
"William, what have you got there, honey?" The mother asked bringing her son out a glass of lemonade.
The boy handed his mother the gift, "It was on the porch, pretty neat, huh?"
"It's lovely, does it say who it's from?"
The boy shook his head.
Mulder turned the ignition, put the car in gear and pulled away completely unnoticed.
'Happy tenth birthday, son', he thought to himself in the empty car.
….
"William, wait, where are you going?" Bobby grabbed his friend by his jacket before he could leave the house.
"Let go, Bobby. I have to find my brother, and Rachel"
"Who's Rachel?"
William's patience was wearing thin; he didn't have time for long explanations, "A friend" He removed Bobby's grubby hands from his top, "I gotta' go"
He opened the front door, stood in the frame for mere seconds before throwing himself back inside and slamming the door shut behind him. The ground shook violently and everyone dropped to their knees as a raging flame lit up the outside, spewing ash through the cracks under the door and around the windows.
"What's happening?!" Becky let out a high-pitched scream.
Bobby crawled on his stomach across the carpet and peaked through the hem of the curtains.
"Holy shit!" He breathed, "Those are our planes. I think the military has issued an air strike on those things!"
William joined Bobby, coughing against the dust. Sure enough there was an American craft incinerated with fire still rolling off of the mutilated engine remains. More planes circled the invisible object in the sky, firing shots blindly, relying only on radar.
The bullets looked to be bouncing off like Ping-Pong balls, their weapons completely futile to the advanced technologies of the UFO's.
"That's really gonna' piss them off" Bobby remarked.
"Oh my god, what'd we do?" Becky repeated, rocking her hands in her head.
"Shut up, Becky, you're not helping!" Her brother complained.
William watched as one after another the light fighter jets fell to their fiery graves.
"We have to move, now, this house is right in the firing line, something's bound to come through the roof sooner or later" Will warned, "We go out the back door, jump the fence and across the park, it should be a safer distance"
The siblings nodded in agreement.
"Okay" Will twisted the handle of the back door, hovering over the threshold, "…And for Christ sake, try not to be seen. We don't want to become a moving target"