Five Years Ago

"William, my love. Why don't you come over here and meet your baby brother?"

His mother's words were warm and comforting. Her voice felt like home.

He'd missed her the past few days. He'd been kept at his grandparents whilst they were at the hospital and had never felt so insecure. Mom and Dad were off having his replacement, a new son that would supersede him, that would be better because it was biologically theirs, unlike himself. He was a spare, a child to temporarily fill the void until they were able to have their own.

"Son, come on over next to your Mom and say hello to baby Alex" His father encouraged.

William shook his head uncooperatively and remained rooted to the spot, with his mother growing ever concerned.

"Darling," She addressed her husband kind-heartedly, "…Would you mind changing Alex?"

He collected the bundled infant from the basket beside the bed and disappeared into another room. William surveyed the balloons and congratulatory cards decorating the hospital room. There were stuffed animals and an abundance of blue baby clothing neatly piled on the bedside table.

"William, sweetheart…"

Her words snapped him back to attention.

"Can I have a cuddle from my special boy?"

William crawled into her arms and buried his head in her chest as she embraced him warmly. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation.

"What's wrong?" She asked, when he raised his eyes to meet hers.

"You won't want me any more, now you have a new baby…" His words fumbled out and he wasn't sure what else to say.

"Sweetheart, you are the most important thing in the world to me and your Daddy. Don't be so silly…" She brushed his hair out of his face and gently kissed his forehead, "…And baby Alex is so lucky to have such a wonderful brother like you. He's going to look up to you, you know"

William scrunched his face, trying to come around to the idea.

"But, I wasn't born like him. The lady that had me first, I mean, why didn't she keep me, didn't she want me? Where is she now?"

"I wish I knew more about where you came from. If I had the answers, I'd tell you everything, William. But you came to us…" She paused, wondering how to explain to her nine year old that his background was so sensitive it had been wiped from the system altogether, that he'd been a ghost before a year old. Whatever life he'd had before coming into the Van De Kamp family must have been a sorry state. The only vague conduit to his past was a mysterious man named Walter Skinner whom occasionally popped by to check that everyone was alright.

"Let me tell you a story, William, about the first time I ever met you…" She straightened the collar of her son's chequered shirt and ironed the creases out with her fingers, "…A lovely lady brought you over to our home, and she placed you in my arms. You were so tiny and so beautiful. And the first time I laid eyes on you, I fell in love with you. In that moment, I became your mommy, and you became the most important thing in my entire life…"

His father peeked through the door with his now babbling baby brother, looking alert and inquisitive.

"Do you want to hold him?" His mother suggested.

William nodded, still a little uncertain, and the wriggling baby was placed in his lap. It was small and wrinkly and looked pink and weird. William felt awkward holding it. He was about to ask his mother to relieve him of the burden, when a tiny hand reached out towards him. William held it apprehensively and watched as the smallest fingers wrapped around his, and the baby smiled at him.

"See…" His father chimed, readying the camera, "He likes you, champ"

"Hello, Alex" William whispered to the wrinkly baby in his arms, "I'm you're big brother, and I'm going to look after you"

….

William followed Krycek into the icy room. His breath lay heavy in the air with each exhale. Across the room, an old man stood with his back to them, a thick jacket around his chest he looked to be engrossed in something.

"My dearest William…" The old man croaked, addressing him without turning round, "…I wondered about the circumstances of which we would inevitably meet"

William looked up at Krycek stood beside him, searching for some kind of prompt, but the man was giving nothing away. This was clearly his superior, the man of which he answered to.

"How do you know who I am?" Will proceeded cautiously.

"I've known you from the day you were born, my boy. I've followed every inch of your life very closely for the past fifteen years…"

"Why?"

It was simple, but seemed the only logical question. At one stage in time, being told he was the object of some bizarre geriatric's interest would have had him very worried. Now, however, what with all the recent exposures coming to light it came as little surprise.

"Because, William, we have more in common than you know…" The man finally turned slowly, revealing a hideously disfigured face, "You and I, William, share something…"

"I share nothing with you, old man. Now, tell me what the hell is going on here!"

"Blood. William, we share blood. And also, perhaps, something else; a future… a future that will be denied to millions of people…"

William shook his head. He didn't want to hear any more of this bullshit.

"Why did you leave, William?"

"Leave what?"

"Leave your parents; Agents Mulder and Scully…"

"To do something..." The words fell out of his mouth, "...To try to help rather than hide in the shadows and hope everything turned out okay."

"But what are you searching for?"

William frowned. The man knew his biological parents, knew his life, and seemed to know more than he himself did.

"I think you already know the answer to that."

"Your brother, Alex. Your dear friend, the daughter of the scientist" The man mocked. " I can help you."

"No deal. Now let me go."

"I know where they are"

"Then you better tell me, right now"

"First, I want you to help me with something" The man sneered wickedly.

"I told you, I don't make deals with the devil. I'm not helping you with anything. Now, tell me where my brother is" He felt his fists clench as the rage built within him.

"You forget, William, that I require your assistance a lot less than you do mine. Be smart about this, by my watch your beloved brother and friend have mere hours before the vaccine becomes incapable of saving them"

"You heartless bastard!" William cried, launching himself for the sinister old man.

Before he'd had a chance to react, Krycek had him held tight in a headlock.

"It's okay, Alex, release him…" The man spoke calmly, lighting a cigarette between his fingers.

"…So much like your old man" he took a long inhale of the cigarette, the tip glowing as he did so, "… Shame. I'd hoped you'd have a little more sense to you, but alas, you're just as reckless as him"

As soon as Krycek released his hold, William lunged forward but was stopped mid-air right before he got close. An invisible force held him in place, grasping his fists and restraining his fighting body. William searched to figure out what on earth was going on. He was completely incapacitated.

"Lead with your head, William, not your heart. If you make that mistake you'll end up like the rest of them. Cold and dead buried in the earth… or if you're even less lucky, mauled by the greys…" He took another puff, "Now, let's try this again afresh. Here's how it's going to pan out. You're going to help me with a little something, and then I'm going to help you find your brother and your friend. Understand?"

….

"Holy shit…" Morgan breathed, "…You killed him"

"He's alive, just knocked out" Skinner hauled the lifeless Mulder on to his good shoulder, "Give me a hand?"

Morgan grabbed the other arm.

Skinner lowered his voice to Scully's ear, "Scully, do you have any idea what the hell just happened there?"

She watched as her partner was manhandled into the lab and deposited on the cold, hard floor.

"I don't know. That has never happened before. The voices are always… distant, harmless. They've never affected him like that. Certainly never been all consuming as they were there. For a moment, Mulder was gone…"

Skinner looked equality concerned.

"Alright," Scully cleared her throat, assessing how many of them there were left, "I want half this team downstairs protecting the medical bay. So far there's been no damage to the area, I believe they see it as non-threatening. Nevertheless it needs defending. The remainder of you will stay here. We create a first line of defence outside the lab and a second just before the airlock system. Six people remain inside as our final line of defence"

The residents immediately began organising themselves.

"Skinner and Morgan, you're inside here with me. I need two more and a load of ammunition. If you're handy with a gun or hand to hand combat I suggest you protect the perimeters. We don't want to get to the second line of defence if we can help it. Good luck, everyone. The fate of our world is quite literally in your hands"

She handed a rifle to one of the COM's team, "…Give em' hell" She murmured, embracing her inner badass.

Things were about to get messy.

Inside the lab, Skinner and Morgan set to work installing all the appropriate protection, from locking down the remaining electronics that weren't damaged in the power out, to lifting metal reinforcements into place to protect the doors.

She crouched next to Mulder and checked his pulse. Alive. Just. It was as good as she could do for him now. Locking down the lab was the priority. As soon as that were done she could see to him. She rolled him on his side into the recovery position and watched his mouth twitch as though he were murmuring gibberish. None of them had yet planned what to do if he were to awake in the same state. They all just prayed it would pass. They prayed even more so that the invaders would give up and move on. Something told her this was not going to be the case.