Colonization IV
by Donna

Email address - donnah@donnas-stories.com
URL - http://www.donnas-stories.com/
Rating - R
Category - Post-colonization, MSR, AU, MPOV
Spoilers - None
Keywords - Post-colonization, MSR, AU, MPOV 
Summary - None
Feedback - Please
Archive - Anywhere, just let me know so I can visit

Disclaimer - Mulder, Scully, the Lone Gunmen and Skinner 
all belong to Chris, 10-13, and Fox - Bless them for it!!  No 
infringement intended. 


Colonization - Part 4

They split up for the evening.  Skinner took the parent's 
room, Gibson the couch in the living room, and Mulder 
joined William in his room.  He had a twin bed, but there 
was plenty of room as Mulder spooned around his son.

Surprisingly he had no nightmares that night; maybe 
William's presence did what Scully's did for him.  He woke to 
the smell of coffee the next morning and carefully left the 
bed.  He headed for the kitchen and spotted Walter, slicing 
something.  Walter turned to look at him.  "Coffee's on the 
stove."

Mulder headed that way and poured himself a cup.  

"Power's out, but they have a gas stove and water heater, so 
help yourself while it's available."

"Did you shower?" Mulder asked after a beat or two.

"Yeah.  Gibson's still asleep."

"So's William.  Walter - "

"I know.  You have to get back to Scully.  I'm with you on 
that.  I'm hoping in a couple of days things out there will 
calm down enough for William to locate her.  Right now . . . 
Mulder, I think we need to sit tight for a few days."

"Days?  You expect me to wait days before I - "

"Yes.  We have William and Gibson to look after as well as 
ourselves.  I don't know how good any of us will be at 
survivalism.  I don't know a good place to go, I - "

"I have a place."

"What?"

"I have a place.  I haven't been there in years, Scully doesn't 
even know about it.  When I first went into hiding, right after 
William . . . right after I left, the guys helped me set it up."

Skinner watched him a moment and then nodded.  
"Where?"

"North Dakota."  At Skinners raised eyebrow Mulder 
shrugged.  "They don't like the cold, well the ones I knew 
about didn't.  I don't have a clue what's happened.  Why the 
destruction?  Why do this?  If the virus . . . "

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.  We've got no 
intelligence on this, so we have to proceed cautiously.  I 
know the first item of business is retrieving Scully."  Mulder 
flashed him a grateful look.  "But we need to be prepared if 
we're going to get across country and then back to North 
Dakota."

"I'm sketchy on what that entails, but believe it or not, I can 
follow orders.  What do we do?"

Skinner grinned at that.  "I've already started.  With the 
freezer off, the meat's going to go bad, so I'm slicing it thin 
and making jerky in the oven.  Not the best tasting, but it'll 
last virtually forever and it's easy to carry.  There're lots of 
canned goods, all kinds of things, which we'll have to pack 
up.  We're gonna need a much better vehicle.  I haven't 
checked to see if there's anything here that will fit the bill."

"There is," William walked into the kitchen rubbing his eyes.  
He immediately came to stand next to Mulder and Mulder's 
arm went around him.  Both men could see him relax 
slightly at the gesture.  "Dad has an Expedition, the biggest 
one and it's his baby.  He's got it in top shape."

"Four wheel drive, lots of cargo room.  That should work.  
Thanks, William."

"Breakfast?"

"I usually have a bowl of cereal."

"That's probably a good idea.  The milk won't last without the 
refrigerator."  They all set about their separate tasks and 
Gibson joined them shortly.  Without power they were only 
able to use the radio and were unable to pick up anything 
but static.  William and Gibson were only able to sense terror 
and panic in the confusion.  Mulder forced himself not to 
ask again, but Skinner could see the toll the not knowing 
about Scully was already taking.

Mulder took on the task of packing up the jars of canned 
food, using washcloths and towels to cushion the glass - 
they'd need them anyway when they finally made it to North 
Dakota.  He was unable to keep his mind off of Scully for 
more than a few minutes at the time, but he managed to 
keep quiet.  William and Gibson would know, but there was 
nothing he could do about that.

No one approached the farm in the next few days and 
Skinner finally commented on it.  "William's idea," Gibson 
said.  "He just kind of makes people forget it's here, there's 
no reason to come out here because it's a . . . blank."

"Even . . . them?"

Gibson looked over at William.  "I haven't felt 'them'.  I can't 
even tell if they're on planet yet."

Everyone looked at William then.  He shook his head.  "I 
think they're letting panic do what the explosions didn't, but 
people are calming down.  There are people taking over as 
leaders and they're organizing rescues."  He shrugged.  "I 
don't think they expected that, but I'm not sure . . . "

"It's okay," Mulder managed to say.  He was talking less and 
less and that almost exclusively to William.  Skinner just 
kept busy, making lists, quietly getting what they needed 
together.

Skinner had been pleased to find several plastic containers 
of gasoline which were full.  He'd siphoned all of the 
remaining gas out of the rental car and the Expedition's 
tanks were full.  The back of the thing was packed full with 
Gibson's bike and the supplies they had all packed so 
carefully.

They were at breakfast when William's head shot up.  
"They're here."

"Here? At the farm?"  Mulder was already on his feet and 
Walter was rising.

"Oh, no.  Not here, but on the planet."

"What are they doing?"

"I can't tell, I'm sorry."

Mulder's arm went around him.  "It's okay.  Don't strain 
yourself.  If you pick anything up, just let us know."  He 
looked over at Skinner, who nodded to him.

William and Gibson finished eating and went off to William's 
room.  There was little more that Mulder and Skinner could 
do.  The place had been stripped of what they considered 
essentials for the trip and the Expedition was stuffed in any 
case.  Now they had to wait until the boys thought it would 
be safe to move.  Skinner had the definite impression that 
Mulder was going to implode.

He watched as the younger man headed outside one more 
time to look around the barn, and probably shed a few tears 
in private.  Neither boy had been able to pick up any hint of 
Scully, and though Mulder hadn't given up, his veneer of 
hope was wearing thin.  

Washington, DC, the nearest capital to her had to have 
been obliterated.  Even as far away as her hospital was, it 
was nothing to the kind of destruction the boys had 
described to them.

Skinner was grieving as well, but not with the sharp 
anguish of Mulder.  Skinner had friends, acquaintances in 
DC but no relationship that compared to Mulder and Scully.  
With a small jolt he realized he didn't know of any other 
such relationship.  Sharon and he had been good together, 
at first, but he knew they had not had the bond that these 
two shared.  The only thing keeping Mulder sane right now 
was William and his need for his father.

They all gathered again at lunch.  "They're gathering up 
survivors."  William reported.  "The people seem to think 
they're with the government and are there to help them."

"Are they shape shifters?  Do they look human?"

William shrugged.  "I can't see them, but people aren't afraid 
of them, so I guess so.  They think they're being rescued.  
They're being loaded into those trucks like the banks use to 
move money, but there's no money in them now."

"Do you know where they're going?"

William looked over at Gibson, and they both shook their 
head.  "Once they get in the truck, we can't . . ."

"I think they're being drugged," Gibson said.  "Their 
thoughts just kind of drift away once they're settled in the 
trucks."

"But they're not being killed?"

"No, they're still able to think, kinda, but it's . . . muted and 
not important things.  They're not frantic or, or purposeful 
after that."

Skinner nodded.  "That does sound drugged.  Are we still 
okay here?"

"Yeah, they're just outside the big cities.  They have plenty 
of people to pick up before they get out to a place like this."

"Well, that's good," Skinner said, trying to ease the tension 
emanating from Mulder.  The boys were watching him and 
Skinner could only imagine what they were picking up.

They gathered for lunch, eating the last of the refrigerated 
food.  Gibson looked up at Mulder, then after a quick glance 
at William, spoke.  "I know we need to get to DC as quick as 
possible, but Skinner's right.  We need to go to North Dakota 
first and unload this stuff."

Mulder looked up, swallowing quickly.  He looked over at 
Skinner.  "North Dakota first?"
Skinner looked uncomfortable.  "Come on, what are you 
thinking?"  Mulder's voice was harsh now.

"I thought it would make sense.  We're a hell of a lot closer 
to North Dakota than we are to DC.  We could unload these 
supplies, which are going to be invaluable very shortly.  
Then make our way through Canada rather than around the 
large cities in the US.  But I knew you'd disagree, so I hadn't 
said anything."  Skinner turned to glare at Gibson.

"And it's a good idea," Gibson shot back.  "I want to get 
Scully.  I think she's an essential part of all of this, but we 
haven't been able to locate her yet.  We haven't given up, 
we're not going to give up.  But I think DC is probably one of 
the worst places for Mulder and William to be at the present 
time.  Hell, it was the center of the free world; you think any 
alien wouldn't hang out there?"

"Mulder," Skinner said, watching him, "we can go on to DC."

Mulder looked up at him, then over toward William.  "Is she 
alive?"

"I don't know," the boy said, his tone showed how much he 
wanted to say what Mulder needed to hear, but he didn't lie.

At the statement, Mulder seemed to deflate.  "I guess North 
Dakota would make more sense."

"Daddy - " Mulder's head shot up.  William hadn't called him 
that before.  He'd kind of avoided calling him anything.  "I'll 
keep trying, I promise."

Mulder reached for him and the boy leapt into his arms, 
holding him as tightly as he had that first day they had met.  
Skinner glanced at Gibson and they both quietly left the 
room, giving them some privacy.

In a few minutes Mulder came looking for them.  "Come 
back and eat.  If we're going to leave at dawn, we have a lot 
to do today."

"Where are we going?" Skinner asked.

"North Dakota.  We won't be staying long, but you're right 
about these supplies.  We'll need them when we get back 
with Scully."

Skinner nodded and they followed Mulder back to the table.  
After lunch William found the atlas for Skinner and they 
began planning their route.  Mulder's place was outside of 
Beldon, close to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.  It 
was roughly a ten hour drive, but the only place they 
needed to avoid was Rapid City.  With three drivers, they 
could make it in a day, stopping for any refueling 
opportunities only.

William held Mulder's hand tightly as they headed to the car 
the next morning.  The house had been pretty much 
cleaned out and William knew he would never be back.  
Mulder looked down and caught his looking back one more 
time.  *Do you want me to ride in back with you?*

William shook his head, but didn't speak.  He crawled in 
beside Gibson in the limited space and Skinner pulled out 
of the driveway.

There was no traffic this early, and the boys were tuned into 
what was ahead to the best of their abilities.  Skinner kept 
things at an easy fifty miles per hour, conserving fuel.  They 
all knew that they would have to go off road occasionally 
and didn't want to race up onto a tangle that had no one 
around to warn them.

It took less time than they'd hoped to reach the first 
roadblock, but true to their plans, Mulder emptied the smaller 
of the fuel cans into the Expedition and they checked the 
abandoned cars for whatever was available.  Gibson had 
become the master of siphoning, and he replaced the gas 
that Mulder had emptied while William pulled snacks and a 
surprising number of drinks and supplies from the cars.

After a few hours they switched drivers, Mulder taking over.  
He had more trouble staying at the lower speed, but no one 
mentioned it.  They had to backtrack a few times, when 
bridges were the tie up, but usually they were able to shift 
enough cars to squeak through.  The paint job wasn't as 
pristine as William's adopted father had always maintained, 
but that was no longer a top priority.

Ten hours had been a generous fantasy, but they didn't 
stop.  With three drivers at least one could nap while they 
traveled.  It was still full dark when they arrived at Mulder's 
compound.  It had become increasingly eerie that no one 
was around, but it wasn't mentioned.  Mulder thought 
fleetingly that the boys were still keeping people away from 
them, but for now that was a good thing.

Mulder was driving when they arrived in Belden.  He'd only 
been here once, but was able to rely on his memory to find 
the roads in the absolute dark.  He tried to imagine that 
everyone was home, safely in bed,  but it was too early for 
that and the street lights actually used to stay on all night, 
even here.

He skirted downtown and headed out to the northeast of 
town.  He pulled up to a gate and Gibson hopped out to 
open it.  The layout was a fairly large farmhouse and barn, 
with several other outbuildings scattered around.  Skinner 
looked over at him uncertainly.  "Mulder, I was really 
thinking you were talking about something a little easier to 
defend."

"The guys picked this.  Come on."  He pulled into the carport 
and cut the engine.  "Anyone around?" he asked William.  
The boy shook his head and they got out.  Mulder pulled a 
nondescript key from his ring and opened the back door.  It 
wasn't even a dead bolt and Skinner's mood dipped even 
further.

It was too dark to make out any features, but Mulder opened 
one of the cabinets and located the hurricane lamp left 
there for him.  He pulled a book of matches from his pocket 
and lit the wick.

Everyone was able to look around then.  It was a typical 
farm house, wooden table and chairs, painted white in the 
middle of the kitchen.  Older appliances, quiet with the lack 
of electricity.

"Mulder - "

"Wait."  He moved to what looked like a broom closet and 
opened it.  As Skinner had imagined, a couple of brooms 
and a mop stood inside.  Mulder pulled them out and 
propped them against the counter, then he pulled the back 
wall loose and propped it beside them.  For an instant 
Skinner had expected a stairwell or something, but he saw 
only pink insulation and his shoulders slumped.

Mulder reached up and to the right and moved a section of 
the insulation aside, exposing a keypad.  Skinner's eyes 
narrowed.  "What the - "

"It's not electronic.  The guys didn't expect electricity."  He 
tapped in the code and Skinner recognized it as one of 
those outdoor key holders.  Mulder removed that key and 
bent down, moving another section of insulation aside.  
Gibson moved the lamp to give him better light, then 
Skinner heard the deadbolt he'd been expecting earlier.  
Mulder pushed and the entire pink insulated wall swung up, 
revealing a staircase.

Skinner shook his head as Mulder held the wall and 
motioned Gibson to move on down with the light.  Mulder let 
the wall swing back into place and he followed them down.

"This is bigger than the house," Skinner said looking 
around.

"Yeah.  The owner put in a bomb shelter back in the Sixties, 
we just 'improved' it.  Come on."  He took the matches back 
out and lit a second lamp.  Skinner looked around, 
appreciating the mirrors and metal decorations on the walls 
that expanded the light in all directions.

"There's not a lot of privacy but some."  Skinner could see 
doors now off of the main room.  "Bedrooms, three of them.  
Not big, but adequate.  The bathroom is over there.  The 
largest area, back there is storage.  The guys figured up 
what was necessary for a year for each of us.  They were 
planning to be here too . . . " His voice trailed off for a 
moment.  "What we brought in will come in handy, because 
I'm sure they packed a lot of MREs."

Skinner snorted at that.  "If Frohike helped with the menus, I 
know there's some scotch around here and I could use a 
drink."

Those words brought a grin to Mulder's face.  "Not a bad 
idea."  He moved into the kitchen area of the main room and 
started opening cabinets.  Skinner had been right, one 
cabinet held a good supply of booze.

"This is no 'year's worth' for Frohike," Skinner commented, 
taking the glass Mulder offered.

"No, but I'm sure there's more around somewhere."  He took 
a sip of the amber liquid.  "Gibson?"

"No thanks.  I'm more a beer kinda guy if I drink."

Mulder looked over at William. "No alcohol, but I saw some 
soda."

"Yeah, that'd be good."  He took the can Mulder offered him 
and continued to look around.  This side of the room was 
obviously the kitchen and eating area, the other side looked 
like an office and there was a sitting area away from the 
stairs with a couch and a couple of chairs.

"This took some money," Skinner was looking around too.

Mulder shrugged.  "To keep Sc-Scully safe . . ." His voice 
trailed off and he turned away.  William was at his side 
immediately, the others quiet.

Skinner cleared his throat after a moment.  "I know we're all 
tired, but I think we should unload the car, not put things 
away, but get them down here."

Mulder nodded and they headed back upstairs taking one of 
the lamps with them.  After being reassured that no one was 
around, they began moving things into the kitchen and then 
on down to the main room.  Once the car was emptied, 
Mulder locked them in for the night.  The insulated door 
held three locks, the deadbolt that he had unlocked as well 
as two other major sliding bolts.  Skinner wasn't surprised; 
he'd been to the inner sanctum of the gunmen's lair on one 
occasion.

After that they all stumbled off to find beds.  They weren't 
made up, but it wasn't important at that point, and they fell 
onto the mattresses with blankets around them;  Mulder and 
William taking the largest of the rooms.  Gibson in what 
turned out to be a bunk room, and Walter in the smaller 
single.

They all slept late the next morning, though underground 
that wasn't hard.  Energy bars were scattered on the table 
when Mulder stumbled out the next morning.  Skinner was 
in the store room and most of the boxes they had unloaded 
were gone from the bottom of the stairs.  Mulder grabbed up 
a bar and headed for the storage room.

"I would have helped."

"I know, I was just up and needed something to do."  
Skinner stretched and looked around.  "Those guys did a 
good job.  This is practically tinfoil on the walls in here but it 
maximizes the light."

Mulder nodded.  "Did you see the computer?"

"Computer?"

"Yeah, they got one of those $100 laptops with the crank, 
the ones that are being used in third world countries.  You 
don't need electricity.  You can't store much on it, but we've 
got thumb drives with as much of the internet as Langly 
could download in the desk.

Skinner shook his head, chuckling.  He sobered then as he 
scanned the room again.  "We can take these MREs with us 
on the road.  That'll be easier than having to do a lot of prep 
for meals.  Faster too."

"We're still going."  It wasn't a question, but Skinner 
responded anyway.

"Yeah.  The trip yesterday was reassuring.  The boys know 
what to look for and we were able to get the fuel we needed.  
I think we're actually a little ahead of the game right now.  
Mulder, we can't head out today.  We need to get organized, 
plan our route."

The younger man nodded silently and returned to the main 
room.  Eight days.  It had been eight days since he'd had 
any contact with Scully.  Sometimes he could go for minutes 
without realizing that, but not anymore.  According to the 
boys, the aliens were gathering up survivors, anyone that 
hadn't been killed instantly by the destruction would be with 
them or dead by now.  The boys hadn't mentioned any 
rescue effort other than by humans.  And they hadn't been 
able to locate Scully, even though Gibson was familiar with 
her mind, and William had no doubt learned more about her 
from Mulder's mind that was probably healthy for a kid or a 
son.  He still had to go, he had to find her, or find out what . . 
. Find her.

He felt William's hand slip into his.  He hadn't even heard 
the boy approach.  "I'm going too."  Mulder closed his eyes 
and squeezed the little hand, nodding.

"We're all going."  Skinner had stepped into the room and 
even without the ability to read minds, had figured out what 
was going on.

"I could take the bike - "

"No."  That was all Skinner said, but it was enough.  After a 
moment Mulder nodded and picked up one of the few 
remaining boxes, taking it into the storage area.

Once they had that all cleaned up and stored to Skinner's 
satisfaction, they headed upstairs.  The sun was high and 
the weather good as they looked around the property.  The 
barn was empty of animals, but sturdy and still held quite a 
bit of food for livestock.  Mulder led them to another trap door 
and opened it.  "This is where they stored the fuel.  It's 
underground, less chance of fire or damage if there's an 
accident."

Skinner looked in, speechless at the store of plastic 
gasoline containers.  "Damn," he said softly after a few 
minutes.

Mulder nodded.  "So their paranoia wasn't such a bad 
thing?"

"Who knew they were survivalist on top of that.  They 
certainly looked like city boys to me."

"Yeah, I think Langly had a hand in this.  He wasn't always 
city as I understand it.  He spent time on his grandfather's 
farm or something as a kid."

"Well, I'd say they've saved our butts.  Come on show us the 
rest."

After the tour, they returned to the house and explored it.  
They hadn't left it empty, there were linens in the closet, 
furniture, dishes, just as though the family had walked out.  
Maybe in the future, they could move up here and enjoy a 
little more space and of course, windows.

They had stored Gibson's bike in one of the out buildings, 
as hidden as they could make it, the plugs pulled to save 
the battery and the tank full.  They kept the SUV hidden in 
the barn rather than out on the carport once it had been 
emptied.  Now the only thing they needed to do was decide 
when to leave to look for Scully.

There was no more discussion of leaving anyone behind, 
but the continued lack of any evidence of Scully was 
wearing on Mulder.  After dinner that night, Skinner laid 
down his fork.  "I say we leave in the morning.  I've been 
looking at a route through Canada; head up toward 
Winnipeg, skirting it, then east over to Timmins.  I don't know 
which cities might have been destroyed, but there are no big 
cities except Winnipeg on this route.  We have to turn south 
then back toward the US and it gets more complicated, a lot 
more cities - Toronto, Pittsburgh, etc.  We'll have to punt 
from there."

Mulder sat quietly, but everyone had turned to watch him.  
After a moment he met each of their eyes.  "Thanks," he 
said quietly.

Skinner nodded.  "We have the tanks completely full as well 
as the extras.  We need to gather up what food we're going 
to need for the trip and hope we can come back with more 
supplies.  The store room looks full right now, but without a 
regular grocery store run . . ."

No one argued with that.

They left the table then, Mulder and William had clean up 
that night.  William wanted to pump the water and Mulder 
helped him a little, but let him run the show.  Skinner and 
Gibson packed the supplies they needed.

Mulder went to bed with William, but lay awake beside him, 
casting his own thoughts out there, looking for her with his 
mind.  Exhausted he finally fell into a restless sleep but was 
still up before dawn and ready to go.  The others made no 
comment, just loading up and heading out as soon as 
everyone was in the car.  Skinner was driving for now, 
Mulder reclined his seat and closed his eyes.

He didn't sleep but rested, awaiting his turn to drive.  He was 
confident now in the boys' ability to keep others out of their 
way.  Skinner began to look for a place with cover to pull 
over a little after ten.  Mulder took over driving then and they 
were barely moving again when he heard William gasp.

"What?  William, are you okay?"

"Scully?"

"What?"  Mulder pulled over and looked back at William.  
"What?"

"I think, she's fuzzy, but . . . I don't know."

"What did you feel?"

"I'm not sure.  I'll keep listening."

"I know you will.  William, if you can't . . . don't hurt yourself."

"I won't, Dad.  I'll watch for her."

"I'll help, Mulder.  Go on, get us to DC," Gibson said.

Skinner called a halt after eight hours.  Mulder protested, 
but the others outvoted him, convincing him they could 
search more effectively with a little rest.  It was past time to 
eat as well and check for gas.  Mulder did his best to calm 
down.  They had a point, but if contact had been made . . .

They broke into a house that had a place to hide the SUV 
and fixed a meal.  There was no electricity, but they found 
candles and managed to settle in for the night.  Mulder did 
get more sleep than the night before, but only due to 
exhaustion.

Skinner was first up the next morning, and since coffee 
wasn't available, room temperature soda provided the 
caffeine and they got on the road.  It was again around 10 
a.m. when Mulder heard William's intake of breath.  "Mom," 
he breathed.

"You can feel her?"

"Wait - " Gibson spoke.  "Let me get this."

Mulder opened his mouth again, but Skinner hand on his 
arm stopped him.  He bit down on his lip and managed to 
keep quiet.

After a few minutes, Gibson looked up.  "I see what he 
means about fuzzy.  She certainly didn't seem to know we 
found her.  She's confused, but not scared."

"Does she know I'm, we're looking for her?"

"She wasn't thinking about it.  She, she was thinking about 
a cookie."

"A cookie?"

Gibson shrugged.  "Maybe William got more.  It's the first 
time I've tried this."

In a few minutes William looked up.  "Okay, I have a good 
hold on her mind now and she's clearer than yesterday but 
still awfully fuzzy.  It is her, isn't it?"  He looked over at 
Gibson, who smiled.

"Yeah, that was Scully's mind.  I've been there before."

Mulder frowned slightly at those words, but then shook it off.  
"Where is she?"

"Uh, we haven't gotten that far, Dad, and she's not exactly 
cooperating.  I was thinking maybe tonight after she's 
asleep I would try to reach her better."

Gibson nodded.  "I do think she's in the eastern time zone 
though.  It seemed to be lunch related, the cookie she was 
thinking about, and that would put her relatively two hours 
ahead of us."

"Okay, that's good information.  Thanks, guys."  Skinner 
turned to Mulder.  "Okay, we continue on, but we need more 
information before we turn south.  We'll be in more danger 
then and we'll need a definite plan."

Mulder nodded and closed his eyes.  She was alive.

It was only seven p.m. their time when William looked over 
at Mulder.  "She's asleep."

"Okay, let her know we're coming, that we're going to rescue 
her.  Try to find out where she is."

"I think I better just do the 'we're coming for her' tonight.  As 
fuzzy as she is, I don't want it to get too complicated."

"Yeah, okay.  Let her know we're on our way."

They were quiet as first William, then Gibson, closed their 
eyes.  It wasn't long, but William nodded when he opened 
his eyes.  "We'll have to wait until morning."

"Did she seem okay?"

William looked over at Gibson and it hit Mulder again, the 
boy hadn't seen her since he was an infant.  "Yeah, Mulder.  
She's okay, but I agree with William, she's drugged.  I think 
she's figured it out, that it's in the cookies."

Mulder managed a small smile.  "She'd figure that out."

Skinner cleared his throat.  "Let's go on to bed.  It's too dark 
to do any exploring tonight.  We can look for supplies in the 
morning."

Mulder took comfort from knowing that she was alive, and 
got several hours sleep that night.  William joined Mulder 
and Skinner in the kitchen with a grin the next morning.  
"She got it."

"Got it?  What?" Mulder tensed in his chair.

"She dreamed about you and Mr. Skinner.  I thought that 
would be the easiest, since she knows you two better."

"Where is she?  Does she know a way to get out?"

"Mulder," it was Gibson that answered, "she's drugged; she 
doesn't even know we're in contact at all.  She did feel relief 
when she thought about the dream."

Mulder sighed.  "I know; you're doing great.  I don't mean to 
push."

"I know that, Dad.  We'll get the information."

"Yes, you will.  I know that and I'll try to be patient, even 
without her poking me in the ribs."

William chuckled.  "We'll push a little more tonight.  We 
know she's in DC, but I've never been there, so I'll need 
pretty good landmarks to find her."

"We need to know if we're going to have to go in guns 
blazing to get her out, or if she can get out."

"Mulder - " Gibson said.

"I know, I know, pushing.  Get what you can."

They continued on after liberating what supplies they could.  
The SUV was going to get crowded again, which was not a 
bad thing.

The boys concentrated on her again the next night.  They 
had seen no one on the drive.  Skinner wanted to ask if that 
was the boys' doing or if there really was no one left, but 
didn't and they didn't offer the information.

"Hey, she's thinking about the other women," Gibson 
nodded at William.  "She noticed something.  There's a 
rotation in the room, every day everyone moves up a space 
in the line.  I didn't understand that the first time, but 
apparently the closer to the beginning of the line, the 
warmer the shower.  For some reason she thought the one 
with the hottest shower moved to the back of the line the 
next day, but this morning she noticed that the woman who 
was at the front of the line yesterday isn't at the back this 
morning.  She's gone and there's a new woman at the back.  
She's still drugged, the cookies aren't the only way, but 
she's better today than she was yesterday."

They were finished packing the SUV with the day's haul 
when William looked up, Gibson's head went up right after 
his.  They were both grinning.

"What?" Mulder looked ready to shake them.

"She's getting better.  She noticed that other women were 
getting stimulants when they were over drugged.  She 
pretended the same and they gave her a shot.  She's good."

"Yeah, she is," Mulder said softly.

The next morning the boys advised Mulder and Skinner that 
they had inserted themselves into her dreams and she had 
recognized William as their son.  Mulder closed his eyes at 
that information, searching for her mentally himself.  It was 
later in the day, Skinner was driving, when Mulder saw the 
boys exchange looks.

"What?"

"She's just spotted what's left of the Washington Monument.  
It's on the ground and she didn't recognize it at first, but now 
we can zero in on her location."

"The monument's been destroyed?" Skinner's hands 
tightened around the steering wheel.

"Uh, yeah.  I'm sorry."

"So am I," the older man breathed, then concentrated on 
driving.

After looking over at him, Mulder turned back to the boys.  
"Can you reach anyone else in the city?  We need to know 
what's going on if we're going to blend in."

The boys again exchanged looks and Mulder felt mild 
irritation that he couldn't be part of their conversation.  
William looked up apologetically.  "Sorry, Dad.  It's just faster 
and - "

"Don't apologize.  It's only envy.  I want to feel her mind too."

"It won't be long.  We know where they're keeping her and 
we'll find out what's going on around her so we can sneak 
in the best way."

That night he dreamed of her.  He couldn't get close enough 
to touch her, but she could see him and he talked to her, 
assuring her he was on his way and thanking her for giving 
them the clue about the Washington Monument.  She 
seemed to hear him and she smiled, then he was awake.  
He turned to look at their son.  Had he done that?  Had he 
taken Mulder's words to heart and let him touch her mind?

*****