Isolation (14/16)
by ML 

email: msnsc21@yahoo.com
Rating: PG13 for mild violence and swearing

Type: Gen, het. M&S, a character/other pairing 
Disclaimer: You know the tune, sing it with me now: I don't own
them, I'm just borrowing for a while.  The original characters:
they're mine, all mine.

Author's Notes: This was written for the 2010 XF BigBang.  
I couldn't have done it without Wendy's expert beta.  Bouquets 
of thanks to her! That said, if there are any errors or omissions, 
that's my fault.  More notes at the end of the story.  

Summary: It's time to come out of hiding and get back to the
business of saving the world.  Mulder is looking for people to help
him and Scully do just that.  With so many of his former friends and
colleagues either missing or dead, he gets help from an unexpected
quarter -- and finds that he's not the only one who's ready to get
back into circulation.   

Takes place in 2008, after the events of "I Want to Believe".

We never gave up, we never will.  In the end, if that's the best
they can say about us, it'll do.
-John Fitzgerald Byers

x-x-x

Chapter Fourteen

"Home again," Mulder said as they pulled into the drive of their
house many hours later.  Scully had met them at the airport and
Doggett had volunteered to take Frohike back to headquarters while
Mulder and Scully took the Jordans back to their house for the night.

Fletcher hadn't been answering his phone and no one had heard from
him since the fire.  Scully suggested that it would be better to take
Brian and Annie home and put them up for the night than to take them
to the warehouse.

"This might be the last night that they get to spend together,"
Scully said.  "Let's give them that, at least."  

It was a little awkward and surreal, probably more so for Annie and
Brian than for them, Mulder reflected.  He agreed with Scully that
everyone might better face the decisions that had to be made in the
morning.

Annie asked if she could borrow a computer when they were shown to
their room.

Scully looked at Mulder.  "Sure," he said.  "But I want to caution
you that you shouldn't log onto your email account, or let anyone
know where you are.  If there's someone who needs to know you're
safe, let me know who they are and we'll get word to them."

"So we are in witness protection?"  Annie asked.

"For all intents and purposes, yes," Scully said.  "It's better to
be overly cautious until we know what we're dealing with."

"I just want to check out some things that Mr. Frohike mentioned,"
Annie said.  "I won't email anyone, and neither will Brian."

Scully handed over a laptop.  "Here, you can use this in your room
if you want privacy."

"That's awfully trusting of you, Scully," Mulder remarked.  "Are you
sure she won't do something dumb, like send an email?"

"I think she's protective of someone she loves," Scully said, "and
until she knows more about what's going on, she's going to be
careful."

x-x-x

Annie booted up the borrowed laptop.  Brian sat on the bed next to
her.  He'd been subdued since leaving Perdita.  After Frohike had
left them the night before, they'd talked for a long time.

"I'm sorry you've been dragged into this," Brian had told her. 
"Maybe it would have been better if --"

Annie stopped him by putting her fingers on his lips.  "You are not
allowed to say that it would have been better if we'd never met," she
said.  "You didn't talk me into anything; I knew that you were
essentially a man with a mysterious past when I married you.  For
better or worse: and I don't think you're a bad person.  As soon as
we can get to a computer, I'm going to do what your friend suggested:
find out what I can about the mystery man I married.  This John
Fitzgerald Byers."

"You may not like what you find," Brian warned her.

"I guess we'll have to take that chance," she'd said.

Now they were at the moment of truth.  She brought up a search page
and typed "John Fitzgerald Byers" into the search box.

The request returned both print and image results.  The thumbnail
images were small, and the first picture they pulled up was out of
focus, but it was unmistakably Brian. A much younger Brian, with a
beard; still, unmistakably him.

"Wow," Brian said.  He reached for the touchpad and clicked on one
of the entries.

The title of the page was "In Memoriam," and showed a picture of
him, Frohike, and someone named Langly as well.

They silently read the entry, outlining the same events that Mulder
had recounted to them two days before.

"We've both been trying to find out more information about Brian
Jordan," Annie said after a moment.  "And the funny thing is there's 
not much to find from before I met you.  A couple of articles quoted
that you wrote.  Not much else.  But look at all the information
about John Fitzgerald Byers."

She pulled up another page: a Wikipedia entry.  Annie scrolled down
the page slowly, stopping at a section entitle, "A Heroic End."

"Quote," she spoke softly in his ear.  "'We never gave up, we never
will.  In the end, if that's the best they can say about us, it'll
do'."

They stared at the screen for a while, taking it all in.

"I don't want to lose you," Brian said finally.  He couldn't help
the tears streaming down his face; they were a mirror of Annie's.

"You won't lose me.  I'll be right here," she whispered.  "And if
one of us gets lost, we won't give up.  We'll keep looking."

With a sob, Brian pulled Annie close to him.  Their lips found each
other, and they kissed and clung to each other, saying goodbye.

x-x-x

The next morning, just as they were getting ready to leave for the
warehouse, Mulder's phone rang.

"Did you miss me?" said Morris Fletcher.

"Where the hell have you been?"  Mulder asked

"Oh, around," Fletcher replied vaguely.  "Did you get your errand
completed?"

"Yes, no thanks to you."

"You said didn't need my help.  Where are you right now?"

"Heading to the office.  Do you have the supplies?"

"Yes I do.  But I don't want to meet you there just yet.  There's a
diner about a mile away from there.  Can you -- just you -- meet me
there in an hour?"

"I suppose so." Mulder hung up and turned to Scully.  "There's a
slight change of plans.  Can you go directly to the place, and I'll
come by after I've met with Fletcher."

"I want to go with you," Scully said.

"Someone has to stay with our guests.  I'll get backup; don't 
worry." 

x-x-x

They could see Fletcher from the door when they walked in.  He
didn't look pleased that Skinner had come along.

"What part of 'alone' did you not understand?" he said
sarcastically.  "I'd just as soon not have more attention drawn to me
right now."

"Live with it," Mulder suggested.  They seated themselves in the
booth, Skinner next to Fletcher, and Mulder on the other side, giving
them a good view of the whole diner.

Once they were seated and the waitress delivered coffee, Mulder
started in on Fletcher.  "What the hell were you trying to prove?" he
hissed.  "You haven't been answering your calls, and now this thing
in Chicago?  I told you to hold off."

"Did you stop to think that maybe I'm not the one who did it?"
Fletcher retorted.  "Operation Wipe Out was a covert government
program.  They're cutting their losses.  They certainly wouldn't have
let you take over the site."

"Then we're all in danger," Mulder said.  "Unless you can call them
off."

"They're not real pleased with me right now," Fletcher said.  "I'm
trying to spin this the best possible way -- they started remembering
on their own, etc., etc.  Even then there's the possibility they'd
want to permanently terminate the program."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"Maybe your pal Gibson would be able to tell you," Fletcher said. 
"He can read minds, am I right?"

Skinner and Mulder looked at each other.

"Oh, come on.  It's not like he wasn't part of a government program,
too.  Same as you, Mulder.  Some were just more successful than
others."

"If we weren't in public, you piece of --" Mulder growled.

"That's exactly why we're in public," Fletcher smirked.  "I have a
deal to offer you.  I have what you need to get your friend Byers
back, but I want something in exchange.  I'll trade you: Gibson for
the Gunmen.  That's three for one.  That's an excellent deal."

"I don't trade in humans," Mulder said.  "You never said that was
part of the deal."

"You never knew what any part of the deal was.  I told you I could
deliver your friends, and I've done it.  What do I get in return?"

"Maybe I don't shoot you," Mulder said.  "How's that for a bargain?"

"You don't have a gun," Fletcher scoffed.

"Skinner does," Mulder said. 

Skinner began to reach inside his coat.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Fletcher shouted.  Heads started to
turn, and he lowered his voice.  "What kind of lawless bunch of thugs
are you?  You can't do that!  You're supposed to be the good guys!"

"You're right, we can't," Skinner said.  "However, I'm guessing we
could probably get a charge of kidnapping or unlawful imprisonment to
stick.  So if you don't mind your p's and q's, I'll have you locked
up and throw away the key."

"I've half a mind to just walk out of here," Fletcher huffed.

"Go ahead," Skinner said.  "I don't think you know who you're
dealing with."

"I do," Fletcher said.  "You're the good guys, and you don't have
the balls it takes to stick it to the other side.  You won't play
dirty, and that's why you lose."

"I didn't mean us," Skinner said.  "You say you weren't involved in
the fire in Chicago.  Do you know for sure that your 'agency' was?"

Fletcher was silent.

Skinner went on.  "Mulder, you haven't even heard the whole story
yet.  Doggett and Reyes found evidence of super soldiers at the burn
site.  We believe that they were either involved in the destruction
of the studio, or someone was trying to destroy them." 

Fletcher still didn't speak.  From the look in his eyes he hadn't
known that either.

"So that's why Scully asked Gibson to come to California with Agent
Doggett," Mulder said to Skinner.  "He's the closest thing we have to
a super soldier detector."

"If you don't think the good guys aren't capable of sticking it to
the bad guys," Skinner said to Fletcher, "wait and see."

x-x-x

The atmosphere was subdued at the warehouse when Mulder arrived with
Fletcher in tow.  Introductions had been made, and there had been
some awkward small talk.  Now Annie and Brian sat in the lounge with
Scully.  The others had made themselves scarce while she talked to
them about the procedure.  

"Do you mean I'll forget everything?" Byers asked.  He clutched at
Annie's hand.  "It will be as if Brian Jordan never existed?"

"So far, that seems to be the way it works," Scully said.  She
looked from Byers to Annie.  "I wish I could tell you something
different.  But it's early days yet.  Neither Langly nor Frohike have
recalled anything about their other identities, but it's only a short
time since they've recovered their original memories.  That could
change."

"Are there any alternatives?"  Annie asked.

"Deputy Director Skinner has offered to put you both into witness
protection.  Whether or not you can be protected indefinitely is
unclear.  There may be other agencies involved.  If you decide to go
through with this now, at least it will be on your own terms." 
Scully smiled sadly.  "I can speak from experience that it's not much
fun living life looking over your shoulder all the time.  Even if you
know who you are."

She stood up, and Brian the gentleman stood up as well.  "I'm going
to leave you two to discuss this."  She left the lounge and went into
the kitchen where the others waited.

"What's going on?" Mulder asked.

"They're talking it over," Scully said.  "I don't know, Mulder.  It
seems so unfair.  They have a life together.  To take everything
away, not just from Byers, but from Annie, too: it's wrong."

"I agree," Mulder said.  "But what's the alternative?  A life on the
run, or," he glanced at Fletcher, "apprehension by this shadow
agency?"

Brian appeared at the door, Annie by his side.  "We've decided," he
said.

~*~

Continued in Chapter Fifteen