The Lambs: Epilogue
by Lamia (AKA so kiss me goodbye) 

Rating: PG-13 (violence, strong language)
Category: S                             
Spoilers: Seasons 1-9, Fight the Future           
Keywords: William; Colonization              
Summary: Liam van de Kamp's life changes the day two 
FBI agents kidnap him and his parents.
 

Epilogue 

July 4, 2013 
Tessa, Wyoming 

"Ouch!" Marie van de Kamp bit down on her finger. Liam 
glanced over from the balloon he was knotting. 

His mother grimaced and showed him the bloody digit. 
"Papercut. Got me good." 

A line of red ran across the scarred pad. 

A tingle flared in his hands. Liam had to suppress an 
automatic impulse to slip into empty head space. People 
did not die from papercuts. She did not need his help 
taking care of it. 

*Stand down, molecules. Stand down.* 

No matter how hard he tried not to, Liam found he could 
still focus his concentration in an instant. The 
temptation to use his skill was there - but so was his 
determination to fight it. Using it to heal would be to 
risk letting all those tiny minds back in again. If he 
could, he'd forget he ever discovered he had the 
ability. 

Besides, there was no need to worry his parents any 
more than necessary. They had enough to deal with. They 
didn't need to know. 

"Double darn it," his mother said. 

A smidgen of blood had dropped on the envelope she had 
been sealing. 

"I'll do another one," Liam said. 

As he dashed the "tt" in Wamsutter, Liam wondered what 
Terrence Smith would make of the letter. In it Marie 
had thanked him for the use of his house and SUV, and 
apologized for the inconvenience of their imposition. 

They still didn't know much about the man, but Mr 
Skinner had assured them he had been compensated for 
his troubles. 

Sending him a letter had been one of Marie's priorities 
on coming home. Mr Skinner had asked her to wait. She 
gave him seven months. 

Coming home. What a strange experience that had been. 

The bus ride had been lively. The students had filled 
it with music and jokes. Mr Skinner and Mrs Fawbert, 
who had once worked in a government department, had 
spent a lot of time on the phone. Mrs Scully had 
promised to show him photo albums she had tucked away 
in storage. The University of Washington bus had driven 
them right up the driveway to the burnt out remains of 
their farmhouse. 

Together they had approached what had been the verandah 
but was now a jumble of fallen timbers. The destruction 
was long cold. That didn't stop Liam feeling like he 
had just been kicked. 

Sal growled a little at his side as Liam took it all 
in. 

It was a quick trip but an important one for his 
parents. Snow had frozen and begun to thaw at some 
point. Water pooled around the foundations. His mother 
had ventured into the charred skeleton, choosing her 
steps with care. When she returned, she grinned, 
clutching something in one hand. 

She held the small scrap out to Liam. "It's you." 

Only when he looked up and saw a glistening in her eye 
did he realize how much she was holding back. 

The tiny photo which had lived on their refrigerator - 
taken on his first day of school - had survived more 
than a year and half exposed to the elements. 

Mulder and Dr Scully waited at the bus until Marie 
invited them into their little circle with a smile. 
When Marie shared the photo with them, only Liam heard 
Dr Scully's low voice. 

"I remember." 

Theirs was a quiet trip into Tessa, the small town Liam 
had known all his life. Mr Skinner, on the phone the 
whole time, stayed at the front of the bus. None of the 
van de Kamps had any appetite for conversation. But 
when the bus pulled up on Main Street, Mr Skinner made 
his way down the aisle and stopped by Liam's parents. 

"The paperwork has been cleared. Your lawyer will take 
care of the rest." 

Liam leapt off the bus, excited to see the streets of 
his hometown but curious to know why it seemed weird at 
the same time. He'd already spotted familiar faces 
outside the diner and 7-Eleven. 

It took him a moment to realize his parents were 
hanging back. 

"Where's the best place to get a bite to eat in this 
place?" Toby asked, flicking a scarf around his neck. 
It was a bright winter's day and the air was biting. 
The students poured off the bus. So did Mr Skinner. And 
Mrs Scully. Then Mulder and Dr Scully. They were like a 
shield, easing the way for Marie and Harry, who stepped 
from the bus into a protective circle. 

Marie linked arms with Harry. 

The reaction on the street was immediate. A pickup 
slowed as it drove by. A man walking and texting looked 
up long enough to stumble into a bank of dirty piled 
snow. Two women standing at a shop door turned their 
way. 

"Is that -?" 

Suddenly Liam sensed it wasn't the town that was 
strange - it was them. 

"Harry?" 

Suzie Craddock's dad, who sold farm equipment and did 
electrical engineering, appeared around a corner. He 
still looked the same. 

"Robert," Harry replied, "good to see you." 

Harry and Marie made no move to slow down and kept on 
course for an office above a hardware store where their 
lawyer practised. Liam ran to catch up. 

He felt the gazes on his back. 

"What do we tell them, Dad?" 

"The truth, son. We tell them the truth." 

They weren't long with the lawyer, and when their 
business was finished they piled back onto the bus and 
traveled to a plain weatherboard house closer to 
Kemmerer - again arranged by Mr Skinner. 

The plan was to live there for the rest of the winter. 
They lasted two days before the farm drew them back. 

The prospect of saying goodbye was too hard. So none of 
them did. No one. After dropping the van de Kamps off 
at their temporary house, the students had waved, 
promised to be back one day and jumped on the bus. 

Mr Skinner couldn't stick around and he offered to 
accompany Mrs Scully and Mrs Fawbert on their flight 
back to Washington, D.C. When he made the same offer to 
Mulder and Dr Scully, they declined. 

The van de Kamp's finances were, to quote his mother, 
"a bit of a mess" and there seemed to be some 
legalities to sort, but again, Mr Skinner was pulling 
strings for them. There were meetings with their lawyer 
and accountant, and some out-of-town suits Mr Skinner 
called in. Before the negotiations were hammered out, 
Harry, Marie and Liam had insulated their old tool 
shed, made it watertight, and were camping out the last 
freezing nights of winter in a makeshift home. Liam 
would have gone back to school, but his mother 
suggested homeschooling - at least until the new school 
year. While his father was all for the truth, Liam 
sensed his mother's concern. 

As soon as the weather warmed a fraction, the 
foundations of their new home were poured. They hadn't 
been back a day when old neighbours started arriving. 
Parts of the farm had fallen into disrepair, but the 
animals had been rescued and cared for. Even Blue, 
their standoffish cat. She greeted Sal with a hiss and 
an arched back. 

They never said anything, but these visits pained his 
parents. 

Everyone wanted to know what had happened to Stan. 

Harry had insisted on the truth, and he stuck to his 
guns. He never exaggerated his story, and it never 
changed. He never seemed embarrassed by its fantastical 
elements. He told it, and if people believed him, they 
believed him. And if they didn't, they were still 
welcome in for a drink. But on two topics he was 
careful. 

Liam's involvement ... and Stan. 

The first was easy to avoid. It was no secret Liam had 
been with them. Beyond that no one expected a child to 
know anymore. 

But rumors about Stan had started long before the van 
de Kamps returned to Wyoming. After the house fire and 
their "covert extraction" (the words Liam had seen in 
some legal documents), and the subsequent disappearance 
of Stan, stories had spread like wildfire. 

None of them came close to the truth, but they raised 
questions in Tessa which had no satisfactory answers. 
Problems with Stan's social security number, his lack 
of family, the complete absence of any record of him 
before he turned up thirteen years earlier. 

When pressed, Harry would shrug off all queries. 

Liam decided to tackle it one day when they were 
sinking new posts along their western boundary. Where 
their farm met Stan's. 

"Do you miss Stan, Dad?" 

His father leaned on a post and stared at hills. 
Eventually he drew in a long breath and turned back to 
his task. 

"Stan was a good friend, Liam." 

A good friend lost. 

The topic stayed buried for a long time after that. 

Now it was July, the house was nearly finished and a 
celebration was planned. It was the perfect time to 
thank Terrence Smithers - and celebrate with friends 
and family. 

A bang from the roof made Liam look up just as 
something rattled, rolled and dropped beyond the 
window. Liam leaned out to see what was happening. 
Scully was in the garden picking something out of the 
grass. 

"Is it really worth breaking your neck over, Mulder? It 
was lucky to survive the fall." 

There was some more scrabbling from the verandah roof, 
then legs appeared, climbing down a ladder propped 
against the side of the house. Mulder jumped the final 
two feet and took the item from her. 

"Best weather vane in the state, Scully. You bet it's 
worth it." 

Liam grinned. His parents had politely accepted 
Mulder's gift; Scully had said the little googly-eyed 
alien was as tacky as a pink garden flamenco when he 
picked it out in the store. Wheels crunched on the 
driveway. 

"Gran's here!" Liam called as he rushed to the door. 

Scully was already greeting her mother by the rental 
car while Mulder lifted bags from the trunk. Mrs Scully 
- Liam's honest-to-God, real life grandmother - spied 
him and opened her arms for a hug. 

"Did you bring them?" Liam asked when she let him go. 

"Sure did. Box on the back seat." 

Photos of Scully when she was a little girl. There was 
so much to learn about his new family. It was only 
fair. 

They never talked about it, but every now and then he 
caught a curious look on Scully's face - like when he 
showed her his favorite parts of the farm, and she knew 
instantly what he loved about it and why. 

It was after the first of these excursions - when Liam 
was explaining to Mulder why Scully was returning home 
covered in mud - that Scully made an observation. 

"You should have seen it," Liam was telling Mulder. "I 
told Scully she should have worn rain boots. The tracks 
get big puddles on them when the snow melts and she 
slipped and landed on her butt when she tried to jump 
one." 

He caught the look they exchanged and her sudden smile. 

"What's so funny?" 

"Apart from my inelegant spill" - her smile widened - 
"you've finally started calling me Scully." 

Liam was flustered. "Sorry, I don't mean to be 
disrespectful ... it slipped out." 

"The same way Scully slipped, I'll bet," Mulder said. 

"Ugh -I've got to get out of these jeans," Scully said, 
making her way to the temporary house. She stopped at 
the door. "Liam, so long as you never ever call me 
ma'am again, you can call me anything you like." 

Mulder's grin was wicked as they watched her disappear 
inside. "Should we make her live to regret that?" 

Liam didn't have access to Scully's memories, or 
Mulder's, but they always had a story to tell. He had 
already learned so much - Mulder and Scully had (kind 
of) never left. Or they left ... and then came right 
back - some project they had been asked to consult on 
in the area. Somehow they had stuck around, helping 
with the new house. Mulder had said building a home was 
something on his bucket list he never knew he was 
missing. 

At first Liam didn't question their presence - until he 
learned Doggett had been posted to the project as well. 
Starting over did not mean forgetting - even though he 
tried. Liam was the reason a low profile military 
training camp had been established on Stan's old farm. 

He didn't fully understand the supersoldiers or their 
fate. 

When rescue personnel had arrived at the crash site, 
the supersoldiers had been taken into custody. But 
their existence created a headache. And they were 
evidence. 

His grandmother was loading Scully and Mulder up with 
bags and boxes. 

"Hey," Liam said, recognizing another item on top of 
the photo albums. He picked up the battered scrapbook 
his mother had put together, running his hand over the 
imprint of the plastic cup lid. "How did you get this?" 

"I knew it was important to your mother. When we left 
the camp, I had just enough time to put it in my bag. I 
forgot about it until I unpacked." 

He couldn't wait to show his mother. "Mom!" 

Marie appeared at the top of the verandah. 

"Welcome, Maggie, you're just in time. Liam is about to 
set the table." She reached down to pat Blue's head as 
their old cat butted her ankle. "Liam, call your dad 
in. There's something I think he'll want to see." 

By the time Liam and Harry arrived back at the house, 
everyone was standing around the TV in the living room 
as a news anchor talked back at them. 

"- also among the data dump was a preliminary report 
into the mysterious discovery of more than a hundred 
people, and the apparent disappearance of hundreds 
more, in a New Mexico desert last year." 

The TV cut to grainy, low light footage shot in the 
desert the night the ship imploded. A voiceover 
started. 

"'Forget E.T - it was a cult all along' - that's what 
experts investigating the bizarre event say in their 
draft findings." 

Liam had seen these clips before. They had played on TV 
a lot over New Year. He always looked closely, 
wondering where he was in the crowd. 

"When first responders arrived at a desert wildfire in 
the early hours of December 22, they solved one 
perplexing mystery - and discovered an entirely new 
one. 

"Multiple reports of a bright light in the skies over 
the Chihuahuan Desert led them to a scene straight from 
a space invaders movie. 

"More than a hundred men and women, including some who 
appeared to have been subjected to horrific genetic 
experimentation, were found wandering the desert, dazed 
and dishevelled." 

The footage changed to a shot of a dusty car in an 
otherwise vacant parking lot, desert in the background. 
In another shot - from a town with a permanent 
population of fifty-three - more than thirty abandoned 
cars filled the lot. 

"Many were already the subject of an unprecedented 
missing persons investigation - prompted when so-called 
"lonely cars" - as local media dubbed them - started 
appearing in remote places across the state in July 
last year. 

"While most denied having any memory of how they 
arrived in the desert, some claimed they had been 
rescued from a giant alien saucer, just moments before 
they said a ship exploded over the desert. 

"However, scientists who rigorously investigated the 
site, say in the leaked files there is no material 
evidence to verify these stories. They point to a more 
mundane explanation." 

"The panel, in a four-hundred-page report, concludes 
the desert survivors were "most likely exhibiting the 
effects of collective hallucination." 

"While most disavowed knowledge of it, the survivors 
were found not far from a decommissioned military base, 
where it is believed members of a cult which worshipped 
so-called 'alien science' lived undetected for two 
years. 

"However, while extraterrestrial involvement has been 
ruled out, the panel says evidence of significant 
experimental testing on the survivors *was* 
irrefutable, and the base contained laboratories where 
high tech experiments were probably being conducted." 

Scully, glass in hand, choked on a mouthful of water. 

"The nature of the testing and its effects have been 
redacted from the draft report and the fate of these 
victims remains classified. 

"Following the leak, the Government has been quick to 
announce it would fully investigate who was responsible 
for the tests. 

"Those subjected to experimentation in the interim 
would be carefully monitored and cared for." 

"I don't believe it," Harry said, stabbing the off 
button on the remote. "It's a whitewash!" 

Mulder shook his head in sympathy. "You'll never get 
used to the betrayal." 

"Of my Government lying to its people? Damn straight, I 
won't. You know, I may not have voted for him, but on 
this subject I would have trusted this President to do 
the right thing. If he doesn't order a proper inquiry 
into this ..." 

Marie moved away to the kitchen. "But what is the right 
thing, Harry? I know you're disappointed, but what if 
telling people the truth meant putting lives at risk?" 

Not just anyone's life. 

*Mine.* 

Harry mumbled something unintelligible then raised his 
voice. "Maybe some things need to be classified. I 
accept that. But that" - he pointed at the TV - "that 
wasn't even a distortion of the truth. It was a 
barefaced lie. I don't care what they call me. Too many 
people put their lives on the line for this country. We 
can't let them end it. I won't let them." He stormed 
from the living room. 

"Where are you going?" 

"Letters! That's where I'll start. I'll write letters. 
Hundreds - thousands if I have to! They're going to 
hear from me!" 

"Talk about summoning up a thundercloud," Mulder 
murmured. 

Harry put down his pen long enough to fire up the 
barbecue. 

As parties went, theirs was low key - but the right 
people were there, celebrating with Liam. Even Doggett 
showed up for a short time. He stayed long enough to 
slam a baseball into a wheat field and have a quiet 
discussion over a beer with Liam's father at the picnic 
table they had set up in the garden. 

Liam, dozing in the shade of an elm tree, listened with 
interest. 

"The numbers are all wrong," Harry said. "There must 
have been at least ten times as many people on the 
ship. And there are a lot of soldiers that can't be 
accounted for." 

"If you're worried -" 

"It's hard not to be when you're raising the most 
strategic piece of military hardware on the planet." 

Liam didn't begrudge his dad the description. It was 
his way of coping. They even joked about it at the 
dinner table. Anyway. It was better than being called 
the commander. 

"All these unaccounted-for supersoldiers - Liam's not 
still ... connected to them, is he?" 

"At the moment, no. They're free - unless *he* decides 
to control them." 

Liam nearly laughed out loud. *I don't want my own 
army.* 

As Liam understood it, all the supersoldiers were now 
real, legitimate US army soldiers - but they hadn't had 
much choice in the decision. For Doggett it gave him 
purpose. He'd admitted as much. Liam wondered if the 
other soldiers felt the same way. He never learned the 
name of the woman who helped him on the ship. She had 
been kind to him. Mothering, almost. 

They were close by, but Doggett was the only one who 
Liam ever saw. Liam wondered if that was deliberate. 

Harry's voice carried. "We'll do our best to prevent 
that from happening - but who's to say one of these 
rogue soldiers won't get ideas?" 

"Liam's a good kid - I don't see him getting a thirst 
for world domination yet. And if anyone else gets any 
ideas about using him - let's just say we'll take care 
of it." 

His grandmother spent time updating them on news from 
some of the other campers (Mrs Fawbert was going on a 
cruise, Major Drummond had gone to jail for historic 
fraud charges involving funds from a church in New York 
City). Liam hadn't heard from Nick or Charlie for 
months. He'd never heard from Aaron at all. 

They talked through the afternoon, and Scully and Liam 
flipped pages in the photo albums her mother had 
brought. His mother had opened her scrapbook with 
trepidation. 

The articles about the oil platform (which was now 
offline after another "accident") and the mysterious 
John X (still missing) reminded Liam that his own story 
was just part of something much larger. 

It didn't matter what the investigation said: he knew 
the truth and so did a lot of other people. Night fell, 
making way for the stars. Liam felt himself getting 
lost in their far-off promise. The soft sounds of a 
radio played in the background. The women sat on the 
verandah sipping wine. 

His dad had gone inside, leaving him with Mulder. They 
sat on top of the picnic table pointing out 
constellations and throwing a tennis ball across the 
lawn for Sal. The scrapbook had done the rounds and was 
now beside Liam again. 

It was a perfect evening and he was filled with 
happiness. 

His mother was right; he was blessed. But he'd spent an 
evening staring at the stars like this before - that 
New Year's Eve when he and Ellie sat on the cold ground 
and talked about the future. Suddenly his happiness 
hurt. He gulped away sadness and snatched at another 
thought. 

"Where do you think Rudi is?" he said, turning the 
tennis ball in his hands and ignoring Sal's expectant 
expression. 

Mulder scratched his chin. "Wherever he is, I hope he's 
happy." 

Liam made a face. "Hope's just about all you can have, 
isn't it?" 

"Just about." 

There were so many things to hope for: Liam hoped that 
the Grays never returned - he even hoped they found 
what they were desperately seeking. He hoped that 
everyone would forget about him and let him be; that 
he'd never have to use his ability again ... 

"Do you think he'll ever come back?" 

"I hope so. He'll have one hell of a story to tell." 

Sal let out a bark, so Liam lobbed the ball over a 
fence. "But sometimes people don't. Come back, that 
is." 

Mulder nodded. "Sometimes they don't." 

"Sometimes they don't," Scully agreed. Her steps were 
so quiet Liam didn't hear her coming. 

The swing door closed with a muted bang. His mother and 
grandmother had gone inside. He wondered how many 
letters his dad had written now. 

"Are all obsessions bad?" 

"Oh boy," said Scully under her breath as she perched 
herself beside him, settling the scrapbook in her lap. 

"I don't know about good or bad," said Mulder. "But 
obsessions don't come cheap." 

Liam nodded. "It's like Major Drummond said. Everything 
has a price tag." 

"I think you'll find it was the much more fetching 
Jesse J who said that." 

Liam elbowed the man who was his father first. "You 
know what I mean." 

"Why this talk about obsession? Your dad just needs to 
get a few letters out of his system. He's a sensible 
man. He'll move on soon enough." 

"It's not dad." Liam looked at his knees. "It's 
"Ellie." 

"Ah." 

"I have to find her." 

Scully broke first. "Liam, you know -" 

"It's the right thing to do. *You* made a promise, 
didn't you, Scully? You promised to protect me and Mom 
and Dad." 

"That was different - I knew you were -" 

"Alive?" 

"I'm sorry, sweetie." 

"It's okay." He squeezed her hand to let her know it 
was true. "I know she might not be alive, but I *feel* 
she is." 

Mulder stayed silent as a satellite glided across the 
sky. When it disappeared, he spoke. "It won't be easy." 

"That's no reason not to try." 

"No, it isn't. But, Liam, there are some promises you 
can't keep - no matter how hard you try. There are some 
things you have to learn to let go." 

"If Rudi is out there, Ellie could be too. I'll never 
be able to forget her." 

"I don't suppose you will." 

"Will you help me?" 

"Liam -" 

"I know everything has a price. I'll pay it. Even when 
I'm thirty and grown up, I'll still feel the same." 

"If that's the case ..." Mulder pulled out his new 
smartphone and jabbed at it. 

Liam couldn't see the message he was writing. "What are 
you doing?" 

"You'll see." 

Idly Liam took the scrapbook from Scully; he ran his 
finger along the cup's circle indent. He thought of 
Jerry and the little frog's incredible journey and how 
he hadn't known enough then to save him. Pain flared 
again. Some promises you couldn't keep. 

Mulder's phone beeped. He handed it to Liam. "It's for 
you." 

"Who -" 

"Look." 

Liam lifted the phone to read the text. The message 
glowed at him, two words taunting him and filling him 
with hope all at once. 

*Hey brat.* 

Only one person spoke to him like that. 

"That's impossible - he's dead ..." 

"There are no easy answers, Liam," Scully said. 

Mulder finished for her. "But - if you're lucky - there 
are good, good friends." 

Mulder brushed Liam's shoulder as he leaned back. Liam 
knew Mulder and Scully were holding hands behind him. 
He decided not to tease them. 

"And if you're really, really lucky there are good 
parents." Liam grinned and hugged the scrapbook to his 
chest. There were promises you couldn't keep ... and 
there were promises where you had to try, no matter 
what. And this was one of those. 

*I will find you, Ellie. I* will. 

And he knew it was the truth. 

The End