The Return (7/12) by charvill Email: charityharvill@yahoo.com Genre: MSR Spoilers: Post-IWTB Summary: There are some things you just can't escape. AUTHOR'S NOTE: the second half of this section is best read along with the song "Life Is Beautiful" by Vegas4..........I'm just saying ;-) Scully stands in the kitchen, cooking up something that smells wonderful --- but that I know she will barely take more than a few bites --- when my cell phone begins vibrating between my bare feet on the coffee table. I pick it up, immediately curious as to whom it might be since only a handful of people have my number. The lighted display greets me with a familiar name. "Hey, Skin- man." "Mulder." The way he says my name, I can almost see him, glasses already removed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he prepares himself for a difficult conversation. I immediately sit up straighter. "Everything alright?" "Do you have a minute?" The hesitation before he answers has me up and moving to my office --- out of earshot of Scully. "Yeah. What's going on? Did you find something out?" I had met with him two weeks before to fill him in on Scully's condition...and to ask him to use his new connections to see if he might be able to get into the Pentagon. The same place I had found the chip over a decade before. "Yes." I suddenly can't breathe. "But it's not exactly what you think." "What?" "Listen, I can't explain over the phone. But," he pauses. "I don't think it's a good idea to let Scully know about this...just yet." I nod to myself. I hadn't even told Scully I had brought him into the search for a cure, so this is a no-brainer. "Just tell me when and where." The next morning, I am walking up to Skinner's apartment complex in Alexandria. Scully knows I am here, the reason for which, however, she is unaware. I have absolutely no idea what to expect. A doorman greets me, having been informed of my visit, and immediately ushers me inside. The elevator is one of the slowest I have ever ridden, my chapped lips feathering away under the assault of my teeth. What could Skinner have found? I honestly thought it would take much more time for him to diplomatically work his contacts to gain access to answers and possibly another chip. I jump slightly, the elevator chime jolting me out of my anxious thoughts. Finding his door easily, as it's only one of three on the entire floor, I knock twice --- per his instructions (another thing that cost me six hours of sleep last night). The door opens just slightly before a hand reaches out and pulls me, roughly, inside. "Hey! No wonder people don't visit more often," I say, the smart- ass in me taking over as usual in this tense situation. "Didn't anyone ever teach you---" "Mulder, just cut the bullsh---" he stops himself suddenly and glances anxiously over his shoulder. My blood turns to ice. "Who's here?" "Mulder, I need you to---" I move to push past him, but he grabs me by the shoulders. "What the hell is going on? I drove all this way...there had better be a damn good reason why I'm lying---" "It's okay," a voice calls from the living room. "Mr. Skinner?" "Okay." He lets out a heavy sigh and drops his hands to his sides. "But, I need you to prepare yourself for what you're about to see." The voice...it sounded so...young. *Prepare* myself? "I don't want you to have to lie to Scully any more than you do...but I wanted you to meet him first. You have to help her understand." The cryptic clues in his words begin to click into place, and then a figure emerges from around the living room entry. There is a loud ringing in my head as the world I thought I knew suddenly begins to swirl in front of my eyes. The last thing I remember, before it all turns black, is seeing her eyes in his face. "William?" ___________________________________ "He's awake." "He is?" The voices are muffled in my head, so much that I don't even know if they're real. I feel something cold on my forehead and reach up to feel damp, terrycloth under my fingers. "Scully?" I ask, trying to remember how I'd blacked out. "She's not here, Mulder." Shit. I know that voice. I open my eyes, sighing in relief when I realize I'm not in pain...or a hospital. "What happened?" "You passed out." He removes the rag from my head. I grimace and try again to recall how I'd ended up on the floor. I remember her eyes. She *was* here! Skinner is leaning over me, blocking my view of anything except his large body. "Where's Scully?" I begin to panic --- why is he lying to me? "She's at home." Skinner is looking at me with concern, and something else. "You don't remember coming to my apartment." I take a deep breath and struggle for a moment before my trip from our home to DC becomes clear. "Yeah, but....Scully. She was here. That doesn't make any sense." He shakes his head. "It wasn't Scully. Listen, Mulder, your body's not in shock...but I think your mind is. I am going to tell you something now that will make sense of your memories, but you have to relax." It takes every muscle in my body not to shake the words out of him, but I remain still. "I brought you here to meet someone. Someone who you haven't seen in a very long time, but who I have a strong feeling you've always wanted to see again." As he speaks, I see her eyes again, only they are not *her* eyes. I gasp and sit straight up --- he doesn't try to block me this time. "He's here. My," ---my throat suddenly constricts --- son is here." Skinner simply stands, revealing the boy I hadn't seen since he was a newborn. I want to run to him, pick him up, and crush him to me in the tightest hug he's ever received...but my feet remain rooted to the carpet. The boy --- *our* boy --- smiles shyly, reminding me again of his mother. He is tall. He needs a hair cut. He has my nose. And I'll be damned if he is not the most wonderful thing I've ever seen. I am suddenly afraid to blink. "It's okay," he says softly in a voice that will now forever be a part of my dreams. "It's nice to finally meet you." William sticks out his hand, and I pick my feet out of the cement to cross the floor and shake it. "It's nice to meet you, too." Is this real? My knees begin to knock together. "I-I'm sorry it's taken me so long," I admit in a voice barely louder than a whisper. He nods, glancing over my shoulder. I don't even have to turn around to know he is watching Skinner retreat; this moment is too much for him. Suddenly two arms wrap around my waist, making me the recipient of the same strong embrace I'd imagined giving just seconds before. My arms follow suit --- the area over my heart burns, and I realize it is William's tears --- and, with his head tucked under my chin, I begin murmuring everything I promised a higher power I would tell my son if only I were given the chance. I don't know why he is here. I don't know where his "parents" are or how he ended up in Skinner's apartment. And, I don't give a fuck. All I care about at this moment is that I have our son back...and nothing short of a bullet in my head is ever going to take him away from us again. And that's when it hits me. Scully. Oh, shit. END PART 7/?