Hole in the Black
by PD

ARCHIVAL:  Gossamer, no thanks. Stories will be housed at 
my site only. If you'd like to link, I'd love it, but 
please drop me note with a heads up.

DISCLAIMER:  Can I borrow the keys to the franchise, Chris? 
I won't go to any FBI balls, I promise to make a full stop 
at most clichés‚ and I will try not to dangle my 
participles at the nice couple in the unremarkable house.

CLASSIFICATION: SRA, MSR, IWTB, TMI, ASAP

RATING:  R

SPOILERS:  Through The X Files: I Want To Believe

SUMMARY:  "I wasn't in the group, Mr. Mulder. I was a 
tangential part of the project - in league with those few 
who were adamant on the subject of developing an antidote 
and a vaccine. He was our man on the inside, but we were 
not on the side of complicity with the colonists and that 
meant we were on the outside. Fringe element. We were not 
highly regarded. We weren't even invited to the group 
barbecues." He caught himself and smiled. "Ah. No pun 
intended."


~ Chapter 18 ~
 
11:21 pm
Mitchell Mesa Complex
Monument Valley, AZ

They spent the rest of the evening having a round table of 
sorts - a free-for-all brainstorming session geared toward 
the coming months and vaccine distribution. It was heated 
and emotional and exhausting. After most of the group had 
dispersed and William began nodding off against Scully's 
arm, Mulder carried him up to bed. When Mulder returned, 
only Roy and Scully were left. A thickened silence, sticky 
and awkward, hung over the table as Mulder sat down.

"What's going on?"

"Your *wife* is being extraordinarily difficult," Roy bit 
out.

"Wow," Mulder said, insulted and impressed at the size of 
the man's balls at the same time. 

Scully bristled further. "And you're being a selfish, 
paranoid son of a -"

"Okay," Mulder interrupted. "What the hell?"

"He won't give us contact information, Mulder. He just 
expects us to sit on our asses and wait for the inevitable 
now that he's got everything he needs. Or until he needs us 
again."

"All I'm trying to avoid," Roy said, "is a misuse of what 
you think my position is."

Mulder made a face that clearly indicated either complete 
perplexity or a tremendous odor. "Then maybe you should 
clear that up, Roy. You are running things here, are you 
not?"

"I am," Roy sighed, "but that doesn't mean that I would 
have any other answers aside from what you already know or 
what I've already told you."

"But that will change," Scully said. She was no longer 
seething, just simmering. "What if we suddenly have 
information you need?"

"What *is* the issue, here, Roy?" Mulder asked. "Are you 
really begrudging us a fucking phone number? A last name - 
a *real* last name," he amended.

Roy finally relented. His excuse was habit. He'd been 
hiding his identity and working in the shadows for so long, 
it was difficult to know when it was safe to come out. 

As much as she tried not to, Scully realized she 
understood.

~:~:~

Monday, April 21st
9:15 am
Mitchell Mesa Complex
Monument Valley, AZ

After nearly a week of being cooped up indoors without 
reprieve - and buried under a mountain, to boot - getting 
out into the wide open air was more than welcome. They 
still would have to hike the mile or so to their Jeep, but 
after a fairly sedentary six days, they all looked forward 
to the physical activity. 

Roy climbed the stairs with them up to the entrance. He had 
apparently been up the remainder of the night and into the 
morning grunting out equations and scenarios, not wanting 
to waste a moment. As a result, he was punchy with 
exhaustion and too much coffee and unusually chatty. 

"So, unless their timetable changes," he was saying, "and 
we have absolutely no reason to believe it has or it will, 
we're looking at a one of several scenarios that I can 
think of for the invasion."

Scully nodded absently as she walked behind Roy and 
suddenly realized - again - that she was accepting this 
information without a skeptical thought in her head. 
Invasion? Sure. *Alien* invasion? Well, yes. She estimated 
that she hadn't rolled her eyes in disbelief in about eight 
years.

"First," Roy was saying, "they'll try to infect with the 
virus. Failing that, and they will, they will likely opt 
for a more," he glanced at William, "animated approach - as 
we talked about last night. It's *possible* we can defend 
ourselves with conventional military might without 
resorting to nukes. I hope so, anyway," and he didn't 
elaborate on the consequences of that failure in deference 
to William. Say what you might about Roy, he was 
considerate of the fact that William was just a boy, 
however advanced that boy may seem.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Roy swiped his 
keycard and punched in the exit code. He and Mulder pushed 
the heavy metal doors up and away. Even though the sun was 
still low in the morning sky and they were hidden in 
shadows against the side of the mesa, they still had to 
shield their eyes against the brightness - a result of six 
days under fluorescents and dim incandescents.

They climbed out of the hole in the ground and all 
instinctively took a deep breath. Fresh, clean air. They 
could see their Jeep in the distance - right where they 
left it.

"I understand," Roy said, touching Scully briefly on the 
shoulder, "that you elected not to avail yourself of the 
chip."

She nodded, not particularly wanting to acknowledge her 
decision at all. Mulder had not been happy about it. He was 
under the impression that she was leaving it behind out of 
some insane allegiance to her own guilt about - everything. 
She had told him that was ridiculous, but as with all 
things ridiculous, there was a grain of truth to it. Still, 
she hadn't burned her bridges. They could still come back 
and get it.

"Well," Roy said. "Suit yourself. We loaded up your Jeep 
early this morning. All the stuff you brought with you, 
plus," he said, "a few things you might find handy later 
on. I'm sorry we can't get you to your vehicle easier, but 
you made it this far the hard way..." He smiled then. 
Scully took it at face value and smiled back. He was a 
tough nut, that Roy. One minute he was on their side, the 
next he was as suspicious as any minion of darkness she'd 
ever had the displeasure of meeting.

"We also dealt with your other rental and arranged for you 
to drop the Jeep at your next destination - which I'm 
assuming will be at the nearest airport in Wyoming." He 
glanced at William. "Probably Rock Springs-Sweetwater 
County, right William?"

"I guess."

Roy looked back to Mulder and smiled. "It's Rock Springs. 
About twenty miles from William's house." Roy stuck out his 
hand. "Dr. Scully." She took it without reluctance, and 
handshakes all around followed. 

"It's been a great pleasure, William. I hope we meet 
again."

"In about four years," William said, matter-of-factly.

Roy filed that to ponder later, turned back for the 
entrance and glanced briefly at Mulder and Scully. "Good 
luck," he said and closed himself, once again, inside the 
mountain.

~:~:~

The walk back to the Jeep was uneventful and quiet as they 
each found things to contemplate stepping from rock to rock 
to rock. Mulder found he could relate this semi-malaise he 
was experiencing to the feelings he encountered after 
Scully's cancer had gone into remission. It was overjoyed 
relief mixed with a sadness that can only come when an 
emotional and time consuming event is suddenly over. It was 
wonderful, but it left an emptiness - however welcome it 
was - that suddenly had to be filled.

Mulder wouldn't let himself see past the point where 
William was no longer with them. They would get to the Jeep 
and drive and drive and drive... And that's where he 
drifted off and began thinking about something else - like 
where he could get his hands on some of that sticky fry 
bread back home.

All Scully could think about was exactly what Mulder was 
avoiding. How would they say goodbye? What would William 
say? She was also entertaining a fantasy of finding that 
his parents were really evil ogres which would justify her 
grabbing her son and running away as far as she could.

She hoped William couldn't read minds.

He couldn't. William was also doing quite a bit of 
contemplating on the hike back. He missed his parents 
terribly, but he felt a connection to his true parents that 
he just couldn't ignore even if he wanted to. They were the 
same, they had the same worries about the future and they 
shared a deep regret of the past. But there was more than 
that. They did *not* feel like strangers. 

He also imagined what it would have been like had he grown 
up in their world and not on a remote piece of land in 
Wyoming. Oddly, he didn't imagine a life filled with 
intrigue and excitement. Instead he imagined a quietness 
much like his current life, but with understanding. His 
parents were loving and caring, but there was and had 
always been a distance that they shared. They were never 
quite as comfortable with each other as they all wished 
they could be. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully felt comfortable 
as soon as he saw their faces.

He wondered what it was going to be like seeing them walk 
away.

~:~:~

They were sidetracked along the way by hunger 
(cheeseburgers and milkshakes at a diner in Colorado) and 
both William's and Mulder's overwhelming desire to stop at 
Dinosaur National Monument. When they got there, they found 
the museum and visitor's center closed - indefinitely - 
citing life, health and safety issues. Certainly it was 
this that contributed to their moods and not the call from 
Walter Skinner on Scully's cell to say that the Van de 
Kamps were expecting them.
 
When Scully told Skinner where they were, he firmly advised 
them to not stop anywhere else and drive directly to the 
Van de Kamp's. He advised them in the same tone he used to 
use after they had pissed off the various local police 
departments. 

"This was a fine line, Scully," Skinner was saying. "It's 
fortunate for your sakes that the Van de Kamps are being 
more than accommodating. In fact, had these circumstances 
been any different, their indulgence of this event would be 
completely unreasonable."

"Yes, sir."

"You agree with me," he prodded.

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Had I not spoken with them myself, I might have 
characterized it as a lack of concern, but I don't believe 
that's the case. At any rate, you'll be there this evening. 
And I know I don't have to say this... you will not attempt 
to alter the status quo in any way that is *not* through the 
proper channels." 

"No, sir." Scully didn't elaborate and the silence hung 
between them. 

"Have a safe trip home, Scully," he said, his voice 
softening. "Call me if you need anything." Several moments 
of silence later, he finally disconnected the call. 

Mulder glanced from the road to Scully as she dropped her 
hands in her lap and turned to look out the window.

"You all right?" 

She sighed. "He was being unusually - parental." 

Mulder smiled. He reached over and took one of her hands in 
his. "Buck up, Starbuck."

"Hey," William said suddenly from the back seat. He pulled 
himself forward and dangled his arms between the two seats 
in the middle. "That's Moby Dick."

Scully turned and marveled at him. "You know that book? 
Your parents read that to you?"

"No," he said. "You did." And he scooted back into his seat 
and buckled up.