Redemption (7/26)        
by GeorgeHale

Rating: R
Feedback:

Classification: Colonization/Mythology/MSR/William, post
I.W.T.B. Canon.
Spoilers: Left, right, & center. This is best served if you
REALLY know your X-Files.

Disclaimer: I wish I made this. This has been my catharsis, five
years in the making. Maybe it can be one for you, too.

Warning: Violence, Gratuitous employment of the 'Our little
sailor' clause (swearing,) Fluff with two 'f's, Cheesy dialogue,
Friendly Ghosts, Melodramatics, Plot devices, Fiji Mermen
(no, not really,) Angst, Blasphemy, Dehydration via crying,
Scientific Whammies, Plams, Lots & Lots & Lots of...Bees,
Magical Growing Scully Cross Chain, Red Herrings. It's going
to get strange and ugly before the end.

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VII

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"Sometimes we must come full circle to find the truth. Why
does that surprise you?"

- Priest, Revelations

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Three days later, four weeks had passed since William's
symptoms disappeared and their time in isolation was finished.
They were finally able to leave the confining prison that had
been the quarantine chambers. A young soldier guided them
through the complex before stopping near an unmarked area.
Scully had never realized how far the complex reached - it was
disorienting after being so confined. "These will be your
quarters, sir. I hope you find them satisfactory." The soldier
posted himself by the doorway.

Mulder was unsure why the young man was not leaving. "That
will be all, lieutenant."

"I've been assigned to guard the boy, Captain. This is my new
post."

Mulder shared a glance with a bemused Scully before he turned
his attention back to the guard. "By whose authority?"

"The Overseer's, sir."

The orders spoke volumes. Mulder noted to question it later, as
it had never been a part of his negotiations, unlike the upgraded
quarters. Ducking to enter behind Scully and William, Mulder
closed the door and beheld their new home. Four small
interconnected rooms, with most features and military-grade
furniture designed to have more than one use were all theirs.
By the standards of the bunkrooms they had passed and in
which Mulder had resided previously, it was spacious. Still,
Mulder noticed how Scully's face fell as she examined the
dimly light closets that were their new rooms, despite her
attempts to look enthused. She was hiding it well, but he knew
this would be a difficult adjustment for her. He had always
been comfortable in close quarters, but knew her better than to
think the same applied for her. Fingering the symbol of the
eagle emblazoned on a fold-down desk, he coaxed his brain to
generate something comforting.

"C'mon Scully, nothing a few throw pillows can't fix, right?
This is bunker luxury at its finest. The Senate majority leader
would have resided in these quarters." William smiled but
Scully did not. The humor did not appeal to him as much as the
affectionate gesture had. While the drug in his system had
limited the thoughts he sensed, one did not have to have a
supernatural affliction to understand the love evident between
these two. It was awkward, confusing and embarrassing for him
to think about.

Scully smiled for Mulder's sake, but knew he saw past it.

A narrow hallway connected a bathroom, bedroom, smaller
bunkroom, and kitchen. Set out on the bed in the main
bedroom were three bags of simple green fatigues labeled with
their names. Mulder's pile included gear that had been
transported from his bunk while Scully received several lab
jackets and a medic's pack, along with her suitcases that had
been brought from the garage. William's pile included an
oversized protective vest. Gathering his pile, William set to
transforming the smaller bunkroom into his own. He was
curious about the vest and somewhat apprehensive.

Mulder changed into his officers' uniform as Scully continued
exploring their new home. Scully didn't notice him until he
wrapped his arms around her from behind after he had emerged
from the head clean-shaven and transformed from the scruffy
lay-about who had kept her company through the last month.

"Why don't you both get comfortable and settle in? I need to
check in. I'll be back in a bit and we can get something to eat."
He nuzzled her cheek affectionately and planted a kiss there
before he withdrew knowing she preferred him clean-shaven,
but Scully reached out and laced her hands behind his back
before he could turn around.

"Hey Ahab, look at you." She traced the outline of his jaw that
his beard had concealed and straightened the collar on his
jacket as she checked him out in his uniform. "I must say I
could get used to this look on you, *Captain.*"

Mulder grinned down at her as he debated the wisdom of an
Oedipalian wisecrack but decided against the intellectual
browbeating and kissed her instead. He never wanted to waste
another opportunity.

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The Director's form stood silhouetted against a large backlight
display of the geographic country. Political boundaries meant
nothing in the new life they were taking on. He turned as he
heard Mulder identify himself to the guard posted outside the
door.

"It's good to see you, Mulder. Shut the door."

Mulder did as he was directed and slid into a chair at the desk
behind where the man stood.

"Thanks. It's good to be back, considering."

Walter Skinner joined him at the desk and took the seat behind
it. "Glad to hear you found them and got them both back here
safely. You had us worried. The Over had a whole battalion
ready to send out if you didn't report in. Are they adjusting
okay?"

"I think it's going to take time, but Scully's always been one of
the most resilient people I know. And William...it's hard to
tell. I think he'll be all right...Listen, I've been meaning to
thank you for your support when I requested to be released and
allowed to go for them alone. Did the Overseer speak to you at
any point about posting a guard to Will?"

Walter smiled, realizing he had pegged unpredictable Mulder
after all these years. He had known Mulder would question him
regarding the sentry. "I'm surprised, Mulder. I thought you
would have realized who he was. He requested the assignment
from me, and when I told him I didn't want to spare him, he
went over my head. Somehow, he convinced him to override
me. You'll understand once you speak to him, and if that's not
enough, ask him to remove his gloves. That will jog your
memory."

Mulder tilted his head canvassing every mental image he had of
the young soldier, finally recalling that he had never seen the
young man without gloves on and dressed in his fatigues. "Go
speak to him, Mulder, I'm not going to give it away. I'm sure
you'll be as shocked as I was. I'll stop by later, if you don't
mind."

Mulder nodded absently as he stood up to leave, consumed
now in chasing the breadcrumb trail that Skinner had set before
him regarding the mysterious guard.

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Mulder hailed the guard as he returned to his quarters, mulling
over why Skinner mentioned the gloves being removed. "Can I
speak with you, lieutenant?" The officer remained standing at
his post, but focused his attention on Mulder.

"Yes, Sir."

"Director Skinner tells me you requested this duty and went to
the Overseer to obtain it. Tell me why. I don't even know you.
Why are you concerned with my son's safety? Convince me
you're not a spy or an assassin before I decide to kick your sorry
ass."

The young soldier smiled at the provocation, wondering if the
former F.B.I. agent might have recognized him without his
beard. "Agent Mulder, I know you don't remember me, but I
had hoped you might."

Mulder compared the man to the database in his head from his
days as a federal agent, trying to gauge the young man's age and
how he might have appeared in the past. "Should I?"

Carefully, the lieutenant removed the gloves from his hands
and held them palm-up before Mulder where the defining
marks of a stigmatic were clearly present. "My name is Kevin
Kryder. We met last when I was a boy. You and Agent Scully
kept me safe and now I've come to return the favor."

Mulder was shocked as the face before him took on elements of
recognition. "Kevin...That's why I didn't recognize you! How
did you get here?"

"The same way you did, Sir. I joined the militia. I've been a part
of the group for the past three years. The director wasn't happy
when I requested guard duty. He said my medical experience
was too valuable to waste."

"He's right. Why appear now? I've been here nearly ten months
and you've never approached me until now."

Kryder didn't hesitate as he met Mulder's scrutiny. "I know
what's coming, Mr. Mulder. I've seen it. Now is the right time
and my place is here now. Even in the corps amongst friends,
you have enemies who would bring you harm and...do terrible
things. I *will* guard Ms. Scully and William with my life,
make no mistake. They're not able to protect themselves the
way you can." They regarded each other silently, and Kevin
lifted his chin slightly. "You know I'm right, even if you won't
believe me."

Mulder assessed the guard, hoping he was an honest man. "I'll
tear you limb from limb if you're not." Mulder considered the
value of having a bodyguard and weighed the possibility that
Kevin had been sent as a spy or worse. Skinner seemed to trust
the young man and that would have to satisfy him for now. He
would need to investigate further and knew exactly who to ask.

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Inside, Mulder found Dana and William combing slowly
through one of the photo albums she had packed in her
suitcase. These were William's baby pictures and Fox hadn't
seen Dana look at them for several years. Mulder joined them
on the empty bunk in William's room where they sat as Scully
narrated.

"Most of these were taken at my apartment in Georgetown, but
a few were taken at your father's. Scully pointed to one of
Mulder holding William atop a basketball. "Like this one." She
smiled, remembering happier times. "No basketball at my
house. Your father had high hopes before you could even hold
your head up."

"She never got sports." Mulder stood up extending his hands to
his family. "I hate to cut the trip down memory lane short, but
the mess only serves lunch until fourteen hundred." He pulled
them both to their feet. In their rush out of quarantine that
morning, they had skipped breakfast, and it was already after
one. Mulder led them toward the mess hall. "Know how to tell
military time, Will?"

William shook his head, grateful they were finally going to eat.
He still didn't feel comfortable imposing on his new-found
guardians but he had been hungry for hours. "It's not extremely
difficult, but takes a while to get used to. Instead of the
numbers going back to one after noon, they keep going up until
twenty-four. One becomes thirteen hundred; two is fourteen
hundred, and so on. Understand?" William nodded and Mulder
continued. "I'll be able to give you both the complete tour after
lunch." Mulder ruffled William's hair amicably, and William
was reminded of his dream. "Skinner says he'll come by later
and the Gunmen want us to join them for dinner. I didn't tell
th-"

"Mulder, stop." He looked at Scully posed with a question and
paused, realizing by the conflicted and incredulous expression
on her face that he had never told her they had been alive and
well here. He cursed himself for being so thoughtless. "How?"
she demanded.

"The Gunmen staged their death after their operation was
compromised by associates they had trusted." Mulder threw his
hands up in defense as Scully leveled him with a terrible look.
"No. Not us...I didn't know at the time, either. Remember the
source with no proof? The encrypted messages I had been
receiving before I left...it was them. I didn't even know that
before I left. They run security and surveillance here and
hacked the records that allowed us to find William, so don't
strangle them when you see them. They had contacted Skinner
too, not long after they contacted me. He directs Special Forces
here and that includes the unit I told you about."

Mulder continued down the hallway, prepared for the heckling
Scully was entitled to. She reflected on Skinner's sudden
retirement shortly after Mulder left and had always wondered if
the two events had been related.

"It's all remarkable, Mulder. Too remarkable, really. If I didn't
know you better, I'd say it was unbelievable."

They entered the mess hall and proceeded through the line as
Mulder scanned the faces of the servers behind the counter. As
it was nearly the end of serving time, there was no one ahead to
wait behind. They sat by themselves at a small table and
Mulder pointed out the painted landscapes and murals of the
Capitol that had been painted in great detail onto the
surrounding walls with his fork as he picked at his food with
caution.

"They thought it would help the Congressmen cope better. I
just think it makes it worse."

Scully grimaced at her Jell-O and agreed. The food was edible
if not delectable. She noticed Mulder had been closely
watching the guard who was quietly eating his lunch several
tables over. "You don't trust him."

"No, not yet." He decided against telling Scully the man's
supposed identity until he confirmed it himself.

"You shouldn't worry about him. He means what he said."
William spoke nonchalantly as he broke an over baked cookie
in half. "Mulder won't tell you until he talks to the other man,
but he's one of the good guys."

Mulder quieted him with a glare as he set his hand on his arm.
"You need to learn to mind your own business." *'I will not tell
her until I know for sure. It's not worth upsetting her if it turns
out to be another lie.'*

William's eyes went wide as he realized the man had spoken to
him without moving his lips.

*'Do you understand?'*

William nodded and Scully rubbed his shoulder, not realizing
what was transpiring between the two. "Stop Mulder, you're
scaring him. You had better come clean later. I don't like being
kept in the dark." She was more concerned that the Phenytoin
was beginning to lose its grip on the boy's brain.

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Once they were finished, they continued through different
sections of the bunker, Mulder explaining what he knew and
what protocols needed to be followed in each section. Scully
marveled at the complexity of the bunker's layout and
capabilities and thought it humorous they had ended up as ants
in a colony. The thought of providing clean water, sustainable
food resources, power, clothing, and quarters for 2,000 people
was overwhelming. She wondered how long could it be
maintained without contact to the outside world.

Their final stop brought them to a vast underground cavern that
had been converted into a vertical garden and Mulder had
deliberately saved it for last. Suspended platforms of foliage
silhouetted in artificial sunlight and water vapor blocked the
ceiling from view. A large, natural fast-flowing stream divided
the cavern in half and green moss covered nearly every exposed
rock face.

"This is my favorite area. You can almost forget that you're
eight stories down. Though most of the food in the bunker is C
rations, the garden's purpose is to supplement as much as
possible with fresh produce. This water reservoir was part of
the original layout and is actually one of the reasons this
location was first chosen, but the gardens weren't. The
expansion that has been completed here in the last fifteen years
is remarkable. The horticulturist in charge has been on staff
since the bunker transferred ownership."

"It's beautiful..."

"I do a lot of reading here. The library is right over there."
Mulder lead them through an opened cavern passage into a
sealed area filled with individual workstations. Several
workstations were sealed in separate rooms toward the back. A
few modest seating areas were scattered throughout.

Mulder led them to one of the separated workstations and had
William sit down. "It's not your typical school, but everyone's
allowed to work at their own pace." Mulder walked William
through the registration procedure as he continued to explain.
Diagnostic tests diagnose your strengths and weaknesses and a
teacher adjusts the curriculum as needed to keep you on track."

William put his palm flat to the screen to finish setting up a
new account, and wondered what he might learn as the
computer finished scanning his hand.