Sky
by Philefic
     
Email: philefic@gmail.com
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Pairing: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully

Summary:  I wanted to explore William as a character today.
Then put him in the context of Mulder and Scully in the
revival, amongst a few spoilers we've had. This isn't what I
want to see in the revival, this is my character interpretation of
William and what his relationship with Mulder and Scully may
look like if they were to be reunited today.


The snow fell like icing sugar and frozen fairies shaking the
cold around with the flutter of their tiny wings. It settled and
began to block the view of the school field that once had neatly
painted lines on lush, green grass but now resembled what
William thought his father was describing when he used the
phrase "When hell freezes over." If he closed his eyes he could
picture him saying it. Red faced with eyes popping out of their
sockets. "You'll drive that bike again when hell freezes over
boy." He didn't often make his father that angry but apparently
stealing the farm bike to go hunting in the woods with your
friend was one of the times that did it. He was thankful for that
perfect memory even if it was passed to him from the man he
now lived with. 

He shuffled his feet along the long stretch of school hall,
shaking some of the remainder snow off his boots. It melted
quickly under the wealthy heat his mother's healthy doctor
salary no doubt covered generously. He reached the room
number matching the piece of paper he had been handed too by
the head mistress and took a cursory glance through the door's
window. The students sat tall at their desks. Their books in
uniform order and their neck ties were as straight as the ruler
that lay across the top of their desk. He sighed heavily. Why
did he need to come to this school anyway? It wasn't bad
enough that he had been moved to that little country school in
the first instance? It's not his fault those country kids were
dumber than pigs in shit. This city preppy private school felt
like his punishment for being smart and not, as his mother had
put it,  an opportunity to challenge himself'. Well maybe he
didn't need any new challenges. Maybe losing your parents,
your home and then being put with the two people who gave
you up when you were a baby was punishment enough.
Apparently not the teacher spotted him through the window
and gestured for him to enter. He opened the door and didn't
bother to lift his feet or his chin as he entered. All eyes landed
heavily on him and the noise inside his head grew loud and
cluttered. 

"Class" the teacher addressed the masses. "This is our new
student. Can I introduce to you William Mulder."

"Van de Kamp" William corrected.

The teacher looked over her glasses at her own piece of paper
handed to her by the head mistress. "Hmm there must have
been an error....."

"My father's name is Mulder. My name is Van de Kamp." He
eye balled her confidently to make sure she appreciated how
serious he was about that. He could feel her embarrassment in
his mind and hear her subconscious say she hadn't had enough
coffee to deal with this so early in the morning.

"Ok William. My name is Ms. Turnball, please take a seat."
She gestured to the only free desk in the room.

The swarm of conversation in his head dulled slightly as he
made his way over to his seat. Apparently none of his class
mates were overly interested in him. He was thankful for that
but not particularly for the Algebra worksheet sitting on his
desk.

"Ok class resume working on your test sheets." The teacher sat
back behind her own desk. A flurry of pencils scratching along
the page began along with the frantic rush of numbers and
symbols inside William's head. He filled in each question
methodically and then opened up his note book to work on a
piece of writing, it helped him to block them out. Sometimes
writing was the only way to have a quiet, single thought inside
his head. Of course no-one would ever read these words. The
boy who heard the internal monologue of everyone around him
kept his own thoughts very private. He didn't even notice the
teacher look over his shoulder until she cleared her throat.

Quickly he tucked the notebook back underneath the math
worksheet and flicked a thick lock of brown hair out of his
view. "Sorry Ma'am" He pre-empted her distain.

"You haven't shown any working William." Her eyes scanned
the page.

"No Mam." He shuffled pages nervously "I believe you'll find
it's all correct though."

Ms. Turnball picked up the sheet and scanned the neat numbers
along the ruled line. Without the working she couldn't be
completely sure but it seemed he was right, all of his answers
were correct.

William pushed out his full bottom lip when he smiled up at
her, not yet knowing the effect that would have on woman later
in his life. He knew she was flustered and frustrated with him
already, having grown used to teachers feeling that way about
him. She shoved the page back under his nose. "You need to
show your working William."

"Yes Ma'am."

**********

He watched the final seconds tick passed the nine towards the
ten. He concentrated on those tiny dots moving achingly slowly
behind the longer hand of the clock. He pushed his mind and
bent it forward and the hand jumped to the twelve prompting
the shrill of the school bell that signaled the end of this
torturous day. No one waved or said goodbye, no one patted
him on the shoulder or said  see you tomorrow'. Even his
teacher left the classroom before he did, more thankful than he
was that the day was finally over. Her anxieties of the Doctor's
appointment she was going to ran through William like a
sudden trill runs up your spin and prickles your skin for no
apparent reason. If only he could tell her that he knew she
would be fine.

Exiting the school gate alone was nothing new. A group of girls
standing off to the side paused in their conversation to size him
up as he passed. The mind of a teenage girl was a confusing
thing and when they were in a group like these ones were his
mind filled with lots of colour and noise like one of those test
screens on an old television set. "He's cute." One of them
muttered to the group under her breath and he was grateful that
at least for today that's how she would think of him. 

His back pack weighed down his shoulders now heavy with
new books, a new curriculum to get familiar with and no doubt
a harder algebra worksheet tucked into his note book by his
new teacher. They spotted each other simultaneously from
across the car park. It was still uncomfortable to William how
in sync he and this man he couldn't yet call father were. He
dropped his head so that thick fringe fell over his eyes to break
his stare and made his way to the car. The lock on the back
door popped open when he pulled the handle and he threw his
bag without grace into the back seat. He could still feel the girls
at his back, now watching both of them as he slammed the back
door behind his bag and climbed into the front seat. His father
was dressed in the same worn polo and jacket he'd been
wearing since they met. It seemed when his mother had left
him she took his dress sense along with her. "I thought Dana
was picking me up."

"Aaah she had to go to surgery." His father stuttered.

William sulked punishing Mulder with the exact expression he
had used to torture Scully with their entire relationship.

"Are we going back to the farm?"

Mulder turned the engine in the car and began to pull out into
the road. "No I'll take you back to the apartment. I thought I'd
order dinner for us? There's that new Pizza place open just one
block 
over from Dana's."

"She doesn't like Pizza." He said flatly starring out at the
empty street ahead.

"Since when?" Mulder turned his concentration between the
road and his son. Scully not liking pizza! He'd have to open an
X-File. 

"She's on some health kick thing." His sentence floated away
unfinished. He pulled out his note book and began writing
again. 

Mulder looked at the page without seeing the words and then
back at the road ahead. "Hey there's a game on." He nudged
William's knee with his hand. William looked at the place he'd
knocked as if that tiny tap had wounded him. "We could watch
it together. I'll stop and get some sodas and chips?"

"I have homework."

Mulder paused, knowing that his son was scanning his mood
telepathically. "Ok I'll tell you what, you do your homework
and I'll watch the game and then I'll cook. Your mother loves
my cooking." He was trying to be funny but William wasn't
willing to budge from that pout.

"Hmm I don't remember the last time we made it through a
whole dinner together." Unfortunately for Mulder William had
inherited his mother's gift of sarcasm.

Mulder wasn't interested in defending his co-parenting with his
15 year old son, especially since he'd only officially been
parenting him for a year. "I'll just get the Pizza then eh? You
can have a night off mom's fancy healthy diet."

"Whatever."

*************

It hadn't snowed in a few days so the grounds around the
school yard were trying their best to rejuvenate inside the
warmth of the sunshine before the next onslaught of cold took
them out again. William made his away across the field trying
to avoid being seen by any of his fellow classmates who were
taking advantage of having the grounds open to kick a ball on
again. Over to the side was the grandstand that would one day
be full with dedicated sports fans but for now provided him
with a quiet place to escape the constant noise inside his mind.
There was a spot tucked right over in the corner, right up
against adjacent fences that bordered the boundary of another
school. The grass had died away and there was enough sun
light shining through the small gaps in the fence to provide him
with light to see his pages. He hunkered down onto the dry
ground, pulling his jacket under his bottom for cushioning and
tightening his scarf and beanie for warmth. Inside his bag was
an organically grown, pesticide free apple that his mother had
thrown in this morning as she did every morning. If only he
could tell her pesticides were the least of her worries as a
human being living and breathing on this god forsaken planet,
if God were around to forsake it that is.

The bell signaling the end of the lunch break shrilled through
the school ground and went unnoticed by William. Science was
his last class today and he was uninterested in dissecting that
poor frog. He instinctively knew that one day he would be
dissected for science or that he had been in one way or another
as a child and therefore felt on some personal level too close to
that frog to open him up from jaw to tail. Instead he plugged
his ears with the phones of his ipod and hit play. So what if
they called his mother again, she always knew where he was
anyway. His bond to her meant she had some kind of internal
beacon that sounded inside her if he was in any kind of danger.
That is, after all, how they found him in the first place.

When she sat against the fence on the opposite side of him he
felt her before he heard her. Inside his head swirls of pinks,
yellows and blues circled and hummed like bees in spring. He
could smell pollen and rain mixing inside the colours, it filled
him and lightened him all at the same time until the harsh
aroma of cigarette smoke diluted it and brought him back to
solid ground.

"You stole my spot." An angelic voice came through the hole
in the fence.

William played possum, thinking that perhaps if he stayed very
still she wouldn't try to engage him in any way. Talking to the
female of the species was not one of his strong attributes. He
was interested in them of course, as most 15 year old boys are
but being able to delve inside their heads was definitely a huge
disadvantage. Teenage girls were extremely complicated
creatures. If he had to, he would say their minds were best
described as chaos. Extreme highs, extreme lows and a whole
lot of sharp angles in between. Girls were interested in him too
of course, many had tried to draw his attention in one way or
another over the last few years but knowing exactly what
someone thinks about you doesn't provide a whole lot of
confidence when initiating conversation for the first time. 

This girl couldn't see him, she couldn't tell if he was captain of
the football team or president of the chess club. Heck he was a
girl for all she knew at this very moment.

"Want a cigarette?" Her voice was casual, like she could be
conversing with a yeti for all she cared. A cigarette slipped
through one of the cracks in the fence, lit and ready to be
dragged on. He stared long and hard at the tiny embers burn the
paper down slowly. He wasn't a fan of cigarettes, the smell
triggered something in him like one of those memories your
subconscious stored as sounds, smells and feelings. Plus his
mother was like some kind of big time Doctor, surgeon, chief
or something. She would highly disapprove of him sucking on
that thing and it was that very thought that tempted him to take
it between his finger and thumb and place it between his lips.

He dragged the noxious chemicals deep into his lungs
mimicking the way he saw some guy do it in a movie once and
his lungs rejected it instantly. He coughed and spluttered and
gagged. The more he tried to play it cool, the worse his body
protested. It took him a few minutes to recover, especially
because he was taller than your average middleschooler and the
ventilation wasn't so great inside this cascade of chairs. He
knew he was going to live when he heard the laughter coming
through the fence. 

"Woah man, you ok over there. You're not supposed to inhale
it like that." She managed through 
the giggling.

"Shit!" William got out, stubbing the nasty smoke into the
ground with the toe of his shoe.

"He speaks."

"That was disgusting." He spat at it on the ground to try and
remove the vial taste from his mouth.

"Sorry man. I just assumed you were here to smoke." The voice
behind the fence began to giggle again behind her hand. 

William sat back down against the fence and sulked. He liked
this spot and he wasn't going to let this girl ruin it for him.
Even if her mind was telling him she was a great person. No he
was going to sit here and write and ignore her from now on.
She'll lose interest eventually and leave. There was silence for
a short while but he knew she still sat there wondering about
him too.

"So if you aren't here to smoke, why are you here?"

There was a distinct lack of cigarette smoke when she spoke
this time. She obviously had put the vial things away. He still
wasn't interested in talking to her.

"Are you ignoring me now?"

She was pretty hard to ignore. The strangest thing about
William's mind is he could see a person without physically
seeing them. It seemed he was the only person on the planet
who could scientifically credit the notion that true beauty lived
on the inside. This mysterious girl behind the fence, who at this
point was merely a voice and cloud of smoke was to date the
most interestingly beautiful person he had ever been in the
presence of. That didn't mean he was going to talk to her
though. If for no other reason than he was feeling extremely
embarrassed about the whole smoking thing. 

"Fine, I'm psychic you know. If you won't talk to me then
place your hand up to the fence and I'll be able to read your
thoughts."

He looked at the fence instinctively knowing that he was
looking at the spot where her hand pressed on the other side. Of
course she wasn't actually psychic. I f people only knew what
that really meant they wouldn't be so quick to claim the ability. 

He paused to consider. He knew what would happen if he
placed his hand to hers. He knew that she didn't and that
always presented him with an ethical dilemma. If people knew
that he could see into their thoughts and know their feelings
when they met him wouldn't they then choose to walk on by?
Perhaps that is why he never allowed himself to get to close to
people. Resigned to the fact that he may never see her again or
talk with her, he slowly and carefully lay his hand to the fence
alongside hers. The colours are the first things that get brighter,
beautiful green and yellow indicating she held things important
to her directly inside her heart and soul. She was creative, he
could tell by the wide variety of shades she projected. He saw
images of a happy child who grew into herself when her
parents' marriage began to fall apart and then completely when
her father left her for good. 

He pulled his hand quickly away as if the wood had caught fire
and scalded his palm. People like to romanticise that souls are
linked, a romance novel would call it soul mates. William
didn't dare call it that but he did see connections in people.
Like their life forces were mingled eternally and when they
meet a kind of ephemeral link is made permanently. He didn't
understand, question it or even dear to wonder why he knew
this but even as a baby he felt the link his adoptive parents had
to each other. Perhaps that's how he always knew he wasn't
there's his life forces never reached out to mingle with theirs.
Maybe if he had taken the time to think about that he would
have been able to see the end they were fated to have with him
in their presence. He saw it in his birth parents, theirs was the
strongest bond he had ever seen before and perhaps that's
because he felt attached to it in some way. Of course they were
too stubborn to see it, too pig headed to acknowledge it.

He was linked to this girl, her beautiful life energy was
connected to his somehow and instinctively he knew he'd
found someone he could trust. Perhaps the only one in this
world given his parents were too involved with themselves to
worry about him. His heart thumped in his ears as he stared
down at his and as if it would offer him some kind of
explanation. Then he realised she was still talking and he
hadn't been listening at all.

"You're a writer." She said like it was the end of a range of
things she had just rattled off.

"How did you know that?" He looked confused

"I told you I'm psychic." She said matter of factly.

He looked down at the note paper and pencil he'd dropped on
the ground that she could obviously see through the gap under
the fence.

"So now you are talking to me are you going to tell me your
name?" 

He smiled at the genuine nature in her voice. She honestly felt
guilty for the silly cigarette thing and he felt bad about that.
After all it was his fault, he didn't have to take it. "I thought
you said you were psychic?" He teased.

"I am."

"Then tell me my name."

He heard her breath in deeply. He almost felt air drift through
his lungs at the same rate it did in hers. The connection
between them was growing with every new interaction. He felt
her close her eyes and concentrate as if she was actually trying
to channel his thoughts and figure out his name. Closing his
eyes too, he pushed the word through his head, trying to project
it out to her. It had worked before. If he concentrated hard
enough he could project a word and it would be picked up by
someone around him. It didn't work very often though, he
tended to keep his thoughts to himself. 

"William" She breathed out.

He smiled knowingly. "Wow." He tried to sound amazed. "You
really are psychic."

"Woah!" She tried to hide her complete shock that she got it
correct but recovers quickly "I told you I was psychic."

"I'm impressed."

"So William if you aren't here to smoke? Why are you here?" 

"To write." He picked up his lost pencil and pad as if she could
see it.

"Of course."

He heard her shuffle around and knew she was contemplating
whether or not she should flee or stay and carry on this
conversation with him. She was drawn to him too, she just
didn't know why like he did. To her it was a strange feeling. To
him it was like a lifetime of thoughts and dreams and feelings
swirling inside the pit of his stomach. He wasn't ready for her
to leave yet. 

"You didn't tell me your name."

"Oh it's Sky."

He knew that wasn't her real name but adored the fact that
that's what she called herself. "Nice to meet you Sky."

"Nice to meet you too William the writer."

***********

William sat sprawled out on his king sized single bed. He often
found it ironic that his tiny mother, who sat below his
shoulders when standing at full height, had the biggest bed in
the house. A giant bed in fact, the biggest you could buy. Was
she just so used to having to share a bed with his father that
while contemplating a new bed for her apartment she forgot to
factor in that she would take up all of a quarter of this bed.
Maybe subconsciously she was optimistic about her
relationship with him and intended on sharing it again one day
or could it be she hoped to share it with someone else. William
hated seeing her in it anyway. His mother was such a powerful
woman, a giant inside the living world and yet she looked so
tiny and vulnerable drowning in those sheets inside that big bed
alone.

He had finished his homework but was avoiding going down to
see her in the kitchen. Instead he had opted to sketch on his
tablet. He'd taken to drawing skies at the moment. The reason
was obvious. Her. They had met under that grandstand, behind
that fence at least twice a week over the last couple of months
and for the first time in his life he felt like he belonged to
someone and he hadn't even set eyes on her yet. He couldn't
draw her face but he could draw her inside a sky. This
afternoon he had decided she was a night sky, stormy and
unpredictable. Perhaps he was seeing something that had not
yet been. A glimpse into their future. 

They talked about everything and he was starting to open up to
her knowing with certainty that she would not betray his trust.
The picture complete he studied his own work with a critics
eye and smiled. She called herself Sky she told him because
that's where she always pictured herself being. As if she looked
down on these people and the planet gravity stuck them too.
She didn't fit in, she didn't know how to be a part of it. Life
seemed like it would be so much more simple if she could
watch it go by sitting on a cloud or a star. How ironic it was
that William, the boy who felt more alien than human, had a
best friend and soul mate who wanted to live in the sky.

Something was thrown into the sink in the kitchen making a
loud crash echo through the house. His mother was mad at him.
He knew the second he sat down next to her in the car. She
knew their connection was stronger than any normal, human
connection between a mother and son. He also knew she
thought he was different, that that worried her a lot but he
could never bring himself to confirm these things for her. It
was difficult for him to describe it to her especially when he
knew that confirming her fears for him would only cause her
more pain. He did love this woman, this mother of his and
often felt bad that she wondered if the same were true of him
but she left him and he left them and the parents he knew were
gone. He still needed more time with those feelings.

"William" She called.

He rolled his eyes and drew a calming breath preparing himself
for her wrath.

"William!" she yelled a little louder

"What?"

"Can you come down here please." He could tell she was
making a conscious effort to remain calm. The throwing of the
pots and cutlery were a dead giveaway though. She was mad.

He put his tablet on top of his completed homework shuffling
himself off the bed and down the stairs. "What?" he repeated
standing in the kitchen door way. She had changed from her
work clothes into one of her nicer evening dresses, modest but
one of her more dressier dress's anyway. She was busy fussing
with something in the oven when she heard him. Slamming the
door shut to turn and face him. He couldn't help but notice the
way she looked at him before she spoke, almost taken back
slightly at the sight of him. It was hot in this apartment. The
heat was always set far too high, so he hadn't bothered
throwing on a shirt and his track pants hung low on his hips.
Adolescence was changing him quickly, his voice was lower,
his chin was turning a shade darker with the beginning of a
beard and a small thatch of hair had sprouted in the centre of
his chest. Her surprise seemed to be in the realisation he was no
longer a child, if only she didn't treat him that way.

William crossed his arms over his defined chest. He knew she
saw in him a man she once knew, a man she thought she had
lost. The genetic traits he had acquired from her seemed to be
all those unseen things, unfortunately for her he seemed to be
the perfect physical match of his father. How cruel genetics
were to the single mother raising the boy she lost who
constantly reminded her of the man she loved.

She turned her eyes away from him to attack a helpless lettuce
on the chopping board. "Your teacher called again."

He puffed out a breath in response.

"You skipped class again." She paused torturing the salad
momentarily to floor him with a glare.

"I did."

She sighed heavily. "You can't keep cutting class William."

He didn't want to fight about this again. It never went
anywhere anyway so he turned away to grab a shirt he left
hanging over the end of the couch.

Unfortunately for him she followed. To her credit she was
doing a really good job of keeping her voice calm. "Please
don't walk away from me when we are talking about this. This
is serious William if you keep this up they may kick you out of
school."

His head and arms popped through the holes of his shirt. "Fine
with me."

She pinched the bridge of her nose with her finger and thumb
"William..."

"I'm acing that class anyway. What do they care if I skip a few
amphibian vivisections?"

"It's not a vivisection it's a dissection." She corrected.

"Not to me it's not."

She didn't know how to answer that.

"The heart of the frog has three chambers, one ventricle and
two atria....." He began.

"William.."

"Blood leaves the heart from the ventricle through a single
truncus arteriosus which is short and soon branches into two
aortic arches which loop left and right and dorsal to the heart to
rejoin as a single aorta in the mid dorsal region of the body
cavity." He spouted at her confidently, moving closer to her as
if he meant to overpower her with his height along with his
words. She only looked up at him with those glassy blue eyes
that haunted his dreams as a child.

"No? Perhaps something a little more human then? The human
heart sits within a fluid filled cavity called the pericardial
cavity. The walls and lining of the pericardial cavity are a
special membrane known as the pericardium....."

She folded her own arms across her chest.

"We both know they aren't going to kick me out Dana." He sat
down on the couch smugly and flicked the T.V on.

She snatched the remote from him and flicked it back off.
"You're a smart kid William. Everyone knows that but perhaps
you could try to be a bit more....."

"Normal"

"Considerate." She corrected.

He knew what she meant the truth was ringing at him from
behind her brow. What she wanted to say but couldn't. She
wanted him to fit in, perhaps if he conformed than she
wouldn't have to worry about him being different and her fears
would be relayed. He looked back at the blank T.V screen.  I'm
sorry I can't give you what you want.' He replied to her
unspoken thoughts with his own.

She sat next to him and took his hand not knowing that she had
actually only heard that message inside her head. "Me too." She
answered.

They sat there for a beat both staring blankly at the empty
screen. "Where do you go William?"

"Huh?"

"When you cut class, where do you go." She asked.

"You'd know if I was doing something wrong." He answered
simply, referring to their unspoken communication network.

She smiled softly, conceding. Without knowing how or why
she knew he was right. If he was in trouble or doing something
wrong she would know about it. So for the sake of her son and
their fragile relationship she was willing to let it be.

He felt an uneasiness come over her before she spoke again. "I
need to tell you something."

She didn't give him the opportunity to protest

"I'm going back to the FBI."

"OK" he replied a little nervously.

"Your father." She faltered "Mulder and I have been asked to
re-open The X-Files division."

"Does that mean we can move back to the farm?"

Of all the responses she had imagined he would have to being
told this news, that was not one she had planned for.

"No." she said completely surprised with him "William I said
we are working together again that's all."

William rolled his eyes and stood from the couch. "Whatever I
don't care what you do anyway." He went to storm back to the
safety of his bedroom.

"William." She called him back. "Is that what this is about? Is
that why you are cutting school and acting this way towards
me? If you want to spend more time there, with him, I don't
mind."

"I don't want to spend more time with him I just don't want to
be here!" He gestured to the finely furnished apartment and
then to his mother who looked as though he had just ripped her
heart from her chest. After all he had just described it with
perfect anatomical precision she knew he probably had the
skills to perform that vivisection on her.

"Ok then." She choked.

"I didn't mean..." he actually felt bad. "I mean sometimes I
wish I could get away from all this noise. The city is noisy, the
people here are busy and complicated. It's just that our life
there was....."

She looked to the floor, trying hard not to remember what
living was to her out there. Their life at that farm was a family
one, a mom and Dad and Kid inside a home. William had never
been engulfed inside a city before.

"Quiet." He finished.

A knock at the door interrupted them. He knew who stood
behind it with a bottle of wine and goofy smile on his face but
she didn't know he knew that so he staged a protest with a
disgusted tone of voice. "Who's that!"

She looked sheepishly at the door. "It's Tad."

William rolled his eyes like she was the one revealing this to
him. So that's why she is dressed up.

"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you yet, that he was
coming for dinner."

William hated that guy. He hated his TV show, He hated his
suits, he hated his fake smile, he hated the way he tried to be
his friend when the only thing that seemed to roam through his
head in their presence were thoughts of his mother. Unsavoury
thoughts about his mother that no child should ever be
subjected to. If only he could tell him she thought the opposite
of him or that the only reason she was interested in him at all
was to find out what his motives were towards Mulder. More
importantly if only he could tell Mulder that.

Adults are so stupid. If people said what they were thinking
these things would be so much less complicated. She would go
back to him, he wouldn't think she was banging her head
against Tad's headboard and William wouldn't be witness to
this dramatic rom com they called life. Seriously two year olds
hosting a tea party could communicate better than these three.
It just made him angrier to think about it so he carried on his
ascent up the stairs. "I'll be in my room."

*************

He felt it the second he stepped onto the stoop outside the
school. The minds of the kids surrounding him were set to him
and that never happened. They ignored him, he was
uninteresting to them all, that is until today. He tucked his head
down and pulled his thick scarf higher on his chin hoping he
could hide behind it a little. It was getting warmer everyday
now and the snow now sat as puddles at his feet. It was
probably too hot for that scarf but he needed the extra armor
today.

They whispered behind their hands as he passed but their
discretion was futile when he could hear what they were
thinking. 

"ET phone home" one of them cracked mimicking the Stephen
Speilberg classic in perfect ET dialect. The boys at his side
came out from behind their hands to laugh along with him.

"We all need tinfoil hats" another one of these boy genius's
called.

He was tempted to tell them that didn't work but instead picked
up the pace so he could find sanctuary inside the school halls.
Unfortunately the kids in there were thinking about him too.
They all turned from their lockers to stare and point. He pulled
his own open to hide behind hoping the two boys moving
towards him would get the hint and walk on by. He felt them
stop and stand directly behind the locker door instead. He
looked down at their feet and silently counted to three before
partially closing the locker to face them. 

"Hey Will, Right?"

No-one called him Will, he hated being called that. No one in
this school bothered to get to know him well enough to find
that out. 

"William." He corrected

The boys smiled. "We saw your Dad on TV."

William slammed the locker shut in response.

"Fox Mulder. Is that his real name? He is your Dad right?"

William shrugged.

"Was that your Mom?" he said with a smirk and his silent
friend next to him smiled.
William just blinked this time.

"Have you ever seen an Alien Will?"

"William."

The bell shrieked through the hall and both boys adjusted the
back pack straps on their shoulders as they turned to follow
their peers inside the class rooms. "ET" the previously silent
boy called out to him. "You're Mom's hot ET."

If he could climb into his locker he would but he wasn't going
to give them the satisfaction. Instead he looked out at the
grandstand sitting beside the rejuvenated football field. He'd go
there and write. It was quiet under there and if he waited long
enough and thought about her really hard she would eventually
come.

He ran as fast as he could across the field and under the
bleachers, hoping that he would get there while everyone was
still scurrying to their seats and his flee would go unnoticed by
his teachers and fellow students. Breathless he hunkered down
in what had become his favourite spot, his butt cheeks had
almost imbedded a perfect cushion into the soft dirt. He
plugged his ears with his headphones and turned his i-pod to
almost full volume. Next to writing this was the only way to
drown the world out from around him. It didn't feel like long
before he felt her presence behind the fence. How did she know
he was here waiting for her? Their connection just kept
growing, it seemed, she was drawn to him simply by the way
he thought about her being there. Slowly he pulled the small
head phones from his ears. As much as he wanted to talk to her,
he was afraid of what he may say today. He hadn't opened up
to anyone in the way that he had opened up to Sky but he had
still felt as though he'd held back. Always afraid he'd scare her
off but today, the way he felt, the way things were shifting at
home there was the distinct possibility he could not restrain
himself and tell her everything.

"Hey. What's up?" She casually said as if he had physically
called her to this meeting. Did she sense he needed her too?
"William?" She repeated when he didn't reply. "Are you ok?"

"I hate this school!"

"Well that's not new." He heard her settle herself down beside
him and pull out her gum. She'd given up on the cigarettes
since that day he nearly coughed up a lung.

He pouted at her as if she could see him. He wanted her to be
sympathetic, put a bandaid on the owie and make him feel all
better. She didn't even sound interested at the moment. 

"I can hear you're sulking through this fence William are you
going to tell me or do I have to use my psychic powers again?"

William kept pouting.

"Ok then" she breathed in deeply just as she had on their first
encounter.

William rolled his eyes at her, now she was just making fun of
him.

"You're upset because your Dad was on that stupid TV show."

"What! How did you know that?" He was genuinely shocked,
he absolutely didn't see that coming.

"I told you. I'm psychic." Sky replied casually.

"You're not psychic Sky! And you should be careful what you
wish for." 

"Woah William, you are pissed off and here I thought your Dad
was pretty cool actually."

William looked at the fence as if the look on his face would
penetrate the wood. "What?"

"I always wondered, is he your real Dad? Your last names are
different."

William fidgeted with the ipod in his hands "No, Yes. It's
complicated. I was adopted."

"Oh so he's your adopted dad."

"No, he's my biological dad."

"But you live with him now?"

"Yes. Well no."

"I'm sorry William. I'm confused."

There was quiet for a long time from behind the fence and he
was grateful for the space she was giving him to align his
thoughts and construct a response. He could feel her concern
for him, her compassion towards him and felt her start to drift
away as the silence stretched out and she started to question
how much he really trusted her.

"I was adopted out when I was a baby. My adopted parents are
now dead." He announced with butterflies fluttering in his
stomach. In his mind's eye he saw her face fall with sadness,
the green in her eyes, as he imagined them to be, glassed with
tears as she turned to look at him through that fence. It gave
him the strength he needed to carry on. "I'm not like most
people, I have a long memory, I sense things and I remember
parts of being a baby. With my birth mother." 

She didn't run away and he could tell she wasn't scared she
was still listening urging him to go on. It was as if she knew
that already. He leant his head back against the fence and let
himself go. "You know how sometimes you have these really
vivid dreams and when you wake up you can only remember
bits and pieces. Certain smells or feelings you had while you
were there in your dream but there are lots of important things
missing? My earliest memories are just like that. My father was
gone, she was alone and often I could tell she was scared, for
me, for us."

"Why?" Sky whispered.

William closed his eyes as if that would sharpen his memory.
"I don't know, I can't see." He squeezed his eyes really tight. "I
remember being scared too sometimes but mostly I just
remember her. My Mother. Her hair was red, her eyes were so
blue and she used to sing to me, something about a bullfrog. "
he laughed at the feeling that memory invoked that's what he
remembered the most. "She missed him and I reminded her of
him. Geez that still hasn't changed." He opened his eyes and
watched his nervous fingers interlace. "She used to cry a lot."
He sniffed "I don't remember the day I went to the farm but
most of my childhood memories are of the farm house. The
sound of creaking wood under heavy work boots, the smell of
hay and sunshine and my parents who loved me
unconditionally, completely. They weren't like her, they
weren't scared, they weren't sad, they never wondered if I was
different or dangerous, they just loved me!" He realised his
hands had clenched into tight fists and the air around him
began to thicken with the threat of rain. He tried to calm
himself by drawing deep, measured breaths. The last thing he
wanted to do was get angry and scare her away.

"What happened to them?" She asked cautiously.

William hung his head. "There was a fire at the farm house. I
was away, I couldn't get to them in time."

Sky sensed his anguish and his pain "Its ok William you don't
have to tell me."

"No I ..." he faltered "No I want to." He paused to catch his
breath again and a few spatters of rain began to fall between the
cracks above him. "I was home schooled on the farm, my Mom
used to be a secondary school teacher and the nearest public
school was so far away. I tried going for a few years but I out
grew it very quickly. My Dad used to take me to sports events
when he could though and at the time I was away swimming. I
hardly ever went away alone, especially overnight but I had
qualified for the national ranking and. I just really wanted to
go." He swiped a tear disguised as a rain drop from his cheek.
"I knew they were in trouble but no-one would believe me. I
was too far away, I couldn't drive, I couldn't run fast enough
and No one would believe me." He repeated They thought I
was crazy, they thought I was hallucinating, gone mad, no one
would pick up the phone and check. They just let them die!" A
sob caught in his throat.

"Oh William."

"Dana was the one who found me. Three days later she found
me hiding in the barn."

"But how?"

"I told you Sky I sense things, I know things about people. My
connection to her continued even after she gave me up and just
as I knew my parents were in trouble she knew the same was
true for me."

Sky stayed silent this time. He could tell she felt unsure about
what he was saying.

"I knew my parents had been murdered. Dana and Mulder
knew too but they couldn't prove anything. It was decided that
I was safe if they were there to protect me. Together. How
ironic is it then that finding me and my murdered parents was
the very thing that tore them apart. Six months later she moved
me out here to this concrete hell hole, so she could be a fancy
Doctor and he could dig himself deeper into his theories and
never ending quest for the truth. If you watched the show then
you heard all about it."

"William, I believed him. I think what your Dad said is very
true. I don't think he is crazy and I definitely don't think you
are either."

William sob laughed as his tears dried.

"And Tad O'Mally is a Dick!"

He laughed outwardly at that. "Yes, Yes he is."

*************

"As you can see Mr. and Mrs. I'm Sorry Ms. Scully and Mr.
Mulder."

The principal of this school was such a walking clich� with his
bald head and thick glasses. William thought as he sat across
from his desk. His mother on one side and his father on the
other, they both wore expensive suits and serious expressions.
If only the principal knew they also had guns on their hips, he'd
certainly think twice about mistakenly calling them Mr. and
Mrs. for the third time in this meeting. He wasn't paying
attention to what they were saying anyway, it was much more
fun to listen to what was going on inside their heads. Principal
Berkenstein wasn't really worried about his failure to attend
classes, he was actually stoked that William's excellent grades
were boosting the schools placement against national standards.
He wasn't going to kick William out but it was necessary for
him to make a stand against truancy. Mr. Berkenstein did feel
threatened by his parent's appearances though, their
attractiveness and smarts was making him feel small and he
didn't like feeling small in this office. After all the power trip
was deeply rooted in the reasons why he liked being a high
school principal. Not only could he tell off teenagers but also
haul their snooty parents in to give them a talking too as well. 

On his left side Mulder was internally rocking out to Tom
Petty's  Free fallin'. It had been the last song playing in the car
on his way to the meeting and he couldn't get it out of his head.
He only knew the words to the chorus though so his mind was
like a record stuck on an endless loop.

If only the other two could hear her thoughts though. She was
on fire! This internal monologue about truancy being related to
troubled children and how the school had failed to address
those issues. There were statistics rolling around in there and
historical facts, she never ceased to surprise him about how
much she knew about ... well everything. A few flash words
were thrown out there, things he would blush at if he ever
heard her say them out loud. He threw a cautious look in her
direction awaiting the steam to start billowing out of her ears
but she was as cool as ice. Clearly she was well practiced at
meetings such as these from her time at the FBI. William
turned back holding his own expression intact and that's when
she said it. No correction, that's when she thought it -  shut up
and crawl back into the hole you came from you pencil dicked
moron.'

"Mom!" He exclaimed out loud smiling widely at her unspoken
words and all three minds in the room drew blank as they
looked at him in astonishment. He bit his lip hard, regretting
speaking instantly. He'd never called her that before and this
was neither the time nor the place. She looked confused and so
did Mulder, Principal Berkenstein just looked bored.

Her phone rang in her pocket, saving him just in time. She
apologised and left the room to answer it. Mulder turned to talk
to him but his words jumbled and slurred. Time seemed to slow
as the wave of emotion came flooding under the door his
mother stood behind. No one could hear the conversation,
neither could he for that matter. He didn't need to, he felt it,
deep inside the pit of his stomach. 

Scully reappeared from behind the door, her voice shaking
when she spoke "I ah I have to go."

William couldn't face her, he hung his head low the weight of
her pain on his back was too heavy to bare. She left without
saying another word.

Principal Berkenstein clasped his hands together, frustrated.
"Um I hope you are taking this more seriously than your wife
Mr. Mulder."

"Shut up!" William snapped at him and his face turned a whole
new shade of red. He turned to Mulder whose mouth hung
open, unsure of what to make of everything going on around
him. "Mulder" William drew his attention to him only "Maggie
Scully is dead."

***************

"I thought you had stood me up William the Writer."

"Sorry I'm not at school today." He looked down at his dirty
seat and then at his pressed pants. Dana would kill him if he
got dirty an hour out from the funeral but it was very awkward
half standing under the low roof, his back started to protest
instantly. "I can't stay I just wanted to see you."

She giggled, actually giggled. He didn't think he'd heard her do
that before. "See me? That's a little ironic is it not?
Considering we have never officially met."

"Maybe we should."

She didn't answer, her nerves snuck under the fence and
tingled his fingers. "OK" she muttered.

"Ok" he repeated nervously. He really needed to move his back
was screaming in his crouched position but he didn't want to
leave her now. Not when they were so close to finally setting
eyes on each other. He saw her shuffle nervously inside his
mind. She was worried about what he would think about how
she looked. He so badly wanted to tell her he didn't care.

She went for a change in conversation to settle the butterflies in
her stomach. "So how did your meeting go? Did they kick you
out? Is that why you aren't here today?"

He laughed "As if. That old man would never kick me out, I
wasn't worried and neither were Dana and Mulder."

"So if you're still in school what's going on today?"

He adjusted his jacket, starting to sweat now. "A funeral."

She touched her palm to the fence. "I'm sorry William."

"Thanks it was my Grandmother. Dana's mother."

"Were you close?"

This was not going to be a short conversation and he didn't
want it to be either. He shed the jacket and contemplated his
options. It would be easy enough to swap the jacket for another
one when he got home, his back was a much harder fix so he
lay it down on his spot and took a seat. "I think out of
everyone, I am the closest to her since my parents died. I told
you before that I remember things from before I went to live
with them. Memories as a baby with my Mother."

"How could I forget?" He heard her take a seat too

"Not really clear memories but feelings, sensations and
smells." He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his
nose hoping to rekindle the familiar smell of her perfume. "My
Grandmother used to look after me a lot when I was a baby. I
remember lying on her shoulder, not a physical memory mind
you." He clarified as if that made this whole thing less strange.
"More like I remember how it felt to lay my check on her
shoulder and the way her hand circled my back until I fell
asleep." His voice dipped into a dreamy tone.

"That's a real gift William. Remembering things like that."

If only he could laugh out loud at that. His  gift', as she put it,
was equal parts blessing and curse. A long time ago he'd had
the sudden realisation that he would never see his mother again
and didn't truly understand why. That kind of feeling never
went away. It was etched into his soul like a scar only he could
see. "After the fire, when I came back to live with them, my
Grandmother was the only one who treated me as though I had
never left." His words caught in his throat. Maggie Scully's
view on the world was so uncomplicated. The advantage she
held was that she didn't know about the many complexities of
the Mulder and Scully horror picture show or how he came to
be. She had her faith and that seemed to ground her. She never
had to seek some external coping mechanism, unlike so many
people in this world who take strength and solace from a
physical act, thing or being. Maggie had her faith in God and
for her that was always enough. When he came back into her
life she took him in her arms and thanked God for returning
him safely. She asked what he'd been up to as if she meant in
the last week instead of his whole life. 

"So you call her Grandmother but you call your mother Dana
and your father Mulder "

"And they call each other by their last names. I know that's
weird right? I share my name with both my biological
grandfathers and one of my uncles too. If only that was the
weirdest thing about us but really it doesn't even rank in the top
five screwed up things about my family."

"You go to one of the most prestigious colleagues in the
country. You have two homes and two parents whom you
spend a whole lot of time with even though they both have
important jobs. They showed up at your school to talk to your
principal even though they both knew it was just a formality.
They drive you to and from school every day and I'm sure that
means they have to leave work to do so and I've seen what you
eat William, I didn't even know you could buy that kind of
food around here. I don't know, they don't sound so bad to
me."

"Yeah well you don't know them, you don't know anything
about me!" He ignited. It was so irrational of him to be mad at
her but what she was saying was true and for some reason that
made him mad.

"Don't get mad at me William. You know my father left when I
was a baby too. I don't have a Grandmother because she left
too and I don't have the privilege of remembering what either
of them felt like to hold. My mother works two jobs so she can
pay for me to go to school only that makes her too tired to give
a dam about anything else. The last time my principal called to
talk to her about my lack of attendance she rejected the call so
she could get more sleep before her night shift. I'm sorry about
your Grandmother William but don't sit there and convince me
that your parents hate you because all of the evidence points to
the contrary."

He could hear her packing up to leave, throwing things into her
bag angrily. His skin prickled as her hurt hit him like a gust of
wind through his hair. He had known in some way or another
about these things, her family history and he'd never stopped to
consider how his family looked to her in comparison. What
frightened him more was that she might actually be right. He
stood again hunching awkwardly, trying to get close to her.
"Sky wait." His phone rang in his pocket. "Argh dammit" he
pulled it out and read the message across the screen.

"What?"

"It's Dana, she's wondering where I am."

"Wow what a Bitch." She said sarcastically. 

She was preparing to walk away, he could hear her footsteps
retreating, crunching on the dried grass below. "Sky wait." He
pushed his face to the fence. "I want to meet you Sky." She
didn't answer and her steps were getting quieter. "I'll find you
Sky. I will." Now he couldn't hear her at all. He searched his
mind but she was gone from there too as if she knew how to
shut him out. "Sky!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I will
find you!"

**************

Scully pushed open the old farm gate as she had a million times
before but that had been a thousand years ago it seemed. Her
head lights stretched through the darkness and onto the stones
that crackled beneath her tyres. She had forgotten how dark it
was out here in the country having re-adjusted to the constant
buzz of florescence in the city. The porch light was off an
indication that she was unexpected. The only light came from
the lounge window and with the curtain drawn she could see
the flicker of a TV playing behind it. When the engine died she
sat looking at that window and for a moment considered
turning around. So much had changed in just a few short
weeks, for her, for him, for them. Her heart was broken from
having to bury her mother just hours ago and she knew there
was only one person who could put it back together, but was
she ready. This suddenly felt like a bad idea but the thought of
facing that sterile apartment and giant bed alone felt worse.
Especially when she knew there would be a fire roaring and a
coffee brewing on the other side of that door. Her son would be
snug in his bed, where he belonged.

Slowly she made her way to the door and knocked tentatively
three times. She tucked her cold hands deep into her pockets to
warm them as she puffed out a cloud of warm air into the cold
night. The look on his face when he opened the door was a
mixture of surprise, fear and joy. "Hi" he said not moving to let
her in. 

He was freshly showered and shaven and wearing his favourite
pair of jeans and a lovely cashmere sweater she hadn't brought
for him which meant he'd been clothes shopping for himself.
He smelled like his aftershave and looked like home and
suddenly she didn't trust herself to walk through that door.
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have come. I ah" she pointed awkwardly
into the house, her house. "I just wanted to check if he was ok.
He barely spoke at the funeral."

Mulder looked in the direction of his son's bedroom "Yeah he
crashed out. He always sleeps like a baby out here."

She looked nervously at the floor. The implication clearly was
that he barely slept at her apartment.

"Do you want to come and check on him?" He stood aside and
gestured with his hand for her to enter. 

She jumped on her knees partly to keep warm but mostly to
prepare herself to leave. 

"You're freezing at least come in and warm up." He grabbed
her elbow and pulled her through the door. "I just made hot
chocolate but I can whip you up a coffee for the road if you
like." He shut the door behind her but kept his hand at her
elbow.

She looked down at it curiously and as if he noticed he took it
away and buried it safely into his own pocket. He felt it too,
things had changed between them. Her eyes met his briefly
before she looked away shyly. This was crazy, it was him. The
very last thing she should be was shy. "I should." She pointed
towards William's door.

"Of course, of course." He moved out of her way. 

The fact that he seemed nervous too was of little comfort for
her. She brushed passed him and took the short hall way to
William's door. It was closed so quietly she turned the handle
and pushed it open just a crack. He was lying face down, arms
above his head with the blankets only half covering him. He
was a beautiful boy growing into a striking young man. If only
he wasn't so tortured, she would give anything to help him find
his place in this world. She heard Mulder rummaging in the
kitchen, obviously getting to work on that coffee she wouldn't
end up drinking. William's back rose and fell rhythmically in
time with his breathes, he look deceitfully peaceful here, at her
apartment she often found him curled up in the fetal position as
if he had fallen asleep trying hard to block something from his
mind.

Mulder's back was suddenly laying against hers, his chin
perched at her temple. She leaned a little more into him.
Somehow it was easier to do this with her back to him. "You
know when he was a baby." She whispered "I used to check on
him like this just to make sure he was still breathing."

"Hmm"

"And since he's been back I find myself still doing the same
thing sometimes. Silly huh?"

"I don't think that's silly at all." He turned his lips to rest
against her hair.

She blinked and a single tear streaked her cheek. Quietly she
closed the door until it clicked into its lock and as soon as it did
she turned and attached herself to his ribs, her arms holding on
tightly, her cheek buried deeply in the middle of his chest.

He hesitated at first, his arms hung uselessly at her sides
contemplating whether or not he should return her embrace.
When she sobbed he couldn't help but hold her, his chin
landing atop of her silky head. "I'm sorry about your Mom,
Scully."

"I know. Thank you for today, Mulder. I don't think I could've
gotten through it without you there." He had held her hand
through the entire service and ushered their sombre son around
each family member. He made it seem as if they were a happy
little family unit, it gave her hope that perhaps one day they
would be again. When William was out of fake smiles he'd
brought him home here.

He didn't answer her instead just rocked and held her. "Come
on" he pulled away. "How about that coffee?"

She had no trouble holding his gaze this time. She wanted to
make sure he was reading the signal she was sending loud and
clear. Her body gravitated towards him, her hands coming to
rest at his chest.

"Scully." He breathed out a protest.

"I don't want coffee and I don't want to go." Her lips brushed
up to his but he didn't return the kiss, instead he pushed her
away softly.

"Scully, I just don't think this is a good idea."

She ignored his words and tried to step into him again but he
stopped her by putting his hands onto her shoulders. "No. I
can't do this."

"Why?"

He brushed a nervous hand through his hair. "Because
William."

"He's asleep."

"Because your Mother."

"I don't think she will notice." She smiled sadly

"You know what I mean. Because....."

She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back on her heel
"Because....."

"I can't do this, like this. With you! It just doesn't work."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, he was fumbling. "Try being
honest with me Mulder. Just this once."

He squared his shoulders "Fine. You left me! You left me and
you took him with you" He pointed to the closed door his son
slept behind. 

"His words popped inside her ears. "I did. But you know what?
You didn't fight very hard to make us stay." She was breathing
hard her arms still held firmly over her chest restricting the
expand and relax of her rapid breaths.

It was his turn to narrow his eyes at her. "That's great Scully.
Are you kidding me!? Is that what this is? Some kind of sick
loyalty test, to see how much I need you."

She threw her arms at her sides "No! See you have it all wrong,
God don't you see..." she broke his stare for a moment to
gather her breath. "I left so you could see that you didn't  need'
me at all!"

His brows crossed above his nose, now he was just plain
confused. She looked hurt and he was the one who was left
broken. He was the one that should be in pain. "I don't
understand."

She gestured with her hands to his nice sweater, his strong arms
and proud stare. "Look at you, you don't need me. It's just,
well, I kind of always hoped that when you came to realise that
you didn't need me." She looked from his knees to his eyes
"You might just want me instead."

Her words hit him like a giant wave, almost knocking him off
his feet. Instead he was propelled forward, plunging at her and
wrapping her up inside his arms, crushing his lips to hers.

She was caught off guard at first, surprised but quickly
recovered opening her mouth, deepening the kiss and moulding
her body to his. He pressed into her further until her back was
firmly up against the wall wanting her to feel just how much he
wanted her. Luckily his bedroom, their old bedroom was just
the next door down. With his hands on her hips and his mouth
still biting at hers he led her through the door until she was
safely inside. Pushing the door closed with his foot. Their lips
parted just enough to allow room for speech. "I do want you."
He said. "Don't you see? I always will."

She kissed him softly and smiled with relief "Show me....." 

**************

"Sometimes I hear words, monologues, random thoughts other
times I see colours. I guess it depends on the mind, on the
thoughts being projected. When my biological parents were
together their thoughts were always blood red. Their love for
one another was as red and potent as the blood they constantly
drew from each other. It was passion and rage and they were
crazy to ignore it."

He was woken by that red swirling inside his head and making
his temples pulse. If only for once his own thoughts and
feelings were allowed to occupy his mind, he was doomed to
see and feel the world through everyone else's. Thankfully
right now it was just that uniquely red colour he could see and
feel because he could hear the springs inside the mattress
across the hall jump to that universally familiar rhythm. He
threw the pillow over his head so he couldn't hear. This was
messed up. Even for them. Love each other or hate each other
just make up your fricken mind. That red, the lust and fury was
now washing through his veins at such velocity he thought they
may burst and he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't be
around it anymore.

***************

When Scully woke it took her a moment to remember where
she was, the surroundings equally familiar and unfamiliar.
Mulder lay heavily to her right on his stomach sleeping in the
exact same position she had seen William in last night, taking
the same long, deep breaths. He didn't even stir when she
stroked his back still as naked as she had made him just a few
hours ago. But as she continued to trace the lines of his back
and marvel at the fact that she was doing it again, an emptiness
came over her. Today was the first day she would not be able to
call her mother and chat about nothing and everything all at the
same time. The day of the funeral had been so busy she hadn't
had the opportunity to simply sit and cry. Now faced with the
most important thing to happen to her in a long time she
mourned the loss of being able to tell her mother and the tears
fell freely onto her pillow. 

It was still dark outside and there was no hint of the familiar
sounds of morning birds so sunrise, she figured was still a few
hours off. Not wanting to wake and worry Mulder she carefully
slid from the bed and pulled on an old colleague sweatshirt he
had lying on the floor. The smell of him wrapped around her
was enough to stop the tears for the time being but for some
reason she was overcome with the urge to gaze upon her
sleeping son again. She padded carefully across the rug and
through the bedroom door. William's door was open slightly,
which was strange, she was certain she had closed it. Then
suddenly she just knew he was gone so didn't even bother to
push it open slowly. She hit it hard letting it swing to fully
open. His bed was un made and empty, his shoes no longer
sitting at the door. Quickly she stumbled through the house,
checking the kitchen, the bathroom even Mulder's disaster he
called an office. She knew it was futile, her gut told her he was
no longer in the house but she kept looking any way.

She burst back through the bedroom door, shocked she hadn't
woken Mulder hunting through the house like a mad woman.
"Mulder, wake up." She crawled over the bed and shook him.

He'd been with her long enough to detect the fear in her voice
and he sat bolt upright covering his nudity in case armed
defenders were tearing through their wall. "What, what, what is
it? What's wrong." He tried to blink away the dreams that were
interrupted behind his eyelids.

"It's William, he's gone."

He pushed his hand over his face and through his hair, relaxing
a little back against the head board. "He probably just went for
a run." He offered. When his eyes adjusted to the low lighting
he could see her dressing back into her own clothes. The ones
she had worn to the funeral yesterday, of course she hadn't
slept here in so long, none of her clothes were here. "Scully."
He cautioned watching her pull the final button through its hole
in her blouse and then hunt for her jacket.

"It's 4.30 in the morning Mulder, he didn't go out for a run."
She wasn't looking up at him she was scanning the bedroom,
throwing items of clothing around as she went "Where's my
Jacket." 

Frustrated he pulled himself out of bed and into a pair of
nearby sweat pants. "He's probably in the bathroom."

"I checked!" she threw his shoes almost taking out his knees in
the process. He spotted the jacket on his side of the bed, after
all he was the one who had removed it and thrown it there. He
picked it up and handed it to her.

She looked at it and paused. "Thank you." She treated the
jacket with a bit more care than she had shown his shoes and
clothes and slid it onto her shoulders.

Mulder took a hold of her hand to try and steady her. "He
wanders sometimes. Maybe he heard us, maybe he's sitting out
on the porch getting some fresh air."

She appreciated his offer of comfort but she knew. She just
knew inside her bones that he was gone and she needed him to
know with the same amount of certainty too. She stepped into
him, close enough for him to see the intensity of her stare
inside the dull predawn light. "Do you remember the day we
found him in that barn, after the fire?"

He nodded, starting to look a little more concerned.

"That morning I told you he was in trouble. I told you we had
to find him and you followed me. Something deep inside me
felt angry and scared and I just knew he needed me. Do you
remember?"

How could he forget? That morning he had arrived home from
his run to find her pale and panicking. She was rambling
nonsense about William and fire. He had thought she was
feverish but something in her eyes told him he had to take her
seriously. He'd sat in that car for hours and miles, in silence
equally scared and curious. Sure enough they found themselves
amongst the rubble that was once a home. Ashes, some still
smouldering in the cold dirt and inside the barn a boy he
instinctively knew was his. "Of course I do but....."

"I'm telling you Mulder." She put a hand to her stomach as if
to stamper the haemorrhaging wound. "He's gone."

*****

Eight hours later they were in their basement office deep in
files and coffee. Mulder sat at his desk starring at his computer
screen and the multiple windows he had open. He looked up to
see Scully pacing a trench through the middle of the office
floor. "Scully, maybe you should eat something."

She didn't answer, she didn't even hear him, instead she
continued to pace mumbling incoherently to herself, her eyes
glazed over and wide. 

"Scully!" He called louder.

"I think I should go to the school." Her pacing stopped
momentarily.

He stood to attempt to settle her, intercepting the path she was
trenching and placing his hands on her narrow hips, pulling her
nose to his. "We can't, Scully we've been over this. They told
us to stay here. She tries to pull away from him but he isn't
willing to ever let her do that again. He grips her tighter and
pulls her closer to him. 

"I can't just sit here!"

"Skinner is making the calls, I've been online all day. We'll
find him." He's confident they will, his gut instincts are telling
him he's fine. He just needs hers to realign.

She steady's herself with a shaky palm to the centre of his
chest. "I feel sick."

"I think you need to eat."

"No I mean I feel nervous sick, it doesn't make sense to me."
She closes her eyes trying to see him inside her mind's eye. "I
can't feel him, like before. It's like he doesn't want me to find
him."

"Perhaps he doesn't." Mulder said bracing himself for her
reaction to that.

"What!?" She pointed her chin at him defiantly,  how can you
say that' written over her face.

"Just listen to me for a minute Scully." He adjusted his hands
and her hips against his but still refused to let her go. "What if
he ran away?" 

"But why.."

"Just think about it Scully for a second. He's been very
withdrawn, never really settling inside this arrangement
between us."

She put her hand to her stomach again, trying to communicate
to him how important her instincts were in this situation.

"I'm not questioning you Scully, I'm not and I never will after
the way we found him. It's just that I think if he was truly in
trouble." He was reluctant to talk about kidnapping and
conspiracy out loud. "You would know it, he would reach out
to you like before. Wouldn't he? Don't you think it's strange he
isn't?"

Her words hitched in her throat. "Mulder what if he's dead."

He clasped her jaw in his hand and pulled her forehead to his
caressing her cheek bone with his thumb. "Scully. If that were
true, I know for certain that we would both know." He placed
his hand on her stomach, assisting her to slow the blood flow.

She sniffed in response. As much as it pained her to admit it
she knew he was right.

"What if he heard us last night? I think that instead of thinking
about this like Agents Mulder and Scully, we should start
thinking about it like Mom and Dad."

A new found confidence came over her "Ok, you're right." She
moved out of his embrace to his desk and computer. "The
school has to be where we start. He's been skipping classes,
why?"

Mulder followed to lean over her shoulder at the computer
following what she was doing on the screen. "I don't know, he
never tells me anything."

Scully brought up the outline of the school grounds. "Where
would he go?" She zoomed outwards so the map got smaller
and smaller until the entire outlay of the school was displayed.

Mulder spotted it first. "Well if I was a fifteen year old boy I
know where I'd sneak off too." He pointed to the boundary line
labeled  St Mary's Catholic school for girls.' "How about you
Scully?"

She looked up at him over her shoulder with a question mark
written on her face.

Mulder smiled down at her "Did you ever play hooky in
catholic school Scully? Maybe meet a boy from the
neighbouring school under the bleachers?"

"Could it be that simple?" Even as she asked the question she
knew he was right.

He shrugged. "Like father like Son Scully."

She dismissed his innuendo and stood from the desk, gathering
her jacket and purse as she did. "They said we couldn't go to
his school." She was heading for the door. 

He picked up his own jacket and followed "They didn't say we
couldn't go to  that' school." He finished for her.

****

William sat nervously on top of her spaceship themed bed
spread. It was covered in flying saucers and weird grey alien
faces. The irony was not lost on him, he once had a space ship
mobile circling above him in his crib. He couldn't hide here
forever, he knew that but right now this was the only place he
wanted to be. He could feel their anxiety running through him
as if it was his own but he refused to let them in. Not yet
anyway.

He looked up at the posters tacked to the walls, unsurprised to
be surrounded by images of grunge bands and astronomy. The
Greenday poster on the back of the door moved as she opened
it and came in carrying a bag of chips and two sodas, tucked
under her arms. It amazed him how she looked almost exactly
how he pictured she would, although he wasn't expecting the
tongue piercing. Her eyes were sea green, her hair was sandy
blonde, shaved a little underneath and smelled like some kind
of fruit. It was amazing and made him wonder if all girls hair
smelled nice, it wasn't something he'd thought about before. 

"You're lucky my mum is at work today but you can't stay here
William." She took a seat next to him on the bed and put the
chips and drinks between them. His phone lit up again beside
him, long ago it had been put on silent to mute the many texts
and calls from them and many other's it seemed. She eyed it up
and then looked back at him "They'll be worried"

He tucked it up under her pillow "I'll call them soon, I
promise." He lied.

She smiled shyly down at the chips opening them and then
handing him a soda. "How did you find me William?"

He took a swig from the can and "aaahed" loudly. "I told you I
would."

Sky took a drink herself "I should be more nervous about you
being here. You're a strange one William the writer."

He finished his soda in one long swallow. "Can I use your
bathroom please?"

"Sure second door down the hall on the right."

When he was gone Sky moved the snacks and her drink to the
table beside the bed and looked at the pillow his phone hid
underneath. She bit her lip nervous about deciding whether or
not it was the right thing to do. Taking one last glance at the
door to make sure he wasn't on his way back she quickly
grabbed the phone and scrolled the long list of missed
messages until she found the one from  Dana'. Carefully she
typed in her address with the message.  He's here and safe.'
She could hear him coming as she pressed send and quickly
threw the phone back safely underneath the pillow.

He smiled at her as he took his seat back down in front of her.
Suddenly very aware that they were sitting comfortably next to
each other on her bed and there was no longer snacks safely
keeping them separated. She didn't look nervous at all.

"So William do I look anything like what you expected?"

"Exactly how I expected." He laughed nervously "How about
you? Do I look anything like you expected me to?"

She looked him up and down, as if she was browsing a
catalogue. Obviously she liked what she saw. Leaning in just a
little closer her voice dropped slightly "Absolutely nothing like
what I expected."

William suddenly felt confused, was that a complement or not?
She was leaning in closer and suddenly he realised what she
intended on doing. For a guy who could read minds he had not
seen this coming. He looked at her mouth and as if she read his
mind she laughed a little "Have you ever kissed a girl with a
tongue stud William?"

He dropped his head and blushed furiously.

She stopped laughing and dropped her eyes to direct his back to
hers. "Have you ever kissed a girl William?"

It was subtle but he shook his head and turned his glance away
from her again.

She took his chin and turned his mouth towards hers. "Close
your eyes."

*******

Scully banged hard on the door. When the text had come
through they had been literally two doors down the road.
Having had no luck at the school they had pulled over to come
up with their next plan when the text from William's phone had
them running towards this house. Her feet shuffled nervously,
she wasn't in the mood to be patient. 

"Scully." Mulder said stepping up beside her.

"Yeah" she banged again harder this time.

"Does that lock look like it's been tampered with?"

It looked fine to her "Huh?..." Suddenly she caught his
meaning. "Yes I think someone has tried to jimmy that lock
Mulder."

He turned the handle and it slipped open easily, someone had
forgotten to lock it. "That's probable cause Scully. There may
be an intruder." He pushed the door to fully open and gestured
with an open palm for her to enter. She smiled as she passed
happy to be in this familiar comradery with him. It was
comforting and worked wonders on settling her nerves. They
scanned the bottom floor of the house room by room finally
meeting at the bottom of the stair case. Movement from one of
the upstairs bedrooms drew both of their attention and without
a word exchanged they began to climb the stairs. Instinctively
they both knew which door they would find him and together
slowly walked towards it. Standing outside Scully paused,
clutching her stomach again but this time for a completely
different reason. Inside there were butterflies flapping wildly.
She was giddy and nervous and didn't really know why. This
feeling wasn't un familiar it just seemed inappropriate under
the circumstances. There were a few times in her life she had
felt like this, the most recent one was just last night, the
millisecond before Mulder had taken her in his arms and kissed
her.

She reached for Mulder's hand as he went to open the door.
"Wait"

He looked at her confused "What is it?"

She felt full of light and happy, free, as if all the burdens that
sat upon her shoulders were suddenly lifted. She felt like she
did on that fateful New Year's evening when the ball dropped
into the year 2000 and the world didn't end. "Just give him a
minute." 

*******

A delicious smell greeted him when he entered his house, their
house again. Before when they were gone it only smelled of
newspaper, bad coffee and loneliness. Now when he came
home it smelled of fresh grass and that floral spray thing she
put in the lounge to kill the flies. Today it smelled like dinner
and his stomach grumbled in response, reminding him he
hadn't eaten all day. He followed it into the kitchen where she
stood at the bench gathering plates and utensils.

"Smells good." He said throwing his files and brief case onto
the dinner table. 

Minus a pleasant  hello' she spun around pointing the giant
spoon she held at him, like a sword. "Don't put that there!"

Concerned she would actually use it on him if he didn't do as
he was told he carefully removed them and took them into his
office instead. As he came back out again he couldn't help but
watch her move around in this kitchen. He loved seeing her like
this, it reminded him of every feel good movie he ever saw and
hated until he caught them in a moment like this. He wanted to
hold her, greet her properly but she barely looked up at him
when the interrogation began.

"Did you file the financials with Skinner?"

"Yes." He slowed his approach

"Did you schedule the meeting with the Agents for tomorrow?"

"Yes." 

She was fussing with something in the oven now. "Did you sort
the transport?"

Her voice sounded funny echoing off the inside of the oven. He
pocketed his hands and adjusted his sight so he could inspect
her bend and then stand more closely. "Yes Scully."

"And the hotel?" She tentatively pulled a heavy dish from the
oven with oversized, bright red oven mits, the same ones she
had brought from her apartment all that time ago and dropped it
heavily on a wooden board on the bench while simultaneously
kicking the oven door shut with her heeled foot.

He was now standing close behind her, very aware she still
carried that giant spoon. "aaaah dammit" he faked.

"Mulder!" she spun around to confront him with that spoon
back in hand and a glob of red sauce narrowly misses his nice
white shirt. "I told you that if you didn't get that hotel tonight
we would end up staying in that cheap little motor camp
again."

"You didn't seem to mind it the last time we stayed there." He
smiled devilishly reminding her of the night he snuck into her
little cabin to keep her warm.

She remembered well and the thought softened her a little.
"Yes, well, I'm older now. I need room service and bed sheets
that we don't need to scan for evidence first."

He laughed and carefully took the spoon from her hand, placing
it safely down on the bench behind her. "I booked the hotel."
His voice dropped a little, his mouth moving just a little closer
to hers.

"Thank you." She smiled.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a fourth plate sitting
there waiting to be filled. "Who's the extra for Dinner?"

"Sky." She removed the oven mit from her hands and loosened
his tie a little. "William is over there now. Her mother said she
would drop them off before work. "

"So we are alone then?" His arms bracketed her at the bench,
pressing her a little further into it.

She had to tilt her head back far to meet his lust filled gaze,
"not for long" she teased.

"Come on Scully, I booked you the hotel with the tub." As if
she owed him something.

She stiffened "Excuse me you are also the one dragging me all
the way to Nevada tomorrow to talk to some crack....." 

He interrupted her with a kiss, occupying those protesting lips
and tasting the delicious sauce still sitting on her tongue. The
kiss wasn't actually going to go anywhere and they both knew
it but they indulged in domestic bliss anyway, after all they had
a lot of ground to make up. So preoccupied they didn't hear
William and Sky enter the room.

"Arrrck gross! Aren't you guys too old for that?" said William
pulling sky by the hand into the kitchen.

"Too  old'" Mulder mouthed and Scully pouted in response.
They unhanded each other not wanting to gross the teenagers
out any further. "Hi." Mulder greeted. "Nice to see you Sky, I
hear you will be joining us for dinner."

Sky was hiding slightly behind William but stepped out to
address them properly. Happy family situations always made
her a little nervous. "Hello Mr. Mulder, Dana." 

"Hi" Scully smiled then turned to continue dishing out the
pasta.

"Just Mulder, please." Said Mulder moving to the table to set
the places and cutlery.

William rolled his eyes "We'll be in my room." He dragged
Sky by the hand down the hall and she went willingly smiling
at Mulder and Scully before she disappeared around the door
frame. 

Mulder and Scully passed a look between them, a silent
question,  how do we feel about our 16 year old having a girl in
his room?' but neither were actually worried enough to speak
up. 

William's arm shot out from the door frame unexpectedly,
almost knocking a plate out of Scully's hand in the process. He
didn't bother to show his full self, just handed her a piece of
dog haired card with the schools letter head lining the top and
as soon as she had taken it, the hand and presuming the rest of
him disappeared back up to his room

"What's that?" Mulder called setting knives and forks next to
place mats.

"His report card." She replied scanning the columns down the
side.

Mulder carried on initially unconcerned. William was currently
exceeding expectation at school anyway. Scully's silence is
what he noticed first and then the way she was staring at the
card, hand over her mouth "What is it? Scully?"

She didn't answer him.

"Please don't tell me he's skipping classes again?"

"No, No." She shook her head sounding almost teary but for
the smile spread over her face

He rushed to her side eager to see what had her looking so
touched. "It's his best one yet" she said handing it to him.

He quickly scanned the subject line and grade column. A neat
line of typed A's filled the squares, nothing surprised him yet,
he hadn't received a grade lower than an A in his entire
education. Then he saw it. Right there at the bottom of the
page,  pupil's signature' was typed with a line for the student to
write his name upon and there it was. In his Son's familiar
scroll signed with a fluent flick of the pen......"William
Mulder."

THE END