TITLE:  The Genesis Project XV
AUTHOR:  aRcaDIaNFall$
FEEDBACK: arcadianfalls@yahoo.com.au.
RATING:  PG-13
SPOILERS: none specific, brief reference to Eve, etc.
CLASSIFICATION: SR, M&S married, kidfic, alternate universe
SUMMARY: The conclusion.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've already made my apologies. All I can say now is,
ta-da! I hope it was worth the wait :)
---> http://www.geocities.com/arcadianfallls/


The Genesis Project XV
by aRcaDIaNFall$

     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

Hannah was crying. I could hear her from where I was, three doors down
the hall, through the walls of the supposedly soundproof interview
room.
"My daughter is crying. Don't tell me you can't hear that."

"Agent Scully..."

"It's been more than six hours since her last feed."

"We're making sure she gets some formula."

"She doesn't want formula. You have to let me see her.  I want to see
my kids."

"We're not finished asking questions yet, Agent Scully."

I was sick of their questions. "I've told you everything I know."

"Right, the supposed threat."

"We were attacked in our apartment," I said tiredly, for what must have
been the third or fourth time. I was having trouble concentrating,
distracted by Hannah's screams. I knew the kids were with her but I was
still worried. I wanted to be there myself. Astrid and Josh shouldn't
have to deal with that by themselves. And Mulder... 

"What proof do you have to substantiate that? Vague answers about a
nameless, unidentifiable man, who then disappeared, leaving no trace?
Agent Scully, you fled the state while fully aware that Agent Mulder
was under investigation, taking deliberate steps to conceal your
whereabouts. It was calculated, guilty behaviour."

"We were in danger. We still are."

"From whom?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Little green men? Aliens from another planet? Monsters from under the
bed?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I snapped again. I stood. "I
want to see my kids. Now."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

It was ten in the morning before I was allowed to see Scully and the
kids, and even then it was only a brief visit. Josh and Astrid were
both sleeping, one on either side of Scully as she nursed Hannah. Erin
ran at me, Monkey dangling from one hand, and clung onto my leg,
bursting into tears. It took a minute or two to calm her down, my gaze
meeting Scully's over Erin's curly head. Scully looked tired herself,
worn out. I could tell she was fighting off sleep.
"Get some rest, Scully."

She shook her head. "I'm afraid to let my guard down." She drew a shaky
breath. "How did they find us?"

"They must have found out that we'd taken Jacqueline's car. They
remotely activated the tracking system. Good old FBI hard work, huh?"

"So it wasn't... him?"

"No. We got lucky, this time. If you can call three hours straight of
interrogation lucky."

"They still want to pin those murders on you?"

"No other suspects." I shifted my grip on Erin and knelt down, touching
Hannah's cheek, then lightly brushing Scully's breast with the back of
my fingers. Then I reached up, touching her face, trying to smooth away
her frown. "You should sleep. We should be safe, here."

"We might not be."

"Safer here than anywhere else."

She sighed, closing her eyes. "My mom's flying in to collect the kids,"
she murmured. "She's going to find a hotel, somewhere to mind them. I'm
afraid to let them go."

"Go with them."

"I can't. They're not releasing me, yet. And I can't leave you,
Mulder."

"Hannah's the one he's after. She's the one we have to protect."

"What good are we? We can't stop him. Josh and Astrid can at least see
him coming."

A throat cleared in the corner. "Agent Scully? That's ten minutes."

Scully set her lips, unimpressed by the warning, but didn't answer and
didn't move, just kept patting Hannah's back gently. I leaned forward
to kiss her forehead. "I'm trusting your judgement."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

I sat in the interrogation room for another hour before they gave in
and released me. Between the two of us I think we had managed to
convince them of the reason we had run, but they still had Mulder
stitched up tight over the tip-off. 
Mom had taken the kids. I didn't get much chance to talk to her, to
explain what had happened, but I knew the kids would fill in the
blanks. All I could say to her was to be careful, to look after Hannah.
The kids would have to fill in the blanks there, too.
I was allowed back to the cabin and found the place still crawling with
agents. I could probably have gone back to the motel, but I felt uneasy
about going straight there from the FBI-comandeered police station.
There were too many people there, too many faces that the enemy could
be hiding behind.

I didn't want to stay at the cabin; I went there only to pack up our
belongings. The agents had set up a temporary headquarters outside by
the road, only twenty yards from our door, the flat strip of grass that
the kids had found perfect for soccer now ruined by tyretracks and
footprints. 
Packing was done in a hurry. The place had become our home and already
when I looked around I saw us there, the kids playing on the lawn,
reading aloud on the couch, Mulder and I cuddling on the porch. It was
the summer house our family had never had. 
It took quite a while, despite my haste. We probably should have been
more prepared, ready to pack up and leave at a moment's notice, but it
was impossible to live that way. Erin had toys scattered all over,
planted on windowsills, under chairs. Though clothes-wise we'd been
living out of suitcases, there was still piles of dirty laundry, some
things still drying out on the line. There were dirty dishes in the
sink, which I scrubbed at guiltily before stacking in the rack to dry. 
I'd tossed the bags in the back of Jacqueline's SUV and was in the
kids' room, stacking the mattresses against the wall and trying to
drape the plastic sheet over them, when I heard the car outside. I
don't know what it was about that particular vehical that caught my
attention; agents had been coming and going the whole time I'd been
there. But something about that engine made my chest constrict. I ran
to the window, finding myself out of breath as I lifted the curtains to
gaze out.
Mulder. His hair, his face, his body, but not his walk, and not him,
because I knew they wouldn't have released him so soon. Not Mulder.

There were four agents out there, the only ones I could see left
outside. Two of them were approaching him, cautious. One was reaching
for his weapon, the other for his cellphone. Wanting to check for
himself, I knew, why Mulder had been released already, or if he had
broken out, somehow. Not understanding, that it could be anyone or
anything other than Mulder.
I pounded on the glass, struggling to get the window open. "Stay back!!
That's not Mulder. Stay back from him!!"
I wonder now if maybe that was the wrong thing to do, because one of
the agents glanced over at me, distracted by the noise I was making,
undoubtedly confused by my words. The bounty hunter swung at the agent,
throwing him to the ground with one arm with such force that he
barrelled several feet across the flat ground. Then he reached for the
second agent, caught him by the neck, and with a sickening snap just
*twisted*. The agent, lifeless and limp as a ragdoll, fell to the
ground. The third agent shouted, then he and the fourth agent opened
fire. With every bullet the bounty hunter shook, taking the impact of
it, but it didn't break his stride. Stunned, they scrambled back, still
shooting. The third agent ran for the car, helping the first to his
feet. The fourth agent had fallen and was dragging himself back along
the ground, clasping his leg, blood seeping through his fingers. He'd
been shot, somehow. Friendly fire.
I knew he didn't have a chance of getting to the car. I knew, too, that
for me to try and escape with them would almost guarantee their deaths.
The only thing I could think to do was help. I ran through the cabin,
to the front door. The dead agent lay just outside, and I freed the gun
from his holster, then I grabbed hold of the injured agent and dragged
him into the house, slamming the door shut after and pushing the
kitchen table against it as a barricade.

I was halfway to the bedroom when I realised I'd already packed our
first aid kit. I ripped down the curtains instead, pressing the
makeshift bandage against the gushing wound as the agent moaned. There
was too much blood. The bullet had nicked an artery.

"Hold on," I muttered to him. He was just a kid, this agent, barely
thirty. "I'll get you out of here, okay? Just hold on."

He fumbled in his jacket pocket, and a cellular phone fell out. Still
keeping pressure on the wound with one hand, I dialled with the other.
The reception was barely there, but I got through. "This is Agent Dana
Scully with the FBI. We have a man down. I'm in Leigh County, about two
miles off Willow Road. We need an EMT here immediately."

Crackling on the phoneline, and a request I only half heard for me to
repeat. I tried to talk again but the line was going static. I helped
the agent move against the wall. "Stay here, keep the pressure on that,
okay? I'll be back in a second." Switching the cellular to my left hand
and gripping the weapon in my right, I moved across the room to the
other window, hoping to get better reception. Wanting, also, to see
where the bounty hunter had gone. I couldn't see him out through the
kitchen windows.
"Hello?" Crackles of static. "This is an emergency. I need an EMT and
FBI agents here. Can you hear me?"
It was getting worse. I turned, heading the other direction along the
hallway. As I neared our bedroom the static started to die down. "Can
you hear me now? This is Agent Dana Scully. I need an EMT and FBI
agents here, now. My badge number -"

"Ma'am, can you repeat that?"

"Agent Dana Scully," I emphasised every syllable. "This is important.
There's an FBI agent who has been shot. I'm in Leigh County, two miles
off-"

A loud crash like an explosion, glass shattering, flying in all
directions. I flinched away, falling back a step, shielding my eyes
against the flying debris. The cellular dropped from my hand as I
gripped the gun with both hands, levelling it at him as he got to his
feet. No longer in Mulder's skin, thank God. Now, himself again. The
face of evil.

"Stop, or I *will* shoot."

I might as well have not bothered. He strode forward, pushing me aside
like he had the agent earlier, throwing me to the ground. Pain as my
shoulder hit the hard floor, as I landed on the splintered glass. I
pushed myself up off the ground, pointing the weapon at his back but
afraid to fire, knowing that his blood was as deadly to me as his
strength. 
"Stop!" I shouted again, but it was a tired, futile shout. I couldn't
win this battle. "Don't..."

He turned slowly, surveying me. 

"What do you want?"

"I want the child."

"Why? What's so special about her?"

"Where is she?"

"She's not here."

He turned, leaving the room. I got to my feet somehow, scrambled after
him, and stupidly, grabbed his shoulder, trying to slow him down. He
swung around. I managed to get some punches in but I never really had a
chance. He kicked my gun away and gripped me by the throat, squeezing.

"Where is she?"

"She's not here! She's gone. Please, don't hurt her.." I struggled to
breath, trying uselessly to loosen his grip. "She's just a child. What
do you want with her?"

He threw me to the ground and I gasped for air, through the pain was
excruciating. He stood over me and I just cowered, hands at my injured
throat. God, please, just don't let him get her. Please, God, please...

"We don't want her. We just want her DNA."

"For what?"

"For survival."

I drew a deep, rasping breath, trying to think through the pain and the
fear. "How much?"

He cocked his head to the side, not understanding.

"How much?" I repeated, a harsh demand. "How much do you need of her
DNA?"

"We want her bone marrow and stem cells."

Put her through those painful procedures Erin had endured? It was
barbaric. "No." My heart was pounding in my chest. I knew I had to be
careful, that I was bargaining for my daughter's life. "You can have
blood. That is all I'm prepared to offer you."

"Not good enough."

"A small blood sample, once a month. I draw it. You take it and then
you leave us the hell alone."

For a moment I didn't think he was going to buy it. But he did. He
stepped back. "I'll be back in a week for the first sample. Try to
trick me, and your family will be killed. I know where you are, Agent
Scully. At all times. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can outrun
me."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

Grandma took us to a motel. She made me eat even though I felt sick and
then I threw up all over the floor. I was so scared for Mommy and
Daddy. Josh was worried, too. It was that horrible, sinking sick
feeling that we both had, because of the bad things that had happened
and the bad things that we knew lay ahead. 
Grandma wouldn't listen to us when we told her we were scared for
Mommy. I know it's cos she was scared, too, and just having a hard time
trying to understand what had happened. She was probably angry as well,
because we'd just up and gone in the middle of the night like that and
not told her. 
Erin was crying. Grandma was cuddling her, trying to make her stop, but
Erin was just like the rest of us, scared and unhappy. Even worse, we
didn't have any toys or anything for her to try and take her mind off
things, only Monkey. 
"Ted... Ted..." She kept sobbing my name, wanting me to cuddle her, so
I took her, only it didn't make much difference, she just kept crying.
Her nose was running and between that and her tears she was getting my
clothes all wet and yucky, though I guess they were pretty filthy
already. Still none of us had shoes on.
"Ted.. Mommy go way. Monkey no wanna Mommy go way. Ted..."

"S'okay, Monkey," I whispered, kissing her head. "Mommy's coming back
soon."

"Pwomise?"

I looked at Josh over Erin's head. He was all serious and quiet, but I
could hear the roar of his mind. He didn't know either. 
"Yeah. Mommy's coming back real soon."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

Margaret had taken the kids, I was told. 

"Speaking of your children, maybe you can answer a question for us,
Agent Mulder. How is it that Astrid and Joshua had blood all over their
feet but neither of them had a single scratch?"

I met his gaze as evenly as I could. "I don't know. I wasn't there."

"They were lost in the woods for almost an hour. Bare feet, rough
ground. Seems impossible that they'd walk away from that without a
scratch. Sounds like one of your 'x-files.'"

I grimaced, trying to disguise my loathing for the man. "Improbably,
but not impossible. They're outdoor kids. They're tough."

"That's your explanation?"

"I don't have an explanation. I thought this interrogation was about
me. Keep them out of this."

"You want us to talk about you, then? Fine, Agent Mulder. Let's go back
to that pressing question - What do you know about the drug bust
tip-off?"

Round in circles again. I almost gave in and confessed it, I was so
sick of the same questions, of the mind games they were playing. At one
point I just put my head down on the interrogation table, closing my
eyes. It felt like forever since I had last slept. I knew that was just
part of it, that they were keeping me sleep deprived so that I'd crack.

"Agent Mulder..."

A telephone ringing insistently out in the hall. Voices rising outside,
arguing. More people. The agent addressing me grimaced impatiently and
drew back, glancing uneasily at the door. Something had happened, we
could both tell. 

The door burst open. A rumpled-looking agent stood there. "He's here?"

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation!" my agent snapped. "Get the
hell out!"

"Has he been here all along? He hasn't left?"

"We're not in the habit of letting suspects out for bloody recess," my
agent answered him again. "Get the hell out of my interrogation room!"

More arguments, and then my agent left the room. I could hear the
voices out in the hall but couldn't make out the words, I only knew
that there were at least half a dozen men.

The door opened again. My agent, accompanied by another one who had
chased me during the raid.

"What's going on?"

"We had a brief situation, Agent Mulder."

"What sort of situation?"

"There was an attack on the cabin. We lost two agents."

"The kids- ?"

"They weren't there. They're still in their grandmother's custody, far
as we know."

"What about Scully?"

Hesitation, looks exchanged. My heart stopped.

"We don't know," the second agent admitted. "She was inside the cabin
when the attacker appeared. Our agents lost sight of her."

"They left without her? What the hell were they thinking, leaving
without her? They should have been protecting her. We *told* you. We
told you that we were in danger." I was furious, scared as hell.
Scully... This had happened too many times.

"That's not the all of it."

For a moment I didn't understand him. How could there be more. "What?"

"The attacker, Agent Mulder... Well, far as we know, the attacker was
you."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

Grandma's cellular rang. We all dove for it. I got there first.

"Astrid?" It was Daddy. "Where are you, now?"

"We're with..." I trailed off, relief at hearing his voice turning into
fear. How could I know it was really him? I couldn't tell, just from
his voice. "We're safe. What's wrong?"

"He found the cabin. You understand me, Astrid? He's close. I need you
and Josh to watch out for him."

"We can't stop him! Daddy..."

"Just keep an eye out. I'm sending over four FBI agents, okay? They
know about the bounty hunter. They know how to kill him."

"Daddy!"

"Just tell me the name of the motel, Astrid. I need to know where you
are so the FBI agents can come and protect you."

I felt a horrible chill down my spine. How could I trust that this
really was Daddy? This was exactly what the Bounty Hunter would do if
he wanted to catch us. If I told him, and then something happened to
Hannah or Grandma or Erin or Josh, it'd all be my fault.
If I saw him I would know, but through the cellphone, I just couldn't
tell. 

"Astrid -"

"No!" I burst out, feeling awful for being so suspicious, but knowing I
had to do it. "I don't trust you."

I heard him draw a deep breath on the other end of the line. "What do I
have to do to prove it to you?" I could tell that he was getting
impatient. "It's me, Astrid. What can I tell you to convince you? The
first time I saw you, you were this tiny little girl, and your doll had
a sore elbow. You made Jacqueline kiss it better. And you were counting
the tiles around the ceiling. There were sixty-four of them, remember?
I thought there were sixty-five of them, but I was wrong, you were
right. That was hard, what happened to us all then, like what's
happening to us now. But we're going to get through this, I promise.
Astrid?"

But I couldn't answer him, I was crying too hard. I passed the phone
onto Josh and he quietly told Daddy the name of the motel and how to
get there. Then he hung up and he hugged me and we were both quiet til
the FBI agents arrived.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

I was on the dirt road, pushing the tired old cop car I had borrowed to
accelerate, the speedometer wobbling, when the SUV came into sight.
Scully. She pulled up soon as she saw me, jumping down. She was covered
in blood, and her hair was crazy, but she'd never looked more
beautiful.
No time for even a hug, though my arms were aching to hold her. She
seemed in control, at least.
"One agent's dead, one's critical. He's in the car. If he doesn't get
to a hospital soon he's not going to make it."

I didn't hesitate. "I'll drive."

She sat in the back with the injured agent. The guy didn't look so
good. His face was completely colourless, and he was barely conscious.
Scully was doing the best she could.

"Did you call for an ambulance?"

"I couldn't get through. Why did they let you out?"

"The two agents who ran. They said they'd seen me here. What happened?"

She was silent, bent over the injured man, hair falling down over her
face. Her hands moved swiftly, knowing. There was an urgency in the way
she moved.

"Scully?" I prodded, feeling sick dread sinking down within me again.
"What happened?"

"Later," she said flatly, not looking up.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

Mom and Daddy got back just before three. They both looked tired. Mom
had blood on her clothes, and streaked on her face, too, like Indian
war paint. She kept rubbing her neck tiredly. The first thing she and
Daddy did was hug Erin and Hannah. I knew that people had died.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

Hannah was awake, bright eyes watching from the safety of Scully's
arms. Erin had lunged at me and I had my hands full for the next ten
minutes, wiping away her tears as she sobbed out her version of the
day's traumatic events. But my eyes were on Hannah. This tiny, strange
little creature whose mere existence had put us all in such great
danger. Two more FBI agents were now dead because of her. 
Erin knew she didn't have my full attention. "Daddy! Daddeeeeeee!" She
tugged at my ears, trying to draw my gaze to her. Right then, though, I
just couldn't focus. I freed myself from her grip. "Josh, can you?"

He took his sister quietly, watching me as he moved back to the bed,
picking up Monkey and trying to distract Erin. Scully hadn't moved from
the spot - she was still standing there just inside the door, Hannah in
her arms, head bent over her baby, eyes closed. I moved closer, kissing
the top of Scully's head, my lips lingering. Tilting her chin up with
one finger, her eyes only met mine for a brief second before she turned
away. Something had happened, I wanted to know what. She wasn't going
to tell me.

For the moment, I let her keep her secret. Bending down, I touched my
daughter's small face, feeling the soft baby skin. She was watching me,
eyes following, ever alert. What did she know?

Margaret stepped forward, holding out a handful of clothes. "Dana-"

Scully stepped back with a soft sighing sound. She dropped a kiss on
Hannah's forehead and then passed her to me, taking the bundle from her
mother. I held Hannah for a few moments, wanting to feel my daughter
safe in my arms, but found myself distracted by Scully as she left,
shutting herself in the bathroom.
"Mrs Scully, can you take her, please?"

She hadn't locked the door. I let myself in, shutting it quietly behind
me. She hadn't started changing yet - she was still in the
blood-covered clothes, staring at her reflection. She whipped around
when she saw me. I could see that she was right on the edge.
"Not now, Mulder."

"What happened at the cabin?"

"He was there."

"What happened?"


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

You didn't have to be psychic to know what was happening in the
bathroom. We could all hear them yelling. Daddy was furious. You could
tell he was as much scared as angry though, from his voice. Mommy was
the same, her voice higher than normal, tensed. 

"I had to make a choice, Mulder! There is so much at stake here, so
much. I had to decide."

"You think you can stop him that easily? You can't deal with these
people, Scully. You can't expect them to play by the rules. They're
going to play dirty, always."

"What was I supposed to do?! We can't run forever, Mulder. You and I
and the kids, we can't protect her from him. And I know that I don't
ever want the kids to have to go through something like this again!"

"You know what they'll do with her DNA, Scully. You know what sort of
tests-"

"If that's the price we pay to keep her safe, so be it. One vial of
blood-"

"They won't be content with just her blood! They'll want more, and we
won't be able to stop them. They'll want to do tests on her, just like
they did on Samantha, on you... Better dead than that."

Mommy was silent. I could hear her mind churning his words over,
disbelieving. When she spoke, I could hear her scared she was. "No,
Mulder. Absolutely not. We are not killing our own daughter."

Daddy, suddenly quiet. "We have to think about it."

"No, Mulder!!"

"They won't leave her, Scully. They'll never let her have a life. We
can't protect her. This is the only way that we can save her."

Mommy, furious and terrified at once, so close to tears. "No! There has
to be another way!"


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

Mommy came out of the bathroom first, still in her bloodied clothes.
She didn't say anything. Erin tried running to her but I grabbed her,
holding her back, knowing Mommy didn't want to touch her.

Grandma was scared. I could hear her heart racing. She was holding
Hannah, just standing there holding Hannah, watching Mommy but not
knowing what to say.

Mommy, I pleaded silently, watching her. I knew she was thinking about
what Daddy had said, turning the hateful thought over and over in her
mind, considering it despite herself.

Grandma spoke quietly. "I think I should take the children back to DC."

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"Don't you understand, Mom?"

"How can I? Dana, you've been away so long already. You have to take
your kids home."

"It's not safe there."

"Is it safe here?"

"I don't know."

Grandma drew a deep breath. She was actually managing to look and sound
quite calm, but I could tell how anxious she really was, how shocked
she was by what Daddy had suggested. She took a step toward Mommy. 
"You and Fox both need some rest before you make any big decisions."

"I can't rest, Mom."

But Grandma talked her into it. Josh and I were put in charge of Hannah
and Erin while Grandma unpacked some of our bags and found Mommy some
more clean clothes. Worried about Daddy, I left Erin with Josh and
slipped into the bathroom. He was sitting on the edge of the tub,
elbows propped up, head in his hands.

"Daddy?"

He lifted his head, and I could see that he was crying. I didn't have
to see that to know, though. There was so much grief and fear coming
off him, it was hard to breathe. I felt a huge lump in my throat.

"Hey, kiddo..." He sounded tired, shaky. I didn't know how to answer
him so I went forward and hugged him. He held onto my tightly, so tight
it hurt a bit, but I didn't make him let go.

"You can't kill her." I was starting to cry too. It just scared me so
much. How could they just talk about killing Hannah like that? It
wasn't like she was evil and we were defending ourselves. She was just
a baby - *our* baby, who Mommy breastfed and Duckie had delivered and
whose nappies Daddy and Joshie and I all changed. "There has to be
another way. *Please.*"


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

Mom had got us the connecting room, and she shooed me in there to try
and get some sleep, drawing the blinds closed to block out the
afternoon sun. I had given up protesting, too exhausted, too numbed by
fear and worry, and I let her draw the covers back for me like I was a
child again.

Exhausted as I was, though, I didn't find sleep easily. I turned
restlessly, remembering the violence, the attack on me, the nightmarish
night waiting for news of Josh and Astrid, the look in the young FBI
agent's eyes as he died in my arms, still ten miles from the hospital.
Worrying, too, about the deal I had struck, what it meant for us and
for the baby. Feeling chills running down my spine as I thought of what
Mulder had said, hating him for even thinking that we could do such a
thing. 

"Scully?"

I rolled over and saw him standing in the doorway, leaning against it
as if he had run out of energy to hold himself upright. I drew myself
up onto an elbow, still watching him, trying to find something to say.
I didn't feel anger at him so much as grief. He adored Hannah. I
understood why he had suggested the action, but that he thought either
of us was capable of carrying it out...

He moved closer and I sat up, cross-legged, tugging the pillow onto my
lap. He stood at the end of the bed, hand on the bedpost. 

"As long as we have her, they can find her. And as she's with us, we're
all in danger."

I drew a breath, dully calm. I was too tired to get emotional again. It
was all I could do was to try and see reason. "What are you saying?
That we should send her away?"

"If we could put her somewhere, make it untraceable..."

"We're not giving up our baby, Mulder! It's not an option, not matter
how difficult things get." I found that my fists were clenched and
released them, exhaling. "It's not an option."

He nodded, shuffling his feet as if he wanted to say something but not
knowing what. His face was downturned, his head hung. His whole body
seemed slumped. I don't know what to do anymore.

I replaced the pillow, then moved over to the other side of the bed,
making room for him. He climbed up slowly, one knee onto the bed, then
the other. He bent over me, reaching to touch my cheek. I didn't flinch
away, like I was afraid I almost might, but put my hand over his,
curling my fingers around his, letting him rest his forehead against
mine, our faces close. I was angry at what he had suggested, yes - who
wouldn't have been? But I understood, too, why he had suggested it. I
think part of me also realised that sooner or later the thought would
have crossed my own mind, just as hateful and unwelcome.
I closed my eyes, tired, not wanting to think beyond his presence and
the hope that for now, at least, we were safe.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

Mommy and Daddy fell asleep next door. Grandma wouldn't even let us go
next door to see them, she was trying to make us get some sleep too.
Even though it had been ages since I had slept properly I didn't want
to go to bed yet - I was still too scared by everything that had
happened, and when I thought about what Daddy had said to Mommy in the
bathroom I felt sick. How could they think of killing Hannah? Even
sending her away was a stupid idea. Nobody could protect her better
than we could. Josh and I were the only ones who could tell when the
bounty hunter was coming, and Mommy and Daddy were the only ones who
could stop it.
Eventually Grandma gave in and let Josh and I sneak in to see Mommy and
Daddy as long as we promised to try to sleep. I thought at first that
they were both fast asleep, but when I got closer I found that they
were awake, lying there silently in the dark, his arms around her.
Mommy distentangled herself and reached out to me, drawing me into a
hug. I could feel how tired she was - exhausted, but unable to sleep.
When I hugged Daddy he felt the same, his mind running hollowly through
the same dark thoughts. 
"You can't send Hannah away," I pleaded, my lower lip starting to
tremble. "Nobody can keep her as safe as we can. I promise, we won't
let him get her."

"It might be the only way to keep her safe, kiddo," was Daddy's quiet,
sad answer.

"No!" I protested. I could hear Josh shushing me but I didn't care. I
was angry at Mommy and Daddy. I knew that they were already upset and I
wasn't helping but I didn't care. I couldn't believe that they'd really
give up on Hannah, especially after everything that we'd got through so
far.

"There has to be another way," I insisted. "You never gave up on us and
you never gave up on Erin. Don't you care about Hannah?"

Grandma had come in and was trying to pull me away but Mommy gestured
for her to let go and tugged me between the two of them, hugging me
against her and hushing her. I hadn't even realised that I was crying.

"We'll do what we have to do, Astrid," she said quietly, kissing my
forehead and rubbing my arms gently, trying to calm me. "We'll do
whatever it takes to keep her safe."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

We headed back to DC the next day. Margaret flew back with Erin, saying
that she would get the apartment ready for us. We wanted to keep Hannah
with us, afraid that nobody else was capable of protecting her. We'd
needed either Josh or Astrid with us as well, to know if the bounty
hunter was near, but they were both shaken and neither was willing to
go back with Margaret. Similarly, neither Scully or I wanted to leave
Hannah; that it was easier if we shared the driving was a good enough
excuse to stay.

It was dark when we reached home. Margaret had warned us that agents
had ransacked the place after our sudden departure, but her headstart
had given her some time to tidy and by the time we walked through the
doors things seemed back to normal. Somebody - Jacqueline, maybe - had
cleaned up after our last meal and emptied out the refridgerator, and
had been watering the few indoor plants we kept. What remained was
messy, but liveable.

Astrid and Erin were excited to be home - Erin had already managed to
scatter her toys across the floor by the time we turned up, and
Astrid's first reaction was to flip on the TV in time to catch a West
Wing repeat - while Josh seemed to be just quietly relieved, touching
the furniture gently in greeting, going through each cupboard and just
gazing at the contents. 

Exhausted after the chaos of the past few days, lack of sleep and the
long drive, we ordered a pizza and had the kids bathed and dressed in
pyjamas by the time it was delivered. The kids put away a couple of
pieces of pizza each before their enthusiasm waned and they fell asleep
on the couch, half a piece of pizza still clasped in Astrid's hand. We
carried them to their bedroom and tucked them into their beds, still
unmade and rumpled from the day we'd left.

Erin was asleep and Margaret had already put her to bed, but Hannah was
still awake. "She needs a feed," Margaret warned, passing her over to
Scully.

Scully took the bundle and settled on the couch. A second later she
called my name. "Mulder?"

I had begun to gather the scattered bits of pizza. Open box in hand, I
approached her. "What?"

"I think there's still some formula in the pantry. Could you make that
up, please?"

Both the question and the strain in her voice awoke concern. "You
feeling okay?"

"Yeah. I just think we should try to get her used to the formula.
Just..." she paused, "in case."

I nodded, understanding her, and silently obeyed, finding the tin on
the pantry shelf. 

"I want to go see Jacqui tomorrow," she announced quietly, when I
returned with the heated formula. "I think maybe she can help."

"Help how?"

"Help us to understand what it is in Hannah's DNA that they want, and
how we get it out."

"You think that's possible?"

"It's the only option I'm willing to consider right now," she answered
grimly, staring down at Hannah's wide-eyes. "So it had better be
possible."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

Mom turned up at ten to mind the kids for us. We hadn't yet discussed
what when we were going to send Josh and Astrid back to school; in the
little time we'd had to think so far, there had been considerably more
pressing concerns. Coming up with a believable explanation for their
extended absence would not be easy, and I knew anyway that the kids
weren't ready to go back. None of us could resume our normal lives
until this matter was resolved.

We took Hannah with us to Jacqueline's clinic. Not because we needed
her - Jacqueline still had the blood sample from before we'd left - but
because we were too afraid to leave her. Only when she was in my arms,
a warm weight smelling of talcum powder and baby shampoo, was I able to
relax a little, and even then I found myself scrutinising every person
who crossed our path, wondering who lurked behind the face.

Jacqueline came running at us, squeezing Hannah and I in a tight hug,
then Mulder. She was flushed and full of questions, repeating again and
again that she was so glad to see us alive. Once she calmed down a
little there were questions - were the kids okay? Had any of us been
hurt? What about all our scratches and bruises? 
Our own injuries, though quite bad, had faded into insignificance in
the struggle to simply stay alive. It was only at Jacqueline's probing
physician's touch that I realised how painful my throat was - my neck
was covered with mottled bruises, barely hidden by the collar of my
shirt - and felt clearly the stabbing pain in my chest. 
"Wouldn't surprise me if you had a broken rib or two, Dana," Jacqui
observed. "Want me to do an X-ray, to check for sure?"

I shook my head, knowing that these injuries, like those several weeks
ago, would only truly heal with rest. I'd had stitches following the
incident at the cabin; nothing else could be fixed quite as quickly.

I could tell Jacqueline was itching to question us, to know what had
happened during our absence, but right then we were still tired and
hurt. She seemed to realise that, and asked, more quietly, "What can I
do?"


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

She brought out the report from Hannah's last bloodtest, and she and
Scully ran through the bloodwork, the two of them taking turns
explaining the breakdown to me. I listened at first, but Hannah was
fussy - she didn't, I suspected, like the formula which she had been
given again for breakfast: her reaction had been the same when Scully
had been sick those first few days in the cabin - and made it
impossible to concentrate. I paced with her, trying to quiet her, but
the harder I tried the more noise she seemed to make.

"I can get someone from daycare to take her off your hands if you want,
Fox. You sort of need to hear this."

"No." Both Scully and I answered at once, a short, abrupt word.
Jacqueline glanced at Scully, then back at me, before nodding.

"Okay. I get it."

Scully rifled through the diaper bag and found a pacifier, tossing it
to me. Hannah didn't want it at first, turning away restlessly, but
eventually she latched on and quietened down.

"Basically, Fox," Jacqueline explained, addressing me, "Hannah's got
the same sort of inactive junk DNA in her system as Dana had."

"So?" We'd already figured so much. What did that give us?

"Well, it's a start," Jacqueline said, sounding a little impatient. My
tone had not been friendly. She went on, "I don't have Dana's records
to compare it with, but my guess would be that it's not exactly the
same, that it's a mutation... and that mutation, whether by design or
chance, is important to them."

Design? The word resounded in my mind, stirring up questions. Design?
Didn't that mean that somebody knew, that somebody had known long ago,
when they took Scully from me, when they exposed me to that alien
oil... Was it possible that those things had been done with the
eventual goal of a child being created - created naturally, inheriting
those things from us, a combination which was proving leathal to us
all? Was it possible? Were Scully and I - and the kids, and Jacqueline,
too - all simply pawns, our lives merely a means for the creation of
such a child? It seemed impossible. It was just too surreal an idea to
accept. 


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- JACQUELINE -

Dana and Fox left, and I sat at my desk, staring blindly ahead of my as
my mind raced. I felt responsible, somehow - it was me who had done the
bloodtest which had exposed Hannah's extraordinariness. I felt bound to
rectify that, to restore the security that I had robbed them of. But
how?

A knock on the door. I recognised it, knew who it was before I even
looked up. Mark.

"Hey, daydreamer, can I come in?"

I looked up, nodding slowly, and he entered, tossing himself down in
the chair opposite me. For a second he was about to speak, then he
seemed to change his mind, his mood sobering. "Those your friends who
just left?"

"Yeah."

"They look like they got pretty badly beat up."

"Yeah."

"You okay?"

"Not really." I stirred restlessly, suddenly tired. I didn't know what
I could do about Fox and Dana's situation. I didn't know if I was
capable of doing anything to help. But I felt burdened to help.

"You want to go for a walk, get some fresh air?"

I looked at him, then glanced away, hesitating. I liked this guy. Over
the last week or two in particular we'd been seeing a lot of each
other, and he was always funny and interesting and sweet. But right
then I felt tired and vulnerable and was afraid. It had always been in
my weakness that I had needed Grae the most, and I was worried that if
I went with Mark right then my actions may be dictated more by that
tired, desperate need for love and comfort, than attraction to Mark
himself.

"I think I'll pass," I said finally, pushing the chair back from the
desk. "I've got a lot of work to do."

He nodded and rose, then gave me a quick goodbye wave and backed out. I
watched him go, unsettled by everything, and tired, wanting to go home
and crawl into bed although it was barely half-past eleven.

I picked up the cordless phone and dialled home. The answering machine
picked up. I hadn't expected otherwise: Ebony still only spoke
sparodically and refused to answer the phone. I relied on leaving
messages for her on the machine and sending e-mails. If she ever needed
to contact me, she had my pager number, and I'd written out a list of
emergency codes.
"Ebs, it's me. I'm going to grab Noah from daycare and we're coming
home for lunch. Make sure you've got those maths questions all answered
for me, kay? I'll see you in half an hour."

I hung up, tossing myself back in my chair, and swinging back and
forth. Fox and Dana's return was a relief - I'd been going almost crazy
the past weeks, not knowing where they were - but not I could feel the
danger closer at hand, more stifling, and I had the feeling that things
were going to get more difficult for me.

"God, help me," I muttered, half to God, half to myself. I sighed,
resting my forehead in my hands and closing my eyes, shutting out the
world around me. "God, help us all..."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

When Mom and Dad got back from Duckie's I couldn't tell if the news had
been good or bad. They both seemed tense and worried. Hannah was crying
loudly and it looked as though she had been for a while. She threw up
when Mom passed her over to Grandma, then she went quiet for a while,
sort of listless and whiny like she had been at the cabin.
Mom and Dad checked on us then shut themselves in their bedroom to
talk. I was angry that they kept doing that, that they wouldn't let us
join in the discussions. We cared about Hannah too. It wasn't fair for
them to shut themselves away and make decisions for all of us like
that.
I sat outside in the corridor and listened through the walls. They were
still talking about maybe sending Hannah away.

"At least until we've got it figured out."

"Where, Mulder? And with who? The kids are the only ones who can tell
who the bounty hunter is. We'd have to send one of them along. And then
we need somebody capable of killing the damn thing. I'm not letting the
kids go through that."

"One of us would have to go with them."

"Then we'd might as well all go. Mulder, we can't run forever."

Their voices got quieter then, and I moved away, feeling guilty for
listening. I sat on my bed, fluffing up my pillows and pulling the
comforter around me, glad to be home and have all my things again,
wishing that all our problems would just go away. I hated being scared.

I picked up a book eventually, even though I didn't really feel like
reading, and I think I fell asleep. Next thing I knew Daddy was there.

"Hey, kiddo. You missed lunch."

"What time is it?"

"Almost three. Grandma's gone home. You hungry?"

I shook my head, still confused at being woken. Daddy was standing
beside my bed and I reached out and hugged him, burying my face in his
side. I didn't cry, I just needed him to hug me.

"You okay, kiddo?"

I nodded, my face still pressed against his side. I pulled away and
looked at him. He gazed back at me levelly, his eyes dark and serious.

"You're not really going to send Hannah away, are you?"

"We may not have a choice."

I swallowed hard, making myself be brave. "If you do send her away...
I'll go with her, if you want, and I'll watch out for the bounty
hunter."

He nodded, and I knew that he was taking my offer seriously. He ran his
hand through his hair and stepped back. "Come get some lunch. Mom and I
want to talk over some things with everyone."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY - 

We ran over our options with the kids - few as our options were right
then. We could stay, trust the bounty hunter to keep his end of the
bargain and hand over a vial of Hannah's blood at the end of the week,
or we could run again, and try to hide Hannah somewhere until we
figured out a better solution.

From the kids' faces we could tell that neither solution appealed to
them - we were all afraid of what the bounty hunter would do with her
blood, afraid of her being taken from us or even killed, afraid even of
just letting her out of our sight.

"Duckie has tracking software at the clinic," Josh said quietly. "You
can get her to embed a tracking chip in Hannah, just in case."

Mulder and I had briefly discussed the idea of a tracking chip to help
us if Hannah was taken, but we were aware that it could just as easily
be used against us; anybody could hijack the equipment from Jacqueline
and find us if we went into hiding again.

"We've thought about that, buddy," Mulder answered gently. "It's an
option."

"No." Josh sounded more insistent, a frown on his forehead. "It's
important. You have to do it. Otherwise we'll never get her back."

I felt a chill at his words. There was something a little frightening
about what he had said - some irrevocable, avoidable truth he seemed
aware of. We had accepted that he heard and understood things that we
did not, but the prophetic nature of his warning seemed to widen that
expanse tenfold.

I could tell Mulder was as concerned as I was by Josh's words. "Okay,
buddy. We'll call up Jacqueline and see what she can do."

Josh nodded, hugging his knees, and his gaze fell to the ground. I
watched him for the next few seconds, waiting for him to look up,
half-expecting when he did so for the trance to be passed, the
prophetic words forgotten, but I was wrong; when he did look up, the
frown remained, and I could see the future weighed heavily on him.

I longed to ask him what we knew, what he had seen, but was afraid that
he wouldn't answer me. Resolving to catch him alone and ask him then, I
gave him a quick squeeze and we broke up the meeting. 


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

We were at Jacqueline's the next morning to get a chip implanted, a
tiny thing placed, frighteningly, at the back of her neck. The tracking
software had been bought to track equipment from the labs when borrowed
or stolen, and Jacqueline had used a microchip supplied by Frohike,
configuring it to her system.

We could see that Jacqueline was still itching with questions, but
again she restrained herself, patiently answering our own, sharing
thoughts she had had, possible solutions. None of them were
particularly outstanding, none were new to us. We were going round and
round in circles, retreading the same ground of safer options, too
afraid to consider the more extreme.

Scully had been trying to talk to Josh but he wouldn't elaborate on
what he had said in our family meeting, only repeat that it was
important that Hannah have a tracking chip.
"If you know something, kiddo, we might be able to help. If something's
going to happen, we might be able to stop it."

But he just shook his head and insisted unhappily that he didn't know
what was going to happen.

We were called into the bureau for a fuller explanation of what had
happened. We couldn't give Skinner the entire truth but we told him
enough to keep him at bay: we had neither time nor inclination to work
on cases right then - Hannah was our only focus. When called into work
to give accounts of what had happened we insisted on separate
appointments, so that one of us was always home with the kids, to
protect Hannah and to struggled endlessly for a solution to end the
fear.
Thursday, the end of the one week we had been given, was drawing near.
Wednesday night, Scully sat on the end of our bed, watching me as I fed
Hannah. We were still trying to wean her onto the formula, wanting to
be prepared for whatever happened, but she still disliked it, and it
often took a while to get her to accept the bottle. She still seemed
quieter, most listless, which we attributed both to the change of diet
and the stress in the household, which had been at a constant simmer.
Just inside the front door was a collection of packed bags -  one for
each of us, containing clothes and any basic necessities, then another
with canned and dried food, including formula. If necessary, we could
all be out of the house in a matter of minutes. Where we went was a
different matter.

"You and Astrid," Scully announced abruptly, watching me. "If something
goes wrong, you and Astrid are the strongest. You have to take her."

"I won't leave you."

"I know you'd risk your own life to stay with me, Mulder, but it's not
your life that's at risk. You and Astrid. It won't be permanent. Josh
and Erin and I will be safe, you can't worry about us. It's not us he
wants. You and Astrid will have to focus on keeping Hannah safe in the
short-term, and Josh and Jacqui and I will focus on the long-term."

She slipped off the bed, pacing around the room with a restlessness
more common to me. Her pyjamas hung off her frame, too baggy. Even at
the cabin, we'd been eating properly, and they had still fitted her. In
the stress of the last week we'd all had trouble eating, but Scully
seemed to have lost the most weight of all of us. Even during her
cancer I couldn't remember her being so thin.

"You'll have to drive," she continued, just as abruptly. "If you fly
they can trace you too easily. You'll have to drive. But more careful
this time. They can't be able to track her in any way."

"What about the chip?"

"You'll take it out. I'll give you my kit."

I couldn't help myself; I winced at the thought of it. But I answered
her quickly, firmly, nonetheless. "All right."

She stopped in her pacing, paused to look at me. Then she shook her
head with a sigh. "How did we become these people, Mulder? How did we
end up like this?"

"Fate." The answer was not exactly flippant, but not long considered,
either.

She looked at me. "You gave me that answer once before, and I don't
think I believed it any more then than I do now. You're not about fate,
Mulder. You're about ... I don't know. Cause. A mission. Truth."

I reached out an arm, beckoning her closer, and she climbed onto the
bed, wriggling up alongside me and touching Hannah's feet, her tiny,
perfect toes, bare in the still warm evening. I felt myself taken back,
and it was Erin, the tiny baby in my arms, innocent of the disease that
would almost claim her life.

"I just want to feel safe again," Scully murmured.

"I know."

She touched my arm, grasped it warmly, firmly. After a second it
slackened. "We'll give him what he wants tomorrow."

"You sure?"

"Yes." I could tell she was remembering his words, his promise to track
her down. "Yes, I'm sure. It's the only way, Mulder, at least until we
come up with something better."

I took her hand and squeezed it, then released it, letting her burrow
closer against me, pulling her close. Words were of little use or
comfort, and even close touch couldn't take away the pain and the fear,
only dull it a little.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

I was awake at quarter past five on Thursday morning. We didn't know
what time he would arrive, and Mommy and Daddy had planned to send us
to Grandma for the day, so we were out of the way if the exchange went
bad. I lay awake in bed, feeling sick with worry, scared that by the
end of the day Hannah could be gone or one - or all of us - could be
dead. 
I didn't even try to eat breakfast because I knew I couldn't. Instead,
I tried to be helpful, because I knew Mommy and Daddy were stressed out
and scared too, and they needed all the help they could get. So I got
Erin up and dressed her and made her breakfast, and then I packed some
snacks for the day.
One of Grandma's friends had gone to visit her daughter in Europe for a
month, and had left Grandma to take care of the place. The house had a
big yard, and a piano that we could play, Grandma told us when she came
to get us just after eight. 
"Everything's going to be fine," Mommy promised us as she gave us a
kiss goodbye, but I knew she couldn't know that for sure, and she was
just trying to make everybody feel more confident. Erin was being
annoying and wouldn't let go of Daddy. We had to pull her off him and
then she kept screaming, even after we put her in the car. I gave Mommy
and Daddy both a tight squeeze and then got into the car before I
started to cry. 

Erin and Hannah were already in the car, so we were just waiting for
Josh. Mommy was crouched down to talk to him - trying to find out, I
knew, what he knew was going to happen. I could see that he was upset,
and I knew why - he didn't know what was going to happen. He knew
something was going to go wrong, but he didn't know where or when. 

"It's up to you, Josh," I heard Mommy say finally. "You can stay with
us if you want."

That just made it worse for him, making him make the decision himself.
He looked over at me, asking me what I should do, and I knew I had to
make the big sister decision.

You stay home, and protect them here. I'll go with Grandma.

He hesitated, unsure, then nodded. I heard him repeat it to Mommy and
she nodded, going around to murmur to Grandma that Josh was staying
with them.

"Are you sure that's wise, Dana?"

"No, but it's as good as any other option."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

I held Josh tightly at my side as we watched them drive off. I didn't
know. That was the terrible thing. I didn't know if we'd made the right
decision or just done something incredibly stupid. None of us knew. 

Jacqueline had drawn blood for us at the clinic the night before, and
it was waiting, ready to be handed over. It was just before nine when
the kids left, and the next two hours seemed an eternity. We tried to
occupy ourselves as we waited, not knowing if he would turn up the next
second, the next minute, if he would ring the bell or just knock the
door down. The phone rang several times, making us jump. The first was
Mom, letting us know they'd arrived safely. After that, an agent from
the bureau called, wanting us to sign some documents. Then, a
telemarketer, wanting to sell us window-tinting.

Mulder alternately paced and sat, playing with his lower lip. I moved
around the house, tidying, folding, cleaning, not venturing too far
from the front door. Josh sat, Milton's Paradise Lost on the table in
front of him, open but unread.

It was just after eleven when Josh stirred. Mulder and I stopped pacing
and watched him. He looked up, glancing around. Some of the colour left
his face, and he pressed his lips together more tightly. He reached out
with trembling hands and gently closed the unread book. 

"Josh?"

He nodded. He's coming.

Mulder went to the front door, easing it open, and stood in the open
doorway. I watched his face, saw the jaw tighten, fleeting anger that
flashed in his eyes for the briefest of seconds. 
Silently, I retrieved the small vial, and joined Mulder at the door.

He was there, in the hallway. I couldn't help the horror that shuddered
through me at the sight. My throat siezed up as I remembered how he had
grabbed me, almost strangled me with his bare hands, before throwing me
down. I bit down hard on my lip, refusing to tremble, and held out the
vial. He had stopped only a few feet from me, and I noticed, or maybe I
just imagined, the stench of death that clung to him, wafting toward
us. 

He reached, he took it, fingertips brushing mine. I flinched, I
couldn't help it. It was as though something revolting had touched me,
something absolutely reviled. It was. He had.

He didn't say a word, just gave the briefest gesture, a barely
perceptible nod, and then backed up. Maybe he was afraid that we would
try to attack him, stab him as he turned his back on us, but neither of
us was willing to try such a move, not with Hannah's life and our own
at stake.

He reached the elevator and hit the down button. We watched, neither of
us daring to take our eyes off him for a second, until he stepped back
into the elevator and the doors slid shut. And he was gone.

I almost fell, my legs were so suddenly weak as jelly. I grabbed the
doorjamb, holding onto it as I caught my breath. "Oh God."
I wasn't sure if I was relieved or now more worried than ever. He had
Hannah's blood, and I couldn't begin to dread what he might do with it.
But she, at least, was safe for the moment. Wasn't she? Did we now have
a guarantee on that?

"You okay, Scully?"

I nodded, not because I was, but because it was the only answer I could
give him. Mulder didn't look much better than me. He was, like myself,
too stunned for discernible emotion.

We went back inside, tugging the door shut after us and shooting the
bolt through. Josh was still sitting at the dinner table, but had drawn
his knees up and was hugging them. Even though he hadn't, from where he
was sitting, been able to watch what had transpired, I knew that he was
just as aware as we were, perhaps even more so.

He seemed to be struggling with his thoughts. I stayed silent for a
second, not wanting to interrupt his chain of thought, but then could
stay silent no longer.

"Josh?"

"Something's..." He trailed off, sounding confused, a little
bewildered. "Something... There's..."

He was barely lucid. His face was almost white, his hair limp, his
limbs held against his body. Physically, I realised, and wondered how I
hadn't seen it sooner, he was suffering exhaustion. Though none of us
had been eating properly, I couldn't remember Josh having touched food
in at least three days. While, emotionally and intellectually, the
stress was getting to him, his physical state was declining just as
seriously. 
"Josh, you need to eat something." I turned, feeling stronger with some
clear goal in mind. "Mulder, can you see if we've got any oatmeal?"

No oatmeal, but we made him toast instead, and I fed it to him piece by
tiny piece. We'd moved him to his bed, hoping that he would get some
sleep - neither of us had any idea how much of that he had got in the
last few days. He ate the toast pieces, at least at first, quietly and
obediently, but the eating itself seemed to only tire him out more. His
quiet turmoil and hyper-alertness of the last week had worn him down
and the appearance of the bounty hunter had, it seemed, pushed his
exhausted psychi to the brink.

He fell asleep, and we left him there, not wanting our presence to
disturb him, for he was a light sleeper. Back in the kitchen we stood,
too tired to pace any longer, too tired and too afraid to speak. Caring
for Josh had been a brief reprieve, taking our mind from Hannah, but
now she consumed our thoughts again.

'Are we safe now?' was the question on my lips but I dared not ask it.
It was as if just to do so would be tempting fate. 

"We should go get the kids," I said aloud, finally.

"One of us should stay and watch Josh."

Silence, our eyes met, a tussle. We both felt safer when we were there
with Hannah to protect us, but we were equally aware of Josh's state,
and his need for our support.
"I'll stay," I said finally. I still would have preferred to collect
the kids myself, to see them myself, but it made more sense for me to
be the one with Josh. He was physically unwell, and I was a physician.
"You go bring them home."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

Grandma wouldn't let us outside. I understood that - it wasn't safe.
But Erin wanted to go out into the sunshine. The yard was enormous,
like Grandma had promised, and there was an artificial pond with fish
in it, which flowed under a little bridge. Erin loved fish and wanted
to go play with them. She tried to open the door herself, but Grandma
had locked it, so she threw a tantrum, throwing herself on the floor
and kicking and shrieking.

I talked to her, tried to get her to stop. I had nothing much else to
do and I couldn't just sit still and read a book. I felt crazy, like my
insides were trying to jump out of my skin. 
Finally Erin gave up on the tantrum and wanted to play games with me.
We played with her toys for a while, but then she got bored, and was
back at the back door, face pressed against the glass, wanting to go
out. Grandma tried to coax her into the kitchen with a piece of cake -
Erin was the only one of us who still had an appetite - but even that
wasn't enough.

"I can take her out, if you want," I offered, reluctant. "Just for a
few minutes."

I wasn't sure if we would be safe or not in the yard. It looked safe,
and besides, it wasn't us he wanted, it was Hannah.

Grandma was weighing up those same things. Finally, she nodded. "Five
minutes only, and don't let her get wet, Astrid. Dana didn't pack her a
change of clothes."

I wanted to tell her that it had been me, not Mommy who had packed
Erin's bag, but I didn't. There was no point. I bit back a scowl,
hating the way she sometimes called Mommy Dana when she was talking to
me, as though I had no right to call her Mommy.

I unlatched the glass door and we stepped outside. It was a warm day
outside, and the wind was blowing the blossoms around, and the grass
smelt like it had just been cut. I relaxed for a second, then tensed
again, knowing that I couldn't let my guard down.

Erin ran ahead of me, running over the bridge and getting down on her
hands and knees by the edge of the pond, watching the fish. I caught up
with her and grabbed the back of her overalls to stop her from getting
any closer.

"Fishees," she crowed, delighted, as she watched the enormous things
swimming. 

I smiled a little, glad that she could still be happy about things, but
envious of her too. More than almost anything else I wished that all
this trouble would go away, or at least that I wasn't old enough to
understand it all.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

The house seemed desolate after Mulder left. I wandered toward Josh's
room to check on him a couple of times, but didn't get too near for
fear of waking him. 
How long could this go on for? I thought. We eventually had to return
to our normal lives. Mulder and I had to go back to work, the kids to
school. Would this fear still cling to us even as we went on with life?
Would it ease, like pain and grief did, or would it still bear down on
us, a constant weight, like Erin's leukemia had been?

I made myself food which I then couldn't eat, and a mug of tea which
sat beside me, slowly growing colder. The longer I sat, the more I felt
the exhaustion creeping up on me, so I forced myself up and scrubbed
down the kitchen table, the counter, the stove. I was about to start
emptying the glassware cupboard, intent on wiping everything down, when
I heard Josh's footfall. I turned, and found him standing in the middle
of the living room.

"Josh? What is it?"

His cheeks were flushed. I could see by looking at him that he was
running a fever. His eyes were dark and very much like Mulder's, though
the embers were burning, not smouldering.

"Josh?" I repeated, wondering if he had even heard me. "What?"

"He's at the house."

At his brief, broken answer my heart sank heavily. Questions rushed
into my numbed mind. How did he find them? The tracking chip? What does
he want? Why? God, why can't this just end?

"It's not the chip," Josh answered. "He just knew."

His quiet, unaffected intonation stirred memories in my already crowded
mind. Two little girls, identical, with no moral boundaries. Like Josh,
the result of science. But Josh was nothing like them. His heart was
greater than Mulders and mine combined.

I struggled to get my mind on track. "We have to call Mulder."

I had the phone in my hand and had already dialled when Josh called
after me, urgently. "Stay near the door."

"Door? What door?"

He looked at me, dazed confusion in those dark eyes as if he didn't
know himself. "Stay near," he repeated.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

He's here.

The thought hit me suddenly. One second everything was okay, I felt
safe with Erin. The next, everything was screaming it at me: He's here.

It was cold, and screamingly silent, like a big, empty refridgerator. 

I yanked Erin back. She let out a cry, "Ted!" but I ignored it, and I
grabbed her and lifted her up. I knew that he didn't want me or Erin,
but I couldn't just stay out here when Hannah needed protecting inside.
But I knew that I couldn't help Hannah and Grandma with Erin hanging on
to me.
There was an unused garden shed over near the fence. Grandma had
unlocked it for us, so that we could get the net out to clear some of
the weed in the pond. 
There were bottles of garden chemicals and garden tools in there, but
they were up high, shut in cupboards, because Grandma's friend had
sometimes shut her dog in there in bad weather. I tried to put Erin
down, but she wouldn't let go of me. 
"Ted..." she whined, upset. "Nooo..."

"I'll be back in a minute," I promised her, pulling her fingers off my
arm, scared that I would hurt her, but my heart pounding faster and
faster when I thought of Grandma and Hannah in the house. I managed to
get Erin off me and backed up fast, shutting the door after me. I heard
her start to howl as I ran toward the house but I ignored it, promising
silently that I would make it up to her later. 
I reached the back glass door and yanked at the handle, but it wouldn't
open. He'd locked it. I pressed my face against the glass, trying to
see more clearly, and I pounded on the glass til my fists hurt.

"Grandma!" I screamed. "Grandma!"

I saw something moving, and I pressed my face against the window again.
It was dark inside, compared to outside, and I couldn't see what it was
at first. Then I realised it was Grandma, on the floor against the
wall. She had her right hand on her cheek and with the other was trying
to pull herself up. She put her right hand down and I saw that there
was blood on it. She was hurt, and he'd come and taken Hannah.

I left the back door and ran to the side of the house. There was a back
passageway, heavily shaded by climbing vines on the fence. I ran along
it til I came to a gate. It was padlocked shut, and I started to climb
up and over, but I lost my grip at the top and slipped, falling to the
ground below. My head went funny, and for a second I couldn't remember
where I was, or tell whether I was on the ground or standing, but I
dragged myself up and rounded the corner blindly. 


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

Astrid ran into me, literally. She came flying around the corner,
half-sobbing, stumbling, and didn't even seem to realise I was there
til her head hit my chest. I was knocked back with the impact, but
stayed on my feet. She stepped back, stunned, and then sank to the
ground with more sobs.

"Astrid?" I knelt down beside her, lifting her face to meet mine
urgently. "Is he in there?"

She shook her head, still sobbing. A bruise was forming itself on her
forehead, but she otherwise seemed uninjured. "No. He's gone already.
He took her."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

We found Margaret in the hallway, her right cheek bleeding and already
swelling. She tried to get to her feet as we approached, but her
balance was lost, and she sank back to the ground.
"A man came, Fox. He took her. I'm sorry. I tried-"

"When?"

"Not long. Two minutes, maybe three."

I glanced around, realising that something else was missing. "Erin -?"

"She's fine." Astrid ran to the back door, fumbling with the lock, and
disappeared outside, reappearing a minute later with her red-faced
sister. Erin let out a cry when she saw me, reaching out to me, but for
the moment I left her with Astrid, needing my hands free.

I was reaching for my cellular when it began to ring. Scully.

"Mulder, he's -"

"We're too late, Scully. He's got her."

Only a second's pause on the other end as she digested the news, then
she spoke again. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Your mom looks concussed, but Astrid and Erin are fine."

I heard her exhale a quiet prayer, then draw a breath. "I'll meet you
at Jacqueline's."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

Josh was still standing there, watching me, as I hung up. He looked
terrible, and I didn't want to leave him by himself, nor did I want him
involved in what was to come. I would, I decided, take him to the
clinic, and then leave him in the care of one of the nurses there. It
wasn't ideal, but I knew Jacqui could pull the strings and I wanted him
under medical attention.

It was still only early afternoon and the day was warm, but I wrapped
him in a blanket and packed him into the back of the car. I dialled
Jacqui on my cellular, then clamped the phone between my ear and
shoulder as I pulled away from the kerb. 

She picked up on the third ring. "Dana?"

"They've got her."

"What?"

"They took her. I don't know why. Can you get the tracking software up?
We're on our way there now."

There was half a beat's hesitation only. "Yeah. I'm on it." She covered
the receiver and I heard, very faintly, as she yelled out to her
receptionist to cancel the afternoon's appointments.

"Where are you now?"

"Just leaving home. We'll be there in ten."

"Okay. I'll be ready for you."

I tossed the phone down and tried to focus on the road. We could have
called the bureau about the abduction, and in another life I probably
would have, but right then it was too personal. We had been taking care
of ourselves and our own all throughout this trial, and it was just too
late to change gears and involve others. I knew that we were the only
ones who understood the uniqueness of the situation, and I couldn't
have handled the delay involved in trying to talk agents onto our side.


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- JACQUELINE -

Mark was watching me. "What's up?"

"It's an emergency. You're going to have to get out of here."

I don't know if he assumed that it was a work emergency, or he just
trusted that I meant what I said, because he didn't protest the order.
Instead, he nodded and stood. "I hope everything works out."

I nodded curt thanks, not looking up at him as I tugged my laptop
toward me. He was out the door when I called him back. "Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you send Heather in here, please? Tell her it's urgent."

He nodded, disappearing around the corner. I was loading the tracking
software up when Heather appeared.

"Jacqui?"

"Yeah. Dana Scully's going to be here in about five minutes. She comes
straight through, understand?"

"Yes. Anything else?"

"Anything she asks for, anything she needs, give it to her."

I had made enough bizarre requests in the past. Heather knew better
than to question. "Sure."

"And can you grab me an extra battery for my laptop? Long-life."

"You going out?"

"Yeah, I think so."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- ASTRID -

We got to the clinic just as Mommy was getting out of her car. She saw
us pull in and came rushing toward us. "Mulder? Astrid? Mom, are you
okay?"

Grandma nodded, pushing Mommy away. "I'll live, Dana. Go find Hannah."

We left Grandma in Mommy's car watching over Josh, and I ran after Mom
and Daddy as they went upstairs, trying to keep up with them. The
receptionist, Hannah, met us at the door. "She's waiting for you, go
right through."

Duckie was behind her desk, typing on the keyboard. "I've got her on
the screen, Dana. They're travelling."

"My mom is going to need medical attention and I want somebody to look
at Josh. Mom got knocked down. Josh is running a fever."

Duckie nodded, obviously upset about what had happened but still
managing to be organised and professional, like Mommy. She didn't seem
to mind that Mommy was treating her clinic like an ER. "I'll get Aaron
to look after that. Erin can stay in daycare. Is Astrid coming with us,
or staying?"

"Staying," Mommy and Daddy both answered her at once. I felt a surge of
unjustice but bit back the protest. It wasn't fair but they were
probably right.

Mommy turned to me. "I'm leaving you in charge here, okay, Astrid? Try
and keep Grandma calm and keep an eye on Josh."

I nodded, silently repeating in my head my mantra of the past month.
Don't cry, be strong, they need you. Don't cry, be strong, they need
you.

Duckie lifted up her laptop, holding it open on her hands. "You ready?
Let's go."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

We took my car. I drove, Scully was beside me, Jacqueline was in the
back, following on the laptop, directing us where to go.

"They're still headed north-west. You're going to want to take a left
up here, somewhere."

We were heading toward Baltimore, I knew, but the streets were
unfamiliar. I'm not sure why I trusted Jacqueline so completely - never
once during that drive did I question an instruction. It can't have
been more than twenty or twenty-five minutes that we spent driving, but
I felt sure it had been hours.

"They've stopped," Jacqueline announced. "I think they've arrived."

"How far behind are we?"

"Six minutes. Give or take. We took some shortcuts which helped."

"Where do I go up ahead?"

"Left." 

I glanced back at her in the rear-vision mirror and saw that she was
chewing her lip.

"What is it?"

"I think I know why he's taken her."

Scully and I both responded at once, voices sharp. "Why?"

"The blood sample was no good. He must have thought you switched it so
he's taken Hannah to get what he needs himself."

Scully beat me to it. "What do you mean, it's no good?" she demanded.

"I drew a little extra and tested it myself. That stuff in her blood,
that junk DNA? There's only half as much of it as there was a week
ago."

I could almost hear Scully's mind ticking over. "How can that be?"

"I don't know. But as her cells are multiplying her DNA is becoming
more and more normal. Survival of the fittest: the normal cells are
outmultiplying the other ones. If it continues at this rate..."

"She'll be of no use to them," Scully finished. She glanced across at
me, troubled. I could read the question in her eyes. If she's no use to
them, what will they do to her? 

Jacqueline had obviously come to the same conclusion as us - her voice
was shaky as she warned, "Right up here, Fox."


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

It was exactly the sort of facility we should have expected - a large,
old warehouse with boarded up windows and the appearance of being
derelict. Inside, I had no doubt, was a different story.

The doors too were boarded shut, but for all the weathered wood, the
boards were surprisingly sound, each door completely sealed. Around the
back was different. A smooth metal door with a numerical padlock. 
Mulder pulled his gun and aimed it, but Jacqui stopped him. "Hold on a
sec, let me try."

She passed the laptop to me and tugged at the lock, put her ear close
to it and shook it once, then swiftly indented four digits. The lock
swung undone. Jacqui tugged it off, throwing it to the ground, and
pulled the door open. 

"After you," she murmured, gesturing to Mulder, and taking the laptop
from me.

The hallway was dark, lit at intervals by glowing red beacons. We
started to run, it was impossible not to. Jacqueline could only hazard
directions based on the signal - we found several dead ends and took
several wrong turns before Hannah's screams rose up in the distance.
If I needed any impetus to go faster, that sufficed. 

"Left up here somewhere, Dana," Jacqueline called, for I had taken the
lead, but I no longer needed the tracking program to tell me where
Hannah was, I could hear with my own ears.

     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

We came to a set of double doors, similar to those in hospital
corridors, but metallic. There was an oblong glass window in each and
we pressed up against them. I heard Scully's sharp intake of breath as
she saw Hannah, lying there on a steel surgical table, clad only in a
diaper. There were three men bending over her - two were identical, and
I recognised them as the bounty hunter. The third was different, and
though I felt a flicker of recognition, I couldn't place him. They were
holding Hannah down on the table, preparing, I realised with sickened
horror, to do a procedure I recognised from Erin's leukemia, a lumbar
puncture. 

Scully and I were both pounding on the door almost before I knew what
we were doing. Screaming for them to stop, leave her alone, step away.
I heard Jacqueline's laptop hit the ground and there was a flash of
blue behind us. 

"Move back, Fox."

Jacqueline had swung up an oxygen tank and was preparing to use it to
knock the door in. I helped grab hold of it - it was empty, but the
tank itself was still heavy enough. Scully kept pounding, shouting on
the other door, as we began to swing our makeshift battering ram.
Inside, they'd stepped away from her and were conferring, glancing at
us, at Hannah. One of them moved toward the door. At that moment we
broke through, the door flew inward, freed from its latches. 

Jacqueline ran in first, but the bounty hunter threw her easily against
the wall. In almost the same swing he managed to knock me to the
ground, and then Scully. A swift move, barely a blur, and I was
disarmed, my fingers grasping for something no longer there. The impact
winded me, and for a few precious seconds I couldn't get up, I could
barely breathe. He hadn't thrown Scully with as much force; she
scrambled to her feet, struggling when he grabbed hold of her, trying
to get past him.
"She's no good to you any more! She's not special anymore. Test her
blood first. You'll see. She's not special anymore. Please..."

The bounty hunter released her, but his arm shot out, blocking her path
when she tried to move forward. "Stay back. We won't hurt her, if you
stay back."

Jacqueline was still down, but I went to Scully instead, not able to do
much more than stand beside her, but wanting to do at least that much.
She didn't even glance at me, wouldn't take her eyes off Hannah. I
understood that. I could, at least to an extent, defend myself. The
same went for Jacqueline. But Hannah, laying there, now silent,
watching us with that bright, ever-curious gaze, could not. She was
fragile.

He stepped away from us, back toward Hannah, and barked orders in a low
dialect I didn't understand. He was handed a tray with more
instruments, less frightening ones this time, and took a syringe. I
flinched away as he found a vein and plunged the fine needle into my
daughter's arm; Scully didn't. She watched the entire proceeding with
fierce protectiveness. If he had so much as spilt I drop I think she
may have killed him. 

The vial was handed to the other bounty hunter, who retreated through
another door. The procedure didn't seem to have distressed Hannah - she
still gazed around the room with bright eyes, her gaze flitting from us
to the ceiling to her abductors and back again, showing no
discrimination.

Scully stepped forward, and the bounty hunter stepped back, allowing
her through. I watched with amazement as he allowed her to lift Hannah
into her arms and close her eyes, as though saying a silent, thankful
prayer. 

I turned to Jacqueline. Her scalp was matted with blood - she'd hit the
sharp edge of something as she'd landed. I moved over to her, confident
enough that Scully and Hannah were safe for the moment - Scully, almost
under some unspoken protection order - and knelt down.

"Jacqueline?"

She looked up at me, stunned. The quick intelligence was gone from her
eyes - they were clouded with vacancy, confusion. Slowly, they began to
clear, and she nodded slightly, as if to confirm her identity to me.

A hand on her elbow, I helped her to her feet. As she rose, she lifted
her eyes, looking up, past me, across the room, and suddenly her whole
body went stiff in my hands. "Roger?"

"Roger?" I repeated, glancing over at the third man who stood standing
guard by the broken door. 

"Roger Moss," Jacqueline answered me, unable to take her gaze away. "My
father."

     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

I only turned when Jacqueline said those last two words, to see the man
for myself. I had only briefly glanced at him since entering the room -
I'd been vaguely aware that he was not identical to the others, but
beyond that I hadn't taken any notice. Now, gazing at him, I recognised
the features from that of the man in the autopsy photo. Also, more
frightening, I saw a little of Astrid in his face, the quirk of his
smile. He seemed amused to have been recognised, amused by the
disbelief with which Jacqueline was staring.

"I shot you," Jacqui managed. "You were dead. They did an autopsy on
you!"

"That would make me Lazarus indeed," he answered coolly. His smile, his
words, could almost have been charming, but they were so cold. This
man, like the others in the room, were cold.

Jacqui stared hard at him. "I don't understand."

Hannah whimpered in my arms and I shifted my grip on her. She turned
her head, gazing toward Jacqueline as if wanting to watch and listen. I
closed my eyes again, resting my chin on the top of her head and
breathing in her scent, her warmth. I didn't know what they were going
to do to her, or to us, but in that moment I felt that we had, at
least, a chance. I inhaled again, wanting to breathe in as much of her
in the time that I had, any moment expecting that they would drag her
from my arms.

Roger Moss gazed around, eyes settling on each of us in turn. The
bounty hunter had, for the moment, stepped back to watch the
proceedings. Jacqueline's father - if he could be called such - finally
settled his gaze on her face, and began his monologue concisely and
emotionlessly.
"After we lost Susie and David, and all subsequent efforts seemed less
and less successful, we were at a loss for how to proceed. We didn't
know where we had gone wrong or how to fix it. We went through the
data, over and over, trying to find some clue, but turned up nothing.
Then, when you were about seven, your mother brought in a man, a friend
of hers - identical in appearance to this man - with the technology and
knowledge we needed to continue our experiments."

"But you took my DNA," Jacqueline interrupted. "That fixed it. Astrid
and Josh came out fine. They were just what you wanted."

"They were strong and they were intelligent, yes. But those were merely
the side-effects. Our ambitions, joint ambitions now, had changed. The
real goal had yet to be achieved. We wondered if perhaps we were taking
the wrong approach by attempting to create these lives from scratch. I
volunteered myself as a project specimen, and they experimented with
modifying my DNA. But this again failed to reach the real goal,
although their storing my DNA was what allowed them to recreate me
after you shot me."

I jumped in. I couldn't help myself. I was fascinated as well as
appalled by the revelation. "You mean they cloned you?"

But Jacqueline had latched onto a different concept. "What real goal?
What were you trying to do, if not create the perfect human?"

At this point the bounty hunter himself stepped forward again. I
flinched back, grip tightening on Hannah, but he came no further
forward. Roger Moss had been addressing Jacqueline directly, but this
man - this monster, this thing - addressed the three of us. I stepped
back again, despite myself, and I could feel a cold draft coming
through the open door only a few feet behind me.
Josh's words stirred in my mind. Stay near the door. This door? I
wondered. I glanced back behind me, and found the second bounty hunter
- or maybe it was another one altogether  standing in the doorway,
blocking any escape.
Stay near the door, Josh had said. I didn't understand him, but I still
found myself inching back another half step, safer near the exit
despite the monster standing guard there.

"We were trying to save ourselves. We were already immune to all human
diseases and weapons, but we were still vulnerable - stabbing at the
base of the neck, as you already know. A reslut of an inherent mutation
in our genes, the defense system which protects the rest of our body
doesn't function there. Our scientists have to no avail been attempting
to bridge the gap for nearly two hundred years in an attempt to halt
the rapid decline in our population, but no artificial attempts have
succeeded. Just like you, who take organs from another's body and
transplant them into your own for survival, we needed something
organically grown - something of us, grown apart from us, which could
then be introduced into our own DNA without rejection."

Again, a chill, and I hugged Hannah closer. In a split second I saw
myself in our bedroom at home, rocking my little daughter in my arms,
feeling the weight sag as she fell asleep. 

They - *they*, these monsters - wanted to take from her to make
themselves whole. Her innocent blood to make their tyranny complete,
secure their immortality. No. Not while Mulder and I had breath in our
bodies.

Roger Moss resumed the narration. "You think it's a coincidence that it
was you originally investigating the murders of myself and your mother?
You think it was just chance that allowed you to flee unharmed? You
think that it was out of sheer kindness that we allowed Astrid and
Joshua to remain in your possession? That we freely passed control of
our experiments over to you, Jacqueline, with no ulterior motive? We
needed you -" he addressed Mulder and I at this point with the wave of
a hand "- to keep Astrid and Joshua with you. Once we released
Jacqueline, she did exactly what we expected - she went to you."

Mulder had moved close to me again and I heard him murmur, "This was
all planned. All planned."

Was that really possible? I wondered to myself. I had believed that if
my life was being shaped and guided by someone, that someone was the
Almighty. Not this band of cold, arrogant men. 

He seemed to answer my question. "You were unable to have children of
your own, Jacqueline offered you a child, using our technology. The
first child, we knew, would not be what was required - the processes
Jacqueline conscientiously employed in creating that child removed from
your DNA the very 'impurities' that we required. But, in giving you
that child, she restored to you the ability to have another, naturally.
She may not have even realised, it may have been done unwittingly - as
great as her intelligence is, our technology is still largely a mystery
to her. You were physically able to conceive, and you did, and in the
same way that a parent passes down a defective gene to their offspring,
this 'junk dna' as you once called it, was inherited by this child."

I found my voice. "Why?"

The bounty hunter spoke again. "As I said before - she is of us, just
as much as she is of you. Scan provide what we need and because she is
of us, our bodies will not reject it."

"All planned," I heard Mulder murmur again, or maybe it was just the
words resonating in my brain. All planned. All of this. My infertility,
even? Everything the kids had been through. All of it, us just puppets,
blind to the strings that tugged us to and fro. How far back did it go?
Was there anything they hadn't controlled, anything that had truly been
an act of our own free will?

Mulder's brain reached the next gear before mine. "What do you need
from her?" 

"Her DNA."

"We already gave you her blood."

"The sample you gave us was not hers."

"It was hers," I insisted. "You should have the results back by now,
see for yourself. Its hers. Do you think we'd trick you, risk her
life?"

"You humans are a foolish race."

"And we parents are a protective one."

"I have seen something to that effect, watching your family."

His words unsettled me. I felt violated, knowing that our family had
been watched, studied, manipulated for so long. Our privacy had been
stripped away.

I shifted Hannah in my arms again. She was getting heavy, and my
breasts, full of milk, were starting to ache. I glanced at my watch -
I'd given Mom a bottle of formula for Hannah at ten, and now it was
almost three. It was past time for a feed. 
I stopped, struck, realising that something vital had just passed
through my mind and trying to grasp it before it slipped away
completely. Hannah, a bottle of formula at ten... Formula. Oh God,
formula. Could it be that painfully simple? My milk had contained the
same junk DNA, the formula didn't. Since we had swapped over the
mutated DNA had been reducing itself as the normal cells multiplied. 

I glanced at Mulder, wanting to share the revelation with him, but
afraid to speak it aloud for fear of being overheard, left to struggle
through it myself. What could I do? They might kill us all if Hannah
was no use. But what was the guarantee that, if they could use her,
they wouldn't kill us anyway? If I told them that Hannah needed me -
that they needed me - they would spare me, but not Mulder and
Jacqueline. And even if we did take her off the formula, she would only
be useful to them until she was weaned, when the junk DNA would recede
again. If I stayed silent, would they just let us all go? No. We were
talking about the survival of their race. They wouldn't give up on us
that easily, not when they had their hopes pinned on Hannah.
I looked again at Mulder, longingly. He met my gaze, raised an eyebrow,
wanting to know, but not asking aloud. I gazed back at him, wishing
that by sheer will I could communicate it to him, seek his counsel, and
between us make a decision. 


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- JACQUI -

Dana and Fox were silent, standing apart from me. Roger was still
watching me, a curious, almost amused smile on his lips that made anger
roll in my stomach. 

I hated him, that old intense hatred from my childhood rising up again,
but I felt responsible, too, for bringing this on Fox and Dana, for
again dragging them down into the twisted world I had grown up in. 

I sucked in a breath, knowing that although he had the upper hand, I
was older than I had once been, and I was stronger for it. I gestured.
"Can I talk to you?"

We moved to the side of the room. It wasn't far from Dana and Fox, and
wasn't sure if they would still hear me even though I lowered my voice.

"What if you find they're telling the truth? What if she isn't what you
think she is, after all? What do you do with us all then?"

"She is the one."

"But she's no use to her. That stuff in her DNA, it's receding with
every hour. Soon there'll be none left. What good is she to you, then?"

He didn't answer me. I don't think he would have anyway, but a sound
somewhere distracted him. I didn't hear it the first time, but a second
later it sounded again. A whirring sound, like the wind, a cyclone. A
helicopter. 
A second later, and the room exploded inwards. Gas and smoke filling
the air, shouts and stamping, running feet and people. I felt something
being clasped over my face and fought it until I realised it was a
mask, feeding me sweet, clean air. There was a hand on my arm and
another on my back, somebody rushing me out of the room, guiding me,
because I couldn't see a thing in the cloud, just greyness. "Dana!" I
shouted out, but my shout was lost in the mask and the fog. 

My footsteps were stumbling, my senses completely disoriented. I knew
we were running down corridors, the same ones or similar at least to
the ones we had travelled earlier, and then there was gentle afternoon
sunshine touching my face, and solid, still ground under my feet. I
tugged off the mask, breathing in the cool, beautiful air, my vision
clearing to show that I had collapsed onto my knees on harsh pebbled
ground. And I looked up, and for the second time that day was surprised
by who I saw.

Swarming all around the building, what looked like dozens of them, were
agents, men and women, with BATF printed in bright yellow on navy
jackets. And standing barely six feet from me, watching the operation,
was Walter Skinner. 


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

They had clasped a mask on Hannah before the gas even hit the room,
coming up from behind us and sweeping us out of there before I knew
what was happening. She was crying by the time we reached outside, but
it was more fear, I thought, and confusion, than actual harm. A glimpse
of the blue BATF jackets sent my tired mind spinning, I thought
irrationally that they had come again to capture us, but was relieved
despite that, already envisioning myself safe in their custody, knowing
Hannah was protected.
Skinner was the first one to speak to me. The agents who had dragged
Hannah and I from the room relinguished us to his care, and stunned, I
didn't protest when he draped a blanket around me. "Your mom called,"
was all he said, and it was enough. 

There were paramedics there. I knew that I looked like hell but it was
Hannah that they went to first, checking that the gas that they had
deployed - what it was, I didn't know - hadn't harmed her. It had been
an incredibly risky manoever, to release a substance like that with
such a young child in the room, but all I cared right then was that
they had pulled it off.

They checked her over and put her on an oxygen mask just to be sure. I
sat beside her in the back of the ambulance, trying to calm her,
watching the frantic activity outside the warehouse. Jacqueline was
bought out, and fell coughing to her knees. No Mulder. I waited, and
waited. No Mulder. Then, what I dreaded, the sound of gunfire ringing
out, and glass shattering.

Not Mulder, please God, I prayed. Not after all this. Don't take him
away.

I was stuck to the spot, wanting to go to Mulder, still too afraid to
leave Hannah's side. Another burst of gunfire, and then no more. A few
excruciating seconds elapsed, then shouts, running, and the door burst
open. A man was dragged out, heavily dressed in BATF attack gear. Even
from where I sat I could see that his eyes were red and inflamed. A
bounty hunter had been shot, and his noxious blood had done as much
damage to the agents inside as gunfire ever could. The door burst open
again and another man was dragged out. My heart caught in my chest for
a second as I thought I recognised the dark head as Mulder's, but then
a flash of yellow on his jacket relieved me. The man was lowered to the
ground, the paramedics were already flocking toward them both. The
agents who had dragged him out straightened and step back. *Mulder.* He
stood there, face bruised from the earlier attack, but still standing,
still alive.

He saw Jacqueline first, sitting where she had been left, still too
stunned by everything that had happened to stand. Crouching down, he
said something. I saw her shake her head slightly, then look up and
around. 

They both saw me at once. He sprung to his feet, sprinting toward me.
Hannah had calmed and was laying still and I realised, looking at his
face, that he had assumed the worst, that he thought that she was
injured critically or even dead. 
One hand still touching her, for I couldn't let go yet, I reached out
to him.

"She's okay. She's fine. They just wanted to be sure."

For a second he stood there, almost not believing me. Then he nodded,
slowly, as if exhaustion had robbed him of the ability to do anything
more. He reached down to touch Hannah's dark hair, his trembling hand
resting a moment. I grasped hold of it, drawing it against my lips. 

"They got the two bounty hunters," he murmured. "Bullet to the base of
the neck. They're still looking for the third one... How did Skinner
know about this?"

"My mom called him. They must have used the tracking software at the
clinic."

"She saved our lives, you know that?"

"Mom, and the BATF."

He smiled. "A little ironic."

I glanced back toward the warehouse. The two agents who had been
exposed to the bounty hunter's noxious blood had already been
transferred to waiting ambulances. The paramedics who had checked
Hannah were crouched by Jacqueline, assessing her injuries. Jacqueline
saw that I was watching her and grinned suddenly, sticking her tongue
out at me.

The childish action made me smile, I couldn't help it. Mulder saw my
grin, and something like amazement crossed his face. "What?"

I had no answer for him, I didn't know why I was still smiling, why I
couldn't stop. Relief, mostly, I think. The pressure of the last week
had been enormous, and, in one fell swoop, we had been released. She
was of no use to them now and they knew it. They had no need pursue her
or us. We had got out, all of us alive and in one piece. I couldn't
have asked for a better result.

     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- MULDER -

Jacqueline and Margaret were both kept in hospital overnight with
suspected concussions. Josh had been put on a drip to rehydrate him at
the clinic and by the time we got back to him his fever had gone down
and he was back to his quiet self. Scully and I speculated into the
late hours about his prophetic warning, wondering if he had knowingly
sacrificed his own physical health to channel that glimpse of the
future. Astrid had a few scrapes and sore muscles but no worse. Erin,
as usual, bounced back fast. We kept Hannah on the formula, wanting to
eradicate the junk in her DNA. She was restless and cried more often -
like withdrawal symptoms, Scully observed, regret and apprehension in
her voice. I knew she missed nursing Hannah, but neither of us were
willing to take a risk that that chapter in our lives be reopened. 
Scully and I were bruised but each in one piece. The first few days
back at home were spent sleeping and eating, each of us rebuilding our
strength. After two weeks we sent the kids back to school, and Scully
and I went back to work, leaving Erin and Hannah at the clinic's
daycare.

"Case for us, Scully," I announced, re-entering the office. 

She was at her desk, reading over some autopsy reports, and glanced up
over the top of the file. "Yes?"

"A kid whose math teacher thinks is the antichrist."

One eyebrow crept up. "Are we talking 'The Omen' here, Mulder?"

"Maybe. You want to find out?"

"Where?" It was the question we both asked before taking a case, these
days.

"Georgetown East." I waved the file. "C'mon, we'll make an afternoon of
it. See the school, visit this antichrist who is probably just some
poor misunderstood kid, and be back in time to pick the kids up from
school." 


     - - - - } - - - - } - - @        t h e   x - f i l e s 

- SCULLY -

The visit to Georgetown East proved fruitless as expected, but the
weather was glorious and the hallway chatter of the junior high school
made for a perfect Friday afternoon. We made it back early enough to
collect Erin and Hannah first. Erin was dressed in a bright red smock,
fingerpainting. She saw us and came flying, but Jacqueline, crouched
beside Noah as he painted, caught Erin's paint-covered hands in a
towel, rubbing them clean. 
"Mommy, I did dha paint!" she announced triumphantly, pointing to a
sloppy page on the low easel. "Daddy, see! See!"

"Yeah, I see, clever monkey." Mulder took Erin from me, and I moved
across to where Hannah was watching from her minder's lap. Crouching
down so that we were eye to eye, I smiled at her, and was rewarded with
a wide, gummy smile in return. She reached out to me and I swung her
up, planting a kiss on her head. 

Jacqueline walked us out, Noah on her hip. We hadn't talked very much
about the events inside the warehouse, none of us wanting to talk about
it for fear we'd somehow invoke a return of our tormentors. But it
seemed on her mind, right then.

"Do you think it's true?"

"What?"

"What he said about them planning everything, manipulating us - you,
me, the kids - from the start?"

I was silent. Mulder answered. "The things that we've done, the
decisions that we've made, have all been of our own accord. We are who
we want to be, where we want to be. That's what matters."

"I feel responsible. I feel I owe you for his actions - for their
actions."

My turn to answer. "Don't feel responsible. You owe us nothing. There
have been casulties along the way and there'll be more, but you aren't
to blame for anything."

She nodded, then shrugged, as if trying to put the whole thing behind
her. Dropping a kiss on Noah's forehead, she grinned, took a step back.
"I better go. I've got a date tonight." Seeing our expressions she
added, "Don't worry, I'll consult you before I marry him."

"Him?"

"You've probably seen him around here. Mark Graves. Tall, dark-haired,
blue-eyed, grins a lot."

"Makes you happy?" I guessed, looking at her expression.

"So far, very much so." She gave us another grin, then skipped
backward, looking more like a young girl than a mother of two.


We called Astrid on her cellular to let her know we were coming. She
and Josh were waiting outside the school for us, sitting on the high
brick wall with their feet hanging over the side, black school shoes
bouncing against the brick.

"You picked up Erin and Hannah already!" Astrid cried, dismayed, as she
bounded toward the car. "Did you ask Duckie about our paper?"

The kids were publishing a mini newspaper together, and wanted
Jacqueline to put out free copies at her clinic. "I forgot, sweetie.
Next time, okay?"

"Momm-ee!" Astrid moaned in mock frustration. "You're so disorganised!"

She climbed into the car, squeezing up against Erin's carseat as much
as she could to leave room for Josh. It wasn't often that we had the
six of us in one car, but when we did, Josh and Astrid were still
slight enough to share a seatbelt. 

Josh jumped down from the wall and picked up his schoolbag and books. I
took the bag from him and tossed it in the boot, letting him settle
with the books on his lap.

"How was school, Josh?"

He shrugged. "Okay."

A week back and he seemed to be coping okay, but it was difficult to
tell. He was still as private as he had always been.
I climbed into the car, Mulder pulled away from the kerb. I glanced
back at Josh.
"How was art?"

"We're studying the futurists."

"Who's your favourite?"

"Umberto Boccioni." He lifted one of the large books from his lap and
pulled it open to a marked place, showing a colourful painting full of
vibrant lines. It was of horses, thrashing and struggling, and people
being swept underfoot. A very powerful image. "The City Rises, 1910."

"You think you can paint like that, Josh?"

"Maybe. But I just like to look at it. It's... strong."

I nodded, turning back to face the road, sending up a silent prayer of
thanks that Josh seemed to finally be back on track.

"Mommy? Can we have peanut satay for dinner some time?" That was
Astrid.

"Are you going to cook it?"

"If you want. Sarah-Michelle says cooking is good for the soul."

"Sarah-Michelle?"

"My *friend*. Keep up, Daddy. So, can we, Mommy?"

"As I said, if you're willing to cook it."

I glanced in the rear-view mirror, watching them unawares for a moment.
Hannah, watching with that unending interest something through the
window. Erin scribbling in a colouring book on her lap, letting out a
cry as a crayon slipped to the floor. Astrid bent down, her longer arms
searching, find it on the floor. Offering it to Erin, but pulling it
back, just out of reach, teasing her. Josh, looking through his
artbook, running his fingertips over the pictures as if he could touch
the painted surfaces, then looking up, out of the window with a sort of
wonderous gratitude. 
My gaze fell from the mirror to Mulder, head turned away as he checked
his blind spot. No grey in his dark hair, not that I could see. I had
my suspicions that he checked every morning and pulled any offending
strands before the rest of us woke, but I had no proof. 

He caught me gazing at me and grinned sheepishly. "What?"

You're beautiful. We're safe. I'm grateful.

Not needing to tell, he already knew. I smiled. "Nothing. Everything's
just fine."


fin.

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