London Times Revisited 2/2 (R)

He checked them into a hotel using the Hale identity, then they took the car to campus.  After walking aimlessly for a short while, he spotted an ice cream shop and steered her toward it.

He watched her eat her ice cream, chocolate chocolate chip and grinned as she shut her eyes to savor it.  She scraped the last mouthful out and returned his smile.  His finger took an imaginary spot off her face and sucked it.  Her blush was adorable.  Before he could speak he felt someone move to stand beside his chair.  She looked up first and the smile faded from her face.

He immediately looked up at the young man at his side.  He looked familiar but not really dangerous, not enough to cause Scully’s reaction.  In fact he looked kind of cocky.  “Can I help you?”  He finally spoke to the man when he didn’t move off.

Instead of answering, the young man met Scully’s eyes.  That caused the hairs to rise on Mulder’s neck.  “Do I know you?” Mulder tried to get his attention back and started to rise.

“Mulder, look at him,” Scully said softly.

Mulder turned back and really looked at the man.  Six feet, chestnut hair, blue eyes . . . Mulder blinked.  Him?  Years ago, but . . .

The man finally looked back at him.  “I have my mother’s eyes.”

Mulder jerked at that but Scully’s gasp drew his attention.  He looked at her and her pallor frightened him.   He was moving around the table afraid she would faint.  He squatted beside her and his arm went around her.  “Scully, stay with me.”

“I, I’m sorry, I didn’t think - “ the young man stammered.

“Leave,” Mulder said harshly.

“No.”  It was Scully’s voice, faint but adamant.

“We’re getting out of here,” he said helping her to her feet, his arm tight around her.

“I thought this would be easier in a public - “

“What would be easier?”  Mulder’s eyes were hard, but Scully tugged on his sleeve.

“The gardens are close.  We could talk there,” the young man said, his demeanor more tentative now, his cockiness gone.  He followed them to their car silently and started to open the back door.

“Hold it. I don’t know who the hell you are.  Why should I let you in the car?”

“We have to talk.”

Mulder opened his mouth but before he could speak Scully’s hand on his arm stopped him.  Rather than argue with her, he opened her door and seated her.  The young stranger let himself in behind her.  “Other side, buddy,” Mulder growled.

“I would never hurt her.”

Scully closed her eyes.  Mulder buckled her in and after a last glance in the back seat, rounded the car.

They drove in silence to Duke Gardens.  Mulder parked but before he could round the car she was out.  He hurried to her side in full protective mode and she didn’t call him on it.

The young stranger led the way to a private bench in the gardens.  He motioned for Scully to take a seat.  Instead she looked up at him.  “What’s your name?”

“My friends call me Dave.  I chose Williams as a last name.  It seemed to fit.” 

She nodded as Mulder looked more confused.  “You can read our minds.”  She hadn’t phrased it as a question but Dave nodded.

“What the hell - “

“Mulder,” her voice was low and pained.  “This is our son.”

Had anyone else said it, Mulder would have laughed or made some comment.  From Scully, he was rendered silent.

Dave turned to him and Mulder examined him closely.  She was right.  If her reaction hadn’t been so extreme he would have accepted it earlier.  The man in front of him looked too familiar and yes, the eyes were hers.

“You made me in that metal room.”

Scully sank onto the bench as Mulder grabbed her arm.  He couldn’t think of anything to say so he sat beside her, his arm protectively around her.

“I’ve handled this totally wrong, and I’m sorry, but I’ve wanted to meet you for so long.  When I saw you were together again, I couldn’t resist.”

“Together again?” Mulder asked.

“Well, uh . . . “ he blushed then as Scully’s face drained of color.  Dave swallowed hard and the resemblance to his father grew in her mind.

“Oh my god,” Scully whispered.

“Start at the beginning,” Mulder barked at Dave.  The young man took the remaining space on the bench.

“It’s not the beginning but it makes the most sense to start with the artifact.”  Mulder blinked but kept quiet.  Scully leaned against him.  “When the artifact woke up that part of your brain, I sensed it immediately.  I’ve . . . monitored you, both of you, since I was a baby.”

The sound Scully made could only be called a moan, but neither spoke.

“I knew you were in trouble immediately.  You don’t have a shield, well you didn’t.  The one you have now is weak.  There wasn’t time to develop one.  You were hit too fast.  You’ve always been able to read minds, you didn’t realize you were doing it, but it made you the legendary profiler you are.”

“Legendary,” Mulder huffed the word.

“You are.  But you needed help, more than Mo-Scully could give you.  She kept you sane, gave you something to hold on to.  You needed more, so I stepped in.”

“You were the boy?”

Dave nodded.  “I made you think of Oxford.”

Mulder closed his eyes.  Oxford, England, five missing, forgotten days . . . Scully.

“I didn’t think you were aware of me.  But you thought of me last night, mentioned feeling me.  Then you and Mo . . . you were together and I thought finally it was time.”

“What do you want from us?” Mulder’s voice was harsh, as much from fear as emotion.

“Mulder.”  Scully’s hand rested on his arm.  He looked at her as though begging for stability.

“You call me Mom?” Scully asked Dave quietly.

“I’m sorry.  I, I think of you that way.  I’ve never called anyone that.”

“Who raised you?”

Dave shrugged.  “No one much.  All of the children created during those abductions were together.  I suppose it was an orphanage of a kind.”

“Could you all read . . . “

Dave shook his head.  “Only me.  I guess I was three or so when I realized it.  They tested me, a lot.”

Mulder winced at that, and asked, “Are you still with them?”

Dave shook his head.  “I made them think I lost the ability.  When I hit puberty I pretended it went away.  Since I could read them, I knew what they wanted.  I’d found you, so I knew how different things could be.  I clung to that.”

“You, you’d found us?”  Scully managed to say.  Mulder seemed incapable.

“It was easier finding him.  He felt so familiar when I was in his head.  I understood him, no family, smarter than the others, his humor.”  There was a pause, then he faced Scully again.  “I’m sorry about Emily.”

Scully’s pain was visible.  “Why?  Why was she sick when you’re obviously healthy?”

“The wrong father,” he said quietly.

“That’s enough.”  Mulder rose abruptly.

Dave looked down and Scully saw the defeat on his face.  “You’re my son.”  Mulder’s head came up at her words and he stared at Scully.

The young man, hardly more than a boy looked up quickly and nodded.

“I don’t know how to feel about that.”  She saw and felt the sorrow he emanated.  “I wish I had known - “

“You just believe him?  All of these years you’ve fought everything you see and now - “

“I’m human.  I’m not a shape shifter.”  Without warning Dave smashed his hand against the bench.  Scully gasped, but he only held out his hand, showing Mulder the bright red blood.  “See?”

Scully took his injured hand in hers and a look of awe came over his face.  Mulder felt a jolt of red hot jealousy at the gesture.

“Stop this, please.”  She looked between the two men. 

“You want some time with Mulder,” Dave said quietly.

“I don’t hear you stumbling over the word ‘Dad’,” Mulder tossed out.

“’Mulder, I even made my parents call me Mulder’,” Dave quoted.

“Mulder and I need to talk - “

“Why bother?  He’d be in there listening to everything,” Mulder spat.

“Have I been in your heads, yes.  I was alone, I was lonely.  When I had questions I looked to the two of you for answers.  Isn’t that what every child does, turn to his parents for help?”  Blue eyes met hazel in a defiant stare.

Scully sinking back down on the bench caught both of their eyes and they saw the tear that trailed down her cheek.  Mulder glared at Dave, but before he could speak Dave did.  “She belongs to me too.”

For an instant Scully thought they would actually butt heads like rams.  She rose and stood between them.  “We can’t do this.  And yes, we need time, but we need it together.”

“Together?” Mulder turned to look at her.

“I have an apartment near here,” Dave said quietly.  “We could order in some food.”

“No, it could be under surveillance,” Mulder said immediately.

Scully nodded.  “But I want to be inside somewhere.”

Feeling defeated somehow, Mulder took her arm and led her back to their car.  He didn’t look back to see if Dave followed them.  His turmoil over this whole thing was giving him a killer headache.  He thought he was hiding that, at least from her, until they reached the car.  She slipped the keys from his hand and just looked at him when he started to protest.  It didn’t help when he saw Dave’s lips quirk in a near grin.

She drove to the hotel and they headed to the room.

*****

Eventually room service was ordered and delivered. Conversation was awkward and stiff.  Mulder kept quiet for the most part, just observing while Scully asked questions and drew the young man out.  It was a technique they had used many times, but never to learn information about their own son.

“What are you studying?”

Dave watched her.  “Uh, I’m pre-med.  I want to go into psychiatry.  I seem to have a feel for it.  I have a good memory,” he grinned at her, ignoring Mulder, “and I seem to be able to get into people’s minds.  Spooky, huh?”

Mulder turned away and Scully watched him.  He was reeling from this, even more than her she finally realized.

More than once Mulder wanted to suggest he leave and meet again the next day, but Scully seemed to know what he was going to say and forestalled him every time with a new question.

It was only when she rose from the table and swayed that Mulder tried to put his foot down.  “You’re exhausted.  We can do this - “

“No!” she turned on him.  “We can’t ask him to leave!  I’ve been gone his whole life!”

Completely at a loss for words, he led her to the couch in the sitting area of the small suite.  “Okay, okay but you need to close your eyes for a little while.  Take a twenty-minute power nap, something.  You have to step away, even if it’s just in your head.”

She closed her eyes, nodding weakly.  Dave slipped into the bedroom and returned quickly with a pillow and blanket from the bed.  “Here, just rest for a few minutes.”

She smiled and accepted the things.  Mulder adjust the blanket, watching over her until she seemed to slip into sleep.

Dave excused himself and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving them alone for a moment.

Mulder was still watching her, asleep on the small couch when Dave returned.  “She is beautiful,” he said softly.

Mulder glanced up.  “You hadn’t seen her before?”

“Only through your eyes and that wasn’t exactly unprejudiced.  Even from the beginning, the second beginning for you, you loved her.  We have to get along, at least for her sake.”

“How do we do that?” Mulder spoke quietly in deference to her, but his question fell loud between them.

Dave took a seat at the small table, on the other side of the room from where Scully slept.  Reluctantly Mulder joined him.  “I am your son.  I’m more than willing to have a DNA test, but who would you trust to do it?  You don’t even want your friends to know about this.  I guess she could do it.” He looked over at Scully.

Mulder closed his eyes.  “It’s not necessary.”

Dave looked up at him startled.

“I know who you are.  I, when I felt you with me . . . I know now I recognized you.”  The hungry look on his son’s face stunned him.  “How, how did you find us?”

“I don’t really know.  I was a baby, under five.  You joined the FBI, you thought about Oxford and finding Samantha.”

It jolted Mulder to hear him speak of Samantha, but she was his aunt. 

“You didn’t remember being gone for those five days, but it was in your head.”

“But how did you recognize me?”

“I didn’t, not at first.  We weren’t taught the concept of parents but you were there, all the time.  I looked for you at first, sure you had to be there, with us.  Finally I realized you were . . . some sort of guardian.”

Mulder wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at that comment.  “Guardian?  You really were hard up.”

Dave smiled.  “It worked.  It made more sense when Mom took over as number one in your head.”

“What?”

“At first you were only about Samantha when you got to the Bureau.  There were some women but no one important until Diana.”

Mulder winced and glanced over to make sure Scully was still asleep.  “Now that’s when I needed to be able to read minds.”

Dave nodded.  “You were definitely thinking with your little head then,” he agreed.

Mulder glared at him, “Children have no respect.”

Dave didn’t try to hide his grin, but it quickly faded.  “She did a number on you.  If you hadn’t been so good at your job, you would never have been able to pull it off.  She bailed just in time to keep her hands clean.  That’s when they assigned Mom.”

Both of them looked over at her then.  “She’s really great you know,” Dave offered.

“I’ve known that a long time.”

They were silent for a moment.

“Will I see you again?” Dave finally asked.

Mulder looked startled.  “Of course, you’re my, you’re our son.”

Even though they’d spent some time together now, Mulder could feel Dave relax further.  “Want another beer?”

Mulder glanced over at Scully, then nodded.  When Dave handed him the bottle, Mulder faced him.  “You need to watch the alcohol. Your grandfather - “

“My grandfather was more a smoker than a drinker.”

After a moment Mulder nodded.

“I could help you,” Dave said quietly.

“No,” Mulder spoke immediately sitting up a little, fully understanding the offer.  “I’ve already ruined your mother’s life.  You need to stay away - “

“She doesn’t think her life’s been ruined.  She thinks she’s with her soul mate.”

Mulder couldn’t face him then, instead watching Scully sleep on the couch.

“I’m not just saying that.  It’s true, she loves you.”

“I know,” Mulder said softly.  “I saw it in her mind.  I just don’t understand why.”

Dave was silent then, unsure what words would help.  This was another thing he had always known about this man, even before he understood he was his father.  This man was a hero, he had saved countless lives, yet he lived with the belief that he didn’t measure up; he wasn’t worth loving.  Too bad Dave had never had the opportunity to meet his grandparents and find out why they had treated him as they had.  On the other hand, this attitude had helped Dave through many low periods in his own life.

After a long moment Mulder turned back to him.  “Can I still read minds?  You said . . . “

“Yes, but you don’t realize it.  It’s not like what bombarded you earlier.  That part of your brain works, weakly, but it works.”  Mulder glared at the description and Dave grinned.  “It’s been that way since the night Samantha was taken.”

“What?” Mulder said, louder than he meant to.  They both glanced at Scully but she didn’t stir.

“That night, they took her but you were . . . you’ve used the term frozen.  It’s as good as any.  They held you immobile.  One of them entered the house and touched your face.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“I know.  They suppressed all of the memories.  You retrieved a lot of them with the regression, but the fact that they actually touched you was buried very deep.”

“What did they do to me?”

“They enhanced you, gave you abilities beyond what you would normally have had.  The memory, the extraordinary intellect - “

“Will you write my press releases?” Mulder said dryly.

“You don’t really need any.  You don’t care about the credit as much as getting the work done.  Right?”

Mulder looked away, back at Scully and didn’t answer.  “Why her?”

“They saw you were attracted to her in the pub.  They chose her for you.”

“The pub, all three pubs, I was familiar with them.  Was I targeted?”

Dave nodded.  “Phoebe lured you to them.  One thing or another upset the plans the first two times.”

“It just keeps getting better and better,” Mulder observed with growing anger.  “I want them gone, I want my sister back, I want to quit hurting the woman I love . . . I want your childhood back.”

Dave watched him, drinking in the passion of this man he had only dreamed of meeting someday.  His parents loved each other, and they both were already growing a relationship, a caring for him.  Mulder looked over at him and realized he was overwhelmed.  He placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” Dave managed to say.  “I, I know you never thought about children, I mean having any of your own.”

“No, I didn’t until - “

“Emily,” they said it together.  Mulder nodded.  “When I saw her, held her in my arms when we rushed her to the hospital and knew that she was Scully’s, she felt like mine.”

“I was a little jealous of her,” Dave admitted.  “Not what she was going through, but that she knew you, even for a little while.”

“You had no family?”

“The other kids, but since none of us had parents, we weren’t really good at it.  I tried, since I could at least know what others had.  It’s another way you and I connected.”  He looked up quickly.  “Not that I’m glad you had that kind of family life.”

Mulder chuckled quietly.  “I got it.  Scully’s childhood was a lot different in ways, but her father was gone a lot as well.”

Dave nodded and they both glanced over at her again, drawn to her.  “I need to help you.”

Mulder looked back at him quickly.  “No.  I said - “

“I heard you.  Think of it as my belated teenage rebellion.  If it can help protect her, I have to do it.”

They stared at each other for a long moment.  “I don’t want you hurt.”

Dave’s smile grew at that.  “Thank you.  Think about it, I’m the safest of the three of us.  I can see what’s coming, and I can warn you.  No, I’m not overwhelmed by it,” he continued at his father’s thought.  “I’ve always had it.  I developed a shield probably in utero.  You know that’s something you should probably work on, in case it ever happens to you again.”

“Right, maybe I can download the instructions while I’m still on leave.”

“Ah, see?  Now that’s someplace I can help you.  I can work with you.”  Mulder hesitated and his eyes were drawn again to Scully.  “It could help you both.”

“Does she read minds?”

“No, at least not in the way you do.  I think she reads your mind, but not the rest of us.”

“She can read my mind?”

“Not exactly, but she knows what you’re thinking.  You know that’s true.  Since I’ve been with you you’ve had two or three conversations without saying a word.”

Mulder grinned, “Okay, that I agree with.  We’ve always . . . “

“See?” Dave asked grinning as well.  “You bonded when you were in that metal room, in more ways than one.”  Dave cleared his throat then, becoming serious once more.  “I think she’s down for the night.  I should get out of here.”

“Do you have to?”

“What?”

Mulder nodded toward the couch where she was sleeping.  “That’s a fold out.  You could stay here.”

“Are you serious?”

“I think she’d like it.  Let me carry her into the bedroom - "

“No.  You had brain surgery; you’re not going to lift her.  She’ll wake up enough to walk or I’ll carry her.  Then you can undress her.”

Mulder opened his mouth to protest, but Scully’s eyes in their son’s face stopped him.  “Yeah, okay,” he groused.  “I’m fine.”

“And that’s the way she, we want you to stay.” 

Mulder nodded, acknowledging the change.  He moved over to her and crouched down beside her.  “Scully?” he said softly.

“Mpf,” she shifted but didn’t wake.

Dave grinned and Mulder rolled his eyes.  “I don’t think she slept too well last night,” Mulder offered.

“I think she slept very well . . . eventually.”

Mulder’s eyes narrowed.  “That’s private.”

“Yes, Dad,” Dave said, trying to maintain a straight face.

Mulder growled, but Dave ignored him, picking Scully up into his arms and following Mulder into the bedroom.  Mulder hastily pulled back the covers and Dave gently lay her on the bed.

“Why don’t you undress her?” He looked up at Mulder innocently.

“Keep pushing it, ‘son’.”  The feral look on Mulder’s face caused a momentary faltering of the grin on Dave’s face, but it reestablished itself immediately.

“Yes sir.”

Mulder undressed her and then himself, crawling in beside her.  Even asleep she curled into his body and slept on.

He could hear Dave, his son, get ready for bed and just lay there overwhelmed.  He and Scully had a child.  They had been together for years and just didn’t realize how deep their connection really was.  It wasn’t the way he would have dreamed of having a baby, a son with her, but that didn’t change any facts.

The scientist in her would probably ask for DNA and she would run the test.  He wouldn’t protest though it wasn’t necessary. 

Help them.  Their son wanted to help them in their quest.  Another thing he would have protested in other circumstances, but now . . . Scully’s arm went around him.  “Mulder?”

“Right here,” he whispered.

“It’s true.”

“Yes, it is.”  They had a lot to figure out, to discuss, but for now it was enough just to hold each other.