A New World

by Connie Foy

Series: War of the Worlds, The Equalizer, and The X-Files. Guest appearances in future parts from characters from Due South, The Man from UNCLE, and The Pretender; perhaps from others as the whim takes me.

Standard disclaimers apply. All characters belong to their various creators and the powers that be. Some of these characters belong to Chris Carter, Fox, and 10-13 Productions. I've just invited them over to play for a while, and I promise to send them home when the party's over. Others belong to Universal or Paramount, but it doesn't look like anyone is playing with them at the moment, so I'm going to let them stay as long as they want. Littlehawk belongs to Jan Harley. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jan, for your wonderful story. I hope you don't mind if he comes over to help chaperone the party; of course, he can come home whenever you need him. Tierney, Lainie, and Kira are mine; they live here.

Constructive criticism is welcomed.

By Wesa.

Walter Skinner had at first thought that the men who had found him were natives of the world where he had awakened, then was startled that they spoke English. Both of them seemed concerned for his welfare, talking about notlions, phantoms, and rooters, all of which seemed to be some kind of animals. He had no weapons, and his rescuers both carried stone-tipped spears, so he went with them willingly, though he still had some reservations. Finding Control in their camp had been something of a shock, but not so much as finding Dana Scully in an animal-skin dress with a baby on her back. A baby that she said was her son, William, named for her father. The man she had introduced as her husband, one Dr. Harrison Blackwood, obviously had not fathered the child, whose round face and almond-shaped eyes hinted at East Asian ancestry. Theirs was not the only child in the camp who bore little resemblance to the man who was married to the mother; in fact, only Sydney's sons looked like her husband.

"We think it's the result of the aliens' efforts to inject a little genetic diversity into such a small group," Mulder told him. "All the women were ... probed ... right after they took us onto their ship. They took semen from all the men. I don't think any of the men here fathered any of these boys, except Adam, and we think Sydney was pregnant before we were abducted."

Skinner regarded the four women in the camp who were now obviously pregnant. "But you've begun to have families of your own already," he observed, as one of the women brought them all bowls of stew.

Dana started to get up to help. "Oh, sit down and visit," Lainie told her cheerfully. "I'm not an invalid." She paused to kiss Mulder, who spread his hand familiarly across her belly. "Sam and I are going to keep Kira company, since Paul and Suzanne aren't home yet," she told him before she turned away.

Mulder watched her go, pleasure in his eyes. "Yours?" Skinner asked him.

Almost in unison, both former agents blurted, "A woman is not property--" They got no further before breaking into laughter. Skinner smiled, though he didn't immediately get the joke, and said so.

"That one," Mulder pointed with a greasy fingertip between mouthfuls of stew, "Ginger, quotes Heinlein. 'A woman is not property, and any husband who thinks otherwise is living in a dreamworld.' Her husband occasionally makes the mistake of trying to tell her what to do. He used to be her boss, back on Earth, and sometimes falls back into old habits. A lot of the women here like Heinlein, for some reason."

Dana laughed shortly. "Heinlein was a feminist before Gloria Steinem," she told him. "That doesn't mean that we don't have a strong division of labor along gender lines here," she explained to Skinner. "We all do what we're best at, and try to learn the things the others do well. There's so much to know! But even though I'm pretty good with a spear-thrower, I don't often go hunting, for two reasons: If I got killed, who would take care of William? And if I should kill even a rooter yearling, how in the world would I get it home? Trudy, now, she goes hunting, but only when some of the men are along to carry home her kill. For brute force, we don't have anything that equals a man's muscles."

"Not yet," Mulder agreed. "I saw Kira and Control arguing and drawing pictures in the dirt the other day, though. Hard to tell what they're going to come up with next. And Paul and Mickey were talking about the possibility of domesticating the dinettes."

"The what?" Skinner asked, startled.

"Well, we had to call them something, and whatchadiggies had already been used," Mulder explained.

A commotion on the far side of camp brought two of the women to their feet and sent them running to greet the newcomers. The man took Kira into his arms and kissed her soundly, while Debi took the toddler from the pack on the woman's back. Skinner looked at his friends questioningly.

"Suzanne is Debi's mother," Dana explained in a low voice. "Her husband died about six weeks ago. Paul and Kira were the first couple to get married. They lost their baby just before the others were born. We had to leave her grave behind when we moved from the last place we lived."

Skinner nodded wordlessly, frowning. "How has all this happened since I spoke to you on the phone, Scully?" he asked.

Dana was surprised by the question, but it seemed that Mulder had been waiting for it. "See the little girl sitting with Lainie?" he asked. "That's my sister, Samantha. They must have held her in stasis of some kind for over twenty years. The black guy eating with Harrison and Kincaid is Norton Drake. A clone of Paul killed him back in '89. There was an explosion shortly afterward, and his body was never recovered. Yet while we were on the ship, the aliens brought him in and dumped him with us. He isn't a clone, according to Suzanne and Harrison; it seems that clones don't have scars. He not only has scars they knew about before, but also from the bullet wounds that apparently didn't actually quite kill him, and from whatever surgery the aliens did to correct his spinal problems. He was not aware of any passage of time.

"I think you were in stasis, too, sir," Mulder finished, a little apologetically. "I think they were holding you until they needed you."

"Until they needed me for what?" Skinner demanded, angered not so much by Mulder's idea as by the temerity of the aliens that had perpetrated this outrage upon him.

Dana sighed, nodding. "We told you that one of our group died six weeks ago," she said. "I think you're here to replace him, sir."

**********

Even though they didn't quite believe in Paul's contact with the spirits, Scott and Yvette came to Paul after he had finished his evening meal to find out if the effort to contact Robert had had positive results. He nodded, touching their shoulders reassuringly. "I believe so," he told them. "Suzanne hasn't said much about it. I know that's not what you want to hear when you still miss your father so much, but we don't want to push her to reveal too much of what he told her. Sometimes these things have to be private, and we have to respect that. She'll tell you anything he told her to say to you."

It wasn't long before Suzanne called Robert's children to her teepee and asked them to join her inside. "I was skeptical about Paul being able to contact Robert for me," she admitted, "and though it seemed real to me, I'm still not certain that it was. Whether it was real or my imagination, it's comforting to believe that he spoke to me, and already some of the things he told me have come true."

"Like what?" Scott asked dubiously.

"The stranger in camp. He said there would be someone new. I can't tell you everything he told me. I'm still trying to deal with some of it myself," Suzanne admitted. "But Scott, he wanted me to tell you to find a way to continue with your music. You have a solid grounding in the classics, and you did very well in your composition classes. You are to find a way to make music and pass that knowledge on to all of the children who have any interest or ability. He said that one of your grandsons will establish a music school that children from other villages will also attend, and that he is very proud of you, and pleased with the grandchildren that you and Trudy will give him."

Scott looked dubious, but admitted, "I had been thinking about how to make some kind of instrument. A drum would be fairly easy to make, maybe a flute of some kind." He frowned thoughtfully.

Suzanne turned to Yvette. "Robert wanted me to tell you that he was sorry that he had missed your childhood, and that he wished he could have been more of a father to you, but that Phillipe Marcel had raised you beautifully, and that he could have done no better. He said that Jem had promised to help him find your mother and make sure she's okay."

"Mother's still alive?" Yvette gasped.

Suzanne shook her head. "I'm afraid I phrased that badly. They're going to look for her there, wherever there is. I understand there were some ... questions ... about your mother's death. But he said you should go ahead with your ideas for expressing your artistic talents, that you will find a way to use them to your advantage and that of your children, and that Kincaid will settle down and become a fine father, despite Robert's earlier misgivings." She paused, frowning. "Yvette, he said something I still don't understand. He asked me to tell you not to let your bravery overcome your common sense. You're not to go to the river alone. I don't know what he meant."

After Scott and Yvette had rejoined their spouses, Suzanne called Debi in. "What's the matter, Mom?" Debi asked, coming inside the dimly lit teepee. "Are you hungry? Or I have some extra skins if you're cold--" She broke off, afraid she had said the wrong thing, reminding her mother that she was sleeping alone again.

"I could hardly fail to notice where the skins from Eric's kills have been going, honey," Suzanne told her daughter with a wry smile. "No, I want to talk to you. How old are you now?"

Debi paused in the act of sitting down. "I don't know," she said. "Time's different here than on Earth. Too many moons to keep track of the months, too many days in a year. We haven't been here a full year yet, but the babies were born and they're all starting to try to walk. Lainie looks like she's going to pop any day. It must be close to two years." She looked startled. "I'm almost seventeen?"

Suzanne nodded. "Have you told Eric 'yes' yet?"

Debi turned beet red. "Uhm, I mean, not exactly."

Suzanne raised her eyebrows. "I gather things have gone beyond kissing."

"Mo-o-om!" Debi protested.

"Honey, I was seventeen once," Suzanne soothed her. "I know how it is." The expression on Debi's face said she didn't want to know that her mother had ever experienced the same yearnings. "Alright, you didn't want to hear that," Suzanne continued. "What I meant was, have you told him that you would marry him?"

"I ... I said I would, but that we had to wait a while," Debi admitted. "It was just that you needed me so much right then, and --"

"And I thank you, sweetheart. You were there for me when I needed you most," Suzanne told her. "But now it's time for you to get on with your own life." She smiled proudly at her daughter. "I still have the skin from that albino zagelle Robert killed. It's almost white. Shall I make you a wedding dress?"

Debi cried out in joy, embracing her mother and planting a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, Mom. You're the best!" she told Suzanne.

**********

At first Father Nick was reluctant to perform the ceremony because of Debi's age. "She's just a child," he protested.

When Suzanne appealed to Mickey for help, he snorted and went to speak with his brother. "She's young," he admitted, "but if you think she's a child, Nick, you need glasses for more than just reading."

"She has her whole life ahead of her!"

"To do what?" Mickey demanded. "Go to college? Have a career? She does have her whole life ahead of her, and you're standing in the way of her getting started on it." He sighed in disgust at himself, and turned away. "I should know better than to argue with you," he said. "We never get anywhere, because neither of us will give an inch." He paused as if struck by a thought. "Who do you confess to, Nick?"

"What?" Nick asked, taken aback.

"You take my confessions, just like always. I've seen Trudy cross herself after talking with you, so I know you hear hers, too. But there aren't any other priests here, so who do you confess to?" Mickey prodded. "As a shaman, Colonel Ironhorse is a sort of a priest, isn't he? And he would understand the need for silence about what he hears -- "

"I've been talking to Dr. McCullough," Nick admitted. "It's almost like a confessional, and she regards it as being covered by doctor-patient confidentiality, even though I'm not exactly a patient. At least she doesn't espouse some heathen religion."

"But most of us here are Americans," Mickey pointed out. "Freedom of religion is almost a sacred tenet to us. Legally, his religion is as good as ours, and it might mean more to Eric." He walked away, hiding the little smile he wore.

"Alright, fine, I'll do it," Nick capitulated.

Mickey grinned over his shoulder. "Thought you'd come around," he said jauntily. He whistled as he crossed the center of the camp, heading back to Suzanne's teepee to report Nick's change of heart.

**********

"You didn't," Kincaid said admiringly as they were out hunting the next day. "What would the Colonel have thought about that?"

"Don't know," Mickey admitted. "I never asked."

"Man," Norton chuckled, "we could have used you during the War. You're sneaky."

Mickey grinned fit to split his face in two. "I'll be doing penance for pride for next to forever," he said, "but I've never won an argument with him before." He pointed to a small herd of zagelles. "So when's the big day?"

**********

Eric asked Paul to stand with him at the wedding, something Paul was pleased to do for the young man. Samantha was surprised and delighted when Debi asked her to be her Maid of Honor. "When we got here," Debi explained, "you and I were both kids. We were just us two girls together, and the adults pretty much ignored us, except to tell us to go play - but don't go too far!" She put her arm around the younger girl. "You're still young, Sam, but you're not a baby. I won't forget that. I want us always to be friends. Will you do it?"

Samantha was eager to please her friend, but nervous, too. "What if I mess up?"

Debi laughed fondly. "What can you do wrong?" she asked. "As long as you don't say anything when Father Kostmayer says 'Speak now or forever hold your peace,' you'll do fine."

Samantha looked at Mulder and Lainie for permission. Lainie smiled and raised her eyebrows. "I'm not your mother," she told her sister-in-law. "Far be it from me to tell you that you can't do this for your best friend."

Mulder grinned. "Just promise me you won't grow up too fast, peanut-nose," he said. "I don't think I could bear to give you away just yet."

Samantha stuck her tongue out at him. "What makes you think I'll ever get married? Or that you'd get to give me away if I do?" she asked, grinning even though she hated most of Mulder's pet names for her. "You're not my father. There's nobody left but Michel, anyway. Yuck."

Grinning, Lainie intervened before the siblings' jibes could become an argument, knowing Mulder had pushed too hard, and that Samantha hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. "Who are you going to have escort you, Debi?" she asked.

"Mom, if she wants to," replied the bride-to-be. "If not, I thought I'd ask Norton and Harrison. I'd add the Colonel if Eric hadn't already asked him to be Best Man."

Samantha laughed. "You only have two arms," she told Debi. "What would you do with the third one?"

"I'd figure out something," Debi replied with a big grin, "though I have to admit it'll be easier if Mom wants to do it."

**********

Sydney had braided Debi's hair with small white flowers intertwined throughout, and Tierney had done the same for Suzanne. The white hide had made a simple dress that reached just to Debi's knees, with a fringe that added another couple of inches. She wore new moccasins decorated with tiny shells, a gift from Kincaid and Yvette. Tierney, Lainie, and Kira had gathered the flowers and ferns that composed the bouquet she carried. Suzanne gazed at her daughter with pride and tears in her eyes. "You are so beautiful," she told her, giving her a hug.

Yvette ducked her head into Suzanne's teepee. "Everyone else is ready," she said. "Shall I signal Scott?"

Suzanne looked to Debi for the final decision, and her daughter gulped nervously and nodded. "I'm ready," she told Yvette, who nodded and left. After a moment, a hollow, haunting piping began the distinctive notes of the Wedding March.

Suzanne stepped outside and held the entrance flap aside for Debi so that she wouldn't muss her hair as she exited. Debi's face was pale with nervousness under her tan as she stood up to her full height, facing the entire village gathered beyond the central fire to witness the wedding, but when her eyes met Eric's, she blushed.

Eric gaped in astonishment at his bride. He had known she was beautiful, of course, but was completely unprepared for her appearance at this moment. This - this princess was to be his wife?

"Don't pass out," Paul murmured in his ear. "Close your mouth. Remember to breathe."

The firm hand on his elbow did more to steady him than the words. Eric was still amazed not only that Debi had agreed to marry him, but that her mother and every one of their friends had been so supportive. Only Kincaid had been at all hesitant, and that had only been until Harrison had had a few brief words with him. Eric had wondered what had been said, but at this moment all he cared about was the woman approaching him through the small crowd of their friends.

He gazed at her all through the ceremony. He must have made the appropriate responses at the appropriate times, though later he couldn't remember having done so. The first words he really heard Father Nick say were "You may kiss the bride." Debi's eyes glowed with happiness as she tilted her face up to him.

Barely aware of the others around, Eric gathered her slender body close to his and ever so gently pressed his lips to hers. Her arms went around his neck, and her breasts pressed firmly against his chest. Her mouth opened under his invitingly.

Suddenly they were pelted with tiny flowers and seeds, and the others were gathering around to congratulate them. Eric had never been kissed by so many women who were not related to him, but that concerned him less than that Debi was being kissed, too, and not always on the cheek.

Paul patted him on the shoulder. "Take her home now, Eric. Be gentle. I'll kill you if you mistreat her," he said.

"Colonel!" Debi protested, but Eric grinned.

"I'll never hurt her, sir," he promised. "Come on, Debi." He led her to his teepee and inside.

Suzanne wiped at her eyes. "My God," she breathed. "I'm a mother-in-law!"

Norton, who had baby-sat for her during the ceremony and the last-minute preparations before, laughed as he returned Hank to her. "You look awful good for a mother-in-law, Suzanne," he told her.

Standing a few feet away with Mulder and Lainie, Skinner privately agreed.

End of Part 15.