by NeoX

Rating: R? NC-17?

Category: Angst

Timeframe/Spoilers: Post-series

Summary: "The worst thing in the world is unexpected change." - Mulder
When Reyes is abducted and found months later, her return - not alone- brings potentially devastating consequences for not only her and Doggett, but Mulder and Scully as well.

Present time

April 9^th, 2003

The stars were drowning. At least they were from Doggett’s vantage, as he sat on a dock and stared into the water. They reflected in the black-blue water that moved sinuously in the moonlight. They didn't seem to stand much of a chance against the thick icy waves; apparently stars couldn't swim. Lately, he could relate.

For a moment, he considered joining them in the dark depths. It would be so easy to just pitch forward and let the water envelop him. His left foot twitched in a direction he didn’t give it, but the buzz of his cell phone kept him from pondering death any further.

" Doggett." Even to his own ears his voice sounded rusty, unused. Like he hadn’t spoke to anyone in days. Maybe he hadn’t, he couldn’t really remember.

" Agent Doggett? This is county general hospital. Someone was brought in tonight, and your name was found in her wallet as a contact person in case of emergencies. Do you know a Monica Reyes?"

His fingers clutched the phone like a lifesaver. " Is Monica ok?"

" I think you better come down to the hospital, Agent Doggett." The voice told him. " She’s in room 1013."

" I’ll be down there as soon as possible."

He got to his feet in a rush, running back down the dock towards his house. The dark waters and stars completely forgotten.

Doggett hated hospitals, even more he hated how she looked lying there in that bed. An IV sprouted from the back of her right hand; a hand the seemed formed more of bone than flesh. ::What they done you?:: Of course she didn’t answer.

She hardly made a bump under the stiff white sheets. Wherever she’d been, they had not fed her well. Though she had not been plump to begin with, now she looked like an anorexia victim. The only roundness to her, was her belly. It was something he’d really didn’t want to think about. But he did.

When he first gotten to the hospital, his first question had been ‘how is she?’ They told him that she was unconscious, but they didn’t think she was in coma. They were confident that she would be waking soon, so perhaps she could tell them what had been done to her. No, they didn’t know anything about how she’d been found.

Then by the way, even though she was malnourished, her baby seemed fine.

He’d stared at the nurse in shock. ::baby, what baby?:: the way if she’d said it made it clear that she assumed that he was the father of this baby. It was an assumption that he did not make so readily.

" How far along is she?" he’d asked sounding more than a little desperate.

The nurse had looked surprised; she must have been startled that he didn’t know. She gave a helpless shrug. " She is very underweight, so it makes that hard to determine. The nutrients in the starving woman who to her unborn child first, and some bodies are better doing this than others."

" So you have no idea?" He felt like crying.

" The fetus could be a healthy-sized three months gestation or rather small five months." The nurse noticed his dismayed look. " I’m sure Miss Reyes will be able to tell us more when she comes around."

He hoped so. She’d been missing four months.