Sure enough, there was the old man, walking into the New Orleans Cafe, Samantha trailing behind him.
They didn't have time to do much of anything before Cancer Man appeared at their table. 'Well, well, Agent Scully.' He said, taking a cigarette out of his pack. 'I never expected to find you having dinner with this son.'
'Where's Mulder?' She asked.
'I'm afraid I have no idea of Mulder's exact location.' He said, lighting his Morley and gesturing at the chair next to her. 'May I?'
Scully didn't bother answering as he sat down. She didn't notice that Krycek had stood up to greet Samantha until the two were engaged in a hug.
'How are you?' Krycek asked her.
Samantha nodded and sat down in the chair he offered. Krycek came around the table to sit next to Scully. A minute of silence passed. Scully was staring at Samantha, not believing that she was siting two feet from the person that began Mulder's never-ending quest.
'Well, here we are.' Spender said.
'You said if I helped you stage your death that all this would end.' Krycek said. 'Now Mulder is missing and Dana is pregnant. That was never part of the plan.'
'Dana?' Cancer Man said, taking a drag off his cigarette. 'I take it you two have become close.'
'Cut the crap.' Scully said to him. 'Where�s Mulder?'
'So sensitive.' He replied.
'We've come a long way.' Krycek said. 'She's worried about Mulder and quite frankly, so am I. This wasn�t supposed to happen.'
'I'm sorry to be the one to inform you that Mulder is with Marita.' Spender said.
Both Scully and Krycek stared back at him.
'Marita?' Krycek asked.
'Mulder has been working with her.' Spender said. 'Trying to restore a New World order to save the human race.'
'I don't believe you.' Scully whispered.
'Neither do I.� Krycek agreed.
'It's true.' Samantha said softly. 'I saw the pictures myself.'
Krycek's eyes flicked between the two of them. 'What pictures?'
'Jeffrey has been tailing Miss Covarrubias for some time.' Spender said. 'He has pictures of Mulder, Marita and other members of the group.'
'Doing what?' Krycek asked.
'Talking.' Spender replied. 'Just talking.'
'That's why we came out here.' Samantha said. 'There's people we need to meet with to fight this.'
'Fight what?' Scully asked. 'I'm not sure I follow.'
'Marita has been working with the alien rebels.' Krycek said. 'The rebels perform tests on people to see how easily they can be infected with the virus. After the tests are complete, the test subjects are incinerated.'
Scully was silent, horrified. 'What?' She finally whispered.
Cancer Man stubbed his cigarette out in an ashtray. 'They don't want to leave any trace of their work behind for the group to get their hands on. So they burn them to make sure nothing remains. '
Scully's thought's involuntarily drifted back to the night Cassandra Spender had disappeared, when the faceless rebels had set everyone on fire. She suddenly felt ill. Krycek immediately noticed and reached over to put his hand on hers.
'You see why we've tried to keep this away from the public?' He asked.
She looked at him, her eyes sad, and he tried to smile when he continued. 'There's nothing we can do yet, so why let the world worry their last days away.'
Scully sat in silence, stunned. Could Mulder really be working with Marita? Could she even consider what Spender was saying? Could she believe that this was really Samantha? Could she really trust Krycek?
That last thought dropped in her mind and stayed there. Whether or not she wanted it to happen, Krycek had become a friend in all of this. But could she, should she, let her guard down? She thought not. True, he had been kind and supportive to her, he had bared his feelings, and he had revealed what had been going on with him and everything else.
But he was still Krycek.
'You're saying that Mulder knows that these people are being killed?' Scully asked softly.
'I do not know what Mulder knows.' Spender said. 'All I know is that he is with Miss Covarrubias and the rest of the group.'
'So he could be there as a prisoner?'
'Agent Scully,' Spender leaned towards her, 'I do not doubt anything anymore. My life has shown me a lot of unbelievable things. But I do know Mulder.' He took another Morley out and lit up. 'If Mulder is involved in this, it is because he believes it is the right thing to do.'
Silence went around the table again. Scully remembered that Samantha was sitting across from her and again marveled at the fact that Mulder's sister was two feet away.
'And what part do you play in all this?' Scully asked.
'I am trying to protect mankind.' Samantha said. 'I believe that this cause should be kept quiet and we should be working in secret. Why should we burden the public with what is going on when it will be over so quickly if we do not succeed? They are better off living the rest of their lives in blissful ignorance.'
'I see you are having a hard time believing that Fox could be involved in something so sinister.' Spender said. 'If you could think of it from his point of view, he has always wanted to expose the truth. He always believed that the world should be informed of any conspiracy. This is where we've disagreed.'
***
Mulder felt a cool hand on his face and the soft voice spiraled down to the bottom of the black hole he was lying in.
'Fox.'
He tried to open his eyes and they fluttered open a couple of times.
'Fox.'
Mulder gave up on trying to open his eyes and licked his lips instead.
'Don't try to talk, Fox.' The voice said. 'Just keep breathing.'
'Scully?' He managed to squeak out.
'Just relax, Fox.'
Mulder licked his lips again. 'Where...Am I?'
'You're in the hospital.' The voice was beginning to sound familiar again. 'You need to relax and concentrate on breathing.'
Mulder blinked his eyes several times before managing to keep them open. Shapes began to form in his blurry vision. The light above...The tiles in the ceiling...The sprinkler system...He rolled his eyes to his left and stared as he saw the blonde woman that he had seen before.
Mulder swallowed again, trying to clear his throat and whispered.
'Diana?'
***
Scully thoughts swirled around in her mind. Too much, her mind kept saying. Too much, don't get overwhelmed. She took a deep breath and forced the clutter from her thoughts. Focused on the discussion at hand. She looked at Cancer Man.
'You used me to get to that information you needed and now you want me to trust you?'
'I didn't ask for your trust, Agent Scully.' He replied. 'You asked me where Fox was and I told you what I thought. We're just talking.'
Scully stared back at him for a moment, silently and reluctantly admitting to herself that he was right. She wouldn't allow herself to feel the confusion that pressed down on her head. She knew it was coming, her unavoidable meltdown of information, but she wasn't allowing herself the luxury just now. That was for another time, all alone, in a warm shower, with the door locked.
'Are you okay?' Krycek asked her.
She hadn't realized her hand was touching her forehead and her eyes were closed. 'I'm fine.'
'Maybe you should get some rest.' He said. 'It's been a long trip.'
'I don't believe Mulder would lie to me.' Scully said. 'I don't believe that he could be involved in something like that.' Her voice was close to breaking and she hated herself for it. 'Mulder is a good person.'
'Mulder isn't on the wrong side, Agent Scully.' Spender said, blowing out smoke. 'He is just on the side that he believes in. Our goal, after all, is one in the same. We just have different ways of getting to it.'
'I don't believe Fox would lie to you either. He has never been the deceitful type.' Samantha gently broke in. 'But I do think that he would keep things from you if he thought he would be protecting you.'
'You don't even know him.' Scully snapped at her, immediately sorry for doing it. She normally didn't lose her carefully constructed cool.
'I beg your pardon.' Samantha said, completely indifferent to Scully's bite of anger. 'I do know Fox. He is my brother and I spent the first part of my life with him. Even though we were brought up believing in two different things, I still know who he is.'
Scully was tired, confused and pregnant and her patience was reaching his end. 'You knew him when he was twelve!' She exclaimed.
'Let's not get into this right now.' Krycek interrupted. 'No good will come from arguing.' He looked at his father. 'We came here to find you hoping for an answer on Mulder's whereabouts. But I guess you are in the dark on that as well.'
'We can put out our own inquiries.' Cancer Man said. 'But who's to say that Fox wants to be found.'
'There's one thing that I don't understand.' Scully said.
Krycek smiled. 'Just one?'
'I never had any connection to any of this while I was growing up.' She looked at Krycek. 'You and Mulder, all of you were involved because of your parents, because of the project.' She shook her head. 'Where did I come from?'
'I picked you out of medical school.' Krycek answered.
'But since then.' She went on. 'Everything that has happened to me, it is too coincidental. Almost like...'
'Someone close to you was working against you?' Cancer Man finished.
Scully didn't answer and moved on to another topic that had been bothering her. 'I'm assuming it was you who made sure I was able to conceive a child?'
'The child was conceived before it was implanted in you.' Spender said. 'I do not know when or where this happened.'
'And you had no part in it?' She asked, recalling the morning she had awakened in his cabin with no recollection of the previous evening.
'I am not part of the group trying to create the new human evolution.' Spender smiled. 'That is the campaign of Marita Covarrubias.'
'Then what are you doing?' Scully asked, frustrated that no clear answers were available.
'We're creating the vaccine.'
'Creating a vaccine?' Scully repeated. 'In order to do that, wouldn't experimentation be needed? Not to mention you don't easily stumble across alien DNA?'
'Perhaps you'd like to see how we do it?' Spender offered, blowing out smoke. 'Someone with your expertise would be welcomed into our project.'
'I'm not a geneticist.' Scully replied before recoiling in horror. What the hell was she thinking? 'And I'm really not interested in having any part of your project.'
'Rather hard to be a fence-sitter when presented with both sides.' Spender said. 'One does usually tend to lean in some sort of direction.'
'I have not been presented with any sides.' Scully replied harshly, rather irritated with the fact that she was already leaning away from the faceless rebels. Which, if what Spender were saying was true, would be Mulder�s side. 'You haven't answered any of my questions with any clarity nor have you shown me any proof to substantiate anything you are claiming. For all I know you have Mulder locked in a cage, draining him of whatever alien traits you need to make your vaccine work!'
Krycek frowned, obviously bothered that Scully was getting so upset, but Spender wasn't phased and turned towards Samantha. 'Show them the pictures, will you dear?'
Scully didn't say anything as Samantha reached into her purse and brought out some pictures. She put them on the table and slid them towards Krycek and Scully, who leaned over the table to get a closer look.
Spender smiled. 'I'm sure your rational mind will find an excuse for what you see.'
The first picture was an office. Mulder was sitting in a chair, leaning forward, hands dangling between his legs. He was looking up at Marita who was leaning against a desk, arms folded, staring down at him.
'This doesn't prove anything.' Scully said softly, cringing inwardly at the sadness on Mulder's face. 'He doesn't look all that thrilled to be there.'
Krycek suddenly looked up at Scully as she glanced down at the next picture.
There were people seated around a table, someone up in front mapping on a graph of the world. Mulder was looking up the map, chin resting in his hand. Marita was sitting on his left and there were two other men seated at the table as well. One looked familiar but Scully couldn't concentrate on that as she was staring at the blonde woman on Mulder's right. Scully couldn't move, couldn't speak. For a moment, she couldn't even breathe. It was Diana Fowley.
'Dana.' Krycek said softly. 'This still means nothing.'
Scully put a hand over her mouth, her brain moving too fast. Diana was dead. She had looked at the autopsy report herself. Diana was dead; Mulder wouldn't be hanging around with Diana and not tell her. Diana was dead, she had been found dead. She was dead. Mulder wouldn't lie to her. Mulder wouldn't lie. He had saved her life too many times to count. He had always been there for her. He had followed her up to the Arctic to find her.
The thought suddenly slammed home exceptionally hard and her rational mind started to view things in a different way.
How had Mulder managed to find her up there? He said that English man who was so high up in the Syndicate had given him her location. That he'd been approached by this man and been offered her cure and her location.
That suddenly seemed a bit coincidental.
'Dana.' Krycek's soft voice interrupted her thoughts. 'Maybe we should leave so you can get some rest.'
Scully suddenly shoved the pictures back at Samantha, knocking everything on the table over in the process.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Mulder couldn't have lied to her. He couldn't have lied. He couldn't.
Get a grip, Dana. Her rational mind tried to surface once more. Get a grip. She knew Krycek was eyeing her with concern. She ignored him.
'There is one other matter.' Cancer Man said, lighting another cigarette. 'One that I've been reluctant to bring up.'
'Dear God.' Scully said softly. 'Do you ever quit?'
Spender eyed her. 'I only bring this up because it involves my son.'
Krycek looked over at him, searching his eyes.
Samantha leaned over and spoke softly. 'I thought we had decided against this.'
'That was before I found out about Fox.' Spender said. 'I could always count on him before to do the right thing. But he seems to have been...Misled by those others.' He reached down into the briefcase and pulled out some charts. 'This is your DNA,' he looked at Scully. 'And this is Alex's DNA.'
Krycek suddenly sat back in his chair, as if to remove himself from the conversation. Scully looked at his face to see him eyeing Cancer Man with disbelief. She felt fear in the pit of her stomach.
'We have a very valuable source.' Spender said. 'I don't know who it is that acts as our double agent, and I don't care. This person is usually able to provide us with everything we need.'
Scully swallowed the lump that had lately seemed to be visiting her throat quite often. 'Our DNA, that should be easily enough to obtain.'
Spender pulled out another chart and laid it on the table in between the two. 'This is the DNA of your unborn child.'
Krycek suddenly stood up, knocking over his chair in the process, and hastily walked out of the restaurant.
Scully looked after him, then back at Spender. She couldn't look at the charts and once again, she was unable to speak.
'If you compare the DNA charts of the two of you to the chart of the child, you'll see, the child has both.'
Scully managed to drag her eyes down to the charts. She eyed all three before looking up at Spender. 'How?' She whispered, desperately trying to push the tears back into her eyes.
'I don't know.' Cancer Man replied. 'But I do believe you should go away where they cannot find you.'
'I can't.' Scully said softly.
'Alex has the highest IQ of the four children.' Spender said. 'He has shown more alien characteristics than the other three combined. For his child to be in existence combined with your tendency to combat the alien virus-'
'How would I have any anti-agent in my body to fight this?' She sputtered out, swiping at her eyes.
'Mulder injected you with the vaccine in those horrid ice caves.' Spender said. 'It altered your physiology. You will survive any attempt of the alien invasion because of it.�
Scully tried to keep a sane, rational mind about all this. She searched for any sense of comfort in anything she'd been told and found none. She extended her search to the man sitting in front of her. 'Do you really think Mulder is doing wrong in all this?'
'As I've said before, Agent Scully.' Spender said. 'I believe that Fox believes he's doing the right thing. I don't know if he's there because he's being forced, or because he chose to deceive everyone around him. All I know is he's there.'
'I've always believed him to be the father of my child.' Scully whispered.
'You mustn't think of it that way.' Spender said. 'The child was created for the future. In a lab. With genetics. The child was created with science. The child was created specifically to ensure the survival of the human race. The child is the hope for the future.'
It was some time before the dinner broke up and Scully wandered outside to find Krycek sitting on a bench out front.
'Are they gone?' He asked before she could say anything. His face was in his hand.
'Yes.' She replied. 'They went back to the 'cottage by the lake' they asked me to tell you.'
'I had nothing to do with this.' He said, not moving.
'I believe you.' Scully sat on the bench next to him.
'All my life, whenever my mind wandered far enough away to dream of having a family, I never wanted my kid to end up like me.'
Scully looked at the horse-drawn carriage as it pranced by. 'I don't quite see it that way.'
Krycek leaned back on the bench and took his hand away from his face. 'How is it not?' He asked. 'The child is being bred specifically for scientific reasons. The offspring of two people who know nothing of its origin? How is that not like me?'
'Because the child will have a mother that loves it.' Scully replied. 'And hopefully the father will feel the same way.' Was she really saying this? Was this really happening? Was she really excepting the fact that Krycek was the father of her child?
This was insane.
Krycek didn't say anything and they both sat in silence for a few moments.
'I'm sorry it wasn't Fox's.' Krycek said.
'Let�s not be concerned with that just now.' Scully said, her voice much sturdier than she had dared to hope. 'I wasn�t supposed to have children and I desperately wanted to be a mother. Yours or Mulder's, either way this baby is a miracle.'
Krycek finally looked over at her. She ignored him again. Scully was trying to deal with the fact that she was carrying Krycek's baby and not Mulder's. It was not an easy thing to swallow.
Krycek looked down at the ground. 'What do you think we should do?'
'I don't know.' Scully couldn't look at him yet. 'If us going into hiding would create a safer environment for the baby, maybe we should. I could always leave word for Mulder on how to find me.'
'We don't have to go into hiding together.' Krycek said.
'No,' Scully replied, 'but it would be better that way.' She looked over at him. 'That is, assuming you want to be around.'
Krycek didn't respond. He sat there with his head in his hand.
So this is it. Scully thought to herself. This man will be part of my future if he wants to, Alex Krycek, supposedly the father of my child. I�m supposed to accept this?
Scully was suddenly confused as to why she already seemed to be accepting it. Either she was far more rational than she thought, or she was in denial.
Krycek was lost. She could see it. She was definitely handling this better than he was. She forced herself to put a hand on his leg. 'It would help if I knew what you were thinking.'
Krycek shook his head. When he responded, his voice was hoarse. 'I don't know how to deal with this.' He said. 'I don't know what I'm supposed to feel.'
'You're not supposed to feel anyway.' She said. 'However you feel is how you're supposed to feel.'
Krycek looked up at her. She was amazed; there were tears in his eyes. She didn�t think his body had been capable of producing them.
'Can we go back to the hotel?� He asked. �I can't sit out here like this anymore.'
***
They were back in their rooms. Krycek was sitting in the chair by the window, leg up on the table.
'I'm sorry.' He said.
'Sorry for what?' Scully asked.
He sighed. 'I don't know.'
'It doesn't make this any easier when you're so damn lost.' Scully said.
'Hey, you've had time to adjust to the fact that you're having a baby.' Krycek said. 'I've only had about an hour.'
'You're right.' Scully said. 'I'm sorry.'
Krycek leaned back and threw his other leg on the table, letting his head fall back on the chair. 'I'm thinking we should try to find Fox.'
'Maybe.' Scully said, sitting on the bed.
Krycek looked at her suspiciously. 'Come on, you don't believe all that shit my father said, do you?'
Scully shrugged. 'I don't know. I'm more worried about my baby right now than anything else.'
'Well.' Krycek said. 'Tell me what you want to do and I'll do it.'
There was a knocking at the door and Scully walked over to answer it.
�Wait.� Krycek said, standing up.
She stopped and turned back towards him. He was already walking to her side.
'Who could that be?' He whispered.
'I don't know.' She said, looking through the peephole. 'I don't see anyone-'
'Look out!' Krycek suddenly shoved her aside. She fell to the ground, a huge boom echoing through the room.
Scully lay on the floor and heard footsteps growing fainter as they sounded down the hall. She took her hands away from her ears and looked back at the door.
Krycek was lying on the floor, a puddle of blood collecting around him.
'Alex?' She asked, crawling to his side.
'Don't let me go to...The hospital.' He said through ragged breaths.
Her eyes flooded with tears and she applied pressure to the wound as a strange feeling enveloped her. 'You need a doctor.' She said, realizing that the strange feeling was trust. He had just saved her life.
'You are a doctor.' He sputtered. 'Please don't...let me...go to...the hospital.'
'Alex, you need more than what I can do.' She said. Someone burst through the door, a bellboy.
'Call 911.' She hissed at him before turning her attention back to Krycek. 'You're going to be okay.'
'I can't go to the hospital.' He whispered.
The paramedics arrived after mere minutes. They gathered Krycek up on a gurney and began to wheel him out of the room. He gripped at one of Scully's hands.
'Please don't let them take me.'
Scully blinked as confused tears fell down her face. 'Alex, I'm going to be right next to you.'
He only shook his head at her. 'Please don't leave me. I can�t go.'
'I'm not leaving you.' She said, wondering again how had known that someone was going to be shooting through the door.
They rode down the elevator in silence; Scully refused to let go of his hand. They rushed through the lobby and towards the freight loading and unloading zone. He suddenly gripped at her hand again.
'Oh my God.' He whispered. 'They're going to take me.'
'Alex, I'm right here.' She said. 'No one's taking you anywhere without me.'
'Be careful, Dana.' He said.
The paramedics loaded him into the ambulance and one of them turned towards her.
'Sorry, Ma'am.' He said. 'You cannot come with him.'
'Of course I can.' Scully replied. 'I'm his doctor.'
