Work Text:
Present Day
“Why did you call me, Monica, to tell me what a coward you are?” Scully jumped up from the bench she shared with the former agent and looked at her with contempt.
“To tell you you’re protected,” Monica answered. “Your abduction. The tests. Your DNA, Dana, you’re safe. You’re one of the chosen elite.”
“They tampered with my DNA.”
“We’re both protected, Dana. That’s what he was offering me.” But, there was more to it than that and she wanted to try to ease Scully into it gently.
“But, what about everybody else?”
“Everyone else is happening. It’s been in motion since 2012.”
“Well, then we have to stop it.”
“The science is complicated.”
“And Mulder? Where’s Mulder?”
“He loves Mulder. He sent a man to him, to offer Mulder a deal.”
“I don’t believe this…”
"Dana, there's more you need to understand," Monica said, reaching over and gripping Scully's arm lightly.
Scully yanked her arm out of Monica’s grip and backed away. "All I need to know is that you sold your soul for a deal with the devil," she answered. "What a selfish thing to have done, Monica, when people are suffering and dying at this very minute. How could you?"
"No, Dana, I-"
"Don't ever contact me again," Scully interrupted, turning sharply and rushing across the mall. Monica started to go after her, but there was no chance she'd catch up to her, and even if she did, probably even less chance that Dana would listen. She had tried to put an order to her thoughts, rehearsed what she would tell Dana when she saw her, but it didn't go as planned. She had so much more to tell her. The virus, as important and urgent of situation as it was, was the least of what Monica had intended to convey, it was merely a beginning.
"Damn," Monica said, reaching into her coat pocket for her phone and opening her contacts. She watched Scully disappear in the distance as the phone rang and then the call connected. "I need you to listen to me and do exactly as I say,” she said. “I don’t want to scare you, but you have to trust me right now and I'll explain everything later. Can you do that?"
********
September, 2002
The decrepit old man lying in the hospital bed disgusted Monica, not just because of his physical appearance, but his mere presence made her sick. His offer was also disgusting. The audacity of this man. To think of himself as God, holding the fate of mankind in his hands, choosing who lives and who dies, it was unfathomable.
"No," Monica said, firmly. "I'd rather die with the rest of the world than live knowing you had a part in sparing my life."
"Oh, don't be so noble," the old man said. A twisted smile appeared on his waxy lips. "Everyone has a price. Everyone has a weakness."
"Not everyone. I'm through listening to you."
"Just one more thing. Before you go. Could you please ring for the nurse with that button over there? I'd do it myself, but as you can see, I'm a little incapacitated at the moment."
Monica stared at the man in front of her with contempt. She had a mind to ignore his request and walk out, and as much as she wanted to see him suffer for his sins, she also wouldn't sink to his level by causing him pain. That’s not the kind of person she was. She pressed the call button for the nurse and turned away. Before she made it to the door, a woman walked in, carrying a toddler in her arms, tufts of soft, strawberry blonde curls at the back of his or her head.
The woman was older, light red hair, clear blue eyes that pinned Monica with a piercing glare. She was vaguely familiar, but Monica didn't know why. The baby turned in the woman's arms and looked at Monica with bright blue eyes. He smiled, then reached for her. Monica gasped and quickly snatched the child from the woman, holding him tight. The woman left promptly without a second glance.
"William," Monica whispered, looking the baby over for any signs of abuse. William simply smiled and clutched Monica’s blazer. "What is this?" she hissed, turning back to the Smoking Man.
The old man coughed, but the twisted smile remained. "You don't really think I'd let my grandson be raised by strangers, do you?"
"Do you know how much Scully sacrificed to make sure this child was safe? What have you done to him?"
"I would never harm him, Agent Reyes. And I would never let any harm come to him either."
"What do you want from me?" Monica asked, tears filling her eyes as she hugged William to her.
"As I was saying, everyone has a weakness."
***********
Present Day
The navigation system in Monica's car indicated she was five miles away from her destination. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles white. Another lifetime ago she would have killed for a cigarette, but almost fourteen years in a haze of smoke definitely made the thought of it unappealing. This wasn't the way she wanted things to happen. She had known years that December 2012 was a smokescreen, but she still thought there was more time. She wished she had the courage to have reached out to Dana sooner than she did, but there was precious little opportunity to do so and too much at stake. With the old man now preoccupied with the coming plague, it afforded her a window of time, but that's all it was, and now the window was slowly closing.
"You have arrived at your destination," the navigator said.
Monica stopped the car and leaned forward to look out of the windshield at the woods surrounding her. She got her gun from the glove compartment and took the safety off. Cautiously, she stepped out of the car. The non-stop ping of the alarm to let her know the keys were still in the ignition made her cringe, but it was necessary to be able to move quickly. She used the driver's door as a shield and aimed her gun towards the woods, waiting. After a few moments, she whistled.
"I'm here," William called, crawling out from under the kudzu vines draping the trees that created a perfect hiding spot.
"Are you alone?" Monica asked.
"Yeah." William dusted his jeans off and then raised his hands. His eyes were wide and he stared at the gun in Monica’s hand. "Monica?"
Monica swallowed in hesitation. She had loved this boy and raised him like he was her own, but he was loyal to his grandfather as well. She had to trust him now, but she was about to shatter his world and she didn't know if he would trust her anymore. Slowly, she lowered the gun and flipped the safety back on. She stepped out from behind the door and moved towards the grassy field separating her from the boy.
"You have to get in the car," Monica said, hoping her tone conveyed the importance of her request. William had never been allowed outside of the estate before. "You have to come with me."
"Okay." William nodded and dropped his hands. He smiled as he came towards her and then put his arms around her. "It's time, isn't it?"
"Time for what?"
"To meet my parents."
*********
October, 2002
Monica put her bag down in her new room and looked around. It was spacious, sunny and furnished with her own belongings that had been swiftly moved from her apartment overnight. It would be nice, if it weren't a prison. The house itself morbidly reminded her of a castle, and the grounds were sprawling, which she was told she'd have free reign of, to go wherever she liked, within the bounds of the estate. William would be hers to raise as she saw fit, with the understanding that his grandfather was the head of the house and would spend as much time with the boy as he liked.
"Why me?" Monica had asked.
"Why not?" the old man had answered. "Didn't you make a promise to Mulder that you would take care of Scully and his child when he went off on his foolish mission to save the world? And did you honor that promise when you allowed him to be given away? I'm giving you a chance to atone for your broken promises, Monica. And giving you a chance to live through the apocalypse in return."
She despised the old man with every fiber of her being, but she couldn't let Mulder and Scully's child fall into the hands of a madman. William was special. She knew it and she felt it from the moment he was born. He had a light about him that she couldn't bear to see dimmed. She agreed to the terms and conditions that were required of her if only to protect the boy from corruption. The first step was resigning from the FBI. The second step was disappearing from existence and relocating to the estate in South Carolina.
A knock on the door to her room startled Monica from her reverie. She opened it found the same woman she'd seen in the hospital, holding William. She passed him over to Monica and briefly touched his cheek.
"I'm to give him to you now," the woman said. "A nursery's been set up next door down."
"Uh, thanks..."
"Lizzie."
"Lizzie. And will I be seeing you again?"
"No."
Monica waited until Lizzie disappeared down the long staircase to the foyer and then she looked at William. “I missed you, little guy.” He smiled and patted Monica's cheeks. She smiled back and then he put his forehead against her nose. She laughed at him and ran a hand through the soft curls that had grown in his absence from her life. She made her way to the nursery and looked around at the room full of toys and stenciled teddy bears on the wall. Crouching down, she put William on his feet, marveling over the fact that he could walk now. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of Scully missing seeing her son grow up.
"Do you remember me?" Monica asked, taking the hand William reached out towards her face and kissed his palm. "Monica."
"Monnana," William said.
"Yeah." Monica laughed, sadly. "I don't know what to do here, little one, but I promise I’ll try to make it all okay."
*********
Present Day
"It'll be okay," William said, putting his hand on Monica's arm as she drove.
"There are things you don’t know, William," she said. “Things that have been kept from you about your past, about your grandfather. About…”
"It’ll be okay," he said again. “I already know.”
"No, honey, I don’t think you do."
"Of course I do." William put his hands in his lap and relaxed back in his seat. “My grandfather is a bad man. I’ve always known.”
"Are you upset with me? For lying to you?"
"You’re not a liar." William turned his head and gazed at Monica. "It may not make sense to you, but I can see the truth. I see it in people’s minds. I always have. When you told me stories about my parents, I saw them. When my grandfather told me stories, I saw those too. He’s a liar and he’s dangerous. He says he loves my parents, but he will kill them if they don't come to his side. He says he loves me, but he'll kill me too. I've always known."
Monica licked her lips and stared at the road in front of her. She'd tried very hard to keep the memory of Mulder and Scully alive for William, which the old man made no objection to. On the contrary, he welcomed the presence of William's parents in his life, sharing stories of their exploits to an attentive boy, turning them into untouchable heroes whose only flaw was that their crusade was more important than their son. They love you, Monica always told him. Your safety is the only thing that matters.
“Are you upset with me?” William asked. “For not telling you what I know?”
“No, never,” Monica quickly answered. “I was afraid of tarnishing everything you thought you knew to be true of the old man.”
“Why?” William asked, sincerely. “When he made you sacrifice so much?”
“He’s your grandfather.”
“You don’t have to protect me anymore.”
“Of course I do.”
Monica turned her attention from William to the highway. She’d been lucky on the back roads out of the state, but the highway wasn’t so empty. They hadn't hit traffic yet, but she would, and probably soon. She checked her mirrors out of both paranoia and impatience. They had to make it back to D.C. if they had any chance of getting out now.
"Don't worry," William said. "We'll make it."
"I hope so. But, then we need to find your mother."
"That’ll be easy. She never stops thinking about me. I can just follow her thoughts and tell you where to go."
*********
May, 2006
"Monica, I'm five today," William said, climbing up on Monica's bed and shaking her awake.
Monica rubbed a hand across her tired eyes and smiled. She sat up and grabbed William in a bear hug, pulling him down with her and tickling him as they fell back into bed. He giggled and kicked his feet out, pleading weakly for her to stop. She kissed his head and he snuggled up to her, arms around her neck.
"What does the birthday boy want to do today?" Monica asked.
"Grandfather said I could have a cake."
"Well of course you'll have cake! That's what happens on birthdays, especially one as important as five!" Monica tickled William again and he squealed.
"Monicaaaaaaaaa," he giggled. "Put the tickle monster away!"
"Okay, okay." Monica chuckled.
"Will you tell me about when I was born?"
"You've heard that story about a million times."
"I know, but I like it."
Monica smiled sadly, running her hand over his impossibly soft, red-gold hair. "You were born in a ghost town outside of Democrat Hot Springs."
"No, no, no!" William cried. "You have to start at the beginning, when my Daddy called you and said the bad men were coming."
Monica cringed a little. This story was never her idea, but the old man had first told it to William. How he had known what happened the night William was born was a mystery to her, but there were gaps in his story that Monica filled in and correct for the boy when he asked if it was true. If it had been up to her to begin with, she would have told him a more watered down version of that night, but William always absorbed these stories with fearless awe, the more terrifying the better, even for a child so young.
"Why don't you tell me the story," Monica said. "You've heard it so many times, I bet you can."
"Okay!" William wiggled out of Monica's arms and sat cross-legged in front of her. He clasped his hands in his lap and widened his eyes. "It was nighttime and my Daddy called you and said Monica, there are bad men at Mommy's house and we have to make them leave, come to the FBI place! So you went to the FBI place and there were robots who looked like people there that wanted to hurt everyone, but Daddy tricked them and you were there waiting to take Mommy away so no one could find me, not even Daddy. Only John Doggie the FBI man knew."
Monica chuckled. "John Doggett."
"That's what I said. So, you and Mommy left the FBI and drove all night to Dem...Democrat Hot Springs, where no one lived because everyone was ghosts. And there was a little house there where I could be born and you and Mommy made it nice since it was a ghost house. And then Mommy didn't feel well because you don’t feel well sometimes when you have to have a baby so you spoke to a whale like Dory did in Finding Nemo."
Monica laughed. "Not quite."
"And then I started to be born."
"Now you're the one leaving things out, buster."
"Oh! Oh yeah, there was a lady there who was one of the robot people, but you didn't know she was a robot lady, you thought she was a sheriff and she tricked you. And then I started to be born and that's when she called all the other robot people to come to the ghost town because they thought I was a special robot person too. But, I am not a robot person, so they went away."
"And then?"
"And then the best part!" William jumped up on his feet, excitedly. "Daddy came down in his helicopter because a star told him where I was born and he picked Mommy up and you wrapped me in blankets and we all went back home in Daddy's helicopter! Did I tell it right?"
"That's mostly right." She laughed and caught his hands as he jumped up and down on the bed, and pulled him back down. He dropped onto his knees and she kissed his cheek. "Your Mommy and Daddy love you very much."
"I know. One day I'll see them again."
"I hope so."
"Monica? What if I was a robot person?"
"Then you would. Talk. Like. This," she answered in a cliché robotic voice, leaning forward so her forehead touched his and she brushed their noses together.
"No, I wouldn't!"
"My. Name. Is. Will. Yum. I. Am. A. Ro. Bot."
"Monicaaaaaa!"
"Williaaaaaaaam!"
He laughed and flung himself at her, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck. He squeezed her tightly and then let go, but his fingers brushed the puckered skin at the back of her neck with curiosity, as he'd done since he was a toddler. He paused this time and one of his eyes winked shut while his cheek twitched. "Is this a scar?” he asked. “Or was it there always.”
“It’s a scar.”
“Did it hurt very much?”
"No," she answered. "Not much."
William hugged her again, even tighter than before.
******
Present Day
“Stop,” William said as they reached the mouth of the bridge over the Potomac, separating Virginia from Washington D.C.
Monica stopped the car, not hard to do considering it was a bumper to bumper nightmare and trying to get on the bridge was nearly impossible. William was quiet, his eyes closed and his head tipped up in concentration.
“They’re here,” he said, opening his eyes. “We have to get to the other side.”
Hastily, William unbuckled his seatbelt and Monica followed suit. He ran around the front of the car to her side and scanned the opposite side of traffic for recognition. There was a cluster of haphazardly parked cars in the middle of the bridge.
“Come on!” William hopped up on the barrier at the edge of the bridge. There was a gap to the other side about a foot and a half across. He jumped it easily and then waited as Monica followed. He grabbed her hand and they ran down the line of cars, dodging people that had exited their cars.
The boy was younger and faster than Monica could hope to be and she let go of him just as a bright light shone down in the middle of the bridge and a craft appeared, hovering above.
“William!” she shouted and the boy came to a halt, turning his head up to the sky. She caught up to him and hugged him from behind, bringing his arms across his chest and trying to pull him back.
“No, no,” William said, standing his ground with his eyes in the sky. “This is what I’m supposed to do.” He broke free of Monica’s arms and took two steps forward.
The spacecraft that hovered over the bridge began to vibrate. It backed away from the bridge and back out over the river as William moved closer and then shook harder as though it was fighting being pulled by a magnetic force. The light that shone from its belly blinked out and within seconds, the craft began to disintegrate, raining down into the Potomac as it melted away into nothing.
“I did it,” William whispered, turning towards Monica with a grim expression and tears in his eyes. “I did it. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
“It’s okay,” Monica said, hugging him tight while he hid his face against her shoulder. “You saved people, you didn’t hurt anyone.”
“I’m afraid.”
“It’s okay to be afraid.”
“I don’t want to be like him.”
“You won’t.”
William raised his head and wiped his eyes. He turned his chin up and his brows came together. He squinted hard and Monica looked out into the sea of cars to see what he did. About a hundred feet away, Scully was there.
“Dana!” she called, and at the same time William shouted “Mom!”
Scully whipped around in confusion from where she stood by the side of an open car door, eyes darting around in the chaos. William had taken Monica’s hand again and they both ran through the obstacle of zig-zagging cars to reach her. Scully’s eyes widened in shock and she took a few steps forwards, but couldn’t go any further than that. William barreled towards her, too anxious and excited to slow himself down. He nearly knocked her over as he hugged her and her knees went weak with emotion.
“Mom,” William whispered, holding her up. She clutched his shoulders and let out a sob.
“Oh, God,” Scully cried.
“I found you.”
“William.” She pulled away and looked at his face, at her eyes and nose and his father’s mouth. “Your father!”
“He’ll be all right.” William let go of Scully and moved to the open door of the car where his father was slumped, sweaty and panting.
“My son,” Mulder whispered.
“I want to build rockets with you too, Dad.”
With a lot of effort, Mulder reached out and put a hand on William’s shoulder.
“We need to get him to the hospital,” Scully said.
“Let me.” William put both hands on Mulder’s head and closed his eyes. Mulder gasped and his chest lifted on a breath and then caved as he rolled back in the seat. After a few moments he gasped again and when his eyes opened they were clear and bright. The wounds on his head faded and the smudges under his eyes vanished.
“Wow,” William whispered. “I’d only ever done that on fish before.”
“You’d have come in handy back in the day,” Mulder answered, his energy almost completely restored. He was able to get out of the car and caught Agent Miller just in time as the young man fainted in the road.
“Scully, get that IV,” Mulder said, tugging off Miller’s jacket to expose his arm. They both worked together to administer the vaccine to Miller and all the while, Scully kept glancing up at William and Monica, who stood quietly off to the side. She wanted to know everything, but the doctor in her was winning over the mother and she had to make sure Agent Miller would be okay before she could have her questions answered.
When Miller began to revive and Mulder had folded the suit jacket under his head so he’d be comfortable, Scully rose from her crouch in the road and turned towards William. They stared at each other until William turned his head away and reached for Monica’s hand.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” William said. “Monica told me.”
“Monica…told you…” Scully answered, a coil of anger working through her chest.
“Don’t be mad,” he said, dropping Monica’s hand and stepping close to Scully. He reached up and brought Scully’s head down to his so that their foreheads were pressed together and he closed his eyes.
In an instant, Scully was flooded with images of William’s childhood. She saw an austere house, the smoking man, beautiful gardens, Monica and William making pillow forts, a birthday cake in the shape of a rocket, Monica telling William stories in front of a fireplace while William licked S’mores off his fingers, a comatose Monica wrapped in gauze, an intubation tube in her mouth, while a baby boy lay in the crook of her arm, tracing a fresh scar on her neck with chubby fingers, and the images kept flowing until she had to break the connection, overwhelmed. Her eyes filled with tears and her hand shook from the force of it.
“Is this why you couldn’t refuse?” Scully asked Monica. “Did he use my son as a bargaining chip?”
“Everyone has a weakness,” Monica answered.
“Monica,” Scully whispered, embracing the woman fiercely. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You can start by making sure that vaccine gets out to everyone who needs it. Make all of this worthwhile.”
Scully nodded and stepped away. Mulder looked up at her from Miller’s side. “Ready to go save the world, G-woman?” he asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
The End