Chapter Text
January 2017
Patrick Stapleton sat at a table in the back – as instructed – at The Daily Grill in Georgetown. He had flown in the day before and was staying at a nice hotel just down the road. As he perused the menu he tried his best to ignore the patrons around him; for what he perceived to be a sophisticated place, the clientele left a lot to be desired.
“Pat!” the man he was here to meet called out his name as he approached the table, “How are you?”
“Fine, Carl. Just fine.” Pat replied as he stood up to take his hand and shake it firmly.
“How are the wife and kids?” Carl asked as he sat down and picked up the menu.
“Good, good. My grandson Timothy can throw a baseball now.”
“That’s fabulous. You look good as well.”
“All thanks to you. If not for you I would have been sitting in a wheelchair for the last thirty years.”
“It was all for a good cause.” Carl replied as their server Sheila walked over to take their drink order, “Scotch. Straight.” Carl said to Sheila before looking at Pat, “The same I assume?”
“Same.” Pat smiled as Sheila nodded and walked away.
“Your youngest is, thirteen?”
Pat nodded, “Janie, yes…thirteen…” he then sighed, “I told you that Beth can’t have anymore, correct?”
“Yes, I know…” Carl replied looking over the menu, “Sometimes human biology takes over and she was the first.”
“But she looks incredible.” Pat replied pulling out his phone and scrolling to a photo of their last trip to Jamaica where his wife was wearing a very revealing black bikini, “No one would guess she’s seventy-three.” He showed Carl the phone who nodded without even looking at it.
“As long as your children continue to have children we should be fine.” Carl sighed as he placed the menu on the table, “It just feels like the day for a rare steak.”
Pat nodded, “Yes, yes it does.”
Shelia returned with their drinks and Carl ordered two rare steaks for the two of them. Pat had sworn off red meat years earlier, but he knew not to disagree with the man in front of him.
After being shot in the line of duty, Pat lay in a hospital bed unable to feel his legs. Fearing he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life he was approached one day by a man who promised him eternal life if he did what he was told. Given the situation he faced, Pat had a hard time saying no, and after the surgery took place and he felt the tingling sensation in his legs he knew he had made the right choice. Thirty years later, he started to question that; especially as the man, who he hadn’t seen or heard from in over a decade, sat before him. Taking a drink of the scotch he never much cared for, Pat took a moment before he looked directly at Carl, “Might I ask what spurned this meeting?”
Carl nodded, “I’ve been following you, Pat, and your wife. I see you are on the boards of various causes. Greenpeace, the ASPCA, you even build homes for Habitat for Humanity.”
“Yes, it’s a good use of our time.”
“You seem very intent on making the world a better place.”
Pat nodded, “Yes, there’s a lot of changes which need to be made, but I’m not sure the right people are in charge to make them-especially now.”
“How would you like to be in charge of it?”
“Excuse me?” Pat replied, “I really have no interest in running for any public office, I’m sorry Carl.”
“That’s not what I am offering. I am offering you the chance to run a coalition of sorts. The coalition for a better world.”
“And how would this coalition go about making the world better?” Pat asked as he took another sip of his last beverage of choice.
“By eliminating a large percentage of the current population.”
Choking on the scotch, “Are you suggesting genocide?”
“This isn’t against any race or religion, there are too many people on this planet and regardless of ethnicity or religion persuasion, it would be best if a majority of the people on the planet were no longer…here.”
Unable to truly comprehend what was being presented to him, Patrick slowly placed the now empty glass back on the table and took a moment to compose his response; unfortunately, he couldn’t think of one.
“You seem surprised.” Carl remarked as he took another sip of the aged liqueur.
“I just don’t believe I can be a part of a group that will be responsible for murdering millions of innocent people.”
“What you call murder, I call. Pruning. If you consider this planet a plant of sorts we are simply removing the excess branches and... Foliage, so the planet can begin to heal itself.”
“I assume you will be selecting who to savagely murder.”
Carl sighed, “It’s not murder. What the human population is currently doing could be considered murder in my opinion. A mass number of people have the opinion ‘well, it won’t matter when I’m dead’ which is part of the reason I set out to create a new class of people which you have thankfully helped with. Seven children are a lot to take on.”
“We’ve been compensated generously.”
“Yes, five hundred thousand per child goes a long way and two-hundred and fifty per grand child can pay for college.” He joked.
Pat took a deep sigh, “I love my children.”
“I know you do. That’s why you were chosen. And your wife. We only chose those individuals we knew could make the world a better place. That’s why we’re doing this. All that will remain are the good people this planet deserves.”
Pat didn’t want to note the irony of the man before him talking about good people as he knew in his thirty years of dealings that Mr. Spender was far from decent. “How…” he choked on the word, “How are you going about doing this?”
“That’s not for you to need to know. Your responsibility will be to work with the other teams I have in place in making sure those selected to remain survive what will occur. As you were conditioned to survive an alien invasion, I can’t guarantee that the same protections will be in place for this event. I will give you the details when the time is warranted, but for now I will give you the contact information you need to reach out to those working on the databases of the chosen ones. Of course, your family will be added to the list for assisting in this operation, as will mine and all others who are working for the one common goal – a better world.” Carl smiled as he noticed Sheila returning with their meals, “For now, let’s eat.”
October 21, 2019 – 7:15AM
“Red, black, blue…” Scully tossed various suits out of her armoire, “I haven’t worn a suit in so long…”
“Blue…it makes a statement, but not a morbid one like black can.” Mulder said as he watched his wife frantically toss clothing onto the bed, “You’ll be fine.”
“I haven’t had to INTERVIEW for a job in…YEARS, and I just want to make a good impression.”
“But it isn’t an interview.” Mulder said as his wife continued to frantically toss clothing out of the armoire, “You already spoke to the medical director and said she liked you.”
“She’s desperate.” Scully replied, as she grabbed a white blouse which hadn’t been worn in over a year, “One of their primary care physicians passed away in a car accident and they’re short on help. It will only be part time, three days a week and not until I get my Colorado medical license which could take four weeks to SIX MONTHS, but until I receive it I can at least consult and help out.”
Mulder shook his head as she rattled off without taking a breath, honestly missing how frantic she could get about such simple things like finding the right blouse to make a good impression, “Pretty sure you already told me all of this last night.”
Taking a deep breath, Scully rested against the armoire, still in her red and white flannel pajamas and just looked at the man four feet away from her, “Am I making a mistake going back to work?”
“We already checked and you won’t lose your pension, that was your first fear, and I know how much you actually enjoy working and helping people so no you’re not making a mistake and NO you don’t have to worry about me being home alone all day and falling back into that pattern because I’m no longer alone.” Mulder smiled as he approached Scully and placed his hands on her shoulders, “It’s. Fine. And three days a week is nothing in the grand scheme of things. You’ve already been here for the big moments, the talking, the walking, the eating on her own…now just comes the really fun part.”
Scully smiled, “Potty training.”
Mulder smiled as well, “Which will be my own challenge. I bought the cutest seat, it’s pink and has its own little toilet paper handle!”
Seeing how excited he was to teach their not even a year old daughter to potty train made Scully feel a lot better about leaving him home alone; and even though all the books said not to even try until she was over a year old, they knew their daughter wasn’t a normal baby-not by a long shot, “Just don’t push her…”
“I have no intention of doing so. However, since one of the best methods is watching and learning I’m going to have to start sitting down a lot.”
The distraction from her interview anxiety was very much what she needed at this point and after taking another deep breath she nodded, “I’m going to go take a shower, you do me a favor and find a suit you think would make a good impression.”
“On a man or a woman?”
“Why should that matter?
“Well, I want you to look good, but not TOO good.”
Shaking her head, she ignored him and walked into the bathroom before sticking her head out as he looked at the suits laying on the bed, “A woman. In her sixties.”
Mulder nodded, “Good.”
October 21, 2019 9:30AM
Scully sat in the office of Helen Thomas as she waited for the woman to arrive for their interview/meeting. After everything that had occurred, Scully realized she wanted to contribute more to society – this new society – and as she didn’t want to run for ANY public office, as her husband continued to push, she decided to go back into medicine. Unfortunately, each state requires their own license, application and background check and after writing a check in the amount of four-hundred and twelve dollars to the Colorado Medical Board, now all she could do was wait. Feeling it couldn’t hurt to look, she was sent a posting for a primary care physician at the clinic in her own town. Not expecting an opportunity to come so quickly she filled out the application and sent over her updated resume – noting that she was still waiting to receive her Colorado Medical License - and was honestly surprised to receive a call within an hour after hitting send. She and Ms. Thomas spoke for over an hour and now as she waited to meet the woman, the nervous butterflies began to arrive. She didn’t need this job; between their pensions and Mulder’s inheritances they were set for life - however long that would be – but she missed working. She missed helping people. The anxious need that came over her the summer of 2004 when she told Mulder she wanted to go back to school to get her pediatric neurology license, was the same anxious need that came over her two weeks after her daughter weaned herself. She didn’t want to go back to school, at this point she felt she had enough training in her fields and after Christian passed away two years after she thought she saved him she left pediatric neurology and felt it best to work as a surgical assistant. Now, three years after leaving that position she realized how much she missed medicine and after speaking to Ms. Thomas the following Friday she decided primary care may be the best for her. As it was, there was a decline in medical students becoming primary care physicians, most wanting to go into specialized fields, which meant someone with Scully’s experience and skills was greatly needed.
“Not many of my doctors are licensed to handle firearms.” Ms. Thomas said as she entered her office with a file folder in her hand as she closed the door behind her.
Scully simply smiled at the tall woman with the light brown bob haircut who honestly reminded her of her first grade teach Ms. Van Martin, as she sat down behind the desk Scully had been sitting in front of for over half an hour, “I’m hoping that’s not a requirement.” She felt free to joke.
“It’s not.” Helen smiled and placed the folder on her desk, “I’m sorry I was delayed for our interview, I just got caught up going through all your paperwork.”
“How so?” Scully asked now growing concerned.
“Your work history is very fascinating. You graduated with honors from The University of Maryland, completed three years of residency as required, but then you chose to teach at the FBI academy in Quantico?”
Scully nodded as her life was read back to her, “At that point in my life it felt like the right thing to do.”
“I see, and then you were recruited by the bureau where you worked as a special agent for ten years.”
Scully nodded as she knew where this was going, “Yes.”
“But…”
And there it was. Scully shifted in her seat as she knew what was coming. As her resume hadn’t been updated since she applied at Our Lady of Sorrows, she and Mulder tried to figure out how to explain such a large gap in her work history. Leaving your home and profession to become a fugitive with the man you loved sounded romantic, but it didn’t play out well on a job application. When Father Ybarra noticed that large period of time missing from her resume he simply asked if the FBI had become so stressful she needed time to reconnect with herself and God and at the time it felt like a better answer than living in cheap motel rooms and eating cold pizza for breakfast. But now, so many years later, that space of time of 2002-2004 was two years she had to explain as more than self-reflection and she didn’t want to lie.
“My husband had a mental break.” Which wasn’t a lie, he just wasn’t her husband at the time and his ‘break’ wasn’t until so many years later.
Ms. Thomas nodded and looked back down at the paper in front of her, “From 2002-2004?”
Scully nodded, “I had lost our son and it was a lot to deal with.” Still not a lie; no need to bring up that she found him again, but at the same time she didn’t want to go into this job on such a lie, “He’s back in our lives now. It was a very traumatic time.”
Ms. Thomas nodded, “How old is he now?”
“Eighteen.” She quickly replied, “Currently at Stanford with his girlfriend.”
“What is he studying?”
Knowing Call of Duty wasn’t a degree program, Scully simply replied, “Computer science.”
“Oh.” Ms. Thomas continued to smile like it was a permanent facial expression and closed the folder, “I’m sorry if it felt like I was getting too personal, that two-year gap did leave me a bit concerned, but seeing that you then spent two years at The University of Virginia to receive your license in pediatric neurology, then worked at Our Lady of Sorrows until you returned to the FBI in 2016 did leave me a bit…puzzled.”
“Believe me, it puzzles me still to this day, but at the time it was something I needed to do for many reasons.”
“Care to elaborate?”
No, but apparently doing so was now a job requirement, “I met my husband while working for the bureau, and he decided to return in 2016 – as he was asked to return given his abilities to understand the criminal mind. Sure, it’s what may have led to his temporary breakdown, but he was fine then and he’s fine now. Actually, better than ever now since our daughter came into our lives.”
“And how old is she?”
Another question Scully waited for, “She’ll be one in December.”
And as she saw the woman before her doing the math in her head, her eyes narrowed a bit, “Invitro?”
Scully shook her head as a small smile came over her face, “No, just…an unexpected miracle.”
Ms. Thomas nodded, “I apologize if my reaction was in any way offensive.”
“Given my age, I’m used to it, but I recently met a woman who had her last child at sixty so it can happen...naturally.”
Ms. Thomas smiled as well, “Well, once again I apologize for the personal questions as we had made our decision before this meeting, I just wanted to get a better understanding of why you decided to return to medicine.”
“I want to help people.” Scully quickly replied, “My husband is fine staying at home all day, teaching himself new recipes and teaching our daughter two syllable words, and as much as I do love spending time with my family, I just know I have so much more to contribute to society.”
“You almost sound like a politician.”
Scully chuckled a bit, “Don’t go there. My husband keeps trying to get me to run for President.”
“Given we haven’t had one for quite some time...” Ms. Thomas shook her head, “Everything is so strange right now…it’s strange not having social media or a government.”
“Well, I know we still have some form of government because we’re still getting our pensions on the first of every month.”
Ms. Thomas nodded, “Yes, there is that. I guess in time everything will just work itself out. I will say, it’s a lot less stressful worrying every day if one little tweet will cause a war.”
“You sound like my husband.”
“I can’t wait to meet him.” Ms. Thomas stood up, “Why don’t we introduce you to the rest of the staff?”
“I’d like that.”
October 21, 2019 8:30PM
“It’s a good thing I don’t officially start until Wednesday…” Scully said as her husband filled her glass with a second round of champagne, “I may need tomorrow to sleep this off.”
“I’m very much ok with you not getting out of bed for the entire day, but the sleeping part is a turn off.” He said placing the bottle back on the nightstand as they sat up in their flannel nightwear celebrating Scully’s new job, “How many men?”
Rolling her eyes at his question, she took a sip, and then narrowed her eyes on him, “Two. Both married. One with four kids, another with one on the way and he’s young enough to be my son.”
“You know I have to ask these things.” He said finishing off his second glass, “And what are they having you do as we wait another possible two months for your license?”
“Research and assisting the doctors who have their licenses; it’s only for four to six hours a day three days a week. The rest of the time I’ll be here with you and the pink potty chair.”
“Yeah…” Mulder shook his head, “I tried to put her on it today…she said no.”
“She likes that word.”
“I honestly thought she’d have it mastered in an hour.”
“Well, if that’s the ONE thing she’s delayed with, we can live with it.”
“I’m just so done with diapers.”
“I’m with you there.”
October 28, 2019 – 12:55PM
On her first day, Scully decorated her office with the usual framed diplomas she had to retrieve from the box in the attic, and her desk was adorned with the wedding photo from Maui and another photo of just Melissa taken about a month earlier with her hair in a pink bow and a matching pink dress just sitting on the couch being…herself. Something about seeing that candid photo of her infant daughter so happy and relaxed just made Scully feel good. That she had brought such a being into the world filled her with purpose.
On her second day, she researched a specific kind of athlete’s foot and toe fungus and started to miss her daughter mastering the word bottle.
On her third day, she was heavily invested in ocular migraines when her phone went off because someone was too excited to share that their Halloween costumes had arrived.
“Wilma?” she said as she stared at the image of a dilated pupil before her, “I don’t recall agreeing to this.”
“You did. Three weeks ago, when I ordered the costumes. Fred, Wilma and Pebbles. You should see the bone hair clip. I may use it for occasions other than Halloween.” Mulder exclaimed like a hyper child who had had too much sugar.
As much as she loved hearing how excited he was she had one burning question, “And where are we supposed to wear these costumes? At home waiting for the non-existent trick or treaters to come up to the security gate before we’re in bed by nine?”
After a moment of silence, a large sigh came through the phone, “I guess I didn’t think about it. We didn’t get any visitors last year and we couldn’t go anywhere.”
“Because I was a whale.” Scully sighed as well, “Ok, I’ll make you a deal. If you can FIND a reason to wear such a costume I will, but if not then it’s just going to be a regular Thursday night in.”
“So, you mean going out. All of us.”
“We need to. I really don’t like the idea of you not leaving the house for weeks at a time.”
“I get outside.” Mulder replied sounding insulted.
“Not enough. I’m serious. I want you to make friends.”
“You mean other fifty-eight-year-old men with infants?”
“I’m sure they’re out there.”
“Fine. I have a task to take on.”
“And I have migraines to research.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.” She said before disconnecting the phone placing it on the desk.
“Dana?” a young woman who worked the front desk named Angela came up to her doorway, “There’s a woman here to see you.”
“How would anyone even know I work here?” Scully replied.
“Apparently she does. Said she’s a friend her name is Beth.”
“OH!” Scully replied given they had a texting relationship she had told Beth about her job, “Please send her in!”
Since their meetup in Jamaica they had texted a few times a week, just general ‘how are you’ doings, but given they lived in Scottsdale, having Beth just pop into the clinic was unexpected and when she saw Beth enter her office, Scully immediately sprung to her feet to embrace the older woman.
“This is unexpected.” Scully said as she closed the door, “What are you doing in town?”
“We knew you lived here.” Beth said as she sat in the chair across from Scully’s desk where she closed the laptop between them, “And we heard good things about the spring pools here. Janie is home alone and HASN’T thrown a party yet so we should be safe for the week.”
“Wow. It’s just amazing.”
“It’s only a nine-hour drive with traffic.” Beth said looking at the photos on Scully’s desk and picking up the one from Maui, “Are these your children?”
“Yes.” Scully replied, “William and Melissa.”
Shaking her head, Beth admired the beautiful family, “Such a shame.” She said placing the picture back on the desk.”
“Excuse me?” Scully replied taken a back and feeling more than a bit insulted.
“Oh, only that you only have two. Such beautiful people, and smart people, you could have brought so much more into the world.”
“You have to be thankful for what God gives you.” Scully replied as she had wanted more children, she realized that this was the plan God had made for her and she had to be grateful regardless of the timing and circumstances.
“God…sure.” Beth sighed and looked up, “If that’s what you want to call it.”
Starting to feel uneasy Scully placed her right hand on her left wrist, looking down to control the volume on her phone and turning it all the way down before hitting the left button to call the one person on her favorite’s list.
“Why do I have the feeling this isn’t a friendly visit?” Scully said.
“What?” Mulder asked then went silent, hitting mute on his phone as he turned up the volume as Melissa carried on about cat and juice and he gave her cut up apple pieces so he could focus on what was being said on the other end of the line.
“We are friends, Dana.” Beth replied and hearing Beth’s voice instantly sent panic through his body. As much as Mulder said they should trust their new friends and had no problem with his wife carrying on a texting relationship with this woman, the fact she was now in his wife’s office speaking in an almost robotic tone terrified him to the core.
“Missy…” he said to the little girl eating her apples, “We need to go see mommy.”
“Mommy!” Melissa exclaimed with chewed up apple in her mouth.
“I thought we were.” Scully replied, “But as you sit here questioning my life choices and my faith, I can’t help but wonder.”
“Dana, you were given a gift…a gift of eternal life and with that comes responsibilities. Responsibilities to yourself and the world to help make this world a better place with better people in it.”
“How do you know that?” Scully asked hoping beyond hope her husband had picked up the phone and was hearing all of this as she was now too uneasy to check her phone.
“I know nearly everything about you, Dana…and your husband.” Beth sighed, “Because I’m just like you. Only I knew what my purpose was.”
“To be a breeder.”
“I find that insulting. I love my children and they have grown to be incredible people. My oldest Ben works for the United Nations. Jessica, my second who just had her third child is computer programmer and even after giving birth is still working. She’s not exactly someone out of The Handmaid’s Tale and neither am I.”
“I didn’t mean to insult you, and I never said you didn’t love your children.”
Mulder ran up and down the stairs in record speed as he held the phone on speaker in his hand, hearing everything as his heart raced. After changing into his jeans and a black t-shirt before putting on his grey hooded jacket, he carried Melissa upstairs to change her into warmer clothing given it was sprinkling outside.
Beth stood up and began to walk around the office, looking at the diplomas on the wall, “So many accomplishments…”
Taking a second to check her phone it was clear Mulder had picked up and she quickly turned it face down before Beth turned towards her again, “Kimberly is currently in Antarctica working with Greenpeace.”
“I didn’t say your children weren’t accomplished.” Scully said looking up at the older woman, “I’m just saying we all have different paths.”
“You’ve been with your husband for twenty-seven years…” Beth said sitting back down, “Are you trying to tell me you never have sex?”
“I don’t believe that’s any of your business.” Scully said trying to find a polite way to tell this woman to leave and never contact her again.
Shaking her head, Beth sighed and looked directly at Scully, “I’m sorry Dana, it is.” She said leaning back, “Well, it is now.”
“Excuse me?” Scully replied aghast.
“Yeah, excuse me?” Mulder said to the muted phone as he strapped Melissa into her car seat one handed. “We have plenty of sex.”
“Sex!” Melissa exclaimed to which Mulder shook his head and pleaded with his daughter to never repeat that word.
“Well, not the sex part.” Beth said feeling bashful herself, “More like the path you are choosing to take with your life. I’m here because of that and only that.”
“What business is it of yours?” Scully replied wondering if she may have been better off not making friends in the first place.
“It was made my business almost three years ago, when my husband and I were told we needed to form a coalition of sorts.”
“A coalition.”
“Yes.”
“For a better world.” Scully said in unison with Mulder did as he sat in the driver’s seat of his car too shell-shocked to drive.
“I know you’re aware of us.”
“Unfortunately, so.” Scully replied crossing her arms, “Explains why you were grilling us about what happened in July. You wanted to know if we knew. It also explains why you just happened to be on a cruise then.”
“That cruise was planned over a year before the event occurred. Granted, it did give us a Noah’s Ark idea as to how to save those who deserved to be saved, even though not all made the journey.” Beth took a moment to collect her thoughts, “We currently are working on a census, but it has taken some time.”
“I would believe so.” Scully replied, “I guess just running into you in Jamaica wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Only partially. See, we’ve been going to that resort for so long we are pretty high up in the chain of who gets reservations to the butler suites and we surprisingly saw your name on a list for the week after we usually go, so we just stayed an extra week and made sure your room was next to ours. Most people wait years for one of those suites so consider yourself lucky we bumped another couple for you.”
“Who did you bump?”
“That isn’t important. What is important is that we did meet you, as I was made aware of the two of you and your son years earlier that whatever plans were made you needed to be included in them. We tried approaching you last year, but the address we had on file was incorrect. I’m sure the nice family we met in Virginia was mighty shocked to see us when we showed up on their doorstep. Carl didn’t update his records.”
“Maybe because Carl was dead by then.” Mulder said to the phone in its car mount as he drove towards the medical center.
“Yeah, well…Carl wasn’t aware we had moved.” Scully replied hoping that by now Mulder was on his way up to the center and now wishing it wasn’t twenty miles away from home.
“I believe Carl is deceased.” Beth replied, “From what I’ve been told his body was found in Norfolk back in late March.”
As much as she wanted to show how the death of the man who brought she and her husband together was a reason to celebrate, Scully stayed stone faced as she stared at the woman in front of her, “He had a lot of enemies.”
“Yes, well, from my run ins with him he could be very kind at times, but maybe we had different experiences.”
“He shot his son in the face.” Scully blurted out without really meaning to.
“Oh…” Beth picked up the family photo again.
“Not Fox.” Scully replied, “He had another son, Jeffrey.”
“Oh.” Beth placed the photo back on the desk, “Carl never mentioned Jeffrey.”
“Not surprising.” Scully replied, “He’s fine now, after a lot of surgery. There are still scars and he doesn’t really go out much, but he’s alive.”
“Still?” Beth asked honestly curious.
“Yes. Still. We made sure. Along with the rest of my family which wasn’t included on the so called ‘worthy of saving’ list.”
“There was a reason for those lists. Lots of time and effort was put into making sure the best people remained for this new world.”
“But only the United States was attacked.”
“Yes, well the United States is where the biggest issues were at the time. Those issues have been eliminated and now we have to go about creating a new working government for the people by the people and that’s where you come in.”
“How so?”
“Carl spoke so highly of you and all you had accomplished, except for breeding as you so eloquently put it. You have the mind and the heart to be a great leader.”
As Beth said the words Mulder had himself repeated over the last few months a smile crept over his lips as he got closer to the clinic. The fear pulsing through his body had been replaced with relief as Beth now spoke to Scully in a caring tone.
Scully knew he was listening to every word, and as much as she now wanted to disconnect the phone she let it continue so Mulder could hear her say the same words to Beth that she said to him every time he brought it up, “I’m happy with the life I have chosen.” She said directly, “I have no interest in being any kind of leader.”
“That’s disappointing.” Beth replied, “We were counting on you.”
“There are plenty of other people to count on. What about Oprah?”
Beth shook her head, “Oprah is more interested in the brand of being a leader, not the leading itself. As much as I do believe she cares about this world, it’s the fact she’s marketed herself to such extremes that leads me to believe she’s not who we want in a President. We already got that; and that’s why we are where we are today.”
“I knew it…” Mulder groaned as he turned onto South Pagosa Boulevard.
“You’re saying millions of people were extinguished because of one man?”
“Not ONLY because of him, the country was falling apart long before he was put in place, it just became so much worse under his rule. You must say, the last few months without him and social media have been more of a blessing than we expected.”
Scully nodded, “I really didn’t use social media much anyway.”
“I found your account before July.”
“That was for other reasons…I didn’t use it much.”
“Well, at least that way I knew what you looked like. Carl never really told us other than that you had red hair and you were beautiful.”
Unable to say thank you to such a compliment, Scully simply nodded.
“Natural?” Beth said eying the obvious roots on Scully’s head.
Scully nodded, “It’s changed through the years, but yes. My father had red hair and so do my brothers as did my sister.”
“Ah…” Beth nodded, “After the surgery back in eighty-eight Carl mentioned it would have been easier if I was a natural redhead…I used to dye my hair red and so everyone thought I was…” Beth shrugged, “Probably why there were complications. I had no idea that having auburn hair genetically was a defect.”
“Mutation.” Scully replied as much as she hated the word she felt it best to use the true term.
Beth nodded again, “I was the first for this specific experiment…I was told there was another woman they used for a different kind of experiment in terms of how they used alien DNA.”
Scully knew who she was referring to, but also didn’t like remembering the night Cassandra Spender and so many other people – just as innocent as Cassandra - were burned alive in an airplane hangar. Luckily, she heard a man’s voice outside the door, and it was a voice which sent tingles throughout her body as she waited for the door to open and Mulder to walk in holding their daughter.
“Hey…” he said trying to act like he knew nothing about what was going on, “Ready for our lunch date?”
“Oh..” Beth said looking at the two of them, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Beth!” Mulder pretended to be shocked to see her, “When did you get into town?”
“Yesterday.” Beth replied, “We’re staying at the Hot Springs Resort. You must come visit. We’ll be there till the third, unless Janie torches the house while we’re gone.”
“We’ll see if we can fit it into our schedule.” Scully said grabbing her phone and purse.
“Yes, please…I would like us to finish what we were talking about. Please.” Beth said in a very pleading tone.
Scully nodded as they walked Beth out of her office, and she let the front desk know she was going for lunch. After they watched Beth drive off in her rental car, Scully looked up at her husband who held their daughter while smiling down at her, “Shut up.” She said before walking towards his car.
October 28, 2019 – 2:205PM
“I’m just saying…” Mulder said as he picked at his iceberg salad from the salad bar a Boss Hogg’s Restaurant and Saloon, “I’m clearly not the only one who saw it as an…opportunity.”
As she stabbed a cherry tomato, and her daughter ate her own with her fingers, Scully shook her head in annoyance, “I’m not a politician. I can’t just…tell people what they want to hear and then do the opposite and even the good ones deal with so much hate…I can’t put myself or you or my children through that.”
“But there’s nothing about you TO hate.”
“That’s your opinion.” Scully replied, “Remember my thirtieth high school reunion? The evil stares I received.”
“I only remember it was only a couple years before you left my ass.”
“ASS!” Melissa squealed.
Mulder exhaled deeply and looked at the little girl sitting in the highchair to his right, “Why do you always choose the worst words to repeat?” Mulder said to his daughter who replied with a giggle as she picked up a baby carrot.
“She’s your child.” Scully said smiling at the two of them, “And I like my life right now, no, I love my life right now. Sure, it’s kind of boring waiting for my license to be approved, but I’m happy. I have everything I could have ever wished for.”
Mulder nodded, “Me too…”
Feeling the conversation was over Scully went back to cutting the broccoli on her plate.
“But…” Mulder added
Sighing, Scully looked up, “But….”
“Is it so wrong to want to be the one to help make this world a better place?”
“Then you run.”
“No one wants me.” Mulder said picking up a crouton with his fingers and popping it in his mouth, “This country deserves a qualified female president and as popular as she is, I just don’t see Oprah taking the job as seriously as you would.”
“That’s what Beth said.”
“I know. Which leads me to ask why you wrist dialed me in the first place…did you fear something more would happen, and you needed me to come rescue you?”
“Pretty much.”
“Oh, and by the way, I found a Halloween party on Thursday.”
Scully groaned at her cucumber, “Where?”
“Shooters and Shenanigans. It’s a little restaurant down the way. Even offering a cash prize for best costume.”
“Fine.” Scully said as she picked up her glass of water, “I did tell you to get out more.”
“Yes, you did.”
October 29, 2019 – 4:55AM
After the events of July fourth and the aftermath with Grace and her father, Mulder had a lot of trouble sleeping - among other things. After a good two weeks of staring at the ceiling he found a new doctor who prescribed him Ambien. He didn’t like medication and didn’t want to be dependent on any kind of chemical, but with the medication he was able to sleep through the night without waking up in anxiety ridden panic attacks. Mulder feared the side effects he had heard came with the medication, but so far aside from bizarre dreams he had yet to really deal with any and the other issues he was plagued with thankfully seemed to fix themselves in Jamaica.
Sometimes the dreams were funny – chasing Big Foot through the Everglades – and sometimes they were scary – waking up and finding himself alone without his wife and child- and other times, like now, they were hopeful. As Mulder opened his eyes to the darkened bedroom, he couldn’t help but tell his wife about the dream he had just had, but as he turned to his right to gently nudge her awake he found the other side of the bed empty, the covers pulled up and the bed cold. As panic coursed through his body he quickly sat up and looked around the room, he called out her name to no response. The bathroom door was open, and the room was dark. The panic intensified as his bare feet hit the cold hardwood and he rushed out to the hallway to his daughter’s room where he found the crib empty. Fearing he was still in a nightmare, he unlocked the top baby gate and rushed down the stairs, stepping over the bottom one and rushing into the kitchen and pulling a bottle of cold water out of the refrigerator.
As he walked back to the bottom of the steps he heard a faint voice call out, “Over here.”
Quickly turning to the right, he saw the image in the moonlight of his wife laying on the couch, their infant daughter against her chest. Heaving a deep sigh of relief, Mulder walked over to the couch and looked down at his wife, “Is everything ok?”
Scully nodded as she tenderly brushed her daughter’s hair with her right hand as she held Melissa’s tiny right hand in her left, “Now it is..” she said in a whispered tone, “What time is it?”
“About five.” Mulder whispered softly, “How long have you been down here?”
Scully shook her head, “I don’t know.” She replied adjusting herself a bit, “She was screaming, in a way I haven’t ever heard her scream before. I’m surprised she didn’t wake you.”
“The medication.”
Scully nodded, “I figured.” She replied taking a second to make sure Melissa was still sleeping, “When I picked her up she was fighting me, then started grabbing at my blouse. Given I’m out of commission in that department now, I warmed up some frozen breast milk I still had in the freezer and put it in a bottle. She began to settle as I prepared it but was still fussy and her eyes were read and swollen. I gave her the bottle and she sucked it up as the tears kept falling. She doesn’t have a fever, but something scared her.”
“Nightmare?” Mulder asked as he sat down and placed Scully’s lower legs on his thighs so he could get as close to her as possible without waking up their daughter.
“Maybe.” Scully replied. “I’m not sure how long she’s been asleep, but I’m afraid to move in fear of waking her.”
Mulder nodded, “I admit when I woke up alone, I did panic a bit.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She sighed, “You need to get that out of your head.”
“I know. I know that now, but the fear is still there. The nightmares that Tad O’Malley never showed up at my door and you found someone else and I lost you forever still happen every now and then. I can’t exactly shut off my subconscious.”
“Did you have another one of those dreams?” Scully asked as felt trapped under twenty-eight pounds and thirty inches of baby girl.
“No, the exact opposite really. That we were all together and living happily …just…someplace else.”
“Where?”
“A house…a big house…of ivory color…not too far from where we used to live.”
Scully inaudibly groaned, “You need to stop bringing this up.”
“I can’t shut off my subconscious. I told you that.”
“But you’re obviously thinking about it so much that your brain decided to bring it to life.”
“Maybe…” Mulder said as he began to trace his fingers up and down her legs, “But it’s not a crazy idea considering the last guy in charge. I just don’t think you should dismiss the idea so quickly. You’re an incredible person with a mind I envy and a heart as big as …well the biggest thing you can imagine.”
“You’re not being very persuasive.”
“My mind works better when the sun is up and I’m not in an Ambien cloud. But seriously, you should at least think about it. We’re not getting any younger.”
Scully smirked at his comment as she took another moment to look at her daughter, “I just don’t want our lives put under a microscope.”
“Things are different now. Everything is different now. I just know this is the path we were meant to take.”
“Paths.” Scully slowly sat up as she held her daughter tightly, “I’ve been thinking of that a lot lately. After speaking with Beth yesterday, knowing there is another woman out there like me.”
“Well, you knew you weren’t the only one…”
“Yes, but from everything I had been told and…shown…I was made to believe I was only one still alive. How many other women like Beth and myself are out there? And you? Clearly something was done to Patrick as well. We were both experimented on and tortured more than any human being deserves. Could we be the only ones?”
“Highly doubtful.” Mulder replied, “But how would we even know? We look like normal people, and so do Patrick and Beth. Their children and grandchildren all look just as normal as William and Joy. We should at least talk to them, find out more about them and their children now that we know the truth.”
Scully nodded as she slowly lowered her legs off her husband’s lap and after her bare feet touched the cold floor, she waited a moment before she stood on slightly wobbly legs to return her daughter to her crib. Mulder rushed before her to open the baby gate and closed it behind the three of them as they quietly walked back up the stairs. After placing the sleeping Melissa back in her crib and waiting a minute or two to see if she would awaken, they returned to their bedroom where Scully was more than happy to crawl back into her comfortable bed.
“Just let me get a few hours’ sleep and then I’ll text Beth.” Scully said as she lay on her left side as Mulder got back into bed as well and lay on his right to face her, “Just to talk about things. I have no intention of doing more than that.”
“Fine. Talking is good.” Mulder replied hoping talking would lead to more.
October 29, 2019 –1:02PM
“In 1988, while detaining Monte Props, I was shot in the back, which severed my spine.” Pat said as he handed Mulder a beer from the stainless-steel refrigerator as they sat at the granite tiled breakfast bar, “They said I would be paralyzed from the waist down for life. I was fifty-one. It was my last big case and I planned to retire from the bureau after, but I did not want to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I admit, I wasn’t mentally able to take on such a challenge. Especially after my first wife Vicki left me because she said I cared more about a serial killer than her. I had dedicated my LIFE to the bureau, and this was what I had to look forward to?” Pat sighed as he leaned over the sink as Beth cooked up some of her famous pasta on the stove of the suite provided kitchen, “Are you good?” he asked Scully as she took a moment to check on Melissa who was content in the travel playpen with her Leap Frog Pal Violet who Mulder programmed to help Melissa learn her name and songs and words, but for now was just squishy and Melissa liked when it spelled out her name in a song which she still giggled at more than paying attention to the purple puppy.
Scully looked at her half-finished glass of wine and nodded, “Yes, thank you. Please, continue.”
Patrick nodded, “A man came to visit me while I was in the hospital. He told me of an experimental surgery that would allow me to walk again. I had already met Beth, and there was a connection there I couldn’t quite figure out as she helped me regain strength in the parts of my body not paralyzed. The fear I would never recover feeling again made me extremely suicidal, so this man’s offer was pretty hard to refuse.”
“Spinal surgery isn’t that uncommon.” Scully said as the lavender stuffed puppy continued to sing M E L I S S A behind them.
“No, it’s not, but I had already been through two with no results. What this man was offering was a simple injection into my spine that would essentially reconnect the spine at the point where it was cut. Like some kind of …super glue.”
“Stem cells?” Scully asked as she felt the intense need to take another sip of her Merlot.
“Alien stem cells…”Mulder said looking at his wife then back at Patrick, “I’m right aren’t I?”
Patrick nodded, “At the time I laughed because who really believes in aliens?”
Beth shook her head as she tossed some fresh garlic into the skillet.
“But I was also desperate. Desperate to walk again and desperate to …be with the woman I loved.” He sighed and looked down at the sink, “So, I figured… what the hell. This man knew me, knew what I had done and as experimental as it was, I was already in a no-win situation, so I figured I had nothing to lose.” He said taking a deep breath before looking at the man and woman before him, “The injection was at ten pm. A doctor came in with a giant needle and as I lay on my stomach, he inserted it into the part of my back where I still had feeling. Even with the morphine, I felt it, and had to bite down on a pillow as to not awaken the entire floor. Then I passed out. When I woke up, I was no longer in the hospital but in a private hospice where a nice nurse named Angela brought me a glass of water and two pills. She said they were for pain and I took them and passed out. When I woke up again, I was in the same room and there was another doctor I didn’t recognize. He pressed a sewing pin against the ball of my foot, and I shot up in bed. First, amazed that I had felt the pin, and second that the operation had worked. The man who offered me the deal arrived a little later, closer to midnight and now he reeked of cigarette smoke.”
“Of course, he did.” Mulder said as he quickly guzzled the beer in his hand.
“He asked how I was feeling and then asked me to try to walk. I was afraid, given I hadn’t felt anything below my waist in weeks and still had a catheter and colostomy bag attached. But I felt compelled to obey this man and slowly lowered my legs to the floor before finding myself in a standing position with no trouble. No vertigo, no lightheadedness. Holding the bags, I then took a step. Then another. Amazed that my legs were now doing something I had been told by accredited doctors they would never do again. The next day the catheter and bag were removed. I was in this center for about a week, and in that time longed for Beth. I had told the man how much she meant to me, how I had never felt for any woman how I felt for her from the moment we met. He said he understood. How he understood how we had both felt since that first meeting in the hospital.” Pat said looking at his wife, “and what she did for me.”
Beth smiled back at him as she lowered the heat on her sauce, “I was forty-three. I had given up on finding a man, having a child.” She said walking over to her husband and taking his hand in hers, “And here I had fallen madly in love with a man who had just been through a traumatic injury. Given my training I knew I could take care of him, and had no issue doing so, but I also feared he wouldn’t want to go on if he was unable to walk.”
“It wasn’t just the walking...” Pat said as he placed his free hand on hers and squeezed it.
Blushing a bit, Beth looked to Scully, “I knew the experimental surgery was a risk, but if it meant he would walk again I didn’t see the harm in trying. I was there when it happened outside in the waiting room and I heard the screams and as tears fell down my cheeks the man who had made the offer placed his hands on mine and said everything was going to be ok. That this surgery was going to mean that Pat could never be hurt again. I asked what he meant by that, and he walked me to another room where I was given an offer of eternal life with the man I had recently fallen in love with. The surgery wouldn’t be as easy as Pat’s was, but in doing so I would be helping society.” Beth shook her head, “I know it all sounds insane.”
“We’ve lived through insane.” Mulder replied as he adjusted himself in his chair, “So you willingly allowed them to experiment on you?” He questioned Beth given Scully and the others they had met had just been taken without their consent.
“The crazy things you do for love. I had always wanted a husband and children, but one of my ovaries wasn’t releasing eggs. The surgery he was suggesting would correct that issue, and I could have children. Even at my advanced age, I could have children much longer than most women and that the risk of birth defects would be minimal. I mean, who wouldn’t jump on that?”
Scully had now finished her wine and as cloudy as her mind felt, it didn’t feel numb enough. “He told you…what would be done?”
Beth nodded as she took Scully’s wine glass and refilled it, sensing she clearly needed more, “Yes.” She said placing the now filled to the rim glass in front of Scully, “It was called super ovulation. They would then remove all of my eggs, all of them.” She shook her head as she then took the bottle of Merlot and drank what was left of in the bottle, “They would then inject each egg – each MICROCROPIC EGG – with this…alien DNA…before inserting them back into my ovaries. The bad ovary was also corrected with the same foreign matter, before the eggs were returned. I honestly didn’t think it was possible; like putting a chicken egg back into a shell, but apparently it is.”
“Are you sure they put them all back?” Scully asked as her mind instantly went to Emily.
“He said they would…but…” She shrugged, “I have seven healthy and incredibly gifted children so I can’t really complain.” Beth sighed, “We would have had more, but there were complications with Janie’s delivery, and they had to perform a tubal ligation to stop me from bleeding to death. So, she was our last.”
“I’m sorry.” Scully replied turning back to check on Melissa and seeing her sound asleep holding the stuffed dog who was half her size.
“It’s ok. We were guaranteed a substantial amount of money for each child and each grandchild. I guess we don’t get anything for little Natalie now that Carl is gone.”
“How much money?” Mulder asked curious as to how much money his father had.
“Five hundred thousand for each child and two hundred and fifty thousand for each grandchild.”
That was easily three and a half million just for their own children and Mulder realized he had still inherited much more than that, “Were you the only ones they made this offer to?” Mulder asked.
“We wouldn’t know as we only ever met Carl. After I recovered from my surgery, was about the same time Pat was released from hospice. We got married immediately and Ben was born precisely nine months to that day.” She looked at the younger couple before her, “So, there you have it.”
“And your children are normal?” Scully asked considering all she saw with William as an infant – before the other tests were performed on him – and now with Melissa and her development.
Beth and Pat nodded in sync, “Our children seemed to develop faster than most. Ben was walking and talking before his first birthday and graduated high school at fifteen, but they’re normal.”
“They never caught a cold or the flu.” Pat added, “Never broke a bone.”
“Ben was an all-star. He played basketball and baseball.” Beth smiled proudly, “Trophies lined his bedroom walls.”
Instantly the realization of what William could have been hit Scully square in the gut, “I need air.” She said getting down from the chair on wobbly legs as she walked to the door.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Mulder asked as he got up as well.
“No, stay with Melissa.” Scully said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
October 29, 2019 – 12:55PM PST
Pushing a cart around the overly crowded for one pm on a Tuesday Spirt Halloween store, William attempted to find a couples costume he didn’t hate. Avocado and toast was stupid, cheese and wine were…cheesy…but as his phone went off in his pocket it was the ring tone that said he needed to pick up.
“Hey, mom.” He said as he rolled his eyes at the alien costumes.
As she sat in her car, hearing her son’s voice was just what she needed as the tears she didn’t want anyone else to see fell down her face, “How are you?” she said sniffing a bit.
“Are you crying?” William asked as a kid ran past him screaming.
“I was, but it’s not important.” She replied, “I know we’ve discussed this over and over again, but I just have to ask you one thing.”
“What?” William replied as he considered the cowboy and cowgirl.
“Are you happy?” Scully asked. As generic a question it was, she needed him to answer her.
William stopped walking and focused on his mother’s question, “Are you ok?” he asked genuinely concerned.
“Yes, but I just need to know if you are.” Scully replied taking a deep breath as she watched couples leave their rooms and walk to the pools.
“I am, mom.” William said as a little girl ran by him with an Ariel costume and he knew precisely what to buy.
“Good.” Scully nodded to herself and shook her head a bit in an attempt to shake out the worry inside of it, “Where are you?” She asked given the sounds of children in the background.
“Halloween store. We were invited to a party on Halloween and now we just need costumes. Joy is in class so it’s all on me.”
“Ah, you father is forcing me to dress up as Wilma Flintstone.”
“You HAVE to take photos!” William smiled at the visual as he tossed an adult Eric costume in the cart.
“Only if you promise to destroy them.” Scully replied.
“So, what spurned this call questioning my wellbeing?”
“We met a couple in Jamaica…” Scully replied.
William’s eyes widened as he realized he never told them the truth about the couple they had met, “Oh..them.”
“Yes, I know your father asked you to run a check on them and you found nothing.”
“That’s not entirely true.” William replied, “I just didn’t know how to tell you…”
“That they run the Coalition for a Better World?”
“That would be it. How did you find out?”
“Beth told me. They’re with your father and sister now.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?”
“They don’t want to hurt us. Turns out, they’re just like us in some ways. Only Beth had seven children until she was sixty.”
“Damn…”William replied, “So you found your others.”
“In a sense, and now they want to put me in charge of everything.”
“You’d make a great president. Better than we’ve had a in some time.”
“You’ve been talking to your father.”
“No, well not about that. He hasn’t mentioned anything about you running for political office just that you went back to medicine which is cool too. I just…”
“Just what?”
“Think you should broaden your horizons. Take a chance. The worst that can happen is you don’t win.”
“Thanks.” She replied in a slightly sarcastic tone.
“All I’m saying is don’t rule it out. Just think about it. It’s a new world, well a new United States. You should see the college campus. People actually talking to each other face to face now.”
“I remember those days.”
“Yeah, it’s different. You think we’d miss social media, but I really don’t. I’m sure something will eventually take its place, but for now we’re good.”
“Well, I don’t want to keep you. Good luck on the costume and don’t let Joy out of your sight at this party.”
“I don’t plan to.” William replied before they hung up.
After sitting in her car for a few more minutes to collect herself, Scully returned to the room, knocking on the door as Mulder rushed to open it.
Quickly noticing her eyes were red and a little puffy, Mulder’s concern grew, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She smiled and placed her right hand on his chest, “I’m fine now.”
“We didn’t mean to upset you.” Pat said as he placed plates and silverware on the breakfast bar for the lunch they had prepared, “We just wanted you to know we know what you’ve been through.”
“I know.” Scully said kneeling before the playpen to watch her daughter sleep, “I just had to call someone.”
“William?” Mulder replied sitting on the couch directly next to the playpen.
Scully nodded as she looked up at him, “I guess I just needed to hear his voice and to know he’s ok…and happy.”
Mulder nodded, “I understand where you’re coming from.”
“I love these suites that come with a full working kitchen.” Beth said as she dished out the cooked penne onto the bare plates then went back to retrieve the skillet, “This is a recipe handed down from generations. My grandmother was Sicilian and married an Irishman, so she also has a great recipe for corned beef and cabbage, but I know you don’t eat beef.”
Scully smiled as she stood up from the playpen, “Which leads me to ask, if you oversee the Coalition for a Better World, why do you still eat meat? Haven’t you heard what it’s doing to the climate?”
“We don’t eat beef either.” Pat replied as he pulled the garlic bread out of the oven, “You said Smart Balance margarine was vegan? It was the only kind we could find at the store here.”
“That’s fine.” Mulder said approaching the breakfast bar, “We do tend to cheat when it comes to dairy. If not for the vegan home delivery service we’d cheat a lot more.”
“We’ve tried vegetarian for so many reasons.” Beth added, “It’s just so difficult to give up chicken and fish.”
“We don’t push others, it’s just for our own benefit.” Mulder said pulling out the chair as did his wife as they sat next to each other and Beth and Pat served them before serving themselves.
“On Thanksgiving and we go to the Phoenix mission to help cook for those in need.” Beth said as she sat down next to Scully, “Maybe one year you would like to join us.”
Scully nodded as she picked up her fork, “I’ll have to see what my work schedule is like, but that sounds like something we would love to do.”
Mulder nodded, “As long as you don’t expect us to cook a turkey.”
Pat smiled, “No. Plenty of mashed potatoes to peel and cranberries to boil for you two.”
After lunch, they sat around with their wine and beers and Scully fed Melissa sweet potatoes from a jar as she sat in her mother’s lap.
“Sometimes I really miss that.” Beth said as she sat in plush royal blue chair across from the matching couch.
“It’s even more fun when she spits them up.” Mulder added.
“Just watching them learn, and their reactions to every new thing…” Beth sighed and looked to her husband, “I think we need to fly to Albany next week.”
Pat nodded, “I’ll make the reservations later.”
“Is that where you daughter is?” Scully asked as she wiped the tiny spoon on a cloth before closing the jar and tossing them all into the diaper bag.
“Jessica and her husband Daniel, yes. She’s sent me plenty of photos of Natalie, but I just miss the feel of a baby. The money was nice, but I always wanted a large family and given I wasn’t sure how many I could have we…kept busy if you get my drift.”
Scully nodded as she reached for her glass of wine from the coffee table as she held onto Melissa with her right, “You seem to have been able to pull it off quite well. Seven kids in seventeen years.”
Beth nodded, “Carl believed we could start to make the world a better place by bringing better people into it. He called it a world of his design. If only he could have lived to see the outcome.”
Mulder choked a bit on his beer before placing it on the coffee table, “You’re saying my father was initially behind the coalition.”
“It was his idea.” Pat added, “A couple years back. He saw what was happening to the country and the world and wanted to put together a group of people to spearhead the creation of a new society and a new government.”
“How many people are in this coalition?” Mulder asked.
“About fifty.” Pat replied, “From all over the world, but half are in the United States. Most communication was via text or email or even Skype, but every three months we’d get together and discuss. At least those of us in the states. Many in the UK and Russia dropped out of the group once we were primarily focused on the United States.”
“So, nothing will happen to the rest of the world?” Scully asked as she practiced the great art of holding her daughter while drinking wine.
“For now, we can’t be certain.” Beth added, “Only time will tell, which is why we want to get a new and better government up and running. Those who have submitted applications for various positions of senators will have to undergo lengthy interviews to prove they are up for the challenge.”
“The challenge?” Mulder asked.
“Of proving they care more about the country than themselves. That they aren’t prone to take money from big tobacco or big oil or the damn NRA.” Pat replied, “But first we are working on a census to see exactly how many people survived and exactly where they are located to properly know exactly how many senators from each state we will need.”
“So, you’re not sticking to two from each state?” Scully asked. “Just tossing out the constitution.”
“Most of the constitution has been irrelevant for some time; it all depends on population. How fair is it to have TWO senators representing thirty-nine million people in California and one million in Rhode Island? At least that was the population in 2018.”
“Isn’t that what congress is for? To represent smaller districts?”
“We’re still working all that out. Trying to determine if we even need them. And this six-year term is out the window.”
“Same with the lifetime positions on the supreme court. No one should have a lifetime appointment for ANY position. We all must prove ourselves daily.” Beth added with a certain annoyance to her voice.
“So, none of the supreme court survived the event?” Mulder asked.
“Some did, and those who did were asked to resign just as all of the surviving members of congress did.”
“Guess we missed that…” Mulder said to his wife given they congress members who survived made news when they resigned.
“We didn’t want it reported. Anywhere.” Beth shook her head, “The news media was warned.”
“They only care about ratings and newspapers sold.” Pat replied as he got up to get another beer, “Do you want another beer, Fox?”
“No, I’m good.” Mulder replied, “I still have to drive home.”
“You’re more than welcomed to stay the night. We do have the other bedroom and we can have a crib brought in for the little one.” Beth said anxious to spend more time with this woman she saw as the leader of this new country and as a friend given she didn’t have many in Scottsdale since the women she knew cared more about playing golf and shopping.
“I have work tomorrow.” Scully smiled, “But I appreciate the offer.”
“Oh yes, work.” Beth sighed, “Working part time in a medical office.”
“It’s what I want to do with my life now.” Scully replied, “I want to work, but also be with my daughter as much as possible.”
Beth didn’t want to look as disappointed as she felt, all she could do was look to her husband who simply shrugged, “We can’t force her into a position she has no interest in undertaking.”
Nodding in response to her husband, Beth turned back to Scully and went for her final pitch, “There’s a meeting the first week of December at a resort about an hour from Manhattan. All the remaining members of the Coalition will be there. By then the census should be done and we can go over how we’d like to see the country move forward in the next year. You’re more than welcomed to join us.” She looked to Mulder, “Both of you. All of you if you’d like to bring your son as well. Carl’s vision included you, Dana. He saw you as a savior of sorts; even if you don’t see it yourself.”
Scully simply nodded, “I’ll think about it.”
“I appreciate that.” Beth forced a smile, “All expenses paid. It’s a place used for corporate retreats, and well, we kind of see that as it.”
“Crystal Springs?” Mulder asked.
“Why, yes…” Beth replied a bit shocked he knew the location, “You’ve heard of it?”
“We had a team building workshop there in 2000.” He said eying his wife, “I really sucked at Foot Golf.”
Scully couldn’t help but smile at the memories. The first corporate retreat they made it to, and they spent most of the time in her room. “But we got first place in the chili cook off.”
Mulder nodded as he looked to his daughter as she kept her eyes on Violet in the playpen, “We should probably get going though.” He said standing up, “Scully has your number and she’ll let you know if we decide to join you on this retreat of sorts.”
Beth nodded and stood up as well, “We would just need to know before Thanksgiving.”
Thursday, October 31, 2019 – 7:15PM
As she sat at the table in the back, her hair in bun with a giant pearl necklace digging into her collar bones, kicking the ice in her glass with a plastic straw after finishing a vegan burger that was nothing to write home about, Scully openly sighed as she looked at the other people in costume in the restaurant. There was a Harley Quinn and Joker, a Maleficent alone with a beer at the bar, characters she didn’t recognize along with a cowboy who could have also been Woody from Toy Story. She didn’t want to say she was bored, but there were better things she could be doing with her time. Taking a fry from her husband’s plate she sighed as she waited for him to return with their Pebbles.
The blue tie slung over his shoulders over the orange and black caveman gown, Mulder returned from the men’s room infant daughter in arms as he placed her in the provided high chair before tossing the diaper bag on the empty chair, sitting down and finishing up his non-alcoholic mojito.
“I’m telling you, my goal, by the end of the year is to get her potty trained.” Mulder said as the visions of what he saw came back to him.
“I told you not to rush her.” Scully replied in a very unenthusiastic tone as she desperately wanted a second drink. Or would this be her third?
“I know, but caveman didn’t have to put up with this back in the day.”
“You’re an evolved caveman.” She replied flagging down the server and holding up her glass.
“That’s your third.” Mulder replied questioning why his usual light drinking wife was hitting them so hard tonight.
“You’re driving.” She replied before sighing and adjusting the one strap on her Wilma Flintstone dress.
“Are you ok?” Mulder asked genuinely concerned as he hadn’t seen her this, down, in quite some time.
“You checked the mail, right?” She questioned.
Mulder nodded, “Every day. I drive ninety minutes twice a day and I’m sorry, but it’s not there yet.”
Waiting for her Colorado Medical License was becoming more difficult every day. There were only so many things she could do at the center without her license and she was starting to feel like nothing more than a highly paid intern. The server brought Scully her third mojito and she worked on doing what she could to escape the depression wanting to attack her brain.
“Maybe I should knock you up again.” Mulder said watching how fast she sucked up the white tequila, “At least that would get you to stop drinking.”
“And give me a purpose.” She replied after finishing half the drink in one swift motion.
“You have a purpose.” Mulder said placing his hand on her forearm, “Just being you.”
Rolling her eyes, something she really hadn’t done in years, she sighed, “Yip. Eee.”
“I hate seeing you like this.” Mulder said as he picked up a fry and handed it to his daughter, “French Fry.” He said to Melissa as she took the fry, looked at it, then began to slowly chew on it without saying a word. “I think you’re depression is rubbing off on her.”
“I’m not depressed.” Scully replied defensively, “I have nothing to be depressed about.”
“Depression doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t need a reason to make you feel like you don’t matter, that nothing matters and no one loves you. I don’t want you to ever feel like that.”
“Is that how you felt?” She honestly asked him, “Before…”
Mulder nodded a bit, “You were gone a lot, and my mind told me it was because you were sick of me, that you only stayed with me because you felt sorry for me and needed to escape so eventually…you did.”
Taking another long drink Scully finished the drink and then pushed it away, “I want to go home.”
“What about the contest? The results aren’t for an hour.”
“I may be a bit drunk, and I may not feel exactly like myself, but I want to prove I will never be sick of you.”
“Works for me.” Mulder said waving down the server for their check.
November 1, 2019 – 3:15AM
November 4th, 2019 – the last day to withdraw with a partial refund.
But she was on scholarship so that wasn’t an issue.
As Joy looked over her paper for molecular and cellular physiology to be turned it and nine am that day, her mind went elsewhere. To the texts Heather sent of she and Hannah in Malibu, on the set of the movie she was making and telling her she had to come join them.
She was supposed to be a doctor.
That was the plan.
But every day since she started at Stanford, she saw that plan becoming the last thing she wanted in her life.
“It’s after three.” William said standing behind her at the desk they shared in the living room.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Joy said looking at the two-thousand words of bullshit on the computer screen before her.
Trying to understand what she had written, William gave up three words in, “Is this what distracted you at the party?”
“This, and the fact I didn’t want to be there.”
“You won first place in the costume contest. All the other Ariels just looked like sluts with bikini tops.”
“Only because of my hair.” She replied as it was now in a messy bun on the top of her head. “I just don’t relate to those people.”
“We don’t relate to a lot of people.” William sighed as he walked to the balcony doors of their apartment and looked out, “But it was nice to get out of this damn apartment.”
“No one’s keeping you here.” She said in a flat tone.
“Did I do something to upset you?” William asked as she had been in this monotone ‘meh’ state for some time.
“No.” she sighed, “I don’t mean to take it out on you.” She said picking up her phone and looking at the Halloween photos Heather texted her only hours earlier, both women wearing school girl uniforms with skirts way above the knees, “I guess I just need a break.”
“You’ve taken on twice as many credits as any other student. I told you this would happen.”
“Is it wrong to want to get my life started as soon as possible?”
“Only if you kill yourself in doing so.” William said walking back over to the desk and kneeling down, “You’ve been mumbling the word mistake in your sleep a lot. Just tell me the truth – am I the mistake. I can take it. I’ve been through much worse.”
Joy looked over at him, his brown eyes looking lost and full of sorrow, “No.” she sighed, “But you’re the only thing that feels right here.”
“Stanford.”
“Stanford, school, all these classes.” She said looking at the paper and turning off the monitor, “Maybe it’s just a phase.”
“The, I hate the choices I’ve made in my life, phase?”
“Pretty much.” Joy replied before turning off her phone, “I know we’re seeing my mom for Thanksgiving, but I was thinking maybe we could go see Heather and Hannah for winter break.”
“I’d like that.” William replied standing up, “We could use some southern California beach time.”
“Most definitely.”
November 4, 2019 – 11:15AM
“Dana.” Dr. Amber Michaelson with shiny black hair and the perfectly straight white teeth and a chest Scully only had while she was pregnant, said as she walked into Scully’s office, “We are backed up in filing in the file room, can you help?”
Looking away from her computer, Scully found herself just staring at this twenty-nine-year-old woman, “Excuse me?”
“Filing, it’s really backed up and we need help getting charts put away.”
Taking a deep breath as insulting this woman wouldn’t be the best reply, Scully simply stood up, locked her computer, put her phone in her pocket and nodded.
“Great!” Amber replied a bit too enthusiastic, “It’s just been so busy here.”
“I understand.” Scully said in almost a robotic tone as she followed Dr. Michaelson to the file room.
November 4, 2019 – 12:PM
“Burger King…I’ll show you an impossible burger.” Mulder said as he cooked the black beans and tossed in some onion and garlic powder.
“Booger!” Melissa called out from her highchair with her baby carrots.
“Bur-ger.” Mulder repeated back to her, “Booger is the thing I had to extract out of your nose this morning.” He replied squirming at the memory.
“Booger!” she giggled back at her father.
“Fine. Booger.” Mulder replied as the phone sitting on the island went off.
“What’s up, Buttercup?” He said into the phone wondering how Scully would have reacted if he answered the phone that way twenty-years ago.
“Did you get the mail?” Scully replied as she sat on a stool in the file room, tears running down her face as she feared she was close to a manic break.
Mulder sighed, as disappointing her was the last thing he ever wanted to do, “Just got back fifteen minutes ago. I would have called if it was there.”
“I give up.” She said sniffing and wiping the tears away.
“It’s only been a couple of weeks.” He replied not needing to ask why she was crying because he had sensed her frustration building every day the license didn’t arrive.
“They have me filing now!”
“Six figure salary to be a file clerk isn’t all bad.”
“I’m better than this!” she cried back tossing a SMI file onto the floor, “I did not spend four years in medical school and three years in residency to BE A FUCKING FILE CLERK!” she screamed not caring who heard her, “And if the state medical board can’t get off their ass and get me my license I’m going to find something else to do with the rest of my life!”
Hearing her angry was upsetting, but the drive behind the anger is what Mulder focused on, “What are you saying?”
“I’m coming home, and then I’m calling Beth.”
Mulder couldn’t help but smile, “We’ll be waiting.”