Title: Looking for Stacey

Author: Tanja

E-mail: voet@tanja-myrna.demon.nl; xfshippers@writeme.com; 
tanyavoet@hotmail.com

Rating: PG-13/R (couple of swear words, sorry in advance)

Keywords: Angst, Mulder/Scully married

Summary: They are used to handle dangerous situations, but what 
if it is the persons they care about most that are in danger?

Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully, Skinner and all the other X-files 
characters aren't mine. Stacey and Karin are though! The rest 
belongs to Chris Carter, 1013 and Fox Network.

Dedication: To Joey, who told me to get my act together (or 
better to say, forced me) and finish this story. As promised, 
for you Jo J And thanks for beta-ing for me J Can't wait to see 
you in April!

Looking for Stacey

Prologue

Everybody knew they were close, but nobody knew how close. There 
were a number of people who did know: their families, the Lone 
Gunmen and two of Scully's best friends. People who knew not to 
talk about certain things. It was better to keep her away, not 
to let anybody know that she existed, not because they didn't 
want to, but because it would be safer for everyone. Once they 
would find out, they would know their weakness; they would know 
what to do to make them fall. 

Looking for Stacey

J. Edgar Hoover Building

Basement office

11th December 2000

They were in the office, when they received the news. It was 
Mulder, who answered the phone. Scully looked at him, seeing how 
his smile disappeared, replaced by a combination of shock, 
horror and worry. As he put down the phone, he turned to her, 
wondering how he was going to tell her this. His face had lost 
all its color.

"Dana ...." He stopped, honestly not knowing how to bring her 
the news that was going to break her heart. All this time, all 
those years they had been afraid that something like this would 
happen. Once they had realized the danger of people finding out 
about their marriage and their daughter, they had taken their 
precautions. For the last 7 years Stacey had been going to a 
boarding school in New Jersey, not far away from Charlie's 
place. They missed her of course, but they tried to spend as 
much time together as they could.  

Until now, the knowledge that Scully's youngest brother and his 
family were always around in case of an emergency, had stopped 
them from giving up their jobs, move back to the Vineyard and 
start living a normal life. One day they would, that was the 
promise they had made themselves when they were partnered.

"Fox?" She asked, worried. Knowing that whatever it was, it was 
not going to be good news.

"That was .... Charlie."

She knew what that meant. Charlie would never call them at work, 
not without a very good reason, not unless something was 
seriously wrong. "Stacey?"  She whispered. Already knowing the 
answer to her own question.

Mulder only nodded.  "I ...."  His voice broke, the thought that 
something could happen to their daughter, the thought that they 
might lose her unbearable. "She's missing, Dane. They called 
Charlie this morning, to tell him that she, Karin and another 
friend are missing."

"Oh God, no ..." She started to cry. "Fox ..." 

He was at her side in two seconds. Pulling her into his arms, 
trying to comfort her. "Shhh, it's going to be alright. We'll 
find them, I promise we will. Charlie already put one of his 
teams on the case. They are doing everything they can to find 
them." Unlike their eldest brother Bill, Dana and Charlie hadn't 
followed their father's example. Dana had joined the FBI and 
Charlie worked for the Local Police Department in New Jersey.

"We have to go there. We have to see what we can do to help 
them." 

"I know. Give me a few minutes. I'm going up to talk to Skinner, 
to request a leave of absence. And then we can go."

"Fox, you can't tell Skinner, no matter what's going on, he 
can't ..."

He interrupted her "I know, don't worry, I won't tell a thing, 
but I do have to inform him we are leaving."

She nodded, understanding. "Make it quick, I'll be waiting for 
you." 

"Are you sure you're going to be okay for now?" He asked, 
worried.


"I promise." She wiped the tears from her face, trying to give 
him a reassuring smile.

In the elevator, on his way to Skinner's office, Mulder leaned 
against the coolness of the door. Trying to regain his 
composure, knowing he would have to keep his head cool. For Dana 
and Stacey and Karin, to be able to do everything he could to 
help them find them. At this moment though, he wasn't feeling so 
composed. The fear that something might happen to Stacey and 
Karin holding his heart in a firm grip. 

Skinner's Office

Skinner's secretary Kimberly tried to stop him from walking in, 
but the determined and pale look on his face made her let him go 
in anyway. Skinner was on the phone when Mulder came in, but 
quickly finished his phone call when he saw Mulder coming in.

"Agent Mulder, I just got a phone call, Agent Scully and you 
...."

Mulder didn't let him finish "I'm sorry Sir, but I am here, to 
inform you that Scully and I will both be leaving for an unknown 
amount of time."

"Excuse me?"

"I would like to request a personal leave of absence for both of 
us."

"Not unless you're going to tell me what's going on Agent 
Mulder."

"I'm sorry, I can't. It's personal; all I can say is that it is 
very important. We will let you know as soon as possible when we 
will be back."  After that Mulder turned around and left 
Skinner's office in a hurry, leaving Skinner behind in shock and 
wondering what the hell was going on. 

What Mulder didn't know, was that Skinner had just received a 
phone call from the Chief of the Local Police Department in New 
Jersey, requesting help from the FBI on a case where three young 
girls had disappeared. Skinner had immediately thought of 
putting Mulder and Scully on the case, but before he had even 
been able to discuss this with them, Mulder had strode into his 
office, informing him that both he and Scully were going to 
leave for an unknown amount of time. Without even giving him 
reasons. For a moment he considered sending out another pair of 
agents, before he decided that this time he would go himself. It 
had been a long time since he had been in the field, and the 
chief of the department, James O'Connelly was a good friend of 
him. Wouldn't hurt to go take a look himself.


"Dana, Fox!" Charlie immediately cut of the conversation he was 
having with one of the agents in this case, when he saw his 
sister and brother-in-law had arrived.

They both looked tired and worried. Fear visible in their eyes. 
He was having the exact same feelings. He had practically grown 
up with his niece,  when she was born; he had been 13 years old. 
His first and always his favorite niece. When Fox and Dana had 
taken the difficult decision to send her to boarding school, he 
and his wife had suggested to send her to one close to where 
they lived. That way she could stay with them in the weekends 
and holidays if she wasn't with her parents. 

"Hey Charlie." Dana said softly, hugging him. Fox greeted him 
the same way, immediately asking him if there was any news 
already. Charlie informed them that they were working hard on 
finding the girls, but that until now they had not found them 
yet.

"Do they have any idea who kidnapped them?" His sister asked 
him.

Charlie shook his head. "Only suspicions until now, we're 
working on a profile at this time. Hopefully that will help us a 
lot further."

"Do you need help with the profile?" Fox wanted to know.

"I ..." Charlie looked at him. "That would be great, Fox. But 
are you sure? I mean I know you're a great profiler and it would 
certainly help us, but ...."

"I am sure."  Fox answered. "I know you're worried, Charlie. We 
all are, but you know that I will do anything to bring my 
daughters back. I know it will be difficult, but please ...?"

"Okay." Charlie agreed, knowing that his help would be essential 
for the case.

"Dana?" He asked softly, carefully touching her arm, bringing 
her out of her reveries. "Anything, Charlie. I'll do anything. 
Just help us find Stacey and Karin." She said, with tears in her 
eyes.

"We will find them, Danes, I promise." He only hoped that he 
would be able to keep true to his promise.

Next Morning

Local Police Department

New Jersey

After a long night, Charlie had finally convinced his sister and 
Fox to go home, to rest for a few hours. They had done that, but 
had also been back as soon as they could. He knew the rules 
about personal involvement in a case, but even if he would have 
wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to stop them from helping 
out. At this moment, Charlie was updating part of his team on 
the current situation.  Based on the profile that had been made 
and the stories of eye-witnesses, they thought they now knew who 
the kidnapper was. The only problem was that they had no idea 
where to find him and the girls.

Fox and a couple of agents had left, to track down a trace and 
his sister was in his room at this moment, calling her mother to 
tell her what was going on.

"The suspect is a 30 to 35- year old man ..." Charlie stopped 
talking about the crime suspect, when the door of the conference 
room opened and his chief walked in. His chief motioned for him 
to continue and silently took a seat.

Charlie continued. "A 30 to 35-year old man, not too big, thin 
and wearing glasses. Grew up here in New Jersey, single, still 
living at home with his parents. No social contacts, got fired 
from several jobs before. Rule-follower, probably until 
something snapped in him. We have serious doubts about his 
mental state of mind.. Based on this profile we think we might 
know who the suspect is. Last month one of the girl's teachers, 
Daryl Blendell, was fired, because he didn't function. He fits 
the profile." With that Charlie finished his description and put 
on the slide screen, showing a picture of the man, who might be 
their guy and after that of the three missing girls. "This might 
be him. These girls' parents are going through hell at this 
moment, let's do everything we can to end this as soon as 
possible." 

His teammates nodded, knowing that not only the parents were 
going through a difficult time. They all knew how close Charlie 
and his niece were. He always proudly told them about her, as if 
she was his one of his own. 

"We'll find them, Charlie. I promise we will."  Michael James, 
one of his agents and a good friend, told him. After that 
everybody got up and went back to work, except his boss.

"Charlie, do you have one moment?" He asked him.

Charlie looked like he did not have a moment, but he only nodded 
in response.

"How are you doing, Charlie? I know this must be a hard time for 
you and your family?"

"I'm ...."  Charlie paused for a moment. "I'm doing okay, I 
guess .... It's not easy, but ..."

His boss gave him an encouraging smile. "I know, Charlie. Are 
you sure you want to stay on this case, if this is too close 
..."

"No."  Charlie hurried to say. "I can handle this, I promise. 
Please? It's the only thing I can do for them, for my family, I 
have to help them find them."

"I understand, just let me know if things are getting out of 
hand, okay?" 

"I promise."

"Oh and Charlie, before I forget ..."

"Yes, Sir?"

"I know that you and your team can handle this case, but I 
decided to call in the help of the FBI for this one. I hope 
that's okay with you." 

Charlie tried his best, but couldn't hide the panicked look on 
his face. Whoever it was that O'Connelly had asked for help, 
they might know Dana and Fox. And that might mean that their 
well-kept secret wouldn't be a secret for much longer.

"Charlie?" O'Connelly wondered what was going on with his agent. 

"Sir, ehm .... I think there's something you should know."

"Yes?"

"My sister and her husband arrived last night and ..."

O'Connelly interrupted him. "They must be very worried, I hope 
you told them we're doing everything we can to find Stacey and 
the other girls?"

"I called in their help, Sir."

"Excuse me?"

"They're helping us on the case."

The man looked at him in shock. "Agent Scully, I assume that you 
are well aware of the rules we have here. I take it you have a 
very good explanation for this?"

"I do, Sir. And I know the rules, but their knowledge and 
expertise might be what we need to solve this case."

O'Connelly frowned. "What exactly are you not telling me, 
Charlie?"

"Both my sister and her husband work for the FBI."  

"So, they might know the man I asked for help."

Charlie nodded. "There's a very good chance they might. Sir, 
Dana and Fox have their reasons for sending Stacey to boarding 
school. Reasons, for which they do not want anybody to know that 
they have a daughter. For her safety."

"So, at the FBI nobody knows about their daughter."

"Nobody even knows they are married. Sir, my sister and Fox, 
they have known each other for a long time. They were partnered 
7 years ago, when they had been married for 10 years already. 
Nobody knew they were married, because Fox wanted it like that 
when Dana joined the FBI. He wanted her to have her own chance 
within the FBI. And once they became partners, well you know how 
the FBI frowns on relationships between its agents, so they 
decided to keep it a secret. I hate to ask this, Sir, but 
whoever it is that is coming to help us, do you think we can 
sort of  ... ehm keep their involvement in this case away from 
him or her?"

"Him." O'Connelly answered. "He's a good friend of mine and an 
Assistant Director for the FBI. His name is Walter Skinner. Does 
that name ring a bell?"

Charlie sighed, defeated. Unfortunately, he knew the man's name 
very well. "He is their boss." 

"Great."  His boss muttered.

"Sir, I normally wouldn't ask this, but please?"

He nodded. "I understand, Charlie. I promise to do whatever I 
can. But please inform your sister and her husband about this, 
because once they run into him, there's nothing I can do. Okay?"

"Thank you, Sir."  Charlie said, relieved. "Oh and Sir, I think 
there's one more thing you should know."

"What else?" 

"One of the other girls, Karin?"

"Yes?"

"Her parents died in a car accident three years ago. Karin is 
Stacey's best friend and since there wasn't any other family she 
could live with, my sister and her husband got custody over her. 
She's become a part of the family. Stacey thinks of her as a 
sister and they see her as their daughter. I just thought you 
should know that."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you, Sir. I can assure you that Dana and Fox will 
really appreciate this."

O'Connelly smiled. "You're welcome. If you'll excuse me now, I 
have to make some phone calls." With that he left the conference 
room. Leaving Charlie alone with his thoughts.


He woke up in the middle of the night, because somebody was 
crying softly.

"Dana?" He carefully turned her around, so that he could look at 
her. The darkness of the room did not hide the tears that were 
falling down her face. He felt helpless, not knowing what to do 
to make the pain go away. All he could do was hold her close to 
him, whispering reassuring words, trying to convince her that 
everything would be alright. 

"Sorry, I woke you." She sniffed against his chest.

"That's okay, are you alright?"

"What if we don't find them, Fox? I ..."

"Shhh, don't say that, we are going to find them. No matter what 
we have to do, I will make sure we find them."

She looked up at him, wanting to believe him, but she knew that 
he was only saying it, to reassure her, to make her feel better. 
She knew he didn't show it, because he was trying to be strong 
for her, but she knew he mirrored her fear, the pain and 
feelings of being completely helpless to do anything but search 
and wait. 

He caressed her face. "We'll find them, I promise Danes, I 
promise. You have to go back to sleep now, for Stacey and Karin. 
So that you will be rested in the morning, to help Charlie 
again. Please, for me?"

She nodded, her eyelids drooping and she already started to 
drift off. Fox looked down at the sleeping figure in his arms 
and sighed. Knowing that sleep would be far away that night.

Next morning

Local Police Department Office

New Jersey

Two days had gone by and the third day was just starting. Almost 
50 hours without a trace, without a sign, nothing to help them 
find the girls. Not even a phone call ....

Charlie sighed as he gulped down the cup of coffee one of his 
colleagues had brought him. In a few minutes they were going to 
review the case again and he was trying to pull himself together 
before they would start. He had hardly slept the last few 
nights, the worry about Stacey and Karin and about his sister 
and Fox keeping him awake. 

"Charlie?"

He looked up from the papers he was reading through, when he saw 
O'Connelly and a tall bald man standing in front of him. No 
doubt about it, that this was Walter Skinner. Charlie had heard 
enough from both Dana and Fox to recognize the man immediately.

"Yes, Sir?" 

"I would like to introduce you to Walter Skinner. Walter, this 
is Charlie, the agent that is leading this case."

"Nice to meet you." Skinner looked at the young man in front of 
him. The man looked like he hadn't slept in days and the worry 
was clearly visible in his eyes. Obviously O'Connelly thought 
the same.

"You okay, Charlie?"

Charlie nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks."

"And the others?"

"Trying, Sir."

"Charlie!" Michael James rushed into the room, obviously because 
there was some sort of break through in the case.

"Yes?!?!?" Charlie asked eagerly.

"Our guy just called."

"He what? Why didn't anyone call me? What did he say? What does 
he want? Where ...?" 

"Whoa, wait!" Michael James told him. "We do not know what he 
wants yet, he hung up the phone, only saying one thing."

"What?"

"I'll call back in 15 minutes, you'd better make sure one of the 
fathers is there."

"Shit!"  Charlie muttered, knowing that the only father there 
was Fox. The parents of the other girl, Nicole, hadn't arrived 
yet. They had only managed to trace them down yesterday, in the 
hotel in Paris where they were staying on a business trip. He 
looked from Michael to his boss, to Walter Skinner.

O'Connelly immediately knew what this meant. "Charlie, he ..." 
He started.

"Michael?" Charlie took his decision, no matter what was going 
on, even if it would mean their secret wouldn't be a secret any 
longer, Fox would want to talk to the man. In fact, once he 
would find out what was going on, he would demand to talk to 
him.

"Yes?"

"Would you please go get everything ready in the conference 
room. I'll go get him."

"Okay."

"Charlie, are you sure?" O'Connelly looked at him, a questioning 
look on his face.

"Yes. He will do anything for Stacey and Karin, no matter what. 
If you'll excuse me now, I'm going to get him." With that 
Charlie stood up and left the room.

Conference Room

10 minutes later

Everybody was sitting in the conference room, all the equipment 
was ready and they were waiting for Charlie and Fox to come. 
O'Connelly was frequently checking his watch, only five more 
minutes, before the kidnapper would call again. He wondered if 
he should ...

At that moment the door swung open and the two men walked in. 
And Skinner's jaw dropped.


Charlie and Mulder both sat down. Mulder, with a tense look on 
his face, avoiding looking at Skinner. Who still sat there, his 
jaw dropped, wondering what the hell was going on. Before he 
could even ask, the phone ringing interrupted the silence in the 
room.

Every agent in the room stared at it, waiting for Mulder to pick 
it up. He looked at Charlie, who mentioned for him to go ahead. 
Michael James sat ready to put the tape recorder on. Skinner 
stared at his agent, who looked like he hadn't slept in days. He 
looked tired, a worn-out and worried look on his face. Fear 
visible in his eyes, even though he tried to hide it. Then he 
picked up the phone. 

"Mr. Mulder, how nice to talk to you." Blendell's voice came 
through the speakerphone.

"What do you want, Blendell?" Mulder said, through gritted 
teeth.

"No, no, no, Mr. Mulder, I don't think it's really a matter of 
what I want. What do you want?"

"Cut the crap, Blendell. We both know what I want, tell me what 
I have to do to get it!"

"Money, Mr. Mulder. Money. After all, I take it your daughters 
aren't in that school without a reason, is it?"

"How much?" 

Charlie motioned for him to keep the guy talking, they needed 
two more minutes to trace the phone call.

"150.000 dollars."

"Okay, where do ..."

"Per girl." Blendell interrupted him. "I'll tell you later how 
and where you have to bring the money."

"Blendell?" The only sound coming from the other side of the 
line was the beeping sound, because he hung up the phone.

"Damn!" Michael James cursed, knowing that they had been almost 
there. And Blendell had known that too.

Skinner looked at Mulder. He had no idea where Mulder got two 
daughters. He also didn't know why they were in a boarding 
school or whom Mulder was married to (or maybe he was divorced), 
but he did know that there was no way that the man would be able 
to pay 450.000 dollar, that was nearly half a million dollar. 

"Fox?" Charlie looked at his friend and brother-in-law.

"Arrange it, Charlie." Mulder started to get up from the table; 
he wanted to talk to his wife, right now.

"Fox, you know there are other ways ..."

"Charlie, I don't care. Give Blendell the goddamn money. All I 
want is to find the girls."

"Mulder, think." Skinner spoke for the first time.

"Excuse me, Sir?"

"Think for one moment and you'd realize that there's no way 
you'd ever be able to pay ..."

Mulder interrupted him. "Sir? To tell you the truth, I don't 
care what you think. Those are my daughters out there missing 
and he will get the fuckin' money." With that Mulder got up and 
stormed out of the conference room. Charlie got up too, ready to 
follow him.

"Charlie, wait!" O'Connelly stopped him.

"Sir?" Charlie turned around, visibly upset.

"Walter is right. Does he really have the money or ...?"

"Sir, the money is the thing I'm the least worried about. The 
money he can miss, hell it's only a fraction of what they have, 
Stacey and Karin is what he can't do without." With that Charlie 
left the room, leaving it to his boss to explain the whole 
situation.

"James?" Skinner looked at his friend, waiting for somebody to 
explain the whole thing to him.

O'Connelly sighed. "You want to know what's going on, I guess?"

"Well ehm yes, I'm kind of curious. I didn't even know Mulder 
had a family, especially a 17-year old daughter, two daughters 
even. Your agent seemed to be pretty upset too." He remarked.

"Stacey is his niece. His favorite niece to be more exact, they 
practically grew up together."

"How about the other girl? I thought there were two?"

"Karin. Her parents died in a car accident three years ago. She 
is Stacey's best friend and because there was no other family, 
Stacey's parents took her in. They see her as much as their 
daughter as Stacey. That's what Charlie told me about her."

Skinner sighed.  "I take it, Mulder is married then?"

O'Connelly nodded. "He's married to Charlie's sister."

"Wonderful. I wonder if Scully knows about that." Skinner 
muttered, more to himself than to his friend. Then he realized 
that Mulder had requested the leave of absence for both him and 
his partner. So she probably knew. Strange, he had always 
thought that Mulder and Scully would end up together one day. 
They seemed perfect for each other and though he had obviously 
been wrong, he had thought that any idiot could see they loved 
each other. "Did Mulder bring his partner to help on this case?"

"Yes, she's helping us too." 

"Is she here?" 

O'Connelly shook his head, realizing he had already said too 
much. "Not at this moment." Then, looking at his watch, he said  
"Walter, I'm sorry, but I have to go now. There's a meeting. Can 
we continue this talk later?"

Skinner nodded. "Of course. I'll go see what I can do to help 
Charlie and the other agents."

"Thanks."


True to his word, Blendell had phoned back later that afternoon, 
to give them instructions on where to meet him to hand over the 
money. Mulder had demanded a promise that Blendell would give 
them back the girls at the same time, but all the man had said 
was "We will see, Mr. Mulder. Make sure to be there. Alone."

There had been a lot of tumult and discussion, when Mulder had 
said that he was going to go alone indeed. Charlie had refused 
to let him go there alone and with the help of the rest of his 
team and Scully (Skinner had not been in the room at that time), 
they had convinced him otherwise. Which is why, the next 
morning, they found themselves on an empty parking ground, 
everybody placed under cover, ready to take action when 
necessary. 

Charlie had tried to convince his sister to stay in the office, 
but of course that had been useless. 

"There's no way you're going to stop me from going with you, 
Chuck and that's all I'm going to say about it."

He had looked at Fox for help, but he knew his wife good enough, 
to know not to stop her when she was determined to do something.

"You two do realize that your boss is going to be there too and 
will find out the truth?" Had been Charlie's last try to 
convince Dana otherwise.

"We know, Charlie. But things are going to change anyway. As 
soon as this whole nightmare is over, everything is going to 
change. It's about time we set our priorities differently."

They hadn't said it with too many words, but Charlie knew they 
meant that as soon as they had found the girls, they were both 
going to quit their jobs. He only hoped that they would find the 
girls on time, so that there would be a reason to resign. As 
expected Skinner was part of the team that was on the watch 
while Mulder was meeting Blendell to hand him the money. 

Skinner hadn't been able to finish his talk with O'Connelly, so 
that he was still left with a lot of questions about Mulder and 
his daughters. He was really curious about Mulder's wife and 
Scully's part in the whole thing. He had seen Scully shortly 
when they were setting up the team, but there hadn't been time 
to ask questions. From his hiding place, not far away from 
Scully he looked at her.

She looked tired, but had a determined look on her face. Her 
eyes never leaving Mulder who was slowly walking to the middle 
of the parking ground. He saw Charlie sitting right next to her, 
keeping a close eye on her. What he didn't know was that Charlie 
was indeed keeping a close eye on her, mostly because he was 
afraid that she would run straight after Mulder if Blendell 
would try something. And then they would be in serious trouble, 
because she would blow their cover. He knew she was a well-
trained FBI-agent, who had been in situations like this more 
than once. But never before had it been her husband or 
daughters, whose lives were on the line here. And that made the 
situation completely different.

Minutes that seemed like hours, passed without anything 
happening. Then all of a sudden everything seemed to happen all 
at once. Blendell came from behind one of the buildings, 
pointing his gun at Mulder, who couldn't grab his own gun on 
time anymore.   

Skinner saw that Scully was about to scream, but Charlie stopped 
her, by putting his hand over her mouth and pulling her close to 
him, whispering something Skinner couldn't hear. He could see 
though that she was trembling and obviously scared.  Storing it 
away for later, he focused on Mulder and Blendell again. 

And then, as if in slow motion, Blendell was hit on the head 
with an iron pipe by someone coming from behind. Before falling 
down on the ground, he whirled around, pointing his gun at the 
girl he hadn't seen coming. Mulder jumped between the girl and 
Blendell, a gunshot was heard. Followed by a deathly silence ...


"Fox!!! Stacey!!!" Charlie no longer had a hold on his sister, 
when she saw Blendell, her husband and daughter falling on the 
ground. At the same time Charlie, Michael James and Skinner ran 
right after her, keeping their guns on Blendell, to make sure 
that even though he was probably dead wouldn't make a sudden 
move. 

Michael James knelt down next to the victim, checking his pulse. 
When he could only conclude that the guy was really dead, he 
fished his cell phone out of his pocket and started making the 
necessary calls.

At the same time, Skinner saw Charlie moving over to Scully, his 
niece and his brother-in-law. Dana had just convinced herself 
that the only blood on her daughter and husband's clothes was 
from Blendell and neither of them was seriously hurt. She hugged 
her daughter and Fox held his arms around both of them. Thanking 
all the gods in heaven that they were all okay. Until the girl 
groaned. 

All they heard was an "uugh"

Two worried parents and a worried uncle hovered over her, all 
asking what was wrong. 

The girl seemed to struggle, to get some space to breathe. 
"Uugh, I'm fine, guys, but could you please quit the hugging. 
You're suffocating me!" She grinned.

Charlie laughed out loud, together with Fox and Dana. 

"Sorry, Stace." Fox smiled, until he realized that the other two 
girls weren't there with them. "Stace, where are Karin and 
Nicole?" 

Stacey made a move to get up, but her mother stopped her. "Oh 
no, young lady, you're staying right here. Just tell your father 
and Charlie where they are and they'll go get them."

Stacey nodded, suddenly very tired, the events of the last few 
days finally starting to catch up with her. She pointed at the 
building right behind them. "They're in there, upstairs." Tired 
she leaned against her mother and looked up at her, tears 
forming in her eyes, her lip trembling. The tension of the last 
few days finally becoming too much.

"I was scared, Mom. I thought he was going to ..."

"Shhh sweetie, it's okay now. He's dead and everything's going 
to be fine." Scully held her daughter as she cried, not 
realizing that Skinner was still standing behind her. Shocked, 
when the girl addressed Scully as her mother. She didn't even 
notice he was there. He decided to leave them alone for now, 
questions could be asked later.

About five minutes later Charlie and Fox reappeared from the 
building, with the two other girls. Another round of hugs 
followed, then Charlie ordered them to take the girls home. He 
would take care of things here. He had just heard that Nicole's 
parents had arrived and asked Michael James to bring the girl to 
her worried parents, who were waiting at the office. He saw Fox 
and Dana looking at their boss and with an "I'll explain 
everything, go home now. I'll be there as soon as I can." he 
handed his car keys to one of his agents and instructed them to 
bring them home.

Looking as the car drove away, he turned around. Only to find 
Skinner standing next to him, his face full of questions.

"You would like an explanation." Was all Charlie said.

Skinner nodded. "Yes, I think I'd like to know how all of a 
sudden my two best agents appear to have a family. I take it 
Scully's your sister and they are married?"

Charlie nodded. "Yes, they are. I hope you have some time, 
because it's a long story, but I'll explain everything to you."


The two men moved a little away from the scene of crime. Charlie 
waited patiently for the first questions that would inevitably 
come.

"How long have they been married?" 

Charlie grinned, hoping the man wouldn't be too shocked by his 
answer. "A little more than 17 years."

"17 years? But your sister, she's only ehm ... how old is she?" 
Yep, he obviously hadn't expected that.

"Dana is 35." 

"35? But that means ... I mean those girls were what 15 or 16?"

"Stacey is 17."

"So, your sister was 17 when she was born?" 

"Yes, they didn't really plan on having a baby that young of 
course, but she was 17 and Fox was 20 when Stace was born. They 
got married a few months before Dana gave birth."

"And how long before that did they know each other?"

"About 7 years."

"I was 5 when we moved to Chilmark, Dana was 9 around that time. 
Fox and his family were our neighbors."

"You knew Samantha then?"

Charlie shook his head. "No, we moved to Chilmark the summer 
after she disappeared. We never had the chance to meet her. Fox 
and his family ... Things were really messed up at that time and 
he tried to get out of the house as much as he could. He and 
Melissa were the same age and Bill was only a year older then 
they were, so the three of them spent a lot of time together." 
He grinned "Dana and I were only the annoying little brother and 
sister. Fox and Melissa were actually the ones dating a couple 
of years. Until they were both 17 and Fox came to his senses and 
realized who he really wanted."

"What happened?" Skinner had to admit that he found the story 
rather fascinating.

"I was only 10 around that time, but I knew Dana really liked 
him. I think the whole family knew she did, but everybody just 
thought it was sort of cute. They called it 'Dana's little 
crush'. Nobody expected Fox to be in love with her too. After 
all she was 14, almost 15 around that time and he was already 
17. And it was always Melissa that got the attention of the 
guys. Not Dana, the little tomboy. Until that night, poor 
Melissa. I have to say she got over it surprisingly quickly 
though." Charlie laughed, still remembering vividly what had 
happened.

"They were about to go to their high school ball, not their 
graduation prom, but it was Melissa's first prom. Dana had been 
sick all day, but everybody was too busy with dresses and Mel to 
realize. Until dad decided to go check on her, because it had 
been too silent upstairs. He found her in her bedroom, pretty 
sick and crying silently, because she didn't want to disturb 
anyone. Dad called mom upstairs and after finding out she had a 
temperature of 104, they called the doctor. Fox arrived to pick 
up Mel, around the same time the ambulance arrived. One look at 
Dana on that stretcher and he refused to go anywhere but to the 
hospital. At first Melissa was furious, because her evening was 
getting ruined, but then she saw the look in his eyes. It told 
her more than enough. I think it was at that moment that she 
realized how he really felt about Dana. She didn't say a whole 
lot, all she said was 'Go with her. I'll be alright'."

"Melissa did go to the prom?"

"Yeah, she actually did. She didn't want to miss it for 
anything, not even for her younger sister who was sick. She 
simply found herself another date and went. It was not like she 
could have done a lot by waiting in the hospital anyway, she 
knew what was wrong with Dana and promised to visit her later 
that night after the surgery."

"What did she have?"

Charlie grinned again. "Appendicitis. Nothing too serious. But 
from Fox's reaction you would have thought she was about to die. 
He didn't leave her side one second that night, not even after 
everybody else had gone home. We found him asleep in a chair 
next to her hospital bed the next morning. His hand holding 
hers. From that moment the two of them were inseparable."

"Poor Melissa." Skinner commented, feeling kind of sorry for 
Scully's older sister.

"Melissa handled it well actually. Two weeks later she was 
dating the captain of the football team. I think both she and 
Fox simply stayed together because it was convenient and 
everybody thought they made the perfect couple. I asked her once 
if she was sad that she'd lost him. All she said was "When you 
get older Charlie, you will realize that it only hurts when you 
lose somebody you really loved. I like Fox, Dana loves him."

"And they've been together ever since?"

"Yes. My parents weren't too happy when they found out she was 
pregnant at the age of 17. But they didn't yell at them, they 
didn't offer to pay an abortion for her. They didn't tell them 
that they disgraced the family and they most certainly didn't 
accuse anyone. Fox's parents did all that. They even had the 
nerves to accuse Dana of arranging this, wanting to get 
pregnant, because she knew their family had money. Mom and Dad 
talked with them, telling them they were going to support them, 
whatever decision they would take. And they did and always have, 
ever since Stacey was born. The only way Fox's parents supported 
them was financially. They saw her a few times, but weren't 
really interested in their granddaughter." He looked at Skinner, 
waiting for a reaction. The man seemed amazed by the whole 
story.

"I always thought there was a special connection between your 
sister and Mulder. I just didn't know it went this far. I hope 
though that I'll be able to keep them together as partners 
though, I can do a lot, but once others from higher up find out 
that ..."

"I seriously doubt that that will be a matter."

"Excuse me?" Skinner asked, confused.

"I don't think that it will be a matter. Fox and Dana told me 
last night that they might resign from the FBI. They said that 
it's time to start taking care of the things that really matter 
to them, like their family."

"But what are they going to do then? They have to do something, 
I mean ..."

"They never worked because they had to, but because they wanted 
to. How did you think that Fox was able to get 450.000 dollar so 
quickly, Sir?"

"You're not kidding me, are you?"

"No, I am not. Let's just say that even if they were to quit 
today, it wouldn't matter if they ever worked again or not. They 
could just as well stay home and live a nice life. Fox's parents 
may not have agreed with his decision to marry Dana, but they 
did give him more than enough to take care of his family." With 
that, Charlie looked at his watch and decided it was time to go 
home. "Mr. Skinner, I'm sorry, but I really have to go now. My 
sister asked me to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night. 
They would like to explain some things themselves too. They are 
staying at my place, O'Connelly can tell you the address."

Skinner nodded, promising to be there. And Charlie left, leaving 
Skinner behind, muttering something that sounded like "Who would 
have thought ..."


Charles Scully's Residence

Next Day

Dinner Time

As promised Skinner came over that night, to have dinner with 
Charlie and his family. A rather large family, since Mulder and 
Scully were there with both their daughters, Mrs. Scully was 
there and then there were Charlie, his wife Janet and their baby 
daughter Amy. A full table. 

During dinner he looked at both his agents, they looked 
different he concluded. Happier, more relaxed, openly loving, 
laughing and joking. Scully saw him looking at them once and she 
smiled warmly. After dinner Charlie, Janet and their mother left 
to go to church. Stacey and Karin had gone upstairs to bathe the 
baby and bring her to bed. They had eagerly offered to take this 
task upon them. Skinner had looked at Stacey picking Amy out of 
her baby carrier and going upstairs. Mulder had seen him looking 
and knew what he was thinking. This is what Scully must have 
looked like when she was 17, taking care of her baby daughter.

They made themselves comfortable in the living room and they 
waited for somebody to speak first. Charlie had already 
explained a lot of things, but he still wanted to know whether 
they were indeed leaving the FBI or not. It was Skinner who 
asked the first question. "Charlie told me you're thinking of 
leaving the FBI. Are you?"

Mulder nodded. "Yes, we have decided to take care of the things 
that really matter. Which consequently means resigning from the 
FBI."

"What about the X-files? Your sister?"

Scully wanted to say something, but Mulder stopped her. "My 
sister is dead, Sir. It took me a long time to accept that, but 
I know now that there is nothing I can change about the things 
that happened in the past. The X-files cost us a lot. Lots of 
things happened that I wish I could make undone, but I can't, 
it's too late for now. We weren't the only ones suffering when 
one of us was missing or in the hospital. Or when Dana got 
cancer. Stacey had to deal with it too, again and again. She had 
to go to boarding school when she was 10 years old, because we 
thought she wouldn't be safe when she was with us. She accepted 
a lot of things and now it's time to stop that. She shouldn't 
have to deal with things like that, she is only a child, one who 
grew up too fast because of the decisions her parents took. She 
always followed us, our rules, adjusted herself to our lives. 
And still she came out of it amazingly well. I think now it's 
about time we do the same for her. I don't want her to have 
children of her own in maybe 10 years or so and having to worry 
that something might happen to them, because of her parents. 
It's time to quit." He looked at Scully, smiling at her. She 
squeezed his hand and returned the smile. It was obvious that 
she fully agreed with him.

"I understand, but what are you going to do next? Will you leave 
Washington?"

They both shrugged. But this time Scully spoke. "We don't know 
yet. I think we will leave Washington, but where we are going to 
go or what we are going to do we haven't decided yet. Maybe we 
will go back to the house in Chilmark or we might buy a house 
here. Stacey and Karin are both used to living here, they have 
their friends here."

"When will they go back to school?"

"As soon as we find one they like. They do not want to go back 
to their old school. Too much has happened there. Stacey didn't 
say it with too many words, but we knew she didn't like the idea 
of having to go back there."

"Do they know you are leaving the FBI?"

Scully nodded. "Yes, they do. We told them this afternoon. They 
said they didn't want us to give up our jobs for them alone, but 
later they also told us that they did like the idea of having 
their parents around more than once or twice a month." She 
looked up when Karin called her from upstairs. "Sorry, I think 
they need some help up there." She got up and left them alone.

"She is everything to you, isn't she?" Skinner asked, 
interrupting Mulder from his thoughts.

Mulder smiled. "Everything and more than that. The one thing 
that kept me going all these years, was the knowledge that she 
and Stacey and later also Karin were there. Looking back, I 
might do some things different when I had to do them again. But 
I wouldn't trade my family for anything in this world."

Skinner nodded, understanding. No more questions would have to 
be asked. He was going to lose two of his best agents, but they 
weren't losing anything, they were winning everything. And he 
smiled at that knowledge.

The end