TITLE: "A Child Shall Lead Them"
AUTHOR: Jen
E-MAIL: JenR13@aol.com
SPOILERS: *Major* ones for Emily, little ones for FTF (The Movie),
The End, Tunguska, Deep Throat, Duane Barry, Ascension, One
Breath, Memento Mori, Redux II, Christmas Carol.
RATING: PG-13
CLASSIFICATION: XRA , yes there is mythology here, folks
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully Romance(eventually)
ARCHIVE: Sure.
SUMMARY: Dreams can show you the past, but what if they point
to your future?
DISCLAIMER: Mulder, Scully, The Lone Gunmen (Byers, Langly,
and Frohike), Skinner, Margaret Scully, and Emily are not mine.
They belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions (I made this!),
and FOX. I am only borrowing them. Don't worry Chris, when
I'm done I will FedEx them back to you. :-) Amy Ann Miller
is my own creation, however, and if anyone would like to use
her, ask and permission will be yours. :-)
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This a major Emily mythology story. It would
help if you have seen the episode "Emily" (Episode 5x07). If
you haven't seen Emily and read this, you WILL be spoiled. I
warned you . :-) I know that there are a LOT of stories about
Emily, but I had this little story in my mind and decided to
write it. So I hope there is room for another story. :-)
I am posting the first chapter of the story, and though it
is unfinished I have written up to Chapter 4 (this is a long
story), so hopefully I will post those parts soon.
SPECIAL THANKS TO: My friend Annalisa; for putting up with my
story ideas and for listening to rambling about the significance
of plot. You don't know how much that helped.
"A Child Shall Lead Them"
By Jen
>>>>>><><<<<<<
Chapter 1:
Some Answers
Are Closer Than
You Think
>>>>>><><<<<<<
"Mommy, read me a story, please?"
I looked up. She stood in front of my bed. Emily.
Looking so little and fragile, her eyes full of life. She looks
so little, so naive. She never knew what hit her. She should
have never known the pain she experienced. She should have never
known death. Not this early.
"Please, Mommy?"
Emily it can't be you. You're dead. Yet you're here.
Why are you confusing me?
She comes closer to me, a book in hand. She holds it up.
It has a picture of a little girl on it. I glance at the title.
The Answer Is Near. What kind of book is that?
Emily extends her hand to me. "Read the book, Mommy."
I reach for the book, intrigued. The Answer is near?
What kind of book is that? I think again. My hand brushes hers.
She feels so real. I grip the book and draw it near me. A little
girl's picture is on at. It's strange, almost as if I know her.
I lean in for a closer look. . . .
Dana Scully awoke with a start. A dream, I had a dream.
The dream rushed back at her. Emily, the book, it was so real.
She shook her head. She had never remembered a dream as vividly
as this one. She had been having dreams of Emily for months, ever
since her death. But this one was different.
"The answer is near," she repeated softly to herself.
What does it mean? She glanced at the clock. 3:28 a.m. She
tried to close her eyes, but quickly opened them again. She wasn't
going to get any more sleep tonight.
She sat up in her bed alone with her thoughts. Her thoughts
strayed back to that dream. Why she hadn't had such a vivid dream
since Emily died. And that was months ago. So much had happened
since then. The basement office had burned, and the X-Files had
been closed and reopened. Antarctica had come and gone. Yet, Emily
remained. She would always remain. The one last chance for Scully
to have a child. One last chance that was "not meant to be," as she
put it. Scully felt a tear fall down her cheek. She wiped it away.
She didn't think she had any tears left. As she felt another tear
come, she got out of bed and grabbed a tissue.
Damn it, Dana. Emily is dead. She has been for months.
Why can't you ever let go?
Scully looked at herself in the mirror. She saw the unshed
tears in her eyes. She wiped them again and let her hands fall
to her sides. She continued to stare. Curiously she put her hand
on her flat stomach and turned to the side. How would she have
looked like if she was pregnant? She held her hand there for a
second more before tears again wet her cheeks. She would never
find out. She would never know.
After controlling her tears, she threw her tissue away,
and walked into the living room. She didn't bother going back to bed.
She would care not to dream again, at least not tonight.
She plopped herself on her couch and noticed that she left
her laptop plugged in and on. She must have forgotten to shut it
off when she went to sleep. It's blue screen gave off the only
light in the room. Scully sat back and concentrated on thinking
about nothing.
A beep brought her out of that. It startled her at first,
but then she recognized it as the sound that notified her that she
had incoming e-mail.
At almost 4 in the morning? From who? She leaned
forward toward the screen, curiosity leading her on. She didn't
recognize the address and there was no subject. She got up and
got herself a glass of water before she looked at it. It's
probably some junk mail, anyway. She brought her glass over
and took a sip as she opened her mail.
Scully almost dropped her glass as she read the one
sentence the mail contained:
The answer is near.
*****************
The new X-Files office was much nicer than the old one.
While still in the basement, it was a bit bigger and less cluttered,
as least for now. There was two brand new oak desks, each bearing a
nameplate. Filing cabinets lined one wall, and a large bulletin board
lined another. Mulder had gotten another "I want to believe poster"
and had tacked it on the bulletin board. Even the door itself said:
The X-Files Division
Special Agent Fox Mulder
Special Agent Dana Scully
The X-Files were back. She and Mulder were back to being
partners; Mulder back to searching for the truth. Part of it
had to do with the fact that Mulder and Scully's partnership
seemed to be one of the best the Bureau had ever seen. Scully
should be happy about this.
But not today. All Scully could think about was Emily
and the e-mail she had received last night. It seemed to be
forever a picture in her mind, photocopying itself over and
over, and the paper never seemed to run out. She desperately
wanted to hit the stop button; she just wanted to forget awhile.
But she couldn't.
Even as she walked to the shiny new filing cabinets, it
stuck with her. And she didn't go unnoticed.
"Scully, are you all right?"
Scully turned to see her partner staring at her concerned.
He had been sitting at his desk, sorting through a new mound of
papers, but now he had pushing them aside, devoting all his
attention to her.
Scully saw his concerned hazel eyes. They had been
through a lot together. Part of her just wanted to run to his
arms and pour her heart out. Tell him about Emily and the dream.
Tell him about the mysterious e-mail. Have him comfort her and
just hold her forever. Help her forget for awhile.
But as she stared into his eyes she found herself saying
her usual, "I'm fine, Mulder." God, how many times had she said
that? She was beginning to sound like a broken record. Just
beginning, Dana?
Mulder got out of his chair and walked toward her. He
stood close enough that she could breath in his aftershave. He
put his hand on her shoulder.
"Are you sure?"
No, I'm not sure, part of her screamed. But the other
part of her spoke.
"Yes, I'm sure." She smiled to reassure him. Also, she
tried to reassure herself.
Mulder seemed to take her word on it and had returned to
his papers. Scully sighed and finished her task.
Mulder may have returned to his work, but that hadn't
decreased his concern for Scully. She seemed sad that morning.
Mulder could tell that nothing was physically wrong with her, but
emotionally was a different story. Something was bothering her.
Something BIG. He hadn't seen her this down since Emily's death.
Scully seemed shaken; she seemed like she had had a nightmare and
it wouldn't go away. Mulder wanted nothing more then ask her
what was wrong. He wanted to comfort her and tell her it was ok.
He wanted her to be happy again. He wanted to see that special
spark she had. The X-Files had been reopened and he was
overjoyed. He had been afraid of losing Scully in Antarctica,
to death, just like he had been afraid of losing her to her
cancer. Now she was back. But today she seemed somewhere else.
He should talk to her. But he didn't. He chickened out.
Some psychologist I am he thought to himself. If she still
seemed sad tomorrow, he would talk to her. He really would.
*****************
"Mommy, where is Daddy?"
It was a simple question. Yet I couldn't answer it.
Emily, you're back. Yes she was. Once again standing at the
end of my bed, a naive look on her face. She looked puzzled.
Her little face was scrunched up, as if in thought. She looks so
real. But then again, she always looks so real.
"Where's Daddy?" Emily repeats again. Daddy? That's one
answer I don't have. One answer of many. I don't even now if your
father was. . . . .
She walks closer to me. I open my mouth to speak but
nothing comes out. Emily has never asked about Daddy before.
Why now? I reach my hand out to her. She reaches hers. We are
about to touch. . . . .
Scully woke up sweating. Her dream came back to her
just as vividly as the last time. Daddy? Why had Emily asked
about that now? Her last dream didn't seem to be as strange.
Well, it was strange, but seemed to have order. This dream left
her puzzled. She didn't cry as she had with the last dream,
though part of her wanted to. She had to stop feeling sorry for
herself or she would get nowhere. Do I want to get somewhere?
Scully got out of bed and walked again into the living
room. I have to live with or stop these dreams or I'm going
to become like Mulder she thought with a touch of a smile.
She needed the sleep to work. But most of all she needed an
answer as to why she still had these dreams. She sighed and
got herself what seemed to be her nightly glass of water. She
sat down on her couch and put her glass down. She stared at her
laptop and then grabbed it and turned it on. That strange e-mail
from the night before entered her mind again. If fact it had never
left. She turned it on and was surprised to see not only
that e-mail that she had saved from the night before, but a
new one from the same address. She opened it her heart pounding.
Why is my heart pounding?
The e-mail, like it's brother, said only one line:
Daddy is closer than you think.
Scully almost turned white at this. How did they?....
She didn't know what was going on, perhaps a game. Well, she
thought if it's a game I will just have to play along.
She replied to the message by typing: "How close?"
She sent it and got up to refill her glass of water.
When she returned she saw the message "mail returned" and clicked
on it.
Mailing address does not exist. Mail returned to sender.
Scully grew more intrigued. Huh? Then her eyes
glanced at a bit of information written at the bottom of the message.
(202) 555-6879- TCP/IP
hjgyrtnk
file # 5896, & 8967
please delete.
Scully's eyes widened. Not knowing what this information
would lead her to, she copied it down. A feeling of dread and
relief filled her. Who gave me this information? What is it?
How did they know about my dream? Millions of questions filed her
mind and rationalizations started to form. After all, she was the
skeptic, the scientist. This had to be nothing. She deleted the
mail. There was only one why to find out. And three people who
could help her.
******************
The Office of the Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen had to be three of the most paranoid
people Scully had ever met. Byers, Langly, and Frohike. But
even though Scully thought them overly paranoid, she knew that
they were the people who could help her now. So at barely 7 in
the morning, she stood at their door, with the information she had
received in her e-mail in her hand.
Maybe it's nothing, Scully thought as she knocked on
the door. For some reason she had a feeling she was going to
regret coming here.
No one was answering and Scully turned to leave. Suddenly
Frohike opened the door.
"Sorry about that Agent Scully," he said, "We were kinda
sleeping....on the job." He blushed.
"It's okay." Scully gripped her paper tighter.
"What brings you here so early? Don't tell me Mulder
sent you?"
Scully looked down at her paper again. Why did she come
here? She got a grip on herself and held the paper out to Frohike.
"This."
Frohike took the paper from her hand. "This looks like a
modem number, and possibly a password." He looked up at her and
handed the paper back to her. "Where did you get this?"
Scully hesitated, uneasy. Frohike sensed it. "It's
okay, you can tell us later," he said with a smile. He opened
the door and let her in.
Scully glanced around the place. It never ceased to
amaze her. A dark room filed with computers, tape recorders and
other equipment. They put a magazine out in this place? She
saw Langly was still asleep in another room, but Byers was making
coffee. Obviously he hadn't gone home last night.
"We were up late working on the new issue," Frohike
explained, but inward Scully smiled. Yeah, I'll bet.
"Morning, Agent Scully," Byers greeted her. "Want
some coffee?" He held a cup out to her.
Scully shook her head. "No thank you." She once
again took the paper out. "I need some help."
Byers walked over to her. "A TCP/IP connection number?
This pertain to a case?"
"Maybe Mulder grew sick of us and sent his partner to
do the dirty work," Langly said from the doorway. "Hi, Agent
Scully."
"No, it's not for a case. It's something I got my
hands on wanted to find out what it was." Scully looked toward
the computer. "Can you help me out?"
Frohike walked over to his computer and flipped it on.
"Anything for you, Agent Scully," he said simply and Scully felt
herself blush. It was no secret that Frohike had a thing for
her. Scully was beginning to wonder if she should have come here.
Frohike typed in his computer password. "Can I have that
number?" Scully looked down at her paper and read it off.
"What if they can track you?" Scully asked suddenly.
Now's who's paranoid? she thought, but this whole thing with
Emily had her paranoid. She didn't want to take any chances.
Frohike smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry Agent
Scully. This baby's hooked up through phone lines all over the
world. It would take the entire cast of Saturday Night Live from
all of it's seasons to track us down in a fairly decent amount of
time. Even then, we have our ways." He turned to the computer.
Scully sighed. She had always wondered how Mulder met
these three people. Must be quite a story to tell. I should
ask Mulder sometime she thought with a smile.
"Agent Scully, I think you should see this," Frohike called,
cutting into her thoughts. Scully hurried over there and gasped when
she saw the screen.
TOP SECRET. PASSWORD ACCESS ONLY.
"It's a government channel," Byers whispered as Scully
continued to stare at the screen. She reached into her pocket
and took the paper out again. She looked at the second line.
"Try hjgyrtnk as the password," she said, and glued her
eyes to the screen again. Frohike glanced at her, but typed in
the password she read. Langly had joined them and was also
staring. The four people didn't take their eyes off of the
screen as Frohike hit return.
In about another minute, another screen appeared.
ACCESS GRANTED. ENTER FILE NUMBER.
Shit, Scully thought as she glanced down at the paper
again. No one said a word as she said, "File number 5896."
Frohike typed and an hourglass came onto the screen. He
let a breath out that he had been holding. He had no idea where
Dana Scully got such a number and such access. It must have come
from SOME source.
Finally the hourglass was replaced by the mouse pointer
and a file appeared. Scully drew in a sharp breath as she read
the first line on the file.
FILE 5896
SCULLY, DANA KATHERINE
"Shit," Langly whispered as Frohike scrambled to find
a disk to save this file to. He saw Scully's face.
"Do you want...."
"Of course, we can't have access forever." Frohike
nodded and grabbed the disk and jammed it into the drive and
watched it download. Scully walked closer to the screen and
scanned what was there. Another sentence caught her eye. Scully
heart went to her throat. She felt like she was shaking as
she read the line.
10/23/94--Subject 5896's eggs DNA manipulated.
Hybrid testing.
10/23/94--Subject 5896's eggs X subject 8967's
sperm introduced.
10/23/94--Union declared a success. Embryo("Emily")
to be implanted in incubator.
Scully's heart stayed in her throat as she stared at
the screen and listened to the sound of the computer downloading.
Subject 8967 was Emily's father. Scully was so close. Who was
it? A stranger. She and complete stranger shared something as
special as a baby. A baby who was now a corpse. Scully had no
tears left and that was a good thing because if she cried in
front of the Lone Gunmen she would never have forgiven herself.
The sound of the computer loading finished. "Try file
number 8967, before we get out of here."
The Lone Gunmen exchanged a glance. They knew why
she wanted to look that file. Frohike returned to that screen
and typed in the file number. As Scully watched the loading
hourglass on the computer screen, the words that Emily had said
echoed through her head. ("Mommy, where's Daddy?"). Soon
I'll know, Emily. Soon.
The hourglass turned into the mouse pointer and the
file loaded onto the screen. This was the moment of truth.
Scully gasped loudly as she looked at the screen:
FILE 8967
MULDER, FOX WILLIAM
End Chapter One.