Gossamer | Story: "Generations 34: Sophia" by MacspookyThe Gossamer Project Author - Title - Date - Spoilers - Crossovers - X-Files - Adventures - Stories - Vignettes Other stories by Macspooky Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 14:09:39 -0500 From: Macspooky Hi everyone! Here is the next installment of my "Generations" series. It is seven chapters long and contains a great deal of angst. I am going to rate the R for violence and adult situations. As usual, the "X-FIles" and the characters therein do not belong to me. They belong to CC, Fox, 1013, etc. And I am borrowing. No money is being made. No copyright infringement is intended here and I hope I am promoting new fans for the show. Agent Bothrington and Aunt Sophia are mine. Summary: The Consortium comes up with a nefarious plan to strike at the Mulders. Cancerman has a decision to make. Aunt Sophia takes action. I want to thank Gerry Hill and Vickie Moseley for beta reading this for me. They did a great job! I finished this on February 14, 1998. I don't care who archives it where as long as my name stays with it. I can be reached as macspooky@earthlink.net. Generations Part 34 "Sophia" Chapter One by Macspooky The man stood in the doorway of the conference room a Morley in his hand in defiance of the so-called smoking ban. He found it laughable. Talk about government interference! The current President simply didn't have enough to do, so now he was going to devote himself to causes that were none of his business. Ah, if that young fool only knew...... He brought the cigarette up to his mouth and inhaled deeply before lowering it again. Everyone around the table was male and nearly all of them were either old or getting there. Most of them smoked. He supposed he was "old" too although he didn't like to think about that much. He had known these men most of his adult life and once upon a time he had had the utmost faith in their judgement. He did not sit with them, however, preferring instead to look down at them. He hadn't always felt this way, but times had changed and so had he. Oh, he felt no guilt or remorse. He still believed in the project...believed in it more than ever in fact. With these old fools in charge though, he very much feared that decades of work was soon going to be destroyed. "It's time," said the well spoken Englishman. "They are too young," snapped the man with the Morley. "The children are three and a half. The technology is in place. It is time." "That has not been proven......" he snapped. "Are you questioning my work?" inquired a small man who spoke with a heavy German accent. He was very old. His hands shook. His mind was still keen however, and with the dedicated younger men he surrounded himself with, he had been able to continue working. "Of course not, Dr. Schneiderman. I have too much respect for you to do that," he said. "I am merely saying that it has not been fully proven and we have special subjects here. Subjects that we may never have access to again. More experimentation is needed on others first as a precaution." "Your objections have been duly noted," snapped the Englishman. The man with the Morley nodded. There was a time for keeping one's own counsel and this was one of those times. He would have to work around the fools as he had in the past. They had all forgotten something. If he had not gotten his way, the subject children would not exist. These fools would have killed Agent Scully. Instead, he had sent her back, back to the man who already loved her passionately although he had not yet acknowledged it. It had been so obvious that in taking her, they had not broken Mulder, but rather only made him more determined, more angry. So, he had sent her back to him. She hadn't really been expected to live or he never would have been able to do it, but he had sensed an inner strength in her that the others had missed. He smiled evilly. She had fooled them all as he had suspected she might. He still had the tapes of the night she had been so near to death and of how Mulder had called her back from the grave. Briefly he felt a pang for the love that the younger man felt for the woman, a love that was returned many fold. He pushed the thought away. He had made his choice years before. Of all the test subjects, Dana Scully had been the only one not to succumb to the seeds of cancer that had been planted. Better yet, she had remained fertile thanks in part to the fact that he had stopped the experiments before they were complete. After her return to her aggrieved partner, nature had taken its course and she had produced two healthy Mulder offspring.........perfect subjects, subjects that were already showing signs of brilliance. Better yet, one was female. By now there would have been another child on the way if she hadn't switched birth control methods just as they had finally found a way to infiltrate her doctor's office and switch the fluid in the depo provera shots she had been getting quarterly. He wasn't worried about it though. He believed it was only a matter of time. They would want more children, or the children would just happen. You couldn't take those shots forever. The meeting finally broke up. He would find out where and when it, their foolish escapade, was to happen. Too many in the consortium had taken to underestimating him lately. They considered his power diminished after the MJ tapes incident. Granted, that bastard Skinner had bested him there, a first, however the rest of the Consortium did not know whose son he really was or had forgotten. He still had some tricks up his sleeve. He was by no means a beaten man and he would see the project continue on his terms. THAT SAME DAY IN ANOTHER WASHINGTON DC LOCATION: It was a nursery school morning for the children, and Sophia sat hunched in front of her computer. She was tired. She had been up hacking a good part of the night. She was close.....so close.....oh, not to stopping the consortium entirely, and not even to finding her niece, but to getting some sort of justice. She would see the bastard die.......Johann Schneiderman.....He would be in his early 80's by now, some would say too old to bother about, but not in her mind.....He was little known and seldom spoken about because he was, had always been, so incredibly shrewd. It was said that he had been one of Mengele's technicians, but she had long suspected otherwise. No, she knew otherwise. Hannah had told her and Rachel and some of the other women she had treated after the war. They had been part of a special group known to few. Sophia had always believed him to be the young mastermind working behind the scenes, feeding Mengele data, stroking his ego.....making him believe he was in charge, and ultimately letting him take all the blame for the atrocities that had been committed. Schneiderman had escaped. The focus had been on the hunt for Mengele, not a so called young lab technician. Mengele had been the one who was known, the one who had stood on the railroad tracks at Auschswitz playing God, and no one had paid any attention to the one who had been directing the play. Soon she would have him. If she could do nothing else, she would bring him to justice publicly and if she couldn't do that.....well.....she would see. She would find him and she would know his face when she did even after all these years. For an instant, she grew angry with herself. She should have realized sooner that he was the man behind a lot of the consortium's "science." She pushed the thought away. It was not productive. Aunt Sophia looked at her watch. Oh, my. It was time to pick up her babies. She slipped her rings back on her fingers, tucked her hair back beneath the flamboyant red wig she had chosen for the day and slipped the colorful dashiki she had found in the thrift store over her gaudy skirt. Then she carefully set the locks and alarms and headed in the direction of the pre-school that the children attended three mornings a week. She didn't know how long it was going to last. The Mulder children were already way ahead of the others in their class, but so far, they seemed to find it fun. Although they could already both build complicated structures with erector sets, they still seemed to enjoy colored blocks. Patrick particularly enjoyed throwing them and every once in awhile, Brenda could be seen chattering away to her dolls. Since the weather was nice, the children were being dismissed outdoors and when they saw Sophia they ran over to her. She opened her arms and scooped them in. "I see you made beautiful pictures for me today! What would I do without my Brenda and Patrick!" Slipping the art projects in her large carryall, she nodded subtly to the one on watch today, and taking the children's hands, went back home to give them lunch. First, however, two pictures went up on the refrigerator with brightly colored magnets for mommy and daddy to see as soon as they got home from work. She smiled. Patrick had drawn an airplane, a stealth bomber in fact. A cold feeling suddenly shot up her spine. Mengele had worked with twins. That meant Schneiderman had been interested in twins. She was glad that Brenda and Patrick were fraternal. "Are you cold Aunty Sophie?" asked Patrick. She smiled. He was such a sensitive little boy sometimes, not that he couldn't hold his own at the playground. Just the other day she had been called in because he had given a much deserved bloody nose to some brat named Daniel. She had told them in no uncertain terms that kids hit on the playground and that they were supposed to know how to handle it. Idiots! They had wanted her to spend hours reading the kid books about peace and love and not hitting. Yeah right...by that time he had already forgotten about it and he and Daniel were sitting in the corner making mud pies. "No dear....well, maybe just a little......" she said bringing her thoughts back to Patrick's questions. Someday the children would know what happened in the Holocaust, would know how the experiments had continued afterwards by the shadow government, but not now. For now they were three years old and wanted to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with their Aunty Sophia provided they came with Oreo cookies for dessert. Patrick would gobble his down. Brenda would open hers carefully, lick out every bit of white filling, and try to get out of eating the rest. End Chapter One "Sophia" Chapter 2 by Macspooky Dana lay in bed waiting for her husband. It was early but they were both tired. They had finally closed a case that they had been working on for some time. The psychic aspects of it had proved as phony as a three dollar bill, but it had been a relief to bring a killer to justice nonetheless. Fox was reading their bedtime story to Brenda and Patrick and then he would join her for a little while; long enough, anyway,to leave her a happy woman before he got up to read case files. No...that wasn't quite right. She smiled. She would be happy all right, but, rather than Fox reading to the kids, Brenda and Patrick were probably reading daddy their bedtime story taking turns on the pages. It had been something of a shock to discover that the children could read. At first they had thought the twins merely had the books memorized until Fox had bought them some new ones and they had opened them and began to read out loud....not all the words of course, but enough of them. She sighed. There was something she had to tell Fox and she wasn't quite sure how she was going to do it. Fox came into the bedroom and slipped out of his shirt and tee shirt tossing them casually aside. She lay there and took in his physique. He had to run a little more now, but his stomach was still tight and flat. She had noticed the first gray hair on his head the week before. She smiled. After all this time, he could still turn her knees to jello. "What are you grinning at gorgeous?" he asked. He shrugged. What the hell? The rest of the clothes came off too. Why wait? He knew exactly what was going to happen. That was the beauty of it. He knew. Well, he didn't exactly know every little detail, but whatever it was it would be good. Scully was something else. Even after all this time, she was never really boring. Just when things got routine, she would come up with something that...well....got them out of a rut. "You.....I was thinking about the first time I saw you. I thought you were the handsomest devil I'd ever seen. Those glasses........If I hadn't been so controlled I might have attacked you right then and there." "And now I'm going gray from domesticity....and exhausted from your constant attacks," he laughed. God, how he loved her. Funny, they had their disagreements, but the marriage had grown and changed with time for the better in their case. He slipped into bed next to her. Without any preamble his hand slipped over her breast. "Hmm....." he muttered. "Or should I say wow?" "Hmm what?" "So when are you going to tell me?" "Tell you what?" she inquired. "That you are pregnant again," he replied. He pulled her into his arms. "Hey, lady....I know every inch of you...remember....and when they get bigger you're pregnant.....and boy have they gotten bigger." "You cannot tell that they are bigger...." she argued totally taken in by his boyish delight. "Oh yes I can....." he rolled her on top of her. "You know, you are beautiful don't you?" "Are you angry?" she asked, "I mean it was just getting easier with the twins and all....." "Angry? Who am I to be angry? I was there...." he grinned. "I knew you were being lazy and careless but I was enjoying it too much to complain. I like lazy careless women, especially when they are acting like sluts." Dana laughed out loud. "Well.....I don't have to worry about being careless now and I love it when you call me a slut, so long as it is your slut," she said relieved. She slipped her legs on either side of him and put herself or rather himself where she wanted him to be. A little while later, she seemed fast asleep. He watched her briefly and grinned. Boy, had she been horny. He did hope it would only be one baby this time. He had found his first gray hair after all. He was soon lying beside her a contented man. She stirred. She was not yet a fully contented woman. He couldn't restrain an affectionate chuckle." "We are going to have a little girl," he said, "And when she grows up, she'll probably work her husband to death too." He kissed her. Okay, so maybe he hadn't been quite as contented as he thought. What the hell...the case files could wait a few more minutes. NEXT DOOR Sophia entered her house and stripped off the garish blond wig she wore for her fortune telling sessions at Missy's shop. The first year of the business had been rough, but the darned thing had proven to be a big success in the end expanding from books and crystals to serving teas, coffees and organic desserts... and then had gone on to soups and salads. It was only open until nine but business was always brisk and Wednesdays when Madame Muldovsky showed up to read the tea leaves were always the busiest of all. Oddly enough, almost the whole family had a hand in the business now. And it was really a family business too, with the children usually somwhere on the premises. Melissa had come up with the ingenious scheme of setting aside a part of the place where kids could play under hired supervision while mom and dad ate in peace. The childcare provider was in fact Both's mom and she was terrific with the kids. He had moved his mother and sisters out of New York when the building they lived in had been torched by a drug dealer, unfortunately right after she had bought it. Sophia had shrugged it off. It had been a tax write off. No one had been hurt, thank God. Not one of her better investments, but then she had known that when she purchased it. She and Margaret also helped with the food when they could, especially now that Melissa was pregnant. Jen had done the decorating and kept the books. Anita acted as waitress on a fill-in basis now that Kevin was stationed nearby. When she wasn't there, Both's sisters helped out, earning spending money. Both's mom had kind of become an unofficial family member. They teased her unmercifully about being an honorary Irishwoman, and she had surprised the living daylights out of them by laughing aloud and asking them what the problem was, "Hadn't they ever heard of the Black Irish before? Ignorant Honkies one and all." Sophia thought about Missy's pregnancy with a great deal of amusement. Walter had just about hit the roof when he had heard. Actually, he hadn't heard. He had figured it out for himself and around about the time the father had been thinking about moving on. Tom Colton had been marched down the aisle so fast he hadn't known what hit him. All three brothers along with Fox, Walter and even Both (who had kind of gone along for the fun because he basically couldn't stand Colton) had been there to make certain the groom didn't get cold feet at the last moment. Strange as it sounded, the two of them were now happy as clams together living in Walter's basement in housekeeping standards the ex-Marine considered somewhat under par to put it mildly, and, the young couple was showing no signs of wanting to move out. Aislinn had done so, however, and had a room with bath and a little kitchenette in Sophia's house now. She was good company and still a big help with all the children although Sophia suspected that Conor O'Shaunessy, currently attending Catholic University, was going to put an end to that soon. They would have to be importing another cousin to help with the new baby Dana had not yet announced was on the way. That was fine too. There certainly were enough McBrides floating around over there. Aislinn had already chosen the most responsible younger sister to come when Dana got around to breaking the news. Sophia wasn't sure how or even why Dana expected or wanted to hide it. Poor dear was explodingout of her bras already. Besides, she had been downstairs with the children the afternoon the two of them had decided to become carried away on the couch. Those two characters never had gotten tired of each other. Thank God the kids were amenable to a hastily inserted audio tape of Barney songs and a quick reassurance that mommy was not screaming because she had fallen down and gotten a big boo boo. Sophia counted the money she had made telling the fortunes and then put it in the jar she kept for that purpose. All the money went to charity. She didn't need it. She just did it for fun and to help Missy who basically needed all the help she could get at times. Hard to believe she had created a successful business. Mulder had always referred to her as a ditz brain and his aunt felt he wasn't far off the mark. Sophia headed upstairs to bed thinking with a chuckle about a conversation she had had with Walter Skinner who thought she was a little on the insane side too. "I am the Assistant Director of the FBI, Sophia. If you are going to insist on telling fortunes, please make them good ones. The media would have a field day if you were arrested by the bunko squad at my daughter's restaurant. Better keep the customers happy so they don't report you for illegal activites." So far, she had successfully evaded jail. Oh....if Walter only knew....Still it was kind of cute the way he tried to shake her up sometimes. H had looked so dour as he was admonishing her not to get arrested. Sophia had jangled her earrings and told him to have faith. He had looked decidedly nonplussed. She supposed she could have reassured him that she always told good fortunes so the customers wouldn't complain, but that would have been too easy on him. Mr. Lean Mean ex Marine wasn't always entirely comfortable in his role of family patriarch. Well, it had been thrust upon him rather suddenly. Love made people accept strange burdens. Still, it was kind of fun to annoy him at times, especially when he was trying so hard to shake her up. She didn't think he had ever quite forgiven her for building that computer for his wife, especially since Meg had become one of the most popular fanfiction writers on the Internet pumping out "UFO Chasers" stories at a fantastic rate. After washing and brushing her teeth she slipped into bed. There was something she had wanted to do....something important, but it had slipped her mind....now what was it? Well, it would come to her when she wasn't thinking about it. She had a busy day tomorrow. It was going to rain. The arthritis in her shoulder told her that....getting old....That would mean they couldn't take the children to the park and it wasn't a nursery school day. Meg would probably come over with Little Fox and Missy might bring Wills since Dana would be at work and the tea shop was closed on Thursdays. They would drink coffee and gossip and she would have a chance to relive her youth, the youth and young motherhood she had never had. What was it that she had wanted to do? She wished she could remember. Sophia drifted off to sleep and had dreams, pleasant dreams. She dreamt of Kurt, of walking the beach with him hand in hand....and then making love in the moonlight. He had been so sweet with her, so understanding, teaching her that her body was a delicate instrument and playing it with the utmost tenderness until she was no longer afraid, until making love no longer hurt. Most of all though, he had respected her mind, appreciated her intellect. How she had loved him! They had been so young in those days, so passionate. She had been tolerated by his family as an interlude, a sowing of wild oats. Kurt had been an aristocrat, expected to marry an appropriate woman and have children. That was the one thing Sophia had not been able to do for him. In the end, he had chosen his duty to his parents, his family, over her. She had left Germany and gone to England to finish her medical studies. A year later she heard that Kurt had been killed in a hunting accident. He had been far too gentle a soul to kill animals, but hunting was part of his father's aristocratic scheme and he had gone along. Kurt's young wife of good family and respectable blood lines had died in childbirth along with the baby not long afterwards and the family name had never been passed on. Sophia had had other lovers during her lifetime of course. If the world had known who she had made love to in Africa, she might have been dead back in those days, but there had never been another like Kurt. Kurt had been to her as Fox was to Dana, but fate had kept them apart. Still, the dreams were always wonderful. End Chapter 2 macspooky@earthlink.net All disclaimers still apply. "Sophia Chapter" Chapter 3 The dark sedan cruised around and pulled up in front of the Mulder house. The occupant got out and made himself scarce. When the work day had started several other cars had pulled into parking spaces nearby. They came and went all morning....watching....waiting....in the rain. The day was perfect for what they had to do...dark and dreary. Most people would be at work and whoever might be home would be indoors. Finally one of the dark sedans pulled out and made room for an exterminator's van. Two men with tanks went into the house across the street. Unbeknownst, others remained waiting in the van. Sophia put the coffee on and waited for her company to arrive. She sang as she worked. She had decided to have her little coffee klatsch at Fox's house because most of the toys were there. Oddly enough, they still took up space in the dining area. Though there was now plenty of room downstairs since she had moved next door, Dana and Fox never quite seemed to get around to shifting the toys to the more logical location. It was as though they had grown comfortable with the arrangement they had and didn't really care. Of course, they didn't have a lot of time for household projects either. They still had to travel out of town and sometimes still worked very long hours. Meg and Missy arrived with Little Fox and Wills. Missy looked beautiful. She was glowing. It wasn't at all like her first pregnancy where she had been so sick all the time. Little raincoats were hung up. Aislinn brought the twins downstairs. She had been playing with them in their room since she didn't have a class that morning. The kids were soon happily trashing the place. The women quickly got started on gossip. Sophia moved her shoulder uncomfortably and Meg asked her what she was taking for the arthritis. "Oh, nothing....you know me," she chuckled feeling very happy in that instant, but suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she didn't know why. She remembered then what it was that she had intended to do. She had noticed that some of the security sensors on the windows had needed replacement but it had completely slipped her mind. Suddenly she wished that she had brought the dogs over, but they were so small and the children could be rough sometimes without meaning to be. "Sophia...are you okay?" asked Margaret concerned. Her friend had suddenly zoned out. That wasn't like Sophia at all. She was no longer young despite being in great shape. "Oh, yes dear...I'm fine...." she smiled and poured more coffee. She wasn't fine though. As soon as the twins went for their quiet time, she was going to replace those sensors and double check the backup generator. Aislin and Missy were laughing hysterically about something, but she couldn't seem to focus on it. Had she remembered to reset the alarms when they had come in? AT A PUBLIC PHONE Cel phones could be traced and pay phones could be traced, but not if you were quick enough. The man resisted the temptation to take out a Morley. Someone might notice. He wasn't even dressed as he normally would be. He was nervous about what he was about to do. He placed a quarter in the phone and dialed the office of Fox Mulder. His spies had been a little too slow. He didn't have much time. Someone would pay for this. "Agent Mulder please...." he whispered. "Agent Mulder isn't here. This is Agent Bothrington." Both was suddenly alert. There was something strange about the voice. He couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. "Agent Scully then...." "Agent Scully is not in either. How may I help you?" "An attempt is about to be made on the children. Get to their home. Get there now and be quiet about it. If necessary there will be bloodshed." The phone went dead in his ear. Bothrington called Skinner's office. He was already on his feet. Angela hesitated to put him through. It didn't take long to figure out that Bothrington wasn't fooling around though. He just about bit her head off and he never did that. He was always pleasant and polite. She liked him nearly as much as Agent Mulder. Skinner cursed and slammed down the receiver then picked up his jacket and ran from the office telling Angela he had an emergency at home. He met Both in the parking garage. Both slapped a siren on the car and pulled out at top speed while Skinner called Mulder on the cel phone. BACK AT THE MULDER HOUSE Meg was pouring more coffee when Sophia noticed the telephone company van pulling around the corner. That made three utility vans in the last 20 minutes and the impending storm hadn't really started yet. Then there was the exterminator's van that had been sitting in the same location far too long. The gas company...the cable company...the telephone company....and an exterminator all at once......She felt a growing fear in the pit of her stomach. The phone rang. It was a voice....a voice she knew too well despite the attempts at disguise. "They are coming for the children Sophia....they are coming now." The phone went dead in her hand and the power went off as thunder rattled and lightening struck nearby. Bad luck. Now the house was semi-dark. The generator should bring the security system back on line but.... What to do. She had to think. And then she realized that it was too late for thinking. The house was surrounded. They were professionals and they would use this brief time until the backup kicked in to get into the house. "Aislinn, Missy....take the children down to the basement. Back bedroom. Now. Patrick....our secret room...okay....Missy...hand upper right hand corner of back wall. It'll open. Now...go. Close the door behind you and don't come out until I tell you that its safe. If I don't come, don't come out." Aislinn quickly grabbed Melissa's arm and headed for the stairs. She had spent some time in Derry. If her parents had known about the man she had gotten involved with for a short time.....He had turned out to be a bastard and not the idealist she had thought, but he had taught her how to hide and when to keep her mouth shut.....There was a distinct "the Brits are coming" in Sophia's voice and she knew it wasn't a time to argue. "But..." said Missy as Ailinn was dragging her and the children away. "Go....go now...hurry...." Sophia was already running for the hall closet. She was getting old. She was slipping. Oh, God.....her babies.....They were coming for her babies. Sophia grabbed her pistol and slapped in a round of cartridges. Then she grabbed another and gave it to Margaret. "Don't let them know you have it," she said quickly. She was almost too late. Glass was heard to break all over the house and suddenly there were men dressed in dark clothes and hoods entering from three sides. The worst of it was with the storm and the high walls and everyone being at work, no one would hear, no one would see, and the bastards knew it. A terrified Margaret got one with a vase. She cracked him right over the back of the head. He fell instantly. In quick succession Sophia shot the second in the head and blew the kneecap out of the third leaving him in agony....but the fourth was too quick. He grabbed Margaret and held the gun to her head. He told Sophia to drop her weapon and seeing that he would not hesitate to shoot her closest friend, the woman was forced to reluctantly comply. "Where are the children?" he demanded. Margaret twisted and turned and spat in his face. He wrenched her arm out of the socket. She bit her lip so hard it bled but she didn't cry out. Her grandchildren....her child....in danger. Walter Skinner didn't hesitate. He had seen the broken glass and had flown into the house without thinking, his gun drawn. He had a clear shot and he fired. The man fell as Both ran to Sophia.... "The children?" Walter demanded quickly. "Safe...downstairs.... " Sophia choked as she quickly grabbed a clean cloth diaper from a bag and wrapped her injured hand. Then came the sounds of more broken glass and a scream. The four of them ran for the stairs and found two men holding a gun on Aislinn, Missy and the little ones. Walter and Both entered. "Drop the guns..." said one of the men before they could act. He grabbed Aislinn and held the gun to her head. "Drop them now." Aislinn was terrified. She had Brenda in her arms and tried to stop herself from shaking. A sob escaped her but somehow she managed to stay calm and keep a tight grasp on the baby. Walter and Both were forced to do as they had been told. The second man snatched Brenda from Aislinn's arms. The child pummeled at him with tiny fists until he slapped her hard. The little girl swayed and collapsed against his shoulder. Margaret was in agony. It took every ounce of strength she had, but with her dislocated right arm, she reached into her pocket and pulled the pistol Sophia had given her. She aimed and fired at the first gunman splattering blood all over Aislinn. Melissa saw Patrick run toward the man who held his sister....his twin and without a thought for her own safety she tried to throw herself in the way. but the man fired, the bullet catching the child in the head[. Then with a speed that was almost inhuman, he slithered out the basement window with Brenda. Before eitherBoth or Skinner could react or get a clear shot he and his precious burden had disappeared into a van and were gone in seconds. At that moment the backup generator kicked in and suddenly the sound of a klaxon was heard. Music[began to blare all over the neighborhood at am decibel level that would wake the dead......"God Save the Queen." Sophia had figured it was bound to attract attention. It had come just a little too late to help. End Chapter 3 macspooky@earthlink.net All disclaimers still apply. "Sophia" Chapter 4 Fox paced the waiting room of Georgetown Hospital in a fury. He wanted to be out looking for his baby girl, but Skinner had forbade it. They had almost come to blows over it. The only thing that had stopped him from hitting the man he cared about so deeply was that Skinner had put him in a headlock and told him that Dana needed him here....that Patrick needed him and that he was in no state to run a search operation on a kidnapping right now. In his heart, Fox had known that Skinner was right. It hadn't helped much, but he had known. While he waited, Dana was with Patrick in an examining room. His little boy had been shot in the head. Well maybe he had been shot in the head. There had been so much blood that the EMT's hadn't been able to tell how bad the damage was, but the child was unconscious....and his wife was with the doctors now. Sophia sat wearily in a chair. Margaret came in looking distinctly pale. "Mom...." he said. She deflected him with her left hand. "They've put the shoulder back in place and I'm bruised but that's it. Patrick?" "No word yet....."he said quickly. "Oh, God...it's been so long....and Brenda....." "Walter and Both will find her, Fox. They will....." said Margaret quickly. She took Fox's arm and squeezed it. "But we couldn't find Dana......." his voice shook for a moment. He still had nightmares about being called to Scully's apartment that night, about the blood on the doorframe, about the three months she had been gone, and now it was happening again to his baby girl. He pulled himself together. This wasn't the time to fall apart, wasn't the time for bad memories. "I'm sorry, Mom. Are you sure you are okay?" "Yes....I'm fine." She sat down. Sophia got to her feet suddenly. "It's all my fault," she blurted out. "It's my fault, Fox....." "What are you talking about Aunt Sophia?" he asked softly. Suddenly she looked her age, every moment of it. For the first time, he realized that she wouldn't be around forever and how empty their lives were going to be without her. "The sensors in the windows. I saw that some of them were shorted out and I meant to replace them, and to double check the generator...but I got so busy with my research....and the back up generator didn't kick in as fast as it should have on the alarm....I should have brought the dogs over....... I'm so close to catching that son of a bitch.....and I was so taken up with the children.....I got careless....I got......I got....happy...." For the first time since she was a very young woman, Sophia Mulder began to cry. Fox had no idea what son of a bitch his aunt was talking about. There were enough of them out there. It didn't matter. If she were close to getting one, so much the better. Instinctively despite all his pain, he did the right thing. He put his arms around his aunt and held her. She felt small and fragile in his arms, suddenly no longer the brilliant woman who caught criminals and built computers, but an old woman who was afraid for "her" babies as she called them, who had gotten "happy" and had what was probably the first failure of one of her security systems. "No...no....no Aunt Sophia," he said softly. "You didn't get careless. You didn't slip. You were simply human.....a good human. It's not your fault. None of it is your fault." Sophia rested her head against her nephew's shoulder for a moment. She didn't agree with him, but she wouldn't argue. It wasn't the time. It served no purpose. They would find Brenda.....They would....and Patrick would be alright....He had to be. She straightened her shoulders and wiped her eyes. She couldn't allow herself such slips anymore. They worried her. It made her feel her age and she still had too much to do. "Bastards," she spat suddenly. "They weren't interested in him at all. Not really. They wanted her....they wanted her eggs. They took mine....and then they took Samantha.....and now they have taken her.....The female of each generation." "We'll find the man who took her, Sophia," said Margaret. She wasn't sure what Sophia was talking about exactly and she was worried about her friend. "That man is dead. He shot Patrick. He shot the male. Don't you see. The male child is left to propagate and the female is taken for her DNA and her eggs. It's all part of the pattern and the girls get younger because the technology improves. You don't have to go into the room and rape the daughter anymore. You can........" She stopped herself. She hadn't meant to say that. Margaret looked at her horrified for an instant, and then hid her shock. Sophia was not looking for sympathy here. She was angry and she was thinking out loud. Fox collapsed on the vinyl waiting room couch. Sophia was right. She was absolutely right. It all made sense. Suddenly even Scully's return made sense. He had been so obvious. He had run around seeking to avenge her and then suddenly she had been returned and he had proposed marriage.....He had bred the next generation of guinea pigs with a woman....a subject.....They hadn't been able to choose better if they had done it themselves, which after a fashion they had when they had sent Dana to spy on him. They had won anyway.....and oh, God, now Dana was pregnant again. He picked up his cel phone and dialed but Skinner said he had nothing to report. Neither did Both. He called Margaret's house. Aislinn told him that Missy and the children were fine. Tom was there and the house was being guarded. The biggest danger was from the press who were camped out front in droves. Suddenly Frohicke, Byers and Langley descended on the hospital waiting room. "We heard on the scanner, man....how's our boy?" asked Langley.... "I don't know," sighed Mulder. "Dana is in there with him and the doctors right now. It's taking...it's taking forever." "And the little girl?" "Gone....without a trace....." he sighed. He hung his head. Every time he thought he could lead a normal life......every goddamed time. God, he'd been so happy when Dana had told him about the baby. Yeah...it was gonna be a pain starting all over again and yeah it hadn't been planned....but another child when he thought he would never have any.....he had been so happy. Three kids.... He picked his head up. He wasn't quite certain he was ready for the three stooges as he sometimes kiddingly called his good friends, but that wasn't fair. The guys WERE just that, friends....good friends....and Frohicke had probably saved his ass that time he had had amnesia...or at least saved his marriage. He had been treating Dana like shit then and Frohicke had made him come to his senses. "You know what," said Mulder quietly, "I think Margaret could use a ride home." "Absolutely not. I'm staying right here. Little Fox and Wills are being cared for and I want to be by my daughter." "Mom, the kids saw a bloody mess...they've been traumatized....." "I know...." she sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't have shot when I did...." "No, Meg," said Sophia going to sit by her friend. "You did fine. I liked it when you spit in that bastard's face almost as much as when you whacked the first one over the head with the vase, but if you hadn't fired when you did we all would have been dead. He wouldn't have left any of us alive at that point." Meg nodded wearily. "Thanks, Sophia....." She had always hated guns. Bill had taught her to shoot, but she had never wanted to. "And Missy.....she probably saved Patrick's life. If she hadn't pushed him out of the way...Walter will tell you. The bastard had Brenda in his arms at that point and he was aiming right between Wally Wolf's eyes. As for Patrick...well...he's just like you...was going to get his sister....." Sophia sighed again. "There just wasn't enough time for them to get into my safe room.....He even remembered how to open it, but there just wasn't enough warning...." "I still think you should go home, mom...." said Fox softly. "And Aunt Sophia, you should rest too." "No....but I think we could all use some coffee," Margaret said, quietly answering for both women. "Consider it done," said Frohicke. "There is a[Starbucks across the street." "Yeah..." muttered Fox, "the new one that opened after they shot everyone who worked in the old one. Wonderful world." He slumped back again. "Thanks guys. You are good friends." Sophia studied the Gun Men as they left. So that was what they looked like. Losers....except of course perhaps Byers. He looked like a nerd or a geek.....college professor. It was perfect. She had been supporting them for years. Great researchers. The best.....tenacious.....and paranoid. Paranoid meant careful. She had put them on to Mulder as soon as she had heard that he had taken over the X-Files division only to find out that he already [k]new them from a case he had worked when he was new with the Bureau. They didn't know any of this of course. She was an anonymous backer. It was better that way. She turned her thoughts to Schneiderman. Somehow he was involved in this. She had met him in England after the war and had taken an instant dislike to him. In him, she had sensed the same evil and corruption that had been in her own father. He had been teaching at university where she was studying medicine. He was supposedly a refugee from the Eastern part of Germany....an innocent young man caught up in the horror of the war, but she had believed differently. It was only later that she had found out the real truth...later when she had met some of the survivors of Mengele's so[-]called experiments and they had described him. She had known immediately who he was. He was using the name of Johann Schneiderman, but he was really the devil in disguise. She wanted to be in the back with Dana, with the doctors. It was true that she had not practiced medicine for many years, but she hadn't forgotten. She wanted to be with her little Patrick. End Chapter 4 macspooky@earthlink.net All disclaimers still apply. "Sophia" Chapter 5 by Macspooky A solitary man in a dark suit stood outside of Georgetown Hospital gazing at the building. He took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one, inhaling the smoke deeply just as he had done for 40 something years, but somehow, this time it brought him no pleasure. He believed in his work, believed in the project, told himself he had no regrets for the things he had done and the sacrifices he had made for the cause. He told himself, but as he gazed at the building where little Patrick Mulder lay probably dying, he wasn't certain that he believed it. He had never married, never fathered a child, kept himself from all attachments.....Suddenly a wave of anger washed over him. This had not been necessary. If anything, they had destroyed years of work with this stupid bumbling attempt at kidnap. Oh, yes, they had the little girl, but the boy might be dying. And then there was the media. Word had gotten out that the grandchild of the Assistant Director of the FBI had been kidnapped and the medi] was all over the place. There was no way to contain it now...no way to stop it....and what for...to stroke the ego of a dying old man. He had a decision to make. He wanted to make it the way his father, the old bastard, had taught him, heartlessly, ruthlessly. "You are my true son.....my other son is weak and foolish.....but you....you'll change the world.....you'll be part of a new order......you'll rule the world....." He had believed it, believed every word of it. His father told him and his mother told him....and he had grown up thinking that it was his due...never mind that the old bastard had never married his mother....never mind that he didn't bear the old man's last name. He inhaled deeply. None of this was important now. What was important was saving the cause.....and, a tiny voice told him somewhere in the back of his hardened mind and heart, saving the life of a tiny red headed girl, and justifying it by convincing himself that if she survived until she was of a more appropriate age, the cause would be well served. He walked away from the hospital and to a pay phone. INSIDE GEORGETOWN HOSPITAL Dana finally stepped into the waiting room. She looked shaky and exhausted. Fox noticed that there was blood on her clothes. Of course there would be blood on her clothes. They had arrived on the scene at the same time as the EMT's. She had run to her unconscious son. He didn't think he would soon forget her cry of anguish. He put his arm around her and lead her to a seat. "The bullet did not lodge itself in his head," she said softly. "It did fracture his skull, however and push a small fragment of bone into his brain. They are taking him into surgery now. It looks.....it looks as though most of the bleeding was external and that he will be alright but......Dr. Marchand is one of the country's top neurosurgeons, Fox. He's the best....He's......" She zoned out for a moment. When they had arrived the house had looked like a war zone....and the blood....there had been so much blood. It had taken every bit of discipline she had possessed not to get hysterical at the sight of her son laying there while her daughter was gone.....She had very nearly lost it. Perhaps she had. She didn't remember, but then Skinner had been shaking her and telling her she was a doctor and now was the most important time in her life to act like one. Somehow she had started barking orders at the EMT's and gotten into the ambulance with them. The ambulance ride had been the longest of her life, and she had done many in the past working with Fox Mulder. Suddenly, as she sat in the hospital waiting room, she wasn't a doctor any longer but a mother, and she started to weep. Through her tears she managed to tell Fox that someone should tell the crime scene people to look for the slug in the wall since it hadn't penetrated her baby boy's skull. She hadn't forgotten her investigative skills in spite of everything and Fox was once again filled with admiration for her strength and intelligence. "Should we transfer him to Children's Hospital?" asked Fox holding on to her. He would call on it but not now. Now all he could think about was Patrick. Besides, in his heart he knew any evidence gathered in this case was going to disappear. "No....he's better off not being moved......" Dana sniffed. She pulled herself together. "Brenda? Any news about Brenda?" "Nothing....they'll find her, Dana.....they will," he said. He held on to her and let her cry when the tears started again. For now there was nothing to do but wait, wait for the surgeon to work his magic, wait for Both and Skinner to find Brenda....wait and pray......As he clung to his wife, he felt anger growing inside of him, but he had to remain in control. He just had to. THE DORMS AT WILLIAM & MARY COLLEGE, WILLIAMSBURG "Amanda Tillot, what the hell is the matter with you?" asked her twin sister Jennifer. "You've been moping around all day. It isn't that idiot Ron is it?" "Ron is not an idiot," returned Amanda although she was beginning to think that he was. She wondered vaguely if it hadn't been a mistake to finally lose her virginity to him. Suddenly he seemed rather stupid and clumsy. Hell, she hadn't even enjoyed it. She wondered briefly if there wasn't something in her mother's long and boring lectures about waiting until after marriage. Of course mom was a fine one to talk. When she had married Fox's father, there had to have been a bulge sticking out of the wedding dress. Somehow it was hard to picture mom doing what she'd done with Ron in the back of some old-fashioned car. It wasn't her mother or Ron though that had her in a funk. She felt uneasy as though something terrible were about to happen. The phone rang, distracting her. She put it on speakerphone and said hello. For an instant there was a sound, like a heavy sigh and then a raspy voice said, "You have a niece and a nephew but maybe not for long. Call your brother. Tell him his little girl is at this address in Beltsville, MD. Tell him to go quietly and carefully. Tell him to hurry before it is too late." Jenny and Amanda looked at one another as a click disconnected them. Amanda had written down the address quickly, but she also wrote down the phone number that had appeared on her new ultra modern phone with instant caller ID. Her dad had claimed it was a ridiculous luxury, but she thought briefly that she might just have justified the expense. Fox Mulder cursed when his cel phone rang. He cursed even harder although silently when he heard Jennifer's voice. He loved his twin sisters dearly, but he was in no mood to hear her prattle on about how stupid Amy's boyfriend was....not now. At first he didn't even hear what Jenny was telling him. "Fox, you aren't listening," snapped Jenny. "Amy got this phone call." Fox listened then. He listened very carefully. He signaled Sophia for a pen, a pencil, anything.....not trusting his memory. He wrote down the address and the phone number although he knew that would be a pay phone and thanked his sister tersely before hanging up on her. "What was that all about?" asked Margaret seeing an instant change in her son-in-law. He explained quickly. "I have to go. I have to go now," he snapped. "No," said Sophia suddenly getting to her feet. "No....you belong here." No one had to tell her who had made that call. She had made an educated guess almost immediately when she had received her own warning. Already a plan was beginning to launch itself in her mind. "She's my daughter......." "No.....Dana needs you and Patrick is going to need you when he comes out of surgery. You call Both and Skinner and you give them the message. You tell them that I am going to meet them at the address in Beltsville......" "Aunt Sophia......" he protested......as she stuck her hand in his pocket and snatched his keys.....He was angry. He wanted to slap her. "You are wasting time. Do as I say, Fox," snapped the older woman already at the door. "And get your computer nerd friends busy checking out the location. We may need floor plans and blue prints." Sophia was gone. Dana laid a hand on her husband's arms. She knew him, knew he wanted to bolt, to go break down the door, to shoot his way in, and she didn't blame him. She wanted to do the same, but instinctively she knew that that was not what was called for here. "She's right, Fox," said Dana quietly. "How the f**k would you know that?" he exploded pushing her away. "Are you suddenly admitting to being psychic after all these years?" Margaret winced at Fox talking to her daughter like that. "That's enough, Fox," she said in the tone that said he would get his mouth washed out with soap in a minute. "I'm sorry......I'm sorry, Dana...." he said softly, deflating suddenly. He collapsed on to the sofa and started to weep with helplessness. Dana went to sit beside him, when the Gunmen came in. "Coffee for everyone," they said and then stopped and stared. Margaret pulled herself together. "We've had news," she said quietly. "We think we have a location on Brenda. Sophia said she wants you guys to get on your computers. She wants floor plans, blue prints, anything you can come up with." "If she calls, tell her we're on it. How do we get it to her?" "My laptop is in the car," sighed Fox. "I suspect she will be in touch with you shortly." He took his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. "No...we'll go back to the office, Mulder. Better equipment." With that they were already racing toward the door and Langley's old once bright orange VW bus. "Brenda is okay," said Margaret suddenly. "They haven't done anything to her yet. I just.....feel it." Dana closed her eyes and hoped that her mother's psychic ability was in full swing this time. She felt nothing. Suddenly nausea overcame her. It made her all too aware of the new life growing inside of her and she bolted for the women's room. Suddenly everything seemed too much. Note: There really is an old abandoned gravel works in Beltsville, MD. I have never been there or even seen it although I have read that it is located near a creek. At the moment they are trying to decide how to stop runoff from further polluting the Anacostia River and there is talk that they will somehow turn it into a park. End Chapter 5 macspooky@earthlink.net All disclaimers still apply "Sophia" Chapter 6 by Macspooky Sophia looked the young patrolman in the eyes. It had been a difficult drive around the Beltway and into Beltsville, and she was not about to put up with any crap from anyone. When politeness didn't work, she glared. "You get on the radio with your superior and you tell him that Sophia Mulder wants to get through to talk to Assistant Director Skinner......now...." she snapped. Skinner and Both had an advantage that she lacked...government cars with sirens and the credentials to avoid the highway patrol. She had had to set a more sedate pace of 80 in the left hand lane. The young man was taken aback. The woman he had pulled over at the road block going into the old gravel pit by the railroad tracks looked like a real ditz brain....stereotypical "batty" old lady, but there was nothing of the dingbat in her demeanor despite her loud clothes and those god awful rings she wore on every finger. She may have reminded him of Edith Bunker from the reruns of a show his parents liked to watch, but there was something in her eyes that was almost scary...no definitely frightening. And, she had said her name was Mulder. Mulder was the name of the kidnapped child. "Alright, ma'am, but please stay here," he said. This whole situation was odd. They were blocking entrances into the gravel pit, and yet no one seemed to be searching it. By this time, he thought, they would have brought out the dogs which were waiting nearby and started searching. Sophia nodded, but as soon as the young man went back to his car to use the radio, she threw Mulder's yellow Mustang into gear and, banging up on what had once been some sort of loading dock, flew around him. Ultimately she came squealing to a halt not far from Skinner's car which had been located so as to be out of sight of the building. Everyone thought Sophia couldn't drive worth a damn. The truth was, she could drive rings around the whole bunch of them. It was better for them not to know what her true skill levels really were. "I need a place to plug in Mulder's laptop," she announced as Skinner and Both approached the car. "Sophia, what are you doing here?" demanded an angry Skinner. "I've no time for this. Get me a place where I can use my modem." "Um....Sir, if I were you, I think I'd listen to the lady," said Both smothering a chuckle despite the seriousness of the situation. "It will be easier in the long run." He whispered in Skinner's ear that if the woman were plugged in somewhere she would be out of the way. Skinner nodded. Maybe if she plugged the damned computer in somewhere it really would keep her busy and out of his hair while he tried to organize this raid. He had his hands full enough. Mulder's daughter was in that old building somewhere, and it was his job to get her out alive. A pang pierced his heart. Patrick was lying in the hospital and his own precious son had been on the scene when the whole mess had gone down. It had been so close. It could have been his Little Fox.....He forced himself to focus. Yes....a place where she could plug in a modem. Mulder said she was a computer whiz, and he had built his wife that machine two years ago so he supposed Mulder was right. Maybe she would even come up with something useful. He called for an officer to escort her to the van they were using for communications and turned his attention back to the old gravel pit. God, but the setup was perfect. This was a heavily industrialized area once served by railroad tracks. The old gravel works contained a small factory for administration and the processing of orders although it had been closed for years. >From all outward appearances, it looked like a falling down dump that could be reached only by a circuitous back route, but he suspected that the reality was quite a different story. Well, the piles of gravel could act in their favor. They would provide cover for the swat team, the team that was even now on it's way. It had started to drizzle again. Skinner felt a chill run through him at the sudden thought that the piles of gravel could also be booby trapped. They would have no way of knowing. Not even bomb sniffing dogs could find everything. Suddenly Both was by his side handing him a cup of coffee. He thanked the man with a brief nod and wondered once again about this black man who he trusted so instinctively. "That could be my baby sister," said Both quietly. "Or even my child if I had one." "Stay with the X-Files and one day it might be," said Skinner softly. The sudden insight was frightening and it was the only warning that he knew how to give. He realized that he had been ignoring the possibilities that someone might go after the children because the thought had been psychologically too horrific to deal with. "No. It's going to stop," said the man determinedly. Sophia was downloading the data that the gunmen had begun to gather for her when she heard the word swat team. She flew from the communications van and up to Skinner. "Walter, you can't send in the swat team," she told him. She realized that other officers were listening and lowered her voice. "Sophia, I don't have a choice," he said. "You have to find another answer. There is no way you can get in there without being seen and tripping all kinds of alarms. Walter, they could kill her before you got past the front door." "Sir, Ms. Mulder may have a point," said Both. He had seen Sophia in action. Skinner didn't know this of course. If he did.....well, it was just best if the man never found out exactly how that fire in Long Island City had been started..... "I've thought about that Agent Bothrington. I've sent for a special unit. They have extra training. It's all we can do right now. It's not getting any earlier in the day and I'd like to go in before total darkness." "Yes, Sir," said Bothrington looking at the older woman. "I don't think you are fully cognizant of what you are dealing with here, Walter," said Sophia softly. "You only think you are. I think you are too good a man to really understand....and for that I suppose I should be grateful." She wanted to yell at him, to punch him, but it would do no good. Walter Skinner wasn't a fool. She went back into the van and quickly studied the print outs. Committing them to memory, she left once again catching the phrases, "Hey, who is the crazy old broad? And boy, Skinner sure must be henpecked...You should have heard the crazy old bat giving him orders," as she exited once again. She gave Skinner the blue prints. He took them with a nod wondering briefly how she had gotten the data so quickly but paid little attention as she walked away. His cel phone rang, and as he answered it, Both took advantage of the time to catch her. "What are you up to Sophia?" he asked. "I'm going in, Both," she said quietly, "Alone. Do what you can to stall them, but if you can't, try to arrange it so that they start their search on the upper floors and work their way down. And believe me, there is a down." "We can't have another fire, Sophia," he said quietly. "No....we can't......Um....tell me Both....have you read the story of Noah's ark?" She turned and left. The agent laughed in spite of himself. So....she wasn't planning a fire this time. Interesting....." Sophia snuck around to the back of the van and then crept back to Mulder's car behind one of the piles of gravel that was located near the communications van. Reaching into her carry all, that huge straw bag she carried everywhere, she pulled out a pair of black leggings and a black shirt. The old "nun's shoes" she wore with her long skirt were not as good as her black Nike's, but she couldn't carry everything. They were rubber soled and they would do. Inside one of the many pockets in the shirt, the elderly woman slipped her lock pick, a swiss army knife and aknitting needle, a very special knitting needle, one of a pair that she had sharpened herself. She removed a plastic cap from it. She wished for her pistol, but with the children around she had to be careful. Even the plastic cap she kept over her "knitting" equipment wouldn't keep Patrick at bay for very long if he ever decided to explore her handbag when she wasn't looking. Then, in her last pocket, she put her can of special playdough, the one that Patrick would never be able to open. At the last moment she removed her wig and slipped on gloves and a black ski mask. Her acute sense of hearing told her that the special swat team had just arrived. She wouldn't have much time. It took her nearly 10 minutes to work her way to the back entrance of the old factory undetected. There were surveillance cameras subtly placed everywhere, even buried in the gravel. She wished she'd had more time to warn Skinner, to argue, to admonish, but he would see the notes on the blue prints and act accordingly. He wasn't a fool. He would be cautious, and with Both helping to delay him, she hoped she would have enough time. The smoking man heard the door open with a quiet snick and pressed back against the wall, his heart pounding. He thought he must be getting old. He had never had a reaction like that before. Damn....it was her. He might have known she would come. He might have realized she'd been behind a lot of things over the years....such as those damned computer nerds getting a hold of the MJ tapes....Blood would tell. She crept around the corner with the silence of a panther tracking its prey. "Don't move," he whispered. She froze tensing. The bastard had appeared out of nowhere. "What are you doing?" she whispered in reply. She recognized the voice...she knew even through the whisper and the masks they both wore. "The same thing you are. This madness must be stopped...now. I'll get the girl." "Why should I trust you....." "Because dear sister, blood is thicker than water." "Bull shit...." "And because this madness must be stopped before the entire program is destroyed....." "That sounds more like you....." "There is a price to pay, Sophia dearest," he said , taking] her arm roughly and pulling her so close she could smell the smoke on him. "I know where the girl is being kept. Brilliant as you are, you will never make it." Sophia intensely hated the man who stood before her. She had to force herself not to shudder at his touch. He was so like their father, and no matter what, he would never ever forget her father's touch. She did not like to admit it, but she suspected that this time, because it behooved him to do so, he was telling the truth. He was nothing else if not dedicated to their father's work. One day her nephew would bring down the whole Consortium, with her help of course, but that day wasn't going to be today. "Your family means nothing to you," she said as a statement of fact. "Convince yourself that I am getting sentimental in my old age if it makes it easier dear sister...." "And the price I pay?" "Murder...." he hissed. "Johann Schneiderman needs to die before he ruins everything we have worked so hard for." "Then perhaps he should live. Perhaps there is redemption after all....." "I can't be in two places at one time. Schneiderman for the girl....." "For the child I will deal with the devil," she agreed. She hoped she hadn't acquiesced too quickly. With this man, you never knew. He had no respect for those who gave in easily. "He will be on the first level basement...." The smoking man whispered some instructions in her ears. "I need 30 minutes to get to her and get out. She'll be found on the street. Now go....." The nameless smoking man left her. Sophia was smart enough to know that she had no choice but to trust him. 30 minutes to get in and get out meant that there were rooms in the facility that were not on blue prints. She had rather suspected it but had hoped to get lucky. She glanced at her watch risking the small blue light. The countdown commenced. Sophia crept away in the opposite direction of the smoking man. She was not a murderer. She only hoped that when the moment came she could look the good "doctor" in the eye and do what she had to do or stab him in the back if necessary. She found him exactly where her half brother had told her he would be, working in a lab. Around him were tanks of green liquid containing fetuses in various stages of development. Laying on the table was a child, a small black child of not more than two or three, a baby. The little one was restrained but awake, sedated but not enough, not unconscious. It was whimpering. Schneiderman had a large needle in his hand and was about to inject the child with a vile looking green substance and suddenly things got very very easy. Silently, she slipped the knitting needle out of her pocket. "Johan Schneiderman," she hissed. The old man was startled. He dropped the needle turning to face her. "What....."he turned. He hadn't been expecting any interruptions. "It ends here....for all the women you tortured." When she had seen the child, she had known she could do anything. She lunged at him. The knitting needle pierced his eye socket and went right to the brain. Pulling it out, she shuddered. Murder had been easy, too easy, and it frightened her more than she liked. Blood would tell...blood would tell...blood would tell....The old woman shook her head. There was no time for this. Schneiderman might have been ready to kill the child or torture it. He was already torturing it, terrorizing it with the needle. Quickly she unstrapped the child and hugged it close. This was going to be a problem. She could not move as quickly or as silently with a little one in her arms and she was not young. She had already used up more than10 minutes of her time. Quickly she looked around and finding a role of duct tape, she put a piece over the little ones mouth to keep it from crying while she taped the child around her to her back. She hoped it's nose wasn't stuffed up. She couldn't take a chance on the sedative wearing off too quickly though and the child starting to scream. Then she offered up a prayer that there were no more children in the building because alarms had just gone off and she sure as heck had to institute her game plan quickly. It took her almost 20 minutes to duck security and get to the place where she suspected the building to be most vulnerable. The room she entered was near the creek that was filled to overflowing from the recent heavy rains they had been having. She took out her can of playdough and set the timer. Sophia knew she was cutting it close and taking a chance. It had been more than a half hour. Walter was efficient and would organize the swat team quickly. If that bastard had taken more than a half hour as well...if he hadn't gotten to Brenda yet......Sophia only hesitated a second before making a decision. She had learned to listen to her gut instinct. It was time to begin the countdown and leave. She barely made it out the back door just as the swat team was starting to move. "It's going to blow," she screamed, "Hit the dirt....." "Do it," shouted Both. He ran and grabbed her pulling the older woman and child down into a shallow pit in the gravel. The explosion caused one wall of the basement to collapse, the one closest to the creek bed just as she had planned. By the time they were looking for the mysterious woman in black, she was already gone, helped out of sight by Agent Bothrington who swore she had escaped as soon as he was done untaping the child. The skirt went over the leggings and the long blouse went back on. She stuck the wig over her gravel infested hair and with baby wipes cleaned off her face and hands. Walter might have been suspicious, but he didn't have time to think about it. The creek bed was flooding the building and to their horror three children had been found, three in addition to the child that Both said he had seen carried out of the building by a mysterious woman in black. None of those children was Brenda however. Fire trucks arrived on the scene, and feeling sick inside, Walter Skinner braced himself to break the bad news to his family. End Chapter Six macspooky@earthlink.net All disclaimers still apply "Sophia" Chapter 7 by Macspooky "Sir," said Bothrington quietly, "I'm sorry they didn't find Brenda." He looked at the Assistant Director and was filled with a great sadness. "If you'd like me to coordinate the rest of the search while you go back to the hospital....." "Thank you, Agent Bothrington. I think...I think I'll wait just a little longer. I'm not quite ready to give up hope yet. Maybe....maybe there are sealed rooms where the water hasn't gotten yet. Meanwhile, the children are being sent to the Prince Georges Hospital Center. We'll have to identify them of course." "I've already got agents on contacting the appropriate organizations, Sir," said Both. "And this woman....." "Like greased lightening, Sir. I'm sorry. It was my fault. I should have cuffed her, but she had the child taped around her with duct tape and my first thought was to free it before it smothered. The mouth was taped and all the dust......It was a little girl, Sir." He decided he better not ramble too much. It wasn't in character. They didn't need Skinner suspicious. "Would you recognize this woman again Agent Bothrington?" "Um....absolutely not Sir. She wore a black mask. I actually only knew it was a woman by her voice." "And yet you believed her when she screamed ?" "Absolutely, Sir. I had no reason not to. I didn't want to risk the team." "Okay. That will be all for the moment Agent Bothrington," said Walter knowing in his heart that the agent was lying. He wasn't an idiot. He had his suspicions about just who the notorious woman in black was. If she could build a computer...... Suddenly Sophia appeared out of nowhere looking a little disgruntled. "Walter Steven Skinner, what is wrong with you?" she demanded loudly. "Don't you keep track of things?" "Sophia...." he sighed. Well, if she was the female Zorro of the gravel pits, she was back in "kook" mode now....full force. And he had always considered Fox a cross to bear back in the old days. "I was sitting in your car listening to your scanner. The police in Georgetown received a call from a young couple who found a little redheaded girl walking the streets crying. She fits Brenda's description perfectly." "Agent Bothrington...." called Skinner getting the man back. "Yes, Sir?" "Take Sophia to the police station in Georgetown. We might have found Brenda....." ONE HOUR LATER "There's my baby...." Sophia spread her arms. Brenda who had been sitting on the lap of a policewoman crying turned her head and when she saw her aunt gave one final sob and slipping away ran to her as Both flashed his badge. Sophia scooped the little girl up in her arms. "We'll take care of it from here, " he reassured the police officer. "We'll take her to Georgetown Medical and get her checked out and reunited with her parents." "That's fine. Check back with us though. There will be paper work to do." "There is always that," he grinned. THE WAITING AREA AT GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER Dana and Fox sat and waited, or rather Dana sat and Fox paced growing more angry by the moment. No one had called. No one had contacted him. He checked his cel phone for what must have been the 30th time. Then he checked Dana's. He was furious. Patrick was not yet out of surgery. There had been a delay getting him up there until they found a pediatric anesthetist and so he didn't know what was happening with his son either. He was just about to blow his stack when the door opened and Both and Sophia walked in with Brenda in their arms. "Oh, God.....Oh my God...." said Dana. The two of them reached for their daughter at once and hugged her nearly crushing her. She was tired and hungry and cranky and started to cry. "She needs to be checked out in the ER," said Sophia. "We got permission to bring her up here first though to see you. Do you want me to take her or do one of you want to go?" "Right now I just want to hug her to death," said Dana nearly overwhelmed with relief, "but you are right. She needs to be checked out." "You go, Dana," said Fox quietly. "I....I want to wait for Wally Wolf...." He slumped in his chair more relieved than he could have believed. "Sit with me Aunt Sophia...Tell me what happened." "I'll stay with Dana until Brenda is settled," said Both "And then I have to get back to the mop up." "Thanks, Both, thanks a lot....." "There were four other children found, Mulder. Three of them were black." Both turned away and followed Dana. He suspected that there were experiments were going on, perhaps with radiation or some kind of biological warfare agents and that the preliminary studies were being done on children of his race. He wasn't sure where the Mulders fit in except that they were extremely bright and somehow Fox's family had been involved from the beginning. He knew Fox suspected his own father, now dead. There was historical precedent for his belief. In this case they were saving what they hoped was the finished product for the white guy. Less dangerous. Kill the black kids first...test it out on them and see what happened. He squelched his anger. Now was not the time. Meg also went with her daughter sensing that Fox wished to talk to his aunt alone. "It was that smoking bastard that got her out," said Sophia quietly. She reached into her bag and took out some knitting. "Hmm....I seem to have lost my needle. It will never be found, I suppose." "How do you know?" "Just a feeling," she replied. "You know me and my feelings." "Yeah....I know you and your feelings...." he said. "Do I thank him?" "No." "I didn't think so. Aunt Sophia, you seem to have gravel under your fingernails." "Yes, well, there was some sort of explosion and someone screamed to hit the dirt so I did. I'm a mess." The two of them lapsed into silence and waited word from doctors. Mulder knew his aunt had been up to something but he wasn't sure what. His eyes closed only to open suddenly when Dana came back. "Brenda seems fine," she said softly. "They decided to keep her overnight just in case. Aislinn came down and is sitting with her, but she's sound asleep." "Thank God," said Fox. "Mr. & Mrs. Mulder?" They hadn't even heard the neurosurgeon come in. "Yes doctor?" they asked together jumping up. "The surgery went well. All of Patrick's vitals are strong. He is beginning to come out of the anesthesia, but indications are that he is in a light coma. At this point there is no cause for panic, but we do have to take a wait and see approach." The doctor gave Dana a lot more technical information. Fox felt his heart break his mind focusing on one word....a coma....brain damage....his beautiful Patrick a vegetable. He caught his wife just before she finally fainted as the doctor walked away, too many hours with no food or sleep in her condition having taken its toll. TEN DAYS LATER Fox arrived for his shift at Georgetown. Aislinn looked at him sadly wishing she could tell him that there had been a change but there hadn't been. The baby had been on life support for a week the coma having deepened. He had never been left alone for a moment. One of the benefits of the large extended family was that they had sat with him in shifts....Dana, Fox....Maggie, Walter, Sophia, Aislinn and even Melissa and Tom Colton. Both had taken turns and Sinead had come. Bill and Maureen and Jen and Chris took shifts, and together Fox's sisters had sat with the little boy. Now it was his turn again, and he wasn't sure if he could stand it. On the other hand, being home with Brenda was in some ways worse. She was always asking for Patrick not understanding why her brother couldn't be home. She didn't want to be in her room alone at night and he understood the little girl's fears. Dana was hanging in there, holding up. As she told him, she had to. There was another baby to think about. She forced herself to eat and to try to rest and remember to take her vitamins, but there was no joy in it. Neither of them had even considered going back to work. Neither of them really cared if they were fired. That was okay too. It didn't matter. Although it was unspoken and although they both loved their jobs, they were also aware that there were other ways to continue the work and that with another baby coming, there was a good chance that they couldn't be partners anymore anyway. Somehow it didn't seem important. Fox took his seat and pulled the files he'd brought out of his briefcase. Every time he came here, he reread the files and they were always the same. Hell, he had had them memorized the first time he'd read them but he hoped there was something he'd missed. The underground lab had been just about destroyed in the explosion and flood but luckily four children had been discovered alive. Whatever few personnel that had worked in the building had escaped by a tunnel that ran almost a mile and under the railroad tracks and emerging in a wooded area. They had been smart enough to keep the lab small so no one would notice too many people coming and going even in the isolated location. The tunnel was now being filled in. One body had been found among the wreckage. His eye socket had been penetrated by a sharp instrument possibly a knitting needle. He had been identified as one Wilhelm Hoechst, but Fox knew damned well enough that wasn't his real name or identity. They had found at least one other...Johan Schneiderman. He was sure the man's real name was buried somewhere in old SS records. Several fetuses had been found as well and autopsy results would be forthcoming except that he knew that this evidence too would disappear. No progress he knew had been made on finding the mysterious woman, and no one knew how Brenda had gotten to Georgetown. The young couple that had found her crying and disoriented had thought they had seen a man in dark clothing smoking a cigarette standing nearby when they had found her, but their focus had been on the lost child they had discovered and contacting the police to reunite her with her family. Well, at least the bastard had stayed and watched making sure his daughter didn't get picked up off the street by some pervert. No, there was nothing new in the files, and still no tangible evidence in the war against the consortium. It did seem that some progress was being made in terms of guerilla warfare though and maybe that was something. Now if only Patrick would wake up from his coma. A nurse came in to check on him. She smiled at him. He knew them all by now. They were all kind, but it wasn't much consolation. This one was named Vickie Bates, and he liked her. She seemed truly dedicated to her work. She would talk to Patrick and coo at him while she worked. Sometimes she would sing to him as she checked wires and equipment. "Can I get you a cup of coffee Mr. Mulder?" she asked softly. She had heard the story of this family's tragedy, the kidnapping of their daughter and the shooting of their son. There were guards on the floor at all times. They kept a low profile, but no chances were being taken and visitors were being carefully screened in intensive care. "You mean a cup of liquid mud?" he tried to smile. "No thank you. I appreciate it though." "Okay...let me know if you need anything." She left and he hunkered down for another night of waiting. He had just about given up hope. They all had, except possibly Meg who didn't give up hope easily and who had been going to mass and praying every morning. He took his little boy's hand in his own wishing that he had Meg's faith. A part of him knew he was lucky to have all the support he had, all the money, and all the people praying for the recovery of his little boy, but he didn't feel lucky. He felt angry with the world, and angry with God, and when the priest had come to perform what was essentially the last rites, he had had all he could do to keep from punching Father McHugh just for being there. Dana had been able at least to go through the motions of saying the Rosary with the priest, but he had had to walk away or he would have wrecked the room. "Daddy is here, Wally Wolf," he said softly. "Daddy loves you. The doctors tell me you are supposed to be awake. It's not like you to sleep this much. You never sleep, Wally Wolf. All the nights you kept us awake....God, I would kill for those nights now....." He felt himself choke up and backed away wiping his eyes. The man sat down heavily in the chair feeling an overwhelming exhaustion overcome him. His eyelids grew heavy and he began to doze off. He dreamed of his sister. She was whimpering and he was trying to go to her but couldn't. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't his sister whimpering and his eyes snapped opening. He leapt up and went to Patrick's bed. "Daddy...daddy...wa daddy....." The little boys eyelids were fluttering trying to open. "Nurse......" he called. "Nurse....." Vickie ran into the room and saw the little boy struggling to wake up. "I'll go page the doctor," she said quickly. "Keep talking to him." "Patrick....Patrick....Daddy is here....Daddy is here....." he bent over his son. He stroked the boy's cheek. "Wake up Patrick....oh, God, please wake up....." "Da da..wa da da......." The child dozed again and Fox felt his hopes collapse. Still, he had spoken and that was something. He started to call Dana and then decided against it. Why get her hopes up now. Let her sleep. The doctor entered and examined the little boy explaining to him how sometimes coming out of a coma was a gradual event. Mulder understood all this but was still devastated that the child had not awakened. The doctor turned to leave when suddenly Patrick let out a shriek. "Want Dada.....hungry....Wally Wolf hungry.....now....." "He's awake," said Fox drily. "This time, he is really awake." He didn't care what anyone said. Being careful of the IV line, he lifted the little boy out of the bed and hugged him. "Daddy is here....Daddy is here Patrick." He turned to an astonished doctor and Nurse Vickie. "Let's get this boy something to eat!" When Dana arrived half an hour later looking as though she had just gotten out of bed, which of course she had, Patrick was sitting up in bed with a dish of ice cream and jello that Nurse Vickie had been kind enough to get for him from a nearby deli on her break. The kitchen had been closed and the child had kept crying that he was hungry and the doctor had agreed that he should be fed. Fox was sitting there feeding him since his coordination was a little off and he was still very weak. "Mommy...." he squealed. "Patrick....." She picked him up and hugged him. "Me want more food," he demanded and laughing for the first time in a long time, his mother put him down. "I'm sorry I interrupted your meal," she told him and watched happily as Fox continued to feed him jello and ice cream. Finally the little boy grew tired and his lids grew droopy and he drifted off to sleep. "It's a real sleep Fox," said Dana softly, "not a coma." "Will he be okay? Will he be normal?" "That remains to be ascertained, but I honestly think so. It might be few weeks before he fully regains his strength but kids are resilient and I think we'll have him back to himself within a few weeks." ONE MONTH LATER Fox and Dana looked at their sleeping children. Brenda had gone back to sleeping in her bedroom as soon as her brother had come home, and today Patrick had passed his neurological exam with flying colors. Patrick was Patrick once again. A new security system had been installed in the house by Sophia, and two German Shepherd puppies slept in the kitchen downstairs that would be raised to guard the children. Fox slipped his arm around his wife. "How are you feeling?" "Fine...I'm feeling fine. The nausea has passed. One of these days we need to find some time to talk," she sighed. "I know. Another baby is going to be rough." "We'll manage. I'm glad it will be three children and not four. I wasn't ready for another set of twins...." she swallowed. "Don't get cocky FBI woman. Remember last time?" he grinned. "Let's go to bed," Dana replied preferring not to think about it. He had a point. She chose denial. He slipped in next to her and rested his hand on her stomach. "I can feel that telltale little bulge," he said with a smile in his voice. "Yeah....but that telltale little bulge is not in the way yet, not that my being as big as a house ever stopped you before...." "That's what I love about you Shorts. You take a lickin and keep on tickin, go back to work, and then get as horny as hell....." She laughed. "And what are you going to do about it, Fox Mulder?" "Shut up, and I'll show you...." The End macspooky@earthlink.net The Gossamer Project Author - Title - Date - Spoilers - Crossovers - X-Files - Adventures - Stories - Vignettes Other stories by Macspooky Please let us know if the site is not working properly. Set story display preferences. Do not archive stories elsewhere without permission from the author(s). 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