"Samantha!" Mulder shouted in his sleep, waking himself up. He looked at the clock. Three a.m. He started talking. There was no one in the apartment but him, but he needed to say it aloud before he’d be able to get any more sleep. "I was twelve years old, my sister was eight. Our parents were out for the evening. We were playing Stratego, and got in an argument about what program to watch on TV. Then the light came. I started walking toward the door, but Samantha started calling my name. ‘Fox!’ I turned and saw her, floating in the light toward the open window. She kept calling me, calling for help. I tried. I broke a small safebox and grabbed my father’s gun. Then the door flew open and I was paralyzed, staring at a small thin figure in the doorway. Then suddenly, the light, the figure, and Samantha were gone." He lay down on his couch again, but couldn’t get back to sleep. He considered calling Scully, but figured she was asleep. She wasn’t an insomniac like he was.
The beautiful young woman walked into the office, peering over her shoulder nervously. She didn’t like going into buildings. There weren’t as many ways to escape the hunters.
"Can I help you?"
She turned back and looked at the man in front of her. "I need help," she said. "Someone is trying to kill me."
"So why don’t you just go to the police?"
"I have, and they don’t believe me. I think they’ve already been...I thought maybe the FBI could help me more."
A phone rang. "Excuse me, I have to get that," the agent said. He picked up the phone. "Hello?" A pause. "No way, Agent Mulder. If you want to ask the local rednecks about some UFO sightings, you’re going to have to come out here and do it yourself. I’m not going to make a fool of myself by doing it." He hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" the woman asked, intrigued by the name he’d spoken.
"Some agent in D.C. by the name of Mulder. Wanted me to ask some people about recent UFO sightings." He snorted. "UFOs. Ain’t no such thing. Now what did you want me to do for you?"
The woman wasn’t listening. One of them was out there, casually passing by the windows, no more than glancing it. It didn’t fool her. She knew he saw her. "I have to go," she said, and ran out the door. She was so much safer outside.
In an alley, she stopped, closed her eyes, and then disappeared.
The woman opened the door to Mulder’s office and walked in. No one was there. She took a few more steps and looked around. "Can I help you?" a voice said behind her.
She turned around and saw a red-haired woman. "I’m looking for Agent Mulder," she said.
"Well, I’m his partner, Agent Scully. Can I help you with something?"
"Is his first name Fox?"
"Who are you? How did you get down here?" Scully asked, suspicious.
The woman smiled. "I guess that means yes. I’m his sister, Samantha."
"What?!" Both women turned to see Mulder standing in the doorway, staring at her.
"Fox?" Samantha said.
They spent an hour talking, during which Scully noticed something that disturbed her. Samantha’s eyes were dead to emotion. As happy as she seemed to be back with her brother, no sparkle touched her eyes. They were almost vacant. When Samantha stepped out of the office for a moment, Scully said, "I don’t think she’s for real, Mulder."
"What do you mean, Scully? She knows everything."
"So did that other woman who claimed to be your sister."
Mulder held Scully’s shoulders gently. "She’s for real, Scully. I can feel it."
Suddenly Samantha burst back into the room, her eyes wide with panic. "They’re here! I have to go! We have to go!"
"Wait a minute, Samantha. Who’s here?" Mulder said.
"The hunters. They’ve found me."
"Hunters? What hunters? What are you talking about?" Scully crossed her arms.
"They’re trying to kill me, Agent Scully. They think I know some important information or something. I’ve eluded them so far, but I saw one of them in the hallway. We can’t stay here. We have to get outside."
Scully rolled her eyes toward Mulder and could see even he was having a hard time believing this. "Calm down, Samantha. I don’t think--" She was cut off in mid-sentence as the door burst in.
The five men lunged for Samantha, but she dodged and they ended up tackling Scully instead. She grabbed Mulder’s hand and started running. "Come on, Fox!"
"Wait! What about Scully?"
"She’ll be fine. It’s me they want, and if they catch you, they can use you as leverage to get me to surrender."
"Wait! Samantha!" But Samantha didn’t wait, and she kept a firm hold on Mulder’s hand, so he had to follow.
They ended up in a stairwell, and Samantha stopped. "I couldn’t tell you this with Agent Scully around, but I know something."
"What do you mean, know something? And why couldn’t you say it in front of Scully?"
Samantha sighed. "Isn’t it obvious, Fox? She wouldn’t believe me. She’s such a skeptic; how’d you get partnered with her, anyway?"
"The higher-ups wanted to debunk my work, so they sent Scully into do the job, because she’s a firm believer in science. But she became convinced of the validity of my work, even if she doesn’t believe as I do. I trust her with my life, Samantha. You could’ve said whatever it is you have to tell me."
"Fox, they’re coming back."
"They’re? Who’s they’re?"
"The aliens, the ones who abducted me. They’re my friends, and they’re coming to take me with them. You see, I know the rendezvous time and place, and that’s what the hunters want to know, so they can kill my friends."
"You’re going with them? But you just got here--there’s so much to talk about. Mom will be so happy to see you."
"I wish I could, but the meeting’s tonight. I have to go. I’ve been here too long, already." She frowned. "I wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place. They accidentally left me behind, and now they’re coming back to get me."
Mulder blinked, shocked. Was this really his sister? Or was Scully right, another clone? Samantha was smiling at him. "Where is this meeting place?"
"We should go now, or we won’t get there before dark," she replied, not answering his question. Then she looked around and shuddered. "And if the hunters find us, we won’t get there at all." She pulled at him, heading up the stairs with the same urgency as before.
Scully heaved a sigh. Those men had nearly torn the office apart, convinced that Samantha had written down some "critical" piece of information somewhere. She picked up a few papers and set them on Mulder’s desk. Not that his office was ever really clean, anyway, but now it looked like a tornado had gone through it. Her cell phone rang. "Mulder?" she said.
"Are you okay, Scully?"
"Yeah, I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me, but the office is a mess. Where are you?"
"In my car, heading somewhere. Samantha’s driving, and she won’t tell me where we’re going."
"Mulder, I don’t like this. Get her to turn around and come back."
"I’ve already tried, but she won’t. She says she has to get to this meeting place, and--" His voice suddenly cut off.
"Mulder?" Scully asked. "Mulder?!"
Mulder stared in surprise as Samantha threw his phone out the window. "You can’t tell her anything," she said. "The hunters might be listening." Mulder wasn’t so sure he liked this anymore.
As Samantha drove, the landmarks started becoming familiar. Then he saw the sign. "Skyland Mountain? We’re going to Skyland Mountain?"
"It’s the rendezvous point. As soon as it gets dark, they’ll come."
In a short time, they reached the summit of the mountain. Samantha got out and walked out onto the field where Scully had been abducted. "Come on, Fox!" she said, calling him.
"I think I’ll wait in the car for a while," he said to her. "It’s not even dusk yet." He looked around, and spied a pay phone. Samantha was out of sight beyond the hill. He quickly got out of the car and went to the phone. "Scully?" he said when she answered.
"Mulder! What happened? Where are you?"
"Samantha threw my phone out the window. She said the hunters might be listening." He paused. "As for where we are...Duane Barry liked this place, too."
"What? Mulder, you’re not making sense."
He saw Samantha come back over the hill, looking for him. "I have to go," he said, and hung up the phone.
Night fell fast. Mulder looked up at the sky, noticing what looked like a plane. But the lights swooped down, and suddenly the triangular alien ship was hovering overhead. "Come with me, Fox. I have so much to show you." Samantha smiled at him. "Other galaxies, other worlds, things beyond your imagination."
"I don’t know..."
"Aren’t you the least bit curious?"
"We should have told Scully."
Samantha shook her head. "She doesn’t believe I’m really your sister, Fox. She wouldn’t want to come with, and she’d try to keep you from going, too."
Mulder looked down at her, and Samantha smiled again. "Okay," he said. "Let’s go." Even as he said those words, the two of them were enveloped in a brilliant white light.
Scully drove back to her apartment, desperately worried. Where was Mulder? She rushed up to her apartment, hoping to find a message on her machine explaining things, but the light wasn’t flashing. Mulder and Samantha had disappeared. Scully frowned. That woman...those empty eyes...Scully couldn’t shake the feeling that Samantha wasn’t really Samantha. "Mulder, where are you?" she said aloud. Suddenly she had an overwhelming urge to get into her car and drive. Almost trancelike, she walked out of her apartment, got into her car, and turned it on.
Scully blinked, confused. Where was she? She was driving down an empty stretch of road. A sign identified it as Route 211. Scully frowned. She’d heard of this road before. Then she knew why as she spied a billboard advertising Skyland Mountain. "Duane Barry liked it too..." Mulder’s voice floated back to her. That’s where she had to go. She knew it.
Mulder followed Samantha down a long, wide passageway into a room. Padded tables, some of them occupied, some of them empty, filled the room. His heard nearly stopped as he recognized one of the humans on the tables. "That’s Samantha," he said, pointing at the motionless figure. She hadn’t aged a day since he’d last seen her as a child. A strange helmet-like apparatus covered her eyes and her arms and legs were strapped down. He looked at the grown Samantha next to him. "I don’t understand."
The Samantha next to him began to change, until she was a shimmering light. "We are both your sister," she said. "I am connected to her though that machine." The being sighed almost wistfully. "Human minds are so wonderfully complex, a volatile mixture of emotion and rational thought. We--"
"I don’t want to hear this. You’re not my sister," Mulder said, backing away from her.
"Yes, I am. What she knows, I know. What she dreams, I dream. What she remembers, I remember. So, in essence, I am your sister."
"But you’re not really her! Get her out of that thing, I want to talk to her!"
"You need only to talk to me, Fox. I am your sister. I am Samantha."
"You’re not Samantha! Release her! I want to talk to her, not to some surrogate!" Mulder’s breathing was harsh and angry.
The being sighed. "As you wish." She motioned to two attendants and they detached the machine from Samantha Mulder.
She blinked awake. "Samantha?" Mulder asked softly.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"It’s me. It’s Fox."
"Fox? Why are you old?"
He didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to the being. "We’re not staying. take us back home."
"You could live forever here. Your sister could."
"As what? Guinea pigs for your mind machines? We are not your pawns." He scooped Samantha up in his arms and ran out into the passageway again, trying to remember where the transportation room was. He made a quick decision and ran to the right.
"Fox, what’s happening to me? I feel strange." Samantha was trembling in his arms.
He looked down at her. "You’re aging," he said in surprise. "What are you doing to her?!" he shouted.
"We are doing nothing," the being said, appearing right behind them. "Once outside the mind connector’s power, she will age quickly until she reaches the age she would be if she had lived on Earth all these years. After that, she will age like any other human who has not had a chance for immortality." The voice was persuasive.
"We’re not tempted," Samantha replied, already a teenager. Mulder let her down and they clasped hands. "We want to go home now."
"Fine then," the being said, annoyance coloring her (if it was a her) voice. "Grow old and die." When they reached the transportation room, the being said to her, "You have finished the rapid aging, but there is still time--"
"No," the siblings said together.
"So go home," the being said, and they were enveloped in white light.
Scully sat alone on Skyland Mountain. The last time she’d been here was when Duane Barry had kidnapped her. She’d been taken here to be abducted by...whatever. She still wasn’t sure. It was rather pretty but...Mulder was gone. She forced herself to think the words. Mulder was gone, her partner, her friend, the one she trusted with her life. He was gone. He’d disappeared with Samantha.
A bright light shining behind her made her turn around. Shielding her eyes against the glare, she could see a standing figure, or was it two? The light abruptly disappeared, revealing Mulder and Samantha, if it was Samantha, holding tightly to each other. Then they pushed away from each other and looked at one another. They laughed and hugged. "We’re home, Fox, we’re home!" Samantha said.
"Mulder?" Scully stepped forward.
"Scully! How’d you get here?" Mulder asked her.
"I don’t know. All I remember was standing in my apartment worrying about you, and then I was driving here. I must have had a fugue or something."
The uninhibited grin on Mulder’s face made the corners of Scully’s lips lift in response. "You’re never going to believe what we have to tell you," he said.
It seems so odd to not have to wonder anymore about her. She’s safe. Scully paused a moment. She was curled up on her bed, writing in the diary she had begun keeping after her abduction. While finding Samantha was Mulder’s quest, by working with him it had become mine, too, if only to give his troubled soul peace. She paused again. Mulder was definitely more at peace now, with Samantha back. And Scully was at peace. The love and vitality that shone from Samantha’s eyes had convinced her at once that this was Mulder’s sister. I had thought for a while that Mulder would give up the X-Files when Samantha reappeared. After all, the only reason he’d gotten involved in them in the first place was because of her. But he told me that he wasn’t through with them yet. "There’s more out there than just Samantha," he said. "I’m going to continue on searching for the truth, whatever and wherever it may be." When he stopped, I knew what he was going to say next. "Scully, if you want to leave, I can understand that." Scully stopped writing and sighed. She didn’t know. There was more out there, but did she want to find it? She could hardly believe the events of the past day.
The phone rang, and she picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hi, Scully," Mulder said. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go out somewhere for a late night snack."
She smiled. "Sorry, Mulder, but I’m rather tired. Maybe some other time."
"Sure. Another time." She could hear his hesitation. He didn’t want to hang up the phone.
"So I’ll see you at work tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," he said slowly. "Bye."
"Wait, Mulder." Scully paused, closed her eyes. She wanted to make sure this was right. There are some truths you would like to see answered, Dana, she said to herself. Like who killed Melissa. "I’m going to stay, Mulder," she said finally. "I can’t leave you while you still need someone to keep your feet on the ground."
"And you still need someone to get yours off the ground," he said, laughing, but Scully could hear the relief in his voice.
"So I’ll see you tomorrow, then."
"Yeah, tomorrow."
They hung up and Scully snuggled under the covers. You’re going to be called "Mrs. Spooky" for the rest of your career, a little voice nagged.
"Shut up," Scully said aloud, and the little voice was quiet. "I’m doing what I want to do." Then she reached up, flicked off the bedside lamp, and drifted into sleep.
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