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This Side by Sean Watkins

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February 23
9:47 AM

"I think you'd better come on up," Matthew said. "She's nesting like a maniac. I swear, if she plumps one more pillow or straightens one more piece of furniture, we might have to restrain her."

Scully laughed. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

Matthew turned to Tyler. "She thinks I'm exaggerating."

Tyler took the phone from Matthew's hand. "Dana, the woman pulled a throw pillow out from under my head, pounded on it, and shoved it back under me, twice. Then she made me get up so she could pound on the sofa cushion." He stopped and took a breath before continuing. "Look, Miranda's been hiding out at the store for the last few days and poor Alex," he chuckled. "Alex has been catering to her every whim. Look up whipped in the dictionary right now and you'll see his picture. I'm telling you, she's about to pop."

"Is that your considered opinion, Dr. MacCready?"

"Yes, Dr. Scully, it most certainly is my considered opinion."

"Let me talk to Matthew," Scully said.

Tyler handed the phone off and peeked out of the bedroom door to see what Katie was doing. "Ah geez, now she's dusting the computer."

Matthew laughed. "She's dusting, Dana. Katie never dusts. She considers dust bunnies an endangered species and does her damnedest to keep them fat and happy."

Scully smiled. "Sounds scary. Have you been able to wrestle her down to do an exam?"

"Are you kidding? She won't let me touch her. I'm her doctor, for crying out loud! Dana, I'm begging you, come up soon."

"Tell you what, let me talk to her and see if I can convince her to let you do a pelvic exam. If she's dilating, I'll head up there this afternoon. If not, you're going to have to hold down the fort for a few more days."

"OK, but do me a favor and call her from your end. I don't want her to know that I called you first, it might set her off."

"Hey Matthew?"

"Yeah?"

"Looks like Alex's isn't the only picture in Websters."

"I hope they caught my good side."

Scully laughed. "Hold on for a bit. I'll have Mulder give Katie a call in about ten minutes; then he can put me on. We'll make it seem casual."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex plucked the dust rag from Katie's hand and tossed it behind him. "OK, enough. All the dust bunnies and mites have either been vanquished or have run away in fear for their lives."

She opened her mouth to argue, but was cut short.

"Not a word. Sit down, put your feet up," he stopped as she reached for a pillow. "And for God's sake, stop beating up on the pillows! You're making us all nuts, Katie!"

Katie glared at him; her mouth set in a straight line. "Fine! I'll just sit here and be fat, while the loft turns into one enormous pile of dust."

Alex pulled off his black t-shirt and wiped it across the coffee table in front of her. "THERE'S NO GODDAMNED DUST LEFT!" he yelled, as he held the shirt up in front of her face. He let his chin drop to his chest and drew in a slow, deep breath, in an attempt to regain control. "See, the shirt is clean."

"The bookcases are still a mess."

Alex sighed, rubbed his eyes and let the shirt fall to the floor. "Fine, I give up," he muttered, as he walked into the kitchen.

Katie listened to the sounds of doors opening and things being pushed around. "Alex? What are you doing?"

He came out seconds later with a bag in his hand. "You want dust? Here you go." Before she had a chance to react, Alex stuck his hand into the bag and proceeded to fling copious amounts of flour all over the couch, the coffee table and even Katie's distended belly. Using his best B-movie, the-world-is-coming-to-an-end voice, he cried. "Dust storm! Run for your life!"

Katie raised her hands to shield her face from the flour storm. "ALEX!"

He turned a deaf ear to her and continued to dust the room with Gold Medal's finest. "It's everywhere, it's everywhere!"

Tyler poked his out of the bedroom, curious as to what was going on beyond the bedroom walls. "Oh. My. God." He looked back at Matthew and motioned him toward the door. "You are not going to believe what he's doing out here."

Matthew joined Tyler at the door, phone still in his hand. His jaw dropped when he saw Alex, now covered in flour, take a handful and lightly sprinkle it in Katie's hair. "Oh lord. Dana, I have to go now. Call back in ten minutes. If you don't get an answer, send the police, because Katie may be about to kill her husband."

"What? Matthew, what are you talking about? Is everything all right?"

"Alex is throwing flour everywhere. He's shirtless, covered in flour, dancing around the room screaming 'it's everywhere, it's everywhere.' I think the boy has finally snapped."

Scully laughed. "Get in there before she does something drastic."

"Sure, you can laugh; you don't have to help clean it up," he grumbled. "Ten minutes, Dana."

"Ten minutes, I promise. Bye."

"Yeah, bye." Matthew tossed the phone onto the recliner. He took a cleansing breath, before speaking to Tyler. "OK, I'm going in."

Tyler grabbed Matthew's arm and pulled him into an embrace. "Take care, my love." He leaned in and gave Matthew a wet, sloppy kiss. "I'll always remember you just this way," he sighed.

Matthew chuckled and smacked his lover on the arm. "Smartass!" He took hold of Tyler's hand and tugged. "I'm not going in there by myself. You promised for better or worse; this counts as worse."

Tyler grimaced. "I knew that would come back to haunt me one day."

"Oh shit, she's getting up," Matthew said, stopping in his tracks.

They watched as Katie struggled to her feet and slowly, deliberately, walked toward her husband.

"Damn, I really liked the guy," Tyler whispered. "Think there'll be anything left to bury?"

Katie advanced on Alex, eyes wide. "You think you're pretty damned cute, don't you?"

"I know I'm pretty damned cute," Alex answered.

She reached out and snatched the bag of flour from his hand. "And this would be your idea of funny, cute boy; making an enormous mess of my loft at a time when my stress level is obviously through the roof? You thought this would be a good idea?"

"She said 'my loft'," Matthew whispered. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, now I'm really scared," Tyler answered.

Alex took a step backwards. "Yeah, I did." He stopped. "You're trying to be mad at me, but the corners of your mouth are turning up ever so slightly," he smirked. "And, most importantly, you've stopped dusting everything in sight."

"Oh, I'm up and I'll admit I'm on the verge of smiling, but," her hand dipped into the bag of flour, "I most certainly have not stopped dusting." At that, she hurled a handful of flour directly into Alex's smirking face.

Alex sputtered and coughed as he tried to clear his nose and eyes. "Ah geez, Katie, not in the face."

Katie reached into the bag and brought up another handful. "You started it." She tucked the bag under one arm, then reached for his pants. Before he could react, she pulled open the front of his jeans and dumped the flour inside.

"Going commando, cute boy?" she giggled.

He grabbed her and pulled her close. A puff of flour rose up from his jeans, making them both giggle. "I've missed that sound." The baby chose that moment to give Katie a swift kick. Alex put his hand on her belly and rubbed gently. "I think he agrees." He took the bag of flour out from under her arm and dropped it on the table. "Truce?"

"Truce." She brushed some of the flour off of his face, then kissed him with renewed passion. Her hand slid down his chest and attempted to go lower.

Alex stopped her hand before it got too close to its intended destination. "We have an audience," he whispered.

Katie turned around and saw Matthew and Tyler looking at them. "All right you two, either come all the way out here, or lock yourselves in the bedroom for an hour or so."

"We're coming out," Matthew said.

Katie rested her head on Alex's chest. "I knew he'd say that," she grumbled. "Kid, you said there was no problem with having sex this late into the pregnancy, so go away."

Matthew patted her shoulder. "I know what I said, but I'm concerned about you right now. Your behavior has been beyond the pale, Hanna. I'd feel better. . ."

The ringing phone cut him off.

Tyler ran into the bedroom and picked up the phone. "Hi, Mulder," he said, loud enough to be heard in the other room. He lowered his voice. "Good timing; the flour situation has been diffused, but Matthew's about put his foot in it." He stepped back into the living room. "Sure, she's right here. Hang on." He walked over to Katie and handed her the phone. "Mulder wants to talk to you."

Katie looked at her friends and tapped her foot. She took the phone from Tyler. "No one's timing is that good, Mulder. Which one of these bozos put you up to this?"

"Sammie, you wound me. I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Don't 'Sammie' me; I'm having a baby, not becoming one. Spill it, Mulder."

Mulder put his hand over the receiver. "I told you she wouldn't buy it, Scully."

Scully shrugged. "It was worth a try."

"Katie, we're worried about you, that's all. Matthew says you've been making everyone crazy; he thinks you may be about to pop, so stop being a pain in the ass and let him do his job. Scully needs to know how close you are before she starts diving into these expense reports."

Scully glared at him. "Before *I* start diving into these expense reports?"

Katie laughed. "Wrong move, Mulder. I don't have to be psychic to see the look she's giving you right now."

"Before WE start diving into these expense reports?"

Scully nodded.

"Good save. Put her on."

Mulder handed Scully the phone. "She wants to talk to you."

"Hi, Katie. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

"Try again."

Katie frowned. "OK, I'm having trouble sitting still and I'm a little sick to my stomach."

"How long have you been feeling sick?"

"Couple hours. Why?"

"Because sometimes labor starts as a general feeling of queasiness. Contrary to what television would have you believe, not everyone goes straight into contractions."

Mulder tapped Scully's arm. "Now?"

Scully held her hand up and motioned for him to wait. "Katie, I want you to let Matthew do a pelvic right now."

"Yeah, sure," Katie stuttered. "You don't think. . ."

"I do think, but I could be wrong. Put Matthew on."

Katie handed the phone to Matthew. "Talk to her."

Matthew grinned. "She looks stunned, Dana. What did you say?"

He listened to Scully relate the details of the conversation and frowned at Katie. "No, she didn't tell me that. I'll take care of it and call you back shortly. Bye."

He handed the phone to Tyler, who put it back on the charger. "You didn't tell me you've been feeling queasy, Hanna."

Alex looked at her. "You have?" He turned to Matthew. "Is that a problem?"

"It can signal the beginning of labor," Matthew answered. "You should have said something."

"I didn't think it was any big deal," Katie protested. "Nothing hurts, I'm not having any contractions, I just feel a little urpy."

Matthew took Katie by the arm and pulled her toward the bedroom. "Get in there and assume the position." He looked at Alex. "I'd tell you to go take a shower, but if she is in labor, I'm going to need you to help clean her up anyway, so hang on a few more minutes."

Matthew and Katie disappeared into the bedroom, while Tyler and Alex kept busy cleaning up the large amount of flour resting on the furniture.

"She'll be all right," Tyler said.

"I'm not worried about her," Alex replied.

"You'll be fine, too."

Alex sat down on the couch. "I've gone up against governments, both earthbound and extraterrestrial, but I'm scared shitless over the prospect of becoming a father."

Tyler sat next to him and put his arm around Alex's shoulders. "I think that's how you're supposed to feel. Once you hold your son in your arms, it'll all fade away."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. Now get off your ass and help clean this mess up," Tyler shook his head and frowned. "Flour? What the hell were you thinking?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well?"

Matthew snapped off the gloves and threw them into the trash. "You're at five centimeters, Hanna. Those bouts of queasiness, are they cyclical?"

Katie sat up and pulled her pants back on. "I don't know, I've been trying to ignore them, for the most part. Mind over matter, Kid. Don't think about throwing up and you won't. Usually works for minor cases of the ick."

"Well, this isn't a minor case of the ick. When was the last time you felt queasy?"

"You mean, before right now?"

"You're feeling it right now?"

Katie nodded.

"Yeah, before right now."

"Just a minute or so before the phone rang."

Matthew looked at the clock and did a little quick figuring. "All right, we're looking at approximately fifteen minutes. Come on, I'm putting you and Alex in the shower. The real fun is about to begin and I don't want you two all covered in flour when it does."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well?" Alex asked

"Get in the shower, both of you," Matthew ordered. "Take your time, but pay attention to any more bouts of queasiness. If any recognizable contractions start, I want you to time those as well."

Alex's face paled. "You mean, this is it?"

"She's not going to deliver right this second, but we're getting there. Get going; I'll call Dana and let her know where we're at."

Alex looked at Katie, then at Tyler, unable to move from the spot.

Tyler smiled at him. "You'll be fine. Make sure you get all the flour out from between your arm and the prosthesis. I'd take and clean it myself, but you might need both arms in there. Now scoot; you don't want your son mistaking you for the Pillsbury Dough Boy, do you?"

Katie took Alex by the hand and led him to the bathroom; neither said a word.

"Is he all right?" Matthew asked Tyler.

"He's scared to death, but he's all right," Tyler answered. "He's having a bad case of reality syndrome, that's all. Once the action starts, he'll be back to the old Alex." He watched the bathroom door close. "How's she doing?"

"Scared to death. She's doing a better job of covering it up, but she has that trapped look in her eyes." Matthew leaned over and kissed Tyler. "She'll be fine."

Tyler smiled. "Go call Dana and Mulder. What do you need me to do?"

"Go get Miranda. Let everyone at the store know they're on their own for a day or so and that we'll call as soon we have news."

"Sure you don't need me to help you get the room ready or anything?"

Matthew shook his head. "I just have to put the sheets on the bed. Everything else has been set up for a week. All we have to do now is wait for Katie to do her thing." He picked up the phone and dialed.

"All right, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Matthew waved at him as he spoke to Scully. "About fifteen minutes, so you should have time to get up here. But I wouldn't make it a leisurely trip. You know Katie, once she makes up her mind to do something, nothing gets in her way." He laughed. "Yeah, patience isn't one of her virtues. OK, we'll see you soon."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex helped Katie rinse the last bit of shampoo from her hair. When it was squeaky clean, he turned her in his arms, so that her back was resting against his stomach. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on her belly. Her stomach tightened under his hands. "Was that a contraction?"

"I guess so," she answered. "It doesn't hurt, it just makes me feel like I need to loosen a few buttons on my jeans; kind of queasy, kind of over full."

"We're supposed to be timing them. I don't suppose you brought a watch in here?"

"No, but it's probably been about fifteen minutes since the last one." She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of his hands on her body. "The next time we get into this shower, we'll be parents."

"I know." He kissed the top of her head. "Are you scared?"

Katie chuckled. "Petrified."

Alex sighed heavily and let his head rest on hers. "Good. I feel better now."

She patted his prosthesis. "You better take that off and clean out the gunk."

"Sure you'll be all right?"

"Yes, dear. I'm perfectly capable of getting out of the shower without help." She stretched her back and grimaced. "However, I do believe I'll have a seat until you're done."

"Maybe we should get you out now."

"No, I just need to sit down for a minute. I'm fine." She sat down on the stool and wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Come on, take it off, baby."

"Pervert."

"You love it and you know it."

Alex rolled his eyes and undid the straps. He made a face at the soggy mess and proceeded to scrub at the goo. The last of it was whirling down the drain, when he heard Katie make a sound. He spun around and almost lost his balance. "What's wrong?"

"Um, either I just had an accident, or my water broke."

"Oh man! Hang on, let me strap this thing back on and we'll get you out of here."

Katie stood up. "No, leave it off until the straps are dry; you know those things will chafe the hell out of you if you don't let them dry first. I'm fine, just move out of the way so I can rinse off before I get out of here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. All this means is that things are about to get lively."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seventeen hours later

Alex wiped the sweat from Katie's forehead. "Almost there, baby." He looked up at Scully and silently pleaded 'it is almost over, right?'

Scully nodded back at him. "Just a few more good pushes, Katie."

Katie's face scrunched up and turned red as another contraction hit. She growled and pushed as hard as she could. When the contraction passed, she fell back against the pillow, involuntary tears streamed down her face. "Tell me why I wanted to do this again?"

Alex kissed her and stroked her face gently. "I know it hurts, baby, but hang in there, you're doing great."

Katie cried out as another contraction hit hard and fast.

Matthew could see the baby crowning. "Now, Hanna! Push as hard as you can."

"Little bit more, Katie," Scully added. "He's almost there."

With every last bit of strength she thought she possessed, Katie dug in and pushed. She felt a searing pain as the baby's head popped out and another as Matthew manipulated him to release the shoulder. Her body slumped back against the pillow as she felt her son slip the rest of the way out.

Matthew put the baby on Katie's abdomen and gave him a preliminary wipe down. He then handed Alex the scissors. "Think your hands are steady enough to cut the cord, dad?"

Alex's eyes opened wide. "Shouldn't you do that? I mean, what if I cut the wrong place?"

Katie lifted her hand and touched his arm. "Alex?"

"What, baby?"

"You won't hurt him."

He looked at her and then at Matthew. Alex took the scissors.

Matthew lifted the cord and showed Alex where to make the cut. "Well done," Matthew said and took the scissors back from Alex. He tied off the remaining bit of cord, wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed him to Scully.

"I'll just be a minute," Scully said. She took him off to the side to finish cleaning him up. Scully wrapped him in a blanket, then handed the baby to Alex. "He's beautiful," she said.

Alex smiled and pushed back the blanket to get a better look at his new baby boy. "Of course he is."

"OK, time of birth 1:47 AM, February 24," Matthew said, as he filled in the details for the birth certificate. "What's it gonna be, Hanna? Peter Joshua or Joshua Peter?"

Alex placed the baby in Katie's arms.

Katie looked at her son and smiled. "Neither."

"But I thought. . ."

"We didn't tell you," Alex said. "But we found out that the baby didn't care for our first choice in names."

Matthew looked puzzled, so Katie explained.

"Every time we called him by one of those names, I'd get immediately sick to my stomach. I thought it was a coincidence, but we tested it out for almost two weeks and it never failed."

Alex picked up from there. "So, the three of us talked it over and decided on a new name." He reached out and let the baby grab on to his finger. Alex and Katie were distracted by the moment and didn't say another word.

After a few minutes, Scully decided to take action. "I'll go get the others," she said. "Maybe Mulder can get the baby's name out of them."

Matthew got up and headed toward the door. "You stay with them; I'll get the rest of the gang."

Miranda spotted him first and jumped up. "Is the baby here?"

Mulder and Tyler stood up and looked at Matthew, waiting for his answer.

Matthew smiled broadly. "Yes, he's here and he's beautiful. I’m going to let you all come in, but only if you stay calm and only for a few minutes. We're not quite done yet; the placenta still needs to be delivered."

Miranda couldn't wait any longer. She pushed by Matthew and went straight to Katie's side.

Katie smiled up at her and turned slightly to give Miranda a better view. "What do you think? You said you always wanted a baby brother."

Tears welled up in Miranda's eyes as Katie's words sunk in. "I have a brother?" She turned to Tyler. "Ty, I have a brother."

"And a gorgeous one at that," Tyler replied. "He's got your eyes, Alex."

"He does, doesn't he?" Katie said. She noticed Mulder standing in the doorway. "Mulder?" He didn’t move, prompting Katie to try again. "Fox? Come here."

Mulder took a deep breath and approached her. Miranda and Tyler moved over to allow him to get right up against the side of the bed.

Katie crooked the finger of her free hand, until Mulder's face was close to hers. She stretched the last little bit and kissed his cheek.

"What was that for?" Mulder asked.

"Just because," she answered.

"Everyone's here now, Hanna; are you gonna tell us what we're supposed to call this little guy?" Matthew asked.

"Like we told Matthew and Dana a few minutes ago," Katie began. "Our original choice wasn't popular with this one. We thought about it, ran some names by him and found one that made him happy. So everyone, we'd like you to meet Adam Mikhail Krycek."

"A biblical reference, Sammie?"

Katie shook her head. "No, our father's first names; Adam for mine, Mikhail for Alex's. I hadn't thought about the other aspect, to tell you the truth." She started to say something else, but was cut short by a contraction.

Matthew took over instantly. "All right, everyone out."

Miranda and Tyler left quickly, but Katie grabbed Mulder's arm to keep him from following.

"Do you want me to stay?"

"No. I want you to hold Adam for me." She winced as her abdomen cramped again.

Scully plucked Adam from Katie's arms and presented him to Mulder. "He'd love to, wouldn't you, Mulder?"

Alex stifled a snicker at Mulder's stricken expression. "He's not armed, Mulder, I'm sure you can handle him."

Mulder, too intent on the creature in his arms, didn't respond to Alex's jibe.

Scully guided Mulder toward the door. "All right, Uncle Fox, take your nephew and get out of here." Mulder looked up at her, panic written all over his face. "You'll be fine. Just hold him, talk to him, whatever. He'll probably fall asleep in a few minutes anyway."

Katie moaned as Matthew massaged her abdomen to try and help the placenta along. Mulder looked back at her, then at Scully, before carrying Adam out of the room. He heard the door snick shut behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three years later

"Alex, you'd better come look at this," Katie said.

Alex looked up from the game he was playing with Adam. He was losing, as usual, and swore to anyone that would listen, that his son was not only a child prodigy, but also veritable Candyland shark.

"What's wrong?"

"Just come here."

"No fair moving while I'm gone," he warned Adam.

"I don' cheat, daddy," Adam huffed.

Alex ruffled his son's hair. "I know you don't." He got up and went over to the table. "What's up?"

Katie pointed to the map and the clusters of tiny dots. "Look at this. This shows the pattern of confirmed West Nile deaths for the last three years."

"Ok, so what?"

She folded the map in half and revealed a second map underneath, similarly marked.

"Is this Frohike's copy?" he asked.

Katie shook her head. "They look identical, don't they?"

Adam tugged on Alex's jeans. "Daddy, come finish the game."

"Hold on a second, buddy, Mommy's trying to show me something."

Adam nodded and sat back down on the floor. He rocked back and forth, as he watched his parents look at the papers on the table.

Katie restated her question. "They look identical, but they're not. This map isn't of West Nile cases. This is a map the boys sent me showing clusters of UFO activity, also for the last three years." She pulled the bottom map out and opened it back up, so they could look at both at the same time. "Remember when we had to explain the vaccine to Matthew?"

Alex closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He remembered that evening well.

"Remember that I told him the invasion would start in six years?"

Alex nodded. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"It's already begun. They're culling the population, Alex and doing it in a way that no one's thought to consider."

"Daddy!"

"Go play with him," Katie said. "I'm calling a meeting for as soon as everyone can get here. We can talk about this more tonight, after he's gone to sleep."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katie pulled the covers up around Adam's shoulders and kissed him goodnight. "Sleep well, sweetie."

Adam yawned. "Are they coming soon?"

"Is who coming soon?"

"Uncle Melvin, Uncle John and Uncle Rin-go."

Katie chuckled when Adam said Langly's name. He always put the emphasis on 'go'. "Yes, they'll be here in a little while."

"'Squitoes are bad, mommy," he said solemnly.

She sat down on his bed and held his hand. "What do you know about the mosquitoes, Adam?"

Adam looked at her, his big green eyes full of sadness. "They bite birds and make them sick, then the 'squitoes make people sick; 'specially old people. Lots of them die."

"How do you know this, Adam?"

Adam shrugged. "Gramma Ileana told me. She said you would make it all better."

"What else did she say?"

"She loves us and daddy's good for you. She said I hafta tell Uncle Mel something."

Katie tried to smile, tried to keep back the tears. "What do you have to tell Uncle Mel, Adam?"

Adam shook his head. "Not for you, mommy. I hafta tell Uncle Mel all by myself or it won't work."

"All right. You can tell him in the morning," she kissed her son again, then got up and turned off the light. "Adam?"

"She knows you love her, mommy. Oh and Mr. Feldman's happy now."

Katie nodded and closed the door behind her. When the door slipped into place, she leaned against the doorjamb and started to cry.

Alex saw her and came quickly to her side. "What's wrong, Katya?"

"He's talking to my grandmother."

"We were looking at pictures the other day. Maybe he's remembering that."

"No, he's spoken to her." She looked into his eyes and saw the doubt there. "I know it sounds crazy, but do you remember Mr. Feldman from the hospital in DC?"

"Mr. Feldman?"

"The old man who was dying of lung cancer. Remember, I got up in the middle of the night and found out that he'd died?"

"Oh yeah, I remember him. You were pretty upset when you came back to bed."

"When I was in with him, telling him that he shouldn't have died alone, I told him to look for my grandmother when he got there. I never told you that part."

Alex pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. "No, you didn't."

"Just now, Adam was telling me about mosquitoes being bad. He said that Gramma Ileana told him. Then he said that she knows I love her and to tell me that Mr. Feldman is happy now."

He rested his cheek on the top of her head. "God, Katie. Now he's a miniature John Edward? Wonder if he can play ball like Willie?"

All the tension left her body and she giggled. "Still trying for that baseball team, Alexei?"

"You bet." He grinned and moved back to look at her. "Speaking of which, any thoughts as to when we should start on the next player?"

She reached up and kissed him. "Soon."

His hand slid up to the underside of her breast; fingers skimmed the nipple. He listened as her breathing changed. "How soon?"

The elevator whirred and stopped.

"Starting tonight," she answered. "After everyone's gone to bed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Byers adjusted his glasses and sat back in his seat. "She's right. Every major outbreak of West Nile appeared within two weeks of an alleged UFO sighting. Why didn't we see this before?"

"Because, we weren't looking for it," Langly answered. "Come on, new bugs turn up every day. This shit was supposed to start with the corn and the oil, remember?" He pulled back his hair and held it off his neck. "Besides, the only people it seems to hurt are all old. Old people get sick easy, ya know? It's sad, but that's the way it is."

"That's my point," Katie said. "They're culling out the elderly and the weak. Thinning the herd, if you will. It's perfect because of that attitude, Langly; no one pays a whole lot of attention when old folks die, because dying is normal and acceptable after a certain age. Start with any other age group and risk detection, but start with the over-sixty-five crowd, spread it out over a wide area, find something as innocuous as an insect to blame it on and you have the perfect mass murder. It's simple and no one in their right minds would ever suspect it's anything more."

Katie stood and stretched her back. "We gave them a perfect opening, too."

"What do you mean?" Byers asked.

"I don't believe they were looking to do anything quite as subtle as this to kick things off. Like Langly said, it was supposed to start with the oil and in a twisted turn of fate, it did." She rubbed her head.

"Are you all right, Katie?" Scully asked.

"Yeah, headache, that's all."

"What about the oil?" Langly asked. "Sorry about your head and all, but you can't drop this on us and stop talking."

"September 11^th, the DC sniper attacks, the Amtrak incident, the Space Needle in Seattle, all of that. We've spent all our energy as a nation, coping with attacks from nutcases based in the Middle East. . ."

"I get it, Middle East, oil," Langly snickered. "That's really bad, Katie."

She grinned. "I said it was twisted. Anyway, that virtually insured that something as minor as a few mosquitoes killing off a select group of the population would go unchallenged. Sure we had the Fight the Bite programs to heighten public awareness of West Nile, but so what? In the grand scheme of things, this problem is nothing more than a nuisance. When you factor in the weather, that the first freeze eliminates the problem until spring in a good part of the country, you open the door for further complacence. The problem disappears for a few months and we move on to other things. The plan is brilliant in its simplicity."

"I should have seen it," Mulder muttered.

Alex shook his head. "Oh for crying out loud, Mulder, why should you have seen this? Now you can profile mosquitoes for homicidal tendencies? Cut the guilt crap."

Katie put her hand on top of Mulder's. "No one could have seen this, because no one was looking. I only found the connection because I wanted to incorporate West Nile into the new story. When I pulled up this map on the CDC website, it looked really familiar, so I went through the maps that the guys had sent over a few weeks ago and found a match. Everything started to fall into place from there. It was a fluke, a lucky break, that's all."

Adam opened his door and crept out quietly. He wasn't supposed to be up, but he knew that Uncle Mel was out there and he really needed to tell him what Gramma Ileana told him. Everyone was so busy talking and looking at the big maps on the table, that they didn't see him until he spoke.

"Uncle Mel?"

Frohike looked around and saw Adam standing behind the chair. "Hey buddy. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Katie frowned at her son. "Yes he should. I told you that you could talk to Uncle Mel in the morning, Adam."

Adam bit his lower lip and looked like he was about to cry. He had to talk to Uncle Mel, now.

Frohike stood up. "How 'bout I take you back in and you tell me what's so important that it couldn't wait until morning. That all right with you, mom?"

She looked at the two of them and nodded. "Sure, go ahead. He'll probably sleep easier once he's had a chance to talk to you."

Adam smiled and took Frohike's hand. Everyone else went back to the original discussion. Katie watched the door, more interested in learning the details of the conversation going on in her son's room, than in following the one in front of her.

"Uncle Mel?"

"Yeah?"

"Gramma Ileana says you hafta get the shot."

Frohike sat down next to the boy. "Who's Gramma Ileana?"

"She's Mommy's Gramma." Adam pointed to his head. "She talks to me, in here."

"And she told you I had to get a shot?"

Adam nodded slowly. His eyes were wide and his expression serious. "You hafta get it or the 'squitoes'll get you."

Frohike gave him a sideways glance. No one, except Scully, knew that he hadn't allowed her to give him the vaccine. "Did Scully, I mean, Dana, put you up to this?"

"No." Adam was confused. What did Dana have to do with anything and what did 'put you up to this' mean? He'd have to ask mommy and daddy in the morning.

Those big eyes staring up at him let Frohike know that Adam was telling the truth.

"Please, Uncle Mel. You gotta. I don't want the 'squitoes to hurt you."

Frohike sighed. How in the hell could he say no to that?

"Want me to hold your hand so you won't be scared?"

"Nah, that's ok. Needles don't bother me, kid."

"That's not what Gramma says."

Frohike almost laughed; busted by a ghost. "Ok, you got me. I'll let you hold my hand, if you promise not to tell anyone else about me hating needles. Deal?"

Adam grinned. "Deal."

"All right, let's get you tucked in and we'll take care of this in the morning."

"No. Not the morning, right now."

He wanted to argue with the kid, but there was that look; the one he saw on Katie whenever she was determined to have her way. "You sure you're only three years old?"

Adam let out a big, dramatic sigh. "Uncle Meeeeel."

"Ok, ok, I'll go get Scully."

Frohike got up and walked over to the door. He opened it, leaned out and motioned for Scully to come over. When he told her what he wanted, Scully smiled and went for her med bag.

Katie saw Scully with the bag and hurried over to the door. "What's wrong? Is Adam all right?"

Scully put her hand on Katie's arm. "This isn't about Adam. Frohike and I are going to tie up a loose end."

"But. . ."

"I'll explain later. Let me go take care of this, before he changes his mind."

Scully and Frohike emerged a few minutes later, with Frohike looking a little worse for wear. Byers had had no problem tolerating the vaccine when Scully gave it to him two years ago. Langly had gotten a little woozy, but he bounced back quickly. Poor Frohike wasn't so lucky. Maybe it was his age or his perhaps his overall genetic make-up, but Melvin was definitely in for a long night.

"Geez, man, what did she do to you?" Langly asked.

"Damn vaccine," Frohike muttered.

"He'll be fine," Scully said. "Why don't the two of you get him downstairs and into bed."

Byers looked confused. "Downstairs? In the basement?"

"You didn't tell them?" Alex asked Katie.

Katie shrugged. "I thought they already knew."

"Knew what?" Byers asked.

"We redid the second floor for you guys. Three bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, the works. Lots of work room for all of your computers and electronic needs." Katie grinned. "Think of it as your headquarters away from headquarters."

"You did that for us?" Langly asked.

Katie shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, we've got all this space. It seemed stupid for us to be stacked on top of one another in here or for anyone to waste money staying at a hotel, so why not? Besides, I like having you guys around and we thought it might encourage you stay. You know, no rent, good neighborhood. Think about it."

Mulder lifted Frohike's arm off of Scully's shoulder and motioned to Alex to help support Frohike on the other side. The two half-carried the older man to the elevator door and waited for Byers and Langly to join them.

"I'll be down in a minute, Mulder," Scully said.

"What happened in there?" Katie asked.

Scully shook her head. "I'm not sure. Adam said something to make him change his mind about getting the vaccine. I don't know what it was and I don't care. Frohike's been fighting me for two years over this and I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Katie chuckled. "Probably a good idea."

"How's your head?"

"Still hurts."

"Want something?"

"No, it'll work its way out in a little while."

"Ok, I'm going down to check on Frohike one more time."

"Dana?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Alex to get his ass back up here, will you?"

"Sure. Big night planned?"

Katie grinned and looked down at the floor. "You could say that." She looked back up at Scully. "We've decided to add another player to the team."

"I see, so that's how you plan to work out this headache."

"Better than aspirin and a lot more fun."

Scully smiled. "I'd have to agree. So, does Matthew know he's about to be called back into service?"

"No, no one knows yet. We decided this evening, just before everyone arrived. He and Tyler won't be back from Europe for another two weeks. I'm hoping to have good news when we pick them up from the airport."

"If you were anyone else, I'd be laughing," Scully said. "But I know better by now." She gave Katie a hug and got into the elevator. "I'll send him right up." Scully reached into her bag, pulled out a bottle and handed it to Katie. "Just in case Alex doesn't cure the headache."

"Do I look that bad?"

"You look like there's more going on in there than just a headache. Call me if it gets worse."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katie took the tubes containing the maps and put them back on the shelf. She heard the door open, heard him walk across the room, but didn't turn to greet him.

"So coach," Alex said. "Dana says it's bottom of the ninth and that I'd better haul my ass up here or you're gonna put someone in to pinch hit."

She turned around. There he was, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, big smirk on his face. Good grief, four years and one kid later, he still had the power to make her knees go weak.

"I'd just about given up on you, Krycek. Stadium lights are long past out, the rest of the team is home in bed and here I am, all alone, stowing the equipment."

He pushed off the wall and came closer. "Need some help?"

"Nope, all done now."

"Anything else I can help with?" He reached out and touched her cheek.

She turned her head slightly and kissed his fingertips. "Oh yeah."

"Come here," he whispered.

She moved closer and put her arms around him.

Alex held on, not moving. "You all right? You feel warm."

Katie nodded against his chest. "Take me to bed, Alexei."

He picked her up and carried her into their room. After placing her gently on the bed, Alex turned and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Katie asked.

"To get the thermometer, you're burning up," he answered.

Katie sat up. "I'm fine, Alex. It's nothing." She stood up and took one step in his direction, before her knees gave out and she fell to the floor.

Alex ran to her and helped her back to her feet. "Oh yeah, you're fine."

"It's starting again," she whispered.

"The cramping?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought it was just a headache. But now, it's starting to hurt."

"Are you bleeding?"

"No and it's been less than two weeks since my last period. The timing's all wrong, but. . ."

She doubled over. Alex lifted her into bed and put the blanket over her. "Stay put, I'm going to get Scully."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, 'Hike? You awake?"

"Whadda ya want, Langly?"

"The munchkin wants to see you. Even brought you breakfast."

Adam poked his head around the door. "Can I come in, Uncle Mel?"

Frohike struggled to sit up and groaned, as the ache behind his eyes became a dull roar. "Sure kid."

"I brought you sumthin' to eat to make you feel better." He put the plate on the nightstand. "It's a bagel from Uncle Ty's store. He says this kind always makes mommy stop bein' grumpy."

"Your mom gets grumpy?"

"Oh yeah. 'Specially when she puts on the hat. We stay away from mommy when she puts on the hat."

Frohike snickered and took a bite from the bagel. "She know you're down here?"

"Uh huh. I left a note."

Frohike stopped, mid-bite. "You can write, too?"

"Not very good," Adam admitted. "'Randa made me a special note board one time. I put a three on it; then mommy and daddy know I'm with Dana and Mulder. I put a two on it this time so they'll know I'm with you."

"Amazing."

Adam sat on the edge of the bed, swinging his feet. Just as Frohike put the last bite of bagel into his mouth, Adam began a new conversation.

"Mommy got really sick last night."

"She did?"

"Yeah, daddy had to go get Dana and everything." Adam looked up at Frohike. "I was apposed to be sleeping, but I woked up when daddy called Dana."

"Is Katie all right?"

Adam shrugged. "Daddy and Dana were whispering a lot and I could hear mommy crying like she hurt real bad. Dana went in the bedroom for a long time and when she came out, mommy wasn't crying anymore. I was lookin' out my door and Dana came over and made me go back to bed. She said mommy wasn't feeling too good, but that she'd be ok and I didn't have to be scared."

Frohike put his arm around Adam's shoulder. "But you were scared, weren't you?"

"Uh huh. I tried to ask Gramma Ileana what was wrong with mommy, but she wouldn't talk to me."

"Maybe she was too busy helping your mom and didn't hear you," Frohike said.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Did the bagel make you feel better?"

Frohike rubbed his head. "My stomach feels better, but my head still hurts. I think I need to take a nap."

Adam hopped off the bed. "Ok. Will you come up and see me later?"

"Sure thing, buddy. Thanks for breakfast."

"You're welcome."

Adam walked out and closed the door behind him. He said goodbye to Byers and Langly, then waited for the elevator. When the door opened, Scully was standing there.

"Adam? What are you doing down here?" she asked.

"I brought Uncle Mel a bagel."

"Do your mommy and daddy know you're down here?"

Adam frowned. "I left 'em a note, Dana. I'm not a baby," he huffed.

Scully stifled a grin. "Yes sweetie, I know you're not a baby. What kind of note did you leave them?"

"I put a two on the note board. Just like I put a three on it when I come down to see you and Mulder."

"Good boy."

"Are you gonna go see Uncle Mel?"

"I thought I'd take a look at him."

"He said he had a headache and wanted to go back to sleep," Adam said. "Wanna come up and see mommy instead? I'll make you a bagel."

Scully smiled. "If there are any blueberry ones, you've got a deal."

Adam struck a decidedly Tyler-like pose. "Has Uncle Ty ever forgotted you like blueberry, Dana?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex stood looking at the note board, shaking his head at the bright orange number two stuck there. 'Probably should have warned the guys that Adam has a tendency to wander in the morning.'

He walked out to the kitchen and saw the bagels thawing on the counter and the stool pushed up against the cabinet. A knife, covered with margarine, lay in the sink; multiple crumbs littered the counter.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Katie asked.

Alex frowned. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I needed to get up and walk around."

He walked over to her and touched her forehead. "You still feel warm. Any cramping this morning?"

"Some, but it's not too bad. More uncomfortable than anything else."

"All right, you can stay up for a few minutes, but I don't want you doing anything until Scully's had a chance to check you out."

Katie nodded. "So, what were you looking at?"

"Well, from the looks of the kitchen counter and the conspicuous orange two on the note board, I'm going to make a leap of faith and say that our son has made breakfast for Frohike."

Katie stepped over to the counter. "No plate in the sink. Yep, he's definitely taking care of Uncle Mel."

The elevator door opened. Adam ran to Katie and put his arms around her.

"Hi mommy. You feelin' better?"

Katie leaned down and kissed Adam’s head. "Much better now. How’s Uncle Mel?"

"He still gots a headache, but his tummy feels better."

Scully came over and put her hand on Katie’s forehead and frowned. "Back to bed. Now." She turned to Adam. "Hey punkin, why don’t you fix that bagel you promised me while I go tuck your mom into bed again."

"’K, Aunt Dana. Do you want one, mommy?"

"Sure, sweetie, I’d like that."

Alex started to follow them into the bedroom, but Scully stopped him. "Why don’t you help Adam with breakfast?" she said, giving him the give-me-a-few-minutes look.

Alex nodded. "Come on kiddo, let’s get some food into these ladies before they starve to death."

Scully entered the bedroom close on Katie’s heels. She waited until Katie was in bed before talking. "You’re flushed and burning up. How’s the cramping?"

"Not too bad."

"You may be able to sell that to Alex, but I know better. Have you started bleeding again?"

Katie’s head fell back on the pillow. "No, I haven’t. I wish you and Alex would get together on this so I don’t have to keep answering the same damned questions."

"Well maybe if you’d be honest with us we wouldn’t have to go through this song and dance every time," Scully said. "For crying out loud, Katie, you have to be willing to help yourself!"

"Fine. I feel crappy. My head hurts, my belly hurts and I feel generally miserable, but I don’t think I’m going to suddenly start gushing like Old Faithful. The pain is the same as before, but not the same, if that makes sense."

"Not really. Could you be a little more specific?"

"I think my tubes are opening up."

Scully sat down on the edge of the bed. "Maybe they are."

"What? No argument? No ‘that’s not possible’? You’re slipping, Dana."

"We’ve speculated that your tubes may have closed which is why you haven’t become pregnant in spite of not using any form of birth control. It’s possible that your recent decision to try and conceive triggered a chain reaction in your system. I’ve seen how your body reacts when you make up your mind to do something."

Katie bit her lower lip to keep from laughing out loud. "I’m calling Mulder right now. I dare you to repeat that in front of him." She reached for the phone and called downstairs. "Morning, Fox. Get up here; you’re not going to believe what Dana just said to me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jeez, Katie. Why didn't you call and let me know what was going on?" Miranda asked.

"What could you have done, Miranda? It only lasted a few days and I had plenty of people around to keep Alex and Adam occupied while I played Camille in the bed."

"I've seen you go through this before and I'd hardly compare you to Camille." Miranda paced the floor in her bedroom. "Are you sure you're all right now?"

"I'm not only all right, I'm pregnant."

Miranda stopped pacing. "Wait, two weeks ago you're in agony and now you're pregnant? I don't know whether to congratulate you or slap Alex for being a dog!"

Katie laughed. "What makes you so sure that Alex was the instigator?"

"Point taken. Do Matthew and Tyler know yet?"

"Not yet," Katie answered. "We'll tell them tomorrow at the airport. Speaking of which, are you all packed?"

"I've been packed for weeks, Katie."

"And you're sure you don't want to be part of commencement?"

"I hate graduation ceremonies. You know that."

"Just checking. So, any thoughts on what you're going to do now?"

Miranda hesitated. "Well, I was going to wait until we were all together, but I guess now is as good a time as any."

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I just decided to stick around a few more years and get my Masters, that's all. I mean, between the rest of you we have a lot of fields covered, but no one has a strong background in environmental studies. Matthew and Dana have the medical knowledge, Tyler the engineering background, the guys have enough computer know-how to keep things running, you're our writer/historian, Mulder and Alex have the practical knowledge of. . .well, you know."

Katie nodded. "Right." She glanced over at Alex, who was helping Adam read the daily comics. "We're all really proud of you, sweetheart, you know that, don't you?"

"I know."

"Is this what you want? I mean, you've been looking forward to getting out of school. You've worked straight through for the last three years to that end. Do you really want to devote another two years?"

"Once you guys get here and toss my stuff in the car, I'm outta here until the end of August. And yes, I'm sure I want to do this. I can fill a gap, Katie. It may not be something we need right away, but I've been giving this a lot of thought and I think it's a gap that needs to be addressed."

"I can't argue with you, sweetie. We're going to need as much expertise in as many areas as possible."

"That's what Ty said, too."

"Oh, so that's why you sound tired. I was hoping you'd been out partying or on a date or something."

"Katie, don't start."

"Who's starting? I just think you need to get out and have some fun and if that fun should happen to include a member of the opposite sex, all the better."

Miranda shook her head and frowned. "I'm not interested. When and if the right guy comes along, I'll try again. For now, I'm fine the way things are."

"What about the guys in the band you used to hang out with?"

"I still hang out with them. But they're strictly friends, not relationship material."

"I'm not talking about a relationship, Miranda, just a date; a night out with someone who's good to talk to or makes you laugh, that's all. It doesn't have to lead to anything."

"Well then, that rules out everyone up here," Miranda said. "The only people who fit the bill happen to live back in Boswell, which is why I can't wait to come home."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mira!" Tyler dropped his carry-on bag and scooped her up into his arms. "Happy Birthday. You look beautiful."

She hugged him tight. "I've missed you so much."

"Get those two," Matthew said to Katie and Alex. "You'd think they hadn't been talking to each other every night since we left."

Katie gave Matthew a hug. "So what? Talking is no substitute for holding someone in your arms."

Alex patted Matthew on the back. "Good to have you home."

"Good to be back," Matthew said. "We found out quite a bit about the West Nile situation over there. The data you sent seems . .."

Tyler and Miranda joined the three. "Matthew, can we at least get out of the airport before you start talking shop?" Miranda asked. "It's a thirty minute drive to the house and another ninety minutes home after we get my junk loaded. I'd really like to enjoy that part of my birthday without a preponderance of gloom and doom. Tomorrow is soon enough to dive into the work."

"She's right. This isn't the time or place." Alex said.

Tyler tugged Miranda's hand. "I'm hungry. Let's go grab the bags and get out of here. I want a cheeseburger and I want one now!"

Miranda nodded. "Now you're talking. I know just the place."

"It's not even noon," Alex protested.

"So what?" Miranda and Ty said, almost in unison.

"If you're not hungry, you don't have to eat, Alex," Miranda said. "But we are, so let's get rolling. Besides, it's my birthday so I get to call the shots."

"Oooh, she's getting bossy," Alex remarked to Katie.

"Isn't it great?" Katie chuckled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matthew swallowed his last bite of cheeseburger. "You went through all of that and didn't call to let me know?"

Miranda stared at Matthew. "That's what I said!"

"For crying out loud, Matthew. What the hell could you have done? I had Scully there to do the doctoring and everyone else to fill in the gaps until it passed. I didn't see any sense in bothering you with the news. Besides, it all worked out; I'm pregnant."

"You are? Just like that?"

"Yes, Ty, just like that."

"So, when is this one due?"

"End of January." Alex leaned forward on the couch. "So, about the data you acquired."

Miranda glared at him. "Alex!"

"I just want the Reader's Digest version, all right?"

"Five minutes, no more. I'm serious Alex, I really don't want to hear about this today."

"Five minutes, I promise."

"I'll be quick," Matthew said and waited for Miranda's nod before he started. "I've got a couple of maps to show you, but in a nutshell, it looks like what you discovered here is also happening in Europe. For every reported UFO sighting an outbreak of West Nile followed within two weeks. I wanted to send the maps to the guys, but they were most emphatic about not sending them out over the web." He took a sip of his soda and placed the cup back down on the table. "Other than that, there's not much else to tell. The medical convention was boring, but the sightseeing was fun. We probably bought way too much and took way too many pictures, but that's what vacations are for."

"Absolutely," Miranda said.

"So, anything new in your life, Miranda? New clothes, new hair style, new man?"

Miranda frowned. "Oh, that was subtle, Matthew. You know damned well that there's no one new in my life and I have no plans on changing that situation anytime soon. Next topic."

"Sorry. I didn't realize the subject was still off-limits."

"When the right guy comes along, I'll let you know. For now, I'm happy the way things are." She got up and collected the trash from the food they'd brought back to the house. Tyler picked up the empty cups and followed her into the kitchen.

"Well, I certainly know how to clear a room," Matthew exclaimed.

"Not your fault, Kid. I made the mistake of bringing it up last night."

Matthew scowled. "I'd love to choke the life out of the little bastard that hurt her."

"Don't think I wasn't tempted," Alex grumbled.

"Both of you cut it out," Katie said. "Heartache is part of growing up. It's a shitty part of growing up, but that's the way it is. She'll get over it, eventually."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler squeezed Miranda's shoulder. "They're not trying to meddle. There's this inbred desire we all have to see you happy."

"I know, Ty, but I'm not ready to be with anyone right now. Number one, there's no one here I want to be together with. Number two, I don't have time to spend on a relationship right now. Number three, well, see numbers one and two. It is possible to be alone and still be happy." She turned and looked up at him. "Isn't it?"

"Of course it is. Come here." He reached out and took her in his arms. "If you're happy, then I'm happy. I'm just not so sure that you're really happy, Mira."

"I'm lonely, Ty. I miss all of you so much. Talking on the phone and online is nice, but I miss this. I miss sitting around the table and talking about things. I miss being able to play with Adam. I miss being able to reach out and hug someone when I'm feeling all alone in the world. I miss family."

"And yet you're signing on for another two years to get your Master's degree?"

"There's a gap to be filled and the way I see it, this is my part in the grand scheme of things. I've lasted three years, what's a couple more?"

He kissed the top of her head and she snuggled in closer. "Well then, we'll have to be better about making trips over to see you. I'm sure we can arrange some family gatherings here, when you're not loaded down with your coursework. All you have to do is say the word."

Miranda nodded against his chest. "I'd like that. I have a feeling it's going to be much harder to come back here, after spending the better part of four months back home."

"Don't think about that now. Let's go toss your things in the car and get these people moving. I'm sure Adam is driving the guys crazy with looking out the window for us. I hear he helped Lisa make your cake."

"I do miss the little monster," Miranda said, pulling back to wipe her eyes. "Even if he does like to jump on my bed at six in the morning to get me to play with him."

Tyler laughed. "Frohike will be glad that you've come home, too. Without you around, Adam's made the guys the target of his morning attacks. Langly's learned to lock his bedroom door and Byers is usually up anyway, so poor Frohike gets the brunt of it. Byers has tried to distract him by showing him different computer tricks, but Adam can't be waylaid. If Uncle Mel is in the house, Adam's sworn to wake him up."

Miranda ran her fingers through her hair to try and straighten the strands. "I'm glad that they've decided to stay. They're strange, but I'm looking forward to getting to know them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This information is fascinating, but what are we supposed to do with it?" Scully asked. "We haven't been able to effectively control the mosquito population, the new West Nile vaccine isn't proving to be all that effective and we certainly can't go to the press with our findings."

"We do what we've always done, Scully. We document and preserve. The days of screaming to the heavens and to anyone who will listen are over. We've lost that battle; now we look out for us."

Alex looked taken aback. "Giving up the fight, Mulder? That's not like you."

"I'm not giving up anything, Alex. I'm channeling my energy in another direction. They're here; they've started the takeover. We've spent years trying to convince people that they were coming and no one wanted to hear. The kindest listened and gave condescending nods of mock understanding, while the rest scoffed and labeled me 'spooky'. I'm done. The only people I care about saving now are in this room. For them and only them will I put myself on the line."

The phone rang and Katie ran to answer it. "Hello? They did? Thanks, Lisa, I appreciate the head's up." Katie chuckled. "Yeah, it is good to have everyone back home. We'll see you soon." She put down the receiver. "We've got about fifteen minutes; let's get this table cleared off. I don't want Miranda walking in and seeing these maps on the table, not tonight."

Mulder gathered up the maps. "I'll take them downstairs and get Adam and the boys while I'm there."

"Thanks, Mulder."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miranda kissed Adam goodnight and pulled the covers up around him. "Sleep well, cutie."

"I'm glad you're back, Randa."

"Me too. Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Give me and Uncle Mel a break and let us sleep in tomorrow. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night."

"Ok, I'll be quiet."

"Thanks. Want to go to the park with me tomorrow?"

Adam beamed. "Just you and me?"

"Sure. Now go to sleep and no sneaking back out."

"Ok. I love you, Randa."

Miranda leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I love you, too." She left the room, closing the door behind her.

"That was easy," Alex said. "What did you have to promise him?"

"Nothing. He got into bed without giving me any problems. We're going to the park tomorrow, but he was already in bed when I told him I'd take him. And," she added, turning to look at Frohike, "he's promised to let us both sleep in tomorrow."

Frohike raised his beer bottle to her. "Bless you, my dear."

Miranda chuckled. "You'll probably wake up anyway and wonder where he is."

He groaned. "You're probably right."

"Anyone want more cake before I put it away?" Tyler asked. With the anticipated response to the negative, he picked it up and carried the cake into the kitchen.

Langly brought up the subject they'd all sworn to ignore for the evening. Miranda shook her head and sighed as they dove headlong into the abyss. She sat off to the side, watching them for a while.

About an hour into the conversation, Byers got up and disappeared. "Probably going off to get those damned maps," she muttered. Having had enough of watching, she got up and went into the kitchen to pour a glass of wine. Legal drinking age was still a year away, but no one cared. She took a sip, then decided to slip out to her favorite hideaway.

Miranda climbed the stairs to the roof, glass held firmly so as not to spill anything while she walked. At the top, she looked for the blanket she'd always kept hanging over the railing and found it missing. Maybe Katie found it and took it back into the loft, she thought. Oh well, not worth climbing back down for and besides, if she went back now, someone was surely going to notice her departure. She pushed open the door and went out into the night.

The door closed behind her with a soft click. Miranda turned the corner and saw a figure sitting on the ground, head bowed and resting on his knees. "John?"

He scrambled to his feet. "Miranda? Hi. Um. . .sorry, I was just. . ."

"Looking for a place to hide for a little while?"

"Yeah. It's quiet up here. Guess this is your blanket."

"It is."

John started to walk back to the door. "Well, I'll get out of your way."

Miranda reached out to him. "No, that's all right. Stay."

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."

She smiled. "You're not in the way, John. I just can't stand anymore talk about the grim reality of our future, especially on my birthday. I'd rather spend tonight enjoying the time we have left. Up here is one of the few places where I can do that."

John laughed softly. "Where you just have to wish to make it so?"

"Right smack dab in the middle of town," she answered as she sat down. "The Drifters had it right, didn't they?"

He sat down next to her. "They did. How do you know about The Drifters; they're more than a little before your time."

"Good music transcends age. I have a feeling that twenty years from now, people will still be singing their songs and music from the likes of Hoobastank or Ja Rule will be long forgotten. Besides, I'm not that young," She looked up at the stars. "I haven't been that young for a long time."

"I like Hoobastank."

Miranda laughed. "You do? Well, that's a surprise. I didn't have you figured for an alternative rocker."

"I'm not that old, Miranda."

"Touché, John."

She handed him her glass. "Here, help me drink this."

He accepted the glass and pointed to the stars. "Do you think they'll change?"

"I hope not. I've always found the constellations comforting. You can always count on them to be there. Like that one," she said, pointing to Orion. "He's my favorite. No matter where I am, I know I can look up and find him staring down on me."

"He's one of my favorites as well. Do you know the story?"

"I know he was a hunter, but I never looked him up in mythology."

John leaned back against the wall. "There are a couple of versions, depending on who you read. My favorite says that he was the son of Neptune and Queen Euryale of the Amazons."

Miranda leaned back as well and listened to John tell the story of Orion's life. As he finished that tale, he moved on to other constellations and their accompanying stories. His supply of stellar myths ran out, just as the sun was beginning to rise.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Don't know, sixish?" she answered.

"I can't believe we sat out here all night. Think anyone missed us?"

"I doubt it. I'm sure they all assumed we'd gone off to sleep somewhere along the line. But, Adam will probably be looking for me before too long. He just loves waking me up at the crack of dawn."

"Didn't he promise to let you sleep in this morning?"

"He's three, John. Do you really expect him to live up to his end of the bargain?"

"I keep forgetting he's only three." John stood and extended his hand to help her up. "I guess we'd better get down there before he discovers you missing."

They walked to the door and down the stairs. Miranda paused at the door to the loft. "I had fun tonight, John."

"Me, too."

"I go up there a lot. If you ever want to join me. . ."

"I'd like that."

Miranda smiled. "Well, all right then. Good night."

John returned the smile. "Good night or rather, good morning."

He opened the door for her and waited until the door swung shut before heading down to the second floor. He hadn't had any sleep, but somehow, he felt more awake than he'd ever felt in his life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miranda put the glass in the sink and went in to take a shower. She let the evening play over and over in her head, wondering at the ease with which she'd accepted his presence on her rooftop. It had always been understood that this was where she went to be alone, but John couldn't have known that.

She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. A fresh towel was hanging on the shower door and her bathrobe hung in the closet, just like always. It was good to be home.

Dried and wrapped securely in her robe, Miranda went out into the kitchen to search for something to eat.

"You were out late," Alex said quietly.

Miranda jumped and whirled around. "Geez Alex, make a sound and warn a girl, will ya?"

"We didn't mean to chase you off."

"I know. Technically, it was after midnight when you all got started, so you gave me what I asked for. I wasn't ready to jump into the fray. I'll get with the program here soon."

"I know you will," he said. "So where did you disappear to?"

"The roof."

"I should have known." He got up and hugged her. "You've been away too long, Miranda."

She squeezed him back. "I'm home now and I'm hungry. Wanna be really bad and have some cake for breakfast?"

Alex pointed. "Plates are already on the counter."

"Good. You cut, I'll get the milk."

They had just taken their first bites when Adam came out of his bedroom.

"Daddy!" Adam put his hands on his hips. "You're not apposed to eat cake for breakfast."

"Why not? What's the difference between cake and those Lucky Charms you're so fond of?"

"Lucky Charms is cereal. Cereal is breakfast food."

"So, cake has eggs and wheat in it. You eat eggs and toast for breakfast sometimes."

"Eggs and toast don't got frosting on them," Adam argued.

"Lucky Charms has marshmallows in it. Marshmallows aren't breakfast food."

"Uh huh. They are when they're in cereal."

"He's got you there, Alex."

"'Sides, cake for breakfast is yucky."

Miranda pretended to be stunned by his pronouncement. "Cake for breakfast is yucky? Next thing you'll be telling me is that cold pizza for breakfast is yucky, too."

"Ew! Cold pizza for breakfast? That's gross, Randa."

Alex stared at Miranda. "My kid doesn't understand the joy of cold pizza or cake for breakfast. Where did I go wrong?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"'Bout time you showed up," Langly grumbled.

"What? Something happen I need to know about?"

"No. The deal is that we let someone know when we're going to be out all night, that's all."

"Why Langly, you care. I'm touched."

"Ha, ha," Langly frowned. "So where were you?"

"Just out. Let it go, all right?"

Langly raised his hands. "Yeah, sure. Just let us know next time you're gonna go Casper on us."

"I'll try to remember."

Byers turned his back on Langly, walked into his bedroom and flopped down on the bed. What the hell was he thinking? She's only twenty, just turned twenty last night for crying out loud.

He covered his eyes with his arm. Stop it. You didn't seduce the child. It was just an evening spent with a, what, a friend? They'd just met, was friend the right word? She felt like a friend.

It wasn't like she was a complete unknown. She was a constant topic of conversation around the loft. Hell, he felt like he'd known her for years before she even came home. But last night. Last night was an entirely different animal. This wasn't the child he'd been told about, Alex and Katie's adopted daughter, this was a woman, flesh and blood, witty and warm, beautiful. He could lose himself in this one.

He got up and stripped off last night's clothing. Get real, John. The evening probably passed, unconsidered, through her mind. She won't give it, or you, another thought. He grabbed his robe from the closet and put it on before heading down the hall to take a shower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Katie's sleeping awfully late. Is she all right?"

"Long night. The guys went down a little after two, but Mulder and Scully stayed up here until almost four. They got a call just before you came in, so they're off to DC for a while."

"Oh, so that's why you were up so early."

"I wasn't sleeping very well anyway." He looked over at Adam who was struggling to get his shoes on. "So, are you two off to the park?"

"Yep. I promised the bratling we'd spend the morning together. Is he still taking naps or has he talked you out of that?"

"No, he hasn't managed to wheedle his way out the naps just yet. We usually put him down after lunch, around noon."

"I'll take him out for lunch and have him back at nap time. Is that all right?"

"You're giving me three hours alone with my wife. Do you really have to ask if that's all right?"

Miranda smiled. "Guess not. Need some help with those shoes, Adam?"

"No, mommy got Velcro ones this time, so I can do it all by myself."

"All right. Ready to go?"

"Yep. Bye daddy."

"Bye. You be good."

"Where's the fun in that?" Adam asked.

Alex and Miranda broke out laughing. "Oh yeah, he's definitely your kid, Alex," Miranda said.

Alex was still laughing after his kids got on the elevator and started the trek downwards.

"What's so funny?" Katie asked.

"Our son," Alex answered.

Katie yawned. "Oh. Where are the kids going?"

"To the park, remember? We have the next three hours to ourselves."

"No we don't. We're supposed to have breakfast with Mulder and Dana."

Alex moved slowly toward her and shook his head. "Change of plans. They got called back to DC. We're all alone. No kids. No obligations. Just you and me in this big old empty loft."

Katie's eye widened. The heat coming off of her husband sent shockwaves through her system. "Alone? As in no one's here? Oh my. When was the last time that happened?"

She turned her head to one side as he moved in for the kill. He nipped at the soft tissue of her neck before trailing upward to her earlobe. "I don't know and I'm not interested in trying to figure it out," he whispered.

"What is it you are interested in?" she whispered back.

He raised her arms over her head, pulled her nightgown off and tossed it back into the bedroom. She started to lower her arms, but he held them firm. "Don't move," he growled.

"Baby, I'm not going anywhere."

His fingers slid down, teasing her, making her knees buckle and causing her to whimper ever so slightly.

"Damn, you know what that does to me." He tugged at his zipper, but couldn't manage to get his pants down one-handed this time. "Keep them there," he whispered. He pushed the jeans down and kicked them off before putting his hand back against her wrists.

Katie struggled slightly against his hand. "Too tight, Alex."

He loosened his grip. "Sorry baby. It's been a while since we've done this outside of the bedroom. I got a little carried away."

"Don't apologize," she said, thrusting her hips at him. "Just get inside me now."

"What's the hurry? We've got all morning."

"I know, but I woke up horny and impatient."

Alex grinned, an evil glint in his eyes. "Just the way I like you." He skimmed her clit and kissed her as she whimpered again.

"You're going to torture me all morning, aren't you?" she groaned.

"As appealing as that sounds," he said, kissing her again. "I'm horny and impatient myself. So if you don't mind too much, I think I'll just. . ." His words dwindled into mumbles as he thrust inside her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miranda sat on the swing next to Adam's, watching him pump his feet as fast as he could. She moved her swing back and forth, never letting her feet come off the ground.

Adam slowed down.

"Need a push, Randa?"

"No sweetie, I can manage."

"Uncle Mel says I'm really good on the swings."

"He's right." She looked at him and smiled. "You really like Frohike, don't you?"

"Sure. Uncle Mel's my pal."

"What about the other guys?"

He shrugged. "I like them, too."

"Tell me about them. What's Langly like?"

"He likes to play music real loud. Uncle Mel says he needs a haircut."

Miranda snickered. "What about Byers?"

"Uncle John's nice. Daddy says that he," Adam stopped and bit his lower lip.

"What does your daddy say about Uncle John?"

"I don't think he'd want me to say it. I'm not apposed to know he said it."

She pushed her swing closer. "Come on, you can tell me."

"It's not very nice," Adam said.

"It's ok. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

Adam looked around. "Daddy says that Uncle John would be a lot happier if he'd pull that rod out of his ass."

Miranda choked back a laugh. "He really said that?"

"Uh huh."

"Oh, goodness."

"Randa?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"How come Uncle John gots a rod up his ass?"

Miranda tried to answer, but her laughter prevented words from forming. After a few minutes, she regained her composure. "Adam, what your daddy said was something called a figure of speech. Uncle John doesn't really have a rod, you know where. It's Alex's way of saying that Uncle John needs to relax and have a little more fun. Do you understand?"

"I guess so."

"Come on, race you to the slide."

Adam jumped off the swing and ran full speed across the playground. Miranda stood and watched until he was good distance ahead of her, before running after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miranda carried Adam out of the elevator. He'd fallen asleep on short ride up, worn out from his morning.

Katie spotted them and started to speak, until she realized her son was sleeping. She walked ahead of them and into Adam's bedroom to pull back the covers. Miranda put him down gently and removed his shoes. Katie put the blanket over him and they tiptoed out of the room.

"Guess I don't have to ask how the morning went," Katie said.

"I wore him out, poor little guy." She looked around. "Where's Alex?"

"Sleeping."

Miranda wiggled her eyebrows. "Looks like we both wore our guys out this morning."

"Yes, and have I said thank you for giving me the opportunity to do just that?"

"Always glad to be of service, ma'am."

"Any plans for the rest of the day?"

"I thought I'd take a look at those maps and get caught up on what's going on. Are they up here?"

Katie shook her head. "No, Mulder took them downstairs last night before the party. The guys are hanging on to all of that stuff now. We decided that there wasn't anything we could do with the information other than make notes and store it for future reference."

"Did anyone think to check on the environmental ramifications? Have there been any tests run on the soil or the water to see if they've been contaminated? Any studies done on crops in the affected areas?"

Katie looked up at the ceiling and tried to remember what had been done. "I know that trace radiation was found at the UFO landing sites we were able to positively identify. The CDC and like agencies ran tests on the dead birds in any given area, too. I honestly can't remember if anyone thought to take soil and water samples. I'm sure someone thought of it."

"Think they'd mind if I went down and looked over their data?"

"Are you kidding? It's what they live for. Hang on, I'll give them a call and make sure they're decent."

Miranda giggled.

Katie looked perplexed. "What? Did I say something funny?"

"Um, Adam mentioned something he overheard Alex saying about John, that's all."

"Uh oh, what did he say?"

Miranda told her about the conversation in the park.

"We have got to remember that this kid hears everything," Katie said, as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Poor John. He's a nice guy, but too uptight for his own good." She picked up the phone and called downstairs.

"Maybe he just needs someone to show him the way out."

"Great, I'll send her down. Thanks, Langly." Katie hung up the phone. "Ringo says to come on down."

"Great. Thanks."

"Miranda, did you say something to me while I was on the phone? I thought I heard you, but I missed what you said."

"Don't worry about it, Katie. I was thinking out loud, that's all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Langly unrolled the maps and smoothed them out on the table.

"Why are those out?" Byers asked.

"Katie called. Miranda had questions about some of the research we've done. She's on her way down now."

"Miranda's coming down here?"

"Yeah, that's what I just said."

John hurried from the room, almost bumping into Frohike on his way out.

"What's with him?"

"Who knows?"

John combed his hair and straightened his tie. He looked at his face in the mirror. "What are you doing? She's not coming down to see you, moron."

"Hey Byers, get out here," Frohike yelled. "It's not cool to keep a lady waiting."

He walked quickly back into the main room. "Sorry."

She smiled at him. "It's ok, John. I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. Relax."

He swallowed hard. "So what can I, I mean we, do for you?"

Miranda walked over to the maps. "All right, I understand that you've made a connection between UFO sightings and the spread of West Nile in these areas. Katie says that the UFO landing sites have tested positive for trace radiation, so we know the sightings were legitimate and that the CDC conducted tests on dead birds in these areas to confirm the virus, is that right so far?"

Langly moved closer to her. "Yeah, same shit at each location."

"Did anyone think to test the soil and water in the areas most heavily affected by the virus?"

"We had some of our friends do random sampling. Nothing special turned up, if that's what you're getting at," Frohike said.

"Did you check for high levels of carbon monoxide or lactic acid?"

"Way ahead of you," Langly said. "Byers spent weeks researching everything the little bastards are attracted to. Nothing out of the ordinary turned up anywhere."

Miranda looked back at Byers. "You know, John, I could have saved you a lot of trouble."

Byers's cheeks flushed. "I'll remember that next time."

Frohike glanced at Langly. Langly rolled his eyes in return.

"Well, I was hoping to have something useful to add," Miranda said. "Sorry I wasted your time."

Frohike put his hand over hers. "No, no, no. You didn't waste anything, sweetheart. We need everyone's input."

"Yeah, really. We spend so much time looking at this stuff; we've missed things before. A pair of fresh eyes is always welcome," Langly added.

"Thanks. I guess I'll head back upstairs and let you guys get back to doing whatever it was you were doing."

Frohike motioned to John. "Byers. Why don't you show the lovely Miss Jenkins around the establishment? Show her what we do to earn our keep."

"Uh, sure. Do you want. . ." Byers stammered.

Miranda nodded. "I'd like that. Adam talks about you guys all the time and everyone else speaks highly of you as well. I have to admit to being more than a little curious."

She followed Byers back to the bank of computers at the other end of the large room and tried to think of something intelligent to say. Something that would let him know that she was interested in spending time with him.

"This is amazing. I thought the computers in the lab at school were state of the art, but this stuff is incredible." *Oh good, Miranda, take the dumb blonde approach.*

"We built most of it ourselves, but we'd never have been able to do it without Alex's help." *No, these are just computers; you're the only amazing thing in this room.*

"Can you pull up a star chart on this one?" *Aargh! Even worse. No Miranda, he's only brilliant, I'm sure pulling up a star chart will be a major brain drain for him. Dumbass!*

"Sure. Why?"Wait a minute; what's happening here?*

"I want to see what time Orion will be out tonight." *Lame and lamer, Miranda!*

"Midnight, give or take a few minutes." *You should know the answer to this already.*

Miranda smiled. "Do you always know what time Orion comes out, John?" *Toss in a few batting eyelashes, why don't you. Where's the idiot antidote when you need it? Somebody help me, I'm struggling here.*

"No. I, uh, I looked it up earlier, that's all." He smiled back at her. "Why did you want to know?" Oh dear lord, she's flirting with me and I'm stuttering like an idiot.

*Or not. Did he just stutter?* "He's an old friend, remember? I wouldn't want to miss the chance to see him while I'm in town." *Subtle as a heart attack, girlfriend. Take the bait, John. Give me some indication that you're even remotely interested.*

John took in a deep breath. *Please God don't let me make a fool out of myself.* "Would you like some company tonight? I hear Orion isn't much of a conversationalist."

*Score!* "I'd like that."

She shifted feet, not really knowing quite where to go from here. "Well, I'd better get back upstairs. Katie might need help with dinner or something."

"Actually, it's our turn to cook tonight," he admitted.

Miranda gave him a puzzled look. "Your turn?"

"We do communal dinners once a week. It helps to ensure that everyone eats at least one decent meal and gives us time to hang out and get to know one another."

"Tyler's idea?"

Byers laughed. "Who else?"

Miranda reached out and touched his arm. "You should laugh more, John. It looks good on you."

He felt his face grow warm and he looked down at the floor.

She let her hand fall away. "Think I'll go up and take a nap before dinner. I didn't get any sleep last night and Orion might take offense if I dozed off on him this evening."

Byers kept his eyes on the floor. "I think he'd enjoy your company either way."

Miranda tilted her head downward, trying to catch his eye. "Nah. I snore."

His eyes moved slightly and the corners of his mouth started to slide upward.

"See? Smiling gets a little easier each time."

She walked back through the room and poked her head around the corner to see what Langly and Frohike were doing. "I hear you're cooking tonight. Should I be worried?" she teased.

"Do you like Indian?" Frohike asked.

"Love it. The hotter the better."

Frohike beamed. "I knew I liked you!"

"The feeling is mutual. What time is dinner?"

"Six."

"Can't wait. See you later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh man, I think I'm going to explode." Matthew groaned, then let out a huge burp. "Excuse me."

"On the contrary," Frohike said. "That's the highest compliment you can bestow on chef."

"That's not what you said the other night," Langly grumbled.

Frohike frowned. "It's only a compliment when you belch, dipstick."

"Ok," Tyler said, as he got up from his chair. "Think I'll file that under 'too much information'. Give us some warning if you feel the need to express your compliments to the chef, Langly."

Langly's face reddened, but he joined in on the good-natured chuckling at his expense.

Adam got down from his chair and walked over to Frohike. "Uncle Mel? Can I play the nanobot game?"

"Sure, kid. Come on."

"What's the nanobot game?" Miranda asked Tyler.

"It's a game Melvin wrote for Adam. Kind of like Centipede, but with nanobots," he answered. "Think you might want to put in some time at the store this summer?"

"Do you need me? I thought Lisa's grandson was coming up to work."

"He is, in a few weeks. School doesn't let out until June."

"Sure. When?"

"Afternoons. Say noon to four?"

"That's a weird shift."

"I know. Daniel's mother had to have surgery on her arms a few weeks ago. She's started physical therapy today and needs him to drive. This way, he can get her there and back, get her settled in at home and grab something to eat without having to rush. It would just be for a few weeks and it would really help me out, Mira."

Miranda hugged her friend. "No problem. You know I'll do anything for you."

Tyler kissed the top of her head. "I know."

She looked over at the table and saw John there, collecting all the dirty dishes. "You know, I think I'm gonna go help John with those dishes."

"You never help me with the dishes," Ty said.

"I beg your pardon? Just who was it helping with the cooking and dishes when we went to your mother's house?"

"Ok, that time you helped," he conceded. "But I haven't seen you jumping up to help since then."

"Maybe I just like him better," Miranda said, wishing the words back in her mouth as soon as they hit the air.

Ty clutched his chest in mock surprise. "I'm wounded. You've crushed me."

"Ty, I was kidding," Miranda said quickly.

He laughed. "I knew you were kidding, sweetheart." Ty grinned at her, but realized there was more behind her words. "Or maybe not?" he asked softly. "Mira, is there something you're not telling me?"

Miranda rolled her eyes, trying to appear casual. "No, don't be silly."

He tugged at her hand and pulled her into a less populated area of the room. "Bullshit," he whispered. "Give."

"Ty," she paused. "It's nothing, really."

He stared at her, then spoke again. "You've got a thing for him, don't you?"

Miranda blushed and turned away. "Maybe. I don't know. It's all so new, so crazy."

"I guess so, you just met last night," he said. "When did this happen, exactly?"

She glanced out into the kitchen and saw John rinsing the plates. "Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

He followed her gaze and nodded. "Just one more question?"

"Sure."

"Does he feel the same way about you?"

Miranda looked down at her shoes. "I don't know." She played with her fingers for a few seconds. "I hope so."

Tyler gave her a little push. "No time like the present to find out."

She chewed on her lower lip for a second, before taking a deep breath and walking toward the kitchen.

John rinsed and loaded the plates into the dishwasher and had just started the water in the sink for the pots, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Want some help?"

He jumped and whirled around.

Miranda laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's all right. I, my mind was elsewhere," he stammered.

She took one of the pots and plunged it into the water. "Want to talk about it?" she asked, as she began to scrub.

"Miranda, you don't have to do wash those," John said.

"I know I don't have to," she answered, as she began scrubbing. "Now talk."

John leaned back against the counter and was able to see Katie sitting with Alex in the other room. Matthew and Tyler were chatting with Langly. He looked down at the floor. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about it just yet," he said.

Miranda rinsed off the first pot and put it in the drainer. "They can't hear you."

"What do you mean?"

She reached for the second pot. "I mean, that if you have something you want to talk about, no one's paying any attention to us."

John watched the activity in the other room. She was right, no one was paying attention to them at all. Maybe he should say something; test the waters, so to speak. "I may have met someone."

Miranda felt her heart pounding. "Anyone I know?" she asked, not looking up from the pot she was scrubbing.

"Yeah, I think you might know her."

She rinsed off the pot and placed it in the drainer. "Funny thing, but I may have met someone, as well."

"Imagine that," John said, with a hint of a smile beginning to cross his face. "There's a potential problem though."

"What's that?"

"She's younger than I am. A lot younger."

Miranda stopped what she was doing. "That's only a problem if you allow it to become one."

John watched Katie and Alex snuggle on the couch. "Her family might not see it that way."

"I'm sure her family trusts her judgment, John."

"What about your 'someone'?" he asked. "Any problems there?"

"Oddly enough, we have the opposite problem; he's a bit older than I am, although, I don't see it as an issue, myself. As for his family, they're a bit unconventional and, for the moment, completely oblivious to the situation." She looked up at him for the first time since starting this conversation. "I think that they'll be supportive, though. When we decide to make it common knowledge."

"So, you haven't told anyone either?" John asked.

"Well," she said, shifting uncomfortably. "Ty's kind of figured out that something's up."

John's eyes went wide. "What did he say?"

"He pushed me out here and said I should go find out how you felt."

"He wasn't. . ."

"Upset? Angry?" she finished. His expression was enough of an answer. "No, he wasn't either of those things. He's my best friend and he wants me to be happy. And," she added, "he won't say anything until I give him the go-ahead."

"I don't want to feel like we're sneaking around, Miranda."

"Neither do I, but I also wouldn't mind having a private life, for a change. Besides, we're getting ahead of ourselves; there's nothing to say just yet. Who knows," she shrugged, "in a week or two, you might decide that I'm not who you thought I was and want to bail."

"Or you might decide that I'm too old for you and head off for someone closer to your age."

"Nah, age won't be an issue. Those ties, however," she said, letting her words trail off.

"What's wrong with my ties?" he asked, automatically reaching up to see if the knot was straight.

She reached out and removed his hand from the tie. "Nothing's wrong with it; it's a lovely tie. The problem is that I hear you wear them all the time. Do you ever go anywhere without one?"

"Not recently," he admitted.

"So, maybe you could try it later on? Orion never really went for the formal look."

John smiled. "I suppose I could give it a try."

"That's the spirit," Miranda said. "Go for it, it'll only feel kinky the first time."

Tyler popped into the kitchen, surprising both of them. "Hey, Matty and I are clearing out of here."

"Going so soon?" Miranda asked.

"Yeah, he's got early appointments tomorrow and neither of us got much sleep last night."

"Nice to know that even old people like you two are still able to stay awake into the wee hours of the night," Miranda teased.

John and Tyler did a double-take. "Hey!" they said in unison.

"Age, my dear," Tyler said, "is but a state of mind." He turned to John and added, "You'd do well to remember that."

Matthew appeared before John had the chance to collect his thoughts. "Ready?"

"Yeah, just saying good night."

Matthew strolled over and gave Miranda a hug. "See you later, sweetheart." He turned to John and shook his hand. "Night, John. Thanks for dinner."

Miranda followed them out of the kitchen. Frohike brought a sleepy Adam out from behind a computer and handed him to Alex. "We're going, too," Alex said. "I think this one has had enough."

"Dinner was delicious, guys," Katie said.

"Glad you enjoyed it," Frohike said with a smile.

"You coming up, too, Miranda?" Alex asked, as he held the elevator door open.

She hesitated, then replied. "Yeah, I'm coming. Night all."

John looked at her and tapped his watch. Miranda nodded; message received.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He stood at the door. The blanket was gone from the railing, so she must already be there. His hand moved to his neck and felt the tie still securely in place. He hesitated, then loosened and pulled it over his head.

John undid the top two buttons of his shirt and shoved the tie into his jacket pocket. 'Jacket, too, moron. It's seventy-five degrees outside. You are such a geek!' He took the jacket off and draped it over the railing. It felt good to be rid of the formality of his dress. He opened the door and joined her on the roof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six weeks later

Scully slipped off the gloves and disposed of them in the bin. "Is there a history of twins in your family, Katie?"

Katie sat up quickly. "Tell me you're kidding."

"You've put on considerably more weight than you did last time, your morning sickness is worse and you're measuring twelve weeks, when we know that you're only eight weeks along. Those are pretty good indicators of twins."

"You're not kidding?"

Scully smiled. "We can do an ultrasound, if you want, but I'm pretty sure."

"Oh boy," Katie sighed. A frightening thought crossed her mind. "Dana, you don't think that this could be the beginning of a pattern, do you?"

Scully looked puzzled. "I'm not following you."

"Second pregnancy, twins. Does this mean I'm looking at triplets the next time? Quads after that?"

"Slow down, Katie. Let's take this one pregnancy at a time, shall we?" She went to the door and opened it. "Alex, could you come in here, please?"

"You didn't answer my question, Dana."

"What's up?" Alex asked. "Everything all right?"

"Dana!"

"Everything's fine, Alex, but you might want to sit down for a moment."

Alex sank into the nearest chair. "Ok, I'm sitting."

"She says we're having twins," Katie blurted out. "And you still haven't answered my question."

"Twins?" Alex asked. "Like two at the same time?"

Scully smirked. "Yes Alex, most twins are born at about the same time."

Katie got up from the table, considerably agitated by now. "Goddamned it, Dana! What about next time?"

Alex stood and held on to her. "Next time? What's she talking about?"

"Katie, sit down," Scully said. "She's worried that this is the start of a pattern for future pregnancies. Two for the second pregnancy, three for the next, you get the idea?"

Alex looked like he'd been hit by a phaser set on stun. "You don't think. . ."

"No, I don't," Scully answered. "Alex, is there a history of twins in your family?"

"Uh, yeah, I remember my mother telling me that her father was a twin. That's the only pair I know about, but I suppose there could have been more. I was very young when my parents came to America. Neither of them talked about having siblings, so as far as I know, that's it."

"See, Katie, Alex has a history of twins in his family, so you're coming by this naturally. No pattern, just simple genetics."

Katie eyed her warily. "You're certain? I mean, manning a baseball team is one thing, but having them all at the same time is quite another."

Alex held her shoulders and gazed into her eyes. "That's not going to happen, Katya. Calm down."

Katie relaxed her shoulders and sat back down on the table. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

Alex nodded. "Keep that imagination in check, will ya?"

"I'll try."

"Well, now that that's settled, you might want to think about how you're going to break the news to everyone else," Scully said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Let's go grab some lunch," Tyler said.

Miranda looked relieved. "Great, I'm starving."

They left the store and went down to the pizza joint on the corner. After being shown to a booth and given their drinks, Tyler cleared his throat and asked the question he'd left unasked for the last six weeks. "So, what's going on with you and John?"

"Ty."

"Don't 'Ty' me," he said. "I've kept my mouth shut since dinner that night, even after you promised to tell me what was going on the next day and then didn't. Come on, Mira, I'm supposed to be your best friend."

"There's not that much to tell," she said. "We see each other every night, up on the roof. We talk about the stars, movies, books, anything but the state of the world. Sometimes we don't talk at all."

Ty grinned. "Now we're getting somewhere. It's the not talking that I want to hear about."

"You're incorrigible," Miranda chuckled. "There's nothing to tell there either. I know he likes me; God, that sounds so high school, but that's how it feels, like an early high school romance. He only got up the nerve to hold my hand night before last."

"Six weeks and he hasn't tried to kiss you yet?" Tyler frowned. "Is he blind or just stupid?"

"Neither. I think he's afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of everything. Look at it from his point of view, Ty. He cares for me, but he has to face Alex and Katie, you and Matthew, Mulder and Dana, hell, even Frohike and Langly. The stakes are high. If he screws up, there's a lot to be lost."

Tyler shook his head. "Seems to me that if you love someone, you should be willing to take that chance."

Miranda fingered the edge of her menu. "Don't be hard on him. The first woman he fell in love with hurt him deeply. And now he finds himself in another situation where he could lose far too much. I understand where he's coming from, so as frustrating as it is, I'm willing to let it go for a while."

"How long?"

She picked up her glass and brought it to her lips. "As long as it takes, I guess."

Tyler sat back. "Sweetheart, if that man hasn't laid one on you by the end of July, I say you grab his ass and let him know that it's time to stop being afraid and start taking care of business."

Miranda choked on her soda. "Jeez, Ty!" she sputtered. "Could you be a little more blunt?"

"I could, but I won't. Look Mira, I'm not saying that you should seduce the man, all I'm saying is, don't let fear keep you two from finding something wonderful together. If you wait too long, you're going to find yourself back in Pittsburgh, alone, wishing you'd had the courage to tell him how you feel."

"I know."

"Have you thought about telling anyone?"

"No. I'm not ready to share him with anyone just yet," she said. "You're the only one who knows anything."

Miranda saw the disapproving expression on his face. "Don't do that. You know how hard they've been pushing me to start dating again. They mean well, but sometimes it's too much. I want him for myself right now. I'll share when I'm ready."

"And the age difference has nothing to do with it?"

"You, of all people, know better than that," she said quietly.

"Yes, I do." He saw the waitress approaching. "Pepperoni?"

"Sure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stood, holding hands, eyes closed, enjoying the cool night breeze.

"Wow, twins," John said. "Do you ever think about having children, Miranda?"

"I've thought about it." She looked up at the sky. "Mostly I wonder if I'll get the chance to make that decision."

"You will," he said, squeezing her hand. "How many do you see yourself having?"

"Two or three. How about you? Do you want children, John?"

"I did. But, I gave up on the idea years ago."

She raised his hand to her lips and kissed it gently. "Maybe you gave up too soon."

"You think so?"

"Yes, I do." Miranda moved in front of him and put her free hand on his cheek. "John." She allowed her thumb to caress his lips.

He covered her hand with his and pressed it firmly to his lips.

She closed her eyes and pretended his lips were on hers.

"Open your eyes, Miranda."

He held her face in his hands. "I've been wanting to do this since that first night," he said, as he lowered his lips to meet hers.

"Promise me I'm not going to have to wait another six weeks before you do that again," she said, when he pulled away.

"Let's go see a movie tomorrow," he said. "A matinee, maybe have a late lunch."

"Are you asking me out, John Byers?"

"I am."

"Gee, a real date and in broad daylight. This is a big step."

"I told you I didn't want to feel like we were sneaking around, Miranda. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared, but now, I don't think I'm going to be able to conceal my feelings for you anymore."

"And I told you there's nothing to be scared about. Tyler knows and he's in our corner. In fact, he told me that if you didn't kiss me soon, that I should take matters into my own hands."

"He said that?"

"Well, his version was a tad cruder, but that was the gist of the conversation."

"How do you think the others will react?'

She pursed her lips. "Matthew will go along with Ty. He may have a few words to share with Ty in private for keeping this under wraps, but he'll be fine with it. Katie might have a few reservations, at first, but she'll be supportive. She knows I don't give my heart away easily."

"And Alex?" he asked. "How will he react?"

Miranda shrugged. "Alex is the wild card. He took on the responsibility of raising another man's child and I know that every decision he's made has been based on what my father would have wanted for me, but somewhere along the line, I became his child as well. Not his adopted daughter, mind you, his daughter, flesh and blood. He might freak out when he realizes that I've chosen to be with you. At the same time, he trusts you and the guys implicitly, so maybe he'll be comfortable with the idea. I honestly don't know."

She hugged him and rested her head against his chest. "Not going to back out on me, are you?"

"Not a chance," he answered.

"What about your side of the family?" she asked. "Think Frohike and Langly will be ok with this?"

"Melvin already suspects something," he said.

"I had a feeling he did."

"Langly will be full of warnings about mixing business with pleasure."

"That boy desperately needs to get laid."

"Miranda!" John's face turned red.

"Well, he does," she giggled. "What about Mulder and Dana?"

"I'm sure they'll accuse me of robbing the cradle."

"Then you just tell them that I seduced you."

She'd shocked him for the second time that night. "I can't do that!" He relaxed when he saw her smile and look away. "Very funny.

"You know, we don't have to make a big announcement." She looked up at him. "We could just do what we want to do and let them figure it out as we go along."

"So, I should simply show up tomorrow and take you to the movies?"

"Yeah."

"And if we're having dinner or going over some documents and I feel like holding your hand or putting my arm around you, I should just do it?"

"And if I get a sudden urge to kiss you good night or hello or just because, then I'll do that, too," she grinned. "Might be fun to see how much we can get away with before someone says something."

"Hide in plain sight?"

Miranda nodded. "If we handle things in a matter of fact manner, they'll have a harder time finding a problem."

"I like it," he said. "Come on, it's getting late."

She slipped her fingers into his hair and held him still. "Not yet. Five more minutes."

He lowered his face slightly. "Just how do you propose we pass those five minutes, Miss Jenkins?"

"I was thinking, like this, Mr. Byers," she said, before sealing her lips to his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know, we might want to seriously consider building that inside staircase to the fourth floor," Alex said. "We're fine with the four bedrooms for now, but in a few years, we're going to need more room."

Katie looked around the loft. "I never imagined that this place would really be full of kids."

"This time next year, you won't be able to remember this place without a bunch of kids in it," Miranda said.

"They have a way of wiping out everything that came before," Alex agreed.

Miranda leaned back against the doorframe. She spied the clock and pushed off quickly. "Damn, I didn't realize it was that late!"

Katie craned her neck to see the clock as well. "It's only noon. You have a date or something?"

"Sure do," she answered over her shoulder before disappearing into her room.

Alex and Katie looked at one another. "She's kidding, right?" Alex asked.

Katie appeared surprised. "Don't look at me."

The elevator door opened. John stepped out. "Hello?"

Miranda poked her head out from inside her room. "Be right there, John."

Alex stuck his head out of the twin's room.

"Afternoon, Alex," John said.

"Hi, John," Alex answered.

Miranda emerged from her room before Alex had a chance to gather his thoughts. "Ok, I'm ready." She turned to see Alex looking confused. "We're just going to catch a movie."

"We'll probably grab an early dinner," John added.

Katie peered out from behind Alex.

John reached for Miranda's hand and the two stepped into the elevator. Katie and Alex's expression was priceless. Miranda gave them a wave. "See you two later," she said, as the door closed.

Katie looked up at Alex. "What the hell just happened?"

Alex ran his fingers through his hair. "She said she had a date."

"With John?"

"Looks that way."

Katie straightened up and walked slowly out of the room. "Did you know anything about this?"

Alex followed her into the living room. "No. Are you saying that you didn't know either?"

"If I'd known, don't you think I would have said something?" Katie sat down on the couch. "Do you think they're serious?"

"No," Alex scoffed. "He's our age, Katie."

"He's cute."

"But he's our age," Alex repeated.

"Since when has age ever been a consideration for Miranda?" Katie countered. "Or for us, for that matter? She could do worse."

"She's just a kid."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Alex, she's a woman."

Alex sank down on the couch beside her. "Now I'm overreacting?"

Katie snickered. "Welcome to my world."

"What do we do now?"

"Nothing. I like John and if he makes her happy, then what is there to do except be happy for them?"

"I like him, too." Alex sighed. "So, we really do nothing?"

"No. When they come home, we'll ask about the movie and what they had for dinner. Small talk, you know."

"OK, I guess." He watched a sly grin form on his wife's face and found a matching one gracing his. "I get it; drive them crazy with acceptance. Let them wonder when the ax is going to fall." Alex chuckled. "That's devious; I like that about you."

"Let's get the guys up here and see what they know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miranda giggled as she secured her seat belt. "Did you see the look on Alex's face? Oh, I wish I'd had a camera for that."

"He did look a bit confused," John said quietly.

"You're not going to spend the afternoon thinking about this, are you?"

He turned the key in the ignition. "No, absolutely not."

"You're a bad liar." She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's get out of here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They're what?" Langly said.

"So you had no idea either?" Katie asked. "Mel?"

Frohike shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I suspected something was going on, but I wasn't going to pry into John's affairs." He looked over at Alex. "Not that they're having an 'affair'," he added quickly. "I mean. . ."

"Shut up, 'hike," Langly grumbled. "I shoulda known; he's been acting weird for weeks."

Frohike looked at his friends. "Who knows, maybe they'll be good for one another."

"Yeah, right. Or maybe Byers is setting himself up to learn the hard way that it ain't a good idea to shit where you sleep."

"Please excuse him." Frohike scowled at his friend. "Charmingly put, as always. You have all the romance of the Bubonic Plague."

Alex rubbed his prosthetic hand. "Are you implying that my daughter isn't good enough for Byers, Langly?"

Langly took a step backward, without even being aware that he was doing it. "No, of course not, Alex. It's just, well, we live in close quarters, ya know? Maybe it's not a good idea to, uh, commingle."

Katie put her hand on Alex's arm. 'Stop,' she mouthed.

'What?' he mouthed back, innocently.

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "We get the idea, dear; yours is bigger. Now tuck it back in." Katie turned to Langly. "He's teasing, Ringo; relax."

"'s'okay," Langly said.

"All right, Melvin. When did you start to suspect something?" Katie asked.

"I don't know. I guess the first time Miranda came down here. Byers got all nervous around her and started stuttering when she asked him a question. Then he started slipping out late almost every night."

"Around midnight?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, pretty much right at midnight."

"The roof," Katie and Alex said.

"Pardon?"

"The roof is Miranda's sanctuary," Katie explained. "She goes up there to get away from everything and everyone."

"Byers likes to stargaze," Langly offered. "Maybe that's where they hooked up."

"Oh man," Alex exclaimed. "They've been meeting each other since her birthday! She disappeared that night, after we started talking shop and didn't come back in until after six the next morning. I thought she seemed awfully happy."

"Yeah, I remember that day. Byers came in about the same time. I was pretty pissed at him for not letting us know he was going to be out all night," Langly said. "He started doing it all the time, so I got used to it."

"Where the hell have we been all this time that we didn't notice something was going on?" Alex asked.

Katie tapped her foot. "I can't believe she didn't tell anyone."

Tyler and Matthew stepped out of the elevator. "Who didn't tell whom what?" Matthew asked.

Tyler's face went uncharacteristically still.

Katie's mouth fell open. "You knew?" she asked, as she advanced on him.

"Knew what?" Tyler asked, as he took a step back.

"How long have you known?" she asked, ignoring his question.

Matthew touched her arm. "Hanna, what are you talking about?"

"You don't know, Kid?" She studied him for a moment. "You don't know."

"No, he doesn't," Tyler said. "I promised I wouldn't say anything until Mira said it was all right."

"Hello? Clueless over here," Matthew said, pointing to himself. "Somebody care to fill me in?"

Adam came out of the bedroom rubbing his eyes. He wandered over to Matthew and gave him a hug. "Hi Uncle Matty. Randa and John like each other." He turned to Katie. "You guys make too much noise. Can I have a drink?"

"Sure, sweetie."

Frohike smiled at Adam. "C'mon, kid. I'll get you something. Let's give the big people some space."

Matthew frowned. "What does he mean, Miranda and John like each other?"

"They like each other, Matty. You know, boy meets girl," Tyler said, grinning.

"How? When?" Matthew asked.

Katie leveled a glare at Tyler. "Yes, Ty. We were just trying to piece that together ourselves. Care to enlighten us?"

"Hey, it's not my story to tell. How did you find out anyway?"

"John picked Miranda up for their date a few hours ago."

"I'll be damned." Tyler chuckled. "He finally found the balls to go public. Good for him."

"So this has been going on for a long time?" Alex asked.

"Since her birthday."

"And you didn't tell us?"

"She asked me not to," Tyler replied. "Look, you don't have to worry; he's not taking advantage of her or anything. If it makes you feel better, I do know that as of yesterday, he still hadn't kissed her."

"They've been seeing each other for all this time and he hasn't kissed her?" Matthew asked. "Is he blind or just dense?"

"That's what I said!" Tyler exclaimed. "She was bugged about it too, but she knows there's a lot at stake, so she was going to let it slide for a while. I told her that if he didn't kiss her soon, that she should grab his ass and lay one on him."

Alex put his hand up to his face and squeezed his mouth. "Thank you for that lovely image, Ty. I needed that picture in my head right now."

Tyler moved over to Alex and put his hands on Alex's shoulders. "Grow up, precious. She's a woman; sex is inevitable. You should be happy that she's found someone as caring and trustworthy as John." He turned and looked at everyone else. "I suggest that all of you do your best to be supportive of both of them."

"Who said anything about not being supportive?" Alex asked. "I'm just trying to sort this all out in my head. I love Miranda; I want her to be happy. I just wish she'd said something before."

"Look, when this happened, she wanted to keep it to herself for a little while. Neither of them intended to sneak around behind your back. I think they wanted some time to see if there was anything real happening before making it common knowledge. That way, if they decided that they were just friends, no one would feel awkward around them. You can understand that, can't you?"

"I can," said Matthew.

"Me, too," Katie said.

Langly raised his hand. "Ditto."

Alex nodded and shrugged. "So can I."

"Good, then they have our blessings?"

"On one condition."

"And what would that be?" Tyler asked.

"Never," Alex said, pushing his index finger into Tyler's chest, "call me precious, again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hail, hail, the gang's all here," Miranda said, when she saw the cars in the garage. "Looks like everyone but Mulder and Scully have dropped in for the evening."

"You don't supposed it's a coincidence, do you?"

"We don't have to go up."

John squeezed her hand. "Yes we do. It's time."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

They decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Neither admitting it was more a stalling tactic than a way of giving them the element of surprise. When they reached the landing, Miranda took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

"Never call me precious, again."

They snickered quietly. "I'd love to have heard the first part of that exchange," John whispered.

"Me, too."

Frohike appeared, startling both of them. "You two have been quite the topic of conversation all afternoon," he said. "Don't worry, Byers, the lynching isn't until tomorrow."

John's face drained of color. "Lynching?"

"Relax, moron. I'm kidding. The boy can't take a joke," he said to Miranda. "Come here."

Miranda stepped over to Frohike and he pulled her into a hug. "I'm happy for both of you."

"Thanks. What about everyone else?" she asked.

"Tyler's been out there championing your cause," he answered. "Sounds like everyone is willing to give it a chance."

John moved over to them. He stood behind Miranda, arms around her protectively. "Really?"

"Go see for yourself." Frohike pushed them toward the living room. "Hey, look what the cat dragged in," he shouted.

"Randa!' Adam ran across the room and jumped into her arms. "Did you have fun? What movie did you go see? Did you eat lots of popcorn?"

"Slow down, kiddo. One question at a time, ok?"

"'K"

"We went to see an old movie at the Palace, we had lots of popcorn and we had a very good time, didn't we John?"

"Yes we did."

Adam pulled away from Miranda and leaned over to John. John took him out of Miranda's arms, surprised at the sudden outburst of affection from the little boy.

"Good. You hafta be nice to her, Uncle John."

" I will, Adam. I promise."

Adam gave him a hug. "OK. Can I go with you next time?"

"That's up to your mom and dad, but it's all right with me," John answered. "Robin Hood will be there in a few days. It's one of my favorites."

"Mommy read me that story before," Adam said. He twisted around to find his parents. "Can I go?"

"We'll see," Katie answered.

"That means yes," Adam whispered.

John put Adam down. Miranda had wandered over to talk to the group. Alex was over by the window, a fair distance away from the others. He weighed his options, then decided to go see Alex.

"John."

"Alex."

"How come you're not over there with everyone else?"

"Because I know where they stand," John answered. "I want to know what you think."

Alex leaned back against the windowsill. "You're sure you want to know?"

"I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

"Just before you came in, we agreed, as a group, that we were going to give the two of you our blessing."

John eyed him warily. "But?"

"But you walked in with your arm around her, and I have to tell you, it's not that easy."

John shifted from one foot to the other. "Alex. . ."

"I wasn't finished."

"Sorry."

"It's not that easy, because I keep wondering what I haven't been seeing for the last few weeks. Seems like all the action is taking place up on the roof."

John clenched his fist. "I don't think I like what you're implying."

Alex stood up and came toe-to-toe with John. "I'm not implying anything; I'm asking you outright. Are you fucking my daughter?"

Before he knew what had hit him, Alex found himself propelled against the wall, a fist in his face, another clutching the front of his shirt. He'd never seen John Byers lose his temper before; it was a sobering sight.

"I don't care what you say about me," John growled. "But you will NOT talk about Miranda that way. What has or has not happened between us, is none of your goddamned business, unless we decide to make it so." He released Alex, shoving him harder against the wall in the process.

A quick glance over his shoulder told him that this little altercation had gone unnoticed by the others. John reached up to straighten the tie that wasn't there. "For the record, the answer is no," he said, looking up at Alex, then quickly back down at the floor. "But that doesn't mean the answer will be the same next week, next month, or even tomorrow, for that matter," he added.

Alex tugged at his shirt to soothe the wrinkles. He adjusted his shoulder harness, knocked somewhat askew with the last shove. "You're stronger than I've been giving you credit for."

"Sorry. I'm not usually prone to violence."

"That's not what I meant," Alex said. "We both know I could take you out in a heartbeat, but you went after me anyway." He straightened up and brushed off the front of his shirt one last time. "You care about her that much?"

"Looks like I do," John answered.

Alex clapped him on the shoulder. "Take care of her, John."

John opened his mouth to answer, then shut it when he caught Alex's slight grin. "You son of a bitch; you set me up."

"Yeah, I did."

"Why?"

"I needed to know that you were capable of protecting her," Alex replied. "I figured that if you had the balls take me on, that you wouldn't hesitate with anyone else."

"So, we're good?"

"We're good." Alex smiled at Miranda. "Why don't you get back over there? I think she's looking for you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First week of August

"We got a local one last night, Mulder," Langly said.

"Where?"

"Just over an hour northeast of here. Authorities got seven separate eyewitness reports."

"That's the closest one in a while," Scully remarked. "I wonder how many people we'll lose this time."

Mulder massaged his temples. "T-minus two weeks and counting."

"There has to be something we can do." Scully knelt down beside Mulder. "Why don't you go lie down," she whispered.

Mulder waved her off. "No, I'm all right."

John leaned out from behind another monitor. "Maybe there is."

"Like what?" Mulder put his hands together, using his left thumb and forefinger to squeeze the pressure point on his right hand. He felt his sinuses open slightly. Not enough, but any relief was welcome.

"Come here and we'll show you," John said. "Miranda may be on to something."

John pressed in close behind Miranda, his belly providing a much-needed support for her aching head and neck. He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently.

Scully slipped in next to John and peered at the monitor. "Catch and release?"

"It's a longshot, but it's worth a try," Miranda said.

Mulder shook his head. "Give me a break."

Miranda rested her head against John's stomach and closed her eyes. "Hear me out before you start peeing in my cornflakes, Mulder."

"I'm listening."

"Local health districts have tried inoculating populations in high risk areas, with no real success, right?

Scully nodded. "Right."

"They've also tried mass spraying of insecticide to kill the mosquitoes, again without a lot of success."

"Yeah, so?"

"Somebody needs a nap," Frohike grumbled. "Mulder, didn't your mother ever tell you that if you can't say something nice, you should shut up?"

"Sorry, Frohike. My mother was too busy elsewhere to devote too much time to teaching me anything."

"Stop it," Miranda snapped. "We've been waiting weeks for an opportunity to track an outbreak firsthand; we're on edge and exhausted. Let's not start fighting with each other, all right?"

John rubbed her shoulders. "Tell them what you told me."

She tilted her head and placed a kiss on his fingers. "All right, we keep fixating on the damned mosquitoes. What about the infected crows? Why isn't anyone focusing on them?"

Langly huffed. "Because crows don't bite people?"

"No smartass, but they're migratory and they're carriers."

"So what, we grab our guns and go crow hunting?" Langly asked.

"Not guns, nets." Scully said. "It would be quite an undertaking, Miranda, but it might give us some solid data to work with."

"That's what I thought. I contacted a friend of mine and he says it's possible to lace food with a sedative so we can catch, tag and release them. Luke says there's a large group of crows not far from the area of the sightings."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Mulder rubbed his eyes. "Slow down. Are you trying to tell me that you want us to drive out to the middle of nowhere to help catch and inoculate crows?"

"Yeah, in a manner of speaking," Miranda answered. "If we can figure out a way to keep the crows from getting sick, maybe we can stop the virus all together."

"Ok, so we're sedating crows and giving them each a little birdie flu shot?"

Miranda frowned. "Don't be stupid, Mulder. We'll have to dilute the existing vaccine and spray it on food we'll leave for them to eat after we've tagged the poor things."

"The tagging is tedious, but that's the only way for us to know if it's working," Scully said. "She may be on to something, Mulder."

"Great. When do we leave?" Mulder asked.

"All I have to do is give Luke a call. We can leave in the morning," Miranda said. "You're staying here."

"What?"

"You're sick and, to be honest, really unpleasant to be around right now, Mulder. John, Dana, Luke and I will take care of everything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke waved and ran over to greet them as they drove up. "Good, you're finally here." He gave Miranda a hug. "I can't believe we're doing this."

Miranda hugged him, then stepped back. "Dana, John, this is my friend, Dr. Lucas Obertheyr."

"Just Luke, please. I'm guessing you're John?" Luke reached out to shake John's hand.

"And I'm Dana." She handed him a box. "This is what we were able to get. How many birds do we have?"

"About four hundred, give or take a few," Luke said.

Miranda's mouth fell open. "Four hundred?"

He grinned at her expression. "I told you there was a large family group here. I laid down a ton of corn, laced with a mild sedative, about forty minutes ago and most of the crows are pretty docile. We should be able to tag them without a problem."

"How long does the sedative last?"

"Usually a few hours. I've laid out a grid, if we each take one section, we should be able to get through the group before the sedative wears off." He opened the door to his truck and pulled out three plastic bags. "Here, gloves and plastic coverings for your shoes. You'll be glad for these shortly."

They worked steadily for the next two hours, grab and tag, grab and tag. Miranda's arms were starting to get tired and John was less than thrilled with constant stream of bird shit. He was definitely going to spend some quality time in the shower tonight, protective clothing or not.

Miranda clipped her last tag. "I'm out."

"I'm down to my last two," John said.

"Hey, come help me track down the last six, so we can get out of here," Luke said. "I think the sedative is starting to wear off."

Scully bent over and picked up a crow. "Five more to go." She attached the tag and set the bird back down. "Any luck?"

"Yeah, I've got one." John handed the bird to Luke and set off in search of more.

"They're more restless than I thought they'd be," Luke muttered.

Miranda walked over holding two more. "Two down, two to go."

"Last two," John said, handing Scully the birds. "Just in the nick of time, from the looks of these two."

"Yeah," Luke agreed. He tagged the last bird and released it. "Ok, that's done, now we prepare the feast."

They walked back to the truck and helped Luke lift a large trunk out of the bed.

"Dare I ask what's on the menu?"

"Nothing horrible, John," Luke assured him. He flipped the latch and opened the trunk. "See, just an assortment of fruit, grains and worms. A veritable birdie banquet. I had some nice road kill, but I thought this concoction might be more conducive to rapid absorption."

Miranda opened the trunk of their car and removed the canisters containing the vaccine mixture. "We mixed up two gallons. Are you sure that's going to be enough?"

"If you did it right, it should be."

"Now what?" John asked.

"Now we spray everything with the vaccine and put it out in the field," Luke answered. "As the sedative wears off, they should start to get hungry again."

He took out a couple of large tarps and spread them on the ground, then started scooping the food onto them. "Spread it out in a thin layer, then start spraying."

"Won't they object to the taste?" Miranda asked.

Luke laughed. "Hon, they eat garbage and carrion; they'll love this stuff."

As they got down to the last little bit, Luke excused himself to check on the crows. "If they're still out of it we can drag the tarps over and start tossing the stuff around."

"And if they're not?" Scully asked.

"Then we drag the tarps over as close as we can and run like hell. You do not want to be in the middle of a feeding frenzy. Be right back."

Scully shook the canister and pumped the handle one last time. "That's all of it."

John took the empty canister from her and tossed it into the trunk with the other one.

Luke ran back. "Ok, grab an end and start dragging. We have a few looking pretty chipper, but most of them are still content to sit and stare. To be on the safe side, I think we should leave everything on the tarps and let them find it for themselves. If they start coming at you, drop and go."

Luke and Scully took the first tarp, with John and Miranda close behind dragging the second. At the edge of the field, Luke motioned for John and Miranda to take their tarp over to the side opposite. "Good enough," he called out, when they'd hit the right spot. "Let's back up a ways and give these guys lots of elbow room."

As they backed away from the tarps, a few of the more sober crows found their way over to the food. Others followed and before too long, the area was swarming with hungry birds. In less than thirty minutes, the food was gone. They rolled up the tarps and carried them back to the truck.

"That's it for now," Luke said. "I'll keep an eye on things over the next few weeks and let you know what happens. I'm always doing something up here, so if a tagged bird turns up, I'll get a call. The whole community's used to me by now and they're real good about helping out, that's what makes this an ideal setting for what you've proposed. I'll let you know as soon as the first bird shows up."

Scully shook Luke's hand. "Thank you, we appreciate everything you've done today."

"If your theory pans out, this could be huge," he said. "I'm looking forward to stealing some of the attention."

"Luke, if our theory pans out, you can have all the attention," Miranda said. "We can't be a part of that."

"But, it's your work."

"I spent a few hours on the computer and came up with an alternate theory. There's no legwork, just some thinking outside of the box and knowing who to contact to make it happen. If this works, you run with it and make it your own."

"This is a career builder, Miranda."

"Or a waste of a day, depending on what happens," Scully reminded him. "For everyone's sake, let's hope it's the former."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scully entered the loft. The soft glow of the TV screen provided the only light in the place. "Mulder?"

"Yeah."

She went to the couch and touched his forehead. "You're burning up. Why aren't you in bed?"

"What is it with women and beds?" Mulder asked. "Katie said the same thing a little while ago."

"Katie was here?"

"She made me eat some soup and Matthew bullied me into taking some acetaminophen. They both tried to talk me into going to bed, but I can't stand being in there by myself."

"They worry about you, too. Let me go take a shower and we'll crawl into bed together, all right?"

"I hope you're not planning on trying to seduce me, Scully, because I have to warn you, the only thing I feel capable of raising tonight, is my ass off this couch. Even that's iffy."

Scully smiled. "Damn, there go my plans for the evening," she teased. "Mulder, all I want right now is to wash off the eau de tweetie and go to sleep. We'll save anything else for another time."

"Ok."

She kissed his forehead. "Back in a few."

"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miranda crept silently into the loft. She could see Katie and Alex making out on the couch. "Get a room, you two," she said, laughing when they jumped. "Can't leave you alone for a minute!"

Katie giggled. "Hey, I'm already knocked up, what more could happen?"

"How'd it go, sweetheart?" Alex asked.

"It went well. Now we wait and see what happens. I'm not going to hold my breath, but we took a shot and that’s what counts."

"You look tired," Katie said.

"I am; it's been a long day. Hell, it's been a long month. I'm going to go take a shower."

"And then go bed?"

"Nope. I'm meeting John. We need to decompress."

"You know, you two could 'decompress' in more comfortable surroundings."

"Katie!"

"What? I'm just saying that a blanket on hard cement can't be all that conducive to romantic endeavors and if you wanted to, you could come down here."

"Uh, no," Alex said. "I'm just getting used to the idea of our daughter kissing this guy, I don't even want to think about anything else."

"Hold up. Katie, decompress means just that, decompress. It's not a clever euphemism for anything of a sexual nature." Miranda bent down and kissed Alex on the cheek. "And you, sir, better get comfortable with the idea of me kissing 'that guy', because I intend to keep right on doing it. As for the 'anything else', we're taking things slow, all right?"

"Slow is good."

Miranda smiled. "I think so, too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later

"Hang on, Luke, I'm going to put you on the speaker so everyone can hear." She pushed the button. "Ok, start again."

"I said, I gotta hand it to you, Miranda, you said two weeks and sure enough, we got our first call this morning."

"And?"

Luke leafed through the papers on his desk. "Three of ours were found about five miles away from the field. All infected, all from the control group. I got calls about two others in the area, but they weren't ours. So we can be pretty certain that a number of our birds were already infected when we gave them the vaccine." He stuffed the pages back in a pile. "How did you know we'd start seeing them in two weeks anyway?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I could tell you, Luke and it's better that way. So this is a good start. How long before we'll know anything conclusive?"

"See, that's the thing. Even if we can show success here, it's going to be a hard sell elsewhere. One trial run isn't enough to make any firm statements. Give me a few weeks and if things hold steady, I'll work on trying to convince some people I know in other parts of the country to give it a shot."

"There's no way to speed up the process?"

"Who's that?"

"It's Alex Krycek, Dr. Obertheyr."

"Sorry Alex, but the research wagon moves slowly. We have to test and study over and over again until the data proves our theory one way or the other. I'll need to gather information from as many parts of the country as I can before I can put together a report that anyone will take seriously."

"Luke, Matthew Curry here. I made contact with a German researcher I met a few months ago. Kara's interested being part of the study and I have no doubt that she'll be able to convince others to join in. I've given her your email address, so you should be hearing from her soon."

"That's great Matthew! We might have an easier time with funding if this becomes an international effort. Ok, that's all I have for now. Three birds aren't much, but it's a start. Oh, Dana, are you there?"

"I'm here."

"I don't know how you did it, but clearance to use additional supplies of the vaccine arrived today. It usually takes me months to get permission to wipe my own backside. You must have amazing connections."

"Let's just say I know what buttons to push," Scully replied.

"I'll say. Well, I need to get moving; counting birds isn't the only thing I do around here. I'll be touch."

"Thanks, Luke. Talk to you soon."

"Bye Miranda. Bye everyone."

Langly surveyed the room, taking in the smiles and general good cheer. Just once he'd like to be able to go along with them, but he couldn't shake this feeling of futility about the project. He cleared his throat. "Look, I know you're all feeling pretty good right now, but what exactly did we accomplish?" His words were greeted with disbelieving stares. "No, come on. We have three dead birds from the control group. Big deal. We don't know anything more now, than we did a few weeks ago."

"Beats sitting around doing nothing, Langly," Frohike said. "We've set some wheels in motion, kicked up a little dust. Everything has to start somewhere."

"Yeah, but just for argument's sake, say this becomes a major project. Luke gets support here and in Europe, everything goes great, they manage to make inroads into wiping out West Nile. So what? All we're doing is pissing in the wind. They're going to figure out what we've done."

"And make something worse," Tyler added.

Matthew let his head drop back against the back of the chair. "I hadn't thought about it that way."

Alex leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "All right, stop," he snapped, his lips pressed into a straight line. He stood to face Langly and everyone else. "Don't you get it? Everything we do makes a difference. We may not be able to stop them, in the long run, but we can slow them down. This is just the beginning." He turned to Mulder. "Tell them."

"He's right. Every little chink we put in their armor makes them that much more vulnerable and more aware that we're not going to roll over like good little puppies. We can't let self-doubt or a defeatist attitude stand in our way."

"We've been through this before," Alex said, gesturing at Mulder and Scully. "We've seen what they're capable of. I'm not going down without a fight and if you're not willing to totally commit to the cause, then get out now."

"Hey, Alex, that's not fair." Miranda reached out and touched Langly's arm. "Ringo made a valid point; there's no need to act like he's jumping ship. Last time I checked we were all supposed to voice our concerns. Isn't that part of the process, too?"

"Yeah, you know I'm solid with this, Alex, don't you?"

Langly asked. "Mulder?"

Mulder nodded. "I know. He's not used to your sunny outlook on life, that's all." He turned to Alex. "Langly's our balance, Alex. We need him."

Alex rubbed his hand over his face. "You're right. Sorry, Langly."

"No big deal. Look, I'll spring for dinner. Chinese all right?" Langly asked.

Alex shook his head. "You don't have to do that."

"No, it's all right. I'll be back in a while." Langly picked up his keys and headed out.

Adam got up and caught Langly at the door. "Can I go with you Uncle Ringo?"

"If your mom and dad say it's all right."

Katie smiled at Langly. "Make sure you grab the car seat."

"Will do. Come on, kid, let's roll."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Up on the roof, watching the stars, enjoying a cooling August night breeze and holding the woman he loved; John was truly happy for the first time in his life. He pulled Miranda that much closer and rested his cheek on her hair.

"What if I didn't go back to school next week?" Miranda whispered.

John turned her around. "Where did that come from?"

"I've been toying with the idea for a few weeks. There's still so much to learn, but I'm not sure my heart is in it anymore."

He let go of her and took a step back. "No you don't. You're not going to use me as an excuse to stay out of grad school."

"It's not just you," Miranda started. She looked down at the ground.

"Try looking me in the eyes when you say that."

"I don't know if I can stand being alone again," she said, still staring at her feet.

John brushed her cheek with his hand, then lifted her chin. "We're only an hour and a half away and there's always instant messaging, phone calls, email."

"Too far." She lowered her chin and kissed the palm of his hand. "I can't touch an instant message, John. Phone calls can't put arms around me. I can't roll over and hug the email next to me."

"You can't roll over and hug me either," John reminded her.

"Whose fault is that?"

"We agreed, Miranda."

"I know." She turned around and walked to the corner of the roof. "I've spent so much of my life by myself," she said, as she rested her arms on the ledge. "Alone until my father got home, which was often well into the evening. Alone on flights to and from New York for those horrible visits with my mother. I was alone until I came here, John; I don't want to be alone anymore."

He wrapped his arms around her. "Do Katie and Alex know how you feel?"

"No. Tyler does, but he thinks I should suck it up and get back to school."

"He said that?"

Miranda laughed, halfheartedly. "Yeah, almost word for word."

John let go and stood beside her, resting his arms next to hers. "Tyler knows you better than anyone, Miranda." He gave her a sideways glance. "And don't think that doesn't make me a little jealous sometimes," he added.

She smiled and shook her head.

He smiled back. "I know; I'm working on it." John looked down at the street. "My point is, if this man, your best friend and the person who knows you better than anyone else, thinks you should go back, then I have to agree."

Miranda put her head down on the ledge. She stayed that way for almost ten minutes, before speaking. "You will come up and see me, won't you?"

"Do you even have to ask that question?"

"I hate this."

He pulled her hand away from the ledge and tugged gently. "Come here."

She followed over to the blanket and allowed him to guide her to a seated position. He sat down, wrapped his legs around her and pulled her back against his chest.

"One night in May, I came up here feeling overwhelmed and hoping to find a little peace of mind."

"Did you find it?"

"Oh yeah. But I lost something that night, too."

"What?"

"My heart."

"John."

"Sssh, I'm not finished."

"Sorry."

"I've been waiting for the right time without really knowing what that meant. I wasn't looking for you, Miranda; I wasn't looking for anyone, but all of a sudden, there you were." He stopped and took a breath. "I'm rambling. What I'm trying to say is that I love you."

"I knew that, but it's nice to hear out loud," Miranda said, giving him a smile. "I love you, too. I've wanted to tell you for days, but I was afraid it might scare you."

John nuzzled her neck. "I'm not afraid of anything anymore."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There you are." Alex slipped in behind Katie and peered out the window. "What's wrong?"

"Couldn't sleep." She touched the glass. "They fixed the streetlight."

"I noticed." He lowered his lips to her neck and bit gently. "For the right price, I could have my boys take care of it again."

Katie put her head against his chest and smiled. "You always know the right thing to say."

"So what's wrong?"

"I don't know. Something's off and I can't put my finger on it."

Alex's hands slid down to her belly. "Maybe it's hormonal?"

"It's deeper than that." She turned around and stared up at him. "Have you and Mulder been straight with me?"

"What do you mean? We've never lied to you, Katie."

"I don't mean that." She let her head drop back, then ran her fingers through her hair as she brought her head forward. "Are you sure you haven't forgotten something?"

He leaned against the windowsill and furrowed his brow. "Like what?"

Katie raised her arms in exasperation. "I don't know, but I have a feeling that something's been forgotten, Alex. And it keeps coming back to you and Mulder."

"Katie, there isn't anyone who knows me as well you do. Everything I have is yours; there are no secrets."

"Don't look so stricken, Alex," she said, as she put her arms around him. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I trust you implicitly, don't you know that?"

"I hope so."

"There's something you and Mulder have forgotten along the way. I don't know what it is or what it means, but I feel it's important that the two of you remember."

"Ok, I'll talk to him in the morning. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll figure it out." Alex caressed her cheek. "Come on, let's go back to bed."

Katie shrugged and looked out the window. "I'm not really tired."

"Who said anything about sleeping?" he whispered.