Looking Glass Wars
By Laurie D. Haynes and Bear


Rating: PG
Category: X, A, MT, MSR married, Guaranteed to be
Doggett-free
Spoilers: Seasons 1-8
Summary: This is not a post-ep, but it does call on events
of seasons 1-7 plus "Essence" in Season 8. The story takes
place when William is 7 years old and his parents are
married. Neither of them works for the FBI and the
X-Files no longer exists as part of the FBI, since the
agents who succeeded Mulder and Scully were killed on
their first solo XF case. Because of that and the expense
involved in the division, Kersh successfully managed to
close it down.

Prologue

**********
August 7, 2008
High Note Guitars
Nashville, Tennessee
8:30 a.m.
**********


Leaning forward on her guitar case, Ellie watched as a
rusty-colored Ford pickup pulled up in front of the worn-
but-sturdy shop. Originally from a small town in Kentucky,
a few days after driving her beloved Ranger into town with
plans for eventually hitting the big-time in country music,
she had been informed that if there was a place to go for
what she needed to make it big as the next Shania Twain,
this was definitely it. This place had made and serviced
guitars for a number of celebrities from Elvis Presley
shortly before his heyday to Dwight Yoakum. She had also
been informed that the original owner, though deceased, had
left the shop in the care of his son.

Whom she presumed was this tall, lanky man with a reddish
beard that nearly matched his pickup, and also reminded her
a great deal of Chuck Norris, the more she thought of it.

Oblivious to the young girl's presence, Jim Taeger quietly
thrust his key into the lock of the steel net meant to seal
the store overnight from potential burglars (not that it
was much of a problem, by and large), shoving it up
with his muscular arms as he had every morning for the past
three months since his father had left him this shop in his
will. Aside from the standard faded photographs of
childhood and his most prized possession, a priceless
guitar autographed by Willie Nelson, it was all Jim, his
mother, brother and sister had left of their father.
Besides being a historical landmark, making up in
historical ambience for what it lacked in pristineness in
this chain of businesses in this area that was seemingly
being "renovated" every second of the day, this was more to
Jim than a mere business. It was a way not only of
preserving *national* history as he knew it, but family
history as well. Jim was 42 with no intention anytime of
remarrying anytime soon -- the burn he'd got the first time
was quite sufficient. His wife had custody of their young
son and lived in California. He hardly ever got to see the boy,
so this *was* his family now.

Jim had barely walked in the door and pulled out the money-
box from its little hiding place in the counter, since he
*still* hadn't found time to shop for a computerized cash
register (a convenient little excuse to avoid having to
learn how to use one, as he trusted the things even less
than his father did, if it were humanly possible). The
tinkling of the bell on the front door signalled the arrival
of an
attractive young (albeit not exactly natural) blonde in her
mid-20s, lugging in a guitar case. He yanked his head up
from his ritual. "Help ya, ma'am?" he inquired with a good-
natured grin.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could help me out with this
baby -- it's from 1970, been in the family since my daddy
married my momma, and it doesn't seem to be playing as well
as it used to," Ellie replied as she set the case down on
the counter, opening it up and demonstrating with a few
strums to emphasize her point. "They said if anyone could
fix her up right, it would be you. She sounds definitely
off."

Jim handed the guitar to his craftsman, Joey, who had just
walked in, himself. Joey peered at it carefully from all
angles
as he searched thoroughly for the root of his potential
customer's
dilemma. "Well, it looks like your problem is with the
wood.
The neck is warped. Looks like we're going to need to
replace it."

"Um...will that cost very much to fix? I'm not sure if I
really have... I mean, I just got into town a few days
back..." Ellie nervously shifted from one foot to the next,
shoving her hair out of her face as she stammered on before
being cut off by his reassurance.

"Sure do, and don't worry so much about that -- this is
your baby, right? just like this place here," he added,
surveying the surrounding guitars and pictures on the wall
of his father standing next to Elvis and other various
stars that had entered the sacred shop over the years.
"Hey, if this place can hang in there as long as it has,
there's no reason your baby shouldn't either, right? And
I'll let you know how much it costs when I get it back to
you -- whatever you can't afford right now, just pay it
when you become a big star with that baby!"

At her bright, delighted gleam of a smile, he added with a
wink, "Just leave her with me for a few days and we'll fix
her up. I'll just get your phone number and get it to ya
when we're done, 'kay?"

"Okay...thanks a lot!" Ellie responded gratefully as she
handed over the case. Shortly after jotting down her name
and phone number and watching her head out, Jim grabbed the
case and headed for the workshop with Joey, who was
teaching him how to repair guitars.

They opened up the closet where they kept the wood. Two
days ago, Jim had received a nice supply of maple and
spruce. But now, the maple that they needed to make the new
neck was completely missing.

"What the hell?" Joey exclaimed. "Now I know damn well we
didn't use all that maple in two days."

Before Jim had realized it, his jaw had plummeted nearly
to the floor, and his heart was well on its way to joining
it. The place had been locked up tighter than a drum the
night before -- how the hell could this have possibly
happened? This was getting ridiculous. This was the fourth
time something had gone missing around here. At first it
was just tools -- a knife here, a brace there, and everyone
figured they'd just been misplaced and would turn up later.
But this was a whole shipment of maple they had put in
stock for several custom guitar jobs they'd recently
received. The stuff may have grown on trees, but it was
definitely not cheap for high-quality maple.

Realizing that poor Ellie was only one of many customers
that would be the end of his business if he didn't get to
the bottom of this, Jim had very firmly and deliberately
called the police, an action that had taken up the entire
business day in an ultimately futile search, though they
*had* promised to notify him if any leads turned up.
Feeling understandably less than encouraged, later than
evening, Jim grabbed the yellow pages and flipped back to
that one ad that under normal circumstances he would have
chuckled at regarding the rather unusual name for the
business. But at this point, hell, with the prospect of
losing his business to these weird incidents, he was
willing to try anything, even a fortune-teller if someone
had told him it would work. Dusting off the laptop his
brother had given him for his birthday (he'd remembered at
least to keep it charged, so considering how little use it
got on a regular basis he figured it would work fairly
well), he tried to remember the finer points of web surfing
that his 10-year-old son had taught him, and entered the
website address for the company.

Even a company with a weird name like Mulder & Scully
Paranormal Investigations had to be worth a shot, though he
wasn't so sure he was ready to believe he was being robbed
by, say, a bunch of aliens or ghosts. But it wasn't as if
he had a choice. Perusing the website, Jim first laughed at
the slogan, "Monsters R Us!" then noted that the two had
several years experience in law enforcement, working for
the FBI and investigating the paranormal for many of those
years.

***************************

Mulder and Scully home
Annapolis, Maryland
7:05 p.m.

Seven-year-old William Fox Scully-Mulder was playing yet
another round of Space Zombies III on the computer, pausing
only to swipe his light brown hair out of his eyes, or take
a swig of root beer.

"Hey, Will," his father called to him from the other side
of the room where he was watching TV -- the latest stand-
off between the Yankees and the Cardinals. "Check the
email, huh?"

"OK, Dad, let me just zap this one last monster."

"Save your game and go look, please," Mulder replied with
the air of authority acquired with years of parenting

"OK, OK," the boy replied, and did as his father asked.

He deleted the spam and ignored the personal messages for
his parents, but opened the one sent to M&S PI.

"Hey, Dad! Looks like we might have a case! Come look!"

Mulder paused the game and walked over to the computer.
Putting one hand on his son's shoulder, he peered at the
screen to read the email from Jim Taeger in Nashville.

"See, Dad, he said he looked us up on the Web! That
website was a good idea, huh?"

Mulder smiled at him and answered, "Yes, Will, you did
good. How many cases is that now that we got from the
website?"

"Four! Hey, can I go with you guys on this one?" Mulder
and Scully home-schooled Will. They had quickly found that
regular school couldn't keep up with his intellect, not
even the gifted classes. Additionally, it allowed him to
travel with them on their cases from time to time.

"We'll see. Let your mother and I talk to the client,
first, and make sure it's not going to be dangerous.
Scully! Come here, please."

"Just a minute, Mulder!" she called from the bathroom.
"Will, come here and finish bathing your dog."

Will scrunched his nose up, but obeyed. The two cats,
Reticula and Fluky, who had been curled up on the computer
desk while he did battle against the minions of darkness,
jumped down and followed the boy into the bathroom. But
once they saw what was happening to their canine friend,
they quickly made themselves scarce.

Ghostrider, looking more like a large drowned rat than a
border collie mix, whined and wagged his tail when he saw
Will, no doubt hoping for a reprieve. The front of Scully's
T-shirt was soaked and the water coming off Ghostrider's
rapidly-moving tail didn't help. The dog at once settled
down when Will knelt beside the tub.

"We've got a case, Mom! Dad said I could go if it was all
right with you!" Will said over his shoulder as Scully
dried herself with a towel.

"Did he now?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

Her son's eyes were wide, blue and innocent. "Well, sorta.
Please can I go?"

She smiled at the expression which was so like Mulder's
when he wanted something. "We'll see. Did you finish your
algebra homework, yet?"

"Well... almost. I just have another 10 problems to do,
but it won't take me long. I'll do them before we go."

"Okay, hop to it, then!" she chirped before heading into
the den where Mulder sat in front of the house's main
computer he had dubbed as their "mother ship" as he glanced
over the note. "Okay, Mulder, what great adventures am I
missing out on here?"

Mulder, too engrossed in the activity in question to
notice his wife's demeanor, absent-mindedly replied, "Well,
it seems that this Jim Taeger in Nashville, Tennessee has
had a succession of bizarre disappearances in the High Note
Guitar Shop, despite taking decidedly significant security
precautions. For the past week or so he's locked the shop
up tighter than a drum and even installed burglar alarms --
to no avail. His supplies and tools keep dwindling one by
one."

"So don't tell me, let me guess." Scully leaned forward,
placing her arms around his neck in an affectionate
gesture, one that no doubt would have taken him quite by
surprise during their "basement-days" back at the FBI. But
now after all these years together, it was as natural as his
flipping the remote for the latest Knicks game. "You're
beginning to think that these robberies are the results of
objects being 'beamed up' by aliens?"

He snorted a bit at that. "Well I wouldn't exactly say
'aliens' per se, but I would definitely think this is
something worth checking out -- those objects obviously
didn't exactly 'walk out' by themselves, after all.
Besides, this Jim Taeger seems rather desperate to get to
the bottom of this, from the looks of it -- this store is
the last thing he has, and these thefts could very well
affect his business. Apparently, his father started the
store after returning home from the second World War back
in 1946, and built quite a reputation--" he suddenly
stopped at the chilly, damp sensation around his shoulders
and for the first time since her arrival took in Scully's
soaked, clinging T-shirt. His eyes gleamed at the sight. He
startled and surprised her by standing and swooping her up
in his arms as he added with a lecherous grin, "--as
apparently have you!"

"Reputation? I have a reputation? Mul-der!" she laughed
with a swipe at his arm before any attempt at a clever
retort was smothered by a kiss. She was in the midst of
combating him with her own series of kisses in return when
their impromptu rendezvous was interrupted by the clacking
of Ghostrider's claws on the tile floor and Will's "Aw,
man, not *again*!" as his eyes rolled in what his father
had dubbed "The Walter Skinner Roll."

"Did you dry him thoroughly, Will?" Scully asked as
parentally as she could under the circumstances, still
focused on Mulder as he lowered his kisses to her neck
after making his intentions *very* clear with that all-too-
familiar look in his eyes.

"Yes, Mom."

"Then finish up your homework if you want to go with us to
Nashville," Mulder interjected, leading Scully up the
stairs in the direction of their bedroom. "Your mother and
I will be busy with some *very* important work, so that
should give you *just* enough time before lights out."

Judging by his mother's giggle in response to that, Will
could safely guess they would *not* be busy *packing*.
Grown-ups...

*********************

August 9, 2008
High Note Guitars
Nashville, Tennessee

And how long have these disappearances been occurring, Mr.
Taeger?" Mulder leaned against the counter as he and Scully
talked to the shop owner. Will listened with interest but
his eyes were scanning the store, looking at all the
guitars. He had been thinking about asking his parents for
one. Will had inherited his father's smooth melodious
voice. His mother joked it was a good thing he hadn't
inherited her singing voice.

As he looked at a particularly beautiful guitar, he saw
something move. A rat? Will looked closer and his jaw
dropped as he saw a tiny little man dressed in brown
peeking out at him from behind the guitar.

He tugged on his mother's blouse. "Look, Mom! Over there!"

Scully looked over to where Will was pointing, but saw
only the musical instrument. "Yes, that's a very nice
guitar. Now let your father and I finish talking to Mr.
Taeger."

"But Mom!" Will could clearly see the little man grinning
at him with a twinkle in his eye and a smirk on his face.

*************

August 9, 2008
McDonald's
Nashville, Tennessee
5:30 p.m.

Will idly drummed the table with a fry in either hand,
eyes focused on the food contents-turned-would-be musical
instruments as the Chicken McNuggets he had ordered sat
neglected in front of him. From time to time, a worried
set of eyes would lock on him, sometimes that of his mother
fretting about his health as she every-so-often did
(occupational hazard, being a doctor and all), sometimes
that of his father. For the most part, however, he spent
an uncomfortable silence between all three still fuming as
his 7-year-old mind flew back towards the heated debate in
the car the entire trip over here over what exactly he had
seen. It probably hadn't been such a smart move on his
part that he had actually insisted not only that he had in
fact seen the creature, but also had mentioned his
suspicions on what he actually believed the little man in
question to be, with his strange garb.

*************

"Fairy tales, Will, *that's* the key phrase here -- *fairy
tales*!" his mother had insisted, punctuating each word for
emphasis. "Don't you see? what you're saying is nothing
more than make-believe, and there is *no* way that man
could *possibly* believe that a *make-believe* character--"

"It *wasn't* make-believe, Mom -- I saw it! I swear!"
Will's voice had risen a bit in frustration at his mother,
who was considerably harder to persuade than his father.
The latter, by this point, had given Will the option of
either lowering his voice or speaking to his mother in a
more civil manner -- in other words, not much of a choice,
which of course annoyed Will to no end. At that moment,
however, Will had decided to attempt to gain an ally in his
father rather than to challenge his order and make yet
another opponent.

"*You* believe me, don't you, Dad? You've *gotta* believe
me! I *know* what I saw!"

He heard his father heave a heavy sigh that sounded for
all the world as though he was carrying the weight of the
world upon his shoulders and was silent for what seemed
like an eternity before finally saying, "I'm sure you know
what you saw back there, buddy. And I'm sure it's
*exactly* what you said it is. But now here's the problem:
you were the *only* one who saw it -- unless one of us sees
it or can actually *prove* that what you said is true, then
people are going to look at you and say you're just making
up some sort of a story to get attention. I know that
sounds cruel, but it's how the world works -- not everyone
goes around seeing elves on a regular basis, so it's sort
of a hard thing to prove."

"Mulder, don't encourage h--" Scully had started when
Mulder cut her off with "After all, I seem to recall a
certain theory about a certain *artifact* some years back
that a certain someone I know of dismissed as 'science
fiction?'"

Scully suddenly turned a shade of red that almost made her
red hair look blond by comparison and narrowed her lips
into a line as tight as Will had ever seen it turn. He
wasn't exactly sure what his father was referring to, but
had a feeling it had something to do with something that
had happened before he was born, something very serious.

Something he got the impression his mother *really* didn't
want him to know about, at least not for a few more years.

As if poor Will hadn't enough to be startled about, he
suddenly saw a single tear trickle down his mother's cheek.
His father, who had secretly caught the sight via the rear-
view mirror, suddenly looked extremely pained at the
results of his choice of words. Whatever had happened
before had been *serious.* And at that point, Will *also*
got the *very* distinct impression that perhaps he had gone
a bit too far this time in his quest for making his father
an ally against his mother.

Will, of course, had no way of knowing that the matter
that eluded him was his father's insistence that a certain
African artifact his parents had been called on to
investigate
at the FBI so many years earlier had alien origin. It wasn't
the
first time and, as it turned out, wouldn't be the last, but
that
one time in particular had stood out in Scully's mind as
perhaps the most significant time that her stubbornness had
very nearly cost her the man she loved, even though she was
unable to admit it at the time.

The guilt of the past was still there, as was the fear of
the future. But damn the man for using that guilt against
her like that --and right in front of their child! She'd
hoped he'd have been a bit older when she could explain the
whole situation to him, at *least* in his teens or so, when
he would better understand it -- hell, even to this day she
had problems wrapping her brain around the whole ordeal and
the ramifications thereof.

Thankfully for Scully, however, Will had kept silent, as
had Mulder, as she fumed silently to herself the whole trip
to McDonald's.

*************

And so now, seated at a booth with Will sitting near the
window, as he loved to watch the activity outside, they sat
in the uncomfortable silence, Will with his McNuggets,
small fries and small root beer, Mulder with his Big Mac,
large fries and large Coke, and Scully with her salad and
bottled water. For what seemed to be the longest time,
Mulder and Scully would nibble a bit here and there, trying
to avoid eye contact as much as possible -- strike that,
*Scully* tried to avoid eye contact with *Mulder* as much
as possible, who was trying as best he could to earn her
forgiveness by looks alone, or at least get the
conversation going by virtue of a silent plea -- as Will
would nibble a bit himself any time a worried glance flew
in his direction.

Finally one of Mulder's looks had an effect on Scully,
albeit not necessarily a desired one, as she simply spoke
three words that made up for their quantity in emotional
impact, in a voice low for the sake of their being in a
public place -- had this been the privacy of their own
dining room, it would have been decidedly shriller and
sharper than it was under the circumstances. "That hurt
me."

In an equally low voice, Mulder's hazel eyes, brimming
with their own hurt and pleading for forgiveness, met with
Scully's deep blues as he replied "I know it did."

"Of course you do -- you wouldn't have bothered to say it,
then, right?" she retorted with a bitter chuckle.

At this point, a very uncomfortable Will, believing
himself the key source of his parents' feud, stared at his
McNuggets with such an intensity one would have thought he
was to be tested on them afterwards, as his father visibly
winced at the obvious misstep he had taken in his effort to
appease and apologize to his wife.

"Scully, all I was trying to say is that *maybe* you
shouldn't be so quick to dismiss what Will says he saw
because..."

"...someone might get killed because of my closed-
mindedness this time, right?" At that point, one of the
tears she had desperately been fighting slid down one
cheek, despite her self-chastisement over such a childish
gesture. Will, meanwhile, found himself fighting his own
batch of tears over his mother's suggestion -- as little of
it as he understood, the finality of it was too difficult
to bear, and the concept too hard to grasp.

Mulder reached over and brushed the intrusive tear away
with a long, gentle finger, as he softly corrected her,
"...because there's the distinct possibility that what he
says might in fact be the truth. *And* it might actually be
the key to solving this case."

Scully sniffed and sighed, and from the tiny smile
beginning to form on her face, his gesture was finally
beginning to melt the anger of his jab, though it wasn't
*quite* enough to convert her to the men's way of thinking
just yet. "Well, Jim said there was a problem with rodents
for quite some time--"

"Scully, how many rodents do you know that could steal
*whole tools* and an entire pile of wood? This was
obviously an in-house theft of some sort. Now I think we
should at least talk Jim into letting us do a stake-out
there for a couple of nights or so, starting tonight, to
see if whoever's doing this will come back. And yes, you
too," he added at Will's suddenly eager, inquiring
expression, before he could say anything. "After all,
you're a key witness in this -- hopefully with a couple of
other faces there, we'll be able to see whatever you see at
the same time!" He punctuated his statement with a wink,
which Will returned while finally scooping up a McNuggett,
much to his parents' delight.

With a sigh, Scully finally replied, "Well, it's a good
thing I remembered to pack the sleeping bags this time,
isn't it? But don't think that I'm going to just roll over
and accept the theory that there are little men in the
store just lying in wait for us! And besides, what makes
you think that they'll go ahead and 'perform' for an
audience, even if Will *did* see a little man?"

"Jeez, Scully, you'd swear Will said he saw a little
*green* man!" Mulder said through a bite of Big Mac, to
which Scully laughed, as did Will, to one of his father's
many alien jokes. Then he turned towards Will with a smirk
and added, "It *wasn't* green, was it, Will?"

"DAD!" Already laughing from his father's first round of
alien jokes, it was all Will could do to keep from snorting
a mouthful of root beer and chicken in the new round of
laughter. In an apologetic gesture, Mulder pounded his
back gently yet firmly until Will's near-choke came to an
end and he was finally able to reply "I'm fine" to his
father's inquiries. Scully looked at Mulder innocently as
he shot her a look and asked, "Gee, I wonder who he got
*that* from?"

As a rather convenient change of subject, Scully hurriedly
placed down her fork and reached for the lid to her McSalad
container as she said, "Well, it's getting dark soon -- we
better get a move on if we can get into the High Note in
time. We can just nibble all this on the road." By this
point, Mulder's Big Mac was pretty much history, so it was
no longer an issue.

Excitedly, Will packed up his McNuggetts, throwing his
leftover fries into the box, when his father nudged him and
whispered, "And just in case you see this guy again and we
don't, be sure and tell me, OK, buddy?"

"Sure, Dad," he whispered back and winked.

"That's my boy," his father beamed as he returned the wink.

*************

High Note Guitars
August 9
8 p.m.

Scully and Will spread out the sleeping bags in the
workshop as Mulder saw Jim to the door. The latter cast
something of a wistful look behind him at Will, a part of
him remembering a certain someone in his life not too long
ago, now too far away to reach. "How old's your boy, Mr.
Mulder?"

Mulder, clearly taken by surprise by the inquiry that
seemed to come out of the blue, caught himself in time when
replying "He just turned seven this past May."

"Seven...not that long ago..." Catching Mulder's curious
glance as he returned to reality, he nervously cleared his
throat and explained in a low voice, "Normally I don't
stare so much, but I was just thinkin' -- my Matt looked a
lot like that at his age just three years ago. He took
after his mother a lot, which at the time seemed like a
good thing -- now it makes me wonder if it was or not. I
haven't seen him for..."

He suddenly stopped when he noticed not only Mulder's but
Scully's eyes lining up in astonishment. "That would make
him 10 now, right?" Mulder asked as seriously as he could.

"Yeah, why?" asked Jim with a hint of suspicion in his
voice.

Turning with a slight smirk to Jim, Mulder replied, "Well
it seems that Will has a 10-year-old cousin *also* by the
name of Matthew -- my wife's brother's child, as a matter
of fact!"

"No kiddin'?" chuckled Jim with a sudden 180-degree shift
in expression, a grin that now spread from ear to ear. As
Mulder nodded in confirmation, Jim idly scratched at the
hair beneath his hat as he continued, "Well, now, ain't
that the coincidence of all coincidences."

The smile slowly faded from Mulder's face into
seriousness. "Well, normally, Mr. Taeger, I'd be inclined
to agree with you, save for one thing: I don't believe in
coincidences." Though his back was turned, he knew full
well Scully was doing her patented "Walter Skinner eye
roll" at *that* little comment, partially from instinct and
partially from Will's whine of "Mo-OM!" Feigning oblivion
of the events behind his back, he added, "That's part of
the reason we're here, part of the reason we have to keep
watch tonight, just to keep an eye out for anything
unusual. We might have to do this for a few days before we
catch your thief. Just be sure not to say anything to your
workers about us staying here. We'll be out of here by 7
a.m., before you open."

"I trust my employees completely. They've all been with
the company for years," Taeger said.

"I know, but let's just play it this way for now," Mulder
told him.

Jim nodded glumly and let himself out the front door,
locking it behind him. However, since the shop was
occupied, he didn't set the alarm system.


After making Will read a chapter in the history textbook
she had loaded into the palmtop computer, Scully joined
Mulder in taking a look around the shop, peering into
corners and opening cupboards. After awhile, she began to
notice Mulder sometimes giving the wall at the very end of
the cupboards a slight shove, as though expecting to find a
secret passageway of some kind. Try as she might, she
couldn't seem to control the involuntary eye-roll. While
she admired, respected, and yes, loved the man for his
"leave no stone unturned" methods, sometimes she felt he
seemed to take them just a bit too far, as though he almost
expected to find something akin to a revolving bookshelf
straight out of a old movie thriller.

Finally drawing himself up from his activity, feeling her
intrusive stare upon his back, he answered the question
that hardly needed to be articulated after nearly seven
years of marriage. "Well, Scully, even you wouldn't expect
little men to hide behind a cupboard all day where almost
anyone could find them, could you? I mean, if I were a
little elf of a man, where would I hide?"

"And just what are you implying, Mulder?" asked Scully as
she crossed her arms and straightened herself to her full
height...on her usual two-inch heels, at least.

Mulder nervously cleared his throat as he went back to his
business. "Anyway, I was just thinking that..."

Half-listening to the droning of his father and
half-engrossed
in the finer points of the French-and-Indian War, Will found
himself pried from both when he heard a rustling sound and
a giggle. Looking up from the palmtop screen, Will was
astonished to spy two brownie elves dragging a rubber
hammer behind them.

"Hey! What are you doing! Dad! Mom! In here!"

The tallest of the brownies shot Will a dirty look as he
and his cohort ran off. Will followed them around the
corner, only to find no sign of anyone, despite what he had
seen earlier.

Mulder and Scully quickly arrived on the scene.

"What is it, Will? Was someone here?" Scully asked
breathlessly.

"Yeah! It was the brownie again, and this time there were
two of them!"

"Will, you'd better not be making this up," Scully scolded
him.

"Mom! I'm telling the truth!"

"Where were they, son?" Mulder asked.

Will led them back to where he had seen the two elves.
"Right here! They were stealing this hammer."

"One of the workers probably dropped it and left it lying
there," Scully theorized.

"Well, Scully, we didn't see it in that exact position
before -- a lot of things may be possible, but a hammer
that literally walks over to a space by itself is hardly
one of them!" Mulder smirked at her. As Scully narrowed
her eyes at him, he continued, "Come on, Scully -- why not
at least dust the hammer for fingerprints? It's worth a
shot at this point!"

"And who is going to have elves' fingerprints in their
database?" Scully retorted.

"Remember Tooms' fingerprints? How they were elongated?
There are things we might be able to find out from the
fingerprints other than identification of a suspect."

Scully sighed and nodded and went to dig the fingerprint
kit out of their tool case.

"They ran around that corner there," Will told Mulder. "I
followed them, but when I reached the corner, they'd
disappeared."

"Well, they're very small, so it wouldn't be hard for them
to hide. Get your flashlight and let's look around."

Mulder and Will thoroughly searched under tool benches and
behind furniture, but turned up nothing. As they exchanged
a sigh of dejection, father and son made their way back to
Scully who was examining the fingerprints she'd collected
from the hammer.

"What'd you find?" Mulder asked as he and Will plopped
down on their sleeping bags.

"Two sets of normal sized fingerprints and two sets so
tiny, you can barely tell what they are." She handed Mulder
the results, along with a magnifying glass.

"YES!" Will exclaimed, pumping the air with his fist.

"Whoa! Not so fast, sonny boy!" Scully retorted at Will's
sudden jubilation. "There's bound to be a logical
explanation."

"Like what?" Mulder asked with a challenging grin.

It was all he could do to keep the smirk off his face as
Mulder watched Scully go from complete confidence to
bamboozled in a manner of seconds, in very much the same
manner it would for so many years on the job when her
quests for "logical explanations" were put to the test. "I
uh... I don't know. Maybe rats were carrying it off."

"RATS? *Again*? Scully, somehow I'd think you'd come up
with a more 'logical explanation' than rats!" Mulder
couldn't resist saying, though the glare Scully shot him
was enough to make him wish he at least had made an effort
to resist.

"Mom, humans have fingers and opposable thumbs," Will
pointed out, looking at the fingerprints. "Rats don't."

"Elves aren't human, but apparently, they're very human-
like," Mulder added.

"Okay, okay...so since you two are apparently the 'elf-
authorities' here, if you will, where do you suppose an elf
would hide, anyway?" Scully asked, rising to her full
height (plus heels, of course) and planting her hands on
her hips.

"Well, uh..."

She gloated throughout the stuttering and stammering of
her "elf-authorities," unaware that two pairs of eyes were
watching them, well-concealed by a large guitar sitting next
to the wood supplies closet. One of the voyeurs scurried
into a hole in the door of the closet, vowing to return at
a decidedly later hour, when it wouldn't be so noisy, or at
least when the new intruders would hopefully be at rest for
the evening. The other carefully positioned the guitar
strategically to block the entry and view of the hole, and
thus the perpetrators escaped what had *definitely* been a
close call with the human world.

***************

It was definitely getting past Will's bedtime so his
parents tucked him in his sleeping bag. When he was asleep,
Scully joined Mulder, sitting atop his bedroll and looking
up information on the Net about elves.

"Hey, Scully," Mulder whispered so as not to wake their
son, "says here that according to legend, brownies
frequently helped out in craft shops, often doing the work
for the craftsmen."

Scully chuckled. "And you're now going to tell me it was
little elves making the guitars? What is this, a Keebler
factory?"

Mulder had to grin at her joke. "Just relating what it
says here."

"Well, how about relating to your wife for awhile?" she
replied, nuzzling Mulder's ear.

His answer was a groan as he put aside the palmtop and
took Scully in his arms, laying her back on the sleeping
bag. With Will sleeping nearby, they couldn't do as much as
they would have liked, but necking was quite enjoyable.

Busy as they were, they didn't see the elves who came out
to sit beside the hole and watch the humans.

"Randy bunch, aren't they?" noted Coroth.

"Rather sweet, if you ask me," Aliel replied to her mate.
"When was the last time we did that? I can't remember."

"You can't remember? I'm insulted," Coroth retorted,
pouting.

"Maybe you could refresh my memory?" Aliel hinted to him.

Coroth laughed and stood, taking his mate by the hand and
leading her back through the hole. Once inside the closet,
he chanted a few words and waved his hand. A portal opened
to reveal a forest glade on the other side. Coroth murmured
something to his wife and she giggled as the two of them
strolled through to the other side. Within two minutes, the
portal automatically closed behind them, since Coroth
hadn't commanded it to remain open.


*******************************

High Note Guitars
August 10, 3 a.m.

Yawning, Mulder shook Scully awake to take the next watch.
His own watch had been uneventful. After a quick kiss, he
lay down next to his son to catch a few hours of sleep. He
knew if anything happened, his wife would wake him.

About an hour later, Will awoke, thirsty. "Mom, can I have
a glass of water?" he asked sleepily.

"OK, just stay put and I'll go get some from the break
room."

She rose and stretched, then walked off to get her son the
water.

Scully hadn't been gone long when Will spotted a brownie
again, sticking his head out the hole in the bottom of the
closet door. This time, feigning sleep, he watched in
fascination as the elf, followed by a second one, crept
over to a workbench on the other side of the shop.

Will reached over and shook his father's shoulder. "Dad!"
he hissed. "They're back."

"Hmmm?" Mulder mumbled sleepily and opened his eyes to see
Will getting up and walking as quietly as he could across
the room. Mulder was getting up himself when he saw two
small figures scurry back toward the closet, pursued by
Will. The elves disappeared through the hole, but Will
wrestled the closet door open and saw them step through the
portal. "Dad, come on!" he called, and with only a moment's
hesitation, went though the portal himself and vanished
before Mulder's eyes.

"What the hell? Scully, get in here, now!" Mulder called
and dove through the portal just as it started to close.

Scully ran into the room and saw Mulder diving through the
opening. She rushed over to the closet, but there was no
sign of either Mulder or Will. The portal had closed, so
she couldn't see to the other side and had no idea what had
happened to her husband and son.

"Mulder! Will!"

"Scullyyyy!" came Mulder's faint reply.

"Mulder, where are you?!"

"Will! Look out!" she heard Mulder say, then her heart
constricted as she heard a cry of pain that she was certain
came from Mulder. A surge of panic ran through her that
once again, her worst fear had come true, and that her
unwillingness to believe had once again put those she loved
in mortal danger. She couldn't see it with her own eyes,
but somehow she just knew.

*******************

The Realm of Faerie
Local time unknown, but daylight

Mulder tumbled from the portal, right on the heels of his
son, into a clearing in an old growth forest.

He climbed to his feet and the two of them looked around
in wonder at where they had ended up. He heard, as from a
distance, Scully calling their names, a sound that bore an
eerie resemblance to the moment he had entered yet another
unforseen dimension that fateful evening in Oregon, hearing
Skinner's voice calling from a distance. Only this time,
he wondered exactly how perceptible this distance was
exactly -- unlike that other time, when Scully was to learn
she was pregnant with Will and that Mulder wouldn't know
until his return from that other realm. This was hardly the
same thing. That night had been a matter of imposing wills
beckoning him to their trap, as though he were merely a
mouse. This seemed a bit more like something out of a
child's novel, more the likes of Oz, Wonderland or Narnia.
Or for that matter, the legendary Queen Anne of the Bermuda
Triangle, at least, where the realm of an apparent parallel
universe was concerned, if nothing else. In short, the
sort of thing Scully wouldn't believe for one minute under
normal circumstances.

Perhaps this was the reason he was able to follow Will,
but Scully wasn't -- disbelief. But he was grateful that
he could hear her, that he at least had that much of a
connection with her here.

He called back to her, but his eyes widened when he saw a
slim figure easily as tall as him, but with pointed ears
and red eyes. The elf was taking aim with a bow at Will,
who was kneeling on the ground, looking into a hollow in a
tree trunk. Mulder reached for his gun and aimed it at the
elf.

"Freeze! Don't do it or I'll shoot!"

The elf turned its attention to Mulder and smiled, then
turned the bow on him. Mulder didn't hesitate to pull the
trigger, but the gun wouldn't fire. He tried again, but it
was no use. With his free hand, he scooped up Will and took
off running in the opposite direction.

The bowman let his arrow fly, however, and it struck
Mulder in the back of the shoulder. He fell, but rolled to
the side to keep from crushing Will. Wincing in pain, he
got to his feet and picked up the boy again and they
managed to get into a thicker part of the woods. Mulder
kept going as long as he could, though he could feel blood
running down his back. Finally, spent and hurting, he set
Will down and dropped to his knees.

"Dad! What's wrong?" Will said, frightened. "Did he get
you?"

Mulder nodded, but breathless, did not speak.

Several brownies emerged from their homes and surrounded
the two. Coroth and Aliel pushed their way to the front.

Mulder watched them warily and tried to push Will behind
him.

"Well, frell it!" said Coroth. "Looks like Mithil got him.
He takes his job of king's warden far too seriously. He
assumes any stranger is a poacher."

Will turned to them. "Please, you've got to help my dad.
He's hurt."

"Why should we?" called a brownie from the crowd
surrounding them. "What have humans done for us lately?"

"You've got a point," said Aliel, "but we should take this
up with the council and let them decide."

"We haven't done anything to you," Mulder muttered through
the haze of pain now spreading throughout his body. "You're
the ones who were stealing." He stifled a groan as he sat
completely down.

"Why did you come over here? You don't belong here,"
Coroth said angrily, ignoring Mulder's accusation.

"The guy that owns the shop hired my mom and dad to find
out who was taking his stuff," Will retorted. "We saw you
two go through that... hole, so we followed. We haven't
done anything to hurt you. Help us get back home."

"It's not safe to go back to the portal, now, with Mithil
hanging about," Aliel told him. She pointed at Will.
"Coroth, he's just a cub. Surely we can do something? At
least get them someplace safe for now?"

"All right," Coroth agreed, and addressed Mulder. "Can you
walk? I know a place not far from here where you can hide."

Mulder nodded, carefully easing himself to his feet,
vainly trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his back as
Will took his hand to help him across the forest.
Considering the way he was feeling, believer that he
normally was, he would have dismissed the presence of "a
bunch of little people" as a feverish hallucination. But
his keen awareness of his son's very real and very worried
presence made it quite clear that this was indeed reality,
such as it was. He suddenly realized the importance of
downplaying the situation a bit for the benefit of Will,
and thankfully, he wasn't *quite* as bad just yet as he
knew he could be. Somewhere in his gut, however, pun
intended, something told him this overall situation was
bound to get worse before it got better.

"Hey," he whispered to Will, and attempted a smile that
seemed to end in more of a grimace. "Think there's any
chance we'll run into Goldilocks on the way there?"

"Careful, Dad -- they'll think you're makin' fun of them,"
Will retorted as he fought a chuckle, but noticed how
deathly pale his father had turned in such a short time,
and how he was trying so hard to fight the grimaces of pain
that were obviously intensifying with every labored step.
He was all too aware his father was trying to put on a show
to cover how badly he really *was* feeling, and desperately
hoped for his father's sake that this place they were being
taken wouldn't be that much further, and that they would
know how to cure him. Yet at the same time he was divided
between the concern for his father and his fascination with
this new place, which seemed to have the greenest grass,
the brightest flowers and the biggest trees he had ever
seen in his life. It was straight...

...out of a fairy tale. Like nothing he had ever seen
before.

After a few minutes that certainly felt like an eternity
to the agonized Mulder and fretting Will, the group finally
came upon a bunch of tree branches. Mulder collapsed to his
knees at that point. Aliel gently parted the branches and
revealed an opening through which she encouraged Mulder to
crawl through what appeared to be a slight cave that, to
Mulder and Will, appeared to be nothing more than a hole in
the ground.

Briefly in his slightly fevered brain, Mulder remembered
encountering a certain "hole-in-the-wall cave" in Brown
Mountain, North Carolina, that had turned into a spacious
cavern that seemed to grow entrances and exits from thin air
practically every second. The suspicious part of him
wondered if all of this wasn't some sort of similar trap,
if these people weren't administering some sort of
elaborate hallucination to prey on either him or Will when
they least expected it.

"It's not as small as it looks, dears," Aliel insisted
gently to Mulder and Will's dubious expressions as they
gazed at the small hole. "Just try to get through it, and
you'll find it gives quite easily indeed. You'll see what
I mean -- humans first!" she added cheerfully pushing
Mulder gently towards the cave-like hole.

"For you, maybe," Mulder gasped out, as talking was
becoming more of a chore, but eased himself head first into
the hole. Much to his surprise, it turned out to be just
as Aliel had said -- the seemingly small and rigid-looking
hole seemed to curve around his frame, as though made of
rubber or elastic, and allowed him to pass through the
opening into a very dark yet surprisingly copious space,
that almost seemed to divide itself into makeshift stone
rooms in a manner of speaking. Will tentatively crawled in
after him, followed by Aliel and Coroth, who grabbed and
lit a nearby lantern. As the light began to spill
throughout the cave, Will gave out a sudden gasp, and
Mulder, who was being eased onto a fortunately soft straw
pallet (which was obviously not made for tiny brownies) by
Aliel, looked in his direction, and were he not on the
floor already, what he saw would have knocked him
breathlessly the rest of the way down in shock.

Not three feet away from them lay a pile of the maple
Taeger had reported missing, not to mention a pile of
tools, including hammers, knives, and other assorted goods
taken from the High Note. Whether or not it had been
intentional, they had been led directly to the loot.

Coroth's expression, when he saw what engrossed his human
charges, shifted from anger to sheepishness when he
realized they had been caught red-handed. "We use this
place as something of what you humans may call a storage
facility," he offered to Mulder, who was silently demanding
an explanation with his gentle hazel eyes. "...and we had
needs for renovation. You see, the village is starting to
fall down a bit, and we can't seem to afford supplies, at
least in this place. So the passage to your world..."

"...enabled you to retrieve the supplies you would need
for renovation of your homes," Mulder softly finished. "But
what about the tools? They're much too large for you to
use."

Taken a bit aback by this human's lack of malice under the
circumstances, to say nothing of a sense of understanding
he hardly expected from a human, Coroth slowly nodded. "It
was the nearest place we could come to for what we needed.
There always seemed to be something available, but we were
afraid you humans wouldn't take too kindly to our being
there. We didn't think you would understand. As for the
tools, that was just a bit of a prank. We would have
returned them later on."

Will tentatively entered into the conversation. "Well,
why didn't you just *ask* Mr. Taeger if you could have
whatever you needed if you promised to do something for
them in return? He seemed pretty nice to me."

Coroth chuckled a bit at the gentle and simplistic nature
of this cub. "Well, lad, we look a bit strange in your
world, wouldn't you say? We have our world down here, as
you have your world up there. That's as it should be --
generally speaking, there should be as little contact with
the human world as possible. You saw what our kind did to
your poor father here, and we pride ourselves on being a
peaceful bunch -- what if something like that were to
happen to one of us, if anyone were to catch us up there?
Though old Mr. Taeger was quite open-minded and generous,
his son is neither."

Before Will could respond, his father suddenly cried out
in pain as the arrow shaft in his shoulder brushed against
the bedding. Aliel sprang to his aid, peeling off the
white shirt, breaking off the shaft of the arrow still
jutting out of his back, and using her knife to cut the
shirt into strips that she instructed Will to tie around
Mulder's shoulder and rib cage as a makeshift bandage.
"I'm afraid we don't have any proper medicine here, my boy,
but this will have to do for now. I do wish we had the
proper stuff here," she added as she shook her head sadly
at him.

"It's bad, isn't it?" Will asked Aliel with wide, sad eyes.

Her demeanor very quickly changed to that of encouragement
and cheerfulness as she addressed Will. "Now did I say it
was bad, young lad? Until you and your father can get back
home, we've got you both in a place that's safe...haven't
we, Coroth?" she added, shooting her husband a sharp look.
Taking the hint, Coroth went to the mouth of the cave and
put a glamor at the foot of the cave, so as to hide the
presence of the two offending humans from Mithil.

The cave was dark, but for the flickering of a candle.
Will could see that his father was hurting. Mulder's face
was beaded with sweat and his eyes were tightly closed.
Will sniffed and tears began to roll down his cheeks. He
crawled over to his father and lay down beside him. Mulder
reached out with his good arm and cradled the boy to him,
comforting both of them.

"Shhhh. It's going to be all right," Mulder whispered,
hoping that was indeed the truth.

************
Realm of Faerie
Unknown cave
Several hours later

Will sat up as he heard someone outside the cave. He was
relieved to see the tiny figures of Coroth and Aliel. "Are
you going to take us home, now?"

"Well, that's a problem," Coroth said, indicating Mulder.
"Your da is in no condition to walk, I'm sure."

Mulder had woke at the voices, and spoke up now. "I can
walk." He tried to rise, but the pain and weakness were too
great and he sank back down to the ground. "Well, maybe
not."

"The brownie council is meeting now to decide whether we
should help you," Coroth told them.

"And if they say no?" Mulder asked pointedly. "Will they
hand us over to that guy who shot me?"

"It is possible," Coroth conceded. "We try to avoid
conflict with our larger cousins, for obvious reasons. They
tolerate our presence in the forest, for we are very small."

"You can't do that!" shouted Will. "We didn't hurt you. We
weren't going to hurt you."

"Hush a minute, Will. Coroth why are you here and not at
the council meeting?" Mulder inquired.

"Because we feel responsible for your coming here and
getting injured. We're going to try to help you." Coroth
turned to his wife. "Aliel, is Dorgo here yet?"

She stuck her head out of the cave. "I see him coming. Let
me go talk to him." Aliel exited the cave.

"Coroth, you were saying something about Jim Taeger, how
he isn't open-minded and generous like his father," Will
said.

"That is correct, young one. For many years, we had an
agreement with the elder Mr. Taeger. He would give us
lumber and leave a bowl of cream and some fresh-baked bread
each night. In return, we used our magical powers and our
skills to make his instruments the finest in the land."

"And when old man Taeger died, all that changed," Mulder
murmured, his voice weakening.

"Aye. Old Mr. Taeger was a fine human as humans go. No
offense to present company, of course," Coroth replied,
pacing back and forth.

"Well how about a deal, then?" said Will. "Your people
help us get back home and we'll get Jim Taeger to live up
to his father's agreement. I'm pretty sure he didn't know
about it."

"Very well. I think the council would agree to that. But
just in case, why don't we get you two back home?" He
called to his wife. "Aliel!"

She returned with one of the large elves following her.
Will scrambled over by his father and picked up a large
stone he prepared to throw at the elf.

"No, no, my boy," Coroth said, waving his arms. "It's
quite all right. This isn't Mithil. This is Dorgo, he's a
friend. He's an outcast because he's a simpleton. But he's
a very gentle soul and our friend. We help one another out
from time to time. Your da is too big for us to lift, but
Dorgo is very strong."

"Dorgo wouldn't hurt anyone," Aliel assured the boy. "He's
going to carry your father to the portal, but he won't go
through. Your da will have to go through with your help."

Will and Mulder agreed and Dorgo dragged Mulder out of the
cave on the pallet, then gently picked him up. Mulder's
teeth were clinched tightly, biting back a scream as the
bit of arrow shaft moved in his back. His pallor was marked
and Aliel was quite concerned, but put on a cheerful face
to reassure Will.

The journey was difficult as they sometimes had to hide to
escape the notice of other elves, but at last they reached
the portal. Dorgo settled Mulder on the grass, then gave
him a drink of water from the skein he carried.

Suddenly Aliel turned to Dorgo and simply held out her
hand, and the poor simple elf looked as though he was about
to lose everything he had before taking out of the purse at
his belt what was, in his hand, a rather sizable hollow
piece of wood, carved with beautiful etchings, and placing
it in Will's hand. The poor guy looked as though he was
about to cry as Coroth gently placed a hand on his leg,
saying, "Easy, there, lad -- we'll find you another. The
larger ones will have some lyin' about, I'm sure..."

Mulder weakly peered over at the object as did Will, both
in curiosity and wonder. It was obviously a whistle.

"A whistle?" Will asked, looking at Dorgo in puzzlement
and amazement, to which Dorgo nodded sadly.

"It can't be heard by your kind, but it makes the loudest
sound to us wee folk," Coroth explained. "If there's
anything you need, you just blow on that, and we'll open up
the passage to find you."

"Thank you," Mulder nodded faintly with the remains of his
strength.

Coroth chanted a spell and the portal window opened.
Thanks to Coroth's magic, they could see the shop closet on
the other side and its door was open. Will and Mulder saw
Scully standing there, talking anxiously to Jim.

"Mom!"

"Scully!"


She turned to their voices, but apparently could not see
them. "Will? Is that you?"

Coroth nodded to Will and his father. "All right, then,
back you go. The portal will stay open until you get
through."

Will helped Mulder get to his hands and knees and crawl
through the portal. As soon as they were on the other side,
Mulder collapsed, face down.

Will threw himself into his mother's arms and began
crying. "Mom! Mom! You've got to help Dad. An elf shot him!"

"What?!" Scully replied, completely confused, but then
noted that her husband was lying very still and not moving.
As she moved to his side, she saw that blood was oozing
through a bandage wrapped around his shoulder and chest.

"Will! Go get my medical bag out of the car! Jim, call 911
and get an ambulance here right away."

She put two fingers to Mulder's carotid artery and was
relieved to find a pulse, albeit thready. Will soon
returned with her medical bag and she applied a pressure
bandage on top of the bandage already over Mulder's wound.
He moaned at the pressure, but did not regain
consciousness. Sticking a thermometer in his ear, she was
alarmed to see he had a fever of 103 degrees.

When the paramedics arrived, she directed them as they
loaded him stomach down on the stretcher and then rolled
him to the ambulance. Scully insisted on going along and
she asked Jim to drive Will to the hospital to be with them.

*****************

Vanderbilt University Hospital
Nashville, Tennessee
August 10, 2008 5:10 p.m.

Years from this point, perhaps around the time Will would
either seriously be contemplating college or saving the
world, whichever came first, the irony of how similarly
guilt seemed to work on Scully and Will regarding Mulder's
condition would finally hit her, and how they seemed to
reflect on the positions they now found themselves.

A series of X-rays and ultrasound had revealed the
offensive object embedded in Mulder's back, and even now,
so many hours later, her hand throbbed ever-so-slightly
where Mulder had squeezed it as the ultrasound device
reached the point of entry. Considering his tendency to
conceal pain for her benefit, she knew for a fact that
it was beyond excruciating. At least Will had been good
enough to stay with Jim in the waiting room during the
examination the whole time, despite his worry. That spared
poor Mulder the further effort of keeping up an act of
bravery in front of his son. And yet, after four hours of
surgery that had finally culminated about two hours ago to
remove the object from Mulder's back, he seemed to be no
better than before -- his body temperature was fluctuating
between 104 and 105, yet there seemed to be no visible sign
of infection otherwise. But the wound still refused to
begin healing and the standard antibiotics were having
little if any effect.

But there was certain indication that his body was
attempting to fight off something -- at one point, it
seemed to be similar to the reaction of the body fighting
off the effects of snake venom. So an antivenin had at one
point been tried -- to no avail, Scully supposed that was
because his body had developed some sort of resistance in
that nasty snakebite incident with "The Honorable Rev.
Mackey" some eight or nine years earlier. It certainly
seemed to be a poison of *some* kind...

In any event, for the last hour or so, she had gone from
holding his hand as he thrashed about deliriously in the
midst of fevered dreams, to holding him down as the doctor
applied a cooling blanket and debated immersing his body in
water to bring the fever down. During Mulder's few restful
moments, she desperately reassured Will that his father
would
be just fine once they could find the right medication.
She and the doctors searched for a cocktail of the magical
antibiotics (*magical*? Jeez, she'd either been on this case
*entirely* too long or hadn't gotten enough rest...or both).

She tried desperately not to dismiss Mulder's ramblings
as anything terribly odd and nothing more than fevered
delirium. Her mistakes over the years, *particularly* the
infamous "artifact incident" and his first declaration of
love from a hospital bed, had taught her, if nothing else,
not to take anything lightly or be so quick to dismiss
anything. Even something seemingly unimportant that her
husband might say in these sorts of situations might well
be important in saving his life.

She felt it was her initial disbelief that got him into
this latest hospital bed in the first place. And she was
damned if she would allow her disbelief to finally kill him
this time. She would never be able to forgive herself, and
she wasn't sure if she could live life or raise her son
without him.

Who could have possibly known it could be so difficult to
balance with motherhood the usual guilt over the
ramifications of initial disbelief?

Of course, Scully was operating the only way she knew how:
trying to look for the most obvious solution science could
possibly offer. And it had very seldom let her down in the
past. But she plunged on, ignoring that little voice in
her head trying to tell her that if she was truly that
desperate to find the cure, perhaps she should look via
less scientific means.

**************

Passing Mulder's room en route to what would most likely
be one more collaboration with the doctor for the serum in
question, she checked on Will for the umpteenth time, who
this time around appeared to be engrossed in an activity
via the palm pilot -- homework, or so she thought, keeping
his poor ill dad company in the meantime for his "in-
periods." What she didn't realize was that Will was
venturing on the very same quest she was on, finding a cure
for his father...and going about it in the *non*-scientific
way. At the moment, he had just entered the words
"brownie," "elf," "fairy" and "arrow."

Going through the list of links, he finally ran across one
article that filled his young heart with dread and
confirmed the worst of his suspicions. The arrows used by
the elves contained a substance that was considered fatal
to humans within the course of 48-56 hours. The good news
was, there was indeed a cure available...

...*according to the legends.*

In other words, somehow Will was going to have to go back
through the portal in search of the cure. But how could he
convince his mother to take him back? or should he try
somehow to convince Mr. Taeger, since he was pretty sure
his mother wouldn't believe anyway and was too engrossed in
doing what she felt was the right thing? Then Aliel's
words came back to him.

"I'm afraid we don't have any proper medicine here, my
boy, but this will have to do for now. I do wish we had
the proper stuff here."

Could it be possible that Aliel either had the "proper
stuff," as she called it, or knew someone who had it in
that realm? And after the deal they had already struck with
the brownies, how could he ask for this one last favor on
top of this? What could he possibly offer to them?

He looked down at the Palm Pilot in his hand. Could he
possibly? And what use would the brownies have of it in
their realm? Besides, his mother would kill him,
considering how much it cost -- that was practically his
classroom!

Finally, he stood up, having made a decision. His
father's life depended on it. He went to talk to his mother.

He found her in his father's hospital room, holding his
hand and scanning the various medical instruments from time
to time.

Will sat down next to her. "Mom, I know why Dad isn't
getting better."

"He's going to be all right, Will, you'll see."

"No, he's not. Unless he gets the proper treatment. And
the doctors here don't have it. But I know who does."

"Honey, I know you mean well, but this is not the time for
fantasies."

"Mom, get real! How do you think he got an arrow in him in
a closet? We were in another world -- one with elves and
fairies. Dad was elf-shot and that's poisonous to humans.
It will kill him! You *have* to listen to me!"

Scully scrubbed her face with both hands and took a deep
breath. She thought of all the strange things she and
Mulder had encountered over the years.

"OK. I'm listening."

"Coroth and Aliel mentioned something about a medicine
when we were there. But they didn't have it with them at
the time. If I can get in touch with them, I'm sure I can
talk them into a potion to cure Dad."

Scully sighed. "All right, I guess it's worth a try.
Nothing we're doing here is helping. What do we do?"

"Take me back to the shop and I'll try to call to them.
And Mom, we need to stop at the grocery and get some cream
and fresh-baked bread."

"This is not happening, this is not happening..." Scully
muttered. She recalled the fairy tales her mother read to
her when she was a little girl. "I presume the cream and
bread is for your friends?"

"Right. I promised I would fix things up for them with Mr.
Taeger if they would help us get back home."

"In that case, I guess we'd better tell Mr. Taeger. I
gather you'll have to trade something for the potion. Will
they take cash?"

"I don't think our money is any good in their world," said
Will. "I think they want some sort of merchandise. I was
thinking we could offer them the palmtop. It's not like
it's the latest model, anyway."

"That was a present from your Uncles Byers, Frohike and
Langly," Scully pointed out.

"They'd understand, you know they would."

Scully picked up the phone, dialed High Note Guitars and
told Taeger they would be arriving soon to talk to him
about a solution to his problem.

*********************

August 11
High Note Guitars
11:43 a.m.

"You're kidding, right?" Taeger said to Scully.

"We're very serious," Scully replied. "The brownies told
Will and Mulder that if you would leave them the food
nightly and scrap lumber once a week, they'd stop taking
your things and in fact would help you with the guitars
again."

"Y'know, it's funny," said Taeger, scratching his head,
"but I've had some long time customers say our guitars
aren't quite as good as when my Dad was alive. But Dad had
arthritis and hadn't worked on the guitars himself in
years. Joey and Doug have been doing the work."

Will handed him a sack with the bread and cream. "Here, we
stopped at the store and got you some. You can set it out
now. I'd like to go over to the closet and see if I can
contact them. But they won't come out if all your workers
are there."

"Well, it's just about lunch time. We usually close up for
an hour. I'll tell everyone to go on to lunch early,"
Taeger said, and walked into the workshop to do just that.

Once his workers had left, Taeger locked the shop door,
then walked with Scully and Will to the workshop closet.
They sat down on the other side of the room as Will set
down the bread and cream and took out the whistle Dorgo had
ever-so-reluctantly given him. He blew on it as hard as he
could, as Scully and Taeger looked around in puzzlement,
wondering if Will had somehow acquired some sort of fancy
dog-whistle, and how this was ever going to help Mulder.
The boy blew the whistle steadily for about 10 minutes and
was about to lose hope when Coroth opened the portal and
jumped through. "Hello, me lad. How's your da?" He spotted
the cream and bread. "Ahh, you remembered!" The brownie
looked around warily and saw Scully and Jim looking at him
wide-eyed. "So they've become believers, have they? Good
job, boy!"

"Yep, and Mr. Taeger said he'd start leaving you lumber
once a week. But I need your help again. My dad is very
sick from the elf-shot and our doctors can't help him.
Please tell me you have something that will cure him."

Coroth grew thoughtful. "Elf-shot! In all the excitement,
I'd rather forgotten about that effect on humans. Yes, I
believe we can whip something up, but the ingredients are
very dear."

"Well, I know our money wouldn't be of any use to you, but
what about this computer? It's small enough for you to work
and it's got some cool games on there and you can even get
on the Internet with it! It does math, word-processing and
if you get on the Net, you can find out all sorts of
things."

"Well, your machines don't work in Faerie, y'know."

"I guess that's why Dad's gun wouldn't fire. But you could
leave it over on this side in a special hiding place and
use it whenever you come over."

Coroth nodded and Will set the palmtop down on the floor
and gave the brownie a very quick instruction in how to use
it. "What do you think?"

"You have a deal. I'll be back before long. Time passes
more quickly in Faerie, so you won't have long to wait."

The elf disappeared back through the portal. While he was
gone, Will showed Taeger how to use the palmtop so he could
help the elves with it.

Taeger promised to make a secret compartment in the closet
where the elves could go to use the palmtop. Until then, he
would just put it out at night with the bread and cream and
pick it up early the next morning.

About half an hour later, Coroth, Aliel and another, older
brownie, returned dragging a small bottle almost as big as
them.

"Our healer here says this ought to do the trick. Give
your father half of it now and the other half when the
fever breaks. It will counteract the poison and he will be
able to heal normally," Coroth told Will.

Will set the palmtop down on the closet floor and beckoned
to Jim, who approached cautiously.

"Coroth, Aliel, this is Jim Taeger. He's a good guy and
he'll work with you. My mom and I have to leave now and get
back to the hospital. Why don't you talk to Mr. Taeger and
get to know each other?"

"Very well, Will me boy. If we ne'er meet again, it was an
honor to know a fine young man like yourself," the elf said
and extended his tiny hand.

Will shook Coroth's hand gently and picked up the potion,
carrying it to his mother, who was still sitting quietly
with her mouth open in wonder.

He tugged on her hand. "C'mon, Mom, let's get going!"

***************

Vanderbilt University Hospital
Intensive Care Unit
August 11, 1:15 p.m.

Scully and Will entered Mulder's ICU unit. She waited
until the nurses' attention was on another patient, then
roused Mulder enough to sip the potion. When he'd drunk
half, she pulled it back and put the stopper back in before
secreting it in her pocket.

She and Will sat down to wait. About three hours later,
when Will was asleep on a sofa in the room, the nurse
taking Mulder's vitals reported a definite drop in his
fever. Instead of 105, it was down to 100. The fever was
breaking and Mulder's face was covered with sweat. Scully
sighed in relief and got a pan of water and a cloth to
bathe the sweat from his face and chest. The relatively
cool cloth seemed to soothe Mulder and his eyes fluttered
open.

"Thirsty..." he mumbled.

Scully reached for some ice chips beside the bed and
called out to Will to wake up.

Mulder's eyes focused on his wife. "Either I've had the
weirdest dream of my life, or one of the weirdest
experiences."

Will was now standing beside Mulder's bed, shifting from
one foot to another.

Mulder saw him and smiled. "C'mere and give me a hug,
buddy."

Will didn't wait to be asked twice and put his head down
on his father's chest and embraced him. Scully allowed them
a moment together, then hugged and kissed both of them.

"Will saved your life, Mulder."

"I'm remembering some of it now, though a lot of it seems
like a dream."

"It was real, Dad, you were badly hurt and very sick. But
the brownies helped us," Will reminded him.

"Thanks to you, as I recall. You did good, Will. Thank you."

Scully and Will informed him of the deal they had made for
the potion.

When they saw him yawning, Scully encouraged him to rest,
then retired with Will to the couch in the room. She asked
the nurse to wake them when Mulder's fever had completely
broken.

By evening, Mulder's temperature was completely normal and
Scully made him drink the last of the potion.

The next day, Mulder was feeling considerably better and
the doctor was talking of releasing him in a few more days,
provided there were no more complications.

"I guess it was just a matter of finding the right
antibiotic cocktail," the doctor told Scully.

She smiled and replied, "Or something like that."

****************

Mulder home
Annapolis, Maryland
August 15, 6:30 p.m.

Mulder, Scully and Will were sitting in the den, visiting
with the Lone Gunmen. Will regaled them with their
adventures in Faerie and how he'd had to trade the palmtop
for the potion.

Frohike called Will over to him and pulled a box out of
his coat pocket.

"Your mother told us how you had to give up your handheld,
though she didn't fully explain why," said Frohike.

"He's a real hero," Mulder said. "I'm really proud of him."

"Definitely a chip off the old block," Byers noted.

"Or blocks," Langly added.

Will was eyeing the box in Frohike's hand. "Is that for
me?" he asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

"Yup! Look here." Frohike opened the box and took out the
latest Palm Pilot.

"Wow! Palm Pilot 10! Cool!"

Byers spoke up. "Show him the book we put on there, Melvin."

"It was my idea," Langly informed Will and his parents.

Frohike used the stylus to call up the book. It was "Alice
in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass."

Will had never read the book, though he'd seen the old
cartoon movie on TV.

He chuckled. "Hey, y'know, I wonder just how much of this
was fiction and how much was really something that
happened?'

"I don't know," said Mulder, "but the elven bowman was
quite enough. I wouldn't want to meet up with the Red Queen
when she was on a tear. I'm much too fond of my head."

Will began giggling and soon everyone was roaring with
laughter.


The End