Title: For the Second Time
Author: Wolf  <JediMusic@aol.com>
Spoilers: William, The Truth, Any episode where Mulder was 
George Hale.
Rating: PG13, for violence and language, romance, UST.
Disclaimer: If I'm guilty of anything, it's loving too much.
Summary: What if they had been caught while trying to escape the 
prison with Mulder?
Author's Note: Submission to Challenge #1 for June. What would 
happen if Mulder and the boys had been caught trying to escape 
in The Truth?
___
I run down the corridor as fast as humanly possible. Mulder and 
Skinner are running like hell next to me. We come to 
intersection and freeze.

A group of men and women in fatigues have stopped us in our 
tracks.  They are young but have guns the size of small dogs and 
the guns are pointed straight at us. Slowly, Mulder puts his 
hands in the air. I wince inwardly at this sign of obedience. 
How much pain has been inflicted on this man?

"Don't move," says a woman calmly in a Californian drawl. "Put 
your hands in the air and go against the wall. You are in a 
restricted area with out permission from the authorities." 

For one moment I believe that she doesn't know who we are but 
that is quickly overshadowed by Mulder's orange suited body up 
against the wall next to me. My gun is taken away, along with my 
flashlight.   The woman with the Californian drawl is calling 
for the 'proper' authorities while the other three stand behind 
us with guns up against our necks. 

"Hey Josh, is this Mulder?" asks a different woman, whose gun is 
pressed firmly against my neck. 

"Yeah, I think so," Josh says. He is guarding Mulder. Maybe if 
they keep talking, I reason, they'll relax and....

"Shut up you guys," the third soldier replies. Mulder snickers 
softly but not softly enough. Josh kicks him. The women with the 
radio begins to talk to the others. "They're bringing another 
two squads. They want Mulder here to go back to his cell. 
Doggett and Skinner can go to cell block A." 

How do they know our names? I never saw them near the 'court 
room.' 

"They ain't going to kill the other two are they?" The third 
soldier asks worriedly. "These two didn't do anything." 

"Shut up," the other two say immediately. The woman digs the gun 
deeper into my neck.

___

I am thrown in to a jail cell. It is dark and damp and yet, the 
ground is warm, as if I am sitting on top of a refrigerator. I 
hear Skinner curse as he in thrown to the ground in a cell close 
to me. 

"Skinner?" I call out. "Didja see where they took Mulder?"

"No," he calls back. The same young woman who held a gun to my 
neck appears in front of the bars and tells me shut up. When she 
leaves and I yell out again. 

"How about-" I rack my mind for a code name for Monica. "-Desert 
Rose? Didja see any clocks?" 

"Only 20 minutes, dammit!"

"Shut up." The woman is back. "God almighty." She puts her hands 
on her hips and glares at me.  "Do you two need  disciplinary 
action?"

I bite my lip to refrain from answering. Well, duh.  Of course 
we need disciplinary action. But she is just threatening us and 
I can't see this young woman, who is about 5'2 carrying out her 
threat, especially since I'm about 6 or 7 inches taller then her 
and I'm probably stronger too. She also doesn't seem to notice 
that I just royally slipped up about a third person. Either 
that, or she doesn't care. 

_____
I spent a long and lonely night on the floor of my cell. I could 
only hope Monica had gotten the hell out of the base. I could 
only hope she had gone to Scully and that they were now waiting 
silently at home. I began to hope for a lot of things. 

"Doggett?" The young woman was back. I blink. Someone had turned 
on all the lights while I was asleep.  I sit up and stare up at 
her. "Someone wants to see you. Do you want to see her?" 

"Yes. How long am I in here for?" I ask, fearing the answer. 

"A long time Doggett. A very long time that you will regret." 
She laughs harshly. "I gotta babysit you the whole time. You," 
her attention is diverted to someone down the corridor. "Get 
down here." 

Monica comes up to the bars and clenches them as if she were 
imprisoned, not me. I've never seen her face so full of pain. 
Tears are in her eyes, but she has not been crying before now. I 
touch the side of her face with my hand. 

"It's gonna be okay. We're gonna get out of here," I reassure 
her. She shakes her head violently and tears fall. 

"No John, no it isn't okay. Mulder's being executed in two weeks 
and those bastards wants all witness' to witness his death," she 
wipes her eyes furiously. "You and Skinner are locked and Scully 
at her wits end. I don't even know when you're going to get out 
of here, I don't even have that small amount of faith the rely 
on, that you'll get out, if ever at all." 

"I am gonna get out," I promise. "I am and I will." I caress her 
cheek with my thumb. "You don't have to be so strong Mon." 

"I do!" she insists. "Because Dana can't. She's lost or losing 
everything dear to her and I, we have to be strong for her. 
She's going to kill her self John." Monica loses it completely 
and breaks down, crying. 

Insanely, a song pops into my head and I sing it. "Never knew  I 
could feel like this," I mumble, mostly to myself. "Like I've 
never seen the sky before." 

Monica stares at me dumbfounded. When she recovers from the 
initial shock of hearing me sing and especially  something so 
random at a time like this, she smiles.  "I'd kiss you," she 
says bluntly. "I've you weren't locked up and there weren't more 
important things on my mind. Like for example, how to stop 
Mulder's execution and stop Scully at the same time killing 
herself. And maybe, if at all possible, to get William here to 
see his Daddy, even if it is in death. Oh and to get you guys 
out," she adds as an afterthought. 

"William," I murmur to myself. "Damn you Spender. You just had 
to say that didn't you?"

____
Monica brings me the letter. She has somehow managed to track 
down the family William is with and is now begging them to bring 
him up here. 

"Dear Mr. And Mrs. Van de Kamp,
	There is no way to say this lightly so I apologize if I 
sound abrupt. I know that you will scorn my idea but please, 
consider it.  My name is Monica Reyes and I am a friend of Fox 
Mulder and Dana Scully. Those names mean nothing to you, but to 
your son William, they mean everything. Fox Mulder and Dana 
Scully are his birth parents. 
	Fox Mulder is being executed by the state and I am begging 
you to bring William to his father one last time. I hope that is 
not too much to ask.  I have included plane tickets for 
Thursday, May 30th.  Please, do consider this and come. As you 
see it's terribly important to me, to Mulder, to Scully, to all 
of us. 
		Regards, 
			Monica Reyes." 

"You paid for the tickets for your self?" I ask, stunned. 

"Yes. And yes, I did use the bureau to pay for the tickets." 

"Accounting's going to butcher you." 

"Yes I know.  But it's the only thing that can remotely stop 
Scully from killing her herself after  Mulder dies."

"How do you know she's even going to kill herself?"

"John," she says slowly and carefully. "This is Scully and 
Mulder we're talking about.  Partners. Best Friends. Soul mates. 
You really think she's not going to try to join him up in 
heaven? Have you ever had your soul mate die?" 

I can't say I've had. But I don't know if I've ever met my soul 
mate either.  I tell her this and she merely raises an eyebrow. 
"I've gotta run," she says. 
_____
2 weeks later
_____

The day before Mulder's execution I have a visitor in the form 
of a small, blue eyed boy. 

The female guard can't help smiling at the beautiful little boy. 
Monica is grinning like mad, though this is no time for smiling. 
The guard lets Monica and William into my cell for once and 
stands outside the bars waiting. Monica sets Will down on his 
hands and knees. "C'mon on Will," she encourages. "Go to Uncle 
John." 

William crawls toward me faster then I expected a child of that 
size too. He collapses into my open arms and I hug him. "Way to 
go Will!" I cheer. He giggles.  Monica laughs but her expression 
becomes serious. I bounce Will on my knee and waited to see what 
she had to say. 

"The Van de Kamps can't take care of Will," she says softly. 
"Now that we've brought him back, we can't send him off with 
them. I can't believe I was so stupid. I called them back and 
now they can find him."  She stares off angrily into space. "We 
explained everything to the Van de Kamps and they understand, 
sort of, how badly I screwed up. Dammit!" she cries out. "I 
can't believe I did that!" 

"Hey, hey," I say softly. "It'll be fine.  Calm down. Would the 
Van de Kamps be willing to give up Will?" 

"Yes," she sighs, looking at the giggling baby on my left knee. 
"As long as when he's 18 he can contact them." 

"I don't want to send him off to another strange family Mon," I 
admit. "I wish he could just stay here, with us." 

Her eyes widen. "Maybe he can," she whispers urgently.  "What 
if...." she trails off, her eyes lighting up. "Yes!" I kiss Will 
on the cheek and she takes him from me. This conversation is 
definitely over, as Monica seems to have come to some sort of 
epiphany.  She kisses me on the cheek rather abruptly and takes 
off, leaving me stunned and silent on the floor.
_____
I am seated in a chair facing a room with a steel table and 
shackles. Skinner sits next to me silent. For some reason, the 
guards thought it fit to torture us with this view an hour 
early.  I wonder if Skinner knows about whatever Monica was 
going about yesterday. 

"Did you see William?" I ask. He nods. "He's certainly grown 
up," Skinner answers. 

"Yeah." Silence falls on us again. We stare at the steel table 
and the iv lines for another hour without speaking before Scully 
comes in. She is followed by Reyes, the Van de Kamps and 
William. Covarrubias, Gibson Praise and Spender come in sometime 
later. Gibson is with a tough looking man in a leather jacket. 
His hair is thick... black and his features are chiseled. Scully 
sits between Skinner and I, as if we can provide protection from 
what she is about to see. She is not crying, not even close and 
I wonder if she has some sort of brilliant plan.  

As a final bruise to his psyche, Mulder was not allowed any 
visitors for the rest of the time he was in prison. He does not 
know his son is here. He does not know who is here at all. I 
close my eyes, allowing myself a moment to forget all this, as 
Monica sits next to me. Even William is quiet for once, seated 
in Monica's lap.  This strikes me as odd, because Monica is not 
Will's mother and both of him mother's are here. We are in the 
front row and I can not say anything. No one can. There is 
nothing to say. 

A guard walks in to the room we are viewing. Behind the thick 
glass, I hear him bark an order. Mulder trudges in, staring at 
the floor. Scully jumps up and touches the glass. He looks up 
and sees William. Monica grabs my hand and clutches it. Mulder 
breaks free of the guards and runs, as fast he can with his feet 
chained, toward the window. 

"William!" I hear him scream. "William!" 

Monica pinches William hard, on his left arm. He screams and the 
glass shatters completely. Mulder falls right through in to the 
room we are in. "Drop!" I scream. Everyone in the room falls to 
the floor. Mulder lies on the floor next to us as bullets ring 
out. The tough looking man who seated himself closest to the 
door , opens it and kicks the guard standing out there in the 
stomach. The guards bowls over and the man kicks him again. The 
guard collapses and the rest of us crawl toward the door. 

We manage to knock out 3 more guards and steal their guns,  so 
with guns afire we escape the compound. Mr. and Mrs. Van de Kamp 
are actually very good shots. We run up some stairs to a where a 
hole has been cut in the fence. Kersh pulls it back and lets us 
go through. Skinner, Mr. and Mrs.  Van de Kamp and I follow up 
the entire procession, shooting anything that moves or shoots 
back. 

There are three cars waiting for us. Kersh directs all the 
witness' and Skinner to one. They run. The rest of us jump into 
Monica's huge SUV while Kersh uses the third car to flee.  Mr. 
and Mrs. Van de Kamp jump in the first two seats, the latter of 
which giving the seat 'shotgun' a whole new meaning. 

Monica, Will and I barely manage to sit down before Van de Kamp 
speeds off. Mulder and Scully are seated in front of us. They 
are talking a mile a minute and Mulder doesn't seem to hear his 
son's screams. 

Monica is bent over William, cooing to him softly. "Shh," she 
whispers soothingly. "It will be okay. Mommy and Daddy are 
here." 

Not that is does much good, I reason. They are too busy talking. 
Mulder is trying to figure out who Van de Kamp is and Scully is 
directing Van de Kamp to go north. His wife is still looking out 
for police cars. 

William quiets eventually and I am beginning to wonder why 
Scully hasn't asked for her baby yet. Monica looks over at me. 
"John, I'm so sorry," she apologizes. 

"For what?" I ask. 

"For not telling you, I didn't have time, and for another 
bombshell I'm going to have to drop on you." 

I stiffen. The car quiets and Van de Kamp rolls up the windows. 
"We're going to Canada," she announces. "John and I will stay 
there, Sara and Daniel," I assume they are the Van de Kamps, 
"and Dana and Mulder will be flying off to different parts of 
the world.  John," she looks at me and I see fear in her eyes. 
"William is our baby now."

"Our?" I ask, stunned. "William?!" 

She nods. Scully begins to cry, probably because she has to give 
up her son for the second time. Really, I think to myself, she 
only gave him up once. 

"You don't mind, do you?" she asks fearfully. "I know 
that...that..." I interrupt her. 

"Mon," I say softly, "Why in the hell would I mind? A)" I count 
off my fingers, "I love William, B) I love you and C) Opposites 
attract." 

"A to B to C," she says, smiling.  

___
One year later
___

Mulder and Scully would be proud, as I think as I watch my baby 
son eat some sunflower seeds for the first time. "Chew Will," 
Monica says absentmindedly as the baby tosses the food around in 
his mouth, trying to figure it out. I laugh. We live in 
Vancouver and as the snow falls softly outside our house I 
wonder if Mulder and Scully and the Van de Kamps were as lucky 
as we are. 

I fall back from sitting and stare up at the ceiling. Monica 
picks up Will's plate of sunflower seeds and moves it away from 
my head. "Honestly Chase," she admonishes. "You're going to kill 
your self if you keep doing that, falling blindly on the floor."

Will crawls on to my stomach. "Don' worry Ginny!" I reply as she 
sits above me. "Will will kill me first. Will, you're getting 
big!"

He grins and bounces on my stomach. Someone knocks on the door 
and Monica gets up to get it. "Well I'll be damned!" she cries 
out joyfully. "John, the Hale's are here!
___