Rainbow Continuum 9/10 Emily Miller JANUARY 2, 1999 9:55 A.M. Mulder watched with Scully and Melissa from a few feet away as Daina Kathryn stopped near one of the many pairs of children- drones; he'd been told- and stared at them curiously. It came to him that this was very possibly the first time she'd ever seen any other children. Little people, almost on the same height as she was who existed as much as all the adults did. "Hi," she said to the Samantha one, who had looked at her when she approached in the same way one had looked at Mulder. At the sound of Daina Kathryn's voice, the boy looked up also. She waited for a minute, then looked confused. "Hello?" She cocked her head in a way that might have made Mulder laugh at any other time, but he knew this wasn't funny. Between having no idea who to trust, being faced with things she'd never dreamed existed, and having to walk miles and miles in just 2 days, to have first contact with other kids like these was not what a 4-year-old needed. While Scully and Melissa, as confused as Daina Kathryn was, watched, he stepped towards her and crouched so he was at eye-level with her. "D.?" he said to get her attention. She looked at him with an expression that looked so much like Scully's when in her compassionate mood, like she felt hopelessly sorry for these people who wouldn't talk to her, but also wanted to do anything in her power to help them. "Why can't they talk?" she asked. "They could," he said, keeping his voice gentle. Daina Kathryn, locked up in one tiny room with only one person for years and years, felt sorry for these children, who had all the freedom they could want, if they got their jobs done? Without a doubt, she was far wise beyond her years. "If they had a language. They're. workers. They don't need to talk." "How come they have to work?" "That's what they were made to do." "I bet I could teach them to talk." He didn't know how long they were going to be there, that actually might be a good thing for her to try. "Why don't you do that, D.?" >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:00 A.M. Bill Scully showed up just as the helicopter holding Skinner and a younger agent sent along to help prepared to leave. "Turn it off!" Skinner shouted at the pilot as he got up from his seat and exited. Scully's brother was running for them, yelling something that Skinner knew couldn't be good. "What do you think you're doing?" he said, coming to a panting stop in front of the FBI's Assistant Director. Only a Scully or a Mulder would confront him that way. Maybe, he thought without the slightest hint of humor, it was good that Samantha Mulder had disappeared. If the Scullys he knew were this bad, more Mulder's would without a doubt be torture. "Going to get your sisters," he said. "My sister Melissa is dead. And Dana is NOT in Canada." "How do you know that, Mr. Mulder?" Bill rolled his eyes and half-turned as though he was going to give someone behind him an exasperated look. "I think I know her a little better than you do. She knows better than to listen to that nut you force her to work with." "She is there, and we know the direction she's traveling in, approximately. We got a phone call less than an hour ago from one of our agents who's exploring the area, they were seen traveling over farmland. Four people: Mulder, your sisters, and an unidentified child." >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:15 A.M. Daina Kathryn went to one of the girls who wasn't working at the time. The girl was sitting cross-legged on the porch of what Daina Kathryn guessed was her house, staring at nothing while she waited for her time to come. Daina Kathryn sat across from her after getting the stuff she needed from Mulder and Scully and Melissa. "Hi," she said to get the girl's attention. Mulder had told her that her name was Samantha, and she hadn't questioned him, although she did wonder how he knew. "Hi, Samantha," she said. Samantha looked at her, eyes solemn, face expressionless. She didn't even attempt to speak. Mulder had told Daina Kathryn that they could make sound, though, which meant it was possible for them to talk if they were taught. And Daina Kathryn had all the time in the world to teach her. She picked up one of the items she'd gotten from the adults, an extra shirt of hers. "This is a shirt," she said, pointing to it. Then she realized that `this is a' meant no more than `shirt' did to Samantha. "Shirt," she said, pointing again. Then she handed it to Samantha. Samantha took it carefully, feeling it for a moment, then handed it back. She still didn't attempt speech, but did seem intrigued by this girl who was sitting across from her, making strange sounds with her mouth that seemed to mean this thing you wore. Daina Kathryn tried again, this time with the only apple they had left, which Mulder had finally decided they shouldn't eat because it had gotten so bruised while in the bag. "Apple," she said. Taking it from her, Samantha actually opened her mouth as though she were going to try and say it, then thought better of it and closed it again. She smiled shyly at Daina Kathryn. It was a little progress, in Daina Kathryn's opinion. She had 2 more things, then she would have to start over. She gave Samantha the book that belonged to Melissa. "Book," she said. "Moby Dick." She pointed to the front cover. "Whale." Slowly, a strange look came over Samantha's face. She too pointed at the picture, rubbed a finger over it. "Whale," she said. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:20 A.M. Mulder just happened to be walking by the house when he heard a voice he hadn't heard in almost 30 years, but missed even more than he had his grandmother's when she'd died when he was 10. Samantha. "Whale," she said. He dropped the backpack he'd taken from Melissa while she and Scully looked for an empty house and flew up the steps to find Daina Kathryn and Samantha grinning at each other as though sharing the worlds best secret. "She did it, Fox!" Daina Kathryn cried, leaping up and hugging his leg. "She said `whale'! You were right, they CAN talk!" She let go and went back to Samantha, pulling her to her feet and pointing at Mulder. "Fox," she said. Samantha, still 8 years old after so long, looked up into his eyes. "Fox," she said, the same word he'd last heard her speak that night so many years ago. "Oh, god," he leaned over and hugged her and Daina Kathryn to him, tightly. "Oh, god, D., thank you so much." When he let go, she looked confused. "Why?" she asked. "What'd I do?" "Daina Kathryn. this is my sister Samantha." >>>>>>>> NOVEMBER 27, 1973 7:30 P.M. "Bye, Mom, bye, Daddy," Samantha said, hugging both her parents as they left. Both gave her radiant smiles that made Fox's stomach hurt. He was slouching against the wall a few feet away, having given his parents a half-hearted wave seconds before. "Will you grow up?" Fox asked once they were gone and Samantha was standing by the door looking like she was going to cry. "Huh?" she turned to him, obvious real confusion on her face. She knew Fox wasn't too happy with her right now because it was a Friday night and he was stuck at home with her, but he'd already hit her for that when he'd come home from school. What was wrong now? He nodded towards the door. "You still hug them and cry when they leave. Only babies do that." "I do not cry!" "But you almost did." "I did not! You don't know, you're not me." "Yeah, but I can see your face and you can't." "I can look in a mirror." He rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Sam, just shut up. And leave me alone." He turned away and left, walking slowly upstairs as though daring her to follow him. But she didn't. Finally, he had some privacy. He didn't care what she did, as long as she stayed away from him. It was one thing that she was practically like a queen when his parents were home- when they weren't, HE was older, so HE was in charge. And there was nothing she could do to change it. He knew she would never tell on him: if she did, they would just be stuck with a babysitter next time, and neither liked those. Unfortunately, he hadn't stopped to think about how boring it could be, sitting all alone in your bedroom. He'd read all his books, fiddled with all his stupid old toys until most broke and the others were useless, and looked at the same night sky through the telescope he'd gotten for his birthday so many times that if he had to see the same stars one more time, he had a feeling they would be permanently implanted into his eyes. Sitting on his bed, his mind wandered, eventually settling on something that occupied his thoughts a lot: Samantha. He thought he probably loved her, the way siblings were supposed to love each other. Or maybe in a different way. He hit her, sure, but she was okay. She was a lot tougher than the other little girls in her class at school. That said SOMETHING for her. If only she wasn't so darned ANNOYING. If only she didn't whine and cry and tattle and get all the attention all the time. THEN she might be a really cool younger sister. But maybe she only whined and cried and all that because he'd taught her to? She certainly spent more time with him than she did with their parents, who either were working, talking with a neighbor, or at one of their beloved parties. He didn't think that he was all that much like her, but weren't there some family traits or something that could make her like she was and make him the same way, only he didn't realize it. She probably thought HE whined and got her in trouble and got all the attention. It was harder than he would have thought to look at it from her angle, but once he did, he felt a sudden need to hear her voice. She was going to be around for practically forever; probably longer than he was, but it seemed like right now was the right time to spend time with her. Plus, `The Magician' was on in less than 2 hours, and he would have to go downstairs to watch that. He jumped up and left the room, closing the door so she wouldn't go in and mess with all his stuff, and stood at the top of the stairs. "Hey, Samantha!" She appeared below him, looking up suspiciously like he was going to bite her or something. He smiled to try and reassure her that he was in a good mood, at least for now, but it didn't seem to have much affect on her. "What?" "I was just wondering if you wanted to play a game or something." Her eyes narrowed. "A game?" "Yeah." he shrugged, climbed onto the banister like he knew he wasn't supposed to- their parents weren't home, so it didn't matter, unless she told-, and joined her downstairs. "What game?" she asked, finally deciding it was safe. "What about that new board game Mom got you for your birthday." "Stratego?" "Yeah, that. We could play it and watch TV." "Can I watch that movie?" "Sure, depends on what time it's on. Come on, let's go." >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:35 A.M. The look on Daina Kathryn's face as Mulder finished explaining to her what had happened to Samantha was one of complete horror. "She just disappeared?" she asked, her voice shaky as though she were going to cry. "Just disappeared. I haven't seen her since, except here," Mulder said, looking over at the new Samantha, who was eagerly teaching the boy who shared the house with the few words she knew and what they meant. He caught on as fast as she had. She looked back, too. "And that's what she looked like?" "Yep," Mulder said, trying to sound carefree enough to raise her spirits, which were obviously sinking fast. "My sister died, you know," she said. "I never even knew her after we were born." She scooted towards Mulder and leaned into him, reaching backwards and pulling his arms around her, as comfortable around him as if he'd been her father. or her real father, since it seemed that now he was going to take the place of whoever that person was. "I knew her, a little," he said. "What was she like?" "I only got to talk to her once, right after your mom called me and asked me to come to San Diego." "What'd she say to you?" Daina Kathryn was gazing up at him as though he were a teacher, knower of all knowledge, who was finally giving her the answers she'd craved the better part of her short life. If only his and Scully's truths were as easy to find: just ask and have them. "Well, if you want to know the truth, she only told me what she was coloring." "I've never colored before, but I like to draw. Missy said I was a good drawer." "I bet you are." He tightened his arms around her for a minute, taking the role of father if that was what she wanted. All kids, he'd learned after his parents got divorced, needed 2 parents if at all possible. even if one was a step-parent, it was better than nothing. And he had to admit that it looked to him like Daina Kathryn truly liked, if not loved, him and Scully in almost the same way she loved Melissa, who'd taken the place of those 2 parents until now. Until almost 4 days ago. It seemed like a lot longer. "What was she coloring?" "A potato." For some reason, this made Daina Kathryn giggle, the first time he'd heard her. She sounded just like Scully, the few times he'd heard her laugh: clear, but kind of silly. It made him want to laugh, too. Instead, he just smiled. "I like potatoes," she said when she managed to turn her giggles into a slightly goofy, very un-Scully-like grin. "Sometimes Mr. Biars gave us potatoes to eat. They were okay for that, but sometimes Missy let me make the leftover parts into decorations on the floor, at least until Mr. Biars came back and made us give them to him. He didn't like it when I played, he said I made too much noise and it bothered the other people." "Tell you what, then," he said. "As soon as we get back to my apartment, or your mom's or Melissa's, I'll get you a potato to play with, okay?" Her grin grew wider, filled with love and sudden unbelieving awe that someone besides her own family could care so much for her, for her happiness. "Okay!" "Okay!" a voice echoed, and both Daina Kathryn and Mulder turned to look at the boy Samantha had been teaching what she'd already learned about speech to, looking very pleased with himself. He pointed at Mulder. "Fox." Daina Kathryn and Mulder laughed, and the boy turned back to Samantha, still pleased, and the two of them disappeared inside the house, to do who knew what. Daina Kathryn turned her eyes from the door they'd gone in back to Mulder. "Hey, Fox?" "Yeah?" his eyes never left the spot where Samantha had gone, even when she spoke again. "Am I gonna live with you and Mom when we go back? Or with Missy?" "Who would you rather live with?" "You guys." His head turned back then. "With us? With your mom and me?" "Uh-huh." "Why?" "Because I think I'll be just one of three." She nodded towards the house. "I think you're right," he said. "But the boy needs a name. Would you do the honors?" "Huh?" "Do you want to name him?" "I don't know any boys names except Fox and Mark. What do YOU want to name him? Whatever you want is okay with me." "Hmm. how about you and your mom and me all decide together?" "Okay! Let's go get her!" She jumped to her feet and was off and running before he had a chance to come up with a reply, using the sudden endless supply of energy she'd saved up sleeping most of the morning. He shook his head and got to his feet, following her more slowly. They had all the time in the world. Nobody, of course, had any idea where they were. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:40 A.M. Rammin watched as the girl flew by, followed closely by Mulder. He pulled his gun closer and considered going after them, but decided to wait until later, when Jonnes was awake. Jonnes had gone to sleep soon after they'd first seen the girl, Melissa and Dana Scully, and Mulder arrive. He hadn't slept in over 24 hours, and it was actually Rammin who'd forced him to do it, saying they never knew when it would be the perfect time to move in and get them. He knew that Jonnes didn't trust him, thought that he would sneak off and get them himself and leave Jonnes there asleep with Mulder and Scully, who would more than likely kill him. But he wouldn't do that, not yet. he would let Jonnes get to trust him. THEN, and only then, would the time be right for abandonment and grabbing praise for himself. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:40 A.M. Bill watched the helicopter travel across Canada, wondering what the hell he was doing here, with some man he barely knew, after his dead sister, a slightly nuts one, her daughter, and her more-nuts partner. With the anger that was building inside him now, he would kill Mulder the first chance he got, if not the others, too. He knew as well as anybody what kind of temper he had, but, in his mind, he used it for his own good and the good of his family. Heaven knew with what Mulder- and it was ALL Mulder's fault- had put them all through in these years, they needed his protection, if not the help of Charles, too. Charles rarely took any interest in his family, though. He spent more time with his mother and sister-in-law than with his true mother and brother and sisters. now sister. He hadn't showed up at Melissa's funeral, hadn't come when Dana' s cancer was discovered, had even stayed away for the worst Christmas any of them had ever had, a time when the whole family should have stuck together. "You do know I have a wife and son waiting back in D.C. to hear from me?" he asked, turning to Skinner now, who was reading over notes he'd brought. "I know," Skinner replied, not looking up. He didn't care for Bill any more than Bill cared for either him or Mulder. Scully was a wonderful agent, but what he knew of her family. her mother and brother he'd met when she was in the hospital, dying of cancer, had seemed to him to be more the type of family he would have suspected Mulder would have. Instead, the knot that he had thought was Mulder's family- father, mother, son, and a missing daughter- was quickly unraveling into the wind. The smoking man, Mulder's father. or Samantha's? Jeffrey Spender, a half-brother? To Mulder or to his sister? Bill sighed as Skinner gave him no clue of just WHAT he knew, besides that Tara and Matt were still in a crummy little hotel. "How long is this gonna take?" "Maybe 2 hours. Maybe days." Another sigh, but the questions were silenced. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:40 A.M. "Mom! Missy! Guess what?" Daina Kathryn leaped into her mother, arms going around Scully's waist as though they'd been separated for years instead of less than an hour. Melissa smiled at that, Scully almost clumsily trying to hug Daina Kathryn back as Daina Kathryn danced away from her; too excited to stay still for very long. The longer they stayed out in the real world, it seemed, the more. normal she became. "What?" Scully asked as Daina Kathryn skipped around her, hair bouncing on her shoulders as she waited for the okay to tell her wonderful news. She stopped and smiled proudly up at the adults. Mulder had just joined them, and looked just as happy and pleased as she did. "I got one of the Samanthas to talk, and then she taught one of those boys. And Fox says that they can come back with us and be my big brother and sister." Scully glanced over at Melissa. "Your brother and sister? Is that okay with Missy?" "I'm not living with Missy, she can live next door. I'm gonna live with my mom." And now Scully's eyes traveled to Mulder. "With your mom?" "Yeah, you," she said, hugging Scully again. This time, Scully managed to get her arms around her and lifted her up, holding her close. "Are you sure, D.?" "Uh-huh." "Melissa?" Scully looked over at her sister, who was watching and still smiling. "That's fine. It's her decision. She has a mind of her own," Melissa said. Daina Kathryn wiggled free from her mother. "Come on, you have to come see Samantha and that boy. We have to name him, and you have to help. come ON," she urged, tugging on Scully's arm. So Scully went with her, followed by Melissa and Mulder. It didn't take as long to get back to the house where Samantha and the boy were living, because this time Daina Kathryn, with the sense of direction she'd inherited from her mother, knew where to go. The children were back on the porch, repeating the few words they knew to each other. "Whale," Samantha said. "Whale," the boy repeated, and they grinned at each other as though they'd come up with a cure for every disease known to man. "We're back!" Daina Kathryn cried, causing them to whirl in the direction of her voice, as she hopped up the steps onto the porch. Samantha pointed at Mulder. "Fox," she said. "Hi," Mulder said, while Scully put an arm around his shoulder and gave him a quick hug, knowing how much this meant to him, having even a small part of his sister back. "Hi, Samantha." "Hi Samantha," she said, like a parrot repeating whatever it heard. Daina Kathryn quickly fixed the problem, pointing at Samantha. "Samantha," she said. Then she pointed at herself. "Daina Kathryn Scully." Then at the others. "Fox. Mo- Dana. Missy." Samantha pointed at the boy, and, though she didn't speak because she didn't know how to ask questions, obviously wanted to know who he was. Daina Kathryn looked at Mulder and Scully. "He needs a name, too," she whispered so Samantha couldn't hear. "Daina Kathryn and I couldn't come up with a good one, we thought we'd ask for your help," Mulder said. Scully appeared to think for a second, but, in reality, she'd had her mind made up about what she would name a son, if she ever had one, since she was in high school. "How about. Lucas?" "Lucas?" Mulder repeated it. "You sound like Samantha," Daina Kathryn said with a giggle. Then, more seriously, "Lucas, huh?" That seemed to confirm it: his name was Lucas. She turned back to Samantha. "Lucas," she said. It was the boy's turn, Lucas' turn, to point at something, himself. "Lucas," he said, and he said it proudly. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER, 1997 DATE AND TIME UNKNOWN Daina Kathryn had been restless all morning, pacing around the small room, never pausing on one of her favorite activities, drawing or watching the world out the window or practicing her numbers and letters in the dust, long enough to even really get started on any of them. "D., is something wrong?" Melissa finally asked her as she got up once again, this time from the process of slowly moving her hand into the square of light from the window so that it covered her hand, then jerking it back. Daina Kathryn shook her head hard, glancing out the window, crouching underneath it and examining the wall, then jerking back up and looking at the ceiling. Melissa watched, worried. It had only been a day since Daina Kathryn's unexpected cries for help for her sister and her adoptive parents. And Melissa still wasn't ready to give up the idea that Daina Kathryn might be sick. If she was, she didn't know what they could do. "Missy?" she finally asked, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed in front of Melissa. "Tell me a story about when you were little like me. About the time my mother told you she had a dead rabbit in a lunchbox." "Sure," Melissa said, hoping she would settle down. It was one of Daina Kathryn's favorite stories, although she liked the one about the time her mom had gotten braces and had screamed the whole time even more. "Your Uncle Bill, he was mad because the rabbit liked her better, or that's what he thought." >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 22, 1968 11:30 A.M. 5-year-old Melissa was listening to a BORROWED- not stolen, like he would claim- record of Bill's, while lying on her back in the room she and Dana shared. Dana had been in there a little over an hour ago, she had heard her yelling at Bill, then had run past Melissa downstairs and had gone down to the basement, so Melissa had the room to herself, for once. Or, she did for a few minutes. Then the door opened hard enough that it slammed against the wall. Melissa's eyes flew open and she sat up quickly and turned the record off. "Dana?" Dana was standing in the doorway, looking terrified and angry at the same time, probably both because of something Bill had done. Maybe threatened her for something. She looked on the verge of tears now as she locked eyes with Melissa. "Melissa?" she asked, in her pitiful voice that could get any family member at and on her side immediately. "I need your help." "With what?" Melissa asked, already getting to her feet. She had nothing better to do until the middle of the afternoon, when she was supposed to go to a friend's house for a few hours, but that wasn't until 3:00. A long time from now. Dana sniffled and her left eye threatened to release the tear it was holding. "You know that rabbit Mom and Dad got us?" At the word `rabbit', the tear DID escape, leaving a trail of red on her pale skin, and it was all she could take. She started to cry, fortunately silently, and all the while trying to stop it. She rubbed her eyes and knows with fists, but she was too far gone now to do anything. "I killed it. I didn't mean to, I was trying to keep it from Billy. I killed it, Melissa, I killed our rabbit." "Dana." Melissa strained her mind, trying to come up with something to make Dana feel better. "Maybe it's not really dead. Maybe it's just. you know, knocked out." But Dana was shaking her head, looking at the floor, tears still falling. "It IS. Come look. It'd DEAD." So Melissa walked with her as she led the way back into the basement. So that was where that rabbit had been for the past week. Every day that week, Bill had refused to leave any family member alone until SOMEBODY confessed to taking his stupid pet that wasn't really all his, anyway. Actually, Dana had admitted to her the night before that she had hidden the rabbit to her older sister, after making her swear never to tell. She said it was the perfect hiding place, nobody would ever find it, and she had left plenty of food. Maybe it hadn't been so perfect. "Stay here," she said to Melissa when they reached the bottom of the stairs, and went over to the worktable their father had put down there the year before but never got to use. Stacked on it were books, some ancient tools, and Bill's old lunchbox. It was that that Dana went to, opening it and jumping back off the box she was standing on quickly. "Look," she said. Melissa, cautiously, went over and climbed on the box herself. The rabbit was dead all right: it was stiff and cold, it's eyes open but seeing nothing, and, worst of all, around it's stomach, tiny white maggots crawled through it's small body, eating away at the skin so she could see inside it. She gasped and jumped off the box in the same way Dana had, but more for revulsion than the urge to have someone else see what she had. "See?" Dana asked, more worried about the fact that the rabbit was dead than that it had maggots crawling in it. It wasn't the rabbit being dead that scared her, it was death itself. "Yeah, I see," Melissa said, shutting her eyes but just seeing that image in her mind. She opened them again and looked at Dana. "What happened?" Dana looked on the verge of tears again, though her eyes had just dried. They were red around the edges and there were still the lines from tears running down her face. "Billy said it was supposed to be HIS rabbit, since he was older, and it wasn't supposed to like me best. He said he was going to kill it if I didn't let it be his. So I had to hide it. He said this morning that he was gonna make it into rabbit stew if he found it, so I came down to check on it. And it looked like. like that." "Did you leave it all alone all week?" She nodded. "But I gave it food." "Dana, it needs more than food. It probably couldn't breathe." Melissa glanced again at the lunchbox, still open on the table. Dana's lip trembled. She was going to start that again, her silent, heart-wrenching tears. She didn't understand what she'd done, she was only 4 years old. Melissa decided it was time for her to play big sister. "I have an idea," she said. "Let's close the lunchbox and we can take it to Bill's room. That way, he won't know who did it, and maybe Mom and Dad will blame him. He'll blame us, but maybe they won't believe him." "He can have his rabbit stew!" Dana said, beginning to giggle. "Yum yum, right?" "Right!" Melissa said. It didn't seem quite as bad looking at the rabbit this time, nor did walking with it thumping against the sides of the lunchbox scare them in the least, not even when Dana came up with some sick scenario about maggots crawling out and eating them alive. Bill had what he deserved coming to him. >>>>>>>> Rainbow Continuum 10/10 Emily Miller JANUARY 2, 1999 10:50 A.M. Daina Kathryn walked with Samantha and Lucas around the farm, pointing things out, giving their names, then patiently waiting as they tried out the new word. Very soon, she was quizzing them, pointing at one house and saying "House" and then pointing at a different one and asking "What's that?" Eventually, Lucas caught on that "What's that?" meant asking what something was, and he began asking "What's that?" as often as she did, wanting to know more. Samantha caught on soon after, and after that, Daina Kathryn could barely keep up with them. But she kept at it. "What's that?" Samantha asked, pointing at her feet. "Shoes," Daina Kathryn replied, then sat on the ground and took off her own shoe, ignoring the cold that had begun to creep up on them. "Foot," she said. Scully watched from where she sat on the porch with Mulder and Melissa. She felt, strangely enough since she still thought it was Melissa who should have been feeling this, a sudden pride and love for the little girl she hadn 't raised, but who was still her daughter. No matter what happened, Daina Kathryn Scully was still her daughter. Emily Sim was still her daughter. And who, according to Mulder, knew how many other children she had out there? She wasn't sure she liked that idea, that there could be lots of little 4-year-olds out there with her face or Melissa's or Bill's of Charles' or one of her parents or even grandparents, knowing they were adopted, but probably never questioning it. Unless they got Bill's personality along with his face. Although she'd known about heredity for years, how it worked and how she and all her siblings got their looks, it was still a strange idea that she or Melissa could have children that were just like, or looked just like, or both, the very same ones they'd grown up in the same house with. She'd actually been getting used to the idea of not having children, after all that had happened the year before and the end of the year before that. Accepting that Emily was all she was going to get and that she should be grateful that she'd gotten even that time with her only child. Thanks to Melissa, it seemed, who'd listened to her niece and tried to `channel' to Scully that Emily needed her help. But had Daina Kathryn not needed her help? Or had it been more than coincidence that she and Mulder had been in that prison, of all the ones in the world, that they'd chosen that one room that held one person she longed more than almost any to see and the other that she longed to have for her own than almost any other. People that she never should have seen, a dead sister and a daughter who shouldn't have been born. She'd gone over it hundreds of times now in her mind, and hated herself for it, but still sometimes thought it might have been better if Daina Kathryn hadn't been born, or if she'd been adopted like all the rest of her `children', if there were any more. If none of it had ever happened, she and Mulder could go home and get married and she could have children the. normal way. But then, if Daina Kathryn hadn't been around, they wouldn't be where they were, would they? They might never have gotten together, since she knew it was more for Daina Kathryn's good, not that they didn't love each other, more than anything else. She had a sudden urge to hold Mulder and be held, in a way she hadn't in years, not counting those wonderful, too-few hours 2 nights ago, when he'd kept her close in sleep, arms around her, chin resting on her hair. She would have loved to stay like that forever. Then the next morning, with Daina Kathryn beside them, seeming as excited as Scully at the prospect of Mulder becoming her `father.' Mulder seemed to read her mind. "Scully?" he said softly, coming up behind her and taking a seat beside her on the steps. Melissa wisely stayed where she was. "What?" She leaned into the arm he placed gently around her shoulder, put her own arm underneath it like she and her former best friend had done when they were trying to ignore either Bill or her the friend's older brother. This was a little different, though. Her best friend had never asked as they stood- not sat, they were always standing- like that, "Are you okay?" "I'm fine," she said, as usual not even thinking about it. It was a response she'd programmed herself to give. Someone asked if she was okay, she said she was fine. That was what you said to strangers, old friends, or relatives you hardly knew. `I'm fine', or, as she'd said as a kid, `I'm okay.' This one had almost driven Bill crazy, for some reason. But Melissa's had been even worse: "I'm real good.' He claimed it made her sound like some redneck from Mississippi. Which, of course, just made her do it every chance she got that he was around. She found herself smiling, confusing Mulder, at these thoughts. "I was just thinking about family," she said to his quizzical look. "The family you grew up with? Or the family we're going to make?" he asked. She looked at the ground. "Mulder, we've got Daina Kathryn, maybe Samantha and Lucas. but there's not going to be anymore children. You know that." Although she tried to hide it, the fact that he'd forgotten the thing in her life that was possibly even more important than finding out her own truths hurt her more than any of the times he'd run off and left her, refused to tell her what was going on, or did things only a complete idiot would. He seemed to know she was hurt, but she had misunderstood. He took her completely into his arms, cradling her like he'd done Daina Kathryn earlier, and said softly, "That's not what I meant, Scully. You and Daina Kathryn and Samantha and Lucas are everything I need. All I want." A tear escaped her eye, sliding down her dirty, tired face. She wasn't sure if it was from the feeling of utter helplessness she was suddenly feeling or from fatigue or from happiness. But she did know she wanted to be held in his arms forever, letting him talk like he'd been before, showing her he really did love her in his own special, Mulderistic way. "Why don't you call me Dana now? You asked me to marry you. it's going to be strange calling me Scully when that's not my name anymore," she said, to hide her tears before he could see them. Her head was resting on his shoulder, but the slightest twist of his head to look her in the eye would reveal them. She hated the feeling of vulnerability she had whenever he saw her like that, even when he didn't see her or it wasn't crying she was doing. When he saw into her soul. Right now, she was feeling that way because of, once again, what had been taken from her. Her children. Her unborn, unformed children. Found only in the form of little girls and maybe boys like Daina Kathryn. "When we get married, Scully. Until then, I don't deserve it. That's why I called you Scully in the first place. You scared me to death- I'd never had a partner like you-, but you also struck me immediately as the kind I watched in high school and longed to go up and just say hi to." "Don't tell me you were shy in high school," she said. The intrigue to know more of his past, which she knew so little of, overcame her wanting more of the contentment. He smiled sadly, but she, keeping her eyes closed, didn't see it. "I alienated myself after Samantha disappeared. I didn't know how to talk to people, I was always scared they'd ask me about her. What had happened, why I hadn't done anything." "But you did do something." There was a sigh and she opened her eyes to look at him. He was staring at the sky, now gray and looking ready to release snow- the temperature had really dropped to more normal January temperatures- at any second. "Not enough," he said. It was at that moment that Daina Kathryn screamed. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 10:55 A.M. Lucas and Samantha had grown tired to learning and had wandered off in the direction of the plants they took care of. But Daina Kathryn hadn't wanted to get too far away from her mother and Melissa and Mulder, so had taken her break from playing teaching to look around the outside of the house. The back had been the best, with a tree that she discovered she could climb into, just like Melissa had said her brothers and sister had done when they' d been little, to drop water balloons on the people that went by. Daina Kathryn had never expected to climb a tree, but it was something she'd dreamed about for at least a year now. She climbed as high as she dared, feeling dizzy as she looked down at the world far below. It was almost like looking out the window of the room she and Melissa had shared, except not quite as high. She felt powerful up here, like she could see everything but nobody could see her. She watched Scully and Mulder for a while: he was holding her like she was a baby, but she didn't look like it bothered her. Maybe by the time you got to be an adult, you missed being a little kid and liked people to hold you. Daina Kathryn thought she was almost too old to be held like that. But not quite. Maybe when she was 5. After a while, she got bored watching them, since she couldn't hear what they were saying. Melissa was right behind them, but she was watching the sky, lost in thought. Lucas and Samantha were nowhere that she could see them, but there was somebody. At first, she thought it was more of the Samantha and Lucas people, drones, Mulder had called them. But then she looked more closely. And she recognized one of them. Alex! It was that Alex Krycek guy who'd saved her and Scully from the back of the truck. She should go thank him and then tell her mom he was there. It was harder climbing DOWN from the tree than it was climbing up, and once she was sure she was going to fall, but she managed to catch herself. Once she jumped the last few branches, she took off running in the direction she' d seen Krycek and the other man. They were farther away than they'd looked, but she found them soon enough. Or, one of them. Krycek was gone. "Where'd Alex go?" she asked the other man, thinking if he was friend's with Krycek, he was a nice person. The only mean people she'd ever met were Biars and that guard at the prison when they'd been leaving. Everybody else had loved her, thinking she was the cutest thing in the world. Fortunately for her and most that knew her, it hadn't gone to her head. But it had made her have a view of the world that was far from true. "To the bathroom," the man said, smiling strangely at her. "What's your name?" he asked. She felt suddenly wary and took a step backwards. "I'm going to find my mom now," she said. The man got up and stepped towards her, and she started to backup, but tripped and fell. The man grabbed her arm and jerked her to her feet. "Finally gotcha, huh? And no mommy here this time to save your miserable little life, either," he said, smile widening. Her eyes widened and her lip trembled. She had never been as terrified in her whole life, not even when she'd first been introduced to Scully. She did the only thing she knew to do. She screamed, as loudly as she could. The man reached down and grabbed a stick he'd been carrying with him through the woods. He pulled it back, then brought it down on her head. Her scream ended abruptly as her world faded. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 11:00 A.M. The helicopter had landed close enough to the farm where Mulder, Scully, Melissa, and the child were supposed to be hiding that Skinner and Bill were able to reach the farm in 5 minutes. They found Mulder almost immediately, searching frantically in the houses that had supposedly been abandoned for years. Bill, being Bill, thought the worst. "What happened to Dana?" he asked, just as Scully and Melissa appeared. They didn't hear him or see him and Skinner at first. "No sign of her," Scully said to Mulder. "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, what is going on?" Skinner asked. Melissa jumped and Scully whirled to look at him. Her eyes narrowed. "Bill," she said, her voice cold. "What are you doing here?" She knew exactly what he was going to do: try to convince her that it wasn't really Melissa and her daughter, if they ever found Daina Kathryn, and that Mulder was crazy and talking her into believing things he did. Then he would drag her home and put her in a hospital. Sure enough, he went forward to put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked away before he could speak, but the hand returned, gripping hard enough that she grimaced. Her arms were sore after hours of carrying Daina Kathryn, and he wasn't helped. Mulder took a warning step towards him, but he ignored him. "Taking you home," he said. "Leave me alone, Bill. My only daughter is here somewhere, and I'm going to find her." "Would you mind explaining, Agent Scully?" Skinner asked, as Mulder roughly shoved Bill's hand from Scully's shoulder and they glared at each other, neither making the first move towards a fight. Scully glanced at Melissa. "I'll explain it all later, sir. Right now, we have to find my daughter, Daina Kathryn. She disappeared a few minutes ago, we heard her scream. We have reason to believe it was Alex Krycek." "Krycek." Skinner almost spit out the word. "Mr. Scully?" he said to Bill, in his no-nonsense voice that very few dared to argue with. Mulder was the only one, actually. "Go back to the helicopter. You'll hurt more than help this search." Bill started to protest, but Skinner wasn't finished. "Melissa, go with him and explain what happened. We'll join you as soon as we can." Reluctantly, Bill and Melissa left, already starting to argue about whether or not Daina Kathryn was really Scully's daughter, though Bill had never even seen her. He didn't seem to question any longer if Melissa was really his sister, though, for which Scully would have been glad. But she was too worried at the moment to be worried about anything. If Daina Kathryn died now, she was sure she would, too. Or her heart would. Skinner saw the look on her face: she looked ready to cry and like she wanted to scream at the same time. There was only one thing he could do. "Agent Scully, let's go find your daughter," he said, and she surprised him by bursting into tears. "Agent Scully?" She quickly wiped her eyes. "Thank you, sir," she said. "Scully, you go back to where you saw Daina Kathryn go. Sir, you check that way. And I'll look over there," Mulder said, taking charge, pointing in the different directions. There was no argument. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 11:15 A.M. Daina Kathryn had never had such a bad headache in her whole life. In fact, she'd never had a headache at all that she could remember. When she reached up to put her fingers on her head, just to try to relieve the ache in her skull, her fingers came back with blood on them. She started to cry without even realizing it. "Hello. Daina Kathryn?" The man who'd hit her was in the same room. They were in the house she'd found him behind, she tied up in the corner, he sitting nearby in a chair, with something hanging out of his mouth. It smelled bad and there was smoke coming from it that hurt her eyes. She tried not to cough, which she knew would just make her head hurt worse. "I'm Rammin." "You hurt me," she said, sniffling. When she realized she was doing this, she tried to stop, but couldn't quite do it. She was too miserable and she wanted her mom more than ever. He smiled and she shivered. He had a mean smile. "You screamed," he said. "You were going to take me away from my mom!" she said, more loudly than she meant to, then cringed, waiting for him to come at her again with the stick. Instead, he sighed and looked the ceiling. "I wonder what's keeping Jonnes," he said, puffing smoke out of the thing in his mouth. She couldn't help coughing and the pain rose again so she could barely stand it. She was going to die now, she knew it. She was only 4 years old and she was going to die. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 11:15 A.M. Scully was searching the outside of every house, listening closely. She got lucky. As she was passing what was the last house on the part of the farm Mulder had instructed her to search, she heard, very faintly, "You were going to take me away from my mom!" It was both her own voice and Daina Kathryn's. Both strong and bold. Quietly, she went up to the house and tried the back door. It was open, so she crept inside, slipping off her shoes before she did and leaving them outside. She could hear them more loudly now. "I wonder what's keeping Jonnes," a man said, and she wondered who Jonnes was. Krycek, maybe? There was a moment of silence, which she used to creep closer to the door and put her head against it. Daina Kathryn was sniffling as though she'd been crying, which wasn't surprising. "When am I going to see my mom again?" she asked. "Oh, I don't know," the man said. "Maybe never." Her small cries rose to a wail, the first time Scully had heard it. "I want my MOM!" she cried. And Scully couldn't take it anymore. She hit the door with her shoulder and it came open easily. She almost stumbled, but managed to stop herself, and put her hand in her jacket pocket as though reaching for a gun. It was a gamble, but it might work. "Mom!" Daina Kathryn said, leaping to her feet, then wincing. Scully could see the blood drying on her forehead and in her hair. The man in the room with her pulled out a gun, ignoring completely the hand Scully had ready. and then Scully realized she'd taken her hand from her pocket to hold out arms for her daughter. "Stop right there," he said to Daina Kathryn, who saw what he had and remembered Mulder's use of it before. She stopped, eyes pleading for Scully to help her. "Please let her go," Scully begged the man. He just laughed. "Let her go? Why?" "Please. She's my only daughter." "See if I care. She moves, she dies." Scully's mind raced, as she tried to think of a way to save Daina Kathryn, who looked as though she were getting closer and closer to risking the gun if only to be with her mother. The world stopped, Scully with her arms still stretched forward, Daina Kathryn's eyes boring into her own, and the man pointing his gun at Daina Kathryn. The still image broke in a second. Daina Kathryn could no longer stand it and leaped for her mother. The man pulled the trigger on the gun. and Scully jumped just in time and intercepted it. The last thing she heard as she dropped to the floor was Daina Kathryn yelling, "Mom! MOMMY!" and the sound of another gunshot. Daina Kathryn. they'd gotten her, too. >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 11:20 A.M. Mulder and Skinner burst into the house at the very moment of the second gunshot. Both had come running at the sound of the first. "Oh, God," were Mulder's first words when they reached the room where the shots had been fired. Scully was lying on the floor, bleeding from her right arm. Daina Kathryn was on the floor beside her, sobbing and holding her left hand and saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," over and over again. He went to her and pulled her into his arms, surprising Skinner, who'd expected him to go to Scully. "Shh, D. Shh. She's going to be okay. Shhhh," he whispered, rocking her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and put her face into his neck, sobbing. Skinner, leaving him to comfort this mystery child, surveyed the rest of the room- and saw the one thing he never would have expected. He knew immediately what happened, somehow. The man who'd shot Scully was slumped in a chair, blood spreading over his chest. And behind him stood, of all people, Alex Krycek, holding his own gun. He dropped it on the floor when he saw Skinner watching him. "I didn't shoot her," was all he said, then was disappearing out the open window before Skinner could say that he knew that. Daina Kathryn was mostly quiet now, still not looking anywhere but at Mulder. Scully was waking up a little, which meant the wound was probably not too bad, moaning softly. Skinner watched it all quietly, then took a deep breath. "Mulder, you take her," he said, meaning Daina Kathryn. "Let's get Scully to a hospital." >>>>>>>> JANUARY 2, 1999 11:25 A.M. Mulder and Skinner got back to the helicopter in record time since each was carrying another. Mulder put Daina Kathryn in Melissa's lap and said, "I'll be right back. Don't leave without me." Bill, who was still not too happy with having been left, started to say something about hurrying up and getting "Dana to a damned hospital," but didn't finish. Mulder was already gone. They waited in silence, Skinner doing his best to stop the blood flow in Scully's arm. It was slowing on its own anyway, so he wasn't too worried about her. He was pretty sure she'd make it, anyway. Mulder came back soon enough, talking loudly to someone over the helicopter. "It's okay. It won't hurt you. Come on, we have to hurry!" He finally got whoever or whatever it was to get on with him. The mouths of both Skinner and Bill dropped open. Clutching tightly to his hands were 2 more children. >>>>>>>> MAY 9, 1999 10:30 A.M. Daina Kathryn was still not used to waking up in a bed in a house, even after so many months of it. She was usually the first one up, but this morning she could hear the voices of her mom and Mulder downstairs, as well as. as Melissa! She leaped out of bed, not bothering to get dressed before racing downstairs to Melissa's open arms. "Aunt Missy!" she cried, hugging her tightly. "Hi, D.!" Melissa said, returning the greeting. "I brought you something." "What?" she asked eagerly, grinning from ear to ear. "It's out in my car." "Can I go with her to get it? Please?" Daina Kathryn begged Mulder and Scully. They already seemed to know what was going on. Scully smiled. "Sure, go." Daina Kathryn skipped along behind her aunt to the car, then waited impatiently for Melissa to get the door unlocked and to find whatever it was she had. She finally found the gift and handed it to Daina Kathryn. The girl looked at it curiously, a little confused. "What is it?" she asked. Now it was Melissa's turn to grin, as though she was with her sister instead of her niece. "It's a violet." A slow smile spread across Daina Kathryn's face. "A violet." she whispered, staring at it, unable to take her eyes from the beautiful flower. She was still gazing at it without speaking when Mulder and Scully, along with Lucas and Samantha who'd been awakened and were dressed, came outside. "I think she likes it," Mulder said. He put a gentle hand on Daina Kathryn's arm. "Come on, D. Leave it out here so it can get some sun. We can bring it in later, okay?" She nodded, putting it on the grass of the front lawn and taking his hand. The 6 of them walked back as a family. In the yard, the violet waved gently in the breeze. It was the end of the rainbow continuum, the everlasting band of beautiful lights that brightened the world like the smile of a child, the love of a mother and child, or the enduring strength of a family. >>>>>>>> Begun Sunday, January 4, 1998 Completed Friday, May 8, 1998 >>>>>>>> Hope you enjoyed it. I know I enjoyed working on it. The story actually started last year, with an idea about Scully having a child that lived with Samantha... after Christmas Carol, it evolved into a girl living with Melissa. So I had the idea before Chris Carter! :) Feedback is always appreciated! Emily