TITLE: Progeny (1/9) 
AUTHOR: Zephathah 
E-MAIL ADDRESS: zephathah@yahoo.com 
RATING:  PG-13 (Chapter 7 is NC-17 with an alternate PG-13/R version)
CATEGORY: SAR
KEYWORDS: ScullyAngst, M/S friendship, eventual MSR
SPOILERS: Anything about Emily, ova, etc.
SUMMARY: Mulder claimed Emily was never meant to be.  Was Scully never 
         meant to be a mother?  When a child's body is found abandoned
         in a warehouse, Scully once again faces the uncertainty and
         horror of the lives inflicted upon her biological children.
         She must find how the existence of these unexpected offspring
         fits into her perception of herself and her future.
ARCHIVE: Spookys.  Anywhere else, just let me know first.  Do not 
         archive at Gossamer; I'll send it myself.
DISCLAIMER: Any names you recognize belong to FOX and CC et al.
FEEDBACK: The best thing since sliced bread.  Send to
          zephathah@yahoo.com
NOTES: To my beta readers Shoshana and TBishop, thank you for making 
       me write a story that's better than I thought it could be.
       Author's notes at the end of part 9.


Progeny
by Zephathah

________________________________
Chapter 1
________________________________

The late night raid had gone as planned, the FBI team moving in
coordinated pairs, covering every possible exit.  The warehouse was
being used as a base for drug traffickers - at least, that's what the
FBI thought.  To some extent, they were correct.  The two toughs who
had been guarding the stash were taken without anyone getting hurt.
The drugs were confiscated, and the agents spread throughout the
building, looking for anything else possibly connected with illegal
activities.

What they found was beyond anything they'd expected.  Agents Carson
and Myers were the ones who discovered the room, buried in a warren of
hulking steel I-beams.  The door was open.  The room was small, and
with their flashlights, they could see most of it without having to
expose themselves to any bad guys who might still be around.

They shone their lights into all the corners they could reach from
their position outside the door.  What looked like large metal
refrigerator units lined one wall, cabinets and a counter strewn with
what might be medical equipment along another wall.  The room was a
mess, as if whoever had run this operation had cleared out quickly.
Cabinet doors were open, drawers were pulled out, papers littered the
floor.  And in the center of the room, a table.  A metal table on
wheels.  And on the table, the still, sheet-covered form of what could
only be a child's body.

"Jesus," whispered Myers.  He was shining his flashlight on the
child's head, the only part of her body not covered by the sheet.
She had light red hair, just curling at the ends.

They approached the room carefully, investigating the last few shadows
that had been hidden by the door.  Nothing there; no one alive,
anyway.  Carson fumbled for a light switch as Myers made his way to
the middle of the room.

When the fluorescent lights suddenly illuminated what was on the
table, Myers' eyes widened in horror and disgust.  "Jesus!" he said
again, staring at the open sores covering the child's face and neck.
She was clearly dead, but very recently she'd been alive: the wounds
were still wet, weeping a sickly, green pus.

Carson was still standing by the door, staring at the body and talking
softly into his walkie-talkie, telling the SAC what they'd found.
"Yes, sir.  We're at the southern end of the building; Jones and
Macmillan should be close to our location."  A pause, while he
listened to the senior agent's response.  "Yes, sir.  We've got the
light on; it's the only light in this part of the building; we
shouldn't be too hard to find."  Then he added softly, "We'll need a
forensics team, too."

He put the walkie-talkie back on his belt and crossed to Myers' side.
"Fuck," was all he said.

Myers looked at him and asked, "Have you ever seen anything like 
this?"

"Not even in my nightmares," Carson responded, grimly shaking his
head.

Myers ignored his nauseated stomach and dug a pair of latex gloves out
of his pocket, snapping them on.  "Forensics on the way?"

"Yeah.  *Shit*."  Carson was still focused on the grotesque lesions
that disfigured her face.

"Might as well see what we can find."  Myers banished the image of his
own young daughters from his mind, focusing on the task at hand.  The
nightmares would come when he was asleep; he didn't have time for them
when he was awake, too.

The refrigerator units, if that's what they were, had been unplugged,
and the doors were partially open. Whatever had been - or still was -
in there, it wasn't refrigerated anymore.  Myers pulled open a door to
one of them, finding row upon row of little tubes, little vials, each
with a neatly taped label.  He picked up a few of them at random,
seeing a name and date on each one.  'Maureen Rogers, 12/13/94'
'Penelope Northern, 9/30/94'  'Dana Scully, 10/28/94'

Dana Scully?  Why was that name familiar?  He heard more agents
entering the room now, snapping on latex gloves as they started
investigating the scene.

"Whatta we got, Myers?"

Myers looked around to find Macmillan peering into another
refrigerator unit.  He pulled his own door open wider to show the
other agent.  "Hell if I know," he said.  "Lots and lots of tubes.
Names and dates.  All women."  He held out the vial in his hand to
show Macmillan.

"Shit!"  Macmillan's eyes widened as he read the label.

Myers looked at it again himself.  "Dana Scully.  Why's that name
familiar?"

"Shit," Macmillan repeated.  

"Mac, what is it?  Who is she?"  

He shook his head in wonderment.  "She's an agent.  We were at the
Academy together.  Shit."

"Shit," Myers agreed.

********

The ringing phone brought her out of a deep sleep; she had to burrow
out of the comforter to fumble for the cell phone on her bedside
table. Her hand grabbed it and pulled it back into the warm nest she'd
made of the covers.

"Scully," she grumbled into the phone.

"Agent Scully, I apologize for the late hour."

"Sir?"  Scully sat up, alarmed and confused.  Why was Skinner calling
her at - she checked the clock - 1:17 in the morning?  "What's
happened?  Mulder?"

She heard him cough uncomfortably on the other end of the line.  He
paused a moment before answering.  "No, Agent, nothing like that.
Agent Scully, there was a raid tonight, on a warehouse out in Howard
County."

"Sir?" she repeated, not understanding what this had to do with her.

"The SAC on the scene called me, because he knows you're one of my
agents.  One of his agents found -" his voice paused again, feeling
its way around these words.

"What, sir?" she asked, trying to remain patient.

When Skinner spoke again, his words were clipped and professional, an
AD conveying a concise report of the situation to his agent.  "An
Agent Macmillan reported finding an unplugged refrigerator filled
with glass vials.  They're labeled with names and dates."

Her stomach twinged.  She knew what was coming next.

"This agent recognized your name on some of the vials."

"What were the dates?" she asked, her voice flat, detached.

"They coincide with the time you were missing."

She sucked in a breath, feeling his words like a punch to her stomach.
"What's the address?  What else was found?"

"Agent Scully, I don't think it would be a good idea for you to show
up personally.  I will talk with the SAC and make sure you are kept
apprised of any developments."

"Sir, what's the address of the warehouse?"  

It was a demand thinly disguised as a question.

Skinner didn't sigh; that wasn't his style.  He merely stayed silent
for a moment, then gave her the location.

Scully disconnected the call, then automatically hit the speed dial
for Mulder's number.  There was no question of trying to keep him out
of this.  All she could think was: again, it's all starting again.

It took four rings before Mulder answered the phone; he must have
actually been asleep.  A muffled, sleepy groan was all the greeting
she got.

"Mulder, it's me."

The fog in his brain vanished at the sound of her voice.  Something
had happened.  "Scully?  What's wrong?"

"Get up and dressed.  I'm picking you up in a half hour."

"Scu-"

She hung up before he could ask any questions.  They could talk in the
car.

********

Scully's hands gripped the steering wheel as they drove through the
late-night city streets.  Mulder sat in silence next to her, waiting
for her to start.  Something was wrong, and she would tell him what it
was in her own good time.

Finally she said, "There was a raid on a warehouse tonight.  Over in
Howard County.  They found vials.  Some of them had my name on the
label."

Mulder looked at her without saying anything.  There was more, and he
would wait for it.

"There were dates on the label.  They match when I was missing."

Mulder's whole body went rigid, and he was suddenly short of breath.
His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.  He didn't want to reveal how
disturbed he was, though he was sure Scully had realized the impact of
her words and knew anyway.

He could feel it - they were starting on another carnival ride, the
Smoking Man's Funhouse, where the worst sorts of horrors lay in wait.
It wouldn't do to show the strain so early.  He needed to keep himself
calm, to be there for Scully, who was surely far more disturbed than
he by this latest development.

Her eyes were focused straight ahead, refusing to look at him.  He
reached out and gently pried her right hand from the steering wheel,
and she let him bring it to the space between them, where he held her
hand between both of his.  He wouldn't attempt anything more to
comfort her; she needed to hold it together long enough to face the
scene they were quickly approaching.

Her hand felt warm and safe in his.  All her life she'd wanted to be
completely independent, but at the moment she was glad she had someone
to share this burden, someone who understood what she needed - someone
who understood what comfort she could and could not accept as they
sped toward another confrontation with the atrocities They'd inflicted
upon her.

Scully turned into the parking lot of the warehouse, the site obvious
because of the number of vehicles now pulled up to it.  One of those
vehicles was an ambulance.  Had someone been hurt in the raid?  It had
been long enough now to have already gone to the hospital, if that had
been the case.

When Scully tried to reclaim her hand from Mulder's, he didn't let her
go right away.  She turned to look at him, her face blank.  He
squeezed her hand gently, and she let down her mask enough to smile a
soft, sad smile, squeezing his hand back in silent acknowledgement of
his support.

They got out of the car and approached the building, his hand pressing
softly at the small of her back.  It would keep them connected, keep
her grounded as she faced the other agents, agents who had no idea
what any of this was.

********

The SAC seemed to be expecting them, an impression he confirmed by the
first words out of his mouth.

"Agents Scully and Mulder?  Tom Logan.  I'm SAC for this little
affair.  Walt told me to expect you."

They could see the questions behind his eyes, the questions he
wouldn't ask.  They nodded in acknowledgement to the question he had
asked, and he began to lead them through the maze inside the
warehouse, filling them in on what they'd found so far.

"Bill Carson and Jake Myers found the room during our search of the
warehouse.  This was a drug raid; we were just checking out the
remainder of the premises.  We've got forensics taking care of the
body, and-"

"Body?" Mulder interrupted, feeling Scully tense beneath his hand.
She hadn't known about a body.

"Skinner must not have mentioned it.  We found a-" Logan paused for a
second before continuing, "...a child.  In the room where the vials
were found.  She has these-" again the pause, "pustules all over her
body.  They're-- ...they're *green*."

The SAC could see this meant something to the two agents.  The woman,
Agent Scully, closed her eyes briefly, and Logan saw the concern on
Agent Mulder's face as he looked at his partner.  Tension was rolling
off them in waves, but it wasn't the kind of tension that pulled
people apart.  If anything, the strain appeared to be holding them
closer together.  It was plain they hadn't been told about the body.
Hell, that made sense.  He hadn't bothered to mention it to Walt; he'd
just been thinking about Agent Scully's name on those little glass
tubes.

They were still looking at each other, and Logan could have sworn they
were having an entire conversation without saying a word.  Mulder
asked a question with his eyes; she answered the same way.  He was
glad they seemed to have such a close relationship - if Agent Scully
was somehow involved with whatever had been going on in that fly-by-
night operating room, she'd need someone by her side through this
whole mess.  Someone she could trust.

Mulder gave a nod, then turned back to Logan.

"Will you be in charge of this investigation?" he asked.

Logan shook his head.  "Probably not.  This is way outside the scope
of what we usually handle.  Have you two- ...have you seen this sort
of thing before?"  Logan knew they were from the X-files division,
knew 'Spooky' Mulder's reputation.  He'd never given much thought to
little green men before.  But that kid in there - that kid wasn't
human.

"Yes," Scully answered.  

Another look passed between them.  They'd never opened an official X-
file on Emily; that would have entailed a report to Skinner.  If Logan
wasn't going to continue as SAC, they weren't about to share any
information with him.  If the hybrid green blood was still dangerous,
somebody would've noticed by now, so no need to worry about that.

Would Skinner let them have this case?  Did they want this case?

Yes.  Sure, it was personal; technically, they shouldn't be anywhere
near the case whether they wanted it or not.  But it was also
connected with all the work they'd done on the Consortium.  That would
have to be convincing enough to get themselves assigned.  They would
go to Skinner in the morning, after they'd seen what they could in
this warehouse, and before anyone else had a chance to do the autopsy.

****

They followed Logan deep into the warehouse, Mulder worrying about
Scully, Scully concentrating on keeping her defenses up.  It might not
be one of hers, the child.  There were whole industrial-sized freezers
full of ova.  It could be from any one of them.

Inside the room where the body lay, a team of agents was collecting
the vials from the refrigerator units, searching through cabinets and
drawers for any more evidence.  Many of the original agents from the
raid had been sent away; Macmillan chose to stick around, see if he
could be any help.  He and Dana had been friends at the Academy, sort
of.  They'd hung out with the same group of people.  They hadn't run
into each other often since then, but just in case there was anything
he could do, he wanted to be there when she arrived at the scene.

No one had recognized any of the other women's names on the vials,
only Agent Scully's.  Those who knew who she was, who knew she worked
with Mulder down in the basement, who knew anything about the X-files,
looked at the green blisters on the child and wondered if ol' Spooky
wasn't quite as out there as they'd thought, after all.

Mac watched as SAC Logan entered the room, followed by Dana and her
partner, Agent Mulder.  He'd heard the rumors about Mulder, like
everyone else, but he'd never worked with him personally before.  They
both went immediately to the table in the center of the room, ignoring
the ME's who were getting the body ready for transport.

He was about to approach them, call out her name, but the look on her
face, a look that appeared for a brief instant before she could
control it, stopped him before he'd even started.  Unbelievable pain
and loss, but also a sort of resignation - as if she'd been down this
road before.  What had happened, in the almost ten years since they'd
known each other?

She reached out to touch the child's hair, stroking it gently.  Mulder
was standing very close behind her, his hand on her back.  Mac could
feel how tense he was from across the room, see the muscle in his jaw
clenching and unclenching.  Mulder was angry, incredibly angry, but he
was keeping it at bay, obviously for the sake of his partner.

Mac walked slowly to the table, not wanting to intrude, but drawn by
an insatiable need to know what the hell was going on.  They didn't
see him approach; they were looking at the child, talking softly in
half-phrases that didn't make any sense to him.

"Like me, instead of Missy."

"Not clones, then."

"No.  Another try.  God, Mulder, how many?"

Mulder didn't seem to have an answer for her, just gazed at her 
steadily.

She sensed Mac's presence, then, and whirled around, her eyes suddenly
hardening.

"Dana?"

She softened slightly, not smiling but not glaring at him either.

"Mac.  AD Skinner told me you were the one who found the vials."

Mac shrugged, not really knowing how to respond.  He wasn't sure it
was a good thing, those vials being found.  "Myers found them.  I
recognized your name."

"This is my partner, Agent Mulder.  Mulder, this is Darren Macmillan.
We went through the Academy together."  The men shook hands, murmuring
standard greetings.

What now?  Mac wanted desperately to know what they knew about this
strange child, but he had a feeling they weren't going to tell him.

"They're taking them to the lab, the vials."  Mac jerked his head in
the direction of the agents who were packing up the evidence.

Scully nodded.  She wanted to grab them, confiscate them, get them to
the Gunmen, to people they could trust, but for now she would go with
the system.  They didn't have the case yet, and she didn't want to
screw up their chances.  They would wait, and trust Skinner to come
through for them.

She had no wish to expose everything to these mostly-strangers; they
would have to hope the child's body didn't disappear as Emily's had.
Actually, maybe it was better if they didn't try to take over right
now - she'd never heard of any other agents having as much trouble as
she and Mulder did when it came to disappearing evidence.

"I'd like to take a look at the vials, now," she said, starting to
move away from Mac.

"Sure.  I... If there's anything I can do, Dana...?"

She took pity on him and laid a hand on his arm.  "Thank you, Mac.
It'll be fine."  She turned back to her partner, who put his arm
around her back once again.  Mulder gave him a look that seemed to say
he understood, he would do anything for her, too.

Mac nodded at him, glad she had someone at her side who unmistakably
cared for her.  Mulder nodded back, then crossed with his partner to
the examine the evidence.

********


end part 1/9 of Progeny
Missing chapters available at http://zephathah.tripod.com/

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