Rated PG 
Spoilers: None I can think of 
Keywords: MSR, V, A, Post Colonization
Summary: We cling to those truths which keep us sane 

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters (Except for the Kid), 
and even if  I *DID* I wouldn't be making any money off of 
them.  With all their medical bills, and lost despot's for 
cars, boats, cell phones, yadda yadda yadda, I'd be broke 
within the first year.  No, CC owns them and is welcome to 
them because he's one of the few men out there who can AFFORD 
them!  So, CC don't sue, 'coz you aren't going to get 
anything from me... 
  

Author's Notes: I know, I know...it sounds Sappy at 
first...but just read it though...I dont WRITE Sap... >;-}  



Illusions
By Torra 
joevan@ix.netcom.com
  

"Daddy?  DADDY!" 

 "Sam!" Fox Mulder ran towards is five year old daughter, 
picking her up in his arms and swinging her around, laughing. 

"I MISSED you, Daddy!" the girl protested, giving her father 
a pout that she had undoubtedly learned from him. 

 "I missed you too." he laughed, resting her on his hip, 
holding her safely in his embrace. 

 "What? Didn't anyone miss me?" 

 Fox turned around and smiled at his seven month pregnant 
wife, "Every day, love.  Every day." 

 "Good." Dana Scully grinned and put her arm around her 
husband and child, "Can't let a good 'Welcome Home' dinner go 
to waste." 

 "Waste?  Why would it be wasted?" Mulder asked. 

 "Because you wouldn't be eating it...you'd be WEARING it!" 
Dana laughed, pinching Fox on the side. 

 Fox laughed and waggled his eyebrows and gave his wife an 
affectionate leer, "Is that a suggestion?"

 "No, *that's* dessert..." Dana grinned, giving him a leer of 
her own. 

 "Mom?  Dad?" 

 Both adults were startled by the sudden interruption and 
blushed, "What is it, hon?" Mulder asked first. 

 "How long until my baby brother--" 

 "Or sister." Scully corrected absently 

 Samantha Ann Mulder rolled her young eyes, clearly having 
been corrected many times before, "--or sister will be born?" 

 "We've told you before, Dear.  In three more months, now.  
We're getting close, though." Dana Scully smiled. 

 Sam paused, still resting happily in her father's arms, then 
asked, "How'd he...OR SHE...get in there, then?" 

Dana and Fox exchanged nervous looks, silently communicating 
their apprehension through their eyes. 

 "Well...you see..." Dana started. 

 "The birds and the bees..." Fox attempted 

 "Bees?  Like those nasty ones that bad Smoking-Man likes?" 
Sam asked innocently. 

 "...Nooo....These are *good* bees...." 

 "Oh....so how did BEES get him or her in there?" Sam asked, 
pointing to her mother's rounding stomach. 

 Dana and Fox exchanged looks again. //GOOD one, 
Mulder....YOU handle this// Dana's eyes told her husband. 

 "Hum....tell you what....why don't you go ask your Grandpa 
Skinner?" 

 "FOX!" Dana laughed, shocked. 

  "He has a kid...he's been though this before!" Fox 
protested. 

Dana rolled her eyes, "Next thing I know, you'll be reading 
her bed-time stories from 'The Lone Gunman.'" 

 Sam looked confused again and whispered loudly to her 
father, "I thought that was our secret?" she pouted. 

 Dana pulled back and crossed her arms, raising one eyebrow. 

 Fox could tell he was in trouble, and he was loving every 
minute of it. Pulling his wife back into his embrace, he held 
his family close. "I love you guys." He smiled. 

 "We love you too, Daddy!" Sam smiled, hugging her father's 
neck with her small arms. 

 "I love you too, Mulder." Dana smiled. 

 "Don't worry, Scully...I love you...you can call me Fox." He 
smiled and kissed his wife. 
  

***** 

 "Such a pity, really." The tall, old man said, looking 
though a window into the next room, "He could have done SO 
much for us." 

 "He could have destroyed us...we should have killed him a 
long time ago!" The second, younger man hissed, balling his 
good hand into a fist. 

 "He was useful to us, then." the first man explained in calm 
tones to his impertinent underling. 

 "Then why isn't he dead NOW?"  the underling growled. 

 "Who knows, he may still be of use to us." 

 "But WHY--?" the second man started again. 

 "DON'T QUESTION OUR DECISIONS!" the first man hissed, anger 
creeping into his voice. 

 Chided, the second man stepped down, figuratively and 
literally, leaving the room. 

 A third man stepped from the shadows. "He's right, you know.  
He's no use to us like this.  Not after what we did to his 
family." 

 The first man shrugged ever so slightly, "We had our 
reasons.  Pity really. His wife was quite brilliant.  And 
they did have a beautiful child.  Ah well."  Shrugging, the 
tall man gave one last look though the window and left the 
room. 

 Now the only one left in the room, the third man reached 
into his pocket and retrieved a box wrapped in cellophane.  
Taking a cigarette from it, he placed it between his lips, he 
paused. 

 "If only they hadn't included your mother in the bargain.  
At least the clones are surviving." 

 Lighting up his cigarette, the man took a deep drag and held 
it in his lungs for a moment, before exhaling and leaving the 
room himself, closing the door with a cold finality. 

Inside the room, a lone figured lay on a metal slab, his body 
naked except for a pair of silvery-gray athletic boxers, his 
body hooked up to tubes and wires. 

 And inside the room, Fox Mulder dreamed his family was still 
alive...and happy. 
  
  

fin