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Rated: PG
Category: MSR, M/S married, Post-Truth, Angst
Summary: Mulder and Scully contemplate integrating Jeffrey into
their family and putting him back to work at the F.B.I.
Spoilers: The Truth, Journey to the Distant Shore, After the Run.
Archive: Gossamer, any other nice home. Please ask first.
Feedback: patfiler2016@outlook.com. Always replied to!
Disclaimers: All Characters and the title X-Files are owned by
Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and Fox Studios. I make no money
from writing these stories, and I intend no copyright infringement.
There had always been an implicit understanding that business
was business and personal life was to be kept separate from the
working partnership. But that was blown out of the water after
Mulder was tried in a kangaroo court, sentenced to death and was
aided in escaping by Scully, Skinner, Doggett, Reyes, Kersh, and
Gibson Praise.
After the search for more Truth and more ammunition against
the aliens, Mulder and Scully could live their real lives over
again together. All the shared feelings that had to be kept
under wraps came to the fore.
The pair retrieved William. They even had two more children
to follow. Mulder and Scully were even reinstated with full
seniority back at the Bureau. Dr. Verber had regressed Mulder
to help him deal with his abduction and go on to live a more
normal life. The aliens were long gone. Invasion had been
successfully prevented.
What was missing here? Mulder was back at the X-Files, Scully
working with him part-time. The family was safe and well. The
home in Alexandria was perfect. Even Bill Scully had grown to
accept that Mulder was now his brother-in-law, and was helpless
to do much about it! (That tickled Scully pink. She disliked the
seemingly perpetual domination her brother had held over her head
for years). What was missing here? Mulder had a brother. Like it
or not, the sister he had lost had led him to his half-brother.
Jeffrey Spender. He was the son of "that cigarette-smoking son
of a bitch".
Jeremiah Smith had kept his promise to restore Jeffrey's
appearance and the young man was up-dating himself in FBI
protocol and policies, going through therapy to help undo the
years of torture, neglect and abuse he had suffered under his
father. The worst thing to have experienced was the close-range
shot in the face, followed by degrading torture and further
experimentation. But, father had payed.
Fox Mulder sat at his desk and thought about how to broach
the question of Jeffrey Spender's re-instatement with the Section
Chief and the other higher-ups. There had to be a careful
understanding that this was not a case of nepotism, that this had
nothing to do with their father's so-called *access* under the old
FBI Administration. The young man deserved every chance to
return to a job, and that was what he would have, if Mulder had
any say. *Call it compensation for fighting for your country*,
Mulder was thinking.
Scully walked into the office with a brighter than usual smile on
her face.
"Let me guess: William had no cavities!" her husband exclaimed.
"No, and neither did Meg. They were glad to be back at the
school after the check-up, Sam is doing her best to entertain
her Grandma, so I guess you could say we had a very good
morning. So, how goes it at the salt mines?"
"Oh, the violent crime stats are way down for this quarter,
Robinson in accounting is getting married, so we can claim
more damages from being on the road next time -- ruined suits
and broken shoes -- because he's in a very good mood. The
gossip crowd has absolutely everything to talk about, as usual.
And, I think it's time we looked at getting Jeffrey Spender
back here. After all, he was a promising agent and deserves
another chance."
"Why Fox Mulder! I think you really do care about that man!"
She kissed her husband on the lips.
"Well, besides the fact that he IS my brother, and uncle to
our children, his academy grades were great, he needs a job,
and this is what he was trained for, Scully. The Bureau."
Scully sat at her new desk. The one her husband had been
bound and determined to order for her. "So, in which
department? Interstate Theft? Kidnappings? Home Security?"
"The X-Files?" Mulder suggested. "You can't say he hasn't
had the experience of the wild, wonderful, hard-to-believe.
Not only here, but in his own life."
"Yes, but he had hardly any experience actually working out
of the X-Files Office before his father shot him. And Mulder,
his father got him here."
"I know," Mulder smiled understandingly. "I know. But, I think
we'd be good role models for him. He's a smart man, and he'll be
a quick study. You KNOW we could use another agent here, and I
think he'd do an excellent job once he got started. Scully, I
promised myself, I would do everything I could to undo what
that cretin who called himself a father did, and I will. I owe
Jeffrey that much."
"Can YOU handle it? The reminder that he is the son, and you
are the son of a man you despised? A man who led your sister
to her death? Mulder, I have to wonder!"
"I think I can, Scully. I think I can. Maybe I'm not a hundred
per cent sure, but I think it is worth giving it a try. If the
going gets tough, I have you to talk to. I know that."
"Well... all I can say is this: giving him a job here out of
gratitude and his need to work is one thing. But doing it to
assuage your guilt is quite another. Please, give this more
thought."
"My mind's made up. I'm going upstairs to make the case for him
tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I need my lovely wife's
assistance on this case from Augusta Georgia... "
It hadn't been his fault that he was used just as C.G.B.
Spender's other offspring, Fox Mulder. Jeffrey suffered many
"tests", living with Samantha Mulder for many of those agonizing
years. His mother had been tested and offered up to the aliens as
the first successful alien-human hybrid, and killed for it.
There had been so many losses for the two of them. But they were
brothers. Jeffrey did, after all, give William an injection of magnetite
to render the powers the genetic tampering caused useless.
Willaim was a normal little boy because his uncle had the courage
to help him - -the courage to make him absolutely useless and
undetectable to the grays and the supersoldiers. An act for which
Mulder and Scully were forever grateful.
Now, they were ready to display their gratitude.
Three weeks later, Fox and Dana Mulder had located Jeffrey
Spender via Gibson Praise, with whom he had been staying.
Although his appearance had been remarkably restored, he
chose to keep to himself, away from a world he had come to
distrust, much as his half-brother had once lived. One very
essential job for Dana Scully-Mulder and her husband was to
integrate Jeffrey into the Mulder family. Then, he would meet
the Scully family: her mother, brother Bill, sister-in-law
Tara, and their children.
For the time being, seeing his brother and his wife, and the
three little Scully-Mulders would be enough for the man to
handle.
William, Meg, and Sam were shy of the man at first. "Now, I
think he's just as scared as you are," Dana told the three, as
they sat on the livingroom floor playing Hot Wheels. Remember,
everybody is a stranger until we get to know them?"
William stood up and walked over to Jeffery rather hesitantly.
"Are you really my uncle?" he asked.
"Yes. And I first met you when you were this small... " he
gestured.
"Well I don't remember," William said with a puzzled tone.
"Must have been a long time ago."
"At least five years. Is that an Astin Martin you've been
racing?"
"Yeah," Meg replied. "And it's James Bond's car. Whoever HE
is. My Dad says he's a pretend spy."
"That's legendary spy. A character in a book and the movies,"
Scully corrected him.
"My fault," Mulder smiled. "I got a bit tired of reading Mother
Goose to William, and I guess I got carried away."
"Actually, he's very bright," Jeffrey offered. "As are his
father and mother."
"Speaking of bright, I hear you did very well on the
re-entrance exam," Scully commented. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Jeffery said, self-consciously. "I didn't think
I'd do well, considering my circumstances. Are the two of you
sure you want me back, working at the same place I obviously
didn't do my job, and obviously betrayed you?"
"That's all over and done with," Mulder declared. He looked
at his brother intently for a minute. "I wouldn't abandon
my own flesh and blood, You were unaware of what the set up
was. You don't need the guilt. And, you did the right thing
for William."
"Even if you did give me the wrong advice, you were only
thinking of William," Scully added with a smile. "It's all
in the past."
Meg broke in. "Uncle Jeffery, will you please help me get
this car out of the fish tank?"
"I'll take care of the car," Mulder told his little girl.
"You go get washed up for supper."
"Yes, Daddy."
"That goes for you, too, William," their mother added.
"Aww..."
"Aww, wash up," Dana Scully-Mulder insisted. "We're having
something special, and then after you all go to bed, Daddy
and Mummy need some time alone with your Uncle Jeffery."
As soon as the evening baths and bedtimes were over with, the
grown-ups sat and talked casually and relaxed.
"I think things are going rather well," Scully said over coffee.
"Look, I know you're a bit nervous, and still skeptical. Believe
me, we are very grateful for what you did to help William, and what
you said at the trial. All we want to do is get on with our lives, and
we want you to be a part of it."
"After all the losses we've had," Mulder continued, "this is the best
way for us to heal. And you know you've lost as well."
"I... can't dispute that," Jeffrey Spender admitted. "My mother,
my job, pretty much my identity -- if I ever had one. I... want to
thank you, Dana, for helping my mother when she was hospitalized.
And I want you to know I don't blame you for what happened to her."
"Thank you. And you must never blame yourself, Jeffrey. What your
father did was unimaginable. You could never have known the truth
about him."
"So, the offer still stands, Jeffrey. The X-Files Office has more
than its share of cases lately. Frankly, we need help, and we want
you there." Mulder was very sincere in the offer he had for his
brother. "Please, take the job."
"Look, if this is charity..."
"It is not charity," Mulder interrupted his brother. "It is a
good offer. You need the work; we need the extra hands."
"We also need another uncle for the children," Scully offered.
"Family ties are very important to me. Don't you dare dismiss that.
You are their flesh and blood. What matters to the children and to
my husband matter to me."
"Well, if you put it that way," Spender said, "I can't refuse.
Perhaps some day I'll have a family of my own. First, I guess I'll
have to get used to the one I have here."
"It won't be easy," Mulder cautioned him. "There will be rumours of
nepotism, favoritism, you name it. There will also be times when
you'll have clothing destroyed, experience the most grisly things
you've ever imagined, and sometimes you'll question your own sanity.
As long as we remember what partners are for, there should be no
need to lose anything but respect in the Accounting Department."
Scully smiled, fondly remembering some of the arguments she had
had over ruined shoes, lost cell phones and destroyed laptops.
"I take it you remember old Chesty Short," Jeffrey remarked.
"Yes, I think he was the biggest thorn in Mulder's side, too."
"Speaking of which, he has been replaced. Now, next Monday we
meet with Kersh for a briefing on the agreement, okay?"
"Okay." It was a simple statement. Only time would tell if
things really would be "okay", but Mulder was satisfied with
Jeffrey's answer.
END
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