Part 2

They couldn’t get anything else out of the child.

“What does he mean?” Mulder asked Scully as he settled the sleeping child down on the couch in his apartment and covered him with a blanket. “This isn’t making much sense.”

“X Files don’t tend to, usually,” Scully sighed. “And that note did say this was an X File.”

“But where is Skinner?” Mulder paced around. “Was he abducted? Is this kid related to him in some way?”

“I have no idea.” Scully yawned. “I’ve been up for 24 hours, Mulder. I’ve stopped being able to think let alone understand any of this.”

Mulder went into the bathroom and retrieved the sick-drenched shirt, bringing it back to show Scully.

“Yes, very nice.” She pinched her nose. “What am I looking for?”

“Does it look like one of Skinner’s?” Mulder asked her.

“Well…possibly.” Scully held it up, trying to ignore the stench. “It’s about the right size. And it’s white. That’s about as far as it goes, I suppose.”

“Let’s send it off and test it. And while we’re at it, see if we can track down any old blood samples of Skinner’s. Test them against those the kid had done today.”

“All right.” Scully yawned again. “This whole thing really is a mystery, Mulder.”

“There’s one quick way we could solve it.” Mulder smiled.

“What’s that?” Scully asked.

“We could stick a knife into the back of Red’s neck and see if any green slime pours out!” Mulder grinned.

“Mulder!” Scully scolded. “Now I’m going home to get some sleep. I’ll stop by tomorrow with the results on that shirt.”

Mulder noticed that she couldn’t resist bending down to deposit a kiss on Red’s sleeping face as she left the apartment.

Mulder slept on the floor next to the couch, his dreams full of clones. He heard Red screaming, his head being severed from his small body, green pus devouring his features, burning holes in those solemn dark eyes and he woke up with a start, his heart pounding.

“Red?” He patted the couch, wanting to reassure himself. The blanket was there but no body lay underneath it. “RED!” Mulder got up and turned the lights on, running round the apartment madly, looking in the bathroom, under the kitchen table. Nothing. “Red!” He ran out into the corridor, down to the elevator. Still nothing. Shaking, Mulder returned to his apartment and rang Scully.

“You need to calm down and think.” Scully told him. “Is there any sign of a break in?”

“No.” Mulder paced frantically.

“Then he let himself out.”

“But why? I was taking good care of him, Scully. I like the little guy. Where is he, Scully? Where would he go? Why would he go?” Mulder was beside himself with worry.

“I don’t know, Mulder. But we’ll find him. Look, I’m coming over right now. Wait there for me.”

Mulder couldn’t wait. He set off along the street, running, looking under hedges and into people’s windows.

“Red, Red…” He called.

“Lost your cat?” A man asked sympathetically.

“No, my kid. Small guy, about 4 years old…Have you seen him?” Mulder asked desperately.

“Sorry.” The man gave him a strange look and carried on his way. Scully found him a few minutes later. She opened the car door and he got in, burying his face in his hands.

“This is my fault,” he groaned. “Oh, Scully, he’s so small and he’s out here, roaming the streets somewhere. We’ve got to find him. I can’t lose him…I can’t lose another…This can’t happen to me again.”

“Mulder, no!” Scully said fiercely. “He isn’t Samantha. We will find him. We will. This isn’t your fault!”

“Isn’t it?” Mulder queried. “I mean how many small kids can a guy manage to lose without trace in his life?”

“Stop it, Mulder!” Scully said. “Please, you won’t find him if you’re all screwed up with guilt like this.”

“You’re right. I need to think.” Mulder said. “I’m missing something basic here. Take me to the office, Scully. I want to check something. I must have missed something. Something is just EATING at me.”

They checked with the police and the hospitals but found nothing. Then Scully read the report on the shirt and the blood samples, which had just arrived. She took a sharp intake of breath.

“Mulder. You’ve got to read this,” she said, handing it to him.

“What? What is it?” Mulder’s eyes devoured the information. “I don’t understand.” His eyes met Scully’s. “What’s it saying? That he is a clone?”

“Not exactly.” Scully shook her head.

“What then? It says Red’s blood sample matches Skinner’s. A 100% match. What does that mean? Skinner’s his dad?”

“No.” Scully shook her head again. “Don’t you understand, Mulder? The results…I can’t believe I’m saying this…the results seem to imply that Red is Skinner.”

Mulder sat down, fumbling for his chair.

“I don’t get it,” he breathed deeply. “I don’t understand, Scully.”

“Neither do I.” Scully told him. “But that’s what it seems to be implying. Also the results on the shirt seem to back up the blood tests – it’s definitely one of Skinner’s shirts.” Looks like your informant, whoever he is, was right. This is an X File.

“But what’s happened to him? You’re saying Skinner has been, what? Transformed? Regressed?” Mulder thought about the child’s drawings – far too mature for a boy his age, how he had known his way around the Hoover building, how he had found his way to Skinner’s office the previous day. “I can believe it,” he said slowly. “I really can believe it. Someone did this to him, Scully. But how much of it does he remember?”

“Who knows?” Scully said. “Surely not much or he would have told us.”

“But he knew where to find those photographs. He does have some adult memories. I mean it’s not like he’s been taken back in time to being 4 again. He hasn’t once asked for his mom or dad…I’m sure a 4 year old would and…” Mulder paced around the room, trying to piece it together. “That’s where he is!” He exclaimed at last. “Scully, we need to find an address for Skinner – where he would have been living as a kid.” He got up and accessed the records database, called up Skinner’s file. “Got it.” He picked up his jacket and ran for the door.

“Mulder it’s a long shot.” Scully warned. “I mean he’s 4 years old! He doesn’t have any money. How’s he going to get all the way back to…” she checked the screen. “Maine?” she asked incredulously.

“I don’t know. I just know that’s where he’s headed.” Mulder disappeared.

They had been driving at a break-neck pace for a half an hour when Mulder’s cell phone rang.

“It’s the police.” Mulder said. “They’ve found him, Scully!” He swerved the car round and started making off in a different direction.

“They have? Where?” Scully asked.

“Trying to hitch a ride!” Mulder grinned. “All the way to Maine! Luckily he was picked up by a kind granny on her way to the drugstore first thing to get some pills and not by some crazy pervert roaming the streets looking for little kids.”

Mulder screeched the car to a halt and ran into the police station, burst through some doors and found Red sitting solemnly in a chair swinging his legs, looking thoughtful.

“Red!” Mulder ran over to him, swung him up, kissed the child’s head and then spent the next couple of seconds alternately hugging and shaking him. “God we were worried about you! Don’t ever do anything like that again.”

Red stared at him with big, scared eyes. “Sorry, Fox,” he whispered, putting his arms around Mulder’s neck and clinging on again. “You said you…I thought you wanted to put something into my neck. They put something into my neck.”

“Oh shit. You heard me talking last night?” Mulder sighed, looking at Scully. “I was just kidding, Red. I would never hurt you. You know that don’t you, Red?”

“Yes, Fox.” Red smiled and Mulder found himself giggling with relief.

“Mulder look.” Scully pointed and Mulder stared at Red’s clothing. “These fitted him perfectly yesterday.” Scully said. Mulder saw what she meant. Now Red’s clothes seemed too tight on him, as if he had grown a couple of inches overnight.

“What’s happening to me?” Red whispered his eyes large and fearful. “Fox…”

“Don’t you dare be sick on me again!” Mulder told him, recognizing the signs. Red nodded and swallowed.

“Breathe deep, Red.” Mulder set off round the room. “Come on, Red, breathe deeply.” He distracted the child until the moment and passed and Red seemed less anxious. “You’re going to be fine. I’m going to sort this out.” Mulder told the boy firmly. “I don’t care who you are, I’m going to sort this out for you. You understand?”

Red nodded.

****

“Okay, Red.” Mulder sat the boy down at his kitchen table as Scully made the toast. He wondered exactly how his apartment had taken on this air of domestic normality, the smells of breakfast and the toys and paraphernalia of childhood. It was strange, like being in someone else’s home. Red sat opposite him, munching on his breakfast. He looked thinner than he had and he was definitely taller. Mulder didn’t like the pallid tone to his skin. He stared at the child, trying to see some trace of his boss in him. Was it possible that this enchanting small boy was Skinner? Was it even vaguely plausible? Okay so he had the lab results but even so – it was preposterous wasn’t it? Yet since when had he been one to discount impossible truths just because they were implausible? Skinner was missing and the child existed. A child with strange medical problems, an odd metabolism and jumbled memories. A child who nobody seemed to be missing. A child who was growing at an alarming rate. The child in question stared back at Mulder with those horribly solemn eyes.

“Red – we think we know who you are.” Mulder said, exchanging a glance with Scully. Scully brought over a cup of coffee for Mulder and a glass of milk for Red.

“Should we…I mean do you think he’d prefer coffee?” she asked, as much at a loss over how to treat their guest as Mulder was.

“I don’t know. But Scully he isn’t behaving like an adult. I mean he wanted to play at the mall and he liked those toys you bought him. I just don’t know.” Mulder shook his head. “And then, you’d think if he was…well, himself then he’d be asking us to treat him differently, prowling around giving orders or yelling or something!” Mulder turned his attention back to Red who had been listening to this conversation. “So, Red…I was saying, we think we know who you are.”

Scully sat down next to Red and smiled reassuringly at him.

“Something bad was done to you, Red, wasn’t it?” She asked. Red stopped chewing and looked from Mulder to Scully and back again. He nodded, mutely. “Was there a struggle? You were overpowered?” Scully asked. Red closed his eyes and nodded again.

“Let’s go slowly here, Scully.” Mulder said. “I think every time he remembers this stuff it makes him ill. Think about it – the first time he was sick was just after he started speaking. He was talking about going home and I asked him his name. Then again at the house, when he remembered being given something to drink. Then at Skinner’s apartment when he saw all that stuff that had been knocked over.”

“I agree,” Scully nodded. “But it’s more than just an emotional stress response I think. I suspect he’s pretty queasy most of the time. And have you noticed how much he can eat? And how thin he is?”

“Well he’s grown by a couple of inches overnight. It’s hardly surprising his body can’t take the strain.” Mulder pointed out.

Red carried on eating, watching both of them as they spoke. His face had changed slightly, Mulder noted – the features were more pronounced. He looked more like a 6-year-old now.

“Red.” Mulder reached out and touched the child’s hand. Red smiled. “We think we know your real name. Do you know it?” Red nodded and gulped down the glass of milk that Scully had given him. “Is it…are you…” Mulder paused. This really was absurd. “Is your name Walter?” He asked. Red nodded again.

“Walter Sergei Skinner,” he said. “132, Maryland Avenue, West…” He said it as if by rote, as if it was something he had been taught and then he stopped, his face desperately confused. “I don’t live there any more,” he whispered.

“No. You don’t.” Scully tried to smile reassuringly but she felt a small knot of fear in her stomach. How had this been done to him? It was hideous, obscene. She thought of her boss, Assistant Director Skinner, a man with a powerful physical presence and a strong personality. A clever, private man regressed back into this child’s body. How could it have been done? Her mind went over those test results and she tried to piece together some medical way in which this had been accomplished.

“Where do you live now?” Mulder asked.

“Here?” Red looked even more confused.

“No. Before here.” Mulder said gently.

“Crystal City.” Red whispered. He put his child’s fingers up to his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose as if it hurt him. That was all the confirmation that Mulder needed. He had seen Skinner use that same gesture on a number of occasions. It was an adult gesture. It looked strange on a small boy. “There are things in my head.” Red told Mulder, his eyes lost and desolate. “I don’t understand them. My mom and dad…I went away. And now they’re gone aren’t they?”

“Yes.” Mulder said quietly.

“Fox…Agent Mulder, Agent Scully…” Red looked terrified. “Everything in my head is like this.” He pointed to the scrambled eggs on his plate. “I was big and then I was tiny. There were colors and noise and they made me ill. Tubes and they made me breathe it…I had to breathe it…” Red started to choke and it was too much for Mulder. He got up and lifted the child into his arms.

“What did they make you breathe, Red?” Scully asked softly.

“The green stuff. The stuff you were talking about.” Red told Mulder, twining his hands around Mulder’s neck. “I tried not to but I had to take a breath and when I did, it was in me. I didn’t breathe again.”
Mulder stared at Scully.

“It sounds like…” Mulder began, “that is, I remember reading about the way we’d go scuba diving in the future – that we’d all be fitted with a special lung, a sort of gill that was inside us so that we could take oxygen from the water like fish? That sounds like what Red is talking about. And you remember those clone people? The ones I saw being grown? They were in these big tanks, surrounded by green stuff. Emily could have been grown like that, Scully.”

“And Red, Skinner could have been regressed back the same way?” Scully asked incredulously.

“Why not?” Mulder said impatiently. “It could have been an experiment that went wrong.”

“Or right.” Scully pointed out. “I mean if it’s true then it’s an amazing feat of biological engineering. And possibly a cure for old age. But why Skinner, Mulder? Why pick him as a test subject?”

“Because they knew I’d investigate it?” Mulder paced around the room, with Red still clinging to his neck. “I don’t know why else. I don’t even know why me, but then when do I ever!” He grinned.

“The question is…” Scully began.

“How do we put him back to the way he was before? Can we put him back even?” Mulder asked.

“We have to try. His body is obviously under enormous stress from the whole process.” Scully sighed as she glanced at Red’s pale face and drawn features. “And what alternative do we have? We bring him up? He seems to be making better sense of his memories as time passes and he’s growing as well. Before we know it we might find we have on our hands a fully adult Skinner inside the body of a sulky, hormonal teenager!”

“Not a prospect to look forward to!” Mulder grinned.

“I’ll go and check on the data we got from the house.” Scully pushed back her chair. “You keep him fed – his body needs as much fuel as possible right now. And keep him quiet and distracted as well. I don’t want him stressed out again. Or getting sick. There’s no point taking him back to the hospital. They aren’t going to be able to understand what was done to him and I can’t even begin to try and explain it to them. No. It’s down to us,” Scully said. “You know I hate to say this, Mulder, but you were right. Thank god we didn’t hand him over for temporary fostering. Who knows what might have happened to him then?”

“We still don’t know.” Mulder said. “Although the idea of keeping Red in exchange for Skinner is kind of appealing…”

“Mulder!” Scully scolded. “I’d be careful what you say around him anyway!” She grinned at her partner. “If he does get back to normal you have no idea how much of all this he’ll remember!”

“You need to get some sleep. Up half the night like that.” Mulder wrapped Red in a blanket and put him on the couch. Red lay there, watching Mulder as he moved around the room, picking up toys and abandoned shoes and stuffing them into a corner. “You have to close your eyes,” Mulder grinned. “You can’t sleep with them open. Look, you want me to read you a story or something?” He stopped bustling and shook his head. “This is so weird. Look, Red, I have no idea whether in your head you’re 6 or 46. I don’t know how to treat you. What do you want me to call you? What do you remember?”

“What sort of story?” Red asked, ignoring both questions.

“Well…” Mulder surveyed his bookcase. “I suppose ‘101 Real Life UFO Abduction Experiences’ wouldn’t interest you? ‘Inside the Psychopathic Mind’? No? Probably right, not good bedtime reading. You know, Red, I’m not really set up for kids here. I could make a story up if you like?”

Red nodded and Mulder went and sat down beside him, thinking. How about a tale of small, solemn boys who grow up to be big, brave Assistant Directors of important government institutions? No, perhaps not. He made up a ridiculous story about an alien creature living inside a refrigerator that made Red giggle which was when he realized his mistake. Bedtime stories should not make children laugh, they should make them fall asleep. He changed the tone of the story and of his voice and a few minutes later Red’s eyes had closed and he was breathing deeply.

Mulder didn’t dare fall asleep after the previous night. He phoned Scully to find out what was happening, then sat back and stared down at Red. It was weird. He knew this child, logically, was Skinner, but that wasn’t how he saw him. Red was still the child he had rescued from that house, the kid who clung to his neck and was frequently sick all over him. As far as Mulder was concerned there was Skinner and there was Red and they were two entirely separate entities. And until Red made him think any different he was going to carry on treating them as such. “I hope you’re not playing tricks on me, sir,” he murmured, watching Red sleep. “Just pretending to be all cute and kid-like when really you’re fully yourself. That would be scary!” He couldn’t resist putting a hand on Red’s dark hair and stroking softly.

One lost child meets another, Scully thought, staring down on the pair of them when she returned to the apartment later that afternoon. Despite his intentions Mulder had fallen asleep. Scully shook her head. This really was a ludicrous situation. Yet Red’s confusion and need for reassurance were very endearing and Mulder was responding as only a man who tortured himself over the loss of his 8 year old kid sister could. Scully had never realized before what a strong desire Mulder had to be needed. Red was bringing out some hidden instinct in him.

“Mulder.” She shook him gently awake and placed a finger to her lips, gesturing with her head to Red’s still sleeping form.

“What have you found out?” He whispered, getting up and going to the kitchen.

“A bit. First thing’s first – whatever is happening to Red is going to kill him.” Scully said bluntly. “We need to slow down that rate of growth – his body can’t cope with it.”

“And can we do that?” Mulder asked.

“I think so. It’s a total experiment but everything we do with Red will be,” Scully sighed. “I think I can put him on some medication that will keep his body growth stable. That will buy us some time to work on the equipment in that house, see if we can find a way to reverse the process.”

“You think it can be reversed?” Mulder asked.

“I have no idea.” Scully shrugged. “But I intend to try. Now look, you aren’t going to be much use to me on the scientific stuff and Red needs full time care. I suggest you look after him as best you can while I try and find some answers.”

“I don’t know, Scully…” Mulder began.

“Yes, I know, sitting idly by waiting for someone else to find the truth isn’t your style, Mulder, but you have Red to think about. He’s bonded with you and only you are going to be able to make any sense of whatever memories he has in his head. Incidentally I have a theory on that as well.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” Scully took a deep breath. “I think that his body is telling him one thing and his mind something else. He’s effectively blocking out all the memories that his 6 year old self can’t make any sense of. However every now and again something comes back that reminds him…”

“And then he’s sick.” Mulder put in.

“Well, when the memory is particularly stressful to him, yes.” Scully nodded. “It’s just a theory, but like you said, he is behaving like a 6 year old. A very shy and well behaved six year old but…”

“We don’t know that he wasn’t a well behaved and shy 6 year old.” Mulder pointed out.

“I suppose not. And this is an unusual situation so that could explain why he is so subdued and quiet. However it’s up to you to bring him out of himself, Mulder. Right now he is one very mixed up, unhappy little boy. If you could make him secure enough to be able to access his more recent memories without getting anxious, that could help the nausea problem. He trusts you.”

“God knows why,” Mulder grinned.

“Because you’ve been brilliant with him,” Scully told him in surprise. “Mulder you should see yourself. Now I’ve got the medication…” She was interrupted by a wailing sound and they exchanged a look and then ran back into the other room.

“Fox…Fox…!” Red was sitting up, his eyes bleary, looking around the room for his mentor.

“I’m here. It’s okay, just a nightmare.” Fox soothed the child. Tears were pouring down Red’s cheeks as he carried on looking around the room.

“There were trees and people in the shadows and people trying to kill me and I couldn’t see and speak and they hurt me, I was bleeding…” Red ran out of breath.

“Just a nightmare,” Mulder told him, stroking the child’s hair gently, wiping his tears with his sleeve.

“Or a memory,” Scully murmured. Mulder looked at her. “Vietnam?” she queried.

“Shit.” Mulder sighed. “How on earth do you cope with a kid who has memories like that? How can I explain it to him?”

“I have no idea. You’re the psychologist.” Scully smiled sweetly. “Now here’s those tablets Mulder. See that he takes one every mealtime. I’ll call you again when I have any information.” And so saying she left them to it.

****

Mulder took Red back to the mall to buy him some more clothes.

“Now look,” he said, as he signed the check for a new pair of sneakers, “when you’re back to normal I don’t want you querying this expense account all right? This stuff is all for you and I think that’s a legitimate Bureau expense don’t you?” Red stared up at him.

“Can we play on the elephant again?” he asked. Mulder grinned.

“Try and keep us away!”

Red was starting to look a lot better by the evening. Mulder tucked him up on the couch again and they watched “Lost in Space” and two Batman movies in a row.

“Fox…” Red began as they demolished 3 pizzas between them.

“Hmm.” Mulder handed the child some popcorn.

“Will you take me back?”

“Back where?” Mulder turned to look at the child.

“To where I lived then.”

“Maine?” Mulder queried. Red nodded.

“If you want, Red, but it’s not how you remember it.” Mulder told him. Red shook his head.

“Nothing’s how I remember, Fox,” he said quietly. “I don’t remember McDonald’s and brilliant shoes like this.” He held out his feet and stared at the sneakers with an appreciative sigh. “But I do as well…and VCR’s…I don’t remember them but I…I had one, didn’t I?”

“Very probably.” Mulder sighed. How on earth was Red going to make sense of living in two different time zones, the one where he had been as a 6 year old and the present day? He had memories of both, he just couldn’t reconcile them. Mulder couldn’t see how the kid could begin to make sense of what was going on in his head.

“We’ll go back then?” Red asked. “I need to see.”

“Okay.” Mulder nodded. “We’ll go back.”

They set off the next day. Mulder examined Red to make sure all his clothes still fitted him but Scully’s experimental medication seemed to have worked – in the short term at least. Red behaved as if he’d never been on a plane before in his life, alternately hiding behind Mulder’s legs or running off to look at something that interested him. He could swing from being confident and curious to being shy and introverted in the space of half a second and Mulder became worn out with the effort of either coaxing him out from behind him or searching around to find out where he’d gone.

“Kids!” he moaned to himself as he stared around the airport terminal looking for that now familiar dark head. He located Red crawling through a tunnel made by a pile of someone’s luggage and set off to pull him out. “RED!” He yelled, noticing that the luggage’s owner had fastened her beady eye on the child and was storming over with a face like thunder. Honestly, were all kids like this? You turned your back for a second and they disappeared? Red emerged from the luggage looking sheepish.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” he protested as Mulder hauled him off, just beating the maddened old lady to it.

“Yeah, I know,” Mulder grinned. “But people get kind of funny when you touch their stuff. Now can you stay next to me please? I don’t want you going off and getting yourself lost again.”

Red nodded, a sulky look on his face and spent the next ten minutes matching every step that Mulder made with a series of pedantic and exaggerated strides, sticking to Mulder’s side like glue.

“Oh for heaven’s sake!” Mulder cried in exasperation when he had fallen over Red for the fifth time.

“Well you said to stay next to you…” Red told him innocently.

“You know what I meant,” Mulder told him. “Don’t play games with me, Red. I’ve been in more trouble than you can even begin to think of getting into and I know all the excuses as well. Now go and buy yourself something. Chocolate, a magazine, I don’t care what.” They had established that Red could read. Better than most 6 year olds, and his writing was as good as his drawing had been. He still expressed himself like a 6 year old though. When Mulder had asked him to write a diary, he had put down: “Went to mall. Ate burger. Came back. Fox got me sneakers.” And had seemed rather proud of himself for managing this much. His writing wasn’t Skinner’s neat, curling scrawl but all the same, it was semi-joined up and didn’t slant too much.

Red loved the plane. He stared out of the window, asked Mulder a hundred different questions about engines, insisted on playing endless games of ‘I Spy’ until Mulder thought he would scream, and devoured a whole bar of chocolate which he then proceeded to throw up again as the plane took off. Luckily Mulder had a bag ready for just this eventuality. He was quite relieved when they reached their destination and he was able to carry the sleeping child from the plane and into a taxi. How did children get so dirty? Mulder wondered, surveying Red’s grubby knees and chocolate stained mouth.

They checked into a hotel where they stopped just long enough for Mulder to run a damp washcloth over Red’s face and then they set off for 132 Maryland Avenue. Red seemed confident enough as they arrived, but when they approached the house, he clutched Mulder’s hand.

“It’s different…” he whispered.

“I said it would be.” Mulder shrugged. “It’s been a long time, Red. Do you understand that?”

“I think so.” Red nodded. “How long?”

“Forty years,” Mulder said, watching the child carefully. Red stared at him and he could see him trying to process this information and failing.

“I don’t…I can’t think how long that is.” Red told him, his eyes regaining that lost, confused quality that they had whenever he failed to make sense of the memories he had.

“It’s just a long time,” Mulder shrugged, remembering how as a kid he had thought that the three days leading up to Christmas were a long time. Forty years must be way beyond Red’s comprehension.

“Can we go in?” Red asked, pushing open the gate nervously.

“We can try.” Mulder shrugged. He knocked on the door and politely explained to the lady who opened it that he used to live here. She was friendly enough and let them look round, made Mulder cup of coffee and Red some hot chocolate and even brought out some cookies which Red devoured with his usual enthusiasm.

“Sweet kid.” She smiled at Mulder. “You must be proud of him.”

“Um…yeah. He’s had a tough time. Been ill.” Mulder nodded.

“Oh, poor thing.” The lady knelt down beside Red and patted him affectionately as people tended to. “Are you better now, Red?” Red looked at Mulder for confirmation and then nodded. He hadn’t said a word since entering the house but he knew his way around. However his look of hopeless confusion only worsened as the visit continued until finally Mulder made their excuses and they left.

“That wasn’t what you expected was it?” Mulder asked. Red shook his head, mutely. “Talk to me.” Mulder had worked out that Red went quiet when he was particularly confused or saddened and he needed to try and get inside those tortured memories. Red clearly couldn’t make any sense of them on his own.

“Tired.” Red muttered.

“I know. Talk to me anyway.” Mulder picked him up and walked with him down to the end of the path.

“I remember my mom and dad.” Red’s eyes were dark and tearless. He laid his head wearily against Mulder’s shoulder and continued. “They died didn’t they?” He asked. Mulder nodded. “They were here then, with me as I am now, small. Then I grew up and went away and they died. That happened later – after I grew up, when I got big. How old am I, Fox?” he asked.

“Physically, about 6.” Mulder told him. “In real life, I don’t know, about 46. Mentally…I have no idea. Sometimes 6 sometimes not. Sometimes you just know too much to be 6.”

“How old are you?” Red asked him, screwing up his face and obviously trying to make sense of ’46’ in his small head.

“37.” Mulder smiled.

“I’m older than you?” Red asked.

“Yeah.” Mulder followed a sign saying “beach”.

“What am I like?” Red asked. “What do I look like? You know me don’t you?”

“Yes. I work with you.” Mulder informed him, putting the child down on the sand and staring out at the sea. “And you’re tall. About the same height as me and sort of broad, muscular.”

“Tall?” Red held out his arms to be picked up again and Mulder obliged with a sigh. “I think I’m used to seeing things from up here.” Red looked down at the sea and the sand and some children digging a hole. “What work do we do?” Red asked.

“We investigate things.”

“What sort of things?” Red looked intrigued. “Are we policemen?”

“Sort of.” Mulder shrugged. “We investigate bad things other people do and we solve mysteries.”

“Brilliant.” Red breathed, looking rather excited by this idea. “Scully as well?”

“Yeah. She’s my partner.” Mulder smiled.

“You said I was your partner,” Red complained with a little pout.

“Yeah, you are now. But at work, it’s me and Scully.”

“And big me?” Red asked.

“Well, you don’t really work with us, Red. You’re our boss. You understand that?”

“I think so.” Red nodded. “But I help solve mysteries sometimes?” He asked.

“Yeah. Sometimes.” Mulder grinned. “But mostly you just give us a hard time. That’s your job.”

“No!” Red grinned back and smothered Mulder’s cheek with noisy kisses. “I’m nice,” he said confidently. “I bet I find lots of bad people and tie them up and shoot them.”

“Hmm, well, maybe.” Mulder considered this. “But mostly you just let us do all that.”

“I want to do it.” Red insisted. “I want to have a gun like you and wear one of those badges on my clothes and chase people and stuff. Say I do that, Fox.”

“Yeah, you do.” Mulder gave in. “You’re a real action man, Red, forever tracking down bad guys and locking them up. You’re the best agent in the FBI. That’s how you got to be my boss.” Red grinned and struggled to get down, running off across the beach and shooting at imaginary bad people. Mulder couldn’t stop himself joining in, chasing a screaming Red and grabbing the giggling child around the stomach, throwing him into the air and threatening to duck him in the sea.

“Is it coming back to you? Do you remember any of it, Red?” Mulder asked the child later as they sat on the windswept beach eating an ice-cream.

“I remember bits.” Red nodded. “I remember being tall.”

“Do you remember me?” Mulder asked. Red stared at him with those intense brown eyes.

“Yes, Agent Mulder. I remember you.” Mulder started. For a moment Red had sounded just like Skinner, same dry tone of voice, same slight inflection. It was weird. Then Red took a lick of his ice cream and stuck his tongue out to show Mulder the contents. The moment passed…

Red didn’t sleep well. Mulder lost count of the number of times he had to get up to the child during the night. He tried stories, drinks of water, even singing (this one is really going to embarrass me if he ever gets back to normal, he thought to himself) but nothing worked. Mulder would just drop off to sleep and Red would call his name again.

“Damn it, Red. Can’t you just sleep?” He snapped at last, irritably. “You’ve got water, I’ve left the lamp on, there are no monsters ANYWHERE in the room, unless all this lack of sleep has turned me into one and you must be tired. It’s been a long day.” And turning into an even longer night he thought to himself.

“I’m sorry. Don’t be angry, Fox.” Red said in a small voice and Mulder immediately wished he hadn’t lost his temper. He got up and went over to Red’s bunk.

“Do you want to stay here, Red?” He asked. The child sat up and shook his head.

“Then let’s go.” Mulder called the airport, checked out the time of the next flight back to Washington, then, resignedly, he started packing their things up.

“When we get back…” Mulder hesitated. “Where do you want to go, Red? Do you want to go back to live at the Crystal City apartment?”

Red looked petrified.

“By myself?” he whispered. “Don’t make me do that, Fox. How will I get food? Who’ll look after me? What if I get sick again? Please don’t, Fox. I’m sorry I wouldn’t sleep. I’ll try harder, I promise but please don’t leave me there alone.”

“No, no. I didn’t mean that… I was just thinking… oh shit.” Mulder sighed. This whole thing was a complete minefield.

“I just want to go home.” Red told him. “With you. I feel safe there.”

Mulder tried to put himself inside the mind of a 6 year old child who woke up with memories of having been abducted and experimented on. A child who felt ill, lost and alone. A child who had no family and a lot of weird memories of being an adult. A child without any frame of reference, nothing to cling to except the first person who had found him and shown him any kindness and then he kicked himself, over and over again, for not seeing just how scary this must be for Red. No wonder he wanted to stay with the things that made him feel safe.

When they got back, Red ran excitedly around the apartment as if they had been gone for months, checking out where his clothes and toys were, chasing into the kitchen for some milk, back to feed the fish and pick up the ball Mulder kept in the corner.

“You want to shoot some hoops?” Mulder asked.

“YES! YES! YES!” Red yelled excitedly, chasing the ball across the room and straight into Scully.

“Hi.” Scully smiled at him.

“We’re going to play. Are you coming?” Red got hold of Scully’s hand and pulled her out of the apartment.

“Looks like it!” Scully exchanged a smile with Mulder and they set off.

“So what’s the news?” Mulder sat next to Scully on a bench and they watched as Red bounced the ball around with another kid.

“I’ve got some ideas – but we need to take Red into hospital for some more tests.” Scully said. “I’ve found a pediatrician connected to the FBI who’s prepared to help us without asking too many awkward questions. However…” Scully hesitated.

“What?” Mulder asked.

“The tests, Mulder. They’re pretty invasive.”

“Meaning what?” Mulder frowned.

“Red will find them uncomfortable.” Scully said. “You’ll have to explain to him why it’s worth it.”

“You mean why we’re going to take a kid who’s feeling perfectly fine and make him feel a lot worse?” Mulder asked her. “Why are we going to do that, Scully?”

“Because we don’t know if he’s going to stay fine.” Scully told him. “We can’t just ignore the growth problem, Mulder.”

“The medication’s working. He hasn’t grown at all since…”

“Mulder. We have to do the tests,” Scully told him firmly.

“All right.” Mulder sighed. “When do we start?”

“As soon as possible.”

Mulder called Red over and tried to explain it to him as best he could.

“But I don’t understand why!” Red complained. “I want to stay here. I want to play.”

“We’ll come back another time. I promise,” Mulder told him.

“But why do we have to go at all!” Red wailed.

“It’s for the best. To make you feel better.” Mulder said, getting up and handing Red his coat.

“But I don’t want to.” Red stamped his foot angrily, his arms going stiff and unhelpful as Mulder tried to stuff them into the coat. “I do feel better. I haven’t been sick for ages. Tell him, Scully.”

“Mulder’s right, Red,” Scully said gently. “We have to go to the hospital.”

“I don’t like you.” Red told her, turning his back on her. His face had scrunched up into an angry scowl. “Please, Fox.” He turned beseeching eyes on Mulder, clearly thinking him to be a softer touch than Scully. “Please. Please. Don’t let her make me. We don’t like her do we?”

“I’m sorry, Red.” Mulder shrugged. “But we need to try and get you back to the way you were before.”

“Don’t want to!” Red yelled.

“You have to.” Mulder insisted, looking at Scully in alarm. He had never seen Red like this before.

“Why? Why? Why?” Red cried.

“I told you…” Mulder began wearily.

“No. I don’t care about those things. I don’t care about any of that. I want to stay here and play. I don’t want to go.”

“You have to.” Mulder told him firmly.

“But why? Why?” Red repeated in a loud wail.

“Because I say so.” Mulder snapped, then shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe I just said that,” he murmured. “The classic parenting response.”

“Kids drive you to it.” Scully patted his arm sympathetically. “Come on, Red.” She got up and held out her hand for Red to hold. Red ignored it, giving her a look of pure venom and then suddenly turned and chased off across the park. Mulder exchanged a weary look with Scully and then set off after him. Red was fast but his 6 year old legs were no match for Mulder’s long strides. Mulder caught up with him and grabbed the collar of his coat. Red wriggled and kicked and it took all Mulder’s strength to hold him still. Finally he tucked the child under one of his arms and marched him back to where Scully was waiting.

“Our first tantrum,” he sighed, putting Red down and keeping a firm hold on the child’s arm. Red started to cry – long, noisy, attention-seeking sobs. “One day you’ll thank me for this. Believe me.” Mulder told him. Red just scowled and upped the volume.

“Ignore him?” Scully suggested.

“He doesn’t want to go to hospital. I can identify with that,” Mulder grinned at her. “It just makes him sensible in my book! Hey, Red, how about we get a huge tub of ice-cream and eat it in the hospital?”
Red glared at him, sensing he was being bribed but unable to stop himself responding anyway.

“What do you say?” Mulder grinned his most appealing grin. Red weighed the offer up, obviously decided that he was going to be taken to the hospital anyway so he might as well get what he could out of the situation and finally smiled.

“Okay.” His tantrum was over as abruptly as it had started and Scully snorted and shook her head.

“Bribery. Blatant bribery, Mulder!” She chided.

“Worked though!” Mulder pointed out. “Pity it doesn’t have the same effect on women,” he sighed. “Offers of tubs of ice-cream don’t usually get them into bed.”

“Small boys have different priorities,” Scully grinned. “And different one-track minds to big boys!”

****

Red looked small and vulnerable, sitting in the bed in his hospital gown, attached to various monitors. He did a jigsaw with Mulder without any great enthusiasm, and allowed Scully to read him a story. By the third day he was pale and lacked energy. He didn’t complain, but he grew quieter and quieter. Mulder knew the child well enough to know that this meant he was unhappy.

“Couldn’t we go home soon, Fox?” Red whispered to him on the fourth day.

“Soon, Red.” Mulder smiled and crossed his fingers. “Soon.”

“Couldn’t we let up for a bit?” Mulder asked Scully a few hours later as they watched the child through the observation window. “I’m worried about him.”

“I know. But, Mulder – I think we’re getting closer to a treatment. I’ve done a full analysis of the equipment in the house where we found him and I think we can recreate the fluid that he was suspended in that regressed him like this. If we can, it’s possible we can reverse the process.”

“Possible?” Mulder glanced at her. “We’re working in the dark here, Scully. There are so many if’s and but’s. Wouldn’t it be simpler and kinder to just let him be? Stop all this testing and let the kid live his life as he is now? He certainly doesn’t seem to be remembering much more. Supposing you, I don’t know, grow him back again and find his head’s still 6 years old? Have you thought of that?”

“Yes. I’ve thought of every damn thing about this situation, Mulder!” Scully told him fiercely. “Unlike you I think. And whose interests are you putting forward? Your’s? Red’s? Certainly not Skinner’s.”

“What do you mean?” Mulder flared, angrily.

“Well think about it! If we could have Skinner here, right now, and give him the choice of continuing with the treatment with the hope of restoring him or abandoning him to be, what? Fostered by Fox Mulder until he’s old enough to start all over again? What do you suppose he’d say?”

“I don’t know.” Mulder kicked his foot at the wall.

“Well I do,” Scully said. “He’d want to continue.”

“But he’s not here. Red is. And Red doesn’t want the tests.” Mulder told her furiously.

“Red is a child. He can’t make Skinner’s decisions for him!” Scully argued.

“Well who can then?” Mulder retorted. “It’s Red’s life too. Where does responsibility to one end and the other begin?”

“I don’t know.” Scully rubbed her forehead wearily.

“Remember Emily’s mother?” Mulder told her, knowing he was playing dirty but not caring. “She stopped those tests on Emily. She would rather have seen Emily die than submit her to any more of that.”

“Mulder don’t use that against me. You’ve only known Red a couple of weeks. I know you’ve bonded with him but he’s not really yours. And anyway, what sort of life do you really think you can give him?”

“What are you talking about?” Mulder bristled angrily.

“You! Look at you! You can barely take care of yourself. You have a high-risk occupation and you’re always rushing off, chasing after mysteries. Will you let Red slow you down? Take him along for the ride maybe? Or just neglect him? You certainly won’t be able to continue to give him the time and attention you’ve been lavishing on him recently. Will Red understand that you have to go back to work? That he has to go to school? He’ll be on medication for the rest of his life – what effect will that have on him?”

“You were prepared to give up everything for Emily!” Mulder said accusingly.

“Yes, but are you prepared to do the same for Red?” Scully rounded on him. “Emily was my daughter, my own flesh and blood, however peculiar the circumstances of her conception. Red is nothing to you but a child who needs a friend. I think that says a lot more about you than about him!”

“Damn it, I…” Mulder hesitated, staring angrily at Scully. Was he prepared to give everything up for Red? He watched the child through the window then shook his head.

“You need to detach yourself from this a bit.” Scully told him sympathetically. “You just got too involved. I tried to stop you, Mulder. I really tried – right at the very beginning I tried.”

“All right, Scully. You win.” Mulder turned to her with a snarl. “Just don’t expect me to sit here and watch you hurt him and drain the life out of him with these damn drugs and tests because I can’t.” He opened the door to Red’s room angrily and went in.

“Red, I’m leaving for a bit,” he said. Red looked up in alarm.

“You’re going?” he asked. “Where? Can’t you take me with you?”

“No. I can’t. You have to take care of yourself, Red. You’re not really a kid, you know. Inside here you’re all grown up.” Mulder tapped Red’s head. “You can work this out for yourself. You don’t need me.”

“I do.” Red gazed at him with scared eyes. “Don’t go, Fox. Please.”

“Red – Scully’s found a way of making you normal again. You’ll be fine. You’ll laugh about this in a few weeks time.”

“Fox…” Red’s hands scrabbled pathetically at Mulder’s shirt but Mulder disengaged them, pushing the child away firmly.

“Stop it,” he said fiercely. “I’m going and that’s that. You’ll get over it.” And he turned and walked out of the room without looking back.

“I said detach yourself.” Scully murmured as he passed her. “Not kick out and stamp on the poor kid.”

“He’s not a kid, Scully.” Mulder told her angrily. “He’s Skinner. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me? Since when did Skinner need me to sit at his bedside holding his hand?”

Scully shook her head and watched him go, turning back to Red. The child’s eyes were wide and unhappy but no amount of coaxing could make him say a word. He remained resolutely silent for the rest of the day.

Red’s condition deteriorated rapidly until Scully became alarmed. He wasn’t responding well to the treatment and he refused to eat. As his metabolism was so sensitive this had an alarming effect on his health. His pallor became more marked and he could barely move. Mulder’s doubts echoed over and over again in her mind. Why was she doing this? Was Mulder right? Why take a perfectly enchanting kid and turn him into this listless shadow of himself?

“Why doesn’t Fox come?” Red asked her one morning. “Why did he go? Doesn’t he like me any more, Scully?”

“That’s not it, Red.” Scully shook her head. “He likes you too much, that’s the problem. He doesn’t want to see you hurting like this and so unhappy.”

“Oh.” There was no understanding in Red’s eyes. He just looked confused. Scully came to a decision.

She found Mulder in his office, doggedly working his way through a mountain of paperwork.

“I want a word with you.” She shut the door firmly behind her.

“I’m busy.” He ignored her.

“Aren’t you even going to ask how Red is?” She demanded.

“No. But you might like to tell me when we’re going to have Skinner back. I have two reports to finish for him and I’d like to know what sort of deadline I’m working to.”

“Oh stop it, Mulder.” Scully said furiously, knocking the pen out of his hand. “I have Red in the hospital behaving with dignity despite what he’s suffering and you here sulking and hiding. I’m beginning to wonder which of you is the kid and which the adult. What is wrong with you?”

“I don’t need to listen to this.” Mulder told her determinedly, picking up his pen again.

“Perhaps you should listen!” Scully flared. “Red is scared and lonely. You told me you cared about what happened to him. Now I don’t know if we can turn him back but I think we can. Right up until that happens, Red is your responsibility. You’ve made him like you and depend on you and now he misses you. He’s ill, Mulder. You talked about taking care of him but that’s not just the nice things. It’s not the shopping trips and the playing games and reading stories. It’s the hard bits as well. Like sitting next to a sick child and maybe watching them die or get better and not knowing which it’ll be but staying anyway even though you want to run away because the child needs you. It’s about putting them first instead of yourself.” Scully stopped, feeling her heart wrenching inside. That was how it had been with Emily. Didn’t Mulder understand anything? He was staring at her with that cold, defensive look that he sometimes had. The one he had when he didn’t want to listen. “God, I hope Red can forgive you, or Skinner if we ever get him back, because I sure as hell can’t.” Realizing it was useless, Scully turned on her heel and slammed the door.

****

“It’s just a test, Red.” Scully told the boy, showing him the bowl of green goo. Red recoiled in horror. Scully had to admit it didn’t look very pleasant. How did you persuade a 6 year old that being dunked in a tank full of this would be good for them? Especially when they had such traumatic memories of the last time it had happened. “Here, put your hand in it. It won’t harm you.” Scully dipped her own finger in the slime and Red stared at her and screwed up his face in disgust.

“No.” He said resolutely.

“Just a fingertip?” she asked but he shook his head mutely and nothing would make him budge on the matter. Scully sighed. If he wouldn’t even put his finger in then what hope was there of persuading him to immerse himself in it from head to toe and breathe it? Was she just going to throw him into the tank and force him to stay there? She didn’t think she could.

“Mmm, looks nice.” A voice behind her said and a finger swiped a globule of goo from the bowl.

“Fox!” Red’s face lit up.

“Is it edible?” Mulder asked Scully, sniffing the green stuff cautiously.

“Well it won’t hurt you.” Scully smiled, her hand finding Mulder’s and touching it gently, nodding at him.

“Better see what it tastes like then hadn’t we?” Mulder sucked his finger as if he were tasting a gourmet feast. “Hmm, not bad. Try some, Red.” He took another swipe of the stuff and held it out to Red. Red opened his mouth obligingly and giggled as Mulder smeared some of the stuff on his nose. The child plunged his hand into the bowl and flicked the contents in Mulder’s direction. Mulder retaliated with a handful of his own and before long the slime was everywhere. Scully sighed as she wiped some out of her hair. Well she supposed the object of the exercise had been achieved. The dreaded green slime had been de-mystified. Now how were they going to persuade Red to actually go swimming in it?

It took five days of patient work on Mulder’s part to convince Red that this was for the best.

“And when I come out I’ll be big again?” He asked Mulder for the hundredth time.

“Yes.” Mulder nodded. Hopefully, he added silently.

“But I have to breathe it in first?” Red queried.

“Yes. But you’ve done it once. You’ll be able to do it again.” Mulder told him.

“And will I get my memories back into the right boxes?” Red asked. He had taken to referring to his memories as a series of boxes recently which was his way of trying to make sense of everything.

“Well, we think so.” Mulder paused. “Yeah. Probably.” He tried to sound more convinced than he was. Scully had done her best but he knew they were very much working in the dark.

“And will we still be friends?” Red wanted to know.

“Um, yeah.” Mulder shrugged.

“And I’ll still be able to live with you?”

“If you really want to.” Mulder grinned. “Although I’ve a feeling you won’t.”

“If I don’t remember things from before properly, will I remember being small when I’m big again?” Was another of Red’s incessant questions about the whole process and one that Mulder thought was pretty perceptive.

“I have no idea.” He shrugged. “But it won’t matter if you don’t remember – you’ll have your other memories and that’ll be fine.”

“Oh.” Red nodded. “And we can still go and shoot hoops?” he asked hopefully, his questions veering chaotically from the philosophical to the mundane with a strange lurching logic.

“I don’t know,” Mulder replied.

“You promised!” Red said accusingly.

“Oh all right. Yes then. But you probably won’t want to do that either.” Mulder grinned again, breaking up an enormous cookie and giving half to Red while devouring the other half himself. He lay back and put his feet on the end of Red’s bed. He was just as worried as Red was about this whole procedure, especially as the day of reckoning came closer. But Red didn’t need his uncertainty so he hid it as well as he could.

He stayed with Red all through the night before the big day, sitting in the chair beside the bed, trying to sleep and failing. At last he got up, looked down on Red’s innocent, sleeping face.

“You have no idea how much I’m going to miss you, Red,” he whispered softly, stroking the child’s hair gently. He tried not to think about all the things that could go wrong. That Red might drown in that green slime, that the process wouldn’t work, that they wouldn’t be able to stop it and would drag the corpse of a little old man out of the tank when it was over. Scully seemed to think she had all the angles covered but he knew she was worried as well. Except he had a feeling that she was more worried about Skinner than Red. And no matter how he tried to look at it, that was just the way he saw it, the way he had always seen it. Skinner and Red – two separate beings with nothing in common except a vague similarity around the eyes and nose. And he was about to lose Red and get Skinner back. It seemed like a poor exchange.

“I’ll miss you too.” Red opened his eyes and he started.

“You should be asleep,” he chided.

“Can’t sleep.” Red shook his head. Mulder perched himself down on the bed beside the child and put his arm round him.

“I’ll be with you tomorrow,” he promised. “You won’t be alone.”

Red clung onto his hand and nodded, his eyes even more solemn than they usually were.

“Yes, Fox. Then it’ll be over and we can go and feed the fish and you can buy me some more sneakers and we’ll play on the elephant and eat burgers and pizza and ice cream and cookies…” He warbled on happily enough until Mulder began to wonder if the child recalled their entire time together in terms of what he’d eaten.

Mulder felt like a traitor as he carried Red along the corridor to the room with the tank in it the next day. The determined look on Red’s face was at odds with the way his fingers clung to Mulder’s shirt. Scully gave him a drink and he swallowed it down, making a face. Then he became drowsy, his grip on Mulder loosening until Mulder was able to undress him and slip him gently into the tank. Red’s eyes opened and he gagged on the fluid, crying out as he swallowed it. Then, mercifully, he seemed to lose consciousness.

“I’ll be here,” Mulder told Scully softly. “Just not in the actual room. Call me if he needs me.” Scully nodded, understanding.

****

Mulder hadn’t stayed to check on Skinner’s progress. He had peered through the observation window at his sleeping boss when he had been removed from the tank, saw the familiar imposing body and bald head and nodded to himself.

“Well done, Scully. You were right,” he had murmured.

“You okay?” She asked.

“Fine.” He had left without looking back. It was over

Mulder returned to his apartment, turning on the light wearily and tripping over the ball that was abandoned by the door. He kicked it out of the way and crossed to the couch, throwing himself down with a sigh. One of Red’s tee shirts was abandoned on the floor, next to the laser gun. Mulder picked them both up, held them tight and cried.

So the operation, experiment, whatever you wanted to call it, had been a success. So what? He had still lost Red.

****

The next few days passed in a haze. Mulder went to the mall and ate a burger, stared at the inflatable elephant. Then he went to the park and watched the kids playing, shot a few hoops with them. Finally he shook himself out of it, returned home and packed Red’s belongings into a box, setting off for a nearby second hand shop. He was just opening the door to go when he bumped into Skinner.

“Agent Mulder.” Skinner didn’t look any different to usual. He seemed to have recovered.

“Sir.” Mulder nodded. “I didn’t know you were up and about.”

“Agent Scully finally allowed me home last night.” Skinner said with something approaching a wry smile.

“Oh.” Mulder shifted uneasily, trying to see in Skinner some trace of the boy he had taken care of for the past few weeks. The child who had become part of his life. He failed.

“You were going somewhere?” Skinner asked, glancing at the box.

“Just to, um, get rid of some stuff.” Mulder shrugged. Skinner reached into the box, pulled out a shoe. “How much do you remember, sir?” Mulder asked softly.

“Some of it. No, a lot of it.” Skinner shook his head, staring at the shoe. “But it’s not very clear. A muddle of images, jumbled. I do seem to recall being sick a lot though.” He gave a rueful wince.

“Yeah. Oh yeah. Boy did you know how to throw up!” Mulder grinned. “Why don’t you come in?” He opened his door, went back inside. Skinner followed him, stared round the apartment, glanced at the fish tank and finally sat down on the couch.

“I, er…Agent Scully told me all you did for me. I came to thank you.” Skinner said, running his fingers over his smooth head.

“No need.” Mulder waved his hand. “I’m just glad it turned out all right.”

“Any idea who did this to me?” Skinner asked. Mulder shook his head.

“No. I’m working on it though. Sir…” Mulder began.

“Hmm?” Skinner looked at him.

“When you were, well when you were Red, how much did you understand of what was going on?”

“I’m not sure. I told you, it’s not very clear to me.” Skinner shrugged, flushing slightly.

“But you were a child? You behaved like a child.”

“I remember feeling confused,” Skinner mused. “I remember being scared a lot and I remember everyone being taller than me. I couldn’t make sense of things. I seemed to know things but I had no idea how I knew them. I had memories that frightened me. I think I shut that side of myself down. It’s…it’s not an easy experience to talk about, Mulder.”

“No.” Mulder said.

“But I do know that…I um, relied on you quite a bit. If I had to go through something like that, well…” He paused, looking embarrassed, “I’m just glad there was someone like you to look out for me.”

“That’s OK.” Mulder shrugged. “Anyone would have done the same for Red. He was that sort of kid. Even that lady in Maine took a liking to him, you. I never knew you had such winning ways, sir. Your mom must have been proud of you.”

“Yeah. Right.” Skinner shook his head wryly. They were silent for a while then Skinner got up. “Well, thanks again,” he said awkwardly.

“No problem.” Mulder replied.

Skinner glanced at the ball as he walked towards the door, picked it up.

“Now I remember this!” He exclaimed. “Boy did I pitch a fit about this!”

“Oh yeah.” Mulder grinned. “That was some tantrum. Although I have to say that mostly you were amazingly well behaved.”

“And you were very patient as I recall. And kind, and dare I say it, fun?” Skinner raised an ironic eyebrow.

“Red was a great kid.” Mulder shrugged. “I’ll miss him.”

“Me too.” Skinner said softly. “Not that it’s an experience I’d like to repeat, but it wasn’t all confusing and strange. There was no responsibility. No burdens. We forget what it’s like to just exist, to take each moment as it comes like kids do. Eat when we’re hungry, laugh when we’re happy, cry when we’re sad, sleep when we’re tired. I’m not sorry it’s over though but it was interesting to re-live it. Well, I should be going…” He hesitated, gave a slight smile, his dark eyes as solemn as Red’s had been. For the first time Mulder saw the connection, felt the two separate entities merge.

“You don’t want to live here then? Or go shooting those hoops?” Mulder queried with a sly grin.

“Did I…? Yeah, I guess I did. Perhaps we should sometime. You did promise.” Skinner threw the ball at Mulder, his dark eyes laughing. “Bye, Mulder.” Skinner said. He left the apartment and Mulder picked up the box again, reviewing the contents.

“Bye, Red,” he murmured.

THE END