#you did just fine
The fourth series reads as follows:
Apple Balancing…Potential…The Newbies…The Dessert…Dinosaurs and Cannibalism…Sassy Sprinklepants…The Secret Vault of Mudlerness…Taco Night…Neckhole Wrestling…The Onesie…Multiplication…Catching On…Thanksgiving…The Funeral…Midnight Libations…Stockings were Hung…Mama Walter…Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Skimmer-style)…Official…Memory Lane…Tartan Tablecloths…Auntie V… Birthday Surprises…Routines…Worry…Again …Betsy
To catch up: First series…Second series … Third series
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“Agent Mulder, Agent Skinner, guns down, please.”
Skinner hated to do it but knowing he had no other choice, he put the gun on the ground, then backed away from it. Mulder, waiting a heartbeat longer, slowly set the gun down on the deck and moved away as well, shooing Joanna to the side, whispering, “do not go near Sam, do you understand?”
So far gone in shock, she couldn’t blink, couldn’t think, only, as a last, desperate effort, placing her complete trust in one Fox William Mulder, “okay.”
She didn’t stop looking, however, bouncing her gaze from her youngest daughter to her son, landing on each two seconds at a time.
Mulder spoke first, “guns are down. Let her go.”
Krycek’s voice carried to them, “I believe Agent Scully is still inside. Regardless of her pregnancy and her quitting the FBI, I believe she still has a gun and the ability to shoot. I’d like her outside with her hands up.”
Scully, her gun nestled against the side of her belly, under her sweater, walked slowly out, warning the kids to go in the front room. Matt herded them, crouched low, doing as his Aunt Dana told him in a voice he hoped to never hear again.
She would be hugging him extra hard when this was all done.
Once outside, she indicated she would be reaching for her gun and after seeing Spender nod, she slowly took it out, setting it beside Mulder’s then moving away.
“Now that that’s taken care of, you will listen for a moment before we go.” Releasing Betsy, who ran straight for Joanna, cowering behind any legs she could find, he continued, relaxed note in his voice making Mulder wish for a flamethrower, a can of gasoline, and 30 seconds alone with both men. “We see everything, we hear everything, we know everything. You were warned about getting too close to things and you pursued anyway. For that, we took the boy. Next time, he may not come back.”
Mulder drew in a quick breath, “I haven’t been doing anything.’
“Your lackeys have. Ask Agent Reyes if you must. She’ll tell you what she’s been up to.”
Heart pounding, “I’ll quit today. Right now. I’ll never say your name again. I’ll never … I’m done. I quit.” Not caring about himself in the slightest, “please, leave them alone. They haven’t done anything to you. They don’t even know who you are or what you are.”
Spender flashed that insipid, crooked smile of his, “really? They should probably get acquainted with me then, given I will probably be seeing them again.” Looking across the crowd of eleven, “Fox is my son, and suddenly, I feel that getting to know my grandson, William, would be wise.”
Scully felt a pang run through her belly.
“I’ll be dropping in on you from time to time.” Scanning the group a second time, “don’t be alarmed. I’m not the terrible man you think I am.”
Scully felt a second pang, then liquid running down her legs.
“I think, actually, I’d like to start a conversation with the lovely little girl who was out here with me a minute ago; Betsy, I believe her name was.”
Scully felt a searing pain run through her back and belly. With a grunt and a stumble forward, she grabbed Mulder’s arm, “Mulder.”
It was a distraction that had to be sent by God himself and in the momentary confusion of people moving, people helping, people holding Scully upright so she didn’t fall to the deck, a shot rang out, then another, followed by a third and fourth.
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Before anyone could blink, Sam stepped off the deck and fired a fifth and sixth time, into the bodies of Spender and Krycek, already prone and still.
“Sam! Stop!”
Skinner kept saying his name, following Sam as the boy walked to his kidnappers, “Sam! Stop! It’s Uncle Skimmer. Stop!”
He didn’t fire again but kept moving, finally halting as he stood over the bodies. Skinner made sure to retrieve Krycek’s gun before doing anything else, then, cautiously sliding into Sam’s vision, he told him in a low voice, “Sam. I’m going to check if they are alive. If they move, please, don’t do anything. I’ve got it from here, all right?”
Sam’s jaw was clenched so tight his muscles were vibrating and his face was white and red in turn. He didn’t manage more than a, “mmhmm,” in his throat. Dave was there now, beside Sam, “Sam, it’s me. It’s dad. Can I have the gun, please?”
“Did I do okay?”
Dave’s heart broke but he kept his sob inside as he took the gun and then hugged his son close, “you did just fine.”
“I kept him in my line and remembered to breath out so I wouldn’t shake.”
“I know. You did everything right.”
He passed out in his father’s arms.
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The neighborhood went crazy. Sunday afternoon in spring had families outside, eating, playing, cleaning up wild-growing yards. Everyone heard the shots and the local police showed up just as the ambulances did, sirens wailing, to carry away the bodies of Alexander Krycek and C.G.B. Spender, whose full name they would happily never know, to the morgue while Scully, Mulder at her side, went to the hospital to give birth to their twins. Sam and Joanna followed close behind in their own ambulance, Dave and Skinner bringing up the rear.
Maggie and Tara calmed the kids, who, thanks to Matt, had remained in the front room, under threat of noogies and atomic wedgies. Charlie and Bill sat on the deck and stared at the backyard, their worlds turned upside down in the span of six bullets fired by a 12-year-old boy.
Sarah simply held Will, wondering how one functioned after a day like today.
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Sam didn’t wake up until he was in the emergency room, and then, seeing his parents, began to cry, “where’s Betsy? Is Betsy okay?”
Dave, not wanting to get in the way of the doctor and nurses, called over their shoulders, moving until he could catch Sam’s gaze, “she’s fine. She’s fine and with Aunt Maggie. I promise.”
Joanna however, didn’t care, reaching around a nurse to make contact, Sam’s ankles the nearest thing she could reach, “hon, it’s mom and she’s okay. She’s probably eating ice cream right now.”
Sam’s eye rolled back in his head, “don’t let them touch her. Don’t let them tou …”
One of the nurses moved her out of the way, “let us work.”
It was then that the monitors began going off.
