The Life They Now Lead 2 - A New Beginning by Abigail Leigh aka Lilxgirl August 1, 2015 12:35 pm `Sometimes I wonder where I really belong. I just feel so misplaced sometimes. I'm 11 years old and part of a class of 15. Okay, so that's not weird.but it's an FBI Academy for the Gifted, the only one in the United States. Which means that only 14 other children in this whole country are like me. Kids whose parents are like mine, who have partly alien DNA. Who can all read minds. Some of us can even move objects with a mere thought. If *that* doesn't strike anyone as weird, maybe someone should have their hearing checked.I've gone through so much in my short life that it's hard to associate with "normal kids" in a "normal environment." Meaning, a real school with all kinds of people. And all I have is my brother, Will, who also attends the FBI AG. So, basically I'm a loner. My dad says that he was a loner too, and look where he is now. Ha! I wouldn't regard being abducted by aliens and having the nickname "Spooky" as something to be proud of.' Meredith Mulder stopped speaking for a moment. She chewed a strand of her hair thoughtfully as she considered what to say next. Sure, it was just her private journal, but it still mattered. Someday, she mused, she would find this journal somewhere and remember everything she had felt when she was younger. She flipped back a stray piece of her mid-back length, straight auburn hair and sighed as she watched the clock carefully. Class started at 1:30, she noted as she pressed the stop button on her electronic journal. She slid off her bed and made way to the bookshelf. Meredith replaced the journal with two thick FBI books and a red notebook and quickly went downstairs where she met her brother. "Will, watch where you're going next time for god's sake!" She gasped when he nearly ran into her in his haste. Fourteen year old William just said, "Mom told me to come get you. You're making us late, you know." His short brown hair, tinted with auburn, nearly shaded his sparkling blue eyes as he spoke. Instead of retorting with an "I know," which she knew wouldn't help things, Meredith calmly replied, "Get a haircut." Of course, that probably wouldn't help either. Will rolled his eyes, and an eyebrow raised to his hairline. "Whatever. Let's go." Washington, DC, J. Edgar Hoover Building 1:39 pm "Today, class, we will be taking a tour throughout the offices," AD Camron announced. "We will be seeing every floor and some main offices. I know this is the boring part," a few kids snickered. "But it's a piece of cake compared to tomorrow's plan, when we will be viewing an autopsy." Meredith frowned. `Autopsies are disgusting,' she thought to herself. A voice in her head replied, `I know. They make me sick!' She turned around quickly to find Will grinning at her. She flashed a quick smile and turned back to the AD. "Okay," Camron started. "Let's go." He led the students into the hall. "As we walk, you can see the top floor offices. This floor takes care of background checks, mostly. The director in charge is AD Leverson." They lingered for a minute, looking around, until he herded the small class of fifteen students to the elevator. "Our next stop." Meredith found herself next to Will. She spoke to him in her mind. `Pretty boring, huh?' He answered, `Yeah. I'd much rather go to the basement.' She smiled softly. `I know. But I bet we won't go down there. You know what Dad said.' She remembered quite well. Their father had told them, in no uncertain terms, that the FBI frowned down upon the basement offices for one reason alone. `Well, we've never been down there before. Maybe we should.' Meredith nodded. `When we get out.' Just then, the elevator doors opened and the class disembarked. As Camron droned on about the next floor down, taking them into a personal office, Meredith grabbed William's arm, and they crept out together. Camron spoke to the class about the office and what went on in it. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Meredith and William Mulder were sneaking off together. Probably to the basement offices. He frowned as the other students took a look around on their own. He'd been warned of these two, many times. That they had their mother's determination and strength of mind, their father's spirit and passion. Someone knew that they would do what they had just done. That it had to be stopped. But he had also been told that nothing was to be done until things got extreme. They were special. 1129 Armor Street Albridge, Maryland 2:20 pm Dana Mulder smiled softly as she watched her youngest children playing on the back lawn together. Samantha and Audrey chased each other through soft green grass, and their laughter floated through the open window to her ears as she stood in the kitchen. They're so carefree, she reflected. Of course, life hadn't always been carefree, for any of them. Ever since William and Meredith's abduction seven years ago, they'd had to be careful. No one could ever know who would strike against them. She hoped that they were finally free. Xxxxxxx The back door creaked open lightly and Fox Mulder stepped inside. Breathing deeply the scents of autumn, he set his briefcase down in the doorway. He now worked as a college psychology professor. `The old grindstone,' he thought ruefully. It wasn't the FBI, but it was more than enough to put food on the table. At least he got to talk about how psychology related to the paranormal. He walked into the kitchen, periodically stopping to kick off his dress shoes, where he met Scully. "Hey," he said softly, coming up behind her to place a kiss on the shell of her ear, and his pink tongue darted out to taste as well. He held her hips in his hands and they swayed back and forth gently together. She smiled. "Hey, Mulder. You're early." "Nothing to do. How was your day?" He continued to kiss her neck and side of her face gently. "Fine. Sammy fell and cut her knee, but she's obviously better," she nodded towards the twins. "And yours?" "Wonderfully.boring," he joked. They both knew that he wasn't quite satisfied with his job, having only worked it for a few years. "Missed you terribly," he added, feigning an over-dramatic touch. He grinned down into her auburn hair, hair not aged, untouched. She turned in his arms and hugged him gently. "I missed you too." "Special agents Dana Scully, Monica Reyes, and John Doggett," Meredith read out loud. She and Will stood in front of the door, dusty and broken in years of disuse. Will turned the doorknob, and, not to his surprise, the old, dusty knob fell off. He pushed the door open slowly. They walked in together. So this was where her parents worked, Meredith thought as she walked across the neutral gray carpet. `Here's another thing to add to the ole' journal,' she decided. The first thing she saw was a desk, old and dusty, sitting in one corner. One drawer was partially open. Meredith pulled open the drawer to find a nameplate and a single picture. She pulled the nameplate out slowly, using three fingers to wipe some of the filings off of it. A smile spread across her lips, and she recognized the name. Fox Mulder. The picture was a story in itself. In a white frame was an image of both of her parents and her brother as a baby, presumably in the hospital. Scully was holding the precious baby. Mulder was smiling down at him and Scully was looking at Mulder, a familiar unreadable expression on her face. It was obvious that they were oblivious to the fact that their picture was being taken, and was most likely the only candid photo of them together. `Well, Dad didn't look too bad when he was younger,' she thought, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. He looked so different than he did now. Graying hair and laugh lines had certainly caught up with him. Deciding against trying to sit on the encrusted desk, she stood, surveying the walls, the deflated basketball sitting on a shelf, a poster on the back wall. The poster was probably the most interesting part. "I want to believe," she whispered, reading the writing on the poster almost reverently, as though speaking aloud might shatter some spell. William opened the file cabinets, looking through the seemingly endless amounts of files. He pulled one out and blew the dust off, coughing as dust flew into his face. "Hey, Merry," he said between coughs. "Look at this." Meredith turned around and peered over his arm. "Case file X95732," she read. "X?" Will just shrugged. "Beats me." She turned again and rummaged through the drawers of the desk until she found a piece of paper. It read: Special Agents Doggett and Reyes, The X-files have officially been closed, effective immediately. You are expected to move your belongings out by tomorrow. AD Kersh It was dated October 19, 2003. Meredith's eye caught one word. "X-files," she whispered in the same reverent tone as before. "That must be what all these are." She opened more of the cabinets to reveal hundreds of files. "Do you think Mom and Dad worked on these?" "Maybe." William grabbed a file from one of the cabinets. He flipped it open and looked at the name of the investigators. Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. "They did," he said. He put the file back in the cabinet and closed the drawer. "I wonder what the cases were about that made them X-files." Meredith said softly, "There's only one way to find out." 5:45 pm "You went in there?" Mulder asked, leaning back on the black leather couch. He picked up the remote and flipped on the rerun of the Cubs vs. the Marlins. Scully was sitting next to him, and she grabbed the control and flipped it off. "Yeah, Dad," Meredith answered, toying with a strand of her hair. "We found some things in there. Cases, labeled `X.'" "The X-files are still in there? You'd think they would have been burned by now," Mulder said sarcastically, eyeing Scully. Will cleared his throat. "So.what are they?" "The X-files." Mulder began. "Are.were.cases that dealt with paranormal phenomena. Alien abductions, UFO encounters.liver eating mutants." Scully added in. "Man eating flukeworms." "'Jeremiah was a bullfrog.'" Mulder sang out of key. "The `Shaft' theme." Scully looked over at Mulder and grinned. His eyes narrowed. "I did not." Meredith's eyes narrowed as well. "Huh?" "Never mind." "But why were they closed down?" Will added. "We found a note." Scully said. "In 2003. After your father and I married, there was just no one who could really take over. Or, no one that the Bureau would let take over." At Meredith's confused look, she added, "We're not really sure that they *tried* to get replacements for any of us." "Why don't you guys just go off and do whatever you do," Mulder said. "It's a lost cause to learn about them." Will nodded and walked away, but she stayed behind. Meredith nodded, understanding. "But I want to know more." Her parents exchanged a look. Scully finally spoke. "Look in the back closet in our room." August 2 `It's hard for me to know what I am supposed to do with my life. My parents told me to look in their closet, a place bordering sacred to my family. I've known for some time now that they keep only the most important things in that little room, and for a reason I cannot explain, I feel I will find my future in the old, deteriorated boxes. And their past.' Xxxxxxx 11:00 am There was a soft knock at the door. Meredith sighed softly and stood up to answer the persistent little noise. "Hi Aunt Kate," Meredith said. "Is something wrong?" Kate Spender just frowned. "Yes, Meredith. Are your parents home?" It was then that Meredith noticed her uncle, Jeffrey Spender, and her cousin, Cassandra, coming up to the door as well. "Come on in." Xxxxxxx 11:20 am "Please?" Meredith said, almost frantically. "Just come in there with me." Cassandra looked up from the computer and stared at her blankly through shiny blue eyes. "No," she said slowly. "Yeah really, Merry," Will agreed, not even taking time to look up. "They were closed. Like Dad said, it's a lost cause. Just forget about it." "Fine," she answered coldly. "I'll just go myself." As she walked out, she realized that if she went in there and found something, there was no turning back. She just couldn't. "It just came to our attention," Kate paused and flipped her hair out of her eyes, "that CGB Spender may have had another son or daughter, who is still living and following very much in their father's footsteps." Scully's blue eyes widened and she made a very uncharacteristic squeak. "Another?" Jeffrey nodded. "Another." "So, do they know about us?" Mulder asked. Kate nodded. "Yes." Xxxxxxx `It's kind of weird, that I'm always on my own. Maybe I *am* becoming just like my father; a loner. I guess it's just time to face the music. Or, in my case, the future.' Xxxxxxx 11:35 am Meredith pulled open the door to the immaculate closet, a mirror of her mother's personality. She began the search for the little door that was supposed to be at the back of the closet. After shifting through clothes and her mother's wedding dress, she finally found it. As she knelt on the floor, preparing to tug the handle and open the hatch, she began to have second thoughts. `What if I find something? What if I get too interested? What if.' "Stop it, Meredith Emilie Mulder," she chided herself, imitating her mother's voice. "It's only a closet. They're only files." And on that note, she yanked the hatch open and crawled in. The room was dark, but even in the obscurity she could see the outlines of a lamp, and a wall outlet. She flicked the switch and the room was filled with a soft yellow light. It was then that she realized she could stand, even walk around. As she made way to her feet, she saw the boxes, stacked two or three deep. Some labeled `X-files.' And a single box that simply said `Meredith Emilie.' Meredith opened one of the X-files boxes. File after file lay in the old cardboard shelter, and she pulled one out. "It's Sam Mulder," she whispered to herself as she stared into the eyes of a little girl long gone. She flipped through the other files to find that they were all of her late aunt. `Save these for later,' she noted. She settled down by the box labeled with her name and opened the top. Meredith pushed back a strand of auburn hair as she poked around in the box. She pulled out a photo album with the name "Meredith Emilie" scribbled across the top in gold script. But what she saw wasn't what she expected. She expected to see herself at a younger age, with long, curly red hair, and her mother's eyes. A girl who was small for her age that liked to play with the boys. What she saw was something far different. A girl, with light blonde hair and hazel eyes looked back at her. She looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old. This wasn't her. Meredith frantically reached into the box and pulled out more things of this "Meredith Emilie," photos of the girl with Fox Mulder, one with two adults she didn't know. A family picture, taken in 2002, her sitting right between Mulder and her cousin Anna. A lock of golden hair, nestled between the folds of a frilly wedding-like dress. Another photo album, black with gold lettering. `To Scully, may you always remember,' it said. `Made by Meredith.' Meredith tried hard to breathe through her shock. Who was this Meredith Emilie? And why was her stuff in the hidden room in the closet? She assumed that she had been named after the girl, but for what reason? With that, the X-files were momentarily forgotten, and she slid the box towards the hatch and out into the closet, and she followed. 11:59 am "We believe CGB may have fathered another child, a daughter with Diana Fowley," Jeffrey said. "He told me about her once," Kate continued. "Before I left. He said he had a daughter. Named Abigail Leigh Spender. Another sister to replace Samantha." "Why would she want to hurt us?" Scully asked quietly. Kate gave her a grim look. "For what we did to her parents." "Abigail Leigh Spender," Jeffrey began, "lived with us for a couple of years, in the early eighties. Abigail came to stay with us shortly after Samantha was taken. She was younger than the rest of us, five to my sixteen. But I remember so much about her from the short time she lived with us. I didn't know for a long time who her mother was, I only knew that a woman, well, not even a woman, she was very young. I remember so much, so much about little Abigail, more than I want to know. She was a horrible child, worse than her mother could ever be. I remember, she used to make fun of me, call me things I would never be about to repeat. She had that evil gleam in her eyes that belied the spawn of Satan. I remember one time, I took some of her clothes into her room to put away, and I found something. You know what association writing is?" He didn't wait before continuing, "I found something that looked like that, maybe. Full of the most horrific things I've ever heard of. Rape, Murder, Fights, Incest, Evil. It was all there, right there on those pages sitting on her little dresser. My father sent her away one day after he had a fight with her mother, Diana. I've never seen her since. But I know she's out there, from the letter. You see, she always used to say "Hey Big Spender" whenever she saw me. She always told me I was a little boy with big dreams of being someone. It was her own joke. And well, the letter..." He handed Mulder and Scully a folded piece of paper. ~~~Hey Big Spender, I haven't forgotten you, you know. I've only just learned it. He's dead, and it's your fault, you and your little ho's fault. And my mom too...I know about your little friends too, what part they played in this game, this game to keep me from knowing, Jeffrey...Well, big spender, I guess what I'm tellin you is watch out, because I'm everywhere you are...so watch your back, never know when little sister's gonna want a reunion...~~~ Scully looked up. "Oh my god, Jeffrey." Kate stared at them. "We don't know where she is or what she's doing, but it's pretty clear that she wants revenge for what we did to her father." Xxxxxxx `Who was that girl? The other Meredith Emilie with blonde hair and hazel eyes who played an intricate part in my family. I can't help but wonder why I was named after her, why her things are in the closet. I must know. I have to.' Xxxxxxx 12:12 pm Meredith sat on her light blue and yellow bedspread and propped her self up against some small matching pillows. She pulled out the "Meredith Emilie" photo album and opened it to the first page. Meredith was sitting with Mulder and Scully on the beach, her long, thick blonde hair being blown into his face by an apparent wind. Each of them wore a huge smile, their white teeth standing out in their tan faces. They looked like they had been having a lot of fun that day. Meredith tried to imagine what it would have been like to spend the day on the beach with Fox and Dana Mulder... Meredith felt a sudden twinge of jealousy at her own made up thoughts. She pushed it away and looked more closely at the picture. Although her happiness and vibrancy showed through, Meredith Emilie's eyes were sunken in. She looked small and too skinny, not in an anorexic way, but in some other one. Her bikini nearly hung on her frame, and even though she was tan, she didn't look right. Had there been something wrong with Meredith Emilie, Meredith wondered to herself as she skimmed through the rest of the album. Is that why she was named after her? She was almost afraid to ask. What if Meredith Emilie had been a relative, or even a child of her parents? Wait. That didn't make sense. They would have talked about it, wouldn't they have? But then again, they didn't talk about Uncle Bill too often either... She closed her eyes slowly. She was thinking too hard about this. She had to leave for class soon. `After that.I will know.' Xxxxxxx "Special Agent Abigail Leigh Spender, born August 24, 1974," Mulder said in his usual monotone. "She's in the FBI?" They'd done a search in the FBI database that they "hadn't hacked into." "Oh my god," Kate exclaimed softly. "I can't believe this." The woman looking at them had waist length, straight blonde hair and her mother's eyes. She had a face that looked like maybe it was a smoker's face. She had a look in her eyes, Scully noticed, just like Jeffrey had described her. Like the spawn of evil. Xxxxxxx 1:23 pm She sat in her car, a black sedan, Government Issue of course. Who else would be driving a black sedan? She watched as a white Plymouth Breeze pulled up. ~~~William and Meredith Mulder.~~~ She pulled out two files, one belonging to each of the children, checking to make sure. ~~~It's them.~~~ She flipped the folders closed and took a long drag on her Morley, flicking the butts out the car window, onto the ground. ~~~Right on time.~~~ She watched as they ran in together, their laughter drifting to her. An ironic smile played across her blood red lips. Drag. Flick. She pulled out a new cigarette and lit up. ~~~Their class, how will I get in?~~~ But she already knew. It was like a game of chess. Get your opponent in just the right spot, then swoop in for the kill. The thought of what she was going to do brought a sinister laugh to her throat as the ironic smile moved across her face again. ~~~They won't be laughing for long. It's just like a game...~~~ Xxxxxxx 1:37 pm J. Edgar Hoover Building "Last time we took a peek at this cadaver, we left off with the external examination," Camron started. "Today we will view the internal one." A girl named Annelise raised her hand. "Is that where we have to see the insides?" Camron nodded. "Yes, the whole thing." He continued with the lesson. Meredith stood still and tried to concentrate on the lesson, but a voice in her mind kept distracting her. Finally, she listened. ~~~Meredith and William Mulder.It's all a game, like chess.They won't be laughing for long.Little Mulder children going to know what they caused.~~~ Her blue eyes widened. `Will, I hear something.' `Me too. In my head.' Her breathing sped up a little. `Will, do you hear it? It's a lady, I think.' `Oh my god, Merry.I think she wants to hurt us.' Xxxxxxx 2:00 pm "I think it's safe to assume that she's here, probably close by," Kate suggested weakly, pulling another paper from her pocket. "We didn't tell you about this one.I think you'll know why." Cassandra jumped around, singing a little song to herself as she looked for the twins. "She's here, she's here, she's gonna get us, get us, get us, she's gonna KILL us, la, la, la, la, la, la." Jeffrey's stern voice stopped her. "Cassandra..." "Sorry, Daddy." she offered a reticent smile and walked away, now instead calling out for Samantha and Audrey. "Where is she?" Scully asked as they sat down on the couch. "I don't know," Jeffrey said. "But we found this tucked ever-so-carefully into our morning paper. And I'm sure it's not just a general courtesy." He handed them a small, white, rectangular shaped piece of paper. On it, written in a messy black scroll, were the words, "The game has only just begun, right here, Big Spender. Those kids better watch out, your brother's damn kids too nosy for their own good.they're gonna get it.So just watch out, I'm only a few steps behind you..." Xxxxxxx `Why am I so damn nosy sometimes? I should just forget about Meredith Emilie and concentrate on my life right now, and on that woman. I will try to forget, to think about my future. But I can't, it's too hard not to think about the other one. I can't stop. I want to know who she is, where she is. And until I know, I will not even know who *I* am.' Xxxxxxx 6:07 pm Mulder home Meredith sat down next to her mother on the couch and played with her hair a little, making small talk, asking about her day, the usual. Then she said, "Mom, who's Meredith Emilie?" Scully suddenly froze. "Who?" "Meredith Emilie. I found some stuff of hers in your closet when I was looking for those files." Scully cleared her throat. "Honey, Meredith Emilie is someone your father and I knew a long time ago, back when we first got married. It's not important to you, okay?" Meredith knew her mother wouldn't talk about it anymore, so she went to find her father. Xxxxxxx 6:18 pm "Dad? Who is Meredith Emilie?" Mulder was listening to music, bouncing forward a little. He turned around, his headphones hanging off his ears as he fixed Samantha's bike. For getting older, he was still pretty athletic. "What was that hun?" He yelled. "Dad!!!" she yelled back. "Take off the headphones!" "What?" he yelled again. She sighed loudly and plucked the headphones from her father's head, setting them to rest on the worktable next to him. The sounds of Creed, an older group, played loud on them. "Dad, who is Meredith Emilie?" His face changed, went from expectant to something else she couldn't quite recognize. "Go ask your mother." She sighed again. "Daddy, I already asked her. She told me to ask you." "I don't want to talk about it." He picked up the headphones and put them back on as she grabbed his arm. He put a sunflower seed into his mouth and she heard the all-too-familiar cracking sound as he chewed it between his ever-pouty lips. "Dad, tell me. Please!" She said as he went back to work, giving her the brush off. Pushing her hand off his arm as he went. He started to work on fixing the bent tire. She walked away slowly, feeling down suddenly. Something about her must have been too painful for them to talk about. She became more and more curious with each passing moment as to who Meredith Emilie was and what part she played in her parent's lives. And by the looks of it, she would never know who this mystery child was, or why she looked so sickly and tiny. `And until I find out, I will not even know who *I* am.' Xxxxxxx