Title: The Family G-Man: Confessions and Connections
Authors: Neoxphile and FelineFemme
Spoilers: the X-Files seasons one through nine, "The Family G-Man," and "The Family G-Man: One Fine Summer" (both here on ffnet under author Neoxphile)
Rating: PG-13

Summary: During the final month of winter in 2006 the past catches up to people in unexpected ways - an old friend brings a case to the X-Files, William's new playmate may be more than she seems, and Emily learns family secrets that leave her shaken.

Authors' note: if you didn't read the first two stories, you're going to be super confused, sorry. But we still read feedback on them ::grins::

The Law Offices of Dunkirk, Scott, and Johnson
Norfolk, VA
March 6, 2006
11:36 p.m.

The young black woman in the stylish clothes and hairstyle behind the tasteful mahogany desk is yawning and stretching, feeling free to do so now that everyone is finally gone for the day. It's not the first time she's stayed in late for work, but it feels like she's been working overtime on a case based on nothing but the pleas of guilty men and a gut feeling. Nothing solid's come up yet to clear them, and she's getting frustrated with the lack of progress or evidence to prove their innocence. Everything says that there's no reason for a retrial on any of these cases, nothing except the prisoners themselves.

The phone on her desk rings, and she brightens, thinking perhaps it's one of her law enforcement contacts. But she recognizes the number, and her expression dims due to guilt. "I'm sorry, honey," she apologizes, and puts a hand to her mouth to smother another yawn, "but I won't be home for another hour or so."

"I guess I'll see you Friday," the man on the other end sighs.

"I hope so." She makes a face. "I'm sorry, Stan."

"Me, too," he says.

"Love you."

"Love you, too," he says, then hangs up.

She puts her face in her hands. Of course, Stan would call my office line to get me to pick up, she thinks, just like I know to ask for "Mr. Stanford Delgado" at his job to get a hold of him. How long will we stay together like this?

Well, that's another mystery. She sighs, then gathers all the files together and starts putting them into her briefcase. She can stare at the damn things tomorrow, after she's gotten a good amount of sleep in her system. And a shower. Definitely a shower.

And on that note, Amy Penda Harrison walks out of her law office, shutting off lights as she goes and intending to call her half-sister, who she can count on to be awake despite the hour. Because if anyone is into mysteries enough not to mind the very late night phone call, especially weird mysteries based on hunches and guesses, it's her half-sister Leyla.

March 7

12:33 p.m.

It's been a good day on the set of "Jose Chung" but one wouldn't know it by the hushed conversation between two of the four stars in the hallway during a break in filming. Aldous Reed has been surprisingly well-tempered today, possibly because his latest book is in the top five on the bestseller's list, which has led to a more pleasant discussion on-air rather than the usual acrimonious debate.

Once cameras stop rolling, Reed pulls out his cell phone to talk with his agent about daytime talk show interviews, while Mary Green waves at Mulder and Scully before pulling out her own phone to chat with one of her colleagues about his work on advanced cases of dementia in young patients, trying not to look at Reed as she does so.

Mulder and Scully, however, have their own private agenda that doesn't need airing in front of their cohosts. "Maybe we should check on the new nanny again," Scully suggests as they headed down the hall to their separate dressing rooms.

Mulder sighs, even though he, too, has his misgivings. "I told you, the Gunmen would let us know if anything was hinky."

His wife gives him a look. "I can't believe we're letting the *Gunmen* spy on our new nanny," she mutters. "And trusting them to give us an accurate report."

"If anything, we should trust Frohike." Mulder smiles a little. "He'd be the first to squeal."

Both Scully's eyebrows are raised. "I would think that would be Byers."

"Yeah, but Byers tries to be impartial. Frohike wants to get on your good side no matter what, Ms. Dana," he drawls and waggles his eyebrows.

"Ugh." She rolls her eyes. "One would think that his fiancée would keep him busy enough."

It's still difficult for either of them to wrap their heads around the fact that a confirmed bachelor like Frohike is getting married. To a woman with two half-grown children no less. But still, he and Steph seem happy… "Yeah, well, like I said, we should trust Frohike if anything about our new nanny sets off his sensors. And there's a backup plan in case something does happen, remember?"

Now Scully stops. "That really doesn't make me feel any better, Mulder."

He puts his hands up in surrender. "So far, we haven't heard a peep from the guys, and our kids haven't bugged us. It's a safe assumption to say that everything's okay, right?" he says in a placating tone.

There's another look. "Right," she finally says, and Mulder breathes easier. "See you in five."

"Okay." He smiles at her, and they disappear into their respective dressing rooms.

Once their doors are locked behind them, they grab their cell phones and hit speed dial. And are frustrated to get a voice mail, but only because they've dialed at the same time, not that they'd know that.

Meanwhile, now that he's picked them up from their preschool, the new nanny's rather busy taking care of Zoe and Brianna, while making sure that William is playing nicely with the cats who are now getting crotchety in their old age. Any and all surveillance devices around the house (none in the bathrooms, for privacy's sake) haven't been detected by the new nanny, thanks to the Lone Gunmen's years of extensive stalking, er, training.

If anything, it looks like a boring, unedited home video of babysitting. There was a mass exodus of children and parents leaving earlier that morning, giving the nanny a short list of errands for the half of his day without any kids to look after as well as the usual last-minute instructions by said parents about their youngest children, but all in all, nothing too extreme. After all, William's a big boy at nearly five, and Brianna and Zoe are just a year and a half younger than their brother, so they're old enough to walk, talk, and feed themselves.

No, wait, that's an excellent way to get into trouble. Fortunately, their new nanny is well acquainted with how kids get into trouble, and has taken precautions, verbal and physical, to prevent most of that from happening. "Most" that is, because any trouble that happens will be caused by him. At least, that's what Alan Carruthers plans, and his plans usually work out, especially since he's got the physique of a linebacker, the face of a scarred bouncer, and the mind of a prankster.

Alan grins a gap-toothed grin down at the three kids, then says, "Hey, wanna go outside?"

The twin girls look at each other, then nod at him seriously, while William grins with the equally gap-toothed grin of a mischievous little boy. "Where're we goin'?" he asks.

Alan narrows his eyes at the windows, then nods to himself. "We're going to the park," he says, "it's a great day to go wandering."

"What's wanerin?" Zoe asks as Alan finds their jackets.

"Wandering means walking around, looking at stuff, and maybe bringing something back home," he answers. "Okay, Big Will, can you put this on?"

William nods, shrugging into the coat, more than a little pleased to be called "big." His sisters, however, need help with putting on their jackets, so he waits as Alan does that. "Don' worry, I can put on my shoes all by myself, too."

"Cool," the nanny says, "I knew I could count on you."

The little red-headed boy grins at the man who reminds him of his Uncle Charlie in smile, if not looks. "Alan?" he asks, when his pull-on shoes are firmly on his feet.

"Yeah?" The man looks up from fastening Brianna's right shoe.

"Are you gonna sleep over, too? Michelle used to sleep over. Erin didn't, though." Erin had only been a temporary nanny, staying just long enough for the kids' parents to find someone who was interested in sticking around.

Before they'd engaged Erin as a temp, Teena had volunteered to look after the three littlest kids when they weren't in their half day preschool/kindergarten classes, but Mulder and his wife had nearly tripped over their own tongues in the haste to say that wouldn't be necessary. Teena has become far more involved in the kids' lives, but Mulder didn't want to tax that and possibly damage their improved relationship with her. He'd thought she'd actually looked a little relieved when they'd declined.

Alan smiles, and fastens on Brianna's shoes. "I have my own home to sleep in," he says, "besides, the beds are too small here." And he stretches out to demonstrate his point, to the giggles of his audience. "Okay, Zoe, your turn for shoes."

"I don't wanna go shoes," she says, kicking her feet at him.

"Your mean you don't want to wear shoes," he corrects her and fastens on her shoes just as easily. "Too bad. I don't want to explain to your parents why you came home with dirty feet."

As she stomps around with her shoes, the new nanny easily picks up the three stacked child seats, then holds out his hand. "Okay, Will, I need you to do a big favor for me. Can you do that?"

"Okay," the little boy says.

"We're gonna make a kid sandwich," he says, "I'm gonna hold Zoe's hand, Zoe, you hold Brianna's hand, and Will, you're gonna hold Brianna's hand. So it's boy, girl, girl, boy. A kid sandwich," he grins. "Got it?"

William grins back, proud to be considered a big boy rather than just part of the kid sandwich. "Got it."

"Here we go," their new nanny says, and leads them outside, away from the tons of surveillance set up especially for them, and into his car, which hadn't been bugged at all.

Shirlington Park
1:30 p.m.

It really is a beautiful day, and there are a number of people out walking their dogs, since it's a dog-friendly park. More than once, families with very small children have nearly walked away with a four-legged friend, but fortunately for the dog owners, that hasn't happened yet. It's rather quiet for a Tuesday, especially since it's a school day, except for the occasional dog barks.

A red-headed boy and two brunette girls emerge from walking through the Four Mile Run path, their hands and feet dirty, tired but in good spirits. The lone adult with them is likewise dirty in his hooded sweatshirt, but in fairly good spirits himself, and continues to be so, until he's tackled by a man wearing a black jacket. "Stay back!" the man in the black jacket yells, but is then punched in the face by his would-be victim.

"What the hell?" The giant man in the dirty hoodie glares, getting to his feet, but keeping an eye on the kids he came with. To his surprise, there's another child with them, and they seem friendly enough with him. "Kids, stay back!"

"Uncle Alex!" the red-headed boy shouts. "Don't hurt Alan!" The girls are also screaming, but less intelligibly.

"Uncle?" Alan frowns, then does his best to adopt a defensive rather than offensive posture, since he seems to be related. "Uncle Alex," however, has no problems not holding back, however, so Alan sighs, let the guy try to do his worst (which wasn't bad, really), before pinning him down, his arms behind his back, when Will, the girls, and the little strawberry blond boy runs up to them. To Alan's shock, he ends up with an arm in his hand and nearly screams before he realizes he hasn't maimed the guy. Someone has obviously beaten him to that.

"Stay back, he's dangerous," Alan warns them, still giving the detached arm a semi-incredulous look. "Call 911."

Leather-jacket guy twists his head up with a disbelieving look of his own, then starts laughing. "Kids, your parents are so narrow-minded," he wheezes, as the other little boy's face goes from worried to relieved. "Lemme up, big guy, you passed."

What the hell? Alan thinks, as the Mulder kids rush up and also jump on the guy's back. "Why'dja have to hurt him, Uncle Alex?" Will asks. "Alan's our new nanny."

"I know," Uncle Alex says in a strangled tone from being sat on by several bodies, "but you panicked everyone when you left the house without notifying anyone."

"That's 'cause we're wandering," Will explains. "We saw all sortsa cool stuff, stuff you can't get inside the house."

"I bet," Uncle Alex says. "Hey, big guy, mind getting the hell off me now? I promise not to move if you promise to reattach my arm."

The new nanny narrows his eyes, but when he sees all four kids looking up at him with puppy dog eyes, he sighs. "Fine, for the kids, not for you," he says, and gets up carefully, letting go of the fake arm last. "You fight like a thug, but you look like ex-CIA or military. What do you really do?"

The man in the leather jacket raises his eyebrows. "Wow, the recommendations do not do you justice," he said. "Let's just say I'm an ex and leave it at that. Why are you a nanny?"

Alan blinks, then smiles. "I like kids," he says, "if I'm lucky, I'll have some of my own someday."

"And if you're not lucky?" Alex prompts, as the boy who isn't Will runs over and grabs his fake hand like it's real.

The huge nanny sits down on his haunches and made a parody of an old man's face. "Then I'll live alone with a thousand cats," he says in a creaky voice, making the girls giggle. "Or maybe five. Yeah, five sounds about right."

Alex gives him a look Alan was used to getting, then shrugs. "Man, you're just as weird as Mulder," he mutters, "figures. Sorry about that," he says, holding out a hand to shake, "I'm Alex Krycek, father of this awesome boy and two little girls, and uncle to these troublemakers and their big siblings. Welcome to the crazy family of ex-FBI agents Mulder and Scully."

"Alan Carruthers, but you knew that," the brown-haired guy takes his hand with a wry grin. "I didn't realize I needed to run every decision past the parents. So, should I nix the extra field trip to McDonalds?"

The uncle smirks as his nieces and nephew wait with baited breath. "Normally, no," he says, "but I'm sure you must've realized something was up when you went through more security checks than an airport. McDonalds should be fine."

"I'm used to people being weirded out because not only am I a guy, I look like a big goon." Alan shrugs. "But yeah, it seemed a little over-the-top for people not in Congress or making seven figures."

Alex snorts. "Okay, now I'm not surprised by the nanny business. What I am surprised by is why you're working for a couple who's had more than their fair share of death threats and kidnappings, but none of the political pull or financial lure that you're used to dealing with."

The big guy shakes his head. "I always did like a challenge," he says, the scars on his face seeming to underscore that fact. "Besides, it's funny to see how people react when they see me after being introduced as 'the new nanny'. I usually get a less violent reaction, though."

"I'll bet," the uncle mutters. "Well, see you around, big guy. Hope the next person you meet doesn't take you out."

"As long as the kids are fine, it doesn't matter." Alan shrugs with an easygoing smile. "See you later, Mr. Krycek." As his charges wave to their uncle and cousin, he bends down again. "So, you ready for some Happy Meals?"

"Yeah!" the cheer goes out, and they all troop back through the tree-lined path to Alan's car.

Yeah, Alan Carruthers had had interesting first days on the job before, but he'd honestly expected it to be more low-key since they were stated to be ex-FBI. Oh well, guess the rumors about kidnappings and other kinds of crazy stuff about this family are true, he thinks, although he'd initially chalked it up to them being part of the TV show crowd aura.

The basement of the FBI
1:55 p.m.

It's been interesting, working not only with John, but with Leyla Harrison, Reyes muses, especially since her partner for life has been on a kick to find successors. She supposes it's a good idea to look out for the future of the X-Files division, since it's been shut down before, but she usually likes to take things as they come. John's using his "lunch break" for some time with Rebecca upstairs, as they're using the FBI's childcare service in lieu of a nanny given they only have one non-school age child between them. That, and it's a good excuse to visit their little girl when things get slow, like they have today.

"So, how'd your lunch meeting go?" Reyes asks Leyla when the blonde agent walks in. No, scratch that, she practically bounces in. If it wasn't for Harrison's self-proclaimed klutziness and being on the math team, Reyes would've sworn she was a cheerleader in high school.

"It was awesome!" the younger agent chirps, her blue eyes shining. "I've got a case!"

"Oh?" Reyes raises her eyebrows. "What's it about?"

"It could be anything!" Harrison shakes her head. "I'm not sure whether to classify it as 'hypnosis', or 'possession', or even 'voodoo', but it's something, I know it!"

The brunette frowns, wondering if she should tell her about the case that earned her Mulder and Scully's acquaintance. Maybe later, she decides. "And now I'm confused. You said you were going out to have lunch with your sister, and you come back with a case that could be any number of things. What exactly did she tell you?"

"Here, have a mocha latte." Harrison plunks down a rather full and sweet-smelling paper cup with a plastic lid onto the desk. "My sister Amy, well, half-sister, actually, she's a prosecutor, and a very good one, too. But lately, her firm has been getting complaints from various criminals they've put away, people who were obviously guilty and even confessed to their crimes. The weird thing is, though, is that about a week into their prison stay, they suddenly snap and act like they were framed or want a retrial."

"Well, that's no surprise," Reyes says patiently, "most people do have a rude awakening when they go through more than a day of prison life."

"Yeah, but that's not the really weird part," Harrison goes on. "The weird part is that all of them, five so far, had all personally confessed to their crimes. And when they 'woke up', they all claimed to have seen an old woman shaking her head at them. Her ethnicity varies with theirs, but they've all seen her."

"Does she say anything to them?" Reyes leans forward, interested.

"Not that I know of," Harrison answers. "But once they see her, it's like they've woken up to jail suddenly. They said they felt like from the time they 'supposedly committed their crime'," she states and she puts her fingers up like quotation marks, "until the time they woke up, it was like sleepwalking or living underwater. But when they saw the old woman, that was like some kind of cue to wake up, so they did."

Reyes takes a sip of the mocha latte. Boy, was it sweet, but it sure beat the mud posing as coffee upstairs. "Did they see her in a dream, or did she seem present to them as part of their prison life?"

Now Harrison frowns. "I guess it was more like a vision. Like, she was suddenly in front of them, shaking her head, and then they woke up." Then she brightens considerably. "Weird, huh?"

"Yeah, definitely weird," Reyes says, already racking her brain for some kind of explanation. Harrison, quick as she is, managed to come up with quite a few theories, but Reyes isn't sure if any of them fit, or if there's another explanation altogether. Then she smiles. "I can't wait until John gets back. We're going to need everyone on this to talk to prisoners, the initial investigators, family members, see if there's any link between them."

"Well, that's part of what drove Amy up the wall." Harrison shrugs. "There seems to be no links between them. One was a child molester, another a car thief, two of them serial killers, and the last killed his grandmother for money. Three of them are Caucasian, one Puerto Rican and one African-American. The only thing they have in common is that they live in Virginia, but even then-"

"Different cities or types of neighborhoods, too," Reyes filled in, making her companion nod. "Same prison?"

Harrison shakes her head. "Amy thought of that, too, but no. She thought if that were the case, there would probably be more people jumping on the 'I've been hypnotized' bandwagon. Her words, not mine."

The brunette smiles. "No obvious connection, aside from the confession, sleepwalking and strange sighting. This is gonna be good."

"What's gonna be good?" Doggett asks as he walks in, a bounce in his step, although for a much different reason than Harrison's.

"I've got a case!" Harrison cheerfully declares, in the same way some women would say they have new shoes.

The smile on his face slides into something more like surprise, or perhaps shock. "You don't say," he says guardedly, glancing over at Reyes. She only lifts a shoulder and smiles, which doesn't help. "Okay, mind telling me what this is all about?"

So Agent Harrison launches into her second explanation of the case, with no less enthusiasm than she showed the first time around. That impresses Reyes, if not Doggett. "So, what do you think?" she asks, her eyes shining.

Reyes can almost read "Dear God, remind me why I'm training this girl" on his forehead, and smirks. He knew what he was getting himself into, honestly. It's not like he hadn't had a preview when Leyla had covered her maternity leave. Still, she is curious about Leyla's sister, or half-sister, and if she's a "very good prosecutor" as claimed.

a/n: So...are we off to a good start?