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Resistance 1.03: Holding On
Author: Vickie Moseley Summary: It's 2012. William Vande Kamp knows more than his parents think he knows. He's about to embark on an adventure that will change his life forever. Category: Mytharc, Williamfic, pre and post colonization Rating: E for everybody Disclaimer: Well, it got pretty darned hard to make it sound like something a 12 year old kid would buy into, but I made him psychic, so that helped. Otherwise, I sure don't intent to infringe on that mangled mess that was S8 and S9 and don't even want to infringe on the good stuff in S1 through S7. Archive: yes Undying Gratitude: to Lisa for beta and pictures and general 'you can do this' encouragement. To DanaKScully for unconditional support and enthusiasm, even when it meant waiting a little longer for another story I was working on. Author's notes: this is a series. It's not really a WIP, because I plan on keeping it going for a while. I bow to DonnaH, who has blazed one heck of a trail before me with both After the Future and Goodbyes/Hellos. I take a slightly different route. This is part one of I don't know how many. The first section, Resistance 1 has five parts. I'll post a part a day for one week. The story and Lisa's wonderful artwork are available at my website http://vickiemoseley.freeservers.com Resistance: Holding On December 1, 2012 Del Sol Medical Center El Paso, Texas "Oh my God! William!" I don't know who ran faster or got there first but suddenly I was in my mother's arms, my real mother, for the first time since I was a baby. We were crying and holding on for all we were worth. She's a couple of inches shorter than I am, not much but it felt weird. My adopted mom is taller. Still it felt so right, like I was finally home. Then I felt another pair of arms go around both of us, right about our waists. I looked down and there was Peggy, hugging us with tears running down her cheeks too. It was a great family reunion but one person was missing. "I want to see my Dad," I finally choked out, wiping tears and my nose on the sleeve of my shirt. Mom either wasn't going to ruin the moment or didn't notice because she was wiping her own tears so she didn't call me on the 'sleeve as tissue' action. "William, I'll see if I can get you back there, but you have to understand -- " "He's hurt bad, I get that, but he's not dying, Mom." God, it felt so normal calling this woman Mom. In the back of my mind I could faintly remember the words to a really old rock tune about a bullfrog named Jeremiah. "William, I know it's hard. It's hard on all of us," she kept talking, but she wasn't really listening. "Mom, it's like the rock. The rock from the ship. The rock you had to go far away to understand," I told her, gripping both her arms for a minute to get her attention. At that point I was just touching on memories that Dad was remembering too, in his coma. "They're getting closer. He feels them. It's happening." I finally broke through to her. I could see all the little puzzle pieces fall into place in her mind. "Oh my God," she whispered. She looked up at me with fear in her eyes. "How can we help him? William, we have to help him!" "I know, Mom. I know. That's why I'm here. I think I can help him. But the broken bones, all that, it's going to slow us down. We have to get out of here. We don't have much time." "Out of this hospital?" Peggy chirped up. "No, Peg. Out of this town. Someplace far away. We need to get someplace we can hide, where we can bring others," I said. I felt so much older than 12 when I said that. Like I was setting the course of world events, like my civics teacher talked about in class a few weeks ago. "Gibson will help," Mom said. "He has friends." "Yeah, I know. I'm one of them," I said proudly. She sort of chuckled at that, not a real laugh, just a smile and a half. She was so pretty when she smiled. "First though, we have to get to Dad." "Come with me. I'll get you in to see your father." "Wait, Mom. Will got you something," Peg said, holding up the yogurt and a spoon. She smiled again when she took the yogurt. "Thanks, Will. Bug, did you help him pick out the flavor?" she said with a wink to Peggy. "Nope. He knew. He knew to get peach. And Mommy, he had to hunt to find it!" my little sister said proudly and then she smiled at me and I saw Mom's smile on her face. I almost lost it then, for the fourth of fifth time that day. "You knew? You knew my favorite flavor is peach?" Mom asked, her voice cracking. "I know a lot, Mom. But now's not the time to talk about it. Let's go see Dad." We rode the elevator to the fourth floor again. This time I wasn't nearly as scared. Mom would look at me over the top of the yogurt container and she would smile but tears would still be leaking down her cheeks. I understood the feeling. I wanted to cry again, too, but not in front of Peggy. When we got to the waiting room where I first saw my sister, Mom stopped us. "Peggy, sweetheart, you need to stay here," she said, her hand petting Peg's hair. "But Mommy," Peg whined. "I want to see Daddy, too!" "Margaret Christina, please, not now," Mom said sternly. "Mom, I think she can help," I said, biting my lip. I wasn't sure, but I had the impression Peggy and I were more alike than our parents could ever imagine. I was worried a little that she might get too scared at the sight of Dad all sick and banged up to really help, but she seemed like a tough little kid from what I'd seen of her already. I was pretty sure she was made of stronger stuff. "Let her come, too. Please." Mom nodded finally and Peggy tossed me a big smile. "It's not pretty, sweetheart. But remember, under all those wires, it's still Daddy under there, OK? He loves us and needs us right now," Mom explained to her. "I understand, Mommy. Let's go. Let's hurry." The nurse looked up when we filed in that door with the sign. "Mrs. Mulder. I'm sorry, only one -- " "This is our son, William. He's been away at school and just made it home. Please, may we see his father? Please?" I was totally impressed; Mom could lie like a pro. But I knew why she was doing it. Any other explanation would have caused a ruckus. Here is our son, the runaway. We adopted him out when he was a baby and he just decided to come find us today. Not a good idea. But I could also tell Mom wasn't happy about lying to the woman. She just knew it had to be done. The nurse looked me over and then looked at Peggy. She sighed and nodded. "It's probably just as well that the children have a moment with their father," she said and I could tell she was thinking it would be our last time to see him alive. I knew better, but this woman didn't. "Thank you," Mom whispered. "Come on, kids. He's over here." He was lying in the second cubicle. There were walls on the sides and in the back, but the front was completely open. There was a glass folding door thing off to the side, so I guess they could have closed it, but since you could see right through it, there didn't seem to be much point. Dad was in a bed with the head up a little. Peggy was right; he had a big tube down his throat and lots of wires coming off his head, ones on his cheeks and all over his forehead. I could see little streaks of grey hair right at his temple. I never noticed the grey hair in my dreams. His left arm was in a cast and his left leg was all bandaged and propped up on pillows. He wasn't wearing a gown, so I could see bandages all over his chest, along with another tube going to a machine somewhere under the bed. Mom was right; maybe it wasn't good that Peggy should see all this. This didn't look at all like the man in my dream, my Superman Dad who was going to come someday and rescue me from dying of boredom on the farm. I felt rooted to my spot by the door. Mom walked around me and went close to the bed. She picked up his hand, the one not in a cast, and petted it. She had a smile on her face when she spoke. "Mulder, look who's here," she whispered but I could hear her. "It's William, Mulder. He found us. He found you. He's here to see you. Won't you open your eyes, Mulder, please, for William?" He didn't move, but I could hear him. He was caught in a dream, a nightmare. He was reliving the torture they'd done to him on the ship. That was his greatest fear, that he would be captured again. No, not just him, all of us -- Mom, Peggy, even me. I wanted to tell him that he had to stop fearing them; it was getting in his way. It was like a big rock in the middle of the road and unless he moved it, it would stop him from going forward. I knew we needed him. Not just our family, but also the whole human race. In just a few days, maybe sooner, the aliens were going to come and try and take the planet away from us. I knew we'd need my Superman Dad then, as never before. I realized I hadn't moved. OK, if I expected him to make a change, I had to, too. So I stepped over to the bed. Mom moved out of the way so I could be closer to the side without the casts. I picked up his hand and held it close to my face. It was cold, like he'd been outside or something. I looked over at Mom and she was just smiling. "Talk to him, William. He can hear you." I closed my eyes. Holding his hand it was easier. After a while I could see him, standing on a beach. There was a sandcastle shaped like a space ship and he was smoothing out the edge. He turned and looked at me. "I knew you'd come," he said as he smiled at me. "I should have waited for you, but I figured we could do the detail work together." He nodded to the sandcastle. "Cool ship," I said. "Do you remember helping me build it? You were little then." I thought hard. I could remember the feel of sand running through my fingers. I could remember the feel of his fingers as I held on for dear life, taking steps toward Mom. I could remember kicking the sandcastle because I was mad at him. "Are those my memories?" I asked. "I've only been to the ocean one time when I was six and I stepped on a jelly fish. We never got around to building a sandcastle and my other Dad wouldn't have built a space ship. A tractor, maybe, or a silo, but definitely not a space ship." He smiled again and shook his head. "It was before you were born. Before you were even conceived." That was confusing. "How could I have memories from before I was conceived?" "They're the memories of your soul," he said with a knowing smile. He looked up into the sky. "They're coming, William. I've seen it in my dreams. There is nothing we can do." "No, Dad. I don't believe that." I couldn't let him think like that. He would give up and then he would die and we would be lost. I would be lost more than anyone. "They will fire bomb our cities. We'll all die trying to fight them. Your sister, your mother, you . . . " "No Dad. We'll fight. And yes, some of us may die, but we can't let them have our planet! We have to fight them. We need you to help us. You're the only one who understands them!" "I don't understand them. They killed me, William. How is it possible that I could understand them?" "You were with them. You know more about them than any of us. You know about their hybrids, the Supersoldier things Gibson told me about. You know how to spot them. Dad, you know how to kill them. Only you!" I was out of breath, if that was possible in a vision. "You have to come back." "I'm hurt. I can't help. I would just slow you down," he said sadly. "You honestly think you can slow Mom down?" I asked. He blinked and then shook his head. "It's easy to see who your mother is," he said with a smirk. "Not to mention my father. Not every kid my age goes around building spaceship sandcastles before they were conceived!" "Maybe more than we know," he said mysteriously. I reached out my hand to him. "Dad. Come back with me." He hesitated. "Dad. Please. Please come back with me. Mom needs you. Peggy needs you. Dad, I really need you now." He stared at me for a full minute and then slowly grasped my hand. Suddenly, I was back in the cubicle in the ICU. I was exhausted, but he was still grasping my hand. When I looked over, Mom and Peggy were asleep in a chair near us. I looked back and saw my dad blink his eyes. His hazel eyes. They were as beautiful as they'd been in my dreams. He struggled against the tube in his throat and the sound he made woke Mom up right away. "Mulder, Mulder, hold on, sweetheart. Let's get the doctor. Oh, love, you scared me bad this time!" she said, hurrying to the door to wave over a nurse. I started to sway and Peggy pushed the chair under me so I wouldn't fall on the floor. "How long was I like that?" I asked her. "About four hours. Mom tried to get you to sit down, but you wouldn't. You didn't say anything, either. You just stood there with your eyes closed, holding Daddy's hand. When we couldn't get you to sit down, we sat down to watch and I guess we fell asleep." She stepped over closer to the bed. "Daddy? Daddy, it's me, Peggy." His eyes fluttered open and he tried to smile around the tube, but it was too hard. He waved his hand and she grabbed it. I saw him squeeze her hand and she leaned over and kissed his fingers. "Thank you, Daddy. Thank you for not leaving me," she said with tears down her cheeks. Dad let go of her hand long enough to brush the tears from her face and poke her nose. That must have tired him out because he closed his eyes again until the doctor came in. The nurse came in, followed by a doctor. He looked around at all of us and shook his head. "OK folks, visiting hours are over. Mrs. Mulder, if you'd take the children out to the waiting room, I'll call you when we've weaned your husband off the ventilator. It shouldn't be more than a couple of hours. Why don't you all use the time to get something to eat and rest a bit?" Mom didn't look too happy to be tossed out of the ICU, but Dad squeezed her hand and winked at her and she smiled and winked back. "I'll be back. When the vent comes out, try not to antagonize the nurses, Mulder." If it was possible to look innocent with a big old white tube down your throat, my dad did a good imitation. Mom squeezed his hand again. "I don't buy that for a minute. Just play nice until we can get you home, for once." She leaned over and kissed the side of his mouth, the only part she could hit. "I love you," I heard her whisper and he blinked twice, which was some sort of sign between them, I guess. She smiled at him again and then helped me out of the chair and we all left Dad with the doctor. I was really tired when we got to the little lounge area. Before Mom could object I grabbed the closest sofa-looking thing and lay down. I knew she wanted to talk, she had about a million and one questions to ask me, but she also realized I was too sleepy to answer any of them and make any sense. "Peggy and I are going down to the cafeteria. Do you want us to bring you something back?" "We'll get you a ham on whole wheat with mustard," Peggy offered and I gave her a 'thumbs up' sign without opening my eyes. "Don't forget -- " "Orange Crush," she finished my sentence before I could get the words out. I was still so wiped out that I couldn't pry my eyes open, but I couldn't let her have the last word. "You're OK, squirt. For a bratty little sister," I said just as I figured they were about to get on the elevator.
To be continued.
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