by: Margaret

“It’s amazing what a little time and a lot of love can do.”
Fox Mulder pushed the stop button on his hand held-tape recorder and wondered if he
should erase what he’d just said. The sentence wasn’t the most professional way to begin
an X-file report, and was also pretty uncharacteristic of his monotone, no-frills attitude.
But then again, he still wasn’t “officially” part of the X-files. So maybe he could fudge on
the professionalism a little.
He leaned back against the white wooden fence of the Duke farm and quietly watched
his partner and the Duke family play with Patricia for what he thought would be the last
time. The child had changed much in her short stay at the farm. Sad green eyes were soon
replaced with sparkling, twinkling ones. Daisy had replaced her dirty, worn clothes with
pink and white dresses that had frills on the cuffs and skirt, except for when she was in
the dirt, when she wore jeans and a western shirt just like the boys, her biggest heroes.
Her long blonde hair was tied up with ribbons, and the sound of laughter often
accompanied the child wherever she went. Patricia’s tears were gone. She was happy
here, and on the outside looked like any other normal kid in Hazzard ~ only happier.
Mulder would have let her stay here forever if the fates would have allowed it. The
Dukes loved the little girl, most especially Bo. They had taken her in as one of their own,
and Patricia had loved and accepted them as if they were her biological family. But for
all the happiness that sprung from this blissful union, the farmers could not keep her. And
when the day came for her to leave, it was a bittersweet moment.

Fox crossed his arms and thought about all that had happened for the past month and a
half. After Patricia woke up, the world returned back to normal. The Smoking Man
reverted back to his proper age and stayed there. The skies overhead became their
monotonous, blue and sunny selves. The Gunmen’s RV was returned to them unharmed.
The vehicle and all the computer equipment inside didn’t bear so much as a scratch, and
the Dukes farmhouse mysteriously popped back into its place without even a hint of
smoke damage. Patricia had returned everything to its proper place, and what knocked
the socks off Mulder was that the child did it all unconsciously. Patricia didn’t even
KNOW that she had subconsciously fixed everything.
Mulder and Skinner had immediately placed the child in the protective custody of the
Duke family, making them her foster family. It was a smart move. Mulder had guessed
that the Secret Society would not want to give up their prize so easily. Now that the
world was back to normal, and now that Patricia had regained control of herself, the
experienced lawman had guessed that the Society would try to take the girl back and use
her like THEY did before.
He d been right. The attack came with the legal wrangling of Congressman Braddok.
In a move both bold and blatant, the politician tried to legally hand Patricia over to one of
his
stooges. Skinner quickly fell into the defensive and pulled out his own lawyers ~ the best
the FBI could buy! The legalistic group was hired with one purpose in mind, STALL
FOR TIME! It was a brilliant strategy that would have worked had not a third party
jumped in and vied for the girl’s ownership. The United States Government inevitably
involved itself in this strange mix. It was clear that Simpleton wanted the child for
himself. Why? Well, that was anyone’s guess.
But in the end, Skinner had outsmarted everyone. While the powers that be were busy
fighting amongst themselves, Skinner quietly went behind the lines and enrolled Patricia
into the Witness Protection Program. The day the papers went through was the day
Mulder could rest easy. The Witness Protection Program would protect the girl from
everyone who wanted to use her. Patricia would be given a new name, a new identity, a
new history, and a new family somewhere far away. No one would have the location to
her new home. Patricia would simply disappear and start a new life without having to
worry about the tyrants of her past. It also meant, however, that she would have to break
all ties with the people that she had grown to love.
When Mulder finally broke the news to the girl, Patricia took it hard, as did the
Dukes.
The thought of having the child go to a strange family that no one had ever heard of made
everyone nervous. But once again, Skinner came to the rescue. The director was able to
quietly pull strings, and through his intercession, Dana Scully’s brother was chosen to be
the new guardian for the girl. Dana’s brother already had a family with two kids about
Patricia’s age. He was used to the weird and unexplainable stuff his sister often dragged
home from work, and it was agreed that he would know best how to care for Patricia and
her special gifts. Skinner reasoned that in this way, Patricia wouldn’t totally disappear
from the lives of the Duke family. They could keep in touch with her as long as they did
it quietly. It was a hard arrangement to accept, but it was one that everyone agreed was
necessary.
Still, the future rewards did not ease the pain of the separation Patricia and the Dukes
would have to suffer through today. In the distance, Mulder heard the engine of a car, and
when he saw the blue rental Mustang drive slowly into view, he knew that it was time.
Dana and the Dukes also saw the car coming at them. The red- headed tomboy
straightened her black suit and walked down the road to greet her brother. The Dukes
could tell right away that he was a nice man. With his laid-back demeanor and casual
style, he won the boys especially over right away. They shook hands, chitchatted a little
bit, exchanged addresses and phone numbers, and suddenly, it was time to go.
Bo didn’t take the departure well at all. He hung close to the door quietly moping, and
Luke could see how hard this was for his cousin. He stood by the younger boy’s side
throughout the good-byes, a silent pillar of strength. Scully grabbed a few last-minute
articles from the house, and when she came out for the last time, Patricia followed
behind her with her little pink suitcase and her lunchbox. She was nervous, and Daisy
saw it immediately. She walked over to the child, and bent down to look at her at eye
level. The older girl smiled, and Patricia soon followed suit. “Everything will be okay,
sugar,” Daisy said. “You’ll see.”
Patricia looked up to the young woman she considered her big
sister, and nodded. “I know it will,” she said with an air of confidence that kind of caught
Daisy off guard. It was almost as if Patricia knew what the future held. Daisy brushed the
thought aside, though, and gently took the little girl by the hand to lead her to the men in
the family. Jesse and Luke gave their last hugs and kisses good-bye, and then she stood in
front of Bo.
The young farmer was forcing a smile that poorly covered the sadness that hung over
him. Patricia set her luggage down and raised her arms out to him, signaling that she
wanted a hug. Bo felt a large lump form in his throat. He bent down and wrapped her
tightly in his arms.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” he whispered into her ear.
Patricia snuggled her face into his yellow cotton shirt. “I’m going to miss you too. I
love
you.”
“I love you more,” Bo said as he gently stroked her hair.
The girl pulled back and saw that tears threatened to fall from the young farmer’s dark
blue eyes. He was fighting them, and barely winning. She draped her small hands around
his neck and gently pulled his ear to her lips. “You know,” she whispered so that only he
could hear. “No matter what anyone does, no one can really keep me away from you.” Bo
scowled in confusion at the statement. He wasn’t sure what the sentence meant, and to be
truthful, he was a little alarmed by it. He pulled back to see Patricia with a naughty smile
and laughing eyes that seemed to sing ‘I’ve got a secret’. “I’ll see you sooner than you
think!” she promised, and then skipped off to the car.
Before she got in, she turned to Fox Mulder. He’d watched from the background,
careful to keep a distance from the heartfelt good-byes. Patricia dropped her suitcase by
the car door and raced off to him. She rammed into his side and gave the melancholy
lawman a big hug.
“I’m going to miss you too, Mr. Fox!” she said.
Mulder smiled and gently patted her back. “Same here, kiddo.”
The child gave him a tight squeeze and then pulled back. “You know,” she said with a
matter-of-fact manner, “you shouldn’t be so glum all the time. Be happy! You’re gonna be
back with your X-files soon!”
Mulder’s eyes almost popped out of his head at the statement. Where the heck did that
come from? He stared speechlessly at the little girl, not sure how to respond. Scully
slowly
shuffled to Mulder’s side. She didn’t see her partner’s stunned aura. She assumed Patricia
had heard Mulder gripe about his career.
“Oh honey,” she said with a touch of sadness. “I’m afraid the X-files is really gone.
The
people who took me and Mulder away from it don’t want us back.”
Patricia put her hands on her hip and cocked her head to the side. “I know that there
are
people who don’t want you to be with the X-files,” she said with a ‘Duh! You think I’m
stupid?’ expression. “But they’re not going to be able to keep you two away!”
She turned her head to the sky, and suddenly her demeanor changed. For some reason,
Patricia seemed much more mature. Her eyes searched the skies as if she were reading an
omen in the air, and when she spoke, it was with the voice of a sage. “The aliens don’t
want to keep their end of the bargain, and the monsters don’t want to stay in their cages.”
She pulled her chin back down and said with a confident, no-nonsense smile, “Mr. Fox,
you WILL be with your X-files soon! But you need to be careful! The monsters know
you.”
And with that, the little Goldilocks picked up her suitcase and bounced into the car.
Usually, such farewells were accompanied by friendly waves, smiles, and maybe even a
few tearful good-byes. But that wasn’t the case here. What Patricia had said
stunnedeveryone so badly, they pretty much just watched the car drive away with their
jaws hanging open.
Daisy clung tightly to Bo’s arm. Luke and Jesse gave each other wide, speechless
stares.
Scully’s hands turned ice cold. But Fox had a different reaction altogether. Bo turned to
his friend to try and reassure him that the prophecy probably didn’t mean anything, but he
saw something that kind of confused him. There was a gleam in the agent’s eye, a
sparkling brilliant shine. Mulder’s mouth was doing something weird. The corners of his
cheeks turned upwards, and after a few seconds Bo realized that Fox Mulder was
actually… smiling!

**

Bo Duke did indeed see Patricia again. She came in his dreams, and he in hers. It
seemed as though the strange link between them was somewhat permanent. But he was
getting used to it, slowly but surely, and it made him feel a little less alone sometimes.
Luke didn’t really understand or like it, but he accepted facts, and in no time at all, the
Dukes’ lives were back to normal. Fall came, and with it the harvest. Then Christmas, and
the good times that inspired, as though nothing had ever gone wrong to begin with.
One day, when the holiday season had come and gone and when the silence of winter
gave way to the hustle and bustle of spring, Bo received a special delivery from Ms.
Tisdale. It was a brown package taped well and bound tight with twine. His name was on
the outside, but there was no return address. When he opened the package, he stared in
confusion at what looked like a stack of papers that were bound together like some
manuscript for a novel. He pulled it out of its cardboard box and flipped to the first page.
It was there that he saw the handwriting of his friend Fox Mulder. He smiled as read the
personal note which stated: “BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE, COWBOY! LIFE HAS
BEGUN AGAIN!”
Bo didn’t know what the note meant. But when he turned to the cover page, his
confusion left and he laughed out loud as all became clear. The paper read:

May 16, 1999

REPORT DESTINATION: Special Director of X-files unit, Skinner

REPORT FROM: Special agent of X-files unit, Fox Mulder

X-FILE TITLE: The Case of the Golden Child

X-FILE#: 151… AND STILL COUNTING!!!!!!!

The End