Welcome To The Harem

The Rainbow Connection by Emily Miller Part 3 of 3
Summary: Years ago, a 12-year-old girl found the truth about her adopted sister in a box in her attic... a truth people would kill for. Now, 22 years later, Fox tries to help a woman named Ann who bears a strange resemblance to Samantha, but doesn't want to have anything to do with her less-than-average past. And when her old truth finally comes out, it could cost Fox, Ann, and the missing Marita Covarrubias their lives.

THE RAINBOW CONNECTION BY EMILY MILLER
PART 3 OF 3
SEE PART 1 FOR HEADERS

JANUARY 21, 1980
8:45 P.M.

The house felt lonely, Ann thought, as she stared blankly into the fire. Her parents and Marita had gone to see Jamie's school play, but she'd turned her invitation down. She had too much homework, she said.

She didn't have any homework. She'd just felt out of place lately. She knew that it was natural for teenagers to feel that way, but she had a reason to feel out of place. She WAS out of place. She didn't feel as though she belonged with the Covarrubias'; every time she looked at the man she called 'Dad', she couldn't help thinking that he really wasn't. She wasn't letting him be.

The picture of Fox and Samantha was in her hand, instead of its usual place hidden in her room. She wanted so badly to be a part of that carefree life again. To be a part of a family and not have to worry about whether or not they really wanted her.

Had the Covarrubias' really wanted her? John, Marita, and Jamie had known she was adopted, even if she hadn't for years- had they liked the idea of that little 8-year-old girl she'd been at the time just dropping into their lives and becoming a permanent part of it?

Jamie probably didn't remember life without her. He'd been, after all, only 3 years old when he first saw her, in the hospital that long ago day. And when he'd first been told they were going to adopt a new little girl, a girl Marita's age, that had probably meant nothing to him. He hadn't gotten any younger brothers or sisters like John and Marita had.

Marita, most likely, had been excited at the idea. Making friends was like a game to her. If she met someone she thought she'd like, she would make it her life's goal to get them to like her, too. That was why she had so many friends, one of the most popular girls in school. Ann could just picture her excitement at learning she was going to get a new, live-in friend.

And John... she wasn't so sure about John. He would remember before she'd been there, and probably knew the most about what was going on. Suspected there was something wrong with a little girl who had no memory of her life before then that they had to lie to for maybe forever. He'd always been the most distant from Ann, but when she'd said something about it to Marita, Marita had just snorted and said John was always like that. Ann wasn't so sure.

Then they'd learned the real truth, all of them. And the link she'd slowly been connecting to the Covarrubias', the one that made her a part of the family, had been severed as easily as her connections to the Mulder family had been.

Why shouldn't she be part of a family, like practically everybody else on the whole planet? For years, she'd been trying to keep herself as a part of the Mulder's, even though obviously they didn't care about her anymore. She'd distanced herself from her adoptive family, even though they'd tried their hardest to let her accept them. If she would let them, they'd let her in, without a second thought.

She glanced one final time at the picture of the smiling boy and girl, then, as tears filled her eyes, tossed it into the fire. The last thing she saw before the flames consumed it and the tears consumed her was the face of Fox Mulder, his features burned so that instead of smiling he seemed to be staring at her accusingly. She pulled her legs to her chest, put her face on her knees, and sobbed with both joy and sorrow.
********

JULY 14, 1999
2:00 P.M.

"Do you remember Donald acting at all out of the ordinary just before his abdu- disappearance?" Fox asked. He glanced at Carry while Mrs. Barker pursed her lips and seemed to be thinking. Carry was playing with a pencil she'd found, making light lines up and down her arm and little noises as she did.

"No," Mrs. Barker finally said.

"Did you see him talking to a strange man? Or a delivery or postman?"

"We have a very friendly postman... Bob. Donald and Carry both loved him, they waited for him just about every day. But he wasn't a stranger. We've known him for years."

Fox let this soak in. He'd finally found what could very possibly be a lead. There had been numerous cases of rape and murder he'd worked on where the victim had "known" a man holding a menial or delivery job; they'd simply invited him in for a cup of coffee or a short visit in the winter without considering just how little they really knew about this person. And with an 11-year-old boy might let a man he knew who showed up at night in, not stopping to think of it as anything out of the ordinary.

"Where would I find this... Bob?"

"Oh, I don't know... most likely at work right about now. Our mail usually gets her about now."

Fox forced a smile. "Thanks for your time. If we need anything else, we'll come back." He stood up, and the kids did as well, not quite unable to hide the look of relief on their faces.

"What about Carry?" Mrs. Barker asked.

"I think we have everything we need to know."

"Well, if you didn't need to talk to her, I don't see why you had to make sure she was down here..." Mrs. Barker got up, but didn't take them to the door. Instead, she went into another room, still mumbling to herself, with Carry following close behind. Carry turned to wave at them and smile again.

"We're going to look for the postman, aren't we, Fox?" Daina Kathryn asked.

"Right."

"I don't think he did it."

Fox held open the door for her and Lucas and Samantha to get out. He tried to hide amusement. There might be a good reason for Daina Kathryn's doubt, but it was still a little funny to hear this little kid, barely older than a baby, expressing such grave doubt. "Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It just doesn't sound very likely. He was the first person you asked about, just a delivery person or something like that. That makes him a likely person to blame... suspect?... and if he was friends with those kids, he'd know they'd think of him when one of them died, so he wouldn't do it because of that..." she stopped, biting her lip, trying to think of how she could explain this to Fox. "I just... I just don't think he did it. 'Cause it would be too obvious. He would hide the body or somethin'."

"You might be right, D. Why don't we just talk to him and make sure he doesn't know anything. Maybe Donald said something to him or something like that."

She still looked as if she was thinking hard about something. She probably wanted to solve this by herself; Fox knew when he'd first been stuck following Patterson around he'd wanted nothing more than to solve the case before the 'head man' did. Only Fox had done it. And no matter how smart, how mature, how thoughtful she was, he didn't think a 4-year-old girl was going to be able to solve a murder case before anyone else did. Especially not with what they had now.
********

SEPTEMBER 16, 1983
8:30 A.M.

Marita sighed and pushed hair out of her face, wishing she'd thought to pull it back before she finished her packing. Or that she'd finished packing last night, like her mother and Ann had suggested. Or a lot of other things that would make this day 10 times easier.

"I don't think you can get much more in there," Ann said. She was obviously struggling not to laugh at her sister, ready to go off to college that afternoon and still not packed.

Ann had opted against college, saying she didn't think she'd be able to leave home. Marita wondered about that, about what had happened to Ann the last few years. First she'd wondered about what had happened to her before the Covarrubias' adopted her, then she'd found out and cherished the memories she had of before, then she'd seemed to lose all interest and when Ann or Jamie brought up the name 'Fox' she had to think for a minute before remembering that they were referring to a person, not an animal.

Marita really had no problem with it, the spacey, quiet Ann had suddenly turned into a much more outgoing, friendly one when she let herself forget about Fox and her other parents and her life as Samantha. She'd taken an interest in things, in family, and had apparently become so attached to them, to life, to Sunflower, that she didn't want to leave.

"Well, I was planning on putting you in next, so you'd better hope there is," Marita said, the best comeback she could come up with without a lot of thought.

A giggle escaped then. "Oh, really?"

"I guess not, because I think you're right." Marita was putting most of her weight on the bag now, but the zipper still wouldn't quite go. "Jeez, I wish John was here. He could always get these things to shut."

"It's not physically possible, M'ita! Give up!" Ann said, then rolled over so she was on her stomach, putting her head in her pillow to try to hide her laughter.

Marita grabbed her own pillow and whacked her a few times, then went back to her stubborn clothing. "I should find that brother Fox of yours and ask why we're the ones cursed to deal with you."

Ann's laughter stopped, but she was still grinning when she looked up. "I wonder what happened to him, don't you?"

"I sure do. He was cute."

"Maybe he's a famous actor who changed his name."

"What, you think he's cute, too?"

"A little, I guess."

"Eww!" Marita made the most disgusted face she could make. "There's something wrong when you think your own brother's cute!"

Ann giggled again. "Shut up. He's not really my brother, anyway."

"Could've fooled me. Your nose looks just like his."

"Shut UP!" It was Ann's turn to grab a pillow and make a few half-hearted throws in the direction of her sister.

When she was finished, Marita suddenly turned serious. "I could find him for you."

"Oh, yeah? And how could you do that?"

"I don't know. I'd find a way."

"Good luck!"

And they were both laughing again. Ann thought it was a joke; that was obvious. But Marita was dead serious. She wanted to find the boy- he was a man now, she realized when she thought about it- named Fox Mulder who'd lost his sister over 10 years before.
********

JULY 14, 1999
2:30 P.M.

The kids, especially Samantha, were obviously tiring of walking the dusty, hot streets of Sunflower, Texas, in search of an elusive postman named Bob. But Fox wasn't quite ready to give in to their unspoken pleas for a break from FBI-work. The town was small enough that they'd covered most of it already, he didn't see why they couldn't just go ahead and finish the rest of it before going to the post office to ask.

"We have walked lots of miles, at least," Lucas said, which Fox translated to mean they'd walked a long way.

"I walked farther when we were going to Canada," Daina Kathryn replied. She was purposely kicking up little clouds of dust by scuffing her feet along the sidewalk. Her bare toes were covered by a later of the dust that Fox knew Dana would probably not be too happy about.

"That's where we came from," Lucas said. "Canada."

"Hey, yeah!" Samantha said. " I 'member that!"

"Mom got shot. And a man was going to shoot me, but another nice man named Alex shot him instead," Daina Kathryn said.

Fox let them continue their conversation on their own, not even commenting on Daina Kathryn's idea that this Alex- Alex Krycek- was a 'nice man.'

"We got on a thing like plane and fly... flew 'way," Lucas said.

Daina Kathryn smiled patiently, more like an older sibling to a much younger one than vice versa. "Helicopter."

"Yeah, helicopter."

"Hey, Fox, do you remember that?" Daina Kathryn was at his side now, tugging his arm to get his attention.

"Remember what?" he asked, as if he hadn't been listening.

"Remember when Mom got shot and we got to ride on the helicopter with Mr. Skinner and Uncle Bill?"

He nodded. "I remember."

"Can we do that again sometime?"

"What, let your mom get shot and then have to escape on a helicopter, only to be chewed out by, uh... Mr. Skinner as soon as she's okay again?"

Daina Kathryn laughed and started to say something, but it was Samantha who answered his question. "No, silly, fly on helicopter!"
********

NOVEMBER 22, 1987
3:00 P.M.

She'd been at the job for less than a year, and already had managed to work her way up to respectable position. A position that included a database of everyone in the country who worked for the government. She almost smiled as she sat at the desk for the first time, turning on the computer. Computers were such a wonderful idea, especially a computer for everyday use. You could probably do just about anything in the world using one, if you wanted to take the time.

Still, what she was trying to do was a long shot.

She turned on the machine, the first computer she'd ever had for her uses only. She wasn't sure she'd know how to do anything once it was on, but it wasn't nearly as hard as it appeared. She typed in the set of directions that had been left for her for accessing the database and the program opened, just like that!

She DID smile now. And clicked on the box beside the space labeled NAME. Slowly, she typed, delaying what she knew would be almost an inevitable negative.

MULDER, FOX WILLIAM.
********

JULY 14, 1999
3:00 P.M.

Dana sighed as she pulled her hair out of its loose ponytail and collapsed in a chair in the hospital's tiny cafeteria. A few doctors that had been busy during the regular lunch around were around; most reviewing work or talking to friends over the remains of their meal.

She hadn't eaten, either, there had been no chance to do so between getting the kids to their toy store, taking care of the little boy, Adam, and doing the autopsy. But she'd opted not to eat now, never knowing when they were going to call her back in to look at just one more thing on the body of Chris Harbings, so she just drank a cup of cold, bitter coffee and wished she could go home. She felt a headache coming on.

Chris had died of a gunshot wound almost point blank through the heart. And even if it hadn't hit his heart, it would have hit a lung or, most likely, caused enough massive internal bleeding to kill anyone. There was no alien abduction, or whatever it was Fox believed to be happening now, involved. Chris' death had nothing to do with the other kids.

She tried not to make a face as she took another sip of the coffee. For a long time, she'd thought the FBI's coffee- or at least the coffee Fox made sure they had in the basement, he either loved it or was addicted to it- was the worst in the world. She'd obviously been wrong.

With a sigh and yet another miserable sip, she closed her mind to the world around her and everything but the autopsy she'd just performed. There wasn't anything she thought she'd missed, but as long as she had to wait, she might as well make sure.
********

NOVEMBER 22, 1987
3:10 P.M.

She'd been sitting there for a full 5 minutes without moving, just staring in shock at the screen in front of her. It took a lot to shock Marita Covarrubias, who had fought her way through college in the 'for the boys' classes. But this had.

She'd found a match.

====================================
NAME: MULDER, FOX WILLIAM
DOB: 10/13/61
CURRENT OCCUPATION: SPECIAL AGENT, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION,
VIOLENT CRIMES DIVISION

And there was a picture, a grainy, black-and-white picture of the same boy from the photo her sister Ann had carried for so many years. He was older, obviously older, but Marita still couldn't help but think, as she had so long ago in her almost-12-year-old innocence, that he was kind of good looking.

And he worked at the FBI. THAT was a surprise. Ann was still in Sunflower, struggling as a teacher with a year-old son named David. Her husband was still around- Marita hadn't given the marriage a year, but they'd gone almost 2 now-, but he didn't do much except watch TV and drink, when they had the money for it. How had two siblings turned out so differently, one achieving so much, one stuck in the worst nightmare of most women?

Oh, well, there was another box to click for more information on the individual- including, Marita hoped, how to get in contact with them. What good were the name, birthday, and job of every government worker in the country if there was no way to get in touch with them?

She clicked and a new screen opened. This one gave her a little more, hair color, eye color, parents names... She'd been scrolling down without really reading any of it, or not really taking it in if she did read it, but now she'd found something of interest. She'd found the right Fox William Mulder all right.

SIBLINGS: SAMANTHA ANN MULDER, 11/21/65 (CURRENT WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN)
********

JULY 14, 1999
3:15 P.M.

The young doctor sighed much as Dana Mulder, only a few rooms away, was doing at that very moment as she finished her coffee and tried to stay awake. But he wasn't tired, just bored. How had he been talked into a career in pathology, anyway? He didn't remember his parents offering their support, that was for sure!

He opened the file he'd been given on the dead kid, Chris Harbings. Name, age, sex, height, weight... the same old stuff. A picture, some other general background info on him and his family, the names of the doctors and law enforcement working on the murder case... same old stuff.

Letting his eyes skim over it, he tried to absorb it all in. The speed reading classes hadn't done anything for him... he just wasn't as smart as some of the others around here... not that Sunflower was known for producing high IQ...

His eyes stopped automatically on a name that caught his attention. Fox Mulder... he knew that. From long ago, probably 15 or 20 years... in his early childhood.

Dr. Jamie Covarrubias reached over and picked up the phone.
********

JULY 14, 1999
3:20 P.M.

In the other room, Fox could hear Lucas and Samantha fighting over what to watch on TV again. He could feel a headache coming on. And he could see Daina Kathryn sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, elbows on knees, appearing to be concentrating every ounce of energy on whatever she was thinking about.

He thought about asking her, but at the last moment remembered Dana's reactions when he interrupted her at the wrong time... He looked down at his notebook and the open file beside it and continued scribbling what they'd learned today, jotting down any connections he could come up with, as well. He couldn't come up with many, not until he had a chance to talk to this Postman Bob.

"Hey, Fox?" Daina Kathryn said suddenly.

He looked over at her; she'd apparently figured out whatever it was she was trying to figure out, because her eyes were shining and she looked like she wanted to smile but wouldn't let herself.

"What?"

Then she shook her head and the shine was gone. "Nothing. Never mind." And she went back to her thinking position while he went back to his file.
********

NOVEMBER 22, 1987
3:15 P.M.

It took Marita almost 3 minutes to get up the courage to pick up the phone and call Ann at the home of her new husband. She'd considered calling the school, but Ann had lately gone home early- around lunch- to make sure her precious David was okay. And school was just getting out then... no, it was a couple of hours earlier in Texas... still, she'd try the home first.

It was that husband who answered the phone. "I need to speak with Ann," Marita said, as politely as she could manage with that son of a bitch who'd married her sister.

"Ain't here," he slurred, and the phone clicked in her ear.

She sighed and called the school.

"This is the Sunflower, Texas, Elementary School, can I help you?" Marita recognized the voice of old Ms. Boreanna, who'd been the school's sole secretary since the day John had first entered Kindergarten.

"Ms. Boreanna? This is Marita Covarrubias, you remember me?" Marita asked. She hoped she didn't sound as mocking as she had while attending the school.

There was a bark of laughter through the phone lines, not a good sign. "'Course I remember you, M'ita! Little terror! School's own personal vixen!"

"Um, yes," Marita said, making a face. "That's me. I need you to get my sister, Ann... she's a teacher now, second grade... I need to talk to her... it's urgent..."

"Sure, I remember Ann, too! Quiet one, hard to b'lieve y'all could really be related... I'll go get her, you just wait where you are, hear?"

"Thanks, Ms. Boreanna."
********

JULY 14, 1999
3:20 P.M.

"Death occurred because he was shot in the damn heart," Dana muttered as she read over the long, medical-jargon-filled paragraphs of the report on Chris Harbings. She understood it, certainly, but had never seen a purpose to using so many words to express something so simple- the kid had been shot.

She resisted the urge to put her head on the table and take a nap right then and there. She'd gotten plenty of sleep last night, but this day had already been filled with so much that she felt as though weeks had passed since she'd last gotten to rest.

Toy stores, little boys with trapped feet, women Fox seemed to know named Ann Covarrubias, driving through what was practically desert, an autopsy, and now, sitting in a cafeteria with a headache, all before dinner time.

And who knew what else this case would bring. Fox was back in Sunflower and adventure seemed to follow him- if there was trouble to be found, he'd find it and plunge in headfirst.
********

NOVEMBER 22, 1987
3:15 P.M.

It took a few minutes, but Ann finally got to the phone with a tired, "Hi, Marita."

"Ann... are you sitting down?" It sounded stupid the minute she said it, but Marita couldn't take it back by then. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, considering the situation Ann was in.

Sure enough, Ann sighed. "Marita, please. I've got tests to grade..."

"Ann, do you remember... I found your brother."

"My brother?"

"Fox. Fox Mulder."

There was silence on the line for so long that Marita was about to hang up. Then: "No. I don't want anything to do with him. All that happened a long time ago, and by caring about him, about who he is and who he was, I'm living in a past I can't even remember."

"You don't even want to know where he's living. What he does?"

"No, I don't. Don't tell me." Ann hung up.

Marita hung up more slowly, then looked at the computer screen, still displaying the information she'd found on Fox Mulder. Ann, the same Ann who'd dedicated years of her childhood to remembering this Fox, had forgotten him completely.

Or maybe not. Maybe she just didn't want to admit that he might be out there somewhere, that he might wonder about her as much as she had once wondered about him.
********


JULY 14, 1999
3:20 P.M.

Dr. Jamie Covarrubias held the phone away from his ear as his nephew dropped the phone and called, at the top of his lungs, "MOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!"

A few minutes later, Ann finally came to the phone. "Hello?"

"Ann, it's Jamie."

"Oh... hi. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Thanks. But I have some, uh..." he wasn't sure if it was a good or bad. "Some news." She didn't say anything, so he continued. "I did an autopsy today with a woman named Dana Mulder... and according to the file I got on the boy we examined, she's married to a Fox Mulder."

"So what?" she asked after she'd decided that was the whole story.

"Your brother. Fox Mulder? From... before you came to live with us? Back in the 70s?"

"Look, I really don't care if you've found him, Jamie. Marita's tried this trick a hundred times, and a hundred times I've told her- I DON'T WANT TO FIND HIM. He's dead, as far as I'm concerned."

From the background, Jamie could faintly hear the sounds of a fight. Could be the TV, could be Dave teasing his little brother again. Jamie had a sinking feeling it was the latter and he was about to be cut off.

"I didn't find him. He's there... he's in Sunflower."

A sharp intake of breath from Ann. "In Sunflower?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yeah. Staying at the motel. He's an FBI agent."

"Oh, God..." There was a pause, then, "I've got to go." And she hung up.
********

JULY 14, 1999
3:20 P.M.

Ann hung up the phone and put her hands together as if praying, trying to stop the trembling that was moving from her hands throughout her body. She took a deep, shaky breath. What was she going to do now?

She'd figured for years, if she ever left Sunflower, went anyplace bigger, one of those places she and Marita had talked about long into the night about visiting and experiencing the glamour of, by some crazy coincidence Fox Mulder would find her and she'd have to confront... everything. So she'd stayed, had lived with the life of a teacher, with an abusive husband and then a wonderful one until the car accident... and had thought she was safe. Marita never figured out the truth, that Ann had no interest in facing up to her brother, even though she'd been told time and again...

He'd found her anyway. Or had stumbled onto her.

Now what was she supposed to do?
********

JULY 14, 1999
3:25 P.M.

When she saw the young doctor approaching, Dana was sure she'd missed something and the pounding in her head came back full-force.

"Excuse me... but you're a Dr. Dana Mulder, right?"

"Scully, actually, or at least most of the time... don't ask, long story... but yes, I am."

"So you are married? To a... Fox Mulder?"

"Yes..."

"I need to talk to you... may I sit down? This could take a while."
********

JULY 14, 1999
3:40 P.M.

Dana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "So you're telling me this woman named Ann, who lives right here in Sunflower, is Fox's long lost sister? But she wants nothing to do with him?"

"She's terrified that she'll learn more than she wants to know. There's still a short period of time missing from her life. She came to live with us in late December, 1973, but she disappeared in late November. There's nearly a month missing from her life, and, according to the letters my sister M'ita found, there was some kind of test being done."

"I assure you, Fox knows no more about that than she does. It's his life's work to find Saman- Ann, to find out what they did to her. To know if she's okay."

"Would I... would we... we able to meet him?"

"Who's we?"

"Myself and Ann. Ann's a little... she hasn't had the easiest time in the last few years. Her husband was killed in a car wreck last year and the one before that was an alcoholic who turned abusive. She has two children, a 13-year-old who desperately needs the strict hand of a father and a 5-year-old who doesn't understand why his life was turned around or why his brother, in his acts of rebellion, seems to hate him."

"I think that could be arranged. I'd think Fox would be thrilled... but give us a few days and I'd need some proof that Ann is really his sister. He's been fooled before, and it's almost killed him. He was blamed for her disappearance- or they, his parents, made it look like they blamed him. I don't want that to happen again. We have 3 children, relatively new ones... give me your phone number, alright, and a few days, and I'll get in touch with you."
********

JULY 14, 1999
4:10 P.M.

"You found WHO and he told you WHAT?" Fox's mouth was hanging open, in a way that Dana would have found funny had the situation been- most- any other. Daina Kathryn was peeking over the top of her book, trying not to look like she was listening, and the Samantha's teasing voice had silenced in the other room.

"A doctor named Jamie Covarrubias. He helped me with the autopsy. He has a sister named Ann and he says-"

"That she's SAMANTHA? How does he know?"

"Letters. From your father to his father."

"So Samantha has been here the whole time, living with the family of a Jamie Covarrubias and-"

He was cut off by Daina Kathryn. "And a sister named Marita."

Fox and Dana both looked at her. "What?" Fox asked.

"I think that's what her name was. The woman you met earlier, who came here so Mom, you could look at her son's foot. Her name was Ann Covarrubias and she said she had a sister named Marita. And you said you knew her sister. Her son's named Adam."

"Oh my, God, she's right... I knew she looked a little like Samantha, but I just thought it was the hair..." Fox was shaking his head. He closed his eyes and lines appeared in his forehead as he tried to remember exactly what she'd told him. "Did she give us an address?"

"No... no, she has ours... she turned and looked at your strangely when I said our names, I remember that now..." Dana said.

"Well, we'll look her up. How many Covarrubias' can there be?"
********


JULY 14, 1999
4:15 P.M.

Fox sighed and closed the phone book. "No Ann Covarrubias'. A Dr. Jamie, I'm guessing that's who you talked to, and a Jonathan, Sr. and Marian."

"I'm sorry, Fox," Dana said softly.

He shrugged. "There's not much of a chance it was her, anyway. How many times has this happened before?"

Daina Kathryn was still sitting on the bed, her book now closed and beside her. She was chewing her lower lip. After a few seconds of silence from her mother and stepfather, she decided it was safe to speak. "Why don't you look her up under her husband's name?" she asked.

Fox turned to look at her, a surprised expression surfacing without his permission. How had a 4-year-old thought of that? He turned to Dana, who looked as surprised as he did.

"That's a good idea, D.," she said. "But does anybody remember what her husband's name was?"

"Cantson," said Daina Kathryn.

"First name?"

"Try Adam."

Fox picked up the phone book again and flipped to the Cs. And just like Daina Kathryn had said, there it was: Adam & Ann Cantson.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number, praying he wouldn't have the wrong one and would have the police called on them- it happened often enough, the police coming after him, anyway, but he didn't think that would go over very well with any of the kids.

But nobody picked up. A scratchy answering machine came on, but he recognized the voice of the woman they'd met earlier immediately: "This is Ann Covarrubias. I'm not home right now, please leave a message, and I'll get back with you as soon as I can."

He didn't leave a message. He didn't know what to say. "Hi, I'm your long lost brother, Fox." "Hi, how are you, was your name ever Samantha?" "Hi, my name is Fox Mulder, and you used to be my sister Samantha."

"Not them?" Dana asked, almost anxiously, as if worried about how he'd react if it WASN'T Samantha.

"Answering machine," he said. "But yeah, it's them. Her, anyway."
********

JULY 14, 1999
4:20 P.M.

Ann covered her ears as the phone rang yet another time, both to cover up the incessant ringing and the sound of Adam yelling at her about it. He was just trying to help, but GOD, she just wanted some time to herself.

Finally Adam answered it himself. And after nodding a few seconds- the idea that the people on the line couldn't see you hadn't quite gotten to him yet- he said, "Yeah, here she is," and handed the phone to Ann.

She sighed, but took it. "Hello?"

"Ann?" It was a man, but she didn't think she knew him. "My... my name is Fox Mulder..."

"Oh my, God..." she whispered.

"I have, uh... reason to believe that you're my... you're my sister."

"No. No, I'm not. I've never heard of you."

"I've talked to your brother, or my wife has. A Dr. Jamie Covarrubias? And I knew your sister, Marita."

She wanted to drop the phone and run. "Obviously they had no idea what they were talking about."

"And I talked to you earlier. My wife, Dana, looked at your son's foot."

"I know that. That doesn't make me your sister."

"Marita has pictures, she told me before she disappeared. She didn't say what of, but she said they would be very important to me, and she told me where they were. I understand what she meant now. And those pictures are here, in Sunflower."

"So what?"

"So, tomorrow I'm going to the house of your parents, still owned by your brother, and I'm going to get them. And I'm going to have proof that you're my sister, or as much proof as I need... and, I'd like you to go with me."

Why was she on the verge of tears? "I don't know. I'll think about it."
********

JULY 15, 1999
9:00 A.M.

Dana was at motel with Lucas and Samantha, but neither she nor Fox had been able to talk Daina Kathryn out of coming with Fox to see if the mystery sister Ann Covarrubias would even speak to him.

She did. She opened the door of her trailer and stared out at them, looking her brother in the eye for the first time in almost 26 years.

Fox almost took a step back when he saw her. The women he'd been shown before as Samantha had been strong women, the kind of person he'd expected her to be, but this woman here looked terrified, and she wasn't much taller than Dana. He'd seen her the day before, yes, but then she had simply been another person to try not to say too much to, to try to avoid.

She tried to speak, but her voice cracked, and she had to swallow hard before trying again. "Are you... are you my brother? Are you Fox?"

"Yeah," he said, but he felt like an idiot. He didn't know what to say.

"He's been looking for you everyday since you disappeared. He loves you even more than he loves my mom," Daina Kathryn said. And just the sight of that 4-year-old girl with her wispy red hair and clear voice seemed to help Ann Covarrubias.

"Oh, has he?" she asked, leaning over so she would be at eye level with Daina Kathryn.

"Yes. He almost got kicked out of the FBI, too, for it. EVERY DAY. There's a lot of days in almost 30 years."

"Yeah, there sure are." She straightened again and smiled at Fox. "Let's go see these pictures," she said.
********

CASE NO. X2304-29483

SPECIAL AGENTS: FOX WILLIAM MULDER, DANA KATHERINE MULDER

DATE OPENED: JUNE 30, 1999

END NOTES: (by special agent fox mulder) AFTER OVER A MONTH, THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF TIME BETWEEN THE MURDERS, HAS PASSED, I HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT WHATEVER IT WAS THAT WAS TAKING THE CHILDREN OF SUNFLOWER, TEXAS, AND KILLING THEM IS GONE. IF I WAS CORRECT IN MY BELIEF OF ALIEN ABDUCTION AND THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE FORMS HAVE FOUND WHAT THEY CAME LOOKING FOR, THEN THEY MUST HAVE GONE BACK WHEREVER THEY CAME FROM. IF AGENT SCULLY WAS RIGHT, AND IT WAS A SERIAL MURDERER, POSSIBLY A PEDOPHILE THOUGH THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, THEN PERHAPS HIS NEED TO KILL HAS BEEN SATED AFTER SO MANY MURDERS. THE CASE HAS BEEN TURNED OVER TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES AS OF TODAY (JULY 20, 1999).
*********

THE END

No, the story's not over yet! But next time, it comes the time to prove that it's REALLY Samantha and the search for Marita begins- right in time for Daina Kathryn's fifth birthday. Jeez, you don't think I'm trying to get out of a real ending, do you? I just had a Christmas deadline on this one and this seemed like a good time to end it!

Merry Christmas, everybody!
~ Emily

Began: July 21, 1998
Ended: December 24, 1998

The Rainbow Connection

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide
So we've been told, and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong; wait and see
Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me

Who said that ev'ry wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of it, and someone believed it
Look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me
All of us under its spell;
We know that it's probably magic

Have you been half asleep and heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors
The voice might be one and the same
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm s'posed to be
Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.