(Charlie)

"Hi," I said awkwardly. "My name is Charlie."

He didn't answer, and surprisingly that didn't make this any easier. I wasn't ready to talk to him, but when would I ever be ready? I've spent a huge part of my life running from one thing or the other, and it didn't do me any good. It was time to man up and… talk to a dead person, apparently.

Or as good as dead. Whatever.

"Charlie Scully," I sighed. "Although, I don't have the right to carry that name, no more than you have the right to carry yours. I'm his son, too. I'm… I'm your brother, Fox."

I thought that might wake him, not because of his own surprise, but because it was a huge thing for me to admit. I never told anybody and I never thought I would. I expected the world to stop turning and the man in vegetative state to get up and point an accusing finger at me, blaming me for my mother's sins. That's how big this thing was, big enough to wake the man who's been in coma for over a year and who wouldn't die even though his doctors, including my sister - his lover, gave him zero chance to live.

Well, apparently my admission wasn't really a big thing after all. He remained unresponsive and unfazed.

"Look at us," I chuckled, being inappropriate as ever. I once learned to blame my genes for it, but now, facing the man with the same genes who never used them as an excuse, I felt pathetic.

"Look at us," I repeated, amused. "Mulder and Scully, Scully and Mulder, even though both of us are actually Spender!"

And just like that, that hated name lost its power over me. It didn't matter anymore.

I was raised in a very traditional and very religious family. I married very young, losing my virginity on my wedding night. I loved her and she wanted to wait. I just followed the rules, being the pride and joy of my family, and that extended to my wife's family. We were blessed with beautiful, healthy children. A decent, honorable life.

Then my father died and I learned it was all a lie. I wasn't really Scully. My parents' marriage, the ideal on which I built my own, wasn't faithful. My father was not my real father, and even worse, some evil, godless man was. Everything I ever knew felt like a lie. I couldn't trust anybody and I couldn't talk to anybody. I was too ashamed. Too broken. I started doubting the paternity of my own children and faithfulness of my own wife. I looked for comfort in other women, ruining my marriage in the process. My parents, the people I trusted the most, raised me in a lie, and nothing felt like truth anymore.

I became everything I despised. And I kept running from it, knowing that there was no place to run, but being too big of a coward to end my meaningless life.

William at least gave me a purpose, but he didn't give me true peace. No one could give it to me except for me, and I realized that at last, while talking to a man who couldn't talk back.

In the end, I came home, back where everything started. Everything was different, but it still felt like home. We were all different, but we still felt like a family. Not entirely by blood, but completely by heart. And I realized, in the end, that's the only thing that matters.

My children taught me that when they welcomed me with open arms and without grudges.

My sister taught me that when she found a woman who adopted her son, a grave of a woman who adopted him before that, and welcomed them both into her life, sharing the joy of motherhood instead of keeping it for herself.

Laura Petrie taught me that when she loved William as a son, even though they weren't related by blood. She fell apart after I took him from her arms and she never forgot about him. I didn't expect to ever see her again, but there she was, engaged to my best friend, waiting for her… our William to return to a home he couldn't remember, but ready to make new, forever memories.

Walter Skinner taught me that when he risked his life and his job for my nephew, for my sister, for me… He was and always will be a rock that everybody can count on, especially when everything else fails. He was there when Dana took Fox off the life support machines, and continued to be there when he failed to die just as much as he failed to live… Laura was there too, and after a while they found themselves together there instead each on their own. They got engaged and now Skinner is proud to call himself one of William's fathers, after he marries one of his mothers.

William taught me that in million little moments that we shared in our life of endless running, moving and traveling, having no constant except for each other.

My brother taught me that when he welcomed me into his house, without conditions and despite our long and heavy estrangement.

My sister in law taught me that when she took care of our nephew, despite him reminding her of the unbearable pain caused by a loss of her only son. She always looked like she was crying, but she never cried in front of us.

Visiting my mother's grave taught me that, seeing the name Scully proudly written there, even though she wasn't Scully by blood. My father gave the name to her and that made it hers just as much as his. My father knew I wasn't his blood, but he gave me his name anyway and raised me as his own. My mother was true Scully, and in the end, so am I.

Charles William Scully. I am again proud and honored to call myself that. I am not ashamed anymore. I raised William without telling him my real name, changing names as often as if they were underwear. I pretended it was for security reasons, but now I know it was more a desire to be anybody else than who I really was.

Not anymore. I know who I am now. I am not Charles GB Spender. I am Charlie Scully. And there is a whole world of difference between us.

Fox Mulder taught me that, just by listening.

"She loves you, Fox," I told him. "My sister. She loves you and she needs you. If you can, wake up for her. But if you can't, I want you to know I'll be there for her. I will never leave her, never again. Your son wants to meet you, too. He lives with Bill now, it's in Germany which seemed like the end of the world recently, but in a few months it should be safe for him to fly here. He took his deceased cousin's identity, we came up with that to protect him in case somebody out there is still searching for him… Nobody is searching for Matthew Scully and in the apocalyptic chaos his death was never officially registered. Legally, he never died and your son just took his place. We still call him William, and even that is nothing unusual, since William was Matthew's middle name. He is proud to call Tara and Bill mom and dad, but he is just as proud to call Dana and Laura moms and you and Skinner dads. Ever since the internet came back, he's been skyping with them every day. For a kid who grew up having nobody but a strange uncle, this huge family is a dream come true. It is the most unconventional family I ever heard of, but it's ours and it's the best I could ask for. Wake up and see for yourself… brother!"

I chuckled again, feeling like a little kid talking to a scary big brother. Except that this brother wasn't scary, at least not until he wakes up. I wanted to give him a reason to wake up. Dana said they didn't know if he could hear us or not, but we all hoped that he could and if there was even a tiniest possibility that our words could bring him back we had to keep trying.

I looked at my watch, it was time to leave, I was meeting with my daughter soon.

I said goodbye and walked out of Mulder's room, but I didn't get far before I started chuckling again. I went back to give him a quick nudge.

"Wake up and marry my sister, Fox," I smiled at him, remembering Dana's determined words and a face that she makes when she plans to go to the end of the world to get what she wants and nothing can stop her. "She will say yes this time."