"Hello?" A boy's voice, not Kevin's.
"Hi, my name is Dana Scully and I'm calling to--"
"KEVIN!" the boy yelled.
Scully grimaced, holding the phone away. Apparently this kid knew who she was. She could hear his mild breathing into the phone, then his mumbling to someone else in the room.
"Miss Scully, Kevin's not here right now. He's at soccer practice or something, I guess. Can I have him call you back?"
"Sure. I won't be home tonight, but he can try tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll--"
"Can I ask you a quick question?"
"Yeah."
"What's your name?"
"That's your question?" The boy snorted into the phone. "FBI. I'm Nathan, Kevin's foster brother."
"Nathan, do you have any idea what's bothering Kevin? He said he needed my help with something."
"He's been having some problems with school and stuff lately. I guess some kids are making fun of him, you know, teasing him. I don't know why he'd call you about that, though." She could hear the slight derision in his voice. That Nathan wasn't as worried as Kevin had sounded reassured her somewhat. It couldn't be that serious, if his family wasn't concerned.
"Didn't you suggest that he call me?"
"He said that? . . . Well, yeah, I did, but just to make him feel better. I mean, I didn't think you could help or anything, but he always talks about you. Sometimes Kevin takes things way too seriously. I mean, way."
Scully choked back a sarcastic remark. The idea of Kevin Cryder taking things too seriously made her want to laugh out loud . . . or cry. This kid had no idea.
"What kind of teasing?" she asked.
"You know, normal guy stuff. They make fun of him because of his dad in the nuthouse, or say is he gonna bleed on them, you know? A couple of kids chased him home last week, but they left when I came outside. I'm sixteen," he said, in a patient and explanatory way. Scully could hear the pride in his voice.
Mulder came in, coat in hand, and stopped just inside the door.
"Kevin?" he mouthed silently.
She shook her head, holding up her hand.
"Do you know why Kevin would want to talk to me?" She heard Nathan's sigh, felt him shrug over the phone.
"I guess he just thought it would make him feel better. He likes that he has friends that are important. Sometimes he talks about you to the other kids."
Scully smiled to herself.
She had heard a phrase used by older people, her grandmother for one--"I remembered you to him, Dana," she had said once, referring to a distant cousin. That's what Kevin was doing, remembering her to other people, people she had never met. He was remembering her so well that this sixteen-year old on the other end of the phone recognized her name right away. She wished she could talk to Kevin himself, right at this moment. She missed him, suddenly and happily.
"I have to go, Nathan, but thank you for your help. Kevin's very lucky to have someone like you around."
"Don't I know it," he said, and Scully's smile broadened. "I'll tell him to call you."
"Thank you."
"Kevin?" Mulder asked again, as she hung up and went for her coat.
"No, actually. That was Nathan, Kevin's foster brother."
She followed him out the door and down the hall. "Apparently Kevin's having some difficulty in school."
"What does this have to do with you?"
"That's the question. His brother doesn't seem to think it's serious, but that Kevin just wants to talk to me so he feels better."
"And you don't think he's right?" Mulder leaned in front of her and punched the elevator button.
"I don't know. Why would call me over something like that? It doesn't make sense."
"Maybe he thinks you'll give him an ego boost."
She followed Mulder into the elevator, acutely aware of the floor lurching beneath her feet. It matched the nervous rolling of her stomach. Somethng was wrong, something she couldn't put her finger on.
"That's what Nathan said, but Mulder . . ." she sighed, trying to wrap her head around the phantom information she had. The dream. She wished Kevin had been home. "Why would he call me about something like this, when he's never called before? Why is this different?" She trailed him into the parking garage and out to his car.
It didn't make sense. Why would Kevin call her now? He hadn't called when he was going through social services, moving from one family to another like an unwanted dog. He hadn't called when he was in the hospital with a broken collarbone (a fact Scully had been apprised of when she called his social worker on a whim). He hadn't called countless other times when she was sure there had been a thousand other things bothering him, so why was he calling now because some kids were making fun of him, calling him names, after all he had been through?
"Can I ask you something?" she asked after a couple minutes of silence.
"Shoot."
"Were you ever teased as kid?"
"Wasn't everyone?"
"Yeah, but did it ever get bad?"
"Bad enough for me to call a pretty lady in the FBI?"
Mulder smiled over at her. "Not really. But I was always pretty much of a loner."
"Samantha?"
"Sure, but even before that. I was not the paragon of charm and popularity you see before you today."
Scully snorted.
"Thanks for your glowing admiration," he said, turning into a parking lot near the restaurant.
"It's not that, Mulder. I just . . . this bothers me."
"Were you ever teased as a kid?"
"Only by my brothers," she smiled, remembering. "They'd beat up anyone else who tried."
"Take it from me, Scully, kids can be pretty mean. Maybe Kevin just wants to feel like he matters. It's got to be hard being the only kid who . . . who's had something abnormal happen to him. We fear the strange and unexplained, Scully, and what's more unexplained than God?" Mulder reached over and rested his hand on hers. She was surprised by how warm it felt in the cool April air.
"It'll be fine, Scully," he said. "Just wait until you talk to Kevin." He got out of the car, a dark and dramatic sweep of black suit and overcoat in the Washington dusk. A shapeless blackness. After a shudder, Scully followed him. She was sure that he was right: Kevin would be fine, everything was fine. Fine.
*****end 2/12*****
