DISCLAIMER: If you've seen them or heard them on the television series known as The X-Files they are not mine. I am merely borrowing them.

Further disclaimer and explanations at end of story.

SUMMARY: A brief encounter between 3 people. One with a quest, one with a secret and one with a future.

RATING: G

There was a chill in the air that spoke of the coming season but there was still enough sunshine for the child to take pleasure in the October afternoon.

He turned from admiring the world beyond his front porch and picked up the oddly shaped piece of cardboard and studied it. Looking down at the picture forming on the floor in front of him, he gave it the same intense scrutiny.

A jigsaw puzzle - the boy liked jigsaw puzzles. He was good at them, even some which people said were too old for him. Finding the pattern, matching the pieces - he didn't quite understand why, but it satisfied him.

Engrossed in his task, he didn't see the man arrive. It was only when a shadow darkened his puzzle that the boy looked up, startled. A figure silhouetted by the sun hovered over him, face dark, hair a shining halo. The man leant forward & the face became clean-jawed and smiling. The boy

smiled back.

"Hi." He looked down at the nearly completed puzzle, "That's very good - though aren't you a little young for such a complicated puzzle?"

"I'm 6," replied the boy

The stranger smiled again, "Not so young after all. Is your father home?" At this boy frowned slightly. Strange men often came to see his father. They came at night usually - dark men who whispered long with his father then slipped away. They frightened him. He glanced up at the stranger again. He did not look like those men. The boy got to his feet & quietly opened the front door.

Moments later he returned with his father in tow. He went back to his puzzle as the stranger greeted his father. He did not look up as his father lead the man inside the house.

The child continued to match pieces to the gaps in his puzzle. Through the half open front window he could hear the stranger speaking, but the words were too elusive for him to understand. Once he heard his father's voice rise in anger - the denial evident even to his young ears. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the stranger with his hands stretched out towards his father. For a moment the child worried his father would be harmed but the man soon dropped his hands. The boy turned his attention from the window and placed the final piece to complete the jigsaw puzzle.

He looked up as the door opened and his father and the stranger came out.

"I'm sorry I can't help you. Now please leave," said his father closing the door.

The stranger stood on the porch, saying nothing - just staring at the closed door. The boy watched him. Catching the child's stare the stranger smiled again and examined the finished picture.

"Very good." He ruffled the boy's hair. The child squirmed slightly.

The stranger smiled, "I guess I didn't like people doing that when I was your age either. Sorry." The stranger looked up and saw the boy's father watching him through the window. He started down the stairs when the boy called to him,

"Goodbye."

The stranger turned back and smiled once more, "Goodbye.....what was your name?"

"Fox Mulder. What's your's?"

"David....David Vincent. Goodbye Fox."

With that he turned and walked down the path, the father and his son watching him till he was out of sight.

DISCLAIMER #2: David Vincent is the property of Quinn Martin Productions.
For those who have not seen 'The Invaders'. The series ran from 1967-68. David Vincent, an architect was returning home from a business trip late one night when he stumbled upon evidence of alien visitation. Naturally, no one believed him. The series dealt with Vincent's attempts to convince people that 'they were here' and were planning on taking over.
David Vincent was played by Roy Thinnes.