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RATING: PG-13 (one bad word)
KEYWORDS: UST, DAL
SPOILERS: Two Fathers/One Son
ARCHIVING: I'd be honored. Anywhere, please just
ask me first and keep my name and heading
attached.
SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully continue their
argument about Diana Fowley, eventually coming to
terms with the tension between them. I'll let you
see how...
NOTES: This is my attempt to fill in the scene
that many felt was missing from One Son following
Mulder and Scully's argument in the gunmen's
office. I did rewrite history a bit with the
"personal" scene, so be warned. On a side note,
this is the first fan-fic I've ever written, so
please bear with me!
DISCLAIMER: Mulder, Scully, The Lone Gunmen, and
Diana Fowley do not belong to me. They belong to
Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen, and the wonderful
actors who bring them to life. No infringement
intended.
And special thanks to my betas: Nay, Carri, Bama,
and Beaker for reviewing this and giving me
wonderful advice.
------------
"In Search of the Truth"
By Piper
"Scully, you're making this personal."
The words stopped her dead in her tracks. How
dare he?! She whirled around to face her partner.
"You're accusing ME of making this personal,
Mulder? Me?! This quest has always been about
you. About your sister, about your father, about
all the lies you were told. What was I to you? A
mere tag along? Someone who you were forced to
put up with? I'm sorry if you don't realize it
Mulder, but this is my quest too. I've lost too
much to it for it to not be personal!"
Mulder just gaped at her for a moment before he
could finally speak.
"Scully, that's not what I meant. I just meant
that you were letting your dislike of Diana cloud
your judgement."
Mulder's words did nothing to appease her.
Instead, they just infuriated her even further.
"Mulder, it's your fucking judgement that's
clouded! You're the one who's so blind that you
can't see through the woman. She's a liar, and
she's going to betray you. And if you still can't
see that, then I can't help you!"
Scully turned away and started walking towards the
door. Mulder did not follow. Just as her hand
was on the doorknob, he spoke.
"Scully, wait..."
Keeping her back to him, she whispered sadly. "For
what, Mulder?"
Then she walked out the door.
*********
Mulder stared at her retreating back until the
door finally obstructed his view of her. The
sadness in her voice and the resignation in her
shoulders had him rooted to the spot. He knew
something important had just happened, something
meaningful, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
The sound of a throat being cleared interrupted
his thoughts. He turned around to face the source
of the sound, and would have laughed at the sight
if he hadn't felt like he'd been through the
wringer.
The Lone Gunmen were all huddled around the
computer with wary expressions on their faces that
were almost comical. Mulder raised an eyebrow at
them, and then deadpanned, "I don't bite, you
know."
That one got a reaction out of Frohike. A look of
what could have been disgust passed over his face.
"Coulda' fooled me."
Mulder stared at the hostility from his friend.
He looked to Byers and Langly for support, but
both had equally accusing looks on their faces.
After looking back and forth at each of them for a
moment, he finally spoke, his voice tinged with a
sense of betrayal.
"Whose side are you guys on, anyway?"
This time Byers was the one to speak up.
"Maybe you should ask yourself why you and Agent
Scully are on opposite sides in the first place."
Once again, Mulder was startled by this attack,
and he quickly opened his mouth to defend himself.
But then he shut it again. Byers was right. He
and Scully were on opposite sides. Of course,
this wasn't the first time by any long shot. In
fact, he couldn't think of a time that he and
Scully didn't disagree about something. But as
opposed as their views had always been, there had
always been respect for the other's ideas.
Except this time.
Why was this time different? Mulder knew that
Scully disliked Diana, but he could never quite
figure out why. He would have thought that she
would have liked her, especially since he
considered her to be a friend. Instead, she was
acting almost, well almost threatened. Scully was
too self-assured to be jealous of Diana. Wasn't
she? Suddenly things began to fall into place for
Mulder. He was beginning to realize what had been
bothering him during his "personal" exchange with
Scully. Looking up at the gunmen again, he saw
they were looking at him with expectant looks on
their faces, probably waiting for him to come to
his senses. Instead of wasting time to explain,
he merely supplied a simple, "I'll be in touch."
Then he turned and walked out the door.
************
Scully rested her forehead against the cool wood
of her apartment door, too drained to even unlock
it. She felt like she had been through a battle
and had ended up losing the war. The tightness in
her chest was so painful that she could hardly
breathe, but the tears would not come. They
simply weren't there. She felt like a part of her
had been ripped away. *So this is what it feels
like to lose your best friend.* Scully sighed,
the deep breath causing her chest to tighten even
further. Dimly, she heard a door opening
somewhere down the hall and realized what a sight
she must be. Figuring she had already been the
source of enough gossip for her neighbors, she
unlocked her door and went into her apartment.
The darkness inside enveloped her, but she did not
turn the light on. In fact, she welcomed it.
Funny how the darkness had become so much a part
of her life in the last few years. A perfect
metaphor for the darkness that she and Mulder had
been kept in as they had relentlessly pursued the
truth. But now, when the answers were closer than
ever, she refused to give up. She meant what she
had said to Mulder. It was personal for her.
*Yeah, but are you sure you weren't referring to
Diana Fowley?,* a little voice inside her head
nagged. She quickly pushed the thought away, not
wanting to examine her motivations behind her
statement. Or Mulder's, for that matter.
Instead, she began pacing the room anxiously. Her
mind worked frantically to try to figure out a way
to reach Cassandra. Somehow, she knew that all
the answers were there, just as surely as she knew
that she had been abducted to serve the same
agenda. She still didn't know whether or not to
believe this was an extraterrestrial invasion or
an elaborate government conspiracy. But whatever
it was, she wanted answers. Needed them. Hell,
she deserved them.
*Damn that...that...woman!* The thought came
unbidden into her head, stopping her in her
tracks. Her earlier argument with Mulder replayed
in her head. She couldn't believe that he was so
blind to her manipulations! She had provided him
with hard evidence that showed him that Diana was
not what she appeared to be, yet he had responded
with dripping sarcasm. Why couldn't he just trust
her instincts on this one? Why did he trust
Diana? Possibly even more than he trusted her?
Damn. Why did it matter so much?
*Whoa Dana, don't go there.*
*Too late. I'm already there.*
Suddenly, someone began pounding on her door,
nearly knocking it out of its frame.
**********
Scully nearly jumped out of her skin, but
recovered quickly. Pulling her gun out of its
holster, she slowly approached the door.
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out. "Scully,
open the door! I know you're in there!"
Taking a deep breath, Scully slipped her gun back
to its resting place and unlocked the deadbolt.
Pulling the door back, she looked into the
slightly wild eyes of her partner. "Mulder, what
the hell..."
Before she could even finish her question, Mulder
pushed past her into her apartment. Closing the
door behind her, Scully turned to face him. She
crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised
an eyebrow, silently waiting for him to speak.
"We need to talk."
Scully's eyebrow went even higher, now nearly
invisible under her hairline. She moved her hands
and placed them on her hips. Glaring slightly,
she laced her words with venom.
"Last time we tried to talk, you didn't seem to
want to listen."
Mulder read her defiant stance and her angry
glare. In the six years that they had worked
together, he had never seen the full force of her
anger directed at him this way. But instead of
making him back down, it just fuelled his
curiosity to understand why she was reacting so
strongly. He was convinced now more than ever
that this didn't just have to do with wanting to
talk to Cassandra. But he also knew that he had
to tread with caution. He didn't want to alienate
her further.
"Scully, sit down...
This time she interrupted him, ignoring his
attempt to pacify her.
"Mulder, we have nothing to talk about. You don't
want to listen to me, you don't believe what I
have to say, and quite frankly, I'd rather not
give you another opportunity to mock me."
"Scully, I wasn't mocking you!"
"Then what were you doing, Mulder? You know, for
the past six years, you've taught me to trust no
one. And now I learn we're supposed to make
exceptions for your previous 'partner', whom
you've apparently nominated for sainthood?"
The words just tumbled from her as if being pulled
by an unknown force that Scully herself didn't
understand. Mulder just gaped at her, stunned by
her biting sarcasm. For a brief moment, he was
about to ask her what she had done with the real
Dana Scully, but then he decided against it.
Instead, he took a step toward her, reaching a
hand towards her shoulder. But she stepped back
to avoid his touch. Letting his arm drop to his
side, he caught her gaze and held it.
"Scully, why are you bringing Diana into this?
Don't you see? We're in the middle of something
so much bigger here, bigger than we ever imagined.
Bigger than we can ever hope to understand. And
if we have any hope of stopping it, we can't waste
time arguing about Diana. She's an insignificant
piece of this whole puzzle. Let it go."
Scully searched his gaze and realized that he was
sincere. But she had to make him understand.
"Mulder, how can I let it go? If what I suspect
about her is true, then she's a very big part of
this whole puzzle. Who knows how long she's been
involved in this? She may be behind
everything..."
"Scully, I know her..."
Ignoring his interruption, Scully finished her
sentence in a low whisper.
"...She may have been behind my abduction,
Mulder."
His heart broke then. The desolation in her soft
whisper and the anguish in her eyes nearly caused
him physical pain. Scully was standing in front
of him, tears brimming in her eyes yet kept from
falling by the sheer force of her will. She never
looked away from him, and he met her gaze. For
what seemed like an eternity, they searched each
other's eyes, gazing into the windows of each
other's souls. And in those moments, the battle
in his heart that Mulder had been unaware of was
ended, victory belonging to the tiny red-headed
woman who stood before him. She deserved so much
more than he would ever be able to give her, but
there was one thing that he could find for her.
Answers. And deep down, he knew exactly where to
look.
Reluctantly, he pulled his eyes away from Scully's
and stepped around her to reach for the door. Her
voice, thick with the tears that were still held
back, stopped him.
"Mulder, where are you going?"
He turned to look at her and saw the anguish in
her face. Belatedly, he realized how it must have
seemed, him leaving without even offering her an
explanation. *You bastard, when are you going to
stop hurting her?*
He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her
head up to look directly into her eyes.
"I'm going to Diana's apartment." Noticing the
flicker of hurt and doubt that she tried so hard
to hide as it crossed her face, he hastened to
reassure her.
"I'm going to find your answers, Scully. I will
find the people who did this to you, and I promise
you, they will pay. No matter who they may be."
The tears in her eyes finally spilled over,
leaving wet trails over her cheeks. She saw the
determination in Mulder's eyes and knew he meant
every word. Her best friend was back. The
thought brought a smile to her lips, and her tears
became those of joy. Seeing her smile, Mulder
wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close.
Her arms went around his waist, pulling him even
closer. He placed a light kiss on the top of her
head, gently rocking her in his arms. Neither
wanted to let go, but finally Mulder pulled away.
Without another word, he silently left her
apartment...
...In search of the truth.
-----------
THE END
I don't want to sound like I'm begging, but
please, please send me feedback! (That was
begging, wasn't it?) Constructive criticism is
always appreciated, and I really want to know if I
should keep doing this or throw in the towel and
save myself from further humiliation. Thank you
so much for reading!
E-mail me...E-mail me...E-mail me...E-mail me...
(Are the subliminal messages working?) :o) [email protected]
