Title: Mulder's Creek: 18 Not Bliss 
Author: Neoxphile 
Author Email: neoxphile@aol.com 
Status: Revised - Series 
Size: 28k 
Rating: PG-13 
Archive at Gossamer: Yes to Gossamer/Ephemeral 
Category: X-File , Friendship 
Keywords: Pre-XF, Alternate universe 
Pairings: Mulder/Scully Romance, Doggett/Reyes romance 
Crossover Info: Dawson's Creek 
Spoilers: X-Files seasons 1-8, Dawson's creek seasons 1-4 

Summary: Mulder finds out that being a big brother isn't exactly what 
he imagined it would be.

**

Mulder's Creek: Not Bliss

Opening scene

Mulder creeps into his brother's room an hour after everyone else has
gone to bed. His mother and the baby have only been home for a few
hours, so both his parents have fallen into an exhausted sleep,
comforted by sleeping in the same room for the first time in days.
Mulder supposes that Sam is sleeping as well, since he didn't hear
any noise in the direction of the guest-room-turned-Sam's-room.

Price, however, is not asleep. Content to lie awake and wave his
hands as his eyes focus on nothing in particular, he's lying quietly
under his alien quilt. Mulder is thrilled to catch the baby in one of
his rare waking moments, so he carefully picks him up, making sure to
gently cradle his head and neck with one hand and the rest of his
body with the other. As Mulder settles into the rocking chair that's
near the window, he swears for a moment that Price gives him an
approving look. The moonlight streams into the room, but neither of
them notice.

Mulder slowly rocks the chair back and forth as he thinks about his
brother. This is the first opportunity he's gotten to spend any time
alone with him, and he's enjoying it. He's overwhelmed by the sense
that Price trusts him utterly to be kind to him, and has no reason
whatsoever to feel that Mulder has let him down. Though on one level
he knows that his brother's thoughts are much more shallow than that
at this point in his life, he still worries irrationally about the
comparisons his siblings might some day make: The one he could
protect, the one he couldn't.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Sam appears in the doorway, looking a
little lost. For a moment her long white nightgown, streaming hair,
and bare feet make her look like a small woebegone ghost, and Mulder
has to stop himself from shivering. He puts Price into his crib and
turns to talk to her, but by the time he turns around the sound of
light footsteps in the hall tell him that she's gone back to bed
without getting whatever it was she was looking for.

**
Theme song- "Stranded" By Plumb
**

Thursday 3pm, Leary home

Mulder sits at his desk and picks up his pen. He taps the pen against
the top of his desk as he tries to gather his thoughts and find a
place to begin his letter. At last he starts to write.

"Dear Arden,
The last week has been strange beyond measure. I have a new brother,
Price. At first his name seemed strange to me, but no more so than
Mulder or Arden, I suppose. Within minutes of meeting him for the
first time, though, the symbolism behind his name became glaringly
obvious to me. He is the price my parents paid for happiness. By
having him, they got what they wanted. I have no proof of this yet
beyond half overheard conversations, but I'm sure it's true.

You see, in exchange for having another child, they got back one
they'd lost. I don't know how this came to be, but I'm certain that
it's the truth that my parents will not make me privy to. My search
for Sam is over. She is home. Can you imagine? Instead of gaining one
sibling, I got two. The shock was so great I nearly fainted, and that
is no exaggeration at all, because sheer will power is all that stood
between me and the suffocating grayness of unconsciousness. Though I
don't yet understand it, we were wrong about my parents. They wanted
her back too. In the end, it seems they did even more than I did to
find her again.

But life is not bliss. I'm not sure that I ever thought beyond
getting her back, because that alone was so vastly consuming that I
didn't have room, or the luxury, to imagine her living with us. My
parents claim ignorance of where she's been for twelve years, so they
are, or at least act, as perplexed as I am. And she doesn't say
anything about it, either. Sam...doesn't talk. At all.

The first couple of days we were so overjoyed to have her home that
we didn't quite grasp that fact. I suppose we each privately thought
she was just a quiet child, and was speaking to the others out of our
hearing. By the third day, though, my parents compared notes and
admitted their concern to each other. So the next day Dad took her to
the pediatrician, the very doctor I gripe that the HMO requires me to
see until I'm eighteen, and had her looked at. The doctor pronounced
her hearing to be fine, but she just doesn't speak. I could have told
them that, her intelligent eyes tell us that she understands
everything said to her. The doctor told my parents to give it time,
but they are still worried.

As am I. She's using some signs, but only because we taught them to
her. How can you go your whole life not speaking without learning
some means of communication? My parents seem worried that she was
kept in conditions where no one spoke to her her whole life. A secret
that I keep, for a change of pace, is a fear that we're the reason
she isn't talking. That perhaps until the very day we brought her
home she was a chatterbox, like Doggett's girlfriend Reyes. Some
times, when we've approached her too softly for immediate notice,
there's fear in her eyes that she quickly tries to mask with a warm
look. My parents ignore it, or don't even notice it.

Oh, Arden, she's home, but I still worry about her too much of the
time, and she's as much of a mystery to me as she has ever been. But
at least...at least now I can give her a hug and know that she's safe
perhaps for the first time in her life. Please send her your good
thoughts, I think she needs them.
Love,
Mulder 

Mulder folds up the letter and sticks it in envelope, planning to
mail it before his parents notice it; he tells himself that they're
not the only ones with the right to keep secrets.

** 

Friday morning, driving

Scully, who has just earned the privilege of being able to use her
father's unneeded car, picks Mulder up at his house on her way to
school. He slides into the passenger seat after a mumbled good
morning, then stares fixedly at the dashboard. Scully chalks it up to
another sleepless night.

He startles her by saying, "I wrote to Arden yesterday. told her
about Price...and Sam."

"Oh." She says, waiting for him to say more. But he doesn't. Leaving
him to his thoughts, she tries not to sink dangerously deep into her
own as she drives. Sam, she thinks. When Mulder first called her a
week ago to tell her that his brother had been born, there had been
something wrong with his voice. She'd been afraid at first that the
baby had been stillborn or born with something wrong with him. Then
he told her that Sam was back and she realized that it was shock that
had deaden his voice. She'd been shocked too, because until that
point she never fully believed that Mulder really had a sister, even
though she desperately wanted to believe him.

She met the girl for the first time that night, shortly after the
Learys not staying at the hospital had returned home. Mulder's call
had ended with a request for her to meet him at the house, so she
quickly honored it. When she got there, she watched Sam timidly trail
after Mr. Leary as he excitedly explained that the guest room was
really intended to be her room, and if she wanted anything else done
to the room, she could have it. Then the life drained from his voice
when he realized that there weren't any clothes in the bureau. He
turned to Scully with a beseeching look, and asked her for a favor
for the first time since she met him.

"Scully...I don't know anything about girl's clothes. Could you help us
out?" He asked her, sounding slightly desperate.

An hour later Scully found herself with Sam and Mulder in Target,
finding clothes for the little girl. Sam didn't express an opinion on
anything except sleepwear, so Scully picked everything out, and
helped Sam try things on. She had Mulder carry the items they decided
on so he felt useful. Mr. Leary decided to make himself feel useful
by buying Sam and Mulder several PS2 games. In the end they left with
several bags of appropriate clothes for a twelve-year-old, and a
number of violent video games. Scully cringed at the total at the
register, but Mulder's father paid it with a grin, so she supposed
the money wasn't important to him and momentarily envied that.

Sam spent the rest of the night watching Mulder and Scully take turns
running people over with cars while playing Grand Theft Auto 3, and
shaking her head no every time they offered her the controller.
Scully wonders why they didn't figure out she didn't talk that very
night, since her silence must have been obvious.

She pulls into the parking space and smiles at Mulder. "Another
morning I managed to get us here in one piece. Imagine that." Mulder
grins, and gives her an impulsive hug, which surprises her. "What's
that for?"

"Just cause." He tells her as they get out of the car. 

Scully decides to accept, rather than question, his sudden good mood.
"You know, any time you have a spare hug lying around that you want
to get rid of, I'd be glad to take it off your hands..."

"Oh, really? I'll keep that in mind...Hey, you think those short little
legs of yours can keep up?" Mulder asks, racing her to the front
door.

** 

4pm Witter home

Doggett sighs as Reyes once again suggests that they go over and see
Mulder's new brother.

"Come on, "Reyes cajoles. "He's a week old and we still haven't seen
him for the first time yet. He's going to loose that newborn look
pretty soon-"

"You say that like it's a bad thing. Newborns aren't cute, no matter
what people say. Anyway, why do I have to come? You could go over
yourself. I'm not going."

"Yes you are. We'll go over to pay our respects right now." Says
Sheriff Witter, who startles them by suddenly appearing. "It's about
time we go over and congratulate the Learys on their new son."

Sheriff Witter herds them out to his car, because he occasionally
likes to drive his own vehicle. Reyes smiles, but Doggett reluctantly
gets in the car.

When he thinks back very hard, he vaguely remembers Mrs. Leary being
pregnant when she helped out at the end of the year party at the
preschool. He has a slightly less fuzzy memory of running into Mulder
and his dad over the summer while shopping, and Mulder telling him
that he had a new baby sister. But by the time they started preschool
again in the fall, there was no baby. Cynical even at four years old,
Doggett decided that Mulder made up the whole thing, and continued to
believe it until a week ago. Not that Mulder brought her up to me
after the first few times, Doggett reminds himself, because it made
him cry to be told he was fibbing. Doggett can't help feeling guilty
as they drive.

**

As soon as they're shown in, Reyes asks Mrs. Leary if she can hold
Price. Mrs. Leary smiles and puts the baby in her arms. Though she is
cooing about how cute the littlest Leary is, Reyes is also studying
the baby quite intently. He doesn't seem to mind the attention, and
it's almost as if being held by strangers is already so mundane after
a mere week's existence that he takes it as par for the course; he
silently and contentedly studies her back.

Making one more comment on the preciousness of the baby, Reyes hands
back the baby and suppresses a sigh of relief. She's not sure what
she was looking for to mark him as different, but he seems to be a
perfectly normal baby.

Although she has been trying for a week to deal with Spender's
betrayal, and attempting to understand it, she hasn't been entirely
convinced that everything that Spender has told her is false. Even
though she's concluded that he's at least insane if not evil, she
wonders if he might know something of the truth, since he believes
himself to be a product of the experiments he described to her.
Price, she thinks as she grins at him, isn't after all.
 
** 

7pm, The Ice House

Mulder gives Skinner a grateful look that the other boy doesn't
notice. Mulder is thrilled that there is one person this week that is
asking him answerable questions, instead of the hard ones that he's
been fielding all week at school from overly curious classmates. None
of Skinner's questions are about Mulder's feelings or where Sam has
been for the last dozen years.

"So what are your parents planning to do about school for the rest of
the term?"

"My mom decided that since she's on maternity leave from the station
anyway, she'll home school Sam for the rest of the term so she won't
be the new kid.' There's only a month left, and since she doesn't
talk, my parents didn't want to send her to school until the fall."

"So they think that she'll be talking by then." Skinner shrewdly
guesses.

"They certainly hope that her first word will come before Price's.
Dad took her to a specialist yesterday, and he seconded the opinion
that there's nothing physically wrong with her, so she should be able
to speak. Whether she will..."Mulder shrugs. "At the moment they are
chanting give it time' but I figure that it won't be long before
they start trying to bribe her to attempt to speak."

"Are you against that idea? And does she make any sounds at all?"
Skinner asks with his voice alight with curiosity.

Mulder holds up a hand in surrender. "One question at a time. No, I
don't object to them bribing her. I still think that they're to blame
at least in part for her disappearance, so they have a lot of making
up to her to do. And as for your second question...I heard her laugh
once or twice, but that's it."

The look on Skinner's face makes Mulder wonder if he's going to
demand an elaboration on elder Learys' suspected involvement, but
instead Skinner says, "Wow, I can't remember the last time Reyes was
quiet for as much as hour at a time. It must be weird."

"It is, kinda. But I guess it would be weirder if she had talked and
then stopped. It is kind of spooky, though, how she can approach you
without you hearing her...I don't know how many times this week I've
almost screamed when she's suddenly appeared in a darken hallway."
Mulder tells him with a sheepish grin.

"Can't be too many times." Skinner observes, "Since you've only had
her home for a week."

"You would think so, but she tends to get up in the middle of the
night and wander. I wish I knew what she was looking for, so I could
help her find it."

"Does she walk down the hall then peer into the rooms?" Skinner asks.

"Yeah...how did you know?" 

"Well, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with your sister,
but before Mom went completely off the deep end and had to be
hospitalized, she did the same thing. I asked her why once and she
told me that it made her feel better to check on us to make sure we
were still there. Your sister is in an entirely new place, back with
her long lost family, so maybe she likes to reassure herself that
you're really there."

"Wow, Skinner, you should major in psych when you get to college,
since that makes a lot of sense. She only looks in at me and Price,
though..."Mulder trails off looking slightly dismayed.

"Have you or your parents tried getting her to write stuff down to
answer questions?"

"We've tried, but all she does is shake her head no. I'm pretty sure
that I saw her write in a journal, though, so I guess it's a matter
of not wanting to write stuff down rather than being unable to. She
reads a lot so my parents aren't too worried about it, and don't
seriously worry that she can't. They say it's part of adjusting.' I
bet you can tell they've been doing a lot of their own reading."

"You've all got to do a lot of adjusting, what with a new baby and a
new almost-teenage girl in the house. I wish you all a lot of luck!"
Skinner exclaims, smiling.

A customer comes in before Mulder can thank him, so Mulder returns
his attention to his burger and fries while Skinner waits on the
woman.

** 

Monday night, Leary home

Scully could have probably predicted it, but Mulder himself is
slightly surprised that he's having yet another sleepless night. He
supposes that it's not so uncommon a complaint amongst people living
with a new baby, but Price sleeps quietly. His parents have already
fondly commented a score of times that they finally got an easy baby.
Mulder wonders a bit each time they say it in his hearing if he's
supposed to feel guilty about keeping them up when he was small,
because he doesn't. He figures that it was his job to keep them on
their toes, and he's still semi-dedicated to that mission.

No, he repeats to himself as he yawns, it's not Price that's keeping
me awake. It's really that conversation with Dad. Because he's too
tired to stop himself, he surrenders to the impulse to replay the
entire conversation in his head again.

**

After Scully went home and Sam fell asleep that first night, Mulder
asked his father an important question. "Dad, how did we get Sam
back?"

"She was dropped off at the hospital a few minutes after your brother
was born."

Mulder frowns. "I know that, but I mean... did you and Mom know you
were getting her back? "

"Someone called us today and told us that we would." Mr. Leary says,
but the look on his face prompts Mulder to think he's being lied to.
They had to know before today, Mulder thinks.

"Who was it?" Mulder asked impatiently.

His father stares off into space for a moment, and Mulder thinks he's
not going to answer, but then he does. "I don't know."

"You don't know who called, or who dropped her off?" Mulder asks,
wishing his question had been clearer to begin with.

"Neither, Mulder." 

"Do you know where she's been for the last twelve years at least,
Dad?"

"No, Mulder I don't. I have no idea where she's been between the time
she left this house and when she showed up at the hospital earlier
today. I didn't ask."

"Dad!! How the hell could you not of asked??" 

"Look, Mulder, I was told not to ask questions. That was the
condition of getting your sister back. If I asked questions we
weren't going to get her back. So I chose not to know the answers and
have my daughter again instead. "Mr. Leary said angrily. "I don't
want you to bring this up to your mother, do you understand me?"

Mulder mumbled, "Yes, sir." Then left the room.

**

Each time he replays the conversation the more certain he is that his
father knows more, perhaps a lot more, than he's shared. But how to
prove it? He asks himself with a sigh.

** 


Tuesday evening, McPhee house

Reyes stares at the blank screen and screws up her resolution. She
has finally decided that in her game of cat and mouse with Spender,
it's time for her to explore her more feline qualities. She roughly
grabs the keyboard and begins to type.

Fowley,
I kept your advice about Mulder in mind. His little brother was born
a little over a week ago, and I got to go see him over the weekend.
Besides being a beautiful infant, he seems like a normal little boy,
so perhaps he's like Spender claims he is- one of the babies where
their genetic monkeying didn't "take." (You know, Mulder and I
discovered something sort of horrific about his past, and we can't
decide if we should go to him about it before we tell the police.)
Which of course, is all to the better as far as the Learys' are
concerned with, to be sure.

I'm really writing because I'm concerned about you, though. It's been
weeks since I heard from you, and I'm really worried. You must have
had your baby since you were due before Mrs. Leary...Did they let you
keep him or her like they said? They don't seem like the type of
people who are likely to keep their word. Is your baby normal? Is it
even...a baby? I mean you were talking about the weird things they
could do now, so I worry how human the products of this experiment
even turn out to be, not that I think your child could be a monster
or something. And most importantly, are you ok?

I'm really really worried about you too, not just your baby. I'm...If I
don't hear from you right away, I'm going to go see your grandmother.
I think that you might need more help than I can give you by being
supportive. I'm sure that a woman as wise as she is will be able to
think of ways to get you away from those people, and if she can't,
you've said that your dad has some clout with people too, so... Anyway,
let me know that you're ok, I'm on pin and needles here.

Reyes

She hits send and wonders how Spender will take the idea of her
contemplating going to other people about Fowley's "problem," since
he was so adamant that no one else should know about the situation.
Though she's usually sweet-natured, she can't help but allowing
herself a nasty little smile at the thought of Spender having
kittens.

** 

Wednesday night, Leary home

Scully is lying on her belly on the Leary's living floor with the
entertainment section of the newspapers spread out before her. She's
propped up on her elbows, and Mulder is tempted to knock her down to
see what her reaction would be. Before he can act out his fiendish
plot, she pokes the paper with a finger and calls him over.

"It is playing tonight after all. Did you still want to see it?" She
asks, still pointing at the black and white ad.

"Sure." He tells her, suddenly realizing that she might have just
saved him from her wrath. "I'm always up for a little bit of live
action comic book heroes."

Scully sits up and gives him an appealing look, which makes him
immediately suspicious. "Mulder... Do you think we should ask Sam to go
with us? Most kids like this type of movie, and I'd sort of like to
get to know her better."

Mulder slaps his forehead. "I can't believe I didn't even think of
asking her... some brother." He says sighing dramatically.

"I don't think you're that bad." Scully tells him, holding out a
hand, which he takes to pull her up. "Thanks. She's up in her room,
right?"

"Yeah, let's go ask her right now." 

Sam nods eagerly when they ask her, and Mulder adds an item to his
mental list: Sam likes Spiderman. He's already decided to figure her
out even if it kills him.

**

Since they are inordinately thrilled that Mulder and Scully have
included Sam in their plans, Mulder's parents give them an excessive
amount of money for the concession stand. Mulder, sitting between the
girls, glances over at his sister and smiles to himself because her
entire lap is swallowed by a giant tub of popcorn that she's happily
munching on. Mulder pops a couple of sour patch kids into his mouth
and offers them to Scully and Sam, both of whom decline. Mulder
shrugs and decides that they're an acquired taste.

As the trailers roll, Mulder is surprised to see one for a film
called "Men in Black 2, "since he has never heard of the first movie.
It seems sort of neat, but something about it nags at him. Suddenly
he realizes what it is with a jolt.

He leans over and asks Scully, "Isn't that the FBI agent we talked
to??"

"I don't know Mulder, but it sure looks like him." 

"Weird. I wonder if he was just an actor rehearsing for the role or
something when we saw him."

"I guess so. That whole thing was pretty strange..."Scully trails off
with a shrug.

Mulder is enjoying the movie, and he is content that Scully and Sam
are too. It's not exactly what he was expecting, but it's action
packed and Kristen Dunst is pretty so he decides that it is worth the
price of admission.

Mulder's enjoyment of the movie is suddenly marred as he watches a
particular scene in the movie. Parker's aunt is being harassed by the
Green Goblin, and it somehow triggers something in Mulder. His
stomach roils and a memory swarms up from the depths of his
subconscious so fast that it threatens to engulf him. Mulder misses
the next few minutes of the movie as he desperately tries to make
sense of what he just remembered.

He thinks that he's fine by the time the lights come on at the end of
the movie, but Scully gives him a concerned look and asks him if he's
all right. He gives her a weak smile and tells her that he must have
eaten too much popcorn.

** 

Thursday afternoon, Leary home

While their father is at work, their mother takes Price to a
well-baby check up, leaving Sam and Mulder alone for a couple of
hours. Before she leaves, Mrs. Leary pulls Mulder aside to talk to
him privately. "Are you ok with being left alone with her? I'm sure
she won't give you any trouble, but with her not talking..."

"Don't worry, Mom. If she needs something I'm sure we'll figure it
out." Mulder reassures her. Mrs. Leary tries to look like she agrees.

A few minutes after their Mom leaves, Mulder goes into the living
room to see what Sam is doing. She's watching one of Mulder' Batman
Beyond DVDs, and for a moment there's a pain in his chest as he
wonders why another teenage hero has so engrossed her attention. To
calm himself he decides to ask if she'd like a snack.

Sam grins up at him then twists the fingers of one hand on the palm
of the other, and then tilts an "L" towards her mouth. Mulder thinks
about it for a moment then asks "Cookies and lemonade?" and is
rewarded with a vigorous nod. "Lemonade? Ick. If you want it...I think
I'll stick to the more traditional milk as an accompaniment to
cookies." He says as he walks out of the room.

When he returns with their snacks, the credits are rolling on the
screen. Mulder gives her cookies and the lemonade, and makes a quick
decision.

He looks at Sam, and says quietly, "I've finally remembered clearly."
She tilts her head to indicate she's listening, but says nothing.

Mulder takes a shuddering breath. "The night you were taken, I mean.
I had shadowy memories of it for years, but last night I remembered
it all for the first time. You were still sleeping in my room,
because the paint in the nursery was barely dry, and mom was afraid
there might be fumes. It was a totally ordinary summer night, and I
went to bed not long after mom and dad put you in your crib. I
suppose I fell asleep quickly. I fell asleep at any rate." Mulder
pauses to see if she's listening, and he sees that her eyes are
locked on his face.

"I woke up at some point, because there were people in my room. I
started to cry out, but a large hand was clamped over my mouth.
Another hand pushed my chest down into the mattress, pinning me. I
tried to move my head, but I couldn't much because of the hand over
my mouth. When I rolled my eyes to the side, though, I could see that
there was someone reaching into your crib. I tried to scream at them
to leave you alone, but the only sound that escaped under that hand
was a muffled keening.

"The person who had you ran out of the room, and I heard him clatter
down the stairs. But the other man didn't let me up, still. He leaned
down, and his breath was foul as he whispered to me. He told me that
they were going to be watching, and if I got out of my bed, they
would kill you. I believed him, and once he was sure of that, he
left. I lay there, frozen, for the rest of the night.

"I wouldn't get out of bed the next morning, because I thought that
they might still be watching. Eventually Dad dragged me out of bed,
screaming. I hit him with my fists and kicked, but he was still
gentle with me. Finally I told them what had happened, and they
already seemed to know you were gone. They told me to forget about
it.

"And for the next five years, they kept telling me to forget about
it. To forget about you, that there ever was a you. When I was nine I
was old enough to know that I shouldn't try to talk about you, but I
never forgot about you. Never.

"I don't know how much you trust our parents, and you probably won't
tell me, but... I love them and fear them a little bit both. I was
never, and still can't, able to understand how they could try to
forget about you, like you were a kitten that ran away or something.
Their seeming lack of concern has made me suspicious, and I've almost
always known if I wanted to get you back I couldn't rely on them for
help.

"In fact, this year I tried as hard as I could to find you. I knew in
my heart that you were still alive, and that you needed me. That I
needed you too. I thought I was getting close to finding you, but I
never expected to find you standing in a hospital room.

"I still wonder what happened to you, and maybe to some degree I
always will, since there really is no way to recapture twelve lost
years. But we have each other now, so even if we've gotten to a late
start...I just want you to know that when you're ready to tell someone
what happened to you, I'll be ready to listen. I'll always be ready."
Mulder finishes, feeling parched from speaking so long. Sam gives him
a long look, and for one hopeful second he thinks she might say
something. Instead she throws her arms around his neck and hugs him
tight. Mulder decides to settle for that.

**

 Credits
Produced by CC, KW and Neoxphile

< Voice Over>
This episode of Mulder's Creek featured music from:

Must ("Free Child")
Marry Me Jane ("Blue Light")
The Verve Pipe ("Hero")
And
Toad the Wet Sprocket ("Something to Say")


Stay tuned for scenes from the next Mulder's Creek

