text version
Title: Chance Meetings
Author: Devin
Email: franny122004@gmail.com
Website: http://dancing-through-life.com/
Rating: R (for now, I will attach the proper
warning if it gets more graphic)
Category: SAR
Keywords: MSR, AU, Pre-XF, kidfic, M/O and S/O
Spoilers: Nothing major but you might want to know
some of the characters from Lazarus, Fire and The
End.
Summary: Mulder and Scully's lives were turned
upside-down before they even knew the other
existed but they still meet and they're going to
need each other more than ever.
Disclaimer: CC and Fox own these characters (well
most of them), not that they treat them very nice.
Author's Note: The M/O and S/O is important to the
story but it is in no way the story, so if that
kind of stuff bothers you don't worry. This was
written for the MSR Preservation Society's 'What
If' challenge. Thanks Cathey for being my awesome
beta. Thanks also go to KimK for helping me get a
name, it's not as easy as it sounds.
Also, at the risk of giving away part of the plot,
you need to know that when something is in
parentheses it is someone saying something in sign
language.
Chapter 1
June 30, 1983
Moments of joy and moment of grief are a normal
part of every human beings lifetime and are
considered a given. What throws people most for a
loop is when both extremes occur back to back,
especially when joy isn't the emotion that wins
out.
Four days ago Dana Scully had gone to the hospital
to sit for hours in a waiting room as her sister
gave birth to her first child. Eight hours after
she and her parents and younger brother had gotten
there Melissa's husband had stumbled in.
Kyle had the haggard expression of a man that
had watched his wife in excruciating pain for
hours on end but that wasn't all. In his
expression could be seen the look of a man who had
had his world snatched out of his hand.
"Are they okay?" Mrs. Scully had demanded
immediately, fear making her voice shaky.
"The baby's fine," Kyle said dazedly, "but I
think something's wrong with Missy." He stared at
the doors he had just walked through. "I was
watching them clean off Noah and she passed out or
something. I don't know. They wouldn't tell me
anything, they just kicked me out."
"She's going to be okay, isn't she?" sixteen-year-
old Charles Scully asked but no one would give him
an answer. Mrs. Scully took Kyle into her arms
as her husband held her. Dana and Charlie just
looked on, both feeling helpless.
"Mr. Lins?" a man in scrubs somberly asked and led
Kyle away from the others.
They couldn't hear what the doctor told him but
they didn't need to. All they had to see was the
tears roll down Kyle's cheeks and the way he
slumped to the floor under the weight of the words
to know what had happened.
Melissa Lins-Scully was gone.
Now, Dana and her mother are standing outside the
apartment Melissa and Kyle used to share. The
baby is crying loudly and they've tried knocking
three times without a response.
Mrs. Scully has a worried look on her face that
seemed to have deepened as the seconds passed in
front of the door. "Dana, wait here."
It takes her about five minutes to come back with
the Super, mumbling the whole time about how he
wasn't sure he should let the two ladies in. His
protests stopped short once he was in range to
hear the baby's cries.
Once inside the group split up. Dana went to where
Noah was lying, loudly protesting his abandonment,
while Mrs. Scully and Super went to check the
other end of the apartment to look for Kyle or
at least some sign of him.
"Hi Noah," Dana soothed but Noah didn't even
notice she was there until she picked him up. Noah
quieted slightly once he was in her arms but was
obviously not completely over being left. "When's
the last time you ate anything, baby boy? What
d'ya say we get some food in ya, huh?"
She was warming a bottle and lightly rocking Noah
when she heard her mom scream. Running as she
could with Noah still in her arms she came
bursting in the room her mom was in, that had been
Melissa and Kyle's. At first, the only thing she
saw was her mother's pale face and the only she
heard was the Super retching in the adjoining
bathroom.
What she saw next made her wish that those were
the only things her senses had picked-up on.
Curled up in a fetal position in a corner of the
room, blood dripping down the side of his face,
and a gun clutched in his hand was Kyle.
Noah spotted his father and began wailing at the
top of his little lungs.
"Get him out of here," rasped out Mrs. Scully, her
eyes barely flickering from her son-in-law. "Call
the police and your father."
***
"So, you and your mother found him together?"
Dana numbly shook her head at the cop. "No, my Mom
and Mr. Jacobson found Kyle. I was taking care of
the baby when I heard my mom. That's when I saw
him."
The cop hmm-ed and jotted down some notes and then
looked back up at her. "And you lot had no idea
that he was suicidal?"
"Of course not!" she said indignantly but quieted
down when she remembered the baby still resting in
her arms. She let his steady warmth against her
calm her before she returned to the cop. "We
wouldn't have let him alone if we had known... We
knew that he wasn't the same after Melissa-" she
paused, the sting of her sister's death still far
too fresh, "but we never thought he'd do something
so..."
"Okay, Miss. Do you know where he got the gun
from? It doesn't appear to belong to either your
sister or your brother-in-law."
She shook her head. "They hated guns. Neither
would back of my older brother when he bought one.
They kept quoting statistic that you were more
likely to shoot someone you knew than a robber. I
don't think they were friends with anyone who had
a gun either."
The cop nodded and closed his notebook. "Not quite
the start to your summer vacation that you were
looking forward to, huh?"
"Not quite," she agreed ironically.
The cop looked down at the girl clutching her
sister's baby, who had refused to go to anyone
else, to her like a security blanket and felt like
he had to do something more but didn't know what.
He pulled out a business card and handed it to
her. "Let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you."
He watched her walk over to her parents and stood
as close to her father as possible without either
of them actually embracing each other. "Getting
soft there partner?"
"Ah, shuddup," he said playfully and both cops
walked away from the grieving family.
***
One Week Later
"Dana?" Dana blinked awake and saw her dad
standing over her. "You fell asleep here again."
Her parents were starting to worry; she had stayed
up every night for the last week rocking Noah to
sleep and would inevitably fall asleep with him in
the rocking chair. "We told you that you don't
have to take care of him. We have no problem doing
it."
"I don't mind doing it."
"He can't depend on you Dana. It's not fair to
either of you." Captain Scully stared somberly at
his youngest daughter as she got up from the
rocking chair to put Noah in his crib. "What
happens when you have to go back to Berkley? The
more attached you two get, the more he thinks
you're his... mother, the harder it'll be on both
of you."
Dana didn't turn at her father's remarks and chose
not to respond. "Is that why you came in here?"
He sighed in frustration at her lack of response.
"No. I came to tell you, your mother just got of
the phone with a lawyer. Apparently Melissa drew
up a will when she found out she was pregnant. We
have an appointment tomorrow at noon."
"Dad... I'm worried about Noah."
"We all are, Starbuck, but he'll be fine."
"No," Dana said, shaking her head, "I think
something is seriously wrong. I'm taking him into
a pediatrician tomorrow. I already made the
appointment. It shouldn't interfere with the
meeting with the lawyer, though."
"What do you think is wrong?"
She shook her head again. "I don't want to tell
you in case I'm over reacting."
As she stared down at the sleeping little boy she
prayed she was wrong.
***
Dr. Roth's Office
"Noah Scully?" The old nurse smiled as Dana picked
up Noah's carrier and walked over to where she was
standing. "Take him into room two. The doctor will
be with you in a moment."
Noah was on the verge of becoming antsy when the
doctor came in. "Hello. Now who do we have here?"
Dana lifted him out of his carrier and set him on
her lap. "This is Noah. I was wondering if you
could check his hearing?"
"Any particular reason? He still has awhile before
we would normally do that test."
She held out the baby for the doctor to hold,
which he did questioningly. Noah started to
whimper and squirm. "Shh, it's okay Noah," Dana
said repeatedly but the baby wouldn't calm down.
"Turn him around now," she requested. As soon as
the doctor turned him and he saw Dana again he
began to quiet. She reached out and took Noah
back. "He doesn't respond to any auditory comfort,
he doesn't know I'm in the room until he sees
me... I don't know. I hope I'm over reacting."
The doctor sat down next to her before replying.
"It's quite possible that what you showed me is as
simple as not liking strangers or not wanting to
be held by anyone but mommy."
Dana started at being referred to as Noah's mother
but figured there was no reason to correct the
doctor, that it was more important to find out
what was wrong than to into the long story. "But
it's not just that. One day, my little brother
came over with a group of his friends. They made
such a ruckus that the neighbors came over to
complain but Noah slept through it."
The doctor nodded as she told her story. "Okay,
we'll run the test."
***
A Couple Hours Later
If Captain Scully were a man prone to pacing he
would be doing so right now. In an hour he had to
be at the reading of his eldest daughter's will,
his two boys had been arguing ever since his older
son flew in three days ago, and his youngest
daughter had taken his only grandchild to the
doctor's because she thought something was
seriously wrong with him.
But there would be no pacing.
Instead, he sat next to his wife, not saying a
word, simply holding her hand.
"Mom? Dad?"
As a unit Mr. And Mrs. Scully turned their heads
to look at their three children and grandchild.
"You guys ready to go?"
The two boys nodded and headed out to the car but
Dana lagged behind.
"Did the doctor tell you anything?"
"Yeah... we have to talk about it," she glanced
outside, "but I guess it can wait 'til we get
back."
"How bad is it, Starbuck?"
"Ahab, can't it wait-"
"No," Mrs. Scully cut in sharply. "We need to
know."
Dana looked down at the baby in her arms and
stroked his head softly. Captain Scully thought he
saw tears glistening in his daughters eye but saw
none fall, he couldn't remember the last time he'd
seen his daughter cry.
"Mom, Dad... Noah's deaf."
***
Graham and Brits, Attorneys at Law
This was the second waiting room Dana had to sit
in today that she wished fervently that she could
be anywhere else.
Since she had broken the news about Noah to her
parents they had even more silent than before, the
only sign that they weren't comatose was that
their hands were clasped in a death grip. Briefly
she wondered what that would be like, to have
someone that, even if the world was collapsing
around you, if you just held on tight enough you
would be... whole.
They waited a good half an hour before the
paralegal told them to come into step into one of
the offices. The lawyer shook each of their hands
as they entered the office and apologized for the
wait and their loss.
Dana was just contemplating whether the lawyer
reminded her more of a used car salesman or her
old dentist when they came to the part of
Melissa's will that decides what happens to Noah.
She didn't realize that her grip on Noah tightened
at the mere mention of the section until he let
out a squeak of protest. She kissed the top of his
head in apology but kept her focus on the lawyer.
'Please don't send him to Milwaukee to be with
Kyle's parents. Not far away please.'
"Melissa decided that, in the unlikely event that
both she and her husband passed away at the same
time, custody of Noah would go to his Godmother
and Aunt, Dana Scully."
Every jaw in the room dropped.
***
Hours Later
"Dana, you can't possibly take care of an infant.
You're 19-years-old, you can barely take care of
yourself. How do you plan to attend Berkley and
raise Noah?"
"Well, I don't have an exact plan yet since I just
found out two hours ago but-"
"Exactly. You don't have a plan. You should let
us-"
"No."
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"I can handle this. Plenty of women have-"
"I refuse to let you drop out of school."
"I'm not planning to drop out of school."
"What are you planning on then?"
"What if I transferred to University of Maryland?
I already got in once, hopefully it won't be
anymore difficult to apply as a transfer student."
This suggestion caused the first lull in the
conversation since they had gotten back from the
lawyer's.
"I don't want you guys to do this for me."
"Are you sure you can do it on your own?"
"No."
Her parent's exchanged worried looks as the mulled
over the problem in their heads. "I do like the
idea of you being closer to home, in case you need
us," Mrs. Scully said tentatively.
Captain Scully nodded, "We'll have to drive over
tomorrow to pick-up and application."
Dana smiled and hugged her parents. "Thank you,"
she murmured.
"You better go," her dad whispered back as they
heard Noah begin to cry.
"Hey baby boy," she greeted as she picked him up
and began to walk the length of the room, lightly
bouncing him. "You know what? We're going to be
okay."
End of Chapter 1
Chapter 2
March 3, 1984
"I'm pregnant," was the scariest phrase Mulder
ever remembered hearing in his life. And at the
moment upon hearing that, you wouldn't have been
able to identify him as Oxford's top student,
because his entire vocabulary had been reduced to
"Wha-? How? When?"
"What are we going to do?"
The scoff in Phoebe's voice wasn't intended to be
concealed when she answered, "We? We aren't
pregnant. I am. I will decide what will be done."
"Why did you bother to tell me then? If I get no
say in the matter, then what are you doing here?"
"I need you to participate in a paternity test."
"And exactly how many of us will be participating
in this test?"
Phoebe's lips curled into a humorless grin at the
bitterness in his voice. Obviously he still hadn't
quite gotten over the fact that she'd broken their
'mutually exclusive' agreement more than once
before they had broken up three months ago.
"January was a slow month, only two of you."
Shaking his head in disbelief, he began to walk
away, with the certainty that he should never meet
Phoebe alone somewhere to talk again, but he
turned. "Weren't you on the pill?"
"Apparently, that's not always enough."
There was really no response to that, so he
skipped to the next subject. "And the other guy
is...?"
"I doubt you know him, but Jason Dermont."
"Ah, smart, rich guy, right? And isn't his father
a member of parliament?"
"Why do you think he demanded a paternity test?
Imagine the scandal."
***
St. Andrews Clinic
Dr. Fredrick walked into the office smiling
brightly at the three people sitting in front of
his desk, but his gesture put none of them at
ease.
"Good morning. How're we all feeling today? Did
Annette offer you water when you came in?" They
all nodded and one of the men even held up a small
bottle of water. "Good. Well, first I'm going to
explain the procedure to you very quickly, then
I'll answer any questions you might have, and then
we'll get under way."
He paused briefly to give them time to ask any
questions they might have right off the bat, but
none said anything, and so he continued. "Okay,
first we're going to have each of you gentlemen
provide a DNA sample and then we'll take a DNA
sample from the baby and run comparison tests to
see whose DNA matches the baby's."
"What kind of samples?" the man to the right of
the woman asked. He was slightly shorter than the
other man and had sandy brown hair. Dr. Fredrick
glanced down at the charts he had laid out on his
desk, and made an educated guess that this was
Jason Dermont.
"Blood and tissue sample. Nothing too invasive,
Mr. Dermont."
"Is there any risk to the baby?" the second man,
Fox Mulder, asked looking genuinely concerned.
Briefly the doctor wondered why. He'd been under
the impression that this was merely legality, that
this was an unwanted pregnancy by all. Normally
they wouldn't even been attempting this procedure
since there was no reason to check the baby for
genetic defects but both Ms. Greene's and Mr.
Dermont's families had pulled some strings with
the hospital board.
"There is, of course a slight risk with this
procedure. There have been occasions when a doctor
has slipped up and punctured the baby. However, I
have preformed this procedure several times with
no difficulty, so you need not worry."
When no further questions were posed Dr. Fredrick
finished explaining about the procedure and then
brought the meeting to a close. "Okay gentlemen,
if you would please go to room 314 on the third
floor and have the technicians draw some blood.
Ms. Greene, please follow Nurse Weston and she'll
get you set up in a room, I will be there
shortly."
***
1 Week Later
Mulder was just finishing his conclusion on a
paper for English, analyzing whether he thought
Shakespeare was one person or a group of people
using one pen name when the phone rang. "Mulder."
"Mr. Mulder, this Caroline from Dr. Fredrick's
office. He needs you to come in tomorrow at 3
o'clock to discuss the results of the paternity
test."
Having been expecting this call, he wasn't at all
shocked by the request and told her that he would
be there.
The next morning was no different from any other
morning. He got up, went for a run, ate breakfast,
went to class, played basketball instead of eating
lunch, and went to the library to do research on
yet another paper. At a quarter past two he began
to make his way to the clinic.
As he neared the building his pace slowed and his
thoughts quickened. He half expected to start
hyperventilating at any second, but his pulse
barely rose and he made it to the doctor's office
without incident.
Both Phoebe and Jason were in the waiting room
when he got there but neither bothered to lift
their heads out of out-dated magazines when he sat
down. He was rather thankful for this, he didn't
want their acknowledgement, in fact, he'd prefer
they just pretend that they didn't know each other
at all after this whole debacle was over.
"Greene?" a nurse asked and all three stood
simultaneously as if they were all controlled by
one string.
"So what's the verdict?" Jason asked once they
were all, once again, seated in front of the
doctor.
"You'll all be happy to know that the tests
revealed no genetic abnormalities."
Phoebe gave the doctor an irritated look. "You
know that's not why we're here."
"No it's not," the doctor replied in an even
voice. "Would you like me to skip all the results
and go straight to the paternity section?"
"That would be spiffing, thank you," Phoebe
answered sarcastically.
"Very well." He flipped a couple pages in the
report in front of him and with his finger skimmed
down the page. "Paternity test shows that Mr.
Mulder is the father of the baby."
Silence reigned for several seconds as the doctor
allowed the group to absorb the information, but
was broken when Jason let out a huge sigh of
relief. "Can I go now?" he asked like a kid being
told that he was the only one not getting
detention.
Dr. Fredrick gave him a cursory look, but told him
that he could think of no reason he would have to
stay. Jason all but sprinted out.
Once he was gone Phoebe looked the doctor in eyes
and asked, "Can the abortion be scheduled for this
weekend?"
This quickly brought Mulder out of his stunned
state. "What?"
Phoebe chose to ignore his question. "You can go
too, Mulder."
But he was too angry to leave now. "Why did you
make us go through all of this if you weren't
going to keep it? What was the point of all this?"
"This decision varied on the results," she
answered coldly.
He was about to ask what she meant by that, but he
knew and didn't need to hear it out loud. If it
had been Jason's she would have kept it.
***
That night he was lucky that he ever got to sleep.
He had tossed and turned for hours on end, beat
his pillow into submission so that it would mold
to his head properly, tried reading a ridiculously
boring textbook, and even resorted to counting
sheep, which amusingly enough is what finally did
the trick.
He knew that Phoebe had the right to get the
procedure done; she'd made it abundantly clear
that no matter what the outcome, he was to have no
involvement whatsoever. So why wasn't this sitting
right with him?
***
The next morning Mulder didn't have class but the
walls of his dorm seemed to be more confining than
usual, so he decided he needed to go for a walk.
Having no idea where he was going, he was
surprised to find himself on campus. When he saw
Phoebe walking out of the building he was standing
across from, he was further surprised when he
didn't turn around and head in the other direction
but instead called out to her to wait up.
Consciously he didn't know what he'd come there to
say, but as soon as the words started spilling out
of his mouth he knew they were right.
"Don't get the abortion."
"What?" she asked angrily through gritted teeth
and glanced around to make sure no one had heard
the 'a' word.
"Don't have it done."
"And why not? I don't know if you've noticed this
but I'm not exactly the mothering type."
"Oh believe me, I've noticed. And I would never
want to subject a child to that."
"So, what? You want me to give it up for adoption
then?"
"Almost. Give me full custody. You never have to
see the kid again."
She started laughing and turned to walk away.
"That's a good one, Mulder. I'll be sure to
remember that one for my next stand-up routine."
Mulder grabbed her arm and turned her around
before she could get that far ahead. "I'm serious.
All you have to do is carry this baby to term.
Your obligation would end there."
"So let me get this straight. You want me to carry
a baby for nine months, get stretch marks, have to
pee every five bloody minutes, get morning
sickness, all while attending school, and then
what? Just hand the little bundle of joy over to
you?"
"Sounds like crap when you say it," he mumbled
under his breath so that she couldn't hear him.
"No, of course not. Take the year off."
"Ah another corking idea. And what am I suppose to
do for a year? Knit?"
"Be pregnant."
"And who, pray tell, is going to pay for me simply
'being pregnant'? My job will fire me as soon as
they find out."
"I will. You won't have to do anything."
Phoebe looked at him, actually considering what he
was proposing. "You'll take the baby immediately?
What if when it grows up it wants to meet its
mother?"
"I will make it *abundantly* clear why that is not
the most advisable course of action."
"Give me a couple days to think it over."
***
A Couple Days Later
5 AM
"Okay Mulder, you've got yourself a baby."
Mulder stared blurrily at the woman in front of
him. "Good morning to you too."
"Oh sod off. I'm just dropping by to give you the
good news and to give you this address." She
handed him a slip of paper and continued. "My mum
and dad said that if I was going to do this I
would have to be out of sight, so they gave me the
key to their house in the country and now I'm off.
I'll call later to let you know what funds will be
required for me to maintain my style of living. Ta
ta." And with that she was gone.
***
Six Months Later
September 10, 1984
As is the pastime of all fathers who've been
banned from the delivery room, Mulder had taken to
pacing the tiny waiting room back and forth.
"There must be a more scenic route," one nurse
suggested when she took pity on the father-to-be
and brought him a glass of water and a friendly,
if not slightly detached, smile.
He gave a half-hearted amused grin. "Any
suggestions?"
"Variety is the spice of life. Walk by the
magazines on one pass and the window on another,
and then switch it up. Maybe every once in awhile
you could give your legs a rest and try sitting.
Go wild with it."
Chuckling lightly, he took the hint and sat down
momentarily. He would have looked relaxed if his
right leg had stopped bouncing up and down.
"Well, I suppose that's a start," she commented,
and, with a wink, went back to the nurse's
station.
Looking down at the cup in his hand he didn't
notice the tall woman with graying hair walk into
the room.
"Fox?"
Mulder's head snapped up and started at the woman
in surprise. "Mom." Then remembering himself he
stood up and gave his mom a hug and kiss on the
cheek. "What are you doing here?"
She looked around awkwardly, as if she was trying
to remember herself what she was doing there, but
patted his arm affectionately. "I couldn't very
well miss the birth of my first grandchild, now
could I?"
Mulder smiled at that and walked her over to the
row of chairs. "I'm glad you're here, mom."
They were waiting in silence for another half-hour
when a doctor walked in. "Mr. Mulder?"
They stood immediately and Mulder answered, "Yes?"
"You can come in and meet your daughter now."
Mulder felt a huge smile take over his face and
his mother nudge him to follow the doctor. "I'll
be right back," he told her quickly and then was
gone.
When he walked in Phoebe was feeding the baby and
cooing quietly to her. She stopped herself when
she noticed that Mulder had walked in, but he
smiled knowingly at her. Getting a bit defensive
she said, "She was hungry. I couldn't very well
let the little thing die of hunger after all the
work it took to get her out."
"Of course not," he agreed but the knowing smile
had not left his face.
Seeing that the father was now here a nurse
approached them. "Have you two decided on a name?"
Mulder glanced at Phoebe but she shook her head.
"This is your baby. By the way, don't ever ask me
for a favor again. This covers anything I could
ever possible owe you."
"Duly noted." He leaned over and took the little
girl from Phoebe's arms, so that he could finally
get a full view of the baby. "Clara," he said
suddenly. "Clara Mulder." The nurse smiled and
wrote the name down but Mulder barely noticed he
was so enthralled with the baby.
Clara blinked her eyes open and stared up at her
father. "Hi, baby girl." This seemed to fulfill
Clara's curiosity about who was holding her, so
she closed her eyes and went to sleep, safe in her
father's arms.
End of Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Herbert Hoover Elementary School
September 1990
'Late, late, I'm so late,' was all Scully was able
to think as she raced across the playground
dragging Noah behind her. His seven-year-old legs
were struggling to keep up with her pace as they
headed to the cafeteria where the meeting was
taking place. When they reached the door, she
straightened her clothes and tried to slow her
breathing to hide all signs that she had been
running and, after holding a finger to her lips to
signal to Noah to be quiet as they went in, she
opened the door.
Luckily someone was talking so no one noticed as
she snuck in the door. She and Noah sat in seats
near the back and settled in.
She began to help him take off his coat but he
gave her that grown-up, independent look and
signed to her (I got it, Mom.)
She had just been catching up on what was going on
in the meeting when the speaker told them to look
at a piece of paper that had been handed out
earlier. She was about to ask for a copy when
someone next to her nudged her gently. She turned
slightly and saw a man next to her, who couldn't
be much older than her, and she couldn't believe
that she hadn't noticed him before. He had
chestnut-brown hair that looked like it was made
for someone to run their hand through, and eyes
that were a beautiful shade of hazel. She would
have continued to catalogue his features but he
was speaking and she had a feeling she should
probably listen.
"Here, we can share. I doubt either of us will
actually need our own copy. Wouldn't want to waste
the paper after all."
She barely contained the returning smirk that
wanted to form on her face. "Well, if we can do
our part to save a tree than by all means..."
He placed the paper between them and they both
ignored the fact that they leaned in closer than
necessary to look at the paper, and pretended to
listen to what the man was saying. Luckily it had
nothing to do with either of their kids so it
didn't matter.
***
The man talked on for about twenty minutes until
he saw some of the kids in the room beginning to
doze off, and that their parents weren't doing
much better. "Why don't we take a fifteen minute
break? Then we'll come back, talk about a couple
fundraisers, and then we'll let you all get out of
here."
People around them began standing and stretching
but Scully stayed seated and she was happy, more
so than she was willing to admit, when the man
next to her didn't stand either, merely stretched
and rolled his shoulders slightly.
"So with whom have I been saving the rainforest?"
He asked after he was done getting comfortable.
She opened her mouth to answer but her son's
insistent tug on her sleeve stopped her. (What,
sweetie?)
(I'm hungry.) She couldn't help the laugh in her
head as she thought that this was the exact same
boy who didn't need any help half an hour ago and
now he couldn't walk across the room to the food
table. To both of their surprises though she
wasn't the one who answered.
(My daughter didn't finish the chips I bought her
earlier. I'm sure she'd be willing to share.)
"That's very kind of you but-"
"It's jammed pack over there, he'd never be able
to fight his way through." He slid the little
girl, that his frame had been hiding, onto his lap
and whispered something in her ear. She reached
into her pocket and pulled out a small bag of
Cheetos and shyly stretched out to hand them to
Noah.
(Thank you,) Noah signed and began eating a
little.
Mulder whispered in the girl's ear again and she
smiled slightly and said softly "You're welcome."
"That really was very nice of you. What's your
name?" Scully asked sweetly, trying to put the
girl a little more at ease.
She smiled back and told her, "Clara."
"Nice to meet you, Clara. I'm Dana and this," She
brushed her son's hair aside from his forehead
affectionately, "is Noah." Noah waved at the
younger girl and she giggled slightly and waved
back. "He's in second grade. How about you?"
"First," the girl said proudly.
"And you?" she asked the man, knowing full well
that he was the only one that hadn't been
introduced yet.
He gave her a huge grin and said, "I graduated a
long time ago." He waited just long enough for her
to unsuccessfully hide her smile and roll her eyes
before sticking out a hand. "Mulder."
Clara leaned across her dad to whisper to Scully
secretively, "He doesn't like his first name." She
was rewarded for this by the hand that was still
holding her tickling her until she was crying from
laughter.
Scully looked on amused but took Mulder's offered
hand. "Scully."
***
"So what do you do?" Scully asked resuming the
basic getting to know you questions that had been
interrupted when the meeting had started back up.
Mulder had insisted on driving them to their car
since they had had to park so far away, and it
also left more time for said questions. The fact
that the kids had fallen asleep in the last
stretch of the meeting didn't hurt either.
"FBI."
"Really? She asked surprised.
He chuckled at her reaction. "I should probably be
flattered that I don't look enough like an agent
for you to have guessed. It's the tie isn't it?"
She laughed and shook her head. "No, I was just
surprised because I teach at Quantico. Small
world, huh?"
He grinned, something he'd been doing a lot;
though she had no way of knowing that he'd passed
his smile quota for the day about an hour ago, and
responded, "Very. Funny, I don't recall seeing any
agents that look like you. Maybe I need to
transfer." His teasing comment earned him and
eyebrow but he just grinned on.
"That's it up there," Scully said, gesturing
toward the car parked at the end of the block. He
pulled up next to it and put his emergency lights
on. They both looked in the back seat at the
sleeping children and for a couple moments just
sat there, being in the moment.
"Do you need help getting him into the car?"
She shook her head. "Nah, all that FBI training
was good for something." As she turned to open the
door and get out he reached out and stopped her.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card.
She smiled and took it. Neither said anything else
as she got out and moved Noah into the other car.
He watched as she buckled her son in, managing to
not disturb him and then opened the trunk of her
car. He was slightly confused by this action until
he saw her pull out a similar card from the
briefcase that had been back there. She walked
back and handed it to him.
Again they said nothing, not even goodbye, but for
some reason it didn't feel like they needed to.
***
3 Days Later
The jingle at the front of the restaurant drew her
attention to the door. Usually this occurrence
would only garner a glance but this time her gaze
lingered and was quickly returned.
"This place's atmosphere seems to have greatly
improved since the last time I was here," Mulder
commented as he walked over to her table. Scully
rolled her eyes but softened it with a happy smile
and motioned for him to join her.
"So you also know about Quantico's best kept
secret," she motioned around them, indicating the
restaurant.
"Of course, I ate here all the time when I was at
the Academy. For some reason I was craving their
Rueben sandwich all day today."
"How fortunate for me," she teased.
He grinned and returned, "How did you get so
lucky?"
***
Scully wiped tears out of her eyes as she tried to
get her laughter back under control. She hadn't
laughed this hard in a very long time.
There was a comfortable lull in their
conversation, but it was clear Mulder was trying
to figure out a way to say something. "Okay, feel
free to ignore this but... where is Noah's
father?"
He regretted asking almost immediately when he
jovial expression turned sad but she tried to push
the conversation back to the lighter side. "That
sounds suspiciously like a quid pro quo question:
you get my sad story, I get yours."
"You're assuming it's sad?" he asked in a mock
hurt tone.
"It isn't?" she challenged and he decided to give
her the slight reprieve that she was asking for.
"Actually, there's not much to tell. I convinced
Clara's mother to carry her to term and then she
gave me full custody. I haven't heard from her
since."
"She hasn't even tried to contact Clara?"
"I doubt she was ever compelled to do so."
There was no hint of remorse in his voice but she
was appalled nonetheless. "How could she not want
to be part of her daughter's life?"
"Scully, you don't know her. Trust me, it's best
for everyone involved that she isn't."
"But-"
He shook his head. "She wasn't very maternal last
I saw her." Scully let it go but still felt
somewhat angered on Clara's behalf. "What about
Noah's father? Was he not paternal enough?"
She looked down at her plate and nervously nudged
around the remnants of her lunch with her fork.
"I'm sure Kyle would have been a great father."
She met Mulder's eyes but quickly looked back
down. "He... Noah... he's not, biologically, my
son." Mulder reached across the table and took her
hand and squeezed it supportively. In a rush, so
that she actually managed to get it out, she said,
"My sister died in labor and four days later my
brother-in-law killed himself."
His hand stilled momentarily at her pronouncement
but then tightened around hers. "Scully-"
"You know how every parent waits for their child's
first word, hoping that it's 'mama' or 'dada'.
When Noah said his first word- when he said
'mama'- I cried for an hour. I cried because it
should have been Missy hearing him say that. And I
cried because I was *happy* when he said it. I
shouldn't have been happy. I should have-"
"Scully-." He got out of his chair and kneeled
down beside her, trying to catch her eye as she
continued to look at the table. "What happened to
your sister shouldn't happen to anyone but... you
are Noah's mother and you deserved that moment.
Melissa would have wanted you to be happy in that
moment, not feel guilty."
She shook her head to try to deny his words but he
pulled her into a tight hug and whispered, "She
would have."
***
Scully leaned against her car and looked up at
Mulder, who was standing in front of her. "So, are
you one of those guys who runs for the hills the
second he hears the sob story?" she asked, only
half-joking.
He scoffed, "If that's your best attempt to send
me running I don't think either of us has anything
to worry about." He was awarded with a small
smile. "Do you and Noah like pizza?"
"Noah would live off pizza if I let him."
"How about Friday then?"
"Just name the place and time."
He nodded and began to walk away but not before
tossing over his shoulder, "Louie, I think this is
the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
End of Chapter 3
