X-Files Fanfic- Mistletoe-by Kate Dyer ---------------------------------------------- Wednesday, December 17, 1997 11:21 PM Alexandria, VA ---------------------------------------------- He walked up the street quickly toward the apartment building. As he neared his destination, he pulled his overcoat closely around him, flipped up his collar, and pulled down the wide brim hat that covered his head, hoping he wouldn’t be recognized. He laughed at himself then, for he never thought that he would one day be going undercover, glancing over his shoulder every moment, fearing the shadows that lurked in the dark alleys between the tall buildings of the metro area. He stopped in front of the building and took one last puff of his Morley before dropping it, still smoldering, into the gutter. As he did, he went into a fit of violent coughing that shook his whole body. Damn. His daughter had always urged him to stop. She would tell him how unhealthy it was and he would always tell her that it was none of her business and that she had better never start herself. But he knew that she was only looking out for him. In fact, he owed his life to her, for it was she that had found him lying in a pool of his own blood on that afternoon a few months earlier. She had brought him to her home and had called a doctor friend whom she trusted to not reveal the clandestine appointments. And so he had slowly recovered, but wasn’t fully healed yet. His daughter would kill him herself if she knew he was walking around Alexandria in the middle of the night. He had always been curious about what had brought her to his apartment unannounced that day. He had asked her once and she had replied that she had wanted to see Fox again and wanted her father to arrange another meeting. So now, instead of dying a quick death, he was dying a slow one due to the lung cancer that only knew about, that which Jeremiah Smith had foretold. He could practically feel the cancer spreading throughout his lungs. For one of the only times in his life, he felt regret. Regret that he hadn’t exposed the cure to Agent Scully’s cancer sooner. He had had to wait until she was lying on her death bed. She hadn’t deserved that. She was one hell of an agent, one hell of a woman to be sure. All that the X-Files had brought her was heartache, sadness, and death; yet she stuck it out. She had continued working loyally through her sickness, right up to the point that too weak to work, and now she was back again after a short leave of absence. That was why he was doing this. For Agents Mulder and Scully. They had gone through hell and back, together. He saw that they had a special bond; one that only partners, who had seen the things they had, could have. A bond possibly stronger than love. He would beat the double-crossing bastards that had tried to take his life, the same that had tried to close down the X-Files so many times. He would beat them once and for all. At their own game. With this thought he walked up the steps of the building, through the door, and down the hall to an apartment at the end. He quietly withdrew a bag from his overcoat, tying it to the apartment door handle before leaving the building and disappearing into the dark alley from which he had come. ---------------------------------------------- Thursday, December 18, 1997 6:16 AM Alexandria, VA ---------------------------------------------- Special Agent Fox Mulder lifted his head and sleepily turned off his alarm. He had slept late and quickly jumped up to shower and dress in his usual suit and tie. Having no time for breakfast, he grabbed his coat and car keys and ran out the door. He entered the small basement office of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building and immediately headed toward the file cabinets, giving a quick greeting to Scully, who was typing something on her laptop. He withdrew the latest X-File and turned to her. “I’m traveling down to Woodbridge, Virginia to interview a couple eye witnesses of a UFO abduction. Do you want to come along Scully?” He asked. “No thanks, I have to type some reports and deliver them to Skinner by the end of the day.” She replied. In truth, she didn’t want to hear yet another story of hovering lights and alien abductions. She was also still weak from her recovery from the menacing cancer that had invaded her body, although she could never reveal this to her partner, and didn’t feel up to going. “OK, have fun typing up those reports.” Her partner responded in a mocking tone, to which she smiled slightly. Mulder was glad that he had gotten a smile, although small, out of the usually oh-so-serious Agent Scully. As he was walking out of the office, he remembered the bag and turned back to his partner. Withdrawing it from his trench coat, he said: “Oh, Scully, I found this bag of video tapes tied to my door. Can you review them and see what they are, I haven’t had time yet.” “Are you sure they’re not something you ordered from one of your catalogs?” She replied, her eyebrows raised, one slightly higher than the other. Mulder got her gist. “Trust me, if they were, I would have watched them by now.” He smiled wickedly as he left the office, shutting the door behind him. ---------------------------------------------- Thursday, December 18, 1997 4:38 PM J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building ---------------------------------------------- It was late that afternoon when Scully finally popped the first of the tapes into the VCR. All the tapes were labeled with Mulder’s initials, FWM, his apartment number, 42, and a series of dates. Upon pushing the play button on the VCR, she saw Mulder’s apartment appear on the television screen. There was a date in the bottom left hand corner that read October 13, 1995. She realized that these tapes were some of the surveillance tapes taken of Mulder’s apartment by Scott Ostelhoff and his friends over at the Department of Defense. She was startled by the office phone when it began to ring. “Scully.” She gave her usual answer. “Ya, it’s me.” Mulder replied across the line from his cell phone. “Mulder, where are you?” Scully responded. “Virginia’s largest tourist attraction: Potomac Mills Mall.” “I thought you were interviewing someone.” Her comment went unnoticed as he continued, “Do you know that bus loads of people come here from all over just to shop?!” “Seriously, Mulder.” Scully had begun to loose patience, and realizing this, Mulder stopped playing around. “I am, anyway, this may turn into something, so I’m going to get a motel room and stay down here a while. I’ll probably be back tomorrow afternoon.” “Great. Hey Mulder, where did you say these tapes came from?” She asked. “I just found them on my door knob. I keep getting these anonymous clues and evidence. I don’t know where they come from or who’s giving them to me.” He answered. “Could it be your new source?” “No, I don’t think so, she’s identified herself many times in the past.” “Herself??” Scully asked. Uh-oh Mulder knew he had crossed onto dangerous ground. He didn’t want to get on Scully’s bad side, so he conveniently changed the subject. “Why, what’s on those tapes?” He asked, becoming curious. “Well, they’re...” She began, only to be interrupted by Mulder. “Scully, sorry, but I’ve got to go, see you tomorrow, bye.” And with that he hung up. More than anything, Scully hated it when Mulder hung up on her, but she was used to it now, after five years of working with him. She turned back to the television to continue watching the tape. She really didn’t feel comfortable viewing the tapes. They were a window into Mulder’s private life, and she felt as if she was spying, maybe even prying into it. But the tapes had been left on Mulder’s door for a reason, so she decided to take them back to her apartment and finish watching them there. ---------------------------------------------- Thursday, December 18, 1997 11:05 PM Annapolis, MD ---------------------------------------------- Scully had started watching the tapes again two hours earlier, and still nothing that stood out had happened. On occasion she saw Mulder walking around in his boxers, to which she found herself blushing. She must have dozed off because all of a sudden her eyes snapped open. What had caused her to wake up? She listened and heard it again. She sat up, chills traveling down her back. Then she remembered the tapes, and turned toward the television. It was Missy’s voice, off screen of the camera, but it was from the television none-the-less, she reassured herself. She rewound the tape to hear Missy and Mulder’s whole conversation. “Listen, I don’t have to be psychic to see you’re in a very dark place, much darker than where my sister is. Willingly walking deeper into darkness can not help her at all.” Scully heard her sister remark. She checked the date of the tape and realized that it was during her hospital stay, after she was returned, when she had been so close to death. November 2, 1994. She watched as Mulder waited for someone, checking his watch often. After he left his apartment, she saw what he must have been waiting for. Three men, one of which she clearly recognized as Alex Krycek, were rummaging through Mulder’s apartment, looking for something, and swearing when they couldn’t find it. Scully had tried to sleep after that, but insomnia and adrenaline left it impossible. What was on those other tapes? She couldn’t help but wonder. She watched the rest of them and was on the last, and most recent, when she realized what time it was and decided to get ready for work. There probably wasn’t anything on that last tape anyway, other than the image of Mulder dragging Ostelhoff across the apartment floor. Was she wrong. As she went to stop and eject the tape from her VCR, she watched the October night’s events unfold. She had to watch the scene a couple times before she could really believe what she was seeing. ---------------------------------------------- Friday, December 19, 1997 10:30 AM J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building ---------------------------------------------- Agent Scully had been in a daze all morning. Assistant Director Skinner could tell something was up. He also, once again, didn’t know where Agent Mulder was. He called Scully into his office to get some answers. When she left, Skinner still didn’t know what was wrong with her, but he had found out where Agent Mulder was and that he would be back in Washington that afternoon. Scully was preparing to leave work when Mulder finally walked into their office. “Hey, Scully.” He greeted her, smiling. He was about to elaborate on his trip when he noticed that her brow had become wrinkled and that she had pursed her lips together. “Uh-oh, what did I do this time?” He asked, trying to make her smile. She didn’t. He sat down at the desk and watched Scully pick up the stack of tapes and lay them before him on the desk. “These” she said, gesturing at the tapes with her hand, “are surveillance tapes of your apartment.” “What?” Mulder asked, surprised, but remembering the events of a few months earlier. “This one,” she said, picking up the first tape, “is from the night Missy visited you after I was returned. That same night Krychek broke into you apartment. That’s also on the tape. These others contain various other break-ins and phone calls.” After finishing her summary, she picked up the last tape and placed it in the VCR. She once again watched the events of the October night unfold on the screen. The television screen revealed Mulder crying, walking across the room, loading the clip into his weapon with a load click, and finally answered the phone. “Did they give Agent Scully this disease, did they do this to her because of me?” She heard him ask, his voice so desperate. The first time she had seen it, she felt disbelief, which soon changed to amazement, then to sadness, and finally anger. An anger that throbbed through her body, and burned behind her eyes. When she pushed the stop button on the VCR, she just stood there, staring into the blank screen. She could feel Mulder’s eyes boring into her back, waiting for a reaction. “It’s not what you think it is.” He finally said. “I think it is.” She replied coldly, barely above a whisper. “I can explain.” “DON’T!” Her voice rose several decibels, “I don’t want another one of your explanations! I’ve had enough!” She was now facing him. “What? Were you going to take the easy way out and leave me to die of cancer alone?” She was yelling now, too mad to cry. “Did you think you had a hard life, and were going to simply end it in an instant? How could you stoop so low?” Scully rushed to the office door. “Well I didn’t do it did I?” Mulder asked, trying desperately to defend himself. Scully paused, and replied quietly: “You would have.” Mulder could see the searing anger behind her eyes. She walked out of the office and slammed the door, leaving Mulder still trying to tell her that he wouldn’t have. She leaned against the hard wood and shut her eyes. It was then that the tears came, as if they had just broke the dam holding them back. They poured and tumbled out of her eyes and down her pale cheeks, leaving streaks of mascara to mark their paths. What had she done? She slowly realized that the anger she felt was only a smoke screen to cover up her true feelings. She quietly opened the office door. Mulder didn’t see or hear her as she peeked around the door at him. He was slumped over his desk. Scully couldn’t tell if he was crying or not. “Mulder....” Upon hearing her voice, he lifted his head, just in time to reveal a single tear slipping down his cheek. It crushed her to see what she had done to him. Could it be that something she had said had driven him to suicide? Seeing her tear-ravaged face, Mulder instantly knew that she was sorry for her outbreak. “Mulder...I wouldn’t have recovered from my cancer if you hadn’t been there, if you hadn’t found that chip. I owe my life to you. I..I could never live without you, Fox Mulder.” With that, she shut the door once again, leaving her partner slightly bewildered. ---------------------------------------------- Monday, December 22, 1997 7:15 AM J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building ---------------------------------------------- Scully was nervous about seeing Mulder. How had he reacted to what she had said? Maybe she would be lucky enough to find him out in the field that morning. No such luck. She literally bumped into him coming out of Skinner’s office. They said quick apologies and headed for the elevator. An awkward silence passed between them before Mulder asked: “So, what are you doing for Christmas this year Scully?” Glad to talk about something, Scully picked up the subject and quickly replied: “Well, I’m going to my mother’s house. The whole family will be there. Well, most of it at least.” This last part was spoken quietly, and upon hearing it, Mulder put his hand on Scully’s shoulder. He could feel how much she missed her sister, they shared a common bond in this way. “I’m going to my mother’s also. She’s going to have some friends over.” “Well, that’s good, she really needs you there, especially after her stroke.” Scully replied. “Hey, Langly, Byers, and Frohike are coming over for New Year’s Eve. Want to join us?” Mulder asked. Looking at Mulder and slightly rolling her eyes, Scully responded, “I’m afraid to, but I’m not doing anything else, so why not.” “Great! You bring the booze” He smiled jokingly. They were now in the elevator, on their way down to the basement. “Scully, I have a Christmas present for you.” Mulder said suddenly. “You didn’t.” She groaned, “I didn’t get you anything, I didn’t know we were exchanging gifts.” “It’s OK, I don’t want anything.” With this he smiled. God, how could she ever resist his smile. They stepped off the elevator and into the hall. “Close your eyes.” “What?! Mulder I’ll trip with all this junk in the hall.” Scully replied. “Trust me, I’m right here, I won’t let you.” Scully felt his hand go to her back as she closed her eyes. They walked, or stumbled according to Scully, down the hallway and stopped on front of the office door. “All right, open your eyes!” He commanded, gesturing at the office door. At first she didn’t see what she was supposed to be looking at. The she saw, under the name plate on the door that read Fox Mulder, FBI was an identical one that read Dana Scully, FBI. “I remembered that you wanted some recognition back in January, so I decided that it was about time you were acknowledged as half of this team.” Opening the office door he walked toward the desk. Scully was still standing by the door, tracing the letters of her name with her fingers. “I also got this for you.” He continued, holing up a name plate, which also had her name on it, that he had placed on the desk. “Since there wasn’t room for a hers and a his desk, I decided just to call the one desk we do have ours.” Scully smiled. “Mulder, this is the best present you could ever give me. Thank you.” She replied. And after a pause, “Is this a new addition to our office also?” She asked, pointing up at the doorway, smiling wryly at Mulder. “Ya, but for a short time only, so we better take advantage of it.” He answered, starting to walk towards her. Scully had her head down, redness creeping up her cheeks. When she looked up, her eyes met his. On the many occasions when he had observed that her eyes were beautiful, nothing could compare to how they looked at that instant. They were so blue and clear, an aperture revealing her soul. He was immersed in their pulchritude. As she looked into his, usually such dark abysses, she saw a new light in them that she had never seen before. It wasn’t his playful twinkle, but an intense warmth that spilled out into the room. She could feel it as it touched her skin, and felt her skin tingle under his glance. With their eyes still locked, he walked toward her, until they were a couple inches away from each other. She put her hands up, maybe from instinct, to push him away and not let him into her soul. But in that instant, she felt his heartbeat under her palms. And as they leaned toward each other, he realized that the truth he had been searching so desperately for was right in front of him. Their lips touched and interlocked as their souls combined, and they both knew that they had loved each other from the beginning and that nothing would ever separate them as long as they lived. And finally, under the mistletoe, Agent Dana Scully tore down the wall that she had so carefully built around her heart, one she had built to protect herself, and gave in to her deepest emotions.