Title: Faticinus

Title: Faticinus

Author: Jennifer Zoromski AKA Jennis524

Rating: PG13

Summary: The future becomes a part of Mulder's dreams every time he closes his eyes.

Spoilers: Post Within/ Without

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013, and FOX

Author's Note: When I first started this fic I had a completely different intent, but then I saw the premiere and it changed. Enjoy!

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Man's obsession leads to a life unknown to him and his successors. There is a truth that is sought after so desperately that life is not an obstacle. Life is taken with a mere shot there and a bloody battle here. But then when the obsession becomes a life there is so much more a stake.

Man utters "I Want to Believe" and looks towards the sky searching for something that is not there. The same man yells with the mighty power of his lungs, "Trust No One" and he is considered paranoid. The bright light over takes the man and as he is silenced as he utters his last words: "The Truth is Out There."


August 8, 2008
Washington DC

Ten years. A decade. A lifetime for me. The X-Files were closed 10 years ago and she walked out of my life just as quickly and as easily as she walked into it with that young innocent look on her face. After all we had seen, after all she, herself had been through she just walked away from it all. Scully took me up on becoming a doctor while she still could.

She told me to keep in touch, but it hurt me to hear her voice, to see her writing. She moved out to California. At first we'd call each other every day and wrote often, but as the weeks turned to months and the months turned to years we kind of lost touch. The last time I heard from her was five years ago when she became a mother.

After six years of working with her I saw her face so many hard points in her life, but the one that took the cake was when they told her she would not ever be able to bear children. When she phoned almost six years and announced she was pregnant she told me the doctors had misdiagnosed her. Scully had never been barren.

The FBI became so boring. Without Scully by my side and no X-Files being a Federal Agent finally just felt like a plain old 9-5 job. Everything in my life was taken away or it vanished. Scully was my life, but when she left me I didn't go after her. I thought that it must have been fated like that.

Then I got the call three days ago. "Agent Mulder?" Some woman on the other end barely whispered. "Yes," I said.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but a close friend of yours was killed during a drug raid at a hospital in LA," the woman paused for a brief second and I know it was Scully, my Scully. Death had finally caught up with her. This time she had not outsmarted him. "Mr. Mulder are you still there?"

"Yes," I barely replied, swallowing over a lump in my throat. "A woman by the name of Dr. Dana Scully. Does that ring a bell?"

"Yes, it does. We were best friends."

"Mr. Mulder the reason I'm calling is that I am Dana's lawyer and in her will Dana wanted her daughter to live with her mother, but her mother died early last year. The next person on her list was you."

Scully wanted me to take care of her daughter. The child that could have been both of ours if she would have stayed with me. "Would you be willing to become the legal guardian of Samantha Melissa Scully?"

My God! Scully named her daughter after my sister. Did she really miss me that much? "Of course."

"I then need you on the next plane out to LA. Miss Scully's funeral is in two days and we need to get some legal papers out of the way."

"Ma'am is Dana's body going to be flown back to DC where she will be buried on her family plot?" "Yes arrangements have been made. Good day Agent Mulder."

I caught the next flight out to LA. I couldn't believe I was going there to take her daughter home with me. While I was on the plane I remembered Scully the day I met her almost 15 years ago. She walked into my office on an assignment to debunk my work, but she saved me. We went through so much together and our lives became each other and our work, then the X-Files were closed permanently and we started to drift apart.

She wanted to become a doctor and I just let her go. I turned my head as she walked away because I was afraid I'd go walking after her. I fell asleep with the vision of Scully, her blazing red hair, those deep passionate blue eyes and her smile that I rarely ever saw.

"We are now making our decent into LA. Please fasten your seat belts." I awake. We finally landed in LA. The place Scully called home for 10 years.

The lawyer gave me an address to Scully's house. I waved down a cab and was on my way to the rest of my life. As the house came into view it took my breath away. Here house was huge for it being home to only two people.

The huge blue house loomed over me as I got out of the car. There was a white picket fence around the plush green lawn. There were black shutters on all of the windows. A small bunch of bright flowers grew next to the house. It must have been her dream house. Something she must have fantasized about when she was a little girl. She wasn't married, never was. Scully conceived her daughter not out of wedlock, but out of an experiment.

The wide door opens and a somewhat pudgy, stout woman steps out of the door and looks at me gapping at the big house. "You must be Mr. Mulder," she says reaching out to shake my hand.

"Yes," I barely utter. "Samantha is out in the backyard. I think you should meet her."

"I think so too." She leads me around the side of the house and there she sits. The lawyer goes back into the house leaving me in the huge backyard with my ex-partner's child. Scully's daughter is sitting on a swing. She just sits there. Even for a five-year-old she already knows what's going on.

Her blonde hair looks like it is starting to turn red like her mom's. I can only see the back of her head, but from her posture she looks to be just as strong willed as her mom, the woman I loved with all my heart. "I knew you were coming," Scully's daughter says. She sounds so sure of herself. I am quite disturbed at how matter of factly she said it.

"They told me you would come and take me home."

"Who told you?" I barely utter. "Mr. Mulder I hear them in my head." She turns around and looks at me. Her eyes are not blue, but rather a deep hazel like mine. She has her mother's nose, but her lips are strikingly similar to mine.

"Mother talked about you all the time. I could tell she really missed you."

"Do you want to be called Samantha or Sam?"

"I know what's going through you head. You want me to say neither, but rather Scully, so you won't have to say the name of your long lost sister."

"You are one smart little girl." Thoughts went through my head that I knew she could hear. She is so much like me. Could she possibly be my daughter? Did Scully work with someone or something to conceive Samantha? There are so many ghosts re-woken. This child is the key and I know it. She knows it too."

"I wouldn't mind being called Sam, if that is all right with you."

"Of course it is, Sam. You are...I don't know how to explain it. You are so much like your mother, but you're not."

The lawyer walks back into the yard and smiles at us. She must be glad we are bonding. And then I hear her voice in my head. "What shall I call you Mr. Mulder?" She echoes through my head. "This way we can communicate with out people knowing. Do you want to be called Fox or Mulder like mother always called you?"

I tell her to call me Mulder and then our relationship begins. I start to wonder about what I should do. Maybe Scully's daughter was created by the people who created both Emily and Gibson. I thought that those people had disappeared.

I think to myself that maybe Scully's death wasn't a drug raid, but rather they killed her to hide something or something she knew about her daughter.

"Mr. Mulder I'm glad you are bonding well with Samantha. If you'd just come in the house and we can sigh the papers."

Samantha ran up to me, her blonde hair flying back and I smile. I could just see her running in heels like her mom in a couple of years. She jumps into my arms and I carry her back into the house. Then it all goes black.

"SCULLY!" a scream escapes from my throat. She is so close I can hear her voice, but she is so far away. I open my eyes. Bright lights are glaring down into my face. My arms are outspread and my there is no Samantha in my arms.

"Ah, Fox don't you understand?" a raspy voice echoes through my brain, "You are getting further away from Scully. The child is what is to come." His voice tapers away into the nothingness and I drift off again.

"Hi, My name is Agent Dana Scully and I've been assigned to work with you. God, she is young. I smile and I knew that she is out to discredit me, debunk my work. Why do I trust her then? Maybe she is my future. Time flashes by and I remember all the memories we shared. But where they all just a mere set of dreams?

"We will find him. I have to." Scully is crying. Why is Skinner only there? Where am I? "Sir, there's something else I need to tell you. I'm having a hard time believing it or explaining it, but...I'm pregnant."

How is that possible? Scully is barren, but then I hear Samantha's voice in my head. She is not my sister, but rather the child that dwells in Scully's womb.

A spaceship flashes into sight. It is not made out of metal, but of sand and there he is. "The child is the father of the man." My inner child looks at me. I remember when it was all so easy. Whatever happened to that time? His deep hazel eyes burn into mine, passing my heart going straight to my soul. He is warning me, but perhaps he is trying to save me.

There is noise behind me on the beach. A piece of dry driftwood crunches under the pressure of a human being's weight. I turn and see her there just standing. "Sam, what are you doing here?" Her blonde hair had finally turned red and she had aged 15 years.

"You must go back," the young woman said. I could clearly see a resemblance between Scully and Sam as well as Sam and I. The girl stood at least 6 inches taller than Scully. I smile; at least she inherited my height and not my nose.

"Go back where?" "Back to moth... Scully. Don't give up now Mulder. Fight the fight or you will break mother's heart and I might not exist."

"What do you mean? Scully is pregnant so you will exist."

"She is overworking herself and is in severe danger. Her time is coming closer to death. My life won't exist unless you come back and save us." She faded away out of my brain as I once again awoke to the blaring white lights.

I start thinking of all the ways to escape, but the thoughts are so unclear. I hear so many voices in my head, but hers stands out from them all.

"MULDER," she screams my name and I want to comfort her, but someone else does.

"I promise you I will find him."

Scully looks so weak. I need to save her and save 'us' before a different man destroys 'us.' Dreams start coming again, but I see inside a person's head, not Scully's, but that of a child that shall not exist. The child is not Sam, but her child.

The world is in shambles as he looks at his world in despair through a pair of blue eyes. He resembles me more than Scully. All that he knows of is colonization. He never remembers when the world he lives in when it used to be free. He was born into the world that was taken over by a smarter, alien race. A race that controlled his ancestors, but they did not know they were there.

He wears a FBI badge, but takes if off and rips it up. I catch his name before he does tear it up. His name, Fox Mulder. He is me. He walks down the now empty corridors of the FBI building. Fox heads for the basement. He enters the room. There on the wall is the "I WANT TO BELIEVE" poster. It has yellowed with age. The future must be upon us. Everyone is dead. Fox lives his life, but it is just as successful as his namesake's. He dies clinging onto the truth as the aliens overtake his body.

"Mulder, wake up," I open one eye. Skinner is standing there looking down. It must be another dream, but it is so real. My arms feel free, as do my legs. My face is sore from the amount of stretching of the facial skin. Have the dreams finally subsided?

"Agent Mulder, you need to get up and walk. They are coming back for you."

I can feel my legs, but they do not want to move. Scully's voice is in my head urging me to get up and walk. I plant my feet firmly on the ground, but feel so woozy. Skinner's strong arms keep me balanced. What has happened to all of my strength? It feels as though I have been asleep for months. That much time couldn't have passed could it?

We go through tons of cement tunnels. Won't the aliens realize that I am missing? The sunlight hurts my eyes when we exit the dark tunnel, but it is a welcome pain. I thought I'd never see the sunshine again, let alone Skinner.

And then my heart starts beating fast. Scully. I need to see Scully. Skinner sees the urgency in my eyes as he helps me into the car. He hasn't said a word since he took me out of the restraints. Is he afraid if he stops to talk that they will come and find us? We start driving away. I look back and all I see is trees and then everything goes black once again.

"Agent Mulder, wake up," Skinner says. I can still feel the vibration of the car so it is reassures me that this isn't a dream. My gaze goes in his direction, but I am too tired to really care. "Sir?"

"We are now in driving into Maryland. We'll be in DC in a few hours."

"What is it, sir?" I ask in a raspy voice. My throat hurts from the tube they placed down it.

"Agent Mulder you have been gone for eight months."

"Sir, I need to see Scully." Skinner looks at me trying to be as serious as possible, but he cracks a smile. "While you were sleeping Scully called," he stopped a moment, perhaps for emphasis or maybe to make me feel jealous that he got to talk to Scully and I didn't.

"Sir?" "Scully called to say she has been admitted to the hospital."

Panic overcomes all of my emotions. Her cancer must have relapsed, but why was he smiling?

"Why was she admitted to the hospital?" Skinner looked at me as a huge grin engulfs his facial features and he matter-of-factly says, "Scully's water broke."

"Her what?" I look at him. I know the thoughts that are going through my head. The dreams were telling me something. "Scully's pregnant?" I ask still in shock.

"Yes, she has been in labor for 15 hours. She called me when I was driving out here to get you. Scully wanted you back to see the birth of your first child.

I smile. I'm going to be a dad. The child will be a welcome addition to Scully's life as well as mine. The trees roll by as we near the nation's capital. I drift off again, but this time there was no nightmares. I only saw the child that Scully; my Scully was about to give birth to.

I awake the moment we come into DC. I've been away for eight months and I didn't know I missed this town as much as I do. "Mulder while you were gone another person was assigned to help investigate the X-Files," he pauses.

I look at him. "Yeah, I know. His name is John Doggett and he promised Scully that he would find me, bring me home."

"That's exactly right. Scully was so heartbroken. She wanted you to be at her side, not John, but he helped Scully a lot. Not just physically, but mentally. He showed her the light on how to express her feelings."

"Sir, I just want to see Scully." Skinner nods and keeps going. I count the miles, the minutes. It seems like a lifetime. The car pulls in the snow covered lot of Georgetown General. I get out of the car and start walking. My legs are still wobbly, but with each step I am getting closer to Scully.

The front desk looms ahead of me. "Where is Dana Scully?" the nurse looks at me and then looks at her rooster of people in the hospital. She replies, "Ms. Scully is in M42 getting prepped for an emergency c-section. The aren't allowing any visitors."

I look at her in shock. I have gotten so close. I can't just walk away. "I'm the child's father, I'm Dana's partner."

"Sir, there is already a man up there with her." Doggett will see the birth of my child. I won't accept that.

"He is not the baby's father, he is just Dana's friend."

"Sir, I'm sorry," the nurse replies hoarsely. This has gone on long enough. I try to be nice, but it doesn't matter. I might as well just charged up the stairs and got to her room before I confronted this ignorant nurse.

The door is there and a sign points to that door. The sign says that the maternity ward is two floors up. I start walking towards the door ignoring the nurse yelling at me. I've been gone eight months and I'm not going to let a pushy nurse tell me I can't see Scully. Each stair I climb I am getting closer and closer to Scully. I reach the maternity ward. Room 38, 40, 41, the next room is 42. I take a deep breath in and raise my fist to the door and knock. There is commotion on the other side of the door. I am so close to Scully. Only a door separates us now.

Maggie Scully opens the door and gasps. "Fox, oh my God! I can't believe you are here." I smile as she embraces me in a hug. I look over her shoulder and see three doctors around the bed.

A man sits next to the bed looking just as shocked as Mrs. Scully. He is Doggett, I presume.

"Fox, Dana is pregnant and, and..." I look at her, "I know."

I push my way past her and into the room. Scully is on the bed, her eyes are closed and the doctors are starting to wheel her to the operating room. Dogget walks up to me and grasps my hand. "Agent Mulder, I'm finally glad to meet you. Scully's baby is in trouble. It's not coping well with the contractions."

I follow the stretcher down to the operating room. The doctor looks at both of us and sighs, "Which one is the father?" I can barely reply. The doctor supplies me with scrubs and leads me into the cold operating room.

They are putting up a sheet over Scully's stomach. There she is, she is so close to me. I walk over to look at her face and see her beautiful eyes are closed.

I stand there looking at her smooth, creamy face. They begin the surgery and I watch in awe as they cut Scully open. Blood is everywhere, but the sight of it doesn't scare me, it's the amount of blood that I see that twinges at my heart. I watch as they grasp onto the tiny head of my child and pull her free. The little girl the doctor holds in his arms lets out a profound wail announcing her arrival into the world. A nurse hands me a pair of scissors and I severe the connection between Scully and our daughter.

A young nurse hands me my daughter and I experience the warmth of being a parent for the first time. I look down at my child. Her hair is a dark brown, almost black, like mine, but her eyes look like Scully's. I can't believe that I have the privilege of holding Scully's child. I never thought that this child would exist, especially one that had both Scully's genes and mine. The sight of her takes my breath away.

And then I hear it. Beeeeeeep, a machine is signaling the end of Scully's life. I look at one of the nurses in shock as they take my daughter away and usher me into a chair outside the room. The images start coming back into my head. I can't bear to go on with out Scully, but I might have to...

I sit down in the cold blue chair and put my head in my hands. The nurse looks at me and sighs. "Sir, we are trying everything we possibly can to save you wife. She has lost a lot of blood."

My wife. How many times had I pictured Scully as my wife? Thousands of times. The machines started beeping again; her heart was back to its normal 'thump,thump.' A smile starts to form on my lips as the nurse walks back into the room and I hear the doctors talking relieved as they sew Scully back up.

Doggett's shoes echo on the cold tile as he walks towards me and sits. "I am a dad," I say in shock, "7lb, 2 oz. baby girl, 20 inches long. Spitting image of Scully and I combined. She's got her mother's nose thank God, but my lips."

Doggett looks at me with perhaps envy and smiles, "Congratulations. How's Scully?" "I don't know. They made me come out here and sit. There was a lot of blood loss."

"I'm sorry Agent Mulder." I don't know what to say to him. This man has been there for Scully for eight months while I was up in some spaceship. I didn't get to watch Scully grow larger and larger as out child became more and more into existence. I did not get to attend to her every need as it became harder for her to move around. Like she would let me anyway.

I didn't go on pickle or ice cream runs at odd hours of the night. Most of all I just missed being with her, supporting her.

"Agent Doggett, may I ask you one thing?" He looked at me and replied, "Sure," with a slight New York accent. "Could Scully move on?" I wanted to know if she moved on with her life, accepted that she might not ever see me.

"Mulder, I don't think she completely accepted you being gone. Something was holding her back from letting go. She moved on, but I could tell that you were always in her heart and mind. Agent Mulder, she transformed herself into you. Perhaps it was to be closer to you, to understand your very nature."

Scully had become me. I can't believe that. I left her the skeptic she had always been. Sure she had seen things, but she would always try to explain it. I so want to see her, to hold her hand.

The door opens and they wheeled the bed with Scully on it to another room. "Where are they taking her?" I ask as one of the nurses comes walking over by me.

"She made it through surgery, but she slipped into a coma. They are wheeling her to a room." Scully is in a coma. I thought I would be the one in a coma when I returned not her. At that moment they wheel the bassinet with my daughter in it out the door. I stop the nurse and pick up my screaming daughter. She is calmed immediately by my touch, the words I whisper that only she can hear. I sway gently back and forth calming her.

"Sir, would you like to bring the baby to your wife's room?" Doggett looks at me puzzled and I give him a weak smile. I nod. The nurse tells me to follow her down the hall. We come to the room they placed Scully in. Machines are hooked up everywhere to her.

I sit down in a chair and wait. My daughter becomes hungry and a nurse comes in. She takes her to the nursery. I sit there and just stare. The minutes slip into hours as I hold onto her hand, whispering in her ear. "Scully, please wake up. I know where you are. I know it is beautiful, but I need you, your daughter needs you."

I fall asleep with my head lying on the bed. The rest of my body is in a kneeling position. I fall asleep with moist, salty tears running down my face. I feel someone stroking my hair. My eyes open and her blazing blue eyes are looking at me. My body is stiff from falling asleep in this position.

"Mulder, I thought I would never see you again," Scully whispers over the beeping of the monitors, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." As the hours passed we held on to one another, afraid to let go, for fear of losing each other again. A nurse brought in our daughter a short while later. Scully held onto her, gazing down at the tiny child that had only been a resident in her womb a day earlier.

"Mulder, what shall we call her?"

"Faticinus," I reply thinking to myself.

"What kind of name is that?"

"It isn't a name. It is Latin word meaning announcing fate or prophetic. Scully, I could hear your voice in my head. I had dreams that foretold my fate if I did not return. I kept on hearing that word 'faticinus.'

"Her name is going to be Aleta Samantha Mulder. Aleta means truth and Mulder I have found the truth." She looks at me with those big blue eyes and smiles. I saw that smile before, not in the present, but in my dreams. I saw my entire fate in my head and I changed it. Changed my fate. It all becomes clear as the darkness overtakes me.

Faticinus.

THE END