Who's The Father?
By Trycee
Time-Line: Season 7
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, this is written for fun not profit.
Mulder was sitting at his desk watching the clock, Scully was a few minutes late and it typically made him nervous. She strode in her briefcase in one hand and a stack of mail in the other. She didn't speak but walked straight over to her desk. Mulder watched her slim profile, she was wearing a tight fitting black skirt and black jacket was opened, giving him a glimpse at her cleavage, which made him perk up. He could tell that she was distracted and so his usual, "Hi Scully," was ignored as she sifted through the mail. He waited, watching her closely as he always did, until she stopped and stared at an envelope before her.
"What is it?", he said, standing up and coming over to stand inches from her, so close he could feel her body heat radiating.
"It's addressed to me but with no return address," she said, staring at the brown envelope in her hand.
Mulder handed her a pair of gloves. She snapped them on and Mulder smiled to himself. He snapped on his own gloves as Scully carefully opened the envelope. He could hear her gasp and he looked at her hand holding a photograph. It was a picture of Emily one he had never seen before. Underneath the Polaroid was handwritten in a scribbled script, "Who's the Father?"
Mulder watched as Scully's entire body began to shake as she stared at the photo. He grabbed two evidence bags and placed the envelope in one, maneuvering her hand to drop the envelope into the bag and then doing the same with the photo though her fingers barely released it. She watched as the photo slide down into the plastic bag before Mulder sealed it. He took off his gloves and she did as well, all without saying a word. Mulder turned the envelope over in his hand and noticed some stamped lettering, ' HOME OF THE CAVERS'.
Mulder turned to Scully who was still staring at the photo of her daughter in the evidence bag. "Does, Home of the Cavers, mean anything to you?"
"Yeah," she said, quietly, the first words he'd heard spoken from her since she'd opened the envelope. "It's from my high school, San Diego High School...", she said in disbelief. "Mulder?", she said, her question unspoken.
Mulder reached out and touched her back, his hand resting high up on her ribcage. He looked her in the eyes, he could see tears unshed, fear and shock from wounds that had never healed that were being opened right in front of him and so he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. "Scully, I'm going to find out but I need you to promise me something?"
Her head rested against his chest. "What?", she said, surprised.
"Promise me that you won't shut me out. You won't try to pretend that you're fine. If you need support, you'll come to me. Promise me that you'll let me in," he said.
Scully pulled back to look him in the eye. "I promise."
Mulder stared in the deep blue pools of her eyes for a long moment. "Okay, well, let's go talk to Skinner, we'll need to book the next flight to San Diego. That's if you want to pursue this through the FBI?"
He was still holding her around her ribcage and she stared up into his deep hazel eyes. "Yes, we'll need all the resources we can get."
"Are you up to this? Do you want me to investigate on my own?"
"No, Mulder, I need to know…I've always wondered since it was confirmed that Emily was mine," she said, quietly. "I need to know."
He let his finger skim her cheek. "Okay, but Scully, you're not alone. I'm here too. We'll investigate this together, okay?"
"Okay," she said, pulling away.
Mulder's arms felt empty as he watched her gather her things. He finally turned and walked over to the door. He stood there and waited until she had walked past him, there eyes locking onto each other. He locked the door behind him and followed her into the elevator. He wanted to hold her but he knew that he couldn't, they were closer than ever but hadn't crossed the line yet to move into a physical relationship yet. They were growing comfortable with holding hands, even a peck or two but hadn't made it fully to a sexual relationship and so he had to tread cautiously with her, to only do what she would allow and so he stood next to her, watching as she changed into the stoic Agent Scully.
They waited in the waiting room of Skinner's office until his secretary let them in. They entered, the evidence bags in Mulder's hands as they sat down at Skinner's desk.
"Whats so urgent, agents?", Skinner asked.
"Sir, this was sent to me in the mail this morning," Scully answered, her best FBI tone in place.
"What is it?", Skinner said, giving it a side-ways glance.
"It's a picture of my daughter, Emily," she said, her voice cracking slightly.
Skinner stopped pacing the room to look at Scully and then Mulder. "Who sent this?"
"There's no returned address, " Mulder added. "We have a clue, it's from Scully's high school written on the back," he said, turning the envelope over. "Someone wants us to start there, sir."
Skinner looked at Scully, trying to gauge her. "And I'm assuming you want to persue this through the X-Files, Agent Scully?"
"Yes sir."
"Did you run labs on the envelope and photo?"
"Not…not yet," she stuttered.
"We came right here," Mulder added. "We'll send it to the labs and have a copy mailed out to us at the San Diego office. We need flights out ASAP."
"Keep me informed," he nodded.
"Yes sir, "Mulder answered.
"And Agents," Skinner said as they walked towards the door. "Good luck…"
They both nodded and then walked out, headed to pack for the trip and get on the first flight to San Diego.
SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOl, CA
As they walked up the steps of the high school, Scully stopped and looked around. "Its really changed since I was here."
"Good or bad?", Mulder asked.
"No, just different," she said, walking up the steps.
It was the summer and so there were no students or distractions in the hallway as they made their way to the office. There was only an occasional student leftover from summer school wandering the hall. They came to the office and Scully immediately stopped in her tracks. Behind the desk was a man, much shorter than Mulder, who was missing some of his hair. His glances made him look like the typical nerdy science teacher Mulder would make fun of in high school. But mainly, Mulder's attention was on Scully and her reaction to the man.
"Can I help you?", the man asked.
Scully pulled out her I.D., "Federal Agents, we're here because an envelope was mailed to us,"she said, showing a photo of the envelope to the man.
"You look familiar?", he said, staring at Scully. "Are you Dana? Dana Scully?"
"Yes," she said, glancing at Mulder, wordlessly explaining that she couldn't place his face or name.
Mulder smiled and looked away.
"Do you remember me?", the man asked.
"I'm sorry," Scully said, shaking her head.
"Its me…John Hastings."
"John Hastings?", she said, trying to remember and then it hit her. "Johnny?"
"Yes," he said, walking over to give her a big hug. He squeezed her tightly much to Mulders chagrine.
John released her and then glanced at Mulder. "Sorry, I was her boyfriend in high school. I didn't mean to…"
Scully looked shyly at Mulder and could see the tension in his face and eyes. She reached out and touched his hand and Mulder gripped her's for just a moment. "Ah, John, we're here to investigate an envelope that was mailed to me at the FBI."
"You know what," John said, not hearing a word Scully was saying. "There was a letter mailed here for you. I thought it was a mistake but I held on to it for a few weeks. I don't know why," he said, reaching into the mail cubby and pulling out an envelope addressed to Dana Scully, San Diego High School.
Scully looked at Mulder and he reached into his pocket and pulled out more gloves. They carefully opened the envelope as John Hastings watched them. "It's a list," Scully said, surprised. "A list of names."
"There's no addresses," Mulder stated. "Just names…of men."
Scully closed the envelope and placed it in the open evidence bag Mulder held out for her.
"Am I on that list?", John Hastings asked. "Is that a list of the hearts you've broken," he joked.
Scully smiled and then turned towards Mulder. Mulder said a quick, "Thanks for your help, we'll be in touch," and placed his hand around her waist, ushering her out of the office.
They waited until they were safely in the car before they reopened the envelope. "Mulder, who are these men? And who would create a child with my eggs with the sperm of a man I don't even know."
"I don't know, Scully," he said, touching her hand.
She gripped his hand and held it. "We need resources to find these names."
"How do you feel about all this Scully?"
She looked at him and sighed. "I could pretend that Emily was all me until this point," she said, as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Now with all this, it means that there out there somewhere is a man that is her father. And it hurts…"
Mulder pulled her shoulders close to him so that she would lay her head on this shoulder. "Scully, tell me…"
"We need to find him, find out what he knows. What if any connection he has to me and the experiments," she said, as tears streamed down. "Mulder, I feel helpless…"
Mulder glanced down at Scully. "Why?"
"Most women choose who the father of their child is," she said, looking away. "I didn't choose anything. She was just there and then she was gone forever and all the questions about her life until that point have haunted me all these years. I need to know but I'm scared too."
Mulder placed a soft kiss against her forehead. She glanced up to him and he kissed her lips lightly. "Come on, lets head over to the San Diego office and look these names up…"
"Okay," she said, sitting up and looking back to her high school.
It had been years since she was a young girl traveling up and down the steps. This wasn't the way she expected to return.
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