When Worlds Collide

by

Trycee

Time-Line: Present Day, Rural Virginia

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, this is written for fun not profit.

It had been twenty two years since he'd laid eyes on her but he could spot her in a crowd from anyone. Her hair was longer than he'd remembered and he'd noticed that she'd stopped trying to dye her naturally red hair a deeper Clairol red. She wore heels a little higher than he'd remembered but her hips and the shape of her firm round behind could still fit nicely in his hands and her breasts were still as plump as he remembered. Her lips were just as pouty and her eyes were just as heavenly blue and he felt a stirring in his heart and his groin. He was staring at her from across the cafeteria. Twenty Two years and his heart could still skip a beat just looking at her.

For four years Scully avoided Our Lady of Sorrow's Employee and Family Appreciation Day. The year that the FBI dropped charges against Mulder, Scully finally attended shocking all of her fellow doctors, nurses and the nuns by bringing him, dispelling the rumor's that she was a lesbian and causing more than a few office pools to lose heavily that night. They kept to themselves as the entire hospital staff stared and whispered amongst them. And the three years afterwards, they continued to attend but again kept to themselves.

Then after the year 2012, a nervous Doctor Dana Scully along with her beau, the same dark haired handsome man walked in with a teenage boy and the entire cafeteria gaped at them. This young pre-teen boy had her identical face and red hair and some of her beau's features as well as he walked alongside of them. Her eyes darted around the room locking onto Father Ybarra who glared at her. The nuns were all gathered around in a cluster while her fellow doctors shook their heads in disbelief. The nurses though, the nosy nurses suddenly like magnets surrounded them.

"Doctor Scully! You have a son?", one of the nurses said, in a shocked high pitched voice.

"Where's he been all this time?", an older nurse questioned, looking from Mulder to Dana Scully.

William stepped closer to Scully's side and she placed an arm protectively around his shoulder. Ignoring the last question, Scully reached her hand out to Mulder and he squeezed it tightly. "This is our son, William."

They looked from her to Mulder and then down at William.

"It's amazing how much he looks like you both, but especially you, Dr. Scully," one of the women said.

"Man, you are secretive," one of them joked.

She smiled and then glanced over to Mulder. He placed his hand on his spot on her back and then guided his small family away from the women to the table where they sat alone. For the next two years, they were greeted with surprise but everyone knew they valued their privacy. The small family still kept their distance as they always did even when everyone realized that Dr. Dana Scully had married the tall handsome dark haired man without inviting any of them.

The rumor mills were running in overdrive as usual. So they watched them for signs of romance or break-up, which ever way would help them in winning they're bets. Each year the mysterious son returned still looking identical to Dr. Scully. They had theories on why Dr. Scully had never taken her husbands last name and paid more attention to the small family than they did their own families.

So, this year when Dr. Dana Scully came in joined with another teen, they were thrown for another loop. The excitement surrounding them died down when they realized that the girl was in fact, Dr. Scully's sons' girlfriend. William and Joy were in a world of their own as they stared into eachother's eyes, communicating solely within eachother's minds. Joy giggled occasionally and William had a lopsided grin on his face that often caught Scully off guard when she noticed, it was Mulder's smile. He had her face, her red hair, and her identical blue eyes, and her skin-tone as well. He was almost the same height as Mulder and his jawline looked like Mulder's and he had been fortunate to not have inherited Mulder's nose. Scully sighed at the sight of the two of them. They were made for each other.

Joy was a product of The Syndicate's experiments on pregnant women with alien DNA and William was a naturally born human with Alien genetics from Mulder's exposure to the Black Oil and her abductions. They had nearly the same abilities and they had found each other and were in as much love as she was with Mulder. Sensing what she was thinking, Mulder placed a hand on her back and then lowered his head to her ear, "Are they cute or what?"

She turned and smiled up at him. "Adorable," she said.

Mulder walked them over to the line, his hand never leaving her back, guiding her on. William walked in front of his parents holding Joy's hand tightly as the crowds seemed to part and people stared at them but his mind was glued onto the wordless conversation that he and Joy were having. The hospitals cafeterias' doors opened to the fresh Virginia air, where families were sitting and eating at tables. Each year the Annual Employee and Family Appreciation Day seemed to get larger and so for the past year, they'd set the food up in the cafeteria and set the tables out into the green expanse of land that the Catholic hospital sat on.

Mulder was anxious, he could see the long lines in front of him and his stomach was growling. Despite the stares and uncomfortable atmosphere, he dragged Scully and William out kicking and screaming every year just for the vast array of food alone. For Scully, after years of working with Mulder in near isolation and then avoiding all of the social events at Our Lady her years, it wasn't exactly something that Scully saw a need for. It was initially her idea to bring Mulder to the event after the FBI had dropped the charges as a symbol to herself that she was free to bring him to her job or anywhere in public that she wanted. But for past few years it was Mulder who looked forward to what Scully felt was an evening of intrusive stares and fattening foods.

The event was always catered by several local big city restaurants where Our Lady of Sorrow's was located, a small sized city with various restuarants and stores. Mulder and Scully lived an hour away where the only eating establishment was at the local gas station and as Mulder saw it, this event once a year was a way for them to get out of the gas station fried chicken of their small town, and eat something edible without the smell of gas fumes. And so every year, Scully relented.

The line moved and she watched as William and Joy finally broke apart to grab a plate and began filling it. The line had split and Scully glanced over to Mulder across the food filled table from her with a look of bliss on his face as he made quick decisions on what to add to his plate, trying not to overfill it with the same type of foods; Mulder wanted variety and there was tons of choices including desserts and he wanted to pace himself. Scully avoided nearly everything she saw, moving quickly through the line until she approached the salads and filled her plate with the various types of salads. She glanced up and saw a scowl on Mulder's face as he watched her. She couldn't help but smile at him because he had managed to fill two plates of food, one for each hand. She grabbed a drink and a fork and retreated off to the open doors with blinding sunlight until her eyes adjusted. She searched the tables and saw an unoccupied table far in the distance and so she walked slowly toward it, waiting for Mulder or William and Joy to catch up to her.

She could hear Joy giggling behind her and so she smiled knowing that William and Joy were hot on her heels. She walked past her co-workers and she smiled in their direction, greeting them,"Dr. Such and Such. Nurse Such and Such," without slowing down.

Finally, she came to the table she had picked out and sat her plate down full of salad with her drink and pulled out her chair and sitting comfortably down in the plastic chair. William sat directly across from his mother with Joy seated to her left side. Mulder placed both of his plates in front of him triumphantly and pulled up his chair, sitting inches away from Scully, his legs touching hers.

"You eat all of that, Mulder, and you'll have heartburn and probably will gain about twenty pounds," she warned, as she scanned his muscular body."That's enough food on that plate for four men."

"Scully," he said, in a tone she knew meant he would correct her. "If I ate like this everyday, that would be a problem. But, this is once a year. Besides, you make sure I eat enough rabbit food. So, let me enjoy this one day, alright?"

She glanced away and then her eyes settled on her plate. Mulder reached out and touched her chin, turning her in his direction. "Scully," he said, his voice dropping slightly. "I don't mean..."

"I know," she said. "All these years, I know you, Mulder. I don't mean to Mom you."

"Slang, Scully?", he said, surprised.

She smiled and looked up at him, her eyes locking onto his. He leaned over and their lips pressed together. William watched as his parents kissed. He smiled to himself and then dove back down into his plate, inhaling the wingdings, pigs-n-blanket, and mini quiches and whatever else he'd quickly grabbed. He reached out his hand to grab a pizza stick from his dad's second plate and Mulder slapped his hand away. "Don't even try it!", Mulder threatened.

William and Mulder both smiled lopsided smiles at eachother. Mulder relented and dumped some of his treasure onto William's plate and they began scarfing down the remainder. Scully shook her head and winked at Joy, before picking up her fork and eating her salad.

He watched her from a distance. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. She had ended up with HIM. Just as she had left him for HIM. His wife stared at him and then followed the direction of his eyes and then looked back at him. "Who is she?"

He looked down at his three children. "Can mommy and daddy have a minute?"

His three children, two sons and one daughter stood up, eying their parents as they walked slowly away to join the other kids where clowns and outdoor jumping castles with blasting music and kids happy to escape their parents grasps. He turned his attention back to his wife, a woman he had tried to love but who had never lived up to HER.

"Who is she?", her eyes narrowed.

He sighed. "I haven't seen her in twenty two years," he said. "There's nothing to worry about, obviously," he said, reaching out his hand and sliding it into hers.

She squeezed it tightly. "A former girlfriend?"

"A former fiance."

"Dana Scully," she sighed.

He nodded. "She dumped me and this is the first time I have seen her since. I didn't even know she lived out this way or worked here."

"You switched careers along time ago," she said, eying him carefully, looking for signs that he still had any feelings for her. "We just relocated out here, so I'm guessing no this was not something you expected," she said, dryly.

He smiled at his wife and kissed her small hand. "We have three beautiful children. If she hadn't dumped me, I wouldn't have found you," he said, looking into his wife's blue eyes.

She smiled back at him. "I love you."

He repeated what she'd said to him, though in his heart he knew that he loved his wife but not fully, not as much as she deserved. "I love you too."

"So," she said, believing him. "Are you gonna sit there or are you gonna introduce us?"

He glanced around and noticed that their children had returned and he could see the worried looked on their faces. He smiled at them and welcomed them back. "Everything's alright kids."

Relief washed over there faces and they happily joined their parents. "I think we need to go introduce ourselves to Dana Scully. I think she'll be very surprised," he said.

The family picked up there empty plates and tossed them into the garbage cans as they made there way over to the table where Scully along with Joy watched as Mulder and William, had moved on to desserts. Scully watched in amazement as Mulder closed his eyes as he spooned a mouthful of sweet potato pie in his mouth. "Mm mm," he said.

Scully smiled a wide grin that erupted into giggles as she watched him. "How many pieces was that, Mulder?"

"Four or five," he said. "I lost count."

She turned to look back at Joy but then the color drained from her face. She was staring above her head at a man that was staring back at her, his eyes ablaze. The woman next to him had a warm welcoming smile. She had red hair, just like her with eyes just as blue as her own and she was nearly the same height as herself. There was just a slight difference in weight with Meredith having only about twenty pounds more than she did but then again she did eat 'rabbit food' as Mulder put it nearly all the time. Three young children were standing near him. She gasped as she looked at them. They were just as she had imagine children with Ethan would look like when they had been together. The girl had red hair like the mother while the boys had dark hair like his.

"Eh..Ethan?", Scully stumbled, and then glanced quickly to Mulder, locking eyes with him.

Her eyes stared into Mulder's a moment as he stood up straighter and leaned in closer to her, sensing something wasn't right. He placed his hand on the back of her chair and she could feel the warmth and comfort of his body. But, Scully could tell from the ridgeness in his posture that he was wondering just who Ethan was. She turned back to face him. "Ethan Minette, what a surprise," she said, as the shock began to wear off. "It's been..."

"Twenty two years," he said, a little harsh.

His wife turned towards him, her eyes questioning him and then she turned back to the woman who remained seated with her family. She noticed the similarities between herself and Dana Scully, they were striking. She had a sinking feeling that after eighteen years of marriage Ethan hadn't quite gotten over the woman in front of her. It made her heart ache.

Scully reached out her hand to his wife. "I'm Dr. Dana Scully, this is my husband, Fox Mulder."

"You married him?", Ethan said, taking his eyes off Dana and then focusing on Mulder. "You married SPOOKY, Dana?", he said, horrified.

Mulder's jaw tightened as he stared at the unfamiliar face of the man with graying hair around his temples.

"Mulder," Scully said. "Mulder, this is Ethan Minette, my...", she said, licking her lips nervously.

Ethan reached out his hand towards Mulder. "I was her fiance before she ran off on her first case with you!", he said, bitterly.

Mulder glanced down at Scully but she avoided his gaze. "Fiance?"

"Yeah," Ethan said, with a smile. "I was her fiance, until she met Spooky."

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