Title: Different Way
Authors: Alessandra aka Mrs Spooky Mulder beta'd by Trixfan
Spoilers: The Blessing Way
Keywords: MSR, angst, family
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appear in this story. They are the propriety of Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen and 20th Century Fox.
A/N: This is a different ending to the episode "The Blessing Way". I always hated Melissa Scully's death as she's one of my favourite recurring characters. I didn't think it fair for her to die so I rewrote part of the episode.
Summary: What would happen if Mulder came to Scully's apartment instead of going to his? Would he have found Melissa's body on the floor? Would she have survived or not?
Different Way
by
Mrs Spooky Mulder
DANA SCULLY APARTMENT
GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON D.C.
Fox Mulder walked down the corridor to the Scully's home. He needed to see if her, a feeling of impending doom descending. Recognising the train of thought, he heard a gunshot coming from the direction of her apartment. Jogging to her door, Mulder found it unlocked. His heart pounded with fear, he burst in, gun at the ready, only to see a red headed woman lying in a pool of blood on Scully's floor.
What have I done, he thought, not recognizing the woman immediately. Fearing this could be Scully, he approached the unmoving body carefully. Kneeling beside her, Mulder placed the woman's bloody head on his upper thigh. Even with the lack of light, one look and he'd recognised the figure. Taller, more slender than Scully, she shared many of the same features. Why her, a crystal from her necklace attracted his attention, confirming the identification.
"Melissa!" He called, shaking her shoulder in the hopes of a response.
He quickly and gently placed Missy's head on his rolled up jacket. Running to the phone, Mulder dialled 911, thankful he'd been in Scully apartment so many times before. He knew the layout almost as well as his own home. Finishing the conversation with the emergency services, he hesitated before making the call to his partner.
"Scully" a familiar voice answered.
"Scully it's me" he said.
"Mulder?" her voice sounded surprised. Last night's dream allowing Scully the belief her partner might not be dead. "Where are you?"
He took a deep breath, "I'm at your place. Can you get here as fast as you can?"
"Mulder, what's wrong?" Scully sounded worried. She'd left the building only five minutes earlier. The death threat from the well-manicured man still rang in her ears. Scully didn't want to subject any member of her family to danger. Now in the car with Skinner driving, she hadn't managed to catch Missy in the hopes of stoping her from coming over.
"Missy's been shot," he tried to be as gentle as possible with the news given the bond between sister's.
Scully forced Skinner to stop the car by pulling her weapon from her handbag. With her knees shaking uncontrollably at the news, she realised he couldn't have been sent to kill her. "Missy?" she said not quite believing what she'd heard. The sound of an ambulance rushing to the scene came closer over the open line. As the seconds ticked by and Mulder's tone tried to tell her what he'd found, Scully heard a team of paramedics hurrying into the apartment.
"I'm on my way back now," she informed her partner, closed the phone and turned to Skinner to explain what had just occurred.
NORTHEAST GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER;
WASHINGTON, D.C.
As Dana Scully jogged down the hospital hallway towards the ICU, memories flooded back. Less than a year ago she'd been an inmate of the Georgetown Medical Centre. At the time, she'd valiantly fought for her life and won the battle. Now her sister lay on a hospital bed between life and death with a bullet wound to her head intended for her.
"Scully!" Mulder called as she approached his position.
Turning towards the voice, Dana noticed her partner sitting in one of the chairs of the operating theatre waiting room. "Where is she?" Scully demanded, "Where's my sister."
"Missy's just gone into surgery," Mulder said in a sad tone, trying to keep her in the shadows and away from prying eyes.
Sitting down next to him, Scully asked, "what happened?"
"I missed my father's funeral, hiding out at his Vineyard house, when I got a bad feeling. Going through Dad's basement, I found some documents. I wanted to wait for Mom but something kept telling me to return to D.C. and you. I needed to know you were safe. I heard a gunshot. It came from your apartment," stopping to take a deep breath, Mulder's fear for his partner shone in his hazel eyes. "I ran inside and saw her on the floor. At first I thought it was you. Then I noticed the crystal pendant around Melissa's throat. It's the same one she used when you were in a coma," he finished. Mulder held up the crystal he clenched in his left hand.
Scully knew he'd blame himself for this event. Mulder's guilt knew no bounds. He's blame himself for not getting to her apartment in time to save Missy. "This is not your fault," Scully stated, touching his left hand and taking the pendent.
He shook his head "Yes it is. How many people have to die for my quest?"
"I need to call my mother," Scully stated, giving Mulder's arm a gentle squeeze. Nothing she could say at this moment in time would stop Fox William Mulder's self-flagellation.
MARGARET SCULLY RESIDENCE
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Margaret Scully awoke from a nightmare to the sound of the ringing instrument. She thanked god for the interruption, waking her from the terrible dream. She'd seen Melissa lying in a pool of blood in a dark room. Two men stood over her body, guns drawn and aiming at her defenceless daughter.
Rubbing her eyes, Maggie picked up the phone with a sleepy greeting.
"Mom it's me, Dana," Scully said, a catch in her tone warning Mrs Scully of bad news.
Maggie sat up on the bed. "Dana, what's wrong?"
She could hear her daughter's quite sobs. "Mom...its Missy," she finally managed.
Maggie heart skipped a beat, the images from her nightmare running through her mind. "What's wrong with her?" Margaret sounded desperate.
"She's been shot," Scully quickly wiped away the tears flowing down her cheeks.
Somewhat prepared for the news, Maggie still burst into uncontrollably sobs. "Where is she?"
"Georgetown Medical Centre," she stated, "in surgery at the moment."
Maggie promised to be there as soon as she could.
GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER;
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Maggie spotted her daughter in the waiting room. Remembering herself waiting there not so long ago, she sat with Missy, praying for Dana to recover. Mulder's bloody T-shirt turned Margaret Scully mind to the reason for this visit. Holding Missy's crystal clenched in his left hand, Mulder immediately stood when he saw Mrs Scully approaching them.
"Mom," Scully greeted, taking her mother into a crushing embrace.
"How is she?" Maggie whispered to her daughter.
"Missy's lost a lot of blood from the wound," Scully said as a sob took over her, "the doctors haven't been out yet. I managed to talk to the Emergency Room physician. He thought her skull had been shattered causing a subdural haematoma and some brain swelling. It's not as bad as it sounds because the bullet wound has given Missy's brain room to swell."
"You're saying she make a full recovery?" Maggie's eyes pleaded for a positive response.
"It's possible," Scully didn't want to give false hope.
Releasing Dana, Maggie went to Mulder. "Fox," she greeted him as one of the family, embracing him.
"I'm sorry," he said as he hugged her back.
"I need to tell you something," Maggie requested of the man in her hold. Scully raised her eyebrows at her mother, who told Dana, "with Fox, in private."
"I'll go and get coffee," Scully headed to the hospital cafeteria, intregued.
"Fox," Maggie started, "I had a dream tonight." Mulder nodded, requesting she continue, "I dreamt of Melissa being in a pool of blood."
"I found her that way," he stated softly.
Maggie closed her eyes, holding back the tears. "I dreamt two men shot her," Maggie attempted to hold back a sob. It escaped her throat anyway.
Mulder watched Maggie as she started crying. "Did you manage to see the men's faces?" he asked.
"Yes, a Hispanic man and another who looked Russian. He had dark brown, nearly black hair and green eyes. I remember the Hispanic man shooting Melissa while the other one watched," she described.
Mulder's mind started to run a hundred pictures of dark haired men with green eyes. His own orbs grew wide when the image of Kryceh crossed his brain. He fit perfectly with the man from Maggie's dream.
Meanwhile, Scully came back with three coffees. Seeing the distant look in Mulder's unfocused gaze, she passed him the coffee. So lost in his thoughts, he didn't see her to thank her. Asking Maggie what they spoke about, her mother shrugged and looked away.
"I believe Krycek could be involved," he stated suddenly, gaining both woman's attention.
"What?" Scully asked surprised.
"Your mother dreamt about Melissa being shot and she described them to me. I'm convinced one of them matches Krycek's description," he explained.
"But it was only a dream," she's incredulity shone through words as she shook her head. "It can't be."
"He killed my father, you think he can't kill Melissa too?" demanded Mulder as she looked at Scully.
She sighed, taking a sip of coffee. Thinking of Krycek, entering her apartment, watching his companion as he shot Melissa and leaving her in a pool of her blood, played with her head. Yet Scully could believe it. As they waited, mostly in silence to hear about Missy's condition, Scully found herself thinking the impossible situation more and more crediable.
GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER;
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MELISSA SCULLY'S ROOM
THREE DAYS LATER
3.00 PM
Scully sat next to her sister's bedside. Earlier this morning her blood pressure rose to a dangerous level. The monitor they'd implanted in her brain to sense her intracranial pressure, began to slowly increase. It almost reached critical levels. Using last line mediations they'd attempted to bring it down, Missy hadn't yet responded. Melissa's life hung in the balance.
"Missy it's me, Dana. I just want you to know that I'm here for you and that I..." interrupted by a sob escaping her throat, Scully continued bravely, "that I need you to hold on. I'm sorry, Missy. I never meant for you to be in danger or to be hurt...I want you to know that I love you, " she lamented, tears flowing down her cheeks.
GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER;
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MELISSA SCULLY'S ROOM
6.00 PM
Mulder entered the room with a bouquet of flowers. Intended for Scully while she kept the bedside vigil now she had access to her sister, because he knew she loved them. Still beating himself up, Mulder considered this his fault. This quest for the truth, it'd caused Scully and her family so much pain.
Scully turned, noticing Mulder standing in the door. Not bothering to wipe away the tears, she trusted him enough to witness her anguish. Scully could only guess the feelings Missy's empty bed invoked in her partner. Dana saw the moment his heart broke. He thought her sister dead.
"Her blood pressure started to rise earlier today. Three hours ago Missy's brain began to swell. It seems the damage might be worse than they first thought. She's in surgery again," Scully paused, "we almost lost her, Mulder," she finished, hearing Mulder's sigh of relief. "My sister nearly died for me. I've tried to tell her I was sorry. I don't want her to die without knowing how sorry I am this happened to her," Scully's eyes started to well up with tears.
"She knows, Scully," Mulder assured her, placing an arm round her shoulders and letting Dana's head rest over his heart, "Melissa knows. "
"They transferred her in another room. After surgery Missy needs to be closer to the nurses' station, in the open area," Scully explained, "and she won't be allowed visitors until she stabilizes."
"She'll be fine, Dana," Mulder whispered into her ear.
She slowly raised her head to look into his saw honesty in his beautiful hazel eyes and she knew he really meant couldn't help herself when he lowered his head to kiss knew it was against the Bureau policy but she wanted to do this from the moment she walked into his office and saw him wearing that reading glasses.
He expected her to protest,maybe to even smack him over the face and tell him to get out but she wasn't took the opportunity to kiss her even if he knew maybe they will never talk about that lips met hers,those red cherry lips he longed to kiss from the first time he saw lips were soft and warm against his,it was a chaste kiss but it meant a lot for both of he pulled away,he was still expecting to get a second shot from her after what he just did but there was no sign of regret in her laid back her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
MELISSA SCULLY'S ROOM
TWO WEEK LATER
6.30 AM
Melissa slowly opened her eyes. Not for the first time, but this time she managed to keep her focus on the sun light cascading into the private hospital room. A sharp pain lanced across her brown, forcing her to slowly raise a hand to touch her head. The texture of the bandages encompassed most of her cranium.
"What..." she muttered. Feeling the plastic in her nostrils, Missy began to understand her surrounding represented a hospital room. "Perfect..." she turned her head as much as the pain allowed her, to see Dana sleeping with the head on the bed edge.
After her surgery, Missy had been listed as critical for another five terrifying days. Her doctors refused to give the Scully family hope until they brought Melissa out of her induced coma. Visitors had been restricted to direct family only. Maggie, as the next of kin, somehow managed to have Mulder included in that number. The nursing staff assumed Dana's partner meant more than in a professional sense.
Upon waking fourteen hours after the anaesthesia wore off, Missy continued to breathe on her own. Slowly she began to respond to stimulation. After another twenty four hours without a relapse, Melissa Scully had been transferred to a neurological ward to continue her recovery.
Falling asleep sitting in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs beside Missy's bed, Dana's head rested on the edge of the bed. Both Scully slow breath and the heart monitor the only sounds in the room. Brushing a strand of hair away from Scully's eyes, Missy watched her sister's eye's open. Surprised at her sister looking back at her, Scully's hand reached.
"Missy!" she cried.
Melissa's puzzled look gained a smile from Scully, "are you O.K., Dana?"
"I'm going to get Mom," she stormed out of the room. Maggie and Mulder jumped to their feet at Scully's hurried approach. "Missy's woken up," she smiled gleefully, "she spoke a full sentence to me. You go in and see her, Mom, I'll get the doctor."
Mulder sighed in relief. With Melissa's full return to the land of the living, he knew Scully could begin to recover from this shock. Placing a gentle hand Maggie's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, demonstrating his pleasure at this outcome as Scully stormed down the corridor to find Missy's physician.
"I think I should go now," Mulder stated.
"Nonsense, Fox," Maggie cut him off before he had time to leave. "You have something to give to Melissa," she added, reminding Mulder about the crystal he kept.
He opened his mouth to protest but Maggie gave him one of the dangerous Scully looks. Now I know where Dana got those looks, he thought. Nodding, he suggested Margaret got into Melissa's room. The heavy crystal remained in Scully's pocket where he'd placed in the day they'd returned from exile.
"I was in a coma two weeks?" he heard Melissa's voice from the doorway. They'd explained this before. Due to Missy's condition she hadn't been able to process the information until now.
"Yes," Maggie said, "you suffered brain trauma. Two men shot you in Dana's apartment."
Looking up, Melissa saw Scully standing in the doorway with Mulder. "Your back, Dana," Missy didn't understand the compassion in her sisters gaze. Then looked directly at Mulder, adding with a smile, "hi, Fox...Sorry, I mean Mulder."
Mulder walked to her bedside. "It's nice to see you again, Melissa," he smiled looking at Scully. Handing him Missy's necklace, Mulder approached the bed. "I think this is yours," he said.
"Thanks, but..." Melissa looked at the stone, giving it back to him, "I believe it's meant for you." Mulder raised his eyebrows asking why. "From what I remember, you saved my life," she continued.
"I didn't save your life Melissa I just-" he tried to change her opinion but she held a hand in the air.
"Yes, you were," Missy stated, "if you hadn't returned to Dana's apartment and found me, the paramedics would have arrived too late. Consider it a good luck charm. I have others at home."
He looked at Scully and she gave him a don't contradict her, I'm just happy to have my sister back look.
"Thank you, Melissa," Mulder said as she passed him back the crystal.
"Call me Missy," she replied with a smile.
He nodded, saying, "I really have to go now."
"Skinner would kill you if you're late for the meeting," Scully agreed.
Mulder gave Maggie a hug and she returned happily. Taking Scully in his arms, he kissed the top of her head. Smiling she watched him leave. The haunted look caused by Missy's injury disappeared.
"After telling me you'd lost someone very important to you," Missy demanded, "you're not going to say he just a colleague. Besides," she tried to keep a straight face, "that crystal is used when we need some help to find a new path, a new approach, or in any quest to gain that which we desire but do not yet possess way, and to transform a part of your life to a more desirable state."
THE END