Therapy referrals and medication suggestions to sheryl_martin@tvo.org
Summary: A soap opera... what did you expect?
Roswell Placeby Sheryl Martin
Episode 1013: Revelations; or CC's heartburn nightmare.
Fox Mulder stared at Dana Scully; his mouth open. "You... you want me?"
"Yes." She growled, motioning at her empty desk. "With or without handcuffs - whichever way you want it." Tossing her scarlet hair back wantonly, she licked her lips. "I've finally come to my senses, Mulder. I've been desperately in love with you for years and denied it to myself and to you. Now it's time to consummate that unrequited lust and love."
The phone rang. Mulder snatched it up, loosening his tie with a grin. "Mulder..."
"Agent Mulder, I need to see you and Scully in my office right away." Assistant Director Walter Skinner snarled.
"Uh..." Mulder looked over at the woman lying prone on her desk, slowly unbuttoning her creamy white blouse and twirling a set of red fuzzy handcuffs around one hand. "I'm in the middle of some... intense research right now..."
"This is very important, Agent Mulder." Skinner yelled. "I've got the answers you've been looking for."
Shocking Mulder out of his trance, the bemused agent sighed. "Yes, sir. We'll be right there." Turning to the half-naked woman, he shrugged. "Sorry... bad timing."
"That's alright." Jumping off the desk, she quickly donned her suit jacket; slipping the cuffs into her pocket and redoing her blouse. "I always fancied a tub of lime jello, myself."
His head spinning, Mulder led the way to the AD's office. Throwing the door open, he strode inside angrily. "Sir, I think that..." His voice trailed off as he spied Cancer Man standing in front of Skinner's desk. "You..." He snarled.
"Mulder..." Scully said quietly behind him. "Let me into the office and we'll shut the door before you fillet him."
Stomping to stand in front of the older man, Mulder stared into the Marlboro-smoking fiend. "What the hell do you want?"
Taking a long drag on the cigarette dangling from his mouth, Cancer Man smiled. "I want to give you some answers." He paused. "For a price."
"What could you offer me?" Mulder yelled.
"Your sister." He said quietly. "But, if you're not interested..."
"No, wait!" Mulder looked at Scully. "I need to find Samantha before we can go anywhere with our relationship." He turned back to the man. "Where is she?"
Skinner cleared his throat. "Mulder... it's me."
"Pardon?"
"I'm Samantha." He spread his arms wide. "See, they did some experiments with me while I was on the operating table; like Scully." Skinner looked down at himself. "Well, not exactly like Scully."
"But you're older! And you went to Nam!" Mulder screamed.
"Memory implants. And I aged due to the time spent in the special chambers. They wanted me to come back and take a high position in the Bureau to keep an eye on you. My younger brother." Skinner sighed. "I know this might be a bit difficult, Fox... but I've always wanted to finish that game of Stratego. And order you around." He smiled.
Cancer Man grinned. "And now for your answers; I need you to kill someone."
Mulder spun around. "What? I have to kill someone because you want me to?"
"No, because you will want to." He said, blowing a smoke ring into the air. "Because when you find the truth, you won't like it."
"And what do I owe you? You're the bastard who took Sam in the first place..."
Cancer Man sighed. "Mulder... I'm her father. It hurt me the most to hand her over to those monsters."
Scully put a hand on Mulder's arm. "Then you're..."
"Yes." He looked deep into Mulder's face. "Fox, I am your father."
With a hoarse yell Mulder pulled free of Scully's reassuring grip, reaching back to slug Cancer Man in the stomach. As the older man reeled back; leaning on the edge of the desk for support, Skinner raced around to block any more blows.
"Fox, don't do this. It wasn't his fault." He said. "He was told that he had to give me up instead of you due to the Boss's plans."
"The Boss?"
"The one who rules the Consortium. The one who's been running us all for years; making us twitch and dance to this tune and that." He helped Cancer Man to a chair. "That's who you have to kill."
Mulder's face was red with rage. "Who is it? Who is this monster who has ruined my life?"
Skinner looked up. "I can't tell you that. You'll have to get that information on your own - but we can tell you that the Lone Gunmen know."
"How do you know about them?" Mulder asked.
"We run them. They're highly placed Men In Black..." Cancer Man rasped; getting his breath back as he relit his cigarette. "Figured they'd be the most likely to attract suspicious people who might prove dangerous in the long run." He took a deep drag on the butt. "Mulder, save me from the man I've become. Kill the Boss and come back to me and Samantha and your mother and we'll be one happy family again." He paused. "And you can get on with your relationship with Scully here..."
Turning abruptly on his heel, Mulder ran from the room; Scully close behind.
Bursting into the small office that served as the headquarters of the Lone Gunmen; he came face to face with a grinning Byers; neatly dressed as ever. Quickly raising his gun, he winced as the man grabbed it easily out of his hand.
"You lied to me! I thought you were my friends!" He roared, noting that Scully had her pistol out and ready.
"We are, Mulder." Byers said with a smile. "In fact, we've been your friends all along." He motioned to Langly who inserted a tape into the VCR and punched the power button. The image flew up on the screen; of a dark-haired lanky man and a redhead in a car on a highway; eagerly disrobing each other amid the raging thunderstorm overhead.
"What the..." Scully's voice trailed off as she recognised a younger Mulder and Scully. "That's us! In the car..."
"On our first case..." Mulder looked at her blankly. "The six minutes. The time we lost..."
Frohike tapped the screen. "See, we were watching you all along. And during that short time you were relieved of all mental inhibitions." Scratching his nose, he looked at the redhead on the tape. "I kinda like the part where you..."
Slamming her hand down on the VCR; Scully pulled the tape out and waved it at the trio. "You knew? We had a brief... meeting all those years ago and you knew?"
Byers shrugged. "It was part of the plan. That if we removed your inhibitions that you'd get together. Of course, the fact that you forgot as soon as you woke up wasn't part of it. We thought that you'd remember and continue your relationship; thereby disabling your search for Samantha."
"Who decided this?" Mulder yelled.
"The Boss." The three men chorused.
"And who the hell is that?" Scully screamed.
Langly walked to the far door. "Through this door... We were told to wait for you and to let you through after telling you about the tape." Taking off his glasses, he smiled. "Call that one the XXX Files, we do..."
Stomping past him, Mulder threw the door open with rage; prepared to meet the fiend who had abducted his sister; aged and given her a sex-change; made his father hunt him down and try to kill him; give him friends who were secretly spying on him; and who had made Scully and him get it on so many years ago... and he didn't even remember it!
"You!" He yelled. Behind him, Scully gasped.
"Yes, Fox..." Margaret Scully stood up from behind the desk, her hands clasped behind her back. "I've been waiting for you..."
End of Episode 1013...
referrals appreciated for proper analysis and therapy...
;-)
***********If you don't believe in dragons, It is curiously trueThat the dragons you disparageChoose to not believe in you.- Jack Prelutsky, "The Dragons Are Singing Tonight"