Author: M & S Shipper
Contact: mulderandscully@start.com.au
Rating: R
Spoilers: Nothing recent.
Disclaimer: Don't own them, never claimed to. They remain the property of Chris
carter, 1013 and fox.
Summary: Scully and Mulder have found a portal to a place where time and space
are no longer constant.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.21am
11.15am
"Wake up Scully." He said, gently nudging her shoulder.
It took a few seconds to blink away the spots before her eyes and come into full consciousness. Waking up like this always left her disoriented and feeling like crap. How Mulder managed to survive on a maximum of 4 hours sleep each night was beyond her.
"Where are we?" She said, rubbing her eyes and stretching.
"Ohio."
"Mulder! We're halfway across the country."
"And you slept through all of it." He said playfully.
"Well I was tired, and someone ripped me from my sleep in the middle of the night." She was trying to hold back the irritation she was feeling by masking her words with sarcasm.
"Oh, do you have a boyfriend you haven't told me about?" He wasn't getting the message and persisted in teasing her.
"It was you that woke me up in the middle of the night!"
"No Scully, I believe the correct phrase is in the 'wee hours of the morning'." With that he was out of the car and heading towards the trunk. Scully scrambled out of her seatbelt and met him halfway, with an inquisitive glare.
"So are you going to tell me what we're we doing here?" she said, gesturing to the open spaces all around except for a tiny little motor inn.
"We're visiting Professor John Masterson, well ex professor
actually, he hasn't taught in well over 5 years now."
"And why is that?" She said, already expecting him to be some crackpot who was thrown out of the university because of some horrible experiments he was conducting.
"He's retired and moved out into the countryside."
"Oh." She said trying to mask her surprise.
"Have a read of this, while I get us checked in." He tossed her a familiar looking FBI red and white folder before striding toward the reception.
'Case number 194-343-099.' She read. Flipping through the preliminary background check on the professor, she noticed it was impeccable. His teaching career was without incident and he was credited with many favourable journal entries on the merit of his hypotheses. She continued on until she found something of interest. He had worked a few semesters as part of a teacher exchange in Oxford.
Scully looked up towards the reception, where Mulder was still checking in. Though not usually guided by gut feelings, Scully instantly knew there was something personal about this case. The fact that this man had taught at the same school Mulder once attended was too much of a coincidence. She returned her attention to the report.
It had a detailed account of the experiences of the professor had had over the last year. The first page showed a detailed map of his property, indicating a series of underground tunnels and shafts. It was hand drawn and had been erased in many places, like maybe the landscape had changed somewhat. Then he began to describe his experiences. He had entered the caves on a few occasions only to be missing for weeks at a time. He told of a different time and place being at the end of each of the tunnels.
Scully stopped there for a moment. This man was definitely insane. The only constants in the universe are time and space – they are universal invariants – but they were also the two things sadly lacking in his account of events.
He had obviously been very thorough though, recording everything as he went along. At least that part of his scientific mind was still in tact. The professor had retired from teaching but had obviously not retired from science. She smiled at this, imagining what she and Mulder would be like once they retired.
Where had that come from, she thought. It shocked her that when she looked ahead she imagined their future intertwined, but even scarier was the fact she had envisaged them together as an old married couple.
Mulder brought her out of her little fantasy.
"What were you smiling at?" he asked. When she made no move to reply he let it go. "Here's your key, just settle in, we'll get lunch, then go out to see the professor."
"Your professor." She asked, testing her theory.
"Nothing slips by you does it Scully." His expression was priceless, he looked like a small child who was sprung stealing a cookie.
"I miss nothing." She said laughing.
"Oh, can I use your phone for a sec?" He said nonchalantly.
"Where's yours?"
"In the car, I won't be long." She handed him over the phone, taking his keys and proceeding to the trunk to retrieve her stuff. It only took Mulder a second to remove a circuit from the inside of her phone crush it before placing it back inside again.
"Scully, it's not working." He said moving towards the car, pressing every button he could find to make his attempts at fixing it look genuine.
"What did you do to it?" She said, grabbing it back.
"Nothing" His arms raised up in an I-didn't-do-it type action. After pressing a few buttons, she pulled the battery off and noticed the circuit was broken.
"Damn, I must have dropped it somewhere, you'll just have to use your own."
"Thanks anyway." He said without looking at her, then proceeded to grab his bags and make his way toward the building. "I'll meet you at 12 for lunch."
She was confused for a second now, he had needed to use her phone quite urgently but when it had been broken he made no attempt to retrieve his own phone. Was it suddenly not urgent anymore? She was puzzled, but decided against pursuing it, there was sure to be a logical explanation.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 noon
Scully saw Mulder already seated in a booth by the window, he stuck out like a sore thumb. This place must double as some kind of road-stop for truckers she mused. Its décor was old and drab, and apart from a few regulars the place looked pretty much deserted.
"Scully, I ordered steak and chips for you, I'm told they're to die for."
"Great." She said feigning enthusiasm. She was starved but that would never be her choice of meal.
"So what are your thoughts on the case?" He said, already anticipating her reaction. Maybe coming to a public place was a good idea, she would be less likely to make a scene.
Scully was about to reply but was cut off by Mulders phone ringing. He looked down at the display and turned it off without answering.
"Who was that?"
"Nobody. Now, I've organised to meet the professor this afternoon. He's got some miners hats and gear for us to have a look around in these tunnels."
"Mulder, this doesn't sound like the usual thing Skinner would assign us too." She said, doubting the merits of the case.
"No, I had to beg for this one. I guess to anyone else this would sound like some crackpot professor who's finally fallen off the deep end, but I know this guy. He professional, analytical, sceptical, he's. . . well. . . . you." He finished finally.
He studied her expression for a moment, she was obviously trying to come up with a nice way of saying this was probably going to end up a wild goose chase, so he beat her to it.
"Look, I know how this sounds Scully. Just come out, meet him and you'll see how credible he is."
Once again her response was interrupted as the waitress returned with one steak and chips and a chicken salad. She looked from her plate up to Mulder, he was smirking at his own joke. She couldn't help but laugh.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2.26pm
The car made it's way around the final of many dusty hills. There was very little in this area to speak of, it was quite dry for this time of year actually, Mulder noted. He chanced a look at his partner beside him. Her arms were securely folded against her chest, the look of boredom unmistakable.
"Almost there Scully. You'll see their house once we round this next corner."
The car meandered along the untarred road, avoiding the larger divots and rocks in its path. This was obviously the road less travelled. A cute little cottage came into view, he heard Scully's intake of breath as they came closer.
"It's beautiful Mulder. Who would have guessed such a cute little house would be hidden away like this."
"This is what they wanted, a place to retire to, together, in peace, with only the company of one another. They really are a lovely couple, you'll like them Scully."
The car pulled to a complete stop and the two agents got out. An older couple were already waiting on the porch for them with large smiles on their faces. It's hard to sneak up on someone at this house, the road is in full view for miles and there is no passing traffic, just one road in and one road out.
Scully noted the woman was wearing an apron with flour dusted across it in many places, she must be in the process of baking, Scully thought. Her hair was grey and pulled back into a tight bun. She was not a petite woman, probably due to the amount of baking she did, but she had a friendly face that beamed at the pair. Scully's already liked her.
The gentleman was dressed in farming clothes, a flannel shirt under his denim bib and brace. His hair was streaked with grey, and he had a smile was just as wide as his wife's, maybe more so.
Scully began to extend her hand to the woman, when she was pulled into a tight hug. Not quite sure how she should react, she awkwardly hugged her back. Professor Masterson was just as energetic with his handshake and patting of Mulders back. They looked like father and son rather than Student and teacher. It warmed Scully's heart to know there may be someone to fill that void for Mulder. Even as an adult you still need your parents.
"It's so great to so you again fox," the Woman said, embracing Mulder quickly, "and you must be Dana, Fox has told me all about you, I'm Mary and this is my Husband John."
"It's a pleasure." She said extending her arm out to the professor.
"The pleasure's all mine. Wow fox, you said she was pretty, but how do you get any work done." Scully blushed for the first time in. . . well it was a long time anyway. Not only had she just been complemented on her looks, quite a rare event, but Mulder had inadvertently complemented her too.
The second John had opened his mouth Mulder grimaced, after telling them so much about Scully, he knew something was going to slip out. At first he was too embarrassed to meet her gaze but curiosity over her reaction won out. He stole a quick look as they were heading inside. Was that a blush still colouring her cheeks? He wasn't sure but her grin was unmistakable. If he'd known how favourably she reacted to compliments he would have made some years ago. Mulder always thought anything like that would end up in a long debate over Women's equality or as a worst-case scenario, sexual harassment charges.
"You have a beautiful house here Mary." Scully noted, her eyes taking in everything in the quaint timber cottage.
"It's been in my family for generations, and the house itself is over 100 years old. I was born here you know. I'll show you around if you like."
"That would be lovely." Scully said, trailing off behind her.
Mulder sat on the couch with John and began the long task of catching up. No matter how hard he tried though, the conversation always returned to Scully, until finally John asked the question that had been plaguing him since the pair walked in.
"So, Is there someone special in your life?" He said, raising his eyebrows suggestively, and gesturing to where he assumed Scully was.
She was no longer looking at the house though but standing in the doorway.
"Scully!" Mulder said avoiding Johns question. "What did you think of the house?"
He was being far to enthusiastic, Scully thought, probably trying to hide his discomfort over Johns question. She smiled brightly entering the room, deciding to pretend she'd never heard it.
"Oh, It's lovely, it really is."
"You two should have stayed with us, we have plenty of room, and you know you're always welcome. It's not to late."
"Thanks Mary but we've already checked in. We didn't want to be a burden."
"Nonsense, it's wonderful to see you again, if you won't stay with us then you must stay for dinner."
"Sounds great, it's been a while since I've had a home cooked meal." Mary hurried off to get the meal started while Scully, Mulder and John sat down to discuss the case.
"Ok, do you want to start by going through one of your experiences in the cave from start to finish."
"All right. It's kind of hard to explain though, so bear with me. Actually the only way to know exactly what I'm saying is too see for yourself. Why don't you come down with me and I'll walk you through step by step."
"Sure." They both replied at the same time.
- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.30pm
It was quite a walk from the house to the caves. John indicated along the way where he'd been planting some seeds. He said that his dog became quite spooked and ran off. John had chased him for quite a while calling and calling for the dog to come back but the dog kept on running right up into the caves.
John said he knew the caves were there but had never been inside before, there were so many he thought he'd get lost. The dog would certainly not find his way out without help, so John went in after him.
He stopped telling his story once he arrived at a large entrance into the mountain.
"My goodness Mulder, these are massive, I didn't realise how large they all were." Scully said peering into the darkness.
"I know they stretch right through to the other side of the mountain." he paused for a moment "You can go in a little bit if you like, nothing should happen if you keep sight of this entrance, and come back through it, I'll wait out here for you though."
The two began to slowly move inside. The change in temperature was instant and dramatic. It was definitely eerie in here, Scully thought to herself, as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. It must have been almost at freezing point in there. The sleeveless shirt and jacket Scully wore, were of no help, and wearing a skirt was definitely a bad decision.
"It's really cold in here. I can't even begin to imagine what could have created such large caves." Scully said in wonder.
"I can." Mulder stated confidently, obviously excited. How did she know he would find an explanation. "A force much larger than man that's for sure."
"What like nature?" She asked hopefully.
"No like aliens." He said seriously.
"Mulder, come on, you don't really believe his story do you. He's getting old, maybe his mind isn't what it used to be. These are just caves. Bloody cold caves, but caves nonetheless. That's a far more rational explanation than aliens creating large caverns with portals to other times."
Mulder continued to stride ahead into the darkness undeterred, the light from where they entered became less and less. He was about to round a corner when he had an idea. Taking off his jacket he laid it on the floor indicating the way he'd just come from.
He was about to head off to the left when Scully called out stop.
"Why? If it's all the ramblings of an old confused man then why should you worry."
She had no reply to that. Her fear was irrational, but she was afraid anyway.
Mulder proceeded off to the left and out of Scully's view.
"Mulder," She called out, a hint of fear entering into her voice. There was no reply. She looked back to the entrance they'd come through then back to the darkness Mulder had entered. There was really no other choice.
"Shit!" She said already chasing after him, as she rounded the corner something grabbed a hold of her waist.
An ear-piercing scream echoed in all directions.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The end of Part one.
Part two not far behind.
Please review for me, let me know if I should continue.
If anyone wants to be emailed when the next part is available please include your email address in a review.