Title: Coming Home (1/6)
Authors: Nessy and Cirglas
Classification: S, R, H / No-romos really shouldn't read this!
Rating: PG- for now
Disclaimer: Only Scully's students and the story itself belong to us.
The rest belongs to Chris Carter and 10-13 productions. Please don't
sue us... we mean no harm to and with them.
Summary: Mulder had to disappear two and a half years ago. What
happens when he comes back?
Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance, Future
Spoilers/Timeline: at least 2 years after 5th season. But we ignored
the fact that Scully can't have children. Hey, we all know they'll
find a way to overcome THAT problem, right? ;).

Author's notes:
Nessy: Hi! We're back with a new story. Thanks to all of you who have
written to us until now. Keep on sending that good ol' feedback. We
love it.
Cirglas: We really had a lot of fun writing this story. I hope you'll
enjoy reading it just as much. There are more stories to come.
Post: Anywhere. -Would you let us know where? We'll visit ;)
Feedback: Yes PLEASE

Last but not least: This story is dedicated to two people. To Sarah -
you made us finish the story a lot faster than we had planned - and
Muuh - thanks for encouraging us.

Here goes:

-------------------------------------------------------------

Coming Home (1/6)

by Nessy & Cirglas

"Scully, do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?"

"It's highly unlikely, but not impossible."

Mumbling and snickering ran through the last few rows of the lecture
hall. But they were quickly silenced by some fierce 'shh's from most
of the other students who wanted to hear her out.

"Now, listen. It took me many years to admit as much as that so
please don't underestimate my skepticism." Answering laughter. "But
I've seen a lot over the years, and I've told you about some of it,
and don't forget, I said it's highly unlikely. And to tell you the
truth, I'd like to think that there are intelligent beings out there.
You see, you start to feel pretty lonely if you think that we're
alone in the universe." More laughter.

Scully felt strange. That was something she had never imagined even
thinking two and a half years ago, much less before she had ever
started with 'The X-Files'. /Oh, well. I guess everything has it's
time in life, huh?/ Scully glanced at her watch. "Okay, everybody.
The show is over for today. See you all tomorrow." She smiled as she
heard the sounds of protest from her students. /Actually, teaching is
fun./ She sighed as she stepped down from the podium. She had had a
tiring day and just wanted to go home and have a nice quiet evening.

But seeing her two favorite students coming towards her, a smile
formed on her face. Gwendolyn Parker and Ryan Mitchell were
intelligent and interested students and, although they were as
stubborn as she was, they respected her opinion. And she respected
theirs.

/Sort of like my friendship with Mulder./ A pang of sadness hit her.
/No. Mulder was completely different., she chided herself. But she
couldn't think about Mulder anymore. It caused her too much pain to
think of him. Gwen and Ryan arrived at her side and greeted her.

"Great lesson, Dr. Scully." Gwen said.

"Yeah, a little spooky but quite interesting." Ryan said and they
all smiled at his small joke.

/Now I'm the one that is called 'spooky'. I wonder what they'll say
if they meet Mulder, my mentor./

/Not 'if'. 'When'. Mulder'll come back. I know he will./

"Thanks, you two. But I think the guy in the red shirt who sat in the
third row from the back enjoyed the show a little too much."

"Oh, don't worry about him, Dr. Scully. Ryan and I met him once. And
he's a jerk. Your classes are always full. Most of 'em thought it was
interesting."

"Gwen, liver-eating mutants aren't interesting. They are perfect
material for gruesome stories to tell when sitting around the camp-
fire. Except that I had the dubious pleasure of encountering one."

"And we believe you. Anyway, what we came for, was to ask you if you
have something planned for dinner tonight. We'll go to that new
Italian place called Tony's and we'd like you to join us."

Scully thought about it and realized that, in fact, a little company
would be nice. And Gwen and Ryan were just the kind of company she
needed to cheer her up. But she needed to go home beforehand. She
wanted a little time to relax and check her messages.

"How about after dinner? I have some errands to run, but I'll meet
you at Berry's around 9 o'clock?" They had met at Berry's before. It
was a mixture between a bar and a dance hall. And although she didn't
dance herself, she liked to watch others dance.

"Sure, that would be nice." Gwen seemed delighted. That was when
something occurred to Scully:

"But only if you don't try and set me up with one of your other
professors." Gwendolyn's face fell.

"But, Dr. Scully, he's a really nice guy!" Ryan just laughed that
Gwen's plan had been uncovered.

Scully smiled at him and then turned her attention back to the girl.

"Listen. I'll meet you at 9, but you have to promise not to try to
play matchmaker for me, okay?" /These kids!/

"Oh, okay. But don't say I didn't try." Gwendolyn smiled at her
again. That was the fourth - no, fifth - time they had tried to pair
her up with some 'nice guy'.

"Hey, thanks for worrying about my love life, Miss Parker, but
believe me, I'm fine with it as it is now." /Sure!/ She bid them
goodbye and said: "Well, see you at 9."

As Scully entered her apartment, she noticed how tired she really
was. /Should have just told 'em that another day would be better./
But she thought that after a long shower she might just barely feel
human again.

On her way to the bathroom she started up her computer, a routine she
had had for the last two years. /They might have heard something from
him./

That was her main goal. To help Mulder if he needed her. Since the
day he had vanished, she had only had contact with him through the
Gunmen. She had helped him in his search for his sister and the last
time she had heard from him, he had been pretty close. But that had
been over seven months ago.

A look towards the clock.

Seven months, eleven days, nine hours, 47 minutes and 36 seconds. No,
she wasn't obsessed. Just worried.

What she missed most was talking to him directly. Whether by phone or
in person, it didn't matter. But she wished she could have him
respond immediately. She missed his voice over the phone or at her
door saying the three words that had become so dear to her: "Scully,
it's me.". But direct communication would have been way to dangerous
for him as well as for her.

She remembered their last meeting. Every word, every look. She
thought that that last night must have burned itself into her memory:

"Mulder, this is ridiculous! What makes you so sure you don't have
false information this time? That they're not fooling you?" She could
see he was trying to find a plausible explanation for her.

"Scully, it's the only thing that makes sense! Don't you see it? I
have to find her before they come and get her! They'll kill her if
I can't save her!"

"Mulder. You can carry on your search from here." He shook his head.
"Or at least let me come with you. It's too dangerous for you to go
alone."

"No, Scully, I won't take you with me. Just as you said, it's too
dangerous. I won't let you risk everything. Not your life. I couldn't
forgive myself if anything happened to you." He moved closer to her
and took her small hand in his. "I need you to help me here. I need
someone who supervises and manages everything. I need you as a
contact to the rest of the world. But I won't endanger you. So our
contact will be solely through the Gunmen. And don't you try and find
me." He smiled, and she tried to smile back, failing miserably.

"Mulder..."

"Scully. I promise I'll be careful. I'll send you a message whenever
I can." He gave her hand a last squeeze and then turned to go. Scully
felt as if somebody had cut the ground from under her feet. As he
opened the apartment door, she called him back.

"Mulder. Just promise you'll come back." Her words weren't much more
than a whisper. But they were strong enough to be heard by him. With
three long strides he was back at her side and gathering her into his
arms. He hugged her so fiercely, she thought he might crush her, but
he didn't. He whispered even quieter than she had:

"I promise. Oh, Scully, I promise."

When he had left she had felt as if she were drowning. And she
couldn't rid herself of that feeling. She had had the chance to help
him once in a while, but that had been all. After the X-Files had
been closed down, she had been offered back the teaching job at
Quantico. And she had accepted it gladly, resenting the thought of a
new partner. Although her mom could probably sleep much better now -
teaching was a lot less life-threatening profession - Scully missed
her former work. And especially her former partner.

The Gunmen had been really kind. Frohike at his best. He had even
offered to take some pictures of her and send them to Mulder. But she
had been reluctant to let him and had asked: "You sure that it
wouldn't just be for your own personal photo collection?" She had
smiled to let him know she was joking.

"No need, Agent Scully, no need. I already have enough." He had
leered at her with his eyebrows bobbing up and down. She had sighed
and finally agreed to have him take some pictures. But when, after a
few shots, he had asked her to unbutton the first few buttons on her
blouse, she had cut off the session.

She emerged from the kitchen, clad in jeans and her hair still wet
from the shower. Carrying a warmed up Chinese take-out dinner, she
returned to the computer screen. Her email icon was blinking, telling
her that she had new mail. She let her eyes sweep over them/work,
work, work...I really ought to get a life... work, probably
work, science magazine... ah, finally./ The email was from somebody
called Leonard Gregory Matthews. They always used names with the
initials 'LGM' - as in 'Lone GunMen' - so if her emails were hacked
into, they wouldn't seem to be of much interest to anyone.

She was so exited that she forgot her take-out, she opened the mail
and read it. It said:

"Sorry, beloved. Nothing new yet. Thanx for still respecting me in
the morning, though. We'll keep in touch?"

Scully laughed in spite of the worry about her partner. These guys
always thought of something to cheer her up. She sent back: "Sure,
I'd be delighted. Thanx for the mail. Bye."

She logged out and continued on her abandoned dinner.

Gwendolyn Parker looked around the bar. It was a stuffy restaurant
which was a little like a 50s American Diner with tacky red plastic
seats, a music box and old poster ads on the wall. It used to be a
normal bar with all it's dark and depressed customers. Since Berry
bought and renovated it completely, the bar had become something like
a college-people meeting place. But the owner didn't mind all those
Quantico-students sitting there every night. Berry always jokingly
said he never felt as safe when Gwen and her friends weren't sitting
there.

Gwen herself enjoyed Quantico a lot. Although she had expected a few
more female students to be there. But that deficit was compensated by
Dana Scully. She definitely was the most intelligent of Gwen's
professors. But that didn't keep her from being extremely pleasant.
And, okay, yes, her field of study was more interesting than the
other classes Gwen had to attend: Most of Dr. Scully's classes ended
up as lectures about abnormal forensic evidence.

But she wondered why Doc Scully was the way she was. Gwen had heard
the stories about the 'spooky' partner Dr. Scully had had before she
had returned to Quantico. And there were a lot of rumors about the
reason she was called 'The Ice Queen'. Gwen couldn't imagine why
somebody would give Dr. Scully that name. She seemed to be so
friendly and considerate with her students. But then again, Doc
Scully had never been seen with a male escort to any of the quite
frequent functions. And that kind of rumors usually made the rounds
quite fast.

But Gwen thought of Scully in a different way than most other
students did. Dr. Scully was an attractive, successful, popular and
very competent agent and teacher. She had to compensate for the fact
that she was a petite woman in an 'old boys' club'. And Gwen Parker
knew, that Scully had more than enough men paying court to her. But
she always told them to buzz off. Gwen had, since she had met Doc
Scully, made it her goal to find the right man for her. She had
arranged for her to meet some of her other professors, but Scully -
although she seemed to get along with them just fine - hadn't shown
any further interest in them.

That was when the subject of her thoughts came into view on the other
side of the bar. Gwen again marveled at the fact that her teacher
seemed much younger on these 'evenings out'. She wore faded jeans and
a Quantico-sweatshirt. Hair pulled back into a ponytail, she looked
at least ten years younger. Scully saw her and returned the welcoming
smile. Then she seated herself with a sigh on the opposite side of
the table.

The other six students welcomed her warmly and - in quite a different
to the reaction than that shown to other professors - continued their
conversations. And their ...um... NC-17 jokes. Jake was, as always,
flirting with her. Scully flirted back, but they both - just like all
the others - knew it was just for fun. The crazy thing about it was
that Scully was talking along with them all as if she were just
another student.

"So what did you guys have for dinner?" Scully asked.

"Um, well, I had a salad, but Ryan here had spaghetti with meatballs.
Men are, and will always be, kids.", Gwen answered.

Scully laughed while Ryan only let out a snort of protest. Yep. She
knew what Gwen was talking about. Many years of Mulder-sitting had
probably prepared her quite well for parenthood. If she ever would
come that far.

"And you, Doc?" Gwen queried.

"I had good ol' Chinese take-out," Scully answered with a smile.

"What? That kind of so-called food?" Gwen joked. They continued
joking and laughing the night away.

An hour later Gwen had noticed a very handsome man in his late 30s
entering the bar. Briefly, he had glanced over in their direction and
then taken a seat on the other side of the room. But when a slow song
started filling the room, he moved towards their table. Gwen noticed
that he was fairly tall, at least compared to the people he passed on
his way over. And as he came nearer she realized that he had nice but
sad hazel/green eyes. /Too bad he's not my age. He's a really good-
looking fellow./

Scully, sitting with her back to the dance floor, hadn't noticed him
coming. She continued drawing smileys into the condensed water on her
glass, when suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, and a voice was
saying: "May I have this dance, pretty lady?"

/That was Mulder's voice!/
/No, it wasn't./
/Sure it was./
/It can't be. He's gone, remember?/
/But what if he came back?/

Gwen was waiting for the mortal blow. Few men had tried something
like that with their Doc and until now they had always gotten an
earful of the almost proverbial Dr.-Scully-wrath. She even thought
about calling an ambulance. That guy had gone rather far with 'pretty
lady'. She didn't know how Dr. Scully would react.

Actually she didn't react at all. She was sitting there wide-eyed,
staring off into space. Then, very slowly, she started turning her
head. The man didn't seem to know in how much trouble he was, his
smile growing even wider as their gazes met. Still not replying,
Scully let herself be pulled up by this handsome stranger and brought
away from the table.

Gwen didn't know what she should think about this turn of events. The
'Ice Queen' was dancing very close with an absolute stranger! Doc
Scully had rested her head against his chest and he had encircled her
small frame with his arms. Oh, and yes, he was tall. She barely
reached his chin. And the careful way he held her. As if she were the
most precious thing in the world. The strange thing was, how these
two total strangers moved in such harmony together. And they seemed
so happy like that. They were both smiling contentedly with their
eyes closed and only exchanged a whispered word or two.

Gwendolyn wondered if Dr. Scully might even know this guy. That would
certainly explain a lot. But even though she raked her brain, she
didn't recognize him. So her friends were her only chance.

"Hey, anybody know that guy she's dancing with?"

But the only answer was a solemn look and a shake of the head from
everybody. Nobody knew him. They all seemed surprised.

On the other side of the room, Scully certainly was enjoying herself.
It really was Mulder! She still couldn't quite believe it. And yet,
here she was, dancing with him, holding him in her arms. No, she knew
she wasn't hallucinating. She felt him, smelled him and heard him.

"Scully, close your mouth before something flies in." Actually not
the nicest thing to say, but for Scully it was the most wonderful
sound in the world.

Mulder was back.

-------------------------------------------------------------

End of part one

Okay. This is gonna be a long one. We'll try and post them
frequently but we can't promise. If you have any comments on he
story, please send them to us.

Nessy & Cirglas

-------------------------------------------------------------

If you're lonely
And need a friend
And troubles seem like
they never end
Just remember to keep the faith
And love will be there to light the way

Anytime you need a friend
I will be here
You'll never be alone again
So don't you fear
Even if you're miles away
I'm by your side
So don't you ever be lonely
Love will make it alright.

---- Mariah Carey (Anytime You Need A Friend)