Title: Reunion
Author: X_fairy (x_fairy@gmx.net)
Disclaimer: The X-files belong to CC and Mulder and Scully belong to each other, not to me!
No infringement intended!
Rating: G
Category: Pre-XF, alternate universe
Spoilers: the pilot
Archive: Anywhere, with my name and addy, but please let me know!
Feedback: Please! I LOVE e-mail!
Summary: After being returned two months after her abduction, Samantha Mulder ends up in the Scully family...

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Reunion
By X_fairy
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The Mulders' house
Chilmark, MA
November 27th 1973

"Do we really have to watch that, Fox?" Samantha whined. Stupid politics stuff, it was dead boring. "Mum and Dad allowed me to watch what *I* want!"
"Maybe, but now Mum and Dad aren't here, and I'm in charge!" her brother said with smug grin.
"You're so mean! I won't play with you anymore!" She jumped up and tried to snatch the remote control away from him while he held it high over her head. Sometimes it was just plain annoying to be so small! Samantha jumped up to reach her brother's outstretched hand, and suddenly felt herself suspended in the air.
"Fox? What are you doing? Fox?" But it wasn't him, she was just floating in the air, towards a bright light in the open doorframe. "Foooooox!!!!" she screamed before the white glare enveloped her and she didn't feel anything anymore.
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The Scullys' house
San Diego, CA
February 23rd 1974

Samantha shot up with a ear-piercing scream. She'd had a horrifying nightmare -- someone cutting open her stomach without sedation. She remember how much she had hated the sedation when she'd had her broken collarbone fixed, but the uneasiness at breathing in that strange gas was nothing compared to that pain. She pressed her eyes shut to keep the tears from falling, but she couldn't help it, and when her foster sister Dana came running into the room with a concerned look on her face, Samantha threw herself in her arms and sobbed.
Dana softly stroked her foster sister's hair. Sam had been with them for only about two weeks, and also Dana had been everything but happy about her parents adopting a child, Dana had come to like her quickly. Sam was about one and a half years younger than her, almost exactly the age of her brother Charles, and they got along well most of the time. As far as Dana knew, Sam's parents and her brother had been killed in some sort of accident last fall that Sam had no memory of. As if that wasn't bad enough, now she was getting those nightmares. Dana vividly remembered what a hard time her older sister Melissa had had with nightmares after she'd disappeared in the woods for two days.
After a few minutes, Sam had calmed down and sniffed a bit. "I'm sorry I woke you up..." Then she remembered what day it was and hugged Dana again, "Happy birthday, Dana!"
Dana smiled. Sam took great pride in memorizing all the important family events and everyone's birthday, even that of aunt Ruth who only visited once a year, as she lived halfway across the country.
Eventually the nightmares would stop, but nonetheless Sam was that Dana had agreed to move into her room. The two girls quickly became good friends. Sam still couldn't remember the two month following the horrendous accident which had eradicated her family, and occasionally she tried some highly ridiculous methods to retrieve the memories, but Dana was sure she'd only lost them due to the shock of suddenly being an orphan, and that hoping to get them back was probably senseless.
Samantha was mostly convinced by her friends idea, when in the night of May 17th - her late mother's birthday - she dreamed again, not the terrifying things she'd seen before, but this time only a slight sensation of floating in the air and screaming for her brother, without any sign of an accident. She told Dana about the dream, and they both wondered what it might be about before deciding it was only natural for Sam to want her family back.
The dream however kept repeating itself, every May 17th, June 26th - her father's - and October 13th - her brother's birthday. Over the years, Sam and Dana read through more dream analysis and psychology books than they cared to admit, and never found anything that resembled a slight explanation for Sam's dream.
Finally, the two girls went to study at Berkley University, as they didn't want to be too close to their parents who once again lived in San Diego, but also not too far away. Dana took physics, she'd always been fascinated by nature sciences, and Sam chose psychology, as the many books they'd consulted in search of an explanation of her dream had risen her interest in the mysteries of the mind. They liked Berkley and the familiar Californian climate, but when Dana's father retired and decided to move to Baltimore, his hometown as a child, they also switched to the University of Maryland.
Samantha was more and more fascinated with her studies, while Dana skipped physics in favor of a medical training at the FBI academy. With this decision made, the two friends moved apart for the first time since they'd met - but they still visited each other regularly, and at one of these visits, Dana was horrified to hear that Samantha had tried one of those suspicious methods again to retrieve the memories she still didn't know about - hypnosis. And it had left her shaking with horror at the outcome, which sounded too familiar - like Sam's very early nightmares. Sam insisted on continuing the therapy, and Dana agreed to listen to the session tapes with her, she didn't want her friend to break down in sight of what she believed to be her memories.
They soon found out that Sam could hardly bear one hypnotic session a week, and decided on a monthly rhythm. Samantha 'remembered' more and more horrifying details from the missing time, and with time going by, Dana feared for her sanity. She tried to convince her friend to stop the therapy, but Sam was determined to find out every last detail. And then, the same week she had finished her final psychology exams best of her year, she remembered the night of the 'accident' - that was where the dream had come from. And there was no sign of any family member dying - did that mean her family was alive?
While Sam tried to find out more and more about that night, Dana, who had been teaching forensic pathology at the FBI academy, suddenly was reassigned to the FBI headquarters in Washington DC. That meant for her to be closer to her family again, but she wasn't sure what to think about that assignment. Her new partner was very charismatic, but she wondered if he indeed believed in all that stuff he investigated - UFO abductions, come on! She didn't look forward to their first case, just tomorrow. As she had expected, the whole thing was unbelievable, if not downright impossible - but then something happened that shook her to the core. Her partner told her what had motivated him to investigate that stuff - his sister had been kidnapped (she still refused to say 'abducted') when she was eight years old. Could that be possible? What was Sam's last name - Mulder? And her brother had been called - was called, probably, she corrected herself - Fox? She decided to tell Sam first - if this was true, it was truly an unbelievable coincidence!
When they were back in DC, Dana rummaged through their office a bit, and indeed she found a picture of her partner's sister - it was Samantha at the age of seven! Dana was shocked. She'd never believed something like that to be possible. She picked up the phone and dialed her friend's number, "Sam, can you come over here? It's *very* urgent!"
Half an hour later, her partner came in the door to find her still starring at his sister's picture.
"Scully? You okay?"
She slowly shook her head and nodded at the same time. And in the exact same moment, Sam burst in the door, out of breath, "You can't imagine how difficult it was to..." Then she saw Dana's partner, and despite the nineteen years difference, she immediately recognized her brother. "Fox? FOX!!!" And a split second later, she was in his arms, mumbling, "Oh my god, Fox, I thought you were dead!"
Apparently she had changed more, as he first freed himself from her arms to look at her closely. He slowly traced the lines of her face with a fingertip. "Sam? Is that really you?" But then he finally allowed himself to believe his luck, and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Sam, I can't believe you're back."
Dana smiled. It might be difficult to share her best friend with someone else, but to be the cause for such a wonderful reunion was a great feeling.

The End!