The pounding in her head made Scully screw her eye's closed against the early morning light. Several seconds later, her logical brain kicked in past the blinding throb centring at the base of her skull. Reaching for Mulder, afraid this might mean a return of her cancer, Scully's hand waved in empty air.
The sunlight came from the wrong direction and the sent of vanilla hit her nostrils, reminding her of the past. Opening one eyelid a crack, Dana Scully realised she knew this room. Once it had been hers, when she shared it with Melissa. Just how she'd woken up at her Mothers house, Scully didn't know.
'Mulder,' Scully searched in vain, attempting to combine realities. They had eaten dinner together last night and talked about the case file she found. Needing reassurance after explaining how this investigation had commenced his foray into the X files, vulnerable Mulder had defiantly and deliberately put her in the mood. They'd taken the party to her bedroom and it'd gotten a little rough at one point. Maybe she'd hit her head. That might explain her pain, but not what she saw before her shocked eyes. Twin beds covered in handmade pink and green quilts. Sitting on the bed opposite, her sisters long legs crossed Indian style, Melissa watched with interest. 'Missy?' Dana managed before the pounding increased in her head.
'Dana, who's Mulder,' Missy asked, carefully watching her sister sit up and reach an unsteady hand to the base of her neck. 'Do you have a headache?'
'Yes,' Scully answered, 'do you think you could give it a massage for me?'
Surprised by the unusual request from her scientific sister, Missy crossed the room. Taking a bottle of oil from the top of her dresser, she indicated Dana should take her pyjama top off and sit on the chair. Warming the oil between her hands, she laid them gently on her sisters' neck and started her ministrations.
'Dana, are you seeing someone?' Missy asked, biting her lip. She wondered how long this open Dana would last. Until she closed down again, back into her logical world, Melissa would use the time to bond with her rational sister. These moments were extremely rare.
'Yes,' Dana answered, enthralled by the easing of her pain. Unable to comprehend where this conversation headed, Scully went with it. Besides, it all seemed so surreal. Missy had died three years ago. This must be a dream, but it seems so real, Dana attempted to tell her aching mind, and it's not a nice trick to be playing on me when I feel so rotten.
'Did you meet him at the hospital,' Missy continued, pushing her luck. Dana never told anyone anything unless forced to, especially when her heart became involved. Just the way she said this man's name, Missy knew the relationship to be very serious.
'No, at work,' Scully returned, confused.
Dana considered this dream to be her subconscious way of dealing with her relationship with Mulder. They'd fought their growing appreciation for each other almost from the beginning and their emotional attachment almost as long. Playing house for several days in Arcadia hadn't been the mechanism. The catalyst had come three days later, in the form of returning their wedding rings to the Bureau. For once, Mulder's sarcastic remarks brought tears to her eyes when she considered what her life could have been. Catching her at a weak moment, she confessed her feelings.
'Dana,' Missy suddenly stopped, appearing confused, 'you work at the hospital.'
'No I don't. I work…'
'Morning Missy, Starbuck' Bill Scully poked his head around the door after hearing the muffled voices of his daughters. He immediately closed it again when he realised Dana's nakedness. 'Mom sent me to tell you breakfasts will be on the table in ten minutes.'
Grabbing up her top and throwing it on, Scully rushed out the door. 'Dad,' she cried, rushing up to the retreating figure. 'Oh dad,' she tears trickled down her cheeks as she tackled him from behind, hugging the portly man.
'Starbuck,' Bill muttered in wonderment, turning so he could return his usually restrained daughters affectionate embrace, 'what brought this on?'
'I love you dad,' Scully felt she been given a second chance to make things right, to hear the silent words the nigh of his death. 'I need to know, are you proud of me, the decisions I've made.'
'Of course I'm proud of you Starbuck,' a concerned expression flitted across the older man's face. 'Your mom and I have been worried about you Dana,' Bill couldn't keep the anxiety from his tone, 'you're working so hard. I'm glad you've come home on your days off. Living in the residents' ready room at the hospital, you can't be eating or sleeping right.'
Finally realising this might not be a dream, Scully pulled out of her father's arms. Taking several seconds to just stare at him, she drank in the man before her. He looked younger, yet still encompassed the distinction of the consummate naval officer.
Then his words sank in. Resident, meant after graduating Medical School in May 1989 but before joining the FBI the following year. Scully had been discussing The Lone Gunmen, with Mulder just last night. Could this be her chance to right a wrong? To correct an event which should never have occurred?
Concern flooded her fathers deep brown eyes. Scully felt compelled to mumbled, 'sometimes I just need to make sure. After our argument about joining the FBI…' One she remembered only to well in with the events following her assignment to the X files. She'd lost both her father and sister. Maybe in this time line, she'd be able to circumnavigate those issues and still have Mulder in her life.
'I don't like it, Dana. I don't want to think about their offer once you have some experience as a doctor. Especially after all the hard work you've put in to complete medical school, but,' Bill sighed, openly displaying his regret at her decision, 'this is your life and your decision to make.'
'Thank you Ahab,' Scully saluted him, 'I know how much that must have cost you. Do you know, I'm actually reconsidering my options?'
'Because you don't think I'll be as proud if you choose the FBI or because you want too?' Bill demanded.
'Because the FBI may not give me the future I really want,' she answered, watching the expression of relief cross her father's face. 'I'm going to take a quick shower before joining you below for breakfast, Captain.'
'Very good, Starbuck,' he returned with a mock salute. As Bill's foot reached the first step, he turned back to his daughter, 'it's good to have you home, Dana.'
'It's wonderful to be home, Dad,' she stated, a wide grin on her face.
Watching her father disappear down the stairs, she wondered how on earth she'd get him to see a cardiologist for a diagnostic angiogram to unblock the arteries in his heart before he passed away of a massive heart attack. Still she had four or five years before that became a real concern. With that thought, Scully rushed back into her bedroom determined to find out if the theory she'd formed could be real.
'Missy,' Scully pushed her sister back into their room and closed the door, 'what's the date today?'
Looking at Dana like she'd lost her mind, especially after the scene with their father in the hall, Melissa answered slowly, 'Saturday 23rd of September.'
'The year Missy,' Scully rolled her eyes, 'I need the year.'
'1989,' she replied, perplexed.
'Missy, you're not going to believe what I'm about to tell you,' Scully announced each word deliberately, as though she might understand it better if she said it aloud, 'I went to bed last night with Mulder, in my apartment in Annapolis.'
'You what,' Missy started only to have Dana cut her off with a wave of her hand.
'Not like that,' she turned the famous Scully look on her sister, 'Mulder and I left work together Friday night, the 25th September 1998. I made him tell me about a case he became involved in, today, in Baltimore. Then we went to bed and, well, I hit my head on the head board,'
'Dana,' Missy began, astounded that her rational to a fault sister could suggest anything so paranormal. Then the rest of the story finally sank in, 'hit your head? Dana what exactly were you and this Mulder up too?'
'Let's just say, it's not only the bad guys who sometimes resist arrest and need to be cuffed,' Scully found the floor incredibly interesting.
'As much as I'd like to discuss that,' Missy wanted to laugh at the thought of her ridged sister easy sexuality, the comments about cases and leaving work triggered a theory about this Mulder. 'You joined the FBI, didn't you?'
'Yes,' Scully hissed between clenched teeth. 'I worked at Quantico for a while before being assigned the X files. You're just going to love this Missy. I work with a man who believes in anything paranormal or extraterrestrial and that's what we investigate, unusual cases that defy logic or the usual lines of enquiry.'
'Mulder's a believer?' Missy asked.
'Yes,' Scully confirmed, 'even more than you.'
'And now you're in a relationship with him,' Missy continued to fill in the blanks.
'Yes,' Dana verified, 'we've been working together for six and half years. In that time we've been through so much. Neither of us could possibly bond with anyone else, they wouldn't understand.'
'You think coming back has something to do with this case he's currently working on,' quick on the up take, Missy considered the ramifications of changing events in the past to affect the future. 'Why?'
'Why else would I have been sent back nine years into the past after discussing this exact day with Mulder last night?' Scully questioned. 'I didn't know anything about this case until yesterday evening, when I uncovered it because it'd been misfiled. When I asked Mulder about it, he really didn't want to discuss it. I forced him to tell me.'
'So you cuffed him, the big bad man,' Missy chipped in.
'Something like that,' Scully confirmed, 'you never going to let that go are you Missy.'
'Oh Dana,' she reached across the space between them and gathered her sister into her arms, 'I'm glad you can be free of your ridged ideology and bend enough to enjoy a physical relationship with this Mulder. I honestly never thought I'd see the day. He must be some man.'
'Missy,' Scully pulled away, apprehension covering her face, 'why do you think I'm here?'
'I don't know,' Melissa shrugged her shoulders. 'It's more important you understand why you think you're here?'
'Honestly,' Dana felt stupid telling her sister, 'I believe the way the case ended, with Mulder in a psychiatric hospital for a week, should never have happened. Changing the outcome will stop Mulder chasing his little grey men and looking for hope that he'll one day find his sister. He won't search out the X files, and I'll never be assigned even if I join the Bureau.'
'You could still meet him,' Missy offered, 'you have the advantage of knowing his man in this time. Where he is, what he's doing, where he'll be at any given moment. Your future with him could still occur, just not with all the loss I sense you've seen together in you other lifetime.'
'Oh Missy, in that life, you died for me,' Scully couldn't keep her secret any longer. Collapsing into her sister's arms, she cried until she didn't think she had any water left in her body, 'it should have been me. They tried to take me away from Mulder for the second time.'
'We'd better get down stairs for breakfast,' Missy consoled wanting to know more, yet reluctant to ask because the more she knew, the greater the effect on the future, 'before mom comes looking for us. Go wash your face and I'll hold them off a little while longer.'
'Thanks Missy,' Dana said, searching through her clothing for something appropriate to wear before heading for the bathroom, 'you know, I missed you so much. I didn't appreciate you enough until you weren't there any more.'
'Maybe you've been give a chance to correct more than one mistake, Dana,' Missy threw over her shoulder as she went downstairs for breakfast.
