Title - Kismet
Author - Jaimee Kidder
Email - invisibleshining@ivillage.com
Rating - PG-13 (for violence)
Classification - XRA
Spoilers - Herrenvolk/Talitha Cumi, Fight the Future, Triangle,
Two Fathers/One Son, Three of a Kind
Keywords - Mulder/Scully romance
Summary - Mulder and Scully investigate a seemingly
meaningless murder in a small farming town in Alabama and suddenly find
themselves caught in the middle of events that could lead to the end.
::whirrrrr:: "I made this!"
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this
story. I wish I was Scully and owned
Mulder, but such is not the case. If I
did, this would be an episode -- or two, or five -- of the show, not some story
that Chris Carter will prob'ly never read. :) The secondary characters are mine (so there!). But Mulder, Scully, and the rest are all CC's (hail to the man!),
1013's, and Fox's. Too bad for me. ;-)
Oh yeah...and I borrowed Celine
Dion's "Because You Loved Me"...so thank you, Celine, for singing
such a lovely (and shippery) song!
.kismet.
.your.tree.of.falsehood.
A.D. Skinner's office
Thursday, August 19
12:52 p.m.
Skinner sat at his desk, going
over the agent's preliminary report for the thousandth time. It took all his effort to maintain a
professional attitude towards the case. Flipping back to the first page of the report, he began to read through
it again.
The report was fairly
thorough. It listed possible scenarios
for what had happened that night, possible motivations for the suspect, and a
recommended course of action. It was
confirmed by forensics that the blood on the carpet in the room did indeed
belong to Agent Scully.
The car had not been found yet.
As denial faded and hopelessness
set in, Skinner flicked the report closed and sighed.
Margaret Scully's residence
1:32 p.m.
Maggie Scully wandered into her
bedroom with a steaming cup of tea and glanced out the window. She loved storms, especially on days when
there was nothing to do and she could curl up in bed with a book and something
warm to drink -- exactly what she was planning on doing now.
She hopped onto the big comfy bed
and leaned against the chubby pillows, just enjoying listening to the sound of
the rain and the occasional rumble of distant thunder. After a minute, she realized that the wind
was picking up and the thunder was getting louder. She picked up the remote control and flicked on the television,
checking to see if the news had anything to say about the storm. A perky reporter was talking.
"...current trends are
expected to continue well into the coming year."
The camera cut back to the studio. The anchorwoman looked back at the camera as
a small video box with a picture of a woman popped up in the upper right corner
of the screen. Maggie squinted at it,
gathering her blanket closer around her shoulders. Then her eyes widened and she gasped involuntarily as she
suddenly recognized the face on the screen.
"Dana?"
Fear chilling her blood, she sat
up, unable to move any farther.
"Meanwhile, there are no
current leads in the investigation into the abduction and possible murder of
F.B.I. Special Agent Dana Scully."
Maggie sat, paralyzed, powerless
to take her eyes off the TV screen.
Econo Lodge
Room 1124
Richmond, Virginia
1:33 p.m.
Mulder walked to the TV and
turned it up. "Hey Scully, look at
this."
"Meanwhile, there are no
current leads in the investigation into the abduction and possible murder of
F.B.I. Special Agent Dana Scully."
Scully walked into the room
holding a towel in one hand. She ran
the towel through her drying hair and sat down on the bed as the anchorwoman
continued to talk.
"...received this alarming
phone call yesterday evening."
A fuzzy recording of Scully's
call to Skinner began to play.
"Sir! I need help!" as footsteps pounded
across the floor.
Drawers pulled hastily open.
"My gun! Mulder, you took my gun!"
A hammer cocking.
"Mulder, put it down. Put the gun down! Mulder, drop it! Now,
you son of a --"
The shot split the air.
The anchorwoman looked back at
the camera. "Dana Scully's
partner-turned-assailant, Special Agent Fox Mulder, is believed to have shot
and possibly murdered her. The car the
agents were driving was found missing with tire tracks leading into a nearby
lake. The Justice Department is doing
everything they can to locate the two agents, but it doesn't look
hopeful."
Mulder turned around and grinned
at Scully. "Not a bad piece of
work, if I do say so myself." She
was silent, deep in thought. "I
never knew you were such a good actress, Scully," Mulder continued. She glanced up and smiled. "It was easy when you make such a good
psychopath." He chuckled, then sat
down on the bed next to her. "You
okay?"
She nodded. He looked at her for another moment and
began thinking about what had happened.
It had been a relatively easy
matter to fake their disappearance. Since both were F.B.I. agents and Scully was a doctor, they were able to
get some of her blood drawn quickly and without any questions. After that, they found a used car lot and
bought an old Buick, and purchased a new cell phone for Scully. From there it was just a matter of putting
the plates on the Buick and finding a motel room near a lake.
He had come up with the
idea. He was also the one who suggested
the idea of going crazy and assaulting Scully. He knew, with a sad certainty, that it was a story that everyone would
believe. It was certainly strange to
have to act out such a horrible scene. Mulder still wasn't sure how he felt about it.
They knew that they shouldn't
tell anyone that the two of them were still alive. They hadn't even told the Gunmen. Mulder couldn't help but wonder how everyone was taking it.
No doubt many of his colleagues
were smugly thinking they knew he was crazy all along.
They were staying at a hotel for
as long as it took to find a cheap apartment where the owner wouldn't recognize
them -- or care if he did. The downside
of faking a crime was that their pictures had been shown on local news
broadcasts all across the country -- and especially in the Virginia area, since
that was where the crime had supposedly taken place. Neither Mulder nor Scully were sure how much publicity the case
would get, and too much attention by the media could make their lives very
difficult. But they weren't going to
give up now.
He glanced over at her. She was staring absently at the television,
probably thinking about the same things as he was. Feeling the need to break the tension that had settled over them
both, he touched her arm. She looked up
and he smiled, taking a strand of damp hair in his fingers. "Hey, you have to see your hair."
She paused and then laughed,
suddenly. "Mulder..."
"What?"
"I can't..."
"'Course you can. Come on." He took her arm and pulled her off the bed. She went reluctantly to the mirror and
looked at the face that met her there.
There she was, with slightly damp
dark brown hair. It was like looking at
a different person. She was
speechless. Mulder smiled and rested
his chin on her head, looking at her disbelieving face in the mirror. "Lookin' good, Agent Scully," he
murmured. She smiled distractedly and
touched her hair.
Suddenly breaking out of her
shocked daze, Scully turned away from the mirror and walked to the closed
laptop sitting on the table.
Mulder followed her to the table
and stood next to her. "Any ideas
on how we're going to track down any information when they couldn't find
anything?"
"Come on, Mulder...the guys
may be good, but they weren't there. You and I know what to look for."
He nodded and they switched on
the computer.
As the laptop warmed up, Mulder
looked at Scully. "Scully, I'm
sorry for everything this has put you through. I know --"
Her head snapped up, eyes
blazing. "Mulder! Stop apologizing!" Startled, Mulder felt his eyes widen in
surprise at the sudden outburst. She
sighed and continued, quieter this time. "I know it won't be easy, Mulder, but I'm prepared for that. I want you to know --" she put her hand
over his larger one and squeezed it gently, "-- that I'm in this with you,
and I'm not going anywhere." She
paused with a sad light in her eyes. "I thought you knew that I'm not the type to run off on you like
that, Mulder. I thought you trusted me
more than that."
Mulder thought the look in her
eyes would break his heart. Forcing the
words to come, he opened his mouth. "I know, Scully...I know you. I know you wouldn't leave me in this by myself. I just...so many people have betrayed me --
people whom I trusted -- and I can't stop myself from thinking that maybe they
were right, and that I should give you every chance to get as far away from me
as you can. And I know that you're
putting your life at risk by sticking by me, and I don't want to see you
die."
She looked deeply into his eyes,
her gaze penetrating to his heart. "Mulder, if I didn't want to be here, with you, I wouldn't be. I would have found a way out -- a
reassignment, anything -- years ago. But I'm not just tagging along for the ride, Mulder. Your quest has become mine as well. I want to find the truth just as much as
you. And I won't run out on you. I promise you that."
He stared at her blankly for a
second, her words taking time to break through to his heart. Then a grin flooded his features and he
reached over and put his arm around her shoulder. "Come here." She conceded willingly as he gave her the biggest hug he'd given anyone
in a long time. He sighed
contentedly. " I love you,
Scully."
She leaned against him, letting
all her tension flood out of her as she met his embrace, assuring him gently,
"I love you too,
Mulder."
They held each other for many
minutes, simply enjoying the presence of the other. Finally, Scully stirred and Mulder released her reluctantly from
his arms. Without a word, they sat at
the table in front of the laptop, preparing to get down to business.
"Hey, Scully, I just
remembered something."
She looked up, her eyes inviting
him to continue.
"Remember how you found out
that Rob Harris was going to see a friend the day he died? We were going to find out his name and
question him about those files that Harris left over there."
"Do you think the friend
might have had something to do with Harris's death?"
"Mrs. Harris said they
worked for the same company, right? So
maybe this friend wasn't a friend at all; maybe he saw the research Harris was
doing and thought it was enough to have him killed."
"Mrs. Harris did mention
that her husband had been researching a product they had been shipping."
Mulder's eyes lit up the way they
always did when he was rolling with a theory. "What if it was the virus? What if Rob Harris found out about the company's secret transactions
with the government and thought it was strange? He was probably researching it, found out a little too much, and
someone wanted to make sure no one else found out what he knew."
"But what did he find out
from his research? How much did he
learn on his own before telling the friend? Mulder, he could have found out more than we have," Scully
finished, looking apprehensive and eager at the same time.
He stared at her, assimilating
this new idea into his mental web. "Scully, why don't you call Mrs. Harris and see what you can find
out about her husband's buddy."
"What are you going to
do?"
"See what I can dig up
online." She nodded and pulled out
the cell phone they had bought for her. Then she stared at it, suddenly horrified.
"Mulder, your old cell
phone..."
He looked at her,
uncomprehending, then blinked as he realized what she meant. Pulling it from his jacket pocket, he walked
into the bathroom. He quickly filled
the sink, turned the phone on, and dropped it into the water. Then he walked back into the room.
"Let's see if I lapse into
catatonic schizophrenia now..." he smiled. Scully eyed him, too relieved that the matter was taken care of
to smile, and turned her phone on. He
turned back to the computer and connected to the Internet, dimly aware of
Scully's low voice in the background.
"Mrs. Harris? I'm Agent Brown, from the F.B.I. Yes, I know, we're doing everything we
can. Well, I've been assigned to wrap
your husband's case up. I'm sorry to
call you so suddenly like this, but I have some last questions..."
Mulder turned his attention to
the computer screen again and logged on to his favorite Internet message board
to see if any of the paranoid members had gotten wind of the case. Then something on the page made him stop
scrolling down the list of topic names and stare unbelievingly at the screen.
"Thank you very much for
your help, Mrs. Harris. If we hear
anything new, we'll let you know." Scully terminated the call and began to recite what the other woman had
said. "Mrs. Harris told me that
her husband was going to stop by a Brett Silver's house to pick up some
files. She told me that her husband
hadn't really been complaining to her about work, but he did seem vaguely stressed
out over something. She thought he was
trying to protect her from whatever the problem was, and she figured he knew
what he was doing, so she didn't ask. That's all I..." She
trailed off as she saw Mulder glance up for the first time from the screen. "Mulder? Are you listening?"
"Scully...look at
this."
She walked to the computer and
bent down to look at the screen. The
computer was displaying on its screen the main message list. The mouse cursor was resting on the topic
name and author that had so intrigued Mulder.
Scully gasped.
"Mulder...is that..."
Their eyes met. Mulder nodded. "I think so,
Scully."
Mulder clicked on the link,
waiting impatiently for the page to load. Finally the message was displayed on the screen:
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Starbuck and Ahab"
(author: Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow,
and Toto)
Ha ha ha.
Info: PK has a lot in common with
the other managers. Two-faced. Uses the position for monitoring
progress. All for now. Hope it helps.
P.S. what kind of amateurs do you
think we are?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Mulder read and reread the
message over several times as Scully did the same. Then he smiled. "No
fooling those guys," he muttered.
Scully looked up from the
screen. "Mulder, it's great that
they'll be able to keep in touch with us...but won't this give us away?"
"Don't worry," he
assured her with confidence born from experience. "Every message on here is every bit as coded, obscure, and
cryptic as this one. As long as we
don't respond, no one's going to give it a second glance."
She was silent, considering the
accuracy of his words, and studied the message again.