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.

.inexorable.

Police station

Four Mile, Alabama

Jake Kelley checked his watch, then leaned forward across his desk. "Hey Joe," he called to the officer at the desk across from him. Joe looked up from his copy of People. "Yeah?"

"I'm goin' for my lunch break now. Be back in twenty or so."

Joe nodded.

Kelley stood and walked back to the back room to pick up his jacket, and Joe went back to the article on Cameron Diaz.

Several minutes passed.

Joe came to the end of the article and was flipping back to the table of contents when he paused and glanced up. "Yo Jake!"

There was no answer.

"Kelley?"

Silence.

Joe stood and leaned over his desk to try and see into the back room. Having no luck with that, he went around the desk and walked curiously to the back room.

"Hey Jake? Whatcha doin', man?"

Joe rounded the corner and walked into the back room. He looked around. There was the row of coats, the old unused filing cabinets, a bulletin board, --

He glanced down.

"Oh, man...Jake! Jake, can you hear me? Jake?!"

He knelt on the floor beside Kelley's prone body and felt in vain for a pulse. Looking up helplessly, Joe stared for a moment, his breath coming in heavy, short gasps. Then he jumped up and ripped the phone off the cradle.

The paramedics were there within ten minutes and packed Kelley into the ambulance. It took off, siren piercing the still of the afternoon, leaving the police station quietly deserted.

No one had noticed the squirming bee lying on its back on the floor.

A.D. Skinner's office

3:27 p.m.

Skinner stood up from his desk, unable to think about the case anymore. Unable to put off any longer the fact that it wasn't just a case. He walked quickly out the adjoining door and rounded the corner, ignoring whatever his secretary was saying. Somehow he thought that if he walked briskly enough and fast enough that maybe he could leave his problems behind, but as he left the office and saw the steady stream of people passing him by in the hall, he couldn't push the thoughts away anymore.

In all likelihood, Agents Mulder and Scully would never again be in that crowd of people. Never again walk into his office doing the little act they always did, albeit restrainedly, in his office -- Mulder trying to push his theory into the light of plausibility and Scully standing there with the army of reason and science on her side, gently doing her best to keep Mulder back.

Skinner couldn't suppress a wry smile. Rarely had Mulder ever been wrong.

And now he had killed himself. And taken Scully with him. It was unthinkable.

Suddenly he blinked, and realized he was standing outside his office door staring blankly at the crowded hallway. He sighed and shook himself mentally. It was then that he heard his secretary's insistent and worried calling. He turned around and leaned on the doorframe.

"What is it, Kimberly?"

"Um...I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but there's a Margaret Scully on line one. She says it's urgent," Kimberly amended, seeing the A.D's face tense.

Skinner sighed again. "All right, I'll take it in my office." She nodded and he walked slowly back into the room he had spent countless years of his life growing to hate.

Forcing himself to pick up the phone, Skinner reconciled himself to one of the most difficult phone calls he had ever had to make.

"Mrs. Scully?"

There was a long pause, then a quiet, ragged sob. "Mr. Skinner, where is my daughter?"

Skinner rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Is there somewhere I can meet you?"

Haad Thai restaurant

Washington, D.C.

9:32 p.m.

Skinner looked up as Mrs. Scully hesitantly approached the small booth. Standing, he stretched out his hand in greeting. "Mrs. Scully? Good to see you again."

She took his hand, looking at him with remarkable eyes that were striking not as much in their beauty as in the strength behind them. "It's good to see you too," she murmured, sliding in to her side of the booth. Skinner sat as well.

Wasting no time, Maggie folded her hands on the table and met Skinner's eyes. "Tell me...everything you know. Please."

He exhaled slowly. "I don't know where to begin."

"How? I saw the news this afternoon. Do you really think Fox could've done this?"

"I don't know. All the evidence tells me otherwise, but...I have this feeling."

"He would never hurt my Dana. I'm sure of it."

Skinner nodded, looking around the room. "I know; I feel the same way."

They were quiet, faced with two very familiar possibilities. Which was true? The logical, Bureau-backed scenario, or something vague and improbable -- two people's intuition?

Skinner and Maggie sat silently together. They were, for this brief time at least, equals, sharing disbelief mixed with sadness as the night wore on.

Econo Lodge

Richmond, Virginia

11:03 p.m.

The news was on again.

Scully and Mulder sat besides each other on the floor at the foot of one of the beds watching the news on one of the local stations. Scully glanced over at her partner, who was watching the TV screen absently. She turned her attention to the television. The same anchorwoman that was on in the afternoon was sitting at the news desk.

"And now, the latest on the abduction of F.B.I. agent Dana Scully."

Scully sat up straighter. "Mulder, look." A video clip of Skinner conversing with reporters had begun to play as the anchorwoman kept talking.

"We caught up with Walter Skinner, an Assistant Director at the F.B.I. and the Special Agent in Charge of the case, at a local D.C. restaurant." The camera moved in as Mulder turned to Scully, a look of surprise in his eyes. "I didn't know Skinner was appointed as the SAC in the case." "I didn't know he could be," Scully said in a low voice, also surprised. Then the sound on the video came up, and Skinner's words became audible.

"We're really not sure what happened at this point. I can tell you, however, that the agents' car was located earlier this evening in a small lake just north of Roanoke, and there was enough of Agent Scully's blood found in the room and the car to assume that she did not survive."

Scully shivered almost imperceptibly but Mulder felt it and looked down at her. She returned his gaze and relaxed against him as he put his arm around her shoulder and held her gently.

"Our forensics team also detected Agent's Mulder's blood in the interior of the car, indicating the possibility of a murder-suicide. Neither one of the agents has been found," Skinner finished. Scully heard the video clip fade out and allowed her eyelids to drift closed and her head to drop slowly onto Mulder's chest, listening to the rhythmic sound of his quiet breathing. She was completely relaxed.

Then she felt him startle. "What is it, Mulder?" she murmured.

"Scully, isn't that your mother?"

Scully's head came up as her gaze was instantly riveted on the TV. The reporter was still speaking.

"We also found Margaret Scully, Dana Scully's mother, at the restaurant with A.D. Skinner. She declined our request for an interview, but she did have this to say."

Slowly her mother's words became audible. "I can't deny the facts, but we will continue to hope and pray for my daughter's safe return." There was a lump in Scully's throat as she watched her mother's tear-stained face. She was so strong, always, but Scully knew how hard it was for her, having an F.B.I. agent for a daughter. How every night there was that small part of her mother's mind that wondered as she went to bed whether Scully was safe. Scully closed her eyes and felt Mulder's arm around her, drawing strength by his presence. And as she watched her mother push wearily through the swarm of eager reporters and get into her car, she knew that her decision to search for the truth would be harder than ever.

Somewhere in Virginia

11:31 p.m.

"Is everything going according to plan?" the man asked, his voice commanding respect and demanding an answer.

Another man turned to look at the large Mercator-projection map of Earth, stretching across a far wall. Indicating with a small wave of his hand the collection of small colored thumbtacks that littered the surface of the map, he spoke. "We are perfectly on schedule. They will be pleased."

The first man walked slowly to the map and stood in front of it, sharp eyes taking note of the thumbtacks' positions and colors. At last he turned to face the other men, silent and waiting. He took out a cigarette and his lighter and flicked the wheel. A flash of flame illuminated a wrinkled, bitter face. His sudden smile struck fear into the hearts of the younger members.

"Let it begin."