Scully's Choice
by Kavendish
rated PG
Category: H(umor), S(tory), Existence post-ep, MA (Mulder
Angst), MT (Mulder Torture), DSR (Doggett/Scully romance)
spoils Anasazi, Fight the Future, Millennium, Closure, eighth
season, shippers' appetites
Send any and all feedback to kavendish@zensearch.net
Distribute anywhere.
Summary: Why in the world would Scully ever choose Doggett
over Mulder?
Disclaimer: The only thing I own here is the plot, a potential
season nine scenario that would account for Mulder's absence. ;)
Thanks to kate for the beta reading and advice.
Picks up from the end of the season finale "Existence."

"Scully's Choice"
by Kavendish


For one frozen moment, Mulder and Scully's lips met in a full-on
romantic kiss. Mulder had been waiting years for this event. It
was everything he had dreamed of, with him cradling his infant son
as he kissed the love of his life. Existence didn't get any better.

All too soon, though, Scully unglued her mouth from his and withdrew
to arm's length. She was frowning. Directly at him. Mulder shifted
William to a more comfortable position as Scully declared, "It's not
going to work, Mulder."

Mulder smoothed the baby's blanket and decided to play along with
what was obviously a joke on Scully's part. "What are you talking
about? What isn't going to work?"

"This." She waved her hand at him like he was a pesky fly. "Us.
Being together. It isn't right."

Mulder laughed nervously. "Are you getting back at me for asking who
you were when I woke up in the hospital? I thought we were past
that."

Very slowly, Scully enunciated, "It's over, Mulder. *We* are over.
Things could never work between us."

He shook his head, not sure what she was getting at. "What do you
mean? We're finally on the right track. We even just kissed."

Scully shrugged. "Sorry, Mulder, you didn't use enough tongue. That
proves once and for all you're not serious about pursuing a romantic
relationship with me. I'm cutting my losses and moving on to a man
who can give me what I need."

"What? Who?" Mulder gasped with the dawning belief that Scully might
actually mean what she was saying.

Scully eyed him as if he were a wad of Doublemint gum stuck to the
toe of her newest Gucci pump. "Why, John Doggett, of course."

Captive in the sharp talons of shock, Mulder clutched William a
little too tightly. The baby shrieked and promptly, thoroughly spit
up all over Mulder's black-clad chest. Grimacing in annoyance,
Scully extricated her son, leaving Mulder to stand bereft and
plastered in baby puke.

***

What had gone wrong? Mulder rewound the memories, playing them over
and over in an attempt to solve the mystery. The circumstances had
seemed ideal. He and Scully had stood communicating with their eyes,
their child perched between them. He had leaned in for the kiss,
their lips had connected, it had been the culmination of years of
pent-up longing and then it was over. Scully had rejected him like
Patrick Ewing at the net. Calmly, coolly, definitively. Because he
hadn't slipped her enough tongue. He'd been under the impression
their love transcended such mundane matters. Clearly he had been
mistaken, and the realization burned like acid in a gaping wound.

It simply wasn't right. Mulder and Scully went together like
peanut butter and jelly, spic and span, on and off. Doggett and
Scully sounded like a baseball announcing team. After all they had
endured together, why would Scully choose John Doggett over him?
Mulder had to find out.


end of chapter 1