TITLE: Those That Remain
AUTHOR: M. Edison
FEEDBACK: Oh yes please! Be gentle though. ;-)
CATEGORY: Post-ep to Within/Without, primarily a Scullyfic
RATING: G-PG (I'm lousy at ratings)
SPOILERS: Within/Without
ARCHIVE: Yes, please, just let me know first.
SUMMARY: Upon arriving in D.C. Scully goes to visit an old friend of
Mulder's (and her's) to talk.
Disclaimer: The X-Files, and associated concepts & characters belong to CC
and 1013. Chloe's mine. *G* I'm just borrowing them for a little
while...I'll put 'em back in one piece. Hopefully happier then when they
started out.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: There is an OC in this story and she's not going away.
*WEG* Oh and while this story holds no Shippiness or Dippiness....there may
be a little Doggett/Scully thing later on in the series. I like dat guy. *G*
He made an XF fan out of me. (this story will be eventually found on my
Miscellaneous fic page www.angelfire.com/tn/taycon/MiscFic.html )
Mucho thanks to my beta reader Julie Jekel! (Queen of XF fic in my opinon.
*G*)
Those That Remain
by M. Edison
In the darkened room, the curly-haired woman tossed and turned. The bed
sheets tangling around her slender body as she tried to free herself from
the dream. Tried to free herself from the confusing and strangely horrifying
images.
*Mulder, only not really Mulder, holding on to a young boy's arm with a
blank look in his eyes and a vaguely familiar man pointing a gun at him.*
*Scully, but not really Scully, grabbing a man by the throat.*
*Scully, standing in the desert, looking up at a bright light in the dark
sky*
*Mulder, in some sort of examination chair, yelling Scully's name.*
*Scully, lying on a linoleum floor, crying next to a puddle of a strange
green substance.*
*Mulder, surrounded by identical men, still in the chair staring up at
nothing.*
****
Chloe Alexander shot upright in bed, her eyes wide and her breathing
erratic. "Something is *seriously* wrong." she informed the darkened room.
Even as the words left her mouth, Chloe's own sarcastic nature let loose
with a 'well, duh, when isn't something seriously wrong with those two?!'
Freeing her legs from the mangled bed clothes, Chloe got up and slipped into
her bathrobe. Already the psychologist in her was analysing the dream
vision.
As she dug around for her slippers, Chloe's mind tried to put a name to the
unknown man holding the gun on Mulder. Well, the Mulder look alike.
"I know I've seen that guy before..." the clairvoyant muttered yanking on
the slippers.
Walking into the kitchen, she put a saucepan on the stove and headed for the
refrigerator to get the chocolate milk.
Chloe'd just closed the fridge door when someone knocked on her door. Milk
in hand, the FBI agent walked out to peer through the peephole. Surprise
registered on her face and she released the deadbolt then yanked open the
door.
"Dana?!" Concern written across her face, the taller woman pulled Scully
inside and closed the door. "What is it? Come in, sit down."
Emotionally and physically drained, the petite redhead let Chloe guide her
into the living room and relieve her of her coat before urging her to sit on
the couch. Scully wasn't sure exactly why she'd come. The reason she kept
telling herself was that Chloe needed to hear about Mulder from someone who
understood the friendship she shared with Dana's partner. But the logical
part of her said Chloe'd probably already been contacted by Doggett's team.
Another part of her argued that if she hadn't, then Chloe deserved warning.
Deep down though, Dana knew she'd come to Chloe because Chloe, aside from
Skinner and the Lone Gunmen, was the only one left she could trust.
Sitting down next to her, Chloe reached out to touch her friend's hand.
"What happened?"
Despite herself, tears welled up in Scully's eyes. "They..they..."
The other woman didn't have to ask. She knew who 'they' were. As the pieces
started to fall into place, she spoke gently. "Took Mulder?"
Not trusting her voice, Dana nodded and looked down at her lap.
Pain lancing in her own heart, Chloe pulled the redhead into a hug. It
wasn't much but it was all the comfort she could offer. Assurances were
useless. They couldn't be sure Mulder was still on the planet, never mind in
the country. At that moment, the only thing they could be sure of was that
he was still alive. At least, Chloe was sure. Scully...that was another
story.
It might not have been much in Chloe's eyes but that simple hug was a
lifeline to Dana.
Somewhere in her the dam broke and her emotions flooded out. It had been one
thing to cry in Doggett's arms, it was another to share the maelstrom with
someone who understood. Someone who was, no doubt, experiencing one quite
similar. After all, Chloe thought of Mulder as another brother. Doggett
barely knew him.
Not knowing what else to do, Chloe stroked Dana's hair in a decidedly
mothering manner as she cried softly herself.
Together, they made a heartbreaking picture. The woman Mulder considered his
best friend and the woman he'd all but adopted as a sister, trying to
comfort each other while trying to deal with their own private pain.
****
When the tears subsided, Chloe stood and got a box of tissues. The two women
shared weak smiles as they dried their faces and lightly blew their noses.
"Do you think you can help me find him?" Dana asked, her voice husky from
crying. "You've been able to help us before."
"Through a vision you mean?"
At Scully's nod, Chloe looked thoughtful. "Well, I did have a dream tonight.
Given the nature of its contents I believe it was a vision. It was about
Fox."
"What did you see!?" Dana sat up in an alert posture, blue eyes fixed
intently on her friend's face.
Forcing herself to try and relax, Chloe sat back and tried to objectively
relate the images and sounds she'd experienced in her vision. When she was
done, the clairvoyant looked at the other agent and waited for her reaction.
"He was...He knew...I..." Dana rested her face in shaking hands. "Oh God..."
Reaching out, Chloe rubbed Scully's shoulder gently. "Good idea, a little
prayer wouldn't hurt."
A faint smile ghosted across the redhead's face as she sat back to look at
the other woman.
"Dana...The important thing isn't that you may have missed saving Mulder;
the important thing is that we know he's alive. Besides, what could one
pregnant woman do against a ship full of aliens? Hormone them to death?"
Chloe grinned for a moment then her face grew serious once more. "Right now,
and I know Fox would agree, your priority has to be keeping yourself and
your baby safe. Let us worry about tracking Mulder down."
Dana looked pained. "But I..."
"You can't sit idly by, I know. No one said you had to." Chloe smiled
gently. "Let me help; let Skinner help. Heck, call the Lone Gunmen! You
aren't alone here."
The redheaded woman started to speak then paused, staring at her friend.
"Wait a minute, I never told you I was pregnant!"
Chloe grinned. "You also never told me that they kept you in the hospital to
make sure you were all right. I'm psychic, remember? I saw it in my vision
tonight." At the skeptical look Dana gave her, the profiler laughed. "Well I
did! You and Skinner were talking. He mentioned it." She paused then shook
her head. "After all the times I've helped you, had you ask for that help,
when it comes to you personally, you're still not a hundred percent
convinced of my Gift. Ever the skeptic, aren't you?"
A wry smile graced Scully's face. "Not as much as Agent Doggett."
The sentence seemed to come out of nowhere for Chloe and she blinked in
confusion. "Excuse me?"
"The Agent in charge of the task force looking for Mulder. You haven't been
contacted by them?"
"I may have." Chloe shrugged. "I've been down with the flu for about a week,
just got over it yesterday. I haven't been in to work since last Tuesday and
I've kept my phone unplugged. Had a splitting headache so the sound of the
phone ringing was *not* something I wanted to deal with. I take it they're
interviewing anyone closely connected to Fox?"
Scully nodded. "Oh yeah. Especially after files disappeared out of the
office."
That led to a brief explanation of some of the events Scully had lived
through. That explanation also led to more questions.
"Chloe..." Dana paused before plunging ahead. "Did you know Mulder was
sick?"
"Sick?" The curly-haired woman frowned. "No. As far as I know he wasn't sick
at all. Why?"
Keeping a cautious eye on Chloe's facial expressions, Scully recounted the
evidence Doggett had uncovered. All of it, including the headstone.
When she was done, disbelief and shock were warring for control of the
clairvoyant's face. "Dana...I don't know how convincing that evidence
looked...but Fox never said a word about being sick to me, and we've never
kept secrets from each other. I don't think...no I can't believe he was! He
would've told me! And you!" She shrugged. "And I don't know *where* that
headstone came from but Mulder never bought it. That's something I think
he'd know better than to try and hide from me."
Nodding, Dana couldn't help but feel relief flood through her. She'd never
believed it herself but hearing someone else voice their own disbelief
somehow validated her own opinion.
"Doggett..." The name finally registered with Chloe and she looked over at
her friend. "John Doggett?"
Scully nodded. "You know him?"
"Sort of." Chloe shrugged. "Mulder and I worked a case in New York a few
years ago. One of the detectives working the case was named John Doggett. We
didn't have much in the way of contact with him but I do remember him.
Sounds like he's originally from the south with a bit of NYC accent tossed
in for flavour? Kind of an intense guy?"
"Yes, he's...been assigned as my new partner, until Mulder gets back." That
last part was added with a fierce determination then Dana paused then looked
over at her. "Thank you, Chloe."
The clairvoyant grinned even as her mind tried to wrap around the bombshell
Scully had just dropped. "No problem, hon." Deciding to put it aside for
now, she surveyed her friend critically. "Stay here tonight, Dana. You look
wiped. I was just about to warm some chocolate milk. Have a mug with me then
I'll get you set up in the guest room."
Rising, Chloe brushed a hand across Scully's shoulder as she headed into the
kitchen. She'd intended to go back to work the next day anyway. But *now*
she had every intention of going to work and finding Agent John
Doggett...and smacking him six ways from Sunday.
And she was going to *enjoy* it.
AUTHOR: M. Edison
FEEDBACK: Oh yes please! Be gentle though. ;-)
CATEGORY: Post-ep to Within/Without, primarily a Scullyfic
RATING: G-PG (I'm lousy at ratings)
SPOILERS: Within/Without
ARCHIVE: Yes, please, just let me know first.
SUMMARY: Upon arriving in D.C. Scully goes to visit an old friend of
Mulder's (and her's) to talk.
Disclaimer: The X-Files, and associated concepts & characters belong to CC
and 1013. Chloe's mine. *G* I'm just borrowing them for a little
while...I'll put 'em back in one piece. Hopefully happier then when they
started out.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: There is an OC in this story and she's not going away.
*WEG* Oh and while this story holds no Shippiness or Dippiness....there may
be a little Doggett/Scully thing later on in the series. I like dat guy. *G*
He made an XF fan out of me. (this story will be eventually found on my
Miscellaneous fic page www.angelfire.com/tn/taycon/MiscFic.html )
Mucho thanks to my beta reader Julie Jekel! (Queen of XF fic in my opinon.
*G*)
Those That Remain
by M. Edison
In the darkened room, the curly-haired woman tossed and turned. The bed
sheets tangling around her slender body as she tried to free herself from
the dream. Tried to free herself from the confusing and strangely horrifying
images.
*Mulder, only not really Mulder, holding on to a young boy's arm with a
blank look in his eyes and a vaguely familiar man pointing a gun at him.*
*Scully, but not really Scully, grabbing a man by the throat.*
*Scully, standing in the desert, looking up at a bright light in the dark
sky*
*Mulder, in some sort of examination chair, yelling Scully's name.*
*Scully, lying on a linoleum floor, crying next to a puddle of a strange
green substance.*
*Mulder, surrounded by identical men, still in the chair staring up at
nothing.*
****
Chloe Alexander shot upright in bed, her eyes wide and her breathing
erratic. "Something is *seriously* wrong." she informed the darkened room.
Even as the words left her mouth, Chloe's own sarcastic nature let loose
with a 'well, duh, when isn't something seriously wrong with those two?!'
Freeing her legs from the mangled bed clothes, Chloe got up and slipped into
her bathrobe. Already the psychologist in her was analysing the dream
vision.
As she dug around for her slippers, Chloe's mind tried to put a name to the
unknown man holding the gun on Mulder. Well, the Mulder look alike.
"I know I've seen that guy before..." the clairvoyant muttered yanking on
the slippers.
Walking into the kitchen, she put a saucepan on the stove and headed for the
refrigerator to get the chocolate milk.
Chloe'd just closed the fridge door when someone knocked on her door. Milk
in hand, the FBI agent walked out to peer through the peephole. Surprise
registered on her face and she released the deadbolt then yanked open the
door.
"Dana?!" Concern written across her face, the taller woman pulled Scully
inside and closed the door. "What is it? Come in, sit down."
Emotionally and physically drained, the petite redhead let Chloe guide her
into the living room and relieve her of her coat before urging her to sit on
the couch. Scully wasn't sure exactly why she'd come. The reason she kept
telling herself was that Chloe needed to hear about Mulder from someone who
understood the friendship she shared with Dana's partner. But the logical
part of her said Chloe'd probably already been contacted by Doggett's team.
Another part of her argued that if she hadn't, then Chloe deserved warning.
Deep down though, Dana knew she'd come to Chloe because Chloe, aside from
Skinner and the Lone Gunmen, was the only one left she could trust.
Sitting down next to her, Chloe reached out to touch her friend's hand.
"What happened?"
Despite herself, tears welled up in Scully's eyes. "They..they..."
The other woman didn't have to ask. She knew who 'they' were. As the pieces
started to fall into place, she spoke gently. "Took Mulder?"
Not trusting her voice, Dana nodded and looked down at her lap.
Pain lancing in her own heart, Chloe pulled the redhead into a hug. It
wasn't much but it was all the comfort she could offer. Assurances were
useless. They couldn't be sure Mulder was still on the planet, never mind in
the country. At that moment, the only thing they could be sure of was that
he was still alive. At least, Chloe was sure. Scully...that was another
story.
It might not have been much in Chloe's eyes but that simple hug was a
lifeline to Dana.
Somewhere in her the dam broke and her emotions flooded out. It had been one
thing to cry in Doggett's arms, it was another to share the maelstrom with
someone who understood. Someone who was, no doubt, experiencing one quite
similar. After all, Chloe thought of Mulder as another brother. Doggett
barely knew him.
Not knowing what else to do, Chloe stroked Dana's hair in a decidedly
mothering manner as she cried softly herself.
Together, they made a heartbreaking picture. The woman Mulder considered his
best friend and the woman he'd all but adopted as a sister, trying to
comfort each other while trying to deal with their own private pain.
****
When the tears subsided, Chloe stood and got a box of tissues. The two women
shared weak smiles as they dried their faces and lightly blew their noses.
"Do you think you can help me find him?" Dana asked, her voice husky from
crying. "You've been able to help us before."
"Through a vision you mean?"
At Scully's nod, Chloe looked thoughtful. "Well, I did have a dream tonight.
Given the nature of its contents I believe it was a vision. It was about
Fox."
"What did you see!?" Dana sat up in an alert posture, blue eyes fixed
intently on her friend's face.
Forcing herself to try and relax, Chloe sat back and tried to objectively
relate the images and sounds she'd experienced in her vision. When she was
done, the clairvoyant looked at the other agent and waited for her reaction.
"He was...He knew...I..." Dana rested her face in shaking hands. "Oh God..."
Reaching out, Chloe rubbed Scully's shoulder gently. "Good idea, a little
prayer wouldn't hurt."
A faint smile ghosted across the redhead's face as she sat back to look at
the other woman.
"Dana...The important thing isn't that you may have missed saving Mulder;
the important thing is that we know he's alive. Besides, what could one
pregnant woman do against a ship full of aliens? Hormone them to death?"
Chloe grinned for a moment then her face grew serious once more. "Right now,
and I know Fox would agree, your priority has to be keeping yourself and
your baby safe. Let us worry about tracking Mulder down."
Dana looked pained. "But I..."
"You can't sit idly by, I know. No one said you had to." Chloe smiled
gently. "Let me help; let Skinner help. Heck, call the Lone Gunmen! You
aren't alone here."
The redheaded woman started to speak then paused, staring at her friend.
"Wait a minute, I never told you I was pregnant!"
Chloe grinned. "You also never told me that they kept you in the hospital to
make sure you were all right. I'm psychic, remember? I saw it in my vision
tonight." At the skeptical look Dana gave her, the profiler laughed. "Well I
did! You and Skinner were talking. He mentioned it." She paused then shook
her head. "After all the times I've helped you, had you ask for that help,
when it comes to you personally, you're still not a hundred percent
convinced of my Gift. Ever the skeptic, aren't you?"
A wry smile graced Scully's face. "Not as much as Agent Doggett."
The sentence seemed to come out of nowhere for Chloe and she blinked in
confusion. "Excuse me?"
"The Agent in charge of the task force looking for Mulder. You haven't been
contacted by them?"
"I may have." Chloe shrugged. "I've been down with the flu for about a week,
just got over it yesterday. I haven't been in to work since last Tuesday and
I've kept my phone unplugged. Had a splitting headache so the sound of the
phone ringing was *not* something I wanted to deal with. I take it they're
interviewing anyone closely connected to Fox?"
Scully nodded. "Oh yeah. Especially after files disappeared out of the
office."
That led to a brief explanation of some of the events Scully had lived
through. That explanation also led to more questions.
"Chloe..." Dana paused before plunging ahead. "Did you know Mulder was
sick?"
"Sick?" The curly-haired woman frowned. "No. As far as I know he wasn't sick
at all. Why?"
Keeping a cautious eye on Chloe's facial expressions, Scully recounted the
evidence Doggett had uncovered. All of it, including the headstone.
When she was done, disbelief and shock were warring for control of the
clairvoyant's face. "Dana...I don't know how convincing that evidence
looked...but Fox never said a word about being sick to me, and we've never
kept secrets from each other. I don't think...no I can't believe he was! He
would've told me! And you!" She shrugged. "And I don't know *where* that
headstone came from but Mulder never bought it. That's something I think
he'd know better than to try and hide from me."
Nodding, Dana couldn't help but feel relief flood through her. She'd never
believed it herself but hearing someone else voice their own disbelief
somehow validated her own opinion.
"Doggett..." The name finally registered with Chloe and she looked over at
her friend. "John Doggett?"
Scully nodded. "You know him?"
"Sort of." Chloe shrugged. "Mulder and I worked a case in New York a few
years ago. One of the detectives working the case was named John Doggett. We
didn't have much in the way of contact with him but I do remember him.
Sounds like he's originally from the south with a bit of NYC accent tossed
in for flavour? Kind of an intense guy?"
"Yes, he's...been assigned as my new partner, until Mulder gets back." That
last part was added with a fierce determination then Dana paused then looked
over at her. "Thank you, Chloe."
The clairvoyant grinned even as her mind tried to wrap around the bombshell
Scully had just dropped. "No problem, hon." Deciding to put it aside for
now, she surveyed her friend critically. "Stay here tonight, Dana. You look
wiped. I was just about to warm some chocolate milk. Have a mug with me then
I'll get you set up in the guest room."
Rising, Chloe brushed a hand across Scully's shoulder as she headed into the
kitchen. She'd intended to go back to work the next day anyway. But *now*
she had every intention of going to work and finding Agent John
Doggett...and smacking him six ways from Sunday.
And she was going to *enjoy* it.