Title: Remember When?: A little scare
Author: Jen Zoromski
All other information is in first chapter.
Author's Note: Wow! It's been a long while since I've posted. With all of the school work and after school activities I haven't had time to update. Well here's my update after a month. Thanks so much for all of you who are still reading. You guys are awesome. This story is nearing the end (probably in the next two to three chapters) So enjoy!
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Bethesda Nursing Home
June 10, 2052
"What happened next?" Jack Doggett questions, becoming more and more interested in the story.
"You need to be patient, Mr. Doggett," Scully scolds picking up her photo album and running her hands over the front cover. Many memories are stored in the book. Many memories that she can't remember.
"Jack, maybe we should leave Mrs. Mulder," Kate suggests quietly.
"No! I'm okay," the elder Dana Scully forcefully says, "I need to get this story out."
"But its simple from this point on, isn't it? The vaccine gets made, mankind is saved and you and Mulder got to ride off into the sunset as the ones who saved it," Jack says.
"Jack, I can't believe that they've given you the X-Files. You have such a closed mind."
"My grandfather had them didn't he?"
"He didn't want them."
"And Jack does."
"Why didn't he want them?" Jack inquires.
"He was a man who if he wouldn't have been saddled with the X-Files would have been the Director one day. But when anyone gave John Doggett a job he would see it through. The vortex of the X-Files sucked him in."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Weren't you on the fast track to becoming one of the most powerful women at the Bureau?" Kate asks.
"I was, but I met a man who was on a quest to save the world. I just happened to get too involved. His quest became our quest," Scully shrugs.
"Do you regret it?" Kate questions sincerely.
Dana Scully absently stares out the window watching two robins jump from branch to branch. She smiles at the prospect that these two birds are in love.
"Mrs. Mulder?"
"Hmmm?"
"Do you regret becoming a part of Mulder's quest?"
"I don't regret anything. Sure it was hard at times, but love got us through. I got to have children with a man that I loved. That was worth all of the pain and sacrifice."
"It was about sacrifice wasn't it?"
"A lot of the time, but we saved the world. None of us would be here if it wasn't for our sacrifices."
"Your children."
"They had good lives. We were involved with them for most of their lives."
"One more push and you'll have your baby," the young resident at the end of the bed tells Megan. Her face is beat red as she clutches onto to her mother's hand. Dana Scully is on one side of Meg, Mulder is on the other.
She bares down and pushes.
A cry goes through the silent hospital room.
"It's a girl!"
"Oh my God," Meg says in shock.
"You did it sweetheart. You've got your little girl," Scully whispers.
The doctor places the screaming baby on Meg's stomach, still slimy and red from her hard trip. Meg pulls the child close.
"Is she real?"
"Of course she is," Mulder says unable to stop smiling.
They had a grandchild.
"They said I wouldn't be able to have a child."
"But she's here, Meg. She's all yours."
"All she needs is a name," Mulder tells her kissing Meg's forehead.
Megan looks from her mother to her father with a huge smile on her face.
"Catherine," she whispers stroking the child's head.
"That's such an old fashioned name," Scully protests.
"She's your namesake, Mom."
Scully takes her daughter and granddaughter into an embrace.
"Can I hold her?"
Megan reluctantly hands her daughter over to her mother. Scully stares down at the tiny face. Glints of auburn are already evident on her small head. The child looking back up at her is a spitting image of Meg.
"My God, Meg, she looks just like you," Scully whispers.
"Mrs. Mulder?" Catherine says franticly trying to shake the woman awake.
Nothing.
"Oh my God. Jack, she's not breathing. Go get a doctor."
"Kate?"
"Now, Jack!"
Catherine leans Scully back and starts to do CPR, "Come on Mrs. Mulder, your story was getting good. You can't die on us. You need to finish!"
"Mulder please tell me its not true," Scully whispers. They are sitting in a large Catholic church dressed completely in black. A wooden coffin sits in front of the church.
Mulder takes her hand and squeezes it gently. In the front row William sits with his wife and a little girl with auburn ringlets. She continues to stand looking around the church.
"Uncle Will, where's Mommy?" the little girl asks.
"Katie, Mommy went away," William tells her swallowing back tears.
"When's she coming back? I miss her."
"Remember we talked about this," William whispers, his voice cracking, "Mommy went to Heaven to be with God."
"God can send her back now."
"No, sweetheart, he can't. Mommy is going to live with him for a very long time."
The four-year-old Catherine looks up at her uncle with those deep hazel eyes, "Forever?"
William swallows, tears glistening in his eyes, "Yes."
"Mulder, I can't take this," Scully whispers watching the exchange between William and Meg's now orphaned daughter.
"I know, Scully, I know."
"I thought that I'd die long before she did. Meg is too young. She has her daughter to raise," Scully says her voice cracking as the tears start to take over.
Mulder protectively puts his arm around Scully, holding her tight as they watch the priest process to the front of the church. Just one of many funerals they have attended. Meg died because of their quest. They gave her cancer and now she has died.
"Mrs. Mulder, can you hear me?" Catherine's voice breaks through the hazy memory.
Scully opens her eyes and looks around, surprised to be in a hospital room hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor.
"What the hell am I doing here?" Scully asks looking around weakly.
"You stopped breathing. The doctor's think you had a stroke."
"Lucky me," Scully replies sarcastically.
Footsteps echo down the hallway, getting closer to Scully's room. Seconds later a knock echoes on the wooden door.
"Come in," Catherine yells.
The door opens slowly and sixty-one year old William Mulder walks through the door.
"Hey Aunt Dana," he says sheepishly grinning at her with the impish grin Mulder used to always give her.
"William," Scully whispers, amazed to see him standing in front of her.
"Since this is Uncle Will's history as well I thought he should hear some of it," Catherine explains.
"You've already missed most of the story," Scully starts.
William holds up his hand, "Don't worry, Kate's filled me in on just about everything. I'm sorry that I haven't visited you--"
"Don't," Scully forcefully says, "You're here now. That's all that matters."
"You ready to tell more of the story?" Jack inquires from the far corner in the room.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"You were in the facility--"
"I know where I was," she bites, "We were in the underground CDC facility ready to save the world."
TBC
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More to come. Please R&R!
~Jen
