Title: Lies Once Told, Love Once Given: Part VI
Author: Gillian Leigh
Summary: A teenage girl's world falls apart, and her mother's begins to fall back together.
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing them for the duration... using them as puppets to act out my insane plots... Please don't sue!!!
Author's Notes: Just in case anyone was still confused, both Scully and Mulder are divorced. In chapter three, I called Dave Scully's 'ex-husband', and Mulder's divorce is mentioned in chapter five. Hope that helps clear things up, and I'm sorry if it confused anyone!
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Mulder...Olivia...England...Manhunt...Mulder...Olivia...Oxford...Mulder...Divorced...Olivia...Mulder...Olivia....Mulder....Mulder....Olivia...Dana's mind was racing as she sat on her American Airlines flight bound for England. She hardly heard the attendant as she told her to fasten her seatbelt. Bracing herself as she always did for plane landings, she said a quick prayer and made the Sign of the Cross. The plane touched down on the runway, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Standing by the luggage carousel, Dana watched as her suitcase appeared, and grabbed it, heading toward the doors that faced the street. She had been relieved that Liv was okay, but she was terribly anxious about seeing Mulder. It was apparent that he now knew that they had a daughter, and that she had kept this from him for all these years. As she neared the doors, she saw her daughter, and took off at a run, dragging her suitcase behind her. Mulder's eyes widened when he saw the virtually unchanged Dana Scully running toward their daughter. She dropped her suitcase and wrapped her arms around Liv.
"Olivia Paige Hollister, don't you ever do that to me again," she said sternly, though tears streamed down her cheeks and into Liv's hair.
"I'm sorry, Mom," she whispered to her mother, clinging to her tightly. Dana released her grasp on Liv and then looked up at Mulder. She fought hard to keep her tears from falling as she thought of the terrible thing she had done by keeping Olivia from him all these years.
"Hi, Mulder," she said, quietly. He smiled at her, and said,
"Hi, Scully." She smiled then--she had missed having him call her that. "We do beautiful work, don't we?" he continued quietly, hugging Liv. Her face crumpled, and she covered her eyes with her hand.
"God, Mulder, I'm so sorry," she said, almost sobbing. He put a hand on her shoulder, and said,
"Not here. We'll talk about it back at my place." She wiped her eyes, and Liv watched with mild amusement as Mulder hesitated momentarily before placing his open palm on her mother's lower back as they walked out to the curb toward his car.
The ride was an hour long from the airport to Mulder's flat near the Oxford campus, and Liv's jet-lag and lack of sleep finally caught up with her and she drifted off to sleep in the back seat of the car five minutes after they left the terminal.
"Mulder, I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am," Dana said quietly. Mulder reached over and took her hand in his.
"Liv explained to me why you didn't tell me--that you were trying to save my marriage. But you -uh- you really didn't have to worry about that. I doubt that Jessica and I were ever happy," he said with mirthless laughter.
"Oh Mulder, I'm sorry..." Scully replied.
"She left me about six months after we got married. She said I was too involved in myself, and that I didn't love her. That wasn't totally untrue... I was self-involved and though I loved her, I wasn't in love with her. She knew that, and she had every right to leave," he said nonchalantly.
"Oh," she replied, unsure of what else to say. "I'm sorry." He shrugged.
"Don't be. I've never seen myself as marriage material anyway," he said, keeping his eyes on the road.
"So," she began. "How have you been?"
"I'm alright," he said. "Teaching has kept me busy. My students all think I'm crazy." She smiled.
"Telling them stories about aliens and tractor beams were you?"
"Scully you know 'tractor beams' are a Hollywood thing..." He said, grinning at her. She smiled back. It was almost like old times. Almost.
He parked the car and Dana looked up at the impressive building before them. Made of brick, it had certain Victorian touches in its architecture. As she studied the building, Mulder opened the rear door of his car, and gently shook Liv's shoulder.
"C'mon, sweetheart. Time to wake up," he said. She sleepily opened her eyes and said,
"Where are we?"
"Back at my flat, Liv. You just have to walk upstairs, and then you can go to sleep," he said. She nodded, and he aided her as she climbed out of the car. He helped Liv walk and said,
"C'mon Scully, this way." She followed him into the lobby and then the elevator. They rode to the tenth floor, and when he opened the door, Dana nearly laughed out of relief. The sight of his disheveled apartment proved to her that he was definitely the very same Mulder that she knew so many years ago. He saw that she was laughing, and said,
"What?"
She smiled. "If I didn't know any better, I would think we were still in Arlington." He grinned back at her, and then guided Eve to the guest room, and she climbed into bed and was almost instantly asleep again. Mulder closed the door as he returned to the living room, and they really looked at each other for the first time. He stepped up to her.
"It's been a long time, Scully..." he said, slipping his coat off. Dana did the same, and responded,
"Yes it has." He hadn't changed all that much, physically, she thought. The only visible difference was the evident gray hairs at his temples. He was forty-six--she shuddered. That reminded her that she would turn forty-three in a few weeks.
"Can we talk?" he asked. She swallowed.
"Sure," she said, quietly. He sank into his couch, and Dana sank down beside him. He noted that she hadn't really changed much. He could see the stray grays in her hair, and he could see developing crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, but she was still beautiful. He knew he'd never stopped loving her, and as she sat beside him waiting for him to speak, she knew the very same thing.
"How many months pregnant were you when we spoke the last time?" he asked. She tucked her legs under her and turned toward him, resting her arm on the back of the couch.
"About three," she said.
"I wish I had known," he said. "I would've loved to cater to your pregnancy cravings." He smiled at her, but Dana's eyes pooled with tears.
"You don't know how badly I wanted you to be there--"
"Why didn't you tell me, Dana? I would've been there in a heartbeat and never looked back..." Mulder said, taking her hand in his. Dana choked back tears.
"Don't you get it, Mulder? That's exactly why I couldn't tell you! You were married, and I couldn't have you leaving your wife to run home to me. You cheated on her with me, and the minute she found out I was pregnant she would have known. It would've ruined your marriage. I couldn't be responsible for that," she said. There was a tremble in her voice, though she tried to remain calm.
"Why did we stop talking?" he asked. "Do you remember?"
"We were on different paths, I suppose. Our ships 'sailed in different directions', so to speak. We just stopped calling," she replied.
There were several moments of silence, and then Mulder said, "I still have it." Dana looked at him questioningly.
"You still have what?"
"The ring I gave you," he replied quietly.
"You kept it? God, I would've thought you'd thrown it away," she said. He shook his head, and reached under the collar of his shirt, and pulled out a gold chain. Dana could see the ring. Her eyes widened.
"You've worn it?" she whispered.
"Only for the past fifteen years," he replied, honestly. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her mouth hung open slightly.
"Oh, Mulder... we've wasted so much time," she said, squeezing his hand.
"I know," he replied, solemnly.
"Is it too late to start again?" she asked, fearing his response.
"I don't think so. I don't think it's ever too late," Mulder replied. Then his expression brightened. "If we're going to start this over again, we're going to do it the right way." He extended his hand to her and said, "Fox Mulder."
She smiled and shook his hand. "Dana Scully." That was appropriate, she thought. It had been 'Scully' for some time now since the divorce, but she had opted to go with 'Hollister' because she found herself writing it whenever her signature was necessary.
"Well, Ms. Scully, would you like to join me for dinner tomorrow evening?" he queried.
"Gladly, Mr. Mulder," she said, smiling. They were silent for a number of moments, and then Mulder squeezed her hand and asked,
"Will you tell me about Dave?"
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Author's Notes: Hope you like it! Read & Review, please!