Title: Charlie
Author: Gillian Leigh
Summary: What if Skinner had been abducted instead of Mulder? What would it mean for the X-Files and for Mulder and Scully themselves? Why would he have been abducted in the first place? Post-Requiem.
Disclaimer: They're not mine. If they were, would I be writing this?!
Georgetown, Maryland
His diagnosis was not good, and Dr. Anders's clinical terms made Scully sick to her stomach again. The prognosis was identical to what hers had been. Her first instinct was to have Dr. Anders check for evidence of a microchip or its removal. Hidden just beneath his hairline, approximately four inches higher than where hers had been, was evidence of an incision. Mulder himself then ordered an x-ray, and they found that there was no chip present, but there was enough evidence for them to come to the conclusion that there had been one there at one point in time.
A month later, Scully entered her apartment with a bag of groceries balanced on each hip, and dropped her keys onto the table just inside the door before heading to the kitchen. Placing the bags on the counter, she walked back into the living room and smiled at the sight of Mulder still sleeping on the couch. She covered him more with the blanket and gently kissed his forehead. The chemo drained him terribly. She remembered all too well the vomiting, weakness and often bouts of fever that followed the initial treatment. As she watched him sleep she couldn't help but remember Dr. Zuckerman's prognosis. The phone rang, startling her. She lunged for it so that it didn't wake Mulder.
"Hello?" she said quietly, ducking into her bedroom.
"Hi, Dana," her mother said on the other end.
"Oh, hi Mom," she whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" Maggie asked.
"Mulder's sleeping," she replied, closing the bedroom door.
"How's Fox doing, by the way?" her mother questioned, knowing the seriousness of his condition.
Scully sighed. "The chemo is hell for him. He hates feeling so weak," she said. Maggie 'mmhmmed' in response.
"I know this is short notice, but Charlie, Kate and the kids are coming out for dinner tonight. Do you think Fox would feel up to coming with you to the house this evening?" Scully's whole face practically lit up.
"Charlie's coming up?" she questioned, smiling brightly. Maggie could practically sense her daughter's grin.
"Yes. Dinner's at seven if you and Fox are up to it," she said. "When he wakes up, tell him I said hello."
"Okay Mom," Scully said. "Love you."
"Love you too, darling. Goodbye," Maggie replied.
"Bye," Scully added, and then hung up. She exited the bedroom all smiles thinking of getting to see her beloved twin brother, and was startled by Mulder's voice.
"Talking to your other boyfriend were you?" She gasped and almost dropped the phone. "Or was it the pizza guy?" She was going to yell at him for scaring her, but took one look at the grin he was wearing and didn't have the heart. She smiled back.
"That was my mom. She says hello, and she wanted to invite us for dinner tonight, if you're feeling up to it," she said, placing the phone back in its cradle.
"I think I feel well enough," he said. "I don't feel so drained today. But how about you? You look exhausted..."
"I'm alright, just in need of a little nap. I've read that women experience fatigue, especially during the early and late parts of pregnancy, but I never imagined that I would be this tired all the time..." He smiled, and his gaze dropped to her midsection.
"I'll have to have a long talk with our little Pod Person about making Mommy tired..." He said. She smiled and walked back into the kitchen to put the rest of the groceries away.
"Do you need any help?" Mulder asked, watching her through the doorway.
"Nope, I'm fine," she replied, putting the milk in the refrigerator.
"Okay," he said, and sank into the couch, turning the TV on and flipping through the channels until he found a college basketball game. He didn't realize how tired he still was until he fell asleep on the couch, and Scully did the same beside him moments later.
The ringing of the phone woke Mulder from his second nap of the day, and Mulder fumbled for it, reaching around Scully who was wedged into the couch with him.
"Mulder," he mumbled sleepily.
"Hello Fox, it's Maggie. Did I wake you?"
"No, I was just resting my eyes," he replied, closing them again as Scully moved her head on his shoulder, tightening her grip around his waist.
"Well, I was just wondering if you and Dana could do me a favor and pick up a bottle or two of wine on your way over. I'll pay you back when you get to the house... I just realized that I don't have enough here for dinner tonight."
"Sure," Mulder said. "I'll get a bottle of red and a bottle of white."
"Thank you, Fox. I'll see you at 7:30."
"See you then, Maggie," he said, hanging up the phone. He tried to deposit it back in its cradle, and missed, sending it falling to the floor. He sighed and glanced at his watch and decided it would be best to wake Scully so she could do whatever it was she needed to do to get ready. He gently shook her shoulder.
"Scully...Scully...Dana, wake up," he said, and watched with a smile as she slowly opened her eyes.
"What is it?" she questioned tiredly.
"We need to start getting ready to go to your mom's house, and she asked if we could stop along the way and get wine for dinner," he said.
She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. "I'll jump in for my shower."
"What should I wear?" Mulder asked as he got to his feet and folded the blanket that had covered them.
"Just something comfortable. Jeans and a sweater will be fine," she replied. "Did I tell you that Charlie will be there?" Mulder shook his head as he laid the blanket over the arm of the couch.
"Nope, you didn't." She could sense that he looked a little uneasy.
"Don't worry Mulder, he's nothing like Bill," she said. "Charlie's always been the most easygoing of all four of us. I can't tell you how many times I told him that he and Missy should've been twins rather than he and I. He'll love you." Mulder sighed. He sure hoped so.
Maggie Scully Residence
As they pulled into her mother's driveway, Scully held the bottles of wine on her lap, and couldn't help but remember that she hadn't as of yet told her mother or any other members of her family about the baby. Or her relationship with Mulder, though she was positive her mother knew about that. Maggie had dropped by one day early in the morning after Mulder had spent the night and Scully hadn't reacted quickly enough to stop Mulder from answering the door in his boxers and a t-shirt.
They walked up the steps together, and Scully knocked on the door, reaching over to take hold of Mulder's hand just as the door opened and her mother stood on the other side.
"Dana, Fox, come inside," she said, smiling brightly. As they stepped inside, Scully prayed that her shirt was big enough to hide her condition, and then she plastered on a smile so her mother wouldn't think that there was something wrong.
"Thank you for picking up the wine, dears," she said, kissing her daughter on the cheek, and then Mulder bent down a little so she could do the same to him. "How're you feeling?" she asked, looking at him with concern.
"Better. The side effects of the chemo wore off, and I got to take two good naps today, so I'm full of energy," he replied with a smile that reassured her, and then she turned to her daughter.
"How about you, sweetheart? You look a little peaked this evening..." Scully opened her mouth to respond, but Charlie intervened, wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug. Mulder hadn't really known what to expect of Charlie, because the only picture that Scully displayed had the four of the Scully children together as teenagers, but he was very surprised to find that Charlie was nearly six-foot-two-inches tall, with dark auburn hair, and a massively muscular build. He swallowed hard, and prayed that Charlie did like him, because if he didn't, he could truly kick his ass.
"Charlie!" Scully exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him as he lifted her off the floor. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Danes," he said, setting her down.
She turned toward Mulder and said, "Charlie, this is Fox Mulder. Mulder, this is my brother, Charlie." The two men shook hands, and Mulder was surprised when Charlie grinned widely at him.
"Don't look so scared, Mulder. I'm nothing like Bill," he said, and Scully smiled, looping her arm around Mulder's waist. Mulder blushed a little, and then dropped a kiss on top of her head. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
The evening went without incident, well, until dinner that is. Everyone had filled their plates, and grace was said, and they were all getting ready to eat when Maggie realized she forgot about the wine.
"I'll just go get it from the kitchen," she said, rising out of her chair. She brought it in and insisted on serving it to everyone. She got to Scully, who clamped a hand over her glass, and found her heart thudding in her chest. Looked like it was about time to tell them her good news.
"Dana, are you sure you don't want any?" she asked, studying her daughter peculiarly.
"Yes Mom, I'm--" she paused when Mulder's cell phone rang shrilly.
"Excuse me," he said, leaving the table to answer his phone in the other room.
"--I'm sure," she replied, and fought back a shit-eating grin. "Besides, it's a bad idea to drink while you're pregnant..." Charlie was the first to catch on and he looked at his sister in astonishment. She smiled at him, and he reached across the table and took her hand.
"Congratulations, Daney," he said quietly. Once Kate, Maggie and Scully's nieces and nephews caught on, there were several minutes of excited congratulations and questions.
"But I thought you said that the in-vitro fertilization you tried didn't work?" Charlie questioned, not for a moment forgetting his sister's difficulties with fertility.
"No, it didn't," she said, taking a sip of her water, and wondering what the hell was taking Mulder so long on the phone.
"But then how..." Maggie began.
"The good old fashioned way," Scully replied. "I'm due in May."
"Oh sweetheart," Maggie said, giving her daughter a hug. "I'm so happy for you..."
"I hate to interrupt," Mulder began, "but Dana and I are going to have to take a rain-check on dinner tonight. We're needed down at the Bureau." Maggie looked positively disappointed.
"Oh alright, dears. Duty calls I suppose...but congratulations, and this just means you'll have to have us all over for dinner one night," she said, giving Mulder a hug.
They all said their goodbyes, and Mulder and Scully were congratulated about another hundred times before they could get out the door.
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Author's Notes: I know; I know, Scully and Charlie are not twins, blah blah blah. But this is an AU fanfic, so I used my artistic license and made them twins. ::sticks tongue out:: So there. And I know this chapter sucks, but it's basically a filler chapter because I felt so guilty about not posting a million and a half years. Let me know what you thought, please, and I'll try not to be so long in updating next time!
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