Present Day...
It was late and had long since turned dark outside. It was still warm and it made everybody feel sticky as they all sat in the living room with the windows wide open yet providing no fresh air. Monica had told her in-laws that they could leave but they had refused to let her be alone, when in all honesty that's all Monica wanted. To be alone with her thoughts and her daughter.
Anna had fallen asleep on her lap and Monica sat stroking her hair as she stared out of the window. Rosey was sitting with Kate and they were talking about Kate's job and how her life was going, Frank was still sitting in the same chair that he had sat down in when he first arrived at the house. He hadn't moved once, not for a drink or something to eat, not anything. And he hadn't taken his eyes from the back garden, despite the fact it was now almost eleven at night and pitch black.
When Rosey yawned Monica saw it as her final chance at getting them to leave. She had to do this first night alone with Anna, without someone else there to hold her up. She hadn't spent a night alone since John had died and she felt it would be the right step to take to take that night alone now, with Anna by her side.
The Doggett family agreed to leave. They were booked on a flight back to New York in two days and asked if they could come and spend time with Anna before leaving and Monica of course told them they could see her whenever they wanted. Rosey and Kate kissed her goodbye and kissed Anna as she lay sleeping on the sofa.
Frank never spoke a word and quietly walked out of the house without looking at Monica or his granddaughter. Monica didn't understand why, but she didn't want to question him either. After waving them all off she went back inside and suddenly couldn't feel the heat that was consuming the rest of the population. She was shivering and she was alone in a big family house.
She picked up Anna and carried her up to her room, she laid her on her bed and sat with her for a while before going into her own room to try and get some sleep. Everywhere she turned she saw John, she could feel him all around her and she wished for once that she wasn't so in tune with the part of her that felt those kinds of things.
John was dead she didn't want to think of him being somewhere else, being alone and waiting for her and his little girl, it was better if he was just gone, better for her to cope with anyway. If she could imagine that he was completely gone from her life rather than just in a different life and still able to communicate with her then it was easier. If she couldn't see, touch, and live with him, she didn't want to have anything to do with him at all.
As Monica continuously turned over and over again in bed she dreaded seeing the clock to check how long had passed since she last looked at the time. It was almost three in the morning and she wasn't even really tired. She was replaying the day over in her head; she had spoken to nobody at the funeral or anybody when they got home.
Was that wrong? Had she done the right thing? But then did it really even matter? As she lay contemplating this she didn't hear the floorboards creak in the next room and she didn't realise that Anna had appeared in the room until she was standing beside her mother. She frightened Monica as she had been startled and thought that it was John.
"Mommy, I can't sleep. Can I get in with you?"
"Sure you can baby, come on."
Monica threw back the thin sheet she had cast over herself as protection from all the things in the room that were John and she wrapped herself and Anna inside it again. She held Anna close and was now able to feel herself comfortable with sleeping. *********
June 24th, Silver Spring, Maryland...
John stepped out of his car and almost felt contempt in himself as he looked to the prospect of talking to the young girl that was accusing his wife of wrongfully killing her uncle.
He knew that Monica had done the right thing all those years ago, he remembered telling her that it was all over when he had stopped Katha Dukes from shooting Monica with her own gun.
He had found her on the ground and that was when he first remembered what working alongside Monica had been like for him. She had a contagious outlook on life and he had been able to move past his son's death because of her.
He had been confused about his feelings when she first joined him on the X- Files unit but now he couldn't have wished his life had turned out any differently.
He was so happy with how things were going that he half wanted to go back in time and shoot Jeb Dukes himself so that it wasn't Monica that was being held responsible for all of this.
He knocked on the door of the children's home that Mia Dukes had been taken to and hoped that he make her see the logic behind Monica's actions. He was introduced to a woman who worked in the home and she took him into her office where he was told to wait whilst the woman went to collect Mia to talk with him.
When Mia walked into the room he could still see the scared six-year-old he had seen all those years ago.
"Mia Dukes?"
"Yeah, and you're Agent Doggett. I remember you. But it wasn't you they said I could see. It was your partner. Reyes."
"Agent Reyes was unable to make it."
"Too afraid to face the person whose life she destroyed?"
"No, she wanted to come, but our superiors forbid her to. You have yourself to blame for that."
"How'd you figure?"
"Well if you hadn't decided to bring a law suit against her and the FBI then she'd be allowed to speak with you."
"If this is some kind of trick to get me to back off then forget it."
"It's not a trick. I just wanted to be honest with you, I thought you'd appreciate that."
Mia looked at John and was clearly trying to figure him out. She wanted to know what his motive was towards her, but she couldn't read him, she didn't like it.
"Look, I don't have to listen to you, or take any of your crap."
"I understand you've had a tough life..."
"A tough life? I'm fourteen years old, I've been in seven different foster homes, my mom's in a mental institute, thanks to your partner, I was in my uncle's arms when he was shot and murdered, by your partner, and I haven't seen my father since I was three years old. What was it you called all of that? A tough life? Wow. You're good at this."
Mia walked out of the room and John didn't do or say anything. He felt sorry for her and he didn't like it because he felt that this was a betrayal to Monica.
In seven years he had never found it so hard to separate his personal life from his work. And he began to wonder why Skinner had even called him, Dana and Monica in on it in the first place.
It was late and had long since turned dark outside. It was still warm and it made everybody feel sticky as they all sat in the living room with the windows wide open yet providing no fresh air. Monica had told her in-laws that they could leave but they had refused to let her be alone, when in all honesty that's all Monica wanted. To be alone with her thoughts and her daughter.
Anna had fallen asleep on her lap and Monica sat stroking her hair as she stared out of the window. Rosey was sitting with Kate and they were talking about Kate's job and how her life was going, Frank was still sitting in the same chair that he had sat down in when he first arrived at the house. He hadn't moved once, not for a drink or something to eat, not anything. And he hadn't taken his eyes from the back garden, despite the fact it was now almost eleven at night and pitch black.
When Rosey yawned Monica saw it as her final chance at getting them to leave. She had to do this first night alone with Anna, without someone else there to hold her up. She hadn't spent a night alone since John had died and she felt it would be the right step to take to take that night alone now, with Anna by her side.
The Doggett family agreed to leave. They were booked on a flight back to New York in two days and asked if they could come and spend time with Anna before leaving and Monica of course told them they could see her whenever they wanted. Rosey and Kate kissed her goodbye and kissed Anna as she lay sleeping on the sofa.
Frank never spoke a word and quietly walked out of the house without looking at Monica or his granddaughter. Monica didn't understand why, but she didn't want to question him either. After waving them all off she went back inside and suddenly couldn't feel the heat that was consuming the rest of the population. She was shivering and she was alone in a big family house.
She picked up Anna and carried her up to her room, she laid her on her bed and sat with her for a while before going into her own room to try and get some sleep. Everywhere she turned she saw John, she could feel him all around her and she wished for once that she wasn't so in tune with the part of her that felt those kinds of things.
John was dead she didn't want to think of him being somewhere else, being alone and waiting for her and his little girl, it was better if he was just gone, better for her to cope with anyway. If she could imagine that he was completely gone from her life rather than just in a different life and still able to communicate with her then it was easier. If she couldn't see, touch, and live with him, she didn't want to have anything to do with him at all.
As Monica continuously turned over and over again in bed she dreaded seeing the clock to check how long had passed since she last looked at the time. It was almost three in the morning and she wasn't even really tired. She was replaying the day over in her head; she had spoken to nobody at the funeral or anybody when they got home.
Was that wrong? Had she done the right thing? But then did it really even matter? As she lay contemplating this she didn't hear the floorboards creak in the next room and she didn't realise that Anna had appeared in the room until she was standing beside her mother. She frightened Monica as she had been startled and thought that it was John.
"Mommy, I can't sleep. Can I get in with you?"
"Sure you can baby, come on."
Monica threw back the thin sheet she had cast over herself as protection from all the things in the room that were John and she wrapped herself and Anna inside it again. She held Anna close and was now able to feel herself comfortable with sleeping. *********
June 24th, Silver Spring, Maryland...
John stepped out of his car and almost felt contempt in himself as he looked to the prospect of talking to the young girl that was accusing his wife of wrongfully killing her uncle.
He knew that Monica had done the right thing all those years ago, he remembered telling her that it was all over when he had stopped Katha Dukes from shooting Monica with her own gun.
He had found her on the ground and that was when he first remembered what working alongside Monica had been like for him. She had a contagious outlook on life and he had been able to move past his son's death because of her.
He had been confused about his feelings when she first joined him on the X- Files unit but now he couldn't have wished his life had turned out any differently.
He was so happy with how things were going that he half wanted to go back in time and shoot Jeb Dukes himself so that it wasn't Monica that was being held responsible for all of this.
He knocked on the door of the children's home that Mia Dukes had been taken to and hoped that he make her see the logic behind Monica's actions. He was introduced to a woman who worked in the home and she took him into her office where he was told to wait whilst the woman went to collect Mia to talk with him.
When Mia walked into the room he could still see the scared six-year-old he had seen all those years ago.
"Mia Dukes?"
"Yeah, and you're Agent Doggett. I remember you. But it wasn't you they said I could see. It was your partner. Reyes."
"Agent Reyes was unable to make it."
"Too afraid to face the person whose life she destroyed?"
"No, she wanted to come, but our superiors forbid her to. You have yourself to blame for that."
"How'd you figure?"
"Well if you hadn't decided to bring a law suit against her and the FBI then she'd be allowed to speak with you."
"If this is some kind of trick to get me to back off then forget it."
"It's not a trick. I just wanted to be honest with you, I thought you'd appreciate that."
Mia looked at John and was clearly trying to figure him out. She wanted to know what his motive was towards her, but she couldn't read him, she didn't like it.
"Look, I don't have to listen to you, or take any of your crap."
"I understand you've had a tough life..."
"A tough life? I'm fourteen years old, I've been in seven different foster homes, my mom's in a mental institute, thanks to your partner, I was in my uncle's arms when he was shot and murdered, by your partner, and I haven't seen my father since I was three years old. What was it you called all of that? A tough life? Wow. You're good at this."
Mia walked out of the room and John didn't do or say anything. He felt sorry for her and he didn't like it because he felt that this was a betrayal to Monica.
In seven years he had never found it so hard to separate his personal life from his work. And he began to wonder why Skinner had even called him, Dana and Monica in on it in the first place.