Chapter 2: Tests of Faith and Friendship
Dana had spent a full week at her new school and was already sure she belonged there. Her teachers were great; she had good friends and many acquaintances. The rest of the family seemed to be faring the same as usual, but Bill Scully, Sr. noticed the change in his youngest daughter. She was happy, genuinely happy.
The Scully family had already had the Mulders over for supper and liked their neighbors very much. Except Bill, Jr. that is, who didn't like Mulder for reasons he couldn't place. The others liked him though, as well as his little sister Samantha who was about Charlie's age, his mother Teena, and his father William. Now it was Monday again and Dana was back at school with Mulder, John, and Monica.
Dana had slept through her alarm once and had to dress fast for fear of being late to school. The day hadn't started well but it was about to get worse. She met Mulder at the front of the school as usual and they walked together to the end of the hall where Monica and John were waiting.
"Look who decided to finally join us." John remarked, jokingly. Dana blushed but smiled. She and Mulder didn't tell them that it was Dana who had been last to arrive. They barely had five minutes to spare before the bell rang for them to go to first period. Math was boring enough as was history. They all met again at their spot. After a few moments of sitting and talking there was a commotion coming from the hall to their right. Mulder and John got up and looked around the corner to see Gerald and Frank having heated words and begin to throw punches at the encouraging of the crowd.
"Let's get out of here before the teachers start breaking this up. It could get ugly. They're usually calmer after winter break." Mulder added the last sentence to reassure his friend who seemed a little shocked that this school had so many fights. At her old school you could sit in a corner and not talk to anyone and never hear about the few fights they had. According to what Mulder had told her the previous week, there were less fights at the high school. They walked over and sat in front of Mulder and Dana's third period classes.
After about five minutes the noise died down almost entirely. The fight was over and the bell was ringing. John and Monica said they would see them later and walked off to their classes. Dana and Mulder went to their classes once the teachers arrived. Study skills went by pretty fast for being so boring. Next thing they knew the two were walking toward the gym together. Dana to the girls' locker room and Mulder to the boys' locker room. After changing the group of four sat talking for a bit until the substitute brought out a basket of balls for the students. Mulder jumped up in the middle of Monica's sentence to grab a basketball. He dribbled back to them and stopped in front of their seats.
"Wanna shoot some hoops Dana?" She was about to say no thank you but he put on a sad puppy dog face and she suddenly wanted to agree.
"But I've never played before. My brother would never let me play. He said I was too short to play with him and his friends." His puppy dog face turned into a grin.
"Your brother was just being an older brother. I'll teach you. And you're not too short. Ever heard of Mugsy Bouges? He's a pro-basketball player and he's 5'3". So don't let your brother tell you you're short." She smiled and jumped up to play. They went over to the free throw line and he began instructing and helping. In no time she was making shot after shot as good as Mulder who was much taller. The bell rang to get dressed. "So now you can beat your brother at basketball." He grinned and she laughed. He went to put the ball away and they went to change.
After P.E. the four of them sat at their table eating lunch. It was pleasant. There had been no incidents since her first day and they were always deep in conversation or laughter. Dana couldn't help but think how much better it was than any other school she had been to. After they finished eating the bell rang and John and Monica got up to go to their class. They said goodbye and left Dana and Mulder to walk to Life Science. The hall seemed more crowded than usual but they were making their way through it. She was in front and he followed as closely as he could.
Out of nowhere the unmistakable form of Alvin Kersh pushed toward them, then away. There was a moment when Mulder was sure he was going to say something but he didn't and suddenly Mulder knew why. He had childishly run into Dana and sped away before she could realize what happened. She fell. It almost seemed like slow motion except Mulder could barely move forward. She was on her hands and knees on the hard tiled floor of the hall. He was at her side as soon as the crowd started to move again.
"Dana, are you ok?" He was worried. The floors were hard and unforgiving on the hands. He had seen many people fall, though it was usually because of their own clumsiness or a spill.
She looked up at him. "I'm fine." She looked at her hands as she sat back on her knees. "My knees barely hit. My hands should be fine in a few minutes though. The sting goes away." He looked at her. She seemed serious but her hands didn't look like they would be fine. They were flaming red and he was sure it would leave a bruise. He let her play the 'I'm fine' card though.
"Alright. Let's get you to class then. Maybe you'll end up being an example of injury response." He grinned at her. She laughed. It was an effective way to lighten the mood. He gripped her elbows as he stood and pulled her with him. She held her tender hands slightly away from her body, hoping that he wouldn't notice it and figure out that the fall really did hurt. He did though but the hall had almost emptied and they had to get to class. He picked up her back pack for her and carried it to class despite her protests.
"Ah, Dana, Mulder. Nice of you both to join us." Some of the students snickered, noticing that Mulder was carrying Dana's bag. Rumors were sure to fly. "We were just about to send out a search party." Mulder set Dana's bag next to her seat and sat down after she did. Mrs. Aarons was waiting patiently for their response.
"Um, sorry. We got a bit held up in the hallway. Eighth grader. Not nice. Won't let it happen again." Dana nodded, silently thanked him for not going into too much detail in front of the class. They continued on with their work. Mulder occasionally looked down to make sure Dana was alright and she tried not to look at her hands and see the redness. Then about halfway through the class she gave up and looked. She wanted to see what kind of damage the fall might have caused and to evaluate what she could and couldn't do. The heels of her hands were brilliant shades of black and blue. They were just a little swollen as the cherry on top. She looked over at Mulder and tapped his arm with her wrist.
"Mulder." she whispered. "Um do you think you could walk with me to the nurse before sixth period?" His head whipped around faster than she thought it could have. The look in his eyes was all it took for her to turn over her hands to let him see the bruising. He nodded.
"Do you want to go now? I can ask Mrs. Aarons. She'll understand."
"No. We already came in late. I don't want to leave early for the same stupid reason." He gave her a look that told her he didn't think it was a stupid reason, but he complied with her request. The bell rang and she went for her back pack but Mulder already had it and was waiting to push her chair in after she got up. She held her hands away from her body as he led her to the office with one hand on her back. They entered the Nurse's office and she looked up at them with stern eyes.
"Can I help you?" Dana stuck out her hands, explaining that she was pushed and fell in the hallway. The nurse went over to the freezer, pulled out an ice pack and wrapped it in paper towel. Dana pressed both sides of her hands onto it lightly. The cold felt wonderful on her sore hands. "And why are you here?" She turned to Mulder. He set down Dana's bag and took the seat next to her.
"Well, I saw who pushed her, she's new and I'm making sure she can get to her next class okay and I'm carrying her backpack." Mulder was one to make a good case, even if people weren't happy about it. This day had gone from okay to irritating in one fell swoop. He didn't know, however, that it was to get much worse. The nurse nodded and pulled out an incident report. Mulder filled it out and by the time he was done so was Dana and he could escort her to their class. They were given passes because class was already in full swing when they walked in. Taking their seats and handing their passes to the teacher the pair received questioning looks from their friends.
Dana turned her hands a bit to show them. John looked at Mulder and saw his anger. She hadn't just fallen and that made John angry too. Monica gave her a comforting smile. The four went back to working and before they knew it the day was over. John and Monica had been picked up and Mulder was waiting with Dana for her mother. When she pulled up Mulder set Dana's bag on the floor and rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment. Before saying to take care and going off to meet his own mother. Maggie Scully looked at her daughter in wonder. Then she followed her stare into the young girl's lap where her hands lie, turned palm up almost as if she were about to have them read by a psychic. The were pretty bruised.
"I fell in the hallway today. Mulder kept carrying my backpack. I didn't ask him to; he just did because he thought it would make my hands hurt more. I think he was right. He took me to the nurse. I put ice on them. They're fine now though." Her mom nodded as she drove off toward their house. Melissa and Bill wouldn't need to be picked up until later in the day and Charlie was in the back seat. "I think Mulder is my best friend. The kind that you have a connection with. Where you just know. This was the first good move, ever." Maggie smiled at her daughter's happiness but wanted to cry that it had taken her this long to find a place that worked for her.
They made it home and Dana headed for her room. She wanted to avoid Bill as much as possible until the bruises were mostly healed. Bill would go crazy, and knowing him he would try to blame someone for it. It was someone's fault but she didn't want her brother to know that a stupid middle school bully had pushed her in the hallway. 'In fact,' she thought. 'he would probably try to blame Mulder. He doesn't like him. But he's never liked any of my guy friends anyway.' She mentally shrugged. She sat down on her bed with her book for English. She tentatively held the cover in her hands letting it lightly rest on the bruises. It didn't really hurt. It only hurt if she poked right at it.
A light flicked on in Mulder's room. It was right across from her window. He drew the blinds and sat down on his bed. He would have opened the window and talked to her, the houses were that close, but it was November and pretty chilly so he left the window locked and they stuck to silent communication. He grabbed a notepad and wrote something in large letters.
"You okay? How are your hands?" She smiled. It was nice to have someone care if she was alright instead of wanting revenge like Bill always did. She grabbed a notepad of her own and began writing.
"Yeah. They don't hurt much anymore. Thanks. So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" He smiled. She always asked about him and his family. It was like she wanted to absorb everything, as if she was on a deadline. 'She probably thinks she still is.' he thought.
"Not much. Just eating food I guess. Just the four of us. Family never comes. You?"
"Eating, playing games, maybe a little Christmas decorating. The six of us. We never have any family with us either." He nodded.
"Did you get #12 on the science homework?" He grinned at her. She laughed. She liked laughing. Few people really made her laugh, but Mulder always did.
"It's endoplasmic reticulum."
"Thanks. Talk later maybe?" She nodded and they both went about doing their homework.
She thought how dark it was and that Mulder should be done with his homework by now and that they should talk. But he watching Samantha because their parents were out. There was a loud noise coming from outside. She could hear it but it was indistinct. Then there was nothing. It was eerily still and it seemed like the world was afraid to move. The Mulders' car pulled up and became the only sound. The only thing keeping the world normal in her twelve year old eyes. She had a bad feeling but she didn't know why. There was a scream. It was Mrs. Mulder. Dana stood upright almost immediately. She pulled on her boots and grabbed her heavy coat on her way to the door. Bill jumped in her way.
"Where are you going?!"
"There's something wrong next door. I heard Mrs. Mulder screaming; it sounded like she was scared." Dana was annoyed. Her brother stood in her way on everything. But this time he backed down. He had heard it too. She noticed for the first time that he had his boots on but not tied. His right hand reached back for his coat while his left guarded the door.
"I'm coming with you. We'll tell Mom and she can send Dad over with us." Dana nodded in agreement with her brother. She waited impatiently by the door as he went to tell Maggie what happened, where they were going, and to send Bill, Sr. They clamored out the door and toward their neighbors' house. They rang the bell a few times and got no answer. Bill reached forward to knock on the door and it opened at the first knock. It had been almost open the whole time. "Hello?!" he called into the house. "Mr. and Mrs. Mulder? Anyone?"
They could hear muffled sobs coming from the other room. Dana got worried and pushed her brother aside as soon as she heard coherent words. They had barely reached her ears and she was in the house, running to her friend. "In….sniff…here." Bill followed after her less zealously but with an amount of neighborly concern. He walked into the back bedroom to see Mrs. Mulder wrapped in Mr. Mulder's arms and Dana sitting on the floor with her hands on Mulder's shoulders. He was visibly shaken. Bill entered the room, unsure of his place and went over to set a kind hand on Mr. Mulder's shoulder. He returned the gesture with a kindly mouthed thank you over his wife's head.
Bill turned back and saw his little sister wrap her arms around Mulder in a gesture of comfort and support. Just then Maggie and Bill, Sr. entered the room. Maggie extricated William Mulder from his wife's arms before hugging the woman in compassion. William went to talk with the Bills. He explained that they had arrived home and found their son sobbing on the floor in shock and their daughter nowhere to be found. They asked what had happened and he had told them that a light came and took her away and he was frozen. He couldn't do anything. They weren't sure what it meant but he had clammed up and gone back to sobbing on the floor. The three looked over to where Dana was gently rocking her friend back and forth. He had stopped crying and had gone to clutching to her shoulders for dear life.
Dana was sitting with her best friend in the midst of a crisis. It was what best friends did. While the situation was not one that often occurred it still felt right to her to be the one there for him. After she had gotten him to stop crying she was rocking back and forth while he was holding onto her. He was scared and she knew. She was scared too but she hoped he couldn't see that. She wanted to be strong for the first person she had ever felt at home with. He began to whisper into her ear, telling her everything that happened. Having someone who would just listen to him and not make snap judgments was the only thing that allowed him to recount the ordeal without breaking into fresh sobs. Silent tears were now the only sign.
"You don't believe me, do you?" he whispered, expecting the answer his parents had given him. They thought he was just making up a story to explain why he wasn't keeping a better eye on his sister.
"I do. I don't know if I believe that she was abducted but I believe that's what you think you saw. I know you're not lying. And I know it wasn't your fault." He hugged her tighter. He knew he couldn't expect her to believe in the extreme possibilities he did, but she knew he wasn't making up stories. After a little while the small groups had broken and William Mulder had called in the missing person to the FBI who would handle it because of his government job. Dana stood up and extended a hand to Mulder to help him up but he refused it. She looked at him confused. He flipped over her hand to reveal the purple-ish bruise. She looked down, slightly embarrassed that she had forgotten the incident.
Her brother and parents wanted to go home and give the Mulders some time. She nodded at their request and turned to say goodbye to her friend. He bent down and she stretched up to hug him properly. "Thank you" he whispered into her ear.
"Any time. You know where to find me." She whispered back. She patted his shoulder as they pulled apart and she left with her family. They returned to the house and she promptly went to bed. This week was going to suck. She didn't expect Mulder at school until they got back from Thanksgiving break on Monday. She vowed to check in on him each day though, just in case he needed to talk to someone.
"Danes? Are you in there?" her sister, Melissa, called through the door. Dana got up to answer it and Melissa pushed her way inside, closing the door softly behind her. She sat on the bed and motioned for Dana to sit with her. "What happened over there? Is your friend ok?" Dana proceeded to recount the events. She had expected her sister to be skeptical but she was fairly open to the idea. The alien idea made more sense to Missy than it did to Dana and she said if Mulder was as honest with her as she claimed then that's what he saw. Melissa was much easier to make friends, let people in, trust them, understand them. Dana was the skeptic who was either overly trusting and paid the price or completely untrusting and paid another price. Either way she ended up unhappy. At least she trusted Mulder and he trusted her. This was a mutual friendship, something that Missy was proud that her sister had accomplished in such a short time. After hugging her and saying good night, Missy went upstairs to her room and left Dana to sleep fitfully. Around 2 am she looked over at Mulder's room and saw that he fared no better. The lights were off but the glow of the moon let her see that he was pacing. She fell asleep again and awoke mostly unrested.
When she got to school in the morning she walked alone to the spot she knew John and Monica were waiting at. "Morning guys." She sounded tired and upset. After Monica's concerned questions she caved and told them most of what had happened. She didn't want them to worry too much about Mulder. She had it covered. The day went by slowly though. By the end she just wanted to go home and sleep. When her mom pulled up she got into the car and leaned back onto the headrest. After arriving and setting down her stuff she walked next door and knocked four times. Mulder answered the door.
"Hey, how was school today?"
"Eh, it was long and boring. I just wanted to come check on you. That's what friends are for right?" He nodded.
"I'm okay really. They have a huge FBI team searching for her, but I don't think they'll turn up anything. I just want this whole thing to be over with. I need to find her a different way, you know?" She nodded, not sure of the way he wanted to find her, but she knew the emotion. "Thanks for coming by. I'll see you later. Go get some sleep, you look tired."
She smiled and hugged him around the middle. "You, too. If you need anything just call." He nodded and she went home. Almost the second her head hit the pillow she was sound asleep. Her dreams didn't make sense. They were about aliens, monsters, conspiracies, the FBI, a man who smoked a lot, and a balding man who looked suspiciously like Walter Skinner.
So I really wanted to work this in, as well as a few other things that Mulder and Scully normally do. Some of these things I've actually done with my best friend. Like the notepads. We do that every once in a while, we used to more, but we never lived next door. More to come soon, I hope. Wish my football team luck. We play my other friend's school on Friday and I really wanna beat them.