TITLE: Spunk (BOOK II)

AUTHOR: Rain Garcia Chua (formerly "Agent Rain")

RATING: Most parts are PG-13. The NC-17 parts will be labeled as "sexually explicit."

KEYWORDS: Alternate Universe

SPOILERS: none, though you need to read the rest of BOOK I to get this part

SUMMARY: The deal from the very beginning was that they live with each other until the movie finished filming. The question is, how willing are they both to let each other go?

DISCLAIMER: Chris Carter owns them all, unfortunately. Let's see how well he treats them next year January. If not, us fanfic writers are always there to baby Mulder and Scully into their rightful place in the universe.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:

July 21, 1985

Dear Melissa,

When I was seven years old, Nana told me a story about Mother and her friend, Mr. Billy. Do you remember that story? I am not sure if Grandma or Grandpa has mentioned it to you before they passed, or if Nana mentioned it to you, but if not … here, I will tell you Mother's story. Don't tell Bill or Charles, please. Bill will be too affected, since I'm quite positive that he recollects some parts of the story, and Charles is too immature to understand.

Mother danced in school plays every school year. You know that we share the same passion, and with this passion, she felt alive. Everyone was attracted to Mother, because of her striking blue eyes that melted with the sunset, and the unusual red hair that came from our mysterious Irish background. Boys in her classes wanted to date her, while the girls were envious of her because of this popularity.

The school play auditions came, and as usual, Mother won the lead as the mystical Snow White. She had to wear this enormous black wig to hide her red hair, and tons of white powder to hide her freckles. Did you see some pictures of her during that play? I did; Nana showed me. She was so pretty, Melissa. I do believe that Mother is the most beautiful woman I have set my eyes on.

But, during the rehearsals, Mother broke her ankle and was ordered by the doctor for a month of bed rest. She was devastated. She wanted nothing more but to dance once again for her school, and there she was, lying on a hospital bed, awaiting treatment for her damned ankle.

It was there that she met Mr. Billy. According to Nana, he was a tall blonde man who had the same sprinkle of freckles on the tip of his nose – much like Mother and I. They conversed in the hospitals for long hours and Nana even spotted them holding hands on several nights. He encouraged Mother to get better so that she could still make it to the school play. Nana concluded it this way: she drew the strength to get better from Mr. Billy.

Mother miraculously was discharged from the hospital earlier than expected. She came back one night to see Billy - and for the first time during their conversations, she asked him why he stayed in the hospital all that time.

He told her that he was going to be fine, he was just a little nauseous every now and then and his parents insisted that stay in the hospital to abate their worry. Thus, Mother also had nothing to worry about.

She believed him with her whole heart. She even made him promise to watch her school play. The wonderful thing is that he even kept that promise.

They met after the school play, laughing and kidding with each other. Mother asked Nana if she could go with Mr. Billy, and Nana said she would cover for her. They stayed by the river where there were lilies everywhere. Mr. Billy pointed at the lilies and told Mother that she would remember him every time she sees them. Mother said that she would remember him all the time – flowers be damned. That was when they consummated their relationship.

You see … Mother and Mr. Billy were in love. They spent days cradled in each other's arms staring at the lilies, talking in hushed voices about their future together, and even their children. These were all confided to Nana. Mother and Mr. Billy wanted five children: two boys first and then three girls. I still remember the names they wanted.
They would name them Billy Jr., Charlie Don (Charles is Mother's favorite cousin, Don is Mr. Billy's favorite cousin), Melissa Patricia (Melissa is from our Grandmother, Patricia is from Mr. Billy's mother), Sally Jenna (Sally is from Nana's middle name, while Jenna is from Mr. Billy's grandmother) and then, Dana Katherine - Dana coming from their combined middle names: Mr. Billy Darius and Ms. Margaret Nadia, while Katherine is from the place where they watch the lilies - Katherine Street, now St. Peter's drive.

After two years, when Mother was seventeen years old, Mr. Billy and Mother were already discussing their plans for marriage to their families when he became gravely ill. The winter hastened his condition. Mr. Billy had been sick for quite some time, of course, but he didn't have the heart to tell Mother. She watched her first love die in her arms. This had left her heartbroken, forever.

Do you wonder sometimes, Missy – what if Mother had married Mr. Billy and what if Mr. Billy never died? What if you, Charles, and Bill were named different, and if we had that other sister, Sally? Would everything be different? Would you still be studying in a university? Would Bill still be in the royal army? Will Charles and I be better friends? Will I have been a better person?

Mother wrote the song "Danced Yesterday" for Mr. Billy when she was pregnant with me. I love that song. Nana said Mother used to sit by the fire at nights to strum at her guitar and sing the song with tears in her eyes. She never stopped loving Mr. Billy; it was impossible for her to unlove what she had promised forever to.

How does it feel to love and be loved in return, Missy? Actually, what I really want to ask is this: How do you know if you are indeed in love?
How did you know that you wanted to marry Richard? Did you ever feel that he had wanted to leave you alone, despite your child? Did you ever truly love him, Missy?

I keep a picture of Mother in my wallet – I hate to say, underneath the Bruce Willis cutout I took from a magazine. It's the one Mr. Billy shot when she was only sixteen years old. She is wearing lilies in her hair and is looking at the camera with so much intensity, as if she was seeing through the lenses her future. She handed the photograph over to Nana, with strict instructions that I should be the only one to have it when I am old enough to understand what it meant to her.

I wonder if I truly do understand what it meant to her. Even if Nana had given me the photograph as a symbol of my maturity, I wonder if I truly am mature enough to handle the gravity of what it meant to love and be loved in return. There are a lot of things I don't understand about myself – I don't understand why I am the only one who looks so much like our Mother; why I am the only one with this name … why I was the one who had to go through with what I had to go through. I also don't understand why Mother gave me this cross necklace; it was another gift from Mr. Billy.

Maybe these incidents, these events, are there to remind me that there is strength behind my every blind step here in this foreign country. There is always someone out there looking out for me no matter how hard life has treated me in the past.

Give my love to Charles, Bill, your lovely baby, and to my darling, darling Nana.

Mama ydy 'm ffynnon chan chryfder.

Signed,
Dana

END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN