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Title: Conversations in the Snow Summary: While on vacation, Scully wrecks her car and is snowed in at a cabin with only a teenage boy for company. With time on her hands, she considers her family, friends, and where her life is going.
Scully stared through the endless expanse of pure white. The snow was coming down fast and hard as she tried to find her way back to the cabin, but she was determined that her vacation wouldn't be ruined. The snow was so beautiful in Alaska. It covered everything in sight. She thought of the times her father had spent with her playing in it, making angels, snowmen, anything they could think of. Her snow machine strained slightly and she kicked it into the next gear. It lurched forward and sped up. She went over one hill after another. She knew she was on the right track, but she wasn't sure how far she'd gone. The snow became thicker and she was forced to strain to see. Her last thought before she hit the root and flew off the snow machine was how far she was from the cabin.
Caughlan made his way over through the thick snow, his headlight turned up as bright as possible. The wind whipped around his sleek helmet. He was thankful the sun didn't set for so long here, or he would have a much harder time getting back. The snow fell in thick blankets, covering the teens tracks as quickly as they were made. He knew this, and realized it was all the more reason to keep a bearing on his directions. There wouldn't be any tracing his steps back. He flew over the top of hill, almost hitting what appeared to be an abandoned snow machine. pHe slammed on the brakes and the machine made a half circle as he was nearly thrown from the seat. He got off his machine for a moment, and looked over the scene. There were already a few inches of snow gathering on the machine and he remembered the straps and chains that his father always carried in his machine. A safety freak, Caughlan had thought to himself, more than once. But now he was glad. He looked around for the rider. He knew that they couldn't have left too long ago with as little snow was on the machine. He saw a small mound, a few inches high, with a bit of black visible at one end. He quickly brushed the snow away, and found a body. Pulling off his own gloves and flipping the body over, he felt for a pulse. The cold air stung his bare hand, but he could barely feel a pulse through his near-numb hand. Hooking the cables and hooks to the other machine, he positioned the body on his own machine before getting on himself.
Scully awoke to find herself in a warm cabin by a wood stove. She looked around and saw her helmet and snow suit sitting close to the stove too. They both looked dry. She looked down at herself and found that she was under a thick quilt. She looked under it to see what she was wearing. Still her clothes. "Well, at least whoever it was didn't change me, too," Scully thought to herself. She smiled slightly. She looked around the room to see who else was there. She quickly located someone sitting by the window petting a cat. "Hello?" He seemed startled and turned around. "He's just a kid," she thought. He looked about sixteen or seventeen. He jerked from his sleep and looked startled. It took him a moment to remember what had happened and why this woman was here. He searched through his mind for something to say. "Want some coffee?" he asked. "Uh, sure," she said. The kid could read her mind. She realized that she had a pounding headache too. "Have any aspirin?" "Sure." He padded over to another corner of the room that had linoleum on the floor in his sock feet. Everything in the entire cabin but the bathroom looked like it was one room. He pulled a pot from the stove and poured coffee into a cup and pulled a bottle of aspirin from the cupboard. "You take cream or sugar?" he questioned. She shook her head. "I was hoping the TV would work tonight," he said with a laugh. "They were going to have an Outer Limits marathon." He handed her the coffee and aspirin and flipped on the TV to demonstrate what he was about to say. "All I can get is snow, though." He laughed at the double meaning of what he'd just said before he realized it was a corny joke. "What happened?" she asked. "How'd I get here?" "I found you out there in the woods. You were laying face down in the snow." She shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if she'd stayed out there much longer. "I've got to get back to my cabin, though. They'll be calling the troopers pretty soon if I don't get back." "I doubt it. The phones always go down when a storm like this hits. Besides, the snow's way too deep. You'd never make it there. It's at least a two hour ride by snow machine when you have descent snow." Scully suddenly realized the absence of his parents and asked him about it. "They went to Anchorage to get food. We usually keep a year's worth of food around here and when we get to about three month's worth, they run out and grab some more. This is the first time they let me stay here by myself." She could see why, but was too polite to say so. "You can sleep in my parents bed over there when you get tired," he said, gesturing behind him to a large bed. "It has clean sheets and my mom has some clothes that would probably fit you." They sat in an uncomfortable silence before Caughlan broke it. "So what's your name?" "Scully," she said, before realizing she'd only given him her last name. "Dana Scully." "Caughlan Odell." With that he got up, headed for the bathroom and came out wearing sweats and a T-shirt before heading to bed. Scully sat there a while longer, going over her options. She wasn't sure what to think of the kid. He *seemed* nice enough. But then, Eugene Tooms *seemed* nice enough too. She shook her head. "You've got to quit comparing everything to your work," she muttered. "Everyone isn't an X-File." She yawned and decided that she'd better hit the sack too. She'd try to figure something out tomorrow.
Caughlan awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and he felt like he was in one of those moronic coffee commercials where some poor sap wakes up and smells the coffee before his eyes pop open and he heads for the kitchen. He got up to find the source of the wonderful aroma when he noticed Dana sitting on the couch and he remembered what had happened the night before. He looked at her and her eyes looked like they were looking right through the carpet she was staring at. The cat sat contentedly on her lap purring. He decided to leave her alone and continued toward the coffee pot. He pulled a his favorite cup down, an "officially licensed" FRIENDS cup. It clanked against a few other cups and Dana awoke from her trance. She looked up at him, startled. She wore a pair of jeans with a black T-shirt with a long sleeved denim shirt. He realized what he looked like in his wrinkled sweats and tee with his hair that stuck up at least two or three inches higher than usual every morning. Scully couldn't help but laugh a little. He smiled sheepishly, poured himself a cup, pulled some satisfactory clothing from the chest of drawers and headed toward the bathroom to change and brush his hair. He came out of the bathroom looking like his usual self, hair combed. He headed toward his coffee. "It's okay that I got these things from your mother's drawer isn't?" Dana asked. "Yeah. It's fine. Did you want anything to eat?" She shook her head. "I already had something." He walked over to a couch opposite her and stretched out in it. They could both see the snow still falling. It came down at least as hard as it was last night. It was only a couple inched below the windows. Caughlan suddenly sat up, laid down his cup and pulled on his boots and coat. Before Dana could ask what he was doing, he headed out the door. He came back with an armful of split wood with a bit of ice holding it all together in one bundle. "Want me to help you with that?" Scully asked. She hadn't even noticed that the wood in the rack was getting so low. "If you want to. It doesn't really matter." She slipped on her own boots and coat and helped him carry in wood until the rack was full again. Caughlan shut the door, and the wind stopped, but the cold still lingered. He turned the knob on the wood stove all the way up and Dana saw the flames inside come to life through the glass door come to life as the consumed the wood. He sat back down on the couch and picked up the now-cold coffee. He walked over to the pot and poured himself another cup. "How do you get electricity here?" Dana asked. She hadn't heard any generator like she had at her cabin that she'd rented. "My dad brought a wire in. Cost a fortune, but he's not one of those nut that sits up in the woods all is life with no electricity. He just doesn't like the city too much." He sat back down on the couch and relaxed. "So where do you work?" he asked. "FBI." "Secretary? Agent?" Scully laughed at the thought of her being a secretary. "Agent. I investigate ghosts and little gray men." Caughlan smiled, but his eyes gave away the fact that he was still tired. "You're serious?" "Yeah. My partner, Mulder, and I work on the X-Files. Basically anything that doesn't seem quite normal, and he seems ready to believe it all." "Wow. Seems pretty cool." Scully thought back for a moment to the time she'd shot Mulder in the arm, to her own abduction by *something*, who knew what, her close encounter with death involving Cheko Chicken. "I wouldn't exactly call it cool," she said. "It makes for interesting stories at cocktail parties though," she joked. "I have a Web page with some pretty cool UFO stuff. A few screen captures from 'Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.' I've never actually seen anything myself, though," he said. He sounded a bit disappointed. Almost like a small child that had been denied his favorite candy. It reminded her of Mulder. The conversation was rolling now. "Where's your father work?" Scully asked. "He works on a fishing boat in the summer and in the winter he does odd jobs. What about your family?" "My father died not too long ago." "I'm sorry." Caughlan was a little sorry he'd asked. "He was really great. I remember when I was five or six, he took me to a carnival. Just me and him. My sister was spending the night with a friend. I had a ball that day. I remember he won a teddy bear at one of the dart games for me. We rode just about every ride there. I stuffed myself with so much cotton candy, candy apples, and junk food I almost got sick. When we got home that night, I was dead tired. He laid me in my bed and sang me to sleep. I still don't know if he was happy with what I did with my life. I'm sorry. I must really be boring you," she said. "No. Not at all." He was glad she was here. He'd have driven himself crazy with cabin fever by now without anyone but his cat around. She smiled, glad to have someone to talk to. She didn't talk about her father much, and it felt good to now. It felt like a burden had been lifted. "What about your partner, Mulder?" "Mulder's a great friend. He's one of the few people I can really talk to. To be honest, I wasn't too sure about him when I first met him. He seemed a bit..." Caughlan watched her eyes as she searched for the right word. "...eccentric. He readily accepts anything. I look for a scientific answer for everything first and it usually seems like he looks for a..." She searched again for the right word. He could tell she was being careful about what she said. "...something a bit more amazing." They continued to talk for a while, changing subjects frequently. Both of them soon found the sun was setting and it was really getting late. Almost one in the morning. Neither felt like sleeping, so they made a couple bags of microwave popcorn, put Jurassic Park in the VCR and ate themselves to sleep.
Caughlan awake early the next morning, to find Dana sleeping on the other couch. He decided it would be a good idea to take a shower, so he headed toward the bathroom. The snow was still coming down heavy when Scully awoke. She could hear water running in the bathroom and got up to make herself a cup of coffee. She realized that she was without fresh under things and tried to figure out what to do. Caughlan emerged from the bathroom in jeans and a baggy sweatshirt, hair falling limply on his head. There was something comical about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He walked over to the computer, picked up the telephone that sat close to it to see if by some miracle there was a dial tone and hung it back up. The computer was booted up, though he wasn't sure what he would do without a modem connection. "You like the Internet?" he asked. "Yeah. It can be pretty useful sometimes." He laughed a little. "I wouldn't really know. I've never really looked for actual information on it. I frequent Web sites and IRC." "What's your handle?" "King Tut." Scully remembered seeing a King Tut once on IRC and wondered if it could have been this kid that sat in front of her. "Really? What channels do you frequent?" "Eh, there's a few. You ever use it?" "Yeah. Every once in a while." "Really? What's your handle?" "Starbuck." "Hmm. Don't think I've ever seen that name before. Check this out, though. I'd have to think this is my favorite text file." A file popped onto the screen. "The Smurfs Are Communists," it proclaimed. She read on bout how the smurfs constantly worked as a community, never in their own jobs. How Papa Smurf always wore red. By the time she got to the end, she was laughing out loud. "I'll have to remember that one," she muttered. Nothing else to do, the played computer games most of the day. Later that night, they both sat on the couches with a supper of hamburgers and french fries. Scully didn't usually go for the greasy stuff, but she had to admit it tasted pretty good. He pulled a small pocket knife from his pocket and began to fidget with it. "My granddad gave this to me a few years ago. He said it belonged to his granddad. Guess it's pretty old." Scully looked at the knife. She had to admit that it was pretty nice. The small, untarnished blade folded into an oak handle the looked like it was hand-carved. "What about your sister?" he asked. "You haven't said too much about her." He settled into his seat and prepared to listen. "Melissa? She's what one might call the black sheep of the family. She moved out with a boyfriend when she was seventeen. No surprise that didn't last too long. She wouldn't come back home though. She got a job selling rocks at a New Age store. I remember when she was in high school, she could have just about any guy she wanted. We used to be pretty close, but she travels a lot now. Probably just as well." Caughlan could tell she didn't want to talk about her sister anymore. Almost like there was something she was afraid to say. He didn't push it. "What's your mom like?" Scully fidgeted with the cross around her neck as she remembered her mother. "I really love my mom. When I was little, she'd always read me a story before I went to bed. Every night without fail. I remember once we had some important company. I can't remember who it was. I was only five. But she still managed to come in that night and read to me. It really meant a lot to me. One night she was sick and had to go the hospital. I cried myself to sleep because she wasn't there to read. I remember when Melissa had a big fight with Dad before she moved out. Mom cried herself to sleep that night. I was about fifteen and I didn't know what to say. Now I wish I'd said something. Anything. I just sat in my room. I think I might have watched a little TV. I could hear Mom in the next room as she cried. I was just so confused. I figured anything I said would just make things worse." The cat was curled into a ball and purring contentedly beside Scully. Somehow she envied the animal. No worries. No regrets...
The snow continued to fall for almost another week before it stopped. The phone lines were back up and the house was almost covered in snow. Only the roof remained above most of it. Scully phoned her cabin, telling them that she was indeed okay. Next, she called Skinner, telling him that she wouldn't be back as soon as she thought. She phoned everyone she thought would be effected by. And after that, she called Melissa. It felt good to talk to her sister again. She felt refreshed, despite the fact that she was stuck under ten feet of snow in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. "So after you manage to leave, what are you gonna do?" Cuaghlan asked. "Go back to my 'normal' life, I guess," she said with a laugh. "As normal as chasing down werewolves, Bigfoot, and aliens can be." A few days later, with some hard work and a bit of perspiration, they had the snow machines dug out of the shelter that they'd been stored in.
They stood at what served as a small airport. One could have more accurately called it a shed. "Here. Take this," he said as he dug into his pocket and handed her his grandfather's old pocket knife. She looked at it then looked back at him and tried to give it back. "I really couldn't take it. What would your Grandfather think if he saw you giving away an heirloom like this?" she asked with a smile. "If he were still around? He'd probably have suggested it to me in the first place." He shifted uneasily. "I gave you my e-mail address?" he asked. He really didn't want to see her go. It had been the best few days of his life, but he couldn't quite say why. "Yeah. I'll write you as soon as I get to DC."
A couple weeks later, when his parents were back and he had returned to his normal life and Dana to her semi-normal one, he got a small package in the mail. He slit it open with a small knife. Opening it up, he found a small locket with her picture in it. The End
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