Title: Friend Of The Family
Author: Requiem

Note: hiya! okay, this is a piece that i concocted partially as a 
result of two-and-a-half months' boredom! AAAAH!! 

DISCLAIMER: 
neither he, nor she, belong to me. there, i've said my peace. 

oh yes, WARNING: THIS WORK IS ENTIRELY FLUFFE, AND IF TAKEN 
SERIOUSLY, COULD PROVE SEVERELY HAZARDOUS TO ONE'S HEALTH! 

Summary: Fox and Dana are in high school. Fox has dinner at the 
Scully house.



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Fox Mulder tossed and turned wildly, his subconscious haunted 
by visions of that night that Samantha had been... taken. 

"No! Oh, God, no! Don't! Let her go!" was what he wanted to 
be yelling out, but, as usual, not a sound escaped his tightened 
throat. He wanted to run to her and pull her back, but, as usual, 
he couldn't move a muscle. Complete numbness had seized him, again. 
Unfortunately, his _mind_ never went numb, and he had to relive 
that incident night after night after night. 

He had been having that recurring dream--more like a 
nightmare--for years now, but lately, it had been a bit different. 
Usually, in the dream, he would try to talk, try to move, and he 
wouldn't be able to, then Sam would be gone in the next instant, 
and the dream would be over. However, that had not been the case 
for a few weeks, even months--he didn't know. 

In the newer, 'revised' version of the dream, he would find 
himself staring as Sam got pulled away from him, farther and 
farther. Mulder would try to run to her, and stop her from getting 
farther away from him, but he couldn't. Suddenly, he would find 
himself right up close, floating beside the unmoving figure. He 
would look down at her, and discover, to his dismay, that it wasn't 
Sam, at all. It was Scully. 

With a gasp and a start, Mulder sat up in bed. Like always, 
his breathing was ragged and he was covered in a thick sheen of 
perspiration. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, trying to 
forget the contents of the nightmare. But he couldn't. He never 
could. 

"Oh, Sam... I'll find you, Sis'... Someday..." Thinking about 
his long-lost baby sister, Mulder choked back stubborn tears, and 
rested his face in his hands. Almost thirty years had passed since 
Sam had been gone. Thirty years, and he still couldn't get over it. 
Instead, he had to dwell on the past, dragging his entire existence 
with him, into a dark, dark place that was his reality. 

"Out of all the billions of people in this world, why does my 
life have to suck the most?" he asked aloud, not expecting and 
answer. It was times like these that made him wish he wasn't still 
a bachelor, and that someone would be there to hold him and comfort 
him. But obviously, that wasn't about to happen. 

So, Mulder decided to call Scully. 

He reached over to his night stand and grabbed the handset to 
his phone. He went to press '1' on the speed-dial (Scully's 
number), but decided against it. The last time he rang her up in 
the middle of the night, he had encountered a rather... 
disgruntled--to say the least--Dana Scully. 

After replacing the phone, Mulder got up, out of bed, and 
decided he badly needed a shower. Right now, his body was drenched, 
and his T-shirt and boxers were clinging to his legs. He stretched, 
yawned, and headed over to his dresser. Mulder yanked a drawer 
open, revealing a messy bundle of shirts. He indiscriminatingly 
pulled out a gray muscle shirt. Mulder then opened his pants 
drawer, and took out a pair of boxer shorts. 

Scratching his head, he wandered into the bathroom, and 
closed the door behind him. From the outside, one could hear him 
slide the translucent shower door shut, and turn the water on, all 
the while trying to ignore the unrelenting mental pictures of 
Scully being taken from him. 

When the phone rang, Mulder didn't hear it. 

******* 

"Come on, Mulder, I know you're there..." urged Dana Scully, 
into the handset. As she waited ring after ring for him to pick up, 
she ran a sticky hand through her tangled mess of red locks. 

"Okay, so maybe you're _not_ there," she said, as she finally 
decided to give up. The handset emitted a little "blip" when Scully 
disappointedly pressed the 'off' button and set the phone down on 
her night stand. 

Scully had woken up in the middle of the night, with fresh 
images from a nightmare stuck in her mind. It was the same 
nightmare as always. 

In it, she would find herself in a bank of some sort. Scully 
would look around, adjusting to her surroundings, and recognize the 
place as where her old acquaintance, Jack Willis, had been shot by 
Warren Dupre, an established armed bank robber who worked with his 
wife, Lula. 

Things would happen as they really had happened, with the 
moronic Dupre bursting into the bank, ordering everyone to get 
down, and eventually getting around to shooting Jack. As Jack got 
hit, Scully would fire angrily at Dupre, sending him down, as well. 

Then, she'd rush over to Jack's side, and when she got there, 
it wouldn't be Jack who was lying there, at all. Nope, on the 
contrary, she would find that the unconscious person lying there 
was Mulder. 

Scully had awoken panicked and drenched with sweat, and was 
unable to get back to sleep. So she had figured why not give Mulder 
a ring? He was constantly calling her in the middle of the night, 
and was probably awake, anyhow. But apparently he wasn't available 
to be woken, tonight. 

Scully groggily arose, and got out of bed. She pulled her 
silky, teal bathrobe--the one that Melissa had given to her for her 
birthday two years ago, insisting that she wear it--off the end of 
the bed, and slipped it on. Every time she put it on, thoughts and 
memories of her late sister flooded back into her head. 

She felt an alarming chill wash over her bones. A cold tear 
slipped down her cheek as she thought about the bastards that had 
killed her only sister. Scully clenched her jaw, and squeezed her 
eyes shut, willing the oncoming rush of tears to go away. She 
swallowed hard, and breathed deeply, trying to calm herself and 
gather her thoughts. 

"Get a grip, Dana, it's over. Deal with it, and be on with 
your life, already," murmured Scully, to herself. Then, she 
laughed. "What life?... Great, now I'm talking to myself. Damn, I 
need a drink." 

Scully ran a hand through her damp hair, and headed to her 
kitchen. She searched for something to drink that would have some 
sort of numbing effect on her, but found only a carton of milk and 
a can of orange concentrate. 

"Well, half of a screwdriver is better than nothing, right? 
No, maybe not," she muttered, turning away from the fridge. 

For the longest time now, this was the extent of Scully's 
social life--short, anguished chats with herself. Well, she'd had 
enough of this. 

So, Scully took a quick shower, pulled on a snug pair of 
black jeans and a loose, gray sweatshirt. She found her keys and 
some cash, just in case, and headed off on a walk. 

******* 

The bathroom door creaked open, revealing a dripping Mulder, 
clad only in a towel, from the waist down. He quietly slipped into 
the muscle shirt and boxers he had left on his bed earlier. Mulder 
walked out to the living room, dropping like a bomb onto the couch 
that awaited him there. 

He found that there was nothing good on TV, and headed over 
to his fish tank. After he spread some fish food in the water, 
Mulder pulled up a chair, and watched the fish for a while. While 
the fish silently finished the food and returned to swimming around 
aimlessly, Mulder came to the conclusion that even his three 
aquatic companions had better lives than he did. 

******* 

As she strolled at a leisurely pace, random thoughts tumbled 
around inside her mind, in a chaotic frenzy. 

Scully thought of everything from the silly games she and 
Missy used to play, to what she'd need to buy, the next time she 
went shopping. 

She wondered how many other women were unable to sleep, and 
walking around aimlessly, in the middle of the night. She wondered 
how many of those women were in their thirties, and still single. 
And, Scully found herself asking why she qualified in both 
categories. 

Was there something wrong with her? Why _was_ she still 
single? Why didn't men look at her when she brushed by them, going 
down the halls at work? Did she scare them off, or something? Were 
they justifiable, in calling her an 'Ice Queen?' 

Was there not one man in the world who was attracted to her? 
Then again, how many men were there, in her life, right now? Not 
many, she realized, to her dismay. All the men she could think of 
were either married, or her boss, at work. And even _he_ was 
married! 

Then again, there _was_ Mulder. 

Even though if one were to ask her, she would deny it, Dana 
Scully knew very well that she was in love with Fox Mulder. But she 
also always doubted that anything would ever come of those 
feelings, so she didn't see any sense in thinking about it too 
much. 

After all, from what she'd seen, she wasn't even his type. 
Whereas she was a petite redhead, Mulder seemed to go for tall, 
leggy blondes and brunettes. 

Still, Scully had always been curious to find out how he felt 
about her--not that she'd ever dare to ask him, mind you. 

She was completely distracted, and wasn't paying attention 
where she was going. Scully stopped, looked around, and discovered 
that she was nowhere near the club, but rather almost at Mulder's 
apartment building. 

"What the...?" she asked aloud, furrowing her brow. She had 
totally not noticed coming this far, or going anywhere after 
leaving her place, for that matter. 

Closing her eyes, Scully shook her head and looked around 
again, as if hoping that it was in her imagination. But it wasn't. 
And now she had the choice of either going back home, alone, in the 
middle of the night, or walking the rest of the block to Mulder's 
place. 

"What the hell," she said, and went to pay Mulder visit. 

******* 

Bored with fish-watching, Mulder decided to get a breath of 
fresh air. But he didn't feel like going for a walk, so he returned 
to his bedroom, and opened the sliding door that led to the balcony 
that he so rarely used. 

Stepping out onto the smooth concrete that composed the 
balcony floor, Mulder was greeted by a cool, gentle breeze. It 
tickled his chin, and embraced him freely and fully. 

The night was quiet, and Mulder let his thoughts drift. 

He thought of his mother, and wondered how the heck she had 
managed to go through all the things that she'd gone through, and 
still be sane. 

He thought about his father, now in his grave, and tried to 
imagine how he must have felt, having to choose between his 
children, his own flesh and blood. 

He thought of all the X-Files cases, and wondered what else 
might be lying around every corner, just waiting to be discovered 
and denied knowledge of. 

And thinking about the X-Files led Mulder to thinking of 
Scully. He remembered that day that she'd first come into his mess 
of an office. In less than three minutes, she had proved herself to 
be a strong, intelligent woman, who was not about to be ruffled by 
the likes of him. 

As Mulder thought about his best friend, he felt a pleasant 
warmth from deep inside of him. For as long as he could remember, 
he knew that the only woman he could ever truly love was Dana 
Scully. 

Sighing heavily, Mulder wondered what Scully would do, if he 
told her how he felt. But he was too much of a coward to tell her, 
anyhow. 

Leaning against the edge of the balcony, he looked down a the 
ground just four stories below. From his point of view, the ground 
was a boring clump of sidewalk and grass, gray and green. 

Unexpectedly, though, a familiar little blob of auburn was 
introduced into the picture. Mulder focused his eyes, and saw that 
it was Scully, walking up to the building. 

"Scully?" he called out, grinning and waving happily. "Hey, 
Scully!" 

Down below, Scully looked up, startled that someone would be 
calling out her name. To her surprise, she realized that it was 
Mulder. 

"Mulder?" she called out, her solemn expression breaking into 
a warm smile. 

"You couldn't sleep either, huh?" he asked. 

Hoping that none of the other residents of Mulder's apartment 
complex would wake up, Scully shook her head, and answered, "No, 
Mulder, not tonight." 

All of a sudden, for no reason at all, Mulder remembered a 
good song he'd heard on the radio before, and got the strange idea 
of serenading Scully. He didn't know enough of his neighbors to 
embarrass himself, so what did he have to lose? Besides, he figured 
he could find out how Scully felt about him, if he sang a love song 
to her. 

"You want me to sing you a lullaby, Scully?" 

Surprised and perplexed, Scully called out, "What?!" 

Mulder, chose to take that as a 'yes.' In an instant, he was 
flailing his arms dramatically, and singing to his heart's 
content... 

"For all those times you stood for me, 
For all the truth that you made me see, 
For all the joy you brought to my life, 
For all the wrong that you made right, 
For every dream you made come true, 
For all the love I found in you, 
I'll be forever thankful, baby, 
You're the one who held me up, 
Never let me fall, 
You are the one who saw me through, 
Through it all..." 

Scully's priorly confused expression had become more like an 
'OH MY GOD!' expression, but she felt like she owed it to Mulder, 
and maybe herself, to keep listening. 

"You were my strength when I was weak, 
You were my voice when I couldn't speak, 
You were my eyes when I couldn't see, 
You saw the best there was in me, 
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach, 
You gave me faith 'cause you believed, 
I'm everything I am, 
Because you loved me..." 

Scully noticed that Mulder's neighbors had started opening 
their curtains and looking at her, she was listening too intently 
to care. 

"You gave me wings and made me fly, 
You touched my hand, I could touch the sky, 
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me, 
You said no star was out of reach..." 

Just then, one of Mulder's fellow apartment-dwellers came out 
onto his balcony, and whistled at her, exclaiming "I can definitely 
see why he's willing to risk _his_ pride!" 

From about three floors above Mulder, an older couple came 
out onto the balcony. The wife, her hair done up in curlers, called 
down, "Oh, you kids are so romantic!" Then, to her husband, she 
hollered, "Henry, isn't this romantic?" 

In response, Henry yelled, "Would you stop shouting, 
already?! I'm right here, and I'm not deaf!" 

That started an argument which, to their credit, they 
continued inside their quarters, and not on the balcony. 

Through all this, Mulder continued to sing, 

"Maybe I don't know that much, 
But I knows this much is true, 
I was blessed because I was 
Loved by you..." 

"If only you knew, Mulder," whispered Scully, too softly for 
him to hear. 

As Mulder sang the rest of the song, Scully wondered if he 
really might feel the same way about her as she did about him. And 
she yelled up to Mulder, "Hang on, I'm coming up!" 

As she entered the front lobby, Scully could still hear 
Mulder belting out the tune. She'd recognized it from a movie she 
had seen a while back. 

It was a slow song, that got to her mostly every time she 
heard it, because it always conjured up the feelings she had--the 
ones that she felt she had to hide--for Mulder. 

And now that Mulder was singing what he was singing, she 
didn't know how to feel. 

She jumped into the elevator, and when it stopped at the 
fourth floor, she went down the hall to Mulder's apartment, hoping 
to get there in time for him to save some of his dignity. 

Scully had never seen Mulder act like this, before. She knew 
he had a quirky, off-beat sense of humor, but she never figured 
he'd do anything like this. 

Using her key, Scully stepped into the dark apartment, and 
found Mulder. He wasn't standing on the balcony, anymore... Now, 
still singing, he was coming towards her, his arms outstretched... 

"You were always there for me, 
The tender wind that carried me, 
The light in the dark, 
Shining your love into my life, 
You've been my inspiration, 
Through the lies you were the truth, 
My world is a better place 
Because of you..." 

While Mulder sang the final strains of the song, it was all 
Scully could do not to burst out laughing and crying, at the same 
time. 

"I'm everything I am, 
Because you loved me..." 

As he finished, Mulder took Scully's hand, and curtsied, all 
the while grinning like a fool. 

"Mulder, are you insane?!" exclaimed Scully, unable to stop 
smiling. 

"Who, me?" asked Mulder, playing innocent. 

"What was that all about?!" 

"Well," he began, his expression and tone-of-voice growing 
more serious, "That depends-- Are you mad at me for embarrassing 
you in front of my neighbors?" 

"No," she answered, arching an eyebrow. 

"Good," he declared. Mulder then shocked himself at his 
boldness, asking "Are you overcome with feelings of love, for me?" 

That question took Scully by complete surprise, and her heart 
skipped a few beats. "W--, uh, Mulder, I, ah..." Her lips continued 
to move, but not a sound came out. 

Mulder, his heart rate having sped up considerably, smiled, 
and whispered nervously, "Can I take that as a 'yes?'" 

Scully stopped altogether, somewhat out of breath, and cheeks 
flushed. Not able to do anything else, she shrugged and nodded, her 
eyes wide with anticipation. Was Mulder just joking, or was he for 
real? 

Settling Scully's fears, Mulder's face broke into a huge 
smile. His eyes were warm and full of love, making his feelings 
evident. 

"Oh, Mulder--" she began, her soft voice quivering. 

But Mulder silenced her with a quick, gentle kiss. It was 
barely a brush of his lips against hers, but it more than enough to 
make Scully's heart flutter, and weaken her knees. 

Mulder brought an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to 
him and giving her support. Scully blushed, surprised that she 
could melt this easily. 

Then, she lovingly took Mulder's face in her hands, caressing 
him almost shyly, and brought him closer to her, so that their lips 
met again. 

This time, the kiss lingered, as the two silently but 
urgently explored each other. Scully's arms snaked around Mulder's 
neck, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, each pulling the 
other closer. 

Finally, after the longest time, for Dana and Fox, the 
nightmares would stop. 


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/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/x/ 

while you're here, sitting at your computer, why not e-me? come on, 
you know you want to, all the "cool" kids are doing it, it'll make 
you popular... hehe... 
constructive criticism and praise appreciated. flames extinguished. 

later, 
dor 
3=] 
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  Dana Scully & Fox Mulder -- Platonic love, but love nonetheless... 
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  WHO KNOWS WHAT JOKES LURK IN EV'RY NEWSPAPER? The R0sie knows... 
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