Title: Midnight Rain Author: Melissa Booth Category: S Rating: G (Nothing offensive here) Keywords: Pre-XF with a dash of mythology Summary: A summer day begins to reveal the Scully family's place in the conspiracy. Spoilers: None whatsoever Disclaimer: Of course I don't own the Scullys or the X-Files. The ever-brilliant Chris Carter does. No profit is being made from 'em either. Erin Scully is a product of my imagination, however. You can use her if you ask first. Author's Notes: See bottom of story. XXX Captain Bill Scully's residence Miramar Naval Base July 9, 1979 "Dana! Erin! If you don't get here now I'm not going!" Melissa Scully stood at the bottom of the steps and watched two pairs of feet thunder down simultaneously. One wore muddy gym shoes and the other was bare and covered in colored street chalk. "We're coming, Missy," Melissa's younger sister Dana said calmly. "Yeah, we have the whole summer," Erin Scully, Dana and Melissa's cousin, piped in. "That's all the time in the world." The three girls made an interesting sight. All three of them had red hair, but that was were the similarities ended. Melissa was seventeen, pretty, and very popular with the teenage boys on the base. Dana was fifteen, still a tomboy, and preferred reading and exploring to dealing with the male species. Erin was thirteen, an artist, and was well-known for decorating the sidewalks of the base neighborhood with elaborate chalk drawings. Despite the differences, the three girls had grown up together at Miramar and were inseparable. That was what made yesterday's news so hard. Maggie and Nora Scully had set the girl's down in the afternoon and told them that Erin and her family would be moving to Massachusetts after the summer was over. He father was taking early retirement and he wanted to get his family away from Navy life. All three girls were crushed by this news, but they decided to make the best of it. Erin and her family weren't leaving until August, so they agreed to spend as much time together and have as much fun as they could. This was turning out to be more difficult than they anticipated. Still standing at the bottom of the stairs, Melissa gave her younger sister and cousin a look she hoped was authoritative. "Now we agreed, we're going to the carnival, right?" "Right," Dana and Erin chorused. Melissa grabbed a set of car keys from a nearby table. "Then lets get going, but first?" she looked Erin over. "You need to get some shoes on." Erin scowled, but she ran upstairs. She muttered something that sounded like "worse than Bill," but Melissa ignored it. Twenty minutes, the three girls were running down the main drag at the annual base carnival. For three days a year, the people that ran the base allowed one of the landing areas and runways to be turned into an old fashioned carnival. "We're in heaven, guys," Erin said happily, munching on an elephant ear. "No, we would be on heaven if we went on the ferris wheel," Dana said, giving her cousin an evil grin. Erin was afraid of heights and Dana knew it. Erin scowled. She knew she was being teased and tried to be mature by ignoring Dana. She was looking all around her, trying to pretend other things had her attention. Suddenly, the scowl disappeared. "Hey, Dr. Frank!" she yelled. "Dr. Frank?" Dana said, giving her sister a puzzled look. Melissa only shrugged. A short, wiry man with long, shaggy brown hair was now talking to Erin. He looked very young, Dana thought. Too young to be a doctor. "Missy, Dana, this is Dr. Frank Van Helsink," Erin said. "He was doing that vitamin test I was in." "Nice to meet you, girls," Dr. Van Helsink said. He had a very pleasant voice with a slight accent. The vitamin test. Dana now remembered what Erin was talking about. During the last month of school, the junior high school Erin attended was testing a new vitamin with some of the students. Dana had envied Erin slightly because she was involved in an actual experiment. Frank didn't talk very long, but he seemed nice enough. Dana actually felt a little sorry when he left. She was very interested in science and she would have liked to ask him more questions, even if he did seem young. She didn't feel too bad, however; not when there were ferris wheels to be conquered. Frank Van Helsink watched the three red-haired girls walk away giggling and talking rapidly between each other. He realized he was going to miss working with the kids on the base, something he wouldn't have even imagined two months ago. Frank had reached the outskirts of the carnival. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he didn't notice the figure standing in front of him until the smell of cigarette smoke reached his nostrils. "I thought the project rules stated no socializing with the subjects," the Smoking Man said in a low, emotionless voice. "The project is over," Frank replied, trying to stay as calm as the other man. "I didn't think it would hurt." "The project is never over," the Smoking Man said with a small smile. "Especially for those three girls." FIN XXX ***I wanna live, so let me die. Oh, by the way, what's your sign? --From "Dirty Water Dog" by Van Halen***