Promise? (1/9)
Author: RocketMan >[email protected]<
Dislcaimer: The characters presented in the first part here are strictly
mine and may not be used without permission. But Mulder and Scully and
the X-Files belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No infringement is intended.
Summary: A little girl changes M&S lives. (Not theirs).
Rating: PG-13, MSR, this is a little sensitive to some, involves child
abuse.
Promise? (1/?)
"Please Daddy?"
He shakes his head at me, then lifts me up to him, my six year old body
thin and nothing compared to his.
"No, sweet. I have to go by myself."
"But I want to go with you Daddy."
"Sweet, I said no. Now, go find Mommy and tell her I'm leaving."
"I don't want Mommy!" I shriek, afraid, deathly afraid.
"Shannon, don't do this to me, doll. Go get Mommy."
I break into sobs, clutching him. He doesn't understand what she does to
me. She hurts. "No, Daddy, please, don't leave."
"I have to, doll. The Army wants me."
"I hate the Army."
He stares hard at me until I duck my head and mumble an apology.
"Now, go get your mommy."
I run.
He shouts at me, after me, chasing me down.
I hate him for leaving, I love him for coming back each time.
I hate him for making me stay at home.
I love him for saving me.
"I got you!" he yells, just as Mommy walks in, a frown of distaste on
her face.
He's covering for me, Daddy is. He knows I'll get in trouble for
running.
"Mark, didn't I tell you not to let her run in the house? Are you trying
to undo everything I've taught her?"
"No, Gwyn, sorry love."he mumbles and ducks his head, just as I did for
him.
"Now, get. She doesn't need you hanging around, postponing the
inevitable."
I cling tightly to Daddy, and he takes me with him outside and to the
car.
"Come on doll, you can do this. It's not so bad."
"She hurts, Daddy."
"Oh, no she doesn't doll. She doesn't mean to. It's how she loves
people. By talking rough and being a little sharp. But she does love
you, doll."
I shake my head, but he won't hear it.
I know Mommy isn't like that around him.
And I know that Daddy gets hurt too sometimes.
I just wish he didn't anymore.
I start our little ritual.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah, Shan?"
"You're coming back right?"
"Of course Shan."
"Promise?"
"As an officer and a gentleman."
"I love you Daddy."
He's surprised because I throw this in on a sudden impulse.
"I love you too, Shannon. Now give me a hug and kiss and say bye."
"Hug and kiss and bye, Daddy."
I gently kiss his cheek, avoiding the stitches scar he got in the Army a
long time ago. I hate the scar; it feels rough and tough.
"Hug and kiss, Shan."
He gets in the car and shoos me away from the hood where I always wait
until he tells me to get away.
I stay outside until he's gone from sight, not even a speck seen.
It gets darker, and darker and I shiver with the chill.
Mommy comes out and yanks me inside, saying I must be brain dead to be
outside when it's so cold.
Maybe I'm brain dead because I didn't hide in Daddy's Army trunk and
leave forever with him.
~~~~
I hate this time of day the most.
Sometimes Mommy never wakes me up for school and then she gets very
angry with me for not going and hits.
I stayed home today because that happened yesterday.
All the kids in my class say I'm lucky cause I get to stay at home and
that my mom doesn't care if I do.
I wish I could go to school even on the weekends.
My favorite teacher there is a lady named Ms. Knox, and she always tries
to make me feel better.
She tries to get me to say things about Mommy in a little recorder, but
I know that if I ever do that, Daddy won't ever come back.
Mommy said so.
I am trying to slink away before Mommy's friends come over because they
like to make fun of me and blow cigarette smoke in face.
I watch them come in from the back door and I sneak out the front.
It's easy when Mommy gets so wobbily like that, from the wine she drinks
with breakfast.
I run through the neighborhood very fast, hoping that none of the women
that stay home notice me or they'll call and tell on me.
And Mommy hates the interruption.
I dart past the last house and run for my tree fort.
It' still cold in the early morning, and I shiver as I awkwardly climb
the crooked wooden steps.
Daddy helped me build it with leftover wood after we added on to the
house when my baby sister was born.
Before she died, Mommy was happy and she had helped us too.
Mommy had engraved all of our names onto the tree with one of the good
kitchen knives, saying that we'd be a family forever.
I can still see our names in the tree, even though Mommy tried to burn
it away a year or two ago.
The Diaz Family
Mommy
Daddy
Shannon
and very faintly, a scarred tattering of letters that I really can't
make out anymore but know whose name it is.
My baby sister's.
Jenny
I am sad about her, but Mommy is sad most of all.
Daddy says I have to remember that Mommy is very sad all of the time.
Mommy doesn't mean to hurt, but she just has a lot of sadness because of
Jenny.
I sigh because I wish that Jenny were alive so that Mommy wasn't sad
anymore.
I lean against the railing of the fort and pull the old, light blue,
tattered blanket up around my legs.
I lay down and close my eyes, knowing that I will be safe for today
because Mommy doesn't like coming out here, especially in the cold.
Jenny died in the cold.
But I have a blanket and so Mommy won't be sad because of me.
I dream of Daddy in his Army uniform with its shiny decorations and
crisp hat, and secret smile, only for me.
"Will you come back Daddy?"
"Of course Shan."
"Promise?"
"As an officer and a gentleman."
"Hug and kiss and bye, Daddy."
"Hug and kiss Shan. Love you doll."
"I love you too Daddy."
~~~~
One month later
@@@@~~~~@@@@
Mulder walked quickly down the concrete hall leading to his basement
office, thinking only of the latest X-File to come his way.
He could feel the importance of this weighing down in his hands.
Sometimes, when he had a great tip, he could feel just how great it was.
It was the same now.
A man, an Army officer had called saying he couldn't have it on his
conscios anymore; the things he knew were too horrible.
He had contacted Mulder through a private, secure channel.
The man was high up.
High enough to know major things.
It was of the utmost importance that it not be known that he had been in
contact with Mulder.
So Mulder wasn't going to tell Scully.
The Army officer's life depended on it.
And besides, he had promised.
~~~~
end part one
adios
RocketMan
Title: Promise? (2/9)
Author: RocketMan >[email protected]<
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No
infringement is intended. See part one for other.
Rating: X, MSR
Promise? (2/?)
@@@@~~~~@@@@
I dart to the front door, running even though I'm not supposed to.
I know that I'll be okay if I can get out to the bus before Mommy wakes
up; she's always angry after her friends come over.
I'm opening the door, thinking about Ms. Knox and how she'll make the
hurt go away, when the phohne rings.
I hear Mommy curse and pick up the phone angrily.
But I stay.
It might be Daddy.
He always calls after missing him for a week.
I sneak to the edge of the kitchen, where I can see Mommy standing, in
her clothes from the night before and a frightened look in her eyes.
I back away and start for the door again. I can hear her talking, and I
can hear her fear and I don't like it.
I twist around and slide on the newly polished wooden floor.
I knock into the door jam and my lips starts to bleed.
The pain comes and I know that Ms. Knox will think I got hit again, and
I debate about going back for a Kleenex.
"Shannon?"
My whole heart flips in my body and I forget the tissue and start for
the door again, sucking on my lip and praying she didn't see me.
"Shannon! Get back here right now!"
I freeze and turn, but she's not in the foyer so I touch the door knob
and twist it.
"Shannon! Get back in here!"
I can feel her eyes staring into me and I turn around.
I'm in trouble.
But Mommy yanks me away from the door and pulls me along to the stairs.
She's afraid.
Mommy's afraid.
"Shannon, you have to be good for me doll. I . . . I, oh, God, Shannon,
you have to be very, very quiet and very, very good. Do you understand?"
"Mommy?"
"Shannon, please, doll. Do exactly what I tell you, all right?"
I can feel her trembling.
My lip quivers and I begin sucking on it again, knowing that the blood
is pooling up and that doing something will take away the fear.
She heads up the stairs and at the landing, she grabs a key from a
dresser drawer, then starts up again.
We go past all the bedrooms and then past the nursery, still decorated
for Jenny, and then past the bathroom.
The attic.
"No! Mommy, please, no....."
I dig in my heels and stop short, causing her to jolt.
She jerks me along and curses again, but I can still feel her fear.
"No, Mommy.....not the attic, Mommy, please....."
She shudders and says, "Shannon, do this for Daddy, all right."
"That was Daddy on the phone?"
"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't let you talk to him. Maybe he could've made you
understand how important this is."
But she picks me up and begins to carry me.
I kick and thrash until my foot catches her mouth and she slaps me.
I lay very still and squeeze my eyes shut.
I hate the attic.
It's dark and dangerous and Daddy always comes up here alone.
And doesn't come down for along time.
"No.." I whimper, but she drops me to the floor and I am adrift.
Nothingness all around me and I'm about to cry but I know that Mommy
doesn't like crybabies.
"Shannon, open your eyes."
Her words are soft and I open them, but I don't look too carefully.
I can already smell the dragons and the monster breath.
Breathing right down on me, its nostrils filled with fire to burn me
alive.
"Shannon, see this?" Mommy points to a large cabinet with a wood face.
"Mommy, I want to go to school, please....."
"Shannon, pay attention, child!"
I shut up and watch her.
"Now, a very . . . . oh, God, what am I doing?"
"Mommy?"
My voice brings her back and I see her shake.
"A man is coming over today to see me, Shannon. A friend of Daddy's. He
has something very important to give Daddy, but since Daddy's not here,
I'm going to take it for him."
I nod.
"I need you to stay in here until I come get you. Understand?"
"No, Mommy, please...please.....there are dragons in here and it's
dark..."
Mommy shivers.
"I'm sorry doll. Please do this for Daddy, please. He needs you to stay
in here. Now I can get you a flashlight and your teddy bear, but don't
come down and don't, please, don't make any noise."
I shake and Mommy sees.
"Oh, Shannon, I'm so sorry, doll. I don't want this, but Daddy
needs......I just want it to all be over...okay? Do this for me, for
Daddy.....for Jenny."
I nod dumbly, and crawl into the tiny space.
"Shannon, here's the key. Now, you can unlock it yourself from the
inside, so when I come up here, you'll have to unlock it."
"Mommy.....please..."
"Shannon. Daddy needs us. I know you don't really . . . I know I hurt
you sometimes doll. I don't mean to. But please....please do this."
I shiver and stay in the cramped tight space.
Mommy runs downstairs to get my blanket and teddy bear and I'm alone.
All alone.
Except for the dragons and the monsters.
She comes back with it all along with a box of crackers.
"Now, don't come out until I come for you." she says.
I nod and she shuts the door of my prison, but I turn the key and
imprison myself.
"Thanks Sweetie. It'll all be over soon."
I shake harder, my muscles quivering with the fear.
"I love you Shannon."
My response is automatic, but I think I mean it.
"I love you too."
She leaves and I am truly left alone.
With the breath of monsters and the fire of dragons.
end part two.
adios
RocketMan
Title: Promise? (3/?)
Author: RocketMan >[email protected]<
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No
infringement is intended.
see part one for other
MSR, X
Promise? (3/?)
Mulder heard the phone ring and he quickly saved his program and shut
down his computer.
The phone shrilled for a fifth time just as he caught it and he answered
in a less than cheerful mood.
Scully had been weaker lately, he could tell, but she wouldn't let him
see help, and she wouldn't take a break.
"Mr. Mulder?"
"Yes, this is he...."
"It's the Army officer who contacted you earlier..."
"Oh! Yeah!"
Mulder looked up at Scully, seeing her typing away, oblivious to
whatever conversation he might be having.
He kept his voice lowered anyway.
"Mr. Mulder, you will recieve two sealed envelopes in the mail tomorrow.
In one, the directions to our meeting place, in the other, decoy
directions that will alert me to any traps. Only you will know which
directions are correct." the Army officer explained coldly, his voice
sounding quiet but firm.
"I got it." Mulder replied.
"Very good. I will see you tomorrow."
"Wait!" he said, before the man could hang up. "How do I know that this
is for real?"
"Becuase," the man said softly, his voice now containing a note of
personal grief. "Because they did to me, what they did to your father.
But I'm going to take them down for it. I don't want my daughter growing
up like you did."
Mulder heard the line click and he set the receiver in the cradle,
haering the man's words again in his head. "......did to your
father....."
What had happened to his father?
What had he known, what had he contributed to?
And was it the same as the information the Army officer knew?
"Mulder!"
"Huh?" he said sharply, looking up to her.
She smiled and shook her head. "I called your name three times.....what
were you thinking about?"
Her smile looked so forced, so weak and fragile. He wanted to wrap her
in his arms and never let her fall.
It seemed that she would shatter, if she fell.
"Just . . . you." he said, feeling guilty because although he hadn't
been thinking about her until right then, he knew it would be a topic
she would shy from.
And she did.
She gave him a strange look and then resumed her work.
He sighed and realized just how miserable that was.
~~~~
Next Day
~~~~
"Sir," Mulder said to the bald man across the desk frm him. "I really
think she's all right. She can still definitely do the job."
Once again, Mulder had been called in to testify as to whether or not
Scully could perform her duties.
The fact was, she was very close to not being able to.
But never would he say that.
Not until she actually couldn't be her best, or even her average.
He still wanted her with him, despite the gorwing fatigue he saw and the
heavy limbed movements he took note of.
Nothing could give her energy anymore.
He knew she took vitamins every day, but it just didn't help.
"She's just fine, Sir." he said again.
Skinner sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, bringing his glasses
once more to rest on his face.
"All right, Agent Mulder. But, please, if she's really not, let me
know."
He nodded, feeling a surge of appreciation for the AD.
"Oh, and Mulder. Your mail got sent here accidentally." he said, and
handed over a thick stack of letters.
Mulder's heart raced and he carefully kept his face neutral as he headed
back down to the basement.
Scully was gone when he got there, probably making photocopies of her
report.
He shuffled through the letters until he found the two he knew contained
the directions.
He saw that neither one was sealed.
His hands shook.
Someone was on to him.
Should he just not go?
No, he needed the information, and the Amry officer needed to be warned
that his life was in danger.
How had the mail been tampered with?
It had ended up in Skinner's box.
Had Skinner............?
Mulder shook his head and withdrew the letters.
At the top of one was a six digit code.
He scrutinized it, but could make nothing of the numbers.
But in the second, a simple, innocent sounding phrase jumped out at him.
<.......full circle to find the truth........>
Had the government been spying on them even then?
Mulder shivered and jumped from his desk.
This was the one, and the time said in an hour.
Nothing like getting your mail late.
~~~~
end part three
adios
RocketMan
Promise? (4/?)
Mulder walked quickly to the deserted hamburger resteraunt, eyeing the
boarded windows and closed off parking lot. He knew that this was an
ignorant way of meeting, especially if the Army officer's life was in
danger simply because it was too deserted. If there had been crowds,
whoever was after him wouldn't have taken the chance.
This feeling of foreboding did not leave him, even as he carefully
glanced around and made sure there was no one.
Then he stopped at the drive thru lane, beside the third window, just as
the note had instructed.
He waited thirty minutes before the Army officer showed himself.
"Mr. Mulder?"
The man that stepped from the shadows was younger than he had imagined,
with close cropped blonde hair and startling blue eyes. Mulder believed
he could pass for twenty or be mistaken as thirty, but the look of
innocence around him made Mulder peer anxiously at him.
How could he have any information?
The man did not stay in the direct light, but constantly shifted, moving
from spot to spot in a nonsensical pattern.
Mulder knew the man was trained in combat. He was effectively making it
near impossible for a gunscope to get sights on him.
"Mr. Mulder, I have a man coming to my house who will provide me with
the proof of the truth, and I in turn will leak it to you, so that you
can catch these men once and for all."
Mulder shook his head. "That doesn't work, sir, it-"
"Look, it has to. It will. Believe me. I know enough to put them away
for an eternity. Don't you understand? The things they did, are
doing.....it's got to be stopped."
Mulder sighed. "Yeah. I know. Of all people, I know. But this just
doesn't come down like this, Sir. You have to-"
"Look! My daughter was taken from me, just as your sister was from you.
I had to tell my wife that she had died, that she had a genetic birth
defect that resulted in body temperature loss, when it actuality, they
just wanted a guinea pig and something to hold over my head. But I told
her the truth, I couldn't lie to her. And now she hates me........my
other daughter isn't even important to her anymore. They've ruined my
family, killed for no reason, tested on children, and I have the proof
to back it up. You have to give me a chance!"
Mulder sighed.
The Army soldier became so worked up that for a second, he stopped
moving.
And then the explosion came.
A deafening sound ripped through Mulder's eardrums and he cried out and
fell to the cold, wet pavement, cradling his head.
He heard gurgling and looked to see the man, shaking and quivering on
the ground, half of his leg blown off and a crater beside him.
Mulder dragged himself over to the man and realized that there must have
been truth to his story, otherwise, he'd not have been killed.
The man stared at him with glazed eyes of shock and then pulled on his
tie with superhuman force.
"My....my...." he gasped. "my.....girl.......little girl......."
Mulder nodded. "Your girl, your daughter. The one left alive?"
A short painful nod. "Take care of her......take.......please don't let
her die...."
The man drew in a shaking breath that barely seemed to inflate hgis
lungs.
"Shannon.....Shan.....please, don't-" A horrible gasping took over his
words and he gagged on his blood. Mulder could see pieces of pavement in
his chest.
"Shannon? That's her name? What's your last name......huh? Your last
name?"
The man was trying to hold on, he could tell, but wasn't going to make
it.
"Di........"he groaned. "Diaz......."
And his last breath left him in a gale of stale blood and death.
Mulder began to shake with his own shock, looking finally to his body to
discover that his chest and arms were also embedded with gravel.
He clumsily took out his cell phone and called Scully.
"Scully." was her answer.
"Sc-...Scully, it's me."
"Mulder!? What's wrong? What happened?"
"Scully come get me. There's been an explosion."
"What!"
"Scully...."
"Okay Mulder, where?"
He gave her directions and then hung up the phone, cutting off any of
her other questions.
He was shaking too hard to drive, to even think.
He looked at the body of the young officer and felt breakfast revolting
in his stomach.
It was his fault that his little girl no longer had a Daddy.
And now she was in his charge.
Shannon......
Good thing he called Scully.
end part 4
adios
RocketMan
Promise? (5/?)
I hear Mommy open the door and the footsteps of a man on the wood floor.
His voice is low and sounded scratchy, like one of my teachers who goes
to the back of the playground to smoke at lunch. Mommy seems nervous and
I can hear her voice going up and down, like it does when she argues
with Daddy about Jenny.
I notice that the light coming from the small round attic window is
casting funny shadows on the inside of the cabinet as it came through
the cracks. I try to focus on things other than the man downstairs and
the smell of monsters.
But I can hear them breathing heavily, their tongues licking their lips
as they wait for me to come out, so they can snap me up. I can hear
their wings, beating against the walls and causing the dust to stir and
me to sneeze. I hate the attic monsters.
But most of all, it's what I can't hear that frightens me.
I can't hear the dragons.
I know they're up here, because I saw them once, and Mommy used to say
that if I was bad, then she'd let the dragons have me.
But I can't hear them.
I know that they are big and black, with red fire coming from their
mouths and steam in their eyes.
I'm not talking Puff the Magic Dragon here.
I can feel them lurking in the shadows, their smoke filled breath
flitting through the antiques that Daddy brought up from grandma's house
when she died.
I hear a shout and my Mommy's voice is rising and I think that maybe the
man had done something wrong.
But then silence.
Nothing.
It's so quiet, I can almost hear the dragons.
Then a loud bang erupts from every corner of the house and shakes the
attic.
Shakes me.
I know what that is.
A gun.
A bullet firing from that gun and hitting something.
I hear someone leave.
Mommy wouldn't leave; she's supposed to come get me when everything's
all right again.
Where's Mommy?
I hear the sound of moans and a voice, calling me, but I'm not supposed
to leave until Mommy comes for me.
I hear it stop and the silence reaches into my cabinet and clutches at
the light flitered through.
I tremble and listen to the silence.
I can hear the dragons.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
Scully eased Mulder onto his back and then opened his shirt,
investigating the fragments of pavement embedded into him.
"You're not going to need stitches," she said.
He nodded and sat up in the bed.
He had directed her to a hotel room, knowing that it could be entirely
too dangerous too stick around, especailly if whoever had set that bomb,
came around to make sure the job worked. Mulder didn't want to be
wounded and there when that happened.
Scully made him lie back down, pushing him this time, to keep him that
way and began removing pieces of gravel from his chest.
He winced and bit the inside of his lip to keep from yelling out.
"Mulder, what did you do?"
He frowned and shook his head. "Nothing. I - AH!"
He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself as she probed further for
the elusive piece.
"Sorry, Mulder. Hold still."
He clinched the bedsheet and grimaced, allowing all his pain to channel
out in the fingers throttling the bed.
"Okay, last one."
Words of welcome relief and he began to relax.
"Okay, now tell me." she said, rinsing off the tweezers in the motel
sink, and coming to sit on the bed again.
He started to rise and she pushed him down again.
She liberally spread rubbing alcohol to his wounds and he hissed in his
breath as the liquid ate into him.
Then she tried to bind them, but he stopped her hand as it drew too
tight.
"Stop, please, Scully. This hurts more than taking it out."
She forwned, but supposed his cuts could do with fresh air.
"Okay, now tell me."
"I went to see a possible informant. An Army officer by the name of
Diaz. He got killed in an explosion, though."
"What?"
"I got there, and he kept shifting around, thinking that he could keep
any snipers from getting a lock on him. Pretty smart. But he got
impassioned and stopped moving and a bomb went off. A low-key explosion,
but it ripped his leg off and he died, Scully. From massive blood loss I
assume."
"What was it he had to tell you?"
"I don't know. He only said that a friend of his was dropping off some
proof at his house and that it could bring the Consortium down."
"At his house? Mulder, that could be trouble. What if the friend gets
executed too?"
"Yeah, I know. Which is why we're going to find out where exactly this
man lived. But Scully, there's even more."
She turned back to him, her eyes a dark shade of blue in the meager
light.
"He wants me to save his daughter. His little girl. Scully, what if
we're too late?"
@@@@~~~~@@@@
I want to get out of here.
I want Mommy to come and get me, chase away the monsters.
I can still hear them and I don't dare get out.
I watch the light slant away from me now, and I hear the school bus
squeak to a stop on my street.
I listen for my best friend's voice, but I can't pick him out from the
babble, and the whole group drifts away from my house.
The bus rumbles away, and I imagine it spitting out fumes and belching
protests, just like it does every day.
My ears pick out the nest of baby birds in the tree right by the attic,
and I remember Daddy lifting me up so I could see all of them.
I wish I was in the tree house right now, with David my friend, telling
me about the latest injustice done to him by Ms. Roberts. I can picture
his face in my mind, the dark skin of his American Indian heritage
glinting in the last of the sun, and his blue eyes defying the sky.
David always listens to me, lets me complain, then makes it seem like it
won't always be that way. Then I would listen to him, and about what a
brat his little sister is, and then we'd make fun of her.
I love playing with David.
But I can't because I'm stuck hiding in this cabinet, and I bet he's
afraid because even when Mommy makes me stay home, I sneak out to the
tree house to see him.
I sigh and watch the last of the light shy away from the sides of my
hiding place and I know the sun will set soon.
I realize that I no longer hear the dragons.
No dragons.
But no Mommy either.
(Breathe)
Think about it.
No more dragons.
But......
I'm getting out of here!
I scramble around in the tight space, looking for the best postition to
unlock it. I have been holding this key for so long that my fingers have
cramped and I can't get them to move.
Finally the door falls open and I tumble out.
Light hits my eyes directly and I am blinded my the golden red glare.
I stumble away, my legs struggling to hold me up after being trapped for
so long.
I look around for monsters and start to run for the door, thinking that
if I'm lucky, they'll all be alseep until the sun sets.
I make it to the door and just as I am slipping out, I feel the breath,
the smoke of a dragon on my neck.
I scream and run for the stairs, slamming the door behind me.
I run all the way down, searching dor Mommy, seeking her reassurance
that the dragon isn't behind me, because I can feel him.
I'm crying and sobbing that the monster is after me and I can't find
Mommy, but my eyes are so blurred that I wouldn't see her if she was
right in front of me.
I trip.
I touch something warm and sticky and I wipe away my tears to see what
it is.
I tripped on Mommy.
<Oh.....God.......no>
I turn and sob so hard that I throw up on the carpet.
I can see Mommy telling me that I'm bad, that I should have stayed
upstairs and I wouldn't have messed up the floor.
I can see her eyes, staring at me, telling me that I shouldn't have come
down.
"But the dragons, Mommy...."
I sob and clutch her hair, pulling her up.
"Mommy, wake up. Stop this Mommy. Stop playing. You're scaring me.
Mommy?"
Her eyes roll a bit and I shiver so that her head shakes.
"Make it all better Mommy."
I let go and she slumps back to the floor.
"Mommy, stop it. Mommy?"
I can feel it crashing down on me.
Crushing me.
I can't breathe.
Mommy's gone.
It's all my fault.
The dragon got her.
If I had stayed upstairs, it wouldn't have happened. I was supposed to
stay upstairs until she came for me. I was supposed to stay upstairs.
"I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry."
But her light blue lips don't say that it's okay.
Her staring eyes don't make it all better.
I let the dragon get her.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
end part five
adios
RocketMan
Promise? (6/?)
<Partly Living>
"We have all had our private terrors,
Our particular shadows, our secret fears....
Yet we have gone on living,
Living and partly living..."
--Murder in the Cathedral, T.S. Eliot
Scully watched him chew the inside of his mouth as he drove, his hands
never still, like animals caught in bear traps during hunting season.
His face was strained, eyes darting among the road, the scenery, and
her. He kept replaying in his mind the way Diaz's face had looked as he
died, desparately seeking a stranger's help.
She sighed and did not persue the issue, but kept a lookout for the exit
ramp that would lead to Miranda, Arizona, the home of the Diaz family.
Mulder would eventually stop his self loathing and be professional
again, she had no doubt of that.
His job could always save him.
Mulder looked back to her again and smiled, as if to reassure her, but
it didn't help much.
"So, how much further?"
He shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. Look on the map."
She bit back her scalding comment and checked the map once more. But
really, she knew exactly where they were and how long they had until the
exit came up.
She just wanted to see how well he was paying attention.
"Mulder, there!" she said, pointing to the green sign declaring Miranda
as the next exit.
He nodded and changed lanes fluidly, then decelerated onto the ramp.
They merged with traffic and she guided him through the city and to the
suburbs, the map not really very helpful and most of it done by
guesswork.
Her gueeswork.
Mulder wasn't very responsive.
When he almost ran a four way stop, she shook her head and decided to
intervene, before someone got hurt.
"Mulder, get past this, all right? He came to you, and he knew the
risks. Don't let it kill you.....or someone else."
He grimaced and shot a look at her. "Yeah. I....I'm all right."
Scully was no psychologist, but she did know her partner.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I needed a little slap I guess."
She smiled and shook her head.
"Don't worry, Mulder. We'll make it in time." she said.
He nodded.
But all he could think was....I hope so.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
Dragons are chasing me down the stairs, their very real eyes looking
into mine as they jump over my head, landing with an earth shattering
thud below me.
I scramble back up, racing for my room, when the leader of them swipes
at me and I scream.
I'm thrown back down, next to Mommy, her blood on my hands and wetting
my knees, as the dragons pounce.
I screaming and screaming and hands are grabbing me and I'm thinking
that I didn't know dragons had hands, when I'm awake.
My heart is pounding right out of my chest as I look into dragon eyes,
eyes dark with demons.
I am rescued by an angel and I cling to her, hiding away.
I hear a loud curse and the woman, my angel, clutches me firecely.
Her hands are like claws, her nails like the posion tipped fangs of
dragons.
I struggle to get away, knowing they only want to eat me, and hearing
monsters all around me.
Their words come to me as rapid fire and I shake my head.
The man grabs me, shakes me and yells.
Mommy always did that when she got mad too.
"Did you do this? Huh? Did you kill this woman?"
The angel looks to me, pulling on the man's arm, trying to make him
stop, but he ignores her.
It's all right, though. I deserve it. I let the dragons get my Mommy.
"Yes." I say, my eyes overflowing with the tears that haven't stopped
since Daddy left for the Army.
The angel is shocked, staring at me and shaking her head.
"I let the dragons eat her. I let the dragons-"
"Shush." the woman says, coming to me and pulling me away from the man.
"You didn't let this happen. You couldn't do anything about it. It's all
right."
I shake my head and stare at the man; he knows I've done it too.
"I let the dragons get her. I wasn't supposed to come down, but I did,
and let the dragons get her. I'm sorry Mommy. I'm sorry..."
The man's head jerks up and I see him pale, as if he knows my words and
has said them before.
The angel hugs me tighter, stroking my hair and trying to make me feel
better.
"Scully," the man says softly.
She turns around and looks to him, her eyes hard.
"Scully, this is his daughter....."
Her mouth drops and she turns to face me again, her eyes guilty, just as
Daddy's eyes are when he leaves me with Mommy.
"Are you Shannon Diaz?" she asks.
I nod and she closes her eyes briefly.
I can feel the dragons encircling us.
"Why?!" I ask shrilly, shoving her away. What else is there? I have
killed Mommy, and Daddy will hate me forever.....
"Oh, Shannon...." she says but doesn't go on.
"Why!? Tell me!"
I push away from them, inching to the stairs, ready to hide back in the
cabinet if it will make everything better again.
"Shannon," the man says, coming closer to me. "Shannon, I met your Daddy
today."
My blood freezes and curdles. I can feel my heart beats like hours.
Shaking slightly I stare at him.
Why does it feel like the dragons are here?
"Where's Daddy?" I whisper, my face paling.
A tear falls down my face at the look on theirs and I scream at them.
"No! No! No! He said he would come back! He promised! He promised!
No...."
I run up the stairs, just like in my dream and he chases after me, the
bringer of my dragons.
I can feel my blood throbbing and the dragon in close persuit and I try
to jump up the last two steps, like the dragon did in my dream.
But I miss.
I am falling, back, far, never stopping.
Blackness.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
Mulder laid Shannon on the bed and Scully began to check her over,
looking for signs of a concussion or worse.
When she was satisfied, he pulled the bedspread over her and sat on the
side of her bed, head in his hands.
"I can't beleive this Scully. They're both dead. Mother. Father. Oh,
God.....she idolized her father. She blames herself that her mother
died."
He shook on the bed and she gingerly sat next to him, unsure how to
respond. Finally she took his hands down and held them in her own. He
looked to her, eyes brimming with tears, and then crashed into her.
She held him up, holding him, soothing him as he moaned and choked out
his tears.
"Mulder, the man probably came to drop off whatever he had, and the
mother got caught in the crossfire."
"I bet the man who came to deliver the evidence killed her Scully. Good
way to find moles is to leak information."
She let him sit upright and he looked forlornly to the girl.
"What's going to happen to her?"
"Well, Child Services will probably take her."
"No! Scully, we can't do that. I'm responsible for her, that officer
made me promise."
"She'll be safe in their care, Mulder. Probably safer."
He scowled at her and touched the girl's hand. "Maybe not. If they think
there could be witnesses, what's to keep them from killing her?"
Scully looked to the girl, then to the look in Mulder's eyes that said
he identified way too much to be healthy.
She sighed.
"I guess, we're the only ones keeping them from her."
He looked back to her and gave her a small smile. "Thanks Scully."
She nodded and stood. "I'm going to find us a motel room for the night.
You think you'll be all right with her?"
"Sure. I'm a natural father."
He didn't know what to make of the laughter that followed her out.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
end part 6
adios
RocketMan
Promise?
I can see a my ceiling and a man in a chair next to me, holding my hand,
but he is not Daddy.
Daddy.
Something about Daddy is important, but I don't want to remember it
right now.
I stare at the man and realize he is not sleeping, but merely lost in
his own thoughts.
He scared me before, but he doesn't now.
He doesn't resemble my dragons in the attic, and his eyes are normal
brown ones, his hands warm and as big as my Daddy's.
I wonder where the angel went.
He looks over to me and jumps out of the chair with a yelp that makes me
giggle at him.
He sits there for a minute, absorbing me, then smiles.
I smile back and sit up.
"Where's Daddy?"
Why is it that I can't remember what was so important?
"Daddy? Your Daddy is in heaven sweetie."
I can feel the blood run right out of my face and my skin immediately
gets goose bumps.
"What."
He takes my hand again, but I yank my hand away.
"Remember, Shannon? You were at your house and we came and-"
"Mommy!"
I jump up and scramble for the door.
I have to get away from this man. I'm not supposed to be with strangers
and I was supposed to wait for Mommy to come get me from the cabinet...
but I didn't and now she's gone....and I have to *get out of here*......
"Woah!" he says, cathcing me around the waist. "Stay here, Shannon. You
need to stay with Scully and I until we can be sure that you're safe."
"No, no, no....."
"Shannon," he says softly. "Look at me, Shannon."
I won't!
"Shannon. Come on. Your Daddy made me promise that I would look out for
you."
"I don't care! Daddy left me! Why should I trust you!"
I twist in his grasp and clutch the bedpost in my room, trying to pull
away. He is strong, as strong as Daddy, and I can't break away.
"Let me go! Let me go! I hate you!"
I violently shove away and grab the door knob and wrench it open,
knocking him back as he tries to grab me.
"I hate you! Get away from me!"
I manage to run to the hall and I start taking the steps two at a time,
remembering the last time I did that and fell on my face.
So I watch the steps and where I put my feet very carefully.
And I run into the angel.
She holds onto me, like a hug, and pulls me into her embrace.
I sob into her chest and clutch her.
She picks me up and carries me back up the stairs.
As we go, I can see my Mommy's body in the living room and the blood
around her.
I realize that blood is all over me too.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
Mulder sighed as the car eased into the motel parking lot, grateful that
Shannon had stayed asleep the entire trip. He didn't want to really deal
with her at the moment. His own emotions were in enough turmoil without
her screaming that she hated him at the top of her lungs.
"Mulder?"
"Yeah?"
"Carry her in, would you?" Scully said, nodding to the still sleeping
girl in her lap in the back seat.
Mulder agreed and opened the car door, then gently picked her up.
Shannon mumbled in her sleep but stayed unconscious and he carried her
into the lobby.
"Check us in, Scully." he said softly.
Dana nodded and proceeded them to the front desk.
The man on duty smiled as they came up and nodded to Shannon.
"That's a beautiful little girl you have." he said in a whisper.
Mulder gently nudged Scully when she opened her mouth to refute the
claim.
Instead she smiled back and said thank you.
When they were signed in, Mulder laid the girl across the bed and tucked
her in, but he was getting worried.
"Is she supposed to sleep this much?"
"Yeah, it's normal Mulder. It's her way of dealing with traumatic
events."
She smiled at him and he noticed that they had been smiling at each
other a lot more recently.
He liked her smile.
"Oh." he said and helped her finish carrying their luggage inside.
"So, Scully what sounds good to eat if you're a seven year old?"
"Hmm. It's been a long time since I was a seven year old."
"I'm thinking McDonalds. Don't you think so?"
"You would suggest that. Watch, she'll only like Taco Bell."
"Taco Bell? Yuck." He made a face and she threw a pillow at him.
It missed and hit Shannon's foot. The girl groaned and moved slightly.
"Good job, Scully." he whispered giving her a know-it-all smirk.
She wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but she restrained herself.
Shannon began to wake again.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
We ate at McDonalds but I didn't like it very much. Daddy wasn't there.
Daddy always took me to McDonalds and got me a kiddie ice cream with a
little dab of hot fudge at the top to make it 'interresting', as he
said.
Mulder didn't get me a kiddie ice cream.
Daddy wasn't there.
The angel told me to call her Dana and I like her name a lot, but I
called her angel on accident. She laughed when I did, but Mulder simply
smiled and said it was fitting.
I am sitting on this cold bench as they talk over what has happened and
they think I'm not listening. They told me to go play on the playground.
I can hear them talking about me and he wants to keep me for awhile.
Angel doesn't want to keep me.
Why doesn't she want me?
Does she know that I let the dragon get Mommy?
Does she think I'll let the dragon get her?
I won't, Angel, I promise. I won't let it happen again. Please....
But I don't say this out loud.
They'll get mad at me for listening.
Mommy always got mad at me for listening.
I want to go home. Go home to Mommy even.
I want to see David and climb in the tree and watch for birds and
squirrels. I want to go find Ms. Knox and show her what I made the other
day and have her arms hugging me and pushing away the dragons.
I don't want to be sitting on a bench in front of McDonalds playground
thinking about Mommy and Daddy and how I let them die.
I let them die.
I feel the tears start to come and angrily brush them away, jumping up
so that no one can see them.
I run blindly to the slide and scramble up the stairs, thinking that the
rush of air across my face will dry out the tears.
I reach the top and sit there, all alone.
There is nobody else on the playground this late at night, and the forms
of Angel and Mulder in the corner look like ghosts.
The stars are coldly analyzing me, just as Mulder's eyes do, and I want
to run away from them, but the stars are everywhere.
I slide down and the cold burst of wind sheers away the wet tears from
my cheeks.
I run back up again and see a couple come in from the inside dining
area, a little boy with them that I remember from kindergarten.
I hated him in that class. He made fun of me.
I slide down again and go to the monkey bars as he crawls in the balls.
I hate the balls. They're so boring.
The monkey bars are cold and bite into my skin and I drop down into the
foam, giving up on ever getting across them without falling.
I sit in the foam for awhile until the boy heads toward me.
I turn and scramble out, running back to the slide.
I see a man come in and sit down, far from Angel and Mulder, and far
from the couple with the boy I hate.
He looks funny.
His nose is wrong or something.
I sit on the top of the slide and when I slide down I don't see him
anymore.
Good. I didn't like his funny face very much anyway.
The big tube rises above the slide and I want to get in there and hide
out for awhile.
I have to crawl up this netting to get there though, and I always get
stuck and Daddy has to get underneath it and push my feet up to get me
out.
I decide to do it now and make Daddy proud of me.
He always laughed and said I get it eventually.
Daddy did the nets in Amry training; he used to tell me how to do it,
but I could never get it.
I start climbing.
Halfway up I feel a hand on feet, just like Daddy's hands when he got me
unstuck.
But I'm not stuck.
The hands yank down and I scream, but I choke as the netting claws at my
throat.
I struggle and feel the hands yanking down, pulling, and I am slipping
through the net but it's catching around my throat.
I can't breathe!
I hear the couple yelling and the boy crying and the hands pulling.
It's a dragon!
He followed me and he's going to get Angel and Mulder. It's my fault
again, the dragon is here and he'll eat them. His fire breath will burn
away their skin and it'll be my fault.
Daddy.........stop the dragon.
I can't breathe!
I'm slipping, falling, choking.
Tight cord aorund me, squeezing, choking.......
Nothing.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
Mulder heard her scream for Daddy and thought she was going down the
slide again, but when he turned to look, she was tangled in the ropes.
He watched for a moment, thinking she would pull back up, but she
didn't.
The couple that had come in started yelling at their son and he couldn't
hear if Shannon needed help or not.
He stood, trying to get a better glimpse and Scully stood beside him.
She must have had the right angle, because she gasped and began running
to the netting that led to a huge tube.
"Stop it!" she yelled.
Mulder frowned and wondered what was going on. Who was she yelling to?
The shadows shifted under the netting and suddenly someone was running
away.
Mulder's adrenaline shot up and he chased after him, confident that
Scully would take care of Shannon.
Scully ran to the netting and saw Shannon was being strangled by the
rope, her face was already turning blue.
Dana ran beneath the netting and lifted the tiny girl's legs up,
hoisting her so that she wasn't dangling.
She yelled for the couple to help her.
Panicked they ran over and supported her body weight as Scully shot up
the netting to untangle her.
Dana could feel the panic in her own body jumping forward and she felt
her hands shake as she wound the ropes away from the girl's still form.
"God, don't let her die." she prayed under her breath as the knots came
undone.
As soon as the rope was gone from Shannon's neck, she began to cough and
gag. Scully pulled her up and gathered her to her, cradling her body in
her arms.
The couple stood by awkwardly, holding hands and grasping the collar of
their son as he tried to run off again.
Dana rocked her back and forth as she cried and choked. Her coloring
returned and she shook as the tears came down.
"You're okay Shannon. You're all right, babe." Scully said, rocking her,
the netting swaying.
By now some of the McDonalds crew had come out, their mouths agape and
wondering if they would get sued.
Mulder came back empty handed and told everyone to go away, then he too
climbed out on the ropes to join them.
He shook his head slightly at Scully's silent question, asking him if he
had caught the shadow.
"Shan? You're okay, hon. You're okay. We won't let that man get near you
again. I promise."
Her voice was shaky but clear. "Promise?"
"We both do. You're okay."
She nodded and Mulder held out his arms to her. She dove into his
embrace, needing the father figure to comfort her.
Daddy always made things better.
"You're okay," he said.
Dana stroked her hair away from her teary face and held her hand.
"The dragons followed me," she whispered.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
end part 7
adios
RocketMan
Promise?
Mulder was riding with Shannon in the backseat where she had fallen
asleep.
Scully drove them back to their motel room and unlocked the door for
Mulder as he carried the tiny girl inside.
He gently laid her down on the bed and pulled off her shoes and socks.
Scully had gathered some of her clothes and she dressed Shannon in
pajamas and helped tuck her in the bed.
Scully then stretched out on the other bed and fell asleep herself,
assured that Mulder would wake her when it was her turn to keep watch.
"Scully! Scully!" came his frantic voice not minutes later.
She roused, still sleepy, and peered at him, the frightened look on his
face making her come fully awake.
"What? What happened?"
"She's shaking, Scully. I tried to make her warmer, but it isn't helping
any."
Mulder was acting like a frightened man who has no idea what children
were like. She smiled to herself and got up to look at Shannon.
The little girl was shaking and twitching as if dreaming and looked pale
and drawn. Scully took her temperature and held a cool cloth to her
forehead, hoping to cool the fever in her cheeks.
"What's wrong with her Scully?"
"She's in shock, Mulder. She'll be all right though." Scully said,
reassuring him and patting his arm. She watched his face as he took in
the little girl's shaking and trembling and thought it was sweet how
much he seemed to care for her. "Mulder, get some rest. You're acting
like her father or something. I'll watch out for her for a while, all
right?"
Mulder hesitated.
"Mulder, trust me."
He sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Wake me when you're tired, Scully."
"Sure." she said and laid him down, covering him just as he had done for
Shannon.
Then she sat beside the other bed, peering into the tormented sleep of a
hurting child.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
I wake to see Angel above me, her hair hanging down and touching my
face, its scent like showers and spring rain.
I smile and she smiles back, rubbing my hand.
"Hey there, Sleepy Head." she says.
"Hey Angel." I say and twist my head looking around for Mulder, hoping
the dragons have gone away.
I still remember that Angel didn't want to keep me.
I turn my face away from her and pick at the bedspread.
"Shannon, are you all right?"
I nod and sit up in the big bed; my feet are cold and so are my
fingers. My clothes are in the chair beside the bathroom door and I
slither out of bed to get them.
As I reach the chair, Mulder comes out of the bathroom and claps his
hand down on my shoulder.
I shout and jerk away, fear kicking in out of instinct.
I can feel my muscles quivering like I'm frozen and I hate it, but it's
happened before and I can't stop it.
Angel grabs me and holds me to her, saying words that my ears don't let
me hear, and I just shiver.
Mulder tries to say he is sorry, but I can't even look at him. He scares
me when I'm not thinking about it. Just when I think he won't frighten
me anymore, he does, and I feel about two years old.
"Make him go away," I whisper, shivering.
I hear his anguished cry at my words.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I sob and twist so that I can't see him.
Angel holds me tight. "It's okay, Shannon. But I'm not going to tell him
that, hon. You have to get over this. He won't hurt you, and you know
it."
"Scully, maybe I should go-"
"No. Mulder stay here."
"No please." I whimper and bury my head into her shoulder.
"Scully-"
"Mulder."
"Please...." I twist my body, but they are fighting like Mommy and Daddy
did and don't pay attention.
"Scully, she's obviously-"
"Mulder, she has to . . . "
Their words are farther from my hearing and it becomes fuzzy. I can see
someone else's face in Mulder's and Angel's arms are Mommy's. I can feel
her fear and I can hear Daddy asking the Mulder-Man things about secrets
and Mommy keeps me from running in to see Daddy. She's telling me that
it's dangerous, but I want to see Daddy.
I get away from her and dart into the living room, watching Daddy's face
fall, his blood leave and he's shouting at me to get out.
I turn, crying, fleeing to my room.
But before I do, the Mulder-Man looks right in my eyes and I see the
smoke curling around his head.
Mulder-Man has dragon eyes.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
"Scully!" Mulder shouted and pointed to Shannon. "Don't tell me that's
post- whatever!"
"Oh, sh- she's having a seizure, Mulder. Help me."
Mulder and Scully managed to get her to the bed and then let her jerk
and twitch out the episode.
"Scully, that's-"
"I know, Mulder. There's something else wrong with her. We need to get
her to a hospital."
The girl finally was still and Mulder sank gratefully into the bed.
"I brought that on, Scully. There's something about me that upsets her."
"Maybe because you're the male."
"Possibly. Or because I represent something that is intrinsically
fearful to her. I connect with a bad experience."
"Well, Mulder, she really needs to get over it, to conquer this so that
she can become a healthy child again."
"I know. I am a psychologist."
"Could've fooled me," she murmured.
He made a face and poked her arm in return. "Ha ha, very funny, Scully."
"Oh, I thought so." she said, smiling beautifically at him.
"Let's ask her when she wakes up." he said and sat down beside her to
think.
~~~~
After an hour of boring nothingness, Scully strecthed and stood, arching
her back.
He appreciated the view and tried not to let her see just how much.
"Mulder, I'm going to take a walk, exercise my brain and legs a bit."
<No need to exercise those legs>
<Or the brain>
"Uh . . . yeah. Sure."
She nodded and grabbed her sweatshirt, pulling it over her long sleeved
T-shirt. When they had gotten back from McDonalds, she had quickly
pulled on jeans and a comfortable shirt and hadn't changed them yet.
She was pleasantly chilled in the early morning air, the numbing cold
making her cheeks blush and her fingers immediately freeze. Being a
daughter of a Navy Captain gave her a healthy love of the sea and the
chill it brought with it.
She zipped up the sweatshirt front and pulled her hair into a ponytail,
loving the way it felt to have her hair up again. It had grown just
long enough to do that.
She started off briskly, her cheeks puffing in and out with the
exertion, and the flow of her blood was something she could feel.
She liked this feeling of being alive. She treasured it like it would
never come again.
And it just might not. She never knew really.
Scully turned into the woods, away from the tourist claptrap, and headed
deeper into it, disregarding the instincts that she had acquired from
Mulder. The ones that said everything was dark and sinister and out to
get her.
It was refreshing.
She watched the bare branches swaying in the light wind and sat down
beneath a large oak, feeling the warmth the ground gave off as a life
force.
She leaned back and tried to clear her mind.
But Shannon's face haunted her. The beautiful child's blue eyes and
blonde hair, pleading with her to make the dragons go away.
She wished she knew what the dragons were.
Obviously, the girl had seen something of what had been going on at her
house. Something damning enough to make them want her dead. A child.
Scully couldn't even fathom it.
To want a child dead.
To be capable of such cold heartedness.
Dragons.
What was it about dragons that stuck out at her?
Something about what the girl had said . . . she had let the dragons get
her mother . . . the dragons were chasing her . . .
Had Shannon associated the dragons with real poeple? People who had hurt
her mother, possibly even had been over to her house before and had
frightened her then?
Dragons.
Yes.....
Maybe that was why she recognized dragons as important.
But . . . something else.
The cold was seeping in and she shivered. The sun was still not up and
the pleasant chill was quickly turning into a freezing bitterness.
She shuddered and saw her breath sail out in a puff.
Dragon!
Smoke and dragons . . . fire and dragons . . . smoke . . .
Her face began to grow numb and she suddenly understood.
Dragons.
Shannon had seen dragons.
Scully jumped to her feet and sprinted back to the motel.
@@@@~~~~@@@@
Title: Promsie? (9/9)
Author: RocketMan >[email protected]<
Disclaimer: See part one---yes this is the end. 9 parts total.
WARNING: contains references to derogatory words, and curse words.
Promise?
"Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child,
so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born." --Rev. 12:4
I feel hands on me, waking me from wonderful oblivion and I shake my
head and tell them I didn't want to wake up yet.
I hear them talking and whispering about something and he doesn't want
to wake me, but Angel does.
I sigh and remember what happened. Seeing the dragon eyes in Mulder's
and then nothing.
I don't want to wake up yet and I don't want to face all their
questions. I'm tired of telling them things. They ask the same
questions, and all of them sound like they think I hurt Mommy.
I didn't do it.
The dragons did.
But . . . but I let the dragons get them.
So maybe I did hurt Mommy. I let the dragons get her.
"Shannon?"
I open my eyes and try not to let them see me cry. I won't cry. It's
stupid to cry and it won't help. Mommy told me that only sissies cry and
Daddy said that nobody cries in the Army.
"Shannon, I want to show you a picture and you tell me if you know this
person." Angel says, her blue eyes bright wih excitement.
"Will this help Daddy?" I ask.
Her eyes dim. "No, baby, but it will help us catch the man who hurt your
Daddy."
I look away. I don't feel like any questions, or pictures.
"I don't want to look at pictures."
"Please, Shannon. For me?" Angel pleads with me, her eyes are changing
colors as she thinks and I see gold and blue and green, but never dragon
eyes.
"Okay, Angel."
She smiles at me and leads me to the table up against the wall.
"Okay, Shannon, sit here babe. Now Mulder is going to stay right here
with me, all right? He won't even touch you."
I look to Mulder and I frown, a sad look on my face that Daddy always
called my going away face. It was the face I gave Daddy when he had to
go away for his Army jobs.
"I'm sorry, Mulder." I say and hold out my hand to him. "I didn't mean
to make you sad. I don't mean to be afraid sometimes."
He smiles and I see that I have made him happy again. I'm glad. He takes
my hand and squeezes it, placing a small kiss on my knuckles.
"So, you're okay then Shan?" he asks.
I nod and wiggle in the chair.
"Okay, when I put the picture down, tell me if you know any of the
people there."
I see Mulder frown, as if he doesn't think I'll be able to help, or
maybe because he doesn't want me to do it.
I nod and put on my serious face, ready to help.
I know I can help Angel.
"I'm ready Angel."
She nods and I see she is somewhat afraid.
Why do they look like something will happen?
She lays the picture down and I see it is of two people. An old lady and
an old man. They are fighting and she seems to be ready to collapse, but
I notice she's pretty, and that she does remind me of someone, and the
man.
Oh. God.
"It's the dragon!"
I can feel my limbs shake again, bringing back the fear and I can't
control it anymore.
I jump away and run for the door.
I can feel the dragon right behind me, he jumped up from the picture and
is chasing after me.
He wants to eat me too.
I run and run until I can't hear Mulder or Angel calling after me
anymore.
But I still keep running, because I can feel the dragon's hot breath on
me, the smoke in my face and fire on my skin.
I stumble into the woods and I can only think that I have watched Snow
White way too many times, because now, it seems like the trees are
reaching for me.
That's ridiculous.
Daddy said that the trees never did that.
He promised.
But he also promised to come.
FIRE
Oh.....god oh god oh god
I can feel it scorching my neck, setting ablaze the trees behind me.
That's why the trees are reaching for me, they know I've let the dragons
get them too.
"Daddy!"
Oh God give me Daddy back. Please please I promise I'll never ask for a
puppy anymore and I promise I'll be good.
I promise.
The smoke is choking me, like the net at McDonalds, and the tree roots
are pulling me down like the hands at McDonalds.
I can't get away.
I should have stayed with Angel.
Daddy said Angels protect me.
Angels save me.
I should have stayed with Angel.
I see the woods, the blackness, and I'm hitting branches and falling and
crying and feeling always that hot hot breath.
I scream as the claws close over me.
I twist and see the face of my dragon and his eyes . . . his grey cold
dark eyes.
The eyes of death.
Dragons and death are coming for me.
Angel why did you let the dragons get me?
@@@@~~~~@@@@
"Shannon! Stop! No one can hurt you anymore, Shannon!"
Scully ram after the child, her heart beating triple and tripping over
her agonized breaths.
Mulder was right behind her and she looked back to make sure he was
still there.
And in that second, she lost her.
She stopped dead still in the middle of the woods and felt Mulder
collide into her.
"Scully!"
"She's gone, Mulder. She vanished. I turned for an instant and she's
gone."
Mulder looked around at the dark trees and watches as the sun starts its
daily ascent.
"Well, it'll be light pretty soon."
"She could be dead by then!" Scully shouted.
He grabbed her shoulder. "I'm not saying we should stop, Scully. I'm
trying to put a positive spin on this."
"Mulder, how do we know that CancerMan hasn't just snatched her. That's
who she identified as the dragon, Mulder. In the picture with your
mother. Mulder, CancerMan!"
"I know that. I know that. Crap, you think I'm not just as scared? She's
met him, been face to face with him and was so frightened she freaked
out, calling him a dragon. She even said, in the house, that the dragon
had been after her. Had he been there too?"
"We have to find her. Not only because CancerMan might find her, but
also because she could get lost and never find her way back. It'll be
cold even with the sunight today."
The grimness in her face made him shiver and they quickly began to
coordinate a search effort.
"It's pointless to call the police, Scully. It would only waste time.
You know they don't start until she's been missing for at least 24
hours."
"I know." Scully sighed and marked off the section she had just
completed on their map.
"Okay, you go east and wind up north, here . . . and I'll go west and
wind up north . . . here. Same place. Then we'll do it again."
She nodded at his curt instructions, then set off, flashlight in tow.
~~~~
"Scully," she answered into her phone, stopping dead in the woods and
hoping it was Mulder telling her he had found Shannon.
"Ah . . . Agent Scully. You remember me, I presume?"
Her blood ran cold.
"Where is she?"
"She is with us. We are keeping her Agent Scully, so you may stop your
search; it would be in vain."
"You cold bastard. Give her back! She isn't yours - you can't just
kidnap her!"
Scully began walking quickly to her meeting point with Mulder, her heart
icing over with fear for Shannon.
"Ah, Agent Scully. You must be careful about jumping to conclusions. She
is mine."
"What?!"
Scully started to run, her mind refusing to accept such preposterous
things.
"Yes, she's mine. Just as her sister Jesse is. Their mother was a slutty
btich, I must say. They're my offspring, Agent Scully, and so, being the
wonderful father I am, they have come to live with me. I simply called
to express my appreciation in taking such good care of her for me until
I could acquire her."
"You fu-"
"Ah ah ah. Language Agent Scully. If you ever hope to have children of
your own someday, I would suggest you refrain from such language."
"I swear-"
"That's precisely what I'm referring to. Good thing I managed to get
Shannon now, before you could corrupt her even further."
"You give her back!"
"Good-bye Agent Scully. Don't forget to tell Agent Mulder that she is in
good hands."
The line clicked and was gone.
Dana stopped in futility by a tree, their meeting place.
She hung her head in shame and pain.
She had let the dragons get Shannon.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to the air, wishing the wind would take her
words to wherever the child was.
"I let the dragons get you."
@@@@~~~~@@@@
I wake and see no Angel, just the dragons.
Everywhere the dragons.
I see Jesse holding onto a man's finger, the man who was in the picture
talking and fighting.
And then I see Daddy, and he is pushing his way to me, and I can see his
hurt.
"They told me you were dead Daddy." I whisper into his shoulder as he
lifts me up.
"Oh Shan, I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything else, doll." he says and
pulls me into the chair he sits in.
"What happened to your leg Daddy?"
He smiles wryly at me and pulls me in closer. "The dragons got me, doll.
But I'm okay."
"But, Daddy, the dragons are here."
"They won't hurt you, doll."
"Promise?"
"Promise."