From: "Emily Miller" Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 23:40:21 -0500 Subject: Rainbow Continuum 1/10 Emily Miller ARCHIVE: You can put it wherever you want, if you'll keep my name on it and ask me first. DISCLAIMER: Fox, William, Tina, and Samantha Mulder; Dana, Melissa, William (Jr.), Charles, William (Sr.), and Margaret Scully; CSM; Alex Krycek; Luis Cardinal; and Walter Skinner do not belong to me, they belong to Chris Carter and FOX. Daina Kathryn Scully, Thomas Rammin, Mark Biars, and all others are mine. RATING: PG-13 CLASSIFICATION: TRA KEYWORDS: MSR SPOILERS: One Breath, Blessing Way/Paper Clip, Herrenvolk, Paper Hearts, Small Potatoes, and Christmas Carol/Emily SUMMARY: A mythology story. Scully discovers that Melissa's death was faked and finds her sister, along with someone else special to them both, and has to protect them. Rainbow Continuum 1/10 Emily Miller >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 29, 1998 9:45 A.M. All morning, Dana Scully had been unusually quiet and distanced. She was never one for many words when alone with her partner, but today she returned his good morning, went to her computer, and stared at the spinning Xs on the screensaver. Fox Mulder left her alone as long as he could stand to see her sitting there, lip trembling every few minutes as though she were struggling to keep from letting her sadness show, eyes even larger than usual and red around the edges. But, after what seemed like hours and hours of watching her out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Is there anything wrong, Scully?" She shook her head, not able to speak. If she did, she knew she would start crying and give herself away. Prove to him that something WAS wrong- as if he didn't know it already. "Are you sure?" This time she nodded, licked her lips as though the slight trembling of the lower one dried them out, and reached a shaking hand to the keyboard and managed to strike the 'Enter' key and turn off the screensaver. Still, he watched her, and she didn't do anything else. After a couple of minutes, the Xs were back, and she didn't do anything about it. Her hands had returned to her lap and rested there as before. They might have done nothing for hours, her trying not to cry, he staring at her, wanting to say something but not sure what, until there was a knock on the door. Scully didn't even look up, so Mulder called, "Come in!" "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully? Assistant Director Skinner needs to talk to you." The Agent was young, and looked worried as he glanced around the office, at Mulder's posters and pictures, the desk stacked with files and books, and the Scully's computer, with its Xs. He gave them a forced smile and left quickly. Mulder, taking his gaze off Scully long enough to watch him go, wondered what rumors the man had heard about him and Scully already. Talk traveled fast, especially when it was about the 'spooky' agent and his 'frigid' partner, as he had learned less than 3 months after he and Scully had been assigned to each other, during the first Tooms case. He got up from his desk and walked to the door, but didn't open it. He turned his head to see if Scully had even gotten up. She hadn't, was still just staring at the screensaver- or nothing. "Scully?" She didn't seem to have heard him at first, then blinked and twisted slightly in her chair to look at him with eyes still rimmed with red. "What?" she said. He could hear the force it took to keep her voice from halting and the tears that had threatened her all morning from spilling out. "We're supposed to go see Skinner." He tried to say it as gently as possible, though he was becoming increasingly frustrated. He knew she didn't like him to know that she was upset or hurting, but he couldn't just let her zone out from the world like she was doing. "Oh... okay..." she got up then and joined him, almost drifting out the door he held for her. He watched her- and worried. Something was definitely going on. But she didn't seem eager to tell him what and he didn't bother to ask. Even if he did, he knew she wouldn't tell him. He could tell by the look on her face, her eyes. Her hands still trembled as she pressed the button on the elevator to take them out of the basement. "This time, I swear it, its not my fault," he said, hoping to take her mind off whatever it was that was making her miserable. She didn't even bring her eyes up to meet his. "What?" she asked softly. "Skinner wants us? I didn't do anything this time." "Oh, that. No." She wasn't cooperating. "Scully, he's not going to be too happy with you if you won't talk to him." She finally chose to look at him. Her eyes were still larger than normal. "Mulder," she said, still speaking very softly. She said nothing else. "What, Scully?" "Nothing... nothing..." Her head dipped back quickly, but not fast enough that he didn't see the tear begin to escape, and even then he saw it hit the floor. He even thought he could HEAR it in the sudden silence in the elevator. He reached over and pressed the stop button, felt the elevator shudder slightly as it stopped. "Scully, look at me," he said, and reached a hand down to force her eyes to meet his. More tears fell, getting faster now, and she struggled for a second to get away from his burning gaze. "Mulder... I'm fine... let me go, Skinner's going to..." she couldn't finish. She took a deep, shaky breath and finally looked him in the eye. "Tell me what's wrong," he said, making it into a gentle demand. She shook her head the best she could, since it was still in his hand. "Tell me, Scully. Please." "Last year... it's been a year since Emily died... and I just..." she choked on her words. He released her, but she didn't look away this time. "Just what?" "I just thought about what might have happened if she hadn't died. By now, she might even consider me a parent instead of just some nice lady who knew her after a tragedy... somebody she could..." He interrupted her this time. "She knew you were more than just some nice lady, Scully. She knew. She loved you and you loved her. I loved her, but I was the one she just considered a nice person. She knew who you were... somewhere inside her, Scully, she knew." "I wanted to be the one she trusted, Mulder. I wanted her to love me like I love my mother, I wanted to love her back. I thought I could do that. But she died. I KILLED her, Mulder!" "You didn't kill her. You kept her from a life as just a test subject." "I thought what I was doing was what was right for everybody. But now, I almost wish I hadn't. She could be with me now, or at a day care, waiting for me to come pick her up after work. We could go home, watch a movie... I could have vacations with her, birthday parties, starting school, trouble with boyfriends when she was older... but now I can't have that. With anybody. And I've known that for a full year now. It's hard, Mulder, knowing that I can never have the one thing I never even knew I wanted." "You'll find a way to have it, if you want it, Scully. You can adopt a child. Or... I'll find a way to fix what they did to you." She gave him a tiny smile, her tears having slowed almost to a stop and her hands steady in his. "You can't fix it, Mulder. I feel better now. Maybe I just needed to get it out." He nodded, agreeing with her, but wasn't so sure. She didn't seem much better as they, after he'd started the elevator again, knocked on the door to Skinner's office. Or for the rest of the day. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 29, 1998 2:15 P.M. She watched with the curious eyes of a future scientist as her mother- well, not really, but she said it was okay to call her that, until the REAL mother was found- showed her how to use that tiny little glass-thing she wore around her neck could catch the sun's light and turn it into a rainbow on the floor. "It goes from purple to red," she said, examining the colors closely. She put a hand over them and laughed when the light was now on it. "I think the scientists say violet, but that's right," the woman with her agreed. "Which one's violet?" She could move her hand and the colors danced. It made her giggle again, losing her solemn image for the second time. She tried to stay solemn- she liked that word, too- whenever she could, especially when THEY were there, the men. But when she was with only the woman, she could laugh and be a regular 4-year-old. "Purple." "I like to say purple better. Violet's a flower, isn't it?" "Yes." "One day I'm gonna see a violet. The flower kind." "I bet you will, D. I hope you will." The woman pulled her into her arms and hugged her close and they both laughed, like a real-life mother and daughter. Sometimes she wished they were. Her real mother didn't seem to care what happened to her. Otherwise she would have come to get her by now. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 29, 1998 4:15 P.M. Scully talked enough to get by while in Skinner's office- he wanted them to look into a prison near Annapolis where people were supposedly being kept illegally-, then a little to Mulder back in their own office. But she still didn't seem okay. "Want to go on home early, Scully?" Mulder finally asked, since neither of them was getting anything done. "I guess so." She didn't have to save anything, for once, or gather anything up- she hadn't done anything all day. "I'll pick you up in the morning, we'll go look at this prison, okay?" She nodded, giving him another one of her fake smiles as she left, closing the door hard behind her. He watched her go with a heavy heart. It hurt him to see her hurting. He wanted some way to help her, make everything better for her. He just wasn't sure how he could. He grabbed the file Skinner had given him to read over- he'd given Scully one, too, but she'd left it on her desk- and pulled on his coat. Before he left, he grabbed Scully's file as a second thought. As long as he had it, he had an excuse to stop by her apartment and make sure she was okay. If she asked why he was there, he could just say she'd forgotten it. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 29, 1998 4:30 P.M. Scully took a couple of shaky breaths when she got into her apartment, thankful she was finally alone. All day, she'd felt Mulder staring at her. It wasn't that his concern really bothered her, what bothered her was that he always expected her to tell him everything. He could keep things private, but she couldn't. Emily, though today was the one-year anniversary of her death, wasn't the only reason that she had been depressed today. Melissa was another. She and Melissa had been close as children, even still talking often in college. But then she had gone off to med school and Melissa had gone to Los Angeles for a year, and there had gotten stranger and stranger. At first, she'd told her younger sister what kind of things she was doing. Scully could still remember one phone conversation, which at the time had shocked her. She and Melissa had been talking for about 15 minutes, just catching up. Then Melissa had brought up the subject of religion. "Dana, you're still going to church, aren't you?" "Of course I am." "You know, I really stopped and thought about all that a few weeks ago. I'm not so sure that it's where I was meant to be." "What are you talking about? Are you going to be Atheist now or something?" "No. Here in LA, people have shown me Scientology." "You mean worshipping the stars and stuff? Missy, that's a bunch of crap." "It's not worshipping the stars, D. It's a religion I can really relate to." "Next you'll be wearing those 'power crystals' you see on TV and telling me I should call Psychics For You, because I get the first 10 minutes free." "Nah, I know you don't like that stuff. I'll call for you, then tell you the results. Anyway, I gotta go." "Yeah, me too. I better go study." "You call me when you get to certain human features, Dana, since I know you know nothing about those things. You ARE still a virgin, aren't you?" "Shut up, Missy." "I know you're laughing at me. I can hear you covering the phone." "Good bye, Melissa..." "Dana?" "What?" "Good luck in school." "Thanks." "Bye, D." "Bye." Soon after, Scully had graduated, gone to the Academy, and become and FBI agent. She'd only seen Melissa once, that Christmas in 1991, before she'd been assigned to work with Mulder in the X-Files. By that time, her sister was already off the scientology kick and onto something else, something she'd found while in New York. The next time Scully had seen her had been after her abduction. She'd died less than a year later. Emily reminded Scully of Melissa, in more ways than just looks. She'd smiled a lot, before she'd gone to the hospital. She hadn't talked a lot, but when she did, her words had meaning. Scully curled up on her couch, after turning on the radio very softly, to think. In her head, she had seen Emily grow up a year. Anemia- if she'd really had it- wasn't a part of this scenario. Health and happiness, that was the way it should have been. "Scully?" Mulder's voice jerked her almost cruelly away from her dreams of what might have been. She jumped up and ran to the door, where he was poking his head in, as usual trying not to invade privacy while doing just that. "Hi," she said, gesturing for him to come in. "You sure?" "Yeah." She took his coat from him and threw it over her own on the back of a chair, then returned to her spot on the couch. He went with her and stood near her, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I brought your file on tomorrow's stuff. You forgot it," he said, handing it to her. She managed to smile at him, saw his slight wince and knew he knew it was forced. "Thanks." "And you're sure you're okay? You'll be okay at work tomorrow?" She couldn't answer that. She stalled. "Sit down, Mulder." He sat, then waited for her to say something. "I'll be fine," she finally said, using the all-purpose answer that he never believed. When she said that, he knew she wasn't okay and wasn't going to be. "I loved Emily, too. If she's bothering you, you can tell me." She knew she was looking almost as bad by now as she had that morning. "It's not just Emily. It's a lot of things. I really just want to be by myself." "You want me to leave?" "I didn't say that. I just want you to respect it if I don't feel like telling you everything right now." "I didn't say you had to. I just want you to be all right." "My telling you what's wrong doesn't make everything all right." "I know. But it seems to make you feel better." "Maybe it does." "I'll go, Scully." He stood, not giving her a chance to fake a protest, went over and got his coat, and was gone. She thought about following him, not letting him go off by himself, depressed and feeling like he'd failed, but didn't know what that would accomplish, except to get them both angry with each other. It would be better just to wait and see him later, tomorrow, when she was- hopefully- feeling better. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 29, 1998 6:15 P.M. She was trying to sleep. The woman was asleep- she could hear the difference in the breathing, and had figured out for herself that that meant somebody was asleep-, but for some reason unconsciousness wouldn't come to her. Something's going to happen, she said silently to herself. She had this strange feeling, different than any she'd had before. She knew deep somewhere, maybe in her heart, that a big change was coming the next day. She'd tried to ignore the feeling. She didn't believe in that kind of thing, feelings and thoughts and dreams that came true. She was going to be a scientist. Scientists didn't believe in that stuff. She wondered if her sister, wherever she was, knew that she existed. Maybe it was like those twins the woman had told her about, the ones that did everything alike even though they'd never really known each other... she didn't believe in that, either. Stories the woman told her to keep her busy when they weren't doing things like watching rainbows. Rainbows. If all light was made of all those colors, like the woman said, then rainbows filled the whole world. She tried to imagine what the sun and world would look like if you could see all the colors in light. One big, infinite rainbow. She sighed, rolled over on the pallet, and fell asleep. Her dreams were filled with the woman, the mother and sister she'd never met, and streams of light over every color, washing over them all and bringing them happiness. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 10:30 A.M. Mulder and Scully looked up at the gray building, standing outside the fence, with its electric fence and even dogs. That was something neither had seen outside of movies and books. "Foreboding," Mulder commented. He waved to a guard that walked by. "Hey! We need to get in! We're with the Federal Bureau of Investigation!" The guard came running over, looking slightly embarrassed. "Sorry. I was told you were coming." "Can you let us in?" Scully asked. She was determined not to let anything through today. She didn't need Mulder worrying about her while they were on a case. "Oh... sure," the guard pulled keys from his belt, adding to the feeling that both agents had that they somehow were trapped in a movie, and unlocked the padlock keeping them out. "Just go on in." "What about the dogs?" Mulder glanced over at animals, inside another fence, this one closed but unlocked, who looked like they wouldn't think twice about eating the two of them. The guard shrugged. "They won't hurt ya. They saw you come in with me, saw me let ya in." He jerked his hat off long enough to run a hand over his brown hair, then jerked the hat back down low so his eyes couldn't be seen. Scully almost shivered. She didn't like the way this place felt, even though she knew that was pathetic. It was a Mulder-feeling. She'd been working with him too long. "Coming, Scully?" Mulder, like he had on the way to Skinner's office the morning before, turned before going on to make sure she was following. Which was probably a good thing, since she hadn't been either time. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her black FBI jacket- she'd worn it instead of a normal suit this morning, because with it she could wear jeans and more comfortable shoes- and jogged to catch him. They walked side by side by the dogs, not looking to the sides- "You know, I heard somewhere that dogs attack if you look them in the eye," Mulder said- just in case. Once at the door, neither seemed very eager to knock. "Well," Scully finally said. "Yeah." Mulder reached up and hit the door with his hand twice. Then they waited. Scully, growing restless while Mulder stood patiently, wandered to the side, where she could see a window. She went to it and stood as tall as she could to try and see inside. It was too high. She put her hands on the edge of the stone of the prison and boosted herself up just enough that she could almost see what was in there... Mulder tackled her, throwing her on the ground just before one of the dogs leaped with a half-crazed growl to the window, right where she had been. If Mulder hadn't gotten her away, her throat would a bloody mass separating her head from her shoulders. She shuddered under her partner. "I thought he said the dogs wouldn't attack," Mulder said with anger in his voice. He didn't get up yet, though, sensing that she was still shaky. "I'm going to assume you two are the FBI agents," said a voice, and Mulder jumped off her and hauled her to her feet so fast that she felt dizzy for a moment. They found themselves facing a tall man, middle-aged, his black hair striped with gray. His eyes were small and dark and seemed to glare at them. Scully felt uncomfortable in his stare. "Uh, I'm Special Agent Mulder and this is Agent Scully," Mulder said. He glanced at Scully as she took her eyes off the man to make sure she was okay. She was, save for the grass stains on her jeans. She wouldn't have thought that the sparse grass on the dirt would have stained, but apparently it could. "So you are the FBI agents?" "Yes." "May I ask why you are here? Or is that confidential?" "We're only here to make sure everything is... legal." "Make sure it ain't a concentration camp, huh?" "Sir," Scully said, putting her own thoughts in around Mulder's. "We need you to cooperate with us, if you would." "How am I not cooperating?" "She's just telling you," Mulder said. He looked at Scully again. She seemed a lot smaller without heels on. He wondered if maybe she felt the need to prove that she was just as good at what she was doing as he. But there was no reason for her to need to do that, since she'd proved it as the two of them worked together. Sometimes, she was obviously BETTER than he was. And both of them knew it. "Would you like to go ahead and look, get back for lunch?" "Can I have your name?" Mulder asked. "Oh, yes- Mark Biars. Come inside." He held the door open so that Mulder and Scully could go in, then followed them. The door shut with a loud 'bang' that made Scully jump just slightly. Mulder put a comforting hand on her back, and was relieved when she didn't shrug it off. "Would you like me to take you around?" Biars said. "Would it be alright if we just looked?" Scully said. Her eyebrow went up as he seemed a little reluctant to answer- like he had no good reason not to let them, but didn't want them to. "I- I think you could. Are you going to need to go inside any of the cells?" "We might." "You have guns, don't you?" "We do." "Um..." Mulder said, looking at Biars. "Don't prisons usually take weapons? Just in case?" Now Biars looked not only worried, but confused. "They do?" "Every other one I've been in has," Mulder said, and Scully nodded. "Oh, well... this isn't a prison for, uh, mass murderers... just minor offenses, that's all the ones here have done... you should be able to keep your guns." Mulder looked at Scully. She shrugged. "Can we have keys to the rooms?" she asked. "Of course." Biars handed Mulder, though she had asked, the keys. There were only 5 of them. "Only 5 prisoners?" Mulder said. "A key for each floor. Makes things easier. Oh, and, um, I would prefer if you stayed off the last floor." "And why is that?" "Um... I just..." "We've been told to look at everything, Mr. Biars," Scully said, ending his stuttering. She turned and walked smartly for the stairs. This time, it was her turn to stop and wait for Mulder. "We'll talk to you before we leave," Mulder said to Biars, who nodded and winced as though he suddenly had a headache. Mulder joined Scully at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the second floor. "There's something here he doesn't want us to know about," Scully said as they climbed the metal stairs, shoes echoing loudly. She could see the doors of the other levels and the all-around walkways that let people get from room to room. All of it was the same shade of steel gray. Once again, like a movie. She felt another shiver climbing up her spine. "I guess we'll find out what when we get to the last floor." Mulder's hand returned to her lower back, seeing her shudder. He knew she wasn't comfortable around places like this. She was, as far as he knew, uncomfortable around only two things: certain people and certain places. They continued up in silence, stopped in silent agreement before the first door. "Do you think we should check each room?" she asked. "No. We'll check two or three on each floor, and if we see anything even the slightest bit out of the ordinary, we can check the others on that particular floor. It'll take too much time if we check every room." She nodded and moved aside to let him unlock the first room. Inside, they could hear a few hushed voices and some moving around. When Mulder managed to get the key turned and the door forced open, they found themselves facing three men, all of whom immediately noticed Scully. "We're Agents Mulder and Scully. Can we ask you some questions?" Mulder said, stepping in front of Scully as he entered the room. She considered staying in the doorway, but eventually decided to risk going in. One of the men leered at her when she entered. She ignored him. "What about?" The tallest of the men asked. He looked like he was in his mid-thirties, older than the others, with red hair that stuck up and out any way it could. The other two both had brown hair, the one still looking at Scully had a blackish-strip running down one side. "Conditions," Mulder said. Scully decided that it was safer for her to keep quiet. "You mean here? It sucks," Brown hair said. Mulder ignored his comment. "Can I get your names?" "Geoffrey Renolds," said the oldest one. "Joshua Andrews," said brown hair. "George Washington," said black-stripe. Mulder sighed, seeing already that it was going to be a long day. Scully frowned at the man, who just smiled at her again. "Real name, please," she said. "Tom Cruise." "Sir-" she started to say, no longer bothering to try and hide her annoyance. She couldn't stand it when anybody, suspects, witnesses, whoever they were talking to, decided to rebel. Mulder, maybe for the better, interrupted her before she could continue. "Look, we're not going to let you have a say at all in this if you can't give us you real name." "Stephen King." "That's it... Mulder, let's go," Scully said, putting a hand on his arm, knowing he would stand there all day unless she told him to do otherwise. He, in an unusually stubborn mood, pulled away from her. "Tell me your name," he said, leaning close to the man, who now smiled at him instead of Scully. "Abraham Lincoln." "Tell me your name!" "Harrison Ford." "Come on, Scully," Mulder finally gave up. He gave the prisoner one final glare before Scully pushed him out and shut the door. "That didn't work out too well," she said as Mulder stood, taking deep breaths and looking over the walkway to the floor below. She went to him and put an arm around his shoulder, trying to calm him down. She remembered what had happened when he'd gotten angry when they'd been trying to get Roche to cooperate, tell him who the hearts belonged to. "Better luck next time?" "I hope so. We might as well give it a try." This time, she kept her hand on him. Just to make sure. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 12:00 P.M. She listened hard, thinking she'd heard a voice. "Did you hear something?" she asked the woman. The woman looked up from the worn copy of that book she was always carrying around, the one that had belonged to somebody in her family. It had a funny name, but the woman was always reading it. Moby Dick, that was it. "Probably just Biars coming up here with lunch." "Is it lunch time already?" she asked. They never knew, really, when mealtime would be, but it was usually AROUND a certain time- breakfast around 7, lunch between 12 and 1, and dinner between 6 and 7. Today, breakfast had been a little late, so there was a good chance lunch would be, too. "You tell me," the woman said. She got up from where she'd been drawing pictures on the dirt floor and went to the window. She could see light from the sun, but not the sun itself. No light streamed in the window. "It looks like it's noon or a little before." "Maybe it was mice." "If it was, and I catch one, can I keep it as a pet?" "D., if you catch a mouse, you can do anything you want with it." "Even roast it in the sun and eat it up?" "You're sick." They both laughed. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 12:00 P.M. Scully was exhausted, after walking all over the prison for almost two hours and getting nothing. Either prisoners wouldn't cooperate, or they said things were fine. She really wasn't ready to go back to Skinner and tell him that they hadn't found anything wrong. He'd seemed so happy that he might get them out of his face- and trouble- for even a day. "About ready to quit, Scully?" Mulder asked, noticing her slowed pace. He'd stopped to wait for her numerous times now, as he would eagerly step ahead, hoping the next person they talked too would help them out, then would realize he was alone and would stop. "We still need to try the last floor," she said, and forced herself to speed up as much as she was able. "Okay, but only a couple of rooms. We can always come back if we need to." Once again, he stopped for her to catch up. When she did, he saw she was struggling still, and slowed to make it easier for her. She gave him a small but grateful smile. He let her go up to the sixth floor first, just to make sure he didn't unconsciously get faster again, then followed behind her, swinging the keys and whistling like people always did in the movies. "You should've been an actor, Mulder," she commented, stopping at the top of the stairs. "Yeah, with a name like Fox Mulder." "You could always change it... Marty." "How did you know about that?" "Our old friend Eddie van Blundht told me." "Oh, God... he didn't tell you about-" "Don't tell me, Mulder." "I probably shouldn't." He suddenly stopped, halfway down the walkway, closed his eyes, and started running. She watched him, thinking maybe he had finally completely gone over whatever edge he'd been standing at the brink of most of his later life. It wasn't until he stopped suddenly in front of a door, pointing his finger at it, that she realized he'd been picking a room. "You're good, Mulder. I'll bet $5 it's empty," she said, walking forward to join him. He shrugged. "Bet its not. $10." "Nah, 7." "You got a bet." He managed to get the key in and the door open faster this time, since he'd become more of an expert on forcing keys in locks since they'd started. She still hadn't gotten to him when he leaned in to see if there was anybody inside. He backed slowly out. "Scully... get down here..." he said, so softly she struggled to hear him from where she was. She sped up, but still didn't think she was up to running. When she got to him, he was still backing. He only stopped when he hit the railing, and that was all that kept him from falling down to the bottom floor and death. She frowned at him, thinking he was trying to make a joke out of her being right about the status of the room and owing her $7. She looked into the room, saw what he'd seen. Her breathing got shallow and she swallowed hard. She looked again, blinked hard, then looked for a third time. She was really seeing it. >>>>>>>> Rainbow Continuum 2/10 Emily Miller September 22, 1978 1:25 A.M. Dana woke up when she heard Melissa open the door. It creaked. "Melissa? Where're you going?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep and the metal she was destined to wear on her teeth through the best years of her life. "Go back to sleep, D.," Melissa said, calling her sister by the name she had decided to over the summer. Sometimes she still called her Dana, but most of the time it was D. "But where are you going?" Melissa left the door, walked to Dana's bed, and leaned over to give her her best glare. "I'm going out somewhere, okay? Don't tell Mom and Dad." "I might not if you'll give me a cigarette." "How did you know about those?" Dana smiled wickedly, her braces suddenly helping the image she was trying to get across. "I saw you leave last night and Mom said some of hers were missing." "Dana Katherine Scully, if you tell anybody what I've been doing..." "I won't if you'll give me one. Isn't that where you're going tonight?" "NO. But I'll give you one anyway, if you'll stay quiet." "I will." "Promise me." "Promise." "Good." Melissa left Dana's bed and went over to the desk they had to share, since the room was too small for two beds and two desks. She opened her drawer, the bottom one, and pulled out a mostly-empty pack of- Dana caught her breath- cigarettes. She took out one, put the pack back, closed the drawer, and tossed the cigarette at Dana. "How do I light it?" "Mom's lighter's in her purse downstairs. I'm leaving now. Wait 5 minutes, then you can go down." She left, leaving the door open to keep it from creaking again. Dana, checking her watch to see what time it was, then got out of bed and went to the window. Melissa had told her to stay in her room so she wouldn't see where she was going, but she hadn't said anything about staying in bed. Dana knew perfectly well what Melissa had meant, but she didn't have to let her know that. Melissa appeared a moment later, running now. She went around the corner, so that Dana could just barely see her, and got into a car that looked like it was parked there. But when Dana looked more closely, she could see the exhaust and a light from inside. The car drove off without ever turning on its lights. Dana wondered where Melissa had gone and if she should tell her parents. But she had promised to keep quiet for the cigarette. She looked down at the forbidden object crushed in her hand. It was a drug, her teachers always said. But it couldn't really be, because drugs were illegal, and she knew that just about anybody could cigarettes anywhere. If she really wanted to, she could probably find some place that would sell them to her. She walked downstairs, jumping over the stair that squeaked, and found her mother's purse where it always was on the table by the front door. Melissa had been right. The lighter was just inside it. She pulled it out and held it with shaky hands to the cigarette. It took her a few tries to get a flame, then a few tries to get the cigarette lit. When she finally did, she opened the front door that Melissa had left unlocked and went out on the porch. She could feel the cool night air, hear crickets, see stars twinkling millions of miles above. She promised herself that sometime she would go out when she WASN'T doing something that was so against the rules of her family that her father would strangle her if he found out. She stuck the cigarette to her mouth, making sure she got the right end. She inhaled. She coughed, choked, and almost passed out, she felt so dizzy suddenly. She tried to blow the smoke out, like she'd seen her mother do, but she'd swallowed it. She gripped the porch railing to keep herself steady. She wasn't sure if she liked this. But so many people did it, and nothing happened to them. She guessed you got used to it. She inhaled again, and this time managed to get at least some of the smoke out, only choking a little. By the fourth time, she was getting pretty good. She still felt a little sick when the cigarette was almost gone, but she managed to drop it on the porch, use a flowerpot to mash it, then flicked it off into the grass. Dana walked back inside, being sure to leave the door unlocked for Melissa, went upstairs and into the bathroom she and her sister shared with Bill and Charles, and threw up. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 12:15 P.M. Dana Scully opened her eyes to see Mulder and Melissa standing over her. She coughed, still able to taste the cigarette smoke in her mouth after one of the most vivid dreams she'd ever had. "Scully?" Mulder said. He wasn't standing over her, he was sitting, her head in his lap, looking down at her. She coughed again and tried to remember what had happened, where she was. She was in the prison, she and Mulder were looking for anything that might be enough to get the place closed, and they were on the last floor. He'd wanted her to see something in a room... and she had woken up on the floor. "I'm okay, Mulder," she said, shaking her head and sitting up. He let her sit but kept a hand on her arm. "I... I can't... what're you doing here?" Melissa asked, and Scully realized what was still wrong. Melissa was not looking at her with joy, but with confusion. "Missy?" she asked, using the nickname that she had originally given her sister, only to have her mother and younger brother later use it, also. "But you're dead." "I'm not dead. I was never dead. I... I can't ... Dana... but... but... I don't know how..." "You're dead," Scully repeated. "Do I look dead?" Mulder was looking from one to the other, seeming to want to say something but not sure it would be very safe to interrupt their conversation. He bit his lower lip, then turned to look at something behind him. He seemed confused. "I was there when you died... it was in a hospital, you'd been shot in the head..." Scully insisted, but her voice was getting weaker as she began to acknowledge that it had to be Melissa who was now sitting in front of her. "Shot in the head?" "Yes..." "I don't remember that...?" "It happened. I know it was you, Melissa." "How? How can I just forget? I... I remember... I think I remember... What happened to me?" "I- I can't tell you that. But it happened. You were shot in my apartment by men named Alex Krycek and Luis Cardinal." "Oh, God... I remember it all... I ... but... its so weird...I remember the real way I got here ... how Daina Kathryn got here... Fox Mulder, your partner..." "Why have you been here?" "It's a long story, but I think it has to do with one of your partner's so-called conspiracies. But part of it is sitting over there with Fo-Mulder." Scully turned to see what Melissa was referring to. There was something else she'd seen before she'd lost consciousness. Herself. "Her name's Daina Kathryn Scully. Yes, she's named for you, but her it's spelled differently. I told her stories, about her namesake, you, and what it would be like when we got out. ...D., come here," Melissa waved a hand at the girl, who looked about 4 years old. The girl got up and walked over so that she was standing just above eye level with Scully. Melissa grabbed one of Scully's hands and one of the girl's hands. "Daina Kathryn Scully, meet your mother." "What-" they both started to say. Mulder was struggling to breathe from a few feet away. He'd heard what she'd said, too. "We'll get everything sorted out later. Dana? Or Fox? Can either of you get us out of here?" >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 12:25 P.M. Mulder went first, keys in hand, down the last flight of stairs. Scully followed behind him, Melissa and the girl, Daina Kathryn, last, hand in hand. Daina Kathryn still seemed fascinated while frightened of everything she was seeing. "Is this really where we've been all the time?" she asked Melissa. "Yes. Shh, D." Scully flinched each time she heard her sister call this child 'D.' Only Mulder seemed to notice, and he twisted and gave her a quick but reassuring smile before stepping off the stairs and on to the gray metal floor. "Mr. Biars?" he called, thinking the man would have to be around, as the bottom floor was really just one big room. But Biars was nowhere to be seen. "I'll go look for him. Scully, stay here with Melissa and... Daina." "Daina Kathryn," the girl corrected, wincing as she felt the cold metal under her bare feet. Melissa managed to hide her reaction if her own bare feet felt the cold, but she picked up Daina Kathryn when she saw her discomfort. Scully bit her lip. Mulder walked from room to room, knocking on each door, then opening it to look inside. Most were closets full of food or blankets, small and lifeless. Only the small kitchen, the biggest room he found, had any life in it. Two men, arguing over something. They barely glanced at him. He went all around the large room, opening every door. The last was the office, with the name Mark Biars on the door. This one he knocked on and waited. He knocked again after a few seconds, and there was still no answer. He sighed, tired of getting no cooperation from anybody in the damned place, and opened the door. Biars was in there, head on his desk, papers and books covered in the blood still gushing from a fresh gunshot wound. Mulder walked closer and, carefully avoiding the blood, reached a hand to Biars' neck, just to make sure. He was definitely dead. Mulder looked the desk over, but saw no signs that Biars had struggled with anybody. Nothing had fallen to the floor; nothing was broken or torn. There was one thing, though, something that made him stop and catch his breath. With a careful hand, he reached to the edge of the desk and picked up the small glass object. He turned his head to the side as he looked at it. A still- glowing cigarette. Putting it back down, he turned and ran from the room, suddenly realizing that, if the cigarette hadn't been there more than just a few minutes, he, Scully, and especially Melissa and the little girl were in trouble. "Scully!" he yelled, emerging from the office. Scully, who had been watching Melissa and Daina Kathryn talk quietly, something about flowers, whirled to see him racing towards them. He grabbed her arm in one hand and Melissa's in the other and dragged them with him to the door. "Mulder-" Scully started to say as he released them long enough to try to force the door open. "Cancer Man is here," he hissed, still jerking on the door. It wouldn't open. She went forward to help him, but even with the help of Melissa they couldn't get it open. "Locked," Scully said, stating what they all knew but what just needed to be said. "You have the keys, I saw," Daina Kathryn said. "The keys to the rooms, not the door," Mulder said. "Try," she insisted, so he pulled the keys out of his coat pocket and stuck the first, second, third, and fourth ones in the lock. Two wouldn't even go in, the other two almost got stuck. The fifth key fit. And turned. This time, when he put his shoulder against the door and pushed, it opened. He held it open while Scully and Melissa, still holding Daina Kathryn, got out, then followed, closing the door as quietly as he could. He was ready to run again, but when he turned away from the building, he found himself face-to-face with the same guard who'd let them in originally. "You didn't tell me you were takin' anyone with you," he said, then whistled. One of the dogs trotted over to stand beside him and growled at them. "Keep the dog away," Scully warned, reaching for her gun. The guard put up a hand. "Don' try it. This dog could be on all of ya before you could move an inch." Scully intelligently took her hand back in front of her. "Where's Biars? I wouldn' think he would let ya out with them." "He was killed by men that may be after all of us. Let us go, and you might just save your life," Mulder said. "I wasn't in there when it happened. How do I know you didn' kill him?" The dog growled again and moved towards them a couple of steps, eager for the guard to give him the signal to attack. Scully backed away, Melissa held Daina Kathryn tighter, and the girl put her head in Melissa's shoulder so she wouldn't have to see. Only Mulder stood unmoving. "You can only trust us," he said. The guard snorted and the dog looked at him, hoping its cue would come next. When it didn't, the dog relaxed just slightly, not worrying about it. When it needed to be, it was ready. Scully saw it relax and took advantage of the seconds she had. She had reached into her coat and pulled out her gun before any of the others, dog included, could blink. She then pointed it at the guard. "Let us go." The dog was now as tense as before, and began slowly walking towards Scully, growling more loudly now. Scully had no choice but to turn her gun on the dog, and that gave the guard time to get his own gun. The dog was still advancing and now she, too, had a gun pointed at her. "Put the gun down. That dog'll kill." Melissa, Daina Kathryn, and the guard all watched Scully as she pointed her gun at the dog. Only Mulder paid no attention. He was slowly, carefully, silently reaching for his own gun. The dog leaped. >>>>>>>> APRIL 15, 1995 TIME UNKNOWN The man, as always, held a cigarette. He inhaled the smoke numerous times as he explained his plan to the younger men, one currently calling himself Jonathan Johnson, the other a Luis Cardinal. Johnson was uncomfortable with the man. He'd known him less than a year, since just before he'd helped try to get rid of Fox Mulder's partner, Dana Scully. Then, he'd been Alex Krycek. "You will be waiting in her apartment when the one who's posing as her sister comes in. We'll be at the real sister's apartment, so that she can't stop it. Assistant Director of the FBI Walter Skinner has... agreed to help us." "How'd you manage that?" Johnson asked. "I have my ways. You have four days until you need to be ready to shoot the stand-in woman. After that, I'll tell you what to do." Johnson wasn't happy about it. He hadn't been too happy helping get rid of Dana Scully, either, but now, like then, he didn't say a word. He would do as told. It kept him alive. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 12:45 P.M. Scully didn't have time to shoot. The dog hit her, knocked her to the ground as she cried out. Her eyes closed as she heard a gunshot, knew the guard had killed one of the others. Another gunshot and then she felt blood running down her arm. She was going to die here. She was glad it didn't hurt. She could feel nothing outside of the weight of the dog. "Scully? Are you okay?" she heard Mulder say, and the weight was gone. She opened her eyes. Mulder was crouching by her side. "Fine. What happened?" she said, looking down at her arm. There was only a little blood- the dog's. Mulder had shot first the guard, then the dog. She took a deep, shaky breath, then let Mulder help her to her feet. Melissa had now backed up so far that she was leaning against the door. Daina Kathryn's head was back on her shoulder, and Melissa, seeing her sister was all right, tried to comfort the girl. "D., it's okay," she whispered. Scully, telling herself it was childish to decide she didn't like Daina Kathryn just because Melissa called her D., walked over to them on still-shaky legs. "Is she all right?" Melissa looked up at her sister. "I think so. This is the first time she can ever remember being outside. Even after telling me for years that one day we were going to get out, together, and find you, she's scared." "I would be too." Scully put a hand on Daina Kathryn's hair and slowly stroked it. "Daina Kathryn? Do you want to go home with me and Mr. Mulder?" Daina Kathryn picked her head up from Melissa's shoulder and reached an arm out to Scully. "You want me to hold you?" Scully asked. "Uh-huh," Daina Kathryn said. Melissa smiled at Scully as she put her arms around the girl and brought her to her chest. Daina Kathryn wrapped her hands around her neck and held on as though scared Scully was going to leave her there alone. Mulder watched all this. "Everybody ready to go?" he finally asked, not wanting to spoil the moment but also trying to keep them all safe. He had a pretty good idea how Scully was feeling then- she'd felt the same way almost exactly a year before, with Emily. "I think so," Scully said. She looked at Melissa, who nodded. They walked together, Daina Kathryn still clutching Scully, to Mulder, then on to the car they'd left in front of the prison. "Will you sit with me?" Daina Kathryn asked Scully, looking up at her with her large, clear blue eyes. Eyes that were identical to Scully's. "Sure," Scully said. Mulder opened the door for them to get into the backseat while Melissa went around to the front seat. Mulder, as usual, drove. He seemed, to Scully, worried about something, and was almost brooding as he worked the car out of the gravel around the prison and on to the road. She didn't get a chance to ask him what was going on, because Daina Kathryn asked, "Are you really my mother?" Melissa turned in her seat so she could join the conversation, as she was the only one that knew the whole story. "Dana, tell her your name," she said, looking at Scully. "Dana Katherine Scully," Scully said obediently. "And D., tell her yours," Melissa said. "Daina Kathryn Scully." "Missy, do you think you could explain this to me?" Scully asked, knowing Melissa was likely to lead them on for hours like this, waiting for them to figure it out themselves. "How long is it back to your apartment?" "We have to go by the FBI first," Mulder said, speaking for the first time since getting in the car. "How far away is that?" "It'll take a couple of hours to get there. Why?" "Because what I'm about to tell you is a long story." >>>>>>>> APRIL 19, 1995 TIME UNKNOWN Melissa hung up the phone and got ready to go to Dana's. She was worried about her sister, who hadn't been the same since her time in the hospital. She had told herself dozens of times that she was going to call Dana the next day, week, month, whatever, but something had always gotten in the way. She heard a noise outside, like someone was trying to get a door open. The sound continued for a while, then stopped as there was the familiar little squeak of the door opening. She froze where she was as whispered voices and footsteps invaded her home. "We didn't miss her, did we?" "I don't think so. She only hung up the phone a couple of minutes ago." They'd been watching her. She shivered; understanding for the first time what Dana was always worried about. She'd jokingly accused her little sis of being crazy, never thinking her concerns and anxieties were real. "Johnson and Cardinal said to take her straight to Biars' place, the prison, they'd meet us." "I heard 'em, Robb." "Where do you think she is?" The voices were getting louder as they got closer to the room. Suddenly realizing that she was truly in danger, she searched for a place to hide. Fortunately for her, the room was dark, as she'd already turned out the light before leaving. Darkness was easier to think in, and she kept the lights out a lot. Candles were nice, sometimes. "The place isn't that big. We need to look for a room with a window. That's where she was when we first got here. She couldn't have gone far." She ducked behind a chair in the corner. It was covered in a sheet that hung over the back, which made it easier for her to conceal herself. She trembled like a child afraid of punishment as she waited for them to give up and leave. "This is the only room left. If she isn't here, she's gone," the man who'd been called Robb said, as the men entered the room after about an eternity. Melissa stayed perfectly still behind her chair, praying to a god she hadn't talked to in years that she couldn't, and wouldn't, be seen. "Look under everything, behind everything. This is the room we saw her in, see, there's the van." She swallowed hard and silently. There was no way out now. She wasn't her sister; she didn't have a gun. She'd never even considered buying one. She hugged her knees to her chest and kept praying. "Redding, she isn't here. She must've left between the time we last saw her and when we came up here." "She didn't have time. Anyway, she would have had to pass us in the hall." Redding's footsteps, which she could barely hear on the carpet, came closer. The sheet keeping her from possible death rustled as he pulled it off the chair. She was caught. "Robb, she's here," he said, and grabbed her arm to jerk her roughly to her feet. She didn't fight, knowing it would be impossible for her to fight them both off and escape still capable of getting anywhere. "I told you she hadn't left." Robb got her other arm. "You gonna do what we want? We have rope in the van, and that stuff really hurts after a while." She didn't answer. He pulled on her arm, twisting it. "Huh?" She nodded, defeated. They escorted her from the apartment, the building, and through her into the back of the van, left her there. Alone, she cried. >>>>>>>> DATE AND TIME UNKNOWN 1995 She had been alone in the room for so many days and nights that she had long ago lost count. The only difference between day and night was the sun streaming through the barred window. When it was out, she was able to see the grass, guards, and dogs below. Sometimes men came and talked to Biars, the man who owned the place where she was being held. The last thing she ever expected was for them to leave a child, less than a year old, with her. A little girl, who even as young as she was a replica of Dana. "She's going to be staying with you. She's the child of your sister," Biars said. He handed the baby to her. "My sister couldn't have had a baby since I left," Melissa argued. She didn't bother to point out that if Dana had given birth to the girl she now held, she would have known it was coming. "It's not what you think. Just take care of it," Biars said. He left, locking the door behind him, like he always did, as though she had anywhere to go if she did escape. She looked down at the baby she held in her arms. It looked like Dana. And if she was the age Melissa thought she looked, she would have been born around the time of Dana's disappearance. Dana had been gone for 3 months, no one knew where. Could she have been pregnant and didn't want anyone to know? But wouldn't have any of the doctors noticed when she turned up again? And wouldn't she have told her own family? She'd never been the type to keep big secrets from Melissa or their mother. Biars had to be wrong, but Melissa wasn't going to argue with him. "Just in case you are Dana's," she said to the baby later that day, as it slept on the room's single blanket. "I'll call you Dana Katherine. Or, let's be original, Daina Kathryn, spelled D-A-I-N-A K-A-T-H-R-Y-N. Sound okay to you?" >>>>>>>> DATE AND TIME UNKNOWN 1995 For the first time, Melissa got to talk to someone besides Biars. A man had come to her room. He didn't give a name, just looked her and the baby she still took care of over, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth the whole time. "I suppose you want to know why you're here and who the child is," he said. "That would be okay," she said sarcastically. "Have you named her?" "Daina Kathryn Scully. For the one you claim is her mother." "Your sister IS her mother. This child, and her sister, were born November of last year." She narrowed her eyes at him. "While Dana was gone." "Yes." "She has a sister. Where's she?" "She's being used for the original purpose of life in the first place. Twins were an anomaly that we couldn't use because of this ones resemblance to her mother and the others resemblance to you." "The other one looks like me?" "Her name is Emily Sim. She is living in San Diego." >>>>>>>> EXACT DATE AND TIME UNKNOWN 1995 Mark Biars looked at the small bottle he'd just been handed. Some kind of drug to give to the lady upstairs, the one who was going to get him in real trouble if he didn't give them to her. They would make her forget. The man who smoked, the one who spent sometimes hours talking to the woman, Melissa Scully, had given them to him with specific orders- she was to have two a day, one in the morning, one mid-afternoon. If she didn't want them, he was to force them on her. Biars took a deep breath. He had no idea what the tiny pills were, but he didn't like the way they were being used. Not that he could tell anyone. >>>>>>>> Rainbow Continuum 3/10 Emily Miller DECEMBER 30, 1998 1:30 P.M. "He told me the other girl's name was... Emily. Emily Sim, I think," Melissa said. She turned to look at Scully when she heard her sister's gasp. In front Fox swung his head to stare at them for as long as he dared without watching the road. "What?" "Emily Sim..." Scully muttered, looking at the ceiling. She tried to hold it back, but couldn't stop her eyes from filling with tears as the memories were suddenly thrust at her again. "I think that's what her name was," Melissa said. Daina Kathryn gripped Scully tighter when she felt a tear fall slowly to hit her arm. "I found out about Emily while looking at a... a homicide last year. At Bill's, in San Diego. Both her parents were killed. She died... soon after." She used her hand, shaking as it had the day before, to wipe her eyes. It didn't help much, as the tears were still falling. "My sister died?" Daina Kathryn asked. "Was Emily my sister?" "Not now, D.," Melissa said. "Dana? Are you all right?" "I'm fine," Scully said, wiping her eyes again. "Dana, I've known you your whole life. When you say you're fine, you're not. What's wrong?" "I- I-" she couldn't get anything out. She thought about what she'd just been told- that Emily HADN'T been her only child, that Melissa was alive... her life was suddenly, again, a place as confusing as it had been when she was a teenager, unsure of herself and others. She had so much she wanted to get across to Missy and Daina Kathryn and Mulder and her other daughter, Emily, the one who could never know how much she'd been loved, no matter what Mulder claimed. She tried to choke back a sob of mental pain and fear, but only half succeeded. Mulder heard her muffled cry and jerked the car over to the shoulder of the road and parked it. He was out before Melissa had a chance to realize what was happening, but when she did, she, too, opened the door to get out. He had already pulled Scully away from Daina Kathryn and out with him on the grass. He sat and held her close to him, let her continue to weep against him. She moved her arms around him like her evident daughter had done to her, needing something to hold on to that wouldn't go anywhere until she was ready for it to. "Scully... Dana... it's okay. It's okay," he said, rocking slowly to comfort her. Melissa, holding Daina Kathryn's hand, stood a few feet away, watching from where it was safe. "What's wrong with her?" asked Daina Kathryn. "She's sad, D. Let's get back in the car," Melissa said, holding the door open so the girl could get in, then getting in behind her. They sat in the backseat of the Ford Taurus, door still open, waiting for Mulder to calm Scully down. "It's okay... just cry, Dana, just cry... it's okay...cry..." he repeated it over and over, until her tears finally stopped when she couldn't cry anymore. Her eyes were red and already looking dry as she pulled away from him. "I'm sorry, Mulder," she said, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them, embarrassed. She gave him a tiny smile when he reached out and rubbed her hand. "What for?" He pulled his hand away from her leg, held it so tightly that it almost hurt. His eyes burned into hers, waiting for her to give reason for her apology. "There's nothing wrong with needing to cry sometimes." "Not that. For getting us in danger. Again." She smiled again as he loosened his hold on her hand enough to gently stroke it, a gesture of understanding and compassion and the special love that they were fortunate enough to share. "Scully," he said, reverting back to the usual name. "You haven't done anything. You've NEVER done anything to get us in danger. This time, like every time, was more my fault than anybody's." "Why do you always demote yourself, Mulder?" She shook her head. "Do I?" he asked, attempting a failing look of disbelief. "Let's go home, Mulder." He didn't release her hand as they stood up or as they walked back to the car together. He also didn't see the men watching them go from less than a hundred feet away. >>>>>>>> JUNE 7, 1970 11:30 A.M. Dana Scully grinned at her best friends. She'd finally mastered what they couldn't- SHE could hang by her knees from the tree in Julie's backyard. "I taught her to do that," Melissa called, from where she sat with her best friend, Julie's older brother, Joshua, who was 8. Julie was Dana's age, 6. "You did not, Billy did!" Dana called back, not about to let her sister take credit for her new trick. "He wouldn't take 5 minutes to teach you something, D., and you know it. Anyway, he'd kill you if he heard you calling him Billy." "But he's not here, is he?" "You guys sure fight a lot," Dana's best-friend-besides-Julie, Bethy, said. "You fight with your sister," Dana said. She was beginning to feel dizzy, so she swung up, grabbed the limb she hung from, and twisted to jump down on her feet. "But you fight with ALL your brothers and sister. I only fight with my sister. Not with my brother." "'Cause your brother's like 20. And they get nice when they're that old," Julie said, taking Dana's side as usual. Julie and Bethy didn't like each other much, but Dana liked them both, and insisted, in her usually-stubborn way, that when she played with one the other be allowed to play, too. "He's 21, not 20." "I said LIKE. That means about." "You did not." "Did too." "Did she, Dana?" "I don't KNOW," Dana said, refusing to take sides. "Let's go play inside. It's hot out here." They went in, got cokes to drink from Julie's mother, who, unlike Dana's mother, didn't care WHAT they ate or drank, and took them upstairs to Julie's room. Dana envied Julie getting to have her own room, but not too much. When Melissa wasn't arguing with her, she and Dana got along really well. Sometimes, when they were in their room at night, supposed to be asleep, Melissa would whisper bad words to make her giggle. "Wanna play this game my sister plays when she has people over for parties?" Bethy asked. Her sister was 15, and so was always either having parties or going to one. "What?" Dana and Julie and asked at the same time, then looked at each other and laughed. "Truth or Dare," Bethy said. "I know how to play that. Josh showed me," Julie said. "I think I know... isn't that where you say truth or dare, and you have to say something or do something?" Dana asked. "Uh-huh," Bethy said. "Bill and Melissa played that one time, but Mom said it wasn't a good game for them to play after Bill dared Melissa to try to drown Charles in the sink." "Okay, let's play," Bethy said. "I'll go first." "Why you?" Julie wanted to know. "'Cause I'm oldest, is why." "You're only a week older than Dana." "I'm still older, but since Dana's next, I'll ask her first. Truth or Dare, Dana?" Dana thought about it for a minute, making wrinkles in her forehead like her father did when he got mad at her and tried to think up a good punishment. "Truth," she said. "Um... do you ever want to get married or have kids?" "I thought you could only ask questions like about something you did," Julie said. "Uh-uh. Anything. Answer, Dana." "Never ever ever!" Dana yelled, making them all laugh. "Be serious, Dana," Bethy said. "I don't think so, not really." "Not even to a famous movie star?" Julie asked. "Not even then." "What about adopting kids? I think you can do that without getting married." "You can HAVE kids without getting married." "Yeah, but that's bad. What about adopting?" "Nah, I doubt it. I don't want kids." "You're weird, Dana." "So what? My turn. Julie, truth or dare?" DECEMBER 30, 1998 2:45 P.M. "You want me to come in?" Mulder asked, pulling up to the sidewalk in front of Scully's apartment building. He looked hopeful, but she, for now, couldn't help disappointing him. "Mulder, I need some time alone with Melissa and, uh, Daina Kathryn. To talk about things. Can you call me later?" Her smile was the normal, tense one, no teeth. "Yeah... okay..." he gave her a tight smile in return. "I'll call you in a couple of hours, okay? Maybe we could go out to eat somewhere? All of us, I mean?" "Let's see what's going on then," she said. She stood and watched, Melissa and Daina Kathryn nearby, waiting, as the car drove off, disappearing around the corner. She looked at the building in front of her, remembered the last time she'd been there while Melissa was alive... or the last time she'd talked to Melissa. That day, she'd had no job, she'd thought Mulder was dead, and she'd almost killed Skinner. That whole WEEK had been one of the longest of her life. "Dana?" Melissa asked, and she blinked and realized she was staring at nothing. "Sorry," she said. "Let's go inside, sound okay?" "Sounds good to me," Melissa said. Daina Kathryn, who'd spoken only a couple of words since finding out about Emily, still didn't say anything as she held Melissa's hand, hopping instead of walking, because her feet were still bare and the ground was cold. Scully wondered what they were going to do about the little girl. She'd taken some of Melissa's old clothes, to keep and remember, so had some for her sister to wear instead of the T-shirt and jeans that looked older than she was. But for Daina Kathryn, she had nothing. Other than looking a little cold, Daina Kathryn didn't seem more than fascinated by everything she was seeing. Scully thought about asking her if she'd never seen a building before, then caught herself. The child, who was looking at the ceilings and walls, intrigued by it all, had seen nothing she could remember outside of that small, dark, cold room in a prison. "You like outside life, D.?" Melissa asked, swinging their hands as they followed Scully to the elevator. "I don't know yet," Daina Kathryn said, pulling her eyes away from the world she had discovered to look at Melissa. "I haven't seen enough, but I think I do." "I bet you will. There's so many things you can do." "Like go to a zoo and see the animals?" "Just like that." Scully listened to them as she waited for the elevator to come down and let them in. She, though still a little confused and scared about finding out she had another daughter, one who'd been living with Melissa, of all people, was almost excited at the thought of all the could do with Daina Kathryn. She had a third chance at having a child, more luck than she could have ever hoped for after her first chance had been taken away from her after her abduction. And Daina Kathryn, unlike Emily, hadn't seen or done many things young children had. The elevator finally arrived, and Scully went in and waited for Melissa and Daina Kathryn, forgetting just seconds after first realizing it, that Daina Kathryn had never seen an elevator and had probably never been in one. She didn't look too worried as she stepped in, holding Melissa's hand more less tightly as she got used to things, but when the elevator started moving, her eyes grew wide and she threw herself against Melissa and clutched her. "D... Daina Kathryn..." Melissa sputtered, unable to get across what she wanted to say in comfort. Daina Kathryn had started crying, for only the second or third time that Melissa could remember in her life. Scully stooped down in front of the wailing child. "Dai-" she made herself use the nickname. "D? Will you stop crying and listen for a minute?" Daina Kathryn, still sensible even alarmed, stopped crying and wiped an arm across her eyes and nose. "Uh-huh," she said, gulping to catch her breath. "This is an elevator. It makes us go up, by a really big, thick wire that pulls it. Okay?" "It's a machine, you mean?" She now looked at it with new interest. "Right, a machine. And it won't hurt us." Scully smiled at Daina Kathryn, who had loosened her grip, enough to allow Melissa to breathe. She seemed almost back to normal when the elevator stopped and the door opened, letting them out. "D., can you show your mother how you can count?" Melissa asked as they started down the hall towards Scully's apartment. "How?" Daina Kathryn said. "Her apartment number is... 35, I think. Dana, is that right?" Scully nodded. "That's number 30, see? Now, count the numbers on the doors until you get to 35." Daina Kathryn, feeling important, took her job very seriously. As she saw each door, she tapped it with a small finger. She crossed the hall to make sure and hit every one. "30... 31... 32... 33... 34... 35!" She looked up at Melissa and Scully, waiting for praise. "Good job, D.," Melissa said. Daina Kathryn smiled and her whole face shone. Once again, Scully's heart filled with an ache that she didn't know how to heal. >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 1:45 P.M. "They escaped," the man said. He was, as always, smoking a cigarette. The whole room smelled of smoke, was filled with it. The younger man tried not to cough on the thick air, but didn't wholly succeed. He gave a couple of half-chokes, half-gasps. "We had to let 'em go. They were with the agents..." he stopped when the other man's face suddenly grew angrier than before. He calmed himself down seconds later, smiled to himself. "Agents Mulder and Scully, by any chance?" "It was a, uh, a man, kinda tall, with brown hair, and this woman, short, red hair..." "Do you know where they went?" "I heard somethin' about... goin' home, I think." "Very good, Rammin. You may leave now. Go get rid of Biars, make sure you find him a location no one will ever find." >>>>>>>> DECEMBER 30, 1998 2:50 P.M. "You have a nice place to live," Daina Kathryn said, looking around in awe at the furniture, wallpaper, everything else. She seemed especially interested in the little TV in the corner. "I wish I could live in a place like this." Scully and Melissa glanced at each other, neither knowing quite how to reply. "Um, D., are you by any chance tired?" Melissa said, hoping she would say she was, although she'd never been one to take naps, so that she and Scully would have a chance to talk about things. More about what had happened in the past few years, what they were going to do with Daina Kathryn, how they were going to convince their mother, Bill, and Charles that Melissa was really alive. "A little bit," Daina Kathryn admitted, and seemed to prove it by yawning. She was crouched in front of the TV, trying to figure out how it turned on. "Dana has a couple of beds, you can go to sleep for a while if you want." Daina Kathryn's eyes widened. "I get to sleep on a BED?" "Why not?" Scully asked, then wanted to slap herself as she remembered that, as far as she knew, Daina Kathryn had never even SEEN a bed before. She'd slept her whole life on a blanket on the floor of that tiny room. "I've never slept on a bed," Daina Kathryn said, not seeming to catch on to Scully's embarrassment. "You can sleep on one now. Come on, I'll take you back to my room," Scully said, reaching out a hand that Daina Kathryn took after hesitating only a second. Scully wasn't sure she was completely trusted yet, which was understandable. Melissa stayed where she was while Scully walked with Daina Kathryn to her bedroom. She loved Daina Kathryn as much as she would her own child, which really Daina Kathryn could have been. Scully obviously, as doubtful about it all as she was, loved her, too. She both wanted her little sister to get to keep the child, but she wanted her for her own. Daina Kathryn, given the choice, would probably choose her, at the moment, at least. She'd known Melissa for most of her short life, and Scully only a few hours. But Scully was her mother. "I missed you, Melissa," Scully said when she returned. She went to her couch, sat, and waved a hand at Melissa, beckoning her over. "You haven't called me Missy this whole time, you know," Melissa said. "You haven't called me D. You call Daina Kathryn that." "Jealous, D.?" She managed to pull a shaky laugh from Scully. "I guess, a little bit." "Oh, come on, Dana. You know you love that kid as much as I do." Scully shook her head. "I do love her, but I'll never love her as much as you do. I feel like I've had my chance at a child, and I don't get another." "And if you ever get married. What then? Are you going to tell your husband the same thing?" Melissa knew something she'd said was wrong the second she finished the statement. Scully's eyes traveled from looked at her sister to looking at her feet. "Missy, I... I can't ever have children." "You... you can't... when did you find this out?" "Almost two years ago... Gosh, Missy, you've been gone a long time... a couple of years ago, I found out I had cancer, as a result of my abduction and the chip in my neck I had taken out. I continued working as long as I could, but around 6 months after I learned of the cancer, I was taken to the hospital after losing so much blood that they thought that would kill me. I was in the hospital-" Melissa interrupted her. "What happened to you?" "What?" "Before you were taken to a hospital because of blood loss." "Oh... it was a brain tumor. I had nosebleeds... anyway, I was in the hospital for almost a week, spending the first part of that time unconscious. It was then that I first learned that, along with the cancer, I'd had my ability to have a child taken from me. Mulder didn't admit to me that he'd known for quite a long time until about a year ago now, when Emily first came into my life." "Emily Sim? Daina Kathryn's sister?" "I think so." "What happened to her?" "She was being used for the original purpose of the children created through the use of abducted women. Experiments, Mulder claims human/alien hybrids. But she had to... they had to do something to her each week, give her some kind of injection, just to keep her alive. I made them stop." "And she died?" "Yes." Although she didn't sound upset, Scully's expression gave her away. Melissa, even after 3 years separation, knew her well enough to recognize the small wrinkles as she struggled with hidden emotion, the way her eyes seemed to widen, her mouth making a tight line on her face. "You loved her a lot, didn't you..." Melissa said. It sounded more like a statement than a question. "More than I'd ever loved anybody in my life, even you guys." "I think that's understandable. But don't you think that you, given the time, could love Daina Kathryn like you loved Emily?" "I think I could. But differently.... Emily was... I found her through... through you." "Through me? How?" "I was at Bill's house for Christmas last year-" "Oh, you guys are finally speaking again. Has he grown up any since college?" "A little, maybe. Major hostility towards Mulder, though." "Why? I like your partner." "He thinks it was Mulder's fault you, well, died, and that I got cancer." "You're wrong, he hasn't grown up a bit. So what happened with Emily?" "I was at Bill's house, and I got a phone call, from someone who sounded just like you. You... she... whoever it was said that 'she needed help'. Talking about Emily, I mean. So I traced the call and went to the location, to the house. A woman there had just committed suicide. I was told that no one had called from that house, because the phone was off the hook. I saw Emily for the first time then. "Later, I got another phone call, and managed to find enough evidence against her father that he was arrested. When he, too, seemed to have committed suicide, we realized it wasn't suicide, but murder made to look like suicide. "I wanted to adopt Emily, thinking she might be in danger, too, but I was told that, because of my job and the fact that I was single. She was taken to a hospital just days after, and died a year ago yesterday." Melissa didn't say a word as Scully finished her story, but she was remembering something for the first time. Something she'd done the year before. >>>>>>>> EXACT DATE AND TIME UNKNOWN 1997 Daina Kathryn had been keeping herself occupied all morning, drawing pictures on the dust on the floor. She, at about 3 years old, could already write her name and many short sentences. She wrote stories on the floor about getting out and what it would be like to run and play outside. Melissa leaned against the wall a few feet away, half-asleep. She hadn't been able to sleep the night before, something that happened every time she stopped to think about how hard the floor was and how cold the room was and how tired of being a prisoner there she was. Still working on the picture of what she thought a cat would look like, Daina Kathryn seemed to be lost in thought, Melissa thought when she opened her eyes for a few seconds. But her finger suddenly stopped making small circles for eyes, her head flew up, eyes wide, to look at the window. She jumped to her feet and ran to the only source of the light in the room. "Daddy, don't! Don't make her stay in her room, Daddy! She wants Mommy! She wants Mommy NOW!" She screamed, starting to cry, pulling on the bars on the window like they were a door she was trying to open. Melissa was perfectly still, not able to move at first, stunned. Daina Kathryn had cried before, but had never shouted about wanting her parents. Or whatever she was shouting about. "Dad-DY! Don't let them in! They're gonna hurt Mommy! They're bad, she knows it!" Daina Kathryn jerked on the window, tears falling to the floor, ruining her picture. "D. -" Melissa said. Daina Kathryn let go of the bars, stepped back, and let her shoulders slump. "They're gonna hurt Mommy, Daddy." She sat down hard and put her face in her hands, crying even harder. Her little body shook, she sobbed harder than she ever had in her life. "D.?" Melissa asked. She didn't get any closer to the child, unsure. Although even she didn't believe it to be a true story like people said, Dana HAD made her sit through 'The Exorcist' 7 times when she was 16 and Melissa was 17, old enough to get her sister into a theater for the re-release without an adult's permission. "Missy..." Daina Kathryn said, crawling over to Melissa and curling up against her. She'd only recently started calling her Missy, after Melissa had insisted that she wasn't her real mother. Daina Kathryn, understandably, wanted to know everything about the parent she would probably never know. "The men are going to hurt Mommy and Daddy. She's scared, Daddy locked her in her room so she can't see what's going to happen." Melissa had never seen Daina Kathryn so upset. She was always calm and quiet and... scientific. Unlike Dana as a child, she was more like Dana as an adult. "Your mother, D.? Dana Scully? " Melissa asked. "Uh-huh. Not our real mother. The one she lives with... I don't know her name." "Sim? Is her last name Sim?" "... I think so... she's scared, though. Something really bad's gonna happen." "Who's 'she', D.?" "My sister. The one you told me about. I know she's scared." "How?" "I can tell. I just KNOW." Daina Kathryn was biting her lip, face streaked from where tears had run. She was losing her 'scientist' image very quickly. "Can you help her?" "I don't know. Maybe, if we try real hard, we can... I don't know, tell my real mother somehow that she needs help." She seemed so hopeful that Melissa couldn't let her down by telling her that that would never work. "We can try, D." "Say what you'd say to my mother if you needed to tell her that my sister needs help." Daina Kathryn reached out and grabbed Melissa's hand, as though that would help them radiate more powerful 'energy waves.' "Um..." Melissa said, thinking. "I guess it would just be... uh... Dana, she needs your help." "Think it real hard. And say Emily, so she'll know who." "No, we don't know that that's her real name. She'll know who it is, eventually. Okay, I'm going to think it, be quiet." She closed her eyes and tilted her head upward to add more effect to it, to make it more realistic for Daina Kathryn. But she really did try to get it to Dana. 'Dana, she needs your help... She needs your help, Dana... Go to her.' >>>>>>>>