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A few days went by.
Scully had rented a motel room and spent the time reading and catching
up on some work. She got fed up with the book that she was reading, tossed
it on a table, and got dressed. Maybe she could see how Mulder was doing.
Scully parked
outside Mulder’s mother’s house where Mulder was staying for a while. She
walked up the walkway and rang the doorbell. Seconds later, Mrs. Mulder
opened the door.
“Dana! How nice
of you to stop by!”
“Nice to see
you too, ma’am. Is Mulder here?”
“Yes, he is.
He’s in the kitchen with Samantha. Have you eaten yet? We were just making
lunch. Would you like to join us?”
Scully smiled.
“Sure. Um… That’d be great.” She walked into the kitchen.
As she walked
in, Samantha and Mulder were playing a boardgame. From the look of the
board, Mulder was losing. Samantha was grinning. She looked up at Scully.
“Hi, Dana!”
“Scully!” Mulder
exclaimed. He looked at the board and smiled. “I guess we’ll have to play
again later.”
“Oh, don’t stop
on my part. I want to see what happens.” Scully grinned.
“Yeah, it’s okay,
Fox. We’ll just leave the board as it is. It’s your turn, right?” Samantha
laughed.
The smile fell
from his face. “No fair ganging up on me.” He ushered Scully into the den.
“So, what’re you doing here? Is something wrong?”
“No. Just came
to check up on you,” Scully replied, still grinning. “Having fun?”
Mulder smiled
sheepishly. “She’s really the greatest sister anyone could have, Scully.
She’s funny, smart, sweet… I realize now more than ever how much I’ve missed
her.”
“I’m happy for
you.” She looked up into his eyes. The dull, haunted look that Scully had
grown accustomed to was replaced with a look of joy that seemed to sparkle.
She smiled. “Very happy.”
“I know you are.
Thank you.” He gave her a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head.
Scully couldn’t help but hate it when he did that. It always made her feel
shorter than she really was. And she was short enough already. “You staying
for lunch?”
“Yeah.” He led
her to the dining table. She could not remember if she had ever eaten with
Mulder’s family in the four years she’s worked with him. Of course, Mulder’s
family was usually just him and his mother.
It was about
3:20 when she finally left with Mulder escorting her outside. He was definitely
different that day. He still had his dry and cynical sense of humor but
today his jokes had a lighter note to it.
“I had a good
time, Mulder. Thanks for having me.”
“No problem,
Scully.”
“Well, I’ll see
you later.”
“Yeah. Bye.”
They both hesitated for a second then Scully walked towards her car.
As soon as she
got to the driveway, she began to feel dizzy. She searched aimlessly for
something to hold her up. Her head throbbed and her knees buckled. Mulder
rushed to her side.
“Scully! Scully,
are you okay? Scully? … Dana?” She felt Mulder’s fingers on her wrist and
warm blood trickling down from her nose. “Mom! Samantha! Come out here
and help me!” he called. Then everything went black.