From: "Ruth French" Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 13:12:31 +0100 Subject: The Beginning - Don't Turn Around Source: direct Title: The Beginning 01 -- Don't Turn Around Author: ruthfrench@ic24.co.uk Classification: SRA - Mulder/Scully Romance Rating: Probably PG for a few naughty words Spoilers: The End Archive: Please let me know where and keep my name and address on it. Summary: Post-ep for The End Disclaimer: The characters used in this story aren't mine. They are the property of Fox television and 1013 productions. I'm using them without permission but I'm not making any money of it. You could sue me but you wouldn't get much considering the fact that I am a student. Additional Disclaimer: The song Don't Turn Around, which inspired this story, is not mine. It is owned by Ace of Base, Metronome Music and Mega Records. Authors Notes: I don't actually know if there is a naval base in Connecticut because I don't live in America and I couldn't be ar...... bothered to do the research. If someone could tell me whether there is or there isn't I'd be v. grateful. Also I still don't have a beta reader so if anyone wants to apply just send me an E-mail, although I must warn you that I do experience violent impulses :) On with the show.... A.D Skinner's office -- 9.30 Skinner sat nervously around the conference table as he waited for the OPR's decision regarding the future of the x files. He hoped they would remain open, mainly because he didn't relish informing Mulder of their closure. After what seemed like hours the head of the committee stood, "As the x files office and all of the files have been destroyed, it is the decision of this committee to close the department of the x files. Consequently this results in reassignments for both agent Mulder and agent Scully. Agent Mulder will be reassigned to VCS and Agent Scully will be transferred to the field office in Connecticut. The agents in question will be informed of this decision by A.D. Skinner as soon as possible." Skinner sighed heavily. He had fought for their cause and failed and now he had to deal with the consequences. He rose from his seat and headed for the phone. Well, time to face the music, he thought as he picked up the phone and dialled. The ringing of an unfamiliar phone woke Scully from her sleep. At first she wondered were she was then she felt a presence beside her and it all came flooding back, Gibson, Diana, the fire, her declaration of love for Mulder, his declaration of love for her and the consummation of their relationship. She nudged Mulder to wake him. "Morning love, your phone's ringing." Mulder replied with a groan but then turned and reached for his phone, "Mulder," he grunted into the receiver. After about 2 minutes he said, "Yes sir, we'll be there. 1 o' clock sharp. Bye." He turned to Scully "That was Skinner, he wants to see us at 1 to discuss the future of the x files." Scully nodded, she had a bad feeling about this, but decided to try and be positive for Mulder's sake. "Okay, well how's about we get showered and then head over to mine so I can change. It wouldn't set a very good impression if I turned up in the same clothes I wore yesterday, would it? And, if you're good I might buy you breakfast on the way." Mulder put on one of his trademark leers and said, "Oooh, Scully, just how good do I have to be?" Scully raised her eyebrow and said, "Not that good Mulder. Now I'm going for a shower." Mulder leered at her again before she said, "And no Mulder, you can't join me because if we get in that shower together, we both know we'll never make the meeting." As they sat outside Skinner's office Mulder could tell that Scully was extremely nervous, and decided to try and calm her down "Relax Scully, everything will be fine." Scully turned around to face Mulder and he could see the fear in her eyes, "What if it isn't, Mulder. What then?" Mulder didn't have an answer for her, "I don't know Scully. I really don't, but what I do know is that I'm not willing to lose you, not after last night. I love you and nothing will ever change that." Scully didn't get the chance to respond because Skinner came out of his office to greet them. They followed him in to his office where he said, "Please have a seat, agents." Neither Mulder nor Scully liked the tone of Skinner's voice and exchanged worried looks. However they did as he requested and sat. Skinner turned to them and looked Mulder directly in the eye and told him the events of the morning. "OPR met this morning agents and decided that the x files are to close and you are both to be reassigned." He waited for Mulder to explode with anger but the explosion didn't come, well not from him anyway, it came from Scully. "You cannot be serious, they can't close us down not after everything we've seen. They didn't even let us present our argument. This is ridiculous, fucking ridiculous!" Mulder sat in his chair to shocked to move. He had never seen Scully lose it like this, especially towards a superior and what's worse it was turning him on. Scully was still shouting so he decided to intervene. He composed himself and spoke, "Scully, calm down, it's okay. There's no point getting annoyed at Skinner, he's just the messenger. Come and sit down and we can sort this out." Scully visibly calmed at the sound of his voice and turned to face him. Her eyes just asked one question Mulder just flashed her a lopsided grin. The truth was he'd been expecting this and had been mentally preparing himself for it since Skinner's phone call that morning. Mulder decided it was time to ask the inevitable question. "Sir, you mentioned reassignment. Do you have the details?" He saw Skinner stiffen and could tell that it wasn't good. So, he asked again, "Sir?" "Yes Agent Mulder, I have the details. You will stay here in Washington and be transferred back to the VCS, and Scully, you will be transferred to the Connecticut field office." "Conn...Connecticut?" Scully choked out the words "Yes. They need someone with a forensic background. This was seen as the best option for you, considering that you have family there. Your younger brother is still stationed at Connecticut Naval Base, isn't he? Scully held back a sob, "Yes sir, he is." "Good, your presence is requested a week today. Will you be able to stay with your brother until you can find suitable accommodation? "Yes sir. Is that all sir?" "Yes Agent Scully you are dismissed. May I just say that it has been a pleasure being your direct superior for these past 5 years? I wish you well in the future." "Thank you sir, it has been a pleasure working with you also." Mulder and Scully walked out of Skinner's office and headed straight towards the car. As soon as they entered the car park Scully turned to Mulder and broke down. All the emotions she had felt last night and during the meeting with Skinner had built up and were coming out in full force. She sounded like a little child when she spoke, "It's not fair Mulder, why now?" "I don't know Scully but we'll get through this. The X files have been closed down before and we were okay then!" "Yeah, but we didn't live 350 miles away form each other then. I don't know if I can do this Mulder. I've got half a mind to go back up there and hand in my resignation." "I know Scully I want to resign to, but if we do that we got no chance of getting the X files back. Scully nodded in resigned agreement. "Now come on lets get home and we can talk about this more. You'll also have to call your Mom and your brother." I don't want to tell my Mom, Mulder, she'll be so upset!" "I know, but I'm sure she'll get used to it. And don't worry I'll watch out for her after you leave." For the rest of the week Mulder and Scully did what normal couples did together; they went out, cuddled up together and watched romantic movies, and made love. They also went to Mrs Scully's house for a goodbye meal. When the day before she was due to leave arrived Scully woke up alone. She turned towards the bedside table and spotted a note from Mulder: Morning Sleepyhead, I had to nip out to run some errands -- be back soon. Love M She smiled and wondered what sort of errands he was running. She got out of bed and got dressed, made some breakfast and decided to finish her packing. All her furniture was going into storage until she found a place of her own to live, so she was only taking bits and bats with her. She set about emptying all her drawers and cupboards; deciding whether or not to keep their contents. Four hours and three charity shop boxes later she finished and Mulder was still nowhere to be seen. By this point Scully was getting worried, she was just about to call his cell phone when he walked through her door holding a very suspicious looking cylindrical package. "Sorry I was so long Scully. The errands took longer than I expected." "That okay. I'll forgive you, *if* you tell what's in the package," she teased "Well this is what took me so long to find." He handed the package to her. "This is for you!" Scully eyed the package suspiciously and then opened it quickly like a child on Christmas morning. She pulled out the contents, unrolled it and gasped, "Mulder! Where did you get this" He had bought her her own I WANT TO BELIVE poster. "I went in over 20 shops this morning looking for that. It's just to make sure you don't forget me." Scully smiled, "I could never forget you, Mulder, not even if I wanted to! And this poster will take pride of place on the wall of my new office." Mulder flinched at this and Scully saw it. "Are you having second thoughts about this long distance relationship thing, because if you are I'd rather know now not later?" "I'm not having second thoughts, Scully. I'm just worried about how hard it's going to be not seeing you every day. But I know it would be even harder if I knew I was never going to see you again." He pulled Scully into a long embrace, which was then interrupted by the phone. Scully wanted to let the machine pick up but Mulder insisted she answered as it might be important. The machine however cut in before Scully could reach the phone. And whose voice should come out of it but her brother Bill's, "Hi Dana, Mom told me about you moving to Connecticut and I was just calling to wish you good luck. I'm glad that you are finally getting away from that sorry sonofabitch." Scully ran to the phone while Bill was still babbling about how much he hated Mulder. When she picked it up all she said was, "Piss off Bill." No sooner had she put the phone down it started ringing again. The anger was showing on Scully's faced as he answered. "Bill, I thought I made myself very clear PISS OFF......... Oh, hi Charlie......... Yes, Bill was being his usual self......... Yeah the flight number is MH637B and it's landing at 5......... Will the boys be with you?......... Great, see you tomorrow............ Yeah I love you too. Bye." Scully turned to Mulder. She could sense that something was wrong and she guessed that it had something to do with Bill's phone call. "Mulder, is everything okay?" she asked. "Bill's right, Scully. I am a sorry sonofabitch and you deserve much better than me," he replied. "That's not true. You've been there for me throughout everything, you've comforted me, you've fought for me but most of all you've loved me. And, quite frankly, I don't care what Bill thinks because I love you." Mulder smiled. Scully could always cheer him up when he felt guilty; it was one of the many reasons he loved her. He turned to her and looked deep into her bright blue eyes, "I love you too," he said, "and I feel like showing you just how much." He took her hand and led her towards her bedroom where they stayed all day only coming out to order Chinese for dinner. Mulder awoke first the next morning and decided to surprise his lover with breakfast in bed. He made pancakes with syrup, toast and coffee. He put it on a tray and completed it with a little vase with a flower in it. Scully was still sleeping when he took the breakfast to her. He placed it on the bed and leaned into her ear. "Wake up sleepyhead, I made breakfast for you." Scully moaned and turned over. It took her a few minutes to wake up and when she did he said, "Mulder, why did you wake me? I was having the weirdest dream. I dreamt that you said you'd made breakfast for me and..." She stopped when she saw the tray of pancakes and syrup. "Oh, Mulder," she said surprised. "Don't sound so surprised, I can cook you know." "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting this. That's all." They ate in silence and then busied themselves around Scully's now barely-furnished apartment, both trying not to think about what the next few days would be like. When the time came for them to go to the airport, Mulder carried her bags to the car while she said goodbye to her apartment. she thought as she closed the door on her apartment for the last time. Mulder sat close to Scully, with his arm around her, in the airport lounge waiting for Scully's flight to be called. When they called Scully's flight Mulder walked hand in hand with her to the departure gate. She turned to him, "I guess this is it Mulder." It broke her heart to see the look on his face. He looked like a lost puppy. "I know this will be hard but we'll get through it, d'you know why? Because we love each other," she said answering her own question before Mulder had the chance. Mulder forced out a half smile. "You're right. Call me when you get settled in?" "I will, we'll speak on the phone every night, I promise." "Promise me something else, Scully. When you walk through the gate don't turn around and look at me. It will only make it harder. I love you and I'll speak to you later okay?" He kissed her "Okay. I love you Mulder," she said through tears "I know and I love you too. Now go on before the flight attendants get pissed at you. And remember don't turn around." He was reminded of a song he once heard by Ace of Base, called Don't Turn Around. As he watched Scully turn around and board the plane the lyrics to the song swirled in his head: Don't turn around Cause you're gonna see my heart breaking Don't turn around I don't want you seeing me cry Just walk away It's tearing me apart That you're leaving I'm letting you go But I won't let you know Because Scully kept her promise to Mulder and didn't turn around she didn't see his silent tears fall. What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Want a sequel? Feedback to ruthfrench@ic24.net