Spoilers: This is a "Momento Mori" story.  It makes 
brief references to some early eps but nothing that 
would ruin them for anyone I don't think.  

Category: Just a story.  No romance or anything.

Summary: Mulder goes to Mrs. Scully's home in 
Maryland to break the news of Dana's cancer to her mother.

Rating: G

I wrote this as kind of a challenge from my cyberbud 
MacGregor who was very annoyed with Scully for not 
telling Margaret about the cancer herself.  I finished it on
April 21, 1998.

I can be reached as macspooky@erols.com. 
Yes, this is another new e-mail addy and hopefully 
the last change I will have to make.

Thanks to Ghill and MacGregor for beta reading.


"Breaking the News" 1/1

          by

   Macspooky


Fox Mulder hesitated before ringing Mrs. Scully's
doorbell.  He had only been to this old house in Maryland
once before, the night he had pursued Dana when she had
been so ill after watching all those video tapes, the night
she had held a gun on him thinking that he was part of the
conspiracy against her.  Somewhere in the back of his mind
that night he had noticed that it was a beautiful home.  Dana
had told him once that after spending most of their lives in
military housing, when their dad had retired from the
Navy, her parents had bought the historic house in
Annapolis as a "fixer upper" before such things had been
priced beyond belief and had lovingly restored it to former
grandeur.  It had kept them busy and they had loved doing
it.  Unfortunately, Mr. Scully had not lived very long after 
they had completed the work.  


He had been invited to this home many times,  but he had always 
refused Margaret's invitations not wanting to invade Scully's 
personal life and knowing that he was not good at family social
occasions.


He realized that he was only putting off the inevitable by
standing there and forced himself finally to ring the bell. 
Delay was foolish.  It would change nothing.  Dana, of course,
had merely asked him to call Margaret, but he hadn't felt right
about that.  Some things needed to be done in person, and this
was one of them.  Had Dana been thinking clearly, his partner
would have realized that herself.  The last thing Dana wanted was
to hurt her mom or burden her family.  To a lot of people, 
she seemed cold and uncaring, however, Fox knew differently.  
He had felt her gentle touch when he had been sick or injured
and seen the caring in her smile when he had awakened in Alaska.  


When Margaret Scully saw him, she knew right away that
something was wrong, but she bade him to enter and
gave him a hug, the kind of hug he craved from his own mother
but never got.  


"So good to see you, Fox," she said.  "Come in.  Sit down. 
I've just made coffee."


"That would be good, thanks.  I've been driving for several
hours." He thought idly that the woman knew something
was amiss and she too was postponing the inevitable. 
Margaret reappeared a few minutes later with coffee and a
large slab of chocolate cake for him.  She was anxious, he
knew, but hiding it well.


"You're too skinny," she smiled.  "You need more home
cooking.  My daughter is an excellent cook."


Mulder smiled.  Mrs. Scully was being less subtle than
usual.  She flushed, a bit embarrassed by her obvious slip. 
If he had been uncertain before, he was now sure that she
was nervous about the reason for his visit.  Oh, he knew
that Dana's mother viewed him as definite son-in-law
material, but she tried to keep the fact to herself.  Only
once before had she slipped so obviously.


"Okay, Fox," she said seriously when he had finished.  "I
know you are here to give me bad news.  What is it?"
Margaret knew she had prolonged the agony for both of them
enough.  Obviously Dana was not dead.  She would have
known that by the expression on Fox's face immediately. 
He did not look frantic so she had not been abducted, but he
did look desperately unhappy.


He marvelled at this woman's courage, the way she faced
things head on.  Dana was, he realized, a great deal like her
although they didn't look terribly alike.  


"Mrs. Scully, this isn't easy," he said softly.  "I left
Scully....Dana....in a hospital in Pennsylvania. Allentown to
be exact."


"My, God, Fox....is she alright.....I....."


"I think she will be, Mrs. Scully," he forced himself to say 
although he wasn't certain he believed it. "Dana asked
me to tell you.....Mrs. Scully, your daughter has cancer. She
is in Allentown for treatment."


There was no way to break the news gently, he decided.  It
was best to just say it.  He tried to say it calmly and matter
of factly, just as Dana had said it to him.  He knew
Margaret's heart was going to tear in two, just as his own
had done that day in the Oncology wing of Holy Cross
Medical Center a few weeks before.


"What?" Margaret knocked over one of her coffee cups
now empty.  Cancer...oh, God, cancer...and yet, it all made
sense, her daughter's pale color, the sudden weight loss and
lack of appetite.  She had known something was wrong, had
felt it, had dreamed it.


"How could she....how could she not tell me this herself?"
Margaret heard herself ask.  She was appalled at her own
words, but she couldn't help it.  She loved Fox like a son in
many ways, but he wasn't her son, not really.  And Dana,
Dana was her daughter, her only surviving daughter.  How
could Dana leave it to an outsider to bring her such news?


"Mrs. Scully, I honestly believe she planned to, but we
went to Allentown to see a group of other women, other
abductees who have the same cancer, and she found a doctor
there who thinks he can treat her successfully.  If she
hadn't found Dr. Scanlon so suddenly, she would have told
you herself when we got back." Fox hoped it was true.  He
knew his partner had been delaying it, trying to protect
her mother as long as possible.  He had not agreed with
this, but it was not his business either.


"Oh, God, Fox, how long has she known?  She should have
told me right away...." Suddenly her control left her.  Fox
Mulder took Margaret Scully in his arms and held her
letting her cry, a tear dripping down his own cheek.


"She's going to be alright, Mrs. Scully," he said softly. 
"We are going to find out who gave her this cancer and we
are going to find a cure.  We won't give up.  I won't give up.
I promise you.  We won't give up until we find answers."


Margaret struggled to pull herself together, a mass of
conflicting emotions.  She believed Fox, believed he would
never stop looking for a cure, but she felt helpless, and
worse yet, she felt suddenly hopeless.  She pulled herself
together and straightened up.  She reached over and grabbed
one of the kleenex from a box she always kept in the den. 
She sniffled and blew her nose.  She didn't understand what
was going on here.  Fox Mulder seemed to be acting as
though someone had given Dana cancer.  How could you give
a person cancer?  It wasn't contagious like strep throat or 
a cold.


"I still think Dana should have told me herself."


Fox looked at her and wondered briefly why the older
woman was focusing so much on the issue of who was
telling her.


"It wasn't fair to give the job to you," she said angrily.


He realized that if she could be angry, if she could focus on
some other issue or emotion, she wouldn't have to deal
immediately with the cancer or impending grief.  It was
okay.  It was a temporary coping mechanism.


"I know, Mrs. Scully," he said quietly, "If we hadn't ended
up in Allentown I don't think she would have delegated this
job to me.  The thing is that...well, I think she's really
scared right now, you know...not that she would ever show
it.  I couldn't say no when she asked me to come here today.
She's my friend.  She's my partner.  I....."


Slowly, Margaret Scully smiled at him ever so slightly.  "I
know, Fox.  You love her." Margaret hesitated for an
instant, and then added, "Heck, I guess I thought by this
time my daughter would be Dr. Dana Mulder, and maybe I'd
even have a dark haired hazel eyed grandbaby." She
sniffled again trying to come to grips with the fact that this
most likely wasn't going to happen now and hoping she
hadn't embarrassed Fox too much.


He didn't respond.  He didn't like to discuss his feelings for
his partner.  The truth was that he loved Dana very much,
but it was not something that he could say to her, not now. 
It was too dangerous.  It might always be too dangerous. 
And if she didn't love him back the same way......


"She loves you too, Fox," said Margaret patting his hand. 
She knew Fox to be very insecure.  Dana did not talk about
his personal life a great deal, but she had had some very
uncomplimentary things to say about Fox's mother at one
point.  In any case, Margaret had gotten to know the young
man well enough during the time Dana had been in a coma
and before her return.  If Fox was as dutiful a son to his
mother as he had been to her when Dana was gone....She
pushed the thought away.  "I want you to tell me about
Dana's illness now, Fox, whatever you can.  I know you are
not a doctor."


Mulder told her what he knew and a definitely abbreviated
version about the MUFON women leaving out the part that
they were all dead except Penny Northern.  Margaret didn't
need to hear that just now.  


"I'm going to Pennsylvania," announced the older woman
getting to her feet.


"I'll drive you," said Fox.  "We'll go to your daughter's
place and pack a bag for her and then...."


"Fox, do you have an investigating that you need to do
here?"


"Yes...I need to see some people....some friends who might
be able to help."


"Then that is just what you are going to do.  I will get some
things for Dana and drive to Pennsylvania...No point in
flying.  Driving is nearly as fast."


"Mrs. Scully....." he began dubiously, reluctant to let her
drive alone in light of the news he had just brought her.


"No argument young man.  You do what you need to do and I
will do what I need to do."


"But....." His own mother would have fallen apart by this
time, would be clinging.  No, that wasn't precisely true.  She
would be in a state of denial ignoring the news and her daughter.
The thought caused him pain, but he recognized it for the
truth that it was.  If rolls were reversed, Christina Mulder
would not be driving to Pennsylvania to go to her sick child.


"Let me remind you that I raised four children while my
husband was out to sea.  I think I did a damned good job too. 
I don't need anyone to hold my hand." She wished suddenly
and longingly for Bill, but Bill was never coming back
again, and she would have to cope just as she always had.  It
would be too easy to let Fox take her to Pennsylvania, take
care of her.  He didn't need the burden.  He already carried
enough of a load, more than any man should.  She could see
it in his eyes.  He was as terrified of losing her daughter as
she was.


Reluctantly he nodded.  As much as he didn't like the idea of
the older woman driving alone to Pennsylvania, he could
see by the set of her mouth that she was determined.   He
had learned about that expression from her daughter.
Unlike his mother, Maggie Scully was capable and sensible. 
And, though he hated to admit it, Margaret was right.  The
faster he got into his investigation, the sooner they might
find the bastards who had perpetrated this nightmare and
the sooner they might find a cure for Dana.  He gave Margaret a
final embrace and got into his car.  His next stop was to see
Skinner, and after that the Lone Gunmen.  They didn't know
it yet, but they were about to become action heroes in a
fertility clinic in Allentown.

The End

Rather depressing material wasn't it?  I might do a follow up
on it.  Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed.