********************************************************************** This author's e-mail address has changed to: ebonyun@telusplanet.net ********************************************************************** CONVERSATIONS: MELISSA 1/1 by Eleanore RATING... General DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations of the television program "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. X-PHILES: You are welcome to re-post or otherwise distribute this story among other X-Philes, as long as you do so for free, and my name and e-mail address go with it as author. SUMMARY: A conversation from Scully's past. No romance. No X-File. CONVERSATIONS: MELISSA 1/1 by Eleanore "Dana... you still smell! Can't you do something about it?" "Missy, I've showered and shampooed. What more can I do? I think it's just your imagination." "No." Melissa put her nose close to Dana's sleeve. "It's your clothes. Surely you don't wear that dress when you are cutting up bodies?" Dana smelled the sleeve of the chocolate velvet dinner dress. "I don't notice it. Are you sure?" "Haven't you got anything else you can wear? Something that doesn't smell like a corpse? This guy's going to think you're weird even before he asks you what you're studying." "I didn't bring anything else that wasn't from the same closet." Dana's brow wrinkled unhappily. "The smell must have migrated from the clothes I wear in the lab to my good clothes. There's so little storage space in those rooms in the Grad Students' Residence." She looked around her older sister's place with envy. "I've got one little closet and you have a whole apartment." Melissa bounced in frustration. "Never mind that now. What are we going to do? My dresses are all too long for you. Do you have any perfume?" Dana's face relaxed. "Yes, I've got that heavenly `Ombre Rose' that Mother gave me for Christmas. It's here somewhere." Melissa watched her dig through the overnight case. She knew she was going to regret setting up this blind date between Dana and Chuck's friend. She had tried to get out of it, but once Farid had seen Dana's picture he had been determined to meet her. The Scully girls' white skin and flaming hair was irresistibly exotic when compared to the dusky, black eyed beauties of his home in Bangladesh. "Now, I told you... Farid has an accent, but he speaks very good English. He's short... but that's okay. And I think he's a little chauvinistic in his attitude towards women, but as you're American he'll probably make allowances... " "Melissa! Surprise, surprise. We do have Asian students over at the Faculty of Medicine. I've even been out with some of them. Just relax. I'm not worried about it." "Sorry." Melissa screwed up her face. "Sounded pretty bad, didn't I?" "It's okay. I know you're just nervous because you want things to go well. What really surprises me is that Chuckie-boy and Farid are friends. I'm sure they didn't meet at the yacht club." "Dana! You promised you wouldn't call Chuck that any more. He can't help it if he's rich. Please be nice." Dana's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'll try." She turned to the mirror and gave her short haircut a ruffle. "So how did they become friends?" "Soccer. Farid is an ace soccer player. Chuck and he were both on the first string of the `Panthers'. Now that they've graduated they play for the alumni team. And Farid coaches a kid's team." Dana turned at that. "That's nice of him." She looked thoughtful as she rubbed some lotion onto her hands. "Won't he be going back to Bangladesh?" "Not till he finishes articling with Chuck's father's firm." Melissa took some hand lotion, too. "My hands are always so dry," she said mournfully. "The clay just sucks the natural oils out of them." "You should try wearing gloves like I do when I'm working." Melissa looked horrified. "You can't make pottery wearing rubber gloves. You have to be in direct contact with the clay so that you can communicate with it, and guide it into the shape it wants to be." Dana suppressed a smile. "Well, you must really be in tune with your clay, Missy. You do make beautiful pots." She held her hands out beside her sister's to compare. Melissa's were long and slender... what Dana thought of as artistic hands. Dana's had shorter fingers and square palms... practical hands. They wore identical oval rings engraved with an ornate letter S, made from a pair of their great grandfather's gold cufflinks. "Well, at least we both have short nails." Melissa sighed. "I'd give anything to be able to keep long nails." Dana snorted. "I've no patience for long nails. They just get in the way... when you're slicing eyeballs and squeezing gall bladders." Melissa gave a little squeak. "Please Dana, no shop talk. You know it makes Chuck throw up. Can't you tell Farid that you're studying paediatrics... or dermatology?" "No, I definitely will not! I find that most boys I go out with are fascinated by my work. They enjoy my stories about mutilated genitals and livers saturated with arsenic." Melissa shuddered. "And you've never wondered why none of them ever asks you out a second time?" "Ah, but perhaps that's why I tell them those stories." "You don't want to go out with them?" Melissa's voice was disbelieving. "I don't have much time for guys, Missy. I'm always studying or working in the labs." She turned her back. "Could you fasten this for me? If I get a free evening I'd rather have a long bath and go to bed with a good book than go out and have to spend my time currying favour with some fragile male ego just so I can get a little cuddling... only to have to fight him off so that he doesn't get anything I'm not prepared to give. It's just not worth it." "You're going to be an old maid, you know that, don't you?" Melissa did up the clasp on the gold chain, surreptitiously giving a sniff to check on the odour control. "Oh, I'll have plenty of time for men later, once I'm settled into a nice job in the coroner's office, or teaching for the Faculty of Forensic Medicine. Regular hours... pleasant conditions... " "I hope so, Dana. You're giving up some of the best years of your youth for those smelly corpses. This wasn't exactly what Dad had in mind when he encouraged you to study medicine, you know." The doorbell rang. "But, Missy, it's absolutely fascinating. Each body is a new mystery to be solved. It's like being Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rolled into one. And I think Dad's coming around. He was almost pleasant about it last time I was home... spent more time complaining about the fact that you choose to live like a hippy." Melissa made a face at her, then opened the door. "Good evening, Ladies." Farid was lean and handsome. As he came close to help her with her coat, Dana detected the faint bouquet of a good authentic curry clinging to his clothes. The wide smile that lit up her face struck the poor man dumb with it's radiance. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ END OF STORY comments to Eleanore From trevizo@utep.edu Tue Oct 01 00:03:32 1996 Path: news.ro.com!news.sprintlink.net!news-fw- 6.sprintlink.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!hunter.premier.net!news- peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news.sgi.com!nntp-hub2.barrnet.net!cpk-news- hub1.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu!yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon From: Gil Trevizo Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: Conversations: Melissa 1/1 (fwd) by Eleanore Date: 1 Oct 1996 01:03:32 -0400 Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 167 Sender: daemon@cs.yale.edu Message-ID: <19961001010323.aaaa001F4@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: babyblue.cs.yale.edu I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information on the mailing list, go to http://mail.utep.edu/~trevizo/x-files. Please do not send comments for the author to me -- send them to (bonyun@oanet.com). You may direct requests for missing parts to me though, but please try to find them at the archives first: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/members/xfilesfanficarchive.d/contents.htm http://www.bns.com.au/alee/fiction.html __________ / __ __ \ ( (__) (__) ) --------[[[---------]]]------------------------------------------------- * * * PLEASE FORWARD TO A.T.X.C. * * * CONVERSATIONS: MELISSA 1/1 by Eleanore RATING... General DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations of the television program "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. X-PHILES: You are welcome to re-post or otherwise distribute this story among other X-Philes, as long as you do so for free, and my name and e-mail address go with it as author. SUMMARY: A conversation from Scully's past. No romance. No X-File. CONVERSATIONS: MELISSA 1/1 by Eleanore "Dana... you still smell! Can't you do something about it?" "Missy, I've showered and shampooed. What more can I do? I think it's just your imagination." "No." Melissa put her nose close to Dana's sleeve. "It's your clothes. Surely you don't wear that dress when you are cutting up bodies?" Dana smelled the sleeve of the chocolate velvet dinner dress. "I don't notice it. Are you sure?" "Haven't you got anything else you can wear? Something that doesn't smell like a corpse? This guy's going to think you're weird even before he asks you what you're studying." "I didn't bring anything else that wasn't from the same closet." Dana's brow wrinkled unhappily. "The smell must have migrated from the clothes I wear in the lab to my good clothes. There's so little storage space in those rooms in the Grad Students' Residence." She looked around her older sister's place with envy. "I've got one little closet and you have a whole apartment." Melissa bounced in frustration. "Never mind that now. What are we going to do? My dresses are all too long for you. Do you have any perfume?" Dana's face relaxed. "Yes, I've got that heavenly `Ombre Rose' that Mother gave me for Christmas. It's here somewhere." Melissa watched her dig through the overnight case. She knew she was going to regret setting up this blind date between Dana and Chuck's friend. She had tried to get out of it, but once Farid had seen Dana's picture he had been determined to meet her. The Scully girls' white skin and flaming hair was irresistibly exotic when compared to the dusky, black eyed beauties of his home in Bangladesh. "Now, I told you... Farid has an accent, but he speaks very good English. He's short... but that's okay. And I think he's a little chauvinistic in his attitude towards women, but as you're American he'll probably make allowances... " "Melissa! Surprise, surprise. We do have Asian students over at the Faculty of Medicine. I've even been out with some of them. Just relax. I'm not worried about it." "Sorry." Melissa screwed up her face. "Sounded pretty bad, didn't I?" "It's okay. I know you're just nervous because you want things to go well. What really surprises me is that Chuckie-boy and Farid are friends. I'm sure they didn't meet at the yacht club." "Dana! You promised you wouldn't call Chuck that any more. He can't help it if he's rich. Please be nice." Dana's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'll try." She turned to the mirror and gave her short haircut a ruffle. "So how did they become friends?" "Soccer. Farid is an ace soccer player. Chuck and he were both on the first string of the `Panthers'. Now that they've graduated they play for the alumni team. And Farid coaches a kid's team." Dana turned at that. "That's nice of him." She looked thoughtful as she rubbed some lotion onto her hands. "Won't he be going back to Bangladesh?" "Not till he finishes articling with Chuck's father's firm." Melissa took some hand lotion, too. "My hands are always so dry," she said mournfully. "The clay just sucks the natural oils out of them." "You should try wearing gloves like I do when I'm working." Melissa looked horrified. "You can't make pottery wearing rubber gloves. You have to be in direct contact with the clay so that you can communicate with it, and guide it into the shape it wants to be." Dana suppressed a smile. "Well, you must really be in tune with your clay, Missy. You do make beautiful pots." She held her hands out beside her sister's to compare. Melissa's were long and slender... what Dana thought of as artistic hands. Dana's had shorter fingers and square palms... practical hands. They wore identical oval rings engraved with an ornate letter S, made from a pair of their great grandfather's gold cufflinks. "Well, at least we both have short nails." Melissa sighed. "I'd give anything to be able to keep long nails." Dana snorted. "I've no patience for long nails. They just get in the way... when you're slicing eyeballs and squeezing gall bladders." Melissa gave a little squeak. "Please Dana, no shop talk. You know it makes Chuck throw up. Can't you tell Farid that you're studying paediatrics... or dermatology?" "No, I definitely will not! I find that most boys I go out with are fascinated by my work. They enjoy my stories about mutilated genitals and livers saturated with arsenic." Melissa shuddered. "And you've never wondered why none of them ever asks you out a second time?" "Ah, but perhaps that's why I tell them those stories." "You don't want to go out with them?" Melissa's voice was disbelieving. "I don't have much time for guys, Missy. I'm always studying or working in the labs." She turned her back. "Could you fasten this for me? If I get a free evening I'd rather have a long bath and go to bed with a good book than go out and have to spend my time currying favour with some fragile male ego just so I can get a little cuddling... only to have to fight him off so that he doesn't get anything I'm not prepared to give. It's just not worth it." "You're going to be an old maid, you know that, don't you?" Melissa did up the clasp on the gold chain, surreptitiously giving a sniff to check on the odour control. "Oh, I'll have plenty of time for men later, once I'm settled into a nice job in the coroner's office, or teaching for the Faculty of Forensic Medicine. Regular hours... pleasant conditions... " "I hope so, Dana. You're giving up some of the best years of your youth for those smelly corpses. This wasn't exactly what Dad had in mind when he encouraged you to study medicine, you know." The doorbell rang. "But, Missy, it's absolutely fascinating. Each body is a new mystery to be solved. It's like being Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rolled into one. And I think Dad's coming around. He was almost pleasant about it last time I was home... spent more time complaining about the fact that you choose to live like a hippy." Melissa made a face at her, then opened the door. "Good evening, Ladies." Farid was lean and handsome. As he came close to help her with her coat, Dana detected the faint bouquet of a good authentic curry clinging to his clothes. The wide smile that lit up her face struck the poor man dumb with it's radiance. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ END OF STORY comments to Eleanore