Disclaimer: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and Etc. belong to CC, 1013 and Fox. Used without permission, but no infringement intended. Please make sure my name and this disclaimer are attached to the story if you reprint it. Author's Note: A follow-up to "The Field Where I Died". Some fourth season spoilers. Any characters that seem out of place? Don't ask :-) Thanks to Em and Co. for putting up with my insanity and making this the first story I've finished since spring. T h e X - F i l e s Expert Advice - Paul Leone (XFFKuu@aol.com) ----- Scully stared at the phone as the minute hand on the clock ticked relentlessly. When it rang, she jumped and snatched up the receiver. "Scully." "Hi, Dana," the voice on the other end said. "Hello, Missy," Scully replied, trying to hide her disappointment. This was not who she wanted to call. Not today. "What's up?" "Oh, nothing. You just felt like you wanted someone to talk to. It's been bothering me all night." Scully smiled. Only Melissa... "I'm fine." "Dana, if I had a nickel for every time you said that, I wouldn't need to work two jobs. What's bothering you? I have a feeling I can help." "Missy, no." "Dana, yes. Now look, I'll be there in a few minutes, so heat up some tea. I'm thirsty." "What? Are you on a cellular phone?" Scully listened closely and heard a horn honking, faintly, and what sounded like Melissa swearing under her breath. "Yes," came the guarded reply. "Where did you get it?" "Paul gave it to me." "Paul?" Scully frowned. What happened to Mark? "Mark was two years ago, Dana. Are you heating the tea? I'm almost at your exit. You remember Paul. The Senator's aide?" Scully shook her head. "No." "Come on...Captain Barone's son?" "Oh, that Paul." "Yes, that Paul," Melissa repeated, a smile in her voice. "He's so sweet." "So he gave you a cellular phone? Is he serious?" "I think so. But you're the topic today, Dana. Do I turn left or right on Northwest and Jordan?" "Left. Okay, I'm heating up the tea. Happy?" "Much. So what's bothering you, sis?" "Nothing!" Silence, then a laugh. "Rrrright. I missed your self-denying side." "What the hell was that?" Melissa asked. "Who was that?" "Huh?" "That voice, that woman. Who was it?" "No one. Missy, I don't have time for this -" "Time...I didn't think you had it in you, Dana. We'll talk." "There's nothing to talk about, Missy. Please..." "No! I'm not going to let this slide, Dana. It's important that you understand. Hey, open your front door," she said. Someone outside knocked on the door. "Missy..." Scully sighed and opened the door. Her sister swept into the room, a cellular phone in one hand. "Hi Dana." Melissa hugged her sister and stared at her intently. "You are seriously in need of someone to talk to. Sit down and tell me exactly what's going on." Scully reluctantly let Melissa steer her to the couch, then watched her sister disappear into the kitchen. "So start talking! What is it? Mulder, right?" Mulder...Scully shook her head. One word, even the word Mulder, didn't sum it up. She sighed and explained it to Melissa. "And he wanted so much to believe that somewhere, somehow, he found love, he constructed this elaborate fantasy. Past lives, with me and the Cancer Man and Samantha and Melissa. As his spouse, both times." "Me?" Melissa smiled. "I'm flattered, but I barely know him." Scully laughed. "No, silly...I don't know what to believe, Missy. He pulls these names out of thin air, but he could easily have seen them going over the county records. And there are so many things that just don't add up. How could Cancer Man have been a Gestapo agent in a past life? He's too old." Melissa shrugged and sipped at her tea. "I think I know. When I was shot, last year, and that man - Kalcek?" "Krycek." "Right. When he turned me over, my pain and fear, and his shock, they..." Melissa made vague motions in the air, "they let me see into him. His mind, his soul." She shivered and took another sip of tea. "I saw this Cancer Man and the things he's done...if it's true, then I can understand how Mulder would associate his horror with the greatest horror, the Nazis. Following me?" Scully nodded. She had already half-convinced herself this was what Mulder had done, but... "But what about what that woman said?" "What about her? You said yourself that she was the one who first made the claim. Mulder wanted to believe, so he did, right? Belief can influence hypnotic regression, you know that. But maybe fate - " "I don't believe in fate." "Why?" Melissa asked, startled. "Because that means nothing we do matters. That Mulder and I can never be more than what we are, that I'll always be the one off to the side. I don't want that to be true, Missy," she said, biting her lip. She took a deep breath, biting back tears. "I don't want it to be like that, but it is..." "Oh, Dana. No, no, no. That's not true." Melissa moved over on the couch and hugged Scully. "Listen to me. The only person that decides what happens to you is you. Not God, or Fate, or even thick-headed partners." Scully nodded, wiping her eyes. "I'm being silly. He's just my partner." "Dana, I know that you two have a very special relationship. You can call it partnership if you want, or love, or whatever. The label doesn't change it, right?" After a few seconds when Scully didn't answer, she repeated the question. "Right?" "Right..." "So what are you worried about? Go back to work on Monday and makes things the way you want them to be, not the way some woman with mental problems said they should be. And stop moping or I'll stay here all weekend." Scully laughed gratefully. "Mulder is lucky you're not his partner, Missy. You'd bully him to death." "Maybe, but he is lucky that you are. No woman can change that. No one." "What would I do without you?" "Mope and stare at the phone, probably." "Probably. So tell me about this Paul character..." - The End -