From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 28 Sep 2005 23:16:25 -0000
Subject: Gaining Perspective by Yappichick by YappiChick
Source: direct

Reply To: yappichick@yahoo.com


Title: Gaining Perspective
email: YappiChick@yahoo.com 
Summary: Mulder gets to introduce the two women in his life. 
Feedback: Welcome with open arms! 
Rating: PG 
Archive: Surely!  It would be great to let me know!
Spoilers: Redux 2 
Category: MSR 
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. 
Author's note: This is my third story in The Other Woman universe.
You should probably read The Other Woman and Best of Both Worlds
first.

Gaining Perspective
by YappiChick

Samantha's POV

So this was the woman who my brother couldn't stop talking about 
the entire time he was up visiting me.

My brother.  It sounds weird to me even though I have been talking 
to him off and on for the past several months.  I still don't know 
what to think about his claim that my father knew he was looking 
for me, yet he kept my location unknown to him.  Fortunately, Fox
hasn't brought that up.  Who knows how I would react if he pushed 
the issue?  I still can't believe I let my husband talk me into 
flying down here.

But I digress, back to "Scully."  I can't believe that Fox actually
calls her by her last name.  I mean, if they were just work partners,
I would understand.  But Fox has let me know in no uncertain terms 
that she is his girlfriend.  I think back to when I was dating my 
husband, if he had called me Spender instead of Samantha, I would 
have kicked him to the curb.

I'm babbling again.  And in my head no less.

We find Fox's car and he loads my bags in the trunk.  Now normally,
seating arrangements in a car are no big deal.  In my family, I'm 
the Mom, I always sit in the front.  If I'm in my carpool, I always
sit in the back.  This situation has got me confused.  If it wasn't
for the icy look Scully was giving me, I would have taken the seat 
in the front, no questions asked.  Fox is my long lost brother, after
all.

Fox comes in before I have time to say anything.  "Hey Scully, why 
don't you take the back seat?  I'm sure Samantha would like the extra
leg room in the front after her flight."

I hope Fox wasn't sleeping with her yet.  With the look she gave him,
he wouldn't be getting any action for the next decade.

I look over to her and offered a smile.  "You are more than welcome
to have the front."  That's me, Samantha Williamson.  Peacemaker 
extraordinaire.

She looks at me with a confused look, almost as if she forgot I was 
there.  "No, that's ok.  *Fox* wants to sit next to you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see my brother cringe.  I guess the 
last name calling is a mutual thing.

I shrug.  I don't know why she bothered coming to the airport if
she was going to act this way.  You would think she would be happy
for Fox that he was finally reunited with me.

I open the door and saw Fox shooting Scully a glance.  If she saw
him, she didn't show any outside signs that she did.  She slid in 
the seat behind me.

Fox sat in the driver's seat, biting his lip.  I knew he was nervous,
even though we were separated when I was quite young, I still 
remember Fox biting his lip when he knew he was in trouble.

"So, where do you want to eat, Scully?"

I'm assuming by him giving her control of tonight's plan, that he
knows he's done something wrong.

"At home."  I heard the unspoken word "alone" added at the end of
the sentence.

He looks in the rearview mirror at his girlfriend.  "Come on, 
Scully."

She huffs loudly, though I'm sure she would kick me if she heard me
saying that.  "I don't care, Mulder.  Just go somewhere."

He turns to me and flashes an apologetic smile.  Poor Fox, what have
you gotten yourself into with this woman?


Mulder's POV

We wound up going to Vince's.  I knew Scully had been on an Italian
kick lately and taking her to the place that serves the best 
spaghetti in town seemed like a good place to start groveling to her.

I know she is still pissed at the fact that I forgot to tell her who
exactly we were meeting.  Every time I tried to talk to her, she 
lived up to her Ice Queen title.  One word answers.  Laser beam 
stares.  Her eyebrow was permanently in its upright position.  It was
getting a little tiring.

I screwed up.  Fine.  I'll probably do twenty more things to make
things worse before the night is over.  I am human, after all.

Samantha is handling Scully as well as anyone can.  She keeps on 
shooting me sympathetic glances from across the table.  I hope Scully
doesn't see.  The last thing I need to do is referee a cat fight 
between them.

Balancing the two is a harder task than I thought it would be.

Scully surprises me by beginning to talk to Samantha.  Inwardly, I 
hold my breath.  Scully is unpredictable when she is angry.

"So, Samantha, how long have you and Mulder been talking?"

Well, at least she stopped calling me Fox.  That just sounded
wrong coming out of her mouth.

My sister looks at me questioningly.  "Um, he wrote me several
months ago.  About a month after we met at the cafe."

Uh oh, this conversation is not what I want to hear right now.  I
wonder if I can crawl under the table without calling too much
attention to myself.

Scully's eyebrow rose even higher.  If I wasn't so concerned for the
well being of my manhood, I would have thought it was incredibly 
sexy.  "A cafe?"

Now Sam looks really confused.  "Yeah, when you were in the hospital
for your cancer.  My father arranged a meeting."

"Your father?"

Warning.  Warning.  The red lights are going off in my head.  Stop 
this conversation at all costs.  Do NOT let Samantha answer.

"Scully, I love you."

Two pairs of eyes stare at me.  I would be staring at myself if I 
could.  What in the world possessed me to say that?

Scully was the first to break the silence that had come over the 
table.  "I've got to go."

I'm no fool, despite what I just said.  If I tried to stop her, I'd
be talking an octave higher when Scully was through with me.

After she left the table and Samantha looks at me disapprovingly.  
"I shouldn't have come."

If I thought my heart was breaking with Scully's departure, it was 
surely shattering now.  "Yes, you should have.  I screwed up.  But 
please, Sam, don't regret seeing me."

She studies my face for a second.  I must look pathetic because she
actually reaches over and squeezes my hand.  "Want a piece of 
advice?"

I nod numbly. 

"Never tell a woman you love her to distract her.  She'll never 
believe that you really do," she says.

Nodding, I let go of her hand.  "Thanks."

Soon after that, I took her to the hotel she was staying in and 
promised her the next day I would take her to all the tourist spots
in D.C.

After I see her walk inside, I floor it to Scully's.


Scully's POV

People say physical aggression doesn't really make a person feel 
better.  I beg to differ.   I don't think there was anything that 
could make me feel as good as I did when I threw my heels at my 
closet door.

Well, maybe if I threw them at Mulder's head.  Perhaps it would 
knock some much needed sense in him.

I don't think I have ever been so furious in my life.  And if I have,
it was no doubt because of Mulder.

I still can't believe he said he loved me just because his sister 
was about to reveal some other secret he "forgot" to tell me.

But what I'm really angry about is the fact for a second when he 
first said it, I was consumed with bliss.  What a fool.

I take off my panty hose so forcefully, I tear a hole in them.  
Since my wrath is all his fault, Mulder's buying me a new pair.  
Images of thigh-high hose with garters fill my head.  Never mind, 
I'll buy my own hosiery.

I manage to get to rest of my clothes off without damaging them.  
I'm taking a nice, long bath.  Maybe then I'll be able to calm my 
murderous impulses against Mulder.

Fifteen minutes later, I hear my phone ring.  There is no way I'm
getting out of my sanctuary.  I just now managed to think about my
partner without my blood pressure going through the roof.

After I hear my voice on the machine, Mulder starts speaking.  
"Scully? Are you there?"

Go away, Mulder.  I'm not answering the phone.

"Well, um, I guess you're not going to pick up.  I just wanted to
come over.  You know, work things out.  Since you're not picking 
up, I'm going to assume that you're ok with me coming over.  After 
all, you're not one to be afraid to tell me to go to hell if you 
didn't want to see me."  He laughed stiffly.  "I'll be over soon."

I clinch my fists.  Only Mulder and his backwards thinking would put
together that my not answering the phone means I want him to come 
over.  There are times I still question how he got the reputation of
being brilliant.  Like now.

I pull the plug out of the tub with my toes.  I dry myself and put on
some of my "weekend clothes."  A pullover sweater and leggings.  I 
don't have time to dry my hair and frankly, I don't really care what 
I look like to Mr. Forgetful.

Soon after I started putting on a pot of coffee, I hear Mulder's 
tentative knock.  "Come in."  Was that my calm voice?  Wow, I 
impressed myself.

He walks in with what I am assuming is my leftover food.  "Hey 
Scully."

That's it?  Hey Scully?  Why is he wasting our time again?

"I, um, was thinking about what I said on the way over.  You know,
at Vince's.  And I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have said it," he says very
softly.

I thought the night couldn't get worse.  Leave it to Mulder to 
disprove on of my theories.  "Whatever, you said something and now
you want to take it back.  Fine."  That was more like it.  There was
no way I was going to let him know my was taking a sledgehammer to my
heart.

"Wait," he calls, grabbing my shoulder.  "Are we ok?"

Please, someone tell me he is joking.  He keeps his newly founded 
relationship with his sister for months.  He tells me he loves me
to shut me up and now he wants to know if everything is fine.  No,
no, no.  Things are all wrong.

I look at his broken hearted look and realize I said all of those 
things out loud.  Oh well, it's better than me saying "I'm fine".

He clears his throat.  "I met up with Samantha several months ago, 
like she said.  She thinks Cancer Man is her father.  That's what I 
didn't want her telling you."

"What?  He's had her?"  I don't know what to think.  

"Yeah.  She refuses to believe he's anything other than Father of the
Year material."

My mind is racing.  Why would Mulder put himself on the line like 
that? Who knows what Cancer Man would do to get any information he 
told Samantha?

He must have seen my concern, because he continued talking.  "I 
couldn't let her go without trying to reach out to her."

The way he said it was so sincere and sad, I felt my anger starting
to subside.  "Why didn't you tell me that you were talking to her in
the first place?"

He shrugs.  "Would you believe I just forgot to tell you?"

I laugh.  That would be such a Mulder thing for him to do.  "Yes," I 
answered, "I would."

He walks up closer to me.  "Would you believe me if I said I meant 
what I said at the restaurant?"

I swallow.  This is it.  If I say the wrong thing, it could set our 
relationship back to before my remission.  I kiss him softly.

"Yes, I would."

The smile that covers his face is one of the most beautiful things 
I have ever seen.  "And Mulder?  I love you too."  He grabs me and 
kisses me for what feels like forever.  

I remember my mom saying that the best thing about fighting was the
making up part.  I am glad she is right.

the end.