From: UbrScullie@aol.com Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 03:04:04 EDT Subject: New submission Source: direct Just a thought.. By UbrScullie Vignette PG rating for slight use of vulgarity Spoiler: None that I can think of.. Disclaimer: They are not mine, but sometimes I wish CC would pay more attention to the drivel that's passing as dialog in season 8. Maybe if he took better care of them, so many wouldn't be writing fan fiction.nah. "You look depressed." Fox Mulder smiled wryly at the bartender. "I officially have been fired today. Not on probation, or disciplinary leave, but terminated. Here's your four weeks of unused vacation; sorry we thought you were dead, have a nice life, ending with the "no one is gonna miss your sorry ass" exit interview." Nell poured two fingers of scotch, and set it firmly onto the counter. "On the house." "Ah, the sorry you got "canned" sympathy drink." Nell smiled. "You know me better than that. It's the "I hope you get so shit-faced drunk that you spend all of your vacation pay on booze" drink." "I stand corrected." Mulder tossed back the drink casually, ignoring the burning fire in his throat, but relishing the smooth warmth in his stomach. "So what happens now?" Mulder turned the glass over, and signaled for another. "I don't know." It was a long drawn out sigh. Nell nodded sympathetically. It was a Friday afternoon, and the business crowd hadn't arrived yet to drown their workday sorrows. She had plenty of time to cater to Mulder, knowing from past experience that the man could hold his liqueur, and usually told a good tale. He wasn't hard on the eyes either. Mulder didn't disappoint. "I wouldn't mind so much, except the Agent they selected to replace me seems damned competent." Mulder swirled the amber liquid absently in the glass. "He's practically memorized my case files already." "Those X-files?" Mulder stopped swirling, glancing at Nell with a surprised look. "You do listen." "Consider this a confessional, my son." Nell joked. "So who's the new kid on the block?" Mulder sipped from the glass, a thoughtful look on his face. "Special Agent John Doggett." "They didn't give it to your partner, Agent Scully?" "Oh Scully's been in charge for a while. She and Doggett have done some pretty intensive fieldwork together. But she's gonna have to take leave soon. Maternity leave. The pregnancy that never should have been." "How far along is your partner?" Mulder held his hands before his stomach, rounding them outward mimicking Scully's newly expanded waist size. "That far huh?" Mulder nodded. "Of course Doggett's been fighting her every step of the way. Tell me Nell, how many times can a person remain in denial? How many times must you witness an unusual event or even abnormal science anomaly, and not question its existence? Why must everything be explained and cataloged? What happened to trusting one's eyes and senses?" "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Nell murmured. "I don't think that applies here." Mulder complained. Nell chuckled softly. "Sure it does." She set the glass she was cleaning down on the counter, and poured Mulder his third. "I've known you a long time Agent Mulder." "Ex-Agent Mulder." "Ah huh, and I remember you sitting at this very same bar bitching and moaning about how they forced a new partner on you who didn't know squat about the cases you where investigating. `She doesn't want to see the evidence.' I remember someone mentioning that." "Sounds familiar." "And how long did it take Agent Scully to see your skewed sense of reality? Years, Mulder, years." "Yeah, but." "But she finally believed. Because you are a driving force, an unstoppable object, and you constantly forced Scully to see what you've known all along. Through all of the turmoil and trials, you've stayed the course of your convictions, refusing to lose sight of your ultimate goal. That alien life was here, now, on this planet, and that your sisters kidnapping was a planned abduction. You never lost faith. And in the face of that undoubting loyalty, Scully found strength and the ability to see beyond the science that she had embraced. That consortium of evil tried everything to shake you, to detour you from finding the truth, but you prevailed. Through the closure of your department, to Scully's illness, your Mother and Father's death, and ultimately your own unbelievable abduction, you're still fighting for the truth to come out." "I think I need another." Mulder mumbled, appalled at how much information this virtual stranger knew about himself. A man, who was repeatedly warned to trust no one, but seemed to have the uncanny knack of trusting everyone. Nell obligingly set another drink before Mulder. "I was thinking." Nell started. Mulder looked at her in surprise. "There's more?" "What if you were right? What if the power controlling the bureau, particularly your division, had intended Scully to slow you down? Even shut you down. But your drive and conviction was even more forceful than they anticipated. Scully was never supposed to release her hold on science based fact. You were supposed to be swayed to believe that everything you had witnessed could be explained by science. So now they have two believers. They can't just shut the X-Files down again. What would be the justifiable cause? So they have you kidnapped, shaking Scully's resolve. She's not as strong as you are, not as convinced. Then she finds out that she is pregnant, a medical impossibility, but fact. More confusion, more denial. It's easier to believe that there is a scientific explanation." "So you partner her up with doubting Thomas." Mulder finished. "Exactly. And Scully returns to the comfortable reassurance that there must be a scientific explanation. The foundation you built for her has been crumbled, shaken irreparably. Maybe she wasn't abducted after all, maybe she was never left barren. She obviously must've been mistaken about your death, cause here you are, standing before her. These are nagging doubts, haunting her day and night. She relinquishes her control of the X-Files before she even has the chance to teach this new guy how to believe the unbelievable. And though he will investigate, because you yourself say that he is competent, he doesn't know how to suspend disbelief and look at the truth." "And the consortium wins. Same means, different results. Chaos theory." Mulder finished his last drink, stood up, and tossed several bills onto the counter. "I've got to talk to my partner." "Don't you mean ex-partner?" Mulder winced, then smiled at Nell. Reaching out, he grabbed one of her hands into both of his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you." He spoke sincerely. Nell smiled softly. "Hey, it was just a thought."