From: RhiaRamsay@aol.com
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 20:47:05 EDT
Subject: Lightening Shadows II-Glowing Dim As An Ember (1/1)

Title: Lightening Shadows II-Glowing Dim As An Ember
Author: Elizabeth L. Iacono
Rating: Still General
Spoilers: Anasazi
Category: Vignette, Mulder-Angst
Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST
Summary: The next day, Mulder's dreaming again, and this time, 
it prompts him to look for a missing persons report.

Feedback: Is vital to my survival.  The addy is RhiaRamsay@aol.com  

Disclaimer: Not mine.  CC's, 1013, and Fox's.  Mine is Shannon and 
Mama.  The song is from HocusPocus, but it actually fits here so 
just pretend for a little while.

All right, I don't know where the heck season six is taking us, so 
we can just assume here that The End and the movie never happened.  
I loved the movie, but I just can't make it work in this time line 
until I see season six.  So we'll just pretend it never happened.

Oh, yeah, and Mulder is still not colorblind.


Lightening Shadows II-Glowing Dim As An Ember
By Elizabeth L. Iacono


The next day


     Dana Scully was worried about her partner.  It was nine 
o'clock in the morning and Mulder still wasn't in.  This was 
extremely odd for him.  He usually beat her here, due to the fact 
that he never slept.

     She glanced at the small clock on Mulder's desk.  Nine-fifteen 
now.  Okay, she thought, if he's not here in fifteen minutes, 
then I'll call.  She had to prevent herself from being too 
overprotective towards him.

     Scully tried to go back to work, but almost every minute she 
kept looking at the clock.
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     It was nine twenty-nine when a breathless and flushed Mulder 
dashed through the door.  He slammed the door shut and then leaned 
back against it.  Scully heard the sound of his head hitting the 
door.  

     "Mulder? Are you okay?" she asked.

     He lifted his head off the door and looked at her.  She saw 
the faraway look in his eyes that disappeared when he focused 
in on her.  "Yeah, I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

     "No more than usual?"

     Mulder started walking towards the desk.  "Try less than 
usual.  I'm sorry, I'm just really out of it today."

     Scully took in his disheveled appearance, the tie that hung 
loosely around his neck, the small cut on his cheek where he'd 
probably nicked himself shaving, and his tousled hair that just 
wouldn't lie flat.  Just the way I like it, Scully thought, but 
then put that idea out of her head.

     "So what's on the agenda for today?" Mulder asked.

     "Not much.  For once there's no paperwork, we've got no 
active cases, and Skinner hasn't needed to see us in days."

     Mulder leaned back in his chair and sighed.  "Good."  He 
closed his eyes and almost fell asleep immediately.  He jerked 
awake when Scully lightly touched his arm.

     "Are you sure you're okay, Mulder?"

     "I told you I'm fine.  I just didn't sleep well."  Scully 
gave him a look that said 'If I buy that then you've got the 
bridge real cheap too.'

     Scully was getting more and more worried that Mulder was 
getting sick.  She put a hand on his forehead to gauge his 
temperature.

     'Pleasedon'ttakemypulsePleasedon'ttakemypulse' he internally 
pleaded.  His pulse was racing from the simple touch of her hand 
on his forehead.

     After what seemed forever, Scully removed her hand.  "Well, 
you feel normal."

     "Told you," he said smugly.

     "But, Mulder, if you really don't feel good, please tell me."  
She was afraid of a repeat of April of 1995 where 'They' had 
pumped Mulder so full of LSD he flipped out.

     Mulder caught the look in Scully's eye.  "Don't worry, 
Scully.  I haven't drank tap water from my apartment for 
three years."

     Scully smiled a half smile.  "Whatever.  So what are we 
going to do today?"

     Mulder smiled.  "Well, I figured we could go through some 
old cases and figure out which ones deserve the title 'total 
waste of time' or 'boring enough to send up to Colton' or 
'actual X-File worth investigating.'"  He got up and pulled a 
stack of files out of a box, took off his suit jacket and rolled 
up his sleeves.

     Scully stared at the stack of files.  "You have got to be 
the most disorganized person I have ever seen."

     He leered at her.  "That's why you like me so much."  

     Mulder didn't duck in time to miss the post-it pad heading 
directly for his head.
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     It was one o'clock.  Scully had left to get some lunch for 
the two of them.  Now I might be able to catch up on some of 
that sleep I lost last night, Mulder thought.

     The reason he lost sleep was because of that damn dream.  
Every time he fell back asleep the dream would keep repeating 
itself in perfect detail.  It was like the dream was trying to 
tell him something, but he couldn't put his finger on the 
meaning.  Eventually he'd decided not to go back to sleep at all.

     Now, though, it was catching up with him, and he was tired to 
the point of falling asleep head first into a file about 
bigfoot.  Mulder decided it was time to sleep, so he folded his 
arms on the desk laid his head down on them and immediately 
dozed off.
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     He was dreaming again.  He just knew it.  And judging by the 
clothes he seemed to be wearing he was three years old again.

     Fox looked around.  This dream was different than the other 
one.  This time he was in a hallway with a sturdy wooden floor 
and thick white walls that kept the heat out.  The hallway was 
long, and judging from the window at the other end it was 
nighttime.

     Fox looked to all the doors on the sides of the hallway.  
One of them had wisps of smoke  coming out from under it.  
Naturally, Fox was curious.  He walked over to the door and gently 
pushed it open.  

     It was a bedroom, with a large fireplace on one wall and 
a soft-looking bed opposite that.  Something stirred in the bed 
and Fox walked over to it.

     In the bed was the girl from the other dream, Shannon.  
She sat up when she saw him approach the bed.  "Hey, Fox," she 
said.

     "What's wrong?" he asked.  He had a vague memory of her 
spending the past few days in bed, apparently sick.

     Shannon's hazel eyes, so much like his own, lit up happily.  
She grabbed him under the arms and lifted him up onto the bed 
next to her.  Fox snuggled down under the down feather comforter 
and snuggled into Shannon's side.  "You've got to see this!" she 
said excitedly.

     Shannon held out her right hand and placed it on the white of 
the comforter.  To Fox, her hand looked totally normal, but 
suddenly it began to change.  First, the skin grew scaly, and 
not just a dry skin scaly but honest to God scales.  Second, the 
skin turned an iridescent green, and it shimmered in the light from 
the fireplace.  

     Fox gasped.  He'd never seen anything like this, not even in 
any of the X-Files.  He reached out a small hand and touched 
hers.  It felt like an actual lizard skin, like the one they 
had in his pre-school back home.

     Shannon continued to speak.  "Mama knows about this too."  
Fox looked up at her questioningly.  "Yep, she does, she even 
helped me the first time."

     "Huh?"

     "Uh-huh.  Y'know, Mama's a witch."

     "A witch?"  Fox knew what witches were.  He'd seen the 
'Wizard of Oz.'  Witches were people who stole dogs and chased 
little dogs.  He actually remembered a line from there, and he 
told Shannon.  "Kinda like 'Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?'"

     Before Shannon could reply, a familiar voice came from the 
doorway.  "A good witch, of course."

     Fox and Shannon looked up to see Mama smiling at them.  "Uh, 
hi, Mama," Fox said a little guiltily.  He knew he wasn't 
supposed to be in there. 

     "Aren't you supposed to be in bed now, Fox?" Mama asked in 
her softly accented voice.

     But Fox wasn't going to be distracted that easily.  "Are you 
really a witch, Mama?" he asked.

     Mama walked over to the bed and sat down in front of the 
two of them.  "Yes, I am.  And I'm not like that one from the 
'Wizard of Oz' that I know you're thinking of."

     Fox shrugged his shoulders.  "She's like Glenda more than 
anything.  Y'know, a good witch," Shannon added in.

     "Oh," said Fox quietly.  He asked his next question.  "Can 
you do that thing with your hand, too, Mama?"

     Mama glanced at Shannon.  She nodded in confirmation.  
"No, I can't, but Shannon's not a witch, like I am.  Shannon's 
got her own talents, just like Da does, and just like you will 
someday."

     Fox's head shot up at this one and his forehead wrinkled 
in question.  He pointed to himself as if to say 'Me too?'

     "Yes, you too.  But don't worry.  You've still got a few 
years to go.  Shannon's time came a little early than both me 
and Da expected."  She shot a look at Shannon, who smirked back.

     Mama spoke again.  "Now, come along, Fox.  It's time for 
you to get back to bed."

     Fox turned to Shannon and kissed her on the cheek.  "Night 
Shan."

     She kissed him back and said "G'night, Fox."

     Mama picked Fox up and carried him to his room at the end 
of the hall.  She nudged open the door with her foot and placed 
Fox down in the bed.  Before he dozed off he asked "Will I really 
be able to do that someday, Mama?"

     She smiled down at him.  "Yes, you will."

     "Good."  Fox tried to get to sleep but for some reason, sleep 
was now elusive.  "Can you sing to me, Mama?"

     "Of course."  She leaned down and kissed his forehead.  
Then, she began to sing.

     "Come, little children
     I'll take thee away
     Into a land
     Of enchantment
     Come, little children
     The time's come to play
     Here in my garden
     Of magic."

     And that was the last thing he heard before he dropped off 
to sleep.
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     Scully arrived back in the office to find Mulder fast asleep 
with his head on his desk.  She smiled at the fact he looked like 
such a little boy when he slept.  

     She had instinctively knew something was wrong with him from 
the moment he'd walked in that morning.  When he refused to talk 
about it, she didn't push, God knew she wasn't one for 
talking about her feelings either.  But something was seriously 
bothering him.

     Scully walked over to the side table and put the bags with 
the sandwiched down on it.  She looked over at Mulder once again, 
positive the best thing to do would be to let him sleep.  She did 
a double take when she glimpsed his cheek. 

     She could have sworn she saw a scaly patch on his cheek 
that had a slight iridescent sheen to it.  But when she went to 
get a closer look, there was nothing there but his smooth cheek 
with that birthmark on it.

     Fighting the urge to smooth back his wayward hair, Scully 
moved slowly back to the side table, but stopped when Mulder awoke 
with a start.  There was an almost scared look in his eyes and 
he was breathing heavily.  His eyes scanned the room, as if he 
wasn't sure of where he was, until his eyes lit on Scully.

     Mulder stood up.  "I'm sorry, Scully, but I really can't 
stay here right now."  He pulled his suit jacket off the back of 
the chair and started for the door.  He was stopped by Scully's 
hand on his arm once more.

     "If you need me, just call," she said quietly, handing him 
the sandwich.  He took it from her and gently pressed his 
forehead to hers for a second, as if to draw strength from her.  
Then, he turned and left.

     Scully got her own sandwich out of the bag and sat down 
to eat it.  She would be waiting for his phone call.
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     Two hours later, Mulder sat at his computer, staring at the 
monitor.  Ever since the dreams finished, he'd suspected it, but 
didn't have any proof until now.

     On the screen was an old police report from Martha's Vineyard 
in August of 1965.  The police had found a small boy wandering 
around the beach.  He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes.  The 
one distinguishing feature was a birthmark on his right cheek.  
He only seemed to know one word-Fox.

     Mulder reached for the portable phone.  He'd have to 
tell Scully this.

To be continued...
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Well? What did you think?  Any comments  
can be sent to RhiaRamsay@aol.com


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"True love, it's the greatest thing
in the world."

Miracle Max
The Princess Bride
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"Men will fight bravely and be
heroes, but for a last ditch
defense against any odds, get a
mother."

Lightbringer
High Wizardry
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