From: RhiaRamsay@aol.com Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 20:54:28 EDT Subject: Lightening Shadows IV-Raindrops On Roses (1/1) Title: Lightening Shadows IV-Raindrops On Roses Author: Elizabeth L. Iacono Rating: General Category: Story, Romance Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance Spoilers: Slight one for Anasazi (We all know by now that Scully shot Mulder.) And a very slight (Blink and you'll miss it) spoiler for Bad Blood. Summary: The other side of the story. Shannon Ramsay-Parker dreams about her missing brother. This story is a little different from the rest of the stories in this series. The others were all from Mulder or Scully's point of view. This one is from Shannon's point of view. Shannon is one of the people in Mulder's dreams. She was in the other stories(Ahem! Hint, hint!). This is what she's dreaming..... .....Oh, for God sakes just read the other stories! Feedback is always welcome in my home. Any kind can be sent to me at RhiaRamsay@aol.com Oh, here we go again. Fox and Dana are not mine. They belong to the Surfer Boy, 1013, and Fox. Shannon, Mama, Colin, Johnathan, Connor, Sage, and Ryan are mine. I'm pretty sure there's no chance in hell CC would create these characters. Especially Ryan . Lightening Shadows IV-Raindrops On Roses Elizabeth L. Iacono Shannon Ramsay-Parker looked in her little boy's, Connor, room. Well, he wasn't that much of a boy anymore. He was going off to college in a few weeks. Her daughter, Sage, had already been in college for the past two years. Most people didn't believe she had college-aged kids. She was actually forty-three years old, and had aged well. She had oak-brown hair with some grey only by the temples, and sparkling hazel eyes. Shannon left the doorway and headed back to her own room in the large townhouse and looked mournfully at the empty bed. Johnathan, her husband, was away on a business trip. She never slept well when he was away. That and the fact that insomnia was a family trait. Shannon stripped down her bathrobe to the old Yankees shirt that was serving as a nightshirt and crawled into bed. She couldn't get to sleep without doing some deep thinking on some serious topics. She was thinking about the little brother she'd lost when he was only three years old. Fox was one of the sweetest little kids she'd known, and most three-year-olds had a tendency to act like spoiled brats when she babysat for them when she was ten. They still hadn't figured out how he disappeared. It was just one day, he had escaped everyone's' sight, and then there was a strong wind, almost unearthly, and then, a minute later when the wind died down, Fox was gone. And they hadn't heard anything about him in thirty-five years. Shannon dropped off to sleep with a slight tear in her beautiful hazel eyes. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Shannon recognized the place in her dream immediately. It was Gramma's house in Ireland. She found herself rising out of bed, and then putting on a dark blue dress with little pink flowers on it... Wait a second, she remembered this day. It was the day her and Fox and their other brother Colin had gone out to play in Granpa's rose garden early in the morning. Shannon slipped on the dress, found her sandals, and went out the door. She found Fox waiting outside the door for her. He looked exactly the same as in the pictures they all had from before his disappearance. The oak-brown hair with the little tuft that just wouldn't lie flat in the front, bright hazel eyes identical to her own, and a full lower lip that he used to pout whenever he didn't get what he wanted. He was ready to go out too. They'd told him about going to the garden last night and Shannon was sure as anything he didn't sleep a wink last night. But someone was missing. "Where's Col?" she whispered. "I think he's asleep," Fox whispered back. Shannon nodded and then walked to Colin's room, Fox following closely behind. She opened the door to find Colin dressed to go out, but sprawled across the mattress fast asleep. "That louse," Shannon muttered, and then to Fox, "Wanna help me wake him up?" Fox grinned. She motioned to him to go over to the other side of the bed by Colin's head. Shannon went to the opposite side and grabbed an earlobe lightly. Fox followed suit. And they pulled. Colin's eyes shot open, but before he could scream Shannon clamped her other hand over his mouth. She leaned in close and said "Mornin', Sunshine!" Colin shook his head free of their hands. "I'm up, I'm up!" "We're gonna be late," Fox said. "For what?" Colin asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "The garden, silly," Fox responded. Colin swung his legs out of the bed and hopped down. "Awright, let's go." The three kids headed downstairs, but they stopped when they came to the big kitchen. There Gramma was standing at the old kitchen table mixing something. "Morning, Gramma," Shannon said. Colin and Fox were too busy yawning to say anything. She was probably right in that Fox hadn't slept at all last night. "Ye be going out to see the garden, right?" Gramma asked them. "Uh-uh," Colin said around a yawn. Gramma went over to a cabinet and pulled out a wrapped bundle. "Well, just in case ye don't make it back in time for breakfast, here's something for ye." She handed the bundle to Shannon, who was the most responsible of the three. "Okay, Gramma," Shannon said and they turned and went out the kitchen door that was already open to let the fresh morning air in. The garden was bordering on the cliff, and surrounded by a thick, four-foot high stone wall. It worked pretty well to keep inquisitive kids like Fox from getting out and falling over the cliff. They got there by a dirt path that their Grampa had put in when he started the garden. Inside the garden was as many different types of roses and other flowers that you could ever think of. On one side, the wall went right down to the edge of the cliff. It left a long tract of bright green grass on a slope that was perfect for lying on. Shannon reached the garden gate first and pushed it open. The scent of roses overwhelmed her senses and she breathed in happily. The two boys followed in after her. Colin immediately went for the grassy patch. "Where ya going, Col?" Shannon asked. He pulled two comic books out of the waistband of his pants. "Reading." Shannon frowned. "But I thought you were going to help us pick some of the flowers? Grampa gave us permission to." Colin shrugged. "Picking flowers is for girls and babies," he said with finality and sat down to read. Shannon felt Fox tugging on her dress. She looked down and saw that his lower lip was stuck out stubbornly. "I'm not a baby," he said. "I know that but Col gets stupid when you wake him up too early. C'mon, let's go get some of those flowers. I'll show you how to make a chain out of them later." "Okay," Fox said and headed for a patch of roses. No more than a minute later she heard a yelp come from his direction. She shook her head and headed his way to see what he'd gotten into this time. She found him sitting at the base of a rosebush sucking on one of his fingers. "What happened, Fox?" He held out his hand to her. "Something poked me." She took the hand and concluded that he'd just gotten pricked by a thorn. "It's just a thorn, Fox. Rose bushes are full of them. Watch out for them next time." "Awright." He turned back to the rose bush and Shannon turned to go back to her own patch, but five seconds later Fox's next question came up. "Hey, Shan, did it rain last night?" "No, why?" "The roses are all wet." Shannon went back over and took a look at the roses. "It's called dew. Sometimes it forms overnight. But it does look like raindrops." Shannon smiled to herself and began to sing. "Raindrops on roses And whiskers on kittens." "Oh, God, she's singing again!" Colin called from over on the grass. "Put a sock in it Shan!" "Be quiet!" Shannon yelled. "Yeah, we don't have to listen to you!" Fox called. "Aw, Fox, you're still sore about Christmas," Colin retorted. "There is no such thing as gift-eaters, Col!" Fox yelled. "Oh, be quiet, both of you!" Shannon yelled, exasperated. She went back to picking her flowers and began singing again. "Raindrops on roses And whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles And warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages Tied up in strings These are a few of my favorite things." Shannon walked over to the grass where Fox was now sitting with Colin. Fox had dumped his whole stockpile of flowers on the ground in front of him. Shannon added hers to the pile and sat down next to Fox. "I think we have plenty here to make a nice chain." "How do you make one?" Fox asked. Shannon quickly demonstrated the braiding method for the flowers. And then Shannon began to sing again. "Girls in white dresses With blue satin sashes Snowflakes that play On my nose and eyelashes Silver white winters That melt into spring..." Shannon trailed off as she looked at Fox's hands. The image blurred, and the soft child-like hands changed into slender, long-fingered, grown-up hands, not unlike Mama's. Shannon felt her head spinning and then the dream changed. She was still in the garden, in the same grassy spot, but this time she was with six other people, and she was her normal age. To the left of her was Colin, and the woman she knew now as his wife. Directly behind her she sensed her own husband, Johnathan. Shannon looked down at what was in her arms, and saw one of the most beautiful babies she'd ever seen in her life. He (Somehow she just knew it was a boy) couldn't have been more than a month old, but he had a full head of dark hair and such bright blue eyes. She looked over to where she'd seen Fox before. Where there was once a little boy there was now a man. He had to have been taller than Colin, she could tell that even with him sitting down. He had the same oak-brown hair, with that tuft in the front that just wouldn't lie flat. She could tell he had the sparkling hazel eyes, and that full lower lip that was prominent even in childhood. He was bent over a chain of deep red roses that he was forming into a sort of crown. Suddenly he jerked his hands back and began to suck on his thumb. That was when Shannon noticed the woman lying with her head in Fox's lap. She was small, but with a head of bright red, chin length hair, and the same blue eyes as the baby she held in her arms. Then, the woman spoke. "What did you do now?" she questioned, looking up at him. She took a hold of his hand and kissed the finger he'd pricked. "You have to be one of the most accident prone people I've ever met, Fox." Fox leaned over her and said with a smirk, "That's why you love me so much, Dana." He leaned over her and kissed her softly. Shannon heard Colin sigh from next to her. "Oh, cut the mushy stuff, will you? Just because you're getting married in a week doesn't mean we have to put up with all this lovey dovey stuff." Both Fox and Colin's wife looked up at him. "Bite me, Col," Fox said while his wife whacked him one upside the head. Fox leaned over and picked up the rose crown and placed it on Dana's head. "See, I told you it would look good." Dana reached up and felt the crown resting softly on her head. She leaned her head back into Fox's chest and mouthed 'Thanks,' with a big smile on her face. As Fox was leaning down to kiss her again the baby in Shannon's arms began to cry. Fox straightened up and Dana sat up, but still leaned back against his chest. "Give him here," Dana said. Shannon complied easily, she felt she was doing the right thing. Dana took the baby and cradled him to her chest. "See, he just wanted his Mom," Dana said, smiling. "Didn't you, Ryan?" Shannon shook her head, grinning. "Y'know, I never figured out why you two didn't just get married before Ryan was born?" Fox grinned back at Shannon. "Dana wanted to fit into her wedding dress." Dana turned around slightly. "Remember, Fox, just because I'm marrying you does not mean I am not afraid to shoot you again." Colin came to attention. "Wait, what do you mean again?" Shannon grinned to herself. Dana had told her this one before. Fox pulled aside the left side of his tank top (think the undershirt in Bad Blood) to reveal a round, white scar. "See this? Well in 1995 I kind of went slightly crazy..." "Slightly crazy?" Dana muttered He looked down at her. "I was drugged." "Is that what made you take a swing at Skinner?" "No, I'd wanted to do that before, I just had an excuse to act on it." Dana rolled her eyes. "Anyway, in order to stop me from shooting someone, Dana shot me in the shoulder..." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Shannon jerked to full awareness with a start. She'd never dreamed that one before. Many times she'd had dreams that were sort of memories of the past, but this one was just too strange for words. She got out of bed and dressed quickly. It was times like this that she grateful that she lived so close to her mother. She'd be able to explain this one. She headed downstairs to find a note on the fridge saying that Connor had left for the day. This made it easier for her to get to Mama's home. She drove like lightning to the house of her childhood, only by the grace of God she didn't get a ticket. Mama was standing at the foot of the driveway in her standard blue dress waiting for her. Shannon stopped the car and tumbled out. "What's wrong, Shan?" Mama asked in her Irish accent. "I had a dream, Mama." She then went on to explain the exact events that had transpired in the dream. When she finished, she asked "Well, what does it mean, Mama?" "I think it's a sort of prediction. The Dragon's Blood running through your veins gives you all sorts of gifts, maybe this is one of them." "Could it be predicting that Fox is going to come back soon?" Shannon asked with a bit of apprehension. Mama smiled at her. "That's what we can hope for. Come on inside. We'll get some coffee." Shannon shrugged and followed Mama into the house. She just had a feeling that the next few weeks were going to be rather exciting. Stay Tuned for part five of Lightening Shadows XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The song My Favorite Things is From the Sound of Music, and it ain't mine. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "True love, it's the greatest thing in the world." Miracle Max, The Princess Bride XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Men will fight bravely and be heroes, but for a last ditch defense against any odds, get a mother Lightbringer High Wizardry XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX