From: Emily Burda Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 12:29:43 -0800 Subject: Repost- "Ludus Diuturnus" by: Kailee and Kyrie White PG-13, MSR, Case File Title- Ludus Diuturnus (1-?) Authors- Kailee White and Kyrie White Rating- PG-13, but nothing bad quite yet. Classification- MSR, case file, MS UST, Angst, all the really good ones! Summary- While the world prepares for the destruction caused by Y2K, Mulder and Scully uncover chilling truths, lies, and plots to conceal, while exploring something even darker and more unknown- their hearts. Disclaimer- Yes, I know, Mulder and Scully, and any other X-File related character does not belong to us. Chris Carter, if you are out there, we are only playing with your toys and will put them back where we found them. They are all the property of Chris Carter, 1013, and 21st Century Fox. Author's notes- Yes, archive, but please ask first! I want to come visit! After a 3 year hiatus from the realm of fan-fiction, the sisters are back, ready to tell you a tale. If you like it, please, send us feedback! We greatly appreciate how much work other authors put into their stories, and if you feel the same way, drop either of us a line to let us know if you laughed, cried, screamed, or just sat in amusement at the stupidity of our story. In any case, we love e-mail. Send Kailee some at emily_jane99@hotmail.com or send Kyrie some at princesseduckie@hotmail.com We love it and will read it all! Thanks, and enjoy! PART 1- The Cover-up Margaret Scully's House December 11th. 6:32 pm Chop. Chop. The crisp, cutting sound of the very large kitchen knife that Dana Scully was wielding emanated from the kitchen. Maggie Scully, pausing from peeling potatoes, crossed the ornately decorated kitchen to where her daughter was standing. "It's so nice to have you home, Dana." Maggie said, placing her hands gently on Scully's shoulders. "It's wonderful to be here, Mom." Scully smiled, leaning back into her mother's embrace. It felt good to be in her mothers arms again, she thought. Scully kissed her mother on the cheek and went back to her task at hand, chopping the carrots and lettuce for the tossed salad her mother was going to serve along with dinner. The family room was filled with voices, of laughter, and the woodsy smell of a huge fresh pine tree. Every year, a few weeks before Christmas, the Scully family tradition called for a group outing to the neighborhood Christmas tree vendor to purchase the "perfect" tree for her mother's family room. Of course, Scully always attempted to attend the gathering, as long as work, and her health, would allow it. But this year both Bill and Charlie, along with their families, made the time to celebrate the holiday with their mom. Scully laughed as she watched Bill attempt at keeping the tree upright. The elegant, cheery music of "White Christmas," by Bing Crosby, filled the house with warmth and a feeling of contentment and happiness. She realized, over the course of seven years, how much her family meant to her, and how little time she had with them. With her father's death, Melissa's murder, Emily's unjustified departure, and her cancer all accumulated in such a short amount of time, now more than ever did she know just how important each moment is, and that she can not take the time she has for granted. It's ironic, she thought, how this sequence of events caused her to come to such a revelation. The shrill of her cell phone was barely recognizable over all of the noise in the kitchen and family room. Scully put down the kitchen knife, wiped her hands on the dish towel and casually tossed it aside as she excused herself from the kitchen and ran to catch whoever was calling. Now, where did I put my cell phone? She waded through the furniture and people to the coat closet by the front door, and rummaged through her coat pocket to find her cell phone. As soon as she found it, she opened the receiver and struggled to hear who was on the line. "Hello," Scully asked? All she heard was the loud, laughing voices and music in the family room. "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Who is this? No, no, hello? I can't hear you! Hold on a minute, let me move to another room." Scully went into the spare bedroom and closed the door partially, hoping that whoever was calling hadn't hung up. Who knew, what if it was Mulder, gone off on one of his ridiculous chases and needed Scully to come rescue him, once again. "Hello? Can you hear me now?" "Scully! Man, I didn't know you were the wild partying type. It sounds like the shindig is in full swing. Can I come and join you? My goldfish have suddenly lost their entertainment values." Scully instantly recognized the voice; it's smooth tones and the quirky banter that had already begun. "Mulder, you know very well that I am at my mother's right now. And I did invite you, remember? My mother was almost insistent that you come. But I told her you probably had plans of your own. Speaking of which, what are you doing? And what is that noise in the background? Mulder, are you watching another one of the videos that you claim aren't yours?" "No, it's the World's Deadliest Swarms 2. And I've told you repeatedly, I don't own any videos that are of the questionable nature." "Sure Mulder, I bet the ones in your desk drawer just appeared there by mistake. Maybe we should open an x-file on it." Scully could hear Mulder snicker. She smiled. "Look, as much as I enjoy our conversation, I am in the middle of a family gathering and I really should get back before they wonder where I am. Is there something you needed?" "Well, the Gunmen called me up and told me that they had something important, no, earth shattering that they needed us to see. Can you come over?" Scully sighed. Usually, when Mulder called her up on one of the Gunmen's insane ideas, they usually ended up in some weird little town in the middle of nowheresville. Why does he always do this when he knows that I am with my family? "Mulder, I'm really busy right now. Can it wait until later, like in a couple of days? I'd like to take what's left of my vacation and enjoy it. That's the point of vacation! And you can't even call this a vacation; it's a suspension. After the stunt you pulled on Kersh, trying to solve another dead cow epidemic, while on assignment no less! I don't want to get involved in anything right now!" "This isn't a case, Scully. It's just new information that they want us to see. But of course, they wouldn't give it to me over the phone. You know their paranoia; Big Brother is always listening. Please Scully? It will only take a few hours, tops. Just humor me on this one, will you?" Scully sighed. She knew that her mother would understand, she would worry, but she would understand. Charlie would just be happy that she has somewhat developed a resemblance of a life, but Bill, well, that's another story. Bill would want to know what she was doing, who she was doing it with, and when she would be back. And once he found out it was a favor for Mulder, he would lose it, again. But, she knew that if she didn't go with Mulder, he would probably go by himself, and then end up getting into trouble. He has nothing better to do with his "vacation"; he'd jump at the opportunity. It would be better if she went, to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. "All right, Mulder, but just for an hour, two at most. I really want to spend these few days with my family, and I can't risk having Bill blow a gasket if he knew what I was doing. I'll be there in a little while." "Thanks Scully, you won't regret this. I'll see you in a little while. Bring your party animal side, Scully. I kind of like it." He snickered and hung up. Scully smiled, turned off her phone, and got up to leave the room, when she saw her brother standing in the doorway. "Jeez, Bill. You really know how to scare someone. What are you doing?" "I was taking a break from decorating the tree to go to the bathroom, and I heard someone talking in here. You can't be serious, Dana. You are really going to leave us to go chase little green men with that man? Do you know how much pain and suffering he has caused this family? If it hadn't been for him," "Nothing, Bill. If it hadn't been for him nothing. I choose to work with him, I go into that partnership willingly. Mulder doesn't force anything on me. And he hasn't done anything himself to hurt this family. So don't you dare go blame someone else's faults on him. It's easy for you, isn't it, to go and blame him for something that he didn't do. You would believe that the bad things that have happened to this family have been purely Mulder's fault, rather than look at the truth and conclude that they have been happenings caused by random people, not Mulder." "Look, Dana, it's not that I blame him for all the unbelievable things that have happened to us, although I do suspect he was at the heart of each of the issues, but he is always pulling you away from us, always making you go with him on another wild goose chase that never gets solved. Why do you constantly run after him? You need to be here, with your family, spending the time we have with each other. Hasn't everything that's gone wrong for us taught you anything?" "Don't even lecture me on the logistics of family morals, Bill. And don't start with me on the issue of loss. You don't know what it's like to lose a child. You have a baby, to love and to watch grow into a beautiful little boy. I didn't even know I had a little girl, Bill, and then when I did, she was taken away from me. She didn't even know who I was to her. I was her mother, Bill. Her unmerited death has taught me to do anything and everything in my power to keep the people I love close. But it has also shown me the ruthlessness of our government, the extents that they will go to shade us from the truth. And if stopping them from committing more crimes means skipping out on one family obligation, well then yes, Bill, I am going to go with Mulder and see what he has to say. I do know the meaning of a family. So don't give me grief. I don't need it, o.k.?" Scully pushed passed Bill, but turned back. "You know, Bill, if you'd actually give Mulder a chance, you might find you two have something in common; you are both stubborn and never listen to what anyone else has to say." Scully, finally satisfied that she had said all she needed to, she left her brother standing in awe, turned into the hallway and almost ran smack into her mother. "Dana? Is everything all right? I heard voices. Are you o.k.? Who was on the phone?" "Yes, mom, everything is all right, now. That was Mulder on the telephone, and he needs me for a little while. Is that all right?" "Yes, of course Dana. Just come back soon. We'll save you some dinner. Tell Fox hello for me, will you? We sure miss him around here." "Sure, Mom. I'll tell send him your regards. I'll be back before you know it, don't worry." Scully went to the closet, and put on her overcoat. She said goodbye to Charlie, and went out to her car. The wind had picked up some, she noticed. Wishing she had brought her gloves inside, she rubbed her hands to keep the heat in. She looked back at her mother's house, and saw Bill in the front window, looking at her, almost ominously. It was as if he was staring right into her. Then suddenly he turned away and went back to the party. She knew that he meant well, but he just didn't understand the implications that their work could expose. She started her car, waited for the heat to blast from the air ducts, and drove on to Mulder's apartment. Mulder's Apartment December 11th 7:18 pm Scully pulled up on Mulder's street and hesitated to shut off her engine. The heat inside her car was almost too nice to give up. She looked up at his apartment window. She could see him peeking through the curtains, down at her. She smiled up at him, and gave a casual wave. She carefully went into the building, out of the cold, and paused while brushing her hair back into place while waiting for the elevator. A nice elderly woman asked if she would return some mail to "that nice man next door." She smiled, and replied "Of course, I would be more than happy to." The woman must have seen her come and go from Mulder's apartment on more than one occasion, to know that she was visiting him again. She rode the elevator to Mulder's floor, and stopped in the hallway. This hallway brought back so many memories. "You make me a whole person. I owe you everything, Scully, and you owe me nothing." His words echoed in her mind like a broken record. The scene just kept playing over, and over, and over. She finally looked over at Mulder's door and found him just leaning against his doorway, with his arms folded lightly across his chest, grinning. Oh, how she liked that black t-shirt on him. "Hey, Scully. I was beginning to wonder if you were stuck in the elevator. What do you have there?" Scully was confused, but she looked to where he was, and realized he meant the mail. "Oh, this. Your neighbor had received some mail by mistake, and she caught me in the elevator as I was coming in, and asked if I would give it to you. How long have you been standing there?" She was a little hesitant, thinking that he may have seen her just standing there, staring at the spot, the group of tiles where their lives almost changed permanently. They shared something that afternoon, a part of themselves that they rarely exposed. They were vulnerable, and both searching for something that they both eagerly wanted from one another- confirmation of what they've secretly been wanting for a long time. But did he say those things in order to keep her with him, to make her stay? Did he really mean what he said? And how far would he have gone to get her to stay? Would he have kissed her? "Actually, I just opened the door. May I have my mail?" Scully handed his collection of letters and bills to him. "Mulder? What am I doing here? I was in the middle of preparing a nice dinner with my mother, and I get a very cryptic phone call asking me to come here." "Well, right before I called you, the Gunman called and asked me if I could come over to see something that they had uncovered. They were quite insistent that I bring you along with me. I am just as in the dark as you are, Scully. Did I pull you out of something really important?" Scully was quite amazed at how much he could disregard the importance of a dinner at home, with her family. "Well, my mother invited me and my brothers over for a family dinner. It's kind of a rare occurrence that we are all in the same place at one time without the reason being an illness or death in the family." Scully paused, not wanting to broach that subject, or to tread on it lightly even. "Is it really necessary that I go?" "Well, as much as I would like to give you an answer, Scully, I don't have one for you. All I know is that Frohike phoned me asking me to come over, and to bring you with me. If you really need to get back, Scully, you can leave any time. I think they could live without you for one evening. But, the chance to uncover new government conspiracies with your crackpot partner does sound interesting, in a manner of speaking, doesn't it." Scully sighed, and as much as she hated to miss a dinner with her mother and brothers, she could do without the inquisitive glances that she knew her brother would give her for returning so early. "All right, Mulder. Let's go see what the boys have to show us." Mulder nodded his head, grabbed his coat which was draped on the couch, and nodded to Scully. "I get shotgun!" he exclaimed, throwing his car keys at her, with a smirk on his face. The Gunman's Lair December 11th 7:54 p.m. Mulder and Scully approached the heavy metal door, and knocked. She could hear movement inside, things being rummaged through, or haphazardly organized if you could call it that. "Hey, guys, is someone going to let us in?" Mulder asked? "Yeah, sure, keep your britches on!" Frohike shouted through the door. Numerous locks were opened, and, finally, the door was opened. Mulder and Scully couldn't believe what they saw. Frohike was wearing a Santa hat, complete with mistletoe attached to the top. "Or in the vivacious Agent Scully's case, keep your skirt on!" He snorted a laugh. "Nice hat, Frohike. It suits you well. Now you will really fit in with the rest of Santa's elves!" Mulder was amused at his own joke, and Scully just laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "So, Agent Scully, why don't we go out back and test this hat out!" Frohike pointed to the mistletoe glued on to the white fuzzy brim of the hat. "Normally, I would happily oblige," Scully oozed, "but isn't there some rule that you have to be standing under the mistletoe for that to happen? And as it seems to me, I am clearly not under the mistletoe. And, isn't there a time limit on those things? They only work on the opposite sex close to Christmas, which is two weeks away. Sorry, Frohike." Scully seemed pleased with herself, that she had ducked out of that predicament. "Yeah," Mulder chimed in, "You boys must have missed that memo while obsessively searching for new conspiracies and trying to unravel the spiderwebs of lies that the government has spun so nicely for you." Scully was thankful that Mulder had backed her up, thinking in the back of her mind how the mistletoe she had just purchased might some in handy one of these days. "So, why did you call us over here, guys? I am missing a very nice dinner with my family to be here, so, please. Enlighten me." Scully was curious as to what was so important it couldn't wait for a few days. "Let me first apologize by making you miss that dinner, Scully. And tell your brother what an asshole he can be." Scully's mouth opened, but closed it when she realized that they had bugged either something she is wearing, or her mother's house. She was about to say something, to protest the invasion of her mother's privacy, but Mulder stepped in. "Really guys, Scully needs to get back. Even though we are on suspension, Scully has important things to do, and I want to get back to my video I was watching." "Oh, yeah, by the way, Mulder, Frohike was bellyaching about how long you have kept that one, and he wants it back." Langly said. Scully just looked at Mulder with a raise of an eyebrow. Worlds Deadliest Swarms 2, huh? Her eyes said everything, as Mulder acquiesced with a shrug of his shoulders. "Have you read our latest issue?" Byers asked, handing them both a copy of their paper. "Y2K- The Hoax of the Millennium? Really, guys, it's all been written before. What is so earthshattering about it?" Scully, bewildered at the elementary subject that she had been called out on. "Well," Byers explained, "It turns out that Y2K is much more deadly than we think. Everyone has been lead to believe that this whole thing was unavoidable, that it is going to affect every major computer related system worldwide." "We know all that, Byers. What you are saying, everyone already knows. Y2K is a problem that has been known about by every major company. It has been discussed and have been dealt with to the extreme. Many companies are taking it with a grain of salt, but are also taking preventative measure making sure that it doesn't affect their company, or system whatsoever. Some even believe that it was all another hoax created by Bill Gates. The world would go into mass panic, and then he would swoop in for the kill, claiming he held the cure to solve the huge problem. But there isn't a problem, and nothing will happen. This problem has been known about for a long time now, boys, and it has been meet head on. There is not going to be any problems, other than the panic caused by the masses." "That's true, Agent Scully, Y2K wasn't created by Bill Gates, although many still believe that he had some role in the orchestration this beautiful, yet imminent, mass chaotic plan. But hey it was a good money making scheme, just not good enough." "Get to the point, guys." Mulder was getting tired of hearing about something that has been so drawn out. He eyed Scully, trying to see what she was thinking. She looked intrigued, but also annoyed. Why wouldn't she be, he thought? "Well, our sources have confirmed something that we've been suspecting for a while. Y2K has never truly been about computer systems. Although it originally was, the problem was fixed before it even got publicized." Byers explained. "The problem was initially about the computer malfunctions that would occur, but after the problem was fixed, they kept the facade going to cover-up the truth. They kept reiterating the lies to keep the facade going," Langly continued. "And what was that," Scully questioned. "Do you remember what you learned in Dallas? That once the aliens had infected the masses with the virus, the nation would turn governing control over to FEMA?" "Yes, but what does that have to do with a virus?" Mulder asked. He didn't see where this was going. "Well, they want to test FEMA's governing capabilities. The shadow government wants to turn over national control. They will still use the Y2K scheme as a cover-up, but there is an ulterior plan going down." "That can't happen! There is no plausible way that that scenario would ever take place! Frohike, that is impossible! Our government would not just hand over control of it's own powers to FEMA, just to take it for a test run. That is crazy!" Scully stood in disbelief. She wasn't about to believe that the government that she stood for could actually willingly participate in such a plot. But Mulder wasn't so sure. "Actually, Scully, there might be a way for that plan to work. What if the our government had something to hide, and the Syndicate knew about it? They could use that information against them, and make them participate in the scheme." "You might be right, Mulder. We haven't quite figured out why they are going along with it. But the Syndicate does have quite a pull in all the areas of the government- CIA, DOD, you name it they are involved. They can play with the government as much as they please. It's as if the government is a puppet, and the Syndicate is playing with it's strings." The guys started mumbling amongst themselves, when Scully interrupted. "I can't believe you all are buying this! There is no way that our government would give in so easily! What possible reason would they have to concede powers without any effort put into stopping them?" "There is a very good reason, Scully. Although Mulder's theory of blackmail is a good one, an even plausible one at that, it's still not correct. The real reason is that they are in control of another version of the virus. A mutated strain has emerged, and the Syndicate has it. They are going to release it to the population." "Even if what you are saying is true, how do you suspect that they would do that?" Scully questioned. She wasn't about to believe that another strain of the virus existed. What could that mean? "They are going to use New Year's as a cover-up. Do you know how much alcohol is consumed on New Year's? And this year is the Millennium, no less! It is going to be the party of the century, and they are going to use alcohol as a means of spreading the disease. A major winery has been bought out, and they have already begun mass production. No one suspects a thing, Mulder. That is why we called you." "You need me, you need us, to do what, exactly?" Mulder asked. Scully was wondering exactly the same thing. "Find out where the winery is, and stop it, before New Years."