From: neoxphile@aol.com Date: 21 Dec 2003 21:00:25 -0800 Subject: [atxc-pi] NEW: Mulder's Creek: 02 The Missing (0/1) Source: atxc Title: Mulder's Creek: 02 The Missing Author: Neoxphile Author Email: neoxphile@aol.com Status: NEW - Series Size: 32k Rating: PG-13 Archive at Gossamer: Yes to Gossamer/Ephemeral Category: Crossover Keywords: Alternate universe Crossover Info: Dawson's Creek Spoilers: X-Files seasons 1-8 Dawson's Creek seasons 1-4 Summary: Reyes signs everyone up to work with little kids after school as an extra curricular activity. By the end of the day eight of the kids are missing. Part 1 Please see part 0 (template) for warnings and summary. Mulder's Creek: 02 The Missing Series: Mulder's Creek Genre: Virtual series Crossover X-files/Dawson's Creek Rating: pg-13 Archive: www.geocities.com/mulderscreek (all completed stories) Please get written (e-mailed) permission before archiving them elsewhere. disclaimer: I'm borrowing these characters from 1310 and Warner Brothers, I do not own them Summary: Reyes signs everyone up to work with little kids after school as an extra curricular activity. By the end of the day eight of the kids are missing. Feedback: feedback me, and I'll love you forever Neoxphile@aol.com ** Mulder's Creek: The Missing Opening Scene- Mulder's room Mulder and Scully are in the middle of a somewhat heated debate. w " Alright, I'll grant you that The Patriot was a good movie even if it wasn't directed by Spielberg , but Health Ledger?" " Yup." Scully says. " But he's so...so blond and Australian." " I know! I love his accent." She gushes. " But accents don't make people attractive." Mulder objects. Scully gives him a patronizing look. " You know so little." " Hey!" he protests. " I'm entitled to my opinion, Mulder. You picked Natalie Portman as most attractive person, I picked him. End of debate." She says with an air of finality. " I know, but Heath Ledger..." he mumbles, ducking when she throws a pillow at him. A pillow fight, amidst laughter ensues. *** Theme song " Stranded" by Plumb *** 2pm at the High school- Reyes has told everyone to meet her at the front stairs after school because she has a surprise for them. Everyone is gathered around waiting for her. She runs up out of breath. " This is going to be so much fun." She assures them. " What's going to be so much fun, sweetie?" Doggett asks, looking at her warily. " Um, yeah." Fowley says. " You didn't exactly tell us what it is where doing." Scully, Mulder and Skinner decide to say nothing, hoping that an absence of comments will induce Reyes to spit it out. " Well," Reyes starts, smiling. " You know that we need to do stuff in order to get into college-" " Like homework?" Doggett asks. " That too. I mean extra-curricular stuff." " You didn't." Fowley says. " So I signed us all up to do an activity together." Reyes says. Mulder and Scully exchange uh-oh looks. " So Sis, what are we doing?" Skinner asks, trying to be as light-hearted as possible, though he's not happy about this either. " We're going to be mentors to a group of third graders once a week." She says. Doggett breathes a sigh of relief, he was afraid she was going to say Math Team. " Little kiddies I can handle. When do we meet the rug rats?" He smiles at everyone, but the look in his eyes tells them they dare not make a fuss. So no one does. " Thursday. " Reyes says, looking pleased with herself. " Great." They chorus, then split up for home. Mulder runs after Fowley. "Do you mind if I walk with you?" He asks. " No, come if you want." She tells him. " Good, because there's something I wanted to talk to you about." He says, and earns an apprehensive look from her. *** " What did you want to talk about?" she asks, trying to keep the dread out of her voice. She's sure that she knows what's on his mind, and equally sure she doesn't want to talk about it." "Here, let me take your book bag," he says, stalling for time. "Your crutches are enough to deal with." Sensing that that this is the wrong time for the discussion he wanted, he scrambles for another topic. "Thanks," Fowley says as she hands over the bag and gives him an uncertain look. " You were saying?" " Oh, Doggett and I were talking about rounding up people to go to a holiday concert next month. I'm pretty sure that Guster and 6Gig are going to be there, and a couple of national acts too. We saw Fuel and Disturbed last year. I was wondering if you're at all interested, since I want an idea of how many tickets to buy." Mulder says, hoping that it's a good enough cover story. "Yeah, sure. Count me in." She says, confused. " Ok, then. Oh here's your house, do you need help up the stairs?" " Uh, no thanks." " Well bye then." He says, rushing off, leaving her to maneuver the stairs by herself. Fowley watches him go, wondering why. *** 4:30pm, at the Ice House Scully shuts the door to the storage room so she can mope in private. Watching Mulder run after Fowley hurt worse than she could bear to admit. No matter how hard she tried to, she couldn't figure out why Mulder wanted Fowley...and not her. It wasn't until there was a knock at the door that she realizes she'd been crying. "Just a second." She says, quickly rubbing away her tears. She takes a deep breath and tries to put on a calm face before opening the door. " Sorry, I was putting something up on a shelf behind the door. " Okay." Skinner says. " I think you missed a spot." He reaches and brushes a tear she missed off her cheek. "Damn. I thought I'd gotten them all." " Your eyes and cheeks are all red, so I would have noticed anyway. You want to talk about it?" She shrugs, sits on a crate, and looks at her hands. "What's wrong with me?" She whispers. "Hey," Skinner says, squeezing her shoulder. " It's not you that there's something wrong with. Mulder's the one who's wrong." "You don't understand. You and Reyes just moved here, you don't know what it's been like growing up with him. It's like I've always been his friend, and I was just waiting for him to get past the `girls are icky' stage to really notice me. Then he finally does get to that point, and notices her instead." " Maybe you don't know it, but he notices you too. You should have seen the look he gave you when you first got to the Halloween party. `Girls are icky' is not what was written all over his face. " " Then why?" She demands, throwing her hands in the air. " I think you scare him." Skinner says. " Me? I'm hardly an imposing figure." " It's not anything you've done, just who you are." " That's so much better." She says unhappily. " No, you don't understand. What I mean is that a lot of guys get scared if they realize too young that they're found someone perfect for them. So they run the other way to avoid the inevitable. " " So when do they stop running?" She asks. " Depends on the guy." Skinner says. " If you weren't gay I'd kiss you." Scully says, giving him a hug. "Thanks, I sort of feel better, at least about myself." "No problem." *** After dinner at the Lindley house- Grams is making a pie, and Fowley is rolling out the crust for another. Or at least she's trying to. " Fowley, I don't think your mind is on this." Grams says, as she pours apples into a pie shell. Fowley shrugs. " I guess not." " So, are you going to tell me what's the matter?" Grams asks gently. " It's Mulder." " That boy next door?" " Yeah, him." Fowley says. " I thought he was going to tell me that he likes me today, but he didn't." " Well, maybe he was scared to." " That's ok, I'm just worried about when he does tell me." " Do you like him?" Grams asks. Fowley shakes her head. " He's a nice guy, but..." " Not the type you want as a boyfriend." Grams finishes. " I just don't know what I'm going to tell him." Fowley says, getting up to pace. " Your heart will tell you what is right, when the time comes." " Grams, I hope you're right." " You'll see, Fowley. I may be older, but I still know a thing or two about love and friendship." *** 7pm at the video store- Doggett is putting out the new releases, while Mulder trails after him. "Out with it, Man. I can't take this `me and my shadow' stuff much longer. You're not here to rent a movie, or work" Doggett adds pointedly. " So why are you here?" " I really screwed up today with Fowley." Mulder admits. " How so?" " I asked her to go to the Holiday Bizarre with us." " My god, how could you? No one ever wants to be invited to a concert. You'll never recover from this social stupid gaffe. " " No, it was a mistake because I meant to tell her about how I felt, not invite her to a concert with a bunch of other people." "Well, that makes more sense." Doggett says as he catches the video that is falling off the top of the stack he's carrying. "Why'd you make the substitution, though?" " She was acting sort of strange towards me, so I sensed my timing was off. Maybe I should have told her anyway, though, if only to have it over with." " Well, tell her the next chance you get." " But how? I'm almost glad she was acting weird because I didn't know exactly what I was going to say. I've tried rehearsing it a hundred times in my head, but it never sounds right." " Why are you asking me?" Doggett asks. " Because you're better with girls than I am." Mulder says earnestly. " Yes, Doggett Witter is the reining king of finding new ways to be rejected by girls." Doggett sardonically replies. " Not all of them. Reyes fell for your not so subtle charms. Advise me." Mulder pleads. " Alright Mulder, this is what you do. Walk her home from our afternoon with the little people, and when you walk by the docks, find an excuse to stop. Then look her in the eyes and say ` From the moment I met you, I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. I don't know if you feel the same or not, but it doesn't really matter, because one day you will. I love you Scully." " Fowley." Mulder corrected. " What?" " You said Scully when you meant Fowley." Doggett shrugs and gives Mulder an irritated look. " The brunette, the redhead, whichever." " Thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind." Mulder says, then smiles and leaves the store. *** Thursday morning, at the High School- Reyes and Doggett talk about what they're doing that afternoon. Reyes gives Doggett an anxious look. " Are you sure they're not mad at me?" " For the thousandth time, yes. No one of them has said anything negative about spending time with the kiddies once a week." " What if they decided not to tell you either, knowing that I'd ask you, and that you wouldn't lie to me, and- " " They're fine with it. We'll all have fun. And even if we don't, it's only an hour a week." Doggett says. " I guess. I just don't like having people mad at me." " No one is mad!" " I guess you're right." " I always am." " Liar." Reyes says, laughing. Doggett gives a pretend sigh, and laughs too. *** 2:45 pm At the elementary school- A group of eight year olds chase each other around the library, screaming. The exasperated librarian gives up trying to shush them and puts her head on her desk. Doggett, Reyes, Mulder, Scully, Skinner, and Fowley stare at the program director in dismay. Other teens complain bitterly that this isn't what they signed up for. "They're not always like this." She apologizes. " Most of them still have the Halloween candy they got last week. So they're a little wired." " An understatement." Skinner says. A few minutes later the gang finds themselves assigned to their own small person. Doggett's is a smart ass, which Mulder whispers is fitting, since he's just like Doggett was as a little boy. The little boys Mulder and Skinner work with seem thrilled to have the older boys' attention, and the little girls assigned to Scully, Reyes and Fowley seem very sweet. The hour is over before they know it. They tell the kids they will see them next week, and think it's cute when they are begged not to leave. Scully leaves before Mulder gets a chance to say good-bye, which he feels slightly hurt about. He offers to walk her home, and is relieved when she says she'd like that. He stops by the docks as Doggett suggests. " Mulder, why are you stopping?" Fowley asks, leaning on her crutches. " I think you need something besides Spender's death to associate with this spot." he says shyly. " A good thing or another bad one?" she asks before she can stop herself. " I guess that depends on how you see it. I want you to know that....I like you. A lot." He blurts out. Fowley looks at the ground. " Mulder..." she struggles. Mulder feels a pain rip through him, but he knows that deep down it's what he expected all along. " I know, you don't feel the same. But I needed you to know." He says with as strong a voice as he can manage. " You don't hate me?" She asks, looking hopeful. " Of course not. I'm rational enough to know that people don't always feel the way we want them to...but someday you might." He says, his eyes bright with emotion. " I-" " Don't say anything. I'm not pressuring you, but in exchange don't leave me entirely bereft of hope." Mulder says, not looking at her. The rest of the walk home is silent. *** 6pm at the Leary home- Mulder spends most of the remainder of the afternoon outside, so he can be alone with his thoughts. His stomach eventually reminds him that he's expected to eat dinner with his parents, so he heads in the house. His mother is speaking on the phone and says "Oh here he is" to whomever is on the line before handing him the phone. Mulder takes it warily, and quickly decides to hang up if it's Fowley; he can't take any more discussion of that mess with her. He's surprised when he hears a familiar voice say, " Mulder? This is Kersh Witter. Your Mom says you're about to eat dinner, but I need you to come down to the station as soon as you can." " Am I in some sort of trouble?" Mulder asks, confused as to why he could eat dinner first if he was, even his best friend's brother would find it hard to justify bending the rules for a serious offense. " No. I'll explain when you get here." Kersh says, and hangs up. Mulder doesn't sit down to eat immediately, because within five minutes he gets two more calls- from Scully, Skinner and Reyes- saying that they too have received the mysterious summons to the police station. Skinner's dad agrees to let him drive the rest of them there, so Mulder anxiously waits out front for him as soon as he puts his plate in the dishwasher. The four of them are able to establish in the car that Kersh had said no more or less about what he wanted to any of them. Mulder frets the entire time that Fowley might have received a call too, and tries to brace himself for her possible appearance there. 15 minutes later they find themselves being escorted into a conference room where a few of their classmates were already seated. Mulder is happy that none of them is Fowley. A couple of minutes later Kersh walks into the room looking gravely concerned. He clears his throat and says " I'm sorry to have to have called you here tonight, but we have a serious situation going on, and any help you could offer to solve this would be much appreciated." The teens look at each other in confusion- Kersh's preamble has done little to clear up why they're sitting in a police station instead of doing their homework or watching tv. Kersh apparently decides that he should cut to the chase, because he tells them why they are there. " I don't like having to tell you this, but the reason I've asked you to come down here is that some time after you left the elementary school this afternoon, the students you worked with today were reported missing by their parents. I want to assure you that we aren't suspecting any of you, and that the children were all accounted for well after you left the premise. We're hoping that someone might have remembered seeing a suspicious person hanging around the school, or having heard the children planning to do something after school without their parents' knowledge." All eight faces look at him in shock and alarm. Capeside wasn't the type of town you heard of one child disappearing in, never mind eight. Scully squeezed Reyes hand, because she thought Reyes looked like she was about to cry. Reyes tried to put on a braver face before asking Kersh, "Do you think...that they're dead?" she let out a shuddering sigh after, it was the worst question anyone in the room could ask, and they had to face the answer. Kersh shook his head. " At this point we have no reason to suspect that they won't be found unharmed. It's important, however, given how young the children are, to find them as quickly as possible." He asks each of them if they can remember anything useful, but none of them gives him anything but helpless shrugs. He hands out his card and asks that they call him if they do remember something; they all fervently agree to do so. When they're in the car Reyes voices her distress over the situation to Skinner, but in the back seat with Mulder, Scully hardly pays attention to what she's saying. Scully is surprised by how down Mulder seems, and wonders if there's more to his taciturn mood than just the disappearance of the children they barely know. She almost asks him if he wants to talk, but decides not to. Bessie is waiting for her at the door when Skinner drops her off, and Mulder doesn't even seem to notice that he's alone in the back seat as the car pulls away. Scully is just surprised he didn't say goodnight. *** 7am Saturday morning, Scully's bedroom- Though Scully is an early riser by nature, the number on the clock is still too small for her tastes for a weekend morning. Tired of restlessly tossing from side to side she throws herself onto her back in frustration and tries to sleep once again. Every time she's on the verge of falling asleep the conversation she overheard the night before comes rushing back to her. She'd been busing tables and waiting for the last handful of customers to leave so she and Bessie could close up for the evening. Kersh, Doggett and Reyes were among the nighthawks, and she found herself drifting near their table more than necessary. At one point Reyes plaintively asks Kersh why were the eight kids who were taken singled out. Kersh looked at her, surprised, and told her that the kids were the only ones who were waiting for parents instead of taking the bus. There was something about their exchange that bothered her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Even though at that point she was staring at the stars on her ceiling, the phone ringing next to her startled her nearly as much as it would have had she been sleeping. She clumsily fumbled for the phone, hoping that its ringing wouldn't wake her sister or nephew. " Hello?" she asks, hating how rusty and unused her voice sounded. " Hey Scully, it's me, Mulder. I hope you aren't going to kill me for waking you." " No, it's ok, I was awake." Scully says, hoping her tone doesn't betray how shocked she is to hear from him. He didn't speak to anyone at all at school the day before, and disappeared at lunch-time. " Ok, good. Normally I wouldn't call so early, but I really need someone to talk to." Mulder says. Scully sits up straighter, and anxiously bunches the blanket that she has clutched around her. " Is it to early for a row in the creek?" " I'll be over your house in a little while." She says. " Good, I'll be waiting. See you soon." He says, hanging up. Scully stares at the phone as she puts it on its cradle. She's not sure she'll be able to contribute to a deep conversation at this time of the morning. She throws on some clothes, then tip-toes out of the room to find her coat and boots. *** Twenty minutes later, on the slip for Mulder's rowboat- Mulder is equally bundled up, sits in the boat; his hands are full with a bag of donuts and two pints of orange juice. Scully eyes these things quizzically as she sits in the boat. " You didn't have time to go to the store after talking to me." " You're right. I bought them a few minutes before I called. I was banking on you agreeing to show up." He says, handing over one of the bottles and opening the bag of donuts for her. She carefully chooses a chocolate honey glazed and settles on the bench. " You're just lucky I was having trouble sleeping. " " I've been having trouble sleeping too, that's sort of why I wanted to talk to you." He says, pulling a cruller out of the bag, and, with a boy-like quickness consumed it. " Oh?" " Yeah. Ever since this thing with the kids happened I haven't slept much." He weighed the empty bag down with his thigh and took up the oars. The boat slide through the water gracefully. " I can understand why. I doubt many people have been getting a good night's sleep, since this is a pretty terrible thing to have happened." " I doubt the reason for my sleeplessness is like anyone else's." Mulder says, then looks away for so long Scully is afraid he's not going to continue. Finally he looks back. " I keep thinking `what if the kids were taken by the same people who took Sam?' Over and over again, on an endless loop." " I thought...that you believed that she was taken by aliens." Scully says hesitantly. " Oh hell, I was four. It's hard to know what I really remember, and what images I borrowed from the countless movies and shows I've seen since then. What if she just died and my parents were afraid to tell me? What if her disappearance was Capeside's answer to the Lindberg kidnapping? Maybe they didn't know I slept in the same room as the baby, or worse yet, maybe they didn't care, because really, what could a small boy do to stop them? Maybe I believe the alien stuff because it hurts less than thinking about being helpless against mere men." Scully wants to give him a hug, but doing it without upsetting the boat isn't a possibility. "For what it's worth, Mulder, I think you'll find out eventually what happened. " " I know I will, if it's the last thing I do." Mulder says, then crumples the empty donut bag in his fist. " I keep thinking, though, if only I could go back and sleep through Thursday. Then I would have missed this business with the kids, and not be dredging up the past right now. And I wouldn't have talked to Fowley, either." Scully casts him a guarded look. " I was right, you know, about what I told you I sensed last week. She thinks I'm a great friend." Mulder says ruefully. " I'm sorry." Scully says, with more sincerity than she thought she could feel. She thought that she'd be happy if Fowley rejected him, but she found that she was able to push past those feelings and sense the loss he felt. " Not as sorry as I am." He said, rowing the boat back towards its slip. " Thanks for allowing yourself to be dragged out here this early. It's nice to know that I always have someone willing to listen." " Doggett listens too" Scully blurts out. " Yeah, but not as well as you do." " Well, any time you need me..." " Thanks." Says Mulder, looking happy for the first time in days. " You know, Scully, you can tell me anything, too." Scully smiles, but silently disagrees. *** Noon, the video store- Mulder is checking in videos when Krycek walks in the door. Though he suspects that Krycek's visit will be anything but pleasant, Mulder tries hard to maintain the level of professionalism his boss expects. " Hi, is there anything I can do for you?" Mulder asks by rote. " Yeah, I'm looking for that Tom Cruise movie, The Firm." " Oh, that's a good one." Mulder says, despite his dislike of Krycek. A film discussion always got him going. " I know. I like the scene that Tom beats up the quaker oats looking guy in." Mulder rolls his eyes, he should have figured. "Anything else?" " Nope, I figure you've got too much on your mind to make a decent recommendation of anything else for me." " What makes you say that?" Mulder asks, giving him a look. " Word has it that a certain Miss Lindley rejected your offer to move beyond friendship. Tough break, Mulder. " " Why is it that you, of all people, seem to know so much about my personal life?" Mulder asks, half-frustrated, half-curious. " Oh, I have my sources." Krycek says evasively. " If I didn't know for a fact that Fowley's into older men, I'd be tempted to take a shot at her myself. You sure picked a hot girl to set your heart on, and God knows she and I would make a cute couple. Alas it's not in the cards for either of us. See you around." Krycek says, picking up his video and sauntering out the door, leaving an annoyed Mulder behind. *** 5pm, the movie theater- The lights come up as the final credits roll. Fowley and Reyes gather up their things, and get ready to leave the theater. They have just finished watching "Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone" which was ok, but not a movie they would have chosen to spend their Saturday afternoon watching. Unfortunately a viewing was required for their Popular Culture class, which would have been an easy A had anyone but Mr. CSM been teaching it; he required more work than they thought possible. " Well, that's over with." Reyes said. " Yup. I swear, our town hires the weirdest people possible to work in the schools." Fowley complained. " What do you mean?" " First you have Mr. CSM who forces us to watch children's movies in order to get a passing grade, and then there's that librarian-" " The one from the elementary school?" " Yeah, her. Grams knows her, and I know for a fact she lives alone, well alone except for the cats. But today I saw that she had two carts full of groceries when I got to the store with Grams. She had a bag boy pushing one, and I can't figure out how one person pushes two carriages. Do you think they let you fill one up and leave it up front? I thought they'd put the stuff ba-" " Why was she buying so much stuff?" Reyes, an idea formulating in her head. " I don't know. I figured that she was one of those people who shop like once a month. Since bread and milk don't last that long, what's the point? You still need to go to the store once a week anyway." Reyes bolts from her seat. " I need to call Kersh. I'll be back in a few." She says, dashing off, knocking Fowley's crutches across the theater. Fowley looks longingly at her crutches. She wishes they were close enough to grab so she could smack Reyes with one, or at least get up. Since with the cast on she can't maneuver the narrow isle without them, she settles into her seat and sighs loudly. *** Nearly ten minutes later Fowley hobbles out into the lobby to hear Reyes say " Fine, I will come down there then!" and slam down the receiver of a pay-phone. " What's that all about?" Fowley asks. " Oh, I'm just suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to kill my boyfriend's brother." " Funny how spontaneous homicidal urges are going around today." Fowley growls at a startled Reyes. " Did you even notice when you took off that you knocked my crutches away, and thereby left me trapped in my seat? If an usher hadn't come in, I'd still be sitting there." " Sorry! It's just that I needed to talk to Kersh right away, you said something that made me think about the kidnapping case. Kersh is being a jerk and won't talk to me unless I go down there... are you game?" she asks hopefully. " Oh, all right. My Saturday is already shot anyway." *** The police station- the girls sit across from Kersh, who isn't considerate enough to keep the incredulity off his face. " I'm telling you Kersh, you need to check the woman out. I think she's got some sort of Blair witch obsession and if you don't do something soon there's going to be a lot of kids buried in our town graveyard too." Reyes says. " That she was frustrated by the kids running around, which I might add you claim everyone was, and she bought a lot of groceries does not make her the prime suspect in the kidnapping of eight children, much less a potential murderer." Kersh explains. " So who is your prime suspect?" Fowley challenges. " For someone who claims to want information leading to a suspect, any suspect, you sure are pretty quick to shoot down what I'm willing to bet money is the only lead anyone has brought you." Kersh sighs and looks at his hands. "If I send someone over there for a quick look, will that get you girls out of my office?" " If you want us to leave, you'll go there personally to check it out. And take us with you." Reyes said. " You know damn well I can't be taking you into a possible crime scene!" Kersh practically shouts. " I didn't mean we should go into the house. Staying in the cruiser is more what I had in mind." " If you weren't dating my brother..." Kersh takes a deep, calming breath. "Get your coats on, and you better stay in the car. If I get in trouble you'll have hell to pay, too." Reyes and Fowley exchange satisfied looks. *** An hour later at the librarian's house- Reyes and Fowley make good on their promise and stay in the cruiser, where they have a clear view of what's going on. Since their arrival four other cruisers have pulled up and parked near-by. Kersh and another officer lead the librarian out in handcuffs, and several other officers follow at a safe distance, leading or carrying the eight scared children. None of them have been physically hurt, though they are all very shaken. They're loaded into cruisers to be brought to the hospital to be examined before they can be released to their parents. Kersh remands his prisoner to the other officer before getting into the cruiser with Fowley and Reyes. " I want to apologize for not taking you ladies seriously earlier this afternoon. Thanks to you eight kids are going to be sleeping in their own beds tonight." " See? My being Doggett's girlfriend is good for your career." Reyes says with a smile. " Why did she do it?" " She had some sort of breakdown, I guess, and just snapped. She says she's hated her job for years and finally just couldn't take kids running around the library any more. I don't think she was planning to hurt them, and she didn't seem to have any idea of what she was going to do with them. Just had them locked up in her basement. God only knows how long she would have held them if you hadn't pointed out her odd behavior, though." " All's well that ends well." Fowley says. " Home Jeves." She demands of Kersh who laughs much to their surprise. *** Sunday afternoon- Doggett and Mulder are lying in front of the Leary's TV in the living room, playing Tony Hawks 2. " We really need to get the new game when it comes out. It has a killer soundtrack." " Yeah, and I guess I could use the mindless distraction." Mulder says. " Why's that?" " I took your advice on Thursday and told Fowley how I feel." " And from your grimness I'm lead to believe the mission was not sucessful." " Crash and burn, Doggett, crash and burn." " Ouch." Doggett says, wincing. " I recall telling you that I wasn't the best source of advice, though." " I know, I think anyone's advice would have failed. I'm doomed to be `a really good friend' forever." " Not forever. I know this is trite, but there are other fish in the sea. You just have to let yourself notice them." Doggett says and goes back to playing the game. The final scene pulls away as the two skaters on the tv screen collide in mid-air. ** Credits Produced by CC, KW and Neoxphile < Voice Over> This episode of Mulder's Creek featured music from: Alicia Keyes ("Fallin') Sebadoh ("Ocean") And Seven Channels ("Breathe") Stay tuned for scenes from the next Mulder's Creek ### The End ###