Date sent: Fri, 2 Jan 1998 22:33:12 +1100 (DST) From: Ten Subject: REPOST of repost!: "On a Clear Night" (1/1) Hi all - This is a corrected repost of my story - I'm afraid I rushed it a bit to get it ready by Christmas and it wasn't until later that I found some mistakes in it... So apologies for the double-ups, and would everyone, including archivers, please replace the original with this copy. Thank you. I would love feedback on my work! Merry Christmas to everyone! TITLE: "On a Clear Night" (1/1) BY: Ten E-MAIL ADDRESS: kristena@ocean.com.au CATEGORY: V, deep friendship (their individual thoughts make their love for each other clear!) RATING: PG SUMMARY: As Christmas 1996 approaches, Mulder and Scully exchange unusual but important presents. TIMESPAN/SPOILER WARNING: Set at Christmas 1996, during the fourth season. *Cancer storyline*. Minor references to "Beyond the Sea". THANKS TO: My aunt, Dianne. When I moved in with her at the start of the year, she didn't watch the X-Files and wasn't keen on all the DD posters I put up, but she did show interest in everything I did - including coming to willingly watch some of the episodes and asking to read my fanfiction. Her encouragement meant so much to me. She is the one who came across the present which Scully gives Mulder. She even bought one for me as a gift! (And the DD posters did grow on her!) And thanks also to Gret & her husband for much appreciated astronomy information. And to Debbie for the editing. DISCLAIMER: The X-Files and the characters of Mulder and Scully belong to Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Broadcasting, and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended, no profit will be gained. The X-Files: "On a Clear Night" (1/1) by Ten, December 1997, reposted Jan 1998 The brown-haired toddler stared in fascination at the huge Christmas tree. Tonight the D.C. Mall was full of shoppers rushing by with parcels and lists, but none of them distracted the girl from the wonder of the blinking coloured lights and gilded ornaments. Her mother patiently held her, blissfully observing the effect on the munchkin as the lights touched her own copper hair. Scully observed them both, the lump in her throat threatening to dislodge her own smile. What a beautiful scene, periodically cut off as it was by passing people. But why did the woman's hair have to be red? It was so cruel. So easy to transpose her own face and cuddle the toddler as her own fox cub... She blinked, inhaled sharply, and focused on the tree. It was a week before Christmas. Her tree had been up and the apartment decorated since the first of December. And she would leave the tree up well into January. To make up for her childhood. To make up for the future. Until the pine grew brown and dry and the needles fell off one by one. She could see herself in that process. The drops of blood that occasionally fell from her nose. The weight which disappeared from her body. Would this be the last Christmas she ever celebrated? /I should have bought a live pine tree. A little one in a bucket. So what if I couldn't put as many decorations on it? I'd tend to it until we had to go away on out-of-town cases... Then I'd give it to Mom to look after or plant in her garden./ Scully made herself move along and get back into the rush. Hopefully that would stop her thoughts. She had time to go pick up her present for Mulder before she met him - at last it had come in from overseas, taking longer than the shopkeeper thought. Dana was relieved, because with only seven days left it was cutting things close for her to decide what to have it made into. She felt a tingle of excitement. She knew the moment she stumbled across it in a book that she had to get it for him. She couldn't wait to see his reaction. She left the store, very happy with her purchase. She wanted to go to one of the recommended jewellers to get their opinion on the alterations, however a glance at her watch told her she had to hurry to join her partner. She wondered if Mulder was plagued with worry about her and the holiday season too. When she said she was going to spend Christmas Day with her mother he'd looked stricken, then the expression was gone like vapour. "Of course, yeah...you should - would be," he replied softly. She had wanted to invite him to join them, but was worried how her brother would react to meeting him. Bill Jr harboured a lot of resentment towards Mulder about Melissa's death, and no amount of reasoning from Maggie or Dana could change his mind. She did not want Mulder exposed to any chance of hurt. The waters they were steering through at the moment were quite enough. Scully put her shopping in the trunk of her car, except for his present, which fortunately fitted snugly in her trenchcoat pocket. After how much it cost, she didn't want to take any chances. She didn't know just what this meeting was about - why Mulder rang up acting so vague and insistent a few hours ago. Mulder was sitting in his car when she pulled up in the residential street. Apartments towered on both sides. They got out onto the kerb, breath frosting. "Thanks for coming," he said, approaching her, doing up his trenchcoat with one hand and holding a flat, rectangular package under his other arm. He smiled apologetically. Fox knew he'd disrupted her plans, but this was very important. With every day that passed he needed to see her more. The long hours at work were not enough. He knew she would go to her mother's for Christmas - he'd steeled himself for it, but when the words came, it still upset him. He had wanted to cry out to her not to leave him, even if only for a few days. That this would *not* be the last Christmas. Tonight though, for the first time in a while, excitement was tingling through his veins instead of fear. "Sorry for the short notice." "Just doing some shopping." Scully studied him. He didn't look "Special Agent Mulder tense", more "little boy tense". Their eyes connected and sparked a whole different kind of tension, just like flint striking together. As the stakes of her illness got higher, so did the intensity of their looks since they were too scared to use words. Mulder's voice, in contrast, was light. "Tree up?" He hadn't been in her apartment for the last few weeks, but knew the answer. "Yep. Yours?" "Nope. Not yet." She nodded, also expecting that answer. Again they gazed at each other, on the edge of words which would equal their feelings. Mulder looked up at the sky. "Nice night," he commented. There were no clouds, and what stars the smog allowed them to see were beautiful. "Yes, but wrap up tomorrow. Snow's coming." /Okay, with the way he's acting, it can't be a case.../ Scully eyed the brown wrapping paper. "Is that the Christmas issue of one of your subscriptions?" "'Bumper Babes of Toyland'? Not quite. Come on." He began leading her down the kerb. "Why are we here, Mulder? A case? Research? A meeting?" If this was with that info-babe, well - there was nothing said about peace and goodwill to all *women*... "An...introduction." She raised an eyebrow. "Do tell." "Not yet, Scully. You'll find out soon enough. You don't even have to wait until Christmas," he encouraged, now walking up to the entrance of one of the apartment buildings, pulling out a key card. Dana's brow kinked. High security for a place which wasn't a business - this was residential, so the occupants must be well off. The card and a code got them into the foyer and the elevator. Mulder was quite comfortable here. Obviously familiar with the place - a resident coming into the elevator as they exited on the top floor smiled and said hello with recognition. Mulder could feel Scully's growing suspicion. He wanted to laugh. Even more so when he stopped at an apartment door and instead of knocking, produced the keys to it... He drawled suggestively, "Why Agent Scully, why are you looking at me like that after all the trouble I went to in getting us a studio apartment for the night?" He waggled his eyebrows. Her own eyebrows scraped the ceiling. He opened the door and gestured that she precede him. It was indeed a studio apartment. Lovely furnishings, soft light spilling from lamps. A table was set with a bright red tablecloth and a vase of flowers, but only two chairs. Dana didn't take in the details because her attention was taken by the showpiece of the place - a beautiful feature window with a telescope set up at it. The telescope ruined the effect of the window for her while adding a strange touch of excitement. She took another look around. The place was obviously lived in, but empty of occupants at the moment. Mulder grinned as her gaze went to the queen-sized double bed. She found herself swallowing nervously. He'd said this was an introduction. To who...or *what*? "Come on, Scully." "What? Where?" She didn't know if her voice was shaking with anticipation or not. "Here." He steered her to the table with his free arm. She was so confused he took pity on her. "Relax. This is where Byers and his wife live. They kindly let us borrow it for the evening - well, I only said I'd need it for a couple of hours, but they insisted on going out for the whole night." "Byers lives here? That explains the security, but..." Apart from the telescope, there wasn't any signs of, well, unusual things... Lone Gunmen things. "Joanne - his wife - makes him keep his 'hobby' in the den." Mulder pointed to a partitioned area. Now Scully could pick out some framed photographs over on a sideboard and saw Byers with a smiling black-haired woman hugging him. The bed had totally distracted her! "Mulder, why are we here?" The soft light of the lamps illuminated him. "So I can give you your present. Merry Christmas, Scully." He handed over the flat package. "Mulder, I -" She took it in surprise, happy though her mind was racing. Why here, why now? Thank God she had his present in her pocket - but it wasn't finished yet! Damn him! "Thank you," she said, and began working at the sticky tape. The package felt like a picture in a frame. "I'm sorry to spring it on you and in very un-Christmassy paper..." he said apologetically. "It's just that it arrived and tonight was so perfect and I had to rush, so there wasn't time -" Dana pulled the paper off to find herself holding a 12"x16" parchment certificate in a frame. The certificate was in beautiful colour, and rich calligraphy proclaimed it was from The International Star Registry. A gold seal of authenticity winked up at her, along with glowing moons, stars and planets peeking out from the swirls of the name. "Know ye herewith that the International Star Registry doth hereby redesignate star number - Ursa Major..." She stopped reading and sucked in a breath. *Redesignate?* He hadn't... Her gaze went back to the string of co- ordinates and underneath was the proof: " - to the name 'Dana Katherine Scully'." There was more writing on the certificate, but she was too amazed to keep reading it. "You bought me a star...?" "Yeah. And I wanted you to see it in the sky on the same night I gave it to you." Her gaze followed his to the window and the Neutonian telescope perched there. "It's all aligned. With the storm coming and you heading for your mom's, I thought I'd better get in now. My apartment isn't in the right place for me to use my telescope for the Great Bear, and I thought these were better surroundings. Better city view too. When you come back from your mom's, we'll get right out of D.C., away from the light pollution so we can see the Dana star with our own eyes. How's that sound?" Her eyes glowed like twin stars. She didn't know what to say. Her thank-you was more mouthed than spoken before she regained her voice. "Mulder, how expensive -" "You're worth it." A star to keep her name alive. To keep Mulder alive - giving him something in the heavens he knew was up there, to pray to and guide him. She didn't have a child, but she did have a star. The battle wasn't over. This was another reason to fight. She had something else to show her children other than the lights of a Christmas tree. She carefully set the certificate down and moved her chair around closer so she could hug him. "Thank you. Something to show the great-grandchildren." Mulder blinked as his chin rested on her shoulder. Dana's mom was a grandmother, but not a great-grandmother by a long shot. Then he realised she could be referring to her own descendants. That gave him hope as they parted. "Well, do you want to be shown your own namesake first? I bet it's the brightest out of the eighteen million charted ones. Here's the sky chart - that's it circled, and a book on astronomy too. Let's cuddle up by a telescope, G-woman." "Sounds like fun. Oh wait - your present!" She fumbled in her trenchcoat pocket. "Of course," she scolded, "seeing as you rushed me, I only just picked this up. It's not finished yet, but perhaps that's just as well, because I really wasn't sure what to do, and now you can tell me what you'd prefer." She handed him a royal blue velvet jeweller's box. His eyebrows nearly skimmed the sky. She laughed. Mulder opened it to find a transparent green stone the size of his thumbnail. Curious, he picked it up and turned it over, feeling its glassy, ridged texture. There was a familiar energy, a powerful connection emanating from it. "Is it a crystal?" "Yes. It's called Moldavite." She smiled at his classic double-take, and spelt it out for him. "Have you heard of it?" "No..." He shook his head, still examining it in fascination. "I happened to be looking through a book of Missy's I kept. 'The Crystal Workbook'. And by sheer X-File coincidence, I stumbled across the entry on Moldavite. Your namesake is so much you - you're going to love it!" "Do tell!" he said in that sexy fox way. "It can only be found in Czechoslovakia - due to either being a stone which came from outer space, or the result of meteorite impact. It is a tektite material, cause of great debate, and to quote: 'It is clear that Moldavite's energies have much to do with space and extra- terrestrials.'" "So I wasn't found in the cabbage patch after all!" Mulder whooped, chortling. Scully smiled. She had picked Missy's book off the shelf on a whim, to see if it had any information on the healing powers of crystals. Just in case... She wore the cross to give her strength, and to Melissa crystals had been a sign of her own faith, so perhaps trying one out would not be so ridiculous. When she found the Moldavite, her priorities shifted. It occurred to her that this could help heal Mulder, and in doing so heal her too. "It could have been put on Earth to help the 'Star Children', and is said to aid extra-terrestrial contact." "This is amazing. Thank you." He looked out the feature window, holding his gift, hoping one of the stars would suddenly come down from the sky. "If you program it right, perhaps you might attract those little grey men down. There's a way to go about it; it involves sitting down, meditating, and telling it what you want. It's in one of Missy's books - I'll find the right one and lend it to you." A thought hit him. "Aren't you worried about me bringing down these aliens?" "If it gives you your proof... It can apparently be the catalyst for some major emotional changes in a person's life." She spoke quietly, eyes fixed on the certificate as she brought it over to look at again. /She thinks that will fill the gap when she's gone. Oh, Dana. A star couldn't do that. A whole fleet of aliens couldn't./ His hand reached over to cover hers, the Moldavite captured between them, feeling warm as their hands clasped together on top of the certificate. She pulled herself together by drawing silently on his strength. "I was debating about getting a clasp and chain put on it so you can wear it around your neck, but it could be worn as a ring, or put on a shelf... I just wasn't sure." He looked at her cross. "A necklace," he said without hesitation. She nodded. Of course that was his answer. She would have realised that on her own soon enough. "Come on, let me show you your star." Mulder's right hand let go of her own, but then immediately recaptured it with his left as he escorted her across the apartment. Dana was seeing stars long before the window view or the telescope. Mulder had shown her so much over their partnership. Now she felt she was out among the stars - her feelings for him couldn't be any more stronger than if they did do some alignment of their own in the bed. He opened the universe up for her in his own way. It was a testament to their bond that they didn't need that physical aspect to feel like that. The amazing things the constellations seemed to do at the climaxes of romance novels was nothing compared to this. Mulder didn't leave the Moldavite on the table. He put it in his breast pocket. But it didn't matter if the stars refused to come down and reveal their secrets. The turmoil and chaos of wondering if his sister was up there was muted tonight. Scully brought the universe into harmony for him. A semblance of peace and order. He would program the crystal with his wishes to heal her. Nothing else mattered. Together they reached the window, looked out at the view, then each other. They smiled. Some things you didn't need a telescope to see. THE END. The information on Moldavite comes from 'The Crystal Workbook' by Sheril Berkovitch, 1992. Information used without permission, no copyright infringement intended, no profit gained. The International Star Registry is real too!