From: "Melissa Gunby" Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 15:36:36 -0800 Subject: xfc: The Other Road Source: xfc Title: The Other Road Author: Melissa Gunby E-Mail: mgunby@willamette.edu Distribution: wherever, would you just let me know Spoiler Warning: CancerArc, MythArc, The End/ The Beginning, Beyond the Sea, a bunch of little ones, but not anything real specific Rating: PG Classification: Story, MSM Keywords: MSM Summary: Scully does thinking. Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully and any other characters you recognize do not belong to me. The poem The Road Not Taken is by Robert Frost. No profit is to be gained. Don't sue...I'm really not worth it. Feedback: Is much yummier than dorm food. Saturday 10:37 am Scully's apt. Scully browsed her bookshelf and found just what she was looking for. She curled up on the couch and wrapped up in an afghan to keep out the late winter chill. She laid the book down into her lap. She lightly brushed dust off the cover and smiled wistfully as she remembered back to her freshman English class. She cracked open the Norton's Anthology and thumbed the pages. The book opened itself up to a poem she had read so many times she practically had it memorized. She read out loud to herself. " Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads to way, I doubted if I should ever be back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two words diverged in a wood and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Scully thought over the poem for several minutes. She remembered reading it for the first time in college, and how it had meaning to her. All the directions she had had in life and the choices she had to make. She looked back and wondered if she had made the right choices. What if I had chosen surgery, or pediatrics? Why pathology? What made me decide to take this path? To go against my parents? I thought I could make a bigger difference in pathology. Learn about disease. Help cure disease. How did that lead to the FBI? Why the FBI? The same reasons? To make a difference. To help people. To fight evil and crime. But.... What if I hadn't joined the FBI? She thought. My sister would still be alive. My dad might be. I probably wouldn't have had cancer. I wouldn't be infertile I wouldn't feel like an outcast from my own family. I would have my own practice, with office hours. No crazy partner calling at 3 am to chase down aliens. She smiled at the thought. No suits. No heels. No gun. No Flukemen, mothmen, aliens, chupacabras. No Gibson Praise, Cancerman, Fowley, Krychek. No Skinner, Pendrell, Holly. No Mulder. Mulder. I would have never have met Mulder. My Mulder, my friend, my partner, my soulmate. Scully couldn't even begin to imagine what her life would have been like without Mulder. She couldn't picture a future without Mulder. Mulder was her life, her everything. Just then Mulder appeared out of the bedroom carrying a squirming infant, interrupting her thoughts. "Someone wants Mommy," Mulder said handing her the beautiful baby girl that they had adopted a few months ago. Keri had been a welcome addition into their home, shortly after their first anniversary. Scully cradled her daughter and looked over at Mulder, kneeling by the couch gazing at his wife and daughter. She gave Mulder a fierce hug. Yes, she thought, I made the right decision after all. END Notes: Otay so its fluff but I had had this in my head for awhile. Thanks to Liz for her suggestions and helping me out. And for reading since you think this is a waste of time! :) This story was inspired by my English class where we are reading lots of poetry. I love this poem for reasons I don't really understand. This is my first posting to this list and all your thoughts are greatly appreciated. ~~~***~~~~~~***~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~*** Melissa Gunby http://home.collegeclub.com/MGunby The only winner of the war of 1812 was Tchaikovsky. - Soloman Short Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein Oh, I didn't get his name. I was too busy getting my ass kicked. -Mulder, Nisei I always thought DNA meant 'dude needs apartment'. - Kato Kaelin, on what he learned during the OJ trial Deja Moo- the feeling you've heard this bullshit before. Psychiatrists say that one out of four people are mentally ill. Check three friends. If they're okay.....