From: Martha Date: 3 Jul 2002 16:42:20 -0700 Subject: [all-xf] NEW: Resume Play II - Coming Back From Halftime (1/1) Source: atxc Okay to forward to atxf, Ephemeral, and Gossamer Disclaimer: The characters contained in this story are the creative property of 1013 Productions and FOX Broadcasting and are being used without their consent or knowledge. Rating: PG Classif: V Keywords: Lone Gunmen Spoilers: Jump The Shark (XF US9) Summary: Old friends meet again. This is a continuation of Resume Play, which can be found in these same forums: The Lone Gunmen have survived the events of Jump the Shark and, after eighteen months in hiding, have approached Reyes and Doggett in their effort to contact Mulder. Although set in the future, events that take place after JtS in the regular XF timeline are not part of this universe. Resume Play II - Coming Back From Halftime by Martha marthalgm@yahoo.com a Saturday morning Mulder entered the Starbucks after his morning run. Scully had often argued the inconsistency of a healthy jog followed by massive amounts of caffeine and sugar, but he noted that she never refused the glazed blueberry muffins that he would bring home with him on Saturday mornings. It was only when he got in line did he recognized the man standing in front of him. "This can't be a coincidence." The man did not turn around and just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just stopped by for some coffee, just like everyone else here." "I'm finding that really hard to believe, Doggett." "Believe what you want, Mulder." Doggett looked up at the selection boards with the day's current offerings. "Tell me, do you recommend the mocha latte? Monica always gets the fancy stuff - I don't understand the attraction, myself." Mulder smiled in sympathy, remembering Scully's recent fascination with iced orange cappuccino. "You look more like a Colombian Supreme, one sugar, one cream type of guy." "Damn straight." Doggett placed his order and then stood off to the side to mix in the cream and sugar and pick up some napkins, hoping that Mulder would join him to finish the conversation. He was not disappointed. "It doesn't look like suburbia has done you any harm. Life pretty calm out here?" "Oh, I don't know," Mulder replied, picking up a few extra sugar packets. "There are some things out here even scarier than a flukeman." "I imagine that, for you, it's kind of like Dorothy having to live in Oz for the rest of her life without her three traveling companions." Doggett had worried that he would not be able to work in the code words that the Gunmen had given him and worried even more that Mulder would not pick up on the reference. He did not want to have to keep repeating himself, and the other man had not responded to his comment. Doggett noted a change in his facial expression, as if he were either contemplating the veiled meaning or just remembering old friends. He picked up several napkins, handing them to Mulder. "Maybe you should pay attention to the man behind the curtain." Mulder watched as Doggett left the store, wondering just what the other man was trying to say with his parting comment. It was then that he noticed that he was holding more than just a few napkins. With some sleight of hand, Doggett had slipped him some kind of cardboard envelope, and Mulder quickly stuffed it into his windbreaker pocket. ~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~ Mulder did not think that he could get home quickly enough to satisfy his curiosity about the material he had been given. He thought it odd that Doggett had gone to the trouble to personally deliver something to him when it could have just been dropped into the mail. He had considered running but, with the coffee and the bag of muffins, it would be a bit awkward. He had been tempted several times to pull out the envelope to see what was inside but was content to pat his pocket several times as a reminder that it was still there. The assumption that he was always being watched was still with him. Mulder arrived home to an empty house. Scully and William were going to the market early today, he remembered. Dropping the coffee and muffins on a kitchen counter, he made his way to the bedroom that served as his study and sat down at this desk. He took out the envelope from his jacket pocket and pulled back the flap, noting that a cd was inside. He reached down to open the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a laptop. He had kept a spare computer, one that was not connected to the internet or any on-line system, for security reasons. He could read a disc and feel reasonably sure that no one else was reading right along with him. He slid in the cd after the system had booted up and waited for it to load. After a few seconds, the familiar logo of The Lone Gunman newspaper legend topped the screen with a table of contents listed underneath it. The data referenced were recent dates and events. Mulder knew that the only way that the Gunmen themselves could have put this material together was if . . . If they were alive. Mulder was stunned. They were dead, he had been told. Scully had broken the news to him the day after his return to DC - about their heroics and their funeral. He had gone over to their old warehouse afterwards to see for himself and found it deserted. Scully had taken him to Arlington some time later and, after he spent nearly fifteen minutes cursing at their headstones for not sticking around until he had gotten back, park officials had to ask them to leave. And now, apparently, they were alive and had recruited Doggett to get in contact with him. The Gunmen had a lot of explaining to do, but first things first. Mulder dragged the cursor down to the entry for page fifty. A listing for page fifty one was conveniently absent, but if the guys *had* put this together, he figured, there was a reason for it. He clicked on the link for the next page, found the icon disguised as a smiley face emoticon, double-clicked, and waited for the sound file to fully load. //Hey, Mulder, it's us. Long story short - the virus didn't kill us, though we damn near had heart attacks waiting for it to happen. Yves talked her way into where we were quarantined and, when the virus didn't start eating our insides within the expected timeframe, she pulled a switcheroo - got us out and left behind some really nasty bio-residue to pass as us. Still not sure why we aren't dead like the others, but I'm not gonna dwell on it. We got some samples out there being tested. We might find answers someday. Mulder, this is important. Don't come looking for us. Please don't. When the time is right and no one else is watching, we'll find you. Don't screw up the life you have now. You've waited a long time for some kind of peace. We'll leave it to you to decide when you want to tell Scully. Yeah, we're cowards. We'll admit to that. Just remember - we will be back someday, so tell her at some point so she doesn't shoot us on sight when we do come around, okay? Hey, keep safe, buddy. Keep you and that family of yours safe.// Mulder played the sound file twice; he barely heard it the first time around and had not noticed when it ended. The sound of Frohike's voice, after all these months of believing him dead, drove Mulder to tears. During the second playing of the file, he listened carefully to the tone of Frohike's voice. He sounded safe and unworried and, during one of the pauses, Mulder heard Langly and Byers playfully sniping at each other in the background. All seemed right at their end. Mulder played the file again for the third time and didn't stop crying until Scully got home with the groceries. ~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~ several Saturdays later Mulder had stopped by the Athletic Attic at a nearby mall. He had dropped by the store the previous weekend to check out the inventory of running shoes; he figured that he was going to need a new pair shortly and did not want to have to wait until the last minute. As he picked up a sample on the display wall for closer inspection, he spied a sales rep in one of those hideously striped ref shirts start to approach him. He replaced the shoe on the wall and turned to walk away. The sales rep caught up to him before Mulder could take a step. "I think that we carry those in red, if you're interested." "Red, no I . . ." Mulder had turned to the sales rep to brush him off and froze. He recognized him from somewhere. Mulder looked down at the man's name tag that read `Jimmy' and, within a few seconds, realized that he was the *Gunmen's* Jimmy. "See, I knew it. You're a navy blue person, aren't you?" Jimmy winked several times in his attempt to get Mulder to play along. "I'm right, aren't I?" "Yeah, I've always been partial to navy blue." "I know we got some in the back. Wanna come look?" Mulder followed Jimmy to the back of the storeroom, tentatively looking down each aisle, hoping that he would find his returned-from-the-dead friends. He rounded the last row of boxes and found them lounging around a break table. Approaching Byers first, then Langly, he hugged them both, saving Frohike for last. "I didn't think it possible to miss you guys as much as I have," Mulder whispered, giving Frohike one last squeeze before letting go. "Frohike's been spazzing most of the morning, waiting to see if you'd come to the store," Langly explained. "Good thing you got here or he'd have been unbearable for another week." Mulder took a long look at Langly, noticing the shorter hair. "Did you lose a bet with these guys?" "When we were hiding out, I cut it to throw off suspicion. It's just more convenient this way." "And he doesn't have to listen to us bitch about it," Frohike added. "So, you got the cd okay?" Byers asked. "Was it of any help?" "Yes. There were some items that we hadn't realized were going on, so we've been rearranging our schedules bit by bit." Mulder paused, shaking his head thinking about the surveillance. "Still can't figure out why someone wants to keep tabs on us. We haven't been in the field for a while now." "Once we find out `who', the `why' should follow." Byers glanced at his partners for confirmation to continue. "You know, Mulder, we wanted to tell Scully about us, about us being alive. You can not imagine how badly we feel about having to put her through that funeral. We argued about it often enough, but we couldn't put the additional pressure on her of having to keep it quiet. She was having enough problems with . . ." "With my not being there." "Yeah," Langly chimed in. "So, how pissed is she at us?" "Provided that she ever wants to see us again," Frohike murmured. Mulder grinned, remembering her initial reaction to the news. "You may yet realize your life-long dream of being kissed by the fair Agent Scully." He did not, however, repeat to them the string of obscenities she had uttered when she got over the shock. They would just have to deal with it when they saw her. "So, no reactions, Frohike? I'm surprised." Frohike held up his hand to stop Mulder from further conversation. "Can I just savor that image for a moment longer?" Jimmy ducked his head back around the corner. "Hey, I hate like heck to break this up, but Mulder's gonna need to get back out front real soon." Mulder looked at the Gunmen, real pain in his eyes, not wanting to take that first step to leave. "Am I ever going to see you guys again?" Langly slapped him on the shoulder. "You can't get rid of us that easily." Byers shook hands with Mulder. "We plan on resurfacing - slowly - in the next month or two." "Yeah, our new digs still needs curtains so we can't have a housewarming just yet." Frohike grabbed Mulder around the waist to hug him again. Mulder slapped the back of Frohike's leather jacket as he let go and resisted the temptation to muss up his hair. "God, I've missed you guys." "We've missed you, too, Mulder, but you need to get going. Don't worry. We'll be in touch." end ===== "I know who you are. You put out The Lone Gunman. It's absolutely hilarious. Guys, it's why I let you live - it would have been like killing the staff of Mad Magazine." - Morris Fletcher, TLG 'All About Yves'