From: Reese Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 23:13:17 -1000 Subject: New: Reunion The Reunion Note:This is a pretty low-key X File, with lots of friendly M & S interaction and banter. Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully are the creations and property of 1013 and Chris Carter. Contains references to "Ascension". Orion Williamson is a real person who really did disappear in the manner I described. Summary: A man who disappeared in 1968 suddenly returns, amidst a possible government conspiracy to cover up what happened to him. Mulder and Scully try to learn once and for all what happened on March 7, 1968. September 21, 1995 20 miles outside of Omaha, Nebraska The cemetary stood on the side of the road, where for miles, grass and wheat stretched out to the horizon. She was in her late forties, but Leslie Marks still had a grace and a beauty about her. It showed in the gentle lines and curves of her face and the calm of her ocean blue eyes. It showed in the easy manner in which she walked. Carrying a small but lovely bouquet of red roses, Leslie strolled through the rusted gates of the poor, old, rural cemetary. The blanket of darkness that was the sky slowly gave way to lighter shades of red and yellow as the sun rose. There was no sound in the deserted and neglected cemetary but the soft sigh of the grass and the whisper of the wind as Leslie walked through. She walked slowly but surely toward the lone grave stone near the corner. It was the same old stone, every year. Every year since that day thirty years ago. Nicholas Bierce September 21, 1948 - March 7, 1968 She shuddered to think about it. It wasn't fair, none of it was. One moment they had been running freely through the golden, grassy field, the next he was gone. Leslie would never forget her horror as she ran in random paths through the field, screaming his name in desperation. Where Nick had been standing, there was nothing but a space of cleared grass. Over the years, Leslie had married an attorney named Walter Marks. She'd had a daughter who was long since gone, having married a salesman from Virginia. But she'd never forgotten Nick, she had never stopped loving him. It had been a long time now. Sometimes she swore she could even hear his voice calling to her through the years. It had always sounded so distant and lonely. "Leslie." "Stop it," Leslie said. Why wouldn't the voice leave her alone. "Leslie." The voice repeated again, from some distance behind her. It was louder this time, and sounded so real. Then she felt someone's fingers caressing the back of her neck. Leslie froze. She turned around slowly, her pale lips trembling from the cold. Nick Bierce stood behind her, smiling. He looked exactly the way he had thirty years ago. Leslie staggered back in shock, before recovering herself. "N-Nick?" she choked at last as she reached out to touch his face, to assure herself that this was real, not a dream, not an apparition. A tear fell down her cheek and she smiled tenderly. She felt her head spinning and the world growing dark as she swooned and fell. * * * September 24, 1995 11:33 AM Washington, D.C. "Check it out, Scully," Agent Fox Mulder said to his partner as he handed her a file. They were leaving the FBI Headquarters for a cafe across the street. Agent Dana Scully opened it and perused the contents. It was a missing persons case from 1968. "Nicholas Ryan Bierce," Scully read the notes on the first page out loud. Creighton University student in American history, disappeared 20 miles outside of Omaha, Nebraska." Next to the information was a black and white photo of Nicholas. He was a slightly pale, delicate, but handsome young man. Scully arched her eyebrow at Mulder, who watched her expectantly as they sat down for lunch. A waiter came up and took their orders. Scully ordered a turkey club sandwich, with French fries. Mulder ordered a liverwurst and a root beer. He winked at Scully with his right eye and the corner of his mouth twitched into a sheepish half-grin. Scully looked back down to the contents of the file, the tight line of her mouth relaxing into a smile. "Okay, Mulder, he's a tall, handsome, all around bright boy, but is there any reason why I should care otherwise?" Mulder gave Scully his best puppy dog look as he fished into his shirt pocket and pulled out a videocapture, dated September 18. The picture was one of Nicholas Bierce. "This fell into my lap this morning. From our local police department." "Oh my god, Mulder," Scully said as a line of concentration appeared on her forehead. "He looks exactly the same." "What do you think, Scully?" Mulder said as he took a bite out of his liverwurst sandwich, talking with his mouth full. "Could it be the Fountain of Youth, the Holy Grail, or a REALLY good facelift?" Mulder said. Scully gave Mulder another one of her arched eyebrows as she took a bite out of her club. God, I love it when she does that, Mulder thought. "I read in the papers about a 107 year old Italian guy who, when asked, said the secret to his long life and youthful appearance was plenty of sex." "There isn't a single study in existence to support that," Scully said in a deadpan voice. "Hey now, don't you wanna live forever?" Mulder grinned. "Here, have mine," he said as he handed Scully his pickle. "Anyway, this is an X File that dates back 27 years, Scully. This man was running through a wheat field with his girlfriend... uh, her name was Leslie Kurnow, when he vanished right before Leslie's eyes." Scully leafed through the contents of the file as she listened, stopping to eat the pickle. She came to a photo of a circular patch of the field, with a radius of five yards, that was cleared to the ground. "Leslie reported hearing a thundering roar that lasted for several seconds. Her eyes were on Nicholas the whole time, and the man vanished, along with this patch of grain." "...And let me guess, you're thinking this is an alien abduction, right?" Scully said in a matter-of-fact voice. She gave him a knowing smile. Mulder shook his head. "I don't know, this doesn't fit the classic descriptions of alien abduction scenarios. But it's definitely paranormal," he said with intensity in his voice. "The same kind of phenomenom has happened before. Around the turn of the century, a farmer named Orion Williamson vanished without a trace before his family's very eyes as he stood in the middle of his crops. For days, his family, his neighbors, and their dogs searched and combed the field. They found nothing, Scully. Nothing. Except a cleared patch of grass. Have I gotten you all pumped up about this case?" Scully rolled her eyes in exasperation. There was just no end to this man's craziness. She looked up at him as he handed her a plane ticket for Omaha. "Get ready for a trip to boony-land, Scully." September 25 10:13 AM Omaha, Nebraska Mulder and Scully pulled up in front of the cozy-looking suburban home in Omaha. Wearing their trench coats, they got out and walked to the front porch of the residence of Leslie Marks. When Leslie answered, Mulder and Scully pulled out their badges. "Mrs. Marks," Mulder said, "Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. We're with the FBI. Is Nicholas Bierce here?" Scully looked over Leslie's shoulder and noticed Nicholas standing behind, in the hallway. Upon noticing the two agents, Nicholas staggered back in shock and fear. "Wait, Mr. Bierce," Scully said, holding her hands up as Mulder looked on. "We're not here to arrest you. All we want to do is ask you some questions." Nicholas stopped his panicked motion and gazed at her warily. The four of them sat around a table, having coffee. Nicholas, looking haggard and suspicious, took a sip. "They're after, me, you know." "Who's after you?" Mulder said. "The government." Nicholas said. "One moment, Leslie and I were running through a grass field." "What were you two doing out there?" Scully asked. "We were... um," Nicholas stumbled. "We were going to make love." Leslie finished. She smiled with bittersweet nostalgia at the thought. "The next moment," Nicholas said, blushing, "I was lying face down on the pavement in Washington, D.C. , 27 years later." September 18 11:49 PM Washington, D.C. The rain fell in large drops, stirring up pools of grime on the alley pavement as Nicholas blinked in confusion. He was lying face down on the ground. Nearby, car headlights streaked through the rain and the hum of automotive engines could be hear. Somewhere, in the distance, there was a police siren blaring. * * * Nicholas was sitting in a Washington, D.C. police station. A formidable looking, bearded black man dressed in a trench coat stood before him. X. "Mr. Bierce," we're here to take you away," the man said. Two other men dressed in dark suits and ties walked up to flank him on either side. Nicholas nodded in fear as he got up. He had no idea what was going on. The men led him to a car, where he sat in the back seat next to X. They drove in silence toward the Potomac River. One of the men roughly grabbed Nicholas and shoved him down to the ground. X stood by, arms crossed grimly. "Who have you spoken to?" X demanded. "What--what are you talking about" "Who have you seen since March 7, 1968?" "Nobody." X nodded to one of his men, who grabbed Nicholas and shoved him toward the riverbank. The man drew a pistol and prepared to shoot him, execution style. * * * September 24, 1995 2:01 PM Omaha "The next thing I knew, a bright light just surrounded me, and took me away from that place. I found myself in Wichita, Kansas, one day later, exactly the way I'd left." "They won't stop," Leslie said to Mulder, taking his hand. Mulder backed away in surprise. "They'll find him, and when they do... they'll kill him." Leslie's eyes burned with intensity. She had married Walter, who had died ten years ago, but she had never forgotten Nicholas. "Do you know what it's like, to lose someone and not be able to do anything about it? Someone close to you?" Mulder stared at Leslie. He could feel Scully's eyes on him. "Yes," he answered softly. 9:09 PM 20 miles outside of Omaha Carrying his xenon flashlight, Mulder led Scully down to the grassy field. The sound of crickets occasionally broke the silence as the stars shined brightly and with lucidity above. "What are we doing out here this late at night?" Scully asked hesitantly. "This is the spot where Nicholas Bierce disappeared 27 years ago," he observed, shining his light on an area of grass that had long since grown back. "Do you honestly think that Bierce has somehow gained the ability to travel through time and space, whenever he wants?" Scully asked, as if was the craziest thing she'd ever heard. Over a pizza dinner at the motel, Mulder had explained his new "theory." Some theory, Scully thought. "Not whenever he wants, Scully," Mulder said. "I don't think he has any real control over it." "But, Mulder, he could have fallen through a crack in the ground. There's a lot of limestone under this field. A limestone cave." "Limestone cave?" Mulder repeated as he smiled condescendingly at Scully. Scully pretended to be infuriated with Mulder's usual disrespect, until she finally gave him a half smile and shoved him by the shoulder. "Shut up, Mulder." "What?" Mulder said in mock bewilderment. "You know what. You're belittling my theory again. I think we should have some equal opportunity when it comes to proposing theories to solve X Files. At least mine isn't absurd like your time travel one. I'd at least have thought a DeLorean would be involved, while you were at it." "Scully, seriously, what if at that moment in time in 1968, Bierce walked through some kind of distortion in time and space. Like an... an electromagnetic field--" "Mulder, I'm the one holding the physics pHD, not you. Trust me, electromagnetic fields do not behave that way." "Okay, okay, Einstein, SOME kind of weird time-space field that no one knows about." Scully winced at Mulder's sarcastic use of "Einstein." Mulder continued. "--And, and what if, say, the government was involved somehow." "How, Mulder? How would they be involved in something as outlandish as--" "You said it, Scully, outlandish." Scully peered sideways at her partner in the moonlight. She sighed in exasperation. "No." "Yes, Scully. Alien technology." Mulder pulled Scully close to him and whispered it excitedly into her ear. "Aaaaallliiiiieeennnsss..." Scully stood there and felt Mulder's warm breath in her ear and his hand on her shoulder. Finally, she cracked a smile and chuckled. Mulder stepped away from her and also joined in her laugh. For a few seconds, the two of them stood there in the deserted field, sharing a good-natured laugh. Mulder and Scully just stood there, side by side, gazing at the stars. Soon they would be returning to their motel, but it was so beautiful out here, Scully didn't want to leave. Something nagged inside her, though. "Mulder," she whispered to him. "Yeah?" "Don't you think you might be taking this case too personally?" "What do you mean?" "I mean," Scully hesitated, "Mrs. Marks asked you if you'd ever lost someone... someone close to you." "I wasn't thinking of my sister, Scully. I mean, I was, but that wasn't who I meant." "Who were you thinking about, then?" Mulder didn't answer. "I remember coming out on a night like this," he said at last. "It was late at night, you could see the stars. I remember standing there on that mountain, gazing at the stars, feeling so lost. I stood there and wondered. I wondered... where you were. If I could ever find you, someday." Scully didn't breathe. He was talking about the time *she'd* gone away. The time "they" had taken her. Duane Barry. Skyland Mountain. Mulder could say nothing more. He felt guilty and responsible for what had happened to her. He had failed to stop Duane Barry, and his partner, the only one he could trust, had been taken from him. Scully turned to face Mulder and took both his hands in his, looking tenderly into his eyes. "I'm here now; I'm not going anywhere," she breathed. Mulder gratefully folded her into his arms. "I don't want to lose you, Scully. I never want to lose you again." he said in a pained, but impassioned, voice. Scully closed her eyes as she put her arms around him and held him tightly. Finally, after a long time, Mulder relaxed and Scully gently pulled away from him. She took his hand to lead him away. "Come on, Mulder, let's head on back." Mulder nodded briefly and turned to follow her lead. Suddenly, a black helicopter streaked over them at a lower-than-usual altitude. Mulder gasped and pulled Scully down next to him into the grass. Shielded by the tall grass and grain, Mulder stared at the chopper as it flew into the distance. "It's headed toward Omaha--" Mulder said as he turned to exchange a glance with his partner lying next to him, stomach down, on the ground. Scully, her face flushed with excitement, nodded, and they both got up and made a beeline for their car. * * * "What are we going to do, Mulder. We won't get there in time." "I don't care, we've got to try." Mulder said no more as he drove at breakneck speed down the empty rural road. Minutes later, they arrived a block outside Leslie Marks' house. The chopper had landed in front of the home, and a team of heavily armed men dressed in combat fatigues had rushed out and were in the process of invading Leslie's home. Someone shouted and pointed further down the street, where a car was speeding away. One of the soldiers kneeled and aimed his M-16 rifle, firing repeatedly into the car, blowing out both back tires form a distance of 50 yards. Nicholas and Leslie got out and the soldiers began yelling at them not to move, to cease and desist. Mulder made as if to get out of the car and run to them, but Scully reached out and grabbed his arm. "Mulder, don't go." Scully implored him. Mulder froze in the driver's seat at the touch of Scully's hand and shook his head. "It's my fault, Scully. We've lost." "Mulder..." Scully began softly, before a blinding flash of light caught her attention. Nicholas Bierce was holding Leslie close to him, and the light was enveloping his body. Leslie was saying something to him. Scully watched from the safety of the car and wondered what she was saying to him at that moment. Finally, there was a loud sonic crash and a second later, amid the firing of the soldier's weapons, the two disappeared into the night. As Mulder turned around to drive back to the motel, Scully turned in her seat to look back. The soldiers were standing in a circle around a circular patch of leveled pavement. It was as if a chunk of the road had vanished into thin air. September 27, 1995 Washington, D.C. "You know what you saw, Scully. The man disappeared without a trace. Along with Mrs. Marks." "I know, Mulder--" "What do you think? Are you going to say that the soldiers vaporized them on the spot? With their new, improved death rays?" "I--I--" "You what?" "I don't know. I can't explain it." Scully shook her head as Mulder tossed the X File onto a pile on the floor in the corner of the office in disgust. "You know what, Scully?" Mulder said as he picked up his trench coat. "That's a very good answer. Come on, let's get something to eat." Scully sighed. Mulder laid a hand on her shoulder and she stopped to gaze up at him. A hundred conflicting feelings crossed through her mind at the same time. Frustration at having come away from boony-land with nothing. Somewhere in time, a man named Nicholas Bierce and a woman named Leslie Marks were together again, far from the machinations of the government, at least for the time being. She felt annoyance at Mulder for mocking her "rational" theories as usual. But along with all that, she felt the deepness of her friendship for this man, this man who never wanted to lose her again. In the many long nights alone she would spend in bed in her apartment, Scully knew she would think back to that night under the stars, and recall their unspoken promise, never to part again. She also felt hungry. "You're right. Let's go." Scully said in agreement as she and Mulder left the office. The end. (This is the first X Files fanfic I've ever written. Please email me at: china@usc.edu Thanks)