From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 23 Aug 2004 14:19:33 -0000
Subject: The Secret 1/1  by Erin Blair
Source: direct

Reply To: eblair@sonic.net


TITLE: The Secret
AUTHOR: Erin M. Blair
E-MAIL: eblair@sonic.net
CLASSIFICATION/CATEGORY: SRA--Story, Romance, Angst
CONTENT: Mulder/Scully Married.  AU.  
RATING: PG
DISTRIBUTION/ARCHIVE STATEMENT: OK to Gossamer,
Ephemeral, After the Fact, MSR Fanfic Cheerleaders 
Archive. Others: OK.  
AWARD ELIGIBILITY: Spookys 2004. 
SPOILERS: Paper Clip. However, you need to know all 
spoilers up through Season Seven. In this story, Season 
Eight and Season Nine never happened. 
SETTING: Season Seven. 
DATE: Completed August 9, 2004. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to Jen for beta reading 
this fic. 
DISCLAIMER: Mulder and Scully belong to Chris Carter. 
SUMMARY: A woman finally has the courage 
to come out of hiding.

** This story was written for After the Fact's Paper Clip 
challenge. **

------------------------------------
The Secret
Written by: Erin M. Blair
------------------------------------

"Hi, Mom."

I never wanted to deceive anyone, especially
my family. I didn't want to hurt anyone. My life
was being threatened. 

My mother looked at my features, still the same
but now older and wiser. I didn't know whether or 
not to embrace her. I wasn't sure how she'd react,
but I had suspected she would be shocked to see 
me.

"I...thought you were dead. We all did."

And I didn't want to die.

I valued my life too much. 

"It was a closed coffin, Mom. That's how I was able
to escape," I said. "I miss everyone. I wish there was
some way I could have contacted you."

I didn't want to go into the unknown, to become 
someone else for the past five years, but that's how
life happened.

Now the conspirators are dead, have long since been
killed. As Elissa Reynolds, I was able to make a life
for myself in California. I missed being able to live
my life. 

"I missed you so much," said my mother. She held
me in her arms like a baby. She led me into the living
room. "Your sister will be so thrilled to see you. She -- "

"I know. Will Bill and Charlie be here?"

"They're at sea, but they'll be here in a few weeks."

Now I stood in the living room, waiting for my 
sister to arrive. When she came in, I could see her
thin body shaking like a leaf. She was usually the 
strong one in the family, the brave one. "Hi."

"Oh my God. Is that really you?"

"You certainly have changed during the past few 
years," I told her as I noticed the ring on her 
finger. Her red hair had gotten a bit shorter since 
I last saw her. I noticed a baby in the carrier. "Is 
that --- ?"

She nodded. "Yes. I've finally started to live a 
relatively normal life."

"How's...?"

"He's fine."

"Is he the father of ..?"

She nodded. "Yes, he is."

"I'm so happy for the three of you."

"Me, too. I'm so thrilled that you're alive. You don't 
know how much I grieved for you, for the fact that you 
died instead of me."

"I know; I'm sorry for all that suffering."

"I missed you so much. You don't know how much,"
she said. "How's life?"

"It's fine. I'm living under an assumed name, Elissa
Reynolds. I live in San Francisco, California. And I
have a husband, Rob. We have a couple of children."

"Elissa," she said, trying it out on her tongue.  "It's 
so similar to..."

"I know."

"It's a touching tribute. How long are you going to
stay?"

"That I don't know. Hopefully for a couple of weeks.
Enough time to see Bill and Charlie. Then I have to fly 
back home. All I wanted was to let you know that
I'm OK, that I'm watching you even though I'm 
someone else now..."

"I wish you were Melissa Scully."

"Oh, I know. I wish I was too," I told her. I gave Dana
a hug. "What's the baby's name?"

"William," Dana said simply. "William Fox Mulder."

"Good name."

"I know. Mulder's thrilled with him. At first, I wasn't 
sure how he would react to the news. It wasn't that 
long ago that he came back to me...but he's very 
happy to be with us."

"I'm glad for the three of you. I really am."

"I know. I feel the same way, Melissa. I really do. I'm 
so happy that you're alive."

"Oh, me too, Dana. I'm glad I could finally see you."  My
arms tighten around my sister's waist. 

I'm home; I'm finally home.

Then my sister voiced a concern. "Are you going to 
back to being Melissa Scully? If so, there's a matter of
getting you undead." She cracked a smile and then
related: "I helped get Mulder undead, too. Long
story." 

"I have all the time in the world now, Dana."

-- the end -- 

Feedback: Much appreciated and welcomed. Send to:
eblair@sonic.net 


Author's Notes:

This story was written for After the Fact's Paper 
Clip challenge. 

I wanted to write a story for a long time where 
Melissa Scully was still alive. As for Mulder and 
Scully, pretend that Season 8 and Season 
9 never happened. :)  

I would like to thank my beta reader, Jen, for 
her help. 

I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I 
had writing it.