Title: Dissolution Author: SkepticalScully < SkepticalScully@x_files.zzn.com > Rated PG Spoilers: None Category: Vignette/Angst Summary: Scully's mother dies unexpectedly and Mulder's there to help her through the time. Special appearance. Disclaimer: This all belongs to the God of 1013 Productions. "I made this." Dissolution It was a phone call she never expected to get. At least now not, not this year. Not this day or minute. But not surprising that it would come in the early morning. That's just the way those calls came. They never came in the afternoon or right before you sat down to eat dinner. Some times they came in the morning, just as you were rushing out the door. You were already running late for work, but then the phone call; doesn't matter if you were running late. Doubtful that you would be going in at all that day. She had been on a case in Minnesota for the past four days. Then she was at work, finishing up her closing statement for nearly two hours. Finally, exhausted after running around with little sleep, she was dropped off at the curb by her partner. All she wanted to think of was taking a shower and going to bed. It'd been so long since she felt the comfortable sheets and familiar shadows of her home. Only a week, but nearly long enough. She instantly fell asleep, relaxed, comfortable, fairly happy; not overly joyous, but content with things right now. But now...well, that had been blown out the window in a matter of seconds. She wanted to turn back the clock, several hours, to be exact. Just that afternoon she'd had a discussion with her partner about fate. He had brung it up out of the blue during a run and eat thing that happened often. Now, she was jolted out of her dreamless sleep, by the ringing of the telephone. She rolled onto her back, picking up the phone blindly from the nightstand. She knew who it was, who it always was. Groggily, she spoke into the phone, "hello?" But the reply that came was not from the sleepless partner, but from another recognizable voice. "Dana," he said, and nothing more. She heard distress in his voice, but he had an over exaggerating sound when he talked. Though not unusual to hear from him on occasion, she was somewhat surprised to hear from him at this early hour. "Charlie?" she asked. "Yeah," he whispered and she could hear him breathing on the other end. "What is it?" she asked. "Um, Dana, mom..." his voice cracked and he was unable to finish the sentence. "What?" she asked, worry building in the pit of her stomach, "is she alright?" "She...she, Dana," he spit out, then rushed through the words, "mom had a stroke or something...she...she's...she's dead." He sobbed. "What?" she whispered in a breath. She said nothing more. Did she just hear him right? Impossible. This was just another nightmare, different in the context of what they once were but worse. "What...what happened, Charlie?" she managed to ask before she wouldn't be able to speak. Shock. She was in shock, she figured. She wracked her brain, telling herself that she should wake up, but she didn't. "Just...come over here," he said. "I'll be there in an hour." She answered and hung up. Then she sat there numbly for what seemed like ages before she stiffly got up and threw on some clothes. All the bad things that had happened to her, she thought that nothing worse could. ----------------------------- He opened his eyes wide, then sat up. It'd been weeks since he'd last had the nightmare. He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. Then he found himself looking at the phone. He reached for it, then stopped himself. He couldn't call her. He wanted too, but he didn't want to wake her again. They'd just come back from Minnesota earlier and they were both exhausted. He didn't think they'd had a single night's sleep without interruption since last Thursday. And now it was only Tuesday. He glanced at the clock on his VCR. Actually it was Wednesday. I guess that's better, he thought. He didn't want to get handed another case until next week. They'd just worked right through their weekend off and he wasn't planning to make that a double. He needed some time off. They were working too hard, he had to admit to himself. He found the phone in his hand. He set it back down. He rubbed his eyes with fisted knuckles. It wasn't unusual that he didn't sleep well. He usually preferred to not sleep than to have the dreams. They left him physically, as well as, emotionally drained. They thought it was insomnia that he suffered from but was just a facade. He found the phone in his hand again. He fingered the buttons for a few minutes, considering whether to call her or let it be. But he wanted to hear her voice, so he dialed her number and waited for her to pick up. He waited for that, "couldn't sleep," when she answered because she always knew it was he. Who else would call at that ungodly hour? Surely no one but him. But he didn't get that "couldn't sleep." She didn't answer at all. He had dropped her off at home, so he knew that she had gotten there. Then he remembered that time when he had gotten that answering machine message. I can't go over there and bother her. She'll get mad and accuse me of treating her like a child. I know she can handle herself. She's tougher than I am, even. But it gave him an excuse to worry, so he put on some clothes and grabbed his keys and left. ---- He drove to her house, parking across the street. He searched among the cars but did not see hers. He sat in his car for several minutes before deciding to go up and make sure she was okay. It wasn't unusual for one of them to leave during the middle of the night. Often they were called out, but they just finished a case and were not yet working on another, so he didn't see no good reason why she would be out. So he got out of the car, crossed the street and went up to her door. The hall lights were weak. He knocked on her door. He waited a few minutes-give her a chance to get up. I hope she isn't too angry, he thought. Though, he had done this so many times over the last six years. She would know it was he, but usually he had some reason to come. A bona fide, justifiable reason to be there. Usually. He knocked again incase she hadn't heard his first knock. He didn't want to call out her name, for if he said it too low, she wouldn't hear; if he said it too loud others might. He didn't want anyone else to know he was here, standing outside this door, at three-thirty in the morning. They must surely wonder who he was after all these years. They must be curious, for sure. But he didn't care what they thought. Think whatever they wanted, it was none of their business. He did what he wanted with out a care of what other people thought. If they didn't like him or what they did then he wanted no part of them. So now he didn't know where she had gone or if she'd even gotten to her apartment at all. Maybe she was accosted in the hallway. But damnit, they weren't doing any investigating into the lies or deceit right now. For now, they were only concentrating on their cases. Scully, where did you go? He sighed, worried for no apparent reason, probably. He hoped. He turned around and went out to his car. He had no place to go so he returned home. ----------------------------- She turned onto the street, which was silent and dark. Nothing stirred. Not even the brown, dead, leaves in the gutters. In front of the house she parked. The front of the house was lit up, the only light around, besides the moon. The door was unlocked when she turned the knob. She went in and found her brother in the kitchen. "Charlie?" "Hey, Dana." He said. He looked fine, though not exceptionally happy. His eyes were dry-eyed, though there was no shine to them anymore. He was at the kitchen table. The TV was on in the living room. On her way in she detoured around the couch and coffee table to turn it off. "What happened, Charlie?" she asked, sitting down in the chair and faced him. "She was at that meeting thing with that lady and then they called from the hospital and said she collapsed. I was going to go down, but they told me it was too late and she had died on the way." All Scully could manage was a weak nod and she tried to swallow. "When was this?" she finally asked. "Just before I called you." She sat thinking a moment. "Let's go down to the hospital anyway and find out what happened. She took his hand and pulled him to his feet. ----------------------------- He didn't sleep well the rest of the night. He got up a few hours later and went into work. He had a few messages waiting for him when he went down to his office. He set the one from Assistant Director Skinner aside for last. He had a call from a woman in Bountes, Colorado who claimed to have seen a UFO land in her field. She wanted him to come contact her and find out what the aliens wanted. He would call her later. Then he read Skinner's. He wanted them in his office ASAP. It was just a matter of waiting for Scully to come in before they went up. He looked at his watch. It was only quarter after six. She'd be here in about forty-five minutes. It wasn't long till Skinner called him up. "Where is Agent Scully?" "She's not here, sir," Mulder replied. "Well, come up by yourself then. You can fill her in later." Mulder set down his phone, sighed, then went up to Skinner's office. ----------------------------- The hospital was quiet in the early hours, but soon it would be bustling with doctors. Scully went up to the nurse's station with her brother beside here, "I need information on a Margaret Scully, please." The nurse looked up, "I'm sorry, I can't give out that information," she replied then turned away. Scully tried again, "we were told she was brought here earlier this morning. Do you know which doctor emitted her?" Charlie whispered, "but she died on the way, that's what they told me." Scully put a finger to her lips, "excuse me, nurse?" "I don't have that information available to you now. Come back this evening. Visiting hours don't start till six p.m. Annoyed, Scully took out her FBI badge and flashed it, "all I want to know is the doctor that examined her and where I can reach him." She said it calmly and put the badge back. The nurse quickly nodded and turned away. Scully felt her brother watching her and turned her head. He was looking at her, perplexed. "What?" "The way you did that." He said. "It gets the job done," she replied turning back. The nurse came back, "this is the EMT report. The ME will be Donald Caldron, he'll do an autopsy later this morning to find the exact cause of her death," she read from the report. "I'm sorry, that's all I know." "Thank you," Scully replied, then took out one of her business cards and handed it to the nurse. "Give this to Dr. Caldron when he comes in. I want him to call me as soon as he is finished. Understand?" The nurse took the card and nodded. Scully and her brother walked towards the front door. When they were in the car again, she turned to him, "I don't know what to say." "Don't say anything," he supplied. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and squeezed his hand. Then she put both on the staring wheel and looked out at the nearly empty parking lot. "What do you want to do?" "What do you mean?" "What now? Where do you want to go?" "What do you do when your mom just died? How do you feel? Act?" She was silent for a moment, "I don't know, Charlie." "Take me home, I guess." ----------------------------- "Agent Mulder, watch what you're doing. You know what happens when you get close. You and Agent Scully be careful. If you get caught you're responsible for your own actions." Skinner warned, then excused himself when his phone rang. "Yes?" It was Scully, "sir, I'd like to request today off. There's-" "Anything I should know? Anything wrong?" he asked. "Not right now." She answered his first question. "OK. That's fine. Will you be here tomorrow." "I think so." "That's all, Agent Mulder. That was Scully. She called off." Mulder turned around. "Is something wrong?" he asked. "She didn't say. It's probably best to wait now. Don't do this alone." Mulder left the office, headed back down to his office and picked up the phone. But Scully's cell phone wasn't on. He called her at home, but he got her answering machine. Where had she been when she'd called? This was not like her. She would have let him know herself that she had something else she had to do. He decided to take a wild chance on it and call her mother's. He remembered her number and called. But if Mrs. Scully answered and Dana wasn't there, then she might get worried. But chances were, she might be there. On the third ring, a male voice answered, "Hi. This is Fox Mulder. Is Dana there?" "Ah, yeah. Hold on." he replied. "OK." Charlie set the phone down and went and got her. "Mulder?" "Yeah, it's me," he answered. "What are you doing? How did you know I was here?" "Elimination." "What?" "Skinner said you took the day off. Is something wrong?" There was silence on the other end. How to say this? He had been there for her when her father had died. She wanted him to be there for her now. He let her have her silence. He knew that if she was going to tell him, she would, but he had to give her her time. She chewed on her bottom lip, "my mother died." His mouth gaped open, "oh, Scully..." he drew out. She was silent, "I'm ok. I got...I got to go," she trailed off. "Scully?" he asked. "Yeah?" "I'll see you later." ----------------------------- He leaned back in his chair and let out a big sigh. How the hell had that happened? He wondered sadly. Poor Scully, she was always at the brunt of tragedy in her life. First a father, then a sister, then a child, and now her mother. It was almost as if she had done something terrible in her life and God had dealt her a bad hand. He didn't want to bother her. He didn't think she wanted him near her, but he wanted to be near her. He didn't really know how much family she had besides her brothers and mother. She probably wouldn't come back to work tomorrow. He wouldn't let her even if she were planning to. He reached for the woman's phone number in Colorado. Now was as good a time as any. ----------------------------- Scully went back home afterwards because she realized she hadn't brung her cell-phone when she'd left, and the only phone number she had given the doctor was her cell-phone's. "I'll come back in an hour or two. Go back to bed. There isn't much else you can do now." Charlie nodded and closed the door behind her. ---- Scully walked in the door and immediately went to the cell-phone and switched it on. Almost immediately it rang. The good doctor returning the call. "Thank you, Dr. Caldron-" "She was your mother?" he interrupted. "I'm sorry for your loss." Scully looked up towards the ceiling and bit her lip. Now, all business, she asked the doctor, "did you perform the autopsy yet? Have you figured a cause of death?" "Actually, the lab reported something in her blood. I haven't gotten the tests back so I don't know what it is or if it's attributed to any medication she might have taken, or to any drugs some one might have given her. I understand she was at a conference meeting. With people she knew?" "I believe so, but I can't say for sure. It was my brother who informed me of her death." "Well, like I said, I'm sorry for you loss." "Can I see the autopsy report when it comes back?" "Certainly, Agent Scully. It will probably be a few hours yet. Come down to my office later. I'll have them for you there." Taking the phone and her gun with her, she headed down to D.C. ----------------------------- He set the phone down. His call to Mrs. Weinchesky in Colorado had been a dead call. Even for his open-mindedness, he knew when he was being pulled. He carefully explained to her that he would try to look into it and had ended the call. When he did the door began to open and he watched as Scully came in. she stopped in the doorway when she saw he was there. But she quickly gained her composure and walked in, closing the door behind her, "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to look something up," she paused, "an old X-File." "Does it have to do with your mother?" He asked sitting up straighter and turning the chair to the left as she walked over to the set of filing drawers where all the unsolved cases were kept. "I don't know." "Are you alright?" he asked with concern. "I'm fine, Mulder. I was just thinking about something and I think it was in and old case." She answered, her back to him. He got up, walked over to her, "do you want me to do it for you? Or I can back off," he put a hand on her shoulder. She stopped thumbing through the files and stood there. Mulder began to wonder whether she was trying not to cry, or about to cry, or what. He wanted to hold her in his arms because your mother was the worst thing to lose. He asked, gently, "Scully?" Still without facing him, she replied as reassuringly as she could, "I'd rather do this myself." "Scully?" "What?" she replied after hesitating. She still didn't look at him. "Scully, look at me," he ordered. When she made no attempt, he put his hand under his chin and forced her to look at him. Her eyes were dry and clear, her face expressionless, neither angry nor sad. She looked into his eyes, searching for...something. "Why are you doing this? For as hard as it is to believe what you told me, I don't know why you came here." then he stopped and pulled her into his arms. Not for her sake, but for his own. He knew it was down right egotistical and selfish, but it was the perfect moment, and besides, he felt her grief just as if it was his own. She didn't cry, but just leaned against him and let him hold her. He rested his head against the top of her hair. After a few minutes he let go. Then he kissed her forehead, whispered in her ear, "I'll let you go," and left the office. Scully stood rooted to the same spot, her eyes closed. When she opened them, he was gone and she turned slowly back to the files. She stared at them for a while contemplating whether she was going to look for this case or not. It would probably take her hours to go through them all. She had told her brother that she would be back within an hour and she was already past that. She decided to screw it and just go back. ---- On the way, she changed her mind and pulled out her cell-phone and called Charlie. "I'm not coming back right now. I'll be there in a few hours. I got to check on something first. Are you okay, do you need anything?" Through all this he was silent, until she was finished, he replied, "I'm ok. What are you going to do?" Silence on the phone for a second before he answered, "Bye." ----------------------------- The first thing he had to do was make sure Skinner refused to let Scully back into work tomorrow. Against all his demands of what was going on, Mulder refused. He simple told him that in a few days it would be okay and that it was personal. Again, Skinner warned him about not doing anything irrational and he reassured the director it didn't involve that. He wanted to wait a while before going back down to the office in case Scully was still doing her thing. Which, he had to admit wasn't like her at all. Scully didn't believe that any of the cases they had investigated dealt with anything more than science-explained incidents. So he couldn't see past the fact that maybe she had seen something she couldn't explain in her scientific knowledge and wanted to confirm it in an old case. No, not at all. He would just have to mind his own business and maybe she would tell him when she was ready. ----------------------------- At the hospital, Dr. Caldron introduced himself, and led her to one of his offices. Up against a light board were x-rays of an interior chest cavity and two of the skull. He invited her to sit down, then did so himself. He took a folder from a desk behind him and opened it to a toxicology report. "When I sent the samples down to the lab for the primary testing, which is just to see if there are any abnormalities in the tissue or blood, but not to determine the exact abnormality, they sent the results back up, requesting to do a more advanced procedure to find out what it was. Well, that hasn't come back yet, but I do have the rest of the samples and x-rays from the lab, if you want to see them." He then turned and stood up from his seat to indicate the x-rays. "As for internal organs, there appears to be nothing wrong. No combustion, swelling, or injuries visible from the chest cavity. All the brain functions appear to be normal even up to the moment of death-" Scully interrupted, "isn't that in itself an abnormality? Usually, the brainwaves will spike uncontrollably when-" "Ah, you know something about brain activity, Agent Scully?" he asked, but didn't stop to let her answer, but went on. "Then you must know that at rare times, the brain waves level out upon the time of death, depending on the cause. I admit, her death is puzzling. She didn't die of respiratory problems or a stroke or heart attack. That seemed to be the solution because everything points to that, but my conclusion...well, I haven't exactly come up with one yet." "The toxicology lab will find any contaminants. I can't-" "Sorry for interrupting, but has your mother ever been involved in anything? Do you know of anyone who might want to do this to her?" "No," she replied. "Well, we'll see what toxicology finds," Dr. Caldron replied. ----------------------------- Mulder finally went down to the office, and found that Scully was gone. He felt so bad for her. She seemed pretty happy lately and now this had to happen. He would do what ever he could to help, but she had to be the first to ask. ----------------------------- Scully finally went back to her brother and they sat silently at the kitchen table. About an hour after she had come back, a friend had come by and asked them to baby-sit her daughter, Josie. Both of them agreed because it would take their mind off...other things. Neither did they tell the bad news. At least not yet. Josie was the cutest little three-year-old with brown curls. She was always saying the most bazarre things that you'd never think a three-year-old could know. The friend had really been their sister Melissa's friend since they were in kindergarten. Now she had four childern: Sarah was seventeen, Lisa was thirteen, Paul was seven, and Josie was three. (I know this story has kinda taken a strange turn here.) ----------------------------- THREE DAYS LATER. The funeral was held early in the morning. It was damp and humid from the night's rainstorm, but now it was warm. The crowd of mourners were average: only Scully and her brothers and sister-in-law, and close friends. Fox Mulder stood behind the group, watching Scully ahead of him. When the sermon was over, the people started to leave and Scully turned away and saw him. She walked back to him. He touched her cheek, then moved down to her neck and left his hand there. He asked, "are you okay?" She looked away, but then looked back and nodded, "I think so." It was better than the "I'm fine." There had been nothing in her mother's blood, Even though the lab reported something. It was still been unclear as to what had killed her mother, and maybe they would never know, but the doctors were still looking at everything. She looked in his eyes and saw her own reflected back to her. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his chest. She could hear his heart beating fast. She closed her eyes and held back some tears. Now only they were left at the cemetery. She realized this and let go. Then he took her hand and led her up the sloping hill to the cars and her family that were leaving. Her brother was waiting by a tree with a couple. He walked over to her as she did. She didn't let go of her partner's hand. Somethings, she thought, pull you away from the one's you love the most, but it also draws you closer to the others you love. She said, indicating to her brother and partner, "Charlie, Fox Mulder." Her brother shook his left hand with a smile and said, "nice to meet you." The End. I'm gonna start getting mad if I don't get my feedback soon. What do you think this is? Don't you know what is out there? They are watching. You should know that by now. So hurry up and give me some feedback before they come after you. Don't you want to be safe? SkepticalScully@x_files.zzn.com "What are you going to call him?" "William, after your father." "I don't know. He's got your coloring and your eyes, but he looks suspeciously like Assistant Director Skinner." "I don't understand, Mulder. They came to take him from us, but they didn't." "I don't quite understand that either. They said that maybe he isn't what they thought he was. That doesn't make him any less of a miracle does it?" "From the moment I became pregnant, I feared the truth-about how, and why, and I know that you feared it too." "I think what we feared were the possibilities....The truth we both know." "Which is what?" ::Fade:: RIP Ratboy! http://www.geocities.com/xphiler1121 for SkepticalScully's Random Acts of Unpredictability. Please visit my site and sign the guestbook!!