THEY WILL GO ON [1/1] Written By Michele Tucker BLMZ49B@prodigy.com Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own The X-Files. The characters of Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Margaret Scully, and the rest of the Scully family do not belong to me. It all belongs to Chris Carter, 10-13 Productions, and the Fox Network. No infringement was intended. Genre: V Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST Summary: Dana and Fox through Margaret Scully's eyes. Spoilers: Memento Mori, the Gethsemane trilogy, Christmas Carol/Emily. Archiving: Anywhere, just let me know where it's going first, with the exception of Gossamer, who can archive it immediately. I am sending this to both ATXC AND XFF, so please don't forward this anywhere else without my express permission. Author's Notes: This piece is essentially just a collection of musings from Maggie Scully's point of view. There is no overt Mulder/Scully UST per se, it is more of a subjective 'vision'. I do think, however, that 'Shippers will like this, and yet NoRomo's can read it fairly safely. Also, in this vignette there is mention of conversations between Maggie and Dana which are entirely my own creation. I do refer to events which have occurred in the show, but a great deal of it is my own personal fiction. All comments, criticisms, and suggestions are welcomed at BLMZ49B@prodigy.com. No flames, please. I hope you enjoy this vignette--all thoughts on it would be greatly appreciated. THEY WILL GO ON [1/1] By Michele Tucker She looks healthy. I have to admit, I've been worried about her. I love my daughter more than I could ever express in words, and seeing her endure all that she has, my maternal instincts want to protect her, to tend to her emotional wounds. Of course, I can't. Even if she would let me--and Dana is too independent for that--I wouldn't know where to begin. Fox would. But that's a delicate situation. I've suggested to her that she talk to him, but she only gave me her patented "I'm fine" look and changed the subject. Dana is more fragile than she prefers to let on. I can't complain about that. I'm proud of her. She is strong, much stronger than I was at her age, and she has seen things that would haunt me for the rest of my life. She doesn't like to talk about work to me; I think she must be embarrassed that she investigates the paranormal. But what she doesn't know is that I don't look down upon her choice of career with scorn or condescension--I am afraid for her. She has chosen a path that could mean any number of possible demises for her. She has faced many of them, and survived, but I feel the sadness emanate from her so thickly it is almost tangible; she is weaker than she once was, and wise beyond her years. Dana has sacrificed many things for this Quest that once consumed Fox and now her. She doesn't have the time to meet men--not that I think that the opposite sex should be her top priority, but she needs companionship just the same--and I often wonder what fuels her mystifying dedication to her work. I suppose it must be Fox. Although I don't often get to see him, I hear about him all the time from Dana. She says that she doesn't want to talk about work, but when she is visiting me five minutes hardly goes by without some mention of his name. She doesn't call him Fox, of course, she calls him Mulder. And he calls her Scully. Being a mother, I must admit that I initially stiffened at the impersonal way he addressed her, but now I understand that his use of her last name has become somewhat of a term of endearment. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say our last name with quite that gentle inflection he uses when he says it. I've grown rather attached to Fox. Sometimes, like now, as I watch the two of them talking in a low, personal way to each other over after-dinner coffee, I see the way he looks at Dana. Fox Mulder is a unusually impersonal man, but my daughter has succeeded in permeating him to his very core. They have both suffered--he from the numerous losses in his life, she from the same--and they seem to find a unique solace in each other. I am grateful that Dana has found such a friend. They aren't really friends in the usual way, of course, but rather, I like to think, soulmates, in a compellingly romantic sense. I have never seen two people more strangely suited to one another. I've even told Dana this, on occasion. She refuses to agree with me vocally. I'll suggest that she invite Fox over to dinner, and she will, but she only flushes and avoids my gaze when I tell her how I believe he feels about her. I've seen the look he gives her when she says something brilliant, and I've seen the look he gives her when he thinks she isn't watching. Fox Mulder is in love with my daughter. He wouldn't admit it, either. In many ways, he is more vulnerable than Dana. From what I know of him through her, he has been hurt many times, through betrayal and death and loss, and it would be difficult to get him to open his heart again. I think he would. But I'd never tell him what I think. Dana would kill me, and, anyway, it's really not my place. When I think of all that has happened to these two people, still young, my heart fills with sadness. Dana will never have children. Fox might never find his sister. Both of them will never see their fathers again. Dana has lost two months from her life. The list goes on. But now, watching them silently from the a doorway, you might not know any of this. Sitting next to each other at a dining room table, sipping steaming coffee and conversing quietly, they are normal, average, even happy. I don't miss the slight smile which appears on Dana's lips as she says something to Fox, nor do I overlook the close proximity of their bodies as he gestures to her in response. Tomorrow, they will be FBI agents again, not Dana and Fox, but Agents Scully and Mulder. They will return to a dingy basement office, to continue on their quest for a Truth that I can neither define nor understand. I still worry about my daughter. Nothing will ever change that. But I can be secure in the knowledge that Fox is there to assist her in any way that he can. For they are the proverbial balance--the end and the beginning, the Alpha and the Omega, the skeptic and the believer. They will go on. ===================================================== Again, all thoughts, musings, questions, comments, criticisms and suggestions are recieved with welcoming arms. Please tell me what you thought of this. --Michele "The truth will save you, Scully. I think it'll save both of us." --Mulder, "Memento Mori" Visit my web page, Zeeney's Exhaustive X-Files Compendium! http://members.tripod.com/~zeeney/index.html ======================================================