Subject: Promises-short story

From: [email-masked] (Gerri Oliver)
Date: 10 Oct 1994 02:53:13 GMT

Here's another talented selection from the E-mail creative minds on AOL.
Enjoy!

Copyright info: This story is based on the characters and
situations created by Cris Charter, Ten Thirteen Productions and
Fox Broadcasting. All characters used without permission. 
No infringment of copyright is intended.

PROMISES        by Michele Blankenship ([email-masked])   10-5-94

    Dana Scully was wrenched from her sleep by the screeching sound of 
her telephone ringing.
    " 'Lo? " she answered groggily.
    For a brief moment there was only silence, then a small voice said 
" Aunt Dana?"
    Scully was suddenly wide awake. She glanced at the luminous 
digital clock on the night stand.  " Sam ? Is that you?  What wrong? "
It was past midnight and although Sam was only four,  she was not the 
type to go and play on the phone without permission.
    "Well.." the small voice quavered. " I had a bad dream..."
    " Sweetheart, " Dana began warily. "Where's your Dad? "
    The child began to sob " Oh, Auntie Dana, he's downstairs. He's 
talking to himself and I'm scared. "
    Dana got up and started to get dressed as she talked."SShh. It's 
going to be okay, Sam try to calm down. Exactly what is he doing?"
    "He's been drinking and now he's talking to nobody and I'm afraid.. 
He always keeps his gun locked in the hall closet because it's safer. 
But he won't put it away tonight. He always puts it away. Mommy said that 
its better to be safe than sorry and even though I'm never allowed to 
touch it,It's safer to be locked up and..."
    Dana interupted the little girl's ramblings. "Sam? Sam? Just listen 
to me okay?"
    After a hiccuping sigh the child replied "Okay"
    "I'm going to come right over, Alright? I'm going to hang up for 
just a minute. I'll call you right back on my cellular phone, okay? Where 
are you exactly?"
    "Upstairs" was the reply.
    "Good you stay right there and answer the phone on the very first 
ring. Do you understand me?"
    Once she had the child's assurances Scully hung up the phone and 
dashed for the door.  From the sounds of it Mulder was losing it.  
Scully had been expecting this alot sooner.  The past few weeks had 
been terribly hard on everyone.  Scully just prayed that the situation 
wasn't as bad as Sam thought.
    Once in the car, Scully immediately dialed the number.  
As promised, Samantha answered the phone before it had finished its 
first ring.  Dana asked if the situation had changed at all.  The 
little girl said no.  Dana then began talking about anything and 
everthing, only half aware of the answers.  She just wanted to try 
to distract Sam and calm her down a bit.
    Scully, on the other hand , wanted to cry.  She wanted to cry for 
Samantha. She wanted to cry for Mulder. And she wanted to cry for herself.
God help her, she was feeling sorry for herself.  She had just lost a 
dear friend.  But poor little Samantha had lost a mother.  Mulder 
had lost a wife.  Dana didn't think she had much right to pity herself 
at this point.   As she and the little girl chattered away,  Scully's 
mind drifted back to that day only three weeks ago.
    Mulder and Scully had just come back from lunch and were talking in 
her office.  Since her promotion, they hadn't been able to work 
together much.  They still saw alot of each other though.  They had 
lunch together at least once a week and Scully spent an embarassing 
amount of her free time at the Mulder residence.
    Dana vividly remembered the conversation, a debate on the pros and 
cons of chunky peanut butter, that the two had been engaged in when 
the phone rang.
    "Mulder." He had answered as he done for years.
    "Yes.." he answered cautiously. "Yes."
    Dana could tell that something was very wrong by the sudden look 
of shock on Mulder's face.
    He swallowed hard " There must be some mistake ."
    After a moment he said, " Of course. I'm on my way."
    His hands were shaking visibly as he replaced the receiver.
    "Mulder? What is it? " Scully asked with concern.
    Silence lingered for several heartbeats before he answered.  "That 
was the police...There's been an accident.  They want me down at 
Memorial Hospital."
    Dana had driven him down to the hospital in silence.  Mulder just 
stared out the window.  Every few minutes he repeated " It's a mistake, 
thats all."
    But there had been no mistake.  The officer that met them at the 
hospital told them the entire story.  Tess and Sam had been running 
some errands.  Another car had run a red light and had struck the drivers 
side of their car at nearly 50 MPH demolishing that portion of 
the vehicle.  Even though she had been wearing a seatbelt,  Tess had 
been killed instantly.
    Samantha however, had been sitting on the passenger's side of the 
car.  The child safety seat had protected her from any serious physical 
damage.  However, it had taken the rescue team nearly twenty minutes to 
get her out of the mangled car.  By that time Samantha had been trapped 
with her dead mother for half an hour.   She had been hysterical and 
the paramedics had been forced to sedate her.
Mulder had listened to the officer.  He then quietly demanded to see 
his wife.  Scully cried silently as she watched Mulder give his 
beloved Tess one last kiss.  He had then stood straight up, closed 
his eyes for a moment, and sighed.  When he opened his eyes again,  
Dana tried to read his expression but his face was blank.  Without 
another word he turned and left the morgue.
    He had gone straight to Samantha's room, scooped the sleeping child 
from the bed and had left the hospital without a word to anyone.
    At the funeral two days later,  Mulder had stood stoically before 
the coffin.  There had only been a handfull of other mourners present.
Dana stood next to him and had tried to comfort him but he wouldn't let 
her touch him.  He stood there with that blank stare plastered on his 
face.  Samantha  had spent the entire time crying pitifully on her 
father's shoulder.  Mulder had carried her the entire time but hardly 
seemed to notice her presence.
    Dana had thought that Mulder was simply in shock.  Given a day or 
two he would accept what had happened and then he would begin the 
normal grieving process.  However, on  the following Monday morning 
he had been in the office as usual. Dana had tried to talk to him but 
his reactions had been withdrawn, he had calmly thrown her out 
of his office.  He had said some pretty nasty things to her too. 
    Despite everything, Dana had tried to stay as close as she could, 
stopping by the house every night.  Even though Mulder had been totally 
disinterested in anything she tried to do,  Samantha needed her.  
Every night for the first week,  the little girl had cried herself 
to sleep in Dana's arms.  Dana had shed her tears at the same time.
    Dana had liked Tess a lot.  The two women had never had much in 
common, but they both relied on each other's understanding and friendship.
Dana had been Mulder's *best man* at the wedding and had been in the 
waiting room when Samantha was born.  Dana had always admired Tess's 
ability to accept the unique relationship that she and Mulder shared.
Most women would probably have felt threated by Dana's presence, 
but not Tess.  She had been a very special person.  Dana was pulled 
from her thoughts as she reached the house.
    "I can see your car !" Sam squealed happily.
    Dana stepped from the car and glanced at the bedroom window.  
She could make out the small silhouette waving frantically at her.
    "I can see you too sweetheart."  Dana waved back. " You hang up 
now and go back to bed while I talk with your dad, okay?"
    "Alright," the little girl yawned. " Everything's gonna be 
okay now right?"
    "Sure."Dana replied with a confidence that she didn't feel."Good night"
Dana terminated the connection and watched the window until the light 
winked out.  She then walked up the walk to the front door.  Without 
bothering to knock she tried the door.  It wasn't locked.  That in 
itself was unusual for Mulder.
    Scully entered the house and went looking for Mulder.  She found him 
in the livingroom.  The room itself was immaculately clean.  No books 
or magazines out of place. No papers lying around.  There * was* 
a blanket and a pillow on the couch.  On the coffee table there was 
a nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels.  Mulder himself was crouched 
in the corner, his head hung low.  In one hand he held an empty glass 
and in the other, his Glock 19.
    "Mulder?" Dana asked gently. "Are you okay?"
    When she got no response, she crouched down next to him and gently 
put a hand on his shoulder.  He flinched away fast, as though he'd been 
electrocuted.
    "What are you doing here?" he asked defensively.
    "Samantha called me," Dana replied as gently as she could. " She 
was worried about you."
    Mulder slowly stood up, leaning against the wall for support.
    "Go home Scully. " Mulder sighed.
    Scully looked into his eyes,  hoping to read his thoughts.  
However, she could read no pain or depression in his eyes.  There was 
only blankness.  That blankness worried her.
    "Mulder, what are you doing?" She ignored his previous comment.
    Mulder didn't yell or even raise his voice " Getting drunk." he
said flatly.
    "Yes, I can see that." After a moment she added.
" It won't help you know."
    "Nothing helps.  Everthing hurts.  Now just leave me alone."
He walked over to the table, picked up the bottle and downed the remaining
liquid within.
    " I'll leave.. if you really want me too.  But first,  give me 
the gun.  I'll give it back to you on Monday."
    "No, just leave...Now." He stood in the middle of the room with his 
shoulders slumped defeatedly.
    Scully thought, * this is'nt working. try another approach*
    She strode up to him and said angrily " If you think I'm going just 
walk away and let you turn Sam into an orphan, your kidding yourself!"
    "You'll take care of Sam. You won't let anyone hurt her." 
he said morosely.
    "You're damn right I won't!  I won't let you hurt her either."
Dana yelled. "That child has just lost her mother, I won't let her 
lose her father too."
    Dana took a step toward Mulder, intending to wrestle him if 
necessary.  But in that instant, Mulder's attitude changed violently.
He whirled around to face Scully and she suddenly found herself 
staring down the barrel of Fox Mulder's gun.
    "Get out NOW! " Mulder screamed at her.
    For one brief moment, Scully was truly frightened.  She flinched 
a bit before she could stop herself.  She knew that her fear was 
reflected in her eyes but she refused to back down.
    They stood frozen,  Mulder pointing his gun at Scully's head,
for several heartbeats.  Then, the gun began to waver.  A look of 
great sorrow came over Mulder's face and he dropped the gun to the 
carpeting and stared at it as though it were a snake.
    They were both obviously shaking.
    " Oh Scully, " Mulder whispered "I nearly killed you.  I'm so sorry."
    He backed himself into the corner and began to curl into a 
fetal position.
    "It's okay." Dana cooed.  She knelt down and slid over to the 
gun, seperated the clip from the barrel and slipped each piece into 
a seperate pocket.  She then knelt beside Mulder and tried to comfort him.
    " It hurts, Dana. "  He began to rock back and forth, clutching 
his midsection as though he were in physical pain.
    Dana put her arms around her old friend and listened patiently 
as he began to babble incoherent phrases.   She swallowed back her own 
tears and allowed Mulder to mourn as he should.  Finally he let down 
all his defenses and simply cried silently on her shoulder, breathing 
in deep hiccuping motions.
    Several hours later, Dana woke up in darkness.  She was sitting 
on the floor in Mulder's living- room with her back propped against 
the wall.  She was going to be really sore tomorrow, but it would 
be worth it.  Mulder lay, curled next to her, on the floor.
    Dana looked up to see Samantha standing in the middle of the room.
    " Sam, its late." she whispered.
    " I had a bad dream."  the little girl answered.  Dana hoped that
the child's trouble sleeping was only related to the recent turmoil in 
her life and was not a hereditary trait.
    "Come here." Dana said quietly."And bring that blanket from the couch."
    Samantha brought both the blanket and pillow and handed them to 
Scully.  Scully propped the pillow behind her head as Sam curled up next 
to her on the available side.
    Scully gently covered herself and Sam with on part of the blanket 
and tucked the other end around Mulder's sleeping form.
    As the two began to drift off to sleep, Dana said " Your dad is 
going to be okay, Sam."
    "I know." was the sleepy reply.
    " You can always count on me for anything. You know that don't you?"
    "Yes." the little girl yawned.
    "I'm your friend.  I'll always be here for you, I promise." Dana added.
    This time there was no answer.  Samantha was fast asleep.
    Several minutes later, as Dana began to drift off too, she 
heard Mulder say " Can I count on that promise too?"
    "Haven't you always?" she smiled.
    "Ever since the day I met you."  he replied.
    "Go to sleep, Mulder " Dana sighed.  Everything would be alright 
now.  They still had a long way to go, but the hardest part was over.  
They could all start to heal now.
    " G'night, Dana."
    "Night, Fox."
    Then there was silence.
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