Subject: Starry Stakeout pt. 1

From: [email-masked] (RMiel)
Date: 28 Aug 1994 21:09:04 -0400

After lurking here for some time, I figured I'd add something of my own.
It's not a story, really, more like a scene. I'm still seeking a plot
concept worth working into a complete story. Any comments, suggestions,
can go to either RMiel or ZeusStorag @ aol.com
(It's a brief item, but I've had to break it into a couple separate posts,
according to the message flashing on my screen.)

 STARRY STAKEOUT
 By Rhoda Miel
 This is not meant to infringe on any copywrites, etc. and so on.

 Star light
 Star bright
 First star I see tonight ..
 "Yeah, right," FBI Special Agent Dana Scully muttered to herself.
 Between the street lights and neon of the nearby business district, about
the only thing she could see here was the light shining from the apartment
window across the street.
 Another night, another stakeout.
 When was the last time she spent an entire week just going home at night,
cooking dinner and listening to music, she wondered to herself.
 Scully had her theories about this latest murder case. Her partner, Fox
Mulder, had his own, of course, but both were stuck together again for the
night, keeping an eye on the suspect.
 Mulder was slouched in the driver's side of the car, listening
contentedly to a late-night rebroadcast of Papa Joe Chevalier's mid-day
sports talk call-in show.
 Scully ignored the sound and leaned back in her seat. She craned her neck
to catch a glimpse of the dark sky hanging overhead, searching the horizon
 visible from her corner of the car.
 There.
 There it was.
 Star light, star bright -- at least I *think* it's a star, Scully thought
to herself. Astronomy wasn't exactly her field of interest. It was just
the stars themselves, filling the night sky, that drew her in.
 They had ever since she was small. They were always there, no matter
where she looked at night, and she'd looked from a lot of places.
 How old was she, eight? Maybe nine? They'd moved again. No surprise
there. It was a life on the move for every military brat. This time it was
a switch from Chicago to Norfolk, Virginia, in the middle of the school
year.
 Night after night, Dana would walk out into the backyard, look for that
first star and wish -- wish they'd stop moving, wish the Navy would send
her Dad back to Chicago, wish she could see her friends again.
 Not that it did any good. She knew that. She always knew that. But it
made as much sense as doing nothing at all.
 Dad had tried to explain it. He always did.
 They sat together, in the back yard of the rented house, wearing
sweatshirts against the early spring and cool sea breezes.
 Nothing he said seemed to help.
 "I know it's not easy, honey," he said. "But you've got to understand.
It's important that I do what the Navy tells me to do. It's my job."
 "Get another job," she answered.
 "It's not that simple," her father replied.
 They sat there quietly a little longer. After a few moments, her father
pointed up at the sky.
 "What's that up there?"
 She followed her finger up toward the blackness. It pointed at the one
area of the stars Dana knew.
 "Big dipper," she answered.
 "And that one?"
 "Little dipper."
 He pointed to other constellations she could never remember and coaxed
her to study the sky a little longer.
 "You should learn these," her father said. "Those stars will always be
there. They'll be there for you to see every night.
 "Just like I'll be here, and so will your Mom and your brothers. When we
move, we move together."
 Dana didn't reply at first. Instead, she sat, looking up.
 "Together like the stars and the moon?" she finally asked..
 "Yep." 
 This time it was her father's turn to remain quiet, but he looked at the
ground rather than the stars, then studied his daughter sitting beside
him.
 "I'm sorry I can't keep your friends around you, honey," he said. "But
I'm going to keep everything else together. The whole family, and that's
important."
 They sat in the dark together a little longer before her father leaned
over, kissed the top of her head, then stood to go back inside.
 "Goodnight Starbuck," he said.
 Dana sat alone that night for a long time, until her mother came out and
sent her to bed.
 Even then, she sat with the room dark and the window open wide to the
stars.

 "Penny for your thoughts."
 Scully jumped at the words and glanced over to see Mulder looking at her.
 "You should save your money for better investments," Scully said.
 "Hey, I'm splurging," Mulder grinned.
 "It's nothing.  I'm, um, just stargazing."
 Mulder leaned over and glanced out her window.
 "Scully? Uh, that's not a star. "
 Scully looked over at Mulder. She didn't bother asking the question.
 "I think it's Jupiter." he continued.
 "Well then, I'm planetgazing.
 "It's not important, Mulder. Just forget it."

The end---for now