Title: A Bizarre and Inexplicable Universe
Author: Elizabeth L. Iacono
Rating: PG
Category: Vignette, Romance, Angst
Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance
Spoilers: Within
Summary: A book found on Mulder's night table sets 
         Scully thinking...

This takes place during that night Scully spent 
in Mulder's apartment, sleeping in his bed.  It 
probably will be one of many fics saying what 
could have happened that night. :-)

Feedback: I would love it.  RhiaRamsay@aol.com

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully are not mine.  There 
are a lot of other things mentioned in here that 
aren't mine also.

Archiving: Gossamer, Xemplary, Legacy, I'll send 
it to the Spookys, anyone else please e-mail me 
for permission.


A Bizarre and Inexplicable Universe
Elizabeth L. Iacono


     Though she tried as hard as she could, Dana 
Scully couldn't sleep well.  Dreams of Mulder and 
the torture he could have been going through at 
that very moment kept disturbing her.  Tears stung 
her eyes as she wished that he was with her.

     Her hands brought the shirt she was clutching 
closer to her face.  It was a sad reminder of how 
quickly things could change.  Scully buried her 
face in the shirt, trying to recapture him by 
his scent alone.  She felt some of the tears 
break loose and slide down her face into the 
shirt.

     She blamed the tears on her pregnancy, the 
hormones causing her moods to go haywire.  Deep 
down though she knew that she would be doing the 
same thing whether she was pregnant or not.  
Whenever Mulder went missing or ditched her she 
felt a profound sadness, but this time was 
different.  All those other times they managed 
to find him quickly.  Now though, a nagging 
little voice in her head was telling her that 
this time was going to be much longer than the 
others, and it frightened the hell out of her.

     Realizing that she wouldn't be able to get 
back to sleep for a while, Scully reluctantly 
opened her eyes.  Mulder's bedroom was dimly 
lit by the street lights outside, casting light 
and shadows over everything in there.  It wasn't 
the first time she had lain awake at night in 
Mulder's bed, but it was the first time when 
he wasn't here.  The room felt different when 
he wasn't there, even though nothing in there 
had changed.  She smiled to herself, thinking 
of how just his presence could affect things.

     Her eyes glided over the room, taking 
everything in, looking at it without the 
presence of Mulder there.  The entertainment 
center complete with TV was now silent, but 
his basketball was still rolled into a corner, 
with the wadded up t-shirt stuffed next to it.  
The suit he had changed out of the day he 
disappeared was still draped over the back 
of the closet door, Mulder didn't have the 
time to hang it up before his flight to Oregon.

     It was when her eyes reached his night table 
that she paused with puzzlement.  'When did he 
start keeping a bible?' she wondered, taking 
in the large book bound in black leather-like 
material, with gilded pages and a ribbon 
bookmarker sticking out from the pages.  
Scully pushed herself up a little so she 
could pull the book closer.  Her puzzlement 
changed to a grin when she saw the writing 
on the cover of the book.

     Years in catholic schools had taught her 
that there were many different versions of the 
bible.  This version however would have never 
be taught in schools.  This was the bible 
according to Douglas Adams: The Ultimate 
Hitchhiker's Guide.  A great, big, book filled 
with the five stories of the Hitchhikers Trilogy.  
It was a very...very Mulderish thing to be there.

     Truth be told, she had never even heard of 
the Hitchhiker's books until she met Mulder.  
They wouldn't have fit in in the strict and 
logical Scully household she lived in when she 
was growing up, and there was really no time to 
read for pleasure after that.  But Mulder, he 
seemed naturally inclined to them.  When she 
had first spotted in on his bookshelf he told 
her that he had discovered the books while he 
was at Oxford, and when he moved back to the 
states they had come with him (leading to a 
great laugh on his part about the number that 
was on the door of his new apartment).

     Scully flipped open the cover carefully, 
letting her fingers glide over the rough pages.  
She remembered starting to read through the first 
book one night, another night just like tonight 
when she couldn't sleep.  As she read, she wondered 
if the reason he liked the books so much was 
because, like Arthur Dent, he was suddenly 
thrown into a whole new world after the old 
one was obliterated.

     True, Mulder's world obliteration was on 
a more local level, with the abduction of 
Samantha turning the world that he once knew 
on its head.  But, regardless of location, in 
both instances the worlds that they knew had 
gotten blown apart (literally, in one case) 
leaving them to manage in a totally new world 
they weren't prepared to handle.

     That, or they just appealed to his warped 
sense of humor.

     She smiled to herself as she imagined 
Mulder reading these to their child one day 
as their version of a bedtime story.  There'd 
be no fairy tales, but the little one would get 
to hear 'Jose Chung's From Outer Space' and this 
(with the parts describing the triple-breasted 
whore of Eroticon Seven carefully edited out, 
of course).

     Impulsively she turned to the page where 
the bookmark was, wanting to see where Mulder 
had left off before he had gone.  The bookmark 
was placed at the beginning of the second book.  
One the right hand page was the start of the 
story, but on the left hand one were two small 
blocks of print.  She read those, and felt her 
stomach drop as her mind darted to connect the 
phrase to her own life.


'There is a theory which states that if ever 
anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is 
for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear 
and be replaced by something even more bizarre and 
inexplicable.

There is another which states that this has 
already happened.'


     Scully sucked in a deep breath, realized that 
those words translated to her own personal 
universe.  Just when she allowed herself to 
feel happiness in her world by her and Mulder 
finally acting on those long denied feelings, 
Mulder was suddenly ripped away from her, sending 
her into a bizarre and inexplicable new world.  
It was not a good feeling at all.

     But it could be translated as a good thing 
also.  Namely, the baby.  It was this one gift 
which had arrived with the new universe that 
would keep her sane and help her focus on finding 
Mulder.  She had even more of a purpose now than 
ever before.

     Suddenly Scully got an idea, even though 
she thought it was a rather silly one.  It was 
always said that babies were be able to hear 
their mother's and other voices while in the 
womb.  Maybe not at this early stage, but it 
couldn't hurt, she decided, and turned back 
to the beginning of the book.

     And as she started to read she imagined 
that Mulder was there with her, his head resting 
on her shoulder and a hand on her stomach, as if 
to send a message to the little one saying that 
you are loved.  She kept reading until she drifted
off to sleep, dreaming once more about Mulder.


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This is what happens when you give into peer 
pressure and buy the big "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's 
Guide".  I just couldn't resist it. :-)


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'True love, it's the greatest
thing in the world.'

Miracle Max
The Princess Bride

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'Men will fight bravely and be 
heroes, but for a last ditch defense
against any odds, get a mother.'

The Defender
High Wizardry

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'This is the Fish Patrol in 201.  Our
flying fish has flown away.  In fact,
things are so rotten around here that
even the pigs won't stay!  But we'll
fight to the bitter end!  Beware The
Fish!'

Bruno Walton
Beware The Fish

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