This Text file is old! In a 🏛️Museum, an unsorted archive of (user-)pages. (Saved from Geocities in Oct-2009. The archival story: oocities.org)
--------------------------------------- (To 🚫report any bad content: archivehelp @ gmail.com)

Part 5
San Diego, CA
March 12
2:30 A.M.

Candi had almost given up her plot for revenge right 
after Victoria. How was she to know she was a drunken 
old maid who lived with a cat?

She felt bad about that.

She almost stopped. But then, she found out something 
about Elaine. Her husband had been married before. She 
was a homewrecker. Just like Janet and she had to be 
stopped.

Of course, there was a grapevine in this town, if you 
knew where to look. She did feel bad when she found out 
about the babies. She really wished she had known about 
the babies beforehand. Candi would have liked to have 
had a baby. Gary couldn't. His fish didn't swim or some 
such nonsense. It was always something.

She found out about Crystal through the same grapevine.
Crystal had killed a man. Simple as that. 
Killed a man who still had time to reconcile with his 
wife. Two kids depended on him. And now 
he was gone. Through Crystal's callousness. 

Crystal had to go. That left Dana. 

Why was she angry with Dana again?

Oh yeah. 

The ladies room. A week before graduation. They were 
both standing by the sinks. Washing their hands. Dana 
was scrubbing away and caught Candi's eye in the mirror. 
Candi was putting on mascara and had a bunch of 
cosmetics laid out on the thin silver ledge underneath 
the mirror. Just a split second look. A look of disdain.

The nerve. The fucking nerve. 

Dana didn't need to find herself a man. She had that 
idiot Marcus tied around her finger. He was so far into 
that tiny redheaded upstart that he couldn't see 
straight.

Gary was the slow one of the group. Candi had done  
everything she could think of and all he would do was 
look at that stupid football. It wasn't until she 
practically stuck her tits in his face one day that he 
glanced away from the horsehide, or sheepskin or 
whatever the hell they made those things out of.

Dana lived on the East Coast now. She was still a 
"Scully," but that didn't mean anything. Women kept 
their names nowadays. Well, some did. Career women. No 
one seemed to know much about Dana at all. Still, she 
had to be just as bad as the rest and she had to be 
stopped before she broke up a marriage.
 
Yup. The only one who probably didn't deserve this was 
Victoria. The rest did. Even the one who lost those 
babies. 

She only wished she knew if Dana received her message.
That might give her peace.


Day's Inn
San Diego, CA
March 12, 8:30 A.M.


She found him on the beach. Sitting back on his elbows, 
looking at the water.

"Good morning," she said.

"Hi. Sleep okay? No bad dreams?" He asked. He looked 
awful. She wouldn't have put it past him to have sat 
against their adjoining doors all night, waiting for a 
distress signal from her. She knew he was still worried 
about her strange nightmare. Until yesterday, he had 
been there--guarding her during her sleep. Last night, 
he wasn't.

"No, I slept all right. A bit lonely. . ."

"Did you have breakfast?"

"Not yet."

"Well, maybe we can pick some up on the way to the 
interview with Glen Wahlberg."

"Yes, actually that's why I came out to find you. It's 
been moved up an hour."

Mulder brushed off his jeans.

"Okay, then. I better get dressed."

He stood up and she caught his arm.

"Wait. Afterwards, if we don't have anything case- 
related, maybe we can come back here and relax for an 
hour or two. Just swim or sunbathe. It would be nice 
after the nasty winter we've had back home."

He shrugged.

"Sure, I guess."

He turned and went back to his room.


San Diego, CA
12 noon

If her mother called her "CJ" one more time. . . what 
did she have against "Candi," anyway?

She looked in the mirror. She looked like a "Candi." 
Young, fresh, vital.

What a waste.

She couldn't get her senior year of high school out of 
her mind. Funny, she never used to think of it before. 

She remembered a religious retreat where the girls spend 
more of their time talking sex than listening to the 
priests drone on and on about every endless topic they 
could think of. The discussion on purgatory got to them, 
though. 

That evening's smoking break was filled with nervous 
laughter and long winded attempts at denial over this 
aspect of their religion. Discussion of what it could 
really be like. Candi wasn't scared.

Candi had the power. 

Half-assed power since she had to send people to hell in 
order for them to land in purgatory. She was not, after 
all, God. She couldn't judge them into their final 
destination. She could, however, force them into a 
position where they would have to look at their own 
lives and decide for themselves what things they needed 
to atone for. It was a power she had been forbidden to 
use after that one time. A wild inheritance from her 
experimental mom.

They had laughed at her when she said it didn't scare 
her. They thought she didn't know enough to be 
frightened.

"Oh, Candi. You probably think purgatory is ten years 
without your blow dryer."

"Or five minutes without mascara."

She was smarter than they thought. She knew what she 
wanted in life. It was just different than the things 
they wanted at the time.  She wanted a husband. Her 
mother never had one. She wanted that security. That 
love. And she knew how to get it, too.

Victoria, Elaine and Crystal. They had all been there 
during that smoking break. They had joined in the 
laughter.

Who was laughing now?



Days Inn, San Diego
4 P.M.

She had changed into a new one-piece blue bathing 
suit. Pretty. She bought it with Mulder in mind. 
Normally, she would have gone with black.

She hesitated, wondering whether she should knock on his 
door and find out if he would join her. Somehow, she 
didn't feel he would.  Their trip back to the motel had 
been a quiet one. 

The interview with Glenn Wahlberg was pretty routine. A 
very tired man with a very similar story. Wife went to 
bed and didn't wake up. He had seen her receive a short 
phone call and swear into the receiver, but before he 
could question her, they were distracted by someone 
coming to their front door and he forgot to bring it up 
later. Then it was too late. She could no longer answer 
any questions. 

Unlike the others, the victim's husband knew of nothing 
that made his wife unhappy. 

Scully looked in on Crystal. Saw her among the feeding 
tubes, IV's, and other miscellaneous medical equipment. 
She took the woman's hand and squeezed it in her own, 
uttering a silent prayer. 

She picked up the blue mesh coverup that went with the 
suit along with a book and her cell phone and decided to 
head out on her own. Things would be okay. Sooner or 
later.

She opened the door to a startled Mulder, in full 'just 
about to knock' mode. He wore a pair of dark green swim 
trunks. He had given up his speedos three years 
ago, which suited Scully just fine since she had no idea 
where to focus her eyes when he was wearing those 
things. 

She smiled.

"Sorry. I had no idea you were there."

"It's all right. I was just picking you up for our date 
on the beach. Or is 'date' a word we want to be using?"

She ignored his rather lighthearted comment. He seemed 
his usual sarcastic self. There didn't seem to be any 
bitter undercurrent to his words.

They slowly made their way to the beach in silence. 
Among the bundle of things in his hands, Mulder carried 
a book, too. Fun date.

They got near the water and Mulder spread out a large 
blanket.

"Is this okay, or do you want your own?"

"It's fine, Mulder."

"Good." He sat down and laid out the suntan lotion, 
sunglasses, spare towel and book to his right. Scully 
quickly took her position to his left. While she was 
putting down the things she brought with her, Mulder 
already started applying suntan lotion to himself. By 
the time she turned around, his arm was in mid-
contortion trying to reach the center of his back. She 
took the bottle from his hands and silently started 
rubbing the coconut scented concoction on his skin.

She felt the tension in his spine, in spite of the fact 
that his body looked relaxed enough. She finished his 
back and snaked her hands around his waist to his chest. 
She snuggled against his shoulder and they both looked 
out at the ocean.

"You okay?" she asked finally.

"Sure."

She closed her eyes tightly. She didn't want him to 
hurt. There was no need for him to hurt. 

"It's all overwhelming, Mulder," she softly said. 
"Still. I have moments when I feel like I'm going 
to spontaneously combust from all the emotion. I know 
all the things that I should be doing and 
saying but I need to back away from the feelings 
sometimes. I'm not used to this complete overload. Not 
after all the years of keeping it all inside. And, 
instead of being straightforward and telling you I need 
to step back--sometimes I lash out instead." 

That wasn't hard to say at all, she thought. Actually, 
the words seemed to come pouring out easily.

"It's all a matter of perspective, Scully. I looked 
through the door at your friend today. We don't have any 
real problems compared to what could be happening. We'll 
fix what needs to be fixed," he said, covering her 
slippery hand with his.

She smiled against his skin. It didn't take much. To 
make things better. To make things right.

"Um, Scully? I know you have an unnatural attachment to 
my back but I have to warn you, if you don't stop with 
the cape imitation, you're going to be as red as a 
lobster.  Come here and I'll help you."

She laughed softly at his attempt at normality and came 
around to his side. She lay on her stomach and felt the 
cold lotion hit her back almost immediately.

"Did you get the yearbook, Scully?"

"Yes, it was waiting in my room when I got back. There 
were eleven members of the science club. Six boys and 
five girls. I'm trying to get some contact information 
on the guys and the one female who hasn't been affected 
by this--yet. Her name was Janet Lauder. I'm not sure if 
she's married and changed her name."

She felt his hands as they swept efficiently over her 
legs and down to her feet.

"I also discussed something with the principal of St. 
Clare's and I wanted to run it by you before actually 
putting it into motion."

"Sure. Turn over. Let me do your front." He leaned back 
on his haunches as she turned over. She looked in his 
eyes but he had his usual bland expression on his face. 
Not a hint of anything, even when his lotion-filled 
hands ran over the cleavage exposed by the v of her 
suit.

"Um. . .okay. Well, whatever the hell everyone is 
experiencing, it all stems from the phone call. That is 
what we have to concentrate on.  So, I thought who has 
access to our personal information? The alumni 
association writes or calls at least once a year to 
raise funds for the school. They pretty much have all 
the updated information they could want. We need to 
speak to them. But in an unofficial capacity.  I thought 
maybe we could talk to Glen Wahlberg and, with his 
permission, I can say that Crystal and I kept our 
friendship going long-distance all these years and when 
I heard what happened. . ."

"You grabbed your FBI partner and high-tailed it to 
Sunny California."

"No. I grabbed my. . .boyfriend and hightailed it to 
Sunny California."

"Boyfriend?"

He was working on the front of her legs and just barely 
lifted an eyebrow at her phrasing. He had changed 
direction and was working from her feet back up her legs 
again.

"Well, yes. Whatever the terminology is. We could go 
into this without mentioning the FBI unless asked." She 
gasped. "Oh, Mulder. . ."

His hands had reached her inner thighs just where her 
bathing suit began and he abruptly lifted his hands, 
applied more lotion and gently smoothed it over her 
face. He tapped her nose as a final flourish.

"All done. You are all SPF-ed."

She shook herself a little wondering why he hadn't left 
his hands where they were.

"I talked to Sister Agatha about a small fundraiser for 
the coma victims. This way, she could get the alumni 
committee together and we could check them out. At the 
same time, helping to raise money for whatever 
bills might not be covered by insurance. And, I'm sure 
there will be a lot of them.  With a lot of work, the 
benefit could be set up for this coming Friday. Nothing 
spectacular--just piped in music and cold cuts in the 
gym."

"Good idea."

"I will give Sister Aggie a call."

"Do you know who is on the committee?"

"Yes. Pretty much who I expected. Six women who were 
very rah-rah in high school. It's not surprising they  
still have ties to the old place."

Mulder leaned back and closed his eyes. After placing 
the call, she looked over at him. The sun was hitting 
his skin, which somehow had taken on a light golden tone 
even in the short time they had been there. She laid 
down on her side and stared at him for a while before 
reaching over and running a finger up the middle of his 
chest. He opened one eye slowly.

"Can I help you?"

"I don't know. I think you may be on strike."

"No. I don't recall any great union dispute."

"Ah, but maybe negotiations were at a standstill."

"Just a misunderstanding was the version that got around 
to me, Norma Rae."

She leaned over and kissed his chest. 

"Yuck. It smells better than it tastes."

He smiled to himself and closed his eyes again. It was a 
beautiful, lazy afternoon and they had nothing to do but 
wait for information.  A small amount of downtime before 
the madness began again.

"You like it here, don't you?" Scully asked.

"What's not to like? Sun, sand, Scully."

"In that order?"

"I save the best for last."

She nuzzled closer to him and slipped her fingers in the 
waistband of his bathing trunks. . .running her finger 
lightly over his skin, under the elastic.

"You're not planning on taking advantage of me on the 
beach, are you Scully? Because I have to warn you, I'm 
going to make you find and remove every particle of sand 
afterwards."

She laughed.

"You are such a romantic."

He opened his eyes and took hold of her wrist. He pulled 
her fingers up from their current position and placed 
her hand on his shoulder.

"Kiss me," he said.

"Just a kiss?"

"Oh, we can absolutely run amok with kisses, as far as 
I'm concerned but yes. . .'just' kisses. We never get to 
just kiss. Or does that bore you?"

She ran her index finger over his plump lower lip.

"How could it?" She leaned down and kissed the far left 
side of his mouth. Then the far right.  She kissed him 
fully on the mouth--nudging her tongue against his lips, 
which remained steadfastly closed. Okay. Some sort of 
game was being played here. Perhaps payback from last 
night, although that was not Mulder's normal M.O. 

She moved to kiss his neck and he carefully guided her 
face back to his. Once again, she parted her lips and 
placed them on his, seeking entrance, and once again, 
she was met with a still body and a firmly closed mouth.

She moved her face away.

"You want to tell me what this is about? You asked me to 
kiss you and you're lying here like a lox."

He smiled softly.

"Kiss me for the first time. Not like you're rushing to 
something else. Pretend--we've known each other for a 
very long time. . ." The sound of his voice had a very 
strange effect on Scully. Always. From the very 
beginning, he would speak and there would be a tiny 
lurch in the pit of her stomach. A spark of excitement. 
If he had ever talked to her then, in the tone of voice 
he was using now, things would have developed much more 
quickly. She listened to his hypnotic little scenario.

"There was an attraction--right from the 
start. Almost immediately followed by a deeper 
connection. And somewhere along the line, more. And this 
moment, you find your lips drifting--unable to stop 
yourself, but so in awe of all we've shared, of all 
we've felt that this one moment--this one kiss--becomes 
so much more. It becomes a physical expression of seven 
years of a relationship."

She found herself, indeed, drifting down to meet him. He 
was waiting and their lips touched in a soft but 
lingering kiss that was almost identical to the very 
first one they had shared on New Year's Eve. Afraid to 
move but trying to get all the feeling into that one 
press of mouth against mouth. The final break of a 
portion of wall allowing the tiniest amount of physical 
contact. As they moved their faces away from one 
another, the smiles were probably the same as that 
night, too, but Scully felt a few tears welling in her 
eyes and could see them shining in his.

Mulder was an odd duck. When the time came for them to 
become lovers, there was nothing reminiscent at all 
about their first kiss. They came at each other with 
open mouths and hungry hands. While they had slow 
encounters since then, it had never been as pure as that 
first moment. When all they had was the kiss. And the 
promise of more. It was a good time to revisit. To get 
back to that very first moment of discovery. He had been 
enjoying each step in their growing relationship and 
while she had been trying to do the same, she was also 
feeling bogged down with greater issues. The issues of 
publicly "outing" their relationship--at least to family 
and friends; the issues of shared time versus private 
time. And, the very large issue of having him entirely 
dependent on her for his happiness--as if that hadn't 
been the case before. It just felt magnified somehow. 
But when all the worries were stripped away, it still 
all came down to Mulder and herself. That was what 
mattered the most. Always.  She lay her head on his 
chest and closed her eyes. The warm afternoon sun shone 
down as they took a brief nap and enjoyed the moment. 

End of Part 5