Part 7 Candi Winter's apartment March 14, 12:02 A.M. Candi came home to her empty apartment. She didn't feel guilty. Not really. She was raising money for them. She hadn't thought about the financial crunch the families would be in. She'd admit that. Dana Scully didn't seem like a horrid person. She came all the way out here to help a friend, after all. Still, if Candi had been a coma victim, would she have come? Hardly. She felt the anger stir again. Fox Mulder certainly wasn't Gary, was he? Same age, if not a couple of years older, but he looked like a walking ad from the pages of GQ. No pot belly, no receding hairline. No gray. And the man clearly, clearly adored Dana while you couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling. Well, she probably did feel something for him--she'd be a fool not to--but it wasn't as obvious as his feelings were for her. She wondered, again, what had happened with the call to Dana's apartment. She picked up the phone. "Hi, Mom." "Hi, CJ." "Mom. I told you. . .stop calling me that. Candi or Candace even but not CJ. I'm not some freaking man smoking a cigar and starting a conglomeration." "I like CJ, it's cute." "Mom. . ." "All right. Hi, Candace. How are you? Put anyone in a coma lately?" "Very amusing, mom." "I'm not so sure I'm joking." The thickly accented voice sounded peculiarly sad. Candi had no idea why her mother was personalizing things so much. She didn't know any of these women. She had worked while Candi was in school so she didn't have time to attend any of the social functions the other mothers had. She had been to maybe one or two at the most. "Mom. . .does this thing always work?" "What thing?" "The power. . .you know." Her mother sighed heavily into the phone. "No. I don't know. What I do know is once I realized I had it, I stopped using it. Once I realized you had it, I told you to stop. You don't listen to your mother. . ." "I did. For a very long time, Mom. You know that." "But not now." "I have my reasons. Tell me, mom. . .would it always, always work?" "I did tell you. I don't know." "Fine. Okay, sorry for bothering you." "CJ. . ." Candi put down the phone before her mother started another one of her endless lectures. She should have known better than to expect a straight answer from her. Day's Inn 12:35 AM "We now have a reason why Crystal is probably lingering in purgatory," Mulder declared while Scully was making out yet another list. This one of decorations needed for the fundraiser. "Why she might be lingering in a comatose state, you mean." "Oh, yes, of course. That's exactly what I meant. Thank you for reminding me." He smiled and leaned back against the bed. No religious discussion. He learned his lesson. Even if he was beginning to believe a bit of it, he didn't think it would make her happy. She'd almost consider it a given that he would choose a somewhat paranormal aspect to become fascinated with. "What do you suppose your life would have been like if your mother named you Candi, Scully? Hey. . .Candi Scully. I kind of like it, don't you? Special Agent Candi Scully." "Yes, I'm sure it would be a source of endless amusement. Actually, I met her mother once. She didn't call her Candi at all. She called her by her full name Candace Joanna. I think Candi chose the overuse of her own nickname. It fits though. The blond hair, big blue eyes. . .body to die for. And the personality, of course." "Of course," Mulder nodded in a distracted sort of fashion. "Tell me what you found out while Sister Aggie was giving you the grand gymnasium tour." She looked up from her paperwork and smiled a secretive smile. She definitely knew something he didn't. "Okay. Of the six women who you met tonight. . .only two have done the actual record keeping. They all make phone calls to the California residents. They get together a few times a year and use the school or Church basement and work from long printouts. Those of us who have moved out of state are on separate spreadsheets. . .maintained by Jocelyn and Candi. The others don't have access to it because, at the beginning, they were all working from one massive list and they found there had been several duplicate long-distance calls due to a lack of coordination and the extra expense was getting ridiculous." "Then why two women now? Why not just one?" "Jocelyn was pregnant a couple of years ago and in the early stages of pregnancy, her morning sickness was so bad that she didn't always get to show up. So. . .double access." "I see. And their private lives? Or are nuns allowed to gossip?" Scully smiled. "Some nuns will gossip worse than teenaged girls, if given half the chance. Sister Aggie actually does quite freely. Jocelyn is the mother of three children--ages 9, 7 and 18 months. She is married to a real estate agent and they live not too far from the school. She really-- seems to be quite happy, from what Sister Aggie says." "And Candi?" Scully smiled the smile of the cat with the mystery canary. "Candi has no children and as June of 1998. . .no husband. She was married for 17 years. Someone straight out of high school. None other than Gary Winters." "Janet's mousy husband?" "Yes. Janet's mousy husband. See, this actually makes sense. I never thought to ask because I knew that Janet had been after Gary in school. He was the reason she joined the science club. He didn't have a great love for science but he was good at it in class and needed the extra curricular credit to spice up his college applications. She joined because she wanted him. He was very different in school. Very much the cute jock that girls went nuts over. Janet was. . .Janet. He didn't give her the time of day, but I thought after graduation, maybe he started looking at her differently. I knew he developed quite a crush on Candi shortly before graduation but I thought it had fizzled and died." "So, just how did Janet take old Gary away from his wife of 17 years?" "Well, according to Sister Agatha, it was a combination of things. Initially, believe it or not. . .she suggested, well. . .sex. I guess she knew a thing or two that maybe Candi didn't. I don't know. But once he was involved with her she just made his world seem small. He could experience things he had never experienced before and be with all the "right" people." Mulder sat back and just stared. "What?" "I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fascination of having sex with a piranha." "Soooooo. . .two and two together, Mulder. . ." "Yes, I came up with the sum the minute you told me Candi had been married to Gary. Janet stole him. Janet was in the science club. The members of the science club represent everything she feels she's lost. Doesn't quite explain why Janet wasn't targeted though." "Well, either she's saving the best for last, or she doesn't want Gary to feel the pain of losing her." "And it's all right for strangers to suffer?" "I don't have all the answers, Mulder. And I doubt if Candi is thinking this through all the way, either. I think she might just be lashing out." "So, case closed." "No. Not really. Not at all. Okay, you and I are pretty much agreed that it does seem as if Candi is the one doing this. But. . .what do we do now? We can't charge her with a damned thing. Not even malicious mischief over the crank calls, since. . .if she followed the same pattern with the others as she did with my call. . .she used a pay phone. And what else can we charge her with. . .putting people in comas? Sending them, maybe. . ." "To purgatory? No, I guess we can't charge her with that. So, where do you suggest we go from here?" "We have to find out more about what she does. How she accomplishes what she accomplishes. I think tomorrow, you should get Gary alone--away from Janet. Maybe visit him at work. I'm going over and seeing Candi's mother. I'm sure one of them must know something about this." "Okay, that sounds good." Scully put away the paperwork and Mulder slid to the edge of the bed. "You don't. . .you don't have to go, Mulder." "We're on a case, Scully. We'd be violating rule number three." She smiled. "I guess all good things come to an end. . ." "What?" Mulder looked downright panic-stricken until he saw the gleam in her eye. "Fox Mulder--rebel--turning into a rule-obeying Fed. This is the end of an era." He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her between his legs. "I'm only obeying the rules you established, not those of the Federal government. I know how testy you can get if I don't." She ran her hands across his shoulders. "I have an addendum to Rule number three." "Oh, I didn't get that memo, I guess." "If we're on a case but it's on the west coast and I'm in dire need of you spending the night, well, then rule number three can be discarded." "What if we're on the east coast and I'm the one in dire need?" "Then, it can be waived, as well." "Oh, I like that addendum." "I knew you would," she said, pushing him back against the bed and climbing over him until she was in the perfect position to do push ups directly over his body. She draped her body on him instead and looked directly into his eyes. "I'm not just in need of you spending the night. I'm in need of you. I need you and want you, Mulder. You do know that, don't you?" "I've had my suspicions." She slipped her hand between them and slid it under his shirt, rubbing his chest, then moved herself off his body and lay by his side. She pulled his shirt up and watched as her hand continued its circular motion. Mulder looked at her without saying a word. "You were right. If all this had happened at some other time, I could have slipped into a coma. I can't scientifically wrap my mind around the words of one woman who has been unconscious for over a year. Not even with my own bizarre experience to back it up. I don't know that where we went is purgatory, but it is an altered state of being and if the criteria is unhappiness and guilt feelings, I would have gone. Sometimes, I think I dont want to be so responsible for your happiness but the fact is, it's just as frightening to acknowledge how much of a role you play in mine. We've changed each other in so many different ways. It wasn't like that with anyone else. Not at all. I always felt a great separation. There was me and there was him. We could have good times together or bad but I never felt that. . .I don't know--true communion that I feel with you." She saw him nodding, trying to keep his emotions in check. It was as close as they could possibly get at the moment. And it was very close to everything he had ever wanted. She leaned over and kissed him lightly, right under his hair line. "You'll stay?" "Of course I will." "And you promise to actually try and sleep a little?" She didn't want him to continue in his role of faithful watchdog guarding her sleep. "Well, I can try." "I'll help," she smiled, reaching for his belt buckle. He closed his eyes and reveled in the sensation of her fingers gently unzipping his pants, slipping inside his clothes and then the sweet oblivion of non-thought as she placed her mouth on him and all he could do was feel. End of Part 7
Text file Source (historic): geocities.com/ginarainfic
(to report bad content: archivehelp @ gmail)
|
|
|
|
|