PART TEN
Disclaimer and other stuff in part one.
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Part Ten-Epilogue
Friday, October 9, 1998
10:30 p.m.
Staten Island
Mulder guided the car along the highway easily,
the late hour saw not too many people driving. He
glanced over at Scully peacefully sleeping in the
passenger seat, and he smiled. The past two weeks
had been pretty hectic, and this was the earliest
they could get away for vacation.
After that fateful Saturday they had spent a
few more days in Staten Island, running tests on the
newly awakened kids. Of course, nothing abnormal could
be found in their systems, and all traces of digitalis
and the strange compound were gone. Mulder had figured
that it was a residual effect of having their souls
returned to their bodies.
Back in D.C. they had to deal with the usual
paperwork that's left when a case is finished. They
did put in for vacation though, and managed to get a
Monday off for a three day weekend.
They decided to head back up to Staten Island.
Cat had invited them to come over any time, so they
decided to take her up on the offer. In the past two
weeks though Mulder had spent a good hour of every
night on the phone playing catch-up with Cat and his
father, Jerome, and Shannon. It would also give
Mulder a chance to meet the relatives that weren't
there two weeks ago, Shannon's two older kids, Sage
and Connor, who were away at college. He'd also see
his older brother Colin and his wife, who didn't come
back from their trip until after they left for D.C.
Mulder sighed quietly as he found the right exit.
Things were so different now. In the space of about
two months he found out things about his past that he
never remembered happening, found his original family,
and found out about abilities he has that he didn't
even realize existed.
One of the best things that happened was that
he and Scully had finally admitted their feelings
for each other. Mulder reached over and caressed
Scully's cheek with his hand. Scully sighed softly
in her sleep and nuzzled into his hand. It was the
first time Mulder felt himself truly in love, not
like the love he thought he had in past relationships.
His and Scully's was a love that had evolved from a
basis of respect and friendship that eventually became
a love deeper than either had ever experienced before.
A major concern of his was his relationship with
Tina, the woman who had raised him and was his mother
for many years. He had no intention of severing all
ties with her, he still loved her. In essence she
had helped make him into the man he was today. But,
ever since she had told him about when he was found
on Martha's Vineyard, whenever he tried to call her
she always seemed distant. Mulder knew he was going
to have to find a way to balance both his families,
even though the Mulder family was pretty small.
Samantha was another sore point. Since that
contact during that hellish time right before Scully's
cancer went into remission, he hadn't had anymore
contacts with her. He kept thinking about how she
wasn't his real sister, and wondering what Cancer Man
had told her about him. Mulder assumed that Cancer Man
knew he was adopted, since he knew Bill Mulder since,
well, before he was living with them. The thing with
Samantha was that he surely considered her his sister.
He was afraid that finding this lost part of him would
make him forget about one of the major things that had
guided his life.
Then, there was the Dragon thing. He'd had trouble
believing it at first, this was something truly
fantastic, even for him to believe. But the next day,
that Sunday, Alec had took him out flying. It was an
incredible sensation. Even though the Dragon body he
was in was no bigger than six inches, the feel of being
in the shape was strange but intensely familiar, like the
knowledge of it had been in his bones since before time.
Scully was also learning about being a Witch. Cat,
Shannon's husband Johnathan, a fellow Witch, and
especially Molly were helping her cope and learn about
her newfound powers. He had the feeling she'd been
practicing, ever since she fell in the toilet one morning
because he left the seat up (it was his apartment, he was
still getting used to being a couple and having someone
else share his living space) and he found his pajamas
suddenly doused with water--without any sink or faucet
or incriminating cups nearby. That and the wicked grin
Scully had on for the rest of the day gave him a hint.
There was a stirring in the seat next to him, and
Mulder's eyes moved slightly to see Scully stretching
out the kinks in her neck. "Are we almost there?"
she asked.
Mulder looked out the window at the street
signs. "Almost. I think another five minutes."
He shot a sly grin at her. "Hey, at least we'll
get to share a bedroom here," he quipped.
Scully mock glared at him, but then rubbed a
hand over her face. "I can't believe I haven't
told my mom about this yet."
Mulder shrugged and took her left hand in his
right. "Maybe it's better that they don't know about
this just yet. They're closer to all our enemies down
there, as bad as it sounds maybe they've got a close
watch on them because they're your relatives. But I
wouldn't worry about it. When the time is right,
we'll tell her together, and then you can protect me
from your older brother who I'm sure would want to see
me six feet under after that announcement," he smiled
at her.
She laughed softly and pulled his hand to her
mouth and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. "You know,
I don't think I'm really ready to tell them yet either.
I like having this special secret." Mulder smiled at
her and rubbed her face once more with his hand.
Mulder peered out the front window. "I think
that's the driveway." He turned the car onto the
long, sloping driveway. When he pulled up he saw
Cat, Mama, standing at the side door wrapped in a
long shawl, with her eyes sparkling in the light
coming from the doorway, and her bright smile on
her face. He stopped the car, and him and Scully
got out. The hands that weren't carrying their
overnight bags interlaced and interlocked fingers
as they walked up to where Cat was.
Mulder saw his mother standing in front of him
and Scully standing by his side, and he finally
realized where he was.
Fox Mulder was finally home.
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END OF WHOLE STORY-Lightening Shadows VII-Destiny=Chance,
Free Will, and Necessity
Wow! I finally finished this thing after six months of
hard work, and I think it was worth it. It came out much,
MUCH longer than I had planned, but if I had made it any
shorter, I think the story would have lost something.
Don't worry, there will be more stories in this series,
I don't think I could leave it off here when there are
still so many more things that could be done with it.
Please send feedback and tell me what you think of it.
My addy is RhiaRamsay@aol.com
Thanks go to my sister, Melissa, for helping me out and
for her love of Dragons. To Julie, for reassuring me
that the story was good. To Rosie, for bugging me as
to when I would finish the story, and to all the other
people whose comments made me get the story out faster.
Thank you so much!
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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.'
Lightbringer
High Wizardry
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'It wasn't the fall that
hurt me, it was the
sudden stop at the end.'
Sir Isaac Newton
Histeria
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'Here's to chloral
hydrate!'
Hawkeye Pierce
M*A*S*H
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(
geocities.com/rhiaramsay)