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The Halo Slipped

By Starbuck_Jayne
Starbuck_Jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk

Rating: R for language

Spoilers: Requiem 

Keywords:  Post-Requiem, Scully angst, 
implied MSR, 3rd person

Disclaimer:  The characters of Mulder and 
Scully do not belong to me they are the 
property of Mr. CC, 1013 productions and 
Fox.  The other 3 characters are all mine 
though...hehe. 

Archive:  Anywhere at all just please keep 
my name and e-mail attached (but no flames 
sites please)

Summary:  I met this woman at the hospital 
today...

Feedback:  On my knees and begging for it.

Author's Notes: Umm, I have never tried 
anything like this before so if it's really 
awful I would appreciate it if u told me 
then we can refer to it as "The Experiment"
and never speak of it again.  Sounds weird
after all that but this is 4 my new beta
reader...heya Pippa!  
 
The Halo Slipped

Starbuck_Jayne

I was at the hospital today.  Nothing 
serious, just a routine check-up to make 
sure everything's going ok...you know the 
deal.  But I'll tell you what I hate about 
these visits-all those women sitting there, 
absent-mindedly flicking through magazines 
on childcare and catalogues full of baby 
clothes.  I can tell they're not 
concentrating though...gazing at nothing with 
this secretive smile on their face and this 
glint in their eyes.  They look so happy, so 
hopeful, and it just, well it makes me sick.  
Oh wait, that makes me sound like such a 
complete heartless bitch, right?  I'm sorry, 
I'm sorry...I'm just feeling a little delicate 
at the moment, that's all.  Oh, I'm Lizzy by 
the way.  I'm 22 years old, this is my first 
baby and I'm scared as Hell.

Anyway, I was at the clinic, (no doubt 
subconsciously glaring at some poor, 
unsuspecting woman), when I suddenly became 
aware that someone was watching me.  My 
first thought was "the cheek of that!" but 
realising that this was a little too 
hypocritical, even by my standards, I became 
intrigued instead.  I turned to look at the 
person beside me.  She smiled softly, but she
was smiling only with her lips.  I knew
because in her eyes I saw myself.  I saw the 
red eyes, the result of nights and nights of 
crying, that were badly hidden by make-up that 
was slightly too heavy.  She was dressed 
smartly in a suit that would have disguised her 
bump anyway, so I couldn't really guess at how 
long she had been alone like this.

"My boyfriend left me too," I said, casting 
my gaze from my swollen abdomen and up to 
her face.  "He said he wasn't ready to 
become a father...the bastard."

My friend Kate always told me I shared too 
much too soon, and the poor woman looked 
terrified that I expected her to go into the 
same intimate detail.

"I'm sorry..." I apologised, extending my hand 
by way of greeting, "I'm Lizzy."

"Dana," she said, "sorry for staring."

"Oh it's fine, I do it all the time!  Sounds 
awful but I'm jealous of pretty much 
everyone here!"  I laughed bitterly.  She 
smiled again.  I don't think she knew what 
to make of me really.  Openness certainly 
didn't appear to be her strong point.

"So...men, huh?"

"Umm," she coughed, "he, he didn't *leave 
me*...he was taken."

"What?  You mean by another woman?"

"No...not exactly."

I laughed.  "Like, abducted?"

She gave me this look of total sincerity and 
for the first time in my life I was 
speechless.  Huh, Kate woulda *loved* that!

"He...he doesn't even know I'm pregnant."

She bit her lip.  Oh shit I made her cry.  
"I, I'm sorry," I said.  Damn.  Ok so Barry 
was a jerk but at least I knew he was around 
somewhere...just waiting for me to go round 
there and kick his ass.  And don't think I 
won't cos I will!  Oh, ok so this isn't 
about me.

I looked back and found, to my extreme 
relief, that she wasn't crying at all.  (This 
was a woman who was used to hiding her 
emotions!)  She was actually smiling instead.

"The doctors told me I couldn't have 
children," she offered, "We'd tried 
everything fertility clinics could offer but 
all it got me was further and further in 
debt."

I wondered briefly if she wasn't actually 
pregnant at all-just some lonely psychopath 
who had been pushed to the limit the last 
time the results of her pregnancy tests came 
back negative; and now spent her days 
wandering dazedly through maternity 
hospitals.

All at once she began to look uncomfortable 
with the whole situation, as though shocked 
with herself that she'd already shared more 
with me in the ten minutes we had known each 
other than she had with the father of her 
child.

"I...I'm sorry.  I should go," she made as if 
to leave but I had to stop her.  This was 
someone whose life was in a bigger mess than 
mine-she needed some friendly advice.  Oh ok 
so I admit it!  I wanted her to stay cause 
listening to her story made me feel better 
about *my* situation.  I'm a selfish cow.  
There, you happy?  

Well, she seemed reluctant to stay at first, 
but what can I say?  I guess I must just be 
easy to talk to.

"So...the treatment finally worked and he's 
not here to celebrate with you, right?  Gee 
that's tough!"

"It wasn't the treatment," she said, "I 
don't know what it was but it wasn't 
anything to do with fertility treatment."

It was then I realised.  She *did* know what 
it was that had caused her pregnancy...or at 
least she liked to think that she did.  I 
could see it right there in her smile...it was 
as if all the love she had for this man had 
by some miracle enabled her to conceive a 
child.  Well, of course that was impossible, 
but it made me realise that I have never 
known true love!  Ok so I *am* only 22 and 
there's time yet...but if me and Barry had had 
anything that was so much as a fraction of 
what these two had we would be part of the 
happiest little family I've ever known.  
Almost.

She left soon after that, only once turning 
round in embarrassment as I yelled down the 
hallway "he'll be back, Dana!  You'll see!  
He'd be crazy not to move Heaven and Earth 
to get back to his family!"  She seemed to 
flinch at the word "family" and gave me the 
sort of smile that one would when trying to 
escape an insane and hormonal woman without 
drawing any more attention to herself than I 
had already managed to do.

With a "What-you-looking-at?" glance towards 
the women who had seemingly become far more 
interested in me than staring dreamily into 
space, I sat down with a contented sigh.  I 
can't wait to fall in love.   

~The End~

www.geocities.com/starbuck_Jayne

Feedback is worshipped at:

Starbuck_jayne@mulderandscully.co.uk