Maturity: Chapter 2 Reflections

By: Merlin

Category: MSR, Everyone Angst
Keywords: S, MSR
Rating: PG-13 for violence

Spoilers: Basically, everything up to and including the Movie, Season 6 never happened.

Summary: Mulder is injured by a serial killer and spend some time reflecting on his life so far.

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer. Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, Maggie Scully, and the other regulars belong to 1013. I am just borrowing them for a short adventure. Johnny Nokamura, and the other Anaheim agents, Doctors, etc. are mine.

Authors Notes: This is my first attempt at fan fiction after being a avid reader for the last 4 years. I wrote this story to give M & S a chance to not be trashed all of the time, and to give them a shot at payback (watch for future additions to the series) I figured at some point Mulder would have to grow up. Well he is here. I would like to
thank several Beta Readers for their help, Shiv, Xenith, and Kel.

Chapter 2, Reflections

Anaheim California,
Mercy Hospital
Wednesday June 9th, 1999, 9:30am

Maggie Scully stood looking out the window. She heard a soft moan behind her and she turned to see her daughter shifting in her sleep. Even in sleep, you could see the desperation in her face, the worry she held inside for the man in the bed. The man who had to have machines help him breath. The man who had stood in the way of a madman who wanted to kill her daughter. A man whom she loved as a son.
She moved to where her daughter was sleeping in a chair, and pulled the blanket up closer to her, then looked over to where Fox lay, unmoving. He was connected to so many tubes and devices, some kind of pump, pulling blood out of his chest. Blood and other antibiotics going in. Other things to monitor his condition. Tears stung her eyes as she thought back to that day, when she had looked in to see Fox, with his gun in his hand. She had no doubt at all, that Dana would only precede Fox in death by a short time. She had not intruded, as she almost did, but saw him put it on the table. When she saw his shoulders shaking with sobs she knocked on the door after giving him a moment to get hold of himself.
Then she thought back to when Dana was dying of cancer, and something Fox had done had cured her. She didn’t know what it was, or how he did it, but she was sure that he was responsible for her cure. Then she had heard from a nurse that her son had the nerve to call Fox a sorry son of a bitch. Dana had never known that he blamed Fox for everything that had happened to the family. Maggie had quietly pulled her son to the side later that morning, and read him the riot act up one side and down the other. Bill still didn’t like Mulder, but he did know when he was outnumbered, and he kept his feeling mostly to himself.
She thought back to last summer, something had happened then, she didn’t know what, but it was big. Dana had come to visit the signs of some injury still healing her face. They talked some, Dana finally admitting that she had been abducted again. But Fox had gotten her back. She was shocked to find out that Fox had traveled to Antarctica to rescue her daughter. She didn’t learn any more of what had gone on, but something had changed them. Fox was the one who had changed the most.
About a month after Dana’s visit there was a hostage situation in Washington DC. It was on the news all day long. At the end, the guy had been talked into letting every one go free, and had surrendered to the FBI hostage negotiator, Fox Mulder. The news had shown him and Dana exiting the building and turning the man over to the police. Then about a week later she had invited him and Dana to a barbecue, and he had accepted without argument.
Over the next few months more examples of his new found maturity had come to the open. High profile crimes solved, but Fox not taking as much credit as he probably deserved.
He would praise his team members for their effort, when it was all his insight that solved the cases. Then last month, he had invited her to the FBI Spring picnic, as his and Dana’s guest. When it came to the games, his and Dana’s teamwork had paid off again. Their team had won the bureau volleyball tournament, a good part by their skill, and ability to work together setting up the ball for the front line players. A fact pointed out to her by Walter Skinner. Though no longer their boss, he still stayed in touch.
Yes, her Fox was finally growing up, returning to the mainstream of the FBI. Now if she could only get him and Dana to act on their feelings for each other.
One of the Nurses, Angie McAdams came in to give Maggie a message.
“There is a Commander William Scully out in the Waiting room to see you.”
“Okay thanks.” Replied Maggie.
The nurse checked over all of the equipment, noted Mulders vital signs on the chart, then left. Maggie looked over at Dana again, debating whether or not to wake her to go see Bill. She decided that Dana needed the rest more than anything, and left the room by herself.
Maggie left the room, and saw Bill, Tara, and her grandson Matty sitting in the waiting area. Bill stood quickly embracing his mother, Tara stood at his side waiting her turn. Maggie made the rounds hugging everyone. When she was done she turned back to Bill.
“What are you doing here Bill, as I last recall, you had stated that this family would be better off if Mulder would have never been born.”
Bill paled, but looked right back into her eyes. “I was wrong mom! I may not like Mulder, but I saw the shooting on the news last night. I knew as soon as I realized what was going on that Mulder was sacrificing himself for Dana, and the reporter too. He could have saved himself, and the reporter, but then Dana would have been killed. I realized then how much he loves her, I guess I couldn’t, or wouldn’t see it before, But I,.. We wanted to be here for her.”
“Oh Bill, I hoped you would be able to work your hatred of Fox out of your head, Dana Loves him, and he is not the cause of our problems. He has been like a son to me when you and Charlie were unable to get home. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
“I realize that now mom, I finally saw what he would be willing to do for Dana. We.” He said putting his arm around Tara, “Just want to be here for Dana, and Mulder if we can.”

Anaheim California,
Mercy Hospital
Wednesday June 9th, 1999, 1:30pm.

Dana Scully sat next to the bed that her partner lay in, the fingers of her right hand absent mindedly stroking the back of Fox Mulders hand.
Her mind wandered back to other times when she had sat near him when he was injured. After that disaster in Siberia, when he was shot in the leg, severed an artery, and almost bled to death. When he had confronted Krycek, drugged out of his mind, and she herself had to shoot him. Then her thoughts drifted off to other things as the life giving machines did their job. She remembered resenting the assignment to “validate” Agent Mulders work, she was not a spy. Someone had not realized that she took her job far to seriously to just look to shoot down someone’s work, without verifying and double-checking the data. She studied ALL the evidence before submitting a report; she was not one to falsify facts.
Then when she first saw him, she could not believe how handsome he was. Then when they shook hands, electricity sparked between them. Now they just passed the mark of being partners for 6 years, things had really changed, she had seen, hell done things that no sane person should be expected to. She had been abducted, had three months of her life taken from her. She had been made barren, given cancer, and then cured. A daughter appeared, only to die in agony a short time later.
She thought back to last summer, when she stood in Mulders hall, hearing from his lips how much she meant to him, to have him lean over to kiss her, then after the briefest of touches that damned Bee had stung her.
She had felt sure that they were close to moving on to the next step of their relationship, when this happened. Well she was not going to wait any longer for Fox to make the first move, if he got over this, no. When he got over this, she was going to start something, if he didn’t. She started to stand when the door opened. A tall man in a Navy uniform stood in the door.
“Dana, can I come in?”
Dana looked at her brother somewhat coldly. “Yes Bill, as if I could stop you.”
He walked over to her and put his arm around her, and gave her a brief hug, feeling her stiffen.
“We saw it happen on the news. I just wanted to be here for you.”
Dana turned to look at Bill, and saw the sadness and regret in his eyes. Her eyebrow raised up questioning.
“I don’t know why I blamed him for everything before Dana, I really don’t. Still he was partly responsible for you being in those situations, even though it was your choice, and I have to learn to understand that. But on the TV this afternoon, I saw what he was willing to do for you, and I realized how wrong I had been. Don’t ask us to be best buds, at least for awhile, it will take some time to get used to each other, but I will be here for you both.”
Scully embraced her brother, suddenly thankful for the support he offered.
A gagging sound came from behind her and one of the machines monitoring Mulder got louder. Dana turned to see Fox waking up, unable to breathe on his own, and gagging on the tube down his throat.
“Bill, get the Doctor, Mulder is waking up!”
Dana grabbed at Mulders hands that were heading for the tube, her cast making things awkward. “Mulder, look at me.” He quieted slightly. “There is a ventilator tube in your throat, relax, let it breathe for you.” He calmed some more. Dana leaned over more, so he could see her eyes.
“Trust me here Mulder, you were shot three times in the chest, you have some lung damage, if you relax, let the machine breathe for you, and don’t fight the process, you will be fine, you will be 100% when you get out of here.” She looked into his eyes. “Mulder. Listen to me. I Love you too, but I want you to try to relax and let the doctors take care of you. Please. For me?”
She felt him squeeze her hand, and saw in his eyes that he would do as she asked. The machines returned to normal and Mulder lay back quietly as the doctor came in.
“Well Mr. Mulder, I am glad to see that you are awake. I would imagine that you are in some pain, so I will have something given to you in a moment. I take it Dr. Scully has given you a rundown of your condition, right? So that I understand, please blink one long for yes, two fast for no, and many fast for I don’t know, or don’t understand, okay?
Mulder blinked one long time.
“Good. Well, here is the situation, you are awake and conscious. There was a lot of damage to your left lung, with some to the right one. You need to have the ventilator to help you breathe, the four broken ribs will cause a lot of pain otherwise. Do you understand me?”
Again, one long blink.
“Okay, we now have two choices, I can put you into a medical coma for the next two or three days. The other choice is giving you an epidural that will paralyze you from the upper chest down. We can’t have you fighting the ventilator. Do you understand?”
One long blink.
“Do you want to be out?”
Two fast blinks.
“Are you sure Mr. Mulder? It will be difficult, you won’t be able to do much more that sleep and think.”
One long blink.
Before the Dr. could continue Scully cut in.
“Mulder, if you want to be awake, I will be here for you.” There was a throat clearing sound behind her. “I mean we will be here for you, we can talk to you and you can blink. I mean, think of the opportunity, to talk to Fox Mulder, and not have him be able to talk back.”
A wink, and really long blink.
“Okay, look we need to let the Dr. do what he needs to do, I will be right outside, when he is done I will be back in, Okay?

Anaheim California,
Mercy Hospital
Wednesday June 9th, 1999, 7:20pm.

Walter Skinner stood looking out the window, not really seeing anything, but looking anyway. Mulder had drifted off to sleep a while ago, and he was thinking about their one sided conversation.
Mulder firmly believed that there were extraterrestrial beings here on earth, that there was some conspiracy to allow the Alien race to take over the earth. Not only that, he claimed to have been on one of their ships when he rescued Scully in Antarctica. He had seen naval reports that a large object has tripped the radar pickets before vanishing in Antarctica, and that had made him wonder.
His superiors had thrown Mulder and Scully to the wolves many times, and that smoking bastard had his hand in on several set ups. What was going on, Walter did not know, but he was tired of being used.
He turned and looked at Mulder. His eyes were still closed, chest moving slightly in time with the ventilator. Other machines beeping and humming quietly.
The Night Nurse, just starting her shift came in and checked Mulders vitals and IV levels, giving Walter a smile when he looked at her.
As she left, he turned back to the window. He had wondered several times what had happened in Antarctica. Mulder had given him a brief story about pulling Scully out of some pod on a UFO that was buried in the snow and ice. The New Zealand rescue team said they found them in a snow cat, not far from a giant sinkhole.
They had gotten Scully’s SOS, right after a fairly heavy earthquake. An Earthquake, which according to Australian Geologists, was centered where the sinkhole was.
Something was going on and he did not like it one bit.
He frowned down at his cold cup of coffee, and reflected on the changes in Mulder after they returned to duty from their absence. When it was announced that the X-Files would be reopened, but that they would be headed by Special Agent Jeffery Spender, and included Special Agent Diana Foley, Walter had watched Mulders face for a reaction. He saw Mulders jaw tighten, and saw the flash of anger in his eyes, but that was the only reaction. Mulder behaved like a mature adult for once, surprising him, and that smoking bastard as well.
Ever since then Mulder had handled himself with maturity, professionalism, and a quiet dignity that impressed quite a few people.
People had written Mulder off, career wise, but these last few high profile cases had pushed Mulder back onto the fast track. Oh, Mulder would never admit it, he was the last one to take credit for doing his job. But there were more people on his side than he knew about, and word was getting out. Fox Mulder was becoming a player.
Walter took one more look at the coffee in his hand, and then he set the cup on the windowsill and rubbed his eyes. He heard the door open and saw a male nurse come in with some medication. He turned back toward the window not paying attention to the nurse.
Out at the Nurses station, Bill Scully was on the phone with his mother who had just paged him with a 911 message.
“Yes mom, I will make sure he gets the message. Yes mom, I got the General Tso’s Chicken for him. No mom, I won’t cause trouble.” He looked up as the Male Nurse entered Mulders room. He didn’t know why, but something about the nurse, was bothering him. Bill promised his mom that he would be good, then noticed the Nurse at the desk in front of him. It hit him suddenly.
He slammed the phone down, and yelled for the startled Nurse to get security up here right away, then sprinted for the door.
When he slammed through the door Walter jumped, and so did the nurse who was injecting something into Mulder’s IV.
“Mr. Skinner, grab him, he’s trying to kill Mulder!”
The Nurse dropped the syringe as Walter moved toward him, and pulled out a knife. Bill, who was still moving toward the man saw his chance, he let go with a hard right, putting all of his strength behind it. The thunk that was heard when his fist connected, left no doubt that it was a knockout. The man dropped to the floor and Walter handcuffed him immediately.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked as Bill started pulling the IV’s out.
“I don’t know, but he was trying to kill Mulder!”
Bill was holding the IV needle up as two security guards, a doctor and a nurse entered. They had their guns drawn when they entered, but a brief examination of Walter’s ID was all it took to calm them down. Bill turned to the doctor.
“I pulled his IV out, this man,” and he pointed to the bogus nurse. “Was injecting something in his IV when I came it. The syringe is on the floor somewhere.”
The nurse found it, picked it up, and handed it to the doctor.
“Any idea what is in it.?”
“No, but I would guess that is has something in it that would be dangerous to a man in Mulders condition, and something that would be hard to trace.”
The doctor send the nurse to the lab with both the syringe, and the IV setup, along with a third security guard who was there to safe guard the chain of evidence for the hospital. The security guards were taking the man who was just waking up out to meet the police when Dana and Margaret arrived.
“Sir, what happened here?”
“Looks like your brother prevented an assassin from killing Mulder.”
Dana gasped, Margaret looked shocked. And Walter finally asked the question he wanted answered.
“How did you know Commander Scully?”
Bill tried to look sheepish, but explained. “I have been in Naval Intelligence for the last nine years. I have been trained to be observant. The nurse was coming out of the room when mom paged me. I had asked how things were while I was calling mom.
While I was talking, the other Nurse came from down the hall and went in. Something bothered me about the guy, but I wasn’t sure what until I saw the other nurses’ hands. She had only a smooth wedding ring on, but the one that went into the room had rings on most of his fingers, which is against hospital policy, they can get in the way of equipment and stuff, and bacteria hide under them. Surgeons and surgical nurses wear no jewelry on hands or wrists.”
“That must have been when you yelled for security and dropped the phone.” Said Margaret.
“Yea. I rushed in, told Mr. Skinner to stop the guy, decked him, and then pulled out the IV.”
“Which was a very good thing Mr. Scully, that syringe was full of a coagulating agent that would have probably blocked his arteries, stopping Mr. Mulders heart from beating.” Said the doctor as he hung the phone up.
Dana went to Bill, put her arms around him, hugging him as hard as she could and whispered.
“Thank you Bill, Thank you for saving him.”
“Anything for you Dana.” He said hugging her back, “Anything to make you happy.”
And the rift that had formed between brother and sister took a giant step to being healed.

Anaheim California,
Mercy Hospital
Thursday June 10th, 1999, 1:20pm

Mulder had just gone to sleep, and Dana decided to take a walk to stretch her tired legs a bit. She had spent all morning in a hearing to determine who was at fault for Agent Mulder getting injured. ASAC Anderson, and Agent Simpson were both determined to be at fault. Anderson for ignoring Mulders profile as to the level of danger the suspect presented, and Simpson for having bullets that were not only against FBI policy, but also against the law in his gun, and for being careless with the prisoner.
Dana put her sweater on as she stepped out of the room. She went over to the nurses’ station and said.
“I’m going to take a quick walk in the garden, Mulder just went to sleep.”
“Okay Dr. Scully.” Answered one of the nurses.
“Oh, Dr. Scully.” Said another. “That woman over there.” She pointed to a smallish woman who looked to be in her early 60’s. “She came in late last night, and was asking about Mr. Mulder. Then she came back early this morning, and has been here all day.”
“Did she give you her name?”
“No she didn’t, I asked if she wanted us to call you, but she said that it wasn’t important.”
“Okay, thank you, I will talk to her.”
The woman stood looking out the window, and didn’t hear Dana approach.
“Excuse me, but I heard you were asking about Fox Mulder.”
The woman jumped slightly at the sound of Dana’s voice, and turned.
When the woman turned, Dana found herself looking into the sad eyes of Teena Mulder, Fox’s mother.
“Oh, Mrs. Mulder. Oh God, I am so sorry, I forgot to call you about Mul.. Fox.”
“That is quite all right Miss Scully, I’m sure you had other worries on your mind.”
“Yes, but still….”
“No buts Miss Scully. I gave up my rights to be a parent when Fox was 12.
I know that you are listed as his next of kin, just like I know your mother treats him like a son. My therapist says that if I am ever to come to grips with my relationship with my son, I must be truthful to everyone involved, including myself ”
“But How, Why?”
“Just because I have not been a parent to him, does not mean that I don’t love him. I know much of what happens to you two. Most of the times he has been in the hospital, I have been close by. I would not dare to intrude on you, but I was always near. When I saw on TV what happened yesterday, I couldn’t stay away. For some reason this time was different and I had to come, but I could not intrude.”
“You would not be intruding, he is your son.”
“You are being kind Miss Scully, I just wanted to know that he was going to be alright! Would you give him a message for me?”
“Of course. But why don’t you give it to him yourself, you can see him when he wakes up.”
“I don’t want to upset him”
“I don’t think it would, maybe this would be a good time to start healing old wounds.”
Anaheim California,
Mercy Hospital
Thursday June 10th, 1999, 4:40pm.
Dana, Maggie Scully and Teena Mulder sat in the cafeteria eating something that someone may consider an early dinner. They were talking about Fox, Mrs. Mulder giving away some of the details of his childhood.
“Fox always had a profound disrespect for authority figures, and it started at an early age.” She started. “The IQ test that we had done was taken when he was 9, and he rated in the genius category, he has refused to take another since then. When he was 13 he challenged one of his teachers on some point of knowledge, the teacher was so arrogant about it that Fox decided to embarrass him in from of the class. Well the teacher went to Bill, and he punished Fox for disturbing the class. Bill was always hard on Fox, but after Samantha…” she paused shuddering as she remembered.
“After Samantha disappeared he was out of control. Well, he punished Fox severely and made Fox apologize to the teacher. Well, after that all the teachers were worried about him, so they were careful in their lessons.
He spent all of his time alone, or playing basketball. You see when Samantha was taken, I shut down. I took Valium for so long that I missed most of Fox’s remaining school years, and I let his father pretty much take care of everything. Then when Bill lost control and put Fox in the hospital I had to do something.”
She paused to drink some coffee.
“Once Bill moved out, Fox pretty much took care of himself, I was out of it most of the time, barely able to take care of myself. Then he went to Oxford. He has always been a good son, and he always calls and lets me know what was going on. He came and saw me once, when you were missing Dana, and he sat down on my couch and cried for an hour. I knew then that he had found someone, and was in love.
I wanted to do nothing more that hold him, but I felt so guilty about how I had treated him all of his life, that I couldn’t. When he left I cried for hours over what I had become.”
“I remember him talking about that visit,” said Maggie. “He was so relieved that you allowed him to unburden himself, and talk. It made him feel better to be with you.”
“Yes, and your visit did go well today.” Said Dana. “He was glad to see you, maybe now you can start to get to know each other again.”
“I hope so Dana, and I would like to get to know you too. It is always good to get to know your future daughter in law.”
“Dana sat up suddenly gasping. Her mother just smiled.

A Private Club Room
New York City

“So, now do we not only have to worry about Mulder, Scully and Skinner we also have to worry about a local flunky talking out of turn.”
“Don’t worry.” Said the smoker. “There will be no talking. Mulders assailant has already met with an unfortunate accident.”
“That is good, but now we still have to worry about Mulder. We cannot attempt anything so blatant again anytime soon, he will be guarded for some time.”
“Yes, for now he will be left alone, but if he comes to getting to close, then we will have no choice.”
“You almost sound like you admire him.”
“I do.” He replied, lighting up another Morley. “I do admire his tenacity, his devotion to his cause, his ability to reach conclusions faster and better that others. His investigative skill, his loyalty, and his passion are traits to be admired.”
“Just don’t let your admiration get in the way.”
“Not a chance.” Was the reply.

Anaheim California,
Mercy Hospital
Friday June 11, 1999, 10:15am.

Walter Skinner was sitting and dozing on the comfortable couch in the ICU waiting room. Dana was in with Mulder as they were removing the ventilator.
Maggie and Mrs. Mulder had just gone out for some coffee and muffins. He glanced up at the door to the room Mulder was in when a nurse came out. The two uniformed police guards were watching everyone carefully.
He heard the elevator announce its presence, and he glanced at the tall redheaded man who got out.
Bill Scully got out and walked over to where Walter was sitting.
“Mornin Walter, what’s up?”
“They’re removing the ventilator tube, and getting him to breathe on his own.” He replied.
“Walter, I have a question, and it’s one that I hope you will answer honestly.”
“I’ll try, I can’t promise anything, but I will try.”
“What the hell is Mulder and my sister involved in?”
Walter looked at Bill Scully for a moment, and then answered.
“They have uncovered evidence of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of our government. Evidence that there is a group of individuals who would do anything possible to bring our government to its knees.” As he said this, he looked Bill right in the eye.
“Walter, I wish you hadn’t look me in the eye when you said that.”
“Why?”
“Because now I believe that you were telling me the truth.” Bill sighed and sat down next to Walter.
“Ever since Dana go involved with Mulder, I have hated him, I blamed him for Missy’s death, and for Dana’s cancer. I could never see what she saw in him.”
“She loves him.”
“I realize that now. And I realize that he loves her, I could see that on the news film of what happened. Mom always said that they were doing important work, but I had heard that they were just chasing UFO’s, and little Green Men. And I had heard of his reputation.”
“They’re Gray.”
“What??”
“The Little Green men, they are actually gray.”
“Whatever. I just thought that they were wasting their time, and the taxpayers money chasing UFO’s. And the thought of Dana wasting her life like that just pissed me off. And again I blamed him.”
“They caught one.” Said Walter quietly.
“What?” said Bill, whipping his head around to look at Walter.
“Well, actually, one caught them, or Dana anyway.”
“What happened.”
“Look, this is all in the public record. Last summer, the two of them were investigating the bombing in Dallas, and came upon some interesting evidence. Anyway to make a long story shorter, Dana was drugged and abducted from near Mulders apartment. The people who were doing it managed to shoot Mulder in the head in the process.” Walter paused to look at Bill, and take a drink of his coffee. “Mulder was only grazed, and he managed to sneak out of the hospital.”
“He found out where Scully had been taken, and was given an antidote to whatever she was drugged with. He cleaned out his bank account, cashed in some stocks, and called in all the favors he could, then trekked to Antarctica to get her.”
Walter again paused, smiling to himself at Bills expression.
“As far as the rest of the details go, I can’t tell you, that would have to come from them.”
“Son of a bitch! Was this during the first week in July?”
“Yes it was.” Answered Walter, puzzled.
“The first week in July, I was in Pearl. There was a mess of earthquake reports, and UFO reports coming out of SOUPAC. They mentioned Antarctica. There were also UFO reports from New Zealand and Australia. There was mention of Mulders name on a report, but when I went back to look at it, it has been classified with a level one security. About that time we also had a request to sent an air ambulance to Auckland. Was that for them?”
“Yes it was, I really had to pull some strings to make that happen.”
Bill sat with a stunned expression on his face.
“He went to Antarctica to find her?”
“Yes he did. I don’t know all the details of what he had to go through, but he got there in less than 72 hours. And he had to do it all on his own. He had no official support whatsoever.”
“No wonder Dana almost took my head off when I said something about Mulder last Thanksgiving. She told me that I had no idea of what he was willing to do for her, or how far he would go. At the time I had no idea.”
“Yea, they are something else. I have never seen two people do devoted to each other. I wonder if they are ever going to do something about it.”
“What!” said Bill, rather loudly. “Are you going to tell me that they are not sleeping together.”
“Yes I am, Hell, I don’t even think that they have ever kissed.”
“You gotta be kidding.”
“I’m not! Those two have been thoroughly professional about their relationship the entire time that I have known them. But they are so devoted to each other that anyone can see the depth of their feelings. My secretary has been taking bets on when they will finally admit what everyone else knows.”
“What’s the deal with Mulder and this weird stuff he and my sister do?”
“Do you know what the X-Files are Bill?” asked Walter. Bill shook his head and said that he was not really sure.
“The X-Files are most of the time cases that have not been solved by normal means. Dana and Mulder investigated those cases, most of them involving deaths that had occurred in a strange or horrible circumstance. Those two, had a 90 plus percent solve rate. On cases that most people had already given up on. And the ones that they could not claim as solved had the deaths stop. Those two are damn good Bill, the Best the FBI has, and of course the FBI makes fun of the Ice Queen and Spooky, when they are not investigating fertilizer purchases.”
“Ice Queen?”
“Yea, that’s Dana’s nickname at the bureau.”
“But Dana is not like that at all.” Said Bill, who was growing angry.
“I know that, and so does anyone who knows her, but most don’t want to know her.”
“Because of Mulder!” stated Bill.
“Partly because of The X-Files yes, but she had the nickname from before she knew him, she picked it up at the academy.”
“Do you know why?”
“I have heard rumors, but for more you should ask her.”

Go to Maturity: Chapter 3 Recovery