=========================================================================== Archive Note: Charleyne Hall has a new email address: lazydark@aol.com =========================================================================== From: lazydark@aol.com (Drakkar) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: When They Were Young... By Charleyne Hall Date: Wed, 23 Aug 95 20:04:16 GMT [August 7, 1995] *Authors note: Well, here goes the second attempt at the XF Fan Fiction. Right after the first too. Well, no matter. This one is looking at some new aspects of the X-Files. Scully and Mulder as children. How can that be? I'm not sure, why don't you read on and find out! Excuse any inaccurate names, places or ages. Happy reading... Charleyne Hall Comments are welcome, E-Mail me at: lazydark@aol.com [Disclaimers go here... Not sure what they should be... All that apply I suppose] ----- [When they were young...] The eight year old Fox Mulder was nothing at all like he grew up to be. In his gleeful youth, he found nothing greater than the company of his sister and the love of his parents. Fox had been a cute child, many of his parents friends adored him. He and Samantha both were the highlight of his family. Needless to say, Fox was also adventurous. One sunny day in June, he had been playing cops and robbers with his sister, and as usual he'd bullied her into playing the robber. He chased her through the vast fields down the rows of grapevines, hiding here and there and occasionally squirting her with his water gun, when he spotted her. Samantha had been unusually witty today. She managed to fire at him several more time than usual with her own water gun, but Fox didn't mind. He liked it when his sister sometimes bested him, it made him feel as though maybe he'd taught her a little something. They rarely fought and when the occasion sometimes arose, they were quick to make up. She was only five, but she'd been a bright girl for her age, sometimes showing intelligence far beyond her years. In truth Fox admired his little sister deeply. That day in June, he'd been playing out in the field chasing her around with his little gun, when he'd slipped and fallen into the mud. His sister had come out of her hiding place to enquire if he was alright. As a reply, he sprayed her with his gun. 'Gotcha!' he cried. 'Not fair! I was just seeing if you were alright.' she replied. 'Okay, I'll close my eyes and you can run for the count of ten, then hide okay?' he asked, watching her saddened face suddenly brighten. 'Alright, but no peeking!' she said and began running. He watched her for a split second before squeezing his eyes shut and beginning the count. 'One steamboat, two steamboat, three steamboat...' he said loudly. Soon, he'd finished the count and was crouching down to see if he could spot her little pink shoes beneath the vines. Not seeing them, he stood up, holding his yellow coloured water gun close to his side. He ran stiffly along, imitating some of the cops he'd watched on T.V. Out of the corner of his eye, Fox spotted Samantha running the opposite direction from his in another row over. He smiled, readying for the chase. Her little feet carried her much more quickly than he thought, she was agile for a five year old, and it took him minutes to catch up. There was a break between the rows of vines, and when he reached it, he dove into her aisle. 'Put your hands on your head!' he cried, pointing the gun at the little girl. 'Don't hurt me! I ain't done nothing!' she replied using an accent he'd taught her. 'Turn around and face the vines.' he said giggling. He was about to handcuff her with some of his fake handcuffs when his mother called out to them from a distance. 'Fox! Samantha! Dinner's ready!' he heard. 'Beat ya there.' Mulder challenged. 'You're on.' she cried, scrambling away from him. He waited until she was at least two yards from him, before he began a slow jog. He'd let her win this time, knowing he'd enjoy the taunting that she'd soon shower him with. Fox Mulder was just too happy to realize that in a year, his life would be shattered. ----- Little Dana Scully watched her brothers shooting at the cans. She was surprised at how well aimed they were. Sometimes she wished they'd let her join in, but at most she just liked to sit under the oak tree watching them. Sometimes her sister, Melissa, would sit with her, but she was rarely ever interested her brothers firing practice. Her older brother, Bill, was currently showing her younger brother how to hold and shoot the little beebee gun he'd gotten for his recent birthday. She remembered when her father had said to the boys that they were never to point their guns at anything other than cans. She listened as Bill explained to the younger boy. 'Now, Jeff, you have to remember that these things are smaller versions of real bullets. If you shoot anything with it, it'll more than likely kill it. Now that's small animals. Humans would probably just end up with a large, painful hole. Promise me you'll never shoot anything other than cans, okay?' Bill said. 'Sure, Bill. Can I try now?' the younger boy pleaded. 'Okay, remember how I told you to hold it...' Bill began but was cut off by a loud popping noise. Scully glanced at the cans. Jeff had knocked the can right off the stump where it sat. Bill took the boys gun, gently, not wanting to risk getting shot, as he moved to pick up the can. Sure enough there was a small hole in the center of the Coke can. 'Nice shot, little buddy!' Bill cried, and his brother beamed. Scully, stood and began to clap. She ran over to where her little brother stood and enveloped him in a hug. 'That was great for a little guy like you,' she said. Jeff smiled at her, then said, 'Thanks Dana. Hey do you want to try it.' Dana felt a sudden fear arise. She wasn't sure what it was, but decided to ignore it and try anyway. 'Sure, let me have a go at it.' she smiled, ruffling the boys hair. 'Dana... Are you sure you want to do that?' Bill asked, handing her the gun. 'Why not? I mean, he's seven, I'm eight. What difference does it make?' Bill shrugged. 'Okay, were you listening-' 'I know how to do it,' she said, laughing. He was certainly being a little over protective. She wondered if maybe it was because she was a girl. Bill walked over to the stump and placed another can down. Dana looked down the barrel of the gun, holding the trigger in her right hand. The barrel was secured by her left hand and she aimed at the can. Closing her eyes, Dana squeezed the trigger and was surprised by the kick-back she got from the little gun. 'Woah!' she cried and little Jeff began clapping, just as she had. 'Another perfect shot.' Bill said, as he glanced at the can that she'd shot. 'I'm surprised, sis.' he said, smiling happily at her. 'All in a days work,' she said, returning his smile. 'Now, if you boys will excuse me, I must get going. I believe Mother wanted me to take the bus down to the store for her.' the smile dropped from her brothers face, replaced with a frown. 'Be careful, Dana.' he said quietly. 'You know I will, Bill. Be back before supper.' she said, turning to run away, her sundress billowing around her legs. ----- Dana carried the plastic bags leisurely at her sides, she didn't mind the plastic biting into her hands, due to the heaviness of them. A little pain here and there never bothered her much. She casually walked down the side of the road, enjoying the peacefulness of the nature. She'd called her mother before she left town, saying that she was going to walk home. Her mother had protested, but Dana reminded her that she didn't mind the walk and that she'd be perfectly fine. Finally she'd convinced her mother to give her a three hour chance to get home. If she wasn't home by then, her mother would send her father out looking for her. Dana's mother knew that it would only take Dana an hour to walk home, if she didn't stop once in a while to admire the outdoors or sit under a tree. Her mother had always said that Dana was much more mature for her age than Melissa had been, so therefore she was able to have a little more freedom then Mel had been given when she was eight. Dana looked at the far between houses now. Most of them had wonderfully large yards which were kept immaculate and healthy. Dana marvelled at the size of many of the houses. She knew she was going to miss this place when she moved away next week. Moving into the city so that her father had better access to his job. Not that it mattered to Scully, for she liked the city just as much. She supposed that must be strange, but didn't care either. She looked down the road and noticed several older boys on bicycles heading her way on the other side of the road and smiled, knowing that they probably went to her public school. She continued walking and began whistling to herself. Ahead she noticed a large tree with sweeping branches and decided it was a nice place to take a little rest and allow the blood to circulate in her hands once again. When she reached the tree she gladly put down the plastic bags and crawled near the trunk, resting her back against it. She closed her eyes for a short time and let her thoughts run away. Lost in her reveries, Dana hadn't noticed that the boys on the bike had spotted her and were feeling unusually cruel. They quickly rode up, skidding to a stop before her, spraying her closed eyes with dirt and twigs which had fallen from the tree. She gasped in surprise and opened her eyes, only to find five boys standing with their bikes, staring at her. She began to feel frightened. One of the boys got off his bike and slowly moved towards her. She shrugged back into the tree, trying to move away from him, fear paralyzing the rest of her body. Finally a boy spoke. 'Look, guys. We've got a little beauty here.' he said and the others giggled. 'Red hair and blue eyes, my favorite.' 'That's right. Mine too.' a boy said and the others agreed. The boy who had gotten off his bike made a move to grab her, but Scully was too quick. She scrambled away from the tree, forgetting her bags, and running as fast as she could, past the other startled boys and down the road. She figured that they were around fourteen or fifteen. She also wondered what they'd want with a little girl. She glanced over her shoulder as she ran, stumbling over a rock. They were still a ways behind her because they had been startled by her take off. Yet, they followed her. Scully almost screamed but decided against it. Instead she climbed under a barbed fence which enclosed a field of vines from the road. She ripped part of her dress but ignored it and continued to run. The boys still followed her. She had begun to slow down, gasping for air. She knew they had found the opening in the fence, getting off their bikes and wiggling it. she tripped over some loose vines and heard them shouting from behind her. They were much closer than she had hoped and she knew that she'd have to find a place to hide. She glanced frantically left and right, continuing to dodge the vines and rocks. Caught off guard, she finally slipped in some mud and slid across the ground on her stomach, scraping her elbows on the ground as she did so. Too weak to get up and too tired to move, she just lay were she was, watching them approach. They laughed at her. Pointing at the tears which freely rolled down her cheeks. Dana Scully closed her eyes, unable to listen to their laughter. She wondered what they could possibly want with her and preyed that they wouldn't hurt her. Suddenly, from behind she heard a rustling. Thinking that one of the boys had somehow gotten behind her, she cried out and looked around. She spotted a younger boy, who had come through the vines. He held a small beebee gun, similar to those that her brothers had. She shied away from the boy, kicking as she tried to crab-walk along the ground. She watched as the boy held the gun up and pointed at the sky, firing one shot. The older boys, who now stood meters away from her and the other boy, stopped suddenly. Then they began laughing. 'You wouldn't shoot us, boy.' they yelled. They began to advance again. This time the boy took aim at the older boy in front, firing. The boy yelped in pain. Scully noticed a red spot appeared on his jeans, just below his knee cap. The other boys, frightened, turned and ran as fast as they could, in the direction they had come. The one who'd been injured limped after them. Dana looked at the boy. He had the shiniest eyes she'd ever seen. They were the same brown colour as his hair, which blew around in the soft breeze. He held out a small hand for her, and helped her up. 'Are you okay?' he asked. 'Fine. Thank you.' she said and before they could exchange any other words, Dana realized that she needed to get home and moved quickly away from the boy. She began to run, but didn't look back when she heard him shout, 'Wait!' Dana arrived at her home, after stopping at the tree to pick up her groceries, in time for supper. She explained the rip in her dress and the mud by saying that she'd tripped and fallen in the mud on a stone, ripping her dress in the process. She never mentioned the incident to anyone and in time she forgot all about the little boy with brown hair and eyes. ----- [ Agent Dana Scully meets Agent Fox Mulder] FBI Agent Dana Scully walked into the office and glanced around. Posters covered the walls, most featuring pictures of UFO's other of various other things. A bulletin board was located on one wall, covered in crime photos. She spotted the man sitting at a desk, hunched over a portable light table. He'd been examining what looked like slides. She sighed and walked over to him. Agent Mulder did not look up from his work when she arrived. He continued to examine his slides, ignoring her. Finally she cleared her throat and said, 'Hi, I'm Agent Scully. I've been assigned to work with you.' she held out her hand to him. He looked up, a weak smile crossing his face. She was a beautiful woman. Grasping her outstretched hand, he said, 'How nice to finally be so highly regarded.' Sarcasm dripping from his voice. As he looked into her clear blue eyes, somewhere in the back of his mind something told him that he'd met this person before, although he'd never remember when or where. ----- END Yee, the short one! The shortest short story I've written. Hope you enjoyed it. Maybe a little too short, oh well. Don't forget to write your comments or suggestions. I'd like to hear them. Some things cannot be explained. Most things need to be explained. The truth is out there, that's why Chris Carter created Fox Mulder. The truth is out there but so are the lies, that's why Carter created Dana Scully.