Date: 2 Apr 1998
The Ring by Vickie Moseley

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Summary: Fill in the blank to explain the cigarette and the wedding
ring prominently displayed in Mulder's hands during the episode
Travellers.
Rating: PG
Category: Mulder/other, Mulder/Scully MSR relationship
warning, but I don't think it will offend anyone.
Spoiler: Travellers
Disclaimer: There ain't no way I'd try and steal any idea from John
Shiban. I was just trying to explain these items to the angry hordes.
In that respect, I don't think it can be considered infringement as
much as an act of mercy.
Archive: Everywhere!
Comments: vmoseley@fgi.net

The Ring
by Vickie Moseley
vmoseley@fgi.net

June 8, 1998
9:01 pm

Dana Scully dropped the phone back into it's cradle and frowned,
reaching for her purse and her gun. He'd said he would be right
over. That was after she'd left him off at his apartment to change
and pick up his car and well over two hours ago. Fox Mulder
might try to ditch paperwork, but he'd never been so blatant about
it.

They were going to try and reconcile the expense vouches for the
last three cases. They'd started the process at work, but the
basement air conditioning was out and the room had grown too
stifling. A little after five, Mulder complained that if he had to
spend one more minute there, he'd go on a three state murder spree
ending in his own firey death. She'd told him he was being over
dramatic, but secretly, Scully was ready to join him on the criminal
'road trip'. As a show of compromise, she offered him left over
lasagne at her place and they could finish the paperwork there.

"I'm nuts," she muttered, putting the car in drive. "He's probably on
his way over here right now with a six pack from some micro
brewery." But that didn't stop the sinking feeling in the pit of her
stomach. That didn't stop the images of letting herself into his
apartment to find it empty. That didn't stop her remembering all the
times a simple phone call, a two line e-mail message, a newspaper
with a personal ad circled had set him off on a dangerous chase.

He'd promised her that he would stop doing that--running off
without telling her. But sometimes, it was hours after the fact
before he got around to letting her know where he was or where he
was going. Scully knew he was trying to be good, had been very
good for several months. But like any mother of a toddler knows,
sometimes temptation is just too good to pass up. She just prayed
she could find him in time to put him back together again.

She pulled up in front of his apartment and was startled to find
herself parking behind his car. He was still there. She was going to
kill him. But she glanced up at his window. The light was out, and
it was now pitch dark. Not even the everpresent glow of the
television was cutting the darkness in his 'living room'. Something
was very wrong.

She instinctively pulled her weapon from her holster. Her heart
started beating faster as she pushed open the lobby door and
proceeded up the fire escape stairs. No sense alerting them with
the sound of the elevator, she reasoned silently. She thought about
pulling out her cell phone and calling the ambulance--just to save
time--but thought again. If he was injured, she could call while she
was giving him first aid. If he wasn't there, the paramedics
wouldn't be any help.

The hallway was quiet. As she approached his door she could see
no signs of a struggle. She searched the floor for drops of blood or
scuff marks. Nothing. Just the usual footprints of the residents of
the building.

Biting her upper lip and presenting herself in a cautionary stance,
she knocked on the door.

No answer.

She knocked again, this time calling out his name. "Mulder. It's
me. Are you in there?" she called, loud enough for him to hear her
if he was indeed inside. She tilted her head to listen for a response.

The door flew open and scared her out of ten years growth.

Mulder said nothing to her. He turned his back on her gapping
mouth and wide eyes and moved with lanky grace back to his
beloved leather couch where he slumped down bonelessly. His
hands were moving, toying with something that caught the light
from the hallway before she closed the door, throwing them into
darkness.

"Mulder? What's happened? You were supposed to follow me
over to my place--remember?" she asked softly, trying to assess if
he were hurt, suddenly ill--psychotic?

Again, he sat mute, not even looking her way.

She couldn't take the silence and the dark at the same time, so she
reached over and turned on the nearest lamp. It did little to dispell
the darkness from the corners, but at least now she could see his
face. It was tear stained and grim.

Her breath caught in her chest and she forced herself forward.
"Mulder, what is it? You're scaring me," she told him plainly. She
lowered herself into the arm chair across from her partner and sat
on the edge, waiting for him to say something, anything to her.

"She's dead." The words were as hollow sounding as she'd ever
heard. But it wasn't just the two word sentence that piqued her
curiosity. She could now see what he was playing with, fingering
back and forth between his hands. It was a ring. A gold wedding
band, from the looks of it.

"Who's dead, Mulder?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Not your
mother?" she pleaded, her heart constricting tightly as she choked
out the phrase. It he'd lost his mother, too, on top of everything
else they had gone through--her cancer, his loss of faith--

"Not Mom," he said, shaking his head. "Not Mom."

"Then who? Who are you talking about?" she asked, a little more
forcefully. He was scaring her, but he was also starting to make her
mad with his cryptic answers. He should have known she was here
to help, but if he didn't, she'd sure correct him quickly.

He started to say something, then stopped and frowned. His mouth
opened again and he drew in a deep breath. "My wife," he said. At
Scully's shocked expression, his face softened to an almost smile.
"My _ex_ wife, I guess."

"Mulder--I had no idea--" Scully stumbled over the words. This
was something she'd never even imagined, never had a clue.

"I know. It's OK, it was a long time ago. It didn't last long. We
left . . . amiably, I guess you'd say." He wasn't looking at Scully,
was looking everywhere else he could, in fact, rather than catch her
eyes.

She moved from her seat to perch on the coffee table directly in
front of him. "How did you find out?" she asked gently.

He pointed to a fat envelope sitting on the couch next to him.
"From her lawyer. She left me some pictures and some stuff. And
this." He handed Scully the gold band he'd been fingering. "The
mate, er, matching band, is at my Mom's house in the attic."

Scully took the ring he'd held out, looking it over. Inscripted inside
the band were the words 'Fox and Karen 1989'.

"It's beautiful," she told him.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to get her an engagement ring, too, but she
wanted to spend the money on furniture for the apartment. She got
most of the furniture in the settlement, but she let me have the
couch," he smiled sadly, patting the brown cushion next to him.
"At least I got something that way. I wouldn't have seen any of the
diamond."

"Mulder, do you want to talk about it?" Scully asked, taking his
hand in a gently grip, then releasing it as he slumped back into the
couch.

He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. "It's stupid, Scully.
I haven't thought of Karen in years. Over five years, to be exact,"
he smiled in his partner's direction.

"So, that doesn't matter. You're hurting now. Talk to me,
Mulder. I'm here to listen," she told him.

"I thought you were here to kick my ass for not coming over and
doing the expense report," he chuckled in return.

"Later. After you're done pouring your heart out to me," she
grinned in return. "If the story is good enough, I might wait till
tomorrow to kick your ass," she promised him.

"Gee, that offer's just too good to refuse," he grinned. Then his
expression changed and he stared off at the ceiling. "Where to
begin?" he asked himself more than his partner.

"The beginning seems to work best--most times," she prodded.

He smiled at her. "So I've heard. OK," he said, taking another
deep breath. "The beginning."

"Karen was going through the Academy while I was beating my
brains out for Patterson. We met on the firing range and I asked
her out. We got along well, we were in the same line of work--I
know it's crazy, but I thought it was the real thing--you know?" he
asked, looking for reassurance from his friend. Scully nodded in
agreement. Been there, done that, she couldn't help thinking. She
wondered if Jack Willis was in the same heaven Karen was
entering.

Mulder started again. "After three months, I asked her to marry
me."

"Three months!?" Scully exclaimed. "Good greif, Mulder, you take
longer than that to order at a Chinese restaurant!" At his raised
eyebrows, she was immediately apologetic. "I mean, ah, I didn't
mean that as it sounded--Mulder, I'm sorry," she stammered.

He was grinning full force now. "Forget it, Scully. You're right. I
rushed into marriage. I don't know why. It was a security blanket
issue more than anything. A lot of the other profilers had wives and
kids to go home to. Of course, I noticed that they _got_ to go
home on occasion. Patterson would give them time off. I got more
assignments. Maybe a part of me thought that if I had a wife to go
home to, kids waiting to be tucked in, I might get some time off,
too. Stupid thought, but there it was."

"We're all stupid at times, Mulder," she said with a lingering smile.

"Yeah, well, I was stupid to the max at that point. Anyway, we
were married on Saturday, June 14, 1989."

Something about the date caught Scully's attention. She held out
her hand to touch him and he stopped and looked at her. "You
were married the day after Friday the 13th?" she asked, trying to
hide her shock.

He shook his head gleefully, his expression one of pride and
admiration. "Yep. It was the only one that year, too," he added
happily. She rolled her eyes. "Relax, Scully. Karen picked the
date. It was the only time we could both get off. Anyway," he
said, resuming his story, "we got married in Rock Creek because
she thought it was pretty there," he said with a fond smile.

"Did you go on a honeymoon?" Scully asked, trying to envision a
Mulder who was a happily married newly-wed.

"Yeah. Her parents had a condo in Ocean City, so we went to the
beach for two weeks. But by the first Monday morning, Patterson
was calling and I had to leave."

"You left your honeymoon?" Scully asked, incredulously.

Mulder was more distant when he answered. "Yep. Seems I just
didn't get a break with Bill, no matter what. Anyway, I was
shuttled off to help with a case in San Diego. I got home the
second week in July."

"Did she go with you? I mean, she had the time off, didn't she?"

Mulder shook his head. "I didn't let her, and I don't think she
wanted to come that badly. She hadn't known me that long, but
she'd seen me on a case and she didn't want to be left in the hotel
room, alone till three or four in the morning. So she stayed at the
beach. We called each other, or tried to. I'd call and she'd be out,
then she'd call back and I'd be in a meeting. Finally, we just gave
up."

"Oh, Mulder. What a crappy honeymoon," Scully sighed.

"It gets better. Karen worked bank fraud. You know how that
is--"

"Nine to five with an hour off for lunch," Scully said in disgust.

"And never any weekends. Yep, and she loved it. I, on the other
hand--"

"Were constantly at the office," Scully said with an understanding
nod. "But Mulder, she knew that would be the case," she pointed
out.

"Tell me, Scully? What killed it with you and Willis. I mean, you
don't have to tell me--but . . ." he trailed off.

She hesitated. She hadn't thought about Jack in a long while,
either. But Mulder knew they were involved. And he was
talking--maybe she should take his lead. "The same old story. I
started teaching, he was still doing robbery. He'd be out on stake
outs, since robbers tend to work at night. I'd be home, alone.
When we did get some time together, we'd always be interrupted.
I got tired of playing second fiddle."

Mulder smiled and nodded vigorously. "Exactly. We'd have
knock down drag out fights about how much time I was spending
at the office. Once, she even changed the lock on the door to our
apartment because I'd been away on a case for four days. It wasn't
long after that when I took out the lease on this place. I put a
sleeping bag in here for the times when I didn't want to go home."
He shook his head. "See, Scully, you and Willis were just smart
enough not to get caught up in the trappings of marriage."

"I don't know if we were smart enough," Scully said with a sad
smile. "Jack never offered."

"Well, I have to give the guy some credit, then," Mulder replied. "I
was just so scared, so lonely, I thought Karen could take that away.
And she did, at first. When we were together, the rest of the world
ceased to exist."

"But we have to live in the world," Scully said softly.

"We figured that out. Anyway, I wanted to make it work. I think,
for a while, she did, too. We even tried to have a baby, but it's
pretty hard when you don't have sex for over a month at a time.
Finally, she got offered a position in San Francisco. Step up in
grade, nice boost in salary. By that time, I was close to psychotic,
anyway, running to one case after another. I had started smoking
and was up to two and a half packs a day. I got sick, pneumonia,
and was hospitalized--close to home, luckily. That stopped the
smoking. Karen waited until I was out of the hospital to hit me
with her promotion. I told her to go, I wouldn't stop her. She
moved out, left me the couch. I moved in here. Two months later,
I was served with the divorce papers. I signed them on the spot."

"I'm sorry." What else could she say.

"It's all right. It's ancient history. Like I said, I haven't thought
about her in a long time."

"How did she die?" Scully asked gently.

"Car accident. Really bad rain storm and their car went off an
embankment. Her husband survived. Luckily, the two kids weren't
in the car with them. Karen was thrown from the car, she died
instantly. She always hated to wear a seatbelt, said it rubbed her
neck." His mood was back to somber.

"Do you have a picture of her?" Scully asked. She couldn't help it,
she was curious.

He shook his head. "Not here. At Mom's maybe. Like I said, it
was a clean break. I didn't sit and moon over her. To be honest,
Scully, I was relieved. I wanted something and I didn't get it, so I
didn't want to hold her back if she could find it, you know what I
mean?"

"I think so," Scully said slowly.

"I mean, I was ready to wait for it. I'm glad now."

Scully was still trying to decipher his earlier statement and almost
missed the last one. "Glad? For what?"

"For letting it end with Karen. For waiting for the right woman to
come along. I'm just glad I did." He looked at her, straight in the
eyes. "I mean, I was saddened at the news, but more for her
husband and kids then for myself. Karen was my past. I have a
future." He was looking at her so intently, she resisted the urge to
look behind her and see if there was someone else there that he was
focusing on.

"Mulder, what are you saying? You make it sound like you have
someone waiting in the wings," she teased, nervously.

"I do. I've made someone the offer, Scully. She just hasn't given
me an answer, yet." Still the same intense gaze as before. There
was no mistaking it, Mulder was being perfectly honest.

Her heart froze. She searched her mind, trying to think of who it
might be. It had been months, _years_ since he'd mentioned any
woman. There had been Bambi the bug doctor and Det. White, but
that had been so long ago. Had he met someone recently?
Wouldn't she have noticed? They'd been together almost every
waking minute, except of course for her so-called vacation to
Maine--

She stopped breathing as the realization hit. That couldn't be it,
she reasoned. It had been a joke. Just like so many others. A
casual statement made with the intention of throwing her off the
track. It had been a ploy to cover his own embarrassment that his
partner--the skeptic--could know as much about the occult as he
did. Or was it?

"Mulder, are you talking about what you said to me when I was in
Maine?" she asked, struggling to get air to move through her lungs.

His smile increased ten fold in magnitude. "I remember you didn't
exactly give me a direct answer then, Scully. I think you're words
were 'I was hoping for something more helpful'."

She reddened in response. "Mulder--I mean, I figured that was a
come on--like you always do--" she sputtered.

He laughed at her discomfort and then took her hand. "Scully,
Scully, don't bust a blood vessel!" he laughed, then he brought her
hand up for a gentle kiss. "I think you know how I feel about you,
Dana. That I love you, cherish what we have together. That you
are the most important person in my life. And that I would never
be anywhere but beside you. So I don't need a ring to tell me that
I'm commited to you, Dana. I know it, here." He pressed her hand
to his heart.

"So I don't get a ring?" she asked coyly, her eyes sparkling with
unshed tears.

"The second you want one. We can be at the jewelers in a matter
of minutes," he aswered and kissed her hand again.

"I don't need a ring, either, . . . Fox," she said, defiantly using his
first name. He smiled broadly at her. "I know you love me. I love
you, too." She pulled her hand from his grasp and cupped his
cheek. "But one of these days, I want a 'rock'--got it?"

His laugh was pure and clear like a bell. "You got it! But now,
let's see if we can avoid giving them our next pay checks in
exchange for that bu-car we totalled."

"I'll go with you when you go to see Karen's lawyers," Scully said
quietly as they moved toward the door.

"I wouldn't want anyone else there with me," he told her, kissing
her hair. They walked down the hall, his hand on the small of her
back. "No one else in the world."

the end

Vickie

"Your ability to juggle many tasks will take you far."

My fortune cookie, Feb. 28, 1998