Foundation I (3/6): Laying the Groundwork

Disclaimer in Part 1

3:58 p.m.

Dana Scully's Apartment

"Dana, it's only two months," Margaret Scully says patiently. "And you'll be with Fox - no harm will come to you-"

"Mom!" Dana shouts angrily. "It's *Mulder*! Two months alone with Mulder..." She allows her voice to trail off, allows her mother to see the anguish in her eyes. She feels the tears rising and impatiently wipes them away, hating herself for this weakness. "I just can't do this," she whispers softly.

"Why not?" Maggie asks. She is confused - but more to the point, she is angry. Angry at her daughter for this horrible distancing act she has been playing. Mulder, in Maggie's eyes, is still that nice young man who would not rest until he had found her daughter, and then would not rest until she came to, and now - doing everything in his power to find a cure for her cancer...

"We - I -" Scully stumbles over the words, struggles to make them come out correctly, so that her mother could finally understand. "I just - can't talk to him anymore. It's as if - as if - " She looks into her mother's confused eyes. Sees that Maggie is clearly siding with Mulder. " - as if we've forgotten how to talk to each other. Things have been bad, Mom. Especially  now - "

"Dana," Maggie says angrily. "Pack your suitcase. You have no choice in this *vacation*," she snarls, "So you might as well go in with a decent attitude, young lady!" Dana stares in open mouthed amazement as her mother severely shakes a finger at her. "Straighten up this minute, Dana Katharine Scully!"

She knows just what to do to make Dana feel like an errant ten-year-old.

Against her will, Dana feels another tear fall. And another.

"Oh, baby," Maggie whispers, hugging Dana to her breast. "It's okay, baby, I promise, everything will be fine. I promise. You'll remember how to talk to him. It will just take some time. And you'll come home and find that you and Fox are closer than ever."

Her greatest fear.

_________________________________________X

4:02 p.m.

Fox Mulder's Apartment

He sits quietly, contemplating the journey at hand. He lazily makes a shot into the basketball hoop across the room. He considers the packing he must finish within the next ten minutes. He gently places a few treasured books, papers, and files in a small box. On the very top he rests his basketball and his favorite pair of running shoes.

He hopes, he almost prays, that this journey will be the last. That her suffering will cease with the close of this cycle. He prays to whatever force may exist *out there* that she will forgive this duplicity. Prays that she will never uncover it.

He feels an aching loneliness at the thought of the possible outcomes of this journey. He knows there are only two possible choices: she lives, or she does not.

One, she lives. Cancerman fulfills his promise. Dana realizes her dreams for a life beyond the X Files. And Fox loses his.

Two, she dies. Cancerman reneges on the agreement. Dana loses her life.

And Fox loses his.