DISCONNECTION.  

by Nic (stardestiny@bigfoot.com). 


Disclaimer : The characters contained within are the property of
Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting and Ten-Thirteen Productions.  No
copyright infringement intended.  

This is something I wrote for fun, and, yes, I know they're not in
character!  Slight hints of a relationship (that can be interpreted
as friendship if you're not into that sort of thing.)
 
                   ===========================

                  
                      Disconnection.

     The phone rang.  To an empty apartment, it rang and rang.  An
incessant, shrill noise that echoed hollowly throughout the
darkness.  On and on, until surely the caller was mad with
frustration.  But still the phone rang.  And there was no one to
answer it.

                 ********************************

     Special Agent Fox Mulder hung up his cellular phone in
annoyance.  He'd had a rotten, no, make that miserable, week. 
Stuck in the middle of the Antarctic where even a telephone
wouldn't work, he'd been completely cut off from the entire world. 
And it was all for nothing.  

     The boat lurched up and down with the swell of the waves.  Not
far now to Australia - to civilisation, an airport, and eventually
home.  Mulder was lonely.  

     He didn't consider himself the type of person to get lonely,
after all, he had been on his own for years.  But slowly,
gradually, things were changing.  He had let someone get inside his
cool exterior, let someone be his best friend.

     He missed Dana Scully.  Although Mulder knew he was right to
not bring her along on the wild goose chase to the frozen bottom of
the earth, he still wished he'd had her amused, challenging
scepticism to keep him company while searching for the truth.  

     Okay, so maybe he shouldn't have ditched her again.  But this
time, Mulder had been following a trail so thin that it was barely
there.  A whisper about a colony in the Antarctic, hints that THEY
were there, and Mulder hadn't been able to resist.

     He stared out at the ocean.  The sky was grey and the depths
a menacing black.  Cold.   Exactly matching his mood.  He
considered picking up his phone again, but it was barely 5 minutes
since his last call.  Maybe he should go talk to the captain.  But
then again, perhaps not.

    Captain Baines was the personification of a crusty, old seamen.

He had been travelling the southern seas for years, and knew
nothing but the waves, wind and rain.   Not the sort of person to
go pouring your heart out to about the miserable week you just had.

No, Dana Scully was the person for that.  

     But where was she?   Why wasn't she answering her phone, or at
least have her answering machine turned on?  

     Mulder glanced at his watch, and suddenly the reason dawned on
him.  Different time zones.  She was probably fast asleep, not even
hearing the telephone.  He knew from experience how tired a person
could get.  Right now, Mulder felt as if he wouldn't mind sleeping
for a week.  As soon as he got home...

     He placed the phone away in his shirt pocket.  He'd call
later.  

                    *******************************

     A phone rang in the depths of a basement, startling the small
man who scurried around furtively.  He glanced around the room in
near panic, and quickly located the sound.  Picking up the cellular
phone, he turned it off, and hurled it into the nearest rubbish
bin.  Telephones gave him a headache.

                   **********************************

     Mulder swore under his breath.  "C'mon, Scully, don't hang up
on me!  I'm going crazy here!"

     He sat in the middle of an empty airport.  Apparently,
midnight flights weren't all that popular.  Not that he wanted to
talk to a stranger, anyway.  He needed the comfort of someone he
knew, someone who would understand what he'd just been through.

     Mulder thought about how much Dana Scully had done for him. 
She was the only one who cared enough to listen to his wild
theories, and be a voice of reason when he went too far.  But their
relationship had gone further than that.  She was now the only
person who was close to him, and he loved her.

     He would give his life for her, Mulder realised.  He suddenly
got excited about getting home again.  Back to some normality, if
he could call The X-Files normal.  Just away from endless plains of
freezing ice and nothing else.

     Mulder tried her home number again.  Nothing, again.   Maybe
she was out.  He probably had his time zones screwed up anyway,
knowing how exhausted he was.  He would try again on the plane,
after getting some sleep first.  Mulder just really wanted to hear
a friendly voice.  

               ***************************************

     The telephone service operator routinely disconnected another
number.  One of thousands he did each day, there was nothing
significant about this one.  Just another person who forgot to pay
their phone bill, or was moving house... He smiled.  Soon he'd get
to disconnect his own telephone, when he moved to his new house
with his beautiful bride-to-be.  He couldn't wait.   
     The operator disconnected the next number on the list.  

                ************************************

     The engines of the aeroplane changed from their soothing hum
to a louder roar, signalling that it was soon to land.  Mulder
jumped awake in his seat, and blearily looked out the window. 
There it was - good old America.  And his home.

     When had he begun to think about his apartment as home?  For
so long, it had just been a place to try and get some sleep.  He
hadn't experienced such a sentimental attachment in years.  

     But life was changing now, and he had one person to thank for
that.  A small smile crossed Mulder's lips as he pictured Dana
Scully's face.  With her, and the X-Files, life was pretty good
right now.  Of course he was still searching for his sister and the
truth, but he was happier than he had been in a long time.  It was
a good feeling.

     The plane descended lower, and Mulder reached for his phone
again.  He hadn't been able to reach Scully earlier, but now, maybe
she was home.  Her mobile number definitely wasn't going to get him
through to her.

     That was odd.  Mulder pulled the phone away from his ear and
frowned at it.  Now instead of the ringing noise, he was getting a
disjointed hiss.   Must be the interference of the engines, he
decided as the plane gently touched the ground.  

                **********************************

     "This is Fox Mulder.  I'm not here.  Leave a message. BEEP."
     "Agent Mulder, this is Assistant Director Skinner.  I want to
see you in my office as soon as you get back.   And I mean the
EXACT moment you walk in that door."   Click.

                ***********************************

     Mulder angrily jumped on the horn of his car.  He was not in
the mood to handle early morning, rush-hour traffic.  At least his
car had survived the week at the airport.
     As the traffic decelerated to yet another stop, Mulder idly
picked up his phone.  He'd decided at the airport that it wasn't
working, having only heard static on the other end.  But still, he
couldn't resist trying again.  He expertly dialled Scully's number.


    "This number has been disconnected.  Please try a different
number," the metallic voice droned, sending sudden chills down
Mulder's spine.  He slowly lowered the telephone from his ear,
staring at it.  What did that mean?

     Car horns blared around him, and he realised that the traffic
had started moving again.  Catching up with the general flow, or
crawl, he rationalised that he must have accidentally dialled the
wrong number.  

     Nope.  The same, impersonal voice gave him the same, chilling
message.  There was no one there.

     Why had Dana's phone been disconnected?  he wondered
anxiously.  She wouldn't have been transfered away in a week, would
she?   A thought he had been trying to ignore suddenly attacked his
mind with full force.  Maybe she was sick, maybe she was dying...

     "NO!"  he yelled aloud.  He just had to get to home, no, had
to get to her place.   See if she was there, if she was alright. 
If anything had happened to her, the person he loved more than
anyone else in the world...

     The cars finally accelerated.  

                  ********************************

     The telephone rang.     
"This is Fox Mulder.  I'm not here.  Leave a message."
     "Fox?  This is Margaret Scully.  I just thought, well, if you
ever want to talk, I'm here for you..."

                   ********************************

     The car screeched to a stop outside of Dana Scully's apartment
building, and Mulder had to stop himself from racing inside.  There
was a perfectly rational explanation for all of this, and there was
no sense in making a fool of himself...

     Nevertheless, he hurried up the stairs and knocked on her
door.  No reply.
     "Dana?  Are you there?"  Hearing nothing, Mulder inserted his
key in the lock and let himself in.

     It was dark inside, and all the windows were covered.  He
moved to switch on the light, but quickly discovered that the
electricity was off as well.  Had she gone on a trip?

     Mulder moved cautiously around the apartment.  Everything was
where it should have been, it all looked right...  But Scully was
missing.  And so was the fresh scent that was so undeniably *her*. 
The air in the apartment was stale and musty, so Mulder quickly
moved back to the main room.

     "She must have decided to take a vacation too.  Don't blame
her after the way I took off," Mulder said to himself.  But where
had she gone?  And in such a hurry as to forget to pay her phone
bill?

     Mulder spied her answering machine in the corner, and walked
over and ejected the tape.  He couldn't play it now, but maybe it
contained a clue.  He pocketed it, then walked out of the
apartment.  He felt dead on his feet, but decided he wouldn't sleep
until he knew where Scully was.  The panic that he had buried so
deep was rising again, with renewed force.  He was very worried. 
Time to go into work.  Maybe, just maybe, she was there.  Or at the
very least, Skinner would know where she had gone.

             *************************************

     The phone beeped, and Skinner picked it up.  
"Sir?" came the hesitant voice of the receptionist.  "You asked me
to inform you when Agent Mulder came in, and he's just entered the
building now."
     "Thanks," said Skinner flatly and he hung up.  He sighed
heavily.  He had been dreading this moment.  

            **************************************

     "Come in, Agent Mulder," Skinner gestured from his desk.
     "Where is she?!" Mulder blurted.
     "Have a seat.  Please, sit down."  There was a note of
desperation in Skinner's voice.

     Mulder would not listen.  He strode up to Skinner's desk,
struggling to keep control.   But his body didn't obey, and his
hands were clenched into fists, shaking with the force. 

     "I need you to tell me where she is!  I need to know NOW!"  he
shouted desperately.  Then came the words that shattered his life.
     "Dana Scully is dead."

     Mulder swayed dangerously, then staggered backwards into a
chair.  Dead, dead, dead...  "No!"  
"No," he said, a little more quietly, then whispered.  "No..."

     Now he had nothing left.  Nothing to live for.  It was all
gone.  There was no point.  Unless...

     "Do you know it was really her?  Maybe it was a clone?"  The
glimmer of hope was evident in Mulder's voice, but Skinner could
only shake his head and grimace.
     "It was her, Mulder.  I'm sorry." 
     "I need to see her."  The statement was more of an order than
a request.

     "I can't allow..." 
     "Like hell you can't!"  burst out Mulder.  "I need to know
that it's really her!"
     Skinner sighed, then stood up.  "Follow me."

     He led Mulder down to the morgue, a place Mulder and Scully
had been a thousand times, working together, joking together, being
together...

     As Mulder stared down at the face of the woman he loved, he
realised he was seeing her beauty for the last time.  Her face was
cold, white, but it was her.  *His* Scully, *his* Dana.   

     Skinner moved quietly away as Mulder looked down at her. 
Never again would he see her bottomless blue eyes that had seemed
to stare right through him to his heart.  He gently touched the
still fiery strands of her hair, watched his tears trickle down her
face to the small, gold cross that was, had always been, around her
neck.  He touched it delicately.  Once it had been a symbol of
hope, but now it would be nothing more than a memory.  Just like
her.

      His fingers caught around the chain, and he realised it was
broken.  It came up with his hand, and glittered in the dull light.

     "Keep it," suggested Skinner, and Mulder slipped it in his
pocket. 

     "How did it happen?"  Mulder asked in a choked voice, his eyes
not leaving the still face below him.  

     Skinner spoke softly from the stairway.  "She was out
investigating reports of a UFO, and there was a riot.  Guns were
fired, and I guess she was just in the wrong place at the wrong
time."

     So it was his fault.  Mulder felt more worthless than he had
in all his life.  If it wasn't for him, for his damned obsession
with aliens, Scully would have never gone to investigate something
she so strongly questioned.  He killed her.   

     "I should be dead, not you... Never you, my precious Dana,"
Mulder whispered.   "I love you."  He leaned down and placed a
gentle kiss on her lips, their first kiss, their only kiss.  Then
he covered her up and walked away.  

                 ************************************

     "Hi, this is Dana Scully.  Please leave a message."
"Hi, this is Dana Scully.  Please leave a message."
"Hi, this is Dana Scully.  Please leave a message."
     With her cross grasped in his hands,  Mulder played the tape
from her answering machine over and over.   There was nothing else
to do.
     "Hi, this is Dana Scully.  Please leave a message..."

                 *************************************