The Truth is Out There--Scene 51 from XF3 by Lolabeegood E-mail: lolabeegood@gmail.com Distribution: Archive freely with my name attached. Rating: R Categories: S, R Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance, Post-IWTB Spoilers: IWTB Summary: The truth is something Mulder & Scully may have to pay a steep price for. Author's Notes: Ever since I watched IWTB I have thought of the ideal way to start and storyline a third movie. So, after much thought and deliberation I have a series of scenes that I have written for the third XF movie. The scenes will not necessarily run right after each other but they are in sequence. They are more like scenes I would like to see in the XF3 that develop character, tie loose ends, and add plot interest. I do not own the characters and I don't make any money from this. Enjoy! ********************************** Mulder stood looking through the glass partition at his son playing in the pool with Monica. He was jumping off the side and swimming over to the ledge with no help from her beyond some clapping and encouragement. He didn't even know his son could swim. He didn't know much about his son. He shook his head and starred at his feet willing the thoughts that were invading his brain to go away. He couldn't help it, they were there, like the elephant in the room between him and Scully since they were found by Patrick. She had willingly given their son up. She had decided, without even an e-mail, to categorically change their lives forever. And then she expected him to just accept it, move on, and forget. And he had, in many ways. But now the photos of his son's life, the life he has missed so far, were cruel reminders of what he had allowed himself to be part of. He remembered back to the time he first heard. Skinner had come to visit him in jail without Scully and he had assumed it was to discuss the case but, from the moment the man walked into his cell Mulder knew he was there on personal business. Skinner looked so awkward and hurt that Mulder thought the worst-- Scully's cancer was back. Mulder blurted out the question and Skinner had vehemently shaken his head no. Then when Skinner started to talk about a decision the he and Scully had made, a decision that he thought Mulder should know about, Mulder started to feel sick to his stomach. His mind immediately raced to the fact that Skinner had always been fond of Scully, that she had always been fond of him, that in Mulder's absence, with no return in sight, maybe something had happened between them. Skinner seemed so strangely awkward in his speech that Mulder had prepared himself for the punch to the gut, Scully and Skinner were involved. But when he heard that William had been given up for adoption his mouth went dry. It was not what Mulder had expected and he was rendered speechless. Skinner took the opportunity to tell him the details, that Scully had come to him asking for advice and that he had helped her make this decision. That he was just as responsible as she was for the outcome. After several minutes of silence on his behalf Skinner had demanded that Mulder say something. But he couldn't. He couldn't speak for almost 15 minutes. During that time Skinner went on and on about the heartbreaking decision, the details of him being made guardian, the couple William was placed with, the care that was taken to ensure everything was done properly. "I did this" was all Mulder could say and all he would say for nearly an hour afterwards until Scully came to visit him again, to tell him what he already knew. A knock against the glass partition Mulder had been resting his head against jolted him back to the present. He looked across the glass into the confused eyes of Monica Reyes standing wrapped in a towel and dripping. His eyes scoped the pool beyond her to Patrick , who was happily snorkeling in the shallow end of the pool. He looked back to Monica and she gestured for him to join her. Mulder walked into the humid air of the swimming pool and immediately felt all his clothes stick to his skin. "Christ it's hot in here" he said as he walked up next to Monica. "Not if you're just in a suit" she smiled at him and gestured for them to sit down on some lounge chairs "he's quite a swimmer." "Yes, I was watching" Mulder conceded as he watched Patrick dive for rings in the shallow water. "I hear he comes by it honestly. Dana once told me you swam in college." "She did?" "We had a lot of conversations about you when she was pregnant." "So you knew I was the baby's father?" "I think it was pretty obvious, but I kept that bit of knowledge to myself." "I wasn't even sure I was the father at first" Mulder chuckled "but then I knew." "What did you think?" "I thought that after I disappeared Scully went through with IVF again, with a different donor this time." "You and Scully tried IVF?" "That didn't come up in all those conversations?" Mulder laughed. "No, I had no idea." "We had tried it almost two years before William was conceived. Scully wanted children and I wanted to give her them. It obviously didn't work." "But you didn't want kids?" "What?" Mulder asked. "You said 'Scully wanted children and you wanted to give her them' but you didn't say that's what you wanted." Mulder looked at her and smirked, "no, I guess I didn't want children." "But you are happy you have Patrick." "Very" Mulder smiled. "So, why not then?" "Things were complicated." Mulder shook his head "I wanted Scully to have a happy life, even if it was without me, and a child, even my child, would certainly guarantee that." "How do you mean?" "I knew that if the IVF worked that Scully would take a job at Quantico and that would be the end of our partnership, the end of her being in my life in any significant way." "But, you would have had a child together, you were involved..." Mulder laughed at her assumption. "No, we weren't." "You mean you and Scully..." "Not until after the IVF failed. You see, we do a lot of things ass-backwards, when it comes to our personal lives." "I'd say so" Monica chuckled "So all those years..." "I loved her, but I didn't make a move. She knew it, and she came to love me, but she didn't say a word. We just co-existed peacefully in that knowledge for quite some time. Then she brought up the IVF and everything changed." "How so?" "You see, many men would see having a baby with the woman they loved as a positive step forward in their relationship but for us it was the exact opposite. I knew that if the IVF worked and Scully had my baby I would forever he categorized as 'best friend' and never anything more. She would not want to risk our child having parents who couldn't work things out instead of parents who were just best friends. Which is why, when I agreed to do the IVF with her, I also knew I was giving up on any hopes of a romantic relationship with her." "Wow" Monica said, shaking her head "but you did it?" "I needed to. She needed me to. It was beyond what I wanted at that point." "You two are amazing." "I wouldn't say that" Mulder smiled. "You both put the greater good ahead of yourselves and anything your decision could do that may ruin your happiness." "Huh?" "Sort of like her decision to give up William. She risked you, the man she loved, hating her for the rest of her life so your son could be safe." Mulder just looked at her amazed. How could she know? "She said that to me once, after she gave William up." Mulder's mouth was dry. "Said what?" "That you would never forgive her for this. I told her she was wrong." Mulder looked at William as he dunked under the water again. His son was there, with him, despite the years of absence. He had made this child, their child, with her and caused her to endure all kinds of heartache because of him. How could be not forgive her? Mulder stood from his lounge chair and repeated the phrase that was now lodged in his throat "I did this." "Mulder?" "She was wrong" he said as he walked from the pool area ********************************************** The end part 51