Truth And Life (4/?)
by Namarie

Spoilers: IWTB, all of Life
Keywords: MSR, XF/Life.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Slightly AU. What if there was a very good reason we
never saw Charlie Scully on the show? What would happen if he
met up with his sister again, much later on in both of their lives?
Disclaimer: I don't own Life or XF, or their associated characters.
Feedback: Would be most welcome. Send it to pomme_noire AT
hotmail dot com

Once again, I will offer my heartfelt thanks to missmonkeh and
comice for their input.


Chapter 4

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds
whatever we want. - Lao Tzu

~

When his sister answered the phone, she sounded distracted.
"Scully."

"Hey, Scully," Charlie said, emphasizing the name with some
amusement.

She chuckled. "Oh, Charlie, hi. Sorry about that."

"That's okay," Charlie told her, "as long as you still answer to
Dana, too."

Laughing again, she said, "I will, don't worry." Then she grew
serious. "How's the investigation going?"

"That's actually what I was calling about," Charlie said. "We have
some leads, but we'd like to take you up on your offer of help, if it
still stands."

"Yeah, sure," she said, "just tell us where to meet you."

Charlie looked around - there wasn't a whole lot of parking nearby.
He gave her the address of the restaurant, anyway. If she and
Mulder got a parking ticket, he could always offer to pay for it for
them. "And Dana?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you and Mulder have guns?"

She paused. "Yes. Are you expecting us to need them?"

"Let's just say we're not going to the most scenic part of LA,"
Charlie answered, "and I want you to be prepared, in case
something happens."

Dana sighed. "Charlie, I know-- I know this is your partner's
business, but can you give me at least an idea of what you're
investigating? That would help us be prepared."

He glanced back toward Reese. She probably wouldn't mind a
very brief description, he decided. "We're looking for a murder
victim."

There was another pause. "Is the murderer still at large?"

"Technically, yes," Charlie said, "but he's not likely to be dangerous
to us at this point."

He could tell she wanted to ask more questions, but she held back.
"All right, we'll be there as soon as we can."

Before she hung up, Charlie thought of something. "Oh, did you
guys have lunch?"

"We did," Dana said. "Ted told us the name of a good local
restaurant, and Mulder and I had a very nice time."

"Good." Charlie smiled. "See you in a few minutes."

He walked back inside the caf‚, chewing on a bite of the blueberry
muffin. Reese, he saw, had already finished her half. "They're on
their way," he reported, sitting down.

She nodded. After a moment, she cleared her throat. "So, uh,
what's the story with your sister?"

"Hmm? My sister?" Charlie took another bite while he decided
what to say. "She's my half-sister, actually. But we grew up
together."

"Oh?" Reese raised her eyebrows. When he didn't follow up
immediately, she prompted, "And she's ex-FBI..."

Charlie swallowed. "Yep. She and her partner used to live in DC
and work on something called the X-Files, but now she's a doctor.
Well, she already was one, but now she practices. They live in
Virginia."

"'They'?"

"Dana and her partner," Charlie explained. "Mulder."

"Her FBI partner - they're still together," Reese confirmed. Upon
Charlie's nod and continued gaze, she glared at him. "Don't even
think it, Crews."

He looked at her innocently. "Don't even think what?"

"Just--" She stopped and shook her head. "Never mind, I don't
want to give you any ideas."

Charlie cocked his head, but continued, "Anyway, they're staying at
my house right now. It's been nice to catch up."

"Mm." Reese was silent for another moment. "What did you tell
them about... this?"

"That we're looking for a body," Charlie replied. "And that they
should probably bring their weapons, just in case."

She hesitated, and then said, "Sound advice, as long as they know
how to use them and they know not to get in the way."

"They're former FBI, Reese," Charlie reminded her, watching the
windows for a sign of their rental car. "From the stories they've told
me, both Dana and Mulder know how to handle themselves in this
kind of situation."

After another period of silence, in which Charlie finished up the last
bite of the muffin and paid for lunch, Reese stood up from their
table. "Crews, I think I see your sister's car outside," she
announced.

Charlie quickly finished up the transaction and jogged over to
where his partner was waiting by the door. He slipped on his
sunglasses as they left the restaurant. The rental car was in fact
pulling up across the street.

Dana and Mulder got out and joined them on the sidewalk in front
of the caf‚. Charlie noticed that her sister was dressed much more
professionally than she had been, with her hair up in a bun -
although still not as formally as she had been the time that she had
visited him at Pelican Bay. Mulder, too, looked ready to get down
to business.

"Hi," Dana greeted Charlie. "Hope you weren't waiting too long."
Her gaze shifted to Reese and back again.

"Not too long," Charlie said with a small smile. "It's only the
moment that matters, anyway."

Mulder hid a smile, and Dana raised an eyebrow. "Right."

Charlie turned to Reese. "Reese, this is my sister and her partner."

"Dana Scully," Dana said, smiling and shaking Reese's hand. "It's
nice to meet you."

"Dani Reese," she said. "Likewise."

Mulder shook her hand next. "I'm Fox Mulder, but please call me
Mulder."

Reese raised her eyebrows for just a second, looking amused.
"Mulder it is."

Charlie could tell that the two women were discreetly looking each
other over. "How long have you two been working together?"
Dana asked.

"About two years now," Reese answered, and then seemed to
search for words. "It's been quite an experience," she said at last,
not looking at Charlie but almost smiling.

"I can definitely believe that," Dana said. "Charlie's told us a little
about some of the cases you've worked on."

There was a somewhat awkward pause, and then his sister cleared
her throat. "So, speaking of cases, how can we help right now?"

"Right." Reese looked at Charlie, but he just shrugged slightly.

*You're in charge, Reese. You decide how much you want them to
know,* he thought.

Apparently she got the message, because she took a deep breath.
"We're going to be looking for a body, a murder victim, like my
partner told you," she began. "We're concentrating on the parts of
town where a body could go unreported for almost a week, since
the victim has not turned up in any of the local morgues... but we
also have reason to believe that if there were witnesses in the area,
they might remember the occasion of the murder, at least."

Dana nodded, and then Mulder spoke up. "Do you have any
theories on the murderer's identity?"

"Not theories," Charlie said. "It was Roman Nevikov, a local mob
boss. He said as much."

"Nevikov   is that Russian?"

At Reese's nod, Charlie could almost see Mulder start to put some
pieces together. "I'm guessing this Nevikov isn't in custody."

Charlie tried to keep his voice level. "He's dead." Even if Reese
wasn't angry at him for that missed opportunity, he was still angry at
himself.

Shooting him a look, Reese said, "Roman had the victim shot. He
would have brought a lot of bodyguards with him to the location..."

"...Which could have made it a memorable event for anyone in the
area," Dana finished. "If they're willing to talk."

Charlie could tell that Reese was starting to relax into the rhythm of
the investigation, at which he breathed a sigh of relief. This looked
like it could work. Of course, he still had to wonder what would
happen when the victim's identity was made known to his sister and
Mulder - if they hadn't already guessed.

They accepted Dana and Mulder's offer to drive them to Reese's
car and then follow them from there. As he and Reese got into the
back of the car, Dana said, "So, Detective Reese--"

"Please, call me Dani," Reese interrupted, somewhat to Charlie's
surprise.

Dana smiled. "Dani, then. You don't drive around with Charlie in
his fancy new car on the job?"

"No," she said, leaning back against the seat. "Actually, your
brother rides along with me when we're working a case."

"Oh, really?" Dana said. Charlie nodded confirmation. She raised
an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Mulder in the driver's seat.
"Did you hear that, Mulder?"

Mulder kept his eyes on the road. "Yes, I did, Scully. I can't
imagine what you're implying, though."

Crossing her arms, Dana turned back toward the back seat.
"Charlie, you don't mind being in the passenger seat?"

"Nope," Charlie said. "Not usually. And besides, she's my
immediate superior officer. I have to do what she says."

At that, Reese snorted. "Right. And you always do that so well."

Mulder chuckled quietly as Dana looked at her brother with
amused affection. "I'll bet he does," she said.

"All right, we'll follow you from here," Mulder said as they arrived
and Reese and Charlie unbuckled their seatbelts.

Reese nodded, and Charlie turned to Dana. "I know you know
this, but... be careful, okay, Dana?"

"I will," she said, touching his shoulder for a moment.

Charlie met Mulder's eye then, before he put his sunglasses back
on. He was pretty sure a look of understanding passed between
them; Mulder would do his best to keep Dana out of danger, too.

He and Reese were silent as they got into her car. As she turned
the key in the ignition, she finally broke the silence. "So how long
have they known each other?"

"Since the early '90s," Charlie answered, after a moment of
thought. "Since before I was arrested, at least."

She looked thoughtful. Then she remarked, "You and your sister
look a lot alike."

"I guess so," he said somewhat doubtfully. "Except she's a lot
shorter than me. More like your height actually, Reese."

Reese glared at him.

"What?" Charlie said. "Neither of you are tall, that's all I'm saying."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all you're saying," she muttered. Pointing out
the windshield for a second, she changed the subject. "How about
we start here?"

Charlie looked where she was pointing. Ahead of them was a row
of dilapidated buildings, including an old warehouse whose
identifying markings were almost completely worn away. "Looks
like a good place to start," he said. It was so dark in all of the
photos Ilya's father had given Reese; he wondered if the warehouse
or its neighbors had any below-ground rooms.

His partner pulled up next to the sidewalk. Before she opened her
door, Charlie stopped her by quietly saying her name.

"What, Crews?" she asked, turning to face him, her irritation plain.

"I was just wondering," he said.

She sighed in exasperation. "Wondering what?"

"What you're going to do when we find him."

His words hung in the air of the car for a moment. She looked out
the front window and then back at him. "I'm gonna bring him
home."

"Okay," Charlie said. He decided to leave it at that for now.

The four of them met up on the sidewalk. Reese cleared her throat
and looked at Mulder and Dana. "There's no particular reason to
expect anyone inside, but since you two aren't on the force   or in
the Bureau anymore - you should probably wait until we've cleared
the building before going inside."

"A little less paperwork to deal with in case someone gets shot at,"
Mulder acknowledged with a grim smile.

Charlie and Reese went inside the warehouse, weapons at the
ready. They quickly checked for anyone inside, and then his sister
and her partner joined them for the search. The main room of the
warehouse was echoingly huge, and empty except for some beer
bottles and a dirty sleeping bag in one corner. The door in the back
led to what looked like it had once been an office.

"It doesn't seem like there are many places someone could hide a
body," Dana said as they looked around the two rooms.

"So we move on to the surrounding buildings," Reese said. She
looked at Charlie, somewhat unsure. "We could split up."

"Cover more ground," Charlie agreed. "You and Dana could go
together - if that's okay, Dana?"

The two women exchanged glances. "Fine with me," Dana said
after a moment, and Reese nodded.

"Call me if you find anything," Reese said.

Charlie watched them leave for a moment. Then with a glance at
Mulder, he headed toward the garage next to the warehouse. Once
again, Mulder waited outside while Charlie made sure it was
unoccupied. The space to search through this time was slightly
more compact and so took less time.

"It's all clear," Charlie called.

Mulder came inside, and immediately wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. Not
clear of trash, that's for sure."

The stench inside the building was definitely revolting: a mixture of
rotting garbage, mold, filth, and the vermin that probably called this
place home - if vermin had enough intelligence to give things names.
It didn't look any better. Charlie took care where he put his feet as
he walked through the unoccupied garage.

As the men continued toward the back of the garage, Charlie
spotted a large supply locker against the wall, and his heart started
to pound. The smell of decay was getting stronger - and the locker
looked to be large enough for a body to fit inside. Mulder met his
look grimly.

The locker door was shut, but the padlock was not locked. As he
picked up a discarded wrench from the ground, Charlie wondered
why Roman had decided not to draw this discovery out any further.
That question was answered when he pushed the door open - to
reveal the corpse of what looked like it once had been a dog. The
studded collar was still visible.

Charlie dropped the wrench with a clang and turned away, sighing.
It was probably one of Roman's dogs, no doubt killed at its
master's hand and convenience. The man was still an expert at
orchestrating his games, even after his death.

"Does this mean something to you?" Mulder asked, breaking the
silence.

Charlie nodded. "Roman kept dogs - lots of dogs. He also kept
people like dogs, in cages."

"I guess we're on the right track, then."

Turning to face Mulder, Charlie regarded him for a moment. It was
a good point. He pulled out his cell phone.

"You find something?" Reese answered without a greeting.

"A dead dog in a metal box," Charlie told her. "I'm betting it was
Roman's."

Her sigh spoke volumes. "We'll be right there."

He put away his phone and turned around to stare at the locker
again. There had to be a clue here for where to look next, he
thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he was aware that Mulder
was focused on the locker as well.

An exclamation of disgust behind them caused both Charlie and
Mulder to turn around. Reese and Dana both had their hands over
their noses as they made their way over.

No one spoke for a moment. Charlie guessed that his partner must
have filled Dana in. Finally, Reese said, "So he's trying to lead us on
a scavenger hunt. There should be a clue here to the next location."

Dana nodded. "I don't happen to have gloves with me at the
moment, but the box and its contents probably need to be
examined."

Almost in unison, Charlie and Reese pulled out their gloves. "I've
got an extra pair if either of you want to join in," he invited, holding
them out in front of himself.

Mulder grinned. "Too many cooks, as they say. Besides, I'm not
the one who used to do all the autopsies."

Charlie raised his eyebrows and looked at his sister. "You did
autopsies?"

"It was a way I could put my medical skills and training to use at
the FBI." She shrugged, ignoring his surprise.

Mirroring her shrug, Charlie put on his gloves. As he and Reese
bent to examine the locker and its contents, he saw out of the
corner of his eye that Dana and Mulder were taking a closer look
at its immediate surroundings.

After a moment, Reese carefully extracted a damp piece of paper
from behind the dog's corpse and unfolded it with care. Charlie
looked over her shoulder to see the strange sketch that was on the
paper.

"Is that a lobster?" he asked, moving closer and squinting.

Reese stood up, giving him an irritated glance. "No, I'm pretty sure
it's not a lobster, Crews."

Dana took a look. "It looks more like an angel to me."

"Yeah, I can see that," Reese said. She turned the picture around
and showed it to Charlie. "You were looking at it upside down."

"Ah." Charlie could see the shape now. An angel. He met his
partner's eyes. This second clue was received loud and clear, he
saw.

Dana bent over to look more closely at the sketch. "This paper
looks to have been affected significantly by being in close proximity
to the decomposing flesh," she said. "I'd say we can assume that it
was placed in the locker at the same time as the dog."

"Does the decomp fit the time frame of a murder occurring six days
ago?" Reese asked, keeping her voice calm.

Frowning in concentration, Dana moved closer to the corpse and
looked at it for a moment. "From what I can see, I think so."

"And the angel?" Mulder said. "Another message from Roman?"

Reese gave a brief summary of the first case in which they had
encountered Roman. "But the only thing is, that hotel is not the kind
of place a body could go undiscovered for almost a week."

"Maybe there's someplace nearby, then," Mulder suggested.

"Maybe."

Charlie turned to Reese, and she met his gaze almost defiantly. "So
let's go."

During the drive to the hotel, Charlie kept silent. He considered
telling Reese about some of his own problems with his father -
perhaps in the hope that it would encourage her to do the same -
but it wasn't the right moment. It was easy to see that his partner
was completely focused on the problem at hand, and would not
welcome any attempts at distraction. Besides, Charles Crews Sr.
was at least still alive. Their situations were not the same.

As soon as they were parked at the hotel, Reese got out and
started to scan the area. Charlie hurried to catch up to her.

"I don't think looking around in alleys makes sense," she said.
"Someone would have found something before now if-- if he
was..." Trailing off, she looked away.

Before Charlie could say anything, Mulder and Dana joined them
on the sidewalk. They both stopped for a moment, clearly able to
see the tension in Charlie's partner, but Reese took a deep breath
and said, "I'm thinking we split up again to search the area."

Charlie spoke up then, giving her an apologetic look. "Actually,
Reese, I was just thinking about one of the cases I worked with
Detective Seever, while you were gone."

Reese nodded expectantly. When he didn't continue right away, she
sighed. "And what were you thinking about that case, Crews?"

"A guy was killed inside a walk-in freezer," he explained. "It ended
up that it wasn't murder, even though it looked like it - it was an
accidental death. The guy stabbed himself in the head with an icicle.
That's why it ended up that the weapon couldn't be found. It
melted."

The three of them - Reese, Dana, and Mulder - stared at him. His
sister and Mulder looked faintly impressed, but Reese was just
annoyed. "So what does that have to do with this situation, then?"

"The freezer," Charlie replied. "We should see if there's a freezer in
the hotel that doesn't get used very often."

After a moment, she agreed, and the four of them went inside the
hotel. A quick conversation with the hotel manager (while members
of the group without badges stood discreetly in the background)
secured them permission to investigate the freezers the hotel used
for storage.

Charlie took a deep breath as they headed down the stairs to the
basement. He still didn't enjoy going underground, even all these
months after his release. The familiar institutional white walls and
flickering fluorescent lights of places like this didn't help. But this
was part of life, he reminded himself. And besides, it was for
Reese.

*I will not permit the events of my daily life to bind me, he recited,
closing his eyes briefly after reaching the bottom of the stairs. But I
will not withdraw from them, either.*

Upon opening his eyes, Charlie found that the rest of them -
including the hotel front desk attendant - had moved forward. Dana
cast a concerned look over her shoulder at him. He smiled
reassuringly and ran a few steps to catch up.

"Um, so, the storage freezers are right through here," the young
woman was saying as she pointed at a heavy-looking door.
"Actually, most of the room is refrigerated, but each compartment
has a freezer as well."

Reese waited impatiently for her to take out her card key. "How
many people have access to the freezers?" she asked.

The woman (her name tag pin identified her as Mary) blinked.
"Let's see, uh... all the managers, and all the kitchen staff. Oh, and
people who make deliveries. So I guess that's a fairly big group."

As Mary swiped her card, Charlie inquired, "How many times a
day do people come down here? It's for storage - so the kitchen
has supplies that are easier to get to, right?"

"That's right." Mary pushed open the door and stood aside to let
them pass. "Deliveries aren't more than once a week, and our
kitchen staff move what they'll need for that week up to the main
freezers right after everything gets delivered."

"And when is the next scheduled delivery?"

"Tomorrow," Mary told him.

He exchanged a dark glance with Reese. "That would fit."

Mary looked worried. "Um, if you don't mind my asking... what are
you guys looking for?"

"We'll let you know if we find it," Reese answered, moving with
purpose toward the nearest of the large walk-in freezers.

The search took only a few minutes. When Reese moved on from
the first door to the last (Charlie was looking in the second and
Mulder and Dana in the third), she stilled instantly.

Charlie saw her sudden lack of movement out of the corner of her
eye. He had been, appropriately enough, searching through the
refrigerated room where the hotel kept its fruit - but he abandoned
it immediately and crossed to stand behind his partner. She was
staring at her father's body, which was sprawled carelessly on the
floor behind a crate of Pepsi bottles.

"Reese," Charlie said, his voice quiet. He said nothing else. Part of
him was aware that Dana and Mulder were now standing behind
them, but he was focused on the woman next to him - whose
control was finally starting to slip. He could see that she was
shaking, and her eyes looked haunted.

Abruptly, the silence was broken by a gasp from Mary. "Oh my
God! Oh my God, oh my God, we need to call the police!"

His annoyance barely disguised, Charlie turned to look at her.
"How about you let my partner and me take care of it, Mary," he
suggested, stepping away from Reese for a moment and lifting his
jacket to reveal his badge and gun.

The woman nodded, hands over her mouth, and backed out of the
room as fast as she could.

Charlie turned back to Reese, gently touching her arm. "Reese, do
you want me to call the Captain now?"

She took several seconds to respond. Then, finally, she raised her
eyes to the vicinity of his collar and said, "No. No, I-- I'll call him
myself." She met his eyes for a fraction of a second before turning
and leaving the room, almost as quickly as Mary had exited.

Silence fell in the room, and then Dana spoke in a low, concerned
voice. "She looks like she's going into shock."

Charlie nodded. He remembered the searing pain he had felt when
the news of his mother's death reached him from outside - and
there had even been that pain, though slightly less of it, when the
man he'd known as his father throughout childhood had died not
long before Charlie's arrest. No matter how strained their
relationship had been, Reese had just lost her father. There was no
way she couldn't be in shock.

"Let's get out of this room," Mulder suggested, breaking the
renewed silence. "I doubt the refrigeration is helping anyone's state
of mind."

With another nod, Charlie took a few steps to hold the door open
for his sister and Mulder. He followed them out. He did not look
behind himself again to see Jack Reese's body one more time.

The door shut behind them. Charlie's searching gaze found Reese,
standing at the bottom of the stairs. She was facing away from the
three of them, talking on her cell phone in a subdued tone to
(Charlie assumed) Tidwell; Charlie was just beginning to come up
with what he would tell Tidwell about Dana and Mulder when his
own phone rang.

"This is Crews," he said.

A very unwelcome voice answered. "Hey, kiddo. I hear you just
found my old friend Jack Reese."