Disclaimer: X-Files, Scully, Mulder, Chris Carter's, not 
mine. You get the gist.

Unauthorized duplication, while sometimes necessary, is 
never as good as the real thing.

Keep my name with this or Agent Sibrava and I shall find 
out where you live. 

Author's note: The idea for this weird thing formulated 
while I was standing in line at the post office, waiting to 
get my passport renewed. Just another not-really-MSR 
from Katiefrog.

"Anna"
By K. Judson (Katiefrog@aol.com)
Completed March 2, 1997

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

"Oh, all ye sweet powers of air, now hug me close! Let not 
Starbuck die, if die he must, in a woman's fainting fit." 
--Herman Melville

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


"Mom, look. The sign says 'Passports,'" said Anna, beaming 
and pointing.

"You're right," agreed her mother, trying to keep her still 
long enough to rearrange her ponytail. "Stand still, Anna." 

Anna straightened her back and closed her eyes while her 
mother pulled the last strands of long, wavy hair through 
the elastic. "There." Anna scampered ahead of her into the 
line. "Mom," she asked, "Will we have to wait in line for a 
very long time?"

"We might."

"Oh," said the little girl, downcast. "Why?"

"Remember how we talked about going on our trip?"

"To Germany."

"Yes."

"Because Daddy wants to see me."

"Yes. You see, Germany is another country. And to go to 
another country, you must have a passport."

"Why?"

"Your passport tells people who you are," explained her 
mother, "And what country you come from. If you have 
one, it's okay for you to take a vacation to another country."

"Oh." Anna switched gears. "I don't want to go. I'll miss 
Nana." Anna had a close relationship with her 
grandmother. She spent almost every day with "Nana" 
while her mother worked. 

"And Nana will miss you, but we'll be back in just two 
weeks." 

"Nana doesn't miss Daddy," said Anna matter-of-factly, 
with the indescretion only a child can have.

"Oh," was her mother's noncommittal reply.

"No, she says the dumb jerk should have left three years 
sooner."

"Anna, you're a little parrot. How did you hear that? Did 
Nana tell you?"

"No, she told Uncle Chuck."

"And you listened?"

Anna nodded energetically. Her mother laughed. 

The line moved forward. Someone in front of them vacated 
a chair.

Anna's mother sat down and lifted the tiny five-year-old 
onto her lap. Anna curled up against her and wrapped her 
skinny arms around her neck. She spoke into her mother's 
ear. 

"Nana told Uncle Chuck it was a shame about Fox, and she 
missed him."

"Oh."

"Did Nana have a pet fox?"

"No, Anna. Fox is a man's name."

"Oh. Why? Did he look like a fox?"

"No, no, I don't think so, not really. I guess his parents just 
named him that. Some people say it was a good name, 
because he was smart like a fox." 

"Oh." She was quiet for a moment, and then asked, "Why 
did Nana say she missed him? Because she loved him?"

"Anna," teased her mother, "You're such a romantic. I don't 
know, maybe she did love him, like she loves Uncle Chuck 
and me and you." 

"Did she make him macaroni and cheese? Did she give him 
hugs and kisses even when he was sick?" For this was Nana 
to the child, this was love. Someone who was there for you, 
who took care of you, who watched you when your father 
left the family and your mother had to work all day.

"I don't think she did those things."

"Why not?" Anna demanded.

"He never asked."

"Why?" 

"I don't know. I could tell you a story about Fox."

"Okay."

"Once, a long time ago, I was in very, very big trouble." 

"Did you break something?" Anna interrupted. 

"No, um..." she hesitated, editing the story substantially for 
her five-year-old audience. "I was, um, sick. Nana called 
Fox to tell him to come to the hospital..."

"Why did Nana call Fox?" questioned Anna.

"Fox was my best friend, like Elizabeth is your best friend."

"Did you play Pretend?"

"We were too old and serious for Pretend. I didn't have you 
around to remind me to lighten up. Anyway, Fox and Nana 
and my sister waited around and took care of me until I was 
better. Fox spent a lot of time with Nana then. I think that 
was when they became friends."

"What happened to him?"

"He died, probably. We think he was kidnapped."

"Is that why Nana misses him?"

"Maybe. But I think it was really because she knew how 
sad it made me to lose him."

"Did *you* love him?" inquired Anna, ever perceptive of 
her mother's veiled feelings. She was answered with a wry 
smile and a nod. 

"Like Daddy?"

"Sort of," she answered, not allowing herself to say "more."

"But you don't love Daddy anymore."

"Nope."

"Nana liked Fox more. She said."

"I can imagine," laughed Anna's mother. Her stomach 
growled.

"Mommy, your tummy is talking."

"I must be hungry."

"You didn't eat breakfast."

"That's because I didn't feel well, Anna." 

"Do you have a headache?"

Her mother did not answer, for the line had moved forward. 
Only four people stood between them and the desk. "Look, 
it's almost our turn. Come on." She stood slowly, still 
holding her child in her arms. A woman next to her saw her 
knees give out and managed to catch her before she and 
Anna dropped to the ground. Her eyes rolled back and she 
cried out once. She collapsed to the floor. Immediately 
there was a crowd around her. Someone called the 
paramedics. The woman who had caught Anna's mother 
lifted Anna into her arms to calm her. Anna hid her eyes.

People murmured about smelling salts and cold water, but 
only one came forth, with the perfect, heroic timing or 
possibly sheer coincidence that always seem to accompany 
such great saves. 

"Scully?"

He knelt down next to her, checked her pulse. She 
breathed. Her heart was beating. 

"Scully, it's me. Come on."

No answer. No movement.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," he said, the memory of 
waking her painful. "Hey, I think you drooled. Scully, I'm 
not kidding here." The tears began. Here she was, after all 
these years, and now she was slipping away. "Please wake 
up."

Tense moments passed as he tearfully tried to revive her. 
The paramedics arrived and bundled her onto a stretcher. 
He found himself supplying the information he knew so 
well, name, age, medical history, things he and Scully had 
been so used to providing for each other. Only some of the 
many things. In a haze, he followed the paramedics to the 
ambulance. 

"Wait," cried the woman holding Anna. "What of her?"

He turned around. Anna wriggled out of the nervous 
woman's grasp and crossed to him. She looked up into his 
eyes and there was no doubt in his mind whose child she 
was. He knelt next to her and rearranged her long, wavy 
hair into a neater ponytail. Her wide, blue eyes were 
brimming with tears, yet none fell. She smiled up at him 
and to the woman standing behind her she said, "I'm going 
to go with Fox."


~End~