A Bond between Two
By Susan Proto  ( STPteach@aol.com )

Disclaimer is in Part 1

Part 4/4

Dinner was a bit awkward, though from Maggie's appearance, no one would have 
ever suspected it.  She was chattering away and acted as if the weight of the 
world had been lifted off of her shoulders.

Mulder, on the other hand, felt it had simply been shifted to his own.  
Scully had not said one word to him the entire evening since Maggie had told 
her of Mulder's role.  Antarctica's temps had nothing over the deep freeze he 
was feeling at that moment.  The sadder fact was, he didn't know what to do 
about it.

The main course was finished, and Maggie put up coffee for everyone.  She 
also brought out an apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.  Normally, 
Mulder would have been all over that pie and ice cream, however Scully's 
obvious rancor with him took away his appetite for the sweet offering.

" Fox?  Please have some pie.  I want you to celebrate with me," Maggie 
pleaded.

"Celebrate?" shrieked Scully, mystified that anyone could think discovering 
cancer was worthy of celebration.

"Dana," Maggie began soothingly, but when Scully's ranting continued on, 
Maggie's voice took on a more authoritative tone.

"Dana Katherine, you stop this nonsense right now!"

Dana stopped.

Mulder did too, for that matter, for he was truly curious to see what would 
happen next.  Besides, he was fervently hoping Ma Scully would be able to 
smooth the way for him.  He certainly hoped so.

"I am celebrating a second chance on life, Dana.  I know what cancer can do 
to a family, to a body.  I've lost both my grandmother and mother to this 
horrible disease.  I saw my daughter almost destroyed by it as well.  The 
fact, child, with my family history, that they'd found only a Stage I cancer 
is most certainly worth celebrating.  

"So dammit!  Have a piece of pie!" she ended up shouting, after which she 
quickly gathered her wits and calmed down.  Maggie then cut each of them a 
pie and put a healthy dollop of ice cream on them.  

"I'm sorry, Mom.  You're right.  It is something to be grateful for, though 
I'm not sure celebrate is the right word," Scully replied.

"Why can't we celebrate, Scully?" asked Mulder quietly as he entered into, 
what was apparently, their private conversation.
Maggie certainly didn't mind; Dana remained stoic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They drove home in the same silence they'd arrived in, though this time there 
was less anxiety and more anger.  Mulder wasn't sure what he could say to 
make his partner understand, nor at that point did he think he had to, so he 
remained silent.

He arrived at her apartment and waited for her to get out of the car.
Mulder knew he was the last person she wanted to see.  So, when he stopped in 
front of her apartment, he sat quietly and did not venture out onto the 
sidewalk.

"You're not even going to walk me to the door?  For crying out loud, Mulder, 
you walk my mother to the damned bathroom but you can't walk me to my front 
door?" she cried out in total frustration.

He got out of the car.  He stopped and looked at her with very sad eyes.

"What?" she asked tersely.

"What did I do wrong, Scully?" he rasped.  "You're so angry with me, but what 
did I do wrong?"

"You lied to me," she hissed.

"I never lied to you."

"One can lie by omission, too, Mulder," she retorted sharply.

"I only did what you had once asked of me, Scully," he said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked angrily.  "I never asked you to do 
things behind my back!"

"No, no you didn't.  You simply wanted me to do things behind your mother and 
brother's backs.  Didn't exactly endear me to your big brother, did it now?" 
he asked with weariness.  Upon seeing Scully's eyes open wide in confusion, 
he continued, "C'mon, Scully.  Don't you remember when you told me you were 
ready to go to the treatment facility to see Dr. Scanlon, but you weren't 
ready to tell your family about it?  You told me, Scully, and made me solely 
responsible for that knowledge.  

"I didn't question you then.  Why would you question me now?  Just as you 
thought you were doing the right thing then, you're mother thought she was 
doing the right thing by waiting to tell you."  He paused for a moment and 
then the frustration turned into anger.  

"Damn it, what did you want me to do?  Tell her 'no?'  Say, 'sorry, Mrs. 
Scully, my principles would never allow me to keep this a secret from your 
daughter even though that is your wish for now, so I'll just let you go 
flapping in the breeze without my help?'

"What the hell did you want me to do, Scully?  Do you really think I can deny 
your mother anything?  After all she's done for me, do you really thing I 
should?  Christ, Scully, she was doing it for you!  You know why?  How 
friggin' ironic can you get!

"She didn't want to spoil your happiness.  She said this year, for the first 
time in too many years, you actually seemed happy.  Well, happy days are here 
again, right, Scully?  I'm sorry if you feel I overstepped my bounds, but to 
be honest, I'd do it again without hesitation.  

"I __, I __," he stammered momentarily and then whispered, "I love your mom, 
Scully.  I would do anything for my Scully girls, don't you know that yet?"

Scully stared at Mulder with her mouth slightly agape.  She wondered to 
herself when she'd placed herself on that proverbial pedestal and had become 
a monumental ass.

"Oh, Mulder, I'm sorry.  You're right, and I am so sorry.  I guess the idea 
that Mom has cancer frightened me so much, that I didn't think about anyone 
else's feelings or needs but my own.  That was very selfish of me, Mulder, 
and I owe you a huge apology."

He looked at her for a moment before he spoke and then said, "Yeah, you do."  
Then he smiled.  And they both knew everything was going to be all right.  
Mulder came around the other side of the car and linked her arm in his.  
"Walk you to your door, m'lady?" he asked with a mock cockney accent.  

"Why, thank you, kind sir," she replied in kind.  But then she said, "So Mom 
noticed I was happy this year, did she?"

"Uh-huh," Mulder agreed.

"She didn't ask why the change, did she?" Scully teased, but in reality, she 
was curious.

"As a matter of fact she did," he responded wryly.

"She didn't!" 

"Yup.  She asked if we were involved," he responded.

"And what did you say?"

"I told her we were, but not in the conventional way," he answered.

"Oh," was her only utterance.

"But __," he drawled. 

"But?" she repeated hopefully.  

He had her.  He had her big time.

"But," he repeated, "that doesn't mean I don't believe in a little 
conventionality in my life, Scully.  I'm just waiting for a cue from my prime 
conventioneer that my conventions would be well received," he replied with a 
big smile.  

"Well, then Agent Mulder, let's just see what kind of an FBI investigator you 
really are.  I'm about to send you a communication that should leave no doubt 
as to whether I'm ready for a little conventionality in my life as well.  Are 
you ready?" she asked practically giggling.

"Lay it on me, G-Woman!"  

And she did.  She pulled his face down so her lips could easily meet his and 
there was no doubt in either of their minds that Dana Scully not only loved 
Fox Mulder, but she was most definitely _in_ love with him as well.

When they'd finally come up for air, Mulder gasped a bit, smiled, and then 
suggested, "How about we go inside and give your mom a call.  I think she 
deserves to know the world didn't end, and it's not going to for a very long 
time."

They linked their arms and entered the building.  It was definitely time to 
share the happiness.

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End of Part 4/4

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