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norcumii · 5 years ago

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yet another sequels rewrite

UGH. I have absolutely no stamina anymore. Ok, so this might be an unholy mess especially with as little sleep I’ve managed lately, nevermind the headcold, but here we go. I want it out of my system, dangit.

Under a cut because long thing is long, and MANY MANY SPOILERS FOR THE SEQUEL TRILOGY, UP TO AND INCLUDING RISE OF SKYWALKER.

Also, apologies, you can see where I got caught up in the banter and a character hogs the screen when they’re meant to be more on the sidekick level of prominence. I should fix it, but I enjoy razzing the character too much, so. Er. Sorry?

(and then you can see about halfway through my energy levels just died and the rest is handwaving. THAT one I’m sorry for.)

Episode 7: The Legacy of Skywalker

This begins much like canon, with Poe and BB-8 getting vital intel from random old guy in the desert – it’s not about Luke Skywalker, it’s about what the First Order plans. Finn doesn’t shoot, and no Dark Side figure romping around – though Phasma IS there, and she kicks serious ass and is generally terrifying. Poe is captured, Phasma questions him, sends him off to an actual interrogation cell.

We cut to a small smuggler vessel, sleek but not top of the line, has seen some wear and tear. Inside, Kylo Ren is having just another day as a smuggler kvetching with his crew – none of them want to deliver goods to Jakku, but damn the pay is decent (and stars know business has been thin lately – something’s been riling up the smuggling underground, though no one can point to what exactly). Kylo is tall, favors dark clothes, maybe has a helmet for when going into battle but not around the ship (very similar to that of the bounty hunter Boushh). His crew are Rose and Paige Tico, mechanic and gunner respectively. The sisters aren’t happy he wants to make the delivery on his own, but he’s determined – he needs them to come to the rescue if things do go badly. Someone has a bad feeling about this, but fine, whatever. Kylo ends with a cocky grin and a swagger as he pulls on the helmet and straps on probably more guns than are necessary (attentive audience members will note there is nothing REMOTELY like a lightsaber to his gear).

Meanwhile, Finn and Poe – tortured by a familiar style of interrogation bot – escape, and crash, and Finn presumes Poe is dead. He ends up meeting up with Rey, desert scavenger, and her new friend BB-8 who recognizes his jacket. In the background, we can see Kylo delivering a pallet of goods, bargaining with the locals, etc. Then the First Order swoops in, blowing shit up. The crowd scatters, Finn and Rey hauling each other to the parked ships. They run towards the closest – only to have it blow up before they get there.

The audience sees Kylo shrieking “My ship!” and gawping at the explosion, and about to be shot down (he was doing a damn good job fighting his way to the escape vehicles before then). Rey and Finn grab this idiot and drag him towards the nearest ship, aka a battered old Millennium Falcon. He shuts down a little as they sprint aboard, Finn dives towards the gunner turret while Rey works to get them the hell out of there. Things happen much like canon, though things break down in the fight. Kylo finally shakes off the shock of losing his ship and almost dying, and sprints towards maintenance to Deal With Things (by now the audience STILL doesn’t know who he is, but there should be the suspicion that he’s tied into this – he’s too familiar with things). The Falcon escapes into hyper, and Kylo is very angry about having to leave his crew behind, as is Rey about leaving in the first place.

We swap back to Kylo’s crew, waiting for word from him. As they’re scanning frequencies, they pick up a Resistance SOS. The sisters are exchanging looks, clearly not happy about this. “Aw man. Kylo won’t like this.” “I don’t like it, nevermind Kylo. Wait, play that on repeat, was that – Paige. Paige, that’s Poe Dameron’s ID squawk.” They share agonized looks, then Paige quietly says, “You know the Generals wouldn’t send him out if it wasn’t important.” “...shit. Kylo is gonna be so pissed.”

They rescue Poe, only to reveal the ladies are undercover Resistance agents, don’t tell Kylo, he cannot know. Meanwhile, they’ve gotten a space!E-mail/text from Kylo, he’s off planet and trying to get back they should get safe then contact him. So they’re off to take Poe to the Resistance.

Back on the Falcon, things break down again, dumping them back into normal space. A very crankry Kylo starts repairs, he and Rey get a bit snippy about how one does this, he’s being territorial until pushed then he’s all “you know what? Fine! You do it your way, see if I care!” Finn just wants to deliver BB-8 to the Resistance, guys, please stop this. Kylo is very against going to the Resistance for any damn reason at all. He just wants to get back to his ship, and off this stinking bucket of bolts! Rey...is speculating about Han Solo, and other legends (all of which make Kylo hunch his shoulders and be all disdainful). She wants to help Finn and BB-8, but she HAS to get back to Jakku.

They get tractored by a Resistance corvette, then boarded by Chewbacca and General Han Organa, who wants to know WTF is going on here, he hasn’t seen the Falcon in forever, not since Lando disappeared with it. And – wait. WAIT. WHO IS THE TALL SKINNY SMUGGLER IN BACK, SLINKING AROUND TRYING NOT TO BE NOTICED? WTF BEN?

(Rey and Finn: Who’s Ben? “That – that would be me, guys.” “I thought you were Kylo Ren!” Han rolls his eyes, looking embarrassed. “You’re really calling yourself that? Still? You came up with that when you were five.” Kylo gets a stubborn look and glares right back. “Hey, you know what, maybe I could’ve just named myself after the family cat, would that’ve made you happier?” Han has an agonized look. “Your mother named it after a land walker!” “And you’re complaining about Kylo Ren?? It’s not like anyone else in the family is any better! That was AT-AT the third, she has burdened at least two other animals with that ridiculous–” Finn: “Excuse me, but could we possibly save this argument for later?”)

Saved from more embarrassing family moments by the First Order attacking (unrelated to the Jakku mess, should emphasize how the First Order is getting up to more and more shit in the galay), Vice Admiral Holdo aboard the ship tells them to go, she’s got this. Off the Falcon goes to Maz Kanata’s.

We finally see the leadership of the First Order - a cloaked figure at the head of the table (maybe a holopresence?); Hux; Phasma; another cloaked figure, slouching and apparently uninterested in what’s going on. Something something ominous plans, the Resistance is the last bastion against us, the Republic is corrupt and just as bad as its predecessors, burn away the past and let new life grow forth as we dictate it, to create something new and glorious (and altogether creepy as fuck).

Back on the Falcon, Han and Kylo are Not Speaking To Each Other, but Han is answering basic questions about how the First Order’s been up to shenanigans, clearly someone’s paying off politicians and/or controlling them, they tried working within the system but that finally became a clear dead end so here they are. Grumbling about Luke being off on a mission and Lando’s been missing for awhile, it’s been rough. *MEANINGFUL NOT-QUITE-A-GLARE AT KYLO, who is still totally ignoring this* They’re headed to Takodana, which should be a solid neutral location - they can contact the Resistance there, then send everyone on their way. (He’s totally keeping the Falcon, though. It was his first!)

Things on Takodana go very similar to canon. The group splinters some, Rey finds the lightsaber, visions of vague betrayal, glimpses of Order 66, hints of the Big Four meeting. The First Order attacks (again) much to everyone’s shock because this is Neutral, how dare. Han and Chewie get captured instead of Rey. Leia shows up, invites them back to Resistance HQ, Kylo is...torn. He goes along with.

Reuniting with Poe, Kylo sees the Tico sisters being far chummier with the locals than they should be, realizes his mother had spies watching him, HOW DARE, he is an ADULT why are they LIKE THIS--

“You can yell at me all you want later, but right now we have data to decrypt and a rescue to plan, especially if you want to yell at your father in person too. It was his idea.” (It was, but Leia is THE head honcho, and she was the one who had to approve it.)

Data is from a spy, most of it has insane good encryption, but what they can make out is a HQ and something about Lando (??!?). They have coordinates, Finn has intel, so off they go for a rescue.

Since travel time is a thing, we need to see actual interaction with the new heroes. The new trio sparring, talking, hanging out playing space chess. Kylo is the awkward older brother figure who totally does not know how to fit in but somehow does a little anyways (note: these moments should be in the minority. He’s a side character, not a main). Getting to know and hang out with Rose, Paige, and Connix. Leia holds regular lightsaber classes for all interested (Finn’s a natural, Rey’s interested but prefers her staff, and Poe’s been doing this for years (Kylo is almost aggressively absent)). Folks keep stumbling over Rey in the hydroponics (look, there’s an AMAZING montage here, ok?).

The focus should be on Rey, Finn, and Poe: Poe digs these two; Finn’s reactions to going back; Rey grappling with how she left but at the same time she’s got people around and she likes them, wants more of this.

At some point, Rey - who’s been trying to get ANY and all intel on her parents or family who might just not know where she is, corners Kylo with Finn, Poe, and BB-8’s help. It’s honestly distressing to her that he has all these things and he just...left. He left family. Just...how could he?

He doesn’t blow them off, instead sits down and is visibly pushing himself to speak. “My family...is a lot. My uncle’s a galaxy renowned Jedi, the Jedi, the man who killed the Emperor and reforged a millennia old Order. Mom’s been an outstanding politician since she was a teenager, the Rebel leader, last Princess of Alderaan, the woman who built up the new Republic and kept it together though sheer willpower. Oh yeah, AND a Jedi, too. Dad’s a war hero, and while the criminal underworld sometimes says different, he’s got the rep of some amazing criminal mastermind with a heart of gold. My grandfather was Anakin Skywalker, one of the last great Jedi, General, hero of the Clone Wars - and Darth Vader, everyone’s worst nightmare.” He looks at Rey and Finn. “You two are at the opposite end of things. You’re figuring yourselves out from the ground up. Nobody’s shoulders to stand on, and hell, that’s hard. I get it.

“But for me…. My family – the names, the history – it all has such weight to it. All this legacy. I’m not anything like any of them, and I’ll never have the skills or power that any one of them do. Hell, what’s even left for me to be good at?” Poe opens his mouth, it’s possibly an old debate between them. Kylo waves it off. “I know, I know. ‘Find something. Make something.’” He makes a face at Poe, who makes one back. He turns back to Rey and Finn. “You’ve never had anyone’s shoulders to stand on. I’ve never been Ben Organa and not in several very large shadows. I didn’t know how else to find myself, and no, I still don’t know who that is, sorry.”

Finn makes a face. “So, what, we all ought to just give up because someone’s already been the best at things?”

“Hell no. That’s my problem, not yours. Besides, you’re not in those shadows. If you want to pick up that legacy, if you’re willing and able to shoulder that burden, more power to you. It’s not for me, though. Be Jedi, be smugglers, be heroes.” Grins at Poe. “Be the best damn pilots in the galaxy. Whatever.” He pauses and smirks. “Probably not the villains, though. Galaxy’s got enough of those.”

Leia leads the rescue team, there needs to be serious callbacks to RotJ and her saving Han then. The First Order is surprised at being attacked directly, but rallies, lots of fighting, Resistance doing well.

Phasma leads a mixed group of “specialty troopers” which encounters Finn, Rey, Kylo, and...danggit, probably not Poe. I want to include Poe, but he’s probably air support. During the flight, when the Resistance is getting the clear upper hand, Phasma motions to the specialists, who all pull lightsabers. It’s not a total flip to the Order’s advantage, but they’re using the Force and suddenly Finn and Rey are having to tap into powers they’ve only experimented with, and meanwhile everyone’s playing keepaway. Finn probably has Luke’s old lightsaber, Rey is ALWAYS dangerous. Eventually Phasma pulls out a lightsaber and does one of those scary Force throws so it’s spinny glowy blade of DOOM heading right towards the center of the normal Resistance troops, away from a very busy Rey and Finn who don’t even see it -

And Kylo reaches out and Force pulls it to himself, swings it around, and makes a face. “I hate these things.” (It shows. He’s adequate with it, but Phasma has another lightsaber and is kicking his ass. This should also be the first time he EVER shows any hint of being Force sensitive, and that includes he should never be pulling some Han Solo bullseye shots without looking shenanigans.)

Han and Chewie’s rescue party is fighting their way out, and then things cut to an officer running into central HQ, telling the two cloaked figures that no really, they need to evacuate, NOW, there’s too great a likelihood that the whole place is going to come down.

Head-Honcho-Cloaked-Figure [who I now desperately want to call Head Honcho inna Poncho, but I shall try to refrain] turns to Casual-slouchy-stance-cloaked-figure. “I think it’s time to reveal the Second Order, don’t you?”

The second figure shrugs, like it’s no big deal to them, and pulls out a datapad to punch in some things. “Signal sent.”

And across the battlefield, Resistance fighters start to turn. A bunch of them are using stun blasts, but in the air there’s no such mercies. I keep playing with the notion that Holdo’s ship just up and leaves the system (and let’s face it, with the potential for an Ackbar who’s swapped sides cackling “It’s a trap!” like “and you fools have fallen into it!” appeals, then sure, him too.) Paige, wherever she is, is also one of the turncoats. And down in that messy cluster with Finn and Rey, Kylo Ren pauses, then turns and strikes down several of the Resistance fighters he just saved.

At this point, people decide it is LEAVING TIME. Rey and Finn are presumably Most Distraught, there’s some kind of retreating fight between them and Ren-and-Phasma-and-her-troopers.

It’s not quite a rout. Not quite. There’s a lot of blood spilt on the ships they retreat onto, though. People just turned, for no reason anyone could figure. (Later, someone analyzes comm traffic, and finds another encrypted signal they can’t interpret.)

Our Heroes are Not Happy, for all that ok, they achieved some pretty significant mission goals. By the time they get back to base, everyone’s caught up with everyone else. Losses - in both senses - were significant. Finn took a nasty blow to the back, but given time he should be ok. Whether that means back to functioning as before, or he now needs some kind of mobility device AND THAT IS NOT SOME HUGE TRAGEDY, I leave up to the viewer. (In the latter case, damn well ought to later on show a number of Resistance members in similar circumstances, because representation and let’s face it, should be happening ANYWAYS regardless.)

They all get back to base to find that during the time they were away, a number of folks did the turncoat thing, but thankfully nothing too important blew up. Also, Luke finally got back from his mission. He greets the crew, and introduces them to what he went to fetch: a new medic named Kix, who had been working with some space pirates. (LET DANIEL LOGAN PLAY CLONES, DAMMIT.) They don’t know why things went strange, but they might have a few ideas.

General notes because I’ve reached the end of my patience with this plunnie, in no particular order:

I cannot emphasize enough that Kylo Ren is not, and NEVER is, the main villain here. He’s on par at MOST with Phasma, as we saw her in canon Episode 7 and 8. Quite possibly less.

It may or may not be relevant, but Rose and Paige were never sent out with the primary mission to babysit him (the man is THIRTY, for the love of GODS). He was honestly just a useful cover for them to travel around a lot, make contacts, and courier stuff. (He thought they kept making deals on the side, whatevs, not his problem.)

The person in charge of the First Order was once a Jedi (probably a padawan?) who escaped the purge, gave in to the dark side, and decided fuck the Empire and the Emperor, and what they did to us - AND fuck the Republic, too! (And that’s why they have the whole “burn down the past” attitude.)

There’s technically three “Orders”: the First order is the public face, the stormtroopers and the battleships. The Second Order is the hidden agents, some actually turned, but many with control chips like what was used on the clones. The Third Order is a group of Dark Force users, building their bullshit upon old sith books and those Jedi books they’ve decided to repurpose (and that way you can tie in the books of ancient Jedi Bullshit that were almost burned in canon).

Hux is in charge of First Order, Phasma the Third, DJ in charge of Second - he’s the reason there keep being encrypted stuff the Resistance can’t read. They go looking for someone who can slice into this stuff, and naturally this sketchy as hell guy has a reputation for being able to crack these things. No one really quite twigs to him being the likely culprit as to creating them. Or at least, that opinion gets drowned out somehow.

Finn was being groomed to be part of the Third Order. He did not realize this.

Kix helps suss out the chips and ways to try to deal with them.

Without much useful detail, my brain supplied Episode 8: The Fall of the Republic; and Episode 9: The Resilience of Hope. Make of that what you will?

I think this would mean 8 would be about the chips, while across the galaxy assorted sleeper agents would be taking out relevant political targets, and causing general unrest to take down the Republic. It should be about the small victories, not the large ones - this person rescued here, that life skill learned over there - even as the First Order keeps making successful powergrabs.

9 would be more about finding roots. Lando - who’s been spying within the Order, finally surfaces with intel (what intel is a very good question I do not have an answer to). I get the feeling Kylo would die somewhere in here - if so, it absolutely should not be the pivot point of either the battle OR the war, no more than Paige’s death was in canon. (Meanwhile, it’d be nice if Paige could be saved.)

No, the person behind everything is not connected to “something greater,” they remain a random padawan from the old Jedi who managed to survive.

I think that’s all I’ve got, tagging @dragonhoardsbookz for their interest, and many thanks to @dharmaavocado for egging me on and being a kind voice of reason. <3

#star wars #well this ended up messy #whoops #stupid brain giving out halfway through #sequel trilogy #sequels critical #fic ideas #plunnie for adoption #though by plunnie i mean a bit of a monster #it is frustrating how quickly i reach 'fuck it' levels of impatience #spoilers

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atths--twice · 5 years ago

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Botany 101- A Nice Trip to the Forest

A college AU, in which Mulder and Scully venture into the woods on a class excursion. What ensues, is a chance for them to get to know one another, as the rain falls down and the lantern light shines.

An Idea was presented on Twitter- ‘Ok, but what if instead of a hotel room it was a cabin, and they were students on an excursion.” I was intrigued and so I created this little story, I hope you enjoy it.

Fox Mulder, known to everyone as Mulder as he hated his first name, shifted his backpack for what felt like the twentieth time in the last half hour. It had not been problematic when he had worn it at home and around town, as he had gotten used to the weight of the things he would need for this weekend away, but now it felt as though his items had been replaced with rocks.

He had been looking forward to this trip since the class began. It was one of the main reasons he had signed up for a botany class in the first place - the eventual excursion into the forest it had promised.

School had been keeping him busy and unable to escape the noise and the fast pace of the city. Since he had transferred to the University of Maryland, he had been working harder and buckling down. He had saved enough in the past two years of working to not have to worry about anything but his studies.

Torn between which electives to take for the year, he had settled on botany. He had always enjoyed nature and discovering new things within, so it seemed perfect. The class was not too full from the offset, and it had dwindled down to even less soon thereafter. Mulder however, found the class intriguing and enjoyed the lectures. The professor was funny and kept the class entertained.

There was also, though Mulder would not freely admit it, a woman in the class he found very beautiful. He had not spoken to her, save the occasional hello as they passed each other, but she captivated him. This was actually the second course they shared, and though he enjoyed the more intimate class size, he knew he would appear a fool if he spoke to her. His words got tripped up by his tongue when he was around her.

“Hey, Mulder,” said a voice, and he sighed as he saw Kyle Dale walk up beside him. He really did not care for Kyle. He was very rich and made sure to let everyone know it. “You know there’s only the two girls here, and there are us six guys. We need to be the ones to make a move, the other guys are losers.” Kyle nudged him as he raised his eyebrows, and Mulder adjusted his backpack yet again.

“I’d recommend you don’t let the women hear you say that, Kyle, not girls. In fact, maybe don’t say that at all. This isn’t some bar, it’s a college course. We’re all here to learn and you know, I haven’t seen either of them show any interest in you at school, I can’t imagine the woods will change their opinions,” Mulder said, glancing at the two women and then back to Kyle. “Just, let them be.”

“Jesus, you’re such a fucking downer, man. Do you ever get laid?” Kyle shook his head and walked away, catching up to Brian Harding and glancing back at Mulder as they both laughed loudly.

Assholes, he thought, shaking his head. He looked back at the women again and watched the one he found attractive, hoping he was not being too obvious.

She laughed at something her friend Hannah said, tossing her long red braid over her shoulder. God, he was such a sucker for redheaded women. He had been since third grade, when Jenny Lipton had moved into town halfway through the year. She was introduced by his teacher, and when she smiled at the class, his hands got sweaty . He shyly brought her dandelions at recess, and she took his hand, pulling him to the swings. He pushed her for as long as she wanted, not caring that he never even had a turn.

This woman though, she was on another level. Her smile made his heart race and when he heard her laugh, he always wanted to hear it again. She also smelled amazing. She sat across from him in class, and every time she moved her hair, he caught a whiff of flowers and clean soap. It drove him wild and sometimes caused his attention to wander from the lecture.

Yes, Jenny Lipton had been his first real crush, but she could not hold a candle to Dana Scully.

“Class, we’re going to stop here for a bit. I want each of you to take out the journals you were to bring and identify the plants of the area. You should have your guide pages with you as well. We’ll be here for about forty five minutes and then we’ll be moving on to the campground,” Professor Morrow said, taking his pack off and setting it on a rock. He was about forty, a hippie with long blond hair and a full beard. He was a kind teacher and cared deeply for the subject he taught. “Break into teams or on your own, whichever you prefer.”

Mulder glanced quickly over at Dana and saw her and Hannah, slip off their backpacks and take out their journals and guide pages. She stretched and rolled her neck as she picked up her things and walked with Hannah into the woods. He took off his backpack, took out his own journal, and headed into the woods behind them.

An hour later, they all met up to collect their packs and move on. Mulder put his things away and put his pack back on, adjusting the straps so it sat better this time. They trudged on for another hour, before arriving at the campsite. A round fire pit sat in the middle of a clearing, thick round tree stumps encircling it.

Everyone sat their bags down and Kyle loudly announced he would make a fire. He walked away to gather some wood and the others began to set up their tents. Mulder had a one man tent, as he had no intention to share one with anyone. He had it set up quickly, and as he pounded the stakes in to secure it, he heard Dana laughing. He looked up to see her and Hannah struggling to get their tent up, laughing as they did. Dana was bent over, clutching her side, and then her head was thrown back as she laughed. Watching her, he missed the stake, and hit his thumb.

“Fuck,” he seethed under his breath, sticking his thumb in his mouth, the pain sharp and throbbing. He glanced up quickly to see if Dana noticed, but she and Hannah were still struggling with their tent and laughing.

Finished with securing his tent, he tossed his backpack inside, intent on setting out his sleeping bag later. He stood up and brushed off his hands, swallowing hard, as he walked closer to the women and cleared his throat. As Dana turned around and looked at him, he was struck again by the blue of her eyes.

“Uhh … would you … do you need a hand?” he stammered, and she smiled at him, making his heart race.

“I think we got it, but thanks, Fox,” she said with another smile.

“Mulder,” he said without thinking, realizing he would not mind his hated name being said by her. She tilted her head and stared at him.

“Really? You go by your last name with everyone? It’s not just a guy thing?” she asked. “Do you really not go by Fox? No one calls you Fox?” Her eyes twinkled and he felt he would let her call him anything, if she kept smiling and looking at him that way.

“Uh … my family, but not really anyone else,” he said, even as his brain screamed at him to shut up and walk away. “Whatever you … either is fine.” He turned and walked away, exceedingly embarrassed, wishing he could disappear.

“Thanks for the offer of help‍ … Mulder,” she called after him, and he turned quickly, her dancing eyes on him, her red hair shining in the sunlight. He nodded and turned around again, walking aimlessly away from them, shaking his head at his idiocy.

He walked around for a while prior to heading back to the campsite, needing time to recover from his own stupidity. He headed over to the fire pit and watched Kyle trying to build a fire. He was doing it all wrong, laying the wood haphazardly as he added kindling under it. Mulder shook his head, stepping closer to show him how to do it correctly, when he heard a voice behind him.

“You’re not doing that properly.” He turned and saw Dana standing there, her hair down and wavy from the braid. She was looking at the fire pit, but cut her eyes at Mulder, causing him to smile slightly. “You need to build it like a chimney so the oxygen can feed through the kindling and the wood -”

“Excuse me, sweetheart,” Kyle said, looking up at her with a sneer. “I don’t need help from you on how to build a fire, okay?” He went back to trying to get the fire burning and Dana stepped closer to him.

“If our warmth and the ability to eat tonight is dependent on you, sweetheart, then I’m going to have to insist that you either build the fire properly, or get out of the way so I can do it,” she said, in a low controlled tone that made Mulder both afraid and highly aroused. Kyle stared up at her and then stood up, towering over her. She did not back down or show any fear, and soon Kyle stormed away, claiming he needed more wood.

Dana glanced over at Mulder and rolled her eyes as she pushed up her sleeves and restructured the fire. She had it lit within minutes, stood up and brushed off her hands. She looked at Mulder with a grin, and he smiled back, nodding at her appreciatively.

“Make sure he doesn’t overload it with wood, okay? I’m going to find Hannah. I wasn’t going to stop and help, but he was being an idiot about it,” she said as she walked away. He grinned and watched her before turning his eyes back to the fire.

Hours later, after everyone had eaten, they were discussing the plant life they had found that day. Kyle sat quietly, still stinging over the fact that a woman, a younger woman at that, had shown him up, The other guys kept razzing him, which he was not taking well.

Mulder sat to the left of Dana, with Hannah on her right. As the others discussed the plant life, he knew they were mistaken with their findings. Not only did he know, but he heard Dana repeatedly muttering, wrong under her breath. He huffed and she looked at him with a grin.

“Well, they are wrong,” she whispered, and he smiled. “We had the guide papers, I don’t know how they could be so mistaken.” She shrugged and he coughed to cover up a laugh as she turned around and watched the fire.

Not long later, everyone headed off to bed, the fire dying, but not out completely. Mulder watched Dana and Hannah walk into their tent as going into his own. Laying his sleeping bag out, he changed his clothes, adding an extra zip up hooded sweatshirt to take away the chill.

Getting inside the sleeping bag, he rested his head on his backpack but quickly pushed it aside, finding it too bulky to be used as a pillow. Putting his arms behind his head, he wished the tent had a mesh top so he could see the stars, but he would make do with the sound of the crickets and owls in the trees.

After the day’s activities, he should be tired, exhausted even, but he was wide awake. Sighing, he decided to go sit by the fire for a little while. Putting his boots back on, he opened his tent, stepped out, and zipped it up again, to avoid allowing in any unwanted critters. Hands in his sweatshirt pockets, his head down, he did not notice that he was not the only one with the idea to sit by the fire.

“Oh!” he heard and looked up in surprise. Dana was standing there, poking at the fire with a long stick. “I didn’t wake you, did I? I wasn’t too loud?”

��No, not at all. I … uh … I wasn’t tired, surprisingly, and thought I’d check on the fire. Guess you beat me to it,” he said and she smiled. He walked closer and stood beside her, the fire still burning low and giving off heat.

She added another few small pieces of firewood and stirred at the fire as she sat down on a stump. Mulder sat beside her and they quietly stared at the fire as it began to slightly grow. He glanced at her and then back at the fire.

“So, did the fact that we all went to bed, in the middle of a forest with a fire smoldering, bother you a bit, too?” she asked him quietly, and he laughed softly. “Or were you also a dumb idiot, who forgot to pack an extra sweatshirt, thus needing to seek out the warmth of said fire?”

He turned his head to look at her and realized she was definitely not dressed for the cold night air. She had a long flannel on, but it was absolutely not enough to keep her small body warm. He watched her wrap her arms around herself, and he stood up, already unzipping his sweatshirt.

“Oh no,” she said, putting up her hands. “Please don’t think I was implying I expected you to do that, I was just making conversation. I can’t take your sweatshirt from you. It’s my own fault for forgetting an extra shirt. Please … no.” She shook her head and pushed at the item he offered her. “I can’t.”

“You can,” he said, holding it out to her and staring at her. “It’s an extra. Well, I mean I have two shirts and this long sleeved one as well. I’ll be okay without the sweatshirt. That flannel won’t keep you warm enough. Take it. Please.” He held it out and she finally accepted it, standing up to put it on and zip it up. It was big on her of course, but wearing the flannel under helped it to fit better.

As she pulled her hair from inside it and tossed it back, he was treated to the most wonderful scent of flowers. She kept her head down for a second before raising her eyes to his. “Thank you,” she said quietly, and he nodded at her, seeing the flames from the fire reflecting in her eyes. He smiled and sat back down, as she sighed and did the same.

They sat in silence for a few minutes and watched the fire, when she suddenly stood quietly, and walked to her tent. She did not look back, but stepped inside and zipped it shut. He was left wondering if he had done something wrong, but then he smiled slowly, as he realized she was still wearing his sweatshirt.

He sat by the fire until it burned down low enough to not be a hazard, and then headed to his own tent. Laying down inside the bag once again, he smiled, imagining her sleeping comfortably because of the warmth his sweatshirt provided her. Closing his eyes, he was asleep in minutes.

_______________________

The next morning, Mulder woke with the dawn, dressed, and rebuilt the fire. He shivered as he waited for it to warm up, his eyes flicking towards Dana’s tent, hoping she had been warm enough last night. Stirring the fire, he stood with his hands extended, feeling the warmth beginning to build.

Not long after the fire was burning steadily, others began to emerge from their tents, happily seeking the warmth of the fire. Each person thanked him as they stood around it, warming their hands and backs in turn. A few of the guys started to prepare some peanut butter sandwiches for the group. Brian handed one to Mulder, who took it with a nod.

After nearly everyone had gotten up, Dana and Hannah finally came from their tent, ready for the day. Dana glanced his way and then looked down, walking over to grab a sandwich from Brian. Hannah continued on to speak to Craig, a quiet guy who Mulder actually got along with. Dana stood on the fringe and then came closer to him.

“Your sweatshirt is in the tent. I didn’t want to bring it out in front of everyone,” she said, glancing up at him, her eyes begging him to understand.

“You keep it for tonight, just in case,” he shrugged, and she shook her head. “You can.” He repeated his words from last night to her again and she sighed with a nod.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and then walked away.

The tents were taken down and packed up as the sun began to rise higher in the sky. They left on a trail and Mulder followed behind Hannah and Dana, listening to their conversation while trying not to appear too creepy. They discussed dating and Dana admitted to Hannah that the last couple of dates she went on was a while ago, with one of the men standing her up.

Mulder scoffed at the stupidity of whoever that man was, and Dana turned around quickly and looked at him. He stopped walking abruptly and stared at her, embarrassed beyond belief. He saw her lips twitch as she turned around and began to walk again. He fell back a few paces, intent on that not happening again.

An hour or so later, they came to a shallow but wide stream they needed to cross. A log had fallen, creating a natural bridge, and they took turns walking across it carefully. Mulder had almost neared the end when his foot slipped and he fell into the stream. He luckily had not broken or sprained anything, but everything he was wearing was thoroughly soaked.

Everyone laughed, including Dana, but she was the only one to come over and help him, as he spluttered and tried to stand up. She reached for his backpack, and he handed it to her, rising to his knees and then his feet.

“Shit,” he muttered, unbuttoning his flannel shirt. He took it off and the one underneath, leaving him in a very wet tank top, cargo shorts, socks, and boots. He glanced up and found that Dana had turned her head, his backpack held in her hand, as it dripped steadily into the stream.

“I’ll take that back now,” he said softly, and she nodded, glancing at him as her eyes quickly moved up and down his body, before she turned and walked away, running her fingers through her long ponytail. He smiled as he watched her, not seeming to notice how wet he truly was.

Up another hill, they came to their camping site. A large fire pit was surrounded by small, single occupancy cabins. Everyone exclaimed at the sight of them, each of them going to check them out. Mulder set his wet pack on the step and walked inside. There was a cot, a small table made of logs, a lantern, and an oval hooked rug on the floor. It would be warmer than the tent, and for that he was relieved.

Stepping out of the room, he began to unpack his bag, shaking his head at the sheer wetness of everything. His clothes inside were soaked, but they would hopefully dry soon. It was warm out and there was still a few hours of sunlight left. He laid out his clothes and reached for his sleeping bag, thankfully finding it still dry.

He put it on the cot and checked the rest of his things. His snacks and other first aid items were okay, but his notebook was wet, his inked words running together. Shaking his head, he set it down. It would be easy to redo the work, he had it memorized. Taking out his spare shoes, a pair of old flip flops, he took off his wet boots and socks, again shaking his head.

Picking up his clothes, he went to find a place to hang them to dry while the sun was still shining. His shoes … well they would hopefully dry, but he doubted it would happen by the time they journeyed back to their cars tomorrow morning.

Clothes laid out in the sun on a bush, he walked back to the fire pit where everyone had gathered. He glanced down at the empty pit, and then looked up, catching Dana’s eye, as he raised his eyebrows. She smiled and covered her mouth as she laughed softly. He grinned as he looked toward Professor Morrow.

“All right! Congratulations on making it here unscathed, well, most of us anyway,” he said, with a glance toward Mulder and everyone laughed. He shook his head and smiled. “Tonight, as well as food that we’ve brought, we’ll be gathering edible plants to add to our meal. Berries, plants, whatever you find that you’re sure is edible. So be double, even triple sure that you’re correct. We don’t want to poison our friends.” Everyone laughed again and soon headed off, each one with a container to collect items.

Mulder found himself near Dana as they walked into the woods. He could hear her humming and he smiled, happy she was enjoying herself. They spread out, foraging the bushes for food.

“How can you just walk away from me? When all I can do is watch you leave?” he heard, and turned his head to see Dana singing quietly as she cleaned a bush of its berries. “So take a look at me now, well there's just an empty space. And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face …” She looked up and saw him watching her and she grinned.

“I’m a little obsessed with Phil Collins right now. Sorry to expose you to my horrible singing voice,” she said, with a laugh. He shook his head and continued gathering items.

“It’s not horrible,” he told her, his eyes downcast.

“Liar,” she called, and he looked up to see her smiling. He looked back down, smiling as he continued his work.

Fire warm and food eaten, even the items they had all collected, of which Mulder and Dana had brought in the most, everyone sat around that night laughing and talking about many things. Mulder saw Hannah speaking to Craig once again, a huge smile on his face.

Mulder glanced at Dana as she put another log onto the fire, debating whether to speak to her. As he was contemplating it, she walked over to him, standing close and crossing her arms. She glanced at him and smiled and he smiled back.

“So, we’re obviously the smartest ones in class, we definitely need to stick together from now on.” She shrugged and he laughed. They both looked at the fire and were quiet, Mulder constantly feeling tongue tied around her.

“So you —” he started to say, but was cut off by the professor telling them all to head to bed, warning of rising early in the morning. Mulder glanced at Dana again, but she was busy smothering tonight’s fire, the area they were in more heavily wooded.

“Can’t take any chances,” she said, and he began to help her. Nodding her thanks, she caught his eye, and headed to her little cabin.

Making sure the fire was completely out, he took out his flashlight, and gathered all his items from the nearby bushes he had laid them on earlier. Finding them to be relatively dry, he walked into his cabin, took off his shoes, and changed his clothes. He lit the lantern on the small table and laid down on his cot.

Sighing, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A knock sounded at his door and he sat up in surprise, his brow furrowing. Standing up and crossing to the door, he opened it to find Dana standing there, a flashlight in her hand, her long hair down, his borrowed sweatshirt pulled tightly around her, and a worried expression on her face.

“Hi,” he said simply, his surprise undoubtedly evident.

“I need you to look at something. Please,” her voice shaky and scared.

“Uhh … come in,” he told her, stepping aside to let her inside before he closed the door. She hurried past him and stood in the middle of the small room in his large sweatshirt, a pair of shorts, and her boots.

“I was changing my clothes and … I felt something, on my back. It was itchy earlier, but now it feels worse. I can’t see it and I need to know what it is. Can you look at it, please?” she stared at him and he nodded. She turned around, moved her hair, and dropped his sweatshirt down past her butt. His breath caught and he froze in place.

She was not wearing anything under the sweatshirt, clearly whatever she found, had scared her badly enough to forego extra clothing as she hurried to his room.

“Mulder? Fox? What is it?” Her worried voice snapped him into action, and he reached for the lantern, turning it up to see her back better. Stepping closer to her, he held the lantern as he knelt down. “It’s down on my lower back.”

As soon as he was close enough, he saw it- an angry looking rash covering a good sized area of her lower back. He touched it gently and she hissed and then she groaned.

“Sorry,” he said, feeling the heat even without touching it again. “Stay like that for a second.” He turned around and grabbed his backpack, rummaging around until he found the container of salve he had brought with him. “Okay, this might hurt a little bit.”

“What?” she asked, but he did not reply, instead taking two fingerfuls of the salve, and gently rubbing it across her back. “Oh my God, what is that? Mmmm, oh Mulder, that stings … ohhhh … no it feels good. What is it?” He rubbed in the salve and smiled as he listened to her finding relief from the comfort it provided.

Wiping his hands, he put the lid on the salve and stood up. He brought his sweatshirt back up her body and placed it on her shoulders. She grabbed at it and zipped it up. Letting her hair fall, she put her hands in the pockets of the sweatshirt and turned around, looking up at him.

“Seriously, what is that? And what’s on my back?” she asked, reaching for the container in his hands.

“It’s a rash, probably from a plant you touched unknowingly,” he told her, reaching in his bag again, taking out a bottle of aspirin and handing two of them to her. “It’s pretty hot and inflamed; this will help it feel better.” He handed her water from a canteen bottle he had and she took the medicine, just as a huge crack of thunder sounded, causing her to jump. A second later, rain began to fall, hard, on the tiny cabin.

“Whoa,” they said simultaneously, looking up as the rain pelted the roof from above. He looked back down at her and turned to the door, opening it and looking outside. She stepped closer to him and they watched as the rain obscured their vision beyond anything not directly in front of them.

“I … “ she started, and then stopped.

“No, you can’t,” he finished for her, knowing she was going to suggest she make a run for it. “You’d be soaked through, that salve will wash off, and you’d be in pain. Best to stay here, at least until it lets up a bit.” He closed the door and turned to find her right behind him, and his mouth went dry. The one person who seemed to short circuit his brain was now going to be sitting alone with him in a small room during a rainstorm, for the night possibly.

Her expression was unreadable as her eyes seemed to search his face. He waited until she nodded in agreement and stepped over to the bed, sat down, and took off her boots. She looked at him and he gave her a small smile as he picked up the lantern off the floor, set it on the little table after turning it down a bit, and then sat on the floor facing her, his back against the wall. They were both quiet as they listened to the heavy fall of the rain on the roof, thunder rumbling and then cracking loudly. He saw her jump again and he smiled slightly. She obviously didn't like thunder.

“Tell me a story,” she said, just loud enough for him to hear her above the deluge of rain, as though she was not sure if she should be asking for something like that.

“A story? About what?” he asked, looking at her in surprise. She shrugged, looking a little embarrassed.

“I don’t know, anything, I’m not picky,” she said. “I don’t really like thunder and I thought maybe a story might take my mind off it. You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.” She shrugged again, looking down and touching at her back lightly over his sweatshirt. She hissed and closed her eyes.

He watched her for a second, thinking of stories that would not only interest her, but help to loosen his tongue. Leaning his head back, he knew she would not be looking for some silly fairy tale to be retold to her, and so he thought back to the science fiction and weird stories he loved to read and know more about, until he had a perfect one.

“Have you ever heard the story of the star-crossed lovers, Maurice and Lyda?” he asked, lifting his head and watching her, hoping she would say no, as he knew this story by heart. He could recite it from memory, thus making it easier to speak to her.

“The only star-crossed lovers I know of are Romeo and Juliet,” she said, shifting on the cot. He smiled and nodded as that was the case with most people.

Clearing his throat, he began his story. “Christmas, 1917, was a time of dark, dark despair. American soldiers were dying at an ungodly rate in a war-torn Europe, while at home, a deadly strain of the flu virus attacked young and old alike,” he began, and then he forgot about her as he closed his eyes, lost in his own story. “Tragedy was a visitor on every doorstep while a creeping hopelessness set in with every man, woman. and child. It was a time of dark, dark despair.”

“You said that already,” she said, with a smirk, and he opened his eyes to find her now lying on her side facing him, leaning on her elbow, one eyebrow raised. He grinned and then chuckled.

“But,” he continued, “at 1501 Larkspur Lane, for a pair of star-crossed lovers, tragedy came not from war or pestilence, not by the boot heel or the bombardier, but by their own innocent hand.” He stared at her and waited, seeing if he could get that skeptical eyebrow to go down.

“Go on,” she said, both eyebrows going up, and he knew he had piqued her interest.

“His name was Maurice. He was a ... a brooding, but heroic young man beloved of Lyda, a sublime beauty with a light that seemed to follow her wherever she went,” he said, waving his hands around slowly, and she laughed softly. “They were likened to two angels descended from heaven whom the gods could not protect from the horrors being visited upon this cold, grey earth.” Again he paused and stared at her, waiting to see what she would say.

“And what happened to them?”

“Well, according to legend, driven by a tragic fear of separation, they forged a lovers' pact so that they might spend eternity together and not spend one precious Christmas apart,” he said with a shrug and a half smile, his tongue loosened now from a story he had always enjoyed.

“Wait. They killed themselves?” she asked, frowning as she stared at him.

“Yeah, and supposedly their ghosts return to haunt that house every Christmas Eve,” he said, and then shivered. “I just gave myself the chills.” He stared at her with a grin and she frowned with a smile. “What?”

“Do you really believe that story?”

“I don’t know. Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of hard not to believe it when it —”

“Sounds so believable?” she cut across him, with a tone of disbelief.

“You don’t believe in ghosts?”

“Does that surprise you?”

“Well … yeah, a little. I thought everybody believed in ghosts,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Like that slimy one in Ghostbusters?” she teased him and he shook his head.

“No, not like Ghostbusters. What a joke that movie was at portraying ghosts. They are benevolent entities … well, mostly. I have read stories of places where ghosts have done horrible things and people —” He stopped talking as he looked at the barely contained grin on her face. It spread as she tried to stop it and he once again saw the dimple in her cheek.

God, he was in so much trouble …

“You believe it all, don’t you?” she asked, with a huge grin.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked back, shrugging his shoulders. “I haven’t seen it disproven, so …” He shrugged again and she laughed as she shook her head. She laid down on her back, and he looked at her profile.

So much trouble …

“Umm … I should check your back again, just to be sure the salve is helping,” he said, getting up and picking up the container again as he knelt down beside the bed. She looked up at him, her eyes so blue, he knew that if she asked him to do anything, no matter how questionable, he would. “You need to turn over.”

She nodded and did as he asked. He lifted his sweatshirt over her butt and up just enough to expose her back. It was looking better already and felt cooler than earlier. Still, he would apply another layer and have her lay on her stomach for a while, let it soak in better.

“It looks better, not completely gone of course, but better than earlier. I’d say you had an allergic reaction to something. Obviously not poison oak, you would’ve been smart enough to avoid that, but at least it’s topical and nothing serious,” he said as he slowly put more salve on, both to make sure it was applied well, and because her skin was so soft, he wanted to touch it forever. She had a freckle just above the rash and he had an overwhelming desire to bend forward and kiss it.

“What is that stuff?” she asked again, her voice muffled in her arms, hissing and then moaning, as he applied it.

“It’s a homemade salve my mom has made for years. My sister and I were always getting scrapes and rashes as children and so she made this natural stuff because my sister cried with the stuff from the pharmacy,” he told her, rubbing slow circles across her back.

“What were you two doing to meet such catastrophes?”

“Well, we grew up in Chilmark, and spent a lot of time outdoors. Climbing trees, baseball games, races, playing widespread games of hide-and-seek. Inevitably, one of us would come down with some ailment and so my mother kept this on hand at all times. She called it the “Super Salve,” as we were both into superheroes then. Plus, it works really well, so …” He smiled as he thought of those days spent outside, no care for anything but being home on time for dinner. He finished applying the salve and closed the container. “Stay like that for a few minutes and let it really set in, it will help a lot.” He wiped his hands on the shirt he had worn earlier and leaned against the bed.

He heard her turn her head and he looked at her over his shoulder. “You’re a Vineyard boy, huh? And here I thought you were all right,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face.

He laughed and she turned her head back, sighing as she did. “Well, whatever she puts in that, it’s like magic. Please tell your mother that I can't thank her enough. It stings for a second, but then … ohhhh …” she said in a low voice, and he was glad she had turned her head away. Her moan shot straight to his groin and he was horrified at its betrayal in such tight quarters as the rain fell down, preventing any chance of escape.

“Tell me more about your family,” she said and he smiled, thankful for the distraction.

“I have a sister, she’s twenty-one. Parents still married, still live in Chilmark. My sister is living in Europe with some friends right now, for “life experience” as she calls it,” he said, looking down at the floor.

“A single trip to Amsterdam ought to take care of that for her,” she said, and he laughed.

“You seem awfully ... normal for growing up on the Vineyard, if you don’t mind me saying,” she said, once again turning to look at him. He raised his eyebrows at her and she smiled.

“What exactly are you implying, Dana?” he asked with a smile. She stared at him, her face serious and then she smiled softly.

“I think that’s the first time I've ever heard you say my name,” she said quietly. “In this class or the last one we had together.” He stared at her and he knew she was correct. He had been nervous to speak to her, in both classes, and now he was seeing how ridiculous that was to do. Besides being smart and beautiful, she was easy to talk to, and funny.

“Yeah, I … uh … I’m not really a … I don’t hang out with many people and I don’t really engage in many conversations,” he said, and she nodded.

“I don’t like it.” She shook her head and he frowned. “You saying that name, I mean. I just think that if you insist on being called Mulder, you should call me … Scully.” She shrugged and he stared at her, trying to decide if she was teasing him. She smiled and he knew she meant it.

“Okay … Scully,” he said, and she grinned wider. He smiled back and she nodded.

“Scully. I like it.” She smiled, and he cleared his throat, looking down at the floor. “And to answer your question, Mulder, I wasn’t really implying anything about Vineyard people. I was just teasing.”

“I know … Scully,” he said, looking up at her and she smiled at him again. “I know what people think about those of us on the Vineyard and I understand. My family does belong to a country club, I went to cotillions when I was younger, and my sister was even a debutante, but only because my mother insisted on it. My sister didn’t want to do it, and in fact, the night of the ball, she left about halfway through, changed out of her ridiculous dress and gloves, and came back in jeans, a Rolling Stones t-shirt, and black Converse high tops. My mother was nearly apoplectic, but my sister just shrugged and kept dancing.”

“I like her. She sounds like someone I’d like to know,” Dana laughed, and he nodded and smiled. Samantha was definitely someone he could see her befriending.

“What about your family?” he asked, and she shook her head, moving to lay on her side, facing him, but keeping his sweatshirt up above her rash.

“I’m not terribly interesting,” she said, waving him away. He stared at her as she licked her lips, biting the bottom one, and he wished he could taste them. “My parents are married, my father is in the Navy. We’ve lived in a lot of places, but have been here for the longest length of time. My older brother is also in the Navy and he’s stationed in Germany. My younger brother is starting college this coming year. I have an older sister, but I don’t really know where she is right now. She’s kind of flighty and the last time I heard from her, she was in Colorado. I think she was anyway. She’s always on the move, ‘following the wind and the sun,’ she says.” She paused and sighed. He looked at her again and she shook her head.

“What?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed, looking down. “I’m still not completely sure what I want to do with my life. I have always loved science and pursuing answers that are not readily available. But I know that’s not a field most women enter into, as if it’s odd a woman would find science interesting.”

“Pssh!” Mulder said forcefully. “It’s incredibly hot and sexy when women are interested in science.” Realizing what he said, his face became flushed, and he fell silent as he chanced a glance at her. She smiled, her own cheeks pink, as she looked down. Thunder cracked again and this time he jumped.

They were quiet for a few minutes and she sighed again. “I just wish that I was more like my sister sometimes. She’s not afraid to do anything. To just up and leave, follow her passion, live in a cabin with some guy she just met and make jewelry to sell at swap meets. She’s flighty, yes, but she’s also passionate and caring, and doesn’t care how she’s perceived. She’s ballsy and tough, despite her hippie outward appearance.” She fell silent and he looked at her, wanting to tell her she was all of that and more, but he worried it would scare her, so he tried a different tactic.

“Every person is given the personality that’s right for them,” he said, looking at the wall across the room. “We see in others what we imagine we are lacking, and yet it’s there, just perhaps not right at the surface. Every person is exactly who they are meant to be.”

“Wow, you and my sister would get along really well,” she told him with a quiet laugh. “Dare I say, even make a good couple.”

“Hmm, what’s her stance on science?” he asked, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

“The whole idea of it?” she laughed. “I wouldn’t say she’s against it, but she’s more prone to believe in the healing power of crystals than modern medicine.”

“Oh, well, then I'm sorry, I’m gonna have to pass. A firm grasp in the belief of science is high on my list. I’d put it at top five, easily,” he said, turning his head to find her staring at him. She did not blink for a few seconds, holding his stare, until thunder cracked again, and she jumped.

“It’s late,” he said quietly. “You should try to get some sleep. Is your back feeling better?” She nodded, staring at him again, as she pulled his sweatshirt down and covered her back. She got inside the sleeping bag, glanced at him once more, and then turned toward the wall.

“Good night, Mulder,” she said softly.

“Good night … Scully,” he replied with a smile, shifting until he was lying on his back on the floor, his arm behind his head, listening to the rain falling unrelentlessly on the roof. A few minutes later, he heard her soft breathing and he smiled again, as he himself fell asleep.

________________

Mulder woke early, wanting to be sure Dana was out of his cabin and back in her own, before anyone else was up and about. No need for anyone to suspect anything, especially as it pertained to her.

She walked to her cabin, slipping in the mud a bit, as she arrived at her door. She turned and looked at him as she walked inside, an odd expression on her face. He hoped it was not one of regret or worry over what they had shared last night. Then just as the door was about to close, she poked her head out and smiled at him, and his heart pounded wildly against his rib cage.

The campsite was a muddy wet mess the next morning. No chance for the warmth of a fire, as the fire pit was full of water, and every piece of wood in the forest was wet regardless.

Once everyone was up, and that discovery was made, the grumbling began. Foul moods abounded, but Mulder was not fazed by any of them. He could not stop grinning, remembering Dana’s laugh and the beautiful blue of her eyes.

He saw her speaking to Professor Morrow, showing him her back, though not in the same manner she had to him last night. He could not hear them speaking, but the professor glanced his way and nodded, telling him without words that he had done the right thing.

Bags packed and everything ready, they began the long hike back down. The weather made it harder, but they were meant to be back that day, so everyone kept a steady pace. As the car park came into view, Kyle slipped and fell, much to everyone’s amusement. Covered in mud, he swore and yelled, trying to wipe himself clean, and failing.

Gathering by all the cars, Professor Morrow reminded them to finish their workbooks and to write a 2,000 word essay about the weekend and what they experienced. Some groaned and others grinned. Mulder saw Dana smile softly and he wondered what she was thinking about.

People began to leave and soon it was just a few of them. Dana walked over to him, his sweatshirt in her hands, and a smile on her face. He stared at her, feeling Hannah’s eyes on them, making him feel awkward.

“Thank you for the use of your sweatshirt, Fox … Mulder.” She handed it to him and he took it, laying it over his arm.

“You’re welcome, Dana … Scully,” he said and she grinned. They stared at each other, and the desire to kiss her was stronger than anything he had ever felt. Her eyes flicked to his lips and his mouth went dry. Looking back into his eyes, they continued to stand there, staring at one another.

“Dana! Come on, let’s go!” Hannah called from across the car park, causing Mulder to jump, and Dana to sigh.

“Okay,” she called back, looking at her over her shoulder. She looked back at Mulder and smiled sadly. “See you in class.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly, feeling deflated and low. “See you in class.” She stared at him, waiting, and he stepped back with his head down. He heard her sigh again and then the crunch of her boots on the gravel of the car park.

Looking up, he watched them drive away and felt like a complete fool. “You are such an idiot. So stupid.” He threw his backpack in the backseat and then got in the car, heading for his little apartment off campus, berating himself the whole way, knowing he had completely missed his chance.

Arriving home, he went around back and sat on his porch, dumping out his backpack, making sure no little creatures had hitched a ride home. He looked through everything, made piles of things to put away and to be washed. He looked at his sweatshirt and shook his head. Dana’s naked body had been inside it, but he still needed to wash it.

Taking off everything but his undershirt and shorts, he walked barefoot to the front door and unlocked it. Coming through his small one bedroom apartment, he opened the backdoor and began to bring things inside. Once that was done, he stripped, tossing his clothes outside, and took a shower.

Changed and feeling better physically, but still like an idiot, he scooped up his pile of clothes from outside, grabbed the laundry soap and some quarters, and headed to the laundry room. He opened the lid, added the quarters, and started to put his clothes inside. Taking the time to go through his pockets, he found a rock and some small pieces of dried leaves, which he threw away.

His sweatshirt was last, and he sighed as he reached inside the pockets, and frowned as he touched something. Taking it out, he saw it was a folded piece of paper. Opening it, he grinned and then laughed as he read the words written on the page.

How could you just let me walk away? Just let me leave without a trace?

Scully

(301) 555-0134

P.S. I’m working on those hidden personality traits.

He threw the sweatshirt in the wash, dumped in the soap, closed the lid, pushed in the quarter tray, and ran upstairs. Slamming the door, he grabbed the phone and dialed her number. His heart pounding, breath ragged, he waited. Two rings and then her voice made him stop moving.

“Scully.”

“Hey, Scully, it’s me.” He grinned as he moved again and walked to the couch, flopping down on it.

“Well, it’s about damn time, Mulder,” she teased.

“I’m inclined to agree.” He laughed, sitting forward and shaking his head. She joined his laughter and then they fell silent. His heart began pounding, but if she had been braver than usual, then he could be too. “I … I wanted to kiss you.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “Me, too.” The honesty they expressed, left him tongue tied once again. Just hearing her voice in his ear, made his body feel warm.

“So, Mulder … do you suppose that house on Larkspur Lane is haunted only on Christmas? Surely it could do with a scientific investigation, just to see,” she said, and he could hear her smile. He sat back with a grin, ready to discuss haunted houses, or any other damn thing she wanted.

For the next ten minutes, an hour, or for the rest of his life.

#MSR #Fanfic #College AU #Early MSR #Camping #Hiking #Mild Hurt #Comfort #Getting To Know Each Other #Rain #Thunderstorms #Sharing Clothes

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officialleehadan · 6 years ago

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Death Valley Sand

Death Valley was never hospitable.

Even with the air conditioning on it was punishingly hot, and Brandon was slightly annoyed that Razz wasn’t even sweating.

Guess he had been serious when he had said the heat didn’t bother him. Apparently demons had a lot of heat and fire immunity. It really wasn’t fair.

They had talked a lot on their trip west from Chicago. It turned out Razz was hired on the same year as Brandon, although via two seriously different set of circumstances.

“You seriously majored in Pattern Analysis?” the agent laughed incredulously. “Who even does that?”

“Double major, I was in for Information Tech. too,” Brandon grinned. It was a fairly normal response to his recent college history. He was used to it. “Specifically, information management. I was made for shady government organizations.”

“Well, that explains how you picked up on the attacks. Why did the Magical Defense Agency grab you?”

“They do that when you hack their mainframe,” Brandon grinned ruefully. “Turns out, their security on those things is pretty good.”

“You’re shitting me!” Razz laughed so hard Brandon thought he might run them off the road. “No wonder they carried you off. How old were you?”

“Twenty-one, and drunk as hell.” Brandon told him with a fond smile for the memories of his college dys. Really, it was a miracle he survived to adulthood. “I was just messing around, and suddenly I’ve got agents breaking down my door.”

“I bet. Makes you twenty-eight now? You’re young for the agency.”

“Not the youngest we’ve had. Some of the geniuses down in R&D probably shouldn’t be out of high-school.”

“I’m scared of them.”

“Yeah, me too.”

The scenery smoothed from low mountains to rolling sand dunes and Brandon looked out the window. There was no sign of anyone and he wondered why, of all places, their contact had chosen to meet them here. Razz had said that the dragon, Blaec, could take a human form.

“You won’t see them yet.” Razz said knowingly as he leaned back in the seat with one hand on the wheel. He was watching Brandon out of the corner of his eye. “I know where they’ll be. Blaec likes to bask out here and he has a spot he prefers. Something about the sand being particularly comfortable.”

He turned off the road abruptly and headed out into the dunes. The sand slid under their wheels but Razz had picked their car well, and the rugged jeep cleared dune after dune without trouble.

It wasn’t until they were well out of sight of the road that Razz spoke again.

“Brandon. Leave your weapons in the car.” he said seriously, and followed his own advice by pulling his sidearm out from under his coat. Brandon hesitated, and then added his gun, and then his ankle weapon, to the glove box. “Good. Almost there.”

When they cleared the next dune, the desert flattened out into a small flat-bottomed valley. A bright blue beach umbrella came into sight before Razz slowed

“Not parking closer?” Brandon asked as Razz parked the jeep well back from the umbrella, and the woman draped underneath it. “Why?”

“It’s better to let Blaec check us out,” he said cryptically. “Blaec gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘overprotective’ and he won’t stop to ask questions if he decides we’re a threat.”

There really wasn’t any answer for that, so Brandon just got out of the jeep and closed the door behind him. He didn’t see the dragon, but that didn’t mean the dragon couldn’t see them. Dragons were notorious for their ability to hide until they were good and ready to reveal themselves.

The umbrella it turned out, was stuck in the sand beside a lump of smooth black rock jutting out of the sand. On the rock lay a woman, with her feet in a wading pool that matched her umbrella.

She looked like a pin-up model, draped across the rocks. Her blonde hair was pulled back from her face in a thick braid that coiled down to her hips and the white sundress she wore stopped just an inch above her knees. A white sun hat finished the look, and her smile was kind, but had an edge to it that Brandon couldn’t place.

“You can come over,” she called cheerfully, and lifted one hand in invitation. “It’s good to see you again, Razz. Who is your friend?”

Razz grinned as they walked closer, and Brandon tried not to stare at the woman. She was beautiful. Her skin was pale despite the sun. Her features were delicately Greek, and her blue eyes had gold pupils.

With a start, Brandon realized that the woman was no more human than her draconic husband.

Razz left that part out of his briefing. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to bite them in the ass later.

“Evalene, this is Brandon Leith. He’s working with me on this one.” Razz explained, stopping short of her and her pool. Brandon took his cue from Razz. Really, in Magical Defense, it was best to watch the older Agents. They survived where everyone else didn’t, and they knew how not to die.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Petros,” he said politely, and got a soft laugh. “We came a long way to meet you and your husband.”

“Call me Evalene, please,” She said dismissively. “Now Razz, you told us you needed to meet, but not why.”

“We’re having a problem with the undead.” Razz told her frankly and with more honesty than Brandon really thought was wise. “On the border between the States and Canada, near the Great Lakes.”

“And so you called us?” Evalene asked, pushing a few loose strands of hair back behind her ear. A ring glittered on her left hand, more money in a single piece of jewelry than Brandon had ever seen before. “It must be quite the problem indeed.”

“Far more of them than we’ve seen in decades,” Razz said darkly, and shifted from foot to foot in the sand. “We’re having trouble hiding the incidents.”

Brandon had briefed him on the problems while they traveled, so Razz knew as much as anyone about the situation. Once they knew what they were looking for, they had been able to gather a considerable amount of information.

The picture was bad no matter how you looked at it.

The woman looked out over the dunes and Brandon wondered if she was looking for the dragon who was supposed to be somewhere near.

“My husband wishes to know if we will be expected to work with the idiot from before.”

“No. That’s why Brandon’s here,” Razz said with a wince. “Nick sends his regards, but we figured you wouldn’t want to see him again.”

“Well, I think my love would like to see him again a bit too much,” Evelene laughed brightly, voice light and teasing. “But for the sake of his life, I expect it was wise of the director not to come.”

Apparently Blaec Petros wasn’t the only one who Nick had offended. Evalene didn’t look distressed at the thought of Nick Jackson running afoul of her dragon. That was… illuminating. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a problem.

“That’s about what I thought,” Razz chuckled dryly. “II headed him off before he could do the stupid. So, will you come?”

The woman got hat distant look in her eyes again. “Who else has been called?”

“We wanted to make sure we had you two before we called anyone else.”

Evalene pulled her feet out of her pool and up onto her rock slowly as she regarded them. Water trickled down the black stone and left iridescent trails behind it. Her feet glittered oddly in the bright sun.

“No.” she said softly, and rested her palm on the stone beneath her. “No I don’t quite think that’s quite it.”

As Razz opened his mouth, maybe to explain, the ground began to shake.

Brandon staggered and fought to keep his feet as the sand for three hundred feet in front of them started to rise out of the desert floor.

The rock Evalene sat on disappeared in a cloud of sand. Just before Brandon threw up an arm to cover his eyes he saw the kiddie pool get knocked aside, staining the sand dark with seldom-seen water.

When he lowered his arm, he realized that no picture could have prepared him for seeing a dragon for the first time.

Sand poured off the dragon’s immense body in waterfalls, red-gold against immense black scales. Billows and tiny dust devils formed in the backwash of huge wings, and sent grains of sand in every direction, a small, self-contained sandstorm with a dragon at the heart.

With a care Brandon wouldn’t have expected, the dragon mantled his wings slowly before flaring them out to their full width. His barbed tail lashed once before he settled back down onto the sand with his wings spread out across the ground to soak in the punishing sun.

His scales were black at first glance, but where the sun reflected off them they shone with green and blue iridescence. The rock Evalene had been seated on turned out to be the top of the dragon’s head and she lay there still, draped elegantly between his eyes.

Brandon tried not to flinch back when those terrible eyes fixed on him. They were as big around as tractor tires and glowed poisonous yellow-gold. His pupils were slitted like a cat’s and dilated to the smallest slivers in the bright sun.

‘What you mean, is that you fear the others and cannot control them.’

Brandon had been on the receiving end of telepathy twice before. One time with a witch caught in a bad situation and needing help. The other when he was in Ireland the previous summer helping their agency with a problem with the Fae.

Neither experience compared to the dragon’s overwhelming presence in his mind. His voice was deep and smooth, and edged with the promise of death. The bellow of overworked furnaces echoed in his lungs with every breath, and for a moment Brandon lost himself in the fire.

Somehow, Razz seemed unshaken and it was good, because suddenly all the breath had been stolen from Brandon’s lungs.

“We can’t find them.” The part-demon explained when he realized Brandon couldn’t, looking up at the dragon. “Rhys and Xaenxa are in the wind and last I heard, Thori was in Alaska.”

The explanation seemed to mollify the dragon somewhat and he lowered his head to the ground with an air of faint interest. Evalene dropped a hand to trace the tiny scales around his eyes and smiled faintly.

‘Rhys is in Moscow. Xaenxele plans to join him there soon if she has not already. Thori visits family in the Olympic mountains.’

“We can send jets to pick them up any time. Just say the word and-” Brandon started, but Evalene was already shaking her head.

“Thori hates airplanes. He’ll take the train,” She told them, sitting up and bracing one arm on the dragon’s scaly brow. “Rhys will fly himself and Xaenxa mistrusts private jets.”

Brandon thought fast. “We can arrange a first-class ticket on a commercial airline, if that would be better?”

“Much better, yes. And a private compartment for Thori?”

“No problem.”

Blaec turned his huge eyes on Razz.

‘The increase in our fee-‘

“The gold will be transferred to the usual safe-deposit box. The increase has already been included.” Razz said firmly. “And I’ll negotiate the others’ fees separately. The same as I always have.”

Satisfied, the dragon’s eyes slipped closed and he shifted into the sand comfortably.

‘Have my suit in the Regent Beverly Wilshire reserved for us. We will meet you there with the rest of the team in a week.’ He told them. He cracked one eye when Razz winced. ‘Relax, Demonkin. I won’t stretch your pitiful government budget to pay for it.’

“Thanks.” Razz sighed. “I appreciate it. Is there anything we can do for you? Besides the hotel reservation I mean.”

‘I want gold sheets on the bed.’

“Stop” Evalene rolled her eyes, a smile playing across her lips. “Ignore him, Razz. He’s not serious.”

‘Yes I am’

Razz laughed. “We’ll figure it out.” He said. “But I hope you’ll forgive me, Blaec, if I follow your wife’s orders.”

‘Troublesome woman.’ The dragon grumbled, but now that Brandon was getting used to the powerful mental voice, he could hear the affection in the complaint. Evalene only laughed.

“I’ll make it up to you, my love,” she told him, stretching herself out languidly on his nose. “But for now, Razz, please see to our accommodations. I’ll email I will you the information on where to have the tickets for Thori and Xaenxa sent.��

It was a dismissal and Brandon was glad for it. His heart had been pounding since that first moment when the desert sand began to rise. The blazing sun wasn’t helping matters. Death Valley was known as one of the hottest places on earth for a reason.

‘One more thing,’ Blaec said, his eyes closed again and his voice deceptively casual. ‘Tell the idiot back at your agency to stop trying to find my lair. His last attempt alarmed my wife.’

Evalene sighed. “I had forgotten about that. He’s right. Please put a stop to it. The good director managed to get a tracking bug into our dry-cleaning, and it exploded unexpectedly.”

“Tech doesn’t do well with magic sometimes.” Razz muttered to Brandon. More loudly, he added; “I’ll talk to him.”

‘See that you do.’

The dragon yawned hugely, and Brandon couldn’t keep himself from taking a half-step back. He could have driven a semitruck down the dragon’s throat, although he wouldn’t be getting it back any time soon.

Blaec’s teeth were longer than he was tall, and wickedly sharp. His tongue had a small bone spike set in the fork. It was used to strike a spark when the dragon breathed fire, and also for their distinctive language

Blaec’s eyes were cracked open again, and Brandon got the impression that he was being measured against some invisible standard.

‘So you’re the new one,’ He said thoughtfully. ‘I expect more intelligence out of you than the last one.’

Evalene trailed a hand over her husband’s scales. “Gently, my love.” She murmured. “I believe this one might know better what not to ask of us.”

The dragon snorted, sending sand and sulfur-scented air into their faces.

‘Is that so?’ he asked skeptically. ‘If you insist, my treasure. You know more about monkeys than I do.’

“That means he likes you,” Razz informed the Brandon with a grin. “Blaec, Evalene, We’re gonna head out. Lots to do in a week. Send me the information about Thori and Xaenxa and we’ll make sure they travel in style.”

‘Travel safely, Demonkin. You would be difficult to replace,’ Blaec commented, appearing to drift off into a light doze. Evalene raised a hand in farewell.

“We’ll see you in a week.” She assured them. “And don’t worry. Everything will work out. You’ll see.”

Brandon hoped she was right as they got back into the jeep and turned away over the dunes. Maybe, just maybe, they had a solution to the nightmarish problem on the horizon.

+++

HGE - The Others

Through Shattered Glass

Sea and Sky

HGE - Smoke before Fire

The Legend, The Rumor

Deep Water and Scales

Black Scales and Open Spaces

Screams in the Dark

Warning Lights

Into the Wild

Nobility and Flames

+++

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