Subj:    story to archive
Date:    9/29/00 9:10:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:    PennySyc
To:    NeverAgain4X13

TITLE: Revelation (Part 1 of 1)
AUTHOR: Leslie Sholly
E-MAIL: PennySyc@aol.com
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, with my name
and address attached. And please let me know!
SPOILER WARNING: None.
RATING: PG
CLASSIFICATION: VR
KEYWORDS: MSR
SUMMARY: An unexpected gift provides a catalyst for a revelation.
DISCLAIMER: Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox
own the characters of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. I mean no infringement or disrespect.

FEEDBACK: Would be very much appreciated
at PennySyc@aol.com (Leslie).


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Revelation
by Leslie Sholly
**************************

A revelation, that's what it was. One of those significant moments in time that alter the understanding so completely that what has gone before is reflected in a new light, and what might have been is forever changed.

Just another day in the J. Edgar Hoover Building for Agents Mulder and Scully, who had spent most of the morning catching up on paperwork. It was close to lunchtime when Mulder's voice broke the silence of an hour. "Shit!"

Scully almost jumped out of her chair. "What? What's wrong?"

"Sorry." Mulder was sheepish. "I just realized I don't have the receipts I need to finish filling these out." He gestured toward the haphazard mass of papers on his desk.

Scully managed to look superior without moving a muscle or changing her expression. Her own stack was perfectly aligned and almost completed.

Mulder sighed, then muttered, "Told you you should have taken care of the receipts."

"Is it fair for me to have to handle all the paperwork just because you can't keep track of things? Anyway, Mulder, it's not a big deal. We have till five to get this stuff on Skinner's desk. It's lunchtime now. Just go home and pick up what you need."

"But I'm starving," Mulder whined.

"O.K. Look, it's what--15 minutes to your apartment when there's no traffic, right? I'll pick up some sandwiches for us while you're gone and I'll meet you at our bench in half an hour or so."

"We could just eat in here, Scullly."

"Sure we could. We usually do. But it's such a pretty day, Mulder, and I was counting on getting out of this hole for an hour."

"O.K. It's a deal. See you in a few."

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

The crisp fall air was a welcome relief after the stifling humidity that had gripped D.C. well into September. The sky was blindingly blue and several trees were beginning to show touches of red and orange. Scully sat on the familiar bench, bag of sandwiches in hand, and gazed at the water while she waited for Mulder.

He was late, of course, but she forgave him immediately when she saw his smile. "Sorry I'm late," he said, eagerly unwrapping the sandwich she handed him.

Theirs was a relationship that was comfortable with silence. It was lunchtime; they were hungry; they ate, untroubled by any need to fill the quiet with small talk. When all that was left of their meal was the dregs of the root beer and iced tea, Scully said, "You look awfully chipper, Mulder. What's up?"

"Oh, that's just my usual sunny personality coming out," Mulder said, grinning innocently.

Scully rolled her eyes and waited.

"O.K., O.K. I checked my mail when I went home."

"And you were the latest $10 million winner?"

"Not quite. But I did get a package."

"From?"

"From my mom."

Scully raised her eyebrows.

"She used to send me care packages periodically when I was in college, when she felt up to it. But you know, things have been . . . somewhat strained between us for some time--"

"I know, Mulder," Scully said sympathetically.

"Anyway, she hasn't even sent a birthday present the last few years. Shit, this year she didn't even remember to call until the next day." Mulder laughed hollowly. "But, anyway, when I went home today, there was this package, and a note." He pulled it from his breast pocket and passed it to Scully.

Scully read aloud, "'Dear Fox, I was out shopping today and I was thinking about you when I saw this and thought how nice it would look on you. I hope you can use it, but if not, the receipt is enclosed. Love, Mom.' Practical, like most moms," Scully said, both amused and touched. "So, are you going to show me what she sent?"

Mulder opened his briefcase, removed a flat Macy's box, and handed it to Scully. She lifted the lid and opened the tissue paper to reveal a silk tie with geometric patterns in forest green and black. "Oh, Mulder, it's gorgeous! If your mom were here right now, I'd thank her myself for spiffing up your tie wardrobe."

"What's wrong with my ties, Scully?"

"What *isn't* wrong with them? You know we've had this conversation before. Anyway, they aren't as bad as they used to be--most of them, at least."

"You really like it?"

"I *love* it. And it matches your suit, too. Let's try it out right now. Take that ugly thing off," she commanded, gesturing dismissively at the striped tie Mulder wore. Grinning, he obeyed, and reached for the new one.

"Here, let me," Scully offered. She put the new tie around his neck, tied it, straightened it, adjusted his collar. It wasn't the first time Scully had done any of those things. Some days, when they were out in the field, Mulder just couldn't get his tie to tie right, and she helped him with it. Sometimes, when they were headed for a quick meeting with Skinner, she brushed him off, tightened his tie, straightened his collar. It was almost a motherly action on her part, helping Mulder the overgrown boy to pull himself together.

What was different this time perhaps neither could have said. But when Scully sat back to admire her handiwork there was a look on Mulder's face she couldn't remember seeing before. Here she was, smiling with pleasure at the way the new tie looked, a colorful note against the stark white of his shirt, lying neatly between the lapels of his black suit, reflecting and enhancing the green tints in his eyes. She was perhaps 18 inches from Mulder's face and his eyes were shining and he was smiling at her with a look that was happy and tender at the same time.

And all at once she realized two things: one, that the look on his face was the same one that she could feel on her own; and two, that what she was seeing on his face and feeling on her own, was love.

And then it wasn't a matter of the walls they both had carefully erected around their tender hearts crumbling away; rather it was a realization that those walls were simply no longer there, vanished as if they had never existed. Where they had gone, or why, Scully didn't know. But Mulder must have felt it, too, because he said softly, desperately, "Don't look at me like that, Scully."

"Like what?" she asked gently, stroking the new tie with her hand and worshipping his face with her eyes.

"Like . . . like you love me," he whispered.

"But I do," she said, and leaned in to seal her words with a kiss.

THE END

"The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. It ends with Revelations."

- Oscar Wilde

Feedback, please, to PennySyc@aol.com (Leslie)