Title: I Want to Believe Summary: Fill in the Blank for 'One Son'. Scully, the Gunmen, a bottle of tequila and only one lime. The truth is out there or rather, in here. Spoilers: One Son, Triangle, Unusual Suspects, the one with Mulder in 91 and Arthur Dales, a bunch more probably. Rating: PG, Category: V A UST Mulder/Diana (urp!) New category heading: Soap Opera For purposes of MTA, Mulder is brain damaged in this ep. Disclaimer: Dear Chris: since you're now doing 'As the X Files Turn', I've decided to do you one better. Hope Mulder has his brain returned to him by Agua Mala. I'm not infringing because I really doubt anyone would pay for this crap. I just barely sat through it for free. Archive: Yes Notes: Well, I pride myself on keeping the characters within 'character'. Apparently that is NOT the goal of CC and FS any longer. But I had to rationalize to myself why Mulder is so blind when it comes to Diana (though apparently only for this particular episode and The Beginning) and also, why the Gunmen aren't equally under her spell. This fills in the blank from Scully storming off and Mulder picking the lock. Thank you to Brandon for words of wisdom, Susan for beta reading while beta writing and love and prayers to Kathy. Come back to us safe and sound. I Want To Believe by Vickie Moseley vmoseley@fgi.net Frohike jumped at the knock on the door. He looked over at his companions and then at the TV monitor of their front entrance. "I had a feeling 'Red' would be back," he muttered and went to the door, unlocking it with ease. "Agent Scully. Forget something?" Scully stood in the doorway, hesitation in her eyes. "No. It's nothing. I'm sorry. I should go." Byers and Langly had joined their friend and Langly reached past Frohike to grab the woman's sleeve. "We got a bottle of rotgut tequila and two limes. I think you came back here for some explanations." She chewed on her lip and nodded solemnly. "Then come on in. We live in a shitty neighborhood," Frohike said lightly and closed the door behind her, locking it back up completely. "Where is he?" she asked, looking around the room. "Left about five minutes after you. My guess is he's over at Diana's." When Frohike saw how her face fell at that revelation, he quickly jumped to assure her. "He's going to see what he can dig up on her." "I wouldn't be so sure," Scully said dully. "You mentioned tequila?" Byers shot his two friends a reluctant look, but moved off to the small kitchenette, coming back with four glasses, a bottle and the aforementioned limes. Taking a pocket knife out of his jeans, Langly sliced one of the limes in fourths and poured each person a hefty shot. "Sorry, Fro has us on a salt free diet," he said apologetically as he handed Scully a glass and a portion of lime. "That's OK. I don't think I'll notice," she said dryly and sucked once on the lime then downed the shot in one gulp and handed the glass back in a silent gesture to be refilled. Langly grimaced, but poured another shot, this time a bit lighter than the last and handed her the glass again. She repeated her actions and then handed him the glass, this time upside down. "So. Start explaining," she motioned them on to the kitchen table, taking a seat closest to the door. Byers chewed on his lip for the time it took to sit down, then sipped at his tequila and cleared his throat. "We don't know everything," he said by way of caveat. "But you know more than I do. You knew Mulder back then. You knew Diana. What the hell was between them that makes him believe her over me? Over you?" She sat back, arms crossed over her chest, giving the distinct impression that what ever they had to say, it had better be good. Damn good. Langly took up the gauntlet. "OK, you know they were . . . involved." He licked his lips and sipped some of his own drink. "We just didn't really give you the whole story the last time." "We were hoping that Mulder would do that for us, the rat bastard," Frohike interjected. Langly shot his smaller friend a withering look. "But since he didn't . . ." "Guys, I don't have all night here. I have some decisions to make and I need to make them soon. Now, what can you give me? And don't worry about my feelings. At this moment, I don't think I have any left." She tapped her foot impatiently. "They met in 90. November, I think, or maybe late October. He was still working VCS and somehow they ended up on the same task force. There was a psychic involved and Diana was the only one on the team who would take the woman seriously. Mulder must have thought he'd found a kindred spirit." Langly smiled, then noticed the narrow eyed glare Scully was giving him. "Not that it's that important, mind you," he quickly amended. "Anyway, I think it was January when they moved in together." "They lived together?" Scully asked, eyebrow reaching toward her auburn crown. "Yeah. At her place. Mulder's had that dump forever, probably since he was in the Academy. I think it went condo after he moved in and his dad put up the money for it. Anyway, he kept it, and moved in with her." Scully didn't comment, just waved her hand for Langly to continue. The other two men just nursed their drinks. "So, about three months after they're together, Diana comes up pregnant. We didn't know at first. Mulder was truly bummed. Came over one night and drank our entire inventory. Wouldn't tell us why. I got the impression she wanted to terminate and he didn't. Anyway, about a week later, he calls us and asks if we'll be his witnesses. They were getting married." Scully didn't hide her shock. "Married?" Frohike took up the story. "Married. Justice of the peace. No honeymoon, they had a case." "But the Bureau . . ." "Remember, they weren't officially partners. They just sort of managed to work on the same cases. There was no official sanction they had to worry about," Byers was quick to add. "So they got married. And Fowley was pregnant," Scully said, reciting the facts so far. "Where's the child?" All three co-conspirators exchanged looks. Frohike squirmed in his seat and then spoke. "They were on a case. Actually, Diana wasn't supposed to be on it, but Mulder wanted her help interviewing a witness. 'Cept the witness turned out to be the perp. While Mulder was checking the place out, the guy sort of let too much slip to Diana. He knew the jig was up. So he pushed her down a set of basement stairs." "She miscarried," Scully concluded. "Big time. Mulder shot the guy, just wounded him. Then he handcuffed him to a railing and carried Diana to the hospital. She almost died from loss of blood." Scully looked pale with this information, but said nothing more. "Diana pulled through, she's good at that. Anyway, Mulder did what he'd learned to do from his family. He closed off. Shut himself in the office and wouldn't come out. When he wasn't out of town on a case, he'd just sleep there. Diana was on leave, she was at the apartment. We tried to get Mulder to see what he was doing, but he was too wrapped up in his own grief." "But I thought he loved her," Scully said suspiciously. Byers shook his head. "I don't know that Mulder understood what love was back then, Dana. He just knew Diana was someone who would listen to him. That was something he'd never really had. Love, I don't know. But I do know that he wanted that baby. Wanted it more than maybe even Diana did. That's what almost killed him. The thought that he was responsible for the baby's death." Scully closed her eyes. "Of course. He would assume that if he hadn't begged her to come and interview with him . . ." "None of it would have happened," Langly finished her thought, confirming her suspicion. "So she left him," Scully guessed. "Not exactly. They sort of left each other. When Mulder did go home, it was to his apartment on Hegal Place. He couldn't face Diana. For her part, I don't think she could face him, either. I think she blamed herself, since he had to talk her into keeping the baby to begin with. Maybe she blamed him some because he wasn't supporting her. I don't know. I just know that in the end, it wasn't anybody's fault. It just happened. They just . . . split," Byers said sadly. "So they divorced," Scully said quietly. "Not at first. Diana took the job in Europe. She left him a note, didn't even call him to tell him she was leaving. The note said said something about the distance helping them find their way back to each other or some other trash. Mulder . . . Mulder started to drink. It was pretty scary for a time. He was drinking the whole weekend away and during the week, he'd go through a fifth a night. And about four packs of smokes a day. Then, finally, he showed up one day sober as a judge, wanting us to check out some information for him. He didn't say a word about Diana." "Did they get a divorce? Eventually?" Scully's stomach hit bottom at the thought that they might still be legally married. She wasn't sure why that bothered her, but it did. Greatly. "She finally sent divorce papers through a lawyer she had here in the States. He was served with them on the day that would have been her due date." "Nice knife in the back," Scully said evenly and reached over to pick up the glass again, taking the bottle and pouring another good sized shot. The three men watched her down it as she'd done the first. "He's not choosing her over you. You have to understand that, Dana," Byers said gently. She graced him with a disbelieving look. "Oh, really. Well, from where I sit, it sure as hell looks like he's choosing her over me," she said bitterly. "No, not really," Frohike joined in, shaking his head. "He's just having a hard time believing that the only other person to ever believe _in_ him would betray him. And maybe, it's the old guilt getting in the way of his better judgment. There's a lot of baggage cluttering up his mind on this one, Dana. Don't throw him to the wolves because he's messed up in the head." She grinned for a second, then closed her eyes as if in pain. "I haven't before. Not likely to start now." She sat there for a minute or two, then looked at the three men, each in turn. "So tell me. Why are you believing me and not her. You have history here, too. She was there first." Byers bit his lip and looked at Frohike. Langly stared at the floor for a minute. Frohike was the only one brave enough to face her gaze. "You've never walked out on him. She did. Regardless of what happened, regardless of how much pain, she took off to Europe. At the time, it was probably her own pain. But she stayed there for seven years. That's more than enough time to pick up the phone and try to make amends. And from what we've seen, she hasn't even really tried to make amends yet." "Besides, uh, we, uh, well, we sort of . . ." Byers stuttered and drew in breath, then looked helplessly at Frohike. "We tested her," the older man said sheepishly. "Tested her? How?" Scully demanded, eyes narrowing to pierce him in her glare. "It wasn't my idea, Dana. Honest to God! But Langly . . ." "Hey, don't pin this one on me! Byers thought it up, remember?" "Shut up and tell me what you did!" Scully's shout silenced the other three. Frohike stared at a the ancient orange shag carpet beneath his feet. "We called her first, when Mulder was in the Triangle." At Scully's angry gasp, he put up his hand. "We were going nuts. We knew somebody had to get there fast. Langly thought, well, since you were both in hot water, Diana had the connections to get us the information pronto. It was always our plan to tell you, but we needed that AWAC data _now_. So we called Diana at the office. We told her that Mulder was in trouble. She said she'd do what she could, and to meet her at the Bureau. When we got to the office, she was no where to be found. It smelled like a trap. And we all know that she didn't show up in Bermuda. So basically, when she could have helped, she didn't." Scully sat there, staring at the three of them. "Uh, you _mad_ at us, Dana? Er, Agent Scully? I mean, we were going to call you, too. We did. As a matter of fact, we went to right away to find you. We weren't going to . . ." "Enough apologies, guys. In a way, I'm glad you did that. It's the type of evidence I need. But it's not likely to convince Mulder. Especially with all the 'baggage', as you say." She still looked desolate. Frohike sighed. "I wouldn't know about that. I tell you, he's checking her out right now." "Frohike, just because he went over there . . ." "Dana, he didn't just 'go over there'. He asked to borrow my lockpick set. Said his was all the way over at the office. And he called her apartment before he left. And he didn't try her cellphone. He was almost certain she wouldn't be home when he arrived. You don't do that if you're just going to warn someone off." For the first time that evening, a ghost of a smile shadowed her face. "No, you don't." "He's never searched your apartment when you weren't there," Byers pointed out. "No, he just sits there in the dark, having used my key to get in, and scares the shit out of me when I walk in the room," she replied grimly. "Well, that tells me something," Langly said confidently. All eyes turned to him. "She's never given him her key. And she's been back long enough to do that." Scully sighed, but she sounded much stronger. "This is all very well and good, but I have to find a way to convince him of her betrayal. He's going to walk right into something and I don't know if I can get him out in time." Her cellphone rang and everyone jumped. "Scully," she said briskly, then her eyes grew wider. "Spender, you better be telling the truth on this one . . ." the end. Vickie ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 45 to 55 for conviction Can we go back to just running the country now? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^