Impossibles
msr | post s7 | words: 1,440
Scully always thought that she would never become one of those women who talks to her unborn babies, but so many things have proved her wrong lately.
One, she is pregnant. Two, Mulder is missing—Skinner lost him in a manner not too different from the way her brother Bill once lost their family dog.
She was 9 years old that summer; they made flyers and posted them everywhere in town. HAVE YOU SEEN THIS DOG? The flyer said. Lost near Duck Creek Park and answers to Archie.
They thought to promise a cash reward, but Mom forbade it. Bill was so guilt-stricken that he biked all around the neighborhood screaming Archie like a madman. He never explained how he lost the dog, just that it simply disappeared.
She was furious, and kicked herself for not taking Archie out so that Bill wouldn’t have to take Archie out later.
The dog came home on his own two weeks later. The Scully siblings spent the following weekend tearing the tattered flyers off posts and shop windows.
I put flyers up for your daddy too, Scully says to her unborn child. She thinks she’s having a girl, but she hasn’t really thought much about baby names. Again, she has never thought she would be pregnant, and of course, if she were pregnant, Mulder would surely be there with her to discuss baby names. The impossible has been made possible, and now she’s talking to her baby like the baby is a tape recorder.
I went back to the forest and screamed your daddy’s name like a madman, too, she says as she pets her still flat belly.
She feels comforted and confused when she talks to her baby. She only does it when she’s alone, driving in the car, doing chores at home, working in the basement office—she’s always alone nowadays, so she talks to the child, and essentially to herself, all the time.
She has half-expected Skinner to stick her with a new partner like he did to Mulder six years ago. That didn’t happen. She’s also thought her mother would freak out about her being an unwed mother and demand a wedding before her stomach starts to show; that also didn’t happen. So many things have been happening that really shouldn’t be happening; talking to her unborn babe is pretty low on the list of things she’s never imagined happening.
Skinner says, you need time, we’ll find him soon. Mom says, that’s fine honey, I’ll be here for you.
She wants Mulder to be laughing next to her about all these impossible things happening. She wants to find Mulder.
～ｘ～
The room is eerily silent, because Langly has turned off his music so they can all think.
Agent Scully has just left their office 10 minutes ago, and the three Gunmen are all have a stunned look on their faces.
Langly speaks first: “Do you think…”
“No, that’s impossible.” Frohike disagrees immediately.
“I didn’t even finish my sentence!” The younger man protests, “You don’t know what I was thinking!”
“Like hell I don’t,” Frohike bites back, irritated. “You’re wondering if Mulder ran off with this chick? I can tell you right now, that’s impossible. No. No. No. No no no!”
Frohike lets out a stream of no’s, almost as if he’s in denial himself.
“I agree,” Byers states. “There’s no way that the woman Agent Scully wants us to find is Mulder’s… lover.”
He looks like he’s in pain when he said "lover."
“Mulder’s been in love with Agent Scully for so many years, that’s just not… possible. This woman could be an informant, or maybe she went to see Mulder about some bizarre things, you know, like she met a vampire or had a werewolf’s baby or something. Mulder will never be unfaithful to Scully. He just… won’t.”
“That’s right,” Frohike sits up from his earlier puddle-like pose. “Let’s find this woman.”
Langly sits up, too. “What were some of the things Scully said about… our Jane Doe?”
“Mid-40s, shoulder-length black hair, 5 feet 7, about 135 lbs. Last seen in the Greater D.C. area, no known address, no job.” Byers lists off from his head, “Not gonna be an easy find, Boys.”
“Try me.” Langly cracks his knuckles. “Our Kung Fu’s got a reputation.”
～ｘ～
“You didn’t believe me.” The woman says with a frown. She does not like being found by three of the biggest geeks she’s seen in 500 years. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
Scully takes a deep breath. She keeps one hand on her belly, hoping to receive a little strength from her baby. She can do this. For Mulder, for herself, and for their unborn child. Shirley, the placeholder she’s been using for now. She figures that people tend to avoid naming a stray that they have no intention of keeping, and she very much intends to keep Shirley at all costs.
“I need your help.” Scully says softly. “I have a wish, and I… I’m trying everything I can think of.”
The woman looks earnestly at the agent, at her hand resting on her abdomen, and chews her lips for several seconds. “Your friends are good. I think they can find anything. They found me.”
Scully wets her lips. “I’m sorry.” She exhales, “Agent Mulder is missing.”
That seems to have caught the ex-genie’s attention. “You didn’t say... no wonder you’re here by yourself... I was...”
A moment of silence hangs between the two women.
“He has set me free, the fool. I now live in a studio apartment and have two cats. I work at an art gallery and volunteer at the hospital. I... I don’t grant wishes anymore. I’m truly sorry.”
The woman’s apology seems sincere, and it breaks Scully’s heart.
“You know, I now go by the name he called me. Jenn. It’s so ordinary, so common, not exotic at all. But that’s what I wanted all along. Take it from a very, very old woman, being ordinary and common isn’t a bad thing. And have good faith that good things come to those who wait.”
～ｘ～
It comes in a white box, and she holds it with trembling hands. It’s been a little over a week since her meeting with Jenn, almost a month since her visit at the Gunmen’s, and exactly two months since she discovered the existence of Shirley.
It’s not a rug, not an oil lamp, and not a bottle like the pop song suggests. It’s a turquoise and orange ocarina with a glossy finish.
The sender has left her a messy scribbled message: be specific and be kind, which I’m sure you are without my saying so.
Is she supposed to rub its surface? Clean the inside of it? Play it? Smash it?
She wishes that Mulder were here.
Hold up, her mind screams, remember the Stokes brothers? Your yellow invisible man?
Holding the ocarina in her left hand, her right thumb strokes the dip of her belly button, a gesture Mulder did often to her, Scully tries her best to remember what Mulder did when he unrolled his rug and met his genie...
I wish the past two months did not happen. I wish Mulder were where he belongs. I wish Mulder knew he’s gonna be a daddy. I wish Mulder was never taken. I wish Mulder would return to me now. I wish Mulder didn’t go into that forest, that we didn’t go to Oregon.
How much time, how many lives is she willing to disrupt? Which wish is the right wish?
Shirley, do you know what I should say to bring Daddy back?
～ｘ～
She wakes and immediately becomes aware of her surroundings. The ocarina is still in her left hand. She’s lying on a leather couch, his leather couch, with his arms around her.
“Scully?”
She freezes.
“Scully, you okay?” Mulder’s big hand comes to rub her naked back. “We should move this party to the bedroom.”
She lets go of the ocarina, which makes a tud sound when it hits the floor, and puts her arms tightly around Mulder’s neck. She kisses his face, endlessly and frantically and excitedly and joyfully.
“Hey,” he greets with a light chuckle, but shuts up when she begins to kiss him on the lips.
Suddenly, Scully sits up and puts her hand on her lower belly. “Shirley…”
“Shirley?” Under the light from the fish tank, his eyes are alert and amused. “Babe, are you okay?”
She senses it; Shirley is still with her. A mother knows these things.
“Yes, Mulder.” She reassures him as he wraps his long arms around her, “Definitely.”