Discoveries - Prologue


Premise:  Discoveries takes place a while after TLG and Scully
return from Vegas.  What accounts for Scully's strange behavior?
You'll have to read to find out...



Sue
Rating:     PG
Category:   Story - MLSFR/AH
Spoilers:   Everything, from this season on back.
Disclaimer: NO infringement intended, respecting
            anyone's property.
       
"Discoveries"

Prologue

Scully was flipping through the TV Guide when the phone 
rang.  Not removing her eyes from the listing of her 
favorite Friday night show, ‘Homicide', to read the 
highlights blurb, she reached over absently, and picked it 
up.  She pressed the receive and said, "Hello?"  Now, if 
this was Mulder, tonight WASN'T a good one for him to come 
over.  They'd done nothing but argue, fuss and fume, well, 
she had done much of the fuming, all day at the office.  
She was none too thrilled with him right now.  "Who's 
this?" she said, hearing the rudeness in her voice.

"Uh...oh...uh, hi, Scully.  This is Langly."

It's Langly, she thought .  Mellowing her tone a 
fraction, she said, "Oh, hi.  How are you?"

"Like, I'm cool..."

"Great.  By any chance, did I happen to leave my green felt 
pen at the lab the other day?"

"No, I haven't seen it, sorry."

"Oh, guess I have really lost it.  So, what's up?"  She 
heard him clear his throat quite extensively, so quickly 
she asked, "Is everything all right?"

"Stuff's fine, Mulderbu--uh, Scully."  Was this really a 
good idea?, he wondered, hesitating.  Was he treading on 
sacred ground?  Crossing a boundary he had no business 
crossing?  Vegas was Vegas.  This was D.C. again, and he 
wasn't the big, bad jackpot winner, just a boyish man who 
lived inside himself too much.    "I was 
wondering...what I mean is...do you think you'd want to see 
the new 'Star Wars' with me?  'The Phantom Menace'?"

Scully set the TV Guide aside, wide-eyed, and repeated his 
question.  "With you?"  And then added, "Now?"

"Yeah."  He swallowed a dry, scratchy swallow.  "If you're 
not busy, or something, that is..."  

"Hello, Langly, are you still there?"

"Yeah, man, I'm still here.  See, I asked Mulder if he 
wanted to go with me tonight, but he said he's not inta 
'Star Wars'.  Says those movies are for little kids and 
terminal acne cases."  The disappointment in his voice was 
clearly evident.

Scully rolled her eyes, thinking that, that sounded exactly 
like something insensitive Mulder would say.  He could be 
so thoughtless.  She felt herself bristling.

"Are you inta 'Star Wars'?  Or are you like Mulder?  You 
think they're dumb kiddie flicks?"

"Well, if they're for young children, then I'm ten years 
old.  Don't let Mulder's vapid comments bring you down.  
His steady diet of porn and gory horror films are all he 
knows.  I LOVE 'Star Wars'!  Princess Leia was--wait, what 
do I mean was?--STILL is one of my role models!  I've got 
the special editions of the trilogy as part of my video 
collection."  Langly's heart skipped a beat.  She took a 
breath and continued, "So, in answer to your question 
concerning if I feel the way Mulder does, in two words, NO 
WAY!  Uh...when does the movie start?"

Langly smiled, and the butterflies in his stomach 
mercifully toned down their willy-nilly flight.  "The last 
show's at midnight.  Too late?"  He bit his upper lip.  
Scratching her head, Scully thought about it.  He sighed, 
and clicked the mouse absent-mindedly on his monitor's 
screen, just for the distraction.  "Yeah, it is.  Scrub it 
then, Scully.  I just thought...well, maybe you'd like to 
check it out with me.  Sorry I--"

"Well, I am somewhat tired..." Her voice trailed off and 
she looked at her watch.  "Where are you?"

"Where else, Scully?  In the lab.  Frohike and Byers took 
off for Cape Cod early this morning to investigate reports 
of spontaneously-occuring, toxic red tides at Martha's 
Vineyard.  I'm holding down the fort because we're 
expecting one of our contacts, a Brazilian stationed in the 
rain forest, to stop by with some time-sensitive data at 
around midday tomorrow."

"'Kay, listen, I'll be there to pick you up in, say, thirty 
minutes, which will make it about ten twenty-five.  That's 
plenty of time, don't you think?  You have tickets 
already?"

He nodded.  "Straight up.  I stood on line for five hours 
this morning to get 'em, after 'Hike and By' left.  I 
bought a ticket for Mulder, 'cos I thought he'd be a sure 
thing."  

"Where's it playing?"

"At the new ten-plex, near the mall over here.  It's about 
a mile."

Scully rose from her couch and glided over to the VCR.  As 
she searched for a suitable video cassette, she said, "I'm 
on my way.  I just have to set my VCR for 'Homicide'.  
That'll only take a sec."

Langly grinned and declared, "Sounds like a plan."  He felt 
a surge of welcomed relief rush over him.  He hadn't bombed 
out.  She actually wanted to go with him.  She was going.  


Seizing a practically blank tape, she said, "See you in a 
jiff, Hackerman."

"I'll be waiting for you outside our place, Scully.  See 
you then."

He smiled even larger when she insisted, "Dana, okay?  Call 
me Dana, Langly.  I think being on a first name basis is in 
order since Las Vegas, huh?"

"Whatever you say works for me, Scul--I mean Dana."

 His eyes widened, and he heard himself say 
softly into the phone, "Only if you call me Ringo."

The short, ring on practically every finger, Beatle popped 
into her mind again, and she grinned, but didn't laugh.  
"Ringo it is, Langly."

************************
11:40 p.m.
The New Capitol Theatres

The huge theatre was packed out.  Even though The Movie was 
playing in two additional theatres in the multi-plex, every 
single seat was filled, which was why Scully sat with her 
hand resting on Langly's seat, saving it for him.  He was 
at the concession stand buying movie food.  They had 
arrived at the multi-plex ten minutes ago, and had been 
very fortunate to get such neat seats, two together; on the 
aisle, a smidgen back from the middle of the theatre.  
Langly had told her that he couldn't sit too close to the 
screen because, if he did, after about an hour into a film, 
his temples would begin to throb.  This movie was too 
important to get a stupid headache.  Scully had said she 
was fine anywhere.  The only thing that got on her nerves, 
and gave her a naggy headache was noisy, inconsiderate 
people you had to 'shush' for them to be quiet.

She was surprized that she wasn't feeling so tired and 
headachy now, in spite of the difficult day with her 
partner.  Why was Mulder becoming such an obstinate pain in 
her butt lately?  It was like having two jobs.  Working the 
X-Files, while needing to stroke, cajole and, sometimes, 
just to keep the peace and end the fruitless, maddening 
bickering, flat out give in.  Swallowing proven facts, and 
dismissing valid findings in order to stifle his constant 
whining, and mitigate his pathetic sulking was all too 
often becoming the rule of the day.  She considered whether 
bothersome Diana, his galling ex, was lurking around in the 
background somewhere, fouling him up.  Making him think she 
still really cared about him, or more likely, manipulating 
him into thinking that getting herself re-assigned to the 
X-Files would solve all his problems.  His biggest one 
being Scully.



Her head started to hurt then, so she closed her eyes, and 
forced herself to think:  'Star Wars...'Star Wars'...'A 
Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away'...concentrate.  
The beloved, opening strains of the Movies' world famous 
theme, which had the innate ability to transport one from 
the here and now, to the Lucas then and there, assailed the 
embattled stronghold of her mind's eye, and she sighed.
Accordingly, a truce was reached whose terms went...



"Dana?  Are you asleep?"  A soft, monotonal voice full of 
concern, spoke.

Her eyes sprang open at full attention to behold Langly 
standing in the aisle, bearing a jumbo-sized tub of 
buttered popcorn, with lots of extra butter, a bottle of 
Poland Spring water for her, and a giant- sized Coke for 
him.  Sticking out of one jacket pocket was a box of 
Goobers for them to share, and out of his other pocket, a 
bag of Twizzlers and Bon-Bons, just for him...although, if 
Scully wanted some of either, he would never deny her.  Not 
with those kooky, champagne- sparkling eyes of hers.  Talk 
about serious; deep, man, deep.

She smiled, taking the popcorn from him and settling it in 
her lap, between her legs; then her water.  "I never knew 
you were such a junk food junkie.  Thanks for my water 
and...did you get my little snowcaps?"

"Right here."  He sat down, handed her the box of bite-
sized goodies and smirked.  "Try just plain junkie--ex-
junkie, now.  I've done almost every drug, presecription 
included, on the planet."  He took a long swallow of his 
Coke to lower its level to prevent his spilling any of 
it on her.  "Ahhh!  That's good, man.  I love Coke--the 
soft drink, the soft drink.  I'm maybe the only guy I know 
who can get a buzz off this bubbly-ubbly stuff."

Scully arched her eyebrow.  "Really?" she intoned, taken by 
complete surprise.  "You did drugs, Ringo?  Uh, may I call 
you just Ring?  You're much too tall and blond to be the 
namesake of the beloved ringed one, besides, you don't even 
wear any rings.  Do you mind?"

"No prob.  My mom, a mainline Beatles fan, had a sense of 
humor.  That's where I get it from.  Hey, do what ya feel, 
and don't look so shocked about my doin' drugs.  It's not 
like I don't look the part.  I was such a hophead, it's a 
sheer miracle I manage semi-rational thought at all."  He 
threw Scully a teasing look.  "What?  I don't seem bent to 
you?"  His face had gone from jovial looking to deadpan 
grave.  "Video games salvaged my life!"

Scully's jaw dropped and she popped a few kernels of her 
favorite snack food into her mouth, never taking her eyes 
from his countenance.  "No more bent than the rest of us, 
I've begun to realize.  Although, I'd say you're unique.  
What time frame are we talking here?  How long ago, and 
when did you stop?"

"Who said I stopped?"

Scully gave him a probing look.  "You did.  Just now.  
Remember?  Or is remembering a problem for you?"  She 
accepted the Goobers he then handed to her.

"Puttin' ya on, man.  I'm clean; drugs are a crappy road to 
nowhere--if you consider death somewhere...I started in 
high school, did 'em all through M.I.T., and Grad School, 
those were some freaky, sick days.  I'm thirty-six now, so, 
yeah, I did 'em a stupid long time.  Like you know the 
commercial...'Say this egg's your brain," he encouraged, 
pointing to the imaginary one in his palm.  "'This is your 
brain on drugs.'"  Then, he smashed his right palm into his 
left.  "BAAAAM!"  He feigned hurting himself, then said, 
"'Get the message?"  He lifted his right hand and shook it.  
"Sorry for getting the yolk and runny part all over you, 
and the popcorn..."

Scully started cracking up.  "You're a riot, Hackerman.  
Okay, so you're bent, but you're funny bent, not scary, 
rampaging psycho bent.  That's the bent Mulder and I chase, 
sometimes.  Not good."  She reached down to get the Coke, 
he'd set on the floor, and took a sip.  "I've never done 
drugs, not even a hit of Maryjane, but maybe I could get 
some kind of buzz from this stuff tonight too.  So, how did 
you get off junk?"

After he took back his Coke, when she handed it to him, he 
looked at her and said unflinchingly, "Seven, solid years 
of brass tacks rehab at Betty Ford's.  Thank God I got the 
help I needed before it was too late, man.  It wasn't only 
vid games that saved me, it was stone cold therapy.  I was 
one sick puppy.  The last time I free based coke, the real 
thing, I almost died."

Scully never blinked once, she just kept feeding herself 
popcorn, as though she were watching an engrossing movie, 
which happened to be seated beside her, at present.

Seeing that he had caused the conversation to get too 
'heavy,' he pointed to the popcorn, opened his mouth, and 
pantomimed that he wanted her to throw some kernels into 
it.  Deciding to indulge him, she started flinging popcorn 
into his mouth.  Suddenly, he began coughing when a kernel 
went down his windpipe instead of his throat.  
He started turning very red, very quickly.

"Quick!  Drink some Coke!" Scully urged.  "No--water's 
better!"  She unscrewed the top from the bottle and 
carefully poured the liquid down his throat.

"Yo, yo, it's cool, Da--"  The hacking coughs persisted, so 
she made him drink more until finally he began to breathe 
normally again.  "Na.  Phew, I must be losing my touch.  
I've never nearly choked on popcorn before.  It's the yolk 
the popcorn's covered with.  I hate egg yolks."

"Langly--that was very dumb of me; throwing popcorn down 
your throat.  You're a bad influence, you know."

He nodded his head fiercely then.  "Yeah, sure, but I kinda 
get off on that.  And, hey, it wasn't dumb, it was fun.  
You got a problem with wack?"  Then, gently he reminded 
her, "I'm Ring now.  Langly got left in the lab.  
Remember?"

"Yeah, sure...uh, wack?"

"Wack, as in wacko, you know.  Crazy.  Me."

Scully smiled at him warmly, recalling the revealing Las 
Vegas night she'd spent with him, and the great time she'd 
had.  "Langly wack is cool," she said with a positiveness 
in her voice that forced him to smile back.

"All right!  It's starting, man."

Looking around her anxiously, she said excitedly, "The 
movie?  Oh boy!"

He shook his head.  "Nah, nah layin' some Langlyspeak on 
me.  You could end up talking my lingo fluently.  You're 
off to a bold start."

"Would that be so bad?  I like the way you put things.  
It's...it's uh, different, I mean, basically I get the gist 
of what you're saying."

Snickering, he took another long drink of Coke, studying 
her for a moment, and once he'd finished drinking, he told 
her to have the rest.  "My buzz is alive an' well.  Ya 
know, in my old junkie days, I came to these movies so 
freakin' spaced, I was in Leia's holograph, I jettisoned 
with the droids down to Tatooine and met the Jawas, and 
sand people right along with 'em.  I stood beside Luke when 
he chose Threepio and R2, I ran away with R2 to find 
Kenobe, I rode with Luke, Obi-Wan, and the droids to Mos 
Eisley, I sat next to Han in the cantina while he made the 
deal to take them to Alderaan.  Bla-zee, bla-zaa.  For 
'Empire', it was worse because I was high almost all the 
time, and doing all kinds of hard-core junk then.  Man, I 
was so messed up..."

He sat looking blankly into space a moment or so, and then 
continued, "With 'Empire', I actually left my body for the 
fifteen times I saw the flick, and was in every scene; 
EVERY scene.  I--I kissed the princess first, not Han, man.  
With 'Jedi', it wasn't as intense, because I was doing 
fewer drugs then, kinda cold turk on my own; I didn't 
succeed tryin' to quit freestyle, but it was pounding on me 
I had to do something or cease to exist, like soon.  
'Sides, those Ewoks really creeped me out, so I made it my 
mission to avoid 'em."

Placing her hand to his forehead, she said, "You really are 
buzzed aren't you?"  She bit her lower lip and nodded.  
"You're talking up a storm.  Why I ever thought you were 
the quiet one, whose shadow makes more noise, is a wonder 
to me."

"You got that right.  I start loosening up when I get to 
know a person better.  I'm feeling real good.  Want to know 
why?"  Scully kept regarding him with patient eyes and a 
little smile twisting on her moist lips.

"Why?"

"'Cause you're here with me."  He looked away for a second, 
hoping he wasn't talking too loudly, and also hoping he 
wasn't being obnoxious.  Hesitating for less than a moment, 
he knew he had to say it.  Looking her squarely in the face 
again, he said, "Maybe if I had known you earlier in my 
life, I wouldn't have felt the compulsion to become a 
walking pharmacy most of my waking hours.  You're good for 
my head."

Scully blinked, but unlike he, she didn't look away.  A 
captivating smile lit up her relaxed face, and she touched 
his hand.  "I think you're very refreshing for mine..."  He 
blushed then, much as he had in Vegas after she'd kissed 
him on the cheek goodnight.  He was about to say something 
in reply, when the house lights started to dim.

"Oh, man, don't freak, but it's starting, Dana.  Here we 
go!"

"I'm so excited!"  She clasped his hand and squeezed it, 
and Langly vigorously returned her squeeze.  

"If the web pages and trailers are big tip-offs, the 
special effects are gonna blow us all away!  Awesome, man!!  
May the Force be with us!" he shouted in a loud, animated 
voice.  

"It already is," Scully assured, keeping his hand in hers.  
"We're here seeing 'Star Wars' together, and becoming 
closer.  I think it's a good thing.  I really don't have 
many friends; close or otherwise.  I consider Mulder my 
closest friend, but I'd like to be one of yours too, Ring.  
I like you.  A lot."

"Hey, I like you too," he said, nodding, glad she'd said so 
first.  "You really want us to be friends?  I always sorta 
thought you couldn't stand us 'Three Stooges'; like we were 
too lame to bother with, too far out there being nerds and 
geeky paranoids.  And that the only reason you had to deal 
being we've got Mulder in common.  Like we're not living, 
breathing people who've got honest to goodness feelings and 
all, so no stretch here--write 'em off.  'Hike, By' and me 
know we're perpendicularly quirky, but we're harmless.  
Least we try to be.  We're dead serious about trying to 
make a difference about what goes down in the lives of our 
fellow citizens, and blow the lid off what needs blowing 
off.  That's why Mulder is the coolest dude we know!  He 
thinks the way we do, and gets nothin' but grief for his trouble.  
He talks the talk; walks the walk."

  "Mulder does have his moments," she had 
to acknowledge.  "I apologize, Ringo, for the way I've 
acted in the past.  Let's make believe we're getting to 
know each other for the first time.  How's that?  Hello, my 
name is Dana K. Scully.  Can we talk?  I'll be fair..."

"Sounds radical.  Yeah, I can get behind that.  Mulder, By' 
and 'Hike are my closest real buds; my virtual reality 
hangs are viable up to a point.  Far as chicks go, there 
aren't any chicks I consider my close friends.  Chicks get 
all weird and wired when it comes to being a friend, or a 
main squeeze or beyond.  I can't get inta all that.  Too
'Twilight Zone' for me.  If you wanna be my friend, Dana, 
hop aboard."  He squeezed her hand again.  "Since Vegas, 
you've been good for my head, like I said.  That, I can 
blade with."  He settled back into his seat, with her hand 
in his lap and got real quiet.  As the first brace 
of coming attractions rolled, he whispered, "This is the 
first, first-run 'Star Wars' I've ever seen not being 
totally strung out on drugs.  But, I'll still be able to 
say I saw the 'Phantom Menace' when I was 'high,' though.  
High on Dana Scully.  The coolest 'high' I've ever had, 
man."

"You, you are soooo wack," she said through a giggle.  She 
wondered whether Mulder was privy to any of this stuff, he 
was freely spewing at her.  Who was this smooth talking 
devil, she marveled.  Boy, you think you know a person.
"Talk about being a trip, man.  You're, you're uh...outta
sight."  She frowned.  "Uh, that's somewhat dated, isn't it?
See, I'm not that much of a hip person.  I'm just four-
cornered Dana Katherine."  Then she broke up into raucous,
carefree laughter, the kind when you know you're being silly,
but you just don't care.  Langly reached over and tousled her 
hair.

"My third year at M.I.T., every other word was man, that's 
'out-of-sight this, or 'out-of-sight, that.' It got so 
nobody wanted to have any kind of conversation with me; 
serious or otherwise.  Make sure that doesn't happen to 
you.  Certain expressions have a way of latching on and not 
letting go.  That's why I try to keep my tongue guessing.  
I've thought about reconstructing my web page by adding my 
own dictionary.  'Langlyspeak Made Easy, The Unabridged 
Version'.  For those who dare to communicate by the seat of 
their pants."

The two teenaged girls behind them told Scully to 'shush' 
or they'd get the manager, when, from out of the blue, she 
gave an explosive belly laugh.  Trying to pipe down, but 
finding it extremely hard to do so, she felt like a 
teenager herself again.  She turned around and profusely 
apologized.  "I'm sorry, girls, it's HIS fault.  You know 
guys..."  The pretty girls nodded that indeed they did.  
Scully gave Langly a good-natured slug, but, clearly, she 
saw that he was moving well into 'Star Wars' zone-out mode 
now, as the familiar fanfare swelled and lulled at the same 
time.

She sighed then, and contentedly thought, 'I wonder what 
Mulder would think if he could see me now, actually having 
a second fun time out with, as he calls Langly, abductee 
bait?' 

"Thanks for asking me to see this with you, Ring," she said 
in a tiny, wispy voice.

"Nope.  Thank you, for making the midnight scene here with 
me like this on such no notice.  You're a stand out act.  
I'll see you after we arrive safely back in our galaxy.  
Bye now..."

Scully could feel her laughter building again.  "See ya," 
she managed to say quietly. "Just make sure you don't get 
lost."  

He turned to look at her, and whispered in a very moving 
voice, "No sweat.  I'll know when to come home, since 
there's this royally blazing new living, breathing friend 
of the female persuasion who's waiting for me...it wouldn't 
be getting off to a good start if I kept her waiting..."  
He eased his neck against the lip of the seat, and 
blissfully departed into The Movie.

As the opening scene of 'Episode One' began, Scully's look 
and feel of enchantment remained on her face and in her 
soul, and would do so throughout The Movie.  She was glad 
tomorrow was Saturday.  No having to get up early and haul 
herself into the office to wrestle a mongoose with killer 
eyes; literally, or the beast who wolfed down Manhattan.  
Uh-uh-uh; you were strictly forbidden to go there--so Keep 
Away!  She sensed, by the manner in which the film was 
opening, that it was going to be a heady, action-packed 
ride way into the wee hours of the morning.  She eased back 
into her seat and joined Langly, without a moment's 
hesitation.