Redhead

Author: PhileyX 
E-Mail: phileyxback@yahoo.com 
Web-site: https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx 
Rating: PG 
Category: DSR (no D does not stand for Doggett), Will/Joyce friendship
Spoilers: Requiem
Prequels: Man Without A Face, The Matchbox, The Dinner Guest, A Nobody is Hard to Find, Time Out
Disclaimer: All the characters here do not belong to me. 
Author's note: The prequels to this story can be found at:
https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx/Face.html
https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx/Matchbox.html
https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx/Dinner.html
https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx/Nobody.html
https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx/Timeout.html
Intro: This story takes place after the Requiem. Two years after his disappearance, a man appears claiming to be Mulder, with a catch; he just didn't have his face. Scully finds out he really is her ex-partner the unconventional way. Now the consortium is after their only son and she is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice; she gives them both up. Although intent on keeping herself away from her son, she is unable to stop herself from seeing Mulder. And Will grows up without her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX
Redhead

    Excerpts from the song 'Acoustic #3' by The Goo Goo Dolls. 

                 No infringement of copyright intended.

< They painted up your secrets
With the lies they told to you
And the least they ever gave you
Was the most you ever knew>

A semi-loud thud made her jump. Muttering curses under her breath, Joyce got up from her paper strewn bed and went to her window. It was Jason and as usual he was an hour late. She released the catch and slid the pane open. 

"You're late." She chided.

"Sorry, dad's in a mood."

"What did you do now?"

He frowned at her as he clumsily stumbled over the still, careful not to tip the ladder off the ledge. "It's not my fault. Can I help it if adults have filthy minds?" 

She was curious but her grim mouth told him that they had no time to get into that now. They had barely ten hours to complete their assignment that was due the next day. "Whatever. At least tell me that you had some research done."

"Give me a bit of credit." He whipped out a few pieces of paper from his back pocket and held it out. "Here's my section."

Resisting a grumble at the tip of the tongue, she unfolded them and squinted to read his atrocious handwriting. "Hmm… salvageable." She muttered after a few minutes later.

Giving her a dirty look, he strode across the room and landed unceremoniously on her stack papers on one side of the bed. "Say do you have any cookies? I'm starving."

"Doesn't your dad feed you, Jace?" She asked tersely, sitting beside him on the edge of her bed. "And you're sitting on week's work of American History."

Pushing himself up a couple or inches, he pulled the stack from beneath him. "You work too hard Joyce." He told her. "And do you have cookies or not?"

"Under the bed." She sighed. The only reason why her parents bought cookies was because they thought she liked them. Little that they know they had been feeding the neighbour's son for the past nine years. "I'm sorry not all of us are geniuses. Some of us actually have to spend hours on the Net, looking for material." 

He grinned. "It's all in the head, Joy. All in the head."

Wincing, she shot him a glare. She hated it when he called her Joy. Joyce was bad enough but Joy made her sound like a sixties hippie. "Well, I'm sorry I don't have a photographic memory either. Not all of us can watch a documentary on American History at age six and still remember it to this day, you know."

"As I said you work too ha..." And his voice faltered as he struggled to reach for his chocolate cookies under her bed.

She studied him for a while and thought. 'A father hooked on seeds and a son hooked on cookies. The Alexander men were weird.'

He was in the middle of cookie No. 2 when he caught her gaze. "What?"

"If you can stop munching for a few seconds, maybe you can help piece together your part with mine, O great Brainy head!" 

He scowled. "Fine. And have you change your desktop theme? No way am I going to use your PC with all those boy group faces popping up as cursors!"

"Why, afraid you can't help yourself and give in to an alternative preference?"

"Honestly Joyce! I would think a girl like you would have better sense." Pushing himself off her bed with a groan, he grabbed the papers from her and walked to her computer. 

"This coming from a guy who forgets how to speak in front of Cass Maloney, Miss Super Twit of Grand Ville."

"Hey, she's pretty, fun and smart!" Jason defended her crush immediately.

"I only agree with pretty. Other than that, all that girl cares about are make up, boys and her hair."

"Yeah." He smiled wistfully and trailed off. "But what hair…."

Joyce rolled her eyes. The guy had a thing for blonde girls. "Snap out of it and try to get that done within half an hour. We have a presentation to run through after that."

"Ump." He replied, his fingers already busy at the keyboard.

She nodded in approval and turned back to the two drafts of the presentation in her hands. One sheet was hers, neatly written and the important points highlighted and the other was his, lines of squiggly mess that somewhat resembled the English language. Thank God after nine years, she was able to translate the rare eccentric writing of Jason Alexander, her neighbour and best friend.

In the midst of her dilemma whether to put Jason's point at the second paragraph or the third, she suddenly heard the cracklings of the cookie box again. She resisted the urge to glare at him. After all it wasn't his fault that he was a genius. While she worked her butt off, he simply sailed through with flying colours. Although proud of him, it still irritated her like hell. "If you're done, you can begin the graphics for the cover and print it out."

Jason groaned. Then putting aside the cookies, he walked over to her. "Give me those and you do the cover. I know I'm going to put clashing colours somewhere and you'll just yell and do it all over again anyhow."

She grinned. He was right, of course. "My pleasure."

He sat down and looked thoughtfully at the new draft she had sketched out. It was not the way he would have wanted it to be but those were the differences that he had to put up with and was used to, after all this while.

Joyce Callahan was his 'bestest' buddy in the whole wide world. He remembered telling that to his guy friends who once teased him that she was his girlfriend. And she will always be since he attacked her with his Zaboo sword. After her parents apologized for her and led her away, he recalled turning to his father, asking. "Is she a real girl, dad?" He gave him a queer look and whispered into his ear. "Stay away from redheads, Jason." And until now he wondered what he had meant by that.

"Oh Leonardo?"

"If you're not done with that, don't even talk to me." She snapped.

He sighed. It was no wonder she seemed to be his permanent partner in any school projects. If she was this pushy with other guys….. Not that he was any better either. He thought and grinned. Ever since they had both made their assignment partners cry three years ago, all the teachers in Grand Ville had decided that only they could stand one another. He finally decided to disobey her. "I think my dad is lying to me." 

Her head turned around directly and he suppressed a smile. She was terribly suspicious of his father, a romantic thread in her tomboy nature. "Why do you say that?"

"He was supposed to be in Miami for a job this weekend?"

"Yeah?"

"Well the airlines called to confirm his flight to DC."

As the information sank in, he could also hear the thoughts bouncing around in her head. "Forget the woman theory, Joyce. My dad's still hung up on my mom."

She gave him a look. "How do you know?"

"I know because he looks at me with this wistful sad look that I can't stand."

She smiled and gushed. "I'd love to find a guy who would love me till the end of time. Just like your dad."

"Well Aaron Fiddlesteen isn't one."

"Maybe not, but he's still cute."

"Your taste gets from bad to worse."

"Back to your father, why do you think he lied?" He looked conscious for a moment and she knew that look well. The next words coming out from him would be science fiction material. 

She was right. "I still think he's a government spy. Did you watch the news two days ago? Something about plane crash in Nevada?"

'Here we go again.' Joyce thought. "So you think he crashed the plane?"

"There's also a meteorite shower this Saturday. They say that it's headed for earth."

She looked nonplussed. "'They'? As in the distinguished members of the 'Star Trek' Chatroom?" 

He ignored her scarsam. "The plane was a top military project to stop the meteorite shower. It wasn't actually a plane, it was a missile….."

She interrupted him with a mock look of horror. "Of course, how could have we been so blind? Oh my God, we're all going to die! And your dad is the top official in charge of saving the world. But maybe, it's too late now and he's going to DC to start on evacuation plans for US citizens to Planet Zaboo, where a perfect replica of earth had been secretly constructed in case of dire emergencies such as these…."

He was glaring daggers at her when she finished. "You know, if dad was in charge of picking the fine few that made it to Planet Zaboo, you certainly won't be one of them."

She smiled at him tightly. "Get a grip, Jace! At least my versions are much more plausible."

"Oh, which one?" He rolled his eyes. "The one where you think my father is romancing another woman in a another state but is too afraid that I'll give him a hard time for it?"

She pouted. "Well you could drop a hint or two telling him that you wouldn't mind if he got a life."

"He doesn't like to talk about these stuff."

'Which guy does?' She rolled her eyes, thinking of her father. They were all emotional rejects. No wonder her mom had a fit every time they tried to discuss anything that had to do with feelings. "For all you know, he's just waiting for you to bring it up?"

"Well I don't like talking about it either, okay?"

'Men!' Joyce declared silently just like her mother did almost everyday, only aloud. "Well, I do agree he is rather secretive and his aversion to cameras, that certainly makes him suspicious."

"I know he doesn't like photos in the house because they remind him too much of mom. But you're right about the being camera-shy. He seems downright paranoid about that."

"Hmm… I see where you get it from." She teased.

He glared at her. "Redheads!"

"What?" She asked confused. 

"He told me to stay away from redheads."

"Why?"

"Said they were nothing but trouble."

"He's right because I'm just about done here and if you aren't….." She warned.

"Oh all right, Xena!" He growled and returned to the project.

XXXXXXXXXX

He woke up with a start. Peering between sleepy eyes, he frowned finding it was not even seven yet. Why did his alarm go off then? The buzzer sounded again and he realized that it wasn't his clock, it was the front door.

Muttering under his breath, he grabbed a shirt and walked out of his bedroom. When he finally opened the door after the fourth impatient buzz, he found himself staring at the Callahans and his son. 

Seeing Jack Callahan was gripping Jason by his collar told him everything. 'Oh oh.' He thought. 'Busted.'

"Alexander, did you know that your son sneaked into my daughter's room and had spent the night there?" Joyce's father growled fiercely.

Dole or better known as Vincent Alexander to them, hid a grimace. He'd never thought he'd hear those words uttered so early his son's teenage life. "No, I had no idea." Stepping back, he gestured them all to come in.

In was only when they were all safely in the living room that Jack let Jason's collar go. The latter quietly walked to his father's side, careful to avoid his eyes.

"Vincent." Emma Callahan decided to take over before her husband made a terrible scene. "We're had this discussion before. There would be no more sleepovers after the age of ten. They will be thirteen late this year."

"I know." Vincent shot his son a dark look before continuing. "Believe me, he knows as well."

Making an effort to defend himself, Jason explained softly. "We had an assignment due today."

"Why couldn't you have done it in the daytime?"

This time Joyce answered. "Because he had those additional classes to attend. Besides, I had softball practice."

Vincent looked attentively at the little redhead across the room. Unlike his son, she looked up bravely as if defending their whole escapade with her life. No doubt Jason would do the same if he weren't feeling guilty as hell for disobeying him an hour after they had a talk about it.

"Look I don't care what your schedules are. The point is no more sleepovers." Jack snapped angrily, his wife touching his arm, warning him to calm down. "You two are not five year olds anymore. It's different now, do you understand?"

Joyce rolled her eyes and whined. "Aw dad, It's just Jason!" 

"He's still a boy! A growing boy…"

Before Jack could comment further, Vincent quickly cut in. "I assure you, Jason will not do it again, will you Jason?"

The boy finally looked up. "But dad, there's no way I could be attracted to Joyce. I mean that's just gross!"

It wasn't a smart thing to say considering Joyce was the only child and the pride and joy of the Callahans but he had said it and Vincent watched as a vein at the side of Jack's throat pulsed dangerously.

Joyce saved the day when she joined in the ego-bashing fest. "Not like you're the catch of the century either, brain boy!" 

"Hey! I'll have you know that six of your friends have crushes on me."

"What!" She wore an incredulous look. "Who told you that?"

"Jimmy Matters, he overheard you girls talking in the girls changing room. He was hiding in one of the lockers."

'This is definitely not going well!' Vincent thought, as the pulsing vein grew tauter.

"Oh come on, there's absolutely nothing attractive about you. Dark brown hair and that silly nose?"

Emma caught Vincent's offended look and turned pale. It visibly became obvious to her that whatever looks Jason had came from to his father, even the nose. She laughed nervously and told her daughter. "Jason's quite good looking, honey." And Jack turned to give his wife a ludicrous look. 

Joyce smirked, not really caring why her mother had come to his defense. "Oh mom, all the girls care about are his baby blue eyes, that's all!"

'Great!' Vincent thought. 'The only feature that's redeeming his son from absolute Dorkyness is the only one that did not came from him but from his mother!' It wasn't flattering at all.

Jason was fuming mad now and he took a step forward towards his best friend. "You … you… you …." He stole a glance at her parents and decided on a lesser evil choice of a word. "You Redhead!"

This time Vincent panicked as Emma looked shocked, being a redhead herself. Before his son could sprout any of his unpleasant titles about redheads, he quickly grabbed Jason by his shoulder and stepped forward to close the matter. "All right! That's enough hair calling for one day. Jason, no more sleepovers. And this time with witnesses, you can't break the your word."

He sighed. "All right."

"Joyce?"

"Fine."

"Good. Now you get up there and get ready for school. Joyce, you run along too. I'd like to talk to your parents alone." The two gave each other a glare and huffed off in separate directions. 'If Scully's God really existed, they would stop talking and spend the rest of their lives hating each other. Yeah right!' He thought.

"If I catch your boy in my daughter's room again Alexander, I won't vouch for his safety." Jack's words rumbled, bringing him back to the moment.

"Just keep Joyce out of my son's room too, Jack." He tersely told him.

"And just what the hell do you mean by that?"

Vincent sighed. Was he the only one that noticed the bumps and thumps in the night? Gently putting on hand on Jack's shoulder and another on Emma's, he led them towards the door. "Let's make a deal. You get rid of your ladder and I'll get rid of mine, okay?"

The couple turned around in surprise and asked in unison. "What?"

His eyes clarified everything. "I'm a bad sleeper. Being awake at night, I catch a lot of people sleep walking."

"My God! How long as this been going on?" Emma's eyes widened.

"Damn it Alexander, you could have told us earlier!"

"Calm down. I figured that as long as my son thinks your daughter is gross and your daughter thinks my son's a retard, nothing would happen."

"But our children are growing up."

"Yes I understand that and you're right. It's time to put our foot down so we did. Now, do we have a deal?"

"What?" Jack looked confused for a moment before realizing he was talking about the ladders. "Yeah, I'll get rid of mine."

"Great. Thank you for coming and have a nice week." 

"Thanks Vincent." Emma smiled and grabbed her reluctant husband with her. 

"No problem." He told her and sighed. 'What did he tell Scully nine years ago? But would she listen to him. Noooo….' Shaking his head, he closed the door. 

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well?" She asked him breathlessly.

"I got in!" He grinned and she squealed in delight. Putting her arms round his neck, she gave him a warm hug. He hugged her back tightly and then kissed her gently on her mouth.

She raised an eyebrow. "What was that for?"

"I don't know." He found himself admitting. "I guess I'm just glad we got into the same college.

"I never had a doubt. You're the brainy one, remember?"

"Yeah, but still you never know. They took so long to process my application."

"Have you told your father?"

His face clouded. "Not yet."

"He still doesn't like the idea?"

"I don't really know. I dare not bring it up again after the first time."

"But your dad's cool and you know he's proud of anything you do."

"I know but I can't get over that look he had when I told him I wanted to go into medicine."

"Hey go tell him now. I'll wait."

Jason looked at her and took a moment to admire her glowing face. Jack Callahan was right; things were different now that they had grown up. "You are one gorgeous girl, you know that Joyce? I can't believe Ferguson dumped you a week before prom."

"Well men are scum. Better get used to coming to my rescue, Jace."

"My pleasure." He smiled. "Although I have to say, you keep choosing the wrong scum. There are some nice ones."

"Oh yeah, where?"

"Forget it, you're too jaded to convince now." He turned towards the home. "You'll be here?"

"Yeah Jace, I'll be right here." She echoed.

He smiled as he walked into the house. It was always good to know that he could always count on her. They had come a long way since the Zaboo incident, making it through high school was amazing enough. It was particularly hard for him. His brain was much too advanced for the kid's stuff that were taught here and sometimes it was all he could do but be a smart ass to liven things up in class. 

Joyce on the other hand had blossomed from an incorrigible tomboy to one of the most popular girls in high school. It was strange in a way how she became so loved and well known. She wasn't in any of the popular girlie stuff that the elite were in. Instead of cheerleading, she kept up her Softball and was even the President of the Debate Club. And yet, she was voted one of the Top Ten Popular Seniors. He on the other hand was voted one of the Top Most Likely To Succeed, being the Brain Freak as they used to call him.

His only salvation from being an absolute loser was basketball. He was good and made it to the team. The game was trilling and the possibilities were endless but his unimaginative team players were too suspicious of any new game plan he came up with that soon the sport grew boring. If it weren't for fact that jocks attracted girls, he would have given up the sport a long time ago.

"Dad?"

Vincent looked up from his paper. "Yeah?" His son walked slowly towards him and held out the acceptance letter. Reading it, he smiled grimly.

"I really want to do this, dad." He told him quietly.

Suddenly realizing that Jason had gotten the wrong impression when he excused himself hastily a few months ago, he stood up and looked at him. "I know and I'm proud of you."

He looked slightly surprised. "You're not mad?"

"Of course not." Vincent hesitated and then told him. "It's just that your mother…" Stopping abruptly, he looked thoughtful and then lied. "She always wanted you to be a doctor." 

Now Jason was absolutely dumbfounded. The last time his father talked about his late wife was when he was eight. "Oh."

His father smiled. "Anyway, congratulations! And I see you picked the same college as Joyce."

"Yeah. Well, who else is going to keep me out of trouble?"

"Yes, I do understand I have her to thank for on some occasions or I'll would have had more meetings with your teachers regarding your tongue."

Jason grimaced. "They hate mine but they adore hers. That woman can talk them into and out of anything."

"And I hear you're bringing her to the prom."

"The creep Ferguson bailed out and she's always been dreaming about prom so..."

His father cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Listen, I know what goes on after prom night and…"

But his son protested quickly. "Dad! For God's sakes don't even…!" He gave him a glare. "She beautiful and all that but I grew up with her. She's like my sister or something."

"Oh spare me, Jason." Vincent rolled his eyes. "If she were really a sister, would you sleep with her in the same room?"

His eyes bulged. "What?"

"We got rid of the ladders but there's still the tree next to her window." 

Jason looked utterly shocked. 'He knew!' He thought. "How come you didn't say anything?"

"Like that would have changed anything. I know that you two don't see each other that way."

His son sighed in relief. His father understood. "So then why did you bring prom night up?"

"Because it's a magical night and things happen."

"It won't between Joyce and me, dad. Trust us."

"We'll see. And if Jack comes over with his chainsaw the next day, I won't stop him."

Jason grinned. "Don't worry. Her virtue is safe in my hands. I'm into blondes."

'That's what you think!' Vincent thought.

XXXXXXXXXX
End of Redhead

Author: PhileyX 
E-Mail: phileyxback@yahoo.com 
Web-site: https://www.angelfire.com/id/phileyx