TITLE:   Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Two

The rest of this series is archived here:
http://www.angelfire.com/sc/scullypage/LIST.html

e-mail Address:  ErinStone1@aol.com
RATING:  PG ish
CATEGORY:  Scully/Slash
SPOILERS: None
Keywords:  Scully Slash/Other Romance
Archiving:   just let me know where.

Disclaimer: Fox, Chris Carter and 1013 own them ALL, ***except Lena Conhouse,
she's mine, and of course, Wanda, who is mine in the literal sense.***

Comments are welcomed. Please send them to ErinStone1@AOL.com



It took Scully the better part of an hour to feel comfortable behind the wheel
of the insanely large RV. She drove slowly at first, carefully taking corners.
She ended up launching the occupants in the back of the big rig four or five
times when she clipped the corners too tightly. Fortunately for Mulder and
Lena they were quick learners and hung on tightly when Scully activated the
blinker. Soon enough, however, they were on the highway.

Lena and Mulder poured over topographical maps at the small kitchen table at
the middle of the rig.

"Right here is our landing spot for today." Lena said, pointing at a greenish
colored spot just inside of the Michigan state line. 

"New Buffalo?" Mulder looked at her.

"Yep. There's a campground there on Lake Michigan." Lena wagged her eyebrows.

"So you're taking us camping?" Mulder looked unimpressed.

"Why yes Mulder, hence the RV." Lena tilted her head at him. "I guess I
thought that part was obvious."

He sat back on the small bench. "It was, but I was hoping for something more."

"Such as?" Lena sat back as well.

"I don't know. I guess I thought we were on a quest of some kind."

"Oh. Well, yeah, there's that too."

Mulder brightened. "Really? And what's our quest?"

"Would you believe that I'm not sure?" Lena looked apologetic, wincing
slightly at her admission.

Mulder stared at her.

"All I can say is that we're on our way to finding something. A couple
something's, actually. I can 'feel' the route; feel the stopping points. We'll
just have to follow the pull and see where it leads us. My suggestion to you
is to just enjoy the ride."

"That's gonna be a little tough, don't you think?"

"Do your best. We've got about 6 hours until we hit stop number one. Wanna
take a nap?" She looked at him hopefully.

"No, thanks." Mulder shot her a tight smile. "Let's play twenty questions."

Lena was solemn, "yippee."

Mulder laughed slightly. "Why did your Dad say I was one of his favorites?"

She put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. Grabbing her
baseball hat to cover her eyes she sighed and answered his question. "Because
we know your history. We're responsible for your well-being, within reason of
course."

"Beg pardon?" Mulder was taken aback.

"It's true." Lena continued to squeeze the bill of her hat and cover her eyes.
"My family and your family are connected. They always have been, and they
always will be. The Scully family is part of our 'charge' as well. We're all
connected and we have been for many, many generations. My father looked after
Ahab and your father Mulder. My Grandfather was responsible for your
grandparents and so on. All the way back to the beginning."

Anger flared in Mulder's eyes, "My father was shot to death in his own
bathroom with me not 20 feet away." 

The chill in his voice made Lena lift her eyes to look directly at him. "I'm
aware of that." 

Mulder watched as Lena's eye color changed from bright blue to deep green. He
tried not to let it phase him but it was damn unnerving. "Why would you let
that happen?"

"Your father made choices in his life that blackened his soul Mulder. Both he
and your mother were trapped in a dark place due to choices he made very early
in life. His death wasn't something anyone could stop."

Mulder dropped his head.

"And it wasn't your fault." Lena added pointedly. 

Scully could hear their conversation clearly from her spot in the driver's
seat. She was stunned at the revelation that all of their families were
connected and had a myriad of her own questions to ask. Right now though, it
seemed that Mulder needed the answers more than she did. 

Mulder plunged on, "And you couldn't make him come back around? You couldn't
help him be a better man?"

"I can't make anyone do anything." Lena said flatly. "Your father was weak
Mulder. I'm sorry to state it so plainly to you, but it's the truth. And, his
weakness affected everyone around him."

Mulder knew this already. Pity had replaced any other feeling he had ever felt
about his father, pity and resentment. He knew too that he couldn't hold Lena
or her family responsible for his father's cowardice. "I'm sorry."

"S'okay." 

Mulder regarded her for a moment, then, "Is there reincarnation?"

Lena's brows went up at his quick change of subject. "No." She paused,  "But
there is collective memory. As with all animals there is an instinctual memory
of all those that came before them. That memory is part of a person's makeup.
It's just a rare occurrence for it to ever be accessed. When it is, it's
mistaken as a memory from a past life, when in reality it is someone else's
memory entirely."

Scully remembered readings from her early medical training about animal
instinct and memory. It's why birds and butterflies returned to exact
geographical locations every year. So it really was memory, not instinct, that
led birds back to an exact perching spot in southern Florida. Amazing.

Mulder too was amazed. "So I have the collective memory of all my ancestors
stored up in my brain?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

Lena leaned toward him and placed her index finger behind his left ear, "Right
here." She said it with a straight face and he stared blankly at her. Smiling
at him she said, "I'm kidding, it's in the 85% of your brain you don't use
Mulder." Lena smiled at him widely and he smiled back.

"This is cool Conhouse."

"I aim to please."

"Ok, so my family, can you tell me about my family?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Hmmm." He chewed on a knuckle.

"She's alive Mulder." Lena stated. She knew it's where he was headed but he
was too frightened to ask. "She's alive and she's on this planet."

"Is that the quest?" It was a whisper.

"I think so." Lena held his hand in hers. "I think so."

Tears pooled in Scully's eyes and a chill shook her. 'Thank god' she though,
making Lena smile.

Mulder sat up straight. "Think I'll take that nap now." he said, standing.
Lena let go of his hand and he walked to the back bedroom, opened the door and
turned to shut it behind him, smiling slightly at Lena before shutting it all
the way.


"Hello." Lena kissed Scully's cheek as she sat next to her in the passenger
seat.

"Hi. How are you holding up?" Scully asked, glancing at Lena.

"I'm great, how are you?" She reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Good." 

"Not fine?"

"No, not fine, actually good. Really good." Scully gave her a full-tooth smile
and Lena nearly melted.

"I just adore you." Lena said, whispering. "Just out and out full fledged
adoration. The kind that sweeps my feet right out from under me."

Scully smiled at the road.

"Stops my heart." Lena whispered in her ear.

Scully peeked at her.

"Makes my knees weak." 

Scully leaned her ear into Lena lips.

"Makes my wings flap."

She laughed and shut her eyes briefly. "You're a piece of work." 

Lena laughed out loud. 

"Is this thing fun to drive?"

"Kind of, once you get the corners down." 

Lena sat quietly for a second. "I'll fall asleep if I sit here for too long."

"You can honey. I let you know if I need you to take over." Scully looked at
her, brow furrowed slightly. She suspected that Lena was still recovering,
angel or not, from her run in with Cook.

Lena rolled her head toward Scully. "I like it when you call me honey."

"I know. That's why I do it." Scully watched the road.

"Mmmm." It was the last thing Lena said before falling asleep in the passenger
seat.


After a couple hours Scully pulled off the highway to get gas and go to the
bathroom. She convinced Lena to climb up into the bed over the driver's cab
with Wanda, telling her she was likely to get a stiff neck sleeping where she
was. Lena agreed. 


Scully liked to drive. She liked the thinking time it afforded her. As she
drove through Pennsylvania she let her mind soak up all that had happened in
her life through the last two weeks. It was strange to her, thinking about how
incredibly lonely she had been two weeks ago. Finding Lena had changed her
entire life. But then, she supposed it was actually Lena who had found her. 

The biggest difference now was the feeling she had. She would be doing
something, writing a report, cooking, reading, and would get the sudden
unexplainable feeling that she was forgetting something. And then she would
remember. She was in love. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket; like
discovering a pocket full of money in an old coat or finding a piece of
jewelry she loved but had forgotten or lost...

This feeling had replaced what was formally loss. When Scully remembered
something prior to Lena it was that her sister was gone, her daughter was
gone, her father...

She would have the nagging feeling of forgetfulness and then the realization
that Mulder was missing or hurt, or that she lost three months of her life, or
that she had cancer and it was killing her.

Now she had hope, love, and joy. All the things that she thought were lost to
her were now back, in the form of another woman. How odd. She smiled to
herself. How very Scully. 

And how perfect that Lena had pulled Mulder in. What a gift it was to have him
along for the quest that would make the two of them whole again. Scully smiled
to herself once more, mostly at her deep thoughts on the matter, she always
made things more cerebral than they needed to be. 

She continued her train of thought. It rolled from Lena's upbringing, to her
parents, to what she would get Lena for Christmas.  She let her thoughts run
along by themselves, enjoying the fact that they were all positive, through no
intervention of her own. Things were lookin up...

As she crossed the state line into Ohio she thought she heard a scrambling
noise and Wanda was suddenly standing next to her between the two front seats.

"What is it Wanda? Gotta go potty?" Scully heard a door open and saw Mulder
coming out of the back room in her rearview mirror.

"I don't know if she does but I gotta go potty Scully." Mulder looked at her
through sleepy eyes. "I'd use the bathroom in here but I think it needs to be
hooked up or something first."

"There's a rest area coming up." 

A few moments later Scully pulled off the highway and parked in the RV area.
She unhooked her seatbelt and stood next to Mulder to look at Lena.

"Lena?" she whispered, rocking her gently. "Gotta go potty?"

They were back on the road quickly with Mulder in the driver's seat. Scully
had taken up residence in the passenger seat and Lena was at the table reading
with Wanda curled up at her feet. They drove on for quite a while before
anyone spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Hey!" She said suddenly.

"What?" Mulder said, looking at her in the mirror.

"I never heard your most embarrassing moment stories. Fess up kids."

Scully and Mulder looked at one another. He said, "You start Scully."

"I don't have one." Scully stated simply.

"You've never done anything that embarrassed you?" Mulder wasn't buying it.

"No."

"Ever, at all, not even once?" Lena asked.

"Fraid not. Next?"

"C'mon Scully, spill it." Lena coaxed. "It's gotta be good if you're so hell
bent on not telling us."

Scully sighed deeply. "This goes no further."

Like little kids Mulder and Lena smiled at each other. Lena clapped her hands
with unadulterated glee, "yippee!"

Scully retorted with a 'jesus' under her breath and began, "I was in high
school. A friend and I went to this expensive women's boutique to get bathing
suits." Scully noted that Lena was already laughing and scowled at her. "We
both picked out a couple and went into the same dressing room to try them on.
This friend of mine, Natalie was her name, was very funny. She was also quite
overweight. She had pulled this little bikini off of the rack when a sales
woman was stalking us just to get a reaction. Apparently the woman thought we
were a shoplifting risk and Nat just wanted to get a rise out of her."

Scully took another breath and continued, "Anyway, we got in the dressing room
and while I was busy pulling on a sensible one piece she was actually putting
the bikini on. I turned and looked at her and was shocked into silence, not
knowing if she was seriously considering buying it or not. Then, she just
started laughing. Then I started laughing, and then we just hysterical, I
mean, we couldn't breath."

Lena was laughing at that point from the mental picture alone; Mulder,
however, wanted to get to the 'embarrassing' part. "And..." he said.

"And," Scully paused, "I peed."

Mulder smiled, "In the bathing suit?"

"Yeah, in the bathing suit, on the floor, on my socks, on Nat's socks..."

Lena howled with laughter. "My god Scully, what did you do?"

"What could I do? I was mortified. It was a $23 bathing suit, which, at that
time was really expensive. I couldn't afford to begin with... so I left it
there. Nat and I got dressed and we made a run for it."

Scully turned to the chuckling Mulder and said, "Your turn."

Mulder shrugged, "I have so many it's hard to pick just one."

"Well pick and tell." Scully said, "I'm not going down alone."

"Let's see, there was the time I got into the wrong car at the rest area. Then
there's the time I walked into the ladies room at the Fed building..."

"Either of those will do." Lena said, smiling.

"Let me think on it a while, I want to do both your stories justice."

"Ok, but don't think you're getting out of it." Lena wagged a finger at him.

Mulder nodded at her and pointed out the window, "Say yes to Michigan."
He said, reading the words directly off of the mitten shaped welcome sign.

-end-