TITLE:   Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Four

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

e-mail Address:  ErinStone1@aol.com
RATING: anywhere from PG to NC-17 - it's a crap shoot
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




Scully was quiet as they walked, too quiet.

Lena couldn't read anything from her; not a good sign. Something was obviously
wrong. She was learning that the things Scully feared most were generally the
things she blocked. Whether she did it to protect herself or Lena; Lena wasn't
sure. So they walked, and Lena waited; hoping that Scully would talk to her.

It seemed that Scully had a gift for keeping things well hidden; cooking every
scenario, doing all of the worst/best case analysis; all in her own head. Then
she would talk about it, after she'd nearly covered every angle, prepared
herself for every answer she may get.

The silence made Lena nervous.

"Are you going to die?"

It was a whisper so low that Lena thought maybe she hadn't heard it. She
stopped and looked into Dana's eyes.

"What?"

"Are you here to do something in my life? Change it; or lead me to some
revelation or some act of faith..."

"Dana..." Lena whispered, reaching out to touch her cheek.

"And then die?"

"Dana..."

"On me?"

"No."

"No?"

Lena shook her head. "I'm not here for that."

Scully blinked, twice, then walked on, rubbing a hand across her forehead.
"Explain it to me. I'm sick of the spoon-feeding Lena. It happens to me all
the time, little bits of information doled out like this..." She sighed ran a
hand through her hair. "I'm tired of it. Can you tell me why we're here? Do
you know?"

Lena could feel Scully's weariness roll off of her in waves. She was right;
too little given to her not often enough; muddy mysteries that never really
cleared with the next small bit of information. Often information given to
shed light on her life only served to kick up the mud from the bottom, making
the things she thought she already knew to be true even murkier.

"I feel safe Lena. Which seems like a good thing, and it is, I suppose. But I
feel like I may be a fool. What if we're in danger? What if someone tries to
kill you? Or Mulder? What if I'm here with you... feeling safe... and feelingˇ
alive... and in reality my guard is down when it should be up." Her voice grew
louder. "What if I'm wrong to take a break? What if while I'm relaxing and
happy they... " She looked down to her feet, then over to Wanda where she sat
waiting patiently for them.

They were stopped in the path, facing each other. Lena gently grasped Dana's
shoulders, urging her gaze upward.

"I'm here to keep you and Mulder alive."

"I need more." Scully said flatly.

Lena looked up to the sky for a second, choosing her words, the returned
Scully's gaze again. "Some day in the distant future you two will change the
course of history. In order to do that, you need to be alive." Lena stated it
as fact, because it was.

Scully stared at her intensely. "...more." Her heart was racing in her chest.

"The course you were following prior to my arrival was going to end in death
for both of you. Spiritual in your case, literal in Mulder's. I was sent to
you two in order to change that course."

Scully continued to stare, Lena went on.

"You lost your faith Scully. In everything. Mulder lost his ambition to find
the truth. And his 'truth' is Samantha. We knew from the beginning that if he
ever lost that drive, well, all would be lost. We couldn't let that happen. As
dramatic as it sounds it would be the end of life on the planet. All life.
There was intense fear on the part of my family that Mulder's depression would
cause him to end his life."

Scully watched in amazement as Lena's eye color changed. As she spoke they
went from brown to green to blue in succession. The change was no longer
frightening to Scully. It seemed to follow Lena's train of thought. The
brilliant colors matching the sincerity and honesty of her words.

"Our motives are noble. We want him to be happy because we love him, that he
will save the planet with your help is frankly an afterthought."

"There is so much evil in the world. The majority of which Mulder has had to
deal with. He deals with it every day, and so do you Scully. We decided that
it was unconscionable to make you deal with that evil alone. The days of
martyrdom are gone. You deserve to be happy in this life, as does Mulder."

Scully cocked a brow. "Am I to believe then that you're here to cheer us up?"

Lena laughed, "No. Yes. In a way I guess." She shrugged. "I was actually
picked for you two because there was no chance Mulder would fall in love with
me, which is precisely what my father was worried about. The fact that I fell
in love with you... well, I think my family believed that if that happened it
would be unrequited."

Scully smiled slightly, "Whoops."

Lena's deep laugh rang out through the woods. She looked into Dana's eyes and
smiled broadly. "Yeah, whoops."

"We broke the rules then?"

"No, no rules. I think maybe we just surprised them a little."

"Your family?"

"My family." Lena started to walk again and Scully took the cue, falling in
beside her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Thank you, for asking."

-end-