AUTHOR: Kate Mulder TITLE: Perspectives II SUMMARY: Bill's thoughts, a la post-Requiem RATING: PG CATEGORY: A little angst, Bill Scully Jr. POV, M/S friendship, Vignette, post-Requiem (yep, another one. This is sure a goldmine for stories!) ARCHIVE: Sure, just let me know. I like to visit my creations from time to time. So they don't feel lonely and all. FEEDBACK: Is adored and usually printed. I love to know how I'm doing, it was due to feedback that this was even written. Enigma806@aol.com EMAIL: Enigma806@aol.com SPOILERS: "Requiem" (naturally), "Emily", "Ascension", "One Breath". Blink-and-you'll-miss-it "En Ami". NOTES: This, of course, is the second in the "Perspectives" series. Well, it's a series now, due to several requests I received. It is not necessary to have read the first story, but helpful. I do a vague recap of events early in this story. If you would like to read the original Perspectives, email me! I'll gladly send a copy. This is NoRoMo friendly. Shippers--I'm one of you, I only say M&S haven't actually *done* the "wild thang" because it would ruin all that beautiful UST! :-)~ ____________________________ "Perspectives II" It's not always easy being a "reformed jerk". Like now. I had come to accept the fact that Fox Mulder was working with my sister. That he would continue to work with my sister. I had even come to accept the fact that he *would* protect her, no matter what the situation. After all, it was only four months ago that he was lying in a hospital bed, in a coma...because he was trying to protect her. The fool had gone and thrown himself on top of Dana when the roof of a warehouse they'd been in had collapsed. Couldn't have just shoved her out of the way, could he? No... Had to do things the hard way. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful he did that. Dana would have been killed if he hadn't. I'm rambling again, sorry. Forget the back-story...the point is, I had come to accept their partnership. And, heaven help me, even tolerate it--to a point. What I had not expected was that things would get a little hinkey, and change everything. I had not expected that they would become an item. I'm not blind, deaf, or stupid. I knew they were crazy about each other. I also knew that they didn't know it. They say those closest to the truth are blinded by it. Oh, God, now I'm sounding like Mulder. I was not prepared to accept the fact that Fox Mulder was sleeping with my baby sister. But she was pregnant, no matter what she'd been told. And I'd like to know how the hell else that could have happened. Dana's a good kid, but she's no Virgin Mary. And I don't know of any other man in her life right now except her boss...but no. She is not sleeping with the boss. Even if she was interested in doing so, she would never do that. So she had to be sleeping with Mulder. And I could not, would not accept that. I did not *like* that. **I will not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam I Am.** Sheesh...that's what you get when you have a two-and-a-half-year-old kid. Seuss is a part of the everyday. **I would not like them in a box.** Dammit, this stupid story's gonna stay with me. **I would not like them with a fox.** With a fox...hmm... I can think of a very certain fox right now I'm not liking...more appropriately, Fox. I arrive at the hospital; I might as well see Dana while I'm in town. She may be shacking up with a man who's now on my "list" again, she may have gotten herself knocked up (oh come now, Bill, that's not nice), but she's still my sister. And I'm still gonna be there for her. As soon as I kick Mulder's ass. We exchange pleasantries; I ask her where Mulder's gotten off to. And for the first time, I notice that she's been crying. "He's gone," she whispers. Okay, now I have license to kill him. Not only does he get my sister pregnant (and I'm still not *even* going to ask how they pulled this off), but he also runs off on her. I hate to admit this, but I'd thought better of him. "What?!" I demand. "It's not what you think," she tells me, rubbing my arm. "He didn't leave me...he was taken." "Who took him?" I ask, still suspicious. "I don't know. Probably the same people who took me when I disappeared." "Or maybe it was aliens," I tease her, trying to raise her spirits. I'm calming slightly. Mulder didn't leave voluntarily, okay, good. We're back down to kicking his ass. And Dana's pretty upset about this, obviously. I still remember when she was gone...she has a right to be worried, if the condition she was in when she came back is any indication of what's happening to him now. "That's one possibility," Dana mutters, and it surprises me. I didn't expect that. She doesn't buy this stuff...right? Hormones. Gotta be. Tara did some pretty funny things when she was pregnant, too. "Skinner," she continues, "he saw it. Saw something, anyway. He says...it looked like a ship. I don't know what to believe anymore." "It's Mulder's baby, right?" I ask, just to make sure. "I want to believe that," she answers softly, putting a hand on her stomach. Huh? "Um...Dana? Who else is..." oh, how can I put this delicately?, "um...who's in the running?" "Half the male population of this planet," she sighs before she thinks I've heard. "Billy...that's just the thing. I don't know. This is a miracle. It shouldn't even be possible. But Mulder and I have never...well, you know..." I have to laugh. After 36 years, there are still some things she can't talk about with me. "Yeah, I got it. But...?" "Lemme get to that, will ya?" That faint look of annoyance comes back to her face. "I was drugged a few months ago, while on a trip with an...an enemy of ours. It's a long story, one I don't feel much like discussing now. But anything could have happened; I was out for a few hours at least. They could have *done* anything. *Anything*. So I don't know. But no matter whose it is, I'm going to have this baby and I'm going to love it. It's a miracle, and the devil doesn't do those too well. Got what I'm saying?" "I got it. Hey, where's your necklace?" "I gave it to Mulder. He said it was too dangerous to let me go with him, so he made me stay. I gave it to him so he'd have a part of me with him..." I sigh. This is all good and well, but now Mulder's missing. Once upon a time, I'd have seen news like this as an early Christmas present. But now--I don't know how I feel. Naturally, I'm not as torn apart by it as Dana is. But I'm not overjoyed, either. I don't know. And I saw her kid Emily. That was one very sick little girl. What if this baby she's carrying now is sick like that too? I don't think she could stand to lose this one. It'd kill her. But I have a new little niece or nephew on the way now, that's one way of looking at things. The joy, however, I tempered by other emotions. Uneasiness. Indecision. Worry. And, yes, a miniscule amount of fear. I don't know. Sometimes I really don't know. But as soon as Mulder gets back, he and I are going to have a little chat. 5/28/00 (begun and finished)