Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully and all of the other X-Files characters and situations belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox. I wrote this story a while back right after the X-Files fifth season.
By Rae
I remember so clearly now. It had seemed like a horrible dream. Well at least that is what I want it to be. Just a dream that will eventually go away. It never will. No matter what happens I will never forget the smell of smoke and ashes. The sight of burnt papers and cabinets. The look on Mulder's face. A look of defeat.
It has been five years since I met him. So much has happened in five years. I remember the first time I met him. I was a young agent recruited out of medical school. He was an intelligent agent who gave up a promising career to chase little green…I mean gray men and find the truth. I guess that is what I have become too. But I am certain that our work isn't just chasing aliens. We always got too close. Too close to finding out the truth about our government. That was when things started happening. First I was taken away. I was kidnapped by this psycho ex-FBI agent who believed that the aliens were coming for him. He took me to a field, I saw a bright light, and I don't remember a lot after that. I do remember a weird drilling noise and people asking me if I was ok, but I don't remember anything clearly. Mulder said that when I was found, I was in really bad shape. He said I was in a coma and I almost died. If that wasn't bad enough, a few months later my sister, Missy, was shot. The shooter thought she was me.
So then one day I walked through the metal detector at work and it went off. I had the metal detector scan me and it indicated that there was a small piece of metal inside me. I went to the doctor and had it removed. Then I had it analyzed, and it turned out to be some sort of computer chip. Then I learned the truth about my kidnapping. I was not the only one. A bunch of other women had electronic "cataloging chips" in their necks. One of the women said that we were all dying. Dying of cancer. At first I didn't believe that I was dying, but then I started to get nosebleeds. I decided to go to the hospital to run some tests since I hadn't been feeling too great. Then I found out. I had cancer right near my brain. If it moved into my brain then I would die. I also found out that one of the women that I had met a few months before was dying in the hospital. Her name was Penny and she told me that she was the last of the women that I had met to die. She told me to fight my cancer and overcome it. She told me to be strong. And I promised that I would try. She died a few days later.
Well once again (a few months later) my career (and Mulder's) was jeopardized again. I was at a meeting and I remember standing up to say something. Then I got very dizzy and I blacked out. I woke up in the hospital. Mom was there. She was so upset. I knew right there and then what was happening. I was dying and I couldn't do anything about it. Mom suggested to me that I have Father McCue come and pray for me. I said yes. After all, what did I have to lose? One night, Mulder came into my hospital room. I was in a light sleep. I was too tired to even open my eyes. He took my hand and started to cry. I felt a sharp pain in my heart. Mulder was crying for me. How I wish I could have gotten up to comfort him. A few days later Mulder, Skinner, mom, and the doctors were all gathered in my room. Mulder had gotten another computer chip that might be the cure for my cancer. I told the doctors that I wanted to put it into me. They did, and a few days later my cancer went into remission. Go figure.
So again a few months passed. Mulder and I kept getting our paranormal cases. The same old stuff. Well then in December I went with mom to Bill's (my brother) house for Christmas. His wife, Tara, was expecting a baby. I was a little sad because I was unable to have children (another result of my abduction). I guess I was a little depressed. I kept remembering when we were all children. Then I got a strange phone call. It was from Missy. She said, "She needs you." I could not believe it. Missy was dead so how could she call me? A day later, I got a phone call from the local authorities. One of the local residents was murdered by her husband. The husband was taken to jail, but his little girl had nowhere to go. Her name was Emily. I felt a strong connection to her. She was adopted and she had a sickness. I gave her my gold cross and told her that everything was going to be fine. What was weird was that her DNA pattern was very similar to Missy's. I filed an application for adoption for her. Then I got another phone call. I found out that Emily's DNA pattern was like mine. She was my daughter. I could not believe it. My adoption application was rejected. I was upset, but I kept on visiting Emily. Then she got very sick. She was in the hospital and she started bleeding a weird green blood. Some doctor (who I figured out later was really a man from the syndicate trying to destroy her) disconnected the machines and let her die. At her funeral, I opened the casket and there was nothing there but my gold cross lying in some white sand. I realized something. My child was created from an experiment. An experiment with my DNA that happened during my abduction. She was never meant to be. I kept seeing her in visions. It was heartbreaking.
Then a few months later, we got a case about a little boy with psychic powers. His name was Gibson Praise. I met Mulder's former partner, Diana Fowley. I found out from Frohike that years ago they were more than partners. Of course I was mad at that. I didn't show that I was mad because somehow I knew that Diana would be happy if I was mad. Then she got shot. I can't say that I was too upset. Talks were going around that Mulder and I were going to be reassigned. So what else is new? We were on the verge of finding the truth once again. I was at Mulder's apartment when we got a phone call to come down to headquarters right away. Fearing the worst, we did. What we found waiting for us was worse than the worst. There had been a fire in our office. Everything was destroyed. I was speechless. It was like getting slapped across the face. Mulder had a looked as if he wasn't even there. The only thing I could do was put my arms around him. Once again, we had come too close to the truth. But we will be strong. We will not be defeated. We will rise up from the ashes and go on. This is not the end. It is only the beginning.
May 24, 1998
