Author: Sarah Wilkes
Title: The Dawn of My Rebirth as a Truthful Man 
Rating: PG for this chapter
Disclaimer: Both the characters in this chapter of my novel do 
not belong to me, I know it's shocking to hear. In fact, they don't even 
really belong to Fox and 1013 productions; they belong to each other. 
Yes that's right! Dana Scully belongs to Fox Mulder and visa versa. Oh, 
and if anyone from the companies named above happen to lay their 
hands on this, please feel forgiving toward me, such a lonely mortal 
spending my hours writing alternative adventures for TV characters, 
pity me! Believe me, I pity myself. Otherwise, just keep in mind that I 
have exactly $14 in the bank, and I'm not going to part with it willingly. 
I have to pay for tapes you know. (To tape the x-files, duh)
Category: MSR, angst
Spoilers: Oh come on! The only spoiler in here is from an 
episode long ago, don't give me grief. There are none for upcoming 
eps.
Summary: none (it'll give it away!)
Keywords: none
Archiving: wherever, but let me know where you're taking 
them. I like to keep tabs on my children.
Authors note: This is for all those people out there who 
despise Diana Fowley and pretend to shoot her every time she comes 
onto the screen. It'll happen one of these days you guys! Be strong.
Feedback? Bring it on!  Send it to my elves at 
Starlight8201@aol.com 

Chapter 1  "Revelations"
Dana quivered nervously as she punched in the numbers she 
knew so well. She knew it was late, and she was faintly conscious of 
the fact that she needed to be at work bright and early in six hours, but 
that was of little meaning. What she had to discuss was serious; it was 
something she needed to talk about with him. He was the only one who 
just might understand. The steady flow of adrenaline continued to 
circulate her weary limbs, giving a quick reminder of the need for rest. 
No, she thought. Sleep would have to wait. This was too important
He stirred irritably to the shrill ringing of his cellular phone. 
The sound wasn't unusual to him; in fact it was almost comforting, but 
not at this unearthly hour. Half-awake and unwilling to move from his 
comfortable position on the couch, he decided that it he should just let 
the machine pick it up. He listened half-heartedly to the sound of his 
own voice inviting the caller to leave a message at the tone, and 
thought about changing that recording. It was then, and only then that 
he found himself sitting up and fully alert reacting to the voice of a 
familiar woman, a colleague, and a friend.
	"Mulder?" Asked the lonely and undoubtedly disturbed female on the line.
	" I.I know that it's late, and I'm really sorry if I woke you but…"
He picked up the phone, after a few moments foraging in the dark for 
it.

" Scully! Are you ok, is everything alright?" From the concern and 
intensity in his voice you would have never known that he had been in 
a dimension of slumber only seconds before.
" Um…yeah. I'm okay. I just, well what I wanted to ask you was…I 
mean I was just wondering if…"
 She inhaled slowly, figuring out how to phrase what she wanted to say.
" What is it Scully?" He was extremely curious.
A sigh escaped her lips, moistened by her wandering tongue only 
momentarily before.
" Mulder, I want to talk to you."
" Hang on Scully, I can be there in fifteen minutes."
Was that a small cry of relief he had heard?
	" Thank you Mulder."
	" Anytime."
With a small beep of the off button, they were disconnected.
				~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As he was in the car, driving to his partner's apartment, he 
thought about the short discussion they had had on the phone. She 
*wanted* to talk, this was a great change from the usual plea of," I 
*need* to talk." He had known this woman for close to eight years, and 
not once in that time had she called him so late, no, make that early, 
and said that she *wanted* to talk. Scully wasn't like that, she bottled 
up her feelings and kept a shield up at all times, rarely let down to 
express emotion, only tonight she was different. Tonight she was 
reaching out, she was vulnerable, and she was yearning. He was only 
glad to know that she was comfortable to confide in him. Perhaps she 
was beginning to realize that he would always be there for her, and 
would support her no matter what. All he knew for certain in this 
moment was that she wanted him there with her, and he wasn't one to 
complain.
Crouching amongst a fortress of pillows, and staring into 
nothingness, Dana patiently awaited Mulder's arrival. At exactly 2:13 
am there was a hesitant knock at her door. Instinctively she got up to 
answer it, flipping on the living room light as she padded across the 
cold wood floor bare-foot. Undoing the catch with a heavy jangle 
sound, she opened the door, presenting to her the image of a slightly 
untidy man dressed in jeans and a basketball jersey.
" Hi, I was just in the neighborhood, thought I'd come say 
hello," was his crack at lightening the mood.
A forced smile toward him showed more appreciation of his 
coming than of his attempt at a joke.
	" Thank you Mulder. I just had to talk to someone. I thought you might understand." Her voice was quiet and not at all like the professional and in-charge person she was at work. Her eyes revealed to him the trails of tear marks.
	He looked at her inquisitively, and she maneuvered in such a manner to suggest that he should come in. He did, and she locked the door behind him.
	"Have a seat." She told him.
He took a pillow from the couch and placed it on his knee when he sat 
where it had been. She chose a place on the opposite side of the couch, 
and Mulder watched her silk bathrobe wrinkle slightly as she tried to 
find the right position to sit in. For a few moments there was agonizing 
silence as both people pondered about how to approach the subject in 
hand. He was the first to speak.
	"Is everything alright Scully?"
Her eyes wandered a little.
	"If you are asking whether I am in danger or scared, then Mulder, I am alright."
A slight pause.
	" Of course, if you were referring to my health or happiness, I would have to say that I'm at a crossroads in my life right now, and I'm not at all sure how to handle it."
   	" Whatever it is, you know you can trust me Scully."
Their eyes met and exchanged comfort in each other.
	" I know I can Mulder. For the past few months I have been thinking seriously about my life. In turn I have come to terms with the fact that I am a lot older than I was when I began working at the F.B.I, not to mention when I started on the X-files. When I was a little girl, I thought I would be a doctor, helping people in a 
hospital, curing them from their illnesses, making them feel better, 
maybe even occasionally saving someone's life. I wanted to be the kind 
of doctor that little kids weren't afraid of, someone who would give 
painless shots, and make you laugh when you weren't feeling too good. 
Of course my career wasn't the only thing I had planned out. I figured 
that by age twenty-four I would meet the man I would marry, and by 
age 31 I would be settled in a beautiful house with my perfect husband 
and my kids…"
She trailed off, looking distantly at nothing in particular.
" You know Scully, when I was a little boy I wanted to be the 
most famous N.B.A player there ever was. I wanted to be the coach and 
captain of my own team. My mom had always told me that I was too 
bright to be a professional basketball player, and told me that I should 
be a neuro-surgeon. My dad, a member of the infamous government 
conspirators, had always told me to unlock the mysteries of the 
universe, of course, me being too young to know that meant exposing 
key figures of the underworld syndicate and making sure that alien 
viruses didn't wipe out the entire population of Earth, I took that to 
mean that I should be an astronaut for NASA. So…I thought that I 
would be an N.B.A superstar until I was twenty-six, by which time I 
would be in perfect physical shape to pilot the first mission to Mars. As 
soon as that was over with, assuming that we would have mastered the 
science of light-speed by that time, I would be ready to start my 
profession as a genius neuro-surgeon. My nickname would be Quincy. 
Now I know what you're going to say Scully, Quincy wasn't a neuro-
surgeon, but as I said, I was very young, and he was the only person I 
had ever heard of who used shiny metal instruments and stuff to cut 
into bodies. 
In case you were wondering, yes, there is a point to this little 
story, and I was just getting to it. Everyone wanted to be something 
special when they were younger, but usually the things we dreamed of, 
the things we hoped to accomplish were mainly because we wanted to 
stand out, and were most of the time, a little impossible. Now I know 
that spending your waking hours with a total wack-job like me wasn't 
your ideal occupational position, but Scully, I truly believe you've 
made a difference. For one thing, you've certainly stood out, I bet you 
didn't think back in your Quantico training days that you would wind 
up partnered with "Spooky" Mulder. I understand that our job doesn't 
involve a lot of cheerful medical work for you, and I can even see why 
you'd be a little depressed about not finding the man of your dreams.."
At this point a thousand thoughts ran through his mind some 
of which were still lingering around the fact that she had expressed in 
her mortality schedule the fact that she had planned to meet the man 
she would marry at age twenty-four, and that day close to eight years 
ago, when she had first walked through the door to meet him, her being 
two years out of the training school…and twenty-four at the time.
He continued.
"…But I'm a little in the dark about what you could possibly 
be distressed about."
She smiled.
"Mulder, you're a sweetheart."
" You're just finding this out?" He asked, teasingly.
That comment was ignored, as were most of his lame remarks.
" I just, well, I think I need something more."
He wondered about what she could possibly be getting at.
" It's hard to explain, but to be put in simple terms…I'm 
lonely."
His heart rate sped up 3-fold. It was the early hours of the 
morning, he was in a woman's apartment and she was declaring that she 
was lonely. He contemplated how he supposed to respond to that, it 
turned out he didn't need to at all, because she cleared it up for him in 
an instant.
"I've thought about it long and hard, I know it'll be a 
challenge, and I know that it will change my life drastically," She 
looked at him for assurance, he nodded for her to go on," Mulder, I 
think I want to have a baby."
			~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound that escaped his mouth was priceless. It was 
between a yelp of a frightened child, and the sound most commonly 
associated with the breaking of an adolescent boy's voice. It was so 
strange to hear such a thing from Mulder, calm, cool, and collected 
Mulder, that Scully had to stifle a giggle. To his credit though, he 
composed himself reasonably quickly. After clearing his throat, he 
asked emotionless and plainly,
"What?"
She gave him a look expressing that she was not amused, and 
that he should not ridicule her, but in his eyes she saw that he was 
genuinely confused.
"Mulder, did you hear what I said?"
"Yes, I mean, I think so." He said in a voice too quiet to be 
heard unless you were listening very carefully, luckily, Scully was.
"Mulder, I want to have a baby." She repeated.
When she looked at him, she could see that he couldn't think 
of anything to say to her right then, so she decided to elaborate.
"I know it must be a shock to you Mulder, hearing this from 
me. Me, Special Agent Dana Scully, the Ice Queen. I shocked myself 
when the idea came to me. Oh Mulder, I just have no way to explain it! 
I want to be woken up in the middle of the night for the 2am feeding, I 
want to see my child take their first step, I want to be watching from 
the audience at the ballet recital, or in the crowd at the soccer game. I 
want to be that person who explains that there's no Santa Claus, and 
that the Tooth Fairy isn't real. I want to be the one who explains all 
about sex, drugs, and alcohol. I want to be there when my kid comes 
home for the first time crying because they got dumped, and I want to 
comfort them."
She paused, the tears welling up in her eyes.
" Oh! Who am I kidding Mulder?"
This seemed to bring him out of his light daze. He looked at 
her, and seeing her there, weeping uncontrollably, he reached out to 
her, and pulled her close in an embrace. Her body convulsed with each 
wrenching sob, and he wondered, what in the world could have made 
her so upset?
"What is it Scully?" He asked gently, almost in tears himself. 
It was hard for him to see her like this. She was normally so organized, 
in herself, and her surroundings. He took it to heart that her shield had 
been knocked away, her defenses were down. She was a mess.
"Oh Mulder, I must have been delusional." She managed to 
choke out.
"What? Why do you say that?" And as quickly as he had said 
it, he knew the answer.
Scully couldn't have children. It was a plain and simple fact. 
He had never considered before this that Dana, even wanted to have 
kids. There had been the whole instance with Emily, but he had thought 
that had blown over just as easily as the situation had presented itself. 
He supposed now, that he must have been severely mistaken. He saw 
his partner now, as an ordinary woman, a woman with needs. Jesus! 
Why hadn't he seen it before? Scully was just like anyone else; she 
wanted a family and a secure lifestyle, maybe even a happy one if she 
was lucky. Was he really that self-absorbed that he had never seen the 
"other" Dana Scully?
Dear God Mulder, he thought secretly. You must be more 
selfish than you even suspected! Here is a desperate woman in your 
arms, letting you in to all of her inner-most feelings, and all you can 
think about is exactly how much of an asshole you actually are. Well, I 
think the answer has been revealed, don't you!
The trouble with this situation, not including the woman in 
tears over her unfortunate condition, was much more dangerous. As 
seemingly innocent as it was, a man comforting his best friend in her 
hour of need, however outrageous that hour may be, what ran through 
both their heads was far from friendly companionship. They couldn't 
deny it; the feelings were there, the attraction. Her will power 
diminished, his loving emotions unleashed in their physical act of 
comfort, who could blame them for their actions. After all, they were 
only human.
			 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                        
				Chapter 2 "Realizations"
 
Rating: PG I think.
Spoilers: none, but hopefully in the future this might happen. : 
)
Category: Angst, MSR
Keywords: uh, none
Author's note: This is a mega short one. It's over before you 
can say, 
"Mulderandscullybelongtogetherandthatgirlmelissasarahorwhateveryou
wanttocallherwhoisin"thefieldwhereIdied"isnotreallyhissoulmateanddia
nafowleyisjustthemostdisgustingcreationthewritershavecomeupwithyet"
Phew! Take a deep breath. Anyway, that was about the length 
of time it'd take you to devour my latest installment. So sue me. 
Actually, don't, please. Believe me there is nothing of mine you want, 
least of all the chair I'm sitting on, but you'll learn more about that after 
you read Chapter 2. Oh I know, the anticipation is killing you! Ok, I'll 
let you begin. Thanks for your time
    			Let the curtain rise…

Dana's fragile figure shook less and less until it seemed that 
maybe she had run out of tears. She pulled away slightly to take a look 
at how he was dealing with all of this. It suddenly occurred to her that 
he had been witness to this entire act. Oh how lucky she was to have 
Mulder. If it wasn't for him, she didn't know what she would do. He 
was her gravity, her " life force" upon which she drew for strength and 
support in anything she did. He was her best friend, not only now, but 
also probably the best friend she had ever had. It was not often you 
found the one person who would never judge you, never desert you, 
never feel anything but respect and compassion for you, never hurt you, 
never let anyone hurt you, never leave one thing undone to try and help 
you, never stop loving you. Wait, when…why, what.. Huh?! Never 
stop loving me?! Who's to say he loves me at all! Who's to say that 
what I feel for him is indeed love and not some BI-product of too much 
time spent with a person, or too much insight into a personality? Who's 
to say that "love" even exists? It's just a word used to express great 
affection for another, usually a partner…uh, partner in life that is. Well, 
I don't have any intent to leave Mulder at any time in the future, no 
matter how distant. I suppose then that I could be considered a partner 
for life. A life partner. 
Who's to say that I love him? I've never been intimate with 
him. Well, not in the way most associated with intimacy. Not even a 
kiss! Well, not a kiss that is usually thought of as a loving kiss. Our lips 
have met numerous times with each other's various facial accents. 
Cheek, forehead, but never the other's lips. Well, I suppose there would 
have to be an exception to that statement too. Our lips did brush 
together once, a long hallway ago. I won't even bother trying to 
rationalize what happened there. I don't think I could, and whatever I 
came up with would have a counter-acting statement like every other 
one I have thought up.
Look at him, and tell yourself that there is nothing there. There 
is nothing between you but friendship… and a thin bathrobe! Oh god, 
this is bad. Oh no, oh no oh no. Do I have underwear on?!?! I can't 
remember. I got out of the shower, yes, put on the bathrobe, went into 
my room, yes! Oh I know now, I did, I put on my red satiny panties, 
those ones I really like. I think they were a gift from one of my old 
boyfriends, which one was it? Oh great, now I can't even remember the 
last real relationship I had. It must be the stress Dana. It hasn't been so 
long. Only about, oh I don't know, eight and a half years! Didn't I have 
a goal? Oh yes, look at him. Look up at him and find out once and for 
all. Find out the truth. When did I start thinking like him?! The truth. 
Humph. The truth is I'm delaying turning my eyes his way for fear of 
proof of what I already believe is true. At least, I want to believe.
			~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of chapter 2. I know it's exceedingly short, but at least it's 
a little more to mull over. Feel free to send comments, criticisms 
(though they may send me into a crying fit, I don't take criticism well), 
and threats : ). Whatever. I never get out of my chair stationed in front 
of the computer; the least you could do is interact with me. Anyway, all 
my love to you shippers who knew all along that things would turn out 
right, even if it were only in fanfic land. Oh and Sam, if you are 
there…how could you ditch X-files for Babylon5?!?! You are no 
longer considered a friend of mine. Just kidding, traitor. ;)
				Chapter 3 "Ground Not Ventured"
Mulder pulled his arms tighter around the tiny body in front of 
him. She seemed so small to him right now, almost child-like, and he 
felt the compelling need to cuddle her until she felt reassured, as one 
would a daughter, baby, or lover. He raised a single eyebrow at this 
thought, a talent one acquires through careful study of another's 
expressions (let's not name any names <g>) though was careful not to 
draw attention to his sudden surprise. The last thing Scully needed right 
now was extra stress, and it seemed he had not been much help to her 
so far, so he needed to be supportive like he'd never been supportive 
before. A feat not easily failed, he thought bitterly. Lover indeed. He 
and Scully were more like brother and sister than anything else. Mulder 
quietly cleared his throat at this statement in disgust. Last time he 
checked a brother should not feel attracted to his sister. Obviously, that 
wasn't the case then. A cousin perhaps? No, not that either. Cousins 
usually didn't shiver away the feeling of electricity when they touched. 
Ok, a friend.  Were friends commonly subject to being stereotyped as a 
couple every time they stepped out in public? Oh sweet mother of 
mercy, he thought as an epiphany of understanding dawned. He was in 
love…
She turned her head and slowly lifted her eyes to his. Was it 
possible for your heart to skip six beats in a row? Well, possible or not, 
it had just happened. She was sure he could feel the incessant pounding 
in her chest, through his. He was gazing (no one can tell me Mulder 
doesn't gaze at Scully<g>) at her. It felt like he had heard her every 
thought, as if he knew she had been thinking of her love for him. Did 
he know??? No, that was impossible she told herself, still the uneasy 
idea was lingering. After several seconds of contemplating things she 
realized that she had been staring, though not focused, at his lips. A 
flush crept over her already fevered cheeks and she dared to peek at his 
eyes, totally unprepared for the sight of him staring at her lips!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
			Chapter 4    "Desire"
	Scully was staring into space, he knew that much. And even though it was painfully clear she was not focusing on anything, his full, plump lips were occupying that space. Should he bring her out of whatever delve into unconsciousness she was visiting? If he knew her well, which unquestionably he did, she would feel 
uncomfortable for having been staring at him whilst ignoring his 
physical presence. It seemed amusing she be so completely oblivious to 
him, when he was extremely aware of her. Her soft flesh contorting 
around him, the dressing gown doing little to hide her shape. Pressed, 
not tightly, but not quite platonically either, together, she felt almost 
unreal; and feelings were such as he hadn't naturally felt for lifetimes. 
Lifetimes, good choice of wording. No one in this lifetime had had 
access to such a significant amount of him, while not truly owning 
anything of him at all. Of course, that wasn't altogether correct, the 
woman he held in his arms possessed, though unwittingly, his soul, his 
very being.
	Hell, if Scully asked him to, he'd probably give up the quest to find Samantha! As much as he longed to find his sibling, it was almost as if that wasn't quite as essential as it had seemed say, six or seven years ago. She had changed him like baseball had changed Josh Exley, transformed him, made him different, better. His 
life was fuller, more complete. Just supporting her in his arms like this 
made the rest of the world's problems fall into place, like they were the 
only two people ever and nothing else mattered. Something in his chest 
ached, with desire, with wanting. It was times like this that he pondered 
whether it really was worth it to play this act out everyday, to pretend 
that nothing had changed, like they were, as they had always been, not 
remotely interested in each other. Another pang of indecision edged its 
way through his system. He pulled her closer, on some unconscious 
level feeling that maybe she could heal the pain, could save him, could 
make it all better. But of course, having her even nearer only allowed 
the pangs to establish themselves again and more fiercely. If only the 
thought to address they're predicament was mutual. If only she knew…
It felt so good lying in his arms like this. She sighed a deep 
sigh of contentment and allowed herself to enjoy this all too rare 
personal moment with her dashing partner. All at once she was ready to 
kick herself for thinking in such a way about her friend. He wasn't a 
trophy or figurine to be gawked, oohed or aahed at. He was a human 
being. Just because he was abnormally attractive, that didn't mean he 
didn't deserve the same respect as everyone else. And he certainly was 
abnormally attractive. Another deep sigh escaped her lips. At one time 
she would have felt inferior and downtrodden by his presence, yeah, 
right up until she met him! He had to be one of, or maybe the least vain 
person in the world! What had she ever done to deserve such a 
wonderful man?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
			Chapter 5   " The Truth"
	Okay, it was finally time to give the game up, he thought. The right time he'd been looking for, well, here it was. She'd probably hate him forever for not telling her sooner, but he had to take that risk. He had to, he loved her and he couldn't see her life turn out anyway other than the way she wanted it to just because of his 
cowardice. He took a deep breath, and momentarily wondered how 
exactly to phrase what he had to tell her.
	"Scully, you can have children."
	"No Mulder, I can't. Not my own. It's all right though, I can adopt. A child is a child, a life is a life, and a soul is a soul. Just because I didn't create it doesn't mean I can't still provide it with love. I'll find a way, and one way or another I'll provide a child with a happy home. I know this is something I really want to do."
	He took another deep breath.
	"Dana…what I'm trying to tell you is that…there is already a way…a way you can have a child of your own."
	She stared at him, not quite allowing herself to believe what he was telling her. How could it be true?
	"Please, let me finish speaking before you say anything, because I know you're going to hate me, but you still have to hear everything."
	She nodded noncommittally.
	"Scully, I know you already know that when you were taken, whoever it was that abducted you saw to it that you were incapable of conceiving a child. But what you didn't take into consideration is that they took your ova for a reason, they didn't destroy them."
	Her eyes widened, but she didn't say a word.
	"They hid them Scully. They took them and hid them and did secret experiments…one of which resulted in the life of Emily Sim. I found…" there was a short pause, but long enough for him to rethink the theory of telling her what he'd found and curse himself for ever starting to relate to her the story.
	"…I found your unborn children Scully. Only a few, I found them all but could only retrieve a few…I took them from your captors, just as they took them from you. I'm so, so sorry Scully for not telling you. I suppose in many ways what I did was just as bad as what they did. I stole what was not mine and did not return it 
to the rightful owner. I'm so sorry. You can hate me for the rest of my 
life if you want, but I want you to know that there is a way for you to 
have children, and that your ova are safe."
	She stared at him with wide, blank eyes. Then she blinked, and said almost in a whisper,
	"Where?"
	The tears slid down his cheeks but his voice never faltered.
	"The Lone Gunmen have them in an enclosed vial, in a special chamber with regulated temperature. They've run tests you know. They're all healthy, and have not been meddled with by the people responsible for your abduction. There are no traces of any unnatural branches of DNA. They've not been damaged in any way, 
Scully."
	Her eyes were aglow with the newfound knowledge of her options. To the utter amazement of her partner, her tired face broke into a happy smile. She looked him in the eye, and showed him not remorse, not hatred, but…wait…could it be?
	" I love you, Mulder." 
And she hugged him with all her might. He let out a 
breath he didn't know he'd been holding in, and the corners of 
his mouth turned skyward. He was happier than he'd been in a 
long time. Scully didn't hate him. She could have children. 
She…loved him. The continents of the world all fit together 
like they had one a very long time ago, a puzzle reconstructed, 
and made more sentimental by time. And what was best about 
it all, was that for once, what he had said to her, had actually 
solved her problem. No more lying, he would never lie to 
Scully again; he would never hold anything back from her, for 
the truth had saved her this time. Like a lightening strike, all at 
once, his faith was restored, for he knew once again, that the 
truth was indeed that which was worth searching for. When 
the truth is found, as Scully had found it, nothing is so bad that 
it cannot be forgiven, and hope is delivered in abundance to 
everyone associated. And from truth and hope, love is born. 
No, he would never keep the truth from her. Not ever again.
"And I love you," he replied.
No more lies.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So tell me, did it have fanfic newbie written all over 
it? 'Cause believe it or not, this was my first real fanfiction. I 
know, I know, it's shocking. Oh, and if you could all please try 
to keep your chins from hitting the floor, I'd appreciate it. The 
carpets new you know. ,<g> 
Please send all your comments, questions, or 
meatloaf recipes (keep in mind I'm a vegetarian) to 
Starlight8201@aol.com . Thanx all! And love to you all. 
BTW - this was meant to be the first of a series, but it 
works as a vignette too. Should I continue this story????