Fox Mulder | Not a Green Man (basementman) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-05-29 15:58:00 |
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Fox Mulder leaned back on the camping mat that he’d brought with them and looked up at the stars. This had been a really amazing idea if he did say so himself. When Christine had said that she wanted to go far away from anything related to the new Star Trek film, Mulder had decided that going out of the city would be the best idea. That way there was no chance they’d accidentally run into someone talking about it on the street, or in Potts Tower itself - they’d give it a day or so to allow the initial excitement to wear down before they returned. Plus, it was an excellent opportunity to do something he’d been wanting to do for a while - check out places where UFOs had been sighted in this reality. He’d done some research on the network, tracking down some message boards, and UFO networks, and had ultimately come up with a couple of different possibilities. Outside of some sightings in Long Island - which was not going to help them get out of the city - there had been several campgrounds and so Mulder had set about first reserving a spot in one of those campgrounds and then tracking down equipment. The latter had been a bit more difficult, but he’d been able to find a place to rent a small backpackers tent for two - it would just barely fit them both probably, but the close proximity was less a problem than it was a feature. Some sleeping bags, mats, and a cookstove later, he’d had enough to -combined with their own bags - fill up the trunk of the small rental car he’d also rented. Driving around to get all of the things and the car itself back to Potts Tower, Mulder had been reminded of why he didn’t particularly love driving in New York City - in this reality any more than in his own. But several hours later they were far away from the city, from any Star Trek films of any age, and it was dark enough that Mulder couldn’t help thinking that the stars looked as if you could touch them. “It’s incredible when you think of it,” he said seriously, his voice quiet as he stared up at Orion above them. “We’re just one small planet in the scheme of things. Filled with people who have the audacity to think that they might be alone in the Universe, but what is the likelihood of that really? Obviously you’ve been to planets out there - planets that may or may not exist in this reality, but who is to say that they don’t? That someday one hundred or two hundred years from now, this reality will become aware of the fact that they are not alone in this universe and I don’t just mean extraterrestrials from other realities - but other intelligence life native to this reality.” He turned his head to look over at her. “I don’t know why people find it so difficult to believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life. What I find fantastic to believe is that we might be the only intelligent life on the only occupied planet in all of the planets, in all of the solar systems, in all of the galaxies of the universe. “I think that would be true even if I hadn’t been confronted with it because of Samantha.” Christine had been looking forward to this night all week. The film had already opened in Australia and Europe so there was plenty of information about it on the internet. She’d imposed a media blackout on herself, refusing to look at anything other than the Potts Tower network. The fact that she didn’t actually appear on screen in the first movie worked to her advantage as no one knew who she was so she wasn’t asked any questions. She was far more likely to be called “Izzie” than her real name and while it had annoyed her at first, Christine was used to it now and she would just smile and tell the person on and keep walking. Although she hadn’t admitted it to anyone, not even Mulder, she’d been watching Grey’s Anatomy since she’d found out who this Izzie person was. It was addicting and while seeing her face attached to someone else had been jarring at first, she’d gotten used to it. The show was nothing more than a hospital soap opera but it had its moments and Christine was curious to see what happened. She’d made it through two seasons so far which meant she had a ways to go. She’d been happy when Mulder had agreed to take her away from the city and from the craziness that was bound to ensue once people had seen the film. Christine had no desire to know her fate, at least not yet, and she’d rather spend some time alone with Mulder anyway. Ever since he’d suggested camping and UFO hunting, she’d been teasing him about it. It didn’t surprise her that he would want to do it, in fact she was happy that he did. To her it signaled that he was feeling more comfortable here and maybe more like his normal self. Getting adjusted took time and he’d had to do it twice since he’d gotten the memory dump. The place he’d chosen was quiet and the sky was beautiful. Christine rested her head on his shoulder and looked up at the stars as she considered what he had just said. “Humans are arrogant,” she said, matching his quiet tone. “they can’t stand to think that they’re not unique. I have no idea what planets exist in this reality but they’re out there, I know they are. I grew up knowing that there was life out there. First contact was made long before I was born but by the time I joined the Academy we’d only scratched the surface. Kathryn has told me things about her universe and there are races she’s encountered that I haven’t even heard of.” Christine was fascinated by the things Kathryn had seen and wished that she might have the opportunity to see them too although she knew that might be unlikely given the difference in their timelines. “I miss being up there. I really didn’t think that being on a starship would get in my blood but it did. It’s beautiful, I can’t even describe it. The first time I looked out a window and saw Earth from up there, I choked up. It’s incredible. I wish I could take you so you could see it too.” “I wish you could as well,” Mulder smiled, his attention turned back to the night sky. He was quiet for a moment not so much thinking as feeling the anxiety of the past few weeks melt away a bit. He knew Christine didn’t require him to share his thoughts out loud - such as they were - and it was one of the things he was appreciative of, one of the other major ones being that when he did share them, she didn’t dismiss them as extreme, crazy, or entirely off-base. There were very few other people in his life who had done this for him. Mulder was settling a bit, having moved through a semi-euphoric and extremely paranoid state when he first got here - euphoric because yes, there were aliens, and paranoid because, well, because - and then a period of loss when Scully had disappeared, followed by the sort of intense beginnings of his and Christine’s relationship, and now Scully had returned, and with her three years worth of memories, and Mulder found himself once again turning towards outer-space. He’d spent most of the morning of the past week on the network looking for information about UFO sightings. He’d already visited the libraries to pick up books that were listed in the bibliographies of wikipedia entries. Some of them were by people he was familiar with, and others not, but the stories themselves were extremely familiar and finding that had been a turning point for him. The X-Files might not exist here, and he might not be able to work for the FBI, but he could still do something - he was certain. “I suspect there’s fear as well, don’t you? Arrogance heightened by fear? Because it’s what we don’t know - and if they’re more powerful than we are - then what? I’ve sought the truth about alien life in our reality for so long - but the truth is I don’t know the answer to that question. And the knowledge I’ve gained makes me wonder sometimes.” He shook his head. “I suppose it’s not relevant here, but I do think fear plays a role.” She pulled her knees up and settled her head on them, looking at him while he spoke. Christine liked listening to his theories, not only because she was interested in them but because he listened to hers as well. “I think you’re right. Fear isn’t something that I think about because in my world, we already knew about extraterrestrial life. I can tell you that there was fear on both sides though. When first contact was made, there was a lot of unrest, we studied it in school. Thankfully the first aliens we encountered were Vulcans who are peaceful which helped a lot. If it had been Klingons or Romulans it would have turned out differently I’m sure. There might never have been a United Federation of Planets or Starfleet instead there would have been chaos and a war which we would have lost since our technology wasn’t up to theirs yet.” Christine had always been fascinated by history both of her own time and the ancient history of Earth. Which included the very time she lived in now strangely enough. “I guess the people out there are wondering the same things about us that we wonder about them. I’d be curious to know who is up there though in this universe. Races I know about or some that no one knows about. I read up on the attack here last year, I’d never heard of that race at all so there are probably a lot of others that might turn up.” She smiled at him. “And you would just love it if a random Klingon came through the Tesseract wouldn’t you?” “The real question is why haven’t any shown up already? I mean there is Lieutenant Commander Worf on The Next Generation,” Mulder pointed out, knowing that she wouldn’t know who that was necessarily, but waving a hand. “Captain Picard, Riker and Troi, are all here - so why not Worf? But in answer to your question - yes,” he grinned. He turned over on his side and looked up at her. “I don’t mean to suggest the fear isn’t without foundation. I realize that when I search for the truth that I may be slightly abnormal in the sense that I continually run towards something that may be dangerous, may even someday kill me, and I do so because I can’t stand the idea that I might not find the answer, even while acknowledging that the answer may not be something I want to find.” He was quiet for a moment. “And from the things I have lived - and those things I remember that I haven’t - it is entirely possible that our extraterrestrials are not nearly so friendly as the Vulcans. Our first contact may have been much different - because I’m certain it has happened.” “I think when we get back I’m going to start watching things,” he said thoughtfully. “I took a look on the network about the show and it seems to start when Scully joined me on the X-Files. Our first case was in Oregon... I’m sure I’ll seem very young and foolish to you, but I would like it if you join me on this one. It’s something I remember, and we can go from there perhaps?” Christine laughed. “I do know who Worf is. Kathryn has told me about him because I was quite surprised that a Klingon was in Starfleet. I’ve actually watched a couple of episodes of the show.” She moved to lie down on her side so that she was facing him. “You’re probably right. From things you’ve told me, the aliens that came to your Earth were very different from what happend to my Earth. I also think you’re right, that’s it’s happened already.” She reached out and touched his cheek. “I like that about you, that you’re curious, that you won’t stop until you find answers. I’m the same way. And I agree that sometimes you don’t want to know the answers but you still have to know. I get that.” Christine was still seeking answers about Roger even though she knew they wouldn’t be hard to find, she hadn’t gathered her courage to look for them yet. “And I’ll be happy to watch that with you. I’d like to see it. Don’t worry about me thinking you’re young and foolish. We’ve all been young. Besides you’ve seen the other me with the scary hair and you haven’t run away yet. Mulder grinned at that. “I do appreciate that you don't have scary sixties hair,” he laughed. “You know, sometimes I wonder - if the other you were to show up here, would she still have sixties hair? I mean, possibly - but some things seem so dated to this world’s reality, and it seems so odd that they’re also true in that reality as well. It seems less odd with something like, say, a cell phone that is shaped like and roughly equivalent in size to a brick. In 1994 that’s more or less what cell phones in this reality looked like and it’s more or less what our cell phones looked like. That seems logical to me, because the shows are paralleling, but I do sometimes wonder about shows where the timelines are completely different...” He shook his head. “Anyway, neither here nor there. Maybe if alternate you shows up we’ll have the chance to find out. Also, if she does show up and starts to come by my apartment every day to see Spock, I will probably have to start laughing, a lot, but not where Spock can see me.” He grinned. “They are different realities though - this one and mine. Despite the similar cell phones and technology from that period. Despite also the similarities in alien abduction scenarios. I’ve been half thinking Christine; Maybe I should start some sort of freelance investigation into the paranormal.... What I did on the X-Files, more or less, only people could pay individually, rather than it being a government job? “I don’t know - it’s just been a thought that I have had. I suspect it’d be easy enough to get word of mouth out there - I could possibly take some advantage of the fact that I have name recognition here.” “For her sake if she shows up, I hope she doesn’t although I would imagine that she would. Spock would probably lock himself in his room and never come out!” Christine laughed. “he’s finally gotten used to me I think. I’m not sure how I’d feel if the other me showed up to be honest. It would be strange, having someone here with my name who’s me but isn’t me. Although it might be fun to pick her brain about some things.” She listened to Mulder’s idea and when he was finished she leaned over and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “I think that’s a good idea. You’d be doing something that you love and you’re right, people know your name so I’m sure you wouldn’t have any trouble finding people who’d be willing to hire you. There seems to be a lot of curiosity in this time about paranormal activity if the number of television shows about ghost hunting is any indication.” Christine had seen a few of the so called reality shows when she’d been flipping channels and while she wasn’t convinced there was anything real about any of them, sometimes she couldn’t help but get caught up in them. “If you decide to do it, I’m willing to help you any way I can. At the very least I can organize your filing cabinets.” “It would be a bit odd wouldn’t it? I’ve never asked Spock how he’s found it, though considering it’s Spock he might not be the best judge,” Mulder grinned slightly. “I don’t know if I should be grateful for that or worried,” Mulder chuckled. “I mean, myself, the Winchesters, the Buffy people, that Dresden chap. Annie Sawyer is a ghost. I’m certain I’m forgetting someone. There’s a lot of us that seem to deal with the supernatural and paranormal in our realities in some way or another, which means that any of those things could show up in this reality. Considering those vampires that came through a while back, what’s to say they haven’t done so already? “So - yes, SHIELD is doing its thing, and who knows, maybe I could help them a bit, but I’m not certain I’m ready to work under the rules of a larger organization. I’d rather do a private consult - and I don’t know if it works, and I might be fancying myself a bit of a paranormal Sherlock Holmes not that Potts Tower needs another Holmes, mind you - but I feel as if its worth giving it a try and seeing what happens. So maybe early next week I’ll go buy a filing cabinet and start folders. And maybe see if Scully has plans. I can do this sort of thing by myself, but since she’s here - well, I need a Watson if I’m going to be a paranormal Holmes,” he laughed. “Potts Tower has plenty of Sherlocks to go around and then some!” Christine laughed. “and a few Tony Starks and Captain Americas too. I can’t keep up with them all. But you would be the first paranormal Sherlock and you’re right, you can’t do that without a Watson.” She was happy to see Mulder thinking about what he could do. Christine knew that he’d felt displaced, they all had but she’d come to know him well enough to recognize that he needed a purpose and if this would do that for him, she’d do whatever she could. “If I had anything paranormal to investigate, I’d hire you,” she told him. “but I’m afraid I don’t. Unless you could find me a ghost who’d bring me the answers to the MCAT when I take it!” Christine grinned. She would never cheat on an exam, certainly not one that would help decide her future but she couldn’t resist teasing him. “Although I still haven’t signed up to take it but I’m going to.” “That’s all right,” Mulder shifted, turning over so he could sit up and actually look her straight in the eye. “Honestly, I’m completely glad that you don’t have anything paranormal to investigate - usually paranormal doesn’t mean lilies and kitty-cats, you know?” He leaned forward and touched her cheek, then kissed her. “So, I’m all right with never needing to investigate anything for you -- although if I do find one of those ghosts? I’ll hook you up, all right?” He glanced over at the fire that they’d started earlier and then up at the stars. While he hadn’t been paying completely close attention he had yet to see anything that looked remotely unidentified in the sky. “You know, we could be staring at the skies all night and not see anything - I’m thinking we should have some marshmallows. Maybe some with chocolate and graham crackers?” Christine smiled at him as she pulled away from the kiss. “Well then I hope you never have to investigate anything for me either. I don’t think I’d enjoy being haunted very much.” She glanced up at the sky and then back at him. “You’re right. We might not see anything other than stars. Which are beautiful but if you’re looking for UFOs, a little boring.” Her smiled widened when he mentioned marshmallows. “Wait. You’re telling me that you actually brought stuff to make s’mores? You’re amazing. I knew there was a reason that I liked hanging out with you. You think of everything!” It was the perfect suggestion and Christine honestly couldn’t recall the last time she’d had anything like it. “And before you ask, yes we do have those in the 23rd century.” “I don’t know that I think of everything,” Mulder said, ducking his head almost bashfully, but still pleased. “But I did think of this at least, so hold on and I’ll go find things.” It took him a moment to dig out all of the various accompaniments for s'mores. It had been a last minute idea of his, spurned on by trying to think of something that might cheer Christine up, which had led to chocolate, which had led to the obvious solution of s'mores, because if one was camping - it just felt right. It conjured up memories of his own childhood in Martha’s Vineyard, and nights they’d roasted marshmallows and put them together with chocolate bars and Samantha had always loved them. Mulder returned from his digging about in his bag with a couple of sticks, a bag of marshmallows, a stack of Hershey’s bars, and some graham crackers and he gave Christine a large, somewhat goofy smile and put the entire pile down next to her. “It’s good to know that the good things in life don’t disappear in the next century or two,” he chuckled, and reached for the marshmallow bag. “Now, how do you make the perfect s’more Christine Chapel?” She laughed when he picked up the bag of marshmallows and reached for one of the Hershey bars. “Well clearly you already know the secret. It has to be a Hershey bar, no other chocolate will do. Accept no substitutes! I also believe that you need some sticks, we roast the marshmallows, hopefully not burning them because that really sucks when you do that that, and then we put that and the chocolate between the graham crackers and there you go! Sheer awesome with three simple ingredients.” Christine leaned over and kissed him on the nose, still laughing. It felt good to laugh, she hadn’t been doing much of that recently with everything on her mind but being out here with Mulder was proving to be a great cure for the blues. S’mores or no S’mores. “Now if we were kids, there would also have to be milk involved but since we’re not, there can be adult beverages. Making s’mores drunk is also quite interesting. I’m not sure if you’ve ever done that but it can get a little dangerous. Especially if Romulan Ale is involved but I doubt you’ve got any of that hidden on you.” “You know,” Mulder considered, wrinkling up his brow slightly. “As much as it seems as if I ought to have done s’mores drunk before - I don’t think I ever have. Clearly it’s time to have that particular life experience. Unfortunately it’s going to have to be on something other than Romulan Ale as we seem to be somewhat short of that variety here at the local alcohol shop.” Honestly it was good to see her laughing. Mulder knew that she was worried and anxious about the new film, and he had no way of knowing whether or not those fears were justified or not. What he was certain of, however, was that this entire idea had proven to be a worthwhile one. Although there were other people in the campground, none of them were camped immediately adjacent to him and Christine and none of them seemed likely to be Star Trek fans that were suddenly going to start talking about plot details. They might both have to deal with that when they returned to New York City, but for now Christine was smiling, and that was enough. “Here’s the stick,” he handed one over and kept the other for himself. “Now let’s see which one of us accidentally burns the marshmallows first...” He stuck the marshmallows on the stick and then held it out over the fire, trying to find a nice place with coals where they would cook just perfectly. “Well considering Romulan Ale is illegal to buy even in my time, I wouldn’t expect you to have any,” Christine laughed. “but if you knew someone who had the right connections, you could get your hands on some. Trust me, it’s not something that anyone should go near if they’re not used to drinking and you will have the hangover from hell in the morning!” She took the stick from her and put a marshmallow on it. “Let’s see how this goes. I’m not the best person in the world with roasting marshmallows but we can see if I’m any better in the 21st century.” Christine held the stick out over the fire and turned it slowly. “So let me guess. You were a boy scout?” Mulder chuckled and pulled his marshmallow out to examine it. Not quite done, he thought and he stuck it back in. “I was for like a year although I went to a boy scout camp for at least three summers. It was actually the summers directly following Samantha’s disappearance,” he sobered. “I think my Dad was hoping that it’d distract me from the anniversary, but mostly it just irritated me,” he shook his head. “So yeah, I was, but I can’t say I was a very good one to be honest.” Christine gently laid a hand on his shoulder when he mentioned his sister. She didn’t say anything, she just simply touched him because there was really nothing she could say. He missed her, he always would and Christine often wished that there was a way he could find out what had happened to her although that might never happen in this place. “I was never a girl scout,” she said, removing her hand and pulling her own marshmallow out of the fire. For one thing I’m not the most outdoorsy person in the world and for another, camping in the bayous of Louisiana is not exactly a fun time. I had no desire to be gator bait.” She looked at the marshmallow and grinned. “It’s done so let’s see how this works.” She picked up two of the graham crackers and put the melted marshmallow and a piece of the chocolate bar together and smashed it. Once that was done she took a bite. “oh that’s good,” she said, trying not to talk with her mouth full but not doing so well. “Understandable,” Mulder said, acknowledging her touch by way of a smile. He continued to hope against hope that possibly Samantha would be pulled through the tesseract. Even a much younger version of her would be perfectly fine with him - but he knew it was probably a silly hope, not much different from his hope in his own reality that he would find her. “Manners, Chapel,” Mulder mocked as he grinned at her eating the entire s’more. He pushed his own marshmallow onto a cracker, then topped it with the chocolate bar and another graham, and took what was supposed to be a ‘dainty’ bite of about half of the s’more but ended up instead being a good half of it, with the other half threatening to fall on the ground so that he had to catch it with his other hand thus getting sticky marshmallow everywhere. He laughed. “No comments from the bridge,” he managed between marshmallow. Christine tried not to laugh at him when he dropped his s’more but she couldn’t help it. He looked adorable and she lost it when he said ‘no comments from the bridge.’ “I’m sorry but you were just too cute trying to catch that runaway marshmallow,” she said. On impulse she leaned over and kissed him, licking a bit of stray marshmallow off his lip. “I think it tastes better that way,” she mused and then kissed him again, this time letting her lips linger for a moment before she pulled away. “What do you think?” Mulder had closed his eyes and accepted the kiss, returning it just slightly and placing the not sticky hand on her shoulder. As she pulled away he opened his eyes and looked at her, pretending to look uncertain. “Hmmm... I think that I can’t be certain after just one experiment. We’d best roast another marshmallow and try it again.” This had been a good idea for him as well. He didn’t have the strong emotional feelings towards the new Star Trek film that Christine had. In reality there was a part of him that suspected he ought to go take in a matinee some afternoon when Christine was working so that he’d know what was in it and feel a bit more comfortable with the reality she inhabited rather than simply the Star Trek of his childhood and his Vulcan roommate’s world. But despite the fact that he had no particular anxiety about this film - outside of what he might have for Christine’s sake - he’d needed to get out of the Tower and to do something that wasn’t the same as things he’d been doing since his arrival and to do things that were more like events that had happened in his reality, even if not for a number of years. It was creating normality - and really wasn’t that what he had done every day while working on the X-Files? Usually with Scully, but normality had been those little moments carved between extraterrestrials and mutants and serial killers. “Clearly I am a bad scientist since I should know that one experiment never gives you the answer. You have to try more than once!” Christine laughed and put another marshmallow on a stick, holding it over the fire. For a few minutes she sat there, saying nothing and then she looked over at Mulder. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “for this. For bringing me here, getting me away from everything. This is perfect, just being here with you like this.” Christine pulled back her marshmallow and looked at it, it was almost done she thought and then held it back over the fire before she continued. “I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you for caring about me. Sometimes I feel kind of lonely even though I’ve got friends here but they’ve been through things I can’t share which the whole world is finding out about, probably even as we speak.” She looked toward the sky and then back at Mulder. “I take care of other people all the time but I forget to take care of myself more often than not. Thanks for taking care of me, for wanting to take care of me. It means a lot.” Mulder laughed. The truth was he hadn’t thought about it from the scientific angle - at least not consciously, but maybe all those years hanging out with Scully had rubbed off a bit more than he’d thought. Probably she’d be pleased that he was thinking scientifically in any sense of the word, even if she might not believe it unless she saw it. He sobered though as she kept talking, a smile still on his lips, but his tone turned more serious. “You don’t have to thank me for that Christine. You’ve done the same for me, and the time we’ve spent together is something that I’m very grateful for all around. I’m a bit used to being alone, or very nearly so, and I’m not certain it’s always good for me. In some ways perhaps this place has been good for me in that respect and you’re a part of that.” He smiled, paused, and then glanced at her marshmallow. “I think we were going to try an experiment?” She returned his smile and then pulled the marshmallow out of the fire. “Yes I do believe we were.” Quickly she put a s’mores together and ate it, laughing when she made a mess of it. “Okay here we go but this time you have to lick it off me because we need to try it from both sides.” She leaned over and kissed him. Mulder grinned as he kissed her. It was a sticky, delicious sort of kiss and he didn’t hurry away from it either, instead enjoying the closeness for a moment. When he finally did pull back he couldn’t help but add: “You know, if we’re doing this properly, we really should be taking notes, for future reference, shouldn’t we? It’s possible we need to start all over...” Although Mulder wasn’t certain exactly how many additional s’mores he was going to be able to eat so they might have to stick with marshmallows. He reached for another one and then stopped mid-marshmallow roasting to lean over and kiss Christine again. “We should get some sleep tonight,” he suggested, raising an eyebrow at her. “Which means we’ll have to stop this marshmallow experiment eventually.” She sighed. “You’re right. We do need to get some sleep or else we’ll be falling asleep in the middle of the prom. Which wouldn’t do. So we could just decide that the marshmallow kissing experiment was a success and go to bed. Although that’s a pretty small tent and it might get a little cozy.” Christine leaned in to kiss him once more. “and that’s the beauty of it, don’t you think?” If she had her way, they’d never have to go back to the city, they’d just stay here forever but that wasn’t possible. For now though they could just enjoy being here together and away from the strangeness that was their lives in this world. For now things were simple and Christine was content with that. |