TITLE: Some Sunny Day AUTHOR: Maidenjedi FANDOM: The X-Files RATING: R CATEGORY: post-series, Mulder/Scully SPOILERS: The whole series is up for grabs DISCLAIMER: Not my characters, my concept, or my show. Damn it. ARCHIVE: Anywhere, just keep my name on it. SUMMARY: Against all odds, really. NOTES: Nothing to do with the new film, and set slightly in the future to accommodate the 12/12/12 doomsday prediction. I owe this entirely to Dasha K., whose spring fever is positively infectious. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Agent Mulder, after all you've seen, do you have any regrets?" It was a morning show interview, Regis or Lauer or Diane Sawyer. "I do," he said, Scully squeezing his hand and the show's viewers waiting with bated breath. Everyone wanted to know what this hero thought, what he would say. They all thought he was handsome, and with his darling heroine lover beside him he was nearly invincible. "I regret that we couldn't stop them sooner. That innocent lives were lost before we could safely return." In thousands of homes across the nation, there was weeping, and there was gratitude. --- They found out like everyone else - it was on CNN. "Recent reports of alien invasion," it was amazing that the anchor could keep a straight face, "have sent millions into unprecedented panic, causing gas and food shortages and price gouging...." But it was all over, she said with a toothy grin and unshed tears shining in her eyes. All over. --- Their pictures had been up in post offices and podunk sheriffs' offices for years, and in all that time no one had recognized them. It didn't take much for the government to forget about "most wanted" fugitives. Not much except the impending threat of alien invasion. When it was all over, everyone wanted to talk to them, the FBI agents who had known all along. People loved it when rogue agents thwarted the government. It was a guaranteed box office draw. So said the Hollywood producer who bought the rights to their story for a cool $15 million. --- "Your old job is waiting for you," said an assistant director whose predecessors had all died gory deaths at the hands of invaders and their human co-conspirators. Mulder shrugged, said he'd rather just have the backpay and an apology. They gave it to him - these days the government was eager to keep everyone happy and smiling and not telling their tales to the tabloids. Which Mulder did anyway, and they didn't even try to stop him. --- She got a job at a hospital and Mulder did nothing much for the first few months, and then he called that slick, grinning assistant director to ask if the offer was still good. It wasn't, but they had an opening for a behavioral psychologist at Quantico, and Mulder took it. Scully liked to joke that his students took the class for the same reasons kids took archaeology with Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. Mulder just grinned and kissed her until she was out of breath and could no longer say "Indiana Jones," much less think about him. --- They made the decision to get William back after they had been in their new lives for a year. He was tall for his age. That was the first thing they noticed. He had red hair like his mother but had inherited his father's nose (poor kid). Scully spent her days with him, learning how he liked his peanut butter sandwiches (with pickles) and finding out what it meant to be mom to an adolescent. He was mature for his age, but he was still a boy whose first acne had cropped on his face and whose arms and legs were slightly too long for his skinny frame. He played Little League in the evenings and Mulder was the pitching coach. Mulder called him "sport" or "kiddo" and even "boyo" when the mood struck, and William called him "Mulder" just like everyone always had. "Dad" never crossed William's lips, and sometimes that tinged Scully's joy with a pang of regret. He called her Mom, though, and she always forgot why she was sorry. On Mother's Day, Mulder bought her pink roses and William took the credit. --- "Mulder?" "Mmm?" He was sitting on the porch, his legs propped up on the railing, the sports page open to the previous day's box scores. "I think we should try again." He spilled his iced tea, but that was okay. The dog would lick it up. --- They took a trip to New York to see the new Yankee Stadium (Mulder sighed in mock-disgust when he saw it, but it was still Yankee Stadium and how could he resist after they won the Series again in 2011?). William had grown up a Kansas City fan, and so Mulder had to exercise extreme restraint while cheering. Scully just grinned, ate popcorn, and sat between her men as content as can be. --- They tried and were blessed with their second child not long after Mulder finally made an honest woman out of Scully. They almost named her Melissa, but since Bill had named his third child after his departed sister, Mulder and Scully opted for Grace. Over Hope. Over Joy. --- But it didn't happen like that, because in their world, there had never been any truly happy endings. --- The year is 2012. It's a cold and dark December morning when the invasion begins, and no one is really aware of it because there is no one left to warn them. A blonde woman whose eyes warn strangers that she doesn't want to talk, that they don't want to hear her stories, sits in a dark room in a basement somewhere on the East Coast. With her is a boy of eleven - he has red hair like his mother, and has inherited his father's nose. Poor kid. They are huddled in coats for warmth and they are listening to Morse code come over a crude transitor radio. Today's message is simple, and it is sad. "MULDER AND SCULLY FOUND DEAD STOP RECOVERY OP FAILED STOP INFECTIONS BEGUN STOP STAY WHERE YOU ARE STOP GOD HELP US ALL STOP" =========================================== END A/N: The title was inspired by "Mary" by Patty Griffin. There was a great Scully vid done to that song back in the day, and I fell in love with the song (the vid was pretty amazing, too). It has been stuck in my head a lot lately. As stated, I owe this fic to Dasha K., and as always I owe a debt of gratitude to my long-time XF pals, who in one way or another have been the Mulder to my Scully, the Krycek to my Marita, or the CSM to my conspiracy since the very beginning. Feedback is always welcome at texgoddess@yahoo.com All my fic can be found at http://users.pdsys.org/~maidenjedi