TITLE: In Search of the Truth
AUTHOR: Piper
E-MAIL: Piper624@hotmail.com
RATING: PG-13 (one bad word)
KEYWORDS:  UST, DAL
SPOILERS:  Two Fathers/One Son
ARCHIVING: I'd be honored.  Anywhere, please just ask me first and keep my name 
and heading attached.
SUMMARY:  Mulder and Scully continue their argument about Diana Fowley, 
eventually coming to terms with the tension between them.  I'll let you see 
how...
NOTES: This is my attempt to fill in the scene that many felt was missing from 
One Son following Mulder and Scully's argument in the gunmen's office.  I did 
rewrite history a bit with the "personal" scene, so be warned.  On a side note, 
this is the first fan-fic I've ever written, so please bear with me!  
DISCLAIMER:  Mulder, Scully, The Lone Gunmen, and Diana Fowley do not belong to 
me.  They belong to Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen, and the wonderful actors who 
bring them to life.  No infringement intended.

And special thanks to my betas: Nay, Carri, Bama, and Beaker for reviewing this 
and giving me wonderful advice.

------------
"In Search of the Truth"
By Piper


"Scully, you're making this personal."

The words stopped her dead in her tracks.  How dare he?!  She whirled around to 
face her partner.

"You're accusing ME of making this personal, Mulder?  Me?!  This quest has 
always been about you.  About your sister, about your father, about all the lies 
you were told.  What was I to you?  A mere tag along?  Someone who you were 
forced to put up with?  I'm sorry if you don't realize it Mulder, but this is 
my quest too.  I've lost too much to it for it to not be personal!"

Mulder just gaped at her for a moment before he could finally speak.

"Scully, that's not what I meant.  I just meant that you were letting your 
dislike of Diana cloud your judgement."

Mulder's words did nothing to appease her.  Instead, they just infuriated her 
even further.

"Mulder, it's your fucking judgement that's clouded!  You're the one who's so 
blind that you can't see through the woman.  She's a liar, and she's going to 
betray you.  And if you still can't see that, then I can't help you!"

Scully turned away and started walking towards the door.  Mulder did not follow.  
Just as her hand was on the doorknob, he spoke.

"Scully, wait..."

Keeping her back to him, she whispered sadly. "For what, Mulder?"

Then she walked out the door.

*********

Mulder stared at her retreating back until the door finally obstructed his view 
of her.  The sadness in her voice and the resignation in her shoulders had him 
rooted to the spot.  He knew something important had just happened, something 
meaningful, but he couldn't put his finger on it.  The sound of a throat being cleared interrupted his thoughts.  He turned around to face the source of the
sound, and would have laughed at the sight if he hadn't felt like he'd been 
through the wringer.

The Lone Gunmen were all huddled around the computer with wary expressions on 
their faces that were almost comical.  Mulder raised an eyebrow at them, and 
then deadpanned, "I don't bite, you know."

That one got a reaction out of Frohike.  A look of what could have been disgust
passed over his face.  "Coulda' fooled me."

Mulder stared at the hostility from his friend.  He looked to Byers and Langly 
for support, but both had equally accusing looks on their faces.  After looking 
back and forth at each of them for a moment, he finally spoke, his voice tinged 
with a sense of betrayal.

"Whose side are you guys on, anyway?"

This time Byers was the one to speak up.

"Maybe you should ask yourself why you and Agent Scully are on opposite sides in
the first place."

Once again, Mulder was startled by this attack, and he quickly opened his mouth 
to defend himself.  But then he shut it again.  Byers was right.  He and Scully 
were on opposite sides.  Of course, this wasn't the first time by any long shot.  
In fact, he couldn't think of a time that he and Scully didn't disagree about 
something.  But as opposed as their views had always been, there had always been 
respect for the other's ideas.

Except this time.

Why was this time different?  Mulder knew that Scully disliked Diana, but he 
could never quite figure out why.  He would have thought that she would have 
liked her, especially since he considered her to be a friend.  Instead, she was 
acting almost, well almost threatened.  Scully was too self-assured to be
jealous of Diana.  Wasn't she?  Suddenly things began to fall into place for 
Mulder.  He was beginning to realize what had been bothering him during his 
"personal" exchange with Scully.  Looking up at the gunmen again, he saw they 
were looking at him with expectant looks on their faces, probably waiting for 
him to come to his senses.  Instead of wasting time to explain, he merely 
supplied a simple, "I'll be in touch."  Then he turned and walked out the door.

************

Scully rested her forehead against the cool wood of her apartment door, too 
drained to even unlock it.  She felt like she had been through a battle and had 
ended up losing the war.  The tightness in her chest was so painful that she 
could hardly breathe, but the tears would not come.  They simply weren't there.  
She felt like a part of her had been ripped away.  *So this is what it feels 
like to lose your best friend.*  Scully sighed, the deep breath causing her 
chest to tighten even further.  Dimly, she heard a door opening somewhere down 
the hall and realized what a sight she must be.  Figuring she had already been
the source of enough gossip for her neighbors, she unlocked her door and went 
into her apartment.

The darkness inside enveloped her, but she did not turn the light on.  In fact, 
she welcomed it.  Funny how the darkness had become so much a part of her life 
in the last few years.  A perfect metaphor for the darkness that she and Mulder 
had been kept in as they had relentlessly pursued the truth.  But now, when the 
answers were closer than ever, she refused to give up.  She meant what she had 
said to Mulder.  It was personal for her.

*Yeah, but are you sure you weren't referring to Diana Fowley?,*  a little voice 
inside her head nagged.   She quickly pushed the thought away, not wanting to 
examine her motivations behind her statement.  Or Mulder's, for that matter.  
Instead, she began pacing the room anxiously.  Her mind worked frantically to
try to figure out a way to reach Cassandra.  Somehow, she knew that all the 
answers were there, just as surely as she knew that she had been abducted to 
serve the same agenda.  She still didn't know whether or not to believe this was 
an extraterrestrial invasion or an elaborate government conspiracy.  But 
whatever it was, she wanted answers. Needed them.  Hell, she deserved them.

*Damn that...that...woman!*  The thought came unbidden into her head, stopping 
her in her tracks.  Her earlier argument with Mulder replayed in her head.  She 
couldn't believe that he was so blind to her manipulations!  She had provided 
him with hard evidence that showed him that Diana was not what she appeared to 
be, yet he had responded with dripping sarcasm.  Why couldn't he just trust her 
instincts on this one?  Why did he trust Diana?  Possibly even more than he 
trusted her?  Damn.  Why did it matter so much?

*Whoa Dana, don't go there.*

*Too late.  I'm already there.*

Suddenly, someone began pounding on her door, nearly knocking it out of its 
frame.

**********

Scully nearly jumped out of her skin, but recovered quickly.  Pulling her gun 
out of its holster, she slowly approached the door.  Suddenly, a familiar voice 
rang out.   "Scully, open the door!  I know you're in there!"

Taking a deep breath, Scully slipped her gun back to its resting place and 
unlocked the deadbolt.  Pulling the door back, she looked into the slightly wild 
eyes of her partner.  "Mulder, what the hell..."

Before she could even finish her question, Mulder pushed past her into her 
apartment.  Closing the door behind her, Scully turned to face him.  She crossed 
her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow, silently waiting for him 
to speak.

"We need to talk."

Scully's eyebrow went even higher, now nearly invisible under her hairline.  She 
moved her hands and placed them on her hips.  Glaring slightly, she laced her 
words with venom.

"Last time we tried to talk, you didn't seem to want to listen."

Mulder read her defiant stance and her angry glare.  In the six years that they 
had worked together, he had never seen the full force of her anger directed at 
him this way.  But instead of making him back down, it just fuelled his 
curiosity to understand why she was reacting so strongly.  He was convinced now 
more than ever that this didn't just have to do with wanting to talk to 
Cassandra.  But he also knew that he had to tread with caution.  He didn't want 
to alienate her further.

"Scully, sit down...

This time she interrupted him, ignoring his attempt to pacify her.

"Mulder, we have nothing to talk about.  You don't want to listen to me, you 
don't believe what I have to say, and quite frankly, I'd rather not give you 
another opportunity to mock me."

"Scully, I wasn't mocking you!"

"Then what were you doing, Mulder?  You know, for the past six years, you've 
taught me to trust no one.  And now I learn we're supposed to make exceptions 
for your previous 'partner', whom you've apparently nominated for sainthood?"

The words just tumbled from her as if being pulled by an unknown force that 
Scully herself didn't understand.  Mulder just gaped at her, stunned by her 
biting sarcasm.  For a brief moment, he was about to ask her what she had done 
with the real Dana Scully, but then he decided against it.

Instead, he took a step toward her, reaching a hand towards her shoulder.  But 
she stepped back to avoid his touch.  Letting his arm drop to his side, he 
caught her gaze and held it.

"Scully, why are you bringing Diana into this?  Don't you see?  We're in the 
middle of something so much bigger here, bigger than we ever imagined.  Bigger 
than we can ever hope to understand.  And if we have any hope of stopping it, we 
can't waste time arguing about Diana.  She's an insignificant piece of this 
whole puzzle.  Let it go."

Scully searched his gaze and realized that he was sincere.  But she had to make 
him understand.

"Mulder, how can I let it go?  If what I suspect about her is true, then she's a 
very big part of this whole puzzle.  Who knows how long she's been involved in 
this?   She may be behind everything..."

"Scully, I know her..."

Ignoring his interruption, Scully finished her sentence in a low whisper.

"...She may have been behind my abduction, Mulder."


His heart broke then.  The desolation in her soft whisper and the anguish in her 
eyes nearly caused him physical pain.  Scully was standing in front of him, 
tears brimming in her eyes yet kept from falling by the sheer force of her will.  
She never looked away from him, and he met her gaze.  For what seemed like an 
eternity, they searched each other's eyes, gazing into the windows of each
other's souls.  And in those moments, the battle in his heart that Mulder had 
been unaware of was ended, victory belonging to the tiny red-headed woman who 
stood before him.  She deserved so much more than he would ever be able to give 
her, but there was one thing that he could find for her.  Answers.  And deep 
down, he knew exactly where to look.

Reluctantly, he pulled his eyes away from Scully's and stepped around her to 
reach for the door.  Her voice, thick with the tears that were still held back, 
stopped him.

"Mulder, where are you going?"

He turned to look at her and saw the anguish in her face.  Belatedly, he 
realized how it must have seemed, him leaving without even offering her an 
explanation.  *You bastard, when are you going to stop hurting her?*

He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head up to look directly into 
her eyes.

"I'm going to Diana's apartment."  Noticing the flicker of hurt and doubt that 
she tried so hard to hide as it crossed her face, he hastened to reassure her.

"I'm going to find your answers, Scully.  I will find the people who did this to 
you, and I promise you, they will pay.  No matter who they may be."

The tears in her eyes finally spilled over, leaving wet trails over her cheeks.  
She saw the determination in Mulder's eyes and knew he meant every word.  Her 
best friend was back.  The thought brought a smile to her lips, and her tears 
became those of joy.  Seeing her smile, Mulder wrapped his arms around her and
hugged her close.  Her arms went around his waist, pulling him even closer.  He 
placed a light kiss on the top of her head, gently rocking her in his arms.  
Neither wanted to let go, but finally Mulder pulled away.  

Without another word, he silently left her apartment...

...In search of the truth.

-----------

THE END

I don't want to sound like I'm begging, but please, please send me feedback!  
(That was begging, wasn't it?)  Constructive criticism is always appreciated, 
and I really want to know if I should keep doing this or throw in the towel and 
save myself from further humiliation.  Thank you so much for reading!

E-mail me...E-mail me...E-mail me...E-mail me...  (Are the subliminal messages 
working?)  :o)

Piper624@hotmail.com