'The Attic' By Vanessa Nichols
Twisted_Sister@Hotmail.Com (or) MargiK@Hotmail.Com



Hi all, another one from me... I've been clearing my hard-drive 
and it's amazing what I've been finding. By the way... isn't it great 
today? Sun is shining, birds are singing and THE BALLAD OF 
SLEEPING BEAUTY is finally FINISHED! Sorry, couldn't help 
that! Hang on... I've been using this beginning for all my 'just found' 
stories! ;> But, the message still stands, it's *another* great day and 
THE BALLAD OF SLEEPING BEAUTY is *still* finished... so I'm just going 
to leave it as it is... :> :> :> :>
Anyway, this one came to me several several months ago. 
Actually more like a couple of years ago. But I won't ramble on 
about it now... instead see the end of the story for Author's Notes 
(or Ramblings) :>

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully and the rest of the X Files gang 
don't belong to me. They belong to Skinner, who like's to chew 
Mulder's ass when he does something stupid. Now Skinner 
belongs to the Cancerman who belong to The Consortia who 
belongs to Chris Carter. No infringment intended whatsoever...

Rating: PG-13 for a few iffy words

Spoilers: None really... several mentions to episodes like One 
Breath, Apocrypha/Piper Maru, Anaszai/Blessing Way/Paper Clip 
and things like that but no major spoilers

Classifications: S, A, M - Mythology

Keywords: Mythology, A Samantha Answer (in other words I say what 
happened to Samantha), Angst, Minor 
Character Dies... :(

Summary: Scully's life turns upside down when her mother falls 
ill and certain family secrets are revealed...

Anyway, I hope you like this one even if it is... ok ok I won't spoil 
it for you. Please send feedback, my mailbox has been kind of 
empty lately... :(



*~*~*~*~*
The Attic By Vanessa Nichols (1/4)
Twisted_Sister@Hotmail.Com (or) MargiK@Hotmail.Com
c Copyright Vanessa Nichols; October 1997
*~*~*~*~*



December 14, 1973



"Can you see them yet?" Nine year old Dana Scully hopped from 
one foot to the other trying to see past her two brothers. Eleven 
year old William Junior or Billy J as Dana often called him, and 
seven year old Charles, known to everyone simply as Charlie, had 
already taken the best positions at the front window.

"Kids. Lunch." came the shout from the kitchen but all three 
Scully children ignored the call.

"Of course not!" replied Billy J superiorly -- being the oldest always 
made him act like he was a grown-up, thought Dana secretly. 
"And stop tugging on my shoulder." he told her angrily.

"Well I can't see!" she whined. "You're in the way!"

"That's because your too short." said Billy J meanly.

"Yeah!" grinned Charlie toothily. "Too thort!" With both his front 
teeth gone, Charlie had the worst lisp Dana had ever heard, and 
after playing with kids of all ages and races on naval bases, she'd 
heard a lot.

"Kids! Lunch!" came the call again, this time louder. Still they 
ignored it.

"That's not my fault!" replied Dana defensively. She hated being 
short. But as Momma kept telling her, one day she'd grow up big 
and tall. She told her brothers that much now.

"Sure you will, *little* Day," Billy J said, emphasising the 'little'. 
She glared at him furiously and considered hitting him but was 
distracted momentarily by the chiming of the hall clock. One 
o'clock.

"Why aren't they here yet?" she complained again. "They said 
they'd be here by lunchtime!"

"William Matthew Junior, Dana Katherine and Charles Francis! If 
you don't come in here right now I'll send you all up to your 
rooms without lunch and you will not be here when they arrive. 
Now come to the table for lunch!"

All three Scully kids started at their Aunt's furious voice and their 
eyes widened at the threat. Not be here when they arrived? But 
they'd been waiting for two whole days for this! Quickly they 
turned and began walking towards the kitchen... only to stop again 
as a car drove into the driveway and honked it's horn.

"They're here!" shouted Dana as she ran to the door. Throwing it 
open she raced down the footpath, her brothers close behind her, 
only to stop suddenly about two metres away from the car. Her 
brothers bumped her slightly as they also halted and they stood 
there silently as their mother and father got out of the car.

"Children, I hope you've been behaving yourselves." asked their 
father firmly.

"Yes Daddy." they chorused, watching bug-eyed as their mother 
opened the backseat door and helped someone out. She was pale 
skinned with long wavy red gold hair. Dana guessed her to be 
about half a hand or so taller then her, almost the same height as 
Billy J, and she was wearing a brown skirt, white blouse, brown 
blazer and brown shoes.

"Children," said their mother. "We'd like you to meet Melissa. 
Remember how we told you she was coming home today to be 
your new sister?"

The three Scully children nodded.

"How old ith thee?" asked Charlie curiously, scratching his arm.

"She's ten." answered their father. "And her name is Melissa, not 
'she'."

"Where's she -- I mean Melissa -- been all this time. If Melissa's 
our sister then why didn't she live with us before?" questioned 
Billy J suspiciously.

Their mother answered this time. "Melissa's parents died a few 
weeks ago and she can't remember anything about them. She's 
going to live with us now and we want you kids to tell her lots of 
stories about your childhood so that she can share it with you. 
Ok?"

Billy J opened his mouth to question this but a quick glare from 
his father silenced him and he nodded along with Dana and 
Charlie. Dana and Melissa had been quietly staring at each other 
through all this and Dana was surprised to see how colourful her 
eyes were. They kept changing colour from green to brown and 
back again. Dana cocked her head to the side and tried to look 
deeper into them, like doing that would answer every question 
about her new sister. But all she saw was sadness. Melissa had 
eye's like a puppy that had been hurt.

Slowly Dana walked forward and stood before Melissa. "I'm Dana, 
but most people call me Day 'cause it's easier to say." she said as 
she held out her hand. "Wanna go play hopscotch? I've got it all 
drawn up down on the path, and I'll even let you pick which rock 
you wanna use."

Melissa looked up at her new mother and father. Both of them 
nodded quietly, smiling encouragingly.

"Go on sweetie," her new Momma urged.

Melissa looked back at Dana and gave a ghost of a smile. "Ok... 
Day." she answer in a voice just above a whisper. Melissa placed 
her hand in Dana's and quietly followed Dana down to the street. 
When they reached the chalk drawing Dana stopped and looked at 
her new sister. "It's ok Melissa," she told her very quietly and very 
seriously. "You don't have to be sad anymore. I'll help you be 
happy." she promised her.

Melissa's eyes filled with tears. "I can't remember anything. I've 
lost something and I don't know what it is."

Dana smiled, showing a gap in her bottom teeth where she had 
recently lost a tooth. "That's ok Missy," she told her, liking the way 
Melissa's name shortened as she said it. "I'll help you find it." And 
she reached over and gave her sister a hug.



*~*~*~*~*



January 21, 1999



Dana Scully had tuned out all background noise barring the steady, 
rhythmic, mechanical breathing of the comatose woman before 
her, and so it was a chock when she felt the weight of a hand on 
her shoulder. Startled, she turned quickly, automatically reaching 
for her gun as the voice spoke softly.

"Relax Day, it's me."

Dana slumped in relief as she recognised both the voice and the 
person. "Oh Billy J." she sighed, collapsing against him gratefully. 
Her older brother wrapped his arms around her and hugged her 
tightly as she began to cry.

"Shh Day, shh." he murmured comforting. After a moment she 
pulled away and dabbed at her eyes with the crumpled tissue in 
her hands. "How is she?" he asked quietly once she was relatively 
composed.

"No change." she answered, willing her voice not to crack.

He nodded and moved past her slightly to see the figure on the bed 
more clearly. Gently he reached down and clasped a cold hand. 
"Hey," he whispered softly to the comatose woman. "I'm here." 
He blinked back a silent tear of his own. "I'm here Momma, I'm 
here."

Margaret Scully didn't reply. She just took another mechanically 
assisted breath, and then another.



*~*~*~*~*



"Did you reach Charlie?" Dana asked tiredly, taking a sip of coffee.

Billy J, or William Jnr, shook his head. "No. I've tried every 
connection I have and the closest I've come is that he's on some 
vacation time but nobody knows where."

Dana sighed and stared at the swirling brown liquid in her cup. 
"Maybe it's better that he isn't here."

Billy J looked up surprised. "What do you mean?"

"He was here when Dad died, at the hospital, and he didn't take it 
very well..." the words faded away.

"Yeah, well I think he's going to take this pretty bad as well... 
especially if he's not here." he pointed out and Dana nodded.

"You're right... I'm not thinking straight." she half yawned, half 
sighed. "Too exhausted." she admitted.

Billy J looked at her concerned. "How long have you been here?" 
he asked.

Dana racked her mind, trying to remember. "Umm... a day or so..." 
she looked up at him, her brow furrowed. "When did I call you?"

"Two days ago." Billy J supplied. It had taken him that long to 
organise leave and get a flight.

"Then about two and a half days." she answered finally, 
remembering vaguely through the tiredness that had settled over 
her brain, that she'd gotten the call from the hospital as she'd been 
leaving for work two morning's ago.

"And how much sleep have you had in that time?" questioned 
Billy J.

Dana looked away. "A few hours here and there." she answered 
vaguely.

He rolled his eyes. "Great. The last thing we need is you in one of 
these beds, collapsed from exhaustion." he said, his voice softening 
the harsh sounding words. "You're going home to rest." he said.

Dana immediately shook her head. "No." she all but shouted. "I'm 
sorry," she whispered, "but I'm fine. I don't want to leave." she 
sighed. "I just... if it comes to..." she shook her head. "I want to be 
here." she finally said.

Her brother nodded and a silence descended upon the pair in the 
waiting room. Dana yawned again.

"Listen to me Day," began Billy J in that grown-up voice she'd 
hated when they were kids. "I want you to go home, shower, 
change, eat something, and get some sleep."

She shook her head furiously. "I just told you that I'm not 
leaving."

"Dana please... listen to reason. You've been here for over two 
days now with no real sleep or food and only some half-real coffee 
to keep you going..." she was shaking her head. "... and you're 
getting rather ripe." he told her with a half grin. His face grew 
serious. "If you don't go Dana, on your own recognisance, then I'll 
call that partner of yours and get him to carry you out of here... and 
from what Mom's told me about him, I don't doubt that he could 
do it."

Dana glared at him. "You wouldn't."

Billy J grinned, knowing he'd won. "Try me." he challenged her 
seriously.

"Billy J please... I wasn't here when Dad... and I couldn't get here 
for Missy... please..."

"You'll be here." Billy J promised her. "If that time comes. But not 
unless you freshen up first. Go home, try and sleep... I'll be here -- 
and so will Mom -- when you get back. After a few hours at least." 
he added forcefully. Standing up he retrieved her purse and coat 
from a spare chair and walked her back to their Mom's cubicle.

"I'm going home for a little while Mom," Dana told her. "But I'll 
be hack soon to see you. Ok?" Tears were blinding her once more. 
"I love you Momma." she whispered as she pressed a kiss to her 
Mom's forehead.

Standing straight she looked at her older brother and silently he 
came over and helped her into her coat and then slung an arm 
around her shoulder as he walked her towards the elevators.

"You'll call me... straight away... of anything happens, right?" she 
said as she took her purse off him and stepped into the elevator.

"Straight away." he promised.

"And you've got my mobile number don't you?" she was keeping 
the doors open.

"I've got it." he told her.

Her face was fearful as the doors finally began to close. "Don't let 
her die without me there Billy J." she begged suddenly.

"I won't." he said as the doors finally closed. Quietly he made his 
way back to his mother's cubicle, praying with every part of him 
that he hadn't just lied.



*~*~*~*~*



When she finally pulled up outside her apartment she was sure 
she couldn't go anywhere further. Not to the hospital, and maybe 
not even into her apartment across the way. Leaning forward, she 
rested her forehead on the steering wheel and begged herself not to 
fall asleep like this. No matter how shitty she felt, sleeping in her 
car was not an option at the moment.

Opening her eyes she sighed heavily and sat up straight. Grabbing 
her purse and keys she got out of the car and almost blindly 
moved towards her apartment. Opening the door was almost too 
much hassle but she did it, and then it was straight to her 
bedroom. Despite her initial protests about not needing sleep, 
there was nothing more she wanted right then, then sleep. 
Stretching out fully clothed on the bed Dana closed her eyes and 
fell deeply asleep.



*~*~*~*~*

End part one of THE ATTIC



*~*~*~*~*
The Attic By Vanessa Nichols (2/4)
Twisted_Sister@Hotmail.Com (or) MargiK@Hotmail.Com
c Copyright Vanessa Nichols; October 1997
*~*~*~*~*



March 2, 1974



"No! No... please don't... Foh... Foh... help me..."

Dana came awake groggily and blinked her eyes at the wall clock her 
parent's had given her for her tenth birthday last week. She knew 
how to tell the time now, properly even. The hands were pointing 
to a four and a six. Four thirty. What on earth had woken her up? 
she asked herself confused, and then she heard thrashing in the bed 
across from hers. In a flash she was out of her bed and clambering 
onto Melissa's.

"Hey Missy! Missy wake up!" she whispered urgently, shaking her 
sister by the shoulders. "Missy!"

"Foh!" Melissa opened her eyes with a start, the last words echoing 
in the room.

"Hey, it's ok Missy, it's ok." whispered Dana giving her sister a hug. 
"You ok?"

Melissa was crying quietly as her younger sister held her and she 
sniffled. "Was I yelling again?" she whispered.

"Yeah," answered Dana. "But not loud enough to wake Momma 
and Daddy... just me."

"Sorry."

"It's alright." said Dana. "B'sides, I wanted to watch the sunrise 
again and now that's awake, today's a good a day as any." she smiled 
in the dark at Missy. "Wanna watch with me?" she asked.

"Ok." Melissa answered softly. She usually agreed with whatever 
Dana suggested.


"But you got to be real quiet." Dana warned her. "The best spot to 
watch is in the treehouse and..."

Melissa's eyes grew round. "But Day... Momma and Daddy lock the 
doors at night... how are we going to get out?" asked Melissa.

"We're not going through the door silly," Dana corrected her. 
"We're going to climb out our window, walk along the ledge to the 
tree and climb over that way."

"We'll fall!" protested Melissa scared.

"Nah! It's as easy as pie." said Dana fearlessly. "I've a done it 
hundreds and thousands of times." she boasted.

Melissa just looked at her scared. "What if I fall?"

"You won't fall." Dana assured her. "Trust me."

"Trust no one." replied Melissa almost immediately and Dana's face 
scrunched up in thought.

"Why'd you say that?" she asked her sister.

"What?"

"That trust no one thing."

Melissa frowned and then shrugged, a small smile on her face. "I 
don't know. Maybe I heard it on TV or something."

Dana smiled. "It's funny. I like it. Trust no one." she said it again, 
this time in an ominous tone and Melissa giggled.

Dana looked out the window and saw the way the sky was 
beginning to lighten very gradually.

"Come on," she whispered clambering off the bed. "It's time to go."

With a small apprehensive sigh Melissa followed her.



*~*~*~*~*



January 22, 1999



Somebody was shaking her.

I wish they'd piss off, Dana though groggily. I'm trying to sleep here.

But that was becoming more and more impossible with that 
damned person who... person? Dana's eyes flew open with a start as 
she shoved blindly at the person, desperately reaching for her gun.

"Hey... relax..." came the voice that she knew easily. "It's just me."

"Damn it Mulder." she sighed, sinking back against the pillows. 
"What the fuck are you doing here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "On your bed? Why Scully, don't tell me 
you've forgotten how great last night was..." he leered at her 
suggestively as she swatted him with a loose pillow.

"Seriously." she asked.

"Seriously? Your brother called me because you weren't answering 
your phones. You were really out..."

"Billy J!" said Dana with a start, everything from the past couple of 
days coming back to her in a rush. "What's wrong? Is Mom..."

"Hold on!" he said quickly and firmly, grabbing her forearms. "Your 
Mom is still the same. No change. Your brother was just worried 
that you'd been in an accident or something."

Dana ran a hand over her eyes and threw the blanket she'd pulled 
over herself at one point back, causing Mulder to move lest she hit 
him, as she got up. "I've got to go. I've got to get to the hospital." 
she 
said absently looking around her room distractedly.

"Look," said Mulder standing up. He moved over and placed his 
hands on her shoulders. "Why don't you go and have a shower, get 
cleaned up, whilst I make you something to eat and call your 
brother to tell him that you're alright and get an update on your 
mother. Ok?"

Dana sighed and nodded. "Thanks Mulder." she whispered and he 
smiled, giving her a quick hug.

"That's alright." he said, releasing her and giving her a push 
towards the bathroom. "Now go."

She nodded again and walked over to the bathroom. Mulder 
watched her go for a moment and then turned and made his way 
out to her kitchen.



*~*~*~*~*



"Feeling better?"

Dana smiled softly as she rubbed her wet hair with a towel. "Yeah." 
she said as she sat down at her kitchen table. Mulder placed a mug of 
coffee and a sandwich in front of her, and then sat down opposite 
her with his own cup of coffee.

"There you go." he said with a slight hand gesture as he took a sip of 
his coffee. "Bon appetit."

"What is it?" she asked, drinking a mouthful of coffee.

"Chicken and mayo with a special ingredient." he smiled and 
shrugged. "My Mom used to always make it for and Sam when we 
were sad or sick or whatever."

Dana took a bite. "It's good." she mumbled. "What's the special 
ingredient?"

He winked and held a finger to his nose. "Trade secret. Can't tell. 
Sorry."

She smiled. "Thanks." she said after a moment.

"No problem," he said taking a drink of coffee. "Oh, Bill says that 
your Mom's still the same, no change. And that he got a hold of 
Charlie."

Dana looked up, interested. "Where is he?"

"Hawaii -- holidaying. He's going to try and get here as soon as 
possible but there are hurricane or cyclone or something warning's 
up at the moment so it might be a few days before he can get a flight 
here."

Dana nodded. "Anything else?"

Mulder started to shake his head and then paused. "Oh, he also said 
that's he hopes your not mad at him for calling me."

Dana smiled and took a sip of coffee as a silence descended upon the 
pair. After awhile Mulder drained the last of his coffee and stood up 
to place his mug in the sink.

"Mulder... what was Samantha like?"

The question surprised her almost as much as him. He turned and 
rested against the sink, facing her.

"What brought that up?" he asked quietly.

Dana shrugged. "I don't know. I was just thinking about when I was 
a kid... my brothers."

Mulder sighed and thought for a moment. "She was a major pain in 
the butt." he said after awhile. "And I actually used to call her Butt-
munch." he admitted. "She used to steal my best pens and pencils 
and ruin them or lose them. And she used to always want me to 
play Stratego with her." he smiled. "I'd gotten it for my birthday and 
she always wanted me to play it with her. I got so sick of that game." 
he told her. Dana smiled. "I used to tease her mercilessly about her 
hair, purely to annoy her. It was red," he looked at Dana. "Not as red 
as yours, but red enough for me to call her carrot-top or something 
similar. She'd try and hit me and then I'd hit her back and she'd go 
and tattle and I'd get in trouble."

"Call me carrot-top Fox Mulder and I'll hit you hard enough to 
make sure you never hit anything except the floor ever again." Dana 
told him with a grin and he smiled back.

"She was an ok kid though most of the time and we did have a lot 
of fun times together."

Dana nodded. "I think all siblings are like that. I used to steal stuff 
from my brothers too." she grinned suddenly. "But in the case of 
hitting and tattling, I was the one who usually got into trouble."

Mulder smiled back. Then he noticed the mostly uneaten sandwich. 
"Eat some of that." he told her. "And then I'll drive you to the 
hospital."

"I can drive myself Mulder." she told him.

"I know." he said. "But I want to see your Mom and it makes sense 
to carpool."

Dana sighed. "Yes boss."

"Now eat!" he said smiling. "I'll be back in a minute... and I'll check 
the rubbish so don't even think about trying to pull one over me."

Smiling she stuck out her tongue at him. "Spoilsport." she 
grumbled good naturedly as she picked up the sandwich. Mulder 
just shook his head in a 'kids today' fashion and disappeared in the 
direction of the bathroom.

Sighing Dana took a bite of her sandwich. They both knew each 
other too well -- and she knew full well that he really would check 
the garbage bin when he returned. It was nice to know that trust 
abounded in their relationship she thought with a small smile.



*~*~*~*~*



January 25, 1999



"Mom... I'm here..."

Dana had tears in her eyes as her youngest brother bent over their 
mother's still form. For three days Billy J and herself had sat by their 
mother, praying that she would awake. Mulder still saw her 
everyday and made her eat. He was her lifeline at the moment. As 
she watched her mother slowly die before them, it was Mulder who 
tried to make sure that she didn't die along with her.



*~*~*~*~*



"What's wrong with her?" Charlie demanded. "Why isn't she 
getting better?"

"She's in a coma..." Dana started to explain.

"I know that!" snapped Charlie. "What I want to know is when is 
she going to get better?"

Dana sent an imploring glance to Billy J who was sitting, watching 
them. Billy J raised his shoulders helplessly.

"Look," said Dana finally, her voice loud enough to overpower 
Charlie's ranting but not loud enough to disturb over people. "She 
was brought in last week in a diabetic coma. Brought on by an excess 
of insulin in her system. Now they have 'fixed' that, but on the next 
night she suffered a cardiac arrest! No body knows when she's going 
to get better. Nobody knows when she's going to wake up. All we 
know is what's wrong with her and all we can do is pray that she 
survives, pray that she does get better and wakes up." Dana stopped, 
her chest heaving with anger. Charlie slumped, all his anger 
abating, his face apologetic.

"Dana... I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I'm just so scared that she's 
gonna die like Dad and Missy."

Forcing herself to relax, Dana sighed and ran a tired hand through 
her hair. "I know." she whispered, moving over to hug her brother. 
"We're all scared. We just have to think positively..."



*~*~*~*~*

End part two of THE ATTIC



*~*~*~*~*
The Attic By Vanessa Nichols (3/4)
Twisted_Sister@Hotmail.Com (or) MargiK@Hotmail.Com
c Copyright Vanessa Nichols; October 1997
*~*~*~*~*



April 17, 1979



"I don't get it."

Missy looked up from the tarot cards she was spreading out on the 
floor near her bed at her sister's voice. "Get what?" she asked.

Dana walked in and stretched herself out on the bed. "You're 
interest in this stuff. I mean it doesn't make any sense."

"What do you mean?" Missy turned over another card as she waited 
for her sister's reply.

"Well, take that Death card," said Dana frowning. "You told me that 
that's a good card to get. But other nicer looking cards, are bad ones. 
In my book a spade's a spade, not a diamond or a heart."

Missy smiled at her sister's attempt to rationalise it. "It's not just 
the cards." she tried to explain. "It's also the context that they 
appear in."

Dana just shook her head and rolled onto her back. "It'll never 
make any sense to me." she declared.

"That's because you're so firmly rooted in science and maths and 
things like this," Missy gestured to the cards. "And these," she 
gestured to all her crystals and other New Age paraphernalia that 
dotted her room. "They don't need science or fact. They exist on 
belief and emotion..."

"Belief. Emotion." snorted Dana derisively. "Just tell me one thing. 
Why does it interest you so much?"

Missy sighed. "I'm not entirely sure." she admitted. "All I know is 
that it gives me basis. An inner calm. Nothing else I know of does 
that for me. This... I've made peace with my spirit with this." she 
finished.

Dana was silent for a moment, digesting this information. Then she 
smiled and bounced off the bed. "Whatever you reckon sis. Anyway 
I gotta go do my chores before Mom blows a gasket. And then I have 
to study for my science test."

Missy shook her head and watched amused as her sister bounded 
out of her room as quickly as she'd come, leaving only a rumpled 
bedspread as a reminder of her visit. Sighed she looked down at the 
cards before her and turned another one over.



*~*~*~*~*



January 27, 1999



Dana slowly exited her mother's room, feeling numb all over. She 
paused in the corridor as if unsure of where to go, what to do.

"Scully...?"

Dana turned and looked up at Mulder -- where had he come from?

"Are you alright?"

She nodded slowly. Why aren't I talking? she wondered. Maybe I'm 
in shock? She decided to test her voice.

"Mulder?" her voice was soft and sad, almost a whisper.

"Yeah Scully?"

His voice was so concerned, she thought. Concerned about her?

"Mulder... my mom just died." Was that really her voice? It was so 
pathetic sounding, like a little girl that had just lost their favourite 
toy... or their mother. She didn't even realise that she was crying 
until she felt Mulder's fingers on her cheeks, gently wiping the 
moisture away.

"I'm so sorry." he kept saying.

She nodded. She didn't know what to say. She had no parents. She 
was officially an orphan. No parents. No father. No mother... With 
a sob caught in her throat she collapsed against Mulder, seeking 
safety in his embrace just as she had several years ago in a dirty 
house in Minnesota.



*~*~*~*~*



January 29, 1999



It was like deja vu.

As she watched the man unearth the jar of ashes over the water, 
tears trickled down her cheeks. Their song was playing, echoing in 
the wind:



"Somewhere... beyond the sea..."



Mulder stood next to her, holding the umbrella above their heads, 
just she had at her father's funeral and she had held it above her 
mother's head. Rain on both their funerals. And somehow that was 
comforting, the fact that the day was repeating itself, physically, like 
it meant they had never left each other's sides.

Even less people were here for her mother's funeral then there had 
been at her fathers. Missy wasn't here, and neither was Moira -- Billy 
J's wife -- and their two children. All three were stuck at home in 
Georgia with the flu. Only Billy J, Charlie, Dana and Mulder were 
there.

The man on the boat resealed the now empty jar and stood bar on 
the boat. A moment or so later, their song also faded to an end.

No one moved.



*~*~*~*~*



January 31, 1999



Dana let herself into the silent house almost cautiously. It felt weird 
to arrive here with her Mom not in the kitchen, cooking something, 
and for a moment Dana simply stood in the foyer, sniffing the air, 
trying desperately to detect some kind of food odour in the air, but 
there was nothing.

Pulling off her gloves and coat Dana wandered through the empty 
house. Eventually she paused before the rows of photographs in the 
family room. Baby photos, school photos... her mother had loved to 
take pictures so she'd be able to send them off to Ahab when he was 
at sea, and show him what his children had been up too. She was 
just about to turn and leave when she noticed something. There 
were no baby photos or young photos of Melissa. Weird, she 
thought absently, maybe they're somewhere else.

Curious now, she began to search the house. Dotted here and there 
in the rooms were photos, lots of them with her sister in them, but 
none of Missy when she was little. Her parent's room also turned 
up nothing. Not even the family photo albums on their bookshelf 
in their room had any baby photos of Missy. Puzzled she returned to 
the kitchen and dialled Billy J's home number in Georgia.



*~*~*~*~*



"Bill, it's for you."

Smiling his thanks to his wife, Bill took the phone off her. "Hello?"

"Hi Billy J, it's me."

His smile saddened slightly at his younger sister's voice. "Hey Day, 
how're you holding up?"

There was a slight pause before her answer. "I'm doing ok... how 
about you?"

He nodded into the phone. "Fine, I guess." He cleared his throat at 
the sudden onset of tears the memory of his mother lying comatose 
wrought. "What's up?"

Dana laughed nervously. "Well, this may sound really weird, but 
I'm at Mom's and I... I noticed that there are no baby photos of Missy 
anywhere. Did Mom remove them all after her death or what?"

Bill frowned. "Dana..." he started, his voice and expression weird. 
"There never have been any baby photos of Melissa."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Don't you remember?" he asked her.

"Remember what?"

"Dana... Melissa was adopted..."



*~*~*~*~*



Dana froze at her brother's words. "Adopted." she repeated. "Melissa 
wasn't adopted."

"Day... you were almost ten when she came to live with us... don't 
you remember at all?"

"I..." she started. "But... Adopted? Are you sure?"

"I was eleven when it happened. Mom and Dad left for two days and 
when they came back they brought Melissa with them." her brother 
paused. "I think they said that her parents had been killed in a car 
accident or something. I know she had amnesia. Dad and Mom told 
us from the beginning that we had to share our memories of our 
childhood with her so that she wouldn't feel left out... you really 
don't remember?"

Dana shook her head, utterly confused. "I..."

<<"Children... We'd like you to meet Melissa. Remember how we 
told you she was coming home today to be your new sister?">>

The memory of her mother's voice faded. "Oh my God..." 
whispered Dana.

"Day? Dana... you there? Are you ok?"

Dana nodded. "I'm ok," she whispered to her brother as she cleared 
her voice. "I can't believe I forgot."

Her brother's voice was kind. "We all forgot most of the time. 
Especially Missy, I think. I don't believe she ever regained the 
memory of her previous parents. We were her family. I think she 
did absorb our memories like Mom and Dad wanted."

"Yeah..." agreed Dana absently, her mind assailing her with bits and 
pieces of her childhood. Her sister's nightmares... the day she 
arrived... "Billy J, I've got to go."

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked. "I could always fly back if 
you want..."

"No." said Dana. "Thanks but I'll be alright. Really."

"Sure?"

"Yeah... really I'm ok."

"Call anytime you need to." Bill told her. "Anytime."

"I will." she promised. "Bye Billy J."

"Bye Day. Take care ok."

"I will."

Slowly Dana hung up the phone. Melissa had been *adopted*?



*~*~*~*~*



"It's got to be here somewhere." she muttered to herself. "They 
didn't keep a safety deposit box..."

Her parents room, the basement, the study... all had turned up 
nothing. She sighed, her hands on her hips, and glanced around the 
study once more, then, her gaze drifted upwards.

"Of course..." she murmured. "The Attic."



*~*~*~*~*



The dust had to be a mile thick up here, she thought as she shone a 
flashlight around the half filled room. There was some old 
furniture, an old rocking horse, a bassinette and so forth, but mostly 
there were just boxes. Finding the hanging light bulb, Dana turned it 
on and then bent to start reading some of the labels on the boxes. 
Mostly they were boxes of old clothing or toys or books.

She was just about to give up when she caught sight of an old trunk, 
half covered by a sheet. Moving over she removed the sheet and 
with the base of her torch, smashed to old lock. Opening it she saw a 
bunch of letters -- old and frail from age -- some thin, leather bound 
books, and in one of them an envelope.

Retrieving that book she opened it and tears sprang to her eyes as 
she recognised her mother's curving script. Settling against the 
trunk she began to read the old journal.



*~*~*~*~*

End part three of THE ATTIC



*~*~*~*~*
The Attic By Vanessa Nichols (4/4)
Twisted_Sister@Hotmail.Com (or) MargiK@Hotmail.Com
c Copyright Vanessa Nichols; October 1997
*~*~*~*~*



Maggie's Journal, December 28, 1968



You know, I'm quite surprised about how this year has passed. Since 
Bill and I married, every two years we've had a child, another life to 
call our own as we build our family. This year, and part of the 
previous one, has all passed with me not even missing a cycle, 
much less finding out I was pregnant.

Oh how I want another child. Bill and I decided from the moment 
we were married that we wanted a large family -- four or five at 
least. And to be halted here, after such a promising beginning... it's 
sad to say the least. But, I refuse to give up hope. Just because nature 
has decided to put some age difference between my darling Charles 
Francis and our next bundle of joy, I really shouldn't complain.

Besides, I'm sure that by the time he's aged another year I'll be 
expecting once more. I can feel it in my bones...



*~*~*~*~*



Maggie's Journal, September 15, 1970



My little baby celebrated his fourth birthday today... how proud he 
made me feel, seeing him standing there in his little sailor suit, his 
hand poised on the butter knife to cut his sailboat cake, and looking 
up with a beaming smile for me just before he did so. And even 
though he could have taken the first piece of the cake and run off 
with his little friends, he didn't. Instead he took his piece and gave 
it to me, and then went back to his grandmother to retrieve another 
piece for himself.

God must have blessed me to have such a beautiful child. Oh not 
that I can find any faults with my other children. No. Bill Jnr, or 
Billy J as Dana has always called him, is turning into a fine young 
man, he'll be celebrating his ninth birthday soon enough, almost a 
decade old.

And little Dana, I shake my head as I write, sometimes I despair that 
my little girl will ever *be* a little girl. She's forever playing with 
the boys, getting cut and scraped, ripping her clothes. Even if she did 
like to wear dresses, which she currently doesn't, I doubt I could let 
her, no matter how much I wanted to... the state they would return 
in would be horrifying. But she's polite and well-mannered when 
she needs and wants to be, and I can remember her today at 
Charlie's party, all pretty in her navy blue dress -- I refused to dress 
her in white -- and talking to our family friends and what few 
relatives that could make it. But she's smart, tricky even, after being 
so polite and whatnot it's hard to imagine that this same little girl 
was the one who organised the wild game of tag that ended up with 
scrapes on the little guests -- not that they seemed to mind much. 
She also showed her compassion for people when she helped some 
of the younger children into the treehouse, not perhaps the best way 
she could have shown her kindness to the four years olds, but still I 
am proud of her.

And my husband, God bless him. What did I do to deserve such a 
fine upstanding man as my partner? And even though I miss him 
dearly when he's away I take comfort in the fact that our love is 
strong, and that he will return. Not an easy belief for a wife to have 
on a naval base, but I know that come hell or high water, Bill Snr 
will always try his damnedest to return home, alive.

My only wish is for another child. Curious about our lack to have 
another one after three or so years of trying, we went to see a doctor 
a few months ago. His prognosis came back the other day, and 
although I swore I wouldn't cry anymore, tears can't help but fall. 
He says that I can't have any more children. He says that Charlie's 
birth was too difficult and that if I have another one I may very well 
die. Bill takes this to heart and says that we won't try anymore, that 
what we have if plenty and good enough, and if I want we can apply 
to adopt. And although I agree that what we have is good, I still 
want another child. Another baby. Another little girl to dress up 
prettily. I can't decide about adoption...

Oh, here he comes, I must go.



*~*~*~*~*



Maggie's Journal, December 5, 1973



Oh my, I'm so excited I can barely breathe or think! Bill got a 
phonecall today from an old associate of his. I can't remember his 
name, but he remembered that we had wanted another child, and 
apparently a friend of his just lost a friend of his in a car accident. 
This person's wife also died, and now they have a little daughter 
who survived, but has amnesia. There is no other family or 
guardians available and did we want to adopt her!

A little girl! Oh my god. It sounds too good to be true, and I'm 
praying that this doesn't fall through. Bill's friend is going to start 
on the paperwork and if all goes well we should be able to pick her 
up next week.



*~*~*~*~*



Maggie's Journal, December 11, 1973



We leave tomorrow to pick her up. Imagine! Another daughter 
after so long! They say that she is ten years old... though small for 
her age. And that she remembers nothing about the accident or her 
parents or her previous life. And because the friend of a friend 
didn't know this person very well, they don't even know the girl's 
first name! Bill and I get to choose one for her! We also won't know 
the girl's last name. That's been held because of what the man used 
to do or something. Apparently he worked in the government. 
Details are sketchy, but I don't care. I'm so excited.

We leave first thing in the morning and should return in two days 
times. The kids have been told that we'll be bringing home a new 
sister for them and they're just as excited. They all wanted to come 
but apparently our new daughter is still rather weak and scared, so 
we thought it best not for them to come. My sister will look after 
them here.

Oh I know she won't be a baby, but after what has happened to her I 
can still baby her. I'm just so pleased. Another daughter.

I think I'll ask Bill to call her Melissa.



*~*~*~*~*



January 31, 1999



The envelope that had been stuck between two of the pages of the 
journal contained two things. An adoption paper and a photograph. 
It was the photograph of a little girl that grabbed Dana's attention. 
She had long red hair and hazel eyes. It was her sister. And 
somebody else...



*~*~*~*~*



It was late when she finally packed everything away again, bar the 
few items in her hands. And for a moment she considered hiding 
those away in the trunk as well, leaving the dusty attic as she had 
found it, and never mentioning or remembering it again.

But she knew she couldn't do that. It wouldn't be fair to anyone, 
especially to him, and to her sister. If she owed them anything, she 
owed them this.

She owed them the truth.



*~*~*~*~*



He was already there when she arrived. Her grip on her backpack 
tightened when she saw him look up and he smiled hello. Please 
God, she thought, get me through this. Get us through this she 
prayed desperately.

"Hi." she said as she sat down beside him.

"Hi." he answered. "How you holding up?"

"I'm doing ok." she answered with a slight nod. "Going through 
some of Mom's papers was tough though." she added, shuddering 
slightly at what those papers had revealed.

He nodded understandingly. "So," he said after a moment. "What's 
up?"

"The sky," she answered flippantly. "And the ground's down."

"Thanks for clearing up that pressing matter for me." he told her 
seriously. "It's an end to my sleepless nights now."

She let out a small chuckle.

"What's in the bag?" he asked curiously after a moment.

"Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that." she replied, opening it and 
digging through it. A moment later she unearthed a small silver 
flask and unscrewed the lid, offering it to him. He took it, a 
surprised expression on his face.

"You never struck me as an alcoholic Scully." he remarked.

"Well I probably wasn't drunk when I hit you." she retorted. "Go 
on... it's scotch." she smiled. "Pretty good stuff too. My father would 
roll over in his grave if I put anything but good stuff in it."

He put it to his mouth and took a cautious swallow and then passed 
it back. Mulder nodded his thanks as she took a more generous 
amount and then rescrewed the lid on.

"So... calling me up to meet you late at night... on a weeknight... and 
presenting me with booze... it's either pretty serious or you want us 
to make out." he hypothesised with a smile. She returned it for a 
moment and then sighed. "Must be serious." he added then, turning 
slightly to face her better. "What's wrong Scully?"

She didn't look at him, instead choosing to stare out over the ink 
coloured water. "I have to tell you something Mulder... something 
important."

"Go on."

She paused, wanting another sip of drink to increase her strength 
but not wanting to be intoxicated whilst telling him. "The easiest 
way would be to ask 'good news or bad news' but that would be in 
extreme bad taste, and it wouldn't explain it all, so I'm going to tell 
you a story." she saw him nod out of the corner of her eye. "I must 
ask you though, not to interrupt til I'm finished." Again he nodded 
and she took a deep breath, wishing that the scotch had calmed her 
nerves more.

"My brothers and I were born in succession. Billy J first, then two 
years later me, and then two years later Charlie. According to my 
Mom's journals she and Dad continued to try for more children but 
eventually they discovered that it would be too dangerous for Mom 
to have any more after Charlie's difficult birth. They'd talked a great 
deal about adopting another child but with three children already it 
didn't seem likely. Dad talked to some of his friends about it, but 
nothing ever came of it."

Dana sighed and retrieved the scotch again, after taking a healthy 
swallow she passed it on to Mulder.

"Then, one day, my father got a call from one of his friends. A friend 
of a friend had just died along with his wife in a car accident and 
their child, who had been in the car, had suffered a head injury 
causing massive amnesia. Did Mom and Dad want to adopt the 
child and give it a good home since there was no other family. They 
talked about it at great length, and decided yes, they did want this 
child. And yes, they'd give it a good home and plenty of new 
memories. Three days later they left, leaving me and my brothers in 
the care of our aunt to collect the child. They arrived home two days 
later with our new sister -- Melissa Anne. She was ten years old... or 
so they told us."

Turning, she faced Mulder, a tear running down her cheek. "I'd 
totally forgotten that Melissa was adopted until I started going 
through Mom's papers. But I remember now. And I remember the 
day that Mom and Dad brought her home. She looked so sad and 
lost and frightened near the car... I took her by the hand and took 
her down to the street to play hopscotch. Missy looked at me so sadly 
that I told her that didn't have to be sad anymore. I'd help her be 
happy. She said something like 'I've lost something but I can't 
remember what it is.'" More tears slid down her cheeks and she 
turned back to face the water. "I gave her a hug and I promised her 
that I would help her find it. But I never did." she sighed and looked 
down at her hands. "Not in time anyway."

Dana took a deep breath. "We shared a bedroom nearly the entire 
time we were growing up and for the first three years of her life with 
us she had nightmares every night. When she was about sixteen or 
seventeen she became interested in that New Age religion stuff and 
stuck with it. I used to tease her about it mercilessly." She brought a 
hand up and wiped away some of her tears. "I forgot all about my 
promise to her. I never found what she'd lost... and she didn't 
either. She died without ever knowing..." she gave an almost bitter 
laugh. "It took another death... Mom's... for me to find it. To remind 
me of my promise and find what she'd been looking for."

Dana took a moment to compose herself. "Missy used to say the 
strangest things. In her nightmares she used to call out what we 
guessed was half of a swear word, 'foh', as in short for fuck. And 
when someone said 'trust me', she'd immediately say 'trust no 
one'."

Beside her, she felt Mulder stiffen.

"In my Mom's papers I found what my sister lost Mulder. And I also 
found what you've been looking for." From her bag she unearthed 
an old picture, which she handed to him face down. "That was 
taken the day she came to live with us, before she had her hair cut 
and styled."

Slowly Mulder turned the photo over. "My God..." he whispered. 
"Samantha..."

Dana was sobbing openly now. "I'm so sorry Mulder. They gave us 
your sister to care for as our own and then I killed her... oh God I'm 
sorry."

"Samantha... oh God... Samantha..." whispered Mulder over and 
over again, tracing the photo of his sister standing next to Scully. He 
looked up at her, tears filling his own eyes. "Are you sure... I 
mean..."

Dana nodded, and from her bag she pulled out a birth certificate and 
adoption certificate. "Mom and Dad adopted her exactly one week 
and one day after she was taken from you. Her birth year was 
changed to make her one year older then me, so she was, or so we 

believed, ten when she came to live with us. I think that if we have 
some blood tests done, Melissa and Samantha will have the same 
blood types and genetic work up." she paused, tears running down 
her cheeks again. "I really am so sorry Mulder... if I'd known..."

"Was she happy?" he asked, cutting her off. Dana nodded.

"Yes. She told me once that she'd made peace with her spirit. I think 
even she gradually forgot that she was adopted and that she had 
forgotten her previous life. Mom and Dad told us that she had no 
memories when they brought her home, and that we should share 
ours with her. I think she gradually accepted them as her own as 
well."

He nodded and pulled his wallet out of his jacket. Flipping to the 
back he unearthed an old photo of his sister and placed it beside the 
one Scully had handed him. There was no question about it. Melissa 
Scully was Samantha Mulder. Silently at first he began to cry and 
Dana got up from their bench and walked down to the railing. 
Gripping it tightly with both hands she stared across the Potomac's 
water, her own tears streaming down her cheeks.

She had no idea how long she'd been standing there when Mulder 
came down and stood beside her. "I used to tell her to trust me." he 
said quietly. "And then one day she turned and around yelled at me 
that she trusted no one, especially not me."

Dana nodded. "I'm so sorry." she murmured brokenly.

"I know." he answered. "And thank you."

"For what?" she asked surprised. "We stole your sister and then I 
killed her!"

"You did not steal her from me." he said forcefully as he gripped her 
face and made her look at him. "And you did not kill her. They did 
all that."

Dana looked away. "I don't deserve any thanks. I promised her I'd 
find what she'd lost and I didn't... not in time... not like I 
promised."

"Yes you did." he quietly. "You did."

"What do you mean?"

"When you came back... I was going through a pretty rough patch. I 
was all set to throw it all away... but someone stopped me. And that 
was Melissa -- Samantha... You reunited us Dana... neither of us 
knew it at the time, but you did. You did what you promised to do 
and you did what they tried to avoid. So thank you."

"I'm so sorry." she whispered again. "So very sorry."

"So am I." he whispered as he pulled her into his arms. "So am I."

And they clung to each other, crying for their sisters. Samantha Ann 
and Melissa Anne... the same person... who had never really been 
lost... but was now found.



*~*~*~*~*
End of part four of THE ATTIC
The End of THE ATTIC

Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. Please email me.



Author's Notes/Ramblings:

Firstly when I read this to a non-major X File fan and I got to the 
end, he was totally shocked by what Scully had discovered about 
Melissa and Samantha and basically said that this one would throw 
you guys something savage. I doubt it. Most X Philes will have 
probably figured out from the very first scene what the main plot 
line was going to be. :)

Secondly the title THE ATTIC is in slight reference to The Flowers 
In The Attic series by Virgina Andrews simply because that revolves 
around the children and their secrets -- like the fact that nobody else 
was allowed to know who they really were.

Thirdly I got the idea for this from a couple of places. So many 
people have held discussions that the one thing that should *never* 
happen is that Scully should be discovered as being Samantha. But 
what if it wasn't Dana Scully who was Samantha, but *Melissa* 
Scully. IMHO it can explain a lot -- she believes in New Age, he in 
the paranormal, she's tall, so's he, etc etc etc -- but this doesn't 
mean that I necessarily believe that what I've written is what *did* 
happen. I'm just hypothesising one possible outcome. The first 
scene is based around the one we see when Scully goes to the naval 
base where she used to live and sees a memory of herself and 
Melissa playing near the street. I'm pretty sure that was in the Piper 
Maru/Apocrypha episodes.

And finally, if I shocked you with the ending then GREAT, if not 
then I hope you still enjoyed the story. Apologies if dates or 
locations are extrememly wrong, I hope they're not... they shouldn't 
be... :>



Email to: Twisted_Sister@Hotmail.Com

                      or

                 MargiK@Hotmail.Com