From: David Hearne Date: 28 Apr 1999 17:01:37 -0700 Subject: [xfcreative] Tower of Song (1 of 2) TITLE: TOWER OF SONG (1 of 2) AUTHOR: David Hearne CLASSIFICATION: S RATING: PG SUMMARY: A sequel to "Misunderstood." Mulder and Scully are old folks now. He takes Scully, her daughter and her granddaughter to the zoo. DISCLAIMER: A bow of acknowledgement to Chris Carter. I must also bow to Leonard Cohen whose song is inserted into this story. (I used Pete Townshend in the previous story. Cohen seemed like the next logical step.) Send comments to ottercrk@sover.net _______________________________________________ The creature looked back at Fox Mulder with its green eyes. Its ape-like face was stiff. The long wings of its body would twitch slightly as if they were feeling the air. A tree limb was held tight in its thick paws. Mulder looked at the eyes which reflected nothing but instinct, a soul driven only by survival and sudden bursts of desire, the ethos of a jungle on a distant planet distilled into those green eyes. He said, "That's one cool-looking bird." "Technically, it's not a bird," Ahleen Scully said. "The Chuler is a member of the species called Muniy which holds similiarities to both mammal and bird but cannot be included in either biological category." Mulder looked down at the silver-haired child at his side, then looked back at the containment field. "That's one cool-looking bird," he repeated. Ahleen turned her face up to her grandmother. Her eerily calm expression had just a hint of exasperation. Dana Scully smiled and said, "Never mind him, sweetie." "You've corrupted this child," Mulder told the old woman. "She's just giving things their proper names, Mulder." "Well, Scully, so was I. I said that the Chuler there is 'cool-looking' and it is, indeed, very cool-looking." "But you also called it a bird, Mulder. So Ahleen corrected..." Emily Scully sighed. Mulder and Dana Scully looked at her as she shook her head at them. "Sorry," Mulder said in embarrassment. Emily smiled. "It's all right. As usual, you're both right. It's not a bird and it is..." The Chuler suddenly took off from the tree and flew a circle at the very edge of the field, making all the spectators gasp at its perfection and grace. "...very cool-looking." "Yes," Ahleen said quietly. "It is." Scully looked at Mulder and she almost held her breath. He was smiling down at Ahleen and there was such a warmth in his face. She had never knew that the child touched him so much. Even though he had never spent much time with her, it was obvious that this strange little girl had already stolen his heart. "Anybody hungry?" she asked. "I'm okay," Mulder said. "I'm not hungry, grandmother," Ahleen answered. "Emily?" Scully said, giving her daughter a subtle look. Emily caught it and said, "Sure. Let's go get something." "You two go on ahead," Mulder said. "The young 'un and I will be fine." Emily and Dana went over to a concession stand located fifty feet away from the Chuler containment field. Mulder stood quietly by the young girl's side. Then, Ahleen said, "What was my grandmother like when she was younger?" "Wh-what?" "What was she like when you were at the FBI?" "Oh. Well...pretty much like she is now. Strong, intelligent, brave. You know." "Beautiful?" Mulder smiled. "Oh, yeah. Just like you." "Thank you," Ahleen said without the slightest blush or giggle. "Of course, like you, she had an unwillingness to laugh at my jokes." "Do you tell jokes, Mister Mulder?" "And, like you, she had a tendency to cut me off at the legs." The Chuler settled down on the ground and began chewing on the red vegetation. "She didn't believe in aliens then, either," Mulder added. "You did. You were right." "Um...it was more of a lucky guess. I believed in aliens because I wanted to." "Because of Samantha?" Mulder paused, then said, "Part of it. But, also, part of it was just being...if you'll pardon the expression...human. Everybody longs for an angle on life that will give it meaning, clarity, reasons. That's why we have art and religion and...crackpots like me." "You're not a crackpot." "Oh, thank you." "You're just lonely." She's old, Mulder thought. Way older than any child is supposed to be. "Ahleen," he said. "I don't know whether to hug you or get really pissed off." "You don't have to hug me." Ahleen held up one of her small hands. Mulder wrapped his older, worn hand around it. "He can be quite the charmer when he wants to be," Emily said, observing Mulder and Ahleen as they held hands. "Don't I know it," Scully replied and took a bite out of her ice cream. She found herself hating the present generation out of sheer envy. They had finally managed to take all the fat, cholesterol and various unhealthy properties out of everything she had avoided eating in her younger days. Technological advances always come too late. "How come you two never got together?" Emily asked. Scully looked at her. The younger woman had a perfectly serious expression. "You're a fine one to ask that." "Well, the factor of my existence notwithstanding," Emily said. "why didn't you?" Scully took her time before answering. Zoo visitors and attendants passed them by, old and young, human and inhuman as the ice cream melted in the sun. "We were together. For one night. It was...do you really want to hear this?" "Yes, mother, yes." "You do know that I love your father." "I do. Now please tell your damn story." TITLE: TOWER OF SONG (2 of 2) See part one for disclaimers Spoilers: "Never Again," "Detour" The final day had come and it pumped a weird haze into their minds. They had lived long with a war which had blossomed from their private conflict to an interplanetary Gotterdammerung. Now treaties had been signed and all humans had been innoculated against a virus that would have destroyed them all. The threat had been lifted from what Wells called "this little seedbed of the solar system." Naturally, there were noisy celebrations in the streets. However, they themselves could only wander around, unsure of what to do with their bodies. They had been locked tight into a pattern of thinking and behaving for years, the terror of paranoia and the even greater terror of hope holding them steady. This should have been the time to be joyous. And they did feel joyous, but in a fuzzy, disconnected way as if they had been drugged. They simply didn't know what to do with a day that wasn't shadowed by the possibility of apocalypse. Then the night came and they knew exactly what to do They had done a lot of laughing throughout it all. The freedom that they suddenly had---a freedom that couldn't be robbed by the secret plans of others or the constant pain in their hearts---made them giddy. They could kiss without guilt. Their hands could touch anywhere they wanted. Every area of their bodies was theirs to discover. It was also the sheer weirdness of the two of them being together. And the perfection. Then morning came. "We knew that it was over right then. What he had done the night before was a completion of a long journey, a capstone. It had been beautiful and to try to extend it further would just kill it." "I don't understand, mom. Are you saying that it was too good to last?" "What I'm saying is that the things that had bound us together---the quest, the Colonization War---they were over. Neither one of us could imagine a life without that between us. It was time to move on." "You moved on. He didn't." "Oh, Mulder is just combative by nature. He's always going to be suspicious and wary of..." "That's not what I'm talking about." Scully thought, she means that I have had a happy marriage for over thirty years. And Mulder has gone through three marriages, the longest one surviving for all of four years. She had known that all three had been disasters in the making, just as she had known that Wednav had been the right one for her. She looked at Mulder standing hand-in-hand with Ahleen. Could that have been your granddaughter, Mulder? Did I deny you this? The night came. Mulder and Scully were sitting in the living room of her house. Ahleen and Emily were asleep in the guest bedrooms. "You had yourself a good idea, Mulder." "Thank you. I'm glad you all enjoyed the zoo." "Did you enjoy it?" "Me? Watching a bunch of tamed animals crap all over their cages? No way." Now, it was quiet. "Do you regret the decision we made?" Scully asked. Quiet, again. Mulder's head rolled slowly toward her and he said, "It was the right one." "Right for both of us or just right for me?" "What is right for you is right for me, Scully. Believe it or not." "I've been wondering if I should have been... more there for you." Mulder laughed. "I dragged you all across the world and then all through the cosmos, Scully. Your loyalty is impeccable." "That's not what I mean." Mulder let out a breath. "You mean, had we decided something else, I wouldn't be alone now?" "Aren't you alone, Mulder?" He looked straight at her. "Scully....not everything is about you. It's my life." She bit her lip and remained still for a moment. Then she nodded and said, "Touche, Mulder." "A very belated touche." Mulder patted her on the hand. "I haven't had the best life, Scully. But you haven't been responsible for one bad thing in it. Right now, I'm almost completely happy." "Almost?" Mulder gave her a careful look, then he hauled himself off the couch and plodded over to the stereo. He programmed a song selection. A sparse beat kept time as a synthesizer and bass played muted tones. A voice hummed from the speakers, flat and atonal yet oddly compelling. ...Well, my friends are gone and my hair is gray... ...I ache in the places where I used to play... Mulder turned to Scully with his arms held out wide. ...and I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on... "Mulder, I'm not dancing to Leonard Cohen." "Come on, Scully. Don't make me use my wounded puppy-dog look." ...I'm just paying my rent everday in the Tower of Song... Scully looked at the old man in the room, her ex-partner, her one-time lover. Then she stood up and went towards him. ...I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get?... ...Hank Williams hasn't answered yet... ...but I hear him coughing all night long... ...a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song... His arms gently drew her in as her fingers crossed behind his back. Their feet moved slowly as the flat-voiced male singer was joined by the purer tones of a woman in the background. ...So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll... ...I'm sorry, baby, but it doesn't look like me at all.. "I know why you picked this, Mulder." "Why's that?" "Because this guy sings worse than you do." "Quiet, Scully, or I'll put on Three Dog Night." ...I'm standing by the window where the light is strong... ...They don't let a woman kill you, not in the Tower of Song... With her head pressed against his chest, Scully could hear his heart. She thought about how many beats that it had left. Then she stopped thinking that, just closed her eyes and listened to the song. ...I see you standing on the other side... ...I don't know how the river got so wide... ...I loved you, baby, way back then... Did they make the right decision? Mulder thought. He had wondered about that many times as he had sat alone in his apartment. ...And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed... ...but I feel so close to everything that we lost... ...We'll never have to lose it again... He was tired of chasing after the past, though. He had spent an ungodly part of his life, trying to reclaim what had been taken from him. Now, he was content with this one moment. Of course, it had to pass, too. ...I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back... Without saying anything, he slowly pulled away from her. Then he smiled and squeezed her once on the shoulder. Then he turned to the door. ...They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track... ...But you'll be hearing from me, baby, long after I'm gone... Scully watched him leave, then looked out the window. She saw him get into his car, turn on the automatic pilot and let it drive him away. She stood at the window for a long time. ...I'll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song...