From: k.morse@ntlworld.com   
      
   Echoes by truthwebothknow1   
   Rating PG , adult viewers , few bad words.   
   Keywords MT  SA MA X file MSR   
   Spoiler. Amor Fati  trilogy,   
   Written for the IMTP virtual season 15 and   
   alludes to some aspects of canon in   
   those fics.   
      
   Summary. The Northern Irish coast has some   
   secrets, some say echoes.   
      
   Archive: Feel free, just let me know.   
   Feedback. Sure   
      
   Disclaimer.   
   Not for profit and The X files belongs to   
   cc and Fox. Auntie Katherine belongs to   
   me and is probably me in about 40 years LOL.   
      
   Dedicated To Joi who has been waiting way   
   too long for me to finish her birthday   
   fic so you can have this one. It in time   
   for this years birthday.  :)   
      
   This story is finished and i will be posting   
   one or two parts a night for the next few nights.   
      
   Echoes   
      
   Belfast airport   
   15th March 2008   
      
   "I got hold of my aunt. She's picking us up in   
   about an hour."  Scully popped her cell phone   
   back in her jacket pocket as Mulder retrieved   
   their bags from the carousel.   
      
   "That's great, Scully. This is your Mom's aunt   
   right ..so your great Aunt?"   
      
   "Katherine Tooley. Yes," Scully smiled widely,   
   " My namesake. Mom named me for her but she in   
   turn, was also named for another Katherine from   
   way back, many years in fact. My great, great   
   great-grandmother Tooley. "   
      
   Mulder grinned at his lover's enthusiasm for   
   this whole trip. She'd been in a state of awe   
   and childlike excitement for days and he found   
   it so endearing.  "Have you ever met her before?"   
   They were heading towards customs now, both of   
   them taking in the St. Patrick's Day bunting   
   and paraphernalia hanging everywhere. They   
   really took this holiday seriously here.   
      
   "No but I have spoken to her on the phone a   
   few times. She was coming over to visit Mom   
   in Baltimore a few years ago but her husband   
   Ned, died suddenly. She has been alone since.   
   Runs her small sheep farm out on the Antrim   
   coast by herself, does a bit of painting and   
   stuff.  Independent feisty lady."   
      
   "Umm, like someone else I could name..... who's   
   not more than a few yards away from me".   
   Mulder's hand gently cupped Scully's cheek,   
   rubbing a thumb back and forth. She leaned   
   into his touch as they waited in line to   
   go through the gate into the main concourse.   
      
   "I wonder who you could mean", she giggled,   
   slipping her arm into his free one that   
   wasn't carrying his bags.   
      
   Once through arrivals they noticed more   
   trappings of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations.   
   People bustling by wearing Irish tri-color   
   scarves and sometime the odd silly green hat.   
   Mulder explained that this usually meant a   
   Rugby Derby was imminent and people of Irish   
   descent were filing in from all over Europe   
   and further afield to watch the match. Scully   
   seemed to lap it all up taking in the sights   
   and foreign smells. They found a luggage cart   
   and dumped their bags into it.   
      
   It was good take a vacation now and then, to   
   get away from the trauma and loss of the last   
   few months and just chill in a completely   
   different place, somewhere much quieter, with   
   a relatively slower pace of life.  Her great   
   aunt's cliff top home seemed an ideal place   
   for her and Mulder to recharge their batteries   
   before taking on the slew of new cases Skinner   
   had mentioned at their last meeting, before he   
   insisted they took some much needed leave.   
      
   Her aunt had been bugging her for months   
   about coming over to spend a few days and   
   finally meet her. She knew Katharine and   
   Maggie were close, and had started talking   
   a lot more via phone and email after Billy's   
   death. Now with her other brother gone and   
   Dana being the last one, it seemed her aunt   
   was anxious to meet the only surviving child   
   of Maggie Scully before a cruel twist of   
   fate took her as well. Surviving family was   
   important to Scully a lot more recently, so   
   who could refuse Katherine's kind offer.   
   Her mother had mentioned that she was a bit   
   eccentric and unusual. Right up Mulder's   
   street then from the sound of it.   
      
   She was so looking forward to this trip and   
   she knew Mulder was as well. A week enjoying   
   her aunt's hospitality then a quick jaunt   
   down to Dublin to hook up with one of Mulder's   
   old Oxford pals, a professor at one of the   
   museums there, seemed just what the doctor   
   ordered. She hoped he'd be okay though   
   as he'd started sneezing on the plane no   
   sooner than he'd clipped his safety belt   
   in place. Just his luck to get sick now   
   but he'd assured her that it was nothing a   
   slug of real Irish whiskey wouldn't cure.   
   There was a plan for an excursion to the   
   famous  Bushmills distillery on their schedule   
   among other things, although Mulder admitted   
   that was partly coerced by Skinner who   
   promised them an extra week off if he could   
   bring him back a bottle of the world class   
   liquor all the way from its Irish roots.   
      
   "You've been to Ireland before haven't you   
   Mulder?"   
      
   "Sure.... er only the once.  When I was at   
   Oxford."   
      
   "So how come I've never heard about this?"   
   She teased as he led them both to a place   
   to eat and drink. All the travel and   
   excitement of exploring a new country   
   had given them both a raging appetite."   
      
   "Er, I don't remember much of it," Mulder   
   admitted as he reached inside his leather   
   jacket pocket for his tissues.   
      
   "A group of us came over for a Thin   
   Lizzy gig at the Point in Dublin.   
   But..."   
      
   Scully grinned; she guessed what was   
   coming by the look that passed over his   
   face. "But...? "   
      
   "A couple of us had a few pre gig   
   whiskies and we er....never made it out of   
   the bar. Couldn't find the guy with the   
   tickets either."   
      
   "So what happened?" SHe smiled and the usual   
   eyebrow manoeuvre came into play... he wasn't   
   going to get out of this easily. Was that   
   her usually inuendous partner blushing?   
   This was going to be good.   
      
   "Ended up waking in a part of Dublin called   
   Ferrytown. Some joker thought it would be a   
   blast to dump us 'mainlanders' down by   
   the dockside. We were all over from Oxford.   
   I guess the old English -Irish rivalry thing,   
   and I got lumped in with them seeing as I   
   couldn't utter two intelligent words being   
   shitfaced at the time, so they pegged me as   
   English too. Guilt by association. Anyway   
   next day, massive hangovers all round,   
   freezing rain and ....no pants."   
      
   Scully tried to keep a straight face as he   
   pantomimed getting a chill up his spine.   
      
   "No pants?  You were mugged and they took   
   your pants? Mulder ..."   
      
   ".....And well er.... we were duct-taped to a   
   lamp post. Hey, it was no fun and fucking   
   freezing. It was like some Stephen King horror   
   version of the 'Commitments' only with crappier   
   weather and no music ...what?"   
      
   Mulder gave her a baleful, 'I'll get you   
   for this' expression as his partner started   
   to laugh that silly, open laugh she indulged   
   herself in on the rare occasions that she   
   felt really happy.   
      
      
   Something suddenly dissolved inside him....   
   almost a flashback, a sense of   
   gestalt and he looked at her stupidly,   
   thoughts going in a million different   
   directions.   
      
   It startled him to realize that that hadn't   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)