From: mrkeller829@gmail.com   
      
   =====o============================o=====   
   "Chermera" by Mary Ruth Keller Part 26  of 45   
   E-mail: mrkeller@eclipse.net, mrkeller829@gmail.com   
   PG-13   X-File: Myth-arc   Disclaimed in Part I   
   Already sent to Gossamer   
   =====o============================o=====   
      
   Northern Division   
   San Diego Police Department   
   San Diego, CA   
   Friday, June 19, 1998   
   3:04 pm   
      
   Phil Nichols waved the partners and Skinner to the front of the room to have   
   them take seats with Donato and Gonzales. With the Marshals absent, there was   
   more space for the groups of officers and agents to gather. His plan to forge   
   bonds between the    
   SDPD and the Bureau was working, he could tell. Men and women who had been   
   strangers just 24 hours ago were sitting side-by-side, swapping pictures of   
   their families. But, now, he needed to set them on the tasks they were there   
   to perform. "If we could    
   get started!" He had used his loudest, scratchiest voice. But, it barely made   
   a dent in the chatter.   
      
   "People! Front and Center!" The boom out of the slender African American   
   snapped all heads around to face him. He lifted a stack of identical schedules   
   off the lectern to begin passing them around. "We've assigned mixed groups of   
   agents and officers to    
   track the different threads of Franklin's life: the colleagues she kept in   
   touch with, her neighbors, the senior center she frequented. We need to get a   
   sense of how this woman sold herself to others, so we will know how to fill in   
   the holes in her past.    
   We are looking for anything that ties her either to the East Coast or to   
   Japan. Anything, no matter how mundane or trivial, may be the break we need.   
   We know our suspect passed himself off as her son; let's find out how far the   
   pair of them pushed this."    
   He held up the page. "Be polite. These aren't criminals we're interviewing.   
   These are just ordinary citizens. Read the assignments through, get yourselves   
   in your groups. We'll be switching off around ten tonight. I'll take questions   
   in a few minutes."   
      
   Nichols turned to his fellow X-Files agents. "Chief, Scully, I hate to hit   
   your jet-lag even harder, but you'll be coming back on for the ten pm shift."   
      
   The auburn-haired pathologist rose. "We'll be here, Nichols."   
      
   Mulder turned to Donato and Gonzales. "We'll see you then, Detectives." The   
   four shook hands, then parted for the afternoon.   
      
   --o-0-o--   
      
   Fluid Dynamics Lab   
   Scripps Institute of Oceanography   
   La Jolla, CA   
   Friday, 7:03 pm   
      
   Fox Mulder was standing at the open door to the wind facility, unable to move.   
   His sister was there, working away diligently. He could see, underneath the   
   tunnel, her feet appear and disappear as she climbed in and out, hear her   
   speaking to her graduate    
   student, but he remained rooted in place. He knew his partner was waiting   
   patiently at his side, her small palm on his back, pushing him.   
      
   "Long breaths, Mulder. Relax." She started rubbing in circles, which normally   
   would have soothed him, but, instead, he felt like he was about to jump out of   
   his skin. Finally, her hand shifted away. "Mulder, I have the car keys. I'm   
   going in. Follow me    
   when you're ready."   
      
   He bit his lip, then fell in line behind her. {I'm going to see my sister.} He   
   tried rotating his shoulders to relax as he walked, but he kept feeling like   
   his head was about to float off his body. (My sister is here.) Then, they were   
   turning around the    
   far end of the tunnel, so he could see the table with her equipment, the   
   coiled cables, as well as the small turbaned man beside it all, who looked   
   over his shoulder at their approach.   
      
   "Doctor Miller? The agents you mentioned to me are here." He voice was so soft   
   there was no motion from the feet in the black sneakers protruding through the   
   side of the tunnel.   
      
   Without any sensation of the passage, Mulder was standing in front of the   
   opening, studying the long legs he could just make out in the light from the   
   control room. A hand extended through the opening.   
      
   "Anwar, pass me a number one Phillips, if you would, please."   
      
   The tapered fingers were so much like his own, slighter perhaps, that Mulder   
   could almost convince himself he was looking in a mirror. Again, without   
   conscious awareness, he reached out, clasping the palm in his right hand, then   
   pressing his left on top    
   of it.   
      
   "Ah!" Sandra was twisting to see who was there, but didn't crouch enough to   
   miss the edge of the opening. Both hands flew to her forehead as she looked   
   up. "Fox? Is that you? Humpf!" She was upright now, a pair of long arms   
   wrapped around her. The man    
   holding her was shaking, whispering her name. "Fox?" She rested her head on   
   his shoulder, then drew in a breath. He smelled like her brother, she   
   realized, his clean, comforting scent mixed with perfumed hotel soap and   
   slightly acrid aftershave. The chin    
   and neck were rough against her cheek, not smooth, but there was no difference   
   in the sense of security that settled over her. "Fox." The word emerged as   
   breath. She closed her arms around his back, hugging him as tightly as she   
   could. "Fox." There was    
   wetness on her ear; she could feel him shaking as he sobbed.   
      
   "Sammie." He was surprised he managed to stammer her name. "Sammie. I can   
   reach you."   
      
   There was a gasp from the woman standing beside them, bringing them both out   
   of the tiny circle of two in their minds. "Dana?" Sandra asked. A quick glance   
   told her the Pakistani's mouth had formed into a tiny oval, so she hastened to   
   explain. "Anwar,    
   this is my biological brother, Fox William Mulder. He works with the FBI." His   
   hands were still on her waist, so she stepped back again, wrapping her fingers   
   around his extended left palm as she nodded at the copper-haired agent. "This   
   is his partner at    
   the Bureau, Doctor Dana Scully. She's a pathologist with a degree in physics."   
      
   The diminutive agent shook hands with the graduate student. "Our apologies for   
   the intrusion. We had thought you would have been finished with the set-up so   
   Doctor Miller could review a few documents we have brought along." She tapped   
   the strap of the    
   laptop case.   
      
   His eyes slightly unfocused at this turn of events, Anwar looked desperately   
   to his adviser for guidance, then at Mulder, whose gaze never left his   
   sister's face. "Doctor Miller, this is a wonderful day. I am privileged to   
   share it with you. Should I    
   call the others to celebrate?"   
      
   Scully patted the slight arm. "We should step into the control room, don't you   
   think?"   
      
   Then, Mulder was alone with his sister. "You are so tall. Like me." He bit his   
   lip. "Sorry."   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)