From: susannastarz@hotmail.com   
      
   TITLE: Everything Old is New Again (2/2)   
   AUTHOR: Susanna Starz   
   RATING: PG-13   
      
   All other information and disclaimers can be found in Part 1   
      
      
   *   
      
   She sat on the stiff leather couch with Fox, the two of them close   
   but not touching, staring at the floor. Kersh paced in front of   
   them, his hands clenching and unclenching.   
      
   "Of all the things...of all the stunts...and believe me, I've seen a   
   lot of stunts in my time, this is the worst. What could have   
   possibly possessed you to commit such a gross invasion of privacy?"   
      
   "There was a ghost," Fox tried weakly.   
      
   "I don't want to hear it!" Kersh looked as though he might   
   spontaneously combust. "I've been having trouble sleeping. I find   
   the blue light of the television screen immensely relaxing. That's   
   ALL it was."   
      
   "We were just concerned for your safety, sir," Dana tried.   
      
   "You should consider yourself lucky that I only called your parents   
   and not the police."   
      
   As if on cue, the bright beams of car headlights cut through the   
   shadows that swathed the room. Dana felt her heart sink into her   
   stomach as Kersh opened the door to admit the pale, stern faces of   
   William and Maggie Scully. The sight of fresh tear tracks on her   
   mother's cheeks made her own face glow red with shame.   
      
   "Your daughter--" Kersh began, his voice trembling with rage.   
      
   "We appreciate the seriousness of this situation," Ahab cut in, his   
   voice low and level. "And also the fact that you chose to apprise us   
   of the situation rather than call in the authorities. Rest assured   
   that we will deal with our daughter in the manner that we see fit."   
      
   "I'm sorry--" Dana said, but was cut off by a withering glare from   
   Principal Kersh.   
      
   "Detention. One week." He glanced sourly at Mulder. "Both of you."   
      
   "Dana," her mother said, inclining her head towards the door.   
      
   Hanging her head, Dana followed her parents out into the night,   
   leaving Fox alone in Kersh's cavernous living room.   
      
   *   
      
   The silence in her parent's station wagon was overwhelming. Dana sat   
   in the back, forehead pressed against the cool glass, miserably   
   watching the scenery flash by.   
      
   "Mom, I--"   
      
   "Dana," her mother held up her hand. "I cannot discuss this with you   
   right now. When we get home, I want you to go straight up to bed.   
   We'll talk in the morning."   
      
   "I--"   
      
   "Dana!" Her mother's voice was tear choked and near the breaking   
   point. She let out a muffled sob. "Of all my children, you've always   
   been the one I worried about the least, did you know that?"   
      
   Dana hung her head. "No," she mumbled.   
      
   "You've always been so level headed. And to go and do a thing like   
   this--do you have any idea how terrifying it is to receive a phone   
   call at four in the morning? To realize that your daughter isn't in   
   her bed?"   
      
   "I'm sorry."   
      
   "Do you..." her mother's voice cracked. "Do you do this often? Go   
   out like that?"   
      
   "No," Dana said, "Never."   
      
   "I wish I could believe that," she sighed. "I don't know what to   
   believe right now. Breaking into the principal's house?!"   
      
   "That wasn't why--"   
      
   As the car swung around the curve towards their house, the   
   headlights cut through the inky blackness, illuminating a startled   
   figure that was climbing towards the second story window.   
      
   Melissa, hair mussed, tired expression on her pale face, stared wide-   
   eyed at the car that pulled up in the driveway.   
      
   Dana heard her father's muttered expletive, saw her mother hang her   
   head and bury her face in her hands and ask plaintively, "What is   
   going *on* with this family?"   
      
   And all Dana could do was stare with a slight smile, relieved that   
   the fortuitous timing had taken the attention off of her, locking   
   eyes with Missy for one brief moment. "Busted."   
      
   *   
      
   Fox looked inordinately chipper for a young man in detention, Dana   
   realized with growing paranoia. She, herself unaccustomed to being   
   in trouble, had slunk into the small classroom reserved for those   
   children who demonstrated ill behavior with barely an embarrassed   
   nod to the teacher assigned to observe them.   
      
   She'd opened her notebook and quietly set about copying lines off of   
   the blackboard when he'd entered, his step unusually jaunty. He'd   
   saluted the bored-looking teacher in the front of the room before   
   moving to the desk next to Dana and sliding into it with a little   
   grunt.   
      
   "Hello," he said brightly, even though she'd seen him in the hallway   
   less than an hour previously.   
      
   "No talking," the teacher admonished.   
      
   Dana frowned, and then scribbled something on a piece of paper,   
   handing it to Fox when no one was looking.   
      
   *What are you plotting?*   
      
   He let loose a chuckle at reading her words, scribbling back and   
   handing her the paper.   
      
   *What makes you think I'm plotting anything?*   
      
   She merely raised her eyebrows at him, which made him chuckle again.   
   He settled back into his seat, looking much too pleased with   
   himself.   
      
   The teacher monitoring their detention yawned and stood up,   
   meandering in the direction of the restroom.   
      
   Dana turned to scowl at Fox. "What did you do?"   
      
   "Nothing, nothing."   
      
   She shook her head, not in the mood to play games. "My parents were   
   so mad at me. I thought I was going to be grounded until I turned   
   thirty."   
      
   "Are you?"   
      
   "Grounded 'till I'm thirty?" she smirked, shaking her   
   head. "Actually, no."   
      
   He looked impressed. "How did you pull that off?"   
      
   "We happened to arrive home at the precise moment my sister was   
   sneaking back through the window."   
      
   Mulder snorted. "I told you so."   
      
   "I'm telling you, in the ensuing battle, all the yelling probably   
   woke up everyone in a three mile radius. They completely forgot   
   about me."   
      
   "So how come you're looking so glum?" He folded his arms across his   
   chest and leaned casually back in his seat. "If I were you, I'd have   
   been wearing a shit-eating grin all day."   
      
   The smile faded from her face. "I still did something wrong. We   
   should never have done what we did, we--"   
      
   "It's my fault," he said quickly, looking down. "I put you in an   
   awkward position and I apologize."   
      
   She blinked. "Well, that was delightfully straightforward."   
      
   "What do you mean?"   
      
   "I'd assumed your version of an apology consisted of showing up   
   outside my window at three in the morning and dragging me off on a   
   ghost hunt."   
      
   "Yeah, well I like to keep things unpredictable."   
      
   "I dread the next time you manage to offend me," she twisted her   
   face into an expression of mock horror.   
      
   "Do I do that a lot?"   
      
   "Do what?"   
      
   "Offend you."   
      
   The mood had changed again, she realized, she'd been so caught up in   
   the banter that she'd neglected to spot the receding of his internal   
   tide, the slow washing away of good humor that ran and puddled into   
   reflective pools of self-doubt.   
      
   "No," she said quickly, irritated that he always managed to make her   
   want to comfort him, even when she was mad at him. Not for the first   
   time, she wondered how steady, uncomplicated Dana Scully had managed   
   to choose such a mercurial person for a best friend.   
      
   Or why someone whose moods changed like the tides, who came and went   
   on pure impulse, would bother to spend time with someone like her.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)