Title: The River
Author: Vesper (Regina)
E-mail: vespertanmer@yahoo.com
Warnings: none
Category: V
Keywords: Alternate universe
Summary: One reason she stays.
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. You know
where they belong. I make no profit from this.
Archival: If you wish to archive, please link to my website.
Please keep all my headers intact.

*

Long before I knew what I was, I loved Midsummer's Eve. My
father first told me of the fairy folk, in stories, as I lay
under the cover tucked in so I could not escape. He told me of
the witching hour when the portal between our world and theirs
would open. If you stumbled on a fairy ring, whether of stone or
grass, on Midsummer's Eve you might never be seen again.

It was not until I turned twenty that I found the stories to be
true. Time, I once heard, is like a river--it flows from one
source, the past, usually known, to another, the future, seen but
not yet experienced. Yet the river also has its tributaries.
Time has infinite endings, rather like those tributaries. It was
then that I discovered I held the power of traveling, at will,
into the branches of the river.

At first it was merely a pastime, a way to amuse myself. Then I
began to notice certain recurring motifs. Those who would meet
me recognized me for who I was, Dana Scully, a petite woman with
red hair. I never understood what happened to the others who
were also me, but I had my theories. There was no explanation
for the way I knew what I was in those other lives, how I had
their memories and their emotions locked in my mind, only to be
opened in my journey.

My occupations varied, but I always partnered with him. He has
always been there, never changing, but always unknown. The
challenge of first meeting him has never ceased to amaze me. The
passion between us, whether platonic, romantic, or sexual, has
always been there.

I believe he is the reason I was given this gift. They wanted me
to know him in all the ways I could, before I returned to the
original flow of the river.

So here I stand, in this dusty hallway cramped by shelves, in
front of a door with a plaque that reads 'Fox Mulder, Special
Agent'. A shiver of anticipation runs down my back at the words
that answer my knock.

"Nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted!"

This first meeting, one I had prepared for the past ten years,
was a much of a challenge as the last ten were. This Mulder was
lost, unlike the others, and I realized that this one needed me
the most.

By the end of that first case I had seen his ambition, obsession,
and had been taken through a twisting journey of his mind. I
knew more, and less, about him than I'd ever wanted. Yet he was
still the same man I'd met before, altered in certain superficial
ways, but fundamentally unchanged.

Now, it has been several years since that first meeting, and
there has never been another. I have chosen to remain with this
man, never again to follow those alternate routes. I have stayed
here with him, and no matter where the river of time takes us,
the paths of that river will remain forsaken.

End.