Title: Smile Author: Claudia Modell E-mail: claudia@subsolo.org Rating: PG Category: Alternate universe Disclaimer: Not mine. Summary: Answer to a challenge. Mulder seeks Scully and finds Gillian. Smile By Claudia Modell Where was she? Mulder had tried to reach her the night before, but she didn't answer the phone. He left a lot of messages in the answering machine. No return. He wasn't worried yet, because he went to her house, and everything seemed to be OK. But still, it was almost 10 o'clock, and she didn't show at the office. He decided to go to her house again. Maybe he didn't see something over there. He was crossing the street when he saw her. She seemed to be ok. But something was wrong, she was different. He couldn't say what was the difference. Maybe her clothes. She wasn't wearing those classic clothes. She was beautiful, but not because of the clothes. It was her smile. She was laughing, and smiling. She looked really beautiful. Then she saw him, and she smiled and waved. He had never seen her smiling in that way. He went to meet her, but he couldn't cross the street because of the heavy traffic. The last thing he saw was her entering in a car. He took note of the licence plate. It wasn't her car, or a rental car either. It was an expensive car, for sure. He managed to have the car owner`s name. It was a company name. He had a bad feeling, but he remembered her smile. She couldn't be in danger. He knew that. The company had an office in Washington and Mulder decided to go there and check the car. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Helen could live forever and never meet any famous person. She was sure of that. With her luck the more she could expect was to receive some autographed picture. She worked in the company for four years and never met anyone, and she knew that sometimes one actor or actress had came in her office. But she wasn't there when this happened. So, she wasn't surprised when her friend, Maggie, told her about an incredible visit at the office. "So tell me about him, Maggie" "He is handsome, you know that already. But he is rude, you can bet" "You're kidding. He seems to be so kind!" "No, he's not. He yelled at me. He wanted information about one of the cars." "Just that?" "Yes, and I told him, of course." "Well, we see them in television and we think they are nice, but they have a real life, and maybe he wasn't in a good day." "Helen, drop it. He is rude. Period" xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mulder went to the address he had taken from that crazy woman. Hell, she was so weird. She kept looking at him, giving no answers. Maybe he could be more gentle, but he was worried about Scully. No time to be gentle. He entered the hotel. He felt that the people looked at him. Maybe his hair, maybe his clothes, what the hell everyone stared at him??? He began to ask about Scully, describing her, but the man was fast and said she was at the room 1013. It had been so easy. That was weird. What kind of hotel, at least what kind of expensive hotel like that, just gives information about the guests to an unknown person? Anyway, he had to find Scully, and so he did. He knocked the door and she opened it. "Hi, I didn't know you where here already." Already? Was she crazy? "What are you talking about? We were suppose to meet here?" "Well, of course. William said you would arrive just tomorrow." "Oh, did he? How could he know?" He didn't have a clue how Bill could know about his whereabouts. Anyway he was her brother. "Ok, forget it. I will meet William in a few minutes. Are you coming?" Why she called William and not Bill? It was getting more strange at each minute. "Yes, where are you going to meet?" "At the foyer. And then we are going to the restaurant." "Ok, lets go, but let me wash my hands before ok?" "Yeap, go ahead. We will be waiting for you at the foyer." "Deal" He waited her to go, and tried to check the room. Maybe there were some bugs and she was just playing a role. She seemed so happy, so relaxed. Nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't her style. He found nothing. Everything seemed OK. He saw only a picture of a little girl. She looked like Emily. But she wasn't Emily, he could say. He would ask her later. Now he needed to meet the William guy. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mulder saw him, and later he saw her. The idea of both together was so disgusting. The smoking man son of a bitch breathing the same air that she was. And she was smiling. She was talking to him. She was so near of him. Mulder couldn't stand more than he had already. He went straight at Scully and took her arm, almost hurting her. The Cancerman didn't say anything. He seemed frozen. And so were the other people at the hotel. Scully looked at him shocked. "David, what the hell are you doing? You are hurting me!" "Scully, I need to talk with you. In private" They came back to her room. She was tense. "OK, Scully, you can say what's going on. He isn't here." "What's going on? You're acting crazy, David!" "Stop calling me David, I'm Mulder. Or Fox, if you really want to use a first name. I don't care anymore" "I know what I'll call you. I'll call you an ambulance, that's it!" "Why are you doing this Scully?" "Maybe because I'm not playing, maybe because I'm not Scully, and maybe because I don't want to play Scully out of the show." "What show?" "David, please. Either you are crazy or it is a really bad joke" "I. Am. Not. David!!!" "Yes. You. Are.!!!" "OK, we can keep going with this forever. Let me show you my badge." "Save it. I know your badge. I have one of those two. They are fake." "Scully, you need help." He was almost thinking that the one who needed help was him. She was so sure about who was him. "Stop calling me Scully, it's weird" "What's your name?" "Gillian. Please David, you can't keep going joking like that." "I am not kidding. Are you?" "No, I am not." And she explained everything about the show to him. "So, Gillian, I have a problem, because I'm not David and everyone seems to think I am him." She didn't answer. And her silence was terrible for him. No scientific theories coming. "Do you have a theory? Gillian??" "Theory? No, I'm not Scully. I'm just an actress playing a role." "And I'm just a role playing an actor" "Mulder, without a script you suck." "I noticed that." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx They talked for one hour at least. It was weird for him to talk with her. He didn't know her. He knew Scully, but not the woman who played her. Played her! God, this was the weirdest thing that had happened in his entire life. Samantha's abduction, Flukeman, Tooms? Piece of cake! She seemed to know a lot about him, but that was because of the role she played for years. He just wanted to come back to his paranoid world, even if it wasn't real. But they had to figure out what had happened. What had caused this strange situation. He thought a lot, they discussed, but no solution. It was a normal day until the moment he saw her on the street. "Are you sure it was normal, Mulder? I mean, what did you do the night before?" "Nothing. I tried to call you. I mean Scully. And she didn't answer the phone." "And you just gave up?" "Yes, I went to bed, I need to sleep." "What time was that?" "Nine, I guess." "You went to bed at nine? You wanted to sleep? You tried to call her and gave up without be sure if she was OK?" "What do you mean?" "Mulder, the whole situation is weird, but it was weird since yesterday. You will never do these things. You would never go to bed so soon, you wouldn't just sleep so easily, you wouldn't just give up on her." "Why did I do those things?" "I don't know, but the answer is there. Yesterday was the Zero Day." "Zero day? And I am suppose to be the guy who sucks without a script?" "Never mind. Lets do some research." "What are you planning?" "Well, since you work by script, and since you just ran of the script yesterday, I think the answer could be on 1013." "1013? This room?" "No, the company." "The company isn't Fox?" "Forget it, I will contact Chris and try to know if someone made something with the script yesterday." "You sound crazy Gillian." "I'm feeling crazy." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chris wasn't in a good mood these days. The show was ok, even if they hadn`t win the Golden Globes. The movie had been a success, but the fans wanted another one, and now he had to finish the season, and try to give a lot of answers. All these things together, plus the new show in Vancouver and Millennium meant a lot of work and stress. His assistent was calling him at the phone, saying that Gillian was searching for him. What she could want? "Hey Gillian, what's the matter?" "Hi Chris. I just wanted to know if someone wrote a script in this days." "Humm, let me see, no, no script but some cakes. Of course someone wrote a script, Gillian!" "Uh, sorry! I was just wondering about some strange script, where Mulder acts in a weird way." "Gillian, Mulder has to act in a weird way, because this is the X- Files." "OK, Chris, I wanted to know if there is a script out there where Mulder go to bed at nine." "Oh, please, no one goes to bed at that time! Even Mulder!" "So, you don`t know. But had something strange happened yesterday?" "Now you are talking about it, we had a problem yesterday." "What happened?" "An X-Files fan managed to enter the office. But the security took care of her." "Chris, you could check if she left some script there." "Yes, I could, but I won`t because I can`t see the point." "The point is I need to know." "This is not a real point." "You know? Piper wants a baby brother." "Let me see, maybe the script is at the room the girl invaded. I will call you, ok?" "I`m sure you will." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Now they had to wait. Mulder didn`t know what was going on Gillian`s mind. But he trusted her. He had to, even if she wasn`t Scully. When the phone rang he almost jumped. Gillian answered it. "Hi Chris, any news?" "Yes. I don`t know why you are searching for it. It is a badfic." "A what?" "It`s how the philes call the fanfictions, the bad ones." "Oh, so, what`s on it?" "It`s about Mulder searching for Scully and finding you instead." "I see. And how it is going to finish?" "Never mind, it sucks." "No tell me." "Ok, you meet Mulder and try to help him." "And do I help him? Does he come back to his world?" "Gillian, if you need some time for yourself we can make an episode with David only." "I`m fine, really. I`m just curious." "Ok, he does. But has I said, it is a bad fic. Don`t get mad at me." "Go ahead, just tell me how he goes back." "They spend the night together in a sexual way. You see? I would never do that" "I`m sure you wouldn`t." "I know what I`m doing with the characters." "I`m sure you do." "I`m noticing some irony." "I`m sure you are. Thanks Chris, see you." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "So Mulder, Chris said that the script is there. And he said that on the script you come back to your world." "You think that if we follow the script I can get out of here? Scully would never have a theory like this." "I told you I`m not her." "You can tell." "Ok, the script says that if we spend the night together you will be back to your world." "It`s not going to work, Gillian. I would love to spend the night with you, but I know it is not going to work." "Why?" "Because Chris took the script. So the script is not running. The story is blocked." "So, Mulder, dont`t you think the story has to go on? Well, if we keep going on the story will as well." "I don`t think so." Mulder felt as a stupid. She was there, in front of him, ready to spend the night with him, and he was refusing her! But he didn`t know her. He couldn`t do such a thing. He was a good character after all. "OK, let me hear your solution." "I think this guy, Chris, could destroy the script. And I will be back to my world." "You will forget this day." "Yes, I will." "I will talk with Chris and tell him to destroy the script." She took the phone and dialed the number. Mulder was watching her. Her hair, her clothes, her face. She had a mole. He didn`t notice that. She was beatiful. She was talking with Chris and then he said something that made her laugh. Mulder could watch her for hours. Her smile. He prayed with himself to not forget that smile. But he had a better idea. "Gillian, tell him to write scenes where Scully smiles." "Yes, I will" She whispered. And she said that. And she looked at his face and smiled again. And he felt the darkness coming. The last thing he saw was her smile. The end.