DISCLAIMER: X Files belongs to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, or Fox Entertainment and a whole bunch of other people. Not me.
CHALLENGE: Written as part of the 1001 Nights Challenge - betrayal.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Eye of the Beholder
By Celievamp
Monica stared down at the picture she cradled in her hands. Dana Scully looking down on her infant son William with an expression of such love and wonder in her eyes. In the original, Fox Mulder had been standing right beside Dana, looking… well, befuddled. Monica had got busy with Photoshop and edited him right out.
Much as Dana had now edited Monica out of her life.
For almost a year they had been a couple; at first Monica knew it had been fairly one sided with her helping Dana look after her new baby and cope with the shattering effects of Mulder's abandonment. But in the last six months or so Monica had truly begun to believe that Dana truly returned her affections. The three of them had become a family.
Then Dana had decided to give up William for adoption, telling Monica when it was a done deal barely giving her a chance to say her own goodbyes to William, who she had brought into the world and loved and protected as if he was her own. Monica had just begun to believe that their relationship would survive that betrayal when Mulder reappeared and Dana went to him as if the last year had been…
Nothing. Dana had been marking time, using her. She had been betrayed, played for a fool.
Had it all been a lie? Had Dana been content to let Monica see what she wanted to see all this time? Monica closed her eyes, pressed the photograph to her heart. In her mind she saw them together, Dana's arms around her neck, her face pressed into Monica's shoulder, the heat of her centre against Monica's thigh as Monica's hands stroked down her body, her fingers exploring the sweet slick places, Dana's thumb rubbing over her pebbled nipples, short nails scratching down her back, over her ribs, as Monica writhed beneath her touch, begging for more until she was hoarse, Dana's fair skin in contrast to Monica's olive tones as they lay entwined on the bed.
"I love you, Dana, I love you so much."
"I know, baby, I know."
Had she ever said it? What was worse – to say it but not mean it or to never say it at all? They had made plans, Monica had been about to let the lease on her apartment lapse and then…
Mulder was in trouble. Mulder needed her.
Monica stared at the photograph again, at the shape she had edited out. She couldn't see him, but he was still there. He would always be there. Fox Mulder.
There was nothing for her here. There never was. With great deliberation, she tore the photograph in two and left it on the desk.
The End