Summary: Six characters in 155 words, one year later. MSR, DRR, Reyes/Follmer UST, others.

Title: The Mix Tape Biographies: A Year in Words
Author: winter baby
Rating: R
Category: VRA
Archive: Anywhere, but e-mail me.
Spoilers: Release, The Truth
Keywords: MSR, DRR, Reyes/Follmer UST, Skinner/Others
Summary: Six characters in 155 words, one year later.

Website: http://alienterritory.popullus.net
Feedback: winter_baby@mad.scientist.com
Disclaimer: None of them are even close to being mine. All
titles come from McSweeney's list, some with
minor changes. Originally they were *Marcel
Duchamp: The Mix Tape Biography* and *A Year in
Words That Sound Like Pasta Shapes When
Pronounced as Such*. But I like mine better.
Timeline: One year after The Truth.
Author's note: The title challenge, gacked from LJ's sunday100
community. They wanted Buffy drabbles based on
titles from McSweeney's list. I wrote XF in a
series of 155 words. Go figure.


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+ The Mix Tape Biographies: A Year in Words +
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[ Mulder: Sentences I Wish I Hadn't Written ]

Two years later, they come back to him. She printed and kept them
all, every e-mail he'd written her while on the run, each
starting like a love letter but ending on the same note - he's
run away.

He said things like, "Dearest Dana," or "I'm doing this to
protect William," or "It's safer this way."

The e-mails were tucked into her dayplanner, a remnant from
before. The last entry dates a year ago. All it says is "Pick up
groceries."

She comes into their motel room, holding a bag of instant food
and cheap hair dye. She's blonde now, has been for months. He
still can't get used to it.

A car drives by. She tenses, peers out the window cautiously.

"Mulder," she says, "I think it's time we left."

She starts packing quickly, efficiently, from years of practice.

When her back is turned, he throws the e-mails out.

They leave before morning comes.



[ Follmer: Actual Answers to the Question "What or Who is the
Greatest Love of Your Life?" That Were Not, to My Surprise,
"You" ]

Sometimes it's easy to forget, he's killed a man.

The official story said it was in defense of Doggett's life, but
that's only the official story.

Doggett was grateful, enough to lie for him but not enough to
stop sleeping with his ex-girlfriend.

But Monica wasn't a girlfriend, not really.

A year later, he's still AD, overlooked for promotion again but
he's not surprised. A year later, he's still sleeping with a
subordinate but not the one he wants. That doesn't surprise him
either.

He hardly sees Monica, now that she's living with Doggett.
Whenever he does spot her, she's always with him, holding his
hand when she thinks nobody's watching. Calling him "John"
instead of "Agent" during meetings and debriefings.

It's unprofessional, he thinks, but how easily he forgets fucking
her behind closed office doors, years ago.

Monica passes him in the hallway and she smiles at him, briefly.

He doesn't forget, not really.



[ Doggett: Thirteen Fraudulent Martyrs ]

He keeps a list in his head of all the things Mulder and Scully
have given up.

The basement office. Their careers. Their parents. Melissa.
Emily. Samantha. The Lone Gunmen. William.

One last chance at happiness.

For them he investigates every X-file and follows every lead.
He'll find a way to make it safe for them to come home.

Monica says he's working too hard. He kisses her and tells her
it's all right. She says, "Come home," and sometimes he does, but
mostly he tracks down shadow men, uncovers conspiracies,
searches.

He does this for Mulder and Scully, but he's doing it for himself
too. He wants Monica to be safe. He wants whatever children they
have to be safe.

He hasn't told her that part yet.

An anonymous tip leads him to Texas. Monica says, "Come home,"
but there's too much to be done.

He doesn't keep a list of his own sacrifices.



[ Skinner: Spelling Words with "K" ]

She says her name is Katie, her friend's is Kieran. They've had
too much to drink, are holding hands and leaning into him just so
he can see glimpses of soft, round breasts.

They say words like "kiss" and "kneel," but he's not really
listening, not with their hands sliding over his biceps and up
each other's legs.

"FBI," they coo, impressed with his AD status. He pays for their
drinks and all three stumble into his car. For the first time he
thinks there's not enough room in his SUV.

Kieran and Katie, he doesn't remember which is which, call him G-
man as they kiss and kneel. He doesn't bother mentioning he
hasn't been a G-man for at least a year.

Exposing conspiracies while defending a condemned man will do
that to your career.

He tells himself he doesn't need one, not when he's got sex and
booze, Katie and Kieran, kissing and kneeling.



[ Reyes: The Only Thoughts I Remember Crossing My Mind Today ]

She thinks she's losing her mind - misplacing her keys, locking
herself out, missing appointments.

John teases her, calls her scatterbrained and disappears into the
stacks of X-files. He'll make it safe, he says, so that they can
come back. She looks up from her desk and can't understand what
he's fighting for.

She leaves before him, returns to a big empty house, wonders how
living with a man actually means she's living alone.

Eight o'clock, she can't find the remote and instead lies in bed.
She doesn't plan on waiting up for him but knows she will.

Ten forty, all she can think of is how she's lost her favorite
necklace. How she's searched their big empty house. How she can't
remember the last time he kissed her.

Two thirty, his car pulls up. He slides into bed and whispers her
name, wanting her.

She pretends to be sleeping, because she's forgotten how to
answer.



[ Scully: Things I Would Often Think About While at Church ]

She shouldn't be here.

Mulder says having a routine only increases their chances of
getting caught, but he doesn't try to stop her. Besides, she
never goes to the same church twice. Every town it's a different
building, a different pew, a different life she can pretend she's
living.

She could be a schoolteacher, or a nurse. She could be the
farmer's wife who lives on the outskirts, who only comes into
town for Sunday mass. She'd wear light sundresses, tie her fake-
blonde hair in a bun. The townspeople would whisper rumors about
her, but it wouldn't matter because afterwards she'd go home to
her husband, a man of hard work, strong morals, steadfast love.

She can't imagine Mulder as a farmer, but husband is even harder.

The priest recites the Benediction. She leaves before receiving
blessings, returning to Mulder at the motel.

He smiles, kisses her, smells like early mornings and the good
earth.


[ end ]