Summary: First impressions are everything. Marita, Herrenvolk, PG.

TITLE: Meeting Mulder (1 of 1)
AUTHOR: Rhetta
RATING: PG
CLASSIFICATION: Vignette; Marita POV
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just let me know.
FEEDBACK: rhoannan@attbi.com
SPOILERS: 'Herrenvolk'
DISCLAIMER: Mulder and Marita aren't mine. They, and the
rest of The X-Files, belong to Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox.
You'd think they would treat them a little nicer. I sure would.
SUMMARY: First impressions are everything.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written for the After The Fact 'Herrenvolk'
Episode Challenge.


**********

First impressions are everything.

Everything you need to set the tone of a friendship or to lay the
foundations for a relationship begins right in that first moment.
In that first meeting the potentials and possibilities of what that
person may come to mean to you or you to them are endless.

It can also give you everything you need to destroy them. If you
know where to look.

When I first set eyes on Fox Mulder it was plain to see that it
wouldn't take much to destroy him. He was already so close to the
edge. Almost anything could push him over. His raw grief and
overwhelming sense of hopelessness was impossible to hide. It
practically radiated out of him.

From what I hear there's not much more they can take from him.
Not much more that he has left to lose.

Except his partner. And his hope.

They'll take those next.

But I'm sure he knows this. He's a smart man. I'm sure he also
knows that when it comes down to it there's nothing he can do to
stop them.

I almost feel sorry for him. For both of them.

But it's not like any of us have a say in this. Everyone's choices
were made for them long ago. No matter what Mulder with his noble
quest for the truth might think, we all have a role to play here.
They are no 'good guys' or 'bad guys.' Not anymore.

Just the living and the dead.

I remember telling Mulder that not everything dies. What I didn't
tell him is what you sometimes have to do to keep from dying.

Frankly, I don't even like to tell myself.

END