Title: TQL: A Good Man
Author: Susan  
E-mail: touchstone98@tx.rr.com 
Classification: 18th in an occasional series
Keywords: character death (not Mulder or Scully)
Spoilers: brief references to various episodes
from seasons three through seven
Archive: No archive without permission.  
Disclaimer: These characters belong to each other,  
not me.  

Author's notes at the end.

You can read the entire This Quiet Life series 
here: http://possibilities.bravehost.com/ThisQuietLife.html  
  
Summary: A tribute to a friend.
*************************************************************  

A Good Man
by Susan
~~~~

When the phone rings this morning, he expects it 
to be Scully calling from the grocery store wanting 
him to check the refrigerator to see if they have
enough milk for the rest of the week or if she 
needs to buy some.

It isn't.

Instead it's a call from a different woman, a 
woman he hasn't spoken to in nearly thirty years. 
Her voice is soft, so soft he can barely hear her, 
and she tells him something he doesn't want to 
believe.

His friend is dead.

"He died peacefully in his sleep two days ago," 
she whispers.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he bites his lip and 
tries to recall the last time they'd spoken on
the phone and how happy he sounded when he told
him about all the things he'd been doing since
his retirement.

"Are you alright?" he asks, though he already 
knows that she isn't. "Is there anything Scully 
and I can do to help?"

There's silence on the other end of the line, and 
then an answer. 

"The funeral's on Thursday," she replies quietly, 
"And it would mean so much if you could come," 
she says, trying to stifle a sniffle. "Walter 
always thought so highly of you and Agent Scully, 
and having you there would just be..."

"We'll be there," he says without hesitation, 
closing his eyes again and remembering all the 
times that Skinner was there for them.

Meeting with them at a roadside diner in the 
middle of nowhere and offering to turn in state's 
evidence and testify on their behalf.

Making a deal with the devil in exchange for a 
cure for Scully's cancer.

Giving them access to proof about the existence 
of extraterrestrials and risking his own career 
in the process.

Being there over and over again for Scully all 
the times he couldn't be.

"We'll be there, Sharon," he says again. "Just 
tell us when and where."

~~~~

He doesn't want to call Scully on the phone. He 
can't tell her news like this while she's standing 
in the checkout line at the Thrifty Mart.

And so he sits in his rocking chair on the porch 
and waits.

And he thinks again of his friend.

There was so much tension between them over the
years, so many times when they disagreed with 
each other and pissed each other off, yet they 
shared a trust and respect that meant more to 
him than he could ever express.

And then there were the lighter moments they 
shared, the times that make him smile, even now,
all these years later.

Standing in his office explaining how Leonard 
Betts could walk out of the morgue without a 
head.

Calling him from Kroner, Kansas in the middle 
of the night to tell him that a dead cow dropped 
through the ceiling into his motel room and that 
he'd have to share a room with Scully.

Explaining the group of vampires living in Chaney,
Texas, Sheriff Hartwell, and the part about the
buck teeth.

And the bubble bath in Hollywood.

The thought of his boss sitting in a bubble bath
sipping champagne while talking to him on the 
phone still makes him chuckle even after all this 
time.

He never did tell him that he was doing the exact 
same thing while talking on the phone with Scully.

Then again, there were many things he never told
him about, just as he was sure there were many 
things Skinner protected him from.

Yes, Walter S. Skinner was a good boss, but more 
importantly, he was a good man. 

A good man that he was proud to call his friend.

And *that* is what he'll remember and what he 
and Scully will reminisce about when she comes 
home from the store.

Wiping the dampness from beneath his eyes, he 
leans back in his rocking chair and waits for  
her, letting the cool morning breeze wash over 
his face.

And he grieves.


~end~

*Although he started out as someone who always
stood on the fence with regards to Mulder and
Scully and their actions, Skinner really came 
through for them during the later years of the
show and ended up being one of their most trusted 
friends...and in my book, that makes him a very 
"good man".:)


possibilities
http://possibilities.bravehost.com/


Originally posted May 2005.