Title: TQL: Starlight Author: Susan E-mail: touchstone98@tx.rr.com Classification: 14th in an occasional series Archive: No archive without permission. Disclaimer: These characters belong to each other, not me. You can read the entire This Quiet Life series here: http://possibilities.bravehost.com/ThisQuietLife.html Summary: Sometimes at night, he thinks about her. ********************************************************* Starlight by Susan ~~~~ Sometimes at night, when the house is quiet, and his wife's asleep beside him, he thinks about her. It's been over fifty years now since she was taken, and though the sadness and guilt he used to carry with him has all but disappeared, sometimes he simply needs to remember what a great little sister she was. He didn't always treat her very nicely, doing all the obnoxious things that older brothers do, but during the short time they had together, he loved her, and contrary to what he told his buddies, he actually *liked* her too. She was a smart one, his sister, and they often played games that would've been much too complex for other kids their age. And when it came to riding bikes, Samantha could "pop a wheelie" with the best of them. She was good at baseball too, often tagging along with him for weekend pickup games down at the park and playing any position his friends would stick her in without complaining. Along with their penchant for the same games and sports, they also both liked school, and he can remember many a night spent sitting at the kitchen table doing their homework together. Tonight as he climbs out of bed, walks over to the window, and looks out at the sky, he thinks about all the nights the two of them used to spend outside watching the stars. He was always amazed by just how many of them there were out there, and he often wondered what it would be like to see one up close, while Samantha was more interested in trying to find all the constellations. At the time, she was never able to see any of the more detailed constellations, instead only occasionally seeing the Big Dipper when the sky was clear. But that didn't stop her from looking even harder for them, and he liked that about her. She was persistent, his sister, and she was stubborn and funny and independent and sometimes so much like him it was scary. But he loved her, and though she's been dead for years now, he loves her still and takes comfort in the fact that she's among the same stars she used to enjoy so much. "You okay, Mulder?" his wife softly calls out to him from the bed. "Go back to sleep, Scully," he replies, not taking his eyes off the stars outside. The bed creaks, the blankets shift as she sits up and puts her slippers on. "You should know by now that I can't sleep unless you're snoring right next to me," she teases, walking over to the window and standing beside him. He smiles at her disheveled hair, her half buttoned pajama top, and the white fuzzy slippers on her feet, then puts his arm around her. She slips her arms around his waist and looks out the window too at the clear night sky. "You're thinking about your sister, aren't you?" "I know it's been over fifty years now, but sometimes I just need to remember, you know," he says quietly, pressing a quick kiss to her hair. She thinks about her own losses: her father, Emily, Melissa, and more recently, her mother, and she understands exactly how he feels. And exactly what he needs. Looking up at him, she places her hand on his chest right over his heart and whispers, "Yes, I do know." He kisses her again, this time on the lips, then looks out the window up at the Big Dipper. And he smiles. "Let's go to bed, Scully," he says, dropping his arm from her shoulder and holding out his hand. "Okay," she says as she laces her fingers through his. "But only if you promise to snore." He looks down at the wonderful woman beside him and squeezes her hand, then quietly leads her across the room back to their bed. Nothing else needs to be said. ~end~ possibilities http://possibilities.bravehost.com/ Originally posted September 2004.