Main | Fanfic | Whole New World Index | New Stories Romantic Interlude(series 2 in the "A Whole New World" chronicles)FEEDBACK - Oh Yes Please -You can email us docwho2000@hotmail.com authors: docwho2100 and ellie no name (docwho2000@hotmail.com) Authors' notes: Character thoughts appear between ~ ~ symbols This is part of the A Whole New World Chronicles. Check out older chapters at http://home.comcast.net/~jstratton1/storywebsite/wholenewworld/index.htm Consensual relationship depicted between adult women in this story. If you have a problem with that or are under 18 please do not read.
Kate's Place, Sunday, sometime past midnight --------- Dana shifted nervously on the couch as she looked around the apartment. Kate had told her to make herself at home as she went to get them something to drink. The redhead was still amazed how different the room she had just been in was from the rest of the apartment. She rubbed her hands on her jeans as she waited for Kate. Returning with water, Kate frowned as she sat down, noting Dana's nervousness, "I didn't mean to push the 3rd degree... we can talk about something else if you'd rather..." "What?" Dana looked up sharply having been deep in her thoughts. She smiled as she took the offered water. "Um you weren't pushing. I am the one who said ask away. I'm, I'm not that great at small talk and certain situations. I've not had much practice." She sighed at her admission. "I'm still giving you the chance to retract that offer," Kate said softly. "And small talk is generally over-rated." "I'm still not exactly certain what the offer is," Dana settled back into the couch some. "I mean, I'm not exactly sure what you would like to know. That you see is where the small talk part comes in. I am so used to conducting conversations as part of an interview or investigation, I think my casual interaction ends up sounding as professional as those sessions." Dana closed her eyes briefly as she realized how true that was and how it had become even more apparent the last few years. "You've been doing wonderfully so far," Kate smiled, hoping that Dana could find some reassurance there. "You mentioned that your work had a tendency to take over everything else in your life..." She glanced up from her glass for a moment catching Kate's eyes before looking back at her water. "Yes, well, I always knew certain professions spill over from the normal 9 to 5 concept. I had expected that going through medical school and the academy training and from home life growing up... but I really was treated to that reality about 9 or so years ago." She paused a little, "What about what you do, do you manage to keep things separate?" "You saw my art. They carry over a lot, but not in a way that I don't like. I doubt I'd be as successful if it weren't for that overlap," Kate said. "Successful, what do you mean by that concept?" Dana started to put the glass down on the small table but then hesitated, "Is it ok to set this here?" "You're good," Kate nodded. "I get paid doing what I enjoy, for the most part, and I have enough to live in my comfort zone. I mean, isn't that some part of the American dream?" Kate asked, sipping her own water and setting it down before leaning sideways against the back of the couch. "It is the dream for some," Dana smiled at Kate having watched her movements. "And I do enjoy in many ways what I did, what I do. That's the only reason I am here now. I mean rather than walking away like some, or being carted out in a body bag like others." She blinked as the memories and loss of so many worked its way through her mind. "Although to try and even begin to have predicted the pathway I have traveled, I still know I do not know everything." She paused trying to decide where even to begin. "What made you decide to go into the FBI in the first place?" Kate asked, easily picking up on Dana's indecisiveness. Dana chuckled some at the question. "Well other than a complex about fulfilling a father's dream, which I will leave to another time." Dana managed, she hoped, to keep the brief frown at her comment from her face. "I found as I was going through school that the Bureau, well law enforcement in general, held the right combination to mix with my medical training. Although my brother often accused me of being a closet feminist and this was a way to rebel." "That the only thing you were closeted about?" Kate could help but ask, a teasing tone obvious. Dana held Kate's gaze, the teasing lilt to the question the only thing keeping the agent from blushing. "There are a number of things about me that only a lucky few find out." She dropped her eyes then as she picked her water back up. "But I felt by becoming an agent, I could make more of a difference. Something I sometimes lost track of, one of the reasons why I am here." "Lost track?" Kate asked, watching the redhead's movements for more signs of her nerves. "A lot of the things I took, well take, for granted are not always as steadfast and sure as I thought. I still have a tendency to..." She twisted her glass in her hands some, "Trust is something I have found I do not really give as easily as I use to. My perspective, approach to life," She paused long enough to look up at Kate, "Even my beliefs were tested, warped and either taken from me or changed as a result of my job. So yes, sometimes I lost track of myself, why I was here, what I wanted. I still am not sure if I've truly found my way back on track." "What did you want when you started?" Kate asked, unable to come up with a good response to Dana's comment. "To be the best damn agent in the field." Dana laughed at that as she took another drink before setting the glass back down. "When I was brought into the FBI, my scientific and medical training and approach were continually highlighted as some of my best attributes. I found out later that was more to push me to use those 'talents' to discredit my partner and the work he was trying to accomplish." She gave an ironic laugh. "I was brought in to scientifically deconstruct a person's dreams." "And did you?" Kate asked, though the Dana she'd been getting to know certainly wouldn't have. She leaned back against the couch, rubbing her hands some on her upper legs as she settled. "Sometimes, yes, I did. Many times he really did need to have a point of order in his conspiracy and myth driven world. I played in a weird sense straight man to his overly paranormal shtick. I was the skeptic who was to bring down the X-files or at least be enough of a burden to make Mulder ineffective." It had been so long since Dana had tried voicing these thoughts that she found it cathartic in a sense. "Turns out a lot of Mulder's ghost stories had no scientific explanation, weren't just the equivalent of smoke and mirrors. The person, me, they hoped would be thorn in his side ended up being more of a thorn in their side." she made a face then, folding her hands together, her voice softer, "So yes, sometimes I think I did stomp all over dreams. Have you ever had your dreams stomped?" She knew that did not sound quite right but she also was having a hard time keeping from becoming buried by the past. "A couple of times," Kate nodded, wondering just what the 'X-files' were, but waiting to see if Dana would explain without the prompting. Dana looked down at her hands. "Hhow did you react to the person who did that, who denied those dreams? Did you ever get those dreams back?" "I got them back," Kate nodded. "I used to hate them, but... I guess that, looking back, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am now if they hadn't stepped in," Kate explained. The redhead nodded as she pressed her thumbs together, her eyes focused on her actions. "I don't think he ever really hated me. Sometimes didn't trust me, did not understand me or why I did what I did and often disagreed even argued with me. But he was, is, one of my closest friends. I hope he doesn't hate me and that he... well, he still chases his dreams even though he found a lot of the answers he always believed existed. Answers that ended up blurring the lines between my professional and personal life." "Would you take it back?" Kate asked, trying to get a look at Dana's face in hopes of reading it. The question took the woman by surprise. "Take it back..." She looked up a humorless laugh leaking out. "I am not sure I can really answer that... I used my training to do my job. I followed what I believed even when what I believed was false. We helped so many, not sure I could take back the pain without losing that aspect. And that is what I want to do... help." "I can respect that," Kate nodded. "Really?" Dana smiled a little. "That doesn't seem like a cop out answer to you?" Kate shrugged, "Some times so much of who were are relies on something in the past too much to imagine what would've happened otherwise." "I think I can safely say that describes me." Dana shifted on the couch some and finally leaned forward to grab her water. "And the key is once we've gone through that trial by fire, do we like where we are now. And before you ask, I can not answer that question yet, but I know this is definitely a different place from where I have been." "So, what were these X-files that you worked on with... what was his name?" Kate asked. "They are the cases that the Bureau likes to bury, very deep." Dana gave Kate a wry smile. "The unexplained, unsolved, unwelcome cases that often defy normal procedure and produce embarrassment. Fox Mulder was one of the few who believed these cases could be solved, you just had to think outside of the standard box that most live in." "Things like what let us to meet each other?" Kate asked, curious. "Yes, it seems New Gotham has its share of X-files. From a musty basement to a dusty field office; seems I can not escape certain things even here." Dana finished her water and placed the empty glass back on the table. Kate nodded, resisting the urge to ask just what kind of crazy things Dana had come to believe. "I'm not sure I am really answering your question." Dana said after a moment breaking the long silence. "So much happened, a lot of things I didn't and still don't understand. I tend not to talk about my work because people either would think I was being a smartass or I was delusional. So in fear of boring people or banding myself a lunatic I tend to keep silent, hence I have not had much practice really talking about things." "You know I'm not going to call you a lunatic," Kate said, placing a hand on Dana's thigh in hopes of reassuring her. Looking down at the contact, Dana found the touch to be comforting. A gesture that reinforced the brunette's words as most people at this point would be moving away from the agent. Almost as if to make sure the other woman really was there, Dana slowly slid her hand over Kate's. "You say that before I have really said anything. Are you sure you are not just humoring the slightly depressed redhead?" "Meta-humans. If I can believe that..." Kate trailed off. "Yes, I am still trying to understand that concept myself. Although I think, I think I may have encountered metahumans before. Tooms for instance, maybe that explains his abilities." She squeezed Kate's hand. "Are you ok?" She asked having caught how Kate seemed hesitant. "I'm curious," Kate admitted. Curious as to what Dana had accepted, what she might accept. "Curious about the people who kidnapped you or curious about the cases I have worked?" She shifted then so she could settle back against the couch needing the support as she stifled a yawn. Even as she moved, she kept her hand on Kate's liking the contact. "The cases, well there are so many. I could go on for many hours just trying to cover the basics. But if I now know that aliens exist, I encountered ghosts, that we chased serial killers whose sprees spanned decades and centuries, that I..." Dana paused feeling almost silly, "That I had a son whose genetic makeup is not entirely human. Then maybe believing in the concept of metahumans is not such a hard thing for me to accept." "You have a son?" Kate asked, catching the rest, but finding that to be more important. "I..." Scully swallowed hard feeling her throat constrict as she thought about William. "I do. I..." She paused again her gaze falling to focus on the couch. "I gave him up for adoption, to protect him." contact: docwho2000@hotmail.com page last modified - February 15, 2007 graphics from www.eosdev.com |