Title: Where Have all the Happily Ever 
Afters Gone?
Author: Gillian Taylor
Email: usstrustno1@hotmail.com 
Rating: PG-13
Category: V, R, A
Spoilers: Requiem 
Keywords: Implied MSR, Scully Angst 
Summary: Once upon a time...

Archive: Gossamer, Ephemeral, anywhere. 
Just drop me a line so I can visit and get a 
cheap thrill out of having my story up 
somewhere where it can be appreciated. 

Disclaimer: Sadly, I can lay no claim to the 
characters from the X-Files. If I could, I 
would die a happy woman. Mulder, Scully, 
and Doggett belong to Ten Thirteen 
Productions and I'm only borrowing them for 
my own perverse enjoyment.

Author's notes: Thanks, as usual, go to my 
beta, Crysta. 


"Where Have all the Happily Ever Afters 
Gone?"
by Gillian Taylor

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, 
a man met a woman in a dark basement and 
nothing would ever be the same again. Years 
passed by them both, solidifying a bond that 
was beyond anything that either had 
experienced before. Comprised of equal 
parts of love, trust, faith, and belief it 
withstood trials that would bring a lesser 
bond to its knees. And then...one part of 
that same bond disappeared and the woman was 
left to fend for herself. And in that 
moment, her world cried out in one voice: 
Where have all the happily ever afters gone?

******

Pink laces, faery castles, and shining 
knights on white horses - these were the 
things that roamed through a young Dana 
Scully's mind. Now, as the years have worn 
on, those childhood fantasies had 
disappeared to be replaced by the harsh 
realities of an adult world. However, the 
child inside of her continued to believe 
that no matter how long it would take, a 
happily ever after awaited her at the end of 
the road.

Now, that previously unshakable belief had 
been shattered. Long nights had passed with 
no leads, and she had been forced to put her 
search for Mulder aside to take on other 
cases with her new partner. There were no 
happily ever afters for Dana Scully now. 
Instead there were early morning trips to 
the restroom and the pain from surviving 
solely on memories.

Tears burned her eyes and her throat as she 
stared at the lone photo that rested upon 
the soft swell of her pregnant stomach, but 
nothing fell from her crystalline eyes. She 
was hollow, for the best half of her was 
gone. Now, all that remained of him was a 
memory, and a well-worn photograph. To her, 
the photo showed with precision the dynamic 
between herself and her former partner. She 
was staring intently at him, her face 
wearing that skeptical amused expression 
that she affected so well while he was 
leaning over her, telling her about some 
paranormal theory that could explain what 
had happened at the crime scene. A fond 
smile touched her lips as she traced his 
frame with a finger, in that moment reliving 
her years at his side and missing him more 
than ever. A tear blurred his features, its 
owner unable to keep up the fragile control 
any more.

It had been five months, five long months of 
wonder at the life that she carried within 
her and sadness that he would not be able to 
experience that same wonder with her. He 
was gone; whisked away from her and their 
baby by the whims of the dying remnants of 
the Consortium. There was a time, months 
ago, that she waited deep in the forest from 
where he had disappeared, intent on waiting 
for him. However, Skinner had brought her 
back with a fervent promise that he would do 
all that he could to find Mulder and bring 
him home.

Chasing futile lead after futile lead had 
worn her down, convincing her more than ever 
that he was gone. Day to day life was only 
worth it for the sake of the child that she 
carried within her being, someone that she 
had already grown to love unconditionally. 
She was a mother to be, but instead of pre-
natal parties and shopping sprees she 
scanned tabloids in her darkened apartment 
for any lead that might lead her back to 
him. 

Futility screamed through her soul, and she 
allowed a single tear to fall, blurring his 
familiar features even more. 'Mulder.' It 
was a breath, a word that her soul keened 
with the voice of her Irish ancestors; it 
was someone and something that she would 
never have again. The pregnant woman heaved 
a little as she struggled to contain the 
grief that she had worn like a cloak since 
he had disappeared.

And now, all she could wonder both aloud and 
deep within her was 'Where have all the 
happily ever afters gone?'

If only she could find them again.

Scully had found some solace in her work, 
though her every breath screamed at her that 
it was not Doggett that should be at her 
side but Mulder. 'Mulder...' she thought 
again, and her hands clenched at her sides 
in unconscious longing.

She stood abruptly, and the photograph 
fluttered to the ground. His face seemed to 
stare at her accusingly, though in the 
photograph he was staring intently at the 
'Scully' of two years ago. The red haired 
woman closed her eyes against the harsh burn 
of the tears that had never truly left her. 

Futility had set up a permanent residence 
within her, though she had fought against 
its onset. She had tried. She had tried 
all that she could to find him, to bring him 
home. But even her best was unable to find 
where he had gone or to set into motion the 
steps that would bring him back to her arms 
where he belonged. 

She stepped away from the photograph and his 
burning, beloved hazel eyes to stare into 
the frosty Washington night. However, deep 
within her, something had begun to harden 
and to grow. It was determination, 
something that she had not realized that she 
had lost. Her hand caressed the mound that 
housed her unborn child and she spoke softly 
to it and to the night, "I won't stop 
looking for you, Mulder...and we'll make 
that happily ever after come true. We have 
to. We need to...I need you to." 

The woman's breath caught in her throat as 
she rested her head against the cold 
windowpane. "I need my happily ever 
after..."

And she would do all that she could to find 
it.

***

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, 
a man met a woman in a dark basement and 
nothing would ever be the same again. Years 
passed by them both, solidifying a bond that 
was beyond anything that either had 
experienced before. Comprised of equal 
parts of love, trust, faith, and belief it 
withstood trials that would bring a lesser 
bond to its knees. And then...one part of 
that same bond disappeared and the woman was 
left to fend for herself. Though she was 
torn between depression and exultation over 
the precious gift that he had left behind, 
she made a vow to herself and to her unborn. 
There would be a happily ever after for them 
some day. She would make it happen.