TITLE: Defining Moments (1 of 1)
AUTHOR: Rhetta
RATING: PG
CLASSIFICATION: Vignette
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just let me know.
FEEDBACK: pindaran@hotmail.com
SPOILERS: 'Pilot'
DISCLAIMER: Mulder, Scully, and The X-Files aren't mine. They
belong to Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox. You'd think they would
treat them a little nicer. I sure would.
SUMMARY: Everyone's life is made up of defining moments.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written for the After The Fact 'Pilot' Episode
Challenge.

**********

Everyone's life is made up of defining moments. A collection of
events that change the way you see the world and the way you see
yourself.

I'm not the same person I was when my sister disappeared or when I
first discovered the X-Files. I know what it feels like to lose the
thing you value most and to see things that have no rational
explanation. If my sister hadn't been taken would I have been so
quick to believe in the unbelievable? In the things I've seen?

The truth is I don't know.

I like to think I would have had an open mind but the simple fact is
that the person I might have been is as much a mystery to me as any
of the cases I've found in the X-Files.

The thing about defining moments is you never really know you're in
the middle of one until it's too late to do anything.

If I'd have known that night my sister was taken that I'd never see
her again I would have done things differently. I would have
tried to hide her. Told her I loved her. Made her smile. Hell, I
would have let her watch that stupid movie. Instead I yelled that I
wanted her out of my life.

Now finding her is my life.

The X-Files gave me hope that I could find her. If all the things
I've witnessed are possible than it's possible that she might be out
there somewhere. Alive and waiting for me.

I feel my new partner is another defining moment.

When we first met I tried my best to tick her off. I was cocky,
sarcastic, and condescending. I even annoyed myself. But she didn't
run for the hills or tell me exactly what she thought of my attitude.
She just took me as a challenge. I could see it in her eyes.

She was going to prove to me how good she was whether I liked it or
not.

I've been sitting on my couch since we got back from Oregon thinking
about that. I know I should be unraveling the mystery of Billy Miles
and the missing case file. All I can think about though is when I first
shook her hand, or that smug smile she wore on the way to Bellefleur
while discussing the evidence, or even the look of fear in her eyes
when she knocked on my door that night when the power went off. And I
know I'll never think of mosquitoes the same way again.

But the one moment that sticks out above all the others isn't the
first meeting or any of those other events.

It's the look she gave me in the cemetery.

It only lasted a moment and I knew at the time that she'd rationalize
it to death later, but for one brief moment in time Scully believed.
She believed that something so wholly unscientific might actually
be possible. I could see her working out the possibilities in her
head. And in that defining moment everything changed. I knew right
then that I could reach her. I could make her believe, if only for
a split second.

Knowing that I had that power felt good. Who am I kidding? It felt
great.

I realize I'm going to have to work for it. She's going to fight me
every step of the way. She'll need proof. Lots of proof. Her
scientific mind won't be swayed without it.

But if I can make her believe once, I can do it again.

Maybe that's the defining moment here. Not that I made her believe,
but that I want to make her believe again.

Almost as much as I want to find my sister alive and waiting for me.