Work Text:
202-555-6431
DANA SCULLY
MARBLE HOUSE, GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON DC
5:57pm
…
818-923-7562
MELISSA SCULLY
ROOM 398
HOPTON HOTEL, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
2:57pm
Transcript of a telephone conversation between Dana Scully and Melissa Scully.
DANA SCULLY: Hey, remember the request I sent off to finally become a field agent?
MELISSA SCULLY: Yes?
DANA SCULLY: It got approved. I’m officially a field agent now.
MELISSA SCULLY: Oh shit! I’m really happy for you, Dana. So where are you now? Do you get to, like, investigate the cool cases?
DANA SCULLY: *Laughs*. They’re kinda cool. No, I’ve been assigned to a relatively obscure department.
…
DANA SCULLY: I investigate unexplained phenomena. They call the department The X-Files; it’s mostly unsolved cases. It consists of one man- and me, now, I suppose.
MELISSA SCULLY: You believe in aliens now or something?
DANA SCULLY: You know I’ve always thought there were other life forms out there. Anyway, I got assigned there to debunk him actually.
MELISSA SCULLY: So what about the guy? Is he old? I’m picturing some crazy old man with white hair. Last I remember that was your type.
DANA SCULLY: Shut up.
MELISSA SCULLY: *Laughs*.
DANA SCULLY: No he isn’t old. He’s actually really nice. His name is Mulder, I knew about him already- he has a reputation and people used to talk about him when I was in the academy.
MELISSA SCULLY: Really? What did they say?
DANA SCULLY: That he was the best profiler. They called him Spooky for how accurately he could analyse serial killers and the like then one day he sorta just lost it and they started calling him Spooky for other reasons.
MELISSA SCULLY: And what do you think?
…
…
…
DANA SCULLY: I think he’s hurting. I think he has some real trauma but no one would listen to him.
MELISSA SCULLY: And you want to fix him?
DANA SCULLY: No I…It doesn’t matter what I want. I’m just there to add scientific proof to his claims. It’ll be a short assignment, they’re just testing me.
MELISSA SCULLY: So what of your case? Can you even tell me about it or is it top secret?
DANA SCULLY: I don’t think anything I do is top secret. *Laughs*. No, I don’t even know how to begin explaining it. When…when are you next in town? I could meet you, tell you all about it then?
…
MELISSA SCULLY: I dunno Dana, me and Dad still aren’t speaking. I’d love to see you, of course, but Mom will probably find out and Mom will tell Dad and then I’ll get a phone call asking me why I didn’t see them and why I don’t bother visiting the rest of my family, like what I’m doing travelling is any different to what Billy is doing. What about you? You and Dad getting along any better?
DANA SCULLY: Sort of. We kinda just ignore the elephant in the room.
MELISSA SCULLY: He’s such an asshole.
DANA SCULLY: Hey!
MELISSA SCULLY: I’m sorry, I just don’t have the same relationship that you do with Dad or even Mom. I’ll tell you what. You get a case that ever brings you to Cali and maybe we can bump into each other on the street. How’s that sound?
DANA SCULLY: There’s nothing I can do that’ll bring you home?
MELISSA SCULLY: You could die. I think your funeral, out of everyone’s, would probably be the one to get me back.
DANA SCULLY: Wow I feel so privileged.
MELISSA SCULLY: But hey, we can talk on the phone any time. That’s what they invented these things for.
DANA SCULLY: Yes but it’s not the same. *Sigh*. I should probably go anyway. I need to make dinner and shower.
MELISSA SCULLY: Yeah, Marcus is glaring at me because he wants to go out.
DANA SCULLY: Who the fuck is Marcus?
MELISSA SCULLY: My boyfriend.
DANA SCULLY: I thought Tony was your boyfriend. I thought that’s who you travelled over there with?
MELISSA SCULLY: Pah! Tony’s gone. Turns out he’s a dick.
DANA SCULLY: Melissa, are you taking your medication?
MELISSA SCULLY: Yes, Dr Scully, everyday. You know, bipolar or no bipolar I still get bored. Anyway, I gotta go. Speak to you soon. I love you, my favourite family member.
DANA SCULLY: I love you too.
Melissa is the one who hangs up. Scully holds the phone to her ear, trying to savour the echo of Missy’s voice through the phone, a longing to see her in person, like she’s 12 again and she woke up to find Melissa had vanished, a run away, eight days of wondering where she could be and why she hadn’t taken Dana with her.
She’s about to put the phone down when she hears two low, faint clicks.
“Melissa?” She asks, maybe her sister hadn’t hung up after all.
There is nothing but the dull dial tone sounding in her ear. Scully places the receiver down and walks over to her blinds, preparing to shut them. As she peers out she watches an unmarked grey van pull off the curb and disappear down the road.
She frowns, finding herself pulling the blind strings down quicker than she usually does.
It’s nothing, she tells herself. Just the wiring in the telephone, a van fixing a lamppost.
Yet as she goes on about her night, she can’t shake the feeling of eyes watching her and ears listening in.