Chapter Text
She woke up early and double checked each of her boxes. Or more- quadruple checked. She rustled through them one after another, listing out everything she had. The school was only about an hour away from home and she knew that Walter would be more than willing to drive anything that she forgot up to her.
"Clothes, toiletries, hair brush" she muttered to herself as she pulled open each box, "bedding, trinkets, class supplies."
As she reached for her third box she heard her parents door open and the familiar sound of her step father padding toward her across the kitchen floor.
"Hey my little quequeg. Whatcha up to?" He gently pressed his foot into her knee, ensuring that he got her attention.
"Did I wake you? I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't forget anything." Dana looked up at Walter, it was evident that they both had been crying at some point in the near past.
"As if I've been able to sleep." Walter knelt down beside his step daughter and put an arm around her shoulder. She nestled into his side.
"Let's see what we've got here." He said quietly as he began opening her boxes and going through the contents with her.
When they were done, "you're forgetting a few things."
Dana looked up surprised. She had spent so long packing, she was pretty sure that she hadn't left one stone unturned in the house.
Walter smiled down at her and stood up, "be right back."
She waited by her boxes and wondered what the hell it could be.
When he came back to her he had a few parcels in hand. He handed them to her one at a time, "this one is banana bread your mother made for you. Here are your posters you left in the sun room, and finally."
He handed her a small package, wrapped up in paper and a bow.
She smiled at him, "can I open it now or do I have to wait?"
He pretended to turn it over in his mind for a moment before excitedly saying, "open it now."
Dana ripped into the packaging and gasped at the contents. It was the most beautiful version of Moby Dick she'd ever seen.
Walter smiled at the surprised look on his daughter's features, "I figured, it being your favorite and all, it's about time we got you a new one."
Dana was so excited she leaped into her father's arms whispering, "thank you thank you thank you!"
He laughed and hugged her tight, then set her back down beside her things. He watched her pack the book away with her bedding material so that no harm could come to it.
When she was finished repacking and going over her list with Walter they sat down in the dim living room and watched the sun come up together.
Walter kissed Dana's forehead, "the house isn't gonna be the same without you here."
She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, "I'm gonna miss you too dad."
They sat there in silence a moment before they heard creaking from the stairs. As they turned they saw Dana's younger brother Charlie.
"What are you doing up so early?" Dana asked sweetly, "Shouldn't you be resting up for your first day of highschool?"
Charlie shook his head and crawled into the seat next to Dana, "My school doesn't start as early as yours does. I've still got a week of summer left."
Dana pulled her brother into her lap. She was impressed that he allowed her to do it, usually she was named the cootie queen and escaped from at all costs.
He looked up at his big sister and his eyes began to water, "Please don't go." He said in a small voice that broke her heart.
"Ooh baby, I wish I could stay here with you. But your sis has got to get out there and become a big bad medical doctor." Dana wanted to cry, but she figured that if she could get him to laugh it might ease the pain that she felt a bit.
Charlie gave a small smile.
"Your words, not mine." Walter said putting his hands innocently into the air.
She laughed.
She thought back to when her siblings had gone off to college. Melissa had gone for a communications major, Scully never understood why. Bill Jr. had joined the ROTC and soon decided that he was going to follow his late father into the navy life.
"Good morning my loves." Her mother's voice came floating out of the hallway.
"Morning!" They all called back.
Maggie walked into the room with her hand on her hip, "are we having a family meeting without mom?"
Dana shook her head and, after shifting her brother to Walter's lap, sprung up from the couch and ran to her mother, catching her in a hug.
"Ooh. My baby girl's all grown up!" Maggie hugged her daughter tight. "Are you ready? Have you got everything packed?" She still held Dana in her arms, but had allowed enough lack in her grasp so they could look at each other, she tucked a peice of bright red hair behind Dana's ear, revealing her full face to the world in the way only a mother can.
"That's what we were just doing actually." Walter joined in from the couch. "It seems like she's got everything."
"The posters that were sitting in the sun room?" Maggie asked. Then when both nodded, "the banana bread? Oh Walter- your gift to her?"
"Already taken care of." He said with a smile.
~~~
It was a few hours before they got everything packed into the car and drove to the school. When they arrived it was bustling with incoming students. They got into line to unpack the car and get a cart for all the stuff to be transported to her new dorm room. Dana got out of the car to go check in, her mother at her side. She approached the bench where volunteers were set up to help the newcomers find their way.
"Name?" The girl said as she walked up.
Dana suddenly felt sick, this whole thing was really happening. She was really moving away from home.
"Name?" The girl repeated, kindly but with an air of urgency.
"Oh. Sorry. Dana Scully."
The girl looked through the list, "Aha! Here you are." She pulled one of the envelopes from the box marked 'O-Z'. "Okay," she opened the envelope and began to pull out papers and cards, "this is a map of campus, its probably a good idea to spend some time in the welcome days and find your classrooms and find your way around campus. Here is your key card, it allows you access to your room, dining halls, and any meal plan snack money you have. If you lose it the cost to replace it is $45, but if you lock it in your room, as everyone does at least a few times, then you can get a temp key. The first three temp keys are free and after that they're $5. Here is your bus pass, you can use it for the campus bus and any other bus that has an on campus stop. The names of the bus systems are listed on this page. Your dorm information is on this page here. If you have any questions feel free to ask someone wearing a volunteer shirt!"
Dana stood there for a moment unsure what to do. Maggie grabbed the papers from the girl and lead her daughter back to the car.
"Are you alright? Dana. Are you okay?" Maggie was concerned, and given Walter's reaction when they got back to the car Dana was probably white as a sheet.
"I'm fine. I'm fine." She said as she shoved herself into the back seat. "It's just... All a bit much."
Maggie put her hand on Dana's knee. "It's going to be alright sweetheart."
Dana nodded and looked out the window. The campus was teeming with outgoing extroverted girls amid tall gangly boys all being loud and obnoxious. She wanted to go home. Instead she looked at her dorm information. She was roomed with a girl named Diana Fowley. Her dorm was 200 square feet with a shared bathroom and showers on the floor.
As they reached the front of the line a few volunteers helped Dana, Maggie, and Charlie unload the car and place all of Dana's belongings into a black fabric cart. They told Walter where to park and Dana told him the name of her dorm and gave him the campus map.
They followed the volunteers through campus and to the dorm. The girls who were helping them all chatted eagerly with Maggie while Dana and Charlie hung back a bit, staying just out of reach of the conversation.
Dana looked around, she had only been on campus once before for a new student welcome day a few weeks prior. Already though everything looked different and new. She held Charlie's hand while they walked, under the premise of not wanting him to get lost in the crowd, but really she just needed the security.
When they arrived to her dorm she used her key card to unlock the room. It was evident that her roomate had not arrived yet as the room was nearly empty. In the entrance there were two doors oposite each other, leading to closests just big enough to stand in while changing. Two identical beds lined the walls through the entryway. At the foot of one was a bookshelf, the other had the mini-fridge/microwave combo. After that the desks filled the rest of the room to the other wall.
They dumped all of her stuff onto the bed preceding the bookshelf and the girls walked the cart back to the line. When they were gone the room was silent for a moment. The only sounds were those of other girls moving into rooms surrounding them. Dana took a deep breath. The room was suffocatingly hot. She walked over to the window and cranked it open. The fresh summer breeze filled the room and gave her new hope for this endeavour. She turned back to her mom, a smile on her face, "I could live here."
Maggie smiled and hugged her daughter, "that's my girl."
By the time Walter had found the room Maggie and Dana had unpacked most of her stuff.
"Where's your roommate?" Walter asked as he saw the empty half of the room.
Dana shrugged, "I think that she has the later move in time."
Walter nodded and helped her hang up the rest of her clothes in the closet that was at the head of the bed that she had chosen.
As she was putting in the final touches on her side of the room her new roommate arrived with her mother and another round of volunteers.
They all introduced themselves and had a small discussion before Maggie suggested that they go get lunch and allow Diana to unpack in peace.