TITLE: Memory
AUTHOR: stellar_dust
EMAIL: stellar_dust_x@yahoo.com
WEBSITE: http://katycat.net/xfiles/
ARCHIVE/FEEDBACK: Go for it!
SPOILERS: The Truth, I guess
RATING: PG
CHALLENGE: Goodbyes
WORD COUNT: 150. *wails* What's *happening* to 
me? I can't do it anymore!! And I already cut 
this down a lot!
SUMMARY: We never gave Sam a memorial.
DISCLAIMER: Mostly CC's. I reserve the right to 
make up whatever crap I want about Charlie's 
family, though.
DATE: 07/07/2004


Charlie's eldest, David, has been MIA in 
Afghanistan for one year.

Scully and I sneak into the back at the 
memorial, unnoticed for now. There was no 
protest that we stay safely away, no well-
argued objections. We both need this.

I'm resentful, initially, remembering Maggie's 
long-ago haste to bury Dana, contrasting 
Scully's refusal to surrender *me*, even to 
death.

But as I hold tight to Scully, speaking, 
afterward, to Maggie, Charlie, his wife Anne, 
even Bill, I see in their eyes that they 
haven't lost hope. This isn't about that - it's 
about remembering, accepting, and allowing 
themselves to move on.

We never gave Sam a memorial. It strikes me 
that if Mom, Dad, and I had remembered her 
together, even once, how much lighter my life - 
our lives - could have been.

That's when I excuse myself from the Scully 
grief to stand outside in the rain, selfishly, 
with my own.