TITLE: "Orchid"
AUTHOR: Kirsten Kerkhof * kirsten_xf@yahoo.com
CLASSIFICATION: Mulder-Scully Friendship
KEYWORDS: A S
SPOILERS: None
SUMMARY: Mulder finds his way. Character death.
RATING: G
DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
ARCHIVING: Anywhere. Just keep my name and e-mail 
addy attached and let me know where it went.
NOTE: My very first short story, dating all the 
way back to 1997. Still thought I share it with 
you as it's not that bad ...

XxXxX

Fox Mulder walked seemingly aimlessly 
through the streets of Washington DC. Seemingly  
aimlessly? For almost three weeks his life had 
been aimless. Almost three weeks. He counted the 
days that had actually passed and arrived at 
eighteen days.

Eighteen days. His world had collapsed then.

He walked on, lost in thought. When he 
looked up he noticed he knew this neighbour-hood. 
He considered going to her apartment. Maybe there 
he would ... No, there was nothing there for him 
anymore. It was over, he had to close that part 
of his life. It was over. Leave it behind him. 
God ...
	
He sauntered through the streets. Looked up 
from time to time, but his brain registered 
nothing. Hadn't registered a single thing for 
eighteen days now. Ever since that fateful day. 
Why him? Why her?
	
This part of the city wasn't unfamiliar to 
him either. His aunt lived here, as a small boy 
he stayed here during the summer to play with his 
cousins. He smiled. Those summers had been one 
big party.
	
As he looked at the shop windows carelessly, 
he saw one special shop window on the other side 
of the street. It was Mama Mary's Flower 
Boutique. He smiled at the word 'Boutique'.
	
Mama Mary was a negress. She was huge. When 
he stayed with his aunt they always went to buy 
flowers there. His aunt came there for the 
flowers which Mama Mary was able to make into 
fantastic bouquets in the most miraculous way - 
or that's how it seemed to him. He and his 
cousins liked to go there, too. Not for the 
flowers - they didn't even allow you to squeeze 
them when you really liked to! - but for the 
lemonade. Mama Mary had the best lemonade in the 
whole world and you really didn't need to tell a 
little boy like him where the best place was to 
spend your favourite day out.
	
Mama Mary's name wasn't really Mama Mary. 
Her real name was Mary-Estelle de Bonpartage. 
Mama Mary it was.
	
As an adult Fox Mulder didn't really like 
flowers and ever since he came to live in DC 
himself he hadn't visited her more than twice. 
Which was a shame really, because he had found 
out that Mama Mary had not only the best 
lemonade, but also absolutely the best coffee. 
And there was always something to talk about. 
Mama Mary was one of those rare people who 
possessed a sixth sense for family news and 
personal matters. Mama Mary knew everything about 
everybody.
	
He crossed the street and pushed open the 
door of the shop. The bell above the door made 
the memories crash down on him with a loud 
jingling. He breathed in the scent of flowers and 
plants and for a moment he felt like the eight-
year-old of thirty years ago. He walked around 
among the flowers and saw the woman enter the 
shop. Her face beamed as she saw him.
	
"Fox!" she said and embraced him.
	
"Hello, Mama Mary", he smiled.
	
"Come in, Fox!" she said and she guided him 
into the kitchen behind the shop. Memories 
started to rush to him in this place as well. 
"Would you like some coffee?"
	
"Only when it's your own coffee, Mama Mary."
	
The woman seemed deeply offended. Mulder 
smiled. As if he didn't know that this was the 
only coffee she thought worth the effort. That 
actually was worth the effort.
	
While Mama Mary busied herself with the 
coffee, Mulder looked around. Nothing had 
changed. It was as if he had traveled back in 
time thirty years. He closed his eyes and sighed. 
If only he could ... Or even thirty days ...
 
Mama Mary carried two steaming mugs of 
coffee to the kitchen table and sat down facing 
him.
	
"So", she said. "How are you?"
	
Mulder didn't answer, but drank his coffee 
in silence. Absolutely the very best of coffees, 
chock-full of taste and flavour. And cafein. He 
had made a good choice to go and visit Mama Mary.
	
"How's Dana?" she asked. She had noticed 
that he hadn't answered her first question, but 
she was too smart to take to it.
	
"It's over, Mama Mary", Mulder answered. He 
didn't look at her, but stared at the kitchen 
cupboards.
	
Mama Mary knew of his partnership with Dana 
Scully. She knew of his work, of his relationship 
with Scully, of ... She knew everything, always 
had, always would.
	
"Over?"
	
"Eighteen days ago." His hazel eyes turned 
gray. The torturing memories of that one fateful 
moment. It had turned his life into a black hole. 
All light and life were immediately swallowed and 
destroyed, leaving nothing for him.
	
"We were working on a case, not even a case 
of our own, merely assisting a number of other 
agents and ... at a blow ..."
	
Mama Mary said nothing, drank her coffee and 
waited.
	
"It was beautiful, Mama Mary. Sober and 
beautiful, like she was herself. No finery, no 
frills. Sober but perfect. It was good."
	
"Did you see her, Fox?"
	
"Yes"
	
Mama Mary kept silent. Mulder drained his 
mug, got up and got himself more coffee.
	
"She was so beautiful, Mama Mary."
	
"But still you don't feel good about it."
	
"No"
	
She covered his hands with hers. He looked 
at the black woman.
	
"What happened, Fox?"
	
He sighed and stared down at his coffee.
	
"We were in Minnesota. Two murderers had 
escaped. We had to try and catch them. There was 
shooting. A few agents had been hit and in the 
chaos Scully and I lost contact. And then ..."
	
He stopped talking and sighed.
	
" ... I heard a shot. I mean, there was 
shooting all the time, but ... this shot ... it 
was ... different ... and I knew it was Scully 
and ..."
	
He looked at Mama Mary.
	
"All agents survived. All agents, except for 
her ... Her funeral was a proper farewell, it's 
just that ..."
	
"That you haven't really said good-bye", 
Mama Mary finished his sentence.
	
"No", Mulder answered. "There's nothing that 
... that is suitable ... that's good enough for 
her, with which I can ... really express my 
respect, my thanks ..."
	
They were silent. Mama Mary respected his 
choice not to say anything. She knew how much he 
cared about Dana Scully.
	
"You have to say good-bye to her, Fox. And 
I'm afraid there isn't much I can offer you. I 
haven't got much except flowers, but ..."
	
Mulder nodded slowly.
	
"Can I take a look around, Mama Mary?"
	
She nodded. "Go to the cold store, Fox. The 
flowers in the cold store are fresher and more 
beautiful. Only the best is good enough for her. 
For you."
	
"For her. For me", he repeated and nodded. 
Only the best was good enough. Only the very 
best. For her.
	
The cold store was cold and smelled of fresh 
flowers and plants. Flowers were everywhere, all 
sorts of shapes, colours, and sizes.
	
And there was that one special flower. He 
almost immediately spotted it. Why? Maybe because 
he knew by instict that this was the only flower 
that would be good enough for her.
	
Snowwhite with a touch of bright, fiery 
orange and the light-blue of her eyes in the 
heart of the flower, this orchid was everything 
that Scully had been. This flower was she.
	
He walked towards it and carefully touched 
the petals. They caressed his fingers. They 
kissed his fingers. This flower was for Dana 
Scully. For this flower was Dana Scully. Only 
this flower.
	
He saw Mama Mary stand next to him. She 
watched his trembling fingers as he touched the 
orchid.
	
"This is a new kind of orchid", she said.
	
"She's beautiful", Mulder said softly.
	
"The grower is a good friend of mine. He 
asked me to come up with a name for the flower. 
But I believe we already found a name ..."
	
Mulder nodded.
	
"This flower is yours now, Fox", she said. 
She took the flower out of the vase and wrapped 
it carefully in tissue paper.
	
"She must be expensive, Mama Mary. How much 
does she cost?" Mulder still didn't notice he 
regarded the flower feminine.
	
"Nothing", Mama Mary said.
	
"I want to pay you, Mama Mary! Just tell me 
what I owe you."
	
"If you really want to do something, ask 
Dana to put in a good word for me with our Lord", 
the woman said and smiled as she handed him the 
flower.
	
He kissed her on the cheek and said:
	
"I will be forever grateful to you, Mama 
Mary!"

XxXxX
	
The sea was calm. Fox Mulder was standing on 
the beach and watched the waves soak his shoes. 
He didn't care. Then he looked at the neverending 
stretch of water in front of him. The current was 
going out he knew.
	
The sun was setting and painted the sky a 
fiery red. This was the only farewell that was 
good enough. He unwrapped the flower and for a 
moment he touched it with his lips. Then he 
placed the flower in the salt water and watched 
it as the current took it out to the open sea. 
When he lost the flower out of sight he knew the 
wound would heal. He would carry the scar with 
him for the rest of his life, but now he had 
finally had the only opportunity for a proper 
good-bye to her.
	
"Thanks, Scully", he said softly.
	
Then he turned around and walked to the car.


END

Kirsten Kerkhof
The Netherlands, 1997