Futures Past 03: My Funny Valentine
Arvy


DISCLAIMER

Not mine. Unh-hunh! No, siree, bob. All characters belong to 
Fox and company. Wait, isn't Fox itself a company? Hmm... Anyway, 
they're not mine, and I'm only borrowing our beloved heroes for a 
little stroll down Valentine's lane. I'm sure they'll be returned 
unchanged (well, not that much anyway) to 1013, and CC. Oh, and I 
guess the lady and the kid belong to me.

Author's Notes

Oooh! A third one in the series. Finally. Thanks a bunch to 
all of you who sent in your feedback and comments for the 
previous ones. They were much appreciated.

This one can probably stand completely on its own. I added 
it as part of the series cause the next one I'm writing refers to 
stuff that happens in here. So you can read this without reading 
the previous two, especially if you're looking for a quick, 'warm 
& fuzzy' M & S bonding piece. But, of course, you want to read 
the previous two, don't you? You need to... (Imagine a soothing, 
mesmerizing voice asking you that, and the answer should just pop 
into your head:) If you can't find them, email me at 
unmai@bigfoot.com and I'll be happy to forward you a copy. Also, 
all my other stories, missing parts, etc. can be found on 
Gossamer or at my website at http://www.bigfoot.com/~unmai.

I added a little explanation for Mulder's gift in the end 
notes, in case you want to look it up. You'll know what I'm 
talking about when you come to it (no, the smaller one:) in the 
story. I myself had no clue what it meant until I went and looked 
it up. I've seen it in a couple of places before, and I thought 
it was pretty romantic.

This one is definite UST. No kissing yet, no declarations of 
undying love, but you anti-shippers might start getting nauseous. 
That's all the warning I'll give.

Finally, the nag section. Feedback, the sustenance of 
starving writers. I'd love to hear from all you readers out 
there. Email me at unmai@bigfoot.com, tell me what you thought. 
All comments and criticisms welcome. I hope you enjoy reading 
this as much as I did writing it.

And now, for your viewing... uhh... reading pleasure, we 
proudly present...

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Futures Past 03:
My Funny Valentine
by Arvy 

My Funny Valentine

Dana Scully's Apartment
Thursday, February 12, 1998
8:23 PM

The phone rang in the living room. Dana Scully rushed out of 
the kitchen to answer it. "Hello... Oh, hi mom... What? My cell 
phone? That's a relief. I was sure I'd lost it." She paused, 
listening for a few seconds before interrupting her mother. "No 
mom, don't bother. I'll come by tomorrow after work and pick it 
up, if that's okay with you." She waited again before saying, 
"Ok, I'll see y... what did you say?"

She sighed. She'd tried to keep her conversation short, 
hoping to stay away from this very subject. "No mom. I don't know 
if we're doing anything for Saturday... *Mom*, we're friends, 
partners, that's all. Nothing more. Besides, he's too 
scatterbrained to probably even remember." She sighed again. She 
did *not* want to have this conversation with her mother. She 
reached out and rapped loudly on the coffee table. "Mom, I think 
somebody's at the door." '*Chicken*!,' a part of her screamed 
back. "I gotta go. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye." She hung up 
before her mother could protest any further. 'Why does she have 
to do this every year?' She sighed, leaning back in her couch, 
trying not to think about the next day. Finally, she got up and 
went back into the kitchen.

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J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, Basement
Friday, February 13, 1998
8:05 AM

Dana Scully walked down the hall towards the office. She 
thought back to her conversation with her mother the night 
before, and dreaded going over to her house later. 'Maybe I 
should put it off till Sunday,' she thought briefly, but 
immediately pushed the thought out of her mind. 'Don't be 
childish. You're not *that* insecure. Besides, you can't afford 
to be without your cell phone for that long. What if something 
important comes up?' she asked herself. However, she did allow 
herself to think about what her partner may do for Valentine's 
day. Knowing him, he probably had a date all lined up for the 
night, probably some busty brunette with whom he could make eye 
contact without getting a crick in the neck. She sighed, wishing 
for the millionth time for that elusive extra foot or so that 
nature had denied her as she reached the door. She was about to 
turn the knob when she heard Mulder talking on the phone. Her 
eyes widened as she realized what he was saying.

"Dammit, Frohike! I'm not going to tell you what I got her. 
It *is* supposed to be a surprise, you know. So stop asking." 
Mulder was practically shouting into the phone when he heard the 
doorknob turn. Expecting his partner to walk in, he hissed, 
"She's here. Goodbye, Frohike! I'll talk to you later." He heard 
the line disconnect, and was about to hang up when he realized 
that the door hadn't opened yet. His momentary panic at being 
caught was instantly wiped away by a mischievous grin spreading 
across his face. 'Shit! She probably heard that last part. Well, 
Scully, I'll give you something to listen in on.' Aloud he said, 
"Oh, all right, I'll tell you. Stop begging already."

Outside, Scully gently pulled her hand away. 'Good,' she 
thought, he hadn't heard her. She placed her head against the 
door, preparing to eavesdrop on her partner's conversation.

Mulder couldn't resist a silent grin as he said in as 
straight a voice as he could, "I found her the perfect gift, 
Frohike. A Thrustmaster Deluxe... Yeah! One of *those*. There was 
an ad for it in a video I saw. I was watching it a couple of 
nights ago, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that monster was the 
one for her."

Scully's eyes widened as she heard him go on.

"The color...? Oh, it's all black... sleek too. I didn't 
think the one in cream looked realistic enough. This one looks 
and feels just like the real thing... Yup, complete with feedback 
vibrations. God, I can just imagine the hours of pleasure she'll 
get using that *joy*stick."

Hearing just the slightest emphasis on that last word, 
Scully gulped. 'He wouldn't... he didn't. Oh God, what's he 
thinking!' This time he'd gone too far. 'There's someone else,' 
she told herself, feeling a small sense of relief, but a pang of 
jealousy at the same time. 'Yes, that's it. He has a girlfriend, 
and the gift's for her. He never said it was for me, right? 
That's got to be it,' she assured herself. 'Just because I don't 
have a social life doesn't mean he doesn't either.' She leaned 
back in to hear the rest of the conversation.

"She needs it," Mulder was saying. "I can tell. She's needed 
something like this for a while now. Frankly, I don't know how 
she got by without one all this time. You know, just using your 
fingers doesn't cut it. You need to *feel* the experience, you 
know, wrap your hands around one of these. She'll be flying in no 
time." He paused before continuing, "Mind numbing pleasure, no 
doubt about it."

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "I can picture it now. 
Scully, at home, no one else but her, her hands wrapped around 
its shaft. Maybe I'll drop in Saturday evening and help her try 
it out. God, I'm getting excited just thinking about it."

'Ohmigod, it *is* for me.' Scully pulled back from the door, 
feeling a heady sensation come over her. Suddenly the hallway 
felt extremely hot and stuffy. 'That's it! I'm not listening to 
anymore of this.' Plastering a fake smile on her face, she 
reached once more for the doorknob and turned it.

Mulder saw the door beginning to open, and muttering a quick 
but loud, "Talk to you later," hung up the phone. He looked back 
up just in time to see his partner walk in. She looked like she 
was trying to smile at him. But it looked more like a grimace 
than anything. He allowed himself a hearty but silent 
congratulations. 'Damn, I got her but good.'

Neither of them said a word as she walked over and sat down. 
Both of them busied themselves with paperwork, but Mulder could 
feel the tension gradually building up. Every few minutes, he 
felt her stop what she was doing to look up and stare at him. 
Finally, he looked up himself, just in time to catch one of her 
nervous glances. He smiled to himself. Usually, he was the one 
who was caught staring. Now that the situations were reversed, he 
couldn't help carrying on the charade for a while longer. He 
raised his eyebrow in a silent, 'Can I help you?' just like 
Scully always did, his face the picture of innocence. He was 
rewarded by the deep crimson rising on her cheeks. She hurriedly 
looked back down to the reports lying in front of her, a guilty 
look on her flushed face.

'I wonder how long I can hold off? Poor thing, she looks 
like she's about to jump out of her skin at any moment.' He 
finally relented, thinking, 'I guess I've had my fun for today.' 
He stood up and walked over to the filing cabinet.

Scully kept her face down, following his movement out of the 
corner of her eyes as he walked past her to the back of the room. 
'Where's he going now?' Hearing him cough, she turned to see him 
pulling two packages out of the top drawer of one of the 
cabinets.

He walked over and placed them on the desk in front of her. 
"Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, and I got you a special something. I 
couldn't wait to give it to you."

'I'll bet you couldn't.' "Two presents, Mulder?" she croaked 
out, thinking, 'The big one looks about right for... but the 
small one. *No*, I don't even want to think about that one.' She 
saw him smiling, but she could see a mischievous gleam in his 
eyes. 'Oh God, Mulder, don't make me do this,' she pleaded 
silently.

"Go on," he urged, pointing out the larger package. "Open 
them. This one first. It's something you've needed for a while 
now." He almost couldn't hold back the laughter as she glared at 
him hard enough to drive nails through concrete. He pushed the 
box forward, encouraging her, acting oblivious to her obvious 
discomfort.

'Best to get it over with quickly,' she thought as she 
reached for it. Her hands shook as she lifted it and peeled back 
the wrapping. 'I'll make you pay for this, Mulder,' she vowed, 
'so help me, God, I swear I will.'

Mulder could see the color slowly drain from her face as she 
began to strip away the layers of wrapping. Watching her eyes 
intently as she finished with the last layer, he caught the 
abrupt change in her expression, progressing from near panic to 
confusion to relief before it finally settled on a small smile. 
He heaved a silent sigh of relief himself, 'Good, she's not too 
angry.'

She looked up from the gift she held in her hand to the 
room-brightening smile spreading on Mulder's face. "Thrustmaster 
Deluxe analog joystick for IBM compatibles," she read the label 
on the box. She pinned him with a glare, putting as much anger 
into it as she could, which wasn't much at the moment. "You 
knew," she accused. When he nodded, she continued, "You knew I 
was outside. All that...," she made a circling motion to indicate 
his fake telephone conversation, "... was for my benefit?" Again 
he nodded.

"Didn't your mother teach you it's a bad habit to listen in 
on other people's phone calls," he teased, shaking his finger at 
her. At her exasperated smile, he chuckled, "Sorry, Scully. But 
when I heard the doorknob, I just couldn't resist. You should 
have seen your face when you walked in. The whole thing was worth 
it. Happy Valentine's Day, Scully."

She smiled at him, then noticed the small box still lying on 
the table. She pointed to it. "What's that, Mulder? Or should I 
be afraid to ask?"

"Well, actually, I got the joystick for your birthday. I 
thought it would go well with that airplane game I got you last 
year. But I have a few weeks of vacation time coming, and 
Personnel warned me that if I didn't take it within the month, I 
would lose it. I was planning on taking it starting next week. 
When I saw this opportunity, I thought this would be the perfect 
time to give you your gift early. This," he said, pointing to the 
small package, "is your real Valentine gift. Go on, open it. I 
promise, you won't be embarrassed."

She cast a wary glance at the package before looking back at 
him. Seeing the anticipation in his eyes, as well as the fear of 
rejection lurking behind his hazel orbs, she sighed and picked it 
up. She quickly unwrapped it to reveal a small velvet box. She 
carefully opened it, and was struck speechless by what lay 
inside. She lightly traced the outline of the ring that lay 
inside, brushing her fingers around the hands encompassing the 
heart, stroking the crown etched into the side of the ring. 'A 
Claddagh ring... did he know what this means?' She looked up to 
see him staring back at her expectantly. Her eyes misted as he 
reached in and removed the ring from its base. He lifted her 
right hand in his and brought the ring to her finger. She saw him 
start to slide the ring on, heart turned away from her, when he 
looked back into her eyes. He seemed to reach a moment of 
decision as he pulled the ring back and turned it so the heart 
faced inwards, towards her. 'He does know.' Her breath caught in 
her throat as she brought her other hand to lay atop his, 
covering his hand with hers.

"The perfect gift for the perfect person. Happy Valentine's 
Day, Dana, for real this time," he whispered. He saw the 
slightest glint appear in his partner's eyes. Before the 
situation could escalate into something he didn't think either of 
them wanted to face right then, he quickly changed the subject. 
"So whatcha doing tomorrow night?" he asked, his thoughts masked 
by the humorous expression he always hid behind. 'Coward,' the 
rebuke clattered around in his head as he continued, "Got a hot 
date or something?"

'Typical Mulder. It was just like him to start something so 
sentimental and then chicken out immediately. What are you so 
afraid of, Mulder?' She sighed as she thought about what he'd 
asked her. "Nope, not really."

His heart lifted a little at her reply, although the reason 
for it eluded him at the moment.

"I guess it's just going to be me and my *joy*stick," she 
said, throwing his earlier remark back at him.

He smiled at her, "Then what do you say to a night of 
videogames, bad Valentine movies, and pizza. We can break in your 
gift. I have a new space shootemup you might like... Hell-
bender?"

"I've heard of it..." she answered thoughtfully. "Is it 
anything like Fury?"

"It's supposed to be better, although I've only played the 
trial version so far." He flashed her a quick grin, an 
embarrassed look on his face. "You're going to think me crazy, 
but the reason I bought the full version was cause the computer 
voice reminded me of you."

"Mulder, I already think you're crazy, but that was sweet. 
And, I don't mean just the videogame," she said, fingering her 
newest piece of jewelry. "Thank you, Mulder."

He nodded solemnly, accepting her thanks in the spirit in 
which it was offered, before letting out a small chuckle. "So 
whatddya say? Is it a date?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

'Date? Did he say date? Be serious for once, Mulder.' She 
tried to cover up her errant thoughts by considering the 
opportunity being presented to her. "Ok, Mulder, but on one 
condition. My car died on me today morning, so I had to catch a 
cab to work. I left my cell phone at my mom's yesterday. I was 
planning on going by after work to pick it up, but I realized I 
have some shopping to do as well. So you are going to be my 
personal chauffeur for the day tomorrow. Deal?"

"Your wish is my command, milady," he replied with a 
gentlemanly bow.

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Sweet Darling Valentine

Annapolis Mall
Saturday, February 14, 1998
11:35 AM

"Slow down, Scully. You're gonna run into someone if you 
don't." Fox Mulder smiled as he watched his partner trying to get 
the maximum mileage possible out of her short strides. She was 
going fast enough to outpace him, which was not an easy thing to 
do.

He thought back to the events of that morning. Whatever she 
had talked to her mother about when she'd gone to retrieve her 
phone must have really gotten to her. She couldn't get out of 
there fast enough. Since then she'd been rushing from one place 
to the next, first to the mall, then store to store, then to 
lunch, and now, ice-cream of all things.

"But, Mulder, this place has the most amazing mint ice-
cream," she said plaintively.

'God,' he thought, 'she looked like a teenager when she said 
that.'

"Not mint chocolate-chip, not peppermint, but real, honest-
to-goodness mint," she continued. "Do you know how hard it is to 
find just plain mint ice-cream?"

"You know, Scully, I would never have figured you for a mint 
addict. Strawberry, maybe chocolate, but not mint."

She spared him a glare as she hurried him along. "Just 
because I'm a redhead, everyone expects me to live on 
strawberries, use strawberry shampoo, wear strawberry perfume. 
Ugh, I hate stereotypes, and I'm not particularly fond of 
strawberries either."

Mulder pretended to look shocked. "You don't *like* 
strawberries. Aww, c'mon Scully. Everyone loves strawberries. 
It's... it's," he searched for a word to express what he meant 
before deciding on, "tradition." He shook his head, smiling.

"Well, I don't. And it's it, and that's that. Live with it, 
Mulder," she said, pulling to a halt in front of the ice-cream 
stand.

Sliding into the line behind his partner, Mulder scanned the 
menu display. Just as he'd decided on the cookies and cream, he 
was startled by a flurry of movement in front of him.

Scully felt someone pull on her slacks, just as they both 
heard the little girl.

"Mommy, I wanna ice-cream."

Looking down, Scully couldn't hold back a gasp, 'Emily!' She 
forced herself to blink back the tears as she took a closer look. 
'No, not Emily, but she looked, oh, so much like her.' She felt 
Mulder's hand on her shoulder. Realizing she must have voiced her 
thoughts louder than she'd intended, she placed her own hand over 
his, silently telling him that she was okay. Kneeling down, she 
took the little girl's hands in hers.

"Hi sweetie. I think you've mistaken me for your mommy. What 
do you say we go find her, okay?" She lifted the girl up. "Say, 
what's your name, sweetheart?"

"I'm Sarah," she replied proudly. Suddenly her voice dropped 
to a trembling whisper as she darted nervous glances around the 
crowded mall, "I want my mommy."

Just then both agents heard a frantic voice, "Sarah..., 
Sarah, where are you?" Looking around, they saw a woman a few 
yards away, calling the girl's name.

Spotting her daughter, she hurried towards them. Both of 
them did a double take. At first glance, she looked a lot like 
Scully. They had the same flaming auburn hair, and even their 
facial features matched somewhat. No wonder the child had 
mistaken Scully for her mother.

"Oh thank God!" exclaimed the woman as she reached them. "I 
set her down for a second and she ran away." She reached out to 
take her daughter from Scully, chiding her gently, "Naughty 
Sarah. How many times have I told you not to run off like that? 
You scared mommy, darling."

"I'm sorry, mommy," the little girl whispered, hiding her 
face in her mother's neck. "I just wanted some ice-cream."

"There, there..." She hugged the child. Looking back at the 
couple standing in front of her, she thanked them for looking 
after her daughter. "Little kids...," she said, "they seem to 
have so much energy. Listen, we were headed here anyway. Can I 
treat you guys to some ice-cream, by way of thanks. It's the 
least I can do."

Scully looked over at Mulder, then turned back to the woman 
and shrugged, "Sure, that would be great. By the way, I'm Dana, 
and this," she said, pointing to her partner, "is Mulder."

"I'm Karen, and this bundle of energy," she replied, patting 
her kid, "is Sarah."

They bought their ice-cream and retreated to one of the 
tables near the stand.

"Mulder...," Karen said thoughtfully after they'd sat down. 
"That's an unusual name."

"It's my last name. I'm just not too fond of my given name."

"Oh!" she said, considering this as she licked a swath of 
ice-cream off her cone. "Kinda like MacGyver, huh?"

Scully smiled at that.

"Yeah, something like that. Say, I noticed that you and Dana 
look a lot alike. It's easy to see how Sarah mistook her for 
you," Mulder said hastily, hoping to draw the conversation away 
from further discussion of his name.

"Uh-huh, I noticed that too. Uncanny, isn't it?" replied 
Karen.

Scully shrugged, "They say everyone has a double somewhere 
in the world, a doppelganger. Statistically, it's entirely 
possible."

"I suppose, but still...," Mulder started.

"So how old is Sarah," Scully interrupted him, looking over 
at the little girl. She reached over to wipe a small speck of 
ice-cream that had found its way onto the child's nose.

"She's three," replied Karen, a measure of pride in her 
voice. "She's a darling, isn't she?" She looked lovingly at her 
daughter as she said this.

"She certainly is," whispered Scully.

"Say, are you guys... together," Karen asked suddenly.

"No," both of them replied. "We just work together. We're 
just friends," Scully went on, a flush creeping up her face. 
"It's just that my car broke down, and he offered me a ride..."

'I offered...? Why, the little...'

"Ah!" Karen shrugged, crunching the last bits of her cone. 
"Well, it was fun meeting you two, but I gotta get going. Maybe 
we'll run into each other again sometime." As she picked up her 
daughter, she thought, 'Friends, my ass. That's all the world 
needs, a couple of lovesick *friends* too dumb to let each other 
know how they feel about each other. Well, it's not my problem.' 
Aloud she said, "Sarah, say goodbye to Auntie Dana and Uncle 
Mulder."

"Bye, Sarah."

"Bye, sweetheart."

"Bye, Uncle Mulder, Auntie Dana," Sarah waved at them as she 
walked away, leaving the two agents to finish their ice-cream in 
silence.

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Mulder's car, en route to Scully's Apartment
12:10 PM

Mulder looked over at his partner as she stared out the 
window at the road. But he knew that the scenery rushing by was 
the farthest thing from her mind. He ran the moment when the 
little girl had pulled on Scully's leg over and over in his mind, 
and his partner's reaction at being called 'Mommy.' How cruel 
could the world get? She'd lost Emily barely a month ago. 
Although she didn't talk about it, he knew it still weighed 
heavily on her mind.

"Scully, do you want to talk?" He had to do something to 
break the silence.

"What's there to talk about, Mulder? She reminded me of 
Emily. It's only natural. It hasn't been that long, you know."

"I know, Scully, but it helps to talk about it. It's not 
healthy to keep it all bundled in."

"Is that the Oxford psychologist talking?"

"Maybe, or maybe it's just a friend reaching out to someone 
he thinks needs his help. Let me in, Scully, please." He reached 
out to grasp her hands in his, squeezing it reassuringly.

She didn't respond. Instead she just looked back out the 
window.

He sighed, "I know how it must feel. Everyone dreams of a 
family, marriage, kids..."

"How can you know, Mulder," she shouted at him, "How can you 
*possibly* know how I feel? You're not the one who's had their 
ability to have children ripped away from them. You're not the 
one contemplating eternity alone. So don't you *dare* try to tell 
me you know how it feels, cause let me tell you, Mulder, it's 
nothing like what you can imagine."

"Oh, I think I can imagine a lot, Scully," he shouted back. 
'No, don't shout at her, she can't possibly know,' he told 
himself. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he continued in 
a calmer voice, "I've never told anyone this..." His voice 
lowered even further, "I can't have children either, Scully, so I 
do know how you feel." He pulled his hand away and placed it back 
on the steering wheel.

"What... How?" Scully looked at him with her eyes wide.

"I'm sterile. Ergo, no kids, no family, not in my future, 
anyway." He sighed, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you. It's 
not your problem."

"Oh, Mulder. I'm so sorry I shouted at you. I had no 
right..." She placed her hand on his, reciprocating his earlier 
gesture.

Mulder shook his head, "Like I said, Scully, not your 
problem."

"You were the one who said it wasn't healthy to keep one's 
emotions bottled up. Now it looks like the shoe's on the other 
foot." She chuckled, "Hunh! So, here we are, two lost souls 
without a future, too scared to let anyone else comfort us. What 
are we going to do with each other, Mulder?"

"Well, I guess we'll just have to depend on each other, 
won't we?" He smiled, glad that the moment of tension had passed. 
"Hey, we're almost at your place, Scully. Get ready to get your 
ass whipped at that airplane game."

"In your dreams, Mulder, in your dreams," she smiled back.

They rode the rest of the way in silence, each of them 
thinking about lost opportunities and might have beens, and all 
the airplane games they would never get to play.

The End
Futures Past 03:
My Funny Valentine
by Arvy 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

End Notes

Okay, in case you're wondering about the section titles, the 
whole story is called 'My Funny Valentine.' It's just that the 
headings seemed somewhat appropriate for each section. If anyone 
notices, they're awfully similar to Sinatra's song, except for 
the second one, which I changed to something more fitting. Have I 
confused y'all enough? Anyways, no infringement is intended. And 
I probably won't ever do the section heading thing again.

I really, really tried to inject a little humor into this 
piece. But I'm not all that good with innuendo. The scene at the 
beginning actually did happen in real life. Me and a friend 
managed to thoroughly embarrass another friend before we started 
laughing and gave it away. And they do say that you should write 
about what you know. I hope I managed to get the humor across. 
Also, about the strawberry thing. Everyone I know absolutely 
loves them. Personally, I've never cared for them. Plus, I've 
always liked mint (ice-cream, not shampoo). And, yes, it *is* 
hard to find plain mint ice-cream. Believe me, I've looked. But, 
since I've never been up north, the scene at the mall was 
completely made up.

Sheesh! Can these end notes *get* any longer? You're still 
here? Wow! Okay, discussion time. About that last line. How many 
of you actually got what I wanted it to mean? They say hindsight 
is 20/20. Here, I thought I was being so clever, but no one I 
showed the story to got it.  So, to the 3 or 4 of you who did get 
the reference, thank you for confirming my creative genius. All 
you others, rest assured, I'm looking at my creative writing 
course schedule as I'm writing this. And since I myself hate 
not getting all the in jokes, the reference was to the airplane 
games parents play with their children to get them to open their 
mouth to eat. You know, Rrrrrrr... open the hanger, the plane's 
coming in. So, how many of you are going, 'Ohhhhh!'?

About the videogames. I don't know that M & S would actually 
be the types to play them. But, according to the IMDB, GA was the 
voice for that game, and I thought it might be neat if Mulder 
caught the similarity of the voices. BTW, the games are by micro-
soft. Again, no infringement is intended.

Next, Mulder's confession. Okay, I know he'd never have that 
problem in the show. But, in my universe, it fits in so nicely 
with what happens next. Is that enough of a hint? Of course, to 
find out, you'll have to stay tuned.

About the Claddagh Ring. This ring, depicting two hands 
clutching a heart, complete with a crown, epitomizes the 
expression of lasting love and eternal friendship. The heart 
symbolizes love, the hands friendship and the crown loyalty or 
fidelity. Worn on the right hand with the heart facing outwards 
means that your heart has not yet been won. Worn on the right 
hand with the heart facing inwards shows you have friendship and 
love under consideration. But worn on your left hand with the 
heart turned inwards it means two loves have joined forever. This 
is quoted pretty much as is from a couple of internet sites.

Finally, we come to the end. I'm forcing myself to stop 
here, otherwise these notes are gonna run longer than the story, 
if they haven't already. I don't know about most of you, but I 
actually enjoy reading about the author's thoughts while they 
were writing their stories. I just hope I haven't turned anyone 
off with these long notes. But, I do put them at the end, so 
you're perfectly welcome to skip them if you want. All the really 
important stuff is at the top anyways. Oh, and before I leave you 
guys with the chronology, a reminder. Hit reply! It's as easy as 
point, click, type a couple of lines, send, voila! Even just to 
say you read it. Or to tell me you actually managed to make it 
through all these end notes.

Futures Past Chronology:

01 - The Awakening      (Oct 1997)
02 - The Light of Day   (Jan 1998)
03 - My Funny Valentine (Feb 1998)