From: Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 13:13:32 EDT Subject: New: Red Letter Day (1/1) by FirePhile Title: Red Letter Day Author: FirePhile Rating: PG Classification: VA Spoilers: Patient X/Red and the Black/The End Summary: And now for something completely different...Spender's thoughts, post-End. Disclaimer: These aren't mine, they belong to 1013, CC&Co and FOX Television Network. Feedback: Please send all comments to FirePhile@aol.com. Author's Note: Rumor is that we'll be seeing more of Agent Spender next season, so I figured it's time to find out a bit more about him. Hopefully I've managed to make him the tiniest bit interesting. I met my dad today. Another red letter day in my life. Actually, that's sort of ironic. So, a man who has ignored me for most of my life suddenly popped up and started to *help* my career. Here I was thinking I had been given this assignment based on merit. Guess everything is who you know in this town. He didn't look much like he did 20 odd years ago. Yeah, I remember the last time I saw him -- I was six. It's one of those childhood memories you can never quite get away from, no matter how hard you try. It was early morning. He walked over to my bed, wearing his dark trenchcoat and a steely expression in his blue eyes. "Take care of your mother - she needs it." He told me, briefly squeezing my shoulder. "Where are you going father?" I asked, stupidly. Well, it was before divorce lawyers advertised on television and every sitcom had a single mother or father. Or perhaps it was the hour, I'm never sure which. "Away," he'd answered, his eyes fixed on a far off point. I nodded, either too tired or too dense to do anything else. So, he left. Only later did I realize he never said goodbye to mom. Leaving me, a six year old boy as the man of the house. Hell, I wasn't even old enough to take care of the fish. I love my mom, really but after that, she snapped - completely. She began wearing pyramid hats, claimed it helped her channel alien energy. A few times I'd wake to find her gone. She had no recollection of whole nights. This was, of course, before psychologists and "experts" coined the term, "missing time". She started telling me about my own abduction, (regardless of the fact that I had no missing time). I'm lucky I didn't wind up in a mental hospital with all the crap she threw at me. Somehow, I made it out of my adolescence with my sanity intact. I went to a good school, graduated, worked at the local police station for a few years and joined the FBI. I wanted to go as straight-laced as possible, starched cuffs, by the book, normal ties, crisp suits, 9-5. Normality, that's what I was looking for, and I got it, for a while. Right up until mom started proclaiming herself an alien apostle. Seems she recovered even more memories thanks to Dr. Werber. I saw newspaper articles referring to the mysterious patient X. Dammit, I knew it was mom. Knew she had checked into a hospital. Thanks to that Dr. Werber, I hid it well, rose through the ranks, keeping this part of my life secret. Girlfriends would want to meet my mom. I'd have to make up excuses. One I used a lot was that she was at a spa for a few weeks. That usually worked. Relationships never lasted that long. The biggest complaint was that my girlfriends couldn't get close to me, and I didn't share enough of myself. One of them even called me jaded before she stormed out in a hurry. This farce would have worked too, if Fox Mulder hadn't decided to get involved. You have to understand, this is a man that my mom had held on a pedestal for years. She'd tell me about him, about how *he* represented a perfect FBI agent. He who scoffed at everything I held close -- order, respect, normality -- the list goes on and on. So I could be excused for being whiny when I met him. Hell, I was Screech from "Saved By The Bell." I was so concerned with my image that I didn't notice the danger into which my mom was being put. I should have remembered, dammit, should have remembered what happened to people who talked with Agent Mulder. I'd heard the rumors about him, hell who hasn't? He'd ruined more than one Agent's career, especially Dana Scully's. I didn't want to fall into that trap. Mom's gone now, probably dead -- he opened a file on her - and I thought I'd never have to see him again. In fact, I didn't want to work with him again. I blame him for her disappearance, it's hard not to. I still don't hold anything against Agent Scully, but the last thing I wanted to do was see Mulder again. I specifically blocked him from my team, didn't need his wild theories getting in the way. It was also a pride thing. I'll admit I wanted to prove that I was as good, if not better, than he. That plan failed miserably. Mulder barged into the room during the briefing. He took control and made me look like an idiot in front of my team. Fast forward to last night. I'm angry and confused. Mulder wants me out of the FBI - no *he's* the one who should be thrown out. What the hell was that piece of paper he pushed in my face supposed to mean to me? Assaulting a fellow FBI Agent is punishable through OPC. His days are numbered. It almost made me smile. I saw the man walking out of the area. The smell of smoke clung to him. He was the same man I saw before. Then he told me - I can help you, I can raise you to the top. God I'm naive, I asked why and he said, because I'm your father. He used terms I didn't get. Hell, I was beginning to wonder when I'd slipped into "All The President's Men". I half wanted to call him "Deep Throat", but then, alarms went off, deafening. He walked off, quickly, I didn't get a name. So, now I'm home, trying to make sense of anything that's happened. I turn on the television - sports, movies, sitcom, news...I stop flipping. "A fire started in the basement of the FBI building earlier tonight. Luckily no one was hurt. Authorities are at a loss to explain how the blaze started. Right now they suspect the culprit may be faulty wiring. Reporting live from FBI Headquarters, this is Carol Danings for WNBC News, Washington DC." It takes me a moment to process what I have just heard. Smoke, walking away, alarms -- I smile and soon start to laugh. Maybe I could use daddy dearest looking out for me after all. END