Title: THE CRACKED BELL 
Author: aka "Jake"
Rating: G 
Classification: V 
Spoilers: Post-ep for "Shadows"   

Summary: Remember the end of "Shadows"? Mulder wanted to visit the Liberty Bell. Weird, huh? Do you suppose he talked Scully into it?   

Disclaimer: Do these characters really belong to Chris Carter, FOX and 1013 Productions? If so, no copyright infringement intended. Fun, yes. Profit, no.


THE CRACKED BELL
By aka "Jake"

PHILADELPHIA, PA
OCTOBER 23, 1993

"Hey, Scully. Do you believe in the afterlife?" They walk to the car. It's early evening and warm for October.

"I'd settle for a life in this one."

The Kyte case is over. Howard Graves rests in peace, but Mulder is too wound up to drive straight back to DC, where they'll go their separate ways and he'll spend the night alone in his apartment, unable to sleep. Psychokinesis. Ghosts. He doesn't want this day to end.

Scully settles in the passenger seat while Mulder slides behind the steering wheel. "Have you ever seen the Liberty Bell?" he asks, stalling.

"Yes."

"You know, I've been to Philadelphia a hundred times and I've never seen it," he lies, hoping she'll say she'd like to see it, too, right now, with him.

"You're not missing much. It's just a big bell with a big crack, and you have to wait in a long line."

Her answer comes as no surprise, but he's disappointed just the same. Look beneath the surface, Scully. What caused the damage?

"Yeah," -- he turns the key and starts the engine -- "but I'd really like to go."

"Why now?"

Because...because...because it's been a great day and you're...you're beautiful, and I...I want to kiss you, but I shouldn't, so maybe standing behind you in line to see the Liberty Bell would be an acceptable second choice. "How late do you think they stay open?"

As it turns out, not late enough. They park the car a block away and stroll along Market Street only to find there is no line at the Pavilion. The building is locked. They gaze through the glass at the bell, lit up even after hours.

"You know, it was recast twice, but the crack reappeared," Scully says.

He pretends he doesn't know this already. "Doesn't that strike you as a bit...X-Filish?"

"Mulder, a miscalculation at the forge isn't an X-File. Too little copper caused the metal to become brittle. Why do you automatically assume mysterious forces are at work?"

"No vengeful spirit, no poltergeist, no witch's curse?"

He doesn't want to believe the cause was human error.

The air smells like fallen leaves, fermenting apples, car exhaust, and a hint of Scully's bath soap. Light from the Pavilion spills across the surrounding lawn, painting it gold. They aren't alone; a few late tourists circle them, curious about the bell. Several couples hold hands. Their voices are low, lost in each other. Mulder stares at the bell and imagines it intact.

If his life were recast, could he be made whole, or would his wounds reappear?

"It is what it is, Mulder," Scully says.

This is not what he wants to hear. "Copper, tin, lead, zinc -- there's no magic in that, Scully."

"No, but there is a small amount of arsenic."

"In the bell?"

"Yep."

Hmm. "Scully, did you know that in 1944, the town of Mattoon, Illinois, was besieged by the so-called 'Mad Gasser of Mattoon'? Dressed in women's clothing, the Mad Gasser sprayed a sickly-sweet smelling gas into a number of homes, resulting in nausea, paralysis, and a burning of the mouth and throat. A sample was analyzed. It contained arsenic."

"How is that connected to the Liberty Bell?"

"It isn't. As far as I know. Do you think there might be a connection?"

She shakes her head at his absurdity and he catches a glimpse of her smile.

He chances touching her. A brush of his fingers on the back of her hand. "Stories like that," he says, "give me hope."

"The Mad Gasser gives you hope?"

"Yes, in a way. The possibility of the improbable."

She seems to understand what he's trying to say. Tilting her head toward the bell, she says, "Without the crack, it's just another bell, Mulder."

What would I be, Scully, without the scars of Samantha’s memory on my heart? Wouldn't I be better than I am?

Her reasoning implies his past has made him exactly as he should be.

She gazes at him with practical eyes. "And if it were just another bell," she says, answering the brush of his fingers with a fluttery caress of her own, "you and I wouldn't be standing here together looking at it, would we?"

He feels remade by her logic. Maybe that's what attracts him to her.

"Come on, Scully," -- he corrals her with one arm and steers her away from the bell -- "let's live it up."

"Cheesesteak sandwiches?"

"I know a place on South Street." They head for the car. "You ever notice how much a cheesesteak looks like a UFO?"

She shakes her head and links her arm with his, making him feel whole again and ready to take on the world.


THE END