Title: Ghostbusting
Author: Susan O.
Rated: PG
Keywords: The Ghosts Who Stole Christmas
Classification: Angst/Humor
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Files.

Summary: Mulder drags Scully along for some more ghostbusting.

Author's Note: The ghosts of Mt. St. Mary's are "real" in that there is documentation of witnesses who claim to have seen these ghosts. I got my information from Ghosts of Haunted Houses of Maryland by Trish Gallagher.

"you want to know
whether I believe in ghosts
of course I do not believe in them
if you had known
as many of them as I have
you would not
believe in them either"-Don Marquis

Mount Saint Mary's
Emmitsburg, MD

Scully could see nothing out of her passenger window since darkness had long settled in. She glanced at Mulder as they pulled into the campus of Mount Saint Mary's.

"Are you finally going to tell me what we are doing here?" Scully asked.

Mulder favored her with a grin. "How do you feel about doing a little ghostbusting again? Strap on you proton pack," he said teasingly.

Scully was not amused. "You're kidding me, right? The last time we went ghost hunting we were nearly killed!"

"Yeah, but the ghosts on this campus don't try to kill people."

"That's very comforting," said Scully sarcastically.

They pulled into a parking spot and got out. Scully stopped him for a moment. "Give me the keys this time."

Mulder smirked and tossed her the keys, "Whatever you say."

Mulder explained the situation as they walked. "The woman I talked to about the ghosts works in the library and said she would meet us there and give us more details."

They walked up the steps to the library but upon reaching the entrance Scully stopped. "Mulder, I think I'm just going to wait out here until you are finished talking to your contact." She was still upset at him for dragging her up her after a particularly exhausting day of work. But at least he hadn't ditched her this time. It was a no-win situation.

Mulder glanced at her questionably. Had he perhaps made a mistake by bringing her on this trip? He knew she hated it when he ditched her, but... He shrugged his shoulders, said okay, and proceeded into the library.

Scully stretched her arms and legs and gazed at the campus. It was quiet for the most part except for the sound of crickets. She sat down on the library steps. The campus was pretty with lots of green grass and hills in the distance. The campus was li t by the walkway lights. Glancing up she noticed the stars twinkling in the night sky. The site brought back fond memories of her own college days at the University of Maryland.

A group of boisterous students broke her reverie. But it was not the group that caught her attention next, but a man walking behind the group. A man dressed in black. Scully laughed at the thought of a man in black checking out the campus for UFO's.

The man noticed her and approached. Scully tensed and almost reflexively reached for her gun, but when he stepped into the light she saw that he was a clergyman. She remembered that this was a Catholic college.

The clergyman smiled at Scully. "Is the seat next to you taken?" he asked.

Scully smiled at him, "No. Please have a seat."

The clergyman sat down. "I see you are wearing a cross, but I don't remember seeing you on campus before."

Scully touched her necklace when he mentioned it, remembering that she had it on. "The cross was a gift from my Mother. I'm Catholic but I don't attended here. I'm an FBI Agent from Washington."

"Oh really," said the man smiling. "And what brings the FBI out to our humble little campus. Nothing bad has happened I hope."

"No," said Scully reassuringly, "My partner is inside finding out about the ghosts here on campus. It's a type of hobby of his," she said with a laugh.

The clergyman chuckled. "We'll I wish the best to you and your partner. I really must be going. I'm late for an appointment. If you partner has any questions please tell him to see me. I'm the Reverend Simon Brute, the spiritual director here at Mount Saint Mary's although I don't think I've ever communicated directly with spirits." He laughed at his own joke as did Scully.

He extended his hand with Scully shook and said, "Thanks. I'll be sure to tell him. And my name is Dana Scully."

Brute got up. "I was a pleasure to meet you Ms. Scully," he said before he departed.

Scully watched him until he disappeared into the night. At that moment Mulder came out of the library and seeing Scully, headed towards her.

"Scully, I can't wait to take you around campus. Did you know they had a dorm room here in which you cannot place an object next to because some force moves it later!" said Mulder excitedly. "This place has paranormal written all over it!"

Scully was unimpressed. "Mulder did it ever occur to you that somebody, a human somebody, probably moves the object from the wall and then fabricates a story about it being moved by ghosts."

Mulder continued on heedless of Scully. "They have a ghost of a confederate soldier and the ghost of a priest..."

"A what!" Scully exclaimed.

Mulder looked confused for a second and then understood what Scully was talking about. "Yeah, a ghost of a priest-actually a reverend. A reverend named Simon Brute who was a spiritual director here and died in 1839. They say he..."

But Scully cut him off. "We're leaving."

"What!" exclaimed Mulder dumbfounded.

"We're leaving." And with that Scully headed towards the car with a confused Mulder in tow. She got in the car, started the engine, and hit the power button to roll down the passenger window. "You are either coming with me or you're staying here. That's all there is to it," said Scully to Mulder as he stood outside the door. Mulder, get in the damn car, she thought.

Mulder got in. As he was buckling his seatbelt he tried one more time to figure out what was going on. "Scully I just don't understand..."

But he never finished the sentence because he was thrown back into his seat at full force as Scully pulled out of Mount Saint Mary's campus at a speed that would have put flying UFO's to shame and headed back to D.C.

"A man maybe in just possession of the truth as of a city, and yet be forced to
surrender."-Thomas Browne

I never expected it to end this way.

But then who really ever foresees their own end unless they have been diagnosed with some terminal illness or warned that their ways would end in their death.

I should have been warned.

Would I have headed that warning?

If I had all the facts up front I think I would have. But I didn't have all the facts. And that is why I am lying here on the floor-my life ebbing away. I haven't energy enough to try and reach for the phone much less yell for help. I never expected t his much pain from being shot.

They say your life flashes before your eyes before you die. I ponder on all the little things that had to occur in my life to put me in this exact moment in time. It seems that my course was set from the moment of my birth. The Fates seem to have all but cut my life string.

I berate myself. I have been stubborn, selfish, blind, foolish. I have done things that I regret-words and actions I wish to recall. And yet I am angry-angry at that this is the end, angry at myself. Somehow I still don't think I deserve this.

I hear voices-far away, distant. They are shouting my name. I vaguely recognize them. They are telling me to hold on and that help is one the way. I want to laugh out loud at the irony but I have lost the power to control my body. They want to help me after all that I have done to hurt them. I did help them in the end though-I think, I hope. I hope I helped them even though it is too late to help myself. Perhaps I did help myself in a way. I pray my last act of redemption washes away my sins.

I never expected the truth.

I never expected my Father's betrayal of my Mother, of myself.

I never expected my Father would kill me.

I hear my name being whispered lovingly, "Jeffrey...Jeffrey."

"Mom," I whisper before I realize that I don't need my breath anymore.

The End