TITLE: The Train from Hell
AUTHOR: Erin M. Blair
E-MAIL: eblair@sonic.net
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
DISTRIBUTION: OK to Gossamer, Ephemeral,
MSR Fanfic Cheerleaders, etc.
RATING: PG
CATEGORIES: SRA -- Story, Romance, Angst.
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully Romance. 
SPOILERS: Existence then AU.
DISCLAIMER: Mulder, Scully, and William belong to
Chris Carter; Amtrak belongs to Amtrak. 
SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully's travel by train to visit
Bill and Tara's new home in San Francisco. On the way
there, things get rather interesting as the train loses 
electricity.
NOTES:  This story is based on my experiences on a 
trip to Reno on Amtrak in early December 2004 with my
family. I would like to give special thanks to both Jen and 
Lisa for beta reading this story. 

---------------------------------
The Train from Hell
By Erin M. Blair
---------------------------------

Why did I let Scully talk me into going on Amtrak? 

Now we're here, waiting to go on to San Francisco, okay, 
Emeryville, at the tiniest Reno train station. I had 
observed that the train station looked like two portable 
classrooms, stuck together. I wasn't in the mood when I 
woke up, having to hear that cute sound she makes. I had 
often heard this sound whenever she falls asleep at our 
stakeouts from awhile back. I wouldn't exactly say she 
snores, maybe a light snore, but well - it does tend to 
grate on my nerves when I'm already tired and cranky. 

Did I mention how she told me Amtrak had been a quick way 
to travel ever since 911? No? Well, she did say that. She 
told me that she wanted to see America from a train, like 
how I once told her years ago. I was joking at the time! I 
really didn't mean it. Ever since that time that I was 
trapped on that train car, I developed this aversion to 
trains. I never wanted to be back on any other train. I 
know I could have said no to her, but there are times when 
you just can't deny her anything. We are in this together, 
I told her that many times before. 

I really hated the memory of being punched by that agent 
from whatever shadow agency he'd worked for... I remember 
having the scariest of headaches for weeks afterward. It 
wasn't fun. 

After that, I tried not to ditch Scully anymore. I guess I 
noticed how my ditches affected her. She didn't tell me in 
so many words, but I know how much I wanted to protect her 
from the pain. When I came back to her, I vowed that I 
would never leave her again. I remembered sitting by her 
side on the sofa, thinking of those horrible memories.

I always loved looking into those clear blue eyes of hers. 
Those eyes reminded me of a pool. All I wanted to do was to 
dive right into her. She's very important to me. I keep 
remind myself repeatedly that she's mine to love and to 
cherish. I would die if anything happened to her and to our 
son. 

As I waited with Scully and our toddler son, William, I was 
beginning to get nervous that it wouldn't get here on time. 
I have heard rumors about how Amtrak didn't run on 
schedule, that they would get delayed at certain stops. 

"Mulder, I'm sure the train will get here on time," she 
said to me. I was trying to hold a wriggly William, as he 
was trying to slide off me. He is very active these days! 

"I bet its four hours behind schedule," I told her. "When 
we planned this trip to see your relatives in San 
Francisco, I told you that Amtrak had been having 
problems." 

"I didn't want to go through that sickening felt up session 
at the airport, Mulder. I told you that when we were 
planning this trip." 

I remembered what she told me at the time, but I wanted to 
remind her that she wouldn't have to deal with that. "You 
know that you could have flashed your FBI badge, Scully. 
Most of the airport personnel know that we're FBI agents; 
we traveled to numerous cities nationwide. They had seen us 
on sight; and it wouldn't have been a big deal." 

Scully sighed. "I know, Mulder. I wanted to do something 
that I've never done before. It was important to me to be 
on a train." She paused. "I wanted this trip to be 
special."

William was still squirming in my arms. "Scully - I think 
you need to hold him. He is trying to escape from me." I 
paused. "It will be a memorable trip." 

Scully nodded. "Give him to me."

I handed him to Scully. "I hope you can handle him, Scully. 
He is mighty feisty today." 

"I know," she said.  

After we spent two more hours later in that dinky train 
station, I was at my wits' end. All I wanted was to have an 
extra day in Reno, but Scully wanted to go on to Emeryville 
to see the family in San Francisco. 

I reluctantly agreed. It turned out to be a mistake on both 
of our parts. Although William was taking the long hours of 
waiting reasonably well, I was getting crankier by the 
minute. I wasn't taking it my stride, as Scully was. 

Finally - the train arrived. We got out to the snowy train 
tracks to board the coach car. A short while later, the 
conductor announced there was no electricity. The heating 
coils were not working to power the train. Everything on 
the train seemed to render powerless: the dining car could 
not cook and produce the meals; the rest room could not be 
used at all because there were no lights, and there was no 
air circulation at all. I looked at Scully and she looked 
at me - why did we pay so much money for a lousy return 
trip?  

I wanted to scream. I wanted to throw things. I wanted to 
bash someone against the wall for boarding us, human 
beings, into a train like sardines. We deserved better 
treatment than this. My Scully and William deserved better 
than this and I deserved better too. As a federal employee 
in Homeland Security, I could think of several violations 
offhand by just looking around me. 

This treatment was unforgivable; it's a disgrace. I had 
this feeling that this train would be the train from hell. 

Of course, I don't want to say that all of our vacation was 
a total waste of our time. It wasn't at all. I thought this 
trip idea of Scully's to San Francisco was a great idea. 
All I wanted was for this trip to go on without any 
problems. 

Overall, I thought it was a great experience for all three 
of us. We saw lovely scenery along the way. America really 
does look gorgeous from the train. The snow on the ground 
was breathtaking; the stars lit up the nighttime sky; the 
afternoon sun heated me like a burning flame. I remember 
kissing Scully on the lips as we watched the scenery fly by 
while sitting together at the lounge car. I remember 
holding our son as we watched the sunset, happy that we're 
all together and well. 

These memories make up for the bad, for the problems that 
we are now facing on the train, on our journey to visit 
Bill and Tara's new home in San Francisco. The air was 
getting tighter. I was having problems breathing, probably 
due to the time when the tobacco beetles infested my lungs. 
"Scully? I'm not feeling so well," I told her. She had 
William sitting on her lap and she turned towards me, 
looking very concerned. 

"Mulder, what are your symptoms?"

"The air is getting tight," I answered. I tried to take a 
breath, but it was hard getting the air circulating into my 
lungs. All I could do was wheeze. It was like an asthma 
attack, but I never had asthma growing up. "I'm finding it 
hard to breathe, Scully."

"Mulder - " I knew what Scully was going to say before the 
loud speaker interrupted her. The train needed to go to 
Lofton to reorganize the train, to put the lounge car after 
the coach cars. All I could think of - they should just 
take us back to Reno so we could take a bus over to 
Emeryville.  

That didn't happen - yet. 

They tried switching the trains at the train yard at 
Lofton. It took them three hours to figure out what I 
thought all along: that they're going back to Reno to have 
us board a bus to the midway point of our destination: 
Sacramento. We waited at the dinky train station for what 
seemed like eternity. It was in reality about two hours 
before four buses finally showed up. 

We boarded the bus to Sacramento with no stopping at any 
other cities. "Are you feeling better, Mulder?" She looked 
at me with great concern on her features. I knew she was 
worried about me. 

I nodded. "I'm feeling better, Scully. The air was too 
thick with cigarette smoke and body odor from lack of air 
circulation, but I'm okay now. Honest."

She sighed. "I'm glad you're doing better, Mulder. I was 
worried for you."

"I know," I replied, looking at the beautiful snow covered 
Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

I could tell that Scully had finally gotten over the urge 
to take the train any further. I know that we're going to 
get to our destination soon, but I have this funny feeling 
that we're going to fly back home to DC. 

"Mulder?"

"Hmm?"

"We're not going to take the train again; I'd rather take 
the plane."

"Oh, I had this feeling that you were going to say that, 
Scully."

"Because of our connection?"

I nodded. "I can always tell what you're going to feel, 
Scully. We've been together all these years. I know what 
you're going to say before you even tell me. You do try to 
hide your feelings from me, but I've always known ahead of 
time." I looked into her blue eyes and then I was smiling 
at her. Scully was a part of my soul and my heart. She 
always completed me. I wanted to say more, but William 
began to cry as he awakened from napping on Scully's lap. 

I helped her get the sipper cup out of William's baby bag, 
which held his milk securely. "Scully, we would have to get 
more milk for him in San Francisco."

"I know," she answered. "We would have to stop at a store 
almost as soon as we got off the train." 

"Is Tara picking us up?"

"Yes, she is. Bill put Matthew's car seat in the SUV. He 
said we could put William in it. He's big enough now to use 
it."

"That's good. I was worried about that."

"Mulder, I know you're worried about Bill's reaction to 
you. Am I right?"

I nodded. She read me like a book. I knew I couldn't hid my 
feelings from her. I gathered up the words that made 
history, at least, to me. "You're right, Scully."

In all the years that we've been together, I never admitted 
that she was right. I don't know why, but it was hard for 
me to admit that I was wrong about something. This wasn't a 
weakening, but finally letting her know that she was right. 
I don't get a long with her brother, Bill. At our wedding, 
there was an uneasy truce between us. I can understand his 
reasoning because if Samantha were alive, I would have a 
field day if something had happened to her. 

"Mulder, are you all right?" 

I nodded again. "I'm okay, Scully. I'm a bit tired and 
cranky, but otherwise, I'm fine."

"We'll be there soon - I hope. Seriously, it has been one 
delay after the other..."

"I know." Scully was right - again. There had been so many 
delays on this trip. We had to wait for the freight trains 
to go by because they own the tracks, not Amtrak. The best 
that Amtrak could do was to provide only a second priority 
train. 

It took several hours, but we finally reached our 
destination in San Francisco. I could see Tara in the 
distance. She was waiting with Bill at the train station, 
looking exhausted like all of us. 

"I was beginning to worry," Tara said as she hugged each of 
us. "What happened?" She looked at Scully, then me, and 
then at William. 

I wrapped my arms around Scully. "Oh, you know, let's just 
say -"

Scully interrupted me. "Tara, let's just say that this was 
the train from hell."

I nodded while I was bending down to grab the luggage. I 
had mixed emotions about our trip; I was both excited and 
tired. All I wanted was to relax on this vacation. I looked 
towards at Scully, as she was holding William, and gave her 
a smile meant only for her. "It sure was."

** The End **