You know, this vignette really wasn't the way I wanted to continue
the Boys' Night Out stories - it really wasn't. But I went and watched
"Tempus Fugit/Max" and, while crying my heart out for the fate of Pendrell,
I knew that the Boys (and two girls) would have to pay tribute to the guy
as well. This got written real quick, and so it's very simple, but I
figured that this was a story that needed telling. Actually, I might hold
off on the BNO stories until Scully's sailing on easier waters (oh, come
now, they just CAN'T kill her, guys - GA's got a two-year renewal on her
contract) - it royally sucks, but can't be avoided. However, if I find a
way to work the cancer in...

        Disclaimer: CC owns who you know, I own who you don't (Haymen,
Lewd Dude, and anyone whose voice cannot be identified). Simple 'nuff,
n'est-ce pas?
        Summary: Post "Tempus Fugit/Max" - The Boys (and girls) go and pay
tribute to the deceased Pendrell.
        Catagory: V H (all I seem to write nowadays, with an R sometimes
too)
        Rating: PG
        Warning: Prior reading of "Boys' Night Out" - the Elizabeth Miller
one, those who might confuse it with the Skinner-and-Mulder-go-get-drunk
story - is best for this buddy if you want to get all the inside jokes.
        Spoiler warning for the episodes "Tempus Fugit/Max". And here we go!

A Eulogy for Pendrell - A "Boys' Night Out" Interlude
By Elizabeth Miller

     It would have been more appropriate if all the cars were black, but
there hadn't been much time to organize the convoy and so they hadn't been
able to locate five or six people with black minivans. So, instead, people were
loaded halfhazardly into various examples of the wide spectrum of automobiles
available - from Skinner's debt-causing Lexus (left over from a mid-life crisis
a few years back), to Mulder's office-pool Taurus and to Langley's
psychedelic VW bus (Frohike had borrowed it for the evening). But the cars
hardly mattered - what mattered was the motive.
     Pulling up to the cemetery, the passengers loaded out, blending into the
night with their somber black clothing. They moved slowly through the
multitude of white tombstones, a black tide spilling over the graveyard, and
stopped at a freshly dug grave. They surrounded it slowly, and for a moment,
said nothing. Then the voices began to pip up:
     "Wow."
     "I'll say."
     "He *took a bullet* for her."
     "Wow."
     "It's just so surreal - he took a BULLET for her."
     "Hell, he DIED for her."
     "Wow."
     "You have to ask yourself - would you have? Would you have flung
yourself in front of that bullet to save her life, sacrificing your own in the
process?"
     "He was drunk."
     "The gunman was aiming for the guy she was with."
     "Hardly the point."
     "And ask yourselves, people - which of you would actually go so far as
to take a bullet for her?"
     "I took a bullet FROM her once."
     "Doesn't count, Mulder."
     "But I would anyway. We're partners, after all."
     "And what about me, gentlemen - ladies, too? I've taken a bullet for
her - just not in such an extremely literal sense."
     "Okay, so Skinner's doing the best of all of us."
     "Not to mention what I'm probably going to have to do..."
     "What was that, Skinner?"
     "Oh, nothing. Never mind."
     "You and Mulder have been doing that since February. Frohike too.
There something you ain't telling us?"
     "Nothing. Don't worry about it. Just work stuff."
     "Then can you tell me? I work in Violent Crimes."
     "I meant X-Files stuff, actually. Con-fied-ential. You understand."
     "Oh, of COURSE."
     "Sarcasm doesn't become you, Hayman."
     "Bite me, Skinner."
     "Guys, we've gotten a bit off track. Let's just do what we came to do
and leave."
     Mulder knelt and set the yellow and pink bouquet of roses on the
grave, and then rose solemnly. "Pendrell, you were - are - one hell of a guy -
we just wanted you to know that we all think so, and that we hope you're
happy where you are."
     "And that you get your chance to see *her* in the shower."
     "Well said, Lewd Dude."
     "Thank you - and thanks for letting me come along."
     "Hey, no matter what our tastes might be, we need to stand unified,
and honor those who so completely met our ideals."
     "Does that mean I can start coming to meetings again?"
     "Don't press your luck. Come on guys, let's go."
     The large group of men (and two women) shuffled back towards the
cars and drove into the night.

The End