Sure. Fine. Whatever. A Dana Scully Origin Story

Alone in the Universe

While their mom and dad were finishing up with the dishes, Dana and Melissa sat quietly in the living room. The clock on the wall meticulously ticked every second of the night away in a mocking tone, almost as if it were laughing at Dana and the party that she was missing out on.

"Melissa," Dana whispered as she placed her dainty hand on her sister's knee, "I need your help."

Melissa was not only the queen of healing crystals and tai chi, but she was also the queen of sneaking out late and lying to their parents. Her whole teen-hood was one big blatant lie wrapped up in a white communion dress and a high school diploma that she didn't rightfully earn. If anyone could help Dana sneak out to Ronny's party, it was her older sister.

"Does it involve that boy?" Melissa coyly raised her perfectly groomed eyebrow.

Blushing, Dana nodded.

"Say no more," Melissa quietly stood up and motioned for Dana to follow her lead. "Mom! Dad! Dana and I are going to go upstairs for a minute. Dana wants to show me her... ummm..."

Dana spoke up, covering for her sister, "I want to show her my biochemistry senior thesis,"

The two ginger-haired sisters looked at each other with a cringe in the corners of their eyes.

"Okay," Their mother shouted from the kitchen, "Don't be too long, though. Your father and I thought it would be fun to play charades."

The cringing intensified.

Quickly, they ran up the stairs and hid in Dana's room.

"We don't have much time," Melissa immediately went to her little sister's closet, flipping through each polyester hand-me-down dress that she owned, "But I can cover for you. First, we need to find something for you to wear."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing right now?" Dana asked, baffled as to why her faded jeans, oversized red shirt, and striped socks wouldn't do.

"Dana," Melissa said as she walked over to her sister's bed. Her suitcase sat on top of the linen sheets. "Tonight is going to be a life-changer. You need to wear something as monumental as what will happen to you." She unzipped her bag and rummaged through her own clothes.

"What will happen to me?" Dana asked, with concern in her voice.

"Oh, I don't know," Melissa coyly replied.

"Melissa, what?" Dana pestered her.

Melissa pulled a teal dress with thin straps out of her suitcase. Holding it up to herself, Melissa smiled at the cut and the lace of the same color that adorned the whole sundress. It was a little past knee length and was fitted at the top.

"Dana," Melissa handed her the dress, "Tonight, something huge is going to happen to you. I can feel it. Your life is going to change tonight." She placed her hand on her crystal pendant and Dana placed her hand on her cross necklace.

Too afraid to ask any more questions, Dana took the dress and went into the bathroom to slip it on. As she did so, she looked at herself in the mirror. For the first time in her life, she actually used the words beautiful to describe herself. She felt pretty and she felt confident. Today, she had graduated the top in her class, she had a full scholarship to her dream college, and tonight, her sister helped her see that she was always beautiful, even on the outside. And there was nothing wrong with feeling beautiful. Nothing at all.

Making her grand entrance onto the red carpet runway that was her bedroom, her audience of one erupted into silent cheers. "Dana," Melissa beamed, "you look so, so pretty."