When Science Failed | PG | Grey's Anatomy/The X Files
Title: When Science Failed
Prompt: spirits and spectres in the Archfield, power outage, redheads
Fandom: Addison/Callie/Scully, Grey's Anatomy/The X Files
Requested by: mrschimpf
Rating: PG
Word Count: 791
Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: Okay so this is not entirely a crossover. I tried, but this story really didn't want to be forced in that direction. I hope that you enjoy it regardless!
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Despite being a woman of science, Addison was terrified of the unknown. More specifically, she was terrified of ghosts.
No one knew this about her. Not her parents. Not Derek. Not Mark. Not even Callie.
She preferred to have people believe that she was strong, steady, and unwavering in her support of scientific explanations for everything. She preferred to keep certain elements of her past hidden away. It was better that way.
Addison had been eleven when her great-aunt, Loretta Forbes, had died. For all intents and purposes, the woman had been her best friend. She cherished her relationship with her aunt more than even her relationship with her cold, distant parents. Her passing was sudden and completely destroyed her. She'd spent the better part of the following year in a deep depression.
She was thirteen when her friends became obsessed with the paranormal. They frequented cemeteries, attempted séances, and stole a Ouiji board from the local department store. Addison latched on, hoping somehow that she may be reunited with Aunt Loretta. Her friends, for all of their forced bravery, looked to Addison for leadership when their fears swelled to the surface.
Addison was never able to summon her beloved relative. She did, however, experience things she couldn't explain, things that would forever haunt her. There were strange noises, moved objects, orbs of light…
It all seemed to follow her. To torment her. To punish her for disrupting something she had no business trying to control.
When she was sixteen and her aunt's favorite porcelain doll fell of its own accord from the top most shelf in her bedroom and smashed, she decided that she would never again dabble in these things. She turned her back on it all, despite her fascination, and resolved to devote her life to things she could explain. Science became her best friend.
Now that strange things were beginning to happen at the Archfield, Addison wondered if the twenty-five year respite had ceased.
There were unexplained power outages occurring throughout the building. Elevators would stop between floors. Light fixtures without bulbs would shine and flicker.
Addison was terrified.
The FBI had become involved. She spoke personally to the short, redhaired agent, who assured her that they would resolve the issues. Addison wasn't convinced.
She could no longer sleep in her own room. Her lights would flicker throughout the night. She never slept. When she did, she dreamt of the smashed face of the doll, staring at her with cold glass eyes.
Callie never questioned her motives when she showed up at her door in her pajamas. She quietly stepped aside and shared her bed. She made no judgments.
The lights never flashed unsteadily in Callie's room.
Addison gradually felt her fears subside when she was in Callie's presence. She had the same soothing demeanor that Aunt Loretta had; she never felt out of place or judged. She felt welcome. Loved.
It was only when Addison left Callie's room that her unsettled worries returned. Her desire to avoid the elevators relegated her to the stairwell. Her feet ached, her lungs burned, her flesh was prickled with goosebumps. By the time she reached the ground floor, the door was inexplicably locked.
Addison had only had several panic attacks in her life, and the one that assumed control of her body in the stairwell had been the worst she'd ever experienced. She knew it was her own fault. She knew she had caused this by the foolish arrogance of her early adolescence. She pounded, cried, and screamed for nearly ten minutes until Agent Scully whisked the door open with relative ease.
"It's over now," Agent Scully said. She sat Addison on the stairs and allowed her to cry on her shoulder. "It's all over."
Despite the redheaded agent's assurances that the occurrences had ended, Addison did not return to her own room that evening. Callie welcomed her with open arms and listened patiently as Addison explained what happened all those years before. Callie stroked her hair when Addison admitted to her belief that it was all her fault.
"You can't explain what happened. No one can. I don't even think those agents really know what happened," Callie said calmly as she rubbed Addison's back.
"But what if it was me? What if I disrupted the eternal rest of some spirit and this was my punishment?"
"Addie…what if you're punishing yourself?"
Addison found herself unable to respond. She had no explanation. She knew she would have to accept that some things would forever remain mysterious and inexplicable. Science had failed her in this instance and she would have to accept that it was no longer as infallible as she'd believed it to be.
Addison never experienced another unexplained occurrence again.
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