crossoverfic | [FIC] X-Files/BtVS PG "Plans"

Title: Plans
Fandom: Xf/BtVS
Pairings: Implied Scully/Giles
Rating: PG
Prompt: #87 Choice
Notes: The setting of this in time is...complicated. Because I had a whole timeline thing (for Buffy, at least - fifth season. For The X-Files it was only that it was post-movie, pre-"Reqiuem"). And then I kind of screwed it up by throwing the whole Angel at Wolfram & Hart thing in there. So there's no real clean way to figure that out - the story takes place while Angel's running Wolfram & Hart and before Sunnydale High School is rebuilt. Which doesn't match up at all, and I'm sorry about that, I am. But if I don't get this little scene out of my head it's just gonna bug me forever.
Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm just playing around.

The wind rustled Dana Scully's hair and whistled through the remains of Sunnydale High School. Not really whistled, she reflected. More like whispered. Sunnydale High was dead. The wind just kind of rushed through it, stirring up dead things and pushing around ashes.

"Mind if I join you?" the voice started her out of her thoughts and she looked up quickly.
"Xander. You scared me."
"Sorry about that," he said as he sat down next to her on the hill. "Giles is looking for you."
"And yet you're the one who found me." She'd gone back to staring at the school.
"Well, I told him I'd help. And then I spotted your car when I came by the school. I figured you might be here."
"Really?" She sounded surprised.
"Yeah, I know you like to...reflect on how you've failed. And the ruins of Sunnydale High are just one big pile of 'I should have been there for them.'"
She turned to look at him suddenly, offended. "Thanks!"
Xander made eye contact. "Am I wrong?"
"I..." her look became more shocked than offended. "How did you know that?"
"You're not subtle about it. Whenever something happens and you're on the other side of the country, which is often, you seem upset. Which is understandable, I feel the same way when I can't help out. But, then, you get the same way when you're here and something goes wrong in DC and it seems like it's just a vicious cycle." He paused. "You seem shocked."
"Xander, I like you a lot. So I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but you are much more insightful than I ever knew you were," Scully responded.
Xander smiled. "Yeah, well, I like to keep people on their toes. So what has you out here tonight, thinking about how you've failed everyone you've ever loved."
Scully shook her head, "When you say it like that, it sounds crazy and blown out of proportion."
"Yeah, that's weird," he said sarcastically.
There was a pause before she spoke again. "Angel offered me a job."
"Now it's my turn to be surprised," Xander said.
"I was, too. But he has that big law firm now. I guess Fred needs some help over in the science department and he wanted someone capable with experience regarding..."
"Demons?"
"Unexplained phenomena, we'll say."
Xander nodded. "And are you gonna take it?"
"That's where it gets complicated."
"Ah. Well, I'm gonna say take it, because LA is closer than the East Coast."
"I could spend weekends in Sunnydale," Scully said.
"You could. But how's it pay?"
"It pays..." Scully looked up at the stars. "Well, if this were a purely financial decision I wouldn't have batted an eye."
"But it's not."
"But it's not." It was quiet for a while before Scully spoke again. "I promised my partner I wouldn't abandon him. That the X-files were as much mine as they are his. And yet, here I am, thinking about moving to LA." She sighed. "The thing that really gets me is that I've been waiting for this opportunity for so long. I think I've just been waiting for one more reason to move out here. But I...I've made this life out there. The FBI, my family, my partner. I have responsibilities that I can't just abandon." She looked down at the ground. "I can't just change my mind again. Quitting the FBI isn't part of the plan." She let out a sigh. "Moving to the Hellmouth isn't part of any plan."
"Here's the thing I know about plans," Xander said, "nothing really goes according to them. Take my life. I was supposed to graduate high school, go to college, maybe get some sort of respectable office job. I definitely wasn't supposed to abandon college for a cross-country road trip. And then, I never planned on spending my road trip summer washing dishes at the Ladies Night Club - and only washing dishes."
"Right," Scully said, smiling slightly.
"Right. But my point is, things don't go according to plan. Did I let my parents down when I didn't get into college? You betcha. But if everything had gone according to plan, I probably wouldn't be with Anya, I wouldn't have discovered that I'm actually pretty good at carpentry, I would probably still be mostly dependent on my family, God help me. What I'm saying is, it's good to have plans and no one wants to disappoint the people they love, but you can't live your life according to some set of directions. You can't make everyone happy all the time."
Scully was quiet. He was right, he was very right about all of this. But she still didn't know what to say. So they sat in silence for a few more minutes.
"Are you happy?" Xander asked her.
"What?"
"Are you happy?" he repeated.
"Do you mean here or in DC?" she asked.
"I think if your answer is 'No' in one of those places, you've already made your decision." Xander stood up and dusted off his pants. "Come on, we should get back. Giles is probably worried and I know how you hate it when other people are unhappy."
Scully took the hand he offered her and stood up. "When did you get so good at figuring things out?"
"When I deviated from the plan," he answered as they walked towards the parking lot.
"Nice tie-in there."
"I do what I can."