From: xenascully <xenasculee@gmail.com>
Date: 14 Feb 2005 21:01:33 -0800
Subject: NEW - Amor Lastimado (1/3)~sequel to Agua Mala~
Source: atxc

Title:Amor Lastimado
Author:xenascully
Rated:R
Category:MSR Angst
Summary: Mulder has been avoiding Scully since the incident in Florida.
Scully doesn't understand...
Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, but the story is.
Archive: Let me know, then yes!

Amor Lastimado

Part One

It hurt...the bite around my neck...and it was becoming difficult to
breathe. I was terrified. I knew I should get up and run and I tried. I
thought I heard Scully call to me. I couldn't run anymore...needed to
stop...to breathe. I knelt down, hoping that stopping for a moment
would help me catch my breath, but it wasn't helping. I heard her
again.
"Mulder, are you okay?" she called. I had to get to her. I had to
run to Scully; she could help me. Scully could make it better.
I stood with all the strength I could conjure up. I reached out my hand
to her as I ran, as though it would somehow get me to her faster. Then
I finally got close enough to show her what had happened, because as
much as I tried to speak, I couldn't get the breath to.
I saw her face when she saw my neck; she was scared.
I wanted her to come to me...to help me. I wanted her to make it all
better, but she was pulled back away from me and into the room. They
locked me out. I heard her voice loud on the other side of the door and
the asshole telling her she had no choice but to leave me there.
I wanted to cry. I slid to the floor, waiting...I waited for Scully to
fight him; to come bursting out of the room and save me. But she
didn't come. I looked up above me and saw more of the sea creatures
coming into the lighting fixture. I had to run. I got up and pushed
myself to run. My body refused to work right. I had no oxygen to give
it back. I collapsed in front of the door to the outside and I
breathed. It was much harder to breathe now. It hurt...and I was
afraid. I wanted Scully to save me, but she never came. So, this was
it; I would die there.
Then I heard something; I heard a cat meowing outside. I looked; I
thought. I watched the Shipley's cat cleaning itself in the rain. A
cat just sitting in the rain; how bizarre. But then I realized why. The
cat knew something; it knew how to survive...


I sat on Arthur Dales' couch as Scully came back into the house to
tell us the news of the baby. I laughed at the name. She sat down next
to me and I had to turn away. She had left me. She never came for me...
"Oh, it's amazing," Dales said, "Truly amazing."
"What's that?" Scully asked.
"That you could come here in the face of a hurricane chasing a sea
monster, yet, and end up bringing a new life into the world. And then
slaying the monster and save this one's life, "He motioned to me,
"As he was quite literally circling down the drain."
"She didn't save my life," I quickly respond, "Really."
"Oh, yes, she did. Yes, with a gun to her head, no less."
She hadn't had a gun to her head for very long I thought, but said
nothing. I was angry. Mostly hurt.
"Well, you wouldn't have known to go out in the rain if I hadn't
pointed it out that to you that it was the fresh water that killed the
organism..." Scully tried to rationalize.
"No. No, no, no, no ... I-I saw the Shipley's cat," I explain. She
can't take credit for my life being saved this time.
"Uh, well, I-I can't swallow that... No, no, no," Dales replied.
"I saw the cat, which had been saved which had been in the washing
machine. And the Shipley's had boarded up their house which means
that the only way they could have vanished was if the creature came up
through the plumbing in a backwash of seawater ... seawater. And then
the deputy who vanished from a bathtub full of Epsom salts." There.
"If Agent Scully had not been there with you, I shudder to think what
would have happened to you. I'd say you owe her your life." I do owe
her my life. She has saved me a hundred times over in the past. But,
why didn't she save me last night? Why didn't she fight? Was she
drifting from me? Did she give up on me somewhere during this
investigation? Was she angry that I had brought her here, and in return
would've let me die? Dales continued before I could think more, "It
takes a big man to admit this, but... if I had had someone as savvy as
her by my side all those years ago in the X-Files, I might not have
retired."
I look down. How long would she stay by my side now? Was she going to
leave me?

Scully is already asleep. We just got on the plane about ten minutes
ago. I'm watching her, I realize. I probably shouldn't, but I
can't pull my eyes away from her. My heart aches. I feel like I've
lost her. Why do I feel this way? It's stupid, really. Am I
overreacting? I feel like I am, but at the same time I want to cry. I
feel like she doesn't care anymore...
I feel my eyes getting heavy and I'm just about to close them when I
hear her say my something. I thought that maybe she was waking up, but
when I look more clearly at her I realize that she's talking in her
sleep.
"Let me help him..."she says so softly I can barely hear,
"Please...please let me help him..." and that's when my stomach
clenches. I watch as a tear falls down her cheek and she turns away
from me and curls up. "Mulder..." she cries, "Please be
okay...please don't leave me..." I swallowed. If she had cared, why
didn't she try? I turn away from her and curl up as well. I try to
sleep, but I can't.

"Mulder, wake up," I feel Scully's hand on my shoulder,
"Mulder, we're here. Wake up,"
"I'm up," I tell her. She stood and waited for me as I gathered
my briefcase from the overhead compartment.
"Are you okay?" she asks me.
"Yeah," I tell her. I wait for her to start walking away and I can
feel her gaze on me without even looking at her. Eventually she turned
and walked up the aisle. I think she might be upset. Why do I feel bad?

Scully hadn't seen Mulder since he had dropped her off at her
apartment the day before on the way back from the airport. She assumed
that he wasn't feeling well and wanted to be alone.
She was finishing up her final report and rubbed her eyes, closing the
laptop. She stood up from the table and went to the bathroom to brush
her teeth. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes looked tired
and worn. Guilt had been overwhelming her since that day in the
apartment building. It had been eating at her; sleep only gave new life
to that day; the day that she was forced to leave Mulder behind.
But she was so tired; when her head hit the pillow she fell fast asleep
and no sooner did she start to dream. It always started at the same
place; Mulder's anguished face as he displayed his injured neck. She
wanted to go to him, but she was violently pulled back into the room by
George, "Hey, wait a second! What are you doing?"
"I'm saving our lives," he said and aimed his gun at her.
"That's my partner out there!" she shouted. *That's Mulder out
there...I have to go to him...*
"If he's your partner, he should've listened to you,"
"You can't just leave him there!" *Please...please let me go to
him...*
"I'm not letting him in,"
"He'll die!" *Oh, God...please don't let him die...*
"What are you going to do for him?" Walter said. She thought for a
moment.
*Oh, God...what if I can't help him? What if he dies because I
can't help him?* "Well, I can at least keep him breathing!" she
said.
"You couldn't save the deputy," Walter said.
"Look, at least let me try. I'm a medical doctor," *Please...*
"That's good," Angela said, "Because my water just broke."
"Isn't much of a choice, really, is it?" George said.
*No. What do I do? How can I fight? I can't. Oh, Mulder...please be
okay. Please don't leave me...please hold on till I can get to
you...*
Delivering the baby seemed to go by fast, since details of it hadn't
quite pasted into her mind. She had never stopped thinking of Mulder.
And as soon as she had the chance, she handed the baby to Angela and
grabbed the gun from Walter. She took off for the door, throwing open
the locks and swinging the door open...
She made her way out the door, cautiously, "Mulder?" she yelled.
She heard nothing. Down the hall she could see something...it was dark,
but she could make out something lying on the floor. She made her way
down the hall, knowing she was safe now that the sprinklers were on. As
she got closer to what she had seen, she realized what it was...a pile
of clothes...black clothes. What looked to be Mulder's clothes.
"Oh, no..." she felt her chest tighten, "Mulder, no... no it
can't be." She slowly knelt down to touch the clothing, but bile
began to rise in her throat and she quickly turned away and threw up.
She ran away...kept running back to the room, crying. She couldn't
stop the tears. She wanted to kill him; wanted to kill George.
Instead, she would have to help him. It was hell.
Scully woke up from her dream in a cold sweat. She tried to compose
herself by taking deep breaths and rationalizing with herself; made
herself remember that not long after that, they had set out to leave
the building and found him outside, safe and sound. He was okay. But it
wasn't enough. He had been avoiding eye contact since that day and
she didn't understand why.
She looked over at the clock. It was only 1a.m. She got up out of bed
and went to her computer, signing it online. She needed to get her mind
off of everything. Then her email popped up, informing her that she had
new mail. She clicked on it. It was a note from Mulder:

Scully,
I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would write you. I need to ask you
something. I need to know if you still want to be here. Do you? Have
you finally grown tired of me? I don't know what else to think.
Please tell me. Talk to me. I need to know.
-M.

Her eyes grew wide. Her heart beat faster. What was he talking about?
Did he want her to leave? She couldn't understand. All she knew is
that she needed to go to him...


Part Two

I stood at Mulder's door, staring absently at the 42. I had been
thinking long and hard about his email. Did he want me to leave? Was
that his way of telling me he didn't want me with him anymore? I
don't understand; why is this happening? I feel my eyes swelling with
tears, but I don't know what else to let them do...

Mulder flipped through the channels on his TV. Nothing could be worse
than insomnia, he thought; except maybe for the nightmares if he
actually got to sleep. He finally just turned it off. He threw the
remote down onto the coffee table and plopped back against the couch
with a loud sigh. Just then, there was a knock at the door.
He looked at his watch and waited for a moment to make sure it wasn't
just his overtired imagination that had caused him to hear knocking.
There was another knock and he quickly rose to answer the door. When he
opened it, Scully was standing there, now looking down at his chest.
She looked tired...she looked like she'd been crying.
"Scully?" he wanted her to look at me, but she wouldn't,
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Why do you want me to leave?" she said through tears.
"What? Wait, Scully, come in," he took her arm and pulled her
gently into the room and closed the door behind him, "What's going
on?"
"I read your email," she said.
"Oh," he replied, "Scully, I was asking you a question. I
wasn't telling you that I wanted you to leave."
"Well, what the hell, Mulder?" she looked up at him now, "Why did
you ask me such a detestable question, when you should know that my
answer is unequivocally the contrary?" Mulder looked at her and then
slowly down again. He walked back over to the couch and sat down.
"What happened in the apartment building, Scully?" he asked,
"After George pulled you back into the room, what did you do?"
"I told you, Mulder, I delivered a baby."
"And after that?" There was a silence. Scully hadn't told him
about what happened after that. To his knowledge, he was left behind
and forgotten about for at least an hour.
"After that, I..." she looked down. Mulder looked at her as she
hesitated, "I grabbed the gun and went out into the hall to find
you." His brow furrowed as she continued, "I saw something in the
distance. Now I realize that it was probably just someone's clothes
that had washed out of one of the rooms. But at that moment, when I
reached them...I thought...I thought I was too late," she looked at
him. He looked into her tear welled eyes. "I thought that whatever
happened to the deputy had happened to you," she looked back down,
"And I gave up. I went back into the room wanting to let George die.
But the sprinklers were on. It didn't matter."
Mulder swallowed. He had been wrong. He had been horribly wrong and he
had taken it out on Scully; the one person who still cared about him;
the person he cared about the most, "I'm so sorry, Scully," he
said finally, "I didn't know. I didn't know that you came looking
for me. I thought you'd left me to die; that you didn't care
anymore."
"God, Mulder, why would you think that?" she looked at him.
"I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking. I just felt...I
felt like you were leaving me."
"Why didn't you say anything to me until now?"
"Because I also felt like I was being irrational. I can't even
begin to explain it. I felt like you were trying to find a way to get
away from me; to get out of what I have ultimately created as a life
for you...being dragged across the country so many times on a hunch or
a feeling. I guess I felt angry and hurt, but I also felt guilty and
felt that maybe what you were doing was completely justified... and it
kills me."
"But I'm not leaving, Mulder. I never tried to leave. I don't
want to leave you," she looked at him, silently begging for him to
look at her.
"I'm really glad..." he said. Then he looked at her, "I'm
glad you want to stay." She smiled at him.
"So everything's okay now?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, Scully," he leaned over to her and pulled her
to him in a hug, "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay. I'm sorry I couldn't be with you when you needed
me."
"No, Scully, you had no choice," he rested his head on her
shoulder, which was much easier to do when they were sitting down. She,
in turn, rested her head on his shoulder.
"I care about you very much," she said. He closed his eyes as
warmth overcame his entire body. She felt him turn his head so his face
nuzzled her neck. She thought nothing of it at first.
Then he breathed in, smelling her. She shuddered at the sensation of
his exhale upon her skin. Without thinking, he placed a small kiss at
the nape of her neck and froze. When he discovered that she wasn't
pulling away from him, he kissed the same place again and felt another
breath shudder from her.
She was tingling all over; her senses had suddenly become overwhelmed
by Mulder's small sign of affection...affection that she hadn't
expected, but wasn't pushing away from. She wasn't sure, though,
how to respond; wasn't completely positive about what his intentions
were...until she felt his mouth on her earlobe and his tongue reach out
to suckle it.
She moaned in response, letting go of her doubt, and he knew it was
okay to continue. His hands moved to her hair and he moved his mouth to
hers and kissed her. Soon after, she parted her lips and kissed him
back fiercely; deepening with every passing moment until they needed to
part for air.
She looked into his darkened eyes and saw a raw passion she had never
seen before. She wondered if he saw the same in hers. He did, in fact.
In that same moment he realized that she was wearing her coat still and
he moved to take it off of her. Surprisingly, he thought, she let him.
She was in her pajamas; nothing fancy, but it made his heart sink to
realize that she'd come to him in such desperation that she hadn't
bothered to change into her clothes.
"What is it, Mulder?" she had obviously seen his change in
expression.
"I'm just an idiot. I'm sorry that I've been such an idiot."
"You're not," she touched his cheek.
"But I love you, Scully," he said and her heart skipped, "And I
upset you."
"Mulder...," her eyes welled again as she looked into his, "You
love me?"
He hadn't been aware that he'd revealed it until she repeated it to
him now. He smiled, realizing how simple it was to say when he wasn't
planning it.
"Is that okay? I mean does it make you uncomfortable?" he added,
suddenly feeling afraid.
"Yes. I mean no. Yes, it's okay and no it doesn't make me
uncomfortable," she smiled. She continued to smile as she looked down
at his chest, suddenly shy, "I guess then I should tell you... that
the feeling is mutual," she looked up at him again. He was biting his
lower lip until she had said that. Now he had a grin on his face. She
closed the space between them before the silence got too awkward. She
kissed him more softly now; sensual and not without suggestion. Her
hands came up to begin unbuttoning his shirt. This action alone caused
a fire within him and he felt his stomach flutter with arousal when her
hands grazed there. It shot the feeling right to his groin and his
breath rushed out of him...

Before I know it, I'm on top of her...on top of Scully; touching her;
kissing her; wanting every part of her...I feel myself inadvertently
grinding myself against her but I can't stop myself, and I hear no
complaint from her as she wraps her legs tightly around me and moans in
my ear as I nibble on hers...

Mulder is all over me...I don't think I've even felt as aware of my
body as I am right now. It's as if I've been holding out for this
very moment...like a virgin for true love...and the time had finally
come. I feel myself unfold as he presses himself against me over and
over. I feel myself almost ready to fall over the edge...

Mulder watched in awe as Scully threw her head back and called his
name, breathlessly. It was too much for him...He felt himself about to
lose it and quickly undid in pants and sought out his uncooperative
limb.
When Scully came back from the stars, she looked to see why Mulder had
stopped. What she saw amazed her; he was holding himself, nearly the
tip of himself to be exact, pinching it and gritting his teeth;
breathing steadily. She knew what he was doing, but was amazed at the
control he had to actually do it himself. This was called the Squeeze
Technique. It would allow him to hold off from ejaculating. Other than
its enticing view, it was the sweetest gesture she'd ever received
during this sort of situation.
When he finally opened his eyes to her, his breath was taken away again
by the flushed look on her face. He was again surprised when she gently
pushed him away from her and stood. He was going to question her until
he watched her hands go to the waistband of her pajama pants and pull
them down enough for them and her panties to fall to the floor. As she
stepped out of them, he stood from the couch in desperate need to kiss
her again.
His hands lightly gripped around her waist and their mouths met in
hungry battle again. She immediately began work on removing his pants
and they fell back onto the couch while doing so.
She thought that she was ready before he entered her, but it had been a
long time since she'd done anything like this. She made a painful
whimper and Mulder's eyes shot to hers, "Am I hurting you?" he
asked with concern in his eyes. He could see it in her eyes and started
to pull out.
"No, wait," she insisted, "I just need a minute."
He didn't complain; he also needed a moment to contain himself.
Although the fact that he had hurt her had almost quite helped with
that problem. Before he knew it, he felt her begin to relax and felt a
gush of wet warmth flow from her. He looked at her eyes; she had
mentally prepared her physical self. He didn't yet move though; he
waited for her certain acknowledgement.
He felt the heels of her feet nudging at the bottom of his ass, willing
him to move. Once he started moving inside of her, the pain completely
left and was replaced with a pleasure she had not experienced in such a
long time, that it seemed new. She was surprised to find herself
already on the verge of another orgasm.
Mulder must have sensed it and sped up. He, too, was getting close. He
didn't want to hurt her...he was holding back.
"Mulder," she whimpered into his ear. She knew what he wanted to do
and she hungered for him to do it, "Harder...please," she begged
breathlessly. He groaned in her ear at her words and immediately sped
up, pushing harder against her with each thrust, "Oh...uhnnn..."
she complied. Her noises brought him closer to the edge and he
couldn't help but voice it.
"Scully...oh god...oooh, Scully...yeah..."
"Mul...Mu..huuulder..." and she was gone. He soon followed after
her with a throaty groan and the room fell silent save for their heavy
breathing.


Part 3


One week later
Natural Bridge, VA

"Mulder, what are we doing here?" Scully asked as they hiked
through a wooded area.
"Looking for clues," he replied, leading the way.
"What kind of clues?"
"I don't know," he said, "I'll know it when I see it." He
had gotten an anonymous tip about unidentified lights flying over head
the Natural Bridge area two nights ago. They had interviewed some of
the people that had witnessed the event; a teenage couple and a few
elderly women. There was no point in interviewing anyone else. There
was nothing to go on but their word.
"Even if they did see something, what evidence would we find on the
ground?" she asked as Mulder knelt down.
"Evidence of a possible hoax," he said and she quickly looked over
his shoulder and down to what his hands held. A few roach tips and an
empty lighter. He looked around the area and saw the indented parts of
ground.
"Looks like someone was having a little party in the woods," she
said. Mulder didn't answer. He kept scanning the ground. Scully
looked up at the surrounding trees. Something caught her eye, "Hey,
Mulder," she called, "Look at that," she pointed up into the tree
when he turned to her.
"What do you think it is?" he asked, looking at the base of the
tree for the possibility of climbing.
"Some kind of toy, maybe," she answered, "You're not going to
climb up there, are you?" she asked as he grabbed hold of a tree limb
and hoisted himself up.
"Why not?" he grinned. She sighed and slumped her shoulders.
"No reason." But there was a reason; it was dangerous, first of
all. Not to mention that their cell phones didn't get reception up
there. That and it was at least an 8 mile hike back to any kind of
civilization, and if he fell, she would have to drag him. She
couldn't even watch him.
"Shit," she heard him cuss above her and looked up.
"Do you have it?"
"Yeah."
"What is it?"
"I think we've been had, Scully."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a remote control UFO toy. It lights up neon green as it
flies. I've seen these online. It must've crashed into the tree and
whoever was controlling it left it."
Suddenly she heard a snapping sound above her and the toy came crashing
down in front of her, "Mulder?"
"Oh shit, Scully," he sounded panicked.
"What?" she could barely make him out through the leaves.
"I think this limb is breaking."
"Well, get off of it and climb down," she said, half angrily, half
scared.
"I think if I move it'll break for sure."
"Look above you," she tried to help, "And see if there's
another branch you can grab onto."
"I looked, Scully. I'm gonna try to jump back to the trunk." She
heard a loud snap, "Scully, look out!" she dove away as the huge
branch fell to the ground, luckily, without Mulder, "Are you okay?"
she heard him yell.
"Yeah," she answered, "You?"
"I think so," he lied as he hung frantically from the side of the
tree. It was then that he noticed the cliff's end and the deep drop
to the river below...right beneath him.
"Where are you?" she yelled.
"I'm...hanging on the back of the tree," he said, "Be careful
if you're coming back here though. There's a drop off." She
carefully made her way to the back of the tree and jumped back when she
saw Mulder's drastically understated description of the cliff,
"Told ya," he grinned. She looked up at him, wide-eyed. He was
hanging onto a branch at least three feet away from the trunk.
"Mulder, you're scaring the shit out of me. Will you please come
down?"
"Yeah, I'd love to, Scully. I'm building up the inertia I need to
get myself to the trunk. I dramatically over calculated the last
one." The tree trunk was huge; at least 4 feet wide. At the angle he
was in, there was no way he could simple reach over and hold on,
"I'm gonna have to get to the other side of this tree again so I
can climb down," he said as he let go with one hand to try and reach
closer to the tree. He grabbed onto the branch as high as he could and
when he thought he had a grip he tried to pull. His hand suddenly
slipped from the branch and sent him swinging on his one other, "Son
of a bitch!" he yelled.
"Are you okay?"
"I cut my hand open, somehow. Damnit!" he shook the bloody palm,
trying to relieve the stinging. He then realized the tingling pain
beginning in his other arm and hand that was still clutching to the
branch above his head. He would have to move fast and get this over
with. It would be painful to use his injured hand, but there was no way
he was getting down without it. He went to reach again, carefully this
time, feeling what had cut him, "Uh...Scully,"
"Yeah?" she answered. What he felt was a break line. The branch was
breaking from its hold on the trunk. There was a sudden deafening
snapping sound again as the branch began to struggle more. Scully knew,
"Oh no," she looked at him, "Mulder, you need to get down. You
need to hurry!"
"Scully, I..." he looked at her and to the tree. There was just no
way. Then he looked down at the river below, "You'll save me,
right?" he asked her, suddenly afraid.
"What?" she looked at him in disbelief. He had given up,
"Mulder..." they looked into each other's eyes, "You have to
try," she pleaded.
He saw the panic in her eyes and swallowed. He didn't want to fall
any more than she wanted him to. But he was too far from the trunk. If
he swung, the branch would break just like it did on the other side
when he jumped. But he was hanging down now; not sitting as he was
before. There was no where to jump to except down. But the pleading in
her eyes forced him to rethink. He looked at the branch that was
crackling; sending vibrations he could feel in the limb. He glanced out
at its tip, then down to the base of the tree. The tree's roots
covered the little space of ground before the cliff's edge.
"Maybe if I grab the end of the limb," he began to tell her his
idea, "The branch will bend down instead of breaking. Then maybe I
can swing towards where you're standing," he looked at her again.
She was gripping the tree at its side. Had she walked around to where
Mulder was hanging from, chances are she would fall off of the cliff.
"Okay, Mulder," she answered. She swallowed as she watched him
carefully reach out and grab towards the tip of the limb with his
bloody hand, then slide his other hand to meet along side it. The
branch did, indeed, start to bend. He decided to go further.
"I think it's working, Scully," he told her. But just then, the
branch cracked and bent so fast that it violently smacked him against
the truck on the tree. Scully watched in horror as his head hit the
trunk and his body went limp and let go of the branch.
"Mulder!" she screamed as he fell, hitting the edge of the cliff,
then down...down into the river...

"No..." *No, I'm not gonna leave him again,* she thought. She
scrambled to the edge of the cliff and began a quick, steady decent.
She looked down and saw him floating in the slow rushing water.
Floating face-down... This was taking too long. She turned around as
best she could and jumped from the hillside, feet-first into the river.

When she came up, she frantically looked around as she waded,
"Mulder!" she shouted. Then she saw him...right in front of her, no
longer floating, but sinking into the river. She reached out and took
hold of his shirt, pulling him up with all of her might. She got his
head out of the water, "Mulder," she called to him. He didn't
respond. She pulled him along with her as she swam to the shoreline.
She felt like all of her strength had been drained from her as she
pulled him onto dry land. He wasn't breathing; of course she knew
this already. She immediately started mouth to mouth resuscitation;
pinching his nose and blowing into his mouth. Again...again...then
pumping his chest. *Pinch the nose, blow. Check that the air is coming
back out,* she said over and over in her head. She had been doing this
for several minutes. He wasn't responding. She suddenly couldn't
keep her breath and she realized she was crying.
"Please...please, Mulder..." she cried and continued. *Pinch,
breathe, check...* and pumped his chest again, "You're not allowed
to leave me like this!" she screamed  and hit his chest over and
over, "Damnit, Mulder!"
And suddenly he coughed. She straightened up and her eyes grew as wide
as they could through her tears. He coughed again, "That's it,
Mulder," she picked up his shoulders and laid him on her lap,
"That's it. Come back to me," she stroked the hair from his face.
He was coughing more now; choking the water back up. She pushed him to
sit up, helping it all come up. Then he breathed... Her eyes closed and
she laid her head on his shoulder. She listened to him breathe again.
"Scu..." he coughed as he tried to speak. She picked up her head
and looked into his eyes, "Scully..." She couldn't reply, "You
saved me," he said. He pulled her to him. Her eyes closed and she
listened to him breathe. Then she realized how freezing she was...and
suddenly became aware of an intense pain in her leg...and she
couldn't open her eyes..., "Scully?" he had felt her go limp.
When she didn't respond, he pulled her gently from his shoulder. When
he saw her unconscious, he laid her head in his lap and stroked her
face, "Scully, wake up," he pleaded. He looked around helplessly.
He looked up at the tree he had fallen from and to his surprise, two
heads were poking out from the sides of it.
"Dude," one of the teenagers called, "You guys okay?"


13 hours later
Stonewall Jackson Hospital

He felt guilty. Everything he had told her last week about feeling like
she had left him caused her to react so quickly when he was in trouble,
that she broke her leg in the process. It was all his fault. He had
brought her out there on some stupid UFO tip that turned out to be a
hoax. Because of him, she put herself in danger. She put herself in
harms way to save him once again.
But oddly enough, he felt complete. He felt whole again. She had saved
him last week by loving him. And she saved him today by...well, by
saving his life.
He opened the door to her hospital room and knocked lightly on the
door, "Hey, Scully," he said, and walked in, holding his hand
behind his back.
"Hey, partner," she said softly, "How's your head?"
"It's just a scratch," he said as he sat down next to her on her
bed. But she examined it for herself anyway.
"What's that behind your back?"
"Oh," he half smiled and revealed a white rose. She took it,
smiling, "I wanted to get you a tee-shirt that read, 'I jumped off
of a 250 foot cliff at the Natural Bridge into a rushing river to save
my idiot partner, and all I got was this lousy tee-shirt', but I
couldn't manage to find one," he smiled when she giggled and felt
confident to continue, "But then of course that would've left you
obligated to find one for me that read, 'I dragged my partner to the
Natural Bridge to see a UFO, but fell out of a tree and off of a 250
foot cliff into a rushing river in which my partner was forced to jump
in after me, pull me out, and bring me back to life, and all I got was
this lousy tee-shirt'." She was laughing and he was smiling, but
his head was down, "I'm sorry, Scully. I managed to do it again."
"Mulder, it's your job. It's our job. We can't always determine
fact from fallacy just from a phone call."
"I know. But I feel responsible for what happened to you," he
touched the cast that covered the lower half of her right leg, "And I
want to make it up to you somehow, if it's possible."
"Maybe we can just take a week off," she suggested, "You can help
me around the house until I get used to not using this leg. Besides, we
can use a break. In the past couple of weeks we've both managed to
get ourselves into physical mishaps. We need to give our bodies and
minds a rest."
Someone began knocking on her door, "Come in," she called out.
Hesitantly, the door opened and the two kids from the cliff walked in
with a bouquet of orange carnations.
"Oh," Mulder began, "Scully this is Danny and Alisha. They're
the ones that found us and called for help," he told her. Danny set
the flowers down on the side table.
"We're really sorry about everything," Alisha told her, "We
told Agent Mulder..."
"Yeah, we never meant for any of this to happen," Danny cut in,
"We were just fooling around. We didn't think..."
"We never thought anyone would actually call someone about it,"
Alisha finished.
"And we sure as hell didn't think anyone would've believed
them," Danny added. Mulder looked down and then to Scully from the
corner of his eye.
"So you're the mystery UFO flyer?" Scully asked with a raised
brow. Danny nodded, "I don't suppose you know anything about the
roach tips and lighter we found in the area?" Alisha's eyes widened
and Danny swallowed. Scully tried to hide a grin, "Well, clearly you
never meant any harm," she said finally.
"And they did save me an 8 mile hike back to civilization," Mulder
added.
"So, I suppose you decided to let them off the hook?" she glared at
Mulder. Alisha and Danny were holding their breath now.
"Well, I wanted to discuss that with you first," he said, "Seeing
that you took on the most damage."
"Well," she said, "I think if you're willing to let it go..."
she didn't need to continue.
"Oh, thank you!" Alisha said, "Thank you so much!"
"Yeah," Danny said as they backed out of the room, "Thanks. A-and
I hope you get well soon." The door closed after them.
"We really didn't have anything on them, you know," Scully said.
"Yeah, well I bet they won't be playing any jokes for a long
time." There was a silent moment before he spoke again, "So,
Scully, about that week off..."
"What about it?" she asked, hoping he wasn't trying to get out of
it.
"We doing this at your place or mine?" She looked at him and he
looked at her and smiled. She smiled back.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to use my place. As nice as your couch
might be, I think I might need to be in bed this week."
"I have a waterbed," he told her. She looked at him with a raised
brow.
"Since when do you have a waterbed?"
La Termina



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
haha..thought i'd add that in, being that Monday aired right after this
one...