From: Patricia Nunez Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 22:31:28 -0800 Subject: Story Submission. . . Title: And The Rain Still Fell Author: Heather Riggall Rating: PG Classification: S/R/A Spoilers: Just a bit for One Breath Summary: Mulder ditched Scully again, but this time the consequences were greater than they could have expected Disclaimer: Awww. . .do I have to???? Fine. Mulder, Scully, and Skinner don't belong to me, I'm just insane and dillusional and I like to have my fun with them *Evil Grin*. . .I'm not making any money (What kind of challenged person would pay me for this?) But I'd appreciate it very much if you'd like to drop some spare change into my paper cup :) Feedback: It is not optional. You must send feedback. If you don't Ill track each and every one of you down and. . .well I probably shouldn't explain my all too seamless plan. ..let's just say it won't be pretty Author's Notes: This is fanfic #3 for the website. It's short, but hey, that gives you more time to send feedback. And watchout, because it is ANGSTY. . .I wrote it after watching some of the most tortured episodes and couldn't help myself. Dedication: Hmmm. ..(yeah I decided to title this portion). . .this is also for Sara. I don't know why, either. Hey Sara, I know you want something more shippy, but too bad, if you can't wait for me to get into my gooey writing stage just go flip through your NC-17 notebook :) Oh yeah, sorry for *killing* you in my other story. . .for all you you reading this that 'other story' is called Just Another Night, go read it! Ooops, almost forgot, this is for you, too, Jamailah, I know you, uhm, have only seen about 5 episodes in your entire life, but I know you love Mulder (right?yep, sooo hot :) Okay, now that that's all taken care of. . . And The Rain Still Fell Dana Scully stared at the droplets of rain that fell against her window. She knew that outside it was cold, unyeildeing, desolute, but nothing could compare to the feeling in the pit of her stomach. What was it? Loneliness? Regret? Betrayal? NO, she told herself, no. He had left her, ditched her again, but he had not betrayed her. No, Fox Mulder had never done that. She felt alone, perhaps bewildered, and angry, but she could only be angry at herself. She'd had a choice in this, and she had decided to make things difficult, to resist, and to deny what he knew was there: the truth. She oftened cursed the truth for the hell it had put her through, but it was the only thing that kept her partner alive. That and his raw determination to uncover it. As she contemplated this, the phone rang, and in a heartbeat she picked it up, expecting it to be Mulder, expecting him to tell her he was all right and that he was coming home. But she was wrong, and AD Skinner was on the line. "Agent Scully, Agent Mulder's been hospitalized." That was the only thing that registered normally in her mind. Everything else just rushed through her body, only somethings stopped at her brain. She understood 'head trauma,' 'severe condition,' 'intensive care,' and the name of the hospital he was in. "I'm on my way," she said, hung up without another word, and hurried down the stairs. The rain pelted her as she ran outside and got into her car. *** Skinner stood up as she flung open the hospital doors. She walked rapidly toward him and didn't stop, forcing him to follow her. "Agent Scully," he called. "Where is he?" The AD directed her to a room down a long corridor. As she approached it, she slowed her pace. She stared at the door for a few moments, inhaled deeply, and turned the doorknob. Her heart sank when she saw him there, lying on the hard hospital bed, IVs and tubes everywhere. There was a chair beside him, waiting for her, and she sat down and gazed at him; eyes closed, lips parted, a small bandaged gash on his forehead. . .helpless. She was silent, listening to his faint ragged breath, thinking about what to do. She slipped her hand into his, and squirmed at it's clammy heat. "Mulder," she spoke finally, " I'm here." That was all. She knew she should say more, but she couldn't think of any words, so she just sat there holding his hand. Her eyes searched his body, silently praying for some sign that he'd pull through this. But he didn't move, he didn't talk, all Scully heard were the machines and his thready pulse echoing throughout the room. Suddenly, something foreign came over her and she needed to get out of the room. She let his hand fall back to his side, quietly slipped out of her chair, and exited his room. Skinner was waiting in the hall, slumped in a chair, but he stood up quickly when he saw her come out, and walked in her direction. "Scully." Scully spun around, her eyes fierce with anger, "What happened? How did he get here?" Skinner was silent, he just stared at her. "I need to know," she hissed. "I got a call from the hospital about an hour ago from the head nurse. They told me he wandered in bleeding and practically collapsed at the front desk, but that's it." She shook her head in confusion, "Wait, 'he wandered in'? He was concious?" "He was right until they got him to his room apparently," he paused, "The truth is, I really don't know what happened." "Well, then who knows? Who can I talk to?" "Agent Scully, I think you know more about this than anyone here. You saw him last, before he came here I mean. He must have said something to you about where he was going." She shook her head again. No. He didn't tell her where he was going. He just asked her to follow him, and she refused to do so, and now he was here. She couldn't help but blame herself. All she had to do was ask him about his little trip, but she didn't, she turned her stubborn side to him and walked away. "Where are you going?" Skinner called as Scully turned abruptly and walked the other way. "To talk to the head nurse," she said without turning back around. Skinner jogged after her and stopped her. "Agent Scully, this isn't going to help him. This is happening, it's been done. We don't need to worry about how he got here, we need to worry about how to keep him alive." He made sense. Why'd he have to make sense? "Go get something to drink, Agent Scully, you look like you might need some coffee." He was right, she did, and she made her way to the cafeteria. The coffee was bitter but what could she expect at a hospital? And besides, it was warm and it WAS coffee. She swallowed some of it, and settled in a hard chair. 'No, this isn't right,' she thought, 'I should be doing something. I should be yelling at nurses, tracking down anyone who knows anything. God knows Mulder would do it for me.' But she didn't do anything except finish all that she could stomach of the coffee and return to Mulder's room. He was still just lying there. He hadn't moved from what she could tell. She once again took her seat and reached for his hand. 'This shouldn't be happening,' Scully thought, 'I'm a medical doctor. I should know how to help him.' But she did know how to help him. Suddenly, memories came flooding into her mind. She remebered being in the hospital, after being returned from her abduction, and she remembered his voice, his touch. She remembered all of it. She had been there, unconcious too, and Mulder had come to her. And somewhere in her body she knew that it had been his words, his reassuring strength that had pulled her out of the darkness, and she knew that she had to be strong now, she had to save him. "Mulder, it's me," she whispered, "You ditched me again, you know. I'm not letting you off the hook this easily." She smiled down at him, and tightened her grip on his hand. "Mulder, I don't know what happened to you, but I do know that I'm right here, and I'm going to help you through this." She breathed in sharply. She knew that she and him were the only ones in the room, and that most likely Mulder couldn't even hear her, but it was still hard for her to say this. "You can't leave me alone again, Mulder. I won't let you. I can't do this by myself. You have to stay and help me get through this. I need your strength Mulder. I need-" Then, he stirred and coughed. Scully shot up from the chair, and cradled his head. "Mulder, it's okay, it's okay." He turned his head toward her and finally opened his eyes, and smiled. "Scully." "What? Mulder?" "Thankyou," he said between intakes of breath, "thankyou for coming, and for staying." Scully almost laughed. "Of course I came. Why wouldn't I?" "I'm sorry." What? What was he apologizing for? He'd done nothing but be himself, and being Mulder was no crime. Scully was the one who was supposed to be apologizing, or at least that's what she thought. "You didn't do anything to be sorry for, Mulder,""she said, beginning to unconciously stroke the back of his head. He shook his head vehemently. "I shouldn't have ditched you." "You've done it before, Mulder, and-" "I know, that's it. I shouldn't have ever done it to you, but I keep doing it and I can't help it and I don't know why. . ." "None of that matters," she coaxed, "You're here, you're safe, that's all that matters." "No, *we're* here, Scully. Together. Together's all that matters," He said, each word dripping with emotion. Scully told herself he was dillusional, and he didn't know what he was saying, but his words still got to her, and she leaned down to press her lips against his warm forehead. Soon, though, Mulder started to cough violently. "Mulder, Mulder. Hold on, it's okay, I'll go get you some water, okay?" He fought his fit of coughs away to say, "No, I've tasted it." Scully laughed, "And I've tasted their coffee. I'll see what they have in the way of carbonation." He nodded and smiled at her. "Okay, Mulder. I'll be right back okay?" He nodded again, and she slowly let his hand go, and hurried out. "Agent Scully," she'd forgotton Skinner was even there, and she started at the sound of his voice." "Oh, sir, it's you," she smiled slightly, "I-uh- he's come to." "What? But I thought-" "Sir?" "I mean that's uh, that's good to hear." He immediately pulled out his cellular phone, pressed a button and turned around. Puzzled, Scully shook it off, and walked down to the front desk. "Nurse," she called. "Yes?" a petite brunette said as she turned around. "There's a man in room 37, Fox Mulder. He just came to. Some one should probably check up on him." The nurse nodded, and went back to filing some papers. Scully continued to the Cafeteria, and reached into her pocket to find some spare change. There were a few people in the room now, staff, it seemed. They were chatting and eating various options from the vending machines. She dropped the coins into the soda machine and searched the choices. Sprite, Coke, aha, there's the one. She pressed a button, heard the can drop, and picked up the iced tea. She smiled, this time she got it right, no more root beer. As she paced out of the room, she noticed many nurses running down the halls and shouting med terms. It piqued her doctor side and she looked around to see what was going on. When she figured it out, she almost dropped the soda, and ran back to Mulder's room. "What's going on?"she yelled to any one of the many people running back and forth. No one stopped, though. So, she pulled out her badge. "Special Agent Dana Scully," she called out over them all, "what's going on?" "This man's gone into shock, he's shutting down," a short bearded man told her. "Pulse is thready," some one called. "No," said Scully, "this shouldn't be happening. He checked in with head trauma." Once again, an anonymous voice called out, "He's stopped breathing." Scully fought her way through the crowd, and to Mulder's side. She began calling out orders, but only got questioning looks from all of them. "I'm a medical doctor," she said, "Come on, move." Scully stood back, for once, and let some one else perform CPR. "Okay, he's breathing." Actually, he was gasping in air between agonizing chokes, but technically he was breathing. Through his fight for air, he called out her name, and she shoved to get back next to him. "Mulder. I'm here. It's me," she said, taking his face in her hands and turning it toward her. "Scully-I-I," he stopped to inhale and tried again, "I-I-you-I," but he gave up. It didn't matter though, because his eyes said what his lungs couldn't, and Scully rested her hand on his forearm and leaned down. "I know," she whispered, "and for what it's worth Mulder, me too." He smiled and reached weakly for her hand. Instead, she grabbed onto his. He gasped once more, and a woman called out, "We're losing a pulse. . .we're losing him!" Scully shook her head hard, "No, we're not. He's not going anywhere." *** The halls had quieted, and only a few scattered nurses wandered the hospital. The door belonging to room 37 opened slowly, and an exasperated Scully emerged from it. Her face was pale, and she looked drained. As if her spirit had left her, leaving just an empty shell of a person. Her eyes dropped to the dirty floor of the corridor, and she turned, heading for the doors. "Scully,"Skinner said, stepping out from the shadows of the hall. Scully didn't stop walking. She might not have even heard him. "Scully, I'm sorry," Skinner put a hand on Scully's left shoulder. She spun around, and glared at him. A look that could have said more and expressed more emotions than any words ever could. Skinner bowed his head, and Scully continued out of the hospital. The rain was still pounding onto the ground. It soaked her hair, and seeped into her clothing, it's cold breath engulfing her. But she didn't notice it. She did notice, though, the warm saline that ran down her cheeks. "Mulder," she whispered to the emptiness of the midnight stretched out before her, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. " Then she couldn't say anything anymore; her words were choked back by her tears. 'I never got to tell him' she thought, 'I've thought it, I've planned it out in my head a thousand times, and I never got to say it.' But he knew, and somehow, even though she never said the words, she knew that he knew. And she knew that he was finally safe, and his quest would continue, she'd fight his fight, the good fight and win for him, for her best friend, and she knew it wouldn't be too long until the truth was finally exposed. And life would go on, just as the night still shone it's dark brilliance, just as the rain still fell, and just as long as she had his inspiring strength within her. FINISH Okay, thanks for suffering through my story, and oh yeah, I've been looking for a fellow x-phile on line to work with on creating a story. If you like my style (or whatever) or you just wanna help me put together a story that might not make people grab their stomachs laughing (or hurling) at it, please please please mail me and tell me. I don't care what kind of story as long as it isn't some sort of demented romance between scully/krycek or scully/skinner or even worse mulder/krycek or mulder/skinner (need I even say it. . .eeww) Also I'd love to become a proofreader or feeback giver person for some one. So, go ahead, e-mail me. . .Pnunez@ix.netcom.com. . .go on, I know you want to sooo badly :) "Everything I ever needed to know, I learned from the X-files." :)