From: CobraGirl Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 14:22:25 +0800 Subject: REVISION: "Darkness to Light" (1/1) by CobraGirl Note: This story is a revision for an earlier submission of the same title (Darkness to Light) TITLE: Darkness to Light AUTHOR: CobraGirl E-MAIL: Cobra-Girl@usa.net CLASSIFICATION: VA RATING: PG13 for language SPOILERS: A small one for FTF KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully friendship, Mulder Angst SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully are hospitalized after a car accident. Told from Mulder's point of view. ARCHIVE: Xemplary and Gossamer: Be my guest. Anywhere else: Go ahead, but send me an e-mail giving me the addy where it's at when you do. DISCLAIMER: The XF characters aren't mine. If they were, Mulder and Scully would already have the X-Files back indefinitely, Mulder would have found Samantha, Spender and Krycek would have died long ago and would be busily rotting in hell, and Mulder and Scully would be married and have 2.3 children. But, unfortunately, they belong to Chris Carter and 1013 Productions, so none of those delightful things will be happening any time soon. No copyright infringement was intended, and no money will be made off of this. DISCLAIMER, PART 2: Oh, I'd like to add that the poem Mulder makes a reference to was actually written by me. If you're going to use it anywhere, get my permission first, 'k? Thankies. AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my very first X-Files fanfic, and I'm only 14, so be gentle. And also, well, um...I'm a newbie. *watches as all the XF veterans run screaming from the room* For those of you who still want to read this, any constructive criticism, praise, etc. would be greatly appreciated, so send me an e-mail! ------------ Darkness to Light by CobraGirl ------------ I stare up at the ceiling. God, am I bored. Ever since the car crash, I've been stuck here, in the hospital, with nothing to do. Nothing to listen to or look at except for Scully and her pulsating heart monitor. It had started out like a normal evening. Scully and I were on our way towards another case, unbeknownst to Kersh. Or Spender, for that matter. But I've seen the way he handles the majority of the X-files he gets. More than likely, he would have run it through his much-used shredder. Anyway, we were on our way to investigate this X-file I had heard about. As we were going through an intersection, a car came barreling out of nowhere and sideswiped my car on the passenger side. Scully's side. The goddamn kid was drunk out of his mind and had gone straight though the red light. We skidded quite a ways before slamming into a tree that lined the road. I guess you could call me lucky. I only walked out of the accident with a few concussions, a cracked rib, and a shattered leg. According to the doctors, I was unconscious for ten hours after the accident. My leg has been set in traction, so I can't walk around even if they would let me. Which they don't, of course. "You're in too frail a condition to be moving around," is their convenient excuse. But Scully...she... I look over at her. The hospital attendees have at least been kind enough to put us together in the same room. Her beautiful red hair is fanned out over her pillow. They have inserted an oxygen tube in her nose, like they have with me. Several IVs protrude from her arms, giving her the nutrients she needs until she comes out of her coma. Yes, her coma. Because of some asshole teenager, my partner is on the brink of death. She looks so relaxed, so peaceful, lying there on the hospital bed. Much better than she looked before the paramedics arrived. Before I blacked out, I got a good look at her. Her form had been pressed firmly against the dashboard and contorted in a way that no human should ever have to endure. Her blood seemed to be everywhere - on her face, in her hair, on the dashboard, seeping into her shirt. That picture will forever be ingrained in my memory. The irony of the situation strikes me, twisting my lips into a bitter smile. After all that we've been through - injected with alien viruses, chased after deadly "little green men," face-to-face with vampires and demons and other things from beyond...and the end is so near not after an encounter with any of those things, but with some kid who had too much to drink. I glance at her heart monitor, focusing on the blip that draws a jagged line across the screen. I listen to the steady beeps as they ring though the otherwise silent room. It's driving me insane, this silence. I would give anything to have someone to talk to. Hell, I'd even talk to Krycek if he walked into this room at this very second. Looking out the window, I notice that it's started to snow. Big, fluffy flakes twirl down past the glass. A few of them stick to the pane and stay there, forming an intricate lace pattern. It reminds me of a poem I read a long time ago, when I was still in grade school: the snow falls silently on a silent world the darkness slowly turned to light underneath the pale moon cities are painted white by the grand master's paintbrush as the sun sleeps on this winter night The darkness slowly turned to light... My eyes are drawn back to Scully, and a wave of sadness overpowers me. What if Scully's darkness doesn't turn back to light? What if she doesn't come out of this coma? What if she... Shut up, Fox. Stop thinking like that. Of course she'll wake up. She has to. Still, the thought nags incessantly at the back of my mind. No matter how hard I try, I can't dismiss the possibility that Scully may die. This is all my fault. If I hadn't insisted on bringing her along on my latest escapade, she wouldn't be here. Like I told her before, she should have quit before she got killed because of me. Great, I'm already talking like she's dead. I sigh and turn my attention halfheartedly back to the heart monitor. At first, absorbed in my thoughts of how I would move on without Scully, I don't notice that its peaks have become irregular; that the beeps, once so evenly placed, are accelerating. At first, all I can do is stare at it, mesmerized by the jagged peaks so much like that of a seismograph. Then a million thoughts flash through my head in the span of a millisecond. My breathing comes harder, and I can feel faint beads of sweat collect on my forehead. It's happening. It's happening. It's really happening. Scully's heart is failing. Oh God. No. No. Not now. Not here. Not because of some teenager. No! NO! Almost on a reflex, I press my call button. My gaze is still transfixed on Scully's heart monitor, which seems to become more and more irregular with each passing second. A minute goes by. Two. Three. I rapidly pound the button with my fingers in desperation, as if it would make the nurses move faster. "Come on, come ON!" I say through gritted teeth as I ball my hand into a fist. It comes crashing down on the call button and stays there. I look back up at the ceiling and close my eyes, breathing hard. Even though I've never been religious, I find myself making a pact with God. "I need help in here!" I finally shout at the top of my lungs. With any luck, a nurse in the hallway will hear me. I raise my fist from the button and cry out again, a plea that seems to resonate throughout the entire hospital, but probably won't even be heard by anyone outside this room. Then, the very sound I have dreaded to hear is picked up by my ears. In any other setting, it would have simply been ignored. But not here. Not with Scully the way she is. It's the long, drawn-out beep that signals to the outside world that her heart is no longer beating. Her monitor confirms my worst fears as the blip draws a flat line across the screen. "GODDAMNIT, I HAVE A PATIENT DYING!" I scream, pounding the call button again. "I NEED A NURSE! SOMEONE HELP!!" Without even thinking, I bend forward and try to free my broken leg from the mass of equipment that suspends it from the ceiling. My cracked rib makes my wince, but still I work frantically. I'm not going to let the woman that I've known for six years die, even if I have to resurrect her myself. Suddenly, hurried footsteps ring out, and a nurse pokes her head into our room with a worried look on her face. Her eyes immediately fly to Scully. Her jaw drops, and she quickly darts out of the room. A moment later, I hear her shout, "I need medical personnel to room 103 stat! We have a patient coding in room 103!" She then returns, positions herself over Scully, and begins to give her CPR. "Come on, Scully," I say aloud. "Don't die. You know I won't be able to live without you. Please. Please don't leave me!" I ball my hands into fists to try and stop the tears that threaten to prick the corners of my eyes. A few seconds later, several paramedics wheel an electric defibrillator into the room. A man strides up to the nurse aiding Scully and calmly tells her to stop the CPR. The head doctor, no doubt. She moves aside, and the doctor takes the paddles and presses them against each other. "Clear." I tear my gaze away from my partner as the shock passes through her lifeless body, lifting it up into the air. I clench and un-clench my hands to try and stop them from trembling, without much success. Every time they try to shock her heart into beating, I suck in a deep breath. It's almost as if they are shocking me, not her. Every muscle in my body is tensed. The treatment continues for what seems like forever. "I've got a heartbeat!" someone finally cries. "Ohmigod," I say, letting my breath out in a long whoosh. My body suddenly goes limp, and I fall back onto the bed, exhausted with fear. She's alive. She's going to be okay. Oh, God. Thank you. Thank you. I draw in another breath and squeeze my eyes shut. My hands are trembling again, this time from the sheer, total relief that flows through me. "Mulder?" I jerk upright and open my eyes, turning them towards Scully's bed on instinct. To my amazement, she is wide awake. Her blue eyes, clouded with confusion, lock with mine. "Yeah, Scully?" She doesn't say anything for a few seconds. Her eyes drift away and focus on something behind me. I follow her gaze. "It's snowing," she finally says. I smile to myself. "I know." I reach across the void between our beds that separates us and grasp her hand. We both turn our attention back to the snowfall, watching as the world of darkness becomes a world of light. THE END