From: "Whiskey Queen" Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 16:10:17 -0000 Subject: The Deal Source: direct TITLE: The Deal AUTHOR: Lizzi Wareham RATING: PG-13, mild swearing ARCHIVE: Anywhere, but with permission first SPOILERS: None CATEGORY: S/A/R DISCLAIMER: The characters all belong to Chris Carter, Fox, 1013 Productions, yada yada yada, and what a damn shame that is! SUMMARY: Mulder makes a deal with CSM regarding Scully. Can he finally go through with it? FEEDBACK: Yes please, love it. Lots of it please! WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/spookys_girl2000/index.html Scully was due back from vacation in a few days. It was a relief to know that he would no longer have to be alone. The past two weeks had gone by unbearably slowly. Nothing was the same without a beautiful red head to look at all day. Things had been so tense for Mulder that he decided to clear his head with a run in the park. Since she's been away, he had had time to think about how he really felt about his partner, and she was no longer just a partner, or a friend, or a soul mate, not now. He wanted her as his lover. After almost two hours of running, Mulder slowed to a stop and planted himself on a park bench. As he sat down, he bent forward and rested his head on his knees. An older man strolled along the footpath and joined Mulder on the bench. The older man took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Mulder instantly recognized the cigarette brand, and hence the man who the cigarette belonged to. "Didn't anyone ever tell you smoking kills?" "I have a deal for you Fox." "I don't want any kind of deal from you." "But you haven't heard what I have to say." "And I'm not going to." With that, Mulder left his seat and began jogging away from the old man. "The deal involves a certain Agent Scully." "The deal involves a certain Agent Scully." When the words of the old man finally reached him, Mulder stopped dead in his track. "I knew you would reconsider Fox," sniggered as he puffed on his cigarette. "What's the deal?" Scully returned home early from her vacation. She decided to pay a visit to the office, surprise Mulder and take him out for lunch. She hadn't however, planned for what she saw. On entering the office she shared with Mulder, she found the place clean, way to clean for her liking. Files no longer cluttered her desk, or even Mulder's. In fact, there was nothing cluttering their office whatsoever. "He must have hired a cleaner." As she walked further through the room, the only piece of paper that seemed to litter the room was an envelope addressed to her. It lay centrally on her desk. She reached out and picked it up. Her hands began to shake as she recognized the handwriting on the front. It was Mulder's scribble. "What the...?" Scully was instantly curious. She ripped open the envelope and pulled the letter from its home. As she read over the words on the page, she could hear Mulder's voice, whispering what was before her in her ear. "Dear Dana..." it began. "Oh God, this can't be good," she said allowed, a slight panic to her voice. She started from the beginning again. "Dear Dana, by the time you get to read this letter, I will be long gone, and finally out of your life forever. The X Files are being terminated Scully, and you will be relocated to a much better position. No more going down to work, only up. You are free to go and live the life you so deserve. A life that I was never able to give you, but that I can now. I am leaving the country for reasons I wish to keep to myself, to protect you, but also to stop you following me. It's safer all round if you don't follow me this one time. I have to do this, Dana. So I ask you, beg you, please, do not try to either follow or find me. I'm sorry I have to leave you in this manner Dana. I wish I could explain, but I can't. There's only one thing more thing to say. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my friend, my soul mate, my constant and my touchstone. Without you in my life, I would have nothing to live for. Look after yourself Dana. With love, Fox." Scully immediately left her office and headed for the elevator. Without waiting for Kimberley, she stormed into the main office of Assistant Director Walter Skinner. The balding man was alone reading a case report from one of his fellow agents. He was somewhat surprised to see a very angry, very pissed off Scully stood before him. "What the hell is this all about?" she demanded, waving Mulder's letter in the air. "Agent Scully?!" "What's this all about? What's going on?" Skinner finally noticed the letter Scully was waving around, and recognized it as one similar as he received from Mulder. Only the one he received contained Mulder's resignation. "You weren't supposed to read that until tomorrow," Skinner replied. "What's that supposed to mean?" It suddenly hit her. "He's still here, isn't he? He's still in the country! Where?!" Skinner gave no reply, and Scully got even more agitated. "Goddamnit! Where the hell is he?! I need to know!" "DC International." Skinner mumbled. "The flight leaves in half an hour. British Airways to Heathrow, London." Scully was suddenly tearful. Unable to give her thanks verbally, she smiled and quickly fled his office. There was one place she needed to be, and she needed to be there now. Scully entered the International Airport, and headed to the departures board. She found flight BA8251 to Heathrow, leaving from gate 8. She started her race across the airport in an attempt to stop the love of her life from leaving her. At every available opportunity, although against bureau policy, she flashed her credentials to gain speedier access to her chosen destination. As she finally reached the boarding lounge for gate 8, she found everyone had boarded, all except one man who was making his way there at that moment. "Mulder," she thought, "always late, even when he's trying to leave the country." She starting running closer, but he still hadn't seen her and was about to board. "Mulder!" she screamed. The man stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned around to face the woman that had called his name. "Scully?" he asked barely above a whisper. "You're not supposed to be back in DC until tomorrow." "Evidently!" Scully's anger was growing with every passing minute as they stood there staring at each other. "So, what were you gonna do?" she demanded. "Just up and leave the country without so much as a goodbye with just a poxy letter to answer all my questions? Eight years by your side and all I get is a damn letter?! Don't I deserve better than that?" "That's why I'm doing this," he said, almost in tears himself. Scully could see the tears appearing. They were appearing in her eyes to. Compassionately, she asked, "What are you running from Mulder? What did I do wrong?" "Nothing Scully. You NEVER did anything wrong. This was all me. You have to understand that." "Then what? Why are you leaving?" She took a deep breath and sighed. "Why are you leaving me?" "Because I made a deal. He kept his side of the deal, so now I have to do the same." "You made a deal? With whom?" Mulder's eyes darted to the ground. He was too ashamed to look her in the eye. "Oh Mulder no, tell me you didn't. Tell me you didn't make a deal with that black lunged son of a bitch. Please." "I can't. I did." "What the hell was so important that you'd give up the X Files? What is it you're not telling me Mulder?" "The deal was about you, Scully." "Me?" Her anger suddenly disappeared. "Yeah you. Look Scully, ever since you've been working with me, trouble has followed you everywhere. There were several things that our work has taken from you that can never be replaced. Up until now, I've never able to replace some of that, and now I have that chance to replace one of them. Something I know you want, more than you're even willing to admit to yourself." "Mulder stop talking in riddles. What are you going on about?" "Your chance for motherhood Scully," he replied both pained and tearful. "You mean, the other night, it wasn't a dream?" she asked, panic in her voice. "They...they really t...took me again?" Mulder disgusted with himself, nodded his head in the affirmative, and averted his gaze to the floor. "Cancer Man said that if I left the X Files, the bureau, the search for my sister, then he wound return your ability to be a mother. So, I had to take the deal. I wanted to take the deal. After all you've given me, it was the one thing I could do for you. I decided to leave the country because it would make it easier." "On who?" she asking biting her lower lip and praying for her tears not to fall. "It's not making it easier on me." "Please Scully, you have to let me go. There are so many things you can do now, don't waste them. Go find someone to love, someone to love you, someone to have a family with." He planted a soft kiss on her cheek and heading towards the boarding gate. "But I don't want to be with anyone but you," she thought to herself. "Just tell him," another voice said to her. "Just tell him. Do that and he won't leave you, he wouldn't." But as usual, just like the past seven years of her life, her walls went up and her pride got in the way. The love of her life was walking out on her and she couldn't tell him how she felt. As she fought against the voices in her head she returned to reality with a bump. Unknown to her, Mulder had kissed her goodbye. The only remains of that kiss a tingling on her cheek. Her eyes scanned the departure hall only to discover that Mulder had left her. "I have to tell him," she whispered out loud. Scully marched towards the tunnel entrance, with the intention of boarding the plane and talking this problem out with Mulder. As she started down the corridor, she felt a hand on her arm. "Excuse me ma'am, but can I see you boarding pass?" "I don't have one." "Then I'm afraid I cannot allow you to board the plane. No boarding pass, then no access to the plane." Scully flashed her I.D. "My name is Special Agent Dana Scully and I need to get aboard that plane. It is vital I get on there." "I don't care if you're the Queen ma'am," the young British woman replied, "if you do not show me a boarding pass, then I cannot and will not allow you to board the plane. Now please, step aside, there are other passengers waiting." Scully stepped aside, depressed and defeated. "Are you gonna let some British bimbo keep you from the man that you love?" another little voice in her head asked. "No," another replied. A large group of about ten people were boarding the plane. Scully took that opportunity to mingle with them and slip past the security and board the plane. She made it up the corridor without detection but getting onto the plane was another matter. But now she'd worked up the courage to finally tell Mulder how she felt, she wasn't going to let anything or anyone keep her from him. He had to hear what she had to say, and he had to hear it before he left. She reached the doorway to the aircraft. The stewardess asked her for her boarding pass, and being unable to present one, Scully resulted in an underhand move on her part. She faked a faint. The stewardess immediately began to fuss over Scully. "Are you all right ma'am?" "Yes, I think so. Could I have a glass of water please?" she asked in her best airhead expression. "Sure." The stewardess left her post at the aircraft's entrance and went to fetch Scully a glass of water. "What they say about air stewardesses is obviously right," Scully thought to herself as she scanned the area around her. There was no one in sight, so she made her move. She started heading up the plane in the opposite direction of the stewardess who was taking care of her. She looked at every member on the plane trying to find Mulder. On several occasions crewmembers asked her if she could be shown to her seat. Her reply was always "I know where my seat is, I'm just looking for someone." She was just about to give up when she spied a dark haired man staring out of the plane's window. His features were unremarkable. It was Mulder. Creeping up on him, she knelt by his side, coughing to acknowledge her presences. He turned to face her, with tears in his eyes. "Scully?! What are you doing here?" "I won't let you leave Mulder. I won't let you give up your life's work just for me. It's not fair to ask that of you. I don't care about this stupid deal. I don't want you to leave. There's so much more we have discover. The truth is out there Mulder. We have to find it. And if you quit now, they win." "Let them." "This isn't you Mulder, not really. You'd never give all this up. What's gotten into you?" "You." "Me?" "Yes you. Don't you get it, I don't want to leave..." "Then don't." "...But I have to. You're the most important thing in my life now. And giving you the chance to be a mother is therefore the most important thing I have to do, the most important thing for you." "Not without you it isn't." "What's that supposed to mean?" "There's something I need to tell you." "What?" "I...I love you Mulder." She was genuine, Mulder knew. But those words, he'd waited so long to hear those words come from her lips that he could hardly believe she'd said them. "Please, don't leave me. I've never felt this way about anyone, EVER. And if you leave me now, I don't know how I'm gonna cope. You're the first thing I think about when I wake, and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. You're always in my dreams, in my daydreams, you always on my mind for one reason or another. You keep me whole, and keep me on my toes. If you leave me Mulder, I'll have nothing and no one to live for. You are my life." A couple of airport security men had now boarded the plane. They made their way towards Scully. Without any warning, each guard grabbed one of her arms, and started pulling her off the plane. She fought with all her might against the officers. "No wait," she cried. "I'm not finished. Just give me a few minutes more. Please." But it was no good they weren't listening. They just kept taking her further and further away from him. "Mulder I love you," she screamed. "Don't leave me! Please!" she begged as she was escorted off the plane. Their eyes met. "I love you," she mouthed to him. "I love you too," he mouthed in reply. She smiled through her tears as she was escorted out through the door. It shut loudly behind her, and the two sturdy security officers forced her down the corridor and into the departure lounge. She received stares and comments from other passengers waiting to board their planes. But she didn't care. The only thing she cared about was leaving for England on a plane. Scully ran to the large glass window and looked towards the plane she had just been removed from. It was now reversing away from the terminal. It began taxing down the runaway. Once there, it picked up speed and took off into the morning sky, taking her love, her life, her heart with it. "Mulder," she whispered. The tears that now blurred her vision spilled over her eyelids and trickled down her face. She could no longer keep control of her emotions. She turned her body around and slumped her back against the glass as she released every tear her body had ever kept locked away. Her body slid down the glass and into a sobbing heap on the floor. She pulled her knees close and hugged herself protectively. The first thing she heard when her tears finally subsided to body-wrenching sobs was a friendly male voice, filled with love and compassion. "The Agent Scully I know never cries, ever." It was too good to be true. Her mind was playing tricks on her, wasn't it? She was only hearing what she wanted to hear. It was probably some old drunk granddad checking on her, but then again, maybe not. What if it real was, it couldn't be, could it? Really? She forced her head upwards prepared to find some old person looking back, but instead she found caring, loving eyes. Hazel eyes. Mulder's eyes. Her breath caught in her throat. "You didn't go," she announced, more of a question than a statement. "Nop," he simply replied extending his hand to her. Taking it, she was pulled to her feet and into a warm embrace. "I thought I'd lost you there." "Never." "I'm glad you didn't go," she said holding him tighter. "Me too." He took her face in his hands. "But I need to know I made the right decision. Did I?" "Yes," she smiled as she brushed her lips on his. Her hands found their way around his neck, and his hands around her waist. He pulled her even closer, and deepened their kiss. She openly accepted his advances, until... "Ahem," a security guard said. "I think that this behavior is better carried out in the privacy of your own home, if you get my meaning." Mulder and Scully at each other, and then smiled at the officer. "We get your meaning," Mulder replied with a wink. He grabbed Scully's hand and dragged her towards the airport's exit, to a better location, to a better life. THE END