From: YRLD43A@prodigy.com ( PATTY   HAYES)
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 15:18:20, -0500
Subject: Don't Take the Girl 1/1

I hope you enjoy this.  I would really appreciate feedback. You can 
e-mail me at YRLD43A@PRODIGY.COM Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me
encouragement.

Note: This is based on Tim McGraw's song, Don't Take the Girl.  I
thought it summed up Mulder's life quite well.  I changed some of 
the words to fit and left some out.  Hope you like it.

I do give permission for it to be put on atxc.

Spoilers: 4th Season Momento Mori
Rating:  G
Classification :  V,A
Summary:  Moments in Mulder's life where he finds himself begging, 
Don't take the girl.

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program
"The X-Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox
Broadcasting, and Ten Thirteen Productions, and have been used without
permission.  No copyright infringements are intended.  This work is
not to be forwarded or distributed to any newsgroup, FTP, or WWW site
without the permission of the author.

********************

Don't Take the Girl
By Patty Hayes
YRLD43A@PRODIGY.COM
February 22, 1997

********************

'His Daddy was taking him fishing, he was eight years old.'

Fox had his fishing pole in hand when his mother stopped him as he
passed through the kitchen.  "Fox, have you got your good sneakers 
on? You're supposed to wear the old ones, it might be muddy there."

"Ah, Mom.  I want to wear these."  He cried out.

"No, now you know you need those for school, go change."  She scolded
him.

Fox sat on the living room chair, lacing up his old tennis shoes when
his four year old sister, Samantha, walked in carrying her fishing
pole.

His Dad looked down and smiled. He said, "We can't leave her behind.
Son, I know you don't want her to go, but someday you'll change your
mind."

Fox pleaded with him.  "Take Jimmy Johnson, take Tommy Thompson, take
my best friend Mo.  Take anyone that you want, as long as she don't
go.  Take any boy in the world, Daddy, please, don't take the girl."

*****

'Same old boy, same sweet girl, four years down the road.'

"Scout."  Samantha says as Fox makes a move in the game.  She looks
toward the television.  "Do we have to watch this, Fox?"  They were
playing a board game on the floor of the living room.

"Leave it, I'm watching the Magician at nine."  Fox answered with a
grin on his face.

"Mom and Dad said I could watch the movie, butt-munch."  Samantha 
challenged him.

"They're next door at the Galbrands and they said I'm in charge."  
He sat up on his knees.

Samantha was not going to take this, her brother was constantly giving
her a hard time.  Of course, that's what brothers and sisters did.
She knew he loved her and she loved him.  She stood and walked over to
the television and changed the channel, daring her brother to respond.

"Hey, get out of my life!"  Fox said, aggravated with her.  Samantha
screamed at him in a tantrum sort of way.  Fox stood, towering over
her.  "I'm watching the Magician."

Suddenly the lights went out.  "Now look, the fuse is blown."  Fox was
still irritated.

The house began to shake, frames on the mantel hitting the floor,
pictures on the wall, vibrating, china in the cabinet slowly edging
their way to the end and crashing to the floor below.  They both
looked around.  "Fox!'  Samantha was frightened.

A light, red and white flickered in the window, suddenly filling the
room.  The door slowly opens and reveals a blinding white light.  Fox
is mesmerized, he can't move as he watches a figure in the doorway.
Samantha screams again and startles him out of the trance.  "Fox!"

"Samantha, Samantha!"  He races to the china cabinet, climbs on a
chair and knocks his fathers strong box to the floor from the very
top.  It breaks open and the contents spill out, he reaches for his
father's gun.  But something stops him, he can't move, a bright light
encircles him and all he can do is watch his sister floating out the
window.  "Samantha, Samantha!"  He cries out to her and in his mind,
prays.

'God, please don't take the girl.'

*****

'Same old boy, new sweet girl.  Twenty two years down the road.'

It was storming outside, thunder and lightning making the darkness
even darker.  He pressed the button on his answering machine and heard
her voice.  She'd found something, he listened with anticipation.
Suddenly he heard her gasp, then call out to him.  "Mulder!  I need
your help!  Mulder!"

He raced to her apartment, playing the scene in his mind.  Barry had
broken in through the window, his blood on the window pane.  Her phone
on the floor where Barry had crushed it under his foot.  Blood on the
glass coffee table where she had reached for her gun.

'Please, don't take the girl'

Mulder ran from the skylift up the mountain.  He could hear the car
radio blaring in the quiet night sky.  He peeked in the car, his gun
drawn, the drivers door open, and saw the blood on the steering wheel.
He pressed the release for the trunk and went to the back of the car.
He'd seen her locked in the trunk and he hesitated before opening it.
Mulder couldn't bear to see her dead.  He opened the trunk and saw it
empty.  The flash light glinted off something shiny and he reached for
it.  Her necklace, a tiny gold cross.  He rolled it between his
fingers, then he heard a noise from above and a light flashed from the
sky.  A man was laughing maniacally nearby and he ran toward the man.

Barry was standing with his arms raised, laughing.  "Yes, Yes!"  

"Where is she?!  Where did you leave her?!"  Mulder cried out to him
as he took him in custody.

"They took her!"  Barry answered.

Mulder closed his eyes and begged silently.

'Please, don't take the girl.'

*****

'Same old boy, same sweet girl,  a few months down the road.'

Mulder entered the hospital calmly, but by the time he neared the wing
she was staying in, his pace increased to a run.  Through the doors,
he saw her lying in a bed, with tubes coming from just about
everywhere in her body.  She was back, but her chances were not good.


He sat by her bed and took her hand in his.  "I feel, Scully, that ...
.. you believe you're not ready to go.  And you've always had the 
strength of your beliefs.  I don't know if my being here will help ...
.  bring you back, but I'm *here*."  

He stayed with her for hours before going back home.  He stood in his
doorway, witnessing the destruction of his apartment.  The men who had
been responsible had been there and he had a chance for revenge but
gave it up to be with her.  Mulder slowly fell to his knees, crying,
hands stretched out, wondering why and pleading.

'Please, don't take the girl.'

*****

'Same old boy, same sweet girl,  two years down the road.'

He hesitated before entering the room.  For the first time in his
life, he didn't want to believe.

"A growth?"  Even though he suspected, it still shocked him.

"A tumor.  You're the only one I've called."

"Is it operable?"

"No."  Scully lowered her head.

His breath was taken away as he searched her face.  "But it's
treatable."

"The truth is," She began slowly.  "that the type and placement of the
tumor make it difficult, to the extreme."

"I ... I refuse to believe that.  I ... "

He listened to her, hearing the impossible.  Not wanting to believe
it.  Wanting it to go away.

"I .. I don't accept that.  There ... there must be some people who 
have received treatment for this.  We can ... "

Once again, he found himself alone, on his knees, begging, pleading,
praying to a God he wasn't sure existed.  "Take the very breath you
gave me.  Take the heart from my chest.  I'll gladly take her place,
if you'll let me.  Make this my last request. Take me out of this
world.  God, please, please, don't take the girl."

'His Daddy was taking him fishing, he was eight years old.'

THE END