From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org Date: 12 May 2007 03:49:41 -0000 Subject: The Epiphany of 216 by Matineemad Source: direct Reply To: matineemad@yahoo.com TITLE: The Epiphany of 216 AUTHOR: MatineeMad E-MAIL: matineemad@yahoo.com DISTRIBUTION: Archive freely RATING: PG CATEGORIES: SR KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully romance. Possible character death. SPOILERS: None SUMMARY: Mulder patiently waits for Scully to return from California - but there are complications. Disclaimer: X-Files characters belong to FOX Corporation and 1013. Author's Notes: Sequel to "Waiting for 216". Mulder didn't know how long he had been sitting there crying on the floor. The tears had long since subsided. Now he was just shaking uncontrollably. He had gone to the airport earlier that evening to pick up Scully, who had spent the last week in San Francisco visiting her family. When her scheduled flight landed, it had exploded, killing all aboard. The love of his life was dead. He waited at the airport for several hours in shock. Something finally made him drive home - to his apartment. He had to tell Maggie but couldn't find the courage. Then that is when he saw it - the blinking light. He had a message. He fortified himself and listened to five beautiful words. "Mulder, I missed my flight." He played the message at least ten times to make sure that he was not dreaming. He so wanted to call Scully but every time he tried to dial the number, his hands shook so much that he dropped the phone. Finally, he was able to complete the call but he was too distraught to talk to her. He just collapsed on the floor where he was still laying. The ringing of the phone broke his concentration. He wanted to answer it but what would he say. "Oh, Dana, I will fall apart if you die..." he thought to himself. So he just let the machine pick up." "Mulder, it's me. I saw on the caller ID that you called. I guess you are going to yell at me for missing my flight. Well, it wasn't my fault. The ticket agents were not convinced that I was a real FBI agent. Figure that. Oh well. I guess you can miss me even more. Call me tonight, if you are still up. I love you." Mulder started to reach for the phone but the call disconnected before he could pick it up. "Oh, Dana, I need so much to talk to you but I...Thank God you are alive." Mulder pulled a blanket off the couch to cover his shivering body. Mulder awoke again to the phone ringing. He looked at the clock. It was 12:30. He still couldn't will his body to pick up the receiver. Again the machine picked it up. "Fox, this is Maggie Scully. Dana just called me. She is concerned that you did not return her call. I just saw the plane crash on the television. Oh my god, I hope you don't think Dana is dead. She is not. She missed her flight. If you don't call me in the next 20 minutes, I am coming over there." He did not hear the phone ring again. "Mulder, this is Scully again. Please, please, please call me. I am really worried about you. I am afraid you were in a car accident or something. If you are mad at me for missing the flight, I am so, so, so sorry. I will make it up to you.I am so scared that something has happened to you. Please call me ASAP!" Mulder rolled over and opened his eyes just in time to hear her last comment. "I am not mad at you. In fact, I hope to spend the rest of my life thanking God for saving you on this night. I know you want me to call you but..." he mumbled to himself. "Fox, open up!" He could hear Maggie Scully at the door. "It's open," he said weakly, not even trying to get up off the floor. Maggie swung the door open and gasped. "Fox! Oh my God! I need to call 911!" "No. No. I am all right." He tried to sit up but just fell back down. Maggie closed the door and came over to him. "What hurts? Are you injured?" Mulder closed his eyes and squeezed her hand tightly. "I am all right. Please just help me sit up on the couch." After much maneuvering, Mulder was sitting on the couch, with the blanket around him. He was still shivering but not as much as before. "Thanks for helping me. I guess I was really out of it." Maggie handed him a cup of tea. "Drink this. It should take the edge off." He took a sip. "Liquor? Oh, Mrs. Scully!" "You need a little pick-me-up. How is your head?" "Much better. I am still a little cold though." "Aftereffects of the shock. You just need to relax." "I appreciate you being here. Did you call Dana back?" "No. I want you to do that. She doesn't want to talk to her *mother*, you know." "I can't. I don't want her to see how I flipped out." "You thought Dana was dead. Then you found out she was alive. The shock of that good news exploded all the tension you were feeling. I would probably have done the same thing." The phone rang. Mulder was getting nervous so Maggie sat down next to him. "You need to talk to her. She is not going to stop calling," Maggie said tenderly. "I can't!" "Yes, you can Fox. You owe it to Dana." Mulder reached for the phone but his hand shook so much that he dropped it on the floor. By the time he reached for it, the machine had picked it up. "Fox, this is Dana. I have loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you in that basement. You are the reason I get up in the morning and the reason I go to sleep - next to you - at night. I am incomplete without you. I don't think I could go on if anything happened to you. You are the most compassionate person that I have ever met. Although we have had our disagreements, I would not change a day of the life we have together. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don't know whether you feel the same way but I hope you do. I hope this lack of communication from you is not a sign that your feelings for me have changed. I love you, Fox..." She broke down as the call disconnected. Maggie stood up and picked up her purse. "There you go, Fox. It is all up to you now. I am going to leave you alone. I will call Dana in the morning and tell her you are okay, in case you don't have time in the meanwhile to do so." Mulder got up and escorted her to the door. "I will try." Mulder paced around the apartment for several minutes to fortify his strength. He slowly picked up the phone and started to dial when it rang. He answered it quickly. "Hello." "Mulder?" "Hello, Scully. I was just going to call you." "Before you say anything, I just want to make something clear. I..." "No, Dana. I need to tell you something first." "Dana," she whispered to herself. "I went to the airport tonight to pick you up. I was so excited to finally have you back. I watched anxiously as your plane taxied toward me and then..." The silence was eerie. "What is it, Mulder?" "Your plane blew up. I guess I just lost it after that." "Oh my God, Mulder. I had no idea. Let me turn on the television. Oh no!" "How I got home, I don't know. I tried to call your mother but I couldn't find the words. That's when I saw the message. Your message. You were alive. I went into shock." "Are you okay?" "Yes. Your mom came over. I couldn't function much at all." "Have you been listening to my messages tonight?" "Every one of them. I love you too, Scully. I don't ever want to feel this way again." Dana was crying uncontrollably. "I...I....Just wait until I get home. I will never let you out of my sight." "Promise?" "You got it, mister. And a very special back rub coming your way." "I love you, Dana, always." "I love you, Fox, with my whole heart." It was dawn before Mulder finally drifted off to sleep. He wanted to make sure he looked rested enough to meet Scully's 4pm flight. He put her picture on the coffee table so that the last image he saw before he went to sleep was the woman he loved. He awoke to the banging on the door. "Just a minute." He straightened himself up and looked at the clock. It was 5:30pm. "Come on, G-man. Open the door." She got tired of waiting so she used her key. As he opened the door, he saw the woman he loved with a megawatt smile. He knew that everything would be okay from that point on.