From: LassMulder@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 01:52:05 EST
Subject: Honi Ka 'Alopeke

Disclaimer: I could do this in my sleep... They aren't mine. They belong to CC
and 10-13. I'm borrowing them. No infringement intended. Don't sue me. Does
that about cover it? OK, good. 

Title:  Honi Ka 'Alopeke
Author: Lass Mulder
Rating: PG
Classification: SRAH
Spoilers: none
Summary: Scully believes Mulder to be dead after she leaves him in a warehouse
amidst a shower of bullets.

Notes: The snippets of songs throughout the following fanfic are from the
Oasis CD "What's the Story Morning Glory." Oh, and I'd like to dedicate this
to Erica, Jenn and Katie for editing in the absence of my usual gal. Thanks,
you guys! I might keep you permanently if you'll let me!!

Also, just so you know, the fanfic title means "kiss the fox" in Hawaiian.
::grin:: It doesn't have much to do with the story, but I thought it was
cute... I'm having lots of fun with my Hawaiian dictionary.

One last thing: I apologise about the italics type, but my computer is playing
up and I can't get it all in normal print--it's either half in italics some of
the time, or all in italics. Sorry!


"Honi ka 'alopeke"
by Lass Mulder

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you 
By now you shoulda somehow realized what you gotta do 
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully sat with her back up against a wall of barrels, breathing heavily, as
her partner sat up to fire another few bullets at the group of shooters intent
on killing the pair. Mulder fired five shots, and she could tell two shots hit
something living. 

Searching her brain she found she was too confused to even remember how she
had gotten there. 

It didn't really matter now. They were running out of bullets, and there were
five times as many of the attackers as there were "Good Guys." Mulder sat back
down, loading another clip into his gun. Pausing, he looked at the large truck
parked directly behind them. The door was open, the keys were swinging in the
ignition. The frightened driver had fled when the gunfire started. The poor
guy was unloading his shipment when the ten men had burst into the warehouse,
guns blazing. 

This was the worst situation Mulder and Scully had ever been in. And Scully
feared it would be the *last* situation they would ever be in. There was no
way they could get to the truck, as they would be shot before they covered the
fifteen yards. 

Mulder touched Scully's arm to get her attention. 

"Scully, listen to me. One of us can get to the truck and make it to the
hospital in time if the other creates a distraction. So-"

"Sure. You run, and I'll make a lot of noise over here," Scully quickly
interrupted.

Mulder smiled sadly, his eyes hidden by the shadows that were giving them
disguise. Scully wished she could see them. Once more before she said good-bye
forever. Out of the mist clouding her mind came a line; a line from what? The
Princess Bride. "Eyes like the sea after a storm..."

"No, Scully, I meant I'd create the distraction, and you could run to the
truck."

"No, Mulder, you go. You have more..." Scully sighed, lost for words. "The
truth, your mother, the X-Files..."

Mulder ducked as something white and powdery rained down on them from a shelf
up above. "Scully, that's nothing. You have your family, and that's more
important than the X-Files. Plus, you can still salvage your career and forget
you ever worked with ol' Spooky. Besides, *you* followed *me* here; I'm the
one who got us into this mess. Take this," Mulder handed her a thick plastic
bag, holding an orange liquid, wrapped in a second, thinner plastic bag, "and
get it to the hospital as fast as you can. If this does save my mother, than
my death will be worth it."

"You aren't going to die, Mulder!" Scully hissed at him. "You have to take
this back to your mother, and if she lives, you need to be there for her when
she wakes up!!"

"You're the doctor, you go with the medicine!"

"You're her son! Go save your mother!"

Mulder sat up quickly, unloading another six bullets at the men in black. He
hit three this time, but none of them were falling... Slumping back against
the barrels, he pressed the end of the gun to Scully's forehead and said
emphatically, "Scully, get your ass over to that truck and go save my mother.
I'm going to run that way and create the diversion. If you stay, you'll die
too, as will my mother. Now get out of here!!"

The tears Scully had managed to contain until then spilled over silently.
Mulder couldn't see them in the darkness, and she was grateful for that. She
didn't want him to see how much this hurt her. "Mulder... I-"

"GO!"

Scully looked at Mulder for a second before giving a quick nod and leaning
forward. She pressed her lips against his forcefully, running her tongue along
his bottom lip. He opened up to her and kissed her back for a moment before
roughly pushing her away. "Go!"

Scully ran blindly through her tears for the door of the truck, never looking
back. She jumped into the cab and twisted the keys with incredible force. The
truck rumbled to life, and Scully saw Mulder sprinting across the warehouse
amidst the flying bullets as she accelerated out through the gates and onto
the road, holding the cure to Mrs. Mulder's disease.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And all the roads we have to walk are winding 
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding 
There are many things that I would like to say to you 
But I don't know how 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully picked up her cell phone as soon as she made sure she wasn't being
followed. Trying to keep the truck on course with one hand and a knee, she
dialed Skinner.

"Sir, this is Dana Scully. I followed Agent Mulder to a warehouse this
afternoon. He was checking out a lead he had regarding his mother's recent
illness.... Yes, I am fully aware of that, but I followed him because I
believed--" Scully paused as her superior spoke. "No, sir.... No, sir....
Well, we arrived at the warehouse, found what we were looking for, and as we
were heading for our cars, ten unidentifiable men opened fire on us. We were
able to hold them off for a short time, but..." Scully trailed off, letting
out a shaky breath as she looked helplessly into the darkness of an east-coast
autumn evening. She bit her lip as Skinner asked her to continue. "Mulder gave
me the...evidence...we had collected, and...before I could stop him, he ran
out from where we were covered and created a distraction so I might be able to
get away and possibly save his mother's life."

Scully listened to Skinner's deep, monotonous voice at the other end of the
line while tears pooled in the bottom of her eyes, threatening to spill over. 

"Yes, sir.... It is my belief that Agent Mulder was gunned down by the men we
encountered at the warehouse.... I'm on my way to the hospital right now. Can
you send some men out to, uh..." Scully distractedly tugged at her suit
jacket, pulling out the crumpled piece of paper that held the warehouse's
address. "Uh, send them to 1113 'Alopeke Road. Tell them," "Tell them to look
for a body...Mulder's body. And, if they find blood on the floor, tell them to
take samples of each and test them to see if any are A negative. If there are
any matches, bring back a sample of that and I'll run it against Mulder's
DNA.... Yes, I know their methods.... You're right, the body will most likely
have disappeared, but...I just want to know. I want some kind of confirmation.
Just please ask them to do this for me." A single tear dropped onto her skirt
as she briefly closed her eyes. "Thank-you, sir. I am, too."

Scully arrived at the hospital in record time. Mulder had probably been dead
about 45 minutes or so. Dashing in the doors, Scully headed straight for the
ICU, holding the plastic bag like it was *her* that was sick and the bag could
cure *her*.

Rounding the corner, she held up her ID and yelled for a doctor. "You have to
administer this to Mrs. Mulder in," "in bed 19, right away," she said, handing
over the bag of liquid. "It'll save her life. Get it going in an IV push
*right now*! I'm her son's partner, and a doctor. I-" Scully choked on her
words as she silently corrected herself. Scully fell back into a blue plastic
chair as nurses and doctors ran to Mrs. Mulder's bedside. Her head fell back
against the cold, sterile looking wall, while the full force of what had
happened in the last hour sunk in. 

Mulder was dead.

Lying dead on a warehouse floor.

she corrected herself, Scully felt hollow. 

Closing her eyes, she relived the last few moments she'd had in the warehouse.
Kissing Mulder, being shoved away, running, stumbling toward the truck as her
partner gave his life for hers. She saw, in her mind's eye, Mulder running for
the opposite side of the warehouse, away from her. He ran, jerked as a bullet
caught him in the shoulder, stumbled as one found his leg, and fell as another
embedded itself in his chest. He lay there, wounded eyes still open and
glassy, fingers moving the slightest bit. "Scully..." he whispered before a
tall black man in a trenchcoat unloaded a final bullet into his head. "Clean
this mess up," he ordered swiftly and smoothly, walking away. 

Scully's eyes flew open and she vaulted out of the chair and into Mrs.
Mulder's room. The doctors smiled at her, letting her know things were already
improving. Seeing the pale, ghostly look on the short woman's face, their
smiles faded. 

"Please keep an eye on her for me. I'm going home. You can reach me at
555-6431. Thank-you." Scully suddenly felt sick as she rushed for her car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Because maybe 
You're gonna be the one that saves me 
And after all 
You're my wonderwall 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully hung up the phone in her apartment and leaned back against the couch
cushions. She had just called Skinner, and updated him on what had happened.
He had told her that when they got to the warehouse, there was nothing left
but a pile of rubble. Some sort of bomb had gone off, and there was almost
nothing left of the building. So, therefore, there was no way they could look
for blood or bodies. 

She leaned over, reaching out with one hand to unhook the phone cord. She had
already called the hospital a second time to check on Mrs. Mulder's progress,
and the news was all good. She still had not regained consciousness, but her
condition had vastly improved. Scully pushed herself off the sofa and made the
rounds in her apartment, unhooking all of her phones, and turning off her cell
phone. There was only one person she wanted to talk to right now, but she
couldn't, because he was dead.

And she had killed him.

She needed to see the warehouse. She needed to see it. 

Scully stood up and picked up her keys, not bothering to grab a coat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Stand up beside the fireplace 
Take that look from off your face 
You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully stepped out of the bureau car, and stood, one hand on the door. The men
Skinner had sent had obviously not been able to find anything, and had left
quickly. Another crew would most likely return in the morning, when they would
be able to go over the area aided by the light of day. After a moment, she
rounded the door and shoved it closed, never taking her eyes from the sight
before her.

Her usual calm and collected mask was shattered, and her true feelings were
displayed. Her mouth was open slightly and her forehead creased. Hands at her
sides, she took in the landscape. 

The warehouse was no more. A skeleton of a building still stood, metal beams
and supports. But there were no walls, no roof. The place had definitely been
hit by a powerful blast. Nothing that would have affected surrounding areas,
but it had quite nicely disposed of everything that had been in the building
at the time of detonation. The whole scene was wrapped in yellow tape,
packaged like some sick gift. Someone had even tied a bow instead of the
customary knot to connect the two ends. 

Scully made a slow tour of her partner's current tomb. She had thought she'd
be able to feel him--his presence--when she got here. She thought she'd be
able to sense he had died in the vicinity, but now she felt nothing like that.
Nothing special. Only emptiness. And loneliness. There was nothing for her
here. The idea of somehow "knowing" Mulder's body was included in the debris
was ludicrous, anyway. 

Scully returned to her car and mechanically made her way home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Someday you will find me 
Caught beneath the landslide 
In a champagne supernova in the sky 
Someday you will find me 
Caught beneath the landslide 
In a champagne supernova 
A champagne supernova in the sky 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Scully returned home to a quiet apartment and was about to check her answering
machine for new messages before she remembered she'd unhooked the phones.
Sighing, she went into her bedroom and turned on her bedside lamp. She changed
into a long sleep-shirt, something Mulder had picked up for her when she had
forgotten to pack a night-gown on their last last-minute trip to Washington
state. It came down to her knees, was a soft gray cotton, and said on the
front, "Sleepless In Seattle".

Sitting on the bed, but not letting herself enjoy the warmth of getting under
the covers, Scully looked over what she could read to try to put herself to
sleep, and take her mind off of what a monster she had been earlier that
evening. It was past midnight, but she still wasn't sleepy. 

Scully looked with burning eyes at her literature choices. She had read Moby
Dick the night before. To Kill A Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, Black
Beauty... She wasn't interested in anything. Picking up her last choice, she
decided that wouldn't work either. "Of Mice And Men". She was *not* going to
sit there and read about two great friends who were up against the world,
trying to prove themselves, when, after some trouble, the taller of the pair
gets shot in the head. Killed. By his best friend.

Killed by his best friend.

Scully threw the book onto a chair as the tears started again. She swung her
legs back over the side of the bed and took a deep breath, trying to calm her
breathing. She had left him there. She shouldn't have. She felt like she had
finally betrayed and abandoned Mulder, and that because of it, he had lost his
life. 



Scully let out a sob and bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from doing it
again.



Scully burst out in uncontrolled hiccups and sobs as fresh tears streamed down
her cheeks.



Scully jumped up and slammed a tight fist against her wall. The hot strings of
pain that fled up her arm and brought more stinging tears to her eyes told her
trying to break through her back wall was not the smartest thing she'd ever
done. Spinning around to face the rest of her room she screamed, "FUCK!!"
bending over and taking a step back as if that one word and all the energy
behind it had propelled her backwards.

Seeing the form in the doorway, she gave a strangled cry and stepped back
again until she was up against the offending wall. The man in her doorway
started toward her, and with each step, Scully sank further down her wall,
until she was sitting with her knees under her chin, looking up at her partner
with wide, frightened eyes. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Slip inside the eye of your mind 
Don't you know you might find 
A better place to play 
You said that you'd once never been 
All the things that you've seen 
Will slowly fade away 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully sat on the floor, her position defensive, as if Mulder was there to
hurt her for deserting him. Hell, she *wanted* him to hurt her for what she'd
done.

"Scully..." No response. She just sat there. He seemed to tower above her when
she was crouched on the floor like that.

Mulder knelt down in front of Scully and put a hand on her knee. "Scully..."

Scully jumped like his hand had burned her, and her face went white as she
said, "Oh my God. I'm hallucinating. You're dead, and I'm so stupid and
wrapped up in myself and my guilt that I'm imagining your... your... ghost...
But..."



"Scully, I'm not a ghost. I'm not dead. I'm alive and well, and I only got hit
once, here, in the arm." Mulder held out his bandaged arm. "The bullet only
grazed me, so no broken bones or anything. I guess you could call it a
miracle, but here I am."

"No, no, you're a figment of my imagination..."

"Scully. Scully!" Mulder reached out and held her face with both of his hands
so she was looking in his direction. She jerked and flinched at the contact,
but she still avoided his eyes. "Look at me!!" Her eyes snapped back, partly
in fear, partly in surprise, but mostly just because he asked her to. 

Scully looked at his eyes for a moment, and then, without warning, she
launched herself at him, flinging her arms around his neck. The force threw
Mulder back onto the floor, his legs straight out in front of him, his good
arm bracing himself against the floor behind him. As Scully held him, he sat
forward a little to wrap his injured arm gently around her waist. 

"Mulder, I'm *so sorry*," Scully said to the side of his head.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. *I'm* the one who should
apologize--"

Scully untangled her arms from around Mulder's neck and leaned back to look at
his face, confused. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

Mulder let his gaze wander suggestively down to their position--him on the
floor, his legs stretched in front of him, one arm around Scully's waist.
Scully, her legs wrapped around Mulder's waist, arms around his neck, sitting
on his lap. Scully glanced down and then back up at Mulder's face. The side of
his mouth lifted in a hint of a smile. Scully got the point.

"Hmm..." Scully scrambled off Mulder's lap and stood, facing him. Mulder
stayed seated on the floor. Silence hung for what felt like a lot longer than
a few seconds. It was suddenly hot in the room, as Scully sat down on the edge
of her bed. 

Finally she broke the silence, "How did you get away?"

Mulder gave her a lopsided grin and said, "I pulled a MacGyver and made a bomb
out of toothpaste, coffee stirrers and my cell phone, and blew them all up."
Scully couldn't help but give a small smile through her remaining tears. 

"Mulder, you'd never blow up your cell phone..."

"No, actually, by some stroke of pure, dumb luck there were grenades in a box
on the rack I ran behind. Don't ask me why they were there--maybe we'd
stumbled on something bigger than we thought out there. I pulled the pin from
two of them and dashed out the door that was over there before the place went
up in smoke. I bet you would have seen the explosion if you'd stuck around in
that truck for another ten seconds. But it took me awhile to walk somewhere
where I could get a ride. Those guys slashed our tires."

"Yes, but you could have..." Scully didn't finish her sentence, she just
looked away guiltily.

"I tried to call you, but you unhooked your phones and turned off your cell
phone, right?"

Scully gave a miserable nod. Then she brightened some-what. "Your mother,
she--"

Mulder smiled. "Yeah, I know. Thank-you for getting that bag of whatever it
was to her in time. I think I missed you by about nine minutes in the
hospital. The doctors said you'd just left, and I was on my way to catch you
when Mom woke up. I stayed with her for awhile, trying to get you on the
phone, but... And then I sent someone to check on you, but you wouldn't answer
the door."

"I went to look at the warehouse. I had to see it for myself." Mulder gave her
a questioning look. "For my own reasons," she said, looking away. She was
silent for a moment, before beginning again with vehemence. "Mulder, I am *so*
sorry... I have been mentally kicking myself for the past six hours, thinking
I'd killed you... I should have stayed, I..." Scully found she couldn't finish
any of her thoughts, so she lapsed back into silence.

"Scully, if you had stayed, we would both be lying dead, in pools of our own
blood on that warehouse floor right now. Besides, if you hadn't been there,
that would have been the end of the Bill Mulder family. My mom and I would
have been goners. But you were there, you were able to leave, save my mom, and
I hardly got a scratch. Everything turned out fine," Mulder insisted.

"But, Mulder, what if you hadn't been alright? I should have been there. I at
least should have stuck around down the road for a moment so I could have
picked you up after you blew the place up!"

Mulder smiled. "How could you have known I'd be able to blow it up? You did
the right thing. Trust me."

"I do."

This declaration prompted Mulder to stand up and move over to sit next to
Scully on the bed. He put his hand over hers and said, "Ditto."

Scully smiled slightly and looked away. "Have you ever seen "Ghost" with
Whoopi Goldberg, Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze?"

"Are you kidding? Demi Moore covered in wet clay? Wouldn't miss it for the
world," Mulder said softly, nudging Scully's shoulder.

She turned and saw Mulder's face inches from her own. He kept his gaze
fastened on her for the longest time, not moving. 

Scully's eyes got wide and she shot off the bed, clearing her throat
nervously, intent on running from what she was afraid of. Mulder didn't let go
of her hand, though, and she snapped back to him as he stood up. Mulder,
before Scully could say anything, bent down and covered her mouth with his.

Scully let out a surprised yelp, but it was drowned in the kiss. She tried to
pull away, letting her legs buckle underneath her in an attempt to make Mulder
let her go and drop her, but Mulder wouldn't do either. She pushed back at his
shoulders, but he held her there, his arm circling her waist to hold her up.
Finally, Scully stopped protesting.
Mulder eventually broke away from his partner, looking quickly from one of her
eyes to the other, looking for acceptance in them. His question was quickly
answered when Scully quickly broke away from him, stepping back a number of
paces. 

"Mulder, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you in the warehouse today. I gave
you the wrong idea with that. I was just trying to show you, without taking
the time to tell you with words, that if you died, you would be missed. People
loved you, and cared about you. And someone was always going to miss you. I
just-"

"Would you lie to me, Scully? I know I've lied to you in the past, and I
regret each and every one of those lies. But I want to know--would you
lie--no, *are* you lying to me?" Silence. "Don't lie to me."

Scully paused, not able to go on. Yes, she was lying when she said she
shouldn't have kissed him in the warehouse. She was lying when she tried to
justify it. She had kissed him to try to tell him that not only did she *love*
him, but she was *in* love with him. 

Time for the truth.

"Mulder, I'm not going to lie to you."

"You said before that you trust me with your life... Were you lying?"

"No."

"Then why did you pull away from me?"

Scully looked away, as if searching for strength from some visual object in
her room. She found none. "Mulder..." 

"So you'll kiss me when you know I'm about to die--no complications, no
strings attached, right?"

"That's not true."

"What is the truth, then?"

"I DON'T KNOW!!" Scully paused, grasping at control. "All I know is that when
I thought you had died, I seriously considered taking out my gun and eating a
bullet just so I could join you in the Great Beyond." 

Mulder fought the urge to walk over and kiss her again. 

But he didn't have to.

Scully went to Mulder, not meeting his eyes. She focused on the front of his
shirt until she was standing inches from him. Mulder put an arm around her
waist and one hand on her cheek. Her hand went to the back of his neck as he
bent down, but she met him half-way, standing on her toes to kiss him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I said maybe 
You're gonna be the one that saves me 
You're gonna be the one that saves me 
You're gonna be the one that saves me 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

=============
OK, that's it!! Comments, please. I think I'm going sappy... My stories never
used to be this mushy. Does it wreck the story to have it end like this? I
want to know what you guys like--them getting together, or what?
FEEDBACK!!!
LassMulder@aol.com
=============