From: Mana Rae Date: 23 Oct 2002 22:45:12 -0700 Subject: xfc: NEW:"Jack" by Mana Source: atxc TITLE: "Jack" AUTHOR: Mana E-MAIL ADDRESS: celine1013@hotmail.com DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, I'd be honored. Just let me know first :) SPOILER WARNING: Nope.... RATING: PG CLASSIFICATION: M/S UST, H (I hope) SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully do some investigating in Upstate New York. AUTHORS NOTES: at end. Jack Upstate New York Harbored Souls Cemetery 11:42 p.m. October 30 "I cannot believe you got me to go along with this, Mulder!" Scully growled at the dark silhouette of her partner when she saw him approaching. "What, Scully?" He laughed and shrugged. "You mean to tell me you aren't having fun?" "You mean to tell me you are?" she scoffed in reply. At his answering tilt of the head and lopsided grin she considered. "The Headless Horseman. As in Ichabod Crane?" she asked, her voice dripping disbelief. "That's a fairy tale, Mulder, a legend. It's not true. How the hell did I let you talk me into this?" she sighed, plopping down on a crumbling tombstone. "How, Scully?" he repeated. "I guess its just because you can't deny me anything, you're too attracted to me," he replied, waggling his eyebrows at her. "Right. I think you're mixing fantasy with reality again, Mulder," Scully said, rolling her eyes. Mulder grabbed his chest as if he was having a heart attack. "Scully! You wound me! Are you telling me you aren't attracted to me?" When she said nothing, he continued. "Besides, in my fantasies you're doing a lot more than just agreeing with me. Well, I mean you are agreeing with me, but that's not all you're doing..." he trailed off when he saw her right eyebrow shoot up to her hairline and her lips purse. "Oh come on Scully. It's not that bad," he continued as her eyebrow raised another notch. "Okay, fine. How about we just stay a little while longer and then I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow night, huh? What do you say?" She seemed to think about it for a few minutes. "All right, but I get to pick the restaurant." He smiled. "Okay, sounds fair," he agreed as he joined her on the tombstone. "So what exactly are you expecting to happen?" she queried after a few minutes had passed. "Well, there have been reports from several different people claiming to see the Headless Horseman. All the witnesses claim to have seen him in or around this cemetery, and all the sightings occurred around midnight." "Isn't it possible that maybe the witnesses were drunk or maybe they didn't see anything at all?" Scully quipped. "I thought of that, but these people have pictures!" "Pictures?" she parroted. "Yup!" Mulder said, extracting a very small stack of photographs from his jacket pocket. Grabbing the photographs, she studied them under the glare of her flashlight. "Mulder! This just looks like someone in a costume!" "No, it's not! Look. It's seamless. That's a real pumpkin head on him, Scully, not a costume," he argued, taking the photographs from her. Scully just looked at him, an incredulous expression on her face. "Mulder..." she began to say. "Shh...do you hear that?" Mulder whispered, jumping up. "Hear what?" Scully grumbled, not moving from her perch on the tombstone. "Sounds like a horse running. Horse's hooves on the ground," he said in a low voice, turning his head to the right and pausing. "There! Hear that?" "No, I don't hear it," she replied, taking a deep breath. "Mulder..." A loud whinnying from the thick forest behind them interrupted her. Scully turned just in time to see something emerge from the shadows of the trees. It was a figure riding on a horse. A huge jack-o-lantern sat where the head should be and a long black cloak billowed around it. As the figure stopped, the horse neighed and stood up on its back legs, its rider holding on effortlessly. Scully looked over at Mulder, who seemed entranced by the figure. "Mulder?" "Yeah?" "Run!" she cried and jumped up, grabbing his arm in the process. They ran towards the entrance to the cemetery as fast as they could. Mulder, equipped with long legs, easily passed her. The horseman took this as his cue to pursue the agents. He snapped the reins and his horse jumped into action. As the hoofbeats pounded faster, Mulder looked back at his partner. "Come on Scully!" Mulder cried back at her. The horseman advanced on his prey, the horse galloping hard. Scully turned back to see the horseman was close at her heels. "Mulder," she cried, turning towards him. As he turned to look at her he tripped and fell into the open grave in front of him with a loud thud. "Mulder!" she screamed and ran to the edge of the hole. "Mulder? Are you okay?" she yelled into the grave and grabbed her flashlight. Shining the light into the hole, she saw Mulder lying on his side, his left leg bent at an awkward angle. "I'm okay," he grunted. The horse whinnied behind her and slid to a stop. Scully looked up at the horseman as he moved to dismount the horse. Her eyes widened as he advanced on her. "Scully! What's going on?" Mulder yelled up at her. "Run! Get away!" Scully backed up closer to the edge of the hole. She opened her mouth to scream, but only a small squeak came out. The horseman reached out and grasped her arm. "Hey watch out. Wouldn't want you to fall down there too," the mouth on the jack-o-lantern face warned her. "Huh?!?" Scully asked, perplexed. "How's he doing?" The horseman asked and leaned over the edge of the hole to look down. "Hey, mister, you okay?" he yelled. Scully took this time to really size up the horseman. Man this guy was tall! He had to be at least seven feet tall, sans head. His pumpkin head teetered slightly as he bent over the grave. The long black cloak billowed softly in the light breeze edging its way through the graveyard. The horseman looked up at Scully. "What?" he demanded, annoyed that she was just staring at him. "Uh..ar..you..huh?" She stuttered. "Oh, you're wondering why I'm not killing you right?" He stood, Mulder forgotten. "Well ya see, I don't kill people. That's just the stories, stupid movies and books. I've always said, reading will get you nowhere." He shook his head. "But...you're the Headless Horseman." Scully pointed out. "Yeah, and you're point is? Just because I don't have a head, I gotta be this horrible monster, only seeking out his victims in the black of night, taking their heads to replace mine? That I gotta be a murderer?" he asked sarcastically. "Seriously, we are in the 21st century. Do we really need "labels?" he asked, scrunching his fingers to make quotation marks. Scully started to respond, but couldn't think of anything to say. "Seriously miss, I never killed nobody. I've never even hurt anybody before. It's not my fault that people are scared of me 'cause I don't have a head and they run away. But this has never happened before," he sighed, looking back down in the grave at Mulder, who had been listening to them talk. "I don't know what to do." "It figures Mulder would be the only one that's ever gotten hurt running from you," Scully muttered. "What?" Mulder yelled up at her. "Nothing Mulder, just hold on a sec, we'll get you out," she yelled back down to him. She turned to the horseman. "Do you think you can help me get him out of there?" "Not a problem. Hold on," the horseman said and jumped down into the grave, his pumpkin head level with the ground. After a few grunts and groans, Mulder was happily laying on the ground at Scully's feet. The horseman jumped out of the open grave with the ease of a gazelle. "Here, let me help you get him to the car," he said and helped Mulder to his feet, keeping his arm around Mulder's to keep him upright. "Thank you umm...I don't know what to call you," Scully said. "Just call me Jack," he answered and smiled. "Jack?" Mulder asked, his mind focusing on the pain. He was sure his leg was broken. "Yeah...ya know...it's pretty obvious," the horseman muttered. He opened the passenger side door and eased Mulder in. "Obvious?" Mulder asked, not really paying attention to anything but not moving his leg...or his body. Scully put his seatbelt around him and closed the door. Turning to Jack she extended a hand. "Thanks again Jack," she said and shook his hand. "No problem Miss. Just get him to a hospital. I'd hate to have him permanently hurt because of me," Jack replied and turned away. Scully shook her head as she watched him mount his horse and ride off into the forest. She opened her door and slid into the car, turning her head when she heard Mulder mumble something. "What was that Mulder?" she asked and turned the ignition over. "Jack...as in jack-o-lantern!" he said. "I just got it!" Once again, Scully shook her head, and headed for the hospital. Scully's Apartment 6:35 p.m. October 31st "I HATE CRUTCHES!!!" Mulder yelled as the end of his crutch, once again slid out from under him and he wobbled. "Well, ya know Mulder, if you hadn't been watching behind you instead of where you were going, you wouldn't have broken your leg in two places and you wouldn't need the crutches," Scully lectured, walking in behind him and setting down their bags. She walked over to her fireplace and threw a log on, enjoying the sight of the beautiful flames rising higher. "Well, how was I supposed to know that the Headless Horseman was just some guy, albeit a headless guy, out riding at night not intending to hurt anyone? He looked pretty mean when he was chasing us down," Mulder grumbled behind her. "Why don't you just get settled on the couch and I'll get us some tea, okay?" she soothed and turned towards the kitchen. When she returned, she found Mulder sprawled out on her couch. Setting the mugs down on her coffee table, she lifted Mulder's head up and sat down, placing his head in her lap. She absently stroked the hair away from his forehead. "In a few minutes, I'll go make us some dinner. Does soup sound okay? I heat up some killer chicken noodle soup." She smiled and heard him chuckle, but then he quieted. "Mulder what is it?" "Scully, I'm sorry that I won't be able to take you out to dinner tonight," he said as he looked up at her from her lap. She sighed. "It's amazing, Mulder." "What is Scully?" Scully grabbed his hand and brought it up to her lips for a brief kiss. She grinned. "The things you'll do to get out of buying me dinner." THE END AUTHORS NOTES: I wrote this in answer to a challenge made on the IWTB list. There were 3 elements to include in the story: crutches, a fireplace and a tombstone. I think I used them all ;) I hope I did this right...it was my first challenge fic :-D Special Thanks to Xandria and Phantagrae for the kick bootie job of beta-ing they did. You guys rock. Hugs!