From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 10 May 2001 01:10:34 -0000
Subject: Next of Kin, Parts 1-4 by Sally
Source: direct

Reply To: LuckyCharm2410@aol.com


TITLE:   Next of Kin
AUTHOR:  LuckyCharm2410
E-MAIL ADDRESS: LuckyCharm2410@aol.com
RATING:  PG13, Language
CLASSIFICATION:  X-file, UST
SPOILERS:  Pretend that Requiem never 
happened 
SUMMARY:  Mulder gets a new definition of 
family     
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just let me know 
DISCLAIMER:  If they were mine they'd be 
boinking like bunnies by now.   
FEEDBACK:  Everyone says they will but no 
one ever does.  However, if you feel so 
inclined then please, oh please, it would 
really make my day.
Authors' notes and thanks following story 
at the end.


Part 1

Mulder dodges to the right as the whine 
of a bullet passes his left ear.

"Christ that was close."

Mulder's heart is pounding.  The first 
twinings of real fear begin to encircle 
his heart.  It's a war out here.

Scully's hand digs into Mulder's as she 
pulls him down and to the left again.  
Behind them a flare gun is fired, turning 
night briefly into day.

Mulder gets a glimpse of Scully's face 
and he's caught by how radiantly 
beautiful she is despite the dirt that 
streaks her face and mats her hair.

Together they duck, Mulder's arm going 
protectively around Scully as the 
unmistakable whistle of a mortar shell 
goes by.  It explodes in front of them; 
bits of rock and debris raining down from 
the resulting impact.

Again they resume their frantic flight 
through the forest.  Now it's Mulder 
leading Scully.  Bullets intent on their 
mission of intersecting living flesh with 
lethal metal hum and whine all around.

An electrifying jolt passes from Scully 
into Mulder.  Horrified, he realizes 
she's been hit.  Gently, Mulder lowers 
her to the ground.  Mortally wounded, 
Scully is dying.  Blood, fresh and red 
pours out of her chest.  Mulder 
desperately places his hand over the 
hole, but the wound is gaping and his 
hand does little to stop the flow.  She 
shivers, fighting for every breath.  
Mulder pulls her closer, trying to warm 
her, willing her to live.  His tears 
mingle with her blood.  They look at one 
another.  Both of them knowing her last 
breath will also be his own.

"NO!"

Arms and legs thrashing Mulder wakes as 
the echoes of his dream pound in his 
head.  His breath, harsh and uneven, 
rings out overloud in his empty 
apartment.  Placing a hand over his 
frantically beating heart, he isn't 
surprised when it comes away bathed in 
sweat.  

With the reverence of a prayer Mulder 
softly speaks again.

"No...no"

Sleeping in his bed instead of the couch 
has not banished this dream as he had 
hoped it would.  His bed is ripped apart.  
Blankets kicked to the bottom, top sheet 
pooled on the floor.  His pillow is damp 
to the touch.  Mulder wonders if he has 
wept.  Scully is dying.

Mulder swings his legs around and sits 
up.   The bedroom floor is cool beneath 
his feet.  He sits there, elbows on his 
knees, head in his hands.  The dream 
continues to reverberate in his head.  
Even with his eyes open the vision hurls 
itself at him.  Mulder begins to wonder 
if he will ever sleep again.  This is not 
the first night he's had this dream.  Nor 
he suspects will it be the last.

Falteringly Mulder slides out of the 
bed and sinks to his knees, his hands 
drop helplessly by his side knuckles 
rapping the floor.  Slowly his chin 
sinks to his chest as his shoulders 
shake uncontrollably.  Inconsolable 
sobs pierce the shadows of his night-
darkened apartment.  His bedroom walls 
stand watch, silent sentries to the 
heart wrenching sorrow that engulfs 
Mulder.

Outside, stars twinkle down from a velvet 
midnight sky. 

In a faraway place, a full moon rises.  
Its white wintry glow reflects the land 
below.   A lone wolf sits on a hilltop, 
its pelt incandescent in the moonlight.  
As if answering a distant cry the canine 
raises its head and howls.  It is a 
mournful sound, full of sorrow as it ebbs 
and flows around the town below. 

A new mother settling her son hears the 
sound and goes to the window. Without 
thinking she checks the latch.  How like 
the cry of a human she imagines. For a 
moment the stark beauty of this snowy 
landscape catches her.  Another wail, 
sadder than the first, encircles her 
house.  She reaches up and closes the 
curtains a little more firmly before 
turning back to her child.           

  




In the end old age and treachery
Will outwit youth and vigor
Anonymous


Part 2

There is no place deader on a Friday 
evening after the stock exchange closes 
than a Wall Street law office.  And in 
the mindless depths of Edwards, Gordon 
and Eriksson law offices there was no 
sound save that of the cleaning lady 
making her appointed rounds.  The hum of 
the vacuum cleaner occasionally replaced 
by the soft soapy sounds of water on 
linoleum.         

Curtains of deep gold brocade frame a 
magnificent view of the Hudson River from 
the corner office on the 15th floor of 
this company.  A carpet of navy blue 
absorbs the sound of footfalls and adds 
to the hush that permeates this place.         

In the semi-gloom a match flares, briefly 
illuminating its speaker.  The man 
inhales and concentrates on the end of 
his cigarette briefly before exhaling and 
turning to the oldest man in the room.

He paused momentarily looking for the 
correct words.

"I understand Herr Docktor that we have 
been most forthcoming in all our promises 
to you.  We have given you a place to 
train your men.  We have provided you 
with a top-caliber military expert."  He 
motioned towards the third man in the 
room.

"Yet it appears that for all we have 
given, you have not returned the favor." 

The Smoking Man inhaled again before 
continuing on. "We still lack the basic 
proponent of your most recent biological 
weapon.  A weapon you have assured us 
that will stop the alien invaders in 
their tracks should they ever set their 
sights upon the earth."  

The older man waved his hand in front of 
his face, clearing the smoke away. In a 
heavily accented European voice he asked, 
"Must you do that?  It interferes with my 
oxygen tank."  He indicated the small 
battered green cylinder by his chair. 

As the smoke moved around buoyed by the 
invisible air currents, the two men 
locked eyes.  Over the span of several 
heartbeats they considered one another. 
Under the pretext of making himself more 
comfortable, the Smoking Man shifted 
around in his chair, his cigarette now 
pointing the other way.

Tomas Eloso, the third man in the room 
listened with bored disdain as the two 
men struggled for power.  Perched on the 
corner of a desk, his eyes roamed around 
the interior of the office.  He should be 
elsewhere, anywhere, other than listening 
to these two fools wrangling over 
nothing.  Alien infestation was just a 
ruse to keep those two know-nothings out 
of the loop and out of his way.

Tomas Eloso dreamed of returning to his 
country a true leader of men.  With an 
army of American trained soldiers by his 
side and with this weapon the two idiots 
spoke of, no one would be able to 
withstand his onslaught and he would be 
king. 

As Mulder wakes from his nightmare, as a 
sorrowful bay enfolds a sleeping town and 
as three men plot, each is unaware that 
history has already been decided.  Three 
paths from three different walks of life 
are about to converge into one.




Part 3

Scully silently worked her way down the 
alley.  It was dark, wet and reeked of 
garbage.  She paused in a vacant doorway.  
Blending into the shadows, she listened 
to the night.  Other than the steady drip 
from cracked pipes overhead onto the 
slimy broken cobblestones below, the 
night was still.  Scully ducked back even 
further as a police car cruised by.  Its 
spotlight briefly illuminating the 
alleyway before continuing on.

She had just taken two steps back into 
the alley, when off to her right a 
garbage can abruptly overturned.

Startled Scully whipped around, weapon in 
hand ready to fire.  Two stray cats 
tumbled out at her feet.  Intent on each 
other they ignored her.  Growling and 
posturing they circled one another.

Scully's eyes widened at the sight of a 
very large rat that was hanging out of 
the mouth of one of the cats.  

Horrified she saw the rat was still 
alive; its hairless plated tail 
desperately swinging around, trying to 
smack the cat in the face and free 
itself.

She stilled an internal shudder before 
wrinkling her nose in distaste and 
quickly stepping onward.

Scully knocked twice on the door paused 
for exactly 3&1/2 seconds and then 
knocked again.  Inside she could hear the 
door locks, all 12 of them, being undone.  
She shook her head as a suspicious pair 
of eyes peered out at her.

"Scully, that you?"

Plaintively Scully spoke, "Byers, it's 
cold, it's late, I'm tired and I've just 
seen two cats fighting over a rat big 
enough to serve for Thanksgiving dinner, 
now let me in."  

Frohike's voice floated out from behind 
Byers.

"That's Scully."  

It was dark inside this warren that the 
Lone Gunmen called home.  Mulder was 
already there.  He stood across the way 
deep in conversation with Langly, the two 
of them engrossed in the computer screen 
in front of them

Their conversation broke off as Scully 
approached.  

"Scully have you ever been to Huntsville, 
Alabama?"  Mulder queried.

Scully turned back towards Byers, "If you 
guys dragged me down here to discuss, 
your vacation plans I'm going to burn 
this place down to the ground and I 
promise the four of you," she gave a 
stern eye to Mulder, "will go with it." 

"Geez Scully," Langly shook his head and 
settled his hair back behind his ears.  
"I really am beginning to believe you 
don't read the newspapers.  Haven't you 
heard about the recent rash of thefts 
plaguing the Huntsville Space Center and 
Redstone National Arsenal?"

"No," Scully said, "Petty theft doesn't 
exactly fall under the scope of the X-
Files." 
 
Langly gave Scully a blank look before 
raising his eyes to the heavens and 
shaking his head in disbelief at Scully's 
apparent lack of interest.  

Frohike jumped in, "As usual the liberal 
media has downplayed these incidents and 
played them off as pranks pulled by local 
kids."  He paused then added for 
emphasis, "Kids having a good time don't 
steal radioactive materials."  

"In my old neighborhood we would have."  
Langly confessed, "One time we.."  

Scully interrupted "What kind of 
radioactive materials?"  

Langly hopped back in "Doesn't anyone 
want to hear about the time I.."

Mulder, Scully, Byers and Frohike all 
turned on Langly, "SHUT UP LANGLY."  

Need something here about what kind of 
radioactive materials.  Will probably be 
2 paragraphs.

Scully turned her attention back to 
Frohike.

"During a routine inventory of all 
supplies at Redstone National Arsenal 15 
cases of weapons, including the Gordon 
Assault rifle with laser sites, came up 
missing.  Standard ammunition for that 
baby is the 1.5mm Titanium hollow point 
bullet, guaranteed to pierce body armor 
or your money back.  The Gordon Assault 
rifle is considered so deadly that 
current black market price for just a 
single gun with 2 clips of ammunition is 
almost a million dollars."         

"I thought the G.A.R. was still in the 
developmental stages." Scully asked.

"Didn't you read our last newsletter?"  
Frohike inquired.

Scully quickly glanced at Mulder, "I 
wasn't able to, someone spilled his lunch 
on my desk."

Four sets of eyes swiveled around to look 
at Mulder.

"It wasn't that big of a mess," he 
protested.  "I tripped."

"You're right Mulder, the floor, my desk 
and my NEW silk shirt don't cover enough 
area to make a big mess."  Scully raised 
her hands indicating quotation marks 
around the words "big mess."

Frohike cozied up to Scully but before he 
could get a word out she silenced him 
with a look before replying, "No Frohike 
I don't need help in getting the stains 
out.  That's why I have a dry cleaner." 

Frohike opened and then closed his mouth, 
before mentally jettisoning whatever he 
was going to say and moving away to take 
his position up by Byers again.     
  
Byers favored Mulder with a babies-will-
play look before picking the story back 
up.

"The G.A.R. still IS in the developmental 
stages, but a few cases of test models 
have been shipped to different Army bases 
around the country.  Public response you 
could say has been overwhelming, every 
branch of the service has been clamoring 
for one.  In other words you have a 
governmental developed weapon that really 
works.  But let even a single weapon get 
into the hands of even one of our less 
than stellar citizens of this country and 
no one, especially the police would be 
safe."        

"Ok" Scully said, "So what does this have 
to do with Huntsville Space Center and 
Redstone Arsenal?" 

"At this point we can't conclusively tie 
the two together, but check this out." 

"You've got Huntsville Space Center and 
Redstone National Arsenal with all the 
suburbia that goes with it.  But just 
beyond the city limits you've got a lot 
of government owned land that has never 
been developed.  At one point there was 
talk of tuning it into a National Park, 
but it never got beyond the talk stage."

Sharply Scully said. "Yeah, I know all 
about how the government can talk, but I 
don't have all night."  .  

Ignoring her tone of voice Byers resumed.

"The upshot of this whole thing is that 
you've got nearly a quarter of a million 
acres of government owned land sitting 
there in and around Huntsville, Alabama 
doing nothing.  About a year ago some of 
the land started getting sold.  This was 
all very hush hush.  Business as usual 
for the government."

Scully broke in.  "Byers, tell me 
something I don't already know."  

Byers turned and indicated for Langly to 
take over the story.  

Langly pulled his glasses off and started 
cleaning them on his shirt.  He raised 
the lenses up against the light checking 
for specks of dust. Absent-mindedly he 
continued.   

"Every tract that has been sold has gone 
to a different person or company.  But 
all of these trace back through 3 or 4 
layers to the very same holding company.  
Tomas Inc.  And Tomas Inc is just a 
holding company in the Bahamas.  From 
that point on I keep hitting brick 
walls."  

Talking over his shoulder as he went, 
Langly motioned Mulder and Scully over to 
his computer.  He tapped a few keys on 
his computer and a map popped onto the 
screen.

"Ok, here's the area surrounding 
Huntsville, just a bunch of ordinary land 
parcels.  But, when you click on every 
tract that's been sold look what 
happens." 

Again he hit a few keys and a new picture 
came on the screen.  

Scully's eyes narrowed thoughtfully and 
she traced the shape on the screen with 
one finger.  Turning towards Mulder she 
cocked her head to one side in a wordless 
question and raised an eyebrow at him.

Indicating he understood Mulder nodded 
his head and spoke the words Scully had 
been thinking.  

"That's a swastika; originally used by 
American Indians and other cultures from 
Japan to Tibet as a symbol of good luck.  
In pre-WWII Germany it was called Thor's 
Hammer.  However, since the advent of 
Adolph Hitler and the 3rd Reich from the 
1920's on it has become a symbol of 
bigotry, intolerance and hatred."

Trying to decipher the deeper 
implications from the few tidbits of 
information given to him, Mulder 
distractedly ran his fingers back and 
forth through his hair a few times making 
it stand on end.    

Scully looked up at Mulder and was 
alarmed when her hand almost of it's own 
violation tried to reach up and neatly 
tuck his hair back into place.  She 
covered it by raising her fist to her 
mouth and coughing.  

Accusingly she turned on Frohike, "Don't 
you guys ever clean this place?"

"Cool your heels G-woman, we had to fire 
the cleaning lady last week."

"You didn't fire me I quit."  Byers shot 
back.  

"How many times have I asked you to leave 
my stuff alone?"  Frohike returned.

"Sandwich crusts do not constitute stuff, 
it's garbage."  Byers contended. He went 
on, "You're the reason we have rats that 
don't actually work for the government 
hanging around here."

Frohike and Byers glowered at one 
another.           

"Thanks guys, we'll handle it from here."

With a gentle hand on her back Mulder 
steered Scully towards the door.

Their departure went unnoticed as Byers, 
Frohike and Langly heatedly continued to 
debate the finer points of housekeeping. 




Part 4

3 Weeks Later

An excruciatingly angry Assistant 
Director Walter Skinner paced around his 
office.  Occasionally he stopped and 
scrutinized the two agents seated before 
him.  Scully at least managed a contrite 
expression, but Mulder appeared 
completely unapologetic.

Once again he'd caught Mulder doing 
something he had been expressly forbidden 
to do and Skinner was VERY pissed off. 

"Agent Mulder, what part of 'No' don't 
you understand?"

Mulder started to reply but Skinner 
raised a hand to silence him.

"Don't bother Agent, I already know your 
answer is going to make me even angrier."  

"Sir," Scully attempted to intercede on 
Mulder's behalf, but Skinner stopped her 
before the second syllable was out of her 
mouth.

Pointing a badly shaking finger at her 
Skinner spoke, "You're in as much trouble 
as he is Agent Scully."

Skinner went behind his desk and stood 
looking out of the window, hands on his 
hips.  Occasionally he'd run a hand over 
his head before returning it back to his 
hip again.

Skinner could remember a time when he had 
hair but for the life of him he couldn't 
recall if that was before or after he 
took on responsibility for Agents Mulder 
and Scully.     

Finally Skinner turned around.  He placed 
both hands on his desk and leaned towards 
his errant agents.  

"I just got ANOTHER call from the powers-
that-be.  It seems Agent Mulder, you've 
been doing more research into a company 
called Tomas, Inc."

Mulder tried to respond but Skinner again 
stopped him with a gesture.

"I thought I made it absolutely clear at 
our meeting last week that you were to 
cease and desist this line of inquiry 
immediately."

Skinner paused; he glanced at Scully 
before narrowing his gaze back onto 
Mulder.

"Yet you continue to defy me Agent 
Mulder.  Every time you screw up I get 
chopped off at the knees.  Thanks to you 
I may not have a pension plan anymore."

Skinner sat down at his desk, folded his 
arms and again leaned forward.  He 
focused directly on Mulder.   

Skinner's voice hardened even more.  "If 
you can't think of your future here in 
the bureau Agent Mulder, then at least 
think about Agent Scully's.  If you are 
bound and determined to go down in 
flames, don't take her with you."

Quickly Mulder looked over at Scully.  
She refused to meet his eyes, instead 
continuing to stare straight ahead.  
Mulder mentally sighed before returning 
his full attention back to what Skinner 
was saying.

"I have had enough of your blatant 
disrespect to last me a lifetime Agent 
Mulder and this time I AM serious.  
Disobey me one more time you and Agent 
Scully will be chained to separate desks 
in separate offices doing background 
checks for the rest of your careers."

Skinner held Mulder's eyes with his own 
until he was sure Mulder had grasped the 
gravity of his current situation.  

Skinner shifted his gaze from Mulder to 
Scully and then back to Mulder again.

"For the next two weeks Agent Mulder you 
and Agent Scully are on unpaid 
administrative leave."

Mulder opened his mouth to protest but 
Skinner stopped him cold.

"If I could also place you under house 
arrest I would.  As it stands right now, 
both of you go home and you stay home for 
the next 14 days.  If you run out of 
food, starve.  If the world ends, too 
bad."

"If ONE of you disregards my orders BOTH 
of you will suffer the consequences.  DO 
I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

Scully's clear "Yes Sir," rang out over 
Mulder's mumbled one. 

Skinner watched Scully and Mulder leave.  
Somehow he just knew Mulder already had a 
way figured out to circumvent his orders. 

 
Part 5

Scully strode down the hall ahead of 
Mulder.  Her heels giving off sharp 
little raps highlighted her anger.

She came to a stop at the elevators and 
pushed the down button.  

Coming to stand beside her Mulder 
attempted to make light of the situation.  

"Skinner didn't specify whose place we 
had to stay at."

Slowly Scully turned her head towards 
Mulder.  Eyes narrowed, jaw clenched, she 
stood there holding Mulder's eyes with 
her own long enough for him to see that 
she too was not amused by this current 
situation.

Mulder dropped his eyes to the floor as 
Scully reached up and jabbed the down 
button again.

It was a lonely elevator ride down to the 
basement.  Twice the doors opened to 
allow other passengers.  Both times those 
people decided to wait rather than risk 
cutting the tension between a short, 
fuming, arms crossed, red-headed agent 
who looked mad enough to pull her weapon 
and use it on a tall, lanky, hands shoved 
into his pockets, dark-headed agent who 
looked ready to cry.  

It was a very subdued Mulder who exited 
the elevator behind Scully and followed 
her into their office.

Scully went over to her desk and 
unmindful of Mulder began packing her 
things away.  Fuming over Mulder's innate 
ability to get her into trouble she 
grabbed her briefcase and began shoveling 
it full of work to do over her 
"administrative leave."

A white envelope landing on her desk 
startled Scully and she looked up at 
Mulder.

"What's this?"

"It's your plane ticket.  We're going to 
Huntsville, Alabama."

"No, Mulder I am NOT going to go 
gallivanting around the country with you, 
I AM going to go home."

"Scully..."   

She rounded on him, "Weren't you 
listening to Skinner?"

"Scully, I..." Mulder held his hands 
palms up trying to placate her.

Today Scully's hair matched her temper 
and she advanced on Mulder fast,
her face unreadable except for icy green 
eyes staring into his own.

Mulder backed up until he felt his desk 
against the back of his legs. 

Scully continued forward until there was 
nothing more than the material of their 
clothing separating the two of them.

Standing on her toes Scully got herself 
right up into Mulder's face and in a 
voice dripping with irritation she spoke.  

"Don't you ever think of me?" 

His eyes widened.  If Scully only knew 
that he never stopped thinking of her.  
Before he could still them, emotions; 
care, concern, worry and love, flashed 
across Mulder's face.

Apparently not noticing his reaction to 
her question, Scully leaned forward and 
put her index finger within millimeters 
of Mulder's nose.  

"Every time I have been at any junction 
of my life, I have always, always, 
ALWAYS, tried to consider how my actions 
would affect you."  

Mentally Mulder filed those words away 
for future consideration, he opened his 
mouth to speak but Scully charged on.

"Yet you blindly go blithering off, 
AGAIN, doing the exact opposite of what 
AD Skinner tells you to do." 

Trying to escape Scully's wrath, Mulder 
tipped over the corner of his desk 
landing onto the floor with a resounding 
thud.  His fingertips just missed his 
morning coffee by a fraction, but his arm 
caught his 'in' box sending it, along 
with papers, memos and yesterdays 
newspaper into the floor also.  

On hands and knees, Mulder sifted through 
the papers searching for something in 
particular.  Speaking over his shoulder 
at Scully while he searched Mulder 
explained, "Scully, I'm telling you 
there's something really big going on 
here.  And Skinner being so agitated 
tells me we are definitely going in the 
right direction."

Scully shot back, "Mulder did it ever 
occur to you, that Skinner was mad 
because you weren't doing what he told 
you to do?"  

Now Mulder looked under his desk, his 
voice slightly muffled, "Look, here it 
is, check this..ooww." 

In his hurry to share his newly acquired 
information with Scully Mulder rose up 
too quickly and slammed his head into the 
bottom of the desk.  The cup of coffee, 
which had earlier avoided disaster now 
tipped over to land squarely on Mulder.  
Dripping wetly, coffee running behind his 
ears and down into his shirt collar, 
Mulder squelched his way out from under 
the desk.

"I haven't been able to locate very much 
information about Tomas Inc.  But from 
what I've found so far.  Tomas Inc was 
the brainchild of one Tomas Eloso.  
Founded some 100 years ago it's a 
import/export business, originally based 
in mid-west Texas, but it's been run out 
of the Bahamas since 1965 or so."            
             
Mulder was blindsided Scully's response.   
"When it's over used, even loyalty, can 
be worn out."

Picking up her briefcase and ignoring 
Mulder completely, Scully left their 
office slamming the door behind her.  

The snick of the door latch catching 
pierced Mulder's heart.  He sat there 
long after Scully had gone.  Head in his 
hands surrounded by the shambles of their 
office.                   




Part 6

Mulder looked around his motel room.  He 
sighed deeply then ran a hand over his 
face and down his chin.  He sat on one 
corner of the bed, his weight making the 
diagonal corner tilt up.  Mulder idly 
wondered if the mattress was mocking him.  

"Here you are all alone and no one to sit 
on the opposite side of the bed to keep 
your mattress down."  Mulder laughed a 
little at his double entendre as he spoke 
aloud to the empty motel room.

Mulder knew that if Scully were here she 
wouldn't be sitting on the opposite side 
of the bed from him.  But at least by 
now, he'd hoped to have found a way to 
pin her to the middle of it.  

He reminded himself, "wishful thinking 
won't get you anywhere."  The last time 
Mulder played the wishful thinking game 
he'd lost two hours of his life.  Two 
hours Mulder wouldn't even discuss with 
his psychiatrist.     

"Buddy, buddy, buddy if you've seen one 
motel room you've seen them all."

This was definitely the most generic 
motel room Mulder had ever been in.  Good 
God, even the name was stupid; Motel 6.  
Who the hell names a motel "6"?  Was "5" 
already taken?  

But, considering the alternatives, he was 
lucky to have found this room.  Only in 
the south would all of the motel rooms 
have been booked up because of the Great-
Southern-Holy-Rollin-Bible-Thumpin-Snake- 
Handlin-Gettin-Jiggy-With-It-Festival.  
Thank God it only happened once a year!     

Religion, that word alone was enough to 
give Mulder a case of the screamin' 
heebie-jeebies.

Defined by the simple golden cross around 
Scully's neck, religion gave her strength 
and hope.  Faith in herself not to give 
up because to God give the glory forever 
and ever, or some such thing like that. 
Mulder concluded Scully was different 
because of her beliefs and that made him 
different because of her; Mulder found he 
could live with that.

Mulder's phone rang, it was in the jacket 
he'd carelessly discarded when entering 
the room.  He got up, the corner of the 
bed slapping back down again.  He was 
almost positive inanimate objects were 
making fun of him.  

"Mulder"  

"Mulder, it's me.  Where are you?"

Why she almost sounded worried.  Mulder 
thought this might be an improvement over 
the last time he'd seen her.

"Where would you like me to be Scully?"  
His voice was a teasing invitation.  It 
appeared though that Scully had other 
things on her mind and she ignored him. 

"I'd like for you to be at home, Mulder.  
Where Skinner told you to go, remember?"  

He sighed and rubbed between his eyes 
with thumb and forefinger.  Scully could 
read him like a book, and he just knew 
that she knew, he wasn't at home.  

"I'm in Alabama Scully."

"Great Mulder, that's just great.  I 
think if Skinner could arrange it, he'd 
have us up before a firing squad."  

"Well Scully, I..."  

There was a knock at his door.                                       

"Hang on a moment, someone's at the 
door."

Mulder got up, walked over and yanked it 
open, his heart jump-started rapidly at 
the sight before him.   

Scully stood there in the doorway, 
waggling her phone at him.  Then she 
grinned.  

"Even as I tore out of the office 
yesterday I just knew no matter what 
anybody said, come Hell or high water you 
were going to Alabama."

Mulder didn't bother to point out that 
his Hell was when she wasn't around.  It 
fell under the 'he knew, that she already 
knew,' clause in their relationship.  

He moved aside and motioned her in.  

"I thought you were mad at me?"  He tried 
to make it a joke, but the slight catch 
in his voice was hard to miss.  Scully 
being Scully knew too, that Mulder wasn't 
Mulder without her by his side.  

Scully playfully smacked him on the 
shoulder as she walked in.

"Mulder, if it weren't for you I wouldn't 
have learned the lesson that if you beat 
your head hard enough and long enough 
against the wall, eventually you can 
knock it down."

Laughing together Mulder thought there 
was no better sound in the world than 
when Scully was happy.

Mulder liked looking at Scully.  He 
decided that while it was good to be 
busy, running around, doing whatever, 
sometimes it was nice to just sit here 
and watch her.  

Scully went over to the bed and sat down.  
Again the opposing corner popped up.  

Knowingly, Mulder looked at Scully and 
raised an eyebrow in open invitation.

She gave him a smile and replied.  "I 
have my own room Mulder, but thanks 
anyways."

Hands on his hips he glared at her, "How 
did you find another room? I had to beg, 
plead and finally threaten to shoot 
someone to get this one."

Scully moved closer to the middle of the 
bed, allowing the bed, like Mulder's hope 
of getting her into it, to crash back 
down.  

"It seems your next door neighbor," with 
that Scully indicated the adjoining door 
by the bathroom, "the Right Reverend 
Brother Willie John Thomas was attacked 
by one of his constituents at today's 
prayer meeting and he's going to be 
spending the next few nights in the 
hospital."

"What?"  Mulder's jaw dropped.

Scully rephrased her answer, "He was 
bitten by a rattlesnake."  

Mulder hoisted his mouth back up and 
shook his head, at least Scully would be 
in the adjoining room.   

"After I left you yesterday some rather 
disturbing information came my way.  And 
it..."

"How?" Mulder interrupted.

Scully sighed, "You wouldn't believe me 
if I told you, but for now that's not 
important.  What is important," Scully 
stressed the word, "is that the last 
known item of export for Tomas, Inc. was 
an unidentified weapon that matched the 
descriptions of the Gordon Assault Rifle 
right down to the ammunition that was 
shipped with it."

"Somehow or another the G.A.R. was stolen 
from Redstone Arsenal, miraculously these 
items turned up in the Bahamas where they 
were legally shipped back to the US.  It 
seems that Tomas Inc also has a license 
to import and export weapons.  Naturally 
they also have a contract to supply 
weapons to the US Government."

"Naturally."  Mulder dryly replied.  

A few moments passed before Mulder 
knowingly looked at Scully, "you know 
where these weapons were shipped, don't 
you?"

Scully nodded her head in assent, "That's 
what brought me down here to you in such 
a hurry.  The last address of delivery on 
the invoice was for a place about 2 hours 
from here called Deer-Fork Creek."     

Turning from Scully, as much to hide his 
fear for her, as it was to hide it from 
himself.  Mulder busied himself unpacking 
his bags.  

Wanting to share with Mulder that she 
understood his frustration Scully moved 
closer to him allowing herself to reach 
out and rub her hand across Mulder's back 
a few times.    

Sighing again Scully moved away from 
Mulder, going over to the door she exited 
out to get her things from her rental 
car.  

Turning to watch as she left, Mulder's 
face was noticeably void of emotions but 
beneath the surface he could feel 
stirrings of things he refused to 
discuss.  Shaking his head, Mulder 
allowed himself to sink back into the 
mundane ritual of unpacking.  All else 
forgotten except for this moment, right 
here and right now.       

Later that same evening...

Night enfolds a sleeping Mulder. The 
darkness of his room is only an echo of 
what he sees in his head.  His hands 
twitch and dance across the blanket, legs 
moving in a disjointed rhythm underneath.   
His head jerks from left to right and 
occasionally he audibly gasps.  Visions 
of Scully, broken, dying, dance in front 
of his eyes, creeping into the crevices 
of his brain.  He wakes, deeply 
frightened by some unnamable terror.  

With the irrefutable clarity of truth 
Mulder knows in his heart it was a huge 
mistake for Scully to have followed him 
here.  But as the saying goes  'some lies 
are easier to believe than the truth,' he 
knows that Scully with calm and rational 
words will dispel his fears.  Where he 
goes she will follow, it's that simple.  
He is filled with trepidation to the very 
core of his being by that single lucid 
thought. 

He sits there in the dark, sweaty, 
breaths shallow and uneven.  

Dreadful things with sharp gnashing teeth 
at night turn out to be nothing more than 
bare tree branches tapping the window 
during the day.  This thought does little 
to dispel the vague indefinable worry in 
Mulder's mind that he is leading Scully 
to her death.

Mulder throws the covers back.  He wipes 
his eyes and checks the clock, 2:13 AM.      

"Damn."

Softly he pads across the floor.  He 
briefly pauses before slowly sticking his 
head through the adjoining doors to look 
at Scully.  She's sleeping peacefully, 
the bed covers rising and falling with 
the gentle cadence of her breathing.

Mulder stands there for several minutes, 
eyes closed, forehead against the 
doorjamb.  Slowly his heart resumes its 
natural rhythm.  A single tear works its 
way down the channel of his nose, across 
the corner of his mouth, over to his chin 
before dropping silently to the floor.  

Wiping his eyes, Mulder moves away from 
the door.  Heading back to his bed, the 
words, "Scully is fine", roll over and 
over through his head.  A mantra to a God 
Mulder only talks to when it involves 
Scully.  

He's taken two steps when Scully's voice 
stops him.  

Sleepily she asks, "Mulder, are you ok?"

Quietly elated to hear the concern for 
him in her words as Mulder returns to the 
door and puts his head back through.

"Yeah," he softly replies, "I'm fine."

He goes on, "I had a nightmare."

Scully raises herself on one elbow.

Gently she responds, "I heard." 

They look at one another as time flows by 
one liquid moment to the next.  

The glow from a streetlamp shimmers 
through a slit in the motel room 
curtains.  In this tenebrous light Scully 
considers Mulder.  He looks weary, drawn.  
Half circles of deep purple underline 
each eye.  Obviously he hasn't been 
sleeping well lately.  Has he always been 
this tired and she just hasn't noticed?

It's impossible to voice how much she 
worries about him when she can't even 
admit it to herself.

Scully shook that thought away before 
giving Mulder a small smile and patting 
the empty space on the bed next to her.

He looks at her, his eyebrows raised in 
question.

"Mulder, you will do anything to get into 
my bed," She lightly teases him.  

Ruefully Mulder laughs in response before 
walking over to the bed and sliding under 
the covers.  

Commandeering the other pillow Mulder 
pounded it into the right shape before 
settling down beside Scully.

They lay there facing each other.  
Hesitantly Mulder reaches out to place 
his hand in the swell of Scully's side.  

Scully watches Mulder's eyes grow heavy, 
heavier, then close, as he relaxes into 
the motion of her breathing  

Tenderly, Scully reaches out to trace a 
gentle hand over Mulder's hair and across 
his check.  

Mulder's eyes fluttered open, but Scully, 
sensitive to the unrest in his heart 
reaches out and with a feather light 
touch, closes his eyes again.  

"Sleep Mulder, it's ok."

Whatever he hears in her tone of voice 
it's evidently enough.  Scully watches as 
Mulder's chest rises and falls, deep and 
then deeper. When she is positive he is 
fully asleep Scully settles herself to 
rest again.     

Meanwhile, two hours away in Deer-Fork 
Creek Alabama...

Two people, one man, one woman, sit at a 
counter of a closed coffee shop.  
Placidly he sips coffee as she sits there 
staring thoughtfully into space, chin 
cupped in her hand.  Behind them the 
waitress a pre-raphellite beauty her hair 
a cascade of brown curls, wipes down a 
table.

The woman drops her hand and turns around 
to face the empty shop.  Matter of factly 
she states, "They're on the way."  

The waitress, her voice that of a soft 
sultry southern siren, replies, "I have a 
bad feeling about this."

The man does not speak but nods his head 
in agreement.

The woman gets up and goes to put her 
coat on.  Behind her the man also stands.  
He places a bill on the counter before 
getting his jacket.

At the door the woman pauses, she finally 
must make a decision she has dreaded for 
years.  Turning to look at the waitress 
the woman speaks,     "Tell the others."

Hand on her hip, dishrag in hand, the 
waitress concedes, "It's time."

With that the man and woman turn and take 
their leave.  The way to their car is 
illuminated by a full harvest moon 
hanging pregnant, heavy over the west 
ridge.   

Behind them, a wolf howls.   

             

     


Part 7 

"Mulder, I'm hungry."  

Without looking Mulder pulled a bag of 
sunflowers seeds he'd gotten from the 
vending machine that morning out of his 
pocket and tossed them to Scully.  They 
landed directly in her lap with a small 
crunch.  

"Through the hoop, nothing but net." 
Mulder teased.

Scully tossed them back to Mulder and 
archly replied, "I got my own snacks."  

"Really?"  Eyes questioning Mulder 
glanced Scully. 

"Really."  

Mulder looked at Scully and Scully looked 
back at Mulder.  This ritual that was the 
thrust and parry of their relationship, 
was important to both of them.

Scully pointed to a restaurant off to the 
right, "there."

"Scully we if we can go another 30 
minutes I'm sure we can find something 
else."  

"No Mulder, that's where I want to eat."

"Why?"  He was genuinely curious.

"I don't know, it just looks like a good 
place to eat."  

Indeed, the small parking lot was full.  

It was a cheerfully tidy cafe.  Freshly 
planted petunias filled the flower box in 
front of the big glass window.

A neat white sign above the door, 
proclaimed this place to be "The Rabbit 
Hole."

Mulder parked in the only available space 
and opened the car door.   Immediately 
aromatic smells of home cooking filled 
his senses.  Mulder found his stomach 
rumbling in his ears.

Mulder and Scully walked across the lot, 
their feet crunching on the gravel.  
Mulder opened the door allowing Scully 
through first.  The smells in here were 
even stronger and Scully separated the 
scents out, corn, peas, potatoes, and 
homemade bread.  Scully's nose had died 
and gone to heaven.  

The inside of the cafe was as neat of the 
outside.  Fresh flowers filled small 
vases on every table.  Straight ahead 
separated by two rows of tables was a 
counter with revolving stools.  Behind 
the counter a waitress, her hair the 
exact same style as Scully's, served two 
farmers.  Dressed in overalls, ball caps 
sticking out of their back pockets, they 
teased the girl who was obviously much 
younger than them.  Behind the girl, 
through a hole cut in the wall Mulder 
could see two cooks, one male with a red 
bandana and a female with glasses and 
short brown hair.  He watched them bob 
and weave around one another, a dance 
with food as the last step.           

Families, mothers feeding their babies in 
highchairs filled the tables.  In one 
booth a man had the local paper spread 
out before him as he munched a burger and 
fries.  In another one, a young couple, 
holding hands, eyes only for each other, 
shared a milkshake (two straws, thank 
you.)      

"Be right with ya'll" floated out across 
the floor, "Just seat yourselves"  

Mulder steered Scully over to the only 
open spot in the room, a booth by the 
window, the fall sun streamed through 
warming the leather seats.

Sitting there in the light, Mulder 
watched Scully as she studied the menu.  
The sun danced across her hair and it 
shone, spun red-gold.  Mulder imagined 
himself plunging his hands into her hair, 
pulling her close, brushing her lips with 
his, then..

Whoa, where did THAT thought come from?  
Mulder immediately returned himself to 
the present. 

The floor waitress came up and gave 
Mulder a small conspiratorial wink.   He 
felt exposed as though she had just taken 
his very private thought and written it 
on the menu by the front of the door.  

Today's special, carrots, peas, and for 
dessert Scully a la mode!

Mulder tilted his head up to look at the 
waitress.  Brown curly hair cascaded down 
and around her face, light blue eyes 
stared out above the deepest set of 
dimples Mulder had ever seen.  The 
nametag neatly pinned to the front of her 
uniform read, "Jen".  She smiled at 
Mulder and he smiled back, unexpectedly 
caught by her charm.
  
Her voice came out slow, southern, and 
femininely sweet.  "What can I get for 
ya'll?"

"What's the special?"  Scully asked. 

"Hon, our blue plate special today is 
meatloaf or fried chicken with your 
choice of 3 vegetables, homemade bread 
and for dessert apple or peach pie."

"I'd like the meatloaf with corn, squash, 
and green beans, please.  Water with 
lemon to drink."  Scully smiled up at the 
waitress handing her the menu.

Jen turned to Mulder, "and what for you 
hon?"

Mulder fought the urge to imitate her 
accent.  "I'll have the same, but make 
mine chicken, tea for me."

"Sweet or un-sweet?"

"Sweet or un-sweet what?"

"Tea, sweet or un-sweet tea.  Don't they 
have sweet-tea where you're from?"  

"How do you know I'm not from around 
here?"  Those words were just pulled from 
Mulder with no conscious thought and he 
was a little surprised by them.

Jen gave Mulder a quick once over with 
her eyes.

"You're not like us."

She smiled but there was nothing funny 
about her words and Mulder had the 
strangest sensation that she wasn't just 
talking about him and Scully not being 
from the south.  In that instant Mulder 
wondered if it was more than just a whim, 
which had prompted Scully to want to eat 
at this particular restaurant?  

Discretion is the better part of valor, 
Mulder backed down.

"No, we're just passing through."  

Jen accepted the victory easily as she 
spoke "Sweet or un-sweet?"

"Sweet with lemon please."

Jen turned away, hollering at the 
waitress behind the counter.

"Danielle, get these folks a water and a 
tea with lemon."

Busy pouring another cup of coffee 
Danielle indicated she heard with a nod 
of her head.

A few moments later Danielle came over 
and put the drinks on the table.  Mulder 
noticed how softly her hair swung back 
and forth, like Scully's.    Focusing 
again on Scully he noticed a few strands 
of hair had fallen forward across her 
cheek, how easy it would be to reach 
forward and put them back where they 
belonged. Then he could just put a hand 
behind the soft nape of Scully's neck and 
pull her forward to him..

This time it was Danielle who gave Mulder 
the funny look before she too moved away.  

Idly Scully played with her straw while 
they waited for their food.  Mulder found 
himself on the verge of telling Scully 
what was on his mind when Jen came back 
with their lunch.

She gave him a devilish grin this time.  
Mulder decided right then and there no 
matter how good the food was he was never 
coming back to this place again.  Too 
many people here seemed quite capable of 
plucking his thoughts right out of 
midair.    

The food tasted as good as it smelled, 
Mulder and Scully dug right in.

While they were eating a huge commotion 
erupted in the kitchen, the boiler flying 
across the kitchen, its path interrupted 
by the opposing wall.     

A female voice screeched, "RICHARD! How 
many times have I told you that's not 
where the boiler goes?"  

Mulder and Scully paused, forks in 
midair, eyes riveted towards the kitchen.  
The locals continued eating, evidently 
this happened on a daily basis.  Mulder 
watched amused as the one farmer held out 
his hand in a "pay me" gesture to the 
other one.  The second man slowly shook 
his head before pulling a bill out and 
handing it to the first man.

Behind the window a male voice floated 
out, "Lolly, honey, I only set it there 
for a moment."

"You did not.  You set it there 30 
minutes ago, I watched you do it.  When 
you get something out, put it back, I'M 
NOT YOUR MOTHER!"

"Honey, I'm sorry"

Mulder watched as the cook moved across 
the window his hands raised to cup the 
female cooks face.  Slowly he kisses her, 
drowning out her protests until the two 
of them sink out of site of the window 
and into the floor Mulder presumes.  
Deciding that some things are better left 
to the imagination Mulder leans towards 
Scully and opens his mouth to speak but 
before he can get a word out the waitress 
is there filling the drinks.

"Oh, don't mind them, they always act 
like that.  You should try living next 
door to them."  Jen giggled before 
continuing, "Keep you up half the night 
they can."

Mulder looked at Scully, if he asked if 
he could keep her up half the night would 
she let him?
 
Scully chose that exact moment to excuse 
herself to the restroom.  

When Scully was gone Jen leaned forward 
and placed a compassionate hand on 
Mulder's shoulder, looking directly into 
his eyes she spoke two very simple words, 
"Tell her."

"Excuse me?"  Mulder was slightly taken 
aback, but not terribly surprised that 
the waitress had somehow divined his 
thoughts.

Jen's blue eyes twinkled merrily, "Tell 
her how you feel.  I bet you'd be 
surprised by her response."

Caught completely flat-footed Mulder 
weakly replied, "Yes, well certainly, 
someday...soon.." This defense sounded 
feeble, even to his ears, and his voice 
trailed off.  

Again Jen leaned forward, all sign of 
joviality erased from her face and there 
was no laughter in her voice when she 
spoke, "Agent Mulder, you and Agent 
Scully need to go back home."

Incredulously Mulder spoke, "How did you 
know who we were?"   

Jen waved his question away with her 
hand, "It doesn't matter how we know who 
you are.  The most important thing right 
now is that you and especially Agent 
Scully are in mortal danger."

Mulder opened his mouth to question Jen 
further when he happened to glance around 
the cafe.  He felt suddenly exposed as he 
realized that every eye in the room 
centered on him.  Even the cooks from the 
back were at their window.  He watched as 
the male nervously fingered the red 
bandana around his throat 

Mulder wasn't sure of what his next 
response should be.  Jen seemed very 
assured that she knew what she was 
talking about, but what was he going to 
do?  The words "Scully is dying" flashed 
into his thoughts, in his heart Mulder 
knew Jen was right.

Mulder knew that Jen knew, Scully was 
here because of him.  Mulder looked up at 
Jen and shrugged, it was the only answer 
he had.

With the inevitability of knowing that 
Mulder and Scully were going to follow 
through on this course of action, Jen 
sighed.  Mulder could tell she thought of 
and then discarded two or three different 
arguments, but she too knew that no words 
were going to work here.    

"You need to go talk to Sally Wolfe."

Blankly Mulder looked up at Jen, "Who?"
	
"She owns a bait and tackle down the road 
aways.  You'll have to go talk to her."  

From her stance Mulder intuitively 
understood Jen had told him all she was 
going to on this subject.  The ball was 
now in his court.

"How do I get there?"  

Jen pulled a pencil and pad out of her 
apron.  She jotted a few lines down 
before slapping the directions down on 
the table in front of Mulder.

"There's no charge for your meals."  

Mulder felt the futility of arguing with 
her about that.  

Simply he spoke, "Thank you."

Simply she replied, "You're welcome."

At that moment Scully reappeared.  She 
looked at Mulder then to Jen.  Hopefully 
she asked, "Are we ordering dessert?"  

Neutrally Mulder replied, "No, we've got 
to get on the road.  We're behind 
schedule as it is."

Mulder stood up and took his wallet out.  
He put a five down on the table before 
turning and walking out behind Scully.

Unmindful of the bill on the table, Jen 
turned, one hand on her hip, to watch 
Mulder and Scully leave.

Jen watched as Mulder and Scully moved 
away from the building before pausing in 
the middle of the parking lot.  From 
their stances Jen could see that this was 
a very serious conversation.  Once or 
twice she saw Scully shake her head at 
something Mulder said.  Finally Scully 
made a move back towards the restaurant 
and with that Jen reached up and changed 
the 'open' sign to 'closed'.

After a few more minutes Mulder and 
Scully left.

Shaking her head, worry apparent in the 
lines that crossed her pretty face, Jen 
turned to the silent, waiting patrons in 
her cafe.    

Speaking to no one in general she sighed, 
"That went really well."

Frustrated she ran her fingers through 
her hair.  This was sooooo bad! 

Moving over to the pay phone Jen fished 
some change out of her pocket.  Dialing 
the number she said one word to whoever 
answered at the other end, "No."

Listening intently to the reply she got, 
Jen nodded once in understanding before 
hanging up.  

Quickly she glanced at her watch, before 
pointing to the two farmers, "Jamie you 
and Sam go tell the others."

The next assignment went to the young 
couple seated in the booth window, "Igor, 
you and Jane need to survey the area."

Jen turned to go to the back, the cafe 
patrons sat, still immobilized.

She whipped around and bellowed one word, 
"MOVE."

Action with a purpose replaced inaction, 
the sounds of running feet and car doors 
slamming filled the air.

Five minutes later the cafe and parking 
lot stood empty.  



Part 8

No words passed between Mulder and Scully 
as they left the little restaurant.  

Quickly Scully glanced at Mulder's face 
checking the emotional weather brewing 
there before quickly looking away again.   

Deep in thought Mulder moved 
methodically, one foot in front of the 
other.  

Scully forcibly stopped Mulder.  One hand 
on his arm she swung him around to look 
at her.  He was troubled; she could see 
the thunderheads clouded behind his hazel 
eyes.  

"We aren't on a schedule Mulder, what's 
up?" 

Pent up emotions have a way of surfacing 
in the most unexpected times and places.  

Mulder took Scully's hand off of his arm 
and clasped it between his hands.  

Intently he searched her face, it was a 
face in some respects he knew better than 
his own.  Green eyes that Mulder always 
associated with the ocean depths, stared 
out of an oval face that was framed by 
her chestnut hair.  

Scully felt the turbulence beneath 
Mulder's surface.  Something had changed.  
She could almost see Mulder thinking, 
searching.  An Oxford scholar at a loss 
for words was almost palpably 
frightening.

Worried, Scully reached up to stroke 
Mulder's cheek.  Momentarily he leaned 
into her caress.  

Scully heard the anxiety underlining the 
sincerity in Mulder's voice when he 
finally spoke, "Scully do you care about 
me?"

What a most un-Mulder like question!  
Taken aback Scully glanced at the gravel 
for a few seconds, gathering her 
thoughts.  The seemingly simplest of 
questions are often the hardest to 
answer.   Scully dragged her toe back and 
forth scuffing her shoes,  sorting and 
then discarding all of the most obvious 
answers.  

Finally she looked back at Mulder her 
face softening at the emotions that 
played across his face.  

"Of course I do, we're partners, friends" 
she paused, "I've known you for a long 
time.  We work well together."

Mulder's grip tightened on Scully's hand, 
intently he peered at her, "No I said, do 
you care about me."

Intuitively she understood that what 
Mulder was asking went way beyond a 
simple inquiry but instead cut to the 
very essence of who she and Mulder were 
together.

Scully sighed before looking over 
Mulder's shoulder, randomly searching the 
fall foliage.  Focused inwardly Scully 
saw but didn't see the brilliant reds, 
yellows and browns that colored the 
trees.  There was no sound save that of a 
soft caressing breeze as it rustled 
through the leaves.      
          
Friendship, trust and love, all require a 
leap of faith with no safety net 
underneath you.  

Taking a deep breath Scully closed her 
eyes and jumped, "yes."

"Scully, I..I care about you too, that 
waitress in there," he jerked his thumb 
towards the cafe, she knew my name, she 
knew yours, she warned me, we, you, 
especially you, you were in and these 
were her words not mine, 'Mortal Danger'.  
I've been having bad dreams and it's 
always the same, you're dying and there's 
nothing I can do about it.  This whole 
thing has been so weird, why did you want 
to eat here?"

Mulder's mind was darting around 
furiously and Scully wasn't sure which 
question she should initially address, 
but in the back of her mind 'I care about 
you too,' hovered.

First things first though, "There's 
nothing mystical about it Mulder.   It 
just looked like a good place to eat."

Mulder huffed, "Then how did she know who 
we were?"

"Here's a concept for you Mulder," Scully 
shot back, "Let's go ask?"

She turned towards the door in time to 
see the waitress change the 'Open' sign 
to 'Sorry, but we're closed now'.  

The waitress glanced at Scully 
disinterestedly before turning away.  

'Ok', Scully thought, 'this is getting 
weird.'  

Possessively Mulder reached out and drew 
Scully back to him, his hand firm and 
strong on her arm.  Gently he shook her, 
forcing Scully to focus on him.

Pulling away from Mulder, Scully tried to 
reassess their situation.  Addressing 
Mulder's most apparent concern Scully 
spoke, "Mulder you've been under a lot of 
stress lately.  Yes, I know you've been 
having bad dreams.  Last night wasn't the 
first time you've woken me up when we've 
been on the road.  But these dreams are 
just a manifestation of your daytime 
worries.  I am fine Mulder."

Cupping his face with both hands and 
speaking slowly, emphasizing every word, 
Scully reiterated, "I ..am..fine."

Scully's small hands were warm on 
Mulder's face.  He placed both of his 
hands over hers.

Unexpected words, "I am Scully's Mulder," 
rang into his consciousness,  "I am 
Scully's Mulder."  If she died, who would 
he be then?  

Still holding Scully's hands in his own 
he pulled them down from his face.   

"I want you to go back to DC."  

"No."

Patiently Mulder cajoled, "Yes you are."

Determinedly Scully replied, "No, I'm not 
and you can't make me."  

This little confrontation had all the 
makings of a Mexican stand off, but short 
of stuffing her in the trunk and driving 
her back to DC himself, Scully wasn't 
going to go anywhere without him.

Mulder's brain finally accepted what his 
heart had always known.  A few more 
moments passed before Mulder gently let 
Scully's hands go.  He nodded his head in 
acceptance then spoke, "Lets get going.   
I've got some more things to tell you but 
I can do that on the way."

Unaware that they were being watched from 
the underbrush by a pair of feral yellow 
eyes, Mulder and Scully got into their 
car and left.        


Part 9 

Mulder pulled up in front of the store.  
Two wrong turns and one stop to ask for 
directions had turned noon into early 
evening.  It had taken longer to get 
there than Mulder expected, the last two 
miles of road had been little more than 
dirt with some scattered gravel.
    
Mulder got out of his rental car.  It was 
covered in dust and there were a few 
dings in the paint from the debris kicked 
up by the tires.  He guessed he wouldn't 
be getting his deposit back from this 
one.  

Scully got out of the car and tiredly 
stretched.

Looking across the roof of the car at 
Mulder she asked, "Are you sure this is 
it?"

"Yeah, I think so.  The directions 
mentioned a Blue Chevy Blazer and that 
looks like one over there."  He jerked 
his head towards the side of the 
building.    

Looking like something out of the old 
west, the two-story log building was 
covered by a tin roof.  It would not have 
seemed out of place to see a horse, one 
hip lazily cocked to the side tied up at 
the hitching post. 

Furniture that looked to be made of tree 
branches invited them onto  the front 
porch.  Two huge glass windows framed a 
pleasing array of mercantile goods, the 
words "Fly & Tie" painted on the windows 
in gold.  

With Mulder trailing behind, Scully idly 
wandered up and looked into the windows.  
Genuine washboards made an interesting 
backdrop for the other items displayed.

She saw sleds, real ones!  The kind made 
with varnished wood and metal runners.  
They reminded Scully of when she was 
little.  Her brothers would rub a dry bar 
of soap over the runners, making for a 
smooth fast ride.  Then she, Bill and 
Charlie would go sledding for hours.  She 
remembered how they just laughed and 
laughed.  Finally they would come home, 
red-cheeked, tired and happy.  

"Scully, I think we...Scully?"  

Realizing that Scully wasn't beside him 
at the door Mulder turned around and saw 
her gazing wistfully into the store.  One 
hand pressed lightly against the glass.  

Mulder began to call her name again and 
then stopped.  Whatever she saw obviously 
reminded her of something pleasant.

Surreptitiously he studied her profile, 
watching as a smile played across her 
face.  The words "I am Scully's Mulder" 
came to mind tugging on his heart before 
bobbing below the surface again.

He walked over and gently touched her on 
the elbow.

"Hey, what're you looking at?"  

Scully looked up at Mulder, "nothing."  

She didn't want to tell him that what she 
saw reminded her of something she did 
with her brothers that Mulder probably 
never did get to do with his sister.

She smiled up at Mulder then spoke again, 
"Nothing really, just looking." 

Relieved when Mulder seemed to accept 
what she said at face value, Scully 
paused for one last glance before 
following Mulder into the store.  

The pleasant ring of an old style school 
bell attached to the door announced their 
arrival.  

A husky female voice floated out from 
somewhere in front of Mulder and Scully.    

"Can I help ya'll?"

Stepping deeper into the store Mulder 
replied to the store in general unable to 
locate a person to match the voice, "I'm 
Special Agent Mulder and this is my 
partner Agent Scully and we're looking 
for Sally Wolfe."

"You found her."

With that Mulder saw whom he'd been 
talking to.  Standing up and steeping 
around from the back of a dry goods 
counter she came up to Mulder and Scully, 
stopping just a few feet away from them.

She was tall, this woman.  Taller than 
Scully, slender with short shaggy brown 
hair and eyes the same unremarkable shade 
of brown as her hair.

"I'm looking for a man named Tomas 
Eloso."

"Never heard of him."  

"You're lying."  Scully blurted out.

A bit surprised by Scully's abruptness, 
Mulder quickly glanced at her before 
taking his cue from her unusual gambit.

"The waitress, Jen, from the Rabbit Hole, 
she said you'd help us."

"Help you do what Agent Mulder?  
America's Most Wanted ain't exactly holed 
up around the corner waiting for the bad 
guy of the week to pop up."

"However," the woman conceded, "I do know 
Jen, and you aren't the first ones she's 
sent out here on a wild goose chase.  But 
like I said before, I still don't know 
anyone named Tomas Eloso."

The woman eyed Mulder daring him or 
Scully to contradict her again.  

Telling the truth or telling a lie, 
Mulder couldn't be sure.  But of one 
thing he was wholly positive.  The heart 
of the danger he had dreamed, slept, 
lived with for months about Scully's 
dying, lay here deep within the forest 
confines.  

Frustrated by his inability to decipher 
the deeper implications from this little 
tete-a-tete Mulder had had enough.  He 
was tired, hungry, and needed to go to 
the bathroom, he decided to cut to the 
chase.  

Scully started to speak and Mulder 
reached for his weapon.

Pointing it directly at her he spoke 
through clenched teeth.  "Hello. How are 
you?  I'm fine, how can I help you?  Now 
that the niceties are out of the way, 
what the fuck is going on here?" 

Sally laughed.  "You got balls Agent 
Mulder, pity you don't have the brains to 
go with them."

Mulder's finger tightened on the trigger, 
"talk."

"You're a real asshole, you know that.  
Look over my left shoulder at the 
staircase behind you."

Before Mulder had a chance to comply, 
Scully had her weapon out and shouted, 
"FBI DON'T MOVE!"  

Slowly Mulder looked.  He knew there was 
a man behind the weapon, but all he could 
see was the barrel of a shotgun pointed 
right at him and Scully. 

Sally spoke, the gentleness of her voice 
belying the seriousness of her words, 
"You're looking at a 12 gauge double 
barrel pump action shotgun, with a spread 
of 15 feet.  He can take you and Agent 
Scully in one shot.  If you've really got 
a hard-on about dying, today's your day."

Mulder pointed out, "You'd be killed 
too."

Conversationally the woman responded, 
"The only truly dead are those who have 
been forgotten."  

The undemanding emptiness of her words 
refocused Mulder's attention.   Scully 
remained ready, weapon pointed at the 
man. 

Neutrally Sally continued, "It's an old 
Jewish saying, I'm surprised you and 
Agent Scully haven't come across it 
before.  But since blood is so damn hard 
to clean off a wood floor, why don't we 
all just play nice for a bit?"

With a slight indication of her head at 
the man on the staircase, Sally said, "He 
can shoot the wings off of a fly at 30 
paces, with a crosswind blowing, on a 
moonless night in July.  I know I've seen 
him do it."

Mulder looked at Scully.  Then he looked 
down at the woman.  Then he looked at 
Scully again.  "Scully is dying," 
Mulder's blood ran cold and he shivered.       

Answering Mulder's unspoken thought, 
Sally confirmed Mulder's worst fear.  
"She damn sure will if you don't listen 
to what I'm telling you."

Scully went to speak but Mulder shook his 
head in a 'not now' gesture at her.  It 
scared Mulder as much as it made him 
white-hot mad that again, someone else 
appeared capable of tapping into his 
consciousness.  He let the woman go and 
stepped back by Scully.   

Scully raised her weapon up to her chest, 
still ready if needed.  It was a gesture 
not lost on the woman.

"You can put your weapon away Agent 
Scully.  The time for violence has 
passed."

Curiously Scully tilted her head and 
looked at Sally.  What an arcane way of 
speaking.  

Scully's eyes questioned Mulder.  It 
didn't take a mind reader to know what 
she was asking.  On some things Mulder 
and Scully were in total sync.  

Again Mulder shook his head, this time 
indicating for Scully to holster her 
weapon.  Slowly Scully complied but kept 
her hand near her waist just in case the 
need should arise.

Deliberately the man on the stairs raised 
his gun, before placing the barrel over 
his shoulder and walking over to where 
Mulder, Scully and the woman stood. 

He was the biggest man Mulder and Scully 
had ever seen.  Of Native American 
descent, he was every bit of 6'5".  Coal 
black hair, buzzed off in a military crew 
cut accentuated a razor sharp nose over 
chiseled features.  Scully could see the 
powerful ease of muscles that seemed 
built for a terrible purpose flowing 
beneath his shirt.             

Evidently the woman had seen reactions 
similar to Mulder's and Scully's because 
there was humor in her voice when she 
spoke.

"Agents Mulder and Scully I'd like you to 
meet John-Gabriel."

The big man nodded at them, before tuning 
to look at the woman.  He grunted 
something unintelligible at her before 
casting a glance back at Mulder and 
Scully.  He grunted something else and 
then walked away.  

"I know you've got to tap a kidney Agent 
Mulder if you follow John-Gabriel he'll 
show you where the bathroom is."  

Mulder eyed Scully, if this was an 
ambush..  Scully nodded her head in 
understanding.  

"This is no setup Agent Mulder."

Mulder jerked around to give a hard stare 
at the woman.  "How in the hell do you 
know what I'm thinking?"

"It doesn't take a mind reader to know 
what you're thinking.  Go to the 
bathroom, we'll play 20 questions when 
you get back."

Mulder hesitated, to leave Scully 
alone...here.

Laughing Sally said, "Go to the fucking 
bathroom before your eyes start to float.  
We'll still be here when you get done."  

'Damn', Mulder decided he was going to 
have to get a filter for his brain.  He 
worked his way down the aisle behind 
John-Gabriel towards the back.

Watching as Mulder walked away, Sally 
sighed.  She was more than a little 
nonplussed that the situation she had 
been trying to forestall for years had 
finally come to play.  

Scully also followed Mulder with her 
eyes.  This whole thing was just weird, 
weird, weird.  Scully felt the ache of 
all she hid from Mulder, worry, need, 
desire, especially desire.  Desire that 
stalks up on a lonely Sunday afternoon, 
or on a rainy Tuesday, or when the sun 
shines through his hair and fills his 
mouth with laughter, desire that goes 
beyond need and scores a bull's-eye at 
the very core of self.  

Glancing over at Scully, Sally shook her 
head in amazement.  For two people who 
verbally espoused independence they were 
emotionally the neediest pair she had 
ever encountered.  Not withstanding the 
fact that they also had to be the most 
obstinate pair she'd ever run across as 
well.  Agent Scully was over there in a 
fog about Agent Mulder, and Mulder, let 
him be away from Scully and he'd go 
mooning off in the same direction.  
Didn't these two every talk?

Once Mulder was out of earshot Sally 
turned back to Scully, placing 
both hands on Scully's shoulders she 
stared right into Scully's eyes.

"How can you and Agent Mulder be so smart 
and so fucking stupid at the same time?"  

Shaking loose from Sally, Scully stepped 
back a few paces, "What are you talking 
about?"

"Agent Scully if you don't turn around 
and go home now then you are going to 
die."    

Sarcastically Scully spoke, "If I'm the 
one who has a 'date with death' why is 
everyone warning Agent Mulder?"  

"You were Agent Mulder's past before he 
knew it and without you now he has no 
future." It couldn't be explained any 
more simply.

Scully drew back as though she had been 
slapped.

"What, you expected violins and roses?" 

Sally spoke forthrightly, "Agent Scully, 
there are things that will always fall 
beyond your scope of knowledge or 
understanding.  People you will never 
meet, places you will never go and things 
you will never see, except as the 
reflection of another."  

Words have only the obligation of their 
meaning; the true burden falls on the 
listener. Scully felt the sincerity of 
what Sally said, but the meaning still 
eluded her.

"So tell me, how did you figure out I was 
going to die?  Did you read it in some 
tea-leaves, or perhaps tarot cards, did 
you mediate or have a vision?  For all I 
know a little bird told you?  No one can 
predict the future, that's just 
superstitious nonsense!  And the few 
times that an accurate prediction 
collided with reality is nothing more 
than luck!"

Sally fired back, "I can't believe that 
you a woman of science, a woman who 
prides herself on being able to 
rationalize everything she sees down to 
the smallest molecule of an atom can 
believe in something so intangible as 
*luck*."

It wasn't pleasant for Scully to hear her 
beliefs interpreted in such a way and 
then thrown back at her.  It was stranger 
still to hear the honesty in Sally's 
voice as she spoke.  Scully hoped that 
not everyone (Mulder) saw her in this 
same way.

"In the end Agent Scully all we have are 
the power of our beliefs.  But to believe 
is not enough without the power of 
knowledge and knowledge is nowhere near 
enough without the power of our 
convictions.  All these things are 
everything and nothing if we fail to use 
the most valuable tool we have.  Using 
your head is great Agent Scully, but if 
you fail to learn how to use the power of 
your heart, then both you and Agent 
Mulder will surely die."

"Those are really pretty words Ms. Wolfe, 
but you still fail to answer my 
questions, who are you and how is it you 
seem to be able to anticipate what Agent 
Mulder and I are going to say or do 
before we even know ourselves?"  

"Here's another old saying for you Agent 
Scully, 'Never ask a question unless you 
really want to know the answer.'"

Acknowledging Scully's silence as an 
invitation to continue Sally answered, "I 
can read minds."

"How?"  Was the only word Scully could 
manage.

The problem with a nervous breakdown is 
that you don't know if the truly crazy 
person is the one who is or isn't having 
the emotional meltdown.

"It is not something I'm especially proud 
of, but like your height or weight is 
genetically determined."

"Excuse me," Scully spoke incredulously, 
"are you telling me you inherited this 
ability?"

"Open your heart Agent Scully.  You know 
what I'm saying is true."

Indeed Sally's words had a sterling 
quality of truth about them.   Scully 
felt exposed.  

"I also have the ability to filter people 
out, you can't imagine the most uselessly 
random thoughts most people have.  If I 
told you what Agent Mulder was thinking 
right now you wouldn't believe me.  As 
for the rest of your questions they're 
moot at this point and need no answer." 

As she spoke, Sally walked around 
straightening the shelves.  She then went 
to the front door.  Scully heard the slap 
whap of a dead bolt lock being thrown.
  
Scully hopped in, "I beg to differ.  I 
think those questions cut to the very 
heart of mine and Agent Mulder's problems 
right now and you just don't want to 
answer them."  

There was a little bit of derision in 
Sally's voice when she spoke and it 
wasn't lost in Scully.
 
"Although you hide it well Agent Scully, 
I dare say you've got a little bit of the 
talent, or was that just a *lucky* 
guess?"

"I am not here to bandy about platitudes, 
Agent Mulder and I are on..,"

Speaking contemptuously Sally spat at 
Scully, "Oh come off of it Agent Scully.  
Agent Mulder is on a mission that will 
either get the two of you killed or will 
land him in your bed.  And frankly from 
what I've picked up from you Ms. Scully, 
dying with Agent Mulder or sleeping with 
him would almost be one and the same."

Sally paused before cruelly adding, "Oh 
wait, it's Agent Mulder that likes to 
play those games."  

Scully was aghast, Mulder didn't want to 
sleep with her.  Sure he had been more 
attentive lately but that was just Mulder 
worrying about her safety.  This Sally 
woman was just being ridiculous.  It was 
the closest Scully would ever come to 
pulling her weapon and using it on an 
unarmed person.

"You do a favor for me and I'll quit 
running loose in your head Agent Scully."   

"Fine!" Scully bit the words off, at this 
point she'd just about agree to anything 
to get this *bitch* to shut up.

"Tonight you and Agent Mulder sleep here, 
it's dark the two of you would never find 
your way back to the main road.  Tomorrow 
morning, first thing, you get back into 
your little rental car and you take your 
little selves, back to the little town 
you both came from, and if I ever lay 
eyes on the two of you again, I'll shoot 
you myself.  Are we clear on that?"

"Excruciatingly clear," Scully ground the 
words out.

A few moments later Mulder walked into 
this fray.  By the set of her jaw Mulder 
could tell Scully was infuriated.  What 
in the world had happened? He'd only been 
gone a few minutes.  Tentatively he 
reached out to Scully, placing a hand on 
her shoulder.

Furious Scully whipped around, "Don't 
touch me!"

Scully's mind spun crazily, a planet no 
longer tilting properly on its axis, and 
the whipped look on Mulder's face when he 
took his hand away made her feel even 
worse.

Turning on her heel, Sally walked away.  
She went by the main counter to pick up a 
hand basket before working her way down 
another aisle, grabbing different 
foodstuffs she filled the basket.

Pausing at the foot of the stairs, Sally 
turned to Scully, "You coming?"

Pointedly Mulder turned his back to 
Sally, "what's going on here Scully?"

Trying to take the sting out of her 
earlier outburst, Scully smiled up at 
Mulder, "We're staying the night."

"Since when?" 

Scully's mind stuttered around, randomly 
searching, which word to use first, 
second, third?  

"I don't know Mulder, I just don't know."

Scully's indecision scared Mulder.  He'd 
never seen her at a loss for anything, 
ever.

"Well, ok."

Mulder and Scully trailed Sally up the 
stairs.  At the first door to the right 
Sally stopped.  The basket she had been 
carrying she handed to Mulder.  It was 
filled with cheese, crackers, chocolate 
and some condiments.

"I know you're hungry."

Turning to Scully she handed her a bottle 
of wine, and two glasses.  Speaking 
kindly she said, "Isn't it time you and 
Agent Mulder really talked?"

You didn't need to be a mind reader to 
interpret the look Scully gave Sally.  

Laughing at Scully, Sally turned and 
headed down the hall to presumably her 
own room.

Mulder cast one last look at Sally's 
retreating back before turning the 
doorknob.  The room was dark and Mulder 
brushed his hand about looking for a 
switch.

"Found it!"

It was a tidy room, with just one 
problem.  It had one bed!

Mulder looked at Scully with her bottle 
of wine and Scully looked at Mulder with 
his basket of food.  Simultaneously they 
both looked at the bed, then to each 
other, then back to the bed again.

This was going to be a looooong night.   

 


Part 10 

Time passed languidly as Mulder and 
Scully talked quietly into the evening.  
The tense unsettledness between the two 
of them gave way to relaxation as the 
time passed.  Gentle intimate laughter 
filled the small bedroom; an evening 
breeze ruffled the curtains fluttering 
them in and out of the window.  Mulder 
had opened it earlier, and over time the 
room had filled with the aromatic scent 
of pine.  

"Mulder that's the silliest joke I've 
ever heard."

Mulder softly chuckled at her response, " 
I knew you'd like it."

He held out his wine glass for her to 
refill.  

Scully's eyes widened, "More?"

Lazily Mulder smiled back at her, "More 
please."

Reaching out Scully fished the wine 
bottle out of the basket she had spread 
out on the bed between herself and 
Mulder.  A bit tipsily she eyed the 
remaining contents. 

"We've just about finished it."

"It's a good wine." Mulder replied.  "But 
I've never heard of Chateau Solaris." 

Scully answered, "Must be a local winery, 
I guess."  

Mulder reached out and placed his hand 
over Scully's before pulling the bottle 
closer to him.  He ran his index finger 
over Scully's knuckles a few times as he 
pretended to study the label a bit more 
closely.  She was so soft!  

"Hmmmmm 1982, not a bad year for wine."  

Not unmindful to what Mulder was 
thinking, Scully gently disengaged her 
hand before refilling Mulder's glass, 
then she topped her own drink off with 
what was left.

Scully propped her head up with one hand 
and watched as Mulder idly ran his index 
finger around the top of his wine glass. 
Deep in thought it was several minutes 
before he realized that Scully was 
looking at him.

"What?"

This was so unlike the Mulder she saw on 
a day-to-day basis, with his defenses 
down the lopsided grin he threw at her 
caused Scully's heart to give a small 
lurch of pleasure.

Scully covered this lapse of 
unprofessionalism by taking a sip of 
wine, "What were you and that waitress 
talking about today in the diner while I 
went to the restroom?"

"Nothing, really."  Trying to head Scully 
off in a new direction of conversation 
Mulder continued, pointedly he looked at 
his watch.   "It's getting late.  You and 
I should be trying to get some sleep."

"C'mon Mulder," Scully leveled her gaze 
at him, "I know what 'nothing' is, and 
you and that waitress were not discussing 
'nothing'."

"Scully sometimes there are things as a 
believer that not even I can believe.  
And this time is one of them.  Whatever 
that waitress said, is not important to 
you or I. She was just seeing if I was as 
gullible as I looked."

Scully snorted derisively to that remark, 
"At last count how many shares of the 
Brooklyn Bridge do you now own."  

"None now, I sold them to a couple from 
Tennessee."

"Mulderrrr."

"Sculleeee."

Each pretended to be aggravated at the 
other before together they erupted into 
laughter.

"Scully I swear to you we weren't 
discussing anything related to national 
security."

Slowly Mulder stood up and started 
cleaning the odd and ends left over from 
their dinner off the bed.  Since what he 
felt for Scully couldn't be classified as 
'National Security' (it went way beyond 
that) he didn't feel terribly guilty from 
steering her away from the real topic of 
discussion.

"Hmmpf." Was the only answer Scully gave 
back to Mulder before she got up and 
started brushing the crumbs off the bed 
covers.

Placing the empty wrappers in the garbage 
can Mulder turned to place his hands on 
his hips as he eyed the bed.  It WAS a 
very small bed.

Mulder was afraid that if he and Scully 
shared a bed that small his body would 
betray him.  If he could feel Scully's 
heat from 2 feet away, there was no way 
she'd miss the heat coming off of him 
from 2 inches away.      

Mulder wanted Scully.  He wanted to bury 
his face in her hair, he wanted to inhale 
her scent.  Even from across the room he 
could feel the heat rising off of her.  
How easy it would be to take two steps 
closer to her, take her in his arms 
and...

Shaking himself back to the present, 
Mulder contemplated his options.  
Unfortunately he couldn't think of one.  
Scully would know in a second what Mulder 
was thinking.  

For a man who had been known to fulfill a 
desire or two of his own in some rather 
strange places, deep within his heart 
Mulder instinctively knew that Scully was 
more than car, an office or a bathroom.  
He wanted the first time to be perfect.

Mulder generously offered to sleep on the 
loveseat.

~~

Deep in the shadows of the building a 
lone wolf sat.  It cocked an ear as the 
murmuring voices of Mulder and Scully 
getting ready for bed drifted out the 
open window.  Hackles rose on its back as 
an unwelcome scent wafted forward from 
the forest.  The wolf emitted a low 
warning growl as its lupine eyes searched 
the trees.  The stygian darkness that had 
been creeping towards the house seemed to 
move back a few feet.  Moving to place 
itself directly beneath the opening of 
Mulder and Scully's room, the wolf laid 
down.  Head on its paws, eyes wide open, 
the wolf patiently waited.           

  

 

    
     
Part 11 

With a start Mulder woke.  He started to 
reach for his gun before he realized he 
was reacting to the sound of the curtains 
snapping in and out of the open window.  
The luminous dial of his watch reflected 
4:22AM.  Silently Mulder stood up, 
stretching left and right trying to ease 
a spasm that seemed to be working its way 
around his back. The room seemed colder, 
less friendly now.     

Mulder looked over at Scully.  She slept 
peacefully on her side.  A shaft of 
moonlight falling softly through the 
curtains illuminated her face.   Mulder 
noticed that some of her hair had fallen 
onto her cheek.  How he'd love to reach 
over and tuck it back into place, then 
roll her over and tuck his body into 
hers.  

"Go back to sleep Mulder."  

Damn, how did she know?

"I was just getting up to close the 
window," he countered.  

Mulder walked over to the open window, 
placed his palms on the windowsill and 
stuck his head out.  The temperature had 
definitely dropped and he stood there for 
several minutes, feeling the cold 
mountain air penetrating deeply into his 
lungs.

Mulder froze as the strange shopkeeper 
and her companion stepped into his line 
of view.  Other than a word or two Mulder 
couldn't entirely make out what they were 
saying, but from their posturing it 
appeared they were heatedly arguing.

Bits of the conversation floated up to 
Mulder.

"I've been telling you..."

"time..."

"Tomas...taking..."

"plutonium..."

"last straw."  

The conversation ended with Sally turning 
on her heel and walking away from John-
Gabriel into the forest.  The big man 
shook his head before following her into 
the woods.

Scully threw the bedcovers back and 
quickly dressed before reaching for her 
shoes as Mulder turned away from the 
window.  Unconsciously in sync with one 
another Mulder checked the clip in his 
weapon, while Scully did the same with 
hers.  Slowly Mulder opened the bedroom 
door and glided quietly down the stairs 
with Scully close behind.  

Moving across the store, Mulder paused at 
the door, before reaching up to grab the 
bell.  Noiselessly Scully opened the door 
and slipped out.  She paused while Mulder 
deftly maneuvered himself out the door 
behind her, only a slight tinkle of the 
bell to give their presence away.

At the end of the porch Mulder stopped 
and looked around.  The moon was full and 
he could clearly see the path between the 
trees that Sally and John-Gabriel had 
taken.

Mulder hopped off the porch and turned to 
help Scully down.  He hesitated 
momentarily feeling himself on the verge 
of asking Scully to stay behind.  

"No Mulder I'm not staying here."

DAMN IT! How DID she do that?

Mulder nodded his head in acceptance 
before helping her down.  With Scully 
reassuringly close behind Mulder walked 
into the woods.
 
The moonlight seemed bright enough for 
day and occasionally Mulder caught 
glimpses of the unusual duo ahead.

After more than an hour of trailing Sally 
and John-Gabriel, Mulder and Scully 
stepped out into a dead-ended open 
clearing!

Surrounded by a ring of trees there was 
one way in and no way out. 

In separate directions weapons drawn at 
the ready, Mulder and Scully circled the 
small field.  Other than the soft swish-
wish of their movement through the grass 
there was no sound.  They were all alone.  

Their reconnaissance completed Scully 
moved closer to Mulder before holstering 
her weapon and slowly looking around the 
small field again.  

Neutrally Scully looked up at Mulder, 
"What now?"

Even though Scully could hide her 
emotions well, Mulder knew she wasn't 
happy with their situation.   

Sighing, Mulder ran his fingers across 
his forehead. He and Scully were sitting 
ducks for anyone who happened along.

Mulder opened his mouth to speak but was 
interrupted by the sound of a car door 
slamming off to the north of them.

The sound startled them and they both 
crouched down quickly, glancing around as 
they drew their weapons.  

"That sounded close."

They were still alone in the clearing but 
a second door slamming allowed Scully to 
get an idea of which direction the noise 
had come from.  

"That way."  Scully jerked her head in 
the general vicinity of the area behind 
Mulder's right shoulder.

The deeper Mulder and Scully moved into 
the woods, the eerier their situation 
become.  No birds twittering, no breeze 
to rustle the leaves, just a horrible 
dead silence that seemed to ring in their 
ears.

Mulder paused and looked back at Scully.  
Her face was a grim line and she seemed 
dreadfully aware that they were in a 
perilous situation.  

Unbidden words, 'Scully is dying', raced 
through Mulder's head.  But even if he'd 
known how to get back to the lodge, going 
back would require more of an explanation 
than a skeptic like Scully would believe. 
Angrily he chased that thought away, 
before turning and pressing on.     

About 15 minutes later Mulder turned to 
Scully.  Motioning her closer he breathed 
into her ear, "I smell smoke."  

Testing the air Scully breathed in 
through her nose.  Now she could smell it 
too.  

"We must be really close."  She murmured 
back to Mulder.

Dropping down onto their stomachs, Mulder 
and Scully worked their way through the 
underbrush.  

At the edge of the thicket Mulder 
stopped, his way blocked by a chain link 
fence.  He eased himself forward and 
looked around.  The ground before him 
sloped steeply away forming a natural pit 
surrounded on the outside by heavy fir 
trees and dense vegetation.

Someone must have found this place long 
ago and decided it would make an 
excellent base for performing illegal 
operations.  Buildings, some of them more 
rust than metal, dotted the area.  There 
was a helicopter landing pad and armed 
soldiers moved around the camp performing 
various duties.  Off to one side Mulder 
could see the bottom half of a man as he 
worked under the hood of an old transport 
truck.  

Silently Scully edged her way forward 
until she was shoulder to shoulder with 
Mulder.  

The voices of the men as they spoke to 
one another floated up to Mulder and 
Scully.  

Mulder and Scully glanced quickly at one 
another before turning back to the scene 
below. 

While outfitted in American military 
fatigues, these men were not American 
soldiers!

"Scully do you have any idea what 
language they're speaking?"

Without taking her eyes off the camp, 
Scully shook her head 'no' in reply.

A second later Mulder and Scully got a 
big shock.

A door to one of the buildings slammed 
open and out walked Sally Wolfe!  
Even from the space that separated them 
Mulder could tell she was furious.  She 
stomped down the porch stairs and turned 
to point a finger at someone Mulder still 
couldn't' see.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!  I TOLD YOU TO GO 
HOME!"

The aforementioned SOB stepped into view.  
The grainy results of a telephoto lens 
had obviously missed the pure elegance of 
this man.   Even from this distance 
Mulder could feel the magnetism and power 
of command that emanated from Tomas.         

Scully shot a fast look over to Mulder, 
"I thought she didn't know him?"   
                  
Screaming back at her in a language 
unknown to Mulder and Scully, Tomas's 
reply must have been excruciatingly 
scathing because Sally took several 
menacing steps back towards him.

The noise from this argument brought 
guards running in from all directions 
with their weapons pulled.  

Tomas turned and screamed something else 
at his men before motioning them back.    

Mulder and Scully continued watching as 
into this imbroglio a blue Chevy blazer 
drove in through the gate entrance.  
Pulling up to stop beside Sally, Mulder 
watched John-Gabriel get out.

Even from this distance Mulder could see 
the glowering expression on the big man's 
face.  He motioned for Sally to get in 
the car.  She waved him off before taking 
a few more steps back to Tomas.  Calmly 
John-Gabriel walked around the blazer.  
Placing one hand on Sally's arm he 
dragged her to the car.  Not releasing 
his grip he opened the door and shoved 
her into the passenger side.  He then 
walked back around the blazer, got in and 
proceeded to turn the car around, taking 
Sally with him.

The sunroof of the car slammed open and 
Sally shoved the top half of her body 
through.  Then she shouted back at Tomas, 
"Fuck with me one more time and you'll be 
damn sorry you came back here."

Mulder had to stifle a giggle as Sally 
raised her hand and gave Tomas a gesture 
that needed no translation.  Sally Wolfe 
gave Tomas Eloso the bird! 

"Stay here, I'm going to try and get 
closer for a better look."

"Mulder I don't think that's a good idea.  
Let's just work our way back and we can 
call for help."

Mulder threw Scully a devil-may-care 
grin, "Hey this is me you're talking 
about.  I've been in lot worse situations 
than this before.  I'll be ok."

Softly Scully spoke to Mulder's 
retreating back, "That's what I'm worried 
about."

Slowly Mulder worked his way around the 
camp.  Twice he froze, motionless, as 
guards patrolling the perimeter walked 
by.

About halfway around Mulder found a small 
gully that would allow him to go under 
the fence and closer to the buildings.  

His attention focused ahead the last 
thing Mulder heard was a shift in the 
underbrush before a blow to the head sent 
him spinning down into the black of 
unconsciousness.  




Part 12

An unknown amount of time later Mulder 
slowly came around.  Taking in his 
surroundings he found himself tightly 
tied to an old wooden ladder back chair.  
His bindings were simple rope, but with 
his arms tied securely behind the chair 
back and each leg tied to one of the 
chair legs he was simply not going 
anywhere, period.

With clarity of thought Mulder's eyes 
widened.  Scully.  Oh God, where was 
Scully?  

Frantically Mulder craned his neck 
looking around.  Empty metal shelves and 
dust motes dancing in the light filtering 
through from a cracked window were 
Mulder's only other companions.   

Slumping forward into his bindings Mulder 
desperately prayed that Scully was safe.  
That she had gotten away and was this 
moment on her way with help.

Sometimes God answers prayers but not 
Mulder's way this time.  The door banged 
open and an unconscious Scully was 
dragged in between two of Tomas soldiers 
and dropped unceremoniously at Mulder's 
feet.    

Ignoring Mulder completely they exited 
the building.  

"Scully." Mulder cried out, "Oh...God, 
Scully."

Quickly Mulder took in Scully's 
appearance.  Her clothes were ripped and 
torn.  There was a huge pulpy looking 
bruise on her right temple.  A small 
trickle of blood oozed from her nose and 
her pinky finger pointed at Mulder from a 
grotesque angle.

Time and time again he strained against 
his restraints attempting to reach her, 
but Scully remained just beyond his 
reach.       

Choking back bitter sobs Mulder slumped 
back into his bindings.  

Brokenly he spoke to Scully, "All my 
fault...all my fault." 

Mulder jumped as a heavily accented 
masculine voice spoke behind him.        
        
"Yes it is you foolish American spy."

"Very touching your concern for your 
partner."  Tomas spoke derisively, "Does 
she know?"

Futilely fighting against his restraints 
Mulder shouted,  "YOU, YOU DID THIS TO 
HER." 

"She fought back admirably this friend of 
yours.  But women they are the weaker 
sex, no?"
 
Grinning salaciously at Mulder, Tomas 
added, "She is a tigress in bed, yes?"     

Deep primal anger tore through Mulder and 
furiously he bounced his chair around so 
hard that he tipped it backwards onto the 
floor.  Landing squarely on his arms, his 
back arching with the strain, joints 
groaning in protest, Mulder screamed in 
agony before turning his head to the side 
and retching uncontrollably.

Hands on his hips, Tomas threw his head 
back and roared with laughter.

His mouth bitter from the taste of vomit 
and spittle flying from his lips, Mulder 
screamed up at Tomas.  

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER, I'LL SEE YOU ROT IN 
HELL." 

Sill laughing Tomas motioned to two of 
his men who had been standing to one 
side.  Silently they came up and righted 
Mulder in his chair, before stepping off 
a pace to the left.  

Chillingly Tomas spoke again, "Now we 
will see just how strong you really are. 
Mano y mano, eh?"

Then nodding again to the two guards 
Tomas exited the building.

Moving swiftly the two men removed 
Mulder's bindings.  Before he could 
regain enough strength to react, each man 
grabbed one of Mulder's arms and dragged 
him out.  

One small whimper of a word escaped 
Mulder's lips, "Scully."

A plea or a prayer, not even Mulder knew 
for sure.

~~~~

Time is a funny thing.  A good time is 
over in a minute and a bad time lasts 
forever.  A good time is hard to remember 
and a bad time is hard to forget.

Mulder knew that no matter how long he 
lived he would never forget this day.  

Painfully he sat in the floor cradling 
Scully's dear precious face in his lap.  
Mentally he took stock of his injuries.  
No broken bones, but his right arm felt 
perilously close to popping out of its 
socket.  Electric zaps from an alligator 
clip attached to a small battery, had 
left numerous burns over his body.  Even 
his genital area had not escaped 
untouched.  Gingerly Mulder shifted his 
weight, trying to rearrange the pressure 
from Scully's head.  Every movement sent 
a fresh wave of agony through his body 
and Mulder's stomach slowly churned 
threatening to spill what little of its 
contents were left onto the floor.

Distractedly Mulder gently stroked 
Scully's hair as he slowly looked around 
the room.  Even if he had been at 100% 
effectiveness, there was nothing in this 
room he could have used to protect 
himself and Scully from another attack 
should Tomas feel so inclined.

Several minutes passed as Mulder studied 
Scully.  He noticed she would take 
several small breaths before taking two 
or three ragged ones.  Checking her pulse 
he found it was fluctuating wildly.  He 
could feel the first blossoming of real 
fear starting deep within his throat and 
working its way down to the pit of his 
stomach.  Desperately his heart tried to 
reject what his head already knew.  
Scully was dying and there was nothing he 
could do about it.  

Absolute loathing for himself filled 
Mulder.  Things he had never done and 
especially the things he had never said 
to Scully came back at him hard.  

Soon Scully would die and then Mulder 
knew he would find a way to follow her.  
Not necessarily a skeptic for some 
things, not necessarily a believer for 
others.  Mulder's world was Scully, and 
it was crumbling to pieces right in front 
of him.  

Shedding all pretenses of maintaining his 
professionalism under fire, Mulder's 
first sob tore through the still air.  
Openly he wept, his tears unabashedly 
running down his face and dropping onto 
Scully's.

"M..Mulder?"

Startled Mulder quieted down.  

"Mulder, why are you crying?"

Through the tears that clouded his 
vision, Mulder looked down to see Scully, 
her eyes open and filled with concern 
looking up at him.

Relief swept over Mulder.  Scully was 
awake.  Scully was alive.

Slowly Scully reached up with her good 
hand to touch Mulder's cheek.

"Mulder what's wrong?"

"I just found out that New York isn't 
going to make it to the playoffs this 
year."

Gently Scully chided him, "Mulder there's 
this concept called the truth, maybe you 
could try it sometime."

The door slamming open caught Mulder and 
Scully completely unawares.  

Tomas walked in and immediately took in 
the situation between Scully and Mulder.

"So, you both are awake now."

Mulder tried to go at Tomas but was held 
back by Scully.

Wrapping his arms protectively around 
Scully, Mulder spoke between gritted 
teeth.

"You stay away from her."   

Amusedly Tomas spoke, "Oh ho, my little 
man you still have some bite left, eh?"

"Perhaps you'd like to go a few more 
rounds with my toys?"

Mulder paled a bit before those words but 
didn't attempt a reply.

Scornfully Tomas said,  "That's what I 
thought."

Leering at Mulder, Tomas continued, 
"While I'm never opposed to granting a 
dying man his last request, I'm all out 
of time Agent Mulder and so I must deny 
you and Agent Scully this last sweet 
taste of life."

Men swarmed into the building roughly 
separating Scully and Mulder.  Attempting 
to resist, Mulder screamed out as his bad 
arm was brutally twisted behind his back.   

Scully who was in much worse physical 
shape than Mulder offered no opposition 
as she too was led out into the main 
area.

Roughly Mulder and Scully were propelled 
out into the center of the complex. 
Scully was bound and blindfolded before 
being shoved down on the ground.  Unable 
to use her hands to catch herself, Scully 
fell into the dirt, landing on her side 
with an audible groan of pain. 

Attempting to help her, Mulder scuffled 
with his captors.  This earned him a few 
more bruises, before he too was bound.  
Anguished Mulder looked over at Scully, 
his last sight of her falling to dark as 
a blindfold of rough material was wrapped 
tightly around his eyes.

A hand on his shoulder forced Mulder down 
into the kneeling position.  Ice chips 
skittered up his back as he heard the 
unmistakable sounds of shells being 
loaded into a semi-automatic pistol.

Scully was here because of him, Scully 
was here bec-.

The crack from a single shotgun blast 
echoed through the still air.  It rolled 
over the hills, around the trees and in 
between the fall leaves.  A small 
bluebird felt the reverberations from the 
disturbance.  The forest she called home 
now had a very uneasy feel.

Unsettled she nervously cocked her head 
from side to side.  The reverberation of 
another echo sent her flittering back to 
her nest.

Part 13


Agent Skinner walked into his office.

Where in the hell were Mulder and Scully?

Good God, every time you told them 
'don't' it was like waving a red flag and 
hoping the bull wouldn't charge.

More than he'd ever admit to, Skinner 
worried a lot about losing them.  

He smelled the cigarette smoke before he 
saw the man in the chair. 

"Please," Skinner mockingly said, "Come 
on in, make yourself at home. Oh, and 
feel free to smoke."  

"Come now Mr. Skinner, sarcasm doesn't 
become you."  

"There's very little that does these 
days."  Skinner acquiesced, "So get to 
the point."

Skinner went over and sat down behind his 
desk and waited for the Smoking Man to 
talk.    

"I thought we decided that you were going 
to keep a tighter rein on Agents Mulder 
and Scully."

"So did I," was Skinner's rueful reply as 
he dropped his head into his hands.  

"Yet once again Agent Mulder is a man on 
a mission.  Where he goes Agent Scully 
follows and if Agent Mulder continues 
down this path he'll get the both of them 
killed."

"Where are my agents?" Skinner directed 
to the Smoking Man.

Ignoring Skinner the Smoking Man 
continued, "My associates," he stressed 
the word, "are men of power who brook no 
interference and if you don't deal with 
Agents Mulder and Scully then they will."  

With that final admonishment, the Smoking 
Man stood snuffed his cigarette out on 
Skinners desk and prepared to take his 
leave.  

Skinner stood also and as he walked out 
from around the back of his desk he 
asked, "Is that a threat?"

"Yes, it is."  The Smoking Man replied 
before raising his eyebrow in a 
challenging manner at Skinner.  

Ex-Marine Assistant Director Walter 
Skinner had had enough of this posturing, 
pompous, jerk!  

In two swift strides Skinner was upon the 
Smoking Man.  Grabbing him by the lapels 
of his jacket, he roughly pinned the 
Smoking Man against the wall.  

Giving no indication that he was on the 
losing end, the Smoking Man calmly 
stated, "Mr. Skinner I've watched 
president's die."

Giving no indication that he was going to 
back down, Skinner replied. "And I've 
watched them eat breakfast.  Now, for the 
very last time, WHERE ARE MY AGENTS?"



Part 14 

The crack of a gunshot ripped through 
Mulder's heart and worked its way down to 
the souls of his feet.   

Scully was dead and Mulder knew he was 
next.  

An almost inaudible high-pitched cry of 
sorrow escaped from Mulder's lips.  Did 
it all boil down to this?  Speaking so 
eloquently about searching for the truth 
and then to wind up ignobly dying down on 
his knees in the dirt.

Scully was dead because of him.  

He prayed that his chance to join her 
would come quickly.

The truth that Mulder believed was a 
mountain yodel from the truth that was 
reality.

Scully was at that very moment very much 
alive, her mind working furiously.

At Quantico Scully had been quite adept 
with weapons.  Being able to 
differentiate between various types of 
sidearms and how they worked had earned 
her top marks one semester.  The lower 
basso intonations of the discharge she 
heard belonged to a 5-shot 12 gage pump 
action shotgun and not the higher pitched 
spat of a Glock 9mm semi-automatic 
weapon. Therefore Mulder was still alive.

The cry that poured from Mulder reminded 
Scully of a rabbit's death wail.  He'd 
been different towards her lately.  
Scully knew why but felt confused because 
she still hadn't been able to pin down 
her own feelings about all of this yet.  
More importantly, would she and Mulder 
have the time to find out?      

The unmistakable bay of a wild wolf 
interrupted Mulder and Scully's 
independently desperate thoughts.

One howl was joined by a chorus of many, 
until Mulder felt the echoes of their 
cries pounding through the blood in his 
veins.  

"TOMAS."  A voice roared from above.  
"TELL YOUR MEN TO PUT THEIR WEAPONS 
DOWN!" 

Tomas shouted back, "THEY DESERVE TO DIE 
EL LOBA."

"I WILL NOT TELL YOU AGAIN TOMAS, TELL 
YOUR MEN TO STAND DOWN."  

"THEY BELONG TO ME EL LOBA.  THEY ARE 
MINE BY RIGHT."

"NO TOMAS THEY BELONG TO THE WOLF AND I 
AM THAT WOLF.  NOW LET THEM GO!"

That last remark was punctuated by 
another wolverine cacophony of sound 
until the camp was again awash in noise.

Tomas slowly rotated in a circle before 
turning to face his men.
"Drop your weapons," he commanded.  

His men complied, turning warily to face 
the figure striding down from the hill.

Abruptly, Mulder was jerked up by his 
shirt collar and the blindfold ripped 
from away from his eyes.  Mulder found 
himself face to face with an 
excruciatingly pissed off Sally Wolfe.  
Slowly she raised up a large hunting 
knife and placed it within millimeters of 
his nose.  

Drawing in a deep breath Mulder forced 
himself to relax.  Hopefully, he 
reasoned, if she was here to save him she 
wasn't going to cut his nose off.    

"You are the stupidest mother-fucker I 
have ever run across."  Sally growled at 
Mulder.
 
Grabbing Mulder by his sore arm, Sally 
spun him around and cut him loose.  
Spinning him around again she handed him 
the knife and indicated for Mulder to 
free Scully. 

While Mulder administered to Scully's 
bonds, Sally rounded on Tomas.

"God dammit Tomas, you have been warned 
by our Tribal Elders many times.  What 
part of 'NO' don't you understand?"

'Tribal Elders?' Mulder returned his 
attention back to Sally and Tomas.

"The Elders are nothing but old men, 
softened by time.  The have no 
understanding of the weapon or its full 
potential."
   
'Weapon?' Now Scully perked up.  She 
wondered if this weapon just happened to 
be powered by plutonium?  

Patiently, like a parent speaking to a 
small child Sally answered, "That weapon, 
is not now and never has been yours."

Boastfully Tomas retorted, "It was I, I 
The Elders chose to learn the weapon and 
it is mine to do with as I wish."

"That weapon is for protection of 
humanity against The Others, and if 
misused it will bring the about the total 
destruction of our people.  And you of 
all people Tomas ought to know that by 
now." 

Mulder and Scully quickly looked at one 
another, eyes questioning 'The Others?' 
before swiveling their attention back to 
the scene before them.

His disbelief apparent, Tomas replied, 
"That is a superstitious legend for the 
lower bred masses."

"The blood that runs through our veins is 
pure, but the power to arm the weapon is 
mine.  THAT is why the elders chose ME."

Warningly, Sally spoke one last time, 
"This conversation is over.  DO NOT make 
me come back here again."

Raptly Mulder watched Tomas as the 
unspoken words, 'or else,' hung in the 
air between the usurper and Sally.  The 
effect was unmistakable on a man who led 
several armed guards and a woman who 
apparently had no one but herself.

Turing her back on Tomas, Sally walked to 
a jeep that was parked nearby.  Getting 
in, she pumped the gas pedal twice before 
starting it.  Throwing the transmission 
in reverse, she turned so that the jeep 
was on the road out of camp.  

Engine running, Sally jumped from the 
jeep.   Going to Scully she led her 
towards the jeep.  Gently she helped 
Scully in, even going so far as to fasten 
the seatbelt before roughly grabbing 
Mulder and shoving him into his seat.  In 
that instant, either despite the pain or 
because of it, Mulder felt reality shift 
and he thought that he could see the form 
beneath the flesh that was Tomas and 
Sally.

Taking her place in the driver's seat, 
Sally turned to Mulder, "This is not your 
time and it's not your war."  

Mulder gaped at her.  Was she telepathic?  
Again Mulder felt the weird shift of 
space and time. 

Gears grinding, the jeep lurched forward 
as Sally drove them out of the known 
confines of the compound and into the 
unknown expanses of the forest.

This near brush with death hasn't erased 
the specter of 'Scully's dying' from 
Mulder's mind.  The words themselves 
shimmer with certainty before settling 
squarely into Mulder's heart.

For the first time in his life, Mulder is 
truly afraid.      



Part 15 

The jeep ride away from the compound was 
eerily silent.

Twice Mulder tried to talk to Sally.  
Both times she answered his question with 
one of her own, "Are we being followed?"

"Nothing back there."

Once Mulder looked back on the pretext of 
seeing if they were being followed to 
look at Scully.  She seemed very 
preoccupied, cradling her broken finger 
and absently staring at the passing 
foliage.  Mulder doubted Houston Control 
could have reached Scully at this moment.

Sharply Sally dug her right elbow into 
Mulder's arm, "There should be a weapon 
in the glove box."

Mulder leaned forward and looked.  Sure 
enough, there was a semi-automatic 
pistol.  

Mulder turned an inquiring look at Sally.

She replied to his unspoken question, 
"This is Tomas's jeep.  He always keeps a 
gun nearby.  Is it loaded?"

Mulder dropped the clip out of the gun 
and checked.  He shot a startled look 
back at Sally.  

"Hollow points?"

Mutely Mulder nodded.

Sally shook her head before shifting the 
jeep to a higher gear. 

"Tomas always did think he was all that 
and a bag of chips."

Scully shifted forward in her seat and 
leaned in between Mulder and Sally.

"How long have you known Tomas Eloso?"

Sally gave a small indecipherable laugh 
before she replied, "A long time Agent 
Scully, a very long time."

Curious that Scully had chosen now to 
break her silence Mulder glanced at 
Scully before speaking to Sally, "Do you 
think he'll follow us?"

"I know he will Agent Mulder."

Then almost under her breath she 
repeated, "I know he will."

"This weapon Tomas spoke of, is it 
powered by plutonium?"

"Very good Agent Scully you put that 
together with very few clues.  You may go 
to the head of the class."

Sharply Scully replied, "Been there, done 
that."

Sally favored Scully with a glance before 
returning her gaze to the road ahead and 
downshifting the jeep.

Scully went on, "What does this weapon 
do?"  

"It affects the electromagnetic field 
that surrounds some forms of life." 

"What forms of life?"

"The Other's Agent Mulder."

"What others?"  Mulder asked 
incredulously before shooting a look at 
Scully.

"Agent Mulder you have been chasing 
little green men now for how long and you 
dare ask me that question?"

Scully interrupted, "So let me get this 
straight, you have a weapon that will 
protect human beings from alien 
invasion?"

"It's way more complicated than that, but 
in a nutshell, yes."

Both Mulder and Scully slid back into 
their seats and attempted to comprehend 
the complexity of this new information.  

The drove a few more minutes in silence 
before Sally spoke out loud, "No Agent 
Scully I'm not a paranoid schizophrenic 
and I'm not a freak either Agent Mulder."

Testily Sally continued, "But if you'd 
like to play a rousing game of what else 
is on Agents Mulder's and Scully's minds, 
I'll be more than happy to go first."     

Both Mulder and Scully studiously avoided 
eye contact with one another.   In her 
current mood Sally seemed very willing to 
bring up topics they didn't want to hear 
now.

Silence seemed to be the safest reply.

A few miles further down the road Sally 
halted the jeep.

"Tomas knows these woods as well as I do.  
There are a dozen places in between here 
and the main road where he could ambush 
us.  So from this point on we've got to 
hoof it.  I'm going to drop you two here 
then   take the jeep further on down the 
road and dump it.  The other side of this 
hill saddles between two ridges.  I'll 
meet you there in 30 to 40 minutes."

With that Sally drove off leaving Mulder 
and Scully standing in the middle of the 
road.

Scully turned to Mulder, "Do you believe 
a word she's told us?"

Mulder shrugged, his only answer an I-
don't-know gesture, then double-checked 
that the clip was secure in his weapon.

"We'd better get moving.  Daylight's 
burning and I'd like for us to be at the 
top before dark hits."

Mulder turned and with Scully at his 
heels they worked their way up the 
incline, heading out of the blue of day 
and into the black of night.       


      
Part 16 

Light from the setting sun filtered 
between the trees.  Darkness rapidly 
approaching and the faint traces of a 
ghost moon hung ominously low over the 
East Ridge.  

At the top Mulder paused.  The climb to 
the top had been difficult.  The pain 
from their combined injuries made it a 
slow go.  Twice Scully had cried out 
after accidentally brushing up against 
something with her bad hand.  

It had taken all of Mulder's self control 
and then some not to react to Scully's 
discomfort.  Scully wasn't one for being 
babied and if he showed too much concern 
for her welfare it would reveal the 
emotions he felt every time she was near.  

Mulder watched Scully shiver slightly in 
the cool evening air, her bad hand 
hanging uselessly at her side.  Going 
over to Scully, Mulder gathered her into 
his arms trying to warm her.  Instead of 
squirming loose after a few moments like 
she usually did, Scully worked her way 
closer into Mulder's embrace allowing him 
to gently rock her from side to side. 

Finally Scully spoke.  Her words muffled 
by the front of Mulder's shirt, "This has 
really been a bad day."

"I'm so sorry I dragged you into this."

Scully's heart turned over at the self-
loathing she heard in Mulder's voice.  
Kindly she answered, "I'm here because I 
want to be here."

No reply seemed necessary so Mulder 
buried his face into Scully's hair, 
inhaling her slightly sweet smell that 
was tinged with the tang of blood and 
dirt.  

Together they stood there.  All else 
momentarily forgotten except this little 
piece of heaven here on earth.

Mulder raised his head at the sound of 
leaves rustling behind him.  

"Well it's abo-."

Two men approached.  Dressed in coveralls 
and camouflage jackets, shotguns cradled 
loosely in their arms they came to a stop 
about 20 feet away from Mulder and 
Scully.  Twigs snapping moved Mulder's 
attention over to the right.  Perched on 
a tree stump sat a young woman and behind 
her stood a young man his hand 
propitiously placed on her shoulder.  

No words were spoken just steady patient 
stares from the newcomers to Mulder and 
Scully and back again.  

Casually Mulder stretched before 
returning his hand to the small of his 
back where he had concealed the weapon 
Sally had given him earlier. 

"Don't shoot Agent Mulder; they belong to 
me."

Mulder turned to see Sally Wolfe 
approaching, John-Gabriel her ever-
present shadow once again close behind.  

She continued, "From the day you were 
born Fox William Mulder, you've been one 
giant pain in the ass and I've just about 
had enough of you to last me a lifetime.  
It's getting pretty old pulling your 
bacon out of the fire every time I turn 
around." "

"I never asked you to do that."

"You didn't have to.  That decision that 
was made long before you were born."   

"Excuse me?"

"We've got a few more minutes before the 
rest of my people show up so I think 
we've got enough time to give you an 
explanation."
 
"The Others you've heard me refer to have 
been here off and on since the earliest 
times of my people.  They are a cruel and 
warlike race.  You couldn't wiggle your 
fingers and toes enough times to count 
how many other planets they have 
obliterated, casually discarding them 
like so many pieces of used Kleenex."

Scully interrupted, "Are you telling us 
that aliens from outer space have been 
visiting earth?"  

"If it were that simple Agent Scully we 
wouldn't be here now."  

Returning her attention to Mulder Sally 
explained further.  "Agent Mulder you are 
descended from a long line of great 
warriors, who have been leading the 
battle against The Others since the 
beginning.  Though we are several 
generations removed you and I are very 
distantly related.  Which is why the 
responsibility to protect you has fallen 
to me."
 
"Yeah right," Mulder snorted before 
looking away and placing his hands on his 
hips.

Sally fired back, "Look stupid, I'm not 
here for my health.  I'm here because 
duty and obligation require me to be 
here.  This is not my idea of a good 
time.  There are a thousand other places 
I would rather be than right here right 
now."

Ominously she continued, "It's as simple 
as this, there is a great battle coming, 
one that will decide the fate of humanity 
once and for all.  Either you or a 
descendant of yours, Agents Mulder and 
Scully, will take up the mantle of 
leadership or earth as you know it will 
be changed...forever."  

Carefully trying to censor their thoughts 
Mulder and Scully looked at each other 
sideways.  Their thoughts intermingled in 
time.  

Mulder and I have never discussed the 
possibility of a relationship and here is 
THIS WOMAN saying some future child of 
mine will lead a rebellion to save earth.  
I can't even have children, what are we 
supposed to do now? 

My parents were telling the truth all 
along.  But how can I condemn any child 
of mine to such a future even for all the 
Samantha's of the world?


Part 17 

The shifting wind interrupted their 
conversation.  Sally froze.  Eyes raised 
skyward and unfocused she took in a deep 
breath through her nose testing the air.  
Looking over at the two farmers she 
jerked her head towards the top of ridge.  
The men nodded their understanding before 
turning and moving away.

Plaintively Mulder sighed, "This feels 
like a really bad game of charades, and 
I'm really tried of all this.  Who are 
you people?"   

"We are an old old people whose name can 
only be found in the most ancient of 
legends.  At one time we numbered several 
thousand, and had members on every 
continent in the world.  But due to time 
and out-breeding there are only a few 
hundred of us left and although our 
lifespan is approximately three times 
that of a normal human being, within 
another two or three generations we will 
be gone completely."

"Are you telling me that you're 300 years 
old?"  

Sally laughed, "good heavens no.  I'm 
just 135.  I was a relatively young 78 
when my father died and I replaced him as 
leader of these people."

"How does Tomas Eloso figure into all 
this?"  Scully directed at Sally.

"Tomas, as you have probably gathered by 
now, has been trained in the use of the 
weapon we've been discussing.  But 
instead of seeing it as a tool for 
protecting humanity, he intends to use it 
as a weapon of destruction against those 
who would oppose him as leader."

"How does it work?"

"Every form of life down to the smallest 
amoeba has a quantum signature within it.  
This weapon Tomas was shooting his mouth 
off about affects this 'signature'.  
Powered by one milligram of an ounce of 
plutonium, it disrupts their quantum 
signature.  Death is nearly 
instantaneous."

"Why hasn't he used it against you?"

"Tomas and I are twins, He's my older 
brother by 10 minutes.    Dumb he may be, 
stupid he is not.  My death will mean his 
own, and he knows it.  

Sally paused thoughtfully gazing off into 
the distance.  Her voice was softer when 
she continued, "Tomas was not always this 
way.  At one time he was my best friend.  
Even when everyone else had failed me he 
was always there.  He was so funny and so 
kind.  All the girls were mad for him.  
One day he and my father had a falling 
out, I never did find out about what.  
Anyway, Tomas disappeared for several 
years.  When he came back he was very 
much as you know him now, ruled by 
cruelty and hate.  This is why the mantle 
of our people's leadership was passed 
over Tomas and given to me.  He has never 
forgiven me for accepting it."    

"Tomas and I are the last pureblooded 
ones of our kind."  

Disgust heavy in his voice Mulder asked, 
"of your kind?"
 
"Are you really that dense Agent Mulder?  
By now I'd think it was  pretty obvious 
that I'm not from around here.  But 
that's neither here nor there.  Bottom 
line, some of my people can shape-shift 
and some can read minds.  Tomas and I are 
the last of our people who can do both."

Distracted, her mind only halfway 
listening to Mulder and Sally, Scully 
watched as other people began to filter 
into view.  Her mind churned as   she 
realized why this all felt so familiar.  
These were the people from the cafe they 
had eaten at yesterday afternoon.

Indeed off to the left of Sally and 
Mulder were the two waitresses Jen and 
Danielle. Taking in the rest of the scene 
Scully's eyes finally accepted what her 
brain had been trying to tell her.  Wild 
animals stood intermixed with the people 
that surrounded them.  In fact not ten 
feet away from the waitresses were two 
wolves, a red bandanna tied around the 
neck of one.  The cook from the cafe had 
the exact same bandanna tied around his 
neck!  A large black bear calmly stood 
nearby, its breath making small clouds of 
huff puffs in the cool evening air.  She 
watched as the bear raised one paw and 
licked it, before brushing it back 
between its ears, like a boy getting 
ready for a Saturday night date.  A 
moose, the natural enemy of the bear was 
just a few feet beyond.  A massive rack 
of antlers adorning its head.          

Scully's attention was jerked back to 
Sally in a hurry.

"...we only heard about your sister's 
abduction after the fact."  

Mulder made a move towards Sally, but was 
intercepted by John-Gabriel.

Craning his neck Mulder spoke over the 
big man's shoulder flinging his next 
question at her.

"Where is my sister?"

"She's still where she was the last time 
you saw her.  Many things always remain 
unspoken, but Samantha has never once 
blamed you for what happened to her.  
After all it was her choice."

His way still blocked Mulder attempted to 
lunge at Sally.  "What do you mean it was 
HER CHOICE?" 

"The females of your line Agent Mulder 
have always been far more sensitive than 
the males.  From what we have been able 
to discover The Others first gave your 
sister the option of which one of you 
would be taken.  Your sister loves you 
very much and she offered herself in your 
place."

Sadly Sally went on, "It was the first 
and last time I have ever seen The Others 
give someone a choice."

"The future has yet to be decided and you 
can't give up now.  You and Agent Scully 
haven't yet made the decision that you 
think you've already made."

Noting Scully shaking her head in 
disagreement Sally replied, "Nothing is 
irreversible Agent Scully, nothing."      

Slipping up beside Mulder, Scully 
carefully placed her injured hand around 
Mulder's shoulder and pulled him closer.  
Allowing him to bury his head in the warm 
cradle of her neck and collar bone.  
Beneath her good hand she could feel 
Mulder's back shaking with the 
frustration of unshed tears.  No words of 
comfort could reach him now.  Quietly 
Scully held Mulder, allowing him to draw 
his strength from her own.      

Of one thing she was positive, Sally 
Wolfe's words resonated with the sterling 
quality of truth and Scully was very much 
frightened, for her partner, and for 
herself.



Part 18 

Another breeze, one MUCH stronger than 
the first, swept through the small 
clearing.  

"Ho the wind" was shouted from the ridge 
top down to Sally.  

"Dammit we don't have much time."
  
Nervously animals and people began to 
stir about.  

Mulder grabbed Sally's arm, "What's going 
on?" 

Yanking her arm away, Sally snapped back.  
"Tomas is coming."

Menacingly Mulder continued, "I though 
you said he wouldn't come after you."

"Daddy always said you never turn against 
family.  If Tomas's isn't afraid to take 
this step, there are several others he 
will have no trouble taking as well."

Peremptorily Mulder commanded, "Translate 
that into English."

"We are all in a lot a trouble Agent 
Mulder.  A LOT of trouble."

Turning her back on Mulder Sally turned 
to her people.  "You have followed me for 
many years now and have survived many 
crises with me as your leader.  If you 
stay with me now you could very well be 
following me to your doom.  If any of you 
wish to be freed from your bond you may 
go with no worries of repercussions.  
This is a family thing and it's not right 
to drag you into this against your will.  
I love you all but it's not fair to ask 
you to fight my battles.  Stay or go, 
it's your choice.  

No one moved, not even the flicker of a 
lupine ear.  These were Sally's people 
and they were in it till the end.

Nodding her head in acceptance Sally 
started issuing orders.

"Igor, you and Jane will have to decoy 
for Mulder and Scully.  Jen, you and 
Danielle take the wolves and scout on 
ahead.  I'm positive he's nearby.  The 
rest of you, take your positions and wait 
for my signal."

As Sally continued issuing orders her 
decoys moved over to Mulder and Scully.  
Separating the two of them from the rest 
of her people, Igor and Jane moved in 
between Mulder and Scully, hurriedly 
undressing, they indicated for Mulder and 
Scully to change clothes with them.  
Nervously Mulder watched as Jane pulled 
Scully behind a tree allowing her a 
little bit of privacy.  

His change completed Mulder waited for 
Scully, and a few minutes later she was 
back by his side.  Her city clothes 
exchanged for items more suited for this 
rugged area.  The coat she had been given 
was puffy and it added more bulk to her 
top half.     
 
Going over to Sally, Mulder pulled his 
weapon from the small of his back and 
tried to hand it to her.

Her mouth a thin line of worry, Sally 
gently pushed the weapon back to Mulder.  
"It won't work.  I wasn't kidding when I 
told you we weren't from this planet."

Replying to the look on Mulder's face 
Sally went on, "John-Gabriel will see to 
it that you and Scully get safely away.  
If it's a fight Tomas wants, then it's a 
fight he'll get.  My biggest concern now 
is that you and Ms. Scully live to see 
another day.  It's not your turn yet and 
this isn't a battle I intend to enlist 
you in."

From her stance Mulder could tell that 
arguing with her would be pointless.  

Shaking his head he moved towards Scully, 
angrily he thought, 'It's not my turn.  
Sometimes it seems like it's never not my 
turn.  That live or die, everything I do 
revolves around it being my turn, my 
decision, my choice.'

"Turn your God-damn head off Agent 
Mulder, I can't hear Tomas."

Mulder stiffened then grimaced before 
taking Scully's hand in his own and 
preparing to follow John-Gabriel away 
from here. 

Casting one last look back at her 
guardian Sally said, "Perhaps death won't 
part us."

Taking two steps over to his ward, John-
Gabriel wrapped his arms around Sally and 
pulled her in to him.  Mulder marveled 
that so seamlessly did they fit together 
that momentarily the two of them were 
one.

Deeply John-Gabriel stared into Sally's 
eyes.  Perhaps he saw the reflection of 
the love he had for her in the depths of 
her eyes.  
Pulling her even closer he kissed her. 
Sally gave a startled exhalation of 
surprise.  But it was only for a moment 
before she kissed him back, a deeply 
passionate response that made Mulder and 
Scully feel a bit voyeuristic.

Slowly Sally pulled away, throwing a 
knowing look up at John-Gabriel. 
Regrettably she spoke, "You had to wait 
till now to tell me?"

A shrug was her only answer.

Scully who had no problems admitting she 
wasn't a mind reader, chuckled at the 
look on Sally's face.  She knew exactly 
what Sally was thinking.  Hadn't she 
thought it herself many times about 
Mulder? 'MEN'!

Sally cast a quick glance over at Scully 
before giving her a small grin and a 
conspiratorial wink.  

"You take care Agent Scully."

Scully opened her mouth to reply, but was 
caught off guard by the sight of Tomas 
standing at the top of the ridge.

Sally whipped around, "DON'T DO THIS 
TOMAS, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED." 

"EL LOBA, IT IS TIME TO TAKE MY RIGHTFUL 
PLACE."

"Go", Sally hissed at John-Gabriel before 
turning her attention back to her 
brother.

Hollering up at him  Sally answered, 
"YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE? YOU ASSHOLE! YOU 
LOST IT WHEN YOU LEFT THE TRIBE.  THEY 
ARE MY PEOPLE NOW AND FOR 57 YEARS I'VE 
WATCHED OVER THEM, PROTECTING THEM FROM 
YOUR IDIOTIC FOLLIES.  ANTICS THAT WOULD 
HAVE LED TO OUR EXTENCTION LONG BEFORE 
NOW."

Sally's people scattered as Tomas moved 
down the hill towards his sister.  
Stopping directly in front of her, Tomas 
put a finger in her face.

Slapping his hand away Sally promised, 
"If you ever put a finger in my face 
again I will rip that fucker off and 
shove it down your throat.  I'm not your 
little sister anymore.  I'm the last 
leader of our people and I WILL follow my 
sworn duty to the end.  No matter WHO 
gets in my way."

"You CUNT, from the moment we were born I 
was always acknowledged as their future 
rightful leader when father passed away."

When Tomas hurled that last insult, 
Sally's people froze with horror.  
Everyone has a word that can piss them 
off faster than a car going from zero to 
60.  Tomas had rung the bell and won a 
teddy bear.  Sally was volcanic with 
anger!

Eyes narrowed, jaw clenched, skin pulled 
tightly over her cheeks and her lips 
thinned in anger Sally gave off an 
unmistakable aura of one who has been 
pushed to the limit.  From Mulder's angle 
it looked like even her hair was standing 
on end.  

"That was then but this is now.  You left 
and you lost.  They are my people now.  I 
love them and I would die for them.  They 
know it and because I love them; 
something you could never do," Sally 
cruelly jabbed, "they will follow me to 
the end.  Even if you beat me here today 
you've already lost.  MY PEOPLE WILL NOT 
FOLLOW YOU."

Entreatingly she spoke, "Let this go 
Tomas, it's not worth it."

"I will be leader of this world, and you 
can't stop me."

"Oh Christ not that again Tomas.  There 
are too many different cultures out there 
now.  You might get one or two of then to 
recognize your claims, but the rest of 
them won't.  And the division you'll 
cause among these people will make the 
rest of us easy pickings when The Others 
come back.  I will not let you do this.  
United we stand divide we fall.  It's 
that easy."

Mulder went to back Sally up but was 
rudely caught up from behind by John-
Gabriel.  Without another word the big 
man with Scully in one hand and Mulder in 
the other propelled them away from the 
danger zone and towards safety.        


Part 19

Alternately dragged and completely 
compelled against their wills, Agents 
Mulder and Scully were propelled to 
safety by John-Gabriel.  Not once did he 
look back to see if they were being 
followed.  Just the steady even stride of 
being taken away.  Taken away from the 
battle, taken away from love, taken away 
from heart, hand and desire.

With a final desperate wrench of her arm 
Scully yanked away from John-Gabriel.  
Rounding on him, red hair spinning around 
to flank her face, she flared angrily 
"You just left her back there to die!"        

Eyes rolling, exasperatedly John-Gabriel 
replied, "You heard her as well as I did.  
She told me to take you away and that is 
that."  

Her forehead tightly bunched, Scully went 
after him again.  "So you're just gonna 
do what she says?"

Mulder tried to take Scully by the arm 
but was rudely slapped away.  

"Back off Mulder, I don't think I believe 
any of the crap she's laid on us, but she 
saved our asses today and I'll just be 
damned if I'm going to leave her back 
there to die."

Addressing himself to Scully, Tomas said,  
"I can't speak for where it is you and 
Mr. Mulder come from, but from where I 
stand what a man says and what a man does 
don't cross over.  Your word leads to a 
handshake and a handshake leads to a 
bond.  I have sworn that I would see you 
two safely away.  By failing to do that I 
go against everything I was ever taught 
about what it means to be a man."        

It was the longest sentence that either 
Scully or Mulder had ever heard John-
Gabriel utter, and it silenced them both.

Softly Scully replied, "I see that I've 
misjudged you and I'm sorry, but there 
are some things I just can't let go of.  
How does it make you more of a man to let 
the woman you so obviously love go away, 
knowing she might die?"

Although Scully directed the words to 
John-Gabriel she might as well have been 
speaking to Mulder.  The words themselves 
resonating with pure simplicity touched a 
deep cord within him.  

Chiming in Mulder threw out another bone 
for John-Gabriel.  "How we define 
ourselves as men, is reflected by the 
women that we love.  If she winds up dead 
how will you see yourself then?"

Turning his back on Mulder and Scully, 
John-Gabriel considered all the things 
they had said and many of the things they 
had left unsaid, not only to him but to 
themselves as well.  He remembered the 
frustration he felt at watching Mulder 
and Scully over the years.  Two people 
who recognizably connected together well, 
unable to get together on the one thing 
that mattered most, each other.  Had the 
people of her tribe looked at him and 
Sally the same way?  Too much information 
never leads to an easy decision.  

A whistling whine jerked John-Gabriel's 
attention up.  The sky was hollowly lit 
with greenish-blue light.  Thoughtfully 
he looked over at Mulder and Scully 
before gazing back up into the night.  
Another siren cry, this time illuminated 
by a yellow-red trail towards heaven 
helped him finalize his decision.  

Hastily John-Gabriel turned around, 
checking his watch before speaking.   
"Listen to me very carefully.  In 15 
minutes there's going to be a huge time 
shift."

"Time shift?"  Scully looked blankly at 
John-Gabriel.

"Anytime there is a challenge for 
leadership the shared aura's of the 
combatants when they lock in battle is so 
strong that it disrupts the time space 
continuum of any planet that is the scene 
of such a challenge.  The only safe place 
to be when this thing hits is on the 
longitude line North-Northwest by 50 
degrees."

Grabbing Mulder by the shoulder John-
Gabriel roughly jerked him over several 
feet.  "About a hundred yards from here 
you will find a small path.  That's your 
longitude line.  DON'T get off this 
trail."

Scully queried, "What happens if we're 
off the trail when your time-shift hits?"

The impassiveness of his voice 
underlining the gravity of his words, 
John-Gabriel replied.  "You will never go 
home on this planet ever again."   
  
One more time he checked his watch.  
"Tick-tock Agents, you have 12 minutes 
and 15 seconds left, I wouldn't waste it 
hanging around here."  With that John-
Gabriel turned on his heel and was gone.

Mulder spared one last look at John-
Gabriel's retreating back before taking 
Scully by the hand and moving off towards 
safety; he hoped.      

Part 20 

If dreams are a reflection of reality, 
then Mulder would have given his life to 
be home asleep.  Not awake and rushing 
down a trail with gut wrenching fear just 
a few paces behind and gaining rapidly.  

To call this 'path' they were on a 
'trail' made it seem wildly exotic.  Only 
deep in the wilds of Alabama would a 
bramble filled, thorny ticket with deep 
ruts ready to turn an ankle be considered 
a trail.

Behind them the pandemonium of a vicious 
showdown escalated up a notch. 

Above her head Scully could hear the 
rumblings of a very large storm gaining 
momentum.

"Mulder I've got to rest for a moment."

Panting rapidly her every breath a 
metronome reflection of her frantically 
beating heart, Scully counted the seconds 
between claps.  

"The storm's coming this way."

His breath also coming in short stitches 
Mulder replied, "If we stay on this path 
it's going to lead us right into the 
heart of that storm."

"Mulder I think we've got a bigger 
problem than that."

"What?"

Scully flipped her chin towards the night 
sky indicating for Mulder to look up.

At first all Mulder could see was a black 
mass of bunched clouds.  But slowly his 
eyes focused and he could see the 
circular undulations of dark gray against 
black.

He exhaled sharply, "Oh Jesus, Scully 
that's a pre-tornado mass."  

"Mulder I'm no meteorologist but as sure 
as you and I are standing here, there is 
one hell of a storm coming and no matter 
which way we go, time-shift or not, we're 
going to be directly in its path."

An answering gust of wind whipped 
Mulder's reply away from Scully.

Lightning cracking down behind Scully 
startled her.  Jumping left as movement 
off behind Mulder caught her attention.  
Grabbing Mulder's shoulder Scully roughly 
pulled him down.

Wincing as he hit the ground Mulder 
attempted a rollover that would allow him 
to regain his feet.  Instead Scully threw 
herself on top of him shoving the last 
little bit of breath out of him with an 
audible 'ooof'.

"Sorry," she whispered in his ear, "About 
30 yards away there's a guy with a gun."

Rolling over onto his stomach Mulder 
pulled his weapon and rechecked that the 
clip was still loaded.  

Crawling forward on their elbows, trying 
to keep their heads down, Mulder and 
Scully worked their way behind a large 
oak tree.  Overhead the leafless limbs 
rattled hollowly, the tree groaning as 
the wind pushed harder.  

Slowly he shifted his weight, pulling his 
legs underneath him so that he could 
stand and fire. 

Horrified at the idea of leaving a piece 
of himself open to attack.  Mulder inched 
his way up, using the tree as a shield.  
Slowly he peeked around the tree.  

No one was around; their way was 
completely open.  

Shouting to make himself heard over the 
wind Mulder turned to Scully, "Are you 
sure you saw someone?"

Scully's reply was drowned out by 
lightning striking a tree not 20 yards 
away from them.  The resulting impact 
ignited the dry leaves at the base.  
Hungry flames began gobbling up dry 
leaves.

Frozen Mulder watched as one flame fed 
another until the ground behind him was 
awash in fire.  

"Mulder," futilely Scully tugged on 
Mulder's arm.  He seemed oblivious to the 
fact that they were directly in the 
flames path.  

Placing herself between Mulder and the 
oncoming rush of fire, Scully shoved him 
forward.  

Mustering up as much forcefulness as she 
could Scully bellowed at Mulder, "MOVE."

Her voice mixed with hope and fear worked 
its way through the cottony fog into 
Mulder's consciousness.  He began to move 
faster as though the Devil himself were 
licking at his heels.  

Reaching back Mulder grabbed Scully's 
hand and pulled her close behind.  

The closer she was, the more distant his 
fear that Scully was going to die out 
here seemed to be.

"Mulder, behind us!"

Mulder whipped around catching a glimpse 
of a man, gun aimed and ready.  His 
desperation gave Mulder amazing accuracy 
with a weapon he'd never fired before.  
With one shot he dropped the man, leaving 
Mulder with eight precious bullets before 
he was out of ammunition.

A few moments later the heavens opened 
up.  Quenching the flames but now turning 
dry ground into treacherous sucking mud.  

Instantly drenched, rain lashed at Mulder 
and Scully, stinging open wounds.  
Branches slapped at them, pulling, 
gripping wetly like an angry spurned 
lover.  

And still their pursuers followed.

'Christ that was close!'  Mulder thought 
as the mosquito whine of a bullet grazed 
his ear.  

Drenched and shivering Mulder paused, his 
mind racing furiously with all the 
unknown variables, wind, rain, fire, and 
probably a tornado.  
What was next an earthq..
 
Mulder's teeth clicked together as he was 
blindsided by one of Tomas's men.  
Tasting blood in his mouth he slipped to 
one knee, his attention focused onto the 
gleam of a hunting knife raised high 
above his head.  Reflected by the 
lightning it looked sharp and heavy.  
Throwing up his arm at the last second 
Mulder managed to deflect the blade from 
penetrating into his chest, instead 
causing it to slash through the  material 
of his shirt and into his arm.    

Immediately blood gushed down his arm.  
His hand already slippery from the rain, 
Mulder lost his grip on the pistol.  It 
fell to the ground and became buried in 
the red clayey mud.    

Mulder and the man tussled each straining 
for superiority over the other.  Twisting 
and turning they rolled around in the 
mud, alternately smashing one another 
into trees and rocks.  

Scully was knocked clear of the attack, 
wallowing around she urgently tried to 
regain her footing.    

Catching sight of Scully, Mulder yelled 
one word at her, both death and life in 
its meaning.

"GO!"

In that instant, Scully accepted her fate 
as she accepted her future.   She picked 
up at large branch nearby and swung at 
the man battling with Mulder.    

Too late to stop her blow Scully realized 
she was going to hit Mulder and the man 
at the same time.  The branch snapped in 
two but her aim had been effective.   
Mulder and the man separated.  With the 
remaining piece she swung mightily at the 
man's leg intent on kneecapping him.  Her 
aim was a trifle off but the resulting 
thud and answering scream assured her the 
man wasn't going to attack again.  

Amazed Mulder panted, "Damn Scully, 
where'd you learn that move?"

Primly she replied, "Girl scouts."

Grabbing Mulder by the arm Scully yanked 
him up, hurriedly she checked her watch, 
'Hell', two minutes and counting 
extremely fast.

Shoving Mulder in front of her Scully 
yelled up at him, "Mulder we've got 120 
seconds to find that trail or we'll never 
be in Kansas again."

"Scully I've got news for you.  I've 
never been to Kansas."

"Well guess what smart-ass if we get 
sucked up by that tornado, that's 
probably the next place we'll land."

Now the wind had picked up, Scully felt 
it tugging her clothes and whipping her 
hair around.  A dreadful roar filled the 
air and Scully could feel her eardrums 
popping from the pressure.    

Grabbing Mulder close Scully yelled into 
his ear, "We've got 60 seconds."

The lightning was a constant companion 
now.  Night was illuminated into day.  
Mulder's heart hammered in his chest.  He 
felt the unspeakable fear of deja vu roll 
over him as he realized that all the 
components of his dream were here 
together in one spot.       

The depths of Mulder's heart cried out 
against the Gods that had brought Mulder 
to this place and that would allow such a 
promising life as Scully's be snuffed 
out.  A candle that had illuminated his 
life, bringing him out of the darkness of 
his mind and into the light of real love, 
gone.  

Over Mulder's shoulder Scully gawked as 
John-Gabriel appeared out of the dark.  
Purposefully he walked toward them.  He 
seemed completely unmindful of the 
weather's whims and as he neared, Scully 
could see the grim set of his face.

Later when Scully had time to think back 
to this day, she realized what had been 
so strange about John-Gabriel's timely 
appearance.  Nothing on his person down 
to the last flap of bandanna hanging from 
his pocket had been flapping in the wind.  
He seemed to move in a vacuum all his own 
with no maelstrom threatening his future.  
He was just very simply there.  And 
Scully was really glad.        

Grabbing Mulder by one arm and Scully by 
the other, he jerked them forward and 
across the slippery ground.  

"Time is up," he growled at them.  Not 10 
feet away Mulder saw the path John-
Gabriel was taking them to.  He turned to 
speak but was left mute by what he saw 
behind them.  

A yellow curtain of wind was heading 
straight for them.  It was as high as it 
was wide and Mulder could see no 
beginning or end.  It was just there, an 
undeniable force that nothing could stand 
against and it was coming straight for 
them.  

Turning back to shout a question at John-
Gabriel, Mulder stopped.  Quickly he 
looked all around him and Scully.  Just 
as fast as he had been there he was gone.  
Mulder closed his eyes and shook his 
head, instantly sorry he'd done it 
because now his head hurt again.  

Looking at the approaching tide, Mulder 
gauged that he and Scully had a scant few 
seconds before it was on them.  Forcing 
Scully to the ground Mulder folded his 
body over hers.  Both his arms wrapped 
tightly around her.  Surprised he felt 
the small warmth of Scully's hands as 
they crept into his.  She was with him to 
the end, and Mulder's heart was 
gladdened.

The ensuing wave of golden light rolled 
over them.

Part 21 

In the blink of an eye eternity passed 
over Mulder and Scully.  Slipping in 
between the chinks of their personal 
armor.  Filling their souls, inundating 
itself into the unconscious layers of 
their brains.  Blending the individual 
sums of Mulder and Scully into one.      

Mulder began to feel the outlines of 
himself shimmer and twist.  Beneath him 
Scully seemed to dissolve, turning into a 
molten liquid pool of life.  His senses 
are heightened and above him he sees the 
world in colors, shapes, designs never 
before known to humankind.  

As Mulder shifts his weight, Scully feels 
his essence flow over her.   He breathes 
out and she breathes in.  He knows her 
love and she knows his fear.  Fear of 
her, fear for her, fear of the things she 
ignites in him and most importantly fear 
of what she still may show him about 
himself, herself and their future 
together.

All this has come to pass in the span of 
a single heartbeat.  Utter silence reigns 
supreme as the wave rolls over them and 
then vanishes.

Slowly Mulder raises his head as Scully 
stirs below him.  They are still alive!  

Gingerly Mulder stands up expecting the 
aches of this misadventure to kick in at 
any moment.  Groggily Scully moves 
around.  Reaching up she grabs Mulder's 
arm and using it as a brace pulls herself 
up.

"Oh God Mulder, that was your bad arm.  
Are you ok?"

Confused Mulder answered, "No it's not, I 
was cut on the other one, see?"

Amazement dawning on her, Scully begins 
checking Mulder over.  Her movements 
becoming hastier as she searches him over 
for the injuries he's sustained.

There were no cuts, no bruises, not even 
any torn material to give testimony.  
Mulder is completely healed!

Grabbing Scully Mulder takes her 
appearance in.  The sickening bruise on 
her temple, gone; the broken finger, 
realigned and working properly, no blood 
dotted her clothing.  Scully is covered 
in nothing more than mud splatters, for 
all anyone else could tell she might have 
just come in after working in a garden on 
a sunny afternoon.

Pulling her back to him, Mulder held 
Scully close.

Molding herself into Mulder's embrace 
Scully breathed in deeply.  The time 
shift had taught her much about herself 
and more about Mulder.  But still she 
felt the uncertainty of her own feeling 
in all of this.  If she allowed him into 
her heart, would there still be room for 
her?

The noise of a flare gun echoed through 
the trees as night briefly turned into 
day.  

Semi-automatic gunfire kicked up small 
pieces of dirt at Mulder's and Scully's 
feet.  Obviously they weren't the only 
ones on the trail at the moment of the 
time-shift.  Regardless of where their 
leader was now, his men were still 
following their last orders.  Ensuring 
that Mulder and Scully didn't get out of 
her alive.  

Mulder took off down the trail.  Mentally 
he cursed himself for losing the weapon 
Sally had given him.  

Frantically he weaved between the trees.  
Dodging left, ducking right as gunfire 
reverberated all around them.  
Unconsciously in sync with one another, 
Mulder and Scully flee through the woods.  
Dark has been turned into terminal day, 
flares constantly light the sky, blue, 
red, green and white. 

Sick to his stomach, mind darting 
furiously, Mulder ignores the limbs that 
slap at him.  Fresh cuts open up, he has 
one chance left to get Scully and himself 
out of here alive.  If he has to 
sacrifice himself so that she lives, then 
so be it.  

Turning at the same time Mulder and 
Scully smack hard into one another, 
knocking themselves to the ground.  
Scully's head comes into direct contact 
with Mulder's chin.  The resulting blow 
splits Scully's forehead open and blood 
now pours down her face, instantly 
soaking her clothes.

"Oh Jesus, Scully."

Mulder crawls over to her.  Firmly 
holding her head between his hands he 
inspects the wound.  Thankfully it's not 
deep, but it's obviously painful.  Even 
trying to brush Scully's bangs out of the 
way causes her to flinch.

Mulder flattens himself against Scully as 
feet pound down the trail not 15 feet 
from where they lay.  

When he is sure the man is past, Mulder 
pulls Scully up again.  Now he drags her 
off to the left.  Unfortunately as soon 
as they emerge on the trail they're 
spotted.  

More gunfire erupts, the strident sound 
of gunplay reaching new levels.  

Another flare lighting the night disrupts 
Mulder's attention.  He stumbles over an 
exposed tree root.  Landing painfully he 
is several seconds in catching his 
breath.

Every time Mulder dreams that Scully has 
been shot, it's always him pulling her 
up, him leading the way and her always 
behind him getting killed.

This time it's Scully who pulls Mulder 
up.  Her hand is sticky with blood and 
sweat in his own, but reassuringly she is 
in the lead.  Mulder can block her body 
from behind with his own.  For the first 
time since their frantic flight through 
the woods Mulder allows himself to 
believe that he and Scully will get out 
of here alive.

Mulder nearly plows into Scully as she 
skids to a stop.  Frozen with fear Scully 
stares directly down the barrel of a gun.  
The man behind the gun squeezes off a 
single shot.  His aim is true.  

Time slows to a crawl then stops 
altogether.

Mulder's hair stands on end as dread 
flows through his body.  His beaten body 
can't move faster that a bullet traveling 
at the speed of death.   Throwing his 
arms around Scully, Mulder tries to whirl 
her away.  But he is to slow and with a 
sickening thud he hears the bullet's 
crunching collision with Scully's body.  
The resulting impact throwing them both 
to the ground.  

From the corner of his eye Mulder caught 
a glimpse of AD Skinner as he seemingly 
appeared out of nowhere.  Scully's gunman 
and Skinner saw one another at the same 
time, turning they each fired.  The man 
missed, Skinner didn't.   

His voice edged with hysteria Mulder 
screams over at Skinner, "Get a 
medic over here Scully's been shot."

Frantically Mulder's hands scrabble over 
Scully's blouse, there's blood 
everywhere.  He rips the material, 
buttons flying everywhere as he looks for 
the hole that he knows is there.  A hole 
that he has seen countless times, a hole 
that rips his life open never to be 
closed again.  

But instead of finding red stained 
tattered flesh, Mulder's hands encounter 
a hard resistant surface.  Pushing more 
of the material away his hands search all 
over Scully's chest only to find more of 
the...amazed Mulder looked down at 
Scully.

She was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Mulder cupped Scully's face in his hands, 
the Delphic curves of her lips smiled up 
at him, despite the dirt that streaks her 
face and mats her hair Mulder is still in 
awe of how beautiful she looks.

"Where did this come from?"

Scully weakly coughed, then winced.

"When we were changing clothes with the 
decoy's, the woman insisted I wear it, 
said I'd be really glad later."    

"I think I've busted a rib."   
         
Softly Mulder answered,  "That will 
heal."   

"They knew about your dream."

Mulder's smile faltered then faded 
completely.  

"I know about your dream too, that's why 
I didn't argue when they gave me this 
thing."

"How did you find out?"

Scully reached up and placed her hand on 
Mulder's check.  Unconsciously he covered 
her hand with his own.
 
"Mulder, you do a lot of talking in your 
sleep."

At that moment Skinner came rushing up, 
looking down at his fallen agent Skinner 
asked, "Are you ok Agent Scully?"

Unsteadily she smiled up at Skinner, "I'm 
a little sore, but I'll be ok in a few 
days Sir."

The medics came up and began tending to 
Scully.  Knowing she was safe in their 
hands Mulder turned to Skinner.

"How did you know where to find us?"

Holstering his pistol Skinner neutrally 
replied,  "You'd be amazed at just how 
far some folks will go to help you if you 
just ask nicely."

No reply seemed necessary.  Mulder and 
Skinner stood there as the Medics 
prepared Scully to be airlifted out of 
there and back to the city.   


Part 22


A tap on Scully's door interrupted her 
train of thought.  

"Just a minute," she called out.  
Clicking save on her computer she went to 
get the door. 

"Mulder, I should have known it was you."

Smiling she opened the door further and 
beckoned him in.

"Just finishing my notes it won't take 
but a minute.  Make yourself 
comfortable."

Scully went back to her computer and 
reopened the file.

Mulder wandered over to the window and 
peered out.  It was early evening and the 
sun was setting off in the distance. 'Red 
sky at night sailor's delight', he 
thought to himself.  To his left he heard 
Scully resume her report.   The steady 
click clack of her fingers on the 
keyboard gave no indication of the 
thoughts she was having.

Mulder closed his eyes and allowed 
himself the luxury of feeling her 
presence near him.

"Mulder?" she queried.

"Hmmmmm," he responded.

For a second there was silence and Mulder 
decided that whatever she originally 
intended to say was going to be replaced 
by something rational and logical.

He opened his eyes, turned to Scully and 
gave her a bemused smile.  

"What", he raised his eyebrows 
encouraging her to continue.  

"Mulder I have checked every directory, 
every Agency I could find, both here and 
abroad.  There's no record that a Sally 
Wolfe or a 
John-Gabriel ever existed."

Mulder sighed before nodding his head in 
understanding.

Scully continued, "I talked to Skinner 
earlier today.  Did you know a second 
tornado set down where we were?  It 
leveled everything, there's no camp, no 
bait store, nothing to prove we were ever 
there and that those places even 
existed."

"What about the man I killed?"


Looking up at Mulder Scully went on, 
"Just like all the other times when we've 
really needed proof, all we're left with 
now is our word. The tornado was total, 
it's path of destruction complete.  There 
isn't anything left in Deer-Fork Creek 
right now bigger than a match head.  
Besides, you lost the weapon that had 
Sally's prints on it.  We could have used 
those prints to match them up to a real 
person and then we would have know what 
was 'really' going on."
   
Contemplatively Mulder spoke, "You know 
Scully sometimes this all seems like a 
bad dream and that we are nothing more 
than the figment of someone else's 
imagination."

"Oh Mulder, if this were a story then all 
the loose ends would be tied up with a 
pretty pink bow.  There would be bodies 
with bullets, Sally Wolfe would turn out 
to live next door, this story would have 
a happy ending and all our questions 
would be answered.  I hear it's bad form 
to leave an audience hanging."

Pleased at the smile that started forming 
around the corners of Mulder's mouth 
Scully continued, "At the end of a story 
doesn't the hero always get the girl?"

Was Scully making a gambit here?

"Are you saying I'm a hero Scully?" 

Getting serious again, Scully redirected 
Mulder's attention back to the problem at 
hand, "What about that story of your 
family battling 'little green men' since 
the beginning of time.  Do you believe 
that?"  Scully was openly skeptical now.

"Scully I'm telling you right now it 
doesn't matter what 'the records' say, 
Sally Wolfe and John-Gabriel exist.  She 
got to you the same as she got to me, and 
it doesn't take a psychiatrist to tell 
you that it's impossible for two people 
to be having the same nervous breakdown 
at the same time."  

Mulder paused for a moment carefully 
considering his position before he went 
on, "Things can change in the blink of an 
eye, proof can fade to supposition 
leaving its believer nothing but older 
and poorer.  But in my heart I know it 
was real because I believe."       

A muscle in Scully's jaw twitched.

"Ok Mulder I'm going to humor you on this 
one, Sally Wolfe exists.  But the shape 
changing I don't buy into at all.  It is 
genetically impossible for anyone to 
physically alter his or her appearance.  
The genes we carry dictate who we are, 
nothing more, nothing less.  Besides it's 
not like she changed shape right in front 
of us or anything."

"Scully by now you of all people ought to 
know that I don't have to see to believe.  
Ok, so maybe it is a bit hard to buy into 
the shape changing crap.  But to answer 
your earlier question I don't have to 
believe what she said about my family and 
the future. Because I know it's true.  I 
can feel it in my bones, ringing in my 
ears, telling me time is short."

Eyes focused somewhere over Mulder's 
right shoulder Scully tried to consider 
the deeper import of what he was saying.  
But whatever he was getting at the 
meaning still eluded her.  Shaking her 
head she returned her attention back to 
Mulder waiting for him to continue.        

Pouncing on her again Mulder asked, "What 
about the mind reading thing Scully?  Any 
pat answers in your little bag of science 
tricks to explain that one?"

"Luck Mulder, just plain old luck."

"Scully if I were that damn lucky I'd be 
out buying a lottery ticket right now.  
I'm telling you she knew EXACTLY what we 
were thinking."  

"Ok Mulder I'm NOT a mind reader, so you 
want to tell me what's going on here?"

"Have you ever stopped to wonder what my 
life was like before you came along?"

Disguising her confusion over this sudden 
apparent shift in conversation Scully 
readjusted herself more comfortably into 
her chair.

"No, Mulder I really hadn't, I just 
assumed...that, well, you..know. Her 
voice died off.  

"Did you know I had friends?   Most 
Wednesdays you could have found me at the 
gym playing pickup games of ball with 
some of the guys from work.  And 
afterwards we'd go over to the pub and 
have a pitcher or two of beer."

Mulder looked down at Scully waiting for 
her response.  Mutely she nodded her head 
'no'.   

"Did you know that I used to go over to 
my mom's on Sundays, when I could, for 
dinner?  For dessert we'd have pie and 
ice cream."

Again Scully shook her head no.  
 
Swallowing hard Mulder looked at the 
floor, "I want you to know everything 
Scully.  So please just be patient with 
what I'm going to tell you next.

Scully managed to chase away the stunned 
expression that had begun to form on her 
face; instead she merely looked 
thoughtful when Mulder glanced at her 
before looking away and continuing on 
with his story.

"Did you know that I have the normal 
needs, that most men seem to have?  I 
didn't always have the time for a 
relationship, but I always had enough 
time for 'companionship'.  It was all I 
really wanted.  I know that sounds 
callous but I had made a sanctuary of my 
heart and no one was allowed in."   

Mulder refused to look at Scully.     

Kindly Scully spoke to Mulder's back, her 
voice giving no indication to the inner 
turmoil beneath her surface.  "What does 
this have to do with Sally being able to 
'read minds'?"

Still not looking around, one hand on his 
hip, one hand on the window Mulder 
offhandedly answered.  "It was bad enough 
knowing that she could read my thoughts, 
it was worse knowing she could see my 
soul.  It scared me that I could be so 
open to a total stranger and yet so 
closed to my partner."

Instantly Scully saw through Mulder's 
attempt at casualness.  It angered her 
that Sally had upset Mulder so 
thoroughly.     

Soothingly Scully spoke, inviting Mulder 
to continue, "What did Sally see inside 
of you that is so frightening?"

The last remnants of daylight slipped 
into evening velvet twilight before 
Mulder could bring himself to reply.

His voice came out slow, faltering and 
Scully had to strain to catch his answer,  
"That everything I had been before you, 
was absolutely nothing, once you came 
into my life."

Scully leaned back in her chair as though 
she had been struck.  Well now, this was 
a major admission coming from a man whose 
biggest compliment to her, to date, had 
been, 'you look nice today'.

Slowly Scully twirled around in her 
chair, her mind churning.  Did this make 
him the stronger one in their 
relationship because he could say things 
out loud that she couldn't think in her 
head?  

Finally coming to a stop with her back to 
him Scully answered, "I had no idea you 
felt that way Mulder."   

His riposte cut Scully straight to the 
bone, "If you had ever opened your heart 
before now you would have already known 
how I felt."

Closing in on her he continued, "Why is 
it you can look at everything else in 
your life with such honesty but you can't 
look at me and where I fit into your life 
right now?" 

Scully didn't answer him, but from the 
stance of her shoulders Mulder had the 
idea she might be crying.

Entreatingly Mulder continued, feeling 
himself also to be on the verge of losing 
it, "Please Scully answer me, I need to 
know."

Still not facing Mulder Scully searched 
deep within her heart.  Finally not 
turning around she spoke over her 
shoulder, "Every time I think about my 
future you're always there and now I 
can't remember a time in the past when 
you weren't there also."

Save his steady patient breathing there 
was no other sound from Mulder. 

Scully sighed, "By allowing you into my 
life then I have to accept the fact that 
you may someday leave my life.  
Incomplete as it is, that's the only 
answer I have for you."

Mulder walked over to Scully and grabbed 
the back of the chair she was sitting in, 
turning it so she would have to face him.

Pulling her up Mulder enfolded Scully in 
his arms.  She returned the embrace, 
enjoying the feel of his arms around her.

Speaking his voice muffled by her hair, 
"You have always believed in me, you have 
always cared for me and I want you to 
always be here with me."

His words faded to a whisper, "I love you 
Scully.  I..."  His voice trailed off.

Here it was, the moment Scully had both 
wanted and dreaded for some time now, yet 
still she couldn't bring herself to 
acknowledge what Mulder had just said.  
This beautiful golden man had shared his 
heart with her and Scully still couldn't 
bring herself to acknowledge it.

Scully closed her eyes, and pressed 
herself deeper into Mulder's embrace.  
Through his shirt she could hear the 
steady beat of his heart.  It cried out 
to her in a magnetic torrential 
outpouring of emotion.  

'I will never know love like this again,' 
she thought.  'But there aren't any do-
overs in love.'  Considering her dilemma 
further she realized Mulder had never 
held anything back from her and if she 
accepted his love then there could be no 
reservations on her part.  She would have 
to just plunge into the waters of love 
and let the resulting waves engulf her, 
counting on her ability to survive in the 
strange new frontier that she and Mulder 
would create together.     

"I love you too."

Slowly Mulder lowered his mouth to 
Scully's.  She tasted of summer fruit and 
warm lazy days.  He allowed himself to 
sink into that kiss, closing his eyes as 
her scent enveloped him.  Within her kiss 
was the promise of all the days to come 
and Fox Mulder believed.

END    

Author's Notes:  If you have read this 
thing from beginning to end, then first 
and foremost I thank you the reader for 
sticking with me.  This story has been a 
year in the making and there were times 
when I truly despaired of ever finishing 
it, and without the unflagging support of 
Georgia, who most wholeheartedly deserves 
the award of best person ever, this story 
might never have been finished.  Heaps of 
praise also goes to Jen, who was always 
happy to punctuate me in the name of 
love.  Also, thanks to Mary who was a 
fountainhead of patience and wisdom.

Some of the characters in my story are 
based on real people, each of whom 
blessed my theft of their personas and 
allowed me to change them to fit the 
needs of my story.  

I have no plans to write a follow-up to 
this story, but if you are interested, 
one possible future outcome of this story 
can be read in another story that has 
always been a favorite of mine called, 
"War Stories and Maple Hair", by 
Prufrock's love.

Shade and sweet water, Sally