Date sent: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 19:19:56 +0800 From: Penny Daza Subject: No More Demons Pre-Sequel (Scully's POV) Title: No More Demons Prequel, Scully's POV Author: Penny Daza Distribution: Anywhere. Name and e-mail addy included. Summary: Scully's thoughts as Mulder sleeps beside her Category: A, wee bit of MSR Rating: G Spoilers: None Disclaimer: All characters belong to his worshipfullness, Chris Carter and the Fox Network AUTHOR'S NOTE: I got some great feedback from the story I wrote, No More Demons. I've been working on a sequel, but writer's block has been hounding me for weeks, so I wrote this to let some of the stress out. If you haven't read No More Demons, it's basically a story about how Mulder and Scully discovered that sleeping together (no sex, just SLEEP) keeps their nightmares away. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX DANA SCULLY'S APARTMENT 3 AM "Your arm has just tightened around me. "I still don't know how or why, but you sense even before I realize myself that I need to get up. The reactions differ. Sometimes, you half sprawl over me, and other times you growl a protest. Either way, it's very flattering, and very sweet that you miss my presence before I've even left. "I see your hand burrowing under the sheets. I know where it's headed. It's gone there every single night since we started sleeping together. Under the quilt, under my jammies, and over my stomach. Your thumb makes slow and lazy circles there for a few minutes before stopping. When I tried to stop you once, your eyes snapped open and gave me a dirty look. "I ran out of strawberry scented shampoo last week, and I found out you prefer the one I'm using now, apple-cinnamon. You love plopping your head next to mine and I hear you inhale deeply. Then you comes closer. Plop. And closer. Plop. And closer. Plop. And closer. Plop. Till I'm positive all you can smell is my hair. If you get any closer, you'll be smothered. "I've got the funny feeling you're planning to buy me a dog. I told you I missed QueeQueg sometimes, and you grimaced, your little-boy-drinking-bad-medicine grimace. QueeQueg's last remaining weeks alive were an identity crisis for him. I called him by his name, but you always called him "that thing" or "ratboy". "You started sleeptalking the night after that, and from what I could tell, you were imagining standing outside a petstore with me. "What about that one?" you asked. I woke up then, wondering what you were talking about. But your eyes were still closed and you kept on talking. "Nothing wrong with Labrador Retrievers, Scully." A list of dog species started pouring out of your mouth then, and you enumerated pros and cons, and I think so did I in your dream. Pug, too ugly. Rottweiler, too big. Pekinese, too irritating. Chihuahua, are you kidding? "I guess you were set on the Labrador Retriever from the beginning. "The way your eyelids drift shut when you get sleepy has become endearing to me. I watch your hazel eyes cloud over, and the way your body moves to get more comfortable. Even in your sleep, your concern over my comfort is constant. I wonder sometimes if you realize this, because in the waking world you are much different. My personal space has become as much yours as mine and vice versa during our slumber, but nowhere else. "As I lay here in bed with you beside me, I realize it is the first time in my life since I met you that I wished circumstances were different. If only you weren't my partner, if only I weren't so sick. I do not regret the choices I made, but I can only hope to fathom what things would have… COULD have been like if our paths had crossed at a different intersection. You've given me glimpses of your soul, and I have shared your pain just as you have shared mine. "Six months have passed. The cancer in my body has spread, and more than ever I feel time like a heartbeat, each pulse a beacon to the specter of death. And my soul nears the shore, but it is not to safety. "The light at the end of the tunnel will get clearer soon. But now that you're beside me, the darkness that was behind me has been replaced by a light just as bright. When the time comes, and I must make a decision which light is my destiny, I will not make the choice based on what fate has chosen for me. If I need to spend my last breaths to ensure this, I will. I know with infinite certainty that the light where you are now will soon burn stronger and be warmer, and tonight, as I feel my body weaken, I start the slow journey like a salmon swimming upstream, struggling to keep a hold of something I cannot grasp in my hand that only my soul feels. It is where you are. It is where I want to be. I kiss your lips gently, and you remain oblivious in your sleep. My voice is the only sound in the room. "Where you are, Fox." THE END xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx Feedback always appreciated.