From: Jill LaPoint Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 20:02:08 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Perchance I Perish Title: Perchance I Perish Author: Sal Jopint chinga_doll@yahoo.com Rating: PG Classification: SRA Spoilers: TFWID, need to have seen the ep to understand Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance Summary: Life or Death? Disclaimer: I'm tired of doing these, but I don't want to be sued, so I guess I have to do them. Don't own the characters, the episode this takes place during, only borrowing them. Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, The FOX Network, and other corporate people DO own 'em. Archive: Everywhere. Name and email addy attached. ~Perchance I Perish~ By Sal Jopint Mulder took off his jacket and proceeded into the field towards Apisoion's temple. Scully didn't want him to go, but there was no stopping him. "Mulder?" she had yelled, he continued walking with his hands in the air. "You're dead!" She cried, still he walked on. She would later regret her words. As the guards inside the temple caught sight of Mulder walking across the field, they fired. They shot blindly since they had just sipped the poisonous drink given to all the temple members. They finished firing on the man that was walking across the field and then fell to the ground. He blacked out as the noise stopped. The pain was incredible. The scene flashed before his eyes as he fell to his knees. He walked with his hands in the air and then the pain came. The 10 bullets rattled through his body one by one. The entrance of each one jolted him and that's when he began to fall. "Mulder, no!!" He heard being yelled from a familiar voice. "Scully." He groaned as he hit the ground. "Agent down! Get the paramedics over here now!" A man yelled. "Agent Scully you can't go to him yet! The area isn't secured. You need t wait until we sent the ATF agents in to clear it!" Another FBI agent told her as she tried to go to Mulder. "You know what, fuck the ATF agents! My partner is down and I'm going to see if he is okay! So get the hell outta my way!" She yelled as she pushed past the man in front of her. As she neared him, she could her him calling her name over and over. Although, he wasn't speaking, he was crying. "Dana. Dana, make it stop. Dana, help me, please." Mulder cried. "Mulder, oh God, Mulder it's gonna be okay. We're gonna get you to a hospital right away. It's gonna be okay." She said as she took off her suit coat and put it to the wounds on his chest to help slow the bleeding. She lifted his head and pulled it to rest on her thighs where she was kneeling. "God, it hurts so much. Dana, can you fix it? Am I going to live? Tell me the truth, please, Dana." He tried to ask calmly as he turned his head to her stomach. "T don't know, Fox, its hard to tell right now, but chances?" She couldn't bring herself to say that he might not make it. His lip quivered as he turned to look up at her. "Scully? Dana, I don't want to die. Not now, not yet. I have things to do still; it can't be my time. Why me? Why now? I donwannadie." He sobbed as his ability to form words was lost and his words were slurred together. "Just hold on, Fox, we're gonna see if you can be fixed up. Hey, you, you gotta hang on. You can't leave me alone to deal with Skinner. I can't do the x-files on my own. Plus, maybe there was a possibility of something more between us." She added seriously. She meant it, but she knew that, in her heart, he wasn't going to live to find the truth in her statement. As they loaded Mulder into the helicopter to be air lifted to the hospital, Scully silently said a prayer to God that Mulder would make it okay. She met the helicopter at the hospital and was greeted by a rushing team of doctors pushing past her. "What happened?" She asked following Mulder on the gurney. "He's lost consciousness and we can't get a pulse." A doctor reeled off entering an empty ER room. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, you're going to have to wait out in the waiting room." The doctor said, rushing in to begin work on Mulder. She sat in the waiting room, well actually paced, for a little over an hour, praying for a miracle. Soon, the doctor came out, "Miss Scully?" "Yes?" She said approaching him, "How is he?" "Well, we were able to remove the bullets, but he's lost a lot of blood and there's some internal bleeding. We're going to go back in and see if we can stop it, but it may cause him to slip into a coma." The doctor said. "Why? Where's the bleeding?" Scully asked. "In the brain. One of the bullets entered his head, but not all the way. It caused a small eruption in the brain that is bleeding." The doctor explained. Scully gave the go ahead on the operation, but on one condition: she got to speak to him right away. The doctor agreed and Scully went to speak to Mulder. Mulder lay asleep when she entered the room. She took a seat by his bed and held his hand in hers. Mulder's eyes slowly opened at her touch. He turned his head to face her, "Scully, am I okay?" He asked innocently. "Well, Mulder, lets just say you've been better." Scully said not yet looking at him. "Scully, what's wrong?" Mulder asked. "Um, well, you have some internal bleeding that may be operable." She said still avoiding eye contact. "Yeah, so that's a good thing, right?" He asked. "Well, it's in your brain, Mulder, and that's not such a good thing. You may slip into a coma during the operation. I've already given the go ahead for the operation." She said as she finally made eye contact. Mulder looked at her with confusion and hurt in his eyes, "Why, Scully, if I might never wake up? How could you?" He sounded truly hurt. "Mulder there is a 50/50 chance that you will make it through okay, so all I'm going to do is pray that you do make it. I'm sorry, Mulder." She said as she leaned forward and kissed his cheek and forehead. "Now, I'll see you, hopefully awake, in about and hour. Behave, Mulder." She said as she got up and left his room. Scully prayed throughout the whole time he was in surgery. 'God, if I lose him I don't know what I'm going to do.' She thought to herself. She didn't know what to think when the doctor came in and called her to his office. "Miss Scully, your partner has suffered terrible blood loss as you know. He made it through surgery and is now awake." The doctor paused for a moment. Scully silent rejoiced and thanked God. "But, due to blood loss and lack of oxygen to his brain, we are uncertain that he will make it through the night. You may go see him if you wish." The doctor finished. Scully thanked him and rushed to see Mulder. "Mulder!" She said as she opened the door. "Hey, Scully." He managed to say. His voice was gruff from the anesthesia they had given him. He was pale and seemed very weak. "I recall correctly, Scully, in the field you said that if I hung on that there could be something more serious between us. So I think you have a promise to make good on." He said. "Oh, no you don't Fox William Mulder. You're not in the clear yet. Your vitals are low and they're not sure you're stable. You still might not make it, Mulder." She said seriously. She was beginning to regret anything bad she had said to him and wanted to take it all back. Suddenly Mulder's eyes teared up, "Scully, I really don't want to die. No matter how many times I've wanted to kill myself for things that were all my fault, I don't want to go now. I can't. I would leave behind too many things. My mother, my sister may God find her, the x-files, my fish, but most of all you. I can't leave you; I don't want to leave you. Why me? Why now?" He asked again as she stepped into him to hold him while he cried into her shirt. Scully began to cry too, "I know, Mulder, I don't want you to die now either." It was going to be a long night, but Scully would stay be his side no matter what. She awoke the next morning with her head on Mulder's chest. His chest was rising and falling which mean he was alive. 'Ohmigod, he's alive!!!' She thought to herself as she sat up to see him staring at her. "Mulder, you're okay! You're still alive!" She said as she hugged him tightly around the neck. "Well, actually, I won't be for much longer if you keep holding my neck that tight, Dana." He said, his voice strangled. "Oh, sorry." She said as she let him go. Scully paged the doctor and had him come in immediately. "Well, he looks okay. His blood and oxygen levels are on the rise and his vitals are almost normal. If you don't mind I think we should keep him here for a few more nights until I'm satisfied that he is stable enough to go home and return to work." The doctor said. "Oh, yes, by all means. If it means that I'll be able to spend more days with him alive and well, keep him here as long as you like. I think he can't put up with it." Scully said overly excited. The doctor nodded his thanks and approval and left the room. "Hey, Scully, you have some promises to make good on now." Mulder said. "Yes. Yes, I don, Fox Mulder." She said as she kissed him deeply. "I love you, Dana" He said. "I love you too, Fox." She said as they kissed once more. Tada! The end! You like? No? Yes? Please don't leave me in the dark! chinga_doll@yahoo.com _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com