From: agnewdt Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 15:42:19 +0100 Subject: NEW: Sanctuary III: Zenith (1/2) by D. Agnew (MSR) Okay to archive as long as the story remains unaltered and my name is still on the story. Please let me know if you're going to archive the story. Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program and movie "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. Spoilers: Every season is fair game this time, and so is every episode. Rating: PG-13 Classification: Full-blown MSR Author's Note: Reading Sanctuary and Sanctuary II: Bonded is vital or you won't understand Sanctuary III: Zenith. Summary: Mulder and Scully reap the rewards and the consequences as they discover the most important and final truth. Sanctuary III: Zenith (1/2) by Denise A. Agnew danovelist@yahoo.com Condo in the Colorado Mountains Thursday, 1:00pm Scully looked out the living room window and knew Mulder would be here soon. He hadn't called again to tell her when he'd arrive today, but then she hadn't expected him to call. She sank onto the couch and waited, her thoughts, her nerves electrified as the sudden crack of thunder echoing off the mountains. She jumped, startled. She hadn't slept Wednesday night and now she experienced a deep lethargy mixed with anticipation and nerves. She figured she looked like hell and a half. Mulder's email revelations had taken her tranquility and replaced it with turmoil. She hadn't decided what type of turbulence, but nonetheless, it was there. A car pulled into the small drive a half hour later. She quickly went to the front door, unsure how to react. Mulder. He sat in the car, unmoving as she stepped onto the porch. Did he expect her to come out to him? She left the porch at the same time he opened the car door and got out. As he came toward her, tension gripped her body. She knew this was THE moment. The moment when everything came together or fell apart at last. No turning back. No running away. Now or never. Dark circles under his eyes, and his tentative smile confirmed he, too, had lost sleep. Seconds later he brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead, an unusual action for him. Then he looked at the ground as his long stride carried him toward her. The uncertainty in his gestures surprised her. He came to a stop in front of her. As the clich said, always so close, yet so far away. "Hey." She took in his rumpled long sleeved white shirt and jeans. "Hey." They stared at each other for so long, she knew she'd be the first to break eye contact. Her thoughts flew around like drunken birds as she tried to keep her gaze centered on his. She succeeded. Triumph slid into her as his expression lightened, grew calmer, less uncertain. Damn if he didn't look happy. "I read your email," she said softly. "I didn't reply because I knew you'd be here soon." "I knew you wouldn't answer by email." He shrugged. "It wouldn't be your way." She couldn't deny it, and smiled the slightest bit. "Do you want to go inside?" As she gestured toward the front door, he shook his head and surveyed the area. "I think a natural setting is more what I had in mind." Taking a deep breath, she absorbed the beautiful hillsides, the height and glory of the pine-covered mountains surrounding the area. A nearby brook trickled with water, a barely perceptible ripple of sound. Sunlight struggled through thunderheads cresting the peak in front of her. A light rain began to trickle from the sky, beading on the grass under her feet and dampening her hair. She ignored it and stuffed her hands in her jeans pockets. "What do you have in mind, Mulder?" "A confessional." "I thought you already did that in your email." "What did you think of it?" He came closer, into that intimate range she'd become used to years before. "You know, sometimes when you're writing something it comes effortlessly, and all the pieces fit together. That note was like having my wisdom teeth pulled out." "Good things are often difficult." He stuffed his hands in his jeans, mimicking her pose, and she wondered if he'd done it on purpose. Mirroring her to get her sympathy. To show her how connected he was to her. "Good things come to those who wait?" he asked. "For every positive proverb there is a negative. He who hesitates is lost." "Did I wait too long?" he asked softly, inching a smidgen closer. For a full half minute he feared he'd been too cocky. Hell, all the way through the winding pass he'd wondered if his email had sealed his fate. The composed, unmoved expression on her face dissolved to a tentative grin. "And like a rolling stone you keep on movin' on," she said. "What if I decide to stay in one place?" "You've been in one place for six years, Mulder." He frowned. "Ouch." "Does it really hurt that badly?" "Like a bitch." "What do you need to stop the pain?" He moved in again, so close now they might have been in each other's arms. He lowered his voice, until if became a warm whisper on her cheek. "Tell me, Scully. Tell me what you thought. Is my theory crazy? Are we reincarnated together only to break apart, then come together at the end of our lives?" The granite wall of disbelief entered her face. "Mulder, don't ask me to believe that. When you said it...you must...you must have known what I'd say. How could I be sure...how could either of us be sure that's what really happens? I don't remember any of it, even if it did happen." When he said nothing, she added a caveat. "And you don't either." He laughed, surprising himself and her, apparently. "What is so funny?" she asked, her brow knitting together. Before he could answer the darkening sky opened up, and the rain came down with furious intent. They rushed into the condo. She hurried to the bathroom for towels, and when she came back into the living room, he stood on the doormat, his shirt soaked and his hair dripping. She tossed him a big towel, and he rubbed his hair. She took off her sandals and then retreated to the bedroom to change her clothes. When she came back he still stood on the doormat, looking uncomfortable...awkward. He stared at the plush white towel in wonder. "Amazing. Didn't think they actually made towels like these for hotels or time share condos." He dropped the towel on the chair by the door and began unbuttoning his shirt. "Except maybe at the Ritz." She stared at his hands as he pulled his shirt out of the waistband of his jeans. "When have you ever stayed at the Ritz?" He slid the shirt off his torso and put it on the same chair with the towel. Then he retrieved the towel, slinging it around his neck. He walked toward her. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Putting her towel around her neck the same way he'd positioned his, she said, "Yes, I would, Mulder. I thought we were into disclosure today." When he came to a stop in front of her, Scully inhaled his masculine scent. She crossed her arms. "You never answered my question," he said. "Does my email tell you all you need to know? Does it say what you want to hear?" A trickle of water ran down the back of her neck, and she shivered. A gossamer panic scattered her usually well-placed speech. "No. No, it doesn't." "So talk to me, Scully," he said softly. "If you don't believe we've always been together, then what do you believe?" She'd dread this moment. Feared it and realized how essential it was to their relationship. NOW was the critical stage. She had to put up or shut up. "I think it's your way of defining our relationship. Whether it is accurate or not--" "God." Her statement stung. "Will you ever just take what I say and run with it?" "You don't really want me to do that. You don't want me to change. Not really." "Yes, I do!" "Mulder--" "Don't." He took hold of her shoulders and pressed them. "Don't hide from me. Give me the blunt truth. Now that I've told you everything, please don't run from me." He was right. Again. End of Part One Sanctuary III: Zenith (2/2) by Denise A. Agnew danovelist@yahoo.com Condo in the Colorado Mountains Thursday, 1:15pm "Why did you come here?" Scully asked, uncertain if he knew himself. "After your email...I wasn't sure you would really be here." "Why?" He moved a step nearer and she retreated, edging behind the couch and using it as a barrier. He flinched, and she knew she'd made a mistake. Mulder's closeness kept her from thinking straight, but why did she care now? Had her desire to keep from being hurt assured she'd never have what she needed from Mulder? "I know WHY," he answered for her. "I know I couldn't expect you to believe me. Not after all I've put you through." Gripping the back of the couch, she nodded. "You're record isn't exactly the best." Naked pain flickered over his face like lightning, but she knew she'd seen it there. "Can you forgive me?" he asked. The softness of his entreaty surprised her. When had he last spoken this way to her? Had he ever? Yes, in the hallway of his apartment complex all those months ago. And she said the only thing she could...the only thing she wanted. "Yes." Seconds passed and he said nothing. She thought she would wilt, fade away like a bad dream, the morning dew dampening her cheeks like tears. A trickle of remaining rainwater slipped down her neck and she shivered again. She came around the couch, her steps certain for the first time in a long time. "There's nothing to forgive, Mulder. We can start fresh." "Oh, yes, there IS something to forgive." He came closer, his voice solemn, his expression tinged with a sadness she'd never seen before. It hurt to see the pain spread over his lean features. "Years of meaningless cases." Tears welled in her eyes again so quickly she couldn't stop them, and they pooled, holding her captive on a whim. Any minute they might betray her entirely and spill upon her skin. Wet, stinging, hot, they threatened. "They weren't meaningless." She cleared her throat, clogged by a lump so hard it hurt. She took a huge breath. "Don't say that." "I just did." She closed her eyes. A stubborn Mulder could cure her unhappiness and replace it with anger any day. "You are so damned stubborn. What do you want?" "I'm afraid to say." She'd waited this long. Days, hours, minutes, seconds. Years. Another nanosecond wouldn't matter. "You've said everything you can, haven't you?" He smiled slowly. "A Long Island Iced Tea, a hot tub, and some company. That's what I want." He came toward her again, in relentless pursuit, and God help her she wanted to stop running. Twisting her mouth into a half-disdainful frown, she took a step closer to him. Now they stood with less than a foot between them, and she tilted her head back to look at him. Suddenly, any hesitation she might have experienced drifted away like dust. Her fingers itched to touch him, to experience the hard, masculine curves of his body...to explore everything so long denied to her. "Sorry, I can't help you. I hate Long Island Iced Tea." He looked around the condo. "No hot tub?" "No hot tub. But there is non-alcoholic iced tea and company." She saw him register the memory. "Must be love." He reached out, cupping her face gently with one hand. She leaned into his touch, her skin warmed and delighted by his care. No. His love. Everything within her, her instincts, his written note pointed to one undeniable truth. Perhaps the biggest truth they'd searched for all these years. Love. She couldn't hide from it or pretend she didn't care. No longer would time, distance, or X-Files tempt her to think she didn't need him. Mulder watched her eyelids flutter down, and he drank in her beauty. Part of him had known from the first day he'd fallen for Scully. He'd fought those feelings, physical and mental. His confessional in his apartment complex hallway, that he needed her...didn't want to continue without her hadn't convinced her that he loved her. And, by God, he did. Loved her. Was IN love with her. "I told you a long time ago, Scully." Her eyes flickered open again and as they did he drew her closer, his hand sliding into her hair as it had one on that ship in 1939. Only this time he had to take the consequences of his actions. If she decided to slug him, the bruise would be far nastier and hurt a hell of a lot more. Her eyes widened. "Told me what?" "When I was on the ship with the other Scully, I did something because I thought I'd never see you again. And you didn't like it. But this time, maybe you will." She knew what he meant. His lips had never touched hers, but she understood instinctively how it would be between them. And as he drew closer again, she went without resistance. A glow started somewhere around her heart and flowed to every point. Anticipation flowed and ebbed, then charged full force into her veins. "And I said something after, when I was in the hospital. You didn't believe me then. But this time, maybe you will." "Tell me, Mulder," she whispered. "I love you." Everything came together in that moment, and she smiled. Mulder felt it in his heart and he grinned, too, then let it fade as he drew her swiftly and without hesitation toward him. Tired of waiting and tired of taking his every living time, he took and he gave everything he had in that one motion. As they came together and their lips met, they both knew how important this was and where it would lead. They'd waited too long for there to be any other conclusion. Long ago they'd reached the breaking point, and new, molded together, they put the final touch on a passion that had formed from six years of friendship. When their lips parted, she looked up at him and he saw the glaze of desire she showed him without shame. His kiss HAD been all she'd wanted, needed, and could have dreamed. He hadn't hesitated. He'd given her everything. Well...almost everything. "I love you, too," she whispered. His gentle smile clouded with intent, and this time his arms came full around her and her hands plunged into his hair as they kissed. No going back. No more fear or regrets. And they tasted the future as their physical need for each other overwhelmed them. For the truth had been shown to them at last. The End.