From: chester666@attbi.com
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 21:24:49 +0000
Subject: A Second Chance (1/1)
Source: direct

Title: A Second Chance
Rating: PG
Category: adventure/angst
Keywords:None
Summary: Our story begins where "Gethsemane" left off. 
Scully is, understandably, having a rough time dealing 
with Mulder's supposed death. But a ray of hope will 
soon shine down on Scully's beautiful tear-ridden face...


Nervous eyes glanced at a clock just turning to the 
terrible midnight. Each day went by too slowly for those 
eyes, seeing only darkness, hidden in the same four 
walls, for almost three days now. Midnight signified 
another lonely, torturous day of waiting, tension, & 
fear. It was the time between days, when all was lost 
for a time, but began again in sixty seconds. The eyes 
were bright, almost luminescent, against the dark 
silhouette that was their master. They looked back from 
that disheartening clock, to the picture that was being 
held by its' dark form. Though the shadows' hands 
touched the two dimensional young woman, the eyes saw 
her being. They remembered her brilliant, red hair; 
smelling faint traces of perfume, arousing them every 
time she lifted her deep, blue-green eyes to meet them. 
The eyes looked down, tearing as they realized how much 
they missed her.... and the clock struck 12:01. ~ ~ ~ ~ 
~ ~ 
~I should have never gotten so attached~Dana Scully 
thought to herself. ~It was only my work...~ ~but you 
let your work become your whole life!~ ~No, I mean, it 
was hard not to. I should never have taken the job, I 
shouldn't have let it get personal, I knew I could get 
hurt, I shouldn't have...~ ~Listen to yourself Dana! You 
know taking the X-files was one of the best moves you 
have ever made! Quit saying "I shouldn't have done this 
or that, you did, now be quiet!~ 
Scully sat fighting with herself while packing up 
Mulder's apartment. She had been given the task because 
Mulder's mother was too old & upset to do it. She, 
herself, was riddled with sorrow & guilt. After all, she 
was partly responsible, telling your best friend that 
you're going to die because of what he believes & that 
his whole life & belief system was imagined & forged is 
no easy thing to cope with. Plus, losing your best 
friend & companion of four years grates on your tear 
ducts. 
Scully was going through Mulders' things in his desk, 
packing it neatly into a big, cardboard box. She pulled 
out a role of masking tape. Scully ran her small fingers 
over it, remembering "X". Without even thinking, she 
pulled at the tape & ripped off a long piece with her 
teeth. She put it on the window at a diagonal & then did 
the same with another piece, forming a large X on the 
glass. She smiled & tilted her head as she realized what 
she had done, but the smile soon turned to tears & her 
tilted head looked down as she cried. She sat on the 
floor, her head in her tiny hands, she never realized 
before, or perhaps, never wanted to admit to herself, 
how much he meant to her & how big of an affect Mulder 
had had on her. 
Scully remembered the first time she met him, the first 
words he ever said to her were, "Nobody down here, but 
the F.B.I.'s most unwanted," she laughed. ~I remember 
walking in & him turning around. God, he looked so good 
in those glasses~ She leaned her head against the desk, 
tears still streaming down her cheeks. A vile, about 
three inches long rolled off the desk. It landed in 
Scully's lap; she picked it up, examining it. She had 
seen it before; it hadn't been on the desk when she had 
been packing. She looked at it harder; it had her name 
on it! 
"What?" she said. Scully pulled herself up & looked at 
the small vile again in the light. Inside was a kind of 
liquid; she turned the vile over & over in her hands. 
Where had it come from? Why did it have her name on it? 
Scully searched the desk, looking for some clue as to 
the origins of the vile. Something caught her eye, but 
it wasn't what she was looking for; or, maybe it was. A 
figure was standing perfectly still, gazing up at her 
from the street. It was a man, dark hair, tall, in a 
black trench coat. He was standing there as if he was 
waiting for something. The figure lifted his head more. 
Scully's eyes went wide. 
"Mulder," she whispered, as if saying it for the first 
time. 
Scully ran outside apartment 42 & waited impatiently for 
the elevator, pushing the button over & over again. It 
was taking too long! She wrenched open the door to the 
stairway & started down the steep stairs. 
Her mind racing, she ran faster & faster, taking two 
steps down at a time. But, in her blind haste, she 
tripped & fell down a flight, landing in a small square 
before the next flight descended. She lay for a second 
in the corner of the stairs, her head had been cut & she 
wasn't sure if anything else was hurt. Still, she had to 
get outside; she knew it was Mulder. So she got up & 
managed her way down the rest of the stairs & outside 
into the bustling street. She ran right to the spot he 
had been standing & looked back at Mulder's window. All 
she saw was a big X in the window, somehow, she had 
expected more. Scully looked around, no one; he had 
vanished. Her eyes started to tear up again & she put 
her head in her hands. ~How stupid, my emotional state 
must've caused some kind of hallucination.~ 
When she got back up to Mulder's apartment, she went 
into the bathroom. The cool water pouring out of the tap 
felt cleansing on her face. She put a band-aid over the 
cut on her forehead. 
"Shit," she accidentally knocked over the soap holder. 
She bent over to pick it up, when a strange feeling came 
over her. She quickly dismissed it & stood back up, 
placing the soap dish on the sink. She glanced one last 
time in the mirror. 
A gasp escaped her lips. In the mirror was the figure of 
Mulder, as if he was right behind her. Tears came, once 
again, to her eyes & her raised hand covered her mouth. 
She wanted so much to believe it was him, but it wasn't. 
"Mulder, is dead Dana, DEAD! HE'S GONE!" she 
yelled, "GONE!" 
The figure slowly shook his head. Scully turned around, 
but no one was there. She walked into Mulder's living 
room, crying. She lay down on his green couch, staring 
at the floor. ~This is where it all happened.~ 
Scully cried & cried, she was so tired, so stressed, so 
confused. ~This is not happening, this is not 
happening...~ 
All too familiar words to her, but she kept repeating 
them over & over in her head, wanting desperately to 
believe them. Until, finally, she cried herself to 
sleep. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
She dreamed she was in the forest, on a small, makeshift 
trail. 
"Scully!" a man's voice cried out. 
She whipped around to see Mulder standing down the road, 
his hands in his jean pockets. He looked wonderful; 
Scully ran to him & they embraced. She hugged him hard, 
never wanting to let go, tears streaming like rivers 
down her cheeks. He held her tight, picking her up off 
of the dirt. 
Scully opened her eyes & looked over Mulder's shoulder. 
Another figure of Mulder was standing down the path with 
a gun pointed at his head. 
Letting go of whom she thought was Mulder, she looked up 
into the face of Cancer Man. He smiled, puffed on his 
cigarette, & then vanished into a cloud of smoke. Scully 
ran through it towards Mulder, trying to yell "stop, 
please!" but no sound came out. 
A cyclone fence sprang up in front of Scully, blocking 
her. She banged on it, yelling soundlessly: begging, 
pleading with Mulder to stop, but to no avail. The gun 
was already raised. 
"Keep looking," Mulder said. *BANG* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Scully flew up off of the couch. The apartment was dark 
& it took a few seconds for her to realize where she 
was. She sat back on the couch, rubbing the sleep out of 
her face & eyes. She looked around, her eyes came to 
rest on a small envelope with an upside down stamp 
sealing it shut. 
She picked it up, on the front, it said, "keep looking". 
Her eyes went wide as the surprise showed on her face. 
She tore it open, only to find a little, handwritten 
note & a red, wilted rose petal. 
"Not everything is about you," it said. Below this, were 
directions: 
-Go to Creekside Cliff in the forest @ 9:00 pm tomorrow- 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Scully did as the note had instructed, she drove to the 
forest & went to Creekside Cliff. She had been there 
before as a teenager, it was a favorite spot to party at 
because of the waterfall & secluding trees. It was also 
very remote & private, often impossible to find at 
night. 
Looking up at the sky, she saw that it was a semi-cloudy 
night. In the winter, that wasn't a good sign, but 
Scully chose to ignore it. She knew that she had to keep 
frosty, just in case the person, or persons, she was 
meeting weren't friendly. 
She walked the path to the bottom of the waterfall. The 
night was dark & had it not been for her flashlight, she 
wouldn't have found it. 
A refreshing breeze blew through her soft hair & she 
listened to the sound of the cascading water. The 
moonlight shone on the water, making it look like 
softened metal. She closed her eyes, forgetting all 
about her real purpose there. It was so serene, so 
peaceful & quiet, quite a change from her high stress 
job in the city. She wished Mulder was there with her, 
he too needed a release. 
~What am I thinking! Snap out of it, you're here for a 
reason!~ But the voice in her head was so faint that she 
ignored it. 
Suddenly, a twig snapped behind her. Coming to her 
senses, she immediately spun around, pulling her gun. 
What she saw, she refused to believe. There, standing 
not ten feet away, arms raised, was Mulder. He was 
dressed in faded, blue jeans & a black jacket, clean-
shaven & obviously surprised. 
Scully started to shake, she lost the grip on her gun & 
it fell with a thud to the ground. 
"No," she managed to say, shaking her head. She turned 
around, putting her head in her shaking hands. ~This is 
a dream, it's not happening. It's all a hallucination, 
I'll turn around now & he'll be gone.~ 
But he wasn't. Scully couldn't understand, what was 
happening to her? 
"Scully, I..." he said," I know you don't understand." 
It talked to her! "No, I understand. You are an 
apparition, a figment of my imagination, a picture in my 
head!" she looked down," I'm just over- stressed, I..." 
She walked over to a rock & sat, shaking her head. 
"Scully, I'm not an apparition," he started," I wanted 
to tell you, but I couldn't. I can only assure you that 
I'm really me. You saw me, outside my apartment..." 
Scully looked up, tears already staining her pretty 
features. There he still stood, about five feet away, 
hands lodged in his pockets. She got up & walked over to 
him, stopping when she was a foot away. She looked at 
him, looked at his eyes, she was already half convinced. 
Her small arm extended to his chest, stopping right 
before it touched his jacket. She was hesitant, what if 
this was a dream? When was this going to stop? She was 
so afraid that he wasn't real. Her fears dissipated when 
she felt the smooth material of his jacket. She touched 
his chest & shoulders, it *was* him. The tears came to 
her eyes & poured out like the waterfall that cascaded 
behind her. 
"How could you do this to me?!?" she cried, pounding on 
his chest. She leaned into him, pounding, crying, 
furious for reasons she couldn't understand. All her 
emotions came spilling out. She finally just hugged him 
as tight as she could, not wanting to let go, ever. ~ ~ 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
The moment came to a sudden end as a huge thundering 
startled the two. Rain came after that, lightly at 
first, but then growing rapidly into a downpour. Scully 
studied Mulder's face, unsure if the droplets covering 
his cheeks were tears or rain, she would've liked to 
think they were tears. 
Suddenly, the flashlight started to go, it was getting 
dimmer & dimmer. 
"Come on!" Scully pulled Mulder up the rocks & behind 
the waterfall, "at least we'll be dryer in here, we'll 
never find the way back with no light." 
They walked to the back of the cave, collecting pieces 
of wood as they went. When they got to the driest area, 
they built a fire. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Mulder watched the light of the fire play on Scully's 
delicate features. He was glad to be with her again, 
glad to see that she was okay. ~How beautiful she 
looks.~ 
The fire blazed bright hues of red, orange & yellow. It 
danced like tiny, multicolored fairies in some sort of 
brilliant jubilee. Mesmerized by the intricate festival 
in front of her, Scully poked at the fire with a stick, 
trying to think of what to say. A million things came 
rushing into her mind, all yelling at once, all wanting 
her to say them; but none were the right things. 
"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" she looked 
at Mulder, only half expecting an answer for what was 
the stupidest question. She mentally smacked herself. 
"Well, it was a planned thing. Skinner & some associates 
of mine helped." 
"Skinner?!?" 
"Don't be mad, I told him not to say anything to you." 
Scully was shocked, "you mean you still don't trust me, 
do you?" she said quietly. 
"It's not that, I..." 
Scully got up & sighed, "I'll, uh, just go check the 
rain...to, to see if it's, uh, stopped, yet," she gave 
Mulder sort-of a half smile & walked towards the cave 
opening. 
Mulder watched her thin frame walk, such a confident 
walk; Scully was really strong. 
~How could he not trust her after all these years?~ 
Scully walked angrily towards the back of the waterfall. 
She had devoted the past four years to him & the X 
files, she would trust *him* with her life! 
Scully turned the corner & stepped out from behind the 
waterfall. Yep, it was still raining cats & dogs. Scully 
stood on the wet rock, letting droplets of rain fall on 
her smooth face, as she tilted it upward. 
Suddenly, an owl screeched somewhere in the distance. 
Scully jumped, startled. Her shoe slipped on the 
weathered rock, she felt her feet twist out from under 
her & she fell. A handhold was all she had to hold on 
to, her body was slipping over the side of the rock. 
"Mulder!" she screamed. 
Jumping at the sound of Scully's scream, Mulder ran 
outside. He immediately grabbed Scully's arms & pulled 
her up onto the rock. Even after she was stably on the 
rock, she wouldn't let go. 
"Are you okay?" he asked. 
"I'm fine, Mulder," she replied evenly, attempting to 
stand. She crumpled to the ground again, clutching her 
ankle. "Oh shit, I think it's sprained, ahh," she winced 
at the throbbing pain. 
"Here," Mulder picked up Scully. She put her arms around 
his neck, leaning her head on his shoulder. She was glad 
he was there, of course, she wouldn't be in this 
situation if he weren't. Mulder carried Scully into the 
cave & gently set her down in front of the fire. She put 
her foot on a nearby rock & took off her shoe. Both her 
shoes & socks were soaking wet, she removed her sock & 
continued to examine her ankle. Mulder sat down next to 
her. 
"Here, let me see." 
"Mulder, I am a doctor, I can take care of it." 
"Don't doctors always make the worst patients?" 
At this, Scully smiled & leaned back on her 
elbows, "knock yourself out." 
He took her ankle & elevated it, gently putting pressure 
on certain points, asking if it hurt or not. Mulder 
massaged it lightly, surprising Scully, "Can you wiggle 
your toes?" 
Before she had a chance to answer, Mulder tickled the 
bottom of her feet. She laughed, "Owwwww!" the pain in 
her ankle was part way drowned out by the 
sensation. "Come on, wiggle your toes!" Mulder kept 
tickling her. 
"No! Mulder come on! Stop, please, it hurts!" but she 
kept laughing. Finally, she managed to wiggle her 
toes, "Owww, there, are you happy now? You put me 
through pain & agony..." she smiled. 
Mulder smiled too, but he quickly looked down, suddenly 
serious, "I'm sorry," he said. 
"About what?" 
"What I put you through," he looked into her eyes. 
Now it was Scully's turn to look down," how did you do 
it?" she asked innocently. 
"Well, I..." he paused, thinking," lets not get into 
that." 
Scully looked down, then lifted her eyes to his & bit 
her lower lip," Please?" 
"Scully...come on," he didn't want to tell her, she had 
gone through enough. He was puzzled as to why she wanted 
to know. Mulder reasoned that she was curious & was put 
through so much, that she now wanted an explanation. 
Still, he didn't really want to talk about it, but 
Scully wouldn't accept anything on blind faith. Mulder 
looked into Scully's beautifully mysterious eyes & began 
his story. 
"I went home that night, right after you told me about 
the alien, I watched an old tape I had & thought. I did 
a lot of thinking that night. I thought about you, about 
Samantha, about my mom, it seemed like you were the only 
three people in the world. I had planned with Skinner & 
some friends of mine to fake my death. They agreed that 
it was probably the only way I could get the government 
off my back, the only way I could pursue the truth. So, 
I decided that that would be the night, I had a motive, 
I had a weapon..." 
Scully looked towards the fire. Mulder could see that 
this was upsetting her, so her appealed to her 
scientific side. 
"Anyways, I called my friends. They had secretly been 
working on an exact clone of me, genetically identical." 
Scully turned her head, a look of surprise on her face," 
That's impossible, even if it did look like you, it 
would bleed green ooze & rapidly decompose. The autopsy 
would've shown..." 
"Nothing," he interjected, "there was no autopsy. The 
technology exists to do the 'impossible'. When will you 
believe?" 
Mulder's face was four inches away from Scully's, he 
stood up, "the clone was made, complete with entry & 
exit wound. There would be no mistake that this was a 
suicide. My associates managed to sneak the body up to 
my apartment in a box, acting as deliverymen. Most 
people were asleep, but we took every precaution. We put 
my fingerprints on the gun & set up the body. Then I got 
in the box & they carried me downstairs & put me in 
their van. I've been hiding out ever since." 
The next question that Scully asked was inevitable, but 
the one that Mulder dreaded most. 
"Why did you do this to me Mulder?" 
Mulder looked down," I couldn't tell you, or else it 
might've blown it," he sat down next to Scully," I had 
to do it, to save myself, to help me find the truth, 
to..." he paused. 
"To what?" 
"To help you." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Scully didn't know what to say. Mulder lifted himself up 
& walked towards the cave wall. There was a brief moment 
of silence as Mulder gathered his thoughts. When he 
turned around, there were tears in his eyes. 
"It...terrifies me to think...that one day you'll be 
gone, that it's because of me," Mulder looked down 
sniffing," I can't bear the thought of you not being 
there. No one there to stop me when I spew out my wild 
theories. I just thought I could," his lip trembled & 
arched," I wanted to save you." 
Mulder turned away, visibly crying, trying to hold back 
his tears. Scully got up & walked to him. She knew what 
he was going through. The heart filled explanation 
touched her, making her feel closer to Mulder than ever 
before. She finally realized the unbreakable bond that 
had formed between them. No one, nothing, could separate 
them now & Scully knew it. 
She put a soft hand to his shoulder, letting it fall 
away as he slowly turned around. His face was wet & his 
eyes were puffy, she took his head in her hands & gently 
touched their foreheads together. 
"I'm sorry," he whispered. 
"I'm not going to die Mulder, I know," she started to 
tear up," We'll find a way, we always do." a forced 
giggle escaped her lips as she desperately tried not to 
cry. Finally, the tears let go. She didn't even know 
why, it just felt so good to touch him. The last few 
days without him had been hell & she wondered, for a 
second, if this was all a glorified dream. 
But when Mulder took her into his arms & hugged her 
tight, she knew it was real. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
The embrace seemed to last forever, but it was still too 
short. Mulder hugged her as tight as he could, wanting 
to somehow be closer, thinking that if he let go, she 
might disappear out of his life again. He wanted to tell 
her he loved her, to let her know that he had loved her 
ever since she knocked on his office door. But he 
couldn't speak, he didn't have to. 
Scully ignored the pain shooting through her ankle, 
everything, up to this moment, seemed secondary; 
distant. She wanted to jump into his arms & tell him she 
loved him. 
But their bodies parted, as every hug has to end," I'll 
go see if it's stopped raining," Mulder said, genuinely 
smiling. 
Scully sat & watched Mulder walk towards the waterfall. 
He looked back a few times, just to make sure she was 
still there, though he knew full well she was. He walked 
out of the cave, disappearing around the corner. 
~What if he never comes back?~ She thought. 
Her paranoid thought was silenced as he came walking 
back to her. 
"It's still raining." 
Scully yawned," You're kidding." 
"Nope. Listen, we could walk back, but we may not be 
able to find our way. I don't think it's a good idea for 
you to be wet & cold anyways." 
"So, what are you suggesting? That we stay in this cave 
all night?" 
"It's only a few hours till dawn anyways. How about we 
get some sleep & find the path in the morning?" 
"Ok," she said, finally giving up. 
"If, uh, you'd be more comfortable, you can lean on me," 
he looked at her, expecting a sarcastic reaction," I 
mean, you wouldn't have to put your head in the dirt." 
"Thank you Mulder, that's sweet." 
Scully & Mulder both laid down parallel next to the 
fire. Her head & hand resting on his chest, She snuggled 
up to him & he put his arms around her. She was warm & 
safe in his comforting arms, & already half asleep. 
Mulder liked the feel of her in his arms, he liked her 
warmth next to him, and he liked watching the rise & 
fall of his hand on her back as she quietly 
breathed. "Scully?" 
"Hmmm...?" she drearily mumbled. 
"You'll never leave, will you?" 
She made a low sound to the effect of uh-huh. 
"Scully?" 
"Hmmm...?" 
"I love you." 
"Mmmmmm," she smiled. He kissed the top of her head 
lovingly. Mulder knew that she had heard, even if it was 
in her sleep. He knew, from then on, that he would do 
whatever it would take to save her, he swore it. ~ ~ ~ ~ 
~ ~ ~ 
This story is dedicated to the Mulder/Scully 
relationship as of "Gethsemane". 
*Sometimes, it takes losing someone to make you realize 
how important they are.* 

Like it? email me with comments! chester666@attbi.com
or visit my site-more fan fic awaits you!
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/AGENTX5611774ZPAGE/index.html