Rating: PG Category: MSRA Spoilers: "Fight the Future" Summary: A fill-in-the-blank story running from the hallway scene to the very end of the movie. What was running through Mulder's mind when Scully told him she was leaving? What happened after Mulder was shot? How the hell did they get out of Antarctica? Mulder torture, of course. Scully torture thrown in free. Oh yeah, no copyright infringement intended: yadda, yadda, yadda. I know they're not mine, I'm just playing with them for a while. Preserving the Future By Laurie D. Haynes Mulder stared at Scully in disbelief as she stood inside his apartment doorway. Yes, she had indicated earlier she might quit if the bureau transferred her, but in his heart, he really didn't believe her. But there was no doubting her sincerity, now. He could tell by the tears in her eyes she hated to leave the FBI, but was disgusted and weary of the games. Mulder tried to imagine her not being at his side. The pain that thought delivered was very sharp. He had to change her mind -- even if it meant letting her know exactly what she meant to him. He followed her into the hallway and called to her. She turned around and faced him. "You've saved me, Scully. You've kept me honest and made me whole. I owe you so much, Scully. You owe me nothing. I don't want to do this without you. I don't know if I can." His own eyes were watering severely, now. Scully reached up, took Mulder's head in her hands and kissed him tenderly on the forehead. Mulder looked into her eyes and saw reflected there what must be shining out of his own -- love. He gently bent down to meet her lips, giving her the opportunity to withdraw, to decide not to pursue this. But her hand behind his neck pulled him closer and their lips brushed. "Oh!" Scully cried out in pain. Thinking he had somehow hurt her or offended her, Mulder quickly apologized. "No," she assured him. "Something stung me." She withdrew a bee from under her collar. He rubbed the sting, as if he could make it feel better. Everything went to hell at that point as she stammered out her physical distress and collapsed. Mulder's heart rate sped up in fear as much as hers seemed to be slowing down. He ran into his apartment and called for an ambulance, then returned to her side. She was unconscious, but Mulder continued to speak to her. "Scully, hang on. It's going to be all right." He fought to keep a sob out of his voice. "You can't leave me." The paramedics arrived quickly, loading Scully on a gurney and taking her to the ambulance. Mulder stayed close the whole way until the ambulance doors slammed shut in his face. He banged on the door and shouted, "What hospital are you taking her to?" Getting no response, he moved to the driver's window and repeated his question. As he met the stare of the driver, Mulder instantly recognized him as the man he had seen at the bomb site and later in the alley behind Casey's bar. His recognition must have been apparent because the driver raised a gun and pointed it at Mulder. Mulder flinched and perhaps that saved his life, or maybe it was the window glass between them that altered the trajectory, because instead of penetrating his skull, the bullet creased his brow, glancing off the bone. The force was more than sufficient to send him crashing to the street, hitting the back of his head hard. As consciousness fled, his only thought was that he had failed Scully. * * * Byers, Frohike and Langley were working on a project when they heard the call on the police scanner of "Agent down!." "That's Mulder's address!" Frohike said and crossed over to turn up the volume. As the officers announced the channel they were switching to, Frohike tuned it in and heard the dispatcher say that an Agent Mulder had called in for assistance. "Let's go, guys," Frohike told his partners. "Something's happened to Scully." The three rushed over to Mulder's apartment. They arrived to see ambulance attendants loading someone onto a gurney. Hopping out of the car, they ran over to the ambulance, expecting to see Scully. "Mulder!" Byers exclaimed. "You know this man?" asked one of the attendants. "Yes, he's an FBI agent. Fox Mulder. Where's Agent Scully?" Byers inquired. "Don't know what you're talking about," replied the attendant as he covered Mulder with a blanket and fastened the straps on the stretcher. "But there was another company's ambulance pulling away as we drove up. Thought it was kinda weird, since we're up on the rotation today for call out." Frohike squatted beside Mulder and saw the blood covering the side of his head. "Mulder, can you hear me? Where's Scully?" The agent remained silent. Frohike tried again. "Mulder! Tell me where Scully is!" Mulder moaned and managed to rouse enough to answer. "Got her. Bee sting. Gone." "Damn!" Frohike cursed as they loaded Mulder into the back of the ambulance. He turned to Byers and Langly. "Someone should go with him and we need to check out the apartment." Byers volunteered to follow the ambulance to the hospital and be there for Mulder. The ambulance raced off, siren screaming. Frohike and Langly grabbed their tools from the trunk of the car and Byers took off for the hospital. The two Lone Gunmen made their way to Mulder's floor, scanning the hallways for any clues. Langley's younger eyes spotted the bee first and he pointed it out to Frohike, who picked up the dead insect. He peered at it closely. "It's an Africanized honey bee. Gimme something to put it in. If Mulder thought it was important enough to mention, it may be evidence." Langly handed Frohike an empty specimen bottle from their tool kit and gave it to him. Frohike plopped the bee in the container and handed it back. The door to Mulder's apartment was open. Frohike pulled out the bug detector and began sweeping it over the walls and furniture. He grinned in satisfaction when he was rewarded by the instrument telling him of a bug in the phone. Langley unscrewed the speaker on the handset and found the offending device nestled there. He pulled it out and stuck it in the kit. Frohike walked to the window and looked out. He saw two police cars pulling up outside. "Let's go, Langly. I don't want to hassle with Arlington's finest, right now. Let's go see about Mulder. We can check the phone records later." The two strolled nonchalantly out the front door of the building and walked down the block to hail a cab. * * * A.D. Walter Skinner, watching a baseball game on the tube, frowned in exasperation as his phone rang. He answered, "Skinner." "Sir, this is the Arlington police dispatcher. One of your agents, Fox Mulder, has been taken to Georgetown Hospital with a bullet wound to the head." "What the hell? What happened? Was Agent Scully there at the time?" "Our officers are on the scene, now. The 911 dispatcher said Agent Mulder had called in, reporting an agent down." "Thank you for calling me. I'm sending over a couple of my own agents to help." Skinner called two of his agents and sent them to Mulder's apartment to work with the Arlington police on the case. He tried to call Scully's apartment, but got no reply. He had a bad feeling about that. As he dressed to go to the hospital, it hit him that the shooting must be related to the bombing. He had received a report earlier on a search done at SAC Darius' home. PETN residue had been found and it looked like the veteran agent must have been dirty. Skinner had the mother of all headaches. * * * Skinner inquired at the emergency room and was told Mulder was undergoing a cat scan to determine the extent of the head injury. The nurse directed him to the E.R. waiting room, where he met up with the Lone Gunmen. "What are you guys doing here?" Skinner asked sternly. The Gunmen exchanged looks and Byers spoke up, "We heard it on the scanner. Mulder and Scully are friends of ours, so we came to see about Mulder." "I haven't been able to contact Agent Scully," said Skinner worriedly. "Have you heard from her?" The three Gunmen shook their heads simultaneously and Byers explained. "We were able to talk to Mulder before they took him in the ambulance. He was able to say someone had taken her." "Damn! Did he say who?" "I gathered it was the Consortium," Byers replied. Skinner sighed. "I was afraid of that. I guess we can assume they're responsible for hurting Mulder." Three heads bobbed in agreement. "Have you heard anything on him, yet?" Skinner asked. Frohike relinquished some of his suspicion about the A.D., then, and answered, "The bullet didn't penetrate the skull, but they're still worried about bleeding in the brain." Skinner visibly deflated and sat down heavily. Mulder could be a pain in the ass, but damned if he didn't like the man, admire him for his courage and determination. "You know, he's going to be the only one with a clue about where they've taken her. If he dies... She's lost, too." "In more ways than one," replied Frohike. "You know how they are when the other one is hurt. I don't think either one of them would survive if the other half died." Skinner nodded. He was all too aware of the deep feelings between his two favorite agents, although he'd kept quiet about it. * * * After what seemed an eternity of waiting, the doctor finally came out and asked for Skinner, motioning him to sit down and taking a seat beside him. "It's not good," said the physician, a neurosurgeon. "The cat scan showed a subdural hematoma. We're administering medication now. We hope that will make the swelling go down. If not, we'll have to go in and drill holes in his skull to relieve the pressure." Looking at the dejected faces around him, the surgeon said, "I feel like this will work. He's fortunate the bullet glanced off the temporal plate and didn't penetrate the brain or fracture the skull." The doctor rose. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to get ready for a surgery. We'll be sending him to neurological ICU after we get him stabilized. * * * Two hours and 25 minutes later, the doctor emerged into the waiting room. Skinner stood up and approached him. "Agent Mulder is doing well," said the doctor. "We managed to relieve the pressure substantially and the bleeding has stopped, also. But don't expect him to regain consciousness for at least a couple of days. The brain needs time to heal. We're taking him up to ICU, now. When he gets settled, you can see him, then." "Doctor, I'm going to post a guard outside Agent Mulder's ICU room. We can't have whoever it was that did this, sneaking in to finish the job," said Skinner. "Fine, as long as they stay out of the way of the medical personnel." When Mulder was finally settled in ICU, Skinner went in first to see him. He was shocked to see how pale the man was, with the bandage encircling his head and tubes running in and out of him. Hoping Mulder could hear him, he spoke, "Skinner here, Mulder. I know you're having a rough time, but you've got to get through it. You're Scully's only hope. Don't let go, don't give in. You've always been tenacious and you've got even more reason to be, now." Mulder groaned in response but did not awaken. * * * Two more days passed with Skinner and the Lone Gunmen maintaining a vigil and talking to and prodding Mulder to wake up. * * * Mulder's first impression was the pain in his head. He groaned and opened his eyes, focusing on the three faces peering down anxiously at him. The Lone Gunmen. "Tin Man," he said, looking at Byers. "Scarecrow," he dubbed Langly. Seeing Frohike's grizzled face, Mulder said, "Toto!" and grinned slightly. He glanced around the room, hoping to see the one face he wanted most to see. She wasn't there. He put his hand to his head, feeling the bandage there. Memory returned as his three friends filled him in on what had happened. Byers summed up the injuries Mulder had suffered two days ago. From the throbbing in his head, Mulder had no doubts as to Byers' veracity. Frohike held up the vial with the bee. "Seems you had a problem with bugs," he said. "And more than one kind. We found a bug in your phone. Records show you called 911 and reported an agent down. Before they put you in the ambulance, you said she'd been stung by a bee. This is a nasty bee, but Scully had no history of allergies to bee stings." "You hacked her medical records?" asked Mulder, grimacing in pain as he tried to gather his senses. "Yup," responded Frohike proudly. "That's what Scully said," Mulder recalled. "I think the bee was carrying a virus. Those bodies that were found in the FEMA building were already dead. The Consortium was probably trying to get rid of us to cover up what we found. One of them was unlike anything we'd ever seen." Mulder sat up as Frohike gently tried to encourage him to lie back down. Mulder struggled up anyway to sit on the edge of the bed. Skinner entered the room, surprised to see Mulder conscious and trying to get out of bed. Concerned, the A.D. quickly crossed over to the agent. Mulder rose shakily and would have fallen, had not Skinner grabbed him by the arm. "Take it easy," Skinner admonished him. "Where's Scully?" he croaked. From shannara@pnx.com Fri Oct 16 22:05:43 1998 Date: Thu, 03 Sep 1998 05:52:34 GMT From: shannara@pnx.com Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: REPOST: "Preserve the Future" 2/2 MSRA PG (Flickfic) PART 2 See part 1 for disclaimers "We don't know," replied Skinner. "But you're in no shape to go anywhere. You're staying right here. Darius was dirty. We found PETN residue in his home. He had to have been the one to set the bomb." Mulder stood again, this time more steadily. "I've got to find Scully." "If you leave here, they will know," Skinner told him. "What are we going to do?" asked Frohike. "Strip Byers." Mulder commanded. "Huh?" "I need his clothes," Mulder said, muffling an 'Ow!' as he pulled the bandage from his head. Langley closed the door and Mulder and Byers switched clothing. Byers climbed into the bed and turned to the far wall. Flanking Mulder, Frohike and Langley left the hospital room. * * * Mulder called the number Kurtzweil had given him. The man answered and Mulder arranged to meet him in the alley behind the bar where they had first met. The urgency was great in Mulder as he took a cab to a point two blocks away to keep from being detected, then ran the rest of the way, his head throbbing with each step. Mulder moved through the bar, looking for Kurtzweil. He went though the back exit to see the Well-Manicured Man standing there beside his limousine. Anger welled up in Mulder at the sight of one of the group whom he blamed for Scully's kidnapping. "Where's Scully?" he demanded. The Well-Manicured Man explained his position and held up the package he said would save Scully. He invited Mulder inside the limousine. Seeing no other way to gain the information he wanted, Mulder obliged. He listened as the man outlined the scope of the Consortium's dealings. The limousine turned into another alley and stopped. Mulder looked over at Well-Manicured Man and saw him pulling out the silenced pistol. Mulder was anxious, but maintained his cool. When the man fired through the privacy glass and killed his chauffeur, blood splattered on Mulder. Horrified, he feared he would be next and at first, refused to exit the vehicle. He took the package of vaccine from Well-Manicured Man and moved away as the man commanded, his gun pointed at Mulder. Mulder heard the car door slam, then an explosion knocked him off his feet, stunning him for a moment. He stumbled to his feet and ran away. * * * Mulder worked furiously in his apartment, making reservations to Christchurch, New Zealand and calling Skinner to ask for his help in securing assistance in Antarctica. Skinner phoned a friend at the Pentagon who called the government research agency in charge of McMurdo Station and secured the promise of the use of a Sno-Cat for Mulder to get to his final destination on the Ross Ice Shelf about 200 miles from McMurdo Station, the main U.S. presence in Antarctica. * * * Mulder was able to grab a few hours sleep on the plane to New Zealand, and a couple more on the way to McMurdo Station. Despite Skinner's arrangements, Mulder had to promise the station six videos of recent movies plus tapes of the upcoming World Series and eventually, the 1999 Superbowl, to get the use of the Sno-Cat with a full tank of fuel. * * * It was tough staying awake, driving the 200 plus miles over the snow and ice. Mulder was tired, not really recovered from the head injury, but he pressed on in the Sno-Cat. Finally, Mulder drew close to the coordinates given him. The fuel indicator read almost empty. He and Scully wouldn't be escaping with this vehicle. Mulder climbed out of the cab of the Sno-Cat and took a reading with the handheld Global Positioning Satellite monitor. The location he was looking for should be just over the rise. He made his way up the icy slope, almost slipping several times. Once at the top, he knew he must be in the right place from the looks of the buildings and vehicles surrounding them. Putting away the GPS, Mulder scrambled down the incline and began running toward the station. Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath him and he slid and outright fell down an opening in the ice. He landed hard and laid there a minute to assess the damage to himself and try to get his breath back. His chest ached and he reckoned he'd earned some bruised ribs. His head was spinning, though, and he shook it to clear the cobwebs. Rising to his feet, he saw steam coming out of the continuation of the shaft. Looking up, he saw the sunlight streaming in from above. It seemed he had found his back door into the site, so he jumped into the hole and climbed the rest of the way down the vent. Mulder's jaw dropped at the sight of the huge, obviously alien, facility. *No time for rubbernecking, Mulder, you gotta get Scully and get the hell back out of here.* Shining his flashlight around, he spotted a cryolitter on the level below. Mulder climbed down to it and looked inside. No one was inside, but he recognized Scully's clothes. Gleaming among the folds was Scully's gold cross. Mulder grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket. He strode down the walkway between two rows of frozen cryopods, all holding humans. He soon found Scully. *Ohmigod! She looks dead!* But the tube leading into her mouth was probably keeping her alive within the green slimy liquid. Having no luck with the butt of his flashlight, Mulder pulled an oxygen cannister from the cryolitter and used it to break open the cyst. Pulling out the vaccine, he filled the hypodermic and jabbed it into her shoulder, injecting her with the full contents. He watched with a strange fascination as the tube shriveled up. The spell was broken as the whole chamber shook and Mulder was thrown backward. He jumped back up and pulled out the tube. He urged her to breathe and she coughed up a golden liquid and took a halting breath. Scully focused on Mulder and managed to stammer, "C-c-cold!" "Hang on, I'm gonna get you out of there!" Mulder freed her from the cryogenic cocoon and laid her gently on the floor. He pulled off his parka, ski-pants and socks and dressed her cold, naked form in them. *This is NOT how I imagined I would first see you nude, Scully!* Gathering her in his arms, he carried her back toward the vent. When they came to the ladder, Mulder encouraged her to stand and try to climb. With Mulder supporting Scully, they climbed up to the next level. At the top, they both lay there a moment, resting. "C'mon, Scully, get up. We've got to get out of here." "I can't," she sighed weakly. "You go on without me." "That's NOT what I came all this way for. I'll help you," Mulder promised, and picked her up in a fireman's carry. When they came to the vent, Mulder urgently told her, "Grab the vent, Scully!" The cryogenic chambers around them were heating up and cracking open, threatening to release the creatures within. "Scully!" he called again. Peering at her, Mulder saw that she was completely limp. Fear squeezed his heart and he again lowered her to the walkway. She wasn't breathing and had no pulse. The place was falling apart around them, but Mulder could not wait. He had to revive her immediately. Furiously administering CPR, he succeeded in bringing her back to him. Seeing the worry in his face, Scully managed to crack a weak joke. She was rewarded with a grin and he helped her to her feet and boosted her into the vent, exhorting her to climb fast. Jumping up behind her, Mulder pulled himself higher, his lower legs dangling outside the vent. He heard a terrible growl and then a sharp pain as one of the creatures sliced into his calf. Needing no further encouragement, Mulder kicked the creature in the face and scrambled up behind Scully. He could almost feel the fetid breath of the alien and could certainly hear it scrabbling up the vent after him. They reached the top and Mulder pushed Scully up onto the lip of the ice, following her. Just as he hoisted himself out of the vent, the alien lunged at Mulder and might have had him, if not for a huge blast of steam that melted the snow from the walls and carried the vicious thing back down below. The two of them lay there, gasping in the frigid air. Mulder gained his feet, pulling Scully with him, her arm slung around his neck to support her. They hurried across the snow, stumbling and falling as the ice shelf collapsed behind them. But they couldn't run fast enough and the edge caught them. Mulder thought sure they were goners, but they landed on something hard and metallic that was rising out of the new crater. As it moved out into the air above the shelf, they slid off, slamming into the snow-covered terrain. Mulder shook his head and looked up, his eyes growing wide with wonder at the awesome sight of the alien craft. He put his arm around Scully, lying face down, dazed. "You gotta see this, Scully," he pleaded and watched as the ship moved away into the distance then disappeared. Glancing over at Scully, he could see she was slowly regaining her senses, but obviously had missed the whole show. Mulder grinned fondly at her, though. *Some things never change.* Clad only in a sweatshirt and vest, the cold quickly invaded Mulder's body. His head was pounding and he was absolutely exhausted. He wrapped his arm around Scully and caught her eye. Mulder gave her a tired grin and lowered his head onto the snow as consciousness left him. Scully, too, closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them as she realized Mulder's arm across her back had gone limp. Sitting up, she examined him and realized he was out. Scully rolled his shivering body over, her trained eyes quickly spotting the scab on his head -- *looks like a bullet crease* -- and the bleeding leg. She drew him to her and wrapped both arms around him. Mulder had literally come to the ends of the Earth to save her. She couldn't let him die now. Knowing neither of them would be walking anywhere anytime soon, she could only hope he had arranged for someone to come after them. Scully hugged him tighter, resting her cheek on his head, the sweat in his hair already beginning to form ice crystals. Scully had no idea how much time passed then, but it couldn't have been long before she heard the whup, whup, whup of a helicopter's rotors. She squinted against the glare of the snow and confirmed what she had heard. The chopper was landing. The insignia proclaimed it to be a Navy helicopter. Two parka-clad figures jumped out and ran over to them. Since Mulder was unconscious and had less protection against the cold, the two men carried him back to the chopper, then returned for Scully. The Navy corpsmen bundled the two up in blankets and took off. Finally feeling she was safe, Scully let herself drift off to sleep, after first making sure Mulder was still breathing. * * * Scully slowly became aware she was warm -- for what seemed like the first time in ages -- and was lying in bed. She looked around and saw a familiar bald-headed, bespectacled figure asleep in a chair nearby. Turning her head the other way, she caught sight of Mulder in the next bed over and now sporting a thick bandage on his forehead. He had even more tubes hooked up to him than she did. Scully frowned and scooted into a sitting position. The movement woke Skinner and he smiled to see her conscious. "Sir? Where are we?" Skinner rose and stood beside the bed. "McMurdo Station Hospital -- or what passes for a hospital out here," the A.D. replied. "We found the two of you half-frozen out beside a huge crater in the ice shelf." "But how did you know to come?" asked Scully. "I made the arrangements to get Mulder down here, then I followed to make sure you had a ride out of there. Called in a few favors from an old Marine buddy who's now at the Pentagon. When the station started picking up tremors out near the coordinates Mulder gave me, I figured you might appreciate a lift." Scully smiled gratefully. She looked over at Mulder and climbed out of bed. Pushing her I.V. pole along, she crossed over to him. Skinner filled her in. "When they kidnapped you back in Arlington, they shot Mulder. Almost killed him. He was in a coma for two days with a subdural hematoma. As soon as he came to, he took off after you." "And you let him go in that condition?" Scully asked angrily. "There was no stopping him and we knew he was your only chance of being found." Scully picked up Mulder's chart and read it. The only partially-healed hematoma had flared up after the extreme exertion and, no doubt, lack of proper rest, but the EEG now looked normal. He had yet to regain consciousness, though, and the doctor was apparently concerned about that. To add injuries to the insult Mulder's body had incurred, he also had suffered bruised ribs and a slash along his leg that required 10 stitches to close. Fortunately, like her own, his frostbite was minor. Scully set the chart down, and paying no attention to her boss standing nearby, took Mulder's hand and bent down and kissed him on the cheek. Skinner noted she was still pretty shaky, so guided her back to bed, only after promising to shove her bed closer to Mulder's. Scully napped for a while, her hand stretched out and clasping Mulder's. * * * Scully regained her strength over the next day, frequently sitting up and talking to Mulder, wishing he would wake up so she could see those beautiful hazel eyes. Finally, 39 hours after they were brought in, it looked like she was going to get what she hoped for. Mulder was stirring. He opened his eyes, obviously confused, looked around and when he saw Scully, gave her a devastating smile and whispered, "Finally! Dorothy!" For a moment, she worried he didn't know her, but Mulder reached out for her hand and drew her into a weak hug. "Thank God, Scully," he said, his voice growing stronger. "I was afraid we weren't going to make it." "Thank Skinner, too," she told him as he released her to sit on the edge of his bed. "He sent in a chopper for us. Directed the rescue himself." "Where is he?" asked Mulder. "He had to go back to Washington, Mulder. There's going to be another OPR session when we get back, but he's going to do what he can." Mulder yawned. Scully grinned at him and teased, "You've been out for almost two days and you're STILL sleepy? This from a man who gets maybe five hours of sleep a night?" He chuckled, and said, "Sorry, Scully, but riding around on top of flying saucers and getting chased by aliens is enough to wear a guy out." He paused. "You didn't see the ship, did you?" She shook her head in the negative. "Everything is pretty hazy, but I know we were in the weirdest place we've ever been and something was chasing us," Scully replied. "But it sounds like you've regained your belief, Mulder." He nodded. "I don't know what's going to happen when we get home, Scully, but once again, I almost got you killed." "It wasn't you, Mulder. It was them." He sighed raggedly and closed his eyes. * * * Two days later, they caught an airlift to Christchurch and flew a commercial flight back to Washington. The OPR board members mostly rolled their eyes at Mulder's tale. He exited the room, dejected, ignoring Scully who was waiting outside for her own interview. Mulder strode past her to the stairway door and left. She almost followed, but Skinner called her in. Scully listened as the OPR board went over her written report -- almost as fantastic as Mulder's. After they finished and the chairwoman made her comments, Scully produced the bee and emerged triumphant with victory -- the X-Files would be reopened and she and Mulder would remain together to investigate them. Scully gave Skinner a hint of smile and he returned it. She left to find Mulder. Scully was sure he would be at his favorite spot near the Mall and that was exactly where she found him, reading the morning Post. She read the article he pointed out and anger rose in her at the thought of the Consortium -- traitors to their own species. "They're doing it again, Scully. They're getting away with it. Covering it all up." "You're wrong, Mulder. I just told the OPR everything I know. They're going to reopen the X-Files." "What good will that do? Every time we find something, they'll just hide it under the rug again. You're right to leave. You should get as far away from me as possible." Scully's eyes bored into him. "You asked me to stay." "You don't owe me anything," Mulder said sincerely. "Especially not your life. Go be a doctor while you still can." "I will be a doctor, but I'm not leaving. My work is here with you. If I quit now, they win," she replied, saying the words he had spoken more than a week ago outside his apartment. Scully reached out and took Mulder's hand. He squeezed it, accepting her decision and they walked off a little way, then stopped and faced one another. He looked carefully into her eyes, hoping to see what he had found there in his apartment hallway. She put her arms around his waist and hugged him. Taking Scully's chin in his hand, Mulder bent down to kiss her. Just before they made contact, though, he felt around her collar. "What are you doing, Mulder?" "Checking for bees." She grabbed his tie and pulled him into the kiss. --------------------------------------------------- shannara@pnx.com Archivist Star Trek Stories for All Ages http://extra.newsguy.com/~trekfic