The Shadow People

by Trycee

Time-Line: 1 yr after Mulder and Scully flee after he escapes prison.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, this is written for fun not Profit.

* Shadow People are a real Paranormal phenomenon in recent years that people are reporting to see. There is a debate as to what they are. This story is based off an actual Shadow Person sighting.

Mulder pulled into the parking lot of the dumpy hotel at the end of a unpaved and well worn Mountain road. Chickens raced around the small courtyard as a few native children spoke switching back and forth from Mayan to Spanish. Mulder turned off the car engine and looked over to Scully. Her hair was dyed black and she had it tied up in a pony tail. A wide brim hat covered her head and sunglasses attempted to shield her eyes from the intensity of the sun. He reached out to rub his fingers against her moist chin. She smiled and looked over to him. "Mulder...we can't sit here long...I'll melt..."

A smile spread over his face. "I think we're pretty safe here in no man's land Mexico, Scully...I don't think they'll come this deep into the jungle to find us...relax a little. Well rest and we'll be pulling up to our new life in Belize tomorrow, you'll see."

Scully swallowed hard and Mulder could see her nervousness.

"Scully...if you worried...I mean...it's only been a year...Skinner would do anything for us. He'd fix it so you wouldn't be brought up on charges...You can always tell them that I kidnapped you..."

"Oh my god, Mulder!", she gasped. "I would NEVER say that and I would NEVER leave you either...", she said in shock. "I'm just worried that they will catch us one day. I get nervous that's all... I want to be with you, Mulder. If I didn't I wouldn't be here in this god forsaken place if I didn't love you. I only want to be with you, Mulder...How many times do I need to tell you that?", she said irritated, as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Its just...", he sighed. "Scully...I feel guilty that..."

"What's our name this time?", she said, cutting him off. She didn't want to get into his guilt ridden soul confession while they were baking in the sun. "What's our name?", she asked curtly.

Mulder nodded that he understood that she was trying to get him to deflect his self-deflation. "Well...after being on the run for over a year and after all the names that we used...I figured, Mr and Mrs Spooky would be a little too obvious...", he grinned.

"Mr. and Mrs Spooky," she repeated. "I feel like that was a life time ago..."

"How about the Peacocks," he laughed.

"Mulder if you ever want to share our bed together again you'll forget we ever investigated the Peacocks...You'll forget that name...", she said, firmly.

Mulder chuckled. "Okay...Did we use the Shroeders yet?"

"You're the one with the photographic memory," she said, as sweat beaded and dripped down to around her neck. "Mulder...I don't mean to get pushy, but I'm baking in this hot car...could you decide on a name already?"

"The Samuels...", he said, as he opened the car door. He walked to the little inn. She could hear Mulder's voice. "Mi esposa y yo quisiera una habitación para la noche."

Scully mentally translated his words, "My wife and I would like a room for the night." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back and placed a chilled water bottle on top of her brow. "Mi esposa...", she whispered. "If only I were Mulder...", she said, sadly.

After a year of hiding through-out Mexico, both Mulder and Scully had picked up a fair amount of Spanish, to the point they could understand the lightening fast speech that varied in intensity by the locals throughout their travels but they were still much better reading Spanish than they were in speaking it. Within a few minutes she felt something cool. She gasped and her eyes flew open immediately. Mulder stood outside her door and he was rubbing a damp wash cloth against her forehead. She closed her eyes as he moved the cloth down to her neck and cleavage. "Feel better?", he said, concerned.

"It's so hot, Mulder...", she said, continuing to keep her eyes closed.

"Well...I'll be right back...gotta check the room and then you can get a nice cold shower...", he said, leaning down to plant a cool wet kiss on her cheek.

He could feel her cheeks tighten into a slight smile. "Hurry Mulder...", she said, weakly.

"You know the routine," he said, looking as sweat immediately beaded up again around her forehead. "Gotta make sure we're not sleeping with something poisonous..."

Scully huffed, remembering the various Mexican hotels and pit stops they'd stayed in that had deadly spiders and poisonous snakes in the corner of the rooms or in the showers. "Just be careful..."

"Hang in there and I'll make sure you get cooled off Scully...", he said, touching her chin with his finger before turning to head towards the room.

She opened her eyes slightly to watch him walk towards a little hovel of a hotel room a few yards beyond. She scanned around to make sure no one was approaching that might harm her but everyone had retreated into their own houses. She glanced over to the hotels window and saw the hotel clerk, a small stature Indian man staring back at her with a grin on his face. "Weasel," she muttered under her breath.

She reached to make sure her blouse was closed and was grateful that it was but she still felt like the main course at a buffet from the way the clerk was smiling. She shifted and turned her back towards him. Within a few minutes, Mulder was back by her side and he glanced over to the hotel window but only saw the curtain close. "Was he ogling you, Scully?"

"I'd say yes but I don't want to have a gun battle with a bunch of locals chasing after us because you got insanely jealous...", she said, with a smile.

Mulder turned on the engine, glancing back towards the window but there was no movement. He pulled the car over next to their hotel room. He got out and opened Scully's door and then picked her up like a child, her feet dangled and her head was pressed firmly against his massive chest. He sat her down on the edge of the bed. She could feel a slight rattle of an air conditioner in the corner of the dank room. She could feel for the first time that her clothes were soaked with sweat. She looked over to Mulder and he turned and walked out the door. He came back with one bag each, what was left of their wordily possessions. He slammed the hotel door closed and then knelt down in front of her.

"I'm so weak...", she said, moving only when Mulder lifted her arms or hips stripping her out of her clothes. She sat there on the edge of the bed bare before him. Her eyes were glassy and her skin was fire red and covered in sweat.

He picked her back up and placed her into the tub full of ice cold water that he had started before returning to the car. She sunk down into the water and sighed with pleasure. "Thank you Mulder...", she said as her eyes closed. "But I can't enjoy this if you're miserable..."

"You want me to join you?", he said with a twinkle in his eye but his face quickly changed. "No Scully...this heat is wiping out your strength and I think you better enjoy it. I'll take a shower as soon as you're done..."

Scully clamped her eyes shut and sighed contented again. "Okay..."

"Don't drown in there," he warned.

She smiled with her eyes still closed. "You'll save me..."

Mulder reached out and planted a soft kiss on her ruby red lips. "You know I will... I'm gonna go scrounge us up something to eat..."

"Oh god," she said, opening her eyes. "God, if I eat one more tamale stuffed with goat or dog or whatever the hell we've been eating I'm gonna scream..."

"Relax...did you see any dogs around here? They probably ate them a long time ago...", he chuckled.

Scully raised an eyebrow. "You STILL know how to pick a place Mulder...even on the lam we still get the dumpiest places..."

"Don't forget filled with snakes and spiders..."

"And rats...remember that one place..."

"How could I forget, I was dreaming about nibbling something on you when I felt something nibble me...", he said, looking horrified. "That's all behind us now...Monica said this place will be a safe haven for us, Scully...and...get this...they speak English...and its on the coast...so it won't be too hot and...its a small village..."

"Yes but there's still tourists," she said, placing a wet hand on Mulder's forehead as he leaned over her.

"Thanks," he smiled. "They'll be meeting us when we get there."

"How do they know they haven't been followed," she said, shifting around in the water until she got in a more comfortable position.

"They're not stupid, Scully...They probably just think Monica went on vacation..."

"What about John?", she said, looking up at Mulder.

His face reddened at the mention of John's name but Scully's blue eyes were burning into him so intensely he had to turn away. "I got the message, Scully...," he sighed. "Okay, John is coming up through Guatemala...and then using a different passport to enter Belize."

"You won't argue and fight with him this time will you Mulder?", she said softly. "Mulder...I could care less if John likes me or if he likes Monica...I'm too much in love with you to care...I had your baby...", she said, dropping her voice.

Mulder turned back to look at her. "I know...It just bothers me the way he stares at you...that's all. I've become a little more protective of you than before..."

"Ha!", Scully laughed. "You were always protective of me..."

"I guess...after not being with you for almost a year...and William..."

Scully's head dropped down and the familiar pang registered in her heart. Her lip quivered as a tear formed in the corner of her eyes. She looked up at Mulder and could see that he wasn't looking at her. "Scully...I told you before I don't blame you...I know you loved our son...there's never any question of that and you did what a Good Mother would do, Scully...You gave our son a chance...", he said, turning back to plant another kiss upon her lips. His fingers scraped against her cheek as he looked at her lovingly. "I know I'm acting like a fool but I don't want to lose you again...and I know you don't have feelings for John...but it really bothers me to see him staring at you when Monica is standing right there."

She nodded. "That bothers me too...", she sighed. "I don't even think he realizes that he's staring at me Mulder. I know it bothers Monica because she loves him but they have to work things out for themselves...and with them living so far away...", she said. "They are our friends...our allies, Mulder...they risked their jobs and their lives to save us...remember that when he's staring at me...okay?"

Mulder nodded. "I'll get us some grub..."

"As long as it's not actually grubs...", Scully said with a shudder.

"This from a woman that swallowed a roach...", he said pointedly.

"I didn't actually eat it...", she said shaking her head. "Go on...", she said, shooing at him. "Find us some edible food in no man's land Mexico...that's not tainted and won't give us the shits for a week..."

"Damn...", Mulder said, snapping his finger. "I was actually looking forward to that..."

With her hand, she gathered a wave of water and tried to splash him but it only wet the floor. "That's what you get...", he said, pointing. "Be right back..."

"Okay...Lock the door behind you...", she said as he made his way towards the front of their hotel room. "You know I will..."

After about twenty minutes, Scully stood up out of the tub and threw on her robe. She sat down on the corner of the bed and switched on the antiquated television set but she could only make out squiggly lines with people speaking in Spanish. She shrugged her shoulders and placed the remote down but then jumped straight up, her mouth gaped open as her heart raced. She blinked and then turned all around in a full circle, searching for the form she'd just seen in the corner of their hotel room. Mulder walked in with two steaming hot burritos wrapped protectively in banana leaves. He could see Scully's eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking. "What happened?", he said, placing the food on top of the TV.

"I saw someone...but it wasn't a someone..It was a dark figure...a black solid shadow in the corner of the room, " she said, pointing towards the bathroom.

Mulder pulled out his gun and headed towards the bathroom but a minute later he returned. "No one's there."

"I saw it!", she said, her voice was dry and her eyes were wide with fear as she continued to stare in the corner.

Mulder turned to look in the direction she was staring at. He turned back to face her. "There's nothing there Scully..."

"It was black...no distinguishable features...human shaped...like 7 to 8 ft tall or more...", she said, grasping Mulder's waist and burying her head into his shoulder.

Mulder wrapped his arm around her waist and rubbed his fingers into her soft hair that had been dyed black. Strands of her hair got caught up into his beard. "It's okay...you probably just saw a ghost..."

"That wasn't a ghost Mulder...", she said, softly. "That was something but it wasn't a ghost..."

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