The Deal

Redux II

Hospital room of Dana Scully

I don't know what to do mom, says Scully. We will wait and Mulder has sacrificed his

life and his career, only to watch me leave him. The anguish she feels is all to consuming,

the cancer, and this cure. If it does not work how will he bear it? The tears flow freely now,

the pain that has been held inside for so long. The ache for deliverance has become too

much for her. Dana he loves you, says Margaret. You cannot take this away from him.

You need to let him be with you.

Margaret's arms surround her and pull her into an embrace. She feels her tears,

the anguish coming off her in waves and the burden of defeat and she waits for her daughter

to succumb. I know he does mom, Scully Says. She knows her daughter

loves him too. Will it ever be enough to sustain him if she's taken from him forever? He has

lost so much already. This consumption from her disease will be his undoing and Margaret's

silent prayer goes to God as she held her daughter. Her faith in God, that it would please

give them both this reprieve.

The waiting was exhausting and Scully was becoming tired. The last few days having been a

whirlwind of blood and tears. Heavy eyes and a heavy heart would not let her stay conscious

for long. Margaret slipped from her arms and stepped from her daughter's room. Turning away

from the door, as she pulled it shut, she saw him. Crumpled in a chair outside the door was her

partner Fox Mulder.

She gazed at him and his face came up. The anguish and despair that she had just left in the next

room was staring at her with hazel eyes instead of blue. She hitched a sigh and stepped

toward him. His face showed a pained expression and his head motioned from side to side. He would

not let her comfort him. She knew that he had heard what they had said. He wore it on his

countenance and his salvation lay living or dying in the room behind her.

She is sleeping now and I need to go home for a while Margaret told him as she moved away

from the door. He nodded his acceptance and she brushed his shoulder with her hand as she walked by.

Alone in the hallway now, he rose from his chair. The pain in his breast more consuming

than anything he had felt before. The door felt cool to his forehead as he braced himself.

How long had he been awake? The adrenaline that had propelled him to find her cure was

wearing thin and he didn't know how this was going to end. The room was dark and the light from the

hallway showed like a beacon to the waiting form on the bed. His steps were soft and the

pull from the source of her was the only thing that kept him from falling. She looks so

small he thought and so pale as he bushed his fingers through her hair. The feel of her

strength was the strongest at her bedside. It was his undoing and his legs crumpled

beneath him, forcing him into supplication, with her as his alter. He brought his hand up

caressing hers. His armor tarnished.

The chip as their grail was burning itself into her neck. This had to work. He could not think past

anything else. He had been at this place before, after her abduction. He would not leave her side

this time, as he waited for the answer. He was so tired of suffering alone. She would just have to

endure his presence. The emotions that he held closely since this downward slide

began would not hold their place any longer. Deep wracking sobs bubbled to the surface

overflowing and unbidden. In the dark of this room they were at a precipice. Where would it take

them? Spenders deal came to him. Scully's cancer cured and his sister Samantha returned and he would take his

decline into Hell. The path that Spender had given him, to turn his life over to the syndicate.

Quit the FBI and become their pawn.