Plot: Post My Struggle II. Inspired from the episode "Tithonus". I tried writing this as a oneshot but I just couldn't so expect more in the future.
A/N: A lot of ideas have been rattling around in my head. I've loved the X-Files since the first run when I was in my adolescence but I never attempted fanfic until I was fourteen with Farscape. I haven't written fanfic in over ten years, much less attempted an X-Files fanfic. So, there's a first with that. I think with this piece though, I'm getting back into writing fanfic again. :) Please let me know what you think. I wrote this first piece at 3 am with a bout of insomnia with no beta reader.
Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own none of it. I just want to get some creative ideas out.
...
The blue light came out of nowhere, and likely a finely tuned scoped, homed on her, Mulder, and Miller. On a bridge, jammeded with traffic, the world failing around her, she felt a moment of sheer terror envelope her. She remembered her own abduction and the night she had been caught on a bridge with Cassandra Spencer. She thought, this is it. "Scully!"
Mulder. Despite the world ending, sheer doom impending, he was her one constant, his own touchstone, to use his own words. Her attention was snapped again, hearing someone scream. She could not make out the words except, "He's dead!"
She turned her head in he direction of the sound and suddenly, her memory recalled Alfred Fellig from all those years ago from that case in New York.
"How do you know when people are about to die?"
"Oh...You chase it long enough you pick it up."
Then she remembered being shot, him taking her hand...
"Do you see him? Do you see him? Don't look. Close your eyes."
A million thoughts were swarming her mind in that instant. She remembered how the world felt when she was on the brink of death. She felt it now, but not for her...
"Agent Scully!" Miller called, snapping her out thoughts. "Agent Mulder..."
Mulder. She bent down on her knees and cupped Mulder's cheek within her hand. His eyes lolled back in his head before he blinked and tried to focus on her. Her thumb traced his jawline lovingly and she asked in a whisper, "Do you trust me, Mulder?"
He grinned, his humor still trying to get the best of her, even on the brink of death. "Is that even a serious question, Scully?"
She smiled slightly and replied, "I want you to close your eyes, Mulder. Can you do that for me?"
"No," he stammered. "No. I won't lose sight of you."
"You won't," she soothed, taking her other hand and grasping his tightly. "I am right here." She paused and looked to Agent Miller, who, despite being infected with the virus as well, looked far better off. "Get the vaccine together, Agent Miller."
He nodded and set to work preparing the bag.
She focused back on Mulder who coughed raggedly and lurched forward in pain. She caught him in her shoulder and kissed his cheek lovingly. "Close your eyes with me, Mulder. Please. I am right here with you. We'll do it together."
"Why?"
Death. She could sense it was close. Ever since that day she had been fatally shot, she should have died. But she did not. She healed quickly, far quicker than should have been possible. Fellig had been right, she thought bitterly. She had avoided Death and it took him. She was not about to let it take Mulder or her. There were too many things to do. William. Her mind raced again. Was he okay?
"Scully, why?"
"Please, Mulder," she begged, resting her forehead against his. "For me."
He rolled his eyes and then closed them tight. She did the same. She wrapped her arm around his neck protectively and whispered, "I love you, forever."
He hugged her tightly in response, whispering, "I love you too."
Through her closed eyes, she could feel Mulder, him barely hanging out to life, but she could sense It as well. It was close. She heard another scream of sorrow not too far from her. Please, she prayed, not him, please don't take him from me as well.
The air grew cold and she could hear Miller rummaging around the car, trying to get he vaccine ready. She whispered a silent prayer for Death to pass him as well. "Agent Scully? The light. It's gone!"
She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt It's presence. "Mulder," she whispered.
"This is dumb, Scully."
"Just keep your eyes closed until I tell you, okay? You got to trust me."
"I do. That's why my eyes are still closed."
What felt like an eternity passed. She heard another random sob of sorrow in the distance, further from them. The coldness had abated. She breathed again and caressed his cheek. "Mulder, are you still with me?"
"It's going to take a lot more to get rid of me," he replied with a weak chuckle
She smiled, despite herself, caressing his cheek. "Told you I was immortal," she teased.
"I guess I am too," he grinned.
Agent Miller handed her the vaccine and she carefully fixed the IV needle and the bag. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the cool liquid going into his veins. She ran her fingers through his hair. "I managed to synthesize a vaccine from my alien DNA...it looks promising and hopefully you should be on the mend."
"Now I know I definitely immortal," he whispered, closing his eyes.
"Why?"
"I got a part of you in me," he whispered.
….
He opened his eyes to midday sun filtering in through the hazy curtains. He could hear a duck calling in the distance, crickets, frogs...this wasn't his farm house. He rubbed his eyes wearily, wondering where he was. "Morning," came a familiar voice from the door.
His eyes focused to see Scully leaning causally against the doorframe in a large sweater and jeans. She smiled. He had not seen a smile like that in a long time. Happiness. Relief. Just relishing the present with him. She pushed herself up from the door frame and made her way to his bed side. "Easy there, Mulder, I don't need you running off to save the world any time soon."
"Where are we?"
"Hm. Agent Miller dropped us off here. It's a little place on one of the peninsulas, off the Chesapeake Bay. He said he grew up here and it would be safe for us while you recovered," she answered. "It reminds me of the farmhouse, but I think we should invest in waterfront property." She winked.
We...
He had been dying to hear those words...we, us, together...anything.
"So..."
"I never stopped loving you," she replied slowly, pressing her hand to his forehead, checking for a fever. "I just needed space. But I learned how empty it was not having you in that space. There is no me. There is only us. You just had to go and rub my face in it by almost dying."
He smiled, leaning back into the bed. "You saved me."
"I know."
"I mean you saved me from the moment you walked into that basement office in 1992."
She kissed his forehead lovingly. "You're not supposed to flirt with your doctor."
"I am a patient who requires extra special care." He paused, taking her hand in his. "How did you know?"
"What?" she asked absently, continuing with her exam of him.
"How to save me?"
"The vaccine..."
"No. The other thing. You told me to close my eyes. Why?"
She paused and forced a smile. "Something Fellig said to me." She held out a pill. "Take this."
He took the pill without question. He narrowed his eyes, searching her face. What wasn't she telling him? "Scully..."
"You're alive, I am alive," she surmised. "What does it matter? I am still madly in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. We should be happy."
"I am thrilled," he coughed.
"Easy. The vaccine apparently just puts everything back in the right spot. You're body is still rebuilding your immunity system. You'll feel like shit for the next couple of weeks but we'll get through it."
There is was again. "I'm already feeling better."
"You said we as in relationship we."
She grinned, kissing his brow. "I guess this isn't the best time to tell you I want to move back in?"
"I welcome it," he whispered, closing his eyes. "I love you, Scully."
"I love you too, Mulder."
….
He was out cold. During the few moments of consciousness he had over the previous week, he always called out for her. She gave him a sleeping pill to ensure he rested, in order to heal and let his body recover. The house that they were staying at overlooked the marshes and the Chesapeake Bay itself. She found it peaceful.
Stepping into the kitchen, Scully brewed herself some green tea and took it out the porch, leaving the door slightly ajar encase anything were to happen to Mulder. She sat on one of the old rocking chairs, blowing on the cup of tea, before taking a sip. Mulder was safe for now. But he thoughts drifted to William. What was their next move? What would happen? Civilization was slowly recovering from this. Luckily, the death counts were not as tragic as anticipated but still people died. But the vaccine helped.
Scully rocked the chair thoughtfully, her mind going a thousand different places, as she overlooked the Chesapeake Bay. He was safe and they were together. That's all that mattered right now.