A/N: This is another original piece and it does have a follow up…it is also one of my favorites…I have re-read it several times, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Bete Noir is French for nightmare and came from my other favorite series NCIS.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognized characters, titles, dialogue, and places are owned by Fox. No copyright infringement intended. AKA: I wish I owned them but don't so don't sue.

Bete Noir

MPOV

The slender red head falls into the small cell and desperately tries to crawl away from the psychotic black haired man that towers above her. I sit shackled to the opposite stone wall, unable to help her, unable to do anything but watch. The black haired man takes the metal stake he is holding and digs it deep into Dana's back. Her cries echo off the walls and I pull at my shackles uselessly trying to get to her. She rolls over, her blood dyes the concrete below her crimson as she mutters 'help'. The last word she speaks before her eyes retreat into the back of her skull.

"Noooo!" I shout and shoot out from under my disorganized covers.

"hmmm…" Scully murmurs as she rolls closer to me, desperate to regain her lost heat.

"Fox?" She looks alarmed now as she assents to her knees and glances at my sweaty face worriedly.

She raises a tiny hand to touch my face, but I grab her fingers first and lay a gentle kiss in her palm. Her wedding ring is still on I notice, she must've forgotten to take it off, before she went to bed.

"I had a nightmare." I say in way of explanation.

She doesn't pester me with questions or murmur the ever cliché 'you wanna talk about it', she already knows what I've dreamed about. I've this dream often lately, and after forty nights of waking up to my pathetic whimpering, she's learned in bits and pieces, what scares me more than monsters. She nods and pushes on my shoulders gently 'till I lay back down. I find her body curled against mine in seconds and I lay a kiss in her hair, she smiles.

"no more…bete noirs," she slurs. It's a testament to the fact that I'm only a quarter awake when I don't mutter something about how sexy it sounds. "I'm here…right here…" she pats the bed, "alive." she assures.

I wrap my arms around her and pull my wife close.

"Night Dana." I say for the second time that evening.

"Night Fox." She replies.

She's my angel and she's alive.

A/N: What'd you think…let me know.