TITLE: False Visions
AUTHOR: Marlen
EMAIL: crmv@aol.com
RATING: PG
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully romance
CLASSIFICATION: Vignette, Scully Angst
SPOILERS: Small one for Orison, but set in Season 8
DISTRIBUTION: Gossamer, Xemplary, and Ephemeral okay. Others
please ask so I may visit.
DISCLAIMER: Sadly, the characters of The X-Files belong to CC,
1013 Production, and FOX. Otherwise I never would have had
Mulder gone for so long!
SUMMARY: Is he real?
WEBSITE: http://marlensxfiles.homestead.com
THANKS: I want to thank Georgia and Lenore for their quick
beta. You guys are the best!
NOTES AT END



False Visions
By Marlen
Written on 12/20/2000


Exhausted from yet another dead-end lead, she walks through the
front door of her apartment and unceremoniously throws her keys
into their usual place on the kitchen counter. The old Dana
Scully would have placed them neatly on the key rack, but ever
since Mulder's disappearance, she hasn't been the same person.

The order of neatness she kept in her world had been shattered
with the realization that he was really gone and in a cruel
twist of fate had left her with child ... his child. Tears
sting her eyes as she thinks about how happy other women would
be at the thought of a new life entering the world, but she
can't let herself enjoy the experience of pregnancy -- not
without him.

She wipes the wetness off her cheek and thinks to herself that
if her colleagues could see her now, all weepy and emotional,
they would never believe their eyes. To them and the rest of
the world, she is a strong and capable agent who can handle any
situation. Some of them have said that she is a better agent
now that Mulder isn't holding her back.

That can't be further from the truth.

It's all a façade. She longs for his tender touches, his loving
kisses, and his warm embrace, but now she feels lost and alone.
Her fears for him and for the baby grow greater with each
sleepless night.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a swift kick from the baby.
Scully remembers that she really isn't alone and places a hand
on her protruding belly. He or she is probably hungry and
greets her touch with another kick. She hasn't eaten since
breakfast. She smiles and whispers to her unborn child,
"Impatient, just like your father. Okay, okay, food coming up."
The movement ceases.

Her smile fades when she hears a noise coming from the bedroom.

She is not alone.

She rushes to the counter to retrieve her gun. As she removes
it from the holster, her eyes fixate on the door. Flashes of
Pfaster attacking her last year come to mind and her breath
hitches. She knows it can't be him, but she also knows she
can't fight in the condition she's in. With one hand holding
the gun and the other on her stomach, as if to protect her
unborn child, she approaches the bedroom door.

She quietly listens for any movement to indicate where in the
room her intruder might be. There it is again, the creak of her
bed. She pulls her head back. In her bed? What kind of sick
pervert gets off on that?

No one is going to violate her home. With deftness and speed,
she opens the door and points her weapon at the intruder.
"Stop. FBI ..."

Her command is cut off by the vision before her. Sprawled out
on her bed is the man she's only seen in her dreams for the past
few months.

She doesn't believe what she is seeing. She closes her eyes and
sighs heavily. This can't be happening, she repeats over and
over in her head like a chant. She's not this lucky.

She shakes her head and says quietly, "Great. I'm seeing things
now." She walks away from the room and rationalizes her vision
by saying, "It's stress and lack of sleep. Yes. That's it, I
need more sleep." However, as she returns to the kitchen and
places her gun on the counter, she hears, "It's me, Scully."

She groans, puts her hands over her ears and squeezes her eyes
shut. "Stop it! Stop it! You're just a figment of my
imagination."

She stills when she feels his large, warm hands over hers,
gently pulling them away from her ears. Tears spill from
underneath her lashes and she's shaking terribly. "Go away," she
begs the apparition.

"Scully," he says again in a pleading voice. "Look at me." She
complies and opens her eyes to look at him.

With a trembling voice she says, "Is this real? Or is this a
dream and I'm going to wake up alone again."

He bends to kiss a tear traveling down her cheek. "It's real."
He kisses her other cheek. "I'm here." He kisses the tip of
her nose. "You'll never be alone again."

She finally believes.

She cups his face in her hands and with tears flowing down her
face, smiles widely and says, "I'm never letting you out of my
sight again."

He matches her wide smile. "I can live with that."

They seal the deal with a kiss.


~the end~


AUTHORS NOTES: This came out of a challenge posted by Beduini
on the I Want To Believe mailing list. A lot of great stories
came out of this writing exercise and I hope you enjoyed my
version on how Mulder should come back to us.