Title: Stars

Author: f.f.lindy

Date: 2/03

Rating: G

Disclaimer: They aren't mine; don't pretend you thought they were.

Feedback: Please oh please oh please! Always responded to and always printed out to enjoy forever. Vmf2004115@yahoo.com

Archiving: I would be so happy. Please send me a little note so I can celebrate and go visit.

Author's notes: This is what happens when depressed girls spend too long staring at the ceiling, but writing fic always makes my day better. I hope this makes someone else's day better too.

"When I was a little girl I had those sticky glow in the dark stars on my ceiling in my bedroom, and when everything was going wrong and I couldn't take it any more I would tell my family I was going to bed and go in my room and turn out all the lights and lay in the middle of the room on the floor and look up at the stars. I liked to pretend that they were real, to think that each one was one of my stars and was looking out for me. And I'd lie there on my carpet in my pajamas and talk to God. The stars were my angles and the only way they could help me was if I asked god to remind them to. I'd tell him all my problems and explain to Him why I needed him help, and my stars would listen as I whispered my secrets into the darkness.

"As I got older I still did it, but not as often, I remember when my first boyfriend dumped me and I laid in my room all night on the floor and asked my stars to someday bring me someone who would be careful with my heart, someone who would love me for who I am instead of who they want me to be. Until then my stars had always helped me through things. They had never failed me, never denied me a request I made because I had never asked anything from them that wasn't guaranteed to me. I didn't think I had that night either.

"Just a few years back, when Melissa was killed, I went outside and I laid under the stars and I asked them to help me through, and they did. And I believed in them. I actually believed in the stars just like I did when I was 6 years old. I was wrong. There are no magical stars that do what you ask and help you to find what you need in life. I have studied enough to know, but it took living to understand that we are alone in this world. But, there will always be something comforting about the stars. Something about them will always make me feel like someday all my dreams will come true." Scully took a deep breath as she finished talking.

She and Mulder were lying on their backs in grass on a summer night, looking up at the stars. She was so glad to be there with him, of course she'd never tell him that, and she knew it was ridiculous that she was. They'd been out searching for evidence of Big Foot, walking around in the bushes after driving along a seldom-used dirt road for two hours. The dirt road had been a turn off from a highway known by many as the loneliest highway in the world. It was parked in the middle of nowhere that Mulder had left the keys in the car when they got out, and Scully had locked the doors as she closed hers. At 7 o'clock in the slowly darkening clearing the pair had decided not to walk to the road for help until the morning, both their cell phones in the rental car. In the unlocked trunk they had their clothes, a blanket, a sleeping bag, and a few towels that they turned into a double bed to share. Again she felt ridiculous about the fact that she was very excited about sleeping with Mulder, in the most literal sense of the word.

She felt his hand find hers under the blankets as she told him her childhood secrets. She didn't dare look over at him. She knew she couldn't control herself. Just lying there, close enough to feel the warmth he radiated she had to restrain he emotions. "I know I don't have much faith when it comes to religion, but I believe in the stars, Scully." Mulder said softly. "You'll get your man. The one who'll respect you and love you for who you are. I promise you that some loves you."

"I wish I knew who he was." She sighed.

"Maybe you're looking to hard. Maybe he's right there in front of you everyday and you just don't know it yet. Maybe he's laying beside you." His last sentence was much quieter that the first two. He gave her hand a tiny squeeze.

"Oh God I hope so," she said as quietly as he had.

Then she felt his breath get heavier on her neck and soon it was nearing her face. He gave her a tiny kiss in the cheek, then a second a little closer to her mouth. She gained the courage to turn her head and let her gaze meet his. She smiled at him and he mirrored the expression. They shared a gentle kiss then broke apart and looked back towards the sky. Mulder unlatched his fingers from around her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

"I'll take care of you," he whispered, "I'll love you, and cherish you, if only you'll let me."

"You're everything I asked for and more."