The first shot wasn't hers. It and the following shots' echoes were lost on Dana Scully's ears as deafening silence filled the room. Their murder suspect dead, she took a deep, shaky breath, a light sense of closure filling her chest. That is, until she turned around. A heavy thump interrupted her as she made to tell Mulder she'd gotten their man. Quickly, she turned her head to the sound. The sight made her heart drop faster than the gun in her hand. FBI agent Mulder lying on the worn cement, a horrible shade of crimson seeping from a single bullet hole in his chest. The first shot hadn't been hers; now she knew where it went. "Mulder?!" Dana closed the distance between them in a few panicked strides, dropping to her knees beside her friend. "Mulder?" She said again earnestly. Her unsteady hands pressed down over his wound in a useless attempt to stem the flow. "Dammit, Mulder, answer me!" she said, louder and laced with pained urgency. "C'mon, Mulder, please!" Time slowed to a crawl, the moment before blurring out of focus as Mulder's blood seeped through her fingers. Fox didn't utter a word, gazing at Scully with fading eyes. As she pulled Mulder's head and shoulders onto her knees, Scully tried to blink the blurriness from her eyes. Her frantic trembles only worsened when she felt one of Mulder's familiar hands cover hers, his thumb ever so slightly brushing her skin in comfort. To Scully, the world was both overwhelming and fogged over; she was hypersensitive and in a daze at the same time. She stared at his hand before meeting his gaze, frowning as she saw his mouth move. Then Mulder's smooth voice reached her ears. It look a few moments for Scully to recognize the melody.
"You are my sunshine,
my only sunshine..."
Sadness ripped through her heart. "Mulder please, you're making it worse." She pleaded, glancing down to the hot blood trickling through her fingers.
"You make me happy when skies are grey..."
"Fox..." She barely whispered, the word more akin to a plea sent into a dark void than a warning to her partner. She only realized she was crying when she felt Mulder's rough fingers attempt to wipe away the moisture on her cheek.
"You'll never know dear... "
She finished drying her own cheek while Mulder grasped her other hand, fingers entwining. Scully's mouth opened and closed, face frozen in an expression of pain and anguish.
"How much I love you..."
She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, feeling new rivelets form and squeezing his hand as if she could make him stay if she never let go. Seconds passed, and Scully realized Mulder's labored breathing had stopped, the final verse unsung. Her eyes shot open, immediately searching Fox's eyes. They were void, merely empty vessels of the soul. The life was gone.
And then, time didn't matter. All that was and would ever be were those moments: how she hadn't pulled her trigger in time, how the murderer had stolen her sunshine away. Her anguish breaking her, she bent over his chest, and let herself cry, bloodstained hands clinging to his shirt...