Scully

End of Darkness Falls - High Containment Facility; Winthrop, Washington

Mulder leant over Scully. "Scully?"

She didn't move.

"How's she doing?" Mulder asked the doctor.

"She's still not out of the woods, so to speak. She lost a lot of fluids. Two or three more hours of exposure, she might not have made it."

"I told her it was going to be a nice trip to the forest."

Scully wasn't conscious and her brain couldn't process the stimuli coming from the facility room through her nervous system, yet, the low and familiar frequencies of Mulder's voice triggered a sensitive part of her neurons.

Scully suddenly emerged from a completely black hole and stumbled into a dark dense forest, unable to disentangle her limbs and mind from undistinguishable strings and sensations.

She began to fight her way back. Back to the consciousness, back to Mulder, back home.

'Mulder, I'm lost in the woods, still stuck in the web of the bug threads, still wandering in a blurry green fog I cannot blow away. I wish I had a compass and a map so I could find my path toward you. Mulder, can't you grasp my hand and pull me out of this gooey quagmire I've dived into?'

'Mulder, I can hear your voice, far away but warm and familiar.'

'Mulder, don't stop talking. Mulder, don't leave me, please. Mulder… where are you?'

A couple of hours later, Scully's eyelids were fluttering as she was slowly regaining consciousness.

Mulder, who had been monitoring her state from his bed, stood up, came closer, and leant over Scully's head.

"Scully… Scully… It's me. You're okay, Scully," he said softly.

'Mulder? Is that you I can feel and hear? Mulder, did I make it?'

Scully opened her eyes, focusing on Mulder's irises and anchoring her thoughts into his warm and genuinely concerned sight. She felt weak and unable to say a single word, but she put all her strength into her face and smiled at him.

"It's me. You're okay, Scully," Mulder said once again, smiling back at her burned face.

'Yes, it's you. I'm okay now I can see you. Mulder, I've made it. Mulder, where are we? Mulder…'

Mulder's eyes and face disappeared suddenly, not allowing her time to try a sound with her frail vocal cords. As blurry stranger faces and words were replacing Mulder's ones, she closed her eyes, relieved to not be dead and to have reached Mulder, but feeling too weak to interact with these people.

Scully and Larry Moore had come out of the woods -so to speak- almost at the same time. They quickly recovered an unfogged consciousness and made the same progress as Mulder had hours before them.

The day after, the three of them had been transferred to a more comfortable zone of the facility, still remaining under strict medical and monitoring control, still quarantined.

Despite a lingering weakness and some annoying after-effects of the luciferene affecting their bodies, Mulder and Scully soon get back to their usual interactions and banter. They even regained a certain sense of intimacy, on and off, their fellow Larry seemingly wanting to spend time alone when they weren't interrupted or bothered by physicians or procedures.

Scully desperately needed to rationally process all the events and scientific facts of the misadventure they had got into. She needed to analyze, dissect and autopsy the datas and clues of the case they had stumbled on; they would have a detailed report to write for Skinner. They also would have to take lessons from what had happened in the field for their future cases; couldn't they anticipate and lessen lethal risks they would encounter?

However -and she didn't want to admit it out loud- overall this whole rational grasp, Scully needed to put aside for a while the frightening experience she had been through. She was obviously tough and resilient, but she had almost died in the forest, wrapped in a big cocoon and sucked to death. She had almost died because of unknown minuscule phosphorescent insects. She had even completely freaked out once in the cabin, when facing these fucking tiny green bugs, and she wasn't proud of her irrational reaction. That was too much for her to take right now, she needed time, maybe just one day or a few hours. Later on, she would be able to analyze her unpleasant feelings and sensations, and face her deepest fears.

As soon as she had been able to when she had awakened, Scully had made a brief reassuring call to her mother. Now, at the end of the afternoon and feeling way better, she was up to a longer chat with Maggie. She knew Mulder had given her mother detailed news already, and she hoped to have a more casual and usual conversation, as if no real dramas had happened.

"Mrs Scully, speaking."

"Hi, mom."

"Dana, how are you?"

"Fine. Not completely healed, but fine."

"I can hear that your voice and breath are healthier, indeed."

"I still have to eliminate residues of this chemical component remaining in my lungs, but nothing to worry about."

"Have you eaten? How's the food?"

"Yeah, a little bit. That's OK, even if not really completely recognizable."

"What about Agent Mulder?"

"He can eat anything. He's actually eaten twice my portion and finished mine."

"It's because he's taller and has recovered faster than you… Dana... I wanna tell you, your partner… He was so nice to give me news, you know... I had difficulties understanding what you'd been through when I was first alerted. Nobody was patient enough to explain to me, or they feared to reveal some secret, I don't know. But Fox found the right words. He made my worries disappear."

"Yeah… Mulder can do that..."

And then, Scully and Maggie chatted quite long about Mulder, more than Scully would have thought possible. She didn't recall having such a conversation by phone about her previous male acquaintances with her mom. There was an ounce of familiarity in the way they were both considering Mulder in their exchange, as if he were a beloved cousin or nephew. It didn't feel wrong or awkward, just natural. And when they came back to her health and concerns, Scully didn't elaborate a lot and shortened the call. Not that she wouldn't mind getting on this discussion and switching from there to other subjects, but she suddenly felt reminiscences rising up from her hidden comatose memories.

Indeed, talking with her mother, flashes of words were resurfacing, words of comfort and hope, but also genuine casual ones. And these words that had guided her when she was unconscious had all the intonation and signature of Mulder's voice.

Hanging up the phone, Scully became fully aware that Mulder had been there the whole time by her bedside, constantly speaking to her, not letting her go.

She realized that Mulder had been the faithful compass she had needed all along.

Swallowing that realization, her heart pounding, Scully was afraid it would make her question the true nature of her relationship with Mulder. That wasn't a thought she wanted to ponder right now in the facility, stuck close to Mulder. She didn't want to dig into interpretations and sentiments. Yet, she couldn't put that knowledge into a closet, let it settle down, clarify on its own, then come back to it in weeks. It was a too heavy package to move aside and she had to alleviate it. She quickly found a means to do so, a logical, rational and appropriate one.

When returning to their shared room, Scully took aside Mulder and began by reporting Maggie's appreciation about Mulder's attention and comfort toward her mother. She didn't say more about Maggie's high consideration of Mulder and fondness for him, not wanting to lead them on some unstable grounds. Then, having the privacy they would need, Scully made them settle down on a bed side by side, and launched a discussion about the matter she thought was important to consider right now. She was confident that Mulder would follow her; after all, they hadn't a lot of other things to deal with at the moment.

Having thoroughly pondered the critical medical state she had been in when they were rescued, Scully wanted now to reconsider and rewrite the living will she had made years ago. She needed to adjust some medical details in it, and -point that mattered to her the most but that she didn't want to reveal too soon- wanted to have Mulder as her witness.

So, Scully switched on an all med-business and scientific mode, bringing insights and explaining details about critical states of a body, means to preserve life, and circumstances when you should accept death. All that level of technicalities wasn't really necessary, but, of course, it was for her a way to engage Mulder in, and to be assured she could always put her life and her death in his hands -and voice.

Mulder was attentive and focused, asking pertinent questions Scully was glad to answer.

"In conclusion," Scully said after a long passionate exchange, "first thing I'm doing when we get back to the office is filling in a new FBI living will. And you'll be just there to sign it as my witness."

"Wait, what? Witness?" Mulder said.

"Haven't I told you? Isn't it obvious?"

"No… I'm not sure… Yes... Of course... it makes sense."

A big smile on her face, Scully looked up at Mulder, who seemed so confused. Finding his reaction cute and moving, and as he was quiet and staring blankly at her, she squeezed one of his hands.

"Okay, Scully… But, I want you to reciprocate. You being my living will witness as well," Mulder finally said.

"Fair enough," she said.

On that, they changed the subject or were disturbed by some medical procedure, or both.

For the rest of the day, Scully felt relieved and alleviated. She wasn't a believer or a psychic, but when Mulder had agreed to be her witness, she had felt a brief sensation of clairvoyance, giving her the intuition that nothing bad would ever come if Mulder was always on her side and if she was still able to hear his voice.

Months and months later - Northeast Georgetown Medical Center; Washington, D.C.

Scully was lying on the hospital bed, weaker than ever; the respirator that had maintained her on life support when she had been brought in the hospital was now long gone.

Mulder entered the room and sat on the chair beside the bed. He stared at her for a while, then put his hands on hers.

"I feel, Scully... that you believe... you're not ready to go. And you've always had the strength of your beliefs. I don't know if my being here... will help bring you back. But I'm here," he said.

Scully didn't move.

Yet, deep inside her soul, Mulder's voice and words reached her. Those were the compass and the definitive argument to not let go Scully was looking for.

She began to fight her way back. Back to the consciousness, back to Mulder, back home.