Title - Kismet
Author - Jaimee Kidder
Email - invisibleshining@ivillage.com
Rating - PG-13 (for violence)
Classification - XRA
Spoilers - Herrenvolk/Talitha Cumi, Fight the Future, Triangle,
Two Fathers/One Son, Three of a Kind
Keywords - Mulder/Scully romance
Summary - Mulder and Scully investigate a seemingly
meaningless murder in a small farming town in Alabama and suddenly find
themselves caught in the middle of events that could lead to the end.
::whirrrrr:: "I made this!"
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this
story. I wish I was Scully and owned
Mulder, but such is not the case. If I
did, this would be an episode -- or two, or five -- of the show, not some story
that Chris Carter will prob'ly never read. :) The secondary characters are mine (so there!). But Mulder, Scully, and the rest are all CC's (hail to the man!),
1013's, and Fox's. Too bad for me. ;-)
Oh yeah...and I borrowed Celine
Dion's "Because You Loved Me"...so thank you, Celine, for singing
such a lovely (and shippery) song!
.kismet.
.the.weary.travelers.
Wednesday, August 25
D.C. General Hospital
Slowly, the world appeared before
his clearing eyes. He was lying in a
hospital bed. The monitor was beeping
steadily, in rhythm with his heart, and he could just barely make out someone
sitting in a chair across from his bed. He tried to sit up, but wasn't able to, and all that happened was that
he made the heart monitor beep faster. The person sitting in the chair looked up sharply, and immediately stood
and walked quickly over to the bed. It
was Skinner.
"Sir," Mulder greeted
him. It came out in a whisper. "What --"
"Don't try to sit up, Agent
Mulder," Skinner said quietly, pulling up a chair to sit beside the
bed. Mulder pushed himself up a little
anyway and leaned back into an armful of pillows. "Where am I? What
happened?"
"D.C. General. We found you in an abandoned building a few
hours north of Richmond."
An abandoned
building...Richmond... Mulder sat bolt upright suddenly as memory came back,
and his vision blurred with a surge of pain. He was vaguely aware of Skinner pushing him back down into the
pillows. "Easy, Mulder. Lie down."
"Where's Scully?" he
gasped hoarsely.
"She's here. And she's fine...but you've been unconscious
for the last five days. We've all been
really concerned." Mulder lay back
on the bed and closed his eyes with relief. Skinner began to give him the details.
"Like I said, we found you
in a building north of Richmond, at Fort A.P. Hill. The building had nearly burned to the ground. Both Scully and you had severe burns. Scully's weren't that bad -- mostly first-
and second-degree, from the temperature of the metal walls of her cell -- but
they brought you in covered with third-degree burns." He paused to take a deep breath. "Frankly, Agent Mulder, I didn't think
you'd make it."
Mulder was quiet for a minute,
trying to take it all in. "How did
you find us?"
"Police were notified by
Alex Krycek." Mulder's eyes
widened at the name. Skinner
nodded. "After they found you and
Scully, they immediately called the Bureau, and that's why I'm here." He paused to gather his thoughts. "Mulder, you have no idea how worried I
was. Why'd you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Fake Scully's and your
death, go to that military base... What was so important about your murder case
that made you go to such lengths?"
Mulder pushed himself up
straighter. "Because the men
responsible for Robert Harris's death are the same men behind my sister's
abduction, Scully's cancer, the bee attack in Chicago...and they don't make
mistakes. Our lives were in danger; we
did what we had to in order to solve the case."
"And you have?"
Mulder shook his head
reluctantly. "There's still too
much I don't know. What happened at
that base, for one thing. And whether the
Chicago incident was an isolated case."
"That much I can help you
with," Skinner said. "There
were other cities that were attacked. About ten others, I think. All
major cities, all within exactly one hour of each other. It aroused enough suspicion to trace the
bees back to Nature's Best, and the C.D.C. managed to have the remaining
facilities shut down on the basis of quarantine. It wasn't easy, Mulder. They had hundreds of locations in the U.S. alone, and who knows how many
more overseas. There may be more out
there that we don't know about."
It was a sobering thought.
"There's something
else," Skinner said quietly. "I have photographs from the base, taken when the police located
you." He handed Mulder the folder. "You two were the only survivors...that
they found, anyway."
Mulder opened the file. It was filled with large glossy photographs
of the inside of the building, and the area just outside. His breath caught. The people...they had been burned, horribly burned. Some charred beyond all recognition. He flipped through the pictures quickly, not
wanting to see details, when one made him stop. It was a photo of the hallway where he had found Scully. The picture was of him. He looked at it in shock, completely unable
to recognize himself. Finally he tore
his eyes away from the picture and shot a look at Skinner, who had seen the
picture he was looking at.
"A miracle, Agent
Mulder."
Just then, the door opened, and
Scully walked in. Mulder could feel a
grin spreading involuntarily across his face. "Hi," she said, smiling back.
Skinner stood. "I'm going to go let the doctor know
you're awake," he said quietly, and left the room.
Scully came in and sat down on
the edge of the bed. "How are you
feeling?" she asked, taking his bandaged hand gently in hers.
"Glad to be alive," he
said, holding the file out for her. She
glanced at the picture and then quickly closed the file, setting it down on the
floor beside her. "I've seen the
picture," she said softly. "I
saw you." She swallowed and looked
down.
They were quiet together for a
minute, both simply grateful to be with the other. He never thought he'd see her again. That feeling...it was beyond words. And now, to be here with her left him speechless. He wanted to look at her forever.
Finally, she broke the
silence. "Mulder, do you think
it's really over?"
"I don't know, Scully. I think that this will really set any
existing plans back at least a few years. Maybe long enough to pull together a real investigation and find a way
to fight."
"We will fight," she
agreed, with a nod, then added, "Together." He nodded. "I may
not know how, or where. I may not know
what the future holds. But I still have
you," she said with a tender smile. "And I won't let you go."
"Ditto," he said with a
roguish grin. She laughed and put her
arm around his neck, looking him straight in the eye. "I love you, Fox Mulder."
"I love you, Dana
Scully," he returned, all his thoughts vanishing as he pulled her close in
a deep kiss.
.the.end.