Gabriel's Feather Chapter 01

by FatCat

Mulder has been missing for almost 4 years and somebody is pissed.

6. Gabriel's Feather Part 6 of 6

Title: Gabriel's Feather (Part 6 of 6)

Author: FatCat (rah1231@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG

Category: MSR, CHILDFIC, MYTHARCH

Spoilers: Thru TINH

Summary: Mulder has been missing for almost 4 years and somebody is pissed.

Disclaimer: Thanks to CC, FOX, 1013, GA, DD, RP, and all those others who actually own the show and produce the wonderful characterizations. The people out here who actually support the show would have more fun if some of the fanfic authors were allowed to write some scripts. (IMOPO!)

Archive: I would be honored, but not counting on it. Just let me know where.

(See author's notes at the end)

Gabriel's Feather

"I'm afraid, Scully."

"What are you afraid of?"

"Us. Me."

"What part of us makes you afraid?" She gently asked.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment until she lifted his chin and forced him to look into her eyes.

"I'm… I'm not sure there can be an us."

"Oh." She scanned his face to make sure she was reading him correctly.

"Mulder, I saw the scars on your body. But you must know I want you in my heart, in my life, not just in my bed. I want you. If we never share a sexual moment again, I will grieve for the beauty that we shared for such a short time. But I will glory in the love we share now and through the rest of our lives. We spent over seven years falling in love and never experiencing a sexual moment. How could you doubt that our love is deeper and stronger than any physical ability or disability?"

"When I was gone, I used every moment of our time together to block out the pain and terror. I went over every look, every touch, and every nuance of our lovemaking during the worst times, but I always came back to the small things for comfort during the lonely times when I began to despair. I wanted our lives to be intertwined. Now I've come back and I find our lives will not be intertwined as two but braided as three. Help me Scully. Help me find the courage to face the future."

"Mulder, you are one of the strongest men I ever known. I'm sure the strength you need is in you."

"Scully, I have something I want to tell you, but it's so foreign a thought that I'm not sure you'll believe me."

"Mulder?"

"Just bear with me for a moment, Scully." He again buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"When I was floating in the sea of unconsciousness I would sometimes think about you and what made you so strong. I analyzed every facet of you and your personality. I guess you could say I profiled you. I kept coming back to your faith in God, in the Holy Trinity, in your religion. I actually brought back each page of the bible I read as a child. I must admit I also analyzed several other religions and their doctrine."

"What did you decide?" Scully asked in amazement.

"I don't think I'm going to convert to be a Catholic or a Baptist or a Muslim. But I found I do believe in God. I believe Christ was his son. I believe we were so screwed up in this world that we killed him and yet he forgave us. I'm not a joiner, Scully, but I want Gabe to be brought up with Christian values. I want to support you anyway I can."

"Oh, Mulder you sure know how to blindside a gal." Dana said as tears that had pooled began to flow down her face.

"There's more, Scully." Mulder said in a very small voice.

Scully didn't say anything; she just let him gather his thoughts as she quietly stroked his hair.

A deep shutter racked his body as he gathered strength to tell her the next part.

"Do you remember when I said I was rescued? I think…I believe…I'm almost sure…"

"It's okay, Mulder. If you don't want to talk about it right now you don't have to."

"No, I have to say this. I think God saved me. I have a partial memory of two angels taking me away from the ship. I don't know if I was hallucinating it or not."

"Exactly what makes you think you were hallucinating?" She asked quietly.

"Because Alex Krycek was there too." He said with an unsteadily laugh. "That's so far out there that it makes me doubt my memories and even my sanity."

"Oh, Mulder. That's enough to make anyone confused." She gently held him closer to her as he shuttered again. "It's late. You've had a long day. Let's go to bed and sleep on it. We'll think about it tomorrow."

They rose up together, still holding hands, and walked back to the bedroom. There they lay down and slept entwined in each other's arms until morning.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Shortly after breakfast, AD Skinner called and asked if he could meet with Mulder the following day. Doggett and Reyes were still at the site, but he would be back in town and would have documentation and photographs he wanted Mulder to see.

Mulder and Scully agreed. They had been brainstorming all aspects of his memories for over an hour when Mulder suddenly spoke.

"Ah, why didn't I think of this sooner?" He rushed to the phone and called the Lone Gunmen.

"What?" Scully wanted to know.

"Byers, It's me. Turn off the tape. Is this line secure?" He waited for a moment and then hung up. Turning to Scully he said, "Where's the secure cell phone the guys gave you? I'm to call them back on that line."

Scully quickly produced the phone but did not give it to him until he explained his need.

"I just remembered. Hypnosis. I need to contact someone who can regress me back to the memories of my release."

Scully, immediately gave him the phone in agreement. The call was made to the guys and they agreed to make the arrangements.

"They'll call me back as soon as they line up an appointment. They want to do it at their place. They have all the recording equipment, both audio and visual all set up." Mulder said as he paced.

"Should we wait for Skinner?" Scully wasn't sure she wanted to do this without a credible witness.

"The sooner, the better if you ask me. I want this doubt out of my mind." Mulder insisted.

When the Lone Gun Men called back the appointment was set for the next day at 11:00. Mulder took the appointment time with better grace than Scully expected. She contacted Skinner and asked him to meet them at the guy's place at eleven.

The rest of the day was split between Mulder getting to know his son and documenting all his memories. The more they talked about his experience, the less it loomed over his mind. It was as if their very conversations brought light to his darkness. By the end of the day, laughter was reigning in the apartment.

With an armed escort worthy of a President or Prime Minister, Mulder, Scully and Gabriel drove to the home/offices of the Lone Gun Men. They had worried about leaving Gabriel with any of the Agents assigned to protect them. They finally convinced themselves that taking him along was the best course of action.

They entered the den of the Lone Gunmen without escort. Skinner was already there, as was the hypnotherapist. The balance of the agents spread out to cover all the entrances and exits.

Mulder and Scully spoke quietly with Gabriel and settled him in the computer room with a new version of the Retro Game Mech Warrior. It never failed to amaze Scully why even little boys had the need to blast something to pieces.

As the therapist began the session he was given a list of questions Mulder and Scully had prepared the day before. These questions were to be inserted into the normal interrogation procedure of the therapist. Mulder was seated in a chair with a video/audio camera, a second audio recorder, a lie detector machine, and electrocardiograph machine hooked up to his body.

During the course of the session those watching the memories unfolding were in turn sickened by the brutality revealed and shocked into silent disbelief by the revelation of just who his rescuers were.

Mulder was brought out of the hypnotic state to a complete silence. Everyone but Scully was staring at him as if he had grown another head.

Skinner hustled the hypnotherapist into the next room for a debriefing. Scully turned to study the electrocardiogram tape. Byers, Langley and Frohike were looking everywhere but at him. They seemed to move as one to scurry about fussing with the equipment.

"Come on guys, it couldn't be that bad. Skinner, Frohike, Langley, Byers? Would somebody tell me what's going on?"

Scully moved to his side and took his hand. "I think you better see this for yourself," was all she could say.

Langley took the videotape out of the machine and wheeled in a cart with a TV and VHS player on it. Skinner returned to the room as the lights were dimmed for better viewing.

Scully looked deeply into Mulder's eyes and said, "Your going to need all your strength to see this, Mulder. Are you sure you want to do this right away?"

"What happened happened. I cannot change the past, but I sure as hell can use it to fight the future. Let's do it!"

"Mulder, this isn't a game; this is real." Scully said slightly aggravated with his attitude.

"Scully, it's okay. I have you here to anchor me. I can take it." Mulder said with a loving smile.

The next hour was spent in reviewing the taped hypnotherapy session. Once again silence fell over the room. Mulder was the first to speak.

"I can't believe it. I don't believe it. It's impossible. Saved by the archangels Michael and Gabriel. They obviously did a lobotomy on me and it didn't show in the tests at the hospital. Scully, what's going on?" Mulder's voice shook with anger and fear.

Gabriel, drawn by the voices of his parents, sidled into the room to climb up on his mother's lap.

"Mulder, this could be an implanted memory. Something they did to you to discredit you in the eyes of the authorities. It could be wish fulfillment, a desire to be rescued so strong that only the mightiest could be responsible. It could be…"

"It could be true." A new voice from the doorway quietly spoke.

"Krycek!" Exclaimed several voices in the room as they turned toward the door.

Skinner immediately pulled his gun, "Get your hands up Krycek."

"Come, come, Walter, you know I only have one hand and right now it's full." A palm- sized computer was grasped in his hand. "If I drop it, the code could malfunction. We wouldn't want that to happen now that I'm here to offer my help, would we?" Alex Krycek grinned his signature smirk.

"Put it down, Krycek." Ground out Skinner.

"I'll put it down when you assure me you will listen to me before calling in the guards."

"Speaking of the guards" Scully spoke up. "What did you do to them in order to get in here?"

"Nothing. They are all fine." Krycek smiled again.

"That's not possible. No one could have passed through that door without taking out at least two or three of those agents. Not without some sort of cloaking devise." Langley spoke up.

"Tsk, tsk, Mr. Langley. You watch far too much Star Trek!"

"Well, Krycek, how did you get past the guards?" Mulder was sizing up the situation to determine how much danger the rat boy held for Gabriel. He noticed Scully pulling Gabriel closer to her to shelter his body from a direct shot by Krycek.

"I was told to come here today; I was guaranteed safe passage through the guard."

"By whom?" Mulder shot back.

"By the same individuals that brought you out of that hell." He seemed to be enjoying this entirely too much.

He looked at Skinner again and said in a quiet voice. "I'm going to put this down on the back of the chair now. I do this as a gesture of good will. This is the only instrument that controls the nanoprobes in your system, Skinner. Do not destroy it, it could malfunction if damaged and kill you instantly. Have your Trekkie over there check it out, carefully. When he 's done, I'll tell you how to kill the nanoprobes with it."

"Nice try, Krycek, but you're still facing arrest for the murder of Melissa Scully and William Mulder, and countless other acts of treason." Skinner said as he snatched up the box and handed it off to Langley. "Move over to that chair and put your hands behind your back."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot do that, Skinner. I need my hand free." Krycek said in a calm voice. "But I will sit down as you so kindly requested."

Something about his manner puzzled Mulder. The feral gleam that was usually in his eyes was missing. He seemed to have a calm about him that was entirely new. As Mulder studied him, Krycek met and held his gaze. Mulder suddenly felt that he was able to look into Krycek's very soul. What he saw was not black and slimy as the oil he had once been infected with, but light and hopeful. Mulder saw repentance and forgiveness. Mulder saw the same mark of God on his soul as he had felt settle on his own as he watched the video of his hypnosis.

"Why are you here, Krycek?" Mulder quietly asked, holding his hand up to silence the others.

"They told me to come. It's time, Mulder. The war will begin before long and we must prepare."

"Who told you to come, Alex?" He said still probing deeply into the eyes of the one human on earth he had hated more than any other.

"Gabriel and Michael. I was on the ship when they saved you. They gave me a chance for redemption. They killed every alien on that ship. That's why it crashed in Nebraska. There was no one left to control it."

"What were you doing on the ship in the first place?" Mulder asked. "No, don't answer that. Start at the beginning and tell me everything."

"As you all may have guessed I have worked for the Consortium all along. I did not choose to join them. My stepfather sold me to them for a place in the hierarchy. The fool didn't live two years after turning me over at a very young age. After a while it seemed to just be easier to follow instructions and avoid the consequences. What had the so-called 'good people' done to help me? There was one person I never forgot, though, my Grandmother." He closed his eyes and a genuine smile crossed his face.

"She loved me and tried to teach me right from wrong. She was a Christian and wanted me to follow her beliefs, but I was a coward and chose to take the path of least resistance and of no pain. When she died, I thought my last chance at redemption had died with her. After that, I was lost. I was their tool."

"I do want to say at this point, Agents Mulder and Scully. I did not kill Melissa Scully nor did I kill William Mulder. I am not innocent of duplicity in their deaths, but I did not pull the trigger."

"I have gone along with their evil plots and plans, I make no bones about it, I am guilty of almost every crime you feel belongs to me. But when they used me to lure Mulder to the abduction point, something in me rebelled. Even I was appalled by their treatment of you. I don't know if you are aware of it, but it was I who killed CGB Spender. I thought I could get out if the leader of the last dregs of the Consortium was gone, but I was only a blind fool. I was soon shown that my act of defiance was only the last link in the chain of my masters."

"I was on the UFO to transport Agent Mulder to a splinter faction of the Consortium for use in their breeding program. They had summoned me because you had grown strong mentally and they could no longer control or rape your mind—they only controlled you by keeping you drugged and in the stasis chamber. They felt perhaps a few offspring would give them the upper hand with you. If not, they could dispose of you if one of your children displayed your unique abilities."

Here Krycek halted and closed his eyes. "Mulder, you must believe me. I didn't know what they would do to you. They never tested any of the other abductee's as viciously and inhumanely as they did you. I swear on my Grandmother's soul, I would have found a way to stop you if I had know then what I know now."

Fox Mulder studied the man carefully. He believed him. With a slight nod of his head he said, "Continue."

"They were giving me directions on where you were to be taken. They had picked me up in the middle of the desert in Arizona. I was supposed to take you to an encampment in the east." He stopped talking and lowered his head.

"I know this next part is unbelievable, but please hear me out." He looked at each person in the room individually before continuing.

"They had drained the stasis chamber and had brought you up to a level of consciousness that would allow you to be transported easily, but not enough to be able to escape. There was a blinding light and when my eyes adjusted I was able to see two huge angels standing on either side of you. The leader of the aliens apparently threatened them and a mental argument ensued. I had not had the usual treatment that allowed me to understand them, so I don't know what was said. The leader tried to kill you and them but his weapon was of no use. They argued some more, then the aliens backed out of the room."

"The angels beckoned me forward and spoke to me of redemption. One of the angels grabbed my left arm in one hand and your right arm in the other. The fierce looking angel was on your other side. The aliens surged back into the room with enough fire power to lay waste to New York City, but with a warning for me to cover my eyes, a blinding light flashed and we were somewhere else."

"Where?" Scully asked, surprised at how Krycek's story paralleled Mulder's.

"I don't know. It's seemed to be in a white fog. I couldn't see very far away. I couldn't tell if we were on the ground; I couldn't see stars; I was just there."

"Why were you there?" Scully asked.

"I was told that this was my last chance of redemption. It was my choice. I could believe in the one true God and His Son Jesus or I could join all the other lost souls that were going to suffer and die."

"What did they want with me?" Asked Mulder.

"They said God was angered that one of His chosen people was being tortured. He said that Mulder was to lead the fight against the aliens and I was to be at his left hand."

"You're not going anywhere but to jail, Krycek" growled AD Skinner, moving to ward him with handcuffs.

"Wait! Wait. The angel Gabriel said there would be a sign to convince you of the truth. He gave me this. Please! Its in my inside jacket pocket." He slowly reached his right hand into his jacket and pulled out a long white feather.

"This is a feather from the wing of the angel Gabriel. He said it was a sign you would believe."

"Please, Krycek, just how gullible do you think we are?" Byers spoke up. "No one believes that this could be a feather from the wing of an angel."

"I do." A soft voice said.

All eyes in the room flew to Gabriel, sitting quietly on Scully's lap.

"Honey, I know you would like to believe this is a feather from an angel, but…" Dana was at a loss for words. How to balance the belief of an innocent and the facts she knew.

"I know it's really a feather from Gabriel, 'cause I have one too!" He jumped down and ran to his backpack and opened the front zipper pouch.

"See! Gabriel gave it to me last night when I saw him and Michael carry Daddy into the hospital."

All was silent in the room. So silent, the small humming of the computer equipment in the next room seemed deafening.

"He told me to give you a message."

"Gabriel, just exactly what did who tell you?" Dana was growing more agitated by the moment.

Gabe stood up in the middle of the adults and cleared his throat. He told them everything that had happened from the time he woke up in the ER chairs til he waved goodbye to his Daddy and saw the "pretty nurse" going into the curtain area where he was left. He was especially careful with the message from the angel.

His brow was scrunched up in concentration trying to remember exactly what was said. When he was sure, he spoke.

"The angel Gabriel said, 'I have a message for you to remember for your mother and father. Tell them Gabriel and Michael have asked for forgiveness of the sinner at their door. He is important to God's plan. Can you repeat that message Little Gabe?' So I just did."

He was very happy that he remembered the entire message.

"Can I go play the computer some more now?" He asked.

Mulder nodded to Scully and she sent him on his way to the next room.

"Krycek, what the hell is going on?" Skinner demanded.

Krycek's eyes never left Mulder as he spoke. "I am willing to under go the same hypnotherapy you just did to verify my story. I'm sure if Agent Scully has these two feathers analyzed she will find them to be from the same source and unidentifiable in any scientific category or class she can find. How do you explain the will of God?"

Chaos erupted in the room. Fox Mulder stood up and signaled for quiet.

"Krycek, why me, why you?"

"You were picked because you are strong enough to mentally battle the enemy. Your brain has developed through the testing and you are able, even more than you can conceive, to control them and their actions. You are Earth's first line of defense."

"Let's say I can agree to that statement. That still leaves the second questions. Why you?"

"I have been treated like a servant or slave by them for so long that they forgot to be careful around me. They have given me insight into their weaknesses. Insights I have used to formulate a plan. A plan that I feel will work and will free our world from Colonization."

"Save it, Krycek. First we want to verify your story. Then we'll talk about the future."

"A smart move, Skinner. Just don't take too long. With the crash of this vessel, the timetable will be moved up."

Mulder again turned to Krycek and looked deeply into his eyes, trying to validate the gut feeling he had that the man was telling the truth.

"Just exactly what kind of weapon do you propose we use against them? Missiles are useless against their advanced technology." Mulder said.

"He's right" AD Skinner spoke up. "There is almost no damage to the ship that crashed. We haven't been able to get inside yet there seems to be no survivors."

"Think, Mulder. What do you remember of their plan for Colonization? Do you remember the plot to thin the ozone layer? Do you remember the plans to activate volcanoes all over the world to shroud our world with a thick layer of dust that would lower the amount of light on the surface? Do you remember why?"

"Yes," Mulder seemed lost in thought. "Yes! They want our planet for the natural resources that they have depleted on their own, but they need a lower level of light to function. That was the reason for the human-alien hybrids. They needed someone to work outdoors until the environment had been adjusted to their needs. That's it! Their weakness is a sensitivity to light!" Mulder looked to Krycek for confirmation.

"Yes, their weakness is light. A light bright enough will actually kill them! Is it the brightness or the spectrum of light? We have so much to learn. We'll need a tremendous source of light to protect our planet." Krycek confirmed.

"It's no use. We don't have the technology to fight them, even if we do have the knowledge." Mulder reached over to Scully to gather her close to his side. "It's too late to do anything."

"Not so fast, Mulder. I have a plan. I kept thinking and thinking why I was offered this chance and I realized I was just a piece of the puzzle that God had sent down to us to solve. And believe it or not, this piece has the knowledge that will allow us to win."

Every eye in the room was on him again.

"Has anyone in here heard of the project NASA has had in development for the past several years under the code name Contact? The name of the program was taken from Carl Sagen's book, 'Contact'. This project was implemented to find a fast, safe, economical power source to drive an interstellar vehicle for manned, long-term space exploration."

"How does that help us? Everyone knows about the 'Contact' project." Frohike said.

"The means of transportation they have developed is a piece of equipment call a Fractural Electron Automated Transwarp Heat Extruding Resonator. It's a device that extrudes energy by utilizing the space junk floating around in space and converting it to a beam of light that when projected back into itself will create an opposite reaction that will allow the craft to fly at near or above light speed. The original model is already for launch in less than two months. There are six others in various stages of completion by subcontractors around the country. They can be converted to the weapon we need. We can use the alien ship to place them in a ring around the earth for protection."

"He's talking about Gabriel's F.E.A.T.H.E.R.!" Langley interjected as if just understanding what Krycek meant.

"What?" Mulder asked, glancing again to the two white feathers in Scully's hands.

"Dr. Julian Gabriel developed this piece of equipment so everyone call's it Gabriel's Feather…get it? It's the acronym of Fractural Electron Automated Transwarp Heat Extruding Resonator—FEATHER!"

Silence again fell over the room.

"How much time do you think we have?" Mulder asked Krycek.

"Long enough I hope. You will know when they are near. You don't feel them now because all the aliens on the ship are dead and the hybrids don't have the mental abilities the aliens do."

"Sir, I think you can put your gun away. I know Krycek's been on the other side but I have a feeling it's going to boil down to US vs. THEM. We obviously have God on our side; I know we'll win. And Krycek's always wants to be on the winning side." Scully said.

"All very well and good, but I'm assigning a guard over him until further notice. Can you live with that, Krycek? If you betray us, you will die with us. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly, Walter. Now lets get those nanoprobes out of the equation." Krycek and Langley began to work the palm computer.

Mulder hugged Scully even closer. There was much to do and very little time to do it.

Days flew past, then weeks and then a month. While the hectic schedule wore most of the team down depleting energy and shredding tempers, Mulder and Scully seemed to grow stronger each day.

No matter what the chore of the day they made it a point to fall into bed each night together. They seemed to garner strength from the hours of shared touch. At last their efforts seemed to pay off.

The alien ship was breeched and cleared of all the dead. Pilots from Ellens Air Base had been trained to fly the ship with a minimum of adaptations. The ship had been named the USS Enterprise. This was a bit of humor that was not lost on anyone, but also a tribute to powerful and true vessels of Earth's history. It had been loaded with Gabriel's F.E.A.T.H.E.R. after a smaller model of the weapon had been manufactured for use as a weapon against the aliens. The day of reckoning was drawing near.

Two days before the first flight of the Enterprise found the core team at dinner at Mulder and Scully's apartment. Maggie and Brenna had prepared a huge Thanksgiving meal. The fact that Thanksgiving was many months away meant nothing. The one big surprise of the day was that an addition to the original twelve had been invited. Mary Alice Hanks, the ER nurse that had found Mulder, was there as Walter Skinner's date. There was plenty of everything for everyone. Only one rule prevailed—No talking about their mission.

Over dessert, Mulder stood up and asked for quiet. He turned to Scully and smiled into her eyes.

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a blue velvet box as he went down on one knee. Scully's face at first paled then flushed with bright color.

He took her hand and the world narrowed to just the two of them.

He said, "Special Agent Dr. Dana Scully, love of my life, soul mate, mother of my son, my one in five billion, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

As he spoke he realized her emotions ran the gamut from hysterical laughter to mortification, to deep tenderness and love. He was on thin ice asking her in front of all the people she was closest to, but had felt driven to commit publicly to this woman before facing the alien invasion. Her eyebrow slowly rose to the Scully Stare that let him know he would pay for the public display later. Her lips began to twitch and finally a huge, brilliant, Scully Smile covered her face.

"Mulder!" She sputtered.

He kneeled there before her with his heart in his eyes. All she could do was slip to the floor and kneel facing him. She placed her hands on each side of his face and leaned in to kiss him gently on the lips.

"Mulder, I would be honored to be your wife, your partner for life, your soul mate. Will you Fox William Mulder, Special Agent and Astronaut extraordinaire, be my husband?"

"Ah, Scully, you know how I love it when you sweet talk me. Yes, I would be proud to be your husband."

"Hey! How about me? What do I get to be?" Gabriel giggled as he ran to his parents and pushed into their arms.

"You get to be best man! And number One Son!" Mulder said happily.

"Okay! Will there be ice cream there?"

"Yes!" Dana laughed, "Ice cream and cake!"

"Then I say yes!" Gabriel told his parents.

A rousing cheer from the witnesses brought them back from their solitude. The rest of the evening passed in a golden haze.

That night as they finally fell into bed, Mulder wrapped Scully in his arms and slowly stoked her arm.

"Mad at me?" He quietly asked.

She turned to face him and for a moment he thought he was in trouble. She smiled gently and stroked his face.

"No, but I should be. Why now, Mulder? Are you afraid you won't come back?"

He was silent for a moment and then smiled back at her.

"No, though I don't have any guarantees I will be back. I wanted you to know just how important you are to me. Do you think we could be married tomorrow?"

"Mulder! What's the rush? Why tomorrow?"

He nuzzled her cheek, beginning to press small kisses all over her face. They had shared intimacies like this many times since he had returned. This time he had a surprise for her. As he had healed he realized his sexual dysfunction was waning. Tonight he felt strong, invincible. He leaned up on his elbow and smiled at her. He finally had her answer.

"I want to adopt Gabriel and change his name to Mulder; I love him so. You know we would have married before he was born if I had been here; I would have wanted to share every minute of your pregnancy. I dream of a little brother or sister for him, maybe both. I want them to be Mulders from the moment of conception."

"If we don't marry soon, it could be too late. It could be too late tonight, if you don't stop looking at me like that."

"I went to the doctor for a final check up before the flight. I'm back at 100% Scully, in case you hadn't noticed. But, I want to do this right, to be right with God."

A look of comprehension washed over Scully's face. "You want to wait until we're married, Mulder?" She smiled at him, equally amazed and aggravated with this sentiment.

"Yes, but I can only wait if the wedding is quick, very quick!" He laughed with her.

They discussed their plans and decided if it were at all humanly possible they would marry the next day. They would honeymoon the night before Mulder's first flight.

Thoughts of the flight led them to ponder all the circumstances that had led to this moment in time.

"Do you realize all the miraculous things we have witnessed, Mulder in our lives together? First, our son William Gabriel is the greatest miracle of all. Then you and our Gabe seeing the angels, then Krycek seeing the angels, then the weapon we need being available when we need it most."

"It tickles me to think of how this all ties together—pun intended." Mulder said with a grin.

"Pun?" Scully murmured, almost asleep.

Mulder yawned and said, "Yes, it all starts with a feather—Gabriel's Feather and with the help of God it will end with a feather—Gabriel's F.E.A.T.H.E.R."

Author's notes: This is the sixth and final installment of a story of the future that was only supposed to have three parts. It has grown and seemingly taken on a life of it's own. I have enjoyed writing this story very much. It's a little different than most of my fiction.

I am aware that there are many X Files fanfic fans that are not Christian—but Scully is and so am I. I figure that I have as much right to write what my heart would like to read as anyone else who chooses to write Slash or Suicide stories. If you did not enjoy it, please don't read the following stories. If you did, I hope you let me know.