Title: Mind's Memory Part 2

All other information in first chapter...R&R

*********

"Mulder," she whispers hoarsely into the darkness, breaking the dream-like state I was in.

I open my eyes and I am finally looking into her beautiful blue eyes.

"Hey, Scully. How're you feeling?" I inquire looking at her pale face.

"I'm feeling better," she says weakly. Scully didn't look like she was feeling better. I wonder how many times I have sat by her bedside in reality. In my schizophrenic world it was too many times to count. When she disappeared and came back barely holding on to life. Or when she was shot during countless cases I was at her bedside. During her cancer I wept at her bedside vigil when she was asleep, but was it all a dream? Was every moment I spent at her bedside just a figment of my imagination?

"Mulder?" Scully whispers.

"Yeah, I'm here," I reassure her.

I stare at her a minute longer -- looking into her face, wondering the kind of life we really lived.

I grab her left hand and feel the ring on her finger. She's married, but to who?

"Mulder, what are you thinking?" she inquires.

I play with the ring on her finger.

"So, who's the lucky guy?" I ask starting to feel the ache in my heart.

Scully stares at me hurt and then replies, "You, Mulder, you're the lucky guy."

"I'm sorry that I don't remember. I haven't been able to decipher fact from fiction."

She only nods, a sad expression covers her face.

"Mulder, what do you remember about your life, the fantasy world?"

"I remember you. I remember searching for a truth that I never ever found, but you were always by my side. We investigated the paranormal -- aliens, monsters, humans with special powers and you know looking at it now it seems pretty unbelievable," I say stopping.

Scully only watches me with her deep tear covered blue eyes.

"But you know what, Scully, whatever life I thought I was in, whatever visions I saw you were always there. You were the one that kept me going, the one I trusted and you were the one that stole my heart."

Scully smiles with tears running down her face.

A long silence passes between us as we stare into each others' eyes and studying one another's faces.

"Say something, Scully," I finally reply.

She takes a deep breath and starts to talk.

"Our story goes back almost ten years -- originally we both worked at the FBI in the Violent Crimes Unit. You were brilliant, coveted by both the CIA and the FBI, but you told me that you chose the FBI because of you father. He was an FBI agent for over forty years.

"Mulder, from the very beginning I knew you were different. You had a sense of humor that could light up a dark and dreary stake out," she pauses looking at me.

"Go on Scully," I urge.

"We worked on quite a few emotionally tough cases during the first two years. By that time we trusted one another with everything including our lives."

She goes on to describe some of our earlier cases. Emotional ones that definitely took some of the fire out of Scully's eyes. Looking into her deep blue eyes I don't need the memories because I can see the pain, and the loss in her eyes. I can see that she started to doubt the innocence of life.

"You know, Mulder, during a case that involved the gruesome death of a young boy I started to question my believe in a God that would let that happen. We saw some horrible things, but having you at my side made it easier."

Tears start to slide down her face and I pull her close to me.

"Scully," I whisper, "You make me complete."

We hold one another for a long time. Her sobs shaking the both of us. Just how much has she lost? How much have I lost?

"What about us, Scully? When did we become a couple?" I inquire curious about the married couple we became.

Scully pulls away from our embrace and grins at me.

"You really forgot how we as a couple came to be?"

"I've told you, Scully, I don't remember..." I say seriously.

"...I know, Mulder," she replies playfully.

Scully goes on to tell me that after working together for three years we stared to do things away from the rigorous work that we did. And during that time our trust and friendship turned into a deep, love filled bond.

"We were married five years after we met on November 9, 1997, and we've been married for almost five years," she finishes as she plays with the ring around her finger.

Maybe things in this life aren't that bad. Hell, in the world were I fought desperately, I had sacrificed everything...she had sacrificed just as much and we still weren't together.

"What about children?" I inquire curiously.

Scully smiles like a proud mother would.

"Emily and William."

Oh, my God -- the two children that both Scully and I became attached to and then lost in my dream world were ours, alive and well in this life, my real life.

"And everything's okay with them? You were never barren...they're normal?" I ask -- my paranoia coming back.

Scully nods her head looking at me puzzled. "Mulder, they are two perfectly normal kids. Emily just turned four in July and William is fifteen months old - born just last May and I've never been barren, considering the fact that Emily was conceived on our wedding night," she says laughing.

I study her for moment, really taking her in. Her face looks horribly pale and her body too skinny.

"Then what's wrong, Scully?" I finally ask her.

She looks down nervously at her hands and then back up at me with tears welling up in her eyes.

"For the past few month I've been battling with cancer--"

"--Oh my God! It's incurable isn't it?" I inquire taking her into my arms. I guess sometimes reality and the dream world coincide.

"No, Mulder, the thing is that just last week I learned that it went into remission," she says trying to reassure me.

"But what happened here?"

"I'm still weak from all of the treatments I received and with all the stress...I just passed out. The doctors are just monitoring me to make sure everything is all right."

We hold one another for a long time. Just me and her. The rest of the world is gone and we are content with other another. Since they have been giving me medication I haven't been living in my alternate world for what seems to be forever.

We must have fallen asleep in each others' arms on her hospital bed.

Dreams no longer come to me with all of the drugs they have me on and the place I retreat to when I close my eyes is a black nothingness.

*****

Dr. Spender and Doggett watch as the couple sleeps soundly on the hospital bed.

"I don't think having them together is helping him to recover from the images and the life he thought he knew," Dr. Spender says.

Doggett shakes his head, "I think pulling them apart would wreak havoc. Whatever world Mulder thought he was in Scully was always there with him. Don't take that cornerstone away from him," Doggett pleads.

Spender nods, "I suppose it isn't doing that much harm."

He leaves Doggett standing at the door staring at Mulder and Scully sleeping soundly.

Minutes later he nods and walks away from the two thinking that they definitely have a connection that anyone would want to have.

********

I open my eyes looking around the room, disoriented until my gaze lands on the fiery red hair of Dana Scully.

I try to get up without waking her, but she senses me leaving and opens her eyes.

"Mulder," she calls out.

"I'm right here," I tell her.

She grabs my hand and doesn't let go.

An hour later the pitter-patter of little feet echo outside Scully's room. Moments later the door bursts open and a little girl with strawberry blond hair runs through it.

"Daddy!" she screams.

Maggie Scully comes walking through the door with a toddler in her arms. His blond hair is starting to turn darker.

Emily jumps into my arms and I hold onto her. This is what I've missed --

Having her weight in my arms is indescribable. Maybe I really did miss out on the life I thought I saw. It's hard to believe that my brain would try and let me forget Emily and William.

Maggie Scully hands me William and I stand there with my two children in my arms.

Something that is totally amazing.

"Daddy, when are you coming home?" the three-year-old shrieks.

"Soon, pumpkin," I say reassuringly.

How could I have let Scully miss out on this? How could she let herself miss out on these children?

"Mulder what's wrong?" Scully inquires concerned.

"Absolutely nothing. This is the greatest moment of my life," I reply.

Minutes spent with my children turn into hours and finally Scully and I find ourselves alone in the hospital room, again. The laughter still fading into a distant memory.

I find myself falling into the darkness once again wondering if it is all real or if it is just a figment of my imagination.

******

Somewhere in New Mexico

May 19, 2002

A New Mexico freeway stretches out for miles as a Ford Explorer flies along the barren road.

On closer examination Scully is driving the Ford Explorer continuously looking at the person next to her. Mulder is sleeping soundly-- the first time in a long time.

Scully shakes her head remembering the dreams that Mulder has been having lately and the things that he has said when he is sound asleep.

Hours later Scully pulls the Explorer into a run of the mill motel just outside of Roswell.

"Mulder, wake up," she says shaking him gently.

His eyes don't register right away. Looking from her to the front door of the motel he can't get it. He doesn't understand what is going on.

"What are we doing here?"

"Don't you remember, Mulder?"

He shakes his head, very confused.

"Kirsch and Skinner helped you escape from death row after you went on trial for the death of a super soldier."

Mulder holds his head in his hands, shaking it.

"This can't be...this isn't real."

Scully gently moves Mulder into the motel room. Hours later Scully lays on the bed with Mulder sitting next to her on the floor. Both still obviously in their own thoughts.

Thoughts, philosophies are exchanged and Mulder pulls himself onto the bed, putting himself behind Scully.

He whispers gently in her ear, "Maybe there is hope."

They fall asleep together, falling into their dark dreamlands. Mulder into his with the uncertainty of the life he's really supposed to be living. But the laughter of the strawberry blond child echoes through his mind as he completely falls into the dark world where he has so often retreated. With questions, and answers, and a truth that he must find with in himself.

His truth.

Their truth.

FIN

R&R