Destiny
By: Olivia

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will."-William Shakespeare-"Hamlet"

"You like what you do? Just seems like kinda an odd life. Lonely."-Sheriff
"It could be I guess, but I do have kinda a partner."-Emma Hollis
"This guy, Frank?"-Sheriff
"He's taught me so much. After what I've learned from him...What I see...it's just...`How I feel about it?'...`Do I like what I do?'...Really isn't that important."-Emma Hollis
"Nostalgia"-Millennium

"Dana, what if early in our four years together somebody told you that we'd been friends together-always. Would it have changed the way we look at one another?"-Mulder
"Even if I knew for certain, I wouldn't change a day. Well, maybe that `flukeman' thing. I could have lived without that just fine."-Scully
"The Field Where I Died"


I remember being disorientated at first. I didn't remember where I was or how I had gotten here.

Before I had a complete panic attack and started searching for my gun, I realized that I was in Mulder's apartment. We had been talking on the couch about fate when I must have fallen asleep. With everything that had been happening with Daniel, I couldn't remember the last time I had gotten a decent sleep. Noticing the blanket surrounding me, Mulder must have tucked me in.

I was full of juxtapositions at whatever ungodly hour it was. I was comfortable on Mulder's sofa wrapped in his blanket and yet uncomfortably trapped in my work clothes. I was touched by Mulder's care of me and yet upset that I had deprived him of his bed.

It was at that point that I remembered that he actually had a bed. Where that bed had come from he had yet to explain to my satisfaction.

I couldn't just leave like some proverbial stranger in the night. I didn't want him to wake up and worry, so I crept quietly into his bedroom.

And there he was sleeping peacefully. I just stood there taking it all in. It was not only a rare chance to see Mulder untroubled, but it was also a rare chance to observe him freely.

The next part gets a little blurry.

My guard had been down all weekend, ever since I had seen Daniel after all these years. Seeing Daniel had brought a multitude of feelings to the surface, which threatened my normally cool exterior. My time dealing with Daniel, and the eventual "good-bye," had made me realize, all right made me admit to myself, who was important in my life. It was Mulder whom I loved.

Little by little, over the past seven years, I had given my heart to my partner and I had never let him know. I hid my love in friendship, loyalty, and partnership. But here, now, in the darkness, with the wind howling outside and the clouds threatening rain, I let it out.

Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself sitting beside Mulder on the edge of his bed. I gently rubbed my knuckles down his cheekbone. It was only once, but that was all it took.

Mulder blinked a couple of times and rubbed his eyes. Amid a yawn, he asked, "Is everything okay, Scully?"

"Mulder, I...um...I love you," I whispered.

It was out there. It was spoken. Like an idiot, it dawned on me what I had done. The words were spoken and I couldn't take them back.

So I did what any rational person in my situation would have done, I tried to leave as quickly as I could and hope Mulder either chalked it up to a dream or thought I meant love as in friendship.

I felt his warm hand clamp my wrist. There was no choice but to turn and face him. I turned, but I could not command my eyes to meet his. I mental berated myself. Here I was a seasoned FBI agent and I couldn't even look my own partner in the eyes.

Mulder wasn't easy on me. I felt his hand go under my chin and gently raise my head until our eyes met. And that's when the most unexpected thing happened. Instead of tension flaring, an inexplicable calmness fell over me. This was right. I could see Mulder felt the same way for me, and always had.

All the doubts vanished. We had just been too scared to admit how we felt. Too scared to lose the friendship we had forged through fire together. People had come and gone in our lives, but our partnership, even when it hadn't been officially sanctioned or I had tried to leave, had been unbreakable.

Here was destiny at its finest. Mulder's and my road's had converged seven years ago and led to this point, this moment. All the joys and all the heartaches. If not for Mulder's sister's abduction he would have never pursued the X-Files. If I hadn't chosen the FBI over Daniel and a career in medicine, I never would have been assigned to the X-Files. After that, all the years working together had led to this moment of truth.

Destiny had made our friendship inevitable and unbreakable. It had also made our love unstoppable.

I could feel Mulder's body leaning closer to me. I could feel his breath hot on my face. My eyes closed and I leaned in. Readers, we kissed. It was not the awkward kiss on New Year's nor interrupted by an untimely bee sting. It was sweet and full of fire.

The line is crossed; the barriers have been torn down. The walls we had built so strong to protect ourselves and each other shattered that night. Mulder and I are realists. Our walls can never be rebuilt, except against the harsh light of day and the prying eyes or those that would use this to destroy us.