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Now when you die your life goes on

It doesn't end here when you're gone

Every soul is filled with light,

It never ends and if I'm right,

Our love can even reach across eternity

I believe

Oh, I believe

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Life goes on. It had been going on for the past three months. The earth was still spinning, the sun rose and set, the tides came and went. Mother nature apparently didn't rest in the wake of grief, no matter how great. William's first birthday had just passed, his first teetering steps were now photographs, his first words were etched indelibly in her memory. The milestones were fading fast, his personality was blossoming and half the time Scully could barely bring herself to acknowledge it. The passage of time was an assault that she could not bear. The wounds just never healed, the pain was far too real - it was something that time could never erase. Mulder was gone, he was never coming back. Death was not an ailment he could fight off twice. Her mother urged her to find comfort in the church, but how could she take solace in a faith that had separated her from Mulder for far too many years. Her faith had blinded her to the truth, a truth that gave her a son and stole her soul mate.

*Three Months Earlier*

Scully collapsed into her chair, spinning back around to face her desk she noticed her phone blinking. She leaned in and dialed an open line followed by a four digit code, holding the receiver to her ear, she sat poised to record any pertinent information on the small notepad in front of her. Her mother had called to say that William's ear infection seemed to be getting better, but he was out of Amoxicillin. Hollis Rabin, a bright young recruit originally from Belgium, left her a message regarding the upcoming quiz in her forensic detection class. The last message puzzled her. Skinner had simply said she needed to contact him as soon as possible, but it had to be in person. His tone left no clue as to the nature of his request. She had planned on ordering lunch from a nearby deli. Instead she grabbed her keys and head out to her car. As she parked and entered the Hoover Building she could hardly contain her curiosity. What could possibly be so urgent that he couldn't tell her over the phone? She didn't dare hope that it was news of Mulder. He had spent three glorious days with William, Maggie and her two weeks ago at her mother's house. He couldn't possibly be able to return again. It would raise two many red flags. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but they rose on their own.

Scully was greeted by a smile and a wave from Kimberly. She gently rapped on Skinner's door. His somber expression did wonders at removing her ill placed hope. She refused, however, to take his grave countenance to heart. Stepping in and past her superior she briskly walked towards his desk.

"Dana, sit down please," was his only request.

"No, thank you Sir, I'd rather stand if that's all right with you," came her curt reply.

"Frankly, I wish you would lose the Sir when were in private. I've know you too long, seen you through more personal trails than I care to mention. Please, call me Walter."

"Fine," she muttered. "What exactly did you need to tell me. Your message was more than vague."

"This is the kind of news that just isn't appropriate to disclose over the telephone, Dana. It is the also the type of news that I never wanted to give you," he said delicately.

"What are you getting at Si... Walter," she asked frantically.

"I'm so sorry Dana, there was nothing they could do, by the time we found him..." he began to tear up and could barely choke out the words.

Scully's entire world collapsed under the weight of sixteen words. Skinner didn't need to finish, she already knew what was in store. Mulder was gone, how or why, it mattered little, with out him, she didn't know how to function. He had been gone so long, but she had clung to the knowledge that he was out there, somewhere, fighting, searching, longing to return when the time was right, once the truth was revealed, the conspiracy exposed and unraveled. Now it was over. She had not taken a breath since Skinner muttered those awful words. In an instant she drew a sharp breath and dissolved into heaping sobs. Her legs buckled beneath her and she felt him holding her weight at once. They sat intertwined and weeping for what seemed like hours.

"How," she whispered, searching for her voice. "What happened?"

"Oh, Dana, I'm not sure if now is the right time, maybe in the morning after you've slept and had sometime to absorb..."

"God damn it, I have every right to know!"

"For Christ's sake," he pleaded, "I would never keep it from you, it's just that the timing..."

"Please," she cried, "I have to know, if I'm going to accept this I need the evidence, the cold hard facts. I would be his Scully if I didn't demand every last bit of credible, tangible information."

"He was so close, the syndicate had been completely wiped out, with the help of dozens of loyal renegades, he had destroyed so many bounty hunters and replacements with the metal we sent him. He was on his way to stake out a few of the remaining leads. He was, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. God, it kills me, it was a stray bullet from a drive by that went bad in. It nicked a few arteries and pierced his left lung. They tried like hell, four hours of surgery, but his blood pressure dropped to fast, he started to bleed out. His heart stopped and they could not resuscitate him. He didn't have any I.D. on his persons, but he'd gotten one of those medical alert bracelets before he left, it listed my phone number as an emergency contact, along with a quarantine order listed with the virus symptoms, just in case his immunity wasn't all encompassing. I got the phone call this morning, he was pronounced dead at 4:37 am this morning. He was shot in the North Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He's at Allegheny General Hospital, waiting for transport to county morgue for an autopsy."

"No," was all she could manage.

"What, what is it?"

"I don't want him autopsied, the damage from the gunshot killed him, it don't want them to do that to him. Just bring him home. I'm so tired. All of the running, lying, looking my shoulder, it was only worth it when he had a chance to come home. I'm done, with everything, the FBI, fuck the truth, I just want you to bring my husband home."