"Run, Monica. Get outta here!" John Doggett's blue eyes were steely cold and his strong jaw set tight as he held the gun steadily on the advancing Super Soldier. Knowle Rohrer, a man he'd called 'friend' in wartime, was now a human-alien hybrid, invincible against human weaponry, who had been ordered to kill them both.

Monica Reyes' eyes reflected her panic, but the spark of determination never left them. Her gun was also trained on the man they faced, steady as a rock. "No!" 'I'm not leaving without you,' was the unspoken addendum. The agents stood together, trapped between the approaching hulk of a man and the dark copper canyon wall.

Doggett knew the end was imminent, and the only calming thought was that he'd die as he'd lived most of the past two years - with Reyes. He glanced at her once, his eyes imploring her, 'Go'. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, and Doggett was torn between admiring her steadfast spirit and desperately wanting to get her out of harm's way. "Knowle Rohrer, that's far enough!" he shouted, feigning a bravado he wished he felt.

"Shoot me, Agent Doggett, if you think it'll make a difference this time." Knowle Rohrer teased him with a cold glare, coming closer.

The report of Doggett's gun was his only reply, and Monica's eyes widened as she saw a spatter of blood appear around the entrance wound in Knowle Rohrer's chest. He looked down at it with a disdainful glance and, raising his head, continued toward them.

Their backs were pressed against the deep red rock as the pair faced the alien-man resolutely, determined to go down fighting. Suddenly, Rohrer stopped, a look of confusion and disbelief washing over his features as the magnetite buried deep within the canyon walls began to exert its carnivorous effect on his flesh. Staring in horror as his body melted before him, the man raised his eyes. They begged Doggett for help, his human soul crying for mercy the agent could not deliver. Doggett lowered his gun, frozen and powerless. Rohrer could barely manage a strangled cry when the metal's draw yanked him into the rock.

Doggett dove to cover Monica's body with his own. Knowle Rohrer slammed into the canyon wall with such force that his entire body disappeared in a shower of pebbles and dust. "Monica..." Doggett said quietly, about to say more when Mulder called out to him from the ledge above.

"Agent Doggett!"

"Mulder, get outta there!" Doggett shouted back, in a voice that left no room for argument.

"They know where you are!" Reyes added, her voice strained. 'Run,' she pleaded with her friend silently. 'Get out of here and take Mulder with you, Dana.'

The throbbing of the helicopters' rotors interrupted the foursome. By unspoken agreement, they made a dash for the white Blazer that had brought Mulder and Scully from D.C. to New Mexico.

"Get out of here." Mulder waved them away, spotting Knowle Rohrer's abandoned black Suburban. 'We have unfinished business, Scully and I,' he thought. 'It's not your fight.'

But, of course, he was wrong. It had become their fight over a year ago, before the birth of little William. Doggett frowned, replying immediately, "Get in the car."

"No, go. Go!" Mulder yelled, following Scully toward the other SUV.

Hating himself for it, Doggett jerked the steering wheel, and the Blazer squealed as dust flew up beneath the tires. They headed west, the most direct route out of the valley. Doggett allowed the car to slow momentarily as he and Reyes stared out the back windshield, watching Mulder and Scully's car disappear behind a stone cliff, going in the opposite direction. He cast Reyes a look and she shook her head slightly, worry creasing both their foreheads.

Mulder peered out the window at the fast-approaching helicopters. It wasn't until he heard the explosion of the first bomb that he sighed in relief. "They're not after us," he told Scully. "I don't know who it is, but they're after *him*." Mulder emphasized the pronoun, still seething. He was unable to speak the name of the man they'd just left, the man who'd admitted to letting Scully and him dangle like worms on a hook for nine years just to watch Mulder suffer: his biological father. He pointed the car east, ending up on a route parallel to Doggett's that would take them out of the canyon.

When he felt they were a safe distance from the canyon, Doggett pulled into a Motel Six and checked himself and Reyes in for the night. They had no way of knowing that less than fifteen miles away, in a very similar motel room, the original X-Files agents were decompressing after their adventure, too. While Mulder and Scully were comforting each other and trying to reconcile themselves with the past, it was the first chance Reyes had had to tell Doggett what had transpired during her testimony in Mulder's trial, sham that it was. She perched on the edge of the bed, facing John, who sat in the desk chair. Her face was animated by a strange kind of excitement as she spoke. "I think I lost my mind, John," Reyes said, biting her lip to hide a proud smile. "I basically told Kersch to stuff it. And I wanted to tell him we'd bring him down. I was just too mad to think anymore." Her eyes blazed with keen determination. "We are going to, right?"

Doggett nodded. "Hell, yeah. They can't do that, just take the X-Files and think that'll scare us off. We just have to wait until Mulder an' Scully contact us to figure out how we're gonna do it," he said, his accent thickening slightly.

Reyes tilted her head to one side, the stress of the day slipping away as she admired the proud set of Doggett's jaw and his strong features, and a smile graced her face.

"What?"

"I'm just glad we're both okay," Reyes smiled softly.

"Me, too." Doggett's tone was serious and thoughtful. "It coulda gone down real different than it did."

Shaking her head, Reyes scooted forward on the bed, reaching out to cover Doggett's hand with hers. "No, it couldn't." She was still smiling faintly as she added, "You wouldn't have let me get hurt." She felt a familiar warmth inside, that feeling of security that came with being John Doggett's  -  *well,* she wondered, *what exactly am I? His girlfriend? We're not lovers yet, technically, even though we're living together.*

Doggett shook his head and had to clear his throat before he could reply quietly, "No, never."

It was at that moment that Monica Reyes decided that whatever they were to each other didn't matter. Tomorrow morning, John Doggett would, without question, be her lover. Their latest brush with death had solidified in her the need to be his, completely, despite any lingering doubt either of them might have. Together, they were stronger than doubt and fear could ever be. Rising from the bed, Monica stood in front of John, looking down at him, her hands resting lightly on his shoulders. As she had so many times in the past six months, Monica brought her lips to his for a kiss.

John accepted it without hesitation, the warm pressure of her lips against his making it almost possible for him to forget the events of the day. Grateful to be alive and able to hold her, John's arms slid around Monica's waist, guiding her closer. Her head was bent, her hands traveling up the sides of John's neck to cup his face. He felt Monica's ring, cool against his flushed skin. Her tongue traced the outline of his lips and John's breathing quickened.

They took their time that night, as they had with everything until that point. Their tender blending of hearts and bodies was a sweet echo of the reunion of Mulder and Scully taking place across town. They were four people fighting against deception and the encroaching darkness with the greatest weapons in their arsenal: love and hope.

THE END