Conclusion

A/N: This is the last chapter of this darned story. This part is entirely fictitious; I just hope that my own story may end in a similar way…

Disclaimer: Still not mine. But Chris Carter and his crew should have known better than to leave the fans with this half-baked love story… And the song this time belongs to Hoobastank.

Jimmy:

The anniversary of the guys' death was a Tuesday this year, and I arrived in Arlington shortly after 11 a.m. I had barely entered the cemetery when I spotted a person standing in front of the guys' memorial. My heart started racing wildly, but I noticed very fast that this couldn't be Yves. Unmistakably, the person was a man.

It turned out to be Assistant Director Skinner. I talked to him for a while, but there wasn't much we could talk about. I asked him about the agents Mulder and Scully, but he wouldn't tell me anything. He just said that they were fine.

The next person to arrive was Agent Reyes, and Agent Doggett came a few moments later. They were both very nice to me, although I had the slight suspicion that it took them a while to remember who I was. Once they had remembered, though, they asked me how I was and what I was doing. We talked a while, but then they had to leave. They were working on a new case, I reckoned, and their lunch break was over. They left together. I looked after them and noticed that they were walking very close side by side. Was it a coincidence… or was there something going on that I didn't know?

None of my business, of course. But this made me think of Yves, and my heart cringed. I looked around, and when I was convinced that I was alone, I stepped closer to the memorial and started talking.

"Hello, guys," I said in a low voice. "It's been a while since I visited you the last time. As a matter of fact, I haven't been here since this time last year. And so much has happened since then… I don't even know where to start. I live in Chicago now. Life hasn't been easy since we lost you, you know. I miss my task, and I even miss you bossing me about. After all, we had some fun, didn't we?

"I've got some serious problem going on with Yves. You may not believe it, but I saw her again. I told you we'd lost the contact, didn't I? Well, anyway, we met again in a club a few months ago. And what can I say… it was as if we'd never parted. There was still something going on between us, if you know what I mean. And I didn't make pretending or something, I tell you! There was something. But Yves was pretty drunk, and so I don't know whether she even remembers what she did. She kissed me, you know. She just kissed me, and then she disappeared into the crowd. No explanation, no further conversation, nada! And now I don't know what to make of all the fuss. Shall I call her again and insist that she explain it to me? Or shall I just sit back and wait until she does something? You know, women… It's so difficult to understand what they want; sometimes I doubt that they know themselves. (I reckon I'm not the first man on earth to reach this conclusion.)

"Guys, help me! I've got the feeling that Yves is avoiding me, and I don't know why. Maybe she's embarrassed. Or she waits for me to take the first step. Or she can't remember a thing. But I need to do something, or otherwise I'll go mad! I tell you, the next time I see her I won't let her shrug off the matter like some unpleasant problem she wants to deal with later. Next time I'll just…" I trailed off.

What, actually, was I going to do? It was easy to make plans right now, but what would I do when she was actually standing in front of me? Knowing myself, I reckoned I'd lose courage and just talk for hours without really saying anything.

I made a resolution. I decided to me a man. I decided not to lose courage. I decided to show Yves that my love for her was real. It wasn't just some blaze that faded after the first night or something. I would love her all my life.

If she let me.

"Guys," I said silently, "I swear to you here on your graves: I won't give up. Not this time. I won't let her go again. She slipped from me, but this will not happen again. And if you have any means to help me – this is the moment! You see, I need all the help I can get."

I remained silent for a moment. I had gotten so emotional that I almost expected a sign from the guys. There was nothing, of course, only the soft rustling of the leaves and the almost inaudible whispering of the grass.

"Mind me sitting down for a sec?" I asked the memorial.

I sat down in front of the white stone memorial and instantly sank into thoughts.

Yves:

All the time while I was driving down to Arlington, I wondered whether this was really a good idea. I hadn't been to the cemetery for two years, and there was a reasonable chance that Jimmy would be there, too. And I had avoided Jimmy. But the situation had become unbearable for me. All this hiding and pretending was unfair. Jimmy deserved something more courageous than this. And so I'd gotten in my car this morning, determined to go to the cemetery and finally clean up this mess I'd left behind.

And besides, the gunmen had been too important to be ignored. The second anniversary of their deaths, and in all those two years I hadn't been to Arlington.

I parked my car and walked the rest of the way. A man and a woman came from the opposite direction, and they both looked at me with that uncertain smile people smile when they are not sure whether they know the person they're just looking at or not. They seemed vaguely familiar to me, but at first I couldn't place them. It wasn't until five minutes later that I remembered that they were the two FBI agents who had investigated the case that had led to the gunmen's deaths. Doggett and Reyes. I turned around, but they were already out of sight.

My pace slowed down as I approached the gunmen's memorial. It became harder and harder for me to set one foot in front of the other. One last turn, and I was looking directly at the memorial.

And at Jimmy, sitting in front of it.

He seemed to be deeply in thought. His back was turned to me, and he had rested his chin in his hands. I stopped and looked at him. His clothing was still the same as usual, plain jeans and a tee shirt, and his frizzy hair was long overdue for a cut. I pictured his face with one strand of hair constantly falling over his eyes, and my heart started to beat faster. There was Jimmy, just a few yards away, and yet he seemed unreachable. I knew I just had to take another few steps, or call, but I stood frozen to the ground and wondered why Jimmy didn't turn around. It seemed to me as if he should sense my presence over a mile.

This turned out to be true a moment later when Jimmy slowly turned his head and looked at me.

Jimmy:

I don't know what made me turn around. Maybe I had heard her footsteps, or I had seen a shadow. Or I had sensed her, who knows. Anyway, suddenly I felt the urge to turn around, for I was sure that someone was standing there. So I turned, and there was Yves.

She didn't speak or move, she just looked at me, and I met her gaze. Although the thoughts were rushing through my head, I remained calm. Just one look, and she and I reconnected. It was amazing. I looked at her, and her dark, deep eyes looked back at me, and none of us said a word. We didn't need to say anything. I noticed that she seemed to tremble slightly, and then I knew that she was feeling the same about me. Yves hadn't forgotten anything.

Slowly, I got up, and at the same moment, Yves covered the distance between us with a few steps. She stopped beside me and looked at the memorial.

"I've been thinking a lot of them lately," she said eventually. Her voice was very quiet. "They were fighting for a good thing, weren't they?"

"Sure they were," I answered. "I still miss them. Don't you?"

"I do," said Yves.

And then we fell silent again. She was standing beside me, and I knew it would take me only a minimal movement to touch her, and still it would look coincidental. But I didn't want to play games. This was serious. It was the most serious thing I ever had to face.

"I saw those agents," Yves said. "Doggett and Reyes."

"They were here," I said. "I talked to them for a while."

And we fell silent again. This time, the silence lasted a lifetime, it seemed, and I decided I couldn't wait any longer.

"Yves…"

Yves finally turned her head to look at me. "Jimmy, I'm sorry," she said. "I know my behavior must have been mighty strange, and I want to apologize."

"Don't," I said, and my voice was husky. My heart was a heavy lump in my throat. Yves made as to speak again, but I shook my head. "Don't," I said again. "I don't want an apology. If you apologize, it means that there's something that you regret. Tell me, Yves, is there anything you regret?"

I held her gaze, and after a moment she lowered her eyes and shook her head. "No," she said. "I don't regret anything apart from the fact that I never answered your calls and constantly tried to avoid you. But I can explain…"

"I don't want an explanation now," I interrupted her. "Yves, I just want you to know that I'm here. Right now. I'm with you, and it's entirely up to you whether it will be the last time or not. Whatever you'll say, I'll accept your decision. I know how I feel, and I guess so do you, but no matter if you reciprocate those feelings or not, I don't want to lose you. This is the most important thing of all. I'm not going to lose you again, Yves."

While I was talking, Yves's eyes started to get wet. When I ended, a single tear dropped from her long lashes and slowly rolled down her cheek.

"Yves…" I whispered, a little helplessly. Be a man, I reminded myself. You vowed not to chicken out.

Without displaying any hesitation or doubts, I bent to her face and softly kissed that tear away. Feeling her soft skin under my lips was wonderful. All my emotions stirred in my heart and sent little shockwaves through every synapse in my body. It wasn't exactly passion, it was more like an immeasurable wave of tenderness and affection. I lifted my hand and softly touched the other side of her face with my fingertips. Stroking her cheek, I placed another kiss on the spot where the tear had been. And then I let go again.

Yves:

This was no longer the Jimmy I knew. For one moment, he seemed to understand every bit of me. Every fiber of my being. Every fear and doubt inside me. For the first time, I saw that Jimmy had matured. His kiss had not been passionate or demanding, it had been consoling, incredibly tender and almost solemn. And still it had displayed a love more deeply than any passionate kiss ever could.

I closed my eyes. My heart was about to burst. How could I ever give this man up? How could I ever let him go? Jimmy was the man I'd been looking for all those years. He and no one else.

I opened my eyes again and found Jimmy looking at me. His eyes, usually sparkling with good humor, now bore an expression that was hard to understand.

"Tell me to go now and I'll leave," he said. "And I'll never again bother you with any questions about what happened that night in the club."

No, no, no!

I didn't speak. I reached out my hand and stroked the side of his face. I felt as if I was in a trance, and I took a step towards Jimmy. Without saying a word, I leaned my head against his chest and let him hold me. I felt his arms around me, and a feeling of safety and warmth I had never known came over me. It was as if I'd finally come home after a long, long journey. My arms crept around Jimmy's waist, and I closed my eyes as I felt his heartbeat next to me.

We stood like this for a long time, and during this time, everything that had been before started to fade until there was only this moment left. Only this moment that erased my fears of losing the man I loved.

Only this moment that marked the beginning of a new life.

A life with Jimmy.

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you

THE END

End Note: And here ends this story. Cross your fingers for me that my own story might come to a similar end… Thanks for reading this, and don't forget to send a review.

Additional End Note: In case you want to know: I finally managed to talk the whole thing over with the guy in question (at least sort of), but it became very clear that there was nothing to it. Well, it made it easier to "un-crush" on him… I'm over it ;)