"Nnnnooooooooooooooo!!!!"

Scully's haunting wail echoed through the small room, mixing with the continuous whine of the heart monitor. The medical team hurriedly turned Mulder over onto his back and the nurse readied the crash cart. She unhooked the paddles awaiting orders as to what voltage to charge them to from Dr Frank. He opened his mouth to give the order but was halted by a sudden shout from Kara.

"Hold the paddles...I've got a pulse. ...It's strong and steady."

"What? ...How can that be...the monitors show no cardiac activity."

"Wait a minute...aha!"

Kara held up the loose electrode pad that had slipped from Mulder's chest as they were turning him onto his side. She reattached it to the proper position on his chest and then waited for the heartbeat to register on the monitor once more.

Scully had buried her face in her mother's shoulder once she had stopped her cry and had therefore not been aware of the conversation between doctor and student. When she heard the steady beep of the monitor fill the room, replacing the incessant drone, she lifted up her head and looked towards the monitors in disbelief. Thinking that she was just imagining it and being hopeful, she got up off the bed and crossed to Mulder's side. The nurse standing there moved out of her way, knowing that she needed proof that he was still alive. She lifted Mulder's uninjured arm up for Scully to feel the pulse in his wrist but Scully ignored it and instead felt for the pulse in his neck. When she found it she let out a noisy sob and then bent to kiss his cheek, kneeling on the floor so that her own cheek could rest beside his head on the pillow.

With the danger now passed and the drugs administered, the doctor left with all three nurses and Kara, leaving Maggie and Scully alone with Mulder. Maggie brought the chair that she had been sitting in so that it sat beside the bed and guided her daughter to it. Scully sat down on it without acknowledging her mother's presence, so intent was she in keeping watch over Mulder. Her eyelids closed slowly and her breathing evened out signalling to Maggie that she had once again fallen asleep.

Scully opened her eyes and blinked for everything had changed. She was no longer in the hospital room but instead was lying back on the beach. Standing up quickly, she started searching the horizon for any sign of Mulder immediately, knowing that she was in the same dream world where she had met him before. The calm sea that she had paddled in before had gone however and had been replaced by turbulent waters swirling madly against the rocks. Running along the beach, she scanned her entire visual field for Mulder and, just as she thought he was not there, she caught a glimpse of a figure standing high above her on the hill. Breathing a sigh of relief, she started towards him but her breath hitched as she realised he was moving away, toward the cliff edge. As she began to move faster, the clouds opened and heavy rain started to fall. Pushing her way through it, she frantically scrambled up the grassy path that would lead her to Mulder. She called out to him over and over again trying to make him stop and turn back from the edge.

"Mulder...Mulder."

"Scully...you're here."

"Yes get me Mulder."

"It's alright Scully...I'm going to come join you forever soon. Just a couple more steps."

"Mulder no. Don't stop fighting...please"

"I need you Scully...I can't go back, not now."

"I need you too Mulder - I need you beside me, you can't give up. Please, come back to me."

"It's okay Scully...I'm coming."

Scully watched in horror as he moved closer to the cliff edge and looked down on the torrential waters below. She struggled against the howling wind to try and reach Mulder but she was terrified that she was going to be too late. Screaming to him to turn round and move towards her instead, she let out a sob when she saw that he had paused in his progress. Knowing that she needed to make him understand that he had to live, she raised her voice louder and called out to him again.

"I love you Mulder...live for me! Live with me!"

The words were torn from her mouth by the wind and she couldn't see whether or not Mulder had heard them. Just as she was about to repeat the message so that he would hear her she felt a sharp tug on her shoulder. Turning, she saw nothing there but when she returned her gaze to the cliff edge she found that the entire landscape was fading to black before her eyes. She wrestled against darkness that was obscuring her vision but she found herself unable to fight it and instead sank to her knees in the sand, head in hands.

Scully startled awake when Maggie shook her gently and she turned away from Mulder for the briefest of instants. Maggie told her that she had been calling out in her sleep and she had thought it best that she woke her up. Nodding her understanding, Scully turned back to face Mulder and gasped in surprise. His eyelids began to flutter and as she watched in amazement his eyes opened fully and he shifted so that he was looking straight at her.

"Mulder...You're awake!"

"You...you're alive. The chip worked?"

She nodded gently, squeezing his hand with her own and he urged her closer to him with a tug in return. She leant down thinking that he wanted to speak but instead he feebly began to pull her onto the bed beside him. She helped him out by climbing onto the bed and reclining along its length. They lay there side by side in contentment, knowing that everything was going to be all right now that they were together.

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