PART 40

Mulder was allowed to go home after a week in hospital. Scully was supposed to be meeting him, but she said she would be late. He looked around for her all over the hospital and found her with Diana in the intensive care unit.

"Scully?"

"Mulder, hi. How are you feeling."

"All things considered. I'm ok, are you?"

"I'm fine Mulder."

"Come on, lets go."

"Wait, Mulder I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For this, I may have killed her." Mulder glanced at Diana lying weak and barely alive on her bed. Then he looked at Scully. It was no competition to know who he'd rather have alive in his arms. He hugged Scully and kissed her passionately as he guided them out of her room.

They went to Mulder's apartment and sat down on the couch just holding each other. Mulder stroked a piece of hair behind Scully's ear and kissed her on her head.

"I love you Mrs Spooky."

"I love you too, poopyhead." Mulder laughed and Scully managed to shake off the feeling of guilt that she'd been carrying around all week. She knew she hated Diana, but she couldn't live with having killed her. She wasn't a murderer. She couldn't be.

"By the way Scully, I had a phone call from Skinner, smoking man and his gang are all gone, not a trace of them anywhere. And the huts were set on fire."

"Did you destroy the hardware you took?"

"Not yet."

"Don't you think you should?"

"Now?"

"Yes now, how can you be sitting here knowing you have that power in your hands ready to fall into the wrong hands."

"Gees, you sure know how to kill the moment of romance don't you Scully." He got up and found the things that he'd taken from CSM and turned back round to Scully.

"What should I do with them?"

"I don't know, burn them, break them. Anything." He broke the discs and burnt the papers. Finally he could sit back down with Scully. She snuggled into his body and fell asleep with his warmth all around her. Mulder fell asleep too, and they both woke up as the phone rang.

"Yeh...speaking...oh I see...thanks for calling Sir...I'll tell her myself, she's right here...she's fine, we both are...ok...yeh." He turned to Scully and she stood up beside him. The look on his face said that it was bad news.

"It's Diana isn't it."

"She died about an hour ago. There was nothing they could do for her."

"Well, I better be going."

"Scully no, wait. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Mulder."

"It wasn't your fault ok, you didn't have any other choice. You did the right thing." She smiled weakly and left.

When she got home she sat and cried and couldn't believe she was being so emotional. But when she really thought about it, it had been a very emotional ride for her lately. She got up to get a drink and noticed she had some mail. It was a painting from Nacelles; it was of her and Mulder with Nacelles standing between them holding their hands. She pinned it to her wall and went for a bath. When she went back into the front room, there was a knock at her door.

"Mulder? What are you doing here?"

"I'm playing the dutiful boyfriend."

"Oh Mulder."

"I have one bunch of cheap flowers, and one even cheaper bottle of wine."

"Well, you better come in and I'll get some cheap glasses." They both sat down and Mulder spotted the painting on her wall.

"Who did that?"

"Nacelles, it came through the post with a letter from her parents thanking me for taking such good care of her."

"Saint Scully."

"Mulder I just killed a woman."

"And I'm glad you did!"

"Mulder?!"

"Scully, she would have killed you without a second thought, she was even ready to kill me if she couldn't have me. I'm glad she's out of our lives for good. We won. Good prevailed over evil again. The plans that they had are gone, and we can get on with our lives."

"Until next time."

"There won't be a next time."

"So you're sure she's dead this time?"

"Positive."

"Good." They both laughed and were glad they weren't alone. They needed to keep each other company it had been a hard time for them.

"Scully?"

"Yeh."

"I'm sorry I lost Nacelles for you."

"Mulder she's happy, very happy, I'm glad that she got her family back. Besides we're too busy saving the world to take care of a small child."

"Of course."

"As long as I have you Mulder, that's all that matters."

"Ditto."

THE END.