Here for the ending, eh? Let me know what you think when you're done.
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CHAPTER 19
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"I got the test results back," announced a less than thrilled Scully, walking into their basement office. She went directly to the corner of his desk and sat down, making her partner smile.
"Let me guess," he said, not guessing at all, "negative?"
"You got it. So, I guess it's back to the drawing board."
"Well, I have an idea. What if we test the chemicals from one stream or river with chemicals of a different stream or river? We just have to make sure those two streams will meet before our cliff."
"That's brilliant! I can't believe I didn't think of that! You know, Mulder," she grinned, "That's why we make such a good team." He couldn't help but smile at her comment, but as he did, he took note that he didn't need her to come up with another possibility after all. He would need her to prove it, though.
"Thank you. So, that just means another week of waiting for test results," he shrugged angrily. "It sure does suck to be at the bottom of the totem pole."
"Ah, but that's where I get to do my share. I'll just run the tests myself…I don't think Kayla will mind." Scully saw him smile, showing his gratitude and decided to milk it, not knowing the significance of her words. "What would you ever do without me, huh?"
Mulder looked shaken by the question. "Oh, probably make a deal with the devil to get you back," he answers with a weak grin, hoping she wouldn't see right through it.
"You better not. I'd have to give you a swift kick in the back end."
Mulder stands and walks over to her. Before kissing her tenderly on the mouth, he said, "Well, I hope I never, ever have to find out." Accepting the kiss, Dana pushed herself up on her toes. "I love you so much, you do not even know," he whispered into her lips.
"I love you, too," she replied softly, rubbing her hands on his back. For a minute, they just stood, holding each other in the office, when she said, "We better not do this here. We don't want anyone getting suspicious, do we?" Then she turned to head back out of the office, but Mulder stopped her with a question of his own.
"Do you want your own desk?" he asked.
She looked thrown by the random offer, but took a second to consider it. "I've gone this long without one," she finally said. "I'm fine sharing yours. Thanks, though." With that, she headed back to the lab. Mulder sat in the office silently, wishing he didn't have to go meet Smoking Man for another assignment, but go, he eventually did.
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Scully entered the laboratory and found the chemist immediately. "Hi, Kayla," she greeted for the second time that morning.
"Dana! Back so soon?"
"Yeah. Would you mind if I ran some tests on a few of these samples myself? Mulder and I have a new approach to this."
"Not a problem. In fact, you can have the whole lab to yourself. I was just off to an early lunch…beat the crowd, you know?"
Scully nodded and raised her eyebrows happily. "That's perfect… Thank you."
"No problem. Glad I could make your day."
Once alone, Dana grabbed three of the test tubes labeled "Stream 1," "Stream 2," and "River 3." The answer had to be there. She took three clean eyedroppers and placed each one in a beaker with one of the test tubes. She examined each liquid under a microscope independently, hoping she would be able to run her experiments that way and wouldn't have to test it on any of the lab rats. Scully never did like that part of science, but sometimes it was imperative. After she had run separate analyses, she felt ready to start mixing and matching. So far, she had verified that each sample was completely safe independently. From the three original samples, she filled four clean test tubes with new solutions. In one, she mixed one and two. In the second, she mixed samples two and three. In the third, she combined three and one, and in the fourth, she combined all three samples. Placing the used eyedroppers in a soiled bin for cleaning later, she took out four fresh ones. Again, she ran the same tests: examining each solution under the microscope and running them through the FBI's very handy chemical analysis machine. Finally, she found a match. The agent continued to double and triple checked her findings by calculating the combination of the two suspicious chemicals from "Stream 1" and "River 3." Right on target. Yes!
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Meanwhile, Mulder waited for Smoking Man to arrive. When he did, he said, "Your next assignment will be Assistant Director, Walter Skinner."
Oh no! "You want me to kill him?" Mulder whimpered, not caring how pathetic it sounded.
"No, actually. I want you to steal some information from him." Mulder seemed relieved until he considered what Smoking Man would want with the information. "The file number is 483957. Commit this number to memory, and don't let anyone know that you know it exists."
"What's in it?" Smoking Man smiled, and Mulder understood that he wasn't supposed to know. "I'll try to get it to you tomorrow. Tonight I have plans."
"Fox, you know that I give the orders, and they are to be followed. You will get it to me tonight."
"Yes, sir." If it hadn't been for his partner's life as collateral, Mulder would have spit in the old man's face. But he was right. He was Mulder's boss, and that was that.
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CHAPTER 20
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By the time Mulder returned to his office, Scully was almost finished typing up their report. She was sitting at his desk, working on her laptop when he walked in, and she greeted him with a pleasant smile. "We did it!"
"What?"
"We cracked the case--we're done!"
Mulder allowed her excitement to lighten his mood. "One more down."
"I made our meeting with Skinner for three o'clock. I figured I would be done with the report by then, but I was expecting you back a while ago. Will you have time to finish your report?"
"Oh yeah," he said, looking at his watch. He had over an hour, and thanks to his familiarity with the case--having been working on it longer than she had--he already knew what he wanted to write.
"Where have you been, anyway?" As he looked at her, she showed no mercy in her glare back.
"I had a meeting, and then I walked around for a while." His eyes begged her to dismiss her question, which she did (but would only for the time being).
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Skinner sat at his desk nodding. "Sounds good," he said, directing his voice mostly at Scully. She had been the one giving him the details on the case and how they had solved it. Mulder, however, seemed distracted…again. Skinner just assumed that Mulder was tired, like the last time they had a conference together. Scully, on the other hand, knew something was bothering him and was determined to find out what it was. As they stood to leave, Mulder turned to his partner and said, "I'll catch up."
"Okay," she said, suspiciously and headed for their office.
"What can I do for you, Agent Mulder?" the assistant director offered.
"I was having trouble finding a certain file in my office that I thought might be helpful for another case I was considering. So, I was wondering if you had a copy of it."
"What one?"
Mulder didn't have any particular one in mind, so he rattled off a random number. "1634."
"Let me look." Skinner left his office to check the archives, and Mulder ran to his file cabinet. 483957, he recalled, pulling the confidential file from its place. He slipped it into his jacket just before Skinner returned.
"Here you go," he said. "Bring it back when you are done with it."
"Okay. Thanks." Mulder left Skinner's office, acting as normal as he ever would. He stopped at the copy room next to the elevator and made a duplicate of the small stack of documents in the folder he had taken. Mulder planned to return the originals the next opportunity he was given. When he got down to the basement, he poked his head in the door. "I'll be right back," he informed his partner.
"Now where are you going?"
"I just have an errand to run. It will only take fifteen minutes…tops." He didn't even wait for her to respond before he left. As he walked further into the cemetery, a figure materialized in the distance ahead. "I got it."
"Good." Smoking Man dropped his cigarette into the mud and squished it with his shoe. Then he took the folder and smiled humorlessly. "There's been a problem among the elders," he began. "Your friends are hacking into secret files."
"My friends?" Mulder's eyes lowered, and his body slumped forward as he realized who Smoking Man was talking about. "I can make them stop! They don't have to die."
"What are their names again?"
Mulder gave him an I'm-not-telling scowl, but that wasn't a good enough answer. "They are the Lone Gunmen," he finally whispered. "Frohike, Byers, and Langly."
"Don't act so down, Fox. You are doing great."
"I don't want to kill them."
"It's your choice: your friends, or Scully." Mulder watched sadly as Smoking Man walked away. What am I going to do? he thought as he turned to head back to the car.
Just then, his view was obstructed by an angry redhead. "What was that?" Mulder was still trying to get over the shock of her being there. "What were you talking to Smoking Man about?"
"I-I-I-uh--" He had no answer. "Were you spying on me?"
Suddenly she looked more concerned than she did angry, and it made him want to tell her everything. "What does he want from you? Can't he just leave you alone?"
"Listen, Dana, this is really complicated." She wanted more than that. "That's all I can say." He put his hand on her shoulder, and she shrugged it off, at which point he left in defeat. "I'm so sorry."
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CHAPTER 21
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That night, Mulder couldn't reach his partner anywhere. She wasn't at her apartment, and when he tried her mother's house, Maggie insisted her daughter wasn't there. He sat in the dark, trying to figure out if he had made the right choice. Everything seemed easy until then. As much as he didn't want to risk losing his partner again, the Lone Gunmen were his oldest friends. They were the only people besides Scully he had always been able to trust, and Smoking Man wanted them dead…not just dead, but he wanted Mulder to kill them. I don't think I can do this, he fretted. He picked up the phone and hit redial. Please, please, please be there.
"No one's home," Scully said, standing in his doorway. She flicked on the light.
"Oh, my… I need to talk to you." He jumped up and guided her to the couch where she sat down and gave him an indifferent look. "Sorry about today," he started. "It's just that I didn't think you would believe me."
"Then why tell me now? Why decide to tell me at all?" She was being cold with him.
"I want to confide in you. I need to confide in you." They were silent for a long moment, and then Mulder began to tell her the truth. "I just wanted you to live again."
Apparently, this freaked her out. "What?" She stood up in front of him, not wanting to be close.
He didn't know how to tell her, so he decided to just let the words come out as he thought them. "Do you remember Saturday morning when I was acting strange?" She nodded. "I had gone to bed the night before, and it wasn't with you. It was actually today…I think…and you were gone."
"I was…dead?" she asked skeptically, throwing out a hand.
He knew she didn't believe him, but it didn't surprise him in the least. "Yes."
"How?" Though Scully was having trouble absorbing this, she fought to keep an open mind. After all, she should at least do that for him.
"The first time around, we were watching that movie--the one we didn't get a chance to watch this time--and the phone rang. It was that construction worker, Mario Sanchez, and he warned me not to bother them anymore. We chased him--in your car--to that abandoned warehouse on Franklin, and--"
"Abandoned warehouse?" she interrupted. He noticed right away the startled look in her eyes.
"Yeah. Does that mean anything to you?"
"You said that I died…was I stabbed?"
"No. You were shot…twice. He shot you once in the stomach and once in the chest." If it hadn't been for the crack in his voice, she wouldn't have even noticed how emotional he was getting. "You tried to tell me something was wrong, but I didn't listen. You told me you had a bad feeling about it and insisted that we call for backup, but I refused. Before I knew it, you had taken two bullets for me. I never even saw them coming. I don't know how you knew, but…" His voice trailed off, and Scully sat back down to console him as he began to cry. "You died in my arms."
She held him in the same way her mother had held her when she was little, and rocked him back and forth. Dana wanted to believe him, but it was so outlandish, even for her partner. The only thing that made her wonder if it could be true was her dream. She had never told him anything about it. Therefore, the only way he could know was if his story had really happened. "What happened then?"
"Smoking Man offered me a deal. He said he could bring you back if I changed sides."
"And that's what you did?"
"In so many words. I haven't really changed sides. I'm still on our side--the good side--but I'm doing jobs for him. He gives me assignments." He looked up at her. "Did I make the wrong choice?"
She didn't know what to say. She didn't even know if she believed him, but she couldn't find a reason to not. "I don't know."
"It's not the first time he had offered me that deal before. When you had your cancer, and I came in to talk to you, that was the decision I had made…that I wouldn't tell you."
"Really?" He nodded. "Huh. What else happened when I was…dead?"
"I talked to your mother."
Scully was being facetious, but when Mulder mentioned her mother, she felt her chest drop. "You had to tell my mom I had been killed?"
"I went straight there after. Your blood was all over my shirt. It was so horrible. There was one thing that I found interesting after you had dinner with her, though. That night, I also told her about us. She told me the same thing she had told you." A smile tugged at the corners of Dana's mouth. "I told Bill too."
"That was brave. How did he take it?"
Mulder laughed and said, "I got to find out why you have such a great left hook!"
She helplessly broke into her own laugher. "Okay, now I have to believe you." The comic relief felt wonderful to both of them, but it was time to be serious again. "What's your next assignment?"
"He wants me to kill the Gunmen."
"No--" she gasped under her breath. "You aren't going to are you?"
"I have no choice. If I don't, he'll take back his end of the deal, and everything will go back to the way it was. As much as I know you don't want that, I think it's fair for me to say that I don't want that even more. Dana, I'm miserable without you. I'm not going to lose you again. I refuse!"
She was touched, but resisted letting him know. "Then we need a plan," she said.
"You're going to help me?"
"Well, I certainly won't let you go through this alone…not if I was the reason for it all." He looked worried until she exposed her sweet smile. By the way, I do forgive you."
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CHAPTER 22
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Scully looked around suspiciously. I can't believe how paranoid I let him make me! she thought as she knocked on the heavy door of an unmarked building. What is it? Oh, three knocks and two taps. The door opened slowly. "You don't need to knock like that anymore. We have finally replaced our camera," bragged a content Byers, pointing at a surveillance camera above the door and ushering her into the room faster than she could walk. "Come in, come in." Once settled, he asked, "So, what's the plan?"
"All you have to do is pretend to die."
"Say what?" asked Langly.
She bit her lip. "Mulder is going to meet you in the park downtown tonight. He will have a gun that Smoking Man is giving him as we speak, but tonight, he will be using his own gun."
Frohike laughed, "Is that supposed to make us feel better?"
"It will be loaded with blanks," she grinned. "We have a pretty good feeling that Smoking Man will be watching, and it needs to look real."
Byers spoke up again. "With all due respect, Agent Scully, don't you think he'll find out sooner or later that Mulder didn't kill us?"
"Sure. That's where I come in. But like I said, you just have to worry about that one thing."
"What time?" asked Langly.
"Mulder will contact you."
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That night, at seven o'clock sharp, the Gunmen walked into the park and up to Mulder. Scully stood behind a tree in the distance, loading a rifle. As soon as the gun was loaded, she held it up and tested the view. Now, where is he? Suddenly, Mulder pulled the trigger on his gun three times, and she watched the Gunmen fall to the dirt. Even though she knew it wasn't real, her breath still caught in her throat.
Mulder stood in the dark for a few more seconds, remorse in his face. "I'm sorry, you guys," he said aloud. Dana watched him through the view on the rifle and waited for her mark. Soon, her target would enter the picture, and when he did, she was ready.
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Mulder stood, looking down at his friends, and disciplined himself to not praise their performance. His eyes rose and searched for Smoking Man, who finally decided to cut through a cluster of trees. "There! Are you happy?" Mulder shouted at him, trying to sound angry and sad.
"Fox, I must say that I am impressed. I didn't think you would go through with it." Smoking Man glanced down at the bodies, noticing something odd. "Do you realize the seriousness of our deal, Fox?"
"What are you talking about?"
"It is very important that you follow my orders, or else Scully dies!" He began to point at Byer's chest, which was slightly moving up and down, but Mulder pushed his arm to the side.
"Wait, please," he begged. "Wait! I'll do it for real this time! I'll do it for real!"
Smoking Man just glared at him. "She's here, isn't she?"
"What? Who?"
Disregarding both of Mulder's questions, Smoking Man warned, "If I die, so does the deal."
Mulder shot a glance at the tree his partner had been using for cover. "No," he whispered. Spew. Scully was an excellent shot…one of the best…but Mulder wished she hadn't been as he watched the old man crash to the ground in front of him. Blood bubbled and spilled from the side of his head. "No-o!" She has to be there! Please be there. Mulder ran from the middle of the park to the trees, calling his partner frantically, but she was nowhere to be found.
"What is it, Mulder?" called a concerned Langly from the field. Mulder didn't answer; he just kept running, until he felt an awful pain, and everything went dark.
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CHAPTER 23
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"Mulder?" Mulder floated in and out of consciousness to Frohike's voice. "Mulder?"
Suddenly he shot up. "Where am I?"
The Gunmen were all leaning over him, talking among one another. "I told you he had a concussion… He has amnesia… Well, it was a pretty big tree… Mulder?"
"Where are we?" Mulder repeated, desperate for an answer.
"We're in the park," Byers answered. "Are you okay?"
"Where's Scully? Is she dead?" Mulder held a sob in his throat, making his voice sound whiny. "I killed her, didn't I? I got her killed again," he cried, shaking his head woozily. The Gunmen stared at him, none of them making the effort to answer him. He felt empty all over again. Mulder thought for sure that his friends thought he was crazy. If Smoking Man was right, then Scully would have already been dead for a week. How could this be happening? If she's gone again, I don't want to live this time.
"Mulder? Are you okay, sweetie?"
What? Mulder raised his glossy eyes, and they fixated on her face. "You're okay!" he shouted. "I thought I had lost you again when I blacked out."
She was trying her best to be sensitive to his confusion and not laugh. "Mulder," she said, accidentally giggling between syllables, "you blacked out because you ran into a tree."
His chin dropped, and suddenly, he could feel the pain return to his head and groaned. Scully took his hand as the Gunmen hoisted him up into a standing position. She put an arm under his arms and around his back to help him to the car. "You still don't believe me, do you?" he murmured as she slid him into the passenger's side of the vehicle.
For a moment, she only stared at him, and then she smiled. "I believe you."
"Really?"
She nodded. "I see it in your eyes," she said and kissed his forehead.
Byers, Frohike, and Langly walked up and gestured to the matching blood packs that were wired to each of them. "Good idea, Mulder," Langly commended. "But you seriously would have killed us?"
Mulder didn't move his eyes from his partner's face. "I would do anything to save her." The Gunmen patted him on the back, showing understanding and forgiveness. "Let's go home," Mulder sighed.
Scully closed his door, walked around the car, and slid into the driver's seat. The engine came to life and the car rolled onto the main street that would take them back to his apartment. "What are you thinking?" she asked when they were almost home.
Mulder smiled. As he stroked her forearm, he answered, "About a rose among weeds."
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The End
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So how'd I do?