Disclaimer: why do we bother writing these? No, we don't own them; no we ain't mooching money off the stories.

Summary: I can't tell you! It's a classified government secret! Why? So maybe Mulder will investigate it, duh ;P and I think I'd give too much away…

A/note: Meh, I'm going on a reference and an assumption that has sound origins. Kinda like Williams conception, we never really know the truth do we? Basically I watched an episode and went "oh my gosh! I can totally use that to…" then I say stuff I can't write without giving away the story.

Have fun: D once again, you may need a supply of tissues….

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08:10 am

February 23rd- 2013

Virginia state cemetery, Virginia

It was a cool morning. It was a sad day for fox Mulder; he stood at the empty grave of his recently deceased wife. One year ago on this day did he propose marriage to his partner, Dana Katherine Scully. She had said yes, and made him the happiest man in the world. Now, she was dead.

He wasn't entirely alone though. He had his son, William and his not adopted daughter, Emily. As depressed as it was to walk around the empty feeling home every morning, at least he had his children.

William was so like him. He saw it more clearly now than ever. He sat on the porch steps with his son in the early hours of the morning as he had done with scully the year before. No words were exchanged, but they found it slightly comforting. They soaked in the world around them that owed its existence to her.

Emily, she was strong through it all. She was like Dana in many ways too. She pushed on and never admitted defeat. It was hard, but she was determined never to forget, and never to break. She often did little things that reminded them of her, an eyebrow, a sigh, maybe even a hint of scepticism when she folded her arms. Either way, she had a lot of scully in her.

Mulder did nothing to stop the flow of tears running down his cheeks. He missed her, badly. He wasn't sure how he managed to still be there after he lost her. He ran his thumb over his wedding ring. A widow, who would have thought? Who would have guessed, they he would be standing there, at the grave of his wife, mourning her loss? He would never have guessed.

He closed his eyes and let himself remember;

'Agent Mulder? I'm Dana scully; I've been assigned to work with you…' the first time she stepped into his office and he looked up at her through his reading glasses. Whether either of them knew it, he was hers from that moment.

He remember how lost he felt when she disappeared for three months. He remembered slowly growing more attached to her. He remembered allowing himself to feel more than he should for her.

'I don't wan to do this without you. I don't know if I can…' those were his words to her. Whether she knew it or not, he basically said he wouldn't be able to continue anything without her.

After that moment, they were more than simply partners. He needed her, and whether she would admit it; she needed him too. He thought about when thinks started to change. When he took her out to play baseball, when he asked her to dance with him, when he kissed her on that boat in Bermuda, when they played husband and wife in arcadia. He thought about when he kissed her for real on New Years Eve, 1999. Yes, that's probably when everything changed. When they considered the possibility of admitting what they felt.

All those moments that they had shared, gone.

Mulder got down n his knees and placed some roses on the base of the marble tombstone. He read the words engraved on them, an act he was not unfamiliar with.

Dana Katherine scully

23/2/1964 - 22/12/2012

Beloved wife, mother, sister and daughter

'The dead do speak to us'

Mulder believed this. He recalled sitting in the damned prison cell and having a lovely conversation with Alex Krychek. He saw his sister as a walk-in when he found out she had died many years ago. But as much as he missed her, he didn't want scully to speak to him. He knew that, yes, the dead do speak to us, but he could live with pain of seeing her again.

He missed her so much. He would never be able to handle seeing her again. It would be far too painful. She was gone now, let her rest in final peace.

The cold wind bit into him, he didn't care. He stopped caring two months ago. His stood up again and looked down at the source of his pain. He looked up and found that his mind had betrayed him.

There she was. Standing in front of him, silent, and watching him.

Mulder looked back at the grave, he knew it wasn't her. She was dead. Sometimes the dead don't speak, sometimes they do. Sometimes, they are pale and ghostly, other times they look like living people. If there was anything he had let to say, now was the time to say it.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss you…" he looked up at her. She simply watched him; "I'm sorry for every minute I didn't spent with you. And every minute I didn't tell you how much I love you. I'm sorry I never thanked you; for loving me back, or giving me two children."

He shuffled his feet, but didn't hesitate to continue. "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I wanted to grow old with you, watch our kids grow up and have their own families. I wanted to sit in the sunshine and hold your hand. Most of all I guess, I wanted you to live happily. I would have never let you cry, or feel alone. I would have given you the world to see you smile."

He felt his heart tremble in his chest. He couldn't look at her, as much as he wanted to. "I want you to know some things. I want you to know, that I'm always going to be thankful for what you did. The sacrifice you made. I wanna promise you that no matter what… I won't forget you, nor will I stop loving you."

He looked up and saw that she had moved, somehow without him noticing, closer to him. She stood in front of him; her head tilted to one side and her eyes an icy blue.

He smiled and stuck his thumbs under his collar, and pulled out the two cross necklaces he wore. "You'll always be with me. You promised me that we would meet again. I believe you. I certainly hope we will, if not now. Maybe another lifetime perhaps." He chuckled. He signed "you promised…" he said sadly, looking into her eyes. She raised her hand to hover above his cheek.

He closed his eyes and prepared himself to open them and find her gone.

"I make a promise, Mulder." she whispered to him. At least he imagined she did. He nodded and opened his eyes, she was still there. But her eyes glistened with tears.

She put her hand on his cheek.

Mulder drew in a deep breath when he felt her warm flesh on his skin. It was impossible. She was dead. She couldn't be standing there, touching his face with her soft hands…

"The dead do speak to us… but those who don't die, live on." She smiled up at his pale face. She brushed her thumb over his wet cheek, just as she had done two months ago. His eyes darted across her face, his breathing quickened and he raised a trembling hand up.

His world began to spin, this wasn't happening. He ran his hand through her sort copper hair. It was happening. She was there, alive, but there none the less. He stumbled out a quiet; "how?"

"For once… I can't give an explanation. But I do know that there were many times when I should have died. But didn't. I know it goes back to that case I worked on in 99'. When I worked with Alfred Fellig. I cheated death that day, as I cheated death two months ago."

Mulder's brilliant mind had for the first time in his life; drawn a blank. He regretted asking, because he certainly didn't care. She was there. She had returned to him and he couldn't have given a damn how or why.

Scully sniffed and looked at him, silently asking him to speak. He didn't say a word, but he did lean down and kiss her. He vented every bit of pain into the abyss and expressed his unexplainable joy and love to her. They stood together there, each wishing that this wasn't some cruel dream that they would wake up from. But they never woke up, it was real. They held each other for what felt like forever, and they didn't mind a bit.

Eventually Mulder spoke; "I can't believe this is happening…" he mumbled into her shoulder.

She pulled away from him so she could look him in the eye. He sniffled; "I can't believe you just said that Mulder… aren't you the one you believes the unbelievable?"

Mulder looked at her for a moment before he laughed out loud. For the first time in what felt like too long; he felt happy. He laughed with her and hugged her. He felt his heart pull itself back together and start to heal. He remembered something; and pulled his hands away from her. She held him around the waist, afraid to let him go.

He removed on of the necklaces around his neck and held it in front of her; "I reckon this is yours…" she smiled widely and tilted her head forwards a little. He happily put it back where it belonged; around her neck and resting on her heart.

They stood together, on her 49th birthday, one year after he asked her to marry him, in the graveyard where her mother was buried and were her own tombstone rested. They stood forehead to forehead, loving each other and silently promising never to let one another go ever again.

It was a promise they kept for the rest of their lives.

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Unless you guys object to a 'many years later' chapter, this is the second to last chapter.

I watched 'tithonus' and thought, "hang on, does this mean scully is immortal?", then when she didn't die in 'Milagro', I kinda used it as a way to bring scully back. I promised Mulder and scully would live to see the end of the story, and here they are. Pretty sappy I know, but for some reason I felt the need to go overboard on the angst. CSM made me do it! I swear! Ok, maybe not but still….

As always, I love to hear your reviews, so push the button and leave me your thoughts. Push it… push the button…