AN: There are intimate encounters in this chapter – if that is not your thing, then don't read. If you don't mind this, then please forge ahead…
Chapter Five
"Jesus," Mulder swore, as he took a deep breath and started breathing again.
William whimpered beside him.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Scully scowled at her husband who was still trying to catch his breath.
"Scully, what the hell are you talking about?" he gasped. "I feel like crap." He sat up in alarm and groaned. "How's Will?" He studied his son who lie beside him.
"Better than you," she said and pushed him back onto the bed. "He seems to cope with this better."
"It's because he's a natural and I have to work at this."
"Excuse us for interrupting, but where's Dad?" Jonathan interrupted the family discussion from where he, Carolyn and Candy were anxiously waiting.
"I wasn't strong enough," William murmured. "I couldn't bring him all the way back."
"Will, what happened?" Mulder asked.
"I'm too little!" The boy's eyes flashed open angrily. "I still think like when I was eight but I'm only as strong as five!"
"Honey, it's okay, but did you get him?" Scully placed a soothing hand on her son's cheek.
"You could do that for me too," Mulder grumbled softly, but she ignored him.
"Yeah, he's real again. I left him with Aunt Carolyn," he sighed and rolled against his father's chest.
Four sets of eyes looked at Carolyn, who regarded them calmly.
"What?" She asked.
"Do you know where Dad is?" Candy said.
"No, I don't. Should I?" She extended her feelings into the house searching for Daniel, but he was nowhere to be found. With a sigh, she looked at her children and shook her head.
"Mulder, do you know…" Candy started, but realized that his eyes had closed, and he was fast asleep, arms draped protectively over his son.
"They're out for the night," Dana said and looked at the others. "They need to sleep, that was especially hard on Mulder, he was starting to have heart palpitations."
"But he's all right now?" Carolyn frowned.
"He seems to be. I'll stay with them and check him out when he wakes up."
"I don't want him risking his life," Carolyn began, but Dana only laughed and then looked at her friend.
"And do you really think that you or I could talk him out of anything that he has his mind set on?" She smiled fondly and ruffled his hair.
"I suppose not. He's much like Daniel that way."
"I guess there's nothing to do but wait," Jonathan said. "We'll leave you alone." He stopped and looked at Scully. "Thanks, Dana."
"Yeah, it's appreciated," Candy agreed.
Dana nodded as they all left the room, and she turned back to her boys, wondering if there was enough room for her on the bed with her boys.
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The day seemed interminably long, and though weary, Carolyn wasn't tired. Her thoughts were preoccupied with thoughts of Daniel. No matter how she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about him, wondering about him, hoping that somehow, he would come back to her. She just couldn't believe that after all this time God would take him from her.
She was encouraged because William and Fox said that they had found him and that he was now alive, truly alive. How could that be possible? But how was it that the rest of them had found their long-lost youth again? So, maybe they could get him back?
She stretched out her senses, reaching for him through her mind but still found nothing. He wasn't here.
Carolyn sank down onto the bed, musing to herself. William said that he had left him with her, but he wasn't here, so, where was he? What did that mean? It sounded like they were trying to pull him back through time, but how could that be done? And if that could happen, how would that change things? Would it change anything? Or would meeting him earlier in her life change everything?
She sighed and stretched out in her lonely bed, praying that he would soon be back and that everything would work out for the best.
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What just happened?
A young Carolyn Muir wondered as she looked down at the very handsome, very naked man that was lying on the ground in front of her. She turned away in embarrassment hoping that he would get up and run off as he should, but when she peeked over her shoulder he was still there, groaning as if in pain.
What in the hell was going on here?
She had two weeks away from college, it was spring break, and she had talked her parents into letting her use the family lake house, she really couldn't call it a cabin, it was much too ostentatious for that. There was a lot going on in her life and she needed time to sort it out. Soon she would graduate from college with a BA in both journalism and English. And though it was still a struggle for women to be respected by men who had similar jobs, she was determined to make a career for herself.
That path was now complicated by the man in her life, one Robert Muir, better known as Bobby to her and her college friends. He was handsome, with sandy blonde hair, aqua blue eyes, and the body of an athlete with abs that were to die for, and somehow, he had fallen for her. She wasn't sure how that happened, but it had. He had a reputation as a playboy, a wild man, a bad boy, and Carolyn wanted none of that. Yet, he had pestered her until she agreed to go out with him, and what she thought would be a single date turned into several, and eventually after a long, serious discussion he swore that he would be exclusive to her. As far as she knew he had honored his word. Despite his reputation, her parents were thrilled with her choice and approved of him whole heartedly. He came from well to do parents and a very prestigious family out of Boston, they couldn't have imagined a better match for their daughter.
She was happy at first, deliriously so, it was the romance she had always dreamed of, and the life she had always been told she should have. Bobby was charming and handsome, and had a way with all those around him, especially women. She didn't think anything of it at first and he had convinced her it meant nothing, until a month ago. She had let herself into his apartment and had walked in on him in his bedroom to find him kissing another girl, one that she knew from one of her classes. Bobby and the girl separated immediately, the girl gave Carolyn a look of pity, and Bobby tried to convince her she was imagining things that weren't there. This time she didn't buy it and walked out on him. There were phone calls and one gigantic argument in which bitter words were exchanged and nasty accusations were leveled. In tears, she had left him and retreated to the family's lakeshore home for solitude and privacy.
She had been here for a week and only had one more week left until she had to resume classes and face him again. The only thing that Carolyn knew for sure was that she was going to get her Masters degree before she got into the job market as she wanted to be as prepared as she could be when she had to face the realities of job hunting. Her parents humored her interest in having a job but were more interested in her settling down with Bobby and producing grandchildren for them to love and spoil. And though part of her wanted that kind of traditional life, part of her rebelled against the very thought, part of her wanted more. And on occasion she wondered if Bobby was actually the man for her?
She looked around her but saw nothing out of place. It was a beautiful sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. The yard in front of the house was clipped and neat with a large clearing, and there was no one around as far as she could see. There was no way that anyone could have snuck up on her or suddenly appeared in front of her without seeing him approach. Yet, this incredibly handsome man was suddenly here in front of her, on the ground, naked.
Again, what the hell just happened? And how did he know her name?
She peered over her shoulder again, but he continued to lie on the ground, moaning in agony.
"Damn," she muttered, her compassion winning out over her better judgement. She turned and knelt beside him, tentatively touching her fingertips to his forehead, and found that he was warm, feverish. Cautiously, she placed her hand on his chest, his nicely sculpted chest, and found it to be warm, too warm beneath her hand. He was very ill.
She bit her lip.
What to do with him?
She couldn't very well lift him, he was far too heavy for that. Even if she could get him into her car she wasn't quite sure how she would possibly explain a delirious naked man to the local authorities! And when her parents and Bobby's parents heard about that she would never be able to live it down. No, that wouldn't work. But she couldn't let him suffer, nor leave him lying on the ground.
He was still conscious, sort of. Maybe she could help him to his feet and then get him into the house? She could put him in one of the spare bedrooms and see if she could find some way to help break the fever that she thought was causing most of his difficulty. She could call up one of her nursing friends and indirectly ask her advice Then while he was sleeping she would go out and get some clothes for him, maybe at a second-hand store as no one would recognize her there. Once he was well and clothed she would feel better about this whole thing.
Strangely though, despite how strong he looked, she didn't feel at all threatened by him. Instead, she felt a jolt of electricity between when she touched him for a few brief moments. How could that be?
"Hey, Mister? You need to get up."
He groaned but his eyes blinked open, and he looked through her.
"Can you hear me? You need to get up. I want to get you into the house, but I need your help because I can't lift you."
"Uhhh, what?" He focused his gaze and looked into her eyes and she was struck by the clearness of his blue eyes, it reminded her of the Mediterranean Sea and the amazing colors she saw in photos of it. She felt that unfamiliar jolt of something within her but didn't recognize what it was, only that it made her uncomfortable.
"You have to get up. I can help you into the house, but you have to walk. Do you think you can do that?"
"Carolyn?" he murmured and looked at her with an adoration she had never seen, no man had ever looked at her with such regard.
"Get up," she ordered, taking a new tract. Maybe he would follow orders.
"Aye, for you I will try," he mumbled and with her help, sat up. Then after another brief time he managed to get to his knees. A few more minutes and he was on his feet, leaning heavily on her.
It was difficult to get him into the house, but he was functional enough to follow orders and without stopping, she led him into the nearest bedroom where he collapsed onto the large bed, finally lapsing into unconscious.
Carolyn did her best to nudge him into a comfortable position but before she left, she paused in the doorway to look at the man on the bed. She hadn't had a chance to study a man so unobserved and she was enjoying the opportunity. He had a body that was well muscled in all the right places, broad shoulders, muscled chest, that led down to well set hips, and she did her best not to observe his privates although her eyes might have strayed a little bit. His legs were also muscular and well defined. And his face was very handsome, even as ill as he was. Short reddish blond hair, and a neatly trimmed beard set on a strong face, with eyes so loving it made her heart melt.
She shook herself out of her musings with that thought. She didn't know this stranger who had fallen from the sky, and he'd said nothing to her except for to speak her name, so how could she have any feelings for this man? She shrugged the question away and turned to leave. If she wanted to help him get better, she needed to call up Jenny, her college friend in nurses training.
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There was no doubt, she was worried. Carolyn had managed to hold a thermometer in his mouth long enough to take his temperature a couple of times over the last hour, but it remained a steady one hundred and three, and she knew that was bad. She had done everything her friend had suggested, cool rags on the forehead, and since she couldn't get him into a tub of cool water, she gathered her courage and with washcloths dipped in ice water, pulled the sweat soaked sheet away from him and bathed his body. His extremely well proportioned, well-muscled, masculine body.
She tried valiantly to pull her thoughts back from the naughty place they were going, but she couldn't help herself. He was handsome, in great shape, all in all a fine specimen of a man. Though she was relatively new to sexual activity, rather inexperienced, she wasn't a virgin as she had been with Bobby several times since last year. But she was more mature now and had a better idea of what she wanted. She believed that sex with Bobby was good, but she truly had nothing to compare it to, no one to compare him to, and she wondered about the man on the bed.
She sank down to the chair beside the bed, washcloth in hand and stared at him.
What would he be like? Would he exert his strength and have his way with her? Or would he be a tender, caring lover? One that would see to her needs as well as his own? And he did seem rather well endowed, she noticed, glancing ever so curiously at his mid-section. He seemed to be quite well put together and she wondered how it would feel to have a man like him make love to her. For he was a man, several years her senior if she guessed correctly. She sighed and allowed a slight smile to cross her face as she let her imagination run away with her, until he shifted in bed, and groaned.
"Carolyn, where are you? Carolyn?" his plea was filled with desperation and she couldn't help herself, she leaned into him, laying her hand on his cheek.
"Shh, it's all right, I'm here. I'm right here."
"Carolyn? You're really here?" His blue eyes opened, and she saw the tears there. What would a man like this cry about?
"Yes, I'm here. I'm right here with you."
"Oh, thank God! I thought I had lost you."
"Lost me? I don't understand."
"We were separated, and I didn't know if I would find you again…" he rasped, sounding desperate again.
She suppressed the shiver that ran through her at the sound of his voice; she'd always had a secret liking for a sexy voice and this man was blessed with one.
"It's okay I'm here." She frowned, somehow feeling awkward about asking him his name, it seemed that he thought she should know who he was.
"Are you feeling better?"
"As long as you are here I can bear anything. Where are we? Gull Cottage?" He raised up on his arm and looked around him in puzzlement.
She put her hand on his head again and realized he was still far too hot. "You're still ill. Your fever seems a little better but…"
"I'm sick? Why am I sick?"
"I don't know, I found you that way."
"You found me? Was I lost?" He frowned trying to put pieces together. "I missed you…"
"Were we separated?" She asked, trying to get some answers that made sense from this enigmatic man.
"God, yes! I was trapped…afraid I wouldn't come home again…but here you are…"
"We're together? We've been together a long time?" She asked, not understanding.
"Yes, we've been married for over thirty years…and every moment has been a blessed moment in my life…but that's not right, is it?" His clear blue eyes appeared confused.
Married? Her eyes widened in surprise, they were married? She didn't marry Bobby, or anyone else that she knew? She married this man who was a stranger to her? She was so preoccupied that she didn't see him sit up, nor see that he was watching her with a rapt expression.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and with a smooth motion pulled her into his embrace. He looked down into her eyes for a few moments, and she felt her heart pounding. She saw the sheen of perspiration on his forehead and felt the heat radiating from his body and realized that he was still not well, possibly even delirious.
"You should rest," she managed to say, keeping her voice calm though her heart was hammering in her chest.
"I'll rest later," he said and placed his lips on hers. He was surprisingly tender and though his lips were only slightly parted, she knew he was asking permission to go further. She parted her lips and moaned as their tongues touched, fenced, and their kiss deepened. She could hardly believe the feelings this man was evoking in her from just a kiss. They kissed until they had to come up for air and Carolyn knew she had never felt this aroused in her entire life.
He smiled at her and without a word, asked her to lift her arms so that he could remove her shirt. Mesmerized, she did so, and her blouse was thrown on the floor, then before she knew it, her bra was on the ground as well. Almost shy, she blushed and crossed her arms in front of her.
"Why so shy?" he murmured as his lips began to kiss her neck.
She shivered, knowing she should stop him, her mind was screaming at her to stop him, but her body was in overdrive and heart wanted to follow him wherever it was that he was leading her.
God, she wanted him like she had never wanted anyone in her short sexual life, and she was going to have him despite what her mind was telling her.
Somehow, her shorts and panties had been removed and she was as naked as he was.
"Carolyn, come for me," he growled and before she was aware of what he was going to do, he dropped his face to her center, his tongue doing things she wasn't aware a tongue could do. She writhed and moaned under his ministrations, until she screamed, reaching the kind or orgasm she had never experienced before. She was still coming down from that when he rolled on his back and pulled her astride him. He looked up at her imploringly.
"You want me to?" Carolyn questioned, she had never been astride a man before.
He nodded. "Please, otherwise I'm afraid I'll not be able to finish with you."
She shouldn't, she knew she shouldn't, but she was unable to break away from his gaze. Slowly, with his assistance, she guided him in to her. She hissed as she slowly lowered herself down, he was large, large enough that it was slightly painful as she took him all in. She sat for just a few moments as she adjusted to him and then with him lying beneath her, she began to move. Slowly at first and then with more confidence as their friction increased. He moaned and began to thrust up into her, and she began to match his thrusts. overwhelmed by the second orgasm that was breaking over her.
"Carolyn, my love," he gasped as she felt him flowing into her and shivered in delight, unwilling to come down from her astounding height of ecstasy.
When she looked at him, she felt tears in her eyes, overwhelmed by feelings that she couldn't begin to name for this stranger.
"I love you so," he whispered, and then his head lolled off to the side as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
Alarmed, he gently released herself from him, settled in against his left side and reached out to feel his forehead. It glistened with sweat, as did the rest of his body, but he didn't seem any warmer than before their activities. He had already settled into sleep, but he seemed less restless than when she had previously watched him. She started to get up and out of bed but was stopped when his arm wrapped around her and pulled her firmly against him.
She tried to move again but he made a slightly angry noise in his sleep and kept her next to him.
Carolyn debated with herself for all of a minute, knowing that the right thing to do was to remove herself from his company, clean herself up and be the nurse that he needed. That's what she should do. She heard him sigh behind her and felt his breath on her neck as he finally settled into a normal sleep, and she knew that she wasn't going anywhere.
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The dream was wonderful, one that she didn't want to wake up from, one that made her feel wanted and loved. She was in the arms of the stranger she had made love to, and he was endlessly declaring his love for her. She felt the same about him and returned the love tenfold. Her whispered endearments were mixed with cries of pleasure as he moved within her and she met his thrusts with her own…
As she woke she realized that it wasn't a dream, that somehow, he had pressed into her, her body was open and willing to him and responding in ways that she didn't know she was capable of. She had heard that this circumstance sometimes happened in couples that had been together for a while, that those couples sometimes woke up in compromising positions such as this. But his thrusts were lovely, and even, and the last thing her body wanted was for him to stop.
"Carolyn," he murmured in a sleepy voice, "say my name."
She didn't know his name and he was making love to her like he had known her for years, this was so wrong.
"Say Daniel," he repeated. "Say it." He slowly pushed in and out of her and she groaned at the bliss her body was feeling.
Her mind registered that he had offered up his name to her and that is was a useful piece of information. "Daniel, please…"
"Please what, my love?" his deep voice growled in her ear.
"Make me come."
"My love," he dropped his fingers to her core and moved them over the areas that he knew would finish the job.
"Oh, God, Daniel!" She screamed as he found the place within her that sent her spinning into the most passionate release she had ever experienced, and as he groaned, she heard him compare her to a host of deities that she didn't know existed as he spilled into her. His sweet words of love whispered against her ear.
Still joined, he pulled her close again, nuzzling her neck as he drifted off to sleep.
She considered getting up, considered removing herself from this cocoon of love and warmth and facing the real world and the consequences of her actions but found that she couldn't, at least not now. Instead, she pushed back against him as he dropped a possessive arm across her breast and closed her eyes, content to stay like this for a while longer.
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AN: Well, what would you do with a handsome, naked Daniel Gregg in your bed? Lol Things pick up from here. Thanks for sticking with me.