“Deceived”
Written By: Nicole Buckles
Rated R for language

        Mulder lies on his couch and slowly starts to drift off as he watches one of his favorite old movies. His eyelids start to feel heavy and he can no longer keep them open. He gives in and lets them slowly close over his eyes. Just as he is about to fall into a deep sleep he is awaken by a loud sound; still groggy he can’t make out what it is at first and then he realizes that it’s Scully’s angry voice mixed with the sound of her fists pounding on the door. “Mulder! I know you are in there! Open the fucking door!” Alarmed he jumps off the couch and runs to the door. He hesitates for a moment before opening the door and listens to Scully’s irrational yelling. Why is she yelling at me like this he thinks? She sounds as if she is furious at me, no that’s not it she sounds betrayed. Before his mind has a chance to run through any more possibilities he hears a gun shot and then she kicks in his door. He jumps back in shock and bangs into the side of the wall.
“You! You bastard! How could you do this to me!” Scully yells at the top of her lungs!
Speechless at her irrational behavior Mulder starts to push himself away from the wall that he is leaning against, but before he can do so Scully walks up to him and pushes him back into the wall. Her face is so close to his that their noses are practically touching and he can see a myriad of emotions just by looking into her eyes; hurt, scared, confused, but what stands out the most is betrayal. He tries to touch her face with his hand and she slaps it away and backs away as if she is suddenly afraid of him. “Don’t touch me! How could you do what you did to me and still expect that you could have the right to touch me!”
“Scully, I don’t know what the hell you are talking about,” Mulder yells.
“I know everything Mulder! But how..how….HOW could you do it! I thought you loved me! But now I know you didn’t and…and How could you do this!”…   Mulder’s heart is torn out by the words he hears coming from her mouth. He tries to approach her but she backs away.
“Scully, you act like I’m going to hurt you.”
Scully pulls out her gun and holds it out in front of her. “Is that supposed to be some kind of sick joke?” Scully asks as tears finally start to well up in her eyes.
   Seeing her tears makes Mulder all the more want to walk up to her and comfort her. That was always what got him when it came to Scully. She was always so strong and rarely cried so when those tears broke though her tough exterior he knew she was really hurting.
“Dana please, I understand that you obviously think I did something and whatever it is I can tell that it is tearing you apart, but I can assure you that what ever it is I didn’t do it.”
“I wouldn’t believe it at first,” Scully says, quickly brushing the tears from her cheeks.
“But I couldn’t just dismiss all the evidence….It was too strong. I have you on FUCKING videotape! So don’t you dare try and tell me you didn’t do it!!” Another tear runs down her face and she brushes it away cursing. “Damn it I told myself I wasn’t going to cry!”
   Mulder surprises her as she is brushing the tears from her face and knocks the gun out of her hand. Scully starts pounding on him with her fist but Mulder grabs her into his arms and won’t let her go. She is so tightly pressed against him that he can feel the rapid beat of her heart and he knows that she is terrified.
   Scully continues to squirm in his arms trying to break free, but finally she gives up defeated.. “Please, Mulder please don’t hurt me,” She says in a whisper.
The words come out of her like a haunted whisper and Mulder’s heart turns to ice when he hears those words. “Dana I’d never hurt you, never in a hundred years. You’re all I live for.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Scully says softly. “But, now I know differently. I know it’s all an act. Please just don’t kill me, just let me go and I’ll leave you alone. I’ll vanish. You won’t have to worry about me ruining your plan ever again.”
“Scully god damn it I’m not going to kill you!” Mulder says starting to get angry.
“Then let me go,” Scully says in a choked whisper.
Mulder slowly releases his grasp on her body and she slowly and cautiously moves away from him. She bends down, grabs her gun off the floor and holds it out in front of her until she is out the door.
    Mulder starts to go after her and then hesitates knowing it’s not a good Idea. When she is nowhere in his sight he falls to the floor and cries, cries out of confusion, heart ache and most of all for the pain that he saw in Scully’s eyes tonight.
 
 

Margaret Scully suddenly sits up in bed when she is awaken by the sound of her doorbell. She sits there for a few minuets trying to figure out if it was a dream or not. She looks over at the clock and it reads 2:45AM. It must be a dream she thinks and lays back down on her bed. Just as she closes her eyes again she hears the doorbell. Now knowing it’s not a dream she gets up walks down the stairs and to the door wondering who it could be. She looks out the peephole and sees her daughter standing there. Margaret Scully quickly opens the door knowing that something isn’t right.
“Dana? It’s almost three in the morning. Baby what are you doing here?” She asks tenderly.
“My heart it hurts so bad, I can’t breath, mom I can’t breath,” Scully says leaning against the doorframe. Margaret can tell that she is getting ready to faint and she pulls her quickly inside and makes her sit down at the bottom of the stairs.
“Dana, what’s wrong? Do you need me to call a doctor? You look like you are going to pass out.”
“No mom, it’s not medical.”
“But, Dana you’re as white as a ghost.”
“No Mom! It’s my heart! It’s breaking and I can’t…I can’t brea—“ Scully says as she starts crying and gasping for air at the same time.
“Put your head between your knees,” Margaret says alarmed. “Just calm down, and take some deep breaths.”
  Scully does as her mom says and slowly starts to calm down. She stays in a crouched position for a long time and lets her mother rub her back. She has no Idea how she is going to tell her mother what Mulder has done because it hurts her so much just to say his name.
“Dana, please won’t you tell me what’s gotten you so upset? Is it something at work? Maybe something having to do with Fox?”
When Scully hears his name she breaks down crying all over again.
Margaret bends down and drapes her body over Scully’s heaving body.
“Shhhh, it’s okay Dana we don’t have to talk about it right now if you don’t want to. Just try and calm down okay? You’re scaring me.”
“I’m scaring myself,”Scully says in a chocked whisper. “I don’t know how I’m going to get through this.”
 
 

      Mulder wakes up and realizes he is lying on his apartment floor. Suddenly the events of last night start to play through his mind. He still has not clue what the hell is going on. The only thing he knows is that whatever she thinks he has done must be pretty bad for her to fall apart like that. Not to mention that she was terrified of me he thinks as he remembers the look in her eyes and the rapid beat of her heart when she was pressed up against him.
I have to find her, he thinks and runs out of his apartment door.
    He arrives at her mother’s house an hour later knowing that she will be there. He stands on the porch for several minuets waiting for someone to answer the door. Just as he is about to walk away Mrs. Scully opens the door a crack leaving the security chain still fastened in place. “Fox I want you to stay the hell away from my daughter or I’m going to call the police!”
“I am the police!” Mulder says angrily. “And whatever you and Dana think I did I didn’t do it! I’m not going to hurt you or your daughter! I just need to talk to her so I can find out what she thinks I did. Please I think I’m about five minutes away from going crazy if someone doesn’t tell me what the hell is going on!”
“Dana said you’d try and deny it, and I’m sorry but she doesn’t want to ever see you again. Can’t you understand that you ripped her heart out. She thought that she was actually falling in love with you and then you do this to her. How could you betray her like this?”
“Betray her?! What fuck do you think I did?!”
“Fox get away from her now, please I beg of you. You’re scaring Dana and me. Just leave before I have to call the police,” Margaret says and slams the door in his face.
Mulder stands there for a moment and then sits down on the porch steps and buries his head into his hands. He stays in that position for an hour too
 hurt and confused to move. When he finally lifts his head up from his hands he sees Scully looking out of the top bedroom window. When she sees that he has noticed her she closes the blinds and walks away.    Defeated, Mulder gets up and walks to his car. I will get to the bottom of this he thinks and drives quickly away from the house.
 

         Mulder walks quickly past Skinner’s secretary ignoring her plea to come back later. He opens the door to Skinner’s office and slams it before
Skinner can utter a single word.
Skinner looks at him alamred. “What the hell happen to you? Mulder you look like, well you look terrible.”
“Yeah well being confused out of your mind and nearly beat up by your partner will do that to a person!”
“What the hell are you talking about Agent Mulder?”
“Well last night around say 12:30AM…I’m just about to drift off to sleep when I hear Scully pounding on my door and screaming profanities at
me!”
“What?”
“Wait it gets worse. She shoots at my lock, kicks in the door and starts screaming at me telling me that I betrayed her and then she slams me up
against the wall. Then she backs away from me and pulls her gun out on me acting like I’m going to kill her or something. She actually begged
me not too.”
“Woah, wait slow down Agent Mulder, and why don’t you have a seat,” Skinners says and gestures to one of the chairs.
 Mulder sits down quickly in one of the chairs and exhales frustrated.
“Now, did she say what it was she thought you did to betray her or why she thought you were going to kill her?” Skinner asks calmly.
“No, all I could get out of her is that she had some video tape of me doing whatever it is she thought I did and she said she had other evidence as
well, but I couldn’t get her to tell me what it was.”
“Why did you let her leave?” Skinner asks.
“Because she was terrified that I was going to kill her and I didn’t want to scare her even more then she already was. I went to her mother’s house,
but she wouldn’t tell me anything either. She just did the same as Scully yelled me and asked me how I could do it. I swear if one more person
asks me that I’m going to go insane.”
“Well, there was something a little odd that happen yesterday.”
Mulder looks up at Skinner hoping that maybe some light could finally be shed on this whole mess.
“Agent Scully came to my office Saturday morning and told me that were many personal issues going on with her right now and she needed to take some time off to sort them out. When I asked her what they were she turned ash white and couldn’t speak for a few minutes.  Then she said that she felt faint and needed to sit down so I helped her over to the chair and she put her head between her knees and remained that way for several minutes. Then she thanked me and got up and left.”
“Why the hell didn’t you call me!” Mulder says upset.
“Because I thought that as close as you guys are that she had already come to you and I was the last one she came to tell. But I was going to ask you this morning actually what exactly was going on and why she needed some time off. But I guess you’re as confused as I am.”
“Yeah that’s understatement,” Mulder says sarcastically.
“Agent Mulder, I hate to ask this but are you sure there isn’t something that you might have done to get her to react like this?”
“NO! How can you even ask me that! I’d never do anything to hurt Scully. I Lo---“ Mulder hesitates for a moment not sure if he wants Skinner to know or not.
“I know Mulder you love her, you’ve loved her for some time now. I could always see it in your eyes when you’d look at her or talk about her.”
“Then how the hell can you ask me if I’m guilty of whatever the fuck she thinks I did.”
“I just had to ask, but how do you think she could of gotten a hold of a video tape of you doing something you say you didn’t do?”
”It must be manipulated or something. I don’t know how the hell should I know!” Mulder says angrily and stands up from his chair. “You know what I have go…thanks for your help,” Mulder says and runs out of the office.

   Three days later……

       Mulder lies on his bed with a pillow over his head trying to block the images that have been continuously playing in his head since that night. You’ve got to get yourself up and out of this bed, he thinks to himself,  you have to figure out a way to prove to her that you didn’t do what she thinks you did. It would help if I new what the hell it was!” He thinks and then starts to hit the pillow that is over his head with frustration. Suddenly the phone rings and Mulder sits up with a jolt and grabs the phone. “Yeah?” He says in an angry voice.
“Agent Mulder, this is Skinner. I’m calling because I haven’t heard from you in three days and I know you are going through a lot right now but I need to know when you are planning on coming back to work and what you are going to do about this whole situation.”
“Yeah well I’ll let you know when I figure that out my self . At this point I don’t have a clue.”
“Have you heard anything from Agent Scully? Have you tried to contact her at all?”
“No, I can’t take to see the pain in her eyes when she looks at me and I don’t want to scare her.”
“Are you going to come back to work anytime soon or do you want to take a leave of absence for awhile until you sort this all out?” Skinner asks.
“You know what?! That is the last thing on my mind right now! I can’t think about that right now! Just leave me alone,” Mulder says and hangs up the phone. He lies back on the bed, puts the pillow over his head and screams into it. He is about to take the pillow off his head when the phone rings again. “AHHHHH” Mulder yells out in frustration. He angrily picks up the receiver. “I just need some time to think god damn it!”
“Agent Mulder?” A woman’s voice says timidly over the phone.
“Oh I’m sorry I thought you were someone else,” Mulder says in an apologetic tone.
“Agent Mulder this is detective Monroe of the DC Police and we have some bad news regarding your partner..
“What? What do you mean? Has something happen to Scully. Is she okay?
”No, I’m sorry to tell you Agent that she’s not.”
Mulder’s heart skips a beat when he hears these words and he almost drops the receiver.
 “Tell me what happen to her. Is she in the hospital? What happen?!” There is dead silence for a few moments and then the officer quickly blurts out the words that will change Mulder’s life forever.
“Agent Mulder your partner is dead she killed herself in her apartment last night…”
The words play like a broken record in Mulder’s head and he drops the phone and stares into to space, he is suddenly overwhelmed by the compulsion to hang up the phone. If I hang up the phone it won’t be true. This is just all a bad dream! Yeah that’s what it is, he says to himself and slams the phone into its cradle.
A few minutes later the phone rings again and pulls him out of his trance. He slowly picks it up with trepidation, not wanting to hear the words he know he will hear when he places his ear to the phone.
“Agent Mulder I know this must be very difficult news for you two hear but we need someone to ID the body.”
“What about her mother?” Mulder asks
“Her mother is in too much shock right now to deal with it and we thought it would be best for all concerned if you came and did it.”
“Okay I’ll be right there,” Mulder says trying his hardest to remain calm.
“Thank You Agent Mulder,” The officer says and hangs up the phone.
Mulder keeps the phone up to his ear until the disconnect signal starts to blare loudly into his ear. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He screams and throws the phone against the wall.  He falls to the floor and all he can think of is that she killed her self because of him.
I should have tried harder, he thinks; I should have tried harder to convince her I didn’t do anything. He lies on the floor for several minutes and then works up the nerve to get up off the floor and prepare himself for what he will see at her apartment.

     The elevator doors slide open to Scully’s floor and Mulder finds himself frozen and unable to make one step forward. He stands there and lets the doors close as he slides down the side of the elevator walls and buries his head into his hands. He knows that as soon as he goes in there and sees her body that this nightmare will become a reality and he’s not ready to for that yet.  He is unable to even conceive of the idea that her spirit is gone from this earth. That is what he loved about her most of all, her incredible spirit. She had so much love, so much she was yet to contribute to the world. He closes his eyes and envisions her soft smile and the way she was always trying to hold back a smirk when he would tell one of his dumb jokes that she would pretend wasn’t funny, but he knew she thought they were. The doors to the elevator suddenly open and her face disappears from his memory. He buries his head back into his hands and lets the elevator door close. He shuts his eyes and her face easily comes back into his memory. He thinks of her eyes, her beautiful, big, blue eyes that he could swear would almost turn to a shade of green sometimes. He thinks of her slim, narrow, little nose and how he was always so tempted to kiss it when she did something sweet or adorable.
A tear suddenly rolls down his cheek and he feels like lying down on the elevator floor and never waking up. He tries to close his eyes again to remember more of the things he loved about her but as soon as he does the elevator doors open again and he knows that he can’t put this off any longer. He must go. He stands up slowly, takes a deep breath and walks out from the elevator. The walk down the hall feels like an eternity for him and when he finally reaches her door more memories start to flood back from the many times he stood here knocking on her door; either about an important case or because he just wanted to see her and he’d say it was about a case. She always bought it, he thinks and a small smile appears on his face. He is about to knock on the door when a female police officer opens the door.
“Agent Mulder I presume?” The officer asks.
“Yeah, uh lets just get this over with okay? Mulder asks trying to maintain his composure.
“Of course,” The officer replies sincerely. “She was found lying in her bed ro---.”
“Wait,” Mulder says suddenly. “Is there a lot of blood,I mean I just want to know what to expect.
“No, Agent Mulder there is no blood, she took an overdose of pills.”
“Okay,” Mulder replies, somewhat relieved.
They reach her bedroom door and the officer starts to turn the handle.
“Wait, I’m not ready yet,” Mulder says. Everything around him starts to spin and he bends down trying to get his bearings back.
The officer places a hand on his back and it suddenly reminds him of the way Scully used to touch him when he was upset and he suddenly doesn’t want her touching him like that. “Get your hand off me,” Mulder says angrily. A little surprised the officer removes her hand from his back. “I’m sorry…I was just trying to…”
“I know what you were trying to do,” Mulder interrupts…He pauses for a moment and stands up and looks into the officer’s face. “I’m sorry you just reminded me of her just then. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry, she was more to you then just a partner wasn’t she?” The officer asks.
“Yes, I’ve never loved anyone like I loved her and I never will again.”
“You just take your time,” The officer says and takes her hand off the door handle.
“No I need to do it now or I won’t be able to do it later.”
Mulder grabs the door handle and quickly opens the door. He glances over to her bed and sees a human form lying under a white sheet. The room suddenly starts to spin again and he has trouble breathing.
“Do you want me to lift the sheet?” The officer asks him.
Mulder nods his head yes, unable to utter a single word.
   He watches, as the officer seems to walk in slow motion up to the bed and pull off the sheet. He suddenly sees Scully’s face; her beautiful face that was once so full of life and beauty is now a color of ashen gray. Her beautiful full red lips are now dry and without color. He can’t bear to look at her anymore and he turns his back.
“Is it her?” The officer asks.
   Mulder nods his head not evening bothering to turn around. “Can you just leave me alone in the apartment with her for awhile?”
“Agent..I…I don’t think that would be a good Idea, “ The officer replies.
“Please I need to say goodbye and I can’t do it with someone else here. Please?” Mulder says trying to keep the quiver out of his voice.
“Okay, How much time do you need?”
“Just give me an hour okay?”
“All right, I’ll see you in an hour,” The officer says and walks out of the room.
       For a few moments Mulder stands in the middle of her bedroom and then slowly starts to make his way to her bed. He takes a deep breath and then slowly moves the sheet down just enough so he can see her face. He bends down and kisses her on the forehead. It is icy cold and this sends a shiver through his whole body. A single tear falls from his eye and onto her eyelid. Mulder quickly brushed the other tears from his cheeks and lays his head upon her chest.
   “I love you baby, and I know you did this to yourself because you thought I didn’t love you anymore but please know that I didn’t do anything to hurt you and I never would have. I promise you that I will never ever forget you or your beautiful smile. Whenever I am sad and missing you real bad, or I’m just having a bad day at work I’m going to close my eyes and remember your sweet face and your beautiful smile. I won’t have you anymore in my life but at least I will have that much and I will always carry you in my heart.”
    Mulder lifts his head up from her chest and kisses her lightly on the lips. “I’m going to miss you,” He says and then slowly covers her back up with the sheet.
   Mulder walks out into the living room and starts to walk aimlessly around. Suddenly videotape that is lying on top of her VCR catches his eyes. He walks over and reads the title on the tape, “Something you must see.” It reads. Intrigued Mulder pops the tape into the VCR and turns on the TV. Suddenly his face pops up on the screen. He is sitting in a car with Diana Fowley and the cigarette smoking man. Oh my god, he thinks, this is the videotape Scully was talking about. He turns up the volume and hears himself says things that he never remembers saying, not to mention that he was never in that car with those people. “How do you suppose we get rid of her?” He hears himself saying on the tape. “I don’t care, just find a way and do it fast,” Diana says.
“We are wasting time,” The cigarette smoking man says while puffing on his cigarette.
“If you want I can hire someone,” Diana says.
“Yeah do that do that, I used to love her once so I don’t think I could do it with my bare hands,” Mulder hears himself say on the tape. He can’t bear to hear anymore of these fallacious words and takes the tape out of the VCR and throws it against the wall.
My god, he thinks, no wonder she was so upset and afraid of me. She thought I was planning to have her killed. This is just wrong; I have to find out what’s going on here.
      Suddenly he remembers her saying something about their being more evidence against him besides just the tape. He jumps off the couch and fervently starts to search her apartment. He runs over to her desk and opens up all its drawers. In one of the drawers he comes across a big envelope marked pictures. He quickly opens up the envelope and pulls out the photos. He nearly droops them when he sees that they are pictures of him sleeping with a number of woman and half of them are with Diana Fowley. He can’t believe what he is seeing as he hasn’t sleep with anyone since 1993 and he’s never even seen any of these women before he thinks, except for Fowley. God what the hell is going on here? “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I owe you that much Scully,” Mulder says out loud and runs out of her apartment with the tape and the pictures.
 

      One week later…..
 

    Scully walks down the isle of St. Matthews Parish in Denver Colorado. She spots the confessional booth and walks quickly over to it. She hesitates at the door for a moment and then opens it and quickly sits down while simultaneously making the sign of the cross.
   “Forgive me father for I have sinned, It’s been two years since my last confession,” Scully says nervously.
“What are your sins my child?” The priest asks her gingerly.
“I’ve been very selfish father and I’ve deceived everyone that I love.” A single tear rolls down Scully’s cheek as she thinks of what she has done.
“Why have you felt the need to deceive your loved ones?” The priest asks.
“Father it’s a long story, one with which I’m not sure I can tell you.”
“I’m hear child, to listen to you, and that is why you have come isn’t it? Your soul is in a very dark place right now and you’ve come to dig it out. Now tell me, how terrible are these lies that you have told your loved ones?”
“Oh, Father I’ve faked my own death. They all think I’m dead and I can only imagine all the turmoil they are going through right now.”
 “Why would you do that child?” The priest asks surprised.
“Because I was afraid for my own life.”
“I’m confused why don’t you start from the beginning. Can you do that?” The priest asks her calmly.
“Yeah,” Scully says desperately trying to hold back her tears.
“Father, I’m a FBI agent and I have a FBI partner that I love and trust more then anyone. We have worked together for seven years and then one night I get a knock at my door and there is a man standing there. I had never seen him before, but he hands me a small box and tells me that there are important documents in there that are vital for me to see. Before I can ask him who he is or what this is all about he walks away and leaves me standing there confused.”
“What was in the box?” The priest asks.
“There were two things, one was a videotape and the other were pictures,” Scully says as tears suddenly start streaming down her face.
“There must have been something on that tape that you did not wish to see, am I correct?” The priest asks.
“Yes,” Scully says through her tears. “It was a tape of my partner the person I loved and trusted talking to two people that I despise about how they were going to kill me. “
“This must have been very shocking for you.”
“It was and at first I didn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it, but how could I not. It was right there on videotape plain as day. And then there were the pictures. The pictures really weren’t that bad, I mean he had every right to be doing what he was doing in those pictures but I just…I “
“Go on child.”
“Father my partner and I had a partner ship based on trust and respect. WE were best friends, but this last year I begin to hope that it could be something more. Father, I could see myself marrying this man and when I saw these pictures of him sleeping with a number of different woman it just hurt me, he had no commitment to me father but in way I kind of felt like he did.”
“So what did you do? Did you confront him with what you had found out?”
“Yes, I went to his apartment the next night. I told myself I was going to be calm and rational but when I got there I couldn’t help but scream at him for what he had done.”
“Did he admit to his wrong doing?” The priest asks.
“No he denied it and told me he didn’t know what I was talking about. Oh father I hurt him so bad, I could see the pain in his eyes.”
“You can’t beat yourself up child, He hurt you first. The man you loved and trusted was planning to kill you.”
“No, father but that’s just it. He wasn’t. That wasn’t him on that tape or in the pictures. They made it all up to get to me. Someone wanted me dead alright but it wasn’t my partner.”
”Who is “they?” The priest asks her.
“The people that think they can run the world.”
“Okay,” The priest says a little confused, “But why would they want you dead?”
“They have wanted me dead for a long time and this was their way of doing it. This is the only way they had a sure fire way that they wouldn’t be caught.. They thought if they told me these lies of how my partner had betrayed me that I would kill myself and they would be rid of me.”
“How do you know this for certain? You told me that it was he clear as day as day on that videotape and in those photographs. What makes you so sure now that it wasn’t?” The priest asks confused.
“Because a friend someone that I thought had died six years ago came to me and told me the whole story and that if I didn’t fake my death they would come and kill me and make it look like a suicide so there would be no way to trace it back to them. I didn’t want to do it at first. My first instinct was to go to my partner and tell him I was sorry for what I had accused him of and I just wanted to tell him that I loved him. But this friend convinced me that faking my death was the only way out of this mess I had unknowingly gotten myself into seven long years ago when I was assigned to the X-Files and paired with a man that would change my life forever.”
“So you went along with it then? You faked your death and left your family and your partner thinking they have lost you forever.”
Tears start to violently fall down Scully’s cheeks. “Father, I know, I know it was a terrible selfish thing to do and I am regretting it now but if I go back and tell them then there is a chance that “these people” might find out and then their lives would be at stake as well. There is also one more thing. I had a daughter that I thought had died and this friend told me that she never died that she was alive and safe and waiting for me to come get her. He said that if I faked my death he would eventually tell me where she was and her and I could live out our lives hidden in another country. As much as I want to see my daughter again father I don’t think I can live without my partner and I don’t think I can live with myself knowing that I have deceived my family like this”, Scully says as takes in a watery intake of breath. “I have been a mess since the moment I agreed to it. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, all I do is cry. Father I need you to tell me what to do.”
“Child, I can’t tell you what to do or even what is right for I don’t know you or your family, but what I can tell you is that the answer to your question is in your heart. Once you find that answer you will k now what to do. No matter what the answer is it will be the right answer because it came from your heart. And what comes from a person’s heart is never wrong. Do you understand what I’m saying to you child? There is a way to solve all of this. You just have to find a way to do it.”
“I understand what you are saying and I think I have my answer or will soon. Thank you father,” Scully says and steps quickly out of the booth.

      Mulder sits alone in his apartment staring at a bottle of aspirin. It’s all come down to this, he thinks. I’ve reached a dead end. No one can give me any answers to what is going on. All I know is that they wanted Scully dead and planted this evidence in her hands knowing that she would commit suicide. Why they didn’t just kill her with their own hands I guess I’ll never know but it doesn’t really matter anymore because she is gone and has left me here on an earth that I don’t want to live on anymore. He starts to turn the bottle of aspirin around and around in hands hoping that when he turns it back around he will know what to do. Frustrated, he puts the bottle down and takes a swig of vodka from the large economy bottle he bought at the drug store today. What’s really keeping me here, he thinks? Everyone in my life that I ever loved is dead; my sister, my father, my mother and now Scully. He picks up the bottle of Aspirin again and pops off the top. At least if I take these I will be able to tell Scully the truth that it wasn’t me on that videotape, it was manipulated some how or who the hell cares. All that matters is that I’d be with her again. He tilts the aspirin bottle and pours about 10 pills into his hand. He lifts his shaky hand up to his mouth and then pauses not able to take the first gulp of pills that will begin the process of his death. He stares at them for a long while and then suddenly throws them against the wall with anger. He grabs the bottle and throws it against the wall as well. “AHHH this is exactly what they want! This was this was their plan all along. They didn’t just want Scully dead they wanted me dead as well. It’s all unfolding as they’ve planned. Scully finds out I have betrayed her so she kills herself, then when I find out what she has done I am wrecked with so much grief and guilt that I take my own life as well. Then they have what they want we are both dead by  own hands and there is no way that any of this can be traced back to them. Well I’m not going to give them the satisfaction, Mulder thinks. If they want me dead they will have to come and do it with their own bare hands, I’m not going to let them win.
   A few minutes later Mulder walks over to the pile of aspirin and starts to pick them up one by one. Who cares if they win, Mulder thinks to himself as he is picking up the aspirin. At least I’d be with you Scully. He looks down at the small pile of pills he has in his hands and slowly lifts his hand up. There must be about eigh,t nine pills here, he thinks. I’ll start with these and then if I get the nerve I’ll down the rest. He throws the pills quickly into his mouth and washes them down with a swig of vodka. He lays on the floor and waits for the aspirin to take effect, I want to feel numb, he thinks. Then I will know it’s working. He pulls out a picture of Scully that he has kept in his wallet for three years now and holds it out in front of his face. “I’ll see you soon,” He says and then passes out.
       Scully waits anxiously in the elevator as it ascends up to Mulder’s floor.
As soon as the doors open she rushes quickly out of them, deathly afraid that someone is watching her. She reaches the front door of his apartment and quickly takes out her spare key. They could be watching, she thinks, and I don’t have time to wait for him to come to the door, if he’s even there at all.
    She opens the door in one swift fast motion and quickly steps inside shutting the door behind her. The apartment is pitch dark and she can’t see a thing. Slowly her eyes start to adjust to the light and she finds a light switch and quickly flips it on. Her breath is taken out of her when she sees Mulder lying on the floor because she knows exactly what he has done. Hoping it’s not too late she runs over to him and kneels down by his side. She places her hand on his pulse and is relieved when she feels a strong beat. “Mulder wake up! Mulder it’s me,” She says as she gently touches his face.
Mulder slowly opens his eyes and sees Scully’s face slowly come into focus.
“It worked,” He says in a whisper.
“Mulder what worked?”
“The pills…I took them so I could see you again and tell you the truth and here you are right in front of my face.”
“Shit! Mulder how many pills did you take?” Scully quickly scans the room for the aspirin bottle.
“I only took about eight but I guess those did the trick because you’re here…Scully you’re here.”
“Mulder, listen you’re not dead and neither am I. But we have to get out of here; we aren’t safe. First things first though…we need to get those pills out of your system. Do you have any epicak in your apartment?”
“Epi-what?” Mulder says delirious.
“I’ll be right back stay here!” Scully frantically runs to his medicine cabinet and looks frantically through his cabinet for some epicak syrup. Not finding any she runs back over to him.
“Mulder, I don’t think you took enough to seriously do any damaged but I’m still worried…I think we shoul----“ Before she has time to finish Mulder rolls over and throws up all over the floor and then passes out exhausted.
Okay, now I’m not so worried, she thinks, it’s probably out of his system I have to get him out of here.

   Five Hours Later….

   Scully sits quietly in a chair watching as Mulder tosses and turns in a hotel bed. The only thing that keeps running through Scully’s head is how much she loves him and that she hopes she didn’t endanger his life by bringing him here. Maybe she should have had Mulder find out anonymously like she did for her Mother and brothers.
    Before any more thoughts can run through her head Mulder sits up straight in bed and open his eyes. “Scully? He says in a shaky voice. “Is that really you or am I’m I just crazy. I had this dream that I had died and I saw you it was such a beautiful dream. Am I still dreaming?”  Scully gets up from her chair and walks over to the bed and sits down next to him. Mulder is still and shock and just sits there afraid to touch her.
“Mulder, your not dreaming or crazy. It’s really me…I faked my death.”
“But I…I saw your body….I touched it. It was real, you were dead.”
“Mulder it was a decoy a very cleverly made decoy. That wasn’t me I’m here, alive and well.” She extends her hand out to touch him but her backs away.
Tears suddenly start to gleam in her eyes as she speaks, “Mulder I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you, but at the time I felt like I had no other choice I had to do it. If I didn’t they would have killed me.”
“Scully I…You’re really real? Can I touch you? Mulder asks in disbelief.
Scully grabs onto his hand and places it on her cheek as tears start to stream down her face. “Mulder I’m sorry I’m sorry for everything.”
“Scully, you do know that it wasn’t me on the tape don’t you? I would have never said that.”
“I know Mulder I know…I’m sorry for what I must have put you through.”
“God, Scully it wasn’t your fault,” Mulder says and pulls her into his arms and squeezes her tight. He can feel her heart beating and this makes him smile for he knows she is really alive and sitting here with him. “God Scully I can’t believe it! I can’t believe…” He gets too choked up to finish his sentence and Scully starts to stroke his hair.
He buries his head into her and breathes her in. “I’m never going to let you go again,
Mulder says.
“Well, you may have to. That is why I brought you here. We need to talk and you need to make a decision quickly.”
Mulder lets go of his grasp on Scully and looks up at her confused.
“What do you mean I may have to let you go Scully? I know there is a lot of shit going down here but we will get to the bottom of it together.”
“Mulder Emily is alive.”
”What? How do you know this?” Mulder asks shocked.
“Because, Deep Throat told me. He isn’t dead either.”
“What?! How is that possible…. you saw him get shot Scully. You saw him get shot 6 years ago.”
“Well, he’s alive Mulder and I’m sure there is an explanation but I was too shocked by all the information he was giving me at the time to ask him. Mulder he is the one that told me of the syndicates plan. He told me that it wasn’t really you on that videotape or the photos. He came to me and told me that if I didn’t fake my death they would come after my family and me. He also told me that he knew where Emily was and that he would bring her to me. I just had to get out of the country first and then I could begin a new life with my daughter.” Tears start to roll down Scully’s face and drip onto Mulder’s hand.
“Mulder but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t’ imagine my life without you. So I had to take the chance and ask you to come with me. But you have to understand that you will have to fake your death as well and you can never go back to the FBI. Your life as you know it would disappear, but no matter what you decide I have to go. If I stay they will kill me and I’ll never get to see my Emily again.” Scully pauses to take a breath and then wipes the tears off her face with a tissue. “Mulder say something.”
“Of course Scully how could you even question what my answer would be? I’d rather be in a different country with you and your daughter then alone in DC without you.”
“But Mulder your work I know how important it is to you.”
“But Scully without you to help me solve them I will never get anywhere, and besides I think I have gone as far as I can go. What is left to investigate? I found out what happen to my sister, that was my main interest in the X-files. That is what drove me, to find my sister, but now I know that she is dead and there is nothing left for me to do. So of course I’ll come with you. I love you and I can’t tell you how much my heart ached when I thought you were dead. I laid on the god damn floor of your elevator for 20 minutes just thinking about every special thing about you. You’re beautiful eyes, your beautiful smile,” He says and traces his fingers over her lips. And your cute little nose he says and kisses it. But what I thought I was going to miss the most is your wonderful heart,” Mulder says and places his hand on where he thinks her heart is. “If you go I’m coming with you.”
“Good I was hoping you’d say that,” Scully says through laughter and tears. “But I’m also scared. More like terrified. What if they find us? Mulder can you do something for me?”
“Sure Scully anything.”
“Mulder, you know how when you’re a kid and something bad happens and then either your mom or your dad holds you in their arms and they tell you not to worry about anything. That everything is going to be okay. And you believe them because they are your parents and they take care you. When you hear those words you magically feel ten times better, but when you grow up no one every says that to you any more and if they do you don’t believe them because your smart enough to know that no one will every no if any thing will ever be okay, their not god. But you know what? I think that if you held me in your arms and told me everything was going to be okay, I think I’d believe you so could you….” Scully begins to cry again and is unable to finish.
Without hesitating Mulder pulls her into his arms and hugs her tight.
“Don’t worry Dana, I’m going to take care you and everything is going to be okay….I promise.”

      One day later.

“You still haven’t told me where we are going yet,” Mulder says impatiently as the plane takes off from the runway.
“I wanted to wait until we were up in the air,” Scully says.
“Okay well….”
“Alright, I’ve emptied my banking account and that will be enough to rent us a cabin and provide food for about a month until we decide where we want to go from there.”
“Okay sounds good Scully but where is this cabin?”
“It’s in Ontario Canada, but I don’t want to stay there permanently. It’s too close to the US and easy for them to find us. I want to go somewhere really far away and some where I can raise Emily and get a good paying job at a hospital.”
Mulder reaches over and grabs onto her hand. “That’s something you haven’t talked much about is Emily.”
“It’s because I’m scared Mulder, I don’t know how to raise a child. I don’t even know if she will remember me. She was only three the last time I saw her.”
“I still don’t understand how she is alive. I went to her funeral.” Mulder says confused.
“Yeah but you’re forgetting one thing. Her body wasn’t in the casket.”  Scully’s words echo back and forth in Mulder’s head haunting him. He shivers and Scully places her hand on his shoulder as if her touch will some how magically warm him up.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah it’s just something about the way you said that. It gave me the chills. This whole thing gives me the chills and I’m still so confused about everything.”
“So am I,” Scully says, “But I realized that the more I tired to make sense of it the more confused I got so I told myself I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. I’m just going to  accept things as they are. Mulder I’ve been questioning things and analyzing things for so long and I just can’t do it anymore I can’t.”
“Just relax,” Mulder says and gestures for her to lay her head on his shoulder. Scully slowly leans into him and closes her eyes. He starts to stroke her hair, which soothes her, and she falls asleep.
 

One Week Later…..Ontario Canada…

    Scully runs busily around the house trying to get things looking perfectly for Emily’s homecoming. Mulder sits on the couch amused. “Scully would  you come sit down and relax. Everything looks fine.”
“Let me just check her room one last time!” Scully says and runs into her bedroom. Mulder gets up from the couch and follows her in there. He sees her staring out the window of the girl’s bedroom with a sad look on her face. He sneaks up behind her and puts his arms around her small waist. Scully jumps slightly when she feels his arms slide around her waist. “You’re going to make a great mom,” Mulder says.
“Mulder what if this girl doesn’t even want to be with me. I only saw her for a brief time and she never even new I was her real mother.”
“We will explain everything to her, it might be hard for her at first to understand, but she is going to love you the moment her eyes lock with yours.”
“Mulder…”
“Yeah?”
“When we get to Scotland next month you do know that you don’t have to live in the same house as Emily and I. I mean we will be fine. I’ll be working at their local hospital and then you’ll have your work which I still can’t believe your serious about.,,,but…”
“What? You don’t believe in the Loch ness Monster Scully? It’s a highly popular legend in Scotland among many other phenomenon and I’m going to help prove them.”
“I’m sure you will Scully says and smiles.”
“I am… but what did you mean when you said that I didn’t have to stay in the same house as you.”
“I just don’t want you to feel obligated to take care of me or Emily.”
“Obligated? Scully, listen…. there is something I’ve been meaning to talk—“
Suddenly the doorbell rings and Scully runs anxiously runs out of the room.
“Mulder she’s here!” Scully says as she runs to the door. Mulder smiles and runs out of the room to join her.
   Before opening the door Scully looks out the peephole to prepare herself for what Emily looks like now.  She turns back to Mulder with tears in her eyes. “Mulder she’s so beautiful. And so big!”
“Well, come on then, open the door so I can see her too!” Mulder says eagerly.
Scully opens the door and Emily quickly hides herself behind Deep Throat.
“She’s been through a lot,” Deep Throat says. “Just give her time.”
Mulder stands in the middle of the living room shocked by the site of seeing Deep Throat alive. He still can’t believe how it is even possible. Deep Throat notices Mulder’s look of bemusement and walks over to him with Emily trailing behind.
“You’re surprised to see me alive aren’t you?”
“Well…Yeah!” Mulder says sarcastically.
     Scully is in shock her self and can’t seem to move herself away from the door. She has her eyes locked on the beautiful little girl holding desperately on to Deep Throats jacket. She’ mine, she thinks, All mine.
    “You were shot in the chest,” Mulder says to Deep Throat.
“Yes, but I had a bullet proof vest on along with exploding blood capsules in the vest, so it would look real.”
“Wow,” Mulder says incredulously.
“Now that we got that out of the way,” Deep Throat says, “Let’s introduce this little girl to her mother.” Deep Throat bends down so he is eye level with Emily.
“I know you’re freighted right now,” He says to her, “But remember I explained this to you. This is your real mother. You met her for a very short time a couple of years ago. Now she is going to take care of you.”
  Deep throat gestures for Scully to come over. Emily leans over and whispers something into Deep Throats ear. A big smirk appears on his face when hears what she has to say. He looks over at Mulder and smiles. “She wanted to know if you were her Dad.” Mulder bends down so he can talk to Emily. “I’m not your Dad Emily, but I’m a very, very good friend of your mommy’s and I’m going to help take care of you.”
Scully begins to walk slowly over to Emily. She reaches the girl and kneels down beside her. “Hi Emily. Do you remember me?” Emily nods her head yes. Shocked by her response Scully begins to cry. “You do? You remember me?”
“I remember your red hair,” Emily says in a whisper. “And I remember you let me wear that necklace,” Emily says and points to Scully’s cross necklace.
  Tears irrupt from Scully’s eyes and she pulls Emily into her arms and hugs her tight.
“I love you baby, and I’m going to take care you from now on okay? You don’t have to worry about anything anymore okay? Everything is going to be okay.”

     Six hours later Emily is sleeping soundly in her room and Mulder and Scully sit on the couch exhausted.
“Everything went pretty smooth don’t you think?” Mulder asks.
“Yeah, I mean she’s a little withdrawn and it will take her a little while to warm up to us, but I think she is going to be okay.”
“She’s really beautiful,” Mulder says as he looks into Scully’s eyes. “ I can see so much of you in her when I look at her. Especially her eyes.” Scully smiles and blushes a little.
“Mulder about what we were talking about earlier. I know you deeply care about me but I don’t want you to feel obligated to take care of Emily or me. You can get your own place in Scotland. You don’t have to live with us.”
“Scully I love you.”
“I know you love me but you love me like you’d love your sister or something.”
Mulder burst out laughing.
“What?” Scully says a little hurt that he is laughing at what she said.
“Love you like a sister? Scully you don’t know how many impure thoughts I’ve had about you in the last two years.”
 Scully face turns a beat red and she looks away a little embarrassed.
“Scully I’ve fallen in love with you, and I have a feeling you feel the same way about me.”
“How do you know that?” Scully asks embarrassed that he’s found her out.
“You’ve made it pretty obvious a few times.”
  Scully playfully punches Mulder in the shoulder. “I have not!”
“Yeah ya did,” Mulder says enjoying this whole thing immensely.
“Name one time.”
“Uh, okay…. What about that time when you brought that rice dream, toufrutie crap into my office and started licking it right in front of my face. You were so giving off vibes and you can’t tell me that you weren’t be flirty.”
“Hey as I remember it you were flirting with me that day! You ripped the cone right out of my hand and took a bite right where I had been slobbering all over it.”
“Yeah only because you were flirting first. You started it,” Mulder says and playfully punches her back.
“Yeah, welI I got one where you started it.”
“Okay, I’d really like to hear this one,” Mulder says and sits back amused.
“Okay well remember that time you showed me how to hit a baseball? You put your arms around me and you even touched my hip.”
“I was teaching you something! I meant nothing sexual by touching your hip. I was just trying to show you the correct form and anyway that doesn’t count because it was the same day that you started it with your ice cream, rice dream whatever the hell it was. So I think you are going to have to come up with another one, because that one isn’t going to fly.”
“Oh really?” Scully says smiling. “Well hmmm lets see, I don’t know if I can think of one…oh wait here’s one ,” Scully says quickly. “Do you remember the time you were showing me that magic trick with the quarter?”
“What magic trick?”
“You know the time you grabbed my nose.”
“Oh that’s right, well you just have cute nose remember? But I wasn’t flirting.”
“You were soo flirting,” Scully says punching him in the arm again.
“Oww would you stop punching me,” Mulder says teasingly. Scully begins to giggle.
“I love it when you do that,” Mulder says.
“Do what?” Scully says still laughing.
“Laugh, you have the cutest laugh out of anyone I’ve ever met. And I rarely hear  it. When I do it’s just so adorable and funny at the same time that I don’t know if I want to hug you or start laughing along with you because your laugh is so infectious.”
 Suddenly without warning Scully leans in and places her lips on Mulder’s. He opens his mouth and parts her lips with his tongue and they begin to kiss passionately. After a few minutes they break for air and Scully sits back on the couch flustered. “I’m sorry but I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”
“Me too Mulder says and starts to lean in for another kiss.”
“Mulder wait.”
”What?”
“Emily is asleep in the other room.”
”So we are just kissing and she isn’t going to wake up anyway,” Mulder says and starts to kiss her lips again.
“Okay,” Scully says into his mouth.
  Mulder’s hand slowly starts to wander from her hair to her neck and the finally to her breast. Aroused Scully starts to pull at the buttons on Mulder’s shirt in an attempt to get it off.
Mulder pauses and helps her get it off and throws his shirt on the floor.”
“Are you sure? He says leaning into kiss her again.
“Yeah, Scully says unbuttoning her blouse. “But not here lets go up to the bedroom.”
Mulder helps her finish unbuttoning her shirt and then throws it on the floor with his.”
“Okay lets go,” He says and picks her up off the couch, carries her to the bedroom and shuts the door…….
 

    5AM in the morning…..

Scully suddenly wakes up from a bad dream and turns her head to see what time it is. She jumps back startled when she sees that Emily is standing by the side of the bed watching her.
“Hi, whatcha doing?” Scully says and sits up in bed quietly, trying not to wake Mulder.
Emily is silent for a moment and then begins to talk.
“I….I woke up and I got afraid,” Emily says in the cutest baby talk Scully has ever heard.
“Want to lay in here with me?” Scully asks.
Emily nods her head yes. “Okay well jump right in here, but we have to be quite because  Mulder is still asleep.”
  A big smile appears on Emily’s face and she climbs into the bed.
“Over here,” Scully says and opens up the covers in the middle of the of the bed. Emily lays down in the middle between Scully and Mulder and Scully covers her up with the blankets.
“Okay now you’ll be all toasty warm.” Scully lays down on her side so she can look into her childs eyes, a child she hardly knows.
Emily lays there looking back into her mothers eyes.
“You know that you can call me mom right? Because that’s what I am. I know it may not seem like it now because you don’t really know me yet, but we are going to work on that okay?” Scully says and brushes a strand away from her daughters face.
“Mommy?” Emily whispers.
Scully’s heart melts when she hears this, for this is the first time Emily has called her this.
“Yeah sweetie?” Scully says.
“I like you better then any of my other mommies and I’ve had like four mommies.”
This brings tears to Scully’s eyes and she is unable to respond to Emily’s kind words.
“Mommy?” Emily whispers again.
“Yeah baby?”
“If you’re my mom why isn’t he my dad,” Emily says and rolls over pointing to Mulder. “Because all my other mommies they slept in the same bed with my other daddies. So is it okay if I call him dad?”
“Well, um it’s complicated honey but why don’t we ask him when he gets up if you can call him dad okay?” Emily smiles and then snuggles her head into Scully’s arm.
“So, Emily what would you like to do today?” Scully aks her. “We can do anything you want.” A huge smile suddenly appears on the child’s face when she hears her say this.
“Anything really?”
“Yeah what do you want to do?”
“Can we play?”
“Play?”
“Yeah can you play with me, all my other mommies said that they were too busy and I had to play by myself. My daddies wouldn’t play with me either.”
“Sure honey we can play. What do you want to play?”
“Can we play with my Barbies? The ones you bought me?
“Sure sweetie, maybe Mulder will want to play too.”
”Mommy?”
“Yeah?”
“Mulder is a funny name don’t you think? I’ve never hearded it before.”
Scully giggles a little bit. “Well Mulder isn’t his first name it’s his last name. His first name is Fox.”
“Then why do you call him by his last name?”
Scully is quite for a few minutes trying to figure out the answer to the question and then realizes she doesn’t know.
“You know what Emily? That is a good question. I really don’t know why? But it’s kinda silly isn’t it. Maybe I should start calling him Fox.”
“Yeah I like that name because it Foxes are cool aminals.” Scully smiles at her baby talk
 “Yeah I like it too. “
      Mulder suddenly is awakend by the sound of whispers. At first he is too sleepy to make them out but then realizes that it’s Scully and Emily whispering. He lays there for a while pretending he is asleep so he can hear their conversation.
  How cute,  he thinks as he lays there listening. After about ten minutes he decides to turn over and let them know he is awake.
  Emily suddenly notices movement and huddles closer to Scully.
“it’s okay honey, Mulder is just waking up. And you know what? We can ask him that question you wanted to ask him.”
“What question is that?” Mulder asks as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes.
Emily stays cuddled up next to Scully and doesn’t answer him.
“It’s okay Em, you can ask him,” Scully says. Emily doesn’t respond so Scully asks her for her.
“Mulder, Emily wanted to know if she could call you daddy.”
A huge smile appears on Mulder face when Scully says this. He stis up in bed and scoots closer to Emily.
“Sure, you can call me daddy. Any time you want. I know I’m not your real daddy, but that’s okay huh? We will have even more fun then any daughter and father on this planet.
   Scully smiles at Mulder’s display of affection towards her daughter.
“Hey Emily are you hungry I can make some pancakes.” Scully says.
Emily nods her head yes for she is too shy to talk around Mulder.
“Okay come lets go.”
Before getting out of the bed to follow Emily Scully turns around and sees Mulder looking at her with a smile on his face. “What’s that smile for?” She asks
“I guess I’ve just never seen the domestic side of you. I like it.” Mulder says as he hops out of bed to join her.
“Come on Mulder, I’ll make you some pancakes too,” Scully says and grabs onto his hand.

    While Scully makes the pancakes Mulder tries to get Emily to warm up to him.
“Hey Emily while we are waiting for Scully to make the pancakes why don’t you go get some of your toys and we can play. Does that sound like fun?” Mulder asks.
Emily smiles and runs off to her room to pick out some toys. She comes running back a few minutes later with two Barbie’s in her hand and silently hands one over to Mulder.
“You want me to play with this one?” Mulder asks. Emily nods her head yes.
“Does she have a name?”
“No,” Emily says timidly. “Well how about we call her Tea.”
“Mulder what kind of name is that?” Scully says on the verge of laughter.
“What? I knew a girl in high school named Tea, she was nice to me.”
“Mulder…”
“Hey you just take care those pancakes and Emily and I over here will take care of the names. Right Em?”
Emily giggles not knowing what to say.
“So what do you say Emily? You want to call her Tea?”
“Okay,” Emily says. “But I want to name mine Dana like mommy’s name.”
Scully smiles as she flips over a pancake. “I think that is a much better name then the one Daddy came up with.”
“Hey what did I tell you? Just concentrate on those pancakes.” Emily starts to giggle.
“Come on daddy lets play.”
Mulder suddenly realizes he has no clue how to play Barbies with a little girl and he looks over at Scully for help. She shrugs her shoulders not really knowing herself.
“Let’s pretend they are in the circus,” Emily says. “And they have to practice a lot so they can be good.”
Mulder laughs, I guess I’ll just follow her lead, he thinks to himself.
  Suddenly as he is about to pick up the Barbie he hears a gunshot and then the window in front of the sink explodes. Emily screams out and Mulder instinctively looks over at Scully. He sees her laying on the floor and he panics.
“Emily get down! Under the table!”
Emily quickly obeys him and scurries under the table. Mulder crouches down on all fours and makes his way over to Scully. The whole time is telling himself that she’s okay she’s not dead. He finally reaches her and looks for a wound. He is relieved when he finds that the bullet just grazed  the side of her head.
“Scully wake up,” He says as he lightly tapes her face. Scully slowly opens her eyes and touches the side of her head and cringes.
“You’re okay it just grazed her head.” Mulder says.
Scully hears Emily crying under the table and quickly sits up.
“No stay down,” Mulder says. “You stay right with Emily and I’m going to go get my gun.”
“Get mine too!” Scully yells to him as he is running up the stairs.
Scully crawls under the table and scoops her crying child into her arms.
“Shhh it’s going to be okay,” She says while rocking her.
    Mulder returns with two guns and hands one to Scully.
“Mulder how did they find us?” Scully looks up at him with fear in her eyes.
“I don’t know but I’m going to get you guys out. Come on follow me.”
He leads them out of the kitchen and to the back door. Suddenly they hear another window shatter and smoke begins to fill the room.
“It’s tear gas close your eyes and try not to breathe,” Mulder says coughing.
He quickly unlocks the door and lets Scully and Emily out first. Mulder starts to walk out of the house and then stops.
“Mulder come on!” Scully yells from outside.
“NO wait! This is what they want. To get us all outside and then the are going to shoot us.”
“Well if we stay inside we’ll pass out so what other choice do we have?!” Scully yells.
“Okay run!” Mulder yells. “Into the forest. There are many trees we should be able to hide in there. GO! I’ll cover you.”
“But Mulder….” Scully says terrified.
“Run now!”
Scully picks up Emily and starts to run as fast as she can to the forest. Gunshots start to violently go off all around them and Mulder tires his best to shoot back as he follows behind them. Scully reaches the forest and takes a hiding place behind a huge tree.
  Just as Mulder is about to reach the safety of the forest a bullet ricochets off one of the trees and hits him right in the leg. He cries out in pain and almost falls to the ground.
Hearing him yell Scully looks out from behind the tree. Her heart stops when she sees the red snow.
“Emily I’ll be right back okay? You stay right here behind this tree,” Scully says as she puts Emily down.
Mulder sees what she is doing and yells to her. “No Scully! Stay there!”
Scully doesn’t listen and runs out after him. She grabs onto his arm and pulls him off to safety before any more shots can be fired.
They all crouch behind the tree shivering.
“Mulder what are we going to do? We can’t stay here forever. We’ll freeze and your leg needs immediate attention.”
“Well, the way I see it is there is only one guy.”
”Mulder you don’t know that.”
“Yeah I do, I can tell by the gunfire. I’m going to have to go hunt him down. That is the only way we will get out of this.”
“No Mulder that’s crazy! You don’t know for sure that there is only one guy and besides you wouldn’t make it ten feet with that leg. I’ll go.”
“I thought you just said it was crazy?” Mulder says.
“Yeah crazy for you.”
”Scully no I’m not going to let you go. You have a daughter here who needs you.”
“Well if anything happens to me you’ll take care of her.”
“Scully no! We’ll think of a different way!”
“There is no other way Mulder. Just admit it! Now you take Emily,” She says and hand her over to Mulder. Emily starts to cry not wanting to release her grasp on her mom.”
“Honey it’s okay I’m going to be right back. You just stay with Mulder.”
“Scully no!” Mulder says holding the screaming child in his arms.
Before he can get up to stop her Scully runs out of the forest and into the open. A shot is fired and she scampers back into the forest staying just behind the tree line. She quickly scans the open area but sees nobody. “Damn it! Just show yourself so I can get a shot off.” If only I could see where he was, she thinks to herself. Suddenly an Idea strikes her and she looks up at the tree she is standing behind. If I could just get high enough then I might be able to see him, she thinks. It’s worth a try.
She places her gun in her pants to free both her hands and then begins to climb the tree. She gets about half way up and then her foot slips on a snow covered branch. She falls a few feet and then catches her self on a branch. “Shit!” She curses to herself.
She begins to climb again and within a few minutes she reaches the top of the tree. She scans the open woods and spots what she is looking for. The lone gunman is about fifty feet away on a neighboring roof. “Damn it! I don’t have the right kind of gun to reach him from here!” I guess I’m just going to have to wait for him to come looking for us, she thinks. After a few minutes she gets lucky and the gunmen begins to climb down the roof and then make his way over to the forest where they are all hidden. As soon as he gets close enough I’ll shoot him, she thinks.
   After a few minutes he gets within feet of the tree Scully is up in. With out hesitation Scully aims right for his head and then fires her gun. Her aim is good and he falls to the ground. Blood starts to ooze from his head turning the snow beneath a dark red……

    Two Weeks Later….

Scully and Mulder stand holding hands at Loch Ness Lake in Scotland.
“How’s your leg?” Scully asks.
“It’s feeling a lot better.”
“Good, I’ll put some more of that ointment on it tonight,” Scully replies.
“Hey do you think we should go check on Emily?” Mulder says and glances back at the car.
“Nah, She’s sleeping.”
“Mulder?” Scully says suddenly getting teary eyed.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think you’ll be happy here? I mean do you regret leaving your life behind in DC?”
“Scully my life is here with you now and that precious child of yours. We will make a new life for our self. It’s going to be hard, but we’ll make it work.”
“You’re not at all afraid that they will find us?”
“Scully there is no way for them to trace the tickets we were extremely careful, and besides we are two far away. I don’t think they’d even bother if they did find out, which they won’t. But you’re right we can’t ever go home.”
Scully leans her head against Mulder’s shoulder and exhales frustrated.
“You know what lets start right now.”
“Start what?” Scully asks confused.
“Beginning a new life,” Mulder replies and pulls out a ring box from his coat pocket.
“Scully I wish I could kneel down and do this the traditional way but I guess you’ll just have to settle for this,” Mulder says and hand her the ring box.
“What is this? Mulder you didn’t!”
“Open it!” Mulder says eager to see her reaction.  Scully quickly opens the box and her breath is taken away when she sees the beautiful 2karate diamond ring with small emeralds on the sides.
“Mulder it’s beautiful.”
“Here let me put it on.” Mulder says and takes the ring out of the box.
“Scully will you marry me?”
“Of course,” Scully says and begins to cry as he slips the ring on her finger.
“Well I guess this finalizes it. You me and Emily together forever.” Mulder lowers his head and kisses her cute little nose and then moves down to her lips. They kiss for a few moments and then he pulls her into his arms. “Don’t worry Dana, everything is going to be okay….”

The End…..