Pt 4/4
*********


The decision had been made to return to D.C.  After arranging for the pick-up of their rental, they had 
boarded the helicopter that had brought Skinner and returned to Fargo.  From there, they took a commercial 
flight to D.C. by way of Minneapolis, and were now on the last leg of that journey.

Mulder and Scully sat with their heads close together engaged in a hushed, but animated, conversation.  
Skinner sat across the aisle reclining as far as the airline seat would go.  His eyes were closed, his mouth 
slack with the lips slightly parted and faint, soft snores accompanied his breathing.

Mulder shook his head, “It wasn’t a wild goose chase, Scully.  She was here.”

“That may be, Mulder,” she interjected, “but whoever was camped out in those woods last night, is now 
long gone.  We don’t even know where to begin looking for her.”

The flight attendant had come around with drinks.  Scully leaned back so that the woman could set the 
glass of ice and can of Coke on the tray table in front of her.  She placed a steaming cup of coffee before 
Mulder with a smile, pausing to ask if there was anything else they needed.  They both demurred, thanking 
her as she moved forward to the next row of inhabited seats.

“You’re right, Scully,” Mulder conceded.  “Maybe Frohike has had some luck with the password to her 
laptop.”  He frowned and sat back in his seat.  His mind was already a thousand miles away.

Before long, the pilot announced their final approach to Dulles.  After completing the familiar rituals of 
disembarkation, the three of them were on their way to the J. Edgar Hoover building.  The silence in the 
cab was nearly deafening.  They were all wrapped in their personal thoughts and dreads of the inevitable 
meeting with Director Kirsch.  Each of them rehearsing their excuses for not having Dr. Matheson in tow.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

They had been driving for hours.  Alex gulped the last of his coffee, now tepid, with a grimace.  Kaitlyn 
slept next to him, her head resting on his thigh.  He gently stroked her hair as the miles passed beneath 
them.  He had been unable to tune in to any of the far distant radio stations and had been left with only his 
thoughts for company.

As his fingers played through her hair, gently combing through its length, his mind tumbled in a free-fall 
through thoughts of her.  He wondered where everything had gone so horribly wrong.  He was in love with 
her.  In his line of work, love was a handicap, attachments were leverage for anyone to exploit.  The worst 
part was, she was his assignment.

He replayed their interactions in his mind.  Spender had wanted her research – he had obtained it.  He 
wanted her under surveillance – he had watched her.  The black-lunged bastard had owned the senator.  
When Matheson had come to Spender, panicked over a confrontation with Mulder, he had sent Krycek to 
“cut out the weak links”, that is, he had been sent to kill both Matheson and Orgel.

He had, of course, told his rebel contacts about Dr. Matheson’s research.  They had contacted him with 
samples of the black oil and a specially engineered virus.  They had asked him to recruit Dr. Matheson to 
work with them.  They wanted her to introduce the virus to the amoebic biohazard that was the invasion 
force, by combining it with her nano-technology to create an effective weapon against it.  They had 
engineered the virus to work specifically with the little carbon machines.  

He had confronted her the day of Orgel’s funeral.  He had told her everything, and she had agreed to merge 
her creation and theirs.  They had begun to work closely together.  Alex had continued to give Spender 
limited information, but not that he was now conducting his stake out from the vantage point of her bed.  
Day after day he had fallen more deeply in love with her.  Soon the time came to put their weapon to 
practical use.

They had spent one last night together and then she had injected herself with the infected black oil with the 
expectation that it was to be her final act.  The virus had weakened the entity sufficiently enough for her to 
retain most of her free will, but she had changed.  When she left, he had followed her.  Spender had ordered 
him to eliminate her, he had feared what she might reveal.  Alex had followed her, but he found he was 
unable to finish the assignment.  

He came back to the present when she stirred.  He had to find some place for them to hide.  He knew that 
his St. Paul contact had likely betrayed him to Spender and that they were probably being tracked even 
now. 

++++++++++++++++++++++

“What’s the password?” Frohike’s voice cracked through the intercom system.

“Oh, come on, Spanky, I helped build the clubhouse,” Mulder said in a whiney voice.

Scully stifled a laugh behind her hand and rolled her eyes heavenward.  The sound of a dozen deadbolts 
being pulled followed and soon they were inside the lair of the quirkiest group of guys she’d ever met.  

“Oh, hey, Agent Scully,” Langley piped up from behind Dr. Matheson’s laptop.  Byers’ greeting was 
waved from his vantage point over Langley’s shoulder.

“Well, if it isn’t the lovely Dana Scully.  We thought Agent Alfalfa was alone,” he said with a jerk of his 
head in Mulder’s direction.  He graced her with the patented Frohike smile and bent to kiss her hand.  
“Always a pleasure.”

“Aren’t you,” Scully responded with an off-kilter grin and a raised eyebrow, “the founder of the He-man 
Woman Haters Club?  What ever will the gang think?”  She crossed the room to stand in front of Langley 
who was totally absorbed by the computer before him, leaving Frohike looking wistful.  “So tell me you’ve 
got good news, Langley,” she said as he looked up.

“Good news, indeed,” he beamed.  “It wasn’t easy, but we’re in.”

“Great,” Mulder piped up coming to stand next to Scully across the desk from him and Byers.  

“I haven’t really looked at the files apart from confirming I was in them,” he admitted.  “I just busted it as 
you got here.”

“Can you wrap that to go?” Mulder asked.  

He did.  And with some final instructions about the password, Mulder and Scully left, heading back to her 
apartment.

Scully’s apartment
4:14 am


Mulder sat up and stretched causing several of his vertebrae to rearrange themselves noisily.  He had spent 
the past several hours pouring over the personal journals contained in Dr. Matheson’s laptop which sat 
open on the coffee table before him.  He removed his glasses, tossing them on the table.  The clatter caused 
Scully to look up from her seat at the other end of the sofa.  She watched him gently massage the bridge of 
his nose over the tops of the pages of computer print-out in which she’d been immersed.  “More coffee?” 
she asked as he rose to finish out his stretch.  

“Yeah,” he sighed as he headed around the couch toward the kitchen.  Scully set her papers down on the 
center cushion.  She stood and stretched also, reaching for the ceiling on her tippy-toes.  She picked up her 
cup from the table and followed him.  

“Have you found anything useful?” she asked.  She dumped her cup, half-filled with cold coffee, in the sink 
and rinsed it.  Mulder filled the carafe and after pouring it into the machine, leaned against the counter as 
the water inside began to gurgle and hiss.  The kitchen filled with the rich aroma of fresh coffee as it 
brewed.  

“Well,” he began, “I’d need Dr. Hawking to decipher the bulk of her research notes, but her personal 
entries were enlightening.  She had become romantically involved with a man she called Alexei.”  He 
paused to let the statement sink in.  “I believe she was very lonely.  She felt that her work wouldn’t allow 
her to have a serious relationship and she felt there was a hole in her life that could never be filled.  After 
her father’s death, she met this Alexei.”  Mulder looked angry, “He swept her off her feet, Scully.  He 
seduced her into using herself as a guinea pig in some sort of experiment concocted by his ‘colleagues’.  
Her last entry is cryptic, but I can tell you this, she expected to die,” he shook his head softly. 

 “I found something very interesting in the lab reports.” Scully replied.  “After the nano machines 
consumed the black oil substance, it went inert and precipitated to the bottom of the sample.  What was left 
was blood.  They matched the DNA to Dr. Matheson.   Mulder, it’s got the same switched on fragments as 
Gibson Praise,” she said looking him intensely in the eye, “and yours.  I don’t think that she has outlived 
her usefulness to them yet.  Any clues as to where he might take her?”

“Well, there were some pretty hot passages about a few weekends in a cabin in the Adirondacks,” Mulder 
said waggling his eyebrows in a pretty good Groucho Marx impression.  

Scully smiled, “Well, that narrows it down to about a million acres of privately held land and six million of 
national park.  I don’t suppose she included any specifics?”

Mulder actually blushed, “Not about the terrain, anyway.”  

Scully’s eyebrows raised, but she didn’t ask.  She glanced at her watch it was nearly 5:00am.  “We should 
try to get a little rest,” she said with a big yawn.  “I don’t think the coffee is going to help anymore.”  

Mulder nodded his agreement.  He went into the living room and after relocating Scully’s papers, stretched 
out on the sofa.  Scully retreated to her bedroom reemerging with a soft woolen throw.  Mulder was already 
snoring when she returned.  She watched him for a moment, then covered him with it, gently tucking the 
edges under his feet and shoulders.  She went to her bed and wrapping herself in a soft blanket from the 
foot of it, she lay down and quickly drifted to sleep.

+++++++++++++++++++++

It had been an arduous trek.  They had ditched the car on a rural, unpaved road at the edge of the mountains 
and hiked for a day and a half.  Finally, the place had appeared in the trees, rising darkly out of a clearing 
that nature was doing her best to reclaim.

It was an imposing Victorian era mansion that rose three storeys against the backdrop of the mountain.  
One of the hundreds of mountain lakes glistened below, its water perfectly still, giving the appearance of an 
enormous mirror in a monstrous snow-village model.  The weeds had grown even with the raised veranda 
porch that ran three-quarters the way around the structure. 

Alex waded through the weeds toward it, leaving a wake in which Kaitlyn followed.  An old-fashioned 
picket fence appeared before them.  Just inside the gate stood a post bearing a swinging, weather-worn 
wooden sign identifying the place as The Wieliczka-Brectschläger Sanatorium.  Alex continued until a set 
of steps emerged from the tall grass.

They ascended the steps to a vast gallery-style porch.  The planks creaked a bit under their weight, but it 
was in remarkably good repair.  Alex took a set of lock-picks from his pocket and soon the massive door 
swung open without a sound.  The late afternoon sun streamed in behind them setting afire a ballet of dust 
motes that danced weightless in the air, stirred by their footsteps.

Diffuse light through dirty, naked windows revealed a pair of cavernous rooms on either side of a broad 
straight staircase that loomed before them.  Kaitlyn wandered into first one room, then the other, taking in 
its architectural beauty.  Both rooms boasted massive fireplaces with ornately carved, heavy wood mantels 
held up by a pair of stylized lions, in one room, and dragons in the other.  Both rooms were, otherwise, 
completely bare.

Alex entered the room carrying a bedroll and a bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Paulliac vintage 1961.  
He smiled at her as her mouth stood open in wide wonder.  “A well-practiced rat, like myself, always keeps 
his nest well stocked.”  He winked playfully.  “Sit tight.”

After a few more trips, they had firewood and food.  They built a fire and ate a passable meal from the tins 
he had stashed sometime ago.  They actually enjoyed the icy-cold showers for the opportunity to be clean 
again.

Kaitlyn grabbed one of Alex’s stolen flannel shirts and nearly crawled into the fireplace in an effort to 
warm herself after her shower.  She spread the bedroll out on the floor in front of the blaze and settled tailor 
fashion as close to it as she could.  She combed her fingers through her long hair to help dry it.  As the sun 
had set, the wind had picked up, chilling the air and setting the trees swaying.  She closed her eyes and 
listened to the unruly branches scratching against the porch roof.  The sudden “pop” behind her elicited a 
small shriek.  

She spun around to see Alex standing in the doorway holding the open bottle of wine.  He wore a fresh pair 
of fatigues, the top two buttons undone.  His chest was naked.  He settled behind her on the pallet, 
encircling her with arms and legs.  Kaitlyn traced the scar that encircled his left bicep with her usable hand.  
She could feel a furrow in the muscle where the transplant was attached.  As a doctor, she admired the 
surgical expertise that was evident, but as a woman, she responded to the firm, well-defined musculature 
and massaged it sensually.  

Alex buried his face in her damp hair, nuzzling her neck, kissing down to her shoulder and back up to her 
earlobe.  He took her chin and gently turned her to face him.  She straddled his outstretched thighs and he 
encircled her waist with his arms, pulling her in close and tight.  She softly pushed him back until he was 
lying supine under her and covered his throat and chest with soft kisses, smiling in satisfaction when she 
felt him harden in reaction.

Kaitlyn continued to work him over with her lips, working her way along his jaw line to nip at his earlobe.  
Something between a moan and growl escaped his parted lips as he rolled over, pinning her beneath him.  
He captured her mouth  with his own, drowning happily in a deep kiss.  He rolled to the side and began to 
undo the buttons that held the flannel closed.  She was naked beneath it, the sight of her that way in one of 
his shirts stirred him to his very soul.  He pulled the shirt down over her shoulders, pinning her arms to her 
side and proceeded to work his way down the length of her body with his kisses.  His teeth lightly grazed 
her stomach and the muscles there jumped in reaction.  With a satisfied smile, he continued down, his lips, 
teeth and tongue drawing moans as he traced the crest of her pelvis and moved down her thighs.  She 
writhed beneath him as the passion overwhelmed her.  She pulled his face to hers and pushed at the fatigues 
to free him from the confines of the cloth.  He kicked the trousers away and removed her flannel shirt, 
leaving them both completely naked and unencumbered.  

She molded her body to his and felt his hardness pressing at the gateway.  She wrapped her legs around his 
thighs and pulled him inside with a gasp.  She was moist and ready for him, but he strained her capacity 
deliciously.  He began to move, slowly at first, then pumping violently as she slammed her hips up to meet 
him.  They exploded together in an earthshaking climax and collapsed on the makeshift bed.

As they sat together, naked, enjoying the spectacle of each other’s bodies and drinking the $2000 wine 
from the bottle, a dangerous man hung up the phone miles away in D.C.  “We have them,” he said with a 
triumphant crow, the smoke drifting from his nostrils as they flared in perceived victory.

+++++++++++++++++++

Scully’s eyes cracked open.  Mulder slept next to her on top of the bed under the throw she had tucked 
around him on the couch.  She clucked quietly, he must have gotten up in the night and come to her bed.  
His lip was slack and pouting and moved ever-so-slightly in and out as he breathed. 

Mulder stirred as if subconsciously aware of her watching him.  He smiled and opened his eyes.  “See,” he 
quirked, “you even make me sleep on the couch like an old married man.”  He smiled across at her.

Scully’s eyes narrowed and crinkled with her sly smile, “Why Mr. Mulder, I’ve told you about that before.”

He reached up and caressed her cheek, his eyes sparkling, “Marry me, Scully.”

“Mulder,” she started to protest, but he put a finger to her lips.

Scully lay there, staring into his eyes.  She reached up cupping his face in her hand.  The stubble of his 
beard scratched her hand as she ran her thumb across his lower lip.  A smile spread across her lips.  She ran 
her fingers into his hair and pulled his face down to meet hers.  Their mouths locked together and their 
tongues dueled.  Mulder’s arms snaked around her and pulled her tight against him.  Her arms encircled his 
neck, hands playing in his hair.  Their breathing became harder, their touches more urgent.  She felt his 
erection pressing against her thigh, straining against the confines of his clothes.

The phone rang.  She glanced over his shoulder as he nibbled on the curve of her neck and groaned.  
“Shit!” she said with disappointment in her voice.  And grabbed the phone.  “Hello?” she asked, with “this 
had better be important” in her tone.

“Agent Scully, it’s ten o’clock.” Skinner’s voice came deceptively softly, “Can I assume there is a very 
good reason for yours and Agent Mulder’s absence?”

Scully sat bold upright, forcing Mulder off of her.  “Sir,” she responded, hoping that she didn’t sound too 
out of breath.  “Mulder and I worked until very late last night following up a few leads.  I’ll call him and 
we’ll be right there,” she said hoping that he couldn’t hear Mulder lying next to her gently sucking her 
fingertips. 

“I understand,” Skinner said, “Your absence hasn’t been too conspicuous.  I’ve received some information 
about the recovery of an abandoned car reported stolen out of St. Paul two days ago.  We have a witness 
that saw a couple matching Krycek and Dr. Matheson’s description hanging around the truck stop from 
which the car was taken.  The car has been recovered on the edge of the Adirondacks and Director Kirsch 
has it on good authority that they may have headed for an abandoned TB sanatorium near Lake Placid.  We 
need to get moving on this right away, Scully.”  He paused and with a smile on his face added, “If you get 
hold of Mulder, let him know I expect to see you both in an hour.”  He clicked off the line.

Scully sighed heavily.  “We have to be in Skinner’s office in an hour.”

Mulder replied around a mouthful of her neck, “Two hours?”

“One hour,” she said with a laugh, gently disengaging him. With that, they got up and got ready to meet their boss.

Mulder and Scully arrived in the allotted hour.  They entered Skinner’s office to find an unfamiliar man in 
a dark suit sitting with Skinner, who glanced pointedly at his watch, waiting at the conference table.  Scully 
had felt as though she were made of glass, that Skinner could see right through her and knew what she and 
Mulder had been doing.  She squared her shoulders and with a slight lift of her chin, apologized 
perfunctorily for keeping them waiting and took her seat without further explanation.  Mulder followed suit 
and the meeting got under way.

“Agents, this is Harlan Jackson of the NSA,” Skinner said.  Jackson was in his mid forties, by Scully’s 
estimate, but looked like he had spent a lot of time in a gym.  Even seated, he was half a head taller than 
Skinner and his shoulders strained the material of the suit.  His countenance was seriously sober.  “Mr. 
Jackson, agents Mulder and Scully,” he said with a sweep of his hand.  The man acknowledged them with a 
nod.  “His unit has been instructed to give us a tactical assist.”  

“Agents,” Jackson began, “my team is currently deploying throughout the area where the fugitives are 
thought to be hiding.”  He pulled out a satellite photo and indicated a large building set in the midst of a 
mountainous region nearly hidden by trees.  “I will have teams, here, here and here,” he said pointing to 
three sides of the structure.  I will wait here,” he said pointing to the remaining side.  “In the event that you 
are unable to elicit their surrender, we will be standing by to take them by force.  The orders are to take Dr. 
Matheson alive.”

“What about Krycek?” Mulder asked.

“He is to be taken dead or alive, Mr. Mulder,” Jackson replied flatly.

Mulder’s eyebrow lifted, but he said nothing aloud.  Scully, however, read volumes in the gesture.  They 
were both well aware of who Jackson answered to, but why would he want Krycek dead, if he was his 
operative?  And if the smoking man wanted him eliminated, was he really their enemy?  She knew Krycek 
was no friend, but if he was balking Spender, he couldn’t be all that bad, either.

The remaining details were ironed out and they eventually set out for the Adirondacks near the Canadian 
border.  After a three-hour helicopter ride, most of which they slept through, and a four hour hike, they 
were crouched in the tall weeds sizing up the enormous building within which Krycek and Kaitlyn were 
alleged to be hiding.   

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Kaitlyn kissed Alex once more and rolled over to grab his shirt from the floor.  She stood to put it on when 
Alex rolled to his knees and wrapped his arms around her hips. “Where do you think you’re going?” he 
teased with his face pressed against her bare stomach.  He began to make concentric circles around her 
navel with his tongue, pausing to lay butterfly kisses between each one.

She ruffled his hair and laughed, “I’m thirsty,” she said bending over to lightly kiss the top of his head.  
“Do you want anything from the kitchen?” she asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah,” he leered, “but I won’t need a tin opener to satisfy the craving.”  He grabbed her ass and lifted 
until she stood on her tip-toes, then placed a small kiss on the nest of curls.  He released her with a pat on 
her derrière.  

“I’ll be back for more of that,” she giggled and padded off toward the huge institutional kitchen.  She 
attempted to button the shirt closed but had difficulty with only one hand.  She wiggled the fingers in the 
cast and was able to use them enough to successfully do up three of the buttons.

She reached the kitchen and began to explore the cupboards in search of a glass.  After checking through a 
dozen or more, she finally found a dusty tumbler toward the back of the second shelf.  She carried it over to 
the enormous cast iron sink where she found an ancient-looking hand pump.  With not a small amount of 
effort, she worked the handle until she was rewarded with a gush of icy water that became a steady stream 
with a few more pumps of the handle.  She quickly rinsed and filled the glass, brought it to her lips and 
gulped it down.  Giving the handle another pump, she refilled the tumbler and turned to rejoin Alex.

A flame flared in the dark corner of the kitchen as he lit his cigarette.  “Dr. Matheson, I presume?” he said 
as he stepped from the shadows pointing a .25 caliber Barretta at her.

Kaitlyn shrieked in surprise, dropping the glass.  It exploded as it hit the tiles sending thousands of 
glittering shards of glass and water skittering across the floor.

Alex heard the glass shatter in the main room.  He rolled to his feet, pulled his fatigues on and ran, barefoot 
and silent, to the staircase that lead up to the unused second floor.  He ran down the long straight hallway to 
a set of back stairs that led to the kitchen.  

He quietly eased his way inside the darkened room, stretching out with all his senses to assess the situation.  
He saw no one, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up.  Something was wrong, he could feel it.  His 
foot came down on a jagged piece of glass and he clenched his teeth together to stifle the string of curses 
that leapt to his lips.  He reached down and pulled it out, flinging it into the sink.  He proceeded toward the 
long hallway that lead back to the room where he and Kaitlyn had been, leaving bloody footprints in his 
wake.  He heard the voice before he got to the room.  His heart sank as his worst nightmare was realized.  
That black-lunged son-of-a-bitch had her and because he loved her,  he was compromised.

He glanced around the door to see him standing in the middle of the room holding Kaitlyn around her 
slender waist with one hand and pointing a gun in the other.  He knew that he had no chance to ambush and 
disarm him without getting her killed.  So he took a deep breath and stepped into the room to confront him.

“Hello, Alex,” he said with a smirk.

“How did you find us?” he asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.

Spender positioned the small gun under her left breast and releasing her waist, wrapped his other one 
around the length of her hair pulling it roughly up to reveal the back of her neck.  “I know where all of you 
are.  My friends keep me well informed.  You don’t presume that you have any secrets from me, do you?  
You belong to me – both of you.”

Alex’s hand went immediately to his jaw, thinking of the tooth he’d recently had filled.  His face contorted 
with impotent rage, his lip twitching as it curled into a snarl.  “We belong to no one!” he spat, “You don’t 
get it, do you?  You really think you have any kind of power?  You don’t have fuck-all, old man!  You’re 
nothing but a puppet on a string.  We weren’t created for you to play king of the world.  Hell is about to 
erupt on earth and all you can think about is feeding your lust for power?”

“Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven, Alex.  You, of all people, should know that.”  He took a 
strand of her hair and lifted it to his veal-colored lips, sniffing it.  “You want her, Alex?” he said with a 
knowing smile on his face.  “She is delicious, isn’t she?”  He forced Kaitlyn to her knees, pressing the 
barrel to the back of her head.  “You’re nothing but a drone, Alex, as is she,” he jerked his head down at 
Kaitlyn who knelt before him, her arms limp at her sides, her head bowed.  Her hair had fallen around her, 
creating a veil that hid the tears streaming down her face.  “Your sole purpose for living is to facilitate this 
colonization.  Don’t forget that.”

“Colonization?!” Alex scoffed, “this is not a ‘colonization’, you stupid son-of-a-bitch, it’s an invasion – 
spontaneous repopulation.  But, you know that.  You really think that you’re going to come out on top in 
the end, don’t you?”  He took a menacing step toward Spender and Kaitlyn, bringing him within three feet 
of them, wanting to rip out his black lungs and feed them to him.

Spender responded by yanking on her hair and pressing the gun harder into the back her neck.  She 
whimpered in fear and pain.  Alex stared desperately around the room, searching for anything to help him 
get that gun.  He needed a distraction.

He got one.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Mulder, Scully and Skinner crouched behind the weed-hidden fence.  Everything was quiet.  The signal 
was given and Mulder and Scully moved on the building.  Standing at the front door, he counted silently on 
his fingers, “…one, two, three” and kicked the door, shattering the jamb.  “FBI!  We’re armed!” he shouted 
into the darkened entry hall.

That was the distraction Alex had prayed for.  

Spender looked up with a very displeased shock.  He hadn’t authorized them to move yet!  Alex seized the 
opportunity and lunged for the old man.  He caught his hand, knocking the gun away from Kaitlyn, who 
had the good sense to hit the floor flat.  The two men rolled on the floor, wrestling for possession of the 
gun.  Alex punched Spender in the face and came up with the gun.  He drew down on him, aiming the 
barrel toward his head.

“Drop your weapon!” came Mulder’s voice from the doorway.

“Mulder, don’t interfere with what you don’t understand,” Alex said, not taking his eyes off the treacherous 
snake that he held pinion with the gun.  One shot was all it would take to rid the world of him.  His finger 
twitched in the trigger guard.

“Krycek, don’t make me kill you!” Mulder shouted.  “I’ve got an arrest warrant for you – the charge is 
treason.  No one is going to show any concern if I shoot you right here and now.”

Alex knew he’d been checkmated.  He put his hands in the air, loosening his grip on the pistol.  Mulder was 
at his back in three broad steps and took it from his limp hand.  He began to recite Miranda and took Alex’s 
hands, with a shocked look on his face at their wholeness, to cuff them behind his back.  Scully stood at the 
door with her hand wrapped around Dr. Matheson’s upper arm, performing the same routine minus the 
handcuffs.

Spender stood, brushing his lapels.  He stared at Krycek with a menacing leer, “I’ll take Dr. Matheson, 
Agent Scully,” he said grasping her other arm.

“No!” Alex shouted, “you can’t let him take her!”  He looked at Scully with pleading eyes.

“You’re in no position to demand anything,” he wheezed at him as he pulled her along toward the front 
door.

“With all due respect,” Scully began to Spender, “there is a protocol to be followed here.  You can’t just 
take her.”

“I can and I have, Miss Scully,” he replied smugly.  

They stepped off the porch into the night air.  Jackson and his men were moving toward them, presumably 
to take the two into their custody.  Suddenly, a brilliant and blinding light erupted from the sky.

“That’ll be my friends,” Alex said as everything went white.

Just as abruptly, the light was gone.  So were Alex Krycek, Dr. Matheson and, Mulder noted as he glanced 
at his watch, nine minutes.

Epilogue


Mulder’s Apartment
Two weeks later


Mulder stretched as he rose from the sofa to answer Scully’s knock.  She hadn’t announced her presence, 
but he knew instinctively that it was her.  He pulled the door open and, sure enough, there she stood 
shaking the rain from her closed umbrella.  

“Any word?” he asked knowing also what her answer would be.

“Kirsch has closed the case,” she said as he had predicted.  “There has been no trace of either Dr. Matheson 
or Krycek and they aren’t interested in searching for them.  Guess they aren’t willing to pay travel expenses 
for the shuttle.”

Mulder’s lips curled into a deeply amused smile, “Those were my favorite handcuffs, too.”

Scully smiled at his joke.  She plunked down on the sofa next to Mulder.  The television flickered in the 
perennial darkness of his apartment.  Tor Johnson walked across the screen with arms outstretched in 
zombie-like fashion.  She had to smile, this was the worst movie ever committed to film and one of 
Mulder’s favorites.  She settled in, snuggling into the couch.  She watched and soon was laughing with the 
inanity of it all.

Mulder watched her unnoticed for a few moments.  He smiled.  Her blue eyes sparkled when she laughed, 
rare as that was.  His mood was pensive.  He’d been doing a lot of thinking over the past few weeks and 
had finally come to his conclusion.  He took a deep breath and steeled himself to hear the wrong answer.  
“Scully?”

“Yeah, Mulder?” she said, wiping a small tear of laughter from her eye.  It felt good to let down and laugh 
at something so stupid from time to time.  She looked at him and drew in a breath at the seriousness in his 
gaze.  “What is it?” she asked both curious and concerned.

“Scully, we’ve been partners for seven, almost eight, years.  Over the years, I’ve grown to respect you as an 
agent and a human being.  You’ve watched my back and kept me from going off the deep end so many 
times, I can’t count them.  But,” he paused as if searching for the right words, “I’ve finally realized that 
there’s something more between us, something deeper than just partners and friends.  I’ve kept it hidden, 
even from myself, for a long time, but I don’t want to hide it any more, Scully.  You’ve become a part of 
me.  And when you’re not with me, I feel empty, like something is missing.”

She watched him struggle with the words, her eyes wide.

“Scully, what I’m trying to say is this:  I love you.”  He made a study of his nervous hands, fluttering in his 
lap as if he didn’t quite know what to do with them.  “I have loved you for a long time.  You make me 
whole and I want to share every aspect of my life with you.  I want to wake up with you everyday for the 
rest of time.”  He took her hand in both of his and took a deep breath, “Scully, I’ve given this a lot of 
thought and now that I’ve found my nerve, I’m going to just say it.  Dana Katherine Scully, will you marry 
me?”  He looked into her shocked eyes waiting to hear her shoot him down with a sarcastic crack, to smack 
him back to reality.  

She drew in a surprised breath.  She knew he was serious this time.  No playing around.  No jokes.  She 
reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand, her eyes filled with love and happy tears.  She didn’t speak, 
but leaned in and placed soft kisses on his closed eyes.  The she sought out his lips and placed a long, 
lingering kiss there.  Her lips parted giving his tongue access and their passion exploded, ignited, creating a 
conflagration that would last the rest of their lives.

Mulder’s heart swelled to the point that he thought it would explode and he would die from joy.  Happy 
tears streamed down his face as she kissed him and stroked his hair.  His lust began to rise, his manhood 
following.  He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her in tight.  He decided that he would never let her go.  

She responded with a fire that surprised and delighted him.  Her hands moved to pull his t-shirt up over his 
head, her mouth releasing his to kiss his chest, her tongue to lap at his pebbled nipples.  He gasped at her 
aggressiveness and lay back to let her have her way with him.  She kissed down his stomach, following the 
trail of hair that led inside the waistband of his jeans.  She growled as she unbuttoned them and continued 
her kissing tour of his body.  His erection popped free and stood at attention, swaying with each beat of his 
heart.  She ran her tongue along the length of the shaft causing it to twitch and Mulder to gasp with 
pleasure.  He groaned as she took him into her mouth and sucked.

He feared that he would spill into her right at that moment and pulled her up from her knees.  He half 
moved, half threw her onto her back on the sofa.  He attempted to unbutton her blouse, but they were being 
uncooperative.   With an impatient snarl, Scully ripped at the edges and the buttons flew from the fabric, 
clattering on the floor and coffee table.  She took his hands and placed them on her breasts as she pushed 
down on his jeans, taking them to his knees.  

Mulder kicked them off as he tugged on her clothes, removing them in a desperate frenzy.  Soon they were 
both naked and the feel of her skin against his nearly drove him wild.  

She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him into herself.  Her satisfied moan nearly sent him over 
the edge as they thrust against each other with a delicious slippery friction.  Finally, as her cries escaped, he 
exploded, spilling into her and collapsed on top of her, both of them covered in a fine sheen of sweat.  
Panting, he nuzzled her neck saying over and over, “I love you so much.”

Later, after they had made their way to his bed, the made love more slowly, but no less passionately.  
Afterwards, as she lay in his arms he realized that his life had only just begun and he smiled, quite content 
in the darkness.


~fin~