PART TEN

Disclaimer and other stuff in part one.

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Part Ten-Epilogue

Friday, October 9, 1998
10:30 p.m.
Staten Island

     Mulder guided the car along the highway easily, 
the late hour saw not too many people driving.  He 
glanced over at Scully peacefully sleeping in the 
passenger seat, and he smiled.  The past two weeks 
had been pretty hectic, and this was the earliest 
they could get away for vacation.

     After that fateful Saturday they had spent a 
few more days in Staten Island, running tests on the 
newly awakened kids.  Of course, nothing abnormal could 
be found in their systems, and all traces of digitalis 
and the strange compound were gone.  Mulder had figured 
that it was a residual effect of having their souls 
returned to their bodies.

     Back in D.C. they had to deal with the usual 
paperwork that's left when a case is finished.  They 
did put in for vacation though, and managed to get a 
Monday off for a three day weekend.

     They decided to head back up to Staten Island.  
Cat had invited them to come over any time, so they 
decided to take her up on the offer.  In the past two 
weeks though Mulder had spent a good hour of every 
night on the phone playing catch-up with Cat and his 
father, Jerome, and Shannon.  It would also give 
Mulder a chance to meet the relatives that weren't 
there two weeks ago, Shannon's two older kids, Sage 
and Connor, who were away at college.  He'd also see 
his older brother Colin and his wife, who didn't come 
back from their trip until after they left for D.C.

     Mulder sighed quietly as he found the right exit.  
Things were so different now.  In the space of about 
two months he found out things about his past that he 
never remembered happening, found his original family, 
and found out about abilities he has that he didn't 
even realize existed.

     One of the best things that happened was that 
he and Scully had finally admitted their feelings 
for each other.  Mulder reached over and caressed 
Scully's cheek with his hand.  Scully sighed softly 
in her sleep and nuzzled into his hand.  It was the 
first time Mulder felt himself truly in love, not 
like the love he thought he had in past relationships.  
His and Scully's was a love that had evolved from a 
basis of respect and friendship that eventually became 
a love deeper than either had ever experienced before.

     A major concern of his was his relationship with 
Tina, the woman who had raised him and was his mother 
for many years.  He had no intention of severing all 
ties with her, he still loved her.  In essence she 
had helped make him into the man he was today.  But, 
ever since she had told him about when he was found 
on Martha's Vineyard, whenever he tried to call her 
she always seemed distant.  Mulder knew he was going 
to have to find a way to balance both his families, 
even though the Mulder family was pretty small.

     Samantha was another sore point.  Since that 
contact during that hellish time right before Scully's 
cancer went into remission, he hadn't had anymore 
contacts with her.  He kept thinking about how she 
wasn't his real sister, and wondering what Cancer Man 
had told her about him.  Mulder assumed that Cancer Man 
knew he was adopted, since he knew Bill Mulder since, 
well, before he was living with them.  The thing with 
Samantha was that he surely considered her his sister.  
He was afraid that finding this lost part of him would 
make him forget about one of the major things that had 
guided his life.

     Then, there was the Dragon thing.  He'd had trouble 
believing it at first, this was something truly 
fantastic, even for him to believe.  But the next day, 
that Sunday, Alec had took him out flying.  It was an 
incredible sensation.  Even though the Dragon body he 
was in was no bigger than six inches, the feel of being 
in the shape was strange but intensely familiar, like the 
knowledge of it had been in his bones since before time.

     Scully was also learning about being a Witch.  Cat, 
Shannon's husband Johnathan, a fellow Witch, and 
especially Molly were helping her cope and learn about 
her newfound powers.  He had the feeling she'd been 
practicing, ever since she fell in the toilet one morning 
because he left the seat up (it was his apartment, he was 
still getting used to being a couple and having someone 
else share his living space) and he found his pajamas 
suddenly doused with water--without any sink or faucet 
or incriminating cups nearby.  That and the wicked grin 
Scully had on for the rest of the day gave him a hint.

     There was a stirring in the seat next to him, and 
Mulder's eyes moved slightly to see Scully stretching 
out the kinks in her neck.  "Are we almost there?" 
she asked.

     Mulder looked out the window at the street 
signs.  "Almost.  I think another five minutes."  
He shot a sly grin at her.  "Hey, at least we'll 
get to share a bedroom here," he quipped.

     Scully mock glared at him, but then rubbed a 
hand over her face.  "I can't believe I haven't 
told my mom about this yet."

     Mulder shrugged and took her left hand in his 
right.  "Maybe it's better that they don't know about 
this just yet.  They're closer to all our enemies down 
there, as bad as it sounds maybe they've got a close 
watch on them because they're your relatives.  But I 
wouldn't worry about it.  When the time is right, 
we'll tell her together, and then you can protect me 
from your older brother who I'm sure would want to see 
me six feet under after that announcement," he smiled 
at her.

     She laughed softly and pulled his hand to her 
mouth and pressed a kiss to his knuckles.  "You know, 
I don't think I'm really ready to tell them yet either.  
I like having this special secret."  Mulder smiled at 
her and rubbed her face once more with his hand.

     Mulder peered out the front window.  "I think 
that's the driveway."  He turned the car onto the 
long, sloping driveway.  When he pulled up he saw 
Cat, Mama, standing at the side door wrapped in a 
long shawl, with her eyes sparkling in the light 
coming from the doorway, and her bright smile on 
her face.  He stopped the car, and him and Scully 
got out.  The hands that weren't carrying their 
overnight bags interlaced and interlocked fingers 
as they walked up to where Cat was.

     Mulder saw his mother standing in front of him 
and Scully standing by his side, and he finally 
realized where he was.

     Fox Mulder was finally home.


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END OF WHOLE STORY-Lightening Shadows VII-Destiny=Chance, 
                       Free Will, and Necessity

Wow!  I finally finished this thing after six months of 
hard work, and I think it was worth it.  It came out much, 
MUCH longer than I had planned, but if I had made it any 
shorter, I think the story would have lost something.  
Don't worry, there will be more stories in this series, 
I don't think I could leave it off here when there are 
still so many more things that could be done with it.

Please send feedback and tell me what you think of it.  
My addy is RhiaRamsay@aol.com

Thanks go to my sister, Melissa, for helping me out and 
for her love of Dragons.  To Julie, for reassuring me 
that the story was good.  To Rosie, for bugging me as 
to when I would finish the story, and to all the other 
people whose comments made me get the story out faster.  
Thank you so much!

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'True love, it's the
greatest thing in 
the world.'

Miracle Max
The Princess Bride
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'Men will fight bravely
and be heroes, but for
a last ditch defense
against any odds, get a
mother.'

Lightbringer
High Wizardry
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'It wasn't the fall that
hurt me, it was the
sudden stop at the end.'

Sir Isaac Newton
Histeria
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'Here's to chloral
hydrate!'

Hawkeye Pierce
M*A*S*H
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