Title: Slightly Alive
Author: Elizabeth L. Iacono
Rating: PG
Category: Vignette, Romance
Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance, Post-ep, Mulder POV
Spoilers: This Is Not Happening, Per Manum, Requiem
Summary: What would inspire a man to come back from 
          the dead?  Nothing less than true love, 
          of course.

I firmly believe that CC and Co. have been taking 
pointers from 'The Princess Bride' with this whole 
This is Not Happening/DeadAlive arc.  This is the 
result of my thoughts. ;-)

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully are not mine.  Any 
of the Princess Bride References in here aren't 
mine also.

Archiving: I'll send to Gossamer.  Xemplary, 
Legacy, KTF, and Ephemeral can have it, but 
anyone else please ask me first.

Feedback: is a wonderful thing.  RhiaRamsay@aol.com


Slightly Alive
Elizabeth L. Iacono


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'WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT?
WHAT'S HERE WORTH COMING 
BACK FOR?  WHAT YOU GOT 
WAITING FOR YOU?'

'Tr...ooooo...luv...'

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     A wise man once said 'Mostly dead is slightly 
alive.'  I think that's the best way to describe 
what's happened to me, because I certainly don't 
feel dead.

     Granted, it's very hard for one still alive 
to know what being deceased is like, but I never 
thought it would be like this.  I once told Scully 
I believed that souls resided in starlight.  If I 
really am dead, I should be up there among the 
stars, not feeling like I'm buried in a box in 
the ground.

     Maybe I was misinformed.

     But I still think there's something very 
strange about this situation.

     Well gee Mulder, ya think?

     Shut up.  It's never a good sign when the 
voices in your head start speaking back.  The only 
upside to this whole twisted situation is that I 
have plenty of time to think.

     When I was in my teenage years I used to 
imagine what it was like to die.  Not about 
killing myself (although I will admit to my 
share of those thoughts also) but actually 
dying.  I wondered what my funeral would be 
like.

     Would any of the people I knew from school 
show up?  Would they be there of their own free 
will or because parents and teachers forced them 
into going?  Would they laugh through the funeral, 
snickering about the boy who couldn't keep his 
family together, or would they actually be upset 
at the loss of a classmate?  And as for my 
family...I can picture my mom doped up on whatever 
pill cocktail the Vineyard doctor had prescribed 
for her that time.  My dad?  Either standing there 
stoically or falling down drunk.  Those were their 
typical methods of coping.  Would one of them 
eulogize me, or would they leave that job to 
some little seen relative or a reluctant classmate?

     All of these depressing thoughts were really 
only the surface of the problem.  What I really 
wanted to see was how much people cared about me.  
In life they didn't do anything, but I used to 
think that maybe if I'd died people would actually 
miss me and be upset I was gone.

     But seeing as I most likely wouldn't be around 
to enjoy the results of that experiment I resorted 
to other methods of escapism.  When I was a 
teenager I used to read everything in sight.  
It was much easier to function with my head 
buried in a book (which probably made me no 
better than my parents, but I digress).  One 
book that I've been recalling more and more 
since I got into this little predicament is 
'The Princess Bride' (Don't laugh.  Like I 
said, I'd have read anything.).

     In this book the hero ends up dead about 
three quarters of the way through because the 
bad guys literally sucked the life out of him 
(sounds familiar, huh?).  Needing the hero 
alive, two former acquaintences/enemies take 
him to a miracle man to try and bring him back 
to life (I could use a miracle right about now...).  
This Miracle Max asks the corpse, Westley, what 
was worth coming back for.  And the corpse answers 
true love.  After all, true love is the greatest 
thing in the world.

     Did you know that Scully and I tried to have 
a baby?  It was before we were a couple.  Scully 
had told me that she couldn't accept the fact 
that she would never have children--and that 
she was going to undergo medical treatment to 
try and concieve.  She asked me if I would be 
the donor.  I don't think I have to elaborate 
on how shocked I was.  I said I would, anything 
to make her happy.  It didn't work though, and 
I told her 'Never give up on a miracle'.  I hope 
she keeps that in mind in my current state.

     I'm still worried about Scully though.  Right 
before I left to take a little ride on a space 
ship she was feeling sick.  One of the last things 
I remember is holding her, trying to keep her warm 
in that dingy bed in the Bellefleur hotel.  I 
can't help thinking of the symptoms she was 
suffering from, and what could be causing those 
symptoms...

     Never give up on a miracle.

     I hope that my love for Scully can bring me 
back to her.  I don't care if I really am 
dead--being dead is highly overrated anyway.  
As another wise man once said 'Death cannot stop 
true love, it can only delay it for a while'.  
I'm slightly alive, so don't give up on me yet.

     You hear that Scully?  I'm coming home.


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I just had to work that out of my system. :-)
Feel free to return to your regularly scheduled 
programming.


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'True love is the greatest 
thing in the world.'

Miracle Max
The Princess Bride

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