TITLE:  Hang On, Mulder
AUTHOR: Flyin Monkey (Scully_Dana_K@yahoo.com)
RATING: G
SUMMARY:  Ever woke up from a nightmare you couldn't
remember?
SPOILERS: If you haven't seen the end of Season 7,
leave this one alone! ("Requiem" US 7x22)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the purpose of this story,
Mulder and Scully are not already in a relationship.

------------------------------

Scully woke from a dream she couldn't remember.  She felt as
if she had been given her heart's greatest desires and then
had them ripped away.

She opened her eyes to dispel the emotion, but saw only
a strange ceiling and her ears heard the steady sounds of
hospital life.  It all came rushing back and she spasmodically
curled into a ball, arms instinctively going to cover her
stomach.  She felt tears welling in her eyes.

Scully forced her muscles to relax and took several deep breaths.
She focused her mind on abstract numbers, counting the number of
breaths she took.  One, two, three... Around 420, she lost count
and started over.  This time she only got up to 200, but the
counting had served its purpose.  Her muscles were no longer
knotted and her mind wasn't screaming with panic.  She managed
to keep her mind blank for several seconds more.

/They took him./  The thought formed so slowly that she didn't
notice it in time to stop it.

/They took him away from me and they might not give him back./
She recalled her words to Skinner.  'We will find him.'
At the time, she had felt absolutely certain.  Now, at 3 am in
her hospital bed, she wasn't so sure she was up to it.

/Mulder went to the end of the Earth to get me back.  The
least I can do is return the favor./

Suddenly, nausea threatened to send her running for the bathroom.
That reminded her of the other reason she was here.  She was
pregnant.  Not only was she unsure who the father was, she
couldn't figure out how it had happened.  It went against
everything she'd ever been told about "the birds and the bees."

As her mind shied away from possible reasons not including
immaculate conception, her emotions decided to escape from
their carefully sealed box.  Scully shook with tears as she
realized that there was every possibility that this child
would be taken from her, too.  She was pessimistically certain
that there was a rule somewhere that stated, "Any happiness
belonging to Dana Katherine Scully should be destroyed
at all costs."

She fell back asleep before she stopped crying.  She dreamt
she was back in the hotel in Oregon, hiding from her fears
in Mulder's room just as she'd done 7 years earlier.  In her
dream, Mulder wasn't telling her to "go be a doctor," he was
holding her as he listened to her fears.  She told him that
she missed him, that she wanted him back.  She told him she
needed his support to get through this unexpected and terrifying
pregnancy.  Mulder just pulled her closer to him, stroking her
hair and whispering the words her mother had said when a
five-year-old Dana woke up in the night.

"Shhh, it's okay.  I'm here.  I'll never leave you."

"But you DID leave me!" her dream-self cried.  "You left me
and now I'm alone and afraid and I don't know what to do!"
Mulder held her hand and continued stroking her hair.

"You know exactly what to do.  I've already shown you how.
All you have to do is catch me."

Suddenly, the scene changed.  Scully was five years old
again, standing in a grassy meadow full of flowers and
sunlight.  Somewhere off in the distance, children were
laughing.  Mulder was there, too, but he was the 12-year-old
from the photo on his desk.  He grinned and slugged her
lightly in the arm.

"Tag!  You're it!"  Mulder took off running.  He ran towards
an alien spaceship and disappeared.  The meadow caught fire
as the ship took off.  Scully screamed as she saw Mulder on
the ship, being led toward the room she knew so well.  She
saw his face contorted in pain as he was strapped to the
table.  She saw the panic in his now grown-up face, heard him
begging for them to stop hurting him.  She heard him screaming
for her to save him.

Scully woke in a cold sweat, remembering her own time in that
room of pain and terror.  She remembered her only shred of
hope being that Mulder would come get her.  She remembered
the unbelievably cold pod she was kept in while she was in
Antarctica.

Most of all, she remembered the indescribable feeling of joy
and relief when she opened her eyes on that cold metal deck
to find Mulder peering anxiously at her.

Scully got out of bed and dressed in the predawn light.
She glared at the nurse until the misguided woman allowed her
to check herself out.  She stormed out the front door, a woman
on a mission.

/Just hang on, Mulder.  I'm coming./

~End~

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