Mouth

TITLE: Mouth (1/?)
AUTHOR: ROz H
RATING: R
CATEGORY: MSR/Adventure/Romance
SPOILERS: Fifth Season
Keywords: MSR Mulder/Scully Romance MSR
Summary: When fate won't fix itself on its own.
Disclaimer: Fox, Chris Carter and 1013 own Mulder,
Scully, CSM, Skinner and the Lone Gunmen...I on the
other hand own Caitlin Conrad and any other
characters appearing in the story. She is
here by my whim and permission alone.
Take everything else but her.
ARCHIVE: Drop it anywhere, just let me know where to see it!

This is my first posting. Its something I thought up one day while reading
everyone else's fan fiction. Granted I'm no Lydia Bower, but some of those
stories were killing me! Don't deny that you haven't thought the same thing!
So here's my swing at the bat. Be Gentle.

Mouth


WASHINGTON D.C.
117 PM

"Nothing hurts, like your mouth."

He had been mumbling softly underneath his breath as he led her down the
hallway to his apartment. As always, it was dimly lit and nighttime. 'God
forbid they do anything during working hours', Scully thought to herself.
"What, Mulder?"

"Nothing." Mulder replied. He turned and looked at her as he reached his
apartment door. He had forgotten why they were there. For a fleeting moment
he had been thinking about the clicking of her high heels behind him, which
automatically led his mind's eye up her short legs, up her ample torso, up her
slender, porcelain neck and then her mouth. Her thick full lips. The
strawberry red, voluptuous, round, soft lips that caressed her mouth. Her
mouth, indeed.

He looked upon them now as she gave him the blank stare he had become so
accustomed to these past six plus years. Her mouth. Then he looked into her
cold, blue eyes. Then he looked past her and finally noticed the figure that
was coming up behind them.

She was walking slowly behind him, almost casually lingering down the
hallway. Her eyes had been at her feet as she reached behind and rechecked
her gun. Something was bothering her; enough of something for her to be aware
of her piece tucked into her holster along the small of her back. Touching
that spot reminded her of him. Mulder. She looked up at the back of his
head, his soft brown hair that was getting long in the back. Then down
across his wide shoulders, watching them sway as he moved slowly down the
annoying dimly lit hallway. That's when she heard him softly speak. She
asked about it, he replied and turned to look at her. She could see his eyes
were on her lips and she immediately thought of that summer ago. The summer
they held each other in this same hallway, confessing the depth of their
presence in each other's lives. Then he looked up into her eyes and she
froze. She thought to herself, 'Funny...déjà vu.' She was about to smile,
but then she saw his gaze averted suddenly behind her. She never had time to
turn.

He had just started to reach for her; to grab her and kiss her savagely when
suddenly all he wanted to do was push her out of the way. He had no time for
either options when a silenced bullet tore through her throat, killing her
instantly, and into his chest. She fell on top of him and he onto to the
ground. His assailant started to walk slowly towards Mulder and the now dead
Scully. He looked down at Scully, her eyes wide open, but quite lifeless.
Her mouth was open and pressed on his collarbone, mingling with the his own
blood. Her lips were covered with red.

Nothing hurts like...your mouth.

He was facing her and he thought to himself 'this feels like déjà vu'.
Scully saw his brow furrow and she said out loud. "Mulder? Did you
feel...?" He had casually placed his right hand on the doorknob of his
apartment, fingering it softly when it began to turn in his hand. He pulled
back as if it were alive suddenly. The door swung open quickly and both
agents reached for their guns.

"Oh, now you're reflexes are working!" She was 5'8 and a complete stranger.
Dark short hair, dark eyes and a cruel smile was on her face. She suddenly
pushed forward shoving both agents against the wall with her body as her
right arm came up. Just then the air they vacated was filled suddenly with
sizzling bullets that shattered the window at the end of the hallway. In her
right hand was a colt and with lightening speed she shot off four rounds at
the figure at the end of the hallway. It crumbled to the floor with a thud.
The stranger pulled away and went down the hall to examine the assailant.
Whatever it was, it was now lying in a pool of slime. Both Mulder and Scully
were in shock. It was Mulder who snapped out of it first and grabbed Scully,
"Are you alright? Did you get hit?" His voice was shaking.

Scully's eyebrows furrowed up as she answered, "No, I mean yes I'm fine." She
looked away from Mulder and down the hallway to the woman. Almost inaudibly,
"I'm fine, Mulder." She looks to the woman who had just saved their lives.

The woman turned to face them. Suddenly she smiled a large, glorious smile.
She tucked the gun back into her long, dark overcoat and smiled. "My name is
Caitlin. I think you had better come with me."

'She was pushy', Scully thought to herself. Grabbing and shoving them not
down, but up the stairs to the roof, Scully looked at Mulder suspiciously.
He had a little smile on his face, probably enjoying the sudden change of
pace. The woman, who called herself Caitlin, covered them from behind as they
reached the rooftop door and opened it up. She shoved past them and onto the
rooftop. It was naked and open. More rooftops in either direction. She
crossed it laterally and looked over. She motioned them over and without
knowing why at the time, Scully moved first. The fire escape.

"Why didn't we...?" Scully started but the women ignored her and grabbed
Scully by the shoulder and pushed her onto the fire escape, then the woman,
then Mulder.

They reached the bottom and ran quietly along dark alley and onto the street.
In the darkness they ran about a block south and up to a blue sedan. Walking
up to the driver's seat the woman leaned down and broke the glass in with her
elbow. Opening the car and sitting down she reached underneath the steering
wheel and pulled out the wires. Within moments the car started. Mulder and
Scully stood looking at each other, then at the woman as she poked her head
out of the car.

"We went down the fire escape because more were on their way up...did you want
to wait around for them or get in the car?"

They drove for about a half an hour; the woman ignoring any questions either
agents posed to her. She pulled into another alley, approximately 20 miles
south of Mulder's apartment. She put the car in park, turned off the lights
and turned to the right to look at Mulder in the front passenger seat and
Scully right behind him.

"It doesn't matter who I am or where I'm from. I'm here for one thing, I
need to keep you two alive before day break," she reached out and took
Mulder's watch arm, "which is about 8 hours away. I don't care what you're
involved in, who that man was or why he turned into a pile of green shit. Is
that understood?"

"No." Mulder answered with his expressionless face. "How did you know he
was there? How did you know we would be there? How did you get into my
apartment?"

"Oh come on," she snorted, "what the hell kind of lock was that on your door
anyway?"

He nodded, "Ok, that's one answer, any more forth coming?"

Scully leaned forward. "Why should we trust you?"

"Listen, after 8 hours I'll be nothing to you. Just stay alive, listen to me
and in a working man's day, this will be all over."

Scully's brows knitted together in distrust. "Who sent you to protect us?"

"Does that really matter? In another time, another place, both of you more
than likely would've died in that hallway."

Mulder replied, "I saw him."

"A little too late I might add." Caitlin shook her head. "None of this is
important. We have to, and I love saying this, 'lay low' until the morning."

"Fine," Scully replied. "Where to now then? Or are we going to drive around
all night?"

Caitlin looked back out the front windshield. "Well, D.C. isn't my town, I
was hoping you two might know of a place."

Mulder, "I might."


LAIR OF THE LONE GUNMEN
12:08AM
SUNRISE 6:15 AM


"Who's the babe?" Frohike asked Mulder, for once not referring to Scully, as
they passed through the door.

"Behave, Frohike." Scully murmured.
Caitlin looked down at Frohike and reached out to pat his balding head. "Hey
little man,"she smiled and walked in. She did a 360 walking in taking in all
the gadgetry, and from what she could tell, junk they had stacked everywhere.

The rest of the Gunmen looked up and approached Mulder. The bearded gunmen
spoke first, "Hey Mulder. Who's this?"

Mulder turned and introduced the new person. "This is Caitlin..." then he
stopped.

"Conrad. Caitlin Conrad." And with a broad smile she reached out and shook
the bearded man's hand. "And you are?"

"Byers." He answered suspiciously. Byers turned to his left, "This is Langly
and you've met Frohike." Caitlin reached out and shook Langly's hand and then
Frohike's, giving him a quick wink. He smiled...more leered actually.

"Nice to meet you. So you're the Lone Gunmen."
Langly asked, "So you've heard of us?"

"Actually, no. But damned if it doesn't sound like an damn interesting story
though." She laughed a disarming laugh aimed to relax the gunmen, which it
did noticeably.

Mulder ran a hand in front of Frohike just then as he stared at the dark
beauty. "Whoa there fella."

Langly nudged Frohike and Byers asked, "So what brings you three here?"

Mulder and Scully both looked to Caitlin. All eyes were on her so she
answered. "Can you do a chick a favor and hide us out for the night?"

"Of course," Langly answered. "What are you hiding out from?"

Again all eyes were on her. She shifted uncomfortably, "Well, I don't know
actually. I was just sent to protect...they tend to give as little
information as possible with things like this."

"They?" Byers asked.

"Things like this?" Frohike added. Caitlin walked away from the group and
started to circle the room. It was cavernous, but packed tight with this and
that. The Gunmen followed her around the room.

"Gentlemen, I do not know. I'm just a bodyguard of sorts. I know as much
about what's happening tonight as you all do."

Scully spoke up, "We couldn't get anything out of her either, boys. I doubt
it would be much use." Caitlin turned to Scully and smiled. "She said we
have till day break which is...."

Langly broke in, "6:15 eastern standard time."

"So," she continued, "let's just sit and wait."

"Dead by dawn, eh?" Frohike mumbled and Mulder let out a stifled laugh.
Scully eyes narrowed as she looked at Mulder, who was most definitely
enjoying this. She thought back as he looked into her eyes to that moment,
that perfect moment that was interrupted. He winked as if to let her know
that he was thinking that same thing. She blushed and with a soft sigh
Scully moved slowly away from Mulder with a slight dismissal. He watched her
go for a moment and then his eyebrows furrowed curiously. Scully crossed the
room, past the other men over to a table and three chairs against a bookcase.
She pulled out one and sat down.

Caitlin watched her openly for several minutes. Now, Caitlin was always one to
put aside hysterical heterosexual restraints and fully admit when she saw an
attractive woman, which is what Scully was to her. Her hair was a chin length
cut straight hair, the color, which can only be described as red auburn, was
not natural she decided, but a hint. The point of her nose matched her chin
symmetrically and the fullness of her lips matched the color of her hair.
Agent Scully was very uptight, at least that what Caitlin figured. Her attire
was impeccable, if not anal. She wore a black three-quarter length stove pipe
jacket, underneath a straight neck cut maroon blouse, simple yet elegant and
matching black pants with two inch chunky heeled boots. All of it screamed
creases and uniformity. Scully reached down and undid the only button and
lounged quietly in the chair. Just then she turned and met Caitlin's gaze.
To Scully Caitlin was impossibly beautiful, in that casual way. Caitlin stood
across the room with her arms crossed in front of her. Scully could see the
outline of muscles in her forearms and biceps.


She had her pegged for no older that 34, but her flawless olive skin might
have made her look at young as 25. Especially when she smiled, which was
often. Which troubled Scully. Considering how she met this woman, what her
life must be like, the smiling bothered her although it never looked faked,
as if this woman was genuinely happy about something, anything. Caitlin had
black, very short hair that she set free without any restraints. Not like
the trend these days with the silly barrettes someone her own age might try
and use. It was thick, blunt cut and unashamed. Scully looked then into her
unusually gray eyes and found herself smiling.

Caitlin pointed to the chair next to Scully, "May I?"

"Please." Scully watched Caitlin pull the chair out, rather loudly and sit
with maximum amount of noise possible. With a laugh at the screech of the
chair Scully said, "I would have figured you to swoop down into the chair."

Smiling sheepishly, "It was all just for shits and giggles anyway." Scully
laughed suddenly very loudly. "Hah, made you laugh." The smile filled up
Scully's face and into her eyes. "So Agent Scully..."

Scully propped her chin into her hand and planed her elbow on the table with a
smile. Her eyebrows went up with curiosity.

Caitlin's eyes narrowed comically, "What's the deal with Agent Mulder?"

To this question, Scully was never bored. "I get that a lot, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"What's the deal with Mulder and me."

Caitlin's mouth went into a 'O'. "That's not what I meant. But what do you
mean?"

Scully flustered, "I thought you were wondering if...about Mulder. If there's
was something."

Caitlin cut in, "Between you two, besides being partners?"

Scully shrugged.

"It must be hard being paired with someone of the opposite sex. How long have
you two been partners?"

"About six years."

"That's a long time." Scully waited for the knowing smile. It always followed
this kind of questioning and she always knew what that smile meant, she had
seen it for years in the bureau since walking into Mulder's life for the first
time. But it never came. Instead, "Are you married?"

Scully half smiled, "Not with this kind of lifestyle. I guess you can say my
career is all I have."

"And Agent Mulder." Caitlin added, and not with any hidden meaning behind the
comment to Scully's surprise, again.

"And Mulder." Scully conceded.

"But if you're not married, then a boyfriend?"

Scully shook her head.

"Must be an interesting life then Agent Scully, to fill up your time with your
work with Agent Mulder. It must be rewarding."

"It is." A wistful look fluttered across her face and disappeared as quickly
as it appeared. Scully's eyes dropped to the table, her long lashes blinking
slowly as if heavy with sleep or some other wholly encompassing emotion.

"You know, woman cannot live on lettuce alone." Scully's ice blue eyes
looked back into Caitlin's. "Every now and then you should try the steak."
Caitlin turned to look at Mulder who had had his back to them, but was
looking over his shoulder watching them intently for a moment. He quickly
averted his stare.

She looked back at Scully. "I realize of course that was a horrible
metaphor, but I've lived that kind of life before, Agent Scully. It's just
the birds and the bees hard at work and there's not much you can do about the
nature of some beasts. My, all these metaphors." She smiled again. It was
a good smile Scully decided. "If two men come together and work side by side
for years one of two things happen: they become tolerable allies or form the
deepest of bonds that only their wives can rival. It is those men who dare
to hug one another if say for example years have gone by since seeing each
other or they realize the importance of personal touch means to a friendship,
especially when one is in need. Emotionally or whatnot. But when a couple
is paired, a man and a woman, for purely platonic reasons such as
work...things happen."

Scully remembered saying the same thing during a high school reunion some
weeks before. 'Suddenly something changes.'

"Do you know what I mean, Agent Scully?"

"He chews incessantly on sunflowers." Her face and turned annoyed, her eyes
crinkled up as she continued her soliloquy on the fundamentals of Agent Fox
Mulder. "They package the seeds now, so you don't have to crack open the
shell, but no...he sits and chews on them for hours. It's a very serious oral
fixation."

"But it keeps you watching, doesn't it?"

Scully's annoyed expression fell, then the blush rose up in her face like a
beacon in the night.


2:00 am

Caitlin walked up to Langly peered over his shoulder. He was seated at what
she could only assume was his desk. There were a lot of little lights, knobs
and switches.

"Hey Langly."

He looked up at her. "Hi Caitlin."

"What are you doing?"

Mulder and Frohike, with their backs to her talked quietly to each other.
"Did you find anything?"

"No nothing under that name. It must be an alias. I even did variations on
the spelling, there's nothing under Caitlin Conrad matching her description in
this country."

"What about her picture?" In the corridor that led to the main door of the
lair was a hidden camera. He had pulled her picture from the video and
enhanced it. She was ironically smiling as if she knew her picture was being
taken. "Anything from that yet?"

"No, but I'm still trying to hack into a couple of databases to check. Ever
see eyes like that before?"
Mulder thought about it, "Once I think in a movie about the Scarlet Letter.
There's an actress who has eyes as gray as hers. I think it's rare. Rarer
than violet."
Frohike stared at her picture, "She sure is gorgeous, isn't she?"

Scully had walked over to check on the progress when she over heard Frohike's
question. "She's not my type Frohike." She cast a look over to Mulder who
didn't answer. 'Oh boy, here we go.'

Laughing he answered, "Oh but she's mine." He turned off the monitor, but let
the computer run its comparisons.


OUTSIDE THE LAIR OF THE LONE GUNMEN

In a parked car, one block down from the building where the Lone Gunmen
preside sat two men in a tinted car. In the darkness one shifts
uncomfortably, "What are we going to do about it?"

"Well, nothing right now. She's with them. She'll protect them and nothing
will stop her."

"We could," he inhaled deeply, a deep red glow broke the darkness, "terminate
her."
The second man's low voice chuckles, "You could try, but you wouldn't succeed.
It would be best if you left her to me and my devices."

"How would your 'devices' differ from ours? We are a capable group Mr. Deave,
with or without your help."

The man called Deave leaned over to the window, letting the faint moonlight
reveal his dark brown hair and warm big brown eyes. "I sincerely doubt that,
my new friend. I truly do."

21AM

"So, there are cameras and sensors everywhere? Paranoid, aren't we?"

"Do you know the whole story with Mulder and us?" Langly turned to ask her.

Caitlin shrugged, "I don't know anything about Agent Mulder, Agent
Scully...anything about this place or what you all do."

"You don't know about the X Files?" Caitlin shook her head. "They're FBI
agents who investigate paranormal or otherwise unsolvable crimes."

"What? Paranormal. What like poltergeists and shit like that?"

Langly laughed at her description. "Yeah, shit like that."

"Then what's your story...the lone gunmen?" She put her hand up, "Wait, let
me guess. You're all are into the conspiracy thing aren't you?
Kennedy...lone gunmen."

"Well, that's one way to put it. We put out a weekly newsletter about what
really goes on in this country. That there's a government conspiracy to lie
to the public about anything from taxed to UFO's."

Caitlin's eyebrows had tangled up and to the corner of her forehead as he
described his group goal. "Really? Damn, I wonder what your Mission
Statement says."

Langly blushed and laughed. "Alright, I know it sounds a bit...."

"Out-fucking-landish?" She said goodheartedly.

"Out landish, yes. But Mulder has proof."

That stopped her cold. The smile dropped from her face and her eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean proof?" 'Just what in the HELL was going on?' she thought
silently. She looked over to Mulder and Byers talking about their latest
newsletter when he looked up and met her gaze. His eyebrows wrinkled in
confusion when he saw the look on her face. She looked back to Langly. "I
don't understand."

"It's a long, drawn out theory and I don't think you'd believe me if I told
you."

"Well, break it down for me."

Langly called Frohike and Byers over. He murmured something to them and they
all looked back at her. Frohike spoke first. "Life as we know it isn't what
it seems. The government controls what we hear and practically what we think.
They hide the truth as simply as if it were swept dirt under the carpet.
There's a small group of men, we think, that control our government and we
think several other important countries in the world."

Byers was next, "We hear names like Consortium, the Syndicate; a group of men
who have their fingers in everything. Every hospital, every state government,
and I wouldn't be surprise if it came down to the local police."

"I saw it." Everyone turned to Mulder who had spoken. He looked over to
Scully who had her arms crossed and her lips puckered. "Last summer, in
Antarctica."

"Antarctica? Isn't that little out of your jurisdiction Agent Mulder?"
Caitlin asked softly. "Why were you there in the first place?"

"You don't know?" Mulder replied.

Caitlin relaxed her features and tilted her head to the side. "I'm not part
of what you think is going on here, Agent Mulder. I don't think my people
know about this."

"Who are your people?" Scully asked.

"Ah hell Agent Scully, you wouldn't believe me."

Frohike answered. "You'd be surprised."

Caitlin thought for a long moment. She wasn't about to tell them who she was
or where she was from, there would be no point in it. "I'm not an X File to
be hunted down and filed away, Agent Mulder. After 6:15 this morning, I'll
be nothing but a memory."

Langly caught the flicker on his console and cursed. "Oh shit!"

Byers came up beside him. Langly flipped on the video camera monitor and
really let out a colorful expletive. "We've got company."

An unmarked van pulled up in front of the warehouse housing the Gunmen and
seven men file out onto the street. They reach the center of the building and
then split up in different directions.

"Oh shit! Did you see the size of those guys?" Frohike exclaimed as Byers
and Langly grab him away from the monitor and towards the back of the room.

"Where's another way out!" Scully yells as she takes out her gun and aims it
at the ceiling.

"Here!" Byers yells as he pushes a false junk wall to the side, revealing a
door out. He's about to open the door when Caitlin stops him. She grabs his
arm and he turns to protest. Not six inches away from his face is a colt 44.
Quite possibly the nastiest gun he has ever seen in his life.

"Hold on there, my man. Do you want to be first out?" Caitlin whispered
near his cheek as she pulled him behind her and opened the door. She pokes
her head out quickly to see a long lighted corridor. "Where does this lead?"

"Anywhere. The roof top, the basement, the back door."
She rolled her eyes, "This is the only way out for us, the only way in for
them, right?"

Langly shrugged, "We didn't say it was a good way to go, just the only other
way." They filed into the corridor and started to move quickly, but silently
down.

"Agent Mulder?" She called out to him. "Please tell me you still have your
gun, you too Agent Scully. Are you backing us up?"

In a hurried whisper, "We got it." Mulder pushed Scully in front of him to
protect the rear, but hovered near her to protect her. "You ok?" he asks.

"Considering", Scully answers with a smile.
They were nearing a corner and Caitlin slowly took it. Suddenly the line
stopped. "Langly!"

"What WHAT!" he yelled in a scared man's voice.

She comes back around the corner, "It splits up, where does it go?"

The Gunmen came around, Langly answering. "Left is basement, right is
rooftop. Left is also back door."

"Christ, alright. Alright." Caitlin noticed her breathing had been fast and
hurried so she closed her eyes for a moment and caught back up with her heart.
"Do you have a gun, anyone of you?" They shook their heads. "Listen, they're
not after you. Double back and pretend like you never saw us?"

"WHAT?" They yelled in unison.

"Mulder, help me here. Am I right, will they be ok?"

Mulder cursed under his breath. He reached down and took the spare gun from
the Velcro patch at his leg. He handed Byers the gun and jerked his head back
for them. "Go, we'll be in touch. I think she's right."

"You think?!" Frohike yelled. Byers grabbed the two other gunmen and headed
back.

"Good luck you three," and with that they disappeared back around the corridor
and down to the lit door at the end.

"Where to now?" Scully asked, her gun in her hand, breathing heavily now with
fright.

Caitlin looked down the left hallway and turned right. "Hopefully they're
coming in from the ground, not the rooftop. But then I don't know these guys
like you two might. But let's move."


Three burly figures enter the back door of the old warehouse; one through the
front and three from the rooftop. The gunmen hurriedly ran back into the room
and shove the false wall back just in time to have their front door kicked in
from one of the intruders.

"Holy shit." Langly quietly squeaks out at the sight of the man. He was at
least 6'6", 300 some odd pounds and another, very nasty looking gun in his
right hand.

He uttered one word. "Where?"


They were full out running now; Mulder holding up the rear with Caitlin taking
the corners slowly and then full out running the distance. Then it suddenly
forked. The left was a staircase, the right another long corridor.
"Rooftop?" Caitlin suggested.

"Back door?" Mulder nodded in the right direction.

"Either way, I think we're screwed." Then suddenly a bullet whizzed by
Mulder's head and ricocheted of the staircases metal frame. They ducked and
ran up the staircase, dodging the barrage of bullets that were coming now.

"Did you see any?" Scully asked as she pounded up the steps.

"No, goddamnit." Caitlin sputtered as she took double steps up the stairs.
Four flights they run up the stairs when they hear more footsteps coming
behind them. At the top of the final flight there is a short corridor then
another fork. "Oh..." Caitlin curses and then listens down the steps for the
footfalls of their pursuers. "What? Three? I hear three."

"Maybe four." Mulder strains to hear.

They run to the end of the corridor and peek around.

Silence from that end. Caitlin turns, "Ok, I'm open for suggestions. Which
way is out?" The footfalls were closer.

"Right!"

"Left!"

"DUCK!" Caitlin yells as the first of the men from the back door entrance
make it to the top. She squeezes her gun and two bullets hit him hard in the
chest and knocks him back. Just then more bullets come from the right
grazing Scully and catching Caitlin full on in the chest with two slugs. She
is spun around and hits the corner of the wall.

"Caitlin!" Mulder grabs her and Scully. Moving to the left Scully can hear
Caitlin wheezing for breath. She reaches out to check her while running, but
Caitlin pushes her away. Although seriously wounded, she almost passes Scully
in the long corridor, presumably out to the rooftop.

Bullets are now coming full on as they reach the end of the corridor. Falling
back Caitlin covers and turns to face them. "COME ON!" Mulder yells turning
the corner which now protects them from the bullets.

"Go. I'll find you both later. Make it to the rooftop and away...keep
moving."

"Let's GO!" Scully yells at Caitlin, grabbing her arm.

"You know god damn well someone has to stay. Go, don't wait for me." They
both look at her pleading. Bullets spraying around them, kicking up plaster
off the wall. "Don't worry about me." She said in a low tone. And with
that, the agents flew down the last corridor to another door and pushed out
into the night.

Caitlin reached down and touched her chest. The blood was flowing freely now.
She smiled and slid to the ground with back to the wall, leaving a bloody
stain. The three men make it down the hall and around the corner. They stare
down at her as she slumps to the side and exhales one last breath. They start
to move again towards the door not 25 feet away when they heard it.

Ping

Something rolled down the hallway towards them. They stopped and look at the
small cylinder rolling towards them and then up to see the woman standing and
of all things, smiling. Caitlin jumped off to her left, just missing the
explosion in the corridor from the small hand grenade she just set off.

She stands back up, cleans herself off and reaches for her gun again. She
can hear slow footfalls down the corridor. She looks around the corner and
down at the men. They were more or less blown to bits, blood in the
corridor, the smell of burnt flesh. She takes out another small cylinder.
Considers it, then puts it away. Checking the bullets in her gun, she
mumbles to herself, 'What the hell." She starts to walk in the direction of
the footfalls; there were only two bullets in her and she was doing just
fine.

5:40 AM
Middle of Nowhere

In the darkness of another car, Mulder reached out to
Scully to grab her hand. "So what do you think about this?" He squeezed her
hand softly.

She watched him do this with her clear, blue eyes and sighed softly. "I don't
know, but this was a first. Why were we so willing to let her help us?"

"She saved our lives."

"Yeah, but how do we know that it wasn't set up?"

Mulder nodded, but added, "You heard her wheezing, at least one got her in
the lung, that's a painful way to die. No one could plan that." They were
driving aimlessly out to the country, just waiting for dawn. He pulled the
car over to the side of the rode and turned off the engine. He sat in
silence for a moment and then turned to look at her with those hazel eyes.
"She's dead by now, Scully. It can't be any more real than that."

"Yeah," she looked away from his penetrating stare. Sometimes she felt like
she was exposed for what she was and felt for him when he stared at her like
that. It was getting harder and harder to judge where that fine line once
was.

Mulder looked deep into her eyes, and then she averted her gaze. He would
have to stop doing that; staring so deeply into her wanting to read her soul
and reveal his feelings and desires to her with a single look. When had
everything changed for them? Her cancer, maybe? The thought of losing her.
Or maybe Van Blundt's attempt to seduce her with his looks. What had that
whole incident meant? Would she have with him? 'Hell,' he wondered, 'would
she with me?' Her deep, tired sigh broke his train of thought.

Scully couldn't begin to know what was happening. This evening's events or
with her and Mulder. The closeness of his body and the rawness she felt from
the adrenaline left her feeling a thousand time more sensitive to Mulder's
touch. She turn her hand and entwined her fingers with his, not looking at
him, but their hands. She feels Mulder stare turn down to their hands as
well. The warmth of his skin against hers almost makes her sob with an
aching she couldn't, or maybe wouldn't, explain. Suddenly it was as if she
was focusing on every little breath he took, the sound of his sigh, the
hisses of his inhale. As she closed her eyes, it almost pained her to think
of how close she was to him, but what was almost worse was how far he really
seemed.

Mulder felt like he was going to vomit. He watched her eyes close slowly as
if they were carrying a heavy burden, but what was almost too much was how
her tongue came out to lick her ruby lips which slowly parted. Her lips.
Her mouth. He couldn't look at them without the desire reeling its ugly head
and murmuring its painfully erotic needs. Before he knew it, their foreheads
were touching, they were drawn to each other, he needed her as much as she
needed him, emotionally as well as physically. But it was her mouth he most
desired right at this moment.

It surprised Scully when she felt their foreheads connect softly. There they
sat, in the front seat of another nondescript car, the windows suspiciously
fogging up from their hot breaths coming from their bodies. Her grip
tightened suddenly and her emotions welled up inside her like the crest of a
wave on its inevitable long journey down. She opened her eyes, focusing on
the bridge of his slightly bulbous nose. The thought conjured up a small
smile.

He saw the smile and it warmed him. He could see the whiteness of her teeth
and the joy on her face that was suddenly there. She was sitting so close to
him, so close they were almost one and her smile washed everything away. He
pulled away gently to look at her fully. Her eyes reached his and held them
there.

What came next was so automatic to him. They were sitting down the middle of
the front seat of the car when he reached out with his left hand. Her eyes
broke from his to watch his hand move when he murmured, "No, Scully." She
looked back at him. He had said it in barely a whisper. His left hand smooth
over her right thigh and grabbed both of her legs. Mulder gently pulled her
towards him, laying her legs across his so she was almost in his lap, but not
on it. He left his hand resting gently on her hip, which sent electricity
through her body, but something was different just then. He pulled his right
hand from hers and both arms embraced her, tucking her securely into his
chest. Scully bent her head forward to lay in the crook of his neck as his
hands caressed her back slowly and then stopped. She curled her arms inward
and just let herself be held by Mulder and letting the wave of something so
indecipherable, so much bigger than both of them envelop them.

'This is what they had' Mulder thought to himself and he gently rested his
chin on her soft, auburn hair. They sat like that, in a nondescript car, on
the corner of the road, in the middle of nowhere as the new day began.

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