Title: Longing (1/1) Author: RocketMan >lbontger@wmcstations.com Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No fringe intended for the movie or the show. SPOILER:::::::FIGHT THE FUTURE::::::US5 Summary: So, who needs who? Longing ===== "While we're talking about all of the things that I long to believe About love and the truth and what you mean to me And the truth is, baby, you're all that I need." --Bon Jovi, "Bed of Roses" ===== She was still cold. Couldn't get warm anymore, like there was a sliver of ice still at the core of her bones. No matter how many times she took a hot shower or curled up in bed or ran around, she was cold. Cold. Shivering as she pulled on her clothes for that mroning, shuddering when she got in the car, trembling when the rest of her sweated in the hot office. Her cheeks and nose and chin showed her chill. Tiny spiderwebbed blood vessels criss-crossed her skin, blooming in a network of reminders. Mulder looked at her and saw this, looked at her and saw his failure, or perhaps his victory. What was this - a battle lost or won? He had found her, after everything, he had saved her. Familiar words that she couldn't quite reconcile. How was it that he thought she saved him? Constantly frustrating him didn't seem to count for salvation. Yet to him, in his warped, confused mind, she had saved him with her every breath. So of course he had to come after her. But she didn't think he had done it for selfish reasons. He hadn't risked his own life just to keep her *in* his life. Why had he done it? Why to the very edge of the world to save her when he couldn't even be sure she was still alive? Even after his words, she questioned, she wondered, she did not understand. It was cold. And she didn't know who had won this time. ~~~~~ His hands were damp with sweat when he saw her walking in their makeshift office, her hair pushed back and darker than he remembered. She was in a pantsuit, with a white shirt and navy collar and she was fingering her neck as if she was missing something. He remembered. "Scully?" Her face turned to him and once again, there was all of Antarctica on her skin. "I have your cross." Her eyes lit up and she moved to his side, her hand coming out to receive her necklace. When it touched her skin, she felt warm. Her shoulders sagged and she sat down in the chair in front of him. Warmth. It melted the chill in her and worked out all the slivers of ice in her bones. She handed him the chain and looked at him with questions in her eyes, asking something of him he wasn't quite ready to answer. But he moved around his desk and stood behind her, then slipped the chain around her neck, sliding his fingers along her skin like breaths. It was like summer had returned to her. All the chill, all the shivering reminders of ice and aliens were gone, replaced with faith and love and hope and assurance. His hands strayed to her arms, and he leaned over her, catching her in his arms and holding on. A kiss to the side of her neck made her feel more than just warm, more like she was burning. And then he stood again and leaned agianst his desk, running away again. "I'm glad you're okay," he said softly. She smiled like the sun in Alaska after long months of night. She reached across the desk and took his hand. "I'm glad you came after me." His lips quirked into a smile and they released hands, let go of other things too as their ice melted. "So, now that you've saved me, does that mean we're even?" Recalling his mind to previous moments, to a kiss on his forehead that was almost more, to the look on her face as she smiled and cried for him. It made him stand, made him want her again with the same gentleness he had felt before. Gentle ferocity that is. She saw the longing in his eyes and the way he crept close to her, pulled her to her feet and took a long, long moment to adore her being in his arms. "Hey Scully?" "Yeah?" she asked, watching the smiles in his eyes. "I had the place sprayed for bees, just in case." Her face broke into a grin and his lips touched hers, touching her laughter, her warmth. No tears this time, no "sorry", no fatal bee stings or awkwardness. Her eyes closed as they pulled away and she kissed his forehead again, just as before, just as needing. Her body trembled and her voice came to him scratched, fused with heat and love and faith. "I think we're even." "I think we won." ~~~~~ end adios RM ~~okay, so after seeing the movie twice in 24 hours, I had to write something--it just took a while~~