======================================== Title - Ashes to Ashes Author -Char Priolo E-Mail address -Marajsky@snip.net Archive: Anywhere and everywhere Rating -PG (a few of the f word) Category -V, A (Angst), MSR Spoilers -End of 4th season, beginning of the 5th Disclaimers: None of these characters belong to me. I'm just borrowing them and I promise to return them in good or excellent condition to their original owners. Summary - This is my ideal for what the 5th season opener should be. ======================================= It was a wet muggy late May morning, the mourners stood under a tent around the casket. The graveyard frightened Dana Scully more than any case her and her partner ever worked on. Dana stood next to her mother, Maggie, to her right and Mrs. Mulder to her left. She knew soon these two women would be here again, but she herself would be the one they would morn. Dana thought to herself. "Why did you do this? I'm so sorry for hurting you. I never thought in a million years that this would be so heartbreaking for you to know the truth. I thought that this whole search was for, but maybe it was not meant to be. All I ask is that you be there for me when my time comes. I need your help, I'm so scared, I can not keep up this image up anymore. Please be there for me. Guide me to the place you are now." The pain between her eyes grew blocking her thoughts. She grabbed her mother's arm for support when the dizziness hit. As soon as the father said "ashes to ashes" the world when black. "Dana." Her mother screamed as her daughter fell to the wet earth. Walter Skinner, who stood behind Dana, bend down to his falling comrade. Sweeping her up into his arms, he rushed back to his car, her mother in toe. He lied her down in the back seat, as her mother cried for her daughter. "No, please not now, I need more time please don't leave me." Skinner took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from Dana's upper lip. "We have to get her to the hospital ASAP! I got a pulse, but it's weakening." He said to Dana's mother as he slipped into the driver's seat. As Maggie cried at her daughter's side. "No, you can not die now, please god please not yet." She cried as Walter sped down the dirt road onto the main highway towards the hospital. ______ Upon arriving at the hospital, Walter picked up the still unconscious Dana and carried her into the emergence room yelling. "Help, we need a doctor NOW! She is a cancer patient who is unconscious and bleeding." "You will have to wait in there." The nurse said as she pointed to the waiting room. "You don't understand, this woman is dying!" He yelled as she placed Dana on one of the gurney in the hallway. A doctor came running up to them. "What's going on, I can hear you down the hall! Oh my god, what happened." The doctor said as he saw what the noise was about as he started to check Dana. "We were at a funeral and she just passed out. Um doctor.." "Dr. Wills" "Dr. Wills, Dana is a cancer patient." Walter said as he held Maggie is his arms. "Please don't let my daughter die, please I need more time." She cried as she took her daughter's hand. Walter held her as they wheeled her daughter to an exam room. "No, no please god don't take my little girl yet, please." Maggie cried as she bury her head into his chest. "I have to make a few calls, Maggie will you be ok for a few minutes?" Walker whispered to Maggie, she just nodded. Walter pulled a piece of paper from his coat and dialed the number. After a few rings someone picked up the other end and didn't say anything. "It's me, the plan has to be changed." "Why what happened?" The panic stricken voice on the other end said. "She's worse then we thought. I'm at the hospital, get here as soon as you can, we may not have a lot of time. Take the back doors, and don't let anyone see you. Remember you are suppose to be dead." "Ok, if you talk to her, tell her the truth, the plan and that I love her." He whispered as the line went dead. Walter dialed another number. "Hello" "It's me, listen you black lung son of a bitch, get to the hospital with the cure. We kept our side of the deal, now it's your turn. We only have a few more hours, she may not see tomorrow." He said with hatred. "I see, it's a shame this had to happen. She was one of the best we had, hun?" The man said as he puffed on his cigarette. In the smoke filled room, another watched with a worried look. As the man hung up the phone, he said. "Your sister is in the hospital, she's dying. It's time." "No, you said she would be ok." The other said. "Well, things are not going so smoothly. This was very unexpected." ______ Maggie slept in the waiting room when the Dr. Wills came to speak to her. How he hated this part of the job. Telling family members that their love one is going to die. He sighed as he approached his patient's mother and friend. Clearing his through, he spoke. "Um, Dana is sleeping now." He said as Maggie woke, behind her a figure hustled to them. "Dr. Wills, what's happening?" Maggie asked as Walter noticed the figure approaching. "I'm glad your here." He said as he clasped the other's hand. "Fox? But you're dead, how?" Maggie said confused and frightened. "I'm not as you can see. Doctor, what's happening?" Fox Mulder asked as Dr. Wills looked at his patient's records that a nurse gave him. "Hum, well it seems that the tumor is starting to rupture. We had to release some of the pressure. I'm afraid we can't do anymore. Does anyone know why she never went for treatments?" "No" Fox lied, He knew he was her cure. "Well we will do what we can for her, but the cancer has spread to almost 80% of her body. I hate to say this, but her time is short, maybe a day or two at best." "No!" Maggie cried, Walter held her. "Can we see her now?" Fox asked. "Yes, but only one at a time, she is still sleeping." "I have to see her." Fox said as he rushed pass the doctor towards Dana's room. ______ As he walked into the room, two other figures approaching Walter and Maggie. Walter could only see one of the figures, stomping out a cigarette under his foot. The other he did not know, but Maggie did. "Billy! Oh Billy!" She ran to her son, Bill, Jr. She threw herself into his arms and cried. "I'm so glad to see you! I know your sister will be happy to see you. How did you find out?" She said to her son. "Um, mom, I didn't. What's happening?" Bill asked, pretending he didn't know anything. Walter motion for the cigarette guy to follow him, which he did. "Ok, change of plan, give me the cure." He held out his hand as they stepped into the stairwell. "I don't have it. I win again Mr. Skinner." The cigarette guy said as he pulled another cigarette out of the pack in his pocket. "What!? After the deal we made!? You SON OF A BITCH! You tricked us. There was no cure, was there!?" He yelled as anger and fear griped his heart. "No." "So, you are just going to let her die?" "It's a shame, isn't it? To bad she did not do what we asked in the beginning, all this would not had to happen." "So this is her punishment for turning against you?" "Yes." "DAMN YOU TO HELL!" Walter screamed has his fist met with cigarette guys face. Knocking him to the floor with a load thud. "You will pay for that!" "NO! I, no, Mulder will kill you if she dies." "We all know he loves her, and will do anything for her, including die for her." "We kept our side of that deal." "I know, too bad it was faked." "What are you getting at?" The cigarette guy pulled out a small vile filled with a yellow-green liquid. He held it with his thumb at the bottom and his index finger at the top. "This, Mr. Skinner is the answer to the question you do not ask for." "You said there was no cure." "Yes, this is not a cure, not yet at least. You see, it's never been tested on a human before. So we don't know if it will work." Walter grabbed the vile and ran towards Dana's room as the cigarette guy yelled at his back "It might kill her!" He slowly opened the door to hear Mulder talking to his partner and the woman he loved. "Please, just hang on for a few more hours. I need you, please don't leave me. You are my strength and my weakness and I love you." He said softly to the sleeping woman. He placed his head by her side and cried, still holding her hand. "Pist, get a needle, I have it!" Walter said softly. Fox lifted his head, as he wiped his eyes he looked around the room for a needle, finding one in one of the drawers by the door. "Here, sir, do you think this will work?" "I hope so." Walter said as he filled the needle with the yellow-green liquid. "Hold her arm out for me while I find a vain." Walter, using his long unused medical training from the army, found a vain in her arm without any trouble. As he injected the liquid into his employee and friend, he prayed that this would help her and not kill her. ___________ When Fox stepped out of Dana's room, Maggie ran up to him. "How is she?" "She'll be fine, I hope." "How is my sister?" Bill said as he came up behind his mother. "How do you think, Bill? Why don't you ask your smoking buddy? You know, the one you came with." Fox said as his fist met with Bill's nose. "You fucking traitor! How long have you been in all this? You had something to do with Dana's disappearance, Missy's death, and now this?" Fox pointed to Dana's room. "DIDN'T YOU?!" He yelled. "What?! Fox, he is Dana's brother. He would never betray his own family, right Bill?" Maggie said as she helped her son up off the floor. "You don't understand, I had to do what I did." Bill said as he held a handkerchief to his nose. "What?" Maggie whispered as fresh tears started to weld up. "Mom, I needed money quickly, I had a big gambling problem. They offered me $25,000 for Dana's address. I didn't think it was a big deal until you called saying Dana disappeared. I was the one who demanded she be returned. When I found out where and what they were doing to her, I went crazy. They were planning on letting her die from the aftereffects of the test like Samantha Mulder." Bill looked at his shoes when he mention Fox's sister. "And Missy?" Maggie asked softly. "Mom, I swear I had nothing to do with what happened to Missy. Missy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were really after Dana, but Missy got there first." "SO, you betrayed your own family for money? Blood Money! You are not my son!" Maggie said softly as she stormed out of the waiting room. "I have to check on Dana. Bill you are not welcome here, why don't you just leave before I kill you." Fox said as hatred and contempt spilled out of his mouth. _______ He slowly made his way to Dana's room. As he peeked in the door, he saw his partner and the woman he loved sleeping. The heart monitors beeped softly and slowly. As he sat in the chair by her bed, he took her hand in his and prayed. Praying for this untested drug to work. As he looked at her pale face, he saw one tear running down her cheek. He wiped the tear with his free hand, knowing she knew that she maybe dying, but happy that he was here with her. "Please God, let her live, I need her." He whispered to nobody. The door slowly opened as Dr. Wills came to check on his patient. "How is she Dr., Wills?" Fox asked. "She's improving, vital signs are strong." "She's going to live then?" "I have to run some more test, but I can say she's out of the woods for now. I do want to start some new treatments as soon as I get these new set of tests back." "Please Dr. Wills, do what ever you have to. I CAN NOT lose her again! I can't live without her." "I'll do all I can, I promise." Dr. Wills said as he turned to leave. As the door closed leaving them alone again, Fox gently touched her cheek with the back of his hand, caressing her pale cool skin. "Please come back to me." He said as he leaned down to kiss her still dry lips. Slowly her eyes fluttered open. She slowly and weakly lifted her hand to his hair, running her fingers through his hair. "Hi." She said weakly. "Welcome back." He said as he laid his head on her chest and cried. " I thought I was going to lose you." _____ A few hours later, Dr. Wills came in with a confused look on his face. "Um, I don't know what to say." He said as he reread the reports again. "What is it Dr. Wills?" Fox said as the others files into the small room. "I can't explain it, but in these test results there is no sign of the cancer anywhere. No where, it's gone, vanished, like it was never there in the first place. I don't know what happened, I want to run these test again." There was total silence in the now crowded room. Dana was the first to break the silence. "It's a miracle." She whispered as she took Fox's hand, fresh tears weld up in her eyes. "It's over? Thank god, it's over." He also whispered as everyone else let out a sigh of relief. "Let's not get too ecstatic just yet, I do what to run more test before I can give her a clean bill of health." Dr. Wills warned the others. "You're not going to find anything Dr. Wills, it's over, this whole nightmare is finally over." Dana said as she felt Fox's arms around her. "I'll never lose you again, do you hear me? NEVER! Because I'm going to make you my wife. That's if you'll have me?" Fox whispered into Dana's ear. "Of course, do you think I'll let you off the hook that easy?" She whispered as their lips met. The End!! Member of: XFR, EP, FT, XF, Club Jade, AOLSWFC Check out my web page for my stories: http://www.snip.net/users/marajsky/home.htm