"I Had the Strength of Your Beliefs" by Whitewolf. Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder, Scully, Skinner, or any other characters portaining to the X-files, and I never did, and I never will, and they belong to CC, 10-13, and FOX, I won't make any money, and I swear to give them back. Rating: PG for some mild language and violence, maybe PG-13. Classification: S,R,A Summary: MSR, Mulder is critically wounded, and Scully knows how much has been left unsaid. Spoilers: Up to Memento Mori. Just lightly, though. Okay everyone! This is my first fanfic, and I don't know how it is going to go over, but who knows, right? Well, I just want to thank everyone that read it before hand. You are all great. I love e-mail, so comments and constructive criticism are welcome at whitewolf@theonramp.net Flames can be sent to, but I must warn you, all they do is make my living room more cozy on a cold night. Also, sorry about the spelling folks! I'm not an English major for that reason! I Had the Strength of Your Beliefs By Whitewolf. ----------------------------------------------------- "Mulder, no!" Scully yelled as the gun went off. They had been working on a case with the Violent Crimes Section, Mulder being the profiler on the case, and Scully being the pathologist. Of course, in dealing with the VCS, they were dealing with psychopaths. It was a package deal. The man that Mulder had profiled was the amin suspect in about ten different killings, all where the subjects died, but not from visible causes, and no drugs where found in the system. Scully, being a top forensic pathologist, had discovered that the victims had indeed been given a drug, although you couldn't just find it with testing the blood. The drug was found in the brain only, and caused such a hormonal over-balance, that the person had inevitably died. Mulder and Scully, along with a team of ten others, had found out where the killer lived, and gone in after him. He knew that he was cornered in his own home, and Mulder and Scully, being paired with each other as always, had been the first to find him. The man was not stupid, and he pulled his gun on Mulder. Knowing that he was going to be shot anyway, he pulled the trigger, and the bullet entered Mulder through his stomach. Scully's professionalism took over, and she brought her own gun up and fired at the killer, only, instead of wounding him, she left a gaping hole in his head. The killer slumped to the ground, dead. Scully dropped her gun. "Officer down!" she yelled, thinking that she had said those words far too many times. Mulder, though unconscious, was visibly shaking as he started to go into shock. she thought, and covered him with her own jacket. Her own prayers were anwered, and Mulder held on, but Scully had to stay behind to answer questions, and as his ambulance pulled away, she couldn't stop the single tear from rolling down her cheek. ---------------------------- Scully ran down the halls of the hospital, looking for someone, anyone, who could tell her something. It was barely and hour after Mulder had been shot. The nurse looked up at Scully as she neared. "Do you know about Agent Fox Mulder's condition?" Scully asked. "I'm sorry, I really can't say anything..." "Damn it! I'm his partner, Dana Scully, with the F.B.I." she said, pulling her badge. "If I want some information, I better damn well have access to it!" "All we know right now is that Agent Mulder was shot by a cop killer. The bullet hit a lot of places, and right now, we're just finding out the extent of the damage, the doctors haven't even started operating yet." Scully nodded her head, and went back to the waiting room, preparing for the worst. ---------------------------- "Agent Scully?" asked the man in scrubs as he entered the waiting room, a full eight hours later. "Yes?" He shook her hand, and she had a surprisingly firm grip. "I'm Doctor Avater. I assume that you're here because of Agent Mulder?" She nodded her head. "Okay, here it goes. The bullet that entered Agent Mulder hit his intestines, in two places, one of his kidneys, and the worst of the damage was a gaping hole in the stomach. Now, we have, surprisingly, managed to repair the damage, but he lost a significant amount of blood, and lost a lot of vital tissue..." "I know the statistics, Doctor, just tell me if he's going to live." "To tell you the honest to God truth, and I'm only saying this because first, I think that you are strong enough to handle it, and second, I know that you wouldn't settle for anything else, I... I would be very surprised if he makes it," Doctor Avater said. She closed her eyes and nodded. "Can I... go s-see him?" Avater knew that she shouldn't, but he also knew how hard she was working to keep up this front, and that if she didn't see him, she would break down in this middle of this lobby. "Yes, but, you know the saying, not to long." She smiled feebly, knowing that he was giving her the benefit of the doubt. "Thank you." "ICU, down the hall." "I know." She left to go to his room. "Excuse me," a man tapped the doctor on the shoulder from behind. "Yes?" "I assume that you're the doctor working with Agent Mulder?" "Yes, I am, who are you?" "Assistant Director Skinner with the F.B.I." the man said, showing his credintials. "How can I help you Mr. Skinner?" "Well, I just wanted to ask if I can see him, as well. I think that I need a word with both of my agents," the balding man muttered. "Both of them." Doctor Avater couldn't refuse, seeing that this man was so obviously desperate to talk to both of them, maybe to appologize for something. He once again nodded his head, repeating his earlier words. ---------------------------- Skinner walked quietly into the Intensive care unit that Mulder was in. He saw Scully, sitting by her partner's side, her hand intwined in his. "Scully," he said quietly. "Sir?" she asked without even looking up at him. "I need you... and Mulder... to know that I did all that I could for him, and you." Scully raised her head. "I... I know that I didn't help you a lot of the times that I could... but... I wanted both of you to know that I didn't like being held on a leash..." "Sir, you don't' have to make it sound like this is the end, because it isn't. Even if Mulder... leaves..." she was chosing her words carefully, and barely holding on to her composure, "I'll still be here." "Agent Scully, you have to face the fact of your cancer, and that you can't babysit the X-files." "Look sir," she said, her voice slightly hostile in tone. "I've come to terms with my cancer, and it won't get me until the truth is found, and if you reassign me, do you think that it well deteur me? I need to find the truth, for me.. and for Mulder." "I just came in here to tell you that I won't take you off, even if Mulder..." he gestured with his hand, "leaves." Her eyes softened, because she knew that he would stick to his word, even if it killed him. Walter Skinner didn't make promises easily, and those he did, he would die to keep. "Dana," he said, a bit uncomfortably. "I know that Mulder and you didn't get to say all that needed to be said... but... if it makes you feel any better, he knows what you think, he always has. Just as you've know him." Skinner wasn't very good with words, and he didn't know if what he had just said got his point across, but he hoped it had. Scully, whose eyes had drifted back to rest on Mulder, who looked God-awful, turned back up to him, and let one tear find its way down her cheek. Skinner nodded his head, and walked out, knowing that she needed to be alone with Fox. ---------------------------- "Okay Mulder, I know you can hear me, because when I was in a coma, I heard you, so I'm going to say all that I have to. I know that you carry around a lot of guilt," she clasped his hand tighter. "You have to know that I believe and know that Samantha's dissappearance wasn't you fault, and neither was my abduction. It was Them, and you know who I'm taking about. they assigned me to work with you, and after a while, I enjoyed it. When I said that I wouldn't put myself on the line for anyone buy you, I meant it, and when you said that you only trusted me, I knew and believed that you were telling the truth. I just never got to say the things I needed to say..." her voice started to break, and one by one, the walls that she had built around herself finally came down. "I couldn't have survived without you. I... I always believed in your crazy theories, that always seemed to prove true... even if I grounded myself and tried to ground you in science. Fox, I couldn't have gotten back my will power after the cancer if it wasn't for you. You have to believe me when I say that I hate your father for what he did to Samantha and your mother, and especially, you. And I hate and will always hate that black-lunged son of a bitch that did this to you and me, and you have to believe that. And you have to believe that I'll never stop the search for the truth. And, for some ungodly readson, and I know that I'm going to sound like Melissa here, but I know that you are in a really dark place because of that guilt, and I can't let that hold you back. I never blamed you for anything... not Melissa, not my abduction... not those three missing months of my life...not Donny Pfaster... not Robert Modell, and God knows you were the hero there..." she smiled a little, "not QueeQuag... not Phobe, or Det. White, or any of them... and you have to believe me when I say that I DO NOT BLAME YOU FOR MY CANCER," she said those words slowly and firmly, as if trying to hammer it into Mulder's head. She toyed with his hand and took in how really bad he looked. His normally flush face was lucid and pale, and his normally touseled hair was flat and pressed against his head. His lips where pale, and his hands were cold and clammy, and if it wasn't for the beeping on his heart monitor, Dana would swear he was dead. She swallowed, and as her inner strength built up, the remaining wall between her and Mulder broke down. "And... Fox William Mulder, somewhere along the trek, and along the path, I noticed that the reason that I was often at a loss for words was because what I wanted to say was elusive and possesive, and damn it all, frightening. And God help me if you don't believe this one...," she spaced out her last three words, saying them slowly, and in an even tone, that threatened to break, "I love you." Mulder's eyes rolled open, and he looked at her. Dana smiled, "Fox..." He shook his head, a motion saying that he needed to speak. "Dana," he said, his voice raspy and barely audible, "I want you to know..." he gulped, swallowing hard. "I have and always had the strength of your beliefs." A single tear rolled down his cheek as he smiled, and the last soudn that Fox heard was the long beep as his EKG signalled that his heart had stopped. Special Agent Fox William Mulder was declared dead on February 23, 1998, Special Agent Doctor Dana Katherine Scully's birthday. End. Okay, that was it. What did you think? Again, submit comments to whitewolf@theonramp.net "When it's love you give (I'll be a man of good faith) Then it's love you live (I'll make a stand. I won't break) I'll be the rock you can build on. Be there when you're old, to have and to hold."- All For Love by Sting/Rod Stewart/ and Bryan Adams XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX