Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999

Title: Life's Lesson's II: All Good Things Must Come to an End
Author: Elizabeth Hanson
Rating: R (I'm planning for violence and of course some adult language)
Archive: anywhere, just post my name and email address
Spoilers: none, well, mulder and scully getting the X-Files back
Summary: A continuation of "Life's Lessons: The Beginning". I recommend
reading the first one to understand everything.
Keywords: Mulder/ other relationship
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I admit it, ok? Just let me borrow
them for a little longer. Well, Alexis is the only toy that's actually mine.
;)
Notes: I must say I dedicate this one to Alana. You've always been there for
me and I appreciate it so much! Thanks for putting up with me!
Feedback: YES! anything, i don't care WHAT you say, just say it!
Elizabeth_Hanson@juno.com 

"Hey you, what do you see?
Something beautiful?
Something free?"
Marilyn Manson, Beautiful People

**********
4 days later

Alexis opened her eyes and rolled over, facing Mulder. Everything she had
never expected to happen had happened. She had thought she was in control of
her life, had everything planned out, then that thought had come crashing
down, along with her perfectly planned life.

Not that was a bad thing, she thought.

After the meeting a few days before in her apartment, things had went back to
what they had been in the beginning. She only wished that things wouldn't go
downhill like they did before.

He had been understanding about everything. She didn't even have to tell him
she refused to go back to his apartment. He had brought a week's change of
clothes over after work the next day and it seemed like they were staying
there.

The ringing of a phone shattered her thoughts and peacefulness. Alexis cursed
under her breath and reached out incoherently for the phone. Looking at the
clock, she wondered who the hell would be calling this early. To her
knowledge, Mulder hadn't given out her phone number to anyone, not even his
partner, he had boasted just the night before.

"Hello?" She answered, her voice was groggy and half audible.

Silence, but was that breathing on the other end??

"Hello??" She asked, anger clearly etched in her voice. She had answered the
phone for a stupid prank, while she was resting, enjoying life?

"Fuck you." She said, and went to hang up the phone.

As she did, she clearly heard a voice on the other end, "I'm coming."

Alexis threw the phone in the receiver, fear crept into her. She tried to
dismiss what he had said. A prank. A simple prank. Who cares? Kids do that all
the time, she reasoned.

"Who was it?"

Alexis jumped at the voice, and scolded herself. She was letting her
imagination get to her.

"A prank." She replied, she turned to look at Mulder.

"You seem upset," He put his arm around her, "You ok?"

"Yeah, it's nothing." She looked at the clock again. "You're going to be
late."

"Uh-huh, I usually am. You usually scream obscenities into the phone?" He
grinned to show he was joking.

"You're too funny." She replied, rubbing as much sarcasm as she could muster
into it.

Mulder looked at the clock, his eyes showing surprise. "Jesus, I am going to
be late."

He got up, leaving Alexis sitting on the bed. She knew she had to start
getting ready soon too. She was due in the office ten today, but she always
liked to be early and get paper work done, instead of staying half the
evening.

She also got up, brushing the phone call to the back of her mind.

*****
One hour later

Turning on the shower, Alexis cursed when only cold water spouted out. It was
either the tank downstairs or Mulder really liked hot water. She sighed and
stepped in.

He had rushed out the door, forgetting his phone and briefcase. Alexis left
the door open in case he came back for it. She still hadn't had enough time to
go get a second key made. Lucky she got home before him.

There was a crash and shattering from the kitchen. Alexis frowned, it better
not have been anything too expensive he broke. Well, at least he remembered
his belongings before he got too far. After the initial noise, there was
silence.

Finishing her shower, she stepped out and after carefully wrapping a towel
around herself, she went out to inspect what had been broken. She took a
couple steps in the hallway and her foot landed on something sharp, it
crunched under the weight.

"Shit!" She yelled in shock, looking down, seeing glass scattered all over the
hall and blood already flowering beneath her on the beige carpet.

The landlord was going to hit the roof with the stains, she knew. He was so
particular on everything. She hoped someone knew of some good stain remover.

The shock cleared away fast, bringing anger. Mulder could've told her, or even
cleaned it up, he was already late as it was.

She stepped over the rest of the glass and went into her room to call him on
his cel-phone. Sitting on the bed, she first examined her foot and tried to
remove the few pieces of glass still in it. She dialed the number, still
cursing to herself.

There was a ringing from the kitchen. She frowned, wondering what it was
coming from, she was using the phone- Dammit! It was Mulder's phone. He hadn't
been back. Then who was? She wondered.

She was about to hang up and call the police when it picked up.

"I told you I was coming." The voice from the other end said. It was the same
voice from earlier.

Alexis got up and ran to the door, locking it. Before she closed it, she
caught a glimpse of him. He was still holding the phone, he turned around,
facing her. He smiled, it was a sadistic grin and Alexis heard herself
whimpering under her breath. The man was holding a meat cleaver that she had
had in her knife holder in the kitchen.

She went back to the phone, clicking on the disconnection button. To her fear,
nothing happened. He must've took another phone off the cradle. She looked at
the window in the room. She was on the seventh level and it was a straight
fall, no ledges or anything.

"I'm coming." The voice repeated. Alexis threw the phone against the wall and
went back to the door. She seen a shadow underneath it. She grabbed the
dresser and tried to pull it against the door. While doing that, she began
yelling for help, for someone to come, anything.

Alexis a lamp from the top of the dresser and held it, in case she needed it.
Her hands were shaking and she had to hold it in a death grip so she wouldn't
drop it.

There came a crash from the other side of the door, she seen it buckle and
heard the snapping of wood. He was going to get through, she thought,
realization creeping into her, and I'm going to die.

There was another greater blow to the door and she watched in horror as it
gave way, the dresser falling over and spilling its contents over the floor.
She backed away, raising the lamp to throw at the man's head. He was on the
ground in front of her, laying in what looked like unconsciousness from the
impact.

As she threw, a hand lashed out, throwing her off balance. She let go of the
lamp and it hit the ground several feet away, harming no one. She fell to the
ground and the man pinned her down.

"No," She whispered, "Please, I'll do anything..."

The man laughed at her, an evil hysterical laugh that made Alexis realize
nothing was going to work. It didn't matter. The only thing he wanted was to
see her dead.

He raised the cleaver and held it in the air for a few moments. Alexis shut
her eyes, she didn't want to see what was going to kill her. Why couldn't
things go alright for a change, she wondered. What did God or Fate have
against her to not allow it?

"Fox." She whispered. Right after she regained what meant most to her, she was
going to lose it again. This time for good. Tears managed to escape her closed
eyes, she didn't care. It was over. Her game of life had lasted only 32 years,
and that's all it really amounted to.

She managed to stifle the scream when the cleaver went into her. Instead, she
moaned. Opening her eyes, she seen the cleaver in her face, covered in blood.
Her blood.

But she could still live, she thought, trying to regain confidence. She
blindly threw her hand out in front of her, feeling it connect with flesh, she
dug her nails into it. She heard screaming, and realized it was both her and
the man.

He backed off, holding his face, blood still seeped through between hid
fingers. Alexis tried to sit up, she felt something loose coming out. She
looked down at her body, seeing a gray rope hanging out of her abdomen. She
looked up, feeling nauseated and brought up her breakfast, along with a rather
large amount of blood.

She managed to turn on her stomach, she cried out in pain when the weight of
her body crushed her organs. Alexis tried to crawl for the door, ignoring the
pain, ignoring everything, except survival. She moved over the dresser, the
door. She had made it into the hallway. Confidence began to swell, she could
make it, she thought, she could-

Alexis stopped when she felt something pulling her intestines. She felt the
presence behind her and knew. He began to pull with force, with anger. She
gagged and tasted blood in her throat.

"Stupid bitch, I always win." He said and pulled her into the living room.

Alexis started to see everything in s blur. Like it wasn't really happening.
She felt like she wasn't really experiencing it, maybe it was just a dream,
she thought. A really bad dream and she would wake up and find Mulder laying
next to her and she would snuggle up close to him, and that would be the end.

She knew it wasn't. And she closed her eyes for the final time before he began
to severe her now dead limbs.

*****
FBI Headquarters

Mulder sat at his re-claimed desk, sorting through paperwork he and Scully had
the honor of going through since they got the X-Files back. Scully sat across
from him doing the same.

He noticed she hadn't been doing anything for the past 10 minutes and he
looked up. She was looking at him, with the same look she had when Diana had
come back.

"Shirking, are you?" He asked, grinning.

She ignored his comment and asked, "Is there something you aren't telling me?"

"What?" He asked, confused.

Mulder looked where she hadn't taken her eyes off the last 10 minutes. His
hand.

"Wha-" He began and stopped. He knew what it was. She had noticed the ring he
had put back on 2 days before.

"Mulder, what the hell is going on? And why can't I ever get a hold of you at
home? You've been rushing to go home this week, and quite frankly, that scares
me." She went off.

He looked at her, seen the hurt. He *did feel guilty. But he had been afraid
to tell her, afraid how she would go off, like she had started now.

"I'm sorry. I should've told you. It's not what you think-"

"Then what the hell is it?"

The phone rang and he jumped to answer it. To end the moment. He didn't know
how to tell her. If he did, he would have to tell her everything. And he
didn't want to do that.

"Mulder." He answered.

He listened and closed his eyes.

*****
Alexis's Apartment

Mulder had had Scully drive him. If he drove himself, he knew he would've
crashed and killed himself and someone else, most likely.

He gave Scully the directions, not showing any emotion. She noticed and didn't
pursue the topic in the office any further.

Pulling into the lot, he seen the ambulance and the police cars. Before Scully
parked, Mulder jumped out and ran to the building. By time she parked, he was
already inside.

Even all the way down the hall, he seen the commotion coming from Alexis's
apartment. He hadn't left there even 3 hours ago.

He ducked under the yellow police tape and pushed through the cops.

"This is a crime scene, get out!" A particular cop yelled.

Mulder pulled out his badge and gave it to him, not caring if he shoved it up
his ass.

"God," He moaned, seeing the blood all over the living room and hall. He
suddenly felt dizzy and out of place. This couldn't be happening. It was
supposed to work out. They were supposed to be together forever.

Scully had just entered and flashed her badge to the same cop. She stood next
to Mulder, looking at him. She seen tears streaming done his face.

"Mulder-" She said softly, not sure for who or what she was comforting him
for. She laid her hand on his shoulder. He quickly shook it away and walked
further into the apartment. He seen several lumps covered in tarp, he didn't
want to think of what was under them.

Scully looked around the room, she bent over a cel-phone that was haphazardly
thrown on the ground. She looked at Mulder, and realized he had been saying
earlier that he had forgotten his. It was the same model.

She thought of the ring, and slowly, everything seemed to piece together for
her. And sickly. She looked at the blood and gray matter smeared around her.
Scully quickly got up and went to where Mulder was standing in the kitchen.

She seen vomit near his feet. He turned to look at her blankly, his face
swollen from crying. He seemed to crumple into her arms and he sobbed in her
shirt. Scully felt tears running down her own cheeks, she didn't know this
woman, but whoever it was meant the world to Mulder.

Scully glanced over at the stove, there was another thing covered in tarp in
it. A smell emitted from it, like cooked meat. She suddenly felt nauseous.

Mulder pulled away from her, he didn't even look like the Mulder she had known
for nearly 7 years. He looked like some clone, or mishap version of him. He
turned and started out of the kitchen. Scully followed behind him. She heard a
few cops talking about what they had seen. She knew Mulder probably heard it,
and wished he hadn't.

He stopped at the bathroom and looked back at her. Looked back at everything.
His symbol of happiness. Now faded away forever.

"Mulder-" Scully began

Lastly, he looked at Scully. He didn't want to do this to her, but he had to.
There was no choice.

"I'll be ok," He said softly, "Don't worry." He touched her cheek.

"Mu-"

He went in the bathroom, locking the door.

"Hey, this is a crime scene!" He heard the same man he gave his badge to yell.
It didn't matter.

"Can you get him out of there?!" The officer yelled at her, "I'll report you
two!"

Scully, reached out to knock on the door when she heard a gunshot from inside.

"Mulder!" She yelled, frantically knocking the door, knowing it would do no
good.

Several police officers pushed past her and forced the door down. Scully went
in and knelt at Mulder's motionless body. She pulled him into her arms,
rocking him. Crying for the both of them.

~Fin~

So, that concludes my little story. Sorry if it was troubling. I'm not in best
of spirits and you can kinda tell. ;) Ok, I know a major nit-pick will be "How
did they get a hold of Mulder if his cel-phone was there?". well, perhaps,
lets just say they found it in the briefcase he forgot. :) Hope you enjoyed.
Send feedback to Elizabeth_Hanson@juno.com