Summary: my take on "My Struggle II" with inspiration from the episode "Tithanous."

Author's Note: This has been such a joy to write. This was my first foray back into writing fanfiction for the first time in about ten years and needless to say it shall continue. Thank you for everyone who took the time to read it! Now, hopefully the conclusion of My Endurance.

Disclaimer: The usual suspects. Chris Carter and company own and I am merely borrowing for creative purposes.

….

They rode into work together, walked into the Hoover building, and took the elevator down into their basement office. Mulder unlocked the office door and held it open for Scully. She smiled gratefully, giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek. Getting old really did have it's perks. When they started becoming romantically involved, she did everything in her power to hide it. But now, it seemed age had mellowed Scully.

"Just like old times, huh?" he asked, hanging their coats up on the hooks.

"Yep," she replied, setting down her briefcase on the newly arrived desk that sat across the room. "And thank you for requesting the extra desk. It only took twenty years."

"Haha."

Mulder made a beeline to his desk and opened up his email. Scully took her seat across from the desk, elegantly crossing her legs and pulling out her smartphone. "We have a meeting with Skinner at nine," she told him. "With Miller and Einstein."

"About what happened?" he asked, looking up from his computer.

"Yes," she replied simply.

"What are we going to tell them?"

"It's in our report," she replied simply. "Old Smokey is back, engineered a conspiracy for the end of days, just like he did in the 1990s, tried to wipe out humanity, we saved the day with the vaccine. End of story."

"What about us?"

"What about us?" she repeated, looking up from her phone.

"About last night..."

"I am not going to talk about it here. Now is not the time or the place. We're working."

Mulder could hear the finality in her voice and he knew after twenty years not to argue with her about the matter. "This isn't over," he replied, rising a finger accusingly at her. "We're talking about it."

"It's nothing, Mulder."

"You're losing sleep over it. You can't hide it at home."

"Mulder," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We'll talk about it when we get home, okay?"

"Over dinner."

"Fine. Over dinner."

"I get to pick."

"I am not eating subs again."

"I didn't say anything about subs."

"Or pizza."

"Oh, come on. You love pizza."

"Mulder..."

"Fine."

"You get to pick, but please, try not to get take out from McDonald's down the road."

"I won't," he replied, looking back at the computer screen. He absently opened up to Google and searched 'easy and romantic dinners' before clicking enter. "We need to go grocery shopping though."

She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "I'm going to get us coffee. I'll be back."

Mulder clicked on a recipe. Steaks. He could cook a steak. How hard could it be?

….

Skinner looked at Mulder and Scully sitting across from him. "You look good, Mulder," he said absently, looking back down at their joint report.

"Thank you, sir."

"So, some things never change do they?"

"Apparently not, sir," Scully answered.

"Have they found any sign of him?" Skinner asked, referring to the Cigarette Smoking Man.

Scully looked at Mulder, and then back at Skinner. "No, sir."

"And Monica Reyes?"

Scully shifted uncomfortably and Mulder replied, "We believe she was coerced against her will, either by blackmail or something similar. We haven't been able to find any sign of her as well. She's disappeared and we don't know if she is alive or dead."

Scully still felt some sort of loyalty to the woman who helped her keep William safe during that year, no matter why she had sold out. Skinner nodded, satisfied with the report. "Just like old time, huh?" he repeated to his agents.

"Yes, sir," they answered.

….

Home.

Scully played with her cross as she wondered what Mulder had planned for dinner as she changed into something more comfortable than her work pants and suit jacket. She pulled her long curls into a loose pony tail before glancing at her reflection.

She leaned on the dresser and reflected her own image. She managed to keep old age at bay, just like any other woman, through a beauty regimen wrought by the 21st century, diet and exercise dictated by doctors who had no idea what they were talking about, and sheer luck. She had aged well. Mulder had too. Maybe too well. She shook her head, dismissing such thoughts. Maybe it was genetics. Maybe it was that damn alien DNA. Maybe it was...

"Scully! Are you coming down or what?"

She blinked.

"Scully?"

"I'm coming, Mulder!"

She went down the ancient staircase of the farmhouse and her nostrils flared, sensing the sweet pan cooked steaks he had attempted. He was at the base of the staircase, waiting for her. "And here I thought I was was going to be waiting forever."

She stopped at the base of the stairs and leaned into his chest, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck. Mulder was taken aback by this show. She kept him guessing. The new territory of being professional FBI partners again and domestic partners, at once, at the same time, without having to hide it, was unknown. It also nagged at him how the FBI was all seemingly okay with this. But he was an old man they kept hidden in the basement and probably did not care what he did anymore.

He returned the hug tightly, kissing her red hair. "Ready for dinner?"

She nodded and looked up, thanking God she did not lose him. Maybe she could put off her conversation a little longer if she changed the subject. "What did you make us tonight?"

…

Mulder was not happy. How the hell did she do it? He had every intention of interrogating Scully and getting to the bottom of what was wrong. He had a working theory but he was almost afraid to say it aloud, just like she was. It was almost a childish fear. If he spoke it outloud, it would give any credence to the crazy theory he knew he had formulating. But she had managed to deflect him and his line of questioning. Again. She was good.

He brushed his teeth and gazed at his reflection, determined to get something out of her tonight. Scully glanced up from her book that she had been reading when he emerged from the the bathroom and settled in on his side of the bed. "Whatcha reading?" he asked.

She lifted the cover of the book and he saw a well read version of In Cold Blood. "It's not my usual but I like Truman Capote," she shrugged.

He smiled, realizing she had already anticipated his why. "Hm. Read anything else good lately?"

"Like the Fellig file?" she questioned, turning her gaze back down to the book.

"You've been avoiding me all day about it," he replied. "First at work..."

"You know I don't like to discuss...personal issues at the office."

"Then at dinner..."

"Which was delicious by the way."

"Why don't you want to talk about it? It's the pink elephant in the room."

She shut her book and stared at her hands. She was quiet for a long moment. "Maybe I just don't want to know the truth," she admitted quietly.

He leaned against the headboard and stared at her questioningly. She looked at Mulder from the corner of her eyes and sighed. That look. Goddamn that look. That look that could get her to bear her soul on a whim. "Scully."

"What happened to you that night, when I told you to close your eyes, happened to me too. That's how I knew. It could have been the vaccine too but I don't know. But at that moment, I just knew you needed to close your eyes. I just knew."

"And you closed them with me."

"Because you're afraid of the dark."

He chuckled and set her book aside. She smiled and rolled her eyes. He flicked the TV on, lowered the volume until he almost muted it, and turned off the light. "So what if I am?"

Scully settled under the covers and nestled herself next to Mulder. "I'll keep you safe," she teased, kissing him.

Mulder felt her relax next to him. "Why don't you want to know the truth?"

"Who wants to know when they die, or don't die," she asked philosophically.

"Say...say we don't die," he began slowly, "and we are immortal..."

"First it was just me and now you?" she teased.

He smiled slightly, knowing she was trying to deflect the situation with humor, something that he did. God, how weird it was to have their roles reversed. "Just say, for argument's sake, we can't die. What would be wrong with that? You won't lose me, I won't lose you..." He nuzzled her cheek. "We could do all those things that we've always wanted...like UFO hunting in Austrailia. Or taking another tropical vacation. Well, the first one is probably mine."

She closed her eyes. "But would you really want to live that long, Mulder?"

"Not unless you are with me."

"What about William?" she asked, unconsciously drawing random patterns with her fingers on his bicep. "What about our son?"

Mulder was quiet.

"I don't want to know. Fellig stopped aging. We haven't. We've gotten injuried. Fellig was stabbed multiple times in the back and was up walking around like it was nothing."

Mulder said nothing. In his eyes, Scully was always going to be ageless, and she had gotten hurt too, but always made a quick recovery. Maybe there were varying degrees to it...

"Mulder, stop thinking."

"You can hear me thinking?"

"No...you know what I mean. I don't want to know if we're immortal or not. I just know you recovered and we survived. That's all I want to know."

"And it was the vaccine," he said.

"It was the vaccine and alien DNA, not us cheating death," she whispered into his chest.

He sighed, moving to rub her back. She would admit to aliens but not... "So if it is true," he said after a long pause, "we'll just have to wait and see."

"Even though probably not."

"But we'll just have to wait and see," he repeated again. "You always did like living in the now."

"Mulder, for once can you just shut up and take this one little victory? You survived and we both got what we want, us." She yawned and sighed. Mulder kissed her brow and she yawned again, even sleepier. "I love you and that is all that matters."

"Go to sleep," he replied, kissing her. "I promise I'll stop thinking."

….

Sunrise. Scully sat on the porch, with coffee in hand, Mulder sitting beside her, both trying to delay getting ready for work as much as possible. Neither one of them spoke and just enjoyed each other's company. She leaned against his shoulder and he kissed her lightly. "I've been thinking," he began.

"I thought I told you to stop thinking."

"Just hear me out. As long as there's more of this," he replied, motioning between them in then towards the sunrise, "immortal or not, I'll be a happy man."

She smiled and turned her gaze back out to the sun. "I think we can endure anything the future throws at us then."

-End.