Title: Remnants
Author: Gillian Taylor
Email Address: [email protected]
Feedback: I like mail. Any mail.
Website: http://horizonfiles.hispeed.com/X_Files/xtreme.htm
Rating: PG-13
Category: S/R
Spoilers: Well, Requiem, DUH. One of 5,000,000 others...
Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST, Scully/Skinner Friendship
Summary: "With all due respect, Sir," Scully said harshly, "You can go to hell."

Archive: Anywhere as long as my name and email is left on it. If you want this for your archive, I'd appreciate it if you'd drop me a line. I'd love to visit the future home of my story.

Disclaimer: Money? Ha! Acknowledgment from the powers that be? Ha! I do this not for those things. I do this for fun, yes. I do this because Carter won't do it, yes. Fun this is to write, fun should be to read. Enjoy!

Author's Notes: Special thanks, as always, go to my wonderful betas Crysta, Chris, Donna, and Per'agana (thanks for the title idea!). You guys rock!


"Remnants"
by Gillian Taylor

She found herself alone in the darkness, only the shallow breathing of her body letting her know that she was still alive. Darkness crept through her pores and, once again, she was filled with the sense of aloneness that had been her constant companion since the setting of the sun.

Hands grasped straws, mental imagery, anything that could keep the night at bay. She knew that it was out there-- the creature that haunted her days as much as it did the nights. It was there, just beyond her closed eyelids, beyond the ever dying embers of the fire. It knew her just as well as she knew it. Now, more than ever, she and it were old friends.

There have been times that she screamed into the night, 'LEAVE ME!' But it seemed that the forest was answering her in a painful mimicry of his voice with a low chuckle. It would not leave her, just as she could not leave it. Their lives were as entwined as that of the Earth and the Moon. One cannot survive without the other, just as she could not survive without it.

'Why?' she chose to ask once, and a deep voice answered, 'Why not?' Tears pricked her eyes and a tightness gripped her throat for she knew in that moment that their lives were infinitely entwined. She would never be truly alone while it was there, but she could never be rid of it. It hurt her more than she could imagine in a burning pain that lurked in her gut each time she ventured away from the campfire.

She knew that if she left the woods and returned home, it would dissipate and he would be no more. If she went home, he would still be gone...and even his memory, the tantalizing hint of his essence that lurked beyond the campfire, would dissipate. Here, he was as real as she wanted or needed him to be. In Washington, only her memories of him would remain.

She rested a hand over her abdomen, where in a few short months she would begin to show the new life that they had created together. She was a woman barren, but now through some unspoken miracle she carried a child within her. Part of her sang with joy while yet another buried itself further in sorrow that the child's father would not be there through the first few months that she needed him the most.

She had created the campsite near to where he had been taken from her, hoping against hope that he would return to the same place shortly...that she would be able to be the first one to welcome him back. However, after two weeks, the only thing that she found was a hint of him, something that her mind created for her so she wouldn't be so alone.

"Agent Scully?" a familiar voice asked from somewhere behind her and she turned, drawing her weapon from its holster.

"Scully, its Skinner," he stopped where he was, concern the only emotion that she could discern from his taciturn expression. "I've come to take you home."

"Keep away from me," her voice was rusty from disuse, "I won't leave him." The unspoken 'like you did' echoed through the almost silent woods.

Skinner's face reflected hurt and a deep-seated anguish that she refused to acknowledge. Her hormones were running rampant, especially now that she knew what had happened to her. She was pregnant.

And her baby's father was gone.

"Scully, you're malnourished. Please, come with me. Your mother is waiting for you at the hotel..." he began.

"NO! I'm not going anywhere with you," her eyes sparked with an inner fury, her anguish translating into a false accusation towards the Assistant Director.

Pain flashed in his gaze as he met her own, acknowledging the accusation from her. It was true. He had failed her, doubly so when he had failed to bring back Agent Mulder to her and to their baby. "Scully, for the baby..."

She glared at him, defiantly pulling out a container of pre-natal vitamins. "As you can see, sir," she spat out the last word as if it left a foul taste in her mouth, "I am taking care of myself. And I am not malnourished. I have been eating three meals a day, hearty meals by my standards. I have been taking my pre-natal vitamins. But I am not leaving here until Mulder comes back." She popped a few of the vitamins into her mouth, downing them with water from her canteen.

"Scully, please...this isn't good for you..." he tried again.

"With all due respect, Sir," Scully said harshly, "You can go to hell."

Skinner winced at her tone, "Scully, please, we're only worried about you. How do you think Mulder would feel if he knew what you were doing to yourself? Please, come back to the hotel at least and let your mother help." He might have failed Mulder before, but he would be damned if he would fail him now in not watching over Scully.

Scully knew that he was only trying to help her, but she really didn't care. She had to be here when he came back. She HAD to. "No."

He decided to try a new tactic, "It might be easier to look for him from DC, the Gunmen can help us. I can use my contacts to help. Staying here in Bellefleur won't bring him back, Scully. It will only hurt you and in turn hurt him. Come back...and we can find him together. And you'll be there for him when he comes home."

Skinner could tell that he had hit a nerve with his last sentence. Scully's lips tightened and it appeared as if her eyes were watering. "I...I can't leave. Sir, this is the last link that I have to him."

He could feel his heart shattering in a million pieces with that heart-felt confession. His eyes closed as he attempted to fight off the raging guilt that lurked in his psyche, "Oh Scully...it's not the last link that you have to him. You have more than this. This? This is a forest, not a link to Mulder. This is a place where he last was, but he isn't *here.* He's right there," he pointed at her heart, "And partly here," he pointed at her ever growing abdomen, "You haven't truly lost him, Scully. And you never will. Come back to Washington, and we'll get him back. I promise."

A heavy sob escaped her control and Skinner awkwardly pulled her to him, offering her what comfort he could. He stroked her hair and murmured comfortingly to the sobbing woman he held in his arms. Damn Them for doing this to her, to them. Damn the Cigarette Smoking Bastard for all of this.

"I'll come back," Scully whispered into his chest, "For Mulder."

They would find Mulder and bring him home.

He swore it.


The End

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