Title: This was it... Author: phoenix99 Category: Angst (as usual for my stories) MSR Rated: R Summery: ummm, god I hate summaries, OK, there's a deal made and guns and some people cry. Archive: anywhere, everywhere Disclaimer: I am Chris Carter! I am DAMMIT! So there! I own the X-FIles! I own Mulder, I own Scully... oh wait... I'm sorry, I got kinda carried away there... X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X This was it.... He was sure it was her. This time he knew it. He could tell by the way she walked. The way her hair fell onto her shoulders in dark brown waves. The way she was silhouetted against the glow of the street lights. He couldn't have known any of these attributes from experience, but they still felt familiar to him. This was it.... Although he couldn't hear her, he could feel his partner shifting uncertainly behind him. Shifting from one three inch heel to another, unsure of the events that were slowly unfolding before them. She'd understood from the moment the offer had been made that it was up to her to stay alert since Mulder was too emotionally involved to react appropriately if anything went wrong. This was it.... When the offer had been made, they hadn't been sure of what to do. Accepting an offer from the people they had been fighting for many years was not something to be taken lightly. They had been fooled before, and the pain it had caused had taken a long time to heal. But they had talked about this a great deal and had agreed on what had to be done. Even though what they were asking was impossible, and what they offered was equally improbable. Their offer was to release her -- if they back off. From the X-Files... from the FBI... from everything. They accepted their offer, knowing that backing off entirely from their quest was not an option; they would discuss their situation after tonight. This was it.... Mulder was standing in the middle of the street, the misty air making his hair spike and giving his face a sweaty moistened look. He was perfectly still as he watched the figure approach him from down the street about twenty yards away. It was dark and the street was shiny from the recent rain, but Scully could see in the dim light and foggy air that it was indeed the person they had come to meet. At least, it was a woman who looked just like her, just like the clones had looked. Except this person looked more haggard. This woman seemed older than Scully, which was not possible since they were roughly the same age. Mulder took one cautious step forward, then another, until he was walking forward so they would meet halfway between their car and the dark SUV parked farther down the street. This was it.... Scully now found herself walking as well. Slowly down the sidewalk in the shadows created by the dark buildings that lined the street. She kept up with Mulder so she could partly see his face and still keep an eye on the woman approaching him. Glancing at the SUV confirmed her suspicions. The dark figures were still leaning against it. There were two of them. They hadn't moved the entire time, and that fact made Scully all the more cautious. They were very close now and they both stopped simultaneously about ten feet away from each other. This was it.... Scully's eyes flickered from the two figures in the street to the men against the car. They seemed to straighten, suddenly interested in what was happening. Scully had stopped as well, but she stayed in the shadows. "Sam?" His voice was a whisper, but Scully heard it like a scream. It sounded harsh in the cold silence that lay upon the city like a shroud. This wasn't right. Scully glanced at the two men; both were watching with unabashed interest.... "Fox?" The woman's voice was questioning. Mulder stepped forward, reaching his shaking hand out to her as he whispered her name again, except this time it sounded more like a sob. This was it.... And that's when Scully saw it. It -- the corner revealing itself millimeter by millimeter as her hand seemingly caressed it in her coat pocket as she drew it out. This was it... The ensuing moments played out as if in slow motion. Each movement dragging out for a century. Scully's hand went to her side and Sam glanced at her. Mulder's gaze flickered over at his partner and his face contorted in horror as she drew her gun. The woman opposite Mulder jerked the concealed object from her pocket. Mulder's gaze shifted back to Samantha just in time to see the gun and her delicate figure tightening on the trigger. Then she was falling. Her body floating like a weightless leaf to the hard asphalt of the road. The sound of the shot seemed delayed and when it reached their ears, it rang loud in the air and hung there as if suspended in time. The skidding of tires wasn't heard by anyone as the SUV hydroplaned on the wet road, making its escape. Its back lights dimmed and then vanished in the distance. Mulder's motionless form stood before the crumpled body of the woman, his unseeing eyes fixed on her. It was raining again. Great torrential sheets of water droplets that felt like the size of golf balls. It seemed like an attempt to wash away all physical evidence of what had just happened. Scully held her breath, as if it's very release would cause some even greater cosmic event. She took a small step towards him just as his knees gave out, the invisible burden weighting on his shoulder's becaming too much to bear. He dropped his head to the side, and slowly lifted his sister's head into his lap. He held her quitely, and Scully dared not approach. He was silent for a long time... or maybe it was no time at all, neither of them could be certain. 911 had been phoned and Scully slid her cell phone back into her coat pocket, but she knew Sam was dead. But it couldn't have really been her. They would never have sent Samantha. Not the real one. She heard herself questioning him; her voice sounding weak and pleading to her own ears. Telling him that it wasn't her. That it couldn't have been. But he was shaking his head; hurling drops of water off his head, which were instantly replaced by more drops since the rain hadn't given up at all. He smoothed the slick brown hair back from the woman's face, brushing across a small white scar on her left cheek. As he did this Scully heard him murmuring something about a seesaw. Then his fingers traveled over a scar on her right elbow and she made out the word bike through his slurred speech. And she thought, what if this really is her? She is dead. Her shot had killed her. Had killed Mulder's sister. This was it. She had killed the focus of his quest. A quest he had been on for most of his life. The force that had shaped who he was and why he lived was now dead by her hand. She felt like she was going to be sick. Her stomach twisted into itself until she was almost bending over from its pain. And he was sobbing. She could hear him mumbling in between choked breaths "this was her." She told herself, I saved his life... she had a gun and was going to kill him. I did what was right. Mulder was was still silent, his hair plastered to his head as the water ran down in rivulets and mixed with his tears. She could not watch him cry and, not feeling able to comfort him, she looked down at the road. There she watched with morbid fascination as the warm, red blood mix with the cool, clear rainwater, making a pinkish river. The tinted stream made its way towards her feet and she stepped aside, not wanting to confront the life seeping out of the woman in Mulder's arms. She wanted to touch him. To comfort him, but was unsure if she should. She hesitated many times, not feeling confident enough to reach out to him. When she did finally lay a cautious hand on his shoulder, he spun around and locked gazes with her. His eyes burned with anger and she quickly removed her hand and stepped back from him, nervously. This was it.... He looked quickly at his dead sister then back at her. "Scully... " His voice cracked and he shook his head. "How could you have done this? I don't understand... why you would have killed her...." He turned back to her, his eyes growing dark and his voice rose, "...you killed my sister...". He got up to face her, but Scully stood her ground. She wasn't going to run from him now. "I have spent my entire life searching...." "Mulder," she tried to hide the fear in her voice. "She was going to shoot you. She had a gun and she was going to kill you." He shook his head in denial, even as he looked down at her lifeless body, the shiny metal weapon still in her hand. "No... no, Scully." He was looking to her with pleading eyes, but she knew she had to give him the truth. "Yes Mulder, you saw it. She was aiming at your chest. Would you have rather had me do nothing? Let her shoot you?" She was struggling with him, trying to get him to understand, trying to convince him and herself of what had happened. He took a menacing step forward so he was less then a foot away. He loomed over her; the anger in his eyes bore through her. "She was not going to shoot me." He said, voice still wavering in his emotional state. Suddenly he pulled out his own gun, aiming the barrel at her face. She held her ground as she watched the gun quiver in his shaky grasp. "Maybe you should die too. Life for a life." "You want to kill me, Mulder?" She suddenly felt bold; his harsh words had given her a sense of euphoria, like she had nothing to lose. "Fine. End this whole thing. Pull the trigger and end these seven years." This was it.... He paused a moment and she pushed on. "I have stood by you, no matter what happened. Whenever I disagreed with what you were doing, I still trusted you. And when you have to face the unknown I will always be there to watch your back." Mulder's expression changed slightly and the gun lowered. He grimaced as if in pain but before Scully could reach out to him the cold metal barrel was soon moved to a new location under his chin. "No, Mulder! Don't do that, don't give up." She wanted to reach out, to comfort him, to hold him, but he was so close to the edge. Teetering on the precipice. "I'm sorry this had to happen to you.... You don't deserve this Mulder, but killing yourself is not the answer. Mulder.... Please put down the gun." "Why would she want to kill me, Scully? I'm her brother... I just wanted us to be together again." He was crying uncontrollably now, and she feared the force of his shaking body might set off the gun he held in a death grip. "I know Mulder... but we don't know if that was really her... it may not have been...." But they both knew it had been. Not just the identifying marks that Mulder had pointed out; they had both felt it, seen it in her eyes. "It was her, Scully. It was her. But why? I-I don't understand. Why would she want to kill me.... I only wanted us to be a family again.... I only wanted to save her." She stepped toward him but he stepped back. She was crying just as hard as he was now and could barely see him through the rain and tears. "Please, Mulder.... Please don't do this. You can't go out like this. There is so much left to do. Think of all the lives we have to save...." But he didn't seem to care as he squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself for what he thought was the final answer. This was it.... "Mulder, you can't leave me here. If you die, I die. I will not stay here without you... Mulder... Mulder, I love you. And if you end your life then you're ending mine too." He went perfectly still and Scully held her breath. Everything was still and the only sound was that of the rain still trying to beat them down. Suddenly he let go of the gun as if it had burnt him and it clattered loudly to the ground. They both stood frozen for a second, their brains processing what had just happened, how close they had come. He began to shake again and Scully was instantly by his side. She caught him in her arms as they sunk to the ground together. They didn't hear the sirens approaching, and they didn't notice the EMTs rush over to the dead woman lying on the street beside them. They weren't able to respond to the questions from the various people buzzing around the crime scene. They just sat there on the wet road, curled around each other, taking comfort in each other's presence. Only when Skinner arrived were they convinced to be driven home. X<>X<>X<>X He had pushed his way to the middle of the chaos, finding his two agents wrapped around each other like blankets. He hadn't known what had happened but when he saw their state and the body that was being loaded into the coroner's van he realized. He insisted on driving them home himself and they didn't argue when he finally got through to them. They only nodded in acceptance. He led them to his car and helped them into the back seat. When he pulled the car away from the crime scene, Mulder asked in a quiet voice, so quiet Skinner thought he might have imagined it, to go to Scully's. When he glanced at her she nodded in agreement. They drove in silence. He occasionally checked the rear view mirror, secretly watching the two agents in the back. Mulder's head was resting on her shoulder and her head rested on his. He couldn't tell if they were crying or talking in low voices; the sound of the rain on the metallic surface of the car was almost deafening and Scully's hair obscured any view of their faces. He could see their joined hands in Scully's lap and Mulder's arm around her waist. This was it.... Skinner slowed to a stop in front of her building. Neither agent moved to leave, so he thought he would wait. But he couldn't watch this. The two of them, his arm around her.... "Agents." His voice was firm as that of their boss, but soft and gentle like a good friend. They seemed startled by his voice but, realizing where they were, they began to exit the vehicle. At least Scully knew where they were; Mulder only followed her, his eyes glazed over, looking unsure of what was happening. Skinner told them that they could give a statement in the morning and to take as much time as they needed. She nodded, not really hearing him; she saw his lips move, but the sound they produced was irrelevant to either of them. He watched sadly as they stumbled up the stairs to her building, Mulder leaning on Scully's small frame, she leaning back to balance out the weight. Skinner sighed as they finally slipped through the door. He didn't wait any longer. Turning out onto the street he drove straight home. Because he knew that this was it. --END-- X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X I'd love to hear from you... xphoenix99@hotmail.com