TITLE: False Visions AUTHOR: Marlen EMAIL: crmv@aol.com RATING: PG KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully romance CLASSIFICATION: Vignette, Scully Angst SPOILERS: Small one for Orison, but set in Season 8 DISTRIBUTION: Gossamer, Xemplary, and Ephemeral okay. Others please ask so I may visit. DISCLAIMER: Sadly, the characters of The X-Files belong to CC, 1013 Production, and FOX. Otherwise I never would have had Mulder gone for so long! SUMMARY: Is he real? THANKS: I want to thank Georgia and Lenore for their quick beta. You guys are the best! NOTES AT END False Visions By Marlen Written on 12/20/2000 Exhausted from yet another dead-end lead, she walks through the front door of her apartment and unceremoniously throws her keys into their usual place on the kitchen counter. The old Dana Scully would have placed them neatly on the key rack, but ever since Mulder's disappearance, she hasn't been the same person. The order of neatness she kept in her world had been shattered with the realization that he was really gone and in a cruel twist of fate had left her with child ... his child. Tears sting her eyes as she thinks about how happy other women would be at the thought of a new life entering the world, but she can't let herself enjoy the experience of pregnancy -- not without him. She wipes the wetness off her cheek and thinks to herself that if her colleagues could see her now, all weepy and emotional, they would never believe their eyes. To them and the rest of the world, she is a strong and capable agent who can handle any situation. Some of them have said that she is a better agent now that Mulder isn't holding her back. That can't be further from the truth. It's all a façade. She longs for his tender touches, his loving kisses, and his warm embrace, but now she feels lost and alone. Her fears for him and for the baby grow greater with each sleepless night. Her thoughts are interrupted by a swift kick from the baby. Scully remembers that she really isn't alone and places a hand on her protruding belly. He or she is probably hungry and greets her touch with another kick. She hasn't eaten since breakfast. She smiles and whispers to her unborn child, "Impatient, just like your father. Okay, okay, food coming up." The movement ceases. Her smile fades when she hears a noise coming from the bedroom. She is not alone. She rushes to the counter to retrieve her gun. As she removes it from the holster, her eyes fixate on the door. Flashes of Pfaster attacking her last year come to mind and her breath hitches. She knows it can't be him, but she also knows she can't fight in the condition she's in. With one hand holding the gun and the other on her stomach, as if to protect her unborn child, she approaches the bedroom door. She quietly listens for any movement to indicate where in the room her intruder might be. There it is again, the creak of her bed. She pulls her head back. In her bed? What kind of sick pervert gets off on that? No one is going to violate her home. With deftness and speed, she opens the door and points her weapon at the intruder. "Stop. FBI ..." Her command is cut off by the vision before her. Sprawled out on her bed is the man she's only seen in her dreams for the past few months. She doesn't believe what she is seeing. She closes her eyes and sighs heavily. This can't be happening, she repeats over and over in her head like a chant. She's not this lucky. She shakes her head and says quietly, "Great. I'm seeing things now." She walks away from the room and rationalizes her vision by saying, "It's stress and lack of sleep. Yes. That's it, I need more sleep." However, as she returns to the kitchen and places her gun on the counter, she hears, "It's me, Scully." She groans, puts her hands over her ears and squeezes her eyes shut. "Stop it! Stop it! You're just a figment of my imagination." She stills when she feels his large, warm hands over hers, gently pulling them away from her ears. Tears spill from underneath her lashes and she's shaking terribly. "Go away," she begs the apparition. "Scully," he says again in a pleading voice. "Look at me." She complies and opens her eyes to look at him. With a trembling voice she says, "Is this real? Or is this a dream and I'm going to wake up alone again." He bends to kiss a tear traveling down her cheek. "It's real." He kisses her other cheek. "I'm here." He kisses the tip of her nose. "You'll never be alone again." She finally believes. She cups his face in her hands and with tears flowing down her face, smiles widely and says, "I'm never letting you out of my sight again." He matches her wide smile. "I can live with that." They seal the deal with a kiss. ~the end~ AUTHORS NOTES: This came out of a challenge posted on the I Want To Believe mailing list. A lot of great stories came out of this writing exercise and I hope you enjoyed my version on how Mulder should come back to us.