Category: case file, MSR, RST, and some angst.
Rating: R +
Summary with part 1
 

I found myself unable to draw my thoughts from Scully, even as I walked
away.  The glaring fluorescence and green-gray shadows of the corridors
I trod added an appropriate level of strangeness to my thinking.

Unhappily, now that I knew she was closer to human than I'd guessed, I
didn't know how to deal with her.  Her imagined perfection had injected
distance into the act of sex, long before the actual act took place.
Despite the fact that it had always been about love, and a kind of
subtle worship, whatever was between us had never seeped into
normalcy.  Now love would, of necessity, evolve into a shared life of
some kind, or we would have destroyed it.  And however extraordinary
our life, sharing one with another, in the intimacy of the commonplace,
would make both lives ordinary.

It also occurred to me that in thinking Scully perfect, I had
underestimated her.

To my mind's relief I reached my office before I could pursue this line
of thinking.  I called Dom's answering service.

"It's Mulder.  We're going to need to visit with Jeff White first thing
tomorrow.  I'll meet you at the prison."

***

Jeff White was being held in a neat little cell-like prison hospital
ward.  They'd had him in a straitjacket when we'd visited previously.
He seemed naked and fragile without it.

He barely looked up as we entered.

"Dr. White," Dom began, looking huge and awkward against the blank
white walls, "we need to ask you a few more questions about the murders
you've confessed to."

"I've confessed as much as I plan to confess."

"Fair enough Dr. White.  We're interested in some of the circumstances
of those murders.  Specifically the murder of Charles Scully."

"And?"

"Charles Scully attempted to shoot you several times.  What can you
tell us about that?"

"Nothing."

"Did he hit you?"

"I cannot recall."

I took over from Dom.  "Your blood was at the crime scene, Dr. White.
You say you don't recall what happened there?"

He spoke reluctantly, although he didn't appear to be afraid of the
consequences.  "Fine.  I recall.  I believe he did shoot me."

"Where?"

"I don't know.  Perhaps the leg.  Or abdomen."  I sensed Dom's
quizzical look and the stab of things being not quite right.  Not that
things can be quite right when a homicidal maniac is involved.  But
this was a new kind of weird.

"Will you submit to an examination?"

"If necessary."

I went to find a doctor to perform the exam.  Dom nodded as I left the
room.  His large body provided a vivid contrast to Jeff White's frame,
so I had no qualms about leaving them alone.

***

When I returned the room was swathed in blood.

I reached instinctively for my SIG.  Jeff White was slumped in a pool
on the floor.  Dom was seated in a corner, bloodstained, blank-eyed and
pale. The doctor behind me gasped.  She paused while I confirmed this
was no ploy, and then gingerly leaned over Dr. White's body.  There was
never any chance that he was alive.

The blood made the floor slippery as I approached Dom.

"Dom."  His eyes focused slightly.  "What the hell happened?"  Dom
didn't reply.  I had seen him face numerous grisly deaths.  While he
didn't have Scully's iron stomach, he was solid and dependable.

"What happened?"  I turned to the doctor.

"He's been stabbed.  Or he stabbed himself," she replied shakily.

"Don't move him."

"I know."  I had irritated her.

"Check that my partner's OK."   I looked over at Dom.  At that point he
stood up slowly.

"I'm fine."  It was odd to hear his deep voice intoning Scully's
words.  I was relieved.  "I was just a little shaken."

"Looks like you're in shock," offered the doctor helpfully.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He pulled a blade.  I thought he was coming for me.  He sliced himself
open right in front of me."

"Ritual suicide?  Did he say anything?"

"Nothing."

"OK."  I took out my cell and called the bureau.  Then I turned to the
doctor.

"I need the room cordoned off.  Can you make sure that's done?"

"We have a procedure.  I'll see to it."

She was glad to leave the room to us.

"I'm going to ask Scully to autopsy Dr. White."

Dom was still pale.  Although he said nothing I felt the need to
explain.

"I trust her."  I was unsurprised to discover this was still more than
true.  "And there's certain aspects of this I want her to look into."

"Such as?"

I was interrupted by a soft "hello."  A young nurse stood outside the
door, proffering a steaming cup of tea for Dom.  It appeared the doctor
had a streak of kindness.  Dom and I walked out together as the crime
scene team pulled up.  As we rounded the corner he bumped clumsily into
the wall and tea slopped over his hand.  Apparently it had cooled
already.  He didn't appear to notice.

***

I was visiting Gabe and Imogen when Mulder called me.

"Scully."

"Scully, it's me."

My script for this conversation had been erased in the last months and
I couldn't determine what I was supposed to be saying.  He continued.
"I need you to do an autopsy for me."

He wouldn't ask unless it was important.  "Of course."

"On Jeff White."

"Oh.  How did he die?"  Imogen was suddenly silent, as though she
understood death already.

"He committed hara-kiri half way through our interview."  He sensed my
surprise.  "Dom was in with him and couldn't stop him."

"You have him in the morgue there?"

"Yep."

"I'll come out now."  I looked at Imogen apologetically.

"Thanks Scully."  We disconnected.

"Something's going on?"  Steadfast concern glimmered in Gabe's eyes.

"Jeff White committed hara-kiri this afternoon."

"Jeff?"  Gabe looked slightly incredulous, which meant he was extremely
incredulous.

"Yep.  So it's really all over now."  I wanted to be reassuring, but
Gabe continued to puzzle over something.  He toyed with Imogen's low
hanging Noah's ark mobile and she eyed him critically before tugging
viciously at the fat hippopotamus which dangled before her.

When he spoke he sounded thoughtful.  "I know he was insane.  And that
makes a difference I suppose.  But Jeff... he was always something of a
wimp.  Y'know he scraped his knee he was in his mother's arms for
hours."

"Really."  I bit my lip as I ruminated.  "When I shot him he seemed to
be completely oblivious to pain."

"I guess things change."  Gabe shrugged, but his eyes were still
serious.  He scooped Imogen up and rescued the hippo by letting her tug
on his beard.

"I need to go in to do the autopsy."

"Mulder going to be there?"

"I imagine so.  He called me."

Gabe frowned a little, and reached to place a steady hand on my
shoulder.  He had spent too much time with me not to be aware of how
Mulder affected me.

"Be careful, Dana."

"Sure."  He handed me my bag and jacket.

"Bye poss."  I bent and kissed her silky head.  Imogen took the
opportunity to grab at my hair with sticky baby fingers.  "I'll see you
both soon." Gabe smiled encouragingly.

I had to pry Imogen from my hair to leave, which made things seem worse
than they were.

***

Mulder moved away from the table and leaned against the opposite wall
of the morgue as I examined the outside of Jeff White's almost
bloodless body.  He kept his eyes on me.  After a moment he chuckled a
little.  I raised my face in a question.

"You couldn't give this up?"  He waved a hand to the cool dark room and
the body, laid out on the table and glaringly ugly.

"I'm good at this.  I like it.  Well, I don't like this exactly."  His
eyes teased me and I was so delighted I grinned at him.  "It's your
fault, you know.  You introduced me to alien hybrids and flukemen and
zombies.  How can I be happy with normal anatomy?  Speaking of which."
I directed Mulder's glance to the dead man's abdomen.  "There's a
gunshot wound here."

"That's in addition to the three we gave him?"

"Uhm-hmm.  This one's older and it's been stitched up much less
skillfully.  Look at the scarring."  It was ragged and garish.  "I
think maybe he stitched himself up."

"Impressive."  Mulder moved into my space and peered at the body.

"Especially for a guy Gabe considered a wimp."

"So this was new?"  He towered over me but I refused to step back
although I had to tilt my head precariously to look him in the eye.

"He was insane, Mulder."

"Yeah."  The word spilled out slowly but he was thinking furiously.  I
reveled in the pleasure of watching his mind work once again.  "There's
a theory of possession, Scully, where the spirit merely dominates the
body of its victim and doesn't bond with it in any sense. So while the
spirit is limited to using the strengths of the body it's possessing it
is completely unaffected by harm done to the body, unless, obviously,
that harm results in death."

"And you think Jeff White was possessed?"  My dubiousness was partly
genuine.

"It's a theory.  It would explain how he managed to continue even after
you'd shot him.  At least until we took his legs.  The spirit doesn’t
care what you do to its victims body.  It’s completely expendable."

"So where's this spirit now?"

"I don't know.  There must be some act of transference involved."

"The ritual suicide."  "The seppuku"  We spoke at once.

Somehow it seemed certain now.  I wanted to curse Mulder for being
right, but I was also enjoying the old analytical process.

Until it ended up back where it started.  "Which means..."

"Dom."  Mulder's breath met mine as I turned toward him.  I didn't need
to say it.  Imogen... Gabe...

"Where is Dom?"

"I sent him home."

I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and dialed Gabe's number.

"Hey, this is Juliana."  I breathed thanks for this sign of life.

"Juliana.  I need you to lock the doors and not let anyone in.  We
think someone's after Gabe and Imogen."

"Sure Dana.  Sure.  But we're good.  Mulder's partner came over a few
min...."

Mulder knew before our eyes even met.

I spoke quickly.  "OK.  I need you to keep Gabe and Imo away from him.
He won't want to hurt you, just the others."

"Dom?" she asked.

"Yes."  I trusted my instincts and told her more.  "We have reason to
believe he's possessed.  Please go Jule.  We'll be there in ten
minutes."

***

I kept the accelerator pressed to the car floor and we made it in eight.

Scully reached the front door before I did and pushed it open before
plunging inside.

"Gabe?"

Before she entered the living room she glanced back at me.  They were
all there.

"Hey guys," Scully said, in a voice which rang falsely in my trained
ear.

Gabe grinned with relief and exhaled softly.

"Dana!  Mulder!"  Juliana was slightly more sprightly than would appear
to be normal.  Charlie was sitting on Juliana's belly, twittering to
herself.

We all paused awkwardly and viewed each other for a fraction.  Then
Scully approached Dom.

"Hey Dom.  I heard about what happened today.  How are you feeling?"
Her concern for him was evident but her muscles were still and tension
rippled in the air.

As Dom responded noncommittally Scully's eyes flickered across the room
to mine.  In that instant Dom moved.  His left arm shot out, reaching
for Juliana.  As Gabe went to grab him, his right arm swung across, and
the knife he held sliced Gabe's forearm.  Scully and I simultaneously
pulled our guns and aimed them at him.  His knife grazed Juliana's
throat.  Imogen let out a squawk.

Every eye in the room turned to Imogen, still wrapped in Juliana's
arms, her face pressed to Juliana's chest, a knife three inches above
her honey-colored head.

I looked up at Dom, or at least, Dom's body.  He spoke without color.

"There is a child I must repay for what was done to me.  Burning for
burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.  Which of you is the one?"

Juliana's eyes were bright above Imogen's head.

"It's me," said Gabe quietly.

"Gabe," Scully protested.  I couldn't turn and look at her, but her
expression was already etched in my mind.

I took a step forward and Dom's head turned slightly.  He pressed the
knife into Juliana's skin.  "Stay still, Agent Mulder."

Gabe's voice was quiet and steady.  "Please let Juliana and the baby
go.  I'm all you want."

"You are Gabriel Duncan."  Clearly the spirit in Dom did not know all
that Dom knew.

"Robert Duncan's son."

"Good.  You have been hard to locate."

In that second Dom pushed Juliana toward Scully and lunged forward.  I
fired a fast double tap almost instantaneously and hit Dom twice in the
chest.    Almost instantaneously was too late.  Dom thrust his knife
through Gabe's ribcage until only the butt was showing and collapsed.

"Blood for blood."

As Dom tumbled back two feet and fell to his knees some kind of
supernatural howling erupted in the room.  The vengeance spirit was
unsatisfied and must have become aware that there were people it was
sworn to inflict vengeance upon who remained alive.  But it was too
late for Dom and the spirit could not be transferred.

As the howling died it reverberated with Imogen's helpless sobbing.
Juliana gave Gabe's shuddering body a long glance, her soul in her
black eyes, and then carried Imogen out of the room.

I dialed 911 then bent with Scully to aid the two men.

***
 

\\I've seen your flag on the marble arch
But love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah\\

Mulder drove me home from Gabe’s memorial service.  I kept my eyes
closed for the entire trip and didn’t try to stop the flood of images
which my brain projected on the inside of my eyelids: Imogen tottering
on baby legs and gripping Juliana’s skirt as Juliana’s tears dripped on
her soft head.  Juliana’s dark eyes fixed on Gabe’s coffin.

I recalled Dom's sweetness, and his faithful concern for me on such
short acquaintance.

And I recalled Gabe’s face as he polished his Harley, or bathed Imo.
And the way he’d grinned when Imogen chattered incomprehensibly at him,
or when Juliana was nearby.  And the look he gave me while he stepped
forward to save the two things dearest to him.

I was glad to reach home.

In the doorway to my apartment Mulder pulled me close.  I sobbed in
response and he bent his lips to my hair.  For several minutes he held
me and whispered reassurance into my scalp.  When I straightened he
released me.

I kissed him on the lips and asked him to leave.  I promised to call if
I needed anything.

In my sight his eyes were boundless, an ocean of untamed storm clouds
shining above the fathomless green of kelp and whale song.  I wondered
if he knew how I longed to need him.  I wondered if he knew why I
couldn’t let him stay.

Of course he knew.  He always knew.

***

Scully called four days later.  I was there in minutes.

“Please don’t be sweet to me or I’ll cry again.”  Her face pleaded
earnestly and I smiled at her.

“I’ll try.”

“Dinner?”

“Sure.  Want me to get something?”

“No need.  My mom came over and left me with enough to last me several
years.  How do you feel about Beef Stroganoff?  Or Apricot Chicken?”

“Whichever.”  If I never ate again I would be happy because this one
time Scully called on me.

“And wine?”

“You’ve taken to drink?”  She smiled a little and my heart tumbled
about inside my chest.

“How are you, Da... Scully?”  No sweetness. Nothing unnatural.

“I’m fine.  I just need to talk to you about... things.”

I recalled the last time she needed to talk to me and my heart ground
to a halt.

“Dinner first,” she said firmly.  I willed my heart to do its work
again and went to help her in the kitchen.

She made me eat all my vegetables and sat me on the couch before she
continued.

***

Seated next to Mulder I was compelled to reflect on whether I was doing
the right thing, whether there even was a right thing to do.

“I talked with Juliana today.”  I was aware of the question in his
head, and responded swiftly.  “She’s fine really, considering.  She's
mending.  Her sister’s in town.  Imogen’s all right too.”

“Good.”

“I needed to talk to Juliana about Imogen.”  I felt Mulder’s insides
wince and went on immediately.  “Juliana’s going to... keep Imo.”

Saying it didn’t make me feel much better about the decision.

“I... Juliana is a wonderful, perfect mother.  Probably better than I
could be.”

“No...” he started.

“And more than that, I need to take seriously the things which we’ve
uncovered.  It’s... unbelievable to leave Imogen, but Juliana loves her
and I can help but I... I can’t hide in my house with my baby when I am
aware of an imminent threat to humanity.  It’s ... it doesn’t work that
way.”  I wasn’t confident that my decision was the right one and I
couldn’t keep my head from dropping into my hands.  After all we had
never been told that being superheroes was our destiny.

In an instant Mulder was kneeling before me.  He wrapped me in his
arms.

“I have to believe you’re right, Scully.  I have to believe it.  And
with you... with you.”

He didn’t need to finish.  Instead he leaned in to kiss me.

“You’ll get yourself transferred back on to the X-Files, won’t you?”

“Yes.  Skinner signed the transfer papers today.”

We both smiled, and the space between our bodies was filled with an
unexpected blissfully bittersweet contentment.  Our lips met in that
delicate space.

The finite and infinite collided and fractured around us as we found
ourselves and forgot ourselves.

In between kisses he told me of the new information he’d gathered from
the conspiracy theorist in Berkeley and his samples and from Socorro
Aguirre’s secret records.  I responded as cogently as I could until it
was beyond me to concentrate on both sides of Mulder’s boundless
passion. Then I quieted his mouth and slowly made his body tremble.

As he moaned and smiled into my lips I felt my soul being torn down and
rebuilt.  I felt the nerves tightening around my heart, each twist an
agony and a delight.  I felt whole and I felt fragmented.

When he cried out to me I responded in kind, because this shattered
hallelujah was a kind of perfection.  And there was no one
else.

***

I woke before dawn, and Scully was there.  In the still light she
seemed illusory so I reached for her skin.  The unalloyed delight of
touching her compelled me to lie awake.  She moved in her sleep and I
reveled in her substantiality.

I listened to her breathe.
 

***
 

And so it goes.  We offer two lives as ransom.  We lead each other into
the very arms of destruction.  And we hate ourselves for bringing such
danger upon one whom we count as beyond compare.  Yet we will continue,
together, because whether or not we succeed, we can't see anything of
greater import than saving humankind.

And we are lost without the other.

***
 
 

The End.
 

Liked it?  Loved it?  Hated it?  Think I should be excommunicated from
the web?  Please let me know at penelopody@hotmail.com

Note:  I have excerpted from (in order of appearance): the bible, PGO,
PGO, Elvis Costello, PGO, PGO, anonymous Japanese poet, PGO, PGO,
Everything but the Girl, Jeff Buckley.

Note 2: The fact of the assassination of Inajiro Asanuma is true
although I doubt any of the events around it are.

Please feel free to answer any or none of these questions.  They're
really for my benefit.

Any suggestions for the 'action' scenes (my least favorite)?
Particular phraseology you liked or disliked?
Did you connect with the original characters?

Thank you!

***