Afterwards
by Susan

Email: touchstone98@tx.rr.com
Classification: a quiet moment-in-time vignette
Movie: I Want to Believe
Archive: No archive without permission.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to each 
other, not me.

Summary: After Mulder nearly dies, he and Scully 
have a talk.


~~~~

"How are you feeling?" she asks for the third time.

"I'm fine," he replies, though they both know that's 
not exactly true.

The back of his head still tender to the touch, his 
wrist throbbing beneath the bandage tightly wrapped 
around it, he shifts his legs on the bed and leans 
back against the headboard.

She tilts her head, puts her hands on her hips. 
"Nice try, Mulder," she says, leaning over and 
adjusting the pillows behind his back. "But that 
answer doesn't work for me."

He reaches up, cups his good hand behind her neck, 
pulls her towards him for a quick kiss. "You're 
right. I'm not quite back to myself yet...but I 
could be if you let me kiss you again," he teases, 
stroking the soft hair at the base of her neck.

"You need to rest," she states, gently ruffling her 
fingers through his hair, being especially careful 
as she slides her hand down over the back of his 
head. "There's still a lump here," she says quietly.

"I know," he replies, grateful that it's not bigger 
than it actually is. 

"Do you remember anything more about what happened?" 
She sits down on the bed next to him then, kicking 
off her shoes and stretching out her legs next to his.

"After he zapped my neck, it's all pretty much a blur," 
he answers as he closes his eyes and tries to recall 
what happened next.  "I remember you though," he adds, 
opening his eyes and placing his hand on top of hers. 
"My hero."

"If I had gotten there just thirty seconds later, 
he would've...you would've..." She stops talking 
and looks away from him then, pulling her hand 
from underneath his.

"But you didn't get there too late. You knew where 
to find me, and you saved me, Scully." He makes 
her turn towards him, places his palm on her cheek. 
"You saved me, and because you saved me, I'm here 
and I'm okay. *We're* okay."

Tears forming in her eyes, she lays her head against 
his shoulder, drapes her arm across his waist. "Are 
we?"

"You think I'm going to go back now, don't you?"

She thinks a moment, lets out a long sigh. "I can't 
go back to that life, Mulder."

"I'm not asking you to." He begins to stroke her 
hair then, letting the long strands slide between 
his fingers. "But I'm also not completely ruling 
it out."

He feels her body tense up against his, but 
continues to stroke her hair and speak calmly. 
"I'm not going to lie to you. It felt good to be 
out there again, mixing things up, pissing people 
off...but what we have here feels good too, and I 
don't want to mess that up."

She raises her head and looks up at him. "So what 
are you going to do?" 

"To be honest, I don't know...but right now I 
think I should do what my doctor told me to do," 
he replies, smiling as he leans over and kisses 
her on the forehead.

"What's that?"

"Rest." He sinks deeper into the pillows then and 
closes his eyes, feeling grateful that he's still 
alive, that he still has her.

And just as he knew she would, she sinks deeper 
into him, wrapping her arm more tightly around his 
waist, letting him know that she's grateful too.


~end~


Thanks for reading.

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Originally posted October 2011.