Home Again by Decoyly Reply To: decoyly@gmail.com Rating: PG Category: Post-ep, MSR, Angst Spoilers: Home Again Summary: Picks up right where the episode left off. Disclaimer: You know the drill, not mine. :) Author Notes: Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've written, but I felt that after tonight I just could not NOT write something to help ease our broken hearts! I hope you feel a little better after reading it, as I did after writing it. Enjoy. :) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx What could he say? There were no words to make anything better, nothing he could do to bring her mother or the last fifteen years back, and so Mulder did the only thing he could do. He pulled Scully into his arms, fighting back his own tears as he held her. To his surprise, she let him. He didn't know how much longer they sat there on that log, silent, neither one noticing that it was getting cold and night was falling. Everyone else had left hours ago. It was Scully who pulled away first, wiping her eyes and straightening her jacket as she sat up straight. His heart ached to make things right, to pull her back and never let go. "We should go home," she finally said, bending to pick up the urn at her feet before standing up. She began walking back towards the car before he could answer. Mulder caught up to her easily, knowing she would want to get back to work as soon as possible, that she would need something to keep her mind off of a heartbreak that would never truly heal. "I'll finish the paperwork on the Trash Man tonight, and give it to Skinner tomorrow," he said, wishing he could convince her to take some time off. She nodded, a far-off look in her eye as he opened the car door for her and she got in. The drive back was mostly in silence, each of them lost to their own thoughts. Only when he took the exit for her apartment did Scully seem to snap out of it. "Mulder?" "Yeah?" She sounded confused and he cast her a worried glance before looking back at the road. It had begun to rain and traffic was picking up. "Where are we going?" "I thought you said you wanted to go home." Had she changed her mind? Did she want to go back to work already, right now? "I did," she said. "I do." "I figured this was the fastest way back to your apartment," Mulder said, putting on his turn signal to pass a semi and an old pickup truck that had seen better days. He upped the speed on the windshield wipers as the first hints of snow began mixing with the rain. Just what they needed. More snow. "Not my apartment," Scully said softly. "Home." For a confused moment, Mulder didn't understand. Did she mean Maggie's? As he mentally began running over the map in his mind, trying to redirect to the quickest way to her mother's, he realized Scully was looking at him. "Scully?" He couldn't take his eyes off the road long enough to get a read on her face. But he could feel her gaze, sense her in a way that was, and always would be, only Scully. "Mulder, if I've learned anything over these past few days, it's that life's too short." Scully paused, looking down at the urn in her lap. "And I can't keep running every time things get hard." "Scully, you're the strongest person I've ever met," Mulder answered, wishing he could have pulled over for this conversation. Or at least that the weather and traffic would cooperate. "I've never known you to run from anything. Well, unless it's black helicopters in a cornfield, but that was extreme circumstances." He shot her a grin, hoping to brighten her spirits. She let out a sad laugh. "I mean it, Mulder..." Her words, what she was really saying, suddenly sunk in and it was a good thing he was already slowing to let a minivan into their lane or Mulder might have driven right off the road. "Scully..." he drifted off, afraid to say it out loud. Afraid he was hearing her wrong. "This isn't grief speaking," she said, reading his mind like she did so well. "Trust me." He looked at her, really looked at her, and quietly answered, "I always trust you, Scully." And he always would. They may have had their ups and downs over the years, but if there was one thing Mulder and Scully could agree on, it was that they would always be there for each other. The simple fact of the matter came down to one thing: Mulder loved Scully and Scully loved Mulder. And nothing, no conspiracy, no monster, no horrors yet to be faced or even their own stubbornness and self-doubt would ever change that. They were stronger together than they ever would be alone, and in that moment they both knew it. "Scully, are you sure?" Mulder asked as they approached the next exit. He needed her to be sure, needed to know that he wasn't taking advantage of her vulnerable state before he let himself even begin to believe what she was saying. Because once that wall came down, once he gave into even a glimmer of hope, he knew he would never be able to go back. "I'm sure." Scully took a deep breath and let it out slowly, ridding herself of a constant weight she'd been holding onto for far too long. "Let's go home again, Mulder." Her words struck a chord so deep it brought tears to his eyes. He quickly blinked them away. Mulder took the next exit, redirecting their way down a path he'd never expected. One he knew he did not deserve, but would cherish for as long as he lived. "Home again it is." * * * As she stood next to her husband and daughter, Melissa, watching the car turn back around, Maggie Scully smiled. It wasn't the way she'd expected, certainly not how she would have wished it, but in the end it didn't matter. Her daughter would be fine. And so would the man who loved her more than life itself. With a satisfied nod, Maggie turned and followed her family home, knowing that one day soon enough they would all be together again. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The End. *sniff* *insert group hug here*