Warmer Climate
by Namarie

Spoilers: IWTB
Rating: PG
Category: VRA
Keywords: Missing scene, MSR
Summary: Moving from the cold of a rescue scene on a winter's night
to the start of a tropical getaway...
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, the TV show, or the movie
(!).
Archive: Sure, but please ask permission first.
Feedback: Would be lovely! Reach me at pomme_noire@hotmail.com

Author's Note: I just couldn't stop thinking about M&S after I saw
IWTB, so I decided to try my hand at filling in a few of the blanks
that the movie left. The first part especially didn't really end up
like I thought it would, but I hope it still works okay.

Also, huge thanks to Dasha for her immensely helpful comments!

~~~~~~~

She finished up as quickly as she could in good conscience, trying
mostly successfully to put Mulder out of her mind until she was
done. The young woman seemed to be stable, at least, and she was
out of the ice bath and warming up. The paramedics were on their
way. There was nothing to be done for the man who had been awaiting
the woman's body. Scully shuddered slightly, and turned back to her
charge. She made sure that the blankets were wrapped around her
securely before finally allowing herself to go and check on Mulder.

Scully stopped at the edge of the barn, taking in the scene before
her with a mixture of amusement and affection: Skinner had wrapped
his coat around his former agent and was holding him in his arms,
murmuring encouragement. For his part, Mulder was silent, though
his shivering was visible from even this distance away.

She didn't remain a spectator for long. "How's he doing?"

Skinner looked up, seeming mostly unembarrassed to be discovered
with his arms around Mulder. "He's cold, he's got some cuts, and he
seems a little out of it, but I think he'll be all right," he
reported.

Scully crouched down next to them, and Skinner carefully
transferred Mulder into her arms, his coat still wrapped around
him. "Mulder?"

His eyes opened. "Scully? Is... is the girl all right?" he asked,
voice slurred.

"She's gonna be fine, Mulder," Scully assured him. "Can you tell me
what happened to you?"

"They injected me with something," he mumbled. "Then Axe Man over
there dragged me out here to the chopping block." He tried to twist
around to look at the kidnapper who was still unconscious on the
ground, but winced and gave up. "Nice shot, by the way."

Scully smiled, pushing a lock of almost-frozen hair out of his
face. "I guess those baseball lessons finally came in handy." 

He chuckled in agreement, and then his eyes drifted closed. "Sorry,
Scully... can't seem to stay awake."

"I want you to try to stay awake until the paramedics get here,
Mulder," Scully told him, "so you can tell them where you're hurt.
Okay?"

"Okay." Mulder opened his eyes again with effort. "That animal
tranquilizer stuff works pretty well on humans, too, though."

Skinner moved to pull Mulder's attacker into a sitting position,
cuffing him to the wooden pole as he groaned slightly. As he did
so, distant sirens could be heard getting louder, to Scully's
relief. She thought of the young woman alone inside the building,
and with a twinge of guilt she asked Skinner to stay with Mulder
while she went to check on her. "I'll be right back," she whispered
to Mulder, kissing him carefully on the part of his forehead that
wasn't covered in blood.

As Skinner bent down to his level again, Mulder looked up with a
slight smile. "You ready to give me another hug, Walter?"

"Let me assure you, Mulder," Skinner replied gruffly, "it'll only
be until the ambulance gets here."

Scully hid a smile and stood up. She met Mulder's eyes briefly
before turning to go back inside.

~~~~~~~
Several Hours Later
Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital

Scully couldn't suppress a sigh as she sat down. It had been years
since she had held vigil beside Mulder as he recovered from serious
injury, and though she hadn't missed it at all, she still wished
that it had been possible for her to stay beside him this time.
Instead, she had ridden with him in the ambulance, promised him
that she would be home as soon as possible, and heard Skinner's
promise to drive him home once he had recovered enough to go. Then,
after a scant few hours of sleep in his hospital room, she had gone
to work.

Now, during a break, she had time to reflect. As had been true for
many (though not all, she remembered with bitter clarity) of those
hospital stays in the past, Mulder had been fairly lucky: he had
mild hypothermia, some bruising, cuts, and soreness from the car
crash and from the kidnapper's attack before the man had attempted
to cut off his head, and of course the acepromezine in his system.
He had had the cut above his eye stitched up, and was likely at
home now sleeping off the tranquilizer. No permanent physical
damage.

Just proof of what I was worried about in the first place, Scully
thought ruefully. Mulder had been unarmed other than a wrench that
he'd picked up from the truck that ran him off the road, and yet he
had tried to go in by himself to rescue the girl. It was exactly
the kind of stupid thing he would have done on the X-Files-- but at
least then he would have probably had his weapon with him, if he
hadn't lost it in the crash. For all the time since he had been on
a case, it seemed as though Mulder had still operated with his old
foolhardiness, even if it was to save a woman's life this time
instead of to find the Truth. But of course, that had always been a
part of who Mulder was: he never hesitated to put himself in danger
if he thought it could save someone else's life. And as she had
said to him, she couldn't ever honestly ask him to change that.

The young woman was recovering well. Her memories of the events
following her injection with the tranquilizer were fuzzy, which
Scully thought was a mercy. The FBI had arrested all of the doctors
who had been at the site, and the kidnapper had also been arrested.
Scully doubted that Mulder would receive much official
acknowledgment from the Bureau for his part in solving the case,
but Mulder had never really cared about that, and Skinner at least
had promised to do what he could to see that the reports were
accurate. Meanwhile, she would have to give Mulder the news when
she got back that Father Joe had succumbed to his lung cancer at
some point in the night.

"Dr. Scully?"

Scully looked up at the nurse, and smiled wearily. "I'll be right
there."

~~~~~~~
Some Weeks Later

The last procedure was done, and Christian was recuperating with
his parents. Now there was nothing to do but wait-- he would come
back to the hospital in a few weeks for follow-up tests, and then
they would finally know if she had been right to not give up... if
the stem cell therapy had worked.

Scully was absolutely exhausted physically and mentally, so much so
that she almost called a cab to take her home instead of driving
herself. We really need to go on car-shopping, she thought. Now
that Mulder was no longer a wanted fugitive, there was no reason
that he couldn't have his own car and thus his own means of
escaping his forced isolation at their house-- but they had both
been slow about making that happen, and Scully had been so busy
with Christian and her other patients.

Scully finished up her cup of coffee and got in the car. She felt
vaguely guilty that she was so strongly considering taking her
vacation now, but if all went well, Christian's parents wouldn't
need to contact her for a while, and she really needed some time
away. Hopefully far away, somewhere warm.

Somehow, she made it home without killing herself or anyone else in
her haze of exhaustion. As she took her key out of the ignition,
she saw that Mulder was waiting for her on the front porch. He was
smiling, and holding one hand behind his back. Great. She wasn't
sure she was up to dealing with whatever he was planning right now.

Almost stumbling as she got out of the car, Scully turned to him.
He folded her into his arms, and she leaned into him gratefully.
"Long day, huh, Doc?"

Scully nodded. "I think I want to take my vacation after this. We
have to wait a few weeks before the follow-up tests for Christian,
anyway."

Mulder pulled away from her and grinned. "I'm glad to hear that,
Scully... because I've got something planned, of a vacation
nature."

Raising an eyebrow, Scully tugged at his hand that he'd put behind
his back again. He pulled it out of her reach again. "Mulder..."

Finally, he presented it to her with a flourish. "What do you
think?"

Scully stared at the brochure. What was pictured there... it
looked... well, it looked frankly amazing, and exactly what she
needed. She looked up at him with a slow smile. "Getting as far
away from the darkness as we can, Mulder?"

"You like it?" He looked slightly nervous now.

She grabbed both of his hands, not caring that she was crumpling
the brochure. "Oh, Mulder, I love it!"

His smile widened hugely. "Good. Let's get packing."
~~~~~~~~

Author's Note part 2: I decided I needed to do this other missing
scene, too, because the first one left me feeling melancholy. But I
didn't go any further with it because then I'd have to deal fully
with the head-explodey-ness of the post-credits scene. So yeah. :)