Truth (1/12)
by Fallon

Category: Post-The Truth/Pre-IWTB

Summary:  She felt a brief moment of shame for even thinking
that they were only together by circumstance. After all, she had
chosen him over everything time and time again. 

"I can hear you thinking," he said, turning over in bed to face
her with a wry, sleepy smile on his face. It was his new favorite
catchphrase. One that much to her chagrin she had learned to
adore.

Disclaimer:  I don't own The X-Files or Mulder & Scully.
Unfortunately, they all belong to Chris Carter.


Chapter 1

After everything that had happened between the years 2000 and
2002, the last place Dana Scully expected herself to be was
cuddled up on a rickety motel bed somewhere in New Mexico,
with no one in her life left but him. True, she had always
known that he was her other half, but what she didn't know was
why. Why had she chosen him of all people when a decade ago
she could have had the life she always wanted? The answer was
simple. After everything they had been through together, there
was no one else.

She felt a brief moment of shame for even thinking that they
were only together by circumstance. After all, she had chosen
him over everything time and time again.

"I can hear you thinking," he said, turning over in bed to face
her with a wry, sleepy smile on his face. It was his new favorite
catchphrase. One that much to her chagrin she had learned to
adore.

She laughed and it was fifty percent love and fifty percent
lump-in-your-throat pity. They had fallen asleep for maybe
three or four hours before she'd gotten up. It was five AM at the
time, too early for a couple of people who didn't have to get up
for work in the morning.

"I need a glass of water," she had choked out, still raw from the
sobs of once again facing her soulmate without the miraculous
product of their love. She would trade anything but Mulder to
be awoken for a diaper change once again.

He had stumbled out of bed lazily, still wary from sleep, and
trotted over to the mini-fridge several feet away from their bed.
He pulled out a water bottle; there was no sink.

"Sorry, " he said. "I know you like your fluoride but Poland
Springs is apparently all they have at the Best Western."

"It's fine," she mumbled sleepily, taking the bottle in her hand
and unscrewing the cap. She chugged around 80% of its
contents before she set it down on the nightstand.

Mulder looked over at her like she was the only other person in
the world, and it wasn't long before he was at her side, his
tongue exploring her mouth lazily. They made love quietly and
sadly, and afterward they both fell asleep.

Now, sticky from sweat and sex, Dana looked over at the alarm
clock on the bedside table that was likely half as old as she
was. It was already eight in the morning, and her partner was
passed out beside her, snoring.

She didn't want to wake him up. After all, he had been in jail
less than twenty-four hours ago and he was a wanted man with
a price on his head. But they needed to cross the border by
noon or they'd risk getting caught.

She lightly nudged his shoulder and he rolled over still
sleeping. After the thought reading debacle she turned to face
him more seriously.

"Mulder, we have to get to Mexico, and fast."

He rolled his eyes, even though that was her usual territory.
"Why? Do you really think they're going to find me. All the
bastards are dead that we know of. Why not just stay curled up
here together forever and fight the darkness with a certain
flashlight?"

"Very funny, Mulder," she said, shaking her head so that loose,
heat-curled strands of copper swished across her face.

"Hey, Scully?"

"Yes?"

"I think you should dye your hair."

"Why, I thought you loved my hair the way it was."

"First of all, I can't see it. It looks brown to me. But that's not
why. I'm fairly ambiguous looking but we all know they have
an APB out on short redheads traveling with such an
ambiguous looking guy."

"I figured that much but I've had red hair all my life despite
what some shadow man thought and I don't know if I'm ready
to give that up."

He sighed in defeat. "Well, we could wait until we get to
Mexico, but I don't know that your hair will survive being
rinsed with that water."

That got her out of bed. She walked over to the dresser stark
naked, grabbing an ankle-length sundress and pulling it on over
her head.

"No underwear?"

"No underwear."

"Very naughty," he commented. She shrugged, grabbing her car
keys off the dresser. They'd already ripped the plates of the
front and back of her Crown Vic.

"Where are you going?"

"To get hair dye," she said, adding, "Be ready when I get back."

"Ready?"

"To dye my hair. And then leave."

"Okay," he said, getting up to kiss her goodbye. "I'm expecting
you back in a half hour, girlie."

She shook her head and laughed, closing the door to their motel
room.

It took her twenty-seven minutes to get back. She sat on the bed
while he massaged black hair dye onto her scalp, trying not to
get any on the blankets that weren't theirs. Then they watched
thirty minutes of the morning news, looking for their own
faces, which they were glad to see hadn't made the cut.

When the time was up, they went into the bathroom and she
knelt beside the tub while he rinsed her hair clean. As she
watched the inky colored water run from her hair and down in
front of her eyes, she thought of miracles that were too good to
be true. After waiting the classic three minutes for conditioner,
she stood up next to him, tousling her hair with a purple cotton
bath towel, which to her dismay was streaked with black when
she was done, despite the rinsing.

She didn't even bother to dry it. The two of them took turns
shoving their belongings haphazardly into the twenty-dollar
suitcases they'd paid cash for at the local K-Mart.

"Ready to go? she asked.

"Ready to go," he confirmed.

And so they threw the suitcases in the back of the car and drove
off into yet another unknown reality.