TITLE: "Frozen Hearts II: Spring Has Sprung" (1/1) BY: Ten E-MAIL ADDRESS: kristena@ocean.com.au CATEGORY: Vignette, MSR, 'Fluff (Plot What Plot?)' RATING: PG-13 (for non-descriptive consensual adult situations) SUMMARY: It's time to not waste any more time. TIMESPAN/SPOILER WARNING: This branches off into alternate universe (most definitely) after the scene where the UFO takes off in Antarctica near the end of "Fight the Future". In the first instalment, Mulder actually dies out on the ice but is revived at an American research base by a healing alien disguised as one of the people working there. Our intrepid agents then decide not to waste any more time in regard to their feelings for each other. The really angsty stuff is in the vignette, while this sequel goes into the heavy MSR. And it will probably be the last of this type of fic that I write for a while, since I've inadvertently produced a number along these lines lately . (More explanation in author's notes at end.) ARCHIVE INFO: It goes to Gossamer through xff. Can be archived anywhere as long as my name, addy and disclaimer stay intact. FEEDBACK: I love to know who is out there in the ether! THANKS TO: Debbie, Suzanne (for being extremely noble ), Gerry, Mac, Sally and Judie. My website for all my X-Files fanfiction, thanks to the wonderful Arria, is at: http://bitter-moon.com/tenxffic/index2.html And a new website is under construction at: http://ten.bitter-moon.com/xf DISCLAIMER: The X-Files, the episodes referred to, Mulder and Scully and all other characters from the show belong to Chris Carter and his team of writers, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Broadcasting, and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended, no profit will be gained. Characters not recognised from the show are mine. The X-Files: "Frozen Hearts II: Spring Has Sprung" (1/1) By Ten, July - October 2003 xXx A US research base in the Antarctic: A military plane is due in two days, providing the weather holds. Then once they're ready to go, we get to board and head for home. Mulder and I have just been discharged from the infirmary and allocated rooms of our own, next to each other. But I follow Mulder into his room. He does not seem surprised. As I shut the door on the world, Mulder looks around the room, stretching. We smile at each other. "For a man whose goose was cooked, or deep frozen, you're looking pretty good," I tell him. Mulder laughs. He sits down on the bed, offering me the desk chair. He says, "I've been meaning to ask - did you get your cross back?" "Yes, they found it in a pocket of your clothes." Due to all the excitement, Doctor Griggs had forgotten to show it to me and ask if it was mine until an hour or so ago. I guess he could see from the size that it was most likely not Mulder's. "Thanks." "You don't need to thank me, Scully," he replies, and I could easily live off the look he is giving me. Instead of the desk chair, I sit down next to my partner. My heart is pounding. I have made a decision about us, about our future, and I will not turn back from it. "Speaking of jewelry.." I say to Mulder. I take hold of his left hand in mine and trace my finger around the base of his ring finger. "I want to get you a ring to wear there. How about it?" As he stares at me in amazement, I tell him, "When I make up my mind, I move fast. And after all these years and what we've been through, it's about time that I DID make the move!" "As long as it isn't to Salt Lake City!" Mulder says, still looking stunned. "There's no way I'm going to let myself be transferred there, away from you. We'll have another OPC hearing when we get back, and I'm going to go in fighting. As for my proposal, I know it might be jumping the gun a little, but there's no such thing as an actual 'engagement' ring that a woman can offer to the male of the species. And even if there was, Antarctic malls don't stock them!" Mulder chuckles. "And we have always tended to do things differently." He's staring at me so tenderly. "No more regrets or wasted days. Not after this," I say. But I wish he'd answer me! "Next time we might not be so lucky." He's holding my hands now. "So, you don't want to leave me anymore and go back into medicine?" The wonderful necking session we had in the infirmary must not have been enough - he needs verbal reassurance. "I'm not going anywhere. There's a cure to that virus; we know there is. We need to try to get the X-Files back, but even if we can't, we have to pursue what we've seen during this last case. Somehow." He nods, and I continue, "Together we're a great team. If we quit now, they've won. Besides when I want to be a doctor, I can 'play doctor' with you. So, are you still interested?" "What I am, is yours. Yes, I am absolutely interested and accept! And I can't wait until we're back home again so that we can play doctor." "Why wait?" He stares at me, unsure if he's just heard his by-the-book partner say such a thing. Or if I'm teasing. "But we're on this base. All these people.." "Who I'm sure think we're lovers already anyway," I point out. "Even those who don't think so would feel that after an ordeal like this we'd want to stay within 'eyeshot' of each other for a while. So us being together in the one room isn't such a big deal. We'll just have to try to keep quiet, but it won't be the end of the world. I nearly had the end of the world several hours ago, and nothing could be as bad as that." I nudge his knee with my own. "Wanna consort?" "As long as it isn't as in 'Consortium', sure!" "Good, because I'm tired of waiting, even if just to get back to the States. Waiting just lets us fall back into the same old pattern." "Okay, you've talked me into it. Now go put up a do not disturb sign and lock that door, fiancee." Mulder gives me a gentle push, and I obey. "I don't have a ring to give you either just yet -" "You gave me my life. And a yes to the most important question I've ever proposed." "Well, for now I can give you my love and a good time. Come here," he says. "With pleasure." "That's the general idea." After locking the door, I head for the bed while remarking, "There's probably a joke to be made about 'the birds and the bees', but I can't quite find it, and I really don't want to mention bees after what we've been through." That gets a laugh. "This brings back memories of our first year together - remember that time we were in the Arctic?" Mulder asks as we start touching on the bed. "The top of the world instead of the bottom? How we had to check each other's necks to see if we were infected by that parasite?" "You romantic!" "What I mean is that finally we're able to touch now for real." "So let's get started." xXx This time a scream does get out of my throat, despite my efforts to muffle it. Somehow it doesn't blow my voice box in the process. Though I'm sure the pleasure tremors that hit my body can be picked up on the base's seismic equipment! And the ice man certainly cometh.. xXx Eventually it is time to say goodbye to Antarctica. Flying on a military transport is a real trip - namely an uncomfortable one. As we strap ourselves in, Mulder grumbles to me that even the damn alien space ship had more comfort and room. Fortunately he does so out of earshot of anyone else. But then our plane has to have an unexpected layover in Australia. It is late at night and the FBI doesn't want to pay for a commercial flight for us, so accommodations are found for my partner and I until the military plane is ready to continue its journey. When we get to the motel, Mulder asks me, "Question: which one of us gets to do the 'laying over'?" "I'm an equal opportunity kind of gal - we both do." "Oooo. At the same time?" "Ladies first!" "That's sexist!" "Sex does have something to do with it, yeah. Whatever I've denied myself for all the years of our partnership I'm giving myself second and third helpings of now!" We are booked in under two rooms, but really only end up using one. And yes, we do have a fine time 'down under'. It's a wonder that we manage to get out of the motel enough to do some sightseeing and shopping. As we are about to leave, Mulder tells me, "I was annoyed at first - I just wanted to get home. But we've certainly made the most of this and I've had a great time. I wish we were stuck here longer, actually." "Me too. But trust me, Mulder - there are a lot of things you got to do here that you can do at home too. I promise.." I give him a wicked grin. xXx When people hear that I have been to Antarctica, they invariably give some sort of variation on: "It must have been freezing!" I smile and reply, "On the contrary, I had some of the hottest moments of my life down there." If scientists report that this year the Antarctic ice flow has melted even more than usual, I won't be surprised and I won't be blaming the greenhouse effect. Vesuvius had nothing on me. And I've continued to be on the boil in private ever since. I love making Mulder erupt. And that's not all. Volcanoes are capable of great devastation and loss of life, but somehow Mulder and I have again gone against the grain. Because we've managed to create life. I'm pregnant and even more on fire. When we first got back to the US, I was unaware of this, but had tests to make sure that I really was virus-free, just to be on the safe side. The Gunmen had kept the bee, so we knew what we were looking for. I had checked my blood while in Antarctica with their results and it was the same this time: there wasn't even a signature in my blood to show that I was ever exposed to anything. However, those tests had been on the lookout for sinister things, viral things, and didn't pick up that there was something else going on with my body.. Then I got sick, and, despite those reassuring tests, we thought that the virus could be back in some form or something else just as worrying was going on. So back to the hospital we went. Then while sitting in the waiting room I found myself wanting to eat Twinkies. They're something I've always hated. Yet I knew that when I finally got my hands on some that I would chow down as I never had before in my life. I wondered why on earth I'd be craving them, and as soon as I thought the word 'crave', I realised. We had been healed so thoroughly in Antarctica, right down to.. "Mulder, I think I know what's 'wrong' with me." He looked up from the waiting room magazine he was inadvertently shredding in his distraction and worry. "What?" "Impending parenthood." And so it was and is. That Jeremiah really did do quite the repair job! In the OPC hearing I had done my best to try to get us reinstated on the X-Files. We are still waiting to hear about that decision, though at least they did not talk about transferring me to Salt Lake City anymore. Now that I'm pregnant, that's thrown our plans for a bit of a loop, but we'll work something out. Bringing a child into the world is even more reason to make sure that it is a safe world. The negative virus tests were a relief and reassurance when we found out about the baby. And everything seems to be fine with our little Antarctic or Australian conceived miracle. And like Mulder says, it was a double heal. "Why would the Jeremiah Smith cure you yet leave future children susceptible to congenital harm? Once he, or it, was through with us, we were in prime shape. Our bodies were all a- quiver to do what they're designed for: reproduction!" When the healing alien or angel or whatever touched me, it may well have restored my fertility. I do know for sure that in healing Mulder, it restored my heart. THE END The wedding ring and pregnancy at the end were literally 'unplanned' - they just happened as I was writing it, I swear! (Though some of my friends have been hard to convince of that fact.) Seeing as the healing alien did such a good job of healing Mulder and Scully, it seemed a shame to pass up the opportunity for them to conceive a child, but this will be the last baby/pregnancy fic I write for a while. (With the exception of the New Millennium series, of course!) Just to vary things about a little.