Title: And Then He kissed Me Author: Pattie Rated: Category: Post-Ep., Fight The Future. Sequel to "Then, Let's Go Home", Scully POV. Spoiler(s): Fight The Future Summary: What happened after they walked into the sunset and landed in my other post-ep. Archive: Gossamer, Ephemeral, my own web site. Anyone who wants it needs only to ask. Feedback: patfiler@hotmail.com Disclaimer: All things and people X-Files still belong to Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Studios because I haven't won the lottery yet. I make no money from these fanfics and intend no copyright infringement. Author's Note: Special thanks to Pippy at Mulder's Refuge for getting me on the path to another story idea, if only indirectly! To think it started with anarticle about TV's Favourite Unrequited Romances... DANA SCULLY'S APARTMENT GEORGETOWN, DC The evening had ended. Mulder had convinced her to let her hair down along with him, go to Casey's to unwind and get the OPR meeting out of their heads. Assigned to mainstream work. Under Assistant Director Alvin Kersh. Separated from Skinner, who was beginning to get the drift of things concerning the whole conspiracy and everything the world wanted to know but was afraid to hear. New strings, new puppet, same old puppeteers. Special Agent Dana Scully, kidnapping victim for the second time, freshly out ofhospital and home again. It felt so good to be there. It felt so good to be back with her favorite things and familiar surroundings. She kicked off her shoes and reached for her Journal the minute she stepped over the threshold. "It's been one heck of a day. I feel happy to be home, yet sad for all the work we did that went down the drain. I feel sorry for Mulder and me. Why? We can still be partners, but he has no drive for the mainstream cases we're being assigned to, and now, I kind of miss that basement office with "Spooky's Files" sticking out of the file cabinets. "I really believed I should go back to medicine. Well, I can still use my training for investigative purposes. Why did I tell the person who knew I was the only one who believed in him that I wanted to leave the FBI? Leave him on that desert island at The Hoover Building? The pain on his face tore me apart, and I wanted desperately to make him feel better, and get a chance to be personal with him just once. We missed a kiss because of a stupid bee! Something I believed I had to do before I left him to his own thoughts. Then, all I remember is Mulder carrying me up to daylight, above ground, and seeing something flying into the air. Some sort of craft that I could not understand. "For our efforts to expose something dangerous and frightening, I was kidnapped. experimented upon twice, and now everything we accomplished has been for nothing. We have to pick up the pieces, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with things. Things? THINGS will never be the same. I will write out why this is so. "For all the pain Mulder has been through, I have suffered a lot less. I have been submitted to the most invasive procedures at the hands of godless people, lost my sister to godless people, had my head on some cannibals' chopping block, run the gamut of searches and chases after Mulder, and still I feel he has suffered the most. At the age of 12, a boy loses his sister mysteriously and feels guilty that he couldn't stop her from being taken. He has rescued me from more dangers than the heroine suffered in 'The Perils of Pauline'. Well, I told him I was done with all that because The X-Files were shut down and burned down. We were royally reamed out by the OPR for what they called our 'little summer adventure.' "After today's meeting, Mulder and I walked off into the sunset to a park bench and talked things over. I'm not leaving him or his quest for what he calls 'The Truth' any longer. 'I'm finding out it's a long road ahead, and we've chosen to stick to it', I told him. We went to Casey's, had a nice dinner and a couple of beers. We were two people unwinding after a long, hard day at the salt mines who had been treated as naughty little children. But, we're not children. The moment I had longed for in Mulder's hallway before the bee stung me came in the parking lot outside of Casey's. "He walked me to his car because he promised to drive me home, sparing me from having to undergo the emotional pain of treading the grounds of the Hoover a second time in twenty-four hours. Besides, my car was parked at his place. He reached for his keys and asked me, 'In my hallway, what was all that about?' I asked, 'What?' because I knew damn well what it was about, yet I was nervous inside. Then it happened. He cupped his hands ever so gently around my face, and then he kissed me. It was one heck of a kiss. As he slowly pulled away, I told him, 'That's what it was about.' "They'll never find this Journal, never find those words and never find our thoughts. As for our hearts, no one can ever take those away, because the feelings live on past our deaths and echo throughout the cosmos in a language that only feeling people understand. "Now, I need to get ready for bed. It's late, and tomorrow is another workday. "Dana Katherine Scully." END