CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

January 2016

Dana Scully's apartment, Washington D.C.

She walked along the corridor towards her plush apartment, her heels digging into the carpet. She was on her way home from work. It was a Friday night and she had the morning off tomorrow. Scully cracked her neck muscles as they were stiff, she had been in a long surgery today. She sighed a little as she reached for her keys as they were in her handbag, then unlocked the door and stepped inside.

She placed her bag and coat down on the breakfast bar, then went to run a bath, taking off her clothes as she went. She slipped off her skirt and let it fall to the floor, kicking off her shoes by the side of the bed and walking into the en-suite bathroom.

She went inside and ran the water, pouring in her usual bubble bath and breathing in the comforting smell.

Mulder's Unremarkable House – Rural West Virginia – 4.39am

He stumbled through the front door, half asleep.

He was exhausted, he had been out all night trying to sight UFOs where his contact had told him they would be. He had got an Uber home. He wondered how much he spent on Ubers nowadays… a small fortune probably…

He tried to remain awake as he staggered towards the sofa, then threw himself on it, falling asleep immediately.

The Next Morning

She took a walk downtown and went to her favourite coffee shop which she used to go to for lunch sometimes while she had been in the FBI. She took a deep breath as she walked there, knowing it would dredge up memories of Mulder.

But she was craving one of their croissants…

She smiled up at the Hoover building in the bright January sunshine, it was damn cold but she was wrapped up well, wearing her long grey winter coat with the large buttons. She was kind of swamped in it, but it kept her warm. She waved her fingers in her black leather gloves to keep the circulation going and grabbed her coat collar, pulling it over her nose and face as the icy wind hit her.

As she expected, the memories of Mulder came flooding back to her and her heart ached a little. It had been nearly three years now since she left, three years… she couldn't believe where the time had gone…

They hadn't contacted each other for months, not since last October on his birthday when she had decided to post him a card.

But then she still never heard back from him…

She had to admit that it worried and hurt her, she wondered what he was up to, all on his own in that house… did he even still live there?

She entered the coffee shop and ordered her coffee and croissant and sat down near the window. She could see the Hoover building clearly and she stared at it, remembering her past life. She suddenly felt a wave of emotion pour over her as she missed him so terribly, as she did sometimes. She could hardly breathe for a moment as she saw him in her mind.

Why had she come here? She cursed under her breath with frustration.

Would she ever get over him? Ever?

She needed to get out...

Scully felt her heart start to race uncontrollably with slight panic so she pushed the croissant back into its bag and then grabbed the coffee cup as well, relieved they had given her a takeaway cup, leaving the shop swiftly, not even noticing that she made some people jump out of the way in surprise as she pushed past them.

She briskly walked back home, not looking back, her heeled boots stomping the pavement…

Mulder frowned a little in annoyance as his phone was ringing in his ear as he slept on his desk. He moaned as he woke up, his face plastered against a piece of notepaper he had been scribbling on. "Fuckssssake.." He mumbled as it stuck to his face. He frowned and pulled it off, trying to focus his eyes on the phone and who was calling. It would have been comical if he wasn't such a mess...

He sighed and grabbed the phone and brought it to his eyes.

It was a Washington number, possibly FBI from what he could remember. He felt his chest tightening as the paranoia set in again, wondering why the FBI would be calling him. If Skinner called him, it was always on his agreed personal number, which they hadn't had to use for years.

He frowned in thought, staring at it.

He wasn't going to answer it, he didn't owe that place anything now anyway...

Besides, he had a meeting in an hour and he needed to arrange another Uber to get there. Mulder hung up before it could go to voicemail and stood up from his desk chair, nearly falling over the crap on the floor, the trails of food packets and newspapers, hundreds of them.

He really needed to tidy up soon, he was getting worse just recently...

Mulder turned towards the door and suddenly felt a shortness of breath as he saw her in the doorway, so clearly..

"Scu...?" He gasped.

He staggered a little and grabbed onto the chair for support, his head swimming. What the hell? Was it even possible?

But of course, it wasn't, and she was gone after a couple of blinks of his eyes. He felt the sadness overwhelm him but then felt a sad smile creep up his lips and he felt lucky that his photographic memory remembered every detail of her.

Even if he couldn't have her for real, she still lived in his imagination.

She had to, or he would lose all sense of being…

May 2016 – Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital

Scully was pulling on her scrubs, the second surgery of the day was waiting for her. She washed her hands and watched as the water went down the drain. She sighed a little, her body was aching for a break..

"Excuse me. Dr. Scully?"

She turned to see Nurse Sandeep, trying to get her attention.

"Yes?" She asked.

"You have a phone call." Nurse Sandeep said firmly.

Scully frowned a little in frustration as she was pulling on her gloves. Can it not wait?

"I'm just heading into surgery."

She watched as the other surgeons went into surgery and sighed a little as she didn't want to keep them waiting.

"That's what I told him, but... but he said it was important." Sandeep said, slightly apologetic.

Scully frowned a little, sensing that there was something more to this phone call.

"Who is it?"

"He says his name is Walter Skinner. Assistant Director, FBI."

Scully felt her heart skip a beat, she was speechless for a second. Her senses went on overdrive.

What the hell could Skinner be calling her for?

Mulder's Unremarkable House – Rural West Virginia

Mulder was watching President Obama talking about Area 51 and aliens on a chat show. It was all just a joke, his whole quest had turned into a joke nowadays...

He glanced at his orange pencils which were now in a tin, he had tidied up recently, may be he wasn't doing so bad.

Sighing heavily, he suddenly saw his phone flashing and ringing and he almost jumped from his seat as he saw it was her.

He had to answer..

"My life's become a punch line. What's happening out there, Scully?

"A.D. Skinner's looking for you."

He felt a small smile creeping up his lips as he heard her. He felt as if he was being pulled from the darkness, her voice was like oxygen.. and it had been so long since he had heard her, but he had to remain cool...

"Why doesn't he just call me?" He asked as lightly as possible, trying to remain calm as he felt her on the other end.

"He doesn't know how to reach you, Mulder. I barely know how myself."

He felt his stomach tighten with slight guilt, maybe she had called him before and he hadn't answered, when he was away on one of his quests..

He tried to ignore it, interested in what Skinner was calling for.

"What does he want, Scully?" He asked.

"He wants to know if you've been watching someone called Tad O'Malley on the 'net. Apparently he's reached out to us from the FBI."

He frowned in puzzlement.

He typed in his name on his laptop and waited for the videos to load.

"Hold on. I'm bringing him up…" He waited and listened, not interested at all with the trash he was saying about 9/11, these people really pissed him off. He sighed and felt anger in his chest as he watched this well suited smart ass on his screen, "..why would I watch this jackass, Scully?

He bit his bottom lip as the man carried on talking, Scully wasn't answering, clearly waiting for him to make his up his own mind.

'..It's all part of a conspiracy dating back to the UFO crash at Roswell...'

"I thought you were done with UFOs. The stranglehold they put on your very existence, I believe is how you put it…"

He couldn't help but tease her, but he was sad as he said it, knowing that they would never see eye to eye on that..

"I'm just the messenger, Mulder. Apparently this guy is desperate to meet."

He felt a shimmer of hope that he could may be get his life back on track for a while, and he was going to see her, no matter what she said…

"Tell Skinner to set it up." He said firmly.

"Seriously?"

He smiled and loved the teasing tone of her voice, just like old times.

She was skeptical of course, but he was going to show her that he was still the man she fell in love with in the first place. He felt slightly anxious as he had the words in his head already...

But his arrogance was on form, and he hoped and prayed that she still couldn't resist him..

"And don't pretend I'm going alone.."

THE END

PLEASE REVIEW!

Thank you, all of you for your reviews and your support.

Phew, this has been the hardest fic to write ever...

I know it's taken me a long time to write, especially to finish, but it was quite difficult to make it flow into Season 10. I know some of you wanted marriage etc, but this was always going to be about the break up and was always going to finish just before season 10, as canon.. but with a little twist.. such as that fun in the apartment... :)))

Love you all, thank you again - it means the world to me that you read this, let alone leave me a review!

Until the next fic :)

Special thanks to AdaPi - for helping me when I was stuck and for egging me on when I was down! It was hard to write this heartbreaking story, but I hope it gives us some kind of closure..

xxxxx