Disclaimer: The X-Files doesn't belong to me – it belongs to Chris Carter who better be hard at work on the second XF movie as we speak!

Spoilers for the episode 'Triangle' (6X03) in Part III.

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers: RitandRoddy, Gillian Dana, Kitri57, ChickWithGuns, and Dedlock. You guys are awesome! Here it is, the long awaited ending...

Leave or Stay?

Part III

(Scully P.O.V.)

I eyed Krycek warily, keeping careful watch on his gun. Perhaps Mulder and I could still get out of this alive...

"Alex, can we talk about this?" I pleaded. "Did you have a good relationship with your mother? Had you seen her recently before she died? Why do you blame Mulder for her death?"

"My mother was the one person in my life that gave a damn about me," Krycek sneered. "And now that she's gone, I'm all alone in this world. Mulder had spoken with my mother the day before her death – I just know that he's connected to it somehow!"

"But I was there," I protested. "I know for a fact that Mulder didn't do anything to harm your mother…"

"Enough," Krycek screamed at me, interrupting my train of thought as he waved the gun at me. "I'm done talking, Agent Scully," he said, breathing hard. He glared at my partner. "Mulder has to die for what he did to my mother." Well, there goes that idea, I thought as my heart sank. At least I tried, even though I didn't think it would really work.

So now I was back to square one, back to my original choice. I could go to Mulder, and die, or I could stay where I was, and live. Mulder and I gazed at each other, and he gave me a tiny smile and a nod. My eyes blurred with tears, and I knew that was Mulder's way of saying goodbye to me. This is not happening, I thought desperately. I couldn't lose him, not now. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't try and save the life of the man I loved. My love for Mulder was too strong - I just couldn't let him die! Krycek was fingering the trigger, and I knew in an instant what I had to do.

I crossed the room in three swift steps, and blocked Mulder from the line of fire. As I stepped towards him, Mulder took his hands down from the wall and turned to face me. And then I found myself in Mulder's arms. I buried my face in his chest, inhaling his musky scent as Mulder held me in his strong arms. I knew at that moment that this was where I was meant to be. In Mulder's tender embrace, I felt safe and protected; even though I knew that we were both seconds away from death.

Mulder rotated our bodies so that he was blocking me from Krycek, but I hadn't crossed the room for him to protect me. I turned us so that we were both facing Krycek, so that we would both be exposed to death. After my bold move, I looked up at Mulder. His calm, loving gaze told me that he seemed to have accepted my decision, for once. Krycek just stared at me in disbelief - I knew he hadn't really expected that I would move.

"Scully, step aside," Krycek whispered, his menacing gun inching closer to us.

"No," I said calmly, as Mulder's arms gave me a reassuring squeeze. His comforting touch gave me strength. "If Mulder dies, then I die with him."

"Very well," said Krycek, but I heard the indecision in his voice. He must not have counted on killing me along with Mulder. I locked eyes again with my partner, and now I finally saw the love for me that resided there. I didn't have much time to dwell on my shock, however, because Mulder slowly leaned down towards me, his lips finding mine.

It was perfect, just like I'd imagined sharing a kiss with Mulder would be – soft, warm, and passionate, along with a touch of desperation. Our kiss said what we hadn't been able to say with words, and I knew that he loved me as much as I loved him. Pity it didn't happen under different circumstances. I wish that it hadn't taken a life-and-death situation to force Mulder and I admit our true feelings for each other. But it had. And now we were about to have our brains blown away. Mulder and I reluctantly pulled our lips apart when Krycek cleared his throat to get our attention. He didn't let me out of his embrace, however. Not that I had any intentions of leaving... It was a glorious feeling, locked in Mulder's arms. My tiny body melded with his, and it was as though we were one person, instead of two. I didn't want it to end, but Krycek had other ideas.

"Any last words?" Krycek sneered. I could tell that he'd recovered from the shock of our kiss, and was annoyed enough to finish this thing.

"I only wish we'd done this sooner," Mulder murmured, tenderly caressing my cheek with his thumb. His eyes had filled with tears, mirroring my own. "I love you, Dana Katherine Scully." How wonderful it was to hear him finally say those coveted three little words! Even if we were about to die in each other's arms, at least I finally knew the truth. Dying didn't seem so terrible anymore, if Mulder was by my side.

"I love you too, Fox William Mulder," I whispered, unable to keep my voice from shaking. "So very much." We clung to each other, waiting for the inevitable.

"One," said Krycek, gracing us with a countdown to death. Mulder's lips found mine again. "Two." I whimpered against Mulder as I heard Krycek's finger slowly pull the trigger. "Three!"

A shot rang out, and we both flinched. Amazingly, I felt no pain. We pulled apart and turned to look at Krycek, but he was no longer standing upright. Instead, he was laying face down on the floor, bleeding from the back of his skull. Skinner stood over Ratboy's body, his gun still smoking. Mulder and I glanced at each other nervously, for we knew our boss had to have seen our blatant display of affection. We were, of course, thrilled to be alive but we also didn't want to be dismissed from the F.B.I. for breaking one of the cardinal rules. I didn't know how much Skinner would be freaked out by walking in on his two favorite agents necking. Hopefully he wouldn't punish us too badly...

"Aren't you two going to thank me?" Skinner asked, breaking the silence. Mulder and I murmured our thanks, still worried how Skinner would react to our kiss.

"Sir, how did you know Krycek was after us?" I asked. Skinner shrugged.

"Call it a hunch. When we found out Krycek was linked to his mother's murder, I thought that you might need me to come and save your asses, and I was right."

"Wait, how was Krycek involved?" Mulder asked, incredulous. Skinner sighed.

"We found some late evidence placing him at the scene of the crime. It turns out that he was the psychopath." I groaned in dismay. Krycek murdered his mother, and then he tried to blame it on Mulder – figures.

"Sir, can we have the rest of the day off?" I asked, hoping to God that I wasn't pushing my luck. "Mulder and I are pretty shaken up from all this." Skinner regarded us closely, and I could tell that he wanted to say something but was holding back.

"I'm giving both of you the entire week off." Mulder and I glanced at each other in surprise – it was not like him to be that generous.

"Sir, you don't have to do that," Mulder said, much to my dismay. "Agent Scully and I are perfectly capable of working." As much as I love Mulder, there are times that I wish he would just shut up. This was one of those times. I wanted to spend the rest of the day with Mulder, dammit, but not working with him. I had something a little more fun in mind... Skinner rolled his eyes.

"I know you are, but wouldn't you two rather be doing something else?" He grinned knowingly at us, and Mulder and I both blushed. "It's alright, Agents; your secret is safe with me." We let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Thank you, sir," I said, as Mulder pulled me close. Skinner only chuckled, and said,

"It's about time. Congratulations!" Mulder and I smiled at him, and then blissfully at each other. "Now, get out of here – I'll take care of all this. I don't want to see your sorry asses for another week!"

"Yes, sir!" Mulder said eagerly.

After thanking Skinner profusely, we stepped past Krycek's body and out of the door. "Oh, and Agents?" Mulder and I turned back around. "I was able to pull some strings, so the X-Files won't have to be closed after all!"

"You mean it?" Mulder gasped in delight.

"Would I kid you?" Skinner replied, frowning and adjusting his glasses. He had a good point – kidding is not Skinner's style. We thanked Skinner for his efforts and promised to report in for duty next Monday morning. As Mulder and I left his apartment building, I realized that I had an entire week to spend with my partner! We could do anything we wanted. The possibilites were endless now that we'd confessed our love. Yes, I was rather looking forward to this!

"Hey, Scully, where we gonna go?" Mulder asked me as we stepped outside. Hmm. He'd been forced out of his apartment for awhile, so there was only one alternative.

"How about you come back to my place for awhile?" I suggested. Mulder beamed at me.

"That sounds great." Mulder automatically headed for his car, and I for mine. But I found myself not wanting to be separated from him, even for a little while.

"Mulder, would you want to ride with me?" I asked. He nodded gratefully, seeming to understand my predicament. We drove to my apartment in a comfortable silence, my right hand resting in Mulder's. I knew that he must be sorting through this strange and wonderful turn of events, as I was. I had told him I was leaving him forever, but instead we ended up professing our love for one another at gunpoint. Poor Mulder; he must be so confused! No matter, I would tell him everything eventually.

Thankfully we arrived at my apartment in a record twenty minutes. Mulder and I sprinted up the walkway, and inside double doors. He followed me up a flight of stairs, and I produced a key, placed it in the lock, and turned. The door opened with a click, and we stepped inside. I shut the door behind him, and this time I made sure to lock it. After I'd set my purse down on the table, I fell into Mulder's arms again. It seemed like such a natural place for me to be. We kissed again, long and languid kisses. The desperation was absent, but I didn't miss it one bit. For Mulder and I had the rest of our lives to explore each other – body, mind, and soul.

"Mulder, there's something I need to understand," I said, pulling away slowly. I had to ask him this before we went any further.

"What's that, Scully?" He asked, stroking my hair.

"How come after we almost kissed and you rescued me from Antarctica, nothing ever changed between us? Why didn't you tell me the way you felt about me?" I watched him closely, curious to see what his reaction would be.

"I did tell you, Scully," Mulder said quietly. "Don't you remember? About a year ago I told you that I loved you. At the time, I was recovering in the hospital after you rescued me from that ship, the Queen Anne, in the Bermuda Triangle." Whatever I'd expected him to say, it certainly hadn't been this.

"Mulder, you couldn't have expected me to believe you," I scoffed. "You'd just told me that we'd been on that ship in 1939, and that I saved the world." I giggled. "I'd say you were pretty doped up."

"But I wasn't doped," he insisted. "When I told you that I loved you, I meant it." Mulder stared intently into my eyes, willing me to believe it was true. Crap. This was definitely not good.

"So all this time, you thought that I didn't love you back," I breathed, finally realizing the truth. He'd been just as tortured as I'd been for the past year, and he'd never said a word. To be fair, Mulder must've been hurting even more than I had been, because at least I'd had faint the hope that he secretly cared for me. Poor Mulder - he had thought I rejected him outright! Now I understood why he had slowly withdrawn from our friendship.

"Pretty much, yeah," sighed Mulder. "I confessed my love for you, and all you could do was roll your eyes and say "oh, brother". What was I supposed to think, Scully?"

"Mulder, I thought you were joking," I said weakly, horrified by what this critical miscommunication had almost cost us. "If I'd known you were being serious, my answer would've been quite different." He groaned.

"I've been so stupid, feeling sorry for myself all this time. I thought I wasn't good enough for you, Scully." he muttered, looking away from me. "I thought that, for whatever reason, you didn't want me."

"I'm afraid that's impossible," I reassured him, turning his face back towards me and planting a kiss on his forehead. "I'll never stop wanting you, or loving you – ever."

"Oh good," he sighed. "So I guess this means you're not moving away?" I bopped him in the arm, and we both burst out laughing.

333

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, talking, and making out, only stopping for meals. Mulder and I caught up on almost everything that we'd missed in each other's lives over the past year. After dinner, I poured us two glasses of red wine, and we sat out on my balcony to watch the sunset. Mulder put his arm around me, and I couldn't imagine what my life would've been without him had I moved away. I silently thanked Krycek for interfering with our lives, because I knew now that I could never live without Mulder. Not by a long shot. When the sun finally disappeared, Mulder looked up at the starry sky and sighed.

"You know, the F.B.I. will have cleared all traces of Krycek from my apartment by now. Would you mind driving me back?" Mulder, don't go! I thought wildly. Not now, I don't think I could bear sleeping alone.

"Do you really want to leave?" I asked him softly, a little hurt. I thought that after what had happened today, he would want to stay the night with me.

"No," he admitted, and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "It's just that there's nowhere for me to sleep."

"Oh, that's not a problem," I told him, grinning. "You can sleep in my bed."

"But then where will you sleep?" Mulder asked with innocent eyes. I giggled in amusement. Surely he wasn't this dense?

"With you, you dork!" Mulder's eyes widened when he realized what I was suggesting.

"Scully, are you sure?" He asked softly.

"I'm sure, Mulder," I grinned. "I've never been sure of anything in my whole life."

"Just checking," he said, winking devilishly as he picked me up bridal-style. "Because once we do this, there's no going back. I'm not going to want to let you go." I smiled happily up at him.

"I'm counting on it." Mulder carried me back to my bedroom, and gently set me down on my bed. He slipped off my shoes, and kicked off his own. Then he carefully climbed on top of me, careful not to crush me with his weight. I could barely breathe as he looked down at me with smoldering eyes; the tension between us was maddening.

"This is forever, Scully; I promise you that," he breathed. The best part about his promise was that I knew I could believe him. My trust in Mulder was repaired again, after we'd admitted our feelings. It felt so good to know that we could trust each other. It was just like the old days, only this time we were taking our bond of trust to a whole new level.

This day just keeps getting better and better, I thought with a sigh. I knew that we would have plenty of issues to sift through, starting with our relationship at work. This was completely new ground for Mulder and I, but I was confident that we could make this work. Our relationship had endured much worse, and we'd gotten through it. Think how much more we'd be able to handle now that we knew we truly and deeply loved one another! Now we were partners in the true sense of the word. That thought made me giddy.

"Forever," I echoed just before our lips met. Then we surrendered to our desires that been seven years in the making, and Mulder made all of my fantasies pale in comparison .

The End

A/N: Well, there you have it! Mulder and Scully are together forever – for now, anyways. I might do a sequel at some point, but not right now. Thanks to all my readers, who love these two characters as much as I do!