Scully shouted down the hallway, makeup smearing down her face with each sob, her tears running black. "YOU BASTARD! I CAN'T BELIVE YOU!" she caught Mulder's wrist, knuckles turning white as she pressed her hand around his, trying to force all the pain in her heart into his. "How DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU COME BACK HERE? You lying... cheating... her fingers smashed into his flesh, nails digging between the blueish lines of veins. "YOU SOLD US OUT! YOU SOLD OUR PARTNERSHIP FOR A GODDAMN CASE. THOSE FILES..."Her sentence was cut off as Mulder's hand hit her cheek, the slap echoing down the hallway. Instantly he backed away, but the apology had not even bubbled to his lips when Scully's fist made contact with his jaw. "HOW DARE YOU." Before she knew it her gun was in hand, the barrel inches away from her partner's face. "Stay away from me." The words were deadly quiet, malice audible in every syllable. Mulder tried to grab it away from her, one hand on her neck, his entire body weight pushing her away, as the other hand groped for the gun.

She could smell the alcohol on him, and for a split second she felt nothing but sheer hatred. She hated him. However the struggle lasted only moments, because the sound of a gunshot that echoed down the tiny apartment hallway shattered the fight before any more words could even be said. Scully felt her partner drop to the ground, only a gasp fluttering through the heavy silence. The gun fell to the ground as Scully fell to her knees, panic building as she watched the crimson stain on Mulder's chest spread, the white fabric stark against the blood.

"No..." She pulled off her own shirt, pressing the fabric to the wound.

"No...no...no..." Her partner's breath was shallow, and a trickle of blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth, his lungs filling with fluid as the single bullet punctured his ribs.

"Mulder…." The word was hardly a whisper, yet the two syllabals seemed to last an eternity. His eyes fluttered slightly, their vividly green irises seeking comfort in her blue ones. The unsaid apology completed its circuit, and for a split second, everything made sense. They both knew what the other could never say aloud. It'sokay,he seemed to say, but then the blood seemed to flow a little slower, the breath a little shallower, before it ceased entirely, and Scully was left pressing the battered cloth to the shell of the love of her life.

"Mulder... Mulder..." She pressed a hand to her mouth, trying the staunch the sobs as she had with the blood. His eyes were still open in shock, mouth slightly ajar as though something unexpected had jumped out at him. The blood was beginning to puddle around the two, but Dana did not move away. She clung to Mulder's chest as the tears flowed heavier, her sobs shaking them both as they got deeper. The blood's sticky residue clung to her hair, her hands, her chest. Scully cried, screaming, shaking with the sobs that echoed blankly down the hall, through the building, the still air. It was over. It was all over.

The gun sounded once more, and then there was silence.