Title: Nova

Author: Angel

Feedback: Please!

Archive: Please!

Rating: NC-17 (for some parts-very mild but to be safe!) Others are probably PG-13 or so.

Summery: The inevitable happens. Mulder has planned ahead and now does everything in his power to keep Scully safe. You MUST read all parts to understand! Available at Ephemeral and my home page.

Disclaimer: You know the drill. Characters are property of Fox, 1013, ect. No money is being made. No infringement is intended. Don’t sue me; I don’t have much, just a computer and a horse, not even a good car, believe me!

Homepage: (to find missing parts and sooner or later the completed version, also posted at Ephemeral)

A HUGE thanks to Evie my beta reader! Nova would never be doing this well, or going as fast, without her help! Thank you!

"Baby don’t look up, the sky is falling." Tori Amos

(5/?)

Day 49

Words had been sparse that day.

The fear that clutched Mulder’s stomach was eating him alive. He watched Scully carefully all day. It was making her angry but he couldn’t help himself. He was reliving the worst moments of their lives all over again.

Mulder sat down heavily by the fire. He shivered from the cold water he had just washed the day’s dirt off with despite the warm flames.

Wordlessly Scully sat beside him with her back to the fire drying her hair.

After watching her struggle with keeping the blanket wrapped around her nude body and fluffing her hair with one of her hands for a minute before Mulder slid closer to her. "I don’t like it when we aren’t talking." He said bluntly as he pushed her hand away and ran his finger through her damp hair, slowly heating with from the fire. "I especially dislike it when I don’t know why we aren’t talking."

"We aren’t talking because we don’t have anything to say that won’t upset each other." Her voice was soft, apologetic and forgiving at the same time.

Mulder nodded then remained silent for a moment while he chose his next words carefully. "Do you really believe it isn’t the cancer coming back?"

"There is no reason to think that it would be back. I have been in perfect health ever since the chip. Unless that is malfunctioning…" With a sigh she leaned her head against Mulder’s shoulder. That simple gesture spoke volumes. The day of silence was over. "It was the dry air Mulder. My throat and eyes still burn, yours too. That’s what is was. It has to be…"

Mulder moved away now that her hair was dry and faced her. "You better dress before you catch a cold." He said softly, as he ran his hand down her shoulder over the blanket.

Scully watched him for a moment before shaking her head slowly. Upon Mulder’s quizzical look she dropped the blanket so it pooled around her waist and leaned forward running her hands over his still bare chest, letting her hands rest on the waistband of his boxers. "I want to be with you."

A fist of arousal wrapped its self around Mulder’s body. He opened his mouth to speak but his nothing came out for a moment. "I thought you wanted to wait."

Scully let out a curt laugh. "Wait for what?" Without letting him answer she slid forward and took his face in her hands. "It’s just you and me now Mulder… We’ve got nothing to do but keep walking. There is nothing we can do to fix the world, we don’t even know how much longer the world with be here." She quickly swallowed back tears. "I want to live the moment."

Mulder nodded as he cupped her jaw in a gentle hand and pulled her lips against his.

Day 52

Mulder woke slowly. The sun was beating down on his face, warming one side while the other was being warmed by the soft warm cotton covering Scully’s belly. Lazily he rolled onto his back and looked up at the finally cleared sky. After a few moments of watching the clouds drift by he sat up and looked down at Scully.

She looked breathtaking. Her hair spread out beside her, her lips open slightly, her cheeks flushed with sleep. Painfully innocent.

Silently Mulder cursed himself. He knew this would happen. He knew the moment they made love his urge to protect her would intensify. He had kept himself in check so far, but with this past week’s cancer scare he was ready to burst inside. But if he let it out Scully would be angry. He knew she could take care of herself, there was no question in his mind. But there was something about being inside her that made him was to wrap her in his arms and carry her to Nova. God he hoped Nova would be there. Something about making love with her that made him want to take her away from every bit of pain. He knew they weren’t making life in the traditional sense. He accepted that. It broke his heart but he accepted it. But they were making their life together by being together. Scully was right, it’s all they have now.

Scully shifted slightly and opened her eyes. "Good morning." She said softly while smiling up at Mulder.

He nodded with a small smile and brushed her hair away from her face.

Day 55

Scully stomach rumbled loudly. She pressed her palm against her belly and continued walking.

They were down to one meal a day. One small meal.

Scully was thankful though. Mulder shot a rabbit the other day. It was just plain luck. He happened to be sitting by the water washing clothes when the animal hopped close by. Scully never thought she would eat rabbit. She couldn’t eat veal, for some reason it seemed wrong to her. But she had never tasted anything as good as that fresh meat, at least nothing that good lately.

But that had only been one large meal for them, it would have been more but they had no way to keep the meat. Now they were down to a few cans of food, some pasta and a little bread mix.

Swallowing a gulp of water Scully rubbed her stomach again while she looked aimlessly around the road.

"Hey Mulder. Look." Scully reached down and picked a few dandelions from the grass. She handed half to Mulder. "You know you can eat every part of a dandelion? Even the root."

"I think I did hear that." He said as he chewed the bitter plant.

They didn’t taste very good. And there wasn’t much to the pant. But it gave them something to do as they walked along the mostly quiet road.

Day 57

Scully rubbed her tired eyes as Mulder looked at the map for a moment. She honestly didn’t know why he looked at it. He had a perfect picture of it in his mind.

"Hey Scully…"

"Mmm?" She asked around a yawn.

"We’re in Canada." Mulder smiled happily at her.

She looked at him for a moment in shock. "Already?"

He nodded. "We’ve been walking eighteen hours a day lately. It paid off." Ever since Mulder’s arm healed enough they walked. They walked as long as they could. Only stopping when it was too dark and became unsafe, and starting at sunrise when they woke. Walking helped keep their minds off the hunger and fear.

She looked around in amazement. Most of the road signs had fallen with the last bombing making it difficult to follow the roads without looking at the map often. "How much longer until we reach Nova?"

He stared uncertainly at the map for a moment. "Hopefully ten days or so." Carefully he folded the map and put it back into his pocket.

Scully took his hand in hers and pulled him along. "Well lets keep walking then."

For the first time in a many weeks she felt some hope.

Note: Sorry to everyone looking for a smut fix. I just can’t seem the get the love scenes in this fic to my liking. Hopefully I will get that down and add some in later on the in the story. Maybe I will rewrite this part at some point, I will repost if I do.

This part is pretty short, but everyone seems to be getting nervous if they are going to make it to Nova. And no, sorry I won't tell anyone if Nova is real or not =). That’s half the fun of this one!

Thanks for all the great feedback and keep it coming! Every time I get some I end up writing the second I finish reading it!