THAT'S ALL-PART 4 ************************************************* Mulder was aware of the cold rain hitting his face, but its impact affected him a lot less than the simple presence of the woman running next to him. Why did she seem so familiar to him? Why did her presence comfort and yet excite him at the same time? And why had he opened up to her so easily tonight, telling her things he would rather forget ever happened? All the questions running through his mind faded as he caught sight of the wolf, or what everyone presumed to be a wolf. A wolf with human eyes. For a quick second, Mulder wished he had told Waterston what he had seen last night; maybe she would have been able to give him a good scientifically acceptable reason for it. They neared the lake, and Mulder realized his companion was breathing hard. For some reason, this bothered him. In his minds eye, she was in as good of shape as he was. He paused at the shore, looked left, then right. He glanced at Waterston. "You okay?" She nodded, placing her hands on her knees and leaning over, gulping in the cold, wet air that surrounded them. "Guess I'm not in as great of shape as I thought I was." He thought she sounded amused. "Which way do you think it went?" "You saw it?" he asked. "The wolf?" "Sure looked like a wolf," she replied, not really agreeing with him. "You still don't think it is a wolf, do you?" She shrugged, and then pointed to the ground in front of them. Paw prints as large as a man's hand were imbedded in the mud along the lake's edge. They traveled off to their left. Without another word, Mulder set off to follow them. He heard Waterston following, but didn't turn to look at her. "Wait a minute," she said suddenly. He stopped and looked at her. She was pointing into the trees. "What's that?" Without waiting for him to answer, she headed away from the shore and into the forest. Mulder felt his whole being tense. For some strange reason, he knew what she was doing wasn't safe, and he followed her, moving as quickly as he could through the muck. Waterston stopped before the tree that bore the object she had seen. It was a shirt, its white fabric torn and muddy. She touched it briefly. "I don't see any blood," she told him. "I guess that's a good thing," Mulder replied. He looked back at the lake, wishing more than anything that he had a flashlight. The illumination from town was being reflected well by the low clouds, but this far out, it wasn't helping much. "Let's call for backup," he told her. "Maybe we can get Clayton out here before those tracks wash away." She eyed him speculatively, then slowly nodded. "Okay." He turned and headed for the shore once more, intent on following it back to the park and their car. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a large dark shape in the trees above, and he turned, directing both his gaze and his weapon upward. Waterston gasped and turned to look up as well, but before she could even complete the move, a huge branch fell from the tree, the horrendous crack it made echoing over the lake. She screamed as it came down upon her, and Mulder felt his heart grow cold. "Scully!" He began to rush forward, but the shape he had seen in the trees, the one that was responsible for the downed branch, launched itself at him. He ducked and rolled, feeling the heat of the creature as it soared over him, landing with a grunt and growl several feet away. Mulder rose to his knees, firing his weapon at the wolf. Three times he fired. Three times the animal jerked as if hit, but it didn't go down or even act affected at all. "Mulder!" Mulder turned toward his fallen companion. Though pinned by the large branch across her middle, she managed to toss her gun to him. Without stopping to think, he dropped his own weapon and reached for hers. The wolf was rushing towards him, its human eyes blazing, its teeth bared. Mulder fired once. Again, the creature jerked, but this time it also yelped. With a pitiful moan, it turned and ran off into the trees. Breathing hard, Mulder kept the weapon up and ready, but the woods had become silent once more. He felt the rain hit his head, causing mud to dribble down his face, and he brought up one arm to wipe it of, stopping himself when he realized that his coat sleeve was even muddier than his face. "Mulder?" Taking a deep breath, Mulder picked up his fallen weapon and rose to his feet, then he stumbled over to Waterston. With her help, he lifted the heavy limb off of her, then kneeled down next to her, automatically touching her face as if to assure himself she was alive. "I'm fine," she said softly, answering the question in his eyes. Mulder handed her the gun she had tossed him. "Let me guess," he told her. "Silver bullets?" She nodded. "I had Larry Reynolds, Rose's son, make them for me last week." She looked away, and then started to stand. Mulder took a hold of her elbows and rose with her, bracing her. He let her go and was about to turn away when she stopped him, her own hands on his arms. "Mulder?" He looked at her curiously. "What?" "You called me Scully," she told him. "Why?" He vaguely remembered yelling that name out when the branch had fallen on her, but he didn't know why. "I don't know. Does it have some meaning for you?" She paused. "It's my maiden name," she told him. "It's what you used to..." Abruptly, she stopped, and Mulder knew his confusion was showing on his face. A sharp yelp from the trees kept him from asking what she meant, and without another word, they both began to follow the sound. They found him in a clearing not far from where Mulder had shot him. He was lying naked on the ground, his breathing shallow, his heart slow. Three small wounds on his chest were bleeding ever so slightly, and a much larger one in his shoulder was bleeding profusely. Mulder stood in shock as Dana Waterston kneeled down next to the dying Jake Lennox. He watched as she gently brushed the hair away from the Detective's forehead. "Call the others," she said softly over her shoulder. Belatedly, he pulled out his cell phone, hoping it would find a signal out here. It did. "I just wanted to be like them," Mulder heard Lennox whisper. "But I couldn't control myself." The man tried to smile. "Now I know why they are so much better than us." Mulder managed to reach the Sheriff's Office, and they promised they would get as many people out to help as quickly as possible. But Mulder knew it would be too late for Lennox. He was right, as the man died moments before the others made their way down the lakeshore and into the forest, and Dana Scully Waterston began to cry. ************************************************* Wolfcove Sheriff's Office 5:14 A.M. November 1st Scully balanced herself carefully on the edge of the chair, trying her best not to get mud everywhere. The blanket over her shoulders helped, but it wasn't long enough to cover her back end, and she was reluctant to get the upholstery dirty. The people working here had enough of a mess to deal with already. Wolfcove's best detective was dead, and nobody had a good explanation why. Mulder had admitted to shooting a wolf, and Scully had corroborated his story right down to the last detail. Finding the dying police officer had been the last thing either of them had expected. Many were saying that Mulder had shot the man accidentally; it was dark and rainy and the FBI agent hadn't been able to see clearly. Others were saying the detective had jumped in front of the wolf Mulder had been shooting at, trying to protect it. Only a few whispered the word 'werewolf,' and then only to themselves. Scully knew that Mulder would have a difficult time escaping charges, and he might even have to face a prison sentence. Even if Jake's death was labeled accidental, Mulder would most likely be fired. She watched as he stood in the corner of the room, hands cradling a Styrofoam cup of coffee, staring into the dark liquid as if he could find the answers to all life in the potent brew. He looked absolutely devastated, and Scully's heart cried for him. She had stated over and over that Mulder had not intentionally shot Jake, but she didn't know if it would do any good. There was nothing else she could do. Except... She stood and walked across the room to stand in front of him. "Mulder..." "Who are you?" he asked tiredly. "Who are you really? Someone else sent to play games with my mind?" Scully looked into his eyes and wondered how she had ever entertained the thought that she could live without this man. She shook her head, and then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him softly on the lips. "In your heart, you know who I am. You told me so in the forest, when you called my name." "Scully?" She smiled, thrilled to hear that name come from his lips. "Yes." For a moment, his eyes brightened, but then they dimmed once more and the hopelessness returned. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore." "What if I told you that we knew each other in another life," she said softly, not wanting the cops congregated just outside the open door to hear her. "What if I told you that we were partners? Best friends?" He frowned. "I would say you were crazy," he said, but his voice lacked conviction. Scully smiled again. "Maybe you'd be right," she told him. "Then again, maybe you haven't just killed a werewolf." He closed his eyes, hiding his pain from her. "I killed a man," he told her. "A good man." She pushed away from him, frustrated. She had hoped that by staying here and helping him stop the killings she would help him, but now she knew he was beyond her help. He had needed her long ago, and she hadn't been there. Well, that was about to change. "Okay, Yasuo," she called out. "I guess I'm done here." "Yes, indeed you are." Scully spun around, unsurprised to see the little Asian man standing between herself and a shocked Mulder. What did surprise her is that they weren't in the little office at the Sheriff's department anymore. They were in the basement office of the J. Edgar Hoover building. Mulder looked around him. "What the hell?" He looked at Yasuo. "You're the guy from the park. How did we get here?" He frowned as he looked about the room. "This is my office, only it looks different." Scully glared at Yasuo. "Why is he here?" Yasuo shrugged. "I thought maybe you wanted to say goodbye." "What do you..?" Scully paused, then realized this may indeed be her chance. If she was going back to 'her' Mulder, her partner and best friend, who she would never consider kissing for fear of changing the wonderful relationship they had, this was her chance to let her true feelings show. Taking a deep breath, she rushed by Yasuo, wrapped her arms around a wide-eyed Mulder, and kissed him. At first, he was frozen in shock, but then his arms came around her and he opened his mouth, returning her kiss with a passion Scully had only dreamed about. Then, everything went dark. ************************************************* When Scully opened her eyes, she found herself in the X-files office once more, only this time she was alone. The building was quiet, and the clock on the desk in front of her told her it was still early morning, only a few minutes before 6. The only illumination in the office came from the small desk lamp. She took a deep breath and walked behind the desk, sitting carefully in the chair, only then realizing that she was clean, in dry clothing, and that her body didn't ache as if she had spent part of the evening pinned underneath a fallen branch. She reached for the phone, intent on calling Mulder, when it rang. Licking her lips nervously, she picked it up. "Yes?" "There you are," said a well-loved voice on the other end of the line. "I tried your cell phone and your home phone, but you wouldn't answer." "Are you okay, Mulder?" she asked, not even offering an explanation for being at the office this early in the morning. There was a pause. "Yeah," he finally told her. "I'm okay. It looks like I'll be here for a while, though. It's kind of a mess up here right now." "What happened?" Scully demanded. "One of the deputies shot what he believed to be a wolf, only when he caught up to the animal, he found one of the detectives, naked and shot. He died shortly afterwards." He took a deep breath. "Nobody here wants to believe he and the wolf were one and the same." "A werewolf," Scully responded. "How..?" "Look, Scully, I know you don't believe either, but-" "That's not what I was going to say," Scully interrupted him. "I was going to ask how the deputy killed a werewolf. Aren't they supposed to be hard to kill?" There was silence for a moment. "Once I came here and proposed my theory, several of the men here started making and carrying silver bullets. This deputy was one of them." A small smile formed on Scully's face. "Congratulations, Agent Mulder. Even if they never solve the mystery in their own minds, at least you stopped the killings." Mulder huffed out a laugh. "I guess," he said. "It may be a while before I can get out of here. I was with the deputy when he fired, so I saw what he saw. I'm not going to let him be charged with murder." Scully nodded. "Okay. Keep me updated, huh?" "I will." He paused a moment. "Scully?" "Yeah?" "I wish you had come. We may have been able to solve this thing a lot sooner if you had been here." "I don't think so, Mulder," she told him with a smile. "I think there are some things we can handle very well by ourselves." Mulder began to argue, but Scully stopped him. "But only some things. For everything else, I think I need you as much as you need me." The silence this time was deafening, and Scully was sure she had shocked her partner into speechlessness, not something that happened very often. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, and it sent a shiver up her spine. The good kind of shiver. "I'm gonna get out of here ASAP, Scully, and when I get back there, I'm going to make you repeat those words to my face." Scully laughed. "You won't have to make me, Mulder. I'll do it more than willingly... after you make me dinner." She heard the smile in his voice. "Deal. I'll call you and let you know when I'm getting out of here." "Okay," she responded. There was another long silence as neither of them were willing to hang up first. Finally, she heard a resigned sigh and the line was disconnected. She hung up the phone and leaned back in her chair. She almost expected to see Yasuo standing on the other side of the room, a pleased smile on his wrinkled face, but she was alone in the office. 'But not for long,' she told herself. Mulder would be back soon, and then the two of them would continue on this amazing journey... together. THE END Author's Note: Once more, I found the title for this story with my favorite band, Genesis. Hey, it's only the fourth song of their self-titled album that I've used. Anyway, I always believed this song to be the perfect Scully song, and finally I was able to use it for this story. Thank you Phil, Mike and Tony. And thank you David and Gillian; hope to see you both together on the big screen some time soon! *** That's All Just as I thought it was going alright I find out I'm wrong, when I thought I was right It's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all I could say day, you'd say night tell me it's black when I know that it's white it's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all I could leave but I won't go though my heart might tell me so I can't feel a thing from my head down to my toes so why does it always seem to be me looking at you, you looking at me it's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all Turning me on, turning me off making me feel like I want too much living with you is just putting me through it all of the time running around, staying out all night taking it all instead of taking one bite living with you is just putting me through it all of the time I could leave but I won't go it'd be easier I know I can't feel a thing from my head down to my toes but why does it always seem to be me looking at you, you looking at me it's always the same, just a shame, that's all Truth is I love you more than I wanted to there's no point in trying to pretend there's been no-one who makes me feel like you do say we'll be together 'til the end I could leave but I won't go it'd be easier I know I can't feel a thing from my head down to my toes but why does it always seem to be me looking at you, you looking at me it's always the same, just a shame, that's all Just as I thought it was going alright I find out I'm wrong when I thought I was right it's always the same, just a shame, that's all I could say day, you'd say night tell me it's black when I know that it's white it's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all That's all