"The Kiss" . . . Mulder walked onto the empty deck of the Queen Anne, the Scully Doppelganger pulling at her hand behind him.
"What are you doing?" she demanded as she pulled her hand free.
"I'm gonna tell you how to save this ship," he retorted.
"Out here?" she asked incredulously.
"I can't stay, I got to get back to history.
"What?"
You gotta rescue it," he began, and she turned and walked around him, but he grabbed her arm and continued urgently, "wait, listen to me. The ship's been caught in something called the Devil's Triangle, some kind of time warp; a rift in space."
She struggled to get out of his grasp, "are you crazy?" she demanded, sounding eerily like his Scully.
"You know Einstein, right?" he asked, recalling her earlier taunt. "He predicts theoretical possibilities. He also predicts an atomic weapon that will destroy the world."
Still struggling, she showed little understanding or belief, "Yeah? So what?" she broke free, but didn't leave. He continued speaking, the same heat in his voice as when he tried to persuade Dana Scully to his way of thinking.
"If you don't go back and convince the crew of this ship to turn this ship around and head back into the Devil's Triangle, everything Einstein predicted will become true . . . except for the outcome of history."
Shrugging in disbelief, she asked, "so, if I don't turn this ship around," she stopped and left the statement dangling.
"-- In all likelihood, I won't exist. And neither will you," and he wasn't referring to this woman, but instead to his Scully. She looked down and away. "Okay," she breathed, the beginning of a ready argument in the word and she turned back to him, but his hand came out, slipping about her neck, "so in case we never meet again . . ." Instead of finishing with words, he pulled her against him, his mouth descending on hers.
Without time for her to think or struggle, resist or respond, he deepened the kiss, wrapping his arm about her waist and slowly she melted into his embrace e for a soft, leisurely kiss before pulling back sharply.
They stared at each other for a tense moment; finally she pulled back her right arm and then delivered a walloping punch to his left eye.
His head snapped sharply with the impact of her blow. As she held her fist in pain, he felt the flesh around his eye and then looked back at her.
"I was expecting a left," he offered jauntily and gave her a wide grin. Nonplused, she stared at him as he went to the side of the ship and jumped overboard.
"I Love You" . . . "Mulder," her voice came to him out of the darkness. And then again, this time as a part of a familiar catchphrase.
"Mulder, it's me."
Scully leaned over the railing of his hospital bed. "Hmm," she murmured as his lids fluttered and he came awake with an inquisitive "where am I?," slightly raising himself up.
"You're in a hospital," was her response.
He raised himself higher and then stopped with a groan, "oh."
"Lie still," Scully, the doctor, commanded.
"I feel," he paused and laid back down heavily, "like hell."
"I don't blame you. You've been through the ringer, I'd say."
"What happened to me?"
"You did something incredibly stupid," the 'again' was unspoken but evident in her voice.
"What did I do?" he asked.
"You went looking for a ship, Mulder," she paused heavily, "in the Bermuda Triangle." As she spoke, the Lone Gunmen followed by Assistant Director Skinner walked through hospital's door.
Scully smiled down at him, expressing her amused exasperation at his actions with just a glance.
"Say that again," Mulder replied.
"Living and awake," called out Frohike before Scully could respond.
Finding recollection, Mulder ignored the four men and focused on Scully, awe in his voice. "You were there."
"Hmm?" she asked.
"You were there, Scully," he repeated. Langley turned to Byers and remarked idly, "he's delirious."
Catching sight of Skinner, Mulder added "and he was there, too," the same note of awe in his voice. Scully glanced over at the Assistant Director.
"Right, me and my dog, Toto," responded Skinner dryly. "No," Mulder countermanded, "you were there with the Nazi's."
"Mulder, will you settle down," Scully advised. "It's an order.
"Not that he takes orders," Skinner put in pointedly. "Yeah," muttered Frohike in agreement. Scully took a deep breath and refrained from defending her partner -- as any defense would be ludicrous.
Mulder, oblivious to their mumbling, continued with his recall. "You saved the world, Scully," he noted.
"Yeah," she responded airily, playing along with him, "you're right. I did."
"What kind of drugs is he on?" asked Frohike.
"I want some," responded Langley.
"No, no. The Queen Anne," Mulder attempted to explain. "I found it. You were there with Thorus Hammer. I told you you had to turn the ship around and then I jumped overboard."
"Yeah, I bet you did," Scully agreed. "The boat that you were on was busted into a million pieces. And as for the Queen Anne, it was nothing more than a ghost ship."
He began shaking his head even before she finished, "no, no, no, you and I were on that ship, Scully," he paused slightly and his finger reached out, tapping her on the waist in rhythm to his words, "in 1939."
Langley glanced over at Byers, disbelief on his face.
"Get some rest, Mulder," advised Skinner, "cuz when you get out of here, I'm gonna kick your butt but good." He gestured to Langly, Byers and Frohike, "come on."
As the Assistant Director and three Gunmen shuffled out of the room, Scully looked after them, but turned her attention back to Mulder when, once again, he tapped his index high on her waist.
"I would have never seen you again," he spoke softly, "but you believed me," he said, thinking of her 1939 look-a-like.
Scully bent down closer to him, responding dryly, "in your dreams." Mulder nodded his head slightly. "Mulder," she leaned in even closer, her voice silky soft, "I want you to close your eyes. I want you to think to yourself, 'there's no place like home.'"
"Hmm," he murmured and then laughed slightly, his eyes locked on her face. She pulled away and walked towards the door. His "Hey, Scully," stopped her and brought her back to his side. He was now sitting up, leaning on one arm.
Standing close to the bed rail, leaning close to him again, she offered -- amused and feigned impatience in her voice. "Yes."
He was silent for a long moment before saying softly, sweetly, tenderly, "I love you."
Scully held his gaze infinitesimally and then rolled her eyes as she looked away, muttering under her breath, "oh, brother." Langley's earlier comment, 'he's delirious,' popped into her mind and she left the room shaking her head.
Mulder looked after her without expression and then laid his head back down on the pillow. As he did, his bruised eye throbbed and he pulled back up, his fingers gingerly probing the sore spot. In remembrance of the kiss that he'd laid upon his Scully's Doppelganger that had preceded the punch, he smiled.
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