DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL By Char Chaffin and Tess Category: MSR, post-col Rating: R to NC-17 Disclaimer: These characters belong to CC and company - We're just using their clones to show how we think the mytharc will play out - Spoilers: Up through Season 7 "All Things", and FTF Author Notes: At the end of the story! Feedback: We would adore it: char@chaffin.com, and Tnv099@aol.com SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully discover the horrifying truth about the alien colonization - and the ensuing battle will test their strength and their committment to each other - ~ Epilogue ~ One Year Later Scully pulled the tips of the stethoscope from her ears and hung the instrument around her neck. She lifted the infant from the examining table with gentle hands and carefully set him down onto a scale, eyeing the digital readout with a happy grin. "I see he's still eating well," she said. Mary laughed and scooped her three-month-old son from the scale and cuddled him close. She dragged her gaze from his tiny features to look at her friend. "I think he would eat to the point of being sick if I didn't stop him," she admitted sheepishly. Scully tickled the baby's feet gently and nodded. "Zach was the same way," she remembered. "But Luke is a very healthy baby," she reassured the new mother. "And if he's going to grow to be as big as his father, he'll probably eat you out of house and home!" Mary rolled her eyes at the thought of both father and son towering over her in the future. She scooped up a lightweight blanket and draped it over the baby who was drooping heavily in his mother's arms. "I've got to check on dinner," she said. "I left Michael in charge of keeping an eye on the stew, but I know that he and some of the other older kids had a ball game planned for this afternoon." Scully wrapped an arm around her friend's waist and the two women began to walk toward the door. "Great," Scully sighed. "If there's a ball game going on, then I know Mulder can't be far away," she grimaced ruefully. "Tonight was supposed to be his night to cook. I guess this means we'll be having sandwiches for dinner." Mary laughed knowingly. "Well, make him cook again tomorrow night," she said with a grin. She shook her head. "Anyway, I have to run. Tara is stopping by to pick up the rest of the maternity clothes." A slow smile spread over Scully's face. To Bill and Tara's stunned delight, they were expecting their third child in a little less than five months' time. Tara was over the moon with happiness and Mulder had been in his element, teasing his poor brother-in-law about his "timely planting." And Scully was looking forward to having a new niece or nephew to spoil. A new generation was being born and blood tests performed on Zach, Hannah and now Luke, proved that children born to parents who had been vaccinated against the alien virus were immune to its threat. The future was still unsteady but with these upcoming births Scully refused to be anything but optimistic. She and Mary stepped out into the bright sunlight and walked the three blocks from the clinic to the inner circle of cabins. They stopped a few feet away from the cabins that Mary shared with her family. "Tell your father, I'll stop by tomorrow to check on him," Scully said as she leaned over to press a kiss onto Luke's forehead. Mary nodded and the smile that had wreathed her face slipped a bit. She had watched her father's health decline slowly ever since her mother's death. Now, a little less than two year's since he had lost his beloved Anna, Jon Honea seemed increasingly frail to his daughter. He still led the community at its Sunday gatherings and he took great pride in both of his grandchildren, yet Mary couldn't help but wonder how much longer he would be with them. Over the past few months Jon had been training Patrick to take his place as leader of the congregation, and Elder of the village. It should have been Warren since he was the next oldest Elder... and therein lay the problem. Warren was also of failing health, and New Hope needed a younger, stronger leader. Jon had told Mary he'd chosen Patrick - and Mary thought it was the best choice. Warren had been relieved, and had told Mary as much. Patrick was learning fast and the villagers respected him. It seemed to be the best solution. They had lost Sophie over the winter. The spry old woman had finally succumbed to her age and had slipped away peacefully one night as she slept. Mary hoped that when the time came for her father to go, his passing would be just as peaceful. But not yet. She wasn't ready to let go of him yet. Mary shook off her morose thoughts and pushed open the door of her cabin, waving to her friend as she carried Luke inside. *************** As she continued on toward her home, Scully could hear the excited chatter of the ballplayers coming from behind the circle of cabins and she veered off in that direction. Sure enough, Mulder was sitting on a blanket in the arctic grass. His attention was divided between shouting words of advice and encouragement to the players and keeping an eye on Hannah and Zach who were toddling around in the grass behind him, being chased by a litter of puppies. Barely seven weeks old, the tiny offspring of Nanook and Langly's dog, appropriately named 'Slobber', cavorted around the heels of the one- year-old twins. Hannah lost her balance and plopped down on her little rump in surprise, falling backward into the grass and screeching as one of the puppies pounced on her with a slurping tongue. Zach tottered on chubby legs to investigate the ruckus, but he too fell victim to the puppies' excited adoration. Soon both children were sitting in the grass squealing and giggling as they awkwardly reached out to pet the puppies' soft fur. Scully stifled a laugh, not wanting to disturb the cute sight of her babies playing with their canine counterparts. Hearing the giggling and yipping, Mulder threw a quick glance over his shoulder toward the children. Satisfied that they weren't being mauled, his attention wandered back to the game. "That's it!" he whooped enthusiastically. "Line drive up the center! Go Michael - you can get two out of this!" Mulder clapped and cheered as the thirteen-year-old boy slid safely into second base. Scully suppressed a smile when Mulder looked over his shoulder again. He casually pulled one overly excited puppy away from Zach, allowing the little boy to scramble onto to his feet. Zach swayed unsteadily for a moment and Mulder grabbed him by the back of his shirt until he regained his balance before returning his attention to the game. Mulder quickly began calling out advice to the fielding team when he saw eleven-year-old Patty Roberts step up to the plate and assume her batting stance. "You'd better move back," he yelled to the outfielders. His whole body strained forward when Patty's bat connected solidly with the ball sending it flying deep out into left field and he pumped one fist into the air when the left fielder caught the ball near the small stand of trees that lined the perimeter. Mulder was an equal opportunity fan, cheering on both teams. And Patty was a powerhouse. She and her family had relocated from Ikiak, the last family to leave the now-deserted village. Mulder had been damned glad to have them, for more than one reason. Patty's father Nik was a genius at mechanics and had taken over the repair and maintenance of their now- large collection of snowmobiles, motorcycles and four-wheelers. With no roads to speak of from Barrow to any of the outlying villages, the upkeep of their off-road vehicles was vital. A shadow fell over him and he shielded his eyes with his hand to see his wife looming over him. In the low sunshine her hair was a fiery cloud around her lovely face, and Mulder marveled anew at the fortune that had brought her into his life all those years ago. She wore no makeup and was dressed in a simple denim skirt and a white long- sleeved blouse with a sweater slung over her shoulders - and Mulder thought she was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen... "Hey babe," he smiled with studied casualness, squinting against the sun. "You all done?" he asked. Scully tucked her long hair behind her ears and leaned down to kiss his upturned lips. An undignified shriek escaped her when he tumbled her into the grass next to him. In no time he had her lying flat on her back - his intention all along and his favorite position for her - and he grinned unrepentantly into her smiling face as he leaned over her to steal another kiss. Their lips clung and lingered, each knowing exactly what the other liked the best. "What's for dinner?" Scully asked, ever the practical one, when he finally pulled away from their kiss. Mulder immediately adopted a sheepish look. "Umm... I thought we'd have sandwiches," he said. As Scully arched one brow, he hastened to explain. "It's too beautiful a day to cook, Scully. Besides, Zach told me he really wanted my delicious sandwiches... right, Buddy?" He called over to his son, who ignored him in favor of trying to ride Nanook who sat patiently with her tail thumping the ground, letting the little boy climb all over her. "Yeah... right," Scully drawled dubiously as she sat up and pointed to her preoccupied son, and Mulder scrambled for another excuse that she might accept. Coming up empty, he propped himself up on his elbow and turned his head. Maybe another kind of distraction... "Hannah, Zach! Look! It's Mommy," he yelled, calling in reinforcements. His children looked over to find their mother sitting in the grass next to their father and they ran on unsteady legs toward her. Scully mumbled under her breath; her husband catching some of the less complimentary words, such as 'cheater' and 'procrastinator'. "Ma ma ma ma MA!" Zach shrieked as he hurtled his solid little body into her open arms. Hannah arrived a few seconds later and she too threw herself at her mother, almost knocking her brother over. Hannah was smaller than her brother but very strong for all her delicacy. "Mam... ma!" she shouted. The little girl pressed her tiny hand against Scully's cheek, excitedly pointing to the puppies that were yipping and leaping around the small family. Scully wrapped her arms around the children and cuddled them close, ignoring her husband's self-satisfied smirk as she allowed herself to be distracted by her babies' happy chatter. "Were you playing with the doggies?" she asked, laughing as both children nodded frantically. They were dressed in tiny jeans and sweatshirts and their cheeks were flushed with excitement. They flashed near identical grins at her, each displaying a couple of tiny white teeth as they babbled in their baby vocabulary telling Scully all about their busy afternoon, only a few key words intelligible. They chattered to each other just as fiercely, and their parents sat back and allowed themselves to be entertained by their adorable offspring. Finally running out of things to say the twins settled down, worn out from their exertions and more than content to snuggle with their mother. Scully kissed their damp foreheads and stroked their silky hair. "When are Langly and Frohike due back?" she asked Mulder, drawing his attention away from the twins. He called out to Manly, who was manning the home plate and keeping an eye on the children, that they were leaving. Manly waved a hand at them and turned back to the game. Mulder pulled Zach out of Scully's arms and stood, holding out one hand to help his wife to her feet. "Let's go eat," he suggested. "We can talk about it over dinner." Scully shifted Hannah to one arm and wrapped the other around Mulder's waist as they headed to their cabin. Mulder found some leftover soup in the fridge and they fed the children first, then settled them down on the small rug in the living room with their toys, letting them play while their parents ate their dinner. It was a quiet meal, each of them lost in their own thoughts - especially Mulder. There had been a number of changes in the village over the last year. In addition to its name change, New Hope now boasted more than seventy residents as more survivors had found their way to Barrow and the surrounding villages. All newcomers were immediately inoculated upon arrival. With the growing population, a village council had been formed. Skinner, Patrick, Sarah and Bill made up the council and they presided over the monthly meetings held in the gathering hall to discuss and make plans for everything ranging from schooling for the children, to maintaining order in the village as well as assigning duties and jobs to the residents. As was the custom of the Inupiaq people everyone was assigned a job, and if they didn't know how to do it they were gladly trained by someone who knew the daily routine. All of the established residents acted as mentors to the newer ones, and so far it had worked very well. Of the increased number of men in New Hope, several were chosen to form a hunting crew. Led by Manly, undoubtedly the most experienced hunter amongst them, the crew became responsible for obtaining all of the meat and fish for the expanding village. More caches were built and a foray into the deserted village of Alaktak had unearthed an old but functioning freezer, which Nik Roberts had immediately taken in hand to repair. The village now boasted four freezers packed with meat and plenty of caches built high enough from the ground to discourage foraging animals. The crew enjoyed their work and the village would thrive because of their tireless efforts to provide the subsistence so vital to their way of life. One of the newcomers had been a high school teacher and he and Tara now taught a total of fifteen students ranging in ages from six to sixteen in the schoolroom. There was plenty to do in the village, including repairs to some of the unoccupied cabins as more refugees found their way beyond the Alaska Range. Mindful of safety in numbers, the people of Barrow, New Hope and the other villages welcomed the newcomers with open arms. A few of the other villages such as Nulavik and Singiluk had remained inhabited with their residents struggling to keep their independence. Mulder figured it was only a matter of time before those folks made their way either to Barrow or New Hope; both places were much safer, and not as much of a fight to survive. With the influx of new residents the unused cabins had been re- furnished with the contents of several sheds, and now there were only ten empty cabins. Sooner or later they would have to come up with a way to build more homes, if they continued to grow. There was no question of turning anyone away - the council would never do that. If they had to go into the abandoned villages and dismantle cabins and other buildings and drag them piece by piece back to New Hope, they would do it. Mary and Scully worked long hours overseeing the production of the vaccine. Scully had often been frustrated by their inability to mass produce the vaccine in larger quantities, but given the size and scope of the setup at the small clinic, production was limited. In the waning days of prior summer, the newly-formed council had presented as their first directive a plan to convert the clinic into a lab solely for the purpose of producing the vaccine. The measure quickly passed with the overwhelming support of the inhabitants of New Hope. All of the lab and medical equipment was removed from the clinic and stored in a nearby shed while the reconstruction had gone on. A team of men had been dispatched to Ikiak, abandoned in mid-summer when its remaining inhabitants had decided to relocate either to Barrow or New Hope. The team dismantled the buildings in Ikiak and the raw materials were transported back to New Hope. The reconstruction of the clinic was done at a breakneck speed over that first summer so that when the winter months arrived they would be able to go into a full-scale production of the vaccine. With the arrival of the refugees came the unwelcome news of renewed bee attacks throughout Canada and the rest of the United States. People were still dying although not in the record numbers as they had during the initial invasion. But food was scarce and people were also dying of malnutrition and disease. The inhabitants of New Hope were saddened by the news of so many expiring in such a manner, but there remained nothing for them to do but just try to continue their way of life and expand in size if need be, when more survivors found their way north. Scully had been overjoyed to find among the initial refugees several men and women trained in the sciences. These people had been tapped instantly for instruction in the production of the vaccine and Mary and Scully led them through the complicated process. While doctor and nurse were kept busy with their work on the vaccine, Mulder and Skinner had gone to work on devising a distribution plan. At the same time there was a deep concern that the aliens would learn of the vaccine. Precautions had to be taken to keep the location of New Hope as much a secret as possible. In the earlier months of the second winter in the village, they had spent many nights talking late into the evening as they tried to hatch a plan to distribute the vaccine beyond the Alaskan Range. It was vital that they produce as much of the vaccine as they could and find a way to get it out of immediate area so that they could reach as many people as possible before the warm weather and the bees struck again. The Gunmen and the other survivors were paramount in providing Mulder and Skinner with some idea of what life outside of Alaska was like. Pockets of survivors were scattered throughout Canada and the United States although the big cities were all but abandoned. Communication was a shaky combination of ham radios and word-of-mouth. There was still some sporadic use of the Internet but it was hit and miss at best and unreliable as a stable source of contact. In December Scully and her team had stockpiled a modestly generous supply of the vaccine and the first team was ready by the New Year to take the vaccine beyond Barrow. The decision was made that Mulder, Scully and Skinner would not be part of any of the teams that ventured out of the immediate area. It was crucial that their whereabouts remain a closely guarded secret from the aliens. A conspiracy was put into place among the people above the Alaskan Range to protect the location of New Hope and its high profile inhabitants. The Gunmen had led the first team. An underground railroad of sorts was established to provide safe passage for the vaccine and the brave people who carried it. Grateful for the chance to live and fight and protect their children, the survivors provided food, shelter and transportation along the way. Recruits were enlisted among the newly inoculated and after the first few months, the teams carrying the vaccine from New Hope had only to take it as far as the first stop on the underground railroad before it was picked up and moved along by a growing network of volunteers. The system was rudimentary but worked surprisingly well... and was easy to hide from unwanted eyes. Six months after they had begun distribution of the vaccine, they had managed to inoculate many of the survivors throughout Alaska and the northwestern sections of Canada. It was only a small dent and they had yet to devise a plan to make the vaccine available to the continental states and to rest of the world, but they were taking grim satisfaction in the knowledge that the human race was stronger than it had been before the vaccine. As in New Hope, children immune to the virus were being conceived and despite the aliens' best efforts, the human race refused to allow itself to become extinct. There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that the five-year annihilation of the human race as proposed by the alien colonists would become a huge flop. The residents of New Hope took comfort from that knowledge. The Gunmen were out on their fourth excursion and were due back in New Hope at any moment. With them they would bring back information about life beyond the range and how people were coping now that the warm weather was once again upon them. Below the Range it was a given that the bees would return. Blending in with normal bees and permanently changing the strain, these larger, deadlier quantities of tiny assassins would become more aggressive with the introduction of the virus into their system. The inoculated survivors would be fine; they would expel the virus if stung, and life would go on for them. The unknown survivors - and there would never be a way of knowing just how many were out there - would take a sting from a bee, and become incubators. It was frustrating and heartbreaking and there wasn't a thing that could be done, if locating these vulnerable refugees couldn't be accomplished by those working the underground. Mulder sighed to himself as he finished eating and stood to pick up his dishes. They all did as much as they could; fought the fight as thoroughly as possible. The council met frequently to search for better ways to spread the vaccine but had not come up with anything more efficient than their current method. For now, it had to be enough... Mulder cleaned up the dishes and Scully pulled out the galvanized steel washtub and began to fill it with warm water. There was something amusing about the fact that she was able to produce mass quantities of a vaccine against an alien virus and yet she was still giving her babies a bath in the same manner in which pioneer mothers had bathed their children over a century ago. She dipped her elbow into the tub to check the temperature and then called out softly to the twins, who immediately giggled and ran in the other direction, toys clasped in their chubby fingers. Shaking her head and trying not to encourage them by laughing at their antics, Scully chased after them and pulled the toys away, bringing them into the bedroom where she stripped them out of their clothes. "Bathtime," she told them firmly, as she carried their squirming, naked bodies into the kitchen and plopped them down into the half-filled tub. Zach slapped his hands down into the water, soaking Scully's shirt and sending a spray of water into his sister's face. Hannah rubbed her tiny fists against her eyes and gurgled out a laugh, smacking her own hands into the water. Scully groaned. Sometimes she lucked out and they were tired enough to sit quietly through their baths. But not tonight. She sighed and sat back on her heels, allowing them a few minutes of splashing and playing before she got down to business and cleaned the crud out of their plump little nooks and crannies. A few minutes later the floor was soaked and Scully was drenched in soapy water. "Mulder," she called resignedly. Her husband laughed and brought over some towels to mop up the water that was soaking the wooden floor around the tub before kneeling down and grabbing onto his slippery son. "Sit still and let your mother give you your bath," he said sternly. Zach crinkled his eyes and smiled up at his father and began kicking his little feet in the water. Mulder snatched up a washcloth and between them, he and Scully made short work of the baths. Scully lifted Hannah out of the tub and Mulder wrapped her in a fluffy towel and carried her into the bedroom. He was putting a fresh diaper on his daughter when Scully walked in with a giggling Zach in her arms. She lay the baby down on the bed and quickly diapered him and wrestled him into a clean pair of pajamas. She and Mulder carried the babies into their bedroom and Scully sank down in a rocking chair set up between the cribs. Mulder eased Hannah into her mother's arms and left the room to empty the tub and clean up the kitchen while Scully rocked the twins to sleep. This was Scully's favorite part of the day. The twins weren't breast-feeding any longer and Scully treasured these quiet, private moments with her children. She braced her toes against the floor and set the rocker in motion. And to the rhythmic creaking of the rocker against the floorboards, Scully whispered stories to her babies and sang to them softly until their eyes grew heavy. Hannah always gave in to sleep easily and within ten minutes, she was a dead weight in Scully's arm. But Zach always fought sleep and his eyes blinked as he struggled to stay awake. Finally the long day spent playing with the puppies caught up to him and after releasing one last huge yawn, he slumped against his mother's breast. Scully looked up to find Mulder leaning against the doorjamb, quietly watching her and the children. "They're asleep," she whispered and he trod carefully across the room, lifting Zach's heavy weight into his arms and easing the little boy down into his crib. Scully settled Hannah into her crib and covered her with a blanket before brushing gentle kisses across the heads of both children. Mulder did the same and with a whispered 'good night' he pulled the door halfway closed. He followed Scully into their bedroom and found her tugging the heavy shades over the windows. She still had not adapted to the constant daylight, preferring that their bedroom be cloaked in darkness while they slept. Mulder switched on the bedside lamp and soft light flooded the room. Scully's shirt was still soaked from Zach's exuberant splashing and her nipples stood out in prominent relief against the soft cotton. Mulder felt a surge of lust rock through him, sudden and hot. Scully unhooked her watch and set it down on the table. Looking up, she found her husband eyeing her with a familiar, predatory look in his eyes. When he stared at her like that she broke into shivers regardless of whether or not they were alone. Tonight was no different... Mulder took his time walking across the room, body already tightening in anticipation of getting his hands on his wife's rounded little body. Her physique had changed with the births of their children, and she was still slender but curvaceous as hell. Everything about her screamed lush, earthy woman - from her long waving red hair to the tips of her little unpainted toenails. He reached her side and scooped her into his arms so hard the breath squeaked out of her lungs in one high-pitched, "Oof!" Mulder raked her hair out of her neck and buried his lips in the sweet skin, bending her backwards over one arm while his free hand went on a roaming rampage over her damp body. Scully hung onto his shoulders with both hands and let him do his worst damage... This was the best part of their night, when the children were in bed asleep and the village was quiet and slumbering in the warmth of the night sun. The daily troubles and worries of the day melted away in her arms, and left him newly-thankful that Dana Scully had tossed in her lot with him two years ago. Mulder raised his face from her neck and gazed down into those blue eyes filled with love for him... then he covered her mouth with his and his kiss screamed to her all the feelings swirling inside him that he'd gladly tell her later... much later. Later, after he'd removed their clothing, and pressed her down into soft pillows and tangled sheets... Later, after he'd slipped eager fingers over every inch of her skin and allowed his tongue to play 'follow the leader'... Later, when his body lay over hers in a splay of hot, damp flesh and he had immersed himself in her sweetness again and again... Later, when her cry of release filled the tight space between their driving bodies and his echoing groan shook him to the core as he spilled himself so far within her welcome comfort that he'd bathed her very soul... He'd tell her, later. Right now Mulder wanted nothing more than to hold his wife against his trembling frame and give his heart a chance to stop pounding as he felt himself slipping into sleep. With her hair wound around him in skeins of red silk and her naked curves draped over him, Scully made the best blanket in the world. He rested against her soft body and thought of how she could give him that feeling of security like nothing else, just by curling her limbs about him and breathing her love into his ear before she succumbed to the need for sleep. Whatever happened tomorrow, or a week or month or year from tonight... Mulder's world was exactly the best place to be, right now. Their cabin was warm and snugly safe and his children dreamed their little-boy and little-girl dreams in their cribs, side by side in their small nursery. Their future was as safe as they could make it, and every day from here after problems would arise and solutions would be put into effect, attempting to make their world safer still. Some of these attempts would fail. Colonization would continue but with any luck each step forward taken by those alien bastards would result in being pushed two steps back, as the vaccine made it further along its secret route. They had re-named their village New Hope, and as their numbers increased and their efforts to spread the virus met with more and more success, the title became their mantra and their pledge. Maybe to some people such small things would considered, well... small. To Mulder and to the other residents of their tiny village, however... it was a very big deal. Smiling to himself in the dim bedroom, he pressed a kiss to Scully's soft lips and murmured a tired, "Love you, baby," into her mouth, feeling as he slipped under the waves an answering echo of his words as she kissed him back and joined him in sleep. The sun shone overhead at midnight in the late June sky and the quietness of the night was unbroken as New Hope rested, preparing itself for yet another day. End AUTHORS' NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The village of Mt. Vu'luk, later renamed New Hope, is fictional. However the rest of the Alaskan villages and cities as well as the Canadian cities and towns, are real, as is Centralia, Pennsylvania. The places mentioned in Fairbanks, the Regency Hotel and Fred Meyers; Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and the Steese Highway: all real. The Alaskan Arctic bush, above the Alaskan Range, is as remote and as starkly beautiful as described. Bush life is hard and only the strongest can live like that... and if you ever met some of them you would never forget them. From the States to Barrow the trek North is long and harrowing and should be experienced by everyone at least once in their lives, for it is not to be believed. The song Mulder and Scully danced to (in their woolly socks!) is "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", by The Casinos. And Bill Haley eternally rocks, on "Rock Around the Clock", also mentioned. It was our intention to use as much of "Fight The Future" as possible, to explain the virus and our view of its insidious takeover of the world, beginning two thousand years ago. It is our feeling that the producers of the show just let that thread of the mytharc drop big-time... and it was always too good to just forget as if it had never occurred. There are so many people to thank for their endless help and encouragement in the writing of this story, that it's hard to know where to begin! First of all we would like to thank our technical advisors: Garrull, Jay Fox and Tamra Walthall, for their individual expertise and patience in explaining everything from the way a virus works, to what to feed goats and chickens, and why it would have been improbable to have cows in the Arctic! We would like to thank Paige Caldwell for the excellent PR and the most enthusiasm we have ever seen for a story, and Yana for her help on the Russian translation. For beta we want to thank Evielouise Smith and the members of IWantToBelieve, all of whom read the previews and emailed us with advice, suggestions, gentle critiques - and a whole lotta love. In addition we want to send out our thanks to all of the readers who have responded so generously with their kind notes as each chapter was posted. The support and encouragement were and are greatly appreciated. And a special thanks, as always to Aly for hosting and maintaining a site to archive Tess's stories... her dedication is so appreciated! And lastly, (this is Char talking) I want to thank Tess, an amazing co-writer and one of the best friends I have ever cyber-met! One day we will meet in person, though - of that I have no doubt. Writing Evil with her has been nothing but a joy. I have loved her stories since I first started reading them; they are romantic and the MSR she infuses into each fic is to die for. Her talent and level of writing expertise leaves me speechless and she does a fabulous Scully, one that I adored right from the start. Our favorite female agent came alive under her creative fingertips and at times we channeled each others' thoughts so perfectly that writing Mulder to her Scully was as easy as taking a breath. Thank you, Tess - for sharing with me in making this "Little post-colonization story" a 40-chapter adventure! It has been the best time for me, and I anticipate the start to our next fic together (after we recover from this one!) knowing it'll be just as rewarding and fun. Tess (taking her turn now) Char you've heard this story many times over the last few months - but it bears repeating for our readers. From the moment I clapped eyes on "Eden" by Char Chaffin I was a devoted fan and reader. I sent (sometimes gushing) feedback notes to her after each story of hers that I read. One day I gathered up my courage and asked her to take a look at a story I had written. She read the story, threw a couple of suggestions my way and always was an ardent supporter of mine - and a friendship was born. Nothing and I mean nothing that I write ever makes it out to the general public without first having it run past Char for critiquing, advice and general hand holding. When she wrote to me in December with an idea for a post- colonization story and asked if I wanted to co-author it with her, I was tempted to look over my shoulder to see whom she was directing her question to . Seriously, most of my stories were about 25k in length and we were talking about a good length story. But we hammered out an eleven chapter outline (LOL!) and I felt cautious confidence in being able to handle that. Who knew it would turn into 40 chapters and an epilogue? Char, this was the most amazing creative experience of my life and I cannot thank you enough for asking me to share this with you. It's been so much fun. I couldn't wait some days to get home and start writing. Your Mulder is the man of my dreams! You are a dear, dear friend and I look forward to our next collaboration. Oh and gentle readers, there is no sequel in the works You can find a library of our stories at: http://char.chaffin.com and http://www.tessfiles.com