Title: Home Author: Tess E-mail: tnv099@aol.com Distribution: If you want it, but I'd like to know. Spoilers: Biogenesis, The Sixth Extinction Rating: PG13 Content: S, A, R Disclaimer: Anyone mentioned in this story is the sole property of Fox, 1013 Productions, CC, DD and GA. Thought I'd borrow them since I'm not making any money off this. Summary: Scully works and waits for Mulder to come home Author's Notes: Well this was written hurriedly after an extreme case of writers block and prior to the actual airing of the show. Home by: Tess Scully lay on her sofa staring listlessly at the glowing LCD display of the VCR across the darkened room. She had been back from the Ivory Coast for almost two months now and had spent her first week back in Washington alternating between keeping a vigil at Mulder's bedside and scrambling around looking for a cure for the illness that was ravaging his mind. Unable to ban Diana Fowley from visiting Mulder, Scully had made arrangements to have one or all of the Gunmen present at Mulder's bedside whenever she was unable to be there herself. She had abandoned the dig site in Africa because of a desperate need to return to Mulder. To see him. To touch him. To beg him to hold on. Finally, unable to come up with a cure, but realizing that the doctors in the hospital were also stymied at how to help him and afraid that he was slipping away, she made a decision. Plans were hurriedly made and set into motion during the nursing shift change in the wee hours of the morning to take Mulder out of the hospital. The Gunmen had rerouted the video cameras, arranged for a distraction in a room at the other end of the hall that required the small overnight nursing staff's attention and quickly smuggled Mulder out of the hospital and into their van. The plan was simply to take Mulder into the countryside to a hidden location. To a place that was peaceful and quiet. Where he wouldn't be bombarded by hundreds of thoughts and voices in his head. Byers, Langly and Frohicke each took turns spending several days out of each week with him, but never at the same time. Scully hoped that by having only the thoughts of one other person to contend with, Mulder might somehow learn to control the turmoil swirling in his head. "Five weeks ago," she sighed. Five weeks since she had last seen him. It had been agreed that she could not accompany him to his hideaway. If she was not actually followed, then perhaps the chip in her neck would give away his location should she go to him. She swept her apartment daily for bugs and hidden cameras. She was called in for countless interrogations by Skinner and Diana as to Mulder's whereabouts. She and the Gunmen agreed that she was to have no contact with them during this time, but when Mulder was able to come back and face his enemies, they would bring him to her. She spent untold hours going over the notes, papers and photographs that Dr. Ngebe had forwarded to her from Africa. She continued keeping a journal for Mulder so that he would know what she had seen, what she now knew to be true. That the artifact that had affected him so terribly was extraterrestrial in its origin. She barely ate and what little sleep she managed was plagued by nightmares. Dreams of locusts and seas of blood. Of a life without Mulder. The carpets of her apartment were strewn with her notes and photographs. Books were piled haphazardly on the coffee table and dining room table. The Bible, the Koran, medical journals, texts on the Navajo dialect. Her head pounded almost constantly as she painstakingly transcribed the symbols on the photographs of the ship's hull. A lack of proper nourishment, too little sleep, too much caffeine and most of all, no contact with Mulder and no way to know how he was, were taking their toll. Her clothes hung loosely on her frame, her hair was limp and dull. When she wasn't nauseous, her stomach burned and roiled with nervous acid. Depression hung over her like a heavy cloud. And on the edge of her consciousness the words of Dr. Barnes niggled and taunted her -- 'there is no God!'. She ruthlessly suppressed these blasphemous thoughts but as the weeks wore on with no word of Mulder's condition, the voices of these thoughts whispered louder and louder as she begged and pleaded with a God that she was beginning to fear was either not listening or had never existed. Her eyes fluttered shut as she drifted into an uneasy slumber. Seemingly minutes later she opened her eyes as she became aware of another presence in the room. Blinking sluggishly, Mulder's face swam before her eyes. Scully closed her eyes tightly and then reopened them cautiously. She stared disbelievingly as Mulder sat crosslegged on the floor in front of her sofa, his face only inches from her own. "Hey," he whispered softly. Scully did not respond, believing this to be a dream. But then Mulder smiled softly, sexily. "Scully? It's me." His voice was soft and persuasive. Scully reached out a trembling hand and ran her fingers down the side of his face. Mulder shuddered and rose up on his knees to lean over her. Still Scully stared, unable to believe that he was here, in her apartment, safe and seemingly better. Mulder reached out with two fingers and brushed the hair off her forehead. It was this familiar gesture that freed Scully of the trance that had held her captive. With a small cry she launched herself at him. "Mulder," she gasped. Mulder rocked back under the force of the impact of her body slamming into his. She flung her arms around his neck as Mulder wrapped her in a tight embrace. "MulderMulderMulderMulder," she chanted as she filled her arms with the feel of him, filled her lungs with his scent. Mulder feverishly buried his face in her neck. he thought and crushed her tighter against him. Scully eased back onto the sofa drawing Mulder down with her until he lay stretched out over her. She welcomed his weight as he crushed her deeper into the cushions. His belly was nestled into the cradle of her hips and she tangled her legs with his, trapping him in her embrace. Mulder rested his forehead against hers and they whispered softly to each other. "I've been so worried about you." "Scully, I've missed you so much." "They were supposed to call me when you were ready to come home." "I wanted to surprise you." "How are you? Is it gone? Do you still hear the voices? Oh, Mulder, tell me, please are you alright?" "It's better. I can control it, filter it somehow." "How do you know? You've only been around the guys and now me, maybe it'll come back when you are around more people. Mulder, we have to know for sure.." "We started to head home about five days ago. Testing as we got closer to civilization and more people. I don't know how, but it's just better. I'm not bombarded by the thoughts and emotions of others." "I've been so scared. I'm sorry that I couldn't be with you. I would have been there if I thought it would be safe for you. You know that don't you?" "Of course. You were right. I needed time away where I could find some level of control over it. But Scully, you look so tired and you've lost a lot of weight." Mulder smoothed a thumb over the dark circles under her eyes and looked at her worriedly. "I've been busy...Oh, no!" "Scully, what is it?" "My apartment! It's filled with pictures of the ship, my notes...oh, Mulder! You've got to get out of here before it starts again!" She squirmed beneath him trying to dislodge him but he refused to budge. "No, Scully. I don't feel anything from it. Maybe now that I've learned some control, some way to harness it, it's lost its ability to affect me like that." "Are you sure?" "Yeah." "No headaches, no dizziness.." "I'm *sure* Scully. I feel good. The best I've felt in a long time." Scully smiled and relaxed. "Now, again, Scully, how have you been?" "Worried, scared, but keeping busy. Mulder, I kept a journal for you of everthing I found, everything I saw. But Mulder..." her voice trailed off and tears filled her eyes. "Scully what's wrong?" he cried out alarmed. "The ship...it's gone. When I left, apparently the government sent troops...Dr. Ngebe sent me an e-mail telling me that they had taken the ship and that she didn't know where it was. Mulder, I'm so sorry. Maybe I should have stayed, protected the site, but I just couldn't spend another day there. I had to get back to you." "Shhhh. It's okay. Why don't you tell me a little bit about it. I want to know what you were doing while you were there." Haltingly she began to tell him. About her agony at having to leave him behind in the hospital. Of her distrust of Diana and Skinner. The long flight, trying to put together a team of workers to excavate the ship. The endless days and nights spent analyzing and trying to decipher the data. Her constant worry about him until it seemed at times that it would overwhelm her. Her disbelief at what she was seeing. Her desperate need to have him by her side. The locusts and the river of blood. The strange man who had appeared and vanished a number of times. Dr. Barnes' assertion that there was no God. She was trembling and shaking. Tears were rolling down her face as she relived the elation and horror, the fear and the worry of her days in Africa. Mulder crooned to her softly as he pressed tiny, comforting kisses along her brow and down her cheeks, sipping at her tears. His lips traced a path to her mouth and he lapped at the salty wetness he found there. Scully moaned quietly against his lips. The kiss turned quickly from comfort to passion as Scully opened her mouth to him and he swept his tongue inside. She sucked his tongue deep within her mouth and then chased it back into his own. She tilted her head, trying for a different angle. They kissed voraciously, blood pounding in their heads. Biting, licking, sucking in a frenzy of passion, grief, fear and love. Finally she tore her mouth from his as they both gasped for desperately needed oxygen. "I love you," she panted. Mulder's head snapped up and he stared at her intently. "I love you," she repeated, calming somewhat. "I have for so long now and I'm sorry I never told you before." "Oh, but you did, many times," he smiled. "When?" "Everytime you came to see me in the hospital, I could hear you say it. You were begging me to hold on, talking to me, telling me what you had found, but inside, I could hear your mind screaming that you loved me. And the expression on your face. God, Scully I suddenly realized how many times I had seen that same expression on your face and I knew. I knew then that you had loved me every bit as long as I've loved you." Scully smiled tearfully as Mulder slid down to pillow his head on her breasts. "Will you stay here with me? Please?" she asked. "Scully this is the only place I want to be. I'm home." The End Okay, it was rushed, but I was under a time crunch. Please, I'd love your feedback at tnv099@aol.com Thanks.