From: k.morse@ntlworld.com   
      
   Echoes by truthwebothknow1  Part 5/7   
   (disclaimer in part one)   
   This is a finished story posted over 7 nights.   
      
   ****   
   Shocked, Scully and Katherine flew to   
   his side. Mulder wasn't moving and his eyes   
   were shut.His chest was noticible by its   
   lack of movement.Scully trembled as she   
   felt his neck for a pulse. Sure enough   
   it was there fluttering erratically   
   beneath her fingers and she breathed a   
   sigh of relief, echoed by her aunt who   
   was rubbing Mulder's wrist the other   
   side of him.A sudden cough and a wheeze   
   shook his chest under her hands.   
      
   Scully's hands were a flurry of activity   
   as she checked him all over. Feeling the   
   back of his head her fingers touched a   
   knot there. It was then that he groaned   
   and opened one eye, peering at her. The   
   generator purred away in the background   
   punctuated by creaking wood as the wind   
   blew against the barn. He gave her a   
   pained lopsided grin.  "Shaken but not   
   stirred agent Scully," he quipped groggily.   
      
   "Mulder, thank God, you gave me such a   
   fright."   
      
   Coughing he tried to sit up, gingerly   
   reaching behind his head.   
      
   " Ow.... It worked, hey, I surprise myself   
   sometimes. Woah.. that was some rush."   
      
   "You hit your head, steady now. Take it   
   slowly love."  Scully helped him to sit   
   upright, shaking a little with shock or   
   he was just cold, she wasn't sure which   
   but she knew either wasn't good. He needed   
   to get warm and rest and that was long   
   overdue.  "I think this is enough fun for   
   one night Mulder. Let's get you back to   
   the house."   
      
   "So you can have your way with me?"   
      
   "You wish. Do you think you can stand."   
      
   "Peice of cake..."   
      
   Katherine, who was looking sadly at the   
   state of her niece's poor partner tried to   
   shake off her deepening guilt and gave Fox   
   a hand to get him up on his feet. Every   
   muscle in Mulder's body shrieked in   
   protest so much he thought he might   
   throw up any second. It was a slow   
   cold journey back to the house, poor   
   Fox could hardly move.   
      
      
   ******   
      
   The Aga in the kitchen gave a welcome   
   blast of hot air as they trudged rain   
   beaten and exhausted,Scully and her   
   aunt flanked the still shaken Mulder.   
      
   "Off to bed with ya young man, you   
   earned your rest. Mind how you go now.   
   I'll make you some special cocoa," she   
   winked.  He managed a small smile but was   
   floundering and half asleep. His head and   
   chest felt like hell.   
      
   "Believe me Katherine, the way I'm feeling   
   right now you'll get no argument from me.   
   Good night."   
      
   "Goodnight Fox. I hope you sleep well."   
      
   Mulder walked slowly up the stairs to their   
   bedroom, wet cold and coughing up a storm. He   
   was a bit wobbly from his tribulations and   
   being blasted across the barn but he made it   
   to the top with a grunt, Scully behind him,   
   her hand supporting his back as he went.   
      
   "You okay Mulder? That was a nasty crack on   
   the head. Maybe you need to go to the hospital."   
   Scully eased her partner down onto the bed and   
   fluffed up the pillows for him. He sank back   
   into them carefully with a sigh as she pulled   
   off his shoes.   
      
   "Scully we are a little too far out here for   
   that to be practical. I'll be fine as long   
   as I get some sleep and some of that Cherry   
   flu crap you're hiding in your case. You   
   checked my eyes and they're okay. You can   
   check them again later if you like. I'm just   
   gonna lay on this obscenely comfortable bed   
   and crash." With that he sighed and closed   
   his eyes. Little coughs making his chest   
   stutter and rise as he attempted to get into   
   a more comfortable position.   
      
   "You're not going to get out of those damp   
   clothes first?" Scully had fished the Cherry   
   Nyquil out of her luggage and placed it on   
   the bedside table.   
      
   Mulder opened one eye and peered at her.   
   "You wanna undress me, Agent Scully?"  He   
   leered, which she returned with a seductive   
   expression of her own.   
      
      
   Back in the kitchen   
      
   "He's asleep finally." Scully sipped at her   
   mug of steaming cocoa as she stood warming   
   herself by the Aga. Katherine sat at the big   
   oak kitchen table, glasses atop her nose,   
   leafing through a few paranormal magazines.   
   "I'm really worried about his cough though,   
   his chest sounds awful. I'm scared the   
   chilling and the shock he got in the barn   
   tonight will make it worse. At least he   
   doesn't have a concussion though, which is   
   a revalation with Mulder's track record."   
   Katherine put down her reading glasses and   
   peered up at her niece.   
      
   "We'll keep a close eye on him. Anything   
   serious they might have to airlift him   
   from here. Couple of small Casualty...   
   sorry, ER depts to you, even bigger one   
   in Ballycastle, but between the pair of   
   us and that mini drug store you brought   
   with you we should manage. Nice shower?"   
   Scully nodded and sat opposite her great   
   aunt at the table wrapped in a fluffy   
   bathrobe, her hair damp from the shower.   
      
   Scully smiled. "Yeah, much better. Thought   
   I'd never get warm again.God knows what   
   Mulder feels like. Just so accident prone."   
      
   "He fell on his feet when you came into   
   his life, Dana...that's for sure. You really   
   look after that lovely man. I sense some   
   dark unhappy vibes about him though, it's   
   in his eyes. Such sadness behind all the   
   laughter, a visionary, a seeker of truths,   
   never gives up on miracles. And you love   
   him with everything you have too... Am I   
   right?"   
      
   "Oh Yes, with all my heart, he's my soul   
   mate, everything I ever wanted in life...and   
   he's such a caring passionate man. A guy that   
   has literally gone to the ends of the earth   
   for me. Has done and no doubt would do it   
   again."  She mused aloud, thinking back to   
   the snowy hell of Antartica. " Mulder is   
   everything I could ever want.I couldn't   
   live without him. He's been through some   
   rough times.... unhappy childhood and   
   the loss of his sister, Samantha..." She   
   stopped there, fingers gripping her mug for   
   warmth against a suddent frisson of chill   
   that passed through her. unsure how much   
   to tell her Katherine about Mulder's   
   unhappy past and all the hell they had gone   
   through, these last few years especially.   
   But when she looked into her aunt's eyes   
   she saw only deep understanding as if she   
   had read through her thoughts. 'She's a   
   wise old duck'.... her mother's own words   
   came back to her.   
      
   "And I bet he couldn't last a day without   
   you either, Dana. I see that in his eyes   
   and his heart, which he wears on his sleeve   
   when he gazes at you, if you hadn't noticed   
   it. He's a catch that's for certain. My   
   Ned was like that, everything to me. He's   
   been gone a while now..."   The old woman   
   looked off sadly into space again for a   
   few seconds before turning back her younger   
   companion, a small smile nestling at the   
   edge of her lips. "We won the Irish lotto   
   one year ya know. Back in the late eighties."   
      
   "You did? Wow. That's great. A lot?.... Oh   
   sorry I shouldn't ask." Scully admonished   
   herself.   
      
   Katharine laughed and popped her glasses   
   back on. "No its okay, you can ask, I don't   
   mind saying. Six hundred thousand pounds. A   
   veritable fortune back then.Five numbers and   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)