From: k.morse@ntlworld.com   
      
   last part in one big dollop tomorrow. Drop me a line if you like it.   
      
      
   Part 6 Echoes (disclaimer in part one.)   
      
      
   Early hours of the morning.   
      
   Mulder startled awake coughing, discovering   
   that sometime in the night he'd been   
   unceremoniously dumped on the floor.   
   Wow the earth really had moved; pity   
   it wasn't because of their lovemaking.   
   A coy grin spread over his face as he   
   remembered that well enough along with   
   sore muscles.   
      
   Scatching his chest, it took a moment to   
   figure out where he was in the almost dark.   
   As he got his bearings, something caught his   
   eye as he happened to glance at the glow from   
   the window, watching in awe as a volley   
   of multicoloured lights flew like geese   
   across the glass. What the hell is that?   
      
   It went on for a few moments.Mulder picked   
   himself up, grabbed his boxers and checked   
   on Scully. She was sound asleep, face   
   beautiful and serene in the glow from the   
   open fire. Her hair in splayed out on the   
   pillow in a pretty disarray and her lips   
   still slightly swollen from the feice kissing   
   of a few hours ago. I did that to her, he gave   
   himself an inner High five.Heart filling   
   his chest with a familiar awe at the sight   
   of her. Rooted the the spot he just stood   
   there, eyes drinking her in.   
      
   Merlin lifted his head for all of a second   
   from where he'd obviously been relegated   
   to the floor as well to look at his new   
   friend, whimpering a bit as the lights   
   shifted patterns across the room. The dog   
   seemed nervous. Mulder felt a rough lick   
   against his hand.   
      
   Mulder needed to take a leak and get a   
   drink or something. His chest felt tight   
   after all that late night exercise and   
   he was beginning to feel like crap again.   
   Just a quick trek downstairs and he could   
   come back and resume snuggling up with   
   his nice warm lover. Just holding her   
   made him feel better. So blissful the way   
   his skin seemed to mesh with hers like   
   they were one entity never failed to   
   fill him with amazement and love.   
      
   Mulder stilfled a cough, inwardly cursing   
   against the ever present tickle in his   
   throat and fist like ache under his   
   sternum. His head was still a bit tender   
   as well. Hopefully the Aga was still warm   
   and there was hot water in the ever present   
   kettle there, maybe get some coffee.   
   Might take a look outside, just a   
   breather, he told himself. Wasn't going   
   to ditch Scully or anything... She would   
   kill him, but maybe he would just go out   
   the back and get some fresh air, blow some   
   of his fuzzy headedness away and check out   
   those lights, whatever they were and come   
   back in. The wind sounded like it had died   
   down a bit now and at least it was dry   
   outside. Just some cloud cover over the   
   moon and a little mist down near the bay.   
   It looked and felt magical. Exhilarating   
   even.   
      
   Dressed again in warmer clothing, he   
   slipped quietly out of the bedroom   
   door, avoiding the creaky floorboard   
   he'd discovered earlier. The dog's head   
   went up when Mulder crept out of the   
   room, he whimpered a little and crept   
   out after his new friend.   
      
      
   Mulder swallowed the last dregs of   
   his coffee and washed up the mug in   
   the sink, placing it on the draining   
   board. It was so peaceful, no one   
   around, just the odd slither of wind   
   he could hear whipping across the   
   courtyard outside.   
      
   Funny, where was Katherine?  No one   
   in the living room on the sofa, he'd   
   checked. Just a pile of blankets neatly   
   folded on the end of the sofa as she   
   hadn't slept there at all. Perhaps   
   she'd gone to check on the generator....   
   but the power was on ok, he'd just used   
   the kitchen light. A little too early for   
   her to be feeding the animals surely?   
      
   The black lab was by the door sitting   
   expectantly panting with his tongue out.   
   "Here Merlin..." he bent to stroke the dog,   
   scratching his neck and whispering to him   
   about what a good boy he was, or what he   
   thought the dog wanted to hear. It seemed   
   to have the desired effect as his furry   
   pal went all goofy on him, licking his   
   hands and jumping up his legs. "Shhh..   
   now. Wanna come for a walk with me, go   
   find your mom?" The dog whimpered and   
   backed up towards the door.   
      
   Mulder threw his thick parka on   
   and stepped outside, careful to quietly   
   close the heavy back door.  Immediately,   
   the dog bounded off over the courtyard   
   and the darkness swallowed him up,   
   although he could hear the occasional   
   distant bark. What a difference a few   
   hours made. There was barely any wind   
   at all now, but still it was biting   
   cold with the fog making Mulder pull   
   his parka hood up over his head to   
   keep warm. Despite the warm clothing   
   he still felt the freezing chill right   
   down to the bone.   
      
   Where could his host have gone? This   
   wasn't a good time for an old lady to   
   be wandering about in this freezing weather...   
   it must have been the early hours of the   
   morning now,  but then he had to backtrack.   
   she lived  up here and looked after this farm,   
   this was probably a regular necessity to   
   come out if the need arose, come rain or   
   shine. Checking on and feeding animals even   
   if it was what he considered very early,   
   or maybe the light show had startled her   
   and she'd got curious about it like he   
   had. Mulder smiled as he gazed upwards   
   to the stars twinkling like frozen eyes   
   in the deep indigo vista of dawn. She   
   was a rather like him in that respect,   
   both recognised that questing need to   
   investigate the curious and unexpected,   
   though he doubted she was as obsessed.   
      
   Merlin suddenly came back to his side,   
   wagging his tail, startling him a little.   
   "Hey boy....you can't find her either huh?"   
      
   He checked the shed and other outhouses,   
   the barn....where he discovered the infamous   
   still; chuckling to himself over that. Moving   
   out towards the edge of the farm, shivering   
   and one hand on the dog beside him, his   
   eyes scanned the fields ahead and up the   
   hill.  Where there weren't ribbons of   
   mist hanging he could just make out some   
   of the terrain in the light of the full moon.   
      
   Worried now because he couldn't see any sign   
   of Katherine, he tried to get the dog to go   
   off and find her again but Merlin got a little   
   more than a yard ahead before he turned   
   tail and ran back to him. Tell tale signs   
   of a cough bubbled up into Mulder's chest,   
   hurting his ribs, his hand flew to   
   his mouth, biting down on his lower lip   
   while his arms braced his ribs. For a few   
   seconds he rode out the wave of breathlessness   
   which bent him almost double. It was then that   
   he heard it.   
      
   At first he thought it was just the wind.   
   Like a faraway song, a small childlike voice   
   calling even, gaining in strength and then   
   snatched away by the wind that was picking   
   up now. Every sense was alive inside him   
   as he stood up again, gasping, feeling the   
   ethereal song go around in his head,   
   trickling the inside of his skull so badly   
   that he wanted to scratch at it. It was   
   coming from the beach and he had to get   
   there. Some obsessive need took over and   
   kept him running despite the frantic   
   protest of his lungs, the dog still   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)