From: k.morse@ntlworld.com   
      
   Echoes -  Epilogue  Complete.   
      
      
      
   "I....I can't do this Mulder.."   
      
   "Yes...yes you can.... go for it."   
      
   "I... don't know if I can.."   
      
   "Yes you must... we don't have a choice ...   
   It's okay ...I'll be alive....with you...I   
   can deal with the rest...."   he gulped   
   down his own tears and the sickening dread   
   that gripped his heart. "..later.... Scully   
   please."   
      
   His partner leaned down and kissed him,   
   awkward and strange because he was   
   upside down facing her. He felt her   
   warm lips against the wet chilled skin   
   of his throat, her fingers stroking his cheek,   
   and he was buoyed by her courage when she   
   whispered "Okay," against his ear, no more   
   than a quiet shaky breath.   
      
   "I love you Mulder," her fingers smoothed   
   the clumps of drenched hair out of his eyes,   
   then travelled down his cheek and wiped   
   moisture and blood from his lips where he   
   must have bitten them. She crushed his body   
   against her for what seemed a long time but   
   in reality was just a few beats.Not wanting   
   to relinquish that precious contact with   
   him.   
      
   There was a roaring in his ears now, like   
   bees on the warpath and his head was the   
   hive. An unrelenting noise that twisted into   
   an almost faraway lilting voice, transporting   
   him into the abyss, pulling him down further   
   as he watched her eyes bleed water all over   
   Echoes - Epilogue   
   (Disclaimer in part one.)   
      
      
   Undetermined time later.   
   Sand dunes near the Giants Causeway. NI.   
      
   Damp and cold to the bone Katherine sat   
   dazed in a sandy dune. Ears still   
   deafened she remained there for a while,   
   unable to think or feel, or see anything.   
   Her head hurt and for a few moments it   
   was hard to remember who she was.   
   Getting up she thought she should be   
   somewhere... The storm ....yes the   
   storm....Dana, Mulder.. "Oh god....No!"   
      
   She ran, despite her gammy legs she ran,   
   not really knowing where she was or going   
   but she had this voice in her head familiar   
   and compelling so she followed where it   
   sent her. The air was electric like the   
   storm had charged everything around her   
   heightening her energy and purpose to find   
   them. The waves and the wind still mocked   
   her but she ignored them. It seemed like   
   hours since she had been running but her   
   breath carried her on, wind at her heels   
   and sloshing of wet sand soaking her   
   stocking clad legs.  When she could go   
   no further her steps faltered and she   
   stopped, gasping. There was something   
   moving up ahead... but sometime during   
   ...whatever this was, she had lost her   
   glasses and her vision was blurred. Never   
   did get that laser surgery did ya Katherine,   
   damm it to hell, her conscience mocked her.   
   But It looked like.... No it couldn't be....   
      
      
   "Merlin."  The dog saw her and came   
   bounding over to her, he was wet and   
   sandy and wouldn't keep still as he   
   licked her all over, practically   
   shaking with euphoria at finding his   
   mistress.   
      
   She bent down and ruffled the dog's wet   
   fur hugging him to her while tears   
   streamed down her face.  Her poor niece   
   and her man were probably dead, there   
   was no way they could have survived all   
   that, it was happening again, it had   
   taken them too....just like Ned... like...   
   Corwen.... and the tears flowed anew at   
   the thought of them...   
      
   Her partner and only Son.   
      
   Lost here so many years ago... claimed   
   by this coast's unforgiving, indiscriminate   
   wrath.... She only sought to understand....   
   Now they had robbed her of her Dana and Fox   
   as well. How could she ever tell Maggie, that   
   her only surviving child had lost her life   
   trying to save the man she loved ... just as   
   she had lost her loved ones all those years   
   ago?   
      
   Merlin started to bark, pulling away   
   from her before she could stop him   
   leaving, her arms empty just holding   
   fresh air. Katherine climbed unsteadily   
   onto feet made weak with grief and   
   followed him; he was going like   
   lighting up the beach towards what   
   looked like the area of the causeway...   
   But the landscape was different somehow;   
   like she'd been transported to another   
   place entirely.   
      
   Chunks of rock strewn out across the   
   beach like discarded toy blocks thrown   
   by an angry child. Deep fissures in the   
   sand opened up like greedy mouths   
   swallowing smaller rocks and drifting   
   sand kicked up by the wind rising in   
   great swirls like apparitions skimming   
   over the shore.   
      
   Hexagonal clusters of basalt indigenous   
   to the famous causeway lay scattered   
   and tilted in the sand but when she   
   rounded the edge of the long beach where   
   the cliffs had been, there was nothing there.   
      
   .....A large gaping maw of cliff had vanished   
   and the pillars of rock that once stood like   
   organ pipes so tall and impressive had gone...   
   scooped out like a vertical crater as if   
   something had tunnelled through it and   
   blown it apart on impact.   
      
   She bowed her head, tasting fresh tears,   
   wishing it had blown her apart as well,   
   the guilt and grief threatened to overwhelm   
   her but then she felt something soft and wet   
   against her hand. Merlin barked again and   
   tried to pull her coat sleeve....   
      
   "No, not now boy.... I'm sorry, can't play with   
   you now....please.."  But the dog was insistent   
   and kept tugging before finally breaking away   
   again, seeing that he had his owner's   
   attention and  scampered off up the beach a   
   few feet ahead towards an outcrop of rocks   
   sticking up from the sand.... no they weren't   
   rocks...   
      
   "Oh my ...."   
      
   The dog jumped around in excited abandon   
   finally able to show his mistress his find,   
   circling and barking. Something was moving.   
   Despite advancing age and fatigue, Katherine   
   ran the rest of the way.   
      
   "One, one thousand, two one thousand...three.."   
   A breathless, Dana Scully had been so intent   
   performing heart massage on her partner's   
   lifeless body that she never heard her aunt   
   approach until she felt a warm hand rest on her   
   back. Looking up startled, she saw the   
   unspoken question in the old lady's eyes   
   and nodded acquiescence. Wordlessly they   
   slipped into sync working on the badly   
   injured agent. Katherine doing chest   
   compressions and her niece with her mouth   
   fused to her partner's blue lips forcing   
   life giving breath into his lungs. Swirling   
   sand and wind whipping around the trio as   
   they worked with a single purpose to do the   
   seemingly impossible.   
      
   When he coughed finally, his body physically   
   lurching off the sand in his, lover's arms   
   they both cried, Scully hugging her partner   
   to her tightly and pressing her lips against   
   his forehead. "It's okay Mulder, it's alright   
   ... you're going to be fine. Breathe... Keep   
   breathing ..just..we can work out what   
   happened later...but for now ...."   
      
    " A chuisle mo chroi,"   Katherine whispered   
   softly, touching Mulder's face as he opened   
   two sand crusted  eyes to meet her beautiful   
   smile and his Scully's.   
      
   Carefully they rolled him into the recovery   
   possition mindlful of his managled legs and   
   doubtless other injuries. Mulder's coughed   
   quickly turned to vomiting and a seeming   
   endless slough of gritty sea water pooled   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)