From: char@chaffin.com   
      
   ROCKY MOUNTAIN INTERLUDE, Chapter Twelve   
   By Char Chaffin and Tess   
   MSR, Casefile, AU   
   Rating:  Strong R   
   Spoilers:  FTF, Most of Season Seven   
   Feedback:  to Tnv099@aol.com; char@chaffin.com   
      
   Headers and summary, see Part 1   
      
      
   Chapter Twelve   
   Millersburg Mine   
      
      
   With a pounding headache, Scully awoke to total darkness.  She   
   rolled her head to the side and instantly the taste of bile filled   
   her mouth. She swallowed hard and took shallow breaths, willing her   
   stomach to settle.  Mulder's weight was pressed against her hip and   
   she felt him begin to stir.   
      
   "Mulder?" she called out softly.   
      
   She heard him moan and felt his hand clutch her leg.   
      
   "Don't move.  Lie still and breathe slowly," she cautioned.   
      
   He followed her advice and several long moments passed as they lay   
   quietly, fighting the nausea and willing it to subside.  Finally,   
   Mulder cautiously lifted his head.   
      
   "Are you all right?" he asked.   
      
   "My head hurts."  Scully rolled over and gingerly pushed herself to   
   her knees.   
      
   "Mine too."   
      
   They sat up slowly and Scully reached out blindly, searching for   
   Mulder in the unrelenting blackness.  Her hand brushed his arm and   
   she clutched it tightly.   
      
   "Do you have the flashlight?" she asked urgently.   
      
   He patted the ground around him. "It's around here somewhere," he   
   muttered.  "I dropped it."  On their knees, they searched the ground   
   around them with their hands, desperately searching for the   
   flashlight.  After several minutes, Mulder's fingertips brushed   
   against the hard plastic casing.   
      
   "Here!" he crowed with relief and clicked on the light.  He played   
   the light briefly over Scully's face and then swept the beam around   
   the cave, illuminating the drawings on the wall.   
      
   "Do you think it worked?" Scully asked worriedly.  "Do you think   
   we're..."   
      
   Mulder shrugged.  "Only one way to find out."  He aimed the beam of   
   light down the passageway that led to the cave entrance.   
      
   He stood and held out a hand for Scully.  As he helped her up, he   
   moved the small circle of light across the ground around their feet.   
   "Do you see the oil lamps?" he asked.   
      
   He shone the light over every corner of the small cavern but the   
   lamps were nowhere to be seen.  "Weird," he muttered.  "They should   
   be around here somewhere."  One of the lamps had been burning when   
   they collapsed.  He had no way of knowing how long they had been   
   unconscious, but the lamps should still be nearby.  Had it worked?   
   Did it make sense that the only things that would travel through time   
   with them would be those they were touching or wearing at the time?   
   He felt a bubble of excitement rise up.  Maybe... just maybe this   
   time they had hit upon the right combination of elements to send them   
   back through time.  But what?  What had they done this time that they   
   hadn't done in either of their previous attempts?   
      
   "Forget the lamps." Eager to be on the way and to find out whether   
   they had made it back home, Scully interrupted his thoughts as she   
   scooped up her backpack and hooked it over her shoulders.  "Let's   
   just get out of here."   
      
   They started down the tunnel toward the cave entrance and the   
   tension mounted with every step they took.  Scully felt an odd   
   combination of anticipation, hope and worry twist her stomach into   
   knots.  She winced in remembrance of her earlier meltdown and didn't   
   know how she would react if they exited the cave and found themselves   
   still trapped in the nineteenth century.  She had done her level best   
   to adapt to the life they had been living, but always it had been   
   with the belief that their stay was only temporary.  The alternative   
   was unthinkable.  If this last attempt hadn't worked... if they had   
   to leave Millersburg in order to escape the coming plague... If they   
   didn't have continued access to the cave where it had all started -   
   how would they ever find their way home again?   
      
   At last the entrance came into view.  Mulder turned to look at her.   
   "Here goes nothing," he said solemnly.   
      
   "Here goes," she repeated.  She tried to summon up an encouraging   
   smile but she knew the worry etched on his face was mirrored on her   
   own.   
      
   They each took a deep breath and plunged through the opening.  They   
   stood for a moment, frozen in place as they looked around.  There was   
   nothing to indicate whether their attempt to return home had been a   
   success.  Same hillside, same cave... same moon shining brightly   
   overhead. Scully felt a childish urge to wish on a star.  She stared   
   upward, a silent prayer on her lips - and suddenly her eyes widened.   
      
   "Oh my God!"  She frantically clawed at Mulder's arm.   
      
   "What?"  His head whipped from side to side as he looked around for   
   an unseen danger.   
      
   "Look!"  She pointed a trembling finger toward the sky.  "Do you see   
   it?" she asked urgently.   
      
   His gaze swept back and forth across the heavens unsure of what she   
   was trying to show him.   "See what?  Scully! What?"   
      
   She stabbed her finger toward the sky.  "That... star - do you see   
   it?  Is it moving? Or am I imagining things?"   
      
   He followed the path of her finger towards the sky and felt his   
   heart slam against his breastbone.  He flung his arms around her   
   waist and lifted her into a hug.   
      
   "No!  You're not imagining it," he said with a grin.  "That's no   
   star... it's a plane!"   
      
   She slipped her arms around his neck and held on tightly.  "Thank   
   God," she whispered.  "It really worked."   
      
   Mulder set her back onto her feet and clutched her hands with his.   
   "Well, we're definitely not in the nineteenth century," he agreed.   
   The thought occurred to him that they still weren't sure they had   
   arrived back in exactly the right time.  They could have overshot or   
   undershot the mark by any number of years.  He squeezed her hand and   
   saw from the cautious smile on her face that she had arrived at the   
   same conclusion.   
      
   "Are you ready?" Mulder asked.  She nodded and together they began   
   to pick their way down the hillside.  Halfway down the slope, he   
   pulled her to a stop.  "It's still there," he said.  His voice   
   was shaky with relief as he spotted their Jeep.  They had made   
   it back to the right time and place.  They scrambled the rest of   
   the way down the hill.  Mulder was fairly dancing around the Jeep   
   and Scully thought he looked like he wanted to throw his arms   
   around the vehicle in an embrace.   
      
   "I was afraid that even if we did manage to get back, the car would   
   be gone," he admitted as he ran his hands over the hood.  "I mean...   
   it's fairly deserted out here, but the way our luck has been   
   running..."   
      
   She barked out a nearly maniacal laugh and clapped a hand over her   
   mouth in surprise at the sound.  "Do you have the keys?" she asked   
   from behind her fingers.   
      
   A panicked look crossed his face as he patted his pockets.  Keys?   
   "Oh, no. No, no, no," he whispered.  He dug his hands deep into the   
   front pockets of his jeans, shaking his head at the thought that   
   something as mundane as a missing set of car keys could be the final   
   impediment on this long journey home.  He was cursing the fates and   
   muttering about their bad luck when a sudden memory sparked.  He   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)