I'm posting this story for Wylfcynne.  Please send all  feedback to:   
      
   Wylfcynne@wordsinrows.com   
      
      
   TITLE:    Starlight Silhouette   
      
   AUTHOR: Wylfcynne   
      
   E-MAIL ADDRESS: Wylfcynne@wordsinrows.com   
      
   SPOILERS: One Breath   
      
   RATING: NC-17   
      
   CLASSIFICATION: post-ep for Ascension, MA   
   MSR SMUTFIC FirstTime, written for   
   Fandomonium's FirstTime Challenge.   
      
   SUMMARY: would be superfluous, wouldn't it?   
      
   DISCLAIMER: They certainly aren't mine; if they   
   were, they'd be having more fun, and I wouldn't   
   have to save up for vacations!  Mulder, Scully,   
   Skinner and the rest belong to FOX Networks and   
   1013; I'm just borrowing them for a little fun and   
   games...I promise I'll bring them back on time and   
   unharmed... and they won't remember a thing...   
      
   FEEDBACK: The Wylf howls at the moon for   
   feedback... Wylfcynne@wordsinrows.com   
      
   DEDICATION: Overall, all my X Files work is   
   dedicated to my writing partner, Ravenwald, without   
   whom I would still be doing all this using a ballpoint   
   pen, who introduced me to fandom on the ?Net,   
   and awakened the Muse, who had been sleeping   
   for a VERY long time.  This piece is for all the   
   wonderful friends at Fandomonium for the   
   opportunity and at the Saturday Night Chat for the   
   encouragement.   
      
   Starlight Silhouette by Wylfcynne   
      
   Special Agent Fox Mulder stood on the very patch   
   of grass where his partner had last been seen on   
   earth.  His face was lifted to the skies over Skyland   
   Mountain as if seeking for some sight of her among   
   the stars.  But there was nothing there but the   
   empty coldness of space.   
      
   Starlight shimmered on his skin, soft as her touch,   
   and he closed his eyes against that memory.  It   
   invaded, tore away his grief and bared his guilt.  His   
   partner, the woman he loved above all others, had   
   been torn from him just as his sister had been all   
   those years ago, leaving him behind, desolate and   
   abandoned.  Just like his sister, Scully had been   
   taken, screaming his name and begging for his   
   help, into the light, leaving him in darkness alone.   
      
   There was no one to mourn with him now, just as   
   there had been no one before: just as his parents   
   had blamed him, somehow, for Samantha's   
   disappearance, so Margaret Scully blamed him for   
   Dana's abduction.  Oh, Margaret had better   
   manners than Teena: she would never tell him that   
   she blamed him; after all, he was not her son, to be   
   punished with impunity.  But he could see it in   
   Margaret's eyes when he saw her: grief and terror   
   that warred with the necessity of blaming him while   
   pretending not to do so because she knew he was   
   the only person actually looking for her daughter.   
      
   He had tried to explain to Margaret that, while there   
   was an open case file, with the telltale   
   red-and-white striped tape that meant it was an X   
   File, that did not mean that any substantive   
   investigation was being done.  There were no   
   leads, no clues, no informants, no trace evidence   
   that did not lead down dead ends.  There was   
   nothing to follow, no where to look.   
      
   He shuddered, chilled by the night air.   
      
   * * * * *   
      
   He shuddered, chilled, and her fingers trailed along   
   his jaw, turned his face so that his eyes met hers.   
   They were sitting on his couch; he had let her in   
   and she had led him here without saying so much   
   as 'Hello.'  He had no idea why she had come to   
   see him so late at night.   
      
   "What are you doing?" he breathed, shocked   
   voiceless.   
      
   Scully lifted her other hand to cradle his face, to   
   keep him from turning away.  "Mulder, one thing that   
   losing the X Files has made very clear to me: the   
   work is just, the work is important and worth doing...   
   but it is only work, and if it is set out of my reach, I   
   can find other work just as valid. You, however, are   
   my life and I cannot set you aside.  Without you, all   
   work is meaningless, and my life is empty."   
      
   He was stunned .  He had no idea how to respond,   
   but he was still coherent enough to realize that   
   response was an absolute necessity.   
      
   "I...I don't know what to say, Scully," he admitted,   
   his voice still useless and the words little more than   
   a whisper.  "No one has ever said such words to   
   me.    I'm... I'm stupefied."   
      
   "And I always thought you were the eloquent half of   
   this partnership."  Her smile was tender.   
      
   He tried to smile but knew it was a dismal failure.   
   "We aren't partners, anymore."   
      
   "The word has multiple applications, Mulder," she   
   said quietly.  "At the FBI, we are no longer partners.   
   In our private lives we choose with whom we will   
   spend our lives."   
      
   He looked a little closer and saw tears shining in   
   her eyes. He lifted his hand to palm her jaw and   
   cautiously touched her lashes with the edge of his   
   thumb, felt the tiny swirl of wetness against his skin.   
      
   "Oh, my God!"  Realization struck him as hard as if   
   he had stepped on a rake.  "Do you...  Does this   
   mean you love me? Is that possible?"   
      
   She blinked back the tears.  "Yes," she said simply.   
      
   "How...?!"   
      
   She chuckled softly.  "You would know that better   
   than I; you studied the mind and how we think.  I   
   don't want to discuss the biochemistry..."   
      
   He had to laugh, but it faded swiftly as he   
   contemplated the enormity of the gift she had   
   given.   
      
   "Mulder...?"  Her confidence seemed fled; there   
   was timidity in her words that frightened him: she   
   was never timid.   
      
   "What's the matter?"   
      
   "You... you haven't answered me."   
      
   Suddenly it was all clear to him.  "Scully, I have   
   adored you since you came into my hotel room in   
   Bellefleur and demonstrated that you trusted me   
   with that kind of vulnerability.  I knew I had to have   
   you in my life somehow... but I don't think I realized   
   it was love until just now.  I never had a referent for   
   that word before; not a personal one."   
      
   Scully frowned.  "You've had relationships in the   
   past; I've met Phoebe Green, remember?"   
      
   Now he was confused again.  "What's she got to   
   do with this?"   
      
   "We were discussing love...?" she prompted him.   
      
   "I never loved her."  He was puzzled; how had that   
   not been clear to Scully?   
      
   "You were lovers for a long time."   
      
   "We had a sexual relationship.  She used me; I   
   allowed it for a while until I felt my humanity   
   crumbling and I fled.  I thought you knew this..."   
      
   "How would I know it, Mulder?" she asked gently.   
   "You almost never talk about yourself."   
      
   "I didn't want to bore you... or horrify you."  He   
   looked away.  "I'm sorry.  That sounds so   
   melodramatic..."   
      
   "All I need from you is the truth, Mulder.  Do you   
   love me?"   
      
   He turned back, met her eyes with his.  "Yes."   
      
   She smiled, and he felt as if the dawn was   
   brightening in his soul.  She leaned forward to kiss   
   him and he waited for her, paralyzed as a bird is by   
   a snake.  At the first touch of her lips, he sighed.   
   Somehow the touch made the words real.   
      
   The kiss was brief, chaste; she pulled back to   
   study his face. He reached up and laced his fingers   
   into her hair, holding her entire skull cradled   
   between his palms.  This time he leaned in toward   
   her, and it was her turn to wait, frozen with   
   anticipation.   
      
   This kiss was neither brief nor chaste: at the first   
   touch of his lips she gasped and opened her   
   mouth, sucking him inside. When her body melted   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)