From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2012 22:50:38 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Uncertain Darkness (BTC) by Ziggy
Source: revision
Reply To: ziggyfic@aol.com
Title: Uncertain Darkness (BTC: Darkness Falls)
Rating: PG
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Spoilers: Darkness Falls. Oh! And a tiny, baby one for Jersey Devil
Notes: This was for the "Bad Touch Challenge" which involves
our two favorite agents somehow hooking up in each
author's assigned episodes. Since this was a first season
episode, and given the episodes I got, I just didn't
feel this one needed a hardcore NC-17 rating.
Mulder and Scully are still in the formation
of their relationship. I wanted to play
on that. Not beta'd.
Disclaimer: Chris, 1013, blah, blah, blah.
XxX
It was when the generator when off that
anyone thought to ask. Mulder had just gotten
the radio working and hope of survival seemed
possible. Really possible. He'd only gotten to
send out a distress call to two frequencies and
he wasn't sure anyone had heard. Throwing
down the now useless radio receiver, he and
Scully headed out of the cabin down to the generator.
"What happened the generator?" Mulder said to
Larry Moore, the ranger who'd come with them on
this "little trip to the forest". He was standing next
to the orange contraption.
"I turned it off," Moore said. Mulder shook his
head, "Turn it back on. I got the radio working."
"What happened to the gas can?" Moore
suddenly asked, looking between the two agents.
There was a pause and Mulder supplied,
looking back at him, "Spinney took it."
"He took it?" Moore questioned, astonished
by the answer he'd received, "You mean he's gone?"
"He left earlier this morning..." Mulder said, a
slight hint of defense in his voice. He'd made the
decision solely and he knew, when he'd made it,
that he'd have to answer to his other group members,
"He took a battery and some gas. He's
gonna come back for us in the morning."
Moore stunned expression turned to an
angered disbelief, "Yeah, what, he gave you his personal
guarantee on that?"
"He gave me his word, yeah," Mulder
responded, attempting to remain confident in his previous choice.
Moore stepped closer to Mulder, talking with
a slowed pace, as if explaining something to
a nitwit, a dunce. Mulder squared his jaw
and listened as Moore clearly defined his
inner monologue, "Did you stop to think
that the man who gave you his word had
made an art out of sabotage? And defying
authority? And is probably the same man who
put the bullet through my windshield?"
Mulder suddenly stuck out an arm, palm open
as if asking for help, towards Scully. His words
aimed at the ranger, "Well, what would you have
done? At least now we've got one chance of
getting out of here alive which is one more chance
than we had before."
Moore scoffed, "Or one less."
Throughout the entire moment, Scully had been silent.
She hadn't known Mulder for very long, having only been
partnered with him for less than a year. She'd come to
quickly realize that Mulder was a man of deep, provocative
thought but very little self control. For such a smart man,
he made very stupid decisions but she couldn't believe he'd
make a decision like this. As of now, all she could manage
was to listen and get her head around it and to figure out
what they were going to do next. When Moore had made
his final comment, it had pulled her from her own thoughts.
She looked at him, even headed,
"What do you mean?"
Moore was clearly still very agitated and his
voice was still hostile, his movements jerky,
"Your partner let Spinney leave with the last of the gas.
This generator's got about a quarter tank left, maybe less."
Mulder's heart suddenly felt significantly heavier than
it did before. He hadn't considered the amount still left
in the generator. The assumption had been it was full
thus giving them enough light to make it through the night.
"What about the gas in the trucks?" Scully questioned.
Mulder answered before Moore did. His tone low,
defeated, "There is no more gas, the other tanks have
all been ruptured or filled with sugar."
Moore looked over at the other man seeing clearly
that Mulder realized the extent of his decision and
what it might mean, "By the same man who we are
now trusting to keep his word and come back for us."
"Well, then we've got to get back on the radio," Scully said,
having found that as their only viable option, "we've got to
send out a mayday."
Moore shook his head, eyes still turned towards Mulder, a
serious implication in them, "Every drop of fuel we waste is
fuel that's gonna' keep this gennie powered tonight. I mean, I don't
want to be waiting around hoping somebody heard that transmission
when this thing quits running about two o'clock in the morning."
Moore finally looked towards Scully, his
words sinking into both the agents.
"Do you?"
Mulder and Scully were silent as Moore turned and headed
up the small slope back to the cabin. He had to prepare
for the night if they were even going to attempt to make it
through. Each agent contemplated the rest of the night
until Scully finally looked towards Mulder.
He looked back. Then, without a word, he headed up
the cabin's way just as Moore had. Leaving Scully
to stand beside the temporary generator.
Entering the cabin, Mulder walked past a
busy Moore who was searching for
rations and light sources to help them
fend off the little green baddies who'd
infested darkness itself. Going into one of the bedrooms,
Mulder took a seat on one of the cots. He needed a
few moments to feel pathetic.
Putting his head in his hands, he sat there for a moment,
thinking. It had seemed such a noble answer; to let
Spinney go with the gas. Surely, Spinney would be back.
He couldn't leave people stranded up here. Especially not
after what he'd seen those bugs do. Mulder's motto had
been "trust no one" and yet he'd felt a certain longing to
trust... and when he finally gave in to the urge, it always
seemed to backfire.
It had been easy to trust Scully. She'd really
been the only person, in a long time, he'd
trusted and she hadn't made him regret it yet.
And now, Mulder thought, she'd trusted him. She
had trusted him and he'd doomed her to a cocooned
fate in the middle of the forest. A part of Mulder
wasn't surprised to see himself go a way similar to this.
Unusual and unpleasant. He'd known her less than a year
and he'd already sentenced her to be locked in his own
crypt. Doomed for all eternity with Spooky Mulder.
The door creaked open and Mulder looked only for a
nanosecond. Upon seeing the large, denim shirt and
the fluff of red hair, he turned his face away. He wasn't
sure he could look at her quite yet. Scully entered slowly,
waiting to see Mulder's reaction. When she realized she'd
have to speak first, she took a moment to find her words,
"Mulder..."
He cut her off, already defensive, "Look, it's done. I shouldn't
have let him go. Let's just move past it, okay?"
Scully nodded her head. He was right, she had to admit that.
Talking about it wasn't going to change the course of the night.
They needed a plan but it didn't change the fact that she was
angry, "Fine," she said, showing only slight
irritation, "What do you suggest?"
There was a pause and Mulder weakly
replied, "I don't know. We'll think of something."
Scully's shoulders sagged as the pathetic reply, "Look," she
said, "I think we both have a pretty good idea of
what happened to those loggers and what
happened to the group in 1934."
As she spoke, Mulder stood and crossed her
towards the door. As he passed her he
said, "We only found one cocoon."
His hand reached for the knob and she
replied smoothly, "It's a big forest..."
Mulder turned sharply on Scully. His voice
losing all it's martyr-like defense and
becoming aggressive, "Look, Scully, what
would you have done?"
Scully stared at Mulder for a second. Her own
feeling being fueled by his. She clenched her
jaw and said calmly but matching the intensity
in his voice, "You mean, would I have made a
decision by myself that would have affected the whole group?"
"Oh, will you cut the sanctimonious crap?" Mulder snapped.
With no more to say, Scully responded bluntly, "Well, what
do you want me to say? Let's face it, Mulder, we might die
up here! If we're lucky, they'll find our bodies spun up in a
tree or they may not find us at all!"
Mulder and her looked at each other for a moment
after that. They hadn't really said it before and
Mulder felt that crushing weight in his chest again.
That overpowering sense of guilt and his own fear
as the impending darkness grew closer.
He finally spoke, "You're right. And we're wasting
time arguing about it."
Scully looked down at the door, unable to meet his
eyes any longer. Mulder continued to watch her
before taking a hesitant step closer. Impulse
decisions had gotten in him trouble before but
with untimely death looming just over the horizon,
he wasn't sure it mattered much more. Reaching out
a hand, he gently touched her cheek and neck.
Just the pads of his fingers touched the delicate
skin. Blue eyes slowly rose to his, a questioning
brow above them. Mulder greeted the look but
offered to explanation. His hand made a slow but steady
move to the back of her head and he pulled her to him.
Dana Scully was a beautiful woman. There was no
questioning that. He'd known it the day she'd come
into his office and he knew it now but that wasn't
just the only thing that appealed so much to Mulder.
Sure, the beauty certainly helped but it was the possibilities
that fascinated. There was a lot about Dana Katherine Scully
that Mulder did not know. Not just intimate details either,
like how she takes her coffee, what her family is like, her favorite
pizza topping. Those were things picked up in time
and they had just simply not had the time. No,
there was so much about what made Scully... well,
Scully that Mulder didn't know. He wasn't sure
he'd get to now. But he knew she was full
of possibilities.
In Scully, Mulder had seen a friend.
A true companion. She seemed genuine, the
real McCoy. Was she? Or was she just another plant?
Someone there to undermine and ruin his
work? He hoped not. He wanted to believe
she was there with only good intent and honest
opinion. He supposed he may never uncover the
real reason Dana Scully had come into his life but
as of now, with so little time left, all he wanted was to kiss her.
Holding her to him, Mulder pressed his lips to hers
with no intent to stop. Her hands were out at her
sides, attempting not to touch the man in front of
her and her body was tense with surprise. For a
moment, she almost felt like she was misinterpreting
the scene, as if she wasn't being kissed by her
partner but instead was in the middle of some
survival trick or Muldereqse game. At the feel
of his tongue against her closed lips, her brain
jumbled itself out of it's confusion. Her mouth
opened slowly and her eyes drifted shut. Scully
allowed herself to relax under his attention.
Mulder's hand left her head and they both
went to grip her hips, pulling her closer to him
and against his straining jeans.
The force of his pull caused Scully's hands to rest
on Mulder's biceps in an attempt to keep balance.
When she felt his erection, Scully's brain did another
overhaul. It suddenly zapped her with both an intense
arousal, a warmth starting in the pit of her stomach and
growing out, and a sudden realization of what was
happening. Mulder held her tightly, though, deepening
the kiss with the best of his ability as she pulled her head
back, away from his demanding lips.
"Dana..." he pleaded as she separated herself from him. His
hands still held her. His attempted to pull her too him again
but her hand went to the center of his chest, stopping him.
"Mulder," she stated quietly and he stopped his advances
towards her. A clear disappointment and befuddlement
on his features. Scully took a deep breath, her body still
held against Mulder's. It was getting difficult to think clearly.
But this... this was not like her. It wasn't Mulder. Mulder
was brilliant, handsome (she'd told her friend Ellen that
not too long ago in fact) and he was unusual and passionate.
He was very different then most of the men she'd known
and certainly different from most of the men she'd stood here
with. Scully liked that. She liked being able to be this close to
Mulder, to kiss him and smell him. He smelt like pine and dirt from
the forest. It was excellent.
Something seemed wrong, though. As if the act
was right but not the time. Not the place. As if they
could be transplanted to a different location at a different
time, in this exact position and it would be
correct. This wasn't though.
"Dana," he whispered again, "Please."
Scully looked to him now, seeing the longing on face.
Licking her already tender lips, she took a breath before speaking,
"Mulder... we can't. I-I want to but we can't."
"Why not?" Mulder questioned, looking to
her for relief. He spoke again, his voice low and honest.
He spoke from his own loneliness and desire, "You said
it yourself, Dana, we might not make it out of here. I... There
aren't a lot of people I- well, that I can trust. I trust you,
though, and I feel..." Mulder paused again, hesitant to
continue but Scully's face remained compassionate and
he went on, "I feel a type of connection with you, Dana.
I feel like there is something about you and, whatever it is,
I know I need to be grateful for it."
Scully listened carefully as Mulder spoke, feeling a
growth of admiration for the confession. Scully took
a deep breath and let herself smile ever so slightly.
It was a sad smile but a smile nonetheless.
"I know. I feel the same way," she answered and
Mulder's eyes flickered, "That's why we can't,
Mulder. I think... I think you and I have a lot of
ahead of us. And when we get out of here -"
she made a emphasis on the words "- we can't let
this ruin whatever we're destined for."
Mulder's hands slowly left Scully's hips, releasing
her from his hold. She was right. Mulder knew it.
The feeling he was suddenly overcome with
comforted him in an odd way. He looked into
Scully's blue eyes and she looked back at him.
A quiet acceptance and understanding passing between
them. Mulder lightly smiled as the prospect of whatever
the future had to hold with Scully, an honest companion,
by his side. Leaning in once more, Mulder kissed her forehead,
a last goodbye to the moment they had just shared and were
not to again until the Gods bade it so.
Pulling away a last time, Mulder walked over to the window,
looking out at the quiet forest. They were going
to make it through the night. He wasn't sure how
but they'd do it.
He could hear Scully come up behind
him, "What are you going to do?" she asked hesitantly.
Mulder stared out into the woods for a few
more moments before responding, his tone
one of purpose, "Button this place up. If we're
gonna spend the night in here, we've got to do
everything we can to make sure the bugs stay out there."
He looked over at her as he finished talking,
Scully nodded and stepped to the window beside him.
The two agents looked out, preparing
themselves for the night ahead and whatever may follow.
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