TITLE:  Hope 

SPOILERS: The Truth (Final Motel Scene)

CLASSIFICATION: MSR.  Scully POV

RATING: G

DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to any of 
us. Although, I know most of us fanfic writers would 
do a better job! **GRIN** I do not make money off of 
this. I have no money so please do not even bother to 
sue me. It's all for fun and pleasure anyway.

ARCHIVING: Anywhere....Please! I "live" to have my 
stories archived! **GRIN** Just let me know where so 
I can check out your cool site!

SUMMARY: Scully's reflections during the last scene 
of The Truth.

AUTHORS NOTES: Please e-mail me at xfmns4ever@aol.com
and tell me what you think!  I thrive on feedback!  
And I even might do a sequel if you all like this 
one!  **GRIN**

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<He sits on the floor leaning against the bed lost in 
his thoughts.  I wonder what is thinking so I ask.>

What are you thinking? 

<He pauses gathering his thoughts before he answers 
which prompts to ask him again.>

Mulder?

I'm thinkin'.....I'm a guilty man.  I've failed in 
every respect.  I deserve the harshest punishment for 
my crimes.

<I know he doesn't believe that and I tell him so.>

You don't believe that.

<He reminds me of our first motel room conversation 
asking me if I forget what we talked about.  How 
could I forget?  I can't ever forget it.  He touched 
me with the tale of his missing sister.>

I believe that I sat in a motel room like this with 
you when we first met and I tried to convince you of 
the truth and in that respect I succeeded, but in 
every other way I failed.

<I can't believe that he feels like he felt like he 
has failed during our time together.>

You don't believe that either.  

Mmmm.  I've been chasing after monsters with a 
butterfly net.  You heard the man, the date is set.  
I can't change that.

<He thinks that the news of the date of colonization 
is just another burden on his shoulders that he must 
carry where I am concerned. This is yet another time 
that I must save him as he is worried about what 
this news will do to me.>

You wouldn't tell me, not because you were afraid or 
broken, but because you didn't want to accept defeat.

No.  I was afraid of what knowing would do to you.  I 
was afraid that it would crush your spirit.

<I let him know that giving up will be our only way 
of failing and we can't do that.  I know that the 
conversation we had 9 years earlier in that motel 
room in Bellefleur, Oregon was why I followed him.  
It was his conviction and passion in what he believed 
in then that led to me follow him and why I love him 
today.  Even despite all of the sacrifices we have 
made, including giving up our son, I would do it all 
over.>

Why would I accept defeat?  Why would I accept it if 
you won't?  Mulder, you say that you've failed, but 
you only fail if you give up.  You can't give up.  
It's what I saw in you when we first met.  It's 
what made me follow you and why I'd do it all over 
again.

<He makes a statement which reeks of his feelings of 
guilt concerning everything that has happened to me.>

And look what it's gotten you.

<I break a small smile at him trying to help him 
understanding what he has meant to me.>

And what has it gotten you?  Not your sister, nothing 
that you've set out for, but you won't give up even 
now.

<I grab his hand and squeeze it gently giving him 
some of my strength and hope.  I curiously ask him 
what he wants to believe in now that he has this 
truth.  However, knowing what his answer will be, I 
ask the question anyway.>

You've always said that you want to believe, but 
believe in what Mulder?  If this is the truth that 
you've been looking for then what is left to believe 
in?

I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us, 
that they speak to us and as part of something 
greater than us, greater than any alien force, and 
that if you and I are powerless now, I want to 
believe that if we listen to what's speaking it can 
give us the power to save ourselves.

<When he answers me, I know that he has finally come 
full circle.  Our first conversation about the truth 
in that motel room 9 years earlier was Mulder wanting 
physical proof of the existence of extraterrestrial 
life and now....he has realized the spirituality of 
it.  I tell him that we want to believe in the same 
thing.  It is such a huge step for us both and I 
think he has no idea.>

Then we believe the same thing.

<I smile at him letting him know that I am there for 
him, no matter what happens.  He raises and gently 
picks the cross up off my neck fingering it and 
smiles at me. It is then that I am certain that the 
truth as we now know it, doesn't matter like it used 
to.  In all of our years of working together and 
being together, the real truth has been revealed to 
us both.  We deeply love each other.  That is all 
that matters to us both no matter whether we live 
life on the run as we are now having to do.  He 
climbs up on the bed spooning beside me.  He is quiet 
for a moment and then softly speaks what I know we 
both needed to hear.>

Maybe there's hope.