TITLE: Shadows: Breakaway
AUTHOR: Spooky's Girl  
DISCLAIMER: They're not mine, they belong to the XF god CC, and it's probably a 
good thing they do cause believe it or not, he treats them much nicer than I 
usually do 
RATING: PG-13  
CATEGORY: MSR, angst
SUMMARY: To stay is to do damage, to leave is complete destruction 
SPOILERS: Season eight, mainly all the mytharc eps in it 
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is the eighth vignette in a series of nine.  Basically 
simple summary, one vignette per season, a reflection of sorts of Mulder's 
impact on Scully's life.  A complete list of titles in the series can be found 
at the end of the vignette. 
THANKS: To Nancy for the beta, and to Ashley for allowing me to continue with 
the idea even though she had the same one in mind. 
FEEDBACK: As always, I love feedback…that and chocolate are the necessary 
ingredients to life, and yes, I do respond back to it 
denisegilliland@hotmail.com 

~*~*~

She weeps, I know she does, and I know now that I've made the wrong decision.  
In coming here I have not found any answers that will help us, instead I've only 
found pain, anger, and questions that will remain questions always.  I came here 
as a last resort to save myself in order to save her; instead they'll do with me 
what they will, like they've done with all the others.  They will not save me; 
they will not attempt to.  To them I'm a human specimen, a guinea pig meant to 
be poked and prodded, and open and closed as if I were a left over science 
experiment from high school.  I'm useless, yet useful, and I want to go home.

She cries, finding my absence possibly more unbearable than my presence has ever 
been, something that I can't quite seem to understand.  I remember going through 
the same thing in our second year together, it nearly killed me, and I believed 
I had finally killed her.  This is different though, she has done nothing but 
add credibility to my life, and I have done nothing but take credibility from 
hers.  I'm a thief, plain and simple.  I take all her good qualities, and keep 
them for myself.

And yet she still wants me back.

It warms my heart and scares me half to death, knowing my return will only be 
more awkward and painful for her than my absence.  To be honest though, I want 
to go home, but I don't want to face her without the answers we both need, and 
definitely not with the one big secret that I've been keeping from her, not the 
one thing that can destroy her completely.  Leaving her for the unknown is one 
thing, but this blatant deception of mine will shake her to the bone.  

But how can I not go back?

~*~*~

They're on the hunt, many vastly covering the space of the country uncovering 
every stone, looking behind every rock, climbing every tree.  They're on a 
mission, search and destroy, looking for the perfect being, the only one who can 
fight against them, the only one who can deflect their presence and save the 
earth.  They're unstoppable. 

I will stop them.

Because they're after her.  She's their prey, her and the child inside of her, 
another sign of her destruction due to my quest, my presence in her life.  It is 
with my hands that she will be killed, although not of my own accord, only 
simply because I was too weak to leave when I needed to.  

I will fight alongside her for what is rightfully ours, for that child she 
carries within her, a product of both our bloods.  We are irrevocably tied 
together for the rest of our days, however long or short they may be.  Through 
the union of our bodies, we have created solace, a safe haven, and I will die 
protecting it, and her.

And although the entire ordeal led to a friendly embrace at the end, her close 
call was enough, it's time to do what I should have done so long ago.

It's time to save her.

For both her sake, and our son's.

~*FIN*~

Shadows: It Begins
Shadows: Darkness
Shadows: Discovery
Shadows: Reflections
Shadows: Broken
Shadows: Destinies
Shadows: Freedom
Shadows: Breakaway
Shadows: It Ends