Happiness: Aftermath Author: shawntaw Category: MSR, Au Rating: PG Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I am making no profit. Summary: There are different types of happiness... DEDICATED TO THE DIEHARD "HAPPINESS" SERIES READERS. I APPRECIATE YOU MORE THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY KNOW!!:) Feedback makes me very happy at shawntaw@hotmail.com :) TO DANIELA LABOD WHO HAS MADE A WEBSITE OF MY STORIES: www.geocities.com/corran_14776/shawntaw.html Thank you.:) ****************************************************** *There are different types of happiness, I've discovered. There's 'goofy-and-in-love' happiness and then there's just 'damn happy she's alive.'* Mulder sighed in agreement with his thoughts as he watched the brake lights of the vehicle in front of them refract off of the wet pavement. He slowed to a stop and took the moment to chance a glance at his sleeping partner. Scully's head was flopped toward him, mouth slightly open. He was sure her whole body would be leaning on him were it not for the restraint of the seatbelt. A flash of headlight as a vehicle passed them lit up the white bandage taped to her dirt-streaked cheek. Mulder reached out his hand and touched the covered wound briefly, as though he could wipe it out of existence with his fingertips. A horn blared behind him and he startled, more easily than usual. He pressed the accelerator and the car jolted forward through the intersection. He wondered how long the light had been green. Mulder swallowed the dryness in his mouth. He was incredibly thirsty. As in response, Scully licked her lips and made a soft smacking sound. He realized that he couldn't remember the last time either of them had eaten or had anything to drink. *Well, unless you count that tiny paper cup of water in the ER...* Mulder huffed. He could still hear Skinner's apologetic voice and it still made him angry. * "There's no reason to keep her, Mulder. It is only a flesh-wound. Besides, she insists on going home. They gave her some pain- killers..."* Mulder forcibly made himself stop thinking about it. He was clutching the steering wheel so tightly that his hands felt cramped. He loosened his grip and tried to breathe. Against his will, the scene flashed before his eyes for the hundredth time tonight. *"F.B.I.! Freeze!....small, spry woman taken into custody....male agent underestimated her..."Suspect on the loose!".....fleeing into the trees....a bouncing flashlight beam as Scully jogged ahead of him...chasing the perp into - of all places - a golf course...the woman suddenly illuminated by several beams of light as she ran toward the small pond..."She's got a gun! She's got a gun!"....the crack of the shot being fired as she was tackled from all sides...Scully... ..blood...Oh Lord, the blood..."Call an ambulance!.."* Mulder realized he was hyperventilating with the memory. He forced himself AGAIN to calm down. *It is over now. She's safe. Alive. Barely even wounded.* He couldn't do it. He couldn't calm down. Scully's blood was dried and spattered on his hands. It stained his shirt. For a flesh wound, her cheek had bleed profusely. Scully had fallen and hit the back of her head on the edge of a large, decorative boulder by the small water-hazard. So, she lay there bleeding and unconcious in Mulder's arms as the other agents frantically called for an ambulance. *..."Agent down! Agent down! Agent dow-"* "Mulder, stop," interrupted Scully's soft voice. Her small hand was on his arm, soothing the bunched muscles there. As usual, she was his anchor. With her entreaty, she pulled him back to the present and away from the "what-might-have-beens.' His breath came slower and the tingly feeling in his head began to recede. "Hey, Scully. Feeling better?" he managed after clearing his throat. He didn't acknowledge her comment. "Yes, I'm feeling good. Those painkillers they gave me are REALLY working," she tried a weak smile at him in the ebbing and flowing light of passing streetlights and headlights. "But don't try to distract me, Mulder," she continued, "I know you're sitting over there rehashing this whole thing over and over again in your head. Stop it. It's over. I'm fine." Mulder nodded, not willing to trust his voice. "This time," he choked out roughly, surprising even himself. He hadn't intended to say it out loud. She sat up straighter, giving him a suddenly serious and thoughtful look. "Mulder," Scully said after a moment, "Is-Is this going to interfere with our work?" That took him off guard. "What?" he chanced a glance at her and away from the wet road. "I mean, are you going to be able to remember that I am your partner - PARTNER, as in EQUAL - on the job and not just the woman you're planning to marry? I have to be able to do my job, Mulder." He was silent. He hadn't even thought of that. He reacted the way he always reacted when she was hurt. He had ALWAYS loved her. Didn't she know that? Mulder looked at her quickly again. At the solemn look on her face. Did she still think the love he felt for her was a recent phenomenon? He almost laughed aloud. The snort that did escape him was amplified in the dark silence of the car. "What?" Scully immediately demanded. He said nothing until he found a convenient place to pull over. *Ah, gas station parking lot. That'll do.* "Well, Mulder?" Scully was demanding. "Just a minute," he said, turning the car toward his destination. He meticulously parked the car, shifted into park and shut off the engine. Mulder turned to regard her in the dim light cast by the gas station across the parking lot. "Scully, this fear you see in me...what happened tonight...this is how I have felt every single time you have ever been hurt, injured. Every single time. I have loved you for awhile. Don't you know that? I think if it was going to affect our working relationship, it would've done it a long time ago. The only thing that has changed for me is that now my feelings for you are out in the open. " Scully's eyes were glistening with tears as she listened intently. Mulder's lips quirked in a small smile. "You really didn't know back then? Be honest." Scully's mouth quivered in a small smile then and she stared at his chest. "I-I knew. I just didn't want to see it. I thought it would ruin everything...what we have. I know you told me this when you proposed, but it is still hard to believe that you have..felt this way..since my abduction." Her eyes lifted to his. "I've loved you too, you know. I wasn't as obvious, but I've loved you for a long time, Mulder." The two of them sat and stared at one another. "Are you going to take me home, or are we going to sit here and gaze at each other all night?" Scully said this with a watery half-smile. Mulder was smiling back at her, but he was remembering something he had said to someone once. *"I do not GAZE at Agent Scully."....The heck I didn't* He laughed. Scully raised an eyebrow at him. "You know what they say about people who laugh to themselves, Mulder," she chastised in a mock serious tone. He just laughed again and started the car. It was time to go home. ******************************************************** More to come.. Feedback, please...:)