Title: Wonders of Nature

Author: MeGgiE42

Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully, and anyone else related 
to The X-files aren't mine. If they were do you think
it really would have ended the way it did? ;)

Rating: PG-13(ish) 

Classification: MSR,H,Adventure

Spoilers: I don't think there are any. It actually 
takes place after my other fic "Hopelessly Romantic" 
but you don't really have to read that one to understand
what's going on (this fic is completely seperate, just 
takes place in the same universe, so to say)

Summary: Another trip to the woods is leads to a very 
unnexpected adventure...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The pain in his head was excruciating. Why was it so dark in 
here?  Somewhere far off Mulder could hear the faint sound of 
a giant bowl of Rice Krispeys snap, crackling, and popping 
their way around his foggy disconnected consciousness...
~that's funny~ Mulder thought to himself ~I don't remember 
pouring myself breakfast~
 
"Mulder!" Scully raced to his side, replacing her weapon in 
its holster. "Mulder," Scully reached him where he lay on his 
side, blood slowly oozing its way down the length of his arm, 
complements of the newly formed wound.  Carefully, Scully lifted 
Mulder just enough to rest his head in her lap, quickly ripping 
off a section of fabric from her shirt to help stay the bleeding.  
After attending to his arm, Scully quickly performed a cursory 
exam.  Aside from the nasty wound to his left arm, and a few 
scratches here and there, Mulder seemed to be ok. 

He thought he could hear Scully's voice but it sounded far away 
and deeply concerned.  Wanting to comfort her Mulder thought to 
offer her his bowl of Rice Krispeys, then decided against it 
when he found he was having a hard time speaking.  His lips 
seemed to be moving, but all that was coming out was a jumble 
of mixed up words and sounds.  Gibberish to anyone outside his 
line of thought.

"Mulder," Scully let out a relieved sigh, "Shhh, don't try 
and speak, I think you're going into shock."  With some 
effort, Scully managed to pull him into the cave they had 
come accustomed to calling "home" for the past few days.  

After that 7-ft. Grizzly decided to attack him, Mulder had 
lost all belief he previously held that what they'd been called 
out to investigate was anything even close to Bigfoot.  After 
a week of trekking through the mud and rain of the mountains 
with little to go on, Mulder was starting to think Scully was 
right-that this was just another dead end.  When they'd finally 
gotten a lead, it turned out that the "Bigfoot" terrorizing the 
locals was just an angry mother bear who had gotten fed up with 
the curious tourists.  Unfortunately Mulder and Scully had found 
this out the hard way.

Having come to learn a long time ago that when traveling with 
Mulder, a first aid kit was an unquestioned necessity, Scully 
pulled the shredded remains of her mud-covered backpack towards 
her as she reached for the small pack of supplies.

Mulder drifted in and out of consciousness.  He could slightly 
feel someone working near him.  Suddenly he was overcome with 
a fresh coolness as the makeshift bandage on his arm was 
removed.  Scully washed the wound as best she could and applied 
the antibacterial cream before replacing her makeshift bandage 
with the roll of gauze from the first aid kit.

Mulder groaned, finally regaining full consciousness. The pain 
in his arm was beginning to fade into a dull throbbing.  Opening 
his eyes, he was greeted by a warm smile.

"Where am I?" Mulder managed to croak. 

"The Cascades." Was Scully's simple reply as she continued 
nursing his various cuts and scrapes.

"What are we doing in the mountains?" Mulder was confused 
from his groggy state, and the throbbing in his arm was acting 
up again.

"Does Bigfoot ring a bell?" Scully sat back giving him *the* 
look.

Suddenly it all came back to Mulder-their "lead", running 
through the forest...the giant angry grizzly...being attacked 
and knocked unconscious...Scully's soothing touch.  What 
would he do without her?  Mulder gave her a crooked grin. 

"You must admit it though Scully," He struggled to get up.  
With Scully's help, Mulder managed to get to a sitting 
position, "It was a legitimate lead."

Scully gave him a skeptical look.  Somehow she managed 
to make him feel bad even without saying a word. 

~How does she do that?~ Mulder wondered to himself as he 
gave her his best puppy-dog eyes.

"I wouldn't say a few people reporting overturned garbage 
cans and noise at night would necessarily constitute us 
flying cross country to check it out." Scully tried to 
sound frustrated, but instead found herself unable to 
stop the smile from forming at the corners of her mouth. 

"What about the footprints? The reports of a strange large 
animal terrorizing the neighborhoods?" Mulder grinned. 

Scully shook her head, a grin on her face, "Well whatever 
the reason Mulder, we're through here and now we can 
finally go home."  She stood up, attempting to shake off 
the layers of mud and brush she had accumulated over the 
past week.  "I can't wait to take a bath and sleep in my 
own bed." 

"*Our* own bed." Mulder grinned, pulling her down with his 
good arm to sit next to him.  He placed a quick kiss on her 
hand, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her 
nearer.

"OUR own bed." Scully smiled as she corrected herself.  
Placing her head on his chest she closed her eyes.  They 
had only been married a few months-hadn't even gotten to 
go on their honeymoon yet-and she was still getting used 
to the fact that she was technically 'Mrs. Mulder'.  The 
thought made her laugh.  It could be two months or 50 years, 
they'd always be 
"Mulder" and "Scully".

Scully snuggled closer to Mulder, careful not to disturb his 
arm.  Outside a light rain began to fall.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They sat in comfortable silence, listening to the rhythmic 
drumming of the pat-pat-pat of rain just outside the small 
entrance to the cave.

"I'd say we should start a fire, but we both know how the 
last one went." Scully mumbled trying to fight back the 
heavy need for sleep.

Yawning, Mulder grinned, "But at least this time we didn't 
make the same mistake." He eyed the sleeping bag in the 
corner of the dusty cave.  Lifting an eyebrow mischievously, 
Mulder laughed, pulling Scully closer.

She shook her head, letting out a small chuckle, "Of all 
the things we actually salvaged from that 7-ft attack of 
"Bigfoot" we couldn't have grabbed something a little more 
useful?"

"You don't think a sleeping bag is useful?" This time his 
tone was of humorous skepticism.  

"Considering that we lost both our cell phone and the 
flashlights yes."  Although frustrated, Scully couldn't 
help but share in the irony of the situation.

"Hey at least we still have the first aid kit." Mulder 
finished speaking just in time.  A bright flash of 
lightning lit up the room, followed seconds later by a clap 
of thundered that rattled the small interior of their 
temporary place of residence.  The slow rumble ricocheted 
off the cold stone walls, making the room seem more ominous 
than before.

Flinching slightly as the room was lit a second time, Scully 
retrieved the sleeping bag from the corner.  Unzipping and 
wrapping it around herself, Scully sat back down next to 
Mulder.  With his good arm, Mulder was able to wrap the 
blanket around his shoulder Scully snuggled closer, arranging 
herself into a comfortable position with her head on his chest. 
With the warmth and comfort of Mulder beside her, Scully was 
eventually lulled to sleep by the rhythmic beating of his heart 
beneath her.

The storm outside prevented Mulder from falling into a deep 
sleep.  After many minutes of unsuccessful trying, Mulder 
gave up.  His gaze scanned the dark interior of the cave, 
stopping a few moments on the entrance, and eventually 
coming to a rest on his sleeping wife in his arms.

Even in the pitch darkness Mulder knew that Scully was 
sleeping soundly, having that content, tranquil look she 
always had when asleep in his arms.  He was glad that he 
could offer Scully a sense of protection that she so 
desperately needed, especially after all that 
they'd been through in the past year.

Scully stirred in her sleep, seeming to sense Mulder's 
gaze.  Unconsciously she snuggled closer, causing a few 
stray strands of auburn hair to fall across her face-
ultimately obstructing Mulder's view.  Carefully, so as not 
to wake her, Mulder brushed the silken barrier behind 
Scully's ear, once more gaining a clear view of his 
sleeping partner.  Pulling the edge of the sleeping bag 
closer, Mulder had a strange sense of deja vu.  Resting his 
chin on the top of Scully's head, Mulder closed his eyes, 
trying once again-and unsuccessful at that-to get to sleep.

Almost as if she knew of his irritation of impending insomnia, 
Scully placed her hand in his, wrapping it in her fist and 
pulling it close to her heart.

At first somewhat startled to find Scully was awake, Mulder 
smiled, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"Go to sleep Mulder."  Her voice was soothing yet held a 
concerned command, "You'll need all the rest you can get for 
the long trek out of here tomorrow."

"I was asleep."  Mulder lied, "Unfortunately for me you seem 
to act as a source of distraction."  He grinned wickedly.

"Liar."  Scully smiled, pressing his hand to her lips.  
While she was referring to the fact that he had most 
certainly not been asleep, she couldn't help but feel a 
slight twinge of flattery at his humorous excuse as to *why*.  

She knew of Mulder's insomnia as much as anyone.  After his 
abduction the nightmares had worn well into the night.  They'd 
gotten better over time and were now distant memories of the 
past.  Still, Mulder sometimes had a tough time falling asleep 
for, as the saying goes, old habits die hard.  Lucky for him he 
had Scully.  She always knew just how to comfort him, helping 
him ride out the worst of the nightmares and eventually 
making them disappear altogether.  As far as she was concerned, 
it was the least she could do for him.  She remembered all to 
well the months following her own abduction.  In those awful 
times Mulder had been a constant comfort, always there when 
she needed him.  Now it was her turn.

"Scully, I've told you before, I don't *lie*," Mulder's eyes 
took on the playful look of his, "I willfully participate in 
a campaign of misinformation."

"Ah," Scully rolled her eyes, "well, poetic illusions aside, 
Mulder, I still think you need to get some sleep.  Without 
our cell phones it'll take at least a day to reach the radio 
at the ranger station.  If we're lucky we should be out of 
here within 24 hours."

"Yes, *mom*" Mulder agreed to try and get some sleep.

Scully gave him The Look, but ultimately found herself being 
overrun as Mulder stopped any retaliation from escaping her 
lips with his own.

"'Night Scully."  His voice was low and filled with sleep.

"Good night Mulder."  Tucking herself back into the perfect 
fit under his chin, Scully closed her eyes.  Within minutes 
she could hear the slow rhythmic breathing underneath 
her and knew Mulder had fallen asleep.  Silently, Scully 
congratulated herself on a job well-done.  Pulling the blanket 
closer, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Outside the rain continued.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, Scully awoke to find herself Mulderless.  
A brief moment of panic passed before she found him a few 
feet away, rummaging through what little was left of their 
food supply.

"So what'll it be Scully?"  Mulder held up a candy bar and 
half a bag of Chex mix, "A healthy meal of synthetic 
preservatives," he held up the Chex Mix, "or a nice dose of 
glucose-filled energy?"  Holding up the candy bar, Mulder 
grinned.

"I have a choice?"  Scully yawned, "How nice of you to 
offer me both.  I was sure you'd have that candy bar eaten 
before we even got off the plane."  Moving to a standing 
position Scully took the bag of Chex mix from Mulder's hand, 
eyeing it wearily.

"I did." Mulder stated matter-of-factly, "well, not this one 
in particular," he pulled the wrapper off the candy bar and 
took a generous bite.  "You didn't really think I'd travel 
cross country with one candy bar did you?" 

Scully watched as Mulder fished in his pocket for a good 
two minutes.  Finally he seemed to find what he was looking 
for, "Ah-ha!" Opening his fist, Mulder revealed a much 
crumpled bag of sunflower seeds, "Don't leave home without 'em!"

Rolling her eyes, Scully sat down next to him, opening the 
bag of Chex Mix.  Mulder quickly finished off the candy bar 
and popped a few seeds in his mouth.  They sat in silence for 
a few moments listening to the storm outside continue.

"Doesn't look like we'll be getting home any time soon."  
Mulder motioned towards the doorway, "Hasn't let up all 
night."

"Just like old times huh?"  Scully sighed, remembering 
their many cases in which half the time was spent trying 
to stay dry.

"Welcome to Washington."  Mulder grinned, maneuvering his jaw 
around the last of the sunflower seeds.  Realizing this, he 
eyed his empty hand with a forlorn look.

Reaching for her tattered backpack, Scully rummaged through 
what little was left of its contents.  Pulling out the first 
aid kit, she took her time tending to Mulder's various cuts 
and bruises-making sure she hadn't missed something the first 
time around. 

Taking the bandage off Mulder's arm, Scully congratulated 
herself on last night's success.  She'd done a good job 
considering that she'd had to do it in the dark.  Once 
Mulder had a clean bandage and Scully was satisfied that 
he would live, she moved on to the half-of-a-soggy-map 
that she'd discovered at the bottom of the pack.

"At least we'll find our half our way."  Scully eyed 
the torn map with an emotionless 
stare.

"Maybe we'll run into the bear during the other half of 
the trip and he can show us the way," Mulder grinned 
adding, "Seeing as how he has the other side of the map."

Scully sighed inwardly.  How was it that he could be 
in such a great mood when they were-once again-lost in 
the middle of nowhere?  Even after nine years together, 
Mulder continued to amaze her.

Mulder and Scully sat staring blankly at the storm outside 
for nearly 15 minutes before Mulder, becoming restless, 
began exploring the inner hiding places of the small cave.  
Picking his way through various nooks and crannies, Mulder 
found himself enthralled.  He never knew there could be so 
many different types of rocks and rock formations in a 
sing cave.

Scully sat with her back against a cool section of 
wall watching Mulder as he curiously delved deeper in 
hopes of discovering the numinous mysteries he was sure 
the cave had to hold.

"Hey Scully," He motioned for her to come closer, "take 
a look at this."

~Here we go~ Scully thought, only slightly curious of 
what Mulder's new find might be.

Finding her way to Mulder's side, Scully focused on his 
point of interest.  Half expecting to see some rock shaped 
like Elvis or a certain formation of rocks that somehow 
miraculously proved he was still alive; Scully was surprised 
to see that Mulder had actually found something much more 
useful.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"A flashlight?"  Scully's tone voiced her astonishment.

"And not one of ours."  Mulder held it up for her to examine.  
Indeed it was not your typical FBI flashlight.  This one 
came fully equipped with a compass and AM/FM radio.

"Knicks game-5:00," Mulder grinned shaking the flashlight, 
"Be there, or be square."

"Don't I feel lucky."  Scully took the flashlight from 
him and turned the knob for the radio.  Static...static...
some teenage pop music station...static... Sighing, 
Scully turned it off, "Sorry Mulder, looks like you'll 
have to "be square" for tonight." Handing the 
flashlight back to him, Scully pondered aloud, "I wonder 
who left it here..." She trailed off, certain that it had 
not been there the day before.  This could only mean one 
thing-someone else had been there.

A slow rumble of thunder engulfed the cave, shaking 
the walls and sending a shiver up Scully's spine.  She 
didn't like knowing that someone else had been 
there...knowing that they could come back at any time.  
On one hand she was almost hopeful that whoever it 
was would come back and they could finally get home, 
yet on the other hand, her cautious side-the side built 
up considerably by the past 9 years of working on the 
X-files-was telling her not to be so sure that their 
visitor's intentions were good...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

2 hours later...

Scully sat eyeing Mulder with an incredulous look, I 
can't believe you know all the words to this song." 

After half an hour of trying to figure out where they 
were and how they were going to get home (and finding 
the map no help) boredom had taken over and they'd 
resulted to listening to the one and only station their 
new flashlight/radio picked up.

"I can't believe you don't."  Was Mulder's answer 
as he continued to sing to Avril Lavigne's 
"Complicated", "It's on every radio station every 
five minutes Scully."  Mulder grinned, looking at 
her and singing along, "Why you gotta go and make 
things so complicated?"

Rolling her eyes, Scully turned back to the crippled 
map in hand.  As the song ended, she sighed, throwing 
it back into the backpack; closing her eyes and laying 
her head back to rest on the cave wall.  

Mulder cleared his throat, preparing his vocal 
chords for his next performance.  Suddenly he broke 
into a lopsided grin as the first few chords of 
Cher's "Walking in Memphis" filled the cave's interior.

Opening her eyes just in time, Scully was surprised 
to feel herself being pulled to her 
feet.

"Now I know you know this one."  Mulder grinned 
playfully, pulling her into his arms and placing a 
soft kiss on her lips.

Pleasantly surprised, Scully smiled, "Yes Mulder, 
I admit, I'm not completely withdrawn from the 
world of pop culture."

Mulder laughed, pulling her closer.  Scully was glad 
to see that his arm seemed to be doing very well-in 
fact in seemed practically back to normal.

As the song finished, Scully turned to Mulder,
indicating his arm," You know that it will be 
thoroughly complaining tomorrow."

"Hey, sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's 
gotta do."  Mulder grinned again, cupping her face 
in his hand and lightly brushing his lips against 
hers.

Still trying to get used to this playful, hopelessly 
romantic side to Mulder, Scully grinned, allowing 
herself a few moments to join in his exuberance, 
deepening the kiss, and for once forgetting that 
they were lost in the middle of nowhere.

"Scully?"  His voice was soft and full of emotion, 
pausing only a second before pulling her into 
another line of sweet kisses.

"Yes?"  She grinned, locking gazes with him.

"It stopped raining."

Pausing to listen, Scully let out a small laugh, 
"Looks like our luck is changing."

Mulder glanced outside then back at Scully, "I 
guess that's one way of putting it."  Reluctantly 
he broke their embrace and began packing up what 
little they had, making sure that the flashlight 
was in a safe place.

"Come on Mulder,"  Scully grabbed the sleeping bag 
and first aid kit, "let's go home."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They were lost.  Completely.  In the middle of 
the Cascade Mountains.

Scully glared at the useless map in front of her.  
Turning to Mulder she sighed, "Where's that 
photographic memory of yours when we need it?

"Unfortunately it was dark when we first got here."  
Mulder paused before adding, "Plus we were also in a 
truck for half the way and led by a guide for the 
rest."  Feeling his happy mood from that morning 
beginning to diminish, Mulder glanced around, trying
to find something-anything-that looked even vaguely 
familiar.  Suddenly he spotted something that sparked 
some interest.

"Scully do you remember that tree over there?"  
Mulder pointed.

"The one that looks like half the other trees in the 
greater Washington area?"  She gave him a skeptical 
look, "No."

Mulder grinned, walking closer to the tree, "I 
distinctly remember this tree."  He stopped, 
pointing to a spot where the bark had been disturbed, 
"Or at least how it felt when I was so graciously 
rammed into it...complements of "Bigfoot"."

Feeling a half smile beginning to form, Scully gave 
him a look that clearly stated, "only-you-could-find-
the-tree-that-you'd-been-flung-into-in-the-middle-of-
the-forest".

"It's an acquired trait that I've gotten very good at 
in the past nine years."  Mulder stated matter-of-factly 
before turning and heading further into the woods.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They'd been walking for nearly 2 hours before suddenly 
Mulder was attacked by an onslaught of acorns.  Taken 
by surprise, Mulder turned to face the source of attack 
only to be hit square in the face by another one.  Losing 
his balance, Mulder let out a grunt-finding himself 
sprawled face-down on the forest floor.

Equally alarmed, Scully rushed to his side, concerned, 
yet trying to hold back her laughter, "Mulder are you 
ok?"

She heard him mumble something about squirrels before 
struggling to get back to his feet.  Covered in dirt 
and various plant-life, Mulder scowled, brushing himself 
off and cursing the "super squirrels" for their strength.

Seeing the look on his face, Scully was finding it very 
hard to hold back the giggles.  Finally she gave up, 
letting the laughter get the better of her.

Mulder feigned a hurt look, "Yes *doctor* Scully," he 
continued to brush himself off as she tried to control 
her amusement, "I'm fine."

"I'm sorry Mulder,"  she had to bite the insides of 
her cheek to keep the threatening giggles from 
escaping, "It's just that-" she stopped as another 
acorn came hurtling towards them.  Mulder ducked out 
of the way just in time. "The animals around here 
don't seem to like you too much."  She finished her 
sentence with some difficulty.

"Just like home huh?"  Mulder spoke, adding, "I wonder 
who they're working for."

Suddenly Scully was caught off guard as one last acorn 
bomb hit her in the back of the head.  Turning slightly 
in hopes of catching sight of one of these freakishly 
strong squirrels, her foot caught on the same tree root 
that Mulder had previously tripped over.

This time it was Mulder's turn to laugh as he sprang 
forward-catching Scully just before she hit the ground.

"Apparently they know who we are."  Mulder grinned, 
pulling Scully to a standing position.

She laughed, lingering for a few moments in his embrace 
before pulling back and brushing the remaining dirt from 
his hair.

"It's a tough world when even the animals are out to 
get you."  Letting out a mock sigh of despair, Mulder 
took Scully's arm and began leading her into the woods-
making sure to keep an eye out for any ensuing bombardments 
from the conspiracy of fast-pitching super squirrels.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile...

Two men dressed in black swiftly made their way back 
to the cave.  They mad no sound, easily blending into 
the ensuing darkness.  Once inside, the taller man mad 
his way to the location where they'd last made camp.  
Suddenly he stopped.  Things were different, someone had 
been there.  Turning to his partner, the stern-faced man 
nodded slightly, pointing to the post of the missing 
flashlight.

The smaller man acknowledged his superior with an 
angry-eyed nod of the head.

There was no need for speech.  Now was a crucial time.  
Risk to the project was not an option.  It was thoroughly 
understood what needed to be done...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey Scully?"  Mulder wandered around chewing absent-
mindedly on the last of the Chex Mix.

"Yes?"  Scully looked up from where she was sitting, 
still trying to make some sense of the map in hand.

"How about a cruise?" He turned to face her.

"I'm sorry?" She was confused, "Mulder what are you 
talking about?"

"I mean for our honeymoon."  He stopped wandering and 
came to sit next to her, "You know, get away from it 
all?"

"Mulder, you get seasick on ferry rides, and now you're 
telling me that you want to go on a cruise?"  Scully gave 
him a skeptical look.

"I think I could handle a cruise," Mulder grinned, "It's 
not like we're being basked around in a tiny rowboat, or 
aging 40 years, or being hunted by Big Blue, or-" 

"I think I get the point Mulder."  Scully interrupted.

"It's just that I think a ship is big enough that I 
could convince my sea legs that we were 'safe'." He 
laughed adding, "Plus I know it's been something you've 
always wanted to do, and I'm willing to sacrifice myself 
for your pleasure."

Scully laughed, touched, "I don't know Mulder, the way 
we are with boats, ships, or anything else that floats, 
we might not be wise to willingly step foot on another 
one again."  In the back of her mind Scully pondered the 
idea of a cruise.  Then, thinking of the many incidents 
in which they had found trouble on ships, quickly pushed 
the thought out of her mind. "But thanks for the sentiment."  
Smiling she placed her hand on his.

Although Mulder found it somewhat odd to be discussing 
honeymoon plans with Scully (for never in his wildest 
dreams had he let himself believe that some day it would 
actually happen, that it would be real), he found himself 
caught up in trying to make up for all the pain they'd 
suffered through in the past nine years, in particular the 
most recent few.  He was determined to do whatever it took 
to keep her safe and happy.

Dusk was beginning to fall as the sun slowly crept its 
way beneath the horizon.

"Well Mulder," Scully placed the map back into her backpack, 
standing up and moving to sit beside him, "Doesn't look like 
we'll be getting out of here any time soon.  We might as 
well set up camp."

Mulder pulled out the sleeping bag, unzipped it, and 
folded it around his shoulders, pulling Scully towards 
him, "All done."  He grinned.

"A true mountain man."  Scully couldn't help but smile 
as she rested her head on his chest, reclaiming the 
position she had come to know so well. She felt so safe 
in his arms...so loved.

"This is another thing I've always wanted to do Mulder."  
Scully glanced upward, meeting his gaze.

"Get lost in the middle of nowhere without a map, 
cell phone, gun, or food?"  Mulder spoke teasingly.

"No, to watch the sun set out in the middle of nowhere."

"Well then, I'm glad I could help."  Mulder watched 
as the yellow-orange disk made its downward trek, 
illuminating the forest, making it glow.  Everything 
seemed so peaceful, so...right.

Mulder turned his attention back to Scully, meting 
her gaze-one that clearly stated exactly what she 
felt.  He paused briefly, allowing himself a few 
seconds to take in her expression before gently 
meeting his lips with hers.

"I love you Scully."  His tone was soft and utterly 
sincere.

Scully paused only long enough to take in the most 
beautiful words that had ever crossed her ears.  No 
matter how many times he said it, it would always 
make her smile.

"I love you too Mulder."  She spoke from the heart, 
unable to express how lucky she felt to have him 
at her side.

~More than you'll ever know~ The thought crossed 
both their minds simultaneously.

Mulder brushed his finger along the length of her 
cheek, grinning from ear to ear, "I don't know if 
I'll ever get used to hearing you say that."

Scully laughed, thinking the same thing, "It'll take 
some time.  But we have the rest of our lives to 
work it out."

Considering the situation, neither of them could 
have been any happier than they were now.  Within 
moments the daylight faded and stars slowly began 
dotting the clear night 
sky.

It was a surprisingly warm night and within minutes 
Mulder had decided the sleeping bag would serve 
better as a mattress than a blanket.  Spreading 
it flat on the ground, Mulder repositioned himself, 
pulling Scully along as well.

Scully snuggled closer, laying her head on his 
chest.  Together they silently studied the 
constellations above.

Mulder couldn't believe how lucky he was.  Here 
they were stranded in the middle of nowhere and 
yet, with Scully in his arms, he couldn't have 
imagined wanting to be anywhere else.  He was 
perfectly content just *existing* in this moment.

Scully shifted in his arms and, as if reading his 
mind, smiled, lacing her fingers with his and 
remembering the last time they'd been lost in the 
woods.  Suddenly it struck her as slightly ironic 
that Mulder had injured his arm during that not-so-
nice-trip-to-the-forest too.  Then, reminded of his 
injury, Scully sat up, turning her attention to his 
arm

"It's fine Scully really."  Mulder met her gaze 
and the corner of his mouth curled upward, "But 
you can kiss it to make it better if you really 
want to."

Scully rolled her eyes before leaning down and 
giving his arm a peck, "All better now?"

"My arm feels fine, but I think I've obtained a 
permanent headache."  Mulder finally admitted 
what he had been trying to hide all day.

Gingerly, Scully turned her attention to his head, 
working his temples, massaging in small circles.

"A little trick I learned during my med school 
days," Scully said, "Works miracles at three in 
the morning when you've been up to studying for so 
long that Tylenol might as well be sugar pills."  
Working her fingers in slow, soothing motions, 
Scully continued her work.

Mulder was in Heaven.  The soft rhythmic circles 
quickly dissipated the throbbing in his head.  
Suddenly he felt Scully's gentle touch leave his 
temples.  Opening his mouth to protest, Mulder 
was quickly silenced by the warm softness of her 
lips meeting his.

"Feel better Mulder?"  Pulling back, Scully smiled.

"Much."  It was true.  All thoughts of his 
headache quickly disappeared.

"Good," Scully resumed her position, lying down 
next to him.

Mulder was suddenly consumed with overpowering 
love for the women in his arms-his best friend, 
partner, other half and (after nine long years), 
wife.  Wrapping her in his arms, Mulder gently 
lifted Scully's face to meet his.

"Have I told you," *kiss* "how lucky I am" *kiss 
kiss* "To have you here with me after all these 
years?"  Mulder spoke sincerely, brushing another 
kiss along her knuckles.

Scully's was overcome by the warmth of all-consuming 
love, "You don't have to Mulder."  She spoke softly, 
remembering all too well the months following his 
abduction, knowing how lucky she was to be sitting 
here with him.  Giving his hand a squeeze, she 
added, "I feel pretty lucky myself." 

Taking his face in her hands, Scully brushed her 
fingers gently across Mulder's lips, caressing his 
face before kissing him, showing him exactly how 
she felt.

Even though he knew it was unnecessary, Mulder felt 
the need to show Scully just exactly how much she 
meant to him. Deepening the kiss, Mulder wrapped 
Scully even closer before pulling back slightly 
and grinning.

Scully met Mulder's gaze, saw that playful 
determined look in his eyes, and knew that it 
was going to be one long night...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Moving under the cover of darkness, two men slowly 
crept their way through the thick forest.  At one 
point the tall one stopped, stooped down, and 
examined a set of footprints.  No-two sets of 
prints, one male, one obviously female. Nodding a 
look of confirmation towards his partner, they 
continued on.  Now it was only a matter of time...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder was awakened briefly by something very 
early in the morning.  Arms wrapped protectively 
around Scully's waist, he glanced down at her, 
seeing that she was still asleep.  Assuming that 
it was probably just his imagination-or some small 
animal (Super-Squirrels came to mind), making their 
nightly rounds, Mulder drifted back to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Slowly and cautiously he made his way towards the 
small clearing, stopping abruptly as they came 
into view. 

The men in black crouched silently near the cover 
of trees, observing the two forms that lay quietly 
sleeping only a few yards away.  The woman was small, 
and even in the poor lighting of dawn, the color of 
her hair was apparent.

The tall man, obviously in charge, turned his 
attention to the man beside her.  He was much 
taller, about six feet he guessed.  It was obvious 
from the way he slept-arms wrapped protectively 
around the woman's waist, that they would have to 
be cautions in their approach.  He wanted as little 
trouble as possible, however if push came to shove, 
they would do whatever it took to get what they 
needed.

"Let's just grab it and go."  The smaller man broke 
the silence, eyeing the couple asleep in front of 
them.

"No," his superior's voice was gruff and commanding, 
"Not yet.  We wait for night fall."  He glanced up 
at the sky.  Early morning sunlight was beginning to 
creep its way over the horizon. "We don't know how 
much they know yet."

With that they slinked back into the woods, waiting 
for the right time to strike.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sunlight dappled the forest floor, eventually making 
its way to the sleeping couple.  Feeling the warmth 
on her face, Scully opened her eyes, blinking at the 
sudden brightness.

"Mornin' sunshine." Mulder grinned, opening his 
own eyes to meet her gaze.

Scully smiled in answer, and struggled to a sitting 
position.  Yawning she focused her attention on Mulder.  
Sporting a good case of bed head, and a lopsided grin, 
he lay with his arm still wrapped around her waist.  
Scully had to admit that this was a particular 
view she thoroughly enjoyed.

"We should get going." Mulder spoke with a twinkle 
in his eye.  Scully still couldn't get over how he 
could be in such a good mood at such an early hour-
especially considering that they were still stranded 
in the middle of nowhere.

Standing, Scully stretched, hearing various joints 
crack back into place, "Oh the joys of sleeping 
out under the stars."

Mulder was at her side in one long stride, "I'll 
make it up to you Scully."  He grinned, kissing her 
briefly before turning to grab the sleeping bag and 
tattered backpack.

Scully just shook her head, and smiled, "What would 
I do without you Mulder?" 

Mulder laughed, slinging the backpack onto his back 
with his good arm, "Well you wouldn't be stuck in 
this mess that's for sure."

Scully gave him *the look* and his mouth curved 
upward as he turned and began the long days trek.

"Mulder wait" Scully bent down to retrieve the 
flashlight that had fallen out of the bag sometime 
earlier.

He turned around to face her.

Picking up the flashlight, Scully paused, noticing 
that the bottom was loose.  As she tried turning it 
back into place, something fell into her hand.  
Expecting to see a battery, Scully was surprised to 
find something else entirely.

Mulder watched as her expression changed. "Scully 
what is it?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Scully looked at the object wrapped in a small 
piece of paper that lay in her palm.  Unwrapping 
it, she found a key.  

Mulder met her gaze with a look the mixture of 
curiousness and dread.  She held up the key for 
him to see.  Mulder took it and examined the small 
object in his hand.  It didn't look like anything 
special, a normal key if he'd ever seen one.

"What do you think Scully?" Mulder dangled the key 
from his index finger and thumb, "Mr. Bear mocking 
us, proving that he reached the hotel before we did?" 
He grinned, then his expression changed to seriousness 
as he focused on the piece of paper.

Scully waited, watching Mulder read the words 
written on the paper that had, moments before, 
encased the key.

"Although I could be wrong," He held up the paper 
for her to see. Scribbled in black ink were the 
letters: "nbt n(y) mw".  Underneath a series of 
pictographs were followed by the time 1:26 a.m. 

They continued to stare at the mysterious writing 
for a few moments before meeting each other's gaze.

"What do you think it means?" Scully was suddenly 
overcome with the feeling that someone was watching. 
Waiting.

"It looks like Egyptian hieroglyphics," Mulder 
turned the key in his hand, "I don't know about 
you Scully, but my ancient Egyptian is a little 
rusty."

Little did either of them know that they were 
being watched.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Just out of sight, the men in black huddled 
under the cover of the thick brush.

"Sir?"  The small man with beady eyes shifted 
nervously as he heard his superior curse under 
his breath.

"We should have moved earlier," he growled, 
quiet enough not to be heard by the couple a 
few yards away, "They know too much now."

"But sir, all they did was find the key.  They 
have no reason to believe that it-" He was quickly 
cut off by a sharp look from "sir" as Mulder and 
Scully suddenly turned towards them as if they'd 
heard the two men talking.

The two men froze.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Did you hear something?"  Scully could have 
sworn she'd heard voices.

"Probably the Super-Squirrels back for their 
morning bombardment," As he spoke Mulder surveyed 
the surrounding area, giving Scully a look that 
meant he thought otherwise.  He'd heard it too, 
had felt like they were being watched for a while 
now, "Come on Scully," he took her arm, whispering, 
"They're watching" even though he had no idea who 
"they" where, "Let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They'd been walking for nearly two hours and had 
yet to come across any sign that they were being 
followed, leading Scully to think that maybe it 
had just been her imagination.  Her stomach growled 
and for the first time Scully realized how hungry 
she was.

"My feelings exactly," Mulder spoke, having heard 
Scully's stomach's cry for food.

"Too bad there wasn't a river around here," Scully 
scanned the dense woods, "At least then we could 
have a chance at fishing."

"You fish Scully?"  Mulder seemed amused at the 
thought of Scully and a fishing pole.

"Don't look so surprised Mulder," she laughed, "I 
did grow up with two brothers and a father in the 
Navy."

"Ah yes, Moby Dick," Mulder said, recalling her 
favorite book.

Scully grinned, "Well Mulder, if we're lucky enough 
to come across a good fishing spot, I'll be sure to 
try and dazzle you with my 'amazing fishing abilities'."

Mulder grinned, getting that playful look in his eye 
again, stating, "I'll be sure and remember that."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After setting up camp, Mulder began wandering around 
in search of something edible.  Scully followed a 
few feet behind him, scanning the area for berries, 
nuts, and (just to be safe side), the occasional 
stalker.

"I never thought I'd have to compete against 
Super-Squirrels for food." Mulder grumbled, 
thought for a second, then added, "Although I 
never thought there were such things as 
Super-Squirrels either."

"Wow Mulder," Scully's voice held a sarcastic tone, 
"And here I was thinking that you'd believe in just 
about anything."

"A man's gotta set his limits somewhere." Mulder 
spoke in an equally sarcastic tone of voice.

Scully laughed, bending down to examine yet 
another most likely un-edible plant.

They'd managed to accumulate a fairly sizable 
load of various "foods" by the time they were 
headed back.

"Where's the gun when you need it."   It was 
more of a statement than a question.  Mulder 
couldn't believe that they'd both managed to 
lose their weapons on this trip.  He had come 
somewhat accustomed to it over the past nine 
years, but Scully almost never 
lost hers. 

~Just our luck~ Mulder thought, dreading to 
think about the paperwork...

Mulder was just about to voice his thoughts 
when suddenly a rather large tree branch 
suddenly broke free and came hurtling their way.

"Scully look out!" Mulder dropped the food 
he'd been carrying and dove in her direction, 
pushing her out of the way of the oncoming tree 
branch.  They landed with a thud and rolled 
several feet before coming to a stop.

Scully, who had been walking in front of Mulder 
at the time and hadn't seen the dangerous branch, 
was taken by surprise, "Mulder!" She pushed her 
hair out of her face, struggling to face him 
lying on top of her.

Her expression immediately changed when she met 
his gaze.

"You ok?" Mulder asked with concern.  That's 
when Scully finally noticed the large branch 
lying mere inches from where she'd just been 
standing.

Slightly shaken, Scully answered, "Yeah, I think 
so."

Mulder didn't move, seeming to contemplate her 
words.

"Mulder?"  Scully interrupted his thoughts.

"Hmm?"  He focused back on Scully.

"You can get off me now."  She smiled as Mulder 
realized he was still lying on top of 
her.

A mischievous grin swept his features, "But what 
if I don't want to?"  He spoke in a low voice, 
seductively brining his face closer to hers.

"As much as I'd like that," Scully spoke in an 
equally seductive voice before adding, "this root 
that I'm lying on is telling me otherwise."

For the first time Mulder realized the rough 
terrain. 

"Sorry Scully."  Quickly, he stood up, offering 
his hand to help her off the uncomfortable brush.

"Next time a large tree branch comes hurtling our 
way, I'll try and produce a less harsh tackle."  
Mulder grinned as he watched Scully pick the leaves 
from her hair.

Giving him *the look*, Scully continued to brush 
herself off.  It was only after she'd managed to 
wipe most of the dirt and brush off that Scully 
turned her attention to Mulder.  Seeing a bright 
red splotch on his forehead, she was immediately 
concerned.  It wasn't until she stepped closer 
that she burst out laughing.

"What?"  Mulder asked.

She couldn't manage to stop.

"What?"  He was beginning to get impatient.

"Smashed...berry...forehead," was all she could 
manage to get out amidst her fits of 
laughter.

Slowly Mulder lifted his hand to his forehead, 
his fingers meeting something sticky.  Pulling 
it off, Mulder found the very smashed remains of 
three of the few berries they'd deemed 'edible'.  
His face held a disgusted look as he shook the 
sticky mess from his fingers.  Looking up he met 
Scully's gaze.

Meeting Mulder's gaze, Scully broke into a new 
fit of laughter.

"It's all the rage."  Mulder deadpanned.

Getting herself under minor control, Scully 
couldn't stop grinning, "Mulder you still have 
a little, um..." She trailed off, stepping near 
him and reaching up on her tiptoes to remove 
the last of the  berry.  She was now in such a 
good mood from her fit of giggles that Scully 
surprised Mulder by leaning up and licking off 
the juice that'd managed to find its way to the 
tip of his nose.

"Mmm," She grinned.

"Maybe I should smash food into my face more 
often," Mulder grinned, pleasantly surprised 
by Scully's reaction.  With a twinkle in his 
eye, he pulled her close, sweetly brushing his 
lips against her.

Mulder met Scully's gaze and saw a twinkle in 
her eyes.

"What?" He was still smiling.

"Your forehead is still red."  Scully laughed 
pulling back and grabbing the first aid kid.  
Opening the lid she held it up.

Mulder stared into the mirror-like surface.  
Scowling, he rubbed at the red on his forehead.  
It was clear the dye was not going to come off 
easily.

"Don't worry Mulder," Scully put the first aid 
kit back into the backpack, "You can just blame 
it on the Super-Squirrels."  

Mulder glanced at the branch that had nearly 
flattened them, 'I knew they were strong, but 
I'm doubting that squirrels did this."

Scully's expression changed.  Suddenly she felt 
like they were being watched again.  Uncomfortably, 
she shifted her gaze to the tree where the branch 
had originally come from.  Nothing but the leaves 
shifting in the slight breeze came into view.

Mulder began gathering up what remained of their 
"supper" and headed back to the spot where they 
would camp for the night; all the while keeping 
close tabs on the surrounding forest.  Once again 
he wished he hadn't lost his gun...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

End Part 1

Title: Wonders of Nature (Part 2)
Author: MeGgiE42

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Night was beginning to fall by the time Mulder and Scully 
had managed to find their way back to "camp".

Scully glanced over her shoulder, trying as best she could to 
be inconspicuous.  For the past hour or so she couldn't help 
but fell they were being watched.

Once they finished eating, Scully cuddled up close to Mulder.  
The nights were beginning to get cold, and she shivered.

Mulder wrapped his arms around Scully, resting his chin on the 
top of her head.  Slowly the sounds of night began to settle in.  
Scully lay with her head on his chest, listening to his heart 
beat and becoming sleepy by his rhythmic breathing.

"I am gonna make this up to you Scully." Mulder's voice broke 
the silence as he pulled the sleeping bag around her shoulders.  
He didn't care how many times he had said it all ready; he 
wanted to make his point.

"Mulder," Scully's voice was soft, "You make it sound like 
this is your fault." She shifted to look him in the eye.

"You're saying it's not?"  Mulder tilted his head to meet her 
gaze.

"Did you purposely plan to get attacked by a bear, lost in the 
woods, and lose your gun?"

"Well no but-"

"Then there you have it."  She interrupted him, a smile forming 
at the corners of her mouth.

Mulder grinned, thinking how lucky he was to have someone 
as understanding as Scully at this side.

"I wonder if anyone's even figured out we're 'lost'."  
Scully said changing the subject.

"I'm sure they will come two weeks from now when nobody's 
filed an expense report compensating for two flashlights, 
two weapons, and a trip to the Cascades."  Mulder quirked a 
grin.

Scully rolled her eyes, once again laying her head in his 
hest.  Within minutes she was fast asleep.

Mulder lay awake for awhile thinking about the events of the 
day.  His mind focused on the tree branch that had nearly 
knocked them out.

~I wonder why it fell?~ His mind lingered a few moments on the 
possibility that they were being followed.  Eventually sleep 
overcame his busied thoughts and Mulder fell asleep, arms still 
wrapped around his sleeping wife in an innate act of protectiveness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Under the cover of darkness once again, the men moved 
swiftly...silently...like wild animals stalking their prey.  
They reached the sleeping couple soundlessly and began to 
search for their reason for being there-the flashlight, the 
one that held the key and the location of the place in which 
they were to go next.

Carefully two figures-nearly invisible to the surrounding 
woods-made their way round-a-bout in search of the precious 
cargo.  After five minutes of fruitless searching the first 
figure stopped abruptly, nearly causing his partner to run 
into him.

"What?" A voice hissed from behind.

The smaller man pointed.

At first the other man in black could not wee what his partner 
was pointing at.  Then, as a cloud passed over the moon and 
the sky cleared, he saw what had cause for such alarm. 

The bag in which the flashlight had been placed was now 
serving as a pillow for the two people sleeping on the 
forest floor in front of them.  Wedged nicely between a log 
and a six foot sleeping man, that flashlight was not going 
anywhere any time soon.

"What are we gonna do Mac?"  The stout man looked at his 
superior.  A glare was thrown his way.

"We'll just have to be careful that's all."  An evil sneer 
formed on the face of the man in charge.  He moved slowly 
towards the couple before turning to the man beside him, 
"And Eddydy?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't call me Mac again."

"Sorry sir."  Eddydydy mumbled, more than slightly annoyed that 
his partner had been chosen for head of this particular assignment.  
They both knew he had just as much experience in cases like this.  

They moved quietly, the moon their only source of light.  
Just as they reached the pack, Scully stirred in her sleep. 
They froze.

Unconsciously Scully pulled the edge of the sleeping bag 
closer against the cold night.

The men in black waited.

They watched as Mulder's arms tightened around the small 
women sleeping in his embrace.  Even asleep they seemed to 
be totally in synch with each other.

Eddydy swallowed, feeling his pulse quicken as Mac made his 
way to the edge of the log.

Reaching his hand very slowly, inch by inch, into the small 
opening of the bag, Mac held his breath.

It was impossible to distinguish one object from the next 
with the touch Mac was able to produce.  Feeling around as 
best he could, he tried to find the flashlight.

In his sleep, Mulder vaguely registered a slight disturbance 
underneath is head.  Shifting unconsciously, he tried to get 
comfortable.

Eddydy panicked, the guy was about to wake up.  They needed to 
go. Now.  He looked nervously at Mac, seeing that he was having 
difficulty maneuvering his hand without waking Mulder up.  
Finally, just as Mac's hand found the end of the object he 
was looking for, Mulder shifted restlessly, grabbing the 
backpack in his sleep and rearranging it to a more comfortable 
position.

The two men paused.

"C'mon! Let's just go!"  Eddydydy hissed, grabbing his partner's 
arm.

"Wait!"  Mac growled back, he wasn't going to give up that 
easily, they were so close!  Just as he thought he had what 
they'd come for, Mac's face changed.

"What?"  Eddydy whispered, noticing his superior's change in 
demeanor.  

"It's stuck."

"The flashlight?"

"No," frustrated, Mac glared at the man next to him, "my hand."  
He tugged slightly.  His hand stayed wedged between the log and 
the weight of Mulder's head.

Suddenly it was clear Mulder was going to wake up any second.  
Mac grabbed the first thing his hand touched, yanked it free, 
and made off into the woods.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder woke up hearing a thrashing in the woods behind him. 
Disoriented, he struggled to a sitting position, trying his 
best not to wake Scully. 

"Mulder?" Scully sat up.

By now the thrashing had stopped.  Mulder continued to scan the 
surrounding woods for any sign of the intruders.

"I don't think we were just being paranoid Scully."  Mulder 
turned his attention to the half open backpack now lying a 
good two feet away.

Scully followed his gaze, noticing that the bag had been moved, 
"Who do you think it is?"  She swallowed, feeling that all too 
familiar knot in her stomach form, the one that always formed 
just as they were about to realize that they were once again 
caught up in yet another dangerous situation.

"My guess is whoever left that flashlight behind."  Mulder 
stood up, carefully moving from underneath Scully in order 
to retrieve the bag.  Scully watched as he went through its 
contents.

Mulder stopped rummaging and held up the flashlight for her 
to see.

"Well whoever it was didn't find what they were looking for."  
Scully glanced wearily at the object in Mulder's hand, "we must 
have scared them off."

"Hopefully they give up."  Even as the words were leaving her 
mouth Scully knew better than to think the intruders were gone 
for good.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once they'd reached a safe distance the two men stopped, 
breathing heavily as they made sure they were not being 
followed.

"What the-" Mac trailed off, staring at the object he held in 
his hand.

Eddydy turned to see what his partner was looking at.  He stopped 
in horror as he realized what it was Mac was holding.

"FBI!?" Mac growled in disbelief, cursing under his breath and 
throwing the badge to the ground.

Still in shock, Eddydy bent to pick up the dirt-covered badge.  
Hoping they had somehow made a mistake, he opened it.

"Special Agent Fox Mulder."  The name left a bitter taste on 
his tongue.  Eddydy spoke as if he still couldn't convince himself 
this was really happening.

"He's freakin' FBI?!"  Mac kicked at a pile of leaves, pacing 
as if trying to convince himself otherwise, "What else can go 
wrong!"

"Whoa Mac, take it easy."  Eddydy spoke nervously, unaccustomed 
to his colleague's outburst.

Mac turned to face him, fire in his eyes.  Ignoring the fact 
that Eddydy had called him by his first name again, he growled, 
"You know what this means?"

Eddydy didn't answer.

"They know."  The taller man kicked at the pile of leaves 
again, grabbing the badge out of Eddydy's hands.

"Hey, just cause he's FBI doesn't mean they know."  Eddydy 
glanced nervously around the forest as if just by mentioning 
the FBI agent he'd suddenly appear and take them into custody.

Mac stopped pacing, taking in what the smaller man said, 
"You're right."  He began to calm down.  "You're right."  
He repeated more to himself than to the man standing in front 
of him.  "But we can't take that chance."  

Eddydy could almost see the wheels turning in his leader's head.

"Tomorrow."  Mac left it at that, shoving Mulder's badge into 
his pocket and stomping off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning Mulder and Scully were on the move at day
 break.

"He took my badge," Mulder broke the silence, turning to 
gage her reaction.

"Why?"  Scully met his gaze.

"I don't know."  Mulder spoke trying to ignore the throbbing 
pain in his head.  "My only guess is he took it by accident."

"That will only cause him more reason to find us."  Scully 
spoke feeling the dread of not having her weapon on hand reach 
a new height.

"Do you still have that piece of paper with the hieroglyphics?"  
Mulder asked Scully.

She pulled out the neatly folded paper.

"Good.  Keep it there."  Mulder shoved the key into his own 
pocket, replacing the flashlight into the bag, "At least if 
we're separated they'll have less of a chance at getting what 
it is they want."

Scully didn't like the sound of that, "Mulder."  Her voice 
clearly stated her feelings.

"Don't worry Scully," He stopped, moving to look her square 
in the eye.  Then seeming to loose his train of thought, Mulder 
winced.

The movement did not escape Scully.  Immediately she switched 
to doctor mode, "Mulder come here."  She took the backpack 
from his shoulder.

"Scully it's nothing."  Mulder scolded himself for not being 
able to hide it from her better.  He should have known better 
though, he'd never been able to hide anything from Scully.  
She knew him almost better than he knew himself.

Scully gave him a look that clearly stated 'don't bother to 
try and argue with me because you know I'm right'.  Defeated, 
Mulder took the medicine offered to him, wishing he had 
something to wash it down with.

"Now Mulder," Scully spoke as she replaced the first aid kid, 
"if it gets worse be sure and tell me.  I don't want to find 
out you've been suffering from a concussion and not telling me."  
Her voice was stern yet compassionate.

"Yes Dr. Scully."  Mulder grinned, allowing her to perform 
a quick cursory examine.  He was too tired to argue with her 
anyway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

4 hours later...

"Scully do you hear that?"  Mulder stopped walking and 
listened.

Scully turned towards the sound of running water.

"Maybe our luck is changing."  Mulder took her arm, 
leading her towards the source of the water.  

A few yards beyond the trees a small clearing came into 
view.  Off to the right a stream beckoned.

"Finally," Scully felt her spirits lift.

They made their way down to the bank.

"Hey Scully, you promised."  Mulder grinned, setting 
the backpack down and shifting his glance from Scully 
to the water and back again.

"Yes Mulder I did."  She paused, "But under one condition."

Mulder waited, curious to know the "one condition".

"That you join me."  Scully spoke matter-of-factly, 
meeting the amused expression on Mulder's face.

"Deal."

Within minutes they found sticks deemed "suitable for 
the fishing kind" and were ready to get down to business.  

They soon realized the problem of fishing line.  After 
pondering this for a moment, Scully made her way to 
the backpack and shuffled through in search of 
something they could use.  In the end their resources 
were limited.

"Well Mulder, we've  got this," she held up a roll of 
medical gauze and two paperclips she'd found at the 
bottom of the bag, "but there's not enough gauze for two 
poles.  Even if I strip it in half we'll be lucky if it's 
long enough for one."  She paused before adding, "Plus I'm 
not so sure I want to use it for something non-medical 
with you around."  Scully eyed the bandage on his arm.

Mulder seemed to think about this for only a second before 
replying, "You go ahead and use it, I'll find something 
else."

Scully was about to protest before Mulder interrupted her, 
explaining that, all things considered, they needed to eat 
and if medical gauze was their only hope, so be it.

Within 20 minutes Scully had managed to construct an 
impressive fishing pole, if she could say so her self, 
and dug a small pit into which enough water could flow 
to keep fish caught alive but prevent them from escaping.  
Gathering the many worms she'd encountered while digging, 
Scully placed them in another smaller hole to keep them 
from escaping or drying out.

"Wow Scully, I'm impressed."  Mulder spoke as he finished 
setting up his own pole.

"Better than you expected or better than you hoped?"  
Scully grinned standing to her feet.

The familiar words did not escape Mulder who gave her 
a knowing grin and without warning pulled her into his 
arms whispering, "Nothing you do ceases to amaze me."  
Winking, he brushed his lips against hers.

 "Don't try to distract me Mulder," surprised, yet pleased, 
Scully couldn't help but laugh, I know what you're trying 
to do."

Mocking defeat, Mulder stepped back, "You know me too 
well Scully."  He took on a look of despair, "But you 
can't blame a guy for trying."

Scully just shook her head.  Catching a glimpse of his 
shoe Scully laughed, realizing for the first time what 
Mulder's pole was made of.

Mulder followed her gaze to his pole, complete with 
shoelace for fishing line.  Giving her a lopsided grin, 
he wondered back to his pole.  Grabbing it, he stated, 
in his best ominous competitor voice as he "cast" his 
line, "And so it begins."

Scully watched as he bent down nearly touching the water 
due to the short length of his line.  Laughing, she cast 
her own pole and sat down to wait.

An hour and a half later they were sitting around the 
campfire finishing up their first actual "meal" since 
they'd gotten lost.

"I must admit Scully, you know how to fish."  Mulder 
leaned back on his elbows, "Although I didn't do to bad."  
He quirked a lop-sided grin.

"Yeah," Scully met his gaze, "too bad we had to throw 
them all back."  She laughed thinking of his short pole 
and the tiny fish he'd actually managed to catch.

Mulder ignored her, instead offering to clean up.  Scully 
watched as he made his way around their tiny camp cleaning 
up the various bits and pieces of their leftover dinner.

"I stink."  Scully broke the silence, wrinkling her nose.

Mulder chuckled at her direct statement, "You can never 
"stink" Scully."  He grinned, pulling out the sleeping 
bag and adding, "Although there was that one time..."Scully 
gave him the look and he grinned mischievously before adding, 
"But if you really want to, you can go take a dip in the 
stream."

Scully seemed to think this over for a few minutes, was 
about to decide against it, and finally couldn't stand 
it anymore, "Fine Mulder, if you need me I'll be in the 
water."

Mulder watched as she made her way through the trees to 
the water's edge.  By now the sun had set and the moon 
shone bright in the starry sky.  Mulder smiled to himself, 
watching as his wife mad her way into the water, 
illuminated only the by moonlight.  It didn't take long 
for him to join her.

Scully was surprised to find the water unpredictably warm.  
Finding the water a much needed relief, she bent backwards, 
getting her hair wet and wishing she had some shampoo.  
Briefly thinking she heard something, Scully turned, only 
to be greeted by the shallow rippling of the moonlit water.  
Deciding it was probably just a fish, she turned back to 
trying to wash off the dirt that had collected over the past 
week.  Suddenly, Scully felt the water current change and 
before she could even turn to check it out, felt arms encircle 
her waist.

Letting out an alarmed gasp, Scully turned sharply only to 
be met head on with the face of her grinning husband, "Mulder!"  
She let out a relieved, yet slightly annoyed sigh, "What are 
you doing?"

"Joining my beautiful wife in a moonlit bath."  Mulder grinned 
that same grin that got her every time; warmed her heart and 
reminded Scully once again just exactly how lucky she was to 
have him with her.

"And scaring her half to death."

"Sorry Scully, I couldn't help myself."  She couldn't help 
but smile, especially when he pulled those sweet little 
lost puppy eyes.

Scully just shook her head and before she could say 
anything, found herself lovingly wrapped in Mulder's 
arms, his lips meeting hers.  Even in the soft moonlight 
she knew every inch of his face...could detect that 
certain twinkle in his eye and knew that he was 
thinking the very same thing about her.

Mulder smiled sincerely, lifting his hand and brushing 
it gently across her cheek to tuck an errant strand 
of red hair behind her ear.

"I love you Scully."  His voice was soft as he leaned 
his forehead against hers.

"I love you too Mulder."  Her pitch matched his, 
both in volume and meaning.  It was straight from 
the heart and both knew those simple words held more 
than either could ever express.

Tilting her head upwards, Scully met Mulder's gaze and 
held it for a long time, enjoying how the moonlight 
illuminated their surroundings just right.

Scully felt the corner of her mouth slowly curl upward 
before finding herself once more lost in a loving round 
of sweet Mulder kisses and caresses.

Mulder pulled back slightly, turning Scully in his arms 
as he began massaging her shoulders, "Payment for your 
miraculous cure of a headache."  He spoke close to her 
ear, working his fingers over her tense shoulders.

"Wow Mulder," Scully sighed, feeling the tension of a 
weeks worth of sleeping on the hard forest floor begin 
to dissipate, "You better watch it or you might get 
yourself into something you're not getting out of 
easily."  She chuckled, making a mental note to remember 
his amazing massages.

"I'll remember that."  Mulder continued massaging for 
awhile before turning her gently to face him and again 
wrapping his arms around Scully and pulling her close.  
He focused on her once again before suddenly tightening 
his grasp and allowing himself to fall beneath the water.

Scully barely had enough time to catch her breath before 
finding herself dunked underwater, still in Mulder's arms.  

By the time they reached the surface again they were both 
laughing.

Scully shook her head, wiping the water out of her eyes 
as she watched Mulder scrub at the spot on his head.

"Is it gone yet?" He looked fully dismayed. 

Scully laughed, realizing that he was talking about the 
"berry stain" on his forehead.  From what she could tell 
in the moonlight, it was still there, "Sorry Mulder, looks 
like it's going to take more than that to get rid of it."

Mulder frowned and, after dunking himself a few more times, 
finally gave up.

"Don't worry Mulder,"  Scully wrapped her arms around his 
waist in comfort before grinning and adding, "I'm sure 
we can get it off if we try hard enough.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They'd been watching the FBI agent and his wife? Girlfriend? 
Partner? Mac couldn't quite figure out the exact relationship 
this Agent Mulder had with the petite redhead at his side.  
They held a certain bond hat was unlike any two people Mac
had ever met.  He thought of his own many unsuccessful 
relationships and couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of 
jealousy.  Scowling, he turned to Eddy.

"Once they go to sleep you know what to do."  He stared his 
partner in the eye, "Right?"

"Yeah Mac, I got it."  Eddy failed to stop himself from 
using his so-called "superior's" name, receiving a 
warning glare from Mac.  

They sat and waited for Mulder and Scully to go to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Wonders of Nature (part 3)
Author: MeGgiE42

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mulder sat down on the sleeping bag perusing the strange 
note they'd found with the key in the radio flashlight.  
Scully studied his expression from her position next to 
him.  She could see the wheels turning.

Mulder wracked his brain for any information regarding 
Egyptian hieroglyphics, if, indeed, that's what they were.  
A few of them looked slightly familiar, but that was 
about the extent of his knowledge, for now anyway...maybe 
he'd remember something once his head cleared.

Scully examined the wound on his arm, "Looks like its 
healing like it should."  She replaced the existing gauze 
with a fresh bandage from the gauze she had saved back 
from fishing.

Mulder handed the note back to Scully to put in a safe 
place.

They settled down for the night.  Unlike the previous nights, 
tonight the sky was clouded over, leaving the forest in a 
cover of complete darkness.

Scully shivered involuntarily against the sudden breeze.  
Mulder wrapped his arms around her, pulling the sleeping 
bag closer.  There was something about the forest that 
night that heightened his senses; making him more alert 
than before.  Something was different.  The woods were 
uncharacteristically silent.

"Mulder?"  Scully spoke as if sensing his tension.

"Go to sleep Scully," he smiled reassuringly, "It's 
probably nothing."  In the back of his mind he hoped 
he was right.

Of course his comment just made Scully more concerned.  
Sitting up she followed his gaze into the woods.  Total 
blackness greeted her.  A strange uneasiness crept through 
her body.  Scully focused back on Mulder and could tell 
that he was feeling the same uneasiness.  She tried to 
convince herself that they were just being paranoid, but 
somehow couldn't.

"Go ahead and go to sleep, I'll keep watch."  Mulder 
swept the darkness again, speaking absent-mindedly.

"Mulder-" Scully was about to protest, but decided 
against it, finally giving in, "Wake me up when you 
get tired."  She eyed him with a look that simply 
stated 'and-you-better-because-you-need-sleep-too'.

"You forget who you're talking to Scully."  His tone 
was teasing, but he continued to survey the unending 
darkness with caution, "I'm used to little or no sleep."

Eventually discovering that she was losing a useless 
battle, Scully gave in to exhaustion and was asleep 
within minutes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~What is with this guy?~ Mac was beginning to get 
impatient ~Doesn't he ever go to sleep?~

They'd been waiting for nearly two hours since Scully 
had fallen asleep  So far it didn't appear like Mulder 
was going to join her any time soon.

"Fine."  Mac was tired of waiting, "He wants to do it the 
hard way then let him."  He nodded in Eddy's direction, 
reaching for the knockout gas and his gun-just in case...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder sat staring into the darkness.  Off and on he'd 
thought he heard something only to turn and be greeted 
by the endless void of nothingness, or the occasional 
small nocturnal animal.  It was amazing exactly how dark 
the night could really get when a person is without 
streetlights and skyscrapers.

He thought he heard a noise and before he could even react, 
Mulder found himself surrounded in a haze of cloud-like gas.  
He opened his mouth to warn Scully, but came out but a 
chocking gasp.  He struggled to fight the impending descent 
into darkness.  His lungs burned, his eyes watered, he 
wanted to yell but nothing would come out.  Suddenly Mulder 
was overcome by an all-powerful drowsiness.  

Two figures emerged from the darkness.  They were the last 
thing Mulder saw before he blacked out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully slowly opened her eyes, the sleep seeming harder 
to overcome than usual.  What was wrong with her hand?  
Why did it feel so heavy?  She blinked a few more times, 
clearing her vision.  Confused, she looked around the 
small room, having the distinct impression that she had 
definitely missed something.  Thinking back to the night
before, Scully could not, for the life of her, remember 
finding a cabin or being "rescued".  She remembered 
falling asleep after Mulder's insistence-Mulder!  
Feeling a twinge of panic, Scully sat up-where was he?!  

A soft groan from behind indicated his presence and 
Scully turned to face him, feeling her pulse calm 
slightly in knowing that Mulder was ok.

He was on his side, face pressed hard against a cold, 
musty-smelling surface.  Mulder tried moving, but 
something was holding his arm down.  He pulled a little 
harder, accidentally bumping his injured arm into 
something sharp.  He groaned, opening his eyes and 
becoming thoroughly confused at what he saw.  Since 
when did forests have ceilings?  

"Mulder," he could hear her voice, but where was she?

Scully glanced at her wrist and immediately discovered 
why she'd been unable to move it.  She stared 
unbelievingly at the cold piece of metal surrounding 
her wrist.  She followed the small chain under the leg 
of an old wood-burning stove.  How in the world had she 
ended up in this old shack?  Or better yet, how had she 
ended up in this old shack handcuffed?  She felt a slight 
tug on her wrist and craned her neck to see on the other 
side of the stove.

"Mulder?"

"Scully?"  His voice was groggy.  Struggling to a seating
position, Mulder looked around.

"Over here," she tugged on the handcuffs, "Are you ok?"  
His groan of pain had alarmed Scully.

"Yeah, just a little confused."  He glanced down at his 
hand.  For the first time Mulder noticed the handcuff 
encircling his wrist.  He stared at it blankly for a few 
moments.  Suddenly, memory of the past night's events came 
flooding back.  The dark.  The men.  The gas.

"Where are we Mulder?"

"I don't know."  Mulder answered her, trying to make some 
sense of the whole situation.

Scully began to wonder what exactly had happened last night.  
As if reading her mind, Mulder paused for a few moments to 
gather his thoughts before telling her what little he 
remembered.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both trying to decide 
how they were going to get out, where and why they were there 
in the first place, and mentally mourning the loss of their 
weapons. 

Scully was just about to open her mouth to say something when 
loud footsteps sounded in the next room.  A squeaky old door 
swung open and in stepped two men.

Immediately suspicious, Mulder eyed the men, trying to decide 
from which agency they belonged and who they were working for.

"Well, well, well,"  The tall man with the athletic build 
sauntered into the room, giving Scully an appreciative look 
before settling a cold stare on Mulder, "Looky what we got 
here." 

Scully watched as a much shorter man with beady eyes and a 
stocky build followed a few steps behind.  He had a nervous, 
but amused, look on his face as he watched his superior
bring out Mulder's badge and swing it loosely in his hand.

Mac bent down until he was eye-level with Mulder, opening 
the badge and bringing it into Mulder's view, "So Mr. FBI, 
what? You didn't think we were gonna to figure it out?"  
When Mulder didn't answer he gave out a harsh laugh, throwing 
the badge at Mulder's chest and standing up.

~Find what out?~ Scully could tell from the look on Mulder's 
face that, like her, he had no idea what the men where talking 
about.

"So where is it?"  Mac began slowly pacing the room, all the 
while never taking his gaze off his prisoners.

Mulder remained calm, years of FBI training kicking into 
action, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Ha!"  Another harsh laugh.  It made Scully want to cringe.  
There was nothing about this man that she liked.  She had a 
good idea that he was talking about the key, but Scully also 
knew that Mulder was not one to give up without a fight.  
And neither was she.  

Scully eyed the man in charge cautiously, all the while 
wondering how he'd gotten a hold of Mulder's badge in the 
first place.  It was obvious from the way he was looking at 
her, and treating Mulder, that he didn't view Scully as any 
sort of threat.  He apparently hadn't found her badge too.  
This, Scully decided, for the time being, was to their 
advantage.

"I'll say this one more time."  The man in black came closer, 
"Where is the key?"

Mulder looked him square in the eye, "And I'll say it again, 
I have no idea what you're talking about."

Mac had had enough, he motioned to Eddydy.  Scully watched in 
horror as the stout beady-eyed man came nearer and disappeared 
behind the side of the stove.  She winced as she heard the 
muffled sound of a boot connecting with flesh, followed by 
a painful grunt from Mulder.  It was all she could do not to 
call out his name.  Scully wanted so badly to rip off the 
handcuff and run to his side, but she bit her cheek, instead 
screaming his name in her head, feeling the burning hatred 
for these men reach a new height.

"I'll give you some time to peruse you're memory," Mac laughed, 
making his way towards the door, "We'll finish our little 
conversation later."  With that he motioned for his partner to 
follow.

The instant the door was closed, Scully was calling out his 
name, "Mulder?" 

He didn't answer.

"Mulder, are you ok?"  She tried not to panic, tried to reach 
a position where she could actually see his face.  Scully 
glared at the handcuff surrounding her wrist, trying to see 
around the stove.

"Yeah," His voice was strained, but at least he was conscious, 
"Just knocked the wind out of me."  Mulder struggled to sit up.

Scully let out a relieved breath, feeling the need to touch 
him, to make sure that he was ok for herself, overcome her 
emotions.  She struggled for a good ten minutes before finally 
achieving a position in which she could see his face.  Working 
the around the leg of the stove, Scully was able to reach him.

"Scully really I'm fine."  Mulder managed a weak smile, 
touched (as always), by her insistence to make sure he was 
really "fine".  

Seemingly satisfied once she could see him herself, Scully 
sat back, letting her gaze wander before eventually resting 
on their attached wrists.

Mulder followed Scully's gaze to the handcuffs stretched 
between them, "Too bad the bear hadn't taken these too."  
He looked up just in time to catch the end of The Look.

~He's right though~ Scully thought. Of all the things that 
grizzly actually did take or manage to scatter around the 
greater Cascades, handcuffs had not been one of them. 

"Look at it this way Scully," Mulder spoke from the other 
side of the stove, "Of all the things we've been through 
over the past many years being handcuffed together has not 
been one of them."

~Wow, don't I feel lucky.~ She sighed inwardly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder leaned his head against the wall closing his eyes.  
He tried to think of something other than the fact that he 
and Scully were handcuffed in the middle of nowhere with 
two Men in Black on guard.  What was so important about that 
key?  At first he guessed a drug ring or various other 
gang-related crimes, but there was something about those 
men that told him otherwise.  They'd stumbled into 
something much more complex and, Mulder feared, much more 
dangerous.

They had been sitting there for nearly three hours and 
Scully was afraid their captures would be back soon.  She 
scanned the room, looking for ways out.  There were no 
windows, and the only door in the room was locked with a 
deadbolt that seemed to contrast the rustic interior of 
the tiny room.  Other than the old stove, there wasn't much 
except dust and dirt to take up the room.  A tattered old 
three-legged table stood in the far corner and a single, 
equally tattered, chair was pushed to one side.  It was 
obvious the room was not used often.  

~Only to hold captured FBI agents~ Scully thought to herself.

"Sounds like our friends are getting a little frustrated."  
Mulder broke the silence, commenting on a loud crash heard 
in the next room.

Suddenly remembering that the key was in her pocket, 
Scully used her free hand to check and make sure that 
it was still there.  Sure enough, the small metal greeted 
her fingers with an apathetic glint, reflecting the meager
amount of light the single bulb in the room emitted.  
She worked it in her fingers, turning it over in her hand.  
It looked like a normal key to her.  Scully wondered what 
important secrets lay beyond its locked counterpart.  

Mulder opened his eyes to see Scully holding the key in
her hand, a crease lining her forehead indicated that 
she was deep in thought.

"Does it fit?" Scully looked up, slightly startled 
at the sound of his voice.

"I thought you were asleep." She met his gaze, adding, 
"Does what fit?"

"The key," Mulder's eyes took on that playful look as 
he glanced from the key in her hand to the handcuffs 
disappearing beneath the leg of the stove.

Scully gave him The Look, before placing the key back 
in her pocket then, changing her mind, removing it and 
tucking the key into the back of her shoe-it was less 
likely they'd look there. 

"How long do you think they'll wait before coming back 
to try again?"  Her expression turned serious.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing it'll be soon."  Mulder 
took a quick look at the door as he spoke, "Sooner or 
later they're no longer going to find this funny."  He 
took on a grim look, hearing the "leader's" humorless 
laugh echo throughout his mind.

"We have to find a way to get these cuffs off."  Scully 
rubbed her wrist; already her skin was being rubbed raw.

Mulder turned his attention to the stove leg, moving it 
back and forth with his good hand.  He tried to move his 
cuffed arm as little as possible, knowing that whenever 
he did move he caused Scully more discomfort. 

"If I could just-" He pulled a little harder, determined 
to find a way.  Just when he was sure it was about to 
give, the door burst open and in stomped the Men in Black.  
Quickly, Mulder let go of the leg, catching a knowing 
looking from Scully before focusing on the angry man in 
front of him.  

Mulder met Mac's stony gaze.  One thing was for sure, the 
man in charge was not laughing anymore.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, FBI," This time Mac addressed them both.  He'd been 
somewhat surprised-although he should have know better, 
should have gone with his instincts-to find that the 
petite red-head was an FBI Agent as well.  Special Agent 
Dana Scully...yeah that was her name.  This new information 
just added to Mac's paranoia and irritation, "I've decided
you've had enough time to think this over."  He stared 
icily from one agent to the other, "Where.  Is.  The.  
Key."  It was more of a broken down statement than a 
question.

Scully and Mulder exchanged a quick glance, neither 
saying a word.

Mac motioned to Eddydy with a jerk of his head.

Before Mulder had a chance to react, he felt an intense 
pain spread throughout his body as Eddy kicked him hard 
in the stomach.  He doubled over in pain, bracing himself 
for another blow.

"No!"  This time Scully couldn't help herself, "Mulder!"  
She yanked at the handcuffs, furious that she couldn't 
reach him; furious at their captures. The best thing she 
could do was to reach his hand beneath the stove. Scully 
took Mulder's cuffed hand in her own, a meager attempt at 
comfort.

Mulder lay on his side trying to catch his breath.  While 
he was somewhere between thinking ~That's gonna leave a 
bruise~ and ~If they even touch Scully I SWEAR I'll kill 
them~  when he felt a small hand take hold of his.  That 
gave him all the strength he needed, and Mulder struggled 
to a seating position.

"Fine," He spoke wearily, free hand still resting on his 
stomach, "You can have the key."  Mulder caught Scully's 
eye before adding, "But you'll have to take us back into 
the woods."

"What are you talking about?"  Mac glared at him.

"We lost it in the woods."  Mulder turned back to Scully, 
meeting her eye.  She nodded slightly.

"What?!"  Mac stomped closer, throwing his hands in the 
air, "You LOST it?!"  He stared Mulder hard in the eye.  
Suddenly he face changed into an evil grin, "Oh I get it." 
He gave out a curt laugh, "You don't think I'm stupid 
enough to fall for that old trick do you?"

Silently, Mulder had been wondering that himself.

"He's telling the truth."  Scully spoke for the first 
time.

Mulder's pulse quickened when Mac turned his attention 
to Scully.  He squeezed her hand in his.  A silent warning 
not to push this guy too far.  Scully brushed her thumb 
ever so slightly across the back of his hand ~I know 
Mulder, you don't have to worry~

"Is that so?"  Mac bent down to face her.  His breath, 
hot on her face, smelled of an odd mixture of what 
Scully could only describe as tuna fish and formaldehyde.  
She wanted to cringe, but held her ground.

"We lost it when we were-" Scully searched her mind, 
"fishing."  She finished without skipping a beat.

"Fishing," Eddy spoke up for the first time, letting 
out a snort, "I'd say you was doin' much more than 
fishin' out there in that water."  He and his superior 
laughed.

Mulder felt his level of hatred for these two rise 
to a new level as Eddydy walked closer.

"Ya know," Eddydy rubbed his shoulder, pivoting it 
in a circle, "My shoulder's been actin' up on me." 
He leaned closer, inches from her face, "Maybe you 
could help me out with that."

Mulder wanted to lunge at that man. How dare he treat 
Scully like that! He tugged at the stove leg harder

Scully felt Mulder tense and immediately gave his hand 
a squeeze.  Keeping her voice level she looked Eddydy 
strait in the eye, "Well, I'm sure you and your buddy over 
there can work that one out just fine without me."

Eddydy looked at her, stunned. Mulder had to summon his 
willpower to keep from laughing at the look on the face 
of the men in black.

"Why you little-" Eddydy tapered off as he stood and 
raised his arm, ready to strike.

Scully caught her breath and braced herself for the 
inevitable.  Just when she was sure she'd feel Eddydy's 
blow, her arm was suddenly flung upward, bringing her 
nearly to her feet.

Mulder, his blood on fire, lunged at the man, grabbing 
his arm as it was inches away from striking Scully.  
He could think of a thousand things he'd like to call 
Eddydy, but there was no time for words.  Pure rage 
bubbled to the surface as he struck Eddydy square in the 
jaw, landing him unconscious on the floor.

Not predicting the fact that Mulder had managed to spring 
the stove leg away from its body as the two men were focused 
on her, Scully was taken off guard at his quick movements.  
She found herself quickly being pulled to a standing 
position, the momentum caused by their attached wrists 
nearly crashing her into Mulder.  

She watched as Mulder, enraged, knocked the stocky man 
out.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move.  
Quickly Scully turned to find Mac closing the distance 
between them.  With her arm still attached to Mulder, 
Scully did the first thing that came to her mind.  Kicked 
with full force she felt her leg connect with Mac's shin.  
He stumbled, knocked off balance and clutched his leg.  
By this time, Mulder had turned around and, seeing a 
limping Mac, took his advantage and greeted the "leader" 
of the Men in Black with the same grant he'd bestowed upon 
his partner.

The stood for a few seconds just taking in the two man 
lying unconscious on the floor.  Mulder turned to Scully, 
a concerned look on his face, "You ok?"  He cupped her 
cheek, brushing his thumb lightly along the softness of 
her skin before taking her handcuffed wrist in his hand 
and frowning at the redness he found there.

"I'm fine Mulder."  Scully gave him a small smile, 
before turning serious. "What about you?" She rubbed 
her free hand lightly across his stomach.

"Hey it wouldn't be a case if I didn't get hit sometime 
right?" Mulder grinned, reassuring her that he would be 
fine.

Scully was about to protest when Mac stirred slightly on 
the ground.

"Come on," Mulder placed his free hand on her arm, guiding 
her toward the door, "let's get out of here.  I'd hate to 
be around when they wake up."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


Title: Wonders of Nature (part 4)
Author: MeGgiE42

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mulder and Scully had been running for what seemed like 
hours-not an easy task when you're handcuffed together.  
Many times they had run into annoying obstacles, causing 
one to run into the other or trip, nearly bringing them 
both to the ground.  Eventually deciding that they had a 
good enough lead on their abductors, they slowed, finally 
coming to a rest.

Out of breath, Scully spoke, "Do you think we lost them?"

"Let's hope so."  Mulder, equally out of breath, glanced 
down at their bonded wrists, "This ain't as easy as it 
looks."  He drawled, a grin on his face.

Scully let out a agreeing puff of air, "Let's rest for 
a while Mulder, I'm sure it will take the enough time 
to wake up."  She rubbed at her wrist, cursing the 
handcuffs under her breath.

Mulder nodded in agreement and together they made their 
way to a small semi-comfortable spot to rest.  They 
struggled, somewhat awkwardly, together to clear a spot 
to sit down.  At one point an owl hooted, causing Mulder 
to turn abruptly in its direction and, forgetting 
momentarily that he was attached to Scully, pulled her 
along.

"Umffph," her voice was muffled as she ran into 
Mulder's arm.

"Sorry."  He turned back around to face her.  Scully 
waved it off, indicating a "no problem", and went back 
to clearing various bits and pieced of foliage.

Once they were finally satisfied with their work, 
Mulder and Scully sat down-her left shoulder touching 
his right.

"Well, that was fun."  Mulder's face held a lopsided 
grin.

Scully let out a small laugh, sarcastically replying, 
"Yeah, I wonder why we haven't tried running handcuffed 
together through the forest before."

"Now that we have though, I'm sure we can think of a 
few other things we can try to add to our list of 
'things to do involving handcuffs'." His grin turned 
into a sly smile.  

Scully glared at him, even though secretly a part of 
her found it somewhat amusing.

The night was rapidly cooling and the sudden drop in 
temperature caused Scully an involuntary shiver.  
Realizing for the first time that they no longer had 
the sleeping bag, Scully felt the true helplessness of 
their situation.  They no longer had the first aid kit, 
flashlight, or even that useless map to aid in their 
rescue.  It was official-They were truly lost and on 
their own in the middle of the Cascade Mountains.

Mulder gently pulled Scully to his chest with his free 
arm, maneuvering his handcuffed right arm over her head, 
down her shoulder, and under her right arm so that it 
encircled her waist.  Scully moved her handcuffed arm to 
a more comfortable position, then found his hand with 
hers.  Mulder pulled her closer, attempting to trap as 
much body heat as possible.  Luckily they were both still 
wearing their jackets, and Scully pulled her collar closer, 
settling her head on Mulder's chest.

As absurd as the situation was, Scully found peace 
and comfort in Mulder's arms.  She lay silent for a 
few moments before noticing the strange look on Mulder's 
face.

"What?"  She met his gaze.

"Nothing."  Mulder smiled, but she could still see the 
pain in his eyes that he was desperately trying to hide.  

"Mulder..."  her tone indicated that she was not giving 
up that easily.

"It's just that," he met Scully's gaze, "your elbow is 
digging into my stomach."

"What?"  Once it registered, Scully sat up abruptly, 
"Mulder, I forgot, I'm sorry!"  She gave him a 
sympathetic look.

He laughed, "no need to be sorry Scully, I wasn't your 
fault.  I don't think it would matter where your elbow 
was, it's bound to hit something bruised, scraped, or 
cut."

Suddenly Scully felt terrible.  Throughout this entire 
trip it seemed as if Mulder was getting hurt one way or 
another.  

She repositioned herself, carefully unzipping his jacket 
and gingerly lifting his shirt with her free hand.  A 
bruise was already beginning to form.

"I'm sorry Mulder."  She echoed her earlier comment, 
silently kicking herself for allowing such a thing to 
happen.

As if reading her mind, Mulder lifted her chin to meet 
his gaze, "I know what you're thinking and I want you to 
stop."  He broke into a smile, brushing his thumb softly 
across Scully's cheek, "Unless you were a 200 pound 
man-in which case we'd both be in trouble-there's nothing 
more you could have done anyway."

Although she hated to admit it, he was right.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mac was the first to wake up.  Rubbing his jaw, he scowled, 
getting up and limping over to Eddy who was still 
unconscious on the floor.

"Get up." He nudged his partner awake.

Eddy sat up with a confused look on his face.  His jaw 
hurt.

"Hurry up."  Mac was already halfway out the door, "They 
couldn't have gotten far."

~Oh yeah.~ Eddy suddenly remembered *why* his jaw hurt.  
Those two FBI agents would be sorry for what they had done.  
He got up and went into the next room, opening a drawer 
and pulling out his gun. ~VERY sorry~.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Only an hour and a half had passed, but Mulder knew they 
needed to get going again.  He glanced down at Scully, 
finding her fast asleep.  He debated whether or not to 
wake her.

"It's ok, I'm up."   As if reading his mind she opened her 
eyes and sat up slowly.

"I hate to tell you this Scully, but we really should get 
as far as we can before they wake up and realize we're 
gone."  He spoke regretfully. 

They carefully made their way to a standing position.  

Scully stopped to meet his gaze, "Mulder are you sure 
you're ok?"  He nodded in response, and together they 
began making their way further into the woods.

After a while of walking, Scully rubbed at her wrist, 
glaring down at the handcuffs.  Mulder's legs were much 
longer and his stride he was quickly outrunning her own.  
Mulder followed her gaze and stopped.  

"Sorry."  He gave her an apologetic look, forgetting 
that her legs were much shorter than his, "Being chased 
through the woods takes all the fun out of being 
handcuffed."  Mulder attempted to lighten the mood. 

They continued on in a slower pace, eventually coming 
to a stop at the edge of a steep embankment.  Placing 
her free hand on her hip, Scully scanned the terrain.  
Mulder glanced down the steep edge, contemplating how 
high it was.  It was hard to tell in the dark just 
exactly how high it was, but Mulder was not about ready 
to find out the hard way.

"Looks like we'll have to find another way around."  
Scully met his gaze.

"We must be further off course that we were before."  
Mulder said scanning the woods, "They must have taken 
us pretty far.  I don't remember this being here."  He
pointed to the steep cliff.

They both stood in silence, debating which way to go.  
Mulder was just about to suggest they try heading in a 
different direction when he heard a slight movement 
from behind.  

Scully thought she'd heard something, but before she 
could turn around, she recognized the sickening sound 
of a gun being c0cked.  Her breath caught in her throat.  

"Turn around slowly."  Mac spoke in an eerily calm voice, 
"Both of you."

Obeying, Mulder and Scully turned together to face him.

"Bad move."  Eddy growled, "Tryin' to run away like 
that."  He stepped closer to Scully, bringing the gun 
to her head.  She swallowed hard, but kept her calm as 
the cold metal was pressed against her skin.

Mulder's heart skipped a beat as he watched Eddy put 
the gun to Scully's temple.  

"This is your last chance."  Mac spoke to Mulder, knowing 
that there was no way he would put his partner in danger.  
"Are you willing to sacrifice your partner's life for a 
key?"  He spoke almost mockingly.

"All right," Mulder spoke calmly.  Putting his hand 
slowly into his coat pocket, he pulled out a key and 
handed it to Mac.  Scully met his eyes with a look only 
Mulder could perceive as questioning.

"And the paper?"  

Mulder took his eyes off Scully just long enough to 
hand the paper with the Egyptian writing over to Mac.  

In the meantime, Eddy was getting restless.  He pushed 
the gun harder into Scully's temple, causing her an 
involuntary flinch and a step back.  

Felling a tug on his wrist, Mulder immediately turned his 
attention back to Scully.  It was too late.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Forgetting that they were on the edge of a steep cliff, 
Scully had stepped back, only to be drastically reminded.  
Instantly, her shoe lost its footing and she slipped.

"What the-" Mac stopped, glaring at Eddy, "You idiot!"

At the same time, Mulder was shouting, "Scully!"  He 
moved fast, but not fast enough.  His handcuffed wrist
was fiercely yanked downward as Scully fell over the edge.

"What?"  Eddy raised his hands in surrender, "What'd 
I do?"

Mac stalked over to his partner, "I told you not to 
kill them yet!  We're not done!"  He yelled at Eddy, 
grabbing the gun from his hand.

"Hey you know what?"  Eddy's voice rose, "I'm getting' 
sick and tired of you actin' like you're so much better 
than me you know?"  He came closer, staring Mac in the 
eye, "We were BOTH qualified for this job and you know 
it!"  As they continued to fight, Mulder was still 
struggling.

He landed on his bad arm, wincing again as his stomach 
hit the ground, "Scully?!"  He crawled to the edge of 
the cliff, desperate to make sure she was ok.

"Mulder," She was almost out of breath from the quick 
fall, and her wrist screamed in protest at the sharp 
pain of the handcuffs-the only thing that was keeping 
her from falling into the bottomless pit.  Scully 
dangled helplessly, all the while trying to find some 
sort of handhold for her free hand.

"Scully," relief flooded his body and was more than 
evident in his voice, "Hold on."  

"Nevertheless, *I* was the one put in charge here and 
*I* say what we're going to do!" Mac and Eddy were 
still fighting.

Mulder moved, with some difficulty, to a more sturdy 
position, "grab my hand!'  He thought his handcuffed 
wrist was going to fall off, but he kept his stance.

Scully grasped at the darkness, blindly trying to find 
Mulder's hand.  After what seemed like ages, two hands 
met and held on for all they were worth.

Mulder used all the strength he could muster to pull 
Scully to safety.  She felt herself being lifted an, 
and eventually Scully was able to find a foothold to 
help her climb back over the edge of the cliff.  The 
pressure on her handcuffed wrist lessoned until she 
was finally back onto safe ground.

They stumbled backward together, landing in a heap on 
the ground.  Mulder didn't bother to stand up; instead 
he immediately pulled Scully into a full embrace.

"Are you ok?"  Scully could see the mix of panic, 
concern, and relief fill Mulder's eyes.

"Yeah," Out of breath it was all she could manage to 
get out, "I'm ok Mulder."

He hugged her tighter, closing his eyes and whispering, 
"I thought I'd lost you."

Scully was still slightly shaken and trying to get 
over the initial shock of falling over a cliff.  After 
a few moments she felt the adrenaline high begin to 
return to normal.  She closed her eyes and let her 
forehead rest on Mulder's, before pulling back and 
glancing down at their attached wrists.

"Stupid things actually came in handy."  Scully gave 
out a curt laugh.  Mulder met her gaze and smiled.

By now Eddy and Mac had stopped yelling and had 
resulted to standing and glaring at one another.  
Eddy tossed the gun at Mac's chest and stomped off 
to the edge of the trees.  There he stopped and, 
like a child throwing a temper tantrum, stood 
festering with his back turned.  He waited for 
Mac to get the FBI agents, silently cursing at 
his "superior".

"Get up."  Mac turned his attention back to the 
agents.  While he and Eddy had been fighting, 
they'd managed to pull Scully back over the edge.

Obeying, Mulder helped Scully to her feet.  He may 
have appeared calm on the outside, but on the inside 
Mulder was furious.  Scully could have been killed 
and all this guy could do was yell at them to get 
up?  

"My apologies Agent Scully."  Mac took a step closer, 
and Mulder instinctively wrapped his arm around 
Scully's waist, pulling her closer protectively.  
He met Mac's gaze with a cold stare.  Scully didn't 
respond.  "It seems as if my associate's temper got 
the better of him."

~What's with the sudden change in demeanor?~ Scully 
could feel Mulder tense beside her as Mac took 
another step closer.

"Let this be a lesson to you both."  He stopped mere 
inches away, his sinister tone returning, "You *don't* 
want to upset him."  Mac gave them an evil grin, waving 
his gun halfheartedly, "Now let's go."  

With the gun trained directly at them, there was 
nothing else Mulder and Scully could do but follow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The night was becoming colder as clouds began
gathering over the thick forest canopy.  Mulder and 
Scully led the small group, gun still trained at 
their backs.  Eddy lingered somewhat behind, keeping 
his distance.  It was obvious he wasn't quite over 
his temper tantrum yet, but he'd managed to calm down 
enough to keep his mouth shut.

"Stop."  Mac broke the silence.  That single word 
sent chills through Scully's spine.  Had he decided 
it was time to kill them?

"Sit down."  Mac waved the gun towards a fallen 
moss-covered log.  Slowly, Mulder and Scully sat down.  
"We'll rest here for tonight."  He turned his attention 
to Eddy, "We'll get a new start in the morning."  Eddy 
seemed to understand that he had no choice and that, 
hopefully, tomorrow things would go more according to 
plan.

"You try anything funny and next time I won't be so 
understanding."  With that Mac sat down and, with gun 
still in hand, prepared to get some sleep.  "You keep 
watch Eddy."  Before Eddy could protest Mac had tossed 
him the gun, "Wake me up in a few hours."

Grumbling, Eddy sat down.

After so many hours of walking, Mulder and Scully 
were exhausted.  Once they were semi-settled Mulder 
turned his attention to his wife.

"You ok?"  His voice was soft and lowered so as not 
to be overheard by Eddy.  He wasn't surprised to 
elicit the expected response of "I'm fine".

"How about you Mulder?"  She placed her free hand 
gently on his arm before resting it softly on his 
stomach.

Mulder gave her a reassuring smile, "Aside from 
terminal cell phone withdrawal and the impending 
need for a cheeseburger and a bag of sunflower 
seeds, I'd say I was pretty good."

"Hey!"  Eddy's voice caused Scully and Mulder to 
look up.  They sat in silence as Eddy made his way 
over to where they were sitting, "Mac said no more 
funny business remember? And that means no talkin'."  
He waved the weapon in his hand for added effect.

"Do you always do what Mac tells you to?"  Mulder 
spoke calmly, keeping his eye on the gun in Eddy's 
hand.  Scully had figured Mulder would have these 
two profiled by the end of the day.  It was merely 
a matter of time before he began to use it against 
their abductors. 

Eddy seemed surprised, and somewhat disgusted, that 
Mulder would even think of directly disobeying his 
order, "Go to sleep."  Eddy paced, irritated.

"You know you're just as qualified as he is," Mulder 
nodded in Mac's direction, "You're your own man Eddy, 
don't let him push you around like that."  

"Shut up!  I said go to SLEEP!"  Eddy was becoming 
angry.  Mulder could see the internal conflict 
behind the stout man's eyes.  It was clear Mulder's 
comment gad gotten to him.

Mulder became quiet, not wanting to push the man 
with the gun over the edge.  Eddy seemed satisfied 
that his prisoners weren't going to cause any more 
trouble and left to go sit back down.  Scully could 
tell he was still thinking over what Mulder had 
said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning was dreary and the temperature 
had dropped drastically.  Mulder and Scully found 
the woods uncharacteristically silent.  Even the 
ever-present Super-Squirrels had not yet decided 
to venture out.  The day dragged on, mostly 
uneventful.  Everyone was cold, tired, hungry, and 
in a bad mood.

Mulder and Scully trudged onward in silence.  Mac 
held the gun loosely in his hand, having decided 
that by now the agents were not going to give him 
anymore trouble.  

Eddy had been silent since the morning's trek 
first started and Scully wondered if he was still 
considering Mulder's comment from last night.

By noon they reached a small cabin, much like the 
first one Mulder and Scully had found themselves 
in the first night of their capture.  Mulder began 
wondering how many more cabins there were going to 
be before they reached their final destination.  
More importantly, he wondered what that final 
destination was and what was going to happen once 
they reached it.

Mac unlocked the cabin door and ushered them inside.  
This cabin was much nicer than the one before.  
Scully hoped that this would mean more than a hard 
floor and a wood-burning stove to sleep against.  

She scanned the cabin's interior.  There was a small 
fireplace in front of an expensive-looking leather 
couch and matching loveseat.  A door leading to a 
small kitchen was on the far right, another leading 
to what Scully assumed was a bedroom, and a final 
door that was shut and locked with a deadbolt.  
Scully locked glances with Mulder for a brief moment; 
both wondering what was behind door number three.  

A small mahogany staircase was off to the left and 
Mac motioned for them to follow him upstairs.  Eddy 
watched the trio climb the stairs for about three 
seconds before turning and heading for the kitchen.

Upstairs, Mac unlocked one of the doors at the end 
of the hall.  Shoving Mulder and Scully inside, he 
quickly locked it once more and headed back downstairs.

"Such hospitality," Mulder mumbled, before turning 
his attention to Scully.

"At least we have a bed this time."  Scully was too 
busy taking in the large, lavishly decorated, bedroom 
to pay attention to Mulder's sarcastic remark.  She 
stared in awe at the colorful, obviously expensive 
decor.  

The bed itself was a wonder, complete with a canopy 
draped in emerald green and burgundy silk that matched 
the four-inch thick down comforter with the gold trim 
along its edges.  The rest of the room held an antique 
vanity, an old chest decorated in Egyptian hieroglyphics,
a small fireplace, and a chair that matched the bedspread.  
The walls were decorated in various art pieces resembling 
ancient Egypt, and Scully decided the entire room held 
an Egyptian flair.

"I guess we knew where the not came from."  Mulder met 
Scully's gaze after scanning the room and taking in the 
decor.

"Mulder some of this stuff looks like the real thing."  
Scully let her fingers play across the wooden chest at 
the end of the bed.

"Authentic Egyptian artifacts could yield a lot on the 
black market."  Mulder spoke, shifting his glance to 
four canopic jars set upon the vanity.

"You think this has something to do with smuggling 
Egyptian artifacts into the US?"  Scully looked up 
from the chest.

"The US, Europe, Japan, who knows," Mulder made his 
way over to the edge of the bed, bringing a handcuffed 
Scully along, "All I know is that we have to find a 
way out of here.  But first," he tossed off his shoes 
and lay back on the huge pillows, giving out a groan 
of pleasure, "lets rest."

Scully climbed carefully Mulder, taking care not to 
bump anything cut, scraped, or bruised, and lay down 
next to him.

"Wow," it was all she could manage to say as she sank 
into the cloud-like softness.

"My thoughts exactly."  Mulder opened his eyes and 
turned his head to face Scully.

"This definitely makes up for the last cabin."  Scully 
met his glance.

"Yeah, but it makes me wonder what's going to happen
next."  Mulder's tone turned serious, "What are Mac and 
Eddy up to and what's waiting for us at the other end 
of this escapade?"  Neither of them wanted to think about 
it and, quite frankly, they were too exhausted to even 
if they did.  Within minutes they were both fast asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why'd you put 'em in THE room?"  Eddy took a big bite 
out of his meatball sandwich and spoke with his mouth 
full.

Mac, who had always prided himself in his high-class 
demeanor, glared at his associate.  He may be a con 
artist, crook, and some could go as far as to say 
murderer, Mac still held pride in pulling off the facade 
as a "gentleman" in normal situations.  It was something 
he had come to learn paid off when working for the 
high-class men and women he often ran into.

"Would you rather me put them in your room where they 
could see the money, along with everything else that 
would help them put you behind bars for the rest of 
your life?"  Mac scowled, "Or how about the back room 
where they could really have fun? They could see-"

"All right already! I get the point!"  Eddy finished 
off his sandwich and stood to make another.

Mac poured himself a cup of coffee-black, just the 
way he liked it, and turned to face Eddy.

"I just don't see why we need two FBI agents to drag 
along with us anyway."  Eddy had his feet probed up 
on the edge of the table as he munched away at his 
second sandwich.

"You said it yourself."  Mac remained standing, coffee 
cup in hand, "They're FBI."  He slowly turned his cup,
watching the stem rise, "We can't just let a couple 
of FBI agents go free...especially now.  They've seen 
too much."

Eddy was hardly listening as he finished off his 
sandwich.

"Go take them something to eat."  Mac finished off 
his cup of coffee.

"But I thought you said-"

"We can't have them slowing us down tomorrow.  We have 
a long trip ahead of us."  With that Mac left the 
kitchen and headed for the room with the deadbolt.

Grumbling, Eddy made three more sandwiches, one for 
himself and each agent, before heading upstairs. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sound of a key in the lock caused Mulder to open 
his eyes.  For a second he forgot where he was, but 
remembered instantly at seeing the Egyptian-flavored 
room.

Scully opened her eyes and, for a moment, thought she 
was having a dream-a very strange one with an Egyptian 
theme.  She felt Mulder's arm around her waist then the 
dull pain in her wrist before the door swung open and 
Eddy stepped in. 

~Ah yes, I remember now.  Forget the dream; we're 
caught in a nightmare~ Scully slowly sat up.

"Mac says you gotta eat."  Eddy placed the tray atop 
the wooden chest, "Now if it were up to me, I'd let 
you go ahead and starve, but Mac says he don't want 
you slowin' us down tomorrow, so rest up-we got a 
long day ahead of us."  Once he was finished talking, 
Eddy quickly left, locking the door behind him.

Still in between sleep and wake, Mulder and Scully 
sat in dumbfounded silence for a few seconds.

"Shall we?"  Mulder broke the silence, gesturing 
towards the tray.

Together they made their way to the end of the bed.

"Good ol' criminal home cookin'."  Mulder grinned, 
taking up a meatball sandwich in his free hand and 
taking a bite, "You gotta love it."

Scully rolled her eyes, taking up her sandwich and 
giving it a weary eye.  Although she was not a 
particular fan of meatball sandwiches, hunger got the 
better of her and she finished it off quickly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The night was getting late, Mac and Eddy hadn't 
been heard from for over three hours, and Mulder 
was still hungry but didn't complain.  Settling 
back into the giant down pillows, he let his eyes 
scan the strange room-the canopic jars, the wood 
chest, the thousands of dollars worth of artifacts. 
They had sure stumbled into something much larger 
than he'd anticipated.  Eventually his gaze settled 
on Scully.  If the situation were any different he 
might have found himself enjoying this being 
handcuffed together thing.

Scully noticed Mulder staring at her and turned to 
face him.

"What?"  She lay down next to him.

"Nothing," He spoke softly, resting his chin on 
her head as she snuggled closer, "I was just 
thinking how, under any other circumstance, I 
might actually enjoy this room." 

Scully laughed, "This coming from a man who has 
slept on a couch for most of his adult life?"

"You live, you learn."  Mulder shrugged.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to keep that in mind."  
Scully smiled.  In the back of her mind though, she 
had to agree.  The room was amazing.  Too bad they'd 
have to confiscate everything once this was over.

"There's always Christmas."  Mulder grinned.

"Yeah, but first we have to find a way out of here."  
She gestured with her hand. 

Mulder could detect the slightest bit of defeat in 
her voice.  His gaze landed on their handcuffed 
wrists.  With his free hand, he took hers gently, 
pressing his lips to her rubbed-raw wrist.

"Don't worry Scully, we'll figure something out."  
He kissed her forehead.

Scully couldn't help but smile.  All worries 
quickly disappeared.  She was instantly lost in 
his sweetness.  Every day she thanked her lucky 
stars that he was there to cheer her up; to take 
her mind off the terrors of the world.

Mulder brushed a lock of hair behind Scully's ear 
before kissing her wrist again, moving to her 
collar bone, followed by a string of sweet kisses 
until his lips finally met with hers.

Suddenly, a mechanical buzzing noise filled the 
room.  Startled, both Mulder and Scully sat up.  
Where was that coming from?

"Mulder," Scully caught his arm, looking up.  
Mulder followed her gaze.

"Tasteful."  He wore a wry grin.

Scully rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe it.  
The mechanical noise had been the sound of the 
canopy opening to reveal a glass ceiling; one in 
which the bed's occupants could revel in the 
star-studded night sky.

"Roughing it for the rich and famous."  Mulder 
still held that grin of his, "Or in this case, 
the rich and Wanted."  He spoke, indicating 
their criminal abductors.

"I'd hate to think what else Mac and Eddy are up 
to."  Scully spoke, eying the clear night sky.

"From the looks of things, it doesn't seem like 
much."  Mulder met her gaze with a playful look, 
all the while intrigued with this new contraption. 
How did they get the canopy to do that?  How come 
they didn't notice the glass ceiling before and-

"Mulder?"  The sound of Scully's voice broke 
Mulder's train of thought.

"Hmmm?"  He tore his eyes from the moonlit ceiling.  
Apparently he hadn't heard her the first time.  

Scully gave him a crooked smile.  She was sometimes 
amazed at how easy it was to distract Mulder.  
Suddenly she caught the look on his face, "Oh no,
 don't even think about it."

"What?"  He asked innocently, giving her his best 
puppy-dog eyes.                            

"We are not, I repeat NOT getting anything even 
remotely resembling *this*," she gestured to the 
canopy and star-studded ceiling, "in our bedroom."

"I never said-" He was cut off by The Look.  "Ok," 
he looked her square in the eye, stating, "I promise 
we will never have a glass ceiling in our bedroom 
or any other room, unless of course, we suddenly 
decide to buy a green house." 

Scully laughed.  Just the image of them owning a 
greenhouse brought an amused smile to her face.

"However," he leaned in closer, grinning wickedly,
"That doesn't' mean we can't enjoy this one."  
He kissed her gently, bringing his free hand to 
caress her cheek.

"Mulder?"

"Yes?"

"You're impossible."  Scully laughed.

"You're the one who married me.  I figured by 
now you'd realized the risks."  Mulder grinned, 
pulling her closer.

"Yes Mulder, that I have," she paused briefly 
before adding, "But I love you anyway," and 
kissing him again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning they were awakened by loud yelling.  
Scully blinked, trying to clear her sleep-filled 
vision.  From the sound of things they were in for 
a long day. 

Feeling Mulder's lips press gently atop the crown 
of her head, Scully snuggled closer, suddenly 
realizing how cold the room had become.  And how 
come it was so dark in here?  Had the canopy closed 
over night?

"Snow storm."  Mulder answered her unspoken question.

Eyebrows raised in astonishment as she turned to face 
him.

Mulder pointed to the ceiling.  She followed his finger 
to the now fully covered enormous skylight.  Sure 
enough, it was buried under a thick layer of white.  
Scully closed her eyes, sighing as she dropped her 
head to Mulder's chest.  Could things get any worse?  
Now not only were they abducted, handcuffed, and 
hungry, they were now going to be suck here? In a 
snowstorm?  With two killers?  Ok, she hadn't actually 
seen them kill anybody, but Scully had not become the 
good FBI agent she was without knowing Mac and Eddy's 
type.

Mulder said nothing, instead taking her free hand in 
his and giving it a squeeze.  Together they lay in 
silence listening to the noise below.

Downstairs Mac had allowed his "proper demeanor" to 
falter; spouting off every four-lettered word in the 
book.

"Why?"  He stopped, allowing himself to calm down, 
"Why now?"

Eddy, who had rarely seen his boss like this, was 
secretly enjoying watching Mac crack.

"We should already be on our way!" Mac scowled, 
pounding his fist into the countertop, "Eight.  We 
have to be there by EIGHT!  Howarewe gonna do that? 
Huh Eddy? Huh!"  He yelled, slurring his speech in 
his furry.

"I-uh," Eddy took a step back as Mac leapt from the 
bar stool he'd been sitting on, "I don't know?"

Mac gave out a huff and suddenly stopped pacing, 
"Go get firewood."  His change in tone was drastic.  
He seemed to be regaining his composure.

"But I'm hungry."  Eddy sometimes wondered about 
Mac; how he could so suddenly switch tempers in 
such a short amount of time.

"Fine, I'll make the food, you get the wood."  With 
that said, Mac headed for the refrigerator.

Begrudgingly, Eddy headed up stairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was almost noon and the storm had continued to 
rage.  The sides of the cabin trembled against the 
angry wind.  Eddy had managed to get a fire going 
and was just finishing off the last of his chili 
when Mac stepped into the room.

"Everything is set."  He sat down across from Eddy 
at the table.  They sat in silence for a few moments 
before he spoke again, "Go get them."

"Huh?"  Eddy looked up from his bowl.

"We'll get there by eight if it kills us."  Mac 
stood and left to "pack".

"And it probably will."  Eddy muttered under his 
breath.  Tossing his dirty dishes into the sink, 
he headed upstairs.

Scully swallowed the last of the chili, feeling 
its warmth travel all the way to her stomach.  
The perfect meal for such a cold day...now if 
only they weren't being held hostage...

Mulder grinned, watching as Scully placed her 
bowl back onto the tray and neatly dabbed at 
her lips with a napkin.  

Eating chili without spilling it on yourself is 
hard enough under normal circumstances.  Eating 
chili while being handcuffed to another 
chili-eating person is another feat entirely.  But 
through a little teamwork, they'd been able to do 
it without spilling even the slightest bit.  Even 
in such a mundane task as eating chili, Mulder and 
Scully were in perfect synch.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Eddy stomped 
in angrily.

"Get up."  He scowled, his tone of voice indicating 
that they had better obey.

Mulder and Scully slowly made their way off the 
bed.

"Where are we going?"  Mulder already missed the 
warm comfy Egyptian-style bed.

"No time for questions," Mulder winced slightly 
as Eddy grabbed at his recovering arm and shoved 
him out the door.  Scully stumbled out the door 
after him, trying to remain on her feet.  Mulder 
turned around just in time to grab Scully around 
the waist before she fell.

"Awww, isn't that sweet."  Eddy said in a sarcastic 
tone of voice; receiving a cold glare from both 
agents.  They continued down the stairs in silence.

They stopped once they reached the living room.  
Mulder caught Scully's eye and they scanned the 
room together.  

Mac was hastily shoving money into four black 
leather briefcases.  In front of the door two 
heavy trunks sat waiting.  

"Sit down," Mac didn't even bother to look up, 
half-heartedly gesturing towards the couch.

Scully looked at Mulder.  Mulder looked at Scully.  
Together they slowly made their way to the couch.

~This is it.  We're as good as dead.~ Scully 
swallowed hard.

"C'mon," Mac motioned for Eddy to grab a side of 
one of the massive trunks.  Together they carried 
it outside.  Through the open door, Mulder watched 
as the two men disappeared in a thick haze of white.  
The blowing snow enveloped them in an instant, 
barely allowing Mulder to see the trunk being 
loaded into a waiting truck.  When they came back 
inside Mac and Eddy were fighting once again.

"The port isn't that far away, we could-"

"No!  We're leaving now."  Mac cut Eddy off sharply.

"And why are we taking all this money?  I thought 
we agreed to keep half and split it."  This time 
Eddy held his ground, his voice raising.

"Change of plans." Mac picked up two briefcases 
and headed out the door.  He didn't get far before 
Eddy stopped him.

Mac stared at his partner in disbelief, "Grab the 
briefcases and let's go!"

Eddy stood in front of the door, blocking Mac's 
exit.

"What the-" This time Mac was cut off. 

"I don't think so."  Eddy's voice was gruff and 
ice cold.  He slammed the door shut behind him, 
rage bubbling up inside.

Mulder and Scully sat helplessly on the couch, 
watching as Eddy withdrew a handgun from beneath 
his jacket.

"Sit down...*Mac*."  Eddy was unusually calm, 
making Mulder, Scully and Mac hold their breath.

"Eddy what-"

"Do it."  He shoved the gun into Mac's chest.  
Slowly Mac set the briefcases down and made his 
way to the loveseat.  Swallowing hard, he sat 
down.

Eddy stood with the gun trained at Mac's head, 
"Mulder was right," He looked from his superior 
to the FBI agent and back again, "I'm just as 
qualified for this job as you.  And we both know 
*I* would never try to con a partner-PARTNER."  
He spat out the word, waving the gun dangerously 
in the air as he spoke, "If it were up to me we 
wouldn't be in this mess," he glared at Mac then 
turned his attention to Mulder and Scully, "AAAAAnd, 
I wouldn't a got us stuck here with two FBI agents!"

Mac started to protest but Eddy stopped him, 
"Did I say you could talk?"  He moved closer, 
shoving the gun right into Mac's face.

Suddenly Mulder wondered just exactly how far Eddy 
was going to go.  Maybe there had been a very good 
reason this man had not been put in charge.

"Eddy," Mulder's voice was calm and as he spoke he 
could feel Scully tense beside him.  He caught her 
eye for a brief moment and she nodded-a nod barely 
perceptible to anyone other than Mulder.  He 
continued, "It is bad what Mac's done to you, but 
you're in charge now.  You can do whatever you 
want with the money."  He tried to get the man's 
mind off the gun in his hand, "You don't have to 
kill Mac to get what you want."

"Who ever said anything about killing Mac?"  Eddy 
sneered, suddenly pointing the gun at Mulder.

Scully's heart skipped a beat and every muscle in 
her body tensed.

Mac's worried expression suddenly morphed into an 
evil grin.  He decided to take Eddy's change of 
heart and use it in his favor, "You can have whatever 
you want Eddy.  Maybe you were right, maybe it would
 be better if you were in charge."  As long as the 
barrel wasn't pointed at him, Mac didn't care what 
happened.

Eddy ignored him, stepping closer to the two agents 
sitting on the couch, "I thank you for showing me 
the truth."  Mulder had to resist the urge to 
scoff at the irony of Eddy's words, "But I won't 
be needing your help any more."  He raised the 
gun to Mulder's head.

Mulder had no time to react.

"NOO!" Scully barely got the word out before 
Eddy pulled the trigger.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Title: Wonders of Nature (part 5)
Author: MeGgiE42

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She vaguely remembered hearing another gunshot but 
was in too much shock to care.  The next few moments 
were a blur.  Mac grabbed Eddy by the shoulder and 
together they managed to get the other trunk and the 
money out to the truck.  Scully hardly even saw them 
leave.

"Mulder!" He lay slumped against the back of the couch, 
"Mulder?" Scully had to fight back the tears.  No. 
This couldn't be happening.  They were supposed to 
be on their honeymoon, not here, not now.  

Scully tried her best not to panic but it was nearly 
impossible.  She wiped angrily at the tears blurring 
her vision as she cradled Mulder's head in her lap, 
wiping his hair away from the blood on his head.  
Scully took his pulse-weak but he was alive.  A huge 
wave of relief swept over her as she realized the 
bullet had just grazed his forehead.  Lucky for them, 
Eddy was a bad shot.

"Mulder?"  Her voice was barely a whisper.  The sound 
of the snowstorm raging outside seemed to fill the 
cabin.  The roaring wind rattled the shutters and 
caused Scully an involuntary chill.  She continued to 
stroke Mulder's forehead, whispering his name and 
fighting back the relentless tears.  

Never before had she felt so helpless.  Being
handcuffed prevented her from getting up and calling 
for help (although the likelihood of finding a phone 
that actually worked, she knew, was very little), and 
there wasn't even any way she could reach something 
to help stay the bleeding.  Using the only thing she 
had, Scully tore off her remaining sleeve and gingerly 
applied the cloth to the wound on Mulder's head.

"You keep that up and our rescuers are going to be 
in for a big surprise."  The sound of Mulder's voice 
caused Scully to jump.

"Mulder?"  Relief flooded her interior as she managed 
a shaky sigh.

He gave her a weak smile, trying to focus on her 
worried expression.  That's when he saw the blood.  
She was covered in it.  Mulder sat up suddenly-much 
too suddenly for a man who had nearly been shot in 
the head-eyes wide.

"Scully-"

"It's ok."  She gently placed her hand on his chest 
to still him.

Only then did he realize that it was his blood that 
stained her shirt. ~And the only way that could be~ 
Mulder thought to himself ~Is if I've been 
shot...again...~ His mind trailed off as the throbbing 
in his head took over all conscious thought.

"Lie still."  Scully soothed him back until his head 
rested on the arm of the couch.  She met his gaze 
with tear-stained eyes, "I thought they killed you 
Mulder."  At his name, her voice faltered and a single 
tear slid down her cheek.

"Hey," His voice was soft as he lifted a hand to catch 
the water droplet with his thumb.  Scully rarely let 
him see her emotions get the better of her, and it 
tore at Mulder's heart to see her cry, and to know 
that he was the source of her tears.  He placed a 
hand gently on her arm, forcing Scully to stop her 
doctoring for the moment as he pulled her to his chest, 
wrapping his free arm around her shoulders.  Scully 
closed her eyes letting herself give in to her wrought 
emotions.

"Mulder-"

"Shhh," He gently cut her off, placing his lips on the 
crown of her head, whispering, "It's ok."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was nearly midnight.  With a few hours of careful 
maneuvering, Mulder and Scully had managed to find the 
bathroom and, therefore, the medicine cabinet.  Scully 
had done her best trying to clean and bandage yet 
another of Mulder's numbering wounds accompanying this 
particular trip to the forest.  After making Mulder 
take some Ibuprofen for the pain, Scully had helped 
him back upstairs and into the bed.

They now lay buried beneath mounds of downy comforter 
and, as Mulder noted while glancing toward the ceiling, 
a thick layer of snow.  Outside the wind howled and the 
snow continued to fall.  The storm raged unmercifully 
against the cabin that suddenly seemed so small nestled 
out in the middle of nowhere; isolated from the rest of 
the world.

"We have to stop them Scully."  Mulder broke the silence, 
turning his head to face her.

"Mulder," She met his gaze with a worried look, "I 
think you've been through enough already don't you?"  
Her eyes begged him to agree.  Even though in the back 
of her mind she knew that Mac and Eddy had to be stopped, 
Scully dreaded being the ones to do it.

Mulder met her eyes but said nothing.  He knew she 
knew he was right.

"Mulder I just-" Scully let out a defeated sigh, "Why 
is it always us?  Why do we always have to be the heroes?" 
She raised her eyebrows at him.  Suddenly her frustrated 
look turned soft as she added, "I don't want..." she 
wouldn't meet his gaze, "I don't want to lose you."  
Suddenly memories of the time he had said those every 
words to her were vivid in Scully's mind.  She remained 
quite for a few moments.

Mulder felt a familiar tug at his heart.  He knew the 
memory was all too near.  Lifting her chin to meet his 
gaze, he said nothing, only offering the safety of his 
embrace.  Scully sank into his arms closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry I ruined your shirt."  Mulder's voice broke 
the silence.  Scully pushed back to meet his gaze, a 
surprised look on her face.

"What?"

He cut her off with a mischievous grin, and Scully 
couldn't help but laugh.  Leave it to Mulder to chase 
away the demons of the past with his characteristic 
off-the-subject-to-cheer-her-up remark.

"Get some sleep Mulder."  Scully smiled weakly, starting 
to feel a little better.  After considering what they'd 
already been through, Scully spoke, "We're going to have 
a long day if we plan to catch up to Mac and Eddy."

Mulder grinned.   His fiery, and determined as ever, 
Scully was back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning Scully awoke to find herself wrapped 
tightly in her own personal Mulder-blanket.  She could 
feel the tickle of his breath just below her ear and 
knew that he was awake.  

Scully turned over slowly, all the while failing at her 
attempt to stifle a sleepy-eyed yawn.  Her yawn turned 
into a grin when she caught sight of Bed-Head Mulder, 
grinning and as cute as ever.

"Mornin'," Mulder seemed much to peppy for so early in 
the morning.  Scully was silently wondering where he 
got all that energy when her thoughts were interrupted 
by the feel of his lips on hers.

"Morning yourself."  Scully grinned up at her husband, 
taking in everything from those familiar playful hazel 
eyes that sparkled back, to the dull smudge of red 
reminiscent of the "berry incident", and finally the 
bandage from yesterday's scare.  If nothing else this 
trip had proved to be an eventful one.  She just hoped 
nothing *too* eventful was waiting for them in the day's 
trek through the knew-high snow.

"Ready for a fun day of winter sports?"  Mulder sat up, 
gently bringing Scully along. 

"I don't know if I'd  necessarily agree with your idea 
of fun winter sports Mulder, but I guess I'm as ready 
as I'll ever be."  Scully's brow furrowed as she gave 
him a serious look, "But we're not going anywhere before 
I make sure that that bullet didn't cause any more harm 
than you insist."  When it looked as if Mulder might 
protest Scully quickly added, "I don't care how much 
you try and convince me, I'm not leaving until I'm sure."  
She gave him a determined look.

Mulder's eyebrows rose in an innocent look, "You'll 
have no complaints from this patient."  He quirked a 
grin when she gave him a skeptical look.

After they had managed to make it downstairs and to 
the bathroom, Scully performed the best exam she 
could given the meager amount of supplies she had to 
work with. 

As Mulder was busy finishing washing his face, Scully 
glanced wearily at the large spa-style bathtub that 
took up a greater portion of the large bathroom.  Her 
muscles ached for the warmth and glancing down at her 
blood/mud-splattered now sleeveless shirt, she found 
herself longing for a clean change of clothes and a 
nice long bubble bath.  Sighing inwardly, Scully quickly 
averted her eyes from the porcelain tub that seemed to
call out even in its absence.  Her act was apparently 
not fast enough to keep Mulder from seeing the longing 
look she gave towards the bathtub.

He grabbed a nearby towel with his free and met 
Scully's gaze with an apologetic look, "I'll make 
it up to you Scully."

She nodded slightly.  How many times had he said 
those very words on this trip?

"It's ok Mulder," How many times had *she* said those? 
"How could you have known we'd end up handcuffed together 
in the middle of nowhere snowed in in this lavishly 
decorated Egyptian-style criminals' cabin?"  Her tone 
told him that she was only partly kidding.

After raiding Mac and Eddy's refrigerator Mulder and 
Scully stood facing the open doorway.  The storm had 
calmed to a light snowfall.  Large flakes drifted 
peacefully to the ground, adding to the think layer 
of white that spread as far as the eye could see.  
Under any other circumstance Scully would have found 
the scene quite beautiful.  But, seeing as how they 
would have to trudge through this thick layer of white, 
she somehow couldn't get herself to enjoy it as much.

"Ready?"  Mulder zipped up his coat.

"Do I have a choice?"

Mulder grinned and together they stepped out into 
the blinding outdoors.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Knee-high was an understatement. Waist-high was more 
like it.  Scully struggled her way through the way-too-
deep-for-one-night's-snow snow.  Eventually Mulder 
realized her struggle and tried his best to stay in 
front of her to help clear a path.  She couldn't 
believe that in just one night the landscape could 
change so drastically!

Scully rubbed her gloved hands together and blew 
warm air into them in an attempt to rid them, at 
least momentarily, of the cold.  In doing so she 
brought Mulder's handcuffed arm with her.  He felt 
the tug and glanced back to see what she was doing.

"Wanna stop for a while?"  He continued walking 
while turning to look at her.

"I'm fine."  As she spoke, Scully could see her breath. 
There was a sudden gust of wind which sent a chill 
right to the bone.  Scully shivered and made a mental 
not to buy warmer gloves, just in case they should 
ever end up trekking through waist-high snow again.

"Think warm thoughts."  Mulder shot her his 
characteristic boyish grin.  

Scully glared back ~Easy for you to say, you're not 
up to the waist in snow with very little body fat 
to keep you warm.  Curse that male metabolism!~

They continued on in silence.

A half a mile later they were walking through a 
particularly dense part of the woods when a loud 
bang ricocheted throughout the newly created winter 
wonderland.

Automatically thinking 'gunshot', Mulder grabbed 
Scully's wrist and ran for cover (well, as much as 
one could "run" through three and a half feet of
snow).  They made it to a group of white-covered 
bushes.  Mulder threw himself on top of Scully, 
shielding her as best he could, listening to see what 
happened next.

Scully was out of breath and very much caught off 
guard as she found herself buried beneath three plus 
feet of snow and Mulder.  Only the sound of their heavy 
breathing and pounding hearts could be heard.

After a few minutes of nothingness, Mulder looked at 
Scully, question evident in his eyes.  Slowly he 
lifted himself off his wife to cautiously peek over 
the snow bank.  All he was greeted with was a face-full 
of bush and snow.  Apparently it was taller and the
snow was deeper than he'd thought...

Scully got up and began brushing off snow, "Well?"  
She couldn't see over the bush so Scully waited 
impatiently for Mulder to tell her what he saw.

Mulder was quiet as he scanned the surrounding area, 
careful to keep himself out of sight.  Suddenly his 
eyes fell upon a fallen branch and he stilled.  Two 
Super-Squirrels were busy chatting rapidly away, 
apparently discussing their luck on surviving such a 
fall.

"Guess *hibernation* isn't a part of their vocabulary." 
Mulder muttered under his breath, trying to decide if he 
was more angry or relieved.

"Mulder?"  Scully still awaited an explanation.

"Our friends are back."  His voice lacked enthusiasm, 
"And by *friends* I don't mean Mac and Eddy."  Mulder 
glanced back just in time to see the super-squirrels 
disappear into the forest.  

Scully searched her mind for an explanation.  Finally 
she could come to only one conclusion, "Squirrels?"

Mulder just nodded, sparing her his usual witty remark.  
Suddenly Scully broke into a grin.  She could feel the 
laughter slowly bubble up inside until she was openly 
laughing about the absurdity of the whole situation.  It 
didn't take Mulder long to join her.  Pretty soon they 
were laughing so hard their sides hurt.

"I can't wait...to see...Skinner's face when...he reads 
our report!"  Scully spoke through broken laughter.  
This just caused them both to laugh more until they 
were practically crying.

"Come on." Mulder managed to get himself under control, 
turning to climb out of the "snow pit".

It was a lot harder to get out of their "cover of safety" 
than it was to get in.  They slipped and slid together 
until Mulder finally grabbed Scully by the waist, easily 
hoisted her over the side, and climbed out after her.

"Looks like we're going the right way."  Mulder pointed 
to an area where the woods parted and fresh tire tracks 
revealed a snow-covered road.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder and Scully crept as silently as possible onto 
the deck of the ship.  The sun was setting just as they 
boarded.  Unfamiliar shadows cast an ominous feel on 
their surroundings.  They were rounding a huge crate 
when Scully reached out her hand and placed it on 
Mulder's shoulder to stay him.  He looked up to see Mac 
and Eddy a few feet away.

Eddy tried the key again.  It still didn't fit.  In a 
fit of rage, he thrust the key in with all his might.  
Still no luck.  He yelled and stomped around the deck 
of the boat, kicking anything that was in sight.  Mulder 
and Scully held their breath as he passed by the crate 
they were hiding behind.

"What is this?"  A man neither had seen before spoke in 
a raspy voice.  He moved with an age old grace towards 
Mac and Eddy.  Pausing slightly, he finally added, "Are 
you trying to con me out of my treasure?!"

"I-I, uh, no sir!" Eddy suddenly took on the face of a 
deer caught in the headlights.  Mac remained quiet.

The old man stepped closer to Eddy, grabbing his shirt 
collar.  He spoke so closely that Eddy could easily smell 
the lingering scent of pipe tobacco.

"I do not deal kindly to thieves and conmen."  The old 
man growled through clenched teeth.  

"Sir, I assure you we had no such intentions in mind."  
Mac stepped forward, speaking for the first time since 
he'd set foot on the ship.  He continued in a calm voice, 
"We ran into a couple of FBI agents on the way."

"FBI?" Letting go of Eddy's collar, the old man turned 
his attention to Mac.  Eddy fell to the deck and scrambled 
away.

"Yes," Mac continued in a practiced tone of voice, "They 
showed us some trouble, but we got rid of them."  He 
stood closer, placing an arm on the man's shoulder, 
"But there is no need to worry, Sir.  They are as good 
as dead."

"Yes!" Eddy finally stood up, nervously agreeing with 
Mac, "We got rid of 'em, handcuffed 'em and-"Mac shot 
Eddy a warning glance.  Eddy stopped talking.

The old man scrutinized each of the two men before him 
with an ice cold stare.  After a few moments he seemed 
satisfied enough that they were telling the truth.

"Well then where is the key?" He grumbled angrily.  
Turning back to face the large safe in front of him.

Both Mac and Eddy were silent.

"I asked you a question."  The words were spoken slowly 
and deliberately, letting each hang dangerously in the 
air before continuing.

"I don't know Sir." Mac glanced at the large built-in 
safe, "It must have been switched some time along the 
trip..."  He tapered off, lost in thought.

Eddy paced the Capitan's quarters nervously behind 
Mac's back.  Suddenly he stopped pacing, a look of 
revelation crossing his face, "It was them, them FBI 
agents!"  He looked up proudly at Mac and the old man 
before continuing, "Sir, they tried to get away with 
the key but we followed 'em-chased 'em through the 
woods-until we got to a cliff."  He paused slightly 
for a breath, "When we got there we forced 'em to hand 
over the key and the note-I wanted to kill 'em then, 
but Mac wouldn't let me." He sent a fleeting glance 
in Mac's direction as he spoke, "But Mulder-the guy 
agent-he musta switched keys on us." He stopped 
talking and met their gazes with a very proud look 
on his face.

The Old Man froze, "Did you say Agent Mulder?"

"Yeah," Eddy seemed upset that no one took any notice 
to his brilliant solution, "What you heard of him?"

"Only by name," there was a slight pause as the Old 
Man's face seemed troubled, "and reputation."

"Reputation?" Mac didn't like the sound of that.

"I have had many associates of mine tell me of this 
Agent Mulder you speak of.  He is not to be played 
over easily."

"Well there's no worry now Sir."  Mac spoke 
confidently.

"Yeah, I shot him, at the cabin...before we left." 
Eddy's pride returned.

"I doubt a mere gunshot will slow this Agent Mulder."  
The Old Man suddenly looked up as if sensing something 
was not right.

"You think we were followed?" Mac looked doubtful.  

Eddy was once again at war with his emotions, 
frustrated that every time he seemed to be at a high 
they forced him down again, "That's impossible," he 
growled as he once again took up pacing the polished 
wood floor, "I told you, I got him."  He met the Old 
Man's eye with a look of determination.

"Even so, I do not think we should linger here long."  
He stepped outside briefly speaking to a shipmate in 
a language unintelligible by Mulder and Scully.  "We 
will leave port as soon as possible," he said as he 
re-entered the room.  At Eddy's look he added, "In 
the off chance that you were followed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Title: Wonders of Nature (part 6)
Author: MeGgiE42

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There was a great deal of commotion as Mulder and Scully 
watched the crew get ready to leave port.  Men yelled 
orders to each other in a language neither could understand. 

"Why the sudden change in plans?" Scully whispered from 
behind Mulder.

"I don't know," They were unable to hear very much of 
what was said inside the Capitan's quarters, "But it 
looks like we're going to find out."  

Scully's blood ran cold as she saw the look on Mulder's 
face.  There was no need to turn around for at the same 
time she felt a cold, all too familiar, barrel of a gun 
press into the back of her neck.

"Get up."  A stern voice commanded them.

Mulder stood slowly, watching as Scully did the same.  
They followed the man over the deck of the ship before 
being taken into the Capitan's quarters.

Mixed with pure hatred, looks of shock and disbelief met 
them at the door.  Eddy stood as if he'd seen a ghost, and 
without words stalked up to Mulder and thrust his fist 
into his stomach with all his might.  Mulder doubled over 
in pain and fell to the floor.  Eddy spit in the general 
direction of the man he had so quickly become to hate.

"Well well well," The Old Man walked up to the two agents.  
He bent to look Mulder in the eye, "So this is the infamous 
Agent Mulder."

Mulder looked at the unfamiliar man while trying to catch 
his breath.

Scully watched helplessly as the gun was thrust deeper into 
her neck.  She was bent over due to the handcuffs, but could 
see Mulder's expression.  She sent him a quick look of 
despair before being pulled into a standing position.

"And this," The Old Man took his time, "must be the lovely 
Agent Scully."

Scully stared coldly at the man in front of her. She'd 
never seen him before but obviously he'd heard of them.  
Who was he and what did he want?

The Old Man let out a genuine chuckle at the look on the 
agents' faces, "I have heard many a story of you two." He 
paused briefly, taking in the two people in front of him as 
if they were wax figures suddenly come to life, "But I never 
actually believed all those crazy stories...However, now I 
can see that I was wrong."

By now Mulder had managed a standing position and, with 
Scully's help, keep steady enough to look the Old Man in 
the eye, "Who are you?" 

"Someone who has heard a lot about you." The Old Man did 
not elaborate, instead he turned to the man with the gun, 
"Take them downstairs, you know what to do."

Scully was shoved out the door by another thrust of the 
gun.  Mulder had little choice but to follow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once outside, Scully was amazed at how far out to sea they 
already were.  A pang of despair hit her when she realized 
just how near impossible it would be for anyone to find 
them now.  Mulder saw her face, followed her gaze, and 
realized that he too was beginning to lose hope.

Night came and went, and by dusk the next day Mulder and 
Scully found themselves alone and freezing in a small room 
they had never seen before.  

Scully looked around, confused. How long had they been there, 
and why did she not remember getting there?  She turned to 
face Mulder. He was lying propped against the wall, head back,
eyes closed.  For a second Scully panicked, thinking he had 
passed out.  Finally, Mulder slowly opened his eyes to meet 
her gaze.

"More knock-out drops." His voice was hoarse from lack of 
sleep and exhaustion.

"Why didn't they just kill us?"  Scully didn't bother to 
state it any less bluntly.

"I'm guessing they still think we have the key." He paused 
for a while letting his eyes wander around the small room: 
a dusty chair, a small table...things were looking all too 
familiar, "Or they've got something "special" in store."  He 
emphasized "special" in a wry tone of voice.

"Mulder?" 

"Yeah?"

"What are we doing here?" Scully let out a defeated sigh, "I 
mean, how do we always seem to be in the wrong place at the 
right time?"

Mulder chuckled, the sparkle in his eye slowing returning, 
"It's what we do Scully," he grinned, "Maybe years from now 
people will be talking about us." 

Scully rolled her eyes, unable to keep the grin from peeking 
through.  In a sarcastic tone of voice she stated, "Yeah Mulder, 
and someday maybe they'll even have a TV show about us." 

Mulder grinned, enjoying her willingness to play along. 

Their good humor was cut short by a sudden commotion on the 
deck above.  Scully and Mulder stiffened, both turning towards 
the door. There was a thunderous round of yelling and crashing 
before footsteps could be heard descending the stairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder and Scully met their captures with a look the mixture 
of surprise and dread.  They were not at all prepared for 
what happened next.

Mac and Eddy stumbled through the door, struggling with something.  
Neither Mulder nor Scully could see what it was, but both had
a good chance at guessing.

"No Eddy!"  Mac struggled with the shorter man in a vain 
attempt to keep him under control, "We still need them 
if we want to find the key in time!"

"There IS no time left Mac!"  Eddy forced the words through 
clenched teeth.  Up on deck more shouting ensued.  There 
was a gunshot and suddenly Mac lost any remnants of a hold 
he had on Eddy.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Mulder had a fleeting 
thought of the whereabouts of the Old Man who seemed to 
know so much about them.  Based on past experience with 
"mysterious old men", he was willing to wager that he would 
be gone before they got the cuffs off.  IF they ever got the 
cuffs off that is...

Scully held her breath and squeezed Mulder's hand as the 
inevitable played out before her eyes.  As if in slow motion, 
Mac fell to the floor, the blood from his wound oozing from 
his chest in a slow, jelly-like fashion.  Scully thought 
vaguely how much it reminded her of the cherry pie filling 
her mother would always let her and her siblings fight over 
once the pie was in the oven.  A sickening dread filled the 
pit of her stomach.

Eddy seemed somewhat mesmerized by the sight before him.  The 
death of his long-time partner and-although at times it had 
been rough-friend.  Blood continued to ooze onto the floor, 
reaching the soles of Eddy's shoes and parting like a 
slow-moving river around two giant slabs of rock.  

The brief flicker of humanity left Eddy's eyes almost as fast 
as it had entered and he immediately turned the weapon on Mulder 
and Scully.  Eddy walked up to Mulder slowly, a smirk on his face.

"I was gonna finish you off first," he paused glaring at 
Mulder with a hate that permeated the very center of his 
being, "But then I decided there was only one thing I could 
do to make you truly suffer."  He gave out a dry cackle, the 
wildness in his eyes blazing like a fire before them.  Eddy 
trained the gun on Scully, "Sorry Red."  Scully wouldn't allow 
him the satisfaction of a response.

Time stood still.  All actions, thoughts, words, stood balanced 
on a precipice as Mulder watched, terrified.  

Scully met his eyes with one last lingering look.  Courage.  
Trust.  Fear.  Love...Mulder and Scully.  She closed her eyes 
as the shot rang out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder was in such a state of shock it took a good five 
minutes for the numbness to subside, the breathing to 
return, and for him to realize that Scully was still 
standing.  She was alive!

Scully took in a shaky breath, meeting Mulder's gaze with 
the same surreal look of relief.  They both looked towards 
Eddy as he lay unconscious on the floor.  Scully's eyes 
traveled from the gun-now laying a few feet away-to the door.  
A second surprise met her with a new relief.  AD Walther 
Skinner stood in the doorway as he slowly lowered the 
weapon in his hand.

"Sir you don't know how happy we are to see you."  Scully 
spoke, glancing from him to Mulder and back again.

"Likewise," Skinner glanced from the men lying lifeless on 
the floor in front of him and up to a handcuffed, bruised, 
dirty, and completely worn out Mulder and Scully, "You two 
look like you've been through a tornado."

"If only we'd been so lucky," Mulder mumbled, leaning 
slightly on Scully.

"We've been looking for you for the past week."  Skinner 
said.

"We?"  Mulder turned just in time to see agents Doggett 
and Reyes appear in the doorway.

"Boat's secure."  Doggett drawled, out of breath from the 
chaos that had ensued on deck.

"I called the boat crew, they should be here in a few hours 
to wrap up and take everyone in."  Agent Reyes holstered 
her weapon, turning to Mulder and Scully, "Glad to see you 
guys are OK."

"How did you find us?"  Scully glanced from person to person.

"We got a call from the local PD saying you two never showed 
up to file the paperwork on the grizzly bear case."  Skinner 
tried his best to refer to the "case" as professional as 
possible.  They'd been through enough. Mulder didn't need it 
to be thrown in his face that this had not been an X-file 
after all.  Mulder dropped his gaze and was thankful when 
Skinner continued without comment, "After a few days of 
searching we ended up running into the grizzly...we found these," 
here he held up two cell phones and a flashlight.

Two sets of eyebrows shot up in surprise as Mulder and 
Scully met the A. D. with equal looks of disbelief.  

"The bear, who, by the way is doing just fine, apparently 
didn't have much use for them."  Skinner paused, handing 
the phones to their respectful owners.  Scully took the 
flashlight.

"But how did you know to look for us on a ship, let alone 
which one?"  Mulder tucked his cell phone into his 
mud-splattered coat pocket.

"It took us a while."  Doggett broke in, "First we found the 
bear.  Then we ended up followin' him to his cave.  That's 
where we found your stuff."  He motioned towards the cell 
phones and flashlight.

"As we were going back," Reyes spoke, "we ran into a spot 
that looked like there'd been trouble.  We followed the 
trail of blood back to another cave."

Mulder and Scully exchanged glances.  Mulder had a fleeting 
memory of the night he had been attacked by the grizzly.  
He remembered the tree and suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"It took us a while but we were able to track your footprints 
to a cabin out in the middle of nowhere."  It was Skinner's 
turn to talk.  He glanced from the bandage on Mulder's head 
to the one on his arm, "From the amount of blood at the 
scene we feared the worst."  

"We followed another set of...tracks" here Reyes hesitated 
for the "tracks" she spoke of was more like a three foot 
"ditch" in the deep snow, "out of the mountains and to the 
warehouse."  Agent Reyes glanced from the men beside her to 
Mulder and Scully, "There we found a man who said he'd been 
sent out to attempt clearing the roads when he had seen the 
strangest thing."  She paused.

"He said he saw a man and a woman.  On a tractor.  Handcuffed. 
And barreling along the fastest he'd ever seen a John Deere 
go in the snow."  Doggett's face held a hint of a grin.

"Anyway, we were able to follow the tractor's tracks to 
the dock and found out that an entire ring of smugglers 
were using the warehouse as a storage unit.  After some 
questioning a few of them gave in and told us the name 
of the ship you were on."  Skinner focused his attention 
on the men on the floor, "Looks like we got here just in 
time."  He cleared his throat and concentrated once again 
on the agents in front of him.  "Their ring-leader, a man 
in his late 60's, seems to have disappeared. The rest of 
the crew-mostly illegal immigrants-say they have no idea 
what their superior was up to, only that they were not 
allowed inside the Captain's quarters and were told to use 
"just force" in eliminating any "outsiders" on board." He 
finished the story, and for a moment nobody spoke.

"Sir, can I ask you a favor?"  Scully broke the silence.

Skinner looked puzzled as he waited for Scully's request.

"Unlock these things before I have to chew my arm off?"  
Scully held up her handcuffed arm, bringing Mulder's with 
it.

"Amen to that sister." Mulder gave a weak sigh.

Skinner immediately took out his keys and unlocked the 
cuffs.  Scully rubbed her wrists, giving a look of concern 
to the deep red bruise that was left in its place.  

Mulder rubbed his wrist.  They had been handcuffed for so 
long it felt weird to have free space to move about without 
bringing Scully along, "I miss 'em already."  He grinned 
wickedly at his wife.

Scully rolled her eyes, "Come on Mulder, we need to check 
you for head trauma."  With that they followed Skinner, 
Doggett, and Reyes onto the deck of the ship, never turning 
to look back at the two men that had caused them so much 
harm in the past few weeks.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder wandered around on deck until he found a place to 
sit down.  The boat crew had radioed in that they would be 
there within the next two hours.  Skinner, Doggett, and 
Reyes continued searching the ship, taking the key Scully 
had given them-finally removed from her shoe-so that they 
could open the safe. Scully no longer cared what was inside 
the safe. She just wanted to go home.

Scully found Mulder on deck, leaning against a pile of 
sandbags, his head back, eyes closed.

"Hey," she spoke softly.  Mulder opened his eyes and smiled.

"This wasn't exactly the type of cruise I was thinking of 
when I suggested it for a honeymoon."  He paused, meeting 
her glance.  Their eyes locked and Scully smiled.

"Stop torturing yourself Mulder."  She came up beside him 
and sat down, trying to find a comfortable place among the
haphazardly strew about sandbags.  Scully was quiet, taking 
his hand in hers.

Mulder's melancholy quickly passed and he held Scully's 
hand as they watched the sun slowly sink over the horizon.  
The moment was so strangely romantic that Scully couldn't
help but grin at the look Mulder gave her.  He leaned in 
slowly, bringing her face close to his.  The moment was 
quickly broken as the ship suddenly lurched to the side, 
sending Scully into his lap.

Agent Doggett suddenly appeared and stopped short when he 
found Scully lying sprawled across Mulder's lap.  She quickly 
sat up, regaining her composure and glaring at Mulder when 
she saw the wicked grin on his face.

"We, uh-" Doggett spoke, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, 
"found something you two should probably take a look at."

Scully managed to get back on her feet.  Mulder bit his lip
to keep from grinning as he stood up.

"Agent Doggett?"  Scully looked at him when he didn't move.

Doggett seemed to snap out of it and finally spoke, "This 
way."  He turned and headed into the Capitan's quarters.  
Scully and Mulder followed.

Skinner looked up as they entered, "Looks like you two 
hit the jackpot."  He stepped aside for Mulder and Scully 
to see inside the closet-sized safe.  It was full of 
Egyptian artifacts, jewels, ancient writings, and money.

Scully gasped at the treasures before her.  Mulder didn't 
know what to say.

"Looks like we'll be needing more than an FBI fleet sedan 
and an old John Deere to get all this out."  Reyes grinned.

"Radio in;" Skinner turned to Agent Doggett, "We're going 
to need more men.  The Lady of the Mist is going to need 
top-notch security."

"Lady of the Mist?" Mulder raised an eyebrow.

"I took a little Egyptian in college."  Skinner left it at 
that as he made his way back on deck, leaving four 
dumbfounded FBI agents in his wake.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Title: Wonders of Nature (part 7/7)
Author: MeGgiE42

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

13 hours and a ton of paperwork later, Mulder and Scully 
were finally home.  

Home.  The word brought a renewed sense of comfort to 
Scully as she hung up her coat and flopped onto the couch
with an exhausted sigh.  Mulder followed suit, dropping 
down next to her and letting himself melt into the comfort 
of the couch cushions.

"I'm never getting up again."  Scully spoke, eyes closed.  
The phone rang.  She let out a groan.

"I'll get it."  Mulder managed a sitting position, 
wincing slightly as his sore muscles screamed in protest. 
He grabbed the phone off the end table, "Mul-Hello?"  He 
waited for an answer, watching Scully lie with her eyes 
still closed beside him, "Oh Mrs. Scully hi," Scully opened 
her eyes, "I'm sorry...mom."  He was still not quite used 
to calling Scully's mother "mom".  Scully smiled and 
closed her eyes again, "Ok, yes...we're fine...sure, she's 
right here."  Mulder met Scully's gaze, smiled 
apologetically, and handed the phone over.

"Hi mom."  Scully gave an inward sigh. She loved her 
mother, but after spending so many weeks rampaging through 
the Cascade Mountains handcuffed and in the middle of a 
blizzard, Scully wanted nothing more than a hot bath and 
a good night's sleep.

Mulder got up to make some hot tea while Scully spoke 
with her mom.  As he entered the kitchen, he heard her 
say, "It's a long story mom" and new she would be a
while.  He used his cell phone (amazed that it still 
worked), to call for pizza instead.

"I'm gonna go take a shower."  Mulder mouthed, doing the 
actions as he pointed towards the bathroom.  Scully have 
him a forlorn look but nodded as she said, "Yes mom, 
that'd be wonderful," into the phone.  Mulder grinned and
headed off to wash away more than his fair share of the 
Cascades.

Fifteen minutes later, Mulder walked into the kitchen, 
freshly bathed and in a pair of sweatpants and a gray
T-shirt.  His hair was still wet and glistened in the 
light from the living room.  Scully looked up from her 
third piece of pizza.

"My turn!"  She bolted for the bathroom.

"Wow Scully, I thought you said you were tired." 

"Not to tired for a bath."  She was in and out of the 
bedroom in record time, carrying her pajamas and a 
handful of bath products.  Mulder laughed and headed 
for the pizza.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After 45 minutes of eating alone and watching some 
black and white movie he had already seen before but 
couldn't remember the name of, Mulder got up and headed 
for the bathroom.  He tapped on the door.  There was 
no answer.  He turned the knob in his hand and, finding 
it unlocked, stepped inside.

A hot gust of steam met him head on.  He coughed and 
began flailing his arms about, "Gee Scully, you 
think you've been in here long enough?"  

Scully lifted the washcloth that was covering her 
face, "Mulder what are you doing?"  She was clearly 
surprised to see him.

"I got lonely," was his simple explanation as he 
seated himself on the edge of the toilet.

"Na-uh," Scully met his gaze, "You had your turn.  Now 
it's mine."  She replaced the washcloth over her eyes.

"But Scully," Mulder whined, "you bath has already 
been three times as long as my shower."

"That's not my fault."  Scully didn't budge.  Mulder 
saw this as a challenge.

Beneath the warm cloth, Scully could hear Mulder 
rustling about the bathroom, picking up things, 
setting them down, bumping into others.

"Mulder, seriously what are you doing?"  Scully let out 
an exasperated sigh and finally removed the washcloth 
and laid it over the edge of the tub.  When she opened 
her eyes all she could see was the back half of Mulder 
sticking out from underneath the bathroom sink.  She let
out an irritated, "Mulder?"

"Just fixin' the leaky sink, Scully, don't let me bother 
you." His voice came from inside the cupboard.  

"What?" She could not believe this man.  Sometimes she 
thought he did it on purpose just to spite her.

"I've been meaning to do this for the past few months 
but I never got around to it..." he trailed off, 
shifting around to get a better hold on the pipe.

Scully remembered the last time he tried to fix a 
leaking pipe, "All right already." She let out a 
defeated sigh, "You win."

Mulder jumped out from underneath the sink, a victorious 
grin sweeping his features.  Scully regretfully reached 
for the drain.

"No don't," Mulder stayed her hand, "I know how much you 
enjoy your bath time Scully.  I wouldn't want to put it 
to a premature end."  He sat down next to the edge of the 
tub, taking a bottle of lilac-smelling bath oil and pouring 
a small amount into his hand, "Go ahead Scully, relax.  
You deserve it." His tone was sincere.  Mulder reached 
into the water and pulled out a leg.  

As he began massaging oil into her sore muscles, Scully 
felt her annoyance quickly disappear.  She looked into 
the smiling face of her husband and instantly was reminded 
exactly why she loved this man so much.  His actions 
brought tears to her eyes.

"Mulder you're getting soaked." Scully let out a giggle as 
he finished one leg and kissed the arch of her foot.  He 
proceeded to kiss each toe and ended at her heel before 
placing her leg back into the sea of bubbles.  

"Well, you're not going to stop there are you Mulder?" The 
muscles in her other leg demanded equal treatment.

"Do I ever leave unfinished business?" His voice was low 
as he teased in a seductive tone.  Mulder shed his already 
soaked clothing and climbed into the tub, positioning 
himself at Scully's feet to allow him better access to her 
right leg.  Scully shifted around to make room.  It was a 
good thing they had a big tub.

Mulder proceeded his ministrations as he had before, 
massaging the oil in slow circles.  Scully closed her eyes 
and sank further into the bubbles.

"Now this is what should happen after each of our long 
"nice trips to the forest" are finally over."  Scully 
grinned, her eyes still closed as Mulder worked his magic.  
He continued his massage, following every rotation with a 
kiss, working his way up the length of her leg and down 
again before ending with an openmouthed kiss to the small 
of her foot.

Scully opened her eyes and smiled.  She sat up and took 
Mulder's hand, pulling him closer to kiss him fully on the 
lips.  She let her forehead rest on his, whispering, "I 
love you Mulder."

Mulder beamed, closing his eyes and whispering in answer, 
"I love you more than you'll ever know Scully," before 
finding her lips with his.  He pulled her into his lap, 
causing the warm sea of bubbles to come dangerously close 
to the edge of the tub.  Mulder wrapped his arms around his 
wife, content to stay this way forever.

Scully was beginning to get used to this hopelessly romantic 
side of Mulder.  And to be honest she was loving every minute 
of it.  She rested her head on his chest, enjoying the feel of 
slippery skin on slippery skin.  He kissed the top of her head,
the soft spot behind her ear, and finally found her mouth with 
his in a passionate kiss.  Scully closed her eyes, allowing the 
treacherous events of the past few weeks escape her mind.  The 
kiss lingered on.  It was good to be home.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brrrrriiiiiiiiiinng...Brrrrriiiiiiiinng...

"Hello?"  Groggy and still holding on to the last remnants 
of sleep, Mulder picked up the phone.  Scully turned slightly 
in her sleep.  Mulder tried his best not to wake her.

"Fox?"  It was Mrs. Scully, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, I was just getting up," Mulder lied, glancing at the 
bedside clock: 11:21.  He couldn't believe how late it was!  
They were supposed to be at Scully's mother's house for lunch 
in just over a half an hour!  Cradling the phone with his 
head and shoulder, Mulder turned and gently shook Scully.  
She mumbled an unintelligible something and rolled over.

"Scully," Mulder whispered as he spoke into the phone, 
"Yes Mrs-Mom, we'll pick up some ice on the way."  He shook 
her a little harder.  This time Scully opened her eyes, 
"We'll see you in about a half an hour...ok...you too...bye."  
Mulder quickly hung up the phone and turned around.  He had 
a slightly panicked look on his face.

By now Scully had had a glance at the clock.  Her eyes were 
wide in disbelief.  He heard her say something about not 
believing she's slept so long as she ran around trying to get 
ready.

Mulder quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.  
After hastily pulling on a sweater and stumbling to find 
his shoes, Mulder was almost ready. 

Fifteen minutes later Mulder found himself standing face to 
face with a perfectly groomed, every-hair-in-place Scully.  
He couldn't keep the dumbfounded look form his face.

"Ready Mulder?" Scully stood with their coats in hand.

"How'd you do that?"  Mulder was always astonished how, at 
a moments notice, Scully could always manage to look perfect.

"Do what?"  She handed him his coat.

"Never mind."  He took his coat and grabbed his keys off the 
dresser, "We have to stop and get some ice on the way."  
With that they were out the door and on their way to reunite 
with their son.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Upon arriving at the house, Mulder, Scully, and a bag of 
ice were greeted by Charlie, William in his arms.

"Hey you two!"  Charlie ginned, pulling his sister into a 
hug and handing William over to his mother.  He took the 
ice from Mulder, telling them to come in, and was off to 
the kitchen before they even had a chance to say hello.

Scully held Will close in her arms, planting a kiss on his 
forehead, "Hey sweetie! Mommy missed you so much!"  With her 
son finally in her arms Scully was able to relax and feel 
completely at home again.

"Hey buddy," Mulder bent down to give his son a kiss.  
William gurgled happily, wrapping his chubby fist around 
his father's finger.

"Dana! Fox!  I'm so glad you guys are safely back home!"  
Mrs. Scully appeared around the corner, wiping her hands 
on a dishtowel as she went.

Scully gave her mom a hug, "We're glad to be back."

They were quickly ushered into the kitchen and spent the 
rest of the afternoon explaining what had happened on their 
long trek through Washington's Cascade Mountains.  They left 
out some of the more gruesome details for the sake of all 
those present.  Finally, at 7:30 Mulder and Scully were able 
to convince Margaret that they really did need to be going.  
Scully gave her mom and brother a hug, telling Charlie to be 
sure and call before he left that Friday and thanking her mom 
for a wonderful meal-"two meals!"  Mulder finished buttoning 
up William against the cold night air and they made their way 
to the car.  

The Mulder family was at last complete again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

One week later...

Scully tossed her keys to the counter as she moved to hang 
up her coat.  It had been a very long day and after she and 
Mulder had spent the entire morning trying to fill out 
expense reports, Scully couldn't help but feel drained.  

Mulder had offered to stay late and had insisted she go home 
to the baby.  Scully had been reluctant at first, but finally 
agreed when he promised to bring the rest of the paperwork 
home so they could finish it together.  Mulder promised he 
would be home as soon as he finished something he had to get 
done "real fast."  Upon seeing the look she gave him he had 
laughed and said, "Don't worry, it's nothing life-threatening, 
it'll just take me a few minutes."  She was too tired to argue 
and called her mom to say she'd be home within the hour.  

"Hey sweetie."  Mrs. Scully was whispering as she softly closed 
the nursery door behind her, "The baby's asleep, and the guys 
came and finished setting up this afternoon so you're all set." 
She gave her daughter a hug and winked, "Dinner's in the oven," 
Mrs. Scully grabbed her coat, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Closing the door behind her mother, Scully stopped for a second.  
Guys? What guys?  The only guys she could think of were the Lone 
Gunmen and why in the world would they have been in her 
apartment "setting up" this afternoon?  If they'd gone and 
decided to continue their little "surveillance" again...Scully 
found herself being paranoid as she headed to the bedroom to 
change.  She was halfway through the bedroom door when she 
stopped dead in her tracks.

"Scully?"  Mulder walked in the front door.  She could hear
the jingle of his keys in his pocket as he hung up his coat 
and headed for the bedroom.

Scully was speechless.  She stared wide-eyed at the scene 
in front of her.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Mulder spoke softly, edging up 
from behind and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Mulder, I...how did?"  Scully couldn't find the words.  
Mulder chuckled, kissing her softly then taking her hand 
and leading her into the room.  

She had been so stressed with work that Scully had nearly 
forgotten that today was Valentine's Day.  She stared at 
the room full of candles.  Rose petals lined the floor and 
trickled their way up and onto the bed.  

The bed.  She still couldn't believe it.  It was THE bed.  
The one they'd found themselves handcuffed together and 
snowed in in.  The one in the "Egyptian room" as she had 
come to think of it.  She glanced at the canopy...the bed 
with its own ticket to the stars...literally!''

When Scully had first turned around to face him, Mulder 
didn't know what to expect.  Should he run and hide or 
hope that she was too surprised and/or touched to be mad?  
He waited nervously for her response.

The look on her face clearly showed her surprise, 
"Mulder? How did you manage," she gestured towards 
the bed and then around the entire room, "This?!"

He couldn't hide his amusement and let out another laugh. 
Mulder led her to the bed and sat down, "Four days ago 
Skinner came into our office to clear up a few last 
minute details on the case."  Mulder paused slightly and 
Scully waited, "After all the technical stuff was out of 
the way he told me that the treasure we had apprehended 
was all being sent to the Smithsonian after the Egyptian 
government made some arrangements with ours.  Anyway, he 
went on to say that everything they had apprehended that 
didn't belong to the government was going to be auctioned 
off."

"Mulder, please don't tell me you spent three months salary-" 
Scully stopped talking as it was clear Mulder was trying to 
hide his amusement.  And not doing a very good job at it if 
she might say so herself.  He finally let out a laugh.

"On the contrary Scully," He grinned, "I do admit that I'd 
thought about it for a while, but then I decided to spare 
my life," the twinkle in his eye reappeared, "and had 
forgotten about it."  It was Scully's turn to grin, and 
Mulder continued, "About 9:30 last night I got a call from 
the person in charge of the auction.  Somehow she'd found out 
who I was and wanted to give me the bed as a "token of 
appreciation" for "recovering so much valuable history"" 
Mulder chuckled, "So naturally I couldn't say no and, well, 
you know the rest of the story..."  He tapered off.

"Mulder?"  Scully took his face in her hands, "You are 
the sweetest, and might I add luckiest, man in the entire 
world."  She gave him a sincere look, smiling through 
misty eyes as she met his lips with her own.

"So you're not mad?'  Mulder pulled back slightly to look 
her in the eye.

"How could I possible be mad?"  Scully laughed, gesturing 
to the room.  The candlelight bounced around the bedroom, 
creating a romantic feel as it highlighted the delicate 
rose petals covering nearly every flat surface in the room.  
(Mulder later explained that he'd invested in a little help 
from Mrs. Scully and the Gunmen in getting the bed set up 
and the room ready.  Her mother's comment from earlier 
then made sense; apparently she didn't know the bed was 
a surprise.  Scully then laughed when she told Mulder how 
her mother had acted when she got home that evening).

"Well, I thought that since you said you would never let 
us have a bed like this in-"  

"Mulder?"  Scully interrupted her husband.

"Yeah?"  He stopped talking, mesmerized by the reflection 
of candlelight that danced in her eyes.

"Shut up."  Scully smiled allowing the candlelight a 
glimpse at her heart and, kicking off her shoes, pulled 
Mulder into a lasting kiss.

Mulder let out a short laugh, kicking off his own shoes 
and pulling Scully closer and onto the soft down of the 
bed.  The recurring thought of just how lucky he really 
was to have Scully-HIS Scully-still at his side after 
all these years passed through his mind once more.

Laying wrapped lovingly in the arms of the man she loved, 
Scully thought briefly of their adventure in the Cascade 
Mountains: The Super-Squirrels, the spot that, if you 
looked close enough, you could still see the aftereffects 
of the "berry incident", the handcuffs that she wouldn't 
be able to look at for months and the bruise on her wrist. 
Ultimately, Scully couldn't help but smile.  In the end 
everything had worked out and they were safely back in 
their own home.   For Mulder and Scully, it was a new 
beginning, a chance at the 'normal life' they'd sought for 
so long.  As for the rest of the adventure, Squirrels, 
Grizzly bear, Egyptian artifacts and all, it now joined 
the annals of various X-files memories and was from now 
on forever left up to the mercy of the wonders of nature. 

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The End :)

Sorry it took me so long to post the last part! As always,
please tell me what you thought! :) ~Meggie~