Title:    Last Night 
Author:   Abigail Leigh 
E-Mail:   littlemiss_spookymulder@hotmail.com 
Rating:   PG-13 
Category: MSR 
Classification:  Vignette 
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully aren't mine. They're Chris Carter's 
and 1013's. Although I feel the CC didn't do the best job with the 
finale, all are entitled to their own opinion, and that is only my 
own. Which is exactly why I am writing this.

Summary:  Mulder mourns their last night.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

She's sleeping.

I can't see her face, but I feel she is. Her small frame has relaxed 
against into mine, the hand she holds to her cheek slowly slipping 
away, her fingers having lost grip on mine. I can feel her heartbeat 
through her back and into my chest where my own heart thumps 
wildly for her.

Now, being a male, it could just be because the woman of my 
dreams is sound asleep so close to me, and the proximity is causing 
me to remember other nights we shared in which sleep was not 
forthcoming. But I don't think that's what it is tonight.

Maybe any other night, but not tonight. Because tonight she's sick, 
and I am her comforter.

Sure, the pounding in my chest is because I love her, but tonight 
my thoughts keep me from remembering past experiences. 
Because they turn to what I know.

That tomorrow I must face them alone, for fear that something 
might happen to her as I follow my quest, the quest I pulled her 
into nearly seven years ago. I will not let her go with me, as much 
as she will beg and plead that I would let her come along.

Because what she doesn't know is that this is my final adventure.

Oh, I don't know it because someone told me, or because I've seen 
something. I know it simply because it fills my very being with an 
unspeakable dread. One for my life, for the undying feeling that 
this is our last night together.

I bury my nose deep into her auburn locks, taking in the scent I 
have come to love. I want so to wake her, to show her one last time 
how much I truly love her. But she must rest.

Tears come to my eyes and the sob I try to hold back escapes, to 
me as loud as a scream in a still room.

She stirs, and I worry that she has awoken. She rolls over in the 
bed to face me and takes my cheeks, five o'clock shadow still in 
place, in her warm hands.

"Is something wrong, Mulder?" she whispers softly. And at that 
moment I know I cannot tell her. I cannot burden her with my pain.

"Nothing, Scully," I reply, taking her hands from my face and 
curling her slender fingers around mine. "It's okay."

She smiles softly and snuggles against me, leaning her head 
against my chest. I pull her against me and slip an arm around her 
waist, all the way around to rest on her delicate stomach.

I listen to her contented sigh, and I kiss the top of her head as her 
breathing evens out again. Only then can I release the feelings.

Of my pain, of her loss, of our last night, of something we may 
never experience again.

Only then can I cry.

THE END.