Message-ID: <358462A0.7848@wmcstations.com> Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 23:54:16 +0000 From: Lyle Bontrager Reply-To: lbontger@wmcstations.com X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01Gold (Macintosh; I; PPC) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: lbontger@wmcstations.com Subject: The Way III: Saturday References: <358445B0.39F1@wmcstations.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Way III: Saturday Author: RocketMan >lbontger@wmcstations.com< see part one for other ===== "And I will show you the most excellent way." --1 Corinthians 12:31 "Let the truth be known though the heavens fall." --Mulder, Redux ===== They were somewhere in Virginia went it started to go wrong. Her sleep, that is. He was watching the road, thinking to himself about the hectic Friday they'd had trying to pull everything together, notify people, get a car to rent, and not arouse suspicion, when she moaned. It caught him off guard and the car swerved a bit before he managed to straighten it. She was writhing in her seat, the safety belt pinning her down and trapping her. Her eyes fluttered and her head was twisted back in an unnatural way. Almost as if someone in her dream had her in a chokehold. He kept driving and glanced over every few seconds, seeing if she had settled. He knew the vivid potency of dreams, and wanted to wake her if it held her too long. After a minute, he pulled off the interstate and let the car crawl to a stop. He sat there and simply watched her. She was speaking in her dream, her lips moving and pleading. The night outside their car made her face in shadow and he could not figure out the words she muttered. He reached out and shook her gently, holding to her to keep her from startling awake. "Scully?" he whispered. Her hands wrung in her lap and her neck was still strained in an odd position, choking noises escaped her throat. "Scully." He spoke firmer and gripped her arm. She woke gasping and shuddering in breath, heaving every ounce of air into her lungs in great gusts. He took her arms to steady her, then felt she was shaking, trembling. "Scully?" She shook her head and drank in the air like sustaining water as he drew her against his chest, holding to her tightly. He felt her heart racing in her chest and her hands were fluttering like trapped birds against his skin. She shuddered and hitched in her breath, still not able to breathe right, almost as if she'd had the wind knocked out of her. "Scully, are you all right?" She tried to answer, but all he got was more forced inhalations and quick exhales. "Scully, slow down. You're hyperventilating. Slow down." She shook her head and trembled in his arms, paper thin and weak. He ran his fingers along her shoulders. "You have to simply slow down. Just breathe. Slow down. It'll be okay." Her head shook violently against him and he took it between his hands, kissing her forehead. "You're going to be fine, Scully. You know what's happening here. Nothing to be afraid of. Just slow down. Slow, deep breaths." She was shaking, quivering all over as if something had taken his old Scully and left a mass of Jell-o in her wake. Her eyes were closed blindly, head tossing on his shoulder. He grasped it with strong, firm hands, fingers dancing along her hairline and thumbs gracing her cheekbones. "You will be fine. Watch me. Breath in. And out. Okay? Watch me. You're going to be fine." She panted, heavy breaths that shot from her lips like a cannon ball. Sweat streamed down her face and made his fingers slick. Something from her dream had frightened her so badly, it had caused her to stop breathing right. "Okay, let's try something different, Scully. Just stop breathing all together. Don't breathe. Stop. It'll make you pass out if you do it long enough and let your body regain control rather than your fear." She still panted, clutching him with tight, white fists, eyes shut and mouth and chest heaving. It's okay, Scully. It's okay. Look at me. Open your eyes and look at me. Good girl. Now watch me. In and out. In and out. And just stop. Stop." Her breath seemed to slow down and for a moment, he thought they might be all right. Then a huge gasp in made her hitch and shudder again. She had to be ripping out her lungs to take in such huge, shuddering breaths. He had to make her stop. Too much oxygen in her blood was serious, and at the rate she was going, it was bound to start hurting her. How to make her stop breathing short of completely scaring her crazy and smothering her? He still held her head tightly and her eyes would not leave his face; they pleaded with him to make her stop. He pushed her body against his until he could hear her heart, feel it slamming around against her ribs. "Scully. Feel my heart. It's slow. Nice and slow rhythm. Nice and slow. Can you feel that?" She nodded and her hands curled around his chest, still clutching his T-shirt. He could still see the panic in her eyes and body. He licked his lips and pressed her ear to his chest, making her calm slightly, enough to where her breaths didn't absolutely sieze her whole body. She was still shaking when he suddenly caught her lips and pressed his mouth fully to hers. He felt her stiffen and wriggle around, trying to escape. She couldn't breathe. Her nostrils flared, but he pinched her nose tightly and closed his eyes as he felt her struggle for breath. He had to let go at the right moment or fear brain damage. It took a lot less time than he thought it would, and she slumped against him, her body still. He removed his mouth and waited, holding tightly to her. A second of horrible silence filled the car. Then her breath hitched and slowed and evened out. He sighed and laid his head on the back of the seat, weak with relief. She came around slowly, hands still curled around his shirt, body still limp in his arms. Her head lifted from his chest and she met his fearful eyes. "Are you okay, Scully?" She took a long, deep breath and nodded. "I'm . . .I'm sorry, Mulder. I-" "Just tell me if this has happened before because of a dream." She glanced at him. "Yes. But usually, I can stop myself. I can make myself slow down. I don't know . . . tonight was different." "What was your dream?" She sighed. He wanted the honest truth and she supposed she had to fulfill her part of the deal. "It started out at the bridge, with the Bounty Hunter holding me. You had that clone of Samantha with you but this time, you changed your mind and chose her instead. And I felt myself rushing headlong into the water. I was drowning, he was holding me under and I couldn't breathe. I saw him change again and suddenly he was you. You were choking me and holding me down under the water." His arms snaked up her back and rubbed at her hair, smoothing the rumpled pieces with care. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he murmured. "It's not your fault, Mulder." "Scully, I'd never let that happen to you, you know that right?" "I know." "I chose you that first time. I'd do it again." She glanced up sharply at him. "Mulder . . " He dismissed her words and stroked her hair. She had forgotten to remove herself from his arms. "It was just a night terror is all. They're the kind of dreams that your mind and body aren't ready for, but just happen. You're not in the right stage of sleep so they catch you unprepared and your body doesn't think of them as dreams, but as real life. That's why you couldn't breathe." She nodded and sighed once more against his chest and sat up slowly. Her eyes met his in the dark and tried not to speak. "Mulder . . . I . . . thank you." He winked and started the car as she put her seat belt back on. "Well, shucks, ma'am, just doing my job." ~~~~~ They made it to Nashville that night and Mulder made her stop at a motel just outside of the capital city, called Motor Lodge. It resembled a seventies version of Holiday Inn and he guessed by the halfway painted over HI that it had once truly been such a place. "So, where are we, Scully?" "Just northeast of Nashville. Hopewell." "That's a real name?" he scoffed, eyeing the map. She handed it to him and smirked as he found it. "Guess so." She parked in front of their rooms, then turned off the car and sat there looking at him for a long time. "Mulder. . . about the dream . . ." He turned sharply to her. "Yeah?" "Actually, this is about that whole thing in general. I . . . I never wanted you to trade her for me-" "Scully, I know that. It was my decision. My screw-up." "No, wait, Mulder. Let me finish. I want you to know this. I didn't want to listen to you back then because I didn't want to think of what you had done for me. But, I made myself a sort of promise." "Scully..." "I promised myself I wouldn't let you go off like that again. Mulder I want to help you. I draw my own lines, got it?" He glanced up to her with a quick grin. "You draw your own lines. Got it." "I'm following you on this one, Mulder. I told you before that I wouldn't follow memories you don't even trust. I still won't. But I'll follow this. This is solid and concrete, even if Samantha turns out not to be real." "That's my Scully." She gave him a mock glare. "Who said I was yours anyway?" He took her hand and squeezed it. They opened their doors and prepared to face the next day. ~~~~~ end part three In Him adios RM