I just have to write this. It is a post episode vignette from "Kitsunegari." What should have happened in that alley: Classification: not really romance, but UST Rating: PG "One Moment" 1/5/98 By Lisa Mulder dropped the flashlight and sank to the ground. He couldn't believe it happened again. He had replayed that scenario in the hospital room in his mind a thousand times afterwards and what he could have done differently. Now it happened again. However, this time it wasn't Modell, but his sister. Why was this happening to him? How come he was so susceptible to their powers of persuasion? Scully knelt down and looked at Mulder wondering if he was all right. He held his head in his hands. She could tell he was upset. She lowered herself to the cement and reached out to touch him. She didn't know what to say to him at this moment. What words could possibly offer him any comfort? Mulder looked up at her. This really was Scully, wasn't it? His mind wasn't playing tricks on him again. He reached out and touched her hand, squeezing it gently. He looked at her face, her eyes. She seemed alive and unhurt. Mulder then lightly touched her hairline at the place where he saw the bullethole. He remembered the blood. However, he didn't see it now. There was no pool of blood surrounding her hair. Scully knew he had to do this, to see for himself that she was here and unharmed. Her eyes filled with tears to see Mulder like this. The tortured look in his eyes showed her how much he believed she had died a few minutes ago on the cold rainy cement. The look of failure. She knew he had to be emotionally drained from what they both did to him. She felt a tear escape and run down her cheek. Mulder moved closer to her. He needed to make sure she was all right. He ran his hands through the sides of her hair. There was no blood. She didn't change. It was Scully and not Linda Bowman. She was alive. Right here with him. Now. Scully watched his face. His eyes. He became more sure of himself the more he touched her. She felt the touch of his hands on her. On her hair. They seemed more like caresses. She rested her head against him so he could feel she was alive and right here with him. She felt his arms around her holding her tightly to him. She let him hold her for awhile before she spoke. "Mulder. It's me." Scully said softly. "She is the one who died over there." "I know that now." he replied. "Just let me hold you a little longer." Scully closed her eyes and concentrated on nothing else but the warmth of his body. Part of her didn't want him to let go. She wanted to stay like this. But not here. Inside. At her apartment where they could be alone to comfort each other. What was she saying? She moved her head off his chest. "She isn't strong enough to do that to us, Mulder." she whispered to him. "No one will make us betray each other like that. No one." In the distance, the sounds of sirens cut through the stillness of the night, becoming louder and more intense. They slowly moved apart from each other.