Title: This was it...
Author: phoenix99 <xphoenix99@hotmail.com>
Category: Angst (as usual for my stories) MSR
Rated: R for language!
Summery: ummm, god I hate summaries, OK, there's a deal made
and guns and some people cry.
Archive: anywhere, everywhere
Feedback: please, I have no self-esteem so I need it badly
Disclaimer: I am Chris Carter! I am DAMMIT! So there!
I own the X-FIles! I own Mulder, I own Scully...
oh wait... I'm sorry, I got kinda carried away there...
Notes: I haven't been writing very much 'cause I just haven't
had the time. I've been trying to write lighter... but none
of those stories have made it to the net. So, here is yet
another twisted, angst story. Keep in mind that I have no beta
and I write my stories quickly with little thought due to my
lack of time... but those are just excuses, read on!

ALSO... I think I saw another story called this, sorry to that
person, I guess I should have some up with something more
original

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THIS WAS IT...
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This was it...

He was sure it was her.

This time he knew it. He could tell by the way she walked. The
way her hair fell onto her shoulders in dark brown waves. The way
she was silhouetted against the glow of the street lights. He
couldn't have known any of these attributes from experience, but
they still felt familiar to him.

This was it...

Although he couldn't hear her, he could feel his partner shifting
uncertainly behind him. Shifting from one three inch heel to
another, unsure of the events that were slowly unfolding before
them. She had understood from the moment the offer had been made,
that it was up to her to stay alert since Mulder was too emotional
involved to react appropriately if anything went wrong.

This was it...

When the offer had been made, they hadn't been sure of what to do.
Accepting an offer from the people they had been fighting for many
years was not something to be taken lightly. They had been fooled
before, and the pain it had caused had taken a long time to heal.
But they had talked about this a great deal, and had agreed on
what had to be done.

Even though what they were asking was impossible, and what they
offered was equally improbable.

Their offer was to release her --if they back off.

From the X-Files... from the FBI... everything.

They accepted their offer; knowing that backing off entirely from
their quest was not an option; they would discuss their situation
after tonight.

This was it...

Mulder was standing in the middle of the street, the misty air
making his hair spike and giving his face a sweaty moistened look.
He was perfectly still as he watched the figure approach him from
down the street about twenty yards away.

It was dark, and the street was shiny from the resent rain, but
Scully could see in the dim light and foggy air that it was indeed
the person they had come to meet who was walking towards them.

At least, it was a woman who looked just like her. Just like the
clones had looked. Except this person looked more haggard. This
woman seemed to look older than Scully, which was not possible
since they were roughly the same age.

Mulder took a cautious step forward, then another, until he was
walking forward so that both figures would meet halfway between
their car, and the dark SUV parked farther down the street.

This was it...

Scully now found herself walking as well. Slowly down the sidewalk
in the shadows created by the dark buildings that lined the street.
She kept up with Mulder so she could partly see his face, and keep
an eye on the woman approaching him.

Glancing at the SUV confirmed her suspicions. The dark figures were
still leaning against it. There were two of them. They hadn't moved
the entire time, and that fact made Scully all the more cautious.

They were very close now, and they both stopped simultaneously ten
feet away from each other.

This was it...

Scully's eyes flickered from the two figures in the street to the
men against the car. They seemed to straighten, suddenly interested
in what was happening. Scully had stopped as well, but she stayed
in the shadows.

"Sam?" His voice was a whisper, but Scully heard it like a scream.
His voice sounded harsh in the cold silence that lay upon the city
like a shroud.

This wasn't right.

Scully glanced at the two men; both were watching with unabashed
interest...

"Fox?" The woman's voice was questioning.

Mulder stepped forward, reaching his shaking hand out to her as he
whispered her name again, except this time it sounded more like a
sob.

This was it...

And that's when she saw it.

It-- the corner revealing itself millimeter by millimeter as her
hand seemingly caressed it in her coat pocket as she drew it out.

This was it...

The ensuing moments played out as if in slow motion. Each movement
dragging out for a century.

Scully's hand went to her side and Sam glanced at her. Mulder's
gaze flickered over at his partner and his face contorted in
horror as she drew her gun. The woman opposite Mulder jerked the
concealed object from her pocket. Mulder's gaze shifted back to
Sam just in time to see the gun and her delicate figure tightening
on the trigger.

Then she was falling. Her body floating like a leaf to the hard
asphalt of the road. The shot seemed delayed and when it sounded
in their ears it rang loud in the air and hung there, as if
suspended in time. The moment drew out and Mulder felt himself
drop to his knees.

The skidding of tires wasn't heard by anyone as the SUV
hydroplaned on the wet road, making its get away. It's back
lights dimming and then vanishing in the distance.

It was raining again. Great torrential sheets of water droplets
that felt like the size of golf balls. Attempting to wash away
all physical evidence of what had just happened.

His hair was plastered to his head, and the water ran down in
rivulets and mixed with his tears.

Mulder lifted his sister's head into his lap. Running his fingers
lightly across her neck, he confirmed the lack of a pulse. He was
silent for a long time... or maybe it was no time at all, neither
of them could be curtain. 911 had been phoned and Scully slid her
cell phone back into her coat pocket, but she new Sam was dead.

But it couldn't have really been her. They would never have
sent Samantha. Not the real one.

She heard herself questioning him; her voice sounding weak and
pleading to her own ears. Telling him that it wasn't her. That
it couldn't have been.

But he was shaking his head; hurling drops of water off his head,
which were instantly replaced by more drops since the rain hadn't
given up at all. He smoothed the slick brown hair back from the
woman's face, brushing across a small white scar on her left cheek.
As he did this Scully heard him murmuring something about a seesaw.
Then his fingers traveled over a scar on her right elbow and she
made out the word bike through his slurred speech.

And she thought, what if this really is her?

She is dead.

Her shot had killed her.

Had killed Mulder's sister.

This was it.

She had killed the focus of his quest. A quest he had been on for
most of his life. The subject that had shaped his life was now
dead by her hand.

She felt like she was going to be sick. Her stomach twisted into
itself until she was almost bending over from its pain.

And he was sobbing. She could hear him mumbling in between choked
breaths "this was her."

She told herself, I saved his life... she had a gun and was going
to kill him. I did what was right.

Scully could not watch Mulder cry, and not feeling able to comfort
him she looked down at the road. There she watched with morbid
fascination as warm, red blood mix with the cool, clear rainwater,
making a pinkish river. The tinted stream made it's way towards her
feet and she stepped aside, not wanting to confront the life
seeping out of the woman in Mulder's arms.

She wanted to touch him. To comfort him, but was unsure. She
hesitated many times, not feeling confident enough to reach out to
him. When she did finally lay a cautious hand on his shoulder,
he spun around and locked gazes with her. His eyes burned with
anger and she quickly removed her hand and stepped back from him,
nervously.

This was it...

He looked quickly at his dead sister then back at her. "Scully... "
He hissed, his tone growing louder, "you fucking killed my
sister!...". He was getting up now but Scully stood her ground. She
wasn't going to run from him. "I have spent my entire life
searching... and you fucking kill her?!"

"Mulder," she tried to hide the fear in her voice, "she was going
to shoot you. She had a gun and she was going to kill you."

He shook his head in denial, even as he looked down at her lifeless
body, the shiny metal weapon still in her hand.

"No... no, Scully."

"Yes Mulder, you saw it. She was aiming at your chest. Would you
have rather had me do nothing? Let her shoot you?" She was
struggling with him, trying to get him to understand, trying to
convince him and herself of what had happened.

He took a menacing step forward so he was less then a foot away. He
loomed over her; the anger in his eyes bore through her. "She was
not going to shoot me." He said, voice still quavering from his
emotional state. Suddenly he pulled out his own gun and aimed it at
her. She held her ground as he held the gun in a shaking grasp.
"Maybe you should die too. Life for a life."

"You want to kill me Mulder?" She suddenly felt bold; his harsh
words had given her a sense of euphoria, like she had nothing to
lose. "Fine. End this whole thing. Pull the trigger and end the
last seven years."

This was it...

Mulder's expression changed slightly and the gun lowered. He
grimaced as if in pain but before Scully could reach out to him
the cold metal barrel was soon moved to a new location under his
chin.

"No, Mulder! Don't do that, don't give up." She wanted to reach
out, to comfort him, to hold him, but he was so close to the edge.
Teetering on the side. "I'm sorry this had to happen to you...
You don't diserve this Mulder, please put down the gun..."

"Why would she want to kill me Scully?... I'm her brother... I
just wanted us to be together again..." he was crying
uncontrollably now, and she feared the force of his shaking body
might set off the gun he held in a death grip.

"I know Mulder... but we don't know if that was really her... it
may not have been..."

But they both know it had been. Not just the identifying marks
that Mulder had pointed out... they had both felt it; seen it in
her eyes.

"It was her Scully. It was her... But why?... I-I don't understand
...Why would she want to kill me... I only wanted us to be a
family again... I only wanted to save her..."

She stepped toward him but he stepped back. She was crying just
as hard as he was now and could barely see him through rain and
tears.

"Please Mulder... Please don't do this... You can't go out like
this. There is so much left to do. Think of all the lives we have
to save..."

But he didn't care and he squeezed his eyes shut, preparing
himself for what he thought was the final answer.

This was it...

"Mulder... you can't leave me here. If you die, I die. I will not
stay here without you.... Mulder... Mulder, I love you... and if
you end your life then you're ending mine too..."

He went perfectly still and Scully held her breath. Everything was
still, and the only sound was that of the rain still trying to beat
them down with its heavy down pour.

Suddenly he let go of the gun as if it had burnt him, and it
clattered loudly to the ground. They both stood frozen for a
second, their brains processing what had just happened, how close
they had come.

He began to shake again, and Scully was instantly by his side
and caught him in her arms as they sunk to the ground together.

They hadn't heard the sirens approaching, and they didn't noticed
the EMTs rush over to the dead woman lying on the street beside
them. They weren't able to respond to the question from the various
people buzzing around the crime scene. They just sat there on the
wet road. Curled around each other, taking comfort in each
other's presence.

Only when Skinner arrived were they convinced to be driven home.
He had pushed his way to the middle of the chaos, finding his two
agents wrapped around each other like blankets. He hadn't known
what had happened but when he saw their state and the body that
was being loaded into the coroner's van did he realize. He
insisted on driving them home himself and they didn't argue when
he finally got through to them. They only nodding in acceptance.
He led them to his car and helped them into the back seat. When
he pulled the car away from the crime scene Mulder asked in a
quite voice, so quiet Skinner thought he might have imagined it,
to go to Scully's. When he glanced at her she nodded in
agreement.

They drove in silence.

He occasionally checked the rear view mirror, secretly watching
the two agents in the back. Mulder's head was on her shoulder as
hers was on his. He couldn't tell if they were crying or talking
in low voices; the sound of the rain on the metallic surface of
the car was almost deafening, and Scully's hair obscured any view
of their faces. He could see their joined hands in Scully's lap
and Mulder's arm around her waist.

This was it...

Skinner slowed to a stop in front of her building. Neither agent
moved to leave, so he thought he would wait.

But he couldn't watch this. The two of them, his arm around her...

"Agents." His voice was firm as that of their boss, but soft and
gentle like a good friend.

They seemed startled by his voice, but realizing where they were
they began to exit the vehicle. At least Scully knew where they
were, Mulder only followed her, his eyes glazed over; looking
unsure of what was happening.

Skinner told them that they could give a statement in the morning
and to take as much time as they needed. She nodded, not really
hearing him, seeing his lips move, but the sound they produced
was irrelevant to either of them.

He watched sadly as they stumble up the stairs to her building,
him leaning on her small frame, her leaning back to balance out
the weight. Skinner sighed as they finally slipped through the
door.

He didn't wait any longer. Turning out onto the street he drove
straight home. Because he knew...

This was it...

--END--

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OK, well I'm thinking about all the horrible tense changes I made
in that. Oops! Oh well. Did you like it? Hate it? Think it needed
some sex? Think it needs a sequel? I'd love to hear from you...
xphoenix99@hotmail.com