Title:  Hearts Entwined.
Author: Joey R.
Rating: PG.
Category: Short MSR, very slight angst.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were, wish Mulder’s waterbed and non-existent fish 
were mine but they’re not. They all belong to the very rich and very talented CC. (No, 
I’m not sucking up.) He created them and he earns all the money from them, I earn 
nothing. At all.
Spoilers: None, that I’m aware of.
Summary: Scully’s gone but Mulder’s the one who feels lost.
Archive: Please do. Let me know where, though.
Feedback: All welcome at Joey@Ram32.freeserve.co.uk or Joey_r83@yahoo.com - 
feedback cherished and will be rewarded with a yummy Mulder clone.
Flames: If you can find the time to write them, I'll try to find the time to read them.
Dedication:  Tanja, Lyndsey, Lisa, M, Catriona, Exfilia, Erin, Caroline, Courtney, 
Traci, Rotem, Mary, Kimi, Kayla, Kit and Susan.
Note: This story has nothing to do with any other stories written by me. 
Visit my fic@ www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Park/1240/ 
I’ve never been to California so details of Lake Tahoe may not be accurate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where there is great love,
There are always miracles.
                            ~ Willa Cather
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
________________________________
Hearts entwined
By Joey R.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hearts Entwined (1/2).

It was three months since Dana Scully had left him but it felt more like three years to 
Fox Mulder. The minutes seemed like hours, days seemed like weeks and weeks 
seemed like months. He had felt her absence since she’d said goodbye and he was
beginning to think he would never numb to the pain.

There were so many things that Mulder regretted. He was full of pain, guilt and regret. 
He should have told her how he felt, he should have told her how he appreciated her 
and there were a lot more things he should have said. But he hadn’t. He had missed his 
chance.

She was gone. She’d left  - after giving him plenty of warning, though. He hadn’t 
taken her seriously, he’d selfishly and foolishly thought he could persuade her to stay 
again. He knew now how incredibly foolish it had been for him to assume that and he 
knew he had been possessive of her, trying and assuming she would stay with him as 
he so very much wanted.

In some part of his subconscious, Mulder felt that she was better off without him. He 
was sure she’d be happier without him. She’d have a wonderful, high-flying career at 
last and she’d most likely meet and fall in love some brilliant and wealthy doctor who’d 
treat her like she deserved to be treated. Mulder shook the thoughts from his mind and
got out of bed.

He looked out of the bedroom window, over-looking the bay. At his mother’s 
insistence and at the continuous insistence of his friends, The Lone Gunmen, he had 
agreed reluctantly to go to his Aunt’s summerhouse in Lake Tahoe. Everyone had been 
worried about him, about how her leaving had affected him. They had also voiced their 
concern - including Scully herself, who had called him regularly for the first month 
until it got too hard for her, he suspected.

Now, he was in a cabin on the edge of Lake Tahoe and he still couldn’t get his mind 
off her. His dreams were filled with her as they always were but now his thought were 
consumed with her every waking and sleeping moment.

Mulder heaved a heavy sigh and went into the bathroom. It was about time he tried to 
live his life without Dana Scully by his side. He would go out for a walk around the 
lake and think of everything and anything but her.

A while later, he was washed and shaved. He ate a quick breakfast and set off for a 
walk and some fresh air. Mulder left the cabin and walked through the woods towards
the shore. 

He hadn’t walked far when he saw a faint figure in the distance, walking slowly along t
he shore towards him. He could tell it was a woman from where he was but she looked 
too thin - even with the distance between them. He continued walking towards her, 
glancing out onto the lake occasionally and then back to the woman, trying to make 
sure that when they met up, he would have enough time to ensure they weren’t in each 
other’s way.

They were both preoccupied when they met on the Lake’s edge. She was looking out 
on the lake and he was looking back the way he’d come. They walked into each other 
at quite a force, knocking them off balance. Mulder instinctively reached out to steady 
her, his arms going around her slender waist and pulling her against his chest so they 
could both regain their balance and catch their breath.

“ I’m sorry!” They both spoke in unison, their voices blending into one. Her hands 
pushed against his chest slightly as she moved away. He caught a glimpse of red and a 
faint but familiar scent crept up his nostrils which made him keep a loose grip on her 
waist, stopping her from moving away completely.

She stared up at him, surprised at his actions. She was even more surprised, however, 
when his jaw dropped in recognition.
---------------------------
End of Part One
Hearts Entwined (2/

“ Scully?” He frowned slightly, still holding her, scared she was going to run away.

“ Mulder.” It was all Dana Scully could say. She was speechless. She had spent two 
months in her brother’s cabin on the lakeside trying to forget about the man who stood 
before her. She’d failed miserably and now here he was, holding her securely in the 
same way she’d been dreaming about him holding her for months. 

“ You..You’re really here,” Mulder was obviously still amazed. “ You look...too thin.
And your hair has grown..”

“ I know,” she nodded, knowing she was going to start babbling to cover the awkward 
silence. “ I couldn’t really be bothered to get my hair cut, there’s not that many places 
round here to go to. And I guess I have lost some weight since coming here, I just 
can’t seem bothered. Too many things to think about and preparing meals isn’t one of 
them --”

He cut her off by drawing her closer and planting a hard and very passionate kiss on 
her lips. The kiss lasted for a while, both of them unwilling to break the much longed 
for contact. In the end, it was Scully who broke away - reluctantly and breathlessly - in 
order to take a deep breath. They both seemed rather breathless and light-headed and 
neither made any move to pull away.

“ Sorry,” he murmured. “ I’ve just wanted... I promised myself, if I ever saw you 
again, I’d kiss you. Just to know, to know if it was like my dreams.”

“ Was it?” She smiled slightly, her heart pounding and her face flushed.

“ Surprisingly, in reality, it’s better than it is in my dreams. I didn’t think it was 
possible,” he grinned, the grin lighting up his face.

“ The real thing is definitely much better,” she agreed, her smile widening whilst she 
wore a shy expression. “ So, what are you doing here?”

“ I’m staying at my Aunt’s summerhouse. Everyone thought I needed to get away, to 
try and forget about you ironically enough.” He explained.

“ That was the aim of my staying here,” she nodded in agreement. “ To forget about 
you. It didn’t work.”

“ Not for me, either,” he grinned again. “ You’re a hard woman to forget, Miss. 
Scully.”

“ You too,” Scully laughed slightly before turning serious. “ I’ve missed you.”

“ I’ve missed you too,” he took her hand and squeezed it softly, tenderly looking at 
her. “ I.. I’ve regretted letting you leave, regretted not making more of an effort to 
get you to stay.”

“ I regret leaving,” she sighed. “ It hasn’t done me any good as you noticed. And it 
doesn’t seem to have done you any good either.”

“ Did you expect it to?” Mulder asked as they began walking towards his cabin.

“ Not really. I knew I wouldn’t be happy but I thought...” she trailed off and shook her 
head.

“ You thought what?” He asked curiously.

“ I thought it would be best for you. I thought it would make it easier for you to go 
back to Diana, if I wasn’t in the way,” she answered quietly.

He stopped and pulled her into his arms. “ Diana could never take your place, Dana. 
As my partner and everything else.”

“ I still have a place?” She questioned softly, uncertainly.

“ Always. In my life and in my heart,” he assured her, bending slightly at the waist to 
kiss her softly, lovingly. “ You have no idea of how much I’ve missed you.”

“ I think I do, Mulder,” she sighed contentedly as they walked on, wit his arm around 
her waist. “ I know how much I’ve missed you.”

They walked on in a companionable silence until the reached Mulder’s cabin which 
was, surprisingly, only a few minutes walk from her cabin. It was surprising for them 
to find out that after missing each other for so long, they had only been separated by s 
scattering of trees for the last few weeks.

He fixed them a light lunch and he watched Scully pick at her salad. He arched an 
eyebrow and gave her a look that was somewhere between disapproving and 
concerned. She smiled sheepishly and managed to eat a little bit more.

“ You’re too thin. You need some meat on your bones,” he commented wryly as he 
studied her across the table.

“ Mulder,” she laughed. “ You sound like my mother.”

“ We’re just worried about you,” he insisted, shaking his head and unknowingly 
mimicking her mother.

“ I know you are.” She reached out and took his hand across the table. “ I just... I’m 
not used to eating much. I’ll take a while to get used to it again. It just..Sitting down 
or preparing something gave me time to think about you and leaving you and I 
couldn’t handle it.”

“ Does that mean you’ll be coming back to D.C?” Mulder asked slyly, half-dreading 
the answer.

“ Do you want me to?” She bit back a smile.

“ Stupid question. You know I do, Dana.” He looked down at his empty plate, 
flustered.

“ Then I will. I had no immediate plans, anyway,” she murmured. “ I was just going to 
work in the local hospital.”

“ But you’ll be my partner again?” His hazel eyes were hopeful.

“ Sure,” she smiled at him. “ Unless Diana...”

“ Don’t go there,” he warned. “ I am not about to indulge in a conversation about 
Diana when there is no point. I can’t stand her, neither can you. Why waste time 
talking about her?”

“ Mulder.” Her voice was suddenly very quiet and soft, her gaze lowered to the 
half-full plate on the table in front of her.

“ Yes? Dana?” He got up and moved round to her side of the table and knelt next to 
her. “ What’s wrong?”

“ I.. When we go back to D.C, this’ll change, won’t it?” Scully sounded fearful, 
distressed. “ I mean we’ll not be as close as this, will we? We’ll go back to the way it 
was.”

“ No.” He sounded so determined, she lifted her head in surprise. “ No. I’m not losing 
you, Dana. We’re not going to go back to how we were before, we’re going on. From 
this.”

Mulder cupped her face in his hands and they kissed again. Slowly, savoring every 
moment and the rush of feelings that swept over them, memorizing and learning the 
touch of the other’s lips against their own. They parted only to draw in a breath.  She 
closed the gap between them and kissed him sweetly.

“ I love you,” she whispered, their lips only millimeters apart. “ I love you, Mulder.”

“ I love you, too,” he smiled. “ With all my heart.”

They kissed again and Mulder pulled her up off her chair and into his arms. They 
slowly made their way into the bedroom that had been Mulder’s alone but which 
would become theirs for the next week.

They were certain of only one thing: they would fight to be together, no matter what 
sacrifices they needed to make along the way.

End of Part Two.
End Of Hearts Entwined.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know!
Joey@Ram32.freeserve.co.uk