Title: Vulnerable : Chapter Three.Author: Tony.
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13.
Keywords: DSR, MSR/DRR musings.
Feedback: I still love it! Keeps me motivated!
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other characters mentioned herein are the property of 1013 Productions.
This chapter is dedicated to Stephanie once more (who I'm so pleased has finally posted her fic!) And the lovely Lisa S who I'm glad to see back (I know how busy things are in your household!) And Cassie, hope it doesn't take you too long to get hooked up at your new address!!
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Doggett had never seen Scully so quiet and withdrawn before. As they journeyed with their mysterious captors to a destination where they had been promised their questions would be answered, he looked across at her tired face as she sat opposite him in the back of the large military truck they'd been bundled into the back of. She seemed barely aware of his presence, her blue eyes unblinking and unnervingly fixed. Doggett had wanted to reach out and talk to her, comfort her, but the presence of the two armed men flanking each of them assured they were seperated from any contact. He knew it wasn't just the fate of her son that had placed her in this state of shock but the name spoken once more back on the property they had recently left. The name that these days always seemed to torment her and drive her away from him.Mulder.
As he sat, Doggett's mind turned once more over the events of the past two years since he had first been partnered with this extraordinarily compelling woman. How quickly he had become drawn to her in the midst of a job he often couldn't fathom or understand. How amongst all the madness and confusion, she had shone like a bright red beautiful beacon in his mind and kept him there by her side, wanting so much more than to protect and help her. He had never felt this way about any woman since Barbara and had never so eagerly sought a woman's heart and approval since meeting his now ex-wife for the first time. Then the mysterious lost Fox Mulder had reappeared in their lives, at first seemingly dead, then miraculously alive, and Doggett realised just how blind he had been to the fact that Scully and Mulder's relationship was much closer than a simple long working partnership. When he had accidentally come across Scully leaning over Mulder in his hospital bed after his resurrection, it had really hit him like a bolt from the sky what a hold he had over her and what a bond had formed between the two of them. A bond he had knew at that moment when Scully looked up into his hurt embarrased eyes he could never break.
So he had walked away.
Even though he had felt he had seen a guilt cross over her blue beautiful eyes that day.
He had walked away. He felt it was the only right thing he could do no matter how much it hurt him.
But it was so hard to get her out of his mind. Moments between them like when she had given him Mulder's Apollo medallion and embraced him so warmly in the X Files office, a moment he truly felt he could have held her next to him for an eternity and never let go. Coupled with moments of pain and rejection he felt when at first Scully had distanced herself temporarily from him when the unthinkable had occured and Mulder had disappeared again. Nothing could take her beautiful strong but vulnerable face out of his mind no matter what happened around them or what they had said to each other. It had taken an apparent madman to make him realise just how strong his love for Scully had grown despite the shadow of Mulder that pervaded both their lives. And it was this same madman that had reappeared and help draw them finally together at a time Doggett thought Scully would be lost from his life forever. He still couldn't believe the passion and intimacy they had shared together that hot uninhibited night, how her wet skin had felt on his, how her mouth had felt locked against his, how her beautiful eyes had sparked and rolled when she came. All this with Mulder still out there somewhere like a hidden phantom ready to call in his emotional marker at any time. And Doggett felt that time was here once more, shutting off Scully's heart to him just when it was opening so much.
And damn it, Doggett thought, he was beginning to depise Mulder for doing this so often to her, to them both. He hated himself for feeling that way but he knew his feelings and had to admit them.
Doggett was jolted from his thoughts when he realised Scully was staring at him finally. Her large blue eyes locked on his own, so deep, so full. He knew she knew what he was turning over in his head, what he was thinking. She looked so afraid to him in this current moment. And he was afraid too.
The truck drove on.
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Doggett was awakened from a deep sleep by the pulling arm of one of his guards. He opened his eyes to behold a large metal door which looked like the entrance to some sort of stockade. He looked around hurriedly to make sure Scully was still safe and with him. His eyes focused on her several feet from him. She managed to give him a light smile despite the fear in both their hearts.
As they were both made to disembark from the truck, Doggett seized his opportunity to approach Scully and was surprised to find none of the men attempting to stop him from doing so. Reaching her, he took one of her hands in his.
"Dana...."
She took it gratefully. He could tell she was shaking.
"Dana, whatever is goin' on, if Muldah' is in there then I...."
Doggett turned away from her, not sure he could put into words what he felt he had to say. Scully softly turned his head back to face her and then entered his arms, throwing her own around him in a powerful emotional embrace, holding him tight as if her very life depended on it. Doggett buried his mouth in her red hair, savouring her silkiness and pressed his lips to her ear.
"I love you, Dana. Know that, always...."
He didn't have to see Scully's face to know her eyes were now full of tears. Her shaky deeply- emotional whispered reply told him that.
"I know. I know."
They heard the sound of another truck approaching which made them break slowly apart, Scully wiping her eyes as their attention turned to the vehicle stopping just in front of them in what appeared to Doggett was now a large wire-fence enclosed yard. As the first passenger was made to disembark from the back of the new truck, both their eyes widened as the relieved smiling features of Monica Reyes greeted them.
"I'm glad to see you two travelled first class too...."
Scully ran to Reyes, wrapping her arms around her close friend while Doggett followed behind, the pleasure at seeing Monica filling his tired face.
"Monica...." Scully whispered. "So glad you're ok...."
As they seperated, Reyes gave her a warm grin.
"Likewise." She turned to face an approaching Doggett. "I hope you've been taking care of John for me."
As Doggett reached her taking her in his arms, he laughed softly amongst her silkly dark hair.
"This ol' warhorse is fine, Monica. Fine. If we get out of this, the Polish sausage is on me."
Scully watched Doggett holding Reyes and was filled by the momentary guilt that still filled her when she recalled just how much Reyes loved him too. It was times like this she still felt like a little bit of an intruder in their long relationship. As they broke, Reyes flashed a gentle smile at Scully.
"He sures does hug well, Dana...." Reyes spoke quietly.
"I know...." Scully replied equally quietly, the two women sharing their acknowledgement of loving him between each other for a moment.
They were all distracted by further sounds of somebody disembarking from the back of the truck.
"It really is a little like old-home week. I'm not alone. I ran into two old friends on the way here."
Doggett and Scully's eyes both opened in surprise as the familiar faces of Walter Skinner and Alvin Kersh jumped down from the vehicle. As Scully walked over and gave Skinner a grateful and welcoming hug, Doggett faced his once-nemesis.
"It may take more than our idiot-gauges and our wits to get outta' this one." Doggett slowly offered Kersh his outstretched hand. "You went to the wall for all of us, so I guess we're on the same side now...."
Kersh took Doggett's offered hand in a tight shake.
"I worked for the wrong side too long, John. And I was wrong about saying you were on the wrong floor....the X Files office was where you should have been all along to know the truth...."
As they broke their handshake, Doggett offered Kersh a slight smile.
"Guess you'd better fill an entry in your own diary today....something really important happened today...."
As Reyes joined the two men, they turned to where Scully and Skinner were just breaking their hug.
"From what John told me, I was afraid you were dead....How did you get here?" Scully asked her once-superior.
"Kersh and I were on the run. The FBI is in turmoil right now after what happened in Quantico. We were contacted by Mulder and told to meet these men who'd take us to him, Dana. We were told he had found a weapon that could expose the conspiracy, destroy the supersoldier invasion. We really had nothing to lose, so we accompianed them, the message seemed genuine. On the way here, they'd picked up Agent Reyes too. She told me some of what you'd been through...."
Doggett found Skinner giving him a strange cautionary look which unsettled him. He turned to Reyes.
"That's right, John." Reyes replied. "The fact is I'd left to try and track Mulder down as you know. Seems I've pretty well found him."
Scully turned back to Skinner.
"What else did he say? Anything about our son? Anything about William?"
Reyes noticed the hurt look in Doggett's eyes as his face responded to Scully's comment about "our" son. Skinner slowly replied.
"He didn't mention William....I'm sorry, Dana....I...."
Their conversation was suddenly puncutated by the metal door behind them sliding open with a large grinding sound. As bright light from beyond it bathed all their faces, a solitary figure walked through the beam towards them, highlighted through the glare. As the figure became slowly more visible, Doggett looked over to Scully whose mouth had dropped low and whose eyes were wide with disbelief.
"Mulder?"
As the figure of Fox Mulder stood there before the group, he surveyed the trembling figure of Scully who was slowly approaching him. Doggett dug his nails into the palm of his hand tight, fighting a sudden rage of anger that was filling him. Reyes noticed it.
"Dana, I may have finally found what we've been searching for so long....a way to expose the truth finally to the American public....and all over the world....I may finally have a weapon we can really use...."
As Scully and Mulder stood inches apart, Doggett was almost making his palm bleed. As Mulder held open his arms to take her in his embrace, Scully looked back at Doggett. He could see the confusion and guilt filling her eyes. Then she turned back to Mulder and entered his embrace.
And Doggett's eyes closed tight....
TO BE CONTINUED
