Chapter Nine

The sunrise that had been so beautiful only an hour before ushered in a day that was dark and filled with foreboding. Clouds filled the sky and a storm approached the castle. Everyone felt it. They knew someting was wrong, but didn't know what. Yet, they still had faith in their Princess and the rest of the Voltron Force. They had faced worse. The storm would pass.

Or so they thought.

The Voltron Force and the FBI agents assembled back in the archives, their expressions dejected. Allura hung on to Keith, partly because she was afraid that he would disappear right before her eyes and partly because her knees were suddenly weak. The time interruption was catching up with her as well. Hunk went to sit on the couch, his shoulders slumped. Pidge stared with empty eyes at the pile of books they had looked through. Mulder and Scully were the only ones who looked as they usually did. Serious almost to the point of dour, they walked into the room with a business-like air, as if they hadn't just spent an hour or so in bed.

Nanny marched in just then, determination written all over her face. Her necklace was clenched tightly in her hand. She slammed her fist on the table, causing the others to jump. She began speaking in rapid Arani that even Keith couldn't understand.

"We must find the spell that will take her back through time," Allura said, speaking simultaneously. "We don't have enough time to write a new spell because Lance is almost gone."

Mulder started for the door but Nanny put a hand up to stop him.

"We have no time," Allura said for her. "When Lance disappears everything falls apart."

Scully glanced at her partner and nodded slightly. His fists clenced and she saw a muscle jump in his jaw, but he stayed put.

Nanny moved to the table where the books were and began searching through them, still speaking.

"Find the book that Lance had found the spell in," Allura ordered, moving next to Nanny. "It probably has another time spell in it."

The others gathered and began throwing books to the floor, mindless of their age and possible importance. If they didn't find the spell, it wouldn't matter how much those books were worth anyway. Hunk let out a cry of triumph and he held out the book. Nanny took it from him and quickly went to the bookmarked page that was Lance's spell. Using a finger to follow the words, she searched for the right spell.

Biting her lip, Allura turned to Keith and found that he was looking intently back at her. His color had gotten worse and he had dark circles under his eyes. His skin was cold to the touch. By all rights, he should have been in the medwing with Lance, but he refused to leave Allura's side. And she didn't want him to. So he was taking larger doses of the stimulants to stay on his feet. Allura had started taking them as well.

She leaned close to him, resting her temple against his cheek. "I hope that it doesn't take a life-threatening situation to make us admit to our feelings in the other time period. I'd hate for my other self not to know this kind of happiness."

He smiled. "I think that a life-threatening situation is the only thing that'll make me 'fess up."

She sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of. I suppose it'll keep things interesting."

Scully tucked away a smile as she couldn't help but overhear their conversation. She glanced at her partner. He looked back at her.

"How 'bout it, Scully?" he asked. "Let's check out the computer database."

"You check, Mulder. I don't think I can take it. Don't tell me what happens."

"Even if it's good?"

"How can it possibly be good?"

"Anything is possible. We're here aren't we?"

She threw him a wry look.

Allura turned to Keith and let out a gasp when she saw his eyes rolling to the back of his head. He started to fall but Mulder caught him and lowered him gently. Scully quickly went over the motions of checking him over, but knew that his time was almost up. The stimulants had overworked his body and he was in the same precarious position as Lance. Allura knelt at his side, her tears carefully held in check.

"I love you. I love you," she whispered over and over again.

Pidge took out his communicator and called for a medteam. Hunk was looking over Nanny's shoulder, his eyes skimming the pages for the spell.

"She found it," he exclaimed when Nanny began yelling.

Allura stayed next to Keith, but her attention was on Nanny. She jumped up when Nanny's face fell.

"What is it?" she asked in Arani. "What's wrong, Nanny?"

"This spell can only be done in the light of a full moon," Nanny replied.

"When was the last full moon?" Allura asked the others in English.

Pidge scratched his head and his eyes had a far-away look as he calculated. "Four weeks today actually," he replied. "We're just in time."

"How convienient," Mulder remarked.

"I guess we do get lucky sometimes," Scully said.

"We could go for all the time, Scully. Just say the word." He waggled his eyebrows at her and got an eyebrow raise for his trouble.

They went back to tending to Keith and the medteam arrived seconds later. The others went to follow them to the medwing, but Nanny stopped Allura from going.

"I have to prepare," she said. "And I need your help."

Allura swallowed a protest, wanting to be with Keith, but knew that there would be nothing if she didn't help Nanny. "Anything you need, Nanny. I'll do it."

Nanny smiled sympathetically and patted her girl's cheek. "For only a few minutes and then you can be with him. This is only to prepare for what we have to do tomorrow. It will not take long."

"Thank you, Nanny."

Lance was in a deep coma and Keith was barely conscious. Keith was lucid enough to know that Allura wasn't there and Mulder didn't think he could take it when the kid started begging them to find her. The leader of the Voltron Force, usually ready to run headlong into the face of danger, knew that he probably wasn't going to survive until the next day and for the first time in so many years, there was fear in his dark eyes. Mulder left, not wanting to see Lance so death-like and Keith changed from the competent young man he had first met. He returned to the suite while Scully stayed at the medwing with the others.

He threw himself onto the couch before the doors slid shut. But he was on his feet a moment later and in front of the computer in two strides. He was keying in a search parameter before he even sat down.

Dana Katherine Scully

There was a pause and a soft whirr as the computer found all the information concerning Scully. Mulder wished he had a bag of sunflower seeds next to him. The wait, short as it was, was excruciating. The information appeared on the screen. His eyes devoured the words, skipping over what he already knew, and slowly a smile grew on his face.

Name: Dana Katherine Scully-Mulder (nee Dana Katherine Scully)
...
DOD: August 29, 2044 ...
Marital Status: married (April 25, 2001)
Family: Fox William Mulder (husband. b. October 13, 1961, d. September 29, 2044), William Fox Mulder (son, b. October 1, 2001, d. February 2, 2085), Samantha Emily Mulder (daughter, b. February 15, 2004, d. November 20, 2070)

"Well...I'm a lucky bastard," he murmured. "But I'm going to be an ignorant bastard when Nanny goes ahead with her plan. There has to be someway to retain this knowledge. But first..."

He was getting up to give Scully the good news when the doors slid open and the future Mrs. Fox Mulder walked in. She threw him a strange look when he grinned so widely that she was afraid his face would split in half. She looked over his shoulder and saw her picture on the screen, but quickly looked away before she could see anything else. She was relieved to see that she lived long enough to grow a headful of gray hair.

Before she could say anything about that, Mulder swept her up into his arms until her feet were an inch off the ground. Her blue eyes grew wide as they met his and saw the intent in them. He leaned in close and pressed his lips against hers.

"Mmphfff...." Scully protested.

He opened his eyes and smiled down at her. She was taken aback, not only from the kiss but from the expression on his face. Never had she seen him show such naked emotion and it scared her.

"Mulder?"

"Scully, when we get married, can I still call you Scully or would you prefer Dana?"

Her mouth went dry. "What...?"

He put her back down, steered her towards the computer and pointed at the screen. He allowed her a few seconds to read what was on there and he felt her body tense in his arms. She wiggled out of his arms and sat on the seat, her face nearly pushed up against the screen as she read more.

"You're a lucky bastard," she said, turning around when she was finished.

"That's just what I was saying."

He knelt at her side, taking her hand into his. She didn't fight him, but she didn't give in either. However, she did look disturbed.

"Could this be some kind of intergalactic joke?" she wondered.

"That would be cruel," he said, his thumb making lazy circles on her palm.

"I can't have children, Mulder," she replied. "We must have adopted them."

He now had the other hand on the nape of her neck. "Check."

Ignoring the chills that were going up and down her spine, Scully turned back to the computer, after extracting her hand from Mulder, and typed in their son's name. She had to fight back a surge of hysterical laughter at the thought of their son. The information came up.

"Looks like he's a true Mulder," Mulder said lightly.

"A true Scully, you mean." She paused. "But how is that possible?"

Sighing, Mulder swivelled the chair around until Scully faced him.

"Just accept it, Scully. It happened."

"But..."

He leaned his forehead against hers. He twined their fingers together and stared at their joined hands. "Do you love me, Scully?"

"You know I do."

"Then that's that."

A stillness came over her and he looked up to see her lips trembling. But she smiled.

"I never would have thought that I'd marry you."

"I always knew you would," he teased.

His hand, graceful and gentle, crept up to her face, cupping her cheek. This time, she was expecting his kiss so when their lips met again she was ready for him and gave him as good as she could give. Her arms circled his neck and pulled him even closer than he already was, as his went around her waist, pulling her off the chair and onto his lap.

Their kiss held all the pent-up passion of so many years of wanting, but beneath that was the promise of a future filled with love and light. Despite all the darkness they had endured together, the tears in their souls that could no longer be mended, there was nothing but a happy ending at the end of the long voyage.