SkeLethaLPrisM

Chapters: 9/9 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Holman Hardt, Sheila Fontaine Additional Tags: MSR, Post-Episode: s06e08 The Rain King, Friends to Lovers, Tornados, Slow Burn

There was a storm in her chest, thunder behind her ribs.

Heartbeat. Heartbeat. 

He must be close now, she was only moments from the bottom.

She had both hands out, seizing at tapering branches along the pathway, heedless of the sharp twigs whipping her palms and wrists. Her breath was coming shorter, the lump that had tightened her throat the moment she’d seen Mulder’s feet touch the ground now burning, painful.

Just a little way further, and then—

Hurtling his way up the path like a cannonball, Mulder rounded the corner just ahead of her. Seeing her, a light came into his eyes, lifting the haggardness that fear and panic had etched into his face.

“Scully—” was all he managed.

Then she was on him, her arms tight around him, her face pressed hard against his chest as hot tears sprung from her eyes.

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Chapters: 8/9 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Mature Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Holman Hardt, Sheila Fontaine Additional Tags: MSR, Post-Episode: s06e08 The Rain King, Friends to Lovers, Tornados, Slow Burn

Following the trunk of the tree with her eyes, Scully saw it ran down into the rocky clay face of the gully wall. Its limbs were ancient, splintered and dry. And below where the dead tree reached out like a skeletal hand, the gully dropped away in a sheer plunge to a long-dry creek below, its bed littered with black boulders and scrubby weeds.

“Sheila!” she called. The air was suddenly eerily still, the wind no longer even stirring the branches. But there was no sound from the car. 

Beside her, Mulder was tearing off his jacket. Scully felt her heart drop as she whirled around to him and saw the intent on his face. 

“I can get to her,” he said. He pointed to where one of the dead branches fanned out from the trunk, jutting above the lip of the gully wall. “I’ll climb down, and get them out of there.”

“Oh God, Mulder…” Scully breathed. 

She couldn’t ask him not to try. 

She wouldn’t attempt to stop him. 

But her stomach heaved as she took in the open space below the tree’s feeble branches, and saw how precariously the car was settled among them.

Mulder looked at her, and she realised that until then, she’d never truly understood the notion of someone’s heart being in their eyes. In his gaze she saw emotion so pure it lifted something within her, even as she shrank from the thought of what he was about to attempt. There was hope there, unwavering determination. And love that blazed like a flame.

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Chapters: 7/9 Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Holman Hardt, Sheila Fontaine Additional Tags: MSR, Post-Episode: s06e08 The Rain King, Friends to Lovers, Tornados, Slow Burn

Scully watched the streams of water pouring down the windscreen, down the passenger windows, reducing the world to misty grey whorls and rivulets. She looked at Mulder, his hair now spiked up all over the crown of his head, and realised that her love for him felt like a wonderful madness. Hiding from the rain as they chased a stormbringer today, chasing shadows and ghosts and aliens the length and breadth of the country tomorrow. Her life would never be quiet, never be boring, as long as their quest continued. 

And at the centre of it all, of everything that had painted her universe with stars and lunacy and adventure was Mulder, wanting to spend each moment of it with her. 

Reaching across the space between them, she curled her hand around the nape of his neck. He turned to her with a little questioning sound, smiled, and met her lips with his as she pulled him towards her. Scully sighed against his mouth, feeling the slight rasp of his light stubble graze her chin, the tensing of his muscles under her hands as their kiss heated and she drew him closer.

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Chapters: 6/9 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Holman Hardt, Sheila Fontaine Additional Tags: MSR, Post-Episode: s06e08 The Rain King, Friends to Lovers, Tornados, Slow Burn

With the electrical energy of the storm fading, a light rain began to fall, further cooling the air. Realising for the first time he was shirtless, Mulder crossed his arms, feeling a chill creep across his skin.

“Looks like the show’s over,” Scully said, her face still tipped skyward as he turned to head to his room. She sounded a little disappointed.

“I have a feeling that won’t be the last storm we get to see while we’re here,” Mulder told her, reaching for his door handle. It stayed firmly fixed in place as he tried to twist it, and tried again. Realising his key was inside the room, resting safely on his nightstand, he muttered a curse.

Scully wore a smug grin as he turned back towards her. Slipping her hand into the pocket of her pyjama pants, she casually plucked out her key, holding it up.

“It’s lucky for you I enjoy a little stormwatching,” she said, opening her door. “Come on, I’ll let you in through the connecting door.”

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86073716/chapters/230754926