Post-ep for "Tithonus"



DISCLAIMER: Not mine; they belong to FOX, CC, etc.

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As the commuter plane finally landed in New York, Mulder pulled out his cell phone and switched it on as they taxied to the gate. He still hadn't been able to get a hold of Scully before the flight attendant had asked him to turn off his phone so they could take off, and he was eager to call her again. As the phone came on, he saw that he had a voicemail message waiting. Relief swept over him as he assumed this was from Scully, returning his calls and telling what had happened with Fellig. As he had requested of the flight attendant before they landed (after flashing his badge), she allowed him to deplane first. Walking swiftly through the airport toward the exit, he punched in his password to pick up the voicemail.

It wasn't from Scully.

"Mr. Mulder, this is the emergency room at NYU Medical Center. You're listed as next of kin for a Ms. Dana Scully. She was brought in this morning with a gunshot wound...."

"Oh God, Scully." Mulder barely heard the rest of the message as he began running through the airport and asked the first taxi driver he could find to take him directly to NYU Medical Center as fast as possible.

* * *

Before the cab even pulled to a stop, Mulder threw several bills toward the driver and jumped out of the vehicle. He flashed his badge at the desk and waited impatiently while the receptionist checked on Scully's current location and then pointed him toward the operating room lounge on the third floor.

When the elevator doors opened, he immediately knew he was in the right place. Directly in front of him he saw a small cluster of men in suits and police uniforms talking quietly and sipping coffee. In the midst of the crowd he spotted Peyton Ritter. Mulder wasted no time going directly to the man who could provide the information he needed.

"Where's Fellig?" While he tried to keep his voice quiet, the carefully controlled rage was easily detected, and several men stepped back from Mulder to give him a wide berth and let Ritter deal with him directly.

Ritter squirmed and dropped his eyes. Mulder knew whatever he had to say to him, it wasn't good. "Fellig's in the morgue." Mulder deflated as he realized that he wouldn't be able to take the revenge that he wanted on the man who shot his partner. But Ritter wasn't done speaking. "I thought he had a gun, and so I shot, but she was standing right behind him, and I didn't mean to...."

It took a moment for the implications of Ritter's words to sink in, but when they did, the rage bubbled up in Mulder even more strongly. "It was you? You shot her?" He started out quietly, but as the disbelief turned into anger, he began to raise his voice. "You were supposed to be her partner, Ritter. You were supposed to protect her, not shoot her. If she dies, so help me God, nothing will stop me from killing you!"

As Mulder's voice started to echo through the corridor and attract attention, several of the agents in the waiting area took position around the two men, ready to restrain them if they came to blows. Mulder noticed their convergence and took a step back from Ritter, willing himself not to hurt the man.

"I want you out of here, Ritter. You have no right to be here." Frozen in place by either fear or stupidity, the younger man made no move to leave. Mulder turned his enraged appeal to the men standing around him. "Get him out of here!"

Although few, if any, of these agents would have had any respect for Fox Mulder under other circumstances, they all knew the reputation of this pair and the longevity of their partnership, and they respected the unwritten code that no one stands between partners when one of their lives is on the line. One of the men placed his hand on Agent Ritter's arm to gently lead him toward the elevators, while the others quietly moved away and turned a blind eye to Mulder's outburst and threats.

But his display had not gone unnoticed by the hospital staff. Once it was apparent that no one was coming to blows and it was safe to approach, a nurse from the reception desk made her way over to the tall agent with the temper. As soon as he spotted her coming, Mulder quickly closed the distance between them and spoke before she had a chance to.

"Dana Scully. She was brought in with a gunshot wound. I need to know how she's doing."

"And you are...?"

"Fox Mulder. I received a call from the hospital."

At this information, the nurse visibly softened and led him back over to the reception desk. "Ah, yes, Mr. Mulder, you're listed as the next of kin. We'll need you to help fill out the admissions paperwork...."

Mulder stopped the woman with a hand on her shoulder and appealed to her, "Please, I need to know how she's doing. Is she going to make it?"

The nurse saw the agony behind his eyes and quickly looked down to the clipboard in her hands. In her best clinical voice, she replied, "Ms. Scully was brought in with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. There was considerable blood loss and internal damage, but we won't know anything more until the surgeon is finished."

Mulder sucked in a breath to contain his fear. He knew how serious a shot to the abdomen could be. "What are her chances?"

"Mr. Mulder...."

The nurse was hedging, and they both knew it. In a move that he had often used with Scully to get her attention, he bent his knees to meet the woman on her level and looked her directly in the eyes. His hand was on her shoulder again, and she could no longer avoid the intensity of his appeal. "What are her chances?"

The nurse quietly gave it to him straight. "Not good."

With a distraught sigh and a nod of appreciation at her candor, he closed his eyes and straightened to his full height. It took him a moment to regain his composure, and the nurse silently focused on her paperwork while giving him the time that he needed to process this. After he finally reopened his eyes, he turned to her and asked, "Has anyone called her mother yet?"

"Not unless one of the other agents called her. You were the only contact listed here, so you're the only person we called."

Mulder nodded and started to pull out his cell phone. The nurse's voice stopped him from dialing.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't use that in here. However, there is a phone available for family members in the room across the hall."

He immediately spotted the room that she indicated and silently made his way across the corridor. This was a call that he dreaded, and one that he had already made too many times, but Mrs. Scully deserved to hear the news from him first. If only he could figure out exactly what to say to her.

* * *

NYU Medical Center
One Week Later


Mulder silently stood watch outside of the room while Ritter made his apologies to Scully. She had politely asked Mulder to step outside for this encounter, and he respected her wishes, but there was no way he was going to leave this incompetent weasel alone with his partner again. He knew that Ritter was just lucky she was still in bed and didn't have the energy to give him what he really deserved. As much as he himself wanted to kick the kid's ass, he would gratefully defer that privilege to Scully.

Ritter turned to leave, and they exchanged words, but it was much more sedate than it would have been had things turned out differently. Wasting no more time or energy on him, Mulder turned toward the woman waiting for him in the room.

After spending the first few days in ICU, Scully had finally come out of danger and was given her own room. She had awakened from time to time and was lucid enough to understand what had happened and that Mulder and her mother were here with her, but mostly she slept. Yesterday had been her first day of real wakefulness, and although Ritter had been hovering all week to come groveling to relieve his guilt, Mulder had managed to hold him at bay until Scully finally told him today that she just wanted to get this encounter over with.

Mulder told her the news about Fellig, but he knew that she would have a hard time accepting what they both knew to be the truth about the man. The doctor had sounded at a loss to explain the speed of Scully's recovery, or the fact that she had even survived at all. Mulder harbored his own suspicions about the truth behind this but withheld them from his partner. He knew she wouldn't be ready to hear it; he wasn't sure that she ever would.

They sat quietly for a moment before she spoke again, changing the subject and effectively ending the conversation about Fellig. "Where's mom?"

"She's back at the hotel, making some calls, I think. She wanted to let your brothers know that the doctor said you're out of the woods and is even talking about releasing you soon."

"She should go home now. You both should. There's nothing for you to do here but watch me sleep."

He took her hand in his and spoke to her gently. "Scully, you know neither one of us is leaving here without you."

She didn't reply immediately but looked at their hands resting together on the blanket. "You know, you didn't have to take the week off of work to stay with me."

Pulling his hand away from hers, he now moved it to her chin to tilt her head up and make her meet his eyes. "Yeah, I did."

They shared an intense look until he finally broke away before revealing too much of his soul. His hand wandered over to her hair and pushed a strand behind her ear, his eyes following his movement. "You're my partner, Scully. I'm never going to let them split us up again."

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In response to the intercom, Kersh's secretary informed Agent Ritter that the A.D. was ready to see him now. Taking a deep breath, he crossed the room and opened the door. Kersh was seated at his desk with his eyes riveted to the papers in front of him. Not receiving further instructions, Ritter decided to seat himself in the chair opposite his superior. Once he was seated, Kersh's eyes lifted but met his only momentarily before looking beyond him and settling on something behind him. With a nod, the A.D. got up from his chair and walked toward the double doors leading to the hallway. As Ritter turned to watch the man exit the room, his peripheral vision caught sight of another man to the back of the room. Before he turned to look fully at this man, he caught his initial whiff of cigarette smoke.

The Smoking Man slowly made his way across the room and seated himself in the chair that Kersh had just vacated. Ritter knew better than to speak to this man before spoken to, but the smoker seemed to be in no hurry to begin the conversation. He merely watched the younger man seated across from him, who uncomfortably straightened in his chair under the scrutiny.

A puff of smoke preceded the first words spoken. "I've been awaiting your final report."

"I--" Choking on his words, Ritter cleared his throat and tried again. "I'll have the report to you by tomorrow morning." He added a beat too late, "sir."

The smoker took another puff and regarded him through narrow, appraising eyes. "You're a lucky man, Mr. Ritter. Although you failed in your objective, the circumstances have turned out better than we imagined. The bond between the partners has not been damaged, as per your assignment, but Agent Mulder is duly distracted now. You should be congratulated."

But Ritter hung his head, examining his hands in his lap, a picture of shame rather than victory.

"I'll have my report for you tomorrow, sir," Ritter repeated meekly.

"See that you do." The Smoking Man snuffed out his cigarette in the ashtray on Kersh's desk and rose from the chair. Wisps of smoke danced around him and followed him out the door, leaving behind a muted haze and stench.


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That's all she wrote!

The rest of the intended story is Mulder playing nursemaid to Scully while she recovers. Plenty of other fics have covered that ground, and I've listed a few below. The one unique element to my story is the intended epilogue: the morning Scully returns to work, she shows Mulder an obituary for Ritter that was left on her doorstep. They speculate whether it was a suicide or a professional hit.

Other Post-Tithonus fics:

But Ourselves by Marguerite

Tied by Jori

The Long Lowering Hour by CazQ

No Light by Gina Rain

Light Sleepers by Dasha K.

Achromatic by Annie Sewell-Jennings


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