Title: One Tin Soldier Author: BethLynn (BethLynn@aol.com) Date: 2/15/98 Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully, and Spender(if that's his real name) belong to Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox. I make no monetary profit from this blurb. Distribute: Please ask permission before you archive anywhere other than Gossamer, thank-you. Feedback: First-timer posting a piece based solely on hysteria and conjecture. Be kind. Class: Vignette? Rating: G Summary: A small scene after Mulder has departed, leaving Scully behind. Note: Everything here is a result of he-said, she-said, we said and my only concern it that I probably didn't get Spenders' name right. Thanks: To Debbie, Editor. And, - to the front. One Tin Soldier Scully stood on the edge of forever, awash in the moonlight. She watched as the light of a space-bound craft faded into the night. A single tear traced a delicate path down her creamy cheek. "Mulder," she whispered in good-bye. She momentarily thought to call him Fox, but in the end everyone had called him that and he hated it. So she called him Mulder, and it was an endearment. Her new partner stood behind her. She felt his hand reaching for hers. She grasped it gratefully _allowing_ the warmth of another to caress her soul. Mulder chose to follow a path she did not seek to traverse. She loved him enough to let him go. It would be difficult for each to learn to live without the other, but they were strong, and they would meet again, sometime. She believed. She turned to Agent Spender letting him lead her from the edge. A few paces away he paused to look back at the starlit sky. He nodded toward the night, then glanced at Scully. With his free hand he reached up to brush away her tear, unconsciously bringing it to his mouth. "He shouldn't have gone," he rasped. He reached to fold her coat collar closed and dropped his hand as she shied away. A highly intelligent and sensitive individual, Spender insinuated himself into the intertwined lives of Mulder and Scully. A three-fold structure is the strongest in nature, and the partnership Scully had with Mulder became indomitable with Spenders' involvement in their quest. "He needed to go, Spender," Scully stated. She wiped at her face where he touched her and let go of his hand. She took up the lead away from the edge. "We found his sister. We uncovered some truths. We discovered a people beyond imagining," she explained. She stopped at the sedan. "How could he not go when invited?" she queried looking at him in challenge. "You drive," she continued. "I don't want to pull the seat forward." She reached into her jeans pocket, then tossed an Apollo 11 key-ring at him. "Why didn't you go, Dana?" Spender asked. He paused, looking at her quizzically. "Can I call you Dana?" he requested innocently. He unlocked the doors and they slid into the vehicle. Dana glared at him sitting beside her. She tilted her head in contemplation and pursed her lips. "Yes, I think you better call me Dana," she answered. She heaved a heavy sigh and blew the breath from her lungs in an effort to maintain some emotional control. "I didn't go because a ride to the stars wasn't my part of the quest," she continued. She snapped her seatbelt into place and relaxed against the leather. She kept her eyes on the dash as Spender started the car and navigated the dirt road. A few minutes passed in blessed silence before her new partner spoke again. "So, what is your part of the quest?" he asked. He glanced at her, then back to the road they traveled together. His strong hands gripped the steering-wheel keeping them on the wash-board surface of the road. Dana looked out the window at the passing scenery illuminated by the full-moon. She folded her arms about herself and leaned her head back against the headrest. She noted the incorrect time of 11:21 on the console and fleetingly realized that the number 1121 seemed to figure prominently in her existence. Chasing that realization was the logical analysis that 1121 had nothing to do with anything other than happenstance. Her reality fell back into place and anguish caused by change squeezed her heart. As Agent Spender waited, anticipation growing inside him, his partner sat up straight and squared her shoulders. In the darkness she smiled her small smile and accepted the night from the depths of an old soul. "Peace on Earth," was all she said.