Nothing Lasts Forever, but will our love?

Darkness

Mulder felt his eyes sting with unshed tears as he watched her chest rise and fall softly, her beautiful eyes closed to the world, her soft eyelashes brushing her pale cheeks. He reached out his hand and took one of hers. Please, he begged a God he didn't believe in. Please.

3 hours earlier

"I'm Barbara!" She strange woman exclaimed, an element of shock in her voice.

"I'M Barbara Beaumont!" Scully looked at her disbelievingly. She cleared her throat confidently. After all, she was used to dealing with crazy and/or delusional people.

"Ma'am, we're looking for an 85-year-old woman." She carefully explained to the suspect.

"Yes, well I look good for my age, don't I?" The woman replied, flipping her long red hair.

Scully sighed. This was going to be a long night. Giving up on Barbara (or whatever her real name was), she quickly looked around the room, trying to remain inconspicuous. The room was dark, with piles of objects lying around. God only knows what was hiding in the darkness of the room.

The woman seemed to notice her gaze wandering. "I keep it dark in here," she explained, "Not because I'm trying to hide anything!" she added.

Scully raised her eyebrows. Anyone who felt they needed to add that to their explanation was automatically suspicious in her eyes. The woman continued to talk, rambling on about skin care and sunlight. Scully shot a look at Mulder who was poking around the room. This woman was truly nuts.

She sighed again. Why did they always seem to get the crazy assignments? She knew that they worked on the X files, but still. Who knew there were so insane people in the world?

"Umm, we're also looking for a woman named Olivia Bognegra." Scully said, changing the subject.

"Is she a Netflix executive?" Barbra batted her overly long eyebrows. Scully heard Mulder scoff queitly in the corner.

Scully showed Barbara the picture on her phone of the missing girl and waited for Barbra to reply. Barbra's eyes widened slightly, and Scully smiled a bit. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"Scully..." Mulder murmured from the other side of the room, but Scully shushed him, trying to focus on Barbra's reply. However, Barbara had started shaking her head.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO!!" Barbara screeched.

Then suddenly, people rushed out of the shadows and grabbed Mulder. Scully barely had time to process before her arms were grabbed roughly. She tried to scream, but the air was knocked out of her lungs as she was forced on the ground. She tried to kick back her assailants, but they were too stong for her small figure to fight.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mulder struggling a few feet away from her. Seeing him in danger seemed to give her an extra boost of power, and she shot up, knocking her attackers backwards. She tried to run towards her Mulder, but someone grabbed her.

The man roughly pushed her into the old dumbwaiter that she had unwittingly been being brought closer towards. Before she knew it, she was falling, falling, falling, into a seemingly endless pit of darkness.

"SCculyyyyyy...." Mulder's voice echoed in her head, and in the seconds before she hit the hard floor, she relized how truly fragile life could be. The pain came in a flash, and then vanished along with everything else in the world.

.............................

Mulder rushed down the stairs, the though of Scully's broken body overwhelming all his senses.

He couldn't think straight, couldn't process what had just happened. All he could think was Scully. Beautiful and courageous Scully, who had tried to save him so many times as the risk of losing herself. If anything, more happened to her... God, he could never forgive himself.

He finally reached the shaft and wrenched the door open.

"Scully??" he called. No answer. He turned his flashlight on, searching for her. The beam of light fell upon something huddled in the corner.

"Scully." He sighed in relief. She had fallen on a heap of what looked like trash and some old sheets. His heart jolted in his chest as he relized that she wasn't moving.

"Scully?" he ran towards her small body, which seemed to lay at a strange angle. Her face had been scratched by something and she was bleeding from multiple places.

"Oh my god. Scully!" he cried desperately. He scooped up her motionless body and ran towards the door.

"Mulder..." he heard her murmur softly.

"Scully," he breathed, "are you ok honey?"

"I need... doctor... fell... hurts" she whispered faintly. His heart broke at her pale face. A trickle of blood was dripping from her hairline. He kissed her forehead softly.

"I know," he said, comforting her, still a little panicked. Her face was getting paler by the second. He started to run again, cradling her head so she wouldn't be jolted. "I know honey. I'm going to get you to a doctor. Hold on Scully." Suddenly, she moaned and clutched her abdomen.

"Scully?" he questioned.

"Mulder," she panted, "help me."

"I will Scully," he assured her. "My phone isn't working down here but as soon as we get out, I'm going to call an ambulance..." He looked back at her and relized that she has collapsed in his arms again. He kissed her quickly and ran towards the light that he knew meant safety.