Amorem Animalem

Afraid to Believe

Scully couldn't help but wonder what Yentz had meant by saying such a thing. Was Mulder really aware of his thoughts and emotions? Did he truly know who his "perfect match" was? Dana found that hard to fathom as well. Mulder never struck her as someone that would admit to his feelings. I suppose that's why she was all too hesitant to share her's.

"Scully, let's go." Mulder said without looking her in the eyes. The two got up and made their way to the car. Scully didn't know where they were going, perhaps Mulder doesn't know either. She thought.

Ten minutes later, Scully found herself trudging through the sand in her high heels behind Mulder. Her calve muscles began to burn and she had to speak up sooner or later.

"Mulder, what are we doing on the beach?" She whined.

"Looking for evidence, clues, I'm not sure but I have a feeling that we need to be looking for something. Don't worry."

Dana began to tire and sweat.

"Mulder, I'm more worried that we're out in the blazing sun without any sunscreen than your strange idea of finding evidence on the beach."

"A little tan would look nice on you, Scully." He said as he turned his head and smiled.

"'Mulder, I'm a redhead. We don't tan. We burn. And freckle. I don't exactly want any more sun spots on my body." She protested.

Just then Mulder stopped dead in his tracks. He stared out into the ocean, speechless, and didn't even bat an eye for thirty seconds.

"Mulder, what's wrong?" Scully sad as she caught up to him.

"Something is here, Scully. I can feel it."

The two began to sift through the sand but they weren't finding anything except old cigarette butts and chipped seashells.

"Scully, maybe it would do us some good of you went and searched in the water," Mulder suggested.

"Me? Why me?" She sighed.

"You're wearing a knee-length skirt and I'm wearing dress slacks." He told her.

Scully stood up and Mulder did the same. The two stared at each other in the eyes, like a show down of some sort. Scully was not amused by his order of her to get in the water, but she knew that it would make more sense that she did than him. She unzipped her skirt from the side, pulled it down revealing a white lacy slip beneath, and handed the light blue skirt to Mulder. "Here," she said, "I don't want to ruin it." Mulder's eyes shifted and watched as Scully waded into the blue water.

She looked as hard as she could while the waves swayed and rocked her back and forth. Some were larger than others, and hit up against her thighs. She decided that standing in one spot, rather than moving around, was easier and hoped that an object like a knife or a gun would glisten in the sun. As she stood still, watching, she felt something soft tickle the back of her leg. She brushed the sensation off as seaweed or algae and continued to search. After a good minute of the feeling not going away, she turned around, preparing to see the slimy thing that was bothering her so. As she looked down, her heart stopped and her words failed her. She was frozen. It wasn't seaweed or algae at all. It was human hair.

"Mu- MULDER!" She shrieked as she ran ashore. Her chest was inside her throat, beating a mile a minute. Mulder ran to her aid and she threw herself into his arms. "Mulder," she swallowed,"I saw a body. Another body."

"Scully, calm down," he said gently, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. It was a man. A young man. He had dark brown hair and-" she felt the world spinning in slow motion and could not find the words to speak.

"And what, Scully?" Mulder asked as he stroked her red hair.

"A nose all too big for his face and a mole on his right cheek." She said with tears in her eyes.

Mulder was puzzled by how much those details had bothered her and continued to hold her in his arms. She was crying into his jacket, holding onto his collar so tightly that her knuckles were white.

"Scully, what exactly did you see?"

Scully let go of his collar, swallowed her tears and looked up at him with soft eyes.

"Mulder, I saw you. I saw you."

He stood there in silence as he let the redhead finish her frightened sobbing. She was trembling, and he knew that she must've seen something because she usually would've just brushed it off as a trick of the light. Scully had always been afraid to believe, and he now knew why.

"I'm going to go see if I can find anything." He said softly as he let her go. She nodded and wiped her blue eyes. Mulder did the same as she, walking around in the water, hands out to his side, and searched for something, anything.

He walked back to the shore and to no avail, he found nothing. Not even the body that Scully had seen. Did she have a vision? He wondered. Anything was possible at this moment and he dared not deny anything. Especially since this case had virtually no evidence other than drugs and the rope that bound the victims together.

"Scully, let's go get you settled in the room," Mulder said as he wrapped his suit coat around her waist. He held her blue skirt in one arm, and Scully in the other.