Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter One. 
Author: Tony. 
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com 
Rating: PG-13 at a guess. No violence or sexuality 
(at least not yet). 
Spoilers: references to The Truth. 
Keywords: DSR musings, some mild DSR interaction, 
some MSR musings (oo-er!) 
Feedback: Oh yes, indeedy! The more the merrier! 
Disclaimer: Dana Scully and John Doggett and other 
characters mentioned here-in are the property of 1013 
productions. 
Summary: This is the first chapter of what I'm 
planning to be a multi-part continuation on from the 
finale (in fact, i don't know if it might be one of 
the first post-finale fics online!) I hope to produce 
a realistic DSR awakening and address some of the 
disappointments I and many others felt about The 
Truth and also finally wake up dear Dana to just how 
much better John Doggett would be as the man in her 
life rather than the continually over-obsessive moody 
Fox Mulder of that episode. And i also hope to 
produce a semi-sequel to one of the best season 9 
episodes in the process. Hope people enjoy it! 

This fic is dedicated in particular to Lisa S whose 
fics i've greatly enjoyed reading and who has put 
some major support behind me to do my best. 
And Diandra, there will be some major Doggett torture 
coming up in later chapters- so stand by- you wicked 
thing, you! 

--------------------------------------------------- 

He had driven the New Mexico roads for nights now, 
barely stopping for rest and nourishment, especially 
since the dreams had began. Strange tortured 
frightening visions of a woman in extreme jeopardy 
and pain- a woman who still meant so much to him deep 
in his heart. A woman calling out for his help, his 
comfort- a woman alone again- despite being reunited 
with a man she alledged to deeply love and had 
sacrificed so much in her life to be with again. 

He couldn't explain why the dreams filling his 
sleeping hours had become more vivid, more troubling; 
almost lifelike, as if he were an outside party 
watching the action from afar. He had been worried 
and scared for her ever since they had parted so 
abruptly, the threat of imminent destruction and 
danger so close. There had been no time for proper 
goodbyes, final words, a chance to hold her one last 
time before she maybe disappeared from his life 
forever, a fact he could barely acknowledge or accept 
in any lifetime now. His mind had been full of her 
beauty, her voice, her possible fate; but nothing 
could explain where these almost virtual dreams had 
appeared from. 

The last one was what had made him take to the road 
and leave his partner and good friend temporarily 
with another pressing mission to complete. The dream 
was of the woman he carried deep in his soul 
surrounded by flame and devastation, cradling the 
body of a man he recognised- a man who had 
disappeared from her life before only to reappear 
suddenly and claim her love from him- a man he truly 
didn't trust anymore to fully protect and care for 
her, distracted as he was by obsessions and drives, 
that to him as he drove the nightime paths seemed 
harder to fathom and truly accept than ever. 

And there was the pleading, the needing in her voice 
as it had filled his restless brain.... 

The sentence. 

"John, I need you! Help me....." 

So he had drove as if he were almost following a 
signal- and that he couldn't explain or fathom too. 
It was as if he knew where he could find her, all 
this way out in the middle of the New Mexico desert. 
A place. Roswell. It was as clear in his mind as a 
map would direct him to it. A hotel room there. He 
wiped fatigue from his tired and swollen eyes as the 
road ahead threatened to blur into unconscious 
streaks and kept his foot on his motor's accelerator. 
He had to find her and make sure she was okay. Hell, 
he just had to see her again standing before him with 
his own eyes- it was something he needed before the 
strange dreams had assaulted him, before the pattern 
of his life had become truly unpredictable and 
dangerous. It was all that mattered to him in this 
twilight moment. He had to see her even if it killed 
him. 

He loved her that much. 

---------------------------------------------- 
She sat alone in the darkened shade of the hotel 
room, pulling the tangled covers close to her body as 
tears once more fell from her pained blue eyes. She 
looked again at the scrawled note she held in her 
hands- not believing or taking in what had been 
written there. Not now. Not so soon after finding 
again what she believed had been so necessary to her 
life. The man she had loved for so long, needed back 
in her life for so long. 

"Maybe there's hope." 

She had remembered him speaking those words to her as 
their bodies entwined in the covers of the bed she 
now trembled solitarily in. She had believed he was 
referring to their new life together, their mutual 
survival in the face of the terrible knowledge they 
now both possessed about the future. She had believed 
he would never leave her again- they would be truly 
together always- no more unspoken secrets between 
them- no more shutting out or not sharing afraid to 
be discussed facts or feelings. She had slept with 
him that night, his arms tight around her, feeling 
safe once more- as if a half-completed bridge had 
finally been completed between them. 

Now 3 days later he was gone again. And once again 
she knew not where. Only that he had another 
important task to perform to ensure their future 
safety, their ability to fight the seemingly 
unstoppable enemy dogging their every move. A 
task he didn't feel he could risk her life too in 
performing- despite how clear and obvious she had 
made it that she would be prepared to risk everything 
standing by him whatever it took- whatever. 

How much more would it take, would it drain from her 
to make him realise just how much she needed to be a 
part of everything he needed to do in his life- that 
it was their life together- and she wanted to be part 
of all of it and not shut out again when his deep 
personal obsessions excluded her? How far would he go 
at the risk of alienating her completely? How long 
could she truly hang on for him- time after time? 

She had given up so much to be here with him now- her 
whole life and future in the FBI, her contact with 
friends and family- being with her son who she still 
loved so much. And she had been torn away from saying 
to people that really mattered to her how much she 
had valued their support and help. She had been 
so selfish she truly realised as the note was screwed 
up in her tiny hand that she had left them behind 
without so much as a word, a touch to tell them what 
they meant to her and how much she valued their 
sacrifices too. 

There was one man in particular, above all the 
others, she had wanted to hold and tell certain 
things to, but knowing Mulder was there with her had 
stopped her. And in this moment particularly she 
cursed herself inside for not doing so. She didn't 
even know if this man was still alive now- and as 
that truly sank in during this lost moment of true 
despair- the tears fell from her blue eyes even 
faster. She lay backwards and smothered herself in 
the pillows as her body became wracked by violent 
sobbing. 

Alone. In the half-darkness. Alone again. 

-------------------------------------------------- 

Light filled the room. Scully didn't know how long 
she had been asleep- only that the sudden blast of an 
engine and the arc of powerful luminescence shining 
across the bed jolted her awake. She hurriedly wiped 
the dried evidence of tears from under her eyes and 
staggered half-disorientated, half-afraid to the 
blinded window. She looked through the blinds trying 
to ascertain just what the vehicle that had pulled 
into the motel forecourt was. Then a thought entered 
her brain. 

"Mulder?" 

An excitement, a relief filled her body to suddenly 
be replaced by another feeling. Sudden anger. If it 
was him returning from yet another mysterious 
mission- one he couldn't trust her with the details 
of- then she damn well was gonna tell him how it felt 
to be left alone in frightened limbo yet again. She 
was even considering giving the son of a bitch a good 
slap around the face much as she loved him. Maybe 
even two. 

She tried to focus on the vehicle through the bright 
light. She still wasn't sure. What if they had 
tracked her down here, more supersoldiers or 
government assassins with orders to terminate with 
extreme prejudice? She'd be truly alone 
to fight them. 

She heard scuffled feet dragging themselves to her 
door, the labour of tired heavy breathing. A loud 
knock on the hotel room door made her start. She 
fumbled in the half-darkness to find her gun when the 
door swung open. A tall broad shadow filled her gaze, 
made even more broad and powerful by the car beams 
illuminating it. It was a shadow that was alarmingly 
familar to her. Not the man she was expecting, but 
her blue eyes opened wide with surprise and maybe 
something more when her eyes fell onto the 
unmistakable pattern of those pointy ears. She'd know 
those ears anywhere. 

"Agent Doggett....?" Scully whispered incredulously. 

"Dana....?" came that reassuring hoarse masculine 
voice from the doorway. She approached him 
tentatively, almost afraid to believe it was really 
him- feeling like running to him and hugging him but 
holding herself back. 

As Scully's tired eyes focused on that strong face, 
she was shocked to see the fatigue and tiredness 
filling it, the scarring on dried lips of a long 
drive through the desert without liquids. He looked 
so tortured, yet so pleased to see her despite his 
obvious disorientation. Sweat poured from his 
forehead as he moved towards her. 

"Haven't ya' heard.....? I'm not an agent 
anymore......" 

With those words John Doggett fell, and Scully 
reached to catch him. His last thoughts before 
unconsciousness claimed him brought a deep smile to 
his face. 

I've found her. Thank God I've found her. 

Blackness. 

---------------------------------------------- 

Doggett had a terrible fever obviously brought on by 
navigating through a desert region of rapidly 
changing conditions from night to day. Scully 
realised he must have been driving for nights with 
little rest. She was amazed he had located her 
and wondered just how he had. Many questions filled 
her mind including where Monica was too. But for now 
he really needed her help. His body was burning 
up and she needed to bring the fever down. 

As she lay him on the hotel room bed, she stripped 
away his sweat-soaked shirt exposing his lean naked 
chest to the night air, his biceps dripping trails of 
hot running sweat down his shaking stomach. Scully 
wasted no time in applying a cold towel to his 
forehead and wiping along his glistening upper body. 
As he lay trembling, semi-conscious, Scully reached 
out to touch his face, deeply-concerned and yet so 
pleased to see him again, despite his terrible 
condition. He had always sworn to protect her, to 
keep her safe from harm at the expense of 
his own well-being, his own safety so many times, and 
now here he was doing it again with no consideration 
for his own health. That had always touched Scully 
about him deep inside- despite the frustration she 
had felt about him refusing to believe truly in what 
they were investigating and fighting against- she had 
been humbled by his honesty, his forth-rightness. 
Doggett was a man she had grown very fond of, almost 
too fond of she had told herself, to the point of 
having to pull back her developing feelings for him. 

Mulder had occupied her heart for so long, he was the 
reason she had pulled back from acting on an 
affection that at the same time had half-confused her 
and half-frightened her when she realised she was 
feeling it for John Doggett. Over the years many men 
had displayed obvious affection for her, even lust 
for her, she had seen that want and love in Doggett's 
eyes many times- it was unmistakable- and Scully 
realised she would have to be lying to herself to 
have said she hadn't been affected by him, his 
obvious love and caring for her. If not for Mulder, 
maybe she would have acted on her feelings. 

As she gently stroked Doggett's face, Scully realised 
that Doggett would never ever have left her alone 
like Mulder had again this night. She remembered 
Monica confiding in her one late night that she had 
told John he was a "dog person", so dependable. And 
that's what he was. Even if his mind had been 
aware to all that Mulder had been made aware to, he 
would have never neglected her, been determined to 
keep her at his side whatever the challenge, 
whatever the risk. 

Was it anger at Mulder that was making her think all 
this, Scully thought, as she wiped the damp cloth 
along Doggett's naked chest once more? She knew in 
her heart it wasn't- she definitely had feelings for 
John Doggett, strong and deep feelings. And in 
Mulder's absence, they came so much to the fore, did 
that tell her something about her and Mulder's 
relationship? Scully was truly afraid to 
consider that thought right now. 

"Dana...." 

Doggett's whispered voice broke Scully from her 
thoughts. His eyes were half-open again, but still 
cloudy as the sweat streamed down his face. 

"I'm here...." Scully whispered back, her concern for 
him making her forget her close proximity to him on 
the bed. "You have a really bad fever.....i was just 
trying to get it down....." 

"You're really here, Dana....." came the hoarse 
reply, tinged with an obvious relief and pleasure 
despite Doggett's physical condition. 

"Yeah, i'm here, John....." Scully turned over the 
towel on his forehead. 

"So...so glad, Dana....I really thought....I 
had....lost ya'...." 

Doggett reached out his hand slowly to touch the side 
of her face. 

"I couldn't have lived.....with losing ya'...." 

Scully found herself flushing an embarrassed scarlet 
as he trailed his finger down the side of her face 
and over across her lips. She found herself trembling 
at the intimacy of the action. 

"You're...still...real beautiful.....that'll never 
change about you....Dana.....so damn 
beautiful....." 

Scully took his hand slowly and gently away from her 
face to rest at his side. "You're delirious, 
John.....I told you you've got a real bad fever...." 
She moved closer to his face and he could see the 
unmistakable worry that filled her lovely 
large blue eyes. "Listen to your Doctor and just 
rest, please..." 

"I'm not delirious, Dana..." Scully could feel his 
breath on her face as he struggled to talk. "I don't 
need to be delirious......to tell ya'.....you're 
beautiful....." 

Despite her concern and embarrasment, Scully found 
herself smiling at the typical John Doggett 
stubborness that was surfacing even now. 

"I had dreams....Dana....." he continued, pulling her 
closer to him. "Gotta' tell ya'.... they were 
freakin' weird.....like i was there....you were in 
danger.....and callin' for help......damn wierdest 
dreams i ever had.....they made me so scared for 
ya'....." 

His arm pulled her closer still. 

"Is Muldah protectin' ya?" 

Doggett noticed the hurt that filled Scully's eyes as 
he spoke the name and thought for once he saw anger 
there too. 

"In my last dream...he was dead...or somethin'.....he 
couldn't help ya'...." Even in his feverish state, 
Doggett was suddenly aware Mulder was not in the 
room with them. 

"Where is he? Isn't he....here...with...ya'?" 

"He's gone." came Scully's whispered painful reply. 
"Gone. Again." 

"What....the...hell?" Doggett was obviously angry, 
despite his pain. He simply couldn't believe what he 
was hearing. "You're.....tellin' me.....that 
son....of a bitch....has... left ya 
again.....after....all that happened??" 

As Doggett moved to sit up, Scully pushed him back 
into a lying position, trying to hide her tears from 
him at the same time. 

"John....please....not now....I don't need that 
now....just rest, please..." 

Reaching up again to her face, Doggett turns Scully 
to face him and his heart turns to stone at the sight 
of her fresh tears falling. This time he holds his 
hand there on her swollen reddened cheek and Scully 
does not stop him. It is a long moment before he 
speaks. 

"Dammit...." he whsipers more hoarsely than ever. "He 
always makes you...cry....I wouldn't make 
you...cry...." 

He sits up painfully and brings Scully to him, their 
lips inches apart. "John....please....I...." 

Their lips slowly meet, it is a gentle kiss. Soft as 
a butterfly's wing, not pressing, not aggressive, but 
tender, loving. For several seconds they hold it, 
their eyes locked together, almost as if for the 
first time they are looking deep into each 
other's souls. Scully's eyes so vulnerable and hurt, 
his eyes so giving and loving. in that moment, they 
feel a connection so deep, so soothing. 

Then the kiss is broken and Doggett falls slowly 
backwards, unconsciousness filling him again. Scully 
sits startled, her mind racing, before realising what 
has happened. Lying down beside him, she cradles his 
glistening body close. 

"John....just rest...just rest...." 

Scully lies her head on his chest and holds him 
close, wanting him well. Wanting him with her so bad 
in this moment. 

Not alone in the darkness. Not alone. 

----------------------------------------- 

Outside several feet away, he is watching. 

He has watched them in that room, savouring their 
contact. Knowing the game is preceding well. Never 
have the two of them been so vulnerable and now he 
can truly exploit that. For a new game. 

The deadliest game of all. 

You want her, Agent Doggett. 

But how far are you prepared to go to protect her 
this time? 

He smiles. Alone. In the darkness. Ready to play. 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us: Chapter Two. 
Author: Tony. 
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com 
Rating: PG-13 (very mild sexuality and a little spot 
of violence). 
Spoilers: The Truth, William. 
Keywords: definite DSR vibes, MSR musings. 
Feedback: oh yes! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned here-in are the property of 1013 
productions. 

This is dedicated to all those who said such nice 
things about part 1, enjoy! 


--------------------------------------- 

In his dream he was making love to her, savouring the 
feel of her body wrapped into his, her glistening 
skin on his. In his dream he was running his fingers 
through her red hair which was wet and slicked back 
as if she had just vacated a shower and they were 
sharing a kiss so powerful, so passionate he believed 
with every sensation of their lips locking together 
she was giving him some of her soul. In his dream 
they were exploring every inch of each others' bodies 
in the tangled mess of discarded bedsheets, they were 
truly joined as one being. In his dream he was 
whispering in her ear just how long he had waited for 
this moment, how long he had waited to share this 
intimacy with her. In his dream they reach a mutual 
crescendo together, holding each other tight and 
breathing heavily as they released. In his dream he 
wiped away the wet hair from over her fulfilled eyes 
and they looked up at him. 

In his dream his smile faded when she said one word. 

"Mulder." 

-------------------------------------- 

Doggett awoke with a start as early-morning light 
penetrated through the blinds on the hotel room 
window. As he adjusted his eyes to it, he felt a body 
lying across his and looking down he saw Scully, head 
resting on his naked chest, that lovely red hair of 
hers slightly tickling him as he slowly moved under 
her. He had only dim memories of the previous night, 
memories of fighting a raging fever, Scully close to 
him helping him and obviously upset but trying to 
hide it from him, was there a kiss before he blacked 
out? As consciousness fully returned to Doggett, he 
could not help but glow inside at the physical 
contact he was sharing with Scully, but it was also 
mixed with slight embarrassment. As his memories were 
not fully clear from last night, he hoped he had 
stayed a gentleman with her. It has always been so 
important to him how Scully viewed him and he prayed 
he had not crossed an improper line with her. For so 
long he had dreamed of being this close with her but 
he had wanted everything to be right, to be correct. 
And thoughts of Fox Mulder having been in this bed 
too made him distinctly uncomfortable and dare he say 
it deeply envious. 

As Doggett moved slowly under her again, a half-
asleep Scully gave off an audible contented moan and 
pressed her arms around him tighter, nuzzling her 
head against him like a tiny child. Looking at her so 
peaceful, so restful, Doggett did not want to wake 
her but felt that, as much as her being this close to 
him warmed his heart and excited him like no other 
sensation, he had to consider her feelings and not 
take advantage of her in any way. He tapped her 
lightly on the shoulder. 

"Scully....Scully...." 

Slowly Scully stirred, her deep blue eyes coming to 
life. For a moment, she gave Doggett a warm restful 
smile, then as awareness came to her, Doggett saw 
embarrassment fill her eyes too coupled with 
uncertainty. She could feel where Doggett's sweat had 
escaped his body and pooled into her nightdress and 
realised she must have slept close to him all that 
last night. Gently Scully moved into a sitting 
position, her eyes moving quickly from side to side 
as she fought to control the flushes flooding her 
body and face. Doggett had seen her eyes do 
that so many times in the past, often after some deep 
physical contact or heavy discussion between them; 
almost as if she was snapping herself away from 
feeling something and trying to restore a distance 
between them. Doggett moved back against the 
headboard and spoke to break the tense silence. 

"Good mornin'." 

He tried to reassure her with a gentle smile that 
relayed he was a little nervous too. 

"Are you ok, Dana?" 

Scully slowly rose to her feet and pulled her 
nightdress tighter around her. The heavy masculine 
scent that filled it was so strong in her nostrils 
and she had to fight to regain her composure. 

"Yeah....i'm ok....Agent Doggett....it was you i was 
worried about last night...." 

Doggett gave her another gentle smile. 

"I hope I wasn't too much of a handful last 
night...." 

Scully hung her head and gave almost an embarrassed 
little-girl smile. 

"No more than usual...." 

"That's good...." Doggett moved to more of a sitting 
upright position, bringing his knees up to his chest. 
"I'd hate to be a nuisance to ya.....Look, if i said 
anything or did anything untoward....I wanna' 
apologise....I don't happen to just dive into beds 
with my ex-FBI partners.. I mean I...." 

"You couldn't really help it." Scully replied. "You 
literally fell on the bed, you were so exhausted. I'm 
just glad you've obviously shaken your fever. I was 
really worried about you. Those dreams of yours must 
have been really something to make you drive all that 
way." 

Glad to change the nervous tint to their 
conversation, Doggett nodded. "Yeah, I've never had 
dreams like 'em before....and it's damn weird, but 
they led me to ya'. I had no idea where you and 
Muldah were, but it was as if someone was putting 
signposts out to direct me to ya......" He laughed. 
"Jeez, now I'm starting to sound like real X-File 
material....shame they closed us down.....I 
could have filed a new entry." 

The news brought Scully to sit back down on the bed 
by him, her blue eyes shocked and seeking further 
information. 

"They closed down The X Files??" 

"Yeah, it all hit the fan after we helped you and 
Muldah to escape, the office was totally stripped, 
totally shut down. Those bastards had even pulled 
down the damn poster." He threw Scully a small grin 
to reassure her. "I managed to get that out of there 
at least...." 

He moved closer to her again, using his body as a 
shield to comfort her for what he had to tell her. 

"After Monica and I left ya in the desert, we reached 
a small border town. I tried to use some old contacts 
to get some intelligence on what was happenin' back 
in Washington, all I could find out was a warrant had 
been placed for our arrest on charges of treason 
against the US government and AD Skinner and Director 
Kersh had disappeared.....it sounded like everythin' 
had gone to hell, Dana....." Scully's voice was a 
quiet whisper. "They realised how dangerous The X 
Files had truly become....they really are controlling 
the game now, Mulder was right." A dim memory from 
the previous evening re-entered Doggett's 
consciousness on hearing that name again. Looking 
down at a screwed-up piece of paper lying next to the 
bed he remembered what Scully had informed him while 
he was lying delirious before her. He reached out a 
hand and took hers in it. 

"Where did he go, Dana?" 

Scully looked up, the pain in her eyes almost 
unbearable for Doggett to stand. He squeezed her hand 
tight in his. 

"I don't know..." she whispered in an emotional 
voice. "All I know is he left me that note saying he 
would return as soon as possible and there was one 
other thing he had to do, one more task to try and 
get evidence of the truth....." 

"And he couldn't tell you after all you've shared 
together?" Doggett's eyes were watery and filled with 
silent anger. "Is this truth he's lookin' for more 
important than you, than anything?? I can't believe 
he can do this to you....." 

"Neither can I." Tears formed in the corners of her 
eyes. "Do you know what's it's like to feel this 
alone, John? To give everything to someone, your 
heart, your soul, to committ everything to someone 
who still shuts you out without warning? I love him, 
John, I love him so much. I have sacrificed 
everything I believed important to me and my life to 
be with him and to help him fight his fight but he 
isn't around when I need him to help fight mine. I'm 
still alone. Do you know what that feels like?" 

"Yes, I do, Dana..." Doggett's voice was a hoarse 
whisper as he watched the woman he loved suffer 
before him. 

"I believe you do..." Scully turned to look right 
into his watery concerned eyes. "If you weren't here 
this second with me, I really don't know what I would 
do....You have given me so much when I've really 
needed it.....both you and Monica....you're both so 
important to me and I feel I abandoned you both 
without telling you that. There are so many times in 
my life I didn't tell someone who was precious to me 
how important they were. My father, my sister, they 
both were gone before I could tell them I loved them 
one last time and I could know they really approved 
of me and my life in the FBI. God only knows what 
my mom is feeling right now with me gone, I keep on 
hurting her, hurting everybody with this life I lead, 
and now I'm hurting myself......I even gave away 
my son because I was hurting so much....." 

As Scully broke down, Doggett took her into his arms 
tight and she returned the embrace, holding onto him 
as his body shook with the impact of her own agony. 
He pressed his face to her cheek and whispered softly 
in her ear as he held her. "Monica is on her way to 
him, Dana.....to make sure he's ok....I....we just 
wanted to be able to reassure you about him...to let 
you know he is bein' truly looked after.....I know 
how much he means to ya and how hard it was for ya to 
give him up....I know how much a son can mean to 
ya..." 

"Oh my God..." Scully brought her lips to his ear and 
gave it a grateful and emotional kiss. "You are so 
special, John, doing that for me. You think so much 
of me even after all the times I've hurt you.....and 
I know I have....I know what pain you suffered over 
Luke...I really do..." 

"That doesn't matter now, Dana...." Doggett savoured 
her warmth. "I found closure, Dana, I was able to say 
my goodbyes to him....I need to bring you some 
closure, Dana....even if I haveta' bring Muldah back 
here by the scruff of the neck for ya...." 

Scully brought herself out of Doggett's arms and gave 
him a look he had never seen in her eyes before. It 
was almost as if awareness filled them. "I'm not even 
sure I want him to come back now...." 

-------------------------------------- 

Outside the figure still watched. He stood in the 
small reception of the hotel, arms folded and a cruel 
delighted smile filling his features. 

"That's it, Dana. You know how much he loves you, how 
much he would do for you. Why don't you act on it? 
Give him vindication for his 2 years on a job he 
couldn't understand to gain your heart's approval? I 
think he deserves a little pleasure, you both do, 
after being utterly defeated in my last game." 

As the figure spoke, he handed a small handgun over 
to the man sitting like stone at the reception desk, 
a man whose features were covered by a rubber 
mask, a rubber mask displaying monstrous demonic 
features. 

"Last time I tested your investigative qualities, 
Agent Doggett, you intrigued me, but I beat you. Now 
I shall test your heart, see how far you will go 
along the path to claim Dana Scully's love. I want to 
truly experience the pain you'd go through to be with 
her." 

The masked man brought the handgun to his temple and 
applied pressure to the trigger. 

-------------------------------------- 

"Dana..." 

Doggett moved towards Scully as she moved into him. 
Hesitation still filled her tear-stained eyes. 

"If I do what my heart tells me to do, then I abandon 
Mulder. Totally. Utterly. I'm still not sure I can do 
that even after he's hurt me so much. I'm still not 
sure this is right..." 

"I want you to be sure..." Doggett's eyes filled with 
a deep sincerity. "Sure of what you want to do with 
your life....the people you want in it.....I would 
walk through the door you're offerin' me in a minute 
if I felt that's what you really wanted.....believe 
me, Dana....you need to really think about this...." 

"Do you love me, John?" Scully asked him, pursing her 
lips. Their faces hung inches apart again, Doggett 
wanted desperately to feel her lips on his once more. 
He could remember the kiss they had shared last night 
again now, how tender and almost magical it had been. 
But he still felt as if he would be taking 
advantage of Scully at her most vulnerable. Her 
history with Mulder couldn't be wiped out overnight, 
he knew how deep it ran in her. He wanted to tell her 
how much he loved her but he cared so much for her he 
debated if it would be fair to do so in this moment. 

"John?" Scully's voice brought Doggett out of his 
thoughts. "I need to know...." 

-------------------------------------- 

The figure smiled again as the masked man pressed 
harder on the trigger of the gun. 

"The game is all in the timing, Agent Doggett." 

----------------------------------------- 

"Would it hurt you to hold me again?" Scully asked of 
Doggett. "If you can't tell me right now, I need to 
feel your strength holding me....." 

As he willingly offered his embrace to her again, 
Scully smiled warmly. "An agent needs help...." she 
whispered. 

Doggett smiled as those words brought back memories 
of their first assignment together, even then he had 
been entranced by her beauty and tenacity. 

"I'm sorry I chucked that water in your face...." 

Doggett gave a small relaxed chuckle and he turned 
her face to look up at his. 

"I think you deserve a kiss for that at least, 
Dana...." 

Doggett moved down to press his lips to hers. 
But a sound stopped them both in their tracks. 
A single gunshot filling the morning air. 

----------------------------------------- 

As the masked man slumped to the desk in a pool of 
spooling blood, the figure looked back towards the 
hotel room. 

"The game begins anew, Agent Doggett." 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Three.
Author: Tony.
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 (there is some violence, but hopefully 
it's not R rated, also some adult dialogue).
Spoilers: Daemonicus.
Keywords: DSR (major) angst, violence
Feedback: Yes, please! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned here-in are the property of 1013 
productions. 

Beware, part 3 is a very moody, angsty ride into what 
will be a very dark (and Doggett- torturin' 4th 
chapter!) Dedicated to Lisa S and Gina who make me 
blush so much with their praise! 

------------------------------------- 

As an alarmed Doggett broke away from Scully and 
attempted to stand, dizziness overtook him and Scully 
reached her hand out to steady him. He pushed her 
hand away and attempted to balance. 

"It's ok, Dana. I can do it." 

As a shirtless Doggett made his way to the window, 
Scully followed, her blue eyes filled with stark 
concern. 

"Did someone follow you here?" she asked, reaching 
for her handgun on the bedside dresser. 

"Not the paths I took, Dana." Doggett whispered 
hoarsely. "You can see what it did to me navigating 
'em." 

"You probably shouldn't even be on your feet after 
suffering such a fever...." Scully's worry was 
evident in her voice as she reached his side and 
cocked her gun. 

"If that's some damn supersoldier or somethin' worse 
out there, Dana, I'm sure gonna' not let him make 
chopped liver outa' me lyin' on my back." He peered 
through the blinds, having to temporarily adjust his 
eyesight to compensate for the bright sun streaming 
through them. "Mind you, I only heard one shot, an' 
it didn't seem directed at us...." 

"I think it came from the reception." Scully went to 
move out of the door, but Doggett stopped her. 

"Let me do it, Dana. Give me your gun." 

He looked her up and down still clad in her white 
nightdress. 

"You're not exactly dressed for combat." 

As Scully handed him her gun, she surveyed his naked 
back with a terse raised eyebrow. 

"And you are I suppose?" 

In light of the tenseness, Doggett gave her a light 
smile as he moved to leave the room. 

"Improvise, adapt, overcome, Dana." 

As Doggett opened the door letting in the pouring 
sunlight, Scully moved to the bed to change quickly. 

"I'll be right behind you, Agent Dogg..." she stopped 
in mid- exclamation as Doggett looked back. 

She managed to smile despite her fear. 

"Old habits die hard." 

Doggett smiled too before he left the room. 

--------------------------------- 

A jeans-clad Doggett made his way furtively across 
the hotel forecourt towards the reception area, gun 
pointed ahead and the sun beating on his still 
slightly- glistening skin. The other rooms looked 
deserted and there seemed no activity. Doggett made 
his way towards the reception entrance, giving one 
look back to the room to see if Scully had emerged, 
before turning the corner with gun raised. 

"Federal agent!" 

In the split second before he laid eyes on what sat 
at the reception desk, a thought came to him that he 
probably wasn't a Federal agent by law now. The 
irony of that disappeared when he beheld the figure 
lying bent-double in a pool of flowing spilling blood 
which was trailing down and dripping down the side of 
the desk where he was slumped. But it wasn't the 
blood that made Doggett's own run cold, but the 
familiar visage the body was sporting; a demonic 
rubber mask displaying the fearsome coutnenance of 
what could only be described as a monster. 

"Holy God...." 

Doggett's mouth fell open in shock as a case he had 
investigated several months past came back suddenly 
to haunt his consciousness. A series of murders in 
which the victims were all slain wearing such masks, 
murders his partner Monica Reyes had believed were 
satanic in origin. And murders that had led him to a 
seemingly criminally-insane ex- professor called 
Joseph Kobold whom Monica believed had been possessed 
by dark evil forces. Joseph Kobold who, satanic 
influence or not, had played games with him, Monica 
and Scully to end up seemingly shot while attempting 
to escape from custody only for his body to not be 
the one recovered. 

As Doggett stared incredulously at the bloody scene, 
he remembered how it seemed Kobold had entered his 
head and how he had taunted him with truths 
seemingly extracted from there about deep-rooted 
feelings he carried inside, especially regarding 
Scully and the competition he'd felt against Mulder 
to claim her heart. He remembered the raw anger he 
had felt towards Kobald to have such personal 
information dredged from his soul and spoken out. He 
remembered the restraint he had to impose to stop 
from lashing out at Kobal and striking him to the 
ground to stop him from speaking of the desire he 
held for Scully and the truths he wanted to discover 
about the death of his son Luke. Most of all, when 
Kobal had disappeared, Doggett had felt there was 
unfinished business to settle between them. He hated 
that Kobal had beat the three of them, had beaten 
them and walked away. He had wanted justice to be 
served against Kobal so bad. 

"Do the memories return, Agent Doggett?" 

That deep low voice tore Doggett's eyes from the 
masked corpse and he swung around to behold the man 
he had just been thinking of standing in the 
reception doorway, those deep dark eyes probing his 
own, a sinister smile crossing his thin lips as he 
stood arms folded, dressed not in the white coveralls 
Doggett remembered but a long dark trenchcoat with 
dark shirt and trousers underneath.
 
"I see that they do." 

Doggett raised the gun to cover the dark-clad figure, 
fighting to focus a sudden rush of blurred vision. 

"Kobold, you son of a bitch! Where in hell you spring 
from?" 

Kobold's smile widened. 

"A very prophetic comment, Agent Doggett. Of course 
your resistance to things outside your narrow 
rational world-view would preclude you from drawing a 
conclusion about the irony in your question." 

Doggett's fingers tightened on the gun's trigger. 

"You can talk in tongues all you want, you evil 
bastard! It's takin' all I got not to blow your head 
off right now after all the bodies you left behind 
ya'!" 

Despite the weapon trained on him, Kobold began to 
steadily walk towards Doggett which unnerved him 
more. 

"But such an action wouldn't be backed up by the law, 
would it, Agent Doggett? Oh, i forget. It's just 
plain John Doggett now, isn't it? Fugitive and 
disgraced former FBI agent who threw away his career 
to stand by friends who believed in something he 
stubbornly refuses to acknowledge is even possible." 

Doggett fought to stop the sweat running down his 
forehead from leaking into his tired eyes. 

"Doesn't matter if I'm an Agent or not, Kobold, I 
still got this gun trained on ya'. An' I would really 
worry about that right now." 

Kobold raised his hand in a dismissive gesture. 

"The gun doesn't concern me, John. I was watching you 
racked by fever being ministered to by the capable 
hands of Dana Scully last night and I know you 
won't soon have the stength to hold that weapon on 
me. You nearly killed yourself for her, didn't you, 
John? Yet again. Selfless, obssessed with a woman 
whose heart you know truly belongs to another man, a 
man whose shadow you still can't escape from, as much 
as you try, despite the intimacy you shared with 
her." 

Doggett felt a boiling anger rising in him hearing 
such taunts directed at him again. His shaking hand 
fought to keep the gun steady. 

"Why don't you just shut up......before I do 
somethin' you really regret?!" 

Kobold smiled, looking back behind himself at the 
red-headed figure now running across the forecourt 
dressed in green blouse and slacks. 

"Look at her, John. So desirable, so almost yours, 
but not. I know you dreamt of making love to her last 
night, giving into your lust, your want for her. 
Feeling her wet body under yours as you showed her 
how much love had built up in your soul for her over 
the last 2 painful years. You wanted to take her so 
bad." 

Doggett's vision is clouded as he struggled to keep 
his composure and fight the white-hot rage filling 
him and battling with his fatigue. 

"Two minute warning, Kobold!" Doggett snarled. "You 
won't get another, you son of a bitch!" 

Kobold turned back to him, folding his arms across 
his chest. 

"Really think shooting me will leave you free to give 
her a stronger orgasm than Fox Mulder ever did?" 

"Why, you.....!" Doggett's finger squeezed the 
trigger as Scully ran into the reception. Just before 
he lost consciousness once more, Doggett was 
horrified to see his bullet slice through Scully's 
blouse, splashing it red. As Scully, her face 
etched in total shock, fell slowly backwards, 
Doggett's entire world collapsed...... 

Totally. 

Utterly. 

Blackness. 

---------------------------------- 
In his dream his heart is torn apart for what he has 
lost by his own hand. In his dream pain and guilt 
overwhelm him as he stands beside an open coffin 
gazing at the face of the woman he loves lying in a 
silent sleep. In his dream he fights to focus on her 
beautiful face which retains its beauty even in this 
moment. In his dream he dares not turn around into 
the face of a man he knows only too well is looking 
at him with silent rage, almost accusing him of 
having no right to be there mourning. In his dream he 
sees her child, so young, so small. In his dream he 
cannot face the fact that through his own rage he has 
deprived the child of its loving mother. In his dream 
he wishes he could take her place and give her life 
again. Nothing else matters. 

In his dream John Doggett has died in his heart along 
with Dana Scully. 

In his dream the coffin lid slams shut and his heart 
stops. 

-------------------------------- 

Doggett jolted awake, his vision slowly returning. He 
tried to make some sense of the dark surroundings 
enclosing him. Stretching out his left leg, he 
realised it was not touching the ground below him. He 
felt sudden weightlessness, as if he was floating and 
wondered if he was still reeling from his previous 
fever. Then Doggett felt the unmistakable feel of 
cold metal touching his skin. His wrists felt 
encumbered and his circulation was poor. As he 
shifted he felt the sharp violent pain of something 
piercing his flesh and adjusted his eyes to focus on 
a running line of dripping blood making its way down 
his right arm. Doggett realised with shock he was 
hanging from the roof of a low-hanging cave, his 
wrists shackled and chained and holding him suspended 
over the dusty rocky floor just below him. He was 
still shirtless, his toned torso rippling as he 
fought to pull at his bonds and his jeans were 
covered in crusted desert sand, holes torn and gouged 
in the blue denim, exposing bloodied and bruised 
knees and ankles. 

"What...the...hell....?" 

Then he remembered his last sight- the terrifying 
vision of Scully being blasted backwards after being 
shot by the gun he had held on Kobold. Panic filled 
him as his eyes fought to pierce the darkness 
surrounding him, desperate to find a sign of her 
alive and well and convince him that horrible image 
was one from a distant nightmare. 

"Dana.......Dana!!" his voice filled the cavern, 
echoing around him in an impotent crescendo of sound. 

Then Doggett's eyes fell on her, lying amongst a 
cluster of rocks to his left side, lying in her green 
blouse which was tainted a deep red. Scully lay 
there, her eyelids fluttering, tiny drops of blood 
spilling from the corners of her lips. Hunched and 
broken. 

"No....godammit....no!!" Doggett's agonised cry 
filled the cave as he used all the primitive strength 
he could muster to try and dislodge himself from his 
shackles. He pulled crazily, desperate to break free 
and go to her, to take her in his arms, help her 
somehow, do anything to stop the blood spilling from 
her body. His wrists tore and bled as he yanked at 
the sharp metal, his body ignoring the pain, 
ignoring the fresh blood dripping down his arms. All 
he knew was his pain didn't matter- Scully was dying 
and he had to get free to save her. 

"Heroic effort, John." 

Doggett spun to face the familiar voice almost 
laughing from beyond him. His face was twisted in an 
angered snarl, his eyes blazed with utter hatred as 
he spat at his tormentor. 

"Somehow, someway, you were responsible for that, 
weren't you, you bastard? Responsible for me shooting 
Scully? When i get free, i swear to God, I'll kill 
you, you son of a bitch! If she dies, I'll really 
send you to hell, damn you! I'LL KILL YOU, KOBOLD!!" 

Kobold came into view, his long dark coat fluttering 
at his side making him look to Doggett almost like a 
giant evil bat. 

"I believe you would, John." he smiled wanly. "You'd 
kill anyone who threatened to take away her life and 
the life of her son, wouldn't you? And you have. Such 
rage in you, John, when it comes to her. Such 
primitive fury to protect her." 

"It's called humanity, you scum!" Doggett bellowed at 
him. "Something you wouldn't understand given your 
damn sick crimes!" 

"I think it's more than that, John Doggett. Much, 
much more." 

Doggett continued to pull at the shackles like a man 
possessed, his eyes fixed on the prone Scully. 

"Dana, hold on!" he shouted at her. "Hold on, please 
God!" 

He could hear her whisper to him, her voice low and 
barely audible. 

"Too...late....John....Too late....I see 
him...John....I see Ahab...." 

"DAMMIT, NO!!" Fresh ground rock from above him 
poured down over Doggett as his efforts to break 
himself free continued to prove futile. "No, 
dammit, Dana, it's not your time, you can't go now! 
Dammit, I won't let you!!" As Scully's head slips 
down into her chest, Kobold's voice fills Doggett's 
ears. "I have the power to say when her time is, John 
Doggett. I know you read all through the X Files when 
you were assigned there, didn't you?" 

Doggett's face twisted with fury. 

"I couldn't give a damn about the X Files, Kobold!! 
Not now!! Dana!!" 

Kobold's voice comes from the darkness, a still 
counterpoint to Doggett's frantic actions. 

"You don't remember the case file on Alfred Felig, a 
man who claimed to have aquired immortality after 
cheating his death after looking away from the face 
of it? You don't remember how Scully took a bullet 
meant for him and survived? Because he took the death 
planned for her?" 

"I remember, you bastard!" Doggett's teeth were 
gritted tight. "And now she's took another bullet, 
you tryin' to tell me it won't kill her??!!" 

"Until I intervened, it wouldn't have...." Kobold 
whispered. "Her life would have been longer than you 
could have imagined, John. But now I've taken it in 
my hands and it's my choice whether she lives or 
dies, my choice....." 

"I knew you were crazy, but you're goddamn 
certifiable, Kobold!!" Doggett felt sure one of the 
shackles was weakening as he cursed his tormentor. 

"Can you be sure of that?" Kobold asked quietly. "Can 
you really retain your stubborness to believe when 
Scully's life lies before you? Isn't it more 
important to you than your scepticism? Can you afford 
to stay blind if it will kill her you doing so?" 

As Doggett's eyes watched Scully's doubled-over body, 
her reddened chest barely seeming to move, he thought 
of all the strange things he'd seen since he had 
joined her on the X Files, how many events he would 
have scoffed at being totally impossible before he'd 
faced them with her. Could he take the risk that 
something else equally impossible to believe could 
save the woman he cared so much for's life? As her 
blood spilled, his heart burned for any way to save 
her. He turned to Kobold. 

"If you can save her, then do it, dammitt!" Doggett's 
eyes had filled with angry tears. "I'll even let you 
go free, do anything you want to me to get your 
kicks, anything, as long as you bring her back to 
me!" 

"Really?" Kobold's grin became wider. 

"Yes, anything, damn you!" Doggett bellowed hoarsely. 
"Just help her, you son of a bitch! DO IT!!" 

"Because there's one thing I truly want, John 
Doggett." 

Doggett's eyes filled with apprehension. 

"I want your soul, John Doggett......." 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Four. 
Author: Tony. E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13. Spoilers: No major ones. 
Keywords: DSR (definite vibes, a little angst), 
violence (a little Doggett 
suffering). 
Feedback: You know by now, I love it! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and all 
other characters mentioned here-in are the property 
of 1013 Productions. 

Dedicated especially to Gina this time- a little 
tenderness on show in this chapter to apologise for 
nearly making her cry last time after what may seem a 
worrying beginning. 

----- 

Doggett stared into Kobold's deep dark eyes as he 
weighed the sinister comment he had just made. Then 
he broke loose with another bellowing salvo. 

"Whatever, Kobold, you maniac!" His hoarse voice 
echoed through the cave.
"You can have it all, my soul, my house, my car, my 
goddamn credit cards, whatever!! If you do have the 
power to really save her, then damn well do it 
before it's too late!! Do it!!" 

Kobold folded his arms across his chest and closed 
his eyes tight. 

"We have a deal then. I hope you realise how much it 
will cost you. But then that's what this game is all 
about, John Doggett." 

Kobold strided forward, not immediately heading for 
the prone Scully, but closer towards the hanging 
Doggett. He swung round in panic as Kobold got 
nearer. 

"You said we had a deal! Save her, you son of a 
bitch!" 

Kobold reached out his pale hands towards Doggett, a 
move which unnerved the shackled man even more. 

"Haven't you ever wondered why there's been so much 
darkness around your life through the years, John 
Doggett? Haven't you ever thought there must be a 
reason for it to dog your steps, to lie in wait and 
spring its dark surprises onto you? Well, when this 
game is complete, you may at last discover why....." 

Doggett flinched as Kobold's hands stabbed suddenly 
against his sand- encrusted chest, his fingers almost 
cutting into the flesh. As he did so, Doggett's body 
spasmed violently as a searing burning pain tore 
through his being and his outer skin appeared to 
blacken and burn. As Kobold increased his grip, 
Doggett could hold back from acknowledging the agony 
no longer, and as the terrible smell of burnt flesh 
filled his nostrils, he threw back his head to fill 
the cavern with the cry of a man whose entire body 
had become an inferno. 

In that moment, his manacles broke away and Doggett 
fell to the sand and rock below hard, the wind 
knocked from his body and blackness returning to him 
as his head slammed against the ground. 

In that blackness, before it swallowed him totally, 
he heard Kobold's voice one last time. 

"This game is not over, John Doggett. It only just 
begins....." 

----- 

"John." 

A sweet voice was coming to Doggett out of the 
darkness, a familiar soft voice filled with the 
strong tinge of deep concern. As Doggett's eyes 
restored vision and clarity to him, he became aware 
of a female face close to his, blue eyes clouded with 
feeling for him. As the blurred vision began to 
clear, Doggett's eyes opened wide as he beheld the 
face of Dana Scully looking down at him. 

"Dana....." he whispered, not believing what he was 
seeing. "My God....it is you......" 

He reached a sore hand tenderly towards her left 
cheek. As he made contact, Scully blushed and he 
could see that embarrasment in her eyes again. 

"You're alive.....that son of a bitch did save 
you....." 

Scully's eyes filled with puzzlement. 

"John?" 

"Josef Kobold....don't you remember, Dana? He made me 
shoot you....you were lyin' there dying.... he said 
he could save your life...." 

Scully's face maintained its confusion. 

"Kobold? John, what are you talking about? I haven't 
been shot, you can see that...." 

Doggett stared at Scully's blouse incredulously as he 
beheld there was no blood splashed across the 
garment, no bullethole. 

"I don't believe it....there's no sign of it...." 
Doggett closed his eyes in tired frustration. "Am I 
goin' crazy or somethin'? You don't remember it at 
all?" "I remember we were talking." Scully's voice 
was quiet and measured. "We heard a shot, you went to 
investigate....and I found you on the reception desk 
floor. Your arms were bleeding and I had to wrap some 
make-shift bandages around them as you can see." 

Doggett became aware of the hand-towels wrapped 
around his painful wrists. "You mean the guy at the 
reception, the guy in the mask, who shot himself, 
wasn't there?" 

Doggett made a move to sit up but Scully placed a 
hand lightly on his chest to stop him. 

"John, you've gotta' take it easy." 

"Sure..." Doggett let out a long sigh. "First thing I 
gotta' do when I'm obviously on the edge of losin' 
it!" 

He laid his hand on Scully's shoulder and lightly 
squeezed it. 

"It was real, Dana. Kobold was here, even more of a 
crazy son of a bitch than he was when we last met 
him. He had me bound, you were lyin' bleeding. He 
said he'd save you in exchange for my soul. He must 
have saved you.....there's no other explanation....." 

Scully looked deep into his eyes. 

"Then how do you explain why I don't remember any of 
it, seeing him, being shot, being saved? You know I'm 
open to extreme possibilities, John, but if that 
had all happened, wouldn't I at least retain some 
memory of it?" 

Doggett shifted on the bed he was lying on back in 
the hotel room. 

"Then he really must be playin' a game with me, like 
he said. An' wipin' your memory must be part of 
it...." 

Doggett noticed the disbelief filling Scully's eyes 
as she sat next to him. "Don't look at me like that, 
Dana! Not you! Not after all the weird stuff we've 
been through, how much more weirder can Kobold 
suddenly appearing here and doin' what he did be 
compared to all the other strange crap we've 
encountered?" Scully took his hand in hers, 
compassion filling her features. 

"You know how open I am to accept strange 
possibilities, but only when I've seen the facts for 
myself...." 

Anger suddenly filled Doggett's features, unnnerving 
her, and he pulled away his hand sharply from his 
touch. 

"Suppose Muldah had told ya' what I just did? Would 
you doubt him in the same way?" 

Scully's eyes became strained and watery as she tried 
to compose herself. "That's not fair, John, damn 
it...." 

Doggett rose angrily to his feet, fighting to steady 
himself as raw emotion flooded through him. 

"Not fair, Dana? I'll tell ya' what's not fair....you 
still holdin' a torch for him when he's abandoned you 
yet again! And you patronisin' and distrustin' me 
after all I've done for you, always being here for 
you' when he ain't! That's what isn't fair! If I told 
you I saw an alien, believed in UFO's, was ready to 
fight an alien takeover, then I guess you might let 
me in!" 

Scully rose equally angrily to her feet and stood 
before him. 

"I care about you, John! How can you say I'm 
patronising you, distrusting you? I know what you 
came through to get here, how you risked your health 
to be here and what it all may have done to your 
mind! We've been through so much and it means a hell 
of a lot to me you being here! But there is no way 
I'm gonna' stand here and have you tell me I consider 
you a weak competitor to Mulder!" 

Scully stood inches from him, her blue eyes blazing 
and emotional. 

"I've never compared you to him....I understand your 
willingness not to believe, I used to share it. I can 
remember telling Mulder I couldn't change the way I 
thought unless it was right, and you're the same, 
John. You're not ready to believe yet, you've haven't 
seen what I've seen to do that. But there's no way I 
would shut you out of my life or consider you second 
best just for not being able to accept those things. 
I've been there and I know what you're feeling." 

As Scully took his hand again, Doggett eyes were 
apologetic. 

"I'm sorry, Dana. I had no right to say that to you." 

He felt her squeeze his fingers between hers. 

"I know I've hurt you in the past, I shut you out 
when I sent Mulder away. I was afraid...." 

Doggett's face loomed down into hers, his expression 
pleading to know more. "Afraid of what? Dana...." 

Scully spoke slowly, her lower lip visibly trembling. 

"I was afraid....of what I was feeling about you. I 
still am afraid of that. And I knew with Mulder gone, 
that being alone with you I could have....." "Have 
what?" Doggett's hand was locked together with hers. 
He could feel her trembling even through that minute 
touch. 

"What I'm afraid I feel again now he's away....that I 
could...." 

Scully suddenly broke away from him and went to exit 
to the adjoining bathroom. 

"Excuse me..." 

Despite his fatigue and pain, Doggett caught up with 
her and turned her around to face him. There was so 
much naked fear in her eyes now and something else; 
almost a pleading without words for him to make the 
next move. They stared into the depths of each others 
eyes for what seemed like endless moments. 
Scully gave him a nervous smile, blinking back a 
fresh tear that was forming in the corner of her eye. 
He surveyed her standing before him. Despite the 
madness he felt was tearing into his brain, the 
confusion about what he felt had occurred 
earlier, for this one moment Doggett had never found 
Scully so perfectly beautiful; afraid and vulnerable 
but such strength inside her. It was what had 
attracted him to her 2 years ago. Despite Mulder, 
despite the forces out to destroy them both, he just 
wanted to take things further between them at last. 
He truly wanted to demonstrate how much he loved and 
wanted her. 

Scully stood silently trembling, still smiling 
nervously, then the smile faded to be replaced by a 
deep look of invitation to him. He felt she really 
wanted his kiss and his touch on her. 

"Scully....I...." he began, trying to make some sense 
out of his jumbled feelings. "I'm still not sure this 
is a right time....." 

Scully began to slowly unbutton the top buttons of 
her green blouse. Her eyes were so full and wet now. 

"Neither am I....but if we don't now......." 

"Mulder...." Doggett whispered to her as her third 
button came undone revealing the tiniest hint of 
black lace underneath. 

"I know...." Scully was openly crying now, her whole 
body was shaking as she prepared to bare herself to 
him. His hand came down on her own stopping her 
from undoing the fourth button. It was such a 
powerful movement it made her jolt. 

"I'm not gonna' force you into a situation you're not 
ready for, Dana, much as I want to be with you. It 
wouldn't give me any pleasure to do that to you....." 

"I need to know...." Scully's voice was the quietest 
Doggett had ever heard it. "I don't know if it's 
wrong.....but I need to know what it would be 
like....I want to feel you making love to my body, 
John...." 

She moved her face closer to his, he could feel the 
measured excitement and anticipation in Scully's 
breathing and he knew it was exciting him too. She 
pulled his face slowly to hers gently moving her lips 
to meet his. 

"Kobold was here, Dana....he was here...." Doggett 
whispered as the pressure of his lips on hers made 
Scully begin to open her mouth. 

Scully began to press her tongue against his, 
demanding his response. But Doggett moved away. A 
look of hurt and disappointment crossed Scully's 
eyes. 

----- 

Kobold watched them from the cave in his mind, his 
black-clad body sitting upright amongst the rocks. 

"You're a condemned man, John Doggett. Dare you not 
savour her until it is time for me to claim what is 
mine? Claim the rage in your soul as my instrument?" 

In his mind, they are standing only feet apart...... 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Five. 
Author: Tony. E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com 
Rating: PG-13 (a little blood, some adult language). 
Spoilers: William. 
Keywords: DSR (some major lovin' and some major 
angst). 
Feedback: As always, yes!
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned here-in are the property of 1013 
Productions. 

This chapter was originally gonna be a very sexy one 
but I've changed tack a little bit to leave a total 
consummation out just yet- as you may imagine things 
are gonna get even harder after the end of this 
chapter! Dedicated to Lisa S, Gina, Moose and Anna- 
your comments keep me going! 

------------------------------------- 

As he stared into Scully's confused and watery eyes, 
Doggett knew he had deeply hurt her by pulling away 
from the kiss she had started with him. He could 
feel the intense disappointment and anger inside her 
with herself as she slowly turned her back on him and 
bit down hard on her lower lip. She began to re-do 
the buttons on her blouse shakily as she fought to 
stop more tears spilling from her blue eyes and her 
voice was broken as she spoke. 

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she cursed herself 
in a hoarse whisper. "Offering my heart to two men 
who can't open themselves up to me in return....do I 
feel that unloved? That totally alone?" 

Doggett came up slowly behind her and placed his 
hands on her shoulders. Even though Scully couldn't 
see his face, she knew the deep concern that would be 
flooding his expression for her. She had committed 
that loving look to her memory so many times in the 
past and in this moment just the single light 
pressure of his hands near her neck did things to her 
and her body that truly aroused and excited her, 
despite her hurt. 

"Dana....do you know how hard it is for me to pull 
back from you? How damn hard it is not to be with you 
right now?" 

He squeezed her shoulders in emphasis making Scully 
almost throw her head back at what the almost-massage 
was making her feel. She closed her eyes tight 
as that strong throaty masculine voice drifted into 
her ears from behind her. It was as if in explanation 
he was making love to her already. 

"If Muldah walked back into this room right now, can 
you honestly tell me you could tell him to go out of 
your life? Can you tell me that your feelings for me 
would take priority over your feelings for him? He 
had eight years with you, I've only had two....how 
can I possibly measure up to that?" 

Scully opened her clouded wet eyes. 

"Sometimes time doesn't offer everything, John...." 
She turned slowly to face him and he once more beheld 
a beautiful face stained with tears. "I may have 
followed him for such a long time, eventually grew to 
love him....but in the two years I've known you, I 
have to be honest, who gave me more 
comfort.....protection....real love? I felt it from 
you, John, like no other man has ever offered me." 

Doggett barely struggled to control his own feelings 
as Scully's face moved up into his face once more. 
Her voice shook with deep-felt emotion and she was 
close enough to him he could hear every tiny 
whispered breath that composed each word she was 
saying to him. 

"I love you, John." 

Doggett had waited so long to hear her say those 
words to him. His body let loose a long outake of 
sharp breath in return as she continued to speak 
words he had sworn to himself he would never hear 
from her lips. 

"More than him. More than Mulder." 

Scully's voice was almost breaking as she spoke those 
words to him. Doggett knew how much it had truly hurt 
her to admit that, not just to him but especially 
to herself. As she continued to bare her soul to him, 
Doggett slowly wrapped his arms gently around her. 

"I even saw the difference between you when it came 
to little Willie, how much more you cared for him 
than Mulder did.....maybe if i'm honest with myself, 
I sent Mulder away to not only shield him from 
danger, but to test him....test the love I thought we 
could share....and when I got him back it was too 
late for us....I offered my entire heart to him, 
John, but at the end of the day he was a 
stranger.....he wasn't....the man....I fell in love 
with......." 

Scully buried herself in Doggett's bruised naked 
shoulder as she broke totally down in his embrace. 

"He couldn't even tell me he loved me two days ago in 
this room....." Scully sobbed. "I used to think I was 
such a strong person....but I've made so many 
mistakes in the past couple of years... especially 
giving away my son and hurting you....I'm so sorry, 
John...." 

Doggett cradled her head gently against him as he 
whispered in her ear. "Hey, darlin'...." His voice 
was on the verge of wavering too. "You're one of the 
strongest women I ever met in my life......that's 
what attracted me to you in the first place, Dana. Do 
you realise the strength it's takin' for you to tell 
me these things, huh?" 

Scully lifted her head from him and he held her face 
tenderly across from him. His face was strong and 
firm. Scully swallowed hard, it gave her so much 
power that face. 

"Maybe one day, Dana, you can make me believe." 

Scully's eyes had become piercing in their intention. 

"Kiss me and I'll make you believe..." 

Slowly Doggett and Scully's faces touched and their 
lips tenderly met in a kiss that was at first light 
but then began to increase in passion. Doggett pulled 
her close to him and his fingers moved through her 
silky red hair as she pressed her body into his 
powerful chest. Doggett could feel her fingers run 
down his back, her nails teasing the naked skin. He 
lost himself totally in this moment, forgetting the 
bizarre events that had beset him here, forgetting 
Kobold, forgetting everything but really feeling a 
woman he had wanted for so long against him. Scully's 
kiss was becoming so strong, so powerful Doggett felt 
as though she was trying to devour him. He carefully 
stopped her and held her breathless, inches from his 
lips which were now smattered with traces of her 
lipstick. 

"Dana....take it easy. We have all the time 
in....aaah!" 

As Doggett suddenly bent double in agonised pain, a 
shocked Scully held onto him. 

"John, what is it? What's wrong?" Doggett gripped his 
chest as a searing pain assaulted his body. 

"Burnin', Dana, it's burnin!" 

He fell back onto the bed, Scully falling with him as 
she desperately attempted to hold onto him 

-------------------------------------- 

In the darkened cavern, Kobold simply smiled as he 
continued to watch. This game needed an added 
incentive. 

--------------------------------------- 

Scully had become aware of the blood that was pooling 
from what she thought had been a light burn on 
Doggett's chest. Running to the bathroom, she fetched 
some new fresh towelling and tore it hurriedly up to 
apply on the wound. 

"Jesus, Dana, what the hell is happenin' to me? Why 
does it hurt so damn much?" 

Scully wrapped the towelling around him, tying it 
tight around him to absorb the bleeding. 

"Where did you get those wounds, John?" she asked 
worriedly as she held him close. 

A terrible memory reappeared in Doggett's memory, a 
memory that he had almost forgotten, having been so 
lost in that moment with Scully.
 
"Kobold...." Doggett's face twisted into an angry 
snarl. "That son of a bitch....he burned me when he 
had me bound....he must have done somethin' to 
me....." 

--------------------------------- 

Kobold threw back his head and his sinister laughter 
echoed around the cavern as he watched the angered 
Doggett through his eyes. 

--------------------------------- 

Doggett rose to his feet, reaching angrily for 
Scully's gun once more. 

"He told me, Dana..." Doggett turned back to her laid 
on the bed. "Told me all my life evil has been 
stalkin' me and he was right....I remember Muldah 
telling me evil was everywhere....he said some people 
resisted it....other people could get infected by 
it....and that's what that son of a bitch has done to 
me, infected me with evil! I can feel it burnin' in 
me, Dana! And I'm gonna' take the bastard out before 
he can do it to you too!" 

"John, stop, please!" Scully moved to follow him, 
stopping him before he could reach the door. "Listen 
to yourself! You know I want you to believe, but not 
in this! This is a delusion, John! You've got to stop 
it!" 

Doggett slowly pushed her away from him. 

"I'll show you what a delusion this all is, 
Dana....when I bring that bastard back here full of 
the bullets in this gun....there's no damn way he's 
gonna play this game with me! Not any more!" 

Tearing open the hotel room door, a raging Doggett 
came face to face with a figure dressed in black, 
smiling a wide and taunting grin. 

"We have a contract, John Doggett. Time for you to 
honour it." 

"Screw you, Kobold!" Doggett shouted as he pumped 
Scully's gun clip angrily into his nemesis. The 
black-clad body fell to his feet as an alarmed Scully 
raced over to him. 

"Game over." Doggett growled as he turned towards 
Scully but was halted by the look of total horror and 
disbelief etched on her features. 

"Dana....what?" Following Scully's horrified gaze 
back to the body on the floor, Doggett was equally 
horrified as he beheld who lay there now. 

It was Fox Mulder. 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Six. 
Author: Tony. 
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13. 
Spoilers: No major ones. 
Keywords: DSR (some major angst). 
Feedback: keep it coming! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned herein are the property of 1013 
Productions. 

Dedicated to Lisa S, Gina, Moose, Anna and Diandra. 
Don't worry the DSR lovin' will happen eventually! 

--------------------------- 

Doggett stood by the open door in total disbelief as 
a trembling distraught Scully walked in what seemed 
to him a horribly-extended slow-motion towards the 
body of Mulder which lay at his feet, blood pouring 
from the six slugs fired into him. Slowly she sank to 
her knees inches from Mulder, her head shaking from 
side to side in denial at the sight lying before her, 
her face so wet with falling tears her skin was now 
totally reddened and flushed. 

"Mulder....." she whispered. "Oh My God, Mulder...." 

Doggett dropped Scully's gun to the carpet, barely 
able to comprehend what had just occured and make 
sense of the sudden transformation he had witnessed 
from a smiling taunting Kobold to the other man in 
Scully's life. Was he really going crazy, he asked 
himself as the broken Scully before him cradled 
Mulder's head in her arms, had his fatigue and total 
exhaustion resulted in a madness that had just cost 
the life of an innocent man? A man, who for all that 
had just been spoken and shared between him and 
Scully in this room, still meant so much to her? 
Doggett was brought violently out of his troubled 
thoughts by the sight of a suddenly-desperate Scully 
attempting to cover the gaping wounds with some of 
the remaining towelling she had previously 
administered to Doggett. 

"Dana....." he spoke in a hoarse whisper. "What are 
you doin'?" 

"The bleeding...." Scully babbled uncontrollably. 
"We've got to stop the bleeding, we can't let him 
die! He can't die!" 

Doggett reached out and took hold of her, attempting 
to pull her away from the body. 

"He's gone, Dana....." Doggett held onto her arm 
tight. "He took six bullets to the chest, Dana. 
There's nothin' you can do.....nothin'......." 

Scully turned on Doggett with a sudden blazing anger 
that shocked and unnerved him even more than the fact 
he had shot Fox Mulder. 

"Why did you do it?? WHY?? Was it so hard for you to 
see him walking back into this room, you had to kill 
him?? Did you really want me so bad you had to blow 
him out of my life??" 

Doggett's eyes are wide and numb and unable to 
believe Scully could accuse him of such an action. 

"You really think I'd do somethin' like that, Dana? 
After all we've been through?? This all seems totally 
crazy to me, but when I fired my weapon, I was 
shooting Kobold! Kobold was standin' in that doorway, 
not Muldah!! And I fired, Dana! I shot Kobold!!" 

Scully exploded in a seething violent anger, 
screaming at Doggett and pointing at Mulder's body 
unsteadily with a trembling finger. 

"That's Mulder lying there, not Kobold!! I didn't see 
Kobold, I only saw Mulder!! And that's who's lying 
there, MULDER!! It's right in front of your damn 
face, look!! LOOK!! Your crazy delusions have killed 
him, they've killed Mulder!!" 

"Dana.....please.....this is hard enough for me 
without....." Doggett began as he reached out to take 
her in his arms, hold her, anything to quiet her pain 
and anguish, but Scully pulled away from him. 

"Get your hands off me, you son of a bitch!" Scully 
shouted and she slapped him hard across the face, his 
own shock almost making the pain of her hand's impact 
totally unfelt. As he fought to compose himself, 
Scully ran past him to the outside forecourt. He 
followed her to find her racing towards the vehicle 
he had arrived in. Despite the pain flooding through 
his tortured body, he kept after her, desperate to 
stop her from running away before they figured out 
this whole bizarre crazy mess. 

"Dana, come back!!" Doggett bellowed after her, deep 
pain almost breaking his voice. "It can't have been 
Muldah, Dana! I know what I saw, I know I saw 
Kobold! Somehow this must all be part of his game! 
He's playin' with both of us! He's makin' you think I 
killed Muldah to divide us! You can't run out, Dana! 
That's what he wants!! DANA!!" 

Scully had already scrambled behind the wheel of 
Doggett's car and was turning the keys he left in the 
ignition as Doggett finally slammed against the side 
of it, his energy spent. She locked the passenger 
door denying him access and he banged frantically on 
her window as the car started up and she began to 
drive it from the forcourt. 

"Dana, don't run!! It has to be Kobold, I swear to 
you!" 

Tears almost blurred Scully's vision as she turned 
painfully to behold the pleading Doggett. 

"I can't take any more of this, John.....any of it!! 
I've got to get away from here, away from all of 
this! I'm gonna find my son! I'm gonna find William 
before I lose him too!" 

The car sped past Doggett and he raced after it, 
holding his burning chest tight as desert dust almost 
choked him in the vehicle's wake. 

"Dammit, Dana! I love you!! He knows that! Kobold 
knows that! We can only fight him together, Dana! I 
need you, Dana! I NEED YOU, DAMMIT!" 

But it is too late, Scully had gone in a cloud of dry 
desert dust. Doggett fell to his knees, exhaustion 
finally hitting him and his eyes full of frustrated 
tears. 

"Dammit, Dana...." 

------------------------------ 

Doggett slowly made his way back to the hotel room, 
stepping over Mulder's body which still lay soaked in 
red across the stained carpet. He picked the gun 
from the floor next to it and angrily held it in his 
bruised palm before dispatching it violently across 
the room to impact against the table lamp by the 
side of the bed, smashing it to the ground with a 
loud crash. 

"Such rage." 

Doggett flinched as he heard that taunting voice 
assault his consciousness once more. He swung around, 
his eyes blazing with pure hatred and his face 
twisted with utter ferocity to behold Kobold standing 
over Mulder's body, his arms folded in a gesture of 
deep fulfillment. 

"But then you've always been a killer, haven't you, 
John Doggett? Even back in the days of Bravo Company, 
albeit a government-sanctioned killer, but a killer 
nonetheless." 

Doggett moved slowly towards Kobold, his whole body 
defiantly angry and ready to destroy the man's life 
totally. 

"I was a soldier, fighting for my country! In war 
people die! It was my job to defend lives, you son of 
a bitch! And yeah, sometimes that involved takin' 
life in return, but no way do I even stand 
comparison' with a sadistic bastard like you! I 
never got off by takin' another man's life, even in 
combat! But you, you delight in takin' life, don't 
ya? It's all about getting some kind of demonic kick, 
isn't it? And the games you play figure into that, 
don't they? Like the game you're playin' right now 
with my head, with Dana's head? Letting us both think 
Muldah is lyin' there dead and I shot him! I'm onto 
your game, Kobold, but she isn't! She tore out of 
here sufferin' because of what you've done, and she's 
suffered enough, you son of a bitch! You hear me? 
Dana has suffered enough, and i'm gonna tear 
you apart for puttin' her through the wringer another 
time, you hear me? You're about to join all those you 
killed, Kobold...!!" 

Kobold stood unmoved by Doggett's threats and his 
angry advance. 

"You may whitewash your rage, John Doggett, but you 
are a killing machine whose soul I will own and you 
will kill for me, John Doggett. You will become 
my instrument here on Earth and you will spill blood 
just for me, anybody's blood, even Dana Scully's and 
her little boy's when you come over to me body 
and soul....." 

Doggett's face turned white-hot on hearing Kobold's 
last sentence and he launched himself at his taunter 
only to crash headlong into the hotel room door, 
stunning himself. As he steadied himself on his feet, 
he heard Kobold's voice invading his mind, echoing in 
his head. Spinning around, Doggett could see no 
sign of Kobold in the room with him, or looking down, 
the body of Mulder. 

"What in the name of....?" 

The taunting voice became louder inside Doggett's 
head. 

"There are certain people born to this world, John 
Doggett. Born to take either a good or evil path and 
to fight for either's values. You are one of these 
people, John Doggett. I recognised it in you when i 
first met you. I saw how evil had stalked you ready 
to use your inner rage to work for its dark purposes, 
it killed friends of yours in combat, it murdered 
your son, it made your wife divorce you, it placed 
you on The X Files in the middle of a deadly 
conspiracy, it introduced you to a beautiful woman 
you thought you could never have.....all to stir your 
rage and lead you down the dark path you're destined 
for.....you are chosen for......I have intensified 
that evil inside you, John. It's spreading through 
you now like a cancer and it will make you serve me, 
it will give your soul to me. You will fight it, but 
it is useless, John Doggett." 

Doggett slammed his fist against the panelled door 
making the bruised skin bleed in an attempt to defy 
the voice permeating his consciousness. 

"Final bell ain't rang yet, Kobold. And there's no 
way I'd ever serve you or harm Dana....." 

"But i've made her hate you, John. By making her 
think you killed the man she loved. I brought you 
together in the first place....gave you the path to 
find her on....." 

Doggett slowly became aware of what Kobold was 
telling him, his eyes filling with fresh concern. 

"Those dreams....it was you all along.....making me 
dream them....." 

Kobold's voice continued in its steady malevolance. 

"I gave you those precious intimate hours together 
and now I've taken then away from you... doesn't that 
make you hate, John Doggett? Make the evil I have 
seeded you with flow through your veins much quicker, 
hmm?" 

Doggett retrieved his shirt from the messed-up bed 
and as he stretched it over his scarred chest he 
heard a fresh engine filling the forecourt. 

"Dana....?" Looking through the blinds, Doggett is 
disappointed to see it isn't Scully pulling into the 
forecourt but a man in a small grey pick-up truck. As 
the man disembarked and made his way over to the 
reception, Doggett knew he had to seize his chance. 
Picking up the empty gun from the carpet, he turned 
his face up to the ceiling, his features twisted in a 
newfound resilence and defiance. 

"I'll beat your game, Kobold. Anyway I can. And I'll 
prove to Dana I didn't kill Muldah. You hear me, you 
son of a bitch? The fat lady ain't sung yet.....I'll 
make Dana listen to me..." 

Tearing across the forecourt, Doggett came up behind 
the driver, pressing the empty gun into the small of 
the terrified little man's back. 

"Alright, pops! Just give me the keys to your pick-up 
there and i won't hurt ya, ok?" 

The shaking man handed over the keys instantly and as 
Doggett ran backwards towards the truck, covering the 
man with the empty gun as he ran, he threw back 
a smile. 

"Just consider it a loan, ok, amigo?" 

Throwing himself behind the wheel of the truck, 
Doggett sped it into action and as he drove away to 
follow the main desert road, his mind was filled with 
the task before him: to beat Kobold's deadly game and 
find Scully. Nothing else mattered. 

------------------------------ 

It was darkness when Scully pulled into the outskirts 
of a small local town. She was exhausted and drained 
after the nightmare she had suffered back at the 
hotel and her mind was barely functioning, replaying 
the horrifying image of Mulder lying on the floor 
shot by Doggett. But in her mind another one played 
of the anger she had inflicted on Doggett in her 
distress and the conviction in his face when he had 
told her he was sure it was Kobold he had fired at. 
He had seemed so sure that he was right. Scully had 
barely acknowledged the possibility in her 
shocked state, but what if he had been right? After 
all the weird and strange things she had encountered 
during her time on The X Files, what if this was 
merely another? That they were both pawns in a daedly 
game and Mulder wasn't dead? And she had left Doggett 
alone and hurt in the middle of.... what? 

Slowly she stumbled up the steps of a local cantina 
and made her way into its smoky dark ambience. 
Despite her concern and her need to know what was 
really true, she had to find a place to rest, to 
regain her strength to return to the man she had 
accused and left behind. To return to discover the 
real truth of what had happened. Several swarthy 
looking men looked up as she made her entrance, 
engrossed in a ball game on a dirty old television 
and as she staggered over in her fatigue to the bar 
her eyes came into focus on a familiar face seated 
at it in a grubby white t-shirt and jeans. Scully's 
eyes opened in shocked disbelief as the figure 
surveyed her with equal suprise. 

"It can't be...." she gasped. 

Mulder raised a dirtied glass and smiled. 

"Dana. Wanna drink to the Yankees?" 





Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Seven. 
Author: Tony.
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 (mild adult language). 
Spoilers: The Truth. 
Keywords: MSR references, DSR . 
Feedback: As always, yes! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned 
herein are the property of 1013 Productions. 

Dedicated as ever to my favourite Shoddsisters (you 
know who are!) and also to Lisa K for that lovely 
thank you mail for my fellow authors and I (bless ya, 
Lisa!) and Patricia who has also just offered nice 
comments too on the fic. More twists and turns 
coming..... 

----- 

At first Scully stood rooted to the spot, her mind 
unable to take in the fact a fully-alive Fox Mulder 
was sitting smiling at her seated at the long bar. As 
she stood silent and inwardly trembling, Mulder 
slowly put down the glass he was holding and walked 
towards her. 

"Dana? You ok?" 

His words were a trigger for her to run into his arms 
and throw her body around his in a heartfelt gesture 
of emotional relief. As a surprised Mulder returned 
the embrace, he felt Scully's tears spilling into the 
shoulder of his white t-shirt. "Gee, you do miss me 
when I'm away, don't you?" he laughed softly as 
Scully held tight onto him, needing to feel he was 
truly real and standing there unharmed. 

"I thought I'd saw you die back at the hotel.....Oh 
God....I'm so glad it wasn't you, so glad..." 

As Scully pulled away after holding Mulder for 
several long and grateful minutes, she moved back out 
of his embrace and straightened up, giving Mulder 
his first real chance to observe just how tired and 
fatigued she really was. 

"What are you talking about?" he smiled again. "You 
been experiencing paranormal phenomena without me? 
I'm feeling slighted...." 

Despite her gratitude at him being alive and well and 
having the chance to see him again, Scully found 
herself suddenly angry at Mulder's levity, especially 
in light of recent events she had suffered and the 
fact he had still once more disappeared off into the 
night on another secret mission without taking her 
with him. 

"Do you have any idea what I've been through, Mulder? 
Any idea at all?" she responded in a large snappy 
breath. 

Mulder noticed the angry fire that crossed her blue 
eyes and pulled in his smile, unnnerved by her sudden 
change. 

"Why don't you tell me?" 

He sat slowly down at a seat nearer her at the bar. 
Scully moved closer to him, visibly shaking with 
emotion. 

"It has been a nightmare, a nightmare you weren't 
around again to experience, like you weren't around 
before when things became hellish and crazy....I told 
you we were in this fight together, Mulder, in this 
fight to stand as one against all those forces 
determined to destroy us...but you chose to leave 
again....to leave me alone when I still really needed 
to be by your side.... to need your comfort....your 
love.....All I got was a note, Mulder! A damn 
mysterious arcane note from you, not telling me what 
you were doing, once again not trusting me with the 
information you had.....what was it, Mulder? 
Something else you were afraid would crush my spirit? 
Is that the excuse for not letting me in again?" 

Despite the obvious pain he felt seeing Scully so 
upset and hurt, Mulder straightened up angrily in his 
seat. 

"That wasn't an excuse, Dana! Before, I really 
believed the knowledge I had about the invasion would 
crush you, crush your hope.....but this time I left 
you out because there was real danger.. a real chance 
I wouldn't come back alive! I simply couldn't risk 
the same for you...." 

Scully's hand slammed down hard on the side of the 
bar, temporarily distracting several of the swarthy 
men seated around them from their game on the TV. 
"If that was the risk, don't you think I would have 
wanted to be there with you even more? After what I 
told you that first night, didn't you even get the 
impression I was ready to give everything to be with 
you and fight with you, even my life? That's the way 
it always was, Mulder, remember? The way it still 
should be! Only I don't think you see it like that 
anymore...." 

Mulder's eyes narrowed painfully. 

"I thought I was doing the right thing for both of 
us, I really did. I have choices too, and one of them 
is not watching you die next to me...." 

Scully's voice was a pained whisper. 

"If I had to lose you, Mulder, I would have wanted to 
be there....that would have been MY choice, should 
have been MY choice....I don't really know what my 
choices are now in this moment.....I really don't, 
Mulder...." 

Mulder reached out an arm to Scully's sleeve and 
looked up pleadingly into her confused eyes. 

"Scully, I have a new contact in Area 51....He could 
be the one to finally get us proof of the alien 
infiltration of our Government...." 

"How?" whispered an emotional Scully, only half-
listening to him, her mind slipping into the recesses 
of extreme fatigue and the dawning awareness of just 
how much she had hurt the man she left behind at the 
hotel by doubting him so badly. 

"He's a research scientist who believes he has 
created a weapon that will expose them....It could be 
our big chance to stall the takeover....to really 
prove to people they're here among us..." Mulder's 
face could barely contain his obsessed excitement. 
"Only that will bring us closer to leading the normal 
life I think you're saying you really want....until 
we truly stop them, everything else must take a 
backseat, it must!" 

"Including us?" Scully asked shakily, her eyebrows 
quivering as they slowly raised. "Are you that 
obsessed now, Mulder, with our fight to stop them, 
you've forgotten that our time is even more precious 
together now....that the moments between our 
struggles to expose and stop them should be more 
intimate, more special....more honest?" 

Scully took his hand in hers. 

"Two nights ago, I told you I loved you, and you 
couldn't say it back to me, Mulder. Why was that? Do 
we have to be together without being able to express 
those feelings to each other because its only of 
secondary importance to our mission?" Her blue eyes 
sparked with a ferocious assertiveness as water 
pooled inside them. "Our mission should be not just 
to fight THEM, Mulder, but to fight for US, to keep 
what we've had special and expressed! If we don't, we 
become as cold, as unfeeling as them....." 

Scully slowly ran her other hand through his hair and 
across the side of his face. "And I'm afraid you are 
becoming that way, Mulder....remote, cold, no longer 
capable of really holding me....showing me the love I 
once had from you.....the love I really need in my 
life right now...." 

Mulder stood, putting his arms slowly around her 
waist. His eyes showed signs of a man shocked to hear 
what she was saying to him. 

"Have I really been that cold to you, Dana?" he 
whispered. "Is that why you're having visions of my 
death?" 

Scully looked at him with clouded eyes. 

"Doggett saw it too. He thought he'd shot you, only 
it wasn't you, Mulder. And I couldn't see that...." 
She laid her head on his shoulder as Mulder's 
expression hardened. 

"Doggett?" He pulled Scully gently but firmly off his 
shoulder and held her at arm's length as she tried to 
compose herself. 

"Doggett was with you?" 

"Yes." Scully replied in a quiet voice. "And I told 
him I didn't believe him." 

"And how did the redoutable Agent Doggett find you in 
the middle of New Mexico? I think I need to hear this 
tale from the beginning, Scully...." 

A familiar hoarse deep voice answered from the 
entrance of the cantina. 

"It's a long one, Muldah." 

Mulder turned around, Scully still held in his arms 
by the bar, to behold an equally fatigued Doggett 
walking into the cantina in a t-shirt which was more 
stained and grubby than his own. And as Doggett 
slowly approached them both, Mulder was not blind to 
the way Scully's eyes lit up with deep relief and 
perhaps something more on seeing him here. His grip 
on her body noticeably tightened. 

"Agent Doggett, the last person I expected to see 
walking into a cantina in New Mexico...." 

Doggett was pleased to see Scully was safe but his 
heart twisted slightly jealously when he beheld how 
tight she was in Mulder's embrace. He looked into her 
eyes as he reached them both and could see the 
realisation of the pain she'd caused him spilling 
into her blue eyes like a river that had broken its 
banks and he also saw the deep apology resting there 
too. He turned his eyes to Mulder. 

"It's just plain John Doggett now, Muldah." he 
breathed. "I think I might be as out of the FBI as 
you are now..." 

"Well..." Mulder drew a long pause, Scully 
disentangling slowly from his embrace as he gestured 
to the hispanic barman who had been watching the 
three of them with barely containable curiosity. 
"Wanna' share a Bud with me, John? From what Scully's 
been telling me, it seems you're finally 
acknowledging seeing paranormal phenomena and I sure 
gotta' drink to that!" 

Scully became frightened when she saw the rise in 
Doggett's eyes at Mulder's comment. 

"What's that mean?" he growled whisperingly. He 
turned to Scully. "What did you tell him, Dana?" 

Mulder smarted inside when he heard Doggett's voice 
speaking Scully's first name. Scully could feel the 
tension building between the two of them and knew 
it was because of her. She slowly moved between them. 

"We're all tired, I think we should get some rest 
because discussing this further." 

"Yeah." Mulder slowly got up from the bar and turned 
to fully face Doggett, his face lined with a serious 
and almost threatening tone. "There's sure a lot to 
talk about later..." Slowly he gently pulled Scully 
to follow him. The action riled Doggett but he tried 
not to show it. As the two of them passed him, Scully 
broke from Mulder's hold and addressed Doggett 
worringly. 

"Are you ok?" He could see from her eyes that she was 
really saying she was sorry and he gave her a look 
back that told her he understood. She smiled despite 
her tiredness and then Mulder was by her side. 

"I got a room here tonight, if you talk baseball with 
the barman, he'll give you great discount rates..." 
Mulder dryly told Doggett, moving past him to walk 
the stairs to the upstairs rooms. When he realised 
Scully wasn't following him, he turned back to 
address her but she interrupted him. 

"You go up. I'll be there in a moment, Mulder." 

Mulder gave a light nod and throwing Doggett another 
slightly- aggressive look, he turned back to climbing 
the stairs. Scully turned back to Doggett. 

"I have to talk with him before we decide how to 
tackle Kobold. I'm sorry I didn't believe you, John. 
And for what I said, running out on you, I...." 

Doggett held a finger softly to her lips. 

"It's ok, Dana..." he smiled. "Now I know I'm not 
going crazy, I know we can tackle that satanic son of 
a bitch." He placed his hands on her shoulder, Scully 
loving the feel of his strong comforting grip on her 
once more and wishing she could feel it touching 
other parts of her at this moment. 

"I know you and Muldah have things to discuss....and 
I'll be here whatever you decide, I want you to know 
that...." He squeezed her painful neck muscles in an 
assertive but still gentle massaging action. "But if 
he can help, with his expertise, against Kobold....we 
need it. I have a feelin' we're runnin' out of 
time...He told me things that really troubled me, 
Dana....and if they could possibly be true, then I 
need your help real bad to stop him....I need 
Muldah's as much as he still doesn't approve of 
me...." His strong eyes bored into her, almost 
hypnotising her with their intensity. "I'm scared 
shitless, Dana...and not just about Kobold...." 

"I know, John...I know..." 

Doggett's face warmed as she gave him a warm kiss on 
his right cheek, guilt tearing into her as she felt 
the bruised skin where'd she'd slapped him previously 
on her lips. She moved away, her watery eyes filled 
with so much compassion for him. 

As Doggett watched her beautiful form climb tiredly 
up the stairs, he felt his fear temporarily leave him 
for just a second, knowing that whatever evil was 
stalking him, Scully totally believed in him again 
whatever the future held, Mulder or no Mulder. And 
for the moment that healed any pain and dread he 
was feeling. He was still afraid of what was to come, 
but for now, her love and compassion strengthened 
him, gave him hope. He truly loved her. He turned to 
the still- confused barman, giving him a tired grin. 

"There's a pick-up out front. If you could lose it 
somewhere in the vicinity temporarily i'd sure 
appreciate it." His smile turned broader as he 
reached for what was in his wallet. "Now you wanna' 
talk Willy Mays?" 

----- 

Scully slowly reached the door to Mulder's room which 
he had left open for her. As she entered the semi-
darkness that was lit on-and-off by a flashing red 
neon sign, she peered into the blackness for him. 

"Mulder, are you there?" she said heading towards the 
small bed in the middle of the room. "Mulder, we have 
to talk....about us...and what John and I are up 
against....It doesn't help you provoking him like 
that....Mulder??" 

As she desperately attempted to pierce the neon-
coated room, a large hand suddenly clamped over her 
mouth from behind. Startled, Scully attempted to 
tackle her assailant despite her fatigue, kicking and 
punching him to break from his iron grip. But the 
hand held firm over her mouth and she found herself 
dragged onto the bed, a black cloak enveloping her 
body as a mouth pressed to her ear and a sinister 
voice filled it. 

"Hello again, Dana Scully. Mulder is busy right now 
I'm afraid." 

As the body of Josef Kobold held her firm under him, 
the malevolence that underlined his low voice was 
unmistakable and truly terrifying. 

"I need an instrument to further the rage building in 
John Doggett, to speed the evil flowing through his 
veins, and you will provide the material for me to do 
that, Dana....Your suffering will truly bring him to 
me...." 





Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Eight.
Author: Tony.
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: More of an R rating maybe due to adult 
language and disturbing violence.
Spoilers: William. 
Keywords: DSR, MSR (lots of angst and tension), some 
Scully torture. 
Feedback: you know the score by now, I love it! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned herein are the property of 1013 
Productions. 

Dedicated to my loyal Shoddsister readers, I love ya! 

----- 

"What are you doing to him, you bastard?" Scully 
hissed as Kobold brought his hand from over her 
mouth, still struggling to escape his grip. As she 
continued to fight him, Kobold brought one of her 
wrists painfully back in a fierce twist that made her 
cry out. 

"Merely using his love for you to release the evil I 
have placed within him and which is bubbling now 
under his flesh eager to escape him...." Kobold 
grinned as he continued to exert tremendous pressure 
on her bruised wrist. "I know the rage that would 
fill him seeing your body hurt and broken before 
him.....the rage he would feel towards anyone that 
would cause you such pain.... and that rage will 
bring him to me!" 

"John is a good man...." Scully spat at him. "Even if 
you have poisoned him with something, he has too much 
goodness inside him, you son of a bitch! Goodness 
that will kill whatever you've done to him!" 

Kobold moved his face closer to her left cheek, 
pressing it into the side of hers until the contact 
made Scully almost sick. 

"Would you consider yourself a good person, Scully?" 
he laughed softly. "Do good people who believe in God 
and justice empty a gun into another man for 
vengeance, like you did with Donnie Pfaster? Do you 
remember the dread inside you when you speculated 
what could have made you do that, despite your 
obvious hatred of what he was?" 

Anger burned in Scully as the painful memories Kobold 
was dredging up inside her returned to haunt her 
consciousness. 

"You SON OF A BITCH!!" 

She valiantly attempted to vault his body from on top 
of her, feeling she would kill this man herself for 
what he was doing to her and Doggett. But Kobold held 
firm, his voice filling her ears like a dark 
vindictive mantra. 

"I sense rage in you now, Scully...." Kobold ran his 
lips lightly down the side of her face, almost making 
contact with her skin but not quite. "It is really 
delcious to feel...Yes, Scully, you have darkness 
within you too. Even though you've devoted your life 
to good, there is even a dark seed inside you I could 
willingly cultivate and blossom.....Oh Yes....I would 
love to infect you....and make you serve me too...." 

Scully shuddered as Kobold's other hand ran 
indecently down her thighs. 

"I would love to turn your body to darkness, 
Dana....but John Doggett would serve me so better... 
his rage is intoxicating in its violence!" 

Using the force of his body, Kobold turned Scully 
over onto her back under him and locked his hands 
around her slender throat as she used her own hands 
to try and desperately dislodge them. His sinister 
coutenance erupted into a cruel smile as he increased 
pressure on her windpipe. 

"To have this power over life is so exhilarating, 
Dana....to have the power to take life 
indiscriminately or enslave it....it is better than 
any narcotic in your world....it fuels my soul and I 
feed like a starving child on it....hungrily and 
excessively....until I gorge....." 

"You'll....never....win...." came Scully's choked 
reply, digging her nails into Kobold's palms until 
they bled. 

"We...control...our....weaknesses....we're....stronge
r....than.. .you...." 

Kobold, seeming to savour the damage Scully was 
inflicting on his skin, filled her gasping face with 
his own. 

"Is that why you gave away William, Dana?" 

Kobold drinks from the fury in Scully's eyes as they 
burn with utter hatred for him despite her panicked 
fight for air. 

"Such fury....but I want it from your unrequited 
lover.....Scream for me, Dana....bring him here for 
me...." 

"No...." Scully remained defiant even though it was 
costing her life to prevent harm coming to Doggett. 

"Scream!!" Kobold, holding onto her throat with his 
left hand, punched his right hand directly into 
Scully's chest, the fist ripping through Scully's 
stomach and her body arched as searing pain engulfed 
her heart and her lungs melted in violent flame. 

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!" 

--------------------------- 

Doggett, having secured an upstairs room from the 
baseball-loving barman for what Mulder had indeed 
promised him would be a reduced rate, reached the 
door of the small shelter for the night he had been 
allocated when he heard Scully's agonised screams 
fill the hallway. The sound cut through his heart 
with a sickening thud and he followed its source to a 
room down the hall, his deep eyes blazing with panic. 
As he kicked the door in front of him open, the sight 
that greeted Doggett's eyes was, even given the 
events of the last 24 hours, one he would never have 
expected to see even in his wildest nightmares: a 
snarling Mulder was strangling Scully on the bed in 
the middle of the room. As total shock gave way to 
boiling rage, Doggett charged Mulder, pulling at him 
to release an almost comatose Scully. 

"Are you crazy??!!" 

Doggett slammed Mulder into the far wall where both 
heavy masculine bodies dislodged plaster from it, 
temporarily choking Doggett. As Mulder returned to 
the bed, a gun appearing in his left hand directed at 
Scully, Doggett charged him again, pulling him 
backwards and sending both of them crashing through 
the outside window onto the small balcony located 
next to the flashing red neon sign. As the harsh 
light highlighted their struggling bodies, it lit up 
Doggett's enraged features and he closed his hands 
tight around Mulder's throat as he held him over the 
side of what was still a significant drop to the 
ground below. 

Customers from the bar were piling outside to witness 
the commotion they were hearing but all this was lost 
to Doggett now. His body shook with violent anger 
as he applied pressure to a choking Mulder. 

"So, leavin' her wasn't enough for you, eh, Fox? You 
want to kill her now, too, huh, you son of a 
bitch??!! Well, nobody touches Dana like that, 
nobody!! I'm gonna kill you for it, Mulder!!" 

As Mulder spasmed for air in Doggett's fierce grip, a 
shocked Scully appeared at his side, fighting to 
remove his hands from Mulder's bruised neck. 

"John, what are you doing?? Let him go! JOHN!!" 

Doggett was lost in violence, the only thought in his 
raging heart to kill Fox Mulder. 

"John, Kobold attacked me!! It wasn't Mulder!! You're 
killing him, John!! Stop it! STOP IT!" 

She pulled desperately at Doggett as Mulder's eyelids 
fluttered on the edge of total unconsciousness. 

"Don't play his game, John! You're stronger than 
that, John! YOU'RE NOT A KILLER! DON'T LET HIM MAKE 
YOU ONE....PLEASE, JOHN, PLEASE!!" 

As Scully's words cut through the mask of rage 
shrouding him, an appalled Doggett became aware of 
what he was doing and released his grip, falling 
backward in utter shock as Mulder slumped gasping in 
front of him and Scully. As Scully rushed over to 
tend to a coughing Mulder, Doggett looked at his 
hands and started to shake. 

"Sweet Jesus, Dana...." he whispered hoarsely. "Was I 
really gonna' kill Mulder? Holy God.... what am i 
becomin', Dana? What is he makin' me do?" 

As Scully ascertained that Mulder was stunned but ok, 
she moved to Doggett and took his trembling hands in 
her own. 

"John, let me help you." 

"Oh God, baby...I need you...I need you to help me 
beat him so bad..." 

As an emotional Doggett fell into the warm comforting 
embrace Scully offered, Mulder rose to his feet, 
still reeling from Doggett's assault on him and not 
believing the comfort Scully was extending to him. 

"I think you've got things mixed up....Scully...." he 
coughed. "That crazy bastard was trying to finish me 
off and you're hugging him??" 

Scully and Doggett parted as Mulder angrily 
approached them both. 

"Mulder, you don't understand....it wasn't Doggett's 
fault...." 

Mulder uncharacteristicly pushed Scully aside and 
pushed Doggett back into the darkened room, his own 
fury rising now. 

"So taking my place on The X Files wasn't enough, 
Doggett?" he snarled. "Now you want to take away the 
woman I love too....by fair means or foul....well, 
John, it isn't going to happen...." 

Mulder launched a heavy punch that caught Doggett 
square on the chin and as he fell backwards, Scully 
interceded, stopping him forcefully from throwing 
another. 

"Mulder, that's enough! Stop!" 

As Doggett picked himself to his feet, Scully locked 
her hand around Mulder's wrist and her blue eyes 
blazed into his, desperate to snap them all back to 
reality. 

"We're all being used by a man called Josef Kobold, 
Mulder! He's playing a game with all of us and the 
more anger and violence that fills this room between 
us, the more powerful he becomes! He's infected 
Doggett with something, placed something virulent and 
evil inside him, and we have to help him, Mulder! 
We have to defeat this man!" 

Mulder glared at Scully, his eyes filling with scorn 
and betrayal. 

"So now Doggett is possessed, Scully? Is that what 
you're telling me?" 

He looked back to Doggett angrily who was shaking his 
head in the affirmative and trying to back Scully up 
in defusing the situation, his face still lined with 
shame for being tricked into attacking Mulder in the 
first place. 

"Well, Scully, it makes a nice excuse, doesn't it? An 
excuse for me to get the hell out of here." 

As Mulder made his way to leave the room and part the 
crowd filling the outside hallway, Scully ran 
breathlessly up to him. 

"You can't walk away, Mulder! He needs your help, I 
need your help!" 

Mulder turned to Scully, his expression clouded with 
the emotions tearing inside him. 

"For all I care, some satanist can help himself to 
Doggett all he wants. I have one mission, Dana, and 
you know what that is. And you can either stay by my 
side to help me do that, which is what you said you 
truly wanted, or you can stay here....with 
him.....without me...." 

Scully's eyes filled with tears at the cold fury in 
Mulder's words. 

"You have to make a choice, Dana. Him or me. I love 
you, Dana, with all my heart, whether you believe it 
or not, but I see something in your eyes for him. I 
saw it before I went away and I hoped I was wrong. I 
hoped our love for each other was so strong nobody 
could break it, but I guess I was wrong about that 
too." 

Scully stopped Mulder sharply as he went to walk 
away. 

"You can't walk away from me, just like that, 
whatever my feelings! If you really still care for 
me, you have to help him, Mulder! He is a good man 
whatever you think of him and this man he's facing 
could destroy all three of us.....that's the threat 
that hangs over us right this second, Mulder! If we 
don't stop Kobold, we won't be around to stop the 
invasion, any of us! We need you, I need you!" 

Mulder continued walking, Scully screamed after him. 

"Are you that obsessed you want to risk losing me?? 
What has happened to you, Mulder??" 

As Mulder disappeared down the stairs back to the bar 
through the throng of swarthy men, Scully stood 
totally numb, unable to believe the man she had 
loved could abandon her. As Doggett appeared behind 
her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, Scully 
closed her eyes tight as her tears spilled. 

"Dana...." Doggett whispered. 

Scully slowly turned to him, her blue eyes frightened 
and hurt. 

"We're alone, John. He won't help us." 

"Maybe I can change his mind...." 

Doggett went to follow him down the stairs but Scully 
halted him with a sharp tug on his arm. 

"He knows what I feel for you, John. He feels I've 
betrayed him." 

Doggett turned slowly back to her, wiping the tears 
from under her eyes gently, tenderly. 

"And for that he's gonna' walk away and risk this 
madman hurting you again? I can't believe that of 
him, whatever our differences!" He pulled her close 
to him, Scully still frightened but comforted by the 
closeness of his strong body and his warmth. 

"I know nothin' about stoppin' what's inside of me, 
Dana....I'm an amateur when it comes to this 
stuff...and I don't wanna' risk turnin' on you at 
that bastard's incitement....If it was my hands 
around your throat....hurtin' you....I'd never 
forgive myself....We have to make Muldah listen.. 
find out the real reason he's walkin' away....I don't 
believe its just you and me....there's more to 
this...." Doggett gently disentangled Scully from his 
arms and motioned towards the downstairs bar, 
exhaling a deep sigh at the widly gesticulating men 
surrounding them in the hallway. 

"Gonna take more than talkin' box scores to calm this 
crowd down...." 

------------------------- 

As Doggett and Scully reached Mulder standing 
attempting to calm a manic barman, he turned round to 
face them, his eyes still hurt and angry. 

"Well, what do America's Favourite Couple want now?" 
he asked scornfully. 

"Mulder....!" Scully exclaimed, her voice breaking. 
"At least hear us, hear John....please...." 

"Yeah, you have to listen, Muldah, time is runnin' 
out....." 

"In more ways than one...." All three of them spun 
around recognising the familiar female voice coming 
from the cantina entrance. 

It was Monica Reyes, gun in hand, her temple lightly 
bleeding and looking scared as hell. 

"They know where we are now....you've all got to come 
with me...." 

------------------------------- 

As Doggett and Scully exchanged looks of deep concern 
and turned to an equally concerned Mulder, in a 
cavern several miles away, Josef Kobold, 
watching the scene in his mind once more, closed his 
eyes knowing the game was almost reaching its 
conclusion by adding these new players. 

------------------------------- 

And as Doggett, Scully and Mulder approached Reyes, 
Doggett failed to notice his chest was beginning to 
bleed again....but this time the blood wasn't 
red....but a deep sinister green.... 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Nine.
Author: Tony. 
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13. 
Keywords: DSR, DRR (musings). 
Feedback: Keep sending it!
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned herein are the property of 1013 
Productions. 

This chapter and the one following are gonna be a 
little slower and very character-interaction before 
the exciting and gruesome climax. Next chapter is 
the one people have been waiting for- a very steamy 
and hot consummation for Scully and Doggett like 
probably none you've read before! This part is 
dedicated especially to Amy who I wish good luck to 
for her move to Australia (I'm trying to get finished 
before you leave! I'll miss ya- we all will!), bubbly 
SENIOR Meg (yay!) and Lisa S who is just such a darn 
lovely person too! 

----- 

"What's goin' on, Monica? Who's coming?" asked a 
concerned Doggett as he reached the side of his 
partner who placed her gun back out of sight when she 
saw the commotion it was causing amongst the people 
in the cantina. 

"I don't know for sure, John. All I know is I've been 
trailed silently by two black sedans for the past 
eight hours. I think I managed to lose them by taking 
a wild off-route on the way here, but the way they 
were on me, I don't think I've lost them for 
good...." She acknowledged Scully and Mulder who 
stood with him. "And we all know just who they might 
be working for, don't we?" 

A deeply-troubled Scully stepped closer, Reyes 
reading the subject of her imminent question before 
she could speak it and placing a comforting hand on 
her shoulder. 

"I didn't get chance to reach William, Dana. I didn't 
want to lead them, whoever they were, to him. I know 
John must have told you we wanted to make sure he 
was safe." 

Scully turned back to Doggett, giving him a warm 
appreciative smile and turned back to Reyes squeezing 
her offered hand gratefully. 

"I'm so grateful to you both, I really am, Monica." 

Monica gave a warm smile in response, glad to see a 
woman she had grown to care for as a good friend was 
safe and well. She offered the smile to Mulder too 
who slowly stepped forward. 

"Yeah, It does mean a lot." He said quietly to her. 
"Thank you." 

Scully began to turn to Mulder, touched by the 
gentleness in his voice, when Doggett addressed them 
both. 

"Well, I suggest we haul ass before these people show 
up here, FBI, supersoldiers, whatever! And before 
relations here get really strained!" 

Even as Doggett spoke, the confusion racing through 
the occupants of the cantina was beginning to turn to 
anger and what looked like could easily become 
mob anger. 

"The four-by-four's outside. I'll follow." Reyes re-
drew her gun pointing it at the crowd who were 
reaching for bottles and chairs. "Just want to 
reinforce their co-operation to let us leave here." 

As Mulder and Scully raced out of the cantina 
entrance to the outside street, Doggett went to take 
the gun off of her. 

"I'll cover you, you get your ass into gear and start 
'er up." 

Reyes stubbornly resisted his attempts to take the 
weapon, noticing the fatigue filling his lean 
features. 

"You get your ass in gear, John." She smiled broadly 
despite the tension facing them. "Don't want you 
asleep when the first chair cracks your head." 

Doggett smiled back, pleased as hell to be reunited 
with her again and followed the others outside. As he 
reached the four-by-four he came across Scully and 
Mulder engaged in a heated argument. As people lined 
the street opposite them, he pulled Scully by the arm 
to explain what was happening. 

"What's the problem, Dana?" 

Mulder intervened, withdrawing Scully's arm from 
Doggett's grip assertively. "I was just reminding her 
of the importance of me meeting somebody close by 
here in two hours. Somebody who might have the key to 
us finally putting a vice tight around the people 
following Agent Reyes." 

"Who? Where?" Doggett snapped. "If they're on the 
trail out these people are coming in on, you're gonna 
have to reschedule that appointment, Muldah! 
Unless all four of us dying to make it with ya makes 
no difference to you...." 

"Listen to him, Mulder!" Scully pleaded. 

Mulder faced down Doggett, his eyes burning with a 
fierce anger. 

"It is that important! Millions of lives could depend 
on me making that meeting, you understand? That may 
be a little out of your narrow beat-cop mentality's 
reach to realise, Doggett, but thank God one of us 
does!" 

As Reyes clambered down the steps behind them, gun 
still covering the occupants of the cantina, Doggett 
came up close to Mulder's face, his dark eyes 
equally angry. 

"You can insult me all the hell you like tonight, 
Muldah, but I wanna' remind you of a little somethin' 
here! Remember that time we were in the FBI parking 
garage and i asked you how much more bloodspill was 
necessary for you to expose this truth you 
seek.....well, I'm givin' you the answer right here 
and now, no more! Not mine, not Monica's, and 
absolutely not Scully's, even yours, Muldah, when as 
a team we can put some distance between here and 
Mexico and ensure we all really live to carry on this 
fight...." 

Mulder pressed his face closer to Doggett's the two 
men almost assuming the stance of ready-to- battle 
bulldogs. 

"This man I'm meeting could be exposed or even dead 
if i don't meet him tonight....." 

"As we all could be...." hissed Doggett. 

".....besides you have a little satanic possession to 
deal with if I remember, right, John?" 

Doggett's eyes narrowed in an angered confusion as 
Mulder stood resolute and cold before him. 

"What's happened to you, Muldah? How come the risks 
are no outwaying everyone important in your life? 
What the hell is really goin' on with you?" 

As an equally confused and emotional Scully turned to 
Mulder too, Reyes reached the four-by-four, jumping 
into the driver's seat and revving up the engine, 
turning back and loudly addressing her friends. 

"John! Dana! Mulder! Let's go! Now!" 

As the trio split apart, Doggett took the passenger 
seat next to Reyes while Scully jumped into the back-
seat. As Doggett heard the sound of two back-doors 
bang sharply closed, he shouted across to Reyes as 
angry cantina customers began to attempt to form an 
unpassable human barrier before them. 

"Alright, Monica McQueen, hit it!" he roared and the 
four-by-four sped off furiously down the dirt street, 
passing the volatile crowd and heading for the 
distant outskirts of the small town. As Reyes pressed 
her foot down hard on the accelerator and Doggett 
slumped back into the seat opposite her with a long 
sigh he was startled out of his relieved stupor by 
Scully's panicked voice from behind him. 

"John! Mulder! He isn't here! He didn't get in!" 

Doggett spun around in his seat surveying the large 
back seat of the vehicle where indeed Scully sat 
alone. 

"We've got to go back for him!" 

As it seemed Scully was about to disembark the 
speeding four-by-four while it was still navigating 
the dusty street, John slammed his outstretched arm 
across to prevent her opening the door. 

"Dana, don't be crazy!" he exclaimed. "Those people 
will tear us apart if we stay here! We know where 
he's goin'.....at least you may do.......we'll follow 
him there....catch up with him there...." 

"But John...." Scully's blue eyes were drowning in 
stressed tiredness. "He was sitting right by me and I 
didn't see him jump out. There was no way for him to 
get out without me seeing him!" 

A horrified realisation suddenly occured to Doggett, 
one he didn't want to contemplate or share with 
Scully, but fear made him decide to act on it 
regardless. He turned to Reyes, bellowing at her over 
the sound of the roaring engine. 

"Just keep drivin', Monica! Put your foot down and 
drive!" 

"John....." Scully protested as the outskirts of the 
town disappeared behind them to be replaced by the 
cool darkness of night desert roads. Then they were 
replaced by the darkness of long- overdue sleep as 
Scully's tired and fatigued body shut finally down 
and her eyes shut tight to welcome in her dreams. As 
the car continued off on its journey along the far 
horizon, Doggett sat back and welcomed his own sleep, 
little realising the green stain that had soaked into 
the bottom of his dirtied shirt. 

----- 

Scully awoke in the comfort of a warm snug double 
bed, outside the afternoon sun glinted powerfully 
through a large door-window that opened out onto a 
long double-balcony. As she stretched her tired 
muscles, she realised she was no longer dressed in 
her blouse and slacks but wrapped around with a 
cream-coloured silk nightdress. She sat up slowly, 
pushing back the thin covers to behold the vision of 
a smiling Doggett looking across at her, his strong 
features beaming a protective ray over her. Tossing 
back the red hair from over her eyes, Scully smiled 
back at him. 

"Hi." she whispered. 

"Hi yourself." he replied quietly. "Thought it was 
about time you joined the land of the livin' again, 
Dana. Mind you, its not exactly been a chore watching 
you sleep." 

For a moment, Scully wondered if the events of the 
past couple of days had all been some crazed dream 
she'd experienced while lying in this bed watched 
over by Doggett. Then she turned to survey the other 
side of the bed, thinking she might have caught his 
imprint marking the bedcovers by where she lay. To 
her disappointment, she realised the other side of 
the bed hadn't been slept in, the thought of her 
having shared this bed tight in his comforting arms 
being one that sent an excited feeling flooding 
through her and caused her face to blush with 
acute embarrassment when she clocked that Doggett had 
surmised what she was wondering about. Pressing her 
head and upper body up against the headboard 
behind her, she adjusted her eyes fully to the bright 
glow filling the room and noticed the dark oakwood 
chair that sat several feet from the bed against the 
far wall of the room. 

"You didn't sit there all night, did you? Didn't you 
sleep?" 

Doggett shifted on the end of the bed, his proximity 
to her on it something she was trying desperately not 
to think about because it stirred once more feelings 
she had discussed with him back in the hotel room in 
Roswell. 

"I was on an' off throughout, slept in a lot less 
comfortable places I can tell ya'....I just wanted to 
make sure Kobold didn't pay a return visit to 
ya'...." 

Scully looked around at the soft pink wallpaper that 
lined the walls around her, the large mirror behind 
her above the headboard. 

"Where are we, John?" 

"We're above a small bar in a little spot just over 
the Texas-New Mexico Border. Monica's got a room down 
the hall. We got here late last night and crashed." 
His 
voice went noticeably quiet. "Muldah wasn't with 
us....don't know if you remember that...." 

Scully's mind flashed back to the panic and confusion 
that filled her mind the previous evening when she 
discovered Mulder had disappeared from her side. 
Her blue eyes darted from side to side as the memory 
re-stirred those feelings within her. Doggett placed 
a strong reassuring hand on her to calm her. 

"Take it easy, Dana...." Slowly his large caring eyes 
managed to diffuse her tension. "I'm starting to 
think it wasn't Muldah with us last night....He was 
so different, so cold, not just with me, but 
especially you, so uncaring and obssessed....." 

Scully leaned forward, almost meeting his face, her 
eyes boring into his. "What are you trying to say, 
John? It was another of Kobold's tricks? Mulder 
was another one of his mind games, a hallucination he 
made us both suffer?" 

"Maybe." Doggett slowly replied. "The way he just 
upped and seemed to vanish from beside you in the 
car....the way you said Kobold attacked you in the 
room and I felt I saw Muldah tryin' to kill 
you....dammit, Dana, what i've seen and experienced 
the past day I'm not sure how much I can trust my 
eyes anymore....or my instincts....but somethin' felt 
very wrong....I know you knew him much more 
intimately than me, Dana...." His voice quietened 
further and he took a long pause before continuing 
while he registered how him talking about 
Mulder manifested itself in her expression. "....but 
even so, I know when something isn't right....and his 
whole demeanor gave me a sense it wasn't him...." 

"Now you mention it...." Scully took an equally long 
pause, also aware of the closeness of the personal 
space they were now sharing. "He had been distant the 
few days before he left...but never that cold, that 
detached...." 

Doggett suddenly rose to his feet sharply, making 
Scully start and move back. "I can sense him, Dana." 
Doggett's face was still vulnerable for its all its 
measured strength and as Scully gazed at him as he 
began to pace the room she saw once more the strong 
rational man she'd worked with during her time on 
The X Files attempt to make reason of something to 
him that was as alien as he'd felt Mulder to be back 
at the cantina. "Kobold. I don't know if he's near 
here or inside my mind, but I can feel him. I know 
he's close...." 

A concerned Scully rose from the bed and walked over 
to him as he turned to face her, his powerful deep 
eyes clouded with apprehension. 

"I'm not a believer...in the same way you are, 
Dana...but I can't deny I fear and believe what he 
told me....that he is tappin' somethin' within 
me....somethin' that's stalked me and brought so much 
tragedy to my life and he's placed it in me...." 

"John..." Scully took his hand tight in her own, 
squeezing it hard as he returned the intense touch, 
his deep voice wavering with emotion. 

"Somethin' that took Luke away from me, Barbara away 
from me, you away from me into Muldah's arms 
....somethin' I'm afraid we can't stop and will take 
everthin' away from me, even myself......I really am 
scared of losin' everything, Dana...." 

Scully reached out tenderly and ran her finger 
lightly across his strong chin, Doggett closing his 
eyes and savouring her touch even as his mind was 
drowning in defeat. 

"You haven't lost me, John. I'm here....here for 
you...Despite us doubting the reality of everything 
around us...facing dangers from the shadows and 
ourselves....I am here for you..." 

Doggett's eyes opened and he beheld the burning love 
that opened out Scully's sparkling blue orbs for him 
like a beautiful soothing beacon. 

"Whatever he's done to both of us....we'll find a 
way....together...." She smiled, her body trembling 
as Doggett began to move his face to hers. "I should 
have been there for you so long ago, John...." 

Just as Scully closed her own eyes to really feel the 
loving pressure of Doggett's strong lips impact with 
hers, she became aware of a knock on the door and a 
voice from beyond it. 

"Dana, are you awake?" 

The door opened and Reyes appeared, her eyes 
surprised as she beheld Scully and Doggett quickly 
moving apart from each other. 

"I'm sorry, Dana. I thought you were alone." 

Both Scully and Doggett were not immune to the trace 
of hurt mingled with the surprise of finding them 
both together in such an intimate pose that crossed 
Reyes' eyes and as she covered her feelings by trying 
to lightly smile, they both felt for her obvious 
discomfort. 

"Monica...." Doggett began hoarsely. 

"It's ok, John. I'll be in my room when you're ready 
to talk about yesterday's weird events... Excuse me, 
Dana..." 

As Reyes slowly closed the door and departed, Scully 
looked up worringly at Doggett who was already making 
a move to follow her. 

"John...I...." 

"Why don't you get dressed, Dana? Monica had managed 
to stop off and get fresh clothes for all of us. I'll 
make sure she's ok." 

As Doggett left the room, Scully stood reeling from 
the mixed emotions that had been constantly tearing 
her up for the last week. Her feelings for Mulder, 
her feelings for Doggett, and now her feelings for 
Monica whom she had come to value as a good and 
trusted friend she could turn to so often. She hadn't 
been blind to Monica's feelings for Doggett, at times 
she had been deeply envious of their working and 
personal relationship to her own obvious discomfort 
and shame for feeling those emotions. As much as she 
had grown to admire and trust Monica, Scully felt, 
especially as her heart was now opening so much for 
Doggett and had always yearned for him if she 
admitted it, that maybe it wasn't just the promise of 
a normal life she craved that had driven her away 
from The X Files to resume a teaching post at 
Quantico but the fact she had been secretly 
hurt by Doggett for assigning Monica to be his new 
partner at the FBI without waiting to see if she 
would return. Maybe that had really explained the 
anger that she had showed him when he had asked for 
her help in the aftermath of sending Mulder away- it 
wasn't just Doggett speaking her own deep fears for 
William aloud and her own private feelings for her 
new FBI partner, but it was anger for him replacing 
her in his eyes for Monica, even though she now knew 
full well that wasn't how John had seen it and he 
would never have willingly made the decision to hurt 
her. But now Monica was such a close dear friend- in 
many ways she replaced the sister she had so brutally 
lost in Scully's eyes, she shared Melissa's 
spirituality and compassion. And now Scully had hurt 
her by breaking down her barriers with John and 
showing her a real sign that John could not return 
the love she held for him that Scully had seen in 
Monica's eyes so clearly. She understood how Monica 
felt so well in this moment. John was an easy man to 
love with his strength, heart and dependability. It 
seemed conflicting emotions had surrounded her and 
everyone dear to her in this past year and as she 
investigated her new clothes hanging in the adjoining 
closet, tears formed in her eyes for Monica, for 
John, for William, for herself and still for Mulder 
as she contemplated whether he always would remain a 
possible hullicination or a driven obsessed ghost on 
the outskirts of her life..... 

----- 

Doggett caught up with Reyes in the hallway stopping 
her before she re-entered her room which lay several 
doors down the hallway from his and Dana's. 

"Monica...." he addressed her breathlessly. "I think 
we need to talk about a whole lot more than just what 
happened yesterday...." 

Reyes slowly turned to face him, her eyes fighting to 
prevent him from seeing how hurt she was inside but 
she already knew that he could sense it no matter 
how much she tried to hide it from him. 

"I knew last night that something had changed between 
you and Dana...." she smiled weakly as Doggett's 
watery eyes surveyed her. "You know full well how 
I pick these things up...." 

"Monica." His strong hand took her shoulder with 
great tenderness. "If you really know what I'm 
feelin', maybe you can understand....that my feelings 
for her don't devalue in any way how much you mean to 
me...you gotta' know that..." 

"I know I always saw how much your eyes burned for 
her, felt how much you really wanted to be there for 
her...." Reyes voice replied softly, placing her hand 
atop his in a warm motion. "She's lucky if you feel 
that much for her. Very lucky. I told you before how 
much of a dog person you are. She really needs 
someone like that in her life." 

Doggett was genuinely moved by how much she could 
sacrifice her own feelings for him to acknowledge his 
obvious love for Scully. Reyes moved closer to him, 
her face as compassionate as he'd always known it 
these past years. But there was also a deep worry 
lining it. 

"But I'm not sure this is the right time for either 
of you to explore your feelings. You're both 
vulnerable, reeling from hurts and events in your 
life you really can't anticipate or control. And if 
Kobold really got to you, did to you what you 
believe he did, then its really dangerous to open up 
these things. You know what a manipulator he is, 
John, he could use it to really tear the both of you 
apart....and I'm not just speaking figuratively...." 

She paused for a long time before continuing, knowing 
how what she said next might really hurt him. 

"And Mulder is still out there....whether he's the 
Mulder we saw last night...or not. And she still 
loves him, John. He could turn things around so fast 
for you both." 

"Yeah..." Doggett stirred, his own compassion lit by 
a light anger on Reyes acknowledging probably his 
deepest fear of all. "But does he really love her? 
That's what I'm really wonderin'." 

Reyes slowly removed her hand from his, straightening 
up and turning to re-enter her room before the tears 
she was holding back came to the surface. She 
looked back at him as the door closed after her. 

"That may not matter." 

As the door closed tight, Doggett stood in the 
hallway, all his darkest fears resurfacing and his 
heart turning for a close friend he felt he'd 
betrayed in some fashion despite always having been 
honest with her. 

As he stood and the late afternoon began to turn to 
an early evening outside, Doggett knew this coming 
night would bring a head to all the emotions 
surrounding him, and not only was a confrontation 
approaching with Kobold, but maybe with Dana too..... 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Ten. 
Author: Tony. E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: R or NC-17 (depending on how you rate the 
rather steamy end section of this chapter). 
Keywords: Major DSR lovin', DRR musings. 
Feedback: Spoil me! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned herein are the property of 1013 
Productions. 

I've begun to turn up the DSR heat with this chapter 
and have toiled well into a rather humid night here 
to get this other segment bombed out (ideal 
conditions to write a steamy sex scene in!) Dedicated 
to Amy, Meg, Lisa S, Gina and Diandra- hope I raise 
your temperatures a bit with this one and the story 
still continues to grip you...... 

----- 

Scully stood on the balcony outside her room looking 
out into the night sky and the dusty plains and roads 
stretching off into the far distance around the small 
new town she now found herself taking refuge in along 
with Doggett and Reyes. She had changed into a new 
white blouse and dark slacks and the hot humid air 
made the material almost stick tight to her body, 
Scully aware of the sweat that had formed on her skin 
and had pooled down it, and she stood attempting to 
weather the heat assaulting her body with her 
crucifix glinting like a golden beacon in the 
reflection of the night moon. Her mind was full of 
many things, many feelings, especially of the 
whereabouts of Mulder who for all she knew now, 
whether she had encountered the real one or not the 
previous night, was out there somewhere embarking on 
another desperate mission to save mankind from a 
future alien takeover and the conspiracy setting the 
way for it, of Monica whom she had spotted alone 
heading down into the bar below for a solitary 
drink, trying to deal with the changing patterns of 
their relationships now she had become aware of the 
intimate feelings Doggett had for her best friend and 
not as she had always hoped for her and trying to 
deal with her concerns of Kobold's promised threat to 
turn Doggett over to an evil power, of her son 
William who she desperately wanted to see and hold 
and never let go of ever again, and of John Doggett, 
a strong man in crisis, who even through his fears 
and dark apprehensions regarding their immediate 
future, shone a beacon of love so strong for her it 
almost overpowered her now every time she was alone 
with him and had made her realise just how much she 
really loved him and was ready to accept all of the 
comfort, protection and passion he'd always been 
ready to offer her. She was so glad he had entered 
her life again and as she turned to re-enter her room 
with one last look out at the black sky and the 
stars, she knew somehow, someway he would outwit 
Kobold's sinister machinations, he was a man too full 
of inherent goodness and deep loving to ever become a 
servant of evil and she would stand by his side for 
the struggle ahead...... 

"Dana". 

Scully, startled, beheld the face of Reyes pierce 
through the moonlit half-darkness of her room, her 
slender form dressed in a long dark shirt and cream-
coloured slacks. Smiling despite what she was feeling 
inside, she stood in the gap between the room and the 
window before Scully, looking past her into the 
sky she had just been viewing. 

"Can you feel it?" 

"Feel what?" Scully asked quietly, looking over at 
her friend. 

"The night ready to relinquish what hides in it...." 
Reyes managed to smile at Scully's confused 
expression. "It's alright, Dana, I know I'm sounding 
a little melodramatic but I do feel an energy out 
there....something ready to put us through our 
paces....I don't know what it is exactly but I know 
its close by...." 

"You'll have me down there drinking with you in a 
moment, Monica." Scully spoke softly in reply, 
following Reyes and her gaze out into the faraway 
desert. "I hope if its Kobold, we can survive what he 
has in store for us, I hope John can." 

Reyes could hear the love in Scully's voice for 
Doggett when she spoke his first name and she could 
emphasize with just how strongly Scully felt for him. 
She tried to distance herself from the fresh wave of 
polite envy that was eating her up inside. 

"Kobold is such a manipulative personality, Dana. I 
know it may sound a little weird to hear me say this 
but I don't believe his abilities to confuse and 
deceive are hell-born. He may have known his occult 
references but it doesn't necessarily mean he's Satan 
walking this Earth as John believes. I remember 
reading his file there was a theory from one of the 
psychiatrists who examined him after he was arrested 
that he may have used a very specialised form of 
hypnosis or cadence to will his victims into his 
power. What he made you and John experience could 
have been achieved using a technique very similar. I 
remember reading an X File about a man called Modell 
who used a similar process to make his victims see 
things that weren't there and hurt themselves. 
That'd certainly explain the wounds John suffered in 
Roswell." 

"Yeah, Modell was a real piece of work alright...." 
Scully sighed passing Reyes as she walked past her 
back into her room. "And he was only one half of the 
family...." 

Scully sat back on the edge of her bed, feet apart, 
as Reyes joined her. 

"You do realise, you're sounding the sceptic and John 
the believer this time....funny how things 
change...." 

"Yeah, it is." Reyes answered softly, Scully 
realising the interpretation she had made from what 
she had just said to her and looking compassionately 
up at Monica. 

"I didn't mean to come between you and John....I know 
how you feel about him too....I never set out to keep 
how I feel about him secret from you, to hurt you. I 
want you to know that, Monica. You've been such a 
good dear friend to me, such a comfort in times I 
thought I was really falling apart..." 

Monica sat down in the oakwood chair opposite Scully 
and, stretched her tired legs out in front of her, 
smiling resignedly at Dana. 

"You can't apologise for your feelings, Dana. Nobody 
can if they're honest. All I ask you is don't hurt 
him. If you truly love him, really think about 
things. Don't open your heart to him if you still 
have to resolve other feelings inside yourself. 
I think you know what I'm talking about...." 

"Mulder...." Scully whispered. 

Reyes got up from the chair and walked over to 
Scully, looking down at her with watery eyes. 

"John's a good man, Dana. Don't let him into your 
heart if there's another door you can't close. I've 
seen him suffer enough pain, I've seen you both 
suffer enough, and I don't want to see either of you 
suffer any more. You're both very important to me, 
Dana." 

As Reyes turned to leave, Scully rose from the bed 
and gathered her friend tight in her arms. The two 
women held onto each other as they felt the strength 
of the emotions each had pour into each other's 
bodies. 

"I thought I'd lost my sister...." Scully whispered 
as she embraced Reyes. 

"I was wrong." 

----- 

Doggett sat alone, bare-chested, further down the 
hall in his room, trying to keep the cold-air fan 
beside his bed working to dry the sweat pouring down 
his toned body. Every shadow in the moonlit room 
seemed alive to him, ready to spring Kobold suddenly 
in front of his tired eyes. He glanced across at the 
grubby shirt he had deposited on the floor earlier 
and at the green marks that had stained it, green 
marks which seemed to have emanated from the deep cut 
on his chest, a cut which for the time being at least 
seemed to have healed again but, Doggett feared, 
could open up again at any time and spill out 
whatever evil demons he truly believed had been 
placed in his soul now. He had lightly slept earlier, 
being awakened from troubled dreams by the band 
playing in the bar downstairs. It had been a long 
time since he had dreamt of Luke and Barbara and he 
wondered about the significance of dreaming of them 
now this night. A night when he had to possibly face 
up to the forces that changed their lives forever. 

As sweat leaked from his troubled forehead down his 
lean face, Doggett waited for the beginning of it 
all. And waited for something else too. 

God, he thought to himself, where was Dana? 

----- 

Scully sat in the downstairs bar, Reyes having 
temporarily decided to take a little sleep to relieve 
her keeping an eye on Doggett in several hours time. 
As the smoky ambience of the small bar washed over 
her, she sipped on a bottle of good old American 
Budweiser, thinking of the last time she'd ever drank 
a beer, sitting with Mulder in his apartment watching 
Caddyshack. It seemed an eternity ago in this moment 
and as she watched the small band opposite her 
entertain the even smaller audience around her with 
bittersweet ballards of unrequited love, she thought 
of where her mind screamed to be right now as the 
sweat and humidity continued to make her blouse stick 
to her damp body. A while ago in time she would have 
never believed she had wanted so bad to be with 
another man beside Fox Mulder. But that was the case 
now. She longed to be with a man she had met when she 
had doused his face with cold water. A man who at 
first had irritated her, then intrigued her, then 
excited her in ways she could never have anticipated. 
And that's what she felt now as she finished the last 
drops of her drink. Excitement. Yearning. Craving. 

If this was going to be a night of confrontation, a 
night they may not survive, Scully knew there was one 
thing her body hungered for. And as she climbed the 
stairs to the upstairs rooms and the music behind her 
rose in volume and crescendo, the beating of her 
heart did exactly the same thing. 

----- 

He awakened to her sight on the balcony outside his 
window, her small and shapely body was rocking back 
and forth in the moonlight as she moved to the 
slow hypnotising beat of the song now playing in the 
downstairs bar. Doggett watched her slender form 
dance in the warm night air and was hypnotised 
himself by the total beauty of the movement. Then he 
became aware of the movement changing, becoming more 
pronounced, more raunchy and aggressive. Scully had 
begun to grind her body suggestively as the music 
increased in passion and voice, spreading her hips 
out wide and pushing her rounded behind towards the 
glass while she arched her back and the top of her 
body, her head falling backwards before she 
straightened up sharply, her red hair falling across 
her eyes and face, half-covering them and making her 
look totally wild. Doggett realised his lips had gone 
dry watching her and licked them to bring moisture 
back to the cracked skin, tasting the sweat on them 
as he did so. He had never seen Scully like this 
before, as on fire as the colour of her hair and it 
excited him more than his body could stand. As the 
music beat louder and faster from the bar, Scully's 
movements became more frenzied, almost animalistic as 
she rubbed back against the glass harder and with 
less control, her ass leaving a wet imprint 
on the window as the damp material of her slacks slid 
against it. Doggett's thoughts surprised even himself 
as he continued to watch and respond to Scully's 
show, they became almost primal in their substance. 
He felt like breaking the glass, shattering it all 
around him and dragging Dana into his arms, tearing 
off her clothes and pinning her to the bed as he 
pressed his body into her back and drove her crazy by 
driving himself against that fully-rounded ass until 
they were stuck to the sheets with sweat. He was 
shocked at the passionate ferocity of his carnal 
fantasy. 

Doggett fought to control the raging animal responses 
Scully was inflaming in him as he rose from the bed 
and approached the window, still dressed in a tight 
pair of denim jeans. As he reached the window and 
opened it, as if on cue, the music suddenly stopped 
from below and it highlighted his action, Scully 
spinning around as she felt his presence. She stared 
intently at him with her blue eyes and smiled. 

"It was hot and I went a little crazy...." 

Doggett walked towards her, his own stare intense and 
fixed. 

"I noticed, Dana." 

Scully could barely contain her rising arousal as he 
reached her, placing his arms around her waist and 
pulling her to his naked chest. Her wet blouse made 
contact with his wet skin, almost coating it as a 
second layer and as Doggett ran his fingers through 
her messed-up red hair, her voice was unsteady. 

"Haven't lost control like this for a long time...." 

Their faces come together, Doggett's voice a deep 
moan in her ears. 

"You should lose control more often...." he breathed 
as he met her mouth and pulled her body tighter into 
his. They parted each others lips and the kiss 
became full-on, Doggett and Scully devoured each 
other as he ran his hands up and down her body, along 
her back and thighs and down the small of her back 
before resting to squeeze her buttocks hard which 
prompted Scully to make a highly-pleasured moan 
inside his probing mouth. They came away from each 
other, Scully was almost panting her want for him as 
he led her back into the room by the hand. In the 
moonlight they fumbled with each others clothing, 
desperate to remove its sweat- stained coating and 
expose each others bodies fully to the humid night. 
As Doggett peeled the wet blouse from Scully, his 
hands found her lacy black bra, her full breasts were 
swelling over the top of the cups. As if it were 
tissue paper, Doggett tore the bra from Scully's 
body, the clasp bursting and the lace ripping as 
Scully threw her mouth hungrily back onto his, her 
body feverish for him after such an exciting display 
of primitive masculine strength. He pulled her away, 
his excited saliva sticking to her full red lips. 

"Too late to go back now, Dana...." he murmured, 
turning her around as he kissed around the back of 
her neck, her shoulder blades before beginning to 
work his mouth and tongue down her naked spine, 
making her arch her back with the exquisite pleasure 
and her powerful back muscles ripple. 

"I don't wanna' go back. I want this, John. So bad. 
Too bad." 

As Doggett reached the bottom of her spine, he 
noticed reddened flesh marking it as if something had 
been removed from the skin. Scully was ready for the 
enquiry, eager to explain and move on without 
explaining further. 

"Memory." she whispered. 

"Painful?" Doggett asked softly. 

"Yes." 

Doggett lightly kissed his way over the coarse skin. 

"Let's leave it there then." 

"Yeah, let's. Uuuuummmm...." 

Doggett was beginning to pull down Scully's slacks, 
dragging them over the wide contours of her trim and 
toned ass and revealing a pair of black thong 
panties that split up the crack between her full 
buttocks. 

"Very nice." he commented quietly. 

"Glad you like them...." came Scully's barely-audible 
reply. As Doggett slowly made to pull them aside, 
Scully's head turned to him, her blue eyes swimming 
with ferocious intent. 

"Rip them off, John. Please...." 

Doggett tore them down her thighs sharply, 
despositing them on the floor opposite Scully. As he 
rose back to his feet, they kissed again, feeling 
each others passion and barely- containable lust 
almost swallowing them up. Doggett couldn't believe 
he was exploring her like this, holding her so hot, 
close and intimately in his arms after two years of 
wanting to do this so badly from afar, two years of 
really loving this woman body and soul and knowing he 
would probably never be with her in this way ever. 
Now his dream was true and she wanted it as much as 
he did. He had only known her as a beautiful 
intelligent woman and a loving mother, now he was 
experiencing her as a lover; an aggressive passionate 
uninhibitied lover and he was still half-surprised 
and half not to behold the intensity of her as he 
made hot standing love to her. 

----- 

In her room, Reyes tried sleeping, but the distant 
sounds of music and the winds of the nearby desert 
prevented her from slipping away. And there was 
something more, something her inner feelings could 
sense even now when she was eager for rest; two 
bodies together, exploding, releasing passions long 
suppressed. 
Two bodies together when she had none to wrap herself 
into. 

Outside her room, a shadow fell. A long dark shape 
had begun to materialise on the open balcony. And 
Reyes was too wrapped up in her own feelings to 
notice the window of her room slowly begin to 
open..... 

----- 

"John, what is it?" 

A breathless Scully wrapped in Doggett's arms close 
and hot on his bed pulled back from kissing around 
his ears when she saw the look of deep concern that 
lined his face. 

"What's the matter? Is it me? John...." she breathed 
huskily. 

"Dana...." came Doggett's slow hoarse reply. "What if 
Kobold has placed evil inside me....and I pass it on 
to you?" 

"What?" Scully was flushed, her passion for him so 
great she just wanted to be swept up in it and forget 
temporarily the man who was stalking them. 

"What if I lose control of myself....he makes me hurt 
you?" 

Scully's blue eyes pierced his as she kissed him 
warmly on the lips. 

"You could never hurt me....you never could...." 

Doggett reached around the side of the bed as Scully 
lay across his sweaty torso, her breasts pressed hard 
into his chest. 

"I have to be sure, Dana...." 

Scully's eyes opened wide in surprise as Doggett 
produced a pair of handcuffs and offered them to her. 

"You gotta' cuff me, Dana. Just in case...." 

Scully's first response was to laugh at the rather 
kinky conantations of what he was asking her to do to 
him but then she realised the full intent of what he 
was suggesting and took the cuffs off him, dropping 
them to the bedsheets. 

"I won't, John...." she whispered to him. "I trust 
you with all my heart...." 

"Dana, please...." Doggett implored her. "Do it, 
Dana. Just in case." 

Scully slowly took Doggett's wrists pushing them 
through the wooden slats of the bedhead and locking 
the cuffs around them with their key. As she climbed 
back onto him, she began to unbuckle his jeans, 
sliding her hand down into them. 

"You won't hurt me, John. And I'll prove it to you. 
I'll give you so much of my love there's no way evil 
could take you...." 

----- 

Elsewhere, Reyes had just drifted into a half-slumber 
as two hands reached out for her....... 





Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Eleven.
Author: Tony.
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: NC-17 (for sex and horror moments). 
Keywords: DSR, Doggett torture. 
Feedback: Always pleased to get it as ever! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
characters mentioned herein are the property of 1013 
Productions. 

Things are heading for a dramatic conclusion to this 
tale shortly. I just want to dedicate this chapter 
once more to Amy, Meg, Lisa S, Gina, Diandra, and 
"Coolbyrne" Lorene whose copy of the GA issue of 
Details magazine she sent me has just 
arrived....(expect an e-mail from me tomorrow when 
I'm more coherent....another late night writing, 
folks!) 

----- 

Scully's beautiful naked body lay across the cuffed 
Doggett, her tanned skin glistening in the moonlight 
as she brought her mouth once more to his and 
shared with him a tender emotional kiss. As they 
parted, Scully's blue eyes seemed so full, so alive, 
her whole body seemed to be shimmering with the 
release of her long surpressed feelings for him. As 
he watched a single large droplet of sweat travel 
down between her deep cleavage and along her stomach 
until it pooled inside her bellybutton, Doggett was 
still not believing he was finally sharing such 
intimacy with this incredible woman he had loved for 
so long. 

"The only thing that tears me, Dana, is I can't touch 
you like this....an' I really want to touch you, 
Dana...." 

Scully pressed her face against his burning cheek as 
he rattled his metal bindings. 

"I can undo them....I told you I trust you not to 
hurt me...and I do, John....Oh, I do...." 

As Scully nibbled playfully on his right ear, Doggett 
closed his eyes tight and savoured the feel of her 
mouth on that sensitive area. 

"No, I still wanna' be sure....sure you'll be 
safe...." 

Scully's hand moved in the confines of his unbuttoned 
jeans hightening his arousal. 

"I can touch you, John....and I really do wanna' 
touch you....I've waited so long to touch you.." 

Scully's ministrations increased in pressure and 
speed, drawing large gasps of pleasure from a 
writhing Doggett. His wrists pulled hard on the 
handcuffs as she continued to masturbate him. She 
pressed her lips forcefully onto his and they 
shared sharp panting breaths between each others 
mouths as Scully's hand worked on him faster and 
faster, their faces pressed together and Scully's red 
hair tickling his forehead as they eat each other 
torridly as if their kisses were a sensual life-
support system keeping them alive in the rising 
intensity of passion they were sharing. 

"I saw the way you used to watch me in the 
office....when we were alone together....I knew 
you... wanted me...." Scully huskily moaned as she 
turned to his ears once more, biting on the soft 
flesh of his lobes. 

"Every day....every damn day...." Doggett whispered 
throatily as he locked his strong legs tight around 
her slender thighs. Her hand was spiralling him into 
the throes of sexual madness with its pressure and 
touch on him. 

"Nights...I...was...alone...." Scully continued to 
pant in his ear. "I used....to touch....myself and 
not always thinking of him....." 

Doggett moved his mouth to her neck, his teeth 
lightly biting, eyes open wide as she shared such 
private thoughts with him. Thoughts which only 
magnified his desire as he imagined her in her bed 
after a long day at the FBI and pleasuring herself 
with images and fantasies of him in her mind. He 
wished he could have watched her to see what her 
lovely blue eyes looked like when she came. To see 
her vulnerability and release when she climaxed. 

"I....was so wild....before...with you...." Doggett 
gasped as she slowly pulled down his jeans. "I really 
hope....I didn't cross a line....go too far....with 
what I did...." 

Scully warmed. That concern was so much like him even 
in this passionate moment. It was what was making her 
release herself so fully with him now. She laughed 
softly into his ear. 

"You mean....when you ripped my...underwear...off? 
May...be...news...to you...John....but even ex-
professional....FBI...medical doctors...like to be 
wild...on occasion....especially...with a really sexy 
man...like you...." 

Scully crushed her lips hungrily on his. 

"You really are sexy....ex-Agent Doggett...." 

----- 

Reyes still lay slumped half-asleep as the hand of 
the figure looming over her reached over for the gun 
on the bedside dresser..... 

----- 

The room resounded to the urgency of Scully and 
Doggett's movements as she took him inside her after 
tasting him. Doggett watched the shadow Scully's body 
cast on the far wall in the moonlight as she rode 
him, the sweat caking her body as the same light cast 
a blue gold aura to her skin. It was such a 
powerfully erotic image and Doggett realised he 
risked injuring himself if he pulled much harder on 
the handcuffs in his abandonment. 

"Still safe....still safe...." Scully purred, her red 
hair hanging beautifully down over her arched bare 
shoulders as she made love to his strong body under 
her. With every measured pleasure-inducing thrust, 
Scully felt she was absorbing the pains and conflicts 
that had tortured Doggett through the long years, 
cleansing him of his wounds and protecting him from 
the force out to destroy him with every drop of love 
and strength from her soul. She felt she was 
returning all the protection and compassion he had 
offered to her, protecting him from danger now. 

"Dana, oh darlin'....." Doggett twisted his body up 
to meet each hot downward movement and their bodies 
began to move in unison, the bed creaking wildly 
under them as he accepted her loving protection and 
she gave him more. Her whole body was so flushed and 
so wet, her red hair matted to her with perspiration 
as they rocked in a carnal symphony together, their 
fevered whisperings filling the air. 

"We're....together....John....always...." 

"Never....saw...it...as...an...option....Dana....love 
you...love you...." 

"Forever?" "Forever...." 

"Oh God...Oh God yes..." 

"Dana...." 

"Yeah...." 

"I'm so close darlin'....." 

"Oh yeah....me too...." 

"Promise me....one thing....." "Name....it...." 

"I wanna' see your eyes....when you come...." 

"I promise...." 

"I gotta' see 'em...." 

"I'm gonna' make you come so hard, John....." 

"Come with me....Dana.....you've gotta' come with 
me....." 

"Uuuhhhhhhhuhhhh!" 

Scully's body shook with the ripple of a powerful 
orgasm and she pressed her face to Doggett's, their 
eyes locked sharing each other's release as he bucked 
wildly under her, his wrists straining on his metal 
binds. And that moment he saw the vulnerable 
rebellious little girl in the window of her soul who 
had grown up to become such a strong passionate and 
determined young woman and she saw the man who rose 
from a difficult childhood to the top of his 
profession never sacrificing his deeply-held 
principles at any cost. They were truly one being 
locked together, more aware than ever of each other's 
strengths and weaknesses, the pain and tragedies that 
had touched their life along with the joys and highs, 
and of the deep love they had discovered existed in 
them for each other. It was an overpowering sensation 
and for the first time in many months they felt 
complete. They realised just how made for each other 
they truly were. 

As Scully nuzzled against him, she reached up to 
unlock the handcuffs, releasing Doggett's wrists from 
their confinement and allowing him to wrap them 
tenderly around her body as they basked in the after-
heat of their consummation. Doggett breathed a soft 
laugh into her hair as she pressed her head against 
his. 

"We'll certainly remember our first time for years to 
come, hmm?" 

----- 

In Reyes' room, the tall menacing shadow of Josef 
Kobold smiled a knowing grin as he lined up the 
handgun on her sleeping features. His finger 
tightened on the trigger. 

"You certainly will, John Doggett." 

----- 

Scully lay happily content in Doggett's embrace, 
lightly kissing the strong flesh just above his 
chestbone. 

"I told you he could never beat you, John...." she 
almost sang with the happiness and contentment she 
felt in this moment. "We have something too strong 
for him to turn around...." 

She began to softly sing "Joy To The World" against 
Doggett's ribs, tickling him and bringing a wide 
smile across his satisfied face. 

"Tryin' to tell me making love to me was a religious 
experience, Dana?" 

"No." she smiled, raising her head to look up at him. 
"But it was close." 

As they attempted to bring their lips together 
through the fresh wave of soft laughter that erupted, 
Scully and Doggett were thrown apart suddenly by the 
sound of a loud gunshot from a room down the hall. As 
they shared their alarm with each other, Scully 
noticed something out of the corner of her eye under 
her. She opened her mouth in shock as she beheld a 
large cut opening out in Doggett's chest. 

"Oh my God, John....Oh my God..." 

Doggett looked down, his eyes filling with terrified 
disbelief as the cut spread wider opening up a large 
hole in his abdomen. Scully shook her head as green 
puss began to weep from it, spilling out on the 
bedsheets around them.
 
"No....no....no....." 

"Jesus, Dana.....Jesus! I told you! He's here! Jesus, 
Dana! He has me!" 

Scully desperately placed her hands against the 
gaping wound in a vain attempt to prevent the 
excessive leakage from his body but Doggett pushed 
her aside, the green liquid pulsing from him now, 
splashing down his thighs as he jumped from the bed 
and pressed his body back against the wall, the 
horrific image of a numb Scully, her hands stained, 
filled his vision. 

"The son of a bitch has me, Dana!!" 

----- 

Further down the hall, Kobold moved to exit the room, 
stepping over the prone form of Monica Reyes that lay 
across the carpeted floor. 

"So true, John Doggett. So true." 





Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter Twelve.
Author: Tony. 
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com. 
Rating: back to a PG-13 (but some mild horror and 
adult language). 
Keywords: DSR angst, violence. 
Feedback: I love to hear it! 
Disclaimer: John Doggett and Dana Scully and other 
chracters mentioned herein are the property of 1013 
Productions. 

Well, it's all counting down- the next chapter will 
be the final extra-length one of this story (hope I'm 
not gonna be tempting fate by ending it on 13!) 
Thanks for all your lovely comments, you lovely 
people (you know who you are!) and I'd like to 
dedicate this chapter especially to Cassie for 
promoting my story so nicely on her kick-ass website! 
Thank you! 

----- 

As his lower body stood encrusted with green residue, 
Doggett clutched his insides sharply as a sharp 
searing pain ripped through him once again. Scully 
raced off the bed to help him, fighting off her shock 
but Doggett pushed her away from him. 

"Dana....stay away....don't want you to get 
hurt....Monica...make sure she's ok...." 

"But John...." Scully began to protest but Doggett 
cut her short with an angry snarl. 

"Damn it, Dana! Get to Monica now! The son of a bitch 
ain't takin' me just yet! Move!" 

Scully desperately wrapped her silk nightdress around 
her naked body and exited the room as Doggett threw 
himself against the wall, tainting it with a dark 
green smear. Doubled up in burning agony, he gritted 
his teeth fiercely as he felt his very mind crumbling 
under some kind of outside assault. 

"Damn you, Kobold....you picked on the wrong guy....I 
keep tellin' you....you're not makin' John Doggett 
serve you....no damn way....!" 

The bedside dresser smashed with a loud crash as 
Doggett's fist slammed down on it hard. 

"You really think I'm gonna' give in to an evil that 
ruined mine and Barbara's life together, you bastard? 
That robbed me of my only son??" Angry tears 
formed in the corners of his eyes as he wrestled with 
the intense pain. "I didn't come this far...through 
so damn much....for me to throw what is precious to 
me away!!" 

As tears spilled from his pained eyes, Doggett 
realised with horror they were also tainted in the 
same dreadful green substance that had erupted from 
his chest. 

"Holy God...." he whispered. He realised he was 
losing. 

----- 

The door to Reyes' room burst open as Scully threw 
herself against it, the handle refusing to budge when 
she got no answer from her frantic banging on it and 
cries for Reyes to open it. The sight that beheld her 
made her run colder than witnessing the green slime 
that had just poured from her lover. Reyes lay on the 
floor, facing upwards with her eyes tightly closed 
and her gun lying several feet from her. It had been 
fired. For one terrible instant, Scully saw her 
sister Melissa lying in place of Monica and as the 
painful memories of the dreadful 24 hours she lost 
her in came flooding back, tears poured down from 
Scully's disbelieving face. She sank to her knees 
cradling Reyes' head in her arms and desperately 
feeling for a pulse. There wasn't one. 

"God no...not you, Monica...not you...." 

Scully applied desperate c.p.r. to get Reyes' heart 
breathing again, choking back her anguish as nothing 
she could do seemed to restore Monica's heartbeat. As 
Reyes lay apparently dead before her, Scully broke 
down, rocking her dear friend's body in her arms. 

"Don't go, Monica...please....you mean so much to 
me...." She whispered into her fallen friend's ear. 
"You mean so much to John...he needs our help....he 
really does....you can't leave us now... you can't 
leave him....for God's sake, Monica, come back to 
us.....please God...." 

Scully threw back her head starting with shock as 
Reyes suddenly opened her eyes wide, her body 
violently arching in Scully's embrace as she let 
loose a large release of gasping breath. As Reyes 
seemed to return to consciousness with several other 
long deep breaths, Scully pressed her hand to her 
chest, her face breaking into a large incredulous but 
ecstatic smile of great relief. 

"Monica...." she gasped as Reyes looked up at her 
smiling. 

"I'm still here, Dana...." Reyes winked at Scully as 
she wiped away her tears. "I never went away in 
fact...." 

"How?" asked Scully as she helped her friend 
unsteadily to her feet. "I thought you'd been shot, 
your gun had been fired...." 

"So did Kobold." Reyes managed to eventually gain her 
balance, fighting to shake off the nausea that swept 
over her. "That's the point." 

As Scully arched her eyebrows in puzzlement, Reyes 
took her hand. 

"If John's in trouble, it means he doesn't know what 
I now do." 

As Reyes pulled onto Scully's arm to follow her, she 
noticed the confusion that still filled Scully's face 
as to how she had cheated Kobold's attack. 

"Oh, that whole dead thing. I'll explain later, Dana. 
Come on!" 

----- 

As Doggett slumped to the floor, his jeans sinking 
into the green pool at his feet, he looked up to see 
the familiar taunting face of Kobold standing over 
him, those dark features once more twisted into a 
wide and satisified smile. 

"You smile, Kobold...." Doggett hissed at him, angry 
veins standing out on his sweating forehead. "It'll 
be the last smile you have on that face of yours 
before I kill you...." 

"I don't doubt it, John Doggett." His voice still 
contained that measured tone that Doggett had first 
grew to hate on their first meeting. "After all, 
you've killed so many, out in Lebanon, in the police 
force, then in the FBI. So much blood on your hands, 
John Doggett. What would the taking of one more life 
matter? Now you really are my servant?" 

"Keep talkin'.....you son of a...." Doggett slumped 
forward as he attempted to pick himself to his feet 
to face his nemesis, his body falling to the bed in a 
loud splash of spraying green. 

"What delights me is using the beautiful Dana Scully 
to bring you finally to me...." Kobold's eyes burned 
with a sadistic glee as he continued to speak. "Not 
by killing her, no, but bringing her to you this 
night....inciting the love and lust she feels for you 
to a point where you could no longer resist taking 
what you wanted so long....Oh there is rage in love 
too as well as hate, John Doggett....the emotional 
rage inherent in love is so potent....She had wanted 
you in her bed for so long secretly and I gave her 
longing just that slightest push...and every 
sensation of hunger and want she created in you as 
you made love sped the evil I placed in your veins 
just as quickly as if you had released it by killing 
Fox Mulder....or by watching your friend and partner 
Monica die slowly from the bullet I fired into 
her....a particular treat you have unfortunately 
missed now...." 

Doggett's eyes blazed with uncontrollable anger as he 
took in the news that Monica was dead. Kobold smiled 
cruelly. 

"Isn't it ironic, the three women you have most loved 
in this fragile world all helped to bring you to 
me......love is a beautiful thing, is it not?" 

Doggett's voice had become a low throaty animal hiss. 

"You want my rage....you got it!!" 

At the selfsame moment that Doggett rose to charge 
Kobold, Scully and Reyes appeared in the room behind 
him, Monica desperately holding out her arms in a 
gesture for him to stop. 

"No, John!" Reyes shouted loudly. "That's precisely 
what he wants...." 

But it is too late- as Doggett impacted violently 
with Kobold his whole body seemed to merge with his 
smiling nemesis and as the door slammed shut tight 
behind Scully and Reyes, resisting all attempts by 
either of them to open it, they turned to behold only 
Doggett standing alone before them, the green tear 
had disappeared from his chest to be replaced by 
green-yellow colouring around his darkened eyes. He 
smiled a calmly-brutal smile, his features unnerving 
them both with their sinister new undertone. 

"John?" Reyes enquired of him as he walked slowly 
towards them both. 

"Monica....dearest Dana...." he whispered in a new 
cold voice. "You came here to save me...but I'm 
already saved....and not by you....your only purpose 
now is to suffer for me...." 

Scully and Reyes exchanged looks of pure unadultered 
horror as the man who once was John Doggett advanced 
on them.... 




Title: There's Nothing Here But Us : Chapter 
Thirteen.
Author: Tony.
E-mail: crockettuk@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13. 
Keywords: DSR, MSR/ DRR musings. 
Feedback: Give it to me! Disclaimer: John Doggett and 
Dana Scully and other characters mentioned herein are 
the property of 1013 Productions. 

Here it is- the last chapter! I hope everybody enjoys 
it- there is already a sequel planned- when I've 
taken a week off! Thanks to everyone on SHODDS who 
has encouraged me while I've been writing this- 
you've given me the enthusiasm to do my best 
(especially you, Lisa S!) 

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Robert, Gillian 
and Annabeth for giving such three great characters 
such life. 

----- 

As Doggett reached them both, Reyes stepped in front 
of Scully, her eyes searching for the man she knew 
behind the new sinister visage. 

"John, don't play Kobold's game! He's manipulated us 
all since we arrived here, somehow he has the ability 
to make us see and feel what he wants us to and 
right now you believe he's inside you, has possessed 
your body, John! You're responding like his slave- 
like he told you you'd become! Fight him, John! Like 
I did!" 

Scully pulls on Reyes' arm, begging further 
explanation. Reyes turns to her as Doggett coldly 
faces them. 

"He wanted me to believe I'd been killed by the 
bullet he made me think he was firing in me- but I 
refused to believe in it! I denied it was happening! 
I realised that was how he worked his victims, by 
bending their consciousness with illusion or 
controlling their minds and making them kill 
themselves or each other- remember when we thought 
we'd shot him when he escaped from us only 
to recover a completely different body, Dana? He made 
us see what we thought was him fall into that 
water...." 

Scully nodded and looked across to Doggett who had 
fixed her with his- green tinted eyes. 

"She's right, John! Our senses judge our responses to 
what we perceive is happening around us or to us. If 
Kobold can truly bend the will to believe in the 
unreal....." 

She fixed Doggett back with her determined blue eyes. 

"Every master game player likes to manipulate, so the 
game he enjoys playing is in his favour- and Kobold 
has took it to a whole new level by using his ability 
to torture us and play with our minds. John, he made 
you believe he'd infected you with evil, that you 
would be his slave. He made you believe in every 
cliche you'd ever had in your mind about possession- 
the green ooze, your eyes, the burning inside you. 
It's all a sham, John! I believe you're standing here 
now before us the same John Doggett we know, not some 
possessed puppet! But you've got to believe it too! 
You've got to! Do you hear me, John? You have to 
say one thing to yourself, I WANT TO BELIEVE!!" 

Scully walks up to him, her blue eyes blazing for him 
to come out of Kobold's induced dream. 

"We've been on his chessboard since Roswell, moving 
the pieces for his amusement in circle after circle! 
And you were the focus! He wanted to beat you 
again by using us all and what would totally defeat 
you better than him making you think you were his 
personal possessed killer and making you slay us both 
with your own hands? He would bring you of it when 
you'd slaughtered us and he would know it would 
destroy your soul totally when you realised what you 
had done!" 

She moved closer, her voice a quiet whisper, hoping 
Reyes would not hear. "Especially after what we 
shared together in this room...how close we came 
together....I guess he had a hand in that too....." 

Doggett stared at Scully's suddenly crestfallen 
features and his face began to lose its cold grin. 

"Dana...." he whispered hoarsely. 

Scully looked up, blinking a small tear from her eye 
at the sound of his voice. In the background, Reyes 
gingerly moved towards them both. 

"You tellin' me....I ain't really bleeding green.... 
i'm not his servant.....?" 

Reyes burst into a broad encouraging smile. 

"That's right, John. We both believe you're still 
standing in this room unchanged. But Dana's right. 
You have to believe it too! There can't be any 
doubt in your mind, John. The slightest doubt could 
make you kill us both...." She looked across to 
Scully, sensing the tenderness in her eyes for 
Doggett. ".....could make you kill Dana...." 

Doggett's face twisted with his attempt to regain 
control of himself. 

"But I felt it, it was so real....his hands burnin' 
into me....I could feel my blood boiling... see the 
marks he left on me....dammit, how could he do such a 
thing to our minds in such a perfect way?" 

Scully gripped hold of his hands tightly, squeezing 
her desire for him to be free of Kobold's influence 
into them. 

"Look at me, John! You have to tell yourself it was 
all unreal, just as it is now! It may have seemed 
like it was really happening but you have to not 
believe it!" She dug her nails into his fingers 
sharply. "Dammit, John! This is the time you 
really need that John Doggett scepticism! Use it, 
John! USE IT!" 

She pressed her face to his ear and whispered into 
it. 

"You have to do it, John....not only for 
yourself....and for Monica...but please God for me 
too, ok?" 

She pressed her hand down on the crucifix that still 
hung around her neck and closed her eyes tight, 
praying for him to come back to her unaffected. Reyes 
could see how tight her other hand was locked in 
Doggett's and she felt a momentary pain wishing she 
was as strong in John's heart. 

"We've been through so much...." Her voice was soft 
but pleading at the side of his face. "Don't let me 
lose you now....Don't leave me like Mulder 
did...please...." 

Slowly the green tint in Doggett's eyes began to 
disappear from him along with the gash across his 
chest. Steadily the familiar features of an un-
possessed John Doggett solidified before the gaze of 
Scully and Reyes. As he straightened up and Scully 
squeezed his hand in joy, he gave her and Monica a 
weak smile. 

"What would I do without the two of you, huh?" his 
hoarse voice asked. 

Both women broke into broad grins. 

----- 

"He's still around." Doggett turned to face Reyes and 
Scully as they clambered down the outside steps of 
the small bar. "If you really are both right about 
his ability to confuse us with illusion, he's gonna' 
be pulling a few more strange things out of his hat 
any time soon. You can bet he don't wanna' lose this 
game! So I suggest we put as much distance between us 
and here as possible, whaddya' say?" 

Scully, now once more dressed in a blouse and slacks, 
placed her hand gently on his shoulder as he made to 
climb into the four-by-four still parked outside. 

"What about Mulder?" 

Scully was not blind to the effect the name she had 
just spoken had on Doggett as he turned to face her. 
She knew what he must be feeling inside, how worried 
he must be that things would suddenly change between 
them again because of that man. 

"Was he real, or just another of Kobold's tricks?" 

"I'm inclined to think it was all part of the 
game...." Doggett spoke slowly, attempting to shield 
his evident pain from Scully but failing. "I don't 
think he was real, Dana...." 

Scully looked at him almost apologetically. 

"I have to know for sure, John." 

Doggett came up close to her, his face containing a 
trace of anger. Scully knew that anger was only 
concern for her not to be hurt again, just like it 
had always been. 

"What do you wanna' do, Dana?" 

"Head back to the hotel in Roswell. That's where the 
real Mulder would head back for. If all we saw was an 
imposter created by Kobold, he won't know...." 
Scully's voice trailed off as she shared a deep gaze 
with Doggett's penetrating eyes. She had always felt 
those eyes of his could look straight into her soul 
and know just exactly what she was feeling. "There 
are things we'll have to talk about....that we need 
to talk about...." 

Reyes stood at the passenger door, sensing the 
tension between them both as Doggett placed his hand 
lightly on Scully's shoulder. 

"And what if he never comes back?" Doggett asked 
compassionately but forcefully. "We never find him 
again? How does your life go on, Dana? If he's 
as much a phantom out there somewhere as Kobold made 
us see? How much longer do you put your life on hold 
for him?" 

Scully knew the unspoken question Doggett was asking 
her, the hurt he was dreading experiencing in his 
heart at her possible rejection of being together 
with him. But she couldn't deal with the conversation 
she knew her and Doggett needed to share, at least 
not at this moment. Not only for Mulder, but for 
other reasons too.... 

"Can we just leave here, please?" she asked him 
quietly, getting into the back seat of the vehicle, 
trying desperately to keep a handle on her 
conflicting emotions. 

"Sure." Doggett got slowly behind the wheel, Reyes 
occupying the seat by him, looking at his stern and 
still face as he started the four-by-four up. 

"Let's drive." 

----- 

It was four days later. Doggett sat behind the wheel 
of the four-by- four looking out into the dark desert 
night at the faraway Scully and Reyes standing by an 
outcropping of cavernous- looking rock. He thought 
about the trip back to the hotel in Roswell, Scully 
discovering the message Mulder had left for her. The 
note that confirmed this meeting place to explain 
everything about the new secret mission he had been 
engaged on. It was only several miles from Area 51 
but not close enough away from that mysterious-
sounding place for Doggett. Scully and himself hadn't 
talked much in the past few days. Despite all they'd 
said to each other this past week, all they'd shared, 
he sensed she was pullling back from him again and 
that hurt him deeply having to ride that 
rolllercoaster of emotion once more. Particularly 
after the intimacy of that wild night they had 
spent together. He could still feel the sensation of 
her body on his, the feel of her skin on his, looking 
into each other's eyes as they both released their 
pent-up passion for each other. Was the phantom of 
Fox Mulder going to re-assert herself in her life 
once more, despite all the hurt he had caused her? 
Was it going to ruin his chances to finally enter 
Dana's heart and share with her all he'd wanted to 
for so long? 

And then there was the phantom shadow of Kobold out 
there somewhere. Suppose this was another of his mind 
games? He was too determined to make any of them 
escape his game so easy and Doggett felt he was 
preparing one more magical piece of strategy to clear 
the board of his opponents. Only when would it come? 
Was the message from Mulder just the start of his 
final game with them? He was angered he had succumbed 
to Kobold's abilities so easily and wanted to even 
the score with his nemesis- to let him know he would 
never do so again in no uncertain terms. And also 
angry inside that Kobold's incitement of intimacy 
between himself and Scully might have only succeeded 
in pushing her further away from him, instead of 
closer. And if the real Fox Mulder showed up here and 
now this night wouldn't it serve to break them up 
completely? 

He watched her from this distance talking to Reyes as 
they waited. And he wondered what Dana was confiding 
to his friend and partner. Was she confessing her 
still deep-feelings for Mulder to her, that she 
couldn't break his heart no matter how she felt their 
relationship had changed? Doggett truly wondered if 
she would break his own by taking Mulder back. 

God, he hoped not. He loved her so much now to lose 
her again. She was so burned into his heart and 
consciousness now he couldn't face her not being 
there. And he was really afraid that was going to 
happen.... 

By the outcroppping rock, Scully was confessing 
something to Reyes alright, but not what Doggett 
suspected. 

"I know it might be hard for you to hear, Monica, but 
John and I....we were together back there. Together 
in a way that really surprised me." 

"I'm happy for you both, Dana." Reyes spoke quietly. 
"If it happened for the right reasons...." 

"That's what I'm really afraid of, Monica...." Reyes 
could see the agony and concern in Scully's eyes as 
she bared her feelings to her friend. Reyes could 
tell it was not an easy task for her. "That Kobold 
took our feelings and made us....that it wasn't real 
feeling we were sharing but him pulling our 
strings....that it wasn't truly us together....do you 
understand what I mean?" 

"I think so." Reyes' voice was still quiet as she 
replied. "You feel that you both shared something you 
both wanted but not in the way you expected and the 
fact your actions might have been influenced in some 
way makes you feel like something special was taken 
away from you coming together for the first time...." 

"Yes..." Scully whispered, visibly trembling as she 
spoke. "Monica, I've never been that way with anybody 
before....to tell you the truth I shocked 
myself....and I'm wondering now, was it really me, or 
was I acting the role Kobold made me play?" 

"Or did he tap a part of you kept hidden from 
yourself?" Reyes asked. "Maybe that scares you more, 
Dana?" 

Scully looked back at the parked four-by-four and 
Doggett sitting watching them both behind the wheel. 

"I am scared, Monica." Scully's eyes were watery, 
pained. "And the fact I can tell you all this, 
knowing how you feel about him too....I can't even 
imagine what you must be feeling inside. I'm so 
sorry, Monica." 

Reyes laid a comforting hand on Scully's shoulder, 
looking deep into her friend's eyes. 

"Dana, I've known for a while now how John feels 
about me. The feelings he's displayed for you have 
just confirmed it for me. Its something I have to 
deal with in my own way. I understand how you can 
fall in love with such a good man, Dana, I really 
can. I did. But he thinks you're pushing him away, 
choosing Mulder over him. I can see it in his eyes, 
Dana. You have to confide in him, tell him how 
frightened you are and why. Otherwise he'll be so 
hurt, you'll be so hurt, neither of you can go any 
further." 

Scully squeezed Reyes' hand gratefully for her 
offered comfort. 

"I can't pretend there still aren't feelings in my 
heart for Mulder, Monica. I would be lying to myself 
and John if I didn't acknowledge it. Maybe Mulder and 
I can't have the relationship I thought we could 
have, but he still has a part of my heart. It's not 
easy to relinquish that, Monica, it really isn't. I 
feel part of me will die letting him go, the same way 
a new part of me would live by being with John. But I 
have to be here to see Mulder to tell him my 
feelings. I have to look into his face again even if 
it’s for the last time. That's why I'm here, Monica. 
I have to be fair to him, even if I feel he hasn't 
been fair with me. It’s a committment in my heart I 
have to honor...." 

Reyes smiled. 

"I do understand, Dana. All I ask is don't leave it 
too late to make John understand. Or you could lose 
him. He's had so much pain in his life...." 

Scully wiped away a forming tear with her sleeve. 

"We both have. We're kindred spirits, Monica. I've 
realised that in the past few days. We want the same 
things in our lives. Mulder and I want so many 
different things now." 

As the night wind raised up a fresh howling cry 
around their heads, Scully gave Reyes a deep curious 
look. 

"One thing's been bugging me, Monica....when Kobold 
tried to make you believe he'd shot you, how come it 
seemed you were dead when I found you?" 

"You're great at changing the subject, Dana." Reyes 
laughed, her face then becoming deeply thoughtful. 
"I'm not sure. I was convinced it was unreal, but 
maybe there was still a slight doubt somewhere inside 
me....but not enough to stop me coming back...." 

"I have my doubts right now, but I'm here too." 
Scully smiled weakly. "You go with what you feel, 
Dana." Reyes smiled back. "Which is how you should." 

Their attention from their conversation was 
distracted by the sound of a vehicle engine 
approaching. Doggett had heard it too and had left 
the four-by-four, gun raised to cover them both. As 
they looked to the horizon, in a cloud of night 
dust, a small jeep was approaching. Scully's eyes 
desperately squinted through the darkness, trying to 
ascertain if there was a familiar occupant inside it. 
But she couldn't tell at this distance. 

As Doggett attempted to make out the jeep's driver 
too, he became aware suddenly of an unmistakable 
presence registering behind him. Slowly he turned 
to behold the visage of Josef Kobold standing once 
more before him, Doggett noticing there were no 
footprints in the desert sand to indicate where he 
had walked from to appear there. He raised his gun to 
cover his smiling nemesis. 

"Nice of you to drop by, Kobold." Doggett's face 
fixed him with a mean scowl. "I was thinkin' about 
you." 

"Do you really think a simple gun can stop someone 
like me, John Doggett?" Kobold folded his arms across 
his chest as Doggett continued to keep the gun 
trained tight on him. 

"One thing's for sure, Kobold, when I fire this 
bullet into you, you're sure gonna' believe it!" He 
turned back quickly to see the jeep rapidly making 
ground in reaching Scully and Reyes. "Is that another 
one of your illusions on the way? Another phantom 
Muldah, or something else? You'd better tell me!" 
Doggett's finger tightened on the trigger. "Very 
quickly!" 

"Ah, the elusive Fox Mulder, wherefore art thou? I 
can tell you this, John Doggett, he's nowhere round 
here. He's in a very far away place right now. 
Where you will be soon. Events are transpiring that 
fit the game I love to play very well." 

Doggett's finger tightened on the trigger as the jeep 
came closer. 

"You better level with me, Kobold! What are you 
talkin' about? Who is that in the jeep? You gotta' 
tell me! And tell me where Muldah is! You got five 
seconds, you son of a bitch!" 

Kobold waved his hand dismissively at the angry 
Doggett. 

"Just my last little addition to the game, other 
forces can take my place now- in making you suffer 
and agonise! I shall be watching from afar and 
delighting in others carrying out my work, but you'll 
always carry a little part of me, John Doggett! And 
don't worry about Fox Mulder, you will all be 
reunited with him very soon! The threats to your 
lives will all be too too real now." 

Doggett's eyes narrowed as he pressed the trigger. 

"Game over." 

As Kobold's voice echoes off into the desert night, 
Doggett's shot joins it as the incredulous man looks 
around for his nemesis and can find him nowhere in 
sight. He runs back to the four- by-four starting it 
up and shouting over to Scully and Reyes. 

"Dana! Monica! It's a trap! We gotta move it! NOW!!" 

As Scully and Reyes ascertained two men driving the 
jeep dressed in green military fatigues, they raced 
back to the four-by-four as gunshots hit the sand 
almost clipping their running feet. Piling into the 
four-by-four, Doggett spun it into action, burning 
serious rubber as the jeep chased them. Both vehicles 
disappeared into the desert night as a low booming 
laugh filled the canyons and the night clouds 
billowed violently as if possessed.... 

----- 

Two days later, Scully sat in another small hotel 
room, looking into her bedside mirror when there was 
a knock at her door. 

"Dana?" 

Scully looked up as Doggett made his way into the 
room, giving her a comforting smile. 

"You doin' ok?" 

Scully looked up at him, glad to see him and giving 
him a warm smile in return. She gestured to the bed 
beside her. 

"Why don't you take a seat?" 

"I think I gotta' do something before I do that." 

Slowly, Doggett leaned down, his face inching towards 
her. He held back gently, giving her the chance to 
pull back if she wanted to, but Scully continued 
to move to meet him. Their lips lightly touched and 
Scully was reminded blissfully of the first gentle 
kiss they had shared in the Roswell hotel room. This 
one was just as loving and light as the touch of a 
butterfly's wing as that one had been. They held it 
for several seconds, their eyes soaking up each other 
before coming apart. 

"Thank you." Scully breathed as Doggett sat down by 
her side on the bed. "For what?" His deep penetrating 
eyes were reading her thoughts again, Scully knew it. 

"For understanding. Why I've been afraid." 

Doggett slowly put his arm around her and she nuzzled 
into him, welcoming the comfort of his strong 
protective arms. 

"I know what pain and doubt can do, Dana. How it can 
make you shy away from makin' the decisions you 
really know you want to. I can't promise to take away 
all your pain, all your doubt, Dana. But I'm gonna' 
damn well give it my best shot if you really want me 
to." 

"I want you to...." Scully whispered, taking his hand 
and holding it tight in her own, savouring every line 
on his strong fingers. "I'm sure I want you to." She 
looked up into his face. "Have we really lost those 
guys who were chasing us?" "Yeah, no sign of em..." 
Doggett lightly stroked her red hair, loving how its 
fineness sprinkled on his hand. "Monica is checking 
her intelligence contacts, at least the ones we can 
still rely on....tryin' to find Muldah....he's gotta' 
be out there somewhere....We'll find him...." 

"We will....isn't that what Kobold said?" Scully sat 
up in Doggett's arms and he could feel the 
apprehension filling her slender body as he held her 
against him. "It's the threat he said is coming for 
us I'm really afraid of...." 

"I think it's bull, Dana....him playin' one last mind 
game with us...." 

Scully's blue eyes conveyed their worry. 

"What if it isn't?" 

Doggett stroked her chin, holding her face up to his. 

"Then we take the time before we face that threat 
very seriously...and say the things we want to say to 
each other....I stayed away from my feelins' for a 
long time, Dana, because of what you and Muldah 
shared together, but I can't stay away from you 
anymore...from tellin' you what you mean to me and 
bein' with you the way I wanna' be...." 

Scully closed her eyes tight as Doggett's touch 
travelled lovingly along her cheekbone. 

"And I'm not going to push you away anymore for the 
same reason....everything's going to be real between 
us from now on....no pretending...." Scully 
whispered. "Especially when we get William back....I 
should never have given him up....and I'm never going 
to again...." 

"We'll leave in the morning, Dana...first thing." 
Doggett's hand caressed her as she sank back into his 
chest. "I told Monica our plans." 

"Is she gonna' be ok?" Scully asked, taking one of 
Doggett's fingers against her lips and lightly 
trailing it along them. 

"I think so." Doggett's voice was quiet, relaying his 
obvious concern for someone else so close to him. 
"We'll always be tight whatever happens in the 
future. She means a lot to me." 

"And me." Scully whispered. "what do we do until the 
morning?" 

Doggett's face moved to hers, wiping the red hair 
tenderly away from her eyes. 

"We watch the shadows and make sure there's nothing 
here but us...." 

----- 

In his dream he kisses her softly, lovingly. In his 
dream she returns his touch, giving him so much by 
doing so. In his dream he plans to hold her until the 
night comes and all through until the next day dawns. 
In his dream he loves Dana Scully and she loves him. 

But today it is not a dream. It is real. As real as 
it comes. And as he looks to an uncertain future with 
her, he knows one thing. Things won't be easy, but 
nothing will make them push away from each other 
again. 

On his life. And he knows she feels the same. And it 
is so damn good. 

THE END