Title: In the Light of the Frozen Moon Author: Decoyly Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully aren't mine, they belong to CC and Co. Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended! Just some pre-movie excitement! :) Rating: G Classification: MSR Summary: In response to DD's comment that Mulder takes off his shirt...:D XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "How are we supposed to find anything out here?" Scully asked tiredly, brushing her hairout of her face and glancing around the never-ending expanse of snow. It was nearly pitch black out, the only light coming from their flashlights and the light of the half moon. But even the moonlight wasn't helping much. The clouds had rolled in and it was snowing. Again. Clearly no one had heard her. A small search party had been sent out at Mulder's insistence. Most of the team had stayed behind finding anymore searching tonight futile, but Mulder wasn't willing to waste precious time and had volunteered to check the last site. Knowing she couldn't leave him alone, Scully had knocked the snow off her gloves and hat, and prayed she didn't lose her nose to frostbite as she followed her partner out to the most remote section of lake. She was guessing the only reason the other two agents had come along was to keep an eye on them. It seemed their reputation was in tact even after all these years. "Anything?" Mulder called from the line of frozen trees, swinging his flashlight in her direction. "Not yet." Scully watched her words disappear in a puff of frozen air. "You?" "No." Mulder frowned and glanced at the two agents canvassing the small frozen cove. Clearly they hadn't had any luck either. "Mulder I hate to say it," Scully said walking towards him. "But maybe we should call it a night." "I second that!" A voice called out. "Me too." Both agents turned from their inspection of the frozen lakeside and began walking towards them. Suddenly one of the men stopped. "What is it?" Scully asked, following his gaze towards the center of the lake. At first she wasn't sure she'd seen it, the faint bluish light, but as she got closer, she couldn't deny it. The snow was definitely glowing. "Scully?" Mulder called from behind her, but she didn't answer him. She had no idea what it was, but there was something very captivating about that light...calming almost, warm. The closer she stepped the warmer she got. Scully lowered her flashlight, feeling thebitter cold start to back off. Her face felt the brush of heat as if from a cozy fireplace. It was almost as if-- "Scully stop!" But it was too late. She heard Mulder call her name just as the agent across from her let out a cry and a white flash erupted before their eyes. The world melted beneath her feet. Scully gasped in surprise as freezing daggers of ice assaulted her body and she sank into the blindingly cold water below. "Scully!" Mulder dropped his flashlight and blindly dove for the edge of the water. At least he hoped it was the edge. The flash had left him momentarily with nothing but white fire burned into his retinas, and right now he couldn't see much of anything. But that wasn't stopping him. "Scully!" he shouted again, plunging his hand into the freezing water, blinking furiously and frantically searching for his partner. There was a loud *CRACK* of splitting ice and Mulder looked up just in time to see the remaining FBI agent fall into the death trap. He let out a shout, managing to catch himself on the edge of the ice and pull back to safety. Mulder suddenly realized he couldn't remember the man's name. "Where'd they go?" The other agent panted, desperately searching the now black water for his partner. Before Mulder could answer, something crashed to the surface, sputtering and cursing, sending chunks of ice everywhere. It wasn't Scully. As the other agent helped his partner out, Mulder fought back his building panic, frantically swishing his arms around in the water. How long had it been? Had he even dived for the right section of water? "C'mon Scully..." She had to be in there somewhere! Just as he was ready to dive in there himself, Scully broke the surface of the water, gasping and coughing. Relief flooded his body and Mulder caught her around the waste. When she started to fight him, he quickly said, "It's okay! It's just me!" Scully immediately calmed down. He started to lift her out, but froze as eerie cracking highlighted a shout, "Agent Mulder, the ice!" "Scully hold on!" Banking on the sheer adrenaline rushing through his veins to give him that extra push, Mulder hugged her tight and flung himself onto his back. He landed hard with another crack and rolled them both to his left. He was followed closely by a chorus of shattering ice. He didn't have time to think. Mulder leapt to his feet in a daze, grabbing his partner and pushing her ahead of him onto the safety of the shore just as the last of the ice gave way. Shouts echoed behind him as the other agents leapt to safety and Mulder lost his footing. "Mulder!" Scully grabbed his hand at the last second, pulling him to safety. Their fall was softened by the thick snow. Scully was too numb to figure out what had just happened. One second she was walking towards blissful warmth, and the next she was dying a cold horrible death. She couldn't breathe and could feel everything, even her hair, freezing by the second. Before she knew what was happening, Mulder was pulling her to her feet. "Hold on Scully, I'm gonna get you warm." Warm? That would be nice. But then again, she was pretty sure warmth didn't exist anymore. Scully shook violently, her eyelids growing heavy as she watched Mulder rip off his coat, turtleneck, and shirt in record time. Why was he doing that? Wouldn't he be cold? Her mind was beginning to shut down. She was going into shock. "Stay with me Scully," Mulder's voice sounded far away as she felt him take off her coat, pull her against him, and wrap his own around them both. Warmth. Blessed warmth. Scully leaned into her partner's chest, amazed that one person could give off so much heat. Compared to the icy nightmare she'd just been in, Mulder felt like a human furnace. Her teeth chattered and she snuggled closer as Mulder pulled off her gloves and began rubbing her hands furiously between his. His heart raced as he worked desperately to warm his freezing partner. He had to get her inside, out of those wet clothes, and quick. She was shaking so hard she could barely stand up and felt like a block of ice against his bare chest. "W-where's the r-raining sleeping b-bags when you need them?" Scully managed to say, her teeth chattering. He let out a relieved laugh, pulling her closer and wrapping the coat tighter around both of them. "Guess we're still not lucky enough." She laughed sadly and he covered her ears with his hands. "You two okay?" Mulder looked up to see the rest of their search party exiting the trees. The Agent who had fallen under the water was shivering furiously, but seemed more angry about it than anything. Unlike Scully, he was a big guy and apparently hadn't lost as much body heat. "How fast can you get us back?" Mulder asked, nodding to their two snowmobiles and quickly rubbing his hands up and down Scully's arms. She was still shaking and they were losing time. "Don't worry I know these woods like the back of my hand," the smaller agent replied, already heading for the snowmobiles. Scully swayed in his arms, and Mulder caught her. The agent in front of him glanced at them. "She gonna be alright?" As long as you're as good as you say you are, Mulder thought. Out loud he said, "We need to get inside. Fast." Just the fact that Scully wasn't insisting that she was fine, wasn't backing away and answering for herself was enough to make Mulder worry. She was moving but she didn't know how. Her legs had disappeared a long time ago and everything seemed to move in a very sluggish, dreamlike sort of way. Halfway to the snowmobiles she'd slumped against Mulder, and soon found herself being carried the rest of the way. She tried to tell him that she was fine, that she just needed a little rest and he didn't have to carry her, but her mouth wouldn't move. Either her lips were too numb or they'd frozen shut, she couldn't be sure which. Scully was so tired she couldn't keep her eyes open. She leaned her head on Mulder's shoulder as she thought about the white light. It had been so comforting, so peaceful...A lot like Mulder right now. Scully heard her partner tell her she was going to be fine, to hold on, as a motor revved and she blacked out. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Hmmm...okay so this was supposed to be a little pre-movie fun, but that was actually really fun to write, and now I want to know what happens next...:P I may have to branch off into my own little WIP! LoL Thanks for reading!!