Title: Nova

Author: Angel

Feedback: Please! I love every but of it!

Classification: MSR, Colonization fic.

Spoilers: All the way up to 7^th season finale but NOT including.

Rating: NC-17 (for some parts-very mild consensual sex- but to be safe!) Others are probably PG-13 or so for naughty words and implied naughty stuff =).

Summery: The inevitable happens. Mulder has planned ahead and now does everything in his power to keep Scully safe.

You MUST read all parts to understand! Available at Ephemeral and my home page.

Disclaimer: You know the drill. Characters are property of Fox, 1013, ect. No money is being made. No infringement is intended. A few poems and songs are used without permission, names of authors are given. Prayers which I did not write, and I don’t know who wrote are included in some areas.

Homepage: (to find missing parts and sooner or later the completed version, also posted at Ephemeral)

A HUGE thanks to Evie my beta reader! Nova would never be doing this well, or going as fast, without her help! Thank you thank you thank you thank you! Umm… one more! Thank you!

Note: Want Nova updates in the mail? Just let me know!

"Baby don’t look up, the sky is falling." Tori Amos

(23/?)

****

Day 133 (continued)

Mulder walked into his room, colder then the last time he walked into Nova. He stopped short when he saw Scully. "Scully? What is it? What’s wrong?" He sat beside her on the bed where she had her knees pull up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her. "Are you hurting?" He asked pulling her arms and legs away from her body to look at her.

She shook her head. "I’m ok." She whispered.

Mulder took her face in his hands. "You’re not ok. Did you have another dream?"

Scully leaned forward and pressed her lips against his neck, but didn’t relax into his arms. "No… I didn’t have a dream."

He rubbed his hands up and down her back trying to be patient. "So you’re not in pain and you didn’t have a dream. I can keep guessing if you’d like?" Mulder teased gently trying to get her to relax.

Scully pulled away with a faint smile. "After you left the Medical Room today I spoke with Benjamin…"

Mulder groaned. "Shit… what did he say?"

Fiddling with the sheets, Scully wouldn’t look back up at Mulder. "He was trying to convince me, I guess I could say, that you were hurting to today."

"In the Medical Room?" He asked in confused shock.

Scully nodded. "Saying you just did things like that to show dominance over me. He just wasn’t listening to me at all."

Mulder rubbed his forehead for a moment. "Did he hurt you?"

"No." She said softly.

"Ok." Mulder reached over and rubbed the back of her neck with his hand. "Get your shoes on." He said getting out of bed.

"Why?" Scully finally looked up at him.

Mulder knelt at the side of the bed and pulled out their bags that hadn’t been touched since they got to Nova. "We are leaving."

Scully swung her legs over the side of the bed so she was in front of Mulder. "No… Mulder we can’t just walk away from here."

"Scully, I’m not about to sit around and wait for Benjamin lose it. I don’t trust this guy and I don’t think you do either. There is no reason for us to stay." He went to stand up, bags in hand, but Scully placed her hands on his shoulder.

"Mulder, just let this go. It will be ok."

He tossed the bags down violently. "Fine, if you don’t want to leave I’m going to go punch some sense into that son of a bitch."

Scully grabbed his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. "No. We can not leave here and we can’t afford to be kicked out."

The realization hit Mulder suddenly. He closed his eyes with a defeated sigh, leaning down he pressed the top of his head into Scully’s belly.

"It will be ok." She repeated with her lips pressed against the nape of his neck, her hands skimming over his back. "We’ve been through worse. I don’t like it anymore then you do, but we have to stay here right now."

He nodded against her body.

Day 137

Skinner had the horrible the feeling, the one when you know someone is watching you. He turned his head discreetly over his shoulder, making it look at if he was only stretching after digging potatoes from the ground.

"You have a fan." Mulder said deadpan as he walked up along side Skinner, kneeling down in the dirt to start work for the day.

"That guy gives me the creeps." Skinner mumbled.

Mulder smirked. "I wonder if he is related to the Smoking Man."

Skinner let out a snort of laughter. "Wouldn’t surprise me one bit…" He trailed off looking at the sky as a ship drifted over top of them. The trees were slowly losing their leaves; Nova’s sparse protection would be lost along with them.

Neither man said a word about the ship. No one said anything. It was all too common now. Less then a year ago Mulder searched, with all his strength, to prove such things existed. His whole life spent on one purpose. But back then he didn’t know what life was really about. He lost that focus the night he lost his sister. But now, with Scully and what could be the biggest surprise of their lives on the way, he wanted to go back. To change what he did. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s part of human nature. Mulder made too many. He wished he could go back and change his life, Scully’s life. But wishing never did any good. And if the wish came true, would anything be any different?

Day 140

Scully circled her middle fingers over Mulder’s temples as his head lay in her lap. A soft sigh of contentment breathed from his lips. Scully smiled down at him, sliding her hands from his forehead she brushed his hair back. He was close to sleep, she could tell by his even breathing and the way his body relaxed completely under her hands. The lines of worry gone from his forehead, from his eyes. At the moment he was at peace in the silent room. She hated to leave when he was like this, even for a moment. She knew the moment she slipped his head from her lap, and her hands ceased their gentle roaming he would remember where they were, what was happening, what could happen. But she had to go, even for that short moment. So she lifted his head gently, feeling the way he tensed ever so slightly. Without a word she leaned over and placed a soft lingering kiss on his lips and slipped quietly from the room and down to the Main Room. It was quiet this time of night. Most were in bed already, safely and happily tucked in with their loved ones. Forgetting about the hard labor that waited for them the following day, forgetting about Them, forgetting anything that wasn’t that exact calm moment. Few were out, like Scully, collecting wood to keep them warm during the night. But words never seemed to be spoken at this time. It was as if everyone was invisible to each other. The only sounds Scully heard where the crackling fire and the dull thud of the wood she pilled into the carrier. Supplies over one shoulder Scully walked languidly back to her room, her body in no rush but her mind racing her. Without a thought Scully rubbed the base of her neck with her hand as the other opened the door as quietly as the thick wood would allow. As she knew he would Mulder lay as she left him, the subtle changes of tension and worry visible to only her. She added the wood, stripped some of her clothes away and climbed into bed again faster, and quieter, then one would have thought possible. With Mulder’s even beating heart under her ear Scully lulled to sleep with no worries in her heart, she would keep those buried in her mind until morning.

Day 145

A new tradition had been started. Poker.

Mulder calmly, with shameless pride, laid his hand out for the others to see.

Frohike groaned. "Bastard." He mumbled and shoved the pile of rocks towards Mulder- that was all they played for. Money was a thing of the past.

Langly and Byers cheered; they had folded a while ago.

"I think I should quit while I’m ahead." Mulder said leaning back smugly in his chair.

"I’ll get you tomorrow." Skinner said aimlessly shuffling the already worn deck of cards.

Without bothering to knock Scully walked in stifling a yawn with on hand. She planted herself on the Mulder’s lap, one arm over his neck, still yawning.

"Tired, Scully?" Mulder asked with a smirk.

She nodded when she finally finished her yawn and placed the now free hand over the gentle swell of her belly. "I’m going to go to bed I think, you coming soon?"

Mulder nodded, proudly gesturing to his winnings. Scully just rolled her eyes.

"Hey Scully, you and Amanda should play with us some time." Byers said.

"Yeah." Langly said quickly. "We can turn it into strip poker." He rubbed his hands together as he waggled his eyes brows. His expression quickly sobered at Skinner and Mulder’s glare.

Scully paid no attention to him, just climbed off Mulder’s lap. "Good night everyone." She said leaving.

"Man, I think that was your cue that you are expected elsewhere." Frohike said with a slightly jealous tone.

Mulder stretched his arms over his head. "Yeah I think so." He suddenly straightened up, remembering something that he wanted-needed to know. "I wanted to ask you guys if you’ve seen Benjamin around Scully."

"No more then usual." Byers said.

Skinner leaned forward, bracing his arms on the tabletop. "People have been talking." At the questioning gazes he continued. "I’ve heard a lot of hushed talk about Benjamin. Doesn’t sound like many people like him, much less trust him."

Mulder shook his head in amazement. "This place is not going to make it with him."

"What the hell are we going to do about it? He still has too many people behind him." Skinner said with a disgusted snort.

"Idiots." Langly muttered.

"No… they are just naïve." Byers defended for some unknown reason.

Mulder stood to leave. "Oh to be naïve." He said in a dramatically wistful tone. "How wonderful it must be." The door shut behind him in a slam.

Day 146

"Scully, stop. It’s me." Mulder said firmly as she pushed at him. He had been sleeping comfortably, one arm draped over Scully’s waist when he woke to her frantically shoving him away in her sleep. Mulder immediately moved, but that wasn’t good enough for her dream world. It didn’t look like she was going to let up until she pushed him right off the bed. "Scully, wake up. Come on."

Those words weren’t any different then the ones he had been uttering for the last five minutes but for some reason they did the trick. With a soft gasp Scully sat up and pressed a hand to her mouth.

Mulder moved back towards her, rubbing her back lightly. "You ok?"

"It was Benjamin." She whispered. "The man in my dream has been Benjamin. I saw him this time."

Mulder nodded carefully. He wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say about this.

"Why am I having this dream about him?" She looked up at him with eyes pleading for any logic.

"You fear him… You’re dream is your way of dealing with it."

Scully shook her head. "I was having this dream before he did anything odd."

Mulder gently pulled her back down to the bed. "The unconscious mind is a lot smarter than the conscious. You may have just been hiding how you felt towards him from yourself."

They lay in a thoughtful silence for long moments before Scully spoke again, in a soft whisper. "How do I make them stop?"

Mulder pressed his lips to her temple. "I don’t know."

Notes: Hey all! How am I doing so far? It looks like the next few weeks are going to be a little difficult, so hang in there if Nova is a little slow. I’ll do my best as always!

Also, I just redid my page! Take a look. I’ve also set up a poll =). I like my toys…

Again, if you want to join the mailing list for Nova just ask!