"What is this?" She asked as she held the envelope before her.

"The X-Files have been shut down. We have been reassigned, effective immediately." Without waiting for a response he went to his desk.

Scully was speechless at first she could not understand why he was not fighting this. Despite the rage he was not fighting this.

"Mulder, what happened? Why did they shut us down?" When she looked into his eyes she knew the answer to her question.

"You did this. You shut us down. Why Mulder? Why?" All she had left of him was the time they spent within the walls of this office. Outside this office, they were strangers.

"It was time."

"What, it was time? What is that supposed to mean. How could you make this kind of discussion without even consulting me. This includes me to, you know."

"Need I remind you that I started this and now I am ending it."

"Ending it, Mulder what is wrong with you? How can you end this and drop everything?"

       "You can not honestly tell me that this is worth the cost it extracts? We have been nothing but pawns. They send us where they want, tell what they want and take away what ever they want. They have the control. We never have and never will. We are at their mercy, Scully. Don't you see that. We are a joke to them, a joke. We never break through to the core of what they are doing. They throw us bits and pieces of false information just to tease us. To make us think we know what is going on. We don't. We know nothing and have nothing to show.

His words ripped through her. Could he be right? Had everything they had lost been for nothing?

"Mulder, we can't give up. We have to keep trying."

"Why?"

"For all those we lost."

He came across the room and grabbed her desk. The impact caused it to slide back slightly.

       "They are gone because of the X-Files. Without the X-Files those people would not have died. Deep Throat, Melissa, my father would not have died if it were not for the X-Files. You would not have been abducted. Everything that has happened wouldn't if I had never started this. So now I am ending it. The X-Files are no more.

       He stormed out of the office before she had a chance to respond. Shock reverberated through her as the impact of his words hit her. She knew why this was happening. This had nothing to do with Cancerman and his followers. What had happened to them six months ago had caused him to lose his desire to find the truth and his hope of righting the wrongs committed everyday. Losing Samantha had destroyed him. It was not closing the X-Files that hurt, it was losing him. She needed him. Her fragile hold on her life was bound to that man. Without him she did not know if she could survive.

       "Oh, god, Fox. What have we done." She cried the tears she had held back for six months. Not for the pain that she endured, but for what she was losing. She was losing Fox.

"Oh, Dana. What have we done?"

"Fox." She opened the door, before her stood a shell of the man she knew. "What has happened?"

When he looked at her, her heart broke. He had been crying. His eyes were red and puffy.

"Dana, she's gone." He staggered into the apartment. She led him to the couch most of his weight rested against her.

"Fox, what do you me she is gone? Who is gone?" She knew, somewhere deep inside she knew. Samantha.

"They called. The police. They found her body in a river up north. Dana, she's gone. Samantha is dead."

       She tried to find words to comfort him, but in the end she could not. She pulled him to her and held him as he cried. She joined her own tears to his. For all the time he spent on his search, those few precious days were all he had of his sister.

"Dana, I am so sorry for what I have done to you. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go. I had to see you. "

"Fox, I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

       They grew silent as they realized the dangerous step they were about to take. Neither had the strength to make the step alone. Would they have the strength together?

A knock at the door brought them out of the uncomfortable silence. When Dana opened the door, a man stood before her.

"May I help you?"

"My name is Jake. Is Fox here?"

Scully stepped aside to allow Jake into the apartment.

"Fox, I have something for you."

"What? Wait you are Jake from the diner. The diner that Sam..... Emma wrote at?"

       "That's me. Emma, asked me to hold something for her. She said that if anything ever happened to her that I was to bring it to you or Ms. Scully. She was a good person. Something like this should have never happened to her. I am sorry. " He handed Fox a small envelope and a box of the same size.

"Thank you, Jake"

Once the door was closed behind Jake, Fox sank down to the couch. He looked up a Dana, uncertainty in his eyes.

"I don't think I can do this, Dana." He still held both the box and the envelope in his hands.

       "Fox, you have to." He looked at her, tears began to pool in the corners of his eyes. He sat the box on one knee as he opened the letter. A single piece of stationary was inside. As he opened the paper he first saw the small fox that was drawn in one corner. He gathered together the last bit of his strength as he read the letter.

       With the help of Samantha Mulder, the guilt that had grown between Fox and Dana began to wither away. She had given her life to save them. She reminded them of what they had lost. They had lost each other. Would the strength of a promise be enough to mend their broken hearts?