Title:  Cold and Broken
Author: Circe Invidiosa
Spoilers: Redux II
Classification: Cheese...in response to E-muse Songfic Challenge...see end for notes...
Summary:  "I was lost last night..."


Mulder couldn't stay at Scully's hospital bed forever.
Eventually someone would come in and tell him visiting
hours were over long ago. If she woke up, he knew he
wouldn't be able to bear her questioning eyes upon him.

He wandered the city until he found himself in her
apartment.  Everything was the same as the night he had
waited for her in the dark, except that she wasn't
coming home tonight....maybe not ever.

He turned on her stereo and sat down on her couch,
wrapping himself in the blanket there as he felt she must
have done the evenings when she was too ill to move.  He
listened to what she last listened to. Guitar chords
filled the silence and a mournful voice began.  He picked
up the open CD case on the coffee table...Grace...
Hallelujah...How fitting.

    Your faith was strong but you needed proof
    You saw her bathing on the roof
    Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
     
He sank forward, holding his head in his hands.  It was
all falling apart. Accused of murder. His sister. His
beliefs shattered.  The chip...the damn chip wasn't
working.  And whether he accepted the Smoking Man's offer
or not, inevitably he would be separated from Scully. 

     I used to live alone before I knew you
     I've seen your flag on the marble arch
     Love is not a victory march
     It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

She should have told him about the cancer metastasizing.
He wouldn't have gone to the Yukon.  He wouldn't have
pulled them into this mess.  He wouldn't have given her
the false hope of a cure.  He wouldn't have been that
sorry son of a bitch...

    Well, maybe there's a God above
    But all I ever learned from love
    Was how to shoot at somebody who outdrew you
    And it's not a cry that you hear at night
    It's not somebody who's seen the light
    It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

He had to take the deal.  The Smoking Man claimed he would
keep his promises.  There could be more to the cure than
just the chip that the black-lunged bastard was holding on
to.  He could make his problems go away.  He offered the
truth.  It was the only deal on the table.

Mulder would find a way to contact him.

     Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah...


Notes:  Inspired by Rain's use of Leonard Cohen lyrics.  The late Jeff Buckley covered Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in his 1995 album, Grace. Personally, my favourite cover of this song is by Rufus Wainwright...but that wasn't recorded at the time this story took place...

Oh, and sorry about the length...