TITLE: Knockin' On Heaven's Door
CATAGORY: Surprise -
HUMOR & Not my usual torture for Mulder, but
he is in a hospital.
It's what my husband calls one of my
Para-Mulder Shorts.
DISCLAIMER: Mulder and Scully belong to Chris
Carter and Fox.
Elvis belongs to God.  Yes, kiddos, Elvis has
left the planet.
RATING: I'd say it’s a G.
SUMMARY: Mulder finds a reason not to walk
through the Pearly Gates.
RATING: G
FEEDBACK: Dev1025@uswest.net
THANKYOUS: Amy, this one's for you...Humor
and romance

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Knockin' on Heaven's Door
by Katvictory


Dana Scully sat by Fox Mulder's bedside
relishing the sound of his voice, thankful
that he was still alive.  There had been too
many touch and go moments the past ten days.
His heart had stopped on the way to the
hospital. It had stopped once again, on the
operating table.  Twice, his first couple of
days in the ICU, he had stopped breathing.

But, ten days after being shot in the chest,
here he was, sitting up in bed, telling her
about his near-death experience.  Scully was
so grateful just to have him here. She
promised herself she would not debunk
anything he told her. She swore she would not
raise a brow or roll her eyes.  She would
hear the tale he had been so eager to relate
to her since he had regained consciousness,
and she would keep all doubts and scientific
theories to herself.  That was how she felt,
before he had started talking.  Later, after
he had finished his tale, well --let's just
say Mulder's version of 'crossing the bar'
was a bit different from any she had ever
heard.

***************

"Scully, you know, I was awake when they put
me in the ambulance.  You were there.  I
heard the sirens start up. I could hear the
EMTs talking about my condition.  I knew you
were right at my head, watching every move
they made. I felt you there with me.  I knew
when things started going south.  I heard you
yell at the driver to stop the ambulance.
When my heart stopped, I rose up, out of my
body.  I watched them that first time they
tried to jump-start my heart. Suddenly, I was
swallowed up by a light and the next thing I
saw was a man walking toward me..."

"Your father?" she asked expectantly.  Scully
had heard hundreds of these stories.  She had
even experienced one herself, a few years
back.  She knew the popular scientific
explanation for them, that lack of oxygen to
the brain caused the hallucinations.  But,
Scully had her faith and it was strong, so on
this matter she chose to admit -- she really
didn't know the truth.

"Not hardly," Mulder answered her question
with a grin.  "As soon as he got close
enough, I discovered he was singing..."

This was a new twist to the common tale, one
she'd never heard before.  Scully leaned
forward and asked her partner expectantly,
"What was he singing, Mulder?  Did you know
the man?"

Mulder's smile was pure bliss as he
remembered the sound of that heavenly voice.
"Oh, yes. He was singing, "It's Now or
Never". Scully, it was 'The King' -- it was
Elvis."

Scully really and truly tried not to laugh.
She bit her lip ‘til it almost bruised.  But
she couldn't help herself.  Peals of bawdy
laughter burst out, coming from clear down to
her toes.  She watched as Mulder's face fell
in disappointment, but she just couldn't
contain her mirth.  Scully giggled so hard,
she was afraid she was going to wet her
pants.

Mulder's expression slowly began to change;
shifting from hurt, that she didn't believe
him; to anger, that she somehow found this
momentous experience funny.

"Scully," he cried indignantly, once she had
regained some semblance of control. "Please."

Scully wiped the tears from her face,
struggling valiantly to compose herself.

"Scully, I have an epiphany and you laugh,"
he scolded in disappointment.

"You had an 'Elvis Epiphany'?" she started to
snicker and her battle was now lost. She ran
into the bathroom and slammed the door behind
her.

It took a while, but after several long
minutes, Scully came out - her face washed, a
stoic expression locked firmly in place.  She
took her seat beside her partner, the picture
of composed calm.

Mulder turned away.

"Mulder, please.  Go on, tell me the rest."
Scully knew he wanted to be begged, so she
complied.  "I won't laugh, I promise.  You
just caught me by surprise. I never expected
Elvis to meet anyone at the Pearly Gates.
Please, go on."

He eyed her suspiciously, sizing up if she
were baiting him, then nodded to her that he
would go on.

"Elvis walked right up to me and asked me my
name. I told him. He smiled and said --
'Well, son, it's your call,' " Mulder
related, doing a fairly passable imitation of
his idol. " 'You wanna go on up, or you wanna
go back?’ "

"I really didn't know what I should do.  I
mean things weren't looking too good for me
as I remembered.  So I shrugged.  Elvis
smiled at me and said, 'Doan worry, you got
time.  They jus' took you into surgery.  You
could still go both ways.'  We had been
walking while we talked and we made it to
this big white room.  A waiting room.  Elvis
and I sat down on a bench to talk."

" 'How's thing's goin' down there?' he
asked.  It kind of surprised me that he
didn't know and I told him so. 'I'm pullin'
this duty for another few years. It's not so
bad. I meet a lot of interestin' folks.  But
most of them's in a big hurry, 'cause they
already made up there minds where they wanna
go.  So we doan really get much chance to
chat. So, tell me, things goin' okay down
there?' "

"Well, Pricilla is a movie star now.  She's
doing pretty good with it, I guess. She's got
a great head for business.  She opened up
Graceland to your fans.  I went a while back
and the place looks great.  It's just like
you left it."

"Elvis smiled at me. I think he was glad that
she was doing so well. He really loved her,
you know?"

Scully nodded that she did know.

"Then he asked about his daughter.  I told
him that Lisa Marie had married Michael
Jackson.  He looked shocked. 'That little,
high voiced, black kid, singer?' he asked.
Well, I told him -- he grew up.  He isn't
black anymore, but his voice is still high.
The marriage didn't last and the last I
heard, Lisa's going to start singing.  She's
got a contract, I heard.”  Elvis smiled again
and shook his head. 'My boy, My boy,' he
laughed, giving his leg a slap. 'Kid's are
somethin' aren't they?' Just at that moment a
clipboard popped into his hand and he looked
down to check it.  ' Looks like your window's
closin', Mulder.'  Scully, can you believe
it. Elvis called me Mulder," Mulder bragged,
giving a contented sigh.

Scully gave a mute nod and a smile to let him
know she was happy for him .

"I just sat there, trying to decide what I
should do.  I asked Elvis if he would go back
if he got the chance.  He shook his head,
'No, my Mamma's here, an' my Daddy.  We got a
pretty good band goin', what with Janis an'
Buddy an' Stevie Ray here. Th' foods great
an' you can eat all you want an' you never
gain a pound. I kinda like it here. Say, you
got anybody here?’ "

"I told him, my father might be up there, but
I explained that we never really got along.
Elvis thought for a moment, then asked me,
'Okay, let's try looking at it this way,
then.  Do you have somebody that you'd want
to go back to?'  That was all it took,
Scully.  I made up my mind -- the light came
and the next thing I saw was you.  Sitting
beside me like you are now..."

"You came back because of me?"  Scully asked
softly, wiping a tear from her eye.

Mulder grabbed her hand and gave it a light
squeeze, he nodded.

Scully swallowed hard before she spoke, "I'm
sorry I laughed, Mulder."

"That's all right, Mama," he drawled.

THE END