Summary: Jump The Shark post-ep, Yves/Jimmy. PG.

From A Grateful Nation
By: Olivia
http://fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=94231
Dedicated: To all The Lone Gunmen (actors, character, and fans alike:)). You will live on in our hearts and fanfics:)


After everyone had left, after the groundskeeper had taken away all the chairs, after the caskets had been lowered, even after all this, Jimmy and Yves remained. Jimmy still had one arm holding the U.S. flags given posthumously to these three heroes from a grateful nation. It was a nation that had been unaware that they had ever been in danger. It was a nation that was still unaware to whom it owed it's continued existence.

And Jimmy's other arm still held tightly to Yves. Their tears had stopped falling hours ago, but their faces had been permanently stained. Yves put her arm around Jimmy's waist and turned her face into his chest. Jimmy wrapped his other arm around her enveloping her in a big bear hug.

"I feel the same as Agent Scully does," said Yves, sorrow etched in every word. "I don't think they ever really knew how much they meant to me."

"Hey," said Jimmy quietly, comfortingly, "the guys knew. Why else do you think they spent every penny they had trying to find you? They felt so awful about having led you into that trap and you risking your life to save theirs and mine. They tried to get you back, to rescue you. They cared about you that much."

"It's still not right." Yves voice began to break. "If I had been honest with you and them from the start, none of this would have happened. I never wanted to get close, never wanted to care about anybody, because it just hurts too much. It's all my fault."

Jimmy lifted Yves face with his one free hand. He looked into her eyes. "The guys loved you, Yves. It didn't matter to them if your name is Yves or Lois or whatever you choose to be called. They loved you. They choose to sacrifice themselves to save others. They stood up for the lost causes. They fought the good fight. They're heroes. They did what they've always done-the same as you. You and them were both alike in that. You brought out the best in each other. And we were an unstoppable force to be reckoned with."

Yves smiled as a tear trickled down her face, which Jimmy brushed away gently with his thumb. She looked up at him. "We really were quite a team. And I'm not the only one they thought the world of."

Jimmy smiled even though he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes at the thought of his friends whom he would never see again. His voice broke. "I loved those guys. They were my family, you know. I could really trust and depend on them."

Yves nodded. "It's like a light has passed out of this world and only a handful of us have noticed."

A silent pause settled between the two of them. It was slowly growing dark.

Jimmy walked over to stand in front of the three mounds of dirt. "I don't even know what to do now that they're gone. I'm...lost. I just sorta helped them, you know. I didn't come up with the great ideas. I'm not as smart as them, or you for that matter..."

Jimmy fell silent as Yves walked over and stood by him and put her hand on his arm. "Jimmy, what is it I always told you? You are the smartest one of them. You found me didn't you?"

Jimmy chuckled and for a brief second Yves could see that spark- that smile-that she loved to see. It was his sadness that utterly pained her...even more so than her own.

"I guess I did," said Jimmy.

"Jimmy, you have all their qualities, all the important ones anyway. You're kind and loyal, generous and brave, selfless. You do the right thing and you stand up for what you believe in. I can handle the rest. They wanted us to carry on, to continue the good fight. In that way, they never will truly die, they never will be truly gone. They'll live though us. And I'm sure these new Agents on the X-Files are going to need our help down the road."

Jimmy's smile slowly turned into a grin. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Yves returned Jimmy's smile. She laced her fingers into Jimmy's free hand. She felt so unworthy of the devotion that these men in her life had shown her. She had felt so hollow, so empty, the year she had spent apart from Jimmy, Frohike, Langly, and Byers. She had gotten the guys back only to lose them horribly and tragically. She wasn't about to lose Jimmy too. He was the one bright spot in her cloak and dagger life. She would spend the rest of her life making certain that their good deeds were not forgotten. "C'mon. We've got to get back to headquarters. We've got lots of work to do."

Jimmy leaned over to give Yves a kiss on the check when she surprised him by quickly giving him a kiss on the lips. "I never thanked you for coming after me, Jimmy. It means a lot...to me. You've always tried to protect me...."

Jimmy just nodded. He could barely contain his happiness as he whispered shyly, but sincerely, "I love you, Yves. I always have."

Yves just smiled at him as the two walked away from the gravesites to Yves' car. When they got to it, Yves let Jimmy into the passenger side. As she rounded the back of the car, she whispered to herself. "I love you, Jimmy. Always have." Yves got into the drivers seat.

As Yves drove them out of Arlington Cemetery, they each took a piece of it with them in their hearts that would never die. A few minutes later they passed over the bridge, over the Potomac River, back into Maryland. They headed to Takoma Park...they headed for home.

The End


"Make death proud to take us."-"Antony and Cleopatra"-Shakespeare

"His part is played, and though it were too short he did it well."-"The Two Noble Kinsmen"-Shakespeare/Fletcher

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."-Winston Churchill