Ripper By Storm This piece of fan fiction is rated NC-17 for sexually explicit scenes. It contains a rape scene and may not be appropriate reading for those who are easily disturbed by the subject matter. Potomac, Maryland Friday Night Scully set the binoculars down. "Still no sign of him," she sighed. They had been sitting in the car for going on 6 hours and nothing had happened. She looked at her watch. Not much time left. She and Mulder had done Skinner a favor by taking over this stakeout for two agents that were called away unexpectedly, and it was as boring as hell. Mulder was breathing on the window and tracing pictures into the fog left there by his breath. He sat up straighter and looked at Scully. "I'm going across the street to get some coffee. Want some?" "Sure," Scully said and watched him get out of the car and jog across the street, his tie flying over his shoulder. It had been exactly one month ago that she had awakened on Mulder's couch and gone into his bedroom to find him walking out of his bathroom dressed only in a towel. And it had been over his head. Scully smiled at the memory. She had stood there gaping at him, unable to move, and when Mulder had pulled the towel off his head, his expression had been priceless. Scully had not been able to help herself…she had laughed. Mulder had wrapped the towel around his waist and said, "Don't you know you shouldn't laugh at a naked man, Scully? It could scar him for life. Make him worry about his prowess." Scully sobered a little, but still smiled. "You don't have anything to worry about in that department, Mulder." When she had realized what she had said, she had blushed. Mulder had looked like he was blushing, too. He cleared his throat. "I thought you were sleeping, Scully…. I didn't remember leaving the door open…" "You didn't," Scully said. "I'm sorry. I opened it." Mulder raised an eyebrow. "You needed to speak to me?" Scully nodded. "Well, sort of…I don't know. I guess I wanted to talk to you, but not about anything important." Scully began to back away, her eyes were glued to his chest. Mulder came toward her, and before Scully knew what was happening, they were kissing… passionately. Thoughts of how the night progressed caused a rush of heat running up Scully's neck and over her face. She had never had such an intense experience with a man. And after it was over, and Mulder had fallen asleep, what had she done? Gotten up, gotten dressed, and left. That was a month ago, exactly, and they had never spoken of it since. Scully leaned back and closed her eyes, trying not to relive that night in her mind. It only made things worse. She knew her feelings for Mulder, but the truth was that they scared her. She wanted to back away, and she had. She had fully expected him to call her on it the next day, but he had never mentioned it. Perhaps he was tired of being the open one. Maybe he wanted her to talk to him about it. Never for a moment did Scully suspect that Mulder regretted that night. She knew him too well, and she fully expected that he knew the same of her. For she didn't regret any of it…it was something to go back to over and over in her mind when she got lonely. It was a moment in time that was truly perfect. Never to be repeated. Scully knew that she had come to terms with her life that day a month ago, and that she had chosen to stay on this path. She still felt right about that, but how could she and Mulder continue working together if they were to have a physical relationship? It just wasn't possible. The fact that she was dodging her feelings because they were so terrifying to her was not something she was willing to explore at this time. Mulder opened the door to the car and reached on the roof to retrieve the other cup of coffee. He leaned in and handed it to her. She smiled at him and sipped it gingerly as he climbed in beside her and shut the door. "Anything?" He asked her, indicating the building they had been watching all afternoon. It was dark now, and the streetlights had come on while Mulder was in the coffee shop. She shook her head. She could feel Mulder's eyes upon her as she sat drinking her coffee. Would he say something now? Perhaps So many times in the past few weeks she had expected those words to come out of his mouth. He was just being stubborn. Well, she sure as hell wasn't going to bring it up. Mulder turned away from her and began sipping from his cup. A purring in her pocket interrupted Scully's thoughts, and she set her coffee down in the holder beside her leg. Pulling her cell phone out, she flipped it open. "Scully," she said. "Dana, hello." Scully was surprised to hear his voice. "Daniel?" She was aware that Mulder turned a fraction of an inch toward her in his seat. "Yes, how are you, Dana?" Scully glanced at Mulder. "I'm…the same as I was when I saw you a month ago. How are you, Daniel? How is your health, I mean?" Daniel chuckled softly, "Always the doctor, Dana," and Scully felt her hackles rise at the observation. "I'm doing well. I'd like very much to talk to you." "I'm listening," she said. "No, I mean in private. Could you possibly come over to my place? I have an apartment in Bethesda." "Tonight?" Scully looked at her watch, even though she knew what time it was. "Yes…would that be a problem?" "Daniel…how did you get my cell phone number?" Scully watched Mulder as he took the binoculars and lifted them to his eyes, focusing them down the street. "You gave it to my daughter when I was in the hospital…" "And you asked her for it?" Scully was feeling uncomfortable. She knew how Maggie felt about her. "Yes, and she was more than willing to give it to me. Things have changed, Dana." "In a month?" Scully was dubious. Daniel sighed. "Please come over here, Dana. I need to talk to you." He began giving her directions to his apartment, and Scully realized she knew exactly where it was. She couldn't believe that he had been living so close to her all these years and she hadn't known it. "Well, it'll be another hour before I can come. That'll be pretty late." "That'll be fine, Dana. Looking forward to seeing you." He hung up, and Scully found herself staring at the phone. Mulder set the binoculars down. "You can go on now if you want to. They'll be relieving us soon. I don't see anything happening here." "I'm in no hurry. You know we could get into trouble for it." "I'm not worried about that." "Well, I am," Scully said a little too sharply. She was disgruntled that Daniel had called her when she had thought that things were truly settled between them, once and for all. Mulder shrugged and they spent the next half-hour in silence until the agents who were sent to relieve them pulled up down the street, signaling with their lights that they were taking over. Daniel Waterston's apartment Bethesda, Maryland Friday night Scully stood uncertainly on the threshold of Daniel's apartment, surveying the room before her. Impeccably decorated, it looked warm and inviting. Daniel had always had wonderful taste. He stood there in khaki pants and a blue pullover shirt, looking at ease and healthy. He opened the door wider for her to enter. She stepped in and he shut it, turning to smile at her. "Let me take your jacket, Dana." She shrugged out of it and handed it to him, noticing that his color had returned since he had been hospitalized. "You look well," she commented. "Thank you," his eyes rested on her approvingly. "You look beautiful, as always." Scully blushed and at his bidding, went to sit down on the sofa. Daniel walked over to a wet bar and picked up two Waterford glasses filled with white wine. He handed her one and settled down on the sofa next to her. "Were you working when I called?" he asked, sipping his wine. Scully tasted hers. It was light and fruity. She nodded at his question. "A stake out." Daniel raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. He leaned back against the cushions. "Are you happy, Dana?" "Is this why you asked me here, Daniel? To quiz me on my happiness? I thought we left things pretty much settled when we last saw one another." Daniel tilted his head, the dim light on the sofa table behind him casting a sheen on his salt and pepper hair. Scully thought, but it suited him. "I disagree. We didn't have the opportunity to solve anything." He leaned down beside the sofa and picked up a large photo album. "Look at these, Dana." He opened the book and Scully scooted closer to him so that she could see the page. There were many pictures of the two of them; more than Scully would have ever imagined had been taken. She looked so young and impressionable that she found herself wincing. Daniel glanced at her. "What?" Scully shrugged. "Look at me! I look so young." "You were young. And I was an old geezer taking advantage of you," he smiled, the lines around his eyes crinkling. Scully found herself smiling in return. Memories of the time they had spent together were flooding back like a mudslide after a storm. She had adored him. He pointed out some more pictures, and then began relating a medical case he had been working on before he had become ill. Scully found herself intrigued, and kicked her shoes off, curling her feet underneath her on the sofa. Daniel poured more wine and they began to talk of old times. The weekend they had spent on Bear Mountain in the cabin. They had taken all of Daniel's fishing gear, but as it turned out, they'd never left the bedroom except for the nights they'd spent on the rug in front of the fire, and the one time they went skinny dipping in the lake at dawn. The ski trip to Colorado. Daniel broke his arm and they had spent the rest of the week watching old movies and playing chess. The nights they would meet at the Hilton in Virginia. Scully's legs began feeling stiff, and she stretched them out. Daniel leaned over and, picking them up, placed them in his lap and began massaging them gently. Scully leaned her head back and softly moaned. Daniel's hand moved higher on her leg. "I remember when I lived to hear you make that sound," he said. Scully met his eyes and she withdrew her feet from his lap. Setting her wineglass on the table, she stood up. "Don't go," Daniel said softly. She looked down at him. "I have to." She picked up her jacket. "Then see me tomorrow night," he stood up beside her and looked down into her face. "Please, Dana. Don't brush us off so easily. Remember what we once had…" Scully looked up at him for a moment and then turned to leave. "Goodbye, Daniel." Saturday Morning Georgetown, Virginia Dana Scully's apartment Scully was relieved to have the day off. She sat on her sofa in a pair of sweats and a T- shirt, staring into space, listening to a CD playing on the stereo. Why did Daniel call her over there last night? It was obvious he wanted a relationship with her again. But why after ten years? Ten years of living so close to her but never trying to contact her. She just didn't get it. When she had been in the hospital room with him, she had felt something within her stir. She knew she still had feelings for him, but after talking with him more, she had realized that she was no longer the same person that she had been when they were together. She had grown into someone very different. That realization was something that had allowed her to take that further step with Mulder, she knew. And she had immediately retreated afterward. Scully sighed. What was wrong with her? Was she emotionally retarded? Perhaps a life spent trying to prove herself had taken its toll. The doorbell rang. Scully got up and looked through the peephole. It was a delivery person. Scully pulled the door open enough to speak through the crack, leaving the chain on. "Flowers for a Dr. Dana Scully," the boy said. Scully took the chain off and opened the door, extending her hand for the box. "Thank you," she said, then closed the door and walked over to the table, sliding the card out of the red ribbon. Please have dinner with me tonight. 7:30, Chez Pierre's Daniel. Scully pulled the lid off the box and sucked in her breath at the beautiful arrangement of Calla Lilies. She went to the kitchen for a vase and returned to the table, thoughtfully arranging them inside it. Her first impulse was to call him and decline the invitation. After all, she was not going to pick this relationship up where they had left off ten years ago! It was over, and she did not know why Daniel was trying so hard suddenly to revive it. Scully set the vase on her buffet table and stood back to view her handy work. The flowers were gorgeous, and she couldn't help but feel flattered that he had sent them. It had been a long time since a man had treated her in this manner. Since Jack, actually. Her phone rang and Scully crossed the room to answer it. "Hello?" "Scully?" Mulder's voice startled her out of her train of thoughts and brought her to the present. "Yes, Mulder?" "I've got something I need you to look at. I'm at the office." Scully frowned. "Mulder, I was hoping to have a day off." "I know that, Scully, but this is a murder case. Skinner wants us on it." "All right, I'll be there shortly." Scully hung up the phone. Once again she was going to have to drop everything and go in to work. She went into her bedroom to change, and as she took her suit out of the closet, she paused and pulled a dress out of the back where she had tucked it a few months ago. It was the black dress that CGB Spender had given her to wear to dinner with him. It was beautiful, looked great on her, and Scully hadn't had it in her to get rid of it. She laid it out on her bed. She would wear it tonight to dinner with Daniel. Saturday, Noon J. Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC Scully stepped into the office and greeted Mulder who was perusing over some documents on his desk. "What've you got there?" she asked, settling on the corner of the desk and peering over at the papers. "Strange murder case," Mulder answered her, clearly engrossed in this latest X File. It still amazed Scully that he could get so immersed and excited at each new bizarre happening that crossed their way. "How so?" "Several women found brutally murdered," Mulder shuffled some photographs around enthusiastically. "What makes them an X File?" Scully wanted to know. "The fact that they have been committed over a long period of time and there has been absolutely no progress made on the case, for one. For two, they are very similar to the Jack the Ripper murders of the 1800s." Scully raised an eyebrow. "Copycat murders," she stated. "Maybe…" Mulder stood up. Scully's eyes followed him as he crossed the room to the file cabinet. "Mulder, are you suggesting that this may be the original Jack the Ripper?" Mulder came back to her with a file full of pictures and data. "I'm not saying anything yet, Scully." He sat down. "But I have always entertained the idea that these murder binges over the years could possibly be connected in some way other than copycat murders." Scully pursed her lips, but remained quiet. She lifted the pictures and looked through them. They were all gruesome. She looked at the report. All of the women were in their 30's, save two. They were all single, professional women. They had a variety of hair colors, and they were all 5'5" or less. The murders ranged all across the upper half of the country, from Washington State to Maine. She looked up at Mulder. "The murderer has his own MO, and they aren't prostitutes, Mulder." "Jack the Ripper only chose prostitutes because they were the only women back then out after dark. Now days there are a lot of women to choose from." Scully looked at the forensic reports. The murders started out simple enough, with slit throats or a stab wound to the heart. But then they progressed to the bodies being carved up; their organs set out on display. "The last group of murders happened a year ago," Mulder said, "and two weeks ago they started up again. The DC police department had done all they could, and there were agents here working on it last year. Now they are at a dead end, and Skinner decided to give us a try." "How flattering," Scully said, putting the file down. "Where do we begin?" "You can begin with an autopsy, Scully," Mulder said. "The body's at Quantico. A woman who was murdered in Maryland early this morning." Scully rose from the table, her eyes avoiding his. "I'll have to get permission to do it tomorrow. I have plans tonight, and it'll take me a while." There was silence in the room, and Scully thought she could hear her heart beating in her chest. "Did you have a late night last night?" Mulder finally asked, his voice carefully neutral. Scully turned and looked at him in surprise. "Why do you ask?" "Skinner called me about this case right after I left you. I tried to call you until about 1a.m., then gave up. Your cell phone was turned off." Mulder was staring at her and Scully finally blinked and looked away. "I must have gotten home right after that," she murmured. "Must have," Mulder said, getting out of his chair and opening the door. "I've got some things to check on upstairs." He left. Saturday Evening, 6:50 PM Chez Pierre's Restaurant Reston, VA Scully waited as Daniel pulled her chair out. His eyes rested appreciatively on her as he seated himself opposite. "You look so beautiful tonight, Dana," he said. "I'm so pleased that you came." Scully smiled at him, the candle light from the centerpiece enhancing the blue of her eyes. "Well, we haven't really gotten to catch up, Daniel. It has been a long time. Thank you for the lovely flowers, by the way." Daniel smiled and drank from his water glass. "I remember how you love Calla Lilies. Or, at least, you used to." She nodded, "Yes." The waiter came and they ordered their food, then Daniel began telling her about his medical practice. She enjoyed listening to him and hearing about some of the changes that had been made in the field of practiced medicine. Before they knew it, their food had been served and they were digging in. "Tell me about what you do, Dana. I've really been monopolizing the conversation!" Daniel speared his escargot with his fork. Scully swallowed her salad with a gulp of wine and then said, "Well, mainly investigating the cases that can't go through regular channels. That along with some average FBI assignments. I also do the occasional autopsy." "Ahhh," Daniel nodded, "Glad to hear you aren't completely losing your skill. You are a marvelous forensic pathologist, you know." Scully colored. "Well, I had a magnificent teacher." "And this partner of yours? What's he like?" Scully took a moment to think as she spread butter on her roll. "Um, well, Mulder is intense, dedicated to his work. He's a very good partner….I trust him implicitly." Daniel nodded, "That's good. I hear partners can get pretty close." Scully looked up at him. "That comes from putting your life in one another's hands. Mulder and I have been through a lot. We are close." "Are you romantically involved?" Scully frowned. "No. We aren't. Tell me what happened with you and Maggie…did you talk?" Scully had left the two of them in the hospital with the suggestion that Daniel own up to the mistakes he'd made in the past with his daughter. Daniel wiped his mouth with the corner of his napkin and signaled the waiter for more wine. "Yes, we had a very good talk. She…brought me to understand what you did for me in the hospital, Dana." Scully raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Daniel cleared his throat. "The faith healer…Maggie believes that it helped me. I think I can see her point, and yours." Scully was genuinely surprised. "Well, I'm glad to hear that, Daniel. You know, a few years ago, I would never have done that. It's just that lately I feel more open to things that aren't the conventional way." Daniel nodded. Scully watched him as she ate. She was genuinely pleased that Daniel was willing to think about the way the faith healer might have helped him to recover. Perhaps she had misjudged his reaction when he was in the hospital. She shared with him a few of the experiences she had had as Mulder's partner, carefully not to choose the truly bizarre, and he listened intently. After finishing her wine, she found she needed to use the bathroom. "Excuse me, I need to go to the ladies room," Scully said as she rose from the table. Daniel half rose himself and smiled as she walked away. After using the facilities and freshening up, Scully returned to the table. Her wineglass had been refilled, and she took a long sip, enjoying its dry taste. Daniel had always been wonderful at choosing wines. The conversation turned to other things; politics, her family…before she knew it, it was 11:00 and she was feeling extremely sleepy. She yawned behind her hand. "I'm sorry, I've been having a wonderful time, Daniel, but I am so tired! I guess this week has finally caught up with me. I have to do an autopsy tomorrow, so I'd better get home." Daniel was paying the check and he smiled, "Well, then certainly you should get home! I hope you will have dinner with me again soon." He pulled her chair out for her and she stood up, a little wobbly. "Whoa, Dana," Daniel steadied her with his hand. "Maybe you had a little too much wine." They began making their way out of the restaurant. Scully felt a little foolish. "Wine doesn't usually effect me this way," she said, clutching his arm. She was feeling more and more drowsy and was having trouble standing. "Perhaps it was too strong…and you really didn't eat that much of your salad." They were standing out in the parking lot, the night air chilly. Daniel took off his jacket and put it around Scully's shoulders. "Listen, I don't feel right about you driving home…," he said. "Don't be silly," Scully pulled away. "I'm fine." She walked toward her car and stumbled, resting her hand on the trunk to steady herself. "Here, Dana. Let me have your keys. I'll drive you home and leave my car here." Scully put a hand to her head. She felt dizzy. She nodded at him and he took her keys from her hand, unlocking the door and helping her into the passenger seat. He then walked around to the driver's side and slid in beside her. Scully rested her head against the window as he drove her home, her eyes heavy and sliding shut. As Daniel carried Scully into her apartment, the phone was ringing. He took her into the bedroom and settled her on the bed, then returned to the living room and picked it up. "Hello," he said. There was a pause. Then a male voice, "I'm looking for Dana Scully." Daniel switched the phone to his other ear as he scrambled for pencil and paper. "I'm sorry, she's unavailable. May I take a message?" This time the silence was longer. Finally, the man abruptly said, "This is her partner. I had some news on the case we are working on. Can you tell me…when she'll be back?" Daniel straightened. "Oh, yes…Agent Mulder, is it? This is Daniel Waterston, an old friend of Dana's. She's here, but she's sleeping…can it wait until tomorrow?" After a pause, Mulder curtly said, "Sure, that'll be fine," and hung up. Sunday morning Dana Scully's apartment Scully awoke. The sun was shining brightly through the curtains of her bedroom. She blinked and looked around. She didn't remember going to bed…her bedroom door was closed and she only had a light throw covering her. She glanced under it at her fully clothed body. Only her shoes were missing. She sat up and got out of bed. A wonderful aroma was coming from the kitchen. She opened her door and walked out and into the living room. She noticed that a blanket was thrown across the couch. Memories of dinner with Daniel the night before were trickling back, and walked into the kitchen to find him there setting the table. "Dana! How do you feel?" She scratched her head. "Like I have a hangover," she said, looking at the delicious omelets he was setting out on the dishes. "Well, eat something and you should feel better. You evidently had too much of that wine last night. I had to drive you home." Scully eased down into the chair, picking up her fork and cutting up the omelet. "This is really nice of you, Daniel," she said between bites. "I'll take you back to your car when I leave for Quantico. I hope the couch was okay?" He had settled down beside her and was drinking orange juice from a tall glass. Scully had a sudden recollection of him doing that each morning after they'd spent the night together. He was very big on vitamin C. "It was fine. Oh…you're partner called last night." Scully looked up, eggs poised on her fork. "He did?" "Yes, he said it concerned the case you two are working on. He will talk to you about it today."" Daniel took a bite and then said, "seems like an impetuous fellow." Scully raised an eyebrow. "How so?" Daniel swallowed his food. "Well, the phone rang twice more in the night, and they hung up when I answered." "What makes you think it was Mulder?" Scully was losing her appetite fast. He shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Just a feeling, I guess. You don't think it was him?" Scully tried to look unconcerned. "I don't know, it could've been. He gets excited about our cases sometimes." "And phones you in the middle of the night?" "Sometimes. Listen, I'm going to take my shower now, and we'll leave within the hour." She stood up. "Thanks for breakfast." Scully quickly left the room. She didn't want to talk to Daniel about Mulder anymore. She could only imagine what her partner was thinking. Quantico, Virginia Sunday, 2pm The guard looked up from his magazine as Scully strode into the room. "Your partner's been here awhile," he motioned with his head. Scully nodded and walked on through the double glass doors to the changing room. She donned a smock and mask, tied her hair back, and then washed her hands and picked up the gloves. She elbowed her way through the door and came face to face with Mulder, who was standing at the counter, files in his hands. "Hi, Mulder," she said brightly, hoping his mood wasn't too bad. He looked up at her, his eyes flat and unreadable. He didn't answer but walked over and indicated the corpse on the table covered with a sheet. "Pretty gruesome," he said. "And there's another one waiting." "Another?" Scully asked, staring at him. "They are guessing it happened early Saturday morning. Woman in her early forties, same height range. She was a judge downtown. I tried to call you when they notified me, but you were unavailable." Scully swallowed, busying herself with her gloves. "Yes, Daniel told me you called. He…well, I had too much to drink and he drove me home." "You don't have to explain," Mulder said quietly, surprising her. Scully lifted her eyes and looked at him. "Yes, I think I do." Mulder set the folder down on the counter. "You can call me when you're done with these, Scully," he said as he started to leave the room. "Mulder, wait…I want you to know that we just had dinner and he drove me home…" Mulder turned to look at her. "Scully, it's been a month since we were together that night, and you haven't said a thing about it. I know all about recreational sex, so just keep your explanations." Scully opened her mouth to say something, but Mulder interrupted. "We'll pretend it never happened. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." She clamped her mouth shut and turned to the body on the table. she told herself. Reaching out, she pulled the sheet down and let out a small gasp. The woman had been totally mutilated. "Like I said…gruesome." The whoosh of the glass door signaled that Mulder had walked out. Scully worked for hours removing trace evidence and vocally cataloguing the condition of the first body. It appeared that the killer had used a scalpel or other type of surgical knife to slice off pieces of her anatomy. "Possibly to keep as trophies," Scully said into the tape recorder. There was evidence of brutal rape and sodomy. After she finished, Scully's back ached and she longed to rest for a while before turning to the next autopsy. She left the room and washed up, then rode the elevator to the snack room. The lights were harsh when she flicked them on, and the room chilly. Her change clanked in the slot and a diet coke tumbled out into the tray below. Scully picked it up and snapped it open, greedily drinking a third of it right off the bat. She then turned to the rotating sandwich machine. Normally she avoided eating from these things, but she was starved. She selected a tuna salad sandwich and took it to the table. Being a Sunday, the building was almost vacant. The quiet was loud in itself. Scully put her head in her hands and closed her eyes. Visions of Mulder that night in his bedroom flashed in front of her. He was passionate and sure, taking the lead and driving her to do things she'd never done before. She remembered the way the hairs on his chest felt against her cheek. The way his mouth was warm and inviting, his tongue eager to please. Scully's eyes snapped open and she shifted in her chair. She didn't need to be thinking about this. Why had she left things the way she did today with Mulder? Why had she allowed him to leave thinking that what they had done was no more to her than relieving the sexual tension that had built up between them for years? She knew why. Because her feelings for her partner frightened her. It was easier this way. Scully managed to eat half of the sandwich and then went to the room next door where there were cots to rest on. She slipped her shoes off and spread out on the nearest one, cushioning her face with her hands. Almost immediately, she fell asleep. A purring in her pocket woke Scully up. She shifted on the cot and pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. "Scully," she said hoarsely. "I'm watching you," a mechanical voice said. Scully sat up. "What?" "I'm watching you," then they were disconnected. Scully frowned and stood up. What was that all about? She looked at her watch, bringing it close to the lamp on the counter. She had been asleep for hours! Scully walked over to the window and peered out, alarmed to find it was dark outside. She would never get that second autopsy done today. She pulled her cell phone out again and started to dial Mulder's number when it rang in her hand. "Scully," she said, more forcefully this time. "Dana, it's Daniel. I've been trying to get a hold of you at home. I think my medicine bottle fell out of my jacket pocket in your apartment. It's my heart medication." Scully rubbed her forehead. "Well, I'm headed home now, Daniel. Just meet me there." "That'll be great." They hung up and Scully went to finish a few things up before leaving. Sunday night Dana Scully's apartment Scully pulled up to her apartment building feeling slightly frazzled. She had gotten another called identical to the first one on her way home. Some freak was giving her prank phone calls and she didn't have time for the nuisance. Yet, the freakish sound of the mechanical voice sent chills cascading down her back. She got out of the car and walked toward the building, relieved to see Daniel waiting outside. She had been a little spooked walking out of the building at Quantico, and had kept her hand near her holster. She let Daniel in the building and they walked to her door. "Sorry to keep you waiting for your meds, Daniel," she said, unlocking it and pushing it open. "Oh, no problem. I wouldn't have called you on your cell except that it was getting late, and I needed to get a dose in. Had a long day?" "You could definitely say that, although I fell asleep in the lounge after I finally finished the first autopsy. Now I'll have to go back tomorrow." She flicked the switch in her living room. "Here they are," Daniel said, leaning down beside the couch. "Now, I'll get out of your way." He paused in front of her and said, "I really enjoyed dinner, Dana. Let's do it again soon…and no wine this time," he winked at her and then, pausing to look at her face, he impulsively leaned down and kissed her on the lips. A sound of a throat being cleared came from the doorway. Daniel and Scully looked over to see Mulder leaning against the frame. "Sorry to break this up, but we have some work to do, Scully." He straightened and walked into the room, eyeing Daniel. The thought that he was way too old for Scully crossed his mind. Daniel smiled at him and then turned to Scully. "See you later, Dana. Thanks again." He left, shutting the door behind him. Without preamble, Mulder turned to her and said, "There's been another murder, Scully." "Another one?" Scully asked, astonished. "About an hour ago. It was fresh. A policewoman this time, in an alleyway behind a closed donut place." Scully fell onto a chair and looked up at him. "Shit, Mulder. I can't believe this! I didn't even get the second autopsy done. Did you go there?" "Yeah. Another brutal one. Why didn't you get the other one done? Did you have a date?" Mulder asked, his face carefully wiped clean of any emotion. She scowled at him. "No. I went to the lounge after the first autopsy and fell asleep. I'll type up my notes tonight and get them to you in the morning…then I guess I'll go to Quantico and do the other two." Mulder nodded. "Well, that's all then. See you in the morning." He started for the door, but Scully called him back. He turned and looked at her. "Mulder, I don't want to leave things like this," she stood up. "Don't say anything, Scully." "I have to! I want to talk about that night." "Oh, NOW you want to talk about it? Why?" "Mulder, that night did mean something to me," Scully said, stepping toward him. "Yeah, I know. It meant now you can quit wondering what it would be like. Fine, now you know." He turned again and opened the door. "Mulder, would you please just shut up and listen to me?!" She reached for his arm, and her phone rang. She looked over at it and then at him. "Mulder, please listen to what I have to say." Mulder looked down at her, his eyes unreadable. The phone was ringing shrilly. "Aren't you going to answer that, Scully?" He asked quietly. "No, Mulder. This is more important. That night we were together,…it…" Just then her machine clicked on and the mechanical voice began talking. "I meant what I said," it droned, "I am watching you. I see you." And then "I want you beneath me, begging..." Mulder's expression turned incredulous. He raced over to the table and jerked the phone up. "Who the hell is this?" he yelled into the receiver. The phone went dead. Mulder turned to Scully, whose face was white. "What was that all about?" She looked at him. "A prank. Some sicko." "He or IT said, 'I meant what I said'. Did you get another call like that?" Scully had hoped he'd missed that part. "Two others. Same weird mechanical voice. It reminds me of one of those devices people use that have lost their vocal chords. It picks up the vibrations in the throat." "Well, why the hell didn't you tell me?" "It only just happened, Mulder. It happened at Quantico, and then on my way home. I have no idea who it could be." Mulder stood there with his hands on his hips, his mouth a tight line. Scully loved the way he looked in jeans. She turned away; what was she thinking about that for? Finally, he said, "You think it's related to one of our cases? Somebody out to scare you?" She frowned, allowing him to see only a small portion of her concern. "Maybe. We'll just have to see if I get any more calls, I guess." They were standing close together, and Scully could feel the heat emanating from him. She wanted to touch him and tell him that she loved him. She wanted him to kiss her like he had that night a month ago. Instead she said, "Go on home, Mulder. I'll see you in the morning." He nodded slowly, then left. Streets of Alexandria Midnight, Sunday Mulder's feet hit the pavement hard as he ran around the corner, somewhere in mile three of his run. Sweat poured down his back, causing his white tank top to stick there. His running shorts rode high on his thighs, and the hairs on his legs were wet and pasted down. He found himself clenching his fists as he thought about Daniel leaning over and kissing Scully in her apartment. He had wanted to walk in and slam his fist into the old guy's face! He remembered the night Scully had told him about Daniel. It had been the first time he had ever heard about the guy, and he was vaguely shocked that Scully had had an affair with a married man. She had told him an odd medical fact about him then. That he had three testicles instead of two. She had gone into some long explanation of the gene mutation that had caused it, but all Mulder could remember thinking was that the old guy probably needed a third one. Remembering that night led Mulder's mind to a few hours later, when he had left the shower and entered his bedroom while running the towel through his wet hair. He'd taken the towel off, and there stood Scully, staring at him in all his glory. That had been the shock of his life! And then when he'd joked about it, she'd made a comment that intimated that she liked what she saw. That had been all he needed. Suddenly she was in his arms and he was touching her, kissing her, and soon doing things to her he'd only dreamed of previously. Mulder rounded a corner and picked up speed, his heart racing. He knew that in the first few years that Scully had worked with him, before she had been touched by the nature of the X Files, he probably could have had a romantic relationship with her if he'd been so inclined. But he'd been so wrapped up back then in his search for his sister, that it had never really registered. Not that Scully had been anything but totally professional with him, but he recalled an openness about her then, a searching look she would give him occasionally, that now made him wonder what could have happened between them. Years spent helping him on his cases and suffering the repercussions had driven Scully into herself, and the morning a month ago when he had awakened to find her gone after their love making, Mulder had realized immediately that she'd retreated back into her shell. He had decided then to give her the space she needed. Now he didn't know what to think. A lot of time had passed without her mentioning it, and an old lover had reentered her life… Perhaps she never intended to be anything more than friends and partners with him. Mulder stopped in front of his apartment building and leaned over, catching his breath. His thoughts turned to the phone call Scully had received while he'd been in her apartment. If some crazy was after her, he was going to be there to protect her, whether she wanted him to be or not. Monday 2 am Dana Scully's apartment Scully rubbed her eyes and put her computer into sleep mode. She had typed out her report on the body that she had autopsied, meticulously documenting every gory detail. Then she had given her overall take on the murder. She was exhausted. She stood up and stretched her arms up over her head. She couldn't wait to get into bed. Quickly brushing her teeth, she changed into a T-shirt and climbed under the covers, her body relaxing little by little. A fog came over her mind and she felt herself drifting. Scully didn't know how much time had passed when she abruptly jolted awake, unsure of what had disturbed her. Her room was dark, with only the lights of the digital clock breaking through the blackness. She sat up in her bed, holding her breath, her heart beating loudly in her chest, and held perfectly still until she thought she heard another noise. It was very faint. She quietly slipped out of her bed, grabbing her gun from the side table drawer, and walked quickly to the door. Cautiously, she peered into the living area. The sheers on her window were closed, but the curtains open, allowing the street lamp outside to cast the room into half-light. Scully moved slowly, looking around and holding her gun ready. She checked out the entire apartment, and when she was satisfied that no one was there, she lowered the gun and started back to her room. On impulse, she stopped and walked over to her front door, peering out of the peephole. Unlocking and opening it, she looked up and down the empty hall. Sighing with relief, she started to pull it closed. That's when something on the floor caught her eye. She bent over and picked it up. A single black rose. Monday 7:15 J. Edgar Hoover Bldg Scully dropped the black rose onto Mulder's desk, and he looked up from what he was reading. "Scully, you shouldn't have!" He said, picking it up. "Let me guess, red is for love, yellow for friendship…and black would be for…I screwed you once now let's forget the whole thing?" "Someone left it for me in the middle of the night," Scully said, ignoring him. Mulder straightened up in his chair. "What? Where did you find it?" "I woke up because I thought I heard a sound. I found it outside my door." Mulder shook his head. "I don't like this, Scully…what if it's this Jack the Ripper guy?" Scully made a face. "Mulder, he doesn't leave things for his victims, call them, or do anything other than attack them from out of nowhere!…Besides, why me?" "Because you fit the description…same height range, career type." "Yes, but Mulder…there are plenty of women out there that fit that. It would be very unlikely that it's him. This must be someone playing a sick joke." She sighed and handed him a folder. "Here's my report on the autopsy I did yesterday. Unless you have anything else for me, I'm going to head to Quantico." Mulder stood up and started setting up the slide projector. "Just want to go over these murder scenes, Scully," He flicked the lights out and began showing the slides of the victims one by one. Some of them were horribly mutilated. "This guy's a real butcher," Mulder commented, grimacing as yet another picture of body parts set out on display lit up the screen. "A very talented one, though, Mulder. Like the original Jack the Ripper, he makes his cuts with professional precision." Mulder shook his head in disbelief; "Does he rape them before or after they're dead?" He asked her. "Well, the victim I autopsied yesterday was raped before she died. According to the file," Scully began flipping through it, "Yes, they all were raped before death." "At least he's not another Pfaster," Mulder said, getting up and switching the lights back on. "I'm coming with you to Quantico, Scully. I want to see what the latest victims have to tell." Scully nodded, and they headed out the door. Monday afternoon Quantico, Virginia Scully spent hours on the autopsies, making certain that she was meticulous enough not to miss a thing. Her back ached, and her head, which had begun to pound lightly the moment she woke up this morning, was now a dull ache that never let up. Mulder had gone over facts about the murders with her, watched as much of the autopsies as he could stand, then left to visit the crime scenes and interview relatives of the victims. Scully sighed as she washed up and directed an assistant to put the last body back into cold storage. This one had been the police woman found in the alley the day before. She had been raped; her ears were cut off, along with a few other parts of her body. Scully had remained carefully desensitized throughout her work, but now was starting to feel mildly ill. She showered in the locker room, scrubbing the smell of formaldehyde from her body with the lemon-scented soap provided. Then she dried off and dressed, her feet dragging as she left the building. she thought, as she walked to her car. A car pulled up beside her, and Scully was instantly on the alert. She relaxed a bit when she saw it was Daniel. "You look really bushed, Dana! I knew I'd find you still here. Ever the workaholic! Let me take you out for a bite to eat." Scully shook her head, "I'm not really hungry, Daniel." He leaned over and pushed the passenger side door open. "Come on, Dana, you've got to eat. You know it will make you feel better." Scully hesitated, then climbed in beside him, for no other reason than she didn't have the energy to argue or to drive her car. Daniel drove them down the street to a quiet little restaurant and secured a private booth for them in the corner. He took over for her, ordering her favorite, and a diet coke. She sat holding her head in her hands. "Here, Dana, take these aspirins, and you'll feel better." Scully obediently put them in her mouth and swallowed them with a sip of water. She leaned her head back on the cushioned seat and groaned. "I feel as if I've been run over by a bus. Maybe it's the flu." "Possibly," Daniel said, studying her. "You really need to get yourself into bed." "I'm okay," she said, sitting up. Then she smiled, "Thanks for suggesting dinner, Daniel. I'm sure it will help." "Well, I have an ulterior motive, you know. I like being with you." Scully's smile faded somewhat. "Daniel, I hope you know that we have no future other than as friends." Daniel reached over and took her hand. "Dana, don't be rash. Let things happen as they will." Scully closed her eyes and shook her head. "We'll talk about this later, Daniel, but I want you to realize that I am not looking for a relationship." "You can't live your work, Dana." Scully took another drink from her water glass. "I know that. Let's drop this for now, I am just not up to it." Daniel smiled and took his hand away. "That's fine with me, let's just enjoy dinner." After paying the check, Daniel excused himself to go to the men's room. Scully wandered outside the restaurant, the chilly night air reviving her somewhat. Her headache was receding, and she had to admit that the food probably had something to do with that. She sighed. She could not wait to get home and to bed. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she took it out, thinking that Mulder had probably expected to hear from her by now. "Scully." The tinny mechanical voice sounded in her ear. "I am watching you. I want you so bad. I'll make you beg for more." "Who is this?" she asked, feeling her muscles tightening up. "I want you, and I will have you. You'll know what a real man is. I'll kneel between your thighs and eat until I'm full…" They were disconnected, and Scully stood staring at the phone in her hand for a minute or more. Cold fear made her head swim. Daniel came up behind her. "Dana? Is something wrong?" He touched her shoulder and she looked up at him, pocketing her cell phone. "No, nothing. Let's go." Daniel followed her as she walked swiftly to where his car was parked. He caught up with her and swung her around. "Dana, come on…I know you so well. Something is wrong. Now, tell me." Scully looked him straight in the eye. "Nothing's wrong, Daniel. I'm just tired. Please take me to my car so I can go home." Daniel's mouth was a tight line as he unlocked the doors and they climbed into his BMW. As they drove toward the medical facilities at Quantico, he seemed to relax and said, "Dana, remember that new medical procedure for heart patients I told you about?" When she nodded, he continued, "there's a seminar on it this Friday night. Would you like to attend it with me?" Scully considered. She really didn't want to encourage Daniel, but she very much would like to hear the lecture. "I don't know…this case may have me tied up." "Well, I'll check with you closer to then." He skillfully maneuvered his car into the lot and beside hers. "Goodnight, Dana." "Goodnight, Daniel," Scully said, stepping out and waving. She got into her own car and drove home. Monday evening Dana Scully's apartment Scully entered her apartment and closed the door, locking it thoroughly. She turned on every light in her living room and sat down on the couch. Her phone on the table began ringing. She looked over at it, afraid to answer. She rose and picked it up. "Hello?" "Scully? Where've you been?" Scully let out a sigh of relief. "Just grabbed a bite to eat after the autopsies." "Lovely," Mulder replied, distaste in his voice. Scully laughed. It felt good. "These two were definitely killed by the same man," she told him. "But as before, he is being very careful. I have not been able to find anything to link the murderer to the body." "Okay, Scully, good job. I'll see you tomorrow." "Yeah, okay." Scully hung up and started toward the bedroom. The phone rang again. She walked over and picked it up, and before she could say anything, the tinny voice said, "Hello, Dana. You look very beautiful tonight, good enough to eat!" Then he started laughing hysterically. Scully slammed the phone down and grabbed her gun out of its holster. She stood there a moment, in the middle of her living room, her chest heaving in fear. After several minutes, she sat down on the couch, still clutching her gun. It was at least an hour before she fell asleep there. Tuesday, 3 am Dana Scully's apartment A pounding on the door startled Scully out of her sleep. She jumped off the couch, her gun held in front of her, ready to shoot. The pounding came again and Scully moved over to the peephole and looked out. She opened the door. "Mulder, what are you doing here?" Mulder looked her over. Her face was pale, she was still fully clothed, and she was holding her gun. "What's going on, Scully?" She shook her head and he pushed his way in, shutting the door. "Come on, spill it." "I had another prank call just after I talked to you, then I fell asleep on the couch." She brushed her hands through her hair and looked at her watch. "Crap, Mulder, what are you doing here at this time of night?" "There's been another one, Scully, just within this last hour. It's a little ways from here….just past Manassas in a town called Nokesville. Wooded area. I came by to get you so we can check out the crime scene." Scully sighed. "Just give me a minute." She walked into her bedroom and grabbed something clean to change into, then headed to the bathroom. It took about 3O minutes to get to Nokesville, considering rush hour traffic hadn't started up yet. Mulder spent this time grilling Scully on what the voice has said in the last call. She skirted around it as much as she could, then blurted it out. He wanted her. She looked beautiful tonight. Good enough to eat. Mulder looked grim. "He's watching you," he stated. "He called earlier, too, when I was having dinner," Scully slowly admitted. She didn't want to keep anything important from him. He might as well have the whole truth. Mulder pulled his eyes off the road and looked at her. "And" Scully sighed. She picked at a thread on her shirtsleeve. "Well?" Mulder prompted. "He was being crude. It doesn't matter what he said, just that it was offensive and he's trying to scare me." "Is he scaring you?" Scully looked over at him. "He's beginning to. But it isn't really anything except obscene phone calls at this point." Mulder pursed his lips. "What about the rose?" "I don't know, Mulder, I just don't know!" Scully was getting exasperated. Finally, they just kept silent. Scully kept her eyes ahead of her. She felt so tired. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a full night of uninterrupted sleep. Her headache was returning, and her stomach hurt. Finally the exit loomed ahead and Mulder turned off. Nokesville was a quiet little country town, with wide expanses of road in between areas of eateries and stores. They turned down a stretch that was wooded all around, and Mulder sat forward in his seat looking for the markings that would tell him where to turn. After about 10 minutes, he spotted the red plastic ribbon tied to the tree and turned off, putting his brights on in order to see on the densely wooded gravel drive. A small animal scurried in front of the car and Mulder slowed down a notch. Scully shivered. "He hasn't done this before." Mulder spoke her thoughts. "He's brought his victim into the woods for some reason." He pulled up behind the 3 police vehicles that lined the road. "I don't know. Maybe it isn't him, or maybe he's decided to change his MO. Throw us off." They got out of the car and walked toward the group of people standing there, their high beam flashlights moving all along the ground. An officer turned to them and gestured to the woods. "About ten feet that way," he said. "Sheriff Goins is there waiting for you." Scully nodded at him, and she and Mulder trudged through the undergrowth in the direction he had pointed. A large stocky man stood by a tree with a few other officers. He looked their way, and glanced at their badges as they flashed them. "This one had to be killed by the same guy, but for some reason, he chose to bring her out here to the woods to do it." He leaned down and pointed at the body, which lay in a twisted position on the ground. It was a small woman with bright red hair. Mulder shuddered. With her face turned away like that, it could be Scully they were looking down at. The sheriff continued, "She was a pediatrician at Sibily Hospital in DC. I don't know why he brought her way out here. Maybe she was in town for some reason. We haven't contacted her relatives yet. All her i.d. was on her person." Scully stepped away and went over to the side, where a woman stood making notes. "Are you the medical examiner?" She asked. The woman looked up at her and nodded. Scully showed her her badge and asked, "Was a scalpel used?" "Yes, it appears so." "Raped?" The woman sighed. "With the knife, but it looks like that happened after death. Tongue is missing, too. One other thing,…" Scully raised an eyebrow in question. "Something was carved on her thigh. A word." "What was it?" Scully asked. "Mine." The sun was peaking over the horizon when Mulder and Scully made their way to Mulder's car. Scully couldn't remember ever feeling this tired in her life. There was a faint buzzing in her head. The brutality of the murders only made things worse. That poor woman had died a horrible death. The man was a crazed psychopath, that was certain. As Mulder walked around to get in the car, Scully reached for the door handle and was suddenly overcome with dizziness. She saw lights in her peripheral vision and darkness poured over her like syrup on a stack of pancakes. She slumped sideways, her hip hitting the car, and began sliding down toward the ground. The buzzing was getting louder. She could hear Mulder's voice saying her name as if at a great distance, but she was incapable of replying. She felt as if her mouth was stuffed with cotton and her lips glued shut. Her eyes were open, but all she could see was blackness and the twinkling lights zipping across it like meteorites against a dark sky. *** Mulder had climbed into the car when he realized that Scully was no longer standing on the other side of it. He got back out, wondering if she had gone back to speak with the sheriff. Rounding the hood, he was shocked to see his partner lying on the ground beside the passenger door. "Scully?" He asked, kneeling down beside her. She was staring upwards, her breathing shallow. "Scully!" He almost shouted. He took her hand in his, and it was very cold. He placed his other hand on it and began to rub. "Scully, what's wrong?" She was still staring. It reminded him of that horrible day in the hallway of his apartment building. He turned around and shouted for one of the officers to call an ambulance. Somewhere else That same night He looked at the walls in his little room. The many, many photographs of her. The one where she is laughing, her head tilted back, exposing her beautiful white throat. The one of her eating at that outdoor café she likes near where she works. He moved around the room, glancing here and there. Ahh, a favorite. He touched it with a finger, tracing the contours of her body. She was nude, and unaware of being photographed. He felt his arousal, and with it, the anger. It was what drove him to kill again and again. He clenched his fists. He must possess her. Nokesville, VA Scully struggled to surface from the black fog that enveloped her. She lifted her hand, and it felt heavy, as if it were weighted down with sand. She felt someone catch it in their own hand and squeeze. She blinked several times and moved her mouth. The buzzing in her head was dying down, and gradually her vision was clearing. She saw the early morning sky and the treetops moving in the breeze, their silver undersides sparkling in the sunlight. She turned her head. Mulder was there beside her, his head twisted away from her, talking to someone. It was he who had her hand in his own. She lightly squeezed it and he looked at her, concern etched in every nuance of his expression. He leaned forward and spoke gently to her. "Lie still, Scully. The ambulance should be here any minute." Scully struggled to sit up. "No, no, Mulder…I'm fine." Her head was clearing rapidly. She had no idea what could have caused her to collapse. Mulder tried to push her back down, but she batted his hands away. She leaned forward and pressed her face into her hands. She felt him touch her shoulder. "Are you all right? What happened, Scully?" She looked at him. "I don't know, I just passed out, I guess. I'm really fine now, Mulder. I wish you hadn't called an ambulance." They could hear the sirens in the distance now. "I didn't know what was wrong with you, Scully. You were staring up at nothing, totally unresponsive. It scared me." Scully tried to smile. "I'm okay now, though. They can check me out, but I'm fine." After a few minutes, the ambulance pulled up and a couple of EMT's came over and checked Scully's vitals. Other than a rapid pulse, she was okay. She insisted on standing up after that, and finally it was agreed that she could go home. The drive was silent, as Scully chose to lean her head back against the seat and doze. Before she knew it, they had pulled up to her apartment. Mulder came around the car and helped her out, but as soon as she was fully awake, she shook him off. "Thanks, Mulder. I am sure that after some sleep I'll be fine. I'll be into work in a few hours." "No, Scully. You take the day off." At her look, he added, "You are obviously coming down with something. Get a day's rest and maybe you can ward it off." Being a doctor, she couldn't exactly argue with that reasoning, so she reluctantly agreed. "Call me later, Mulder, and let me know what's going on." Dana Scully's apartment Tuesday Scully slept until late afternoon. The only interruption she had was when the phone rang and she had sleepily answered it, realizing too late that it could be the prankster. But it was only Daniel. She told him she wasn't feeling very well and they hung up, then she sunk back into a deep sleep. After a shower, Scully put a robe on and headed into the kitchen. She wondered what progress Mulder was making on the case, if any. He hadn't called her, but she suspected that was because he wanted her to rest. As she started to put the teakettle on, there was a knock on her door. "Daniel, what are you doing here?" Scully asked when she saw him standing there with a grocery bag. "I've come to make you some dinner," he replied, walking into the apartment and straight back to the kitchen. Scully followed him. She watched as he unloaded the groceries, and started chopping vegetables for soup. "Daniel, you didn't have to do this…." "Nonsense, Dana, I want to! Don't you remember how I love to cook?" Scully smiled and nodded. He turned and took her gently by the shoulders, guiding her into the living room. "Sit on the couch and watch some television. Dinner will be ready shortly." Scully gave in and wrapped herself in her chenille throw, switching the TV on. The wonderful aroma of vegetable soup wafted in from the kitchen. Daniel appeared over her shoulder with a hot cup of tea. "You read my mind, Daniel," she said, taking it from him. "I know you better than anyone, Dana, you need to realize that," he disappeared into the kitchen. Scully frowned and began to drink. Perhaps she shouldn't have allowed him to do this. He was an old friend, but they were never going to be what they once were to one another. With each sip of her tea, she felt more relaxed. The sounds and smells in the apartment were comforting. She snuggled down into the couch and fell asleep. Early Wednesday Morning Bethesda Memorial Hospital Mulder raced down the hall of the intensive care unit, almost colliding with an orderly carrying a tray of food. Two nurses turned to watch his ass as he maneuvered around a steel cart and then elbowed his way up to the nurse's station. Amidst some dirty looks, he asked the head nurse for Dr. Daniel Waterston. "Over here, Agent Mulder," he heard from behind him. Mulder swung around, his face blanched with fear. "How is she?" he asked, as Daniel pulled him aside. "She seems to be stabilized. She should be okay." Daniel urged Mulder down in a chair and then sat next to him. "Tell me what happened," Mulder demanded. The older man nodded and began, "Dana told me she wasn't feeling well, so I waited until later in the day and then came over to make her some soup." Daniel ignored the agent's barely hidden scowl and continued, "while I was cooking, she had some tea and watched television. I went in to let her know it was ready, and she was asleep." He looked at Mulder for a moment. "I don't know what to tell you, Agent Mulder, except that I could tell something was wrong. Perhaps it was intuitive. But I tried to wake her, and she wouldn't rouse, so I started checking her out and noticed a couple of things I didn't like. That's when I called the ambulance." "What did you notice?" Mulder wanted to know. "Her eyes were dilated unevenly, her breathing was shallow…tell me, were you with her when she started to feel ill?" Mulder frowned. "Yes, she passed out while we were on a case. I called an ambulance and they checked her out…she refused to come to the hospital. What's wrong with her?" Mulder looked at the doctor in front of him, and concluded that he looked decidedly smug. He hated him. But he realized that because he had been with Scully, he very well might have saved her life. For this he owed him much. "I don't know yet, we are running some tests. In the meantime, would you like to see her?" Mulder nodded and stood up, and Daniel arose also. He led him down the hall to Scully's room. +++ Mulder stood next to Scully's bed, watching her. She had really scared him this time. When Daniel had called, he'd gotten out of bed so fast that he'd become tangled in the sheets and fallen on the floor. He knew he should have made her go to the hospital when she passed out! He wondered what could be wrong with her. Scully was normally so strong. Seeing her lying in bed really threw him, particularly since it brought back terrible memories of when she was dying with cancer. A noise behind him caused Mulder to turn. AD Skinner stood in the doorway, looking uncomfortable. "How is she, Agent Mulder?" Mulder walked over to him. "Her doctor said she should be fine, but he's not sure what happened in the first place. Could be stress combined with coming down with the flu. Scully had told me that she wasn't feeling all that well yesterday." Skinner nodded. At that moment, Scully's eyelids began to flutter. The two men stepped forward and stood close to her bed. "Scully?" Mulder said, taking her hand in his. She opened her eyes and looked at him, then at her surroundings. She became alarmed and tried to sit up. "Mulder, what am I doing here? Sir…what's going on?!" Mulder pushed her back onto the pillows. "Do you remember Daniel coming to see you yesterday while you were home sick?" He asked. She nodded. "Yes…he was making soup." "Right. Well, evidently, you fell into such a deep sleep that he became alarmed and called an ambulance. He is out in the corridor now. He thinks maybe it was the flu you are getting, coupled with stress." "That's ridiculous, Mulder. I'm not stressed." Scully pushed the hair out of her face. Mulder pressed his lips together. "What about those phone calls you've been getting?" Skinner looked at him, but Mulder kept his eyes on his partner. Scully frowned. "That's nothing, and I'm fine. Now, I want out of here!" Skinner stepped forward. "I would prefer you to stay until tomorrow, Agent." At her expression, he added, "That's an order." After Skinner left, Mulder pulled up a chair. "How're you really feeling, Scully?" He asked. She shot him a look. "I told you, Mulder, I am perfectly fine, and I want out of here NOW!" Mulder pulled back a little. She was certainly angry. "Okay, Scully, I'll see what I can do." "Mulder?" She called to him as he started to leave the room. "Please send Daniel in here. I need to see him." Mulder nodded and left, and Scully pushed herself up on her pillows. She wished Daniel would hurry. She really wanted to see him. She needed to. +++ When Daniel entered the room, Scully smiled wanly. "I'm so glad you're here, Daniel," she said, patting the bed for him to sit beside her. "Of course I'm here, Dana. I will always be here for you, you know that." Scully nodded. She did know it. Daniel was always there for her. Her mind was screaming it. Daniel patted her hand and then raised it to his lips. "You are going to need some rest. I have some medicine that will do the trick." "I want out of here, Daniel. I want to go home. I've asked Mulder to arrange it." Daniel sighed. "Well, I'll have to come and stay with you tonight, then. I don't want you to have a relapse. Do you want me to do that, Dana?" Scully thought a moment. She felt an overwhelming need for Daniel to be there. He would keep her safe. She was in danger, and only he could keep her safe. The buzzing in her ears was returning, and she lifted a hand to her head. "Yes, I need you there," she said, and Daniel smiled. "Then be sure to tell your partner that. I wouldn't want him to think I was intruding." He looked over her chart a moment, and then said, "I'll have you released this evening and drive you home." Mulder entered the room as Daniel left, the two men eyeing each other for a moment before passing. "Skinner says if you can get the doctor to okay it, then it's fine with him. You can't come back to work this week, though." Scully let out a breath. "Thanks, Mulder. I don't want to stay here." "Do you want me to call your mother? Get her to stay with you in case you feel sick again?" Mulder was worried about her falling into another deep sleep. Scully looked Mulder in the eye. "No, I want Daniel to stay with me. He is going to take me home." Tuesday evening Dana Scully's apartment "There now, Dana. You should be feeling sleepy very soon and you can have a nice, restful, night." Daniel laid her down on her bed and began removing her clothing. He had forgotten what a lovely body she had. So pale and tiny. He shuddered as he recalled for the millionth time their many nights together, and covered her lightly with the sheet. She had been a wonderful lover. He pushed the hair out of her eyes. "How do you feel?" Scully blinked, staring up at the ceiling. "I feel good." Daniel sat down beside her, holding her hand. "What are you thinking, Dana?" "I-I'm thinking that I've lost control." "What do you mean?" Scully blinked back tears. " I don't have any control over my life. I can't seem to get it together." "That's all right. Do you know why that is all right, Dana? Because I am here to take care of you. Daniel will always take care of you. You need Daniel and don't feel safe without him. You don't need anyone else, particularly not that juvenile partner of yours." Scully blinked. "Mulder." "Yes, he is a boy. He'll never grow up." Daniel's voice had become hard. "Mulder. I love him," Scully said softly. "I love Mulder." Daniel squeezed her hand, hard. "No! No, Dana." Scully nodded her head. "I love Mulder. I love him with all my heart and soul. He's a part of me." Daniel gritted his teeth. "You think that, Dana, but it isn't true. You don't need Mulder. He uses you. You need Daniel. You are tired of being in the FBI and you want to be a doctor again. In fact, you are scared. You are very scared now that you've been receiving those awful phone calls." "I'm scared," she repeated. "I'm afraid of my job now." "That's right, Dana. You are afraid. You need me, and you don't love Mulder." "I am afraid. I need you, Daniel, to keep me safe." "That's right. You love Daniel." Scully was silent a moment. She turned her face away, and into the pillow. "I love Mulder," she finally whispered. Daniel growled and pulled the sheet off of her, pressing his lips to her neck. "You love me, Dana. You love me. I'll make you love me." His hands were rough on her body as he flipped her over and pushed into her. After a moment, Scully passed out. Late Tuesday Night Streets of Alexandria Mulder was running again…this midnight run did more to soothe his jangled nerves than anything else could. Only tonight he was running from the pain, too. The pain of knowing that the woman he loved, needed most in the world, preferred to be with another man. He accelerated his pace; his breath coming from him in short puffs, a pain building in his chest. He felt her would burst, but he welcomed the pain. He hoped he would burst right there all over the sidewalk. He didn't care anymore. When he reached his apartment building, his legs were numb, his head tingled, his lungs hurt. He leaned against the wall, his forehead touching the cold brick, and breathed heavily, waiting until he could think again. He'd made love to Scully that night, and it had been wonderful. She was everything he'd always imagined she would be. He remembered lying there with her afterward and thinking but he hadn't told her. Why hadn't he told her? Would it have made a difference? His sweat trickled down into his eyes and mingled with his tears. He bit his lip and fought for control, staggering up the stairs and into his building. When he had gotten into his apartment and showered, his despair had slowly turned to anger. Not anger at Scully, who could not help who she wanted and who she didn't. Anger at that old geezer that had taken her from him. Geezer Dan. Geezer Dan with the third nut. Sorry old freak. Mulder sat down on his couch and broke open a bag of sunflower seeds, breaking them open with his teeth. Who did he think he was, calling Scully all the time? Taking her out to eat, fixing her dinner, for pete's sake! The guy wasn't just old; he was a fairy, too. And Mulder could tell that he thought he was better than he was. Normally such things didn't touch him, but because of Scully, Mulder hated Daniel and his arrogant superiority. The old turd had insinuated himself right back into Scully's life, and this was after ten years of living near her and doing nothing! Scully had told Mulder that Daniel had moved to DC to be close to her ten years ago, yet had never made a move to contact her. Now, that was just damn weird. Mulder paused in the middle of breaking a seed and ran his tongue around his teeth. That really was weird! So why did he come after her now? Was it just because she had run into him at the hospital that day? How much of a coincidence had that been? Mulder felt suspicion take hold of his insides like a vice. He had to find out more about old Geezer Dan. Scully's apartment Scully's body had gone limp. She was unconscious. Daniel stopped his frenzied attempt at love-making and cursed her. He got off the bed, letting her fall into a heap and paced the room, screaming obscenities. His face red, his chest heaving, he went into the living room and threw a crystal vase across the room, hitting the wall. He watched it shatter with appreciation. Picking up a long shard of the glass he put it in his pocket, grabbed his jacket, and left. A little while later, Scully started to stir in her bed. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her. Her head hurt terribly and she still had a faint buzzing in her ears. She sat up, looking around. She felt so confused…why was she in bed stark naked? A chill ran up her back. Something very wrong was happening to her. She grabbed her phone on the bedside table and dialed Mulder's home number. It rang four times before the machine picked up. "Mulder, it's me. I have to talk to you…Something is very wrong. I'm going to try your cell phone." She hung up and dialed that. No answer. Scully sighed and hung up. She got out of bed and grabbed some clothes, wobbling on her feet. Pulling them on, she made her way into the living room. She stopped when she saw the glass all over the floor, along with flowers and water splashed on the wall. What the hell was going on? She ran back to her bedroom and snatched up her gun. She reentered the living room and began thoroughly checking the rest of her apartment. When she found no one there, she relaxed a bit. She vaguely recalled being in the hospital earlier, but it was all so hazy. She walked back into her bedroom, needing to lie down for a minute. When she crawled onto her bed, a glimmer caught her eye. Something was there, halfway under her pillow. Scully reached over and pulled it out, her eyes widening. Sodium Pentathol! "Truth Serum," Scully breathed. She sat there stunned for a moment. What was this doing in her apartment? Suddenly she felt very afraid. He watched her leave the law offices. It was so late at night, any woman would have to be crazy to be out alone like she was. She was an independent woman, though, and thought she could take care of herself. He chuckled as he slunk up the alleyway, watching intently. He liked her looks…short, capable. He wanted to make her cry out…to scream and beg for mercy. To tell him he was the biggest she'd ever seen. It was easy to grab a hold of her as she walked by, to yank her close to him and cover her mouth. He took his scalpel and held it to her throat, forcing her further back into the darkness where he could have his way with her. After it was over, and he had felt her fear and heard her pleading, he tortured her with his knife, picturing her face as the other face…that of the woman he adored. The woman that he hated. The strong woman he wished to make beg like this one was right now. He wanted so much to dominate her. The years of longing for it…it had all culminated and the time had come. As he watched this woman die, her life's blood slowly draining from her, he sat and thought of the other woman and how it would be with her. He took the shard of glass out of his pocket and carved three words onto the woman's still jerking stomach. IT IS TIME. Scully sat on the edge of the bed, her arms wrapped around herself, trying to think. What had happened to her? What was happening to her? She remembered being in the woods with Mulder and looking at the body, she remembered the ambulance. She knew she had come home after that, and that Daniel had cooked for her. Thinking of Daniel made her immediately wish he were there with her. She needed him. She didn't feel safe without him. When had she started feeling this way? The phone rang and Scully lunged for it, contrarily hoping it was Mulder. "Mulder?" She breathed, and stiffened when she heard the tinny mechanical voice on the other line. "Are you ready for what you deserve?" It asked her. "Who are you?!" Scully demanded. "Tell me right now!" "Did you like it? You think you're so tough, Agent Scully," the voice said sarcastically. "You aren't tough. You are soft. So soft…" The voice had no feeling to it; it was a machine. Yet Scully started shivering at the last part. She could imagine the lustful turn of the mind as its owner's thoughts went from one direction to another. She hung up the phone and held onto her gun. Standing up, she had to grab onto the bedpost to remain erect. Her legs were weak. She needed to go to Mulder's…he would help her. She looked for her purse. With each step she took, her head reeled. She felt like vomiting and had to stop and hold onto her pounding head. Scully searched the living room for her purse, where she usually left it. She couldn't find it, and accidentally stepped on a piece of the glass that littered the floor. Gasping, she sat down and pulled the little shard out of her foot and watched the blood trickle down her skin. The buzzing in her head was there again, and she leaned her cheek against the couch and tried to still her breathing. She was practically hyperventilating. She counted to ten in her mind and opened her eyes again, the room swimming before her. A knock at the door. Scully stood, her legs almost giving out beneath her. Slowly, she moved toward the sound, step by step. When she reached the door, she looked out of the peephole, fear creeping up the back of her neck and causing her head to tingle. Thank God, it was Daniel. She opened the door. He grabbed her by the upper arms. "Dana! Thank God, are you all right?" He held her to him, and Scully could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. "Dana, I walked in on a man in your apartment!" She looked up at him, still feeling incredibly dizzy. She took hold of his arm in order to steady herself. "What did you say?" "I went out for a walk. When I came back, there was a man leaning over you …Dana, he had taken your clothes off…and he was raping you. He saw me and I chased him for four blocks!" Daniel's eyes were wild. "Are you alright? Dana, let me help you." He looked at her white face and her shaking hands. "Raped?" She could hardly take it in. She did feel sore, now that she thought about it. "I was drugged," she managed to say, still holding on to him. "I found the drug in my bed…" "Who was it? Did you see him?" "No. Maybe the man who's been calling me." Scully let go of Daniel and walked toward the couch. He shut the door and came after her. "Who has been calling you?" He sat down beside her. "Just some prank calls, Daniel. Some nut." Scully put her face in her hands. She felt hot. Daniel's face darkened momentarily. "Why didn't you tell me about this? Dana, I need to get you out of here." Scully jerked her head up, and then winced. It hurt like hell. "What do you mean, Daniel? This is my home." "He got in here, Dana. He could come back. Come on, let's pack some clothes and you can stay with me." "No, this is silly. Listen, I can stay with Mom…" "And put her in danger?" Daniel searched her face. "I'm sure you know that I will keep you safe, Dana." Scully stared at him a moment. He would keep her safe. Daniel would keep her safe. She slowly nodded. Daniel smiled and got up, going into her bedroom and throwing some of her things into a satchel. In fifteen minutes they were headed out the door. Tuesday Night Lone Gunmen's Lair Mulder leaned against the counter, staring at his three unlikely friends as they punched away at their respective computers. He leaned over Frohike, staring at the screen. "What have you got, pal?" he asked, his breath hot on the little man's neck. "Geez, Mulder!" Frohike shrugged him off. "Yeah, watch it, buddy, it's been awhile since the troll's had a date," Langly stated in his normal deadpan. "He'll jump your bones with very little provocation!" Frohike shot him a look and a choice finger. After a minute, Byers called Mulder over to his computer screen. "Take a look here, Mulder. Waterston's wife was admitted to the hospital repeatedly in the course of their marriage." "Spousal abuse?" Mulder queried. "Looks it to me." Langly said from across the room, "I've gotten the vacations he took from work the past ten years, if anybody's interested." "Jot them down, I'll take anything you've got," Mulder ordered. "You don't really think Scully's interested in this old toad, do you?" Frohike wanted to know. "She used to be," Mulder mumbled. "She could be again. She's been spending an awful lot of time with him, and I don't trust him." "Bingo!" Langly shouted from his seat in the corner. He brushed his blond tresses back from his face. "Two things, Mulder. Waterston spent time in a mental facility as a kid," he pointed to the screen when Mulder came up behind him, "and he was suspended from his first position at a hospital for 'inappropriate behavior toward a female coworker'. Hold on a sec and I'll see if I can't dig up more on that." "Did you know that old Waterlily has three nuts?" Frohike's head popped up from behind his desktop. "Yeah," Mulder nodded. "Scully mentioned it." Langly and Byers exchanged glances and Langly shrugged. "A real mutant, huh," Frohike gurgled, turning his attention back to the work at hand. "Scully deserves more than that old bag of bones." He laughed again. "He's toting a spare." "Okay, Mulder," Langly interrupted, "Here's the deal…Danny-boy got into a shouting match with a female superior at this hospital in Virginia, and he knocked her flat on her ass. He was suspended without pay for a month." He pressed a few keys and continued, "Back when he was seventeen, he was institutionalized after repeatedly striking his mother and then attacking the elderly neighbor lady over some money she owed him for mowing the lawn. After a few months, he was reevaluated and released." Mulder left with stacks of paper detailing Daniel's long distance phone calls, his credit card charges, and every other bit of documented information that the lonegunmen could get their hands on. He took it all back to his apartment and sat for hours looking it over. He now knew that Daniel preferred shopping at Neiman Marcus, that he often lunched at a little Italian place near the hospital where he worked, what gym he used, and that he frequented a place called Kinky's that sold sex toys. Interesting, but none of it proved that Scully shouldn't be involved with him. Mulder sighed, looking over the vacation dates. It was disturbing that he beat his wife, but Scully wouldn't have dated him if he'd beaten her. It was all just heresy. He could've had a clumsy wife. A lot of kids were screwed up in their teenage years, too. He knew he couldn't go to Scully with all of this. She'd only be angry that he'd had it all looked up. Mulder tossed the papers aside and leaned back onto his couch and stared up at the ceiling. He reached over and plucked his stack of folders on the Ripper case from the coffee table and began going through them. Might as well get some work done. Half an hour into it, Mulder stopped. Something looked awfully familiar here. He looked over the page again. May 24, 1993, September 7, 1993, July 4, 1994, January 10, 1995, where had he seen these dates before? As if in slow motion, Mulder reached over to the stack of papers he'd gotten from the gunmen. He flipped to the page of Daniel Waterston's vacation days over the past ten years. Then he checked out the charges made on his credit card during those times…and the locations. "My God…" Mulder's mouth went dry. "The dates and locations all coincide with the murders…Daniel Waterston's a surgeon…he's the Ripper!" Wednesday Morning, 1 am Rt. 81 South Scully put the Styrofoam cup of Diet Coke that Daniel had bought her at the gas station in the cup holder, and leaned her head back against the seat of the car. Her head was spinning. She had fallen asleep almost immediately they had left her apartment, and when she awoke, they were at a Shell station. "Daniel, where are we? I thought we were going to your apartment." "I decided this would be a good time to go to my cabin. You are on leave, and I have some vacation time…it'll give you some time away and that pervert won't be able to get to you. I made a call to your partner, and he's going to work on catching him while we are gone." "You called Mulder?" Scully asked, the lights of the car ahead of her doing strange little dances in front of her eyes. "Yes, and he was thrilled you were going to have some rest time away from it all." Scully couldn't quite imagine a thrilled Mulder. "Did you tell him where we were going?" "Of course, Dana. He knows exactly how to get a hold of us. He won't call, though, unless he has to. He wants you to rest. And he seemed so genuinely glad that I'd be taking care of you." Scully moaned, placing a hand that was too cold over her eyes. She didn't feel well at all. She didn't want to go to Daniel's cabin; she didn't want to be weak like this. She wanted everything to be normal again, and for her head to stop this incessant spinning that made her want to puke her guts out. She couldn't think. "Daniel, I should have been examined after being raped…" "I brought my kit. I'll examine you," Daniel said. "I felt it prudent to get you out of there as soon as possible." Scully balked at the thought of Daniel performing a rape exam on her, but she had to admit that he had done hundreds over the years and she had been intimate with him once, so it wasn't as if he'd never seen her. Daniel reached over and placed a hand on her knee, squeezing lightly. "Everything will be okay, Dana. I'll take care of you." Mulder's apartment 1:30 am Wednesday Mulder threw his door open and stood face to face with Assistant Director Skinner. The older man began without preamble. "Mulder, there's been another body found…" Mulder's face went white. "Mulder, what is it? You look terrible!" He entered the apartment and led the younger agent to the couch. "Scully? Was is Scully?" Mulder grabbed Skinner by the shoulders. He had just listened to the message that Scully had left him on his machine, and he was terrified because now he couldn't get a hold of her. "No, what are you talking about? A young woman was killed downtown. She was an attorney. Another gruesome crime scene. What's this about Agent Scully?" Mulder let go of his superior, looking extremely relieved. "I've figured it out…and the murderer is with Scully! Come on, I'll tell you on the way…" He pulled Skinner out the door. Dana Scully's apartment 25 Minutes later "Her door's unlocked," Mulder said, as he opened it. "That's not good." He and Skinner drew their guns and carefully entered the room. The lights were all on, and Mulder gasped audibly when he saw all the glass on the floor. Skinner quickly walked through the apartment. "Empty," he said, putting his gun away. "I keep thinking about what you said earlier…what was carved on the girl's stomach," Mulder said, looking around the room. "It is time," Skinner intoned. "Right, it gives me the willies." Mulder went into the bedroom. "A lot of her clothes are strewn around…he's taken her somewhere." He came and stood in the doorway, staring at Skinner. "I'll get some men on it," Skinner said, flipping his phone open. "We'll find her, Mulder." An hour later, when Scully's apartment was full of FBI agents and their assorted paraphernalia, Mulder took Skinner aside. "I've been thinking about this. Waterston has been killing for ten years, ever since Scully dumped him. He moved here to be close to her, yet never contacted her. He's been killing women who bear a slight resemblance to her, and they are all women in strong careers. Scully told me that he never wanted her to be a FBI agent, but to remain a doctor…something that would be under him, because he was her teacher. He was angry at Scully for breaking things off with him, and he was angry with her for leaving the medical field. He probably took it as a direct insult to him, her instructor. He's killed all these women, taking his wrath out on them, but now it isn't good enough. He's seen Scully again, and he wants her. If she refuses him, he may kill her." An agent appeared out of the bedroom with a bottle in his hand. "I found this on the bed…Sodium Pentathol." "That's truth serum," Mulder told Skinner, who nodded and wrinkled his brow. "Why would he be giving her that?" "I don't know," Mulder sighed, "that's the kind of question I let Scully handle. I do know that she's been feeling awful lately. She passed out, then ended up in the hospital, as you know. Then she told me that she wanted Daniel to take care of her. It may have been the drug talking, or another kind of drug. He could want her susceptible to suggestion. She seemed different, now that I think back." Skinner rubbed his forehead with a finger. "Do you think he gave her the truth serum so he'd be certain she wasn't lying to him? Maybe he wants to know her true feelings. That could be dangerous." Mulder bit his lip. "If this is the right time, as he intimated at the crime scene, then he has probably taken Scully somewhere secluded to be with her. Or to kill her. We've got to find them!" Mulder slammed his fist onto the table, causing a lamp to fall to the floor. "Calm down, Agent Mulder. I have some people trying to find out where he could have taken her." Skinner walked over to the broken glass, looking over one agent's shoulder. "Find anything?" The agent looked up and said, "A trickle of blood. This vase of flowers must have been sitting on that table over there and then was thrown against the wall." He indicated the splash mark running down the painted surface. "And the blood?" "Maybe someone stepped on a piece of glass. It wasn't much." Skinner straightened up. "Something angered him," he said to Mulder. "I'm afraid to think about it," Mulder said, feeling miserable and desperate at the same time. As the minutes ticked away, Scully could be going through hell. Thursday Morning Blueridge, GA Scully awoke slowly, hearing birds singing outside her window. She felt herself rising out of a drugged sleep, moments from her past floating in and out of her dreams. Mostly she dreamed of Mulder and she felt an acute longing for him when she opened her eyes. As her hand flailed out to her side, it came in contact with another human body and she felt skin and hair. "Mulder?" she murmured groggily. She forced herself to focus and rolled over in the bed. She pushed herself up when she saw Daniel lying there in his briefs, one hand thrown over his face in sleep. She looked around her. Where was she? She had on a man's undershirt and she was in a strange room with Daniel in the bed with her. "What the hell is going on?!" She said loudly, jerking Daniel awake. He sat up beside her. "Dana, good morning!" "Don't 'good morning' me, what the hell are you doing in my bed?" She rolled out of it and stood up on the hard wood floor, her legs a bit wobbly. "Dana, I put you to bed after you fell asleep in the car. I went to the couch, but after awhile you started having a nightmare. I came in here and comforted you…then you fell asleep. I'm sorry." He sat up and began dressing. Scully felt herself relax. "No, I'm sorry, Daniel. I-I don't know what's come over me." "It's the trauma, Dana. It's okay, I understand. Now, I'm sure you are dying to take a shower, so there is a little matter we need to get over with." He reached for his kit under the table. Scully shivered involuntarily, but as with everything else unpleasant in her life, she faced it head on. "All right," She watched him leave the room, giving her privacy to undress. She did so, then wrapped a sheet around herself and sat on the edge. A knock. She called for him to come in, and he did, glancing at her professionally. "Scoot down to the edge of the bed,…there, that's it." He brought a lamp over and knelt between her legs, snapping some latex gloves on. "Dana, you are going to have to relax, you know that." Scully nodded, breathing deeply and staring at the ceiling. Daniel probed around a little and then clicked his tongue. "I'll be right back," he left the room for the kitchen. Scully could feel the cold air hitting her genitals and felt unbelievably exposed. She didn't know how she was going to manage to relax. Daniel reappeared with a glass of water and a pill. "Here, this will help," he tipped her head and helped her drink it. She sighed and leaned back as he adjusted the light once more. She was feeling better already. She took a couple of deep breaths and gradually felt as if she were floating on air. Daniel was speaking calmly to her, and she could hear him fiddling with containers as he took specimens. Some of his words drifted up to her. "So beautiful,…hard for you, want to see you slick and grasping for my enormous cock…" These words jumbled in her mind and she didn't grasp their meaning. He was examining her inside, long fingers sliding up into her vagina. Then it felt like two or three of them, sliding in an out. She moaned a little, forgetting that she was supposedly being examined. All she could see in front of her was Mulder the way he was that night…damp from the shower and so hard… She gasped as his mouth touched her, his tougue circling and flicking. She felt his hands on her legs as she wiggled, holding her still. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to sensation. He was growling as he ate her, and she felt herself rising, rising, on a tide of desire. Her hips bucked as his tongue slid into her and rolled around. Then suddenly his mouth left her and the sheet was pulled away. A wet mouth latched onto her nipple and the hand that began touching her again was rough and coarse. She cried out as he pushed what must have been his fist inside of her and twisted it, while simultaneously biting down on her nipple. She began to beg him to stop. "Soon, Dana," he said into her ear. "Soon you will take all of me into you." He withdrew his hand and she thought he would leave her then, but she heard a buzzing sound and then he said, "For now I'll be intent to see you come," and then she felt what she knew to be a vibrator thrust into her. The sensation sent her shivering and against her will she felt wave over wave of pleasure wash over her. "Mulder!" she cried out as she climaxed and he reached over and struck her hard across the face. Then he left the room. ++++ Scully pulled herself off the bed and got dressed. She was terribly sore, and felt confused about what was happening to her. Vividly, she recalled being raped. Who had done it? When had it happened? Was it a nightmare of some sort? Her head was clearing and she staggered out of the bedroom and into the kitchen of the cabin. Daniel sat there smoking a cigarette. He smiled at her. "Hello, Dana…did you have a good nap?" She looked at him through slightly blurred vision and sat heavily into the chair, tears falling from her eyes. She shook her head. "You were dreaming," he said carefully. "Of the man that raped you in your apartment. I heard you scream." She raised her eyes to his and saw that they were stony cold. she thought. Thursday Morning Bethesda, Maryland Mulder sat inside Skinner's car, making hurried notes on a legal pad. The FBI had swarmed Daniel's daughter's home and that of his ex wife, trying to find out all they could on the man and his possible whereabouts. "This guy has got more homes than anyone has a right to," Skinner grumbled. "One in Florida, one in the Bahamas, a chalet in Colorado, a condo in Hawaii, a house in Texas, a cabin in Georgia, and his apartment here in Maryland. Did his daughter have anything to say?" "Well, she's no fan of Scully's, that's for sure," Mulder stated absentmindedly. He was trying to get into Daniel's mind and imagine where he would take Scully. Any of those places would probably do, but considering that he's been drugging her, he wouldn't be likely to take her on a plane. He drove, and was probably using cash for gas. They'd been monitoring his credit cards and there had been no purchases reported. Florida, Colorado, Texas, Georgia. He probably chose one of those. The closest would be Georgia. They could have driven there, at least for the time being. He voiced his thoughts to Skinner. "We could send men to all those places, Mulder. I'm sure you want to go to Georgia yourself?" Mulder nodded. Skinner sighed and said, "I'll come with you." Blueridge, GA Scully stared out the window pensively. She'd eaten breakfast with Daniel, and told him she wanted him to take her home. He had laughed and said she needed this rest. He'd take her home in a week. This had angered Scully, and she had called him a few choice words. His mouth had closed and become white all around it. He'd gotten his fishing gear together and gone down to the dock to fish, telling her that he hoped she'd be in a better mood when he returned. She looked out on the lake now, the morning sun hitting it, and she could just make out Daniel's form on the dock, throwing his line in the water. She moved away from the window and went to the phone. Picking it up, she was alarmed not to hear a dial tone. She began searching Daniel's jacket for his cell. Had he taken it with him? What the hell was going on? Scully's fingers hit glass in his inner pocket. She pulled out a vial. It was a drug… As realization hit her, Scully was beginning to feel the effects of whatever Daniel had put into her breakfast. She staggered and slammed her shoulder against the wall, crying out in pain. She forced herself to stand up, her heart now racing in her chest, and she made her way across the room to Daniel's suitcase. Her hands were shaking as she worked on the latch, finally managing to pop it open, then its twin. She rummaged through his clothes, breathing out when her fingers closed over his phone. Her head began to spin and she fell back onto the bed, bringing the numbers close to her face so that she could make them out. It felt like one of those horrible dreams where you are trying to dial for help, only you keep hitting the wrong numbers. Scully laughed sharply. This wasn't a dream; it was very real. She tried the third time, and it was a charm. she thought idiotically. The phone was ringing, the sound bouncing around in her brain. Was it more truth serum? Was it mixed with something else? She felt dizzy and numb. It rang on and on and Scully felt the darkness coming over her. Finally, Mulder's voice came on the line. "Mulder." "Mulder….Mulder." "Scully?" "Mulder, it's me. It's me, Mulder." "Scully, thank God! Where are you?" "Mulder, you're my only friend. I had to call you." She laughed. "I had no one else to call! You're my only friend." Scully was feeling more stupid by the moment. She just wanted to shut her eyes now. "Scully, please tell me where you are! I'll come and get you!" "I'm with Daniel. Mulder, did you know he is drugging me? Why did you let him take me here? Hey, you know what, Fox is a nice name. You shouldn't be ashamed of it." "Okay, Scully. You can call me Fox from now on, if you want. Where the hell are you?" Scully couldn't remember. "I'm sorry, my mind won't work," she sighed. "Mulder, he's hurting me." Her voice became a hoarse whimper. "He put his hand inside me, and he bit me, then he hit me…" Was this a dream? The phone was slipping out of her hand. "He said he was saving me from my rapist…but he's the rapist!" Mulder's voice was tight and barely contained. "Scully, where is Daniel?" "He's…fishing." Scully's hand fell and everything went black. "Scully!" Mulder yelled into the phone, causing Skinner to flinch. He was sitting two feet away from him in a closed car. Mulder held his hand up, hearing someone on the other end, and said more softly, hope on his face, "Scully?" "Hello, Agent Mulder," came a smooth voice on the other line. Mulder's features turned angry. "What are you doing to her, you crazy son of a bitch! I'm going to kill you with my bare hands you wrinkled old asshole! Don't touch her again, do you hear me?" Skinner grabbed the phone out of his hand. "Dr. Waterston, this is Assistant Director Walter Skinner with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Is Agent Scully all right?" Daniel chuckled. "Why she's perfect, Mr. Skinner! Just perfect. She is totally cowed, which is the way I like her." "Waterston, we know you don't want to hurt Dana. She's your friend," Skinner didn't want Daniel to fall off his beam before they could get there and save Scully. "Where are you, and we'll come and get her…take her to a hospital. There's help for you, too." "I DON'T NEED ANY FUCKING HELP YOU SON OF A BITCH…SHE'S MINE, I TELL YOU, MINE AND I'LL DO WHATEVER I FUCKING PLEASE WITH HER, DO YOU HEAR ME?" His voice suddenly became soft. "Do you hear me, Mr. Skinner? I will do whatever I please with Dana. I'm touching her now…" Skinner disconnected them. He didn't have time to listen to crazy ranting. He looked at Mulder, who's jaw was clenched so tight it looked as if it might shatter. Skinner had been forced to hold the phone away from his ear during Daniel's tirade and he knew Mulder had caught most of what he had said, although thankfully not that last bit. "Do you have any idea where he has her?" He asked Mulder now. "She said he was fishing…Georgia is still probably our best bet." Mulder turned and took a hold of his seat belt as Skinner started the car. He felt nauseous. He was going to get that mother fucker Waterston and he was going to kill him. +++ Scully tried to push her way out of the fog. She could feel his warm breath on her body. She reached down and grabbed a handful of hair, pulling as hard as she could. He cried out, reached up, and slapped her hard across the face. Suddenly he was eye to eye with her. "You think you can fight me, Dana…you think you are strong. You aren't, you know. You're weak like every other woman in this world." He began kissing her, and Scully moved her head away. He grabbed her hair and moved her mouth back to his. Scully brought her knee up as hard as she could between his legs and he yelled, releasing her. She rolled off the bed and crawled to the bedroom door. The floor was spinning beneath her. He was yelling obscenities at her from the bed. Telling her what he'd do to her…things that he had done to those other woman. Scully felt ill. It couldn't be possible…Daniel couldn't be the Ripper! She kept crawling; knowing there was no way she could escape in her present condition. Her only hope was to hide for a while until Mulder could find her. She knew he would find her. Vaguely she recalled calling him earlier. She hoped she had made enough sense for him to gain some clue to her whereabouts. She forced herself to her feet and stumbled out the front door to the cabin, hearing Daniel yelling from the bedroom. She fell twice, rolled down the dirt drive to the bottom of the hill and crawled past the dock. The door of the cabin banged shut and she knew he was coming. She had at least incapacitated him enough to slow him down. A row of canoes was turned bottom side up and Scully used all her remaining strength to lift one and slide beneath it. She lay there panting; praying that Mulder was on his way. +++ Scully lay beneath the canoe, smelling rust and dirt around her. A spider web hung in her face, but she didn't dare move. She just hoped it wasn't a black widow or brown recluse spider. She shifted a little, trying to move her mouth near the crack where some fresh air was seeping in. She heard his steps in the leaves. She held her breath a moment. Why was this happening? Daniel was a psychotic killer! She felt tears coming to her eyes. Why had she trusted him so much? She just remembered thinking he would keep her safe. She felt so tired. Scully squeezed her eyes shut, wishing Mulder would hurry and find her. Get her out of this mess like he'd helped her so many times before. She could always count on Mulder. Did she tell him that she was with Daniel when they were on the phone? She couldn't remember now what she had said. She just wanted him to hurry. Scully thought it had been silent an awfully long time. She had almost decided he'd passed her hiding place by, when the canoe was yanked up from over her and the next thing she knew he was hauling her to her feet, cursing at her. He was twisting her wrist so hard that she cried out. "You thought you could get away? Well, I'm not through with you yet," she struggled with him, but he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, walking back toward the cabin. Scully grabbed a piece of flesh on his back between her fingers and pinched hard. Daniel yelled, then spun around and knocked her head into a tree. The pain was excruciating, and Scully could only hang limply after that, feeling sicker with every step he took up the hill. He was panting when they reached the cabin, and he threw her down onto the rug in front of the fireplace. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a vial and a syringe. "No," Scully said feebly. "No more drugs…I won't fight you, Daniel." Daniel leaned down close to her, "Beg me, Dana," he whispered, his eyes alight with what looked like desire. Scully didn't want anymore drugs in her system. She wouldn't have any chance at all. "Please, Daniel," she reached up and touched him, "please, no more drugs." "You'll be a good girl?" He asked her. "Yes, I promise." Daniel stood up and smirked, putting the vial and needle back into his pocket. "I knew you weren't strong, Dana. It was just a front." He began peeling off his clothes. When he got his belt off, he doubled it as if to hit her with it. "Why? Why, Daniel?" He paused. "You think you're better than I am, don't you? You think that, my ex wife thinks it, my mother…even my daughter! I hate you all! I'll make you all pay. I'll carve you up and feed you to dogs!" Scully thought, her eyes looking from one corner of the cabin to the other. Then the belt came down on her and she cried out, moving backward. He kept hitting her and hitting her until his arm was sore. She couldn't move. Her head hurt and she felt sick. After a few minutes, she vomited all over his feet. He cried out and slapped her. "You little bitch!" He kicked her and went into the kitchen to wash his shoes off. Scully lay in the floor panting. There was blood on her hand and she lifted it up to look at it. He'd stepped on her finger. She tried to pull herself up. She knew she couldn't get away; what she needed was time. If she could buy some time, Mulder would come and get her. He'd kill Daniel, she knew. He loved her and he'd shoot Daniel right between the eyes. She stifled a sob and tried to get up on her knees. Thursday, early afternoon Over Virginia Skinner was shouting over the wind for the helicopter pilot to take them down. Mulder sent him a questioning look, and when they were finally on the ground, and the noise subsided, he turned angrily on him. "We're wasting time!" "Calm down, Agent Mulder. Everyone can use a short bathroom break. I have to call in anyway. We're in Roanoke…not too far from Bristol, which is on the Tennessee line. After that we are only about a six-hour drive from Blueridge, GA where Daniel's cabin is. By air we can get there much faster." Mulder got out and stretched, then looked at his watch. He began to pace back and forth, then finally gave in and jogged over to the woods to take a leak. When Skinner returned, he squinted and looked up at the sky. "There's a storm down the road a bit. We need to wait it out." "Fuck, no!" Mulder shouted. Skinner gave him a look that made him think twice before opening his mouth again. He did, however, and said, "It's taking us long enough to get there as it is!" The expression on his face melted the assistant director's heart. Mulder had finally told him what Scully had said during their brief phone conversation. Hell, he wanted to kill Waterston, too. His mouth thinned. "Get in, Agent Mulder," he motioned with his hand for the pilot and they were soon on their way again. Mulder spent the next hour thinking about Scully. She was so damned stubborn! He had been furious with her when she had taken off with that cigarette smoking bastard a few weeks ago. The fear of losing her had been tremendous. But Mulder would almost prefer her to be with him than with this crazy old surgeon who so cruelly mutilated and raped women. Mulder knew that ten years of horrible murders had been committed solely out of Daniel's anger at Scully rejecting him. He was terrified to think what he may be doing to her now. Leaning up in his seat, Mulder yelled into the pilot's ear. "How much longer?" The pilot called back, "Maybe an hour and a half if the storm holds off." Skinner looked up into the sky. That seemed unlikely. Blueridge, GA The sky was darkening outside. Scully's mind fought to stay clear enough to think. There had to be someplace she could hide herself from Daniel. She could hear him in the next room cursing as he washed the vomit off his shoes. He had always liked to remain immaculate, Scully remembered. He had always taken two showers a day, and kept his clothing neatly pressed. He often carried a spare handkerchief in his pocket, and a package of those instant stain remover wipes. Scully thought now, wondering how she ever stood him. He reentered the room, his eyes wild. Scully sat on the floor, leaning against the sofa. Her body hurt where he had thrashed her with the belt. There were red streaks on her arms, but on her lower half, her jeans had protected her somewhat. Daniel leaned down and looked at her. "Now, Dana, I want you to tell me the truth." "About what?" Scully managed to ask. "About your feelings for me. All these years…have you been thinking of me? I want the truth!" The corner of Daniel's mouth was twitching, and Scully noticed that his hands were shaking. She had hardly given him a thought over the years…what was she supposed to say? Her hesitation angered him, and he grabbed her by the arm, jerking her forward. It made her head hurt and she thought she might throw up again. He pulled her to her feet and took her across the room to the bathroom. Pushing her inside, he said, "Brush your teeth. I don't want to smell vomit on you." Scully picked up the toothbrush. She needed to buy some time. Hopefully Mulder was on the right track and would be here soon. She began to slowly brush her teeth, thinking it might do her more good to lie to Daniel and tell him she loved him. Maybe he wouldn't kill her if she said that. She wished for the millionth time that she had Mulder's psychological training. "What the hell is taking you so long?!" Daniel stuck his head in the bathroom. "Hurry up, Dana. We have some things to do before we leave." Scully spit in the sink, her heart in her throat. "Leave? Where are we going?" Daniel laughed. "Don't be a fool, Dana. I know that your partner is on our trail. I spoke to him on the phone when you were naughty enough to call him! We'll be out of here long before he can arrive, though." He pulled her roughly to him and began kissing her, pushing his tongue deep into her mouth. Scully pushed at him but held her even tighter. She just couldn't pretend that he didn't disgust her. Daniel pulled her head back by the hair and released her mouth. "Do you know what I did to the last woman who refused to kiss me?" His mad eyes looked into hers. "I have her tongue in a jar in my basement." Scully wanted to throw up again. Tears formed in her eyes as he twisted the hair at the nape of her neck. She brought her knee up sharply, but Daniel dodged her and growled, "You'll pay, Dana, you'll pay." He twisted her hair even harder and she cried out. His mouth went to her neck and he cruelly pressed his lips into the sensitive skin there. Opening his mouth, he ran the flat of his tongue up and down the nape of her neck, murmuring obscene words. Scully moved her hands up where they were pressed to his chest and pinched his nipples as hard as she could. He jerked back and looked at her, then laughed. "Do that again, my dear." Scully spit in his face. Enraged, Daniel leaned back and slapped her hard while still holding on to her hair. Scully tasted blood in her mouth. She lifted her foot and brought it down with force on top of his. Daniel called her every foul name she'd ever heard as he bent over rubbing the top of his shoe, then he pulled his leg back and kicked her in the shin. Scully cried out and he let go of her hair so that she could fall onto the floor. He was on top of her in an instant, his body heavy on hers, his breath in her ear. "How many times did you call my name out in the night, Dana? Remember when we used to make love? Remember how I made you scream?" He bit her ear. Scully struggled beneath him. "Get off of me!" She yelled as loud as she could. He began pulling at her clothes and Scully took fists full of his hair and yanked. Daniel didn't seem to notice as he began to undo the buttons on her blouse. "Get off of me, Daniel!" She knew she was only making him madder. She had to buy some time or he'd take her away from here and kill her and they'd probably never find her body. She forced herself to stop struggling and lay there panting. "That's right, my dear, you're enjoying this, aren't you? I knew it. You're going to take all of me…it'll be difficult, but I know you can do it." Scully wanted to laugh. She didn't remember Daniel being particularly big. As he kept doing things to her, she tried to go along with it. She closed her eyes and thought of Mulder. Mulder was the one touching her… Sweetwater, TN 6:00 PM Thursday The pilot landed the helicopter in a large field and Mulder jumped out, bending low until he'd cleared the blades. He faced Skinner, who was close behind him. Rain was beating on them and they were absolutely drenched. "We have to keep going!" Mulder yelled over the din of thunder. Skinner took him by the arm and they headed toward the building in the distance. "Mulder, don't be insane. We cannot fly in this!" A farmer was coming out of his house and Skinner speeded up his steps, climbing up to the porch to meet him and show him his identification. While he explained the situation, Mulder walked over to the barn and peered in. After a moment, he ran up to the farmer. "How much to let me take that jeep?" He asked. The farmer scratched his head. "Will you be bringing it back?" "Yeah…if I can't, I'll pay you for it." Skinner's face was stony as the man handed his keys over to Mulder. "Mulder, don't do this…this storm will blow over and we'll get there before you do!" "No, we are only an hour and a half away. I'll make it there first." He looked at his superior with something like pleading in his eyes. "I can't just stand here and do nothing." Skinner considered, then finally said, "We'll be right behind you, and more men should get there within an hour of us." He grabbed Mulder's arm as he turned to go. "Be careful." Blueridge, GA "Tell me, Dana…tell me you love me!" His face was inches from hers. "Admit it!" He pinched her cheeks between his fingers. "Say it! Say it, damn you!" Scully was exhausted from trying to fight him off. When would she awaken from this nightmare? She broke her hand free from his grasp and stabbed her fingers into his eyes. He screamed and reared back, giving her the leverage she needed to bring her knee up and jab it into his stomach. She shoved him off of her and stood up. His hand was over his eyes and she took the opportunity to run out of the cabin. He was after her in less than a minute, barely giving her enough time to run halfway down the drive. He lunged after her, throwing his weight on top of her and they rolled together to the bottom of the hill. Daniel had to weigh twice what she did, and although she fought him hard, she knew it was useless. He lifted his arm up and punched her squarely in the jaw. Scully saw lights before her eyes, and the next thing she felt was a painful prick in her arm. "No…" she breathed, and then sank into unconsciousness. She knew it was over. Mulder got to Blueridge in record time, having only slowed down on the treacherous road that ran beside the Ocoee River. It had only two lanes, one side ensconced by solid rock overhangs, and the other by the raging river. There weren't even any guardrails. Cursing all the way, Mulder made it up the mountain with a minimal of car passing. One more chicken truck and he'd lose his mind! The rest of the trip to Blueridge was a breeze. A cop stopped him as he crossed the TN/GA line, but a flash of his badge had him on his way. Mulder pulled over to look at the directions to the cabin, then drove a few more miles. The town was small without too many roads branching off from the main one. He found the one he was looking for without too much difficulty, but was dismayed at the deserted dirt drive that led to it. It was miles long and very secluded, with barely room for another car to pass. Soon Mulder pulled the jeep off the road and began walking, not wanting Daniel to hear him and take off. He prayed they were still there, for he realized Daniel knew he was on to him. It was beginning to get dark when Mulder saw the cabin on the hill. He carefully made his way toward it, moving in a half circle in the woods so as not to be seen. There were several lights on, and he could see Daniel's car parked to the side. Thank God they were still there. Moving stealthily toward the side of the cabin, Mulder held his gun ready. He inched forward, stepping over some low bushes, and pressing himself against the wooden wall. He slowly peered around the corner of the window, seeing the living room and kitchen. There were a couple of jelly jar glasses on the table, a plate with some food on it, and he could barely make out some bottles. Mulder stiffened. They were probably the drugs he was pumping into Scully. He moved on to another side of the cabin and another window. Holding his breath, she peeked in. What he saw made him jerk in reaction. At the end of the dirt road that supposedly led to Daniel Waterston's cabin, AD Skinner met with the agents from the Atlanta office, directing them in what they were to do. "We have an agent that has gone on ahead to scope things out," Skinner told them, his coat tails flying in the upcoming storm. Lightening flashed, and then a crack of thunder reverberated through the humid air. He hoped that Agent Mulder was keeping his cool. "Johnson, I want you to take your men the long way around and surround the cabin from the back. Peters, you and Jamerson stay here and maintain contact. The rest of you fan out and approach this way. Once within twenty yards of the place, hold off until you hear from me. Remember that Agent Mulder is already there, and Agent Scully is being held prisoner by the perpetrator. He is highly dangerous, and we don't want any screw-ups. Everyone keep their ears open." Skinner strode away, the weight of the circumstances weighing heavily on his broad shoulders. He would like to be at home in a bubble bath with his current girlfriend instead of out in the Georgia woods after a killer who very well may have murdered and mutilated one of his favorite agents. He motioned to the men coming with him, and they set off on foot through the woods. They would have to do a great deal of walking before reaching the cabin, but this was the best way. They couldn't approach in five vehicles and maintain any opportunity of surprise. Mulder's mouth went dry as he watched Daniel hovering over Scully…she was obviously unconscious, and the things he was doing to her were so disgusting that he wanted to rip the old man into shreds. Anger boiled up in him so fast and violently that it made his head swim. He raised his gun but realized that the window was closed and Daniel was too close to Scully for a good shot. He started to climb back over the bushes and run to the front door when his foot became entangled in the ivy growing there and he fell, face first, onto the ground, knocking a tin bucket off its perch on a stump and sending it clanking down the hill. "Shit!" Mulder scrambled up just as the window opened and a shot whizzed past his head. He took off running and dove behind the woodpile as more shots ricocheted off the trees around him. From there, he took aim and fired back at the window, hoping like hell that if Scully came to she'd be lucid enough to know to stay down. After a moment of silence, he heard the window close again, and Mulder sat still, waiting to see what would happen. He crouched there for a good ten minutes before deciding to venture out. When he came up out of his stooped position, he immediately sensed that something was amiss and he tried to throw himself back behind the woodpile. It was too late. The bullet ripped through his flesh and sent him sprawling in an ever-increasing puddle of his own blood. The rain was pouring down. Daniel stood over Mulder, whose shoulder wound sent flashes of hot pain through his body. He heard Scully's voice as Daniel raised the gun to finish him off. "Daniel, no!" He saw her standing on the porch wearing only a man's shirt, drenched to the skin. She was bruised and bloody and Mulder's heart ached for her. Daniel whipped around. "Dana, get back inside," he commanded roughly. Scully took wobbly steps, holding onto the railing, and descended toward them. "Don't hurt him, Daniel," she pleaded, teetering on her feet. Mulder could see how weak she was and he strained to reach his gun. He finally felt the cold metal touch his hand. Daniel was staring at Scully, fury all over his face. "Get back in the cabin…NOW!" He screamed, the veins in his neck standing out. Scully stood there, uncertainly, remnants of the drug still coursing through her system. "Please, Daniel. I'll go away with you. Come on, we can escape together. Just don't hurt him, please." "Scully, no," Mulder breathed, staring at her, horrified. Daniel was enraged. "You'll go with me anyway, after I kill him! You love me, Dana. You've always loved me. That's why you haven't been with anyone else all these years…you couldn't forget me. He's brainwashed you…made you take a man's career. You want to be with me, Dana." Lightening flashed through the sky, illuminating Scully's face as she looked over at Mulder tenderly. "He's hurt, Daniel. I have to help him." She started toward where Mulder lay bleeding. "Don't get near him! Stop, Dana, stop it right now!" Daniel pointed the gun at her. Mulder's fingers tightened on his own weapon as he tried to raise his arm. Scully took another step, bending to touch him and Daniel's finger tightened on the trigger. That was all it took for Mulder to fire. His mark was way off because he couldn't raise his arm. The bullet hit Daniel right between the legs. He screamed, falling back, clutching his groin where blood was spurting everywhere. At the same time, shouts sounded from the woods around them and dozens of men wearing black came pouring out of them like ants at a picnic. Mulder's head fell back to the ground as he felt Scully's cool fingers touch his wound, applying pressure. Her eyes were glazed, and Mulder knew she was near collapse. Skinner appeared beside them, kneeling down, asking how he was, and accessing Scully's condition. He opened his phone and called to the agents at the roadblock for an ambulance. "Tell them three people are hurt, and make sure they understand the seriousness of the situation." Thunder cracked through the air. It was pitch black except for the lightening and the flashlights of a few agents. "Let's get him in the cabin," Skinner motioned to two men and they lifted Mulder and carried him inside. Skinner turned to Scully to assist her, and seeing her white face, and her battered and trembling body, he swept her up in his arms as if she were his folded laundry, and carried her up the porch steps and into shelter. Skinner looked around the room. "We need to get her warm." He couldn't believe he didn't have one female agent here to help Agent Scully change. He had set her down on the couch and she was shivering so hard her teeth were clicking together. A couple of agents were ripping sheets to use as bandages on Mulder's shoulder. Still more were outside in the rain with Daniel Waterston. Lightening brightened the sky once again and thunder cracked so loud that several of the agents jumped. Skinner shook his head, looking to the ceiling. "Find a blanket for her," he barked to the nearest man. Mulder was craning his neck in order to see Scully. Skinner was worried about her, too. She looked totally out of it, white, bruised, and cold. There were enough drugs on the kitchen table to put down a bull elephant. The agent with the blanket hurried up to her and wrapped it around her, but she couldn't even seem to muster the strength to hold it together by the edges. Glancing at the stern look on the Assistant Director's face, he ended up wrapping his arms around her to keep it on. Another agent had the brains to get a towel and try to dry her hair off with it. Skinner walked over to Mulder and his entourage of helpers. "What happened, Agent Mulder?" He asked quietly. "When I got here, I looked in the window and saw him…molesting her. I turned to come in another way to surprise him and tripped." Mulder was not very proud of this part of the story. "He began shooting at me from the window. Scully came out and tried to get him to stop. He started to pull the trigger at her and I shot him. Unfortunately, I couldn't lift my arm high enough to do any real damage." "Oh, I don't know about that, Agent Mulder. I'd say you did some damage, all right." They could hear Daniel Waterston's screams from outside. In another moment, the sound of sirens joined them. +++ As they loaded Daniel into a helicopter, the stretcher carrying Scully was being transported down the porch stairs. Daniel raised his head and screamed, "I'll have you yet, Dana! You'll be mine for all eternity! I'll have you! You'll be mine or you'll be dead!" "Shut him up," Skinner growled, pausing to squeeze Scully's hand before she was lifted into the ambulance. Mulder had already been airlifted to a hospital in Chattanooga. Skinner planned to have the doctors at the nearest facility give Scully the once over and then he'd have her flown to a hospital in D.C. Skinner returned to the cabin to give final orders and check for anything they may have missed. He walked from room to room, noting the belt on the floor, the syringe on the table, the remnants of vomit near the couch. He walked through the kitchen, glancing once more at the bottles of various drugs on the table, and then continued into the bedroom. He grimaced at the display on the bed. This man was a sicko, all right. Turning, he directed the agents mulling about to start taking pictures and he pulled his cell phone out to make the series of necessary calls. It would be a long night. One Week Later George Washington Hospital Washington DC When Mulder awoke he took in the hospital room, the IV in his arm, the bandage on his bare chest, and the dry, sticky feeling in his mouth. Opening it, he shouted. The door opened immediately and a nurse entered, followed by Walter Skinner. "Mr. Mulder, what is it?" She stuck a thermometer in his mouth and took his pulse. Mulder's eyes remained on Skinner, who was looking at the wall. When the nurse had finished, she took the jug of water beside the bed and positioned the straw so that Mulder could take a drink. He took a very long one, then leaned back. A few more pats, and the nurse left the two men alone. "What day is this?" Mulder asked hoarsely. "It's been a week, Agent Mulder," Skinner replied, focusing his eyes on the pale, stubbley-faced agent lying before him. "You're shoulder is healing very well. You've been kept under sedation in order to make certain that had time to happen. Daniel Waterston has been taken to a highly secure psychiatric facility in Richmond. You blew his genitals to kingdom come, but otherwise he's healthy. " Mulder stared at his superior until he finally told him what he wanted to know. "She's here, Mulder. She's in the psychiatric ward upstairs." Mulder sat up, "What?" He winced at the pain in his shoulder. "The psychiatric ward? What's going on?" Skinner sighed and pulled up a chair. "Physically, she has healed, but that monster pumped so many drugs into her over the last couple of weeks, in particular that last day, that she hasn't gotten over it yet." "What…do…you…mean," Mulder said slowly, very afraid to find out. "Well, one of the drugs he kept her on was Sodium Pentathol…Truth Serum. She still has it in her system. Believe me, I can tell. She told me yesterday that if I'd use some powder on my bald head, it wouldn't shine so much." Mulder would have laughed if he weren't so appalled. "What else?" he asked. "She's alternately jittery and lethargic. She either stays up all night or sleeps days at a time. She's really very lucky to be alive…with the amount of drugs he put into her, and her small stature, she could easily be dead. There is only one positive thing I can see in all this." Mulder couldn't imagine what that could be. He raised his brows in question. "She doesn't remember much about what happened to her. She doesn't remember the sexual assault at all, and judging from what we found in the bedroom, I'd say that's a very good thing." A look of pain crossed Mulder's face as he recalled what he had seen through the window. He suddenly felt very nauseous. "If I'd been just a little earlier…" He said, his throat clogged with unshed tears. The Assistant Director looked away. He knew how hard this was on Agent Mulder. Knew his feelings for Agent Scully, and now also knew hers for him since she had laid it all out for him in great detail this past week. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth. If he weren't so damn worried about her health and mental state, Skinner would be quite elated at the prospect of the two agents getting everything out in the open once and for all. Seven years of unspoken love is too long. "She wants to see you, Agent Mulder." Mulder started to get up off the bed right then, but Skinner held up his hand. "They're going to let you clean up after you eat some lunch. Wait until then. Agent Scully is with her doctor now, anyway." Two hours later, Mulder entered Scully's room. He'd showered and shaved, and a nurse had helped him into some clothes. Scully sat on a chair, staring out the barred windows. She was dressed in a cotton top with matching pants, with sneakers on her feet. Mulder could see the remnants of bruises on her face and arms. He slowly walked toward her and took a seat beside her. She turned and looked at him, her eyes slightly glassy, but knowing. He reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently. "Scully?" He finally broke the silence. She smiled at him, her thumb brushing his hand. "I'm glad you're okay, Mulder. I've been worried about you." Mulder smiled sheepishly. "You have? Well, I've been worried about you! How are you feeling, Scully?" She pulled her hand back and pushed the hair out of her face. "I feel all right, I guess. Just…confused. I don't feel like myself yet. It's hard, Mulder. I have no control. I think you know how much control means to me." She smiled at him again. Mulder studied her. It was different having her openly tell him what was bothering her. He felt kind of like he was taking advantage of her condition to get her to talk to him when she would normally keep things to herself. He sensed her inner struggle. Suddenly, she stood up, agitated. She walked across the room wringing her hands. "Mulder, I don't remember much about what happened at the cabin…or even before." She turned to him with tears in her eyes. "What do you remember?" He asked quietly. Scully licked her lips and, realizing what she was doing with her hands, she pulled them apart and rubbed them against her sides. "I remember being in Nokesville at the crime scene with you." She stood motionless for several minutes while Mulder sat looking at her. "And?" Tears started rolling down her cheeks. Her face was ashen and she swallowed several times before she spoke again. "And…and that's all. That's all I remember, Mulder! I don't remember anything else. Oh God, I'm going to be here forever!" She covered her face with her hands and her shoulders shook. Mulder stood up and went to her, wrapping his arms around her trembling body, shushing her, murmuring things to quiet her. "You'll be yourself soon, Scully, I promise." She looked up at him. "Watch what you say, Mulder, because I know you wouldn't lie to me. You can't be certain that I'll be the way I was again. My mind feels clouded all the time now." Mulder rested his chin on the top of her head as she nuzzled into his shoulder. "Not all the time, Scully. I bet you're having more and more clear moments as each day goes by." Scully thought a moment and realized that he was right. She had gotten a tiny bit better every day that had passed. She hugged him closer to her. He gave her hope and she didn't ever want to let him go. When he had walked into her room, she had felt as if the missing half of her had returned. "Mulder, if I ask you to do something, will you do it?" She said after a moment. He kissed the top of her head. "You know I will, Scully." She nodded against him. "Please get me out of here, Mulder. I'm going crazy in here. Please get me out of here and take me someplace where I can heal." Her voice sounded so tiny and unlike her that Mulder felt his heart clench in his chest. He'd take her to the moon if that were what she wanted. He ran his fingers through her hair and promised her he'd get her out that very day. He didn't know how he was going to pull that off, but he knew he would because that's what Scully wanted. Virginia Beach, VA Scully slept the entire way to the beach. She'd been up the night before, the nurse said, so Mulder guessed she needed to catch up. When he had arrived at the beach house, he had had to carry her inside and get her settled. Mulder shook his head as he unloaded their baggage. He still couldn't believe how things had come together. Skinner had this beach house and readily offered it to them. The doctor had given his okay for her discharge without much argument, and had scribbled out a sheet of instructions on her care, along with his phone number. Scully's mother had met him at her place, a bag already packed for her. She hadn't even questioned him on why he, rather than she, was taking Dana on vacation. Hell, Mulder didn't even know why. Scully just wanted it that way. This made him smile. When he'd gotten everything inside and had locked up, he went to check on Scully. He didn't like the way she slept so deeply and for so long, but the doctor had told him to expect it. Her stared down at her. She was so beautiful. He pulled her shoes off and covered her up, then went into the living room to watch television. He had fallen asleep, when the feeling that someone was staring at him awakened him. He sat up. Scully stood beside him. "What's wrong, Scully?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. "You looked so handsome. I was just watching you sleep. I'm sorry I woke you up, Mulder." Mulder smiled at the compliment. "Hey, I thought you were going to call me Fox…you told me it was a nice name and I shouldn't be ashamed of it." "I did? Well, it's true. You know, I did call you that not too long ago" Mulder felt his face getting warm. Yes, she had. In the throes of passion. Scully settled down on the couch beside him. She had put a nightgown on and she looked soft and inviting. Mulder wanted so much to kiss her. "Kiss me, Mulder," she said and he blinked, thinking he'd heard her wrong. "What?" "I want you to kiss me. Don't look at me like that, I'm not crazy! I just don't have a lot of inhibition right now. Don't you want to kiss me?" Scully sat staring at him, her eyes open and honest, her lips slightly parted and wet. Mulder felt his heart rate start to climb. He leaned over and touched his lips to hers, his tongue darting out tentatively and brushing her lips. Scully met it with her own and they sat there, barely touching, the softness of their tongues igniting sparks through their nervous systems. Her breath was soft on his face. She nipped his lip and slid her tongue against his again. Mulder thought it was the single most arousing thing he had ever experienced. The time came, however, when this was not enough, and he moved closer to her and pressed his mouth against hers, holding her head in his hands. He felt her arms come around him and her hands bury themselves in his hair. Their lips caressed one another and their kisses grew deep and exciting. Scully pulled him down on top of her and broke their kiss, turning her attention to his left ear. "Mulder, I love you." She said. He pulled up and looked down at her. "Mulder, it's not the drugs in my system…well, maybe it is the drugs giving me the courage to say it, but I love you and I have for a long time. The night we spent together was everything to me and it scared the shit out of me." She ran her hands up his hard chest and slid one of them into the V-neck of his shirt. "You are everything to me, Fox Mulder." She kissed his mouth again and again, then began kissing the rest of his face. "Absolutely everything, and now I'm at your mercy because I've bared my soul to you." She leaned forward and took a large portion of his neck in an open-mouthed kiss that sent a shudder through him. His eyes were dark with passion, and at the same time, alight with love. He pulled her face close to his and said, "Scully, don't ever doubt that you mean as much to me, if not more…" and he kissed her again and again until he couldn't wait any longer. Standing, he held his hand out to her, pulling her off the couch, and together they went into the bedroom. Boatright Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane Richmond, VA Daniel eased himself onto his inflatable pillow, eyeing the guard in front of him. He knew that Freddie was more than a little interested in him. Perhaps that would work in his favor. All he had done since the moment he awoke from his surgery was to think of the many ways he wanted to kill Agent Fox Mulder. He had taken his manhood from him, and the woman that he loved. He would kill that sonovabitch and reclaim Dana as his own. Then after punishing her awhile, he would make certain that they entered eternity together. One flesh. Meanwhile, the doctor was talking about cosmetic surgery…a prosthesis. Daniel would make certain that it was a great big one. He had friends in the business. Already several had visited him, offering their support. One longtime friend was reporting to him about Dana. Yes, Daniel knew that she was holed up in a beach house with Agent Mulder, the slut! She would have to be punished extra for that. Perhaps she could watch Mulder die, after Daniel removed all of his male parts. Payback time. Virginia Beach, VA Later that night Mulder laid Scully on the bed and removed her nightgown, sighing as he eased down next to her. He ran his hands along her body and she shivered in anticipation, her eyes never leaving his. Taking his hand, she kissed it, watching him as she licked his knuckles and then lightly nibbled them. Mulder said her name and leaned down, kissing her neck and then lavishing his attention on her breasts, causing her to make little gasping sounds that made him shudder. She helped him to remove his shorts and, at her urging, he finally entered her and began to move rhythmically. Scully moaned, calling out his name, which spurred him to thrust faster, driving her quickly toward the brink. One moment he was pounding into her, her breath hitching in her throat, her body slippery and writhing beneath him, her legs coming up around his hips to pull him deeper into her, and the next her eyes were wide with terror and she was frantically pushing him away. "What is it, Scully?" It took some real determination on his part, but Mulder managed to pull out of her and roll away. Sweat glistened on his skin as he looked at her terrified face. She turned and buried it in the pillow and sobbed. Reaching out, he touched her back, smoothing her hair away from her neck. "What's wrong, Scully? Please tell me," he whispered, although he'd guessed. "I just…remembered something. Something that he did to me in the cabin." Scully's voice was strangled with tears and Mulder's heart constricted. He pulled her around and to his chest, holding her tightly. "It's okay, Scully. Maybe it's better that you remember so that you can conquer it. Face it, and then you can get over it." She shuddered. "I don't want to remember, Mulder. It comes back jumbled with the other memories." "What other memories?" Mulder asked softly. "Of my abduction," she murmured into his shoulder. "I don't want to remember, Mulder, but I'm afraid if I don't, I won't ever be strong again. I don't think I'm the same woman I was before." "Of course you are, Scully. You're the strongest person I know." He kissed her neck lovingly. Scully raised her head and looked into his eyes. "But what if I'm not, Mulder? What if I'm not that person anymore? What if he broke me?" Mulder stared at her for a long time. "I seriously doubt he has the power to do that, Scully. But if he did, it wouldn't matter. Not to me." "You know, Mulder," Scully said after they had held each other for a long time in the dark. "I knew you would come for me. I remember thinking that if I could just keep him from killing me long enough, you would come and shoot him between the eyes." "Well, it ended up being between the legs," Mulder grimaced. "I wish I had killed him, Scully. I wish he was dead for what he did to you." Scully lay very still, listening to Mulder's heart beating beneath her ear. Finally, she brought up what had been plaguing her. "Do you know everything he did to me, Mulder?" Mulder was silent. He didn't want to answer her. He didn't want to even think about what that bastard had done to her. He squeezed his eyes shut against the images in his brain. Scully leaned up on her elbow. "Do you? Tell me the truth, Mulder." Mulder opened his eyes and looked at her. "I saw him through the window, Scully. I saw him molesting you. That's when I wanted to kill him, but I accidentally made a noise and he came to the window, shooting at me. I don't know what else he did because I didn't see the report. I don't want to see it." Scully was silent for a long time. Mulder was terrified she was going to ask him what he saw; he didn't think he could tell her. He didn't think he could ever say the words out loud. Thankfully, she laid her head back on his chest and began tracing patterns on his stomach with her finger. As her hand dipped lower, Mulder moaned low in his throat. "I'm sorry I stopped us, Mulder," she said as she leaned up and kissed his mouth. "I'm all right now." She kissed him again, her bottom lip caressing his chin. "Are you sure?" Mulder held very still, afraid that if he moved he'd unleash his boiling desire for her and then would never be able to stop. She gazed into his eyes, her hand beneath the sheet giving him his answer. BMACI Richmond, VA One Week Later Daniel took a puff of his cigarette and stared at the wraith-like woman in front of him. She insisted that he call her simply "Lady", and he had long ago quit trying to pry her real name out of her. "What is it you're in here for, Lady?" He asked, knocking some ash into the foil tray on the table. She leaned toward him conspiratorially, and whispered, "Obsession, my dear man. Purely obsession." She winked at him and ran a hand through her long, dark hair. "Very soon I will leave this place," she said, eyeing him over her cup of milk. "Very soon." Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? How will you do it?" Lady smoothed the bodice of her white nightgown, the only piece of clothing she would wear. If they put anything else on her, like those dull two-piece suits, she would simply take it off and walk about nude. After awhile, they stopped trying and allowed her to wear her nightgown. She had been here quite awhile, much of the time dazed and confused. "Easily, Danny boy. I'll show you when the time comes. When will you be totally over your injuries?" Daniel coughed. He didn't like anyone referring to what had happened to him. "I have some surgery coming up that is going to make me better than ever. Once I recuperate from that, I'll be ready for anything." He winked at her, and Lady laughed; a long tinkling sound. "I think I like you, Danny boy. You don't bore me like the others. I just might like to keep you around." Virginia Beach, VA Same day Mulder and Scully walked hand and hand along the surf, barefoot; the cuffs of their pants rolled up. Suddenly, Mulder picked Scully up and swung her out over the water, grinning at her squeal. She wrapped her legs around him, causing him to teeter and almost fall. He staggered back and she let go, her feet coming to rest in the dry sand. "You would have deserved getting wet," she laughed. The beach was almost deserted at this hour of the morning. Scully squinted and looked out at the calm waters. She sighed, "I love it here, Mulder. Too bad we can't stay here forever." Mulder looked down at her, cupping her cheek in his hand. "I'd like that, too, Scully. You still have some time, but Skinner wants me back tomorrow to profile a case." Scully frowned. "I don't want to stay here without you. I'm better anyway, I don't need to." Mulder smiled. She was better, thank God. She'd stopped telling every stranger they met exactly what she was thinking. He had joked and told her he couldn't take her anywhere. Now she was acting more like she had before any of this had happened, with one important difference. She was no longer shutting him out. Mulder doubted if he had ever been this happy in his life. He pulled her to him, smashing her against his chest. She nuzzled him, burying herself inside his navy windbreaker, her arms encircling his lean waist. He smelled delicious. "Why don't you stay, Scully? And I'll join you again this weekend. We can have one last bit of vacation time together," he said into her hair. She looked up at him. "That's very tempting, Mulder. Very tempting." His lips came down on hers, causing a wave of desire to run through her. She simply could never get enough of this man. The Loony Bin Daniel traded six packs of cigarettes in order to be able to visit Lady's room that night. She was soft and pliable, and he was full of frustration because he no longer had the parts he needed. He made sure she was happy, though. Daniel had a feeling that she would come in handy. When he returned to his room, his friend the plastic surgeon was waiting for him. Daniel smiled and eagerly shook his hand. "I can't tell you how happy I am that you can help me, Stan," he told him. "It's my pleasure, Daniel. You know I owe you." He opened the book of brightly colored illustrations, and Daniel sat down on the bed beside him. "You won't believe what we've come up with in the last few years. I'm sure we will be able to outfit you to your approval." He laughed, "Hell, I wish I had a reason to need one of these babies!" He pointed to one rather large appendage. "This one's kind of pricey, but well worth it. Just look at that! You'll be the envy of all the men, old boy!" He nudged Daniel in the ribs. "The women will go crazy!" He stared at Daniel a moment. "Well," he cleared his throat, "that is, after these ridiculous charges against you are dropped." Daniel's eyes lit up as he looked at the picture. "Magnificent!" he whispered. After a preliminary checkup, the surgery was scheduled for the next day. Virginia Beach Scully watched Mulder packing his bags. She was frowning. "Mulder, I don't want you to go." She said. He turned and looked at her, slightly concerned. She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm just trying to be honest with you." She smiled and pulled him down onto the bed with her, pinning him with her body. "I want you to stay with me, Mulder." She began kissing his neck. Mulder squirmed. "Uh, Scully…I'm going to miss my flight…" "Good," Scully mumbled, unbuttoning his shirt and dragging her lips downward. "Scully…" Mulder cleared his throat, his hands coming up around her. "Scully, please…" Another few seconds and they were making out furiously with half their clothes off. Scully was as aggressive as he'd ever seen her, taking control and doing exactly as she pleased. Before he knew what was happening, she had him in her mouth, rolling him against her tongue and teasing him with her teeth. His moans grew louder and louder until he was crying out her name and yanking at her hair. When he'd finished, she raised up on her elbow and looked at him with a naughty smile. "Hurry back, Mulder." She told him. *** A good twenty minutes after that, a disheveled Mulder was running out of the beach house with half his clothes falling out of his suitcase. As he climbed into the taxi, he turned back and blew a kiss at Scully, who stood in the doorway smiling like the Cheshire cat. She waved. "See you this weekend, Mulder! Call me tonight!" She turned and closed the door. For two days, Scully rested and took long walks, missing Mulder the entire time. Gradually, her memory of her time with Daniel was coming back. Mostly she just remembered what had happened in her apartment before they left. He had drugged her again and undressed her on the bed. She remembered him talking to her and touching her. Scully shivered. She sat on the bed in the beach house, the sliding glass door open so she could hear the sound of the ocean. She'd been reading, but memories were pouring back and she had taken off her glasses and leaned back against the headboard, her eyes closed. The last crime scene that she and Mulder had been to stood out vividly in her mind. That woman that had looked a little like her, dead in the woods with her tongue cut out. Suddenly, she remembered Daniel telling her in the cabin that he'd cut a woman's tongue out and put it in a jar. Scully began to shiver. She looked at the clock. 11:20 PM. Mulder was certainly still up, if he was even home from work yet. Picking up the phone, she dialed his number. Relief spread through her as she heard his voice on the other end. "Fox," she said in a sultry voice that made him instantly hard, "it's me." "Scully…it's late! Why aren't you asleep?" Mulder shifted on his bed, rearranging himself in his pants. "I could ask the same of you," she said, examining her toenails. She picked up the clipper from the bedside table and began giving herself a pedicure. She immediately lost that feeling of panic that she had had before she'd heard his voice. She smiled. "Well, I was up thinking about a certain redhead." Mulder put his files aside. Scully snorted. "Wrong. You were working, of course." Her voice got soft. "I just wanted to say goodnight, Mulder." Mulder frowned. "Is something wrong, Scully?" "Just remembering a little. I feel better now that I hear your voice." She rolled her eyes at herself. Next she'd be asking if they could sleep their phones off the hook so they could hear each other breathing! She felt like a teenager. She straightened her shoulders. "How's the case?" "It's coming along. I think I've written a pretty good profile on the guy. I'm showing it to Skinner in two days. He's out of town right now." Scully shook a bottle of clear nail polish and opened it, dabbing a little on her big toe nail. "Well, I hope he doesn't fix it so you can't come this weekend. If that happens, I'm coming home." "That won't happen. I'll make sure of it." Scully sighed. "Okay, well, get some sleep, Mulder. Don't stay up all night going over and over that profile." Mulder rubbed his eyes. "Would I do that, Scully? Never mind. What about you? You sure you're okay?" "I'm…" "Fine." Mulder said at the same time she did. "I know, Scully. Goodnight…" "'Night." Scully hung up the phone. She blew on her toenails to make sure they were good and dry, and then got off the bed and stepped out onto the balcony and looked out at the dark ocean rolling into shore. The moon was full and hung low in the sky. She was turning to go back in when she heard a crackle in the gravel below her. She stiffened in fear. Scully stood motionless for long minutes, the sound of the surf pounding in her ears. Finally, she moved toward the door and slipped into the house, closing and locking it. She grabbed the wooden bar and wedged it between the door and its frame. She turned to the dresser and opened the drawer. Where was her gun? Her heart was pounding in her chest. Did she move her gun? She couldn't remember when she'd last seen it. She heard a noise downstairs and she pressed herself up against the wall, moving towards the open bedroom door. Flicking the wall switch, she turned out the overhead light. Her mind raced, trying to think what she could use as a weapon. There it was, the noise again. Scully made her way down the steps, one step at a time, her bare feet soundless on the carpet. She came around the banister and suddenly there he was looming ahead, his back to her. She kicked out her foot, knocking his knees in, then, stepping up to the second stair, she clasped her hands together and brought them down hard onto his neck, knocking him to the ground. She stood there, breathing hard, when the light came on. Scully squinted and saw a pretty blond woman standing in the doorway, her mouth gaping. "Walter!" she cried, rushing to the man on the floor and kneeling next to him. "What did you do to him?" She accused Scully. Scully looked, aghast, at her boss sprawled on the floor. He moaned. "Oh no, let me get some ice." She rushed to the kitchen and got a towel, filling it with ice cubes from the freezer. When she brought it back into the foyer, Skinner was sitting up, holding his head, which he had hit on the wooden floor near the doorway. There was a rather large lump rising in the left-hand corner. Scully winced in sympathy. "Oh, Sir…I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you! Why didn't you call out?" Skinner made a face and put the towel full of ice to his aching head. "I did! No one answered, and I thought you were out. KJ and I were just dropping by to see how you were doing and to pick up something I left here last month." Scully glanced at the woman, who looked like she wanted to kill her as she put a territorial hand on Skinner's shoulder. Scully had heard about Skinner's girlfriend, but had never seen her. She thought they made a cute couple. "I'm really sorry," she said again, and the woman's face softened. Skinner got to his feet. "I'm okay. Well, Agent Scully, you have proved yet again that you can take care of yourself. We'll be going as soon as I get those books..." "But where are you going, Sir?" Scully asked him. "Won't you stay here tonight? This is your house, after all!" Skinner was shaking his head. "Oh no, we didn't come by to stay here with you…." "Nonsense, Sir, you know very well there's plenty of room. Of course you're staying here." Scully ended up regretting that she'd pushed the matter with him as she lay in bed later that night listening to the sounds of their lovemaking through the wall. KJ sounded as if her toes were curling. Skinner must be very well endowed to elicit that kind of response, Scully mused. Just wait until she told Mulder! She groaned and sank down deeper beneath the covers. How she wished that he was here! She'd have him making sounds a lot more erotic than the ones that AD Skinner was making. Suddenly blushing, she covered her head with the pillow and tried to sleep. The next morning, Scully arose to find Skinner and KJ feeding each other toast at the kitchen table. When she appeared in the doorway, Skinner cleared his throat and sat up straight, wiping the smile, and the butter, off his face. "Good morning, Agent Scully. We were just having a bite before we leave. I need to be in DC by early afternoon." Scully nodded, pouring herself some orange juice and sipping at it to hide her smile. Then she remembered something. "Sir, I'd like to speak with you about some Bureau matters before you leave, if I may." "Of course, Agent," Skinner polished off the rest of his toast and wiped his hands on a napkin. "I'll be just a few minutes." Scully went back to her bedroom and went out onto the balcony. She saw KJ walking toward the surf, pausing now and then to pick up a shell and examine it. Skinner knocked lightly and entered her room. He saw Scully leaning on the railing, staring out at the ocean, and he paused to take in the way she looked. It was seldom that he saw her like this. Her head leaned back; she enjoyed the ocean breeze blowing through her hair. She wore jeans and a white T-shirt, her feet bare. He cleared his throat as he stepped onto the balcony so as not to startle her. He leaned his elbows on the railing next to her. He didn't know that Scully was sizing him up, also. Assistant Director Skinner was rarely seen by his agents dressed this casually. He wore a faded pair of jeans that fit him nicely in the derriere. She noticed for the first time that his thighs were well muscled. His short sleeve cotton shirt was unbuttoned at the neck, showing a nest of hair. He was quite a handsome man. He looked at her and she took a deep breath. "Sir, I would like to see the report on my kidnapping." Skinner frowned, and cast his eyes out toward the water, squinting in the morning sun. "Are you certain about that, Agent Scully? You have every right to see it, of course, but I want to warn you that it might be more upsetting than you realize. Perhaps in a few weeks…you're just now getting your physical strength back." "No, Sir. I don't want to wait. I would really like to see it." Skinner studied his hands for a moment. "I have it in my briefcase out in the car, Agent. I've been going over it before I turn in my own report. I suppose I can leave it with you until you come home on Monday." Scully gave him a smile and nodded. *** Scully waited until that afternoon to open the folder that contained the report. She had taken a long walk on the beach, eaten lunch, and then curled up on the sofa, a glass of wine beside her. she told herself. Putting her glasses on, she looked through the papers. It brought to mind the day six years ago that she had gone over the X file on her abduction, although it hadn't contained a lot of information and therefore wasn't quite as disturbing as this was. Much of the report was made up of the physical evidence found at the cabin and the conclusions drawn from it, along with Scully's examination by the doctor in the hospital. There was a statement from Mulder concerning the week leading to her kidnapping, and what had happened when he had reached the cabin. Scully took a deep breath and started reading. When she came to the part that Mulder had witnessed from outside the bedroom window, she flinched. No amount of detachment could desensitize her from what she was reading. She slammed the folder down, taking her glasses off and wiping her eyes. Why had she wanted to see this? She couldn't believe that she had let this monster into her life. She couldn't believe that Mulder had witnessed such a perverted scene and actually been able to look her in the eyes afterward! And then make love to her! She colored and covered her mouth with her hand, squeezing her eyes shut. To think of the people that she worked with everyday who had seen this report! She wanted to die. It was quite awhile before Scully got her emotions under control enough to pick the folder back up and finish reading. The amount of drugs that Daniel had put into her system was mind boggling. She was so lucky to have recovered. Although she still had a dizzy spell now and then, she was almost completely back to normal. Tacked to the back of the report was a profile on Daniel. Scully was not surprised to find that Mulder had not written it. He was far too close to be able to profile him with any objectivity, she knew. Evidently, Daniel had had a troubled adolescence, coupled with an overbearing mother. Scully already knew that his wife was the same way…a professional woman who liked to wear the pants in the family. Scully had always felt sorry for Daniel. He seemed so quiet and intellectual, and so utterly unhappy in his marriage. It was what had made her cross that line and have an affair with a married man. The Daniel that she knew was no where near this freakish monster that cut up women after brutally raping them. The profiler concluded that Daniel had never gotten over his infatuation with Scully, and when she had decided to leave medicine and break off her relationship with him, he was angry and upset, eventually transferring his heretofore squelched anger at his mother and his wife to her. Every woman that he had murdered in the past ten years had been an act against Scully. She shivered at the thought, then continued reading. A sentence near the end of the profile caught her eye, and she flipped back several pages to the initial report. A room in Daniel's townhouse in Pennsylvania, where he spent a few months out of the year, was devoted entirely to pictures of herself. Photographs that were taken over the past ten years without her knowledge. Photos of her leaving the FBI building, getting into her car, sitting in a restaurant, running, going to mass, and the most ghastly of all…pictures taken of her undressing in her apartment, evidently with a telephoto lens. Scully's blood ran cold as she realized that Daniel Waterston had been stalking her all these years, feeding his infatuation. She looked at the profile again. Evidence of what Daniel liked to do while looking at these pictures of her was found all over the room. Jumping off the couch, Scully threw the folder across the room. She stood with her arms wrapped around herself, feeling sick. After a moment, she ran to the bathroom and vomited. An hour later, Scully emerged from the tub, the scalding water now tepid, and dried herself with a towel. She brushed her teeth again and stood staring in the mirror. Haunted eyes in a thin, white face looked back at her. If she prided herself on anything, it was on being strong. She had been tricked by someone she had once cared a great deal for. She had been drugged and used. More than the physical abuse she had suffered, these were things that she would have a phenomenal time getting past. Scully knew she had to come to terms with what had happened before she could get on with her life, and there was only one way to do it. She would go and confront Daniel Waterston. The Next Morning Scully held the phone clenched tightly in her hand. She'd waited until the very last moment to do this. The phone kept ringing, and then the machine picked up. Scully sighed in relief. "Mulder, it's me. I won't be here all day today until late tonight. I didn't want you to be worried if you called. I'm fine and I'll talk to you later." She hung up, picked up her keys, and left. It took a few hours to drive to Richmond, and Scully used the time alone in the car to think about what she was doing. She knew it was the right thing, otherwise she would always be thinking about him and what he did to her. She'd wonder how she could have possibly had a relationship with this monster. How could she be such a poor judge of character? She thought about whether it would be better to wait until Mulder could go with her, but she immediately discarded that idea. She didn't want his anger and concern to cloud the moment for her. She had to face Daniel alone. It was early afternoon when she reached the institution. She had worn a power suit, which her mother had packed along with her casual clothing. Scully wondered what her mother thought she'd need it for on vacation, but she was very glad she'd packed it. She wanted to feel as though she was in charge when she talked to Daniel. She didn't want to feel like the victim. Flashing her FBI badge, it didn't take long for Scully to be admitted. No one was aware that she was the woman that Daniel Waterston had assaulted. She moved easily through the recreation room, her step purposeful. Then she saw him. He was sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette, talking to a thin, child-like woman in a white gown. Scully couldn't believe he was just sitting there enjoying himself. Why wasn't he in solitary confinement wearing a straight jacket? Her stomach clenched. Daniel had friends in high places. She willed her legs to move forward, and suddenly he looked up at her, something unreadable flashing in his eyes before a smile spread across his face. "Why, Dana! What a lovely surprise!" He rose off the couch, not without a bit of trouble. He winced and a look of anger crossed his face. It was gone so quickly, Scully wondered if she'd imagined it. She forced herself not to take a step back when he approached her. A guard that was obviously assigned to him stepped forward. "I'd like to speak with you away from all these people," Scully said. She glanced at the guard. "Could we go to a private room?" He nodded and led the way to the elevator. He stood between them as they ascended two floors, then he showed them to a door with a small, barred window at the top. "I'll be right outside this door, Ma'am. Be careful, he's a dangerous one." Scully nodded. When the door closed, she turned and looked at Daniel. He stood glaring at her. His eyes raked her body and she felt herself tremble. He smiled…he'd seen it. "What are you doing here, Dana? Have you missed me?" Scully squared her shoulders, her mouth forming a thin line. "Shut up. I came here because I wanted to look at you once more before you're put away for life. You've made a mistake, Daniel. If you weren't in enough trouble for the murders you've committed over the past ten years; kidnapping and assaulting a federal agent will do you in. I hope you get the death penalty." Daniel smiled. "Murders? Why, Dana, you know I couldn't hurt a fly! And as for you…you went willingly with me to my cabin. Assault you? We made love…you enjoyed it…." She slapped him, hard, across the face. He stood perfectly still, then said, "You'll regret that, Dana." Scully's eyes narrowed. "Are you threatening me?" "You'll beg me to kill you before I'm through," he said quietly. Scully stepped closer and spat in his face. Before she turned to leave she said, "You'll fry for this, Daniel. I don't know what happened to you to make you into the devil that you are, but I say Hell's too good for you." The guard opened the door and she walked through it and didn't stop until she was in the parking lot standing by her car. She was shaking horribly. Seeing him again had been much worse than she'd ever imagined. She felt sick. Standing there, her eyes were drawn inexplicably toward the windows high above her. Second to the left, she saw Daniel Waterston looking out at her. Calmly, he lifted his hand and blew her a kiss. She opened the car door, got in, and drove away without looking back. Scully stopped at a Shoney's restaurant when she was halfway to the beach. Exhausted both mentally and physically, she forced herself to eat a good meal. She knew she had been losing weight. Visions of Daniel standing over her with various devices swam in her head. She ordered a cup of coffee and drank it, hoping this feeling of lethargy would pass. After more than an hour, she used the restroom and continued the drive to the beach house. It was getting dark when she finally reached Virginia Beach. She was thankful that she had left a couple of lights on so she didn't have to walk into a dark house. She turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open, gasping when she saw him sitting there, his arms crossed and a definite frown on his face. "Mulder!" Mulder stood up and Scully could see how angry he was with her. "Scully, you went to see him, didn't you." She opened her mouth to deny it, but knew that it was useless. "Yes, Mulder, I went to see Daniel. How did you know?" Mulder stood looking at the floor, hands on his hips, lips pursed. His eyes met hers and they were hard. "Skinner told me you wanted to see the report. I couldn't believe he let you have it!" "Mulder, you can't protect me from this. I had to read it and know what he did. I had to." She looked away; remembering what Mulder had witnessed at the window of the cabin. "Why, so you could use it to put distance between us?" Scully stopped and swung around to look at him. "How can you say that?" "Well, that's what you're doing, Scully. You've put the walls up. You ran off without telling me where you were going, you're standing here barely looking at me…what am I supposed to think?" He was practically yelling and Scully could feel the anger rising in her own chest. "This is not about you, Mulder!" Her voice was raised and she stepped closer to him, almost toe to toe. "It's about me, and what I have to do to heal!" Mulder shook his head. "You're wrong, Scully. This is about us. It's always about us, because I love you and worry about you, and you can't change that. You should have told me and then I would have met you there." Scully clamped her mouth shut, clenching and unclenching her fists. Finally she said, "I didn't want you there, Mulder. Don't you get it? I needed to do this on my own!" Mulder crossed his arms on his chest. "What if something had happened to you?" "Nothing did." "But what if something had? You can't do everything on your own." "Oh, just like you can't? Right, Mulder. You ditch me every time you get the notion. It's happened more times than I can count." She stood staring at him, defiance in her eyes. Mulder began pacing agitatedly around the room. He swung around and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Scully, you just don't understand what this does to me! I was so worried about you when you called. I was afraid you'd gone to see that maniac, but I'd hoped you hadn't." "You didn't need to come, Mulder." Scully walked into the bedroom and took her shoes off. Mulder followed her. "I wanted to come, Scully. I needed to come to see that you were all right." He stood behind her; so close she could feel his breath on her neck. "I'm fine, Mulder." She heard him sigh. "You were supposed to see Skinner tomorrow and give him your profile." "I saw him today." His hands came up on her arms. He turned her around and looked down at her. "Scully, I love you." Tears welled up in her eyes. She tried to look away, but he put his hand on her face and made her look into his eyes. She could see the love there and it made her tremble. "Mulder, I have to deal with this. Please let me deal with it in my own way." Her voice was choked. He kissed a tear as it made its way down her face. "Just don't shut me out, Scully," he said into her hair. "I can't bear it." Back at the Loony Bin Lady watched Daniel's butt as he walked across the solarium. He was some fine specimen of manhood. Since his operation, he sported a very large bundle in his cotton slacks. She sighed. She couldn't wait until his soreness went away. He had promised her so much. She patted the chair beside her and Daniel eased himself down onto his special cushion. He sat kind of splayed out in the chair, so as not to hurt his unmentionables. Lady twisted her long hair around her index finger and eyed the man beside her. "I can tell you have a great mind," she told him. "I can just see the wheels working." He looked over at her, putting a finger beneath her chin and tilting it upward. "And you, my dear, are quite demure and lovely. That is what I like about you, Lady. You are everything your name suggests. A lady in every sense of the word. You don't go off trying to do a man's job, now do you?" Lady shook her head. "Of course not, Dannyboy. There is nothing better than being a true woman." "And you would do anything I suggested, wouldn't you, my sweet? Anything a great big man like myself wanted….am I right?" Lady looked him over, her soulful eyes hooded. Her lashes fluttered and she said in a husky voice, "When you are better, Dannyboy, I'll show you just that. Anything and everything you could possibly think of will be fine with me." She reached out and touched his chest. He smiled. "Wonderful." He leaned closer to her and said, "Soon you and I will leave this place together. We will make a wonderful team. Tell me, my Lady, what do you think of…" He whispered the rest in her ear. Her eyes lit up. "Why Dannyboy, you naughty thing, you!" She laughed breathlessly. "That sounds absolutely divine! We will have to discuss this in depth when we have more privacy. Running away with you sounds like an adventure!" Daniel smiled. "Oh, you'd better believe it, Lady. We'll do things you've never even heard of…once we reunite with my Dana. She is the perfect plaything, you'll see." Virginia Beach 3:30 AM Scully could see him in her mind's eye. Standing over her with that…thing. She tried to push him off of her, but the drugs were too strong. She couldn't lift her arms or cry out, yet she wasn't unconscious. She was fully aware of everything that he did to her. It was all coming back to her now. In her dreams he came to her and drugged her, touching her body and using his tools on her. She was helpless like she had been in the cabin. There was pain and there was pleasure. Scully felt dirty. She moaned and cried out, then arms were around her and suddenly her arms could move and she pushed him away, rolling off the bed. She crouched in the corner, ready to fight. "Get away from me, you son of a bitch!" She screamed, her vocal chords straining. "Scully, it's me…Mulder. Everything's okay, you had a bad dream." He stepped off the bed and toward her and Scully leaned back, bringing her foot up high, kicking him in the jaw, and sending him sprawling backward, over the bed and onto the floor on the other side. She was breathing hard as reality set in. She was in the bedroom of Skinner's beach house. It was dark, but she could see by the light of the moon through the sliding glass door. Mulder was here, because he came last night. They had gotten into an argument, then calmed down and settled on the bed together, talking quietly. Scully didn't remember falling asleep, but evidently she had, and dreamed a horrible dream that wasn't really a dream at all….but memories of her real life nightmare. "Mulder!" Scully scrambled over the bed and knelt there, looking down at him. He was flat on his back, holding his jaw with his hand. He stared up at her. "Mulder, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry." She reached down and helped him up, tears coming to her eyes. Mulder carefully flexed his jaw. "It's okay, Scully. You didn't break it." Scully let the tears flow down her cheeks as she reached up and examined Mulder's face. "Oh Mulder…all I could see was him. I'm so sorry." She leaned over and kissed his jaw gently, then rubbed her cheek against his. She kept saying over and over again how sorry she was, until he clasped her by the arms, shaking her a little. "Scully, stop. I'm fine, really." He wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay." She was sobbing now, holding onto him for dear life. "I hate him, Mulder. I hate him! He did things to me…things that hurt and things that didn't…" She choked up. She couldn't tell him. He stroked her head and tried to soothe her, speaking quietly. "I know, Scully. It's okay now. He'll be put away for life. He can't hurt you anymore." She sniffed a couple of times after the tears abated, and Mulder ventured to say, "Scully, I've been thinking…you really need some help with this. You really need to see a professional and talk it through. I want you to think about doing that." She was still for a while and then slowly nodded against his chest. Mulder sighed and leaned back onto the pillows, pulling her with him. He held her until she fell asleep, and even afterward, when he lay there for hours, consumed with hatred for Daniel Waterston. Mulder and Scully decided that it was best to pack up and go home the next day. They closed up the beach house and headed back to DC. Scully immediately made an appointment with the Bureau psychiatrist so that she could begin working out her feelings about what had happened to her. With mountains of paperwork to do, the two agents spent a lot of the next week in their office. At work, there were no problems between them, but when Mulder tried to initiate an off-time relationship, Scully had to try very hard not to let the walls build up around her. It was impossible for her to resume their physical relationship because of the memories that kept flooding her mind. Everyday there were new ones. Since she had read the contents of the folder, Mulder had not tried again to make love to her again. Instead he had given her some space, but managed to keep the intimacy alive between them. He went out of his way to hold her hand and kiss her occasionally, unwilling that she forget how far they had come. However, Scully could not ignore the memories that would not leave her alone, but she could not talk of them with Mulder. That left little else for the two of them to say. Scully was consumed with her personal demons, and Mulder was shut out because of her shame and embarrassment. Two weeks passed by, and Mulder felt he had made absolutely no headway with Scully. In fact, he felt they had gone backward in their relationship. Scully seemed to find ways of avoiding seeing him out of the office, and rather than being helped by her visits to the psychiatrist, she seemed to have folded more into herself. He went to see Dr. Baviers, the Bureau psychiatrist that dealt specifically with crimes of a sexual nature, and flat out asked her why Scully wasn't getting better. The older woman stared at the handsome young agent for a moment and then sighed. "Agent Mulder, you know I can't discuss Dana's case with you." "I'm her partner." He stated, as if that said it all. "I realize that, and that you are worried about her. I assure you that Dana is making some progress in dealing with her situation. But what Dana and I have to say is confidential. I know that you two have a deeper relationship, and I do not think that Dana would appreciate me talking about this with you." Mulder left feeling angry and deflated. AD Skinner stopped him in the hall. "Agent Mulder, may I see you for a moment?" "Yes, sir." Mulder followed his boss to his office. When Skinner had closed the door, he turned to Mulder and said, "Agent Mulder, I am a little worried about Agent Scully." "That makes two of us," Mulder murmured. Skinner sighed, taking his seat behind his desk. "Mulder, Scully came to me this morning and volunteered for a very dangerous assignment. She wants to help in a drug sting going down this weekend." Mulder whipped his head around; "You didn't okay it, did you?" "Agent Mulder, what choice do I have? Scully is an excellent agent, she isn't currently working on an X File, and her psychiatrist has assured me that, although she is still working out her feelings, she is ready for work." "I can find something for her to work on, and that psychiatrist is full of shit! Scully is not ready to put her life on the line. She is definitely not herself lately." Skinner tapped his gold pen on the desk. "I have not seen any behavior from Agent Scully that would give me grounds to agree with you. Mulder, what ever is going on between the two of you in private has nothing to do with the decisions I make here. I have assigned Agent Scully to the sting. However, I am, as I said before, a bit worried that she is throwing herself into dangerous situations due to her feelings of…I don't know." Skinner rubbed the back of his neck. "Her feelings of shame, perhaps? You know that she read that report, and she knows that there are a few of us that know the grisly details of her kidnapping, and who saw the photographs that Waterston had taken of her. Perhaps she wants to prove herself? She is a woman in a man's field, and she has always done her best not to let any of us down. She has succeeded in that admirably. Now she may feel that we look down on her. I discussed this will Dr. Baviers, and she agrees, but it is normal behavior, and Scully has her right to it. I just wanted to let you know, Mulder, because sometimes you can be a little…obtuse." Mulder frowned. "Obtuse, sir?" Skinner's eyes were kind. "Agent Mulder, Scully does need you. You just may not realize fully in what way she needs you." Mulder studied the flag behind Skinner's desk, his feelings fighting with the fact that he knew his boss was correct on all accounts. Finally he simply thanked him for the information and left his office. Boatwright Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane Daniel stood naked in front of the full-length mirror. It wasn't a glass mirror because the patients there might use it to commit suicide. It was a plastic mirror. Still, Daniel got a pretty good image from it, and he liked what he saw. His friend the plastic surgeon had done a wonderful job. He looked splendid…much better than he ever had before. Daniel smiled. And now he was no longer a freak of nature with one too many down below. He was so well equipped; he could be a porn star. A plan was beginning to formulate in Daniel's mind. With a little help from this friend of his, he could change his entire appearance. He smiled. Dana would never recognize him. Things were looking up. Chesapeake Bay Saturday 10:00pm Fifteen FBI agents, including Assistant Director Skinner, crouched behind various crates and other large objects that afforded them some cover. They were dressed all in black, with standard FBI jackets and regulation bulletproof vests underneath. Scully was one of two women on this assignment, and she held one of the closest positions to the door of the warehouse behind which half a dozen well-known drug dealers were closing a deal. Skinner gave a signal and they stormed the door in groups of two, while another horde of agents came in from the back. Gunfire immediately broke out, causing pandemonium. Scully ducked behind an over-turned table and fired at one of the drug lords as he backed into another room, his machine gun blazing. She hit him, and he toppled backward, dropping the gun. She could see that two of the dealers had been shot, two were in custody, and the other two were firing at the agents. She winced as Agent Grant went down, trying to estimate his injuries from where she knelt behind the table. Evidently these men were shooting cop killers. As soon as she could, she scrambled over to him, immediately applying pressure to the wound in his chest. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Skinner tackle one of the two men as he was about to fire on another agent. That left one man, and as Scully concentrated on stanching the warm blood that was still spilling over her fingers, she saw the shadow cast from behind her, heard the shot, and felt the bullet rip through her all in the same instant. A split second later, she heard the cry of the gunman as Agent Cassidy killed him. Scully fell forward onto Agent Grant, who was unconscious, and was acutely aware of the pain slicing through her chest. Still she kept her fingers pressed to the other agent's wound. She briefly wondered if she was dying as silence filled the room. "Agent Scully!" She heard panic in Skinner's voice and the last thing she thought before everything went black was that she wanted to say goodbye to Mulder before she died. Scully felt something jostling her and it hurt. She wanted to tell whoever was doing it to stop. Mulder would make it stop. She tried to say his name, but could only move her mouth a little bit. She felt as though she was sinking into blackness. As a doctor, she knew she should fight it, and she tried. She could hear sirens. Something pricked her arm. People were talking to her, and the sound of their voices echoed in her mind. Scully knew she must be bad off when she heard Skinner use her first name. He was calling out to her, almost begging her to speak. It had something to do with the heart monitor…it was slowing down. Was she dying? Is this the way it felt to die? She tried hard to open her eyes. She had to tell him so he could tell Mulder. It took an impossible amount of effort to force her lids open. Her vision was blurring. "Her eyes are opening," she heard Skinner bark. "Sir," she said. She didn't recognize her own voice. "It's okay, Dana. Don't talk if you're tired. I just wanted to see those baby blues open." Relief washed over Skinner's face. "God, you scared us, Agent Scully. I think I've peed my pants," he smiled down at her. His face was blurring before her eyes and she didn't have the heart to tell him that she wasn't out of the woods by any means. Pain coursed through her chest and she winced. She tried to reach out to him and he caught her hand and held it. She swallowed. "Agent…Agent Grant?" "He should be fine. You saved his life." "Sir, please tell Mulder for me…" "You can tell him yourself, Agent." "No, I don't think so." She knew she had been shot in the left side of her chest. It must be very close to her heart. Scully didn't think they had stopped the bleeding. She could feel her life fluid draining away. She was reminded of the bullet she took in the stomach, only that had hurt a hell of a lot more. She felt that same receding feeling. "Tell him…I'm sorry," Scully murmured. Her eyes were rolling into the back of her head. She felt Skinner squeeze her hand hard. "He doesn't want your apologies, dammit, he wants you ! Scully, you're a fighter, now start fighting!" "Tell him that I love him," Scully whispered. She received another shot in the arm and she felt an oxygen mask wrapped around her face. "That'll help with the pain, Dana," someone said. Whatever it was made her feel light- headed. It made her think of all the drugs that Daniel had given her and she moaned her protest. It had already happened, though, and it did help the pain. She was floating away. Skinner kept calling her name, but she kept floating. Jefferson Memorial Hospital Virginia The look on Skinner's face stopped him in his tracks and he felt physically ill. Waves of dizziness traveled up to his head, and Skinner rushed to grab his arm and lead him to a chair. He firmly pushed Mulder's head between his legs. When he could breathe again, he lifted his head and looked at his boss. His voice was hoarse. "She's dead, isn't she." Skinner squeezed his arm. "No, no. She's still alive. Things just don't look good, Mulder." The assistant director's eyes looked wet and Mulder felt as if he was going to lose his last meal on the spot. He stood up. "What do you mean, things don't look good? Scully's a fighter…she'll be okay. Where is she? I have got to see her." Skinner got to his feet. "She's still in surgery, Mulder. I know she's a fighter. I reminded her of that in the ambulance. She was doing her best to talk. I know it was a struggle, but she wanted me to tell you something." "What?" Mulder stood looking at his boss, the taste of bile in his mouth. Skinner looked at him, then away. "She said, "Tell Mulder I'm sorry," then "Tell him I love him.'" Mulder made a noise that sounded partly like a sob and partly like a groan and walked away. He went toward the large window in the waiting room that looked out over the Potomac River. For long minutes he stood there, his shoulders jerking. Skinner walked back to the doors of the operating room, asking a nurse for a report. When he returned, Mulder had pulled himself together. His eyes were rimmed in red and his hands shook, but there were no more tears. "She's made it through the surgery, Mulder. That's a good sign. She's lost a lot of blood, however. Time will tell." Mulder nodded. "Tell me exactly what happened." Skinner sat down and gestured to Mulder to do the same. "We swarmed the place. Some of them had machine guns, which we hadn't been aware of. Of course, we had some of our own…We took them down fairly quickly; two are in custody. I know Scully took one of them out. Agent Grant was shot and Scully came out of cover to help him. That's when the guy swung around and shot her. They had cop-killers in their guns. Went right through the vests." He looked at his agent sitting there so still and white. "He's dead, Mulder. The fucker that shot her is dead. Agent Cassidy killed him." Mulder nodded. That saved him from having to do it. When Mulder was finally able to see Scully, he stood in the doorway a long time before he could make his limbs move. She looked awful. Worse than when she had cancer, and even worse than when she was shot in the stomach. Perhaps it was the awful pasty-white of her skin, or the blueness of her lips that scared him so. He finally moved forward and gently took her fingers in his hand. She felt cold, and Mulder had to bite his lip to keep the sob from escaping. A noise behind him caused him to turn around, and he saw Scully's mother standing there by the door. How the woman withstood all the pain in her life, he couldn't imagine. She stepped toward him, wrapping her arm around his waist, and didn't say anything. They both just stared down at Scully's still form. After a moment, Mulder sat in the chair that was beside the bed, and before he knew it, he was sobbing in her arms. Somewhere, Someplace Daniel lay in Lady's arms, their bodies satiated by their fervent lovemaking. Daniel was smiling broadly because his testosterone injections had worked and he was better than ever. He was so good, in fact, that Lady had passed out. Twice. He had had to slap her around a little to revive her, but the second time he had just left her alone. It was easier this way. He pulled his arm out from under her, and her head lolled back on the pillow. Reaching over for the phone, he pulled it onto the bed. Bless these cheap hotels! They always had an old push button phone with a long cord. He raised up and looked down at Lady. She was a good girl…she had served a purpose. She had gotten him out of that God-forsaken mental institution…but he couldn't keep her around. It just wasn't in his plan. He needed to be alone with Dana. He needed to prove his love to her, and then to punish her. As he wrapped the cord around her neck and began to pull, he thought about the meeting he had with his friend tomorrow. Since he had done such a wonderful job on his private area, he knew he would do an even better job on his face. Daniel sang a happy little song as he yanked on the cord and squeezed the life out of Lady. When she was good and dead, he leaned over and kissed her tenderly on her blue lips. "Goodbye, my Lady. Thanks for the help." Jefferson Memorial Hospital 12 midnight, Friday Maggie Scully walked over to where Fox Mulder was slumped in a chair. He had been at the hospital for two days straight. She sat down beside him, passing him a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee. "Drink this, Fox. Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" Mulder grasped the cup, took a sip, and put it down on the table. Mrs. Scully sighed. "Fox, you need to go home and rest," she put her hand up when he started to protest. "I promise I'll call you if there's any change. I've arranged to sleep in Dana's room tonight." She pressed her lips together and looked down in her lap. "But we are going to have to get some normalcy in our lives now. Dana hasn't been conscious since the surgery, and that is not a good sign." Mulder rolled his body sideways in the chair, curling up on himself. He leaned his head against the wall, shutting his eyes. The muscles in his jaw worked. Maggie Scully continued talking. "She's in a coma. We won't give up on her, but we have to start eating and sleeping again, or we won't do Dana any good." She put a hand on his knee. "I'm worried about you. Please go home for awhile." Mulder had not said a word, and he sat another moment in silence. Finally, he rose from the chair. "Call me on my cell phone if anything happens," he croaked, his voice hoarse. She nodded, and he left the hospital. Rather than going home, he went to the nearest bar and ordered a shot of Tequila. Meanwhile AD Skinner's apartment The sound of her moans engulfed him in a flame of passion. He threw his head back and shuddered, then attached his lips to her right nipple, suckling and nipping. His lips seared a path of fire down her flesh. She cried out her pet name for him and he chuckled, stopping to nibble on her thigh. KJ drug her nails into his shoulders as she arched in ecstasy, Skinner's mouth doing incredible things to her lower anatomy, when a loud knock resounded on the door. Skinner ignored it the first time, but when it repeated even louder, he growled and grabbed his bathrobe. KJ clutched the covers to her chest and wondered who could be visiting Skinner at three in the morning. Skinner looked through the peephole, groaned, and unlatched the door. "Agent Mulder!" He barked. "What the hell are you doing here?" Mulder stumbled past him and fell onto the floor. He rolled over and looked up at him, blinking stupidly. Skinner sighed. "You're drunk. I can't believe this. Well, I'll get my pants on and take you home." Mulder rolled back over and threw up on Skinner's foot. "Shit!" Skinner lifted his foot up and let out a string of curses only an ex-marine would know. KJ appeared in the doorway, the sheet wrapped around her. "Oh, poor man. He's really upset about his partner, isn't he?" "You could say that," Skinner said between clenched teeth, wiping his foot off with a dishtowel. "KJ, I'm going to take him home." "Oh no, Walter. He needs a friend. I'll get dressed and go home." She disappeared into the bedroom again. "Thanks, pal." Skinner muttered to the now unconscious Mulder. *** When Mulder came to the next morning, he felt as if a freight train had run over his head. Moaning, he rolled over and fell off of Skinner's couch. "Shit!" Opening his eyes, he looked around, trying to figure out where the hell he was. His eyes came to rest on AD Skinner who sat across the room drinking a cup of coffee and watching him. "Why am I here?" Mulder managed to croak out. "You came here last night drunk off your ass, Mulder. I can only hope you didn't drive." Mulder sat up on the floor and held his head in his hands. "Taxi," he muttered. Skinner sighed. "You are going to have to get a hold of yourself, Agent Mulder. I don't want to see anymore of this. You aren't helping her this way." Mulder tried to nod but it hurt too much. He settled for burying his head in his arms and rocking back and forth. Skinner got up and got some aspirin out of the cabinet, shaking a few into his palm. He poured Mulder some coffee and took them over to him. The phone rang, and Skinner picked it up off the table. "Hello." Mulder took the aspirin, then gingerly drank a little coffee. He moaned at the pain in his head. It didn't help matters that Skinner was shouting. He lifted his head. Why was Skinner shouting? Hanging the phone up, Skinner turned to Mulder, his face ghastly white. Mulder stiffened. "She's gone! Someone's taken Scully from the hospital. Her mother was found unconscious in her room and there is no sign of Agent Scully." He had gone to his townhouse in Pennsylvania and gotten what he needed from his basement. He knew he had to hurry because they would know he was gone by daylight and they'd sound the alarm. He drove back to Virginia in a terrific mood. Things were going his way, and this time he wouldn't fail. It would be simple to go into the hospital and take her. After all, he was a doctor and he fit right in. He would procure a stretcher and load Dana onto it, easily wheeling her downstairs and then stuffing her into the laundry cart. She would not be guarded because no one knew he was free. It was elementary, really. And it all worked out just as he had planned. Dana's mother had been the only crimp in his strategy, and he had easily taken care of her with a blow to the head. He chuckled as he drove away; Dana safely tucked into the trunk. Let the games begin. +++ Mrs. Scully was wild when they arrived at the hospital. Sobbing, she clung to Mulder, who wrapped his arms around her. "He's taken my baby! It was him, I saw him!" She wailed, burying her face in his shirt. The place was swarming with federal agents and Skinner was royally chewing someone out on the phone about Waterston's escape. It wasn't long after that that the news reached them about the crazy girl who escaped with him being found at a motel not far away, strangled by the phone cord. By the time Skinner hung up the phone, he was gritting his teeth and his face was beet red. +++ The sun was rising when they boarded the small, private plane. Daniel thanked his friend and took the address that he extended to him. "After this, my debt is paid," he told him. Daniel nodded. He pocketed the address and turned to look at the stretcher and the nurse sitting beside it. "You're sure she is trustworthy?" He asked the plastic surgeon. "Yes. And the man that will do your face…perfectly trustworthy. He will meet you at the airport." Another glance at Daniel and then at the woman unconscious on the stretcher. "Goodbye." Daniel climbed up and into a seat near Scully. He looked over at her, then at the nurse. "What is your name?" He asked her. "Kate," she said. "Kate," Daniel rolled it off his tongue, his mind going briefly to his full package and how he would like to empty it. "Well, Kate, as you can see, my wife is very ill. She is recovering, and I am a doctor. But I will need your help in taking care of her." He looked at his lap and then back into her eyes. "And I will need you to take care of me, too, until my darling Dana is well again." Kate nodded, knowing full well what his words implied. The prospect excited her. It was 13 hours before they landed. Daniel was prepared with a vehicle and a place to reside due to one of the many people who owed him favors. He had always been a believer in doing for people, because you never knew when you'd need to cash in on it. Kate helped him settle Scully into their new residence, and he spent all that night stroking her arm and telling her how their new life was just beginning. He certainly hoped that she would come out of this coma, or all his trouble would be for nothing. Kate saw him as a distraught husband, but was not so stupid as to not realize that he was wanted by the law. It didn't matter to her. She had been on the wrong side of the law since she was a teen. The man recommended by Daniel's friend visited the old house one night a week after they were settled in. Daniel left Scully ensconced in comfort in her room upstairs. She lay peacefully on the canopy bed, surrounded by the medical supplies that she required. Daniel entered the study of the old house and sized up the dark, bearded man in front of him. Franz Lipshitz had an underground reputation for redoing criminals' faces. He smiled at the man after shaking his hand. "I hear you can do wonders, Dr. Lipshitz," he said to him, settling down in the big leather chair. "Yes, I am the best. I have heard things about you, also. That you have the newest prosthesis on the market." The man spoke with a heavy accent. Daniel found it alluring. "Actually," Daniel bragged, "It's not even on the market yet." The doctor ran his fingers through his beard. "Excuse me for asking, but may I…have a look?" Daniel was more than happy to show his manhood off. He stood and struck several poses for the doctor, who was suitably awed. "And it…works?" He asked, amazed. "Oh, I assure you, it does." Daniel stuffed himself back in his pants and then took a picture out of his wallet, handing it to Dr. Lipshitz. "I want to look as much like this man as I possibly can. I realize I am a bit older, and stockier…can you do it?" "I can make you reasonably resemble him…Enough to be his brother." Lipshitz studied the picture. "We can begin the surgeries tomorrow." "Splendid," Daniel said. He poured Lipshitz a brandy and put his arm around him, smiling when the man leaned into him a little. What a wonderful thing it was to be irresistible. Mulder sat in Skinner's officer, hands gripped tightly on the arms of the chair. Skinner hung up the phone and looked over at him. "No luck," he spoke in a clipped voice. The fine lines around his eyes were deepening. Neither he nor Agent Mulder had gotten much sleep this past week. Every lead to Daniel Waterston's whereabouts came to a dead end. Where could he have taken Scully? To his credit, Mulder had pulled himself together and was spending every moment he had trying to track Daniel down. Skinner knew that it was much harder for Mulder to sit and do nothing, as he had had to do when Scully lay in a coma in the hospital. Now that he could take some action, he wasn't about to go off and get drunk. "They've checked every residence he owned. There were signs that he may have gone to his townhouse in Pennsylvania and taken some things out of the basement. His daughter said that he had a lot of medical supplies stored down there that are missing." At the tight look on Mulder's face, Skinner continued. "Mulder, he's a doctor…I'm sure he intends on getting her well again, or he wouldn't have taken the supplies. He's not going to kill her." The word "yet" hung between them. Mulder met his eyes. His look was so tortured that Skinner had to look away. Tapping his pencil on his desk, he picked the phone up again. "This is AD Skinner. I want every friend, coworker, or acquaintance of Daniel Waterston questioned within the next 24 hours. Well, dig deeper!" He practically yelled, his face flushed. He slammed the phone down. Mulder stood and began pacing the floor. "Someone's helping him," he finally said, coming to a stop in front of Skinner's desk. The older man nodded. "We'll find out who…and then we'll have him." ### During the month of surgeries, Daniel took comfort in Kate's arms. She was an insatiable lover, and he enjoyed her very much. She was one tough cookie; able to withstand anything he dished out. He felt he had finally met his match…it was too bad he would have to kill her when Dana was healed. One night two months after the last surgery, as they were enjoying themselves in the shower with Kate giggling and telling him how much she liked his new face, she stiffened as she heard a noise. Daniel pulled her back to him and kissed her roughly. "Wait," she pushed his chest away, which angered him. How dare she! Just as he raised his hand to hit her, he heard it, too. He was out of the shower in a flash, naked and dripping, rushing to Dana's room. Her eyes were open as she lay on the bed moaning. He took her hand. "Dana…Dana, can you hear me?" She looked up into the somehow familiar face. He squeezed her hand, getting on his knees beside the bed. "Tell me you can hear me." Dana looked at him and opened her mouth, which felt dry. Kate appeared in the doorway, a robe pulled hastily around her form. "Get her some water!" he barked, and she retreated to the kitchen. In a moment, she came back with a glass. "Hurry, dammit! Give me that, you stupid slut!" He pulled the glass away from her, spilling most of it, and, gently lifting Dana's head with one hand, he lifted the water to her lips. Things were fuzzy in her mind. Where was she? Who was this man? After he placed her head back on the pillow, she asked quietly, "Who are you?" Daniel smiled. "You don't remember?" She shook her head. "I don't know you, I don't think…" "I'm your husband, my sweet. Don't you remember that?" She squinted at the man. He looked terribly familiar. "I am your husband, and we are doctors. You remember don't you, Dana-love?" "Is your name…Mulder?" Daniel grimaced, but that was part of the plan. He hated that son of a bitch, but he had to do this. "Yes, that's our last name." "Fox?" Dana knew it was an odd name, but she said it anyway. "No!" Daniel said a little too loudly. "No, that is my brother. He is nothing but trouble…Dana, I don't want to upset you now, but that man if very dangerous. My name is…Dick. Dick Mulder. Rest now, my darling." He tucked the covers around her chin and kissed her. He smiled, happy that she didn't remember. It was what he had hoped for, and the reason he had been giving her certain drugs during her comatose state. If she had awakened remembering, he would have had to kill her. He would have had fun doing it, but he it wouldn't have lasted. This way he could have her forever. Or until he was ready to punish her for the things she'd said to him. Quietly shutting her door, he went down the hall to Kate's room, where he had his way with her again and again. ** Dana began sitting up in bed the next day and as she ate and slept more, she became healthier. Daniel had an enjoyable time sitting with her and making up lies about their life together. He told her they'd been married for twelve years. They were desperately trying to have a baby, and Scully had an insatiable hunger for his body. He vividly described some of the things she enjoyed doing to him, as Scully sat there blushing, mouth dropping open. In the midst of all this, he added some truths…such as things they had really done when they dated years ago. He then began to tell her about his brother Fox, who had developed a serious crush on her that had turned into an obsession. He had tried to rape her, and he stalked her for months. Finally, they'd had to move here to Italy when Fox had pulled a gun on Daniel. Daniel took the picture of him out of his wallet and showed it to Scully. She studied it for a long time, and Daniel was afraid for a moment that she would remember. He didn't want to have to kill her so soon. The fun was only beginning! Scully did not remember, however. She'd just shivered and handed the photo back to Daniel. He smiled at her and patted her head, getting up from the bed. He tucked her in, and then went to find Kate. He had some chains in the basement he wanted to try out on her. She was always very accommodating. He would let her live a little while longer…just until Dana was well enough to meet his needs. +++ When Scully felt a little stronger, she began taking walks around the garden. Occasionally, her husband would join her. She wished desperately that she could remember their life together. She began to question him more, hoping her memories would surface. "Um…Dick…" she began one day on one of these jaunts. Daniel squeezed her arm. "Don't forget what I told you, Dana-love…" Ah, yes. Dick had a playmate growing up…a boy also called Dick that was much smaller than he. His nickname from that relationship had stuck. "Oh, yes, of course…" she amended. "Big Dick…" "Yes?" Daniel said throatily, a broad smile on his face. "Um, well, I was wondering…what exactly happened to me. What made me ill?" Daniel sighed heavily. "Oh, Dana….are you certain you're ready to hear this?" Dana nodded, stopping and putting her hands on his arms. "Please tell me, Big Dick. I can handle it." Daniel bit his lip, looking to the heavens for help with this task, and then back at Scully. "It was my wretched brother, Fox. He ….shot you, Dana." Scully gasped. "But…I thought he was obsessed with me!" "Well, yes. The bullet was meant for me, but it got you. And I'm afraid, my dear, that he won't give up looking for us. He and his bald friend…They're both insane." He put his arm around her. "We have to be very afraid." Scully shivered. How awful to live under the shadow of this horrible Fox person. "He must be stopped, Dick…" Daniel cleared his throat. "Big Dick," Scully corrected herself. It was a little strange that he liked the nickname he'd had since childhood, but if it pleased him… Suddenly, Kate, the nurse that had been taking care of her, called them in to eat lunch. "Kate will be leaving us soon," Daniel said into her ear as they headed toward the door. "It will be just the two of us again." Mulder held Dr. Lipshitz by the collar and threw him into the wall. "Tell me where he is, you bastard!" He pointed his gun in the direction of his privates. "I'll do to you what I did to him! Don't think I won't, you son of a bitch! You have aided a dangerous criminal and no one's going to complain when I take you down!" Lipshitz went white. "I-I…" Mulder came forward and pressed the gun to his crotch. "I'll give you the address!" Lipshitz squeaked. Mulder motioned to the door with his gun. "You'll come with me and show me," he ordered and Lipshitz scampered out the door ahead of him. +++ Scully stood staring out the window. She had been strong for a week now, yet Dick wouldn't let her out of the house. She had begun to suspect that he was giving her some kind of drug, too. She didn't feel as clear-headed as she should, and she felt the need to sleep often. Why would he do this? His temper was such that she had not gotten up the nerve to ask him about it. A week ago she had awakened from sleep when she thought she heard a stifled cry, then something being dragged down the hallway. She had gotten out of bed to look, but found that her door was locked from the outside. The next morning she had found that the nurse Kate was gone. Dick had told her that he'd dismissed her because they no longer needed her services. Fear crept up the back of her neck and Scully found herself questioning her husband in her mind. If only she could remember! The name Mulder was so familiar to her, and it brought her such a feeling of well being. Her husband must be someone that she could trust! It was his brother that chilled her blood. The man was after them, Dick had told her. Then, a few nights later, she had awakened from a nightmare sweating and crying out. Dick had rushed into the room and held her as she related the awful dream of being sexually tortured. He had stiffened and then quietly told her how his brother Fox had done that to her before she was shot. That is what he'd been doing when Dick had arrived and confronted him. Fox had drawn his gun to shoot his brother, but had hit Scully instead. At that point, he had run and the police hadn't found him. Dick lived in fear of seeing his face at their door. His voice shaking, he told Dana that that was why he locked her in her room every night. He had been trying to protect her. Scully used this opportunity to broach the subject of the dragging noise she'd heard that night a week ago. "I was merely taking out the trash, Dana-love," he'd said with honesty in his eyes. Touched by this, Dana had held him and asked him to stay with her that night. Dick had studied her face for awhile. "You don't know how much I want to, Dana. But you aren't strong enough to take me on yet." Then he had given her a glimpse of his arousal and she had retreated back into the pillows. The man had to be a freak of nature! Now Dana stood looking out the window and wondering. She felt something very evil was near. An hour later, Dick came charging down the steps. He grabbed Dana by the hand and began tugging her to the back of the house. "What is it? What's the matter?" She asked him as she watched him unbolt the backdoor. "It's him! I got a phone call warning me he's coming," he pushed her outside and they ran to the driveway. He opened the door of the car for Dana and pushed her in, then ran around to the other side. Dana felt needles of fear pricking up her torso. As Dick sped away, she turned around and looked back at the house just as a rental car came over the hill and pulled into the driveway. She let out the breath she'd been holding, but gasped it back as soon as she saw the car stop and pull out again. He'd spotted them! "Dick, hurry! He's coming after us!" Dick began cursing and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. Dana grabbed the sides of her seat. "Where are we going?" she asked him. "To the airport…I have a plane waiting. He won't catch us, Dana-love. Don't worry. And if he does get close…" he opened his jacket so she could see the heavy gun he had strapped to his side. Dana looked at it and wondered why it was that she knew exactly how to use it. She turned in her seat as the rental car crept closer. Dick swerved into the other lane. Dana got a glimpse of the driver as he pulled up along side them. Her blood ran cold at the sight of Fox Mulder pointing a gun in their direction. There was another man in the passenger side of the car, and someone in the back. Fox was gesturing for her to get down in the seat. She realized he wanted a clear shot at her husband. "Is he crazy? Does he really think I'll let him shoot you?" She asked, frowning. "Yes…he's thoroughly insane, and he thinks you are in love with him." Dick floored the car and they shot forward. Dick took the next exit and careened down a turn immediately to their left. He ran up on the grass near the airport and barked at Dana to hurry and get out of the car. They sprinted toward the building, losing themselves in the crowd. Mulder let out a string of cuss words as he stopped the car and unbuckled his seat belt. While relieved that Scully was all right, he didn't understand why she wouldn't duck down when he'd told her to and given him a clear shot at Daniel. He said as much to Skinner as they left their car with Dr. Lipshitz inside, and went running toward the airport. "I don't know," Skinner said, "but evidently someone at Lipshitz's warned him after we left." The two men raced into the building, splitting up once inside the doors and combing the area. Mulder kept his eyes open for Scully's telltale red hair in the midst of the throng of people. Skinner joined him after a few minutes of futile searching. "Look!" Mulder called to him seconds later. He was pointing out the large glass window. Daniel and Scully were running across the pavement toward a small private plane. "Shit!" Skinner grumbled, taking off for the nearest door, with Mulder at his heels. He was a fast runner and caught up with them quickly. "Stop, or I'll shoot!" Skinner yelled, taking a stance a few yards away from the couple. "Scully, get out of the way!" Dana stood firmly in front of her husband, unaware that Fox Mulder was sneaking up from the side. He stood covered by the several small aircraft parked near the plane they were to embark. The engines were starting as the pilot was signaled by Daniel. "Give it up, Waterston! We have you!" Skinner cried out over the loud buzzing of the engine directly behind Daniel. He saw that the man had pulled a gun and had it aimed at Scully, who was oblivious that he was reaching for her with the intent to take her hostage. Skinner didn't know why she wouldn't move, but he could see Mulder coming forward from his hiding place behind the other plane. Just as Daniel's arm was about to wrap around Dana's neck, Mulder plowed into him and sent him reeling back. Skinner gasped as Daniel lost his balance and fell backwards. As if in slow motion, Mulder fell forward, bracing his hands on the pavement, then his knees went down and his head up as he watched Daniel fall backward into the engine of the plane. His scream was squelched as the blades chopped him to smitherines. Mulder shut his eyes, and turned his head as blood splattered everywhere. Before the two men knew what was happening, Scully had taken off running in the opposite direction. "What the hell…" Skinner took off running after her, rounding the building and searching the area. She was no where in sight. All of a sudden a terrible pain shot through the back of his head and he collapsed to his knees and into darkness. Scully had grabbed Dick's gun, and now she stuffed it into her jeans after hitting the bald man with it and jumped down off the concrete slab. Casting a look in the direction of Dick's brother, she saw he had gotten up and was running this way. She took off sprinting again, heading for the woods to the side of the runway. She ran as fast as she could, zig zagging through the trees and crawling through the densest underbrush by way of shortcut, as she had been trained to do. she asked herself? She didn't know what that meant; she just knew how to do it. She heard the man not far behind her, and she tried to pick up speed. The road was ahead, and when Dana reached it, she began waving her arms in the air frantically. A pickup truck was slowing down. She looked toward the woods. The man was slowing to a stop several yards from her, his tie flung over his shoulder and his chest heaving just as hers was from the run. He spread his palms out in a gesture that caused Dana's heart to momentarily skip a beat. "Scully?" he said. The pickup truck was stopping. She grasped the handle to the door as the young man inside unlocked it for her. Her eyes were still on Fox Mulder, and the gun was still clutched in her other hand. He took a tentative step forward. "Scully…why? Why are you running from me?" Her voice trembled a little as she gave the door a tug. "You killed Big Dick!" She flung the words at him, got into the truck, and it sped off, leaving Mulder in a cloud of dust. "Big Dick?" He whispered to the empty road. Mulder jogged back to the airport and came to a stop next to AD Skinner, who was sitting with his head in his hands. "Sir?" He knelt down next to him. "She cold cocked me, Mulder," he groaned. "Where is she?" Skinner sounded as if he wanted to tell Scully off, but good. "She ran off…she got to the road and paused before getting into a truck she waved down." "Why?" Skinner asked, squinting into the sun. "I killed Big Dick." Skinner made that face that Mulder knew so well…his lip curled up and he looked like he was barely containing himself. "Big Dick, Agent Mulder?" Mulder shrugged. "I guess she meant Waterston," he really hated to admit that. "From what I've heard, he has had some surgery since you blew his genitals to hell," Skinner rubbed his neck and took the hand Mulder offered him, pulling himself off the ground with a groan. "Maybe he's impressive…" "So she just had to share it with me as she jumped into the getaway car? He's so fucking impressive that she stopped calling him by his name and now only refers to him as 'Big Dick'?!" Skinner shrugged, and then winced. "Something's up, Mulder. Something is very wrong here. The question is, how are we going to find her now?" "I got the plate number off the truck," Mulder pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "I'll have it traced." A few minutes later, he had the number of the owner of the truck and was dialing it. Skinner leaned against the wall and waited. When Mulder hung up, he said, "She had him drop her twenty miles down the road. A little town called Tali. My Italian is kind of rusty, but I think he said she went across the street to a hotel. I'm going to go there and find her, sir. I'll call you when I do, but first I'm going to drop you off at the hospital…you don't look so good." Skinner didn't argue, and when they reached the car, they weren't too surprised to find Lipshitz gone. "We'll worry about him later," Skinner said. An hour later, Mulder entered the tiny town of Tali and began looking for motels that might have attracted Scully. He didn't know how much money she had on her or if she'd be naïve enough to check into one under her real name. Under normal circumstances, he knew she wouldn't, but she wasn't acting normal. As it turned out, there were only two hotels to choose from. He questioned the front desk of the first one with his limited Italian, but came up empty. The second hotel clerk knew English and remembered the petite redhead. "Not Dana Scully," she frowned, looking at the register. "Dana Mulder." Mulder sucked in his breath and stared at her. "O'kay…" She gave him her room number, and he circled the building, then climbed the stairs, searching until he was standing just outside her door. Before he knocked, something was bothering him and he had to check it out. Mulder backed up and turned the corner a moment, pulling out his cell phone. He dialed Skinner. When his superior answered, he asked, "Are you doing all right, sir?" "Slight concussion," Skinner grunted. "You find her?" "Yes, but I haven't spoken with her yet. Sir, you saw Waterston's face, didn't you?" "Not clearly. He was behind Dana, why?" "Well, I only got a glimpse of him, but something was different. I am wondering if he had some surgery done to his face." "Sounds probable, Agent Mulder." Mulder nodded. Things were starting to come together. "I'll call you back." Scully peeked through the crack in the heavy hotel curtains. Dick's brother was talking on his cell phone. She clutched the gun in her hand, prepared to use it if she had to. She silently prayed that the police would get there soon. Finally, he knocked on the door. "Scully?" Why did he keep calling her that? "Scully, it's me…Mulder. I don't know what's wrong, but please let me help you." "Nothing's wrong…go away. I know who you are and the police will be here any minute." She shouted through the wood. "Scully…let me in!" His voice was pleading. She felt a shiver run up her spine. She wanted to let him in when she heard his voice, but she knew what he was. He would probably rape and kill her. She let out a sigh when she heard sirens in the distance. She waited until she heard footsteps outside and then tried to see out the curtain. Fox Mulder was out there talking to the policemen…showing them something in his hand. Why weren't they arresting him? They were leaving! Dana rushed toward the door, unlocked it and yanked it open. "Wait!" she yelled, and that moment was all he needed. Rushing toward her, Mulder knocked her inside, slamming the door behind him. When she dropped her gun, he grabbed it. She sat on the floor looking up at him, chest heaving. Mulder could see there was real fear in her eyes. "I'm sorry I had to hurt you, Scully," he said, offering her a hand up. She scuttled away from him and climbed to her feet by the bed. She inched toward the corner. "Y-you stay away from me!" she breathed. "I don't know what you said to the police to make them leave, but if you're going to rape me, you'll have to kill me first!" She looked like she wanted to rip him in half. Mulder was astonished at her words. "Scully, I would never hurt you…you know that!" She gave a derisive laugh. "Sure, like you didn't shoot me before." Mulder shook his head and took a step toward her. "I didn't shoot you, Scully. You were shot in a drug raid." Scully licked her lips, studying the man in front of her. His words made no sense. "Why do you call me that? Scully." "That's your name…Dana Scully." She shook her head. "Dana Mulder." "I'm Mulder. Fox Mulder." "I know that!" She snapped. "I'm married to your brother…don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" Mulder walked toward her, rounding the bed, and Scully scampered over it, placing it between them. "Stay away from me!" She glanced behind her and then made a run for the door, but he was too fast. He gripped her arm and pulled her close to him. She struggled, trying to knee him in the groin, but he sidestepped her. "Scully, I am your partner in the FBI…I don't know what that madman has done to you, but you are scaring the shit out of me!" His voice was low and needy in her ear. She could feel his warm breath on her face. She turned and looked up at him. "You killed my husband…your own brother!" Mulder made a face. "I killed Daniel Waterston…the man who brutally killed a score of women and who raped you!" Scully's mouth dropped open. "Dick…his name was Big Dick…" Mulder laughed sharply, "Yeah right…in his dreams." They stood looking at each other for a time and Scully felt his grip on her arm loosen. She didn't move. Suddenly things didn't seem so clear to her. "Scully…we have been partners for seven years. He's been drugging you…when you were shot on that drug raid and lying in the hospital bed, he came and took you. I've gone mad looking for you these past two months." His voice cracked. She continued looking at him; this handsome man standing before her with honest eyes. "But Dick…he looked like you. He's your brother…" "I don't have a brother, Scully! Just a sister, Samantha." That name prodded something in Scully's memory and she fought to catch hold of it. Mulder moved his hands up her arms to her shoulders, holding onto her and shaking her a little. "Scully, please, please…you've got to remember." He pulled her to him, and she didn't fight. She let him hold her as he trembled, and slowly she moved her arms up and around his waist. His heart was beating wildly under her ear, and she suddenly felt as if she belonged there with him. She closed her eyes and let the wave of places and people wash over her as he stroked her hair. "I'm glad he's dead. I'm glad, Scully! He did terrible things to you." Mulder was babbling through his tears and Scully felt her eyes overflowing. She tightened her grip on his waist as the tears squeezed through her lashes and ran down her cheeks. "I wanted to kill him then, but I couldn't and then he heard me and came after me. Scully, tell me he didn't hurt you again." Scully opened her eyes and lifted her head, looking into his eyes. She shook her head, her lip trembling. "He didn't. He didn't do anything…but he said you were bad. That you were after us and wanted to rape me and kill him." Anger darkened Mulder's face. "He changed his looks so he'd resemble me. He had this planned out. He wanted to punish you because you are strong. I'd never hurt you, Scully, never!" "I know," she whispered, and as she gazed up at him, he lowered his head and his lips covered hers, drawing her closer into his warm embrace. Her hands slid up under his coat and she clung to him, knowing all at once that he was her partner, her friend, and her lover. She deepened the kiss and then trailed her mouth along his cheek and into his neck. "Mulder, it's you…" she breathed, and then felt his body shaking with sobs. She pulled her hands up and grasped his face between them, searching his eyes. "I remember…don't cry." He nodded his head and pulled her to him even closer. "I'm just so relieved, Scully," he said into her hair. She held him for a moment and then whispered, "I love you, Mulder." She forced him to look at her. Her gaze was intense. "I love you, Mulder. No one but you would search to the ends of the earth for me. No one could bring me back to reality as you have. No one could stir these feelings within me…no one but you." She took his mouth with hers again, and it was a hungry kiss, promising that there would be no more walls between them. Her hands tangled in his dark hair and pulled his face closer, and he responded with fire and emotion combined. She pushed him back until the backs of his knees touched the bed and he fell backward, her body toppling over him. With each tender kiss she tried to relay her powerful feelings for him, but in case they weren't getting through, she whispered them in his ear. He rejoined with groans of longing and broken declarations of his love for her. Quickly pulling each other's clothes off, they made love with an urgency and need that left them totally spent, both physically and emotionally. Breathing hard, they wrapped themselves around one another and lay in the darkening room, the only sounds their slowing breathing. When they felt rested enough, they began again at a slower pace. A sharp sound startled them and Mulder reached down to where his jacket lay on the floor and pulled his cell phone out of the pocket. "Mulder," he said hoarsely. Skinner's voice barked on the other end, "Mulder? Is Scully all right? You said you'd call me back." Mulder glanced over at Scully, her beautiful naked body flushed and sweaty. "She's fine, sir. We're fine. Everything is fine…just fine." There was a quirk of a smile on Skinner's lips as he growled, "What are you trying to say, Agent Mulder?" Mulder let out a shaky laugh as Scully traced her fingers over the contours of his ass. "I'll see you in the morning, sir. We'll be at the hospital first thing." "And you're…fine," Skinner prompted. "Yes, sir." Mulder hung up and hugged Scully to him, kissing her head. She smiled, kissed him, and then they got back down to business. END 1 1