By xenascully
xenasculee@gmail.com
 

Rated: NC 17
Category: MSR Angst Colonization (sort of)
 
 
 
 
March 14

"Scully," Mulder shook Scully by the shoulder, "Scully, wake up,"
She felt a hand nudging her shoulder and slowly started to open her eyes, "Mulder?" she said, sleepily.
"I need you to get up and get dressed," he said.
"What's going on? Are you okay?" she sat up.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But I need you're help with something," She looked over at the clock.
"Mulder, it's 3am,"
"I know. I'm sorry. But it can't wait,"
"Is she coming?" a voice came from the door.
"Yeah, just hang on a second," Mulder told him.
"Who's that, Mulder? What's going on?" she jumped out of bed feeling uncomfortable by the unknown person standing outside her bedroom door.
"His name is Goldman. He's been investigating a case in Clinton, Missouri for about a week now and has some evidence that I think you should look at,"
"Evidence? Who does he work for?"
"All I know is that he would be killed if they knew he was working with us,"
 
1 hour later

"This is one of the bodies from containment," Goldman told Scully as she took in the sight of the deceased human body that lay before her on the autopsy table.
"How did this man die?" she asked.
"I don't have knowledge of that exactly. All I know this far is that something's gone terribly wrong. My superiors have been testing vaccines,"
"Vaccines?" Mulder asked, "That's what did this to him?"
"No. The vaccine is supposed to stop this. They know what's doing this. But they're not certain how it's being done. They weren't prepared,"
"Wait a minute," she stopped him, "Did you come here on your own, or did someone send you here so we can do their work for them?"
"I'm here on my own, Agent Scully," he said, "I have family in Missouri. If something happens to them..."
"Is it spreading?" she asked.
"It could. As far as we know, this isn't a contagion that can be released in the air. This...stuff on the body," he pointed at the green substance that covered the abdominal area, "Dies minutes after being released,"
"But what is it being released from?" Mulder asked. The man remained silent and shook his head. Scully looked at the body again and snapped on her gloves. She began an examination, taking some samples of the substance.
"Scully," Mulder said. She looked up at him, "Look at his eyes," She did, "The way they almost seem...burned," she examined them closer. After a moment she realized what he was hinting at and looked up at him again.
"Do you think?" she asked him, slightly amazed at the discovery.
"So this vaccine," Mulder said to Goldman, "Is it, in any way, extraterrestrial in origin?"
"Like I said before, Agent Mulder, I believe they're trying to prevent whatever it is that's happening,"
"So whatever did this... is it what I think it is?" Mulder asked. The man was silent again.
Their flight to Harrisonville gave Scully some time to catch up on the sleep she had missed. So when they arrived at the car rental booth, she was wide awake. Mulder went to get their bags and met her out front at the car. He threw the bags in the back seat and climbed in the passenger seat, "Wanna go get lunch before we find a hotel? I'm starving,"
"Yeah, me too," she said and put the car in drive.

"Fast food is always better when you're starving," Mulder said as he scarfed down his burger.
"I still prefer a nice salad. I'm glad they have them here now," she began eating. They had decided to go through the drive through and eat in the car, "So what do you think about this?" she asked after she swallowed a forkful of lettuce.
"If they're trying to prevent whatever is happening, it must be pretty bad," he said, "What did you find out about the samples?"
"It's pretty disgusting," she said, "The substance contained mostly what we thought it was; the same stuff we found on the Bounty Hunter's victims. But what I didn't expect to find was semen," Mulder choked on his burger for a second before swallowing.
"What?"
"That stuff that was all over him was ejaculated. I found some on his hand too,"
"So he died masturbating. How pleasant," he said, glad to have already finished his burger.
March 15
 

Mulder heard a knocking at the connecting door or their hotel rooms. He answered it.
"Mulder," she walked past him and into his room, "You know why this place seems so familiar? I can't believe I didn't remember it right away. We were right outside of Clinton in January,"
"Yeah, Scully. You don't remember that?"
"Well, yeah I do now. I remember being sick as a dog,"
"Yeah, you had a fever the night we got there and we left the next day after you got a flu shot,"
"I felt better after that, though,"
"Lucky you,"
"Right, you were sick for the plane ride home,"
"I'm glad I got the shot when you did, or I would've gotten the worst of it," They were silent for a moment.
"So what are we doing today?"
"I was just looking up some articles on your laptop. Nothing strange really has happened around here in the last couple of months,"
"Should we drive into Clinton?"
"Guess it's all we can do now. Goldman gave me a name of one of the victims. Maybe we can track down his family or someone he knew,"

"I searched the victim's name in our database and came up with an address," Scully said as they had just entered Clinton, "It looks like this is the road we're supposed to be on,"
"He lived on Aldridge Road?" Mulder asked.
"Yeah, 377 Aldridge. Why?" Mulder gestured with his head. Scully looked as he pulled the car over.
"377," Mulder said. They got out of the car. The house they stood in front of was badly burned and practically fallen apart. Yellow police tape surrounded the yard. Scully glanced at Mulder, "Let's go next door and see if anyone knows what happened,"
Scully followed closely behind them as they made their way to the neighbor's house. He rang the doorbell. A stout old woman answered the door, "Who are you?" she asked.
"We're with the FBI," Mulder flashed his badge, "I'm Agent Mulder. This is my partner, Agent Scully. We'd like to ask you a few questions about what happened to the Jenkins' house next to you,"
"There's nothing to say about it," she replied, "They already investigated the fire. It was a gas leak. The place pretty much blew up. I'm just glad it didn't touch my house," she said, "Poor Doug. He was a nice guy,"
"You knew Doug Jenkins?" Scully asked.
"Yes, of course. He lived next to me for 5 years. Never hurt a fly. But he always stayed to himself. Had a woman over now and then, but nothing serious. Yeah, he was in the house when the explosion happened. The firemen said he must have lit a cigarette or something. Never saw him smoke though,"
"So they found his body in the house?"
"Of course. Where else would they have found him?" she said, a bit annoyed that they were still there.
"Okay, maam. Sorry to take up your time," The woman looked at her watch.
"Oh gracious! You nearly made me miss my show!" she slammed the door.
"Any of this seem a bit familiar, Scully?" Mulder said to her as they walked back to the car, "The mysterious fires covering up the real reason for the victim's death. It's quite annoying,"
"Well, it certainly does ruin any chance of moving forward so far,"
"What a waste of a drive,"
"I suppose checking out the local fire department wouldn't do much good?"
"Probably not. The only role they played was finding the body and witnessing that he was killed in the fire. No need to stir up the locals just yet,"
"Then we'll be heading back to the hotel?"
"Maybe something will fall in our laps, Scully. Maybe we should get a hotel here in Clinton,"
"The only hotel in Clinton is the only hotel I don't ever want to see the inside of again,"
"Oh yeah," he laughed, "I guess I don't blame you. Well, it's not that bad of a drive anyway,"
They ordered a pizza. It was lunchtime and going out just didn't seem worth it. Scully sat on her bed typing away on her laptop and Mulder sat in a chair flipping through channels on the TV.
"There's nothing on, Scully. I'm gonna go insane," there was a knock at the door, "That must be the pizza. I got it," he said and went to open the door. Only it wasn't the pizza delivery guy, "Goldman," he greeted him and let him step inside.
"I have new information for you," he said handing Mulder a folder. Scully closed her laptop and joined them, "I can't stay. I'm expected back at the site in less than an hour,"
"Okay," Mulder said, "Thanks," he let himself out. Mulder opened the folder, "It's a list of names. Probably the victims," he handed Scully the paper and looked at the next one, "These look like doctor's chart sheets," he said and handed them to Scully.
"They're dated back in January," she said, flipping through each of the papers, "Is this everything?"
"Yeah," he set the empty folder jacket down.
"These are all shot records. Each of these people...the same people on the list of victims...oh my god, Mulder, they all received flu shots in January,"
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it was some kind of...I don't know..."
"Do you think the flu shots weren't really flu shots at all? That they were some kind of experimental vaccine?"
"Well, Goldman said that they were trying to prevent this,"
"Or maybe they were conducting the procedures for them. And it didn't go quite as they had planned. Something went wrong,"
"But we don't even know what they were trying to do,"
"Scully, I know this sounds a little bizarre, but hear me out. All the victims are male, right?" She nodded, "But the charts show females as well," She tried to follow him, "I think that, in light of where this stuff was coming out of, that what they were attempting was reproduction,"
"What?"
"Reproduction, Scully. It's the most civilized form of colonization. But they didn't take into consideration the complexity of it. Something went wrong and it didn't work,"
"Mulder, even if what you were saying was true, there's no way we would be able to know whether or not it's worked,"
"If they're trying to stop it..."
"They're trying to cover their tracks, Mulder. Goldman said this stuff dies a few moments after hitting the air. If they were giving something to these women, it must be something that....Mulder if you're right about this then the only thing that prevents this stuff from killing its host is whatever has been given to these women. Possibly...during intercourse...her secretions,"
"Which would explain why there are no female victims,"
"Mulder, this is completely unbelievable," he was silent as he let her think it through, "If they were just trying to cover their tracks...they wouldn't be trying to find a vaccine. That wouldn't allow any chance for the experiment to work,"
"Exactly. So we know it isn't working. Whatever they've tried to do, won't happen. Now they have to clean up their mess," They were silent again.
"So what can we do?" she asked.
"The only thing we can do is take this list and get whatever information we can from the families,"
"Do you really think that will do any good?"
"I don't know. No. It won't. We don't have to save the day today, Scully. But if we can gather enough information about it, we might get a head start for the next time they try. It's more than likely they'll try to fix whatever mistake they made and test it out again,"
"Okay," she said, "But there's...one tiny thing we haven't thought about,"
"What's that?"
"We...received those shots, Mulder,"
"I'm pretty sure I would've noticed...that. I mean if I had been infected," Mulder said, "Maybe they were giving some people a placebo-or simply real flu shots. You got sick, remember? Maybe there was a list of specified people to get this stuff,"
"There would be a mark...like an X beside some people's names. Or an A or B with each patient. There's nothing like that on here. And the fact that I became sick just as well may have been because I actually contracted the flu,"
"So, what the hell does this mean?" she sighed and dropped the papers on the end of the bed and brushed her hair back out of her face, "I think I just need a nice, hot shower and a good night's sleep to think about all of this,"
"A shower sounds good," Mulder said, "Sleep...I don't know. Something tells me I'll have a lot on my mind,"

The steamy shower was turning out less relaxing then planned. Thoughts were running through Scully's head to be analyzed and regardless of her inner most efforts, they couldn't be stopped.

Mulder, on the other hand, however worried, was for the most part enjoying his shower. He had suddenly thought of Scully...being in the shower right on the other side of the wall. He leaned the side of his body against the wall as if he would be able to hear her, and closed his eyes. He pictured the water falling on her--and was for some reason reminded of their first case together; they were standing in the cemetery when it started to rain and he saw her truly laugh for the first time. And then suddenly she was standing in front of him, taking her robe off and exposing herself in a bra and panties. But it never stayed in his mind as a sexual thing. It was more of a tender moment, when she needed his comfort. How he longed for her to come to him again for that.
But for some reason, his mind carried him back to the present. And in this moment he realized he had become aroused in his thoughts. In his sudden realization, flashes of imagined images of Scully in the shower were flooding into his mind making him impossibly hard. And in that moment, he was struck with fear. His eyes shot open and he threw on the cold water.
Scully left her shower in a state of shock. Something strange had just happened to her. Something she should tell Mulder, but didn't know how to without complete embarrassment to herself. She weighed the consequences of not telling him against her embarrassment. Her embarrassment would be far less a punishment. Mulder hated when she held something back that would be crucial to a case. And that only happened if it was something about herself. She couldn't do it again this time. When Mulder was disappointed in her, it was the worst feeling in the world for her to have. She had to tell him.
She dried off as best as she could and threw on the tee-shirt that was sticking out of her suitcase, and grabbed the hotel-provided bathrobe that hung on the adjoining doors. She tied it tightly and knocked on the door.
"Uh, come in," Mulder said from the other side. She let herself in. Mulder was facing away from her. She noticed he too had just gotten out of the shower. He was wearing flannel boxer bed pants and his hair was still dripping onto his bare back, "Thought you were going to bed, Scully?"
"Yeah, I was," she said and stood there, completely blank minded of why she had come into the room. In her silence, Mulder turned around to face her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Uh..." she breathed. Then it came back to her and her face flushed, "I have to tell you something," she said.
"What is it? Are you feeling okay? You look like you don't feel well," he came over to her and led her to sit on the edge of the bed.
"I'm fine. I just...I think something is happening to me. And I think it has to do with that shot," she picked up the papers, "Everyone on this list is a married couple. Everyone except you and I and Doug,"
"Okay..."
"Well, it's kind of hard to believe that Doug only needed to 'relieve' himself just recently and not at all before that since the shots were given,"
"Well, maybe he had a girlfriend till recently,"
"No, remember the lady next-door said he rarely had a girl over,"
"So, what are you saying,"
"I think this thing...this stuff they put in us...needed time to mature. I think it's only just recently begun to move itself to where it needed to be in order to...ya know....do its thing. It would explain why you haven't seen--well, evidence...of being infected yourself as well,"
"Okay, but for some reason I get the feeling that there's more you need to tell me,"
"Yes. But only because I feel that not telling you could late be detrimental to the case. But this doesn't need to be put in a report, okay?" Mulder nodded to her, "Something happened...when I was in the shower," Mulder absentmindedly stood from the bed and walked slowly away a little. Mention of the shower would not help him one bit. But trying to pull his mind away from it was proving pointless, and Scully had paused from her confession at the moment. He couldn't stop it. It was almost as if the faintest sexual thought set him off to the point that he had no choice but to run for a cold shower. He heard a sound come from Scully and turned just his head to see her. She had her head down and her eyes closed and her hands in fists in her lap. He went to her and knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his.
"Scully, what's wrong? Are you in pain?" her eyes opened as she acknowledged him and he saw...a look he'd never seen from her before. Her eyes were dilated...face flushed. Her breathing was off, and she closed her eyes just before looking away, "Oh," he said simply. He knew now. He also knew he should probably walk away and get into the shower now. But he stayed there holding her hands and breathing...and thinking, "You're reacting, Scully," he said. She looked up at him.
"At first I thought it was something like a timer going off. Like a remote control to whatever is inside of us. But it doesn't make sense. It stopped,"
"No, Scully, I think this stuff reacts to--"
"To what?"
"Um...I think that when the male becomes...aroused...this stuff sends some kind of...I don't know...like a signal. A signal to the stuff they put in the female,"
"Wait, Mulder, what are you basing this information on?" Mulder bit his cheek.
"Do you really want me to show you?" he said sarcastically. Scully looked down at his evidence. Her eyes shot quickly back to his and she swallowed.
"Okay, Mulder, but what about when it happened in the shower?"
"You mean probably right before my cold shower?"
"Oh,"
"I think it's just a matter of proximity to one another. A fail safe for the male. If the male doesn't have a mate, he..."
"He dies..."
"This isn't good is it?" Mulder said.
"Maybe we aren't infected...I mean, maybe it's just in our heads?"
"Do you really think that, Scully? Is this normal what's happening to you?"
"No," she closed her eyes.
"Maybe I can take a cold shower again," he started to stand but she held his hands firmly.
"How long is that gonna last, Mulder?" she asked. Her gaze intensified on his and it overwhelmed his senses. And as quickly as it had overwhelmed him, Scully could feel the reaction boiling inside her and her breath rushed out, eyes too heavy to hold open, and she instinctively hid her face. With every expression he watched, he grew more aroused, and it was killing them both to just sit there.
"Scully, I can't...do this anymore...let me go,"
"No," she held his hands and put her face in front of his. They now realized how erratic each other’s breathing had become. She wanted to kiss him...she wanted to start something...
"Scully, you don't have to do this... I want you... but you... you're judgment isn't clear... because of this...I can't let you..." She kissed him then. There was nothing else she wanted more right then. Mulder melted into her and immediately kissed her open mouth.
As wondrous as it all was, he forced himself to pull away, "Scully...you don't have to do this,"
"I want to..." she said breathlessly, opening her robe and stripping off her tee-shirt. He could argue no longer. She pulled him down on top of her as she fell back on the bed. He kissed her again as she pressed her hips against him to feel his need. He groaned and his kisses dropped to her neck, "Please, Mulder..." she breathlessly cried, "I can't wait any more..."
He, too felt the urgency to get moving. He pulled his pants down enough to free himself and guided himself to her wet entrance. They both let out a complying groan as he completely entered her.
The rest of it was completely animalistic... Mulder pumping into her like it was his job, and Scully taking it all without complaint. Their release was simultaneous, and so was their passing out...
Scully wanted to open her eyes, but she couldn't. She couldn't move anything. She started to panic...wanted to open her mouth to yell for help, but she could barely even feel her lips. She tried to concentrate... tried to think about what was going on... nothing made sense. So she lay there, waiting for something... perhaps waiting to wake up from what was feeling like some kind of dream...
Scully awoke with a start. Her stomach was turning circles and waves of nausea were overwhelming her. She opened her eyes but saw nothing but blurs. She attempted to get out of bed, falling to the floor at first, but too much in need to get to the bathroom to be embarrassed at herself. *This isn't right,* she thought, *the bathroom was right here...* she could barely make out the wall in front of her. This wasn't her room... She bumped into a trashcan just in time to vomit into it. Her head was spinning... the nausea had passed, and she was starting to seethings, but the room was spinning...getting dark...
"Mulder..." she could barely speak. Her breath was leaving her, "Mulder..."she tried again and headed for the adjoining door. She opened it and fell in, dropping to the floor, and blacked out...
When she came to, she opened her eyes, not knowing where she was...why she was on the floor. But she gathered from the smell coming from the trashcan that she had thrown up. *Was I drinking?* she asked herself. She pushed herself up off of the floor and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Mid brushing, she noticed in the mirror that her robe wasn't tied and she was wearing nothing underneath. *Oh what the hell was I doing last night?* she tried to think. She rinsed and spit and sat down on the toilet to pee, when she felt an odd pinch-like pain near her hipbone on either side. She ignored it at first, but when she stood up, it pinched again. She pulled her robe open to inspect herself in the mirror. What she saw was unexplainable to her. On both sides, right above where her hipbone pointed visible through her skin, was a dime sized purple bruise. She pressed down on one of them with two of her fingers and the pain that it caused made her almost double over. But the worst of it came with a flooding of unseen memories of a time long ago...

...She was laying on her back...she couldn't move... she was completely helpless... the sound of a drill came from above her and she watched, unable to help herself, as it came down upon her...
 
When her mind left the memory, she realized she hadn't been breathing... she gasped loudly and began to breathe again. She looked at herself in the mirror, wide-eyed. She didn't know what to do... she couldn't think.
She ran out of the bathroom and threw open her suitcase in search of something she could quickly throw on... some sleep pants and a tee-shirt would do. She threw the robe back on and went to Mulder's room.
Mulder was lying eerily in the bed. His eyes were half open and he wasn't moving. The sight frightened her. She sat down next to his torso and touched her hand to his cheek, "Mulder..." she said softly.
 
She saw his Adam’s apple bob a few times as he tried to swallow, "Can you hear me?" His eyes opened all the way.
"Scully..." he strained, "I heard you... tried to help you... couldn't move..."
"I'm okay, Mulder," Mulder sat up, holding his head, "Does your head hurt?"
"Yes... Very much," his eyes were clenched shut as well as his teeth.
"Okay, don't clench, Mulder. It's just gonna hurt worse. Do you wanna lay back down?"
"No... no. Wait," he said, slowly opening his eyes, "I think it stopped,"
"Are you sure?" Scully asked, brushing his hair from is forehead, inspecting for anything unusual.
"Yeah, I think so," he took a deep breath, "What's going on, Scully? What the hell did we do last night?"
"I don't know. I don't remember," her eyes skittered from side to side as she thought, "Last memory I have is driving back from Clinton... putting the key in the door,"
"I remember Goldman gave us some papers last night. We had ordered a pizza. I don't think we ever got the damn thing either,"
"Where are the papers?" Scully asked.
"I... I don't know. I don't see them,"
"What were they? Do you remember that?"
"Doctor chart papers..." he said, as though each thing he was just remembering in that moment, "The victims... flu vaccine list. Oh yeah. You said...you thought the stuff had been injected into unknowing patients who had gone in for a flu shot. And that we...we got the same shots,"
"I don't remember any of that," she looked as though she'd cry, "Were we drinking last night, Mulder?"
"Scully, I don't see any empty bottles. I really don't think we would have done anything like that anyway. Do you think we were drugged? That someone came in here for the papers?"
"I don't think they would've done that for some papers..."
"You said something... about the people on the list..." Mulder pinched the top of his nose, trying to think, "They were all couples...except the three of us...Doug, you and I. Something about how-- I said something about a failsafe. It was a failsafe. You came into my room-- I think you were sick. I don't remember anything after that," he said.
Just then, Scully noticed something along his hairline nearest to his brow. She brushed the hair from it and looked more closely, "What is it?" he asked.
"Looks like an injection site. It's still a little red. This was given to you recently, Mulder. Like within the past day,"
"I don't remember anything like that,"
"Either do I," she said. Then he brushed her hair out of the way and looked at her hairline.
"You have one too, Scully,"
"What the hell is going on, Mulder?"
"I--"
"There's something else," she stood and opened her robe and pulled the rim of her pants down far enough for him to see the marks she had found earlier. He immediately went to his knees to examine more closely.
"What--" he went to touch them and she flinched away.
"I'm sorry," she said, "They hurt," Mulder stood.
"We need to figure out what the hell went on here,"
"I need to look you over a little more, Mulder. If there are more marks on us, maybe there would be something to point us in the right direction of what exactly was done,"
"And for what purpose," he added.
Mulder was shifting in his seat. He was uncomfortable... achy in a bad way.. in a bad place. Scully was examining his back, "I don't see anything," she said.
"I'm gonna use the bathroom," he said, "Be right back," he walked coolly to the bathroom and pulled down his pants to examine himself. Sure enough there was a mark... *Just what I've always wanted to show Scully; my left nut sack,* he said sarcastically to himself. He sighed.
Scully was sitting on the bed when he came out of the bathroom.
"I've got shitty news, Scully," she raised her eyebrows, "I have a mark,"
"Where, Mulder? Let me take a look at it,"
"Uhh, actually, it's in a... special place. Not too sure either one of us would feel comfortable--"
"What does it look like? Does it look like mine?"
"No. It's more of a line. And there's an injection site too-- I almost didn't see that,"
"How big is the line?"
"I don't know. Maybe half an inch long,"
"Vertical?"
"Yeah. What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure, Mulder. We should get it looked at,"
"Do we have to?"
"It's me or the town physician,"
"The town physician put this shit in us, Scully,"
"Then it's me?" she said. Mulder seemed embarrassed, "Mulder, I'm completely comfortable with this if you can manage. It's not like I've never seen you naked,"
"What!? When did you see me naked?"
"Well, there was the incident where you were brought in with an extreme case of hypothermia..."
"Oh," there was a silence, "You do realize it was cold?" Scully tried to choke back a laugh but failed, "I'm serious, Scully. My pride has been hurt,"
"Why has your pride been hurt?"
"You saw my cold, recessed....area..." Scully laughed out loud.
"If the cold was your only reason for being embarrassed then you should have no problem now, right?"
"Well now my pride's been hurt, Scully. There are no guarantees,"
"Okay, come on," she was getting impatient.
"Alright," he said, grabbing the top of his pants, "Let's just get this over with," he exposed only the area she would need to see. She immediately and completely professionally began to examine him.
"Oh wow, Mulder. This was done with a laser scalpel. That’s why it’s healed so nicely already. And it's sunken in this area, which indicates..." she pulled away slowly in thought.
"What, Scully?" he pulled his pants up.
"Something was taken out," she answered. Mulder couldn't even reply, "The area that's sunken is very small and nothing else looks discolored. So whatever was taken out was very small. Whatever was taken out probably wasn't supposed to be there in the first place,"
"Like a tumor?" Mulder breathed.
"I don't think so. This was something close to the surface. Right outside the epididymus and testes. If it had been a tumor, you would've known before now,"
"Do you think it has something to do with the vaccine?"
"It might. It would be the most logical place to live...for reproductive purposes,"
Suddenly there was a knock at the door...
Mulder answered the door, thinking it might be Goldman. But the man that stood in the doorway was someone he'd never seen before, "Can I help you?" Mulder asked.
"Uh, hi. My name is Henry Aklins. I think it would be in your best interest to let me in and hear what I have to say,"
"And why is that?"
"Because I know what happened to you last night,"
"How would you know that?"
"Because I've seen it happen before. If you let me in, I can explain,"
Henry sat at the little table in the room with Mulder and Scully, "What you've experienced, you were never supposed to remember ever happening. That's why they give you the serum,"
"Serum?" Mulder asked.
"They give you a shot...something to make you forget,"
"How exactly is it that you've seen this happen before yet can recall everything?" Scully asked.
"I was hiding. They didn't know I was there. It's actually kind of embarrassing,"
"Go on,"
"Well... I was at my neighbor's house. Her husband was at work, and she needed me to fix the toilet. As ridiculous as it sounds, she really did. We were in no way romantically involved before that day, not that it hadn’t crossed my mind. But for the first time she actually responded to me. She wanted me. Who was I to refuse?" They were silent, "Anyway, her husband came home only moments after we were finished and she shoved me in the linen closet...this linen closet was like four feet off the ground-- I had to climb up to get into it and she shut the door. Her husband came in and never left the room so I was basically stuck in there for hours. They finally fell asleep and I was about to make my move to get out of there when suddenly about five or six men came in the room. Each of them carrying some kind of equipment and bags...like the ones doctors carry, ya know?" Mulder glanced at Scully, "Nancy and Hank woke up, naturally. But they immediately went to them, held them down. They flipped Nancy on her stomach and put a needle in her back...like in her spine. Ya know, like how they do with women having babies? That's what they did. They started doing weird things to her. Put some huge weird looking thing on her hip and drew out blood or something. Then did it on the other side," Scully swallowed. Mulder couldn't even look back at her. He knew what that meant, "She was just laying there then. I don't think she could feel it. Then they put a needle in the side of her head. That's what I'm thinking was the serum that made her forget all of it,"
"What makes you think she doesn't remember?" Mulder asked.
"Because I talked to her the next day. She didn't remember that we slept together...of course I didn't ask her outright. She just acted as though nothing had happened. And after seeing Hank...what they did to him, I got the hell out of there and I haven't gone back to my house since. I've been staying at this hotel for about three days now,"
"What did they do to Hank?" Mulder asked, curious now, as if his answer would reveal what they'd done to him.
"They... shot him up with something... ya know, in his private area. Probably a pain killer or something. They took out one of those laser scalpels I've seen on TV and... well frankly I had to turn away. When I looked back, the man was holding a bloody little piece of purple flesh no bigger than a marble. They put it into a cylinder along with the syringes filled with whatever they took outta Nancy. Then they gave him the shot in the head. But before they packed up and left, one of the men took out another needle and injected some white crap into the thing that was already in Nancy's spine. Then he pulled out the thing he had in there and used some kinda laser to close up the hole,"
"The men I saw there... they were here last night. They did the same thing to you. I could hear you... you were yelling for them to stop... I was hiding in my bathroom with all the lights out, hoping they wouldn't come after me too,"
After Henry left, Mulder turned to Scully. She was looking down at the table in front of her, not having left her seat yet.
"What do you think, Scully?" She looked up at him.
"I don't know. But maybe you should look at something I didn't think to have you check,"
"What's that?" he asked and walked back over to her.
"My back is really sore. When he said what happened to Nancy, I felt it," she stood.
"Turn around," he said. She complied and lifted her shirt halfway up. Mulder closed his eyes when he saw the mark there, "There's an injection site," he said. She started breathing faster in thought.
"What does this all mean, Mulder? I don't understand," she turned to face him.
"I'm gonna find out,"
 

2 Hours Later
The office of Dr. Alfred Regimend PhD

"Are you sure about this, Mulder?" Scully sat next to Mulder in the psychiatrist's waiting room.
"I wanna know what happened to us, Scully. I'm not gonna let them take that away from me again," a tall, lanky man walked into the room.
"Mr. Mulder?" he asked. Mulder nodded, "I'm ready to see you now," Mulder looked at Scully and stood up.
"I'm coming in there with you, Mulder,"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm not gonna let you do this alone,"
"You're eyes are growing heavy," Dr. Regimend said in a monotone voice, "You can barely keep them open now," Scully watched Mulder as his eyes started pulling shut...like he was drugged by this man's voice, "I'm going to count to ten, and when I reach ten, you'll be completely asleep," She was sitting in a chair very near to him on the couch, "One...," she grew afraid, suddenly. As if something bad would happen to him. She could barely hear the doctor counting anymore. She was completely fixated on Mulder's face. His eyes couldn't stay open at all anymore, "Ten," the doctor said, "Can you hear me, Mr. Mulder?"
"Yes," he answered, hazily. Scully swallowed, "I want you to think about your hotel room, Mr. Mulder. Where the bathroom is; where the bed is; where the television sits; if there is a closet or something distinguishable about the room. Do you see it?"
"I... yes,"
"Are you in your hotel room?"
"Yes,"
"Now I want you to think back to last night. You were sleeping in your bed--"
"It's dark," Mulder said out of no where. Scully blinked.
"The room is dark now?" the doctor asked.
"Yes,"
"Are you alone?"
"No," Scully swallowed, afraid.
"Is there someone there in the room with you? Someone who intends you harm?" Mulder was silent for a moment.
"No," he answered a bit confused, "I'm curled up with her,"
"There's a woman in your bed?" he asked. Scully glanced at the doctor.
"Yes. She's very warm. I'm holding her. And she is holding me,"
"Do you know this woman?"
"Yes," he smiled. Scully felt a strange sense of jealousy she couldn't explain.
"Who is she?" he asked.
"She's Scully," he answered, "Scully is with me," Scully's heart skipped and she couldn't find her breath for a moment. But suddenly Mulder's head jolts to the left.
"What's happening?" he asked.
"Someone else is here," he said.
"Who?"
"I don't know who they are," he begins to sound afraid.
"Is there more than one?"
"Yes,"
"How many?"
"I don't know-- let go of her!" he yells. Scully's watches him, helplessly.
"What's happening?"
"They have Scully--" he said, angrily.
"Are they taking her away?"
"No... they're holding her down... putting something in her back...a needle...," he starts to cry, "She's screaming--" his hands are in fists, "Let her go! Leave her alone!" he yells. The doctor is at a loss for words. He didn't realize themagnitude of the event. He glanced at Scully who was staring at Mulder's hand...longing to go hold onto it. When she looked up at the doctor in his silence, he motioned for her to go hold Mulder's hand. She sat down next to Mulder, gently. She took his fist in her palm and gently pulled open his fingers and entwined them in hers. He squeezed her hand.
"W-what are they doing now?" the doctor continued.
"They're putting a shot in my shoulder. Ow!" he flinches. Suddenly his breathing becomes erratic, "I'm watching her... she isn't moving... I think they're killing her..." he cries again. Suddenly his body slumps back onto the couch.
"Do you still see her?"
"Yes," he says without emotion, but with irregular breathing patterns, "But I can't move. I can't help her,"
"Are they still holding you down?"
"No. I can't move. They are all with her now. Finishing with her. And the man who was doing most of the work on her is coming towards me now. He has another needle,"
"What does he do with it?" he asked. Scully swallowed again, tears welled in her eyes from his revelations. Suddenly he is screaming... or more like making a painful cry...but still not moving. She grips his hand with both of hers now, tears streaming down her face. She looks at the doctor.
"We can stop now," she said. The doctor nodded.
"Mulder, I want you to stop thinking about last night. Start thinking about a time before that. A time that you were very happy,"
Mulder was silent. He didn't smile, "What are you thinking of, Mulder?"
"I see nothing," he said, "It's dark,"
"Are you alone?"
"No," he smiled.
"I'm going to count down from ten to one. When I reach one, you're going to wake up feeling very calm, but remembering what we talked about today. Do you understand?"
"Yes," he answered.
"Ten, nine, eight," Scully wanted to wipe away her tears, but she couldn't let go of Mulder's hand, who was still gripping hers tightly, "Seven, six, five, four," She remembered how he said that she was laying with him, "Three, two, one...,"
Mulder opened his eyes and drew in a breath. He looked down at his hand when he felt someone else's in it and realized it was Scully's. He looked up at her face, originally feeling completely calm, but then saw the tear streaks on her cheeks and remembered... realized she had heard all of that... what the men had done. She looked at him to make sure he was okay, then looked away, ashamed of her tears, and stood up, slowly pulling her hand from his, and walked out of the room.
Mulder handed his credit card to the secretary at the front desk and turned around to look out the tinted glass windows that lined the waiting room. Scully was getting into the car on the passenger side. He turned back to the secretary, took his card and signed the receipt, "Thanks," he said and took off for the door.

Scully just sat there. She didn't know what to think...what to believe. Everything he had said could have been made up in his mind from what Henry had told them today. Everything except... she was laying with him.
Mulder opened the driver side door and got in, closing the door gently.
"Is everything okay, Scully?" he asked softly.
"Yeah," she said, "I'm sorry. I just.. I'm confused about all of this. I don't know what to think or say,"
"I know how you feel," he said, starting the car, "I know exactly how you feel,"
"I don't like that he made me feel so calm about it," Mulder said, breaking the silence that had ruled the car for the past 10 minutes. Scully looked at him.
"Do you still feel that way now?"
"I don't know what I'm feeling right now. My stomach is hurting,"
"Do you wanna pick up something to eat for when we get back to the hotel?"
"Sure, I guess," but he didn't feel like eating. He just didn't want her to worry anymore.
They sat there at the table in Mulder's room, pushing the food around in its containers with their forks. Each of them, avoiding eating, but trying to conceal. Succeeding only because they were both too busy to notice. Scully put her food down and slumped back in her chair with a sigh, "I'm sorry, Mulder. I don't mean to seem distant. I'm just trying to sort things out in my head,"
"Is it working?"
"No,"
"Yeah, I'm not having any luck either," he said. She looked up at him, feeling guilty and jealous at the same time.
"I'm confused and aggravated. I can't remember any of what happened...not a thing. And it's killing me. I would have brushed the whole thing off and blamed your recollections on Henry's conversation with us earlier...but..."
"Yeah, I know. I was thinking about the same thing. Why were we in bed together,"
"Yeah. I feel like I should've told Dr. Regimend to go further back with you,"
"No," he looked down as Scully looked at him in surprise, "I wouldn't want to know if you wouldn't remember it. It wouldn't be fair to either of us, I don't think," he looked back up at her again.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," it was her turn to look down, "I think I just need a hot shower and a good night's sleep to think about all of this," she said, and shortly after she had said it, she felt as though she had done this before.
"A shower sounds good. Sleep...I don't know. Something tells me...I..." his voice drifted off.
"Will have a lot on my mind?" she finished for him.
"Wow," he said, "I just got the strongest feeling of deja vu,"
"Yeah, me too,"
Scully stood in the shower adjusting the water a bit hotter. She stood when it was just right and closed her eyes, letting the water fall over her hair and down her back and shoulders. She tried to clear her mind, but thoughts kept flying back into it. She proceeded to wash her hair. When she got it into a good lather with the hotel's half way decent shampoo, the scent of it hit her like a brick, and suddenly she remembered taking a shower in here the night before.
She remembered rinsing her hair... remembered that she was thinking about the chart papers... the names... and then...
She had to reach out and grab the hold of the curtain to hold herself up. She was remembering... when she had taken the shower the night before, she was hit strongly with completely uninitiated arousal that had almost knocked her out of the shower. She looked over at the curtain she was holding and let go of it, seeing the bunched piece left behind. Then her gaze went a few inches down from that and saw another identical wrinkled piece. She quickly rinsed off and got out of the shower. She grabbed a towel and furiously dried herself as she frantically searched for a tee-shirt in her suitcase.
"A failsafe. If the male doesn't have a mate, he..."
"...he dies"
She threw on the bed clothes she'd had on earlier that morning and went to Mulder's door, knocking a few times before letting herself in. When she saw Mulder's back facing her, she got another glimpse of last night... she sat down on the edge of his bed before she began to talk to him.
"You okay, Scully?"
"I remember all of this...," she said. Mulder spun around and walked over to her. He knelt down in front of her.
"What they did to us?" his eyes expressed concern.
"No. I don't remember that. I remember last night. When I was in the shower, something hit me," Mulder swallowed.
"Yeah. I know. When I was in the shower just now, I leaned up against the wall... everything started coming back to me as it happened...,"
"Like now," Scully said, "It's coming back as though we're replaying it... I remember coming in here and sitting here. I remember...feeling really embarrassed,"
"I remember too. You came in, saying something happened in the shower. And I said...,"
"I was reacting. Reacting to you," their eyes simultaneously shut as the memories flooded back into their heads. The arousal was overcoming them both. Their breathing was erratic and all they wanted to do was take each other... but the hesitancy caused even more tension...
Scully remembered how badly she'd wanted him...needed him...
He remembered how her eyes looked when she pulled him back down to her...then...
Then nothing...then he heard Scully screaming. He opened his eyes. She was looking at him with pure fear...
The memory had stopped for her and she felt a sharp pain where the marks on her hips were and her eyes flew open. She had been sitting in an odd position and it was pulling the skin where her marks were. Mulder was on the floor in front of her with his eyes closed still. The pain suddenly worsened and her eyes widened as flashes of memory were coming back to her... she was in the darkness... then men came bursting into the room... they grabbed her and flipped her to her belly... she searched for Mulder's eyes and saw him... he was yelling for them to stop... begging them... then she felt the pain in her back...

"Scully! Scully, can you hear me?" Mulder laid her down on the bed. Her eyes were wide open and she was screaming... screaming like when they were hurting her... she was remembering... tears began streaking down her face and tears welled his as well as he remembered with her. He held her hand in both of his.
She couldn't move. But she felt herself being flipped over again. They were holding her hands down still when she realized the pain it was causing her. She could move her head. She turned to find Mulder again. He was watching her... still screaming for them to stop... and all at once they were done with her and one of them went to Mulder. She watched him struggle as they shot him up with something in his shoulder. She heard his painful cry from the huge needle... all it was going to do was immobilize him... then they pulled out another shot and... oh God... he was screaming now...

"No...no, please stop hurting him...," she said weakly. Mulder opened his eyes to look at her. Her body had calmed and was still... her eyes were still wide open. He didn't know when it would end, but he waited there with her.
Scully's eyes closed and final tears rolled down her cheeks and she started breathing normally again. Mulder watched her face until she opened her eyes and looked at him, "Are you okay?" he asked her. She blinked.
"Yeah," she answered simply. Then she looked up at the ceiling in thought. Mulder stood abruptly from the bed and started walking towards the door. She sat up, "Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna find Goldman. I'm gonna find the people that did this to us," he was angry. She could hear it in his voice.
"Mulder--" she wanted to stop him, but when he opened the door, Goldman was standing in the doorway.
"Agent Mulder," he said. Mulder, caught by surprise, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the room at threw him down into a chair, pulling out his gun and aiming it at him. Goldman pushed himself back in the chair a bit.
"Mulder!" Scully stood from the bed.
"Where the hell are they?" he asked him.
"This is over with, Mulder. It's all been taken care of,"
"What? The cover up? What the hell makes you think that means a fucking thing to me? I thought you were trying to help us-- trying to expose them!"
"It doesn't matter now. They took everything out of the infected victims. There's nothing left to expose. There's no evidence. The bodies have been burned and memories have been erased,"
"I remember everything!" he yelled.
"Yes," he replied, "I know," Mulder furrowed his brows for a moment as he looked at Goldman in thought.
"You did something, didn't you," Mulder asked.
"He was there," Scully said. Mulder backed away from Goldman a little so he could look at Scully, "He put the injection at my hairline," he looked back at Goldman.
"You can put the gun down," he told Mulder. After a moment he complied, "I switched the serum with a harmless form of sodium pentothal,"
"Truth serum," she said. Goldman nodded.
"It gave the effected look of what they were trying to use to erase the memory of what was happening to you. And in most cases, you wouldn't be able to remember anything during the time it was injected. But it was injected after your procedure,"
"We didn't remember anything at first,"
"The amount of other drugs that were put into your system can account for that. Not to mention what traumatic events can do to ones mind,"
"So why did you come back here? Why risk being seen in broad daylight?"
"They already know what I've done," he said. Mulder and Scully glanced at each other, "You're in no danger. They took everything they needed from you. They're no longer in any kind of threat from you,"
"Again, I'm asking why are you here? If they know what you've done, they'll know where to find you,"
"I came to give you this," he handed him a small vial. Mulder took it, "The container is mine. They won't be looking for it or notice an absence. But what's inside might help you in the future,"
"What is it?" Scully asked as she came and took the vial from Mulder.
"It's some of the one element they are keeping from the experiment. The one thing that worked when all else failed. You must keep this. You're the only people I trust that will eventually put it to good use," he stood up from his chair, "It's time for me to go," he walked to the door.
"Thank you," Mulder called after him. Goldman only paused in the doorway, and then continued out, closing the door behind him.
When he turned back away from the door, Scully was suddenly gone, "Scully?" he called. No answer. His heart started to pound, "Scully??" he yelled louder.
"I'm in here," she yelled from her room. Mulder let out a breath, feeling stupid. He walked over to her room. Scully was crouched on the floor hacking away at her bag.
"What are you doing?"
"Making a safe place for this," she held up the vial for a moment. She sliced thru the lining in the inside of her suitcase. She grabbed a pair of nylons and cut one of the legs off. Mulder had a comment but decided not to say it out loud. She dropped the vial inside the hose leg and rolled it up so it had a cushioning layer so it wouldn't break. Then she stuck it into the open lining, "Can you check the bathroom...see if there's a sewing kit?" he nodded and headed for the bathroom. She watched him from behind, absent-mindedly glancing at ass. She thought to herself how the memory of them being together had ended so abruptly and got throw into something so violent. But she also knew something was missing from that memory.
"Scully?" She jumped at the sound of her name. She was so deep in thought she hadn't seen Mulder come back with the kit.
"Sorry," she said and took it from him, "I was thinking,"
"What about?"
"About what happened last night. About what I still don't remember,"
"Maybe we're not meant to remember," he said and looked down at her hands stitching the lining.
"Why? Why not that, but everything else?" she stopped and looked at him. His eyes were sincere and sad. It made her look away for a moment.
"Because, from what I can remember, it was me who wanted it... who wanted to be with you," Scully swallowed and could've sworn she heard him swallow too, "But, like we discovered, you were just reacting. And whatever that stuff was, it made everything so intense... I know we slept together, Scully," he said. Scully couldn't believe what he had just said. She couldn't breathe...she wasn't breathing, "I know you slept with me to save me. You did it to save my life and that's not fair to you. You've given up so many things to save me, Scully. You've done so much to make sure I stay alive and sane. It's not fair that you had to do that. And in a way, it's not fair to me either," She looked up at him now with a furrowed brow, "I wanted you, Scully. But I wanted you to want me just as much. For your own reasons. Not because you were somehow transformed or mutated to respond to my need. But because you really wanted to be with me..."
Scully looked down. She couldn't answer that, "I remember wanting you, Mulder. But I can't discern its origin. I can't say if it was me," Mulder's gazed was intent upon what little of her face he could see, "But I can say that... if I hadn't wanted to do it, I would've found another way. I wouldn't have let you die, Mulder. But I could've found another way... if it was something I didn't wanna do," she looked up at him now. He looked into her eyes, not quite knowing how to respond. Then after a moment he thought of something.
"Maybe you did. Maybe we didn't sleep together,"
"You said you remembered us lying together. That you were holding me, and I was holding you. That was the place you went back to when the doctor told you to go to a time when you were happy," she looked back into his eyes. He smiled a half smile at her as if to say 'yes, but what does it mean now?'.
She looked down at the bag and finished sewing it up. She thought about what Mulder had just told her. About how he wanted her. He wanted her. It played over and over again in her head and she couldn't help but feel a little dizzy from it.
"I hate that this memory is gone," she said, angrily closing up the bag and tossing it onto the dresser. She sat down on the bed next to Mulder.
"Is it uncomfortable to be around me now?" Mulder asked, sincerely. She looked at him.
"Of course not, Mulder. I'm angry because... I don't remember how I felt. I didn't get to keep that memory of being happy, laying there with you," she looked down at her lap, surprised at what had just slipped out of her mouth. She didn't know what to say now. Didn't know how he would respond. Then she felt his fingers on her chin, pulling her face up so he could see her. She saw in his eyes a raw passion, a need... arousal. Something she had seen in his eyes the night before. And he looked so intently into hers that she thought she might melt.
"Maybe we can make a new memory," he said, his gaze momentarily falling to her lips then back up again, "Something uninitiated by anyone or anything else. Something we both choose to do," Scully couldn't speak. Her stomach was fluttering and she felt herself unfold.
Mulder suddenly felt ashamed... as if he had just done something really stupid. He swallowed, hoping..praying she would say something... or at least not run away screaming. But then, her hand went up to his face and she leaned in to kiss him. His breath drew in deep from the sudden wave that fluttered through his abdomen. He kissed her more deeply and felt her push him to lie down.
With his hands in her hair, he intently made out with her till he needed to come up for air. When he did let go, her mouth went where her palm rested on his chest and kissed down to his nipple, taking it lusciously in her mouth...just licking and kissing and then back up to his neck. His eyes were shut and his mouth open and breathing heavily. When his hands found her face again, he pulled her to his mouth once more and flipped her over onto her back.
She pushed him up off of her and stripped off her shirt, lying back down on the bed. Mulder stopped to take in the view... then something flashed in his view... he remembered seeing her like this before. He was remembering... then he knew what to do... he knew how to make her remember. It was like everything else; something had to happen like it happened that night.
The images were splaying across his mind and taking over his senses. Scully sat up when she noticed his face. His eyes were closed and he was acting strangely. She thought that maybe he was having another bad flashback, "Mulder?" she cupped his cheek and his eyes flew open. What she saw was pure and raw arousal in his eyes. His pupils were dilated turning his eyes almost completely black. She had seen him like this before... right in front of her like this...
That's when it happened; the memory of the night before was replaying itself in their heads as if it were just happening now. And when it was over, it was indeed 'over'.

Mulder awoke in the dark room and at first felt a tinge of fear. But as he moved his arm he heard a groan from next to him. Then he remembered; it was Scully curled up into his chest. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her and rested his head next to hers on the pillow.
 
 
24 Hours Later
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Basement office

Mulder wrote something down on paper then looked at it and decided to scratch it out. Then he wrote again, immediately scratching that as well. Scully walked into the room and shut the door and Mulder looked up at her. She seemed out of breath, as though she had taken the stairs. She locked the door and walked over to Mulder.
"Scully, what's going on?"
"I ran some tests on the contents of the vial,"
"What did you find?"
"I didn't make any printouts or anything because I was afraid the information might slip into the wrong hands,"
"Scully, talk to me here," he grew anxious.
"That vial contains a microorganism," she whispered across the desk as she leaned towards Mulder. He intently listened, "Several, actually. They all have a sort of flagella. Mulder, the structure of these organisms are nothing like I've ever seen before. But they do bear certain similarities to something I have seen," he waited for her to continue. She took a breath, "They look like some kind of sperm, Mulder," his brow furrowed, "its molecular structure is completely bizarre but they aren't fake. They're alive," Mulder slowly backed into his chair in thought.
"You think this is what they put in me?" Mulder asked.
"I think this is the part they wanted keep of it, yes,"
"Why would he give that to us? For proof? He said there was no chance of uncovering this now,"
"I think he intended for us to test it; to study it ourselves and come up with a way to kill it. Or maybe find some kind of vaccine for the next time they use it,"
"What concerns me," Mulder said, "Is how are we going to do that without anyone’s knowledge? I mean, how do we keep this a secret and hide it? Eventually someone is going to figure out that we have it,"
"Storage wise, we don't have anything to worry about. This stuff has survived every temperature it has been exposed to. There's no special refrigeration needed. Second, we aren't going to keep it a secret,"
"What?"
"There are three people I can think of that can take care of this for us,"
 

"Sure we can do it," Frohike said, taking the vial.
"Wait a minute. You can't make that kind of decision without realizing the possible repercussions," Langly said to him.
"He's right, you know," Mulder said, "There's always the possibility that you would be found out. They would take all of your work; everything you might find out,"
"And if you get in their way, they could kill you," Scully added.
"Yeah, but this is a chance to save mankind," Byers said, "You're holding in the palm of your hand what could lead us to the next savior of the human race sometime in the future,"
"And who better for it to be left in the hands of then the three of us?" Langly joked.
"Listen," Mulder said, "This isn't a joke. It's serious. Most of all it's dangerous. Don't do this thinking it'll personally bring you anywhere. You can't put this stuff in your paper, and don't think that by doing this you'll win Agent Scully's heart," he looked at Frohike, "You're the first and only people we thought of that we could trust with this. Are you willing to risk everything for it?" They all looked at each other for a moment then turned back to Mulder and Scully.
"Yeah," Byers reached out for the vial from Frohike's hand unexpectedly. He got only half of a grip on it before Frohike let go of it and it went crashing to the floor...
"Oh damn..." Langly said.
Mulder lead Scully back to the car. The silence was deafening. They drove away.
Frohike stood there motionless with the other two. It's almost as if they were waiting for something. And then it came... the door burst open and men dressed in black and green camouflage poured into the room. One more man let himself in and lit a cigarette.
"Where's the vial?" he said in a raspy voice. They motioned to the floor and the man looked. He turned to one of his men and motioned for them to come to him, "Check it," he said. The man crouched down and turned on a purple glowing flashlight over the site of the broken vial. It shone green when the light hit it. The man looked up and nodded, "Clean it up," then he looked at Byers, took a draw from his cigarette and glanced at the other two, "You can put it in your papers if you want to," he smiled, drawing again, "No one reads them," and he turned to leave.
"You read them," Langly blurted out. Frohike and Byer's eyes grew wide. The man stopped and threw his cigarette down on the floor and stomped it out. Then he continued out.
6 hours later

Scully stepped out the passenger door of their third rental car, "You sure you have this?" Mulder said from the car.
"Yeah, Mulder. We'll meet you at the rental place in an hour," he nodded and drove off. Scully looked up at the cabin on the hill and started her way up. When she reached the door she hesitated a moment before knocking. Could she do this?
"Scully?" the door opened and AD Skinner poked his head out, "I thought I heard you out here. Come on inside," he opened it all the way for her to come in, "The things you asked for are all here. No one knows about this place but you. I wish you could tell me what this is all about. But I understand why you won't,"
"Thank you, sir," she walked up to a large painting on the wall, "Is this where it is?"
"No, it's the smaller one over here," he led her to the other side of the room and pulled the picture off of the wall revealing a safe. On the table in front of it was a small metal box and a little larger sealed medical waste container. Scully glanced back at Skinner and he nodded, "I'll be waiting for you in my car outside," and he left. Scully took out a small tube and put it in the small metal box, locking it and inserting it into the medical waste container. Then she opened the safe and put it all inside. After spinning the combination lock several times she placed the picture back on the wall and took a deep breath.

Skinner waited out in the car, wondering what she could have possibly needed those things for. Why she needed the cabin in such a remote location. But he respected her too much to ask any questions. Whatever it was, it was big. Big enough for them not to expose it just to bring themselves some glory of finally being able to prove themselves. But he would not ask and he would not tell.
Scully got into the passenger seat, gave Skinner a small smile and put on her seatbelt, "No one knows the combination?" she asked.
"No one," he said, "The number is in this envelope," he took a small envelope out of his jacket and handed it to her.
We had to be careful. Tricking these people was a difficult thing to do. We had taken half of the vial contents and put it into a separate container. We knew we were being watched and the only way to conceal the vial was to let some of it be destroyed. Luckily we have a few friends willing to risk anything for us. Their job was to play along... break the vial somehow, and let us leave. We knew they were watching us... waiting for our next move. We had to make it look as though there was nothing left to look for.

They arrived at the car rental place an hour later. Mulder was sitting on a bench outside and when he saw them, he stood and made his way to the car, got inside and shut the door and they took off.
"When are they gonna come out here and start?" Mulder asked.
"As soon as we know they're not looking," Scully answered.
"So it's safe?"
"I hope so..."
 
 
 
 
 
 

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