By RocketMan
lebontrager@Harding.edu
 

Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No fringe is
intended.
NOTE: This is a short one. Angst, UST, Alternate Universe, sort of.

======
Found
======

She counts the passing vehicles as I drive the speed limit down the two
lane country highway. I can see her lips move when a string of them
rushes by my Silverado truck, and the headlights flash along the
interior
like UFOs. She's hunched down to keep her eyes from shining in the
darkness, or her hair from catching in the light.

My fingers make nervous drumbeats on the wheel, but the black car
following us doesn't inch forward anymore. We're not safe, but we're in
no danger of getting run off the road.

They can't know she's with me. She's being hunted. Or that's what she
says. I don't know if I should believe her, or just dump her off at the
sheriff station. She could be dangerous.

Right.

That little thing couldn't even begin to hurt me. She's scared stiff,
curled up tightly in the floorboards with her head resting on her knees.
She doesn't trust me, but she's too weak to fight.

I found her in the woods, unconscious and bleeding. Her lips are swollen
with bruises and her eyebrow is the only thing to mar one continuous
scar, reaching from her forehead to her chin. I hope it'll heal, but it
lookes infected.

She's got me paranoid too. Making me check my mirrors every other
second, then glance down to her to make sure she hasn't gone into a coma
again.

As soon as I tried to pick her up, her eyes flew open and she made
little mewling noises, like a hurt cat, and I tried to tell her that
everything was okay, I wasn't gonna hurt her. She refused to let me help
her, but I managed to convince her that she was safer with me than with
whomever had left her like this.

Now, we're silent and waiting as I drive slowly and steadily through the
county, making sure I stop at all the signs and slow to the limit when
the speed traps come up. I can't have the police questioning why I've
got a beaten woman in my truck, huddled on the floor.

She sneaks a look outside and I frown, wondering what she's so afraid
of. Obviously, someone's been rough with her, but to cause so much fear
in a woman who acts and looks like spitfire incarante. . .I can't see
it.

When the truck crunches over the gravel of my driveway, she sits up a
bit, eyes wild with betrayal, but I shake my head and glance in the
rearview mirror. The black Mercury is gone, only the red van remains,
and it quickly lumbers past.

Maddie hops down the porch, her hair bright in the darkness, but stops
very still at the look on my face.

I shake my head and open the passenger door, helping the woman crawl
from the floorboards to the rocks of my driveway. She's unsteady and
pitches into the hood of the truck, but I grab her waist and keep her
upright.

Maddie rushes forward, questions on her lips, but says nothing. She
takes the woman's arm and we carefully help her up the stairs and onto
the porch swing, where she has to breathe several times before she can
speak.

"Thank. . .you."

I nod and Maddie glances again to me, her fingers threading through mine
in an unconsciously protective manner. I rub her nose with a finger and
wink, trying to let her know everything's okay. One glance at the woman
and I can see she's about to fall asleep.

"Maddie. Can we put her in the guest room?"

My wife nods and chews thoughtfully on her lip. She's always been quick
to take in anyone who needs it, including the eight stray dogs that
still limp around our ranch, and the barn cats that end up being house
cats. I have more mice than any other place, and I have a sneaking
suspicion she's feeding them too.

"Where'd you find her, Michael?"

I glance warily into the woods, then shake my head, leaning down to drag
the woman back onto her feet.

"We've got to get her out of sight."

Maddie fumes at my ignorance to her question, but helps me wordlessly.
We carry her into the guest room and Maddie takes off her shoes while I
pull down the bed, the soft scent of roses floating up at me. The woman
snuggles down into the covers with a weary sigh, making those pathetic
mewling noises again. She's spoken about four words total to me, half of
them being so panicked and frantic that I'm not sure still what she was
saying.

Maybe I just don't want to believe it.

Maddie and I carefully back out of the room, then shut the door firmly.

"I found her on the public park land, bloody like that and cold. She was
unconscious, Maddie."

My wife nods tightly and shuffles me into the kitchen, recognizing the
bleak set of my eyes. Water is soon boiling on the stove and a tea bag
is dropped into a clean, cool mug. Her hands stray to my stomach, then
worm beneath my shirt, seeking warmth.

The winter manages to creep into our house, despite all my attempts at
keeping it well caulked and finely insulated. The ranch would be
different, though, if I didn't get up to a cold wood floor in the
morning, and Maddie's frozen toes on my calves.

"Your hands are freezing, woman." I say and grab her wrists.

I can tell by her face she's pleased I'm reacting, and I know she did it
to lift my spirits.

"I was retacking the signs, and mending fence, trying to undo the damage
those poachers inflicted when they came through this weekend. I heard a
noise, some non-forest noise, and found her in a little gully. She
looked dead, Maddie."

Her face flashes through my memory, that cold paleness and the dead
leaves scattered around her head.

"She woke when I tried to take her back to the truck. Fought like an
animal, making those awful mewling noises like you heard. She said four
words."

Maddie takes the screaming kettle and pours the boiling water into the
mug, her hands shaking slightly. I want to pull her into me, take away
that fear settling into her eyes.

"What did she say?"

"Some name first. Mmmm....Something with an 'M'. I was too surprised to
listen."

"A name? You think someone could be looking for her, Michael? Someone
who cares about her?"

"Probably. I hope so. We need to find someone to protect her, someone
that understands."

"What else did she say? That made you so careful about-"

"She said 'They're after me.'"

Maddie shivers and clutches the mug tightly with two hands, her eyes far
away.

"Is it the police, Michael? What has she done?"

"If it is the police, they're not good people. Look at how she got beat
up."

I take the tea from her, raising it to my lips, but she grabs it back,
shaking her head at me.

"It's for her."

I grimace and shrug, then follow her back to the guest room to watch her
rouse the woman from a troubled sleep.

Maddie cradles her head while the woman eyes the mug, then finally sips
at the hot drink, her mouth pursing as it burns.

"Thank...you."

It's all she's said to us so far, besides those four words when she was
confused.

"Hey. No problem. How are you feeling?"

"Where am I?"

I frown. "At my ranch. I'm Michael Douglas, and this is my wife, Maddie.
What happened to you?"

She looks frightened for a moment, then shakes her head. "I. . .was
taken from my apartment. I need to call. . .call my friend."

Maddie nods, but doesn't move to let the woman up. "We'll call for you,
let this person know where you are."

"No! No, I have to call him. Just in case. . ."

"Are you going to tell us your name?" I say, leaning against the doorjam
with a frown. She can't keep putting us off like this.

"Dana. Just Dana. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"In trouble for what?" I say, raising up from the relaxed position to
stare at her. Dana. Who the hell did she think she was? This kind of
thing doesn't happen.

"Helping me," she says simply, shaking her head and trying to move from
the bed. Maddie lets herself be pushed away, then helps the woman stand.

Dana's knees give out immediately, and she clutches Maddie, face white
in pain.

"Look, you've got to rest. You've been badly hurt. I can understand  if
you don't want us to call the cops, or a doctor, but you have to at
least lay down."

She shakes her head at my words, her lips pressed tightly together. I
can tell that she wants to run, wants to leap out of our home and find
some kind of security, a security she can relax in.

"I'm...I'm putting you in danger, staying," she whispers, and her words
are so strained, I know she must be ready to faint.

"Call your friend, then we'll work it out. If you need, Michael and I
can drive you to the airport, or wherever. Home, if you need it."

She smiles thinly, her forehead so wrinkled with her agony that I want
to reach over and force her to lie down, make her relax for once. It
looks like she's been on the run longer than she can remember.

"I need to call," she answers, and Maddie helps her up, sighing.
======

The man who comes to the door looks even worse than the woman who rises
to meet him. His hands shake as they take mine, his eyes thanking me
before moving to see her.

"Scully," he says, strangled.

She runs to him now, her movements weak and stumbling but still making
it to his side. He wraps steel-tight arms around her thin shoulders, his
eyes tearing and his rough moan of relief like a slap.

I never want to know this kind of homecoming, where I'm so releived to
see my wife again because of some great tragedy that just the act of
holding her again is painful.

He's holding her and sobbing into her hair and she's weeping as if she
has never allowed herself to cry before, and they just stand in the
doorway, looking like they're going to collapse.

Maddie wraps her arm around me and I look down at her, shaking too,
wondering how this world could be so wrong that a thing like this could
happen. I shut the door and move the couple further into the house,
causing them to break apart.

They look as if they want to stay in each other's arms for the rest of
their lives, safe and secure and without the nightmares of reality.

"You're Dana's friend, I'm guessing."

Maddie snorts and shoves me, and I shake my head. I just want those two
to smile, to stop looking around them as if they're being hunted.

"Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much, sir. I. . .I don't know how to tell you,
thank you enough."

"Don't thank me, sir. I just wish things like this never had to happen."

He gazes at me as if this kind of world exists daily for him, and to
think otherwise is to invite folly. His hand raises unconsciously,
touching the small of her back.

"We should go. If. . .if anyone comes around, asking about us, please
don't say anything. I don't want your family in trouble. . ."

I nod, but still, the idea is foreign to me, something I could never
even understand.

"We'll keep our mouths shut. Are you sure it's wise to leave now? You
both look exhausted, and if someone is looking for her, she's going to
be more noticable looking so tired."

He glances to her, eyes narrowed and critical, and gives her a small
smile.

"He's right, Scully. We look like hell."

Maddie frowns at me, but steps up, hands held out.

"Let's all sit down for dinner, then, and you can leave first thing
tomorrow. We've got a nice bathtub and plenty of food, sir."

He grins, his smile like a dazzling gem after the grimness in his every
feature. He takes the woman's hand and nods slowly, then lets Maddie
lead them to the kitchen.
======

I can't believe what they're telling us, their faces tight and
controlled, but the horror they describe has some truth according to the
listlessness of their tale.

Aliens. Coming here, soon.

Maddie is close to me, her shoulder burrowed into my ribs, as if trying
to crawl inside. My arm tightens around her and I shake my head.

"You mean. . .you were taken by aliens?"

I really don't believe this, but the utter resignation in their eyes is
like a brand of validation, a seal of authenticity.

"No. Some others. . .it's not important. Just know that this is coming.
You'll be safe here, on your ranch, away from civilization and cities.
You've done so much for us. . .we had to warn you."

I glance to Maddie, see her eyes calculating, the way she's thinking
about all this.

"What do we do?" she says, leaning forward with danger glinting in her
eyes.

"Find a way to hide, stock up on food and water and batteries, that kind
of thing. I don't know. . .we just wanted to warn you."

Dana finishes, her eyes distant again, in that way she's done all week,
waiting for Mulder. She leans back and he takes her hand, smoothing his
thumb over her knuckles.

"Well. . .uh. . .I don't know what to say."

She nods, expecting this, expecting us to never believe her.

Maddie stands, prompting everyone else to move forward, start for the
door, our good-byes carrying over the sudden shock of all that has been
revealed.

Just as they start for his car, the woman's walk much more steady, the
man's countenance no longer pale, Maddie calls out, stepping out of my
shadow.

"If it happens. . .come find us. We'll be waiting for you."

I gape at her, but the woman stops, glancing once to Mulder then back to
us.

"When it happens, I promise. We'll come."

Maddie nods tersely, then hugs Dana quickly, her eyes squeezed tightly
shut. She steps away and gets into the car, and I offer a little wave,
even though it feels strange.

Maddie pulls in close to me, shivering as the car turns around in our
gravel drive, then heads back for the county highway. Her body is hot
and small next to mine, her hands reaching for my shirt again to bury
her fingers into my stomach.

"We'll be prepared, Michael."

I turn on her, eyebrow raised. "You believed them."

"Yes."

I shake my head. "Maddie. . .they're obviously really very deranged."

She sighs and tugs my shirt. "You saw what they had, Michael. That kind
of love. . .you can't be deranged and love someone so selflessly."

I smile at her, touching my forehead to hers, lacing my fingers through
her brown thick hair.

"All right, baby. All right. We'll stockpile, we'll get food and a
hideout in the Rockies. We'll be more prepared than the regular
militia."

She grins at me and reaches up to lick my lips with her swift tongue. My
body startles at her bold move, then responds quickly, moving to press
against her.

"And when it happens, they'll come back. We'll be prepared, and we'll
help them, somehow."

Maddie's always wanted to take care of strays, always been the woman
that volunteers her time and love. She's doing it again, and I'll play
along, let her have her fun, let her feel needed and secure.

Becuase if this is the truth, Maddie's planning is going to be the only
thing to get us through alive.
======

end
adios
RM