By Jess Archibald
larchiba@unixg.ubc.ca
 

Date: 27 Nov 1995 07:17:18 GMT

This is a short piece introducing the character of Zoe Bateman, who was
mentioned very briefly in "Commitment" (brownie points for those of you
who know where...) and who will be a major player, along with Shelton, in
"Collusion" which is still in the works.

This story takes place immediately ( and I do mean *immediately*) after
the events in "3" and during and after the events in "One Breath".  No
action or anything remotely X-Filish in this one...just character
introspection and Mulderangst for those of you into that sort of thing.

Copyright stuff:  Characters and situtions copyrighted 1993/1994 by CC
and 10-13 productions blah blah blah...story and the character of Zoe
Bateman copyrighted 1995 by the author.

~~~

Missing
By Jess Archibald
 

Los Angeles, California
November 1994

 Fox Mulder sat on the grassy hill and watched the last ashes of
the fire burn themselves out.  Of the house, there was nothing left but a
few last stubs of wall, reaching towards the heavens with beseeching
skeletal fingers of wood, stained black with soot.  Of Kristen Kilar,
there was nothing more than a phantom dusting of ash that would be
scattered with a gust of wind.  Mulder hoped that her ashes would be
spread over something nice...maybe the Pacific Ocean, whose crisp scent
even now was fighting with the smoke for supremacy of the air.
 The bit of metal between his fingers was warm from the heat of
his hands, but none of that warmth had found its way back into his soul.
The cross of gold might as well have been acting as a heat magnet for all
that he felt the warmth.
 Looking away from the remains of the fire and the firemen, who
were at last satisfied that the blaze was out and wouldn't be starting
all over again, beginning to pack up their equipment and allowing the
forensics team to take over, Mulder stared up at the sky which was
darkening into night, the stars beginning to emerge from their cocoon of
blue sky and white clouds, their  cold light only deepening the chill
that he felt.  It was the blackness between the stars that drew his
attention, a magnet for all the daker impulses inside him.  A blackness
that mocked him with hidden secrets that he was destined never to
discover.  Secrets that hid from him and consumed him and everyone around
him.  It felt like it had consumed him as well, leeching out of him
something that could not be measured or quantified, but was now missing
nonetheless.
 It left him feeling hollow, an empty shell that no one had filled.
 There was a time when staring up at the night sky and seeing the
stars had filled him with hope and excitement.  These days he had
precious little of either and the starry sky did nothing to stimulate them.
 Someone was approaching him, trudging up the hill, a black
trenchcoat lifiting slightly in the breeze that carried the smell of
smoke up into the ether.  One of the firemen broke away to intercept the
newcomer, trying to warn her that the man on the hill wanted nothing to
do with the world.  Mulder heard the murmur of voices, hushed and as
ethereal as the wisps of smoke that still drifted from the ashes.  The
woman shook her head, pushed passsed the firefighter and resumed her
climb, coming to a stop in front of Mulder, crouching next to him.
 "Mulder?"
 He looked at her, not knowing who she was, seeing the curly black
hair and reminded of another dark haired woman who had shown him how to
believe in the unbelievable, seeing the gray eyes, their frankness
reminding him of a red-haired woman who had shown him how to find the
lies.  The loss of both these other women weighed heavily on him and the
sight of this unfamiliar woman before him filled him with dread because
if she came to know him, if she came to trust him, she would be lost too.
 "Mulder," she repeated firmly, ducking her head slightly against
a sudden gust of wind that blew acrid, smoke tinged air at them.
 He nodded once to show he was listening.
 "My name's Zoe Bateman and I'm here to take you back to your
hotel," she siad, easing a hand towards his shoulder like she was
approaching a coiled snake that might attack at any moment, her movement
slow and deliberate.  "You can't stay here all night..."
 he found his voice then, one roughed by emotion.  "Who sent you?"
 "No one sent me," she soothed.  "I'm here to help you."
 "You're with the Bureau." It was a statement, not a question.
 "Yes."
 He pulled away from her, almost knocking himself over in the
process, making her rise to her feet, hands spread wide in a gesture of
peace, her white skin a pale flash of light amidst the dark.
 "Mulder, I work for the Bureau but I'm not here at the Bureau's
behest.  i'm here because I'm a friend of someone who thought -- thinks
-- a lot of you and she wouldn't want you to be out here by yourself -- "
 "Scully," he whispered.
 She nodded.  "Dana's an old friend of mine...she told me a lot
about you, Mulder."
 "Easy enough words to say."
 her gray eyes hardened, turning from the warmth of a kitten to
the coldness of the slate sky.  "There's paranoia, Mulder, and then
there's you.  Do you *want* to stay out here all night?  L.A.'s L.A. but
everywhere cools off at night."
 Mulder looked up to the sky then back to the woman in front of
him.  He didn't know her, she could be lying.
 The gold cross in his fingers seemed to wink at him in the fading
light, saying *take a chance*.  he could almost hear its owner chiding
him for his incessant attitude of suspicion and paranoia.
 She extended a hand towards him and he took it.

******************************************
 
 Zoe watched the man across from her with appraising eyes.  She'd
convince him to let her buy him dinner.  From the look of things, he
needed to get some food into him and soon.  He had only nodded listlessly
and allowed her to steer him into the first restaurant she spotted.
 Dana hadn't mentioned the fact the Mulder was so cold and aloof,
but then again, a lot of people had said the same thing about both her
and Dana at the academy.  She'd learned not to put a lot of faith in what
other people said.  And if what half of Dana's e-mail and calls said was
true, Mulder had every right to put the world at arm's length.
 Right now, he had the look that said every friend he had in the
world had just left him hanging and she was determined not to let him
hang himself.  But the first step had to be the opening of the lines of
communication and that was up to her.
 she started with the most important thing they had in common,
which ran deeper than the fact they were both FBI agents.
 "I spoke to Margaret.  Dana's mother."
 Mulder's head jerked up from its comtemplation of the water glass
in front of him, his eyes simultaneously softening and saddening at the
mention of that name.
 "I asked her what had happened...after the word came down from my
ASAC that Dana had been abducted and a country wide alert had gone out to
all the regional offices, I was frantic.  Maggie couldn't tell me
much...I guess I was hoping that you could tell me more..."  She lowered
her gaze not wanting her expression to force him.  it had to be his
decision to open up to her.
 "Is that why you came out to Kristen's?"
 Kristen's?  That was the name of the dead woman, the one presumed
to be the victim.  It was unusual for Mulder to address her in this
fashion...which sent alarm bells screaming in Zoe's head.  If she was
right, then Mulder had just lost someone else...and if word ever got back
to the so-called "proper" channels, he'd be in a lot of trouble.
 Zoe forced her voice to its normal register.  "yes, it is.  When
I heard you were out there, I thought I'd come get you."
 "That must have gone over well."
 She shrugged.  "I didn't really notice."
 Actually, she had.  It would have been hard not to.  Her partner,
Ryan MacIntyre, had complained bitterly, but he was an idiot, so she
didn't usually let his feelings get in the way of her doing what she wanted.
 The twitch of a smile that flittered across Mulder's face showed
that he didn't really believe her, but was letting the matter stand.
 Their food arrived before she could say anything else, the waiter
placing a plate of steaming pasta in front of Mulder and a tossed salad
in front of her.
 When he was gone, Zoe pointed her fork briefly in the direction
of Mulder's neck.  "that cross.  It's Dana's isn't it?  Maggie said that
you had it."
 That won him over, she could tell.  No one else would have known
what the cross meant or why Mulder had it.
 "I found it...I found it in the trunk of her car."  There was
pain in his eyes.
 "Tell me what happened, Mulder," she whispered.  "you have to
tell someone before it eats away at you.  It might as well be someone who
needs to know...and I need to know..."

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

 It had been a long time since Mulder had someone to open up
with.  Months in fact.  he'd spoken to Margaret several times, of course,
but he couldn't tell her about everything surrounding her daughter's
disappearance.  But Zoe Bateman understood.  Once by the virture that she
was an agent and knew what some of the findings meant; he could tell that
by the way she shut her eyes with pain once or twice as he went on.
Twice by the virtue that to her, Dana Scully was *not* just another
statistic, another agent, that other Bureau workers had known but not
very well, but a real person, someone that had been known well and was
sorely missed.
 Before he knew what was happening, he had told her about Kristen
as well, about the vampires.  She had looked shocked but didn't
contradict him, didn't tell him that vampires didn't exist.  For that
Mulder was grateful.  When he was done, she leaned back in her seat and
studied him carefully.
 "Well, that certainly clarifies some of the details that were
absent from the missing person's report on Dana.  Gave me a bad feeling
when I saw it and realized that someone had been playing merry hell with
the information.  That only happens when something major goes down and
the brass doesn't want us little people to know about it."
 Mulder nodded, taking a another drink from his glass, feeling the
soreness of  muscles taxed by being tossed around by vampires who were
literally blood thirsty.  Another thing he was grateful for was that
Bateman hadn't started in on him for the situation with Kristen.  he
didn't think he could handle that right now.
 "It's hard to believe that Scully's still out there and that
she's alive," he said in a hushed voice, almost afraid to meet her eyes.
"Sometimes I think that we'll never find her."
 "We have to keep the faith, Mulder," she said simply, gaze drawn
to the chain around his neck.
 He looked up and noticed.  "Are you Catholic?"
 She started to chuckle.  "No!  No. I'm an atheist."
 "What's so funny about that?"
 "Dana.  She's not exactly the most devout Catholic, but her
mother is.  I spent Christmas with her family once and Maggie dragged us
all to Mass on Christmas Eve...first time I've ver stepped into a church
and I was a real religious ignoramus...Dana had to stop me from placing
my donation in the Holy Water..."
 Mulder had to laugh.
 She shrugged.  "Too much time around wishing wells as a kid, I guess."
 Later, Mulder realized that Bateman had successfully turned the
conversation around, emphasizing the positive memories they had of Dana
Scully, sharing them, enjoying them and would wonder at the fact that as
a psychologist, he didn't pick up on her tactic sooner.  But for the
moment, he didn't notice as the desire to find his missing partner was
rekindled and the drive that had been missing found its way back into his
soul. By the time she put him on the plane back to Washington the next
morning, Mulder, while not light hearted, at least felt more prepared to
deal with things than he had been.
 As she walked him to the gate, Bateman pressed a card in his hand.
 "My home, beeper, and cellular numbers are on there," she said.
"I want you to call me if you find anything or if you need to talk some
more."
 "I promise," he said, putting the rectangular piece of paper in
his pocket and turning to board the plane, merging with the stream of
people who pushed and jostled their way along, once more losing himself
into the anonymity of the crowd.

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

Sveral days later
Georgetown Medical Center
Washington, D.C.
5:16 a.m. E.S.T.

 Mulder was frantic.
 Scully was back, that wasn't the problem anymore, the problem was
that she was dying and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
He wanted to take his Sig Sauer and do some damage to something
or someone, preferably something related to the government, but he
didn't.  Melissa Scully had convinced him to abandon his last hope for
revenge and spend the last hours of Scully's life letting her know that
he was there, if not for her, than at least for himself.  Mulder didn't
put much stock in Melissa's New Age, everyone is good deep down inside,
love and beloved philosophy, but she did have a point.
 But he didn't want his last memories of his partner to be sitting
beside her comatose form, holding a hand that was flaccid and
unresponsive, while the only sound he could hear was the mechanical buzz
of machinery, the only smell that of stale sweat and countless
illnesses.  With his eidetic memory, he would relive it over and over.
It wasn't the way he wanted to remember her.
 It wasn't the way she should die.
 But he stayed.  Now that he was here, he couldn't imagine leaving
her like this.  Every time she took in a breath, he was terrified it
would be her last and time took on a kind of hypnotic quality as he
watched her, almost as if by sheer will he could make her lungs inflate
and her heart pump.
 It was well past five in the morning when he remembered Zoe Bateman.
 "Scully," he said, hoping that somewhere she was listening, "I've
got to go make a phone call, but I'll be right back, I promise."  He
squeezed her hand tightly, then placed it gently back on the bed, rising
out of his seat, feeling his body protest after sitting still for so
long.  he didn't want to leave her, even for the brief time it would take
to call Bateman, for his career had taught him that life could be
extinguished in much less than the time it took to make a phone call.
 But he had promised Bateman.

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

Los Angeles
2:23 a.m. P.S.T.

 Zoe groaned as her phone rang, dragging a pillow over her head,
wondering if she could be lucky enough to 'accidentally' suffocate
herself.  She'd spent the last twenty-four hours working a case with her
chauvnistic neanderthal of a partner and had lterally collapsed on her
bed after coming home.
 The answering machine picked up on the third ring and she lifted
one end of the pillow gingerly to make sure she could hear in case it was
important.
 "This is special Agent Zoe Bateman.  I'm unavailable right now
but please leave a message and I will return your call.  BREEP!"
 She had found sticking 'Special Agent' in her message deterred
prank callers although her occasional significant others hinted heavily
that they wanted to know just what the special part was.  Sexists.
 "Bateman, it's Mulder," said her caller, voice tight with
emotion.  "Call me when you get this message.  I'm at Georgetown Medical
Center in D.C. and they've found Scully -- "
 She snatched up the phone.  "I'm here, Mulder, go ahead."
 "Bateman, listen to me.  Scully's ... dammit, she's dying."
 "Oh god."  Bad choice of words for an atheist.
 "The doctors don't know what's wrong with her and they can't come
up with a solution."  he lost her with a discourse on branched DNA and
alien experiments but she got the gist of it.
 "Mulder...*Mulder*!" she interupted finally.  "go back and stay
with her.  I'm coming on the next flight...tell her I'm on my way."
 "Bateman, she's in a *coma*!"
 "Just *tell* her, dammit, Mulder!" she snapped, already reaching
for her purse and to hell with changin her clothes.  'If I don't make it
in time, I want her to know I tried."  She flet like she wanted to cry.
 Mulder was silent for a moment.  Then, "I'll let her know."
 "Thank you."
 She threw the receiver donw and bolted for the door, one hand
locking it behind her, the other using her cellular to phone in to the
Bureau and let them know she wouldn't be at work for the next few days.
 

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

Three hours later
Alexandria, Virginia

 Mulder pushed open the door to his apartment to see the swath of
destruction that awaited him.
 The mess was worse than the time he had searched for a government
listening devie and tore up nearly everything he could get his hands on.
He remembered Scully's expression when she had seen the chaos he had
orchestrated...
 Stumbling in like a sleep walker, he noted the wreckage with
detachment, only mildly relieved they hadn't smashed his fish tank, until
he realized he had neglected to feed his fish for so long that half of
them were dead anyway.
 Dead...
 he had left the hospital at Margaret Scully's ordering.  She had
spent the night in a waiting lounge with Melissa and upon discovering the
haggard Mulder, still at Scully's bedside, holding her hand, had told him
to go home and rest.  He hadn't watned to go, but Melissa assured him she
would call if anything changed.
 He knew it would change.
 Early morning sunlight was streaming in the living room window,
bathing the wreckage of his apartment in yellow warmth.  He couldn't
bring himself to enter the light, part of him still clinging to the
darkness Melissa had accused him of reveling in just over twelve hours
ago.
 Instead, he slumped against the entrance way, sliding down until
he huddled on the floor, sobbing, a broken figure amongst a broken home.

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

MISSING part two by Jess Archibald

Three hours later
Dulles Airport

 Zoe pushed her way through the throngs of people to emerge out
the front doors into the Washington daylight.  A line of taxicabs were
waiting for passengers, light glinting off their shiny paint jobs.
 She cut in front of an irate man in a well cut business suit, who
started to grab her arm to haul her out of the cab she ducked into.
 "Hang on, lady," he started, but she shoved her badge in his face.
 "FBI," she snapped.  "Federal emergency, sir.  You'll have to
take the next one."  Diving back into the car, she turned to the
driver.  "Georgetown Medical Center as fast as you can.  I'll double the
fare, just go, don't stop!"
 To his creidt, when faced with a wild eyed woman, claiming to be
a federal agent and probably carrying a  gun, the cabby didn't hesitate,
but took off with a squeal of tires, throwing her back against the seat.
 They made good time and true to her word, Zoe left a heavy tip as
she scrambled out of the vehicle to dart through the front doors of the
hospital.
 "Bateman."
 She heard Mulder before she saw him whirlling as he came off an
elevator.  He'd been crying and not that long ago.
 Oh hell.
 "No, Mulder," she said, feeling tears of her own welling.  She'd
tried so hard to get out here, pushing federal authority well past its
liimits to get a plane ticket, making sure she was the first person off
the plane..."No."
 He placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning down a little to
look her in the eye.
 And grinnned.
 "She's all right."
 Zoe felt her mouth drop open.  "But you said..."
 "I know, I know.  No one knows how, but she's come out of the
coma.  She doesn't  remember anything, but that might be just as well
for right now...but she's awake and talking to her mother nad Melissa."
When her jaw didn't return to its normal position, Mulder closed it for
her with a finger under her chin.  "come one, Bateman, my turn to buy the
food."
 He steered her to the hospital cafeteria.
 "I want to see her."
 "I know, but I just left her with her family.  She's tired."
 "Mulder, I just flew across a continent to get here.  I want to
see her."
 He nodded again, grinned boysihly.  "Give it a little while."
 Her stomach growled at that moment.
 "You're out voted, Bateman."
 She began to laugh, she couldn't help it.  She'd just rushed
cross country to what was surely her friend's death bed, but Dana was
fine, Mulder was buying her breakfast and her stomach was rumbling loud
enough it probably would have woken Dana from her coma all on its own.
 Mulder started to laugh as well.  he couldn't stop.  They earned
disapproving glares from hospital staff as they fell into wating room
chairs, laughing until their sides ached and they couldn't catch their
breath.

*

 Dana Scully barely had the strength to turn her head as the door
to her rooom swung open again.
 Everything was still hazy, like glimpsed through a fog, but her
mother had assured her she was safe here, that Mulder had arranged for
guards to be posted as a precaution but there was nothing to worry about.
 But there was ablank spot in her memory that frightened her like
nothing else could.
 She thought it might be Mulder returning, her mother and Melissa
having left to give her some time, but she didn't think Mulder could stay
away for long.  She had seen the fear and joy fighting in his eyes and
knew he was still worried.
 But it wasn't Mulder who stuck a curly mop of hair inside.
 "Dana?" whispered Zoe Bateman softly.
 "Zoe?"  She was surprised.  But then she remembered hearing a
voice, Mulder's voice, telling her that Zoe was coming as fast as she
could, and suddenly it didnt' seem so strange to see her slipping inside
the room.
 "Mulder called me," Zoe said by way of explanation, coming up
along side the bed, a relieved smile on her face.
 this was odd, because as far as Dana knew, Mulder didn't even
know Zoe Bateman existed, and the confusion must have shown on her face,
because Zoe's smile grew crooked for a moment.
 "He was out in L.A. on a case about a week back," she said.  'I
heard he was in town and hunted him up."
 "A week?  Mulder hasn't gone to California recently."
 Zoe's face froze.
 Dana looked out the window, studying the sunlight pouring in.  It
was weaker than it should have been for August...which meant it wasn't
August anymore.
 "Zoe, what month is it?"
 "Dana, can't you do this later?"
 "Zoe."
 The dark haired woman swallowed.  "It's November."
 "*November*?!"

**********

 Zoe watched as Dana struggled to reconcile this information.
 <I shouldn't have told her,> she thought.  <I should have waited,
let the doctors tell her...>
 The door to the room popped open and Zoe spun to face the
newcomer, a well tanned doctor in his fifties, who looked surprised to
see anyone but Dana in the room.
 "Excuse me," he said and withdrew,, leaving Zoe staring after him
for a long moment.
 Dana caught her attention again by whispering very softly, "But I
dno't remember..."
 Zoe turned back   "That's natural, Dana , a reaction to stress..."
 "Don't analyze my behaviour, Zoe."
 "Sorry, can't help it."
 "Does Mulder know you're a psychologist as well?"
 Zoe smirked, thinking that her treatment of him in L.A. wouldn't
have worked half as well if he knew she was as much a psychologist as he
was.  "The subject never came up."
 Dana nodded.  "God, I'm tired."
 "I'll leave if you want."
 "I don't mind the company..."  The request was plaintive and by
the time Mulder came back into the room, both women were asleep, Dana
in the bed and Zoe in a chair nearby.
 He smiled slightly and pulled the blinds, pulling up another chair
and waited patiently, the semi-darkness of the room a pale shade of what
it had been when even in the blinding light of day, a dark blanket had
hung over the hospital not that long ago.

********

Two days later
Skyland Mountain, Virginia
11:39 p.m.

 Muler sat on the grass of the mountain top and stared out into
the night sky.
 The stars were out agaiin and this time their presence was like a
gentle warmth, their light filling the gaps of darkness and banishing
them from sight and from mind.
 Someone was approaching him, black trenchcoat being lifted by the
gently teasing currents of the wind which carried the soft scent of pine
trees along the top of the mountain.
 "Skinner told me I might find you here," said Zoe Bateman,
sitting down beside him.
 "Skinner?"  That surprised him.
 "Yeah.  Your AD.  He said he thought you'd been coming up here a
lot since...since Dana disappeard..."
 he nodded.  "It looks different now."
 "What does?"
 "This whole place."  he looked over at her then gestured all
around.  "I guess I couldn't see it before, I was too angry, too upset,
but it really is a very beautiful place."
 She smiled.  "Almost everywhere is, Mulder, you just need to know
how to look at it."
 "That your own personal philosophy, Bateman?
 "Uh-huh."
 "Not bad."
 "Well, it's not 'trust no one' but I think it's a little bit more
up beat."  She grinned briefly at the look he shot over at her.
 He laughed then sobered.  "Scully's coming back to the X-Files."
 "I thought she was assigned to Quantico."
 "Skinner stopped by and told her that the section had been
reopened and asked her if she wanted to return...she wanted to know why I
didn't tell her myself..."
 "Why didn't you?"
 "I don't want her involved anymore, Bateman.  It's too dangerous."
 "For her or for you?"
 "What the hell is that suposed ot mean?"
 "Mulder, you nearly fell apart in California.  I saw you,
remeber?"  I think you're afraid of losing Dana again now that she's bacik."
 "I t happened once, it could happen again."
 "Mulder, Dana isn't your sister."
 He looked at her, startled.  "Did Scully tell you about her?"  He
was angry now.
 "It was in your file, Mulder.  I saw it before I met you."
 "And from that one look you're assuming I've got a complex, right?"
 "Do you?"  Her question was appraising, her tone cool.
 The breath eased out of him and he stared back up at the sky,
seeking advice from a silent multitude of witnesses, who twinkled back
at him.
 "Maybe.  I don't know."
 She nodded, satisfied.  "At least you're acknowledging that it's
possible."
 He looked down from the mountain, towards a world below that
spread out before him like a carpet of darkness interspersed with
lights.   Someone had to be the one to look in the dark to reveal the
light it covered; it might as well be him.  But he didn't want to do it
alone.
 "Maybe her coming back won't be so bad," he said, half to
himself, but Bateman heard him anyway.
 She patted his shoulder.  "It probably won't."  She stood to go.
"I've got a plane to catch back to L.A. before my ASAC has me fired."
 He looked up at her and smiled a thank-you.  She grinned back,
spun on her heel and walked away, a figure receding back into the night.
 "Take care of yourself, Mulder,  Dana's going to need someone
right now who's got the strength enough for two, although she'd rather
die than admit it.  Work together, support each other and it'll be just
fine."
 She waved without turning around.
 "And if you need help from someone else, you both know where to
find me..."
 And she was gone.
 He thought about her last words, about how Scully would rather
die than admit she needed someone.
 <I had the strength of your beliefs.>
 Scully had said that to him in the hospital.
 Fox Mulder stared up at the night sky and smiled.

*******
THE END

Let me know what you thought.  This isn't my usual sort of story and I
hope you liked the experiment and Bateman, 'cause she's going to be
around for a while.  Also the doctor that stuck his head in the room is
Dr Taylor who was behind the plot in "Commitment".
 Jess
 larchiba@unixg.ubc.ca