By Jo Jo lee
JoJolee203@aol.com or Joeyleenaz@aol.com

PG to N17
SK/M  slash
A/U
1/19
Disclaimer: All X-File characters belong to somebody other than
myself. No profit, Just fun.

Summary: Skinner and Mulder work together to solve a few mysteries.
Totally A/U. I changed history-I changed quite a bit, but there are a
lot of recognizable elements. No aliens, all human skullduggery.
 
 
 
 

Hoover Building
June 27

 Skinner wearily leaned back and rubbed the bridge of his
nose.  It was late and he was tired and he was more than aggravated
with Director Sikora's latest whim.  God, what was the man thinking?
He was actually creating a whole new department because his
temperamental pet couldn't  play nice down in Peterson's playroom!

 The guy had only five years in the bureau and Sikora had made
him a department head!  Many men, good men, went their entire careers
and never became heads of their own department.  A department of one
what a crock!  X-Files, cold cases, tabloid stuff, a stupid waste of
time!  Shit!  Now he was AD over two departments.  Violent Crimes
(VCU), which numbered over 40,000 agents nationwide and the X-Files
which numbered one!  Of course, the guy would be working half of his
time lent out to VCU under Reg Pardue, the SAIC of the DC Bureau.
That was the deal that the Director had struck with Agent Mulder to
keep him in the Bureau.

Since when do mere agents strike deals with the Director of the FBI?
Since they have congressional contacts, hail from Martha's Vineyard
and get their doctorate at Oxford.  Shit, Skinner hated this.  He
straightened in his chair and with a grimace reached for the
personnel file he had avoided all afternoon.
 

Basement/ Hoover Building

 Mulder walked in the door and flipped on the light in his new
work place.  The light illuminated the small room and the heavy
coating of dust on the file cabinets and the dilapidated desk which
valiantly stood on it's three legs.  There was no chair and no phone.
To Mulder, it looked like heaven.  It was his.  No more Peterson, no
more hassles with his colleagues.  No more marathon profiling.  No
more walking on the edge of a breakdown with no net.  Peace, of a
sort.  He would be working on the X-Files and VCU, but only under
Reggie.

 He had always liked Reggie Pardue and had worked well with
him and as for AD Skinner, well, Peterson had said he was a straight
laced bastard.  Must be something good about Skinner if Peterson
disliked him so much.  And the X-Files!  He had always been intrigued
by their existence and could not wait to get his hands on them.  He
theorized that there would be links between some of the cases and
that some would be solvable.

The Bureau, just like any bureaucracy, lost sight of and buried
information in the glut and hectic pace of cases accumulating through
time.  Cases got stalled and dismissed, then set aside and forgotten
like that of his sister's.  Abducted, September 27th, 1973-FBI File X-
24765.  An X-file, forgotten by anyone in a position to solve it,
until now.  He shook his head and sat on the filthy floor and started
making out requisitions to give Skinner in the morning to transform
this basement copy room into the X-File department office.

Skinner put the last signed expense report in his out basket and
stared at the personnel file he was still avoiding.  He had to read
it.  He had a meeting with the guy in the morning.  He had to be
prepared.  God, how he hated having the guy rammed down his throat!
Why couldn't he just be transferred to VCU?  Then he would report to
Reg, not me.   However, he was a fucking department head, so he has
to report right to me how wonderful! Shit!  Him and his connections*
Skinner got up quickly and headed for his coffee machine.  He  hated
connections and the pricks who went with them.

 Skinner had become an AD at the unheard age of  35, and had
done it without any connections.  He had been holding his own for two
years against some very connected pricks and other assorted assholes
with just his work to support him.  Truthfully, Sikora had supported
him and been largely responsible for his rapid rise.  However,
Skinner had earned Sikora's support beginning way back in Nam.  OK, it
was a connection of sorts, made in blood, not the happenstance of a
fortunate birth.  Putting his coffee cup on the desk, he sat and
settled himself down to read the file.  Damm, it was thick!

 Skinner finished the file and sat back.  No wonder the
Director had wanted to keep Mulder.  He had been right to yank him
away from Peterson.  Peterson was burning Mulder out and wasting
him.  Mulder had a 200+ IQ and close to an endemic memory.  He had an
excellent solve rate and on some very impressive and difficult
cases.  Skinner had heard of   Peterson's golden boy , "Spooky",  but
it hadn't occurred to Skinner that "Spooky" was Mulder.

 Most of Mulder's time had been spent in the 60 foot deep pit
at Quantico where Peterson had worked him long and hard.  Reg had
occasionally appropriated him and taken him into the field to work.
Mulder had done well, but it was apparent that Peterson had not given
Mulder any time to decompress from those field cases.  No wonder the
Bureau skinks were concerned with Mulder's mental health.

 The Bureau skinks had diagnosed Mulder as having an acute
case of Post Traumatic Syndrome acute? Not good.  This resulted in
Mulder having a sleep disorder and various stress related symptoms.
Mulder also had a problem with anger...oh joy.  His occasional
tantrums were taken out, usually, on his office trash can.  Skinner
wondered where Mulder's anger had  been expressed when it wasn't in
it's "usual" mode.   Really, it had to read worse then it was.

Mulder was field certified, after all.  If it was as bad as it read,
Mulder wouldn't even be an agent.  There were quite a few Nam vets
serving in the Bureau with PST, himself included.  How in the hell
did a 28 year old, non vet acquire an acute case of  PTS?  However,
that bit about his sister was unsettling to say the least, as well as
the fact that the FBI Personnel Department was listed as next of
kin.  Skinner could well image that Mulder had been vulnerable to
Peterson's manipulations and quilt laden mind games.

Sikora, presented with a Peterson created workaholic who needed down
time, probably thought the X-Files were a pretty clever ploy when
Mulder asked for them.  It had been evident that Sikora did not
expect a lot  from the X-Files and had not mentioned any enlargement
of the `department'.  His apparent goal was to preserve Mulder for
the VCU cases, trusting Reg Purdue would not misuse Mulder.

Skinner sighed, yea, he could see why Sikora wanted to grab this guy
away from Peterson and save him for the Bureau, but to create a whole
department and make him a department head was way over the top.  The
guy was only 28 and he fucking didn't like it.
 

Next Morning
Hoover Building
Office of AD Skinner

Skinner was giving his `welcome aboard and here are my expectations
speech' by rote as he examined his new agent.  Damm!  Mulder was
gorgeous!  This kind of distraction, he did not need.  Those eyes,
that lip, those long elegant fingers*that long lean package was
beautiful to him.  Damm. He did not indulge in that part of his
personal life.  He couldn't afford to.  He had worked too hard to
throw it away on a transient pleasure.  He could live without it and
had lived without it for a long time.  But damm, he could live easier
without this kind of reminder of what he lacked in his life.  He was
finally winding up and hoped he had covered all the points.  He had
stopped listening to himself a while back.

"Are there any questions, Agent Mulder?"

The young agent sat a bit straighter and reached into his pocket and
put a small pile of requisitions on Skinner's desk.

"Sir, there are for my office.  I'm already sorting through the X-
Files and the sooner these are approved and ordered, the sooner I can
get to work."

"Agent Mulder go see maintenance and see if they can supply you with
a desk and a chair*ask about the light fixture and office supplies.
I'll approve the rest.  Unlike Quantico, in this building, furniture
is never ordered, just resurrected from some long forgotten corner."

The young agent grinned and Skinner clenched his jaw.  Damm, he had a
nice voice and that grin was too cute.  Damm.  Before he could stop
himself, he heard himself asking, "Why did you want to work with the
X-Files?"

Mulder started in with youthful enthusiasm, how Skinner loathed
youthful enthusiasm.  Mulder continued to expound about all he hoped
to fine.  Links, strange occurrences, did he actually say something
about werewolves and vampire legends?  After about five minutes,
Mulder sat back and captured Skinner's attention as he concluded in a
soft voice.

"There are a lot of forgotten cases that might be solved for the
families.  To have closure, an answer, even a possible recovery of a
victim.  You probably read in my file that my sister's case is still
unsolved.  I have personal experience of what it's like to have a
family member disappear with no explanation year after year.  The
dust is thick on my sister's file and on all the other disappearances
and homicides that were not solved.  I'm anxious to wipe all that
dust away and reexamine them and see if there is any substance to
build on."

Skinner was impressed in spite of himself.  The young agent's motives
were genuine, not just some scheme to play some sort of game in the
basement.  Skinner nodded his head and launched  into his `new
department head, ASAC, lead agent speech' and had to concentrate to
alter it.  Having no subordinates in one's department made much of
the speech irrelevant.  However, the department's head
responsibilities and procedures with their AD had to be covered.

 Finally, Skinner finished and dismissed his new agent.  As Mulder
exited to start his search for office furniture, Skinner slumped in
his chair.  Maybe he needed to make time to go out.  Maybe a weekend
trip to Boston or Baltimore.  The thought of a one night stand
depressed him, but he needed something.  He had to keep
his `difference' out of the office at all costs.

Six Weeks Later
Hoover Building
Office of AD Skinner

"Agent Pardue, he did what?"  Skinner bellowed across his desk.
Agent Pardue simply shrugged.

"To summarize what Keswick said, Mulder threw a tantrum, ditched the
team and went after the SUB alone.  He caught up with him and his
next victim.  Saved the victim, apprehended the SUB and handcuffed
him to a object D' art at Museum of Natural Science and got himself
knifed.  He finally called for back-up before he lost consciousness.
Nothing vital was damaged and he will be released from the hospital
in a couple of days.  Oh ya, the object D' art is now an object D'
junk and  I suspect we'll be hearing form the city of Los Angeles ."

"He's crazy!  Why didn't Keswick and the team back him up?"

"You'll have to ask Keswick, but I have seen that Mulder is hard to
follow at times, he moves too quickly to a solution and can't or
won't take the time to explain if he thinks if could cost a life or
miss the SUB.  This time he was right.  The victim would have been
dead and dumped if Mulder had not run off.  However, he's going to
end up dead, doing this shit.  The offices should be advised to
follow his lead.  His solve rate if nothing else should reassure
them.  It won't cost much if he's wrong.  He's not so ego driven that
he won't tear up his own profile as readily as he tears up all the
previous work on a case when he gets called in. And he does junk the
work done on a case when he's called in and rearranges the people.
This hardly endears our intrepid profiler to his colleagues.  Agent
Mulder has got to learn some people skills other than pissing people
off."

Skinner rubbed the bridge of his nose.  "A partner would help, still
no bites on the position?"

Pardue shook his head no.  "No one wants to side track their career
by moving to the X-Files, even part time.  The budget this quarter
only gives you one part-time person, right?"  Pardue continued at
Skinner's nod.  "I think  you need to extend the offer to Quantico.
Someone may want to do field work badly enough to split time between
here and Quantico."

"All I need is another profiler!"

Pardue leaned forward, "No, not a profiler, maybe a pathologist. You
know how incompetent a lot of local police pathologists are.  On
those X-Files cases it might be really useful.  What did Mulder say
those pucture marks were?"

At Skinner's pained expression, Pardue quickly continued.  "Whatever,
anyway the doc could go with Mulder in the field, both on VCU and X-
File cases and leave the research to Mulder while they continue their
work at Quantico.  It may be the best we can do for now."

Skinner nodded his head and said, "Go and work on it.  Let me know as
soon as you have anyone, but make sure they have or get their field
qualification.  I wouldn't think too many would have it.  That will
be all, Agent Pardue."

Skinner bent his head and rubbed his temples.  He could feel another
headache coming on.  Mulder, how could he be so reckless?  But, he
did save that woman and he was hurting and alone in a L.A. hospital.
He'd have a `chat' with him later.  Right now he'd call the hospital
and see how he was doing.  Next, he was going to contact Agent
Keswick and nail his hide to the wall.

City of Angels Hospital
Room 1013

Mulder woke up in a foul mood.  He was hurting and he was hooked up
to more junk than was comfortable.  He hated hospitals, the smells,
the noises, the food, the hospital gowns, the doctors, the nurses,
but most of all the way they made him feel.  Anxious, he didn't trust
medical anything.  He was a terrible patient, almost rude but too
frightened to take it too far.

Frightened? Yea, he wished he could find another adjective, but it
seemed to fit.  Probably too many visits to emergency rooms as kid.
Ah hell, it was lunch time, he could smell the food. Yuck.  He'd have
to eat it if he wanted out.  He watched in mild amazement as his
roommate was served lunch and he was passed by.  What luck?

Twenty minutes later, Agent Keswick came in and dumped a Wendy's sack
on Mulder's lap and sat a large ice tea on his table.  Agent Keswick
was in his mid-forties, of average height, black hair worn a bit long
and a thick build. His linebacker body communicated that he did not
enjoy fetching and that he was not happy to be where he was.

As Mulder looked at the wonderful smelling sack in surprise,
Keswick's baritone finally stated, `Heard from AD Skinner and he
ordered me to bring you your lunch from Wendy's.  Connors will bring
you your Frosty plus another ice tea this afternoon.  I'm suppose to
apologize, but I can't do that yet.  I'm still too mad.  I'll see you
tomorrow when I bring you your lunch.'  With that Agent Keswick
turned on his heel and marched out of the room.  Mulder looked up
from the sack and watched Keswick leave, too shocked to thank him. He
rearranged his IV tube and decided to put his open mouth to good use
and excitedly started to eat his hamburger and fries.

In the middle of his repast, Nurse Barnes came in to check his
hookups and told him that AD Skinner had called yesterday and had
asked about his condition.  Somehow, she had mentioned his numerous
complaints and requests for real food.  She also remarked that she
was grateful that someone in the FBI had mercy on the poor nurses who
had to take care of him.  She grinned and said she expected a bit of
peace from him and she would be back after he ate to give him his
pain killer and that she expected no complaints.

How in the world did Skinner know what he liked puzzled Mulder.  Of
course, his expense reports. Those stupid receipts were so itemized
now, all Skinner had to do was to dig one out.  And he did dig it
out.  Why would he do that?  Mulder knew that Skinner had to be mad
at him for ditching the team and getting hurt.  Why would he go out
of his way to do such a nice thing for him?  Incredibly, he felt his
eyes begin to tear.  It had been a very long time since he could
remember anybody going out of their way to do something nice for
him.  He smiled, it really was nice and the delivery service was very
inventive.

Next Day
Out and About in L.A.

Agent Keswick was having a very bad day.  He suspected that his
loving wife of eighteen years had been hiding from him this morning
and that his children were avoiding him.  He couldn't blame them.
That brat, Mulder had pushed every button he had and then proceeded
to identify the SUB, capture the SUB and rescue the next intended
victim all in four days proving that their previous two months of
work had been worthless.  Three victims had died during those two
months and Mulder ended up getting hurt.  The idiot could have been
killed.  Dammit!  He should have listened to Mulder, should have
looked at the kid's solve rate should have, should have, should have,
shit.  He smacked the steering wheel impatiently.  Would this fucking
drive through line ever move?

Keswick cringed when he thought of AD Skinner's dressing down
yesterday.  He had never received on like that ever, not even as a
rookie.  Well, he could probably kiss any promotion good-bye while
Skinner was AD.  Skinner would not forget this little event.  Still
sitting in the drive through line, only four cars back now, his cell
phone rang.  He grabbed it and barked `Keswick'.  He muffled a groan
when he heard `AD Skinner, here. Agent Keswick have you delivered
Agent Mulder's lunch yet?'  Keswick sat up straight, `No Sir, I'm
waiting in the drive through now.'

`Good, when you deliver Agent Mulder's lunch today, I want you two to
review the case citing ways in which each of you could have made this
case proceed more smoothly.  I want a report from each of you and I
want each of you to sign off on the other's report.  Don't bother to
get them typed, just fax them to me.  I want to have them no later
than 5 P.M.  That would be EST.  Understood?'  Keswick answered
meekly, `Yes Sir.'  There was an abrupt click. `Ah, shit!'

Later that Day
City of Angels Hospital
Room 1013

In the first half hour, the nurses almost kicked Keswick out twice.
The fucking little bastard was stubborn, was obnoxious and
unfortunately, right. Keswick was in no mood to get his nose rubbed
in his failure, so the `meeting' was loud and he hadn't had his lunch
yet.  He had promised  Molly, his wife, he'd stay on his fucking diet
for his blood pressure, but those French fries smelled sooo good and
the fucking little bastard was not sharing.  He should have gotten
his own, but he could never get away with lying to Molly.  Somehow,
she always knew.  Should have been a FBI agent herself.  As these and
other worthless little thoughts jammed into a wall of hunger and
fatigue, he slumped in the undersized chair beside the hospital bed
and looked at the kid and bellowed.

`OK!  I was wrong.  I'm sorry it resulted in you getting hurt.  I
didn't want to give up the paradigm we were working under and waste
time and resources to run off on a wild goose chase.  I don't trust
you DC boys with doctorates.  Academics playing at law enforcement.
You did nothing to change my mind.  Rushed in and took over, trashed
two months of hard work with hardly looking at it and made it plain
that you considered us idiots.  Well, I guess we were but shit.'

Mulder looked at the large man uncomfortably slumped in the chair and
thought, he's not an evil person and not a bad agent.  The strand
they had been investigating had been logical, but should have been
abandoned long before.  They should have had the resources field
profiler long before he was called in.  That had not been Keswick's
fault.  He had called Quantico and had a quick telephone profile
done.  However, from the crime scene information it should have been
referred to a field profiler.  Patterson had not caught it.

Mulder also knew that he had never been good inspiring people to go
where he lead.  For a Doctor of Psychology, he was a pretty poor
people handler.  He had a tendency to become so focused on the case
hat his colleagues were just more hands to cover the work.  He had
never learned to `play nice' as Reg had told him more than once.
Well, a bit of patching  up couldn't hurt.  Keswick was not an
asshole, just an overworked FBI agent who had tried to do a good job.

Mulder bowed his head and said with a soft voice, `I'm sorry.'

Keswick blinked, Mulder had suddenly lost ten years and had become a
lost adolescent. Body language like his thirteen year old son, Ryan,
when he was found lacking in some parental expectation.  Shit, he
looked far too young for this kind of work.  But he had done a
remarkable job in spite of him.  Hell, he didn't need any more quilt
and he didn't particularly like suddenly feeling paternal either.

`Ah, well, Mulder, let's get this report done before your Frosty gets
here.  We got a solid confession from the bastard that makes him for
all seven murders and the attempted murder of Amy Garnder as well as
attempted murder on a Federal Agent.  No deal for this guy.  Now he
saids he wants to die.  Well, in twenty years or so, if we get the
death penalty, the government might get to stick a needle in him and
wipe his sorry ass off the planet.'

Mulder looked up, `The death penalty is not the answer, it doesn't
solve the problem of what creates people like Adam Smock.'

Keswick sighed, `But it does solve the problem for any future victims
of his.  Let's not get into this; we need to get to work.  We only
have an hour and I still need to get this back to the office to fax.'
 

End of Two Voice Harmony 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Two Voice Harmony
Chapter 2

"Scully, like or not, I am your boss. We are going to Utah. Skinner
approved the 302." Mulder held the phone away from his ear as Scully
voiced her opinions about the invalid nature of the case. Once she
caught her breath, Mulder jumped in with the fight number and time
and hung up. His small department usually had little respect for his
judgment.

Of course, it had been Scully who ended up in the swamp in Arkansas.
Mulder chuckled to himself, it was all for nothing. The information
on that X-File had been false and that X-File dismissed. Scully did
not seem to appreciate that even when an X-File was dismissed, the
file was closed, unlike most other cases. God, she was fun.

He'd had been less than pleased when he found out that his first
underling would be a pathologist with a gun. However, she was bright
and was able to spot any kind of medical fraud a mile away which
saved them a lot of wasted effort. He had honestly been fooled by
that idiot Cramer and his vampire bites, but Scully saw through him
right away.

Utah was a bust. Or you could to say it was a fraud. Another case
closed and Mr. Calhein was on his way to prison for endangering his
community. Even Sully thought the trip worthwhile which was
gratifying. She had been wonderful with the local police and Mulder
had been free to muck around until he solved it. This particular case
had not used Scully's doctor type skills unless you count the various
cuts and bruises he acquired and the stitches she had sewn into his
arm and leg.

She was back at Quantico working and he was stuck writing up the
report. His head was aching and he was generally sore and not looking
forward to going home to his fish. He was just feeling a bit lonesome
and sorry for himself. He would have think of something to keep
himself from slipping into one of his black moods.

He finished his report and flashed it up to Skinner's office. He
remembered he had tried to thank Skinner for sending him Wendy's in
the hospital in L.A. Skinner had given him a quick nod and then
proceeded to rake him over the coals for his behavior in L.A. Then
Skinner had turned 180 degree and proceeded to commend him for his
work and told him they had found a partner for him to travel with. An
underling. One was all he was getting. Mulder appreciated how
preposterous this was and left Skinner's office chuckling.

He didn't like the idea at first. Sure that someone had been found to
be his keeper. Even if he secretly agreed that maybe he needed one,
he resented having someone around. He had enjoyed his solitude in the
basement. It wasn't long until he realized he really liked her. Loved
to squabble and spar with her. She was quick and had a wicked sense
of humor. But even as much as he liked her, he needed his own space,
and she kept getting into his.

Then she even wanted her own desk. It would be a tight fit and he
usually sprawled on the floor to work with his files. That would
destroy his work area and he kept finding reasons not to find her one.

However, when he got to work today, there were two desks. She must
have found her own. Now he felt cramped. His domain had been
compromised. He grabbed a pile of files to copy so he could take them
home to work. It was already seven.

He went to the ground floor copy room and the paper jammed and he
couldn't fix it. He hated machines when they didn't mindlessly work.
He was never able to fix them. Irritated, Mulder gathered up his
files and made his way up the fifth floor copy room. He was busy when
he felt the present of another. He turned around and there was A.D.
Skinner looking less than the perpetual perfection in which Mulder
had always seen him.

Skinner looked tired and his shirt sleeves were up to his elbows and
his shirt tail was not perfectly tucked in. His tie was missing and
his hair, what he had left, was slightly mussed.

Mulder had never noticed how handsome the A.D. really was. He
evidently put in his dues at some type of exercise machine and looked
like he did weights too. He looked a lot younger and more human in
non-perfection. He liked what he saw, liked it a lot. "Don't go
there, Mulder." he warned himself.

Skinner had a sheave of papers in his hand apparently intending to
copy them. Skinner leaned wearily against the door jam and
contemplated the pile of folders that Mulder was copying.

"Agent Mulder, do you intend to be long?"

Even the voice was weary. Mulder gathered up his folders and set them
to one side and stepped aside.

"None of this is critical Sir. I'm just trying to copy some files so
I can work at home. Scully found a desk and now there's no room to
spread out."

Skinner lurched away from the door jam, "So she finally found one.
Well good for her. You have a bit of a brat in you don't you Agent."

"Well, Sir, I never asked for a partner, and I don't see why she
needs a desk. She's got one in Quantico. It's not like she does any
research. She just writes her medical reports and since we have only
one computer, she has to sit at my desk. When she's at my desk I
usually work on the floor. The floor is the only place I can spread
out my files. There is no floor now. I miss my floor, such as it was."

Skinner grinned in spite of himself. "If I were the department head
of your department I think I might put in a requisition for a
computer for her. That way I could mark my territory, at least at my
desk."

Mulder grinned back, "Think my A.D. would go for it?"

Skinner started the coping process, "Ya, I think he might."

Skinner looked at Mulder's pile of folders curiously, "What have you
found?"

Mulder looked at Skinner, "I'm basically still organizing, but these
folders all contain disappearances of kids. It appears that every
October and November for six years, children of federal workers went
missing. This is the only clear pattern right now. The government
workers worked in five major cities and were at all levels of
security clearances.

Every October and November for six years, 78 per cent of all child
disappearances that the FBI handled were this type. And the clearance
rate for these are an absolute zero."

Skinner was stunned. "What years are you talking about?"

"Nineteen sixty-nine through seventy-five."

"How many kids are we talking about?"

Thirty-nine."

"Including your sister?"

Mulder bent his head, "Ya."

"I'd like to see those files myself. Lets make a two copies of each
file. I'd like one set and I want to make sure we scan them into a
computer and burn a couple of disc for back up copies. That is too
big a coincidence to ignore. I don't like it.

That was good work Agent Mulder, I know there are literally thousands
of files that you had to look through to pull these thirty-nine.
What's your next step?"

Mulder leaned back against the wall. "Go back and see if I can
interview the agents involved. Many of them are probably retired or
dead but tracing them shouldn't be that hard. Then I like to go
interview the families. Retrace the investigations and then see what
we've got."

Skinner nodded his head, "That's a good plan, but thirty-nine cases!
I can't let you work an X-File that would take that long. Let's work
it piecemeal. A bit at a time. Slowly and thoroughly between cases.
After all, there is no time pressure on this one. Not any more.

I want to help with this one. It interests me. I can't imagine that
this went unnoticed by the Director or the A.D.s at the time. I have
some access to the communications during any era."

Mulder straightened up. "Thank you, Sir."
 

3 Hours Later
A.D. Skinner's Office

Skinner and Mulder were both on the floor in the A.D.'s office with
the folders spread out around them. Both were reading and sorting.

Skinner looked up. "I don't like this. This is not normal. Maybe a
case of a cyclical serial killer? Just too early for the bureau to
know what was happening? What do you think?"

"Mulder looked up, "Possible, but I don't think so. Look at the first
year, 69, ten kids are taken. Five girls and five boys. In 70, only
three are taken, 2 girls and one boy. In 71, 2 girls and 4 boys, in
72, 4 girls and 3 boys, in 73, 3 girls and 3 boys, in 74, 2 girls and
1 boy, in 75, 3 girls and 2 boys. A serial killer escalates, this is
more like, almost like whoever it is, the kids are being taken as
replacements for the original set of ten. Five girls and five boys."

Skinner looked at Mulder, the implications of what he was saying was
disconcerting. "All kids of federal government workers. Have you
grafted the type of work and geographical locations yet?"

Mulder shook his head "Not yet Sir, I was just getting started. I
just got done with separating these cases from the other missing
children cases. The critical inclusion factors were that the children
be either the son or daughter of a federal government worker, the
absence of a ransom note and that the case was closed with no result.
Each case was closed automatically after seven years."

Skinner stood up and stretched, "Let's gather all this up and grab a
bit to eat. Have you been to Vickie's? It's O.K. and is open all
night. We'll put this aside for now and decide how we want to work
this. Agreed?"

"Yes, Sir."
 
 

Vickie's 10:50 PM
 

Mulder had never noticed the little restaurant in a small courtyard
three blocks from the bureau. Its door was open to the small
courtyard and invisible from the street. The interior was bland
oriental and was only large enough to set around thirty people at a
time. Skinner explained that tables were put in the courtyard during
the day.

It was run by a Nam vet who married a Vietnamese woman. They
specialized in Vietnamese and Thai food. Surprisingly the restaurant
was half full. All suits (male and female) from the many government
buildings within walking distance.

Skinner smiled at the approach of a small Vietnamese woman and
addressed her in Vietnamese. She laughed and patted him on the
shoulder. "So Walter so you work late again! You bring me new
customer! This is good."

"Vickie, this is Agent Mulder. Agent Mulder this is Vickie Holmes.
She and her husband and assorted children own and run the restaurant."

Mulder looked up and said, "Nice to meet you, Vickie. Just call me
Mulder."

She nodded happily and handed them both a menu and told them that Sam
would take their order.

A couple minutes later, a handsome young man, obviously a son, came
and got their orders. At his departure, Mulder turned to the A.D. and
asked, "How did you find out about this place? It's great."

Skinner answered back absently, "Oh, a friend. I got to D.C. a bit
over two years ago. Been coming here regularly since. The food is
good and the prices are O.K. and they stay open 24/7 for all the
workaholics."

Skinner knew he was treading far past the boundaries he usually
established with his agents. However, he had the feeling the case
that Mulder had dug out was going to be important.

Skinner had felt extremely isolated since he had come to D.C. He
found being an A.D. nearly always put him in an adversarial
relationship with most of his colleagues who were his rank or above.
Sikora, the director, was O.K. but had to keep his distance because
of his position.

Friendships with subordinate agents was unwise. He had a friendly
casual friendship with Reg his D.C. Regional VC SAC. But Reg was
married and had no time for a bit of companionship. But even with
Reg, the fact that Skinner was his boss was an impediment.

Skinner sorely missed just simple companionship. It would be nice to
occasionally have someone to eat with. He liked Mulder. Mulder had a
special*sparkle, a special something that Skinner found refreshing.
He also found him exasperating at times, but never boring. He just
would have to establish new boundaries. He could do that. After all,
Mulder was a department head. Not merely an agent.

It was also true that Mulder seemed to have a genuine lack of
ambition. Skinner thought it was invigorating to work with someone
who was not brown nosing, not maneuvering for the best position for
his own purposes instead of what was best for the case. Skinner could
overlook a lot and take a few headaches as long as he knew that the
job came first and was the motivating determinant Mulder was pretty
isolated himself. Both by his intimidating intellect and talent. It
might be a good thing for both of them.

The only complication was the attraction that Skinner felt for
Mulder. But Skinner prided himself on being a disciplined person. He
could handle this, control his impulses.

They spent two hours over dinner talking and laughing. They covered a
lot of topics and were enjoying themselves with an easy give and
take. Each was surprised that they had so much in common.

On the walk back to the bureau, Skinner laid down the new boundaries.
Friends and colleagues outside the bureau walls. Inside, boss and
subordinate, business as usual. If Mulder presumed on the friendship,
it was ended. No explanations, no discussions.

Mulder was rather taken aback at first then realized that if you held
the position of A.D. you had to be careful and that your position was
always precarious. Mulder agreed and they decided to meet the next
weekend to work on the case.
 

September 20, Friday

Scully was happily clanking on her computer. She had been thrilled to
see it sitting atop her desk. She said she could spend more time in
the X-File office now that she could do her reports for Quantico here
and just flash them over. It turned out she didn't have a desk at
Quantico.

She had her spotless mug, her little container of pencils and pens
and her little name sign pointing in Mulder's direction. "Dr. Dana
Scully". He got one too, for the express purpose of pointing it back
at her. "Dr. Fox Mulder", but so far she hadn't noticed. Mulder
enjoyed being irritated at her and missed her on the days when she
was a Quantico.

He was still organizing files. He had started with the most current,
figuring that recent cases would have the most potential to be
solved. There had been six cases that he had been able to close so
far. Now he was back in the early fifties. Suddenly, he straightened.
Here it was again. He excitedly started to sort files, separating any
missing children of federal government workers, going as far back as
it took him.

Scully noticed his excitement. "what are you finding, Mulder?"

Mulder made a sign for silence and continued searching. Scully had
worked with him long enough to know when to wait and not take his
behavior personally. She went back to her computer.

Scully was surprised when Mulder grabbed the phone and asked to see
A.D. Skinner. He nodded his head and collected the folders. "Scully,
I'm going to copy these and then I'm going up to Skinner's office.
Can you finish the Costin report before you go and attach an expense
report for your time in Billings? I've already submitted mine. Just
flash it to my computer and I'll check it and flash it to Skinner
when I come back or tomorrow morning."

Scully stood up and put her hands on her hips. "What's going on? If
that's an X-File, I should be in on it?"

Mulder glanced at her, slightly surprised that she would challenge
him like this. Usually she wanted nothing to do with a regular
investigation unless there were available bodies.

"Scully, it's not really a case, not yet. I just found some
interesting patterns. These date back to the late forties to the
early fifties. No bodies. If you want, I can give you some research
to do on these."

Scully sat down, "No, that's O.K. But why would you think Skinner
would be interested?"

Mulder started for the door. "I need to get these copied before I
meet with Skinner. I talked with him before on this pattern and he
seemed interested. See you later."

Scully went back to her report. It was sometimes difficult being the
only peon in the X-Files. But it was the only way she could work in
the field on both Violent Crimes and the X-Files. Working for Mulder
gave her a lot of autonomy at Quantico and she liked that.

Pathologists were usually pigeon holed and did the same routine day
in and day out. Maybe making chief. She had always wanted more and
the X-Files Department was the perfect vehicle.

She hadn't expected to like Mulder but she did. He reminded her of
her kid brother, Charlie. He was quirky and adolescent at times but
he was a phenomenal profiler. She had been amazed at his ability on
the VC cases she had accompanied him on.

She came along on certain field cases to do the autopsies and play
diplomat with the locals. A.D. Skinner had been very explicit when
she was hired on that PR of the local police and even FBI office was
part of her responsibly. At first she thought Mulder must be some
kind of prima dona. But she quickly changed her mind the first time
she watched him work a serial murder case.

So, it was fine with her. She enjoyed it. She as content to stand
back in astonishment and watch Mulder pull facts from nothing. It was
remarkable to watch him pull a case together and describe, identify
and explain the motive of a twisted mind.

She didn't understand about his fascination with the X-Files. A waste
of his talents in her opinion. What was the point of solving thirty
year old murders. Was it just an intellectual challenge? The last
case he had cleared, there was no one left alive to care. And the
tabloid stuff, well most of it was pretty useless. Oh well, She
finally had a desk, a computer and a place to work.
 
 

Skinner's Office

Mulder excitedly put the files on Skinners desk. "Here it is again.
Starting in forty-nine. Six children taken. Same pattern. Three boys,
three girls. In fifty, one boy, no girls. In fifty-one, two boys,1
girl. In fifty-two, 1 boy,1 girl. In fifty-three, 1 boy, no girls. In
all thirteen kids. Never more than the original number of three and
three. Each was the son or daughter of a federal government worker
and these thirteen came from the same five cities and none of the
cases were solved."

Skinner looked quickly at the files. "We have two sets of missing
children, forty-nine through fifty-three and then from sixty-nine
through seventy-five. Fifty two children in all. That's a lot of
parents that kept relatively quiet. This is getting weird. I don't
like where this is leading."

"I know, but nothing can really be said yet."

Skinner nodded his head, "How far back do the X-Files go?"

"All the way back to the beginning, you know our auspicious
beginnings routing the whore houses in New Orleans. But the serious
cases begin in the mid twenties. I'll go and do a sweep and see if I
can pick anything up."

Skinner looked at his desk and leaned back. "I'll be here until about
seven, possibly eight. Do you want to have dinner over at Vickie's?"

Mulder got up and gathered his own files. "Sure, just ring me and
I'll walk over with you."

Mulder entered office just to see Scully putting on her coat. "It's a
bit cold out there. The weather had turned early. Where's your coat?
Do you want to grab a quick dinner?"

Mulder went and sat at his desk. "My coat is in the trunk of my car
and not tonight Scully. Thanks, but I have a bit of work to do. Did
you get that report finished?"

"Yes Master."

"Great, well, have a good weekend."

Scully flashed him a bright smile, "You too. Try to take a break from
those files. See you Monday."
 

End of Two Voice Harmony 2

~~~~~~~

Two Voice Harmony 3/19
Sk/M

A/U
Disclaimer in part 1
Thanks to Bertina for beta reading.
Summery in part 1

Chapter 3

Vickie's 7:50 PM
Mulder swallowed a mouth full of pad Thai noodles. "I went and found
one more. Nineteen forty-seven, four children were taken. Same
pattern, two boys and two girls. Nothing the following year. Just the
four. This is where what ever was happening started."

Skinner rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Unbelievable, fifty-six
children taken over 28 years in three distinct periods. Each period
lasting longer and involving more children. What are your ideas,
Mulder?"

Mulder put down his fork. "I think that it was some sort of testing
or experimentation program. I think that whoever it was started with
the four children and when they didn't survive, they went back to the
drawing table.

Two years later, they tried again with better success. They got
replacements every year when the children they had could not continue
the next years experimentation. The children who were taken in the
forty-nine to fifty-three group were all taken in late June and the
beginning of July. A fifteen day spread. The kids taken in the sixty-
nine to seventy-five group were taken in late November and early
December, another fifteen day spread. I don't know why the gap
between fifty-three and sixty-nine occurred.

Maybe they were shut down and somebody restarted it or maybe it took
nearly twenty years to get to the next phase. There has got to be a
paper trail somewhere.
It strikes me as something on a time table once it gets started. One
other thing, all the children were pre-pubescent, ranging in age from
seven to eleven. Three of the boys were within a month of their
twelfth birthday. The boys were generally older than the girls.

I've changed my mind about starting with the investigators. I think
they did what they could without knowing much. I want to start with
the federal workers and the families. I want to examine and cross
check the children's medical records if they can be found. Check out
anything that can be cross-referenced that would make them single out
these children. I want to check out medical research that came out of
the Nazi camps."

Skinner had followed Mulder up until the mention of the Nazi
camps. "Why Nazi medical research?"

"Think about it. We brought over Nazi scientists and let them work
with us, shared their knowledge. Nineteen forty-seven. The timing is
right. What if somebody found some kind of research that they wanted
to continue and knew it would not be approved? What if that somebody
organized a small group to do it anyway? What if these kids were
selected for some reason that facilitated that research?" Mulder
turned his head away. "If I can get the medical files, get a list of
the pediatricians who cared for the kids, I can look for connections.
I'm going to get Scully to help."

Skinner nodded his head. "This is looking like it could be dangerous.
Have you found anything more recent than seventy-five?"

Mulder shook his head, "No, the project has either been discontinued,
shut down or they've gone on to the next phase."

"Now there is a scary thought."

Skinner leaned back, "O.K. for right now, we'll keep on fact finding.
If anything develops I'll go to Sikora. He's new blood. Some remnants
may still linger if this was some kind of secret project."

Mulder nodded, "I've got some friends putting together newspaper
reports and such on the kids. They're doing computer searches to
locate families, and any public information that might be out there."

"Friends?"

"Friends that are unofficial, but know how to use their computers to
find just about anything."

"Mulder, I don't know if your scenario is accurate, but you have
found something. I can't quite see your jump to assume this has some
kind of medical angle, but it plays as well as anything else. Your
sister is in that third group. Are you going to able to handle that?
Are you going to be able to investigate your sister's disappearance
like the others?"

Mulder looked away then down and finally back up at Skinner. "I don't
know. But if there is an explanation, I want to know. It seems that
all my life I've wondered what happened to her. I have memories of
her being taken, but they're confused and unreliable. I've tried
hypnosis and whatnot, but I've never been able to find the real
memories. All I know is that they took Sam and left me."

"They?"

"I've always felt it was a `they'.

Mulder's Apartment
2:30 AM

Mulder woke up screaming. His heart was pounding and his body was
shaking in reaction. Shit. He hadn't had nightmares like this in a
long time; lately it was almost every night. They weren't the profile
type nightmares. These were the ones he had after Sam was taken. For
years after Sam was taken. They were probably reoccurring because of
the developing Fed Kid case. He sat back on his couch and willed his
body to calm down. He was sweating and felt uncomfortably hot. He
tried breathing exercises to help him remember the dream. Nothing.
Almost nothing.
He always woke in a panic. He could remember the feeling of being
restrained, of a sense of being in some medical type place. He shook
his head. He had to get out of here. He grabbed his running shoes and
headed for the door.

Running always calmed him down. It was lightly raining and cold, but
to his overheated skin it felt good. He was about three miles away
from his apartment when he decided to turn around. He had just made
the turn when his feet were knocked out from under him.

There were two men. After a brief scuffle, Mulder found himself
firmly restrained against a wall. A man walked up but was careful to
keep out of his line of sight. Mulder saw a plumb of cigarette smoke
drift into the air, illuminated by the weak street lights.

"A voice quietly spoke to him, "Agent Mulder, leave it all alone. It
could be very bad for your father. But maybe you don't care about
that. Just play with your monsters. Leave the events of the past in
the past. There is no good that can come of any of this."

Mulder tried to struggle and was further restrained. "Who are you?
What happened to Sam?" The last thing Mulder remembered was another
voice.

"We should have killed him years ago."

Georgetown Medical Center
4:18 AM

Skinner hurried down the hospital hallway towards the emergency
cubicle where the screaming was coming from. Before he got there a
harried young doctor emerged and called over to a nurse to call for a
psychiatric eval. The doctor started to move away and Skinner stopped
him.

"Doctor, I'm A.D. Skinner and is that Agent Mulder in there? What
happened?"
The doctor stopped, "I'm Dr. Kutler. The man in there had no
identification. A nurse remembered him. He was in here with some
injuries last month. We pulled his chart and called you. I hope that
the nurse was right. If not, I'm sorry."

The screaming from the cubicle had subsided to a sustained whimper.
Animal like. Skinner moved forward slid the curtain back about an
inch and took a peek. It was Mulder. He was in four point restraints.
He was visually shaking. Skinner had not seen a man in such a state
since Nam. His stomach dropped. He clamped down on the urge to go to
Mulder. He carefully pulled the curtain back in place.
Skinner turned on the doctor, "Doctor what happened?"

Doctor Kutler had not been too impressed with the slightly disheveled
man in jeans and pea coat until this moment. His demeanor had changed
and he was every inch FBI, an A.D.

Doctor Kutler stood straighter and said, "Looks like he was running
and got mugged. He was unconscious and slightly hypothermic when they
brought him in. He only had shorts and a tee-shirt on. Probably been
lying on the sidewalk at Clark and Emerson nearly an hour before a
patrol car stopped to check him out. He had some contusions and some
ecchymosis, ah I mean bruising. When he regained consciousness, he
went crazy. We couldn't control him. When we finally got him
restrained he started screaming and nothing we tried helped, just
seemed to agitate him more. I just gave him a sedative. You heard me
order a psychiatric eval on him."

Skinner nodded. "Listen-hold off on the eval. I think I can calm him
down."
Doctor Kutler nodded, he knew such an evaluation was not good for an
agent's career. Knew the FBI had their own internal mental health
care system. If the A.D. could deal with the guy, all the better.

Skinner came into the cubicle and took a seat and spoke
quietly. "Mulder, everything is O.K. Hush now. I want to get you out
of here. Hush."

"Skinner?" Mulder responded in a broken voice. "Where am I?" Mulder
was stuttering and shaking.

"You're at Georgetown Emergency. What happened? Do you remember?"

"Ya, not here." Mulder began to fight against the restraints, "Unhook
me! Get these fucking things off of me" There were tear tracks down
Mulder's cheeks. Mulder's voice was still stuttering and had a
plaintive hysterical edge to it.
Skinner quickly unfastened the restraints. Mulder curled on his side
in a fetal position. He was still shaking slightly and Skinner looked
around for something to cover him with. He grabbed a warming blanket
from a cabinet and turned back to Mulder and covered him with it and
then bent so that he could speak softly near Mulder's ear.

"O.K. I'm going to find the doctor. Try to stay quiet. I'll be right
back."

Mulder reached out his hand. Skinner took it and felt Mulder squeeze.
Mulder didn't let go and showed no indication of letting go in the
near future. Mulder's shaking finally diminished and Skinner nearly
didn't hear Mulder's whispered words as he drifted into
sleep. "Walter, please don't let them take me again."

Skinner's Apartment 5:30 AM

Skinner checked on Mulder again. He had laid him out on his couch.
Mulder was still sleeping off the sedative. Skinner had help getting
Mulder into his car but once home he had to resort to using a
fireman's carry to get Mulder up to his condo. He had gently jostled
Mulder into a pair of his sweats, A Tee-shirt and a pair of thick
socks
.
Skinner tucked the blanket in once again and slightly rearranged the
pillow. There was no more fussing he could do. He went to start a pot
of coffee and came back. Checked on Mulder again. He then went over
to a shelve and lit three candles he had there and turned off the
lamp in the corner of the room. He settled himself on the floor at
Mulder's head. Nothing to do now but wait.
Skinner had always lit candles to comfort himself. He had grown up in
a children's home in Michigan. A Catholic facility for three hundred
at risk boys. He had been raised there from the time he was three
until he graduated high school.
An old great aunt had begged for him to be admitted. She had been
sick and could no longer take care of him. Aunt Sarah had loved him
and had not wanted to see him end up in foster homes. She had
faithfully visited him twice a week for three years before she died.
As his six year old heart grieved, Mother Francesca ( the nuns there
were call addressed as 'mother') had told him about heaven and
explained that the smoke from candles carried his love up to his Aunt
Sarah.

All through his days at Villa Cabrini Home for Boys he had stolen
little candles from the church and had sat in the various secluded
places he could find to watch the candle burn and bring a bit of
comfort to his soul. Even now, he preferred candle light to any other.

Skinner looked at Mulder's face in the dim flickering of the candles.
He finally acknowledged to himself that he had passed from lust to
love in the last five weeks.
Their dinners at Vickie's and the time they spent together had
breached his defenses. There was an odd sense of peace about that. He
watched Mulder's face and reached out a hand to lightly stroke
Mulder's hair.

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

Mulder woke to someone lightly stroking his hair. It was nice and
soothing. He didn't know where he was and didn't want to open his
eyes to find out. It was too much trouble. When the stroking stopped,
Mulder did open his eyes to see Skinner's face close by. There was no
mistaking the expression there. Love. Mulder blinked, hoping he was
not dreaming. That particular expression had never been directed at
him. It was still there. Without thinking, he reached out to touch
that face. He held his hand against Skinner's cheek and Skinner
closed his eyes and covered Mulder's hand with his.

Mulder watched Skinner with wonder. He never suspected that Skinner
would be able to return his feelings. Mulder had started to fall in
love with Skinner while he was in the hospital in L.A. Despite the
steel edged persona, the man had a depth of kindness in him that was
wonderful. Mulder had watched and admired him. He knew that
unrequited love was the pits and tried to talk himself out of it.

There had been no way to avoid it, not after the copy room. In that
copy room, a full measure of good old fashioned lust was added to the
pot. The time they had spent together had cemented Mulder's feelings
for Skinner, but he had never dared to hope that anything would come
of it. He was grateful for the friendship that Skinner offered. Now
unbelievably, here was Walter, as he had secretly called him, within
reach.

Mulder gently pulled his hand away and started to sit up. Skinner
hastily got up and started to rearrange the bedding to assist Mulder.
Mulder grinned at the A.D. turned nurse's aid. Once Mulder got
settled, he reached out for Skinner and sat him down beside him.
Skinner looked at him expectedly and a bit uncertainly.

Mulder wanted to reassure Skinner quickly, so he grabbed one of
Skinner's hands between both of his. Skinner looked down at his
encased hand. Mulder took his right hand away and very gently lifted
Skinner's face and leaned in and brushed his lips against Skinner's.

Skinner's insides were quaking. It was wonderful and terrifying that
this was happening. Skinner had no intention of letting this miracle
pass him by. Skinner responded to the kiss and lifted his other arm
to pull Mulder closer and deepen the kiss.

Needing to catch his breath and slow his heart down, Skinner broke
the kiss and held Mulder's face between his hands and peppered his
face with light kisses, finally he bent his head down and leaned it
against Mulder's forehead. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Mulder had his hands at Skinner's waist and gave Skinner a small
squeeze. "Oh ya. What are we talking about? A night, a fling, a life?"

Skinner softly chuckled and pulled his head back and let go of
Mulder's head, put his arms around Mulder's back, pulled him close
and whispered in Mulder's ear. "Exclusive. Forever."

Mulder nodded his head against Skinner's shoulder. "Ya. Sounds good."
He laid his head on Skinner's shoulder and snuggled against him. Soon
the sedative won out and Mulder was asleep.

Skinner felt Mulder fading into sleep. God, how precious he was. The
sedative must still be working. He frowned, maybe it would not be a
bad idea to have Agent Scully have a look at him. Shit. He still
didn't know what happened last night. Why the hell was Mulder running
at three in the morning?

Skinner held the sleeping form in his arms a bit tighter. Skinner
dozed and came awake to see the front room filled with light. He
glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was a bit past seven.
Mulder was still deeply asleep.

Scully's Apartment
Saturday 7:20 AM

Scully reached in the direction of the ringing phone, made a few
attempts to find the phone before she managed to grab it. She turned
over and put it up to her ear without opening her eyes. Maybe she
wouldn't have to open her eyes. Maybe it was a wrong number. Maybe it
wouldn't be Mulder with airline tickets.

At the sound of Skinner's voice, her eyes flew open and she sat up.
Her brain was still not working. "Sorry Sir. What happened? What do
you want me to do?

Mulder's Apartment
Saturday 8:45 AM

Scully was not happy about having her weekend trashed. She had
already spoken to Dr. Kutler and found out what kind and how much
sedative he had used. She was surprised. It was a lot of a pretty
strong type. She was not too happy that they had released him in that
state. She then had called to reassure Skinner that Mulder would
probably sleep on and off all day. That he would be groggy and
lethargic for the next twelve hours or so.

The supper had not been thrilled at her early morning call, but had
the key ready when Scully arrived. Scully made her way along the
dingy hallway to number 42. She let herself in and looked around. The
apartment appeared small and on the dark side. She cautiously walked
in and stopped, alarmed. At the end of the front room, under a window
was a desk. There was a dust free spot where there had apparently
been a computer tower.

The monitor was still there, the keyboard and the printer but no
computer tower. She shook her head. She was over reacting. Maybe
Mulder had it in for repairs. She'd ask. She carefully turned around
to see if there were any indications of a break in. She didn't see
anything. She sighed, there didn't seem to be anything amiss.

She confidently opened the door to the bedroom and gasped. It wasn't
a bedroom, it was a storage room. There were boxes of files, assorted
junk from sports equipment to broken lamps. There was no way to enter
the room without crawling over stacks of boxes. Oh well, she was in
jeans.

There was no bed, no dresser, the closet was filled with back issues
of magazines and old text books. There were stacks of video tapes and
what looked like a collection of seashells. Where the hell were his
clothes? Maybe this was a two bedroom apartment after all.

After a fruitless look for another bedroom, Scully started opening
every door. She found a coat closet in the hall and found his suits,
a few casual shirts and pants. Of course, that's not what she needed.
She decided to use a plastic bag from the kitchen to put the dirty
clothes in that she had found in the bathtub. She'd take those if she
had to. There were some tee-shirts, a couple pairs of jeans and
boxers.
With a sense of futility she decided to open the cupboards. Under the
sink in the bathroom she found, neatly stacked, a pile of boxers and
socks. She took out one of the paper sacks she brought and put in
three of each. This of course proved Mulder was crazy. But she
guessed it worked if one didn't have a bedroom. Now where would he
tuck shirts, jeans and such.

It was evident he slept on the couch. A pillow and coverlet were left
in disarray there. He had one end table and one coffee table. Both
had cabinet like fronts. She opened the end table and was rewarded
with a stack of neatly folded tee-shirts and a sweat shirt. She
grabbed the sweat shirt and a couple shirts. Next she opened the
coffee table. Yup! That's where the jeans, shorts and sweats were
stored. She added a couple pairs of sweats and a pair of jeans to her
collection. Mulder certainly marched to his own drummer. One that
apparently had only had one drumstick.

She dropped the sack of dirty clothes back into the bathtub and
returned to the front room. Oh, the fish, she almost forgot. She
approached the fish tank and looked around for the week long feeder
blocks. Luckily they were right where most sane people would place
them, right next to the tank. Maybe there was hope for Mulder yet.
Next, she went to the fridge. Skinner had told her that Mulder would
be staying with him at least three days. Scully was pretty sure
Mulder would be back at his place long before that. His injuries
didn't sound that bad. The fridge was pretty empty. Nothing to spoil
except the milk. She dumped it and rinsed out the carton. She
gathered up the bags and looked around one more time. Satisfied, she
left and headed for A.D. Skinner's condo.

Skinner's Apartment
Saturday 10:30 A.M.

Mulder was asleep again. Skinner was alarmed when he heard Mulder's
account of the attack on him. He was also concerned about the
nightmares that had driven Mulder out into the night. When he closed
his eyes he could still hear Mulder screaming in the hospital.
Skinner had Mulder's head in his lap and the phone at his side. He
had made a number of calls to get a covert investigation started and
put some protection in place for Mulder. He had also set up a meeting
with Sikora. The director was currently out of town so it would have
to be later in the week.

How had these people known Mulder was investigating? They had to be
connected to the bureau, They had access. However, it was clear that
they didn't know about his own involvement with the case or else he
would have been warned off too. Or maybe the assholes didn't have the
clout to hassle an A.D.

Backtracking, Skinner was convinced that Mulder's computer had been
accessed. Really, there didn't seem any other way. Skinner didn't
want company techs to check it out. Maybe Mulder's friends could do
the work. Until Skinner knew where the threat was coming from he
intended to be very careful.

Skinner was started out his thoughts at a knock at the door. He
tenderly replaced Mulder's head on the pillow and went to answer the
door. Scully bustled into the room struggling with the sacks of
clothes and her medical bag. She dumped the sacks on the floor and
still holding the medical bag, looked up at Skinner. "Where's Mulder?"

Skinner looked down at his agent who appeared to be twelve and
pointed over to the couch. She shook her head and said, "Where else."

She did an examination as best she could. He woke up once, and seeing
her, grinned and went back to sleep. She turned to Skinner, "He's
fine. A bit bruised and has a few cuts. I don't understand why they
gave him such a strong sedative. The doctor was evasive when I asked.
When this stuff wears off, he should be fine. You don't have to keep
him here. He doesn't need looking after."

"Agent Scully, he was attacked and warned off a case last night."

Scully glared at the A.D. It was somewhat ineffective because Skinner
was looking at Mulder. Scully put a bit of venom in her voice, "What
case would that be, Sir?"

Skinner seemed oblivious to her displeasure, still looking at Mulder,
Skinner answered, "Agent Mulder dug up some very troubling cases in
the X-Files that seem to be connected. Up to now, it's been inference
and conjecture. Research has been slow and difficult because of the
age of the cases and because a lot of stuff is missing. We've both
been working it between active cases for the last few weeks."

Skinner lifted his gaze and looked at Scully. "However, last night it
became an official case. It's an "E" for now." At Scully's
questioning expression, Skinner continued. "It's got to be an Eyes
Only operation. The SUBs had access. They must routinely monitor who
knows how many agent's computers and who knows for what.

It looks like they might have got the information off of Mulder's
hard drive from his computer at work. It'll be a couple days before
we can confirm that, we have to go outside the company techs. I've
confirmed that the original files are missing from the X-Files
office. Director Sikora knows I`ve requested a covert operation and
okayed it. He doesn`t know the details but I have a meeting with him
next Thursday when he returns from California."

Scully started, "Sir, when I was at Mulder's I saw that his computer
tower is missing. There was no sign of theft or forced entry. I
thought that he had it out for repairs."

Skinner shook his head. "No, they took it. They don't know about me
and that we made back-up copies. Agent Scully, there might be a
medical aspect to this case, but no real bodies. Just records. Are
you in or out?"

Scully headed for the coffee pot, "I'm in, Sir. Can you debrief me
now?

End of Two Voice Harmony 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4

Mulder woke up feeling stiff and grubby. He was still on Skinner's
couch. He sat up and looked around. Skinner was sprawled across a
lounge chair. God, he looked cute. Could that possibly be the Skinner
he saw at work? With his glasses off, he lost most of the harshness
he cultivated for the job.

Mulder looked around and spotted the clock. Four-fifteen. Almost time
for breakfast. He needed the bathroom but couldn't quite break his
gaze away from the sleeping Skinner. Had they really made agreed to a
serious relationship? God, he hoped so.
Just so typical of his life. He had committed his life to a not yet
lover and had not been able to keep his eyes open long enough to
consummate it. He stretched, good lord he was ripe. He got up and saw
a pile of his clothes on the counter that separated the kitchen from
the living room. How had Skinner managed to do this? The guy always
made sure you had what you needed. He went over to collect some clean
clothes and was happy to see that his shaving kit was there too. Now
if he could only find the bathroom.

Skinner woke up to the sound of a shower running. He glanced over to
the couch and confirmed that Mulder was awake. He tossed off his
coverlet and reached for his glasses. He might as well get cleaned up
too. He folded Mulder's coverlet and put it to his face. It smelled
of Mulder and Skinner breathed in deeply. His insides were acting up
again. What the hell was he doing? He placed the blanket on top of
the pillow. Maybe he was starting to live. Skinner pulled back his
shoulders and took a deep breath then trotted up the stairs to the
upstairs bathroom.

Mulder returned to the front room and was mildly disappointed to find
Skinner gone. He glanced up the staircase as he heard a shower
upstairs starting. Was it a dream? Would the cold reality of day
annihilate the promises of the night before? Mulder started to feel
anxious. What to do? He ran upstairs, he was not about to let Walter
have second thoughts.

Mulder entered Skinner's room. It was a comfortable room with a huge
unmade bed, probably left when he went to rescue him. There was a
bookcase and lots of books, chock full of mysteries, science fiction,
history and biographies. The furniture was early Salvation Army and a
TV sat upon an ancient dresser.

He had a map of Michigan on the wall and various lists. Lists of
books, videos, people and what looked like to-do lists. One was even
a list of court cases complete with judgments, judges and courts.
Post-it heaven. Mulder took all this in quickly and started shedding
his clothes. He had not quite made it to his boxes when Skinner
emerged from the bathroom in all his natural glory. Mulder, who had
just shed his socks, was bent over, looked up and grinned, "I'm awake
now."

The look on Skinner's face made Mulder's insides clench with need. He
finished chucking his boxers and by the time he stood up, Skinner was
all ready pulling him in for a kiss.

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

Walter didn't know how they ended up on the bed. Mulder's body was
pressed down against his and it was electric. Walter started to
thrust his hips up. He reached down to hold Mulder's hips and felt
their erections colliding with each other. God, his body was already
starting to gather up and zing toward orgasm.

Suddenly, Walter felt Mulder break the kiss pull away from the full
body contact. Walter moaned and started reaching for Mulder, but
Mulder captured his hands in his and pressed them with his body
weight to either side of Walter's head.
Mulder then proceeded to kiss and lick his neck, his ears his face.
Mulder slowly and tenderly moved down to Walter's shoulders and
clavicle. His tongue traced the bones lovingly and then crossed
Walter's chest, gently nipping at the hair until he found a nipple.
Mulder took his time to explore it licking and gently nipping. Then
he kissed his way over to the other nipple where he lingered until
Walter was moaning incoherently. Mulder let go of Walter's hands and
wrapped each of Walter's hand's fingers around a spindle in the
headboard.

Mulder, a bit breathless, ordered Walter, "Hold on lover, don't let
go."
Mulder kissed, licked and nibbled his way down Walter's sternum and
continued till he was dipping his tongue into Walter's navel. He
continued down but avoided Walter's straining cock. He went down to
Walter's inner thighs and licked his way up to Walter's balls.

Mulder sucked one into his mouth and rolled it around. Walter was
unconsciously spreading his legs and the volume of his moans was
escalating. Mulder sensed Walter was close and reached up his hand to
clamp his fingers around the base of Walter's cock to stop him from
coming. Walter's "Oh, God" was nearly screamed.
Mulder released one of Walter's balls and gave some attention to
Walter's other one. God how he loved doing this. The taste and feel
of Walter was exquisite and his own body was singing. Mulder had to
slow his breathing, he didn't want to come yet, just ride the edge.
Mulder started licking that sensitive strip of skin between Walter's
balls and his anus.

Walter was bucking now, but Mulder was partially lying across his
lower torso. Mulder's one hand was still holding the base of Walter's
cock when he started rimming Walter. Walter was screaming now and
writhing and Mulder wasn't letting go. Mulder withdrew his tongue and
then quickly licked his fingers and inserted one into Walter and
started to carefully finger fuck him.

In a short time, Mulder added another finger and tried to carefully
stretch Walter. Walter was begging now. Mulder withdrew his fingers
and turned and started licking and sucking Walter's cock. God, it was
beautiful and perfect for what Mulder liked to do. He loved to suck
cock and jam it down his throat. It didn't work if the cock was too
thick or too long. Walter looked like he was just about perfect.

Mulder started sucking in earnest, still with his fingers clamped
around the base of Walter's cock. Suddenly, Mulder deep throated
Walter and released his cock at the same time. Walter came almost
instantaneously and nearly coming off the bed.

Mulder managed to hang on and felt a stab of intense joy as he felt
Walter's cock spasm in his throat. When Walter's cock stilled, Mulder
gently withdrew his mouth. Mulder scooted up until he lay three
quarters on his lover with his head on Walter's shoulder. It was a
couple minutes before Walter let go of the headboard and put his arms
around Mulder.

Walter had never come like that. Didn't even know it was possible to
come like that. The world could not be the same. He knew he wouldn't
ever be the same. Might never move again.

After a few minutes, Mulder realized that Walter was able to think
again, he turned his head and whispered in Walter's ear.

"Walter, you are so beautifully passionate. You are absolutely
magnificent when you come. I want to see you when I'm in you" Mulder
started moving and Walter felt Mulder's erection rubbing against the
side of his hip.

"Walter, please I need to be in you."

Walter turned his head to kiss Mulder giving his consent.

Mulder was shaking, "Walter, stuff. You got the stuff."

Walter had to think. Stuff? Oh, the condoms and lube. Oh shit. "In
the bathroom, Mulder."

Mulder groaned and rolled off the bed and stumbled to the bathroom.
He looked around and franticly groped among the various items on the
counter, then pulled open the medicine cabinet. Eureka! He grabbed
the condoms and lube and raced back to the bed.

Walter had turned on his stomach and had even shoved a pillow under
his hips. The sight of Walter almost pushed Mulder over. Walter was
so stunning. Mulder fumbled with the condom, but got it on and then
warmed the lube and coated himself and then set to stretching Walter.
Mulder leaned in and kissed Walter's back and moved down until he was
kissing and licking Walter's splendid ass. Mulder pulled back and
tried to breathe. He needed to slow down and enter Walter carefully.

Shaking slightly, Mulder reached for Walter's hips to anchor him and
started pressing against Walter's anus. He slowly pushed in and got
past the ring of muscle and stopped to let Walter get used to him.
Mulder was not prepared for Walter to push back against him. In a
flash, Mulder was all the way in.

Walter's voice floated over his shoulder, "Come on lover. MOVE!"
Mulder didn't need anymore encouragement. He was completely out of
control, moving completely by age old instinct. Mulder rammed into
Walter and Walter was with him all the way, matching Mulder thrust
for thrust.

It was too intense to last long, soon Mulder's rhythm became even
more frenzied and erratic. An orgasm suddenly swamped him and he
arched screaming as he came. He collapsed on Walter's back unable to
move. Eventually, Mulder carefully slid out of Walter and rolled off
the condom and dropped it by the side of the bed. Walter had already
turned over and Mulder crawled into his arms and settled in.

"Walter, I knew it would be fantastic with you, but that was beyond
belief! I think we're compatible. Did you know?*"

Mulder kept prattling on. Unbelievable, Mulder was dreamily lecturing
on the statistics of compatibility in committed homosexual
relationships in some South American tribe. Mulder contentedly talked
himself to sleep in about three minutes.
Walter chuckled. Only Mulder. There was not any question that they
were compatible. Walter loved the weight of Mulder lying in his arms.
Walter bent his head and gave Mulder a kiss on the top of his head.
So South America had committed homosexual, compatible couples. Nice
to know. Walter sighed contentedly and marveled how Mulder and he
were a matched pair.

Because of Walter's appearance and demeanor, most of the guys at the
clubs he had gone to casual hook-ups assumed he was a top. He had
usually ended up on top. It was ok, but what he loved, what he
fantasized about, was to be made love to. He loved to be fucked and
apparently Mulder loved giving what Walter loved to get. That was
unexpected. Walter would have been satisfied no matter what they had
ended up doing. He just wanted Mulder any way he could get him. But
this was perfection.

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

Walter woke quickly and rolled off the bed and reached for his gun.
He came back to a defensive position before he realized that what had
woken him up was Mulder, screaming. The jostling of the bed woke up
Mulder and he scrambled out of bed. He scuttled to a wall then sat
against it. His eyes were closed and he was panting. His body was
drenched in sweat and he was visually trembling.

"What the hell?" Walter got up and carefully approached Mulder. Even
after Mulder had told him that he was having a recurring nightmare
that he started having after his sister was taken, Skinner had no
idea that they were this bad. Walter sat down near Mulder, but
decided to let him calm down first. Decided to wait him out until
Mulder could tell him about it.

Mulder opened his eyes and looked over into the worried face of his
lover. "Sorry."
Walter, reached out a hand to squeeze Mulder's shoulder.

"Nothing to be sorry about."

Mulder bowed his head and laid it on his knees. "I am so tired of
this. I can never remember anything!"

"Don't try. Let's get you into the shower. You'll feel better."
Walter glanced at his alarm clock. It was nearly three O'clock in the
afternoon. "I'm starved. How about you?"

Mulder stood up and rubbed a hand over his face. "Ya, I could eat."
He started for the bathroom. Walter stood and watched him not sure
how to comfort him. As Mulder reached the door, Walter hurried over
to him and seized his hand and turned Mulder around pulling him in
for a hug.

"I love you. We'll find some answers. Just don't forget I love you."
Mulder nodded and relaxed in Walter's arms.

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

Scully's apartment
4:18 PM

Scully got up and stretched. She had just finished a quick read-
through of all fifty-six files. Skinner had given her two discs that
were filled with the files. She wasn't convinced about Mulder's idea
about experimentation. That was perhaps more twilight zone than real
world. However, something weird had been going on. Generational
serial killers?

Skinner had said he wanted her to check out the medical aspects of
the case. There really were not many medical aspects except Mulder's
contention of medical experiments. Well, where to begin?

Scully decided that birth certificates would be the logical place.
All the children were born in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland,
Massachusetts, and California. Let's see how did it break down? Nine
children in Connecticut, six children in Delaware, three in Maryland,
seven in Massachusetts and thirty-one in California.

She picked up the list of the seven children that went missing in
Massachusetts. Samantha Ann Mulder: age 8. Poor Mulder! He'd had just
turned twelve when his sister was taken. No wonder he was a bit
crinkled around the edges.

Scully sat back down and started to e-mail her requests for the birth
certificates using the FBI authorization number Skinner had given
her, rather than her own.

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

Skinner's Apartment
Saturday 6:30 PM

Mulder was still on Skinner's computer in Skinner's study, conferring
with his non-official friends. They were going in to the Hoover
tomorrow as electricians, undercover, with the authorization of
Director Sikora himself. Their job would be to trace the monitoring
of Mulder's computer and see if any other computers were involved.

The Director had given Skinner full power to deal with the situation.
Sikora had minimal information because of a lack of secured
communication. However, he demonstrated his trust in Skinner by
giving him anything Skinner deemed necessary. Director Sikora knew
only that there was a serious internal security breach and that an
agent had been warned off a case and physically attacked.

Skinner was also in his study putting the finishing touches on the
operation and calling in a few friends who were outside the bureau to
be available for contingencies. He had someone drive and park
Mulder's car to National's long term parking and buy one open round
trip ticket had been bought to Boston. A friend in the Boston police
department would verify that Mulder had checked in as required by
regulations. This friend in the Boston police department would also
report back to Skinner if any inquiries were made and start a trace
on the call.

Mulder had just gotten off the computer when Skinner put down the
phone. Mulder had heard Skinner's side of the many conversations and
now turned around to Skinner.

"It sounds like you're putting together a small army."

Skinner leaned back, "We might need one. I don't know, but it's
prudent to be prepared. The Director is more than pissed that there
was a security breach on his watch and he's going to be livid when he
finds out that these assholes have had access to our computer system."

Mulder was observing Skinner in full A.D. Mode, Where was that
wonderful submissive lover from last night? Hidden away like a
treasure. Who would have ever thought that Skinner had that in him?

Mulder had been surprised that Skinner had let him to take the lead.
Mulder had always been aggressive during sex. He didn't consider
himself a very good bottom, but for Walter, he was willing to be
anything. Not that he didn't enjoy being fucked and blown but when he
had bottomed, he had always ended up struggling and made whoever was
topping work for it, or end up on the bottom. All he had ever had
were casual hoop-ups. Except Daniel, whom he had loved. Who he knew
was not good for him. Who he knew didn't love him. Daniel had been
one of Mulder's undergraduate professors and had approached Mulder
after he'd had completed his course.

It was Mulder's first year at Oxford and he was only sixteen. Daniel
had been uncompromisingly dominant. Daniel had liked it rough. Liked
how Mulder would fight him during sex. Mulder would have preferred a
more loving relationship. He always ended up submitting to Daniel and
paid for the sex with nightmares.

Mulder didn't care. He was so lonely. Needed someone so badly that he
was willing to do anything Daniel wanted. Had fooled himself into
thinking that it was only Daniel's stern character that made it hard
for him to express how he felt about him.
But, Daniel didn't love him. Daniel had never invited him to spend
the night. Daniel had never been romantic and would never kiss him or
allow Mulder to kiss him.

Daniel had never tolerated him expressing himself sexually. However,
Daniel would talk to him and spend time with him affectionately
patting him on the back. He was Mulder's only `yes' in his life at
the time.
The affair only lasted about nine months. Daniel liked to move on
regularly. Daniel dumped Mulder with little ceremony and moved to a
new boy. Mulder was devastated. He had thrown his heart into the
relationship, always making excuses for Daniel to himself. He was
convinced that Daniel would come to love him and not be able to live
without him.

The breakup was right before his seventeenth birthday. After that,
Mulder had become promiscuous, and more and more, he took the
dominant role. With Skinner, he had been willing to take the
submissive role because he wanted Skinner. He had just assumed. But
last night he hadn't been thinking of anything but getting close to
Skinner. Mulder had done what came naturally and Skinner had not
stopped him, in fact, seemed to love it.

Walter had been unbelievably wonderful. Go figure. Now here he was
watching his lover in full Alpha mode. What a turn on. Incredible.
Love. He was loved and God he loved that dynamo who was pulling the
operation together like a wizard.

Skinner was talking and Mulder realized that he had been day dreaming
and not listening. Skinner looked a bit peeved. "Agent Mulder are you
all right? We need to finalize this portion of our response to this
situation."

"I'm sorry, Sir. My thoughts were just going down another tangent."

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

The old man sat with a pipe wedged firmly between his teeth. The room
was stale and dim. The over sized furniture had an air of decay. He
contemplated the man who stood before him.

The old man's raspy voice dipped in contempt. "Why didn't you kill
the fucking bastard? What you did will only get him more interested
in what he found. We don't have the contacts we used to nor the
ability to control events. You gave him a lead. You mentioned his
father. What the hell did you think you were doing?"

The tall, thin man inhaled his cigarette deeply and exhaled. "Maybe
reeling him in. He still carries the enzyme. He's curious, even
obsessive about his sister. He'll go to his father and ask. I warned
Bill. We can use Fox's pathetic need for approvable."

The old man took the pipe out his mouth. "The enzyme is useless to
us. We can't extract it from him. You assume a lot based on his
psychological testing scores. They looked quite good."

The tall man smiled. "We may find a way to extract the enzyme at a
later date. As for the tests, Fox had learned to manipulate the
scoring by the time he took them for the FBI. I'm looking at the
scores from Oxford when he was eighteen. He's still the same. Swings
between being celibate to being wildly promiscuous. He's never had a
relationship besides that psycho at Oxford. He is socially isolated
for the most part. He has no close friends. He's vulnerable and
maybe, over time, we can change his ideas about right and wrong. We
could use him inside the FBI. Kill him later if he becomes a problem."

"Skinner took him home from the hospital. He could still be there,
staying in Skinner's condo."

"Maybe not. We don't have the people for surveillance like we used
to, but Fox's computer has been reported stolen by Fox to the local
police. I have a copy of the report. Todd checked the place and it
appears that Fox packed a small amount of clothes and his car is
gone. He might have gone to the Vineyard. I've called Bill. Or he
might have gone off by himself this weekend to lick his wounds.
Either way, he'll try to deal with this alone. The attack was
officially reported as a mugging. Fox doesn't trust anybody and he
will not have shared what he found. Even if he decides to go to
Skinner, now he has no proof.

 Skinner is one cautious bastard and he's a boy scout. He won't muck
around without proof. Our source says he was pissed when Fox was
assigned to him and has pretty much stayed that way."

The old man nodded. "All right, but stay on it. We can still be hurt.
We're only six months away from trying again. We've gathered in all
the data we lost in seventy-five when Kurt destroyed it and killed
himself. The rotten bastard. Twenty-five years! I won't survive
another set back and I intend to survive."

The tall man nodded and took another drag on his cigarette, thinking
once the project was completed he would make sure the old man didn't
survive. But for now the old man's money was the main financial
engine pushing the project. The old man was right about one thing.
Damn Kurt Keizer, the rotten little bastard of a scientist who
suddenly found a conscience, who single handedly shut down the
project on the brink of success.
End of Two Voice Harmony 4
Continued in Chapter 5
~~~~~

Chapter 5

The Biltmore Resort
Room 481
Saturday afternoon
Phoenix, Arizona

John Sikora prowled the hotel room, he couldn't believe he had been
stuck in Phoenix while his bureau was being compromised. The earliest
he could leave was after his key note address this evening. He had it
all set. After the mandatory chit chat Sid was secretly flying him
out from the Scottsdale Airport to Baltimore and then driving him to
Badger's condo.

Sidney Stein, was one of his security people. He had known Sid since
Nam and was one of a handful of people he trusted implicitly. Sid had
been wounded in Nam and had come back without his right arm. He was
left-handed, so he wore only a simple prosthesis that made an
unexpected and handy weapon when he needed it.

The conference ended Wednesday afternoon and Sid's wife Dot and his
own wife Laura would play the "Oh, you just missed the Director"
ploy. They had done it before and it was quite effective. No one
would realize he was gone. He didn't want to alert the SUBs that they
were aware of their activities by rushing back.

He couldn't imagine what Mulder had found in that pile of X-File
debris which could uncover an internal breach of security at the
bureau that had Badger  so apprehensive. Badger was not a man to over
react. Sikora walked out to the balcony and shook his head in
frustration. He had to get out of here!

Thank God, Badger was handling this. Badger was another of his men
from Nam that he trusted without reservation. Sikora knew that the
young A.D. had an inflexible core of integrity and was tenacious as
the animal he was nicknamed after. He had more then demonstrated the
ability to manage anything thrown his way. Well, almost anything.
Sikora knew that supervising Mulder hadn't been a picnic, but Skinner
was showing his usual skill.

Sikora knew when he assigned Mulder to Skinner that he was playing
with fire. Sikora was well aware of both of their sexual preferences.
Eight years ago when the bureau started looking into Mulder's
background for recruitment, they had almost dismissed him out of
hand.

Mulder was brilliant and had a natural aptitude for profiling. He had
been mentioned to Sikora by Senator Calihan and Sikora had been
interested. Mulder had been twenty and had just started on his
doctorate at Oxford. He was also fucking every male in sight that
would let him. However, Dr. Grabbowski had pointed out that it was a
controlled promiscuity. Mulder only indulged in this behavior on
weekends. Mulder didn't let his drives interfere with his studies.

Mulder's psychological tests two years before, which were conducted
by Oxford, were not promising. However, it was learned that Mulder
was still smarting after a break-up. Dr. Grabbowski convinced Sikora
to request Oxford to retest him and send them the results.

The later sets of tests had shown Mulder to be adequately stable with
a core of toughness. He wouldn't have any trouble with the
psychological testing at the bureau.  Mulder at that point still had
two and a half years to go before he could get his doctorate. The
last year of obtaining the degree was a clinical internship. That is
when the bureau approached him.

It had turned out well until Sikora had found out what Patterson had
been doing. Patterson was jealous and at the same time wanted the
clearance rates and glory of successfully catching a high profile
killer. Patterson had been destroying Mulder by overwork. The man was
a real piece of work and Sikora would've liked to have gotten rid of
him. Unfortunately, Patterson was too well connected to do it easily.

The bureau did yet another psychological test and found Mulder
stressed and shaky. Mulder had lived like a monk during his four
years with Patterson. The guy didn't have time for weekend
adventures. Sikora had to pull Mulder, but he didn't want to lose
him. After talking to the young man, Sikora knew what carrot to
dangle. The X-Files. The power game with Patterson hadn't been
pleasant but even Patterson had to bow to the Director's wishes.

Since Mulder had been working the X-Files and VCU, spot surveillance
had indicated that Mulder had settled into about a six week pattern
of going out to a club to pick up some guy. He was discreet and knew
how to handle himself. It was too soon to put Mulder through more
psychological testing but his behavior seemed well within the normal
range. Of course, Mulder was going to gay clubs which made it
riskier, but he had the sense to go to Boston or Baltimore.

As for the Badger, Sikora knew he kept a much tighter reign on
himself. Badger was unaware that Sikora knew of his sexual
proclivities. He had first met Skinner in Nam. Skinner had been a raw
recruit. Eighteen years old and full of naive patriotism. A tall
gangly kid in marine gear whose leadership ability set him apart
quickly.

Sikora had been a career Marine. He was thirty-nine when he was sent
to Nam. It was the worst three years of his life. He had made Skinner
a unit commander and the boy had done excellent work. Usual for one
of the younger men in the unit, he had no trouble leading effectively
and getting results.

Sikora had been shocked one night when he came upon Skinner in a
passionate clinch with an Army lieutenant. The lieutenant was older
and male. Sikora's first impulse was to rush in and rescue his man,
but his man seemed to be actively cooperating. He didn't understand
homosexuality. Was not comfortable with it. He started to discreetly
distance himself from Skinner. He had watched him and tried to
reconcile this man who he knew to be honest, brave and one of his
best men with what he now knew about him. He never did have a chance
to come to terms with it in Nam.

Sikora's time in Nam had come to an end out in the field when their
unit was attacked. He had been wounded and the helicopters were not
able to get into the area because of the weather. Skinner had put one
of the officers in charge. His mission was  to get the men back.
Skinner then had carried Sikora for four days to get him back to the
line and to medical care.

He remembered Badger holding him, comforting him and encouraging him
to live. Badger had not let him give up and he was more than ready
to. Badger had treated his wounds as best he could and then trudged
on. Sikora had been in and out of consciousness and had not realized
that Badger had been wounded too.

Badger had been shot in the hip. Mostly a flesh wound, the bullet had
gone through, but four days in the jungle and it was badly infected
and he was weak from loss of blood.

Sikora had spent two months in a hospital then was flown stateside.
He had put Skinner in for a commendation, but
he soon lost track of all his men he had served with in Nam except
Sid. Sid had ended up in the same hospital as himself at the same
time. So he kept track of Sid, and when he  retired, he hired Sid.

Sikora was appointed Director of the FBI fifteen years after he left
Nam. He had recognized Skinner's name when he was getting familiar
with the ASICs of the various national offices. Skinner had spent his
first years in the bureau in Lansing. He had a law degree and worked
in VCU. He had been promoted to ASIC in Boston.

Sikora got Skinner's file and learned that the young commander had
lost his entire point squad in an attack. Skinner, himself, had been
in a body bag when a medic noticed the bag moving as Skinner
struggled to breathe. Skinner had spent over a year in a VA hospital.
He had finished three years of undergraduate course work in the
hospital as he waited for his body to heal.

Sikora had been surprised to find out that Skinner had no family and
had been raised in a boy's home. However, thinking back, he couldn't
remember Skinner talking about any family. Sikora  realized that
Skinner was a listener. That was part of what made him such an
effective leader. Sikora decided to keep his eye on Skinner and see
if he was the same man he knew in Nam. As it turned out, Skinner was,
in every way. Sikora was conflicted when he found out that Nam was
not some anomaly in Skinner's sexuality.

Sikora thought long and hard about Skinner. It was only this one
thing that made Sikora hesitate. Skinner was pretty careful and only
rarely went out. God, what a horrible way to live. Sikora considered
it like some unfortunate disease. Sikora made his decision and
brought Skinner to Washington for additional training, grooming him
to become an A.D.

Clyde Makin had been retiring as A.D. of VCU and Sikora wanted
Skinner in that slot. Despite opposition, mainly because of Skinner's
age, Sikora got his man in. Sikora had never been sorry. Skinner had
turned out to be one hell of an A.D. His sexuality had not been an
issue. The bureau was unaware. There was no mention of it in his
file, not even his psyche test touched on this. Evidently Skinner had
been able to keep his sex life under the official radar.
 

Skinner's Condo
Saturday 9:30 PM

Skinner and Mulder finished the preliminary back ground check on the
parents, including Mulder's. Nothing of importance showed up, no
discernable pattern was apparent. They proceeded to grid what
information they had collected. Skinner's front room wall was now a
series of poster board grids. As of yet, the grids didn't tell them
much.

It had been a strange afternoon for both of them. They had attempted
kept a physical distance while they worked the case, but they both
needed a bit of reassurance. Each touched a shoulder, gave a hand a
quick squeeze. Their eyes would meet and they grinned at each other
in silent agreement to connect personally later.

Walter called a halt to work after the parental grid was completed
and put on the wall.

Walter went into the kitchen, "Not much out here. How about
sandwiches. I can call and get a grocery delivery tomorrow. We'll
make up a list later. You're stuck here until we know what we're
dealing with. I've got your leave processed. It's for three days. I
want you in on the meeting with Sikora on Thursday."

Mulder followed Walter into the kitchen and put his arms around his
waist and laid his head against Walter's shoulder. "Sandwiches are
fine."

Skinner put out both chicken and tuna salad, both made by the grocery
deli. He also set out two loaves of bread, one wheat and the other
rye, followed by two large glasses of ice tea. They sat down at the
kitchen table. Both of them grabbed for the rye and they grinned at
each other. Walter got up and put away the wheat bread.

By tacit agreement they didn't talk about the case. They ventured
onto other less critical topics. They talked about their likes and
dislikes in authors, books and music. They laughed at Mulder's
descriptions of his favorite old horror movies. He said after 1960 or
so horror movies actually got scary. Mulder liked to laugh his way
through.

The clean up didn't take long and Mulder wasted no time drawing
Walter into an embrace. They both headed up the stairs groping and
kissing. They made it to the bedroom and Skinner broke the connection
and lit a huge three wick candle on top of his bookcase and turned
back to Mulder. The younger man was already half way out of his
clothes by the time Walter turned around. Skinner smiled and quickly
followed Mulder's lead.

Soon they were in each other's arms. Kissing, exploring. Walter sat
Mulder on the edge of the bed. "I want you in my mouth. Lay back,
lover and enjoy." Mulder nodded his assent. Walter started by kissing
him and caressing his hands over Mulder's chest to help arouse him.
He took Mulder's semi-erect cock in his mouth.

Mulder was beautiful. His cock fit him perfectly, long and elegant.
Walter felt it grow in his mouth. Felt Mulder moving, moaning his
name. Walter loved the taste of him. Walter intensified his efforts
and soon Mulder was disengaging himself and pulling Walter on to the
bed.

"Walter! In! Get me in!"

Mulder's desperate pleading was going right to Walter's groin. Walter
grabbed the condoms and lube that were still at the side of the bed
on the floor. Mulder quickly sheathed himself and prepared Walter.
Kissing him urgently as his fingers stretched his lover. Walter
raised his legs and Mulder pulled back and placed his hands on the
sole of each foot. He placed himself at Walter's entry and pushed.
Like the night before Walter surged against him, pushing him in.

Mulder was already thrusting hard. He shifted his weight and replaced
his hands in Walter's, holding them down. He unerringly found
Walter's prostate. Walter was bucking wildly beneath Mulder. Walter
came first with a loud moan and the spasm in his anal muscle sent
Mulder over with a scream. Mulder flopped forward and Walter held him
while they recovered.

Mulder snuggled in Walter's arms and Walter lightly kissed his head
and face. "Walter, I love you. Don't let me ruin this."

Walter tightened his hug briefly, "I love you, too. Nobody's going to
ruin anything. This is new for us both. We'll make it work."

Mulder looked up into those chocolate eyes that twinkled in the
candlelight, "Am I worth you position at the bureau? It may come to
that."

Walter looked down at that concerned face and kissed the tip of
Mulder's nose. "Ya, your worth it. I don't think it will come to it,
but you are my life. No matter how hard I've worked, it's still just
a job. I can be replaced easily. But you are forever. Don't doubt
that."

Mulder's eyes were starting to water. Walter kissed his eyelids,
tasting his tears. "It's O.K. baby, this is real."
 

Skinner's condo
Sunday Morning 4:53 AM
 

The ringing of the bell had awakened both Skinner and Mulder. They
hurried into their boxers and rushed to the front door. Looking
through the peak hole, Skinner started and grabbed for the door.
Skinner opened it and stood back as Director Sikora and Sid Stein
came in.

"Director Sikora, what happened to Thursday?"

"Still there as far as I know. Get dressed and wake up. I want to get
debriefed."

"Yes, Sir."

"Agent Mulder, why don't you get dressed as well."

"Yes, Sir"

Sikora watched as both men bounded up the stairs.

Sikora and Sid continued into the living room. Sikora looked at all
the posters. "They've been working. God, what can all this be about?"

Sikora looked around once more and then at Sid and in a low voice
said as he nodded toward the stairs. "What do you think about that?"

Both men took a seat. "Last report, last week, there was no
indication of any romantic attachment between them. Vickie and co.
said dinners of the last five weeks were casual but there was no body
language, eye contact that would suggest that they were more than
colleagues and friends."

" When they come down, go find a bathroom, upstairs, check out the
guest bedroom and Badger's. I want to know."

Sid nodded his head. Sikora heard two separated showers
starting. "Maybe Mulder's in the guest room."

Sid didn't bother to comment. "Is it OK if I find the coffee machine
and get it going?"

"Sure, Badger won't mind."

A few minutes later, Skinner and Mulder reappeared freshly showered
and shaved, dressed in jeans and tee-shirts. Sikora handed each a mug
of coffee.

"What the hell is this all about?"

Skinner looked around, "Where's Sid?"

Sikora reached for a mug. "Went to find a bathroom." His comment was
punctuated by the sound of a flushing toilet.

The look the A.D. gave Sikora suggested that Skinner was well aware
of what Sid had gone to check out.

Skinner pushed away his annoyance and anxiousness. He and Mulder
proceeded to debrief Sikora and the returning Sid on what Mulder had
put together and on everything that had happened so far.

"So your computer experts and Agent Scully are the only active
operatives right now?"

Skinner put down his mug of coffee. "Yes, for now. Until the computer
checks are done later today, we have no idea of the extent, who may
be involved or how they gained access."

Sikora leaned back, "Badger, this is very deep and dark. It might be
a while before we get to the root. You've got everything covered that
can be covered now. I'm going to set up at the Situation Office. My
code name is Fiesta until Thursday when I "return". Laura and Dot are
covering for us in Phoenix. I want direct reports via the situation
room computer. E-mail Fiesta1/fbi.gov. I have encryption codes in
place."

"Yes Sir," Skinner answered.

"Sid, Agent Mulder, would you excuse A.D. Skinner and me for a few
minutes?"

After Mulder and Sid retired to the study, Sikora leaned forward and
put his elbows on his knees. A posture that Skinner remembered from
years ago.

"You planned to keep Agent Mulder here until Thursday?"

"Yes, I wanted to protect him and keep him working on the case. I set
it up to look like he's spending a long weekend in Boston. Got the
police check in covered and a cheap hotel reservation. I thought we
should meet with you before I brought him back to the bureau."

Sikora sat back and scrutinized Skinner. "Stay with the plan. We'll
decide what to do after the experts are finished later today..Ah
Badger, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What are you referring to, Director?"

"I'm referring to you bedding a subordinate. Are you out of your
mind! How did you figure to get away with it. It's one thing to get
your rocks off once in a while, out of town, but this is in the
bureau."

Skinner's voice was soft, "You knew?"

Sikora nodded his head, "Since Nam. Stumbled upon you and an Army
loo."

Skinner groaned and looked down. Gathering his determination he
looked back up. "This isn't casual. It's serious and if after this is
sorted out, you want my resignation, you've got it."

Sikora had heard what he wanted to. "As long as it doesn't affect the
job, I don't know or care. Don't make it my problem and I won't make
it a problem for either of you."

Skinner stiffly nodded his head.

"One more thing. You realize that Mulder is not just an investigator
in this but an involved party. This wasn't in his personnel file, Dr.
Grabbowski and I decided to keep it out but Dr. Grabbowski is
convinced that Mulder saw the kidnapper or kidnappers of his sister.

Skinner startled. "Why would you keep that out of his file?"

"That's not all we kept out or at least buried. Mulder was in a coma
for almost ten days after his sister was taken. Not only that but
Mulder was abducted three weeks earlier and was missing for six days.
Supposedly staying with a friend. It was never confirmed. The boy was
home and safe so nobody bothered. It was not even pursued when his
sister was taken."

 "Good God! Why isn't there an X-File on Mulder's disappearance? Why
did you omit or bury his coma and abduction in his file!"

"I wanted Mulder for the FBI. He has a near perfect endemic memory.
His endemic memory was short circuited for want of a better word. Dr.
Grabbowski was convinced that Mulder would become a guinea pig. The
company doctors wanting to muck around him. As for the file number*"

Sikora shrugged, "The agents actually used the same number for the
sister as they did for the brother. It was sloppy work. They were
lazy and didn't want to do the paperwork to start another file. Not
all that usual at the time.

We did a lot of back ground work on Mulder because of this and other
issues before we accepted him into the bureau. I decided to bury all
this outside his file. Dr. Grabbowski was convinced he had no memory
of this and like I said, would just cause problems for him."

Skinner was digging his fingernails into his palm but knew he had to
say this, "He may have some memory. Since he started working on this,
he's been having nightmares. The same ones he had after his sister
was taken. They're intense, as bad as any I've ever seen. He dreams
of being held down in restraints and being in some type of medical
facility. That's all he remembers from the nightmares. His insistence
on the experimental testing of the children may be based on
experience. Experience that he can remember only in his dreams."

Sikora looked a bit pale, "Shit. Watch him, Badger. I'm going to talk
to Dr. Grabbowski. He's monitored Mulder from the beginning. Now that
the nightmares are active, maybe hypnosis would work to regain those
memories."

After the Director and Sid left, Skinner went to the study to find
Mulder. The agent was at the desk pouring over one of the
files. "Mulder, he knows."

Mulder looked up, "I know. Sid's little bathroom adventure. The
Director knew about me from the beginning. Sorry."

Skinner came in and bent down and wrapped his arms around Mulder. "I
told him he could have my resignation, but it seems that he knew
about me too, since Nam. I never knew. He said as long as we're not a
problem for him, he won't be a problem for us."

Mulder turned in his chair and pulled Walter in for a kiss and then
pulled away, "So Badger, tell me why Sikora calls you that."

Skinner made a theatric groan. "Just a nickname I picked up in Nam,
Fox."

Mulder laughed, "You play dirty."

Skinner pulled him out of the chair, "Come on baby, let's go play
together."
 
 

End of Two Voice Harmony 5/19

~~~~~

Chapter 6

Skinner's condo
Sunday afternoon 3:36 PM
 

Scully laid the sheets of paper across the coffee table. "There is
definitely something weird here. All the missing children in `47and
the `49 to `53 group were delivered by Dr. William Knappenberger.
They were under the care of various pediatricians, but from what I
could dig out, tax records and such, Dr. Knappenberger did keep each
of the children on a patient's list. Billing them a small amount
every year.

All the pregnancies were categorized as high risk, but I couldn't
come up with any specific reasons. I've put in a request for a
complete client list, but it was so long ago, I don't know if it
exists. Dr. Knappenberger died in `63.

All the missing kids from the `69 to `75 period were delivered by Dr.
Michael DeLyria. He also delivered some siblings who were never
taken, including Agent Mulder. Besides the thirty-nine children who
were abducted, there were seventeen siblings delivered by Dr.
DeLyria. Agent Mulder is one of only three survivors of the abducted
children's siblings, all male. I've put in a search for the other two
but so far have come up dry. We need to get some help on this line of
inquiry.

The fourteen other siblings all died of natural causes before they
became adults. Their death certificates state the cause of death from
anything to a heart attack to an unspecified viral infection. There
were nine girls and five boys. All seemingly healthy until they died.
None made it to a hospital alive. The Medical Examiners reports are
mainly guess work. The last to die, died nine years ago.

 I compared the birth certificates and Dr. DeLyria had to rush across
country for some of these deliveries. Dr. DeLyria lived in Sun
Valley, California. Most of the babies were born in California. He
delivered a little girl in Glendale, California and five hours later
delivered Agent Mulder in Massachusetts. This is the fastest he had
to travel from one delivery to the next. The plane schedules still
exist. He didn't get to Massachusetts by a commercial flight.

Like the other cases, these pregnancies were categorized as high
risk. All the children were seen by various pediatricians, but from
the few records I could come up with, it seems Dr. DeLyria was used
as a regular consultant. Dr. DeLyria is no where to be found. His
last tax form was filed in 78'. I didn't come up with a death
certificate for Dr. DeLyria so he's probably still alive.

I think we need to have more investigators assigned to do some deeper
digging."

Skinner was listening very closely and was slightly staggered by how
this was evolving. "Good work, Agent Scully. Go back and reexamine
those M.E. reports on those siblings. Then run any leads from your
computer that you can. Don't physically do anything. Report to me
here before you go into work. At work, don't do anything that has to
do with this case. We don't want to alert anyone. Understood, Agent
Scully?"

Scully nodded her head and looked over at Mulder who had gone very
quiet during her report. "Mulder are you OK? Is there anything I can
do?"

Mulder was a bit dazed but made an effort to focus on what she was
saying. He couldn't quite do it. At her concerned expression he
guessed. "I'm fine, Scully."

Scully nodded her head, willing to believe him. She was focused on
the her next steps in this investigation. Skinner was gathering up
the sheets of paper.

"You can go, Agent Scully. I'm going to fax these to the Director and
bring him up to date on this information. Good work, Agent Scully."
With a hand full of papers, Skinner headed toward the study where the
computer and secure phone line was.

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

Mulder didn't notice Scully leaving nor did he notice Skinner
disappearing into the study. He was too busy fighting The Nothing. He
had fought with it since he could remember. He had even lost to it a
few times. At first, The Nothing had come as a friend. It saved him
when Daddy got mad and started screaming at him and hitting him. It
came when the doctors would hurt him. It would take him to a place
where there was nothing, he would wake up and be doing something,
eating or playing and the bad time would be over.

He had named it The Nothing from a children's book he had read
entitled "The Never-ending Story". In the children's book The Nothing
was a bad thing and little Fox started to reevaluate his `friend'. He
started to resist The Nothing. The beatings were not that bad. He was
older now, Fox reasoned, soon he would be seven.

Fox always knew The Nothing was there. It would come and Fox would
occasionally lose a day, but that only happened once or twice a year
mostly when he had to go to the doctor. Sometimes it wasn't even a
whole day.  But usually he was able to defy it easily, if he saw it
coming. On November 2, when he was twelve, he hadn't seen it coming.
He remembered he was reading and then seven days later he was
throwing up in his  bathroom.

His father would not speak to him. His mother said he was at her
cousin's. That he had gone there without permission and nobody had
known where he was. He had caused a lot of trouble. He never had
asked who this unknown cousin was or why they hadn't called. He
didn't want to admit to anybody that he couldn't remember. Sam had
cried. Fox had held her and told her how sorry he was. He had been
terrified. The Nothing could come when it wanted and hold him for a
long as it wanted.

Five weeks later he awoke again in a hospital. Sam was gone.
The Nothing had assaulted him again and stolen his memory of his
sister's abduction. Stolen his ability to be any help. Maybe it was
God? No. It was bad. Maybe it was the devil? Was there any
protection? For now on he would watch and resist.

However, The Nothingness was alluring in its promise of painlessness.
He knew that if it ever came to suicide that all he had to do was
open his arms and call for The Nothing to come. But, he didn't trust
The Nothing. It would probably leave him in time for him to wake up
as an old man. All his possibilities behind him. It had been a
occasional  nightmare since Daniel.

The Nothing had managed to wrap its arms around him for three days
after Daniel had dumped him. His despair over Daniel had made him
vulnerable. He had ruthlessly renewed his vigilance against The
Nothing.

Mulder had often felt it flickering at the edges of his consciousness
during the years he had worked under Paterson. The Nothing had begun
pressing harder and harder as Patterson had pushed him harder and
harder. Mulder knew he had to get away from Paterson and the
incessant profiling or else The Nothing would get him and steal his
life.

Now The Nothing was warring with vague visions. Memories? Were they
memories from his nightmares? Was The Nothing trying to steal his
memories again? Oh God! He was losing! He could feel himself slipping
into The Nothing.

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

Skinner tuned into the front room and sensed there was something
wrong. Mulder was still on the couch and hadn't seemed  to have moved
since Skinner had left to consult with the Director. That was over
forty-five minutes ago. Skinner called out Mulder's name but did not
receive a response. He moved quickly and placed himself in front of
Mulder.

Mulder's eyes were unfocused and he was slightly swaying. He was
mumbling what sounded like a small child's nursery rhyme, but one
Skinner was unfamiliar with. Skinner shook him by the shoulders and
began shouting at him. There was no response. Skinner, panicked, ran
into the study and grabbed the phone and raced back to Mulder.

Skinner's condo
20 Minutes later

Skinner had never felt so frantic in his life. Dr. Grabbowski had
been paged and patched through and had told Skinner to put ice bags
on Mulder's wrists and neck for twenty minutes then wait five minutes
and do it again. The doctor also said to keep talking to him and
touching him. The doctor reassured Skinner that he was confident he
could pull Mulder back. Skinner didn't know what was happening and it
was scaring the shit out of him.

At the knock on the door, Skinner rushed to the door and swung it
open and ran back to Mulder. The doctor followed and set a bag down
and extracted a hypodermic needle that had already been prepared. He
quickly rolled up Mulder's sleeve and jabbed the needle into a vein.
The doctor then started jostling Mulder's arms and then the top of
Mulder's thighs. The doctor started talking to Mulder as he continued
stimulating Mulder's muscles. "Come on, Fox. Come on! Wake up! Come
on Mulder!" The exhortations continued for about two minutes before
Mulder slumped and started to moan. Skinner and the doctor shifted
Mulder so that he was lying on the couch. The doctor kept up the
jostling and threw the ice packs aside. The doctor looked up at
Skinner who was mutely standing aside giving the doctor
room. "Skinner, come over here! Talk to him. Now!"

Skinner moved to the back of the couch and bent down. "Come on
Mulder, wake up. Come on, baby. Come back to me." Skinner continued
with variations on the same theme for what seemed forever while the
doctor sustained the physical stimulation. Finally, Mulder started
moving and mumbling. The doctor stood up and stepped back. Skinner
looked up, a question on his face. The doctor motioned Skinner to
take his place in the front of the couch. "Just keep talking to him,
give him some physical reassurance."

Skinner came to the front and talked to Mulder. He ran his fingers
through Mulder's hair, rubbed his face. His voice sill had a
desperate edge to it. The doctor was checking Mulder's pulse. At last
Skinner could recognize that Mulder was repeating his name. "I'm
here, baby. I'm here."

In another five minutes Mulder was awake and tried to sit up. Both
Dr. Grabbowski and Skinner helped him. He looked shaken and pale.

Dr. Grabbowski sat in a chair across from Mulder, Skinner sat by him
on the couch with his arms enfolding his lover as Mulder leaned in
against him.

Dr. Grabbowski leaned forward and spoke quietly. "Agent Mulder, do
you know what happened?"

Mulder burrowed a bit further into Skinner's shoulder, "The Nothing.
How long?"

Dr. Grabbowski was stunned at Mulder's mention of The Nothing, but
schooled his voice to be neutral. "Under an hour. I brought you back
with a hefty shot of adrenaline. Tell us about The Nothing."

Mulder felt drowsy and disconnected from everything except Walter's
strong shoulder and Walter's wonderful smell. He started talking, not
listening to what he said, just talking himself to sleep in Walter's
arms. It was OK. He was safe.

Mulder had spoken for over an hour. By the time he was contentedly
sleeping on Skinner's shoulder, there were tears running down
Skinner's face.

The doctor got up. "He'll be OK. He'll sleep for a bit. Let me report
to the Director and then I'll come back and talk to you." Skinner
nodded, unable to look at the doctor, he just concentrated on holding
Mulder.

Skinner didn't notice when the doctor returned. He had never heard
anything so horrifying as Mulder's sing-song recitation of his
childhood horrors and fears and the child's reasoning to cope with
them. And then his voice had changed from the child's sing-song to a
flat voice that never the less conveyed desperation and despair as he
had talked about Sam and later, that bastard, Daniel. And latter
still, about Patterson. Skinner determined that Patterson's days at
the FBI were numbered.

The doctor finally got Skinner's attention. The doctor was an average
sized man with average everything except for his eyes which were very
blue. Through the average veneer, the doctor emanated an aura of
kindness that encouraged people to trust him. Skinner felt himself
responding to that innate kindness, needing the man's assurance.

"What happened to him, Doctor? Was he going back into a coma?"
Skinner heard his own voice and hardly recognized it, it was so
unsteady.

The doctor sat back down. "I've already told this to the Director.
I've never been satisfied with what the doctors called a coma. The
readings were off, but the doctors didn't really know what they were
dealing with."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you're upset, but listen carefully. I think that Fox here was
traumatized when he was very young and given Lormyatheim to put him
in a disassociate state to make him forget and then brought out of it
by a shot of adrenaline. It would work well on a very small child.
After Mulder got older, he was able to use the disassociate state on
his own as defense mechanism. This is very dangerous. He could have
been trapped after any beating his father gave him, after his sister
was taken or after that Daniel person. If Patterson had managed to
push him over, we may have lost him. Damn! I never, never picked up
on this!"

"Did the Director brief you on what Agent Scully found out?"

"Yes, just now while I was reporting to him. I think Mulder is
starting to remember. I think that all the kids were worked on prior
to the abductions. I think Fox was actually abducted and then
rejected for some reason." The doctor stood and looked down at
Skinner.

"He's going to be OK. I'm leaving a hypodermic for you just in case
he should fugue out again. Just do what I did and call me. Now that
he's actually got a bit of real memory to hang on to, I don't think
that's going to happen. Is there any believable way you can stay here
tomorrow?"

Skinner shook his head slowly, "No, but I won't leave him."

"Yes, you will if it means that you might get your hands on these
guys. I'll come early and stay with him. No body will notice my
absence, except for whoever has to cover my intake interviews. The
Director says that a man named Frohike reported that it's going to
take into early morning before they conclude their work. Try to get
some sleep and I'll be back at around 5:30 AM"
 
 

Skinner's Condo
6:08 AM

Scully walked out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee. She was not
sure what she had walked into this morning. She decided to just sit
till A.D. Skinner was ready for her. She was surprised to see Dr.
Grabbowski here. Something had to have happened to have a company
shrink in residence. Mulder didn't look very well and Skinner was
looking worn despite being dressed for work. What the hell had
happened?

Scully's report was very short. She hadn't come up with any new
information. Skinner had stated that Dr. Grabbowski would be staying
with Mulder during the day and that he wanted her to go home after
work and continue digging. She knew he was holding back. She didn't
like it but i