By K Phillips
xfstories@yahoo.com
 

Date Submitted:  November 9, 2003
Classification: X Xfile
Spoilers:  None
Disclaimer:  I don't own Mulder, Scully or any of the X-file
characters.  I just like to play with them.
Rating:  PG-13
Keywords:  Mulder/Scully adventure with a bit of romance thrown
in
Feedback:  Would love to hear what you think.
xfstories@yahoo.com.
Archive:  I will do Ephermeral and Gossamer anyone else is fine.
Just give me credit and let me know.
Summary:  Mulder and Scully are sent to a team building seminar
in Pennsylvania where they meet for the first time.  One of the
other participants is murdered and everyone there looks to Scully
and Mulder for help.

XXX

Chapter One

Friday afternoon
Aboard a US Airways Flight

Special Agent Fox Mulder looked out the window of the plane as it
took off from Dulles Airport.  Once again he questioned how he
got stuck going out to Pennsylvania to be part of a team building
experiment the FBI was running.

His superior had explained it to him the day before. The FBI was
considering using team building techniques in its many bureaus
around the country but before signing a contract with the
company, it wanted to make sure that the team building concept
really worked.

So each region was sending a pair of employees to Pennsylvania to
see how well they bonded with the other participants.

It was decided that someone from the Violent Crimes Unit and
someone from Quantico would represent the greater Washington
area.  Mulder was picked because he was the only single,
unattached guy in the VCU.  Some of the other agents were willing
to go, but their spouses and/or significant others weren't so
willing.  Too worried about office romances blooming, Mulder
thought as he grumpily accepted the assignment.

Mulder quickly glanced over the list of participants he had
received from his superior that morning.  He didn't recognize any
of the names. Not even the name of Dana Scully, the young up-and-
coming pathologist out of Quantico.

He hadn't recognized her name, but a few of the guys in his unit
did.

"Dana Scully?" one of them said after browsing the list "She is a
hot one"

"Hot to look at" agreed another one "but she can turn your balls
into ice cubes with just one look"

Mulder had looked at them skeptically and they continued "They
call her the 'Ice Queen' Mulder.  I don't think even your
considerable charms could melt her.  I am sure you will have fun
trying since you have gone through practically every woman in our
building."

Mulder smiled to himself thinking of the ribbing the guys in the
unit had given him.  Since Mulder was one of the only truly
single men in the unit, they enjoyed living vicariously through
his many sexual adventures often insisting upon hearing every
gory detail.

Mulder had no plans of seducing Dana Scully or any other female
on this assignment, but he was curious to meet her just the same.

He closed his eyes and tried to catch some sleep.

XXX

Friday afternoon
Aboard an Amtrak train

Dana Scully closed her laptop and rubbed her eyes.  She had just
finished her field report on the autopsy she had performed in New
York City.  The body was severely mutilated and the NY office had
requested her assistance.

She was now on a train bound for Pennsylvania to attend a team
building seminar.  Scully was not looking forward to spending a
week with a bunch of strangers trying to bond with them.

She would much rather spend a quiet weekend with her mother and
uneventful week teaching at Quantico but that was not meant to
be.  Her superior had tried to convince her that she should feel
honored to be selected to participate in the trial running of the
teaming building seminar.

But she knew better.  She was pretty sure she was chosen because
of her infamous status of being the 'Ice Queen'.  If she could
warm up to people and bond with them within a week, then anyone
could.

Of course, anyone who really knew Dana Scully knew her to be a
warm, sensitive person who was always available when she was
needed.  But to those who only knew her professionally, she was
all business and rarely showed her lighter side.  A woman who had
actually risen to her position based on her brains and talent and
not by sleeping with the right person.

Scully heard her phone ringing and answered it quickly.

"Scully"

"Hey Dana, it's me" Scully immediately recognized the voice of
her good friend Rachel who also worked in the pathology
department.

"Hey Rach, what's up?"

"I got my hands on a list of the people attending that boring
seminar you are going to."

"And?"

"And, it might not be as boring as we thought."

"Why is that?"

"Well, you remember that really cute agent from the VCU I was
telling you about?"

"You mean Spooky Mulder, the master of the one night stand?"

"Yup and master is the key word my friend.  From what I have
heard, he is the best thing since sliced bread."

"And how is this important to me?"

"Come on Dana, we both know that you could really use a good . "

"Enough Rach.  I am not going to this seminar looking for love.
I am going to grin and bear it and count the days until I am set
free."

"Too bad.  I would  have loved to have gotten on first hand
account on exactly what he does with his. . "

"Goodbye Rachel.  I will call you when I am released" Scully said
hanging up the phone and smiling at the thought of her hopelessly
romantic friend.

"The alien chaser and the Ice Queen" she muttered to herself.
"Now that would be a sight to see.

XXX

Chapter Two

3pm
Teams Are Us Facility

Fox Mulder tried not to stare at the beautiful and incredibly
buxom woman who was greeting the seminar's participants in the
foyer of the large house that would be their home for the next
week.

She had to be close to six feet tall with long wavy blonde hair
and an incredibly small waist that only enhanced the size of her
chest.

Mulder, tried keeping his eyes on her large brown ones as he
approached her.

"Good afternoon.  Welcome.  I am so glad you are here!"  the
woman said as she quite obviously gave Mulder the once over.  "My
name is Colleen and I will be your moderator for the next week."

Mulder held out his hand for her to shake "Fox Mulder"

"Welcome Fox"  Colleen said after giving him the once over once
again.  "I am so glad you could make it.  You are going to be in
room 13.  Up the stairs and to the left.  Why don't you go
upstairs and settle in.  We will be meeting in the lounge around
4pm."

"Thank you"  Mulder said taking the key from her hand.  She
brushed her fingers against his a bit more than necessary leaving
Mulder  with the idea that she would be more than happy to give
him a more personal welcome later in the day.

Mulder was just reaching the top of the stairs when the main door
opened again and a petite redhead entered the building.  Mulder
wasn't sure why, but the mere sight of her stopped him in his
tracks.

It wasn't her appearance that stopped him cold, although she was
a very attractive woman, but her manner.  It reeked of confidence
and self assurance. Two traits that Mulder admired since he often
seemed to lack them in himself.

The redhead walked over to the table and was greeted warmly by
Colleen.  Mulder strained to hear her name.

"Dana Scully" she said.

"So that is the famous Dana Scully" Mulder thought to himself and
he watched Scully take the key from Colleen and start towards the
stairs.

He knew that he probably looked a bit odd standing there on the
stairs watching her, but she didn't look up and notice him until
she was halfway up the stairs.

Their eyes met briefly and she stopped.

"Hi" Mulder said putting down his bag and extending his hand to
her "Fox Mulder, Washington Bureau."

Scully smiled slowly as she recognized the name.  Rachel would be
thrilled to know that Mulder was standing only a few feet from
her.  "Dana Scully, Quantico"

They shook hands briefly and climbed the remainder of the stairs
together in silence.  They both turned left and weren't surprised
that they were in adjoining rooms.  After all they had checked in
one after the other.

"See you at 4" Mulder said as he opened his door and walked into
his room.

Scully just smiled and went into her own room.

XXX

He sat quietly in his car watching the FBI personnel straggle
into the facility.  He lit another cigarette and blew out the
smoke slowly, deliberately.

As he watched he thought about how much he hated the FBI.  The
FBI had been responsible for catching him and sending him away to
prison for 10 long years.

Sure he had killed his girlfriend in cold blood, but she had
deserved it.  She had been unfaithful to him by smiling at other
men.  She had denied everything but he knew the truth and he
quietly and quickly shot her through the head.

He had escaped briefly only to be profiled and brought in by the
Violent Crimes Unit of the FBI.  He had been tried and convicted
and sent away to prison.

There he was the perfect inmate knowing that by behaving himself
then, he could avenge his capture that much earlier.  He had been
released on parole just a couple of weeks before and his mother
had gotten him a job in the kitchen of a facility specializing in
team building.

He could not believe his luck, when he was told that a bunch of
FBI agents would be there for a whole week.

"You are all just sitting ducks" Chip Tyler said to himself as he
watched another person enter the building.

"I will make you sorry.  I will make you all very sorry."

Chapter Three

Colleen smoothed her linen pants and prepared herself for the
first group meeting of the session.  She was a woman who truly
enjoyed her work.  Not only was she a firm believer in the team
building concept and the successful career she had created
promoting it, but she loved meeting new people and getting to
know them. The more personally the better.

Colleen had an active sex drive and found that it was a rare week
when she didn't establish a close and personal relationship with
a least one participant.  Man or woman.  Alone or together it
didn't matter to Colleen as long as it was someone different.

She greeted each of the 12 participants warmly as they entered
the room checking them out even as she pointed them towards the
bar.

Of the 12, only two were actually FBI field agents, the rest
consisted of a wide array of administrative posts none of whom
had seen any real 'action'.

Colleen considered herself an expert on reading people and had an
uncanny knack of matching people up.  This not only helped her in
her own personal quests, but had helped many a corporation build
effective teams.

Colleen sat back and watched as the participants got themselves
and drink and awkwardly began to mingle.  She would help them
break the ice soon enough, but she always enjoyed seeing how
different people would react in this situation.

Some would concentrate solely on the stirring of their drink,
some would down their drinks quickly trying to find the courage
they lacked in their glasses and some would make the best of it
and go around introducing themselves.

It appeared that most of the people in this group lacked the
courage to introduce themselves.  Colleen wasn't surprised that
it was the two field agents, who had experience in speaking with
strangers, that mingled with the most ease.

Colleen watched Mulder and Scully as they attempted to make small
take with those people standing around them.  She knew from their
body language when they arrived that neither of them was very
eager about accepting this assignment, but she could also tell
that they were both trying to make the best of it.

She knew that even though they lacked the rank of some of the
other participants, that they would emerge the leaders of the
group.  The question was whether or not she would put them
together or keep them apart.

"Good evening everyone" Colleen said getting everyone's
attention.  "Why don't you all have a seat and we will get
started"

There was some mumbling in the group as they all took a seat.

Colleen remained standing and walked around the room as she gave
her standard welcoming speech.

She explained to them that basically for the next week they would
be in total isolation.  That after dinner tonight they would be
asked to turn in all their computers, cell phones and any other
means of communication they had with them.

The purpose of this, she explained, was to encourage them to
interact with each other and rely on each other for
entertainment.

There was also a ban on television and radio and the only music
allowed was in the common room.  This too was to keep people from
hiding in their rooms.

Every night there would be a chance to play a variety of card or
board games.

Then she explained to them her favorite rule.  "Please remember
that there is no rank here.  We are all the same.  The rules that
govern your office do not apply here.  We only ask that you
respect each other and treat each other kindly.  We also ask you
to respect the privacy of your fellow participants.  Anything
that happens up here, stays up here."

Colleen looked at Mulder and gave him a wink.  "It doesn't become
talk around the water cooler when you return to work. Do we all
agree to these rules?"

Everyone agreed and Colleen proceeded to sit down and begin the
introductions.

"As you know, my name is Colleen and I am the founder of this
organization" she paused and motioned for the man on her left to
continue.

All the participants briefly stated their names and where they
were from leaving out exactly what they did for the Bureau.  Of
the twelve people attending, four were from California, two from
Washington DC, two from Chicago, two from Minnesota and two from
Louisiana.

They had just finished their introductions when their waiter, who
introduced himself as Chip, came into the room and told them it
was time for them to eat.

The group entered the dining room with Colleen making sure she
was sitting as close to Mulder as possible.

Chip watched as the 13 people dove into their food and began to
eat.  He looked at them carefully trying to decide just how to
handle things.  He knew he would have to wait until they
surrendered all of their phones to him and he officially notified
the phone company to terminate their service for the week.

He thought of the irony that he, in his little cabin a mile or so
away, would be their only source of communication with the
outside world.  Of course when he was done with them, no one
would be in good enough shape to make it to his cabin.

But who would be first?  The plump man who came from Southern
California who called himself Ray?  The middle aged woman from
Chicago named Sheila or the hot little redhead named Dana. He
might do something special to her before he killed her.

Mulder enjoyed his dinner and the conversation with those around
him but still felt a bit on edge.  He looked at his fellow
participants as he sipped his coffee later in the lounge.

They all seemed harmless enough, except for maybe Colleen who was
making it quite clear about her intentions towards him, but he
still felt something was wrong.

He shook his head and forced himself to relax as Colleen started
up the old jukebox the stood in the corner of the lounge.  An old
rock and roll standard started and she grabbed his hand and
dragged him to the dance floor, encouraging the others to do the
same.

It took another half hour or so, along with several nightcaps, to
get everyone dancing on the floor.  Dana surprised herself when
George, a man who barely stood taller than her, grabbed her hand
and whisked her out on the dance floor without any resistence.

Scully didn't want to admit it, but she was having fun.  That was
until Colleen decided to try her hand at match making to liven up
the evening a bit.

"Okay everyone. I am going to match you up with someone for your
next dance and I want no complaints."  Everyone groaned a bit
worried about who would end up with whom, but Colleen was an
expert and quickly had put together couples who actually looked
good together.

Colleen wanted Mulder for herself but couldn't help but wonder
how he would be with the more serious Agent Scully.  Who knew, if
she played her cards right maybe she could get them both.

Mulder and Scully were the last two paired up and they looked at
each other and smiled a bit.

Colleen walked over to the jukebox and immediately played another
classic rock and roll song. Only this one was very slow and very
long.

All the couples paused a bit but then began to dance.  Colleen
looked on with satisfaction as she realized that she had once
done a pretty good job of matching people up.

Mulder gallantly took Scully's hand and they slowly wound their
way around the dance floor.  For the longest time neither of them
said a word. They were just enjoying the moment.

Mulder pulled Scully a bit closer and looked down at her just as
she was looking up at her.  He smiled.

"Dana, right?" she nodded.  "I don't know about you, but this is
not how I envisioned this to be."

"Me either.  Now I know why they didn't want to send any married
people up here."

"I would imagine they will change their routine a bit when
Blevins does it."

Scully laughed picturing her boss swaying around the room with
some stranger.  "I imagine the onsite version of this is less
personal"

They became silent again swaying gently with the music until it
stopped and Colleen announced that it was time for bed.

"I think y'all have had enough fun for tonight.  Breakfast is at
8.  Make sure you dress to spend sometime outdoors.  Oh and,
don't forget to hand in your phones and computers to Chip before
going to bed."

Chip sat quietly in the foyer accepting phones and computers
until the last person had gone to bed.  He chatted briefly with
each of them and knew, without a doubt, who his first victim
would be as he got in his car and drove to his cabin.

Chapter Four

7am
Mulder's room

Mulder rubbed his eyes and looked at his clock.  It was 7am and
he would have to hurry if he was going to make it down to
breakfast on time.

He paused before getting out of bed realizing that he had
actually gotten a good night's sleep.  Sleeping soundly was not
something that Fox Mulder did very often so he savored the
feeling of actually feeling rested.

He walked over to the window and was surprised to see that it had
begun to snow at a pretty good clip.  He knew that snow in the
mountains in early April was not that unusual, but he had been
hoping for some nice spring-like weather.  Luckily he had thought
to pack a winter jacket.

Mulder stepped into the shower and began to think about how the
seminar was going so far.  He surprised himself when he realized
that, so far, it hadn't been so bad.

The people attending seemed to all be relatively intelligent and
basically nice people.  Colleen was obviously interested in him,
but despite her obvious good looks and over abundant attention
towards him, he found himself thinking about Dana Scully more.

"She doesn't seem so frigid to me" Mulder thought to himself as
he dried off.  He remembered how nice it was dancing with her the
night before and scolded himself for having unpure thoughts about
her.

"I am as bad as the guys in the office" he thought as he reached
for a flannel shirt.

XXX

6:30am
Scully's room

Scully groaned as she finished her last sit up.  She usually
didn't work out when out on assignment, but she felt a lot of
pent up energy this morning and wanted to burn it off before
showering and heading down to breakfast.

She had slept like a log the night before barely moving in her
sleep.  She had dreamt though and was embarrassed to think about
the people who had occupied her dreams.

She had actually dreamt about the waiter Chip.  In her dream, he
was obsessed by her and began following her around everywhere
finally trapping her in a corner and trying, unsuccessfully, to
seduce her.  When she rejected him he had turned angry and
appeared about ready to hurt her physically when Ray and Fox had
stumbled upon them.

Both men had seen the look in his eye and had calmly thrown Chip
out of the house.

"Great" Scully thought to herself and she walked over to the
window to check out the weather "I spend years trying to ensure
my independence and within a day of being here, I find myself
subconsciously being rescued by men.  I can just imagine what
Rachel would say about that dream."

Scully gazed out the window and was happy to see the snow
falling.  She had checked the weather report before leaving New
York City and was not surprised.  She was a bit surprised,
though, to see how quickly the snow was coming down.  Apparently
they were in for more than the light dusting that the Weather
Channel had predicted.

Scully was unconcerned though.  She loved the snow and was
looking forward to spending some time outside.  It would be a
pleasant change after spending the last couple of days cooped up
in an autopsy bay.

She stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the shower.
While washing herself, she reviewed the people she had met the
day before.  All seemed very nice but only one kept sticking out
in her mind.

Fox Mulder.

"Guess Rachel was right about him being a chick magnet" she
thought to herself as she rinsed off her hair.

"Well, I don't intend to be another notch on his bedpost" she
told herself even as she was thinking about just how good looking
Mulder was.

XXX

8am
The dining room

Mulder was sipping a cup of coffee talking to Colleen as the
other participants began to straggle into the room.  In general,
they appeared to be all pretty well rested.  The result, he
assumed of not being allowed to log onto their computers or watch
TV all night.

Colleen was dressed in skin tight jeans and a sweater that caught
the attention of not only Mulder but every other person in the
room.  Colleen appreciated the attention but kept her flirting to
a minimum.  There would be plenty of time for that later in the
day.

"Good morning everyone!  The breakfast buffet is just about set
up.  Grab a plate, fill it up and take a seat.  Chip will be
around with coffee and juice shortly."

Scully thought with amusement that the people in the room were
acting like they hadn't eaten in days as they descended upon the
buffet.  The mountain air had apparently given everyone a good
appetite.

They all grabbed their food and started sitting down at the
table.  Unlike the night before, they were all relaxed and began
chatting with each other easily.

They were so wrapped up in their own conversations that they
didn't notice Chip or the fact that he quietly had slipped
something into a couple glasses of juice.

He smiled to himself as he silently served them.  Tonight would
prove to be very interesting.

"Too bad" he thought to himself "that I will be safely home when
all the fun starts."

Chapter Five

Colleen let everyone linger a while over their coffee before
rising from her seat and getting their attention.

"Okay everyone we are going to go outside and have some fun"

Her statement was greeted by a mixture of smiles and groans
especially from the people hailing from California.

"For those of you who aren't prepared for this kind of weather,
we have a variety of snow gear for you to borrow.  Just check the
closet out in the hallway.  Now get going. I want to see everyone
outside in 10 minutes."

A collective groan went up from the group as they separated
themselves from their coffee and headed back to their rooms to
change.  Scully was looking forward to playing in the snow since
it was something she rarely got to do as a child while Mulder
rolled his eyes at the mere thought of it all.

Colleen greeted the group outside wearing a skin-tight hot pink
snowsuit and a hat that looked like a huge ball of white fur.
She eagerly waited for Mulder to appear and quickly linked her
arm through his.

"Fox don't you just love walking around in the snow.  It is just
so peaceful, isn't it?"

Mulder nodded feeling a combination of embarrassment and arousal
when he realized that Colleen was stepping up her flirtation with
him.  "Perhaps later, I could show you around some of the
trails?"

Mulder nodded again trying to keep the image of him slowly
unzipping Colleen's snowsuit out of his mind.

Colleen saw the reaction she was looking for and quickly smiled
and turned her attention to the other members of the group who
were huddled around the steps of the house.

"Okay everyone we are going to be splitting into two groups today
and will be having a series of competitions.  Since it is snowing
so hard today, Chip's mother won't be coming out to cook for us.
So whichever team looses today gets stuck doing all the cooking
and all the clean up."

Colleen smiled and continued "Fox will head up team number one
and Dana will head up team number two."

Colleen had seen the signs of sparks flying between the two of
them the night before and there was no way she was letting Mulder
get close to Scully until she had her chance with him.

"Now I want the rest of you to get in a line" and after they did,
she proceeded to count 'one, two, one, two' until each of them
had been assigned a group.

"The first competition will be to see who makes the best snowman.
I will be the judge.  You have 30 minutes."

Everyone quickly broke into two groups and the chatter began.
Unfortunately for Mulder, he seemed to have ended up with most of
the folks from California and they were absolutely clueless about
making snowmen.

"It's really pretty easy" Mulder tried to explain to them "you
just make big balls of snow and decorate them"

"How do you make balls of snow" said Ray looking totally
perplexed.

Mulder shook his head and bent down to grab some snow and pack in
into a little ball.  He slowly rolled it along the ground
grinning at the look on Ray's face as the ball increased in size.

"We have to make three balls each increasing in size and then we
decide how to dress it up."

Ray smiled and started rolling his own ball.

Scully was lucky to have all the snowmen experts on her team.
Within minutes they had formed three perfectly shaped balls and
had them positioned on top of each other.

Scully looked at their work and smiled at her teammates.  She was
actually having fun.  "Okay guys, how are we going to dress this
sucker up?"

Amanda, a basically shy girl out of Chicago said "I think we
should make her a girl and dress her up accordingly. I know just
the thing"

She ran back into the house and quickly reappeared holding a silk
scarf, high heels and what looked like a sexy undergarments.
"Luckily for us" she said laughing "this snowwoman and I have
pretty much the same figure"

She quickly proceeded to place lacy underwear on the snowman and
wrapped its neck with a silk scarf.

The others on their team got into the action and quickly rummaged
through their rooms looking for appropriate items to decorate
their snowwoman.  Only Scully remained outside.

Apparently she was the only woman who had packed nothing but
practical attire for this trip.

It seemed like no time at all until Colleen blew her whistle
indicating that the half hour was up.

Everyone gathered again by the stairs of the house and the
followed Colleen as she inspected both snowmen.

Mulder found himself standing right next to Scully and even
though her simple parka was nothing in comparison to Colleen's
snowsuit, he couldn't help but think how sexy she looked with her
flushed cheeks and the tip of her nose being ever so slightly
red.

Scully must have felt his gaze upon her because she looked up
when they approached Mulder's snowman.

"Funny" she said "if I didn't know better, I would say that your
snowman looked almost alien.  Very spooky, don't you think"

Mulder picked up on her subtle use of his nickname and smiled
back at her "So maybe I influenced the design just a little bit"

Mulder's team had indeed built a snowman resembling an alien.  It
wasn't decorated at all but was more of a snow sculpture with
carved out eyes that looked so intense that it almost gave one
chills.

"Very interesting concept" Colleen laughed as she walked around
the snowman.  "Can't say I have ever seen one quite like that
before."

The group went over to see Scully's team effort.  The sight of
the snowwoman dressed like she was going to entertain a gentleman
in her room had everyone laughing hysterically.

It was no contest.  The snowwoman won hands down.

XXX

The next contest consisted of a tug of war across a pit of muddy,
snowy goop that Colleen mixed up using kitty litter, hot water
and snow.

This time Mulder's team was triumphant as he team had several
large bodies on it.

Scully's team did not give up without a fight and more than once
their eyes met as they were cheering themselves and their
teammates on.

Colleen waited until Scully's team had removed itself from the
pit of goop before yelling "SNOWBALL FIGHT.  Last team standing
wins."

That got everyone going and within seconds snowballs were flying
and people were laughing.  There was no honor in this war as one
team member promptly dumped snow over the head of another team
member.

Colleen watched from the sidelines and could easily pick out the
two field agents from the rest of the gang.  They were the only
ones who thought of seeking cover and had lethal aim.

They were also both determined to win.

One by one the other participants dropped out having had enough
they stood by the side and watch their two leaders fight it out.

Again and again Mulder shot at Scully and Scully returned his
fire.  Both took multiple hits but neither one seemed to be
willing to give an inch.

Both felt their attraction towards the other growing and both try
to deny the feeling.

So they just kept throwing snowballs at each other.

Colleen realized that this battle could last for days and ordered
them both to stop.

"Okay you two.  We are going to have sudden death.  I want you
both to make 5 snowballs and separate yourselves by 10 paces.
You will then take turns throwing snowballs at each other.  You
can duck and move but no moving of feet.  Whoever gets hit the
least wins.  Agreed?"

 
"Agreed" they both said together.  They were having the time of
their lives, but to look at them you would think they were
meeting a dawn to dual.

They paced off the distance and Mulder took the first shot at
Scully.  Being short was a definite advantage and Scully easily
dodged his shot much to the joy of her teammates that were
cheering her on.

Then it was her turn to take a shot at Mulder and she nailed him
right in the shoulder.  He, in turned, was taunted by his
teammates.

As so it went, back and forth.  Mulder managed to hit Scully
twice while Scully got him three times.  She won.

"Now shake hands" Colleen said as the two opponents continued to
stare each other down.

They approached quickly and were amazed at the small electric
shock that seemed to race through their bodies as their hands
touched.

"Nice job Dana.  Are you always so good at bringing down an
opponent?"

Scully just smiled at him.  "Usually.  I hope you have better
luck in the field Fox than you did here."

Mulder smiled at her "I use a variety of tactics in the field."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Like this" and with that Mulder picked up Scully and easily
deposited her headfirst into a snow bank.

"Unorthodoxed, but it works" he said to his cheering teammates.
 

Chapter Six

Mulder stood in the middle of his room drying himself off after
taking a long hot shower.  He hated to admit it to himself, but
he was actually enjoying himself.

Colleen was a bit of a flirt, but he had to admit to himself that
her tactics appeared to be working.  He was actually feeling a
certain sense of closeness to several people he had only met the
day before.

Mulder's thoughts were broken by a soft knock on the door.
Mulder quickly wrapped the towel around his waist and opened the
door.

There stood Colleen in a pair of tight pants and an even tighter
sweater.

"Sorry to bother you Fox, but I always get a bit bored when the
group takes a break."  She blatantly looked down at the towel
around his waist "I was hoping you could help me stay occupied
until we all meet up for afternoon tea."

Mulder tried to remember to breathe as Colleen slowly walked over
to him and began to draw slow circles on his bare chest with her
fingernail.

"You had a tough battle this morning, Fox.  I think you could use
a nice long massage"

Mulder just stood there as Colleen hooked one finger underneath
the edge of his towel and slowly began to work it towards the
knot holding it together.

She had just about reached her destination when the silence was
broken by a blood curdling scream.

Mulder immediately pushed hand away and grabbed his sweatpants.
He was out the door and down the stairs before Colleen knew what
hit her.

"Damn" she thought to herself as she followed him.  "Some city
girl probably saw a mouse and freaked out.  And for that, I have
to miss a good lay."

XXX

Colleen was wrong about the mouse.  There wasn't one in sight.
There was however Jake the security guard from New Orleans lying
on the floor.  He appeared to be motionless.

Mulder was kneeling next to Jake with Scully right beside him.
Scully immediately took over the scene and began checking his
vitals.

"Will someone please go into my room and get my medical bag?  It
is next to the dresser."

Amanda sped up the stairs.

"You're a doctor" Colleen said as she watched the proceedings.
"I thought you were a field agent."

"She's both" Mulder answered.  He continued when he saw Scully's
perplexed look "What can I say, your reputation proceeds you."

She smiled briefly and returned her to attention to Jake.  He was
breathing but appeared to be having great difficulty doing so.
His pulse was also very weak.

Scully turned to Amanda who had just returned with her medical
bag.  "Are you the one who found him? What did you see?"

"I came around the corner on my way to the lounge when I saw Jake
kneeling here holding his neck and trying really hard to breath.
If I didn't know better, I would say he was choking.  But when I
asked him if he had swallowed something, he shook his head 'no'."

Scully nodded and kept checking Jake's vitals.  They were getting
weaker by the minute.
 
"Fox" she said "you are certified, right?"

He nodded.  "Good, because I think we are going to be needing to
do CPR here any minute."

Scully turned to Colleen and asked "Is there anyway to call 911?"

"I am afraid not.  We keep a radio here for emergencies like this
but it is not working.  I think the storm has brought down the
antenna."

Scully nodded and looked at Mulder.  "I guess we are his best
hope then."

Jake stopped breathing a few minutes later and Mulder and Scully
went to work on him doing CPR.  All the other participants
gathered around them to watch as they frantically worked to save
Jake's life.

No one noticed Chip standing off slightly to the side smiling to
himself.

"One down, eleven to go" he said to himself.   He looked at his
watch.  "Probably another one will be gone within the hour."

He quietly left the room to start making tea.

Scully called the time of death for Jake 35 minutes later.
Frustrated she sat back on her knees and brushed the loose hairs
back from her face.

"Colleen, we need something to wrap the body in" she stated
grimly.  "I would also like to place it somewhere cool until I
have a chance to examine it completely.  I am not sure, but I
think Jake here may have suffered from either a bad allergic
reaction or food poisoning."

"Food poisoning" everyone in the group started to mumble to
themselves.

Scully stood up and tried to look more positive.

"It is probably nothing at all, but I think it wouldn't hurt to
try and figure out as much of what Jake did and ate over the past
24 hours."

Colleen looked a bit pale "Okay, I will bring down some extra
sheets and you can put him in one of the back rooms.  We only use
them for storage so there is hardly any heat in there."

Colleen returned with the sheets and Scully and Mulder went about
tending to the body while Colleen took everyone in for tea.  The
group drank in silence while Mulder and Scully plotted out their
next moves.

"Shall I give you a hand with him Scully?"  Mulder said as Scully
secured the sheet around Jake's body.  Scully smiled realizing
that Mulder was now addressing her not as a fellow member in a
team building seminar but as another agent in the field.
 
"Sure, Mulder I would appreciate it.  Also, do you think you
could start questioning everyone else about what they ate, what
they saw Jake eat etc while I examine the body?"

"No problem."

Mulder and Scully had just managed to place Jake on a table in
the back storage room when they heard Scully's name being
shouted.

"Dana, Dana where are you?" it was Amanda.

"I'm right here.  What's the matter?"

"It's Stacy.  She is upstairs in the bathroom puking her brains
out.  She is scared, really scared that what happened to Jake is
happening to her too."

Scully dashed up the stairs with Mulder right behind her.  She
found Stacy pale but conscious leaning her forehead against the
toilet seat.

"Stacy.  Tell me what's going on."

"I am not sure.  All of a sudden I just felt so sick.  I ran in
here just in time and I think I have thrown up five or six times
already.  My head is spinning and I feel like my throat is
starting to close up."

"Someone get me my bag."  Scully ordered before turning back to
Stacy.
"Stacy, we are going to move you over to your bed so you can be
more comfortable.  I am going to give you some Benedryl
 just in case you are having an allergic reaction.  If you are,
that will help your breathing."

Colleen arrived with Scully's bag and hovered around the room not
knowing exactly what to do next.  She fetched Stacy a weak cup of
tea which she managed to keep down.

After sitting with Stacy for an hour or so, Scully turned to
Mulder.  "I think she was able to fight off whatever was in her
system.  We need to find out what, if anything, she and Jake had
to eat or drink that was the same."

Mulder nodded and lowered his voice "Do you think there is foul
play going on here?"

Scully looked at him "I know this doesn't make sense, but I have
a bad feeling about this place and what is going on here.  It is
almost like we are caught in one of those bad murder mysteries
where all the guests get killed off one by one."

Chapter Seven

Scully pinched in the bridge of her nose in a feeble attempt to
stop the headache she felt coming on.  It did little good so she
stared at the fire roaring in the fireplace trying to give her
mind a break.

But she couldn't help but think about what had transpired over
the past few hours.  One man lay dead and another woman lay in
her bed desperately ill.

Why?  She had a few thoughts but without the tools of her trade,
she was left to only making theories.

"Oh what I would give for my laptop" she muttered to herself as
she continued writing her meticulous notes on a legal pad Colleen
had supplied her.

She paused from her writing when she heard the door of the
library squeak open.  Mulder entered the room carrying two
glasses of wine.

He smiled as he approached her and offered her a glass.  She took
it with a grateful smile.  "Thanks.  I could really use this."

"I thought you might.  Have you come up with any theories yet?"

"Not really anything more than we talked about earlier.  I did a
basic examination of Jake's body and didn't find anything out of
the ordinary.  We will have to wait to do an autopsy and a tox
screen to get more answers."

Scully got up and wandered over to the window still holding onto
her wine glass.  Outside the snow was still coming down at a good
clip.

"Of course, it this weather keeps up, who knows how long we will
be trapped up here."

Mulder came up behind her just as she was rolling her head back
and forth trying to relieve some of its tension.

"Allow me" he said placing his two hands on her shoulders and
slowly rubbing the tension out of them.

Scully tensed for a second, knowing that having a fellow FBI
agent massage her shoulders wasn't the best of ideas, but it felt
so good.  She relaxed and let him continue.

They stayed that way for a minute or two until Scully broke the
silence by turning to him.  Their eyes locked for a moment and
Scully couldn't help but think that if she didn't break the spell
quickly she and Mulder would end up in a passionate kiss.

She looked away and moved over to one of the easy chairs sitting
in front of the fire.  Mulder took the chair across from her.

"Did you manage to talk to everyone else?"

"Everyone except for Chip the waiter.  Apparently he had already
headed for home."

"And?"

"From what I could tell, there is absolutely no similarity to
between what Jake ate and what Stacy ate.  She is a strict
vegetarian and he liked his meat rare and bloody.  The only thing
they had in common yesterday was orange juice."

"Practically all of us had juice but we are not sick."

"Looks more like poisoning, doesn't it" Mulder said trying not to
think about how beautiful Scully was with the firelight dancing
off her features.

They both sat in silence for a minute or two gazing into the fire
when Scully said

"What is it Mulder?"

"What is what?"

"You are sitting there looking at me like you want to say
something but are afraid to.  So what is it?"

Mulder smiled at the ease in which Scully seemed to be able to
read his mind after such a short time.

"Well, I was just thinking that you don't seem so Icy to me?"

Scully frowned a minute and then slowly smiled as she figured out
his meaning.  "Thank you, I think.  And the only thing Spooky
about you is how you make snowmen."

They both relaxed a bit then Mulder had just about gathered up
his nerve to start delving into Scully's personal life when the
library door squeaked open and Colleen entered the room.

"There you two are" she said.  "Everyone is getting ready to head
up to bed and I was hoping you two could give them a bit of a pep
talk before they do.  They are all pretty nervous."

Scully and Mulder both nodded and got up to follow Colleen from
the room.  They found everyone gathered in the lounge having a
quiet drink trying desperately not to talk about everything that
had happened that afternoon.

Scully left Mulder to fill everyone in as she went upstairs to
check on Stacy.  Mulder had just begun to talk, when he heard
Scully call his name from upstairs.

"Mulder, I think you had better come up here" Scully called.

Mulder raced out of the room followed by Colleen and practically
everyone else.  He stopped abruptly at the doorway to Stacy's
room he eyes not believing what he saw.

Stacy's bed was empty.

He looked at Scully and raised an eyebrow.  "She's gone?"

"Apparently.  I have already checked the bathroom.  I suggest we
all spread out and check the entire house."

Colleen tried to keep her voice calm "I thought she was too sick
to move."

"She was."

Mulder quickly organized everyone into searching the house and
meeting back in the lounge in ten minutes.  Scully went to the
back storage room to check on Jake's body.

She opened the door and flipped on the light switch and looked
towards the table. It was empty.

Before she could take a step into the room, she heard the loud
crack of a tree branch.  And then the lights went out.

XXX

Chapter Nine
 
Everyone was relieved to see the morning light stream through
the windows of the lounge.  Ray was just finishing up his shift
and looked out the window moaning to himself at what he saw.

Snow and lots of it.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is still snowing
like crazy out there."

A collective groan went up from the room as everyone started to
stand up and stretch the kinks out of themselves.

Only Colleen seemed to be her cheerful self.  "Not to worry
everyone.  At least we have plenty of firewood and plenty of
food.  I think I can even scrounge up a cast iron kettle to make
coffee."

This statement brought cheers from the group who were happy to
have made it through the night alive and ecstatic and that
thought of having caffeine too.

Mulder and Scully excused themselves from the group and went
back to the storage room to check it out.  Scully seemed a bit
uncomfortable and finally broke the silence.

"I am sorry about last night."

"Last night?"

"Yeah falling asleep on you, literally, when I was supposed to
be helping you keep watch."

Mulder stopped and waited for Scully to stop too.  He couldn't
help but smile at her.  "Don't worry about it.  You are actually
very cute when you are sleeping except for when you drool."

Scully looked a bit embarrassed and then realized he was only
joking and attempted to glare at him.

"Very funny.  But seriously, I will try to do better tonight if
we end up having to stay up all night again."

Mulder tried to push the image of keeping Scully up all night
out of his mind and starting walking again.  "Hopefully we won't
have to do that."

"You have a plan?"

"Sort of, I think that someone should try to make their way down
to Chip's cabin to either get use of his phone or his car. "

Scully nodded and stopped to open the door to the storage room.
As she had suspected, Jake's body was gone and there were
definite signs of it being dragged along the floor out the door
on the other side of the room.

Mulder and Scully followed the trail and found that it
eventually led to a back door near the garage.

"I wonder" Mulder muttered to himself more than to Scully

"Wonder what?"

"Just what the story behind Chip really is."

"You think he is a suspect?"

"Right now I think anyone who seems to be strong enough to drag
a 6 foot man out of the house is a suspect.  I just want to find
out some more information from him.  In the meantime, I think we
should try to keep everyone out of this section of the house.
Sooner or later we should be able to get a forensic team in here
to dust for fingerprints.  Unless, of course, you brought your
evidence kit with you."

Scully smiled at him.  "Latex gloves yes, evidence kit no.
Guess we will have to wait for reinforcements."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mulder and Scully headed back towards the kitchen to grab a bowl
of cereal and were happy to find Colleen in there alone.

"Colleen, can we ask you a couple of questions about Chip?"
Scully asked.

"Sure" she mumbled between bites of Frosted Flakes.

"What's his story?"  Mulder continued

"I really don't know much about him except that his mother has
worked for me for many years, she lives about 10 miles from
here, and that she asked me to give him a job when he got out of
prison."

Mulder interest was now piqued.  "When was that?"

"I don't know.  Not that long ago I guess."

"What was he in for?"

"Not sure.  But his mother ensured me that it was basically a
case of 'boys will be boys' gone bad.  I figured he probably got
caught smoking dope or shop lifting or something like that."

Both Mulder and Scully were silent and she continued.  "You
don't think Chip had anything to do with what is going on do
you?  He is nothing but a sweet boy."

"A sweet boy" she thought to herself "that gave her some of the
best sex she had ever had." There were definite advantages to
sleeping with a man who had just gotten out of prison.  Just the
thoughts of what he would do to her with his mouth almost made
her blush.

Mulder sensed she was hiding something but said nothing more
than "Colleen right now everyone is a suspect.  I just wanted to
get my facts straight.  Come on, let's join the others.  I want
to figure out our battle plan for the day."

When everyone was comfortably settled in the lounge, Mulder told
them that he thought that they should send a party out to find
Chip's cabin to call for help while the people back at the house
worked on getting the emergency radio fixed and making their
surroundings more secure.

Everyone agreed that it sounded like a good plan until it came
time to choose who would go.  Mulder wanted to head out alone
stating that it was too dangerous to let anyone else go.

Scully totally disagreed stating that was an incredibly bad idea
for someone to head out in a blizzard alone.  The rest of the
group agreed with her and Ray suggested that both Mulder and
Scully go.

"I know Fox you would rather Dana stay back here but as a field
agent you know that you never go out on an assignment without
someone covering your back.  You both are active field agents
who are trained in survival tactics.  You two are the only ones
who can get the job done."

Mulder thought a moment and reluctantly nodded his head.

"You're right.  Ray, why don't you and Charlie work on securing
this house?  Colleen do you know how to fix the radio?"

"I do, if she doesn't" Amanda said.  "My father had a ham radio
and we grew up tinkering on it."

"Great, then everything's settled." Scully said.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mulder and Scully took about 15 minutes to load their gear into
a couple of backpacks and dress themselves as warmly as
possible.  Colleen provided them with a map of how to get to
Chip's cabin.  On a sunny day it would take a good hiker about
an hour or so to get there.  Who knew how long it would take
them today.

If they could get there at all.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chapter 10

Mulder waited for Scully in the foyer of the house.  When he saw
her coming down the stairs he just had to smile.

She was wearing so many clothes that he could hardly tell it was
her underneath them all.  He opened his mouth to say something
then thought better of it.  He wasn't quite sure if now was the
time to be teasing her about her small stature.

"Ready Scully?"  he asked as she approached him.

"As ready as I will ever be."  She turned to Ray and Colleen who
were waiting with Mulder in the foyer.  "If you haven't heard
anything from us by this time tomorrow, you may want to send out
another team."

"I am not worried" Colleen said even though her facial
expression said otherwise.

"Okay, let's do it." Mulder said opening the door and gesturing
for Scully to go first.

Colleen and Ray watched them go through the door and gently shut
it behind them.  Colleen looked incredibly sad as she hooked her
arm through Ray's.

"Ray, I don't know if I can handle this" she started.  "I may
need some comfort"

And she led him up the stairs.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scully had been out in snow storms before, but never one as bad
as this one.  The wind felt like little daggers stabbing at her
skin and she could barely keep her eyes open.

Looking up at Mulder she noticed that he too had his head bent
down against the wind.  He turned to speak to her and had to
yell to be heard over the storm.

"Scully.  We have to make sure we aren't separated."

She nodded and accepted the hand he extended to her.

Mulder led the way trying his best to plow through the snow to
make it easier on Scully and her much shorter legs.  It was
incredibly slow going and it seemed to take them forever just to
get to the main road.

There was a small shelter there, a bus stop probably, and Mulder
led Scully inside.

The snow wasn't as deep in there and he was able to clear off
the small bench so they could sit down and be somewhat sheltered
from the wind.

He looked at Scully and saw little of her face beneath her
parka.  What he saw was bright pink due to the walking and the
wind.

He thought she looked beautiful.

"Scully, this is worse than I thought.  Do you want to head
back?"

She glared at him and said "No. I can handle it if you can."

They rested a minute before standing up again to continue.

"Hey Scully, what do you think about you and me spending some
serious time in a hot tub with a bottle of champagne when this
case is done?" Although he asked in a teasing way, he was hoping
for a positive reaction.

Scully just looked up at him and smiled sweetly.  "In your
dreams Mulder" she teased back.

Mulder turned her towards him and their eyes met again.  They
stayed that way for a moment or so before Scully spoke.

"The earlier we get going, the earlier you can try to talk me
into that hot tub"

Mulder laughed and took her hand to lead her back out into the
snow.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Amanda was busily tinkering with the radio wondering where
Colleen had gone off to.  She had told her that she was going to
see Fox and Dana off and then seemed to have disappeared.

Amanda assumed nothing wrong had happened to her, but
considering the events of the past couple of days couldn't help
but worry just a little.

She was just getting up to go look for her when Colleen
sauntered into the room smiling like the Cheshire cat.

"Where were you?" demanded Amanda.

"Oh Ray and I were just having a private conversation."

Amanda shook her head wondering how Colleen could think about
sex when so much was going on around her.

"Let's get working on this radio."

Colleen tried to wipe the smile off her face and starting
working too.

It took an hour or so, but they seemed to have it going.  The
signal was pretty weak.  So weak, that neither thought they
would be able to raise the sheriff's office in town but
hopefully strong enough to be picked up by someone.

Pleased with their progress, Amanda excused herself to go wash
up leaving Colleen to sit by the radio and try to hail someone.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chip was heading towards the bedroom in which he was holding
Stacy when he thought he heard the sound of static coming from
the library.

He walked into the library looked around and realized that the
sound was coming from the old short wave radio sitting in the
corner.  As he approached it he heard Colleen voices barely
above the static.

"Chip, Chip are you there?  Chip, please answer!!!"

Chip thought about ignoring Colleen's obvious pleas, but he
truly liked Colleen and appreciated what she had done for him
inside and outside of her bedroom.

"Colleen is that you?"

"Oh Chip, thank God I got hold of you.  We are in big trouble up
here.  We need to get the police up here as soon as possible."

Chip's veins turned to ice when he realized that other people
could be intercepting their conversation.  He knew he would have
to get her off the radio as quickly as possible.

"Calm down Colleen.  I will be happy to contact the police for
you but no one is going anywhere until this storm lets up."

"Chip, you need to try."

"Okay Colleen I will.  Let me go so I can make the call."

"Thanks Chip and by the way, keep an eye open for those the
agents, Dana and Fox, they are making their way towards you to
try and get a vehicle up here."

Chip smiled to himself.  "How convenient" he thought to himself
but to Colleen he calmly responded "Don't worry about them.  I
will make them a huge pot of coffee."

"Wonderful. Thank you Chip.  I'll see you soon."

Chip disengaged the radio and sat down in his favorite chair to
think.  They were coming to him.

How perfect.

He would make them suffer.  He would enjoy that.  He would enjoy
her.  Perhaps he would even make Fox watch.

The mere thought of all this created quite a commotion in his
groin.  He didn't think he could wait for Dana to arrive, so he
rose out of his chair and headed for the bedroom.

He knew Stacy would come in handy for something.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It seemed like it took an eternity and the feeling in their legs
and feet was practically gone when Mulder and Scully rounded the
corner and saw Chip's cabin looming in front of them.

Even though the site of the small cabin with smoke coming out of
its chimney seemed innocent enough, Mulder felt a small sense of
dread.

He motioned to Scully to pull back with him behind some trees.

"Scully, we really don't know anything about this guy.  I think
we should split up and enter the house from both sides.  If I am
wrong about the guy, we apologize.  If I'm right he can only get
one of us."

Scully nodded her head in agreement.  "I will go in first
through the front door.  Once you have seen me go in, swing
around to the back and go through whatever door you find back
there.  Give me a couple of minutes to flush him out."

"A couple of minutes may be too long"

Scully smiled at Mulder's obvious concern over her well being.

"I'll be fine Mulder.  I can take care of myself."

She gave Mulder one last long look and slowly starting
approaching the building, not realizing that Chip was watching
their every move through an upstairs window.

She crept up the porch and peered in the windows.  Seeing
nothing, she slowly opened the door and walked inside.

The last she remembered was the sound of someone hitting her on
the back of the neck.  Then everything went dark.
 

Chapter 11

Mulder knew he was supposed to wait five minutes before entering
the house, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so.  He
couldn't shake the feeling that Scully was in trouble.

He swung wide around the house and spotted a little door leading
to a room he assumed was the kitchen.  A quick look through the
window confirmed this and he silently entered the room.

Seeing now one, he shed his cumbersome coat and gloves and
reached for his weapon checking to make sure it wasn't frozen.
Luckily keeping it close to his body had done the trick and it
was ready to go.

Mulder stood and listened.  The house was quiet. Too quiet
considering he knew that at least one other person should have
moving around somewhere.

He slowly crossed the kitchen and started his way through the
house listening very, very carefully.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chip placed Scully on the bed in one of the spare bedrooms and
starting stripping her wet and snowy clothes off of her.   She
hardly moved as he removed one item after another throwing them
into a soggy heap in the corner of the room.

When he had stripped her down to her under garments he quickly
bound her arms and feet to the bed posts.  She was quiet enough
now but when she started to come around she would surely put up
a fight.

Chip was looking forward to it.

It was only after he had secured her,that he took a second to
actually look at her.  She was more beautiful than he thought
she would be.

Her proportions were perfect and she had more curves than she
allowed to show through her baggy clothes.

"Yes, she will do nicely" he thought to himself forgetting for
the moment about Mulder.  He began to take off his own clothes
pausing to neatly fold each piece of clothing after he removed
it.

The simple action calmed his mind and let him think about all
the wonderful things he would do to Scully.

He would make her cry.  He would make her scream in pain.  And
if she pleased him well enough, he would make her scream with
pleasure.

It was the least he could do for her before killing her.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mulder silently moved throughout the house.  Going at such a
slow pace was killing him but he knew if he rushed and exposed
himself that he was exposing Scully to even more danger.

He looked around the living room and the library and found fires
roaring in both rooms.  A cup of coffee was sitting by one of
the easy chairs.

It was still warm which meant Chip was here somewhere and he
probably had Scully.

Mulder gritted his teeth to keep from yelling her name and
slowly, quietly walked over to the closed door down the hall
from the library.

He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it ever so slowly and
ever so quietly.  He pushed the door open but an inch and peered
inside.

What he saw made his heart sink.  The room was dark with only
one candle burning on the dresser, but on the bed was a woman.
A woman who was obviously hurt and trying very hard not to let
her sobs of torment be heard.

"Scully?"  Mulder whispered as he pushed open the door another
few inches "Scully is that you?"

"I'm St. .a. .c. .y" a small voice whispered.  "Is that you
Fox?"  Her sobs grew more defined as she realized that help had
finally arrived.

Mulder entered the room and silently shut the door behind him.
"Yes Stacy, Scully and I are both here."

"Have you come to save me?"

"Yes, now what I am going to do is untie you so that when the
moment comes you will be able to run.  I want you to run into
the kitchen.  My coat and gloves are there.  I want you to put
them on and get out of the house and meet me in the little shed
out back. Do you think you can do that?"

"Y. .e. .s"  Stacy said trying to keep herself from sobbing
more.  "He has her you know."

"Who?"

"Chip, he has Scully.  Somehow he knew you were coming and he
was waiting for you.  He boasted about what he was going to do
to you both the last time he. . ."  Stacy could not bring
herself to say the horrible word.

Mulder felt his blood turn to ice.  "Where, Stacy?  Where would
he have taken her?"

"I don't know. There are more bedrooms upstairs I think."

Mulder abruptly turned to leave the room then stopped.  He
slowly turned around and walked over to Stacy.  He cupped her
face with one hand.

"We will get out of this you know.  I won't let him hurt you any
more.  Do you believe that?"

"Yes" she whispered so softly that Mulder could hardly hear her.
"Go find her Fox."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scully could feel nothing except the incredible pounding inside
her head.  She fought the pain and tried to open up her eyes.
When she did, the pain got even worse.

She tried again and all she saw Chip moving her service weapon
from one hand to the next trying to get a feel for it.  He
gently placed on her pile of clothes in the corner and turned
his attention back to her.

Scully managed to get out a feeble "Mulder! Help!" before he
struck her across the face sending her back into the darkness.

"Mulder" Chip thought to himself.  "I had totally forgotten
about him.  I haven't heard him coming into the house yet so I
should be able to get in a little loving before shooting him
with Dana's gun."

He slowly climbed onto the bed and began toying with Scully's
breasts.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mulder was just making his way up the stairs when he heard
Scully's weak scream.  He bolted up the stairs two at a time and
began running down the hall checking each door as he went.

"Hold on Scully" he said out loud while hoping against hope that
he wasn't too late.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chip had slowly climbed on top of Scully and was about to truly
mount her when he heard the sounds of footsteps down the hall.

He jumped off the bed with considerable ease considering his
boxer shorts were down around his knees.  He stood behind the
door and waited.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mulder had almost run out of doors when he found one locked.  He
banged the door screaming "Scully" and when he got no response
he began throwing himself against the door.  Again and again he
threw himself.  He shoulder was starting to ache from the abuse,
be he didn't stop.

Finally the door flew open.  There in front of him strapped to
the bed was Scully.  She was clearly unconscious but he couldn't
tell from where he was standing if she had been more seriously
hurt.

He stepped towards the bed for a closer look and Chip saw his
chance.  He attacked Mulder from behind sending him sprawling
across the room in one direction with his gun going in another.

Mulder landed with a grunt and hauled himself back up.  His
shoulder was throbbing in pain.  Mulder ignored it and lunged
himself at Chip.

Both men clung to each other exchanging punches.  Both trying to
reach Mulder's gun first.

The sounds of the fighting men drew Scully out of her stupor.
She slowly came to but it took her a second or two to wrap her
mind around what was going on.

She was half naked strapped to a bed and Mulder and Chip
appeared to be in fight to the death.  She gasped when she
realized what was going on.

At the sound Mulder turned his head and Chip seized the moment
to blow past him and pick up the gun.

"Don't move a muscle" Chip panted as he pointed the gun at
Mulder.  "One move and I will kill you first and that pretty
little thing second."

Mulder glared at Chip but didn't move.  His mind was too busy
studying his options.  Behind Chip Scully was frantically
thrashing around the bed trying to loosen her bonds.

Chip walked backwards towards the dresser next to Scully and
opened up a drawer.  He felt around a little bit and pulled out
a small flask.

He rolled it towards Mulder.  "Open it up and take a whiff or
two"

"What is it?"  Scully demanding cursing Chip for blocking her
view.

"Just something that will take the fight out of him.  Nothing
too long lasting.  Just long enough so I can tie him up."

"Mulder, don't do it! It could be some sort of poison."

"Do it now!" Chip demanded as he cocked Mulder's gun "or I will
turn around and shoot her in the head before you are halfway to
me."

Mulder looked at him and saw by the madness raging in his eyes,
that he would have no trouble keeping his threat.

He picked up the flask, opened it and took a couple of long
whiffs.  Whatever was in the flask smelled sickly sweet and made
his head spin so much he had to sit down.

He didn't pass out, but he lacked the energy to move.  He did
nothing as Chip walked over to him and expertly bound his hands
behind him and his feet in front of him.

"Don't worry" he said to Scully as he put down the gun and
headed over to the bed "he won't miss the good part.  I will
just amuse myself until he comes out of it and then he can watch
while I take you on the ride of your life."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Mulder's head was spinning out of control and he was dreaming a
terrible dream.  A dream where Scully was in danger and he was
unable to help her.  All he could was watch.

Scully looked over at Mulder trying to focus on him and not the
horrible creature that was proceeded to rub himself all over her
body.  Mulder sat there with his eyes closed thrashing his head
back and forth as if trying to drive a demon from his mind.

The thrashing finally stopped and Mulder slowly opened his eyes
and in them Scully saw nothing but pure horror at what he was
witnessing.

Their eyes met and that brought them a moment of peace before
Chip stopped his suckling and noticed that Mulder was awake.

"Ah, we have been waiting for you, haven't we my dear?"  Chip
reached past Scully head and pulled a condom out of the dresser
drawer.  "I know it isn't very romantic but one can't be too
careful" he said as he slowly unrolled the latex.

Scully shut eyes as hard as she could and prepared herself for
his painful entry.  She held her breath as she felt him get into
position.  Closer, closer he was almost there when a single shot
rang out in the room.

Chip fell on top of her the dead weight of his head colliding
with hers and knocking her out.

Mulder had adverted his eyes too when he saw Chip start to mount
Scully.  He just couldn't bring himself to witness her being
violated.  His eyes flew open when he heard the shot and he
thought that Chip had killed Scully instead of raping her.

He was wrong.

In the doorway stood Stacy still holding the gun steady, ready
to shoot again.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 

Chapter 12

Scully felt herself fighting to regain consciousness.  She could
have sworn she heard the voices of her mother and Mulder. But
that was impossible they had never even met.  She knew she must
have been dreaming and let herself sleep.

When Scully finally found the strength to open her eyes, she
found her mother sitting next to her bed quietly knitting.
Scully just stared at her a moment savoring the fact that she
was indeed safe.

She tried to talk but found her voice was weak and sounded like
gravel. "Mom?"

"Welcome back darling" Maggie Scully said bending over to kiss
her daughter's forehead.  "You had me worried there for a little
while."

"I thought I was dreaming.  I thought I heard you talking to
Mulder."  Scully murmured realizing that she probably wasn't
making any sense.

"You mean Fox, dear? What a nice young man.  He wouldn't leave
your side a minute until I got here.  And even then it took me
an hour to convince him to go back to the hotel to take a
shower."

"Hotel?  Where am I?"

"In Pittsburg honey.  They flew you down here with Fox and that
other woman Stacy as soon as the storm stopped."

"Where are they?"

"Stacy is in a room down the hall.  I know she wanted to visit
with you as soon as you woke up."

"And Mulder?"

Maggie looked a bit uncomfortable but answered none the less.
"As I said before, Fox was flown in here with the two of you
girls.  Other than a severely dislocated shoulder he was fine.
He sat by your bedside as long as he could but finally his
superior came up from DC and took him home."

Maggie couldn't help but notice the look of disappointment in
Scully's eyes.

"He wanted to stay honey, but they wouldn't let him.  I guess
they thought that four days was plenty of time."

"Four days!"

"Yes, apparently you took quite a few severe blows to the head.
We weren't sure exactly how much damage there was."

Scully was about to ask her mother some more questions when
there was a slight knock on the door.  Scully looked up to see
Stacy standing in the doorway trying to decide if she was
interrupting something.

"Stacy" Maggie said getting up from her chair.  "I was just
going to go downstairs to get some coffee.  Why don't you keep
Dana company until I return"

And with that she left the room and Stacy took her spot next to
the bed.  "Is your mother always so good at handling people?"

"Yeah she is.  How are you Stacy?"

"Despite that jerk using me to relieve his sexual urges, I'm
fine."

"Oh Stacy, I'm so sorry."  Scully took Stacy's hand and squeezed
it.

The two women sat in silence both knowing what needed to be said
next and neither wanting to broach the subject.

Finally Scully could stand it no longer. "Tell me what happened
Stacy."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Stacy took a deep breath and stood up and began to pace.  She
didn't want to think about anything that happened in that cabin,
but she knew that Scully needed to know the truth so that
someday she could put it all behind her.

"I was being held in a room off of the library" she began "that
is where Fox found me.  He untied me and told me that he would
make sure that nothing more would happen to me.  He was
desperately worried about finding you but took the time to
comfort me and make me feel a little bit like a person again."

Scully smiled a little encouraging her to continue.

"He left the room to look for you and a minute or so later I
heard you scream for him.  I knew that I would be safer hiding
out in the room, but I just couldn't do it.  You two had been
there for me and I knew it was my chance to be there for you."

She sat down for a minute and poured herself a glass of water.
After drinking it she went on.

"I saw Mulder go into the room where Chip was holding you.  So I
quietly went down the hall and stood outside the door listening
and waiting for an opportunity to help."

"I heard Mulder and Chip fight and then what I assumed was you
gasping.  From what Chip was saying, I knew that he thought he
had the upper hand on Mulder.  He was so distracted by talking
to the two of you that he didn't notice me opening the door a
crack."

"That is when I saw your weapon sitting on a pile of clothes
about a foot away from the door.  I waited for my opportunity
and then took it."

Scully didn't know what to say and for a couple of minutes both
women sat in silence.  "Stacy you took him down in only one
shot.  I don't mean to offend you, but the average person can't
do that."

Seeing Scully perplexed brought a smile to Stacy's face.  "You
are right an average person probably couldn't do that, but a
former member of the Special Forces can."

"Special Forces?  I didn't know you were a field agent too."

"I'm not.  I did enough missions to last me a lifetime.  I
wanted to help my country but stay away from the violence.
Guess it didn't work too well, huh?"

Stacy then filled Scully in on how she had untied Mulder and how
he had immediately called the local authorities.  Luck was on
their side since the storm was in the process of ending when
Mulder placed the call.

Both she and Mulder had been worried sick about Scully.  They
tried frantically to revive her but realized that she had taken
too many blows to the head.  Stacy had dressed her while Mulder
placed the calls but after that, he had not left her side.

They had been airlifted to the hospital in Pittsburg where the
doctors had quickly set Mulder's shoulder, attended to Stacy's
wounds and monitored Scully's progress.

"I should be released tomorrow" Stacy said.  "I can't wait to go
home and try to forget that this week ever happened."

"I know what you mean." Scully said.  She didn't want to
remember the week either except maybe for Mulder and how nice it
had felt holding his hand.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Two months later

Mulder checked his tie for the 100th time as he raised his hand
to knock on the door.  He didn't know why he was so nervous.

Sure it had been two months since they had laid eyes on each
other, but Mulder was pretty certain of her feelings when they
were up in the Pennsylvania mountains.  Feelings, that he hoped,
were still around.

"What if she met another man since then?" he thought to himself
"I am probably making a huge mistake showing up on her door
unannounced.  A woman as beautiful as her is probably busy
entertaining someone this time of night."

He sighed a big sigh and turned around to leave.  He was so lost
in thought that he didn't even notice that he had left behind
the bottle of wine he had put down by the door to straighten his
tie.

He just headed home to be alone.  Again.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mulder sat comfortably on his couch in his sweatpants watching
an old Knicks game on ESPN Classic when he heard a knock on the
door.

He wasn't expecting anyone but he thought it may have been one
of his buddies from the Lone Gunmen showing up to play some
cards.

He opened the door without looking through the peephole and his
mouth dropped open when he saw who it was.

"I think you left this at my place.  Thought you might want it
back.  Can I come in?"

"Sure.  How did you know I was there?"

"In my line of work, you learn to observe everything going on
around you."  She saw the puzzled look on Mulder's face and
continued.  "This looks like a good bottle. Shall we sample it?"

Mulder merely nodded and gestured to her to sit on the couch
while he went and got two wines glasses.  He poured the deep red
wine into each glass and they lifted their glasses in a silent
toast.

"What's wrong.  You're so quiet.  Shall I leave?" she didn't
sound so confident now.

Mulder voice sounded just a bit panicked "No. Please don't
leave."

Scully smiled and sipped her wine.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  End of story