WayYouAre

The Way You Are

By Namarie
pomme_noire@hotmail.com

Category: TRHA

Spoilers: Early season 7, after The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati,
and Millennium. Before Orison.

Keywords: MSR.

Rating: PG-13 for some disturbing references.

Summary: The voice was extremely familiar, although something
seemed odd about it. It was Mulder. He was upset. And why was she
unconscious? What had happened?

Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder, Scully, or any other XF characters
mentioned in this story.

Feedback: Is welcomed at pomme_noire@hotmail.com

Author's Note: This fic was inspired by a really, really strange
dream. I make no apologies for its weirdness, but consider yourself
warned that its premise is quite bizarre.
Thanks to Dasha for encouraging me to let this fic see the light of
day, as well as for her general beta awesomeness!

~~~~~~~~~~

The Way You Are
By Namarie

Scully was still thinking about what she wanted to make for dinner
as she opened the door to her apartment and set down her groceries
on the kitchen counter. That must have been why it took her a few
minutes to realize that something was wrong. There was something or
someone here. Taking a deep breath, Scully put her hand to her hip
holster and walked slowly out of the kitchen. The locks on her door
were still intact, she was sure of it. There was still enough light
coming in through the windows that she could see her living room
clearly - nothing out of place. Then she moved towards her room,
and felt a breeze coming from the open window in there. She wished
fleetingly that she had given in to what had seemed like paranoia
and left the window shut when she'd gone out. Whoever or whatever
was here had probably gotten in that way.

Slowly, she opened her bedroom door more fully... and nearly
dropped her weapon in shock. Instead of any garden-variety prowler-
or even a mutant - there was some kind of big cat curled up on the
floor next to the bed. It had noticed her immediately, of course.
It stood, watching her silently with alert eyes.

Scully stared back, unsure of her next move. The animal did not
seem too aggressive at the moment. She wasn't an expert, but she
knew domestic cats showed agitation by a lashing tale and ears laid
back, and this big cat in front of her was doing neither, nor was
it baring its teeth. Only the tip of its tail was twitching. From
what she could see of its coat pattern, Scully guessed it could be
a leopard.

*Is there a zoo nearby that it could have escaped from?* she
wondered. She wished she hadn't left her cell phone in the kitchen.
Perhaps it would be best if she departed, and then called animal
control or something.

Cautiously, still keeping her eyes on the leopard, Scully prepared
to back away, her grip tightening on her gun as she did so. But
just as soon as she began to move, the leopard tensed. Before she
had a chance to do anything further, the creature leaped at her,
knocking her over and knocking the gun out of her hand in the
process. Scully couldn't keep herself from crying out in shock and
fear, and the leopard growled in response. It was now standing over
her, its face mere inches from her own. She could feel hot breath
on her face.

Don't move, Scully told herself. She knew that if a bear or a
mountain lion attacked you, you were supposed to stay as still as
possible, and that could make you an unappealing target. She hoped
that held true for leopards as well. She kept her breath as quiet
and even as possible, not wanting to reveal any more fear than she
already had. Even as she was fully focused on the cat that was
currently sniffing her neck, Scully also couldn't stop wondering
how in the world an escaped zoo animal had made it to her apartment
complex, and chosen her apartment out of all of them. Perhaps she
and Mulder needed to give this place its own X-File, since it
definitely seemed to attract more than enough weirdness.

The leopard moved its head away from her face, and began to sniff
her right hand. She felt a rough tongue lick her palm, and she
flinched slightly. Thankfully, the cat didn't react to the movement
other than to lick her again. *How long am I going to be lying here
at the mercy of this animal?* Scully thought, disliking the fact
that there was nothing she could do to get out of this situation.
She hated feeling so helpless.

Just then, Scully noticed a strange tingling sensation spreading up
her arm, from where the leopard had licked her palm, all the way
through her body. She shuddered, and the leopard backed up a few
feet - but Scully barely realized that the animal was no longer
standing over her. She was too busy shivering, and trying not to
panic completely as she wracked her brain to figure out what
possible poison could be transmitted from a leopard's mouth.
Whatever it was, she decided as blackness overcame her, it was
extremely fast-acting.

~~~~~~~~~
<Scully! Scully, can you hear me? Oh, God, Scully, please wake up.
I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... can you hear me?>

The voice was extremely familiar, although something seemed odd
about it. Mulder. It was Mulder. He was upset. And why was she
unconscious? What had happened?

Scully took a deep breath - and instantly realized something was
wrong. Her body felt... entirely different than usual. Also, it
felt rather like she was simultaneously not wearing any clothes and
wearing a lot more than she remembered putting on this morning.
<Mulder?> Something about the way she was speaking to him felt
odd, as well, but she couldn't determine how.

Scully opened her eyes, and just barely held back from screaming.
The leopard was still there, just a few inches from her face.
<Scully? Was that you?> The cat got even closer to her, and before
she knew what she was doing, Scully bared her teeth and hissed.

<Whoa, sorry!> The leopard backed up a prudent distance. Mulder's
voice sounded amused now. <No need to start a catfight, Scully.>

<What-?> Scully didn't finish the thought, feeling a sense of
foreboding. She looked at herself. She was pretty sure she almost
passed out again at what she saw. The difference she had felt upon
taking a deep breath was quickly explained: she was looking down
at the body of another leopard. Her clothes were still around her
awkwardly, though they were now in some disrepair. She disengaged
herself from them as fast as possible, hearing cloth tear further
as her... claws... caught on it. Then she stood and stared at the
pile of discarded clothes, trying to slow her breathing. The clasp
of her necklace had broken, and it glittered faintly in the light
from the kitchen.

<Hey, Scully, are you all right?>

Realization dawned, and Scully raised her head to stare at the
other leopard. <Mulder?! That's *you* in there??>

The leopard nodded - a bizarre sight. <Yep, this is me, Scully.
I - I'm just as surprised as you are.>

<How - how are we talking??

Mulder blinked. <Telepathically, I guess? But you didn't hear me
until...>

Sitting down and wrapping her tail around herself, Scully looked at
Mulder more closely. Even in leopard form, he was bigger than her -
which made sense, considering what she knew about big cats. She
noted that although she couldn't see colors very well now, with her
increased sense of smell she could detect something familiar about
Mulder's scent, even in this shape. That was oddly comforting.

He seemed to be returning the favor and looking her over closely as
well. He walked forward a few steps, then stopped, repeating his
earlier question: <Are you okay, Scully?>

Scully almost laughed. <Mulder... what kind of a question is that?
We both seem to have transformed into leopards. This isn't even
scientifically possible.>

At that, Mulder did chuckle - a sound that Scully only heard in
her head, though the leopard's eyes brightened for a few seconds as
he did so. <Yeah, if anything qualifies as an X-File, this sure
does.>

<What happened, Mulder?> Scully asked. She narrowed her eyes, remembering right before she had
gone unconscious. <And did *you* somehow make it happen to me,
too?>

Mulder shrank back slightly and looked down, embarrassment
practically radiating off him. <I... well, um, sorry about that,
Scully. I really had no idea that was going to happen. Oh, I-- I
didn't hurt you when I knocked you over, did I?>

Scully shook her head, which even felt strange in this body.
<No, I don't think so. But tell me what happened to you, Mulder.
Maybe there's a clue there somewhere that we can use to reverse the
change.> She found it hard to believe that they were talking about
this so comparatively calmly, like it was any other case. In
reality, she knew if she thought about the implications of this for
too long, she'd probably finally lose her mind.

Mulder sighed, and sat down a few feet away from her. He paused for a moment, and Scully idly watched his
ears twitch. <Well, I know I was human when I first woke up this
morning,> he began slowly, <because I got a phone call from Langly
at some ungodly hour. Some new revelation the Gunmen discovered
about a conspiracy in... marketing for toy cars, or something,> he
grumbled, and Scully smiled. Then he continued, <The change must
have taken place after I fell back asleep - because I woke up a few
hours later on the floor next to my bed, and I was wearing this new
leopard-skin coat.>

<On the floor?> Scully repeated, and he nodded. <And you don't
remember anything else, anything specific that could have triggered
this?>

<Well, I was having really strange dreams,> Mulder said, <but I
don't generally change into an animal whenever that happens.>

<No, that doesn't make sense,> Scully agreed. Then she laughed,
but not with a lot of real humor. <This whole thing doesn't make
sense, who am I kidding?>

There was a pause, and Mulder moved over to her, touching her face
with his. <Hey. We'll figure this out,> he promised quietly. Then
he nudged her, and she could almost hear him smiling. <And if not,
well, we can run off to Africa and see the sights, maybe scare a
few tourists ourselves.>

Scully leaned into him, sighing. <I've seen enough of Africa to
last a while, thank you.> A thought occurred to her. She
pulled back and looked him in the eyes. <Mulder, why did you knock
me over earlier, if that was you? Even if I couldn't... hear you
then, there had to have been a better way to communicate.>

He looked away, again seeming embarrassed, if she was any judge of
cat body language. <Well, I... after I transformed, it... it got
weird for me.> As if he could feel her incredulity, he hastened to
clarify. <Beyond the weirdness of being in a leopard's body, I
mean. It was like- > his voice got quieter. <It was like I was
losing my human mind. I knew I needed to find you, but that was...
almost all I could keep in my head.>

Scully's heart ached at the pain and shame now evident in Mulder's
voice, and at the painful memories his words evoked for her:
memories of his illness, and of helplessly watching as his
brilliant mind slowly destroyed itself. She shook it off. Dwelling
on that memory was not at all helpful in this situation. Instead,
she leaned against him again, comforting and encouraging him
silently to continue.

Mulder took a deep breath. <So. I got out of my apartment through
a window, and just... got here as soon as I could. Luckily,
leopards seem to be very good at climbing trees, and your window
was open.>

<You walked here?> Scully asked in amazement.

<On my own four feet,> Mulder confirmed. Abruptly, he sounded
worried. 

Scully shivered slightly, but made no other reply. She didn't want
to think about how easy it would have been for him to have gotten
hit by a car or otherwise injured, or simply gotten lost,
especially if he truly had been losing his human identity. She also
wasn't sure what to make of the fact that he had just known to come
to her - and that seemingly by being here and able to communicate
with him now, she was holding him back from the threatening loss of
humanity. Maybe his presence was now keeping her humanity intact,
as well. Somehow that wouldn't surprise her. It was yet more proof
to support what they had both said a while back - that they were
indeed each other's touchstones.

<And you couldn't talk to me when I came into the room at first?>
Scully inquired again.

He tensed. <No. I'm... not even sure I was able to think
coherently by then. I don't even know how much time had passed
since I woke up in my apartment.> He glanced at her, then went back
to staring fixedly at his paws. <I could still recognize that it
was you, but when you started to leave... I guess I must have
thought I wasn't going to get another chance to try to get you to
see it was me - and I still remembered enough to not want to get
shot.> Then he looked back at her and repeated anxiously, <Scully,
I'm sorry I jumped at you like that! Did I hurt you?>

Scully shook her head again. <No, Mulder, I'm fine. Well, at least
not hurt,> she amended wryly. Then she grew serious. <And I
understand that you weren't... exactly yourself, less so than you
are now.>


Mulder continued after a moment, but he sounded less guilty. The guilt crept back
into his tone as soon as he said, <And I really, really didn't
know that I was going to make you transform when I... um...>

<Licked my hand?> Scully supplied, not able to keep the amusement
out of her voice. That earned her a
surprised laugh. <But we don't even know for sure that you caused
me to change - and even if you did, you said it yourself: how could
you have known?>

He didn't answer, but she thought she might have gotten through to
him to some extent at least. He stood up then and stretched
luxuriously. <Well, what now, Scully? What's the next step?>

Scully stood as well, thinking. She padded over to her bedroom
doorway and squinted at the clock by her bed. It read 6:34. she told him.

<Oh,> Mulder said. <Yeah, I can definitely agree with that
course of action. I haven't eaten all day.> He bared his teeth
briefly. 

If she could have, Scully would have rolled her eyes in response.


<The things you take for granted,> Mulder muttered as the two of
them headed for the kitchen. Scully agreed.

~~~~~~~~~
The bags of groceries were still sitting where Scully had left them
earlier, which meant that the ground beef and chicken thighs were
now probably close to thawed. Mulder stood back and let Scully take
the lead, and she did so, sniffing to find out which of the sacks
on the counter contained the meat. After she located the correct
one, she stretched up to the counter and - with a pang of regret
for the carton of eggs and the jar of tomato sauce that were also
in the bag - hooked her claws into it and pulled it onto the floor.
It landed with a crash, and both she and Mulder drew back
instinctively before investigating the results.

As Scully had predicted, it was frustratingly difficult to separate
the meat from its plastic coverings without the aid of hands.
Finally, though, they both managed it well enough, and soon every
last bit of chicken and beef that she had purchased was gone.
Almost as one, they moved to the shattered eggs and ate those as
well, avoiding eggshell as much as possible. Even the spilled
tomato sauce was finished off. When they had finished, Scully was
still ravenous, and from the way Mulder was eying the other grocery
sack, he was as well.

<What else did you buy?> Mulder asked. <Anything else a
carnivore might like?>

Scully licked her teeth. <Sadly, I don't think uncooked pasta
really fits the bill, and neither does wine.> She was glad that
bottle hadn't been bagged with the meat. <Or fruit, for that
matter.>

Mulder sat down, looking highly disappointed. Then he turned to the
fridge. <What about in there?>

<Well,> Scully reflected, <if we can get it open without
bringing it down on top of us, then yes, there should be some more
suitable food in there.> She put her paw around the handle as best
she could and pulled. Though it rocked ominously, the fridge stayed
upright, and the door swung open.

<Nice work, Scully,> Mulder said admiringly. <You must have
been working out.>

She didn't dignify that with a response, but instead got down to
business. She pulled out a Tupperware container with a leftover
stir-fry in it, a half turkey sandwich, and dug around for the
bacon that was in the back. She had been saving it for a time when
she felt like she could indulge. She even found some frozen ham
that her mother had sent her a while back. Finally, Scully sat back
and looked at the outcome of her foraging. She wasn't sure that it
was enough - these bodies seemed to have an amazing appetite - but
it would certainly fill them up more than they were right now.
Thankfully, she hadn't even done too much harm to the inside of her
fridge with her clumsy searching. A few knocked-over containers was
hardly a mess at all. Now her kitchen floor, on the other hand...

 Mulder remarked,
bringing her back to the matter at hand. He pushed the bacon closer
to himself. <Scully, you've been holding out on me - I didn't know
you even ever *ate* bacon!>

<That would be mine,> Scully informed him coolly, growling
slightly as she grabbed it from him. She might have been
embarrassed by that if she weren't so hungry.

<Fine, fine,> Mulder said, pretending to be alarmed.

Between the two of them, Scully's food was consumed extraordinarily
quickly. Scully had judged correctly: though she was still not
completely sated after she'd eaten her portion, she felt much less
ready to eat anything in sight. She reflected that she would
definitely have to go shopping again as soon as possible... if it
did become possible. She pushed that thought away.

<Well,> Mulder said, breaking the silence that had fallen while
they started to clean themselves up, <thanks for dinner, Scully.>

<Anytime, Mulder,> Scully replied, giving the mental equivalent of
a smile and knowing he could 'hear' it. She tried not to think
about the fact that she was licking her paws and face clean. It was
normal behavior for a cat, and it wasn't like she or Mulder would
be able to use a napkin effectively.

Finally, she figured she was as finished as she was going to be,
and looked up at Mulder. He yawned, showing off his
impressive teeth, and blinked at her. <I... kind of don't feel like
I can do a lot of heavy thinking right now, Scully,> he said
apologetically.

Scully knew what he meant. She was feeling rather lethargic, as
well. <Mm, yeah, I guess we could both use a nap,> she assented.
She followed him out of the kitchen toward the couch.

<I, uh, can take the couch,> Mulder offered, <unless you don't
want cat hair on it.>

Scully looked at the couch speculatively, wondering. she trailed off. <Uh, if you think that...
being by yourself so long this morning caused you to start losing
your sense of identity, maybe we...> She found that she couldn't
finish the sentence, and was almost thankful that she couldn't
blush in this form.

She could sense Mulder's amusement, but he only said, <That's
thoughtful of you, Scully, but I don't think we'd both fit on the
couch.>

 Scully grumbled. She
stalked off down the hall toward her bedroom, not bothering to look
to see if he was following. In one smooth motion, she leaped onto
her bed. As she was curling up, she felt Mulder leap up onto the
other side of the mattress. She sighed. Maybe, she thought without
much hope, when they woke up, they would be themselves again.

~~~~~~~~~
She opened her eyes. There was something wrong, something she was
supposed to keep in mind, she knew, but she couldn't remember what
it was. She looked around: no, the place she was in was familiar,
that wasn't the problem. She didn't feel sick, though she was
somewhat hungry, and she wasn't alone, because she could smell and
feel her m-

<Mulder!> Scully whirled around to face him, her heart pounding.

He raised his head immediately. <What's wrong, Scully?>

<I-- I couldn't remember, couldn't even really think!> she gasped.


Mulder closed the inches between them and rested his head on hers.
<Shh, it's all right. It all came back to you, didn't it?>

She took a deep breath. <Yes.> Her heart rate was gradually
returning to normal. <That was... I'm glad you're here, Mulder.>

<Me, too, Scully,> he said. They stayed close to each other,
unmoving, for a few quiet moments. Then Mulder sighed, and
reluctantly said, 

In answer, Scully gently pulled away from him and turned to look at
the clock. It was now close to 8:15, and for a second she was
surprised at how well she could see without any lights on before
she reasoned that leopards were most likely nocturnal. She
turned back to Mulder. <Well, I have to say that I don't really
know where to start with this, Mulder. We've already established
that neither of us have a clue as to what could have caused the
transformation.>

<Yeah, that's- > Mulder stopped abruptly. <Wait.>

<What?> Scully asked, sitting up. <Did you remember something?>

<Sort of,> he replied, sounding distracted. He walked across the
bed and jumped off onto the floor next to her bedside table. She
watched as he nosed around. He sighed in frustration.
<But I don't know who it was. I can't remember their face.>

<Don't push yourself,> Scully advised, resting her head on her
paws. <Start slow. Was it a man or a woman?>

Mulder paced around for a few more moments before he answered, 

<Well, it's still a start,> Scully said, trying to infuse her tone
with encouragement - though she privately agreed with his
assessment that this was beginning to seem hopeless.

 Mulder had stopped pacing, but he was still agitated. His
tail threatened to sweep Scully's bedside table clean of everything
on it, but before she could caution him not to knock over her lamp,
he stopped himself, and looked at her with a muttered, <Sorry.>

<So, whether or not the man that you saw is behind this,> Scully
continued, <can you think of anyone who would - > she paused,
almost unwilling to put the thought into words, even though she
couldn't deny the evidence of her own senses < - have the
capability to cause us to transform into leopards? And who has a
grudge against one or both of us? Or were there any recent
potential X-Files that had anything to do with this kind of a
transformation?>

Mulder considered for a few moments. <Um, no, I don't think there
have been any recent reports that came across my desk that had to
do with transformation into animals. As for knowing someone who
would have the capability to do this... well, we've come across
witchcraft and voodoo before, Scully, but I can't think of any
witch or voodoo priest that I've made angry recently - can you?>

Scully tried to shrug, but it didn't quite work. <No, not me - and
though you're good at making people angry, I don't think voodoo
priests or witches have been among those who you've pissed off in
recent memory, Mulder.> She 'heard' him smile at this. <But if
this is some kind of... spell, there still has to be a source, a
cause that struck you, and then spread to me.>

<Which would seem to indicate that it was primarily aimed at me,>
Mulder remarked, <though not necessarily.> Though neither of them
said it, they both were well aware of the possibility that striking
at one of them could easily have been a method of attempting to
hurt the other, if their enemy knew them at all.

Abruptly, the quiet of the apartment was shattered by the phone
ringing. The sound was incredibly loud to Scully's newly sensitive
ears, and by the fact that Mulder joined her in positively fleeing
from the room to get farther away from the phone, she guessed he
was affected similarly. They waited, crouching at a point
equidistant from the phone out near the kitchen and the one in the
bedroom, until the ringing finally stopped. Even as her ears
started to recover from the onslaught, Scully recognized her
mother's voice on the answering machine. She had called to confirm
that she would be by the next morning to pick up her daughter and
take her to Mass.

Scully's heart sank. They had only hours before this transformation
would start to negatively affect more than just the two of them.
She didn't want to cause her mother to go through the pain of her
daughter being missing- again - since she very much doubted she
and Mulder could convince anyone else that it was them in these
bodies. They had no guarantee that anyone else would even be able
to hear them telepathically.

She felt Mulder move closer to her. <Back to business,> Scully
said briskly. <We don't have much time.>

<Not that I think we can afford to just try to wait it out,>
Mulder said, <but you know, it *is* possible that the change will
just wear off by itself, depending on what caused it.>

The look Scully gave him probably lost something in her current
form. All she said was, 

<Yeah,> Mulder said. He sighed. <Where were we?>

<Not very far along.> Scully was silent for a moment. <Do you
think that if we went back to your apartment, we could possibly
find some trace that you - didn't notice this morning?>

Mulder considered, and answered, <It's certainly possible. And I
guess it's probably more constructive than just staying here
talking, since we don't have any real theories so far.>

Scully started back toward her room. <Like you said, though,
Mulder, we'll have to try to be careful that no one sees us.>
Struck by a sudden thought, she turned around and went back out of
the room, stopping to pick up as much of her clothing from earlier
as she could in her mouth and dropping it at the foot of her bed.
Not only was it vaguely obscene to leave it there, she reasoned,
but if they didn't solve this before outside investigations
started, she didn't want to take the chance that the clothes might
give investigators the idea that something violent had happened to
her. Surprisingly, Mulder refrained from offering to help her with
certain articles of clothing, which she had more than half
expected.

They were ready to leave. The two of them stopped underneath her
window, and Mulder said, <After you.>

Scully put her front paws on the window ledge. She had never looked
out this window with a view to climbing out before, and at first
she was sure that she was going to make a fool of herself, or end
up with broken limbs. However, her leopard instincts - while
thankfully not in control of her mind like they had been when she'd
awakened from her nap - were not at all dismayed by the climb, and
she made it down with ease. Mulder was not far behind her.

The night was calm, and with moonlight and her nocturnal predator's
eyes, Scully had no trouble seeing. Keeping to shadows and out of
heavily-trafficked areas, they made their way out of the
neighborhood. Again, Scully found it easier than she had expected
to navigate this path on foot. Perhaps it was something else about
her leopard instincts, but she knew she didn't need to worry about
getting lost, as long as she had her goal in mind. She did find it
somewhat difficult to remain focused on that goal, however, since
her sense of smell was telling her all kinds of information about
her surroundings that she would never be able to detect as a human.
Even the asphalt of the parking lot carried traces of each person
and animal who had walked on it in the past several hours.

They reached another road, and hid in a large bush to wait for a
gap in the stream of cars. Mulder turned to her at that moment and
said dryly, <You know, Scully, if the change wears off on the way
to my apartment, it would get a little... awkward for us.>

The logistics of this hadn't occurred to her, but Mulder was right.
Trust him to think of that angle. <It would be awkward,> Scully
agreed calmly, <and also probably cold.>

<Well, I know of one way we- > Mulder began, but she broke in.

<Let's go.> The street was empty of cars for the moment, and the
two took the opportunity to dash across the road. They had almost
reached the relative safety of some trees past the sidewalk on the
other side of the street when they heard a startled exclamation.

"What the hell was *that?!*" said a male voice.

<Oh, great,> Scully muttered, and crouched down as far as she
could in the shadows next to the tree. Mulder was right next to
her.

"What?" said another voice, a woman, sounding annoyed.

"I swear I just saw two of the... biggest cats I've ever seen!" the
first voice said. "Must've been cougars or something. They ran over
there."

"C'mon, Ed," the woman implored. "Let's just go home."

"But I saw-"

"After all you've had to drink, I wouldn't be surprised if you
thought you saw a whole herd of elephants," she interrupted him,
with acid in her tired voice. "Home."

The man grumbled, but apparently allowed himself to be led away, as
the sound of the two humans faded quickly. Scully let out the
breath she had been holding. Next to her, Mulder laughed quietly
and said, 

~~~~~~~
They made it to Mulder's apartment complex without further incident
- unless you counted the dog they startled while crossing its
owner's yard, causing it to yap hysterically until they were far
enough away to no longer be a threat. It was slightly more
difficult to get into Mulder's apartment than it had been to leave
Scully's, but they both got up to the window with a minimum of
near-falls.

This time, Scully let Mulder take the lead, and he went directly to
his room. As the two of them drew closer to the head of the bed,
Scully became aware of a very strange, entirely foreign scent,
which was growing stronger. She found that she didn't want to get
any closer to the source, whatever it might be. Mulder had stopped
moving forward, too, but then he said, <There,> and walked a few
more steps, looking at the empty glass on the bedside table. <Can
you smell that?>

<Yeah,> Scully said. She felt like she was going to sneeze, or be
ill, she couldn't tell which. <In your glass?>

<I'm pretty sure I got up and got some water after Langly woke me
up this morning,> Mulder confirmed. <So someone poisoned my water.
Well, it's been a few years, I guess.> He couldn't mask his anger,
despite the light tone.

<It seems to be concentrated in the glass, though,> Scully
observed, <not just introduced into your apartment building's
water supply this time. I mean, we can only smell it in here, not
next to any of the sinks in your apartment, right?>

<We can check again to be sure, but that does seem to be true.>

<And maybe... some of the substance stayed on your mouth after you
transformed,> Scully continued as the thought struck her, <which
could explain how it spread to me.> She was suddenly reminded of
the climactic scene of Romeo and Juliet, and was faintly amused at
the similarities - and vast differences - between their situation
and hers and Mulder's.

<That certainly makes sense as far as it goes,> Mulder agreed. He
was restive, pacing around the room. Abruptly, he headed for the
door. <I'm going to check and make sure that there are no traces
of this stuff in my kitchen sink.>

Scully followed. She was preoccupied with wondering about the
composition of the material, and so almost ran into her partner
when he stopped in front of his computer desk. <What is it,
Mulder?>

<Someone left a message,> he replied, looking at the blinking
light on the phone, <and I have a hunch that it's one we should
hear right now - if I can figure out a way to push the button.>
After a moment of deliberation, he picked up a pencil in his mouth,
and carefully aimed for the small button. It took a few tries, but
finally he succeeded.

The message, which had apparently been left at about noon, started.
It was a man's voice, completely unfamiliar to Scully. "Hello,
Agent Mulder." The speaker sounded... not exactly threatening, but
something about his tone made the listeners both quite uneasy. "Or,
well - Agent Mulder is no doubt indisposed at the moment, so this
is probably his partner listening to his messages, perhaps
wondering where he is. Hello, Agent Scully."

Scully glanced at Mulder. The man started speaking again. "I assume
you'd like to find your partner. I regret to tell you that I don't
know exactly where he is, though I did see him earlier today.
Though you may not believe me, I will tell you truthfully that
Agent Mulder is no longer himself. In fact, I have repaid his lack
of consideration by doing to him what he evidently didn't think was
possible. Whether or not you do believe me, Agent Scully, if you
want to find Mulder, you'll probably need to bring along a
tranquilizer dart or something similar. The person on whom I tested
my potion totally lost his humanity within minutes, and your
partner's been a leopard for hours by now, at least. Your best bet
for finding him might be by tracking any reports of a wild animal
on the loose in the area."

There was another brief pause. Scully looked at Mulder again. His
ears were flat against his head, but he was utterly still. "If you
can find and restrain him, you'll need the antidote next." The
message cut off there, and Scully almost began to panic until the
next message started to play, and she relaxed. This man- whoever
he was - obviously found what he had to say too important to fit it
in one message.

"So, the antidote," he continued. "It's relatively simple. You'll
need a blood sample from him, and then you'll need to pick up the
rest of the ingredients from a storage locker." He recited the
address of a place that sounded nearby, and said that the key could
be found taped to the underside of Mulder's car. He ended the
message by stating, "There are also some documents in the storage
locker... which I strongly suggest you and Agent Mulder take a look
at this time, instead of disregarding them." He did not leave a
name, not that Scully really expected him to.

After the message ended, they were silent for a few moments. Then
Scully asked, somewhat tentatively, <Mulder? Did you recognize
his voice at all?>

Mulder shook his head once. <No. And I swear, I never saw anything
to do with-- with leopards or transformation or anything like that,
much less just decided not to investigate it. I have no idea what
he's talking about!>

 Scully assured him. <But he obviously *thinks*
you ignored something he sent you. Maybe something got lost in the
mail, or got accidentally thrown away before either of us saw it.>

<Yeah, I guess,> Mulder said. He walked a few steps back toward
his room before turning to meet her eyes. <How are we going to get
blood samples, Scully? I don't think either of us want to try
operating a syringe with our teeth, not that I even happen to have
any lying around the house.>

<Good point,> Scully replied. She sighed, sitting down and looking
away. <I hate that we have to jump through this lunatic's hoops,
Mulder. We have no guarantee that he's even given us the real
solution. And since he clearly was watching you this morning,
what's to keep him from watching your apartment now, and following
us when we go to the storage locker?>

 Mulder said quietly. He moved over to her, and again
touched her face with his briefly. <But I think it's our only
option at this point, unfortunately, since neither of us want
to take the chance to just wait around and see if it wears off.>

Reluctantly, Scully nodded. <Before we leave, we do need to figure
out how we're going to get blood samples - and how we're going to
carry them with us.>

<I'd rather not carry the key to the locker in my mouth the whole
way, either,> Mulder remarked.

They eventually decided to trust to the cover of darkness to keep
any watchers from noticing that one of a pair of leopards was
carrying a plastic bag in its mouth. The plastic bag contained the
key that was in fact taped under Mulder's car, and two small glass
jars that would hold the blood samples once they got to the storage
locker. Scully had decided that the easiest and safest way for them
to get blood samples would unfortunately have to involve a knife
(which was also in the bag), rather than syringes. It had already
been hard enough to maneuver these few items into the bag just
using their mouths and paws. But they would cross this next bridge
when they came to it.

Their luck - such as it was - seemed to hold: the two made it to
the location the man had directed them to without anyone seeming to
notice them. They did start a few dogs barking again, but passed
through quickly enough that none of the dogs' owners came out to
check what had disturbed them.

Upon arriving, however, they faced a real obstacle: the storage
lockers were of course inside a building, and the door to the
building was locked. <Great.> Mulder rose onto his hind legs and
pushed against the door as hard as he could, but it didn't give.


<Mulder,> Scully said, looking over her shoulder at the empty
parking lot nervously, <I'm starting to doubt that he was really
planning to give us the antidote at all.> Just as she finished the
sentence, she heard Mulder gasp, and she turned quickly. He was
slumped on the ground, a tranquilizer dart in his shoulder.
<Mulder!> Then she felt a sharp pain in her own side, and the last
thing she saw as she hit the ground was a tall man approaching
them.

~~~~~~~~~
Scully felt herself coming slowly out of unconsciousness. For a
second, she was terrified that she would lose her memories of her
human self again upon waking - but then she realized dimly that the
fact that she was aware enough to be terrified about this meant
that she still had her memories. The next thing she realized was
that she was cold, and she was also in pain. Her sense of smell was
curiously deadened. But that last part could mean... She opened her
eyes.

It was dark, and she seemed to be outside. She was shivering -
because she was human again, and covered only partially by a thin
blanket. There was something sticky on her face, and when she
reached up a hand to her head, it came away with blood on it. How
had she gotten here?

Sitting up, Scully pulled the blanket around herself, groaning at
the pounding headache the change in position produced. She seemed
to be on a deserted street somewhere. There was one lone
streetlight providing illumination enough to see that the truck
that she had obviously been inside had crashed into a tree,
throwing the occupants of the back of the vehicle out onto the
street. Mulder was about a yard away from her, also back in human
form, out cold and half under a large, upside-down, empty kennel
whose door was hanging off its hinges. From what she could see, he
wasn't even lucky enough to have a blanket over him. There was
blood on his face and scrapes on his back.

"Mulder?" Scully stood up cautiously, but swayed and almost fell
despite her care. She took a few deep breaths before making her way
over to him. Then she crouched down and felt for his pulse, letting
out the breath she hadn't noticed she was holding when his pulse
was strong and steady.

"Mulder?" she said again. He didn't stir. *He's got to be
freezing,* Scully thought detachedly, standing again to walk
carefully towards the truck. Maybe there would be more blankets in
there.

She looked at the truck bed, and saw nothing useful other than a
tarp, which she would use as a last resort. Ignoring her own
increasing shivers and lingering grogginess, Scully moved toward
the cab. The driver was slumped against the steering wheel, and
when Scully opened the door and felt for a pulse, there was none.
The man in the passenger seat was still alive, though his pulse was
faint. He had a coat folded up on his lap, which Scully managed to
pull out from under his arms. She wondered if either of these two
men was the one who had tranquilized Mulder and her - and if either
of them was the man on Mulder's answering machine. As she was about
to walk as quickly as she could back to Mulder, she noticed another
blanket crumpled up on the floor of the truck. It was covered in
shards of glass from the crash, but Scully grabbed it anyway. She
shook it out as carefully as she could while still trying to hold
her own blanket around herself.

When she got back to Mulder, Scully saw with relief that his eyes
were open. "Mulder?"

"Scully," he replied, looking up at her. He blinked, and then
shivered. "This wasn't really what I had in mind for what it would
be like when we turned back." His words were slightly slurred, as
if he too were still fighting off the sedative.

Scully helped him push the crate off, and then handed him the coat
and the blanket. She turned away to let him put them around
himself, and then jumped as he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Here."

She turned back to him as he was putting the coat over them both.
"You're cold, too."

"We need to get somewhere warm, and soon," Scully said, shivering
again as she allowed him to pull her close. "And we need to get
help for the passenger of this truck. He's fading fast."

"Do he or the driver have cell phones on them?"

Thankfully, the driver did have a cell phone, and it didn't take
too much effort to get it and call an ambulance. Scully didn't know
how they were going to explain the situation to the EMTs when they
arrived, but she really couldn't bring herself to care too much.
Even in his groggy state, Mulder had some "helpful" suggestions for
explaining their lack of clothes, but in the end, he agreed to let
them draw their own conclusions without adding anything too
colorful.

Scully stayed lucid for as long as it took to tell the EMTs who she
was, make sure Mulder was being taken care of, accept the more
adequate blankets offered to her, and make sure that the truck's
passenger would be treated as a suspect in their kidnapping if he
survived. Then, as she warmed up, she promptly fell asleep in the
ambulance on the way to the hospital, to the sound of Mulder's
voice as he continued to inform the EMTs of a few pertinent
details. She could only keep herself awake for brief moments during
the next few hours, as she dealt with the combined effects of
exhaustion, shock, and the remnants of the tranquilizer in her
system.

~~~~~~~~~
This time when Scully woke up, she recognized immediately that she
was in a hospital bed - and she was only mildly surprised to see
her mother talking quietly to a doctor just outside her room. When
she shifted and started to sit up, both of them noticed, and
quickly entered the room.

"Dana," her mother said with a worried smile. "How are you
feeling?"

She took stock for a moment. She wasn't cold, her head had been
bandaged, and she didn't feel any pain. "I... feel pretty good,
Mom, considering." They hugged, and Scully asked, "How long was I
asleep?"

"You were brought in at around 11:45 last night, and you've been
out pretty much the entire night." the doctor answered, as Mrs.
Scully and her daughter both turned to him. "It's just now ten."

"Oh, I'm making you miss Mass," Scully said to her mom with regret.
"I'm sorry."

Her mother smiled again, and brushed a lock of hair out of her
daughter's face. "That's nowhere near as important as knowing
you're all right, honey." Then she paused, glanced at the doctor,
and said, "Dr. Stevens said you and Fox were in a car accident, and
that you'd been kidnapped?"

Scully hesitated, wondering how to even begin to explain the whole
thing in a way that her mother would understand and believe. "Yes,
and we were both injected with some sort of tranquilizer..." She
turned to Dr. Stevens again.

"Yes," the man confirmed. "You were both lucky to suffer no side
effects from it, since the toxicological showed that it was a kind
of barbiturate usually only used in tranquilizer guns to knock out
large animals. It's very dangerous when administered to humans."

"No wonder I couldn't stay awake last night," Scully remarked,
wondering if it had been their captor's intention to have them turn
back into themselves while still drugged, or if that had been an
accident. "How is Mulder?"

"He's doing fine, too," Dr. Stevens told her. "He woke up about
fifteen minutes ago. You both were a little banged up from the
accident, and your partner had a few more scrapes than you did, but
he's all patched up now." He smiled. "And he wanted to be informed
when you woke up, so I'll leave you two alone while I do that."

Scully nodded. As the man was leaving, she had another thought.
"Dr. Stevens?"

He turned back to her questioningly.

"How... how is the man that was brought in from the passenger seat
of the truck? And has anyone been able to find out who he is?"

The man's face darkened slightly. "He's... still hanging on, but he
received a severe head injury as a result of the crash. It's still
up in the air as far as whether he'll make it. The ID found on him
says that his name is Devin Granger." Dr. Stevens sighed. "There's
been no luck IDing the driver so far."

Scully thanked him. As soon as he was gone, her mom looked at her
with concern still evident in her eyes. "Dana, what happened?"

Sighing, Scully tried to compose her thoughts. "What have you heard
already?"

"That you and Fox were kidnapped out of your apartments last
night," Mrs. Scully answered, "and that you ended up in the back of
a truck, drugged, and... that both of you only had blankets on when
the ambulance got there." She looked extremely distressed, and
Scully could guess what she was imagining.

"Oh, Mom," Scully said, hugging her again. "No." She hastened to
assure her that neither Mulder nor she had been put through the
kind of assault she had been imagining, though of course Scully
hadn't exactly been pleased to wake up and find herself without
clothes, especially on a cold night. Her mother held her for a
while, crying a little with relief, and Scully couldn't keep a few
tears from escaping either. She put her mom through so much pain
over the years while doing her job - it really didn't seem fair to
do it to her on weekends, too.

As they broke apart, Scully realized that she was extremely hungry.
"Mom, can you get someone to bring me breakfast?" she asked, wiping
her eyes.

Mrs. Scully dried her own eyes and nodded. "I'll talk to a nurse,
and then I'll stop and make sure Fox has had breakfast, too."
Scully smiled, and squeezed her mother's hand. "I'll be back soon."

"Thanks, Mom. Would you ask if they're serving bacon?"

~~~~~~
Epilogue

The doorbell rang, and Scully opened it. She was totally
unsurprised to see Mulder standing there, his smile tinged with
sheepishness. "I decided to come in through the door this time," he
told her in greeting, "just for the novelty of it."

"I appreciate it," Scully returned, standing aside to let him in.
"Enjoying your day off, Mulder?"

Mulder nodded absently. Skinner had visited them both a few hours
before they checked out of the hospital yesterday. After hearing
their tale and reviewing the evidence that had been gathered- lab
analysis of the substance in Mulder's glass had not come back yet -
he had sighed, looked like he couldn't really believe what he was
hearing (as usual), told his agents he was glad they were feeling
better, and ordered that they take at least the next day off. They
were still waiting on Devin Granger, to see if he would regain
consciousness or not.

"I, uh... I just thought that maybe, since I owe you dinner, I
could... we could go out." Mulder looked up from the spot on the
floor at which he'd been staring to meet her eyes.

"That sounds nice," Scully said with a small smile. "How fancy are
we talking? Do I need to change?"

"No," Mulder grinned. "You're perfect just the way you are,
Scully."

"Ha ha," Scully replied, but she couldn't keep from grinning as
well. She took his offered hand. "I think I'm in the mood for
steak."

"Ooh, still feeling carnivorous, are we?" Mulder inquired, raising
his eyebrows suggestively.

Still smiling, Scully warned, "Mulder, just because I don't have
claws anymore doesn't mean I can't hurt you."

He tightened his hold on her hand. "Oh, I believe you." Scully
locked her door with her free hand as they left. Then Mulder raised
her palm to his lips and kissed it. "Did that work better than the
last time I tried it?"

"Much." She stopped walking and tilted her head up at him. "But
don't feel like you have to stop there." As he leaned in to kiss
her, Scully felt the last of the weekend's tension melt away. They
still had to tie up what details of their ordeal they could, but
that could wait. For now, there were much more important things to
think about.