by Maureen B. Ocks
Maureen_B_Ocks@yahoo.com
 
 

Chapter 4

x-x-x-x-x

Look, Elvis is dead, the government is not hiding UFOs, and
there are no Indians in the Oxbow.
-- Professor Lillian Stone.

x-x-x-x-x

Albert Hosteen's house
Tohatchi, New Mexico
9:00am

"I really don't care what my son said.  Eric is far too trusting
even after what happened to him." Leonard Hosteen, Albert's
son and Eric's father, said angrily, "The last time the two of you
were here, our home was ruined.  Ruined by military men
looking for you two.  My son was beaten.  My father was
terrorized.  He is in the last few days of his life and I am sure as
hell not going to let you people kill him."

"I understand your concerns Mr. Hosteen."  Scully tried to
reassure him, "But we only need a few minutes of your father's
time.  Eric told me he was looking forward to seeing us."

"Mr. Hosteen, we're just here to ask your father about his work
with Dr. Sandoz and an artifact the doctor has."  Mulder added.
While Scully was standing with Leonard near the hall to the
bedrooms, Mulder sank into a chair near the front door after
entering the home.  Scully noticed he was paler than he was the
previous day; had more energy during their conversation last
night than right now.

"My father should have been resting and concentrating on his
health, not helping some overpaid teacher at a fancy East Coast
school.  Didn't do either of them any good."

"What do you mean by that?" Scully asked as she watched
Mulder use the hem of his tee-shirt to mop the sweat from his
brow.

"Your Dr. Sandoz, or whatever his name is, was found dead
just off the reservation.  He was beaten and robbed.  The
Reservation Police and the New Mexico State Troopers have
been all over here looking for a suspect.  They even spoke with
Eric two days ago.  That's probably why he was so quick to
help you, you'd think he was a suspect if he didn't."

"We didn't know anything about Dr. Sandoz."  Scully was still
watching Mulder.  He weakly shrugged his shoulders.  "Just a
few minutes with your father is all we are asking.  You can be
there, your son can be there, you can tape record our session,
whatever you want.  With Dr. Sandoz dead, now Albert is the
only connection we have to the artifact."

A voice came from the bedroom, "I want to see them Leonard.
If you don't let them come in, I'll have to come out."

Leonard sighed deeply, turning to the bedroom.  "You do
anything to upset him, anything to exhaust him and I swear I'll
throw the two of you out of here myself."

Scully and Mulder followed him.  "I don't think he'd have a hard
time tossing you out."  Scully whispered to Mulder, "Are you
sure you're O.K.?"

"It's just hot in here," Mulder pointed to the open windows,
"and you know I love the air conditioning."

"I want to get you checked out when we're finished here."

Scully smiled as she entered Albert's bedroom and saw the old
man sitting up in his bed.  "My friends from the F.B.I., it is so
good to see you."

"It's good to see you too Albert.  I saw you in the hospital a few
days ago and you look much better now."

"I had work left to do.  You look very nice Agent Scully."
Albert pointed to Mulder, "You don't look too good though."

"Thanks Albert," Mulder grumbled, "I'm glad we came a couple
thousand miles to hear that.  Aren't you Agent Scully?"  Mulder
sank into a dining room chair transplanted into the bedroom.
Scully sat on the foot of the bed while Leonard watched at the
door warily.

"We want to ask you a few questions about Dr. Sandoz and the
artifact, if that's O.K."

"Leonard, why don't you go into the kitchen and get what the
F.B.I. came to see." Albert dismissed his son.

"You have the artifact?" Scully and Mulder asked
simultaneously.

"It was on my night stand when I returned from the ceremony.
I'm glad I had it and not Dr. Sandoz."

"How did he contact you?" Scully asked.

"Eric has taken some classes over at UNM.  One was on the
internet.  He made a home page about the Code Talkers.  Dr.
Sandoz found me on Yeehaa."

"Yahoo." Leonard corrected his father as he returned with the
artifact.

As Scully took the artifact from Leonard, she heard Mulder's
chair crash to the floor.  She raced to his side as he started a
seizure.  She pushed the chair away from him and tried to
position his head so his airways were clear.

"Get that out of here."  Scully pointed behind her at what she
hoped was the artifact.  "Get it away from him."  She turned her
attention to her partner, "Mulder, hold on."

"I'll call 911."  Leonard took the artifact and started out of the
room.

"He didn't look well."  Albert added.

Scully wasn't happy with the past tense but grew more
concerned when Mulder's nose started to bleed.

"I need some toweling."  she called to Leonard.

As the seizure subsided, Scully noticed it was not blood coming
out of Mulder's nose.  It was darker and thicker than blood.

"Skip the toweling.  Do you have a glass jar or some sort of
clean glass container?"

Leonard returned with a roll of bounty towels and a drinking
glass.  "The ambulance should be here in a minute.  What's
wrong with him?"

Scully took the glass and set in on the floor.  "Come on
Mulder," she whispered to him, "you may have had your proof
all along."  She gently lifted and tilted Mulder's head toward the
glass.  The accumulated fluid on his face, along with some
caught in his nose, flowed into the glass.

"What's that?"  Leonard asked.

Scully could hear the ambulance in the distance.  "I think it's
what made him sick."  She carefully eased his head back to the
floor.  "Mulder, it's me.  Can you hear me?"

Mulder took a few deep breaths, his eyes still closed.  "What
happened?"

"Ambulance is coming..."

"No hospitals."

"I'll keep you safe Mulder,"  Scully heard the EMTs rap on
Albert's door, "but you need to go."

x-x-x-x-x

Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital
Intensive Care Unit
Gallup, New Mexico
12:00am

Scully finally left Mulder's bedside.  "Langly, it's me.  Accept
the charges."  She called to him as the operator connected her
Jordan Cochran collect call.  After Langly agreed, she ordered
him to turn off the tape.

"Hang on."  Scully heard the blond gunman fiddle with some of
the equipment.  She stifled a yawn just before he returned.
"What's up?  It's late."

"Mulder's back in the hospital."  She looked at her partner
sleeping in an isolated section of the ICU.  Without knowing
what exactly what fluid came from Mulder, she ordered that he
be treated with "all precautions".

"I didn't see his name on any databases."

"I used the name you gave us.  Waved around my badge and
now they think he's a witness being protected in a local murder.
I need you guys to pull anything you can get on the murder of
an American University professor named Sandoz."

"Sure.  What can we do for Mulder?"

"I have an idea.  He's not in any shape to agree to this but do
you think Byers could get down here and watch him while I
return to D.C."

"Why do you need to come back?"  Byers was on the line after
all.

"As I said, I have an idea and I need to get some data from his
office and access to a lab.  It's a stretch but I don't know what
else to do."  She heard someone banging away on a keyboard,
"Guys, he's in bad shape.  He had a seizure today and something
bad happened during it.  I don't know what else I can do."

"I should be able to get there sometime tomorrow morning, but
I don't..."

"All I need is for someone I trust to be here with him and right
now, you guys are it."

"You make that sound like a bad thing."  Langly was a little
offended.

"Just get here.  Please."  She gave the pair the address of the
hospital and hung up.

Before she returned to Mulder's side, she pulled a small glass
container she "borrowed" from the E.R. when Mulder was
admitted.  While she pretended to be engrossed in filling out
Ben McKenna's hospital forms, she transferred the fluid from
Albert's drinking glass to the container.

Her mind flashed back to the Dr. Sacks at NASA Goddard and
prayed that Mulder wasn't facing a similar fate.

# # #
 

Chapter 5

x-x-x-x-x

To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy
is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever..... So you
have to lie back on superior intelligence and superior firepower.
And that's all she wrote.

-- Carl Spackler

x-x-x-x-x

BWI Airport
Maryland
10:35pm

Scully drove like hell to catch a 4pm flight from Phoenix to
Baltimore.  Byers made it to the hospital just after ten in the
morning.  Scully had to admit the fake FBI ID he had gave her
real one a run for its money.  When this was all over, she'd have
to get Mulder to push them on how they did that.

Mulder.  It wasn't a good night or a bad night.  He just slept and
slept and slept.  The doctors had him on fluids -- he was a little
dehydrated -- and worked to keep his fever under 100.

At the Phoenix airport, Dana Scully became Jordan Cochran
and with one wild idea that would make Mulder proud and the
container of oil, she started back east.  The oil didn't register in
her carry-on as she went through security, Scully thanked God.
Both Scully and Cochran arrived at BWI just after 10:30pm.

Frohike, dressed as a chauffeur was there to pick her up.  He
even had a piece of cardboard that read "Cochran".  Scully
grabbed it out of her hand -- attention was not going to do her
any good right now -- as he took her overnight bag.

"I need to get to my apartment and depending on what Skinner
is willing to do I may need you guys to secure some lab space
for me."

"The Assistant Director told us you can trust him."

"Frohike, are you siding with the government on this one?"

"No, of course not."  He opened the LoneGun van and let her
in, "I just think you could use a friend on the inside.  He was a
big help to Mulder when you were missing last summer."

"And he was responsible for taping Mulder and me for months."

"We'll get you whatever space you need, you know that."

"I know, and I'm grateful.  I'm sure Mulder is too."  Scully
yawned. "Oh, by the way, who are Jordan Cochran and Ben
McKenna?"

x-x-x-x

Scully and Frohike made it to her apartment by 11:15pm.  As
she grabbed her laptop, a change of clothes and a felt bag from
her Grandmother.  Frohike arranged a meeting with Skinner in
the FBI parking lot at midnight.  He didn't tell the Assistant
Director who he was meeting.

Skinner was waiting by the third column on level "D" when
Scully arrived.

"I need access to Mulder's office and some lab time." she told
him.

"Why?"

"He's sick again.  And I have an idea what might help him.  He
had a few good hours after I got him away from Georgetown
Memorial but a relapse put in back in the hospital."

"Where is he?  Is he alright?"

"He's somewhere safe but no, he's not alright.  And if he dies, I
will not stop until I find the people who did this to him and
bring it back to them one hundred fold."

The Assistant Director took out his cellphone and dialed.  "This
is Walter Skinner."  There was a pause, "Good thanks, listen,
I'm sending Agent Scully over to SL3B.  I'm a bit concerned
about leaving her alone in the building this late at night."  He
chucked, "Yes I know how secure the building is but Kim's
wallet was taken right out of her desk last week and while I
think she's a great Agent, Scully is just a little slip of a girl."
Another chuckle, "Yes, I do remember the good old days of
height requirements.  Right, I got that number.  Thanks again
Doug."

Scully just stared at her boss.

"I'm sure you know Doug Thomas."

"Head of Forensic Labs."

"Member of my gym.  Would make J. Edgar Hoover proud
when it comes to his opinions of women on the job."  He took
out a business card and a pen.  He wrote the lab code number
on the card and handed it to her.  "I want to hear from you in
twenty four hours."

Scully just took the card and entered the Hoover building.

x-x-x-x-x

Scully's first stop was the X Files office.   She saw the smoke
alarm was already dismantled.  Not sure if Skinner did that or
someone with a more nefarious agenda, Scully made her way
through the office quickly.

She picked up her file -- the one Mulder re-started after their
trip to the end of the world last summer.  In their three weeks
of isolation in Auckland, she worked on the little bit of
"vaccine" that was left to fight the boredom.  Now she hoped to
recreate it and what it would do to the black oil.

She grabbed Mulder's file from Russia and took the formula for
the chemical his doctor found injected in his neck.  It was the
same compound.

She also took out the file on the Piper Maru and found a similar
compound.

SL3B was actually was a secured lab on the third floor of
Hoover.  It was where she often found Agent Pendrell --
another casualty in all this.  Pushing that out of her mind, she
started working on saving Mulder.

x-x-x-x-x
Hoover Building
SL3B
6:10am

"I e-mailed you what I need, can you put it together for me?"
Scully yawned into the phone.

"This shouldn't be a problem."  Frohike was happy to reply.
"You know it isn't any of my business Agent Scully and of
course you don't need it but maybe you'd like to drop by for a
little beauty sleep.  I'm sure I can straighten up the back room
after I put this..."

"Thanks for the offer Frohike but I need get out of her before
the building gets busy and I need to get back to Mulder."

"He doesn't deserve you."

"We don't always get what we deserve." For some reason
Scully's mind went back to the last time she and Melissa were
sitting in her kitchen.  "I'll be over in about an hour.  Find me a
plane to New Mexico."  Scully planned to sneak into the
Hoover gym for a quick shower and change of clothes.

Scully packed up her laptop, put her gun in her jacket pocket
and started her way out of the back lab.  She was unhappy, but
not completely surprised to see Diana Fowley waiting for her.
"Shouldn't you be rifling through Mulder's files or something?"

"How is he?"

"He seems to keep scratching these burn marks on his chest and
side.  Know anything about those?"

"When the ambulance came to get him he became violent.  One
of the EMTs had to use the stun gun to protect himself."

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the situation or
maybe it was the ridiculous lie Diana just told, but Scully almost
laughed.  "Are you morally or physically unable to tell the truth?
I'm thinking morally myself, but it may be a physical condition."

"Excuse me?"

"You know when I first started working with Mulder, he had all
these ideas of a grand and efficient conspiracy on almost an
intergalactic scale.  But seven years later I've realized it isn't so
much a grand and efficient conspiracy as it is a large
bureaucracy where the left hand doesn't know what the right
hand is doing."

"You've lost me."

"I'm not that lucky."  Scully sighed.  "Whoever sent you to
babysit or electrocute Mulder didn't tell you his apartment was
under surveillance did they?"

"I'm..."

"...You're on video tape giving him the shock of his life, so to
speak."

"I was only doing it for his own good."

"After I shot him I told him that and he believed me.  Somehow
I think you have a harder sell."  Scully turned to the door only
to have Diana grab her left arm.  Scully put her right hand on
her weapon.  Staring at Diana she asked, "Do you know you're
touching me?"

Diana let go of her arm and took a step back, "You won't be
able to save him.  His only chance for survival is with me.  I can
get him to people who can provide the medical attention he
needs."

"You've got that wrong, again.  Your only chance for survival is
Mulder.  Your place in whatever is going on here is solely based
on your relationship with him;  your ability to get him to do
what they want him to do.  That's gone.  So unless you provide
other unique services, and Mulder did mention who he found in
your bedroom back in February, you may have a serious
problem."

"That's offensive."

"And this is tiresome."  Scully opened the door and saw Rick
Hammersmith in the hallway.  At least she thought it was Rick
Hammersmith, Introduction to Forensic Evidence was almost
seven years ago.  "Rick?"  Oh please be Rick, she hoped.

"Dr. Scully, I thought that was you.  I was picking up some files
when I smelled coffee."  Over the years, he added about ten
pounds to his already beefy 6 foot 4 inch frame.  A few grey
hairs as well.  "Hey, long night or early morning?"

"Can you come here for a second?"  Scully had one eye on
Diana at all times.

As Hammersmith came to the door, Scully pulled a piece of
paper out of the side pocket of the laptop briefcase.  She hoped
it was the right one -- at this point she could use a break.  "Do
you know what this is?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She turned to Diana, "Can you please tell Agent Hammersmith
who you are."

"I don't have time for this."  Diana bristled as she pulled out her
badge, "I'm Special Agent Diana Fowley."

Scully looked to Hammersmith, "Well Agent Fowley," the
younger agent began, "according to this piece of paper Dr.
Scully here has a court order requiring you to stay at least 500
yards away from her at all times.  Dr. Scully, how would you
like to handle this?"

Scully would have loved somehow to put Diana in jail, but she
really just needed to get out of there -- now sadly without the
shower.  "Are you doing anything for the next 15 minutes?"

"Only what you ask me to do." He flashed her a smile.

"Keep Agent Fowley here until 6:30am at which time she can
leave.  I should be well away from the building by then."

"Sure Dr. Scully.  You want to sit down somewhere Agent
Fowley, you're not going anywhere for a few minutes."

"This is outrageous."

"Don't be afraid to detain her by force if you must," Scully used
a stage whisper for Hammersmith, "Assistant Director Skinner
will tell you she's under investigation for some fraud and
somehow feels Agent Mulder and I are involved.  She's very
bitter about the whole thing."

Hammersmith just nodded and smiled, happy for the first time in
his life to be the teacher's favorite and not the coach's.

As Scully walked down toward the elevator she made a call,
"Hi it's me...remember the offer of the backroom?  I could really
use a shower."

###
 

Chapter 6

x-x-x-x-x

Well, once again, my friend, we find that science is a
two-headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other
modern conveniences... But the other head of science is bad!
Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur! It bites!

- The Tick
x-x-x-x-x

Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital
Acute Care Unit
Gallup, New Mexico
72 Hours later

Dana Scully was sure Joann Short was one hell of a nurse.  As
she woke from her nap, Scully was happy to see the woman
walk into Mulder's room.  Nurse Short was tall, of course, thin
-- full of energy, the model of professionalism with a kind heart.

"Dr. Scully, I'm getting tired of telling you that we have a bed
for you in the doctor's lounge.  You're going to need back
surgery by the time this one finally wakes up."  She put a
thermometer in Mulder's ear.

"You don't understand.  I'll be sleeping in the lounge when he
finally wakes up." Scully smiled and stretched.  "This is the best
way to deal with him when he's sick."

"You keep saying he's a bad patient but so far...."

"So far he's unconscious.  Last year he got shot in the head and
walked out of the hospital about 20 minutes after he came to."

"No."

"Yes.  Once he's up, I think he'll be pushing for release
immediately."

"Well, Billing won't let him go anywhere until they get Mr.
McKenna's insurance info.  Your credentials may be impressive
but honey, you don't get a band-aid around here without
someone being billed."  She took Mulder's chart and made a
few notes.

"Does his color look better to you?"

"He looks better to me but to be honest with you, he looked
pretty good when they wheeled him here yesterday.  We don't
get too many good looking men in the 30's around here.  Thank
God I guess."  She finished her work and started to leave but
stopped.  Turning back to Scully, she said, "I know you've been
eating his food and everything but I have a break in a little
while.  I can watch him if you want to ..."

Scully shook her head, "No thanks, though that's a wonderful
offer.  I showered a few hours ago and someone was nice
enough to drop off clean scrubs."  Scully had a feeling it was
Nurse Short, but couldn't be sure.  "I know the minute I leave,
he'll wake up.  Just out of spite.  "

After Nurse Short left, Scully stood and started working out a
few of the kinks.  Stretching and yawning, she gave Mulder
another good look.  His color was back.  When she opened his
chart, she saw his temperature was back to normal.  So were his
vitals.  He just had to wake up.

As she popped the last "crick" in her back, the door to the room
opened bringing a most unwelcome visitor.

"How's our patient?" the Smoker asked.

"How did you get here?"  Scully made her way to Mulder's side,
taking his chart out of the Smoker's reach.

"Oh Dr. Scully, you're not a hard woman to find."  He raised his
right hand to the back of his neck.

"Bullshit."

The Smoker seemed offended, "Who do you think helped your
Agent Mulder get that piece of equipment?"

"Then you knew where we were five days ago.  Three days ago
I was back in D.C. as I'm sure Agent Fowley reported after she
was detained."  Scully smiled a little at the memory of that.
"Why did it take you this long to find us?"

"And here I always thought Agent Mulder was the one with the
problem ego.  Agent Scully, you and Agent Mulder weren't a
top priority."

"So that's why Krycek was dispatched to bring Mulder back?"

"Alex Krycek has been missing for years."

"More bull.  And Alex Krycek told us everything we need to
know."  What the hell, Scully thought, two could play at this
game.

The Smoker seemed a little startled.  "You've seen him?"

"Bleeding in Mulder's hallway.  I bet if Mulder didn't own that
apartment he'd have been evicted years ago."

The Smoker put his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a
pack of Morleys.  "Agent Scully, this isn't going the way I
planned."

"So little in life does.  This is a non-smoking room."  Scully
punctuated her declaration by pulling a gun from her waistband.
When Byers flew to New Mexico as FBI Agent Byers, he
brought Mulder's ankle weapon.  Scully was glad he did.

"I have something that might cure him.  I think I know what is
wrong."

"I know what was wrong."  Scully tucked the weapon back into
her scrubs.

"You know?  What was?"

"This."  She opened Mulder's night table drawer.  Scully
removed a jar with about two ounces of a thick black liquid in
it.  "It was in Mulder's system."

"You don't know what you have." he said nervously.

"No I don't, but the CDC, Harvard, Hopkins, UCal Berkley,
The University of Chicago, Columbia, AU and of course
Maryland all are studying it.  I'm sure they'll tell me what I have.
Oh, I sent it with warnings to be very, very cautious.  I
remember what it did to Dr. Sacks."

"You can't do this."

"I can.  I have.  All of those organizations agreed to work
together on this material.  Since I know the FBI doesn't share
its work, I excluded them but a few of my original choices
wouldn't share either, so they were dropped.  All the
universities and the CDC are going to share the work with me
and who knows, maybe we'll be published."

"I can stop it."

"No you can't.  Did you see the news this morning?"  If the
Smoker didn't think this conversation was going the way he
planned, this morning's news was definitely not on the agenda.

"Your Dr. Burks is getting a lot of attention."

"What a press conference:  CNN, SkyTV, the major networks
and news services all on a mountain top with just an amazing
view of the craft.   Personally, I think having Carl Sagan's
widow there was just a stroke of genius."

"You seem to be enjoying this small victory."

"What victory?  A little of what you've desperately tried to hide
is out.  Big deal.  Mulder's sister is still missing, he spent the last
week flat on his back or in terrible pain.  I don't have the time or
inclination to go into what I lost....."

"What you have gained, your health, can disappear with a few
strokes to a computer keyboard."

"I told you if she dies, I will put you in the ground." A voice
warned from the hospital bed.

The Smoker seemed startled but not unhappy to see Mulder
awake.  "Nice to see you Agent Mulder.  You should have been
more careful on your Russian trip.  But then again illegal travel
to dangerous areas can cause all sorts of health concerns."

"Hi Scully," Mulder smiled at his partner, "is Mr. Spender your
guest, because he sure ain't mine."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to interrupt the touching reunion but when
his health fails again, you may not be in such a strong
bargaining position."

"I keep repeating myself with you.  No deal.  Not with you.
Not now.  Not ever."

"Get out." Scully ordered.

"It's good to see you recovering Agent Mulder." The Smoker lit
up just as he left the room, "And it will be good to have you
back in the game."

Scully sighed, "I suddenly feel like taking a shower."

"You really are going to leave now that I'm awake."

"No, I'm..."

"You told the nurse that you were waiting for me to wake up to
leave."

"I was teasing, you know that."

Mulder pushed himself up a little more into a sitting position.
Tapping his temple he said, "Actually, no I don't."

"You don't hear anything?"

"No, it is really quiet."  Mulder took a deep breath, "I kinda like
it.  Pick a number one to ten."

"OK."

"Seven."

Scully said nothing for a minute.

"It was a guess, I swear."

"I picked two." She smiled at him and started walking to the
door. "I had you.  I'll be back with Dr. Kaplan and Ms. Short.
They're dying to meet you."

x-x-x-x-x

After a good twenty minutes of poking and prodding, Dr.
Kaplan, and more importantly, Nurse Short gave Mulder a
passing grade.  While Mulder was coughing and holding his
breath on request, Scully used a waiting room pay phone to call
the Gunmen with the good news.

"So when is Mr. McKenna getting out." Mulder asked when
Scully returned to his room.

"Your temperature is stable, fluids are good, probably 24
hours."

"I want to go now."  She just stared at him.  "Did all that really
come out of me?" he pointed at the night table.

"No.  Actually it is some rancid coffee with some apple sauce
mixed in for consistency."

"What?"

"Byers was here while I was working on your cure in DC.
When I returned, he stayed.  He went back with what came out
of you."

"Did you send samples to all those places?"

"How long were you awake?"  Scully sat on the bed with
Mulder.

"Long enough to know Nurse Short thinks I'm a looker."

"A real Fox." Scully added dryly.

Mulder made a face.  "I'd like to know where my body fluids
are, please."

Scully knew Mulder was back -- same petulant self.  "The list I
gave him were the official ones.  A few of the unofficial outlets
include the Gunmen."  Scully picked up the TV remote and
clicked on CNN.  She knew they'd be running Chuck's footage -
- the world was running Chuck's footage.

"Chuck owes us forever." Mulder marvelled at the coverage.

"The dig site is called the Scully-Mulder."

"Wow."  Mulder smiled, "Hey, how did you get top billing?"

"Ladies first?"

"Age before beauty probably."

"Pearls before swine."  Scully mumbled as she handed him the
remote.  "Chuck got some of the oil -- I had it sent to him with
some interesting results."

"O.K."  Mulder was wary.

"You got sick when etchings of the artifact were around.  You
had a seizure when it was put near you.  During your seizure,
some of the oil ...."  she searched for the right words, but
couldn't find them, "bleed through your nose."

"That's how I was exposed in the first place."

"Well, I had Chuck test it next to the craft."

"The suspense is killing me."

"It moved on its own.   Flowed, crawled, whatever you want to
call it, right up to the craft and was absorbed by it."

"How did you get it out of me then?"

"Vaccine.  When you came back from Russia and got checked
out, I had Dr. Duncan take a biopsy of the area around the
injection."

"I remember that -- it made wearing a tie a bitch for a month."

"If I wasn't so tired, I'd have some snappy comeback about your
ties."  Scully suppressed a yawn to prove her point.  "Anyway,
the vaccine that was left in your neck had same make up as the
vaccine I was given last summer."

"How?"  Mulder didn't remember having the vial when he woke
up, but remembered that he was out longer than she was when
they were hospitalized in Auckland.

"I had the remainder of the vaccine analyzed and put in my file
but when we lost access to the X Files, I didn't think much
about it.  When we got them back, well, we had other agendas."

"So you saved me."

"Yeah, well, don't let it go to your head.  You still have second
billing."

"It's amazing.  I have these friends and they meet you and
suddenly they can't do enough for you.  The Gunmen, Chuck..."

"This was all done for you Mulder.  None of these truths we've
uncovered would mean anything if we lost you in the process."
Scully choked up a little at the end.

Mulder took her hand.  "You're gonna regret this.  A month
from now you'll wish ..."

"A month from now you'll be a pain in the ass with some
whacked out idea who found encouragement in the fact that I
believe."

"You OK with all of this?"

"When I saw what was in you, I was afraid Mulder.  I
remember what that did to Dr. Sacks.  I prayed all the way to
D.C.  All the way back here."  She put her hand in her scrubs
pocket and pulled out rosary beads.  "Then I thought about
what you said.  About creationism and evolution. About God's
hand shepherding us through."

"Said a few hail Mulders?" he tried to kid but he knew she was
serious.

"I prayed Mulder.  Prayed you'd survive, prayed the science
would saved you." Scully pointed to the muted CNN coverage
of Chuck's press conference, "And now that you're here with
me, I realize I don't have anything to fear.  I have my faith,
science can explain what Chuck is investigating and you're OK."

# # #
 

Epilogue

x-x-x-x-x

"Which did you like better? Jedi" or"The Empire Strikes Back?"
"Empire."
"Blasphemy."
"Empire had the better ending. Luke gets his hand cut off, finds
out Vader is his father, uh, Han gets frozen, taken away by
Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life
is, a series of down endings. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of
Muppets."

x-x-x-x-x

Case File X990812:271572
Walter Skinner's notes.
 

...As for Agent Mulder, he is recovering under the watchful eye
of Agent Scully as well as Dr. Frank Harriman, Dr. Shaun
Duncan and Dr. Julian Kaplan.  According to the medical
reports prepared by Agent Scully, attached, Agent Mulder was
infected with a dormant virus during an investigation that took
him to Russia [Case File:  X971203:727891].  His contact with
materials from Dr. Chuck Burks's discovery in Africa
reactivated the virus.  The virus has been isolated.  Agent Scully
has marshalled the resources of several major universities as
well as the CDC to study the virus and will forward reports as
warranted.

Agent Mulder and Scully are on paid leave until Tuesday,
September 7, 1999.  Both Agents were physically exhausted
from this case.  Since Agent Mulder was hospitalized twice
during the case, he will report to Quantico on September 7,
1999 for recertification.  Agent Mulder and Agent Scully were
debriefed last week when they returned from New Mexico and
will be debriefed again on September 8, 1999 at 10:15am in my
office.

In other matters, Agent Diana Fowley, whose involvement in
the case is under investigation independently by Agent Scully
and the OPR, has tendered her resignation.  While OPR will end
their investigation with Agent Fowley's departure, Agent Scully
has submitted a request to continue her investigation.  At the
present time I am supporting Agent Scully's request since in all
likelihood, Agents Mulder and Scully will investigate Agent
Fowley's involvement whether the FBI sanctions it or not.  I
would prefer their investigation fly under the banner of the FBI
at this time.

The unidentified man pursuing Agents Mulder and Scully during
his illness is still recovering in Bethesda Medical Center under
constant guard.  Subject "K" is covering nicely from a bullet
wound and has been interviewed several times.  Until his
identity can be confirmed, he will remain under constant guard.

Finally, no information about the surveillance in the offices and
homes of Agents Mulder and Scully has been uncovered.  While
one tape from Agent Mulder's apartment is a part of Agent
Scully's investigation of Agent Fowley, no other reason has
been identified within the FBI for the surveillance.  Currently,
both Agents Mulder and Scully are recovering away from their
homes.  The FBI's security team will sweep both apartment for
any electronic surveillance devices during the week of August
30, 1999 with sweeps planned for both October and
November.....

x-x-x-x-x

For Immediate Release

Diana M. Fowley named Special Advisor to
Senate Select Committee on International Intelligence.

WASHINGTON DC -- September 1, 1999 -- Senator Richard
"Fritz" Sorenson welcomes Diana M. Fowley as a Special
Advisor to the Minority Counsel of the Senate Select
Committee on International Intelligence.

"Ms. Fowley comes to us with a solid background in both
domestic and international investigations," Senator Sorenson
said.  "Her addition to the Counsel's staff is part of the
Committee's vision to have the best investigators available to
fight the growing threat to the American way of life.  We are
pleased to have her on board.''

Prior to joining the Counsel's staff, Ms. Fowley was a Special
Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1988 until
mid August 1999.  Her background includes time spent fighting
both international and domestic terrorism in the Bureau's
Violent Crimes Unit and as a Legal Attache.

Ms. Fowley has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of
Michigan, a M.A. from Princeton University and is finishing her
doctorate thesis in Experimental Psychology at Johns Hopkins
University.

Senator Sorenson is the sixth term Senior Senator from
Vermont and is the ranking member of the Senate Select
Committee on International Intelligence.   He also announced
his intention to run for a seventh term in 2000.

Contact:

     Senator Richard "Fritz" Sorenson, Washington D.C.
     Jim R. Bradley, Spokesman, 202/555-1627
     Mary Beth Barstow, Press Secretary, 202/555-1943>>

------

Author's notes:

If you made it here -- bless you!

Yikaisdahi is a Navajo word for The Milky Way.  According to
Navajo legends, the Milky Way was created by the spirits as
they travelled between heaven and earth.  Each star is a foot
print.  I don't know why, but that is just a beautiful way to
describe it.

This is the longest thing I've written.  I wanted to finish it
before the season premiere and since Home ending about an
hour and a half ago, I did!   This was started in early June so it
is official -- I'm slow.

A few of the references explained:

Senator Sorenson is the guy who locked up Scully in
Tungunska/Terma.  He deserves Diana.

Dr. Sacks is the NASA doctor who cut into the rock in
Tungunska and got dead for his trouble.

Ben McKenna is "The Man Who Knew Too Much".  Jordan
Cochran is the female science genius in "Real Genius".  I figure
the Gunmen have a sense of humor and are movie fans.

If the science in this is wrong, please blame Sr. Lucille at my
high school.  In sophomore year, Sr. Lucille told my parents
that science wasn't my future, typing and Home Ec probably
were.  Well, I'm clueless with the periodic table but I can type
60 WPM and make one hell of a baked ziti so maybe Sr. Lucille
had a point.

My endless thanks to the amazing Shari Long, writer, listmom,
archivist and all around wonderful person.  No one is as patient,
kind and helpful as Shari.  This fanfic community of ours is
better every day for her presence.

Thank you also to the Primal Screamers.  They are a hell of a
bunch of women -- each and every one of them.  I am honored
by their friendship every day.

Finally thank you for the support and feedback I've gotten for
this and my past stories.  Every comment -- good or bad -- is a
blessing.

Quotes:

Prologue: The theme song from the Mary Tyler Moore
Show.
Chapter 1:     From Dusk Till Dawn
Chapter 2:     A Fish Called Wanda
Chapter 3:     The Late Shift
Chapter 4:     Last of the Dogman
Chapter 5:     Caddyshack
Chapter 6:     The Tick
Epilogue:      Clerks

Feedback:  Maureen_B_Ocks@yahoo.com