A/N: This will probably be my last post before I get back from Italy. I plan to do a lot of writing (finishing items in my WIP folder) while I'm away. I hope to have something for you when I get back. This is an answer to a challenge on chasefest. And its in honor of the new X-Files movie thats coming out in July. Please review and let me know what you think.
"10 year old male. Fever, rash, cough." Robert Chase couldn't help but let out a sigh as he heard his boss, Dr. Gregory House, start to rattle off symptoms of their latest patient. It was already 2 in the afternoon. If they were getting a patient this late in the day that meant they would be staying late too. And this was not a day he wanted to be staying late at work.
Will had just finished his latest novel and they had planned on celebrating. But it now looked like that wasn't happening. Of all the nights why this one?
"Is there a problem Dr. Chase? Are we boring you?" House's voice cut through his head.
"No, sorry, thinking about a clinic patient." Chase saw there were more symptoms on the board along with some diseases that had been crossed out.
"Well that patient isn't in dire need of our services at the moment." House turned back to the rest of the group, to Chase's relief. "We can't search the kids house, cause they're from Maryland. But the mom is here. So we can talk to her. And by we, I mean you. Cameron get a history, Foreman scan the kids head and lungs, Chase get some blood." With those final words and a hand wave, House made his way into his inner sanctum to do whatever it was he did in there.
"I'll catch up with you, I need to make a phone call." Chase mentioned as Foreman and Cameron made their way to the door. Both nodded as Chase took out his cell phone. "Will?"
"Rob, what's wrong?" A male voice answered.
"New patient. I have a feeling I'll be home late."
"If at all." The voice sounded slightly disappointed.
"I'll call you when I know more. I love you."
"Love you too. Looking forward to hearing from you."
And Chase disconnected the phone. He had met Will first in the clinic when he came in with a broken finger. There was a slight attraction on both their parts, but both understood that professionalism didn't allow Chase to act on it. But when they met a few weeks later at a bar, there was no professionalism to get in the way. That was two years ago. A year ago, they moved in together to help save money, and give Will a new place to help inspire his next book. Will Fox was a popular author of psychological thrillers who wrote under the name F.W. Drake. He had just finished his 6th novel and both were hoping it would be another best seller.
Chase hoped that this kid wasn't too sick and would be able to get home in time to celebrate.
"The bastard is making you stay the night?" Will's voice interrupted the ringing of the phone.
"I've been nominated to spend the night to observe out patient." Chase lamented.
"Is it because of your specialty or because House is a prick?" Will questioned seriously.
"It's a kid, 10 year old boy. He started to develop seizures. We also started a new course of treatment." Chase started to explain.
"So it's mostly cause you are the most equipped to handle emergencies." Will summed up.
"Its also cause my boss is a jerk." Chase wasn't going to disagree with that point.
"I'll bring you dinner later."
"I'm sorry." Chase apologized.
"Hey, I knew dating a doctor would mean strange hours. It's okay." Will placated. "We'll just have to celebrate when the case is over."
"Bet your ass we will." Chase agreed.
"Actually its your ass." Will answered.
Chase couldn't help but blush at that thought. "We can discuss that later." Chase coughed. "Let me get back to work and I'll see you later. Love you."
"Ditto." Will answered and hung up the phone.
Chase looked at the phone in his hand. He really wanted to be home tonight. With Will finishing his book, the past few nights had Will up past Chase falling asleep. They had not had sex in the past week, and Chase was itching for some. He assumed Will was also looking for some action.
Chase sighed. He was lucky to have met Will, not many people would be so understanding.
Chase was walking back to the diagnostics office when he felt hot breath on his ear. "Wanna play doctor?" The voice said, making its presence known by pushing up against Chase's back.
"Will." Chase said turning around.
"I told you I'd bring you dinner Rob."
"Chinese?"
"Of course. It's a celebration after all." Will smiled, dimples showing, hazel eyes all a twinkle. Will stood at 6 foot, with brown hair that hung down his neck.
Chase reached up to wrap his arms around Will and kiss him on the mouth. Will leaned down so their lips met half way.
"Dr. Chase." A female voice interrupted the kiss.
Both pulled away quickly. "I'll bring this inside." Will said turning towards the door, as Chase smiled at the woman approaching.
"Mulder?" The woman questioned as Chase addressed the woman. "Dr. Scully."
Will froze and slowly turned towards the woman.
"Billy seems to be doing fine on this new course of treatment." Chase started to explain. But when he saw Dr. Scully, their patient's mother staring at his boyfriend, and his boyfriend staring back he stopped. "Do you know each other?" He questioned.
"Billy's sick?" Will asked.
"Yeah, hearing voices too." Dr. Scully answered. "Didn't you know? Isn't that why you are here? I thought the boys knew where to find you."
"No, they don't know I'm here. I haven't heard from them in a few years."
"So what are you doing here, Mulder?"
"I think this conversation should be had inside." Chase suggested.
Will and Dr. Scully quickly agreed and the three found themselves seated at the table in the conference room. They sat quietly, no one making the first move to talk, all with too many questions floating in their heads.
"Before we begin, Robert, I only lied to you about 2 things. How I feel about you, is not in question. I love you, what ever you are about to hear please don't doubt it." Will started to say.
"Everybody lies." Chase muttered under his breath. Whether Will heard it or not, Chase couldn't guess.
"The two things that I lied to you about are my name and what I did before I started writing. I lied to protect you. And I left to protect you and Billy." Will turned to Dr. Scully. "For all the good that seems to have done."
"If I had to guess what's wrong with Billy started before you left. I would guess it has to do with his DNA and on the molecular level."
"If you knew this why didn't you say anything? We could have started looking at that before wasting the day." Chase couldn't help it. House was right, most people are idiots. Didn't this woman want to save her son?
"Billy's conception wasn't done in the normal way." Dr. Scully started to explain.
"In vitro? Surrogate, adoption?" Chase listed off the things that came to his mind.
"I think we need to start at the beginning." Will finally said. "My name is Fox Mulder. My birthday and all I told you about my parents and where I was born is all true. I did have a sister who disappeared when I was 12."
Chase nodded. He could understand the name change. There were times in his life he wished he could change his name and not be associated with his father. He just never had the courage to do so.
"Before I came to New Jersey I lived in Baltimore and worked for the FBI." Will/Fox continued.
"So that's how you got all that info on them." Again Chase couldn't help but mutter.
This time he was heard and Will/Fox smiled at him. "I worked with Dr. Scully for over 6 years. She was sent to by the government to spy on me. We investigated strange and unexplained phenomena in the country. During this time we came across some government funded projects that were not exactly legal. Also while we worked together Scully was kidnapped by the government and was impregnated."
"There are other things that had happened to both of us, but this is what directly leads to the conception and birth of Billy. When he was born I ran a DNA test on him. He shares DNA from me, Mulder and third, possible not exactly human party." Dr. Scully finished.
"So Billy Scully is not exactly human? What do you think it is? Alien?" Chase couldn't help but mock.
"That's always been a possibility." Will/Fox muttered under his breath.
"What do you think this is? The Fox network? When you decide to tell me the truth, the whole truth, let me know. I want both of you out of here by the time I get back. And I have a patient that I need to look in on." And Chase stood up and walked out of the conference room.
Scully watched Mulder watch the young male doctor leave the room. He then put his head down on the table. "He's never going to forgive me." Mulder said.
"You never know that. He might just need a little while to come around to the idea. What are you doing in New Jersey?" Scully asked.
"After I left I traveled around the US for a while, checking out some hot spots. I used some of the connections from the Gunmen to work on a false name. I had been working on a few works of fiction for a while. Decided to finish some of them and once my identity was established I found a publisher and got my first book published." He picked his head off the table and looked at his ex partner.
"I didn't know that you wrote?" Scully was taken aback.
"A little. Read anything by F.W. Drake?" Mulder grinned.
"A read one or two, my mother is a big fan though." She paused. "Is that you?" Mulder just nodded. "She'd be surprised to find out that you wrote it. Bill would too?"
"Your son? He's not old enough to read that."
"No, brother, a huge fan, he's the one who made me read the first book. Interesting to say the least, not really my cup of tea." Again there was silence. "So you traveled around and ended up in New Jersey?"
"About 4 years ago. Was thinking of trying to get a job teaching at Princeton, but they didn't have any openings for physc teachers. So I hung out and did more writing. Making more money as a writer than working for the FBI."
"And Dr. Chase?" Scully raised her eyebrows.
"Broke my finger about three years ago. I didn't have health insurance and being they have a free clinic here I decided to try it out. Rob was working that day and I ended up his patient. I was hooked as soon as I heard him speak. We met again about a month later at a club. It was amateur night, Rob was playing, we had drinks afterwards and been together ever since. Moved in about two years ago."
Scully was quiet for a moment. "I didn't realize that you were." She paused unsure how to continue.
"Bi-sexual? Never made a big deal about it. Especially in the FBI I figured it was better to keep quiet about it."
"Was there ever any guys when you were with the FBI?"
"Kryckek wasn't too bad." Mulder grinned. But then turned serious. "How are things at home? Besides Billy."
"Not bad. Mom's getting older. I think Altzheimers is starting. I'm still working at Quantico. Teaching full time. I get together with AD Skinner for lunch once in a while. Doggit is out in Las Vegas, working as a lesion with their crime lab out there. And Reyes is up in Chicago heading their field office."
Mulder looked down at his watch. "I better get out of here. Rob was pretty pissed at me. If he doesn't want me here when he gets back I better not be here. And who knows where he went."
"You really love him?" Scully asked taking in the look of sorrow on Mulder's face.
"Yes. I didn't want to lie to him, but I couldn't tell him the truth."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Let me cool off a bit. He and the team he works with are great doctors. I would rather him focus on getting Billy better than his relationship with me at the moment. When he comes home we'll hopefully talk. I'll tell him more about my time in the FBI."
Scully nodded. "Stop by tomorrow if you can. I'm sure Billy would like to see you."
"I will. It was good seeing you again Scully."
"You too Mulder, we'll talk more tomorrow."
The exchanged hugs and both left the room. Mulder heading down to the exit and Scully heading towards her son's room.
Chase stormed out of the conference room not sure what to believe. How could Will, no Fox lie to him? Was it all a lie? And what the hell kind of name was Fox anyway?
He shook his head. He couldn't focus on his personal life at the moment. There was a sick child who needed his help.
Going into Billy's room, Chase looked at the boy who was sleeping soundly at the moment. Part of him was curious about what Fox had said. He walked back to the nurses station and got a syringe and some empty vials. There was only one way to check the story that Dr. Scully and Fox Mulder told him.
Returning to Billy's room, he uncapped the syringe and proceeded to take two vials of blood. Sometimes being a member of House's team had its advantages. It allowed him to take materials from the nurses station without having to ask too many people and drawing too much attention. With the two vials of blood in his hand he made his way down to the labs. There wasn't much to do at the moment so he might as well run some blood tests. Besides he wasn't ready to head back to the conference room in case both Fox and Dr. Scully were still there.
In a way he was glad that this happened tonight. If a confrontation between Dr. Scully and Fox happened during the day then House would never let him live it down. It was bad enough with the comments that House made on his love life these days.
Taking the DNA sample that House had gotten from Dr. Scully earlier in the day and the bit of DNA that Chase carried on him that belonged to Will, cause one never knew when they might have to ID a body, he ran a DNA test on the blood. While waiting for the test to finish he couldn't help but let his mind wander.
Will Fox was everything he could have wanted in a partner, caring but not to the point for overbearing. He had his own life and did his own thing as did Chase. But they would ask if the other one wanted to be included. While their interests weren't always the same they respected each other and went along just to show support. There were never many arguments except once or twice over late night working conditions, when Chase had a patient, or Will had a deadline. But they worked it out. Chores and cooking was evenly shared, with one picking up the slack when theother was busy with work.
In bed they were equal lovers, willing to share experiences and experiment. There was complete trust.
That was until Will told him the truth. But was lying about ones name and previous occupation a bad lie? Chase more than once had wanted to change his name and assume a new identity when he got into the medical communities, to erase his ties to his father. He just never had the courage to do so.
And what about government experiments on their population? That didn't seem right. What government would do that sort of thing?
His musings were cut short by the beep of the machine. His test was done. Taking the printout from the printer he started at it in disbelief. Billy Scully's blood was a byproduct of both Dr. Scully, his mother, Will Fox/Fox Mulder, and a third source that was nothing that he had ever seen before. Granted he wasn't a geneticist, but even to him, the DNA of Billy Scully looked strange. There seemed to be extra proteins and the helix looked a bit distorted at points.
Chase looked back into the microscope at the blood on the slide. He stared at it, watching as parts slowly broke down and disintegrated. Maybe that's what was causing their patient to be sick.
Chase went to move the slide and instantly moved his finger away. The problem with glass slides were sometimes they chipped and the sharp edges cut. Putting his bleeding finger in his mouth he looked back at the slide.
"Shit." He cursed as he saw the extra blood on the slide. He was going to have to prepare more slides now. Just as he was about to move his eye away he was amazed at what he saw.
The blood on the slide that belonged to Billy was moving towards the blood on the edge that belonged to him. Once the blood touched the parts that were partially disintegrated they started to rebuild themselves.
Was the answer that easy? Would a blood transfusion work? They hadn't needed to give him any blood because there were no symptoms of blood loss. It might have been a fluke. Quickly Chase prepared another slide, and watched as the DNA broke apart and disintegrated. He used his pocked knife and cut his finger again. He placed his blood on the corner of the slide. Again Billy's blood moved and melded with Chase's.
Chase pushed away from the microscope. This was impossible. Blood didn't behave like that. How was he going to sell it to House?
He already knew the answer. House wouldn't believe him. Was there a way that he can give Billy a transfusion and not tell House, somehow cover it up? After a few moments he came up with a solution. But he was going to need some cohorts.
Pulling out his cell phone he dialed a number.
Fox Mulder went back to his apartment and looked around. Just when things were going right in his life, fate had to stick its finger in the middle of things. And it had to be the middle finger. He didn't want to leave. He loved Robert Chase, more that he thought was possible. But after the truth about his name and what he used to do came out, Robert wouldn't want to be with him.
And he couldn't stay with Robert either. It wasn't safe. Now that Scully knew where he was, he was sure more people would find out. That was just the way it went with secretes. And he refused to put Robert in danger. He didn't deserve it.
Sitting down on the couch Fox let out a sigh. Maybe there was a chance that Robert would forgive him. That's all he wanted. Was for Robert to understand where he was coming from and why he did it.
It was good to see Scully again. She looked older than he remembered, but again time had a way of doing that to people. He was glad she was doing well. She seemed happy. Well as happy a mother whose son is sick could be.
He had wanted to take a peek at Billy. See how his son had grown since he last saw him 7 years ago. He had always thought of Billy as a son. It was as close as he was going to get to having an offspring. Maybe tomorrow he could sneak in to take a look. He wondered if the boy remembered who he was.
The ringing phone broke his train of thought. Seeing it was Robert on the caller ID he quickly picked it up. "Rob?"
"How willing would Dr. Scully be to falsify information if it would help her son?"
"Probably very willing. Why?"
"I think I found a way to help Billy, but its not exactly approved by the FDA."
"I'll call her and meet you by the entrance to the hospital?"
"Use the ER entrance. We won't be too noticeable there." And Robert hung up.
Maybe Robert would forgive him, Fox thought as he grabbed his coat and headed out to the hotel he knew Scully was staying at.
"Are you sure it will work?" Dr. Scully asked.
"Watch." Once again Chase repeated the procedure he did before putting blood on the slide and then adding his. Dr. Scully watched, amazed.
"How are we going to do this?" Fox asked.
"We're going to start with two units of my blood. Dr. Scully, can you help me with that?"
"Yeah, but two units is a bit much."
"I'll be fine. Will, I mean Fox will monitor me. Once the blood is taken from me we will start Billy on it. By tomorrow morning all the blood should be in him, and he should be on his way to recovery."
"And what do you tell Dr. House?" Dr. Scully was skeptical.
"We started him on a treatment before everyone left for the night. He continued to improve through the night. House will be happy his idea worked, your son will be cured and everyone will be happy." Chase explained.
"I say we go for it." Fox added. Dr. Scully nodded her agreement.
"If you don't want to be part of it, then you don't have to. I just didn't want to do anything to your son without your approval."
"I appreciate it."
Chase laid in the hospital bed with the tube running out from his arm. He was lightly dozing as he listened to the quiet tones of Fox and Dr. Scully talk. He was almost done with the second unit of blood. Once he was done, they could start Billy on a drip, then he could rest properly. The emotional roller coaster of this night so far had drained him.
"Dr. Chase?" Chase opened his eyes to see Dr. Scully standing in front of him.
"Just call me Chase." He answered, as he looked down at the now full bag of blood beside him.
"Then its Scully, like Mulder calls me." She smiled as she handed him some gauze to hold over the puncture site on his arm.
Carefully Chase removed the needle and applied pressure while Scully wrapped his arm in a bandage.
"How are you going to explain that to your boss tomorrow?" Fox asked. He wasn't too big on needles and was staying closer to Billy's bed.
"Tell him that they needed blood in the ER and I was a match." Chase said as he slowly got off the bed. He stood still for a moment, as the room tilted a bit. He held on to the bed waiting for it to pass.
"You okay?" Fox asked, concerned enough to move closer to Chase.
"Two units of blood is a lot. You both might not want to be here for this. Can someone get me some fruit juice? Fox, you know where the vending machines are."
"You sure, you'll be okay?"
"I'm risking my career here, I don't want anyone else to get in trouble." Chase smiled at both of them.
Fox nodded and led Scully out of the room. Slowly Chase made his way to Billy's bedside. Propping himself against the bedside table he hung the first unit of blood. "I hope this works." He whispered as he attached the new tubing to the IV port in Billy's left hand.
Chase waited silently as he watched the blood slowly flow into Billy's body. He looked at the monitors as the readings started to jump up and down. As erratic as they were, nothing was hitting dangerous levels yet. Billy's blue eyes flew opened, as his body started to shake. Chase grabbed his hand tightly. "It's okay. Calm down." He didn't know if the boy was afraid or not, but felt better by doing it.
After about five minutes, the shaking stopped and the monitors all went back to normal. Well closer to normal than they were before. "I think this will work." Billy whispered as he closed his eyes again.
The dizziness returned and Chase moved to head back to the other bed to sit down. But as he turned so did the world before it faded to black.
When Mulder walked back into the room he didn't see Rob at first. Thinking he might be in the bathroom he went to go put the cranberry juice and Oreo cookies down on the bed. But as he got between the two beds he saw the body of his lover on the floor. "Rob? Robert?" He called getting down on to the floor and cradling Chase's head in his lap.
"Passed out because of the low blood levels in his body." Scully commented as she bent down. "I'll get his legs, put him on the bed."
Together they maneuvered Rob to the bed. Scully then took the controls and raised the feet of the bed. "It will help blood flow." She explained.
"Rob, wake up." Mulder ordered, tapping his cheek. A few moments later he was rewarded with blue slits looking back at him.
"Will?" Robert whispered.
"Drink this." Mulder ordered, holding the juice and straw to his lover's lips. Rob complied taking a few sips. "I want you to eat this also." He held the cookie up.
Taking the cookie, Rob held it in his own hand and started to bite into it.
"Make sure he eats all of them, and drinks all the juice." Scully said. She was sitting next to her son's bed.
"How is he?" Mulder asked.
"Looks to be doing better." She answered as she took in the readings of the monitors.
They sat in silence, as Rob finished his juice and cookies. "How are you feeling?" Mulder asked.
"Dizzy, weak. Nothing some sleep wouldn't hurt."
"You're taking tomorrow, I mean today off. You had a long night."
"I'm better now. So is Billy. I'll go take a nap in the office and deal with House when he comes in. I'll do my clinic hours and probably his too, and I should be home at a normal hour. We will talk then."
Mulder wanted to argue. He wanted to drag Rob home talk to him, fight, and then have makeup sex. He wanted to take Rob home so he could rest and get his strength back. But he also knew that at the moment he didn't have much say in the matter. For all he knew Rob might want nothing to do with him, now that he knew the truth. "Do you want me to stay?" He said instead.
"There's no need. Billy is doing well, and I'm going to crash in the office."
"I'll help you back there. And there is still the food I brought. You should probably eat something."
"We can heat it up. And you need to eat something too. Dr. Scully would you like to join us."
"No. I think I'd like to stay with Billy for the rest of the night." She answered with a smile.
Mulder nodded, understanding that Scully wanted him to have some time alone with his lover.
Mulder and Chase walked back to the diagnostic conference room in silence. Chase walked near the wall, hands out to the sides to help keep his balance. His head was down, carefully watching where his feet were being placed, so he didn't trip over himself. His left hand was brushing the glass windows to help keep his equilibrium; he was dizzy, light headed and unsteady on his feet. The presence of Fox Mulder on his right kept him moving forward.
Mulder stayed to the right and a step behind Rob, keeping his left hand out but away from the younger man's back. As much as he wanted to wrap Rob's arm over his shoulder, and his arm around Rob's waist and help him back to the conference room, he knew to respect the boundaries that have been placed. He wasn't quiet sure where he stood in the relationship at the moment. But he kept his hand out in case Rob faltered.
"Sit down, I'll warm up the food." Mulder said, as he moved to the fridge, where he put the Chinese takeout before.
Chase didn't bother to reply, just sat down in a chair at the table and put his head down. He must have drifted off because a few minutes later, he was being shaken awake. "Foods done."
Chase looked up and saw the plate of chicken with broccoli and roast pork lo mien in front of him. There was also a cup of iced tea there. Chase raised an eye brow at the glass.
"From home. Figured the tea would help me plead my case."
"I'm too tired at the moment to fight. Am I pissed at you for not telling me the truth? Yes." Chase started as he picked up his tea and took a sip. "But as you said, you didn't really lie you just omitted the truth and didn't tell me your name. Nothing I haven't ever contemplated before."
"To get away from your father?" Mulder asked.
Chase just nodded. "I trusted you with my darkest secrets and you didn't trust me with yours."
"Do you understand that I just wanted to protect you? I promise to tell you everything this weekend. It's going to take a whole weekend to go through everything."
"But now they know where to find you. If you were trying to keep me safe how can you do that now?" Chase took a bite of food.
"Scully won't say anything. She's good at keeping secrets. We're going to meet tomorrow, later today, at the mall to discuss things. She's protected me before, she won't stop now."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, eating and drinking. "I don't know if I can think of you as anything but Will Fox."
"You don't have to. The only thing that has changed at the moment is my name. And in all honesty, I would prefer to stay Will Fox. I never like my name to begin with." Mulder smirked.
"What time are you meeting Dr. Scully?"
"Around 1 pm."
"I'm going to try and get home early. And being its Friday tomorrow, I might call in."
"A three day weekend?"
Chase nodded, and put his head down, he was too tired to eat at the moment.
"I'll clean up. Go take a nap on the couch and I'll see you when you get home later."
"Yes you will." Chase stood up, placed a kiss on Mulder's cheek and went to lie down on the couch. By the time Mulder finished cleaning up Chase was asleep.
Looking at his lover on the couch, curled up in a fetal position, Mulder couldn't help but smile. There might be hope for the two of them still. He was too wired to sleep at the moment. Maybe he could surprise his lover with a long weekend away.
Away from work and people who could bother them. There, it would be safe to explain about his life as Fox Mulder. He'd be able to tell him the truth about his sister, and his family, and his time with the X-Files. (queue X-Files theme song)
A/N2: Pretty please let me know what you think of this. I'm leaning towards crap. If you are interested in my adventures in Italy check out my live journal page, look for me under firetop1015 . livejournal . com. You all know not to put the spaces in there.