X Files: Providence.

Doggett's warning

Special Agent Doggett sat at his desk, putting the finishing touches to his report on the agent who crossed the border incident. He then leant back in his chair and rubbed his temple. It was still bothering him. The voice he heard when he was in that coma last week. Both Scully and his partner Reyes said it wasn't them talking to him. All Doggett knew was it was a voice telling him to warn Agent Scully.

As if on cue, he heard the elevator ping, and Agent Scully walked into the office. She wore a blue blouse and black suit with trousers and a welcoming smile. "Hey," she greeted him as she entered the office. "May I come in?" she asked. Doggett nodded. "Sure," he replied. "I was hoping to talk to you, actually," he told her. Scully raised an eyebrow as she closed the door behind her. "Sounds ominous," she said. Doggett smiled back a little as she sat in the chair opposite him.

"It's about that voice I heard when I was in a coma last week. You sure it wasn't you?" he asked her with a puzzled look on his face. Scully frowned. "Well, I was praying for you at your bedside, but that was it," she told him.

Doggett frowned too. "I just heard a voice, telling me to get up and warn you. Monica said it wasn't her, she was just praying for me too," he told Scully. Scully nodded. She thought for a moment, then decided to tell Doggett about her experience. "A few years ago, I was kidnapped and then left in the company of men who performed tests on me. I was then returned to Mulder after someone left me at the hospital. We never found out who it was as when I was returned, I was in a coma, too.

As I lay there, I too heard a voice. Her name was Nurse Owens, and she was very comforting and loving. She watched over me as I lay in the ICU. She told me not to give up, that there were loved ones urging me to wake up and I should be there for them.

I was in a coma for a few days. After I woke up, I asked a nurse that was making sure I was all right, if she could get me Nurse Owens. I wanted to thank her for keeping watch over me. But then the nurse told me that she had worked in the hospital for 10 years, and she knows no one that goes by the name of Owens working there," Scully told Doggett.

Doggett raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wow. So you had a voice talking to you as well? Who did you think the voice was if Nurse Owens wasn't working in the hospital?" he asked. Scully shook her head. "I'm not sure. I'm still not. Agent Mulder told me he was just there, he didn't talk to me. I don't know. Maybe we both had spirits watching over us when we were lost," she told him.

Doggett thought for a moment and slowly nodded. "Maybe. But I still think there was someone, someone there watching me. Then they must have left when I woke up," he said. Scully shrugged as Agent Reyes entered the office. "Hey," she greeted both of them with a smile. "Hey," Scully replied, and Doggett smiled at her briefly. "What's up?" Reyes asked as she sat at her desk. "Uh, nothing. I was just on my way to my class when I thought I'd poke my head in and say hey," Scully said. Reyes nodded and Scully thought she should go. "Well, I'll see you guys later," she said, and they said their byes as Scully left the office.

"You sure everything's okay?" Reyes asked her partner in concern. "I mean, you can take another day off you know, considering what you've been through," she reminded him. Doggett nodded. "I know, thanks. But I want to get back to work. I've finished writing the case on this matter. I was just talking to Scully just now, trying to tie up loose ends," he explained as he held up the file for Reyes to look at. "Such as?" Reyes asked as she took the file from Doggett.

"The voice I heard while I was in a coma. I still don't know who it was," he said. "What about Scully? Could it have been her talking to you?" Reyes asked. Doggett shook his head. "That's what we were talking about. She said it wasn't her. I mean, come on, Monica, was it you?" he pressed. Reyes shook her head again. "It wasn't me, John," she told him. "Have you ever thought about where the voice came from rather than who?" she asked.

Doggett studied her. "You're saying it was God? God was speaking to me?" he asked, raising both eyebrows. Reyes skimmed through the file. "I know how it sounds," she told him. "But give me another theory that fits," she said, as they stared into each other's eyes. Then Reyes broke the moment as she handed the file back to Doggett. "A closed mind's a terrible thing, John," she told him as she held the file up for him to take from her, which he did.

Doggett nodded at her words, before placing the file in the X Files cabinet. He would think about it later. But first, they had work to do.