Before Scully had even woken for the first time in hospital the nightmares began.
She thrashed on the bed, a tear sliding down her face as Margaret held her hand tightly and looked up at her daughter's superior, "Please, Walter, can you not use some of your influence?" Margaret asked imploringly.
"I don't know what I'd say if it's against hospital policy…"
"You can tell them that my daughter hasn't slept an hour soundly since she arrived here, that she screams for him in her sleep! I appreciate that you're their superior, but I know you're also their friend and at a time like this, that must come first. I trusted you when I received that letter, I trusted you with my daughter's life. Now I'm asking you to trust me," Margaret stated firmly.
Skinner nodded, "If you really think it would help…"
"Walter, I know you aren't that naïve," Margaret Scully retorted with a smile that reminded him of Scully.
Skinner walked into the corridor and saw their doctor standing nearby, "Has Agent Mulder woken yet?" He asked as he approached.
The doctor looked up and she smiled, "Not yet, but there's no reason to suggest he won't very soon – I think the trauma just knocked them out."
"That's what I needed to talk to you about…" Skinner started and the doctor nodded, "I understand why you have them in separate rooms, but Dana's mother would like you to make an exception."
The doctor started to shake her head but Skinner cut in, "Doctor Hernández, I know you've been told the facts, but none of us can begin to understand what it was like to actually live through. Ms Scully is having nightmares, calling out for her partner. They were buried underground together for five days, surely you can see that it's cruel to keep them apart?"
The doctor looked down at her hands and flicked her nails thoughtfully; Skinner could see that she was wavering so pulled out the big guns. "Listen, I didn't tell you this…but those two are in love, and I believe they have been for many years. The trauma of almost losing each other has probably been even more traumatic than almost losing their own lives. If this is about space or money I'm sure we can arrange whatever we need to...but they need to be together."
Doctor Hernández sighed and nodded; "I guess I could argue that the separation has the potential to cause them additional trauma. You really think that the situation is that serious…?"
"I do," Skinner said firmly.
The doctor looked down the hall and saw a colleague walking in their direction, "Arthur, are you free for fifteen minutes?"
The nurse looked up, "I can be, is there a problem?"
The doctor scanned the notes in her hand and then looked up, "Ms Scully is in one of the larger single rooms. Do you think we could move another patient in there with her without impacting on patient care or health and safety?"
Arthur thought for a second, "Sure. I mean it's technically big enough for a double room and she isn't high risk…I assume you mean Mr Mulder?"
Doctor Hernández nodded, "As soon as possible if you don't mind? The family have reported that her nightmares seem to be intensified by their separation. These poor people have been through enough without hospital policy compounding their ordeal."
Arthur smiled, nodded approvingly and rushed to organise the move.
Less than ten minutes later Skinner knocked on and then open the door of Scully's room.
Margaret looked up questioningly.
"Do you think Dana would like a visitor?" He asked with a smile and then stepped back to reveal Mulder's bed being pushed by two members of staff.
Smiling broadly Margaret stood and rushed over to hold back the door, "Oh, thank goodness," she said with obvious relief as the bed was carefully pushed in.
While a younger member of the nursing staff rushed to rearrange the room and make space for the bed, Margaret walked over and brushed the hair from Mulder's forehead, "He still hasn't woken?" She asked Arthur.
"No, but he inhaled a lot of water so it's to be expected that his body would need time to recover. Doctor Hernández says he could wake any time."
Margaret nodded, "Well, it's almost a good job we've moved him before he does, I've seen people trying to get between Fox and my daughter. It's not a pretty sight."
Skinner stood at the back a smirked.
"They must love each other very much," The younger nurse said as she walked back over, only to wince when Arthur scowled at her gently for talking out of turn.
"I'm sorry," he smiled at Margaret politely, "it's really none of our business."
Margaret glanced over at Skinner and then whispered conspiratorially to Arthur and his junior colleague, "Between you, me…and completely without the knowledge of their superior," she smiled at Skinner and his eyes twinkled with amusement, "I know that they love each other very much indeed."
Skinner rolled his eyes and then smiled as he watched Mulder being wheeled up next to Scully. At first, they left a decent metre sized gap but then Margaret stepped in.
"Can we just…" Margaret gripped the end of Mulder's bed and pulled it to the right just before the break was applied.
"I'm not sure whether…" Arthur started to contend.
"You can still get around either side, does it really matter?" Margaret asked raising her eyebrows. "Listen, if anyone comments you have my permission to say that I must have moved them after you left."
Arthur smiled and rolled his eyes before pushing the beds flush together at the top and then knocking on the breaks.
The four of them jolted with surprise when Scully moaned and then rolled her head to the side restlessly.
"Oh Lord, another nightmare…" Margaret gasped tearfully, the mood in the room shifting completely.
Before Margaret could get around the bed to her daughter's side Scully's hand grasped out blindly in her sleep, she scraped her nails along her bed sheets and then suddenly seemed to sense the bed next to her and reached out.
The four of them watched in wonder as Scully found and gripped onto Mulder's hand in her sleep, "Mulder…" She said with a breathless sigh and seemed to calm immediately.
Margaret looked at Mulder's face and shook her head in shock when she saw his eyes blinking open, "Sc…y?" He licked his lips, "Scully...?"
Rushing to his side of the bed Margaret took hold of his free hand, "She's right here next to you, Fox. You're holding Dana's hand…and you're both going to be just fine."
A tear slid from Mulder's eye and his thumb brushed her hand softly, "Scully?"
"She's still sleeping, you both inhaled water and the doctor believes your bodies have just…taken a timeout for a while…" Margaret started to explain.
Mulder's head shot up and then he groaned as a wave of dizziness knocked him back down to the pillow.
"Hey, hey, hey…" Margaret said soothingly. "All of the tests have been done, Dana is just fine. You're both going to be okay and she's right here with you…"
Mulder's head spun to his left and he let out a long breath when he saw his partner lying peacefully in the bed next to him, he brought her hand up to his cheek and then turned further to kiss it.
"Really...? Okay…?" Mulder asked, his voice croaky.
"I wouldn't lie to you sweetheart," Margaret said calmly and ran her hand through his hair, "not about that."
Mulder looked up at his partner's mother with tears welling in his eyes and nodded, "Yeah…I mean, thank you."
Skinner was stood near the door with the nurses, watching the three of them with a smile, "You should honestly be grateful that we requested the move…"
Arthur raised his eyebrows in question and Skinner nodded over at Mulder, "If he'd woken and Dana wasn't there he'd probably have torn down half of the wards on this floor trying to find her before he'd even taken the time to remembered his own name."