A Walk in the Park
by Remi Craeg
2015 CST
Legion Park
Sigourney, IA
She needed to feel his pulse—pints of healthy blood flowing through arteries—but a finger seemed too clinical. Her lips were more sensitive anyway, as if they could detect a subtly that a fingertip couldn't. She had to be sure that he was okay.
It couldn't end this way, it wouldn't. Not in this hell-hole, not without a bullet hole, and certainly not in the middle of a November downpour, because the wind was cold against sopping skin and she was too tired and too afraid to push on his chest until breath came.
What if it never came?
Could she stop if that were the case?
She slapped him, hard, and hoped it stung his cheek more than it had her hand. His eyes remained closed. She slapped him again, this time square in the chest, yelling, "Mulder, please," begging him over the roar of a million water drops careening to the pavement. Her hand remained on his chest; her palm covered his heart, it beat very slowly. She smiled, putting her lips to his neck again, and tasted the rain there. She felt his pulse grow stronger as she leaned over him, miserably blocking the rainfall. It rolled off her nose and her chin and the tips of her hair directly onto his chilled skin.
Mulder, please breathe.
72 HOURS AGO
FBI Headquarters
Washington, DC
"Come on, Scully. This is a good thing."
"How do you figure?" she challenged.
"How often are our talents requested these days? And on a mainstream case?"
"Mulder, how can you be okay with this? It has nothing to do with any X-File I know of." Scully paused to change tactics, "You're not curious why they want us?"
"You mean it's not because of our outstanding reputation for case-solving?"
"Mulder, seriously. This doesn't bother you?"
"Scully, look: one case isn't going to set us back. I don't know, maybe they're trying to distract us." She shrugged in agreement. "So...maybe we need a distraction."
She eyed him carefully. "Alright. I suppose it would be nice to actually work with our colleagues."
Mulder chortled, "Yeah, sure, Scully. I just want to get out of this damn office. I was beginning to think Kirsch had thrown away the key."
"Mulder, if we're taking this case…"
His brows raised, "What?"
"No jerking the field office—the locals—around. Let's play this one straight?"
Mulder sighed and gave her a quick nod before grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair. "This is gonna be a walk in the park."
PRESENT TIME
Legion Park
Sigourney, IA
Scully had to get him to a hospital or at least out of their wet clothes, but dragging a hundred and eighty pounds of dead weight would be tricky, if not impossible. Perhaps she could run to the street and flag down a car. She didn't want to leave him, but it would be faster that way.
Crossing the park at a respectable sprint, she stopped next to the curb. The first car she saw came to a hissing stop at her feet.
"Are you alright?" The woman asked. She wore a coat that made her look more like a marshmallow than a human being, but Scully would've given her all her money for a sleeve.
"No, my partner—" she paused to pull out her badge, which was really just a flap of soaked leather and maybe a piece of laminate that resembled her picture, "My partner, he's badly injured about a hundred yards away. Can I borrow your cell phone?"
"Of course!" The woman pulled a silver phone from her purse and leaned over the console to the door so Scully could get in. "Can we get him in the car?" Before Scully could answer, they were moving.
Scully nodded and pointed to the park entrance just in front of them. "He's right there, you see? By the statue."
Mulder laid motionless with both legs bent to one side and a cheek pointed to the sky. "Help me lift him into the back seat?"
The woman nodded and followed Scully's lead as they did their best to get him in the car. Scully checked his pulse again, this time with her middle and forefinger, and smoothed his hair. The woman appeared at the other door holding a small blanket in her hand and an apologetic smile upon her face. "I keep it for emergencies," she explained.
"Thank you."
The women sat in silence, Mulder's head resting on Scully's lap in the back of the SUV, and the woman in the driver's seat. "I can see the ambulance," she told her and observed the pair carefully in the rear-view mirror. Scully's head had been down, eyes never leaving Mulder's body, until the stranger spoke.
"Mulder? Can you open your eyes?" she asked softly, her thumbs stroking his temples. "Can you look at me?" A groan, soft and unmistakably male, sounded from her lap. His eyes fluttered for a moment but snapped shut when headlight beams lit the vehicle's cabin.
Scully smiled, "Hey. How do you feel?"
"Mmm, like someone used my head for batting practice."
"You're lucky, Mulder. The first blow knocked you unconscious; the second hit you in the chest."
"Lucky?"
Scully sobered, "Mulder, you stopped breathing." He attempted to sit up, but she held him down. "Just wait, the ambulance is here."
Mulder grimaced. He didn't know where he was or why plaid covered his body, but he knew Scully's warmth and he knew it would disappear before he was ready.
"I'm sorry, I have to get up," she said to his hair, kissing him there and not caring if a paramedic saw or the nice stranger—who, only minutes ago, helped her lift his limp body into a vehicle with soaked upholstery.
Scully briefed the paramedics on Mulder's condition—what she knew of it—and followed them into the vehicle. She gave him a reassuring smile and promised to return shortly. Exiting, Scully found the woman clutching her coat against the rain.
"Thank you." Scully glanced over her shoulder at Mulder, "My partner, Agent Mulder, he was in bad shape—" Scully felt like she should say something more, "Thank you," she repeated lamely.
The woman smiled, apparently understanding, and shook Scully's hand. "Good luck. I hope he'll be okay."
Scully nodded, turned back to ambulance, and with a final wave of acknowledgment, the doors were slammed shut. Maybe now they could leave this Godforsaken place. This place that was so cold and so wet and so dark. Maybe now she could find peace and safety while her partner lay quietly in a hospital bed, healing, the monitors reassuring. She rarely asked for more than this, but tonight she prayed for good health to be spread among many. Every year it seemed her prayers became longer. But then, so did her thanks.
2355 CST
Univ. of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Iowa City, Iowa
"Mulder, I'm not sure what to tell you."
"It happens, Scully. The bad guy gets away."
"I know, I just…I wanted to catch him. I wanted to win, just this once. I feel like we're losing a lot these days. And for what?" Her question hanged potent between them, taking up all the air. Scully dropped her head; she was tired.
"Scully, he'll turn up. They'll find him and charge him. We didn't lose," he spoke quietly, assuredly, and covered her hand with his. "And we do this to save a thousand children, brothers, and friends that this man would have stolen from us. Maybe we lost track of that working down in the basement for so many years, but Scully, we're FBI and part of that means letting the guy get past us if only to catch him at some other juncture. We'll get him. And me and you, we'll be in that court room when he's sentenced. Then we'll know; then we'll feel the win. It's not over."
Scully gave him a weak smile and a soft tap on the wrist. "Thank you," she said. She took a deep breath to recalibrate. "I want to go home, so could you get better please?"
Mulder chuckled, "Yeah." Another smile passed between them. Scully sat down beside her partner's hip and leaned onto him, her head resting on his chest. She laid next to him until his body found rest, then wandered to the cafeteria. Tomorrow they could return to DC and work on putting the last three days behind them. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.
A/N: The places exist, the circumstances and people, of course, do not. Thanks for stopping by, litter before you leave.
"Scully wraps her arms around him, the living heat of him. She presses her face to his shoulder but she doesn't sleep." From Butterfly by Oracle