Title: Delectation

Author: Emily O'Donnell

E-Mail: Undothought@yahoo.com

Category: MSR, babyfic, (but then again, its a post Requiem fic, it has to be babyfic...) a touch of angst for all...

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: You know the stuff, these characters obviously don't belong to me because if they did Mulder and Scully would have gotten over themselves and gotten together a long time ago. They were created by Chris Carter and the Fox network, but the two belong solely to each other. The rest, Marita, Krycek, The Lone Gunmen, Skinner, all not mine either.

Spoilers: Oh gee, um, obviously Requiem, the pilot episode, deep throat, Tooms, The Erlenmyer Flask, The Blessing Way and Paper Clip, War of the Copraphages, Pusher, The Field Where I Died, Small Potatoes, Memento Mori, Redux one and two, Emily and Christmas Carol The End, The X-Files Movie: Fight the Future, Triangle, The Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati, En Ami, All Things, Closure. That all? Damn that's a lot!

Timeline: Post Requiem

Note: This story was originally written in the June of 2000 labled, Coming Home, after some feedback and editing I changed the title of the story to Delectation. Those that caught it the first time around may understand it a little better now, and if you didn't catch it then, more the better I guess.

Delectation 1/6

The first thing he noticed as he awoke, was the pain. It was sharp and piercing, and for all of his brilliance, he could not figure out what had caused it. As consciousness slowly filtered through to his tired mind one thought echoed in his brain, one name that had grown so cherished over the years.

'Scully...' his weary mind, usually so alert hissed at him. Her name slid across his brain, sinking in until he remembered the last time he had seen his beautiful partner. The two of them had been standing together in a hallway, unwilling to part for some reason. 'Why did she want to come?' He wondered

faintly, the events of the past days hazy and unsure. Days? Was that even right? He could have been there just a few hours, or years, he would never know. Maybe he woke up every day like this, having to relive those past moments with his partner. 'Why did I want to go? To leave her? Where did I go?' Scully had drawn him close, whispered with a broken heart, 'I won't let you go alone...' she had handed him her necklace then, he reached up to grasp the small metal cross that hung around his neck. She had kissed him sweetly, for a few all too brief seconds, and he had been gone...what had happened after that blurred in his mind...

With a start he remembered. Remembered Skinner helping him, remembered walking, pulled on by an unseen force. Being driven towards where he did not want to go. Then a flash of light...and nothing. The next thing he had been aware of was now, and the pain that still arched through him. It was a bit ludicrous on his part, he reflected faintly. All his life he had searched for the truth, and he had found it in that clearing, where all the abductees had stood, beckoning him silently. And he had not wanted to go, he had not wanted to leave. He knew in the back of his mind that if it had been a few years earlier, he would have gone to them without a second thought. But he had not wanted to go, not really. There had been one thing holding him back, one thing worth clinging to amidst the madness, Scully. He had wanted to turn from that light the minute he had seen it, he had wanted to run far away, and return to his Scully.

But he had found himself frozen, rooted to the spot, staring in awe at the brilliant thing that had taken him away from her. And he could not run, he could not go back, and they had taken him, like they had taken her. All these thoughts passed through his mind in a few moments, and then slowly, he opened his eyes.

The room he was in was bare, save for the cold table he had been laying on. Surprisingly, he found that there was no tubes attached to him, nothing. The room was bare, he could see no door. The only thing he could see was a mirror, a single mirror seeming so out of place in the stark room he almost laughed. But there was nothing funny about the situation. He stood slowly, wincing in pain and wondering how long he had been there, and what they had done to him, and why he could not remember. He made his way cautiously over to the mirror and reached out a hand to touch the cool solid surface. Instead his hand pushed through it slightly, causing ripples in the reflection of his tired, lined face. He found it was like he was pushing through jelly, agonizingly slow. He pushed harder and found his hand turned back to meet him. He frowned slightly and pulled his hand away, letting it drop to his side. A slight breeze swirled around him from an unknown, unseen, opening in the room. On the zephyr he found his name being whispered.

"Mulder..."

The voice was familiar, and he frowned, trying to place it. "Who are you?" He whispered to the air. "What do you want from me?"

The current came again, blowing in lazy invisible circles around him.

"The question is," the near silent whisper continued, "What do you want?"

Fox Mulder frowned and glanced around, searching for the voice or where it could possibly be coming from. "What do you mean?" He asked in a near whisper, matching the hiss of air.

"I mean..." came the hiss. "I mean, what do you want most. Just say the word, and you will see it..." Mulder frowned and glanced back to the mirror. "That's easy," he whispered, more to himself than to the almost ethereal voice. His heart contracted and he fingered the smooth metal of the necklace as he whispered, "The only thing I want, the only one I need is her...Scully." As he spoke, the image of him on the surface on the mirror shimmered and changed. The image twisted and changed until his partner's beautiful face appeared.

The three Lone Gunmen stood beside her, they were discussing something, their voices were inaudible but by the tension on the faces of all four of them, Mulder knew it was serious. Slowly, the voices grew louder and he could see Frohike glance at Scully in alarm and faintly he could hear him say, "--Mulder is the one in danger..." As he trailed off Mulder could see his partner sway and stumble. Mulder drew in a sharp breath as the three men all turned to catch her.

"No," Mulder whispered, reaching out to touch his partner, his best friend and he silently cursed himself. If her cancer returned and he wasn't there...he couldn't bear to finish the thought, he would never forgive himself. "Scully!" He shouted at the mirror, tears welled up in his eyes and he had the

oddest feeling that he was being laughed at. The image on the screen dissolved as the three Lone Gunmen approached her again, she was sitting in a hospital bed, looking extremely tired.

Scully smiled faintly at the three of them as they approached her bedside in the stark hospital room. "What is it guys?" She glanced around and frowned. When she glanced back up at the three of them and their somber faces and spoke again Mulder could hear her voice waver just slightly. "And where is Mulder?" She asked, not wanting to hear the answer. Langly bit his lip and glanced away, Byers sighed and took her hand as Frohike spoke the words she somehow already knew in her heart.

"They took him, Agent Scully. Skinner was there, and he couldn't stop them. Mulder's...Mulder is gone." Scully nodded slightly, biting her lip to keep the tears from spilling over. She drew in a shuddering breath and dropped Byers' hand. "Can I just..." She looked up at the three of them, imploring with her eyes. They nodded slowly and exited the room, leaving Scully to her grief.

Scully stared out the window for a long moment, with a dead feeling in her heart. Mulder watched as the tears silently began to slip down her cheeks and found himself crying as well. "No, don't cry for me, Scully. I'm sorry, I am so sorry..." His words were a jagged hiss as he slumped to the ground in front of the cursed full length mirror. His tears flowed freely and he buried his head in his hands, not wanting to see the next scene. But he heard Scully's voice again and glanced back up at the mirror. Scully's tears had finally ceased as she glanced down to her stomach, caressing it gently. "Mulder..." She whispered brokenly. "Mulder...I love you..."

Mulder suddenly found it difficult to breathe at her emotion filled confession. Could it be true? Did she really love him? He knew she cared about him, loved him as a friend, but could someone like Dana Scully really be in love with him?

With a sudden heart breaking clarity he saw it had to be true. All that had happened to her over the years, all the chances she had had to leave, to walk away, all the chances he had presented to her, she had always refused to go, she would never have stayed unless she loved him.

And now it was too late to tell her that he loved her too, because he did, with all his heart. He loved her more than his work, more than this quest he had been on for so many years. He loved his partner, Dana Scully more than anything in the world, more than his own life.

And now it was too late...

"Scully," he whispered as he reached out to try to touch her beautiful face that was reflected in the odd surface. "Scully, I love you too..."

At his touch, the image rippled again and the scene changed, he could see the time lapse in the movement of the light pouring in through the window and the shadows slanted across his partner's already cloudy expression. She sat, speaking with Skinner.

"I lost him," he was saying, Mulder was astonished to see tears glistening in his boss's eyes. Scully nodded and whispered with a voice so choked with emotion it made Mulder want to weep again. "We will find him," she choked out forcefully. She glanced down at her stomach and twisted her hands. "I have to," her exquisite features were contorted with a dozen different emotions at the words. Mulder found himself focused on her face, barely noticing when she spoke again.

"--Something I'm still finding hard to believe myself," Mulder distantly heard her and he snapped to attention again. A long breathless moment passed until Scully whispered, barely audible, "I'm pregnant."

Mulder stared at the mirror for a long shocked moment. "What?" He hissed, he forced himself to his feet and shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible..." he trailed off and stood, feeling anger overtake him. He whirled around and shouted up at the grim foreboding walls that seemed to mock him.

"You Bastards!" He shouted at the mysterious strangers that held him there. "You take me away from her when she needs me most! Bastards!" He threw himself at the walls, searching for a way out, ignoring his blinding pain. "Cowards!" He shouted in fury and despair. "Why don't you show yourself?!? How long have I been here? Why do you do these things to me and then erase my memories? Is this what you did to her? Is this just another sick experiment, her baby, she has wanted it for so long. Are you just going to dangle it in front of her and then take it away?" Mulder found himself shaking with rage and he slumped to the cold glassy floor. After a few moments of rage filled weeping the voice came again.

"You have to chooose..." It hissed at him. Mulder looked up, "Choose?" He asked, the throbbing in his head was threatening to overtake him. Waves of pain rolled over his body from countless injuries he had sustained during those few weeks he had been tortured and tormented without memory.

"Choose," the voice was louder now, but still faint and hissing. "Between your life and your partner..." Mulder stared at the white walls for a long time, processing what the voice was saying. "Choose?" He repeated dully, not quite understanding. "But I have already chosen," he glanced up at the walls surrounding him. "Scully is my life, I can't live without her, and she needs me. Please," he pleaded. "Please let me go."

The wind shifted through again and around him, this time the voice was soft, almost gentle. "Then go through."

Mulder frowned and stood slowly, fighting off the weariness and ignoring the pain. "Go through what?"

"The portal..."

Mulder turned to the mirror and slowly understood. He reached out his hand and found that it slipped through much easier now. The other hand followed and he closed his eyes and hurled himself through.

And felt himself falling.

~ ~ ~ ~

Alex Krycek turned to the slim blonde woman standing next to him, she was watching intently as Mulder disappeared through the portal they had placed in the his bare cell. He glanced from her down to the man, if he could be called that, at their feet, green acid pooling around the dead bounty hunter's body.

"What does it do?" He asked her with a furrow of his eyebrows. Marita glanced at him and spoke with her cool, clipped professional voice. "It develops a kind of bubble in the space time continuum, it will return him to where he was taken, and he will remember nothing of what happened to him."

Krycek nodded in understanding, "Maybe that is for the best. After all these years, Mulder and Scully deserve a chance for happiness."

Marita smiled faintly, "We all do."

Krycek shot one last glance towards the now empty room and turned away. "Let's get out of here."

~ ~ ~ ~

Dana Scully sighed as her telephone rang, she glanced down at her still flat, but rapidly swelling stomach and fumbled for her telephone receiver. As she held it up to her ear and mumbled, "Scully," she half expected to hear her partner's wry voice on the other end. Instead she heard the voice of Frohike and the Lone Gunmen.

"Scully," she brightened immediately and sat up in bed, rubbing her sleep weary eyes. For the past two months she and the Lone Gunmen, along with help from Skinner had been searching for Mulder. They had had several leads, but all had been dead ends. She had been surprised to receive help from Ratboy otherwise known as Krycek and Marita Covarubias, but the two of them had disappeared themselves a few months ago without a word.

"What is it Frohike?" Scully asked with a frown. There was something in his tone of voice that made her suspicious.

"It's...Mulder," he said. "They've found him."

Scully jumped out of bed and quickly pulled on some clothes within seconds. "Where?" Was all she managed.

"Oregon, he's pretty bad, Scully..." But Scully was out of the door before he could finish his sentence.

~ ~ ~ ~

Scully arrived in the Bellafluer Oregon hospital within two hours. Skinner and The Lone Gunmen were right behind her, on the next flight, she knew that, but she didn't care. She needed to see him. She needed to make sure Mulder was okay.

She raced through the hospital doors and to the desk. "Fox Mulder's room number?" She asked breathlessly. The nurse at the desk glanced up in surprise and glanced down at a chart. "Uh, room 1013, but you can't go in there." She called uselessly as Scully raced down the hall.

Scully burst through the door of the bare hospital room and skidded to a stop at the sight of the motionless figure in the bed. Her words instantly came back to her, 'We'll find him. I have to...' And all the silent promises she had made to herself, at that moment, they were pointless. He had returned to her, like he always did.

Slowly, Scully made her way around to the chair and froze at the sight of him. His lanky frame was thin and gaunt. His face was pale and his classic features were shadowed. But no sight had ever been more beautiful to Scully than he was at that moment. She reached out and stroked his face gently, and drew in a ragged breath, unwilling to move for fear it might disturb her partner.

Slowly, she moved to sit down, her eyes never straying from his face. She took his frail hand and grasped it firmly, suddenly knowing how helpless and afraid he had been when she had been in this same state so long ago. She pulled his hand up to her lips and kissed it gently, tears slipping out for the first time. Scully clutched his hand tightly and leaned her head on his chest, weeping for the first time since she had lost him.

She barely noticed when the doctor appeared in the doorway, frowning at her. "Excuse me, miss?" Scully sat up abruptly and straightened, drying her tears. "Are you family?"

Scully ran a hand through her short auburn hair and bit her lip as she stood and glanced back towards her comatose partner. "I'm all the family he's got," she whispered.

The doctor nodded and glanced down at the chart in his hand. "Well, we frankly don't know what's wrong with Agent Mulder," his eyes narrowed at something on the chart and he glanced at her appraisingly, "I assume you are Agent Scully, his partner?"

Scully nodded dimly, wanting to return to Mulder's side, but also curious as to his condition. "I'm also his doctor."

The man nodded again and Scully was beginning to grow tired of the motion. "You don't know what's wrong with him?" She echoed dully, knowing that this had been the same thing that had happened to her.

"No idea, maybe you could shed some light on the situation?" He suggested. Scully returned to her partner and took his hand again. "I think I can try," she whispered. The doctor noted her somberness and nodded again. "This was the only thing he had when he was found," he said softly, holding out a small, familiar object.

Scully's gold cross that she had given to him two months earlier in a hallway in the FBI building dangled from the doctor's fingertips and she felt her eyes burn with tears once more. With trembling fingers she took the necklace from him, relishing the familiar feel of the cool metal on her skin again. Mulder had managed to keep it, he had managed to keep it for her.

"Thank you," she whispered softly. The doctor smiled gently in understanding, before slipping out of the room, leaving the two agents in the room.

Scully dangled the cross from her fingertips for a moment, watching as it glinted and gleamed in the afternoon sunlight that drifted in through the window. The reflection of the glimmer played back, resonating against her pale skin. She smiled faintly and turned her eyes back to her partner who lay still, unmoving in the bed. Slowly, she crossed the distance and opened the clasp, settling the chain around his neck where she felt it belonged. She slid down into the chair beside his bed and gripped his hand with her own.

"Mulder," she began, remembering how she had been so close to death years ago and had lain in a similar hospital bed, drifting away. One thing had brought her back, his voice had penetrated her consciousness and the love she had discovered she had for him had kept her strong, and had brought her back. She knew Mulder had wondered if she had heard him, she had, all too clearly.

"Mulder," she repeated tearfully, citing his words of long ago. "You have always had the strength of your beliefs. And so have I..." she trailed off and bit her lip. "You are stronger than this, and I won't let you die. I won't." She grinned suddenly, a rueful smile.

"I can't go on alone, especially not now," she glanced down at her stomach and shook her head. "If we quit now, they win, remember?" She squeezed his hand and brushed a lock of hair from his closed eyes. "Please come back to me, Mulder. I came back to you, damnit, this is the least you can do," she sighed and leaned forward to kiss him softly on the cheek. "And I'm not going anywhere until you do."

Scully sat by Mulder's bedside for hours, just watching Mulder, he was so peaceful, he looked like he was simply asleep, but everytime one of the monitors beeped or a doctor came in to check on him, her heart twinged. She ate what little the understanding nurses brought to her. After awhile, a knock on

the door roused her from his side. Scully lifted her head from where it had been leaning, against her partner's chest, his hand still clutched tightly in her own, and turned to see Byers, Frohike and Langly standing in the doorway with Skinner, watching her.

"How is he?" Skinner asked quietly. Scully glanced from Mulder to her three, oddly valued, friends in the doorway. "He's alive," was her simple answer. Skinner nodded in understanding. "I'm going to talk to the doctor," with that he disappeared down the hall, leaving the three Lone Gunmen falling over

each other to get into the room first. Scully cracked a smile at the three of them, grateful that they were there. She gripped Mulder's hand tightly, trying with all her might to will some warmth into it. Willing him to just wake up and smile at the four of them.

He didn't stir, the monitors didn't even beep. The three computer hackers stood assembled around the bed, gazing down at their friend forlornly.

Scully gazed at them and a thought occurred to her, "Is this what I looked like? When I was returned?" She asked quietly, she knew that Frohike at least had come to see her back then, and had comforted Mulder.

The three nodded sagely, not wanting to break the stillness around Mulder, for fear that it might break him as well. Scully bit her lip, now knowing, understanding what he had gone through for the first time. "Oh, Mulder," she whispered. "I'm sorry." The three exchanged glances and then looked at her again.

"You can't blame yourself, Scully," Byers told her gently. "Mulder never blamed you."

Scully nodded, her auburn hair glinting in the late afternoon sun that filtered in through the window across from her. "I know," she glanced up at the three of them. "Thank you for coming."

"It's the least we could do after two months," Langly told her, with that the three also left the room, understanding that Scully needed to be with him.

"Mulder," she began, wanting to get the truth out even if he could not hear her. "Mulder, I don't know if you can hear me, but I need to tell you," she bit back her tears and distantly remembered a time he had tried to make the same confession, in a similar hospital bed, in Bermuda.

"Mulder, we have been through so much these past few years, and in the beginning, I didn't trust you at all. You were out there, you were well, 'spooky'..." she fondly remembered when he had asked her if she thought he was spooky. "But that all changed, I don't know how, I don't know when. But I discovered that you were the only one I trusted. I meant it then and I mean it even more now. You were my partner, but you were so much more. My best friend, my soulmate."

Scully extended a shockingly frail, trembling hand to touch her partner's face with affection as memories flooded her. "When I found out that I might not be your soulmate I was crushed. I hid it well, but I hated that woman who said she was your soulmate. I heard somewhere that we have many soulmates, but only one true one. I knew then and I know now, that you are my true soulmate," her words slid out with every breath, gliding smooth into the air and seeping into Fox Mulder's consciousness.

"I lied when I told you I wouldn't change a day, Mulder. I would have changed only one thing, I would have told you a long time ago how I felt. Instead of letting it build up until here, now that I'm pregnant and you are in a coma," she shook her head, wondering why she should be so nervous, it wasn't as if he could hear her. Her gaze was drawn again to her cross that hung about his neck, it was a symbol of her faith, but to him, it had always been a symbol that she would return to him. She had given it to him two months ago in hopes that it, if not anything else, would be enough to bring him back to her.

Scully took a deep breath and closed her eyes, plunging ahead with the confession. "Mulder, I trusted you with my life, because you were the only one I could trust. Then I trusted you with my soul, time and again, you pulled through. Now I am trusting you with my heart, because the only reason it is still beating is because these past months I knew you were alive, and I knew I had to find you, for me and our child," Scully smiled through the tears that seeped through her closed eyelids and fondly touched her stomach. "And I knew that I had to tell you what you mean to me, you were always my friend, and my partner. And somewhere along the line, Mulder, I fell in love with you."

Scully drew in a ragged breath and threw a glance at her partner's still form. The moment seemed a bit anticlimactic now, Mulder did not respond. Scully stood and leaned over his bed, to kiss him softly on the forehead. For a long moment, she stood staring down at him, grateful that he was at least there, with her again. She bit her lip and traced the outline of his lips with her slender fingers. A still breathless quality hung in the air.

And then one of the monitors beeped. Slowly, Scully glanced up at the screen, wondering what was going on.

Then she saw it, his heart monitor had a small blip in one of the lines, showing that his heart had beat just a bit faster for a moment. She turned her astonished gaze from the screen to her partner's calm facade. A slow smile spread across her face and she leaned down to whisper into his ear, "I love you.

Are you hearing me? I love you! Now fight this and come back to me." She grinned a small wicked smile her partner would have been proud of. "I promise I'll make it worth your while..."

There it was, another blip.

He could hear her.

Scully whooped in joy and turned, throwing the door open and knocking over several Lone Gunmen in the process.

"What's going on?" Frohike asked, glancing worriedly in the door. "Is he awake?"

"No," Scully replied. "Almost as good, come and see."

The three stumbled through the door behind her as she strode up confidently to the bed. "Look at this," she pointed to his heart lines on the screen, the faint blips still showed from where his heart had jumped at her words.

"But he didn't wake up?" Langly asked, Scully shook her head.

"Well then how?" Byers trailed off and glanced at Scully.

"Like this," she leaned down and kissed her partner on the cheek, whispering, barely discernible. "I love you, Fox Mulder."

Again, there was the blip. The three men exchanged glances and smiled themselves.

"What does this mean?" Frohike asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "Why doesn't he wake up?"

Scully sighed and shook her head, "I don't know. But I am going to find out."

~ ~ ~ ~

Scully slept fitfully in the hard chair that she had been sitting in, next to her partner's bedside for hours. The Lone Gunmen had gone to tell the doctors about Mulder a few hours ago, Skinner had come in once or twice, to check on the two of them, he had thought she was sleeping.

But the truth was, that even in her sleep, Dana Scully remained alert and concerned for her partner.

She stirred only when the doctor entered the room, to check on Mulder. She opened her eyes slowly and yawned a bit. The doctor, different from the last one was a young man, probably fresh out of medical school, smiled at her.

"Wouldn't you like a more comfortable chair?" He asked her. Scully groaned, feeling her stiff joints and a slight wave of nausea, morning must be soon, she surmised. "Yes," she agreed, sitting up. She really shouldn't be doing this, not now, now that she was pregnant. She knew if Mulder was awake, he would

be telling her to go home right now, even though he knew she wouldn't.

The doctor nodded and finished his inspection of her partner. "I'll see what we have," with a small wink, he headed towards the door.

Scully smiled in appreciation, then frowned as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Wait," she called to the doctor softly. He turned in concern, "What is it?"

Scully's finger traced the small scar on the back of her neck and gazed at Mulder with consideration. "I'd like you to take an x-ray of him."

The doctor frowned and pushed his light brown hair out of his eyes. "An x-ray?"

"Yes," Scully continued. "Of his neck."

"Any particular reason why?"

Scully pulled her hand away from her neck and through her tousled hair. "I've seen...patients like this before. And every time they have had a small metal chip in the back of their necks."

The doctor frowned, "A chip?"

"Yes," Scully confirmed, growing extremely tired suddenly. "Can you get the x-ray done quickly?"

The doctor smiled at her gently, "I'll see what I can do."

Scully nodded at the doctor distractedly as he exited the room. She clutched her partner's hand and prayed that the x-rays would reveal nothing.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Agent Scully?" Dana stirred from Mulder's side at the sound of the familiar voice. She looked up, squinting in the morning sunlight and tried to fight off pangs of morning sickness. She had already vomited once and was still feeling queasy. She ran her slender fingers through her auburn hair and managed a wan smile at Skinner who stood in front of her, clutching a thin folder.

"What is it, sir?" She asked, nodding towards the folder. Skinner glanced down at the folder as if seeing it for the first time.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "The nurse gave it to me, told me to give it to you, something about x-rays." At this Scully's face turned pale and she swallowed the bile that suddenly rose in her throat. Slowly, with slightly trembling fingers, she reached forward to slip the folder from his hand.

Crossing over to the other side of the room she pulled the x-ray out of the packet and pinned it up against the lighted board. She flicked the small switch and studied the x-ray closely.

Skinner frowned and tried to determine what she was seeing, or rather, what she wasn't. Then it hit him, the implant.

"Does he have one too?" He asked softly, not able to read the implacable expression on the woman's face.

Slowly a tiny, perplexed smile crept across her face. "No," she whispered, she reached up, tracing with her fingertips where she had discovered an implant in her own body years before. It had shown up a small bright dot in her body, and a hole in her life.

But Mulder did not have one. What could this mean?

Skinner studied the woman in the pale sunlight that filtered through the small window. Her hair was tucked back, behind her ears, having lost it's lustrous red sheen days ago. Her body seemed tired, but straight and proud. Her stomach was slightly swollen, that and the thin gloss of perspiration he could

glistening on her pale forehead and cheeks from nausea, were the only indications of her pregnancy. Despite all this, Scully seemed the picture of the woman he had met years ago, a little older, with a few more lines in her face, a few more scars and a different hairstyle, her familiar golden cross was gone, but for good reason. Scully was different in subtle ways, but she was still Scully.

The difference, he mused, was in the eyes. Those bright blue eyes, had always been so piercing and penetrating. But back then, they had been the eyes of a girl. An innocent, if not a touch naive, young woman who had no idea of the dreadful and wondrous things she would discover.

Scully's eyes were older now, wiser beyond her years, smarter, if not sadder.

But that sadness was overwhelmed right now as Scully's eyes met his own, overwhelmed by relief for her partner's return, and worry for his condition. But most of all, at the moment, he saw confusion there.

"What's wrong? If he doesn't have the chip, then that's a good thing, right?" Skinner asked.

Scully shook her head. "I've been wondering why they took Mulder. All those other abductees, they all had the implants, sir. Mulder didn't, he never did. So why did they take him?" Scully turned back to the board with a frustrated sigh and flicked off the light that illuminated the x-ray.

"And why in hell doesn't he wake up?"

~ ~ ~ ~