An authoritative knock resounded from the front door of Ed Jerse's sparse apartment. Sighing, Scully walked towards it. She assumed those two detectives had returned. She resented how smug they were, how they gawked at her when they inquired if she was at Jerse's apartment two nights ago. She gripped the door handle, pulled, and gasped in surprise to see Mulder on the other side of it.
He didn't speak; just gave her a slow once-over. He noticed she was wearing a white dress shirt. Specifically, she was wearing a man's white dress shirt. He clenched is jaw and tightened his fists by his side.
"Mulder! What—" she was cut-off as her stormed past her into the apartment.
"What are you doing here, Scully?"
"What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here, Mulder? I thought you were away on your mandatory vacation." Scully waved her hand through the air for emphasis, then crossed her arms in front of her chest. Unintentionally, she accentuated her cleavage by pushing her breasts up under the grossly oversized shirt.
Mulder bit his lip and turned away, trying to collect his racing thoughts. He was overcome with the knowledge that another man had fucked Scully. His Scully. She belonged to him, didn't everyone know that? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to quiet the roaring noise in his head, but it was no use. He envisioned a man's breath on Scully's cheek, his hands gripping her waist and his fingers combing through her hair. Mulder put his thumb and forefinger on the bridge of his nose, but still the images came, unbidden. He imagined this stranger kissing his Scully, running his hands under her shirt and peeling it off— Enough. He swallowed thickly; he felt sick. He was angry at Scully for sleeping with another man—and yes; he damn well knew it was her right to do so. He was even angrier with himself for not telling her how he felt years earlier. He should have been the lucky bastard who undressed Dana Scully.
"How on earth did you find me here, Mulder?" Scully stepped closer to him. "You can't even look at me!" When he didn't respond, she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't, Scully!" Mulder jumped as if he had been electrified by her touch.
"No you don't, Mulder! You just show up here, and then you have the audacity to try and shame me? For what?" Scully was challenging him; trying to get a rise out of him. Was he frustrated that she didn't share his all-consuming preoccupation with the X-Files? Or, was he jealous? She chastised herself for hoping that he was, in fact, jealous. Her eyebrows rose as she shouted, "And you never told me how you got here!"
Mulder turned around slowly to face her. He looked down at his shoes, nervously placing his hands in his pockets. "I took a flight from Memphis to Philadelphia. Earlier you called my cell from this landline, and I had it traced."
She dropped her hands to her side. She was satisfied that he at least had the decency to be ashamed about this.
"So, what, Mulder? You just had to check on me? You flew halfway across the country because—what? Were you pissed that I handed the case over to the Philadelphia Bureau? That I didn't follow your orders?" She took a deep breath and cocked her head to the side. She spoke more gently this time: "Or were you worried I might have a date?"
He looked up at her then, his cheeks rosy with embarrassment. He was about to speak when Jerse opened the door and walked through, holding two cups of coffee. Surprised to see a stranger in his apartment, he looked to Scully, his eyebrows raised in confusion.
"Dana? What's going on?"
At the use of her first name, Mulder's fixed Jerse with a glare. Yes, he knew he was being irrational. Scully wasn't his property, and it wasn't this poor guy's fault that he was attracted to Scully. Hell, he would have been offended if any man wasn't attracted to Scully. How fucked up is that? He wondered.
When Scully didn't bother with introductions, Mulder spoke. "I'm Fox Mulder, Dana's co-worker." He spat Scully's first name for emphasis, but didn't dare look at her.
Scully ignored Mulder completely, took the coffee cups from Jerse's hands, and placed them on the desk. She lowered herself onto the chair and gestured for Jerse to sit as well.
"Ed," she started, "I'm concerned that there is an ergot alkaloid in our blood streams. It's a fungus that causes ergotism."
Jerse scrutinized her, obviously concerned, but not fully comprehending the scientific jargon.
She sighed and offered him a weak smile. "Basically, I'm concerned that there is a hallucinogen in our blood."
"How did it get there?" Jerse asked.
Scully was worried he was going to ask that question. Now Mulder would learn that she got a tattoo with this man she barely knew.
"I imagine that this compound was in our tattoo ink."
Jerse had almost forgotten Mulder's presence until his angry voice interrupted their dialogue. "You got a TATTOO?!"
Jerse and Scully both stood, but it was she who spoke, holding her head high. "Yes, Mulder. I got a tattoo. Why do you find that so outrageous?" She stared at Mulder, daring him to piss her off even further.
"I just…" he was at a loss for words. He felt betrayed, even though he knew he was acting like a caveman. He closed his mouth and lowered his chin. "I'm sorry to have bothered you," he nodded at the two of them, and moved towards the door. Hesitating for a moment, he turned to Scully. "I won't waste any more of your time," he said, softly.
He shut the door behind him, and Scully and Jerse shared a look.
Jerse slumped back in his chair and ran his hand over his face. "I'm so relieved," he said, and proceeded to tell Scully his story about the voice that controlled him.
She mourned Mulder's absence, but continued speaking. "It's okay, Ed. I am going to leave the room, and then I'm going to come back. We are going to get help together, okay?"
She walked away, grabbing her clothes. To her horror, her FBI badge fell to the ground with a 'thunk'. She grabbed the offending object, and glanced at Jerse to see if he had noticed. She said a silent prayer in thanks that he was facing the window.
She removed Jerse's shirt and donned a black V-neck sweater. As she turned around to leave his bedroom, however, she gasped as he pummeled her from the hallway. Her vision blurred and stars danced in front of her eyes as everything went black.
Scully came to slowly, woken by the harsh grip on her ankle. She was being dragged over the floor of a dark room. When her vision cleared, she was terrified to see a furnace against a wall. She felt its heat as Jerse dragged her closer. It burned first on her toes, then her shins, and up to her thighs. This is it, she thought, as the searing pain began to overwhelm her.
Suddenly she heard a door swing open and a voice shouted, "FBI! Let go of her, you motherfucker!"
She shut her eyes. Mulder. Mulder had come to rescue her.
"Scully? Scully! Wake up!"
She slowly swam up through her unconscious haze. Her head was throbbing. She realized that Mulder was cradling her in his lap. She tried to look around, but cried out when the movement made the pain in her head worse.
"Shh, Scully," Mulder's voice was gentle. "It's okay. You're all right now. The paramedics are on the way."
She licked her cracked lips and tried to speak. "Where-" She couldn't put a coherent sentence together.
"We're in the basement of this apartment. I had to kill your boyfriend," he curled half his mouth in an attempt at a smile. "Just stay with me a few minutes longer."