AN: this story has been in my mind for a long time and I've decided to get it out now. I don't own the characters in this story, but no copy write infringement is intended. The characters belong to Chris Carter, Fox, 1013 productions and to the fabulous actors who portray them, especially David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

This was not how things were supposed to be. Here she was on her knees in a run down alley giving her partner of 5 years mouth to mouth resuscitation. She had long longed to feel his lips pressed against her, but then in a mutual enjoyed kiss. Not like this, not while blowing her own breath in his mouth to make sure that his lungs were getting oxygen.

'Come on, Mulder. Breath, breath. I know you can do it!'

She exclaimed while she was pressing on his chest to keep his heart beating. In the distance she could hear the sirens from the ambulance she had called when she had found Mulder lying in a crumpling heap in the alley. She shuddered to think what would have happened if she had obeyed orders this time and hadn't followed him here.

Mulder had been undercover for 4 weeks now. He had infiltrated in an anti-government militia with ties to the mafia. The had had hardly any contact since he had been undercover, but he had managed to sneak her a covert message last night. When she came home from a long day at Quantico performing autopsies there was a plain white envelope under her door. In it was a business card of a strip club in a seedier part of town with the word midnight written on the back. She knew it could only come from him and that it was his way of telling her he needed her. He couldn't call her or come visit her. She knew it was dangerous for him to contact her, even in this way. But she also knew that he wouldn't have done it, if he hadn't really needed her.

So after taking a quick shower, she dressed in casual clothes (all dark), holstered her gun and left for the strip club. It had been close to nine when she had come home from work, but she wasn't worried about the time. She would make it in plenty of time. She hadn't counted on the accident that had happened on her way to the strip club and when she finally made it to the parking lot, it was already half past midnight. Not sure what she should do, she got out of the car and decided to walk around. If Mulder expected her, surely he wouldn't want her to go in? He would make sure that she knew where he was and let her know what to do.

A little to the left of the entrance of the club she saw a dark alley. She didn't know why, but something told her that that was where she had to go. Slowly and carefully she made her way to the alley, all the while keeping a look around to make sure she wouldn't miss anything, should something happen. The alley was dark and probably had the back entrance to the club in it. When she peered into it, she couldn't see anything unusual at first, but when her eyes started to get used to the dark she saw a figure in the back. He was laying on the floor, not moving, but she could see the blood next to the body. It only took her a second to realize that it was Mulder lying there. That it was Mulder who was bleeding and not moving. She whipped out her phone to call 911 and ran over to Mulder.

He was laying on the hard asphalt with a bloodied 4 by 4 next to him. She immediately knelt next to him and her hand went over to his neck to feel for a pulse. She could feel a very faint pulse, but his chest wasn't moving. Very carefully she looked him over. His face was all bloody, he had a gash along his right eyebrow and a big lump on the back of his head. His left hand looked broken, but the worst was his back. She could see the wound low on his back where they must have hit him over and over with the piece of wood. His neck seemed to be alright and she very carefully managed to turn him over so that he was lying on his battered back. There were more wounds on his torso, but all she could think about right now was making sure that he started breathing again, so she started administrating CPR.

Suddenly she felt Mulder move beneath her, he coughed and started to breath on his own again.

'Thank God Mulder, please keep breathing. I'm here, the ambulance will be here any second now, can you hear them? Please be alright, please don't die on me!' She started to look him over once more and took his right hand in hers.

After what felt like an eternity she saw the EMT's run towards her. She gladly backed up and started to tell them what they needed to know. Within minutes Mulder was loaded on the ambulance and Scully got in next to him holding his right had tight in her own two hands. Her hands looked so little and pale compared to his was all she could think.

When they arrived at the hospital Mulder was whisked away to the ER to be looked over. Scully took care of the admission forms. After that she called A.D. Skinner to inform him off the situation. He promised to come to the hospital as soon as possible and sent some agents to the alley to start looking for evidence.

When she went back to the waiting room she clamped onto the first doctor she saw and asked for Mulder.

'He is being transferred to ICU as we speak. It is on the fourth floor, the doctors there can explain his situation to you. But I can tell you that he was very lucky that you found him when you did.'

Scully turned around and headed to the nearest elevator, sending a text message to Skinner to meet her on the fourth floor.