USNS Comfort, Baltimore, MD

2:01am

Bill Scully glanced over at the lower officer who was attempting to explain why he had missed the 1am curfew. The stern Lieutenant was never one to give much leeway and glared at the younger Seaman with disapproval, clearly not going to allow him to get away with it.

"Come on, if you'd have seen her..." The Seaman was dumbed by Bill clearing his throat. All business now, the younger man sighed in resignation.

Just as Bill pulled out an official report of the tardy officer the lights flickered and went out. Before either man could react and huge force shoved Bill to the ground. He could hear the other man wailing in pain as he too hit the ground. Wetness sprayed Bill's face as he struggled for his gun. A huge weight held him down, but he could clearly feel a hand on his chest. Bill was not a small man but his struggles barely made an impact.

The other man stopped screaming and with a dim moan, went silent. Bill felt a sharp and intense pain in his chest and felt hot blood begin to run over his neck. Releasing his weapon from its holster at his hip, he simply began pulling the trigger, pointing it in the direction of the mass on top of him. The weight eased instantly and Bill was alone in the dark.

The screams had alerted anyone on the ship who had been near and the glow of flashlights approached quickly. Before reaching him, one of the men responding slipped on the floor.

"Blood!" Bill heard him say.

"Oh my God." Said another.

"Lieutenant Scully." The flashlight was in his eyes, but Bill pushed himself in a sitting position with a groan. He looked beside him and could just make out the form of the Seaman's devastated body. His limbs weakened and he fell back down. He found he couldn't move before he lost consciousness.

Washington DC

1 day later

4:38am

The beeping ring took some time to wake the sleeping agent. Beneath her coverlet, Agent Dana Scully began to stir. Finally roused by the insistent and high pitched ring, she became alert quickly knowing that it was unlikely that a call at this hour would be trivial.

The phone's display said 'Mom' and Scully sat up, "Mom?" She inquired after pushing the 'Talk' button. Margaret Scully's faint voice began on the other end.

Sleepily, Agent Fox Mulder turned toward his partner, a little slower to wake, but realizing the urgency of such a call.

"Mom, what happened?" Scully had a phone call similar to this to tell her that her father had died. Not Bill too, she begged silently.

By now, Mulder was also sitting up, his hazel green eyes intent on Scully, listening carefully and trying to get as much of the situation from only one side of the conversation as possible.

"Is he alright?" Scully's voice was full of anxiety and Mulder instinctively put a hand on her arm, "I'll be right there."

When she hung up, Mulder asked, "What happened?"

"Bill was hurt, attacked." She said, clearly having few details to go on, "Mom's on her way to the hospital in Baltimore, I'm going to meet her down there."

"Do you want me to come?" Mulder asked, knowing that Bill Scully was not his biggest fan.

"No, it's fine." Scully said, denying him for many reasons, most of which he probably already knew. It was not widely known that they had begun a romantic relationship and these were not the circumstances that Scully wanted to bring it to light. Bill would be uncomfortable with Mulder there as the two had never gotten along. She dressed quickly, "I'll keep in touch."

Mulder nodded, unwilling to argue the point about going with her, but it was clear that he'd be getting no more sleep.

When Scully entered the hospital over an hour later, her mother greeted her in the hall. They didn't speak as Margaret led her daughter to Bill's room. Bill was wide awake and smiled at his sister as she entered, "Hi Dana."

Scully hugged her brother but backed off as soon as he grunted in pain, "Bill, what happened? Mom said you were attacked."

"Yeah, some kind of animal. Everything is still a little fuzzy," Bill confessed, "And, I'm afraid Mom may have worried you needlessly." He pulled down his hospital gown to reveal a bandage on his chest, "Ten stitches patched me up. I was lucky."

"What happened?" Scully asked again, examining the bandages. She pulled on the tape to see the wound and nearly gasped. The skin had been torn and not cleanly, this was no knife or bullet wound.

"It's still under investigation," Bill began, pushing his bandage back on, clearly shutting his sister out, "I can't really talk about what happened until things are more clear."

Scully sensed there was more to the story than an attack, "Were you the only one hurt?" she wanted to know. The look on Bill's face told her that he wasn't and that maybe the second victim hadn't been so lucky.

"Dana, I was asked not to divulge anything until there was a Military investigation."

Scully's curiosity roused even more but she didn't inquire any further. It wasn't until the next afternoon that she returned to Washington. Kersh was informed about her absence and return time but Scully's mind was far too occupied to want to go back to work.

As she entered the office, Mulder was watching a small portable television. He looked up at her with a pained expression and turned the TV toward her. On it, was a news story from Baltimore.

A man was brutally attacked and murdered on the USNS Comfort today and even though the Navy personnel are trying to keep a lid on it, our source has come forward to claim that this isn't even the first attack.

Scully closed her eyes as the story droned on and Mulder finally spoke, "Is Bill alright?"

Scully's sea blue eyes opened, "Yeah, he had to get some stitches, but he isn't bad." She turned to her partner now, "I think this is actually the second death, Mulder." She said, pointing to the coverage on the TV screen, "Bill wouldn't tell me, but he was definitely hiding something serious."

When Mulder didn't speak for a long moment, Scully's voice came back stronger, "I want to go back out there, Mulder."