Some Necessary Business: This is kinda, sorta, maybe a sequel to "Am I Not To Be Trusted?" which is now at Gossamer (YEAH!). It can also be found at Mulderoo's site 'X-Files Views and Phenomena' at www.geocities.com/Area51/Dungeon/3881, along with my other fanfic. I hope you'll choose to read that story before reading this. But, if you do read this first, here's the scoop on a key part of the plot that is continued in this story: In "Am I Not To Be Trusted?," Mulder and Scully investigate a mysterious oil spill in Louisiana. This leads them to a factory that is working on cancer medications. Mulder receives information about a baby boy with red hair along with data he'd last seen in San Diego at the nursing home in "Emily." During the course of the investigation, Mulder and Scully find this child and determine that there are experiments being done on children. The boy's foster parents are killed and, while Mulder and Scully are tracking a lead at the factory, Eric is taken to the hospital and disappears. (That was a quick and confusing summation, I know. Read the complete story for a better understanding.)
The Pampered Lady beauty salon Near Cleveland, Ohio
"Oh, I love these scalp treatments! I think they're really helping. I can almost see the hair growing," says the woman with her head over a shampoo bowl. "I am NOT going to look like my mother. You could see her scalp through her hair. Damn this fine hair!"
"Helen, I think it's probably the Rogaine your doctor prescribed. These scalp treatments are meant to help with circulation to counteract dryness and dandruff," Phillip gently corrects, up to his elbows in the conditioner as he rubs it into her head.
"Don't be so modest. You ought to bottle this stuff!"
Phillip shrugs as he turns on the water to rinse her hair.
"Helen, is that you?"
Phillip finishes rinsing her hair, and Helen sits up in the chair, able to see who called her.
"Millie, how are you doing? So sorry we missed your dinner last Tuesday. I just felt awful."
Phillip towel dries her hair.
"Don't worry. I know how you felt," Millie offers. "I think it's a virus. I was feeling terrible Monday night and was afraid I'd have to cancel, but I felt better Tuesday morning."
"I know. I was feeling better Wednesday. Weird, huh? Must be one of those 24 hour bugs."
Phillip smiles as he leads Helen to the styling chair.
"Did you hear about Emily?" Millie asks.
"No...what's going on?"
"Her Caroline is getting divorced! She had an affair with some guy at work, at least that's what Sharon told me."
Phillip begins to style Helen's hair as the women discuss their friend's family problems, their own families' happenings, and other things.
When Phillip finishes Helen, he turns to Millie. "You ready? Shampoo and conditioner?"
"And I want one of your scalp treatments. It's been so dry lately, my skin feels like leather."
"Phillip, thanks again. Wonderfulness, as usual. Here's your check and your tip." Helen pats the money lying on the table in front of the styling chair and winks. "Well, I'm off to the store and the dry cleaners AND the hardware store. Gotta pick up some woodworking stuff for Glenn. Millie...talk to you soon. Maybe we can get together and go out to eat this weekend."
"Sounds good to me. I'll talk to ya. Oh, yeah. Vicki called me. The meeting this week's been cancelled. She's got that virus, too."
Helen nods and walks out the salon door.
"Now, Phillip," Millie continues. "I want the full treatment. You know what I like!"
5:30 That afternoon
Helen is preparing salad for dinner, slicing tomatoes and watching Judge Judy on TV.
On the TV a women yells, "You took my TV 'cuz you were jealous. He loves me not you. I want my TV back now! Or the 300 bucks!"
She puts down the knife and rubs her forehead.
"God, some people are so stupid! Who would air their dirty laundry in public like that?" she says to herself, as she pops two aspirin and takes a sip of water.
Her husband walks in and asks, "Did you get that stuff I asked ya to get?"
She finishes swallowing the aspirin as she nods and points to a bag on the kitchen table.
"You okay?" he asks as he grabs the bag.
"Yeah, just kind of a headache. I'll live. Dinner will be in about 20."
"K. I'll be out in the shop," he informs her as he heads out the back door.
She continues the salad preparation, but suddenly she doubles over in pain. She crumbles to the floor and groans. She writhes in pain, then begins to inch her way to the back door. She manages to crawl to the door, but, just as she grabs for the knob, another pain rocks her body. She screams just before she loses consciousness. As her body goes limp, a thin, reddish fluid begins to run from her nose.
FBI Building Washington, DC
The clicking sound of a slide projector as it is advanced is the only sound in the basement office. Mulder sits on his desk, clicking the remote and studying the slides of corpses flashing on the screen.
He hears someone approaching and glances to the door. It opens and Scully enters the office. She glances from Mulder to the projector and back to Mulder. She exhales sharply and turns to Mulder.
"You got back from the Gunmen's pretty fast. I didn't expect you for a couple hours after you said how important it was whatever you were going to see them about."
"Yeah, they were showing me their newest surveillance toys. I told Frohike to just give me a list in case we need to borrow 'em sometime," Mulder offers as explanation.
Scully nods at this and walks over to her desk.
A thick silence hangs in the office. Mulder stares at Scully, who's suddenly very busy at her desk.
Finally, Mulder shatters the silence. "Uh, Scully..."
Scully looks up slightly.
Mulder gestures with his head to the screen.
She turns back to her papers and sits down at her desk. Then, she closes her eyes.
"Well?" he tries again.
She looks up at him again and chews her bottom lip lightly.
He raises his eyebrows in question. Scully doesn't answer it.
"The suspense is killing me, Scully," he says, another attempt at prompting her to jump in.
When she doesn't jump in, he raises his eyebrows, almost comically, again.
"You gonna tell me or do I have to pretend I'm the Stupendous Yappi?" he asks again, clicking the remote next to her ear.
"Okay," she says, clearly annoyed enough to answer his questions. "Four women in Ohio have died in the last two weeks. No definitive cause of death can be determined in any of the cases."
"No apparent wounds," Mulder observes, settling back into his chair and clicking through the slides.
"No. There were no wounds," Scully confirms.
"Aaannnndddd..." Mulder fishes for more information.
"The coroner is at a loss. They were all in good health. None appeared to have..."
"Scully," Mulder interrupts. "What is the X-File here? Why are we looking at this?"
Scully seems to steel herself before answering. "All of these women had claimed to be abductees and were members of a local MUFON group."
"Scully..."
"A reddish fluid that contained blood, but also several unidentifiable compounds was..."
"Scully...." he says louder.
"...found in their nasal passages. Two had reported being multiple abductees..."
"SCULLY!" Mulder yells, finally gaining her full attention.
He studies her for several seconds.
"Scully, why..." he grins but is interrupted by the phone ringing.
He flashes her a "Hold on, you're not off-the-hook that easy" look as he answers the phone.
"Mulder....yes, sir...no, sir. I hadn't...yes, she was just ... Oh... yes... yes... yes, sir."
He hangs up the phone and looks over at Scully. "That was Skinner. OUR 302 to go to Ohio and investigate these mysterious deaths is approved."
The heavy silence returns as Mulder eyes Scully while she gathers papers on her desk. Mulder works his jaw muscles as he studies his partner. He stands up and walks over to the slide projector.
"Scully," he says as he removes the slide carousel from the projector.
Scully looks up, a bit reluctantly.
"Who were you trying to convince?" he asks moving towards her desk. "Me, or you?" He punctuates this by placing the slide carousel directly on top of the papers she's been gathering.
Scully looks at the carousel, then pushes it aside as she continues arranging the stack of papers.
After an exasperated look flashes across his face, Mulder walks to his desk and grabs his jacket off the back of his chair.
"How about we head to Ohio in the morning?" he asks, heading for the door.
Scully looks up quickly.
"Why not this evening?" she asks sharply.
Mulder stops in the door, but doesn't turn around.
"I'm busy. I have to go back to the Gunmen's. You make our reservations, okay? I'll call you later." He walks out the door, shutting it behind him.
Scully stares at the door briefly. The she slams the file folder down on the desk. She exhales sharply and closes her eyes. Then, after a couple seconds, she opens her eyes and reaches for the phone.
The next morning Ohio
Mulder and Scully arrive at the Putnam County offices. They walk into the building and down the corridor towards the coroner's office.
"The coroner?"
"Dr. Michaels."
"Four?"
"Four."
"All MUFON?"
"Mmmm hmmm."
This conversation was going much like all of their conversations since the day before in their office back in Washington: almost telegraphic. Mulder opens the door to the coroner's office and follows Scully through it. They enter an empty lobby area. They look around for someone, but see only gurneys and other equipment. Finally, a man's voice greets them.
"Hello," the man repeats, in a low voice, as he rounds the corner.
Scully starts to say something, but she doesn't get a chance.
"I'm Dr. Michaels and I've been expecting you. Please, this way," he explains as he gestures to a door.
Mulder and Scully proceed as directed. As they go through the door, they find themselves in an autopsy room. The coroner follows them.
"I'm sorry," Dr. Michaels says as he pulls back the cover from the body on the examination table. Scully and Mulder look at the body of the blond, slim, teenage girl. Dr. Michaels notes their reactions. His thoughts are interrupted by Scully.
"Dr. Michaels, is this related to the other women's deaths"?
"Pardon me?" the doctor asks, clearly confused.
Mulder has been studying the girl's body; at least the areas that have been exposed. He walks closer to the exam table and notes the bruises and scratches on her face. Then, he notices the odd angle of her head in relation to her neck and winces slightly.
"There is NO definitive cause of death in this case, as well?" Scully tries again.
The doctor is speechless for several minutes.
"I don't think so, Scully."
The doctor looks pointedly at them and, finally, speaks. "Scully? Wait a minute.... you aren't the Hendersons? The couple who are here to identify their daughter?"
Mulder and Scully shake their heads in unison.
"I'm sorry. I thought... I mean, you looked like a couple who...well, I just made a big mistake," Dr. Michaels offers them as he pours three cups of coffee. Mulder and Scully are sitting in chairs in his office. He passes them the coffee and offers the cream and sugar, before sitting in his desk chair.
"No problem. No harm done," Mulder assures. "It's a mistake anyone could've made. It's certainly not the first time."
Scully looks up from her coffee, surprise then mild anger crossing her face, but only to the trained eye.
"Doctor, why don't you fill us in an the details of the women's deaths? What have you determined from your autopsy results? Anything further than you faxed me?" she asks, turning her attention to the coroner.
"Not much more, at all. I've done full autopsies, toxicologies. You name it, I've run it. A few slightly abnormal chem levels or other anomalies turned up, but nothing that should've been fatal. Here, let me show you what I've got."
He pulls out four file folders from the file cabinet behind his desk and sets them down on his desk near Scully, who's moved closer. Mulder remains seated, drinking his coffee.
Scully starts to flip through the folders, when they hear a door open and a voice call, "Hello?" The coroner sighs.
"That must be the Hendersons. This probably won't take long. Doesn't ever, usually. You can keep going over the files and I'll be back."
Dr. Michaels heads out of the office and they can hear him greet the Hendersons just as he had greeted them ten minutes earlier.
Mulder stands up and sets his coffee cup on the desk, next to the file folders.
"I'll meet you back at the motel, Scully." It's not a question.
She looks up at him pointedly. "Where are you going, Mulder?"
"I'm going to check out the MUFON group; find out what I can about those women's lives. You find out what you can about their deaths."
Scully nods, but continues staring at Mulder. She has accepted his explanation but is still miffed at his sudden departure.
Mulder walks to the door, then turns around. "Pizza or Chinese, Scully?"
Scully tries very hard not to smile... she's still mad at him.
7:46 pm Pig in a Poke Motor Lodge
After paying the driver, Scully climbs out of the taxi and stretches. It has been a long afternoon pouring through the autopsy and lab results. She glances at her room. It is dark and uninviting. On the other hand, the lights from Mulder's room next door are clearly showing through the drawn curtains. She considers her options and the balance is tipped when her stomach growls.
Mulder is laying on the bed flipping through a file when Scully enters his room.
"God, Scully! I was just about to give up on you and dive into that pizza," Mulder announces.
"Dr. Michaels is a very thorough pathologist," Scully groans, taking her jacket off.
"Yeah, no one I know like that," Mulder quips as he rises from the bed. Scully doesn't even bother to act perturbed; she's too hungry. Instead, she heads for the pizza on the table. However, she's cut off by Mulder, who's moved from the table in one stride, it seems, arriving at the pizza box seconds before her. He opens the box.
"Mulder..." she begins to admonish.
"Here you go, Scully," he says as her hands her a big slice. "Dive in!"
Scully's taken a bit aback by his generosity. "Thanks," she manages get out.
"Don't worry about it, Scully. Later, you can pay me back by giving the first massage." He punctuates this by taking a huge bite of pizza, leaving a glob of sauce on his chin.
Scully leans in and gingerly wipes the sauce from his chin, saying, "In your dreams, Mulder."
He locks eyes with her briefly. "Scully, you used that one before. You lose points for redundancy," he finally says playfully, tossing her a bottle of iced tea.
Scully surrenders to her slice of pizza and iced tea.
They eat in comfortable silence until only two slices of pizza remain. It's Scully who finally breaks the silence.
"We found traces of an unidentifiable compound in all three bodies. We were unable to determine it's nature nor it's possible effects on the body. We don't know if it caused the deaths. I want some more tests on it."
"It's not similar to anything else you've seen before?"
"No. It's very unique. I've packed samples of it off to FBI Sci-Crime. And I sent some to the Gunmen."
Mulder raises his eyebrows. "Good move. Well, I found out a little from the MUFON chapter president, Vicki Lindstrom. They hadn't had a meeting in about a month because she and some of the other members have been sick with some virus, she said. I got a membership list from her."
Scully looks at him quizzically, then thinks better of it. She continues her narrative of the afternoon. "Just as I was leaving, Dr. Michaels got a call from a coroner in the next town. He couldn't find the cause of death for a woman. Dr. Michaels said it sounds very similar to the others. I'm heading there with him in the morning."
"What's her name?" Mulder asks, grabbing a stack of computer sheets from his bed.
Scully pulls out her notebook from her jacket pocket, which is on the back of Mulder's chair.
"Let's see...," she says, flipping through the notebook pages. "Allison Martin."
Mulder scans through the computer sheets. About halfway through the stack of sheets, he looks up at Scully, smiling.
"What?" she asks. "She's on the list?"
"She's a member."
Scully assimilates the information for several seconds, glancing down. Then, looking up, she asks, "What's your point?"
A simple question, but would there be a simple answer?
"None, I guess," Mulder replies. "So, you're going with Dr. Clueless to see that other body tomorrow. I think I'll check out these MUFON members."
"Mulder, shouldn't you go talk to the police and get the..."
"Reports? Got 'em," Mulder interrupts, pointing to a stack of file folders on the bedside table, next to an open bag of sunflower seeds. There are hulls scattered all over the table.
Scully starts to move to retrieve the folder. "Don't bother. There's nothing in there. They were waiting for the autopsy results to shed some light. So, we're still in the dark." He glances at his watch and leans back in his chair, stretching.
Scully nods and tries unsuccessfully to stifle a huge yawn. She closes her eyes, just realizing how tired she really is.
"Hey," Mulder calls after noting the yawn. "I think it's time for the good doctor to go to bed."
Scully opens her eyes and looks at him, expecting further comment. But, there was no smartass remark. Just Mulder smiling at her.
"Night, Mulder," she calls over her shoulder as she picks up her jacket and suitcase and heads out his door.
As she's fumbling with the key trying to open her room door, it occurs to her that Mulder just gave her the bum's rush, pushing her out of his room. She got that funny feeling in the back of her neck that told her Mulder was up to something. It better not be a ditch, she thought as she glanced at his door just before entering her room.
Mulder's room
"What ya got?" Mulder says into the phone.
Frohike, Langley, and Byers are on the other end, on a speakerphone at the Lone Gunmen's office.
"We've been pouring through the data from Sci-Crime you gave us. That guy was thorough. I wish he were still around. We could use him," Frohike remarks.
"What did that thorough data tell you?" Mulder asks curtly, not wanting to explain about the fastidious and Scully-adoring scientist.
"We haven't finished comparing it with the data we gathered. But, our initial conclusions are that they are similar," Byers answers.
"That's it?! Similar?" Mulder practically yells into the receiver. "Gee, ya think so?! Guys, I was expecting a good bit more than that!!"
"We need more time for tests Mulder," Langly warns. "This is gonna take some time since we don't have the actual stuff to test. We're just going with data. And it's weird data at that!"
"Langley, we may not have much time. Who knows what the timeline is. I want this worked out ASAP. I wanted it yesterday, you know what I mean?"
"Mulder, we all know how important this is to you. It's important to us, as well, y'know?" Frohike asserts.
"I want this taken care of. I don't like the uncertainty. God knows what else we'll find out," Mulder reasserts.
"We're working on it as fast as we can," Byers reaffirms.
"Tell me about the data comparison so far," Mulder prompts and the guys start thumbing through papers and computer printouts.
End Part 1