Thank you everyone for the favorites, follows, and reviews! Seeing that definitely keeps me motivated to keep writing. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Files or any of it's characters.


The flight from Washington to Annapolis was a smooth one, but Scully was having a difficult time enjoying it. She looked out the window onto the wing of the plane. In the air she felt so helpless. Anything could be happening to Mulder and she wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. Not to mention, her cell phone battery had died 5 minutes into her flight, so she felt extra helpless.

Pull yourself together, Scully. She thought to herself as she nestled into her seat. Just relax and enjoy your time off.

Bill was there to greet Scully when she got off of the plane; seeing him again almost made her forget about Mulder. Almost.

"Hey sis! How was your flight?" Scully couldn't help but feel uplifted seeing his big smile.

She returned his smile as he grabbed her luggage and they headed out the airport doors.

"It was good, nothing too exciting. I did have to sit next to some guy that snored the whole way, but what are you going to do."

Bill chuckled as he opened his car trunk and loaded Scully's luggage in.

"Well Tara has a big dinner waiting for us and mom flew in earlier today; we've been really looking forward to your visit."

Scully and Bill both climbed into the car and Scully met his gaze.

"Me too. I think this break has been a long time coming."


Scully thoroughly enjoyed dinner with Bill and Tara and seeing her mother again was great. As they laughed and joked at the dinner table, she forgot about all of her worries and fears and found herself focusing on the present.

"So Dana," Her mom's bright eyes always had a way of making Scully feel warm inside, "how is work? How is Fox doing?"

The mention of his name sent a jolt through Scully, but she shook it off.

"Work's good. Kersh has us doing the most menial cases, but that's okay, we'll get back to doing what we do best soon I'm sure. And Mulder is doing fine. He's actually on a case in Oregon right now."

"Oh," her mom's face fell, "he wasn't able to take vacation time too?"

This question made Scully laugh. "Mulder doesn't take vacations. That is, unless the F.B.I. makes him."

Bill looked irritated but Scully's mom laughed. The conversation quickly passed onto other things and before Scully knew it she was so tired she was drifting to sleep at the dinner table.

"Well all, I think it's time for me to hit the sack. Good night everyone."

Scully got up from the table and, after exchanging "good nights" with everyone, she headed to her room. She closed the door behind her and spotted her cell phone charging on her bedside table. That familiar jolt was sent through her again. She quickly walked to her phone and turned it on. An alert popped up, one missed call and voicemail from Mulder.

She took a deep breath as she clicked play on the voicemail. Another jolt as she heard Mulder's voice: "Scully, it's me. Look, I made to that town in Oregon. Something weird is going on here. I don't know what, but I can just feel it. There was this creepy old lady here, and now my car won't start and she's nowhere to be found. I think you should come here right away, Scully, there's just something..." Suddenly Scully heard a muffled grunt and what sounded like a clattering of the phone on the ground. A brief period of silence then two more thuds and a muffled wheeze. There was a longer period of silence, then she could hear someone talking, a man's voice but not Mulder's. She could only make out pieces of what he was saying. But it was enough to know he wasn't friendly. Then she heard Mulder's voice, he sounded scared but she couldn't make out everything he was saying either. Next there was a laugh, a grunt, then a thud. What Scully heard next was like a nightmare coming true. Mulder's screams came through her phone over and over again. She held the phone away from her ear in shock, but she could still hear him through the speakers. It went on and on until there was a sudden silence. She pushed the phone back up to her ear as she heard another murmur of speech and then another terrible scream from Mulder, except this one seemed to go on forever, until she heard Mulder yell out, "Scully, help!" Then, silence. She kept listening, but all she could hear was more muttering and then silence. She figured the phone must of slid somewhere out of sight and had remained unnoticed, but she kept listening until an abrupt voice spoke through the speaker, "Hello? Hello? Uh, if anyone's listening just know, that if any police come snooping around here, the fed we have is dead meat. Got it?" And with that, her phone beeped and was silent.

Scully slowly pulled the phone away from her ear and sat on the edge of her bed in shock.

Why did I let him go alone. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen but I shook it off.

She buried her face in her hands and tried to keep the tears from escaping. She had to remain calm if she was going to find Mulder. Obviously she couldn't call this in. If she did, they'd send a task force and the kidnappers would kill Mulder the instant they saw them. She had to go alone. That was the only way. She knew the name of the town he went to and she had a gun. That's all she really needed. She hopped up from her bed, feeling a steely resolve come over her, and quickly shoved her things back into her suitcase.

A knock on her door made her jump and she saw Bill's head peeking from the door.

"Hey, I just wanted to say goodnight and I'm looking forward to spending some time together." He opened the door fully and stood in the frame. "I feel like things between us have been a little strained lately and I'm just looking forward to us getting to know each other again."

Scully instantly burst into tears. "Oh, Bill." She rushed forward into his arms. "Bill, I just got this voicemail from Mulder's phone. The case he went on, well something went wrong. I...I can't explain it. Here, just listen."

So they both sat on the edge of her bed, listening to the message from Mulder's phone. Scully thought it might have been even worse the second time. She looked expectantly at Bill once the message was over, but he seemed emotionless.

"Bill...I have to go get him."

He looked sharply at Scully. "You can't do that, are you crazy? Whoever did this to Mulder sounds crazy, and they'll probably do the same thing to you if you go. Just call the police and let them handle it, Dana."

Before he even finished his sentence Scully was shaking her head in indignation. "You know I can't do that. You heard what that man said, if the police come to get Mulder, they'll kill him."

Bill was on his feet now. "And what do you think they're going to do if you go alone? They'll kill you both, that's what."

Scully started to say something in protest but Bill cut her off. "Look Dana, I know you like this guy and he's your partner and all, but just because he got himself in this mess doesn't mean you have to go galavanting across the country and risk your neck to save his life. You have backup, you work for the F.B.I. for goodness sake!"

"Look, Bill," now Scully was standing, "I don't have time for this! I will not do anything that will further jeopardize Mulder's life and if me going alone is his best shot at surviving, then so be it. I'm not a child anymore. I know what I'm doing."

Scully grabbed her suitcase and stormed out of the room, through the living room, grabbing Bill's car keys from the table on her way, and to the front door. She could hear Bill following her the whole way and she had her hand on the doorknob when she heard her mom behind her as well.

"Bill, Dana, what's going on?"

Bill just stood there huffing, unsure of what to say. Dana turned to face her mom, trying her best to remain calm. Who knew what they were doing to Mulder right now.

"Mom, I have to go." A look of confusion and concern crossed her mom's face. "The case Mulder was on turned out to be trouble. He's been kidnapped and I have reason to believe that he his kidnappers mean to harm him, or worse."

Her mom's hand flew to her open mouth in shock. "Oh my god. Did you call the police?"

Scully fervently shook her head, trying to remain patient. "I can't explain it all mom, I just need you all to trust me with this, okay? I can handle it and I'll call you as soon as I can."

She opened the door and walked out, turning around after a couple of steps, looking into the confused face of her mother and angry face of her brother.

"I love you both."

And with that, she drove to the airport and caught the quickest flight to Portland.


When Mulder opened his eyes, the first thing he thought was, what did I get myself into last night?

Then the memories started flooding back to him.

He tried sitting up but, to his dismay, found that he couldn't. He looked up and down and found that he his arms were chained to the headboard of a bed and his legs to the bottom. He suddenly felt a wave of pain and nausea flood over him as the realization of what had happened hit him full force. He closed his eyes and started taking deep calm breaths as he felt his heart rate picking up.

Everything's going to be fine. Scully has to have gotten my message by now. There should be someone here to get me out of here at anytime.

He jumped when he heard a familiar voice from the corner of the room, which, he realized, looked like a room straight out of a western movie. It was definitely an old fashioned house that he was in.

"Oh good, I'm glad you're awake, dear."

Oh, great. This creepy lady again. And still with the smile.

Mulder tried his best to pull at his restraints and she walked up to his bed.

She sat on the edge of bed, seemingly unaware that Mulder was trying to stay away from her like the plague.

"Oh dear, you've been through quite an ordeal haven't you?" She ran a hand over his wounds from the taser on his bare chest and Mulder felt his skin crawl.

"Get you're hands off me." He said through clenched teeth.

Finally, her smile fell as she dug her finger into one of the wounds.

He groaned as she continued to push, refusing to give her the satisfaction of screaming.

She finally lifted her hand and resumed her smile, wiping her hand on her pants. "Hmm, no doubt you know why your here by now. I'm sure my boys told you."

Mulder just glared at the old woman and she took his silence as her cue to continue. "One of my other sons was shot and killed by a fed like you. We never found out who it was that did it, but now that your here it doesn't really matter. You can take his place and receive the punishment that fits his crime."

She stood up from the bed and turned to look at Mulder, her gaze now serious and her smile long gone. "I really do wish it didn't have to be this way, you seem like a nice young man. But, everyone agrees this is for the best."

Mulder couldn't bite his tongue any longer. "Best for who? You people think it was wrong for an agent to do his job, but it's right for you to kill an innocent man? I'm sorry to break it to you, lady, but your son deserved what he got. He was a criminal!"

Mulder felt a sharp sting across his face as the old woman slapped him, hard. Her hand was then around his throat and her now angry face right up to his.

"Your'e right. We are going to kill you. But it's not going to be quick. It's going to be slow. That much you've earned yourself."

She shoved his head back into the mattress and stormed out of the room, slamming the door as she left.

"This is crazy..." Mulder muttered to himself. He groaned as he struggled to get out of his bonds with no avail. He tried his best to relax as he resigned to the fact that he was not going to escape from his current situation.

"C'mon, Scully, please hurry."