Well, I got 2 positive review which is more than enough for me to continue. I'll probably only be able to update on weekends so I'll try to get 2 chapters out every weekend. I couldn't wait any longer to start a little bit of the MSR, even if its only Mulder's thoughts.

Please review!! Reviews make me happy!!! :D

-----------------------------------------------------

Mulder's Thoughts

Mulder, Scully, and another man walking through a cemetery (Bocks).

"I got the call from Minneapolis PD, saying they wanted the FBI to come out and have a look. Anything slightly freakazoid, that's the drill: call Moe Bocks. As if I'm tight with all the nut cases in town. So I shoot on down here to see what's-the-what and I'll be damned if I'm not knocked on my butt by what they show me. Twenty two years, I've never seen anything like it. I get one look at the corpse and I'm on the phone to my pal Andi Schnider down at the Mutual UFO Network. You know Andi?"

"No." I guess I'm in with all the nutcases too.

"Well, he knows you."

"Why'd you call Mufon?"

"I wanted to see if there'd been much UFO activity in the area."

"You think this grave was unearthed by aliens, Agent Bocks?" Even I'm a little skeptical about that one.

"It has all the telltale markings, don't you think?" Nope. "I mean, according to the literature."

"The literature?" I thought I was the only FBI agent who read UFO literature.

"Y'know. The way the hair and nails have been cut away. Sort of like they do in cattle mutilations." She doesn't look like cattle to me.

"I hate to disappoint you, Agent Bocks, but this doesn't look like the work of aliens to me."

"No? How can you be sure?" Jesus! He is actually disappointed!! He wants it to aliens.

"I've seen this kind of thing before. When I was with the Violent Crime Section. Whoever dug this up probably used a backhoe. If you took casts of the ground in the area, you'd probably lift some clean new tracks off the garage around here somewhere." I've never seen an alien with a backhoe before. Interesting thought though.

"You think?" Would I have said it if I didn't?

"He may work here, but it's not likely. Though he's probably worked at a cemetery or a mortuary at one time or another. Probably been busted before, but you're not going to find any record of it. Not real good for business when these stories get around." Screwing around with a corpse, yea, bad for business.

"You're saying some human's been doing this?" If its wasn't aliens, what else could it be?

"If you want to call him that."

"Well, don't I feel like a dumb butt." I believe it's actually dumbass!

Scully ventures one last look into the grave, the image giving her a cold shudder. Mulder & Scully move back to their car, Bocks stays behind.

Seeing Scully shutter at her last glance toward the grave, they start back toward their car. "You okay, Scully?"

"Yeah... I've read about cases of desecrating the dead, but this is the first time I've seen one."

"Nothing can prepare you for it. It's almost impossible to imagine."

"Why do they do it?"

"Some people collect salt and pepper shakers. The fetishist collects dead things. Hair, fingernails... no one quite knows why. Though I've never quite understood salt and pepper shakers myself."

"Sometimes you surprise me, Mulder." What'd I say?

"Why?" He opens Scully's door before going round to his.
"How that didn't shock you back there."

"I've prepared myself for it before we left Washington."

Giving him a look, "You knew it wasn't UFO related from the start?"

This is gonna piss her off. Hope she likes football. "I had suspected as much."

"Mulder, we flew three hours to get here. Our plane doesn't leave until tomorrow night. If you suspected, why –"

Pulling two tickets from his pocket, "Vikings versus Redskins, in the Metrodome. Forty yard line, Scully. You and me." Hehe!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Scully's Thoughts

In an alley at night, flashing lights from police cars. There's a body covered with a sheet.

"We're still waiting for someone to ID the body." Bocks leads Mulder and Scully toward the body. "Judging from this area, I'd say she was probably a working girl." Oh, god, can I handle this?

A prostitute is led toward the body by an officer. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Who did this to her? Who did this?" She's pulled away.
"Was it him?" How is he so calm?

"It looks like it. Knife wound the length of her torso. All her hair was cut off. He took her fingernails. But this time, he took some fingers, too. Do you want to see the body?"

Mulder stars toward the body, looking back, he sees Scully isn't following.
"I need a minute." A lot more than one.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Analyst studying a piece of fabric using a microscope. "At first glance, there's not much to work with. Satin doesn't hold a print real well. There could be a latent somewhere in these blood stains, but I suspect the killer used gloves." Please find something!! I can't go back!

"The body was shipped on my flight. I should be here within the hour."

"We'll take a look. How long are you in town, Agent Scully?" Do I have to leave?

"I've got a flight back to Minneapolis booked for tonight. But I might cancel." I can't cancel. I just can't.

"I've put all other work aside."
Nodding, Scully walks away.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Scully sitting in an office with another woman. With a shaky voice, "You think you find a way to deal with these things. In med school, you develop a clinical detachment to death. In your FBI training, you are confronted with cases, the most terrible and violent cases. You think you can look into the face of pure evil. And then you find yourself paralysed by it."

Surprised, "Are you aware you've been talking about yourself in the second person?"

"No. Was I?"

"Do you know why?"

I'm afraid. "Probably as another way of trying to detach myself from it."

"You're a strong person. You've probably always felt you can handle any problem yourself. But you feel vulnerable now. Do you know why that is?"

Quietly, "No."

"Is it your partner? Is there a problem with trust –"

I couldn't trust him more. "No. I trust him as much as anyone. I'd trust him with my life."

"Can you talk to him about the way you're feeling?"

"No." Pausing, "I don't want him to know how much this is bothering me. I don't want him to think he has to protect me." I need him to see me as a strong person. He can't worry about me.

"I know you lost your father last year. And I read in your file that you were very ill recently. That your life was threatened. Exposures like these can leave you extremely vulnerable."

Fighting tears, "I know these things. I'm conscious of them. I know the world is full of predators, just as it has always been. And I know it's my job to protect people from them. And I've counted on that fact to give me faith in my ability to do what I do... I want that faith back... I need it back." I don't think I can survive without it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mulder's Thoughts

Bocks on the phone, "Nothing registered to Donald Pfaster? Right... right. Got it." Hanging up. "The paint is called Ivory Bone. It's a two-step enamel used by three makers of late model mid-sized car. They estimate there may be about sixty thousand cars that fit this description in the metropolitan area."

Shut up, Shut up, SHUT UP!!! Mulder on his cell, "Nothing? No one saw her leave the rental agency...? There was no attendant in the area...?" Hanging up, then speaking to Bocks, "People videotape police beatings on dark streets. They see Elvis in three cities across America every day. But no one saw a pretty woman being run off the road in her rental car." Where can she be? I need to find her! I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to her.

"He could have taken her anywhere. How're we going to find her?" Thanks, that's helpful.

"We've got to go back to the beginning. As nasty as it seems, we've got to get into this guy's head. How he thinks. Where would he go?"

"Anywhere but his mother's right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Being that he's so pissed off at her. From what your profile says."

Wait a minute, that might be it. "Do we know where his mother lives?"

"I don't know." That is not an option.

"Let's find out."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mulder and Bocks studying a computer screen.

"The mother lives in Boca Raton, Florida. Correction. She used to live there. She died a year ago." Shit!!

"Did she have a car registered to her?"

"A late model white sedan." We're getting there. Just not fast enough…

"He inherited the car. Boca Raton could have been a winter house. Was there a residence here in Minneapolis?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Scully's Thoughts

The closet door opens and Donnie enters. He kneels down and looks at Scully's fingernails. Then he cuts the rope binding her feet.
Gagged Scully, "Get the hell away from me!!" I will kill you!!
She sees Donnie's face transform into different men's faces, then to a demonic creature. Finally, she sees Donnie again. Oh, my god!! What's happening?

"Don't be afraid." Yea, right!

He leads her to the bathroom, still gagged, where the tub is filled with water and bubbles. Donnie checks the different shampoos.

"Would you say your hair is normal or dry?" Oh, my god! Turning, he sees Scully backing out of the door. "Now where are you going?" Away from you!

Donnie tries to grab Scully, but she shoves him into the water. She runs out of the bathroom. Donnie gets out of the rub and starts chasing her. He walks out of the bathroom and looks around. Scully is nowhere to be seen. He starts walking around look for her.

Scully tries the front door, but it's locked. She runs, looking for a place to hide. Oh, shit! Oh, shit!!!

"There's no way out, girly girl." Walking into a room and taking a gun out of a drawer. "I know this house, girly girl. There's nowhere to hide."

Hearing a noise in another room, he runs in that direction. Opening a closed door, Scully jumps out and sprays him in the eyes, then runs. You bastard. He stumbles back. Scully runs to the stairs, Donnie following. He catches her at the top and they both fall down the stairs. When they hit the floor, Donnie's gun flies out of his hand. Scully crawls for the gun. Donnie, seeing her, jumps on her. She points the gun at him, and sees the demon again. She is startled so Donnie grabs the gun from her. The door bursts open. Mulder, Bocks, and other officers run in.

"FEDERAL AGENTS! HANDS IN THE AIR!" Oh, Mulder!! Thank god!!

Donnie raises hands slowly and the other men grab him.

Mulder kneels in front of Scully. She tries to get up. Shouting, "Let's get the paramedics out here!" No! I don't want to have any one near me!

"I'm okay." I have to be.

"Just stay there, Scully."

She ignores him. Scully stands with Mulder's help. "I'm fine. Just help me get my wrists undone." Mulder unties her. "How did you find me?"

"His Mother used to own the house, willed it to the sisters. I played a hunch. A patrolman spotted the car out front."

Scully rubs her wrists as she watches Donnie being handcuffed on the floor. She won't meet Mulder's eyes. Stay calm, Dana. Save your tears for when you're alone.

"Why don't you sit down until someone can take a look at you."

Quietly, shakily. "Mulder, I'm fine."

Mulder tips her chin up and forces her to meet his gaze. Her eyes fill with tears and she losses her composure. Mulder holds her as she sobs. She finally allows herself to hold him. She sobs in his arms as her holds her tight.

------------------------------------------------------

Mulder's Thoughts

I can't believe I came so close to losing her. What would I have done if I was 2 minutes later? I don't think I can live without her. I think… I think I'm in love with her…

---------------------------------------------------

Is it just me or is Donnie Pfaster right up there on the evilness scale with CSM?

Please tell me what you think. I'm needy... :P