2 Old Acquaintances

"Speak to me Peter. What makes you think they are alive?" Mulder returned to him as the two women remained by the door.

"I survived! Without limbs. I know what is going through their mind. If they were dead, there'd be peace, but that's not what I felt."

Mulder and Agent Whitney had left the room, but before Scully made it out he called out, "Dr. Scully. Don't give up."

Scully's thoughts focused only on getting out of there, and felt relieved when she finally got to meet with Peter's doctors.

"You may answer that," the lawyer instructed the doctor.

"Peter had been with us since after his grandmother died. She lived in a trailer and with the same disease. We believe he contracted the disease from her, and it lay dormant up until she died. He was twelve years old."

"What about the operation? Was this something the hospital recommended he undergo?" Scully asked.

The lawyer answered, "That cannot be discussed at this time. The FBI already knows that."

"Describe his personality, then Doctor," Scully responded.

"He cannot discuss that either," the lawyer repeated.

"Can he describe the nature of his disease?" she asked, and the lawyer nodded.

"He has a rare and severe form of leprosy that only affects his extremities. He's perfectly healthy on the inside, but the disease that afflicts him does not react to treatment."

Treatment that basically eradicated the disease.

"Over time, we could do nothing but observe the deterioration of his arm and feet. He lost feeling and sensation well before that. His flesh would harden and become brittle, then it would crumble like a cookie to the floor, and he wouldn't even know it. The procedure to amputate his limbs was the only course of treatment which successfully stopped the infection on his limbs. Now the affected area is limited to his face."

"Can you tell us, what was your medical diagnosis for the severe adverse reaction of the patient, to remove the newly transplanted limbs?" she asked.

"I didn't make the diagnosis at that point," the doctor answered, and the lawyer added.

"All employees of the hospital cannot divulge any information about this case until the civil suit has been settled."

They were about to stand when Mulder quickly asked, "Did he exhibit different personalities with the transplanted limbs?"

"Don't answer that," the lawyer commanded, but the doctor's expression had already given it away. He continued, "We'd love to help the patient if he'd only drop this lawsuit, but I'm afraid, he's tied our hands on this."

After dropping off their ID cards with security, Mulder still lingered by the front desk.

"What is it, Mulder?" Scully asked.

He turned to the security guard, and asked.

"How long have you worked here?"

"About fifteen years," the guard answered, drinking his graveyard shift coffee, its strength Mulder could smell in his breath.

"It's a stable job, right. Nothing really happens here?" Mulder assumed.

"I wouldn't say that, but then I'm not going to say anything else. I just saw our lawyer here."

"Oh no. This has nothing to do with the case and Mr. Spell. I'm just wondering what the turn-over rate is like in this wing."

"Everyone's been here a while. The only thing that changes are the doctors. Once their residency is up, they split."

"It's understandable. Mr. Spell is a tough shell to break," Mulder humored.

The guard chuckled as Mulder went on his way ushering the ladies out quickly.

"Agent Whitney, have you thought about obtaining files the old fashioned FBI way?"

"If you're talking about in the dark with a pocket flashlight, yes, we have."

"No, I'm talking about an audit."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

He requested Leyla Harrison be assigned this task because of her accounting expertise and being well-referenced to detect X-file undertones.

Scully hadn't slept yet, but worked her shift at the hospital. She ended her rounds with Christian.

"How are you today?" she asked, wondering how often she asked him that, recalling Spell's accusation.

"Better now," he weakly but enthusiastically answered, "I just know you're trying to help me, but do you think I can handle it? My mom and dad want to know if I can, but I told them that you would know."

"Well, Christian, whenever someone comes across a difficult situation, that's usually when they find out if they can. What increases a person's ability to handle things is preparing for the challenge ahead, physically, mentally and emotionally." She calmly reasoned.

"I think you're the only one on my side. Other doctors came by to speak to my parents. They made them sad and confused." Christian informed her.

Scully was shocked at first, but knew this might happen. After leaving Christian's room she headed straight to the Pastor's office, but bumped into Dr. Glass, a tall salt and pepper bearded man, in the hall.

"Dr. Scully," he uttered, as she almost passed him. He quickly held her arm, causing her to ease her growing temper.

"I need to see Ybarra…"

"Before you do. I need to talk to you about the Fearon's son," Dr. Glass released her arm when he was sure, she wouldn't walk off.

"I have a problem with someone assigning other doctors to look into my patient…" she snapped.

"I asked him, after the meeting. The way you stood up to him, I figured you had something. I always had a feeling that you could bring something more to this hospital when you first came. There was something about your stern eyes. Sometimes many are stuck at looking at a hopeless world, others make real hope possible, and that's what I saw."

He saw how that softened her demeanor. They had coffee together at the cafeteria hospital.

"Just say the word, Dr. Scully, and I can have him here. He's a world-renowned neurosurgeon who I interned under in Chicago. We've kept in touch all these years, especially during the time my wife was undergoing treatment."

"I'm sorry about your wife. I've seen the wing dedicated to her," Scully uncomfortably expressed.

"It's been eight years, and I put our two kids through college. Yet everyday feels like I lost her all over again, except until yesterday morning." He expressed with a far away look in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Scully asked, cupping her coffee cup before taking a sip.

"I went to the ends of the earth to search for a cure for her, and it took me to this hospital. But I was too late. She was too weak to undergo any surgery, and she slipped away. Then there became so many reasons why I couldn't leave this place. Guilt was one. Fear, then guilt again. Before she was sick, she used to have this fire in her eyes, just like in yours. It made me take a good look at the patient, this child ."

Even with his heartfelt confession to her, she still had an uneasy feeling. Call it territorial as she had always been with those close to her heart. She felt so strongly against accepting any assistance from him. She didn't know what to make of it, and tormented herself by thinking she was being selfish for professional reasons instead of humane reasons.

She took the baggage home and had gone on a full day without sleep.

"I feel you thinking," Mulder said from behind her.

"I'm sorry. I can't sleep," she apologized and in an instant Mulder spooned behind her.

"Well, I have a little something for that," he offered, but she bemused him,

"Just a little something?"

"Thank you. What's the matter?" he asked pressing his lips against her cheek.

"There's this patient, a boy with a rare brain disease."

"You never told me about this one before."

"We thought there was nothing we could do for him. The only hope would be for radical treatment, but the hospital adminstrators are in disagreement about this. In the meantime the boy's life is hanging by a string."

"How old is this boy?" Mulder aksed.

"You think its because of William?"

"Oh Honey. I think it's a void in us that'll never be filled."

"I just don't understand the position I'm taking on this. I want to save his life but I don't

want to put my trust in anyone in that hospital."

"Go to sleep Scully, and leave trust issues with me. The hospital is not the FBI headquarters."

"Thank you," Scully answered and quickly closed her eyes, but not for more than five seconds. She opened them as her cellphone rang.

On the other end was Agent Leyla Harrison. Scully activate her speakerphone.

"I found something. A medical receipt for five cases of iodine. That's what caught my attention. It might've been signed by one of the visiting doctors. I'm having the FBI Lab test for fingerprints. I cross-checked those employed at that time and found a connection to the iodine."

Mulder answered, " Is it appropriate to bet on this? The operative word being Betts?"

"Like always Agent, I mean Mr. Mulder, you're right on the money, Leonard Betts was in the building," said Leyla.

"I'm going back there," he replied and hung up the phone

He shot up, threw the blanket to the side, and darted for the bathroom, Scully in tow.

"What are you doing Mulder?"

"Scully, Leonard Betts is dead," he informed her as if she had forgotten.

"I know Mulder. He was cremated."