L'ENFANT PLAZA

WASHINGTON, D.C.

DECEMBER 24th, 2010

2100

"Here you go," Matt said, sitting down cross-legged in one motion next to the little girl, who was now sitting up against the wall. He handed her a water bottle he had obtained from the Mexican restaurant next to the McDonald's. Scully had picked the lock about a half hour before then, as the McDonald's was out of water.

Christmas music was playing on a radio not far away. They had opened one radio from the sporting goods store in the hopes of getting local information on rescue efforts, but reception was so terrible that it was either Christmas music or some kind of Russian talk show. It was better than nothing.

"Where's my mommy?" The girl asked Matt again.

"Well, like I said," Matt explained slowly and patiently, "we don't know who your mommy is. We need you to tell us her name and then we can see if we can find her."

"Her name is Mommy," the girl insisted, and drank some water. She frowned. "My head hurts."

"I know. I told my Aunt Dana and she said there's no children's Tylenol. Sorry," he said apologetically. "Maybe she should come over here…" he stood up and waved her over, and she held up a finger, indicating that it would be a few minutes.

He sat back down. "Other than your head hurting, how do you feel?"

"I'm tired," she complained. "I'm hungry too."

"Do you want some apples? We've got some apples in the McDonald's. I can go get some."

She nodded, and added, "And a toy?"

He laughed. "Sure, I don't think that'll be a problem."

A moment later, he returned with a package of apples from behind the counter and a small toy, which he took out of the plastic baggie for her. It was a stuffed monkey whose arms wrapped around to grip something. He showed her how it worked, and then handed it to her. "What are ya gonna call him?" he asked playfully.

"George," she said immediately. "Like Curious George."

"That's a good name," Matt agreed. "Hey, my name is Matt by the way. What's yours?"

She frowned, and then looked up at Matt as if afraid of him. "I'm not supposed to say my name to strangers."

"But I'm not a stranger. I'm a kid, like you. A bigger kid, but I'm gonna take care of you. So you can tell me your name."

She seemed to consider her options before she decided to trust him. She ate an apple and wrapped the monkey around her index finger, and then said, "My name's Chelsea."

"It's very nice to meet you, Chelsea," Matt said, and extended his hand.

Chelsea stared at it for a moment before she realized that she was supposed to shake it. She took his hand and shook it once, and then let go. Matt grinned. "So how old are you?"

"I'm four, how old are you?" she asked.

"I'm twelve," Matt answered.

"You're very big," she decided.

He laughed. "I've got a little sister who's six. She's just a little bigger than you. You kinda look like her."

She shrugged, and ate another apple. "Where's my Mommy?" she asked.

He frowned. This was the third time she had asked the same question. He answered again, patiently and in the same tone. Thankfully Scully arrived and squatted down, smiling at the preschooler. "Hey, there," she greeted. "I'm a doctor. My name is Dana. What's your name?"

"You can tell her too," Matt said. "She's my aunt. She's nice—she's not a stranger."

"My name's Chelsea," the little girl said. "And this is Matt," she introduced.

Scully grinned. "It's nice to meet you, Chelsea," she said. "Do you mind if I shine a light in your eyes for a second? I want to give you a checkup."

"My head hurts."

"That's what Matt told me. I'm going to make sure it's going to get better. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright, now this won't hurt but it might make you see some spots." She shined the light in the girl's eyes and made a funny face to make her look. Chelsea giggled in response. "Reactive but unequal. The right one is slightly bigger than the left one," she said to Matt. "That means the concussion is more than just mild, but it's not very dangerous."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "She asked the same question a few times."

"Sometimes preschoolers do that," Scully told him. She then turned to Chelsea and explained, "I'm going to feel your head, okay? I want to see if there are any bumps."

"Will it hurt?" Chelsea asked.

"It might hurt just a little bit, but you tell me if it does, and I'll stop. Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed.

Scully felt the girl's head more thoroughly this time, and found a bump that was not there a few hours ago. The girl jumped and said, "Ouch!"

"I'm sorry," the agent apologized and took her hands away. "I won't touch that again." She turned to Matt. "I think we found our culprit. Her head was probably hit in the front and the back during the crash. That could result in a relatively serious concussion for a young child. We want to keep an eye on her, keep her talking. Don't let her go back to sleep."

"She said she's tired," Matt said.

"Well, it shouldn't be too much longer before we get Rescue in here. I want you to tell her a story, keep her up. Keep her talking. Just until we can get her in a CAT scan and make sure nothing's been knocked around in there too badly. Okay?"

Matt nodded.

"Chelsea," Scully said, and the girl made eye contact with her, "I want you to listen to Matt tell stories and I want you to stay awake. Okay? You're probably tired, but you can't sleep. It's important that you don't go to sleep until a doctor says it's okay. Alright?"

She frowned, but nodded.

"Okay," Scully patted her knee gently and stood up. "If you feel sick in your tummy, or you hurt anywhere else, you tell Matt, okay?"

She nodded again, and said, "Thank you, Doctor Dana."

Scully smiled. The child was very cute, and was impossible not to smile at. "You're very welcome, Chelsea. It was my pleasure. I'll see you later."

Chelsea turned to Matt and asked, "What stories are you gonna tell?"

Matt edged his way closer to the wall and leaned back, taking out a granola bar from his pocket and opening the wrapper. "Well, you know what tomorrow is?"

"Tomorrow's Christmas," Chelsea said.

"That's right. I guess you've probably heard the story of Christmas, huh?"

"It's a good story," Chelsea said with a nod.

Matt laughed. "Yeah, it's a really old story. Well, I'll tell it like my Sunday School teacher told it. He's pretty cool. So once upon a time, there was a mother named Mary, and she was going to get married to this guy named Joseph, but they weren't married yet…"

Matt went on to tell the whole story in great detail, including Herod's mandate that all the babies be killed, and the new family's midnight journey away from Bethlehem, to Nazareth. He took a few liberties as well, adding some ninjas and a dragon for good measure.

He finished with, "And so the baby Jesus grew up with his parents and the next exciting thing didn't happen until he was eleven and he ran away from home."

"Wow," she said. "I never heard anyone tell it like that before."

"Who told it to you before?" Matt asked.

"My mommy. She told it to me when we was under the bridge. I liked under the bridge. But we had ta move because Mommy said there was mean people there."

Matt was surprised. This little girl was homeless after all. Her mother and she had come here for a Christmas Eve dinner and possibly to get presents Christmas morning. The donations, he knew, were mostly destroyed. So now her only present was this little monkey he had taken from behind the McDonald's counter. Tomorrow morning he would be home in his house, hopefully, if the rescue workers got there soon. There were presents under the tree already, and some that were unwrapped because Claire still believed in Santa Claus.

"What's wrong, Matt? Why are your eyes wet?"

Matt looked down and used his dirty sweatshirt to dry his eyes. "I'm uh…I'm allergic to dust."

"Does dust make you sad?"

He laughed, and looked up. "No…I mean…I'm just…" he stopped, and looked at this little girl. "I just wish we could all go home."

L'ENFANT PLAZA

WASHINGTON, D.C.

DECEMBER 24th, 2010

2200

Scully stepped back and stretched her back, sighing and closing her eyes. That was it. The rubble on the upper level had been cleared as much as was possible without causing a structural collapse. There were fifteen bodies plus the one murdered individual. She counted forty people in the triage area, only eight of which needed medical attention immediately. Most of the people in the triage area were now simply resting from exhaustion.

She had inquired about the McDonald's teenage employees turning on some cooking equipment and making some food, but Mulder and a few others had said that was a bad idea. Without knowing the condition of the pipes in the building, turning on any appliance that used gas was a terrible risk. She agreed. So they ate non-perishable food, raiding the McDonald's, the nearly empty sporting goods store, and the Mexican restaurant. She eventually picked the lock on the Subway and some of the homeless seemed to take great pleasure in getting behind the counter and making sandwiches, especially the kids.

Mulder wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him, and she leaned her head into his shoulder. "What are things like on your end?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"I'm thinking if Rescue takes much longer we might want to chance it and rappel down there. There are no signs of life in those two cars but if one of us could climb on board and get to the back of the train, there might be live passengers further back who are just trapped."

She pulled away. "I know, Mulder, but it's too dangerous. I've got two volunteers who are engineers who said that this building could come down if we dig any further into that rubble or even try to touch the back entrance. You realize how dangerous it would be to trust that pile of rubble down there to support your weight while you climb in a train that's supported by the floor it crashed through?"

He sighed, and nodded.

"Any cell reception?"

"No. Matt's phone got one bar a second ago and I tried to dial out but it went right back to no service. My phone's completely dead."

"Have you tried a text message?" Scully asked hopefully.

He frowned, and then his eyes popped open in recognition. "A text message uses less….bandwidth, or whatever…it might get through!"

He clicked Matt's phone on and was about to attempt a text message when they heard a noise above. The ceiling was crumbling, and people started to scream.

Mulder grabbed Scully with his free hand and ran away from the ceiling, diving into the same alcove where Matt and Chelsea sat, next to the water fountain. It was the best hope they had if the ceiling completely collapsed.

Dust flew through the opening and the screaming and crying escalated until a large chunk of the ceiling was grabbed by two prying metal bars, and pulled away. They heard another blessed noise. Helicopter blades.

The screaming and crying turned into cheers. People leapt up and hugged each other. They jumped for joy, and then stopped just in case the floor caved in.

Mulder and Scully stood and jogged over to meet the first rescue worker who was lowering himself down with a cable from the helicopter.

Once down, he didn't even have time to introduce himself. Scully pointed to the triage area and said, "I've got eight critical patients who need to be airlifted out of here immediately!"

He nodded and radio'ed it in. Mulder stood up on a chair and waved his arms to quiet everyone down as he began to explain evacuation procedures.

The rescue had begun.