Scully sat down heavily at the desk next to Mulder and rubbed her eyes wearily. She glanced at her watch and was not surprised that it was just after 8. It had been a very long day, they had been at the police station since 11.00 that morning. They had finally finished the paperwork on the interrogation on the suspect they had been chasing for nearly a week now and he had been charged with Murder. It had been a very long week of stakeouts and long nights. She had a feeling though that the bath and early night she had been yearning for since this morning was going to be put on hold now that Jessica had literally crash landed into their lives.

She hadn't felt this tired for a long time.

Despite the fatigue she felt a grim satisfaction about having caught a bad guy even though it had turned out to be a regular run of the mill murderer rather than the x file kind of murderer they were accustomed to dealing with.

"... we appreciate all your help officer and we are sorry for any confusion and panic this has caused the Myers family." He nodded blankly listening to the voice on the other end of the line," We will thank you."

Mulder put the phone down and dry rubbed his face. She knew he was as tired as she was. Both of them hadn't slept more than a couple of hours the night before and she was sure that her face reflected the same tiredness that was etched on his face. There was something else though. She saw the beginnings of an idea in his eyes. The same glint in those eyes that he got just before he presented her with an x file. She knew that the officer had given him something that his intelligent mind was cataloguing and referencing. She had felt earlier that he was working on a theory about Jessica - whatever the new information was it was being slotted into place with the information he already had.

"Scully..."

Here we go, she thought with a slight flicker of amusement. She knew her partner too well.

"What are your thoughts on parallel universes?"

She sighed heavily and closed her eyes for a second as a wave of exhaustion broke over her. She was wrong. Now she was at the most tired she had felt for in a long time.

"Mulder." She looked at him and rolled her eyes. Ok I'll play along. " Well, there are many theories about the expansion of the universe and the effect that it has on the continuum. Time is an invariable factor, we know this, and due to the size of the universe there are theories that there is a possiblity that there are worlds that are running parallel to ours that may support life and could possibly be in essence be seen as different versions of our world.

"What are you suggesting Mulder, that Jessica has somehow been transported from another part of the universe?" She asked doggedly dreading his affirmation.

"No not another planet - this one. Aren't there also studies that relate to string theory in which they theorise that there are different universes that co exist simultaneously in the same space and time?"

"Yeah Mulder, theories, your talking about an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. They are separate co existing universes which can technically interfere with each other. So you think that Jessica has somehow jumped from one universe to the next?"

Mulder nodded eagerly, " I think the thunderstorm which may have caused the right atmospheric factors, and more specifically the lightning somehow created a conduit between her world and ours. I think she was hit by lightning. She mentioned about the jolt in her fingers and midsection, she felt like she was being pulled back," his hands motioned backwards, " victims of lightning strike are often wearing jewellery her belly bar would surely be an explanation for the jolt around her midsection.

Mulder ploughed on as she opened her mouth to argue," She also said about the strange metallic taste, the fact that when she woke she was sick and that she had what she described what could be some form of head trauma. She also described feeling bruised and sore around her chest area. "

"Yeah but Mulder you are describing all of the primary factors of having been struck by lightning but none of the secondary factors! I did the examination myself. There is no physical damage. If she had been struck there should be signs of major internal damage, neurological damage, burns. Her urine and blood samples showed no signs of any damage." She told him with an air of finality as she tried to reason with him. She frowned, "Plus if she had been hit her jewellery especially the belly button bar would have probably melted and caused concentrated burn marks in that area."

"Ok... I can't explain that at the moment but I have just found out from the officer," he gestured at the phone," the family friend that provided the information before, that there has been a raging thunderstorm in that part of Somerset."

She knew this was the moment that he was going to give her the little nugget of information that he always held back as his parting final coup. She braced herself for it.

He grinned broadly as he watched her eyebrows raise in reserved expectation, " and... the front door has been damaged from an apparent lightning strike."

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Authors notes: sorry I am not a physicist or doctor - I have vaguely read bits on the internet about parallel universes and lightning strike survivors and meshed it into my own little story line. I am sorry if it doesn't make sense but I hope you will forgive me for the artistic license. Also sorry its a short chapter just wanted to establish the theory before I get Jessica more involved with the fantastic duo! Huge thanks for the reviews and feedback they are like little rays of sunshine to me :)

Thanks for reading if your still interested next chapters will be up soon promise xx