Happy Halloween Update! :)

Chapter 8

I wake to my alarm only a few hours later, groaning with exhaustion. But, I force myself out of bed, back into my filthy clothes, and into the foggy morning. I head down the street to the convenience store I noticed earlier and grab a pack of underwear, jeans, and a long-sleeved t-shirt and then head back to the motel to shower and change into new clothes. God, it's such a relief to be clean again.

After that, I get some coffee and a pastry at a donut shop before driving to the hospital. I want to check on Mulder one that time and get any more updates on the case before I go back to DC. At the hospital, I find he's already checked out, so I head back to the motel and try his room.

I'm in luck – I run into him just as he's about to head to the police station. I realize that he still hasn't given any statement about what happened.

"Mulder, I'm glad I caught you before I left; I've got a flight back to DC in a couple hours. How are you?"

"I've got a bit of a headache, but nothing I can't handle." There's a bit of an awkward silence. "Hey, thanks again for looking out for me last night. I know we got off to a rocky start, which was entirely my fault, but I'm glad you made me work it out." I can't help but smile.

"I'm glad you were willing to. I take it Scully is around here somewhere?" He nods to the administrative building.

"She's taking care of checking out of the rooms – we're headed back to DC on a redeye tonight."

"Then I leave you in capable hands." We share a smile. "I'll see you back in DC."

"You can count on that." We shake hands, and I head to my car.

The drive to the airport is smooth this time of day. I still have plenty of time to spare, but I didn't see any reason to linger in that horrible town. Besides, I'll feel a little safer in the airport. I feel bare without my gun and out in the world seems a little too exposed. Once I'm back in DC, I'm headed straight to my apartment to pack a bag and then to Jillian's place – my former roommate. I have no idea how high on the hit-list I am, but I'll feel better with a gun on my hip and my patterns altered.

Once I'm through security and at my gate, I allow myself to doze off until boarding begins. It's not until we're in the air (and I feel like an assassination attempt would be ill-advised) that I am actually able to sleep soundly. As soon as the plane hits the tarmac in DC, I'm back at full alert. I'm glad my flight was in the middle of the day and not at night – it helps give me a little added security.

I head to the metro station, but I transfer cars in case anyone pursued me to watch my movements, and then I get off after a few stops and hail a cab to my apartment. My heart races as I approach the door. If someone wanted to ambush me, this would be the place to do it.

I unlock the door and then kick it open. I strain to hear any noises, but everything seems quiet, so, gym bag outside so that I have full mobility, I head in. My nerves are taunt, but after a quick search in all the possible hiding places, I throw some clothes in a duffle bag, grab my gun, and lock the place up before jogging to the metro station. I know Jillian won't be home yet, and I should really give her a head's up, but I don't want to risk the call being intercepted (paranoid, I know, but better safe than dead).

Keeping close tabs on everyone around me, checking I'm not being followed, I make it to her building and follow someone in. I still have my old spare key, and I breathe a sigh of relief to find it still works. Her big, fluffy mutt bounds up to me and gives me a copious amount of licks in greeting.

"Hi, Jasper, how you been? I know, it's been a while." I give him an ear rub before setting my bag down and then checking the apartment – just to be sure. This is a former address of mine, after all.

After that, I lay down on the couch and doze for a few hours. Closer to five, I'll start making dinner as a preemptive thanks for letting me crash on her couch for a few days, but until then…

I wake up to the door opening and leap to my feet, gun drawn.

"Freeze!" I yell as a man I don't recognize comes into view. Briefcase and thermos go clattering to the floor as the man throws his arms in the air.

"Oh, Evan, it's just you," I say, holstering my weapon. That would be Jillian's boyfriend.

"Jesus, Laila, what are you doing here?" he says breathlessly, unsurprisingly not too happy about having a gun in his face.

"Sorry to just drop by. Something came up at work, and it seems like it's better if I don't hang around my place." He raises his eyebrows but doesn't ask any questions. I've only met Evan a few times, but I appreciate that he seems to keep his nose out of other people's business.

"Well, you know you're always welcome here."

"Thanks. I'm sorry for any inconvenience. And for, well, my greeting. I was going to make dinner, if that's alright, but I overslept some."

"It's all fine. Why don't I change, and then I'll help you with dinner. Jillian has some tofu marinating in the fridge that's going to be fried up."

"Great, I'll get started on that." About twenty minutes later, Jillian comes home, thrilled to see me in her kitchen.

"Laila! What a surprise! How are you?" she gushes. "Oh, you don't have to help with that." She grabs my hands to stop them from doing food prep. "Is everything okay? You look exhausted." She places her hand to my forehead to check for a fever.

"I'm okay," I try to assure her, moving her hands away. "It's just…some stuff came up at work. My boss thought it would be best if I wasn't home the next few days. Just to be safe."

"Safe? Ohmygosh, what happened?" We sit down, and I give her the gist – my partner was almost assassinated and it may be that the would-be assassins are holding a grudge against me for thwarting them. She listens wide-eyed the whole time. Jillian always has been a very active listener.

"She gave me quite a fright when I came home," Evan chimes in with a smile.

"Of course she did – that's my tough Laila." I roll my eyes at her teasing. "Scares everyone but Jasper, doesn't she?" Jillian switches to baby talk as she goes to give the dog a belly-rub.

"I'm really sorry for the imposition, if it's too much trouble I can just get a hotel-"

"Nonsense! It's no imposition. You're welcome as long as you like. You can go back to being an independent, living-alone, takes-no-shit, woman after this work crisis settles down." I roll my eyes but give her a tight hug all the same. Dinner is a cheerful affair, and I'm glad for their company to distract me for the mess at the FBI headquarters. I should really try and stay in touch more.

Just as Jillian is pulling out her home-made pudding, my cell rings.

"Hello?"

"Agent Simonson, this is Skinner." My heart thumps – I wonder what he's calling about. Good news? Or bad news? I head into my former bedroom – now an office – for privacy.

"Hi, is everything okay?"

"I guess you could say that. Some rangers found the second man involved in the assassination plot dead in a ditch." My heart sinks – so much for a witness to testify against his higher-ups. Hell, that's probably why he's dead. "I'll need you to identify him just to be certain, but based on the sketch you gave and Mulder's memory, he's the guy. And, from what forensics could pull from the slug, it looks FBI issued."

"You're kidding," I say and then immediately regret it – of course he's not kidding.

"Unfortunately, no. So either we have a vigilante agent on our hands, or you weren't as crazy to believe their claims of inside man as Bradford wanted you to think you were." I know his wording is carefully chosen – so he suspects his boss's involvement as much as I do.

"That's…concerning. Is there anything I can do to help with the investigation from here?"

"No," he sighs, weariness bleeding into his voice. "Check in with me tomorrow." There's silence as I wait for either an order or dismissal. "Are you…did you – make it in okay?" There's a surprising tenderness in his voice.

"Yes, everything is fine with me," I assure him.

"Okay. Goodnight." The line clicks dead. I look at my phone a little surprised at the turns of that call and then head back for some delicious dessert.

"Who was that?" Jillian asks.

"Work," I answer simply, already putting the matter from my mind. I see Jillian exchange a glance with Evan, who shrugs.

"Work?" she asks again, this time with a little glint in her eye.

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Then why are you blushing?" she asks.

"I'm not," I answer, maybe a little too fast.

"Yes, you are," she exclaims, leaning forward. Now I can feel my face heating up.

"Well, I am now, what with this third degree."

"Was that your sexy partner?" she asks, voice conspiratorially low.

"I never said he was sexy," I exclaim, indignantly. She rolls her eyes.

"You chased him up to New Jersey, rushed into a cave to save his ass, and then waited at the hospital with him all night. He's definitely sexy."

"That's what partners do – even temporary ones. But…yeah, he is sexy," I admit with a grin. "But that wasn't him," I say triumphantly.

"Then who? A secret boyfriend perhaps?" That's Jillian, always hoping I have a man in my life.

"No," I say, disdain clear. But she just won't let up, pestering me all through dessert and while helping me set sheets up on the couch, so I finally relent.

"Look, it was my boss. Now will you drop it?" Her face falls.

"Well, is he sexy?" I think for a minute, unsure how to answer. But then she exclaims, "You're blushing again! Ooo, he is, isn't he?"

"I don't know! Maybe! I don't know him very well."

"You don't have to know a man well to find him sexy," she points out, hands on her hips.

"He's got a bit of a sort of dark, stoic…sexy," I admit, reluctantly, "thing going on. But he's hardly noticed I exist. And I might even be transferred out of his jurisdiction soon. And he's significantly older than me."

"That doesn't mean he's not sexy," she counters saucily. I lob a pillow at her head, hoping that distracts her from my blushing. It doesn't.