They pulled into the hospital parking lot, and approached Mulder's room, hoping that he wasn't asleep. Al disappeared and reappeared in Mulder's room with a few buttons.
"How long have we had the technology for teleporting?" Mulder asked, half-joking.
"Longer than you think, kid. Oil lobbiests wouldn't go for it, coz it would cost'em too much money in transportation losses. How's it going?"
Mulder cracked a bitter grin at him. "Wanna beer and a hotdog, Al? I'll call a nurse to get a tube for ya. You can pull up a chair and chow down with me."
"I'll stick to bad Project coffee and a great cigar any day, kid."
"No technology to get good coffee yet?"
"No matter what they do in technology, some things never change."
"I guess not." Sam came in just then. He sometimes envied Al for being able to pop in and out.
"We've got problems, Mulder." Suddenly Mulder's expression "What's wrong, Sam."
"Krycek paid me a visit." Then he briefed Mulder on the rest of the story. "So, Mulder...do you still not believe that this is an x-file?" Sam
demanded.
A crooked grin spread across his face. "Usually, it's me asking that one. I-uh-definately think we've got something weird going on"
"I don't think Krycek or Spender is going to let either you or Scully off that easy." Al was saying, "He'll probably hunt you down as soon as you leave the FBI. This time you'll have no way to defend yourself-or Scully." With a glance, he tossed the ball of conversation over to Sam.
"Go ahead, Sam. Tell him what happened today."
"I went to question the only live witness, and she ran off and was killed before I got to ask her anything."
"By who?"
"You mean what, Mulder. The thing that killed her wasn't human. She was found just like the rest of the bodies. She ran off, and I found her in her dormroom before it was too late."
"So what do you think?"
"E.T.'s in the seawater, kid." Al grinned
"Look, they were just vacationing on a beach. All were taking antidepressants. You're a psychologist, Mulder...I don't have to tell you what happens to the brain in clinical depression."
"What does that have to do with anything?
"If the drinking water around the area had high contents fo sulfur, it could induse radio-active chemicals that were previously resistant. On prolonged exposure to the drugs, the mind-power that the aliens have could seep in, and since the ADD made the kids resistant to the mind-control, they were terminated." "Even if that was the case, there's no way to proove their existance."
"Of course there is. Tell Skinner, he'll go for it."
"Yeah, and then he'll put me in a straight-jacket. I've already been there and done that Sam. I'd really rather not be back in the psych ward."
"Believe what you want, but the only way you can help me or Scully is by walking again."
"I just wanna be left alone." Mulder insisted. And he really did.
"Look, Gretta Garbo..." Al started. He was the only person Sam knew who could look intimidating holding a cigar wearing a bright teal suit with a red shirt. "The only way you're going to be left alone at all is if you fight that Krycek creep and the Smoking Schnozz. You are not going to just give this up. Not if Sam and I have anything to do with it. So what am I gonna go back and tell Dana? That she might as well prepare for the worst?"
"It is NONE of your damn business!" Mulder almost-shouted.
"Scully and Sam can take care of themselves. I can't walk out of here. It's out of my hands, Al."
"That's up to you, kid." Al said and with a push of a few buttons, a bright blue light flashed and the chamber door was open, and Al was gone. Mulder, as much as I hate to admit it...Al's right. It's up to you."
"Visiting hours are over, miss." Reminded a rather large and formidable looking nurse at the door. "I just hope she recognizes you when she comes back, Mulder." Sam said as he left Mulder alone to mope.
Wallowing in self pity just wasn't his style-but neither was being forced into anything, either. He had always been his own man...no matter what. Now, circumstances out of his control were making it extremely hard to get out of the trap of self-pity. He thought of a movie he saw once on television within the last two days..."The Princess Bride."
Yes...Mulder thought he was in his own little Pitt of Dispair. Soon, the pain killers the nurse administered just then thankfully took over his consciousness, and Mulder drifted to an uneasy sleep. At least it was a break from life without Scully.
In the waiting room in New Mexico fifteen years in the future, Scully sat and listened to what Al was saying about the progress of the leap. She somehow wasn't surprised. Things like this had happened before in her career with the x-files. What she was surprised at though, was Mulder's apparent inability to believe that they needed to somehow get to the consortium.
"Sam and I are doing all we can, Dana. Don't give up yet."
"I don't intend to." And she didn't. She never had when it came to Mulder.
"What would you do, if you were Sam and me?"
She cracked a small smile. "Kick his ass."
"Somehow, Scully, I wouldn't doubt it. Any ideas on getting the consortium?"
"We've been trying for seven years. The only way they could ever get to Mulder was through me."
"And you still don't think he loves you?"
"He might have earlier...but things are different now."
"What's so different, Scully? He'll be good to go if someone can make him understand he needs to fight. Anger is not always negative."
She looked thoughtful for a moment. Then an idea transpired, flooding her expression. "Can I pay him a visit with you tomorrow?"
"I don't see why not. Why? What are you gonna say to him?"
May 20, 2001; 7:45 Newberry Hotel; Newberry SC
Sam drug himself out of bed, nearly tearing the sockets out of the walls as he pawed around for the off button, and puttered about the hotel room, continuing what he could of a morning routine. He was very glad that Dana Scully did not wear that much make-up. Sam prayed for one of two things to happen that day: for Mulder to change his mind; or for some way to get the consortium.
Al met him at the hospital that morning, but with better news.
"Scully says that the only thing that can get to Mulder is her."
"Fascinated by that little tidbit as I am, Dear Abby, I don't think that helps us much." Sam quipped.
"Someone's not a morning person!" Sam could only glare.
"What if we tell Mulder what Scully's fate is if we don't succeed?"
"It's against the rules."
"Exactly how many rules have we broken this leap?"
Sam sighed defeatedly. Al was right. They had broken pretty much every rule in the book, but that was the only thing they could do. They were almost at Mulder's room. Al popped in ahead of him.
"Hey kid. How's it going."
"Hey Al...want some green jello?"
"They moved you to liquid. That's a good sign, Mulder." Sam said as he walked in."
"Green jello Sam?" to which Sam shook his head. Mulder was obviously not happy about his first real food.
"You wanna go back to Hot Dogs a la feeding tube, Mulder?" Mulder took a reluctant bite of the applesauce.
"So whatchya got today, guys?"
"Actually, Mulder, we've got some news." Al started, "Sam, why don't you tell him." he cued.
"If you don't walk out of this hospital, Scully and I are in trouble."
"Trouble?"
"I was originally here to stop you from being killed." Sam answered nervously, and glanced at Al to finish the rest.
"But that recycling job you did with your rental car Sunday morning changed things just a bit." Al continued, "Instead of you being in danger now, it's Scully." Mulder abruptly sunk back into his pillow, and the color in his face drained so he almost blended in with the sheets.
"When is it supposed to happen?" Mulder asked.
Al punched in a few buttons to consult the handlink. "Still tomorrow. Estimated time of death was placed at around 4:30pm. Cause of death being a gunshot wound in the back of the head." Sam knew how that guy who invented TNT felt-reading his fate. At least the guy who invented TNT took his prize money and created the Nobel Peace Prize after he read his fate.
"That means that Spender was bluffing."
"That just means he was lying, Mulder," Al said. He probably didn't plan to kill you at all. "I think he fully intends to make you suffer for as long as possible."
"I've made deals with him before to help Scully. It doesn't make sense that he'd kill her. He knows she's my trump card, so to speak."
"I wouldn't put that on a Hallmark, Mulder." Al growled.
"What about Krycek? He could have needed her dead."
"No...Krycek only does things for his own agendas. The only way he'd kill Scully or me is if it helped him out, and I don't think we're in standing in his way on this case. I think it's someone else."
"Who then?"
"In the past, we've run into bounty hunters. What if the alien race the consortium was trying to colonize with found out she knew something with this case, and needed her dead."
"Why not just convert her?" Al interjected. Mulder shook his head. "We dunno. She's already been abducted. If they wanted to change her body, they would have already. We don't understand a lot of their motives yet."
"Yet?" Al echoed back sternly. "You back in the race now Mulder?" Al and Sam were both trying extremely hard-and not succeeding too well-to hide their relief.
Mulder nodded.
"Yeah, I guess I-uh-better call Skinner and tell him not to get Scully a new partner just yet."
"You do that, Mulder. I'll update Scully." Al said, and with a push of a few buttons, the swish-and-click of the chamber door opening, Al was gone.
"I'm gonna go back to the county morgue and see what I can find. Maybe there will be proof in the autopsies." Finally some light was being shed on the case. Mulder was finally coming to his senses.
Sam left Mulder's hospital lighter on his feet than he had in days. The bounty-hunter would be an obstacle, but he knew how to fight if necessary. Being a part of something so huge-proving that aliens were real-made him remember when he first began steps toward the
Quantum Leap Project. He remembered when Starbrite seemed huge to him...Quantum Leap was nothing compared to this discovery.
He got to the morgue, put on scrubs, and almost whistled down the hallway to where the bodies were. Suddenly, almost as instantly as Al appeared was the figure of a girl-long brown hair, short, stalky figure-then he instantly remembered- it was the girl from the Methodist College... only she was supposed to be dead in Spartanburg. Sam froze solid at the sight of her. This was not the frightened girl he saw earlier. She looked the same-but the expression in her face was gone.
As she stepped forward, Sam realized that her eyes were dull...black almost. She moved forward, at a deceivingly fast pace. Sam found himself hypnotized for a few seconds.
Very gingerly, as if the girl were an animal about to attack, he crouched down to get the ankle holster. He shot her in the shoulder-he didn't want to kill her if she was alive and human.
Sam was completely baffled by the green ooze he saw seeping profusely from the wound.
She was still walking toward him. He shot again, this time at her chest. She crumpled, but didn't fall. She got closer, finally, at a three-inch range, Sam fired one last desperate shot at her neck. She fell this time, green ooze falling everywhere. Sam approached the corpse cautiously- not sure that the woman would be springing up at him.
She-it- whatever that was-was definately expired.
Sam got a bit of the goo in a test tube, which was beginning to burn his eyes, and Sam grabbed some of the lab's goggles. This was all the proof they needed. Yep, looked like in just a few minutes, he would leap-maybe even home this time.
So why was he still here? He shook the question out of his head, as he took the vile of goo to the lab, and ran tests on it. It was absolutely incredible. Three strands of DNA. Extra types of cells, apparently as an extra line of defense against diseases-this one that faught viral infections. This species was clearly more advanced in the evolutionary scale.
"Al! Al!" He yelled into the air. In a few seconds, Al was there.
"The girl!"
"Ooooh! The girl? What girl?"
"That one." Sam said, pointing to the ground. "The one that was *DEAD* yesterday."
"Yikes!" Al sounded to Sam like something out of a comic book.
"Al-the only way I was able to stop her was with the shoulder, and look at this-a third DNA strand, extra defense cells, regeneration properties..."
"In English please, professor?"
"The only thing on earth known to regenerate that fast is the starfish."
"So you think the sulfur deposites and the starfish are connected somehow?"
"Finally, Al, all those b-movies paid off." Sam was practically beaming with the news. He could barely keep from dancing. "Look, Al!" He shouted, holding up the vile.
"$.99 special at Toys-R-Us." "No, no...it came from her."
"No kiddin'?"
Sam nodded. "So why am I still here?"
Al punched a few buttons in the handlink. Being a part of Quantum Leap and being in Vietnam, he had seen a lot-but nothing as disturbing as the sight on the lab floor. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the corpse where the green ooze was apparently-for want of a better term-clotting.
"Apparently, Dana Scully's body is still found three days from now, time of death tomorrow approximately at 4:30. I don't see a gun around anywhere except for Dana's 385. Did the girl use a gun to attack you?"
"No...no...she didn't. She was going to use her hands."
Sam's thoughts were still going two thousand miles a minute trying to peice everything together-all the implications, possible consequences-of what was found.
"How civil of her." Al deadpanned.
"Somehow, I don't think aliens are worried about being civilized. I think her host was trying to use the most proficient way whatever-it-was knew how. Why do you think the aliens targetted Scully?"
"I dunno..." His eyes were bouncing between what Sam was working on with the goo and the corpse on the floor. He never had been blessed with a very strong stomach. How he made it through the grotesqueness of the Vietnam War with sanity intact was completely beyond him.
Sam's thoughts were going faster than his hands could write them. Corrosive, regenerative properties, very acidic, high hydrogen mass. He remember reading reports how the star of Vega had the same properties as the sun. He wondered briefly if that was where this creature came from.
It was a long time before either of them spoke. Sam finally broke the awed silence that fogged the air almost tangibly.
"If she didn't kill me just now, then that must have changed history. Did Dana say anything to you about being attacked by the dead girl?" "She said she'd run into things like that in her career before, she wasn't surprised, but she didn't say that that was a part of the original history. Something you did must have changed history, Sam."
"My God Al! She must have lived earlier."
"No, she was one of the dead with the four kids." Al said with a few buttons in the handlink. He hated it when Sam beat himself up mentally with guilt. Sam just didn't understand that some things were not within his power. Al thought Mulder had the same problem.
"What did I change then? And who is after Scully?"
"Maybe the aliens know that you're not Scully."
"How's that possible? They were after who they thought was Scully, not me!"
"Sam, they abducted Dana three years ago-isn't it possible that they had the technology to get her DNA? If they are a more advanced species like you're saying, then they probably have better equipment more accurate than ours, and would know that Scully wasn't who she appeared to be on sight."
"I still don't get how that's possible."
"If Cher can win an Emmy, and Madonna can have a hit movie, then why can't aliens have the ability to detect DNA?"
"Alright-if they know I'm not Scully, then why do I get shot tomorrow and not strangled?"
"I dunno, Sam. I know Mulder doesn't think so, but my money's on Smokey."
"What makes you think it's the Smoking Man, Al? Why can't it be Krycek?"
"If Krycek wanted to kill Scully earlier, he would have. Like Mulder said earlier, he has no motive to kill Scully."
"That still doesn't make sense, Al-Smoking Man doesn't have a motive to kill Scully, either."
"I don't do I?" Came an arrogant, cracked voice from the doorway.
"Talking to yourself, again, Agent Scully? Some of your partner's influence creeping in, no doubt."
The old man expressionlessly took another puff of his cigarette.
"I-uh-do that sometimes...helps me think clearly."
He stood across from him face to face. Sam eyed the gun that was lying on the examination table. There was certainly something threatening about the man, but he hadn't attacked. There as nothing he could do.
The old man noticed something different around the eyes. There was none of the resentment or anger-only sadness. The eyes seemed-older-somehow. As though they belonged to someone who had experienced more. He took a puff of his ciagarette-more certain now than ever that this was not Dana Scully.
"There's something *different* about you these past few days, Agent. You look-older...more experienced-something about the eyes. The other day when I paid Agent Mulder a visit, I didn't see any recognition behind the eyes whatsoever. You didn't know who I was."
"You're imagining things." Sam hoped that the stale way he said that didn't hide how completely terrified he was.
"You're talking to people who don't exist, and I'm the one imagining things? Agent Scully, you used to be so intelligent...so promising before you got involved in the x- files."
"I was talking to myself-no one's here except me and you."
"Be as it may, I came by to offer some of the promise you had before joining the x-files. Think of it, Agent Scully. Can you even remember when you were respected by your own peers?"
"My partner respects me. My boss respects me. My family respects me. That's all that counts, isn't it?"
"Give me those notes, Agent Scully, hand over the vile, and I'll make sure the x-files office gets the credibility back that it deserves."I tried to gie you a chance. I always thought that you were leagues above your partner. You are really above all this science fiction. Agent, the vile, please. And all the notes." Sam lunged at him, but he backed off when a tall man with olive skin and dark hair and a gun emerged at the door.
"Just give him the research, Sam." Al suggested. "We'll catch up with him later."
Sam defeatedly handed the legal pad laced with scribblings and the vile of green goo over to the old man, who then handed it to the man with the gun.
They waited for a minute, to make sure they were gone. Sam grabbed the gun from the examination table, mentally kicking himself for not grabbing it and using it when he had the chance.
"Go SAM! I'll go center on Smokey and give you his location. We'll get the proof back, and put Smokey and his lacky in his place, and then you'll be outta here."
Sam raced out the door, keys in hand. He figured the best bet was the heaviest traffic, so he headed for I-85. Al popped back seconds later to tell him he had guessed accurately. "He's about five miles ahead, Sam, about to head on the overpass.
Sam slammed his foot on the gas petal, praying nobody's lives would be a casualty of this chase. He pulled out his cellphone, and called Sherrif Hayward for back-up.
He sped along, a couple of cars behind a black sedan with tinted windows so that he couldn't see what was inside. A butt flew out the window from the back passenger side...he had to wonder...
"That's him ahead, Sam. In the black sedan with the Maryland plates." Al urged, almost as if he could tell what guess Sam was making. "Just stay on his tail, and we should catch up with him."
Shots rang out, and a bullet spiderwebbed the windshield. A semi passed in front of them as they went on the overpass. The sedan slammed on its breaks. The semi fishtailed, spinning in a half circle, sending the sedan over the gaurdrail.
In a split second, the sedan burst into flames onto the grassy meridian below. Sam felt like he had just lost a lifetime of work in that car. The rush of adrenaline was gone, but he went to check on the truckdriver, who was thankfully in better condition than the back of his truck, which was slammed up against the gaurdrail and crunch together with the apparent ease of an aluminum can under a foot. He crawled out of the cabin, and escaped with minor bruises.
"I let them down, Al." Sam almost-whispered, and prepared to leap.
He didn't want to accept defeat, but if his mission was to stop Scully from being killed, and that old man with the cigarette was her killer, then he should get ready to move on.
"There was no way we could've stopped this from happening.
With Smokey out of the picture, maybe they can finally live normal lives."
"The evidence-Al...I let the evidence just get destroyed...no one will ever know what we found."
"That's nothing new, Sam. No one knows time-machines are real except for Scully and Mulder, me and you, the rest of those people working on the project, and Him." He pointed his cigar upward.
"Maybe it's just information that's not meant to be found. Besides, if you *DID* find the evidence, who would you take it to? You'd be put in a straight jacket before you could say that they were gray and not green."
Sam left Scully's card with the driver, saying if there were any problems later. He waited with the man until Sherrif Hayward rolled up, and explained what had happened.
Al punched a few numbers into the handlink. He just couldn't believe that this was all over. Maybe he just didn't want to believe it. "Let's see...the driver and Spender both have no more records on them. But, apparently, there was nothing on Spender before all this, so that doesn't mean much."
No sooner had Al put the calculater-sized handlink back in the pocket where it resided did it make a beeping sound. Al whipped it back out and his eyes widened at the data that trafficked across the screen.
"According to Ziggy, both Dana and Mulder are killed tomorrow. Mulder's death is ruled as a medical accident, and Dana's killer is never found. Their boss, A.D. Walter Skinner tried to keep the case open, but that horses *ss Kersch pushed for his early retirement, and closed the case as soon as he picked up his last chest. You're not out of this yet, Sam." Sam raked his hands down his face and rubbed the back of his neck, as if the motion would squease out some sort of solution. He felt something funny at the base of the spine. It was small- like shrapnel.
"Al?"
"Yeah, Sam?"
"Did Scully say she got shot in the spine at one point?"
"No-why?"
"Just a weird bump back there, is all."
"I wouldn't worry, Sam. Probably just an old wound."
"Do you think you can get Dana back here?
"I don't see why not. She and Mulder could probably come up with an idea of who might be behind all this. Besides, I need to tell her that Mulder's turned around."
"Alright, I'll meet you at the hospital in a few minutes."
With a swish and a click, the bright blue of the chamber door was open, and with one fell swoop, closed, and Al was gone. Sam left in the rental car to update Mulder.
Scully was glancing over more file reports. Yes, it had to have something to do with the sea-water. Were starfish the first attempt at alien/human hybrids? They are, for as much as biologists are concerned, an enigma. They are the only ones in their classes.
If any place on earth could hide alien life form, it could be the seawater. So little is known about what is down in the depths. So little territory unexplored. Her brother Bill had often wondered why people didn't try to find the secrets of the ocean before they tried to find more about outter space. The Mulderesque thought that had just invaded her stream of consciousness abaded her for a split second. She shook her head and grinned at how much exactly Mulder had influenced her.
If her colleagues at Quantico ever heard a statement like that coming from her mouth, she'd be laughed right out into unemployment. If he was no longer a part of their work... She forced that thought out of her mind as she glanced for what must have been the thousandth time over the notes. After all, Mulder seemed to be taking the self-pity trips enough for the both of them. Where was Al? Hadn't he promised her a visit with Mulder?
Suddenly Al appeared in the waiting room door.
"Sorry it took so long, Scully. A lot's happened this morning." The anxious expression told him to continue. She stood thoughtful, accepting and expressionless as Al tried to rattle off the events of what had happened.
"So Spender's dead?" she wanted to believe it, but somehow didn't think she could.
"We dunno for sure. We didn't see anyone get out of the car before it blew up, but that doesn't mean that he didn't escape alive somehow."
"I think he would find a way out somehow. The only one I've ever known with more tenacity than Mulder is Spender."
"Anyway...I'm sorry I didn't get you this morning. Come with me. We've all got some things to work out. We need you in on our discussion about what the deal is. And Mulder's turned around." Scully didn't let the relief that washed over her show on her face. She followed Al into the imaging chamber, and stood in hospital-light brightness for a second. Mulder and Sam were in the waiting room, Sam meticulously checking every monitor Mulder was hooked up to. He was sitting up now, and glad that the doctors thought that observation was only necessary for another day. The physical therapist said earlier that morning that he was making better than normal progress and should be walking within a day with the help of a cane.
With the swish like the sound of a heavy gate, a rectangular shape of electric-blue light opened, and Al appeared. He put the handlink in his pocket, and held out his hand. Scully took it, appearing in the tall dark-haired form of Sam in a white stretched suit that covered the body. Again, just as before, something about the man's countenance-the stoic, fiery, and comforting all at once bespoke in his stance-gave away isntantly the fact that it was Scully.
"So you decided to join the living, Mulder?" She said with eyebrow aptly arched. "Hey Scully. Yeah...I thought about it, and as attractive as bondage sounds-it wouldn't do to have my favorite muscle paralyzed." He leered.
Scully and Sam both shook their heads in defeat. They were both a little astounded by the similarities of each other.
"What did I tell ya, Al? Don't you think they'd make a great couple?"
The other three occupants of the room suppressed a groan of dismay.
"How did you ever figure out that Sam wasn't me?" demanded Scully with a knowing half-grin spreading across her face.
"That's easy. He was talking about you in second person. That, and Sam doesn't have your glare quite down. He doesn't nag me nearly as much either. Can I keep him?" He teased.
"Careful Mulder, or I might just stay here with Al. I like it here in the future. White spandex is EXTREMELY comfortable." He flashed her a smile that he hoped told her exactly how glad he was that she was back with him. "So-uh-what do you think, Scully?"
Al and Sam exchanged knowing glances as Mulder and Scully exchanged banter. Maybe there was just one more thing Sam was here to do than help them from getting killed after all that Ziggy forgot to mention, or that Scully was willing to admit.
"Definately looks like we've got an x-file here. I think aliens are responsible here from what I've seen of the reports. We don't have any proof though."
Mulder stood jaw-dropped in disbelief. He could not believe that those were words coming out of Scully's mouth. She glanced at Sam to cue him in on what had happened to the evidence.
"We'll get more proof, Mulder." He said after he had fin-ished.
"They will attack again, and then we'll get the evidence we need again." His tone tinged with guilt at the thought of someone else having to loose everything that made them human all in the name of evidence.
"Close your mouth, Mulder. We don't need a throat culture."
"Gee, Scully-I oughtta let you get out more often. Is that all I hadda do to make you see my side of things?"
"I could think like you if necessary Mulder, but it gives me a headache." She flashed him a wry smile showing him exactly how glad she was to be his partner again. They all sat silent and thoughtful for a moment. In an instant, Mulder's expression turned to one of determination.
"What if we give them bait to attack again?"
Wanna go fishing for little gray men, Sam?"
"I always thought they were green." was all Sam could say.
"I thought they knew Sam wasn't me already, Mulder." Scully started.
"I don't mean Sam, I meant use me as the bait."
"Mulder, that has got to be the stupidest idea you've gotten this whole d*mn leap! And Sam, you're gonna go through with it? I thought you had better sense than that!" Al interjected before Sam could respond.
"He's right, Mulder...this is absolutely crazy!" Scully protested. "You will barely be out of the hospital-barely be walking with the help of a cane, and you expect to be able to fight when you need to? Have the sedatives gone to your head? Because that's the only explanation I can possibly come up with for you to cook up something so completely idiotic!"
"The only way we're going to beat Krycek or what's left of the consortium at their own game is by getting them to come to us. Right now, we've got no leverage."
"Scully, Al...as much as I hate to admit it, he's right." Sam said with a defeated sigh. "Have you two got any better ideas?"
"I can't let you put yourself in that kind of position. It's too d*mn risky."
"I won't be far away if something happens. I want to get Krycek as much as you two. We'll get proof this time, and keep it, if I've got anything to do with it." "I'm sorry, Scully...but I don't see another way out of this."
"Alright." Her free hand raked her hair, and tapped the tips of her fingernails against her forehead. "I know, I'm going to kick myself later for asking this...but what have you got in mind?"
"We'll come up with something. Anybody got any ideas?"
"You were going to be bait without a plan." Scully reprimanded.
"Well...I didn't think anyone would buy the idea." Mulder admitted.
"The morgue, Mulder." Sam thought outloud. "They'll be at the morgue with the rest of the victims."
"How do you know, Sam?" Scully demanded.
"They'll be back for the other victims, won't they?"
"I hate to burst your bubble, but those victims are dead." Al answered.
"So was that girl." Al had to agree with Sam on that. "So, we'll wait at the morgue tomorrow."
"Mulder. You are absolutely crazy." Scully said wistfully.
"Yeah...I know." Mulder answered, half-grinning. Al and Sam both got the feeling not for the first time in that room between those two that more was being expressed than what was being said.
"Mulder, I still say this is a rotten idea." was Al's last feeble attempt at protesting. Mulder and Sam were both wondering if it was just their imaginations that made Al and Scully both looking paler-almost ghostlike. If it weren't for Al's peakockish attire, they both would've thought they were sickly looking.
"Just a couple more minutes, Goushie!" Al hollered behind him.
"Scooby gang, we better say g'bye here. Ziggy's running outta power, and I don't wanna risk loosing energy for the rest of the leap."
"Tomorrow, you'll be making me listen to something besides Elvis in the car on the way home and yelling at me to slow down."
"I'm counting on it, Mulder." Scully said, and with a few punch of the buttons, Al and Scully were gone.
"They didn't look to good? You sure they're alright in that machine?"
"It's an imaging chamber, Mulder" Sam corrected "...and they're fine. The drained power source makes them look dimmed to us." He tried to reassure Mulder, but knew it was useless, so he decided to change the subject. "So you're an Elvis fan too, huh?" Al popped back into the hospital room just then, looking much healthier. "You might be interested to know Sammyboy here got him started."
Mulder snorted incredulously. "It's true! He lept into Elvis before he got started, and Heartbreak Hotel came this close to being recorded by The Monkeys."
"Sam, Al-you're both nice guys...but I think you're just a taaaad delusional."
"Sam! Can you believe this guy!" Al objected. "Look who's callin' who delusional? You aren't exactly Reality Boy yourself, kid."
Mulder sighed resignedly. He was going to miss having them around soon, but he couldn't wait to have his partner by his side again. Without even knowing what was happening, he had changed completely in the seven years of their partnership-had evolved into a completely new person, as much as he had tried to stop the process, become more whole and complete than he had ever felt in his life. Mulder was completely lost in thought when Sam's voice suddenly broke the thoughtful silence.
"Mulder, I think I've got an idea."
Before Sam could say anything, the nurse came in to check vitals and set the dinner tray.
"You think we can use the hospital food as bait?" Mulder quipped.
"I'm sure we can carve this roll into a pistol or something." He said, rapping it on the tray. "Maybe we can use it like a frisbee and knock E.T. out with it."
"That's not a bad idea, kid. Maybe that gravy can be used as a decoy or something." Al chuckled.
"Al, don't encourage him." Sam reprimanded. "I'm serious...I think I know how we can trap them." Al's and Mulder's eyes all turned to Sam, expressions waiting for the answer.
"Well?" They chorused.
"How'd you like to take a trip with me to the morgue, Mulder?"
"Under normal circumstances, Sam, I'd say that wouldn't be my ideal place for a date...but if it gets Scully back...then I'm all for it."
"Sam...this is the craziest idea you've ever come up with! One leap, and Spooky's rubbing off on ya. I'll only go with this under one condition, Mulder." Al interjected. "That you tell her how you feel after all this is over."
"Al-" Mulder grumbled like a schoolboy being teased about a girl.
Sam, inspite of himself, couldn't help but notice the way Mulder and Scully interacted with eachother, and felt like he needed to help them sort things out. Maybe he would leave Scully a message in his entry to her tonight on her e-log, and flashed Al a cautionary look.
"Visit hours..." the same formidable nurse that came the last time was standing at the door.
"...are over, I know...I know...I'm going." Then he turned to Mulder. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Mulder. We'll work out the details in the morning."
"G'night Sa-Scully," Mulder caught himself. Then turned on the T.V. till the benadryl the nurse just gave him took over for the night.
May 21, 2001; 6:45AM Newberry Motor Inn, Newberry SC
Sam jolted out of bed at the sound of the alarm. He went about his morning routine, going back and forth through the plan worked out, making sure everything was going to work. Mulder would be checked out of the hospital in a little more than a couple of house, and soon, they'd go to the morgue to set the trap.
In the days that Sam had spent in Scully's life, he undertsood how she got so drawn into his quest, because now he was driven by his search for truth just as she was. He understood how Mulder felt, always searching for something so elusive. He understood how Scully felt, too...using logic and science to try and gain a stronghold in an oxymoron of a sort of controlled chaos. He wished he could help them more.
It would be nice to chase after monsters and aliens and the truth for a change instead of being tossed around in someone else's form like a pinball from life to life, remembering bits and peices of life before he stepped into the time machine like parts of a bad nightmare. Maybe after this, he could be content to leap home.
He typed a last goodbye message to Scully, figuring he would probably leap after the trap was set and the information retrieved. He recounted everything that had happened, thanking her for the help she had given them all over the past few days, wishing her luck. Before he stepped into the time machine, he probably never would have even considered meddling in other people's lives, but he felt he owed Dana Scully a revelation for the one she gave him.
"I know coming from a virtually complete stranger, this is going to sound strange, but letting the walls down doesn't necessarily mean you'll cave in. Ask Mulder up front how he feels. I don't think you'll be disappointed by his answer."
Sam packed Scully's things back into the suitcase, and headed out to the car, and drove to the hospital. It was going to work. It had to work.
Roswell, NM. Area 51; PQLHDQRTRS May 21, 7:30am
Al and Scully sat in the waiting room, waiting for word from Sam. They knew it wouldn't be long for now.
"Dana, I know this hasn't been easy for you, but I don't think we would've gotten through this leap without your help. Thank you."
Scully only nodded nervously. Her blue eyes red and darkened by sleeplessness.
"What's going to happen if Sam doesn't succeed?"
"We dunno yet. Nothing like that's ever happened. I am sure he and Mulder will follow through with the plan and you'll leap back home, and everything will be back to normal." He tried to reassure her.
"How can you stand it?"
"Stand what?"
"This waiting? How can you just sit by and be a casual observer with all that happens? And not be able to *DO* anything about it?"
"Casual observers? All of us here put our lives on the line just like you do. I make sure they're not alone out there. I think that's sometimes more than a lot of people get in the normal world."
In the few days Scully had spent with Al, as infuriating and crass as Al was at times, he had already proven to be someone Scully could trust, and there weren't many people in the universe she *did* trust. She was really going to miss Al, but she needed to be back with Mulder. She needed to be chasing after him chasing monsters and aliens, keeping him honest. Being rent from him and his quest over these past few days made her realize just how lost she was without him-like yin without a yang-unbalanced.
"Scully, Goushie says Sam's ready to check Mulder out of the hospital, so I'm gonna go."
"You gonna be ok?" She didn't want to leave Al alone, either.
"Yeah, I'm always ok, Dana. Just sit tight, and before you know it, you'll be back home and all of this will be over-you won't even remember any of it."
"I won't see you again, will I?"
"I hope not, Dana. I sure hope not." He said, and waved goodbye, and left the waiting room, heading into the imaging chamber.
May 21, 2001 9:30am Newberry Memorial Hospital Parkinglot, Newberry, SC
With a click and sweep, the blue light of the chamber door closed, and Al, adorned in an unusually somber blue suit with a cranberry red silk shirt appeared with cigar in hand.
"You ready kid?" He hoped Sam's plan would work. Mulder nodded, and a nurse escorted him with a wheelchair out of the hospital. He refused to let Sam help him into the car.
"I'm supposed to be chasing after little gray men in a few minutes. How the hell can I be expected to run if I can't even get into the car by myself."
Without warning, Mulder felt cold steal behind his ear. The gun c*cked behind his ear sounded to him like fireworks.
"Just drive, Agent Scully." Growled Krycek from the backseat.
"Drive or you'll hafta make an extra trip to the morgue." Sam started driving, and then gave Mulder a warning look.
"Get ready, to take the wheel, or duck, or both, Sam's about to be up to something."
Without a word, Sam grabbed Krycek's wrist, shots rang out as Sam tried to point the gun at the roof of the car.
Sam was pressing full force with the gas petal. Mulder steered the car onto the bypass, but the car swerved violently as the shots rang out. Blood spattered on the back window. Neither Sam nor Al could tell who the blood came from. Once they hit the offramp, Krycek let Sam get the gun, who made one last attempt to shoot at him as he bailed out of the left window. Sam took over the wheel as the car steadied itself. He averted a concerned glance over in Mulder's direction as he raced in the direction of the morgue.
"Mulder, you ok?" Al demanded.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got grazed a little bit."
"Thank God!" Sam grumbled under his breath, and headed at normal speed on his way to the morgue. Then louder, directed to Al, he asked, "Krycek ok?"
"We're getting nadda on this guy, Sam. All of his records must have been swiped or something. Not even a birth date or social or anything like that. Just drive, we'll bag E.T., and you'll leap. Got that gravy ready, kid?" Al quipped. Mulder flashed him a dirty look.
"This is it." Sam said a few minutes later as Sam pulled into the parking lot of the morgue. "Mulder, you know what to do. After this is all over, Scully will be Scully again."
"What'll happen to you and Al?"
"One of two things," Sam let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in. "I'll either leap home or change souls with someone else again."
Scully, the boys, and Skinner were the only three people he trusted with his life. It was nice to have two more people on his side. Mulder understood what it was like to hope for and chase after something so evasive.
"When you get back home, if you ever find yourself in D.C., look me up."
"Mulder, if you give Sam Dana Scully's phone number, you're the biggest schnozz I've ever met!" Was Al's quick reply.
"Don't worry, Al...she's sorta spoken for."
"Well...good luck, Mulder." Sam said, getting out of the car.
"You too, Sam." Mulder said, wincing from the glaze of the bullett as he climbed out of the car, putting all of his support on his cane.
Mulder and Sam both moved into their positions and waited. Mulder stood as long as he could before he decided to take a seat on one of the stools and waited. Lying in the hospital bed for the past few days had made him weaker than normal, and standing for long amounts of time was a bigger effort than it usually would be. Sam was waiting, with a lab-coat closet opened with just a crack, crouched into position. He was hoping that everything was going to work as planned. He hoped, for Mulder and Scully's sake, that they wouldn't need the Project's assistance again.
"Just sit tight, Sam." Al prompted. "Get ready to take out E.T., then get ready to leap."
What seemed like hours passed in the morgue, as still and silent as the dead people in there. Al was getting a bit jumpy, as he always did around dead people.
Mulder thought he saw one of the sheets from the morgue move, and his eyes averted a signaling glance to Al, cueing him that something was about to happen.
"Sam, this is it. Get ready!" Al shouted.
"Quiet Al! They'll go after you if they here ya." Mulder hissed.
"I'm a hologram, kid. They won't go after me." Al assured. "Just be careful!"
Mulder mentally kicked himself for having forgotten, struggled up on his feet, and waited for the sheet to fall all the way off as the victim's body...a young man with Mulder and Sam's build this time... robotically rose from the table. Mulder really hoped for Sam's sake that this time, he would leap all the way back.
"Now!" Al shouted. Sam came emerged from the other side of the door, aiming for the neck. He hoped he had hit the target. No such luck. The bullet glazed the ear of the victim's body. Green ooze seaped from the wound, stinging Sam's eyes as the monster moved closer and closer. He shot again, this time the bullett shot home.
Al was gone. Mulder wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he saw blue light surround Scully's form. Mulder tried to convince himself. Scully stood there, very disoriented, trying to figure out exactly how it came to be that she was standing over the corpse with a gun in her hand, and green goo oozing on the floor, getting on her black pumps. She looked down to see several indescriminate runs in her pantyhose. She wondered, and then looked up at Mulder, still pointing the gun down at the form of the corpse. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was even holding a gun.
"Mulder? What-is going..." She averted a questioning glance at the dried blood that was now nicely clotting on Mulder's forehead, and her eyes grew even wider as she wondered about the cane that was with him. Not for the first time in her life, she seemed to be missing time.
"I feel like I've missed something, somehow." She puzzled. Mulder walked up to her with the help of his cane.
"Scully?" He studied her for quite some time, trying to make sure she was really Scully.
"What Mulder?"
"Just take this and fill it with the green stuff." He said, handing her a vile he found on a rack of test tubes.
"You act like you haven't seen me in days! Mulder...what is going *on* with you!"
"I'll explain on the flight back home."
**Epilogue**
May 25, 2001 9:34pm Georgetown, Dana Scully's Residence
Scully sat wide-eyed reading the five new entries in her e-log. She thought the story Mulder made up over the flight a few days ago was just something he had made up just to ease her nerves for the flight. She thought she remembered some guy in a clownsuit. Clownsuit? That couldn't be right...after Oregon, she was definately taking a vacation.
She lazily tossed the dime-penny a couple of times. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. Her tickets to the Bellefleur airport having just been tucked into her overnight bag, she decided to head over to Mulder's apartment.
Mulder had called sounding oddly nervous. The words of the entry she didn't remember writing came floating through her inner- monologue as she made her way down the hallway.
A knock on his door told him that Scully was there. Maybe he would take Scully on vacation after Bellefluer was overwith. Maybe telling her about what the doctor had said in the hospital a few days ago would be easier for both of them to take if they were away from the ratrace of Washington.
"Hey, Scully." Mulder said, planting a kiss on her forehead, leading her in. He was really glad she was back. They sat on the couch, arm in arm, watching nothing in particular on the television for an hour sipping beer and muching on popcorn...buttered.
"Mulder, we need to talk."
Mulder repressed the impulse to groan with disappointment. That phrase might as well have been a death knell. Funny choice of words he just picked with the news the doctors had given him. She was going to quit the Beureau. He knew it would come someday. Someday, he would need to leave the FBI, too. This time, he wouldn't stop her. He couldn't put her at risk anymore.
"If you're telling me you want outta the FBI, I understand, Scully. I'm not going to beg you to stay if you really need to leave."
"You want me to leave?" She had never been so nervous before in her life; she couldn't place it, but she thought he had been evading something on purpose since South Carolina. But that's not what she needed to find out tonight.
"No...that's not it at all."
"I don't want to leave the FBI, Mulder."
"What...? I-uh-" Relief spred across Mulder's face, and hoped she didn't see it. It was something else, then...had she found out he was sick? "Let me finish."
"I want to talk about you and me, Mulder." Her voice wavered and in almost a whisper, she said, "...us." Mulder was completely floored. Usually it was he who brought up the subject of "us," and before, she changed the subject or told him to drop the matter entirely. That night, the walls went down, and no one caved in.
