CHAPTER TEN

Georgetown Memorial Hospital – Four Hours Later

Mulder was on his sixth cup of coffee as he paced the floors outside Scully's room. He blinked as his eyes threatened to close, the horrors of the day creeping up on him now, but he took another sip of coffee as he waited for the news that she was all right. That's all he wanted.

Finally, her Doctor came out of the room, pulling off his surgical mask. Mulder felt his heart rise to his throat as he saw him and suddenly felt incredibly nervous.

"Please… please just tell me that she is going to be ok..." Mulder blurted out, surprising even himself.

"Yes Agent Mulder, she is going to be fine…" The Doctor said with a small smile. Mulder let out a long sigh of relief as the Doctor carried on. "We are going to have to keep her in for the next few days as her wound heals, then she will need to be off her feet for a week or so, or at least not out in the field."

Mulder nodded, happy tears springing in his eyes as he heard the good news. He would do anything he could to keep her safe.

"Of course. Can I see her?"

"She's sleeping right now, but you can see her if you want. Please try not to wake her." The Doctor said, then gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. "Oh I needed to ask you, is there any family we should have contacted?"

"I gave her Mother's details to the receptionist earlier."

"Great. Well, don't stay long, she needs her rest." The Doctor said, then walked down the hall.

"Thank you." Mulder said again, then made his way towards the door.

He pushed it open and went inside, her room now quiet apart from the sound of her monitors beeping. He felt a tightening in his chest as he saw her, laying there so peacefully. She looked so pale, her red hair a stark contrast now to her complexion. He walked towards her bed then reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. She didn't respond.

"I'm so sorry Scully, for everything I said. It was wrong. I could have lost you today…" He said, his voice breaking slightly with emotion, "..I know you were only looking out for me."

Taking a deep sigh of relief, satisfied that she was now safe from danger, he leant over and kissed her on the forehead, brushing a stray piece of red hair from her eyes.

Mulder switched on his phone as he stepped out of the doors to the Hospital, the humidity in the air this evening hitting him with force.

He felt as if he had stepped right into a microwave oven.

He was so exhausted, only wanting his bed. As his phone came on, he heard the alert sounds beeping furiously at him, over and over. Missed calls, messages. His heart started to sink.

Sophie.

For the first time since the operation started, he was thinking about her. But his thoughts weren't pleasant as he saw the number of times she had tried to call him.

He frowned as he walked towards the taxi rank, reading the messages. The first few messages started off innocently, quickly turning desperate and frantic.

"Are you ignoring me? What have I done!?"

He scrolled down as he hailed a taxi. Sophie had dropped him off at work that morning and his car was still in the FBI parking lot. The taxi pulled up to him and he climbed inside.

"Hello? What's wrong?! Why aren't you replying?"

...

"WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Mulder couldn't deal with this right now, not after everything that had happened today.

"Buddy, are you all right? You've got blood all over you." The taxi driver asked suddenly, taking him by surprise and making him look up from his phone. He blinked, trying to focus, but he was so tired.

"Thanks for your concern, but it's not my blood." Mulder said in a low voice.

"Where do you wanna go?" The taxi driver asked, looking him over again suspiciously.

"Alexandria please - Hegal Place."

"Sure." The taxi driver said, turning back to the road ahead as he pulled out of the taxi rank.

Mulder sighed and tried to ignore his phone, but then it started to ring. Closing his eyes for a moment he considered not answering it..

"You gonna answer that?" The taxi driver asked. Mulder frowned. He had never had such a nosy taxi driver before. Just his luck.

"May be.." Mulder said in a low voice.

"The wife?" The taxi driver asked with an amused chuckle. Mulder watched as he gave him a knowing look through the rear view mirror.

Clearly Mulder was his most interesting passenger today…

But Mulder was just about to throw the phone out of the window when he decided it was probably best to speak to her now and not later. His heart filling with dread, he answered it.

"Fox?"

Her voice was irritated.

"Sophie, listen, something big happened today and…"

"Why haven't you been answering your phone? Where the hell are you Fox!? It's 6.30!" She exploded, not listening to what he had to say. This made Mulder angry, but he tried to understand her frustration.

"Sophie, please just listen to me…" He started.

"Are you having an affair Fox!?" She demanded. Mulder opened his mouth to speak, clearly shocked at her out of the blue accusation. "With Scully? You love her don't you!"

Mulder paused, unsure of how to answer the question.

"Of course I'm not having an affair Sophie! Listen to me and I can explain everything!" He said, his voice laced with frustration and disbelief.

"Don't you speak to me like that! You have been ignoring me all afternoon! And after that stunt she pulled last night, it wouldn't surprise me if she had feelings for you!"

Mulder sighed heavily, closing his eyes momentarily. He really didn't have time for this crap.

"Sophie.." He started, trying to contain his anger. "Scully was stabbed today."

There was a silence on the other end as she mulled this over. Mulder waited for her to apologise, but she didn't.

"I'm just leaving the hospital. The man who was trying to kill us nearly succeeded in killing her. I wasn't ignoring you for any other reason than I was at the hospital, with my phone turned off."

She was still silent. Mulder could picture her now, her face red and her eyes puffy from crying. She was quite a bit younger than him, and clearly less mature. He still couldn't believe her accusation about him and Scully. He didn't understand why she felt threatened by her. Of course, they were very close, but he was dating her, not Scully.

Mulder frowned heavily. She had to realise that Scully and his work were very important to him.

Finally, she spoke.

"Oh my gosh." She breathed. "I'm so sorry Fox, I've been a total bitch. Let me know how long you're going to be, I'll fix you up something to eat and we can talk about it."

Mulder paused, wondering whether he should accept her apology or if he should leave her hanging. She had just accused him of having an affair.

He was not going to forget that.

But he was too tired to get into another argument, so he let it slide for now.

"I'll be about thirty minutes. I have to go." He said, putting the phone down.

But didn't want to have dinner and talk about it.

He just wanted to go to bed and forget this awful day..

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