Author's note:
Reference to 'Schizogeny' - but probably hard to pick up, do tell me if you can find it. (Hint: It's one of Mulder's line)

Chapter 11 – Realizations

"There's been another murder!" deputy Ingalls informed them as he picked Mulder and Scully up.

"Jump in and I'll give you the details on the way to the crime scene", he said, and they got in the car.

One thing Scully hadn't suspected was that the victim was Georgia Hanson. In her mind Scully had had her down as a suspect, even though she was only 20 years old, Scully had thought the betrayal the girl had experienced could have made her commit such a crime. Even though the murders had been extreme violent and Georgia wasn't very muscular or strong, she could easily have committed the crimes. All she would need was really just some long and sharp claws – or clawlike objects – and much force didn't need to be put into the attack. Mulder however didn't seem very surprised by the turn this case had taken. As always he was one step ahead of Scully.

Deputy Ingalls had pretty much taken over this whole case, due to the fact that the sheriff's daughter was once again sick. While the deputy was talking to some of the reporters, trying to get them to understand the case and get the facts right, Mulder turned to Scully.

"What do you think, Scully?" he asked her as they walked away from the crime scene.

"Well… you mean do I still believe this isn't an x-file?" he nodded and she continued: "If it had been a werewolf, don't you think it's a bit weird that there's a connection between all the victims? This can hardly be random victims when they've all been somehow involved with each other", Scully stated.

This made Mulder think for a little while. It was rather different than their last werewolf case. Then the victims had been random. It was pretty clear that they weren't just random in this case, though. Mulder didn't know a lot about math or statistics, but he was pretty sure all odds were against it being random that the victims knew each other.

"Alright, Scully. I have an idea, but you're going to think it's stupid!" Mulder finally confessed.

"I know I am, but you better tell me anyway", she said truthfully knowing this stupid theory was probably exactly what was happening.

"You see, Scully, originally werewolves wasn't just thought to be ordinary human beings. The humans transforming into werewolves did it by consuming a potion. They were wizards and witches. Once turned into the beast they would become out of control, only remembering the last feeling they had as a human. If this feeling was anger towards someone, the beast would instinctively hunt this person down and kill it", Mulder's eyes were burning into Scully's as he told her the information he had been keeping secret, as he had tried to figure out how it was connected with the case.

"It does sound stupid, Mulder. And even if it was the truth, who would be the murderer? We haven't bumped into any wizards or witches recently", Scully said, not letting on, that she really did believe this to be the truth. She couldn't – she had to make him keep working on convincing her in order to make him figure out the whole truth.

"Well, I thought about how Mr. Hanson told us that Georgia's mother had told him he could have the child and it made me think: What can get a mother to give up her child? And that's when it hit me."

"She did it to protect the child", Scully interrupted him with a sad look upon her face.

"Uh… yeah… she didn't want the kid to be a witch like her, is my theory. Hoping that the girl had gotten her father's genes, she sought it best not to awaken them by being present. I think it worked with Georgia. She probably wasn't a witch. She might have had some paranormal abilities, but not getting any form of training kept her from developing these abilities. However, the mother wasn't as lucky with her second daughter", Mulder stated as if this was the pure truth. No one could convince him otherwise now.

"You think that the person guilty for these crimes is the 18-year-old Polly, the sheriff's daughter?"

"I do, Scully", Mulder answered.

Scully thought for a moment. She knew this had been inevitably since they got involved with this case. "Then we better get Deputy Ingalls and have a talk with the girl", she told him slightly smiling.

"Thanks", was all he said and then he squeezed her hand to reassure her she was doing the right thing.

"Are you kidding me? 'Cause I don't find this funny!" was the only thing Deputy Ingalls could say after Mulder had explained his theory to him.

"I know it sounds stupid, Ingalls, but you need to trust me. I've dealt with these kinds of cases a million times before and I have rarely been wrong", Mulder tried to calm him down.

"These kinds of cases? What exactly was it you did when you worked for the FBI?" Ingalls had never been a disbeliever in the paranormal, but he had never thought he would have to experience a thing like this so close.

"We worked on a special unit called the X-files. We dealt with the occult and the paranormal every day. When Scully was first assigned to me, she was so to debunk me. They never thought a scientist such as herself would believe a believer like me."

"But the things I saw, working with Mulder, were things that science holds little explaining to. I saw that the world, the universe, was more than I had ever imagined or dared to believe. I have seen UFO's, I've been abducted and given a bad cancer, and I have had to give up my child to keep him from being hurt by people in the government. There are conspiracies deep within our own American government involving all of mankind. This case could hold answers that would get the people to open their eyes to such things, and make them see what the government has held a secret to us for a long time", Scully said eyes welling up from the memories of this whole thing.

Mulder was a bit turned on. He had never heard Scully talk like this. Like a believer. She always had to maintain the scientific part of their team, but now he had finally seen how she really felt. The deputy was quiet for a while before finally answering.

"Alright. I believe you. And I'm willing to find out if Polly is the daughter of a witch. But how are we going to this? The sheriff probably won't let us near her, if he knows and is trying to protect her."

"If you call him down to the station, then Scully and I are gonna talk to her. Just tell him that it's some kind of emergency", Mulder told the deputy.

"Alright. I can call him down to the station, but I am going with you. I don't need to be at the station for him to be there, and if you find any evidence it's best that I'm with you."

"Okay. Let's do it!" Mulder said enthusiastic.

As they walked over to the car from the crime scene Mulder took his arm around Scully and whispered in her ear.

"Are you okay with this, Scully?"

"Yeah, Mulder, I'm fine. Just a bit startled at how fast Ingalls believed us."

"He's always been a believer. He didn't need as much convincing as you did", Mulder answered her smiling.

"How do you know he's always been a believer? He could be working for the conspiracy!" Scully said not really believing Ingalls to be one of them.

"I know he's a believer, Scully. I could feel it, as soon as I met him. He's a nice guy", Mulder said feeling some weird need to protect Ingalls even though Scully was just joking.

"Maybe we could adopt him", Scully joked, feeling Mulder's fatherly side emerging whenever they talked about Ingalls.

Mulder just laughed at her and held the car door for her as she got in the front of the vehicle.

As they saw the sheriff drive towards the station they turned around the corner and parked in front of the house. There was a silhouette moving around in a room on the upper floor of the house. Since Deputy Ingalls had visited the family a lot during the past years he could inform them that the room with the silhouette in was, as presumed, Polly Groban's room.

Mulder knocked on the door. No answer. He tried again this time a bit harder and more persistent. He jiggled the handle but the door was locked. He looked back at Ingalls.

"We can't break in, Mr. Mulder!" he answered the question being asked telepathically.

"Alright then. Is there a backdoor?" Mulder asked knowing there would, really just asking if Ingalls was up to sneak in undetected.

"Well… yeah, there is", Ingalls looked at Scully for some kind of backup, but knew it was a lost course. She only looked at him with her beautiful blue eyes, and he knew he couldn't say no.

"Come on. I'll lead the way", the deputy sighed.

They moved around the back, but just as they were about to enter the unlocked door a weird smell met their nostrils.

"You smell that, Scully?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah. I think it is coming from the tree over there", she answered him and they moved towards the tree. There was a tree house in top of it. The rank was definitely becoming stronger the closer they moved towards it.

"Should we climb up?" Ingalls asked them not really having tried anything like this ever before.

"Let me go first. Scully loves my displays of boyish agility", Mulder said and winked at Scully.

Scully blushed slightly by this comment but Ingalls just smiled. When Scully watched Mulder climb up the steps nailed to the tree she had to admit to herself that his ass looked really good in those jeans. Her thought were cut off when Mulder reached the top.

"Eww… this is really gross. Come have a look, Scully", Mulder shouted down from the tree house.

Now it was Ingalls turn to admire the view. Her ass looked pretty good in those jeans too. If it wasn't for Mulder, Ingalls would definitely have made a move on her. No matter the age difference.

"What do you think this is, Scully", Mulder asked her as she had made it to the top as well.

"It looks like a potion, alright. I don't know what's in here, but it smells dead and rotten", Scully said while she held a hand to cover her nose.

"There's some jars over there", Ingalls, who had just climbed the tree too, informed them.

Mulder took the four jars from the dark corner and handed them to Scully. Two of the jars he could pretty much see what contained. The one was filled with blood. Dark, thick blood. The other with some herbs, which looked very unfamiliar to Mulder.

"Oh my God!" Scully exclaimed. "I think it's fat."

"Fat?" Ingalls asked not knowing how on earth he had gotten himself into this whole thing. "Fat from what?"

"Probably a human. And this looks like some kind of animal skin. Maybe from a cat or a rabbit", Scully informed them.

"So is this the stuff that made her a… werewolf? Would I become one if I drank it now?" the deputy asked.

"Yes, this is her potion. But I don't think it affects regular people. It's a witch's potion, which only works on witches", Mulder tried to explain.

"Alright, I'll get a sample of this potion and we can get it looked at", Scully said in a much calmer voice than Ingalls.

When they had climbed down the tree again they walked towards the street again but were stopped by a girl. She had black hair and really dark eyes. Scully could see small similarities to Georgia Hanson but they didn't look alike to a person who wouldn't know to look for these similarities.

"What you doing here?" she asked cold.

"Hi Polly. We just find some disturbing things in the tree house up there. You wouldn't know anything about that now, would you?" Ingalls said.

"I might", she answered mysteriously and walked closer to them.

"So… these people some new friends of yours, Woody?"

"They are helping your dad and me with a case. He's Mulder, she's Scully. I thought your dad told you 'bout them?" Ingalls kept talking to her with an accusing tone in his voice. Just like Mulder would have done it.

"He might have", Polly said now close up to them.

"Are you a witch, Polly?" Scully asked her shocking everybody. Finally Polly was silent and her eyes shifted towards the three people.

"Do you know your mother is a witch too? Is she the one who told you how to brew that potion in the tree house?" Scully kept on, the girl's eyes widening more and more as Scully spoke.

"You don't know anything about me. Or my mother", she yelled at them.

"They all deserved it. Everyone of them. He didn't love me. He said he loved another girl. First I thought it was Laura. Everybody in town told me they were together. It was only after her murder I found out that it was Georgia who was the person he loved. That little slut. Always doing better than me. Impossible to live up to. Our mother told me that she wished I had turned out as Georgia. A normal person. But fortunately I am not normal. And you can't prove that I'm the murderer. No one would ever believe me to be a witch", she spat at them.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Polly. There are machines that can read the amount of energy in your body. When this energy is as high as yours will be, you can determine if a person have paranormal abilities. This method isn't known to the public because, as you can imagine, the government likes to keep these 'special persons' a secret", Scully lied to her. Polly however seemed to believe her. If she was a witch, it seemed pretty plausible that there could be others. And that the government might have investigated these people.

"I heard you solved the case", Maggie said as they walked into the living room.

"Yeah, mom. We did. Turned out it was a witch which had made a potion to make herself a werewolf in order to get back at her cheating boyfriend and his lovers", Scully answered in an everyday tone.

"Another day at the office", Maggie laughed.

"Yup. They offered Mulder and me a job as consultants for the police here."

"Really. That sounds interesting. Are going to take the job?" Maggie was now truly intrigued.

"We'll be thinking about it. We might", she answered and pecked her mom on the cheek.

"But I think we're going to bed now, mom. We've had a long day", she said and walked over to Mulder who waited for her in the door.

"Good night, Maggie", he said polite as always.

"Good night. And I'm glad you finally called me Maggie instead of Mrs. Scully. Thanks Fox."

"You're welcome, Mrs. Scully", he said and winked at her before they left the room.

Know this chapter is a bit long, but thought I would make up for the long update (this time I have a good explanation though: I was in Florence, Italy and didn't have computer access) - but please tell if you're still reading :)