A/N: Ok, so I changed an episode a little. Spoiler for Orison!

"Hello?"

"I just received a phone call. Agent Scully has been hospitalized again."

"I only did it to scare her."

"You could have killed her."

"I thought you wanted her dead."

"Only as a last resort!"

"Either way, I think this will help her to accept my proposal."

"But you still have to get Mulder on your side."

"There is more than one way to get to Mulder. He should be receiving a case soon. One that he can't refuse. With Scully's recent illness she'll be forced to rest. That's when I'll be there to help Mulder."

"My patience is running out."

"It will only be a matter of days."

Skinner called me in after checking on Scully. Apparently there was a big case he wanted me on.

"Agent Mulder, do you remember a man named Donald Pfaster?"

Asshole! "Rings a bell."

"He's escaped from prison. No one can even figure out how he did it. I thought maybe you'd want first dibs."

"I'll get right on it." This man doesn't deserve what Scully did for him, but I have to respect her wishes. I got up to leave, grabbing the file in Skinner's hand.

"There's more."

"Sir?" I turned around.

"I've assigned you a temporary partner who is waiting for you in your office."

I was livid! How could he do this to me? I have a partner!

As if reading my thoughts he added, "I hope Agent Scully will be back soon."

I headed down to the basement curious to see who got stuck with me. Maybe they had all taken bets or drew straws this time. I hoped it wasn't Nicholson from the Human Trafficking office. I knew his partner was on paternity leave for the week. Or Boller who watches for internet fraud. He couldn't hit an elephant with a shot gun it was ten feet in front of him. No, if I was gonna be stuck with someone he'd better be able to back me up with this case. I opened the door and found my worst nightmare! "Diana?"

"Fox, how nice of you to join me." She smiled at me. It was kinda creepy. "It looks as though we'll be partners again."

"Just for this case, Diana." I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of courtesies or lengthy sentences.

"I've already booked our flights to Minneapolis. We leave in 2 hours."

"Just enough time to pack. I'll meet you there." I started down the hall.

"Fox!" she called after me.

I didn't want to stop, but the elevator had already gone up 3 floors so I had no choice. Where are the stairs?

"Fox, where are you going? I thought we could catch up."

Ding

"You thought wrong." I entered the elevator and pushed the Door Close button, glad to be away from her. As soon as I exited the building I called Scully. "Hey."

"Hey, back."

"Skinner asked me to work a case. You gonna be ok for a few days?"

"Yeah, my mom won't leave my side. I guess it's time I spent some time with her anyways. We're going to her house later this afternoon."

"Ok, you have fun." I knew how she didn't really like to be alone with her mom for very long.

"Thanks. Good luck on your case."

"I'll call you later. Love you."

"Love you."

"He took the bait."

"Good. I expect results this time."

"I understand. I'll call you when I've made progress.

Let's just say the flight was quiet and uneventful. Diana tried numerous times to strike up a conversation, but I ignored her and pretended I was asleep. Unfortunately she knows me a little better than that. The only reason I agreed to work with her was because there wasn't any time to find someone else. Basically I was letting her tag along.

I spoke to a marshall about the case while waiting for our flight. I also looked over the file that was faxed to us. Pfaster escaped that morning but no one tried to stop him. Now the man hunt was on.

"He left right under our noses. We don't know how he did it." A guard explained what had happened earlier in the morning. The more stories I was hearing the more I was convinced this was a form of hypnosis. I was beginning to feel relieved that Scully wasn't with me. I remembered the look on her face when we finally found her. I'd never seen her break down like that. I shook the memory away.

"Agent Mulder?"

It was Diana. I glanced in her general direction and left the room. As I entered another room I noticed white walls with scriptures written on them. Then I heard music coming from a vent above me. It took me a moment to recognize the song. "Don't look any further" reverberated through the room. I hadn't heard that song since high school.

After interviewing an inmate who swears his fingers had all been cut off Diana and I stood in the hall arguing about the things he said. Then I heard it again. I walked closer to the nearby vent. Strange. Then, we got a call. They had found Pfaster.

"Was he here?" Mulder asked.

"We're trying to determine that," replied the marshall. He looked bewildered sitting in that booth.

"Did you see him?" I asked.

"Well, that's a good question. We thought we saw something, but apparently we didn't."

"We got a call about a possible sighting of the suspect. Something happened here." Mulder said.

"Guy got hit by a car." We turned to find the voice. A waitress pouring coffee into a customer's cup looked up at us.

"Prison chaplain as it turns out. A Reverend Orison," said the marshall.

"Excuse me, can you turn that up?" Mulder had walked closer to the counter.

I heard the song on the radio. It was the same song we heard in the hall not an hour ago. Must be the DJ's favorite.

"Agent Fowley?"

"Yes?" I turned to face a younger marshall.

"The reverend was taken to the hospital and is recovering from his accident."

"We're on our way. Mulder, let's go talk to this guy. See if he can give us anything." I grabbed him by the elbow and he quickly pulled away.

Everything was working as planned so far. I had doubted the reverend would be able to get him out, but I was pleasantly surprised. Now that Scully was out of the way I could do my job.