References to several different episodes over several different seasons.
From the bottom of her purse, she managed to find the card one of the Lone Gunmen had slipped her. Probably Frohike. The man was persistant, she'd give him that.
She'd called Gordo and told him she wouldn't be in, promising to work a double the next day as she tried to find the street.
He hadn't argued mainly because her tone dared him to.
It was almost like an obsession. She had to find out what was going on, for her own sanity as much as anything.
And she knew just who to ask.
Within 15 minutes, she was pounding on the unobtrusive door in a questionable neighborhood, "The Lone Gunmen" stenciled on it in black letters.
"Who in the hell is that?" Mulder asked, looking up from the computer screen he'd been engrossed in for the last hour.
"Sounds like the hounds of hell, if you ask me," Langley commented, looking bored. It wasn't unusual to have extremely hostile unexpected visitors. Hence the locks on the door.
"Close. It's the cupcake lady," Frohike commented, studying the surveillance video. "And, she looks mad as hell."
Langley brightened. "Does she have any cupcakes?"
"No, but she's got that damn dog with her," Frohike frowned.
Byers undid all the bolts and locks, and she stormed through, Nero at her heels. She halted in the middle of the floor, arms crossed, all four men staring at her.
"I want answers, and I want them now!"
"Join the club, sweetheart," Langley drawled.
"What's wrong?" Byers asked, touching her back. He could tell she'd been crying. He was a sucker for a woman in tears.
She waved him off impatiently. "I want to know what in the hell is going on! I'm sick and tired of being kept in the dark like some sort of delicate woman who has to protected, and I won't do it anymore! And, all of you are going to tell me!" Frustrated, she stopped to take a breath, and Nero pressed against her leg, trying to comfort her.
They stared at her.
"Skinner won't like it," Frohike pointed out.
"He's not the information police." Anna flopped down in the only chair not piled with magazines and pizza boxes, arms crossed. She wasn't going anywhere.
Mulder propped his elbows on the table. "You mean, you don't . . . know?"
Anna looked at him incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me! You've known the man longer than I have, so you know how he is!"
"I just thought that . . . well . . . the two of you . . ." he waved his hand around, looking for the right words, "were closer than that."
She set her steely gaze on Mulder. "I did, too." Biting the inside of her lip to keep her chin from trembling, she looked away. C'mon, girl. Don't you dare cry in front of these guys.
"I dunno . . ." Byers started, then stopped when she shot him a dirty look.
"The cupcake lady's right. She deserves to know." Frohike leaned back in his chair as it creaked in protest.
"Hell, everyone deserves to know, they just don't wanna hear it. She wants to hear it. So, how can we keep it from her?" Langley added.
"But, guys, don't you think there's a reason he's not telling her?" Byers argued.
"Yeah. He's a hard ass," Frohike rolled his eyes.
Mulder chuckled at his accurate assessment.
"He has this delusion that if what I don't know won't hurt me," Anna added, throwing up her hands. "But, that's crazy! What I don't know has already hurt me! Just watching him in that hospital bed was enough . . ." She clamped her mouth shut, biting her tongue until she tasted blood.
They all exchanged looks. Finally, Mulder leaned back, putting his hands on the back of his head. "Fine. Where do you want to start?"
"Who's the man in the picture I took? The one who was smoking?"
"Oooo. She picked a good one," Langley rubbed his hands together gleefully.
Mulder made a face. "Can't you start with something a little simpler?"
"He came by Walter's apartment this morning."
Their eyes all got big.
She took it as an invitation to continue. "He was getting off the elevator and I was getting on it going to work. It didn't . . . hit me he was the same man in that photo was until I got to the parking garage."
Mulder shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't want to know the answer, but I have to ask. What happened?"
She told them.
"Oh man, you should have shot the sorry bastard!" Langley said, clearly in awe.
"What did he want?" Mulder asked, on a mission.
Anna's brow creased in frustration. "He offered Walter something, but I don't know what. He told him to 'think about it' before he left."
"I don't know, guys. It's not our place to tell her. It's his." Byers understood protecting the ones you love from harm, and he didn't want to go against Skinner's wishes. Even if he was a hard ass.
"He doesn't deserve her," Frohike said matter-of-factly. "She's saved his ass twice now. He can't have his cupcake and eat it, too, boys."
Byers sighed, seeing his side of the argument. "OK, fine. Whatever."
"Honey, I'll tell you whatever you want to know just for pointing a gun at his sorry head and living to tell about it," Frohike said. "From what we can tell on the man, he's basically invisible. No name. No Social Security number. Nothing . . ."
For the next several hours, Anna listened as the four men told her what little they knew and all of what they suspected.
In a way, she hoped they could make it make sense. What little she knew only served to confuse her, but as they slowly painted their picture of lies, deception and desperation, her confusion and dread only worsened.
However, some things, she did understand more clearly.
"So, that's why they tried to get him framed for that prostitute's murder," she said more to herself than anyone. "They did it to get him away from you," she motioned towards Mulder.
Mulder looked surprised. "He told you about that?"
"He told me he was framed, but not why."
"It's only a theory we have," Langley shrugged.
"But, a pretty damned accurate theory, if you asked me," Frohike argued.
When they got to the part about Scully's cancer and the mysterious disappearing evidence at the mail sorting facility, she put another puzzle piece in place.
"He did it, didn't he? He got rid of the evidence."
She didn't know if she wanted them to agree or not.
All of them looked at Mulder.
"There was no proof. But, it was his gun that shot that police officer."
She paled. "Did he . . . do . . . that, too?"
Mulder shook his head. "It was a set-up to keep him quiet. Although I never figured out why he got rid of the evidence, what they had on him to make him do it."
"He's never struck me as someone who would do what he didn't want to do," Byers added thoughtfully.
"He did it for Dana."
All the men looked at her.
Anna ran her hands through her hair nervously. "I don't know if I should be telling you this or not, but he showed up one night at Gordo's drunk. It was . . . before all this. He was babbling something about doing these awful things, only because they promised him a cure." She looked at Mulder. "I bet that's it."
Mulder leaned back in his chair. "I have to admit, I suspected as much, but . . . why couldn't he have told us?"
"Weakness. He didn't want you to know his soft spots," Byers mulled.
"And everyone's got a weakness for Agent Scully," Frohike added, a grin on his face.
His apartment had a hollow feeling he couldn't shake. Skinner tried to chalk it up to basically being violated by that son of a bitch, but that wasn't it.
It was Nero. That crazy dog of hers had been with him even when she wasn't there for five days now. He'd grown accustomed to the beast.
And, he sure as hell respected him a little more now that he saw what he could do.
But, it wasn't just the mutt. It was Anna. There were signs of her everywhere – a magazine here, a pair of sandals there - rubbing his face in the fact that he'd screwed up. Royally. Big time.
He wondered if she'd even be back to get all her things. She was only here to help while he was recuperating. And, since he was basically well enough to take care of himself, he wondered if she would pick up camp and move back home.
Leaving him just as alone as before. Only worse. Now, he knew what he'd be missing.
Not that she'd even care to stay if he asked her at this point.
She said she loved him.
He hadn't expected the rush of emotions – the joy, complete with the dread that there was no turning back.
And the realization that he wasn't the only one.
The longer the clock ticked the seconds, then the minutes and hours away, the more sure of it he became. He hadn't allowed himself the luxury as something as simple as love in so long, it almost brought him to his knees with the pure elation of it.
Hoping she might have her cell on her at work, he had to give it a shot. Picking up the phone, he dialed her number from memory.
It went straight to voice mail.
Great. She'd turned it off.
He slammed the phone down, more in disgust with himself than anything.
It seemed so right! He wouldn't tell her the gory details of his job, and she'd be happy to stay in the dark.
He thought for a moment, kicking at a dog toy that was halfway underneath the couch. What was she? An attention-starved pet whom he could shower with attention when he wanted, then leave to her own devices at his own choosing?
Hell, that attitude towards the women in his life hadn't worked before. Why would it work now?
He had so much nervous energy, he actually thought about going for a run, but his doctor would probably throw a fit. So, he was left to his own devices in his eerily-silent apartment.
But, not for long.
He'd find her himself.
The story they wove just got more intriguing as the time flew by.
The thought had been flitting in and out of her mind during this entire diatribe, and she just had to voice it. "Do all of you realize we're just sad pawns in this sick little game these people are playing?"
"Methinks the lady gets it," Langley muttered.
Mulder had those exact same thoughts night after miserable night as he lay on his couch, wondering just exactly what all of it meant. "The trick is to not do what they think you're going to do. That's the only way we can expose any of this."
Anna looked dubious, and he didn't blame her.
When all her questions were exhausted, she leaned down and thumbed through a stack of old newsletters. "So, you mean to tell me, there's actually a hint of truth in this stuff?" She motioned towards their magazine. "The government is actually abducting its own citizens, making it look like aliens, only to develop a vaccine against when the aliens actually do take over?"
They all nodded. "Exactly."
It was Anna's turn to be shell shocked. "That's . . . amazing. And somehow, I believe you." She paused. "And somehow, I have a hard time believing Walter believes you."
Mulder's phone rang, and he pulled it out, not checking the caller ID before he answered it.
"He knows something screwy is going on, but he's being pulled in both directions," Byers said, answering her question.
"And it makes him madder than an old wet hen," Langley drawled.
"Yes, sir. I've seen her." Mulder's eyes met hers. "In fact, she's with me."