Wish I could say I'm sorry for that last chapter...Your reactions were great, though. (haha sorry Howling2themoon)
I was able to grind out this chapter because I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long, but after this I'm a little stuck.
Your feedback has guided me beautifully throughout this story, so please review to help me write!
I'm a day behind in my revival series watching, so maybe seeing episode 2 tonight will inspire me! Fingers crossed.
Anyway, read on and maybe you can have Mulder back.
Maybe.
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For a moment, time in the little hospital room seemed to have stopped.
Mulder lifeless on the floor; Scully frozen in her grief and her anger; Shelly staring at the door through which Dr. Hunt had just vanished. After a few seconds, and without a glance at either agent, she slipped out into the hall as well.
The soft click of the door falling shut somehow broke through Scully's horrified paralysis, and her mind started working rapidly through her predicament in the only way it knew how.
I've got to get loose, she thought desperately, straining to see Mulder on the floor beside her bed.
He's strong, in reality he probably has a few minutes, and then a few more to restart his heart before brain death occurs…
She called his name several times, her voice sounding choked and foreign to her own ears. He didn't stir.
Scully clenched her fists, repeating the same futile escape attempts, all the while feeling herself crumble into hysterics. She was feet away from him, yet there was nothing she could do.
Finally, though in reality only a few seconds had passed, Shelly strode quickly back into the room and straight to the medical cabinet. She returned to the bedside with a fresh, empty syringe.
Seeing this, Scully immediately recoiled, pressing back against the raised upper half of the bed.
"Stay away from me!" She snarled, her voice breaking.
Shelly paid her no heed, drawing the contents of the vial Mulder had produced into the syringe.
When she came around to the side of the bed with the needle outstretched, Scully twisted against the restraints, trying to kick it out of her hand.
"I said stay away!"
Shelly jerked away, narrowly avoiding Scully's aimed kick.
"Dana, this is going to save your life," she hissed in a whisper, as if she were afraid that someone would hear. "Now hold still."
Scully only jerked harder against the unyielding fetters, sickened by the thought of her friend's betrayal.
"Dana!" Shelly said, more sharply this time. With one arm she held Scully's legs down. "Without this medicine, you'll die. I promise, I'm not going to hurt you."
"You expect me to believe anything you say, you lying bitch?" Scully choked, knowing that her struggles were in vain. "After what you've done to Mulder?"
She couldn't bring herself to use the word 'kill', because that would be acknowledging that he was dead, something that Scully could not cope with right now, or ever.
Scully watched helplessly as the syringe found a puncture-free patch of vein in the crook of her left arm, crying out as the needle slid beneath her skin. When the chamber was empty, Shelly withdrew the needle and set the syringe on the cart next to the bed. Scully fell back against the mattress, trying not to break down.
Turning her back on her patient, Shelly moved to where Mulder lay and crouched beside his head.
"Don't….touch him!" Scully growled as she had at Hunt, tears once again welling in her eyes.
Shelly stood, stepping back to the bed. "He's not dead," she said quietly. "Just unconscious."
What? Scully's head was swimming, and not just from the indeterminable loyalties of the woman who stood before her. Before she could voice her doubts, Scully realized that she felt truly strange. A piercing pain in her head all but confirmed her fears that her time was up.
"At least Dr. Hunt was considerate enough to warn me that it would hurt like hell," Scully said accusingly through clenched teeth as the pain abated and then swelled again.
Shelly crossed to the other side of the bed, watching the collection of monitors carefully.
"No, that means the antidote is working," she said as her eyes flicked from screen to screen. "The neurotoxin's bonds are breaking down. Temporarily increased blood flow can create swelling and acute head pain. It should subside in a moment."
She turned back to Scully, looking frightened and ashamed.
"Dana, I know I have no right to ask this, but I need you to trust me," she said, her eyes pleading. Scully clenched her own eyes shut against another wave of lancing pain.
"We need to get out of here before they come back, or we'll all be dead."
Scully opened her eyes again, grudgingly meeting Shelly's for the first time. "Alright," she said quietly, sounding confused and defeated. "But I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to move. Untie me."
Shelly gave a small sigh of relief, moving quickly to release the heavy buckles on the straps that held Scully to the bed. "I promise I'll explain everyth-"
As soon as both her hands were freed, Scully sat forward in one quick motion, simultaneously pulling Mulder's gun from where it had slid down behind the pillow at her back.
"Step back and put your hands where I can see them," she commanded coldly, holding the gun firmly in both hands, trained on Shelly's head.
As the doctor carefully took a step backwards, arms raised, Scully switched the gun to her left hand, using her right to quickly rip away the wires that connected her to the heart monitor. She winced slightly as she tore the IV tube from the back of her left hand, then kicked away the sheets and slid off the bed. For a moment she felt unsteady on her feet, but adrenaline kept her upright and she moved quickly around the bed to where Mulder lay.
"Don't move," Scully said fiercely, her eyes deadly serious as she knelt beside her partner's motionless form.
"I won't move," Shelly promised in a whisper, looking terrified.
Still holding the gun up, Scully turned her attention to Mulder. She wanted desperately to believe what Shelly was saying, but she didn't trust anything beside her own senses right now, and even those were still feeling pretty rocky.
With bated breath and a shaky hand, Scully fumbled two practiced fingers to her partner's throat, feeling for the push of blood being pumped through his jugular vein. Her relief tore its way up through her throat in a ragged gasp as she felt his heartbeat, steady and strong.
"Mulder," she breathed, leaning close over him to watch his face for any response. "Mulder, can you hear me?" She shook him slightly, but to no effect. Placing one hand on his chest to feel the reassuring warmth and heartbeat, Scully turned her attention back to Shelly. She still held the gun, though not aimed so precisely.
"What did you inject him with?" she demanded.
Shelly lowered her arms slightly. "Methohexital. I swapped the vials when Dr. Hunt wasn't paying attention. The intended poison is in the cabinet over there. It should be destroyed."
Scully stared warily at her for a moment, still untrusting. She glanced back at Mulder's unconscious form almost for reassurance.
"It was somewhere in the area of a double dosage," Shelly said, trying to further convince Scully of her sincerity. "I needed to be sure he wouldn't come to with Hunt still in the room. He'll be awake and fine in probably under an hour. But right now, none of us will be fine unless we get out of here."
After another moment of hesitation, Scully gritted her teeth and tucked the gun into the waistband of her pants, lacking a proper holster and not wanting to proceed unarmed.
Shelly immediately strode across the room to the collapsible wheeled stretcher she'd used to bring Scully in. She rolled it alongside Mulder's body and retracted the frame to its shortest height.
Scully rolled her partner sideways, sliding an arm behind his back to lift him onto the gurney.
"Dana, let me help, you shouldn't be moving this much yet," Shelly offered, a little afraid to reach between them without consent. The way that Scully seemed to be positioning her tiny body around Mulder's much larger, vulnerable form would have been almost comical if not for the fierce, animalistic protectiveness she was exuding. Shelly had the sense that if she wasn't careful, she'd be met not with a third iteration of 'Don't Touch Him' but with a bullet in the leg.
"I've got him," Scully replied tightly, straining slightly but still managing to maneuver Mulder's head and shoulders up onto the platform. His legs and arms were easier, and when he was centered, she crossed one strap loosely across chest and another at his legs, just to ensure that he wouldn't fall off. She left the buckles half-done in case this was still a trap; in case they got separated and Mulder needed to free himself. This detail was not lost on Shelly, but she wisely remained silent.
When Mulder was securely on top, Shelly reached to re-extend the wheeled legs of the stretcher, bringing it up to waist height.
Despite Scully's completely transparent desire to be in control of the situation, Shelly cut in to push. Regardless of the helpful presence of adrenaline in her bloodstream, Scully was still incredibly weakened. The last thing either of them needed was for her to collapse mid-escape attempt.
Biting her tongue, Scully fell in step beside the stretcher, one hand on Mulder's arm as they wheeled it out the door and into the hallway. For the moment, their unused little wing of the hospital remained empty, but from what Hunt had said, they had very little time before fake EMTs showed up to collect Mulder's body. What would happen when they found the room empty, she didn't know- or particularly want to find out.
"Do you have a plan?" she asked tensely, glancing sideways at Shelly with a look that was far from trusting. When Hunt and his men figured out they'd been tricked, it didn't seem very likely that they'd just turn around and go home.
Shelly didn't answer at first, deftly swinging the stretcher around a corner. It calmed Scully's nerves a little to see actual hospital personnel walking at the end of the corridor. Even in the unlikely case that every single nurse and orderly was covertly employed by Dr. Hunt, there were still civilian patients as witnesses, providing a thin shield of protection.
"I'm kind of making it up as we go," Shelly said with a grimace as they pushed through a set of swinging doors into another wing of the hospital. "I only had a few minutes' warning that he was coming. No time to call in the cavalry if I was going to keep you two alive."
"And yourself," Scully said bitterly, slowly understanding her friend's role in the larger operation.
Shelly glanced up, the tone of Scully's words not lost on her. "And myself," she agreed quietly.
The came to a hall of small examination rooms, most occupied by nurses and non-critical patients. Shelly stopped to talk briefly with a nurse in one of the rooms, letting her know that they'd be occupying the next room over until further notice.
When they'd wheeled Mulder inside, Scully turned back to the doctor, anxious for answers.
"What now?" she asked, perhaps a little too harshly. "Either Hunt and his people are just going to crawl back into the woodwork, or they're going to send more people to try to kill us."
"Most likely the latter," Shelly admitted miserably. "Just stay with your partner for now." She turned to move towards the door.
"Wait!" Scully grabbed her by the wrist. "You've barely explained anything. Where are you going?"
"I'm going to get Agent Skinner, and some backup." She paused, unsure what response her next words would get. "Once they find out what I did, I won't be safe until your people blow the lid on the whole operation. I don't want to waste any time in making that happen."
Scully released her wrist, but her eyes remained wary.
"How do I know you won't give us up?" she demanded. "Turn us over to him to save your own skin?"
Shelly sighed, looking years older than she was in that instant.
"I have enough to answer for already," she said quietly. "I won't have your blood on my hands."
With one hand on the doorknob, she turned back to Scully.
"I'm going to lock you in," she said, reaching beneath her scrubs for a string of keys that hung on a lanyard around her neck. "The only other person with a key is the nurse I just spoke to, and she won't be using it. You should be hidden well enough until I get back."
She nodded to Mulder.
"If he wakes, get him some water and check that he didn't injure himself when he fell. Otherwise, he'll be fine. I'm….sorry I put you through that, Dana."
Scully held her gaze, her throat feeling tight. The horror and heartbreak that she had felt was unforgivable.
"We're all sorry for something," she said quietly.
Shelly turned and slipped out the door, locking it behind her with a faint rattle of keys.
When she was gone, Scully turned back to her unconscious partner, nervously checking his pulse again. It was still as strong as ever, and each beat beneath her fingertips helped to calm her just a little bit more.
Anxious to see his eyes open again, Scully hovered at his head, one hand running gently over his forehead and hair. Though the gesture was lost on Mulder, who remained unresponsive, it was soothing to her. When her heart rate had finally settled and her hands stopped shaking, Scully consented to herself to sit tight and wait.
She wheeled the stretcher over to the room's lone piece of furniture, a garishly-patterned armchair, and sank into it exhaustedly. As she let her eyes close, she reached up to grasp Mulder's hand so that should she pass out or fall asleep, she'd wake when he did.
Neither sleep nor unconsciousness came, but Scully's grip remained, a much-needed anchor to the warmth of his hand and the pulse in his veins.