Wang choked on his own sobs. Scully lowered her arms. His face was red, and fat alligator tears were streaming down both of his cheeks.

Suddenly, the telephone on the office desk rang. Mulder moved from out behind Scully, met her eyes, and then picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

Scully moved toward the phone to hear the speaker on the other end of the line. "Agent Mulder? It's Motsouka. The hypnotic trances – they just broke."

Scully looked back at Wang. His crying must have sucked too much of his focus away from commanding the hypnotized people.

"Are they speaking English?" Mulder asked.

"Tom and I have managed five people."

Mulder's face fell. "That's a start."

"Motsouka, did you get the man to the hospital? The one that was shot."

"The first two townspeople took him. Apparently, there's a surgeon on staff for gunshot wounds. They happen a lot here."

"So, you have three English speakers with you." Mulder said.

"And the woman here – the one you have cuffed."

"Right."

"She, uh, she says she thinks he can help make it go faster. But I'm afraid to let her try in case she makes it worse."

Mulder and Scully looked at one another, as if asking the same question. "Can we talk to her?" Mulder asked.

The line was silent. A moment later, they heard Eleanor. "H-hello?"

"Eleanor, this is Agent Mulder."

"I know who you are."

"Eleanor, did you know your husband was coming back to you?"

"What?"

"He was coming back to be with you," Mulder said. "He was going to apologize. Professor Wang just admitted as much."

Eleanor's voice rose an octave. "I – I don't believe you."

"You can ask him later."

"Let me talk to your partner," Eleanor said.

Mulder handed Scully the phone without hesitation. He bit his lip, and leaned in to hear.

"Eleanor," Scully said.

"I didn't just lose my husband. I lost the respect of my department." Scully could hear Eleanor breathing heavily on the other end of the line. "You might understand that. So, tell me, is it true?"

Scully's mouth opened momentarily before she remembered that hesitation could cause Eleanor to think Mulder was lying. "Wang admitted that your husband planned to go back to you and apologize. That was why he decided hypnotize this town."

"He was coming back." Eleanor said. Her voice was loud and clear over the line, but she sounded distant. "I shot him."

Scully knew that now was not the time to question Eleanor about the strength of her relationship with her cheating husband. "Eleanor. You said you could help get people back to speaking English."

"What?" Wang's sobs had stopped. He stared at Scully.

"Yes," Eleanor said. "I can't hypnotize like James, but I know how to accelerate Motsouka's method. You just need to get everyone in a room and get them calm, with their eyes closed…"

"Shut up, you bitch!" Wang strained against the rope. Mulder approached Wang and cocked his gun.

"Eleanor." Scully said. "Listen to me carefully. If you're lying to me, I'm going to make sure you are held accountable for the attempted murder of your husband."

"If I do this, I want immunity," Eleanor said.

Scully scowled. "Hand Motsouka the phone."

XXX

Scully's eyes narrowed at Wang. She felt cut off. It was so rare that they were away from the action on a case. She glanced at the receiver again, silently willing Tom or Motsouka, or anyone to call her with good news. Eleanor better have done what she said she could…she better not have lied. They shouldn't have trusted her.

Mulder's hands came to the back of her neck and began to massage the muscles at the top of her back. She hummed.

Wang had failed twice, again, to hypnotize Scully. He'd muttered a Greek chant to no one in particular, too, before Mulder threatened to bound his mouth. Mostly, though, he looked defeated. When he looked at her and Mulder standing together, she almost felt sorry for him.

"Aren't there rules against you two dating?" He asked.

"It's discouraged," Scully said. She tensed a little, realizing she hadn't even thought about ignoring his question.

"But you do it anyway."

"We do what's good for both of us," Mulder said. "Not that it's any of your business."

"We're a team," Scully said, and leaned back into Mulder to remind him – if he hadn't figured it out – that she was talking to him. "We work better together. I'm not going to hide that."

Mulder grinned at her.

"I wanted someone like that," Wang said to Scully.

"It's not too late to help set things right."

"I can't..."

They heard a knock on the office door.

"Yes?" Mulder called and swallowed.

"Hello? Agents Scully and Mulder?" The door opened slowly. A man Scully recognized – the man from the barbeque – smiled. "It's nice to get the chance to chat with you."