Title:

Title: Gabriel's Feather (Part 3 of?)

Rating: G

Category: MSR, CHILDFIC, MYTHARCH

Spoilers: Well, DUH!

Summary: Mulder has been missing for almost 4 years and somebody is pissed.

Disclaimer: Thanks to CC, FOX, 1013, GA, DD, RP, and all those others who actually own the show and produce the wonderful characterizations.

Archive: I would be honored, but not counting on it. Just let me know where and please keep my name attached.

(See author's notes at the end)

Gabriel's Feather

Dana Scully sighed with relief as she crawled into bed. 'I hate pulling night stakeout.' She thought to herself. She closed her eyes and was instantly asleep. It seemed like a minute later when her cell phone rang. Not her FBI issued phone—her secure phone. With her heart racing she sprang up to pull it out of her suitcase.

"Scully!" She said on the third ring.

"Ah, Dana, It's Brenna. Everything is all right, almost. I mean Gabriel is fine, I mean okay." Brenna was at a loss as to what to tell Dana without causing her to panic.

"Brenna, slow down. Why are you calling if Gabriel is okay?"

"Well, he spiked a fever so I took him to the ER last night—but don't worry, the fever went away. I'm sorry Dana, I tried to call you but there was no answer on the secure phone earlier and you told me not to use the Bureau unless it was a dire emergency. I couldn't get hold of Aunt Margaret and I was scared. It came up so suddenly. Just as suddenly as it went away."

"You did the right thing, Brenna. You say his fever is down?" Dana asked, wide-awake now.

"Yes, it went away while we were waiting in the ER. I just left. I didn't want to subject him to any kind of tests without your permission or yourself being there."

"Brenna, is he awake now?"

"Yes, I'll get him." Brenna said. She beckoned Gabriel over to her and gave him the phone.

"Hi, Mommy."

"Hi, Sweetie. How are you feeling?"

"I feel good. I'm hungry. Can I have some more cereal now?"

"Sure, Honey, let me talk to Brenna, and I'll tell her it's okay." She could hear him jubilantly telling Brenna he could have more cereal as he handed her the phone.

"Dana? When are you coming home?" Brenna sounded worried.

"I can't come home until the investigation is done, Brenna, but Mom will be home this morning. If you'd feel more comfortable, why don't you give her a call and go stay with her for a couple days. At least until we make sure Gabe isn't coming down with something. Don't worry, you did the right thing." Dana was startled by her room phone ringing. "Hold on, Brenna, this may be Mom on the room phone now."

Dana put the secured phone down and answered the room phone. Brenna heard her voice rising and finally the phone slamming down.

"Brenna, I'm coming home on the next flight. My car's at the airport, I don't need a ride. I have an emergency at the office. I'll get home as soon as I can. Call my Mom and get over there as soon as possible. I'll be able to check in with you both at the same time that way—can you do that for me?" Dana was throwing her suitcase together as she talked. After reassuring Brenna once more they said goodbye.

Without another glance around the room, she threw her suitcase in the car; she raced to Doggett's door and pounded to get him up.

"Doggett! Doggett wake up! John I need to talk to you!" Scully shouted.

"Hold on to your horses, Agent Scully. I'm packing. Skinner called me. I'll be out in two minutes. Go settle the bill. I've already called Agent Meadows to let them know we're leaving."

Scully raced back to the front office and completed the transaction. She raced back to the car only to find Agent Doggett in the driver's seat.

"What are you doing? I'll drive. You drive like an old man." Scully shouted.

"I'm driving and that's that, Agent Scully. You get in and call the airport. Skinner said to spare no expense in returning ASAP." Doggett replied in his calm way.

"Fine!" Scully slammed the door to the passenger side and glared at him. "Get moving!"

"Seatbelt, Agent Scully." Agent Doggett said with a half smile. Even as he was teasing her, he started the car and with considerable speed made it to the airport in plenty of time to board the flight to Washington DC that had been held at the terminal for them.

As soon as the flight was in the air, Scully tried to relax. She turned to Doggett and said, "Agent Doggett, thank you for getting us here on time. I apologize for shouting at you. I'm just a little shaken right now."

"If what they say is true, I think you have a right to be all shook up." Doggett replied.

"I don't want to talk about it, Agent Doggett."

"I understand; it's personal." Came his terse reply.

"No, I don't think you do understand. I just don't want to jinx it. I know that's not a rational thought, but it's how I feel right now." Dana offered a small smile before closing her eyes and settling in for the four-hour flight. "Don't forget to wake me up when we land."

They arrived in Washington seven hours and twenty-one minutes from the moment Mary Alice Hanks, R.N. had thrown the curtain back in the ER at Georgetown General Hospital and found the space occupied by a naked unconscious man.

Mary Alice had worked the ER for seven years. It was her first rotation in nurses training, and had remained her first love after she graduated. She thought she had seen everything, but that conviction was proven wrong by the appearance of the John Doe. Her first inclination was to roust him and have security call the DC police to have him locked up while he slept off his drug of choice. This was a heck of a way to start a 12-hour shift. As she moved closer to the man to try to wake him, she reassessed her opinion quickly. This man was not drunk, he had no odor of alcohol on his person; he was not high, his pupils were normal. He was bleeding from wounds at his wrists and ankles. As she moved further around the gurney, she notices that there was a slow drip of blood from the side of the gurney to the floor originating from his hip area. She also noticed that his skin indicated that he was severely dehydrated and he appeared to be in shock.

She moved to the cabinet next to the wall and pulled out a sheet and a blanket, covering the man as best she could. She whipped the curtain closed behind her and moved quickly to the nurse's station.

"Who admitted the man in curtain 10-13?" She asked to everyone there.

"There shouldn't be anyone in that cubicle. We don't have a team assigned to cover it." Jeff, the scheduling clerk said.

"Well, I don't know where he came from, but we have a stat situation. We need a trauma doc here now!" She turned on her heal and rushed back to the curtain. As she reached up to whip open the curtain a movement caught her peripheral vision on the left. She turned to look down the hall and saw a small woman and little boy exiting the hospital. The little boy was looking towards her. She wasn't certain, but she thought he waved and said something quietly as they left.

'Damn!' She thought. 'It's always the little ones that get pushed aside.'

The rest of the trauma team charged down the hall to join her and the two disappeared from sight and mind as she joined the battle to save the life of their newest John Doe.

As soon as he was somewhat stabilized, the DC police were called. Anyone in this condition had to have been criminally assaulted and a report needed to be filed.

The biggest surprise of the night came when he woke up—he woke up screaming a name. "SCULLY!!!!" It must have taken every spare scrap of his strength because he fell into unconsciousness again as soon as he said it.

"What did he say?" Dr. Berger, the trauma doc de jour asked.

"I think it was a name." Said Janeen, the second nurse that had answered the code.

"It was Scully." Mary Alice said. "Why?"

"It just sounds familiar." Berger replied as he quickly assessed the needs of the John Doe.

"Say, wasn't that the same name that was on the chart of the little boy with the fever?" Janeen supplied.

"Yes, but, I think I remember seeing it somewhere else." The good doctor was sure or he wouldn't say it aloud. At least you could count on him for not wasting time with useless information.

Many tense moments passed until John Doe stabilized at last. Dr. Berger stood looking at him.

"It looks as if this man has been to hell and back," he mused. "Ha!" He said as he quickly turned and walked out of the area only to return within minutes.

"I knew I had heard of the name Scully before! Look here! This has been posted in the lounge area for so long that it's practically unreadable. I bet I know who our John Doe is. Fox Mulder. It says here that he's an FBI agent that was abducted about 4 years ago. Special Agent Dana Scully is the person to contact. I already gave the number to Jeff to get the call in to the FBI."

"Nice work, Doc!" Mary Alice said. "Both on the name and the patch job." She said smiling as they cleaned up. The Tech from Intensive care arrived to the transport Mulder up to the ICU.

"Take special care of this one, he's had a really rough time" Mary Alice told him as she signed off the chart and helped push him out of the curtain and toward the elevator.

As soon as he was out of sight he was out of mind for the staff at the ER. The next life and death situation had hit the door—tenement fire victims.

Agent Mulder was forgotten until exactly eight hours and twelve minutes after his discovery. Mary Alice looked up from the nurse's station and glanced through the one-way glass window to the administrative area of the ER. It looked as if a whirlwind had swept into town.

Author's notes: This is the third of a story of the future that was only supposed to have three parts. It has grown and seemingly taken on a life of it's own. Maybe I just like to read myself talking—if you write you'll understand what that means. I am aware that there are many X Files fanfic fans that are not Christian—but Scully is and so am I. I figure that I have as much right to write what my heart would like to read as anyone else who chooses to write Slash or Suicide stories. If you did not enjoy it, please don't read the following stories. If you did, I hope you let me know.