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Chapter 2
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Georgetown Medical
Georgetown, Maryland
July 17, 2001

Mulder raced through the doors of the hospital and ran up to the admissions desk, "What room is Dana Scully in?" He asked the nurse.

She glanced at him briefly, and checked the computer. "She's in room 807, but . . ."

Mulder didn't take the time to let her finish, for he was already down the hallway. It registered briefly that the nurse was yelling that only family was allowed, but he didn't give it a second thought. When he emerged on the 8th floor, he walked to the nurses station, "Where's room 807?"

This time the nurse practically glared at him, "Are you family?" She asked, sizing him up.

Mulder didn't hesitate, "Yes," he answered, "Where is it?"

"Right down the hall on the right."

Mulder took off down the hall and found her room. Standing outside her door, he was nervous and even a little scared to walk into her room. Finally he calmed himself down enough to knock. His heart almost broke in two when he heard how weak her voice was, "Come in."

Walking in, Mulder tried to gauge what was wrong with her by looking at her, but couldn't get past the paleness of her face. Had she been that pale when she was at work yesterday? He couldn't remember, and cursed himself for not paying more attention to her. He walked over to the bed, "Scully, I got here as fast as I could, what's wrong?"

She looked up at him, and he noticed that she had probably been crying for hours, "Oh, Mulder," she said, but couldn't go on. She sat up and placed her head in her hands, crying.

Mulder took one look at her, sat down on the bed, and gathered her in his arms, "Shh, come on, you're scaring me." He said, stroking her hair. She put her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. He had no idea how long they sat like that, but she eventually pulled away and leaned back against the pillows, grasping his hand in hers. "I'm sorry, Mulder, for not telling you about this, but I'm going to ask you not to say anything until I finish what I'm about to say. OK?" He nodded. "OK, well, for the past few weeks, I've been getting this nauseating feeling off and on. I never thought twice about it though, since it wouldn't last that long. Last night, though, right after I got off the phone with you, I went to lay down to go to sleep. I awoke at 3:00am and noticed that something was on my pillow. It was blood. I got scared, and got up to go to the bathroom, but I could barely walk, I was so nauseous. I turned back around and dialed 911. I was just getting ready to call you when everything went black. The paramedics arrived and found me unconscious. I don't know what's wrong yet; the doctor suggested I have a family member with me when he gave me the news. I thought about calling my mother, and I almost did, but then I realized that it was you I wanted to receive the news with. I'm scared, Mulder." She concluded.

Mulder, who had tried to hide his emotions through her speech, now realized that he was crying. She noticed this, also, and reached up to brush his tears away with her hand. "Don't cry, please don't cry."

He took her hand, and brought it to his lips for a kiss, "I'm sorry, Scully, I just can't believe it. When are you supposed to find out what's wrong?" He asked, trying to stop crying.

"At noon, but I wanted you to be here now, because I'm scared, and wanted, no needed to see you before that happened."

"I'll wait right here, but, you know what, you look exhausted. Why don't you try to get some sleep. I promise that whatever it is, we'll get through it together, we always do." He said, trying to get her to lie back.

She complied, but wouldn't let him get off the bed. She looked up at him almost shyly, "Would you lay with me, please. I need to know someone's here for me."

"I'll always be here for you, Scully." He said, kicked off his shoes, and laid down by her on the bed. Wrapping his hand protectively around her waist, he eventually heard her breath even out, and knew she was asleep. "I love you more than life itself, Scully, and I promise I'll never leave you, no matter what." He whispered in her ear, and drifted off to sleep.


End Chapter 2