Original story by CSM'sWife, adapted by ToonedInUK

Disclaimer: Neither myself or CSM'sWife own "The X-Files" or any of the characters (Fox Mulder, A.D.
Skinner, Dana Scully A.D. Skinner's secretary, Samantha Mulder, Duane Barry
etc.) - they are the property of CC and 1013 Productions. I do not own
"Profiler" or any of the characters (Bailey Malone, Samantha Waters, John
Grant, Grace, George Fraele etc.), they are the property of the NBC network and the creators.

Any other characters are the property of either myself or Michelle.

No real life people have been written into this story, any likeness to a

person (by name or otherwise) or event is completely unintended.

Motel room 21

Annapolis

Maryland

March 26th

00:13 a.m.

He awoke in a cold sweat, the nightmares still haunted him, wouldn't let him forget the horrors of just a few weeks ago. God, he missed her. He missed her more than anything else in the word. The nightmares just reminded him - like putting salt in a fresh wound. The photograph from the office was in the breast pocket of his shirt, so he extracted it and just sat still, taking her in, absorbing he light that she emitted. He didn't look away until he noticed the small wet patch appearing in the bottom left-hand corner of the photo - he was crying. He looked up, searching around for a tissue, but giving up, he wiped his eyes on his t-shirt. Hated to cry, he felt embarrassed, even though no one was looking.

Looking in the window of room 21, Joseph Maly saw the whole display. He had only been passing through the motel yard to get to his room on the other side of the lot. He told himself that he would never commit his offences twice in the same state, but this time he would make an exception - it was an emergency! Of course, he may not be staying long. The man in room 21 may go out of Maryland within the next day or two. Maly decided to wait.

Motel room 17

Annapolis

Maryland

07:16 a.m.

Samantha Waters awoke to the sound of the telephone ringing to her right. She rolled over and picked it up. Malone was on the other end.

"Sam, is Agent Mulder accompanying us back to Georgia?"

"I don't know yet, I was going to ask him when I see him in an hour or so. He will probably say no, what with the circumstances. I'll try talk him into it - it'll be good for him to stay away for a while."

"Well, if he does, he'll need to book in advance - most places won't take people who just waltz in off the street, only those with reservations."

"He could just stay with me. I have enough room, and Chloe wants to see him anyway."

"All right."

"Bye." Waters said before they both hung up. She lay there for a few minutes before getting up for a shower.

Aeroplane

Somewhere between Annapolis, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia

10:57 a.m.

Waters was staring out of the window at the passing clouds, just thinking about the case and what Mulder had said. She was also itching to know what it was that he had found at the crime scene. Of course she would get the chance to 'grill' him later, when she got home - he had accepted her offer of accommodation. She glanced over at him. He was resting, seemingly peacefully, but she knew that beneath that facade he was hurting. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in Mulder's position - to have no one to turn to. His mother wasn't exactly the nicest person to be around. Waters pitied him. Not in a nasty way, but she really did feel sorry for him.

Samantha Waters' Residence

Atlanta

Georgia

17:08 p.m.

Joseph Maly had followed him all the way from Annapolis. He, a woman and her child had just left the house, so it was safe for him to enter. Throughout this period, Maly had suffered a sickening sense of déjà vu - he felt as if he had already met the 'man from room 21' before…but that wasn't possible, was it? He got past the security systems all right, but now it would be just a matter of finding which room the 'man from room 21' was presently residing in. The room wasn't exactly hard to find since the man hadn't unpacked yet. Maly got to work as soon as he confirmed that there were no coded locks on the man's case. He emptied out the case and picked up the laptop computer. The 'man from room 21' had neglected to log out completely, so all Maly had to do was click on the 'cancel' button to stay logged on. He went straight for the email account to find out who the 'man from room 21' actually was. Fox_Mulder@fbi.gov. So, the 'man from room 21' now has a name - a strange name, but a name none-the-less. Next, all that Maly had to do was find out what the woman that Fox was agonising over was called. He was certain that it was a woman because he could see the photo that Fox had been holding through the darkness. He looked through Fox's diary entries and only had to look at half of the latest one to see that the amount of pain he was experiencing was much more than Maly had first anticipated. He went back a week and read the in-depth descriptions of the nightmares that Fox was having. He went back to the last entry again and read the second half of it. In this, he learnt that Fox had found something new at the crime scene. Maly started to panic. Hadn't he hidden the rings well enough? If they were dusted for prints, they would surely find his on them because he hadn't worn gloves. He started to raid Fox's suitcase carelessly - at least he was wearing gloves, so they wouldn't be able to lift his fingerprints from this. He found what he was looking for in a small compartment in the side of the case. He took out the plastic bag with the rings in it and pocketed it. He also closed the computer, still logged on, and put it under his arm. He was about to go back to where he entered when he heard noises emanating from downstairs.

"OK Mulder, I've been waiting since getting on that aeroplane to ask you this; What did you find at crime scene that you said was nothing? I saw you pocket it." Waters asked.

Mulder sighed, resignedly. "Well, you said that the rings were not present when you had a look at the body. When I was looking at the photos that John sent me via email, I saw a small bright patch in the corner. I checked it out, and found the rings. I don't know whether they mean anything, that's the reason I didn't tell anyone."

Maly was listening to every word that the two downstairs were saying, but when Fox said that he would show the woman the rings, he knew that he had to get out - and fast!

"Awww, shit!" Mulder said went he reached the spare room and saw the mess. He went in and surveyed the damage done, first of all noting that his computer was gone, which he was really pissed about. Then he searched for the rings - they were gone too. "SHIT!!!!"

Waters heard his exclamation, so she ran up the stairs to see what the matter was. The sight that greeted her was not what she had expected. There were clothes everywhere, and there was Mulder just looking. "Mulder, are the rings gone?" She asked, more than a little bit worried, since it new evidence.

"Yes. Along with my computer too."

"We'd better not touch anything, he may have left fingerprints. I'll call Bailey." She left the room to go and find the telephone.

Mulder's world once again plummeted into darkness. First Scully was gone, and now he had yet again one of his friends down. Why had he not told Waters about it? Was it his own insecurities perhaps? Was it, more to the point, his fear of being wrong? All he wanted was to be able to curl up into a ball and hibernate until Scully came back, or at least until 'the Carver' was caught. He had been on the verge of killing himself so many times, never as close before Scully was taken. The only thing that kept him hanging on was the distant hope that she would be returned one day. He was startled out of his reverie when Waters put her hand on his shoulder and said his name.

"Mulder, Bailey and Grace will here in a minute. Why don't you come downstairs?" It was more of a request than a question. Mulder obliged.

When they had left the room and began making their way downstairs, Maly crawled out of the cupboard in which he had been hiding. He had originally hoped to leave the place seemingly untouched, but now that wasn't an option - at least they didn't suspect his real motive for being there. Now all that was left to be done was to find a way out that did not involve going to the ground floor. It was not going to be as easy as it looked. The windows were all securely locked and even if he waited it out in that room, it would only be a matter of time before he were discovered. He thought about going into another room and waiting, but if Fox and the woman didn't leave until the next day, he would be trapped. He thought hard and finally came up with a feasible plan. He moved towards the room nearest the stairs and crouched with the door slightly ajar.

He sat there, poised, ready to get going as soon as something happened. But he had been sitting there for well over half-an-hour, and his legs were starting to ache. Just as he was about to give up, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They carried on walking past the room in which he was situated. He took this opportunity to scamper down the stair and out of the back door whilst their backs were turned.

Reception

Last Stop Hotel

Atlanta

17:43 p.m.

"And what's your name please?" the receptionist asked with a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Andrew, uh, Green." Maly replied - he had used many aliases, but this was by far his favourite. He had used it when he had gone to Washington DC a short while ago.

"OK, you're in room 13 - here's your key." She finally replied.

The "Last Stop Hotel" was the only place in the whole area that a person didn't have to have pre-booked. It was run-down, dirty and was practically falling apart. It really was 'the last stop'. Maly travelled up to his room in the creaky old elevator. He didn't trust the stairs not to collapse under his relatively small weight. His room was as poorly decorated as the lobby - the bed sheets had clearly not been changed since at least Queen Victoria's coronation! Maly lay down on the dirty bed, and stared at the ceiling. He had to work out what he was going to do. If they found the other rings at the previous crime scenes, they would surely link it back to him - after all, when he removed them, he didn't wear gloves. Then, he had an amazing idea. If he hastened his move on Fox, perhaps that would shift their attention to the Agent, and so give him enough time.

Maly got up from the bed, crossed over to the table, under which he had placed his suitcase. He reached for the stolen computer behind it. He still didn't know who the woman that Fox was agonising over was called. Unfortunately, Fox was a very complex man, and he almost never referred to anyone by name. The only names that were coming up were "Cigarette Smoking B*****d", "she" "he" and "they". He wrote a lot about tests, and from Maly read, Fox's girlfriend was being subjected to them. Maly went a further back - two years in fact. He found out what she was called - Dana Scully. He also found out that she had originally been sent to spy on him and that she had been a pathologist before she had been assigned to a project called "The X-Files" with him. Maly read on, amazed at what he read. He thought that the contents of the diary would have made a brilliant novel. He had spent a few hours reading before he realised how hungry he was.

Sycamore Avenue

Atlanta

21:00 p.m.

Walking down Sycamore Ave., Maly stared at the sky, watching the passing clouds. It was just as he had done when he was a youth. Of course, he had never been as alone whilst doing it - Sarah was always there. All of the memories came flooding back to him in a tidal wave. The most painful memory had to be the night that she said that she was leaving him, she told him that she had "found someone else". The man that she had "found" was in actual fact his twin brother. At first he couldn't handle it - not only had he lost his lover, but also his brother too. It didn't help that two days after her announcement, he got fired from his previous job as a radio DJ. Of course now he had a job. He worked for an Internet-based company, who didn't require him to stay in one place - he could be in Washington State one day, and be over in Washington DC the next, and they wouldn't care just as long as he had an Internet connection. The job was very well paying too, and the money was wired straight into his bank account. He continued to think about Sarah as he walked into a super-market and picked up a bottle of red Bordeaux wine. Big mistake. He looked at the brand name on the bottle and saw that it was Sarah's favourite. They used to go outside into the back garden and sit, drink and talk until the sun was on the horizon once again. At that point, he couldn't imagine living another day without her - she was his life, his love and he thought that he was hers too. Maly snapped out of his reverie when he felt a tear rolling down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away and resolved to help Fox out of the misery that had consumed the rest of his life, to stop Fox from going through what Maly was experiencing any further.