Tomorrow
By Jillian
CHAPTER EIGHT
Scully put on her makeup, looking in the mirror. Would she tell her boss? Her students? She *had* to tell her boss eventually. Of course, she could work up until she was about eight months. It wasn't like the FBI, she wasn't chasing after criminals or aliens. She was standing in front of a bunch of teenagers. She was lined up to teach summer school, and the principal told her that she would almost positively have a permanent job at Tottenville. She was excited, and noted the irony in the fact that she had replaced a teacher who had gotten pregnant.
"Mulder, I'm leaving. I'll tell the boss today so we can decide what to do." She said.
"Have a nice day, Scully. I've got an article to finish." He murmured.
"Oh, and the horrible strain on you that must be." She said sarcastically.
"Scully... Don't I get a kiss goodbye?"
Walking over she kissed his lips. His arm behind her back, he pulled her close to apply more pressure. Pulling away, she looked down at him.
"That is why you get no kiss. You always ask for too much at this early, pre-work hour." She smiled, walking out.
"Good luck with your boss, Scully." She heard as she walked down the stairs.
Sitting quietly in his office, before first period, she tried to figure out the best way to tell her boss. She smiled to herself imagining how crazy the truth would sound... *Well, I'm pregnant by my partner with our second miracle child.* He looked over at her, awaiting her message.
"You said you had some news for me?" He asked.
"Yes, um, I've just gotten word from a doctor that I am pregnant." She said.
"Congratulations, Katherine." He said.
"Thank you, John. Of course, I'd like to stay in the classroom as long as possible, so you won't have to worry about finding a summer school replacement. However, by the time I am ready to take maternity leave, the new school year will have begun. I don't know at this moment how long I'll be gone..." She trailed off.
"Well, being that the teacher you're filling in for will be returning, we won't absolutely need you here. We were going to keep you, and we will still do so, simply because of your wonderful qualifications. However, if you can't be here, the classes will simply be larger. When and if you choose to return after taking your leave, we will divide up classes for you, or you'll take some classes from over-worked teachers. Of course, we're speaking in the far future." He said.
"Thank you so much." Scully said. "And, is there a policy on letting students know about matters like this?" She asked.
"No, there isn't. Of course once you begin showing it will be obvious, but you can tell them as early as you'd like to. From seeing other teachers in this situation, I believe honesty is the best policy." He smiled.
"Thank you, John. I'd better get to my room." She smiled.
"Congratulations, again, Katherine." He said. She returned his smile and left the office.
Her period one class shuffled in the room drearily. Scully, of course, had a smile on her face. She greeted the students as they took their seats, and her demeanor was noticeably more happy than usual, not that she was ever particularly unhappy in her classroom, but she never smiled this much.
"Good morning, everybody." She said cheerfully.
"Do we still have that test tomorrow?" One boy asked.
"Yes, of course you still have that test tomorrow." She replied.
Her reply was met by a collective groan.
"Oh, c'mon. The more I test you, the better you'll get, and then you'll all pass your Regents and you can thank me for testing you so much." She smiled.
"Hey, Doctor Carter, you gunna be around next year? I'd like to pass the chemistry Regents too." A female student asked.
"Well, there are certain circumstances surrounding that.." She began. Should she tell them?
"What do you mean? Are they going to let our old teacher come back? You're better anyways. She was really nasty."
"Well she'll be back, but I may be back as well. I'll be here for summer school, not that I expect to see *any* of you there after my tests... But, I may not be back for the beginning of next year, because my husband and I are expecting a child." She smiled.
"Aww, Doctor Carter's havin' a baby!" A girl squeaked.
"For real?" A boy asked. She nodded, eyebrows infamously raised.
"How ironic." One of the smarter girls said.
"Yes, I am aware of the irony that I replaced a pregnant teacher." She smiled. "Now, enough about me, we have a test to prepare for. Take out your workbooks." She said, calling their attention.
The day progressed similarly, classes knowing about her pregnancy from their friends, and her confirming their rumors. Her remedial chemistry class, who had lab that day, were not as well behaved, however. Instead of congratulations, she got a bunch of slang terms after she'd heard them whisper the news to one another as they walked in. The bell rang and she called for their attention.
"Okay, class, quiet down. We have a lot to do today." She said, as some of the students put on the goggles as they did every time they entered the chemistry lab.
"Ayo, Doc Carter, is it true?" One student asked.
"Is what true?" She asked.
"Are you knocked up?" Another called out.
"Excuse me?" She demanded. "I am not 'knocked up,' I'm expecting a child."
"Whose is it? Yo, it's definitely Mr. Hanson's..." One kid said, cracking up the class. Mr. Hanson was a teacher about her age, whom she had befriended. They weren't exactly good friends, but he was basically the only teacher she really spoke to. They had the same lunch period so they ate together, and she assumed that's why the remark had been made.
"Would you like to go discuss that with the principal, Eric? It's my *husband's,* genius. Now, there will be no further discussion of the matter being that it does not relate to chemistry--"
"What if this was biology, then it would relate." Eric argued.
"Wow, Eric, you learned something. It's a shame this is *chemistry* and not *biology*. Keep it up and see what happens. Now if any of you want to pass the Regents Exam put on your goggles and shut your mouths!" She said, her voice having risen quite a few decibels.
Apparently, she got through to them because her pregnancy wasn't mentioned for the rest of the period.
Seventh period, she had her favorite chemistry class. They were smart kids, an honors class. They filled into the room, smiling knowingly but not asking her about her pregnancy. Due to the fact that they were being so cooperative, she openly told them. "I'm sure you've all heard already, but for those of you who have not, I am currently expecting a child. Of course, that's about eight and half months away." She smiled. "So we have plenty of time to get ready for the Regents. Please take out your Chemistry workbooks and turn to page one hundred and thirty."
The students obediently took out the workbooks. It was almost time for their big Regents Exams, it was already June. Even in her most well behaved class, she could see the rules of the dress code gradually being broken. Tank tops, short shorts... She couldn't blame them. It *was* hot, and this was the style. And of course, it was almost the end of the school year. Nobody was going to suspend them at this point anyway.
As she was instructing the class in a review, she noticed one of her students eyes kept twitching. After several glances in her direction, Scully noticed that they were dilated. This was one of her top students, probably her favorite, Gina. Scully was almost sure she wasn't using any type of drug--especially not before class. After the twitches, muscle spasms began to wrack the girls arms. Concerned with her condition and the dazed look of her dilated pupils, Dana called out to the girl.
"Gina, are you feeling okay?"
No response.
Suddenly, she fell into a seizure. Scully dropped her book as students shouted. At her side within seconds, Scully tried to calm down the rest of the students. "Call 911! One of you has a cell phone, call, damnit!" She screamed when the shocked students met her with empty stares. Quickly enough, phones were calling 911. "Get the nurse, Johnathon, go!" She screamed, continuing to care for Gina as she had learned as a doctor.
"Can you hear me, Gina?" She asked the girl. She was a pretty girl, tall and blonde with bright blue eyes. There was no answer. "Whose close to Gina?" Scully demanded, as the girls seizures subsided.
"I am." A student, Jessica, answered.
"Does she suffer from epilepsy? Or any other seizure causing diseases?" She asked.
"No, and I know her better than anyone." The girl said.
"Is she using any drugs?" Scully asked.
"No." The girl replied.
Why was she having a seizure? It didn't make any sense. Suddenly, she began to come out of the daze. "Gina! Gina, can you hear me?" Scully's concerned demands were met by a groggy moan.
"What happened? Are you using anything?" She demanded.
"No..." The girl managed to mumbled. "My... Shoulder. Felt, a prick." She said. "Thought it was nothing..."
Scully looked on the back of the girls arm, thankfully she had been wearing a tank top.
A puncture wound.
Just then she fell into seizures again, but suddenly paramedics were there with a stretcher to take her away. "There's a puncture wound behind her left shoulder! She's been injected with some kind of drug!" Dana shouted. Shaken, Scully demanded to go with her. The principal, however, asked that she stayed with the other students until the end of the period. Unhappily obliging, she walked back behind her desk. Bending down to pick up her book she had dropped, she noticed a piece of paper protruding from it.
"Keep creating the liquid and the kids keep getting hurt."
Keeping her composure in order to keep the students calm, she slipped the note into her briefcase and looked back towards the class. The students were panicked and confused, and she knew there was no way she could teach them anything while they were worrying about their classmate. She stared blankly at them for a while, not knowing what to say. A hand raised from the back of the room, and it belonged to a misty-eyed girl.
"Is she going to be okay?" She asked simply.
"I, uh, couldn't tell you for sure right now. As soon as this bell rings I'm going to go find out what happened, and I promise as soon as I get back here I'll let you guys know. I'm sure she'll be okay, the seizures didn't look that serious." She said, sugarcoating her real worries for the teenagers.
It was about five minutes later that the bell rang. Scully grabbed her briefcase and darted out of the room, towards the nurses office. On the way, she took out her cell phone and dialed the house. The phone rang three times when Mulder picked it up. "Hello?" He said.
"Mulder." She said quietly, pushing through a sea of students.
"Scully, what's wrong?" He asked, sensing her trouble.
"Someone's on to us." She whispered.
"How do you know?" He asked.
"A student in my class fell into a seizure. She had a puncture wound on her back and recalled feeling a prick earlier, but attributing it to just a friend or whatnot... However her pupils were dilated and she was clearly drugged." She said.
"How do you know it was someone after us?" He asked.
"There was a note... In my book. I have to go, I have to go see her. I'll call you back when I know more." She said frantically, approaching the medical office.
"Where did they take her?" Scully demanded, bursting into the office.
"Gina Polemi?" The startled secretary asked.
"Yes. Which hospital?" She said.
"Saint Vincent's." She said.
"I just moved here.. Can you give me directions?" Scully asked frantically.
"Yes, sure." The woman replied, scrawling things onto the paper.
Her eyes filled with tears of guilt as she got into her car. Just when she thought it was all working out, everything comes crashing down on her again. It was her fault this girl was sick, hell, what if she died? How could she live after that? After losing so much and now causing a young girl to lose her life... Scully would not let that happen. Speeding across the expressway, she arrived at the hospital in about twenty minutes. Running into the Emergency Room, she saw the principal standing there.
"Where is she? Is she okay?" She asked, wracked with guilt.
"She's in stable condition... She's asleep, they put her under. They're running a toxicology scan to see what she's on."
"She had, a uh, puncture wound.." She trailed off, her eyes tearing and voice shaking.
"Katherine, she's going to be okay. It's all right. You acted perfectly... You did all the right things."
If only he had known why the girl had fell into those seizures...
"How did you know how to handle a seizure?" He asked.
"I'm a medical doctor." She murmured.
"Really? You didn't put it on your resume."
"I never practiced. I didn't want to go into medicine... I didn't want to seem over qualified." She sputtered.
"I think you can go see her now. The tox scan shouldn't be done for about an hour or so."
Scully wandered the room the principal told her was Gina's. Slowly, she opened the door. Seeing the parents inside, she went to close it, apologizing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt..." She murmured.
"It's okay." The woman said. "Are you from her school?" She asked.
"Yes, I'm her chemistry teacher Doctor Carter... She was in my class when the seizures began..." She trailed off. Looking down at that beautiful young girl in the hospital bed broke her heart.
"Come in, sit down. She's okay because of the immediate action you took." The man said.
"It was nothing, I'm a medical doctor, that's all. I just, uh, came to see how she was. I'm going to go wait outside, I'll let you have your privacy." The parents smiled quietly as she exited the room.
Walking back into the waiting area, she noticed the principal. Quietly excusing herself, she walked out to the front of the hospital. Standing outside, tears still lingering in her eyes, she pulled out her cell phone. Dialing the number that she was still getting used to being home, she exhaled loudly.
"Hello?" She heard Mulder's voice.
"Mulder, it's me. I'm at the hospital... They're running a tox scan. She's stable, asleep. I feel so awful, Mulder, what if she had..." She drifted off.
"You mentioned a note." He said.
"Yes, it fell out of my book. It said 'Keep creating the liquid and the kids keep getting hurt.' Mulder... Someone's on to us." She said quietly.
"We can send the note to the Bureau with Reyes and Doggett and Skinner for fingerprints and handwriting analysis." He said.
"Yes, um, I have to stay here. I can't leave until I know what it was that they put in her..." She said.
"Do you want me to come down there?" He asked.
"No, it would look suspicious." She said.
"Okay, Dana, hang in there." He said.
"I will, Mulder. I'll call you as soon as I know exactly what's going on." She said, hanging up the phone.
*end chapter eight*
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