Chapter 3
The sun began to flow into Scully's room. Mulder, not a heavy sleeper, awoke first. Not realizing it at first, his arm was completely asleep. He didn't want to wake Scully up, so he decided to stay like that until he woke up. His mind started to wander into the "what ifs". 'What if Scully and I never went there yesterday?' 'What if I never found Scully?' He wanted to forget about the last one. His thoughts were interrupted when Scully sighed.
"I thought that I would wake up and this would all have been a bad dream." Scully said.
"Me too, me too." Mulder said and moved, hoping that Scully would get the message that he wanted to get up. She did, and moved. "How are you feeling?" Mulder asked.
"I have a pounding headache and my stomach feels like an elephant stepped on it." Scully replied yawning.
"Yeah, well, that's expected after what happened yesterday.
"Yeah, I know. So, Skinner said that you went in search of that asshole last night.did you find him?" Scully asked with a plead for hope in her voice.
"Yes, I did. He put up a fight though. I had to shoot him in the leg for him to stop running. And you know me, I don't like to shoot people. But last night when I shot him, it felt, I don't know how to explain it. It just felt good to get back at someone for once." He replied. The expression on Scully's face made him laugh. "Don't worry, Scully. I am not going to make a habit of it."
Scully smiled. "So, do you know when I am going to get out of here?" Scully asked.
Mulder picked up her chart. "Well, it says here that you are going to be discharged this afternoon at 3." Mulder said with a puzzled look on his face.
"Mulder, if they are going to let me out that early, it means that my injuries weren't that severe." Scully said, explaining just the opposite of what Mulder was trying to prove.
"Scully, you were brought here, half dead, and needed surgery. Those aren't severe injuries? Something has to be going on." Mulder said. At that moment, his cell phone rang. "Mulder." He answered.
"Agent Mulder, Paul Rodriguez escaped last night around midnight. He was rambling on about getting you back. Be careful." Skinner said and hung up.
Mulder hung up and looked at Scully with a frozen expression on his face.
"Mulder, what is it? What's wrong?" Scully asked worried.
"Paul Rodriguez got out.he escaped last night around midnight. He said he was going to get me back." Mulder said.
"Get you back for what? He was the one who tried to kill me." Scully asked confused.
"Probably for shooting him in the leg." Mulder replied.
"Mulder, you don't think that this has anything to do with me getting out early, do you?" Scully asked.
"Actually, yes I do. I think that he was here, threatened them into letting you go so he could get me alone." Mulder said, piecing the pieces of the puzzle together.
"It doesn't make sense." Scully replied.
"Sure it does. He knows that as long as you are here, I am not going to leave your side. He doesn't want anyone but me." Mulder replied.
"Do you have a plan?" Scully asked?
"Yeah, we'll give him what he wants, except you will be there. We will go to the park later on tonight, I will wait by the swing set, and you will wait in the car until he comes, and you can attack him from behind. I will be by your side in 2 seconds." Mulder explained.
"Sounds good to me. We shouldn't tell Skinner about this, or he will tell us we need back up and that it is too risky in my condition." Scully said.
"Wow, you sounded like me for a second, there." Mulder chuckled.
"Well, that's what I get when I am around you almost 24/7." Scully replied.
"Oh, don't make it sound like a bad thing. You know you enjoy it." Mulder said grinning.
"Yeah, talk now. I'll get you back." Scully said.
3:00 PM.
"Hope you feel better." The nurse at the desk said. "Good luck." She softly added.
Mulder and Scully looked at each other and nodded. They both walked outside to Mulder's car. There was a note attached to the windshield wiper. Mulder read it to Scully. "You're a dead man, pretty boy." Mulder looked around but saw no one. He sighed, and then they got in the car and drove away. "So, where are we off to? My place or yours?" Mulder asked.
"My place. I need to change anyway." Scully said and rested her pounding head on the back of the seat.
10 minutes later.
Scully, who was still feeling pretty crappy, unlocked her front door and walked in. Mulder walked in behind her and shut the door.
"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen." Scully said, going into her room to change.
Mulder didn't want anything to drink, so he sat on the couch and waited for Scully to return. As he waited, he looked at the pictures that he had seen so many times before. When Scully returned, she took a seat next to Mulder.
"Scully, do you honestly feel up to tonight? I mean, physically, do you feel up to it?" Mulder asked.
"All I have to do is take 2 aspirins and I will be fine. Don't worry so much, I am fine." Scully replied. "Besides, if I beat that cancer, who knows what else I can do."
"True.. How do you do it Scully? How can you be so strong when so many bad things are going wrong around you?" Mulder asked.
"I don't know.. I guess since I was always the strong one in my family, it stayed with me since then." Scully replied.
Mulder smiled.
"What?" Scully asked curiously, also a little embarrassed.
He shook his head. "Nothing, nothing."
7:30 PM at the park.
Mulder walked over by the swing set, and Scully remained in the car as planned.
10 minutes later.
Mulder and Scully looked at their watches. They looked at each other and Mulder signaled for her to go see him. Scully got out of the car. She was walking on the gravel; when suddenly she was pushed onto it, face down. Paul was back. He leaned over her and put his face to her ear.
"You scream, I will kill you right here." Paul said.
As soon as Mulder saw Paul, he dashed over to them. Paul lifted Scully roughly to her feet and held the gun to her stomach. "You come any closer, Mulder, and your partner is dead."
Scully began to cry silently.
"Paul, leave her alone. You don't want her; you want me. Take me. Just please, don't hurt Scully." Mulder pleaded.
"Oh, I see. Me killing Scully would kill you more than actually killing you." Paul thought aloud.
"Please, Paul. Don't do this." Mulder pleaded once more.
"I guess you are out of luck this time, Miss Scully." Paul said into her ear.
Still crying, she mouthed 'I love you' to Mulder. Then Paul shot her.
"NO!" Mulder shouted as he saw Scully fall to the ground. He shot Paul in the forehead and then ran to Scully. "Scully, you have to stay with me. You are going to be ok." Mulder said. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, called the hospital and requested an ambulance. "Scully, they are coming. Just hold on." Mulder said sitting down behind her and pulling her onto his lap. He held her for the seconds that seemed like weeks going by until the ambulance showed up.
A minute later the ambulance showed up. Even in the short period of time, Scully grew dangerously worse. After they got her onto the gurney and into the rig, one of the paramedics contacted the hospital. "We have a GSW to the lower abdomen. She is in critical condition."
"What is your ETA?" Asked the clerk.
"One minute out." The paramedic said.
All of a sudden, Scully's vitals start dropping. The paramedic in the back finished giving her an IV and then injected some medicine into her. "Damn it! We're losing her! Step on it, Hank!" The second paramedic shouted getting out the crash cart.
Mulder, driving close behind them, could not see what was going on. He again feared the worse. 'Great job, Mulder. You just killed your partner.' He cursed himself.
They pulled up to the hospital and they rushed Scully in. Within 2 minutes, Scully had various wires attached to her and a tube down her throat.
"Sir, you are going to have to wait outside; we're taking her to surgery." The surgeon said motioning to the chairs. Mulder didn't listen though, and he just followed them upstairs. "Sir, I know you are worried, but you cannot come in here with us."
Mulder stopped and took a seat outside the operating room.
1 hour and 15 minutes later.
Mulder is still sitting in the same chair. He was leaned over with his elbows on his thighs. To him, seconds seemed like minutes; minutes seemed like hours; and hours seemed like days.
2 hours later.
By this time, Skinner and Mrs. Scully had arrived. Mrs. Scully was in disbelief that this was happening, and crying. Then the surgeon comes out, and not surprisingly, Mulder is the first one to jump out of his seat.
"Sir, I would like to talk to you privately." He said to Mulder and led him to his office.
"What is it? Is she ok?" Mulder asked worried.
"Sir, as you know, yesterday Miss Scully was kicked many times in the stomach and we needed to stitch up the internal bleeding. Well, the bullet tore the stitches apart, causing more bleeding than I had expected. She is stable, but she is going to have to remain here for a week or so." He replied.
Mulder let out a sigh of relief. The doctor and himself left the office, and gave the others' the news. After the doctor left, Mrs. Scully went in search of Scully's room. When she was gone, Skinner blew his top.
"Mulder, what the hell were you thinking!? You almost got Scully killed, AGAIN!" Skinner yelled.
Mulder just stood there and said, "You're right.. I'm sorry." Mulder said. He handed Skinner his gun and badge.
"Agent Mulder, where are you going?" Skinner asked.
"I quit." Mulder said and went to look for Scully's room. When he found it, he saw Mrs. Scully coming to the door to leave. "Mrs. Scully, I am so sorry."Mulder said but was cut off.
"You should be you heartless bastard! You almost killed my only other daughter! What else do you want? Who else's lives do you want to take in order to get the stupid truth?!" Mrs. Scully snapped and left.
Mulder stood there for a few seconds, the words stinging him. He then walked into Scully's room. Looking at her, his heart broke. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a letter.
"Dear Dana,
I am so incredibly sorry that this happened to you. I never would want to have happened. As a result of the past two days, I am handing in my badge and gun. This way, you will never have to be hurt again. I feel as though I am killing you, and I don't want to. I love you too, Dana. Good-bye.
Love always, Fox
Mulder had tears spilling from his eyes. He didn't want to leave her. He loved her; and he finally figured it out. Quietly and gently, he kissed her on the cheek. He placed the note on the table next to her bed. With that, he was gone.
The sun began to flow into Scully's room. Mulder, not a heavy sleeper, awoke first. Not realizing it at first, his arm was completely asleep. He didn't want to wake Scully up, so he decided to stay like that until he woke up. His mind started to wander into the "what ifs". 'What if Scully and I never went there yesterday?' 'What if I never found Scully?' He wanted to forget about the last one. His thoughts were interrupted when Scully sighed.
"I thought that I would wake up and this would all have been a bad dream." Scully said.
"Me too, me too." Mulder said and moved, hoping that Scully would get the message that he wanted to get up. She did, and moved. "How are you feeling?" Mulder asked.
"I have a pounding headache and my stomach feels like an elephant stepped on it." Scully replied yawning.
"Yeah, well, that's expected after what happened yesterday.
"Yeah, I know. So, Skinner said that you went in search of that asshole last night.did you find him?" Scully asked with a plead for hope in her voice.
"Yes, I did. He put up a fight though. I had to shoot him in the leg for him to stop running. And you know me, I don't like to shoot people. But last night when I shot him, it felt, I don't know how to explain it. It just felt good to get back at someone for once." He replied. The expression on Scully's face made him laugh. "Don't worry, Scully. I am not going to make a habit of it."
Scully smiled. "So, do you know when I am going to get out of here?" Scully asked.
Mulder picked up her chart. "Well, it says here that you are going to be discharged this afternoon at 3." Mulder said with a puzzled look on his face.
"Mulder, if they are going to let me out that early, it means that my injuries weren't that severe." Scully said, explaining just the opposite of what Mulder was trying to prove.
"Scully, you were brought here, half dead, and needed surgery. Those aren't severe injuries? Something has to be going on." Mulder said. At that moment, his cell phone rang. "Mulder." He answered.
"Agent Mulder, Paul Rodriguez escaped last night around midnight. He was rambling on about getting you back. Be careful." Skinner said and hung up.
Mulder hung up and looked at Scully with a frozen expression on his face.
"Mulder, what is it? What's wrong?" Scully asked worried.
"Paul Rodriguez got out.he escaped last night around midnight. He said he was going to get me back." Mulder said.
"Get you back for what? He was the one who tried to kill me." Scully asked confused.
"Probably for shooting him in the leg." Mulder replied.
"Mulder, you don't think that this has anything to do with me getting out early, do you?" Scully asked.
"Actually, yes I do. I think that he was here, threatened them into letting you go so he could get me alone." Mulder said, piecing the pieces of the puzzle together.
"It doesn't make sense." Scully replied.
"Sure it does. He knows that as long as you are here, I am not going to leave your side. He doesn't want anyone but me." Mulder replied.
"Do you have a plan?" Scully asked?
"Yeah, we'll give him what he wants, except you will be there. We will go to the park later on tonight, I will wait by the swing set, and you will wait in the car until he comes, and you can attack him from behind. I will be by your side in 2 seconds." Mulder explained.
"Sounds good to me. We shouldn't tell Skinner about this, or he will tell us we need back up and that it is too risky in my condition." Scully said.
"Wow, you sounded like me for a second, there." Mulder chuckled.
"Well, that's what I get when I am around you almost 24/7." Scully replied.
"Oh, don't make it sound like a bad thing. You know you enjoy it." Mulder said grinning.
"Yeah, talk now. I'll get you back." Scully said.
3:00 PM.
"Hope you feel better." The nurse at the desk said. "Good luck." She softly added.
Mulder and Scully looked at each other and nodded. They both walked outside to Mulder's car. There was a note attached to the windshield wiper. Mulder read it to Scully. "You're a dead man, pretty boy." Mulder looked around but saw no one. He sighed, and then they got in the car and drove away. "So, where are we off to? My place or yours?" Mulder asked.
"My place. I need to change anyway." Scully said and rested her pounding head on the back of the seat.
10 minutes later.
Scully, who was still feeling pretty crappy, unlocked her front door and walked in. Mulder walked in behind her and shut the door.
"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen." Scully said, going into her room to change.
Mulder didn't want anything to drink, so he sat on the couch and waited for Scully to return. As he waited, he looked at the pictures that he had seen so many times before. When Scully returned, she took a seat next to Mulder.
"Scully, do you honestly feel up to tonight? I mean, physically, do you feel up to it?" Mulder asked.
"All I have to do is take 2 aspirins and I will be fine. Don't worry so much, I am fine." Scully replied. "Besides, if I beat that cancer, who knows what else I can do."
"True.. How do you do it Scully? How can you be so strong when so many bad things are going wrong around you?" Mulder asked.
"I don't know.. I guess since I was always the strong one in my family, it stayed with me since then." Scully replied.
Mulder smiled.
"What?" Scully asked curiously, also a little embarrassed.
He shook his head. "Nothing, nothing."
7:30 PM at the park.
Mulder walked over by the swing set, and Scully remained in the car as planned.
10 minutes later.
Mulder and Scully looked at their watches. They looked at each other and Mulder signaled for her to go see him. Scully got out of the car. She was walking on the gravel; when suddenly she was pushed onto it, face down. Paul was back. He leaned over her and put his face to her ear.
"You scream, I will kill you right here." Paul said.
As soon as Mulder saw Paul, he dashed over to them. Paul lifted Scully roughly to her feet and held the gun to her stomach. "You come any closer, Mulder, and your partner is dead."
Scully began to cry silently.
"Paul, leave her alone. You don't want her; you want me. Take me. Just please, don't hurt Scully." Mulder pleaded.
"Oh, I see. Me killing Scully would kill you more than actually killing you." Paul thought aloud.
"Please, Paul. Don't do this." Mulder pleaded once more.
"I guess you are out of luck this time, Miss Scully." Paul said into her ear.
Still crying, she mouthed 'I love you' to Mulder. Then Paul shot her.
"NO!" Mulder shouted as he saw Scully fall to the ground. He shot Paul in the forehead and then ran to Scully. "Scully, you have to stay with me. You are going to be ok." Mulder said. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, called the hospital and requested an ambulance. "Scully, they are coming. Just hold on." Mulder said sitting down behind her and pulling her onto his lap. He held her for the seconds that seemed like weeks going by until the ambulance showed up.
A minute later the ambulance showed up. Even in the short period of time, Scully grew dangerously worse. After they got her onto the gurney and into the rig, one of the paramedics contacted the hospital. "We have a GSW to the lower abdomen. She is in critical condition."
"What is your ETA?" Asked the clerk.
"One minute out." The paramedic said.
All of a sudden, Scully's vitals start dropping. The paramedic in the back finished giving her an IV and then injected some medicine into her. "Damn it! We're losing her! Step on it, Hank!" The second paramedic shouted getting out the crash cart.
Mulder, driving close behind them, could not see what was going on. He again feared the worse. 'Great job, Mulder. You just killed your partner.' He cursed himself.
They pulled up to the hospital and they rushed Scully in. Within 2 minutes, Scully had various wires attached to her and a tube down her throat.
"Sir, you are going to have to wait outside; we're taking her to surgery." The surgeon said motioning to the chairs. Mulder didn't listen though, and he just followed them upstairs. "Sir, I know you are worried, but you cannot come in here with us."
Mulder stopped and took a seat outside the operating room.
1 hour and 15 minutes later.
Mulder is still sitting in the same chair. He was leaned over with his elbows on his thighs. To him, seconds seemed like minutes; minutes seemed like hours; and hours seemed like days.
2 hours later.
By this time, Skinner and Mrs. Scully had arrived. Mrs. Scully was in disbelief that this was happening, and crying. Then the surgeon comes out, and not surprisingly, Mulder is the first one to jump out of his seat.
"Sir, I would like to talk to you privately." He said to Mulder and led him to his office.
"What is it? Is she ok?" Mulder asked worried.
"Sir, as you know, yesterday Miss Scully was kicked many times in the stomach and we needed to stitch up the internal bleeding. Well, the bullet tore the stitches apart, causing more bleeding than I had expected. She is stable, but she is going to have to remain here for a week or so." He replied.
Mulder let out a sigh of relief. The doctor and himself left the office, and gave the others' the news. After the doctor left, Mrs. Scully went in search of Scully's room. When she was gone, Skinner blew his top.
"Mulder, what the hell were you thinking!? You almost got Scully killed, AGAIN!" Skinner yelled.
Mulder just stood there and said, "You're right.. I'm sorry." Mulder said. He handed Skinner his gun and badge.
"Agent Mulder, where are you going?" Skinner asked.
"I quit." Mulder said and went to look for Scully's room. When he found it, he saw Mrs. Scully coming to the door to leave. "Mrs. Scully, I am so sorry."Mulder said but was cut off.
"You should be you heartless bastard! You almost killed my only other daughter! What else do you want? Who else's lives do you want to take in order to get the stupid truth?!" Mrs. Scully snapped and left.
Mulder stood there for a few seconds, the words stinging him. He then walked into Scully's room. Looking at her, his heart broke. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a letter.
"Dear Dana,
I am so incredibly sorry that this happened to you. I never would want to have happened. As a result of the past two days, I am handing in my badge and gun. This way, you will never have to be hurt again. I feel as though I am killing you, and I don't want to. I love you too, Dana. Good-bye.
Love always, Fox
Mulder had tears spilling from his eyes. He didn't want to leave her. He loved her; and he finally figured it out. Quietly and gently, he kissed her on the cheek. He placed the note on the table next to her bed. With that, he was gone.