TITLE: Project Pox
AUTHOR: Jillian
RATING: G
SUMMARY: Mulder wants to take on the most fiendish conspiracy of all--the chicken pox! Just something I wrote battling the same cruel fate..
FEEDBACK: Of course! Anything and everything here or to JILLIBEAN@aol.com
AUTHORS NOTES: Okay, well, I never got chicken pox as a child. Now, just about 13 days shy of fifteen, I am still scabbed up from it. Basically, this is something I wrote at home, miserable, and very itchy. I had to miss a lot of school so I was very cranky and bored, but luckily I've got my nerdy self back in school. Anyway, I was trying to be facetious, and I hope I succeeded. Enjoy!
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Mulder heard the usual clicking of heels in the hallway outside the basement office. He glanced up at the clock, and saw it was nine o'clock on the dot. In about thirty seconds, Scully would walk through the door with two cups of coffee as usual. He was anxious today, because he'd been up all night researching a case. Finally, he was sure he had proof of government involvement in a group of children coming down with a mysterious illness in a town called Belmar in New Jersey.
Dana Scully walked through the doorway to the office and saw Mulder at his desk. She smiled at him and offered a "Hello," before handing him his coffee. She took off her coat and sat down in her chair, when she noticed that Mulder was intently studying a file. It was unusual for him to be here so early, and from the looks of things he'd been there a while.
"What's the case, Mulder?" She asked, recalling that he had mentioned he was on to something last night when she'd spoken to him on the phone.
"You're not going to believe this. There's been an outbreak of something terrible in a first grade class in Belmar, New Jersey. I'm *sure* the government is involved, Scully." He said, with the tone of passion in his voice that was present whenever something important was happening.
"What is it?" Scully asked, curiously.
"It's worse than anything we've ever investigated... Almost two thirds of the class has come down with..." He paused for dramatic effect. "The chicken pox." His voice was laced with lament and he looked disgusted.
"Yeah, so?" Scully asked.
"Don't you think it's suspicious that within a month of each other, twenty kids have come down with the chicken pox?" Mulder asked.
"No, Mulder, I don't. Kids get the chicken pox all the time. I had them in the first grade, and it spread like wildfire throughout my whole class. It's a highly contagious virus, but a very prominent one in early childhood."
"Scully, I don't think you realize what I'm saying. All those kids... Within a month?"
"No, Mulder, it makes sense. The incubation period for the chicken pox is ten to twenty days, they'd have time for one kid spread it to several others, and then for that to happen again. It's going to make a lot of kids itchy, but there's no foul play from the government."
"Scully, something so fiendish as the dreaded chicken pox! How can you look the other way when there's overwhelming evidence of government involvement?"
"Where is there ANY evidence?" Scully asked.
"Well, one student's father works for the Department of Defense. I think he's testing the disease on his own children. It's disgusting, Scully, we have to stop it!"
"Mulder, you've lost your mind! We're talking about the *chicken pox*. I had them as a kid, and I'm fine." She reasoned.
"Are you? How do I know the chicken pox didn't turn you into... Into one of them!"
"That's insane, Mulder! Everybody gets the chicken pox! Didn't you?"
"That's besides the point!"
"Oh, so the chicken pox turn me into an evil government conspirator but you get through them just fine?"
"So you admit it! And I trusted you!"
"MULDER! Snap out of it! The CHICKEN POX are an early childhood virus called vermicelli, you can be vaccinated against it now, but it is NOT a government conspiracy?"
"Of course YOU say so, they got to you! They're in your head! The pox are ways to track you. I should have seen it a long time ago!"
"Mulder," Scully began, getting up. "I refuse to be a party to this insanity."
"I'm calling Skinner!" Mulder yelled.
"GOOD! Maybe he can talk some sense into you!"
She watched as Mulder dialed the extension.
"I need to speak to the Assistant Director, it's an emergency. Thank you."
Scully rolled her eyes as Mulder waited for Skinner to pick up the call.
"Sir, it's Agent Mulder. I've uncovered a grand conspiracy, about the chicken pox. Yes, I know, isn't it terrible? It gets worse, Sir, Agent Scully has had the virus, and she's been turned into one of them. Uh huh, okay, I'll tell her. Thank you, Sir, I was fearing for my life." He hung up the phone and looked to Scully. "Skinner's on his way down."
"WHAT?" Scully asked. "But, but, that's insane. Surely he knows..."
"That you're part of Project Pox!"
"Project Pox! That's just silly, Mulder. I am not involved in a government conspiracy to spread chicken pox!"
"You KNEW those little kids were getting this dreaded disease, you KNEW it!"
"They're the CHICKEN POX, Mulder! They're just dots! They go away after a week!"
"See, if you weren't involved, how would you know so much about them?"
"I'm a medical doctor!" Scully shouted.
"Lies! Lies!" Mulder shouted back. "You're in on it!"
Just then Skinner arrived at the door. He was wearing a stern expression, and looked at Agent Scully like a criminal.
"Agent Scully, I can't believe we trusted you." He shook his head in despair.
"What are talking about? I'm not part of any conspiracy! There IS NO conspiracy, it's just the chicken pox!"
"I wish I could believe that, Agent, I really do." Skinner said. "C'mon, get her out of here." He signaled to men waiting in the hallway, who rushed into the room.
"Agent Scully, you have the right to remain silent,"
"No! This is ridiculous!" She screamed, as Mulder shook his head.
"I can't believe she was working for THEM all along." Mulder sighed.
"NO! It's not true!" She struggled against the cuffs but it was no use. "Has the whole world gone mad?" She yelled, fighting futilely to be free.
Suddenly, she heard a telephone ring.
Dana Scully opened her eyes to realize she was in her own bed. She reached over tiredly to grab the phone. "Hello?" She asked tiredly.
"Scully, it's me, Mulder."
Scully groaned.
"What's the matter?" Mulder asked.
"Nothing, I, uh, had a bad dream, that's all." Scully sighed.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, fine. Why'd you call?"
"Well, I know it's Saturday, but I have an important case I'd like to look into. Can you be ready to fly out of DC in an hour?"
"Yeah, I guess. See you then."
"Thanks, Scully." He said before hanging up.
She stepped out of the bed and almost tripped on a magazine laying on the floor. She kicked the New England Journal of Medicine out of her way, glancing briefly at one of the cover features: Chicken Pox Research Can Stop The Virus. She sighed outwardly, remembering the dream, and decided not to read before bed anymore.