March 3rd 2000
Mulder pulled up outside her apartment building and knocked off the engine. Neither of them made any attempt to move and a heavy silence engulfed them. She stared out the window as twilight became night and he waited for her to speak. She hadn't said a word since the left the hotel room after the briefing. She even tried to be included into the stakeout shifts but Mulder was totally against it. Feeling tired now she was somewhat glad he had insisted.
"Do you really think he did it?" she asked without looking up, her fingers fiddling with the cuff of her cardigan sleeve.
"At this point…with no proof…save for speculation and coincidence, I couldn't say."
"But do you think he really did it?"
For a moment he said nothing and watched her. He saw that she was struggling to stay in one piece and he wished for once that she would just let go. Let the tears fall. He knew she'd shed them later in her bed, alone, but he wouldn't be there to help her then. He'd seen her cry before. She'd cried into his chest and on his shoulders, dampening many of his shirts over the years. But he didn't mind. He loved it. Not seeing her cry, that was hard. It was when she reached out to him, he felt like he was part of something. Something only she could offer him.
"Yes, I do," he said finally.
She looked around at him and met his eyes. The shadows and the worry were plain to her and she wondered briefly if he was making any effort to disguise it. She knew he was thinking about he, concerned for her, but she couldn't respond to his silent plea. She needed to be strong, to feel strong. Taking a deep breath she tried to steady her heart and even tried to smile. He saw right through it and offered her no solace. He wasn't going to let her push him away so easily this time.
"Thanks for the lift Mulder."
"No problem." His eyes looked down the street where a black sedan pulled up, releasing no passengers. "I've arranged for two agents to watch over your place tonight."
"What? Here?" she pushed all her fear into anger and turned to him.
"Listen Scully, I don't know about this guy, whether he did it or not, but I do know that I'm not going to put you at risk again. It is not going to happen."
"I-."
"I don't care." His voice was firm and she saw his fingers gripping the steering wheel tighter. "I really don't care how angry you are right now, as long as you are still here in the morning…in one piece," he added softly.
"Who is it?" she asked nodding towards the car.
"Agents Shelly and Lynch. They'll be there till I get here in the morning."
"I think I can manage to get to work tomorrow."
"Regardless, I'll be by."
He wasn't going to budge and he had even stopped looking at her so she knew he was serious. His mind was made up and there was no undoing it, so she sighed in one final protest.
"Has someone swept through my flat for intruders?" He caught the gleam in her eye and smiled a little. "Okay, okay, I'll see you tomorrow." She stepped out of the car but held the door open. "Goodnight Mulder."
She smiled and this time it was free and genuine. "And thanks." He waited until he spotted the lights in her flat go on before driving away.
March 4th 2000
Scully pulled herself from the tangled bed sheets and staggered to the bathroom. Her alarm clock seemed to be mocking her brightly announcing it to be 3:30 am. She had dozed off close to midnight but it had been a restless sleep and she could take it no longer. Showering quickly she dressed back into her pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt and wandered aimlessly into the kitchen. As she stood by the open fridge she let her gaze fall over all the food inside, none of it appealing to her. With a sudden yearning for bagels smothered in cream cheese she looked out and spied the two watchful agents in the car outside. Laughing at the thought of them chasing her to the 24hr store she decided against making a break for it.
"Mulder would be awake," she thought. "Maybe he'd drop by…with some bagels." After another hour of craving she could stand it no longer and reached for the phone.
Mulder lay on his couch, the glow from the television casting a ghostly atmosphere around the room. The phone rested on his chest by the remote and he almost fell when it rang.
"Hello, hello…Mulder," he said after fumbling with the receiver.
"Mulder…did I wake you?"
"Scully, no…what's up? Is everything okay?" he sat up, letting the remote drop to the floor.
"Yeah, everything is fine. I just…couldn't sleep"
"Me neither."
She stumbled around looking for the right words, struggling for something to say. "I…eh, I was wondering…"
"Should I bring anything?"
She relaxed and felt his smile. "Maybe a bagel or two?"
"I'll be there in a while."
It was almost half an hour later, after travelling to three different stores for fresh bagels that he pulled up outside her building. Agent Lynch was standing outside his car leaning against the hood smoking a cigarette. He nodded oddly a knowing smile on his face as Mulder let himself into the front door. She answered almost immediately and he looked down into her face. She was so much smaller without shoes on, he thought to himself.
"That was quick."
He followed her to the couch and they sat side by side. Slowly he ripped the paper bag open and placed it on the table, revealing the goods inside. He watched as her eyes widened and a devilish smile crept over her lips.
"I'm afraid I have really added some hard evidence to the rumour mill tonight."
"What do you mean?" she called from the kitchen where she grabbed the cream cheese and a knife.
"Agent Lynch, sitting outside…you should have seen his face."
"Maybe he's jealous!" she said flatly. "That he can't be my own personal G-Man bodyguard."
Mulder didn't reply but she saw the strange look on his face. She smothered one half of a bagel, just as she had been thinking about and held it up to her face. As she took a big bite she sat back into the couch, closing her eyes and savouring the tastes as they penetrated her senses.
"Nice?" he asked watching her intently.
"You have no idea," she replied not looking up.
"I'm beginning to wonder if you wanted to see me or the bagels!"
She smiled and looked at him over the rim of her snack. "Of course it I wanted to see you. The fact that you brought these delicious snacks was merely a bonus."
"Thanks…I think. So…what's kept you up?"
A quick glance at him and she saw the concern on his face
"So much has happened these past few weeks. It's all running fresh in my mind. I guess I couldn't relax."
He bit into his donut and watched her. He wondered if she had cried yet or if she had pushed it away, building it up for another day. They sat on the couch as the sun stretched into the room steadily. She had been quiet and he spoke softly about nothing important, but realised that she found comfort in his presence and reassurance in the sound of his voice. At some point she had rested her head on the armrest and her feet somehow made their way up onto his lap. He held them there tenderly, every so often rubbing them gently.
At seven fifteen her alarm clock began beeping, the noise getting louder with every cycle. He looked over and saw he stirring in her sleep so he gently moved her legs and rushed into her bedroom, diving across the bed to switch it off. When he returned to her, her eyes were flickering open.
"Mulder?"
"Hey, sorry I woke you."
She propelled herself off the couch with a speed that, moments ago Mulder didn't think she possessed.
"Give me a minute."
It wasn't long before she had dressed and they left, heading out to Mulder's car. Mulder spotted the other agents car and pointed it out to Scully.
"I thought they'd leave after I got here."
Mulder walked over to the car and found both agents lying still in their seats. He knocked lightly on the window and got no response.
"Scully…"
She rushed over to his side as he banged harder on the window, trying the doors only to find them locked. She banged on the windscreen calling out there names
"Stand back." Mulder took off his jacket and balled it around his elbow before smashing it into the window. The glass shattered over the two agents inside but still they didn't move. Scully pushed past them and checked them for vitals.
"I can't get a pulse…" she yelled but Mulder was already on the phone calling for an ambulance. The car door was opened and she dragged Agent Shelly out, laying her on the lawn. She checked her airways and pressed her head against her chest but there were no signs of life. Mulder lifted Lynch from the car and put him alongside Shelly
"Start CPR…we don't know how long they've been like this…" she said starting on Shelly.
They worked in silence each counting and grunting aloud to their own beat. When the ambulance pulled up they were ushered aside. The EMT's worked for a short while before attaching them to the cardio machine in an effort to shock them back to life. Mulder stood back, with Scully just in front of him and he watched as she visibly jerked with every burst of electricity that shook through their bodies. He stepped closer to her and pulled her back against him, his arm wrapping tightly around her shoulders. She gripped his arm and held on to it as if getting life from it herself.
When the ambulance took the bodies away the crime screen had been cordoned off. The yellow police tape a daunting reminder where reality stopped and insanity began. Scully watched as the officers swept through the car, carefully picking away the broken glass and bagging it for inspection at the lab. She could see Mulder talking with Skinner as they oversaw the operation. He looked up and saw her watching. He seemed to say something to Skinner who nodded and walked away. Mulder turned to her and smiled for a second before approaching.
"I told Skinner you may need some time," he began but she cut him off before he could continue.
"Mulder the only time I have, is being spent escaping by the person who did this to Agents Shelly and Lynch, I don't need time for myself, to rest, relax or any other concoction you may think I need." Her voice was getting louder as she spoke and he almost felt the need to step back. Her face was clearly showing the frustration she felt but when he looked closer he could also see the fear.
"Scully…I…"
"Come on Mulder, we've got work to do." She walked steadily over to his car and waited for him.
Mulder dropped her at the Quantico Autopsy Lab and proceeded to the bullpen where the team had been working. It turned out that the two agents who were supposed to be tracking Blake hadn't reported in since two am. More agents had been sent out to their last checkpoint but so far with no results.
"What's going on here? Is no body checking on our Agents?" Skinner was practically shouting, his skin seemed to be pulsating with urgency and all the other FBI Agents stood as if to attention.
"They called in their location at Lexon Hotel at approx 2.04 am. No points were called in from there. It was presumed that he would be staying there until today."
"And did he turn up to the evidence lab?" Skinner asked.
"No sir, no reports from them."
"How about the bank, did Blake's bank get us the information on the standing order? Did any of the medical facilities get back to us on order discrepancies?" Mulder's voice was loud also not caring that the other agents saw his as an equal, some even thought of him as less than that.
"I'm heading out to the bank right now," Agent Walker stood.
"No feedback from the hospitals."
"And the evidence from today? How does it look?" Skinner stepped forward blocking Mulder slightly as if forcing him down from his self-erected stage.
"There could be some prints on the car. We're having it tested right now."
"Okay, first priority…getting Blake…" Skinner turned away from the crowd signalling the end to the meeting and the Agents filed out to their various tasks.
Scully's day drove by monotonously as she examined the bodies. It was all the harder when she stood over them, looking at the faces she'd seen pass in the hall, queuing in the canteen and she found it hard to cut into their skin. The other pathologist had all but finished with Agent Shelly and she had still to make the first incision.
"Agent Scully?" he stepped up to her and looked at the untouched corpse. "I'll finish up here."
Although annoyed at his insistence she was secretly thankful and decided to take the opportunity to leave. It didn't take long for her to change and as she walked past reception she stopped as her phone rang.
"Scully."
"Hey Scully, It's me."
"Any leads?"
"After badgering the bank all day Agent Walker finally scared them enough into getting the information of the standing order, it's a warehouse storage with cooling facilities in Arlington. They've just left to check them out. The car had two clear prints that we have matched to PD prints from Blake. It was him, Scully." He stopped talking and her silence scared him. "Scully…you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"How did the autopsy go?"
"Well Rocuronium was found in large doses and it seems there was an injection into the brain…spinal cord…it was like there brains shut down and they stopped working."
"Are you done there?"
"Yes, I was just about to leave."
"No wait, I'll come get you."
"Aren't you going to Arlington?"
"No, Skinner said it would be best if I stuck with you and I'm inclined to agree…your own personal G-Man?"
She couldn't help but smile and agreed to wait for him. He said he had left the Bureau and was on his way already, it would only be a ten-minute wait. She stepped outside into the cool night air and basked in its freedom. It gently swayed her hair and brushed it around her shoulders. The small sound of a twig cracking made her turn into the darkness behind her but without any more sound or movement she shook her head, looking away, into the stars.
"I have loved the stars to fondly to be afraid of the night," she murmured to herself.
"That's beautiful…Shakespeare?"
Whipping around she froze at the sight of him and felt into her holster for her gun.
"Don't move," she shouted as her fingers found her gun and clasped the handle. She swung it round to her front and pointed it at him.
"Dana, you wouldn't shoot me…" he stepped closer and the moonlight glinted off the syringe he held in his hand.
"David…you have to stop. Mulder is on his way, he will be here any second…and you are wrong…I will shoot you."
"I have to finish…I have to collect the final pieces."
He stepped closer still and lifted the syringe into the air, expelling some of the liquid, ensuring there was no air. But before he could move closer headlights broke into his vision, blocking his clear sight of her. But what was his disadvantage was hers also. With one hand holding the gun n into his face the other was held up blocking the light from her eyes. He lunged at her and battered her arm until she dropped the gun. Mulder stopped the car and jumped out his gun already out and pointing at his head.
"David…let her go." His voice was steady and portrayed none of the fear he felt.
"Come any closer and I will stick her." He held the syringe at her neck the pinprick needle already penetrating her soft skin. He made a wide arc around Mulder towards the car and started to approach the front door that he'd left open.
"David…you wont get away with this. We found all the parts, they have been taken back." Mulder cursed himself as he saw the fury on David's face.
"NO…YOU CANT…I HAVE TO START AGAIN."
He pushed Scully into the car while still holing the needle to her neck; Mulder saw a clear shot but didnt want to risk her getting injected. With one simple jerk she could be paralysed, by an unstable drug that may or may not be reversed. In seconds all these thoughts and analysis passed through his head, but it was long enough for David to pull away, leaving him standing alone at the entrance to Quantico.