Partners By Chance - chapter eight
Disclaimers found in chapter one
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Judy looked down at Scully and against her better judgment decided to fill her in as best she could about what had happened while she was in her coma. That was the least she could do for her patient and for Mulder.
"Listen Dana, it is quite a story and it will take a bit of time to tell you. I am off duty in about a half an hour. How about I come back then with a cup of tea for me and a bit of ice cream for you and I will tell you then."
Scully agreed and spent the next forty minutes flipping through the TV channels on her small set and trying to relax. The minute hand seemed to drag but finally Judy appeared with her cup of tea and a small dish of ice cream and a cup of tea for Scully as well.
"Here, nibble on this while I talk. Let's see how it sits in your stomach."
After situating Scully, Judy closed the door to Scully's room and sat down beside her.
"What exactly do you know about what happened while you were out?"
"Not much really. My mother filled me in on my medical condition but I fell asleep before she could tell me anything else."
"So you know you weren't raped?"
Scully paled a bit at the mere thought but nodded.
"Well, then I guess I will start at the beginning.."
It had been about 8pm when Mulder had brought Scully into the ER. Because of her head injury, Judy had met the ambulance to offer any of her specialized assistance.
"He was frantic for you, Dana. From what I heard, he found the killer leaning over you and when he told him to step back he lunged at you. Fox first shot him in the shoulder but when he went to attack you again Fox just opened fire. I believe they pulled 6 bullets out of him altogether."
Scully closed her eyes trying to block out the vision of McCormick hovering over her with a knife. "Go on" she said. "Well, as I said, Fox came in with you in the ambulance telling us he was your partner - telling us that gave him access to you that he normally would not have received. His shirt was covered with blood. His jacket was covering you."
Scully raised any eyebrow at this.
"You were nude and he wanted to make sure your privacy was protected as much as possible. He told us that you had probably been drugged and made sure that we examined you from top to bottom."
He refused to leave you even when your boss, Bishop I think his name was, showed up. Bishop let him file his reports using a laptop in your room and we gave him some scrubs so he could get out of the bloody clothes."
"And here he stayed. The only time is budged was to talk to the doctor out in the hallway or when your mother arrived. Even then it would only be for a couple of hours at a time."
"So where is he now?"
Judy took a long sip of tea and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Yesterday morning you woke up for a second - I imagine you don't even remember - while Fox was with you. He was incredibly relieved and after he was sure that you were truly asleep again he came out of your room to get a cup of coffee and call your mother with the news."
"While he was down in the cafeteria another man showed up. I think his name was Jack. He introduced himself to us as your boyfriend."
"Really" Scully said sarcastically.
Judy smiled at that. "We all thought it was rather strange especially after watching Fox hold your hand for hours on end talking to you the whole time. Fox returned from getting his coffee and found Jack sitting in there with you. I am not sure what they said to each other inside your room but obviously Fox thought better of holding the conversation in front of you and they came out here to finish it."
Scully smiled slyly at Judy. "I don't suppose by any small miracle you happen to overhear what they were saying."
Judy smiled back. "Well, maybe I did hear a little bit of it."
This admission made Scully laugh out loud. Encouraged Judy continued.
"Jack pretty much told Fox off saying that he didn't appreciate Fox hanging around his girlfriend and putting her in danger. Pretty much raked Fox over the coals."
"What did Mulder do?"
"He basically stood there with his mouth open with a look of total shock on his face. After Jack was through, he just apologized and asked Jack to make sure to mention to you that he had been to see you. And then he left."
"Yeah, he left without a word to anyone but looking very much like a lost soul."
Scully sat in dumbfounded silence but slowly she felt the anger start to build.
Judy sensed that it was time to leave and did so telling Scully to get some rest.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mrs. Scully walked into the room practically immediately after Judy left. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the look on Scully's face.
"Scully, what is it? Did the doctors find something else wrong with you?"
Seeing the look of fear in her mother's eye, she forced herself to relax. "No Mom just finding out about what has been going on here while I was asleep."
"I see" her mother replied sitting down.
Mrs. Scully sat in silence waiting for her daughter to proceed. She could see the wheels spinning in Scully's head and knew her daughter would ask her questions as soon as she was ready to hear the answers.
"Mom, why is Jack here?"
This question seemed to shock her mother. She hesitated a bit "I don't know dear. I must admit I was quite surprised to see him especially" her voiced trailed off.
"Especially?"
"Especially since Fox seemed so devoted to you."
"Devoted? How so?"
"He barely left your side at all and after the doctors told us to keep talking to you he did just that. He talked and talked until his voice ran out." "What did he say to me?"
"I didn't really hear him"
"Mother" Scully laughed a bit "You have better hearing than anyone I have ever met. What did he say?"
Mrs. Scully sighed. "He told you over and over again that he was with you and that you were safe. That he wouldn't leave you no matter what. He begged with you to come back to him, to us."
"Oh"
Both women sat in silence while Scully digested this piece of information. Scully was a fiercely independent woman but somehow the thought of Mulder's assurances to her made her heart weep for him. For them.
"And then Jack came?" Scully prodded her mother after a few moments.
"I don't know what happened between them Dana. All I know is the Fox called me overwhelmed with excitement that you had woken up for a second and actually spoke to him. He wanted me to get down here as soon as I could. It took me a little over a half and hour to get here but all I found was Jack sitting here and Fox gone."
"Where did he go?"
"I asked Jack that when I arrived. He said Fox had to leave suddenly without explanation. I tried to call his apartment but his phone had been disconnected."
"I see. I looks like Jack is trying to"
"Trying to what?" a man's voice said from the doorway. It was Jack.
"Apparently you are trying to run my life again"
"Why do you say that?"
"I know that Mulder was here and I know that you made him believe that there was more between us than there really is."
Mrs. Scully knew that a major storm was brewing and quickly headed out of the room saying that she was going to check on Scully's dinner.
"Come on Dana, you know things between us aren't really settled."
"You don't think moving my stuff out of your apartment was an indication of my feelings towards you?"
"You were mad then and still mad now. You and I both know whatever attraction you felt for Spooky was either because you were rebounding or you were just trying to get back at me."
Scully paused for a second and Jack took advantage of her indecision. "Dana, you are I have come to a crossroads in our relationship. You have made some career decisions of which I don't agree. That doesn't mean that our relationship has to end. It may just need to evolve."
Scully closed her eyes suddenly very tired. "Jack, I need to rest now. And to think. Why don't you go home to DC and I will call you when I am ready to talk about all of this."
"Dana" he started.
"Jack, go. Please"
Jack looked like he was going to bend over and kiss her but then had second thoughts. "Call me Dana" he said and he was gone.
Scully closed her eyes tight and began to cry.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The next few days brought renewed strength to Scully. She was finally cleared to return to DC where she would finish up her recuperation time staying with her mother.
Before she left Boston, though, she had to say good-bye. Good-bye to her new friends at the Bureau and to Mulder.
After teary-eyed hugs from Fraser and Wakefield and assuring them both for the 100th time that she was indeed just fine, Scully walked to Bishop's office.
Bishop greeted her with a warm smile and offered her a seat.
"Agent Scully it is so good to see you up and around. Are you headed back to Washington today?"
"Yes, I am meeting my mother downstairs in a bit. I will be staying with her until I am cleared for duty again."
Bishop smile faded a bit. "Agent, do you still want to review the case file?"
"Yes, I do." Scully braced herself and slowly opened the file Bishop placed in front of her.
She skimmed over the field report written by Mulder trying to push out of her mind the fact that he had typed it up while sitting by her bedside. It was a precise outline of how Mulder came to shoot McCormick.
Even reading the outline didn't truly prepare Scully for the pictures enclosed within the file.
The first few were of the different crime scenes and of McCormick's cryptic message to Mulder. Those were followed by the gruesome pictures of McCormick's body after being ravaged by Mulder's bullets.
But it was the last set of pictures that upset her the most. They were of her. More specifically of her injuries. They had managed to protect her privacy - thanks to Mulder's jacket that had been carefully placed on her - but even so her blood ran cold when she read the message McCormick had written on her stomach.
She had known that she had been injured there, but never really thought to look under the bandages that still encircled her stomach. Now she knew why the doctors insisted on her keeping her bandages on until the wounds were totally healed. They were trying to spare her.
Scully closed the file and took a deep breath. "Sir, I don't suppose you know where I can reach Agent Mulder. I do believe I owe my life to him."
"That you do Agent Scully. Unfortunately I am not exactly sure where Agent Mulder is right now. Shortly after you were hospitalized he asked to be reassigned and as far as I know is somewhere out on the west coast working on an undercover drug sting."
He looked at Scully with sympathy in his eyes. "I imagine he will be back in Washington soon enough. Perhaps you two could hook up then."
"Perhaps"
Bishop and Scully parted company shortly after that with Bishop promising to send her superiors glowing reports of her success on the case.
Scully met her mother in the lobby and said little more than "Let's go home Mom"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mulder sat in his apartment looking out at the Pacific Ocean. Tonight, like every night for the past three months, he was trying unsuccessfully to push thoughts of Dana Scully from his mind.
"She doesn't belong to me" he repeated to himself for the millionth time. "How could I have been so foolish to think that someone like her would be interested in someone like me? No wonder she looked so scared when I tried to kiss her that time. I had taken her friendship and read so much more into it and because of it she almost had gotten killed."
He sighed again to himself and took another sip of his beer. His stomach growled a bit and he wondered where the Indian food he had ordered was.
A few minutes later the doorbell rang. "Finally" he thought as he rose from the couch groping for his wallet.
He opened the door and his mouth dropped open. Standing right in front of him was Scully holding what appeared to be his takeout.
"Hi, I ran into the delivery person so I thought I would save him the trip. You owe me 20 bucks."
Mulder stood frozen in place so she pushed right by him. "I hope you bought enough for two. I'm starved."
Scully placed the food on the table and turned around to face Mulder who had barely managed to close both the door and his mouth.
"Why are you here?" he croaked surprised that he had a voice at all.
"Because you and I have to talk."
"We do?"
She smiled at him and raised an eyebrow "Yes, we do."
Mulder stood and looked at her. Slowly realization of the situation came to him and he smiled back at her. "You know, you're right we do" he said walking over to her and raising his hand to her face "and I think I can remember exactly where we left off."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ end of story
comments? I love to hear what you thought of my little story.
Disclaimers found in chapter one
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Judy looked down at Scully and against her better judgment decided to fill her in as best she could about what had happened while she was in her coma. That was the least she could do for her patient and for Mulder.
"Listen Dana, it is quite a story and it will take a bit of time to tell you. I am off duty in about a half an hour. How about I come back then with a cup of tea for me and a bit of ice cream for you and I will tell you then."
Scully agreed and spent the next forty minutes flipping through the TV channels on her small set and trying to relax. The minute hand seemed to drag but finally Judy appeared with her cup of tea and a small dish of ice cream and a cup of tea for Scully as well.
"Here, nibble on this while I talk. Let's see how it sits in your stomach."
After situating Scully, Judy closed the door to Scully's room and sat down beside her.
"What exactly do you know about what happened while you were out?"
"Not much really. My mother filled me in on my medical condition but I fell asleep before she could tell me anything else."
"So you know you weren't raped?"
Scully paled a bit at the mere thought but nodded.
"Well, then I guess I will start at the beginning.."
It had been about 8pm when Mulder had brought Scully into the ER. Because of her head injury, Judy had met the ambulance to offer any of her specialized assistance.
"He was frantic for you, Dana. From what I heard, he found the killer leaning over you and when he told him to step back he lunged at you. Fox first shot him in the shoulder but when he went to attack you again Fox just opened fire. I believe they pulled 6 bullets out of him altogether."
Scully closed her eyes trying to block out the vision of McCormick hovering over her with a knife. "Go on" she said. "Well, as I said, Fox came in with you in the ambulance telling us he was your partner - telling us that gave him access to you that he normally would not have received. His shirt was covered with blood. His jacket was covering you."
Scully raised any eyebrow at this.
"You were nude and he wanted to make sure your privacy was protected as much as possible. He told us that you had probably been drugged and made sure that we examined you from top to bottom."
He refused to leave you even when your boss, Bishop I think his name was, showed up. Bishop let him file his reports using a laptop in your room and we gave him some scrubs so he could get out of the bloody clothes."
"And here he stayed. The only time is budged was to talk to the doctor out in the hallway or when your mother arrived. Even then it would only be for a couple of hours at a time."
"So where is he now?"
Judy took a long sip of tea and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Yesterday morning you woke up for a second - I imagine you don't even remember - while Fox was with you. He was incredibly relieved and after he was sure that you were truly asleep again he came out of your room to get a cup of coffee and call your mother with the news."
"While he was down in the cafeteria another man showed up. I think his name was Jack. He introduced himself to us as your boyfriend."
"Really" Scully said sarcastically.
Judy smiled at that. "We all thought it was rather strange especially after watching Fox hold your hand for hours on end talking to you the whole time. Fox returned from getting his coffee and found Jack sitting in there with you. I am not sure what they said to each other inside your room but obviously Fox thought better of holding the conversation in front of you and they came out here to finish it."
Scully smiled slyly at Judy. "I don't suppose by any small miracle you happen to overhear what they were saying."
Judy smiled back. "Well, maybe I did hear a little bit of it."
This admission made Scully laugh out loud. Encouraged Judy continued.
"Jack pretty much told Fox off saying that he didn't appreciate Fox hanging around his girlfriend and putting her in danger. Pretty much raked Fox over the coals."
"What did Mulder do?"
"He basically stood there with his mouth open with a look of total shock on his face. After Jack was through, he just apologized and asked Jack to make sure to mention to you that he had been to see you. And then he left."
"Yeah, he left without a word to anyone but looking very much like a lost soul."
Scully sat in dumbfounded silence but slowly she felt the anger start to build.
Judy sensed that it was time to leave and did so telling Scully to get some rest.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mrs. Scully walked into the room practically immediately after Judy left. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the look on Scully's face.
"Scully, what is it? Did the doctors find something else wrong with you?"
Seeing the look of fear in her mother's eye, she forced herself to relax. "No Mom just finding out about what has been going on here while I was asleep."
"I see" her mother replied sitting down.
Mrs. Scully sat in silence waiting for her daughter to proceed. She could see the wheels spinning in Scully's head and knew her daughter would ask her questions as soon as she was ready to hear the answers.
"Mom, why is Jack here?"
This question seemed to shock her mother. She hesitated a bit "I don't know dear. I must admit I was quite surprised to see him especially" her voiced trailed off.
"Especially?"
"Especially since Fox seemed so devoted to you."
"Devoted? How so?"
"He barely left your side at all and after the doctors told us to keep talking to you he did just that. He talked and talked until his voice ran out." "What did he say to me?"
"I didn't really hear him"
"Mother" Scully laughed a bit "You have better hearing than anyone I have ever met. What did he say?"
Mrs. Scully sighed. "He told you over and over again that he was with you and that you were safe. That he wouldn't leave you no matter what. He begged with you to come back to him, to us."
"Oh"
Both women sat in silence while Scully digested this piece of information. Scully was a fiercely independent woman but somehow the thought of Mulder's assurances to her made her heart weep for him. For them.
"And then Jack came?" Scully prodded her mother after a few moments.
"I don't know what happened between them Dana. All I know is the Fox called me overwhelmed with excitement that you had woken up for a second and actually spoke to him. He wanted me to get down here as soon as I could. It took me a little over a half and hour to get here but all I found was Jack sitting here and Fox gone."
"Where did he go?"
"I asked Jack that when I arrived. He said Fox had to leave suddenly without explanation. I tried to call his apartment but his phone had been disconnected."
"I see. I looks like Jack is trying to"
"Trying to what?" a man's voice said from the doorway. It was Jack.
"Apparently you are trying to run my life again"
"Why do you say that?"
"I know that Mulder was here and I know that you made him believe that there was more between us than there really is."
Mrs. Scully knew that a major storm was brewing and quickly headed out of the room saying that she was going to check on Scully's dinner.
"Come on Dana, you know things between us aren't really settled."
"You don't think moving my stuff out of your apartment was an indication of my feelings towards you?"
"You were mad then and still mad now. You and I both know whatever attraction you felt for Spooky was either because you were rebounding or you were just trying to get back at me."
Scully paused for a second and Jack took advantage of her indecision. "Dana, you are I have come to a crossroads in our relationship. You have made some career decisions of which I don't agree. That doesn't mean that our relationship has to end. It may just need to evolve."
Scully closed her eyes suddenly very tired. "Jack, I need to rest now. And to think. Why don't you go home to DC and I will call you when I am ready to talk about all of this."
"Dana" he started.
"Jack, go. Please"
Jack looked like he was going to bend over and kiss her but then had second thoughts. "Call me Dana" he said and he was gone.
Scully closed her eyes tight and began to cry.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The next few days brought renewed strength to Scully. She was finally cleared to return to DC where she would finish up her recuperation time staying with her mother.
Before she left Boston, though, she had to say good-bye. Good-bye to her new friends at the Bureau and to Mulder.
After teary-eyed hugs from Fraser and Wakefield and assuring them both for the 100th time that she was indeed just fine, Scully walked to Bishop's office.
Bishop greeted her with a warm smile and offered her a seat.
"Agent Scully it is so good to see you up and around. Are you headed back to Washington today?"
"Yes, I am meeting my mother downstairs in a bit. I will be staying with her until I am cleared for duty again."
Bishop smile faded a bit. "Agent, do you still want to review the case file?"
"Yes, I do." Scully braced herself and slowly opened the file Bishop placed in front of her.
She skimmed over the field report written by Mulder trying to push out of her mind the fact that he had typed it up while sitting by her bedside. It was a precise outline of how Mulder came to shoot McCormick.
Even reading the outline didn't truly prepare Scully for the pictures enclosed within the file.
The first few were of the different crime scenes and of McCormick's cryptic message to Mulder. Those were followed by the gruesome pictures of McCormick's body after being ravaged by Mulder's bullets.
But it was the last set of pictures that upset her the most. They were of her. More specifically of her injuries. They had managed to protect her privacy - thanks to Mulder's jacket that had been carefully placed on her - but even so her blood ran cold when she read the message McCormick had written on her stomach.
She had known that she had been injured there, but never really thought to look under the bandages that still encircled her stomach. Now she knew why the doctors insisted on her keeping her bandages on until the wounds were totally healed. They were trying to spare her.
Scully closed the file and took a deep breath. "Sir, I don't suppose you know where I can reach Agent Mulder. I do believe I owe my life to him."
"That you do Agent Scully. Unfortunately I am not exactly sure where Agent Mulder is right now. Shortly after you were hospitalized he asked to be reassigned and as far as I know is somewhere out on the west coast working on an undercover drug sting."
He looked at Scully with sympathy in his eyes. "I imagine he will be back in Washington soon enough. Perhaps you two could hook up then."
"Perhaps"
Bishop and Scully parted company shortly after that with Bishop promising to send her superiors glowing reports of her success on the case.
Scully met her mother in the lobby and said little more than "Let's go home Mom"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mulder sat in his apartment looking out at the Pacific Ocean. Tonight, like every night for the past three months, he was trying unsuccessfully to push thoughts of Dana Scully from his mind.
"She doesn't belong to me" he repeated to himself for the millionth time. "How could I have been so foolish to think that someone like her would be interested in someone like me? No wonder she looked so scared when I tried to kiss her that time. I had taken her friendship and read so much more into it and because of it she almost had gotten killed."
He sighed again to himself and took another sip of his beer. His stomach growled a bit and he wondered where the Indian food he had ordered was.
A few minutes later the doorbell rang. "Finally" he thought as he rose from the couch groping for his wallet.
He opened the door and his mouth dropped open. Standing right in front of him was Scully holding what appeared to be his takeout.
"Hi, I ran into the delivery person so I thought I would save him the trip. You owe me 20 bucks."
Mulder stood frozen in place so she pushed right by him. "I hope you bought enough for two. I'm starved."
Scully placed the food on the table and turned around to face Mulder who had barely managed to close both the door and his mouth.
"Why are you here?" he croaked surprised that he had a voice at all.
"Because you and I have to talk."
"We do?"
She smiled at him and raised an eyebrow "Yes, we do."
Mulder stood and looked at her. Slowly realization of the situation came to him and he smiled back at her. "You know, you're right we do" he said walking over to her and raising his hand to her face "and I think I can remember exactly where we left off."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ end of story
comments? I love to hear what you thought of my little story.
