**I hope this doesn't read like a day time soap opera, but I'm going somewhere with this…I promise!!!**

The waiting room was cold.  She sat on a chair, her head resting heavily in her hands.  A nurse had given her some medial clothes to change into when she'd arrived in the back of the ambulance with Mulder, but they offered little heat and no comfort as she spotted her own bloodied blouse on the next chair.  Watching the clock above the door she saw it move slowly and monotonously through two cycles.  Her cries of medical qualifications went unanswered as they pushed her towards the waiting room and now two hours later she sat alone, a cold cup of coffee in front of her, and she waited.  It was then that Skinner arrived, his steps slow and small he walked towards her.  He sat on the low table in front of her and waited for her to look up from the floor.

"Agent Scully…" he urged.  "How is he?"

"No news yet, he's still out of consciousness and has lost a lot of blood.  He sustained a massive trauma to the left side of his head, which could induce a coma.  There's no telling how it will end up."

"Have you spoken to the doctors?"

"Briefly.  It's been a little over two hours since I spoke to anyone."

            Skinner stood up and walked over towards the window.  Looking out at the city below, he couldn't help but notice the silence that rang around the room shouting out her despair.  Knowing he was about to add to it he took a deep breath and slowly turned to face her.  Her hands had slipped into her hair, her fingers meshing with the thick red locks.

"Agent Scully…The suspect.  He's escaped."  She whipped her head around and fixed him with a glare. 

"Escaped? How?"

"He was being transported to the holding facility and the van was held up at gunpoint.  He escaped and Agent Burns was shot, wounded shoulder, not fatal.

"It could have been fatal.  They didn't want to kill him," she said almost to herself.

"Yes, that's what Agent Watters said.  He's taken lead of the case.  It seems he has a gang who knew he'd been captured.  Like he lured us into a trap."

"We have prints though."

"Yes and visual footage.  We'll catch him."

            The door opened slowly and a young nurse stepped in.  She glanced between the both of them and seemed unsure whether to interrupt but Scully spotted her and stood up.  Without another word to Skinner she followed the nurse out of the room.

"He's still unconscious but the doctor said to call you when he got back from the ICU."  The nurse opened another door and led her into Mulders room.  "It looks pretty gruesome but he's had a terrible fall…" the nurse began to explain but her words faltered when she spotted Scully's eyes.  She left silently and Scully stepped closer to his bed. 

            The first thing she noticed was the hospital gown.  He always complained that they made him itch.  His head lolled to the side exposing a thick white bandage that lined the side of his head.  Strapping on his left shoulder was keeping it from moving and it was wrapped against his chest.  As she sat next to him she could see a small stain of dried blood that ran down his neck.  Grabbing a small tissue and soaking it in the bathroom she gently dabbed it and washed it away.

"It's getting to be where I can't take you anywhere, Mulder," she quipped almost expecting him to turn towards her with a crooked smile playing on his lips. 

            She pulled a chair closer to the bed and took his hand.  Looking into his face she found it to be totally relaxed and void of any strain.  She thought of how rarely she'd seen him so.  Even when he slept she knew of the nightmares that tormented him and his face always displayed his distress.  She remembered one time when they travelled back from a case.  For once she had been driving and it wasn't long before he'd fallen asleep beside her.  As she pulled up outside his apartment she looked over at him and caught him wincing as if in pain.  She reached over to wake him and he mumbled softly.

"Leave her alone, leave her alone…"

Squeezing his shoulder he jerked awake his eyes darting around wildly but he finally relaxed when he saw her.

"Bad dream?" she asked willing him to talk but he just smiled weakly, collected his coat from the back seat and left.

            Looking at him now, his features unmoving, his eyes still and his breathing even she held tighter on to his hand.  The soft metallic sound of the artificial breathing brought little relief as she sat back into the chair.  A nurse had implored her to go home as midnight approached but it was closer to two am before she left.  Her apartment was cold as she entered and her large bed seemed too far so she lay on the couch intending only to rest.  When she woke at seven am she showered quickly and hurried to the hospital, determined to see him before her meeting with Agent Watters and AD Skinner.  She found Mulder in the same position, his vitals unchanged.  The nurses watched her silently giving her hopeful smiles and assuring winks as they passed her.  But all too quickly the time came when she had to leave. 

            Ignoring the glances as she walked through the FBI halls, staring straight ahead but seeing nothing she managed to make it to their basement office.  Stopping abruptly as she opened the door she was met by a strong aroma of his deodorant and aftershave remembering how he'd sprayed some after his exercising yesterday she took a deep breath.  His basketball lay in his in tray and his jacket was hung over the back of his chair.  She lifted a folder from the desk.  A small post it told her that Agent Watters had left it for her to sign.  Reading through it she relived the moment of Mulder's fall and the image replayed so clearly in her mind that she quickly dropped the report, letting it fall to the floor.  Without picking it up she left the room, rushing up to start the meeting in Skinners office.

***

            He woke up slowly.  The darkness was silent and unending, pierced by a blinding flash of white light.  The pain creased through his head sharply but slowly began to recede.  The light flashed quicker and quicker until finally the pain became bearable and he held his eyes open.  As the sound suddenly swirled around him, the soft hiss of the ventilation system broke through and caused him to turn his head, bringing with it it's own throb of pain.  A small attempt to sit up pushed him heavily back to his pillow.  His head ached and it was then that he noticed his left arm was tied to his body, wrapped around his chest.  Struggling to move it he winced as his shoulder flared up a painful heat rushed down his arm.  His throat felt hot and dry and he tried to cough to clear it.

"Hello…" he croaked.  The curtain that had been pulled around his bed blocked his view of the door.  "Hello…" he called again this time louder.  He heard footsteps and felt relief at the sight of the shadow that turned towards him.

"You're awake!" a nurse exclaimed, her smile wide and warm as she stood next to him.  "That's wonderful."  He fidgeted on his bed but she stilled him firmly.  "No don't try to move, Dr. Macey will be here shortly.  How do you feel?"

"Sore…heavy, a bit…confused."

"Well that's to be expected."
"What happened?" he asked as she took his temperature and blood pressure.

"You hit the ground pretty hard.  Luckily it was only two floors or you might have been killed."  Her words made no sense to him and he frowned, the ache in his head arching to a higher pitch.

"I fell off a building?"

"Yes, the museum.  Yesterday.  Gave us all quite a scare.  Don't you remember?"

"No, I don't.  I don't remember anything," his face was full of the anguish he was feeling and the nurse froze.  She slowly turned to face him her pen hovering over the clipboard.

"Anything?" she asked.

"No…nothing."

"Your name?"

            As if the thought just occurred to him her frowned and paused in thought before slowly shaking his head.

"No…I don't know."

"Okay, don't worry," she slipped his chart back into its place.  "You took quite a fall and the trauma was pretty heavy.  Just relax and I'll call Dr Macey."  With a slight frown that she tried to hide she left he room.  Mulder turned to face the wall, his mind racing with questions but void of answers.

***

            Scully listened as Agent Watters and AD Skinner spoke about the surveillance the day before.  She offered her input but found it hard to keep her thoughts on the case.   She sat at the large conference table unaware of the glances that were shared by the other two men, as they seemed to share a private conversation about her.  The file sat in front of her barely touched.  A fast knock on the outer door of the office brought her back to the room and she looked up to see whom Skinner had beckoned to enter.  Agent Reilly bustled quickly through the door holding a video and a pile of photos that he handed out to Skinner.

"AD Skinner, sorry for the intrusion but this is really important.  Yesterday Agent Mulder sent us 15 hours of security footage from the Marriott Hotel and its car park that are both found adjacent to the Museum.  Well we've been through the whole lot and today one of the guys picked this up…may I?" he indicated towards the VCR as he slipped the tape in.  "That's him," he pointed to a small object that moved across the grainy screen.

"Who?" Skinner asked looking down at the photos for the first time.

"The suspect."

"How can you tell from there?" Watters asked.

"We blew it up and it's defiantly him…the problem is we can't figure out how he got from the window to the fire escape."

"He could have had a safety rope rigged up."

"We thought that at first but the angle of the arc he takes across to the fire escape doesn't fit a rope or any kind of fastenings.  We'd like to send out a forensics team to see if we can find any friction marks at the scene."

"Of course, straight away."  Skinner passed the photos around to the other two agents who looked at them intently.  Scully turned the photo in her hand as she tried to make sense of it.

"It's like he's walking on the wall," she said suddenly remembering how one of the agents had said that yesterday.  Another knock this time softer and coming from the other door made her look up.  Kimberly, Skinners assistant stepped in and glanced at her. 

"Mr Skinner… the hospital called.  Agent Mulder has woken up."  She looked again towards Scully who stood up from her chair and slipped on her jacket.

"Call me when you have news Agent Scully," Skinner called after her as she made her way to the hospital. 

***

            Mulder sat up in the bad as the doctor examined him.  The cold metal instruments made him twitch as they were placed against his skin.  His headache had diminished to a dull throb but his arm was still raw.

"I want you to answer these questions quickly without thinking about the answers," Dr Macey said as he looked into his eyes and listened to his heart.  "Where were you born?"

"Eh…"

"What's your mothers maiden name?"

"Dunno about that one…"

"7 times 7?"

"49."

"Capital of Italy?"

"Rome."

"What age are you?"

"34."

"What's your full name?"

"Eh…"

"How do you feel?" Mulder frowned at him but he only smiled back.  "I mean now, how are you feeling?"

"A little lost, confused."

"The trauma you sustained has caused some swelling in your brain.  The coma you've been in, is your bodies way of shutting down to let your brain recuperate, letting it rest until the swelling goes down."  Mulder listened intently and his eyes widened in shock as all the information sunk in.  "To be brutally honest, we didn't expect you to wake up for another day or son until the swelling had reduced.  It is possible that this is what is causing your memory loss and it will more than likely return in a day or so.  Relaxation is the key."

"A day or so? Relax? Are you kidding?"

"No…and the less we tell you about your life the better for you.  The more you immerse yourself in familiar environments the more likely it is that your memory will return."

"Can you at least tell me my name?"

"Yes…It's Fox Mulder."  The doctor smiled a little at him and sat down on the edge of the bad.  "I know it's tough to be in your position.  Your shoulder will need another day of complete rest but we can free it tomorrow and after more x-rays to check you swelling," he tapped the side of his head.  "You should be able to go home in a couple of days."

"Home? Where is that?"

"A psychiatrist will be by shortly to go through an evaluation with you but from what I can tell, you seem to have lost minimal neural memory, I anticipate no difficulty in its recovery."

            Mulder seemed to take some comfort in his words and watched as the doctor stood to leave.  Macey walked out of the room and was met by Scully at the door.

"Ms Scully?"

"Yes, how is he?"

"He's awake.  But the trauma he sustained has caused a memory lapse.  The frontal lobe on the left side of his brain is swollen.  I can only imagine that he turned in an effort to save himself and ended up hitting his head first."

"Amnesia?" she said quietly, afraid to say it out loud in case it was true.

"Retrograde amnesia.  More common than you'd think.  He has full motor skills and general information.  He has also retain minimal personal information but his identity is gone."

"How long could it last?"

"Again like the coma we have no way of telling.  I'm not an expert but this seems to be a mild case and with the swelling still visible it shouldn't be long.  Once he gets himself immersed into a familiar environment and relaxes it should all come back."

            Scully listened to the doctor but his words flew right past her.

"Can I see him?"

"Of course.  But to warn you again he has lost his memory…he has been told nothing of his life so don't be upset if he doesn't remember you."  She nodded and urged the tears to stay away as she walked into the room.

            From his bed Mulder could see the doctor talking to someone outside the door through the small window.  He could see the top of a head and a small hand that absently ran through its red hair.  He couldn't hear what they were saying but was sure it was about him.  When the door opened slowly a petite woman with vibrant red hair stepped cautiously towards him.  He watched her steps and knew instantly that the smile she wore wasn't entirely felt.  She stood next to his bed and took his hand in hers.  He was surprised by the simple gesture and couldn't help but smile at her.  Her eyes were a strange blue that shimmered and turned a light grey.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Spaced…strange."

            Without thinking she reached up to his head and gently pushed his hair aside, leaning in closer to check his dressing.  His breath caught in his throat trapping a delicious smell of her perfume.

"They stitched you up well.  Does it hurt?"

"Only when people poke at it."  She smiled and sat on the bed next to him, a faint blush creeping into her cheeks.

"I'm sorry but I have to ask…but who are you?" He didn't want to say it unsure of how she would react.

"Oh sorry."  She dropped his hand and stood up from the bed.  "Dana Scully."

"Hi Dana…Fox Mulder." He held out his hand and she took it with a sad smile.

"Are we…I mean…do we…?" he stammered

"Spit it out Mulder?"

"I mean I know we're not married…" he wiggled his empty ring finger on his left hand.  "But are we-,"

"No, no we're not."  She smiled at his discomfort.  "We work together.  We've been partners at the FBI since 1991."

"FBI? Wow."

            A silence fell between them and she avoided his watchful gaze.  He tried to catch her wandering eyes but he couldn't. 

"So none one around here will tell me anything.  I don't suppose you'll fill me in?"

"What would you like to know?"

I want to know why the urge to kiss you is all but over whelming and yet you maintain we only work together? I want to now how your skin feels beneath my hands? To see if it feels as familiar as I hope it should? His mind screamed.

"I guess we can start with the easy stuff…like who I am? He said aloud.

"For starters, that is not an easy question.  You are a very complicated man."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It can be."  He smiled at her vague answers and wondered if she was always so closed off.  "You are the best investigator I've ever worked with," she added.

"We make a good team…" he said and she wasn't sure if it was a question or not so she said nothing.  When her mobile rang she reached quickly for it and walked away from the bed towards the window.

"Scully."

"Agent Scully, it's Agent Watters.  We have the prints and a match.  We're setting up a meeting in one hour in the bullpen."

"I'm on my way."

"How is Agent Mulder?"

"He's awake," she glanced at him and caught him staring after her following her movements as she paced the small room.  "He's getting better."

"Great, well I'll see you later."

"Work?" he asked after she put the phone away.

"Yeah, I have to get back." She sat next to him and, silently damming the consequences, she took his hand and held it in hers tightly.  "Will you be okay?"

"Yes."  He smiled.  "I'll be bored but I'll be okay."

"I'll come by and see you later.  Give me a call if you need anything."

"Okay.  Thanks Dana."

            His use of her first name stung more than she thought it would but she pushed it away.  Standing up she curled her hair behind her ears and turned to face him.  He noticed her eyes had gone back to a bright blue.

"I'll see you later.  Try to get some rest."

"Bye."

            She cast a final glance at him and walked out of the room.  He watched her leave and not for the first time since she entered the room a strange feeling passed through him.  His smile slowly faded as he lay back into the bed.  His head ache forgotten he tried to think of his past but images of the mysterious Dana Scully plagued him.  Wondering idly whether he was imagining them or remembering them he decided not to worry and let them play through his mind.