** Sorry for the delay, serious case of writers block…**
"The plane ticket was booked this morning at 7.30 on her credit card."
"Only one ticket?"
"Yeah, she's going back to Washington and he's staying here."
"Can we sort out her plane?"
"No time."
"How about her return flight?"
"Possible, I'll need to confirm the flight numbers but if she's coming back this evening from Washington airport it'll possible to rig something up."
"Get on it."
"What about the boy?"
"What do you mean?"
"Should I send him the message?"
"Yes. Why not? We can have a little fun right?" he laughed sharply letting the men around the table see his crooked smile instilling a sense of his madness in them.
***
Scully walked the short distance across the room to where her partner was lying face down on the bed, the sheet covering his hips and tangling around his legs. She sat onto the edge of the soft mattress and looked down to the space she had only moments ago occupied. Her head had left a small indent on the pillow and she reached out to straighten it when his hand snapped up without warning and grabbed her wrist.
"Mulder, you scared me!"
"Did I?" he said with a devilish grin. He twisted around to face her never letting go of her wrist or her eyes and pulled her down onto the bed next to him. She lay on her back laughing as he leaned up on his elbow to look down at her menacingly. Without words or smiles he lowered his head and engaged her lips in a duel of kisses, taking her breath as his own, he leaned over her more, ignoring the protesting pangs from his back. Her hands moved over his ribs and dug into his hair and he moaned into her mouth as her fingers moved through it.
Eventually his kisses became less hungry and more tender until only light touches crossing her lips over to her ears and around her chin to the sensitive parts on her neck were all he impressed upon her.
"Good morning Mulder," she mumbled through her rasps of breath.
"Mornin' Scully," he whispered against her throat, his breath tickling her and making her laugh.
"Come on, we've got to get up," she said as she tried half heartedly to push him away but his grip tightened and the hand that had been resting on her shoulder slid down her body with a grumbled moan until it met the rim of her t-shirt. He hesitated a moment and suddenly his breath felt hot against her neck. He carefully slipped his fingers under the rim and caught her soft skin against his hand as his ran it around to her back and pulled her up to him, his kisses feverant again.
Lost in the moment Scully leaned into him and matched his lips kiss for kiss and he smiled against her unexpected passion, pulling her with him as he rolled over onto his back and finally resting her atop him.
"Awake now?" he whispered when she pulled her head away to look into his eyes. Her hair fell around her face framing it for him so he could see little else.
"Yeah," she admitted coyly, her eyes darting away and looking down to his lips.
"Hey," he said nudging her with the arm he was holding her with. "You okay?"
"I'm fine Mulder," she said plainly, looking him in the eye again before tentatively pressing a quick kiss against his lips and pushing off him.
"Where are you going?" he asked leaning back and interlocking his fingers behind his head.
"I have a plane to catch," she said as she searched for her sneakers. "You have a meeting at the FBI field office downtown."
"What? When?"
"At 10, I'm going to Washington, I'll pick up some of your things and I'll be back here this evening." She sat at the end of the bed to tie her laces and spoke over her shoulders.
"Okay. Who am I looking for at the field office?"
"Agent Cassidy," she said looking around when she felt the bed moving only to see him lying the opposite way on the bed with his head beside her.
"Collecting your laptop?"
"Yes and make sure they give you one with the fax modem and a printer."
"Yes sir," he jibed, touching the small of her back with his hand and rubbing it softly.
"I'd better be leaving," she said as she sat up but didn't step away from his gentle caress.
"So I'll see you back here for dinner?"
"My flight lands at 4.30 so I should get back into the city by half five."
"Okay, then it's up to me to provide this city with a crackpot investigator for the day."
"And you'll look the part in your Holiday Inn gym clothes," she laughed as she stood away from the bed and looked down at the branded sweats he wore.
"Maybe I'll drop by a department store and pick up something to wear."
He stumbled into the bathroom as she gathered some things for the flight. Packing them into one of the paper bags from the delivery last night she left them by the door and walked back to stand by the bathroom door.
"Mulder, I'm going now," she said through the small gap.
The door swung open and he stood before her rubbing his face with a small towel.
"Are you meeting with Skinner?"
"After Lunch."
"What are you going to tell him?" he asked stepping back towards the sink to brush his teeth.
"Only what we know for sure, the theories and speculations can wait for the report."
"So what are you going to tell him about Billy?"
"I'll tell him what we know."
"Scully you're being facetious," he commented dryly as he rinsed his mouth out with water and spat it cleanly into the sink.
"No Mulder, I'm being honest. We don't know what's happening yet, we'll need to get the reports from last night's explosion, and Billy's medical report."
"You're email?"
"If you contact Michael in Tech he'll set it up for you over the phone."
He didn't reply only busied himself with the shaving cream as he tried to smear it smoothly over his face. She watched him for a moment, caught in the gentle swipes as he spread it under his chin and suddenly she became aware of how aroused she was. As if he heard her thoughts he glanced sideways at her and wiggled his eyebrows. She smiled and reached over to touch his arm.
"See you later."
When she turned to walk away he swiftly grabbed her shoulders and twisted her round, snatching her back to his waiting grasp and pressed a hard kiss against her lips, parting them with his tongue he plunged deeper ensuring she knew what was on his mind. She didn't resist but the feeling of the shaving cream being spread over her face made her laugh.
"Just something for you to think about during your flight," he said with a heavy breath holding her still tightly against him.
"Thanks Mulder, just what I needed."
He stepped away and returned his glance to the mirror where he saw them both covered in foam.
"Scully, you have a little something…" he said indicating his chin with his finger smiling openly at her. Snatching the towel from him she quickly cleaned up her face and threw it back to him.
"See you later," she called over her shoulder as she picked up her bag and left.
He battled with the single blade razor and finally managed to shave most of his face leaving it feeling raw and tender. Splashing warm water on it he could feel the sting and hoped Scully would think to bring him back his shaving kit. As he walked through the lobby of the holiday Inn a young porter ran towards him.
"Mr Scully?" he called.
Mulder didn't answer not realising it was him who was being called until the guy touched his elbow.
"Mr Scully, there is a message at the desk for you."
"Mr Scully?"
"Your Mr Scully from room 2113?"
"Well…yes but," Mulder said smiling.
"A message was left here for you this morning, but Dr Scully had left a Do Not Disturb point on your room and we missed her leaving this morning."
"Who is it from?" Mulder asked as they crossed the room to the reception desk.
"I'm not sure but it arrived at seven this morning."
Mulder took the white envelope and the porter rushed off to tend to other duties. Ripping the top off it he glanced at the slip of Holiday Inn headed paper. The message was from Sally and it was an urgent request for help. He shoved the paper into his pocket and ran out of the hotel making his way to the hospital in only 20 minutes. Racing through the hospital corridors he stood outside Billy's room and looked through the large window at the empty bed. He turned and entered the waiting room where he found Niamh and Sally huddled on the couch, both of them crying.
"What' happened?" he asked softly as he approached them.
"Billy…" Sally mumbled through her tears.
"Billy is gone," Niamh finished for her.
"Oh my god," Mulder said in a hushed voice.
"Not dead Mulder, gone…missing," Niamh said angrily.
"What? Have the police been notified?"
"They've come and gone."
Mulder paced the small room and suddenly left to go into the other room looking around the room for clues that the other officers might have missed. But he found nothing. When the door opened he turned to see Niamh standing behind him.
"Where is Dana?"
"She had to go back to Washington. She'll be back this evening."
"What happened to your face?" she said noticing only now the red mark across his cheek.
"You didn't hear? I thought Scully called you."
"Hear what?"
"The hotel we were staying at…there was an explosion."
"Oh my god, was anyone hurt?"
"Just a few minor injuries."
"Jesus, why didn't she call me?" Niamh asked her voice racked with worry.
"I'm not sure, she was in shock. I was at the hospital getting stitched up and she was talking to detectives. By the time we found another hotel we just collapsed into bed."
Niamh glanced at Mulder in time to see the edge of his faint blush disappear and she smiled knowingly.
"Do they know what caused it?" she asked avoiding the topic of their relationship no matter how much she wanted to dissect it.
"I'm on my way to the Field office now to collect the reports."
"I supposes that's why you are wearing Holiday Inn Sweats," Niamh said laughing and he nodded his head slowly.
"Yeah, not exactly new FBI image."
They fell silent their thoughts returning to Billy as the empty bed loomed in front of them both.
"I'll send out a response team," he said softly. "I'm not sure if they'll find anything after the NYPD trampling through here but it couldn't hurt."
"Thanks Fox."
"How is Sally?"
"She's torn to pieces. I don't know how to console her. All my years of psychological training seem to have abandoned me."
"It's hard when you care too much," Mulder said quietly and she knew he had trouble with that problem too. He wouldn't look at her so she didn't push.
"I better get back to Sally."
"I'll call you when I hear anything from the team."
"Okay, see you later."
***
Scully felt tall. She didn't want to think about the fallacy of her fresh clothes making her feel tall. The unmistakable and yet comfortable lump pressing into her back from her gun, clear clicks from her heels and the FBI ID badge pinned to her jacket all added to the confidence in her step as she walked purposely towards Skinners office. Kimberly sent her in immediately with a smile and as Scully pushed the door open Skinner stood and walked over to her, pressing a tender arm to her shoulder.
"Agent Scully, any news?"
"I'm waiting to hear from Mulder about the boy. He's been missing since 7am this morning and no trace evidence can be found."
"What about hospital security footage?"
"It seems that all the cameras…malfunctioned."
"All of them?"
"Yes, between seven thirty and nine this morning."
"That seems a bit convenient."
"Mulder is organising an electronic sweep of the hospital to check for any devices that may have been interfering with the cameras."
"Right, What about the child? What do you make of it?"
"To be honest sir, I can neither validate nor disparage the claims made by his counsellor," she said neutrally.
"I sense a conflict…with agent Mulder?"
"Not quite sir," she said hoping that she wasn't blushing as images of their kiss in the rain flashed before her eyes. "Agent Mulder and I are clashing with our…theories, but then when do we not."
"Okay, I'll wait for the report," Skinner said with a small smile, knowing that She was struggling with her neutrality.
"I'm going to the airport direct from the office sir."
"Catching an earlier flight?"
"Yes Sir, I'm booked on the five thirty flight but I'm going to see if I can get on a different on," she said as she stood to her full height and fixed her jacket.
"Okay Agent Scully, keep me informed."
"Yes Sir."
***
"Frohike, did you find anything?" Mulder said when he walked into the hospital room and spotted Frohike's legs sticking out from under the bed.
"There is something about this bed that doesn't compute," he replied his voice muffled.
"What is it?" Mulder bent down to get closer to him and felt the jeans he had bought tighten around his waist. After rushing to the meeting at the field office he found a department store across the road from it and bought a pair of jeans and a black polo shirt off the rack. He changed in the bathroom before the meeting and found the jeans a little tighter than he would have liked. The polo shirt a little bigger than he was used to but he had no time to change them.
"I'm getting some sort of electrostatic reading from it but…it's higher than normal."
"Couldn't that be from all the other equipment?"
"No, it's like the bed has been used as ground for some sort of device, I dunno what though."
"Ground?"
"You now when you ground a electronic board so the power won't blow it up."
"Right."
"I know how we could find out but you're not going to like it," Frohike said with a laugh to his voice.
"How?"
"A simple EMP through the room could neutralise it and then we'd be able to find it."
"An EMP? Won't that affect the whole hospital?"
"Possibly the whole block, depending on the power behind it."
"Yeah Frohike, I can see us getting permission for that," Mulder said as he straightened, his hand holding the base of his back and he watched Frohike slide out from under the bed.
"I suppose I could localise one but there is no guarantee it wont wipe-out the floor or the building."
"That's not going to be an option. Keep thinking."
"Okay I'll give Byers a call and see if he found anything at the hotel."
Mulder wandered into the waiting room where Niamh was lying on the small couch again. He carefully approached her not wanting to wake her if she was sleeping but as he stepped around the small coffee table she shot bolt upright and stared at him.
"What happened? Did they find him?" she asked looking around the room.
"No, I just came to see how you are."
"Ugh," she muttered, her hands rubbing her face and combing through her hair.
"That bad?"
"I'm just so worried and I feel guilty."
"Guilty? You shouldn't," he said softly coming around fully and sitting next to her on the small couch, their thighs pressed together.
"I know, rationally…but I really cared…care," she corrected herself, "about that child. He had the worst fit last night and then all this happens."
"He took a fit? Was there any drawings?" Mulder asked trying hard not to make it sound as uncaring as it did.
"I…I dunno, he was in his room…"
They both looked at each other before shooting up and racing out. They separated around the room searching diligently as Frohike stood in the middle of the room talking to Byers.
"What are you looking for?"
"A piece of paper with a drawing on it," Mulder yelled from behind the bed.
"I found it," Niamh shouted.
She jumped up from the wastebasket where she had been rummaging. Straightening the paper out she held it out for all of them to see.
"What does it say?" Mulder asked pointing at the short hand that covered the top of the page.
"New York, 3554, 17.30."
"Frohike, can you find out what flights are landing in NY from 17.30 on wards?"
"I'm on it Mulder," he said pulling at his laptop and fingering the keys with a speed Mulder had rarely seen.
"I got four flights landing in La Guardia and five in JFK, what about tying it in with the number…3554."
"One flight, landing at La Guardia…from Washington."
"Scully!" Mulder said as he fumbled for his mobile. "It's Scully's flight."
** A writer once told me that to heighten the tension of a conversation or descriptive
piece you should make the sentences short so that the reader goes through them
quickly. I tried it with this chapter
but I don't think it reads too well.
Not very smooth. Sorry! **
