40.

Washington DC Memorial Hospital

9.45am

Scully looked at Mulder as he pulled into the parking space. They both looked worn out. It wasn't just the fantastic love making session all through the night but the talking about what had happened. It had been as if it was the last ever night they would spend together. It could possibly be that or not. They wouldn't know until later. In about two hours. Part of Scully desperately clung to the happiness she had with Mulder but her inquisitive mind had to know whether their love was true, not a by-product of some damn microchip in her neck.

Mulder wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked through the hospital corridors to meet with her doctor. He may have been her oncologist but he had put the chip there for her last time. Now she wanted the additional one removed. It would be a simple half hour procedure at most. The lengthy process would be the scan. Sometimes it helped having friends who worked in x-ray! Whilst Mulder booked her in she wandered down the hallway to an exit and stepped out through the glass doors. Opening her mobile phone she made the most important phone call.

"I'm at the hospital, where in the hell are you?"

"Nearly there. Just pulling into the car park as we speak, told you it'd be fine didn't I?" Scully smiled

"Yes you did. Thank you for this. I just hope Mulder sees this as a positive."

"He will. Get prepped and see you in five, ok?"

"Thanks."

Walking back through the glass doors Scully found Mulder flirting away with the nurse who, even to Scully's critical eyes, was pretty. Softly she shook her head he would never change and she hoped he wouldn't either.

"Where did you go?" he asked as she touched his arm

"Outside for a moment to gather my thoughts together." He led her down the hall his arm around her again. She laid her head against his shoulder as he directed them to her room.

"You can change your mind."

"Then we won't know. I need to know and no matter how much you say that it doesn't bother you there will come a day that it does. You'll wake up one day thinking… does she really love me. That's why I can't accept your marriage proposal just yet. Once this chip is out I will."

"That's if you still do love me." He said holding her tighter to him and kissing her head. Right now it felt like he was losing her again only this time he was losing the Dana he loved and was replacing her with the Dana of the old days. The rookie FBI agent who wouldn't let him have his way, something he had hated but grew to love about her. Although she rarely let him, have his way, in latter years he still knew she in part believed in his cause, she believed in him. Would she still? He hoped it would be okay. It had to be.

Ten minutes later she was wearing her theatre gown. She hated them, always had and was certain she always would. The doctor had administered her anaesthetic to the base of her neck. The skin had paled considerably, Mulder told her, as they waited for it to take effect. Scully laughed, she didn't know who was more nervous, her or Mulder? Both were wringing their hands or staring into space. Mulder was going into the theatre with her, which was some comfort. She knew he was a little queasy where blood was concerned so she hoped there wouldn't be too much from re-opening the scar tissue. It wasn't as if it was just the one scar there either. She had both the chip scar and the one from where Doggett had cut the 'worm' from her neck when she was first pregnant with William. The old scars that shouldn't be opened had to be to get at the chips.

The doctor said he'd examine the chips in theatre as he had the ultrasound results.

Scully was taken to theatre in a wheelchair that squeaked at every full revolution of its wheels. It marked the way down the hall to the impending death of her love for Mulder. Fear gripped at Scully's stomach like a battering ram at a door. She turned in the chair suddenly afraid for her future. Reaching for Mulder's hand she nearly tipped the chair over. The nurse stopped pushing the chair as Mulder crouched down beside Scully who instantly wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry I'm doing this to you. I love you so much. You do know that, don't you?"

"I do. This has to be done, Dana, for both of our sanities. I know what you feel for me but you were right when you said that I would keep thinking about it. I admit that you are right about this. I'm going to get scrubbed up and join you in there, ok?"

Scully nodded tears in her eyes as she held his hands whilst he stood up. He kissed her lips before backing away from the chair holding her hands. As their fingers slipped from each other's her face crumpled with tears. The nurse wheeled Scully into the theatre. Hopping onto the bed she watched as Mulder and the doctor prepped for the surgery. Scully's hair was already tied up and placed beneath a cap. Another nurse prepared her neck with iodine solution making the skin turn a beautiful shade of orange. It was cold but Scully could barely feel anything in that region of her body. Sitting there in her gown, cap, knickers and socks she felt strange. It had been years since her last medical surgery, thank goodness. Mulder came into the room and held her hands. He gave her reassuring glances as the doctor came into the room, too.

"So where are your team of analysts, Dana?" The doctor asked.

"There they are." She pointed at the scrub room and watched Mulder's face turn from a puzzled expression to one of complete shock. The three men stepped into the room clad in hospital attire and carrying various pieces of equipment. Each one looked more out of place than the other, except perhaps for one. Byers, Langley and Frohike had returned and just for her!

"What the… I thought you guys were dead!" Mulder exclaimed the doctor just looked intrigued by the collection of 'misfits' before him. Their equipment wasn't exactly standard issue but neither was this operation. Shaking his head he asked if everyone was ready, they were. Langley laughed at Mulder who was clearly dumbfounded.

"Later, Man, let us deal with Scully, ok?" Mulder nodded. Right now she was far more important.

Scully felt the pressure and tug at her skin where it was being cut. Lifting her eyes and remaining still she focused in on Mulder's face. No one said anything but she could tell Mulder was not comfortable standing. He wasn't comfortable full stop. Mulder looked worried. Smiling weakly Scully waited for the chips to be found.

"There they are." The doctor said pleased because the scan had shown one broken chip and one intact but now he saw them they were both fine. The area around the chips was burn scarring and had been tough to get through. He pulled down the magnifier a little more and taking hold of the metal tweezers he aimed for the bigger of the two chips. He felt the vibrations in the tweezers before he realised what was going on. A sharp, high charged bolt of electricity sent him flying across the room and hitting the wall with a sharp thud. He groaned as a nurse went over to see if he was ok. He shook his head but slid back to the floor with dizziness.

Scully had turned around to see this. She turned to the gunmen.

"Byers, would you?"

"Sure." Byers took hold of another pair of tweezers and pulled down the magnifier. He was no electrician but even he could see the chip looked electrically charged. "Frohike, Langley… does either of you have a plastic pair of tweezers about your person? There is no way these can be touched with metal."

Frohike, upon searching his pocket found a tiny pair of plastic tweezers that he had admittedly stolen from a sweet shop. Pouring alcohol over them Byers began to aim for the chip with a steady hand. Taking hold of it he sighed as the electricity buzzed without effect. At this point, Mulder chose to let go of Scully's hand to grab a spare high stool to sit upon.

"Blast." Byers muttered.

"What?" Mulder said returning.

"The chip just broke… oh hang on… it didn't." Mulder stepped away again "It is… Mulder come back over here." Mulder did. "Stay put. This chip holds together when you are near it." Mulder looked at Scully who was wincing in pain.

"You ok, Dana?"

"It hurts like hell." She whispered trying to block out the pain. Byers tugged at the chip and more sparks flew from its place in Scully's neck. "AGGGHHHHH!" she called out as the pain coursed across her neck and down her arms. She breathed deeply the tears trailing down her face.

Frohike stepped in.

"Lets assess this chip first" he said connecting some alcohol drenched leads to the chip he played around with a keyboard connected to those leads. He grinned when he hit the enter key and Scully pushed Mulder's hands away from her. He smiled wider as he tapped a few more keys and Scully reached out and kissed Mulder on the cheek.

"Frohike!" Mulder warned

"Hey! I could make Dana fancy me with this thing! What do you say babe?" he said, hands poised over the keypad.

"I say… No thank you but maybe next time!" Scully spoke softly making Mulder smile. Taking out the leads Frohike stalked to where Langley had been stood. Byers returned to the chips.

"Dana, they won't separate." Byers spoke. "I have to take both chips out."

"You can't do that!" Mulder objected, "It'll kill her, you know that, don't you?" Byers nodded. They had been informed that Scully would die within five minutes of removal of the first chip.

"Do it!" Scully spoke her voice cracking in agony of the electricity bubbling within her.

"Dana, NO! This will kill you!" Mulder stepped away and hit the wall with his fist, "You never said it would come to this!"

"If it's the only way, Fox they have to!" she pleaded.

"There is another way." Byers spoke in his soft dulcet tone "Mulder stays over there and I take it out piece by piece. It's shattered into tiny pieces and may take an hour to remove. What do you think, Scully?"

"Do it. Just get it out of me, please." Her head was aching from being hung over but it would be worth it.

Byers painstakingly removed each piece of the chip. Each piece caused more agony than the last as the electrical current passed between the pieces pulling them back towards her body. Byers had to literally push Scully's body away from him to remove the tiniest pieces. In some cases Frohike and Langley would help pull at the tweezers.

Scully screamed as each piece was torn from within her body. Giving birth to two children minus any painkillers and an Alien baby had not compared with the pain of this. Trying to breathe trough her tears she found herself crying harder with each new piece being removed. It was all a little too much for her.

"One more piece!" Byers said noticing how Scully was beginning to sway on the table. It took all three of them to pull the final piece of the chip from her. She screamed at the top of her lungs until they had removed it from within her. Breathing hard she tried to focus on something. Mulder was in front of her saying something that she couldn't understand. The room spun unnaturally. Speaking softly she told him her news.

"It's over." Scully passed out into Mulder's arms. His heart broke in that single moment as he broke Scully's fall from the operating table.