The Omni
March 14
7:55 am
She drifted back into consciousness slowly, breathing deeply as she did so. What was that smell? The certainly didn't smell like her bed. Actually it was a very familiar smell, it smelled like...
Something shifted beneath her head and she felt someone touching her hair, smoothing it down. She opened her eyes and looked up. When she saw his smile, she smiled back.
"Morning." Mulder greeted. "Sleep well?"
"Yes, I'm sorry I fell asleep in here, I'm sure you didn't want me taking up all your space. You should have woken me so I could go back to my room."
"Scully, you were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't have the heart to wake you. Also I don't know if you know this, but you don't take up much space. Besides," He shrugged. "I didn't mind." He grinned shyly.
She looked down at their current position He was laying on his back. She was curled up next to him on her left side. Her head was on his chest and one arm was draped around his waist. Her right leg was thrown over his and was slaying in between his legs.
"I guess you were my personal pillow." She said looking back at his face.
"Guess so." He said, all humor leaving his voice as his eyes darkened. She stared into his eyes and licked her lips. His tongue darted out to wet his own. He lifted his head up to hers.
'Oh my God, is he going to kiss me?' Was the thought running through her mind.
He inched closer.
'Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.'
His lips brushed hers ever so slightly before he backed away, searching her eyes.
'Is this ok?' His eyes asked.
In answer, she moved her head up to his and her lips made contact with his lower lip.
RING
Mulder groaned and grabbed for the hotel phone.
"Hello?" He growled.
"Yes, Agent Mulder, this is the front desk. We were just calling because you had requested a wake up call for 8." A man's voice said.
"Oh yes, thank you." He said and placed the phone back on the receiver. Scully rolled off of Mulder and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Mulder sat up.
"I'm gong to go to my room and take a shower and then get dressed so we can go to the police station and hospitals." She answered and walked away from the bed.
"Need some help?" He leered.
She turned ever so slightly, gave him a small smile and turned back muttering "Maybe some day."
"I heard that!" He yelled as she walked into her room. "And I must say, I can't wait till someday!"
She smiled and bit her lip. Grabbing clothes from her duffel bag, she made her way to the shower, feeling phantom kisses on her lips.
1131 Elmhurst Drive
8:13 am.
The sound of someone pattering around her room awoke her. What time was it?
Mollie begrudgingly opened her eyes and peered over at her Betty Boop wall clock. 8:13. She was going to be late for school! Why hadn't she woken up earlier? Why hadn't the alarm clock gone off and who was that in her room?
She sat up and instantly regretted it as a wave of nausea came over her and her vision blurred. She made a low guttural moan and covered her mouth with her hand.
"Mollie? Hey are you ok? You look like you're going to puke." Leila asked walking over to the bed. Ah, yes that's who was in her room. She had spent the night. Why? Mollie couldn't remember.
"Yea...I'm fine. I just got a little dizzy and sick to my stomach." She replied an swung her legs over the side of the bed and rested her head in her hand.
"You're not pregnant are you?" Leila asked eyeing her.
"Leila." Mollie groaned. "You have to have sex to get pregnant."
"Well just checking." She shrugged. "I'm gonna go fix us some cereal. You get dressed. We have to be at the church for the memorial service by 10." Leila jumped off the bed and made her way to the kitchen.
The memorial service. Now she remembered why Leila was there. She was going to the service with her. It hadn't been a dream. Tommy was still dead and her father was in a coma at the hospital. Mollie grabbed the phone off her nightstand and dialed the familiar number.
"Saint Vincent's." Came the terse impersonal greeting.
"Yes, I was calling to check up on my father, Ewan O'Brien. He's in ICU."
"Hold please." Canned elevator music floated out of the phone into her ear. She heard a click then a woman came on the line.
"ICU, this is Sheila speaking."
"Yes, I would like to know how Ewan O'Brien is. Is he out of the coma or what?"
"Are you family?" The voice, Sheila asked.
"Yes. I'm his daughter."
"Oh ok. Well, he hasn't had any changes at all. In fact, his BP is still the same and hasn't changed since yesterday. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you, miss."
Mollie let out a sigh.
"That's ok. Thank you." Mollie said. She hadn't expected any change. "Good-bye."
She hung up the phone and looked towards the bedroom door. Leila stood there.
"No change?" She asked and slowly walked to the bed and sat down.
"No." Mollie sighed. Suddenly she crumbled and all her emotions flowed out. She fell against her friends shoulder and sobbed vehemently. Yeah, this was going to be a terrific day. Zip-pid-dee-doo-da!
9:35 am
Mollie sat on her couch, her head in her hands, looking at the floor. Last night had been the first night in months that she hadn't had a nightmare. In fact, she hadn't dreamt at all, just fallen into a deep sleep. Maybe finally talking about the dreams had stopped them. Maybe letting out her feelings to the agents had been a good thing.
"Ready to go?" Leila asked stepping into the den. Mollie looked up at her.
Leila was wearing a short black skirt and white shirt that stood out against her dark tanned skin. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a clip, stray strands flowing out in certain places.
Once again Mollie wished she was as beautiful as Leila. She always felt so...inadequate around her. She stood and looked in the large portrait mirror over the couch. Her hair was down and curled in soft ringlet all around her face. She hadn't felt like straightening it after her shower. Besides, Tommy had always preferred it curly. She adjusted her brown button down shirt and wiped the lint from her black pants. Bending down she zipped up her black leather boots. She looked back up to Leila.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
Leila walked over and gathered her friend up into a hug. No matter how inadequate Mollie felt around Leila, she still thanked God for her. She truly was her sister, just not by blood.
Jacksonville Police Headquarters
Downtown Jacksonville
9:47 am
"Well, what do you have?" Scully sighed and looked over the table at Mulder, who sat chewing absently on a sunflower seed.
"Well it says everything we already know. Tommy was found in the woods behind his house by Mollie. The police didn't find any evidence of foul play, the didn't find any evidence of anything at all actually, which is really weird to say the least." Mulder looked up at her. "The whole crime scene was clean."
"Did they question Mollie?" Scully asked, once again looking down at the file that held no useful information.
"Yea, a Detective Murdick did." He said and stood up. He walked over to the door to the conference room they were in and opened it.
"Excuse me. Can we get a copy of the interrogation with Mollie by Detective Murdick?" He asked a passing policewoman, the same one that had shown them the conference room to read over the files in quiet. The actual office was boisterous, calls and people coming in all the time.
"Certainly, Agent Mulder, I'll bring it right to you." She said and flipped her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder and walked away.
Mulder shut the door and sat back down at the table. He opened up the file again and began reading. He probably had it memorized and yet he still read.
"Mulder do you mind if I leave you hear for awhile. I'm going to go see if I can talk to Mollie again. There's some things I want to find out from her." Scully asked rising from her chair.
"Sure no problem, but I thought you thought Mollie was innocent." He looked up from the file.
"I do, I just need to talk to her again." She bit her lips and looked at him.
"Ok. Oh wait, isn't she at Tommy's service?" He asked
"Yea, but I know where its at. I'll only be a couple of hours. I'll pick you back up for lunch. Why don't you see if you could talk to Detective Murdick, find out what he thinks." She suggested and walked to the door.
"Ok." He replied and she opened the door. "Hey Scully..."
"Yea?" She turned to him.
"Be careful." He looked back down at the files. She drew her brows together in confusion.
"Ok." She said and left. He never said "Be careful." Oh well, time to see Mollie and ask about her dream.
Forest Baptist Church
9:56 am
"Oh Mollie, I'm so glad you're here." A tall skinny woman cried as she gathered Mollie up into a hug. Mollie stiffened and backed away from her, eyeing the woman in front of her. Her salt and pepper hair was cut short and neat, flaring around the collar of her expensive looking black business suit. Her makeup was perfectly done except for small smudges of mascara under each eye. Mollie wondered if they were there because of real tears or if she had smudged it to look genuinely sad.
"Mrs. Kilpatrick." Mollie said her name slowly, in greeting. The woman turned to Leila, who was standing next to Mollie.
"Hello, I'm Debbie Kilpatrick, Tommy's mother." She extended her hand.
"Leila Hagan, Mollie's best friend. I'm very sorry about your son." Leila took the offered hand and shook it, grimacing at the coldness.
"Thank-you. I miss him so much." Mrs. Kilpatrick said, her eyes tearing up a little.
A plump woman in a purple dress walked over to the three women.
"Debbie? Are you alright? Why don't you go sit at a pew?" She grabbed Mrs. Kilpatrick on the forearm as if she needed to steady her.
"Yes, thank you Patti." She smile and patted the woman's arm. "Thank you for coming Leila, Mollie." She turned and let the woman guide her to a seat in the front of the sanctuary.
"Jeez...can we say 'bad actress'?" Leila remarked watching the two women walk away.
"I know, she seems so fake." Mollie shook her head slightly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "It hurts me to know that Tommy had to live with that for so long..." She trailed off and walked down the aisle to a pew in the middle of the sanctuary.
"Well, at least she wasted no expense in decorating the place." Leila quipped and sat down next to her friend.
For the first time since arriving, Mollie allowed her eyes to travel around the room. Leila was right. Mrs. Kilpatrick sure had spent enough money making the place beautiful. On every window ledge was a vase of lilies. Black silk ribbons and bows adorned the pews and rose petals were scattered on the aisle floors. The most elaborate "decoration", however, was the huge picture of Tommy at the front of the sanctuary. Mollie sucked in a deep ragged breath and blinked away the tears in her eyes.
She had taken that picture of Tommy. It had been a night months ago, when he had first told her he loved her. They had been at a bonfire and hayride with his church. They had both been so happy that night. She had brought a disposable camera at the 7-11 earlier that night and had snapped random pictures the whole time. This one in particular was her favorite, though, by far.
He had been looking over his shoulder at her when she had snapped it. The firelight made his face look even tanner than usual and his eyes were a haunting green color, almost emerald. The wind had blown his hair so that it hung into his eyes. His hand was pushing it away from his face. He looked happy, though no smile graced his lips. It was definitely a beautiful picture, a beautiful picture of a beautiful person.
She choked back a sob as she realized, again, that she would never see him ever again, except for in pictures and memories.
"Hey, it's okay. Try not to think, okay." Leila whispered and grabbed her hand and squeezed.
Suddenly, a hand touched her shoulder. Mollie turned around to see the face of a person she never would have expected to see there.
Continued in Chapter 7
