Chapter 10

Omni Hotel

March 14

7:22 p.m.

Mulder awoke to a loud banging on the hotel door. He looked down at his sleeping partner, curled at his side, and smiled. She could sleep anywhere, anytime, no matter what was going on around her.

His musings were interrupted by another series of loud knocking from the door again. Who would be knocking on Scully's hotel room door? He gently rolled her over onto her back and pulled his arm out from under her shoulders. She whimpered softly and curled up onto her other side. Begrudgingly, Mulder glared at the door and went to open it. He looked through the peep hole and saw the person knocking was Mollie.

"Mollie?" Mulder asked opening the door.

"Agent Mulder? I'm so sorry. The front desk told me this was Agent Scully's room." Mollie stammered, surprised to see Mulder.

"Oh it is. Scully is taking a nap."

"Oh, okay. Umm...why are you in her room?" Mollie asked peering over Mulder's shoulder at the sleeping Scully.

"Why are you here, Mollie?" Mulder asked avoiding her question.

"I just needed to talk to Agent Scully," she paused. "About some stuff, that's all." Mollie answered, looking down at her hands.

"About your dreams?"

Mollie looked up at him, a wordless "yes" shining like tears in her eyes. Mulder felt his heart go out the young girl.

"What is it? Did you have another one?" Mulder asked, leaning his tall frame against the door jamb.

"Do you think I can come in? I don't really feel like talking about this out here in the hall." Mollie asked, gesturing to the room Mulder was blocking.

"Oh yea, sure. Come on in. Let me just wake Scully up." He said turning and heading to the bed.

Mollie began to protest against waking Scully. Good sleep was a precious thing, one that she was forced to live without. She thought better of it though, knowing she really needed to talk to Scully. Mulder leaned over the bed and shook Scully's shoulder gently.

"Scully wake up."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What was that?" Scully asked, her eyes still closed.

"You know what it was." Morgayne replied.

"History?" Scully asked, never looking up.

"Right. That was the beginning. Would you like to see the middle?" Morgayne asked, her voice softening.

Scully looked up at her with curious eyes.

"There's more?"

"Oh there's much more."

"I want to see. I want to see it all." Scully replied and turned to face the wall of fog once more.

"Scully, wake up!" She dimly heard Mulder cry out from somewhere above.

"Give me a few minutes, Mulder." She thought to herself, hoping Mulder could sense her thoughts.

Her reverie was broken as the wall of fog in front of her brightened.

Once again, Scully prepared herself for another flight through time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Scully?" Mulder shook her harder. He knew she was a hard sleeper, but this was ridiculous. He's been shaking her continuously and she had yet to awaken. Worry was starting to seep into his veins.

"Come on, Scully, wake up!" He raised his voice.

"Agent Mulder? What's going on? Why isn't she waking up?" Mollie asked from somewhere behind him, her voice tinged with anxiety.

"I don't know. Mollie call 911." Mulder said still shaking Scully, but not as violently as he was shaking himself.

St. Vincent's Hospital.

9:15 p.m.

Mulder sat numbly, his head resting in his hands, in the hospital waiting room. Mollie sat beside him, staring blankly at the wall in front of them. They had been sitting here for over an hour and still had no news on what was happening to Scully.

What had happened? She had just been sleeping, right? Why hadn't she woken up when he had tried to rouse her? There had to be something he was missing. People just didn't go to sleep and not wake up. Well, at least, they don't if they are healthy.

Oh God, the cancer! Was it back? No, Scully would have told him if it was, wouldn't she? Wait, what if she didn't know? What if this was somehow connected to Mollie? Could it be that Scully's cancer had come back because of Mollie and her dreams?

He stopped thinking when he heard someone scuffle into the room.

Looking up, he spied an older man with gray hair, although not much of it.

"Agent Mulder?" The man asked, surveying the nearly empty room. If Mulder had felt like smiling he would have at the way the man said his name. It sounded like Muldah. Must be from New York. Mulder stood up and nodded.

The man walked over to him and extended his hand. Mulder took it and shook it.

"I'm Doctor Simpson. I'm in the one in charge of Dana." He smiled, grimly.

Mulder nodded, not knowing what to say. He felt Mollie stand up beside him.

"Is she okay, Doctor?" Mollie asked, her voice breaking.

"Who are you?" The doctor turned his attention to Mollie. "Are you family?"

Mulder knew right then, as Dr. Simpson asked that, that this was serious. That he would only speak to family. Well, then, he was going to speak to "family." Mulder was sick of being kept in the dark with Scully's condition just because he wasn't technically her family.

"Yes, she's Dana's daughter. I'm Dana's husband." Mulder replied before Mollie could say anything. Scully was going to kick his butt, but good when she found out about this. Right now, thought, Mulder didn't care as long as she lived to do it.

The doctor looked Mollie over trying to gauge her age. Dana must have been quite young when she gave birth to her.

"All right then. I'd like to speak to you both in private. Why don't we all go to my office?" Dr. Simpson turned and walked out of the room, Mulder and Mollie in tow.

The three made their way down the long hall and turned to the right, into another hallway, only this one not as sterile looking. It must be the doctors offices in this wing, because there was carpet on the floors and didn't smell of medicine. Dr. Simpson stopped at a large wooden door and opened it. Holding the door open, he gestured for Mulder and Mollie to come in.

"Please, sit down." He said, holding his hand out towards the two leather chairs in front of his desk.

After the three were seated, Mulder spoke up.

"Doctor, what's going on?"

"Well, Agent Mulder, frankly I don't have a clue. Dana is in a coma." Dr. Simpson said, not beating around the bush. He drew his lips into a thin line.

"A coma?" Mollie gasped, her eyes widening.

"Yes. The thing is, I have no idea how or why. You said Dana just went to sleep and when you tried to wake her, she didn't." Dr. Simpson asked, trying to get the story straight.

"Yes." Mulder swallowed. He instinctively knew the next question the doctor was going to ask.

"Has she had any history of severe illness in her family?" The doctor asked looking down at Scully's charts.

"She had cancer." Mulder said and looked down at his hands folded in his lap. Suddenly, he felt two sets of eyes turn on him.

"Cancer? What kind?" Dr. Simpson pushed.

"I don't remember the name of it right now." Mulder shook his head, not thinking clearly. "It was behind her nasal cavity."

"How severe?" The doctor was taking notes.

"Umm...she was pretty bad off. I thought we were going to lose her. The tumor was pushing into her brain and..." Mulder trailed off, unable to finish, choking back tears.

"What happened with it? Did she go into remission?"

"Yes, miraculously." Mulder admitted, noticing the irony that only miracles happened when he referred to Scully.

"Well, I'll have some test run to see if that's, indeed, what it is." Dr. Simpson stood. "I'll take you to her room now, if you'd like."

They wordlessly followed him around another corner and down yet another hallway, back into the sterile white of the hospital.

When they arrived at room 13:04, Dr. Simpson nodded and made his way down the hallway, leaving Mulder and Mollie at the room. Mulder looked over at Mollie and reached for the door handle.

Opening it, he heard the steady beeping of machines measuring Scully's life. He thanked a God he didn't believe in that she was at least, for now, still alive.

Biting his lip, he gestured for Mollie to go on in.

"No, you go. I'll wait out here. You need time alone." She brushed a stray tear from her cheek and sniffled. Mulder nodded again and looked into the room where his Scully lay.

He looked down at Mollie, who had sat down on the floor, once more before he entered the room and closed the door, leaving the world outside.

Continued in Chapter 11