Title: Crop circles
Chapter 6: Sweet Dreams
Summary: Mulder investigates a case alone, while a healthy Scully is in a coma. Unfortunately for him, Fox Mulder isn't alone for long... MSR in later chapters, set sometime after Amor Fati.
Archive – Really? You like it that much? *eyes shine* Yeah, just ask and be sure to link back to my site.
Contact – Yfandes10@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: They're not mine. They belong to 1013 productions, Chris Carter, Fox, and probably some other people I forgot to mention. But my birthday IS coming up soon, and I have no objections to owning Mulder…
Notes:
Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! I got more of a response to chapter six than I expected, which is always a nice little surprise. ^-^ I normally get about…two reviews a post, this time I got ten. Could it be the new and improved summary?
I seriously considered ending this story at Ch.6, it's such a powerful chapter…I hope this can follow up to it. There's some MSR in this one…but it has…SUBSTANCE! Hopefully it's not too sappy.
I'm thinking of reposting this story under a new title, I just haven't thought of one yet…If you're reading this, then the story is complete and I've already rewritten the first two or three chapters. Chapter three, "Abduction" has no been merged with Chapter two.
PixieDustBunny: For her suggestions and critiques, always appreciated. ^_^
Emma Barrows: Thanks for the reviews, all six, one for each chapter. *grin*
Rinkufan: Thanks for finally reading and reviewing, I'll post a future chapter that explains the coma and things…
Without further adieu, as promised, the final chapter! Bon appetite!
-----Part 1-----
APRIL 3
9:15 PM
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Mulder dialed the familiar number into his cell phone for the third time. And for the third time, he was rewarded with the answering machine. Muttering under his breath, he pushed the car past the sixty-five he was already doing and veered around a corner.
Only one more block…but why isn't she picking up?
Biting his lip, he pulled up to Scully's house, slamming one door and rapping with his knuckles on the other. When it proved vain, he unlocked the door and stumbled inside.
The first thing he noticed was that it was completely dark. There were no lights on at all, not even in the bathroom. But why would she turn off the lights? She'd called him only a half hour before, asking him to come over because she thought she'd discovered something with the case. When he'd called back in a few seconds after her call because he had the feeling he was being followed, no one had answered.
He slid his hand along the wall, searching for the light switch. Just as he found it, a piercing scream, hoarse and panicked and loud, split through the house.
"MULDER!"
-----Part 2-----
Scully was drenched in sweat, tossing in her bed, becoming entangled in the sheets. Her arms thrashed uncontrollably, batting at some unseen foe, hair moist.
A single shot ran clear in the night.
NO! MULDER, NO!
She thought she might be screaming aloud but she wasn't sure, could only be sure of the screams of anguish rocketing around in her skull.
WAKE UP, DANA! WAKE UP!
She wanted to wake up, struggled to, fought against some invisible bondage, a prisoner in her own mind. She was straining, pushing, fighting, her phone rang in this distance, unheard, unanswered. Finally, with the last of her strength, with all her will behind her, with all the power of her mind, body, and soul, she made one last attempt to break through the barrier which surrounded her, smothered her, suffocated her. It worked.
"MULDER!" she sat upright in bed, a deer in headlights, screaming, face covered with tears and sweat. Her voice was hoarse, unused, but beneath that was the undercurrent of pain and fear and panic and desperation. "MULDER!"
Her bedroom door slammed against the wall, and in the dim moonlight filtering through the blinds she saw Mulder brandishing a gun, searching for a would-be assailant.
She collapsed, trembling, shaking uncontrollably, cold sweats taking over her body. She heard the familiar click of a gun being put on safety and then Mulder was there, feeling her forehead, surprised at the fever, then disentangling her from the blankets and wrapping her in them. She still sat upright.
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, her body shaking, pajamas clinging to her from perspiration. Mulder was gone and then returned with a towel, wiping her face clean, murmuring soothing words she didn't understand, couldn't understand, not now, but didn't need to, only needed the voice, the tone, the reassurance.
She felt arms wrap around her and still her quaking, hold her in safety, envelope her in a blanket softer and warmer than any quilt, enfolding her in the familiar smell she loved so much. The arms began to draw away as her breathing slowed and her heart stopped racing, but she leaned into them, seeking the comfort.
Mulder waited for several minutes, savoring the moment, before finally speaking, hesitant to break the comfortable silence.
"What happened, Dana?" his words were soft, as if apologizing for interrupting the peace.
The use of her first name was not lost on her and sent a shiver down her spine. Mulder, mistaking the reason for it, held her closer, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"My neck, Mulder…my neck…"
Getting up to turn on the lights, they both blinked for several moments before their eyes adjusted. Mulder returned to the bed, holding her hair out of the way so he could examine her.
"What am I looking for?" She felt the vibrations of his voice course through her body and she suppressed another shiver.
"Two small holes, probably toward the base."
He remained silent, but she felt his fingers brush over two needle-like punctures.
"You found them, didn't you?"
She knew he nodded even though she couldn't see him.
"What are they from, Dana?"
"I…don't know…"
He was silent for a moment, his breathing controlled, before he answered.
"Let's get you to the hospital."
-----Part 3-----
"Agent Dana Scully?"
Scully tapped on Mulder's shoulder and spoke softly. "He's the doctor who diagnosed my…coma." Mulder nodded, his Oxford brain processing the information.
"Are you Agent Dana Scully?" he asked again, politely.
"Yes," she said, withdrawing her badge from her pocket.
"I'm Doctor Grant, I specialize in the study of the human brain. Due to the nature of your reports, I've been assigned to try to help you."
"Have you come up with any theories yet?" Mulder spoke from beside Scully, getting straight to the point.
"And who might you be?"
"Special Agent Fox Mulder, I'm Dana's partner in the Federal Bureau of Investigation," he spoke tiredly, flashing his badge.
"Spooky Mulder?"
"I see my reputation precedes me." He grinned, then motioned for the doctor to continue.
"Well, other than the holes in her neck, the most I can deduce is that Ms. Scully had a dream."
"A dream." It was a question spoken as a statement.
"Well, the only scientific explanation that makes sense of everything in the report and takes place in the few seconds between Agent Scully phoning you and you calling her back, Mr. Mulder, is that she fell asleep."
"Asleep."
"Mulder, there are diseases in which people can fall asleep instantaneously." Scully spoke, taking a medical standpoint, but her eyes denied the possibility.
"But that still doesn't explain the holes in your neck." He turned to the doctor. "Can you run tests for these kinds of diseases?"
"We can, but I don't think it's necessary. I simply believe that Agent Scully had a bad dream and the holes in her neck could easily be explained as a spider bite."
Mulder fought to keep his face bland.
"Thank you for your time, Dr. Grant. We'll call you if we have any questions."
* * *
"That's not what happened, Mulder," Scully spoke as she slammed shut the car door. "How do you explain that I knew Dr. Grant when I never even met him? And those holes on the back of my neck are no spider bite…"
"Just assuming it was a dream, Scully, what would have been the purpose of the punctures?"
"I don't know, a wire of some sort, I saw it on you…I think it was recording your memories." She glanced at him, daring him to laugh or make fun of her.
Mulder didn't say anything for nearly fifteen minutes and they sat in an unusually uneasy silence, thinking.
"What if these aliens you told me about, that abducted me, what if they really abducted you and then everything you saw, or thought you saw, was just a dream? If the aliens could abduct you and record your memories quick enough it would fit. Put you into a state of narcosis, download your memories, leave you back in bed, still asleep. That would explain the, ah…barrier…around your mind."
Her brow furrowed in confusion.
"But why? For what purpose?"
"I don't know."
Still, it made sense. Even Scully had to admit it made sense. And she did.
"You're actually agreeing with me on this one, Scully? And they call me spooky…"
"I'm just saying it's a definite possibility, Mulder, that's all."
They didn't speak at all for the rest of the drive, but when Scully turned on the radio, they caught the end of Cher's Walking in Memphis.
Mulder caught Dana's eyes and grinned. Her face reflected his.
-----Part 4-----
A puff of gray smoke intruded upon the darkness, tainting the pure evening. It smoke swirled and the man behind it watched, fascinated, deliberately stalling. Not because he had to, but because it caused consternation on the other man's part. From the smoke, a voice rose, speaking to that man, this one without cigarette or hair.
"Has it all gone according to plan?"
A wheezing voice answered, coming from the significantly smaller man. "Yes, sir. The memories have been recorded, and all evidence has been destroyed."
"And Agent Scully?"
"She won't be able to explain what happened. She'll more than likely doubt what she knows because she won't understand. Her science can offer her no explanation as to what happened."
A black shoe ground the cigarette into the road.
"Good."
----------------------------------------------END CROP CIRCLES----------------------------------
Yup, folks, that was the last chapter!! CROP CIRCLES IS FINISHED! Well, the story part, anyway, I still plan on posting a chapter than answers some of the questions asked by my lovely reviewers. So if you have a question or if the last chapter just plain sucked, review!
