CHAPTER ELEVEN

The police and fire department, plus the ambulance arrived. The fire was still burning and the fire crew put it out. Now the farmhouse was nothing more than burnt ahses and rubble…and two people were buried underneath it.

The fire crew began making their way through the huge pile of rubble to look for them. Twenty minutes later, they had found Mulder, who was alive and conscious. His face was covered with soot and there were deep scratches on his face as well. His clothes were torn and he was limping.

" Mulder, are you okay?" Scully asked her partner as the fireman helped Mulder to a waiting stretcher.

Mulder started to reply, but began to cough violently.

" You must have severe smoke inhalation," Scully commented, " Let's get to you the hospital."

" Not until they find Carly," Mulder replied, his voice hoarse.

It was another fifteen minutes until the fire crew found Carly trapped. Like Mulder, her face was covered with black, but unlike Mulder, she was unconscious.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, her head ached unbearably and she couldn't move her left arm. When her vision cleared, she saw that her arm was covered in plaster. With her free arm, she touched her face gingerly, she had several cuts and her forehead was wrapped in a bandage.

I've had better days, Carly thought as she tried to sit up. A hand forced her back down, Scully was standing next to her bed.

" Where am I?" was the first thing she asked them.

" At the hospital," Scully replied, " you've been out for several hours."

" Is my arm broken?"

Scully nodded, " yes, and you have a concussion. Try not to make any sudden moves."

" Is Mulder okay?"

" He's fine, he got a bit of smoke inhalation and some cuts and bruises, but he will live."

Carly hesitated before asking, " Did he come?"

" the cigarette-smoking man?"

Carly made a face, " I don't know why you and Mulder insist on calling him that."

" Because we don't know his name," Scully reminded her, " the only person who knows is you."

" I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone," Carly said, " Did he come and visit me?"

" Yes he did. He was leaving when I arrived." Scully assured her and at that moment, Mulder entered the room. He was dressed and ready to go home.

" How are you feeling?" Mulder asked Carly as he crossed the room to her bed.

" I have a headache and my arm is unbelievably itchy under this cast…I've never felt better," Carly joked lamely, then fell quiet. An image of Sandra popped in her head.

" Sandra is still out there," Carly said.

" No she isn't. The police arrested her when she tried to leave Wicklow," Mulder replied, " she's in prison under heavy guard…she won't hurt you or anyone else anymore."

" She could still get out," Carly pointed out, " she did the first time she was put in prison."

" I promise that won't happen. You're safe Carly," Scully reassured her.

" What about that bogus confession tape? Has the media gotten their hands on it?"

" No, the police found the tape in her car after they arrested her. They viewed the tape then destroyed it because Sandra confessed it was bogus."

" Thank God." Carly sighed.

The two agents left the hospital a few minutes later and Scully drove Mulder home.

" It's going to take Carly awhile to get over this," Scully mused.

Mulder nodded, " I think I'll give her some space…I guess she feels safest with the cigarette-smoking man."

" You still have feelings for her," it was a statement, not a question. They both knew his answer.



* * *



The following evening, Carly was discharged from hospital when she didn't suffer from a relapse. Her concussion was gone and the doctor told her it would take six weeks for her broken arm to heal.

The CSM drove her home and stayed with her. It was around nine thirty when Mulder rang with some news.

" Scully got a phone call from the prison," Mulder greeted her, " Sandra is dead."

" Dead?" Carly echoed, her hand gripped the receiver.

" She was found shot in the chest in her cell," Mulder explained, " one of the security guards heard a shot but never saw the gunman."

" She's really dead?"

" yes, she is." Mulder said and they talked for a while longer before saying goodnight. When she told the CSM the news, he didn't look surprised.

" I can feel safe again," she told him.

The CSM nodded, Carly doesn't need to know he had helped end the life of Sandra Porter who had terrorized Carly. No one will hurt the woman he loved again…not if he had something to do with it.

THE END.