May 22

FBI Headquarters

One week earlier. . .

Mulder had just walked in the door as Scully finished typing their report. He was tired and frustrated, and so was she. They hadn't run across a really X-Filish case for the past month. The cases they had been investigating had been one hoax after another. It seemed that all the practical jokers and con artists had decided to come out at once. The cases went from cows found on rooftops to a group of young men saying that aliens abducted them for two days; forced to perform strange and moronic rituals, which wiped out all sense of individuality and fostered the caveman mentality. They discovered that the cows were a rancher's attempt to devalue a rival's herd and the so called 'abductees' were pledges in a fraternity who were told to lie so that their 'Big

Brothers' chapter wouldn't get suspended for hazing.

With the current state that they were in, anything would have been better than being submerged in the world of corporate fraud and the college boys' need for a scapegoat; even if it meant investigating the Mexican goat sucker thing again. Mulder approached Scully, case in hand, with what she was certain would be another example of a lonely person's futile attempt for attention and notoriety.

"What is it this time, Mulder?" Scully asked, taking off her glasses. "Wait. Let me guess. Mutant psychic lives in twin brother's stomach."

"Close but no cigar, Scully," Mulder replied, as he plopped down on the side of her desk. "It's a mutant psychic dog that communicates with the dead."

"You're not suggesting that we actually take the time to investigate that, are you?" Scully asked, giving Mulder 'the look.' There were times, though she'd never admit it, when she wasn't sure if he were joking or not.

"Don't worry, Scully," Mulder replied with a smile. "It's the weekend. You can go home, relax, and do whatever it is you do when your mind is not consumed with thoughts of me." That last comment got him a playful shove off the desk. "Seriously though, you don't have to go. I was referred to the Seattle office to work on a possible kidnapping. Apparently we're not the only ones that believe it's been slow down here. It seems Skinner thinks that I need extra work to keep me busy and out of his hair. What little he has." He smiled. "It shouldn't take more than a day or two, at the most three. I've already reviewed the case and it seems pretty straightforward. I think that it's just another rich kid's attempt to gain some attention from his parents."

"Oh, I bet that will be fun," Scully said, returning his smile. "Thanks, Mulder. I need a break from the eyestrain anyway. After all, I seem to always be the one stuck with the paper work," she said, giving Mulder the eye. "Why is that I wonder?"

"Why, Scully, whatever do you mean?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

May 29

6:00 PM

Dana Scully's Apartment

The doorbell sounded as Scully walked into her living room. It was followed by an impatient knock. The day had been long and tedious, catching up with reports, typing up field notes, and trying to make some headway into organizing the office. So when she heard the doorbell, she was more than a bit annoyed at having her evening of relaxation interrupted. Her social life being what it was, she couldn't imagine who could be knocking at her door.

"Who is it?" she called, as she moved to the peephole. Looking out, she was totally surprised at who she saw standing there. The last time Scully had seen the woman was when she had left her and Mulder standing in his hotel room. That was about a year ago. The last place she would have expected to see Fox again was on her doorstep.

"Agent Scully," Fox greeted Scully as the door swung open. "It's been a long time. May I come in?"

Scully could tell that something was wrong. It was nothing in her appearance, for on the few occasions that Scully had been around her, Fox had always maintained some modicum of control over her emotions. It was just a feeling that she had. She was sure that, whatever the reason Fox had come out of hiding, it had something to do with Mulder.

"What is it, Fox?" she asked, standing aside. "Of all the people you could have contacted, I would have thought you would be contacting Mulder, not me. So what's going on?"

"First off, call me 'Alyssa.' After using 'Fox' for a while, I began to understand why Mulder disliked being called by his first name. I use it as my last name now."

Before Scully could reply to that, her phone began to ring. She would have ignored it had she not felt compelled to answer it. "Scully," she answered.

"Agent Scully?" She recognized the voice as belonging to Assistant Director Walter Skinner. This was definitely a night for surprises, and with each surprise her anxiety increased. There was only one reason for Skinner to call, and that was Mulder.

"Agent Scully, I need you to fly out to Washington on the next available flight."

"Has something happened to Mulder?" she asked, interrupting the AD.

"Agent Scully," Skinner paused, "Mulder's missing. I just heard from an agent at the Seattle office, who had been contacted by a local rental agency when Mulder failed to turn in his car. The service agent had become concerned when he accessed the car's transmitter and noted the location; he then relayed the location to an Agent Joy Bakke at the Seattle field office. His car was found just a few miles east of a town called Skykomish, on Interstate 2. Agent Bakke notified me that Mulder had mentioned something about investigating some sightings. She'd forgotten all about it until the rental agency called."

"He'd called me and said he'd be staying out there to do that. He said that I didn't need to come out for it. I should have gone anyway." Scully berated herself for not going. Knowing how Mulder tended to get himself into trouble, she should have known better.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Scully. You know your partner best and once he's latched onto something, he's like a pit bull." Scully knew that he was right but it didn't make her feel any better.

"Were there any signs of foul play?" Scully asked.

Alyssa noted the worry and fear in Scully's voice and the tension that was building in her body, as she continued to get the details on what had happened to Mulder. She had hoped that she was not too late. That she had acted quickly enough to avoid a disaster. Yet, though she had denied it, she knew that she had been too late the moment she had set foot into Scully's apartment. Her only chance of finding him now was to work with Scully.

Alyssa knew that this could be difficult. She sensed that Scully had never truly accepted her as being a product of Mulder's DNA. She'd look for Mulder herself, but she was unwilling to use her power until she had a solid lead on where to start looking. She didn't want to weaken at a critical moment when Mulder might need her. Though she found it hard to conceive of him being in a situation where she needed to use her power to protect him, and yet her dreams seemed to warn her that she soon would. Besides, Scully knew him better than anyone. She could probably find him on just sheer determination and her own innate ability that was part of the bond that they shared.

Alyssa was pulled back from her thoughts when Scully hung up the phone.

"This is why you came, isn't it?" Scully asked.

"Yes, it is."

"How did you know? How did you know that something had happened to Mulder?" Scully was getting suspicious. She had never been truly convinced of the sincerity of Alyssa's claims. And for all she knew, Alyssa could be involved in Mulder's disappearance.

"I understand your hesitancy to believe me, Dana," she replied. "If I were you, I would be hesitant to. But for the last week I have been having these dreams. Dreams where Mulder was dying. I think that you know of what I'm speaking."

How could she possibly know, she thought, that I've been dreaming about Mulder being in danger. Scully disregarded the thought as soon as it popped into her head.

"Dana, how can you so easily disregard that which has always been a part of you?" she asked surprising Scully. "Those leaps in logic that have always led you back to Mulder when he needed you? They all came from that part of you that you continue to deny."

"How would you know?" If she wasn't sufficiently suspicious before, she was now.

"I know because I've been keeping track of you and Mulder," she said, trying to convince Scully of her sincerity. "I was concerned that, after I left you in Boston, you would need some protection. There was always a slim chance that, because you and Mulder helped me, They would seek some kind of retribution. I now know for certain that, right now, you seem to be more important to Them alive. This month had been so slow for both of you. I wasn't paying you both the attention I should have."

Scully stood for a moment, watching the woman in front of her. She wasn't sure if she still trusted who Alyssa said she was; but she was now convinced that, whether or not she was really a genetically altered clone, a chimera, Alyssa believed it to be true. She could see it in the passionate way in which she spoke of Mulder. The intensity of her desire to protect him almost made her jealous. It had been her job for so long that she was unwilling to share the responsibility. Regardless of what she thought of her, she would need Alyssa's help in Washington.

"You won't regret this, Dana." Again, Scully was surprised by the seeming response to her thoughts.