The next day for Scully was anything but pleasant. The only thing she could think of was what Ryan had tried with her last night. She couldn't believe the one student she had such high aspirations for was actually a stalker. She knew she should report his lewd behavior. So why wasn't she? Ethan had tried to talk to her that morning, questioning what had happened but she had told him nothing. Or rather she told him it was just a nice, quiet evening between teacher and student. Somehow she felt that Ethan didn't believe her but he apparently was too much of a gentleman to pry. Apparently just having Dana alive was enough for him to be thankful for.

Today, would be extremely hard for Scully because she knew she had to face her demon, Ryan. He always sat in the front row and after what he had described to her last night she was more nervous than ever. She even made certain that she didn't wear a skirt today but instead more slacks. She was not going to give Ryan any more incentives for his fantasies. Instead of being chatty with the faculty in the lounge before class, she remained in her own little corner, sipping her coffee. Luckily everyone respected her privacy this morning and so it passed without incident. And after class, she was to go to the city morgue to autopsy her former student Laurie Peterson. Maybe Ryan wouldn't be in class today? Maybe he felt too guilty about what had happened last night and so he couldn't show his face?

She slowly rose from her chair and picked up her briefcase before heading to the lecture hall. She just had to hope that she was right about Ryan not being there. Otherwise it would make this particular class VERY difficult. She opened the door and made her way down the steps and to the front of the room. As she opened her briefcase and prepared to start, she noticed the last of the students trickling in. And as she observed the room, she could not see Ryan's face among them. She breathed a sigh of relief and her mood immediately changed as she produced a smile. "Well, Good morning everyone. We have a lot to cover today. Let's take out our books and go through the answers to last night's homework. I'm assuming there were no problems since my cell didn't ring off the hook last night." She heard laughter coming from the students. "So, you guys are all pros at this, I see." She pulled out her paper. "Ok. Let's start with Question #1 shall we?" She put on her reading glasses. "What are some of the things that can be revealed on a body post-mortem that can help us to determine the cause of death?" She glanced down at her student sheet. "How about…Robert Percolla? What did you have for that answer?"

Robert shifted in his chair. "Well one of the answers I had was insect remains such as a cocoon or eggs. By determining the kind of insect, it could establish a possible timeline based on that species life span or cycle."

"That's very good, Robert and correct I might add. A person would think that something as miniscule as insect larvae on a body would be unimportant in an investigation but that is not true. Not all insects have the same cycles and therefore this can determine…"

Her sentence was cut off as the door to the lecture hall opened and a young man stepped inside. He made his way slowly down the stairs and over to a seat in the front row. After taking his seat, he looked up at Scully and tilted his head. "Dr. Scully."

Scully could feel herself trembling as she stared back at the person she had hoped to avoid. "Good…good morning, Ryan."

"I apologize for being late for class but…I had kind of a long night." Ryan replied with a sly smile. "But the last thing I wanted to do was miss your class. Oh indeed, that was the LAST thing on my mind."

Scully swallowed. "Yes, well I appreciate your honesty, Ryan. We…had just started going over the answers to last night's homework. And Robert Percolla just gave us a very good answer on one of the post mortem findings that can help determine a cause of death involving insect remains."

"Did he now? Well, I'm terribly sorry that I missed that."

"Yes." Scully cleared her throat. "Anyway, continuing with insects having different cycles…"


The whole time during class, Ryan had not taken his eyes off of Scully. She could feel his eyes on her no matter where she went. It almost felt like they were burning and looking deep within her. And no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shake that feeling. Every time she looked out into the vast lecture hall, all she could see was Ryan licking his lips and smiling at her. He was intimidating the hell out of her but she was determined not to show her fear. After all, she was an FBI Agent and had dealt with many things worse than a mere stalker. And in reality, all she had to do was report him and that would be the end of that if the circumstances called for it. And so she continued being her usual self all the way through class never letting anyone catch a hint of what she was really feeling.

She was relieved when the bell finally sounded though. "Well, it appears we're out of time for today. For this weekend, I want you to look over Chapters 10-13 for Monday. Yes, I know it seems like a lot but I assure you that the material is quite easy to get through. And if anyone has any problems, please don't hesitate to call me." She turned away from the class and back to her briefcase.

"Dr. Scully?"

Scully turned around to find Ryan standing in front of her. "Ryan."

"I just…I wanted to apologize to you for my behavior last night. I guess the wine kind of got to me."

"It's one of the reasons I don't like alcohol. It makes people sometimes do things they normally wouldn't. Although, that doesn't excuse some one's behavior in my book."

"I guess that's what happens when someone tries to reenact their fantasies? I was being truthful in everything I told you, Dr. Scully. That part was no lie. All I am apologizing for is how I came onto you."

"You feel absolutely no shame in what you said to me?"

"None." Ryan paused. "In fact, if you don't mind I would like to make it up to you?"

"Make it up to me? Oh, please you must be joking?" Scully opened her briefcase. "What you did last night Ryan was unthinkable. To have these fantasies about your professor is WRONG. I thought you were apologizing for your overall behavior toward me and yet here you stand here basically telling me that you don't regret it. I find that completely unacceptable. I will deal with you in class, Ryan but nothing else."

"But I thought I was your best student? And you have to pick a student from class to help you put a presentation together for that seminar."

"That's right, Ryan, I do. And…up until last night I would have picked you for that position." She placed her reading glasses in their case. "But as of this morning, that has changed. I'm going to choose Richard Melrose."

"What? That loser! He doesn't know half the stuff I do!"

"He may not be as smart as you Ryan but I see he has potential." She closed her briefcase. "I'm sorry."

Ryan grabbed her arm. "You can't do this! I was your best student!"

Scully glared at Ryan. "I advise you to let go of me before I contact the Bureau about a certain little matter that happened last night. And if you keep up this behavior in class, I may be forced to transfer you to another block. Now, let go."

Ryan let go of Scully. "Well, I'm sorry you choose to see it that way, Dr. Scully. I could have really given you a presentation that would have that whole seminar talking. But if you want to choose that geek Melrose, fine."

"I want you to leave now, Ryan."

Ryan shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave. He then stopped. "Oh and Dr. Scully? Say hi to Laurie for me when you do her autopsy." He then grinned before making his way up the steps and out of the lecture hall. He then began to whistle I Only Have Eyes For You as he walked down the hallway.

Dana, Dana, Dana


The rest of Scully's day was haunted by visions and whispers of Ryan. No matter how much she tried she couldn't get the image of Ryan looking at her and licking his lips with an evil stare. Was it possible that he was somehow responsible for Laurie's death? But how could someone like him do that to a human being? It was true that he had stalker qualities but did that make him a murderer? She had to push all these thoughts out of her head while she conducted the autopsy on Laurie. Right now, this was probably the most important autopsy of her life.

She turned on the light and adjusted it over Laurie's body as she turned on the recorder. "Ok, case number is 654 Detective George Patterson chief investigator with Special Agent Dana Scully assisting in forensic investigation. Victim's name is Laurie Peterson, female Caucasian age 25. Probable cause of death is blood loss." She looked at the body. "Visual examination shows no sign of bruising around the neck indicating any kind of strangulation. Nor are there any bruises on the body indicating any kind of abuse. Only thing visible and that is a cut straight across the neck." She moved up to the head. "And eyeballs are missing from the face." She picked up a scalpel. "Beginning with the Y Incision."


Ryan made his way into the city morgue wearing a huge shirt with sweatpants and a ball cap with a package in his hand. He continued with his whistling as he approached the front desk.

"Can I help you?"

Ryan smiled. "Yes, I need this package delivered to Dana Scully."

The security guard eyed the package strangely. "Can I ask why?"

"I didn't get a chance to give it to her in class."

"Class?"

"Yeah. See she teaches over at the FBI Academy and I'm one of her students."

"And you followed her here?"

"No. She told us she would be here today. Look, she told us that she is working on a case and that she is conducting the autopsy here ok?" He could see the security guard was not getting taken in whatsoever. "Come on, man. You know how it is? When you have a project due and you put it off till the last minute? Instead of working on you go out and drink and find fun? If I don't turn this into her today she'll flunk me, man. I've come too far to flunk out now. It was my parent's dream that I be an FBI Agent. I want to do something to make them proud."

The security guard glanced at the package again. "What is it, exactly?"

Ryan knew he had to come with something so disgusting that the guard wouldn't even think twice of wanting to inspect it. "Actually, it's a cow heart. See, we were supposed to turn in a project involving a body part. We had to label it and stuff. It's actually pretty cool, you wanna see it?" He asked as he put his hand on the flap.

The guard put up his hand. "No, no. Uh…please don't do it on my account. If you want, you can take it into her personally? I could arrange it for you to…"

"Actually, I have to go out of town. That's why I needed to bring it to her now."

"Oh. Well why don't you go ahead and write your name on a piece of paper or better yet I can tell her…"

"That's ok. My name and everything is inside the package already. Could you just make sure she gets it please?"

The guard hesitated a moment before answering. "No problem."

Ryan let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me, man."

"Hey, I was young once. No problem."

Ryan grinned. "You're all right, man. Well I have to split so uh…thanks again." He then turned and headed out of the morgue clasping his hands together. "Hope you like your package, Dr. Scully."


Scully examined the body before speaking into the recorder. "Upon physical examination have found no other indications to indicate another probable cause of death. My conclusion is that the victim was first slit across the throat by most likely a knife indicated by the jagged cuts. Judging by the directions of the cut it appears the perpetrator is left-handed." She paused. "The…eye sockets were completely intact indicating that the perpetrator who committed this act had some knowledge of anatomy in removing the eyes. It.."

The door was then opened. "Excuse me, Dr. Scully?"

Scully turned off the recorder. "Yes? What is it? I'm in the middle of an autopsy here."

"This package was delivered earlier and I was just about to leave my shift but didn't want it to get lost or something." He walked in with the package in his hand.

"What is it?"

The security guard handed her the package. "All of the information is inside."

Scully took the package. "Ok. Uh…thank you."

The security smiled. "No problem. Have a good night, Dr. Scully."

"Good night." Scully answered as she watched the security guard leave the room, closing the door behind him. She then looked down at the package. "Hmmm…no outside label? And the information is inside?" She gasped. "It's something from Ethan! He sent me a secret romantic package!" She could hardly contain her excitement as she practically tore open the box. As she lifted the flap, she suddenly felt something wet on her fingers. "What the?" She then saw a pair of eyeballs staring back at her along with a note beside them. "Oh my…my god." She quickly dropped the box as her heart started to race. She closed her eyes as she took in deep breaths. With a shaking hand she reached for her cell on the table and pushed a number.

Ethan was sitting at his desk when his cell rang. "Hello?"

"Eth….Ethan?"

"Dana? Babe, what's wrong?"

"I'm….I'm next."

"What are you talking about?"

Scully swallowed. "I…I got a package with eyes in it."

Ethan's stomach dropped. "What? Where are you?"

"I'm…I'm at the city morgue."

"All right, listen to me. I want you to stay right where you are! I'm on my way!"

"Please….please hurry." Scully whispered before hanging up her cell. She looked down at the box on the floor, which had blood oozing from it. She felt nausea overcome her and then fainted, collapsing on the cold floor.