Mulder sat at a large desk in a room surrounded by Detective Patterson and Ethan Minette. On the desk were several photos along with some files. "All right, let's compare notes, shall we?"

Patterson pulled out some video surveillance photos. "All right, Mr. Minette, we need to clarify that our suspect is Ryan Sedrick."

"What exactly is there to clarify?" Ethan asked. "Everything points to him, right?"

"Even if it does, it's standard procedure, Mr. Minette." Patterson answered as he passed the photos to Ethan.

"Oh yeah of course. That whole law enforcement procedure right?" Ethan glanced at the photo. "Well, he looks to me like the same build. Even though I have to admit I only saw him carrying Dana off from a distance. Does that help?"

Patterson nodded. "At least we have clarification from the witness."

"What about the vehicle that Ryan was driving? Did you get a plate number?" Mulder asked.

"Well…no but I did see it." Ethan answered back. "It was….a dark blue Ford Taurus, I think?"

"Any distinctive marks? Like scratches…dents….broken lights?" Mulder asked.

Ethan shook his head. "I wasn't exactly putting my whole focus on the car, Agent Mulder. My mind was…elsewhere?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Minette. It's just that any information we can get on this would be helpful." Mulder answered as he sat back in his chair.

"So, how do we find him?" Ethan asked. "All we have to go by is his photo from the FBI Academy student directory and the fact that he drives a dark blue Ford Taurus."

"Not to mention the fact that his photo may be worthless." Mulder added.

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked as he looked toward Mulder.

"I mean…if he knows we are on to him, he could change his appearance." Mulder answered. "It wouldn't take much for him to go to a costume shop to obtain some cosmetics and maybe some facial hair or other disguise items. Other criminals have done it before."

"So, then how do we catch him?" Ethan asked in a desperate voice. "I mean…how do we catch a man who may have disguised his appearance? What's to say he hasn't left Washington yet?"

"What we need to do is look over the photos we took in his apartment." Mulder answered. "Maybe…maybe they can offer us some kind of clue?"

Ethan paused for a moment and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and glanced through it stopping at a picture of Dana. She was standing by a tree, leaning on it and smiling at him. He swallowed. "All right, let's find this bastard." He whispered.


Scully stood in front of a mirror as she adjusted her wedding gown. She had always pictured herself as a bride but never quite like this. She had dreamed of her wedding day as the most joyous event in her life. A day of family and friends getting together to witness her commitment to the love in her life. A reception filled with music, dancing and wonderful food. And the guests would cling their glasses in order to make her and her husband kiss. Her day to remember and it had looked like Ethan was going to be a part of it in the future. But now Ethan was far away and she was preparing herself for a man she didn't even know. A man who had become obsessed with her.

The door creaked open behind her and Ryan stepped inside the room. "Oh, Dana. You look absolutely breath taking."

Scully swallowed but was determined not to show her fear. "Isn't….isn't it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?"

Ryan walked over to her. "Oh no, not for this wedding." He took a diamond necklace and placed it around her neck.

Scully looked at the necklace in the mirror as Ryan clasped it. "Oh Ryan. Such…such a beautiful necklace."

"Do you like it? It belonged to my mother." He kissed the side of her neck. "But it looks much more beautiful on you, Dana. It makes you look like a princess." He continued to move up and down her neck slowly with his lips.

"Your…your mother?"

"Yes." Ryan murmured against her skin. "But it looks much more beautiful on you by far."

Scully's mind started to think again. She was still determined to stop this one way or the other. "Your mother must have cared about you deeply to give such a thing to you."

Ryan suddenly pulled back from her neck. "What?"

"Well, I mean for a mother to give her son a diamond necklace like this…it shows how much she truly loves him."

Ryan laid his head back and chuckled. "Oh, please! Do you really think that, Dana? Is that what your….FBI background tells you?" He moved away from her and started to pace.

Scully watched nervously as Ryan started to walk around her like some kind of predator sizing up his meal. "My FBI background doesn't tell me anything, Ryan. I was just making an observation. I have a mother too."

"Yeah?" Ryan stopped pacing and walked over to Scully grabbing her by the wedding veil. He pulled her toward him. "Did your mom burn you with cigarettes? Did she tell you how ugly and disappointing you were to her? Say how you would never be the man your father was?"

Scully shook her head. "I…I had no idea."

"Not everyone had a great and loving mother, Dana." Ryan answered as he moved toward her face. "Did your mom put ribbons in your hair?Maybe show you how to make brownies or cookies? Take you to the stables to ride a pony?"

Scully looked back at him. "Ryan, you have every right to be angry at her."

"Well, I'm so glad that you agree with me, Dana." Ryan replied sarcastically. "It would have pained me if you hadn't. And anyway she ended up paying the price."

Scully swallowed as a thought occurred to her. "What did you do to her, Ryan?"


Patterson pulled out the photos that had been taken at Ryan's apartment and spread them across the table. "So, now we search for a needle in a haystack."

Mulder nodded as he looked through the photos. "Let's hope that needle is REALLY big."

Ethan looked on with them. "Dana….told me that she learned at the FBI Academy that what a person has can be used as a mirror into their mind." He examined a photo. "If that's the case this man was a fucking lunatic."

"It's obvious that Ryan has trouble with relationships." Mulder remarked.

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked.

"I mean, look at the photos of his victims." Mulder answered. "If you look at them, you see he has defaced them somehow. I don't know many Romeos who would take a picture and slit their beloved's throat. Would make a hell of an addition to the mantle, don't you think?"

Ethan looked at one particular photo. "Then why doesn't Dana's pictures have that same detail?"

Mulder shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe….maybe she was special to him somehow?"

"But…special how?" Ethan asked.

"If there is one thing I know, Mr. Minette, it's that no matter how much you profile a serial killer, one can never truly know why they do what they do." Mulder answered as he put his right index finger to his chin. "Why is it that there could be fifty women walking down the same street and yet a serial killer only picks one for his victim? Sometimes it just has to do with being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Not much of a reassurance for the victim." Ethan replied back.

"And in Agent Scully's case there may not be an explanation either." Mulder added. "There have been instances where a serial killer just stops because of a person and no one knows quite why. There have been cases where a victim somehow talked their killer into not doing anything to them. And why is that? The only person who can answer that is the killer. And sometimes even they themselves don't know that answer."

Patterson sat staring at a particular photo. "Agent Mulder, take a look at this."

"Excuse me." Mulder motioned to Minette and then walked over to Patterson. "What is it Detective?"

"Well, I've been staring at this particular photo not quite understanding why and it just hit me." Patterson answered as he pointed to a part of the photo. "Do you recognize this?"

Mulder glanced down at what Patterson was pointing at. "Uhh…I'm not sure."

"What you are looking at is a former crime scene."

"Former crime scene?" Ethan and Mulder asked together.

Patterson nodded. "A woman's body was found in the ditch outside this building. She was cut up pretty bad and indications were that she died from having her throat slashed."

Mulder looked back up at Patterson. "What about the eyes?"

"Well, the eyes were intact but…" Patterson paused as he rubbed his chin.

"But what?" Mulder asked in a curious voice. It was obvious to him that something had just occurred to Patterson.

"Well, I remember that the coroner made a mention that there were cuts around the eyes indicating that someone may have tried to cut them out." Patterson answered. "I guess at that time he didn't find it particularly unusual so he didn't pay it too much mind."

"Maybe the killer was interrupted and that's why he didn't do it." Mulder replied as he began bringing his own thoughts to the surface.

Patterson nodded. "Yes, that would make sense."

"Or…maybe he couldn't do it for another reason." Mulder replied as he rose from his chair.

"What do you mean, Agent Mulder?" Ethan asked, realizing he was also getting caught up in this conversation.

"Well, the serial killer has been taking eyeballs from all of his previous victims, right? What if…this woman that was murdered was really the start of it?" Mulder started to pace the room deep in thought.

Patterson shook his head. "Agent Mulder, I'm not quite sure where you are…"

"Think about it, Steve." Mulder answered, realizing he was using Patterson's formal name for the first time since they had been on the case. "From what you have told me this woman had the same wounds as the previous victims minus the eyes being cut out right?"

"Yes."

"What if…he couldn't cut out the eyes because this…woman was somehow significant to him? What if…even though he obviously disliked this woman, he just couldn't bear to cut out the eyes?"

"That could be true but…why would he have chosen to do it to the other victims?" Patterson asked curious to know where Mulder was going with his theory.

"Maybe….the victims after her somehow reminded him of her? And….and that is why he was able to cut out their eyes completely because…"

"They weren't actually her." Ethan finished coming up with his own thought.

Mulder pointed to Ethan. "Exactly." He looked back at Patterson. "Think about it, Steve. This woman's body is found in exactly the same state as the previous victims minus the eyes. AND for whatever reason our serial killer has a picture of this crime scene in his apartment? Now you connect the dots."

"Well, that is a valid statement." Patterson answered. "Not to mention that is private property and to my knowledge that any paths or roads leading to that building were completely closed off."

"So why would Ryan Sedrick have photos of it in his apartment then?" Mulder asked.

"All right, then what do you suggest we do?" Patterson asked as he put his hands on the table.

Mulder stopped pacing. "I suggest you find the file on that murdered woman and we find out just who she was. Maybe the identity of this woman will help us to find out where Ryan Sedrick might be."

Patterson nodded and headed to the door. "I'll get on it right away."

When Patterson had left the room, Ethan turned to Mulder. "You think…this might give a clue as to where he took, Dana, Agent Mulder?"

"I hope so, Mr. Minette. I truly do hope so."


"What did I do?" Ryan asked as he pulled away from Scully. "I'll tell you what I did." He reached into his pocket and took out a knife. He started to walk toward the mannequin. "I told her I was sick and tired of her fucking mouth. I told her to keep it shut but she wouldn't listen to me. So…" He slashed at the mannequin's throat. "I cut her! And she started to scream so I did it again!" He repeated the move on the mannequin again. He then knocked the mannequin to the ground and straddled it. "And then I just took the knife and I cut her and cut her as much as I could!" He demonstrated with his knife on the mannequin again, slashing it in the chest.

It then occurred to Scully where this was going. It was kind of starting to make sense to her now. "What…what about the eyes, Ryan?"

"The eyes?" Ryan asked as he looked back at her. "See that's the thing, Dana. I slashed her throat because I didn't want to have to hear her speak to me again. And I wanted to make it so that she couldn't look at me anymore…"

"But you couldn't do it, could you?" Scully asked. "No matter how much you hated her, you couldn't cut out her eyes because she was your mother. Because….deep inside you did love her."

"No, I didn't!" Ryan shouted back.

"Is that why you killed those other women, Ryan? Did they somehow remind you of her? Is that why you were able to cut out their eyes?"

Ryan flew into a rage and came at Scully placing the knife near her eye. "I cut out their eyes because I wanted to make certain that when they went into the afterlife, they would never be able to look at another man again. If I couldn't love them, NO other man could. Just like Ethan Minette would never be able to."

"Are you going to kill me?" Scully asked as she tried to look at Ryan without moving her eyeball for fear of the knife.

"I already told you, Dana. I don't want to kill you. You are my angel and were sent here to save me. But…" He moved the knife away from her eye and to her throat. "Even an angel can have her wings clipped if she chooses to upset me."

"You promised me you wouldn't hurt, Ethan if I went through with this."

"And I intend to keep that promise as long as you keep yours." He took the knife away from Scully's throat and placed it back into his pocket. "I think you're getting a little too spunky again, Dana." He pulled out a syringe from his pocket. "Time for another shot." He grabbed her arm roughly.

"No, no Ryan please don't…" Scully winced as she felt the needle prick her skin. She started to feel groggy and light-headed again and fell into Ryan's arms.

"Ah, that's better." Ryan sat up Scully and steadied her as he linked her arm with his. "Now, let's walk slowly shall we? We mustn't keep our wedding guests waiting." He led Scully out of the room and continued to steady her as she struggled to walk. He sang to her softly as they walked down a hallway. Here comes the bride, all dressed in white


Note: A special thanks to my husband for helping me get through writer's block on this chapter! Hopefully you see things are starting to come together now!