Disclaimer-I do not own the X-Files.

Chapter 4-Bad News

D.C General 11:08 40 hours left

Scully woke up with a start. She had fallen asleep again. Stiffly, she sat back up, ignoring the cracks in her back. You would think that the hospital would provide more comfortable chairs, she thought. The hospital! Scully abruptly stood up and whipped her head at the monitor telling everybody Mulder was still alive. With a breath of relief she slowly sank back into her chair.

Today had been so stressful. She had returned to the hospital to find Mulder hadn't gotten any better or worse at least. After her 'helpful' conversation with Mr. Barns she took the vile to the Lone Gunman for analysis and asked for them to work on it. She knew should have taken it to the FBI labs or the hospital or even the CDC. But she knew if anyone found out she had it, the more likely that someone would make sure it disappeared.

Mulder's friends told her it would take a few hours and promised to call her. That had been about 8 hours ago and she hadn't heard a thing. Scully knew they were working as fast as they could but she wished they would work a little harder. Time was running out and it was excruciating to wait. Scully stared at Mulder's pale sleeping face. He had only woken up twice since she'd returned. Neither of those times did she tell him about Barns or his enemy, not yet anyway. She told the doctors about the 48 hour dead line but not Mulder.

Scully felt guilty. Mulder had a right to know everything she'd found out. She just didn't want to worry him. It was bad enough he had some secret assailant lurking out there somewhere but to tell him he only had less then two days to live…it was too difficult for that yet. Scully didn't know what she was waiting for. Was if for someone to walk in with some miracle cure? Or for Mulder to hop out of bed and say it was all a joke?

Scully was wasting time. But what did she have to go on? So far there was no suspect to hunt down. No real evidence to go on. Nothing except a puncture wound in Mulder's wrist, a small bottle with a green substance, and a dying partner. This time she was fighting tears of frustration instead of tears of sorrow.

A nurse came in to check Mulder's vitals. She gave Scully a brief smile as she came in. Scully moved away from the bed to give her more room. If she only had some hard evidence to go on… Maybe the Gunmen found something. She rushed out the room and dialed the Gunmen's number. "Langly it's me Scully; you can turn off the recorder." Scully said.

"What recorder?" Langly asked playing dumb.

"Langly…" She growled warningly.

"Alright alright." Langly mumbled.

"Have you guys found anything out about that substance I gave you?" Scully asked anxiously.

"It's very complicated if that's what you're asking." Byers jumped in. They must have the speakerphone on Scully guessed.

"Anything else?"

"That making a cure is gonna take more time than 2 days. We could make a prototype but we can't guarantee that it will work without testing." Frohike said. Crap… "It would help if we had someone with medical expertise you know." He hinted.

"I know but it is also important to capture a lunatic running around with dangerous viruses too." Scully reminded them.

"Which is exactly why we could in an expert of our on." Chimed in Langly. "Frohike just wants you to be here."

"Who is this expert of yours?" Scully asked suspiciously. "He is an old buddy of Byers. Don't want to know how they met up. But don't worry, this guy knows what he is doing." Langly explained. "He better be." Scully muttered.

"How is Mulder anyway?" asked Byers.

"Not good. He continues to deteriorate but so far nothing too major has come up." Scully told them.

"We'll keep on working but this is one of the most complex viruses I have ever seen. I can't believe how easily the government let this be taken." Byers commented.

"Maybe they don't know that someone has it." Scully suggested.

"That's unlikely. They probably have a member of Them infiltrating the government too. They had a few in the FBI remember?" Frohike pointed out.

"Yea…" Scully sighed. "Do you have anything else to tell me?"

"Not yet. We will keep you posted ok?" Langly assured her.

"Alright guys thanks." Scully hung up and sighed. More bad news she thought glumly. Scully headed back to Mulder's room when she saw a tall man step out of Mulder's room. Her guard went up. "Is that you Barns?" Scully called. The figure froze and dashed off without warning. (AN-As my editor pointed out they would have a guard in front of his room but for this lets just pretend the idiot went on a coffee break or something k?)

Scully raced after him her gun drawn. If that isn't Barns then who is this guy? "Federal agent! Freeze!" She yelled. The man didn't stop and never looked back as he sprinted away. Nurses glared at them in annoyance as they pushed past. Others just stared in bewilderment. "Stop!" Scully shouted to him again. He turned around the corner and hit the fire alarm. Doctors and nurses ran around in a panicked frenzy creating the perfect escape for him.

Scully cried out in frustration, she had lost the suspect in the crowd. Ignoring the many people pushing past she screamed out "Damn it!"

Hospital parking garage

The man leaned against his car catching his breath. That was close, too close. If Dana had caught him…No she won't catch me. No one will, the man assured himself. He just had to be more careful. He had to keep more of a low profile.

Other than that he was pleased with Mulder's deteriorating condition. The virus was working perfectly. And slipping into the room unnoticed was easy. Of course now Dana would make sure no one would get into that room without permission. But that would make things more challenging, more fun. Perfect.

Mulder's room 11:17

"Who was that guy Scully?" Mulder questioned. He had woken up after hearing someone leave his room and the chase that followed it. She sighed and watched the doctor recheck his vitals.

"It looks like there's nothing new or wrong Agent Scully. Are you sure it wasn't a family member or friend who was just visiting against the rules? Someone who wanted a minute the Mr. Mulder?" the good doctor was impatient. He had a whole hospital to run and everything just became even more hectic thanks to some idiot pulling the fire alarm.

"No that man is not family and defiantly not a friend of Mulder's." Scully said defensively. Doc. Densir rubbed his temples hoping it would lessen his headache.

"I can assure you that nothing has changed. I understand your concern but right now I think you are being paranoid." I think I have a right to be!

"Actually doctor that's my job." Mulder joked. Doc. Densir just rubbed his eyes and said,

"Look if there is anything wrong the tests will prove that but right now I think Agent Mulder will be fine for the meantime. Just call for a nurse if something else seems wrong." He left the room.

"Nice bedside manner he has. I won't send him any thank you cards." Mulder commented. Scully smiled at his attempted humor.

"So Scully fill me in the details. I think you have some explaining to do." Mulder said wearily.

"I just saw a man I didn't recognize walk out of your room and when he didn't identify himself as Barns or anyone else that might be visiting at eleven o'clock at night, I just assumed he might be a suspect and chased after him." At that Scully bit her tongue. Crap Mulder doesn't know about Barns or the fact his has been poisoned by his enemy. This will be fun to explain. Maybe he didn't notice…But Scully knew that it was foolish thinking when Mulder got a confused look on his face and asked

"Who the hell is Barns Scully? Suspect? What aren't you telling me?" He demanded. Scully couldn't look into his eyes. She couldn't stand to see the confusion and hurt that would be lurking in them. He struggled to sit up. "Scully…" She sighed. She knew she couldn't-shouldn't-hide this from him.

She helped him up and sat down on the chair she had vacated earlier. "I do have some explaining to do Mulder. After I left your room when you first arrived at the hospital I ran into a man, Robert Barns, he used to work for the department of defense." She began to explain everything that had happened from the time he arrived to this point. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything before Mulder it's just…I guess I didn't want to worry you or anything. I really don't know why I didn't tell you anything in the first place." She looked at the floor miserably.

"Why didn't you tell me all of this before? It's my life I should have had some knowledge of what's going on." Mulder said angrily. "I'm sorry Mulder I just…" Scully trailed off fighting another fresh dam of tears. Mulder felt guilty and quickly changed the subject.

"So I have 48 hours huh?" Mulder said playing with the sheet covering him.

"40 actually. The other 8 hours have already past." Scully said gloomy letting the tears she had been trying so hard to keep in out.

"That's enough time." Mulder said as he climbed out of bed with a new strength.

"Mulder what do you think you are doing?" Scully demanded pushing him back down.

"You said he had the vaccine right? Well I am going to find it. There is no way I am going to sit on my ass while he's out there running around with it." Scully was glad to see the fire of determination burning in his hazel-green eyes again. But she was just as determined to make sure he stayed in bed. He was too sick to be running around.

"No Mulder. You can barely stand. You don't have the strength to go chasing after this guy."

"Why can't you let me do this Scully? Can't you grant me the freedom of hunting down this bastard? I want to see him pay at least. Why confine me to this bed? What good is it going to do? I'm dying anyway. Don't you know how this feels?" Mulder was out of bed again and pacing. He stopped his rant to see the tears simmering in Scully's eyes.

"I do how you feel Mulder. I truly do. When I was fighting my cancer I felt the same way. I was angry at the men who gave me the disease; I didn't want to go down without a good fight. I wanted to make sure they paid. I was angry at the world and didn't want to just lie around for death. But in the end I depended on you. I knew if I died you would hunt Them down. No matter what anyone else said or thought I believed you would find the cure for me." She walked over to him and cupped his face with her hands. "I trusted you Mulder, why can't you trust me to do the same?"

"I do trust you Scully." Mulder whispered.

"Then leave finding the vaccine to me. I'm not alone. The Gunmen are helping me too, along with Barns. Kind-of anyway." She forced a smile.

"Alright Scully you win." Mulder said tiredly. His long arms embraced her in a hug, silent tears of his own dripping onto her shirt. Scully helped him into his bed. "Just remember Scully time is everything."

"I will Mulder. Now go to sleep." Mulder obeyed her without argument. She watched his eyelids droop closed. She stood up and brought out her cell phone again. She had work to do. She closed the door. Time is against me. I better use what time I have left well. She shook her head and hurried off.

Abandoned building 8:56-32 hours left

"Agent Scully we found something." Said a member of the forensics section.

"What is it?" Scully asked. As soon as she had left the hospital she ran a security tape from the hospital over to the FBI. Later at 7:00 AM she got a forensics team together and headed out to the site. Not much had been found except some dusty footprints.

"This." He showed her a small evidence bag containing a needle.

"Where did you find this?" Scully asked.

"Over in that alley." He said, pointing in the alley's direction.

"Okay this is a good start send it over to the labs for finger prints and get an analysis on whatever substance you find." Scully told him. The men gave her a nod and hurried off somewhere. Scully searched the passage. From here Mulder's attacker could have hid perfectly in the shadows. No one would have seen him. At that moment Scully's cell phone went off. She hurriedly brought it out. She wondered who it was.

"Dana it's me." Maggie sounded upset.

"Mom what's wrong?" Scully asked in alarm.

"I'm at the hospital." Maggie quickly explained. "I wanted to drop by and see how Fox was doing."

"Mom what's wrong?" Scully demanded.

"Oh honey something is wrong with Fox!" Maggie sobbed.

AN-Yea I know it like took me FOREVER to update but now my schedule is a little busier. At least now I have a good excuse on why it took me so long. Errors, grammar mistakes, sorry 'bout that. Silverdamocles was nice enough to be my editor so hopefully we won't have to worry about those problems. Speaking of her I give her an extra HUGE thank you. I never was good at English anyway…. Reviews, criticisms, compliments, all are worshiped and wanted.