CHAPTER 3 --Mulder POV--

Tennessee Command Centre.

Glancing around the room, I can see all eyes watching me, some with contempt and others with plain boredom. Skinner steps aside as I walk up to the top of the room, my papers in my hand shuffling needlessly with nerves. Scully is right in front of me. Staring at me with her usual guarded expression but in her eyes I see something different. Unable to give it the full analysis it deserves, I store it for later reflection and start to pass out the small report I had copied.

"The key to this case was Sidney," I begin, ignoring the numerous groans. My report lasts only a few minutes and through it all I find my mind wandering back to the last glimpse I saw of Melissa as they wheeled her away from the ER. Sudden irresistible urges within me tug at the pit of my stomach and I physically wince at the need to see her again.

I manage to sit through the rest of the briefing, but my feet and fingers twitch through it all. Scully is tossing a concerned frown at me but I look away. I can't let her see how far it's come. I don't think she'd understand. Skinner finally calls an end to the futile meeting and we all file out of the room.

I am hurrying towards the car; my file folded under my arm and my hand running loose lines through my hair. As usual when I'm agitated I'm biting my lip, but I flinch at the pain as I pierce the soft skin and taste the all too familiar flavour of blood on my tongue.

"Mulder!" Skinner is calling me but I need to go. I don't have time to hang around and mull over these meetings. I try to ignore him but some niggling feelings of regret blossom in my head and force me to turn back. Scully is standing by his side with her head lowered enough to let her hair fall into her face. Her cheeks are slightly blushed but it's a natural colour that I've always loved. "When is your flight back to DC?" he asks me.

For a moment I'm confused. DC? Why would I be going back to DC? Scully's movement catches my eye and I see her eyes widening.

"Our flight is in the morning, sir." I hear her saying to Skinner but her eyes are locked with mine. I know she is trying to tell me something but my brain is clouded with the need to see Melissa.

"Okay. I'm leaving for the airport in ten minutes so I'll see you back there tomorrow afternoon." Skinner's voice is distant and cautious, but I can't break my gaze with Scully. She pulls away from me, and smiles wanly at him. It's a cold smile that barely curves her lips and doesn't reach her eyes but he seems to think that it will suffice. With a curt nod, he turns on his heel and goes back into the conference room. I follow suit with a sharp turn of my own and hurry back to the car with Scully hot on my heels.

"You have to calm down, Mulder," she is saying as I tear out of the car park and pull into traffic. Dodging lanes, I ignore her comment for a moment.

"What?" is the best I can come up with in the form of a reply. I think she grunts at me but I couldn't be sure and I am driving way too fast to look over and see her expression.

At the hospital I find a quick parking space and jump out of the car with breakneck speed. With a brief. glance over my shoulder, I spot scully right behind me. The receptionist seems to be used to people racing in through the doors and doesn't offer us much of an expression.

"Dr Dana Scully. I'm here to talk to Melissa Riedal."

"Family only," the receptionist answers, already bored with us.

"We are trying to locate her family. We need to ask her some more questions." Scully proffers her badge, which is cast the smallest of glances.

"She has been transferred to the day ward. Fourth floor room 414."

"Thank you."

In the elevator I'm fiddling with my tie. I can see a tainted reflection of myself in the side of the elevator and I run calming fingers through my messy hair. I clear my throat with a small cough and am suddenly startled by Scully's small, warm hand gripping mine. I half turn so I can see her face and expect to see scorn or frustration marring her beautiful features. But instead I am greeted with a lost expression of concern.

"Mulder, I need you to listen to me." Her voice is soft and low and as much as I want to brush it off I can't help but listen. "You have to be very careful."

"I know." She knows it's a platitude but I can't offer her anymore right now. My mind is frazzled with expectancy, hope...and something else I haven't felt in so long I barely recognise it.

"No, you don't know." Her grip on my hand is tighter now and as the elevator door opens she pulls me out and to the side of the corridor. Pressed up against the cold wall, she points an accusing finger at my chest. "You don't know what condition she is in. You don't realise how fragile she is right now and you are about to in there and feed her disillusions by encouraging her to explore it further."

Scully's concerns are rapidly mutating into anger so I turn us around and press her into the wall instead. Having to bend to meet her eyes, I lift her chin with one finger.

"And neither do you. You don't know what it's like to see this for what it could be rather then what it should be. You don't know how it feels to have a loss burning inside the pit of your being so desolate and wasted that nothing can ever fill it..."

The words spill from my mouth quicker then I can process them and I am immediately sorry for their utterance. But there is little I can do about that now. I stand up straight and back away from her glassy blue eyes. I know she wants to turn away and hide the emotion from me but she is stronger now with anger and refuses to do so, so I release her from my gaze and wander up the corridor in search of room 414.

A/N: Glad you like it guys. 5 More chapters to go!