CHAPTER 8 --Scully POV--

St Jude's Hospital

As I listen to Skinner informing me about how most of the families have been contacted and that within the next 48 hours they shall be reunited; I can't help but wonder what he would say if I told him about Mulder. About Mulder's sudden infatuation with one particular member, about his need to be close to her and get even closer.

I tell him about Melissa and how I want to delve a little deeper, to see if we can get concrete proof that she was Sidney, in one way or another, for the case. He agrees to let me investigate and we arrange a meeting back in DC as soon as we return. I take a moment in the quiet stairwell to take a deep breath and steady my nerves before going back into the corridor.

I spot him immediately. His hair is tousled and his skin is pale and for a moment despite myself I want to make his pain go away. Make the hurt stop and put the light back into his eyes. I give him a small wave with a washed-out smile as he walks over. Without giving me a chance to gather my thoughts he is standing next to me, his hands hanging lazily off his hips and his eyes boring down into mine, questions and thoughts swimming beneath the cool green surface.

"How is Melissa?" I ask.

"She's...confused...and frankly so am I." He pinches the bridge of his nose and screws his eyes tightly shut rasping a deep breath through gritted teeth.

"What happened?" I follow him to the water cooler where he takes a long drink before turning back to me.

"She's...confused," he says again.

For a moment there is an impenetrable wall of silence between us and neither of us seem willing to move the first brick. So with a pumping heart in my throat I take the plunge.

"I was just about to leave." He glances at me with a questioning tilt to his head. "I spoke to Agent Dixon. He has faxed Melissa's background report to the hotel and I was just about to go over there to collect them. Are you done here?"

Mulder looks back to the room and then fixes his jacket collar around his neck. "Yeah," he says firmly. "Lets go."

The drive back to the hotel is quick and silent as we both submerge with out thought, the conversation basic. At the reception desk I collect the fax sheets and we make our way up to his room to review them.

We read about her diagnosis as a schizophrenic when she was younger and her successful treatment with anti-psychotics. I glance up at Mulder after reading the first page of her symptoms and treatments but he is too engrossed to catch my eyes.

"She's been married twice. Each time to a former psychologist of hers," Mulder comments as he passes me the second page and

"Like she's been playing the character she knows they want to see." I say then realise what I said and look up in time to see his eyes brush over my face. "Mulder...I..." I don't know what to say. Reaching out I squeeze his wrist, wrapping my fingers around it with my fingers feeling his pulse

"It just all seemed so real. I just wanted it to be real I guess."

"You don't think it's real anymore?" I can hardly hope to hear the words and part of me is struggling with his sorrow.

"I think my memories were susceptible to her words, her thoughts." He steps away from me and paces the room with long strides. "Maybe if I hadn't heard her...memories...first, mine wouldn't have been so...contrived?"

"What about the bunker? The Photos?" My head is screaming for me to stop talking. What am I doing? I wonder, arguing for the opposite side.

"It's possible I picked it up through conversation with the SWAT members or saw plans before and subconsciously made the connection."

"And the photos?"

"The photos."

I'm surprised when he reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulls out he two photographs of Sarah Kavanaugh and Sullivan Biddle. He holds them tenderly, watching them through glassy eyes as his tears threaten to fall before me.

I'm stumped for words and I realise he probably wants to be alone. Gathering up the rest of the fax sheets, I fold them together and leave the room. I don't think he noticed that I have left.

BR> A/N/ I totaly forgot I was posting thi s here! SORRY! So I'll post the rest of the chapts tomorrow!