Chapter Five

George Washington University Hospital, Washington, D.C.

September 23rd, 2000, 10:05 a.m.

"Dr. Scully, right?" a male nurse asked her as she hurried up to the reception desk.

"That's me," Scully answered. "I'm looking for Assistant Director Walter Skinner, please."

"303. He was just moved from the ICU not half an hour ago, so I'm afraid he can't have visitors quite yet."

"That's fine. Who's his physician?"

"Dwight Maddox. He's in with another patient at the moment. Do you want me to beep him?"

"Now." Scully just spent the last eight hours traveling with less than two hours of sleep. She was not about to begin ripping into people yet, but if provoked, she found that her voice could climb several levels of intensity at an instant. She found herself practically hunched over the desk as the nurse kindly handed her Skinner's chart. "How long have you been on duty?" Her eyes swam over the information.

"Since six this morning, why?"

"Oh. Have you seen a kind of rugged looking guy with blue eyes pacing the floor or tagging along with the Assistant Director's gurney?"

"Uh...I'm afraid I'm no help to you there, Dr. Scully. The only man I can remember being rushed in and out of here this much with you was that partner of yours...Agent Mulder, right? Don't think it was him. Gee, he hasn't been here for a long time. What happened, did the guy become invincible or something?"

"No. You'd think that by now that I'd know all of you by name." She lifted her head momentarily to look at him--he was a Filipino with very fetching brown eyes and wavy hair. If she weren't so damn tired, she probably would have given him more than just the once over.

"Gervacio Mendoza. But everybody calls me Jun."

"Like the month?"

"That's right."

"I'll remember that." A withered African American doctor approached the bureau with a stack of charts in his arms and dumped them. "Dr. Maddox? Do you remember me? I'm Special Agent Dana Scully of the FBI. I'm here for Assistant Director Walter Skinner, and-"

Maddox ripped the chart away from her hands and slammed it shut.

"Jesus, Jun, how many times have I told you not to let anyone look at my patients' charts?" he yelled.

"I'm a doctor, sir. I would just like to be informed of my superior's condition."

"Then you wait for me to come talk to you. Is this what you beeped me for out of surgery?"

"It was just a minor one, sir. I didn't think you'd mind," Jun shrugged.

"Minor? I practically tore off the patient's thumb because I got the beegesus scared out of me! I still can't understand why they can't make this goddamned thing set to vibrate only." Maddox lifted the beeper off of his belt and shoved it into his lab coat pocket.

"Excuse me, Dr. Maddox. I would like to know how the Assistant Director is faring," Scully pressed.

"He's fine now. Just moved him out of the ICU. Jun should've told you that," he gave the nurse a dirty stare, and Scully was about five seconds from losing it.

"He did tell me. Now what...happened?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"He had a few myocardial infarctions."

"Heart attacks?"

"He was hit with several. He flat-lined on us many times during the night on the table, but we were able to defibrillate him each time at 400. I'm giving him some aspirin and Tirofiban hydrochloric acid intravenously. Nothing too serious to be worried about as long as he watches his diet and exercises regularly."

"He does," Scully chuffed and gave him a perplexed glare. "And his family has no history, either."

"Well, then, maybe he got overly stressed. You mentioned that he's an Assistant Director over at the FBI. Perhaps a vacation would do him good. When's the last time he had one?"

"I..." Scully for once was speechless. She didn't know about Skinner's personal life, except that he used to do some boxing on the side, but he quit last year since he got blind-sided and lost his peripheral vision in his left eye. If he did take his vacation time, he did it without letting Mulder or her know about it. "I'm not sure about that. What do you think could have caused these heart attacks? He's not a smoker, either."

"Let's see. Ah...we just drew some blood and did an angiogram on him last night. Those results should come back in a couple of hours or so," Maddox replied.

"Would it bother you if I had a look at them?"

"You're not a resident here," his tone became belligerent but stayed at a low pitch.

"No, but I'd like to know if there can be anything that I can do about it."

"The best thing you can do right now is to sit back and let us do our jobs."

"He's a goddamned FBI agent! He deserves the best we can give him, and I'm not going to sit on my ass while you're all scratching your heads trying to figure out what's going on!" Scully lost all the remaining patience she had and banged her fist onto the desk. Mendoza jumped slightly and backed his chair away.

"This is not your patient. I decide what's best for him. If you think that you're going to get anywhere with me by screaming at me, you're at a dead end street, sister." He seized another group of charts and stormed off.

"Jun, would you mind telling me where the lab is on this floor? I've forgotten." She put on her most polite face possible, but he could tell that she had absolutely no energy left to smile. If any other doctor were on duty, he'd gladly divulge the information--but not with Maddox the Terrible.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Scully, but...I'd hate to think of what he'd do to you if he saw you in there..."

"Be more afraid of what I'd do to him if he tried to stop me from finding out the truth about my boss."

"Please don't hate me...but I can't tell you. I've already gotten two write-ups from him in the last month, and if I get another..." he made a throat cutting gesture across his neck and a well accompanied sound effect.

"Fine. I'll go find it myself." As she was about to leave, he grabbed her wrist.

"No, wait. I'll let you in to see your boss." That plea did not seem to satisfy her, so he quickly added another and let go of her. "And I'll bring you the blood work results and his charts myself."

"Okay. Is there a coffee machine around here or somewhere I could get some caffeine?"

"Yeah, but it sucks grapes. Just go into room 303 and wait for me. I'll get you the good stuff." Jun turned and sprinted down the hallway. Scully was amazed at herself--all in the same matter of five minutes, she had managed to piss off one hospital worker and bring another down to grovel at her feet. But she was too exhausted to analyze why and entered Skinner's room. He was fast asleep but appeared to be healthy.

Scully retrieved her cell phone and dialed Doggett's number. All she got was his voicemail, but she left him a brief message saying that she was back in D.C. and at the hospital looking after Skinner. There was no doubt in her mind that Doggett had remained at the hospital all night until it was time for work the next morning. That being said, he was probably stuck in a meeting getting chewed out by the likes of Deputy Director Kersh. For what, Scully couldn't possibly imagine. The director had a burr on his ass the size of a cantaloupe.

"Dr. Scully? Your coffee," the Filipino nurse offered her the mug and beamed.

"Thanks, Jun. I'll remember you next time, I promise."

"Say hello to Agent Mulder for me, if you can. We almost kind of miss him here."

"I'll do that." After he left, she dragged a chair closer to Skinner's bed and joined him. Selfishly, she wished that it was Mulder next to her sleeping peacefully. She'd do anything just to be able to caress his forehead or run her fingers through his hair right now. Anything? Her mind wandered back to Marita Covarrubius and Alex Krycek's visit. How much truth was there in their fiction?

She was roused from her thoughts as she felt a feather light touch run down her arm, and she whirled around. He was there--standing in the most angelic light she had ever seen. Mulder was dressed in a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans, nothing too impressive--it was just the expression on his face that stunned her. It was serious yet playful, and when he circled round her, she glanced hurriedly around the room for some sort of visitor or interruption. But the hallway was empty--seconds later it had been filled with rushing employees--and now the noise was gone. In fact, it was deadly silent--that's what frightened her. "Mulder, how did you get back?"

He did not answer her. Instead, he reached for her hands and pulled her up from out of her seat. Scully did not like this one bit--he could have been one of those bounty hunters. She jerked her hands away, wrapped them around herself, and turned her back to him. "Please answer me," she said firmly. Mulder seemed hurt and his face wrinkled up like she had just jabbed him in the gut. He did it again--the gentle tease of his fingers came down her shoulder, but then it continued down her side, and ended up where his arm met her abdomen. Scully did everything she could to stifle a groan, but she shivered, and soon felt her back being pushed against his stomach. I could live with this. He could just hold me here for hours if he wanted.

The next thing he did absolutely drove her mad. His other hand traveled first down from her hair, brushed against her cheek, dragged across her chin, and gingerly pushed it back so that her head was tipped to the side. First she felt the tickle of his breath, then the caress of his bare chin, and finally, what she longed and ached for the most, his lips. But he didn't stop there, oh no. He had to continue around to the other side with his fingertips and soon after, his mouth followed. "Please tell me, Mulder...how...you..."

Words seemed to fail her as he continued his ministrations and soon only the lip contact ceased. She felt his teeth sink into her flesh softly below her the chin, oh god, ever so sensitively. And just when she was about to cry out, he closed the lips down--and carried them with his breaths back to the very spot in the back of her jaw that finally caused an audible sigh from her.

This was very nearly perfect with what she wanted, perhaps even needed--except for the fact that he wasn't talking. He didn't utter a word, when she had at least thought that he'd be just mumbling her name or telling her that he loved her over and over again.

Oh no. He was nuzzling her now with his nose and chin. It wouldn't be too much longer before she lost complete control over herself. Wait a minute--since when did she have it in this situation? He had made all of the moves...she had just accepted them. Not that she couldn't just shove him away anytime that she felt like it. But what he was doing felt too good for her to refuse it now. Suppose someone should see them?

Damn them to hell. She was tired--oh so tired, and if he kept doing what he was doing, it would only be a matter of time before she fell asleep...probably standing up. Standing up? That was no good. If anything, her ideal position was definitely not standing up--it lacked comfort.

As much as she hated to do it, she broke away from his embrace and started back towards the chair. He knew exactly what she wanted to do and sat down in it before she could. Her eyes met him with uncertainty, and he drew her close by the hand first and then the arm. Scully had an idea of what he was wanting, but she wasn't so sure that he'd feel so content with her booted heels digging into his thighs. Any inhibitions that she had were flaunted when he tugged her forward and kissed the crown of her forehead. Message received loud and clear, Ahab.

She sank into his lap and was only too happy when one arm encircled her waist. She reached around his neck and nestled her head against his rising and falling chest. The other brought her legs up onto his and then sneaked her fingers up to his lips. He blew on them first, then actually exhaled forcefully, and pressed them to his mouth. The last touch she remembered before drifting off into the unconscious dreamworld was that he entwined their fingers over his heart. Just as she was almost gone, his throat and chest vibrated. "Love will keep us alive, Scully," he whispered.

Three hours later...

A gentle shaking to the shoulder stirred her from a deep sleep. "Not now, Mulder," she mumbled drowsily. It continued. "All right, I'm up. You're gonna be in big..." Scully let her sentence drift into the abyss of incomplete thoughts when she noticed Agent Doggett standing above her.

Of course, there was no Mulder still holding her--or Skinner in the bed next to her as a matter of fact.

"Where's AD Skinner?" Reality came back to slap her in the face like a bad hangover.

"Got released fifteen minutes ago. I just came in to pick him up on my lunch hour. You look like you could use a good lunch--I haven't eaten yet. How about it?"

"I...should probably go back to the office."

"Hold on a second. You just collapsed in a visitor's chair for a couple of hours, of all places to conk out, and now you wanna go back to work? No way, Agent Scully. You need to sleep in a bed, preferably your own."

Scully arose and picked up the research that Mendoza had left behind for her on the bedside table. She motioned for Doggett to follow her outside the room, and they journeyed down the hallway as she skimmed through the report.

"I appreciate your concern, Agent Doggett, but I can't. When you got here last night, what did they tell you was wrong with him?"

"Dr. Maddox said that AD Skinner had a series of heart attacks."

"He did. But Skinner does not have arteriosclerosis, as these charts show."

"What do you mean? He's in his late forties, he's a Caucasian male...sometimes these things just happen due to stress."

"Agent Doggett, arteriosclerosis is a disease that develops over time. The artery walls harden and therefore, make it more difficult for blood to flow through them to the heart. If he truly had that disease, it would have shown up on a simple EKG physical. You know how the FBI makes everyone get one every single year."

"So you know all of Skinner's medical history by heart?"

"I've kept a close watch on him, ever since he..." The realization just hit her.

"Ever since he what?" Doggett prodded and stopped them at the elevator.

"Two years ago, AD Skinner was infected with some of kind of future technology into his bloodstream. Nano machines. Those could have caused the arteries to harden. Or cause the blood to clot. They somehow caused his heart to stop, and then miraculously he didn't die. He's had a damn near perfect health record, with the exceptions of the times he was shot."

"You're saying that someone did this to Skinner? Someone gave him a heart attack with these little robot things?"

"It would be the simplest explanation as to why he suddenly developed this disease in a few hours, mind you, Agent Doggett, and then why he walked out of here as healthy as a horse this morning. Where is he, by the way?"

"I think he went to get some coffee from the vending machines downstairs. You could probably use some too, since you aren't going to be returning home to sleep anytime soon, right?"

"I forgot to drink it," she remembered the mug that was sitting in Skinner's room and headed back.

"Where are you going?" Doggett called.

"I have to return this chart anyway," Scully announced.

After she came back with a fresh mug of hot coffee, Skinner met them at the elevator. "How're you feeling, sir?" she inquired.

"Pretty damn good, considering the night. They told me I had six consecutive heart attacks, Scully. No one at this hospital has seen anyone go through that much and live to see the next morning, much less get up out of bed and leave," Skinner remarked.

"It's miraculous, all right. But Agent Scully seems to think that these episodes weren't coincidental, sir," Doggett pushed the down button.

"I don't doubt that."

"Then you think these nano machines are responsible, too?"

"Put 2 and 2 together, John. First you get a call from Deputy Director Kersh, and then when we left, they attacked me with the nano machines because Scully was still there. Scully, did you notice anyone following you or anything suspicious while you were there alone? Did anyone approach you and threaten you while you were at the police station?"

"No." She didn't exactly know how, but someone within the consortium was yanking her chain. If she wasn't careful, they would also twist the knife into her companions' backs. Right now, for everyone's sake, it would be best if she did not tell the truth to Skinner. "After I left the station, I went straight to the motel and slept until Agent Doggett called me."

"I don't understand who this group of 'they' is. And how would they know that only the two of us left," Doggett retorted. "I told Kersh that we were all leaving last night. Scully just said nobody was tailing her."

"Then maybe we had a couple of shadows and didn't know it," Skinner countered.

"They're using you as a way to get to us...to make us drop this X-File. Maybe we'd better," Scully admitted as they stepped into the elevator.

"Did you just say what I thought you just said?"

"Weren't you talking about 'not being a pawn or a chess piece' or something yesterday? What kind of talk is that?" Doggett was confused.

"You don't understand what kind of games these people play. Whoever they are, they've made it very clear that we are to step away, and I'm not going to make the Assistant Director our sacrificial lamb," Scully said in her honey over the rocks tone.

"You're just going to let them win?" Skinner questioned her.

"It's not worth your life, sir."

"I don't get how they do it. What is it, a push of the button or somethin'? That's what you're making it sound like," Doggett commented.

"If that's what it takes for this case to be solved, then that's what'll happen," Skinner resolved.

"No, sir. I won't let you do it!" Scully cried.

Doggett was becoming more and more agitated. He had no idea what was going on, and it was time for someone to turn the lights on. He smashed the 'emergency stop' button on the lift, and it came grinding to a halt. "Nobody's going anywhere until I get a few straight answers!"

"What the hell's the matter with you, Agent Doggett?" Skinner yelled.

"I don't like being held against my will and in a dark place at the same time. No one's making any decisions about life or death until I'm informed of what we're dealing with! It's time to turn on the lights, Agent Scully!" he shouted and crashed his fist into the elevator wall.

Scully was honestly scared. She had never seen John Doggett get overly upset, much less lose his temper and start to hit things. She guarded her words very apprehensively as she spoke them. "Agent Doggett, there is a conspiracy hidden within our government that is above the President of this country...even above the law. I don't know what their agenda ultimately is, but I have a feeling that they're involved somehow, with these Litchfield experiments."

"Litchfield experiments? Is that the nano stuff in Skinner's blood or something else?"

"It's what they called the tests with the children assassins."

"Agent Scully, I'm really at a loss here. What would this syndicate...be doing with a bunch of killer children? And besides, we never did prove that those two kids killed their parents."

"Don't you get it, Doggett? We're being told to back off because they do exist, and the Consortium wants them to keep doing whatever they are doing," Skinner told him. "And I thought they were all dead, by the way, Scully."

"So did I. I don't know who any of the players are," she lied. "All the more reason for us not to explore it anymore--we don't know who has control over your life, sir."

Skinner swallowed his saliva hard. He knew exactly who had control over his life--Krycek. But right now, he did not fit into the equation, and there was no sense in telling Scully since he knew nothing himself yet.

"Do we, sir?" she repeated the question.

"I think you're right, Scully. We'll let Kersh have his way for now. In the meantime, Agent Doggett, you need to be re-certified for your weapon. I suggest you take care of that right away. Agent Scully, I'm going to have to insist that you take a couple of personal days after you finish today."

"Why?"

"You need sleep, and you haven't taken a vacation for yourself in three years. Until this matter blows over, we are going to keep a very low profile. Is that understood, agents?"

"How dare we call ourselves part of the Justice Department...if our days are coming to this?" Doggett sighed and depressed the emergency button. The lift continued down to the parking garage, and the agents strode in silence to Doggett's fleet sedan.