Hi all! Thanks for the great reviews; I appreciate them. Well, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. :)

Viorna

Disclaimer still applies

Chapter 9

I sighed unhappily as I picked at the lumpy mashed potatoes on my plate. I could almost cry and scream at myself for passing out. I hadn't come to until I was in the ambulance, well on the way to the hospital. The first thing I had seen upon opening my eyes was Mulder's panicky face. He must've put up a fight to ride in the ambulance.

Now I was tucked snugly into a bed inside a private room, being monitored. The emergency room doctor had been concerned about my loss of consciousness, and since the wound required sutures, he wanted to keep me for observation. He had said I would probably be released relatively soon, seeing as the X-rays had come back clear.

That knowledge didn't appease me though. All I wanted to do was get out of the stupid bed and get on with the case. We had to get to Audrey and talk with her. I was afraid that she might have eyewitness testimony, and if Nicole found out about her, there was no telling what could happen.

Besides, I didn't need to be monitored. I knew that I hadn't really passed out from my injury. Oh, that had helped, but it was more from the aftermath of realizing how close our brush with death had been, again. How many more times would we cheat death? How many more times would I have a chance to be completely honest with Mulder about everything, including how I felt about him? Somehow it felt like I was running out of chances.

"Hey, can I come in?" I heard Mulder ask, and I looked up to see him peeking around the door.

"Yeah," I replied with a sigh.

He grabbed a chair, pulled it up close to my bed, and sat down. Then he just sat there, staring at me. For a moment or two I didn't say anything, but then his scrutiny started to make me nervous and I had to struggle to keep from squirming.

"What?" I demanded finally, unable to take it any longer.

"What's happening to us Scully?" he asked ponderingly. His voice was soft and sad, a reflection of his eyes. Suddenly my throat seemed to have a lump the size of a Georgia melon and my eyes stung as everything became hazy. He had voiced the same question I knew I had been asking myself subconsciously. What was happening to us? I didn't know anymore than he did; all I knew was that what I saw scared me. It was like we were losing our friendship. Still I couldn't bring myself to voice those thoughts.

"What do you mean?" was my counter question.

"Look at us. We, we, it's like we're losing our friendship. We're not as close as we were."

A breath hitched in my chest and tears started welling up in my eyes as he spoke. He was feeling the same thing I was, and that hurt so much for some reason. I hastily brushed at my eyes under the pretense of rubbing my forehead, as if it hurt. I just couldn't go into this, not right now. It scared me too much. So I took a silent breath and steeled myself.

"Mulder, we can't talk about this right now," I said quietly but firmly. "We have a case to work on and we don't have the time to talk about personal stuff."

"Um, Scully, in case you forgot, you're in a hospital bed right now, so we're not working on the case. We've got all the time we need while you're being monitored."

"No, we don't. Even if I'm here, that doesn't mean that you can't be out there. Besides, I'm checking myself out," I told him, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.

"You can't leave! You're being monitored for crying out loud!" he protested loudly, looking around for some way to get me back in bed. I felt relatively safe that he wouldn't do anything physically.

"I'm fine. There's nothing to monitor." I really was okay. Except for a slight headache and some dull aching at the wound site, I felt fine. I knew I didn't need to be monitored; it was just a waste of my time and the hospital's.

"I'm calling the doctor," Mulder threatened. When I just kept gathering my things and heading for the bathroom, he made good on his threat and left the room, looking for the doctor who treated me. I took the opportunity to get dressed and to make sure I had all the possessions I had come in with.

When I came out of the bathroom, Mulder was standing there with Doctor Mulgrave.

"Well Agent Scully, I see you're checking yourself out," Dr. Mulgrave said with a slow, distinct southern drawl.

"Yes I am Doctor," I replied. "I don't need observation: I'm fine."

"It's my job to advise you against this. You've had a head injury, and you lost consciousness, so it's best if you are watched closely for awhile."

"I've been watched since ten this morning. Really, except for a small headache I feel fine."

"Well, if you want to leave then there really isn't anything I can do to stop you. But it would make me feel better if you consented to a quick exam."

I thought for a moment and decided that a small exam wouldn't hurt. In fact, it would be beneficial in convincing Mulder that I really was fine. So I sat back down on the bed and let Dr. Mulgrave check my eyes and my reflexes, and then look at the stitches. He said everything looked okay and while he would prefer I be monitored a little longer, it was all right for me to leave.

I signed the release papers and then Mulder and I were on our way. Mulder actually had to hustle to keep up with me on our way out of the hospital. I felt like we had lost very valuable time that we couldn't make up, and the feeling was making me a little panicky.

"Hey, slow down," Mulder told me as we reached the sidewalk. "You can't go anywhere anyway. We don't have a car."

"Oh, yeah." This was lousy. No car and our twenty-four hours rapidly ticking away: things were definitely not going our way. Then Mulder's cell phone rang and he hurriedly dug through his pockets to get it.

"Agent Mulder," he answered it. There was a short pause and then a small smile broke across his face.

"Hi Nicole," Pause, then, "No, I'm out at the hospital." There was another pause followed by a chuckle and then he said, "No, no, no, I'm not hurt. Look, I'll explain when I get down to the station. Right, bye."

He hung up and replaced the phone in his pocket, and then looked over at me. His look was met with a frown.

"Why'd you tell her you'd explain when you got to the station? Do you plan on going to the station right now?"

"She's probably going to be wondering about that car explosion by now. I mean it's gotta be on the news. I think I better go down and put her curiosity to rest, otherwise she's going to start suspecting something, 'specially since I didn't meet her this morning like I was suppose to," Mulder gave me his reasons, and I had to agree that it did make since. So I suggested that he take a cab down to the station and that I would take another cab down to the car rental store, get a car and then head out to talk to Audrey Lincoln. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to like that idea, especially the part about me driving. Finally, we decided that he would call Nicole back and tell her he was going to be delayed as he was following up on another lead. From the part of the call I heard, it sounded like she accepted his excuse without a problem. The nice thing about this excuse was that it was true.

It was well into the late afternoon by the time we finally got out to the pleasant residential section of town where Audrey Lincoln lived with her parents. The street that she lived on was lined on both sides by grand old sycamore trees and the houses were mostly two story brick, with well groomed lawns and shrubbery.

"Okay, there's the house," Mulder remarked, and swung the car into the driveway. As we walked up to the front door, I was hoping with every ounce of my being that this girl was home.

There was no response to Mulder's rapping on the door, so he rang the doorbell. A moment later we heard locks being turned and then the door was cracked open part way. An elegant looking woman peered through at us expectantly.

"I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder and this is Special Agent Dana Scully; we're with the FBI. Can we talk with you?" Mulder asked politely.

"What is this about?" the woman asked in return.

Mulder and I exchanged a quick glance. It was going to be hard telling this woman what was going on without scaring the living daylights out of her.

"Does Audrey Lincoln live here?" was his next question.

"I'm her mother, now what is going on?"

"Mrs. Lincoln, we have something to discuss with you and it would be easier to do that inside because it might take awhile," I added my two cents worth.

Mrs. Lincoln's eyes widened in alarm and she opened the door wider, asking, "Has something happened to Audrey? Is she in trouble? What's going on?"

"We believe that Audrey might have been a witness to a crime," Mulder told her bluntly. It was probably best rather than dragging it out.

"What! That's, this, oh no…" Mrs. Lincoln stammered distraughtly. "You can't be serious."

"We're not positive, that's why we need to talk to her," I said.

Mrs. Lincoln motioned for us to come in and lead us into a nicely furnished living room. Then she sank trembling into a chair.

"Is Audrey home?" Mulder asked.

"No, no, she's at her baby sitting job. She has her own little baby-sitting business. She should be home soon though. But, how can she be a witness to a crime?"

"Well, like I said, we're not positive that she did see anything, but we need to be sure."

Right then, the front door opened and a young woman stepped in. From what I could recall of the grainy security film, this was the same girl. She didn't really look old enough to be nineteen. Her wavy blonde hair was in two braids, making her look younger than she already did.

When she saw us, her eyes widened to the size of saucers and she froze like a little deer in the headlights of a car, but she looked ready to bolt at any second.

"Are you Audrey?" Mulder asked quietly. She gave a barely perceptible nod.

"I'm Fox Mulder and this is Dana Scully. We're agents with the FBI, and we'd like to talk to you about something you might've seen," he started to explain, but before he could say anymore, Audrey started to shake and cry. Her mother quickly gathered her close and whispered into her ear, trying to calm her.

I rested my hand gently on Audrey's shoulder and I could feel her body shaking with suppressed sobs. What Mulder had said definitely frightened her: she must've seen something, but at the moment that wasn't my main concern. I just felt sympathy for the terrified girl.

It took a little while, but Audrey finally calmed down and she sat down beside her mother on the sofa, looking like a frightened kitten. Mulder and I seated ourselves across from her on the loveseat, so we could study her face when we talked to her.

"This is about that murder in Peachtree Apartments, isn't it?" she asked fearfully.

"Yes it is," Mulder responded. "Did you see anything?"

Audrey gulped down a sob as she nodded. "I saw it happen."

"Everything?" I asked.

"Not completely everything, but I saw her kill him," she affirmed and then started sobbing again.

The full impact of her statement hit me. Audrey saw "her kill him,": whoever that woman was we weren't sure. We had an eyewitness, but just how good of an eyewitness was in question.

"Can you tell me from the beginning?" Mulder questioned when Audrey had calmed down again. She started shaking her head no and her chest started to rise and fall rapidly. "Why not?"

"I just can't. What if she found out that I told you?"

"Do you even know who she is?" I asked.

"No."

"Can you tell us what she looked like?" asked Mulder. Audrey shrugged, and I stifled a sigh. This was going to be tough. "If you talk to us, that'll help us find her, and then we'll do our best to make sure she can't ever hurt you."

"But what if you can't find her, and what if she finds out who I am. She'll kill me," Audrey wailed.

"Did she see you?" Mrs. Lincoln asked in alarm and Audrey nodded. "Then you have to tell the agents everything you know. You have to Audrey!"

I could see Audrey fighting a battle whether or not to talk with us. After a moment, she sighed and began to speak.

"I was babysitting for Mr. and Mrs. Schumer, and they'd come home so I was going home. I was walking down the hall when I heard someone yelling for help, and it was coming from the Monterales' apartment," she sniffled, wiping her eyes. "The door was open and I just went in. He needed help."

Mulder nodded understandingly and then gently urged her to go on.

"I heard the yelling coming from the bedroom, but when I looked in, there was this woman, and and, and she was pointing a gun at him. I just froze as she fired at him. I guess it hit him, but he just stood there, and then he kinda dove for something, so she shot him again, over and over and over. And then I screamed. I couldn't help it. She saw me then, but I just started running and I didn't stop until I got home." Audrey was sobbing almost convulsively now, and her mother was rocking her back and forth in her arms.

It took a lot longer this time for her to settle down, but finally she was able to talk and breathe again.

"Can you remember anything about this woman?" Mulder probed further.

Audrey thought for a moment and then said, "Well, she had a big gun and she was taller than me, and her hair was brown, but that's all I can remember. I'm sorry, I really am."

"No, no, that's okay," I assured her. "You've been very helpful, and I promise you we'll do everything we can to catch her."

We left the Lincolns feeling even more confused and frustrated. Time was running out and we had very little evidence one way or the other. We couldn't exonerate Nicole, nor could we condemn her.

"I dunno Scully; this case is so twisted," Mulder sighed. "We don't have any evidence, not really anyway. So the shooter had brown hair: does that really mean anything?"

I couldn't say that it did. I was ready to just give and head back to Washington. Let the Atlanta PD handle it. They couldn't do any worse than we were. Sure, I knew some cases took months to solve, but that didn't matter at the moment. It just made me so mad that we were so close, yet so far.

"So what do we do now?" Mulder asked next.

"I don't know."

"I think I do. We're gonna talk to Nicole."

I was surprised but not unhappy about his decision. We needed something to break this case open and maybe talking to Nicole would be the thing that did it.

When we walked into Nicole's squad room, her face lit up with a smile when she saw Mulder, but when she saw me her eyes opened wide with surprise. It actually almost looked like shock.

"Agent Scully, I thought you had gone back to Washington," she said, recovering quickly.

"Some things came up and I had to change my plans," I told her.

"Nicole, is there some place we can talk privately," Mulder asked and she nodded, and then asked why. "We just need to talk away from other people," he explained.

Nicole lead us into an empty briefing room, and then asked, "What is this about?"

"I don't really know how to say this," Mulder began, running his hand through his hair. "There, uh, there seems to be something weird going on here."

I wanted so badly to roll my eyes. No shucks Sherlock, of course there was something weird going on here. Just say it already.

"What is going on?" Nicole demanded again.

"Detective Beaumont, we have evidence that seems to indicate that you are involved somehow in Mr. Monterale's death," I said bluntly.

"What! Did you just say what I think you said?" Nicole was incredulous. "You think that I murdered Phillip Monterale! That is completely outrageous," she snapped. "What 'evidence' do you have?"

I told her everything that I had learned from the time I had supposedly left for Washington, up until now with Audrey Lincoln. As I did, her eyes grew wider and wider, and more and more furious. Suddenly her face drained of all color and she bolted from the room.

Mulder and I looked at each other in bewilderment, and then it struck us that our suspect was on the run. We ran out after her, but we didn't see her anywhere in the hall. Then Mulder pointed to something and I saw the women's bathroom door swinging slightly.

"She could be in there," he said, and I nodded. I pulled out my gun as I headed in.

I found Nicole leaning over a sink, gripping the sides like her life depended on it. Her face was white, except for around her eyes; that was red like she was crying.

"Detective Beaumont, are you alright?" I inquired cautiously.

She gave a snort and then looked up and glared at me. "Get out of here. I'm not talking to you."

"If you didn't murder Mr. Monterale, then why won't you talk with us and try to clear this up."

"The only person I'm talking to is a lawyer, so I suggest you leave."

"I guess you're not innocent, are you? If you were, why would you talk to a lawyer?" I pushed.

"Just get out of here."

It occurred to me that maybe interrogation in the women's bathroom wasn't such a good idea. Nicole didn't look real spectacular and that was starting to concern me a bit. And then, as if to further substantiate my concern, she hurried into one of the stalls and I could hear her throwing up. I grimaced and went out of the bathroom to give her some privacy.

"What's going on?" Mulder asked when he saw me.

"I don't think she's feeling too good," I replied. "I think she's sick."

"Sick? How?"

"She's throwing up."

"Oh." Mulder gave a little shudder and then sighed. "Well, what's wrong with her?"

I just looked at him in annoyance. "How am I supposed to know what's wrong with her?"

"Well, you're a doctor."

"I just can't usually look at someone and see what's wrong with them. And I highly doubt that Nicole will let me examine her."

At that moment Nicole came out of the bathroom. When she saw us standing there, we should've been dead from the look she gave us.

"You okay Nicole?" asked Mulder.

"And why do you care?"

"We're just concerned."

"Maybe you are, but she isn't," Nicole indicated me. "She doesn't like me." I actually stepped back in surprise. I knew I didn't really like Nicole, but I didn't realize that it was obvious to the rest of the world that I didn't. "Hey Mulder," Nicole went on, "who came up with this ridiculous theory? You, or Agent Scully? 'Cause I'm willing to bet that it was Agent Scully. And since it was Agent Scully, I'm not doing any talking with you and especially not her. I really shouldn't be surprised that she did come up with it, though."

Now I was seeing red. I was so mad I could've strangled her right then and there and not even have blinked. I was about ready to give her a piece of my mind when out of the blue a thought hit me. What if my dislike for Nicole had lead me to look harder for evidence with which to convict her, even if I did it unconsciously? Was I really that jealous and spiteful? Had I really sunk that low?

My head was spinning and I knew all the color must be gone from my face. The thought scared me; terrified me actually. I couldn't really have lost my integrity and principles simply because I was jealous. I didn't want to think I would ever let my personal feelings get in the way of doing my job objectively and fairly.

"Scully?" I heard Mulder talking to me and I looked up at him. I could see concern in his eyes, but before I could tell him I was fine, his cell rang. He answered it, and a look of alarm crossed his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked when he'd hung up.

"Audrey Lincoln's just been shot."