Authors Note: Sorry this chapter may be a little boring. I put a lot about the victims in here… There's quite a bit of MSR too. Tell me what you think, good or bad. :-)

Chapter Five:

Scully found she couldn't sleep when she'd finally made it back to her Motel room. She kept going over the details of the case in her mind, the more she thought about it – the more she thought Mulder's profile of the killer seemed more likely, joke or not it was the most plausible idea. And that thought didn't ease her mind.

Eventually she was so worked up over the case; she just got out of bed and snuck into Mulder's room to find the case file, she had no idea what happened to her copy of it. To her surprise he was actually sleeping, maybe it's because he was in a bed and not on his couch. She smiled at his sleeping form before turning back to her room, files in hand.

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Fiona and Danny Mueler; she looked at the photo of a smiling woman with curly black hair, and her six year old son who had soft blonde hair, his fringe in his eyes, a grin on his face. If it wasn't for their eyes, she wouldn't have even thought them related. Both had very green eyes. Neither was remarkable in anyway, and only knew one other victim - Tania through school. Danny and Tania weren't even friends.

Christina and Jennifer Yung; neither in the photo were smiling, both had serious expressions on their face. The little girl looked far too mature for an eight year old. The girl had a book clutched tightly to her chest; Scully squinted at the photo, but couldn't read the title. Jennifer was home-schooled and had no connections with the other victims.

Kelly and Tania McGrath; sat in swings, side by side, Kelly with blonde hair held in a ponytail, and Tania her six year old daughter held a doll that had curly blonde hair identical to her own hair. Tania seemed to be having the time of her life, and Scully could see chocolate stains on the girl's skirt, and she imagined the little girl's mother scolding her for dripping ice cream onto her clean skirt.

Tricia and Rachel Farrelly; well she probably knew most about these two people. Well more than any of the other victims. She'd seen the photos in the house, seen their bedrooms. Tricia with her mousy brown hair, and her hazel eyes matching her daughters, in this photo the wind was blowing her hair across her face, so half her face was hidden. But she could tell she was smiling, and she was hand in hand with her daughter.

--

She felt tears prick her eyes as she spread the photos of the mothers and children out on her bed. She tried to pick out a link between the families, but found nothing. Other than the fact that all the children were still in primary school, only two went to the same school. She took a deep breath, and pulled out the crime scene photos.

The only way they knew that each of these murders was connected in some way, was the lack of forensic evidence, and the sickening fact that every woman murdered had her uterus removed, by a means unknown. Scully touched her belly and thought of her own damaged womb. She couldn't have children, but she felt lucky compared the woman mutilated in the photos before her.

The picture that made the tears that had been threatening to fall; slip down her face was the one of Christina and Jennifer. Jennifer was sprawled next to her mother, her hand clamped tightly onto her mothers arm, a look of pure terror on her face.

"Scully," she leapt to her feet knocking the papers and photos to the floor. And looked over her shoulder to see a sleepy Mulder bring his hand across his face… She didn't say anything, just turned her face away so she could wipe away the tears.

When she turned around properly he was coming over, and he sat heavily on her bed, and patted the place next to him. "We need to talk," he said seriously, not giving her a chance to speak, he continued. "I don't think you should be on this case. I want you to go home," she smiled in relief; she thought it was something more serious than that.

"It's okay Mulder, I'm not going home."

"I'm telling you to go. I don't want to work with you on this."

"W-what…?" He didn't want to work with her? She felt her chest constrict painfully.

"I can't watch you break in front of me and do nothing. This case is too difficult for you." She felt anger bubble under the surface, and she turned her angry eyes to him.

"I can do this Mulder. I'm not letting my emotions get the better of me."

"I think you are." He gestured to the photos. "You're torturing yourself." She looked down at her hands.

"This case is going to be harder than most for me Mulder. It was stupid of me to look at them, but I couldn't sleep. Just because it upsets me, I won't let it cloud my judgment." She looked at him, tears gone, anger gone – she had her mask back on. "I can do this." She pushed, waiting for him to say something.

"I hope so Scully, I hate seeing you like this." He dragged his thumb along the fast drying tear tracks running down her cheeks. "I'm here if you need to talk. You know that." He smiled, but still seemed pretty sleepy. He lay down and she curled up next to him, his arm draped across her stomach and her hand wrapped around his. She felt more secure with him here, and she felt more confident in her ability to think clearly on this case.

"Mulder," she said after a few seconds.

"Mm," he said sleepily.

"Thank you,"

"You'd do the same for me," she wriggled so that she was closer to him, and silently agreed.

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TBC