Mulder could practically feel Scully worrying as they walked into the hospital.
During the walk to the car and the fifteen minute drive to the hospital, she had asked at least five times how Peter had known to ask for him by name.
"I don't know, Scully," he had said, shaking his head. "We'll see what he has to say when we get there."
She had sighed, clasping and unclasping her hands as she had stared out the window.
"Something feels off about it," she had said. "About all of it. It's weird."
"Weird? Not spooky?" he had teased and she had turned her head to stare at him.
"Three men are still missing, Mulder. Peter was returned, or found his way back, injured and in a near coma-like state. Forgive me if I don't see the humor in that."
"Scully," he had started to say and she had cut him off.
"And how would he know your name? How would he know to ask for you?"
"Most likely he heard a doctor discussing our visit."
"He was heavily sedated, Mulder."
"I meant after he was lucid. He probably heard it today."
"I don't know," she had said, looking out the window again. "Why not ask for both of us? Why only you?"
"Aww, feeling left out?" he had teased, trying to lighten the mood and she had shaken her head.
"No. That's not it."
"Well," he had said as the hospital came into view. "We'll see soon enough."
He glanced over at her now and noted the way she held herself rigid, a coil ready to spring.
"Agents," a voice said and they turned to see Doctor Huron coming towards them. "Thank you for getting here so quickly."
"Doctor Huron," Scully said, putting her hand out to shake his as he smiled. "Thank you for calling."
"Of course," he said, shaking Mulder's hand as well.
"Could you give us more information about Peter?" Scully asked and Mulder saw her relax somewhat, now in her element. "He just woke up and started speaking?"
"Not exactly," the doctor laughed. "He was quite sedated last night, his blood pressure continuing to fluctuate, rising and falling in a way we could not understand. He was checked on during rounds and about an hour ago, he buzzed the nurse's station asking for some help."
Scully looked at the doctor and then Mulder, her arms crossed, before turning her attention back to the doctor.
"He doesn't remember what happened to him. Or that he's been missing for a month. He had no idea where he was or how he got her. Starving as I told you, eating two meals and asking for more."
"And he asked for Agent Mulder? By name?"
"He did," Doctor Huron said, smiling at Mulder.
"But how would he have known to do so? Did someone tell him about us coming to see him yesterday, telling him our names?"
"Can we speak to him?" Mulder asked, and Scully turned toward him quickly, her eyes boring into his.
"Yes. You can," the doctor said, smiling as he nodded. "He's still in the same room. I can show you-"
"No, that's okay," Mulder said with a smile. "We remember how to get there. Agent Scully?" He gestured for her to walk ahead of him and she sighed as she thanked the doctor and started down the hallway.
"Mulder, why-"
"Rather speak to Peter on his own. Hear his version of what he experienced when he woke up."
"Okay," she said, nodding in agreement and then shaking her head.
"Down this way," he said, placing his hand on her lower back and turning to the right.
The door to Peter's room was closed, but when they opened it, they found he was awake and eating a plate full of food.
"Hello," he said, swallowing a large bite. "You're not doctors. Unless you're the ones the other doctors call." He grinned at them and set his fork down, wiping his hand on a napkin.
He was looking rather well for a person who had been missing for a month. There was color in his cheeks and aside from the slight bruising on his pale skin, he seemed in perfect health.
"No. We're FBI agents. This is Agent Scully and I'm Agent-"
"Mulder," Peter finished, staring hard at Mulder, his grin disappearing. "Hello."
"Hello," Mulder said, reaching for one of the two chairs in the room. "Do you mind if we sit?"
"No," Peter said, still staring at him.
"Mister Blake," Scully began, but he waved her off.
"Peter. Mister Blake is… just Peter, please."
"Peter, I am an agent but I am also a medical doctor. Would you mind if I examined you?"
"No. That's fine," he said, his eyes still on Mulder.
"Could you please look at me?" she said and he turned his head to oblige her.
She moved the tray in front of him and performed an exam, looking into his eyes, ears, mouth, feeling his head, arms, and chest. She asked him to stand, her brow furrowing as she worked through the examination. She paused at the cuts on his back, tracing a gloved finger over the placement of them, glancing at Mulder with raised eyebrows.
"You can sit now, Mister… sorry. Peter. You can sit now. Thank you."
"Not a problem," he said jovially and she stood beside the bed as he got back in it, covering him and replacing his tray, before throwing out her gloves and sitting down in the other chair.
"Peter, what can you tell us about what happened to you?" Mulder asked as he watched Scully watching Peter with a stony expression.
"Man… I…" Peter said, forking a potato and putting it into his mouth. "I can tell you what I know, but I don't think it will be what you want to hear."
"Try me."
Peter grinned and chewed his potato. Mulder saw Scully sigh heavily and cross her arms, before turning his full attention to Peter.
"The last thing I remember was a party in a cemetery."
"Four Pines Cemetery?"
"I don't know the name of it." He scooped up a large bite of eggs and Mulder heard Scully sigh again. "Sorry for eating as we do this, but I'm starving. Have been since I woke up here, wherever this is."
"This is Pines Hospital," Scully said coolly. "Surely Doctor Huron told you that."
"Yes," Peter laughed, chewing and swallowing, and then taking a drink of orange juice. "I know where I am physically, but not… spiritually, if you get what I mean."
"I don't. Please elaborate," Scully said and he glanced at her, holding her gaze.
"You don't believe me."
"You'll have to forgive me, Peter, but you've given me no information to believe," Scully said and Mulder felt the anger and tension in her voice.
"Why don't you start with what you remember from the day you disappeared?" Mulder asked, getting Peter's attention off of Scully.
"Right," Peter said, taking one last bite and draining his orange juice. "I was at a party like I said. Some cemetery which was… I don't normally do things like that. I'm not in my twenties anymore and I…" He wiped his mouth and sighed. "There was only a handful of people there, though I knew no one."
"No one?" Mulder asked and he shook his head.
"I had just arrived in town and was at a gas station. Heard this guy talking about a party in a cemetery later and it piqued my interest."
"You went to a party full of strangers you met at a gas station?" Scully asked incredulously. "In a town you've never been? Do you realize how dangerous that is?"
He laughed as he gestured around him and Scully exhaled through her nose, crossing her arms even tighter.
"Yeah, I have an idea," he said with a chuckle. "Thing is, everyone at the party was decent. They just were there to party and hang out. Well, a couple of them were partying in a different manner, but that's their business, not mine." He grinned and Mulder nodded.
"Did you take any drugs?" Scully asked and Peter stared at her.
"I did. Just to try them. I'd never done anything like it before and I…"
"Did they not agree with you?"
"No, they definitely did," he said with a smile. "I felt better than I had in a long time. A really long time." He sighed and put his napkin on his plate. "I don't know what happened after that. I was feeling good, happy even, and then… I woke up here."
"You don't remember anything? Not temperature? A smell? Perhaps a person speaking to you?" Mulder asked.
Peter stared at his hands and shook his head slowly.
"It's… dark, what I can remember anyway. Like… no… wait… there is something." He looked up, but his focus was not on them. "It's thick. The air was thick. Like…"
He made movements with his fingers, similar to the ones Mulder had done earlier at the forest's edge. Looking down, he realized that he was mimicking Peter's movements and he quickly stopped, balling his hands into fists.
"Thick where you disappeared to? Or in the cemetery at the party?" Scully asked and Mulder heard the disbelief in her voice.
"Both," Peter said, still looking beyond them. "It was like… a dream. Like a slow motion dream. The ones when you can't run? Or… remember words of things? Like that. Slow and thick." He continued moving his fingers and Scully looked over at Mulder, but his attention was on Peter's hand.
"I… can hear…" He closed his eyes and his fingers increased in speed. "I hear people. Other men, I think. They're… I don't know… they're quiet, but loud. It's…" He frowned and twitched his head, moaning softly as his fingers continued moving, even faster now.
"Do they need help? Are they hurt?" Scully asked, taking her notepad and pen from her coat pocket and beginning to write.
"I… don't know. It's… thick. It's…" His fingers moved faster and Mulder clenched his fist tighter, his hand aching.
Suddenly Peter stopped, his hand dropping into his lap. He opened his eyes, blinking a few times as he drew in deep breaths.
"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "It's close, but not like it was."
"The people?" Scully asked, writing again in her notepad.
"The feeling," Peter said softly. "The thick pressure of whatever it was. I remember that now. The silence that pressed in and consumed me. But, it didn't feel bad, just…"
"Thick," Mulder supplied. "And heavy."
"Yes," Peter said, looking at him. "That's why I asked to speak to you. Why I needed it to be you."
"Why?" Mulder asked, seeing Scully's pen pause in her writing to stare at Peter.
"Because you know," Peter said with a nod, his gaze dropping to Mulder's hands still clenched in fists. "You've felt it, Agent Mulder. You know. I don't think anyone could understand the way you would."
He stared at him as he heard Scully release a harsh breath and then the room fell silent.
