Rescue

Washington D.C. A day earlier

Scully looked up at the poster reading 'I want to Believe' in their office and took a deep sigh. She was so tired that she couldn't keep her eyes open. She'd been up all night trying to get in contact with Mulder, but he hadn't answered and he hadn't been at home. Either that or he hadn't answered the door. Something strange was happening again, she was sure of that. Leaning back in her chair she closed them and felt herself yawn. Her shoulder length red hair fell across her face and she started to doze as she waited for Mulder; though something told her that he wasn't going to show up.

Suddenly the phone rang and she jumped with surprise. Scully sat up and blinked, trying to wake herself up. The ringing rang loudly in her ears and she winced at the vibrations running through her head. Leaning across the desk and cursing as she knocked a pile of paperwork over, Scully grabbed the phone. She pulled it towards her ear and sighed.

'Hello?'

'Agent Scully, can I please see you in my office now.' Skinner's voice boomed. Scully raised her eyebrows; his impatient tone woke her up quite a bit.

'Yes Sir I'll come up.'

'Yes, please do. And bring Mulder with you if he's there. Is he there?'

'No Sir. I…' She started.

'Come up then, as quick as possible.' Skinner snapped. Scully raised her eyebrows in surprise at his blunt interruption and heard Skinner put the phone down. Scully frowned in confusion and ran a hand through her hair. She looked at the phone for a moment then put it back on the holder. She leant over and picked up the paperwork which lay scattered on the floor and placed it back on the desk in an average pile. She yawned as she got up from her seat and picked up her jacket from the back of the chair. She slipped it on over her light blue shirt and put a hand to her cross necklace and frowned in thought. 'Where are you Mulder?' she asked quietly as if he was in the room with her. Making her way to the door and turning to switch off the light, she looked back into the office and to the poster. She read it over and over again, trying to think where Mulder could be and trying to get on his wavelength. With a confused sigh she flipped the switch, and the poster plunged into darkness.

'Sit down Scully.' Skinner said in his deep voice as she entered his office. Scully nodded and sat down opposite him. She looked at his desk and saw that he had been writing on a notepad, the ink was shiny, still wet. Scully looked up at him again and met his gaze. Skinner's eyes looked worried and anxious, though they still held their stern manner, and Scully found this was what always worried her most when he called Mulder and herself up to see him, it was either because they had done something wrong, or that something had happened to either of them, or the X-Files. Whatever it usually was, it was mostly bad news, and you could never tell what Skinner was going to say, because his expression held two possibilities.

'Scully, where's Mulder?' Skinner asked her, looking deep into her eyes. Scully shifted uncomfortably in her seat and took a deep breath.

'Sir, I was going to ask you if you knew where he was. I have no idea.' She said. Skinner raised his head and looked down at Scully for a moment, and it looked as if he was going to shout, but then lowered it again and looked away from her. Scully frowned with confusion.

'I've been looking for him all night, I was phoning him, I went around to his apartment but he wasn't there. And he's not here this morning.' She said with a slight waver to her voice. Skinner didn't show any reaction.

'He hasn't answered your calls?' Skinner asked.

'No Sir.' Scully said looked helpless. She looked at Skinner and frowned in concern, a suddenly pang of fear seemed to stab her in the stomach. His face was turning sour. 'Sir, you're not worried are you?'

'Scully,' He said quickly. 'I am very worried.' Skinner said deeply, and looked into her eyes again. Scully felt her heart pump loudly with fear. She swallowed nervously.

'I didn't know whether to be worried or not because I didn't know if he'd got to you at all, or if he'd seen anybody else.' She said with difficulty. Skinner shook his head.

'I had a phone call from his mother this morning; she can't get through to him either. If he wasn't answering your calls and he isn't in for work this morning, then I think this is strange even for him.' He said with a concerned manner. Scully frowned.

'Mrs Mulder couldn't get through to him either?' She asked, shocked. 'Sir, what could have happened to him?'

'I don't know; I was hoping you were going to tell me.'

'He could have gone to find something. It must be something like that.' Scully said running solutions over in her head.

'What and not told us where he was going?' Skinner snapped in an angry tone. Scully didn't answer. She held her chin in her hand and seemed engrossed in thought. Skinner sighed.

'Well is there any chance that you know where he's gone?'

'I can try and find out.' She said looking across at him.

'Right, keep trying to call him. I'm sure he'll answer you sometime.' Skinner said quickly, and stood up. 'If he's gone without telling us, then he is seriously suspended.'

'Sir!' Scully objected suddenly and stood up. She met his gaze and frowned angrily. 'You don't know that…'

'Scully I can't keep running around after Agents all the time. If he gets caught by some government and gets himself in a mess then I'm not cleaning it up. He can save his own ass.'

'But Sir…'

'He's done it too many times Scully. He knows better than to go off on his own and get his ass kicked.' Skinner said angrily. Scully frowned.

'But what if he hasn't gone off on his own; may be he's in danger. May be he's hurt.'

'There's no sign of a break in at his home, I've got a feeling that this is one of Mulder's clown acts. I'm sure he'll turn up soon, we'll get a video sent in of his arrest for trespassing in restricted areas.'

'Sir please.' Scully said holding her hand up to silence him. 'You know that whatever Mulder's doing is wrong for his job but you also know that he is proving something that the world needs to know and that is hidden from it. Mulder doesn't do these things for nothing, you know that.' She said calmly. Skinner sighed and shifted on his feet awkwardly.

'I can't have my agents getting into trouble like that. Most of all I'm afraid that he's going to go and kill himself.' Skinner said avoiding Scully's glance. His eyes were full of worry and emotion, and Scully felt sadness fill her gut and her eyes glistened with wet tears.

'Sir, Mulder won't get himself killed. Don't think that.' She said, her voice wavering. 'I'll find out where he is. We'll have to keep looking.' She said looking down at the floor for a moment then back up to meet Skinner's gaze. He nodded.

'Get back to me if you find anything.' He said. Scully nodded and went to leave the room. She looked back at him as she reached the door and saw that he was uneasy. He looked around himself defensively, like someone was trying to find something out from him. Skinner sensed Scully looking at him and he looked up to her. She smiled weakly and left the room closing the door firmly behind her. She leant against the door and closed her eyes, letting her worry expose itself fully, and she felt her heart beat heavily against her chest. Tears stung her eyes as she tried to push away the horrific visions that clouded her mind of Mulder in serious danger. Her tiredness and shock clouded her vision as she saw him struggling and fighting, and someone hitting him. He was tired and injured and he called out her name to her in a desperate cry. She managed to change her thoughts to his familiar friendly face looking at her and she felt a small glow of happiness inside her.

'Excuse me, Miss Scully?'

The squeaky voice of the secretary resounded through her ears breaking through her like smashed glass and her thoughts vanished suddenly and dissolved behind her eyes. Scully's eyes shot open and looked ahead to see the blonde lady staring at her. With one eyebrow raised and an unforgiving expression on her face she stared at her like a sad dress she had seen at the mall. 'Can you be moving along now? The director has other people to see apart from you today.' She said. Scully took a deep breath and gathered herself. She brushed down her jacket and moved away from the door.

'Excuse me.' She said breathlessly, and felt annoyance and embarrassment as she made her way quickly into the corridor, feeling the secretary's eyes still burning into her back as she left through the glass door.

Scully walked quickly along the corridor to the office and opened the door briskly and checked before she closed it if anyone was watching her. She pulled her jacket aside and got out her mobile phone. She dialled Mulder's number and waited as the ring resounded through her ears loudly. Scully paced impatiently as she phoned, worry and anger fuelled her thoughts and made her so anxious she felt like she could burst. The phone continued to ring and she stopped pacing and took a deep sigh. She walked over to the desk and tapped her hand on it in nervous agitation.

'Come on, come on…' She repeated over. Scully closed her eyes and squeezed them, as if she had a bad headache. Suddenly the ringing stopped and the voicemail message clicked on. Scully cursed under her breath and hung up the call quickly. She felt as if the whole world was spinning around her but she wasn't connecting to it, she just needed to get through to Mulder.

Suddenly, thinking on her feet she thought of another number to call. Her brow furrowed in concentration she went over to the desk and opened the top drawer to find a torn piece of paper with a number sketched on in pencil. She held it up to the light and punched it into her phone. Scully pressed the call button and waited. Someone picked up.

'What's the password?'

'Excuse me?' She said with surprise. Suddenly the phone clicked off and the dial tone rung through her ear. Scully stared at her phone with anger. She pressed redial and waited again.

'What's the password?'

'Langley? It's Scully; I don't know the damn password.' She said forcefully.

'I'm sorry we… wait, Scully?' Langley said with surprise.

'Yes.'

'Wait, we have to make sure it's you.' He said, Scully protested but his voice was further away now like he was talking across the room. 'Err… guys, this chick says she's Scully, we have to ask her something to find out if it's really her.' He said; his voice muffled and distant.

'I'm Scully for god's sake why don't you believe me!' She said angrily, but they didn't hear her. She could hear them all discussing things in the background. Langley came back to the phone.

'Sorry Scully our caller ID device isn't working at the moment so I'm going to have to ask you some questions…'

'I don't have time for this Langley I need to know where…'

'Which one of us fancies you?' Langley said, ignoring her. Scully stopped suddenly in surprise and felt annoyance fill her insides.

'Frohike.' She said in a low voice. There was a long silence and just when she was about to ask what was happening Frohike spoke.

'Say Scully, I never knew you knew that. How about us getting to know each other a little better…'

'Listen all of you! I need your help! Mulder's missing.' She shouted. There was a silence for a moment.

'Damn, really?' Byers said. Scully sighed.

'Yes, really. I'm really worried, the FBI's mad at him and I need to find him. God knows what he's doing at the moment.' She said desperately. There was another silence.

'We don't know where he is.' Langley said quickly. Scully raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

'Aren't you even worried about where he is?' She asked.

'Sure we are Scully; we don't know where he is though. Do you think he's in trouble?' Frohike said in an apologetic tone. Scully shook her head in dismay.

'I… I hope not. I just… please if you can do anything… I mean…. He's…' She said struggling with her words. Her emotions were taking control of her and she felt a hot tear roll down her face. 'If he doesn't come back in one piece I'll… I'll never live with myself, and if he gets into trouble, Skinner's not willing to help him.' She said sadly. There was a silence on the other line and Scully brushed her tear away, angry with herself that she was getting so worked up.

'Well…' Frohike started awkwardly.

'Oh come on, to hell with it.' Byers interrupted impatiently, and there was a rustle of papers and a sound like someone was moving around down the line. 'Listen Scully, we know where he is.'

'You… what?' Scully cried, her stomach turned over and she opened her eyes wide in surprise.

'No we don't!' Langley said loudly.

'YES we do.' Byers shouted. 'Scully, I'm sorry, Mulder told us not to tell you where he was going.' He said in a sincere tone.

'He… why would he do that?' Scully asked; her heart racing and her brain clouding with confusion.

'He didn't want you coming after him because he doesn't want you to get hurt.' Byers said.

'That's what he said, though we told him not to go on his own.' Langley said slowly, as if he was sorry for what he had done.

'Where is he?' Scully asked.

'We told him about a government facility in Russia, one of our sources told us that they were holding extra terrestrial evidence secret there. He insisted on going and finding out more about it but we told him it was too dangerous…'

'You're telling me that Mulder's gone to look for this evidence in the middle of Russia where it's snowing…' Scully started angrily.

'Actually, the part of Russia where he is going isn't snowing at the moment it's just very cold.' Langley interrupted. Scully felt so angry at his interruption that she couldn't speak. She sighed and tried to calm herself down.

'You should have known better about Mulder, you know that he is desperate to find anything related to aliens, no matter how crazy it is.'

'We told him it was too dangerous and we didn't want him to go, he told us that he wouldn't. We wanted to tell you that he was going so you could stop him but he swore us to secrecy.' Byers said trying to calm Scully down. Scully ran a hand through her hair nervously and closed her eyes in despair.

'So he's gone to a government facility, what kind of facility is this and where is it?' She asked.

There was another silence down the line.

'It's heavily guarded.' Frohike said; his voice full of guilt.

'It's basically a military base.' Langley said in a voice that seemed too calm for the situation. Scully sighed heavily and felt the tears rise up her throat again.

'Military? They'll blow him up the first moment they see him!' She said in dismay. Scully held out her hand and realised that it was shaking. 'Mulder's never been so stupid.' She said breathlessly. 'Where is it?'

'It's South Russia; we'll give you the coordinates. It's more than Mulder had, so you'll be able to…' Byers said trailing off, realising that what he said didn't sound too hopeful, 'err... you'll be able to find it quicker than he did.'

'What did you give Mulder as directions?' She asked exasperated.

'Not a lot, just a name. Scully you have to understand we didn't want him to go.' Byers said apologetically.

'Well you should have known what he would try to do.' She snapped angrily as tear threatened to fall. She grabbed a piece of paper with one hand then held the phone by her shoulder while she picked up a pencil and prepared to write. 'I don't have time for this, give me the coordinates now so I can go and find him.'

'Scully, it's really dangerous.' Byers said with worry.

'I know it is! But I don't care!' She shouted with distress. There was a guilty silence on the other end and Scully sniffed as the tears suffocated her throat. 'Let's just hope that I find him alive. For all we know he might not have even made it to the base.'

Scully made her way into Skinner's office as quickly as she could and didn't wait for the secretary to let her through. Her heart was pumping fast and she just needed this confirmation from Skinner to go and find Mulder. She needed it more than anything else. The world around her was spinning again, and nothing else mattered.

'Agent Scully!' The secretary protested as she stormed through the door. Scully flung the door open as quickly as she could but nearly collided face to face with a tall man, who stared at her with a strange expression. Scully grimaced and blushed with embarrassment.

'I'm sorry Sir I…'

'What is it Agent Scully?' Skinner said angrily. The secretary came in and glared at Scully. Scully felt as if the whole world wasn't spinning, it was watching now.

'She came straight past me Sir, she didn't wait. I'll take her out.' The secretary said moving towards her.

'No,' Scully protested and moved further towards Skinner with a desperate expression. The surprised man looked at her with suspicion. 'I know what's happened Sir. I've found out.' She said trying not to give anything away. She looked at the man out of the corner of her eye and then looked back at Skinner, catching his eye. Skinner's expression changed from anger to a blank expression. Scully looked at him with confusion, her heart thumping strongly.

'Yes, I know Scully.' Skinner said quietly, looking down at the floor. Scully looked at him with confusion.

'You know?' She asked; her head was spinning and she frowned in deep confusion. Skinner nodded.

'Is this Agent Scully?' The strange man said in a thick foreign accent, and he turned to look at Scully. Scully's eye's opened wide in confusion.

'What's going on?' She asked, her voice wavering with emotion. She felt everyone looking at her, and she felt uncomfortable.

'Sit down Scully.' Skinner said, rubbing his head as if he was tired and troubled. Scully looked around at the strange man.

'Who are you?' She asked uncertainly. Skinner got up and walked towards her.

'Sit down Scully.' He said forcefully. Scully frowned.

'I think I'd rather stand.' She said angrily. Skinner stared at her with rage.

'Agent Scully this is Agent Tristan. He's here from Russia but works for the US government. Now would you please sit down?' Skinner said, moving very close to her and staring at her angrily. Scully frowned and looked at the Agent. She sighed uneasily and sat down in the chair nervously.

'Scully, Agent Mulder was found at the Russian Military Base Imperial at approximately 0100 hours this morning. He was found looking around in the very private and restricted areas. What he was looking for we don't know, he won't say. But they found him and they are holding him and he has the right to have some help from America being an American, so they sent Agent Tristan here to come and tell us his situation.' Skinner said angrily. He made every event sound like a complete disappointment and he paced as he spoke, his face red with anger. Agent Tristan looked at Scully with uncertainty. Scully couldn't believe the news; she was devastated, but glad that he was alive. Her eyes filled with relieved tears and she sighed deeply to calm herself and saw that her hand was shaking again.

'Is… is he all right? He's been in the cold for hours. Was he out all night?' She asked, concerned. Skinner looked at her angrily.

'They don't tell us if he is all right, but the Imperial does not care how the prisoner is feeling, no matter how important they are to society. They guard their secrets very carefully; they are not to be known.' Agent Tristan said darkly. Scully looked at him with suspicion as he spoke, and she felt sorrow grow in her gut as she heard what he was saying, as it slowly processed through her troubled mind.

'Well, may be their secrets need to be known. May be what Mulder was trying to find is very important.' Scully snapped at Tristan. He pursed his lips angrily at her comment. 'I'm sure you weren't expecting that comment from me. Mulder and I are partners don't forget.'

'I know you two are partners, but I didn't know you thought so alike. I understand you are a scientist Agent Scully.' Tristan said. Scully nodded. 'So, your views are sceptical, are they not?' He asked, trying to get the better of her. Scully's eyes welled with angry tears and she felt so angry she could explode.

'My views may be sceptical, but it doesn't mean that I don't agree with Mulder.' She said in a low tone, her voice full of hatred. 'What are we supposed to do now Sir?'

'I don't know Scully, there's nothing we can do.' He said, his head hanging low.

'So, what are you here for Tristan, are you here just to tell us the news or are you here to help?'

'I'm here to tell you the news and for you to do anything you can to help Agent Mulder or,' he said moving closer to her and staring into her eyes menacingly, 'he will be killed tomorrow morning.'

'How can you say such a thing about a person you don't even know?' She shouted, full of rage. Scully suddenly felt the realisation dawn over her and she sat back in her seat. The words shot through her like a bullet, like a knife stabs into a person's gut, and it wounded her just the same. She couldn't speak, she stared in shock and disgust at the way Tristan was treating the situation. Scully's tears fell from her eyes suddenly and she turned as pale as a sheet for a moment. She felt as if she was going to be sick, like she was falling into a deep hole and never to return. Her eyes glazed over and the words ran through her mind over and over again. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath, then felt herself choke on a sob. Scully doubled over and held her head in her hands, hiding herself.

'All right, that's all we need from you now Tristan, I'll speak to you later. You may leave me.' Skinner said quickly with an angry tone and forced Tristan from the room. Skinner closed the door behind him, and moved over to Scully.

'Dana, come on.' He said softly. Scully shook her head frantically.

'He's going to die; he's going to die.' She said desperately. Skinner took one of her hands and she flinched and sat up in surprise.

'We'll do everything we can.' Skinner said with concern. Scully shook her head again and stood up quickly. 'Where are you going?'

'I have to do something. I have to go, I have to go and get him!' She said with determination. 'Sir; that was what I was going to ask you, if I can go and find him, and get him out of there.' She said, looking up at Skinner. He glared down at her.

'I can't let you do that.'

'He's going to die! There's nothing else we can do!' She cried. She frowned as anger took her over suddenly. 'If you won't let me go I'll go on my own, like Mulder did. I'll go after him. I don't care what happens. I can't just STAY here!' She shouted. Skinner sighed heavily and took her by the arms.

'Scully, you can't go. It's too dangerous.'

'I thought I'd made it clear that I don't care how dangerous it is.' She said throwing his hands off her arms and moving away from him. 'You can tell Agent Tristan that he doesn't need to do anything except make sure that Mulder doesn't get hurt, he has to be ordered to tell them that they can't hurt him.' She said desperately; then turned towards the door.

'Scully!' Skinner shouted as she reached the door. Scully turned and glared at him.

'What?'

'I'll let you go.' He said quietly, his head hanging low. Scully frowned in confusion.

'But…'

'Just go.' Skinner said deeply. Scully felt happiness run through her, Skinner sighed and she stared at him with disbelief. 'Go!' Skinner shouted forcefully.

'Thank you Sir.' She said, gushing with happiness. Skinner nodded.

'You're going to need a fake passport and a fake name. The Russian government are going to be keeping their eye on you, so you can't let them know you're in the country.'

'I can do that.' Scully said, thinking of the passport the lone gunmen had prepared for her already.

'Just bring him back here.'

'I hope I will.' She said strongly. Skinner gave her a small smile. Scully opened the door but as she exited the room she ran into Tristan again. He glared down at her and she dropped her relieved expression immediately. Skinner came through the door quickly. He saw that Tristan and then glared at Scully. She spun round to see him, his face now full of anger.

'Agent Scully if I hear that you have left your house or are doing anything in the act to save Mulder's life I will be forced to throw you out of the FBI and the country if I have to! I will not have such pathetic behaviour with such a serious matter; this is not the time for sentimental attachment, understand?' He shouted accusingly, pointing at her. Tristan watched with amusement.

'Yes Sir.' She said quietly in a sad voice. Scully nodded and held her head low as she walked away, itching to buy a plane ticket to Russia straight away.