" I think he's waking up!"

" Mulder?"

" Shht!"

Mulder's mind was floating. He liked the place he had been in. Warm and cozy like a comforting blanket. But the voices kept pulling him back to consciousness.

" Do you think, he'll remember?"

" Hopefully not…"

Mulder's eyes fluttered open and closed immediately when he realized that he was looking up at the three Gunmen.

" Oh Gosh…" His tongue darted out to wet his dry cracked lips and he tried to sit up.

A pair of hands pushed him back down.

" Easy buddy, that's my only Nightwish Shirt and I'd prefer you not throwing up on it."

Two Langley's hovered above him and he couldn't really make out which one was the real Gunman.
" How many fingers am I holding up?"

"20?"

" 20?? He's still out of it." Frohike snorted and somebody held a glas of water to his mouth.

" Give him time to recover." Byers.

" What happened? Where am I?" The water felt good and eased the dry pain in his throat.

" At your appartment. Scully called us and we brought you here. Do you rememeber any of it?"

Mulder shook his head and dared to open his eyes again. The fog had finally cleared and the two Langleys had morphed back into one.
" I only remember being in the car and feeling dizzy. Scully had…wait…what about Scully? Is she here?"

The Gunmen were sympathetically looking at each other which caused Mulder to jump up.
" What happened? Where is she? Is Scully okay?"

" Calm down…and sit down…you'll probably need to!"

Mulder slowly sank back on the couch and swallowed back the fear that started to build up in his stomach.

" Do you remember anything about that military complex you went into?" asked Byers as he said down next to Mulder. The agent scrunched up his face and feverishly tried to remember anything.

" I only remember a bright light. We went in there and sneaked around…as usual. And then - nothing. I came back to me outside next to our car. Scully was out of it too, but she seemed fine once she'd woken up. Is she sick? What happened?"

" Mulder." Frohike started putting some of Mulder's special magazines aside to sit on his couch table.
" Scully called Byers last night saying that there was something wrong with you. So we tracked her down and found her….well…we found both of you on this deserted rest stop near Rockville. You were in a - " He looked up at Langley who had his arms crossed infront of his chest and continued for him:
" - unique condition."

The confused look on Mulder's face urged him to go on.
" I don't really know how to explain it…" Langley shook his head and looked at Frohike questioningly.

" Maybe you should get Scully!" The small man said making Langley look even more miserable.

Mulder just shook his head:
" What is going on?"

" Just wait." Byers said and didn't even look him in the eyes.

Langley returned a second later, holding something red and fluffy in his arms. A cat.

" Surprise!" He tried to joke, but Mulder's mouth just hang open.

" You are kidding me, right?"

" I wish I was." Langley put the cat down next to Mulder, who immediately inched away from it.

" Where is Scully?" He asked again, his voice serious and his eyes pleading.

" When we went to meet her yesterday evening she was fine, but you were…"

" A cat?"

Byers chewed on his lower lip, when Frohike answered:
" Guess again."

" Guys, get to the point."

" A dog."

" A dog?"

" A Border Collie to be more specific. Frohike googled the breed, we weren't sure, since none of us ever had any dogs and - "

Mulder paled and just stared at the cat who had curled up on the couch staring at him. It was a beautiful cat with fluffy white and orange furr and blue eyes, which he remembered were unique for grown cats. He shook his head. This was ridiculous. But if he ever pictured Scully as a cat…well this would be it.

" How…?" Was all he could say, which earned him another sympathetic look.

He carefully touched the cat's furr which was soft and warm. This can't be real. The cat streched its orange legs and white paws and lazily got up, only to lay back down on Mulders lap. His eyebrows shot up and he couldn't repress a sarcastic comment:

" Oh yeah?? It takes you to be a cat to do that?"

Frohike snorted and then said:
" Mulder, when we picked you up last night we brought you here immediately. Scully was really freaked out. She told us you had fainted and then transformed right infront of her eyes. We thought it was a joke."

" Yeah, for less than a second." Langley interrupted.

" Why?"

" Because the dog, well, you…immediately strated barking as soon as Frohike got near her."

" So not true." Frohike said, but a small blush crept up his cheeks. " We would expect you to tell crazy stories, but not Scully so we simply believed her. We brought you here to your appartment and sent Scully to bed. She was terribly tired and all messed up."

Mulder stared blankly at him:
" You sent her to bed, Frohike?"

Langley grinned:
" He did, but he didn't have a chance to follow, because the dog bit into his pants and yanked him back."

" No, it didn't, I stumbled."

" It did." " No!" " Yeah!"

" Guys - STOP! What happened afterwards? How did I change back and how did Scully…uh…well…"

Langley shrugged his shoulders.

" It must have been about half an hour ago, just before you woke up. That one minute you were drooling on the couch, the next you were laying there in your Adam's costume!"

Mulder hadn't even noticed and realized with a relieved sigh, that someone must have draped a blanket over him, which now covered his private parts and worked as a cushion for the cat.

" As soon as you changed back we wanted to tell Scully, but all we found was her clothes and the cat."

Mulder shook his head unbelievingly but wrapped his hands around the cat and lifted it up gazing at it closely. The cat didn't seem to mind and just stared back out of those sky blue eyes.

" Scully, is that really you?"

" I don't think she can answer, she's a cat, Mulder!" Frohike said, which earned him a slap on the back by Langley. " You weren't acting like a human when you were a dog."

The cat started to struggle probably having enough of being held in that uncomfortable way and Mulder yelped as her claws sank into the skin of his hands.

" Geez, ouch, that hurt. We really have to figure out how to turn things back to normal." Mulder said, sucking on a bloody scratch. " And we need to know how this transfiguration works. I don't think Scully will appreciate changing back into herself all of a sudden wearing nothing."

" She might not, but - " Frohike stopped when Mulder gave him a look that could have killed.

The agent wrapped the blanket securely around himself and got up.
" I'm going to get dressed, after that we have figure something out."

- TBC -

Tadaa, okay, I guess now you know what this is based on. Yes, Ladyhawke. I love that movie. And I have planned on writing a fanfic with a similar storyline for years now. Hate it? Love it? Out of character? Let me know…

I gave the choice of animals a lot of consideration, believe me, but nothing seemed as appropriate to me as a dog and a cat. They reflect the charcters of Mulder and Scully sop perfectly ;)