***
He felt a soft, hot gush of air caress his face. He wanted to swallow but he couldn't. His throat was too dry. He was too tired. He wanted to open his eyes, but they lay in their sockets like molten lead.
Dry.
Hot.
A noise reached his ear, like a melody. It sounded so wonderful. Slowly he could identify the noise, shut out the pain from his body to hear the noise.
*Scully", he thought. It was Scully. Scully's voice. *She's here", Mulder thought. "Scully, I'm here. Don't leave me.*
***
Scully grabbed her water bottle, took out a tissue and wet it. Then she squeezed the water out of it onto his lips. She put her hand to his forehead. She'd been in the desert for about forty-five minutes and she was already sweaty and thirsty.
Mulder's head was almost as hot as the sand itself. Scully took another tissue, wet it and put it on his forehead.
"Keep fighting, Mulder. If you give up now, I'll never forgive you!"
Meanwhile Skinner made a call for a Rescue Helicopter to transport Mulder to a hospital.
Scully gave Alison a wet tissue and asked her to clean his face from the dust and blood. She herself took off his jacket, tie and shirt, to check his torso and arms for other injuries.
She bandaged a deep wound on his left arm. She was afraid it could be broken but the swelling from the wound was so profound that she couldn't determine it without an x-ray.
She glanced at Alison who was still busy cleaning Mulder's face. To Scully's liking she did it much too slow and too caring. She didn't know why, but somewhere insider herself she felt envious.
*Don't be ridiculous, Dana*, she thought. But she couldn't shake of the feeling of jealousy.
Maybe it was due to the fact that it was Alison who Mulder had contacted in her dreams, not herself. Not like she really believed in these type of connections. But after all she herself had had one such experience. Back when her father had died. Mulder had been injured then as well. Luther Lee Boggs had been sitting opposite her in his cell, but all she had seen was Mulder. And her father. So why didn't it happen this time?
He had some purple stains on his ribcage, back and front and some smaller cuts that had also been bleeding. What worried her was that his abdomen was hard.
"Please don't let there be internal bleeding", Scully murmured to herself.
But deep insider her she knew that he must have some sort of internal injury. She hoped the helicopter would arrive soon.
Now, with Skinner's help she stripped Mulder of his pants to examine the legs. It was a similar picture. Bruises and minor cuts, but the left knee was badly swollen.
When she was done wrapping up his wounds she joined Alison who by now was trying to get some water between his lips and make him swallow. Scully took over from a startled Alison, then bandaged the cuts on Mulder's forehead, which had begun to bleed again, however slightly. She knew her jealousy was ridiculous but she couldn't help herself.
Alison's startled stare made Scully sigh. "Sorry", she murmured apologetically.
When Scully was sure she had done everything for him she could at the moment she settled herself on the ground leaning her back on the rock. Alison sat next to her while Skinner was on the phone again.
"You worry about him, right?" Alison asked looking straight at Scully.
Scully nodded. "He's my everything. I'm sorry if my behaviour led you to believe that I don't trust you."
"That's quite alright", Alison smiled. "I know the strange feeling of jealousy even if my husband doesn't do anything to evoke it."
Surprised Scully looked up. Was she that predictable? Alison put her hand on Scully's shoulder simply smiling her reassurance. And miraculously Scully managed an answering smile. If she ever told Mulder about this he'd never let her forget.
Scully had a sip of water, then offered the bottle to Alison who gladly accepted. Skinner joined them.
"The helicopter will be here in five minutes. I'm having a team being brought in to investigate Mulder's rental car and whatever traces there might be found here. How's he doing?"
"He's severely dehydrated, seems to have a concussion. Hopefully no fracture to the skull. Bruised ribs, possibly a broken arm, trauma to the abdomen, bruised legs and a swollen knee." Scully paused. "He's running a fever which in correlation with the heat is draining his body of fluids. The loss of blood doesn't really help here. They'll need to put him on and IV drip before they put him on the helicopter."
She turned to Alison. "Thank you", she simply said, but these two words expressed everything that Dana Scully had on her mind.
Alison nodded. "I'm just glad I could help!" she replied with a small pleasant smile.
Suddenly an eerie feeling overcame Alison and forced her to turn around and look up the ravine. She squinted her eyes but all she could make out was a tiny dot back where the parking lot must be. The hairs on her neck raised up and for a split second in her mind's eye she saw the blond man from her dreams looking down at them.
"He's here", she whispered.