6:22pm

Wesley McNamara had finally found out that they had indeed brought Fox Mulder to this very hospital. With a bit of trickery he had even managed to get the information he needed to find the room they'd put him in.

When he exited the lift he looked around to find out which way to go next. Having found the right direction he put his hand under his jacket on his gun. He didn't pull it yet, but he thought it felt reassuring. Slowly he walked down the hallway towards Mulder's room.

Coming around the last corner he froze. Mere five feet away from him stood the blonde woman he'd seen when he had looked through his binoculars.

Alison DuBois had also frozen when she saw the man in her dream standing right in front of her. Making up his mind quickly he closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm.

Angrily Alison tried to get free but the feel of the gun to her back made her stop struggling.

"Thank you", the man whispered hoarsely in her ear. Having been close to panicking when he saw the woman he was quite relaxed how. Having a hostage could come in handy.

"Walk.", he instructed her.

6:28pm

Dana Scully felt a lot better after she'd eaten the sandwich. In times like these she hardly noticed hunger and yet she knew that she had to keep her strength to be able to help.

Scully was sitting in a chair next to Mulder's bed, watching him. She felt a little exhausted but she knew she wouldn't be able to rest. At least she thought she wouldn't be. Skinner was standing by the window leaning onto the sill and watching his two agents.

Only five minutes later her eyes closed as she was starting to doze and she woke up with a start when she heard a noise from Mulder's bed. He'd been stirring and when she took his hand into hers he opened his eyes, slowly.

"Hi", she smiled at him. He tried to say something but his throat was refusing to utter a sound. Scully saw what he tried and stopped him.

"Don't try speaking yet, Mulder. You're still dehydrated and your throat will be hurting. Just nod at my questions, ok?"

He nodded.

"Do you know what happened?"

He nodded again.

"Good. Well, we got you into hospital. They put in IV on you to get moisture into your body. You were about 24 hours in the desert before we found you so you were pretty much dehydrated. Your arm is broken as are some of your ribs. They had to perform surgery on your colon which was lacerated but it's fine now. Your knee is only badly bruised and you have a concussion."

I can feel all of that, Mulder thought to himself. There was something he was wondering. Since he hadn't left any information on where he went he was at a complete loss as to how they had managed to find him at all.

It was almost as if Scully could read his mind. She smiled at him.

"You're probably wondering how we managed to find you." Mulder nodded.

"Well, that's a long story. Somehow you managed to contact a medium and with her help we found you. I'll tell you the full story when you're stronger, but for now I think you need to rest. I'll have to inform the doctor that you're awake."

She moved to get up from her chair but he grabbed her wrist with his good hand. She looked at him. His eyes were full of expressions, pain, tiredness, confusion, but she could see how grateful he was.

"Thank you", he mouthed, not being able yet to utter audible words. His throat was still feeling too dry. She smiled at him warmly.

"I'll be right back, Mulder."

As she was about to open the door it almost knocked her in the face. Somebody from outside had opened it and pushed in a scared looking Alison DuBois.

Taking in the situation Skinner reacted first. He straightened up and his hand went to his gun when he saw that the man behind Alison had his own gun pressed in her back.

"You", the man shouted to Skinner, "keep your hands where I can see them and you", he looked at Scully, "join Baldy."

Putting her hands up to reassure the man Scully obeyed and slowly walked over to Skinner trying desperately to come up with an idea how to get out of this.

As soon as Scully was standing next to Skinner the man shoved Alison in the back and aimed his gun at Mulder, finger twitching on the trigger.

The shot rang out and Alison felt a hand shaking her shoulder.

"Ma'am? Are you okay?"

Shaking her head to clear it Alison became aware of her surroundings. She was still standing in the hallway. There was a nurse standing next to her, her eyes concerned. Apparently she had zoned out while having the premonition.

"I… I'm fine, thank you", she managed to smile reassuringly at the nurse. "Just a headache. It'll pass."

The nurse nodded and moved on. Alison tried to make sense of her vision and jumped when she heard the elevator bell ring.

Turning on her heels she practically ran back to the room and stormed in. Skinner and Scully regarded her wide-eyed. Even Mulder's eyes were on her.

"He's here, he's got a gun. He'll be coming in here any second." Alison panted. She just hoped they would believe her. There just wasn't time to explain.

To her surprise both agents immediately drew their weapons, and not one second too soon.

With a crash the door opened and a wild eyed man stormed in. Seeing Skinner with a gun drawn he took cover behind Alison. Scully was hidden from his view behind the door. Shoving Alison towards Skinner he turned to pull his gun on Mulder who was trying desperately to get out of the line of fire.

McNamara's shot rang out a split second after Scully had discharged her weapon. Her bullet entered his head at the same moment his shot rang out.

The impact caused his gun arm to move a fraction and his bullet entered the pillow two inches right of Mulder's head.

6:34pm

It was as if time stood still. Mulder was frozen in his hospital bed, Scully was still standing with the smoking gun in her hand. Alison was on the floor trying to pick herself up and Skinner still had his gun drawn and aimed at the place where McNamara's head had been mere seconds before.

The same nurse that had asked Alison if she was okay came running into the room at the sound of the gunshots. In her wake three other nurses and a doctor.

Taking in the scene in front of him Dr. Sheppard gasped. "What the FUCK happened here?" he demanded.

That seemed to break the spell. Scully rushed to Mulder's side while Alison got to her feet and Skinner relaxed and put the gun away.

"This man", Skinner nodded at the body on the floor, "tried to kill your patient. If it hadn't been for Agent Scully he would probably have been successful."

Dr. Sheppard was kneeling by the downed man, feeling for a pulse. Then he stood up again and went over to Mulder. Scully was sitting next to him, holding his hand in hers and talking reassuringly to him. Mulder himself was breathing heavily, obviously shaken by the close call.

"You're alright, Mulder, it's over", Scully whispered over and over again in his ear.