A/N: Personal note- went to a bar called Sully's and kept accidentally calling it Scully's... it just sounded better :)
The Fall Festival dinner was set up like a picnic instead of a formal dinner. Mulder and Scully noticed that not much was formal around here. Picnic tables were set up and dressed with table clothes bearing autumn leaves and pumpkins. There was a pig on a spit being barbequed, and corn still in their husks being grilled.
Mulder was happy that this was a casual dinner. He loved his jeans and loved seeing Scully in more form fitting clothes. He noticed that she had a nice butt. He did, however, scold himself for having that thought about her. But he was a man, after all. And men usually only had one thing on their minds. Even if Scully was only his friend and partner, he still couldn't help admitting to himself that he had a little thing for her. Which was another reason that he was scared to death that something bad was going to happen to her during this case.
"Mulder, do you want the rest of this?" she offered her plate of leftover pig meat.
"Sure," he said taking her plate. He wasn't really hungry, but he knew that Scully hated being wasteful, especially when she saw the pig that died for their hunger being cooked.
As it got dark outside, a group of men started a bonfire. A country looking bad took the stage, music filled the air, and the more lively people began to dance. Mulder watched as his partner laughed with delighted amusement.
"Do you want to dance?" he offered, talking loudly over the music.
"If you want!" she replied. "It's still your birthday for a few more hours."
"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her onto the dance floor.
They made it through two and a half songs, when Mulder saw one of the deputies from the diner earlier rush up to the sheriff and begin talking frantically. The sheriff then went calmly to the other younger deputy from the diner and began to talk to him. Mulder released Scully and began to walk in their direction.
"Mulder! Hello?! What are doing?" she called after him, standing there confused.
He ignored her a walker quickly over to the small group of men.
"Not Claire!" Mulder heard the younger man cry. "How did this happen?"
"What's going on?" Mulder asked.
Sheriff Clark took him aside. "There has been another attack. One of our own this time. Claire was one of my officers. She and Tony," he indicated the young deputy, "were high school sweethearts. They were going to get married in February."
"She was the smartest person I have ever known!" Tony yelled. "There is no way that she would let her guard down like that!"
"She knew him," Mulder whispered to himself as the realization struck him.
"What was that?" Sheriff Clark asked.
"She knew him," he spoke up this time. "He said that Claire wouldn't have let her guard down. Maybe she didn't let her guard down at all. Maybe she knew her attacker."
Scully watched as Mulder talked with the local police. She didn't want to hear what they were saying. She could tell that there had been another attack, and she didn't want to hear about the gruesome details. She had failed some innocent girl. Someone else was murdered tonight. Their plan had not worked. Scully felt terrible. She felt like she had let the whole town down.
Suddenly, a clear, yet quiet voice that was distinctly male whispered in her ear, "I'm coming for you..."
Scully turned quickly around. No one was there. She spun around again. Still no one. There was no one even close enough to her to have been able to whisper anything. The band was still playing, and the crowd was noisy. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked around again, spinning in a full circle. Still no one seemed to have said anything to her.
Maybe I'm being paranoid, she thought. Maybe there wasn't a voice. Or maybe this is an x-file... Mulder should be pleased.
Either way, Scully knew that if there was a voice, he was coming for her, and that little fact sent chills down her spine.
Mulder walked back over to where Scully was standing. He thought that she looked shaken and afraid.
"There's been another attack, hasn't there?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah," he told her, running a hand through his hair. "Listen, I'm going to walk you back, and then I'm going to go check out the crime scene. You know, give them some help."
"No!" she spoke up quickly, grabbing his arm. She calmed herself a bit before saying, "I want to go with you."
Mulder studied her for a second. "I don't think it's a good idea."
"I want to go with you," she said firmly, letting him know that she wouldn't be deterred.
She actually didn't want to go, but she really didn't want to be alone.
"What's wrong?" he asked, knowing that something was wrong for her to be acting so clingy.
"I just don't feel right."
"Did something happen?" he asked, placing his hand on her low back, now extremely concerned.
"No," she shook her head. "Well, maybe. I don't know."
"So, yes... Something did happen, or else you wouldn't be so freaked out. What happened?" he demanded to know.
"I think that I heard a voice. I'm pretty sure, anyway. It was a man's voice. He whispered that he was coming for me," she explained slowly, carefully reading Mulder's changing expression.
"I think you should go home," he stated matter-of-factly.
"I'm not going home, Mulder. Not until we catch this guy. If he is coming for me, then it will be easier to catch him."
"He just murdered a police officer, Scully. An officer who was working this case! Someone who would not have let her guard down. I don't want something bad to happen to you. I want you to go home."
"Well, I'm not going to, Mulder," she told him a second time. "I'm staying. With you. I'm going to do my job. Be bait. We'll catch him!" Scully sounded so sure that she even almost convinced herself.
Mulder reluctantly agreed and dropped the subject of her going home.
"So, did you see the man who whispered to you?" he asked, trying to change the subject slightly.
"Um, no. That's why I'm not sure that I even heard anything."
"So this is an x-file..." Mulder said, mostly to himself.
Scully smiled despite the situation. She knew that it would cheer him up a little bit to know that they had stumbled upon an actual x-file.