A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoy this one :)

November 10, 2014

4:08pm

"Mulder," he answered his phone on the sixth ring seeing it was Skinner. He didn't have much time.

"Did you see that?" asked Skinner immediately.

"Yes!" replied Mulder, shoving his gun in its holster and taking the stairs three at a time. "I'm..."

"Don't you dare go over there alone," cut in Skinner. "I'm sending back up as we speak."

"It'll be too late!" shouted Mulder almost hysterically. "He's got Scully. I have to get over there now."

"I'm ordering you to stay put Mulder!" returned Skinner. "You told me that girl wasn't a problem."

"She's not," said Mulder angrily. "Botch is the problem! And I'm going to fix it!"

"Mulder!" said Skinner through gritted teeth, trying to keep cool. "If you enter that house without back up, I'll have your badge."

"It's yours," replied Mulder, hanging up.

It immediately began to ring again. Mulder ignored it. He turned the door handle and opened the door.

He didn't know if it was the fresh air or the echo of Skinner's words still ringing in his ears but he decided he did indeed need back up. His phone was still ringing, he looked at it... the caller ID read; Scully.

He answered it.

"Scully!" he said hopefully.

No reply. He heard a scuffling noise and a staticky crack before it went dead... Beep beep beep.

"Fuck!" Mulder pocketed it, making his decision.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Mulder bashed the Doggett's front door with force and it was answered quickly by Mrs Doggett. Her face was already awash with concern.

"Have you found Luke?" she burst out anxiously.

"No," panted Mulder, breathless from his sprint up the street."Wait, what?!"

"Luke's missing," she said emotionally, tears streaming down her face.

"That son of a bitch," muttered Mulder, wondering if Luke had suffered the same fate as Scully. It seemed too big of a coincidence that they would both go missing that afternoon.

"Excuse me?" said John Doggett appearing in the doorway still attaching his police belt but dressed in his street clothes, not his uniform. "What's going on? Why were you banging on our door?"

Throwing caution to the wind, Mulder pulled out his badge and held it up.

"I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder," he revealed. "I've been keeping tabs on Botch, a suspect of the Bureau's but this afternoon he has proven to be more than just a suspect."

"He has Luke?!" asked Doggett quickly.

"I don't know," answered Mulder. "Maybe. But he definitely has Dana Scully!"

"Let's go!" said Doggett.

They ran down the street at full pace coming to an abrupt halt at the front of Botch's house.

"You take the back," commanded Doggett going into full cop mode. "I'll take the front."

There was no time to argue so Mulder went with it. They drew their guns in unison and he ran down the side of the house and almost tripped over something in the yard, it was Luke's bicycle. So his fears were confirmed; Botch had taken Luke as well. Something must've gone wrong. This didn't fit Botch's profile. There was no time to think about it now. Mulder did a quick sweep of the backyard and then edged along the back of the house and tried the door; locked. He took a couple of steps back and then put the shoulder in. It worked, the door busted open and Mulder stumbled in.

Doggett was already there looking around gun held out in front of him, he lowered it upon seeing Mulder. He shook his head indicating he'd found nothing.

They did a quick sweep of the rest of the house and still found nothing. There was only one place left, the basement...

XXX

4:19pm

Scully's face was still aching when Botch had thrown her into the corner of his disgusting basement. He had been binding her hands and feet with rope when they heard two crashes upstairs.

"Seems like your FBI agent is here to save you," he muttered, securing the last knot. "Too bad he will be too late."

Scully didn't know what he was talking about, unless... she looked over at her smashed cell phone on the floor. Maybe Fox somehow knew, maybe he would come...

She heard a noise to her left and shuffled around to see little Luke Doggett, tied up like her. Tears sprang to her eyes. He seemed only semi-conscious.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked desperately.

"Silence," barked Botch shoving a gag in her mouth so she could hardly breathe.

He wrapped his hands around her neck and between the feeling of him touching her and the gag in her mouth she felt like vomiting again.

This is it, she thought but he let go and crossed the dark room to the other side. Scully couldn't tell what he was doing, she was just glad he wasn't near her for that second.

Bang!

Suddenly light shone down from the top of the stairs and Scully squinted in that direction; two men with guns began descending.

Botch darted into the shadows, hiding.

Fox came into view and relief washed over Scully; he had come for her. John Doggett was with him. They were both toting pistols.

"Luke!" Doggett suddenly exclaimed, pushing past Mulder to get to his son.

At that exact moment Mulder felt something hard hit him in the back of the knee, he buckled and fell down the last few steps, his gun slipping from his grip. As he still lay on the floor, Botch appeared from underneath the stairs and threw something, it was heading towards Doggett.

"Look out!" yelled Mulder.

Just in time Doggett ducked and the object skimmed over him hitting the opposite wall and smashing to pieces.

Doggett stood up straight and held his gun out in front of him.

Mulder, whose leg was still paining managed to stand up. He'd just picked up his gun when Botch's voice rang out from the darkness. Neither Mulder nor Doggett's eyes had fully adjusted yet but they both swung around to the direction the voice had come from.

"Drop your weapons or she dies," he said. "You know I will do it."

The last comment was directed at Mulder.

Botch was holding the bound and gagged Scully in front of him, a knife pressed against her neck.

"Don't hurt her," said Mulder.

"Ha!" laughed Botch.

"What sort of a shot are you?" muttered Doggett a little to Mulder's right.

Mulder gulped. He wasn't sure he could safely hit Botch and not Scully.

"Guns on the ground now!" demanded Botch pushing the knife into Scully skin.

She winced as the sharp blade broke the surface, a small amountof blood oozed put of the tiny wound.

"Okay, okay," said Mulder holding up his hands and slowly lowering his gun to the ground.

"You too," Botch directed his order at Doggett who had no choice but to follow Mulder's lead.

Botch slackened his hold on Scully, pulling the knife away from her skin.

"There's no way out this time," said Mulder. "Just let her go."

"I could just kill you all," retorted Botch.

"The FBI are on their way," countered Mulder. "They know I'm here. They know Scully and Doggett are here too. They'll come looking."

Botch suddenly looked angry; he was cornered and didn't like it.

Scully's mind was racing all the while. FBI? On their way? Why were they talking like they knew more than she did?

Botch's grip tightened on her again. Then, suddenly he pushed her hard and fast away from him. Her legs were bound, she lost balance and braced herself for the fall but it didn't come, it was broken by someone catching her, by Fox.

She heard a crash.

Doggett had dived at Botch tackling him as he'd ran for the staircase but he was still holding the knife and slashed at Doggett. He made contact, opening a long but reasonably shallow cut along Doggett's right forearm.

The weakness caused by the cut however had Doggett at a disadvantage. Botch had him pinned down, his hands around Doggett's throat, he was squeezing, strangling Doggett but not entirely successfully. Doggett had managed to get a hold of Botch's throat too and they were throttling each other.

By this time Mulder had sat Scully down on the floor, removed her gag and recovered his gun.

Next thing Botch knew there was something cold and metal pressed against the back of his head.

"Let him go," Mulder said. "You know I'll kill you if I have to you."

He released Doggett.

Doggett got up and pulled the cuffs from his belt, slapping them onto Botch's wrists.

"You have the right to remain silent..." He began as FBI agents began descending the basement staircase.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading. Please review and let me know what you think!