St Benedict's Hostel
Friday
31st Dec 1.05AM
The street outside the hostel was empty as David pulled up and parked beneath a street light. The police tape had been cut and only one end of it was still attached, making it scrape off the snowy footpath with a soft sliding sound. He spotted Dana's car across the street as he took the outside steps in twos and pushed open the heavy oak door.
The reception desk was empty as he walked by and took the stairs to the bathroom where the victim had been found. He dreaded seeing her again. After the fight with Mulder, his left eye had swollen a little and his chest ached from the tackle but it was seeing her face that he dreaded. Knowing the rage it would instill in him and the all but uncontrollable urge to hurt Mulder again.
Janet had been furious with him when she saw his bloodied, swollen face. As she applied the antiseptic wipes she did it with an angry scowl and a lecture. Yelling at him for looking for trouble, for sticking his nose in Dana's business. It was no use explaining to her that she was his partner.
That it wasn't sticking his nose in because they shared their business. They had to. He didn't mention to Janet that he had kissed her.
It was an impulse. He didn't plan it or think about it. With the frustration and tears in her eyes he just wanted to soothe her pain and it all happened so fast. He hugged her afterwards and felt her arms tighten around his waist. All of a sudden he wasn't so sure who was comforting whom. That's when he left, when he decided to get out of dodge.
Wiping the small smile from his lips, David walked up to the bathroom door and gently knocked before pushing it open. Dana was crouched low beside the bath with Detective Ellis, kneeling on the floor beside her. They both turned as he entered.
"What did you find?" David asked crouching beside them to see Scully's hand half way down the open drainpipe.
"One of my officers found a piece of paper," Ellis announced proudly, passing David a small see through evidence bag with a corner of a piece of paper in it.
"We're testing it against fibers found at the other murder scenes."
"But we already know these murders are connected," David said turning the paper over to see part of a small Celtic design on the corner.
"But we don't know how." Ellis offered. "The piece was found here beside the toilet and we think the page was torn up and flushed. We checked the tanks but we couldn't find the rest of it."
"So you're looking here?" David looked over to the toilet that had been uprooted and moved aside to expose the drainage pipes. Scully had on a rubber glove that reached to her shoulder and her arm was elbow deep into the pipe, hers being the slimmer arm of the two.
"Yeah. One of my guys is in the basement feeding a snake tube up to here to see if we can push the paper back out."
David nodded with a scowl as the water from the pipe over flowed and sloshed a dull gray liquid over the floor. Scully seemed oblivious to the spillage and smell as she reached deeper into the pipe.
"I think I got something…" she grunted and pushed her hand in further before pulling it out slowly and revealing a small clump of saturated paper.
Ellis slapped his hands triumphantly and grabbed an evidence bag for her to put the scrap into.
"I would shake your hand Ms Scully but you know…" he said with a smile.
"Yeah, I know!"
Ellis spread the papers out and tried to make something out of them. There were letters designs but nothing legible. "I can't make anything out."
"I'll take them to the lab so they can be treated for forensic tests David took the evidence bag and stood up. Scully was peeling off her glove and called out for him to wait.
"I'll walk out with you," she said, handing the glove back to Detective Ellis to dispose of. "Good call Detective. We'll let you know about the results."
He smiled and offered her a little wink before turning to gather up all his equipment.
"What do you think of this?" David said holding the paper up.
"It's our only real lead so far."
"How did the autopsy go?"
The conversation was forced and stilted. She knew he was feeling threatened by Mulder's presence and she wasn't fully sure why. Still angry at him for attacking Mulder she wasn't sure she wanted to know why either.
"Found traces of lysergic acid diethylamide in her body. It's a hallucinogen."
"LSD?"
"Yes. It must have been taken orally about 4 ours before she died."
David pursed his lips together as he struggled for a comment. His mind was a raging torrent of thoughts but none of them moved past his sealed lips. Glancing over at her, he noticed her eyes were glazed and unfocused, her mind obviously elsewhere… and he knew exactly where.
"Are you going to ask him to leave?" he heard himself say before he could stop himself.
"Sorry?" She looked up to him as they stepped out into the cold biting night air.
"Fox Mulder. Are you going to ask him to leave?" he asked again this time throwing the weight of his anger behind his words.
"No. Of course not." She dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand as she hurried across the empty road.
"Dana," He called out after her pressing his hand against her car door before she could open it. "You can't help him. There's nothing you can do."
"I won't leave him David. I won't."
"He needs to get help before he hurts you again. The next time it might be serious."
"He is not going to hurt me." She tried to pull the car door open but he wouldn't let her. "You don't know anything about him or our relationship. You have no right to-"
"Come and stay with me for a while. I don't like you being there alone with him," David said hurriedly his voice saturated in desperation.
Sudden realization dawned on her as she noticed the look of worry in his eyes. It wasn't simply a territorial displacement he was feeling, it was something more. Her lips suddenly burned with the light kiss she had taken so platonically earlier and she looked away, shaking her head to rid herself of the feeling.
"David," she said softly. "I know you worry about me but he won't hurt me. Trust me."
"I do trust you. I don't trust him," David spat out bitterly. "He has done nothing but lie to me and you since we met him in Seattle, why do you expect anything more from him?"
"Because…because I know him. He's hurting right now and he needs me and-"
"Or do you need him?" David said, his jealousy speaking for him.
"David if you think-"
"Look Dana." He decided to try a different tact. "We've been partners, friends, for years now and I know you better than anyone else."
"No David." Her eyes flashed up at him and clashed with his and he knew he'd never seen her so livid. "No you don't."
Scully's Apartment.
Friday
31st Dec 2.13AM
Her footsteps disturbed the silence of her apartment as she slowly made her way through the living room. She shed her jacket and shoes, recognizing an unfamiliar feeling of excitement racing through her blood, quickening her pulse and strumming an erotic rhythm in her ears.
Detouring quickly into the bathroom she jumped into the shower, not caring that the water was cold or how her hair would curl from the dampness, she was just trying to get rid of the smell from lying on a bathroom floor, elbow deep in toilet water.
Her mind flitted over David's angry, concerned face but she quickly pushed the image away. Her stomach bubbled with excitement as she switched off the water and quickly toweled herself dry. With only a slight hesitation she grabbed her robe off the back of the door and tied it loosely about her chilled body.
She crept slowly into the bedroom and waited by the door for a moment while her eyes adjusted to darkness. He had drawn the drapes but not fully, allowing a silver sliver of moonlight to drape across the bed. The covers had all but been kicked away from his body and he lay in a tight fetal position across the mattress.
Even from the door she could see the glistening sheen of sweat across his back as he shivered in the cool night air.
"Mulder?" she called softly stepping further into the room, approaching the bed. "Mulder?"
She sat on the edge of the bed and tentatively turned to face him, and then she reached out a trembling hand to touch his arm. As she touched his cold clammy skin he flinched away from her, his head popping out of the cocoon of his arms to stare at her with a wild, scared expression in his eyes.
"Mulder!" she said feeling a cold hand of dread encircle her heart.
"Don't touch me," he whispered into the silent room through shallow panted breaths.
"Mulder, it's me, …just Scully," she soothed as she reached out to rouse him from his waking nightmare.
"No!" he yelled out, backing away from her up the bed, his back pressed into the headboard. "Don't!"
"What's wrong?" she backed away from him as she spoke, affording him as much room as she could.
"Just…don't." He scrambled off the bed in a hurry and raced out of the room. Scully stared after him in confusion, wondering if she should follow or not. Then after only a few more seconds hesitation she moved through to the living room as calmly as she could.
Mulder huddled on the edge of the couch. He'd dressed in a sweater and jeans and was bending over tying his bootlaces. He glanced up at her warily as she came in and for a moment she thought he was going to bolt, but instead he relaxed back into the soft cushion with an 'oomph'.
"You ok?" she asked carefully as she lowered herself onto the edge of the seat across from him, sensing his need for space.
"Yeah, I just…I dunno…nightmares." His fingers played with the cuff of his sleeves as his eyes darted around the room, fixing on nothing.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No!" he said with a sad laugh. "That's the last thing I want to do." He slapped his hands on his knees and stood up. Scully watched in silence as he walked over to the coat stand and grabbed his jacket.
"You're going out?"
"Yeah," he focused on buttoning up his coat, affording it more concentration than it deserved. "For a walk, to clear my head."
"Ok." Her heart sank as they repeated their routine again. Mulder ran and she watched. She wanted to run after him, tie him up and drag him back to bed but she knew she couldn't force him to stay.
At the door, Mulder stood buttoning up his coat and wrapping a scarf around his neck. He turned back to face her. "Do you want to come?" he asked softly, still refusing to look at her, his eyes boring holes into his toes.
At first she didn't answer, afraid that she'd misheard him or imagined it. But when his tired red eyes gazed up at hers and watched her carefully for her reaction she smiled.
"I'd love to."