Chapter 18
While Scully had barely moved once she'd fallen asleep; Mulder was restless and agitated for hours until just before dawn when exhaustion at last claimed victory over his mind and he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
When the phone rang, waking them both up, it was after ten in the morning and for different reasons, they both felt groggy and hung over. Mulder rolled onto his side and fumbled for the irritating phone.
"Mulder," he said sleepily.
"Fox? It's Jane. Are – are you okay? Oh my God – did I wake you?"
Mulder yawned, rubbed his face and dragged himself upright to a sitting position, watching Scully stir beside him. "Uh – yeah – it was a long night. Don't worry about it though – we needed to get up anyway."
"I'm really – really sorry to bother you. Is Dana doing any better?"
Mulder glanced over to see her blinking sleepily up at him. He questioned her silently with a look and she nodded, but was staring at him closely, praying it wasn't Andy calling with bad news.
"She's okay, Jane. I think we just overslept. What about you? Are you okay? You sound a little - "
"Actually – I do need your help. Are you – would you be able - " she struggled to get the words out.
Mulder stifled the urge to groan as his brow furrowed in consternation. "What is it, Jane? Just spit it out – what's wrong?"
He listened as she took a deep breath before answering his question. "Look – I know you're going to think I'm crazy – or paranoid – or maybe both – I don't know. I'm – I'm really scared, Fox. You know we've had these murders around here and now – last night – somebody – I'm pretty sure – somebody followed me home after I left your place."
Now Mulder did groan, hearing the naked fear in her voice – and realizing that he'd screwed up. Scully anxiously touched his arm to get his attention. "Jane – hang on a minute – let me talk to Scully. I didn't put you on speaker and I need to tell her what's going on with you." Without waiting for an answer, he covered the mouthpiece. "Jane saw the car Andy sent over to make sure that she got home. I told him to not use a marked car thinking that it would be less obvious and I figured that she wouldn't see it, but now she's misread it and she believes that she's being targeted by our killer."
Scully winced. "Not good. What do you want to do?"
Mulder shook his head. "I'm going to have to reassure her without letting her know why we don't think that she's a target. Give her just enough information to make her feel safe and try to downplay our involvement in this." He returned to Jane. "Listen – where are you right now?"
"I'm actually hiding out at my parent's house."
Mulder rolled his eyes. Time out for damage control, he thought. "Look – try and calm down. Everything is going to be okay. You're safe. Let me get dressed and I'll be over there – we'll get this all straightened out. Don't worry – okay? Promise me."
He listened as Jane took a shaky breath before answering. "O-okay. Yeah," she said, trying to sound in control.
"Just hang on. I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up the phone as he threw back the covers to climb out of bed. "What a mess," he mumbled, as he hurried to the closet to get his clothes.
When he came back in, he watched Scully exit the bathroom, wearing her leg brace and using her crutches. He noticed that she kept her face neutral, but her movements seemed slow and deliberate.
"Don't worry about me, Mulder," she tried to reassure him. "I'm much better than last night and I'm just using these," she indicated her crutches, "as a precaution. I promise to stay off my feet as much as possible today."
Mulder nodded, not entirely convinced, but currently helpless to do anything else. "I'll go take care of the Jane situation and meet you at the station and we'll figure out what to do next."
"Okay," Scully agreed. "I'll get Andy to pick me up. When I get there I'll call Skinner with the latest."
Mulder took the time to gather her in his arms and pulled her close. "I love you. Please – please promise me you'll be careful."
Scully smiled and kissed him fervently. "I love you, too and I will – I promise."
Chapter 19
When Andy got the call from Dana Scully asking if he would pick her up, he was more than happy to oblige. And he was more than a little curious as to why, but Scully told him that she'd give him the whole story on the way. Before he left though, he wanted to check in with Stockton, the officer that he had patrolling her house and neighborhood.
"It's been quiet," he was told. "Nothing during the night and Agent Mulder pulled out just before you called."
"All right. I'm going to swing by and pick up Agent Scully. Just have the patrol cars keep moving – keep an eye on the house during their rounds."
His mind felt like it was in overdrive – he was still stunned by the direction that the case had taken. It seemed that the women of Quonochontaug were safe with the exception of its newest resident and to complicate matters, he saw that she was going to be at a serious physical disadvantage. His heart sank when he pulled up to the house and saw Dana closing the front door behind her and that she was now on crutches with her right leg encased in a thigh high brace.
"Oh hell." He muttered to himself. He had hoped that she was getting stronger, but it seemed that she had a bit of a setback. At least he knew that she would be armed but he worried that it wouldn't be enough if the killer got close enough. He was determined that that wouldn't happen. They had to figure this out soon and until they did, he would make sure that either he or Mulder would always be at her side.
