Shifting.

Glasgow, Kentucky.

May 21, 2010.

He woke up alone, and for the first time in a long time, he was not in a hospital room. Since he had fallen in the meadow, he had woken up in that same situation over a dozen times. It was starting to drive him crazy. He even made it all the way back to Virginia once, but as he walked into the front door of his home, he woke up again. He was uncertain about this new place because nothing had changed. He had gleaned nothing new since the meadow. He was familiar with the story now – the young woman who had been killed viciously, whose brother had gone toward the caves with a knife in his hand.

He still had no way to help her. It scared him, because as he took in his surroundings, he realized he was back in the cave. He was a bit more knowledgeable, but not even one step closer to solving this problem. He was useless to her. But at least he wasn't dead.

He sat up on his knees, gazing around into the darkness. He didn't have his flashlight with him, and his coat was gone. His skin was slicked with a foul-smelling liquid – probably ectoplasm – and it was starting to burn. He was cold, blind, and crawling around like a newborn baby, searching for some kind of landmark. His hand struck water.

He recoiled, surprised that he couldn't hear the river. He must have ended up at a quieter section of it. He plunged his hand into the icy water, glad when the plasma washed away. He crawled as close as he could, splashing it over his arms and face. It chilled him to the bone, but it was better than having his skin fry off. When he was relatively clean, he sat up and leaned in, hoping to catch a glimpse of sunlight along the river. Perhaps he was closer to the surface, where the water drifted into one of the tourist areas. He could flag someone down and escape this place. He had to find a way to free the young woman, and this place was not conducive to thought.

He felt his way to the nearest wall, almost rolling backward when the floor started to tilt. It was a useless search without a light. He was just staring into the darkness.

"Is anyone there?" he hissed, keeping his voice low. He had a feeling the second ghost already knew of his existence, but he didn't want to do anything to draw it to him. He sat straight up and listened for a response, jumping every time he heard a sound. Mostly he was getting startled by his own heartbeat, or the pebbles sliding away from his shoes.

He whispered every few minutes, hoping someone would pass by and hear him. He moved about the cavern, trying to get a feel for its layout. He learned pretty quickly that it was an official suburb of munchkin land, with a ceiling too low to stand and jagged walls. He had to stay on his hands and knees, shuffling around and whispering like a crazy person who'd lost a contact. He stuck his hands fearlessly into every tunnel he found, sometimes recoiling with snail goop on his fingers, sometimes brushing up against something spiky and realizing he was probably disturbing a spider. Once he even found a pocket watch, cracked and dusty, but still keeping time.

It was almost six in the morning.

But what day was it? He began to fear the worst. He wasn't sure how much time had passed. If his hallucinations were in real time, he had been gone for weeks. Scully was probably worried sick. She was probably hosting a manhunt for him. But he knew it could also be moments after he had disappeared – though he wasn't sure when that was, exactly. He couldn't figure out if the others had really found him with the ghost, if they had really left the cave at all. His memories blurred together. Perhaps only a few seconds had passed, and his companions were still in the cave awaiting his return. He liked to believe that, but he was uncertain about it.

He made it to the edge of the river again, sticking both hands in to get the jagged pebbles out of his palms. His skin was starting to burn from crawling around. He reached a little further into the water, surprised to find the opposite shore. Was he really sitting cautiously alongside a stream?

He slid into the water, glad for the gentle current. It was barely moving at all. He climbed onto the other shore, reaching out in front of him to make sure he wasn't about to plunge into a larger waterway. It was all dry rock, and the only sound of water came from behind him. Suddenly he was glad the others weren't there. He would never live that down.

Finally he heard something aside from his own echo. It came from in front of him – way, way in front of him – and his head popped up immediately. Someone else was here. Someone was far away, talking in a hushed tone. He was not alone.

"Hey!" he shouted, breaking his code of silence. "Hey, is somebody there?"

The response came immediately. It lightened his heart. "Mulder?"

He grinned. Of course it was her. She couldn't help herself. He started crawling toward the sound. "Stay there! I'm coming to you!"

"Mulder where are you?" Scully shouted back.

He kept crawling toward the sound, but he crashed into solid rock, smashing his nose. He heard the thud echoing in the cavern as he drew away. He felt blood dripping down his face.

"Was that you? Are you okay?"

"I think I broke my nose," he responded. He sounded congested. He felt along the rock, but there were no openings. "How did you get over there?"

"What do you mean? How did you get over there?"

Lights flashed around his cavern. They were coming from up above, from the ceiling. He pulled himself up, using rocks as leverage and balancing precariously in the only opening. He could see three sets of feet moving around an open room, their lights dancing across the wall. One of them settled on him, and then all three found his face. He was momentarily blinded.

Scully fell to her knees at the opening, leaning down. Her eyes were wide with fear. "Mulder! Is there another way through?"

"I need a flashlight," he said. The opening was only big enough for him to stick his hand through, and when he did just that, Scully held onto it. Her eyes never left his face.

"How did you escape?" she asked.

"I'll tell you everything, believe me," he said, withdrawing his hand and snatching her flashlight. He dropped back down to the floor, looking up at her face. It almost looked like she was trying to fit through that little opening. "I'm coming to you. Stay there."

"He's in one of the caverns below us. Those areas are closed to tours."

"Is that you, Marshall?" Mulder craned his neck. He couldn't see anything past Scully.

"Glad you're alive," Marshall responded dryly. He sounded a little grumpy. Mulder couldn't blame him. Scully became pretty aggressive when her loved ones were in danger.

Mulder backed away from the opening, shining his light around the room. He had a few options to try and make it to them. He had to make sure they were safe first. "Scully, there are two ghosts down here – a young woman and a man. The woman won't hurt you, but I think the man is the one who's been taking people. Just try not to piss him off."

"Excellent advice," Gene said from somewhere in the back.

"We may have run into him already," Scully said, glancing back to scowl at Gene. "He was in the river, and then you started shouting and he disappeared. So thanks for that."

"Dana Scully, are you actually buying into all of this ghost nonsense?"

She twisted her lips. "Just get over here, Mulder."

"Got it, coach."

He wandered around for a while, keeping verbal contact with the others as he wound through the cave. He kept finding ways to get above and below them, but whenever he was on the same level, the openings were too small for him to climb through. He recognized the cavern they were standing in – it was where he had seen the young woman, where she had showed him her pain – but he was confounded when he tried to get to it.

Hours had passed before he finally realized what was happening. He stood on the opposite side of a few heavy stalactites, staring through at Scully, who looked dreadfully exhausted, when it hit him. "He doesn't want me to get to you."

She blinked. "The ghost?"

"Remember when I told you about those legends related to caves? I've read accounts of shifting passageways. He doesn't want me to find you, so he's cutting off all of my access points before I even reach them."

"We can try to chip out a new door," Gene suggested. He was nearby, but he seemed reluctant to get too close to Scully. He pulled a hammer out of his backpack.

Marshall eyed him. "Ghost or no ghost, I can't let you destroy these caves."

"We don't have to," Mulder said. He reached through the rocks, and Scully followed suit. He could almost touch her hand. He stared at her face, glad to finally have the living version right before his eyes, and then he pulled away. "Scully, I'm about to do something crazy."

Her eyes widened. "Mulder, don't you dare."

"You don't even know what it is yet."

"Don't you dare. I will disown you. I will sell your alien mailbox on EBay."

"How about you just pull me out."

"What?"

Mulder backtracked to the river, coming upon the same balcony Gene had claimed he leaped from before. He looked down at the black water, rushing past like it was being chased by the hounds of hell. It was a violent contrast to the tiny stream he had encountered in the black room. He could hear Scully cursing his name from further along the river, her voice carrying even above the screaming water. It warmed him to know how much she cared.

He jumped as far out as he could, trying to avoid the jagged rocks. As soon as he hit the water his breathing was cut off. Everything was shocked. He did a couple of flips, unable to control the direction of his body, and then he smashed into the shore. He pushed himself off of it, keeping his eyes on the bobbing lights ahead.

When he finally reached them, he went full starfish and grabbed onto every rock he could. He was slowed exponentially, his organs lurching forward like he had been in a car accident. He heard shouting, but he couldn't place it.

A rope fell across his shoulders. He released one of the rocks and grabbed onto it, wrapping it around his wrist and hugging it. He was pulled up over the rock and back into the swell, but he quickly rolled onto the shore from the force of the water. It shoved him aside. Several sets of hands grabbed onto his clothes, dragging him onto the dry rocks, and then everyone sat back and panted.

Scully pulled his head into her lap, gasping as she tried to squeeze the water out of his hair. "If you ever… do that again… I swear I will… kill you, Mulder."

He smiled. He couldn't help himself. "Piece of cake."

Despite how angry she seemed, how distraught and disorderly she appeared, how deep the circles under her eyes were, she grinned at him. She placed a kiss to his forehead, pulling him closer, and then leaned down to rest her forehead to his. She stroked his cheek with one hand, sighing contently. "You have no idea how scared I was. It was like you were abducted all over again."

He put his hand over hers, turning his face into her stomach. She was warm and she smelled like home. "I have an idea," he responded.

"Abducted?" Gene asked.

"It's a long story," Mulder said, coughing when he raised his voice over the sounds of the river. "Can we go back to the lichen room? This place is giving me a headache."

Scully helped him up, and he leaned heavily on her as they moved back through the tunnels. Marshall was ahead, looking sullen as he sat down on his sleeping bag. They already had a little camp set up – three sleeping bags sitting around the artificial campfire.

Something clicked in Mulder's head.

"You left the cave, didn't you?"

Gene looked up, as guilty as a kid with his hand in the cookie jar. He glanced at Scully, and then stared at the floor. "The others were afraid they would be next. We looked for you."

Scully was glaring at the poor man, but Mulder was not angry. Gene and the other scientists were untrained in this area. Having a party member disappear must have been terrifying. Marshall would have had no choice but to lead them back. "It's okay," he said to Gene, patting him hard on the shoulder. "Don't let Scully guilt trip you. I'm the one who disappeared, and I'm giving you a pass on this, okay? But you better stick around next time."

Gene smiled, a little perplexed and a little enchanted. He nodded.

Mulder turned his attention to the moping ranger. "I haven't given up on finding those missing people alive. I'm proof that they could be safe and sound somewhere. That includes Sal."

He scratched his head, shimmying into his sleeping bag. "I won't believe that until I see it."

"Neither will Scully. You guys should form a club." Mulder took a seat on his sleeping bag, smiling at Scully when she plopped down beside him. She was trying to get a good look at his nose. "I ran face first into a wall," he told her. "I look like a Persian cat, don't I?"

She laughed a little, dabbing the blood away with a napkin.

"Seriously, we could start a breeding program."

"Shut up, Mulder."

"I love it when you say that."

She set her napkin down, prodding the areas around his nose. "I want to get this X-rayed as soon as possible. We can leave in the morning, right, Marshall?"

"We can't leave," Mulder objected.

Scully looked at him like he had just set himself on fire. "What?"

"She asked me to help her. I can't just abandon her."

Her mouth was wide open. "The ghost?"

"Yes, the ghost."

"Have you completely lost your mind?"

"I'm not crazy, Scully."

"Yes, you are, if you think for one second that I'm leaving you down here."

"Then don't leave."

"Whatever is down here, it wants to kill us," Scully said, whacking him in the shoulder. "Whatever was with us in that cavern wanted to hurt us. I could feel it."

"Will you just say 'ghost,' Scully? It would be so much easier on you."

"I'm not sure that it's a ghost. I am sure that we should stay away from it."

"That's exactly what I'll do once I find a way to help the woman move on."

Scully groaned. "Please, just listen to me this one time."

"I am listening to you. Trust me, I know where you're coming from. I know why you're afraid. I felt it too – the other ghost. But we can't abandon her. She has no one, Scully. She's alone and afraid, trapped down here for God knows how long, and we can potentially end her suffering."

She just stared at him doubtfully, one eyebrow raised.

"I think she was protecting me. I think that's why she took me. If she was really the one responsible for all those people disappearing, do you think I would be here right now? She may be the reason for that. I owe her my life."

"You don't know that," Scully responded, beginning to get irritated. "I'm not even sure that she exists, Mulder. You have multiple lacerations on your head, and that bump on your occipital bone is indicative of a concussion. You need a hospital, not an exorcism."

"Trust me when I tell you you're wrong on this one."

She twisted her lips. "Can we just…? Let's just go to sleep. We can have it out in the morning. I've been walking all day and I think I might start hallucinating if I'm up any longer."

She slid into the sleeping bag, and he got in behind her, wrapping his arms around her to keep her as close as possible. Once he had turned off the artificial campfire, he started shimmying out of his clothes and laying them on the cave floor to dry. Scully was enough to warm him up. Her skin radiated heat. Their argument had ended rather abruptly, but he was not interested in keeping it up. He could only think of how warm and comfortable he was.

Despite his gratitude for the woman snuggled up to his chest, he had a hard time sleeping. He was as comfortable as he had been in days, but he feared waking up in the hospital bed again. He feared that this was all a dream, that he was wasting away somewhere, hallucinating about Scully.

She spoke after a while, long after he thought she had fallen asleep.

"How are you going to help her, Mulder?"

He ran his hand up and down her arm. "I'm not sure yet. We don't have any bones to burn… no personal possessions. I don't know what's holding her here."

"Is there anything else you can do? Can you make a salt circle?"

"You watch too much TV."

"I'm sorry, I don't deal with ghosts every day."

He smiled into her hair. "Maybe we should leave the cave. I think we need to put some feelers out, find someone who knows how to deal with this."

"I thought you wanted to stay here, no matter what."

"I'm not a medium. She's been communicating with me through visions… That's how I know about the other ghost. I saw… I felt a knife…"

He reached to his back suddenly, testing to area to make sure he wasn't being stabbed again. He felt a tingling sensation, a memory of the pain. Scully reached around him, following his hands, frowning. "Did you hurt your back?"

"The ghost was stabbed in the back. I felt it in one of my visions."

Her hands lingered. She sounded doubtful. "Tell me about the visions."

"I… I can't."

"Why not?"

"It's personal."

"I do your laundry."

"That's not what I meant," he said, laughing a little at her response. She sounded so insistent. "It's just something… I can't talk about yet."

She was quiet. Her hands came up to his face, cupping his cheeks. "Okay. We'll talk about it when you're ready. Just… just promise me that you'll talk to me if you need to. You have a habit of bottling things up. I saw you yelling at the mailbox the other day."

"It opened during the storm. All the mail was soggy. I regret nothing."