From: "Gemma Kingsley" Subject: "Keeping it in the Family" (1/8) MSR post-Gethsemane Please forward to A.T.X.C. Please Archive "Keeping it in the Family" by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully and everyone else belong to CC 'the surfer babe', 1013 and Fox. If they try and sue me, I'm using the insanity defense. Trust me - I can make it believable. ;) Classification: S, A, R (MSR) Rating: Mostly PG-13 (except for the end of part 3 which is NC-17) Spoilers: Terma, Tunguska, Memento Mori, Small Potatoes, Zero Sum, Demons, Gethsemane Keywords: Post-Gethsemane Summary: Believe the Lie, but how deep does the deceit run? What will Mulder and Scully do after Gethsemane and how is Bill Scully involved in all this? "Keeping it in the Family" Part 1 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Unknown Location Monday 7:30 a.m. (Two weeks after Mulder's 'death') Mulder watched in horror, seemingly frozen to the spot, as Scully continued to move towards the man standing in the shadows. "Scully, no!" he yelled. She gave him a bewildered look, then turned back to watch the other man step into the light. Mulder's eyes were riveted on the mystery man too. As Bill Scully showed himself, Mulder suddenly found himself able to move again, and he ran towards Scully, grabbing her quickly and thrusting her behind him. Not surprisingly, Scully began to struggle. "Mulder, it's my brother. What the Hell do you think you're doing?" she asked irritably. But her brother silenced her. "No, Dana, he's quite right. The time has come for masks to be shed, for shadows to step into the light. Isn't that right, Mulder?" Bill asked. "What do you mean?" asked Mulder cautiously. "I mean that the Consortium's greatest hour is upon us. No longer must we hide in the darkness, pursuing our goals undercover." Bill explained, then smiled malignantly at Mulder. "Come here." he insisted. Mulder backed away, keeping a firm grip on Scully. Bill regarded him with seeming amusement. "Oh you needn't worry Mulder. I wasn't talking to you. I was speaking to my dearest sister, your precious partner Dana Scully." "You touch her and I swear I'll kill you." Mulder declared. Bill regarded him commiseratingly. "Poor, ignorant Mulder. Always the last to know. You sure did a good job with him, sis." he said. The seed of doubt had been planted in Mulder's mind. He glanced at Scully who looked completely shocked, then back to Bill who was still speaking. "Go on, O sister of mine, tell him how you've been working against him from the beginning. Tell him how we faked your abduction to make him give up, and when that didn't work, pretended that you had cancer." he said. Scully had found her voice. "Bill, what are you doing. If this is a joke then it's not particularly funny." Bill shook his head. "You know this is no joke. Come on, Dana, it's time to tell him the truth. Right before we kill him." he said, and pulled out his gun, aiming for Mulder's head. "Bill, what the Hell is going on? Put that away before someone gets hurt." Scully shouted. "Sis, the charade is over. The game is up. We don't have to pretend any more." Bill told her. Scully stared at him disbelievingly, then turned to look at Mulder. She was dismayed at the distrust and suspicion that she saw in his eyes. "Mulder, this is ridiculous. Surely you don't believe him?" she asked distractedly. "Oh, she deserves an Emmy, doesn't she?" Bill commented, half to himself. "But for now, say goodbye to your partner, Sis." He cocked the gun, but as his finger pulled the trigger, Scully threw herself in front of Mulder. Mulder felt her fall against him as the bullet impacted with her chest and caught her in his arms as she collapsed to the ground. "Scully, no!" he screamed. The last thing he heard was Bill Scully cocking his gun again and saying, "Your turn now Mulder." Bill pulled the trigger, and...... Mulder woke up, sitting up abruptly and almost rolling off the couch. His heart was pounding and sweat was running down his face. He reached for the phone on impulse, wanting to call Scully and reassure himself that she was okay. But then he remembered. He couldn't. Dead men tell no tales and they don't make phone calls either. He slumped back down, lying on his side and trying to slow down his racing heart. 'What the Hell was that about?', he wondered, thinking about the dream he'd just had. For a start, he wanted to slug the dream-Mulder for doubting Scully even for a second. But what about the rest? Could there really be a glimmer of truth to the suggestion that Bill Scully was working for the Consortium? Mulder hadn't even met the guy, but he'd felt something strange from him when they spoke on the phone. At the time, Mulder had thought his tone sounded almost satisfied, but had dismissed it because it didn't make sense. But now? He reached for the phone again, dialing another number that he knew by heart. "Hello?" answered a voice. "Langly, this is Mulder. I need a favour." he said. "Sure, what can we do for you?" Langly asked. "I need a full background check on Bill Scully Jnr." Mulder explained. "Scully's brother?" Langly queried. "What for?" Mulder could hear someone speaking in the background. "What was that?" he asked. "Frohike said he wouldn't mind being Scully's brother." Langly told him, chuckling. Mulder smiled. "Tell him I said to remind him that incest is generally frowned upon." He waited while Langly relayed the message and heard Frohike guffawing. "So can you do the check?" he asked when Langly got back on the phone. "Yeah sure, no problem." Langly said. "Is that all?" "Actually, there is one other thing." Mulder told him, remembering what Bill Scully had said about the cancer in the other part of his dream. "I want to know the name of Scully's doctor. The first one she saw, before Dr Scanlon. And when you find out who he was, do a background check on him too." "Okey dokee." Langly said. "So that's one name-finding and two background checks." he reiterated. "Just put it on my tab. I'll call back this afternoon to see if you've got anything." he said, then hung up. 'Now what?' Mulder thought to himself. Another empty day lay before him. Another day to be spent in randomly surfing the Internet, or trying to gain any more of the repressed memories that had been released in his recent treatment by Dr Goldstein, and most of all wondering what Scully was doing right now and wishing that he could be there with her. Lone Gunmen's Headquarters Monday 1 p.m. "Frohike, Byers, get a load of this." Langly exclaimed suddenly. The two hurried over and looked at the computer screen over his shoulder. "Whoa, Langly, where'd you find that?" Frohike asked. "I grabbed it off a temporary warez site that deals in pirated military software. Some of it's encoded, and I can't figure it out, but there are some names and dates here too." he told them, scrolling slowly down the list. Byers jabbed his finger at the screen. "Look. There's Krycek. A. Krycek - 94/8 FWM - failed - 95/4 WM - succeeded - 95/4 MS - succeeded - 96/11 FWM - failed "Oh my God." Langly said. "The first date was when he was Mulder's partner. And the others must be the deaths of Mulder's father and Scully's sister. And the last one was when they were in Russia. Mulder has to see this." "And look." Byers continued. "M. Covarrubius. Didn't Mulder say that his latest source was called something Covarrubius? And shit, W. Skinner. Do you think Mulder knows about that?" "I don't know." Frohike said. "But he will very soon if we have anything to say about it. Is Bill Scully's name there?" "Dunno, let me finish looking." Langly said. "Hang on, yes there you go." W. Scully Jnr. - 94/8 DKS - succeeded - 97/5 DKS/FWM - succeeded "Well I guess that means they believe he's really dead." Byers said. "What do you reckon the other date was from?" "Wasn't that when Scully was abducted?" Frohike said. "Oh my god, it was too. Do you think Bill Scully was involved in that? How could you let that happen to anyone, let alone your own sister?" Langly asked. "I don't know." Byers answered. "But Mulder is really not going to be happy about this." "Understatement of the year. I hope he kills the rat-bastard." Frohike said. "What about that doctor that Mulder wanted us to find out about? Is he on the list?" Byers asked. "I'll check. What was his name again?" Langly asked. "Something Goldstein, wasn't it?" Byers said. "Nah, that was the doctor that Mulder saw recently for that memory recovery thingy." Frohike told him. "Are you sure? I thought Scully's doctor was called Goldstein." Byers queried. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've got the name written down right here. Dr Charles Goldstein. See." Frohike insisted. "Oh dear, this could be bad." Byers told him, holding out the piece of paper he was holding with the name of Scully's doctor, Dr Greg Goldstein. Langly interrupted them. "What was that guy's first name? I've got two Dr Goldsteins here." All three of the lone gunmen looked at the list of names. Dr Charles Goldstein - 97/4 FWM - succeeded Dr Greg Goldstein - 97/1 DKS - succeeded "This is bad. Oh this is really bad." Frohike said. "We have to get this to Mulder as soon as possible. This goes way beyond what he knows." "What about Scully?" Byers asked. "Shouldn't we tell her too?" "I think we'd better leave that up to Mulder, guys." Langly said. "If we pass any of this onto Scully, she's going to start asking questions and you know Mulder made us promise not to tell anyone that he was still alive." "Yes, I suppose so. I just hope Mulder sorts this out soon. Agent Scully didn't look so good last time I saw her." Byers said. "So are we just going to sit around here until Mulder phones?" Frohike asked. "Well if this was a movie or a TV show, the phone would be ringing right now." Langly remarked. They all stared at the phone. It didn't ring. Byers went and made some coffee. The phone still didn't ring. Frohike flipped through some back issues of Playboy. Still nothing from the phone. Langly sat down and drummed his fingers on the computer keyboard until Frohike and Byers yelled at him to stop it. The phone remained stubbornly silent. Finally the phone rang. All three gunmen leapt for it, knocking it onto the floor in their haste. Langly finally managed to get the handset to his ear. "Mulder?" he asked impatiently. "Um, no, this is CLD Printing Ltd. I wanted to let you know that the copies of the latest issue of your newsletter are ready to be collected from our office." the voice on the other end of the phone said. Langly sighed. "Okay, I'll send someone to pick them up later this afternoon. Thanks." He hung up the phone. Just as they were preparing to sit down and wait once more, the phone rang again. "Lone Gunmen." Langly answered. "Langly, it's Mulder. Have you got anything for me?" he asked. "Oh you bet!" Langly said excitedly, the other two gunmen crowding around the phone and trying to hear what was going on. "Have you got a fax machine handy? We found a list of names and dates and you're not going to believe who's on it. Not just Bill Scully, but also Skinner and two Dr Goldsteins - yours and Scully's. This is serious stuff, Mulder." "Okay great. The fax number here is 555 0120. I don't need to tell you how important it is that this stays a secret, do I?" Mulder asked. "No, of course not." Langly said. Mulder heard a muffled discussion going on. "What?" Mulder asked. "Frohike said it would make a great story for the next issue of the Lone Gunmen." Langly explained. "Langly." Mulder said warningly. "Just kidding Mulder." Langly assured him. Mulder looked at the fax that was starting to come through. "This is great guys." he said eagerly. "Where did you find this stuff? Was there anything else there?" "I got it from a warez site." Langly told him. "This was all there was. I had to get it quickly because those sites are up and down and then up somewhere else, you know. Not exactly legal. But this was all that was there." Mulder frowned when he came to the first date next to Bill Scully's name. "Langly, I need to ask you guys for another favour. Can you put me on the speaker phone so I can talk to all of you at once?" he asked. "Sure. There you go." Langly said. "Hey Mulder, how are you?" Byers asked. "Hi Mulder, I've been keeping an eye on your hot little partner for you." Frohike told him. "Hi Frohike. Hi Byers." Mulder said. "Now you're probably going to think I'm nuts when you hear this." "Hey, no problem. Like I told you before, we like you because your ideas are weirder than ours." Langly insisted. "Okay, well I had this dream. Nightmare actually." Mulder told them. "Bill Scully was in it, and he was working for Cancerman. Hence the background check, which proved the validity of that theory. Second thing was that he said Scully's cancer was just a trick. That it wasn't real at all, but just a setup to make me give up. I'm figuring if the first part of the dream turned out to be true, why not the rest." "You don't think Scully really has cancer?" Byers asked. "Exactly." Mulder confirmed. "But what about the X-Rays, the blood tests, the branched DNA?" Langly asked. "They could all be faked." Mulder said. "And since we now know that the doctor who diagnosed her is working for Cigarette Smoking Man, I think it's more than likely that this is the truth. The Kurt Crawford clones and everything we found at the medical center could easily just be an elaborate setup to make us believe." "Okay, sure. But what about the nosebleeds and the fact that Scully looks pale and tired all the time. That can't be faked." Byers said insistently. "You're not suggesting that Scully's in on this trick are you, Mulder?" Mulder hesitated for a moment, but then clamped down on the tiny doubts in his mind. "No, of course not." he told them. "Something's obviously making her sick, I just don't think it's cancer." "So what do you want us to do?" Frohike asked. "You know we'll do anything to help the lovely Agent Scully." "I want you to persuade Scully to have some more X-Rays taken by a doctor who knows nothing about this." Mulder explained. "I think we know someone who can help you." Byers said. "She runs a small private hospital not far from here. She's helped us before and she seems trustworthy." "Okay, then do it as soon as you can." Mulder insisted. "How are we supposed to persuade Scully to go along with this?" Frohike asked. "She'll do it." Mulder said. "She believes in you guys, no matter what she actually says, and she knows you've been working to find a cure. If you tell her it's important, she'll go with you. I'm counting on you guys." "Okay, Mulder. We'll try. Bye." Langly hung up the phone. "Here goes nothing." he said to the other gunmen. "Nothing?" Frohike queried, "More like here goes everything." Dana Scully's apartment Monday 2:30 p.m. Scully tried to ignore whoever was knocking on her door. It was bound to be someone either offering her yet more condolences on Mulder's death or a friend or family member worried about her deteriorating health, and Scully really didn't want to deal with either of these eventualities right now. But it could be her mother, and she'd be worried if Scully didn't answer, so she reluctantly pulled herself of the couch and went to answer the door. Last time Mulder had been dead, a drunk Frohike had come to visit her. This time she was rewarded with not one, not two, but all three Lone Gunmen. She opened the door resignedly and watched as they trooped into her apartment. Scully smoothed her hair back self-consciously and looked questioningly at the three men standing in front of her. "What can I do for you?" she asked. "Actually, it's what we can do for you." Langly told her. Scully sighed. "And what exactly is that?" "We've received a, uh, a message." he said. "And you need to have some more X-Rays done. We've organised someone to do it, and we came to get you." Scully sat down on the couch, her eyes slipping shut for a brief moment. When she opened them again, the Lone Gunmen had not disappeared as she'd hoped they might. "Look, guys, I really appreciate everything you've done for me, and for Mulder." Scully was very pleased to note that she'd managed to say his name with an almost steady tone. "But it's over now. Mulder's dead, and I will be too in a few more weeks." Byers looked at her sympathetically. He wanted to tell her that Mulder was still alive, they all did, but it was Mulder's call and he had said not yet. "Scully, we wouldn't be here if there wasn't a good chance that this could help you. Don't you want to be cured so you can get on with your life?" he asked. Scully regarded him from under drooping eyelids. "And just what makes you think I want to go on living anymore?" she queried. "Scully, you owe this to Mulder." Byers said. Oh oh. Wrong thing to say. Scully's lips tightened and an angry furrow formed on her brow. "I. Owe. Him. Nothing." she enunciated distinctly. "He gave up any rights he might have had in my life when he put that fucking gun to his head and pulled the fucking trigger." Byers and Langly looked stunned. They'd never imagined Scully using strong language. But Frohike was less shocked. When Mulder had confided his plan to fake his own death to the gunmen, Frohike had tried to persuade him to tell Scully. But Mulder refused to believe that his death would affect her that strongly. Frohike knew otherwise. He'd been there last time Mulder had 'died' and he wasn't sure Scully could get through it again. He was going to do his damnedest to see that she made it, but boy oh boy was she going to be pissed off at Mulder when she found out he was still alive. That was one confrontation Frohike was definitely prepared to miss. "She's right." Frohike said firmly. "She doesn't owe this to Mulder." Scully looked at him in surprise. His eyes seemed to be looking right into her soul. "Scully, you owe this to yourself. You're strong enough to beat it, but you have to make the effort." Frohike met her gaze unflinchingly and saw the moment when she accepted what he was saying. Scully sighed again. "Alright." she said. "Let's get this over with." Rosetta Memorial Hospital Monday 5 p.m. Scully was lying in a hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. The room she was in was clean, but sparsely furnished, and she'd exhausted its visual possibilities about half an hour ago. Now she was just watching the ceiling and hoping that the test results would come back soon so she could get out of here and go home. One of the gunmen would duck in from time to time to make sure she was doing okay, but Scully found their constant concern more irritating than anything else. She rolled over and pillowed her head on one arm, sighing as she remembered another hospital, at Allentown, where Mulder had kissed her forehead and told her that the truth would save both of them. Well that hadn't exactly turned out like it was supposed to, had it? 'Oh Mulder,' she thought, 'Why did you have to go an do something so completely idiotic? I thought you trusted me, so why couldn't you tell me it had gotten that bad? Why..why..why.' A couple of doors down, Frohike had finally managed to persuade the doctor to relinquish Scully's X-Rays and other test results. So what if it was breaking a few rules, he had a dead guy waiting on the other end of the phone, and that was as good a reason to break a few rules as he'd ever seen. Frohike pulled the X-Rays out of the envelope and gasped. Scanning them all again quickly, then glancing over the blood tests and other results, he pulled a cel phone out of his pocket, dialing the number that Mulder had given him for emergencies. "Mulder," he said, without bothering to identify himself, "Get over here right away. You're not going to believe this......" End of Part 1 "Keeping it in the Family" Part 2 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Rosetta Memorial Hospital Monday 6 p.m. Mulder parked the car, got out and walked towards the hospital. He sure as Hell hoped he didn't see anyone he knew. Not only would they probably have a heart attack, thinking they'd seen a ghost, but the game would be up. But fortunately that probably wouldn't matter for much longer. If Frohike had been right about the test results, and Mulder suspected he had, it was the Consortium who should be worried. Because with any luck a competent and motivated duo who hated their guts would very soon be back on track. Mulder stepped in through the hospital doors, grimacing slightly as the harsh light hurt his eyes. He'd had a slight headache all day, and it had suddenly grown worse. A nurse came towards him concernedly, "If you'll just have a seat, Sir, one of the doctors will be with you shortly." she told Mulder, then hurried off down the hallway. Mulder frowned. He'd made it quite clear to the Gunmen how important it was that they keep his secret, but if they hadn't told anyone he was coming, then how had this woman known to expect him? Mulder touched his hand to his head, trying to drive away the headache that was plaguing him, and was surprised to feel something wet drip onto his wrist. He pulled his hand back abruptly and stared in confusion at the splash of red there. He touched two fingers to his nostrils, and they came away red too. What the Hell? But he didn't have any longer to contemplate it, as Frohike came running up. "Mulder, thank God you're here." he said quickly. "We just..." Frohike broke off and his eyes widened as he noticed the blood on Mulder's fingers and nose. "Mulder, what...?" Mulder quickly wiped the blood away with his sleeve. "It's nothing." he said dismissively. "How's Scully?" "The doctor just gave her the anesthetic." Frohike explained. "Remember how I told you that instead of a tumor, the X-Rays showed that she had some sort of an implant at the top of her nose? Well it's not far under the surface of the skin, so Dr Edwards thinks she should be able to cut it out quite easily." Mulder looked very relieved. "So did you figure out how it works? Why the implant was making Scully sick?" he asked Frohike. "Well Dr Edwards said that...oh hang on, here she comes - she can tell you herself." Frohike said. Mulder watched as a sensible-looking older woman approached. She exchanged a few words with Frohike, and then held out her hand to greet Mulder. Her handshake was firm, and Mulder felt reassured that Scully was in good hands. "I'm Agent Scully's doctor, Jean Edwards." she introduced herself. "Mulder." he replied. "Agent Scully's partner." "As Frohike was just about to tell you, Agent Scully's blood tests showed the presence of several serious toxins, but not a trace of cancer as she'd been told. We'll have more information after the implant has been removed, of course, but at this stage I'm theorizing that it contains some form of concentrated poison which is being gradually released into her bloodstream. That would certainly account for the cancer-like symptoms she's been experiencing - the nosebleeds and the headaches." she explained. Frohike had been watching Mulder closely through the doctor's spiel and had seen him start slightly when she mentioned the nosebleeds and headaches. "Mulder, are you alright?" he asked. "I'm fine." he replied, but his body chose to prove him wrong as blood started to drip from his nose again. Dr Edwards had him seated and was examining him before he knew what was happening. She tested his reflexes and looked closely at his eyes. "Agent Mulder, is it possible that you could have been subjected to the same treatment as your partner?" she asked. Mulder shook his head. "Scully was abducted almost three years ago, and that was the only opportunity they would have had to put the implant in her. I wasn't taken, only her..." he explained. Frohike interrupted him. "What about when you were in Russia with Krycek in November? We saw that date next to his name remember. Could they have done something to you then?" Mulder thought back over the tests and the injections they'd subjected him to. He still couldn't account for all the time he'd been there. "Yeah, I guess they could have done something to me then." he admitted. "In that case Agent Mulder, I'd like you to undergo the same tests as Agent Scully." Dr Edwards insisted. "Frohike, take him through to exam room 1 and have Dr Marks run the same tests again." she instructed him. Mulder started to protest. "But what about Scully? I need to be there when..." Dr Edwards cut him off. "There's nothing you can do for Agent Scully right now. She's in good hands, and so are you. Now go." she told him. Her tone brooked no argument, and Mulder reluctantly trailed after Frohike into the examination room. Tuesday 1 a.m. Mulder opened his eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling. The room was in darkness but moonlight shone through the window, pooling on the linoleum floor. He rolled over to one side, noting that his limbs still felt heavy from the after-effects of the anesthetic. They'd decided to use a general anesthetic instead of just a local in an attempt to slow down the poison coursing through his blood. Dr Edwards' conjecture had been quite right and Mulder's X-Rays and blood sample had shown that he had an implant that was almost identical to Scully's, although it had been releasing its toxins at a faster rate. Now both of their implants had been removed and the Lone Gunmen were hanging onto them until they could be tested. Mulder glanced around the room for the first time and noticed another bed only a couple of meters away from his. The half-light in the room made it difficult to see, but he would have known that small form with its vivid red hair anywhere. Scully was lying on her back too, and Mulder could tell from the stiffness of her body that she was awake. So, how to do this? How about some humor, that always seemed to break awkward moments. "So, Scully, now we really do have matching alien implants. Want me to make them into ear-rings for you?" he tried. No response. Okay, bad idea. He'd been known to have bad ideas before. How about serious then? An appeal to Agent Doctor Scully who always had to have all the facts. "I suppose you want me to explain what happened?" Mulder said. Still nothing. Now that Mulder thought about it, he guessed Frohike had already done some explaining since he couldn't exactly put them in a room together without telling Scully what was going on. 'Fine, third time's a charm.' Mulder thought to himself. Should have tried the traditional way from the very beginning. It was too dark for a wounded look, but an endearingly guilty tone might get him what he wanted. "Scully, are you mad with me?" he asked, and almost jumped for joy when he heard her exhale loudly. "Am I mad with you." she said, almost to herself, still staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. "Am I mad with you." she repeated. Mulder braced himself. He anticipated yelling or screaming, he wouldn't even have been that surprised if she'd thrown something at him. Hell, he figured he deserved it. But he wasn't prepared for the cold, cutting tone in which she finally spoke. "Let me tell you that angry does not even begin to explain how I feel. But then you never had any idea how I felt." she began. Mulder tried to speak, "Yeah well, it was kind of hard with you always saying I'm fine and..." Scully cut him off. "Don't. You. Speak. One. Word. Until. I. Say. You. Can." Scully continued. "I'm not 'mad' with you," she said sarcastically, "I'm furious. I'm enraged. I'm rendered almost speechless by your complete and utter stupidity. What could you possibly hope to gain from this, other than blowing what little remained of my peace of mind into tiny smithereens? And don't give me some self-righteous crap about how they'd cure me if you were dead." Mulder started to protest, but was silenced by the weight of Scully's verbal assault. "Frohike tried to feed me that line. Either that, or else Mulder the hero, going undercover to single-handedly besiege the Consortium and steal the cure for his dying partner from right under their noses. Please, don't make me laugh. We both know that's complete bullshit. You only had one reason for this whole idiotic scheme. You were afraid Mulder. Afraid to watch me die, knowing there was nothing you could do about it. You were chicken-shit Mulder and you know it. A pathetic sniveling little coward. And I despise cowards." Mulder lay perfectly still in his hospital cot. He scrunched his eyes up tightly. He was not going to cry. He refused to cry. That would just prove to Scully that she was right, that he was a coward. So. What now? Things couldn't get a whole lot worse. Somehow he'd managed to fuck everything up so badly that the person who was most important to him in the world now felt nothing for him but disgust. Yep, that was the sum and extent of it and frankly, he didn't think there was a whole lot more to say. Neither, apparently, did Scully, for she lay there silently in the darkness, ostensibly only a couple of meters away, but Mulder knew that in reality they were worlds apart and he had less than no idea how to even begin bringing them back together. End of Part 2 *** This part has an NC-17 section *** "Keeping it in the Family" Part 3 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Tuesday 9 a.m. Mulder opened his eyes and looked at the yellow wall. 'Just a minute,' he thought, 'I don't have yellow walls.' Then it all came flooding back. He rolled over quickly, grimacing slightly at the residual ache in his head, and discovered that Scully's bed was empty and showed no sign that it had ever been otherwise. Mulder could almost have imagined he'd dreamed the whole thing if it wasn't for the pain in his heart. He slid out of bed and pulled on his clothes which had been placed on a chair near the door. As he was lacing his boots, Frohike walked in. "Morning, Mulder, how are you?" he asked. "Where's Scully?" Mulder demanded. "She went home." Frohike explained, preparing for Mulder's outburst. He wasn't disappointed. "What?" Mulder yelled, angrily. "How could you let her leave? She's sick, for God's sake. And we had a fight." "I know you had a fight." Frohike responded calmly. "And as for being sick, now that the implant's been removed, she's no worse off than you. Dr Edwards said that all the effects should wear off in a couple of weeks, and you'll both be back to normal. Well, as normal as you ever were, anyway." Mulder ignored the second part of the speech. "How did you know we had a fight?" he asked. "Scully told me this morning, before she left." Frohike said. Mulder frowned. "She just told you?" he queried. Frohike smiled wryly. "You should try it sometime Mulder. Actually talking is quite a good general means of communication." Mulder appeared to be considering this. "So where is she now?" he finally asked. "At home I imagine. That's where she said she was going." Frohike replied. "So you think I should go over now and talk to her?" Mulder asked. "This isn't about me." Frohike insisted. "This is about you and Scully. But yes, I think you should do something about all this before it's too late." Mulder finished lacing his boots. "Okay, thanks Frohike. I owe you one." he said, clapping him on the shoulder. Frohike watched as Mulder walked out of the hospital, then put his hand back in his pocket. 'Oh shit, I forgot to give him the implants.' he remembered. Frohike raced out of the hospital, looking around for Mulder. "Damn! I missed him." he said, banging his fist on his leg. But then he felt sensed someone coming up behind him. "Oh good Mulder, I thought you'd gone.." he started to say, only realizing as he began to turn that the person behind him was definitely not Mulder. But it was too late to run. A fist connected with the side of Frohike's head, and his legs were knocked out from under him. "What shall we do with him?" one of Frohike's attackers asked another man who had come up. The man slowly exhaled the smoke from his cigarette. "Put him in the van." he instructed them. "We may have further use for him." He watched as one of his minions slung Frohike over his shoulder and carried him to the van. Then he dropped his cigarette, grinding it into the ground, and just as casually picking up the small, plastic tube containing the implants, that Frohike had lost hold of when he was attacked. He looked at it for a moment, then placed it in his pocket and strolled back to the van. Scully's apartment Tuesday 10:30 a.m. Scully sat on her couch, legs tucked under her. The TV was on but the sound was turned down. She was waiting for Mulder. She knew he was coming, and she was going to be ready for him when he did. She didn't regret most of what she'd said to him earlier. He'd acted stupidly and she was perfectly within her rights to be angry with him. Hopefully she'd got the message across by laying into him like that. The only thing Scully felt sorry about was telling Mulder he was a coward. She knew that wasn't true. Of everything, Scully knew that the thing that scared Mulder most was being helpless when people he cared about were in danger, and he just had no idea how to deal with it. But she'd been furious and hurting and she'd wanted him to share that feeling too. Now all that remained to be seen was whether they could rebuild their relationship and regain their former trust, or whether it would be best to call it quits before they ended up doing each other irreparable damage. The TV was showing the mid-morning news. Scully absently watched overhead shots of a plane crash. Bodies lay amidst the wreckage and emergency personnel swarmed across the ground, searching for anyone who'd survived. The view switched to shots of the aftermath of an earthquake. Buildings had collapsed in on one another, trapping their occupants in a prison of their own making. Scully was almost inured to death. Her years studying forensic pathology and then as an FBI agent had required her involvement in all aspects of it, without the squeamishness that many people displayed in its presence. She knew that many of her fellow agents thought her cold and unfeeling. She'd done nothing to discourage this idea, instead finding it a useful way of maintaining her professional detachment. But Scully thought Mulder had broken through this barrier as he had through all the rest. That's why it hurt her so much now to discover that ultimately he saw her in the same way as everyone else did. That he wasn't able to see past the professional restraint she displayed, that he didn't know how much she really cared for him. How could he not know that his death was the one thing that would destroy her, that would tear her apart? But he hadn't known, had he? Otherwise he would have trusted her enough to tell her what he was planning. So was it better now to make a clean break of it? To acknowledge that they couldn't mend their partnership and instead, go their separate ways? Or should they try again? Could they overcome the problems together, making their partnership ever stronger and better in the process? Scully was still deliberating over this question when she heard the expected knock on her door. Sure enough, it was Mulder. He came inside, looking slightly sheepish and avoiding Scully's eyes. Scully sat back down on the couch. Mulder sat down at the other end. Then he got up. He walked quickly across to the door as if he was going to leave, then he seemed to change his mind again, and walked back to where he had started. Mulder sat down, but avoided the couch, choosing instead to seat himself on the floor at Scully's feet. He shrugged out of his leather jacket and placed it carefully on the floor next to him. Scully could almost feel the discomfort radiating from him in waves, and was inexplicably reminded of how different the real Mulder was from Eddie Van Blundht who had seemed so comfortable in her apartment. But she knew very well that Mulder was not here for a relaxed chat over wine and was feeling some of the same discomfort herself. After a few minutes, Mulder broke the silence. "I'm sorry." he said, his eyes trained on the floor. Scully sighed. It looked like they were going to try and rebuild their partnership after all, and she would have been lying if she said that wasn't what she wanted. "I'm sorry too Mulder." Scully replied. He looked up at her, surprised. "What?" he asked, his brow twisted with confusion. "I said I'm sorry too, Mulder. I shouldn't have said what I did this morning. I didn't mean it." Scully told him. "No, no, you were right." Mulder insisted, getting up on his knees and covering her hands with his. "Everything you said was true. I am a coward. I walk through life so utterly scared that I'm going to screw up and I end up ruining everything." Scully sighed. "Mulder, you're not a coward." she said, leaning down to rest her forehead against his. "Being scared is not something you have to be ashamed of. Everyone has fears. But you have to face up to them instead of running away. Let me help you do that. Trust me with your fears." She sat back to see the effect her words were having on him. Mulder looked relieved, but still a bit uncertain. "I do trust you, Scully. But it's hard. Losing you is my biggest fear and if that ever happens, you won't be here to help me through it." he explained. "Oh Mulder. I don't know what I can tell you to make that better. I don't think there's anything that can. But now you can understand what I felt when I thought you were dead and why I was so angry with you for putting me through that." Mulder started to shake his head, but Scully stopped him firmly, taking his face in her hands, and telling him, "Yes, Mulder. You mean just as much to me as I do to you. You're not a coward at all. You're a good man. A brave man. And even though I may not always show it, I do...." She paused, suddenly not sure if she should finish what she wanted to say. "Do what?" Mulder asked breathlessly. He was looking at her with such vulnerability and need for affection that Scully had to continue. "I do love you." she told him. Mulder sat still and appeared to be pondering what she'd said. Scully wasn't quite sure what to make of this reaction. Then he looked up at her again. "Love me how?" he asked her. "How do I love thee, let me count the ways.." Scully joked, trying to reduce the steadily increasing tension in the room. "Funny, Scully." Mulder replied, refusing to be deterred from the subject. "I mean is this brotherly love we're talking about here? Love between friends? Or something more?" he asked. Scully sighed, looking down at her lap and trying to get the mixed feelings of embarrassment and excitement under control. "Do we really have to go into this now?" she asked him. "Yes. It's important." he insisted. "I need to know what I mean to you." Scully looked at him. "You really don't know?" she marveled. Mulder shook his head. "Know what?" he asked. "Frohike tried to tell me," Scully said half to herself, "but I thought he was exaggerating." "Tried to tell you what?" Mulder asked, becoming exasperated. "He said that the reason you didn't tell me about your pretended suicide was because you didn't think I'd care that much. Is that true, Mulder?" she asked. "Yeah." he admitted. "I guess I thought it'd be more of a relief for you than anything else. I mean, we've been arguing so much lately, ever since.." he trailed off, not quite able to bring himself to say Eddie Van Blundht's name out loud. "Well, ever since a lot of things. This could have been your chance to finally get away from the curse of Spooky Mulder. To get the respect you deserve instead of being stuck downstairs in the basement." Scully was shaking her head bemusedly. "If I'd wanted to leave don't you think I would have done it a long time ago?" she asked him. "You just really don't get it, do you?" "No, I don't get 'it'." Mulder said. "Could you please explain 'it' to me now." Scully smiled, and Mulder decided that 'it' was probably not something he should be worried about. "Come here." she told him, patting the couch next to her. Mulder clambered up, sitting sideways with one leg tucked underneath him. "Mulder," she began, taking both his hands in hers, "I need you to understand something. I need you to understand that you are the singularly most important person in my life. I love you Mulder. I love you as a brother." Mulder started to pull away but she stopped him. "And as a friend. And as a man. I love you for everything you do, think and feel, but mostly just because you're Fox Mulder." "Oh, that 'it'." Mulder said happily. "Scully, I..." he began, but she cut him off. "No, don't say anything now. I realised I just dumped something big on you, and you need time to think about it. That's fine and I want you to know that I understand completely." "Well, actually," Mulder told her, "I was just going to ask how dominant those brotherly feelings are in this whole equation." "What?" Scully asked, confused by this response. She'd feared he could say, 'Sorry Scully, but I really don't feel the same way.' She'd hoped he would say, 'Scully I love you too.' But 'how dominant are those brotherly feelings?' was rather unexpected. Unless.... "Where exactly are you going with that question?" she asked, a tiny blossom of hope beginning in her heart, not to mention other areas. "*We* are going somewhere that we can explore those non-brotherly feelings." Mulder said, grinning and getting to his feet. "Oh we are, are we?" Scully asked coyly, "And where exactly would that be?" "Well," Mulder said, pulling Scully to her feet so she was standing right in front of him, "I was thinking the bedroom, but I'm always open to suggestion. What did you have in mind? The couch? The kitchen table? Right here on the floor?" "The bedroom sounds fine." she said a little shyly, taking him by the hand and leading him there. When they got there, Mulder paused in the doorway. "Scully, are you sure about this?" he asked her. "Cause I don't want you to do this if you still have any doubts." "Mulder," she said, smiling, "I know what I want. I want you." She tugged on his fingers, leading him over to the bed. They both sat on the edge, hands still linked. "So." Mulder said. "So." Scully countered. Mulder gently ran his hand down the side of Scully's face, awed at the soft, silky texture of her skin and still marveling that he was actually here. Her eyes slipped shut and Mulder brought his other hand up to frame her face. He feathered light kisses on her eyelids and along the edge of her nose. Then he placed a single kiss right at the bridge of her nose where they'd thought the tumor had been, and drew back to look at her. Scully opened her eyes slowly, and watched him closely. She frowned slightly as she noticed that his eyes were glistening with tears. "Mulder, what's wrong?" she asked with concern, resting her hand on his collarbone where her fingers began to trace small circles almost of their own volition. Suddenly he crushed her to his chest. "It just hit me, Scully. You're going to live. You're alive. You're not sick. And you love me. I don't think I've ever been this happy in my entire life." Scully smiled as she sat nestled into his chest, and wrapped her arms around him. After a couple of minutes she looked up to find Mulder regarding her intently. "Can I kiss you, Scully?" he asked her softly, his face mere inches away from hers, his breath falling against her cheek as he exhaled slowly. "You're asking my permission?" she queried, her voice slightly unsteady as Mulder's hands ran up and down her back, tracing her spine through the cotton shirt she wore. "Yes." he told her seriously. "Always. I want you to know that you can trust me. I *need* to know that you're okay with this." Scully looked at him warmly. "How many times do I have to tell you, Mulder? I want you. I want *this*. Yes, you can kiss me, but I get to kiss you too." He answered her by bringing his mouth down to cover hers. Their lips met tentatively at first, teasing each other with the slightest contact. Then Scully took the initiative, bringing her arms up and around Mulder's neck and pressing herself firmly against him. Mulder's tongue sought and received entry and Scully moaned as he began to to caress the contours of her mouth. They kissed hungrily, clinging to each other ardently, mouths meeting and connecting possessively, laying claim to each other as they ignited a molten heat that threatened to break out and consume them at any moment. Mulder leaned further into the kisses, pushing Scully back on the bed until he was lying half on top of her. His fingers fumbled for the buttons on her shirt and Scully arched up against him, making a mewling sound deep in her throat that encouraged him to continue. She raised her body so he could pull the garment off and throw it on the floor, and then Scully gasped and her heart filled with joy as she finally felt his hands on her body. She'd dreamed of this moment, they both had, but the reality was better than either of them could ever have imagined. Any hesitation on Mulder's part had vanished as he stripped Scully's bra from her body and promptly buried his head between her bare breasts. Scully whimpered at the torturously pleasurable sensations he was evoking as he licked and nipped at her sensitive skin. Her hands clutched helplessly at his hair as she writhed beneath his touch, then they slid lower to tug at his t-shirt. She made a small sound of frustration when she couldn't get it past his arms, and Mulder paused long enough for her to pull the shirt up and over his head. The heated press of bare skin on bare skin was blinding ecstasy, and Mulder reached down to unzip Scully's jeans, wanting to feel more of her against him. Pressing one more kiss to her mouth, Mulder kneeled up on the bed, quickly pulling down his own jeans and boxers in one go. A flush of arousal sped across Scully's cheeks and she looked away, but Mulder caught her chin in his palm, preventing her from evading his gaze. "Look at me, Scully." he implored. "See how much I need you. How much I love you." She stared into Mulder's eyes and knew that he was speaking straight from his heart. Not wanting to wait any longer, she pulled her own jeans and underwear down, kicking them off the end of the bed, and drawing Mulder back down to lie with her. Scully grasped a packet from the bedside draw, ripped it open with her teeth and carefully slid the condom over Mulder's tight flesh, delighting in the way he groaned with pleasure at her touch. Mulder slid one hand along the curve of her hip then stroked Scully gently between her legs, finding her open and ready for him. Positioning himself above her, he slid into her smoothly with one long movement. Scully released a loud moan as he filled her, and shifted slightly to take him in even more deeply. She ground her hips against Mulder's, encouraging him to start moving, and her eyes slipped shut as he began to rock against her. "Scully, open your eyes." he commanded, and watched until the beautiful blue orbs he loved were visible once again. "I want you to watch. I want you to see us making love." he said huskily, pushing into her harder, deeper. Scully whimpered as she felt him moving and thrusting intimately within her, throwing her head back on the pillows with abandon as the fire built and spread throughout her body. Mulder drove into her again, pressing in so deeply, and Scully groaned at the sensations he was arousing. Her eyes closed again, involuntarily, as she felt herself approaching the edge. "Scully, watch." Mulder insisted. She forced her eyes open. "Oh, Mulder," she whispered shakily, "I don't know if I can." "Yes you can." Mulder persisted, "Trust me, Scully. Hold onto me, I won't let you fall." And then she was coming, and waves of incredibly pleasure were breaking onto her, and she was falling, but Mulder was there, and she was falling into him. And she could hear him crying out too. Crying out and clinging to her. Moaning into the flesh of her shoulder, "Scully, my Scully, my darling, my life, my love." She just had time to cry out, "Mulder, I love you", and then they were consumed in a shattering explosion of white-hot passion that took them to the stars and beyond.... End Part 3. "Keeping it in the Family" Part 4 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Scully's apartment Tuesday 1 p.m. "Scully," Mulder whispered, stroking her back, "You awake?" "Hmmmm.." she purred, non-committally, "Maybe." His fingers drew swirling patterns on her bare shoulders and neck. "We really should get up you know." Mulder said. "Analyse the implants, stage my resurrection, bring down the Consortium and save the world." Scully chuckled sleepily into his neck. "And that's just for this afternoon." Mulder grinned. "Ah, what exciting lives we lead." "Exciting? Not the word I'd choose." Scully said. "What then?" he asked. Scully raised herself up on her elbows to look at him. "I don't know. Different? Weird? Challenging?" she suggested. "What about spooky? Do you think I'm spooky, Scully?" Mulder asked her playfully. But before she could respond to the familiar question, they heard the all-too-frequent ringing of a cel phone. "Mine or yours?" Scully asked resignedly, flopping back down on the bed that Mulder had just vacated. "Mine." she heard him call from the other room. Mulder came back into the bedroom and Scully listened to one side of the short but intense conversation that followed. He hung up and turned to face her. "That was Langly." he explained. "We have to get back to the hospital right away. Frohike's been kidnapped." Rosetta Memorial Hospital Tuesday 2:30 p.m. "Mulder, over here." Scully called, bending over to look more closely at something on the asphalt of the carpark. "Whatcha got?" he asked, coming over to look where she was indicating. "I'm guessing bloodstains." she told him. "And they're still wet." Mulder grimaced. Bloodstains did not bode well. "Think we should tell the others?" Scully straightened up. "I don't think we have a choice. We need to do blood-typing to verify if it is Frohike's. And besides, after all they've done for us, I think we owe them the truth." "Does this mean you don't think they're paranoid freaks anymore?" Mulder asked her, raising one eyebrow. Scully smiled. "Oh no. They're definitely still paranoid freaks, but they're our friends too. And as annoyingly juvenile as Frohike can be, I'd miss him if he wasn't around. So would you." she pointed out. "Yeah." Mulder admitted. "All the more reason why we have to find him ASAP. Let's go see if we can get a hold of a sample of his blood." Rosetta Memorial Hospital Tuesday 5:30 p.m. Neither Mulder nor Scully had been particularly surprised to learn that the Gunmen with their ingrained senses of paranoia, did keep samples of their own blood for cases of identification such as this. Byers had returned to their Headquarters to collect it, and now they were waiting to find out if it matched the traces Scully had found in the carpark. Mulder was pretty sure that it was going to match, but would have been happy to be proved wrong. There wasn't a whole lot any of them could do in the meantime. For the past ten minutes, Mulder had been drumming his fingers on the edge of the chair in which he was sitting, and Scully finally became exasperated, and asked "What?" But Mulder spoke to Langly instead. "That file you pulled yesterday, is there anyway of getting an updated version, do you think? It's got to be the same people who took Frohike, and they might have left a clue of some sort." Langly looked dubious. "Whoever it came from probably took it down as soon as they realised it had been tampered with. But I know the guy who was running the site we found it at, so I could ask him. It's worth a shot, I guess." He went over to the hospital computer and immediately started typing something at a very fast rate, Byers looking over his shoulder and occasionally making a quiet comment. "What file is this?" Scully asked when she and Mulder were alone. Mulder frowned. Now was definitely not the time to go into his suspicions about her brother's involvement in all this. "It was something the guys gave me yesterday. It kind of tipped me off to the implant thing." he explained, hoping she wouldn't ask for further clarification that he wasn't ready to give at the moment. Scully was actually about to do exactly that, but was interrupted before she could do so by Langly's shout of triumph. Mulder and Scully rushed over to where Langly and Byers were working at the computer. "What did you find?" Mulder asked hopefully. "Well he doesn't have another copy." Langly told them, "but he thinks the letters and numbers at the end are actually some kind of fairly simple code. Mulder, have you got the printouts with you?" Mulder felt in his pockets, but couldn't find them. "I must have left them at Scully's." he said. "Okay, well you'd better go get them. This guy's really paranoid and he won't send me another copy on the open email that the hospital has. Bring them back here and we'll see if we can work it out." Langly instructed him. "Alright, I'll be back soon. Scully, why don't you stay here with Langly and Byers. I won't be long." Mulder said. "No way." Scully insisted. "I'm coming with you." "But Scully.." Mulder started to say, trying to put of any discussion about the file and her the possibility of her brother's treachery for as long as he could. "No buts, Mulder. There is no way I'm going to let you ditch me again." Scully told him. "Okay, fine, let's go." Mulder conceded, placing his hand at the small of her back and hustling her along the corridor and out of the hospital. Scully waited until Mulder was pulling out of the carpark before she started to interrogate him. "So Mulder, what's wrong?" "Wrong? Nothing's wrong. Why would anything be wrong?" Mulder tried to cover, rather unsuccessfully. Scully sighed. "Mulder, if you regret what happened between us, all you have to do is say so." He pulled the car to the side of the road abruptly. "Mulder, what?...." Scully began to say, but was cut off as he grabbed her shoulders, pulled her towards him and kissed her passionately. Scully pushed up against him, urging him onwards. Finally Mulder broke the kiss. "That answer your question?" he inquired. Scully just grinned. Scully's Apartment Tuesday 6:15 p.m. Mulder was sitting on Scully's bed, on the phone with Langly, trying to decipher the encoded part of the file. Scully was in the kitchen, boiling the kettle to make some coffee, because she figured they were going to be at it for a while. "Mulder, I've got it." Langly suddenly said. "Really? What?" Mulder asked him, "'Cause I have no idea what it's on about." "Actually, it's ridiculously simple. We've just been trying too hard. They probably thought it was so well hidden that they didn't even need to bother encoding it. It looks like nothing, just a random sequence of numbers, but that's just what they wanted us to believe. I think the first number '16' refers to one of the names on the list. Look on the other page, who's number sixteen?" Langly asked him. Mulder checked to make sure Scully wasn't in hearing distance. "Bill Scully's number sixteen." he said. "The other numbers and letters, next to that, read 169761561F. If you take all the ones and sixes, you get 97/6 F. Which has got to be.." Langly said. Mulder finished the sentence, "The date of Frohike's kidnapping." "Exactly." Langly continued. "And the next date there comes out to be 97/6 DKS, so I'd keep a close eye on Scully if I were you." Mulder was about to go and share what they'd found out with Scully when he heard someone knocking at the door. "Don't worry Mulder, I'll get it." Scully called out. "Hang on Langly, there's someone at the door. I'll be right back." Mulder said into the phone, checking for his gun as his ingrained paranoia kicked in. He could hear Scully talking to someone as he stepped into the living room, but he couldn't see who because they were standing in the shadow near the door. Mulder watched as though paralyzed as Bill Scully stepped into the room. He was astonished to discover that although he'd never met the man before, he recognised him immediately since he looked exactly the same as he had in his nightmare. Mulder stepped forward, preparing to rip Scully out of her brother's grasp, but Bill Scully stepped forward, holding out his hand. Mulder was forced to respond to this overture, shaking Bill Scully's hand firmly. "So Bill, are you going to tell me why you're here." Scully asked. "I thought you went back to your ship at the end of last week." He sighed. "Actually Dana, it's not good news. Mrs Davidson rang me." he said. "Mom's next-door neighbor." Scully explained to Mulder. "And told me that Mom had been in an accident and had to be taken to hospital." Bill continued. Scully grew pale and looked as though she might faint for a moment. Mulder moved towards her, but Bill was there first, steadying her with his arm around her and a hand at her elbow. Mulder frowned, unnoticed by either of them. "I think it's important that we get over there right away. I have the car, so I'll drive us." Bill insisted to his sister. "Yes, of course." Scully answered. "Just let me get my coat." But she was halted by Mulder's forceful "No!" Scully stared at him in surprise. "What Mulder?" she asked. "I mean, no, I'll drive you over there." Mulder stated. "Don't be silly, Mulder. You have to find Frohike. I'll be perfectly fine with Bill." Scully told him. "No, really, it would make me feel better." Mulder persisted. "What hospital has she been taken to?" he asked, addressing his question to Bill. "I, uh.." Bill began. Mulder's eyes narrowed with suspicion. Bill panicked, and his hand moved towards the holster hidden at his hip. But Mulder was faster, and he had Bill in a headlock and on the ground before he could reach his gun. Scully stared at the men on the floor in shock. "Mulder, what on earth are you doing?" she yelled. "He's got a gun, Scully." Mulder insisted. "Of course he has a gun Mulder, he's a Navy commander." she said. "Now get up and stop being ridiculous." Mulder was forced to give in since Bill Scully wasn't struggling and he had no real evidence about his guilt. "Mulder, could you please tell me what the Hell is going on here." Scully demanded. "Okay, then how come he doesn't know what hospital your Mom was taken to?" Mulder asked. "No-one told me." Bill said, looking at Mulder hostilely. "But if I can use your phone, Dana, I could find out." "Sure. It's in the bedroom." Scully told him, and Mulder watched suspiciously as Bill Scully left the living room. Then he pulled Scully towards him quickly and bent to whisper in her ear. "Don't go with him Scully. I don't trust him. I think it's a trap." "Mulder, you're being overly paranoid." Scully insisted. "I trust him. He's my brother, for God's sake. You're seeing shadows and conspiracies where they don't exist." Mulder was exasperated and annoyed by the fact that Scully didn't trust his judgement. "Scully, I forbid you to go." he said forthrightly. She stared at him outraged and Mulder knew he'd made a mistake. "Fox Mulder, I do not take orders from you or any other man. Just because I slept with you does not give you the right to run my life. Now I am going to the hospital with my brother, and you are going to keep looking for Frohike. That's final and I'm not remotely interested in having an argument with you about it." Mulder gave in, knowing that he stood no chance against Scully in one of her determined moods, but desperately worried about her all the same. "Alright, but promise me that you'll call me if there's a problem." he insisted. "Mulder, I'm a grown woman, a medical doctor and an FBI Agent. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and you, when necessary. But now is not one of those times. I know my brother, and I trust him. Now you've got to stop being so paranoid. You have to trust someone." Scully told him. "I trust only you, Scully." Mulder replied. ****************** Bill Scully had listened to the first part of their conversation through the partially closed door of Scully's bedroom, but when he sensed that his sister was winning the argument, he crossed to the phone, dialing the number that he'd memorized. "Mulder's alive." he said without introduction, when he heard someone pick up on the other end of the line. "We already know that." A familiar voice answered, and Bill Scully could picture the cigarette smoke swirling around as the man exhaled. "He suspects something." Bill Scully continued. "Does he know about you?" the other man asked. "I don't know. I think so." Bill Scully replied, worriedly. "And your sister? Agent Dana Scully. Does she believe something is amiss?" the voice inquired. "No, she still trusts me. She was angry with Mulder for being suspicious of me." Bill reported. "Good." the man told him. "Continue with the plan as you were advised. Bring your sister to Georgetown Hospital." Bill Scully frowned. "But won't she know what's going on when Mom's not there?" he asked. "You just do as you've been instructed." The voice insisted. "We'll take care of everything else." Bill started to protest. "You're not going to do anything to my mother are you?" he asked, but discovered he was speaking to an empty line. He slammed the phone down abruptly. He'd thought of this job as a way to earn a bit of extra money in the beginning. Then the power had started to go to his head. When they'd asked him to be involved in the abduction of his own sister, he'd been persuaded that it was for her own good. That it would convince her to leave Mulder and the X-Files and that it would be better for her in the long run. But that hadn't happened, and Bill Scully had found himself drawn deeper and deeper into a web of treachery and deceit. Now he couldn't get out because he knew the men who controlled him could bring him down as easily as stepping on a bug. He was trapped and manipulated by these men, but somehow he continued to believe that if he did what they asked then someday he'd be respected and admitted into the upper echelons of the Consortium. They encouraged him to believe this, feeding him dreams of money and power until his greed sapped away the morals and family values he'd once cherished. Bill Scully hardened his heart. They wouldn't do any permanent damage to his mother, and he was sure this would ultimately bring benefit to him and his family. His sister would be away from the X-Files, his mother would be better off, and they'd owe it all to him. With his resolve firm once more, he returned to the living room and was pleased to note that Scully was still annoyed with Mulder. "Come on, Dana." he said. "Mom's at Georgetown University. Nice to meet you Mulder, I hope to see you again soon." He shepherded his sister out the door before Mulder could begin to make another protest, and escorted her down to the car. Everything was back on track once more and the only thing Bill Scully was concerned about was the size of the nice fat bonus that would be in his bank account at the end of the month. End Part 4 "Keeping it in the Family" Part 5 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Georgetown University Hospital Tuesday 7:00 p.m. On the drive to the hospital, Scully shared the story of Mulder's 'resurrection' and the implants they'd found with her brother. She noticed that he didn't seem too surprised about the implants, but decided that this was probably because he must already have noticed that she was looking much healthier. When they arrived at the hospital, Scully hurried in while her brother parked the car. "Where can I find Margaret Scully?" she asked a harried looking nurse. The nurse consulted the record of admittances. "Room 120." she told Scully, then rushed off to attend to another patient. Scully struggled through the ER, the chaos reminding her why she'd chosen to pursue a career in the FBI rather than continue in the medical profession. Finally she made it through to room 120, and stared in shock at her mother. She looked so fragile lying in the hospital bed, and her face, neck and shoulders were mottled with black and purple bruises. Scully sensed her brother coming up behind her, and he gasped as he caught sight of their mother. His horrified gaze met Scully's and he swallowed convulsively. "Is she going to be okay?" he asked, worriedly. Scully's medical instincts kicked in. Surveying her mother's hospital room, she noticed the oxygen-support system. She picked up the chart at the bottom of the bed, and read that the bruises were not restricted to her mother's head and shoulders, but covered most of her body. Scully frowned when she came to the time of admittance and discovered that it was only ten minutes ago. She glanced across at her brother, but he was looking the other way. A nurse bustled in, immediately followed by a doctor. "I'm Dr Keneally." he announced. "Are you family members?" "Yes, uh, I'm Bill Scully. My sister, Dana. This is our mother." he told the doctor. The doctor began his examination of Mrs Scully, explaining to Scully and her brother as he went along that, "Usually we would have kept her down in the ER for longer, but as it wasn't a critical case we moved her straight away. There was a huge crash on the highway a couple of hours ago, and we're a bit pressed for space." Dr Keneally concluded his examination. "Her injuries are fairly straightforward." he told them. "She's sustained some very nasty bruises, but she should recover well as long as she gets plenty of rest. She was having some difficulty breathing when she was brought in, but that seems to have passed." He continued with reluctance. "I know it's unpleasant, but I have to ask this. Is there a history of domestic violence in your family?" "No, no, of course not." Bill Scully answered. "My mother lived alone." "And you can think of no-one who would want to hurt her like this?" the doctor pressed. "Because this was certainly no accident." Scully thought her brother was a little too fast with his forceful reply of "No." His shock at seeing their mother's injuries had obviously been genuine, but the time of admittance didn't track with what Bill had told her. The records showed that Margaret Scully had only been admitted ten minutes ago, but it was more than forty minutes since Bill had turned up at Scully's apartment. Something was very wrong. "Dana, I have to make a phone call. I'll be back in a few minutes." Bill Scully told her, ducking out of the room once the doctor had left. Telling herself she was just being paranoid, Scully followed him cautiously until he reached the public phones in the reception, and stood just around the corner where she could still hear what he was saying. Bill Scully looked around nervously, but fortunately didn't catch sight of his sister. He dialed the same number as he had done earlier. "You promised she wouldn't get hurt." he whispered angrily into the phone. Scully couldn't hear what the person on the other end of the phone was saying but it was obviously supposed to be placating. "No, she is not going to be okay." Bill Scully argued. "She has bruises everywhere. What the Hell did you do to her?" Scully covered her mouth with her hand in shock. She could hardly believe her own brother was involved in something like this. But she forced down her repulsion and shock for the time being because it was important to hear the rest of what Bill was saying. Bill was still speaking into the phone. "Yes I'll still go ahead with the plan, but I want your guarantee that she won't get hurt." Scully's eyes widened, 'Oh God,' she thought, 'Now what.' "She's my sister for God's sake." Bill said angrily into the phone. Scully pressed herself against the wall in horror. She wasn't sure how much more she could bear to hear, but she didn't have much choice, because Bill would see her if she moved now. "Alright, alright. Fourth floor. Examination Room C. Got it, but you'd better not be lying to me this time." Bill Scully hung up the phone abruptly and stalked back to his mother's hospital room. Scully watched him go, then relaxed, leaning against the wall. Her mind was whirling with the import of what she'd learnt in the past few minutes. Her own brother involved in whatever had happened to her mother and now plotting something against Scully herself. Mulder had been right. 'Oh God, Mulder.' she thought, and rushed to the phone that her brother had recently vacated. Punching in his cel phone number Scully waited impatiently for Mulder to pick up. "Muld-" was all he had the chance to say before Scully cut him off. "Mulder, shut up and listen. You were right about Bill. He hurt Mom and I think he's after me now. I need you to get down here right away." Scully looked up and saw her brother coming towards her. "Hurry Mulder, please." she said into the phone, then hung up before Bill reached her. "Dana, I was looking for you." he said. "I just wanted to let Mulder know that Mom was okay, and that I was going to be here for a while longer." Scully told him, and was relieved when he seemed to accept her explanation. They started to walk back together to their mother's room. "Have you learnt anything more about what happened to Mom?" Scully asked, hoping to force Bill into giving something away. He shot her a wary look, but Scully had schooled herself to remain relaxed, and he didn't seem to detect anything unusual in her expression. "As a matter of fact," he told her, "yes. The doctor came back while you were using the phone and he wanted to talk to you about Mom. Something about complications, I think. He's up on the fourth floor, in examination room C, he said. Why don't you go up and see what it's about, now. I'll keep an eye on Mom." Scully tried to play for time, knowing that Mulder couldn't be anywhere near the hospital yet, and not particularly wanting to do this alone against an unknown number of assailants. "You know, Bill, I'm actually feeling rather exhausted with all the running around we've been doing. Do you think you could go up and talk to him instead." But Bill was prepared for this eventuality. "I would, but I mentioned to him that you were a doctor too, and he said it would be easier to explain what's going on to someone with a background in medicine." Scully sank down into the chair, feigning intense weariness. "Alright, I'll go up a bit later." she said. "I'd really prefer it if you'd go now." Bill said harshly. He looked into Scully's eyes and sensed that the game was up. Scully grabbed for her gun, but her brother was bigger and stronger, and before she could reach her weapon, he had her out of the chair with her arms pressed together behind her back. She kicked out, connecting hard with his shin and causing him to falter momentarily. Scully tried to twist out of Bill's grasp, but he recovered quickly and pulled her arms back roughly as he removed her gun from its holster, slipping it into his own waistband. Taking out his own pistol, Bill Scully pressed it into his sister's side. "Now listen carefully." he told her. "The two of us are going to take a nice, little walk upstairs. If you do as you're told and don't struggle, then you won't get hurt. But if you're not sensible, then I'm going to have to teach you how to behave." To remind her of his threat, Bill pushed the gun hard against her until Scully could feel the cold metal digging into her waist. He let go of her arms, and was pleased to see that she didn't try to escape. "Very good. Now let's take that little walk, shall we?" End Part 5 "Keeping it in the Family" Part 6 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Bill Scully pushed his sister along the hallway ahead of him, the jacket over his arm concealing the gun he held pressed into her back. Scully glanced distractedly from side to side, trying to come up with a plan of escape. She knew her brother was armed with his own gun as well as hers, and she wanted to avoid a shoot-out in the crowded hospital corridors, particularly since she was not in possession of a weapon herself. She tried to slow her pace, hoping to delay enough for Mulder to get there. But Bill realised what she was doing and prodded her in the back. "Hurry up, Sis. And if you even consider asking anyone for help, they'll be dead before you can blink." "Why are you doing this, Bill?" Scully asked him as they continued to move towards the elevator. "Why would you want to hurt your own family?" "Family? Ha, that's a good joke. What family?" he replied. "Even before Dad was dead, he never had time for any of us except you. Missy's dead, and that's your fault too. Charles is off God only knows where playing at being a humanitarian and Mom's too wrapped up in her dinner parties and community work to care about her own family. Why should I give a shit about any of you?" "Bill that's not true, and you know it." They had almost reached the elevator, and Scully stopped walking, hoping to get Bill involved in this argument so he would forget about where they were going for a minute. "Mom and Dad loved all of us. We're a family, and brothers and sisters are supposed to stick together." she insisted. The tactic worked. Bill paused and laughed cynically. "Oh now you sound just like Missy. Peace, love and harmony. She always defended you, and just look where that got her. No thanks." he sneered. Scully sensed movement out of the corner of her eye. 'Please let that be Mulder.' she thought. "Bill," she said, raising her voice, "that's all in the past now. I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement." But Bill had seen the movement too, looked up and saw Mulder running down the hall, gun out and ready. "Bitch." he spat at his sister, trying to shove her into the elevator. But Scully refused to give up without a fight. Pushing off from the wall, she slammed into Bill from the side, causing him to lose hold of his weapon. He screamed with fury and lunged for her. "Everybody down!" Mulder yelled, trying to get a clear shot at Bill. But Bill had a firm hold on Scully's shoulder, and Mulder couldn't take the risk of shooting her in the confusion. Suddenly, a shot rang out. Bill staggered backwards, his arms jerking away from his body and flinging Scully against the wall. Mulder dove for her, shielding her from any further shots with his body. Bill Scully collapsed to the floor, his eyes rolling back in his head. For a moment, complete silence reigned in the hospital hallway. Then people seemed to come back to life, helping each other off the floor, brushing at their clothes, shaking their heads at what they'd just witnessed. Two paramedics rushed up and lifted Bill onto a stretcher, bearing him off down to the ER, although it seemed fairly obvious that there was nothing more they could do for him. Mulder ignored everything happening around him, concentrating solely on the woman who lay clasped in his arms on the floor. He slowly pulled her up to sit against him and looked at her worriedly. "Scully...are you..okay?" he asked tentatively. She blinked a couple of times as if trying to comprehend what he was saying. "Mulder?" she questioned uncertainly. He looked at her closely. "Scully, I think you're in shock." Mulder told her. He helped her to her feet, and she leaned heavily into his body as though she couldn't stand herself. "Scully, I want you to see a doctor." Scully seemed to come back to life with this statement, trying to stand up and pull herself back together. "No Mulder, I'm fine." she insisted. He looked at her doubtfully for a moment, but then acquiesced. "Alright, but I'm taking you home." Mulder said. "I..I can't." Scully answered. "I have to see my mother." "Okay." Mulder replied. "But after you've seen her, you are definitely going home." He led her down the hall back to her mother's room. They found Langly and Byers standing in the doorway to the room. The two had seen most of what had happened and weren't quite sure what to say. Scully looked down at the floor, and Mulder gave them a look to say, 'I'll explain later'. Mulder grimaced as he first caught sight of Mrs Scully's bruises. He pulled a chair for Scully next to the bed and guided her into it. "Scully, I'll be back in one minute." he told her. "Will you be okay until I get back?" She nodded but didn't look up, her gaze focused on her mother. Mulder sighed and left the room to talk to Langly and Byers. "Did you see where the shot came from?" he asked. "No, 'fraid not." Langly replied. "There were so many people milling around that we couldn't tell where it came from. Kind of like at the Kennedy assassination." Mulder rolled his eyes. "Seriously guys." "Sorry Mulder, but we really couldn't see anything." Byers assured him. "Yeah, okay, never mind. Any news on Frohike?" Mulder asked. "No, nothing yet." Langly said despondently. "But we're still looking. Bill Scully's dead, by the way." "Can't say I'm sorry." Mulder said. "After what he tried to do to Scully, I might have shot him myself." "Yeah, but he's still her brother." Byers insisted. "I know." Mulder replied. "And I'm worried about how she's going to deal with it. She shouldn't have to bother about all this now when her body's still trying to recover from the implant and its effects." "What about you, Mulder? You had an implant too." Langly reminded him. "Yeah, but it wasn't there for very long, so it didn't have time to affect me much." Mulder explained. "Anyway, I need another favor. I need one of you to stay here and keep an eye on Mrs Scully." "I will." Byers said. "But tell me as soon as you hear anything about Frohike." Mulder nodded his agreement, then went back into the room to persuade Scully to come home now. Scully's apartment Tuesday 11:30 p.m. "Hang on, let me get my keys." Mulder whispered. He shifted Scully until he was holding most of her weight with one arm, then slipped his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Langly. Scully had fallen asleep on the way back from the hospital, and Mulder had decided to carry her upstairs instead of waking her. Maneuvering her through doorways had been more difficult than he'd expected, but they'd finally managed it. Langly went through the door first, flicking the lights on and then holding the door open for Mulder to come through. "Have a seat." Mulder told him, nodding towards the couch. "Just let me get Scully settled in her bedroom then we'll figure out what to do next." Mulder carried Scully into her room and laid her down gently on the bed. Switching on the bedside lamp, he returned to Scully and carefully pulled off her shoes and socks, trying not to wake her. Finally, he loosened the top couple of buttons of her shirt and stood, looking down at her. Her skin was turned golden by the lamplight and she looked so peaceful lying there on the bed. Mulder felt his heart tighten. He wanted to preserve this moment in time. He wished he could make life always this peaceful for her. Scully stirred slightly, her brow furrowing, and Mulder reached for her hand to reassure her, his fingers gently stroking her inner wrist. "Sshhh Scully." he whispered. "It's alright. I'm here." She opened her eyes. "Mulder?" she asked. "I'm right here." he assured her. Scully propped herself up on one elbow, blinking and coming fully awake. She looked at Mulder. "What are you doing all the way up there?" she asked him. Mulder chuckled and climbed onto the bed. "All the way up where?" Scully sat up and began undoing the buttons on his shirt. "This is better." she told him. "Scully." Mulder said. His hand stilled her movements. "Langly's in the living room." "So?" she asked, removing her hand from under his and undoing the rest of his buttons. "We can't..Oh God Scully..." Mulder lost his train of thought as Scully slipped her hand into his pants. "What were you saying?" Scully asked teasingly. "I..oh Sculleee....never mind." ******************* Langly had been startled when he heard Mulder's first exclamation, but soon realised what was going on. 'Maybe it's just as well Frohike's not here after all.' he thought to himself. As the noises coming from both Scully and Mulder grew louder, Langly felt rather uncomfortable and decided he should get out of there for a while. "Um, guys, I'm just going down to the shops for some, er, milk. I'll probably be about, uh, 30 minutes." he called out loudly. "Okay, but make it forty." he heard Scully yell back, and then Langly was out of there. 'Way too much information.' he thought as he walked out of the apartment building and onto the street. End of Part 6 "Keeping it in the Family" Part 7 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Scully's Apartment Wednesday 12:30 a.m. Langly quietly let himself back into Scully's apartment. He'd stayed out for almost an hour in the end, finding a slightly seedy little bar and nursing a single beer for as long as he could. "Mulder?" he called out quietly. "Over here Langly." Mulder replied. Langly walked over to the table where Mulder was hunched over a laptop. "Whatcha doing, Mulder?" Mulder sat back in his chair, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I downloaded some old case reports from the Bureau computer. Specifically the ones from the Duane Barry case, when Scully was kidnapped. I can't believe Bill Scully was involved in that, and with hindsight, I'm trying to see if there were any clues. Oh, and uh, sorry about before." he said a little embarrassedly. "No problem Mulder." Langly replied. "So did you find anything?" he asked quickly, changing a rather awkward subject. "No, but I have some more documents and information back at my apartment. I was waiting for you to get back so I could go get them." Mulder told him. "Keep an eye on Scully for me, won't you? I'm still worried about her." Langly nodded his acceptance and Mulder clapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks, I knew I could count on you." he told him, grabbed his keys and shut the door after himself as he left. ************************** Mulder's Apartment Wednesday 1:15 a.m. Mulder turned the key in the door of his apartment and pushed it open. He froze as he detected the unmistakable smell of Morley cigarette smoke and pulled out his gun, flicking off the safety. The click it made seemed obscenely loud in the early morning silence. "That won't be necessary Mr Mulder." a voice told him, and Mulder tensed as Cancerman stepped out of the shadows. "I'm here to offer you something I believe you want." "Forgive me if I don't have a lot of faith in your assurances." Mulder replied, keeping his gun focused on the intruder. "You're looking remarkably healthy for someone who's supposed to be recently deceased." Cancerman commented. "Yeah well you're looking remarkably healthy for someone who's going to end up recently deceased if they're not careful." Mulder retorted. Cancerman exhaled slowly. "You won't kill me Mr Mulder. You need me to give meaning to your quest. If I wasn't here, everything you did would be pointless." he told Mulder. Mulder lowered his gun. "You're right." he said. "I'm not going to kill you, but not for the reason you think. It's not me who's failed, it's you. Face it now. You're the loser in this game." Cancerman twisted his lips wryly. "Oh but you're wrong Mr Mulder. The game is just beginning and I've upped the stakes. I know all about the files you have and I'm prepared to make a deal." Mulder stared at him. If Cancerman was prepared to deal, the files must be even more important than he'd thought. "I don't think so. You have nothing I want. No deal." "Nothing you want? Mr Mulder, I have everything you want. But listen to what I'm prepared to give you." Cancerman said. "I want the original disk and the two hard copies of the files that your friends made for you. And don't even think about making any more copies because I've dispatched a video surveillance team to Agent Scully's apartment even as we speak and if one of you so much as blinks, I'll hear about it." Mulder stepped forward angrily. "You so much as lay a finger on her and I swear I'll blow your brains out in a second." he shouted. "Well, well, well." Cancerman commented, seemingly unconcerned. "What wonderful loyalty you bear towards your friends. I wonder if it extends to all of them, or just Agent Scully." "What are you talking about?" Mulder asked, still on edge. "I understand that one of your associates, a Mr Frohike I believe, went missing sometime this morning. If you do as I ask, I could be persuaded to look into this incident." Cancerman said. "Why you.." Mulder clenched his fists, trying to restrain himself from punching Cancerman's lights out. "Now, now Mr Mulder. Anger won't get us anywhere. Just tell me, do we have a deal?" Cancerman asked. "Yes." Mulder managed to grind out. Scully's Apartment Wednesday 4:00 a.m. Mulder opened the door to Scully's apartment and looked around for Langly. He found him sacked out on the couch, his mouth open as he snored lightly. "Hey, Langly." Mulder said, poking him in the side. "Wake up, we've got work to do." "Just another minute Mom.." Langly mumbled, and Mulder bit down a laugh. "Langly, we have to go get Frohike." Mulder said insistently, and Langly woke up this time. "Mulder, what did you say?" he asked. "Do you have the original disk with that file on? And the hard copy you made?" Mulder questioned him. "Yeah, they're in the pocket of my jacket. What's going on, Mulder?" Langly wanted to know. Mulder crossed the room and fumbled for the disk and papers in Langly's jacket. "Mulder?" Langly queried. "What's happening?" "I'm going to get Frohike, that's what." Mulder told him. "I want you to get down to the hospital and wait with Byers. I'll bring Frohike there as soon as I find him." "You're sure you don't need my help?" Langly asked concernedly. "No, this is something I have to do." Mulder insisted. "Go on, get out of here. If everything goes well, I should be there in under two hours." Langly nodded, grabbed his jacket and left. Mulder walked into Scully's bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Scully, hey Scully." he called softly, stroking her neck with his thumb. Scully opened her eyes and smiled languidly when she saw Mulder sitting there. "Why'd you get out of bed?" she asked him. "We have to go get Frohike." Mulder told her. Scully was wide awake at once upon hearing this. She sat up quickly, clutching at the falling sheet then abandoning the attempt. It was a little pointless really since she'd been writhing naked in Mulder's arms only a few hours ago. Mulder watched appreciatively as she got out of bed and pulled some clothes on. Scully looked knowingly over her shoulder at him. "So where are we going G-man?" she asked. "I'll explain on the way." he told her. Mulder grabbed the disk and papers, and his gun, handing the spare gun he'd picked up from his apartment to Scully, since her gun was still in police custody from when her brother had appropriated it earlier. ******************* Golding Cemetery Wednesday 5:00 a.m. It was just beginning to get light as Mulder and Scully reached the meeting place that Cancerman had decided on. "It just had to be a cemetery, didn't it." Scully said wryly. "Atmosphere Scully, atmosphere." Mulder insisted. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Scully asked, gesturing to the papers that Mulder had shown her on the way over. A lot of the answers you've been seeking could be in there." "I know." Mulder replied. "And I..we're going to keep looking for them. But they're not worth risking someone's life over." Scully could hear what he was thinking almost as if he had said it aloud. Caitlin Ross and the Roche case that had so nearly ended in tragedy. She slipped her hand into Mulder's and squeezed. "We'll find the answers again." she told him. "I know we will Scully. Together." he promised. They both tensed as they heard a noise off to their right and prepared to meet Cancerman. But the man himself wasn't there. He'd sent one of his goons instead, wanting to distance himself from this potentially embarrassing loss of face as much as possible. Mulder and Scully were pleased to see that the goon was leading a trussed up and handcuffed Frohike. He looked considerably the worse for wear, but very relieved to see his friends. "You got the goods?" the goon grunted. Mulder nodded. "Where's your boss?" he asked. "He ain't coming." was the response. "My orders was to get the stuff and split. So ya gonna hand it over or what?" Mulder passed him the envelope that contained the disk and the papers and the goon grunted again, then undid Frohike's handcuffs and lumbered off into the darkness. Mulder busied himself undoing the ropes that bound Frohike, while Scully checked his vitals. When they were satisfied that he had sustained no permanent damage, Mulder lowered him to the ground. "Are you going to be okay, Frohike?" Mulder asked concernedly. "Yeah, I think so." he said. "Got a nasty bump on the head though. Next time, remind me not to piss off your enemies." Scully's fingers smoothed over the lump on his head, checking the damage inflicted. Frohike winced slightly when she touched a tender spot. "I think you'll live." Scully told him. "But I'd still like to get you to the hospital so you can have it checked out." "Anytime you want to check me out babe is just fine." Frohike responded, leeringly, and Scully laughed, having never thought before that it could actually be a relief to hear one of Frohike's innuendoes. "Come on Frohike." said Mulder, helping him to his feet. "Let's get you over to the hospital and reunited with the other two stooges. "So, were you worried about me?" Frohike asked as he hobbled back over to the car. "Yeah, a little." Mulder admitted. "And did you miss me?" he asked, addressing his question to Scully. "Yeah, we missed you." she told him. "Hear that Mulder, she misses me when I'm not here." he gloated. "Big deal." Mulder replied. "Maybe she misses you, but she loves me." "Mulder!" Scully said, aghast at what he'd just revealed. "Oh, uh, oops." he said contritely. Frohike stared at the two of them. "No way. You mean you two finally did it and I missed the whole thing. Unbelievable." He continued walking back to the car and Mulder and Scully hurried to catch up to him. "What do you mean 'finally'?" Scully demanded. "Yeah." Mulder added. "What's that supposed to mean?" Frohike grinned. "It means me and the guys have been taking bets on how long it would take ever since the first time you brought Scully to see us. Even back then it was obvious that you had it bad for her." Scully laughed. "I suppose I should be offended," she said to Mulder as she tossed him the keys, "but you have to admit he has a point. We did take our time about it." Mulder raised his eyebrows inquiringly. "Oh, come on Mulder. I saw how you looked at me on our first case. You wanted me then and you know it." Scully said. "Oh and you were Ms Cool, Calm and Collected I suppose." Mulder countered. "I could feel the heat coming off you in waves everytime I put my glasses on." Frohike groaned. "Come on guys, I really don't want to listen to some cutesy discussion about who wants who more." Mulder pulled the car out of the parking area and set off for the hospital. "Okay then," he said to Scully, "tell me you didn't want to get your hands on more than the back of my neck when we were up at the Icy Cape." "Like you can talk. There was no chance that I was infected, but you couldn't keep your hands off me either." Scully retorted. Frohike groaned and covered his ears with his hands. As he listened to Scully insist that Mulder had been jealous when he met Jack Willis, and Mulder counter by asking Scully how she explained her antipathy for an entomologist by the name of Bambi, Frohike decided that next time he got kidnapped, he'd just stay there. End Part 7 "Keeping it in the Family" Part 8 by Gemma Kingsley (gkingsley@hotmail.com) Rosetta Memorial Hospital Wednesday 8:00 a.m. Mulder and Scully sat in the hardbacked chairs in the hospital reception area. As predicted, Byers and Langly had been very relieved to have Frohike restored to them. He was currently resting, his fellow gunmen watching over him as though fearful he might be snatched away from them again at any moment. "Mulder," Scully said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them, "are you upset about having to have made a deal with the Cancerman?" He thought about it for a moment. "No." he told her. "Not really." Scully raised her eyebrows, silently seeking clarification of his statement. "I almost did once before." Mulder explained. "When we found out you had cancer. I was ready to go to him and give up the X-Files, my job, the search for my sister, anything if he'd just cure you." Scully gasped. "Mulder, I can't believe you'd even think of doing that. Promise me you won't ever consider anything like that again." she insisted. He turned to look at her. Even in the harsh artificial light of the hospital, in rumpled clothes, wearing no make-up and with dark circles under her eyes from too little sleep, he thought she looked incredibly beautiful. "Scully, none of those things matter to me if you're not here too." he told her. Scully smiled. "Thank-you." she said, then continued, "Seriously though, there's no way I'm giving up now. If we've gotten anything out of all this, I think it's the motivation to keep going and be better than ever. And now we know that we've got the Cancerman running scared." "How do you figure that?" Mulder asked. "Because he was prepared to deal which is something he's never been reduced to before. I think, if we hadn't made that deal, he would have had more power over us. If we'd left Frohike with them, we would have effectively have become 'Players' ourselves. Those men put their own selfish concerns over everything, but we showed them that we're not prepared to play by their rules." Scully said. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I never really looked at it that way before." Mulder replied. A nurse came over and interrupted their conversation. "Ms Scully," she said, "I put that call through to Georgetown and it seems your mother is awake and asking for you." "I'd better get over there." Scully told Mulder. "Damn right you'd better." he replied. "And I'm driving you." Scully gave in gracefully. Mulder slung an arm around her shoulders as they strolled out of the hospital and Scully gave him a curious look. "What?" he questioned. "I can't put my arm around the woman I love just because we're in public?" Scully shrugged. She wasn't complaining, just surprised. "Mulder, does it seem to you that lately we spend half our lives in hospitals?" she asked, as they left one hospital, ready to drive to the next. "Yes." Mulder answered. "In fact, I've been thinking about it and I've decided we should start one of our own." "A hospital of our own?" Scully asked. "Yeah, just think about it. We'd get our own wounds stitched up for free, and we'd make a fortune out of the constant injuries of our colleagues, friends and family. It's the perfect solution." Mulder suggested. "Mulder, you're nuts!" ****************** Georgetown University Hospital 9:15 a.m. Mulder paused outside Mrs Scully's hospital room. "Scully, do you, uh, want me to wait outside for you?" he asked her. "Don't be silly, Mulder. Mom will want to see you too." she insisted and took his hand, leading him into the room. Mrs Scully turned her head to see who was coming into her room. She smiled when she saw her daughter and Fox Mulder, even more so when she noticed that they were holding hands, and made no move to stop, even when they caught on to her scrutiny. "Mom, how are you feeling?" Scully asked concernedly, moving to stand next to her mother's bed, and smoothing the sheets with her free hand. "I am rather sore, but the doctor said it would wear off in a couple of weeks. And purple and black really aren't my colors, but other than that I'll be fine." Scully realised that her mother's attempt to make light of the situation was for her benefit, so she cracked a reluctant smile. But it faded as she remembered the news she had to share with her mother. "Mom, there's something I have to tell you." she said, letting go of Mulder's hand so she could clasp her mother's in both of hers. But her mother reassured her. "It's about Bill, isn't it." she said. Scully looked puzzled. "How did you know that?" she asked. "He came to see me half an hour ago." Mrs Scully told her. Mulder looked shocked. "But Langly told us he was dead." he exclaimed. "Yes well, that's what he wanted everyone to believe. He told me everything, and suffice it to say, he's completely ashamed of what he did. I was very angry with him, of course, but I had to forgive him in the end." Mrs Scully explained. Mulder had been growing more and more frustrated as Mrs Scully related the story. "Where is he now?" he demanded as she finished. "I don't know." Mrs Scully replied. "He said he was going somewhere far away where he wouldn't be a danger to his family anymore." Mulder was furious. He clenched his fist then slammed it down on the bedside table, making both Scully women start in surprise. "Mulder, calm down." Scully insisted. But he shrugged off her restraint. "Scully, I know he's your brother, but for God's sake, he was involved in your abduction and the cancer scam. How can either of you just forgive him after everything he's done to hurt you?" Mulder asked vehemently. "You'll understand someday when you have children of your own, Mulder." Mrs Scully told him gently. "You can't help loving them no matter what." Mulder didn't look convinced. "So, what are the two of you planning to do now?" Mrs Scully asked them, changing the subject. Scully considered the question. "Go back to work I guess. Can you just imagine Skinner's face when we walk back in there?" she asked Mulder, who grinned as he pictured exactly that. "Nonsense, you should take a vacation. After everything you've been through, I think you deserve some time alone together. Go somewhere nice and warm with a beach. Of course you'll probably spend most of the time in bed anyway." Mrs Scully told them. "Mom!" Scully exclaimed, not sure whether to laugh or blush. "Go on, off you go. I'll be just fine." Mrs Scully insisted. "I'll call you, Mom." Scully told her, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek. ******************* As they walked down the hospital corridor, Mulder slung his arm across Scully's shoulders again. "You know your Mom had a point." he said. "Mulder!" she exclaimed. "I was talking about the vacation, not the bed idea." he said. "Although you have to admit that sounds pretty good too." "Well it would be nice." Scully agreed, leaning into his embrace. "But shouldn't we be getting back to work?" "Not really. Think about it. I'm still officially dead." Mulder said. "And I'm on indefinite sick leave - Skinner's orders." Scully continued. "Really, there's never going to be a better time." Mulder concluded. "So where are we going?" Scully asked, deciding that the idea of a vacation somewhere warm with Mulder was definitely something she wanted to explore. Mulder stopped walking and pretended to consider the question seriously. "Let's see. Beach. Sun. Those tropical drinks with cute little umbrellas. Have you ever been to Hawaii, Agent Scully?" "Do you know, Agent Mulder, I don't believe I have." she replied. "Well, that's settled then. We'll fly off into the sunset and live happily ever after." Mulder stated. "Um, Mulder, I don't know if you've noticed but it's 10 o'clock in the morning." Scully told him. "Okay, so we fly off into the daylight." he amended. "Mulder you're crazy." Scully told him. "Crazy about you." he said. "Oh great, corny as well now." Scully said. "Come on Scully. You're beautiful, intelligent, in love and off to Hawaii. Don't you feel just a little bit like you're living in a fairytale?" Mulder asked. "A fairytale with alien implants, pseudo-suicides, computer hackers and shadow government men. Gee, I must have missed that one." Scully told him sarcastically. Mulder laughed. "Our life's never going to be dull, is it?" he said. Scully shook her head bemusedly. "Let's see what we can dig up in Hawaii then." she suggested and continued down the hall. Mulder ran to catch up with her. "You know it's funny you should mention digging and Hawaii in the same sentence. I actually have an X-File that dates back to 1978 and includes.........." They turned the corner and were out of sight. The End That's it. That's all. There ain't no more. So what did you think? I'd love to hear from you! Gemma at gkingsley@hotmail.com Thanks! Oh yeah, and I'm maybe/probably going to write a sequel if enough people are interested. You want?