From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 07:07:33 -0500
Subject: BELLYACHE by MULDERACHE
Source: direct

Reply To: TGW080160@AOL.COM


TITLE: BELLYACHE

SPOILERS: THROUGH SEASON SEVEN EXCEPT REQUIEM

DISCLAIMER: NOT MINE.THEY BELONG TO CHRIS CARTER AND 1013
PRODUCTIONS. I JUST LIKE TO PLAY WITH THEM.

ARCHIVE: ANYWHERE, JUST LET ME KNOW SO I CAN VISIT.

SUMMARY: MULDER HAS A BELLYACHE.

FOXMULDER'S APARTMENT /HEGAL PLACE


Mulder awakened to his alarm clock buzzing. He reached over
to click off the insistent buzzing and felt a
twinge in his stomach. He reached down to his mid
abdomen and held on tight a few minutes thinking
that he had pulled a muscle. After a few minutes
the pain went to a mild ache and he rolled over. A
few more minutes and he would feel better. He
closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.
He was awakened again but this time by the persistent
ringing of his phone. He again reached over and
picked up the phone feeling the ache still present
in the pit of his stomach. " Mulder." He answered
drowsily.

"Mulder, where are you?" Scully asked as she sat at his
desk leaning back in the old comfortable chair.
She had become worried when he had not been there
when she arrived and had become more concerned
when he had not shown up by ten o'clock.

He glanced over to his clock and threw his head back when
he saw the time, eleven fifteen. " I'm sorry
Scully. Must have over slept. I'll be there in an
hour." He hung up the phone and tried to roll out
of the bed but was stopped by the pain in his gut.
The pain paralyzed him for a few minutes. He tried
to straighten out but was having a difficult time
doing any type of movement. Maybe I should call
Scully back he thought to himself but hesitated at
the thought of being dragged to the hospital.


He lay still for a few minutes and tried the motion again
to remove himself from the bed but again was
unable to move due to the now very sharp pain in
his gut. "Dammit!" he called out to nobody in
particular. He was frustrated at the thought of
having to call his partner for assistance. He
might as well just pull out his health insurance
card and have it ready when she arrived. He picked
up the phone and hit speed dial.


She had sounded worried over the phone and told him that
she would be there in thirty minutes. The nausea
was getting overwhelming and if she did not get
there soon he would vomit all over himself and the
bed. He heard a sound coming from the living room
and within a few seconds his red headed partner
entered the room with a medical bag in hand. "
What's wrong Mulder?" He shook his head and held
on to his stomach and to his stomach contents.

She pulled out a thermometer and seeing that he was having
a hard time trying not to vomit she slid it
underneath his arm. "Mulder did you eat something
that was left in the refrigerator for a while?" he
shook his head and whispered through the pain,"
Not food poisoning, didn't feel like eating last
night, stomach just didn't feel right." His facial
grimaces where starting to worry her medical mind.
She pulled the thermometer out after four minutes
and read the numbers of one hundred point one. She
then placed her cool hand on his forehead and felt
the heat.




"Mulder I need to get you to an emergency room, do you think you can
make it to my car parked out front? He rolled his eyes and
thought about refusing but if he opened his mouth right now
he would only vomit. He tried to rise up on the bed and
doubled over in pain. The pain had gone from a sharp pain to
a stabbing pain and this time it went straight through into
his back. "Can't Scully." He mumbled weakly. " I need to
vomit." She ran into the bathroom and retrieved the trashcan
and held it under his chin as he emptied the contents of his
stomach. Soon the vomiting turned into dry heaves and he
held on tight to his stomach.



She reached over and grabbed the phone and dialed '911' and
gave them the address to his apartment. As she
hung the phone she looked down at the emesis and
saw a small amount of blood. He could have brought
it up from throwing up so hard. She placed the pan
at the bedside and grabbed a washcloth and placed
it under the cool tap water in the bathroom and
brought it back and placed it on his head." Don't
feel good." He murmured, with eyes closed and his
right arm wrapped around his stomach. She rubbed
his arm gently," I know Mulder, help is on the
way."


She heard the knocking at the door and went to answer; the
EMT's pulled in the gurney and medical equipment.
They quickly found the patient curled up in fetal
position on he bed. Scully stood in the doorway
watching them do their job. She turned to find
several people staring into the hallway door. She
figured that people were use to him having
problems. Her attention quickly went back to her
partner who was calling her name. "Scully!" She
walked over to the bed and held his hand as the
paramedic was attempting to try to start an
intravenous line but having a little bit of a
difficult time. He turned around to look at his
partner and Scully knew what would happen next.
They pulled back the covers and placed a
tourniquet on his ankle and pulled out another
angiocath and slid the needle into the vein.
Mulder screamed in pain as the needle hit the
sensitive skin. Scully held on to his hand as the
paramedics apologized for the pain they were
causing. The message that they were bringing in a
thirty nine-year old male abdominal pain was made
to the hospital and Mulder was carefully slid to
the awaiting gurney and hurried out the
door.Scully followed the ambulance in her car to
Alexandria Hospital emergency entrance.



She got out her car and ran to the admitting desk." I'm
looking for Mr. Mulder. He was just brought in by
ambulance. The receptionist looked at the petite
lady and then glanced down to the emergency room
log. "He just went back to cubicle seven. Are you
his family? " She asked, her job was to prevent
any non family members from entering the emergency
area. Scully knew the routine and she nodded,
feeling a little guilty for the lie. She walked
back and noted that the room was buzzing with
activity. A nurse walked out with a large syringe
of blood, which she knew had to hurt. She walked
over to the bedside sliding her hand into Mulder's
as the doctor barked out orders. When the xray
machine arrived she exited out into the hallway.

When the xray was done she slipped back into the room and
found Mulder dozing off. The doctor must have
given him something for his pain. She thought he
was asleep when she heard, "Scully, I want to go
home now. I'm feeling a lot better." His voice
low, almost in a whisper. She looked down and his
eyes were still closed and his body was still
curled around his stomach. " Mulder, you are
feeling better because of the pain meds. You are
not ready to go home yet." She answered in her
most authoritative tone. He opened his eyes and
looked up at her with
that puppy dog look but it never worked on her but he
always tried it anyway. A few seconds later he was
vomiting again.


The doctor entered the cubicle again with a syringe and
another man in tow." Mr. Mulder, this is Dr.
Andrews, he is a surgeon that I've asked to take a
look at your stomach." He pulled up the IV tubing
and rubbed the port and placed the needle into the
rubber stopper and slowly pushed the medicine. "
This is something for your nausea." Mulder nodded
as he lay his head into the flat pillow. The
surgeon started asking a barrage of questions
concerning surgeries in the past, did he still
have his appendix, had he been in any recent
accidents or received any blows to the abdomen.
Mulder continued to shake and nod his head
drowsily to the questions. When he placed the cold
stethoscope to his abdomen he flinched away but
the surgeon approached again and was successful in
keeping in intact to listen.


The surgeon left to look at the films. The nurse entered
and was carrying a thermometer. Mulder looked up
and opened his mouth but the nurse shook her head
and made him roll over. She gave Scully a piercing
look and she turned her head and the nurse
proceeded to place the thermometer into his
rectum. He felt embarrassed but at least Scully
turned her head, he thought to himself. When she
pulled it out it read one hundred point three. She
then proceeded to hold his hip in place and she
pushed something up inside him that was cold. "
This is for your fever Mr. Mulder, I will be back
in a few minutes. Don't push out the tylenol
suppository." He nodded and she left. He hated
hospitals and he hated being sick. "Take me home
Scully. I really am feeling better." She walked
back across the room and picked up his too warm
hand, " Mulder, the doctor wants to check you out
first. If he says I can take you home then you
will go back to my place. " Mulder lifted up his
all too sleepy eyes to look at his partner," Agent
Scully are you taking me home to put me to bed?"
he leered at her with weak eyes. She smiled and
looked down at Mulder, "Yes, Because you are way
too sick to try anything." He shook his head "
Don't underestimate my healing powers Scully." He
closed his eyes and got really quiet. The
combination of pain medication, fever medication
and the antiemetic had made him very sleepy.

Scully stood at his bed stroking his head and smiled while
he dozed off to sleep. He was awakened by the
sounds of voices in the room and when he opened
his eyes he saw Scully and the ER physician
talking. He could not hear their words but
evidently Scully was agreeing with him on
something. A few seconds later Scully was by his
side and she was rubbing his head. "What's wrong."
His words were low and his voice was raspy from
all the meds. She shook her head; they are going
to put you in observation. The surgeon thinks that
you have symptoms that need to be watched over the
next twenty -four hours. Since your appendix has
been removed they are going to just watch your
symptoms. He nodded weakly and then he knew that
he had to move fast, the feeling of needing to
have diarrhea hit hard and he raised up quickly
but Scully pushed him back down. " I got to go
Scully, now!" his voice was desperate and she
grabbed a bedpan and in his urgency he slid onto
it quickly.


He felt like crap and he wanted to go to sleep but
everytime he closed his eyes he had to go to the
bathroom. The bedpan satunder his covers for
convenience. Scully went to look at his lab work
again. He wanted to go home. The IV in his hand
had started hurting and it was starting to get
redder and redder at the site and his bottom felt
as red as the IV site. He also was starting to
itch everywhere and he felt that he was going to
puke at any moment. Basically he felt that he was
going to die. Well, he was closer to the morgue
here than he was at home. He tried to get
comfortable and wait for Scully.


Mulder had finally fallen asleep but he was restless. She had
checked the lab results but they looked fine. Basically
what Mulder diagnosis was: ABDOMINAL PAIN WITH FEVER OF
UNKNOWN ORIGIN. She walked over and touched his hand and
felt the fever radiating off his body. She then noticed
the IV and the redness
at the site. She pushed the call light and awaited the
nurse. She then noticed a very red and very angry
rash.


When he awakened again he was greeted by the awesome smile
of his partner but he felt different. He was now
sporting a nasogastric tube and a foley catheter.
He was itching head to toe and he felt as if
someone had put a fire underneath his bottom. "
What is going on Scully?" he asked noticing that
his voice was a mere whisper.


"SHH, Mulder everything is fine. The doctor felt that you
needed a relief from trying to do everything
yourself. He placed the tubes to give you some
relief." He shook his head and tried to roll over,
"I'm itching all over Scully." Then something else
dawned on him and he pulled up the covers and saw
that he was wearing a diaper. " What the hell is
this Scully? I'm not a baby!" his face was one of
pure shock. She shook her head and lowered the
covers and took his hand. " Mulder, you have a
fever rash, that's what is causing the itching.
Also the diaper is for the diarrhea, you've been
out for a while." He looked at her with sad eyes,"
I'm not a baby Scully." She took his hand and held
it firmly,"You are definitely not a baby Mulder.
When you feel better then we will let you be more
independent but for now you need to rest." He
nodded reluctantly and turned over to face the
wall. Her feelings weren't hurt because she knew
that he was exerting some kind of control in a
helpless situation.



He fell back to sleep after his bout of disapproval of all
the tubes and paraphenalia. She sat by his bed
awaiting his diagnosis. When the physician entered
she expected him to diagnose her partner with
poisoning or some type of alien bug but was
surprised at he gave her the diagnosis. " Mr.
Mulder has the stomach flu. A pretty bad case
actually and I want to keep him here for a few
days due to his high fevers and his hydration
status. Scully agreed and waited for her partner
to awaken.



When he awakened hours later his mood was not much better and
she thought he was going to get up and try to walk out
of the hospital. "What did the doctor say Scully?" he
was irritable and craby and he did not want to be
bothered with half truths. She looked down on her red
spotted partner," The doctor says you have the stomach
flu. You'll need to stay here for a few days. He shook
his head and looked upset. " What's wrong Mulder?" he
turned and looked at his partner, "I can't even do a
simple bellyache simple Scully. Why can't anything be
simple?" She shook her head and shrugged, "Because it's
just you Mulder, it's just the way it is and we get
through it and move onward," He closed his eyes and
snuggled down into the pillow, holding her hand tight.
" Only because I have you Scully. Only because I have
you." She kissed his forehead and watched him fall back
to sleep." She nodded and whispered, "You will always
have me Mulder, always."