From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 29 Mar 2007 00:23:00 -0000
Subject: Changing Nature of Friendship: Modifications by Anne Milne
Source: direct

Reply To: annem@iprimus.com.au


Title: The Changing Nature of Friendship 2: Modifications
Author: Anne Milne
Email: annem@iprimus.com.au
http: www.milneyfilms.com/mum
Date: March 2007
Spoilers: S4, then a BIG deviation into AU!
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognise doesn't belong to me. 
They've just come over to play for a while. They'll be back 
home by the time it gets dark, I promise. Really.
Category: Angst, MSR 
Rating: PG13 for language
Feedback: Pleeeeeeeeeease!
Archive: Go for it
Thanks: CC and Fox for the X-Files. GA and DD for bringing 
M and S to life. Sara B., for giving encouragement and 
suggestions.
Summary: Sequel. Mulder's attitude to Scully seems to change, 
and she wonders what's going wrong.
Other stuff: Fowley warning: she's ba-ack! (early). This is a 
follow-up to Changing Nature of Friendship.



Modifications.


Following Dana Scully's release from the Mayo Clinic in 
Rochester, she and Fox Mulder had returned to Washington 
D.C., determined to build a life together. Mulder had decided to 
be unafraid, and so he and Dana had firstly told her mother of 
their engagement. Then, much to Dana's surprise, he had made 
an appointment to see Assistant Director Walter Skinner, where 
Mulder had cheerfully informed Skinner of their plans, and 
asked if it would be alright for the two of them to stay 
partnered. Skinner's response was unexpected. Essentially, he 
said that so long as their personal relationship didn't interfere 
with their work, there would be no issues. 

Dana had spent ten days at the Mayo Clinic in an effort to 
determine why she was so tired all the time. As it transpired, 
she'd had an undiagnosed bout of mononucleosis, and as luck 
would have it, Dana had ended up with a couple of the less 
common side effects. 

###
(Seven days earlier)

I sat in the chair, dumbfounded at what Dr Sheedy had said. 
"Anaemia? A heart inflammation?" I repeated back stupidly. 
After taking a few deep breaths, I asked, "What is the 
prognosis?"

Dr Sheedy smiled at me. "I see no reason why you shouldn't 
make a complete recovery. The regime of medication has been 
tailored for you, and so long as you follow that and your diet, 
you'll be just fine." He looked at Mulder, and added, "You 
won't need to worry about getting mono from Dana. Your blood 
tests show plenty of natural immunity. You're more likely to get 
hit by a bus than catching mono from kissing Dana."

"What about work?" I asked.

"I would prefer that you work half days for the next month. I'll 
give you a list of blood tests that your personal physician can 
run in a month's time, and he can fax the results to me." The 
doctor saw my look of disappointment, and added, "Don't be 
too worried, Dana. You'll start to feel better in the next week or 
two, and by the time you go back to full days, you should be 
back at the top of your game." Dr Sheedy nodded at us both, 
shook our hands, and left my room.

Mulder and I sat there, holding hands as the information sank 
in. He gave my hand a squeeze, and said, "It's okay, Scully. 
We'll handle this together." At my raised eyebrow, he added, "I 
won't leave you over this. You mean too much to me."

I nodded my thanks, and we both stood. Mulder took me in his 
arms, and held me tightly, murmuring that everything would be 
fine.

###

About eight weeks had passed since Rochester, and Dana had 
been trying to pin Mulder down to finalise wedding 
arrangements. They had already decided on small and intimate, 
but there were still decisions that had to be made. Dana had 
decided that she was going to get an answer out of Mulder 
today about possible venues, and she puttered around the office 
while she waited for Mulder to get back from Skinner's office 
with their new case. She heard the elevator doors chime, and 
heard two voices. One was Mulder's, and the other was a 
woman's. What was going on now?

"Hey Scully, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine," Mulder 
proclaimed as he escorted the woman into the office. Dana gave 
her the once over, and was not happy. This woman, whoever 
she was, had all the attributes of the quintessential Mulderbabe: 
tall, large chest, dark eyes. What disturbed Dana the most, 
though, was the way the woman seemed to hang all over her 
Mulder.

The woman stuck her hand out, and said, "Agent Scully, Diana 
Fowley. I'm so pleased to meet the best forensic scientist in the 
FBI."

Dana shook the proffered hand, and acknowledged the greeting. 
"Agent Fowley. You have the advantage, as your reputation 
doesn't precede you." The next words out of Mulder's mouth did 
not ease Dana's concern at all.

"Diana has been temporarily assigned to the X-Files until your 
recovery is complete. Skinner decided it would be a good 
thing."

Dana had kept her gaze on Mulder's eyes, and knew that he was 
hiding something. 'I need to follow this up with Skinner,' she 
thought. Out loud, she asked, "So, what's on the agenda for 
today, Mulder?"

She was beginning to feel like she'd walked into a weird 
situation when Mulder looked at Fowley as he replied, "Not 
much for you, but Diana and I will be heading out to check a 
lead I was given on the Forrestal case." He turned to look at 
Scully and added, "Besides, don't you have a doctor's visit this 
afternoon?" Dana nodded, the hurt at Mulder's casual dismissal 
plain in her eyes. He seemed not to notice as he turned back to 
Fowley and said, "Let's get going now, Diana." Fowley smiled 
at him, and turned towards the door. Dana tried not to flinch 
when Mulder put his hand at the small of the other woman's 
back as he guided her out of the office. 

Dana's hands were shaking as she picked up the phone. "Byers, 
turn off the tapes, now," she spat. When he confirmed that the 
tapes were off, she started questioning him about Diana 
Fowley, and who she was in Mulder's past. At the end of the 
conversation, her whole body was vibrating with barely-
restrained anger. 'Ex-almost wife, huh? There is no way she's 
going to get my Mulder back!' Dana sat back in her chair, 
summoning all of her famous control. She did some deep 
breathing exercises, calming herself. She knew that she needed 
to leave for the doctor's office shortly, and Dana and driving 
angry was not a good combination.

###

I couldn't believe what my doctor had just told me, and 
demanded that the test be run again. I shouldn't have been so 
surprised when Sue Gibbons told me that this particular test had 
been run three times, with the same result.

"There is no doubt, Dana. You're pregnant. Do you have any 
idea when conception might have taken place?"

I racked my brain, feverishly trying to work out if Mulder had 
been using condoms each time we made love. Finally, the light 
bulb went on. "It must have been about seven weeks ago." I 
looked at Sue, and wailed, "But that was the only time he didn't 
use a condom, and I'm on the Pill!"

Sue had the nerve to start laughing. "You know it only takes 
one time, Dana," she gasped as she got her fit of giggles under 
control. "And you need to stop taking the Pill right now." She 
gave me a long look as she considered all the other medication 
I'd been taking. "I don't think that any of your meds will 
damage the foetus, but you do need to change your 
multivitamin for a prenatal prescription. I'll let Dr Sheedy 
know, of course. Do you have an obstetrician you'd like to use, 
or do you need a referral?" Sue looked down at my records, and 
considered what was on the pages. "I think that at some point, 
the meds from Mayo may have changed how the Pill worked. 
At least, that's what I think is a likely scenario for your 
pregnancy." I nodded in agreement with her, at least on that 
score.

I thought about her offer about an obstetrician, and said, "I'd 
like a referral, please." At that, Sue took out her diary, scanned 
the list of names, and came to a decision. As she picked up the 
phone and began dialling, she said to me that she considered me 
high-risk because of the heart inflammation, but that she wasn't 
overly concerned about it. By the time I left Sue's office, I had a 
prescription for prenatal vitamins, an appointment the following 
afternoon with my new obstetrician, and a bad feeling about 
Fowley's sudden reappearance in Mulder's life. It couldn't be a 
coincidence: it felt far too contrived for that.

I needed to talk to Mulder, so I pulled out my cell and dialed. It 
went straight through to voicemail, so I left a message that he 
needed to call me back as soon as he got the message. The next 
surprise was waiting for me in the office. 

"Son of a. . " I said as I opened the door to find a note on 
Mulder's desk. I picked up the note to see what he was up to 
now.

"Scully,
Diana has gotten a lead about Samantha that we need to follow 
up on right away. I'll call when I can.
Mulder."

All I could feel were the emotions warring in me. Anger, 
because I had been well and truly ditched; sadness, that he 
hadn't even thought to call me; and fear, at not knowing where 
he was. Added to that was my instant dislike of Diana Fowley, 
and my day had gone from okay to unreal. I had to do 
something, so I picked up the phone, and called Skinner's 
office. I needed to talk with him about Fowley's assignment to 
the X-Files, and if he knew where the two of them had gone.

###

Walter Skinner was never happy to find out that agents under 
his command had done the wrong thing, so he was less than 
impressed with Mulder and Fowley's disappearing trick. He sat 
back in his chair as he carefully observed Agent Scully's actions 
and demeanour. Normally, Scully was hard to read, but right 
now, she was showing her emotions like a lighthouse. He 
cleared his throat to attract her attention, then he spoke.

"Agent Scully, the decision to reassign Agent Fowley was not 
mine," as he flicked his gaze to the ashtray on his desk.

Scully's eyes widened, then her face closed off completely. 
Skinner marvelled at the change in her demeanour. "Are you 
suggesting, sir, that Agent Mulder may be in trouble at this 
time?"

"Yes, Agent Scully, that is exactly what I am suggesting. The 
powers that be know of Mulder's past with Fowley, as well as 
his present with you. We both know that they would stop at 
nothing to separate you, emotionally if not physically as well. 
They know that Mulder's a loose cannon, and that you have 
tempered that more than they like. When he's with you, he's 
much less likely to go crazy. His past record with Fowley, 
however, shows that she was always going to encourage his 
wayward behaviour patterns."

Dana had started nodding during Skinner's monologue. "Do you 
know where the two of them have gone, sir?"

"No, Scully, I do not. I have Kim trying to track them down, 
and both of them are more than likely going to be suspended 
when they return," he said grimly. "Was there anything else you 
needed to raise with me?"

"Just that I'm going to need some medical leave tomorrow, sir."

"Done. Dana, is everything alright?"

"Yes, sir. I just have some follow up testing I need to do."

"Alright. Dismissed."

Scully stood and walked out of the door. Skinner watched her 
go, and couldn't help wondering if there was more that she was 
not saying to him. 'Mulder' he thought, 'don't throw away the 
best thing that's ever happened to you. I have a bad feeling that 
this is not going to end well.'

###

I had been alternating between fury with and fear for Mulder 
for the last week. The guys had been trying to track him down, 
and I had lost count of the number of messages I had left for 
him. I wanted to tell Mulder about our baby before I told 
anyone else, but his non-appearance was making that difficult. 
Mom knew that something was going on, and I had never been 
able to lie to her convincingly face to face, so I had avoided 
visiting her. Finally, after Mulder had been out of touch for 
eight days, Frohike called me.

"Scully, Mulder's back in his apartment."

"When did he get back there, and how do you know?"

"He knows that we keep an electronic eye on things when he's 
out of town." Frohike paused, and coughed.

"What's wrong?"

He cleared his throat and said, very quietly, "He's not alone, 
Dana. Fowley's there with him."

"Crap, that's all I need. Thank you, Frohike: I appreciate all that 
you've done to help me," I said as I ran out the door on my way 
to beard the lion in his den.

I almost wish that I had been delayed.

When I got there, Mulder was in bed.

Naked.

With an equally naked Diana Fowley draped over him, and his 
bedroom smelling of sex.

I stood there for I don't know how long, trying not to scream 
abuse or burst into tears. Seeing them together made me feel as 
though I had been shot or punched in the stomach. I had started 
to back out of the bedroom when Mulder stirred and opened 
one of his eyes. He had started to smile at me when he realised 
the 'delicate' position he was in. He looked to see who was in 
bed with him, and if he hadn't already been lying down, he 
probably would have fallen down. His eyes just about bugged 
out of his head, and his face went completely white.

"Scully, I don't know what to say. ."

"Save it for someone who cares, Mulder," I said as I turned on 
my heel to leave.

I heard him struggle out of bed, and heard Fowley say 
something. Mulder must have stopped to say something to her, 
then I heard him call to me, "Scully, wait, please."

"Why, Mulder? Why should I wait around to be humiliated 
further?"

"Because this really is not what it looks like."

"Really? You mean to say that me walking in on you and your 
ex-almost wife naked together in bed, with the room reeking of 
sex, isn't what it seems?"

Mulder hung his head for a moment, then raised his eyes to 
mine. "I swear, Scully, I don't remember sleeping with her. I'm 
as surprised as you to find her here," he finished with tears 
starting to cloud his eyes. He watched me as I walked over to 
his desk. Looking around the room, I noticed a half-empty 
bottle of wine, and two glasses. One had some kind of residue 
in it, and I pointed this out to Mulder. 

"You'll want to get that analysed, then, I'm sure," I replied as I 
pulled my keys from my pocket. Twisting it, I removed 
Mulder's key from the bunch, and placed it on his desk. Putting 
the rest back in my pocket, I removed the sapphire engagement 
ring from my finger.

"No, Dana. Please stop. You're scaring me."

"And you don't think that I've been scared for the last eight 
days? You ditched me, Mulder, after you promised me that you 
wouldn't. You didn't respond to any of my voicemails,"

He interrupted me with, "What voicemails?"

"Oh, please. Don't insult me. I must have left three messages a 
day on your cell, and at least one a day on your machine here. 
Oh, look, a flashing red light! Let's see who left messages," I 
said as I pressed play.

After the machine announced that he had sixteen messages, the 
first one started. It was from me, asking that he please call me 
as soon as he could. He looked at me sickly, and said, "Okay, 
but you didn't leave me any voicemails." He stopped, and 
looked at the bedroom door, catching Fowley there with a smug 
look on her face. She wasn't able to cover it fast enough, and 
Mulder advanced menacingly on her. As he was about to reach 
her, she darted back into the bedroom, and locked the door. He 
rattled the knob, and turned back to me, just in time to see me 
take off my ring and put it next to his key.

"Please, Dana. She set me up."

"I can see that, but you let her, and you still ditched me, and 
you still had sex with her! Did you think to use a condom?" I 
shouted at him.

"I saw a used condom on the floor, so I assume I did. I don't 
want children with anyone but you," he pleaded.

"I guess we'll never know," I replied as I walked towards the 
door.

"Wait, please. Let me get dressed, and we'll go somewhere and 
talk."

"I don't think Fowley is going to let you back into your 
bedroom any time soon," I said as I reached the door. 
"Goodbye, Mulder." And I walked out.

###

Dana Scully didn't quite know how she made it back to the 
Hoover building. Her chest was hurting, and her eyes were 
burning with unshed tears. 'Damn him for making me love him 
and making me believe that he loved me. And damn her to hell 
for what she did!' she thought. Somehow, she got her car 
parked, and made it back to the basement office. She had just 
sat down at her table, when there was a knock on the door, and 
Assistant Director Skinner entered.

"Agent Scully, I just received a frantic phone call from Agent 
Mulder about you."

Scully simply sat back in her chair, and raised an eyebrow. 
"And?"

"He's mad with worry about you, Scully, and furious with 
himself. What happened?"

"Agent Mulder slept with Agent Fowley, sir. Apparently, she 
wanted him back, and drugged him. Hopefully, Mulder will 
have the wine glass analysed." She paused for a while. "No 
wonder I couldn't pin him down with wedding arrangements," 
she finished in a dull monotone.

Skinner stared at her, and noticed her bare ring finger. "You 
called it off?" he asked in a soft voice.

Scully nodded as she rubbed her chest. "I cannot compete with 
the X-Files for his attention any more, and I won't be second 
place to anyone or anything."

Skinner watched her. Scully seemed to be in increasing pain, 
and her normally fair skin was becoming paler by the second. 
"Scully? What's wrong?" he barked.

"Chest. . hurts," she managed to say. She looked up at Skinner 
with glassy eyes, and said, "I'm pregnant. . Mulder doesn't 
know." Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she slid from her 
chair onto the floor. Skinner grabbed the phone to summon 
medical help. "I won't tell anyone about the baby," he said to 
the unconscious woman. 'Mulder, what have you done?'

###

The paramedics that Skinner summoned had transported an 
unconscious Dana Scully to GWMC. Dana had come around 
briefly while in transit to give the paramedics her doctor's name 
before she drifted off again. Dana was vaguely aware of voices 
around her, and was trying to wake up. The darkness called to 
her, and she succumbed to its siren call. Finally, several hours 
later, she woke up properly to find herself in a private room, 
with her mother holding her hand. When her mom realised she 
was awake, Mrs Scully wasted no time in calling for the doctor. 
Dana was only mildly surprised to see Gail Manning, her 
obstetrician, enter the room.

"Well, Dana, you've given all of us a bit of a scare. Can you 
remember what happened?"

Dana thought for a while. "I remember my chest hurting at 
work, and then hearing people talking around me. Then I woke 
up here."

Dr Manning nodded. "Your test results indicate that you've had 
a slight cardiac episode. Did anything overly stressful happen at 
work today?"

Dana looked sheepishly at her mom, and answered, "Yes, you 
could say that. What's the prognosis, Gail?"

"Well, I'd like to keep you here for observation for the next 
forty-eight hours. That way, we can make sure that your heart is 
okay, and that there's been no negative effects on the baby."

Mrs Scully gasped. "A baby? Dana, you didn't tell me you were 
pregnant. Why not?"

"Because I wanted to let the father know first, and he 
disappeared for over a week. That was a part of the 'overly 
stressful experience' I had today."

"Is it Fox?"

Dana just nodded. Gail Manning cleared her throat to get 
Dana's attention. "Strict bed rest for the next twenty-four hours, 
Dana. Do not get out of bed for anything, and NO getting upset. 
I don't want you to aggravate anything, okay?"

"Yes, Gail. I understand," Dana responded softly. Gail snorted 
at her, and left the room.

Mrs Scully was about to ask her daughter a question when 
Dana's cell started to chime. Mrs Scully got it out of the bedside 
table, and handed it to Dana.

"Scully." Her face fell when she realised who it was.

"No, Mulder, I can't meet you."

"No, I can't have dinner with you."

"Why don't you ask Fowley? I'm sure she'd be happy to go out 
with you again."

"I'm hanging up, Mulder."

Mrs Scully could hear Mulder still speaking to Dana as she 
ended the call, then switched her cell off. "What was that all 
about, Dana?"

Dana looked at her mother, and the tears started. "He ditched 
me, mom. Eight days without word. Today, the guys told me he 
was back, so I went to his apartment to tell him about the baby. 
He was in bed with another woman, so I gave him back his 
ring. End of story."

Mrs Scully was shocked by the flat recitation of events, and 
moved to hold her weeping child. "It'll be alright, baby. There 
must be a reason for Fox's actions." The cardiac monitor 
attached to Dana started to beep louder, and Mrs Scully heard 
an alarm start sounding outside. One of the cardiac nurses came 
trotting in, took one look at Dana, and called out for the doctor 
to come back. Gail Manning entered the room, and asked Mrs 
Scully to step away from the bed, a question in her eyes. "Dana 
was telling me what happened, that was all."

"Well, this isn't good for her, or for the baby," Gail said to Mrs 
Scully. Turning to Dana, Gail started talking to her softly, 
trying to help Dana get her emotions back under control. It took 
a few minutes, but finally Dana's sobs slowed. "I'm going to 
order a mild sedative for you, Dana. You need to rest, and I 
need to make sure that you aren't disturbed." Looking at Mrs 
Scully, Gail said, "You can visit Dana whenever you want from 
tomorrow, but no other visitors tonight."

Mrs Scully agreed readily to the doctor's request. She gave 
Dana a hug and kissed her goodnight. On her way down the 
corridor, she noticed Walter Skinner, and let him know of the 
restriction on visitors. The two of them continued out of the 
hospital together, conversing about Dana and Mulder, and what 
this meant for Dana's career.

###

Meanwhile, Fox Mulder hadn't been idle. After Dana had left 
his apartment, he called a couple of buddies he had in the DC 
Police Department, and got them involved in what had occurred 
between him and Fowley. Although the police had been 
inclined to laugh it off at first, once they tested the wine glass 
that Mulder had used, they found traces of rohypnol, as well as 
saliva that they were able to determine was Mulder's. After they 
got Fowley to open the bedroom door, they arrested her, and 
took her to the station for processing. Mulder showered and 
dressed, then started cleaning up his apartment. He was in the 
middle of gathering up the bedding and his clothes when he 
smelt the telltale odour of cigarette smoke.

"Doing some cleaning up, Fox?" came the raspy voice.

"Yes. Now, why don't you leave before I throw you out?"

"Now, now, my boy, that's no way to talk to the one man who 
can make sure that Diana stays away from you."

Mulder turned slowly to face his nemesis. "You knew about 
Scully and me, and you wanted it stopped," Mulder said, the 
realisation of how well he'd been fooled showing on his face.

"On the contrary, Fox. The lovely Agent Scully is who you 
need. Sending Diana back wasn't my idea."

"But you made the most of it, didn't you? Scully's called it off, 
so you've got your way," Mulder spat the words at him.

"Nonsense. Just as you need her, she needs you. Now, more 
than ever."

Mulder was intrigued in spite of himself. "What do you mean?"

"Call your fiance, Fox. Find out how she is, and more 
importantly, where she is. She needs you."

"What are you going to do about Fowley?"

"She will have the error of her ways pointed out to her. She'll 
never face justice via the DCPD, but I have ways and means to. 
. assist her." The gleam in the Smoker's eye was unnerving.

"And you'll leave Scully and me alone?"

Cancerman considered the request. "Alright. You and Agent 
Scully won't be bothered IF you don't bother us. Think of it as a 
wedding present."

Mulder looked down at his feet. When he looked up again, the 
old man had gone. He picked up his cell, and called Scully.

"Scully."

"Hey Scully, it's me. Can you come back here?"

"No, Mulder, I can't meet you."

"Come on, Scully. You, me, dinner at Carlito's. What do you 
say?"

"No, I can't have dinner with you."

"Why not? We both need to eat."

"Why don't you ask Fowley? I'm sure she'd be happy to go out 
with you again."

"That's what I want to talk to you about."

"I'm hanging up, Mulder."

"Wait, Scully, don't hang up!" Too late. When he redialled her 
number, all he got was the out of service message. 

He looked around his apartment, and decided that he'd give 
Scully a couple of hours to cool off. Then, he'd find her, and 
they'd talk this out. Mulder knew that he had to fix this before 
Scully had a chance to reinforce the walls around her heart once 
more.

###

CGB Spender sauntered into the police station in Alexandria 
like he owned the place. He looked around until he spotted the 
desk sergeant, and approached him.

"I'm here to post bail for one of your 'guests'," he said as he 
drew lazily on his cigarette.

The sergeant eyed him distastefully. "I'll have to ask you to put 
your cigarette out, sir. This is a no-smoking area." After 
Spender had grudgingly complied, the man behind the desk 
asked, "And which of our 'guests' are you interested in, sir?"

"Diana Fowley. I'm her attorney, Raul Bloodworth. What has 
her bail been set at?"

'Bloodworth?' Sure, like that's his real name', the sergeant 
thought to himself. "Ms Fowley's bail has been set at $20,000, 
and she's not to approach either Agent Mulder or Agent Scully."

"That's quite alright, sergeant. I can assure you that Ms Fowley 
will abide by the terms of her bail," Spender drawled as he 
brought out a cashier's cheque for the required amount. He had 
guessed the bail amount correctly after all.

The desk sergeant started the paperwork for Fowley's release, 
and fifteen minutes later, she was escorted from the holding 
area to the front desk. She kept her eyes averted from Spender 
while the sergeant went through her bail conditions. Finally, 
after all the paperwork was taken care of, Fowley and Spender 
left the building.

Spender directed Fowley to a waiting limo. Once they were in, 
and the vehicle was moving, he turned to Fowley.

"What you did to Fox was unnecessary, Diana. He has someone 
else now, who is far better for him than you ever could be."

"That little midget! I'm much better for Fox, and you know it. I 
can get him back: give me another chance!" she begged.

The Smoker looked at her, his eyes hooded. "I don't think so, 
Diana. He no longer needs you. Dr Scully is who he needs, not 
you. You are to leave them alone."

"No. I will get Fox back, and he will join us. If he doesn't, he'll 
never see his precious Scully again."

Spender simply ignored her as he opened a compartment in the 
door. He withdrew a syringe filled with a clear liquid. He 
removed the cap from the syringe, and turned to Fowley. "Roll 
up your sleeve, Diana."

"You can't be serious!" she exclaimed. "You can't do this to 
me!"

"On the contrary, my dear. I can do anything to you that I want. 
Now, roll up your sleeve."

Fowley tried to open the door of the moving vehicle, only to 
find it locked. She looked at Spender, and saw a dark shape 
moving towards her. The big man grabbed her, and held her 
arm steady while Spender injected her. Fowley's eyes rolled 
back in her head as she dropped into a drugged slumber.

"When we arrive, take her, and make sure she gets an implant," 
he said, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. He considered for a 
moment, and added, "One of the implants that controls as well 
as tracks. I need to make sure of where she is, and what she's 
doing."

"Why not just dispose of her, sir?" asked the goon.

"Because she has not yet outlived her usefulness," was the calm 
reply.

The black car sped off into the night.

###

'Where is she hiding now?' thought Mulder. He had been to 
Dana's apartment, where everything was as he remembered. He 
had felt ashamed when he walked through her apartment, 
thinking that it had been nearly two weeks since his last visit. 
'What is wrong with me? I have the best woman in the world, 
and my actions have been less than stellar. Get it together, Fox!' 
He continued berating himself as he drove around DC, trying to 
figure out where Dana was. He knew that she'd been back to the 
office, and had left in a hurry, but he couldn't work out why. 
There was no answer at Mrs Scully's home, so he finally called 
the guys.

"Magic Bullet."

"It's me. Do you know where Scully is?"

Frohike cleared his throat before answering. He was clearly 
hesitating over something.

"Come on, Frohike. I need to talk to her."

The little man cleared his throat again before answering. He 
was obviously uncomfortable to be in this position. Finally, he 
said, "She's at GWMC."

"What! Why?"

"She was taken there from the Hoover building earlier today. 
We hacked into the computers there, and she's had some kind of 
cardiac episode."

Mulder pulled the car over as he prepared to do a U-turn to go 
back towards the hospital. "What aren't you telling me?"

"She's not allowed any visitors until tomorrow morning, due to 
stress. They won't let you in, Mulder."

"She has to let me in. I have to explain about Diana."

"Mulder, they didn't even let her mom stay. Her doctors are 
really worried about her and the baby."

"Baby? What baby?"

"According to her records, she's about nine weeks pregnant. 
You didn't know?"

"That must be why she was trying to contact me while I was 
away." Mulder heard Frohike snort in disbelief, and Mulder felt 
it necessary to defend himself. "Diana took my cell, and deleted 
all my voicemail messages, so I didn't even know that Scully 
had called."

Frohike snorted again, and asked, "So why didn't you call her, 
you moron?"

Mulder had the grace to sound ashamed when he answered. 
"Diana said that we shouldn't let anyone know where we were."

"Did you find any information about Samantha while you were 
with her?"

"No. It was a ploy to separate Scully and me."

Frohike cleared his throat again, and asked, very gently, "It 
looks like she might have succeeded, don't you think?"

"No, I don't accept that at all. Once Scully calms down, and I 
can explain, it'll be fine," Mulder answered confidently. "I'll see 
you later, and thanks."

Frohike looked at the phone in his hand that was now sounding 
a dial tone. "I hope you're right, Mulder," he said to himself. "I 
don't think that Dana Scully is likely to forgive this screw-up 
too easily."

###

It was now after ten pm, and Dana had finally calmed down 
enough to start to relax. The door was carefully pushed open, 
and the unmistakable aroma of cigarettes caused her eyes to fly 
open. "What the hell do you want?" she hissed at the Smoking 
Man.

"I don't want anything, Agent Scully, other than to wish you a 
swift recovery, and a healthy child."

Dana's eyes closed in resignation. Of course this man would 
know everything about her. She opened her eyes again, and said 
coldly, "You will never have this baby. Go and tell Fowley to 
get pregnant to Mulder, and then take her children from her."

"What Diana did was not my idea." At Dana's obvious disbelief, 
the Smoker continued, "I like you, Agent Scully, and I know 
that you are the best thing that has ever happened to Fox. In 
fact, I saw him earlier, and gave him my wedding gift to you. 
You don't bother us, and we won't bother you. You have my 
word on that."

"Somehow that doesn't fill me with confidence." Dana closed 
her eyes again, and asked, "Can you keep Fowley away from 
me?"

Spender smiled lazily, and replied, "Diana is being shown the 
error of her ways even as we speak. What happened between 
her and Fox was entirely her doing, and she's paying for that 
mistake. She won't bother you any more."

Dana shook her head slowly. "Why are you doing this?"

"As I said, I like you. I will make sure that you and Fox, and 
your family, are left alone. Keep out of my affairs, and I'll keep 
out of yours." He moved towards the door, and before he exited 
her room, he added, "Remember, Agent Scully. Live your life, 
and let me live mine, and everything will be fine. Otherwise, all 
deals are off." Then he left, leaving a vapour trail of the smell 
of cigarettes.

Dana took a deep breath, and sighed. Somehow, she had 
managed to remain calm while Spender was talking to her, and 
she went over the things he had said to her. 'So, what happened 
with Fowley was all her doing. Not that I'll be able to forget 
seeing the two of them in bed together. What am I going to do?' 
She was drifting back into sleep when she heard her door creak 
open again. 'What now?'

"Hey, Scully?" Oh, joy. Mulder.

"It's late, I'm tired, and I'm not supposed to have visitors, so
 just go."

"I can't do that. I need to be here with the woman I love, and 
with our child."

"How did you find out?"

He had a sheepish grin on his face. "Frohike hacked your 
records, and he told me. That was what all the phone messages 
were about, right?"

Dana simply nodded. All she wanted was to sleep, and she 
didn't feel like she had the strength to deal with this right now. 
Mulder came over to the bed, and found himself a space next to 
her. He took her hand, and started talking softly. 

"I have in my pocket a signed statement that DCPD took from 
Diana. She wanted to separate us, and seduce me. When I didn't 
succumb to her advances, she drugged me. She deleted your 
voicemail messages from my cell. She had herself transferred 
back here when she heard we were engaged. This whole 
situation was brought about by her jealousy, and I am so sorry 
that it took what it did for me to see through her." He stroked 
Dana's hair while he was talking, then he placed his hand on her 
abdomen. "I swear to you that I will never do anything to 
jeopardise you, or us, or our baby. I will spend the rest of my 
life proving that to you. Please, Dana. Tell me I have a chance."

Dana had kept her eyes closed while Mulder was talking, but 
now she opened them, and found that Mulder had tears on his 
cheeks. She took a breath, and tried to remain calm. "It will take 
me some time before I'll be able to get the image of the two of 
you together out of my head. You hurt me, Mulder. You ditched 
me, and ran off with another woman. That will take time to get 
over, and you'll just have to give me that time." She put her 
hand on his arm, and he looked into her eyes as she started 
speaking again. "If we are going to make this work, we have to 
be honest with each other. I love you, and I do want us to be 
together. But, I have to come first, and you need to make me 
feel that I come first with you." She swallowed, and added, 
"Just as I need to make you feel that you come first with me."

Mulder brushed the tears from his face, and did the same to 
Dana. "I've always known that I come first with you, Dana. I 
said to you in Rochester that none of this," he said as he 
gestured around the hospital room, "matters to me, and that 
nothing can defeat us if we are together. I meant it then, and I 
mean it now. Do you believe me?"

Dana chuckled through her tears. "I want to believe."

"Then believe this," he said as he took her ring out of his 
pocket. As he placed it back on her finger, he kissed her softly, 
and said, "I love you. I have always loved you, and I will 
always love you, and I will spend the rest of my life proving 
that."

Dana looked at the ring, then at her beloved. "You know this is 
just a start, don't you? You're not forgiven yet."

He nodded at her. "Think there's room for the two of us up 
here?" he asked.

Dana looked at him, then at the bed, and answered, "Why don't 
we find out?"

Mulder slipped his shoes off, and climbed in behind her. They 
got comfortable, and almost immediately, he was asleep. Dana 
chuckled again, and followed him into dreams.

This is how the cardiac nurse found them when she came in at 2 
am to check Dana's monitors. 'Must be the daddy,' she thought 
as she went about her business. As the nurse left the room, she 
gently closed the door, and hung a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the 
outside.