From: Mulder its me scully Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 17:06:59 -0800 (PST) Subject: REVISED: The Choice Source: direct Title: The Choice Author: M_I_M_S Summary: Mulder must make a devestating choice. Rating: Pg-13 for use of some fowl language. Legal Disclaimer: Ok, here goes. None of the characters are mine. They all belong to Chris Carter etc...you get it right? Category: MSR,MulderAngst ~FBI Building~ 10:13 PM "You ok Mulder?" asked Scully, the concern evident in her voice. As she looked at her partner of 5 yrs., she grew increasingly worried. Mulder was bent over his computer screen, his shoulders slumped over as if they carried heavy weights they couldn't hold. His brow was wrinkled in concentration or frustration; she couldn't tell which. The fact that he hadn't replied to her anxiously spoken question caused her to frown. "Mulder?" She questioned in a louder voice. "What?" Mulder looked up from his computer screen and proceeded to fix his quiet stare on Scully's concerned face. "What's going on with you? You have been acting odd all day." "Sorry Scully, I've just been anxious to get this case over with. You know I hate paperwork." As Scully stared at Mulder, she knew he was lying to her. Not about the paperwork part. Oh no. She could recall many nights she had taken Mulder's part of the paperwork home with her to finish. She did, however, know something was wrong and that he was deliberately trying to distract her from the fact. She really hadn't really expected anything different. Mulder was always hiding his true feelings from her. And every time he did, she couldn't help but think that he did so to try and protect her. Scully sighed in resignation and decided it would probably be best to discuss this tomorrow. Knowing Mulder, he was probably trying to figure out how to convince her to go on the next crazy case. She smirked at that and looked back at Mulder. "C'mon Mulder. It's late. Let's go home." " Umm..you go ahead Scully, I have just a little bit more to finish up with here." "Ok. I'll see you tomorrow." Scully proceeded to turn off her computer, then stood up and walked across the room to get her coat. When she was standing in the doorway, about to exit the room, she got a nagging feeling in her mind. She hesitated. " You sure you're ok Mulder?" " I'm fine, Scully. Go on and go home." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Parking Garage~ 10:30 PM Although Scully knew something was bothering Mulder, she had no choice but to leave and go home. There was no way she could wrestle Mulder down and make him tell her about his problem. Her mouth smiled in a quirky movement at the image of herself wrestling Mulder to the floor. As she walked to her car in the dimly lit parking garage, she thought of the many possible causes of Mulder's strange behavior that day. As she neared her car, she gave up on her futile guessing game and decided that whatever was bothering Mulder would come out sooner or later. It usually did. With that decision being reached, she started to dig through her coat pockets to find her car keys. As she did so, a feeling of eeriness passed down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She glanced down at the shadow that had appeared on the parking garage floor seconds before. She gasped as she looked up at the man that had created such a creepy shadow. And just when her mind reached the point of recognition, she felt a blinding pain in her head and she crumpled to the cold, cement floor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Mulder's Office~ 10:30 PM. {Same as above scene} Mulder looked up from his hypnotized gaze that was focused on the computer screen in front of him. At that moment, he had felt a blind panic and he was disturbed that his senses were so heightened from the e-mail he had received. 'I'm just lucky Scully wasn't here to see my reaction' he though to himself derisively.He growled in frustration and self-disgust. "I will not do this to myself. I won't let those bastards win!" He commanded himself, pacing the office floor. He sat back down, but with a stronger sense of determination. This would not affect his work. That is probably the goal the pervert had in mind when he sent it to him. Perhaps this was just a decoy, another setup, to get him kicked of the X-Files project. It had happened before. As much as he wanted to think that this was just that, a voice from his inner gut told a much different story. Something big was about to happen. And he would never forgive himself if Scully was harmed in any way because of his preocupation with the e-mail he had recieved. With his decision to protect Scully made, he closed down his computer and grabbed his coat on the way out of his office. As he walked from the FBI Building to his car, the sense that something was wrong grew. As he reached his car, he noticed that Scully's car wasn't parked in her usual spot, the one located right beside his anymore. "Of course not Mulder. She went home, remember!?" Mulder reprimanded himself for his memory lapse. And then every thought that was in his head flew out through his ears except that of self-derision. Mulder dropped to his knees as he noticed the small pool of blood that was splattered on the pavement of the parking garage. And as he stared at the puddle,he knew instictively who's body the blood belonged to. His mouth turned into a frown, and his face crumpled in pain. In the back of his mind, he realized his was blubbering like a baby, but all he could think of was that Scully ended up being hurt after all, even though he hadn't told her of the message that he had been staring at for the past 3 hours. Now, all he could think of was that he should have acted faster, should have realized that the stranger who had sent that messaged was serious. He felt tremendous guilt as the imprint of the message blinked over and over in his brain. Someone you hold dear will be killed tonight. Beware. A choice will have to made Mr. Mulder. Prepare yourself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Location unknown~ 11:00 PM. Scully awoke from her blissful blanket of slumber with a pounding headache. As she became more and more lucid,she began cataloging her surroundings. She was in a dark room, a basement of some sort, she concluded from the cement walls and floor and from sounds of water dripping to the floor in a puddle. She discovered that she was strapped to some sort of metal bed that held her stiffly upright. Her hands were tied down by her sides to the bed with metal cuffs.She soon became very aware of the damp coldness that hung in the air she was very aware She shivered in reaction. And then she knew who had locked her here in this basement. Out of the darkness, she suddenly saw a flame and then the red butt of cigarette that a shadowy man was smoking. "Glad to have you with us Agent Scully" " You! I should have known! What are you up to this time!?" "Temper, temper. You should learn to control that redheaded tendency Ms. Scully. It causes one to make sloppy mistakes," The man calmly stated. " Where am I?" She fired out the question, but this time a little more calmly. " You will get all the answers you seek in due time my dear, but we can't start until all the guests get here. That would be rude." And with that caustic comment, the man walked out of the room. XXXXXXXXXXXX End part 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX part 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ~Mulder's Apartment~ 11:21 pm. Mulder lay on his couch, staring at photos of himself with Scully on various cases. His heart was heavily weighed down with guilt. Although he sensed that Scully was still alive, he had very little hope of finding her. With previous cases he had at least a scrap of evidence to go on, and along with that an informant who might have helped him. He was shot down on both counts this time. And just when he was about to resign himself to the death of his beloved Scully, he heard the computer on his desk beep.He had received an E-mail message. Mulder got up from his couch and sat down at the chair stationed next to his computer. He opened his e-mail and clicked on the newest entry. Another one. This one simply gave an address. No demands. No requests. No directions. Just the address. He knew he had no choice but to go to wherever they wanted him to go if he ever wanted to see Scully alive again. His hopelessness rebirthed itself into determination. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Undisclosed location~ 12:01 am Mulder drove up to a deserted apartment building. "This is it?!" Mulder asked himself skeptically. He walked slowly and cautiously to the front door. As soon as he reached it, the door swung open. Mulder drew his gun in suprise. When he was satisfied that he had not been set up for an ambush, he proceeded to creep inside the open doorway of the disrepaired building. It was dark inside and he paused a few moments to let his eyes adjust. As soon as his eyes were comfortable with the surrounding darkness, he looked around to assess his surroundings. At that moment he caught site of Scully, bound to some sort of metal bed. His eyes traveled the length of her, cataloging her various injuries, and to his immense relief, none were serious. He ran to her and his caution was terminated at the moment he realized he might be able to free her. He soon paid his price for his carelessness. A man came barreling toward him, knocking his gun from his hands. The struggle was soon over, for his attacker was a good foot taller and weighed more than 200 pounds than himself. As soon as his attacker had subdued him, cuffing his hands behind his back, a man smoking a Morley cigarette came into the only light spot in the room. "Very punctual, Mulder. I must say I admire that in a man." the man spoke. " You BASTARD! Let her out of here now!" " As I told the beautiful Agent Scully, temper can get you into trouble" the man taunted. " Let her go. You have me now. You don't need her." " Ahh, but we do. How can you make a choice with only one to choose from?" " What the hell are you talking...." Mulder stopped dead in mid-sentence as another kidnappee was wheeled into the room. He recognized the face that belonged to the second victim. His sister, Samantha. "Oh god!" Mulder wheezed. " Well, Mr. Mulder. You are in quite a predicament, aren't you?" The Smoking-Man chuckled. " What are you wanting me to do?" " Simple. We are prepared to give you a choice, though if you do not make up your mind within 3 minutes, the choice will be taken away from you, and you will be left with nothing." " You're telling me I have to choose between my sister and my...... partner?!" exclaimed Mulder, fumbling on how to categorize Scully. Hearing the desperation in Mulder's voice, the man smirked. "You're catching on Mulder. You will be given 3 minutes to choose which one you want to set free. The locks on their cuffs will unlock immediately at your touch. Don't bother trying to free both of them. It won't work." "What will happen to the one I don't choose?" The man smirked again. " She dies." "That isn't a choice! That is a death sentence!" " Fair or not, you have a decision to make. Either way one pick will not matter to me, for without the hope of seeing either again, you will fail in your quest." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Washington D.C. General Hospital~ later that morning " How are you feeling Scully?" Mulder asked cautiously. Scully turned her head to fix Mulder with a probing stare. "I'm ok Mulder, but I am more concerned about you." " I'm fine Scully. Don't worry about me. Just concentrate on getting better, ok?" "But Mulder...." Scully protested. " Scully...it's over. Can we leave it for now?" Mulder asked calmly but Scully could hear the hurt in his voice. " Sure Mulder. For now." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finale! Authors note:First ever fanfic I have EVER written. Be gentle with the feedback. Respond to scully_detour1@yahoo.com. I left the ending intentionally open so that I could write a continuation. So far, I am experiencing writers block. Any ideas would help!