TITLE:   Conhouse - Chapter Eighteen
RATING: anywhere from PG to NC-17 - it's a crap shoot


When Lena awoke it took her several minutes to figure out where she was, and
why she felt so bad. Her ribs ached and her head pounded.  After a short time
pieces of the former day's events started to come back to her

Ruthie.

Cook. That dick.

He was why she felt like a train wreck.

Scully.

Pain pills.

A bath.

Curling up with Mulder.

And oh, hey, they finally knew now didn't they?

About her.

About her  thing.

And where were they now?

She lay quietly, listening for the now familiar voices of the two agents. Not
hearing anything she wondered if they'd gone to work. Turning her head slowly
she looked to the nightstand for a note. No note. The time read 7:43 am.  If
they were going in to work they would be gone by now, most certainly.

The bedroom door opened slowly and Mulder's head peeked through it to look
toward her.

He looked surprised to see her awake. Slowly pushing the door open he walked
to the bed with a glass of water in one hand and what Lena guessed were pain
pills in the other.

He stared at her strangely for a few seconds, and she worried that she had
sprouted new bruises during the night. He actually was looking quite alarmed.
Finally, possibly because he sensed her growing concern over his facial
expression, he flashed a small smile and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Train", Lena coughed, swallowed and finished her thought, "wreck".

Mulder snorted a small laugh and tried to hand her the pills. Lena opened her
mouth instead and he gently placed the meds on her tongue. Reaching behind her
head he lifted her slowly and helped her sip some water.

When she had gotten the pills down he lowered her head back down to the
pillow. He continued to stare at her, as he had when he walked in.

Scully appeared over his shoulder suddenly, smiling; the smile faded and was
replaced by a gasp.

Lena was scared.  "What?"

Scully leaned closer, looking into her eyes. She did not speak.

"What?!" Lena was now actively frightened.

"Your eyes " Scully said.

Lena finally realized what they were seeing and she let out a relieved sigh.
"Oh. The black."

The agents nodded.

"They'll change." Lena stated, shutting them. "When I heal they'll change."

"Into what?" Mulder asked.

Lena opened her eyes, "blue, green, maybe even white. The good news is that
only you two will probably be able to see it. Of course, others like me are
also privy to it."

Mulder was fascinated. "The smell, is that you too?"

Lena nodded slightly. The pain in her body was finally easing. 'Thank you, my
friend, for pain pills she thought silently, raising her eyes to the ceiling.
"Angel funk."

'It smells like oranges,' Mulder thought; 'cloves, spring;' he couldn't
describe it entirely

"Is the smell just something only we can experience too?" Mulder was now
completely caught up in Lena, Scully, however, looked disturbed.

"Yes." Lena smiled, "occasionally a child will look at me oddly and I know
that they can see my eyes or smell me." The comment made Lena laugh out loud
and she winced. "Sorry, my dad has this joke about angel funk."

The other two looked confused.

"You had to be there." Lena said, smiling once more. "Animals always know,
always."

"I've heard of this." Mulder turned to look at Scully. "It's called 'Olfactory
Reckoning.' It's been recorded throughout history by people who have
experienced some kind of divine intervention in their lives, like, a miracle
recovery from a fatal illness. These people have stated that right before
their recovery they smelled something indescribable, so much so that they
thought they were dying. I have a full X-file on this phenomenon." He turned
back to look at     , his eyes questioning.

"Yep - probably the angel funk." Lena said as she tried to sit up some. Mulder
reached behind her back to help her.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the three of them. Lena worried for
what seemed like the hundreth time that this was all too much for Scully to
take in. she looked at the red head, trying to read any signs that might be
lurking in her expression. Scully smiled at her. 'I love you. You frighten me
sometimes, but I love you.' Scully's voice rolled softly in Lena's mind and
she closed her eyes, smiling widely.

A knock at the door startled her out of the warmth of Scully's words

"It's my Dad, would you let him in?" Lena looked at Scully.

"Your Dad?" Surprise was evident on Scully's face.

"Yes, he's at the door."

Scully turned and walked from the bedroom to the front door. She was ill at
ease and down right spooked as she looked through the peephole and directly
into the impossibly white eyes of Steve Conhouse. A small gasp escaped her and
she briefly considered latching the deadbolt. It was unnerving to see just the
black dot of a pupil where color should be. It made her think of Eugene Tooms
and some of the other monsters she had seen over the past 5 years. She shook
her head in an effort to clear it, and reminded herself that this man was not
a monster. She opened the door.

Wanda skittered from the hallway and shot into the apartment, running full
steam for the bedroom.

Large warm arms enclosed Scully and the smell of sandalwood and peaches and
other indescribable things wafted into the room. When she drew back from Mr.
Conhouse his eyes were light blue, just barely colored against the whites.
They were beautiful.

"You seen a little dark-haired girl around here anywhere?" He asked playfully,
smiling a broad white toothed grin at Scully.

She smiled back at him, somewhat overwhelmed by his presence. "This way." She
swept her arm toward the bedroom.

They walked into the bedroom where Wanda was now curled up on the bed beside
Lena. Mulder stood and reached his hand out to Lena's father.

"Mr. Conhouse?"

"Mr. Mulder." Steve shook Mulder's hand with both of his and bowed his head.
"It is wonderful to meet you my friend. You're one of my favorites."

Mulder's head tilted slightly with confusion, "favorites?"

Steve had already let go of Mulder's hand and seemed to not notice his
confusion. He sat gingerly down on the bedside. "Hi sweetie."

"Hi dad." Lena smiled at him as he kissed her gently on the forehead.

Steve surveyed her cuts and bruises, touching each lightly. "You get into a
fight at the Macys sale rack again?"

Lena laughed, then winced when her abdomen protested.

"Ruthie made it?" Steve asked.

Lena nodded, still wincing.

"Can I help?" Steve wiped some stray hairs off of Lena's forehead.

"Yes please." She smiled self-consciously.

"Close your eyes and breathe deeply honey." He held his hands a half inch from
her forehead, slowly running them over her body, working his way down to her
feet. The process took less than a minute. When Lena opened her eyes they were
a rich dark brown.

"Better?"

"Much, thank you." Lena squeezed his hand in appreciation.

Steve turned to the others; "She'll need to rest for today. There should be a
marked improvement over the next few hours."

He stood and without warning ran his fingers over Scully's cheek. The
strangeness, coupled with the intimacy of the gesture startled Scully and she
had to fight the urge to pull away. He looked into her eyes for a second,
seeming to consider something, then let out a 'hmm' and dropped his fingers
>from her cheek.

Abruptly he said, "I have to go. Thank you for being so good to my daughter.
She's lucky to have you two."

He hugged Scully and then Mulder, who was more less board-like, his hands
remaining at his sides. "Work on that son, you're a little stiff." Mr.
Conhouse winked at him and walked out of the bedroom toward the front door,
Mulder and Scully on his heels.

Wanda remained happily on the bed with Lena.

He left the apartment and turned in the hallway, addressing them one last
time; "Have a safe trip." He bowed his head slightly at them and turned,
walking down the hall and out of the building.

Mulder and Scully stood in the doorway, staring at each other like a couple of
mouth breathers.

"Trip?" Scully said.

"Where?" Mulder answered.

At the same time, both said, "Lena." They walked back to the bedroom together.

End - Chapter Eighteen

TITLE:   Conhouse - Chapter Nineteen
RATING: anywhere from PG to NC-17 - it's a crap shoot

*******************************************************

Mulder and Scully stood over the bed. Lena was out cold, breathing deeply with
a slight smile on her face.

"Should we wake her?" Mulder turned to Scully.

"Probably not. Mr. Conhouse said she'd needs to rest and I would have to
concur with him."

"What now?"

"Wait, I guess." She continued to stare at Lena. "You know Mulder, Steve was
cryptic about the trip. Maybe he meant it metaphorically."

"Do you really believe that Scully?" Mulder asked as he made his way out of
the bedroom and toward the front door. Scully followed.

"No."

"I didn't think so. Seems to me that he knows something we don't."

"If a trip is in our immediate future Skinner will have to be notified."

"True." Mulder smiled at her. "Best of luck."

"Meaning that I will have to handle it?"

"Dad always did like you best Scully."

She sighed, looking at him sternly. "Why is it that I am always the one to
deliver bad news to him Mulder?"

"It's not such bad news. Think about it. He's been after us to take time off
for the last 5 years."

"Which is precisely why he'll be wondering what we're up to. We never take
time off, and we never take anyone with us. Remember that Lena also reports to
him. What will he think when the three of us take time off all at once? And -
as if that weren't enough, Lena is fairly new in the DC bureau. She may not
even have vacation time available. She's looking at a leave of absence. This
is not good Mulder. Not good."

"Not true Scully. When he gets the final report on the Cook case he'll think
that Lena was nearly killed trying to save Ruthie. That's worth at least a
month of recovery time for her, don't you think?"

She just stared at him.

"You're doing a whole lot of worrying before knowing all the facts."

"One of us has too."

"You want me to talk to him?" Mulder made the offer fully knowing that it
would be declined.

"Absolutely not."

"Ok, it's your call. In the meantime, what's the plan?"

"You go to work and file the Cook case report with Skinner. Tell him I'm
keeping an eye on Lena's recovery process. If he asks where she was admitted
I don't know what tell you. Stall, I guess  change the subject, you're good at
that." Scully smirked at him. "I'll stay here with Conhouse. If she tells me
anything about the alleged trip I'll call you. For now I'd like to make sure
she gets some rest and doesn't wake up to an empty apartment."

"Okay. Talk to you later."

Scully looked at him as he opened the door to leave. Suddenly she got panicky.
"Mulder, come here after work, ok?"

He stopped in his tracks, concerned with the tone of her voice. "You're not
worried, are you Scully?"

"Not worried, exactly, just  out of my element."

Mulder smiled at her sympathetically. "Talk to her Scully. She's still the
person you, well," he looked down to the floor and back up to her, "Talk to
her."

She looked at him for a long moment, mildly embarrassed by her display of
concern. "You know that? I mean, with certainty?"

He could tell that she was looking for confirmation. She wanted him to have
=felt= that everything was really okay. She wanted him to make the
unreasonable =reasonable=.  She wanted him to =know= it, the way he knew that
all his other obscure beliefs were true.

He narrowed his eyes and gave her his best square-jaw eye-to-eye look, "I know
Scully. I know."

She sighed deeply. "Thank you," and smiled quickly before turning back to the
bedroom.

***************************************

Mulder sat at his desk typing the final case report on the murder/kidnapping.
He had padded the brutality that Cook had wreaked on Lena, although he was
certain that the brutality would have been more than enough to keep a normal
human out of commission for well over a month.

His mind kept wandering to Mr. Conhouse's comment about him being one of his
'favorites'. His favorite what?

It was making him crazy and he had to fight the urge to break a land-speed
record getting back to Scully's to talk to Lena.

He considered inanely that he should be happy being an angel's favorite
=something=. The thought made him shake his head. These were strange days
indeed.

His phone rang.

"Mulder."

"It's me. Are you done with the report yet?"

"I'm hunt and peck, remember?"

"I'm calling to ask a favor."

"And what would that be?"

Scully was whispering. "I'd like you to email me the names of all the  X-Files
that concern angels."

Mulder pursed his lips. "Just the names of the files?"

"Yeah. I can pull them up from here, I just need to know the case file names."

"Why?"

"I need to be 'in my element' Mulder. I'd like to educate myself."

"Didn't you learn all there is to know about angels in Catholic school?"

"Not this kind of angel."

"I'll do it now."

"From memory?"

"Is there any other way?" Mulder was smiling into the receiver.

"Thank you." And she hung up.

**************************************************

Scully spent the morning in a chair next to the bed with Wanda asleep on the
floor beside her. Her laptop was perched on her lap. She looked up angels on
the internet with her various search engines. Most of the sites were what
Scully would consider fluff, full of pictures of round faced cherubs and women
in flowing robes with wings. She finally found one site in particular that
seemed to be the most comprehensive.


______________________________________________________
1.Angels were created by God:

 Thou, Lord alone has made heaven, the heaven of heavens,
 with all their host,(angels) the earth, and all things
 that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and
 thou preservest them all! And the host of heaven worships
 thee.(Nehem:9-6)
 For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and
 that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
 thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers, all things
 were created by Him, and for Him.(Coloss:1:l6)

2. Method of origin
Angels were created by a special act of God, they did not evolve.

Praise ye him all his angels, praise ye him all his hosts(angels) Let them
praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.
(Psalml48:2,5).

Their number was fixed at creation. They neither reproduce or die.

Jesus talking about the resurrection said: For in the resurrection they
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in
heaven. (Mathew22:30)
Neither can they die anymore: for they are equal unto the angels.

3. Time of origin.
Before the earth was, the angels were already created.

Where were thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou has
understanding. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy? (Job 38:1,4,7)

4. Purpose of existence
They were created to glorify Christ.
And again when he brought in the first begotten (Jesus)
into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
(Hebrews:1:6)
Thou art worthy, O Lord to receive glory and honour, and power: for thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure thy are and were created.
(Revel4:11).

___________________________________________

Well - that told her the sum total of 'not much'. She knew this information to
be true as far as Catholicism was concerned, but how true was it in relation
to Lena?

The woman can die, she'd told Scully as much. She knew she was telling her the
truth.

Scully considered that mixed races occurred constantly. So why not an
angel/human mix? 'So what I have here', Scully thought to herself, staring at
a still sleeping Lena, 'is a hybrid?' Does that mean that some time in the
past an angel seduced a human and they bore a child? Wouldn't that, in it's
own definition, be a sin against god?


Her e-mail chimed and she read a list of 3 file names that Mulder had sent
her. Scully pulled each file alphabetically, taking in the details of the
three X-files that dealt with supposed 'angels'. Unfortunately, they told her
what she was already aware of

The case of the boy with stigmata, and the smell of roses on the body of his
physically deformed, bald guardian. She remembered that he seemed to not be
suffering from decomposition or rigger. And the odd smile on his face

The other two files were equally odd and not forthcoming with any information
useful to her. They were very old cases of angelic intervention in the life of
two different families.

In one, a miraculous medical recovery of a young girl. In the other, a family
was saved from starvation on their desolated ranch in January by a stranger
who never resurfaced. Nothing much to go on there.  Maybe Mulder knew more.
She'd have to quiz him later.

She glanced at Lena. Bruises that seemed permanent additions on her face the
night before now faded nearly away. It had been 4 hours since her father had
been there, and she seemed from all outward appearances to be nearly healed.

Amazing.

The color and classic lines of her cheekbones and chin were back, making her
look stunning against the white bed sheets.

Scully set her laptop on the nightstand and crawled into bed next to the
sleeping woman. After a moment's hesitation, she wrapped her arms around her,
pulling her to her chest.

"Lena?"

"Yes?"

"You're awake? How do you feel?"

"New." Lena murmured against her chest. "Another hour, I need another hour.
Stay with me?"

Scully squeezed her in answer and drifted off to sleep beside her.


End - Chapter Nineteen

TITLE:   Conhouse - Chapter Twenty
RATING:  NC-17
********************************************


Lena woke up and opened her eyes. She was looking directly into Scully's.

"I looked up your family tree on the internet."

It took Lena several seconds to register Scully's comment. "What did you find
out?"

"Angels were made by a special act of God. There are a finite number of them
and they can't die or procreate." She paused. "Is that true?"

"Not in my case Scully." Lena rolled to her side to face her. "Not in my case,
or in the cases of others like me. I'm half human. My father is an angel, my
mother is not. Females like me are born barren. We can't have children;
therefore, our mothers are always human. It's God's way of making sure there
is a proper balance of our kind around."

Scully felt a sudden empathy for Lena, "We have a lot in common don't we?"

Lena just nodded.

"Were there always angels like you?"

"No. We were created to fill a need when humankind went through a period of
failed compassion. We've been in existence for nearly 500 years, but in the
overall scheme of things, our kind is still fairly new."

"Have you been alive for 500 years?"

"No, I'm 34. My life expectancy is probably a little longer than average, but
most of us die long before old age can take us."

"Because of the situations you have to put yourself into?"

Lena smiled slightly. "Yes."

Scully did not smile. "So you're here to be sacrificed?"

"No." Lena whispered. "I'm here to make sure no one else is."

Scully stared into her eyes for long seconds; she was no longer unsettled by
this woman who now gave her answers without vague references. Lena was being
truthful with her; it was a rare occurrence in Scully's life. She was so
incredibly sick of the lies that had been fed to her as a steady diet over the
last few years. To just have someone tell her the truth without ceremony or
spoon-feeding in small doses was a blessing. She leaned in and pressed her
lips against Lena's gently.

"Where are we going?"

"What?"

"The trip. Where are you taking us?"

"Oh, the trip. We're going on vacation."

"You're not serious." Scully looked at her plainly.

"Oh but I am." Lena ran her hand over Scully's cheek.

"So it's completely recreational?" An eyebrow raised.

"Not completely. I have some people I'd like you and Mulder to meet along the
way." Lena's fingertips ran down Scully's neck to the hollow between her
clavicles. She kissed the spot gently.

Scully's legs spread slightly; she sighed. "Friends of yours?"

Lena unbuttoned the front of Scully's shirt. "Yes." The redhead ran her
fingers through Lena's hair, looking down at her. Seeing the top of the other
woman's head as she worked at her buttons made Scully's stomach flutter. When
Lena loosened the last button she looked up into Scully's eyes.

"Where are we going?"

Lena lifted her body to rest next to Scully's. She licked her ear lobe while
her hand pushed the shirt aside. Scully tipped her head and rubbed her ear
against Lena's lips, sighing again.

"We're going north to see the leaves change." Her tongue worked around
Scully's ear as her hand squeezed a nipple firmly. Scully's hips came off of
the bed in a slow arch. She needed that hand lower...

She placed her hand over Lena's, squeezed her breast with it then moved it
down.

Lena's voice went ragged, "I love it when you do that... when you show me what
you need." Scully's response was to place Lena's hand between her legs,
closing them tightly around both Lena's hand and her own. She exhaled heavily
and rocked against the pressure. Her other hand went to Lena's cheek and she
pulled her lips toward her wanting to feel her mouth.

She adjusted Lena's hand, moving it a little lower, so that the heel of it was
in direct contact with her clit. Again she started rocking, this time slower,
the full contact slowly making the rest of her body seem numb. All she could
feel was the place where Lena's hand pressed hard against her.

Lena took advantage of Scully's hips being in the air and slid her free hand
underneath them. She let the other woman's hips rock back into her hand
several times until her fingertips were wet, then parted Scully's cheeks
gently and placed a finger at her anus. Scully seized up for a second at the
unfamiliar feeling, then settled back against it, letting Lena pick her rhythm
back up with the heel of her hand. As Scully got closer to the edge Lena
slowly let the finger Scully was laying on slide into her, just barely, giving
her a chance to get used to the feeling before sliding it in any further.

Once again Scully was out of her element. She relaxed against the finger at
her anus slowly. But when Lena let it slide into her she stopped rocking
altogether. The first instinct she had was to bear down and push it out, but
after a second she realized that she wasn't all that unpleasant. In fact, it
felt incredible to her - indescribable.

Very gently she started to move against Lena's hands once more. Lena replaced
the heel of her hand with two fingers slid deep inside of Scully, the one in
the back still barely inside. Dana moved against them. She rolled her hips
forward and was completely filled, rolled them back and felt gentle pressure
in her anus; it was insane. Her hips worked slowly at first, reveling in the
feeling from both front and back, then worked to a more fervent pitch,
inadvertently forcing Lena's finger deeper into her anus with each push
backward.

She was slowly loosing it

And she was coming too quickly...

...she didn't want it to be over yet but god...

...there it is...

...right there...

...she whispered to Lena though shallow breaths... "I can't wait Lena... I
want to but... god... it's... happening... now..."

Her head lifted from the pillow and she came - her hands holding Lena's in
place against her. Shamelessly she held them there wringing out each last
spasm by pushing herself against those hands over and over.

Aftershocks...

...one of the many benefits of coming so hard.

Lena took her arm out from under Scully as she finally relaxed back onto the
bed. She couldn't move, and frankly couldn't think of any good reason to try.
They lay next to each other quietly. Lena stroked the inside of Scully's arm.

"When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow."

"What about Skinner?"

"He's already given the go ahead."

"Has he now?"

"Yes."

"How convenient."

"I'm all about convenience." Lena smiled at Scully as she rolled her eyes.

"How did you manage getting him to sign off on it?"

"I didn't, Mulder did."

"Mulder?"

"Yeah."

"Hmmm. That just makes my blood run cold. I can't think of anything Mulder
could say to Skinner to explain this without sending up the man's pulse into
the cardiac arrest range."

"Well, I'm getting a very clear image of Mulder packing. He must have said
something that made the surly one give you two time off."

Scully buried her head in the pillow. "Crap."

Lena started giggling and Scully shot her a confused look. "That was funny."

"What?"

"...'Crap'. Out of your mouth it's quite funny."

"Why?" Scully asked her eyes wrinkled in a smile even as her mouth framed a
pout.

"Because you just don't seem like the kind of woman who'd say 'crap' I guess."
Lena laughed harder.

Scully glared at her, squared her jaw and said through clenched teeth and a
slight smile, "Crap."

Lena was sent into another stream of giggles.  She shook her head and kissed
Scully's clenched jaw muscle. "You're not quite right, ya know?"

"Don't tell anybody."

"No one would believe me."

"Good." Scully said, sitting up and shaking out her hair. She perched on her
knees looking down at Lena, then added, "What am I going to pack?"

"Sweaters, jeans, you know, standard warm crap." Lena looked at her, preparing
for an eye roll.

Scully didn't disappoint her, adding, "Dork."

Lena giggled to herself as she made her way into the bathroom for a shower.

End - Chapter Twenty

TITLE:   Conhouse - Chapter Twenty One (sheesh)
RATING:  PG-13
*************************************************


"He just signed off on our requests and handed them back to me. It was creepy
Scully."

She stared at Mulder across Lena's couch, sipping her wine. They had all
decided to meet back at Lena's and spend the night there, wanting to get an
early start on the 'vacation' the following morning. Lena had borrowed her
parent's RV for the trip and was stocking it with food as the other two had
arrived. They offered to help but Lena waved them off, promising a pontoon
ride when she finished packing.

"You know Mulder," Scully regarded him seriously, "he's got to wonder why
we're going on vacation together."

"Together?"

"You did tell him that didn't you?"

"Not in so many words." Mulder lowered his long lashes, waiting for his
scolding.

"Mulder! You lied to him?" Scully was irritated.

"I had to Scully. It would damage your career more than mine if he thought
something was going on between us." Mulder tried to appear apologetic.

Scully shook her head. "So how did you tell him he could get a hold of us?"

"Cell phones." Mulder replied, wincing slightly.

"And where does he think I'm going?" She gave him an icy stare.

Mulder looked out to the lake.

"Mulder?" Scully pushed him.

"One of those women-only pampering club med kinda things."

"Jesus Mulder." She squeezed her eyes shut. "And you? Where are you headed?"

"Pilgrimage."

"Let me guess  Graceland?"

"Bingo."

Lena walked in, saving Mulder from further brow beating. "Hello playmates.
Ready to float?"

Mulder sprung from the couch relieved. "You bet."

Scully stood up, sighing. She smiled slightly at Lena as she walked between
the two of them and headed toward the steps. "Yeah. I'm going to change."

Lena stopped her descent down the stairs by saying seriously, "Scully?"

Scully turned on the steps to look from Mulder to Lena. "Yes?"

"Don't go changin'" Lena said.

And Mulder finished it up, "To try and please us"

Scully rolled her eyes, dropped her head and finished her trip down the steps,
listening to the two of them laugh uncontrollably until she was out of ear
shot.

************************************************************

They lay on the pontoon sipping wine and talking.

"Hey Scully."

"Yes Mulder?"

"What's your most embarrassing moment?"

"You mean in my life time?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure."

"You have to have one. One earth-shattering moment in time?"

"Well, I might. But I can't think of it. Why don't you start?"

"I don't want to start. Lena, do you have one?"

"Oh yeah."

"Fess up girlfriend."

"I can't. It's too awful."

"Now you have to tell us."

"It will change your entire opinion of me."

"This is gonna be good." Mulder said, sitting up to face her.

"You sure you want to hear this?"

"Absolutely." Mulder said, rubbing his hands together.

Scully sat quietly, considering that she'd agreed to go on vacation with the
adult equivalent to Beavis and Butthead. The thought made her smile.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." Lena pointed at him and he actually
giggled.

Lena started her story: "I was twelve. My friend Sandy and I used to go to the
Rolladium every Saturday night because it was the only place our Dad's would
let us stay out late."

"Rolladium?" Scully said, and eyebrow lifted. She was sitting up now.

"Yep. Roller skating for young adults." Lena said, smiling at her. "We used to
roll around in a circle and she'd scope out the boys. I mainly just tried to
stay upright."

Scully laughed lightly.

"So anyway, the Rolladium only had one girl's bathroom. It was small and all
the 'burn-out' girls hung out in there. You know, the girls who never took
their coats off because they hid their cigarettes in them? They were a mean
crowd of about 20. They'd sit in there and smoke, in their street shoes no
less. It wasn't cool to roller skate for those girls. They were rough trade
even at 12 and 13 years old."

Mulder was already laughing and Lena stared at him for a minute. He said, "I
remember those girls. We had them too."

"Oh. So Sandy and I would do everything we could to avoid the bathroom. Not
only was it smoky and gross, but those girls would torment you if you were
actually there to roller skate, or god forbid you were considered a 'good
kid', which believe it or not, I was."

"I would cut out liquids for hours before going to the Rolladium. I was really
scared of the mean betties and I wanted to avoid the shitter as much as
possible. This particular night however, I really had to go. Sandy and I were
skating around, I think to the song "le freak"."

"You remember the song?" Mulder said.

Lena looked at him gravely; "I'll never forget it. And I told her I had to go
to the bathroom. She said, 'good luck'. Loyalty went into the crapper with her
and I if it involved a bathroom trip. I was on my own."

"I skated in there and the pack of evilenes said nasty stuff at me. You know,
like, 'loser', 'bitch', that kinda thing. Not too scary now, but when you're
twelve it's frightening. I rolled into a stall and shut the door. They would
pretend that they were trying to get in, shaking the door handle and stuff,
just mean. I kept one hand against the door the whole time. Anyway, I managed
to pee and stand up. I still had one hand against the door because they were
shoving on it."

Lena stopped her story, pressing her lips tightly together.

"Oh god." Scully said.

"Yeah." Lena replied. She stood up to illustrate what happened next. "So I'm
standing there and my pants and skivvies make the trip down my scrawny legs
and I'm suddenly bound at the ankles."

"Oh god." Scully said again, starting to laugh. She covered her mouth in an
effort to stop it.

"Yeah. And then my skate slipped." Lena stood in the middle of the pontoon,
ankles together and moved one foot forward. "Then my other skate slipped."

Scully was now laughing aloud.

"Then both skates went out from under me. My feet shot out from underneath
the stall, my bare ass slapped on the linoleum and I tried to catch my fall
with my hands, but they slipped too and both of my arms shot into the
toilet."

Mulder was on his hands and knees on the pontoon. He was silent for a second
then took in a breath and his laughter started to make noise. He was guffawing
loudly.

She finished the story: "AND, I hadn't flushed yet. AND, I was wearing a
sweater."

Both of the others were rendered useless with laughter. Lena continued:

"So there I was, my arms lodged in the toilet, all my business hanging out
there was a silence in the bathroom for a couple of seconds, then, deafening
laughter. To make matters worse I couldn't get up. I'd pull my legs in but
they'd just roll out from under me when I'd try to stand. Meanwhile, urine was
soaking up my arms and across my chest. It was awful."

Lena stopped the story, watching tears roll down Scully's face with intense
laughter. "This would have been so hard for me if you two weren't so
sympathetic." Lena's comment made the others laugh harder. "Really. There's so
much love here. I'm well I'm touched."

Mulder recovered enough to ask Lena how she got out.

"Well, I finally used my toe stops and managed to get my arms out of the
toilet. Not one of those bitches helped me. I sat on that toilet for 10
minutes, mortified. I had cigarette ashes and all matter of crap stuck to my
ass. I was just a wreck. Finally I decided that I was just gonna get out of
there and face whatever it was they were going to do. I opened the stall door
and walked to the sink. They just stared at me, slack-jawed. I rinsed my
sleeves off in the sink and wrung them out, then rolled out of the bathroom
and went to the phones. I called my dad and told him I was ready to go home. I
found Sandy and we waited outside for my dad to show. I never told her what
happened and she fortunately knew better than to ask."

Lena sat quietly, watching them. She sipped her wine and smiled to herself.

"Oh my God Lena." Mulder said finally. "I can't top that. That's horrible."

"You asked Mulder. I told you it was bad. You were warned."

"Geez" Mulder shook his head, still prone to bouts of laughter.

"Yeah, well, I need to go in now. I've purged my deepest embarrassment and I
feel the need to rest." Lena stood and turned on the motor. "We have an early
start tomorrow family."

She smiled at them as she made her way to the dock. Their laughter was such a
sweet sound.

End - Chapter Twenty-one

Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Two


It took Scully the better part of an hour to feel comfortable behind the wheel
of the insanely large RV. She drove slowly at first, carefully taking corners.
She ended up launching the occupants in the back of the big rig four or five
times when she clipped the corners too tightly. Fortunately for Mulder and
Lena they were quick learners and hung on tightly when Scully activated the
blinker. Soon enough, however, they were on the highway.

Lena and Mulder poured over topographical maps at the small kitchen table at
the middle of the rig.

"Right here is our landing spot for today." Lena said, pointing at a greenish
colored spot just inside of the Michigan state line.

"New Buffalo?" Mulder looked at her.

"Yep. There's a campground there on Lake Michigan." Lena wagged her
eyebrows.

"So you're taking us camping?" Mulder looked unimpressed.

"Why yes Mulder, hence the RV." Lena tilted her head at him. "I guess I
thought that part was obvious."

He sat back on the small bench. "It was, but I was hoping for something
more."

"Such as?" Lena sat back as well.

"I don't know. I guess I thought we were on a quest of some kind."

"Oh. Well, yeah, there's that too."

Mulder brightened. "Really? And what's our quest?"

"Would you believe that I'm not sure?" Lena looked apologetic, wincing
slightly at her admission.

Mulder stared at her.

"All I can say is that we're on our way to finding something. A couple
something's, actually. I can 'feel' the route; feel the stopping points. We'll
just have to follow the pull and see where it leads us. My suggestion to you
is to just enjoy the ride."

"That's gonna be a little tough, don't you think?"

"Do your best. We've got about 6 hours until we hit stop number one. Wanna
take a nap?" She looked at him hopefully.

"No, thanks." Mulder shot her a tight smile. "Let's play twenty questions."

Lena was solemn, "yippee."

Mulder laughed slightly. "Why did your Dad say I was one of his favorites?"

She put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. Grabbing her
baseball hat to cover her eyes she sighed and answered his question. "Because
we know your history. We're responsible for your well-being, within reason of
course."

"Beg pardon?" Mulder was taken aback.

"It's true." Lena continued to squeeze the bill of her hat and cover her eyes.
"My family and your family are connected. They always have been, and they
always will be. The Scully family is part of our 'charge' as well. We're all
connected and we have been for many, many generations. My father looked after
Ahab and your father Mulder. My Grandfather was responsible for your
grandparents and so on. All the way back to the beginning."

Anger flared in Mulder's eyes, "My father was shot to death in his own
bathroom with me not 20 feet away."

The chill in his voice made Lena lift her eyes to look directly at him. "I'm
aware of that."

Mulder watched as Lena's eye color changed from bright blue to deep green. He
tried not to let it phase him but it was damn unnerving. "Why would you let
that happen?"

"Your father made choices in his life that blackened his soul Mulder. Both he
and your mother were trapped in a dark place due to choices he made very early
in life. His death wasn't something anyone could stop."

Mulder dropped his head.

"And it wasn't your fault." Lena added pointedly.

Scully could hear their conversation clearly from her spot in the driver's
seat. She was stunned at the revelation that all of their families were
connected and had a myriad of her own questions to ask. Right now though, it
seemed that Mulder needed the answers more than she did.

Mulder plunged on, "And you couldn't make him come back around? You couldn't
help him be a better man?"

"I can't make anyone do anything." Lena said flatly. "Your father was weak
Mulder. I'm sorry to state it so plainly to you, but it's the truth. And, his
weakness affected everyone around him."

Mulder knew this already. Pity had replaced any other feeling he had ever felt
about his father, pity and resentment. He knew too that he couldn't hold Lena
or her family responsible for his father's cowardice. "I'm sorry."

"S'okay."

Mulder regarded her for a moment, then, "Is there reincarnation?"

Lena's brows went up at his quick change of subject. "No." She paused,  "But
there is collective memory. As with all animals there is an instinctual memory
of all those that came before them. That memory is part of a person's makeup.
It's just a rare occurrence for it to ever be accessed. When it is, it's
mistaken as a memory from a past life, when in reality it is someone else's
memory entirely."

Scully remembered readings from her early medical training about animal
instinct and memory. It's why birds and butterflies returned to exact
geographical locations every year. So it really was memory, not instinct, that
led birds back to an exact perching spot in southern Florida. Amazing.

Mulder too was amazed. "So I have the collective memory of all my ancestors
stored up in my brain?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

Lena leaned toward him and placed her index finger behind his left ear, "Right
here." She said it with a straight face and he stared blankly at her. Smiling
at him she said, "I'm kidding, it's in the 85% of your brain you don't use
Mulder." Lena smiled at him widely and he smiled back.

"This is cool Conhouse."

"I aim to please."

"Ok, so my family, can you tell me about my family?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Hmmm." He chewed on a knuckle.

"She's alive Mulder." Lena stated. She knew it's where he was headed but he
was too frightened to ask. "She's alive and she's on this planet."

"Is that the quest?" It was a whisper.

"I think so." Lena held his hand in hers. "I think so."

Tears pooled in Scully's eyes and a chill shook her. 'Thank god' she though,
making Lena smile.

Mulder sat up straight. "Think I'll take that nap now." he said, standing.
Lena let go of his hand and he walked to the back bedroom, opened the door and
turned to shut it behind him, smiling slightly at Lena before shutting it all
the way.

"Hello." Lena kissed Scully's cheek as she sat next to her in the passenger
seat.

"Hi. How are you holding up?" Scully asked, glancing at Lena.

"I'm great, how are you?" She reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Good."

"Not fine?"

"No, not fine, actually good. Really good." Scully gave her a full-tooth smile
and Lena nearly melted.

"I just adore you." Lena said, whispering. "Just out and out full fledged
adoration. The kind that sweeps my feet right out from under me."

Scully smiled at the road.

"Stops my heart." Lena whispered in her ear.

Scully peeked at her.

"Makes my knees weak."

Scully leaned her ear into Lena lips.

"Makes my wings flap."

She laughed and shut her eyes briefly. "You're a piece of work."

Lena laughed out loud.

"Is this thing fun to drive?"

"Kind of, once you get the corners down."

Lena sat quietly for a second. "I'll fall asleep if I sit here for too
long."

"You can honey. I let you know if I need you to take over." Scully looked at
her, brow furrowed slightly. She suspected that Lena was still recovering,
angel or not, from her run in with Cook.

Lena rolled her head toward Scully. "I like it when you call me honey."

"I know. That's why I do it." Scully watched the road.

"Mmmm." It was the last thing Lena said before falling asleep in the passenger
seat.

After a couple hours Scully pulled off the highway to get gas and go to the
bathroom. She convinced Lena to climb up into the bed over the driver's cab
with Wanda, telling her she was likely to get a stiff neck sleeping where she
was. Lena agreed.

Scully liked to drive. She liked the thinking time it afforded her. As she
drove through Pennsylvania she let her mind soak up all that had happened in
her life through the last two weeks. It was strange to her, thinking about how
incredibly lonely she had been two weeks ago. Finding Lena had changed her
entire life. But then, she supposed it was actually Lena who had found her.

The biggest difference now was the feeling she had. She would be doing
something, writing a report, cooking, reading, and would get the sudden
unexplainable feeling that she was forgetting something. And then she would
remember. She was in love. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket; like
discovering a pocket full of money in an old coat or finding a piece of
jewelry she loved but had forgotten or lost...

This feeling had replaced what was formally loss. When Scully remembered
something prior to Lena it was that her sister was gone, her daughter was
gone, her father...

She would have the nagging feeling of forgetfulness and then the realization
that Mulder was missing or hurt, or that she lost three months of her life, or
that she had cancer and it was killing her.

Now she had hope, love, and joy. All the things that she thought were lost to
her were now back, in the form of another woman. How odd. She smiled to
herself. How very Scully.

And how perfect that Lena had pulled Mulder in. What a gift it was to have him
along for the quest that would make the two of them whole again. Scully smiled
to herself once more, mostly at her deep thoughts on the matter, she always
made things more cerebral than they needed to be.

She continued her train of thought. It rolled from Lena's upbringing, to her
parents, to what she would get Lena for Christmas.  She let her thoughts run
along by themselves, enjoying the fact that they were all positive, through no
intervention of her own. Things were lookin up...

As she crossed the state line into Ohio she thought she heard a scrambling
noise and Wanda was suddenly standing next to her between the two front
seats.

"What is it Wanda? Gotta go potty?" Scully heard a door open and saw Mulder
coming out of the back room in her rearview mirror.

"I don't know if she does but I gotta go potty Scully." Mulder looked at her
through sleepy eyes. "I'd use the bathroom in here but I think it needs to be
hooked up or something first."

"There's a rest area coming up."

A few moments later Scully pulled off the highway and parked in the RV area.
She unhooked her seatbelt and stood next to Mulder to look at Lena.

"Lena?" she whispered, rocking her gently. "Gotta go potty?"

They were back on the road quickly with Mulder in the driver's seat. Scully
had taken up residence in the passenger seat and Lena was at the table reading
with Wanda curled up at her feet. They drove on for quite a while before
anyone spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Hey!" She said suddenly.

"What?" Mulder said, looking at her in the mirror.

"I never heard your most embarrassing moment stories. Fess up kids."

Scully and Mulder looked at one another. He said, "You start Scully."

"I don't have one." Scully stated simply.

"You've never done anything that embarrassed you?" Mulder wasn't buying it.

"No."

"Ever, at all, not even once?" Lena asked.

"Fraid not. Next?"

"C'mon Scully, spill it." Lena coaxed. "It's gotta be good if you're so hell
bent on not telling us."

Scully sighed deeply. "This goes no further."

Like little kids Mulder and Lena smiled at each other. Lena clapped her hands
with unadulterated glee, "yippee!"

Scully retorted with a 'jesus' under her breath and began, "I was in high
school. A friend and I went to this expensive women's boutique to get bathing
suits." Scully noted that Lena was already laughing and scowled at her. "We
both picked out a couple and went into the same dressing room to try them on.
This friend of mine, Natalie was her name, was very funny. She was also quite
overweight. She had pulled this little bikini off of the rack when a sales
woman was stalking us just to get a reaction. Apparently the woman thought we
were a shoplifting risk and Nat just wanted to get a rise out of her."

Scully took another breath and continued, "Anyway, we got in the dressing room
and while I was busy pulling on a sensible one piece she was actually putting
the bikini on. I turned and looked at her and was shocked into silence, not
knowing if she was seriously considering buying it or not. Then, she just
started laughing. Then I started laughing, and then we just hysterical, I
mean, we couldn't breath."

Lena was laughing at that point from the mental picture alone; Mulder,
however, wanted to get to the 'embarrassing' part. "And..." he said.

"And," Scully paused, "I peed."

Mulder smiled, "In the bathing suit?"

"Yeah, in the bathing suit, on the floor, on my socks, on Nat's socks..."

Lena howled with laughter. "My god Scully, what did you do?"

"What could I do? I was mortified. It was a $23 bathing suit, which, at that
time was really expensive. I couldn't afford to begin with... so I left it
there. Nat and I got dressed and we made a run for it."

Scully turned to the chuckling Mulder and said, "Your turn."

Mulder shrugged, "I have so many it's hard to pick just one."

"Well pick and tell." Scully said, "I'm not going down alone."

"Let's see, there was the time I got into the wrong car at the rest area. Then
there's the time I walked into the ladies room at the Fed building..."

"Either of those will do." Lena said, smiling.

"Let me think on it a while, I want to do both your stories justice."

"Ok, but don't think you're getting out of it." Lena wagged a finger at him.

Mulder nodded at her and pointed out the window, "Say yes to Michigan."
He said, reading the words directly off of the mitten shaped welcome sign.

Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Three

It took another 5 hours for the crew to get from the Michigan welcome sign to
their landing spot in New Buffalo. It should have been quicker, would have, if
Mulder hadn't insisted on making 6 laps around the campground searching for
just the right site.

"You two don't mind do you? I'd just like to get a site far enough away from
the bathrooms and the other people; but still close to the lake."

"I don't mind." Lena stated, "But Wanda thinks you're a lunatic. She's back
here with a snout-full of squirrel and nothing to chase. It's like dog
hell."

"Hang on Wanda, I think I found the perfect spot."

Mulder swung the RV into a spot with an overly large fire pit and turned off
the engine. Lena immediately released Wanda and she treed the first squirrel
that gave her any lip.

The three stood outside the RV stretching and looking around.

"Good thing we've got Wanda." Mulder said. "To protect us from the sharp-
toothed, dangerous and often unpredictable squirrel."

"Damn straight," Lena answered, stern look on her face, "course, she ever
actually caught one and she'd have a stroke..."

"I'm hungry." Scully blurted.

Mulder looked at her, narrowed his eyes and added a mock 'knowing' nod, "It's
all this talk about squirrels isn't it?"

Not even favoring him with an eye roll Scully turned slowly and climbed the
steps of the RV, a small smile on her face.

Lena looked at him squarely, "You're one sick twist mister."

He shrugged, "I do what I can."

Lena managed, with Mulder's help, to hook up the water and electric for the
RV. All three decided as a group to avoid using the bathroom for actual
bathroom needs and to do their showering and toileting using the campground
facilities. It seemed easier than having to clean out the aftermath of using
the john in the RV.

"So, what's our plan?" Mulder addressed Lena as the three sat at the small
table eating slices of apple and cheese.

"Barring." Lena smiled at them, her eyes sparkling.

"Barring? As in 'in a bar' barring?" Scully wasn't smiling.

"Yep. You two are going to take me dancing." Lena's smile grew wider still.

Mulder smiled back, "But what will I wear?"

At that Lena giggled, "What you have on will be just fine, especially for the
place I'm taking you. In fact, you're probably overdressed."

"Where are we going?" Scully was starting to look down right worried.

"Don't worry, it's just down the road. We can walk down there actually. I saw
it on the way in. Think it was called the 'Elbow Room'. Catchy huh?"

"Very." Scully was starting to smile in spite of herself. "When are we heading
out?"

"Couple hours."

"I'm going to take a walk with the lovely Ms. Wanda. You two want to come with
us?"

"Love to." Lena said, getting up from her seat.

Mulder got up to, "I think I'm going to hit the camp store. We need some wood
for later tonight. Camping always turns me into a pyromaniac."

"Okay, see you later."

The women headed off down a nearby trail with Wanda on their heels.


Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Four


Scully was quiet as they walked, too quiet.

Lena couldn't read anything from her; not a good sign. Something was obviously
wrong. She was learning that the things Scully feared most were generally the
things she blocked. Whether she did it to protect herself or Lena; Lena wasn't
sure. So they walked, and Lena waited; hoping that Scully would talk to her.

It seemed that Scully had a gift for keeping things well hidden; cooking every
scenario, doing all of the worst/best case analysis; all in her own head. Then
she would talk about it, after she'd nearly covered every angle, prepared
herself for every answer she may get.

The silence made Lena nervous.

"Are you going to die?"

It was a whisper so low that Lena thought maybe she hadn't heard it. She
stopped and looked into Dana's eyes.

"What?"

"Are you here to do something in my life? Change it; or lead me to some
revelation or some act of faith..."

"Dana..." Lena whispered, reaching out to touch her cheek.

"And then die?"

"Dana..."

"On me?"

"No."

"No?"

Lena shook her head. "I'm not here for that."

Scully blinked, twice, then walked on, rubbing a hand across her forehead.
"Explain it to me. I'm sick of the spoon-feeding Lena. It happens to me all
the time, little bits of information doled out like this..." She sighed ran a
hand through her hair. "I'm tired of it. Can you tell me why we're here? Do
you know?"

Lena could feel Scully's weariness roll off of her in waves. She was right;
too little given to her not often enough; muddy mysteries that never really
cleared with the next small bit of information. Often information given to
shed light on her life only served to kick up the mud from the bottom, making
the things she thought she already knew to be true even murkier.

"I feel safe Lena. Which seems like a good thing, and it is, I suppose. But I
feel like I may be a fool. What if we're in danger? What if someone tries to
kill you? Or Mulder? What if I'm here with you... feeling safe... and feeling
alive... and in reality my guard is down when it should be up." Her voice grew
louder. "What if I'm wrong to take a break? What if while I'm relaxing and
happy they... " She looked down to her feet, then over to Wanda where she sat
waiting patiently for them.

They were stopped in the path, facing each other. Lena gently grasped Dana's
shoulders, urging her gaze upward.

"I'm here to keep you and Mulder alive."

"I need more." Scully said flatly.

Lena looked up to the sky for a second, choosing her words, the returned
Scully's gaze again. "Some day in the distant future you two will change the
course of history. In order to do that, you need to be alive." Lena stated it
as fact, because it was.

Scully stared at her intensely. "...more." Her heart was racing in her
chest.

"The course you were following prior to my arrival was going to end in death
for both of you. Spiritual in your case, literal in Mulder's. I was sent to
you two in order to change that course."

Scully continued to stare, Lena went on.

"You lost your faith Scully. In everything. Mulder lost his ambition to find
the truth. And his 'truth' is Samantha. We knew from the beginning that if he
ever lost that drive, well, all would be lost. We couldn't let that happen. As
dramatic as it sounds it would be the end of life on the planet. All life.
There was intense fear on the part of my family that Mulder's depression would
cause him to end his life."

Scully watched in amazement as Lena's eye color changed. As she spoke they
went from brown to green to blue in succession. The change was no longer
frightening to Scully. It seemed to follow Lena's train of thought. The
brilliant colors matching the sincerity and honesty of her words.

"Our motives are noble. We want him to be happy because we love him, that he
will save the planet with your help is frankly an afterthought."

"There is so much evil in the world. The majority of which Mulder has had to
deal with. He deals with it every day, and so do you Scully. We decided that
it was unconscionable to make you deal with that evil alone. The days of
martyrdom are gone. You deserve to be happy in this life, as does Mulder."

Scully cocked a brow. "Am I to believe then that you're here to cheer us
up?"

Lena laughed, "No. Yes. In a way I guess." She shrugged. "I was actually
picked for you two because there was no chance Mulder would fall in love with
me, which is precisely what my father was worried about. The fact that I fell
in love with you... well, I think my family believed that if that happened it
would be unrequited."

Scully smiled slightly, "Whoops."

Lena's deep laugh rang out through the woods. She looked into Dana's eyes and
smiled broadly. "Yeah, whoops."

"We broke the rules then?"

"No, no rules. I think maybe we just surprised them a little."

"Your family?"

"My family." Lena started to walk again and Scully took the cue, falling in
beside her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Thank you, for asking."

Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Five


Mulder walked through the woods picking up small branches and sticks. As
always his thoughts were quick flashes of disjointed subjects. For anyone
except him, that would be a problem.

He, however, thrived on it:

He'd have to ask Lena if there is a way to safely access the other 85% of his
brain.

Did he pack socks?

What about hell? He had meant to ask Lena but had forgotten. His father had
once posed a question to him when he was old enough to understand. Something
along the lines of, "What if this IS hell Fox? What if the life you and I are
living now is actually our punishment? This could be hell; look at all the
pain our family has endured." He'd have to ask Lena...

He bent down to pick up a branch; Oh - perfect length and diameter. God he
loved fire...  fire... good...

Boy scout tent fire construction or the lincoln log style of fire building?
The lincoln burned longer, but what if they didn't stay up late? It'd be
harder to put out.

What's that shiny thing? Just a rock...

His reverie and the wood stacked in his arms made him blind to the fact that
he had wandered onto someone else's campsite.

The woman didn't see him at first. She was much too busy screaming obscenities
and throwing hot dog buns into the door of an RV to be concerned about him.

"You touch me again and I will kill you Kevin! I  WILL  FUCKING  KILL  YOU! I
didn't get married to be a punching bag you fucking prick!"

"Hoo wa." Mulder whispered, in true Lena-like fashion, then added a " 'no'
means 'no' Kevin..." as he looked around for the offender. Her back was to him
so he carefully walked the perimeter of the sight to get a look into the RV.
After several long seconds he determined that she was most likely talking to
herself.

She turned to the picnic table to grab an open package of hot dogs, "GOD! You
are such a DICK!" she screamed, hurling them at the open door. She then threw
her hands up and planted herself on the table's bench, breathing heavily.

"Miss?"

She spun on him like a pit bull, angry and surprised. "Ahh!"

"Ahh!" Mulder yelled back. 'I just screamed like a 3rd grader'

"Who the fuck are you?"

'Dirty blonde', that was his next cognitive thought, her hair is what the
cattier of her species would call dirty blonde. "I apologize for scaring you.
Are you alright?"

"Who are you?" She was pissed, apparently.

"I heard you yelling when I was" He gestured toward the woods, speaking
slowly, wanting her to get the general 'helpful' feelings he was trying to
exude. "I thought you might need help."

"And you were gonna what? Beat him with kindling?"

Not really going well. "Well" He took several steps toward her and angry
bruises around both her eyes came into focus. "Do you need medical attention?
Those bruises look pretty bad. I'm camping right over"

"Fuck off. Please. Just fuck off." She'd turned her back to him again.

Mulder bristled. "The 'please' is a nice touch. Do you kiss your mother with
that mouth?"

"That's original."

"Well, I try to always" He was moving closer still and she turned on him.

"If you take one step closer I'll bitchslap you so hard your whole family
falls down."

He laughed, loudly, in spite of himself.

She did not smile.

He put his hands in his jeans pockets and regarded her seriously. "You've been
beaten. You're bleeding. You could have a concussion. Let me help you. Or at
least let me get you outta here before Kevin comes back."

"You know Kevin?" Her eyes narrowed as much as they could, causing her to
wince.

"I heard you yell his name before you started the olympic hot dog toss."
Mulder flashed her a crooked smile.

"I don't want your help. I don't need your help. And no amount of your dumb
ass smiling is going to change my mind. Now get the hell OUT_OF_HERE."

"Ok, well I'll just gather my sticks and go."

"Thank god." He heard her mumble as he walked back toward the woods. "Dick."



Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Six


"You've been busy." Lena watched Mulder make his way through the woods toward
their RV.

"Yes. Fire. Good." He smiled, dropping a load of kindling by the fire pit. He
walked over to where the women sat.

"Scully, we have to start growing our hair out. Mulder's going to need to drag
us around by it." Lena looked at Scully across the picnic table.

"Mulder," Scully looked at him in surprise. "Why the sudden interest in
campfire building? I thought you hated fire."

"I hate big fire Scully. I'm a master at the little stuff." Mulder put a hand
on Lena's shoulder. "Hey. I met one of our neighbors."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I didn't catch her name."

"Was she nice?"

"Not really, no. But I think she was having a bad day."

"That's too bad."

Mulder shrugged. "When are we going out?"

"As soon as you're ready." Lena said.

He gestured to Scully; "You're wearing that?"

She looked down at her jeans and tee shirt. "Yes. I'm wearing this."

"That came out wrong." He said quickly. "What I really meant was, 'can I wear
this?'" He stood back so they could survey him. His jeans were covered with
small twig debris.

"Oh yeah, that'll be just fine." Lena smiled at him. "Just wipe yourself off a
little, you've got some woods on you."

He wiped some leaves off his pant legs. "Let's go." Mulder gestured in front
of himself and Lena and Scully hopped up. The three walked the half-mile to
the bar.

The Elbow Room was much bigger inside than it appeared outside. But it was a
little hard to tell because the lighting seemed to be excessively dark.

Mulder held his hand in front of his face, "I can't see my hand."

"Better yet, we can't see the floor. And I for one don't want to." Scully
added.

The three decided to start out in a booth in front to eat.

"This isn't too bad." Scully craned her neck to look into the back bar area.
"You think they dance back there in the dark?"

"That'd be my guess." Lena sipped her drink slowly.

"What exactly is in that thing?" Mulder gestured to her glass.

"A manhattan?" Lena held the glass up to him.

"Is that what you call it?" He leaned over toward her glass and sniffed. "It
smells bad."

"Well let's see. It's got whiskey, vermouth, and some other stuff. Oh, and a
cherry."

"Do you hear that?" Mulder tilted his head.

"What?"

"It's the cherry. It's screaming for help."

Lena smiled at him over the rim of her glass. Mulder had ordered a scotch and
water and Scully was nursing a glass of white wine that no doubt came from a
bottle with a twist off cap.

"How's your wine?" Lena asked.

"It would be great if I were already drunk. I may have to switch to something
a little less vague."

"Tequila?" Mulder piped up.

"Perhaps." She raised a brow at him.

Laughter; loud and annoying startled them. It came from the barstool area
where a man and woman sat huddled close together.

Mulder narrowed his eyes slightly trying to get a look at the couple. "I think
that's our neighbor."

"Seems she's in a better mood now." Scully said, trying to get a look at them
through the semi-darkness.

"She seems drunk." Lena added.

"The big guy must be Kevin."

"You know him?" Scully was surprised.

"No." Mulder turned his attention back to his table. "She was yelling at him
when we met."

"Was he yelling back?" Scully's expression went from casual interest to
concern.

"No, he wasn't there. She was cursing like a sailor."

The women stared at him, both aware that there was more to the story.

"I think he beat her."

Concern accelerated to active concern.

"She was screaming about not being a punching bag anymore. I think it may be
classic battered woman syndrome. They appear to be in the 'Honeymoon' phase
now." He gestured towards the bar at the kissing couple.

"Maybe that's not Kevin." Scully said.

They heard the woman give a quick admonition, presumably at being tickled,
"Kevin, quit it! I'm serious. I'll pee!"

"What did she say to you when you approached her?" Lena said.

"She told me to fuck off."

Lena nodded slightly, "I see."

The waitress delivered their food and the talking stopped for a while. Every
now and then the noise from the bar became louder, but never angry. It was
just laughter, for the most part.

Scully ordered a gin and tonic to replace the wine. Mulder and Lena both had
another too. By the time the meal was over those drinks were gone as well, and
they were on a third round.

"Watch me ladies, if I turn blue or start to look woozy it's the beef." Mulder
whispered. "Take me to the nearest hospital and call my next of kin."

"We are your next of kin." Scully said, smiling at him.

Mulder favored her with a broad smile of his own.

A small man came out from behind the bar carrying a large box with much
difficulty.

"Where those records?" Lena asked as he passed their table.

Scully looked at her smiling; "I think so."

"So we'll be dancing to 'Saturday Night Fever'?" Lena couldn't keep the
laughter out of her voice.

"Oh my god." Scully said simply. "Welcome to New Buffalo."

People started to trickle into the ElbowRoom. They were an eclectic crowd.
Some obviously from New Buffalo; others looked like they were in from Chicago
for the weekend. Soon enough the place started to get packed and the three
moved from their front table to a small round table in the back of the bar.
They were just a few feet from the dance floor. The view was perfect.

Mulder excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Lena leaned toward Scully, her mouth a hair's width from her ear. The contact
made Scully's eyes shut of their own volition and she felt butterflies float
gently through her stomach. "Think they have the french sex song?"

"God I hope so." Her voice came out in a whisper. How long had it been since
Lena had touched her? A full day? She knew she should have jumped her in the
woods

"Yes, you should have."

Scully thought, 'would you have let me?'

"Ohhh." Lena's tongue grazed her earlobe. "Absolutely."

Lena sat back on her stool and Scully opened her eyes. They stared at each
other.

'How am I going to keep my hands off you tonight?' Scully didn't speak aloud,
she didn't need to.

"Who says you have to?" Lena whispered.

'But Mulder'

"Afraid we'll have trouble keeping quiet?" Lena looked over her shoulder
toward Mulder as he made his way around people toward them.

'Yes'.

"That was an event." Mulder smiled as he sat down. "This place is packed."

The music had been playing for a while when a six headed light fixture on the
ceiling of the room suddenly spun into action. The bodies on the dance floor
were illuminated in multi-colored brilliance.

"Very classy." Lena said.

"Hey, there's my good friend Kevin. He's quite a dancer." Mulder gestured to
the middle of the dance floor where a large man danced in a style akin to a
seizure.

"I don't know whether to clap and scream, 'CLEAR!' and set to him with the
paddles." Lena was talking to Mulder but she could hear Scully's thoughts
clearly as resonated in her mind.

'Touch your neck for me.' Scully's voice, low and full of promise in her mind
was undoing her.

Lena looked over at her, questioning.

'The hollow of your neck. Run your fingers over it. Please.'

Lena glanced at Mulder and saw he was engrossed elsewhere. She reached up to
her neck and let two of her fingers trail from her chin to her throat slowly,
staring into Scully's eyes all the while.

'Mmmm, I love that spot.'

Warmth spread across her cheeks and her eyes slid shut as she touched the
hollow of her throat, imaging Scully's finger

"You ok?" Mulder touched her elbow.

Her eyes snapped opened and she looked at Scully, who was looking now to the
dance floor, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tipped I guess."

"Tipped? As in tipsy?" Lena nodded at him. "Good, dance with me." Mulder
grabbed her hand and pulled her out on the floor.

It was a slow song and Mulder wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
"I'm having fun Lena."

"I'm glad." She smiled up at him.

"Me too."

They swayed close to their RV neighbors and Mulder nodded slightly at the
woman.

She recognized him through an alcoholic haze and whispered into Kevin's ear,
and as with most excessively drunk people, her whisper was actually a yell.
"It's him," she said in a loud hiss.

"Who?" Kevin turned toward them. He was startlingly ugly. Stop-a-clock ugly.

Lena and Mulder recoiled slightly in surprise. Lena whispered an inadvertent
'damn'.

The woman continued, "The guy! You know, the guy in our campsite?"

"The one who talked to you? When I wasn't there?" The words were thick and
hard to understand, but Mulder made them out none the less and started to
bristle at Kevin's connotation.

He whispered to Lena, "Let's go sit down."

She nodded and they were making their way back to the table when Kevin grabbed
onto the back of Mulder's tee shirt.

Mulder stopped and looked at Lena, wincing and shaking his head slightly but
not turning around. "Is it him?"

Lena nodded. "Fraid so."

"Does he look mad?" Mulder continued.

"And really drunk." Lena said.

Mulder turned in place slowly. Kevin still had hold of his shirt and he got
twisted up in the process. "Let go of my shirt Kevin."

Kevin was startled by Mulder's use of his name and let go of the shirt.

Mulder stared at the man with open disgust. "You're big but you're drunk. I
could beat the hell out of you."  He looked past Kevin to the woman. "Seems to
me there's been too many punches thrown today already."

Recognition spread slowly on the woman's face. She waited a beat and then took
Kevin by the upper arm. "Come on baby. He's not worth it."

Safely back at the table the group took a vote and decided that dancing would
be best left on their 'to do' list for a different town. They gathered up
their coats and made their way back to the campsite.

Mulder had a fire going quickly and they sat in a small circle around it, each
seemingly lost in their own thoughts.

Lena spoke up first, "How does a brandy sound?"

"Really good." Scully answered. Mulder nodded in agreement and Lena went
inside the RV to retrieve the brandy and some plastic cups.

"You okay Mulder?" Scully asked across the fire pit.

"Yeah. I was just thinking about our neighbors."

Scully shrugged slightly, "It's sad."

He nodded. "I understand the syndrome. To a point. I mean, I understand the
dynamics that result in a woman being in that particular cycle of abuse. What
I don't understand is why she treated me so badly."

"She was mean to you?"

"Mean isn't the half of it Scully. She told me more than once to fuck off."

Scully shrugged. "Maybe she was afraid that she'd be in more danger if she did
engage you. Maybe Kevin is the jealous type."

"That could be."

Lena came out of the RV with bottle and cups in hand. "Here you go kids.
Something to help you sleep."

"Where do you two want me, speaking of sleeping?" Mulder looked at Lena.

"Ummm." She stammered and looked to Scully for help.

"You're already set up in the back room aren't you?" She was on the verge of
stammering as well.

"My bag is in there but I can move it." Mulder may have known this was
uncomfortable for them, but if he did, he hid it well.

"No." Lena followed up, "That's okay, we can sleep in the overhead bed."

"You sure?" Mulder looked at Scully.

She nodded, "Yeah, that'll work out fine." She looked toward Lena nervously
and changed the subject. "Mulder and I were talking about our neighbors."

"Really? Did you come up with a plan?"

Scully was confused. "Plan? For what purpose?"

"To get her out of there." Lena said emphatically, as if they had missed the
obvious.


Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Seven


"Why don't we sleep on it?" Lena asked them. "Kevin's too drunk tonight to
hurt anybody. He's sleeping now, I believe. We can come up with a plan in the
morning."

"Why is this any of our business?" Mulder looked at her stifling a yawn.

"Because he'll kill her if we don't do something." Lena said gravely.

"Oh." Mulder's brows went up. "How we gonna get her out of there if," another
yawn overwhelmed him and he let it rip, "she hates us?"

"I do not know grasshopper." Lena slid down further in her seat.

"Well then, Mr. Fu, I'm off to bed. Let me know tomorrow would ya?"

"You got it." Lena smiled at him as he got up on tired legs and headed toward
the RV.

"Good night."

"Night." Scully called to him.

They sat in silence for a second or two after Mulder had disappeared into the
RV.

"That was a dirty trick you played on me Ms. Scully."

"What trick was that?" Scully smiled demurely at her.

"The 'make Lena touch herself' trick."

Scully looked at her, narrowed her eyes, and then turned her gaze back to the
fire. "Protest all you want, I think you liked it."

Lena said nothing for a second. She took a deep breath and stood up, holding
out her hand to Scully. "I need to take you to bed now."

Scully laughed lightly and reached out for Lena's hand. Her tone of voice was
teasing whisper as they walked to the door, "See, I knew you liked it."

"I was embarrassed." Lena said with mock sincerity.

"Sure you were."

"Humiliated."

"Uh huh."

"I felt violated."

"Then why is your hand on my ass?"

Lena laughed.

Scully stood in front of the RV door facing Lena and ran a finger briefly over
the dark haired woman's lower lip. "Dork." She whispered.

Both women noted, with much relief, that Mulder's door was shut. They changed
into pajamas and climbed into the bed over the driver's seat.

Scully's fingers immediately went to the hollow spot on Lena's neck. "How
quiet can you be?"

"No promises." Lena whispered.

Scully's hand snaked up the front of Lena's pajama top. "Could you be quiet if
I did this?" She whispered, running a palm over an already stiffened nipple
and receiving a deep sigh in return.  She lingered there for several minutes,
switching from one nipple to the other, making Lena all but writhe on the thin
mattress.

"How bout if I did this?" Her hand slid down to the outside of Lena's pajama
bottoms and she ran it over the fabric between her legs. The lift of Lena's
hips into her palm made her heart jump.

"I think I'd have a little trouble with that last one."

Scully stopped moving her hand. "Should I stop?"

"No no no no no." Lena's fingers melded to the back of Scully's and she
returned her hand to its most recent position, pressing it firmly against
her.

Scully smiled into her kiss.

In the back bedroom Mulder strained to hear, and =not hear= the muffled
voices. He lay in bed on his back, feeling more than a little dirty. 'I can't
take this.' He thought. He'd reconciled what he could of his feelings for
Scully. Every minute he spent with Lena made him more sure that things were
the best this way. But he was human for Christ's sake. They wouldn't really
make love with him not 15 feet away. Would they?

His mind cooked up pictures of Scully and Lena in the other room faster than
he was able to chastise himself for thinking them. And he was jealous, to be
sure, but worse than that he was having what his mother would call 'impure'
thoughts. And he couldn't get them out of his head.

He trapped his hands behind him in the small of his back. If he touched
himself now he wouldn't be able to look either one of them in the eye the next
morning.

Baseball, baseball, baseball...

"Let me help you with that." Lena whispered, pulling at the waistband of her
pajamas, lowering them just to her knees. A moan started deep in her throat as
Scully began stroking her. Lena's hand went to Scully's pajama bottoms and
started to work them down. "I want to touch you Dana."

Mulder grabbed the extra pillow on the bed and wrapped it securely around his
ears. 'That was Lena, I'm sure that was Lena...'

Grandma Mulder, dryer lint, small engine repair...

"Oh my god..." It came out much louder than Scully had intended, but the force
of the fingers entering her were overwhelming. "That's perfect..."

Mulder's face was molded into a grimace, 'Scully...' he wadded up the
comforter and rolled his head into it. He was having trouble breathing...

Lena came too quickly, whispering 'Dana' as she shuddered and rocked against
Scully's hand. Scully followed soon after, Lena's words having a strong
effect...

Mulder, in an attempt to roll himself up in the mattress, rolled a little too
far and fell out of bed.

"Did you hear that?" Lena looked at Scully with alarm.

"Yeah, what was it?"

"Not sure."

"You don't think it was Mulder do you?"

Lena shook her head, "No, he was too tired."

"Hmmmm. Well, it seems to have stopped."

"Yeah."

They straightened their pajamas and snuggled into one another's arms.

Mulder, in the mean time, had very quietly crawled back into bed. He fell
asleep rubbing the large bruise on his forehead that could have been much
worse had he not been wrapped completely in bedding.

Scully ran her fingers through Lena's hair. "How are we gonna get that woman
away from Kevin?"

"I have no idea but we have to think of something. She won't live through the
week at this rate."

Scully laid staring at the much too close ceiling. "She doesn't seem to like
Mulder too much. She won't listen to him, we can be sure of that."

Lena sighed, "That's true."

"He doesn't seem to like her much either. After the way she treated him I
guess I can see why."

"Yeah." Lena paused, "But I think he'll change his mind."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because she's Samantha."


Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Eight


Lena stood next to the fire pit in the early morning light and dialed her
father's number on her cell phone. It was busy. She hung up and paced for a
while.

She and Scully had decided not to tell Mulder that the woman was his sister
until they had her safely with them. It seemed the best thing would be to tell
them at the same time, putting them in the same boat, so to speak. Lena
speculated that Samantha had been continually drunk for a lot of months. A
sober Samantha would be much easier to get along with, easier to reason with,
and frankly, easier to like.

She trembled slightly, the fall air was damp and chilly. She dialed her
father's number again. "Hi Dad."

"Hey! You called just in time."

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

She listened to him as she heard the RV door open. It was Scully, looking
downright adorable in her sweat pants and sweat shirt. Lena winked at her and
she lifted an arm in a half wave. 'Sleepy Scully' was decidedly Lena's
favorite. She thought back to the morning at the lake house when Scully had
made her way up the steps, all groggy and bed-haired. It warmed her up.

Scully wandered over and sat heavily in a lawn chair. Lena tried to warn her
that it was soggy but Scully soon found out on her own, bouncing up off the
seat after the ass of her pants was fully saturated. She then went about
trying to look at the damage. She pulled on the seat of her sweatpants and
turned two full circles trying to get a look at them. Lena had covered the
mouthpiece on the phone and laughed out loud.

"What? No dad, I'm not enjoying your pain, I know you're upset. It's just that
Dana, well, she just gave herself a butt soaker and now she's in full spin
trying to get a look at it."

She listened for a second or two as Scully gave in and sat back down.

"Well, put 'Free Willy' in, that one's got a happy ending."

"Why do you watch those movies when you know they'll end that way?"

"Ok. You do that. I gotta go. Talk to you soon ok?"

"Love you too dad, bye."

She rung off and folded her phone in half, stuffing it into her back pocket.
Gesturing to it she said, "My dad, he can't tolerate an unhappy ending. He
rents movies and watches them when he's exercising in the morning. If they end
badly he has 'Free Willy' cued up to the ending so he can get on with his day
on a brighter note." She shook her head.

"My butt is soaked." Scully pouted slightly. The statement set Lena giggling.

"I know honey I tried to warn you but you were too quick for me."

"I put warm clothes on for a reason." Her slight smile was giving her away.

Lena laughed harder. "I know. I'm sorry."

"And you're laughing."

"I can't help it Scully you just look so cute."

"And your butt is dry."

Lena never saw it coming. Scully sprung out of her lawn chair and using her
momentum sat Lena down in the one across from her. She sat on Lena's lap,
soaking her legs with her wet butt and spoke over her shoulder. "Soggy?"

Lena was in hysterics, "Soggy ain't the half of it!"

Scully got up and turned to face her. "Have we learned our lesson?"

"We've learned a couple. For starters, we've learned a new way to turn on a
cell phone."

Scully's face turned from vindication to concern, "Did I hurt you?"

"Absolutely not. You startled the shit out of me, maybe shaved a little time
off the life expectancy of the cell phone, but I am definitely not hurt."

"What's the scuffle out here?"  Mulder walked down the steps of the RV, a
stocking cap on his head which gave him a distinctive cone head shape.

Scully stared at him for several seconds, then spoke up. "It's not nearly that
cold Mulder." Her brow shot up. "And that hat lowers your IQ exponentially."

Lena laughed loudly from her spot on the damp lawn chair. "It does have a
certain sperm like quality..."

"You two are just hysterical." Mulder mumbled, making his way to a lawn chair.
Neither of the women bothered to warn him of the dampness and he was soon
planted in Scully's chair.

After a couple seconds with no protest from him Scully looked at Lena and
shrugged. "Guess I soaked it all up."

"Can you talk about the hat or is it too personal?" Lena smiled at him and he
scowled back.

He pulled at the hat from it's peak and it came off, exposing a purplish
bruise. "I hit my head last night."

Lena knew immediately what had happened. She saw the scene in her head as he
thought it out. "Ah!" With a hand over her mouth she bent at the waist, hiding
her face in her knees.

Scully was confused, "What?" She started at Mulder for a second and saw shame
on his face. "Oh no."

He winced and shook his head. "...oh yes..."

"Mulder that was you?"

He mimicked his version of a 12 year old boy who was trying to mimic a younger
sister; his head wagged and his mouth contorted, "yes Mulder it was me..."

Scully started to laugh, she tilting her head toward the sky, "oh my god."

Lena lifted her head, "Mulder, I don't know what to say." She shook her head.

"The very LAST thing I want is for you to say a few words about it..."

Lena laughed heartily at that, getting up to put her hand on his shoulder. "It
won't happen again Mulder. We're very sorry." She looked to Scully for support.

Scully piped in, "Mulder, I'm really sorry. It was inconsiderate of us to do
that."

He opened his mouth to speak and was interrupted by the sound of someone
walking through the woods. He turned his head to see the woman he didn't yet
know was his sister make her way toward them.

She stopped 5 feet in front of them and addressed Mulder, "That offer for help
still open?"

"Always." He said, taken off guard but not missing a beat.

Lena looked at Scully, "Guess we don't have to worry about a plan huh?"

Scully walked toward Samantha surveying her visible cuts and bruises that
weren't hidden by clothing. She turned back to them, "Mulder, these are
fresh."

"What? The bruises?"

"The bruises, the cuts... it looks like she may have a gash here on her
stomach." Scully leaned to touch her and Samantha keeled over.

Mulder was next to her in a flash and they carried her into the RV. Lena set
up the kitchen table bed and they laid her gently on it, Scully checking
vitals and surveying injuries as they went.

"Ok, she's not in danger. There's a gash in her stomach that looks a little
iffy but I think, all and all, we're dealing with some deep bruising. Probably
from punches. I'm going to need a more dressings than I've currently got in my
bag."

Mulder nodded, then added, "I think I should call the police and have them
pick Kevin up."

Lena gestured to Samantha, "What if she decides not to testify."

Samantha spoke through bruised lips. "I will. If you can find him I will."

"What happened?" Mulder leaned toward her, surprised she was able to speak.
"What set him off this time?"

"I told him I was leaving. I tried to, but he stopped me. If he hadn't passed
out I wouldn't be alive."

Mulder's disgust registered plainly on his face, "This happened last night?"

She nodded, "I passed out after he beat me. When I woke up this morning he was
gone, probably ran out of beer." She laughed ironically, "I came over here
before he got back. He's probably back now, wondering where the hell I am."

Mulder stood up and made for the door. "I'm going over there to check it out
Scully. I'll call the police on the way."

She nodded at him and he headed out. Lena looked up from Samantha. "Why don't
you go get some dressing? They probably have general first aid supplies down
at that little corner store. I think driving there would be too rough on
her."

Scully looked down at Samantha, thinking it over, "Ok." She turned and dug
through her medical bag and pulled out her gun.

Lena took a step back, "What's that for?"

"What if Kevin comes here looking for her?"

"I don't think he will."

"Well, take this anyway, leave it on the counter if you want to, I don't care.
I'd just feel better if you had it."

"Scully, it's a short walk. You'll be gone 20 minutes at the most." Lena
smiled at her, then touched her cheek lightly. "We'll be fine."

Scully smiled back, "We will, won't we?"

"Oh yeah, now's the time. The family is coming together." Lena's eyes shone
light green, then blue.

Scully mouthed the words 'I love you', grabbed her wallet and headed out the
door.


Conhouse - Chapter Twenty Nine


It took her forever to find what she needed at the store. Who puts first aid
supplies next to beef jerky? She paid for her pile of bandages and headed out
the door of the store. The sun had since come up and the blue sky against
changing leaves was beautiful.

Scully moved to the side of the road as soon as she saw the ambulance. She
watched with curiosity as it turned into the entrance to the campground and
drove around the corner, two police cars in it's wake.

No siren.  She knew from experience that when an ambulance driver put on the
flashing lights but didn't run the siren that someone was already dead.

No siren, no rush.

"What the hell?" She mumbled aloud. She started jogging after them, her mind
working. She jogged the half mile to their campsite and felt her heart stop
when she saw the emergency crew make it's way into their RV.

Two police officers roughly escorted a handcuffed Kevin to a police car.

Stopping at the mouth of their campsite she looked around wildly for Lena or
Mulder.

Relief washed over her as she spotted Mulder, her free hand going to her heart
as she sighed with relief. He's ok. He's right there.

Samantha stood behind him. Her face was a mask of tears and mascara.

Scully took another deep breath.

Lena.

Where was Lena?

She felt the blood run out of her face and started to walk, the bag of first
aid supplies falling forgotten to the ground.

Scully walked toward Mulder, focusing with her whole being on his expression.
Looking for something in it...

She didn't look toward the police cars again.

She walked past the crowd of people from other campsites, not even registering
them.

He saw her finally. She quickly appraised the look on his face.

And then she started to run.

All sound seemed to stop.

She couldn't hear her own footfalls anymore.

Her legs went numb.



She was on him before she'd realized she'd even been running. Her hands came
to his face. She held it, watching his lips move.

What was he saying? What?

"Kevin was here while we were gone Scully." Mulder's voice trembled. Blue and
red flashing lights played across his features.

She didn't understand. She put the trembling fingers of her hand on his lips.

"Lena's gone..." Mulder choked on the words.

Her knees gave out and he clung to her.

"He killed her Scully..." Mulder held her up under her arms. Thick tears
streamed down his face, his wet lashes clung together, his mouth trembled.
"She wouldn't shoot him, she wouldn't use the gun."

Scully was panting in his arms; her body shook violently.  She was
hyperventilating. He lowered her to the ground and squatted next to her. Her
body was crumpled; all of her weight on one hip. With a hand to her cheek he
turned her head to look into her eyes.

empty

"Oh god Scully." Mulder grimaced and felt a sob build deep in his chest.
Another torrent of tears streamed down his face and he hugged her roughly to
him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...."


Conhouse - Chapter Thirty


In the end it was Mulder who had packed some things for her and took her to
her mother's house.

She had estimated that she'd spent 4 days in bed, getting up only to go the
bathroom.

Her only memory of the trip was twisting her ankle on the steps of her
mother's porch. She didn't feel it, but Mulder insisted on looking at it once
he got her upstairs and lying down.  She remembered vaguely his asking her
mother for a bag of ice.

As she lay in her childhood bed she drifted off to sleep with the mumbled
voices of Mulder and her Mom in the kitchen. The last thing she heard was
Mulder mention Lena. Several hours later, the sun having already set, she was
awoken by the sound of the front door opening and closing. She heard Mulder
start his car and drive away.

Her mother appeared in the bedroom door. She walked to the bed and sat down,
brushing a strand of hair from her daughter's forehead.

"Dana, honey.  I'm so sorry."

Scully's voice cracked, "She was an angel mom." She didn't know if her mother
took the words literally or not. She supposed it didn't really matter. She
could see her mother's heart breaking for her and drifted back to sleep with
that image in her mind.

Mulder sat on his couch staring at nothing. He'd gotten back from Mrs.
Scully's after dropping Dana off and had been sitting there, staring, for
nearly an hour.

All they'd been through all of the times they were close to death all of it
had ended in a simple domestic assault casualty.

He squeezed his eyes shut. According to Samantha it had happened quickly.

Lena had tried to block Kevin from getting to Samantha and he cut a deep gash
in her abdomen with a hunting knife. She'd lived long enough to try and hand
the gun to Samantha. When Samantha saw the gun she yelled for Lena to shoot,
not understanding why she didn't. Mulder was there seconds later, but not in
time to keep Lena from bleeding to death. She had slipped away as he wrestled
Kevin away from his sister.

He knew now, of course, who Samantha was. They had years of healing to do
together, but right now he just couldn't work up the ability to care. Scully
was just short of catatonic. That was his main concern now, how to get Scully
back.

He lowered his chin to his chest. He glanced at his fish and remembered their
first fishing trip with Lena; the look on her face when he'd flipped that fish
at her. And instead of laughing Mulder started to cry.

She supposed they'd had a funeral for Lena, but if they did it wasn't
mentioned to her. She was glad of that, being certain she wouldn't have been
able to bear it.

Her mother came in with the occasional bowl of soup or hot tea. Scully would
sit up and eat or drink. She'd talk as little as possible. She thought it was
probably just enough to keep her from being hospitalized.

Some time later, she imagined a couple days but she wasn't sure, there was a
knock at the door that woke her.  She pictured Mulder or Skinner, but after
not being able to determine who it was she shut her eyes. Sleep seemed to be
the only relief from the grief and she welcomed it.

Mrs. Scully peeked out a side window but didn't recognize the older man at the
door. She opened the door but left the chain in place.

"May I help you?"  His eyes were so beautiful

"Mrs. Scully, my name is Steve Conhouse."

"Conhouse? Oh! Lena's father?" She shut the door and unhooked the chain then
quickly opened the door all the way. " Please," she stepped aside, "please
come in." He walked through the door and she took his hand. "Fox told me about
you. I'm so sorry for your loss."

To her surprise a tear rolled down his face. "Thank you."

Mrs. Scully took hold of his arm and led him toward the kitchen, thinking to
herself, 'What am I smelling? Is it roses?'   "Come and sit down. Would you
like some coffee?"

"That would be wonderful." He sat at the kitchen table and watched her pour
water into the coffee machine. "Mrs. Scully, I need to talk to you about
something."

She turned to face him. "Yes?"

He took a deep breath and smiled at her.  "Let me start by saying that I can't
tolerate an unhappy ending."

Conhouse - Chapter Thirty One


Mr. Conhouse had excused himself during their four hour conversation only
once. He asked Mrs. Scully if she would mind him bringing Wanda in from his
car, explaining that she was the best behaved dog in the free world and the
carpets would be safe.

She agreed readily and minutes later the big blonde dog sat next to Mrs.
Scully's chair with her furry head on her lap. Mrs. Scully commented that
Wanda looked much too thin. And she was, having refused her kibble and even
table scraps over the last few days. No one realized during the killing that
Wanda was on the floor with Lena. She had spent Lena's last seconds licking at
the wound in her stomach. Her frantic attempts at stopping the flow of blood
from the wound were futile, and in the end she laid her head on Lena's chest,
licking her chin and nuzzling her neck. A EMS worker had to call for help to
get Wanda off of Lena so they could look at her. By that time Lena was already
gone and Wanda was completely devastated.

Mrs. Scully ran her hand over Wanda's big soft ears and listened as
Mr. Conhouse told her what, on any other day of the year, she would consider
too incredible to believe.

Too incredible if she hadn't seen his eyes change color as his spoke, or if
she hadn't smelled oranges and flowers all afternoon. Too incredible if he
hadn't taken her hand so she could feel the pain that radiated through him, or
if he hadn't answered her questions before she'd even put voice to them.

His story would have been too incredible had her daughter not been wasting
away with grief in the bedroom over their heads.

The petting stopped at a turning point in the conversation and Wanda loped out
of the kitchen. She could smell Scully somewhere here and knew too that the
smell of grief was in the air.

She turned the corner to the steps and made her way up. At Scully's door she
stopped and sniffed the air, making sure she'd found her and walked to the bed
side. With her muzzle she gently nudged at Scully's limp hand.

Her eyes opened and she looked at Wanda, in seconds her eyes filled with
tears.

"Ohhhh." The word came out on the light breath of a surprised sigh. "Wanda."
Her voice was gravelly and soft from lack of use.

Wanda dropped her head and let Scully rub her neck. Scully scooted over on the
mattress and patted the spot next to her. Wanda hopped up gently and fitted
herself into the 'c' of Scully's body.

"Wanda", her voice filled with pain, tears flowing freely now, "you're so
thin."

"She won't eat." Mr. Conhouse said softly from his spot in the bedroom
doorway. He dropped his head and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand,
then brought them back up to look at her. "I can't get her to eat."

Scully stared at him through blurry eyes. She held her hand out from the bed,
chin trembling, and Steve crossed the room to hold it.

He sat for a minute, his face crumbling in front of her as he started to
cry.

Dana tried to speak, "I miss her so much" she could hardly finish the
sentence, her anguish gripping her firmly.

He breathed out harshly, his lips wet with tears, "I know"

She sat up on the bed and embraced him.



Conhouse - Chapter Thirty Two


Dana had cried herself to sleep in his arms. Her pain and his had mingled in
his mind, pushing him to the brink of insanity. He thought he might die from
grief as he sat stroking her hair. Eventually he'd left her and walked
downstairs to finish his conversation with Mrs. Scully.

He'd left them both with a promise, and drove many miles over the speed limit
to get to the place he thought he'd be most likely to keep it.

Steve pulled into the driveway at the lake house and got out of his car. He
opened the back door and Wanda hopped out.

They walked together into the house. In the kitchen he dumped the uneaten food
out of Wanda's bowl and filled it with new. She sniffed at it for a second
then loped away to the carpet behind the couch, sighing loudly as she lay down
her head across her paws.

"Look at this!" Steve gestured to Wanda and yelled toward the ceiling. "This
is bullshit!" He dropped his arms in disgust and walked over to the large
window. He ran his hand over his mouth and chin, thinking. Turning back to the
open room he shut his eyes. He had one shot at it and he was trembling at the
thought.

Screwing up his courage he began to speak.

"This isn't right. And I'm not talking about just an unhappy ending here; I'm
talking about the whole deal. Not only was she my daughter, she was the one
sent to make Mulder and Scully believe. She was here to change the course of
their lives."

He took a deep breath; worried for a second that he was being too belligerent;
then went on anyway.

"And THAT is exactly what happened! By taking her away you've most certainly
changed their lives! They're shattered. I'M SHATTERED, the damn DOG IS
SHATTERED!"

He sat heavily on the couch and put his head in his hands. Quietly he spoke
again, "I need her, they need her. Could it be that you've made a mistake
here? I've lost a lot of people in my life, each death brought me sadness but
it also brought me tremendous joy. There are times when I was even prone to
jealousy when I thought of the rapture they were experiencing. There is no joy
within me today. Something's wrong."

He stopped speaking. His brow furrowed.

"Is that it? Is it my fault? Are you punishing me because of my jealousies and
pettiness?" He covered his mouth with his palm, holding back the sob that was
working it's way out of him.

"If that is the case accept my forgiveness and my life in return. Bring her
back" he sobbed loudly.

" please bring her back. And if you can't bring her back please take me
too. I don't want to be here without her. Give me that please at least take
me too."

His eyes now swollen he turned to his side. He lay down on the couch curled up
in the fetal position. As he fell asleep he murmured the word 'please' over
and over again.

When he woke the sun was down. He rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Daddy, don't do this."

He flinched violently, looking frantically around the room to see where Lena's
voice was coming from. It came from the chair directly across from him. His
daughter sat with her hands in her lap looking at him through concerned
eyes.

"I have to."

She shook her head, "No. You don't. I won't allow it."

"I want to."

She started to cry. "What if I don't want to come back without you being there
when I do?"

His lip trembled and he relief shown plainly on his face. He spoke softly. "I
need to."

She stared at him for long seconds. Her hand went out to him. Pain was clear
and palpable on her features, "Don't."

"It's my wish Lena, I'm ready to go."

"Daddy, please" She pleaded with him as he stood up from the couch.

"You've got a lot more to do Lena. If you need me you know where to find me."
A broad smile graced his face. His lovely eyes shown bright through blue and
green. He knelt at her feet, taking her hand in his. "Take care of your step-
mom. Explain it to her if you can. She's going to need your help Lena. And
make sure to tell her that I loved her."

"Don't go" She cried like a child.

"I have to honey, I made a promise. I want to" He laid his head in her lap.
His breathing slowed, his heartbeat was faint against her knees.

"please" she whispered.

"I love you" his voice was faint.

She ran a hand through his hair. "I love you too daddy." She laid herself over
him, hugging around his back.



Conhouse - Chapter Thirty Three


"Mrs. Scully?"

"Yes?" She held the phone to her ear and tried to recognize the voice. She'd
hoped it was Mr. Conhouse. She hadn't heard from him in the two days since
he'd been there.

"It's Fox Mulder. I have some bad news."

"What is it?"

"When I got home today there was a message on my machine from Mrs. Conhouse,
Lena's stepmother. She said that she'd gone to check on Steve at the lake
house and found him collapsed. Apparently he had a heart attack when he was
there alone"

Her hand came to her mouth in surprise, "Oh no."

Mulder steadied his voice, "He's gone. I don't have all the details or any
information on the other arrangements. I haven't called Mrs. Conhouse back yet
but I thought I'd call you first so you could tell Dana."

"Oh Fox, do you think I should?"

"I think she'd want to know."

Mulder hung up the phone. He decided to wait and call Mrs. Conhouse back
later.

He pulled a beer from the fridge and sat on his couch. wondering how much more
Scully could possibly take. Maybe he should do what she was doing.

He laid down on his couch and tried in vain to sleep.

****************************************************

Mrs. Scully made her way up the steps to Dana's room. She crossed to the bed
and sat down, taking her daughter's hand.

"Dana, honey?"

Scully opened her eyes to look at her mother. The expression told her
something was wrong. She roused herself and sat up, "What is it Mom?"

"Steve. He's had a heart attack." She paused, not wanting to finish. "He was
at the lake house alone and  he died honey."

Scully shut her eyes tightly, "Oh no." She was caught in a fresh wave of
grief. "I don't understand this"

Mrs. Scully wrapped her arm around her daughter, but felt her go rigid
suddenly. She looked into her eyes and saw Dana look more alert than she had
since she'd gotten there.

Scully pushed herself away from her mother gently and threw back the covers.
She went directly to her bag and started to rifle through it, throwing shoes
and pants toward the bed.

"Dana?" Her mother was baffled, "What is it?"

She turned toward her mother wide eyed. "The last thing he said to me mom, he
thought I was asleep."

"What?"

"He said he promised to bring her back."

Mrs. Scully was very concerned that her daughter had finally had too much,
"Dana? He's gone."  She watched as Dana ignored her and got dressed. She
followed her downstairs and her daughter nearly knocked her down on her way
out the door with the car keys.

Scully got into her mother's car and revved the engine. She pulled out of the
driveway without another word to her mother. She'd take of the 'thank you's'
and apologies later.

As she sped down the highway she replayed Steve's words back in her head over
and over again. He had thought she was sleeping as he stroked her hair.

"Dana, I promise you I'll bring her back, even if it kills me."


Conhouse - Chapter Thirty Four **THE END**


Scully pulled into Lena's driveway and turned off the car's engine. She sat
for a couple seconds, willing her heart to slow down it's wild beating. She
walked up to the front door and opened it slowly. Wanda padded up to her as
she came in the entry way.

Scully smiled to herself and took in a deep breath, at the same time trying to
calm her nerves.

Wanda didn't look nearly as thin as she had two days before.

Scully walked to the large window and looked out to the lake. Within seconds
she was surrounded by the smell of oranges and cinnamon. She felt Lena's arm
around her waist. The weight of Lena's chin rested on her shoulder. She looked
down at the hand that gently caressed her stomach and covered it with both of
her own.

"Do you miss him?" Scully whispered.

"I haven't had the chance." Lena's soft voice soothed Scully completely. "He's
been floating through my mind since he left, telling me how incredible it is"

"Is he happy?"

"He's enraptured he's whole."

They stood in silence watching the sun set in tones of blue and red.

"Don't do that again." Scully whispered, closing her eyes.

"I won't."

The end.