From: "spree1737 " Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 18:21:51 -0700 Subject: dfn2/2 Source: direct ****** ****** After the discovery of Lisa Kistren's body in the 'Silent Nite' the club had been closed 'until further notice'. The police had insisted on it, guessing there might be evidence in the club. That was the official reason anyway, the real reason was that they needed to make it look like they were doing something to find the 'DC Slasher' and it was to all intents and purposes, a PR job. When informed of this, the club's owner, Gordie Lyle, had hit the roof and threatened to sue the DCPD for damages. He understood how this turn of events could, if marketed correctly, make his nightclub one of the most popular in the entire city. Some people might say that making money off some wacko's sick fix was wrong, but Lyle didn't see it like that. He believed everything happens for a reason, and while he didn't exactly endorse what the Slasher had done in the upstairs of his nightclub, it had happened, it was an opportunity and he wasn't going to turn it aside because of morality. Because of the nightclub's closure Mulder and Scully had had to find Fielding's address from the federal database. Fielding, despite being twenty-five, lived in a shared house on the edges of DC; house was run down and looked in need of serious renovation. Some of the windows downstairs had been smashed and covered with cardboard, the lock on the door was obviously broken and it didn't sit quite right in the frame. When they knocked it swung open slightly before closing on them again. The woman who answered the door was short, slightly plump, with long brown hair. She squinted at Mulder and Scully suspiciously, "Can I help you?" Scully spoke up pulling her ID from her pocket simultaneously and showing it to the woman, "We're Agents Scully and Mulder with the FBI. We're here to see Aaron Fielding" "Oh yes, Aaron said you might be coming round. I'm Beth Malkinski, Aaron's next-door neighbor" she stepped back from the door, letting them in and showing into the living room, gesturing to them to sit, "I'll get him". The living room was in roughly the same condition as the outside of the house, the paint was peeling off the wallpaper and the wallpaper, in turn, was peeling off the wall and the carpet was stained and wearing through, almost to the tread in some places. The couch and chairs were old and looked highly uncomfortable, but at least clean. "Excuse the mess but everything's rented with the house and the landlord won't pay for anything so..." Aaron Fielding stepped into the room, wearing what seemed to Scully to be the same clothes as the ones he was wearing when they had first met him, but he looked less bedraggled and he'd had a shave. Upon seeing them he gave them what could only be described as a beaming smile. Aaron sat down in one of the chairs across from them and cocked his head to one side, "OK, what can I do for you folks?" Scully looked over at Mulder expecting him to start asking the questions, he just looked bored and depressed, intent on figuring out the inherent mysteries of the peeling wallpaper behind Aaron. Mentally she sighed, turning back to the beaming man in the chair, "Well, Mr. Fielding, we really appreciate you finding out Mr. Collins' address, unfortunately he moved from that address around the same time as he was fired and we haven't been able to get a current one for him" she began, "I'm sorry about that. But if you've come to ask me if I have any idea where he lives now, I've got no better information than you" Scully shook her head, "No, sir, we were more interested in how Mr. Collins was acting in the weeks prior to him being fired. If his behavior changed at all" "Well, he *did* start talking about is sister more" he paused, "I'm sorry, but why are you asking me about Steve? You don't think he did anything do you?" "Mr. Collins is one of many suspects at the moment, we are just making inquires. But he is in no direct trouble right now" she lied smoothly. Collins was the only suspect. Mulder broke into the conversation for the first time, "You said something about his sister?" he asked, Aaron nodded, "Yeah, he almost never said anything about her, until about a week before and then you couldn't get him to shut up. He'd go on and on about what they got up to as kids. I thought it was kinda weird, you know? His sis died in a car crash or something a while back but he was always referring to her in the present tense, like her expected her to walk though the door at any moment, if you catch my drift" Mulder smiled reassuringly, thought Scully, "Why did Steve get sacked?" Aaron frowned and pursed his lips, "Well, Steve was almost religiously punctual. I mean, he was always on time, he kinda like felt it was a personal insult if you were late. But round the same time as he started going on about his sister, he started getting later and later. Gordie doesn't really mind if you're a bit late, but we're talking two, three hours here and that's just not acceptable. So he lost his job" "OK, Mr. Fielding" Scully started, "I've just got one more question: What is Steve's temper like?" Aaron frowned again, "How do you mean?" "Was he even-tempered or easily annoyed? That kind of thing" Aaron paused and thought, "Umm, he didn't get angry very often but he when he did, he really lost it, you know?" Mulder and Scully stood and Aaron followed suit, holding out his hand for them to shake and then walked them to the door. "You should really try and get that lock fixed, Mr. Fielding" Scully said ever the practical type, Aaron nodded ruefully, "We will" "Thank you for your time and help, Mr. Fielding, if you need anything don't hesitate to call" Mulder said, "Any time. I'm just sorry I couldn't help more" "You've been a great help, sir" Scully reassured him, "Goodbye". Fielding watched them from the door until their car was out of sight. ****** ****** "So, Mulder, you ready to accept that you don't have anything to do with this?" They were sat in Scully's apartment after just eating dinner - Chinese take-out - and were looking over the information they had gathered. After their meeting with Fielding, they'd gone back to the Hoover Building but hadn't been able to get Collins' foster parents to see them before Tuesday. Duncan had suggested they go and get lunch, but Mulder didn't feel like eating and Scully wasn't going to leave if he wasn't so they'd stayed and gone through the motions of an investigation until it was a reasonable time to excuse themselves and go home. So they were sat on her couch nearly falling asleep with the TV droning on in the background. "Mulder, you hear me?" He was sat with his head against the back of the couch, his eyes closed. She might have left him but she noticed he was twitching, his eyes were flicking and rolled behind the lids. "Mulder. Wake up" she touched his shoulder and his eyes snapped open, they had the hard look she had begun to know as his 'Wigged Look". ****** ****** Mulder was sat on a chair. It was a hard chair maybe made of wood or plastic. He didn't remember owning a chair like that. No. Wait. He did but it was in front of his computer in his apartment and this wasn't his apartment. He looked around the room and then down at the chair. Yup. Wood. He turned his attention back to the room. It was bare except for a TV, a bookshelf, a desk and the wooden 'butt numb-er'. That was a phrase one of his university friends had come up with when describing the chairs they were meant to sit on during lectures, when they had visited one of the less well- off colleges in England. God he was tired. There wasn't any point in trying to fight it, there was nothing to do anyway, so he might as well sleep. ****** ****** "What is it with you, Scully? You always wake me up when I fall asleep" Scully suddenly wasn't sure if she wanted a conversation with a zoned -out Mulder, not with the murderous look he had, "You didn't look comfy, Mulder, I thought that it would be better if I woke you" "It ever occur to you to keep your nose out of other people's business?" She raised a placating hand, "OK, Mulder, calm down. I'm sorry, I just though..." "No, you didn't think. That's your problem, Scully: you never fucking think!" he jumped of the couch, "You just nag and go on. Why don't you just leave me alone?" "Mulder, you've got to calm down. I'm worried about you that's all" He laughed, "Oh yeah, you're so fucking concerned aren't you? Jesus, how does he put up with you?" This caught Scully's attention, "What? How does who put up with me?" Mulder didn't reply, just carried on ranting, "You argue with him, you make him feel guilty for an illness that he couldn't possibly have anything to do with, for your sister, even though he wasn't there..." "I don't blame you for those things" He lunged forward and grabbed the front of her sweater, pulling her off the sofa and up to his level, her feet dangling off the floor, "Of course you don't blame me" he shouted, "You don't even know me!" Now Scully was confused, but she could see him getting violent if she said or did the wrong thing. Major backpedaling was needed. "Right. My mistake. But honestly, I don't blame yo...him for any of it" He could see that she was just trying to say what he wanted to hear, she didn't believe a word that she'd just uttered. How the hell had Mulder gotten so fond of her? Couldn't he see that she was just like the others? She didn't give a damn about him, she just used him. Well, he would show her what happened when she messed round with Mulder's head. He brought his fist back and punched her in the face, "Yes, you do. Or even if you don't, when he does feel like it is you don't exactly leap out and say 'Mulder, it's cool, don't worry', do you? No. You just let it happen" Scully could see that he was beginning to get tired. She could feel her eye swelling shut and the need to try get away from him was almost overwhelming but if she did there was no doubt in her mind that he would hit her again. "Listen, I don't what to say, except I'm sorry. I didn't know that's how he felt, if I had I would have done something about it" His eyes narrowed, "You think you can just say sorry and this will go away?" Mulder's voice was starting to rise again, She shook her head quickly, ignoring the bolt of pain that flashed up the side of her head, "No, no. It's just..." "Just what? You insensitive little bitch! He should have done this years ago, but he's too much of a wuss! Somehow he's become attached to you, so even when you kick him in the teeth he grins and takes it. And you try and tell me you never noticed?" "I'm..." "I don't want to hear anymore from you!" With a strength that Scully didn't know Mulder had, he threw her into the wall. She heard a crack and then a blinding pain shot through her face making itself known around the rest of her body, somewhere she dimly registered that her nose was broken, but what bothered her more was the mess it would've made on the wall: bloodstains on the paper were always difficult to get out. Scully also noted before she slipped into unconsciousness that this thought, given her present situation, was absurd. Mrs. Given, Scully's next-door neighbor, heard the shouting and the thud of something hitting the wall and considered calling the police but when she thought about all the times she'd heard strange things in that apartment she decided against it. It was probably nothing. ****** ****** When Mulder woke up he wondered why he'd been asleep on Scully's coffee table and not on the couch, he also wondered why his right hand ached. It hadn't before he'd fallen asleep. He looked round dismayed when his eyes settled on fresh blood smeared across the wall, he followed the trail down to the still unconscious form of his partner. He leapt up and ran over, crouching down, checking for a pulse. It was there, strong and steady. Her face didn't look good, though, it was bruised and bloody, her nose was slightly off center. It was still bleeding profusely, indicating that it had not happened too long ago. He put out his hand to push the matted hair out of her face, "Scully?" he asked softly, "Scully?" Her eyelids flickered and she opened her eyes fully, "Mulder?" pain thudded through her face and body, making it hard to think. Mulder helped her to sit up, "Scully, what happened? Are you OK?" She tried to think back, what had happened? They'd been in her apartment, he fallen asleep and...oh sweet Jesus! She scrabbled away from him desperately, "You stay the hell away from me!" Mulder looked confused but didn't try to get any closer, "What happened?" he asked and then remembered the dull ache in his fist, "Oh don't try and tell me you don't remember hitting me and throwing me into the wall" everything she said had a slight nasal quality to it, "Broke my nose, you bastard!" Mulder stood up suddenly and she flinched, but all he did was walk unsteadily to the phone and slide it across the floor to her, "I don't remember, Scully, I'm sorry. But if you say I did, then I believe you and you should call the cops" Scully picked up the telephone unsure as to what to do. Mulder was acting more like himself and was obviously concerned about what had happened, but then, it had looked like Mulder when he'd attacked her. Even when he'd threatened her in the conference room, she hadn't really believed that he would do anything. And even though he didn't seem like a threat now, her face was testament to the fact that he *would* hurt her. He said he didn't remember what had happened, but was that the truth? Maybe he could remember exactly what had happened, but was playing dumb in the hope that she would forgive him and he'd get away with it. Maybe he was still violent, just waiting for her to say or do something that would set him off again. No, she didn't buy that, she knew it had been Mulder who punched her and thrown her at the wall but he said he didn't remember and the sucker in her said that he was telling the truth. Someone who's just broken their best friend's nose in a rage and wants to get away with it, doesn't give them the phone and tell them to call the police. And Scully had no doubt that Mulder when he'd done it wanted to get away with it. Scully put the phone back on the floor, "No" "What do you mean 'no'?" "You weren't you when you hit me, Mulder. So I'm not going to call anyone" "Scully, I've gotten away with fourteen murders and now I've just beaten the crap out of you and you still want to cover for me?" The pain was getting to be almost unbearable again, and Scully thought that she was going to pass out soon. "Mulder, you've got to get me to the hospital and when you're there I don't want you telling anybody you did thish" "Scully..." "No, Mulder" unconsciousness was beginning to beckon her, even though she knew she had a concussion and should stay awake she didn't think it was going to work, "Jush do thish for me, 'kay? Explain later" Mulder looked torn, but relented, "OK, Scully" Her head lolled to the side, "Promishe?" He moved closer, "I promise" Scully passed out. ****** ****** TUESDAY Scully wasn't looking forward to this. She was going to have to walk into a room full of FBI agents with a black-eye and a plaster over her nose that spread over her eyebrows and across her cheeks, worse she was going to have to explain it to them. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open, when Mulder came up behind her and held it for her, she jumped slightly. Hoping he hadn't noticed, she gave him a small smile and entered and prayed he'd go along with whatever she came up with as a way of brushing off her injuries. Scully didn't blame him, she knew that he thought she did, or at least should, but she didn't. She did get a little jumpy if he moved quickly or suddenly as much as she hated herself for it, but it was an automatic response. If she had any control over it, it would be a non-existent 'automatic response'. Smith was the first to notice and broadcasted it to the rest of the agents by loudly exclaiming: "Jesus Christ, Dana! What the hell happened?" That was when Curtis came over to see what everybody was making a fuss over, shocked to see one of his agents looking so bad, "Yes, I think that's a good question, Agent Scully" She cleared her throat, "Erm, someone broke into my apartment last night and threw me into the wall. I'm fine, though" she said by way of explanation, "It was good that Mulder was there going over the crime-scene reports with me, he got into a scuffle with the guy and he ran off" in her head Scully breathed a sigh of relief, that would explain Mulder's bandaged hand to anyone who cared to ask. Curtis turned to Mulder and eyed him coldly, "And why, Agent Mulder, were you not more successful in apprehending the suspect?" Mulder was ready to tell Curtis everything. He couldn't believe that he'd punched her in the face and broken her nose, but his partner was stood there telling everyone he was the hero of the day. Seeing his hesitation Scully intervened, "Mulder stayed behind to help me, I was pretty out of it. I had a concussion and I blacked out" "Agent Scully, unless they've come up with some miracle cure for concussion that I don't know about, that means you still have one" "Yes sir, but I'm fine" The SAC paused thinking it over, "I don't like it, but we need all available man power on this" with that Curtis pushed his way out the group and when back to his chair. Smith touched Scully on the shoulder before clapping Mulder on the back, "Good thing you were there, huh, buddy?" Mulder hung his head and mumbled, "Not good enough apparently" After getting a good look at Scully and Mulder, the other agents went about their respective assignments. Although there were a few who really didn't like Mulder, most were indifferent, merely enjoying the novelty of working with 'Spooky' Mulder and his partner, it was never dull with these two, they just seemed very accident prone and so no one paid it anymore attention. ****** ****** Smith wasn't sure what was going on or what to do about it. When Mulder and Scully had come into work this morning everything seemed normal, well except for the broken nose and concussion thing, but now he was beginning to wonder if this a misguided impression of the situation. Mulder seemed very subdued, only going through the motions of looking interested of what others were saying and only speaking if it was absolutely necessary. He and Scully apparently getting on fine but if Mulder moved quickly or said something suddenly, she would flinch, the reaction that had caught Smith's attention most, though, was when Mulder had wanted to show her something and he'd touched her arm, she'd nearly jumped through the ceiling and backed away, before looking embarrassed and coming closer than was really needed to look at the file. Smith had seen the expression in Mulder's eyes when she'd jumped it had been hurt, understanding but most of all sad. Having seen all of this, Smith now suspected there was more going on than they had let on, and he was damned if he knew what to do about it. If he approached Scully she would probably smile and be polite, vaguely answering his questions while not really answering them, also he didn't know her well enough. Yes, he liked her and yes, he would be quite prepared to continue the friendship after this case but right know he didn't know her and he got the impression that Scully was not the type to let other people in easily. What he needed to do was corner Mulder on his own, if he still knew a thing about him, he would fast get the information out of him. However, Smith wasn't sure if it he wanted to know what was going on, because the more he thought about it the more he found himself unwilling to believe Scully's explanation last night's events. He could handle the idea that she was a little anxious about abrupt movements after what had happened, it was normal really. But she didn't jump if someone else came up behind her unexpectedly, or if someone touched her – she only did if it was Mulder. And that scared him, he'd only ever seen Mulder get angry once and it hadn't been a pretty sight. Maybe angry was too light a word, Smith wasn't sure if there was a word in the English language to describe what had happened to Mulder, the guy had lost it. Completely and utterly. He remembered the 'incident' in '89. He knew the kind of damage that Mulder could do when he was in a rage. The few agents who hadn't been rooted to the spot were unable to drag him off but then, almost as quickly as it had started, Mulder had suddenly stopped and passed out cold in the middle of the floor. If Mulder had blown up in front of, or at, Scully it was perfectly possible he could have caused the injuries, he might not have even known he was doing it. In fact Smith was certain he hadn't, if had been aware of what he was doing he would never have done it. Smith had heard the rumors, mostly he would hardly give them the time of day, but there was one thing he heard and agreed with: you didn't fuck with Fox Mulder's partner. He'd been chatting with an agent from New York after the Fellig case, the agent had overheard a quiet conversation between Mulder and Ritter while they were waiting for news on Scully, who hadn't come out of surgery yet. Mulder had told Ritter in composed, calm voice that if Scully died, he was going to hunt him down like a dog. Smith understood it was the nature of rumors to be expanded and blown-up out of all proportion, but oddly he had believed every word of it. He couldn't guess what he would do if Mulder had hit Scully, he could report it or leave it. If he reported it, with Mulder's bad record at the Bureau and their policy on agents becoming physically violent with each other, he would definitely loose his job and quite possibly get locked up too. He should probably let it go, Scully had, and she'd even lied about what had happened. But Smith was well aware he couldn't leave it, even if he just found out Mulder had done it and then forgot it, he still had to do that. Sighing he looked down at the photos in front of him, three were of the victims, the other was an old photo of Steve Collins. Right now he had a job to do, he'd find out if his suspicions were correct or not later. ****** ****** 1989 Mulder was worried. Before Larry Pedrada was arrested, he was able to kill an eighth young boy and that meant that Patterson was going to be pissed. Mulder was tired and he was run down, after two weeks in California he'd been able to do what local law enforcement and a whole FBI team hadn't: written a profile the lead them to the killer and then caught him. The locals had been ecstatic; they'd praised him, clapped him on the back and brought him drinks. While all this was going on and he smiled at them, accepting the thanks modestly and drinking the drinks, he'd been thinking about what Patterson's punishment for not catching Pedrada quick enough was. Patterson was subtle about it, he never shouted or had a go, he would call him into his office and sit him down, quietly saying something like "I'm disappointed in you, Mulder". Later, Mulder would be informed he had a flight to Texas or Washington State in one hour, he'd solve to case in record time, and two hours before Mulder was due to leave, he would get a call saying there was a plane to catch to some other state as soon as he'd packed. This could go on for weeks, even months. When Patterson handed out this kind of punishment, it nearly killed Mulder. He wouldn't eat for days on end, slept for roughly two hours every four days and lived on coffee. He'd work himself to a standstill, until his body could no longer take anymore and he'd collapse, right in the middle of the floor or flat on his face on the table. Then he'd end up being admitted to some hospital or other, suffering from exhaustion. Mulder would always be out and back on his feet within a week, ready to catch the bad guys again, and Patterson would work him hard, harder than anyone else, but not as bad as he had before Mulder was in hospital. Things would go smoothly until Mulder didn't bring the guy in as quickly as Patterson thought he should and it would end in him lying on a hospital bed, thinking what he could have done better to find the bastard faster. Most of the time he accepted this punishment, after all he deserved it, if he'd thought quicker, seen things sooner, written a better profile then none of this would have happened. So he took his medicine like a man and worked harder. However, with this Pedrada case he wasn't sure he could have done anything else. The investigation had been going on for three months and neither the police nor the Bureau had been able to do a thing about it, but he'd turned up and in two weeks Pedrada was in prison, charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. Mulder wasn't being arrogant, it was just fact. He'd solved it. He felt guilty for not doing it sooner and saving Matthew Jones, but honestly nothing he could have done would have made any difference. Maybe Patterson would realize this once he looked over the reports. He should have known better. He was on the first plane out to Colorado. Mulder wasn't looking forward to this: Patterson always hit him hardest for the children. ****** ****** Two months later and Mulder could hardly walk, let alone see straight. It was Friday and he hadn't slept since Tuesday. He hadn't eaten since Monday. He'd gotten a call at the end of his last case, Mulder had expected it to be another 'on the plane in an hour' call, but surprisingly it was a call telling him to come home. It seemed that Patterson, cheated out of his favorite pastime – ripping Mulder apart in hospital – had relented and was going to let him rest. He was wrong – again. The only reason he was coming home was because there was case Patterson wanted him to look into. Patterson wasn't going to be denied, he wanted Mulder in the hospital. ****** ****** Lawrence's case had been relatively simple, it had only taken him week to solve it. This had pissed Patterson off royally, he might not have been so mad if it hadn't been for the fact that Mulder had a new buddy. Duncan Smith. While Mulder was conked out on the couch getting some rest, Smith was up there briefing them on Mulder's profile. Patterson didn't like Mulder having friends, it stopped him working quite so much as he would normally. He slept, got some rest and woke up in the morning with his willpower intact. Mulder was strong willed but no one could survive living with no food and four hours sleep every week and still have the strength to stand up and say 'no, I'm not going to work' or 'there's no way I'm getting on that plane', they would just nod glumly and do as they were told. Mulder was no exception. No, friends were not good. Mulder was going to regret that little deviance from the rule. He was going to work until he was in hospital and then he was going to get up the day after being admitted to start work again. He was going to do work until he literately couldn't think anymore. ****** ****** SIX MONTHS LATER Mulder *couldn't* think anymore, he stared at the photos and the reports, he listened to the discussions and the suggestions, and nodded at whatever they said. He didn't understand them, he couldn't really hear them, his eyesight was blurry to the point of being non-existent and he needed help to walk to the coffee machine and back. His body ached and he had a cold, which would later develop into pneumonia and would be the final straw that broke the camel's back in his decision to leave the VCS and work on the X Files. He was back in DC and Patterson was revealing in the glory, whilst taking perverse pleasure in seeing Mulder work himself to death. But Patterson had made a mistake, he didn't realize that Mulder would reach a point when he lost it, forget who was who and just hit or kick anything in his path. Patterson had just told Mulder he had a plane to catch in 45 minutes out to Chicago. Mulder for his part hadn't had a bite to eat in days, he hadn't slept or had a shower, change of clothes in a week or so and now Patterson wanted him on a plane to the Windy City without any time to pack. The way Mulder remembered what happened was that he'd fallen asleep over the files he'd had in front of him. Everyone else said he was wide-awake and talking. "No, Bill" he said, Patterson looked incredulous, "No, Mulder?" he gave him a cold smile, "What do you mean by that?" Mulder stood up and leaned in close, so they were nearly nose-to-nose, "I'm not going to Chicago. I need a rest. I can't think straight, I can't see straight, I can't walk straight, so you can just cancel that flight, Bill" "You can think straight enough to disobey my orders, Mulder" Patterson moved in closer, so they were touching, "So I think you should reconsider what you just said to me, unless you want to spend the next year living in a different motel room every week" "Screw you, Bill" "If you want to keep your job, Mulder, you'd better get out of here now" Patterson was to losing his temper and it was starting to show. This time it was Mulder's turn to smile coldly, "Forget the job" "That's it. Get out, now!" everyone in the room jumped, but Mulder held his ground, "You're a heartless bastard, Bill. Everyone says you're a great investigator, but you kill the agents under you, you work them twice as hard as any other section the Bureau. And when one of them has a nervous brake-down because they can't handle it anymore, you shrug and say that if they couldn't deal with the pressure, they weren't right for the job, but the truth is you just ruined the career of a perfectly good agent" "You finished?" "Fuck you" Although Patterson started the fight, it was Mulder's part in it that was remembered. By the time he'd finished, Patterson had two black eyes, a broken nose, he needed eight stitches in his lip and he had five broken ribs. He was in the hospital for a month. Mulder had passed out after and didn't recall anything about the fight. All he remembered was a time when he was fourteen and the same kind of thing had happened. He didn't remember that either but he been told about it enough. And his father would never have let him forget. Patterson never reported the incident, nor did anyone else. And no one ever questioned his month long hospital stay. Mulder always got at least a two-day break before leaving one case and starting on another. ****** ****** 1999 Steve Collins was a tall man, with close-cropped brown hair and a moustache that joined a goatee beard. Normally he was a lanky, tidy man but in the last two months he'd being thinking about his sister a lot. It had been hard on his health, he now looked drawn and pale, his clothes hung loosely on his body and his eyes had a haunted look about them. Steve felt bad, the money he'd saved from his poorly paid job had run out and frankly, he needed it back. It meant the feds who'd been looking for him would be able to find him easier and he would have rather avoided that for now, but he had an idea about what to do in regards to that. Earlier today ago he'd sat outside the J. Edgar Hoover Building and watched, eventually three people he recognized had left the concrete monstrosity. The first had been a small man and Steve had remembered him from a long time before, albeit dimly. The person he remembered most from that time had been Sarah but there was also this man: Kevin Holt. A few hours later a short redhead and a tall dark-haired man had left the building together. Mulder. Scully. As they'd gotten closer to their car he'd seen the damage to her face and had chuckled to himself, she was a mess. He'd followed them to an apartment block he wasn't sure whose it was, so when they'd gone in and it seemed relatively safe to do so, he'd gone and looked up the names on the mailboxes. This was Scully's place. He grinned, this was going to work. He wanted to meet the man whose dreams he shared, the man who he looked out for in times of stress. And now he knew how to do it. ****** ****** WEDNESDAY It was early afternoon as Steve knocked on the door of the 'Silent Nite', he expected Aaron would be here, which was just fine with him. It was Aaron he needed to speak to. For some odd reason, Lyle had grown fond of Aaron and would let him get away with almost anything and, fortunately for Steve, would give him just about anything he wanted. When the door wasn't answered, even by an angry voice on the other side telling him to go away, he was surprised. There should have been somebody here by now. It was only then that he noticed a sign attached to the door saying 'Club closed until further notice'. Steve could have kicked himself for not seeing it sooner. he thought to himself, . No matter, he went round to the back, after all he still had the keys. He stopped. No, there was a better way to do this, to avenge his sister's death. Steve grinned. ****** ****** Mulder and Scully pulled up outside the house of James and Margaret Collins a little after two in the afternoon. It was a small looking house, the usual whitewash suburban house that sent shivers down Mulder's spine that someone might actually force him to live some place like that and made Scully pray that she never ended up living in suburbia. They knocked on the door and a scrawny man answered it, "Yes?" he asked abruptly, the expression on his face told them they weren't exactly welcome, "We're Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI" Mulder pulled out his ID, "We came to ask you some questions about..." "About Steve" Collins finished for him, "I don't know what we can tell you" Mulder put his foot on the step in an obvious gesture that he wanted to be let in, "If we could just come for a minute, sir. It won't take long" Collins looked at him and then turned his attention to Scully, his eyes narrowed but he stepped back, letting them in, "We'll go and sit in the sitting room. It's more comfy there" his voice indicating that the last thing he wanted them to feel was comfy, "Er, Mr. Collins? I'm sorry but where is your wife?" Scully asked, "She's gone to bed. So please keep your voices down" She nodded in understanding and looked over at Mulder, who after gaining them entry in the house seemed to have been struck down by a bout of deep depression. Oh well, it was up to her again. "Right, Mr. Collins. What was Steve like as a child?" Collins let out a cold unpleasant laugh, "Steve was a fucked up kid" Scully could quickly see herself losing her temper if he carried on like this, "I see. May I ask in what way?" "Well, Steve was clever but he never had any friends. He'd just come home from school and sit in his room studying. Mostly he didn't speak either, just sat looking unhappy to the point where you'd want to shake him and tell him to snap out of it. But if you did get him talking it was about his sister, nothing but his damn sister. Steve knew she wasn't his real sister, apparently he'd always known he was adopted, but he went on about her like the sun shone out her ass, if you know what I mean" Scully had decided she didn't like this man and couldn't see what self-respecting court would give a child with such a delicate background, to a Neanderthal like him, "Was Steve particularly violent as a child, Mr. Collins?" Collins shrugged, "He had a quick temper. He spent most of his time in detention for fighting, once though, he did get suspended for beating the hell out of another kid at school" his eyes narrowed ominously, "He never did that again I can tell you" Scully wanted to get out of here, if she didn't, and soon, she might just take out her gun and shoot him – either that or throw up. She stood up ready to leave, looking down at Mulder who as staring at the fish tank in the corner of the room, "Mulder, you coming?" He turned his head to look at her, "Hmm? Yeah, sure" They made their way to the door and Scully handed Collins her card, "Thank you for your help, Mr. Collins. If you remember anything else, please call" Collins grunted at her and closed the door. Scully noted he'd shut it slightly harder than was necessary. ****** ****** Scully looked over at her partner. He was watching the road blankly, driving automatically, keeping the car at a steady pace, never once taking his eyes off the tarmac ahead. The way Mulder was behaving confused her, at work he seemed fine, talking to the other agents about him discussing the case and the profile, adding his opinions here and there, really making an effort to find Collins. Then they'd leave the office and he would fall silent, staying a healthy distance from her and acting guilty. She still didn't believe he'd killed anyone, although she had to admit that since the incident on Tuesday she was more open to the possibility. However, Scully refused to accept that he'd known what he was doing to her and right now his depression was getting her down, her nose hurt like hell despite the heavy painkillers the doctor had given her. Not that she was taking as many as he'd recommended, she needed a clear head, which was a difficult thing to have with the concussion. So, she felt awful, her head was spinning and Mulder was having issues. Great. Another day at the office. Scully sighed and shut her eyes, "What's the matter, Scully?" she was surprised, he hadn't really said a thing to her since they'd left to go and see James Collins. Mulder tore his attention from the road, turning to look at her, "Scully?" "I'm..." her mind supplied, but she wasn't going to give him anything else to feed his guilty conscience with, "I feel like hell". Mulder nodded his head sympathetically, he still wished she'd report him. He'd only ever lost his temper like that four times in his life. The kid at school, he shuddered when he thought about what he'd done to that kid. He guessed a lot of the other children at school were secretly glad at what he'd done, the kid – Ben Perry – was the local bully. He was small for his age, (which Mulder now, years later, knew was probably why he was a bully) but he had a way of intimidating people to get what he wanted and if they didn't somehow he had this amazing ability to beat up kids twice his size. After months of living under his tyranny, Mulder had snapped. Then there was Sarah, he hadn't told Scully the full extent of her injuries. As well as the split lip, she had two cracked ribs. He didn't want to think about what he'd done to Patterson, it still sent chills down his spine to think he'd actually done it – again. It was made worst because he'd had to arrest Patterson in the Mostow case. And Scully, that hurt more. Maybe the injuries weren't the worst that he'd inflicted on someone, but it was Scully. He'd nearly strangled Duane Barry when he thought he'd killed her; if he had been alone he would have happily shot Donnie Pfaster; Cancerman, Modell, Incanto and god knows how many others. Mulder would have cheerfully lined them up and blown them away. But now he felt like a hypocrite. Patterson had really pissed him off. He knew that Patterson was wrong, in the end he'd finally figured it out. It wasn't always his fault if it took longer to catch one suspect than it did to catch another. Just before he'd 'fallen asleep' he'd been thinking how he'd have liked to smack his boss around a bit, only he couldn't have. He needed help to stand up, never mind get into a brawl with Patterson. With Perry it had been the same. The kid had been beating the shit out of him again and Mulder had wished that he could just stand up and do something unpleasant to Perry. Then he had 'passed out' and he woke up to the news he'd put Perry in a coma. It hadn't been so acute with Sarah, but nevertheless, she'd been nagging him about something and he'd so wanted to shut her up. And, god help him, he had been angry at Scully for not seeing sense. He'd just wanted to stand up and shake her. Mulder could see the trend. Someone really gets him angry when he's under a lot of stress and getting even less sleep than he normally would, he starts thinking about how he'd like to take that anger out on them and then he ends up doing exactly that. What he'd didn't understand though, was how every time he'd beaten the crap out of somebody, they or someone else had always covered it up leaving him to carry on with his life. "I'm sorry. Is there...can I do anything?" Mulder swallowed, she said she didn't blame him and she forgave him. But he knew that deep down this wasn't the case, he'd seen the way she flinched when he tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, the way she jumped if he came up behind her or moved a little fast. She didn't trust him anymore and that hurt. He could understand it though. "Yeah there is, actually. Try not to feel so damn bad about it – it's not doing you any good and it's certainly not doing me any good" "I don't...I'm not sure you're safe around me, Scully" he said hesitantly, "Oh that's just great, Mulder. Just great" Scully was desperately trying not to lose her temper and start shouting, "And why would that be?" Suddenly the road had his full and undivided attention and Scully got the impression that if they weren't in a moving vehicle, he would be studying his shoes, "Umm, b-because it's happened before" "What Sarah?" He nodded, "But there were other times" For the second time in a many weeks Scully wasn't sure what to do with herself. She also wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he was about to say, "Other times?" she tried to keep her voice neutral, "There was this kid at school, we got into this fight I suppose, I don't remember I kinda thought I'd passed out. Anyway, I ended up shoving him into a desk, he hit his head on the corner, right on the temple. He was out of it for weeks but there wasn't any permanent damage. "But I lost it at Patterson too. You know, I thought I'd fallen asleep – you see a pattern emerging here Scully?" She nodded dumbly, "What did you do to him?" "Busted up his face, broke five of his ribs and put him in the hospital for a month". Scully was worried about the lack of emotion he was showing as he described all of this and she was truly shocked, what do you do when your best friend tells you he nearly killed two people in a blind rage? Why, forgive him of course and pray that you never piss him off. But she couldn't do that not without more information, not until she understood why. "Scully, I think it might be best if I stay at my place tonight" this time he did look at his feet for a minute, "And if you want to get a transfer or something, I understand. And I'll agree with any report you write" One part of him, the part that was concerned for Scully's safety over everything else, hoped she would transfer out, then he wouldn't have to worry about more severe injuries befalling her at his hands. The part that cared about his sanity prayed that she'd stay. He was fast finding that this part was winning. Beside him Scully took a deep breath and let it out slowly. What could she do? She'd never really considered him to be an overly violent person and she still trusted him, but now there was an unpredictable, dangerous air about him now that there wasn't before and she wasn't sure how to react to him anymore. "Mulder, I need to think this over" he bit his lip nervously, "But I'm not leaving, I already told you that" "OK, Scully" he said, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief, "I do think that I should stay at mine now though" Scully shook her head, the weekend was coming up and she wanted to be around him as much as possible to make sure he didn't take off anywhere. Now she knew why he was so willing to blame himself for the murders, it was more important to make sure he was with her if another woman was abducted. She got the feeling it was the only way she was going to be able to convince him of his innocence. "No, you're staying at mine" he opened his mouth to argue with her but then thought better of it. He turned his attention back to the road. ****** ****** ****** "Scully, can I ask you a question?" Mulder asked biting his bottom lip and staring at his hands, "Sure" They were sat in Scully's apartment, on opposite ends of her couch with the TV droning on in the background. When they'd come in tonight Scully had fixed them coffee and then they'd just sat and stared at the TV, not saying a word. "Why did you say you didn't think it was really me?" Mentally she groaned. She'd been wondering how long it would take him to get round to this, "Some of the stuff you said" Concern flickered across his features, "What stuff?" Scully breathed deeply, "You were saying that I blamed you for my cancer and my sister. I told you that wasn't true and I didn't blame you, then you said of course I didn't blame you because I didn't know you" Mulder frowned with confusion, "I don't get it" "Y-you started to refer yourself as...two separate people" damn it she didn't want say that to him, he was already worried about his mental health, he certainly didn't need this. Mulder laughed bitterly, "Oh, so now I've got Multiple Personality Disorder? That's great, just great" he rubbed his eyes, "You know I appreciate you letting me stay after everything that's happened, but I still think it would be better for me to go" Scully stood up and made her way to her bedroom, stopping and turning back to Mulder, "Mulder, I don't think you've got MPD and you'd better not get off that couch, got me?" Mulder sighed, if truth be told he was exhausted and wasn't sure he could get off Scully's sofa even if he wanted to – which he didn't particularly want to, "Sure, anything you say" Scully wasn't sure she'd ever get used to this side of Mulder, he gave in too easily and it unnerved her. Hopefully, once this case was over, everything would go back to normal. A niggling voice in the back of her head old her that nothing would ever be the same again, he admitted to hospitalizing two people and hitting a witness he was meant to be protecting. And her. There was also the tiny concern of him covering up the incident with Sarah Taylor and how he got away with Patterson was not something she wanted to know. You can't just hear something that and forget about it, it doesn't happen. She pushed these thoughts away, there was no way she was going to let a broken nose and a concussion get the better of her. "'Night, Mulder" Scully didn't get a reply, he was already sleeping. ****** ****** He sat outside Scully's apartment, watching. He was pissed – no, that didn't cut it. He was in a rage, if Mulder hadn't stumbled in on him and his sister he would have been able to convince her, he would have gotten through to her. Only Mulder had crashed into the room, shattering the moment, destroying his chances and he'd thought it was over, but the instant he'd entered the room Mulder had passed out in the middle of the floor. Mind you, it had been a stupid mistake on his part, he should have remembered to lock the door. He'd remembered to lock it when he left though. His sister had been whimpering in the corner and there had been nothing else he could do. He couldn't take her with him and there was no way he could leave her there to be found, she'd tell them who he was. If Mulder hadn't stuck his nose in when he did, he would've gained her trust and there would have been no need to kill her. Kill her. Choking back tears, he promised her that Mulder was going to pay. He didn't care who he was...he was going to suffer. ****** ****** FRIDAY Smith approached Scully carefully, after deciding he would ask Mulder what had happened, he had changed his mind thinking it might be a safer course of action to talk to Scully first and find out if she knew anything about the previous incident. When she saw him she looked up and gave him a smile which quickly turned into a grimace, as the movement of her lips put more pressure on her nose than was comfortable. Smith returned the smile. he thought, "Hey, Dana, how's the nose?" "Well, it doesn't hurt as much as it could. As long as I don't smile" there was still a slight nasal twang to everything she said, "Good painkillers, huh?" he said, grinning, "Yeah, something like that" Smith continued to hover, he had no idea what to ask. He couldn't think of anything subtle to say that would get him the answers he wanted, yet he was acutely aware there was no way he could just stand there and say 'So did Mulder do that?' or 'Yo, you know Mulder once beat the shit out of Patterson and I was just wondering if he'd done the same to you'. "Is there something else you wanted to ask me?" Scully said, exuding impatience, "I was going to ask if you could tell me what happened to Patterson. I mean I heard all the rumors and stuff but I was kinda wondering how many of them were true. You see, Mulder and I used to work together here in DC and Patterson was our boss" Scully eyed him warily she suspected there was more to this line of questioning than he wanted her to know, "How long for?" "What?" "How long did you and Mulder work with each other?" Smith scratched the back of his head, "We weren't partners or anything, we just worked with each other when he was in Washington, but that pretty much lasted until Mulder left the ISU" he shifted his feet, "Duncan, what did you really want to ask?" Scully was annoyed, what he'd said meant that Smith was there when Mulder attacked Patterson and if Scully guessed right, Smith thought that her injuries were not caused by some burglar, "Umm..." "OK, I'm make this easy for you: what happened to Patterson?" Smith gazed at her shocked, "What do you mean?" "You know what I'm talking about" "What did Mulder tell you?" Scully lowered her voice, "Only that he put him in the hospital" "Yeah, well Patterson had put Mulder there more times than I can count, so..." She looked at him sharply, "I think you'd better expand on that statement, Duncan" "Listen Dana, Patterson used to work Mulder to death. When Mulder smacked him one, he'd been working non-stop for six months. I mean non-stop, on average he'd get four hours sleep a week, he go for days not eating because if he didn't then Patterson would make him work harder" "No one can function on that little for that length of time" "No" he said in agreement, "Mulder had to be helped to the coffee machine, because he couldn't see straight and he was so tired. In the end everyone knew he wasn't helping the investigation, he couldn't, but he'd stay there all night despite it" "Why?" "Why what?" "Why did Patterson push him so hard?" Smith's brow furrowed, "I asked Mulder that once. He said Patterson did it because he hadn't caught one guy quick enough and this other one too quick. Then he shrugged like it was normal" "Was it?" "Yup, Patterson had this little way of punishing him, working him till Mulder ended up in the hospital" Suddenly Scully didn't feel so bad about Mulder putting Patterson in the hospital, now she could see he had good reason to lose his rag. In fact, she was kind of pleased that the sadistic bastard had gotten what he deserved. But she was concerned that Mulder had made it sound like it was his fault, that he was to blame. Then she wished it was possible to give yourself a solid kick to the head, she knew better than to take Mulder's word on such a subject, of course he would take the blame. It was a given. "Mulder didn't even start it" Smith said as if he'd just read her mind. "How come he wasn't reported?" "No one wanted to get involved. Mulder was going to but I managed to convince him not to and wait and see what Patterson did. But Patterson never said a thing about it, he passed it off as getting mugged on his way to his front door" "I see. Duncan, what was did you want?" He looked embarrassed, "I saw your face and I remembered Patterson...I know it's stupid, but..." he rushed, "You thought that maybe Mulder did this?" she said waving her hand in front of her face. Smith nodded, "No. No he didn't" Smith breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank god. I'm sorry, I had to ask. I got worried. Umm...could you not tell Mulder? I wouldn't want him to think I didn't trust him" "If I'd said yes, what would you have done?" "I'm not sure, but if you're asking if I'd report him, then no, I wouldn't have" "OK, I'll miss this part out when I talk to Mulder" "Thanks Dana. Hope you feel better soon". Smith turned and left. she thought. ****** ****** Scully had wanted Mulder to come home with her so she could interrogate him on the subject of Patterson but he had refused, saying he would make his way back on his own later. Mulder wasn't a fool, he could see the look on Scully's face when she'd asked him if he was ready to leave, it was her 'wait-till-I-get-my-hands-on-you-Mulder' look. It was one he knew to avoid. So Scully had gone home by herself, vowing that the moment he stepped through the door he was going to be greeted with a barrage of questions. ****** ****** Steve couldn't believe his luck when Scully pulled up to her apartment and got out of the car alone. He'd been going over how he could get hold of her without Mulder being there. But this...this was like a gift from heaven, this solved all his problems. He wanted Mulder to find him and kill him, Steve was aware this was the inevitable outcome. It didn't bother him, he had nothing to live for anymore and if Scully played her cards right, he wouldn't kill her or hurt her to bad. But Mulder was going to suffer, if he'd had a sister left it would have been his sister, and not Scully, who was going to get the honor of playing bait. Mulder, he knew, was attached to Scully which was why it was such fun to see her face in the mess it was and why this little plan of his was going to work. He just needed to do enough damage to her. If he could shock Mulder, make him worry about her enough, then when it came to a face-to-face confrontation, he could push the right buttons and send Mulder over the edge. He got out of the car just as she reached the top of the steps leading to her building, "Excuse me, ma'am" Scully turned to look at him slowly, watching him warily. He stayed what he thought she would consider a safe distance from her, glad that he hadn't let the razor say hello to his face this morning and worn the Yankee's cap, "Yes?" He pointed to his car, grinning sheepishly, "My car's broken down and would you believe my cell phone's decided to take it last breath" she smiled but it didn't reach her eyes, "I don't 'spose I could borrow yours to call the insurance company? I don't mind paying for the call" Scully hesitated for a moment. The guy didn't look like the tidiest person on the planet but seemed harmless enough. Not that looks meant a damn thing. Then again what else could she do? Leave the poor guy outside all night as she sat in her apartment watching TV with her partner? Nope, of course she couldn't. She reached inside her coat pocket, pulled out her phone and held it out to him, "Sure, go ahead" "Thanks" he moved to take it, but instead grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her and putting his other around her neck to keep her still. She struggled but he managed to let go of her hand and remove her gun pointing it at the small of her back, "Now then, Agent Scully, you're going to very still, or I'll shoot you here. I'm sure you know that even if that didn't kill you, it would certainly paralyze you. And that would be a shame, huh?" he dug the barrel in a little to emphasize his point and she stopped, "That's good, shows we have understanding" he grinned, god this had been easier than he could have dreamed. Steve reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out his spare set of handcuffs, he stepped back, aiming the gun at Scully's head, "Now I want you to slowly put your hands behind your back" She complied, "This isn't going to do you any good, you know" she said, Steve handcuffed her securely and led her off to his car, "No? And why is that?" "They'll find you, they probably would even if you weren't doing this, but if you do it's inevitable" her head rocked back as he slapped her, making her see stars and sending searing pain through her head, Things were starting to spin and she felt sick, "Listen to me, I don't care anymore. I lost everything. Now get in the trunk before I hit you again" he raised his left hand menacingly. Scully flinched but stood her ground, even though her legs were beginning to feel like jelly, "'Fraid that could difficult with my handss tied behind my back" nice, her mouth was taking on a life of it's own, Steve seemed to have regained his good mood and chuckled slightly, "Of course, my mistake" he hit her again and this time she did lose consciousness but he caught her before she hit the sidewalk and piled her into the trunk, slamming the top down. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed and, much to his delight, found there was no one nearby. Man, this had been so easy. Who'd have thought that kidnapping a federal agent outside her apartment building at six in the evening would have been such a piece of cake? Steve tucked Scully's gun into the waistband of his pants, pulling his sweater over it so it wouldn't be seen. Putting a written note under one of the wiper-blades of Scully's car and got back into his own and drove off. ****** ****** Mulder got out of Smith's car, turning back to thank him for the ride and made his way towards the building's doors. He stopped when he noticed the paper on the windshield of Scully's car, he walked over and picked it up. He read it and stood there staring at it, before realization dawned on his with the impact of a few tons of bricks. "Dear Fox, You know what it feels like to be completely helpless? Guess you do now. Steve." Mulder bounded up the steps, he didn't even bother trying the elevator and took the stairs up to Scully's apartment. He banged on the door, "Scully!" he called. There was no reply and he banged again, "Scully, answer the door!" He fumbled with the keys, using the key she'd given him for the first time in six years and opened the door, to be greeted by absolute silence. Scully hadn't made it up here. Mulder called Skinner, "AD Skinner's office" came the reply, "This is Agent Mulder, is he still there? I need to speak with him urgently" "Yes, Agent Mulder, he's here. I'll put you through" seconds later Skinner answered sounding annoyed, "This better be good, Mulder" "Sir, Scully's been kidnapped by Steve Collins" There was a moment of silence while Skinner digested the information he'd just received, before saying in a tone that suggested he didn't quite believe what he was hearing, "What?" Mulder explained what had happened and Skinner said he'd handle making the necessary calls and hung up. Mulder put his head in his hands and stayed like that until Smith, who was the first to arrive, knocked on the door. ****** ****** When Scully woke up it was to find herself tied to an iron loop in the wall and propped near a desk. The throbbing in her head was making it difficult to think and she couldn't quite work out were she was or how she got there. Her thoughts were all jumbled, making it hard to even remember who she was. The room was spinning and the lights made her eyes sting. She moaned, trying to move her head but it felt like it was going to explode when she did so she stopped. There was a rustling to her right, Scully tried to flick her eyes in that direction but it hurt even worse than when she'd tried to move her head. She moaned again and squeezed them shut. "Oh so you're awake now, huh? That's good, I was thinking you were gonna be out for the rest of the night" someone said in front of her. The voice was familiar but she couldn't for the life of her remember who it was. She squinted attempting to ascertain which of the four people she had to choose from had spoken to her, without much success and deciding to settle for the nearest one to her left. Suddenly fingers appeared in front of her, four of them. "How many?" Scully looked again. Definitely four. "F-four" she answered. The fingers disappeared and faces moved closer, peering at her, "You're still pretty out of it, aren't you?" they asked, Steve had only put two fingers in front of her. Scully was feeling sick and the faces were kind of making the whole scene rather surreal. She wanted to go back to sleep and her eyelids started drooping but the voice pulled her back, "Ah ah ah, not yet. I'm gonna make a call and I think someone's gonna want to talk to you". Scully racked her brains to think of who he might be talking about but to no avail. She struck out every time. By this point she could hear the man talking on the phone to someone, "Hey Fox" ****** ****** Mulder was thinking about the note that Collins had left him. It had already been sent to the lab to be dusted for fingerprints. So he was thinking about it, if had still been there then he would have been reading it. He was he was making a huge effort not to think about what Collins was doing to his partner. If he did he was going to clam up and that wasn't going to help anything, he needed a clear head, he needed to think straight if he was going to find her. But Christ, she had a concussion and a broken nose. Collins only had to hit a couple of times and her brains would be scrambled for a while. And she had those injuries thanks to him. Mulder shook his head. The last thing she needed was him falling into a pit of self- pity and depression. Five hours had past since he'd found the note, that meant she couldn't have been gone more than six of seven but now Mulder had no idea where to look. The nightclub turned out to be a bust and they'd even checked out his old address, but he was nowhere to be found. His cell phone rang. "Mulder" "Hey Fox" Mulder almost leapt from his seat signaling furiously at Smith, who caught on quickly and then started trying to get the lab boys to do a trace, "How's it goin'?" "Collins? That you?" "Oh yeah, Fox, it's me. What? Aren't we on first name terms?" Collins sounded calm and mild-tempered, "Where's Scully?" "Now if I told you that, it would defeat the entire object of me calling Fox" "Let me speak to her" "OK sure. Although I'm not sure she's up to it at the moment" "What did you do, you son of a bitch?" he growled, "Hey calm down, Fox. She pissed me off and then she was a little too clever for her own good" Mulder was beginning to hate the calm almost amiable way that Collins was talking. There was a shuffle and Mulder could hear Collins telling Scully to say something, "'Ello?" Scully sounded really out of it but a least she was still talking, "Scully are you OK? "Er, my hea' hurtsh an' my nose" she was hoping that was the right answer, because this voice was very familiar but she couldn't place it. The phone was snatched from her ear. Mulder heard him tell Scully that she could go back to sleep now and he panicked, "Hey Steve, don't let her go back to sleep" "So we *are* on first name terms then, Fox?" was Collins' smug reply. "She had a concussion and you've aggravated it. Don't let her go to sleep" "Hey man, it's not my problem" Mulder could almost hear Collins shrugging on the other end. Mulder struggled to keep his voice even and his anger under control, "Steve, before you said something about there being a point to calling, what is that?" "I'm going to repay you, Fox" his tone stopped being joking and turned serious, "For what?" "For making me kill my sister" the line went dead, leaving just the dial tone. He slammed the cell phone on to the desk, looking over at Smith how was jotting a number down on a piece of paper. "We got it, Mulder" he said triumphantly handing the paper to Mulder, who read it over, his face falling, "It's Scully's cell phone. We can't trace it" he said with disgust, crumpling it into a ball and throwing it away. Having a sudden flashback to the time Scully was kidnapped by Jack Willis and doing the exact same thing. ****** ****** Steve pressed the 'End' button on the phone and looked over at Scully, who was peering at him in the most unusual way while trying not to fall asleep. Somewhere it had registered that she had a very bad concussion and it wasn't such a good idea. Looking at her he realized that maybe Mulder's advice was sound, after all he didn't want her slipping into a coma – that would spoil the punishment. In a way he still couldn't believe that Mulder had betrayed him like this, after all the times Steve had saved his ass, looked out for him and protected him against people who merely wanted to use him, not giving a damn about his welfare. He'd known the name 'Mulder' for a long time but it had only been when Steve had started his fruitless search for his sister, that he'd been able to give a face to one of the names. And then Mulder had come in, destroying his whole world. ****** ****** How could he have been so blind? The evidence was there, staring him in the face. The similarities between Collins' sister and the victims were astonishing: the hair, the eyes, the nose. They were all so like his sister. It was like he was trying to kill his sister. No, scratch that. Going by the way Fielding had described his obsession with his sister, the last thing this guy would want to do would be kill her. If his foster father was any example of the other people in his life, it was perfectly possible that Karen Collins had been the only person who had ever given him the time of day. He wanted to find her, he didn't believe – didn't want to believe – that his sister had died in that car crash, he thought that she was still out there. All of this sounded eerily familiar to Mulder, it wasn't surprising that he could have thought he was the killer, but even if the profile fitted the other evidence didn't and there wasn't any doubt about it now, Steve Collins was the murderer. Hell, when Mulder had looked back at Karen's crash, the date had leapt out at him, the first murder had occurred in the same week as the anniversary of her death. Although Mulder did suspect that the other agents in the investigation could, and should, have done more. It wasn't like these photos were difficult to get hold of but then this entire investigation had been a bodge-job from the start. No hard leads and simple blind luck that they'd stumbled over the nightclub where Collins had worked. He felt guilt wash over him, if he hadn't been so self-absorbed he would have seen all these things long before now. He might even have prevented Scully's kidnapping, he wasn't sure how but maybe he would have made certain connections sooner and they could have made the arrest. Instead Scully was gone and he had a limited time in which to find her before Collins killed her. He shuddered to think what would happen between now and that point. In some odd way Mulder felt sorry for Collins, he'd probably been going over and over his sister's death until he'd finally convinced himself that he'd seen her. And Mulder could identify with that feeling. The adoption records still bothered him, he couldn't help but feel there was something important in them. James Collins had said that Steve had known he was adopted, could that meant there was some significant place or building that he knew about but they didn't because they didn't have access to the information? Mulder needed those records and he needed to talk to Aaron Fielding. ****** ****** SATURDAY Finally Scully's head was beginning to clear. Her face and nose still hurt like hell, but at least she'd worked out who the guy in front of her was and there was always the plus of seeing only one person, not four. Unfortunately, it didn't much help her situation, she was still tied to the loop in the wall and Steve Collins was keeping a pretty close eye on her. Although thankfully he hadn't resorted to physical violence again and seemed to be quite talkative, telling her all about his sister. She had listened to him and answered his questions, this seemed to keep him happy, to the point when he'd even asked her if she wanted something to eat. When she said no it had annoyed him and Scully had to explain quickly that she was feeling very sick still and didn't think she could handle the food, Steve had been fine with that explanation, not giving her a hard time over it. Scully wasn't sure if he'd called someone or not, she thought she vaguely remembered talking on the phone – maybe it was Mulder. She wasn't sure though. Moving her head slightly to watch her captor as he paced around the room, she noticed that the stubble he'd had the previous night had disappeared and he'd obviously had a shower since abducting her. When he'd had the opportunity to do this she wasn't sure but never the less he had, however, he still hadn't lost sorry desolate look. Sleep threatened to take over and her eyes began to close, "Dana, don't got sleep on me again" Steve warned, Scully ignored him, she was too tired to be bothered. Her head ached, her nose ached – in fact, every part of her body ached, and at this moment what Steve Collins had to say about anything wasn't on her high list of priorities, after all she was the doctor here, right? "I'm warning you, Dana, don't piss me off. You know what happened last time" Steve was beginning to see red, the woman wasn't listening to him and he hated it when people didn't listen to him. Did he have some goddamn sign over his head saying 'Ignore everything I just said'? Her eyes cracked open a little and she mumbled something. He leaned in to hear her better, "Tired" she whispered, Steve pulled back his hand to hit her again but let it fall to his side. There was nothing to be gained by hitting her, it would just make her injuries worse and there was no point in it, "Dandy" he muttered. ****** ****** "Lone Gunmen" "Langly, turn off the tape" there was a click as the tape machine was turned off, "Hey, Mulder. We heard about Scully, you OK?" Mulder sighed, he'd didn't want to get into exactly how bad he felt at the moment...with anyone, but certainly not the Gunmen. "Yeah, I'm alright. Listen, I need a favor from you guys" if he couldn't get those adoption records through official channels, then he'd get them through unofficial ones. "Sure, Mulder. What's up?" "I need you to get me the adoption records of a Steven Collins" there was a pause, "Can't you get them through the Bureau?" Langly asked, "No, they're sealed. Can you do that?" Mulder pressed, "Uh huh, no problemo. It's real easy to get that kind of information" "Thanks, Langly. Call me when you've got something" Mulder took the phone away from his ear and pressed the 'End' button. Now he had to see Aaron Fielding. ****** ****** Fielding was racking his brains to come up with an answer for Mulder's question, the problem was he was coming up blank. "No, I'm sorry Agent Mulder. I don't think he ever told me about somewhere like that" Mulder's shoulders slumped in defeat, "There's nowhere at all?" Aaron went over his conversations with Steve again, "Uh uh. Sorry, nowhere" Mulder stood up and started out the door, "Well thank you for your time, Mr. Fielding" Mulder sat in his car holding on to the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white. Fielding hadn't been able to help and if the Gunmen didn't turn anything useful up, he didn't have a clue where to look. He jumped a little when his phone rang, "Yes?" "Fox" Steve's amiable tone wasn't in attendance today, "Why don't you just tell me where you are?" he growled, "You know, Fox, you're getting on my nerves. I'm not gonna tell you that" "Why are you doing this?" "I told you" "Yeah, I made you kill your sister" "That's right" "I didn't make you kill anyone, Steve" "If you hadn't come crashing into the apartment, I could have explained to her" This surprised Mulder, "What are you talking about?" "That night you came to the club. You passed out on the floor and I had to get out of there real quick. You left me with no option. The one person who had ever been nice to me, who had taken care of me, and you forced me to kill her. After all the times I looked out for you and this is what I get in return" Collins voice started to raise towards the end, "What do you mean all the times you watched out for me? Outside of an old photo, I don't even know what you look like" "Remember Ben Perry? What about Patterson? Sarah? Scully is just as bad as the others. I protected you. I had the guts that you lacked" "I attacked those people, you couldn't have been anywhere near there" Steve laughed bitterly, "No, Foxy, *I* attacked them. You just don't remember" This was rapidly getting too strange, even for Mulder, he didn't understand what the hell Collins was going on about and right now he didn't much care, "Let me talk to Scully" "Sure, but this is the last time. Then you're gonna have to wait until you find me" This got Mulder's attention, "What, you aren't going to kill her on Sunday?" "Nope, I'm gonna wait for you" again there was a shuffle and Scully came on the line, "Mulder?" He heaved a sigh of relief, "Scully, are you OK?" "Just about" Steve put the phone back to his ear, "That's all, Fox. I hated my father" the dial tone returned. 'I hated my father' what was he talking about? Then something in Mulder's brain clicked. ****** ****** "Frohike, Byers, you'd better look at this" the two men came and stood behind Langly reading the information on the computer screen. They looked at each other nervously, "Are you sure about this?" Byers asked, "This is definitely the guy?" "Yep, I'm sure" Frohike sighed and picked up the phone, "Then we'd better call Mulder" ****** ****** It was so obvious now. He'd been looking for places to do with Karen, but that had been a mistake. Of course he wouldn't 'defile' the memory of his sister, the good memories, the places that she had loved. He go somewhere that was associated with his father, the man who had caused such misery in Collins' life, a place that was almost completely his father, that left out their house – again Karen could easily be seen there – it also let out locations where they'd gone on holiday. But his father's workplace was associated with him completely and utterly and no other member of the family. Richard Marshall had worked as an accountant, the buildings where he'd worked were now empty and Mulder would bet his life on Collins being there. It was where he was going now, he'd done the sensible thing and called for back up but Smith had tried to convince him to wait for them. Mulder had promised him he would. It was a promise he had no intention of keeping. What puzzled Mulder was Collins assertion that Mulder hadn't beaten anyone up but it had been him. It was conceivable that he might have been there when Mulder had pushed Perry, he could have heard about Patterson, but no one, except Holt, knew about Sarah and certainly no one knew about Scully. And anyway, there were witnesses in three of the incidents and in the fourth – well he trusted Scully, she wouldn't lie about something like that. Mulder could accept the possibility of a psychic connection between them because of the profile, it'd happened with Roche. But Mulder hadn't profiled him that well and Collins didn't know that Mulder was profiling him at all. This question had him stumped. Frankly though, he couldn't care less if the guy had the key to all the mysteries of the universe, just so long as he got Scully back in one piece. There would be plenty of time to find out what was going on between him and Collins at a later date. The trill of his cell phone disrupted his thoughts, "Mulder" "Mulder, Langly here. We got the information you wanted" "Hey, yeah, that's great guys thanks, but it's not important any more. I know where he is" Byers spoke up, "Actually, er, it is" Mulder didn't like the sound of that, "Well, what did you find?" "Mulder, this is going to be a real shock..." "What? What is it?" Frohike took a deep breath, there wasn't any easy way to say this, "Mulder, Steve Collins is your older brother" At first this information went over his head, but then the implications hit him with the weight of a small hippo. He swerved and pulled over to the curb, "Hey, Mulder, you still there?" asked Frohike, "Yeah" "Listen, man, if there's anyth..." Mulder cut him off, "Are you sure? It's not a mix up or same surnames but different people?" "No, we're sure. "Steven Mulder, Mother: Teena Mulder, Father: William Mulder. Born: 1960 Chilmark, Mass. Given up for adoption after birth. Adopted by Richard and Margaret Marshall" "OK, thanks guys" Mulder turned the phone off and gripped the steering wheel, closing his eyes. Why hadn't his parents told him? Why had they let him go through 26 years of thinking that he was now an only child, so he could later find out he had a brother who was a serial killer and who had kidnapped his best friend so that he could pay him back for sleepwalking in on him while he was torturing some innocent woman? It explained the psychic connection. They were related. In some odd way Collins had been looking after him, in the end Collins had known he had a brother and another sister and he'd thought as the big brother it was his duty to protect him. It explained why, the first time Steve had called, he'd been so easy going, so amiable. Now Mulder knew what he was looking for, he realized it was almost brotherly. Mulder breathed in deeply, fighting back tears. The fact that Steve Collins was his brother didn't matter, he still had Scully and he was still going to kill her. He felt that Mulder had betrayed him and Mulder guessed that Collins didn't take well to betrayal. Not when his sister was involved. He sighed. Scully matter to him more than anything else and also, what was he going to do? His brother was a homicidal maniac, it wasn't like there were any chances of them going out and playing some one-on-one at the weekend. There was only one thing he *could*: pull back onto the road and carry on driving. ****** ****** As Mulder opened the door a bell jingled. The smell of old damp and rotting office furniture assaulted his nose. He squinted, trying to see through the gloom and turned on his flashlight. He was standing in the reception area, down the corridor to his left there were two doors: one on the right and the other on the left. Mulder headed down the corridor, drawing his gun. The sign on the first door said 'John Havery: Accountant', Mulder slowly opened the door shining his flashlight. He doubted that Collins would hole up in there, but it was always best to check. There was no on in the room. Walking quietly to the other door, he read the sign 'Richard Marshall: Accountant'. Mulder found it hard to believe that the building hadn't been used or demolished since the business it had once housed had folded, but it had. Mulder opened the carefully, again shining his flashlight inside. Scully was sitting on the floor, handcuffed to a loop in the wall. Collins stood just to the side of her, the gun shoved into the waistband on his pants. The room was familiar somehow, there was something about the desk and the chair. There was definitely something about that chair. Mulder pointed his gun at Collins, "Let her go, Steve" "I don't think so. How about you reach over and turn on the light?" he said, waving a hand in the direction left of Mulder's head. Mulder wasn't sure if it was a good idea to take his flashlight off Collins but he didn't want to provoke Collins, so he fumbled around the wall feeling for the light switch, never once removing his eyes from Steve. "There. That's better don't you think?" said Steve smiling, "You know this is the first time I've gotten to see you up close" "Scully, are you OK?" Mulder asked without taking his eyes off Collins, "I'm fine" Mulder nodded slightly and addressed Collins again, "I found out, Steve" Collins cocked his head to the side a little, "Oh, about what?" "You're my brother" Collins grinned triumphantly, "I was wondering how long it would take you to get someone to hack into those records. Although, going by the look on you're face you're not gonna be too enamored with the idea of having a family reunion?" Scully wasn't sure if she'd just heard Mulder right. He had a brother? Collins was his brother? "Listen, Steve, if you let her go we can work this out. This has nothing to do with her" he nodded he head towards Scully. "Come on, Fox, get with the program. This has everything to do with her. Think about it. You get stressed, she says something that really grates on your nerves and the next thing you know she's got a few broken limbs or something. You see, Fox, while I'm still around I can make you do anything to her I want" Collins paused for effect, "And how long do you think she's going to take it before she either leaves for her own safety or maybe starts wondering if you *are* in control of yourself, but that you just enjoy knocking her about?" "Mulder, don't let him get to you" Scully warned, Mulder realized that Collins was right. As long as he was alive he could make him do whatever he liked, to Scully or anyone else he felt like. But he couldn't kill Collins in cold blood. "Put the gun down, Steve" Collins pulled it out and put it on the desk carefully, "There you go, Fox, you've just made your decision even more difficult. Either you can arrest me, but then you run the risk that you'll hurt your pretty partner or even kill her, or you can kill me. But then you'll be shooting an unarmed man in cold blood and your brother at that. Think how long you've been searching for Samantha. I'm your brother, Fox, are you really going to be able to kill me?" he started grinning, "Whatever you do you're going to end up murdering someone" Once again, what Collins was saying was true. When Samantha had first disappeared he'd wished he had a brother or another sister, one that could maybe help take some of the pain away. Instead he'd been on his own with his alcoholic, increasingly abusive father and the emotional wreck that was his mother. "I don't want to have to make that choice, Steve" "And I didn't want to make the choice between getting caught and it not being Karen, and killing her" Collins shouted, "What do you mean 'it not being Karen'?" "Every time I thought I found her, I try and talk to her, get her to listen to me but she never would and I could hardly let her go after what I'd done, so I put her out of her misery. But later it wouldn't be her and next day I'd see her again coming out of a store or walking down the street. But she never listened" "Then how do you know the woman you murdered was Karen?" "'Cuz I've been looking out for her, hoping to see her somewhere. I haven't though, so I know. I watched out for you, Fox, why'd you do it?" the pitiful way in which he asked the question nearly made Mulder put down his gun and let him go, but Scully's presence reminded him that Collins may be his brother but he was also a murdering psycho. Still the desire remained, "I didn't mean to, I didn't know. I'm sorry, Steve" "I felt a duty to protect you, Fox. You were my little brother. But after what you did, I can't forgive you. My sister was everything to me. There's only two ways this can end" Scully knew what Collins was doing, if he could get Mulder to kill him then Mulder's guilty conscience would never let him rest. What frightened her most, however, was the possibility that Mulder would willingly pull the trigger on an unarmed suspect and – if he was to be believed – his brother. There was no way she wanted Mulder to do something like that for her. "Mulder, don't listen to him. We'll figure something out, but you can't do this" Mulder looked at her with anguished eyes, "What can we do about it, Scully? If I'd had any ability to stop myself from hitting you, don't you I would have? There's nothing we can do about it" Collins turned to Scully, "You know he can be quite smart at times don't ya think?" "You can't shoot him, Mulder" Collins pointed towards Scully, "Look at her, Fox. Look at what you did to her. I can make you do that over and over. Do you want to chance it?" "No" Mulder whispered, "Then you've only got one choice" Mulder looked at Scully and then at his brother. He couldn't – wouldn't – risk hurting his partner again. His finger tightened on the trigger, "I don't have any choice" "Mulder, *no!*" The bullet hit Steve in the side of head, killing him. Dimly, Mulder heard the other cops and FBI agents enter the room and someone yell for the paramedics. There had only been one option from the beginning. END.