From: "patfiler@hotmail.com" Date: 18 Apr 2007 17:50:59 -0700 Subject: Dyad Source: atxc Title: Dyad Author: Pattie Rated: G Category: MT, SA, MA, Missing Scene. Spoiler: End Game. Summary: Scully helps Mulder to make sense of all that led him to the freezing depths just off the coast of Alaska, and considers things she cannot prove with science. Feedback: patfiler@hotmail.com Archive: Gossamer, Ephemeral, After_The_Fact. Disclaimer: Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Studios own them, I'm afraid. I neither charge money nor accept remuneration for writing fanfiction, and I intend no copyright infringement. EISENHOWER FIELD He appeared pale. While his vital signs had stabilized and he was slowly recovering, Scully couldn't help but analyze his face, nail color or respirations. When she sat beside the bed, he turned and saw her. That smile was worth the wait. "Hey. How you feeling?" "Like I got a bad case of freezer burn," he whispered hoarsely. "How did I get here?" Scully patiently explained the details to Mulder, and memories of traveling around with someone who he had believed was his sister came flooding back. The call from his father, the way he felt when he first saw that woman at the house, their very words about Mom and Dad and the story of the people who had raised her -- all those things he just felt he had to share with Scully, because she had nearly lost her life for him. She had been beaten, kidnapped, used as a bargaining tool. At least he was sure this partner of his was the real Dana Scully. After Scully told him of his rescue, his encounter with the alien retrovirus, survival through a cold-induced hypermetabolic state, the antivirals that had helped rid him of that virus, Mulder knew he had to share all he had been through. After all, he had admitted that he hadn't found exactly what he was looking for, cut he had found the faith to keep searching. He tried to sit up and failed. He was still too weak. "I should call my Dad, about the Samantha business, Scully." His partner grabbed his hand and shook her head. "Mulder, after what happened to whoever they... " "My cloned sister..." "Whatever happened to your 'cloned' sister in that water, would your father understand that? Would he even want to hear that?" Mulder sighed. "I doubt he really believed that woman was Samantha. He probably kept that from my Mom after all she's been through, and now that I think of it... " His voice was becoming more hoarse, and he was very tired. "Mulder, don't try to talk too much right now. I know you have a lot you want to say, but you also have a lot of healing to do. I'm not going back to DC until you're well enough to travel." He nodded. "Tell you a lot of secrets tomorrow if you bring me some ice cream, little girl." Still that same innuendo and Mulder sarcasm. Scully smiled. "You're back. Listen. If you're really good, I'll see you tomorrow, the day after, and as long as you're in the hospital. You can tell me bit by bit and leave me on the edge of my seat until you've told it all. Then, maybe the ice cream when the doctors say you can leave here." "That's... that's torture Scully." "Maybe for you. I can take the story slowly, and reward you with the ice cream when you finish. Make it slow, interesting and keep up the suspense." "Write you... write you a miniseries?" "Sure." As Mulder drifted off to sleep, Scully knew she had to read over her case notes again. They'd both made some headway with regard to Samantha's fate. THE NEXT DAY 2:00 PM "Good. You're sitting up today." That was a good sign. "Yeah. You ready to hear something from out of the most fantastic, imaginable and screwed up universe, Scully?" "Well, you still look a little grey... " Scully was holding a file folder. "Case notes, Scully?" "No. I mean not entirely. I haven't finished. I'll be back in a minute. I just want to talk to somebody." "Yeah." Was that a look of worry on her face again? 'Why am I sweating?" he thought. "It was cooler in here last night." A nurse arrived with a thermometer and took his pulse, then left as quickly as she had arrived. "Agent Scully, I'm going to call the doctor and get right back to you." "I'm a doctor. What is it?" "Probably nothing, but his temperature's elevated. Excuse me." When the doctor arrived, sputum samples were ordered and Mulder's chest sounds were taken into account as Scully watched her partner. "Well, Mulder. It looks like you may have another infection. It's probably just a rhinovirus." "Probably just rockin' pneumonia and boogie woogie 'flu." Mulder turned his head away from her and looked at the window, coughing as he did so. "Well, considering what you've been through, you could just have a secondary infection. We have to wait for the cultures to know for sure, and that takes time. The doctor ordered something for the fever." Scully wanted Mulder to face her. She knew he was a million miles away. The silence was broken after a few minutes, and Scully heaved a sigh of relief. "He knew it wasn't her, Scully. He knew." "Then why would he... I know you don't speak with your father much, Mulder, but... " "No. I remember he handed me this key card and an envelope after I told him I was sorry I lost her again, after I cried right there in front of him." Mulder's tone was becoming lower and angrier. "He began to say, 'Your sister', then he said, "Samantha left this for you. Why would he stop calling her my 'sister'? Now I know why. SHE WASN'T MY SISTER!" Scully stood and walked over to the bed."Mulder, calm down and look at me." He reluctantly moved his head toward his partner. "We've all been duped. And your friend "X" told us exactly where you were and how to find you." A tear fell from his eye. "There were these... three or four of these 'Samanthas' all at a women's clinic. They claimed they were the result of a hybridization project... that whoever had cloned them were designing a human-hybrid clone so they didn't all look alike, as the two who supposedly came back here... and you don't believe a word I'm saying." "Go on. I want to hear this. I want to understand what it was the late doctor found in the lab that they didnt want her to know. Please go on." "Two alien races getting ready for warfare over who originally ran Earth. It did not include us just as we are. The people who had raised the 'Samantha' I was with supposedly live all over the country, look too much alike, and want to use humans to vary their appearances and reclaim what she referred to as their "rightful stewardship" over our planet." "I see. I guess I'll read it in the report, too. Skinner says take your time." "Damn. My throat hurts. I have my doubts about him." "Don't talk like that," Scully cautioned. "He said he'd drop by if he possibly could. If he could get away." "He can't. It's not that he won't. He can't." Mulder closed his eyes, then forced them open when the nurse arrived with a fever med. "This should help," the nurse told Scully. "The fever's not that high, but he needs the rest." "I know. Mulder, I'm going to leave and come back this evening, okay?" She held her hand out to Mulder and he took it. "I have no immedi-- don't have a date anyway." That made Scully smile. She knew he hadn't been dating anything but the phone, video stores and cable stations anyway. 6:35 PM Scully arrived shortly after Mulder had managed to ingest a small dinner. "Hey, I heard you're going to live, Mulder. Common cold." "Yeah. I can't wait for the sneezing to start. What's that?" Scully was holding two bags, one large, one a small paper bag. "Some clothes, and Nachos if you can keep them down. We'll have to see what your chart says. Those things that you told me, Mulder, are things which could be supported if I had enough..." "Science? See? There you go again!" "That's just the story, Mulder. I don't have enough evidence to say anything so out of this world as you claim these people are doing. I wish I did." "Then you've got to promise me something, as soon as we get home." "Which should be in about four days, according to your doctor, and you have two weeks to muster up your strength for work. I can promise to work with you, as long as the Bureau has me assigned with you. I'd like to continue the partnership." "Then promise me that you'll do everything you can, with your science, to help prove and NOT debunk all that we've found?" "As long as it doesn't keep getting away from us, Mulder. But it always seems to. May as well consider me always on your side." "Some day, we'll have enough to get to the truth, and I'm not going to give up with or without you. I can't let it get away anymore, and I need you to help me make sure it doesn't." For some reason Scully hesitated. The upper echelons at the FBI could be intimidating and might even separate them. She hung her head in thought for a moment. "Whatever does happen, you know I want to see justice and the truth," She clasped her hands around Mulder's. "And you're always there for me, too." END