From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 08:16:13 -0600
Subject: Memories Lost by Katherine Benton
Source: direct

Reply To: picara_carolina@yahoo.com


Title: Memories Lost
Author: Katherine Benton
Rating: PG for implied violence and sexual innuendo
Category: X MSR
Spoilers: Some minor references to fourth and fifth seasons and Fight 
the Future
Summary: When Mulder and Scully wake up in Scully's bed without any 
memory of how they got there, they quickly make some shocking 
discoveries that force them to investigate not only alien conspiracy 
theories but their own relationship as well.

Disclaimer: These characters are the property of Chris Carter and Ten 
Thirteen Productions. I'm only borrowing them. I have no money so 
please don't sue me.

Author's note: This story takes place before the events in Fight the 
Future.

Memories Lost
Katherine Benton

Scully luxuriated in the warmth of her bed, snuggling closer against 
the body at her back. His arm was wrapped firmly around her waist. She 
put her own arm over it, intertwining her fingers with his and slowly 
awakening. The sun was shining brightly through her bedroom window. 
She felt tired, even though it was obviously late morning--groggy, 
actually, and a little confused. She couldn't quite remember arriving 
home or going to bed. As her mind cleared, she realized with mounting 
panic that she didn't remember going to bed with a man either.

Scully sat up in her bed, clutching the cover over her naked body. She 
turned to face the man in her bed--Mulder! 

"Mulder, what the hell are you doing in my bed," she shouted, shaking 
his shoulder.

Mulder awakened with a start. As his eyes focused, he took in the bed, 
Scully with the cover across her bare breasts, and his own naked body. 
He had no recollection of how he got there and from the look on 
Scully's face, neither did she.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed," she repeated more quietly but 
with no less panic in her voice, moving a little further away from him 
on the bed.

Mulder continued to stare at her. "Scully," he said tiredly, rubbing 
his hand across his eyes and propping himself up on one elbow, "I 
can't tell you--I don't remember coming back from California." He 
paused and Scully saw a typically Mulder lewd grin crawl across his 
face. "But I can tell you that given the circumstantial evidence I 
have in front of me, I will be running to my hypnotist to find out."

She slapped Mulder across the face hard enough to knock him back on 
the pillow. 

"Jesus Scully." Mulder groaned his hand to his face.

"Mulder this is not funny. What the hell happened here?"

"I should think that would be very obvious to you Dr. Scully, or did 
you miss the section on human reproduction in medical school?"

This time Mulder caught her hand before it contacted his face. He 
immediately regretted what he said when he saw the pain in her eyes. 

"That's not funny Mulder," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "If 
you were anyone else, I would be accusing you of slipping me 
something...I would be accusing you of date rape." This made her laugh 
in spite of herself. "But, we have never been on a date and of course 
I can't imagine you doing anything like that. Mulder, I don't remember 
anything that happened here... are you even listening to me?" She 
paused angrily. Mulder was still holding her wrist and was staring at 
her hand. "What, Mulder?"

He held her left hand in front of her face, "When did you get married, 
Scully?"

She stared at her hand for a long moment and her jaw dropped. She saw 
a gold band on her ring finger. She looked at Mulder with a confused 
expression and then her gaze drifted to the hand that held hers.  She 
twisted her wrist and grasped Mulder's hand. Holding it in front of 
his face, she raised her eyebrow and stared at him. He also had a gold 
band on the ring finger of his left hand.

"We'd better start figuring out what is going on here," he said rising 
from the bed.

Mulder and Scully moved from the bedroom to the living room. Scully 
put on her robe and Mulder picked up his boxers and T-shirt from the 
pile of clothes on the floor next to the bed. Their luggage was on the 
floor in the hall. Mulder opened it while Scully went through her 
purse. She found plane tickets and a rental car receipt. 

Without turning around she said, "It looks like we went to Vegas 
before we came back from California...I've got some receipts from 
there..."

"So I see..." Scully turned around and saw Mulder had opened their 
luggage but was now going through receipts in his wallet. Her eyes 
went immediately to her open bag and she crossed in front of Mulder 
without seeing him. In her bag was a white gown. She picked it up and 
stared at it. In Mulder's bag she saw a tuxedo. She picked it up as 
well and turned to look at Mulder. He had receipts from his wallet 
spread out across the table and was apparently putting them in some 
sort of order.

"What have you got?" she asked, walking over to the table.

"It seems," Mulder said picking up one receipt at a time to illustrate 
each purchase he described, "we got two rooms in the Hilton in Vegas. 
One was the honeymoon suite. We bought a dress and a tux. We bought 
two wedding bands. We paid $100 to Don's Wedding Chapel. We bought 
champagne. This is my personal card, not our expense account card."

"Are you suggesting that we got married?" she asked incredulously. 

"It would seem," he replied.

"This couldn't be legal," Scully said, searching through her bags. "We 
must have been under cover."

"Why didn't I use the other card? What were we doing in bed this 
morning? And regardless, why can't we remember any of this? What is 
that?" he asked coming over to her. She had pulled some documents from 
her bag.

"A marriage license." She handed it to her partner, her eyes wide.

Mulder stared at it and pulled out his cell phone. After punching in a 
number, Scully heard him say, "Turn off the tape, Byers...."  She went 
back to the bedroom--she wanted a shower, anything to help clear her 
mind. She really didn't want to have to talk to the guys about this. 
She especially wouldn't miss hearing Frohike's reaction. Half and hour 
later she reemerged from her bedroom in her robe, her hair wet. Mulder 
was sitting on the couch, still looking at the receipts and other papers.

"Get anything?"

"According to Byers, the certificate was legally applied for. When I 
called in to check our messages, our voice mail message said we were 
on vacation until Wednesday and gave Skinner's extension as an 
emergency contact Apparently we took two weeks vacation and have 4 
days left."

She nodded. "I noticed something else." She took off the wedding band 
and handed it to Mulder.  It had an inscription--"My only truth."

"Awful lot of trouble to engrave a ring just for an undercover case. 
Scully, I think we really are married."

She sat down on the couch next to him. He waited for her to present a 
more 'mundane explanation.' She stared at him, speechless. He grinned, 
"If I had known that all I had to do was marry you to get you to quit 
arguing with me, I'd have done it a long time ago."

She frowned, "Mulder, how can you joke about this? Marriage is...very 
serious. What does all this mean?" She was obviously hurting. He 
reached over and caressed her cheek.

"I'm sorry Scully, I didn't mean to upset you. We'll figure this out, 
I promise."

She looked away, "Mulder, do you think...how far do you think this has 
gone?" she whispered. He knew what she was asking.

As gently as he could he responded, "I think our situation this 
morning makes that answer pretty apparent Scully."

"It doesn't necessarily..." she began, but Mulder stopped her by 
pushing open her robe with his hand. She looked down to clutch the 
edges of the robe together and saw what he was looking at--she had a 
mark above her breast, it was obvious what it was from. She closed her 
eyes and Mulder watched as she struggled to maintain control. 

Opening her eyes, she said in a perfectly controlled voice, "I'm going 
to dry my hair. Could you see if there is anything in the kitchen for 
lunch?" He acquiesced with a silent nod of his head as she moved off 
the couch. Grinning he thought to himself, "She must be on the edge if 
she's asking me to fix lunch...in her kitchen."

Mulder busied himself digging around in her kitchen for lunch while 
she dried her hair and began to unpack her bags. Emerging from the 
kitchen with two sandwiches and soup, he saw Scully sitting on her bed 
looking dazed. She had videotape in her hand.

"What is it?" he asked, approaching her. When she didn't reply he 
looked at the tape. It was labeled, "Cherished Memories, Courtesy of 
Don's Wedding Chapel." He reached down to take it from her to examine 
it. She looked up at him. 

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"There's only one way to find out," he took the tape and walked into 
the living room. She heard him open her entertainment center and put 
the tape in the VCR. The television turned on and she immediately 
heard the wedding march begin to play on the speakers. Her eyes 
widened but she didn't move from the bed.

"Do you want to see this Scully?"

He got no response. Pausing the tape, he returned to the bedroom. She 
stared at him. "Do you want to watch the tape?" he repeated. When he 
still got no response he continued, "We might remember something if we 
watch the tape."

"Mulder," she whispered. "This is too much. I can't handle this." He 
saw a tear fall down her cheek.

He sat on the bed next to her and smiled. "Scully, I have seen you 
face down flukemen, invisible forest creatures, sea-monsters, 
pathological serial killers, the murder of your sister, and terminal 
cancer without flinching. Is being married to me that repulsive?" he 
said jokingly to try to lighten her mood.

She pulled away from him to make sure he was joking. She could not be 
certain, his expression was a careful mask.

"Of course not Mulder," she whispered, touching his cheek with her 
fingers.

"Then, what is it that you can't handle?"

Suddenly she was angry. She jumped from the bed and stood over him. 
"How much am I supposed to loose Mulder, how many decisions and 
opportunities can they take away from me? I lost my sister, my 
daughter, even my dog. I lost the ability to have children, I almost 
lost my life, and I lost my sense of security because I know if some 
weird creature doesn't kill me during one of our cases, the cancer 
could come back and do it anytime. Or worse, someone might kill my 
mother or someone else close to me. Now, somehow, I have lost what 
should be the biggest event in my life--being proposed to, getting 
married, and making love to the man...." She stumbled to a stop, pain in 
her voice and tears in her eyes.

He stood and put his arms around her. "We will figure this out Scully. 
I promise." He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. After 
a few minutes, he felt her relax in his arms. 

"Do you want to watch the tape? I want to. I need to know what 
happened and that tape is the best clue we have."

She nodded her head and he released her and went back into the living 
room. He saw her cautiously look at the television. Her eyes widened 
again at the sight of her and Mulder, hand -in-hand at the altar of 
the chapel. He hit play and watched her watch the tape. She 
scrutinized her image on the tape--she definitely did not appear to 
under the influence of any intoxicant. She also didn't appear to be 
acting a part for an under-cover case. She looked radiant and 
thoroughly happy. The Mulder on the tape was looking at her with 
complete adoration! The emotion in her voice as she repeated the 
wedding vows brought tears to her eyes that she refused to allow to 
fall. The passion in Mulder's voice as he repeated his was her 
undoing. She put her hand to her mouth and turned from the tape. Only 
then did she realize Mulder was watching her and not the video. He 
paused the tape.

"Any of this jog your memory?" he asked gently.

She shook her head, unable to meet his eyes.

"Me either."

She sat staring at the frozen image. Mulder was slipping the ring on 
her finger. She remembered with some apprehension what she would see 
next and suddenly needed to continue the tape. She took the remote 
from Mulder's hand and hit play. They watched as the minister 
concluded the marriage rights and said, "You may kiss the Bride." 
Mulder's eyes shot over to Scully but she was enthralled with the 
image on the television. He looked back at the television and saw 
Scully's jaw drop out of the corner of his eye as he watched the 
Mulder on the tape pull Scully into his arms, cradle her face in his 
hands, and give her a long, passionate kiss. He mouthed the words 'I 
love you' as he pulled away from her. Mulder walked over and shut off 
the television. He looked at Scully and his concern deepened. She was 
still staring incredulously at the blank screen. 

He walked over to her and turned her face to his with a hand under her 
chin. "Scully, talk to me." 

She tore her eyes from the television and looked at him. "Mulder, 
where did that come from?" she asked indicating the kiss on the 
screen. "Anyone looking at that video would assume we had been 
involved for years. We've never had anything other than a completely 
plutonic relationship. You are the best friend I have ever had 
but...that kiss.... Mulder, would anything possess you to propose marriage 
to me? Has that thought ever crossed your mind before today?"

"Scully," he laughed self-depreciatingly. "You would never consider 
accepting, would you?"

"I asked you first," she said feeling a lot like a teenager. He looked 
at her and could see a joking expression half-hiding a very serious 
one.

His expression became very serious as well. He sat on the couch and 
pulled her down next to him. "Scully, you are the most important 
person in my life. I am closer to you than I have ever been to anyone 
else. You are more my family than my mother or father ever were. Even 
if you can't always see it, I know you know how much you mean to me. 
You are my whole world. I couldn't go on living if I lost you, or they 
took you from me." He paused, searching for the right words. "You are 
also a very beautiful woman. I would be lying if I tried to tell you 
that I never noticed that, if I said I never felt any physical 
attraction. But you mean too much to me to risk ruining what we have 
already for the sake of a physical relationship. So I have never 
allowed myself to think about it." He paused again and the expression 
on his face intensified. "Can I imagine proposing to you? If I could 
believe that you thought of me as anything more than your lunatic 
partner, if I could believe that I wouldn't drive you insane...if I 
could believe there was any hope in the world that I could make you 
love me that way, I would give anything, I would wait forever. I 
realized a long time ago I could never find anyone more perfect than 
you. I just can't believe I could make you feel the same." 

He looked at her for the first time since beginning his speech. She 
was staring at him intently with a mixture of emotions playing across 
her face.

"Do you want to believe?" she said without thinking.

Shock registered on both their faces at Scully's automatic reply. She 
took his hand in hers and unconsciously played with the ring on his 
finger as she continued in a soft voice, "I don't think of you as my 
lunatic partner. I never thought you were a lunatic...or spooky. My 
first impression of you was that you were brilliant and talented and 
that it was a shame you were wasting that talent. You know how quickly 
I learned that what you are doing is no waste of time. When I was 
abducted, I know it was your faith that saved me. When I was fighting 
the cancer, your support meant more to me than anyone else's, even if 
I didn't always let it show. When they split us up, I missed you more 
than I can tell you. I love this job Mulder, but I would quit it 
before I would let them split us up and send me to some field office--
away from you. You are the most important person in my life, the only 
person I have ever let get as close to me as you are, the only person 
I have ever felt completely safe with...at ease with. I can't deny, and 
I'm sure you didn't miss, how jealous I was about Dr. Bambi and 
Detective White. I suppose it was those incidents that made me realize 
my feelings toward you went beyond friendship...." They sat silently for 
a few moments, still holding each other's hands.

"What are we going to do, Mulder?"

He shook his head, slightly. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

She straightened up and pulled away from him--professional, in partner 
mode, as if discussing a case. He cringed inwardly at the change in 
attitude; sure of what was coming. "It seems we have two options. We 
are legally married. We either stay that way or we don't. We have to 
decide which."

He looked at her sharply. "Are you saying that you consider staying 
married an option?"

Her professional demeanor shattered around her. "I don't know Mulder. 
For God's sake this couldn't be more difficult.... Before today I don't 
think we ever even saw each other outside of a work-related function. 
We certainly never dated, so how could we.... But, we both just 
admitted..." She stumbled to a stop, confused and somewhat embarrassed. 
"I don't know, Mulder.  All I know is that divorce is for people who 
hate each other, who don't want to be with each other. I can't think 
of you in that context. I don't know how this came about, but I can't 
seem to be able to make myself picture sitting in front of a lawyer 
and signing divorce papers."

They sat silently again for the few moments it took Mulder to absorb 
what Scully had said. "Alright," he replied, "do you want to try this 
out while we figure out how it happened in the first place?"

She blushed in reply and he continued quickly, "God Scully, I'm not 
suggesting that we should...have any sort of physical relationship. I'd 
never do anything to push you....I'm just suggesting we see how it feels 
to be more than partners, more than friends. Let's do some things 
outside of work together and see what happens. Maybe by the time we 
figure out how all this came about, we will know more about what we 
want to do with it. What do you think?"

She looked at him and nodded mutely. The pain and fear she was 
feeling, mixed with a new emotion she was struggling not to 
acknowledge, was evident in her expression. Mulder pulled her into an 
embrace and she relaxed against him, admitting to herself for once 
that she truly needed the strength of his beliefs to help her through 
this.

****

They ate their lunch in silence. Scully picked up the dishes and 
carried them into the kitchen. Mulder heard her turn on the water, 
rinse out the soup bowls, put them in the dishwasher, and start it. 
When she came back out into the living room, he was sifting through 
the receipts again. 

"This is going to get us nowhere," he said indicating the receipts. "I 
think we should work on figuring out why we have no memory of what 
happened. If we took 2 weeks off and only have four days left, then 
that's almost two weeks we don't remember. If we can figure out why we 
don't remember it, maybe we can figure out what happened."

Scully smiled at Mulder's typical bulldog approach to investigation 
and realized the last four days of their vacation would be sleepless. 
"Memory loss may be caused by cerebral hemorrhage due to stroke, 
trauma to the head...."she began. Dr Scully emerged immediately, a 
role she easily played--a much more familiar and comfortable role than 
Mrs. Mulder. She shook her head to dispel that thought and moved to 
examine Mulder for evidence of injury. Running her fingers through his 
hair searching for signs of an injury produced some very 
unprofessional feelings, which she also quickly tried to dismiss with 
limited success.

"You've got three months of memory loss, Scully, for considerably 
different reasons." Mulder interrupted her thoughts.

She sighed. "I think we should explore the plausible before we assume 
we were abducted by aliens or government conspirators, Mulder," Scully 
replied with a tone of long suffering patience, easily slipping into 
partner-mode.

"Fine, just do me a favor and humor me. If you're going to do an 
examination here, look for evidence of insertion of any kind of 
implant too." Mulder saw Scully's expression harden, but she nodded 
her head.

"Take off your shirt and come over here in the light." Scully examined 
Mulder's head and neck for evidence of a blunt injury. Then, more 
carefully, she searched for an incision or small scar. She moved down 
his back, arms and torso as she would when examining a body for 
forensic evidence.  Mulder tried to ignore the sensation produced by 
her fingers running lightly over his skin.

After what seemed to Mulder to be an interminable period of time, 
Scully straightened and said, "I don't see anything, Mulder. No 
evidence of any injury or invasive procedures except the scars I 
already knew you had. But this isn't the best light and I don't have 
any equipment. I'd like to go to one of the labs and have a closer 
look. I'd also like to have both of us take an MRI to look for 
evidence of a stroke."

"Both of us did not have a stroke at the same time in our mid 
thirties, Scully."

"O.K Mulder, fine. A full body MRI will also detect metallic foreign 
objects. Of course, the presence of said objects could cause severe 
injury during an MRI...you're right. We'd better do a CT scan instead, 
just in case. Let's go, get dressed," she ordered, going to her 
bedroom to get dressed herself.

It was Sunday and no one was in the lab when Scully and Mulder 
arrived. Scully turned on the lights and gathered some equipment she 
regularly used in forensic examinations. Mulder watched.

"Up on the table Mulder." Scully said, still concentrating on the last 
of her equipment.

Mulder's expression was incredulous. "You want me to sit on a table 
you put dead bodies on?"

"No, I want you to lie down. You'll be more comfortable and it is 
easier for me that way because you'll hold still." She replied without 
turning around.

"No way, Scully."

She turned and saw his expression for the first time and laughed. 
"It's completely sterile Mulder." His expression did not change.

She reached to him and pulled him forcefully to the table. "You will 
dig up people's graves but you won't sit on that table?" She was still 
laughing at him. She spread a sheet used to cover bodies across the 
table and pushed him back against it. "Get on the table, don't argue 
with me. But first strip down to your underwear." She handed him 
another sheet and turned back to gathering her equipment. "You can use 
this to cover yourself." She heard him mumble that it was a good thing 
all her patients were already dead.

When she turned around again she burst out laughing. Mulder was on the 
table, alright. He had pulled the sheet over his face. Still laughing, 
she pulled it back and was met with the rare but classic Mulder smile. 
She smiled back at him and turned on the surgical lights to begin her 
examination. She marked with a pen several areas on his body.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't be certain but I think I see small scars here. We'll go to x-
ray in a minute and see if we see anything. If the x-ray shows 
anything odd, I'll order a CT scan." She stepped back and tossed 
Mulder some scrubs and a lab coat. He saw she was undressing.

"What are you doing?" he repeated.

"It's your turn to play doctor," she replied stripping to her bra and 
underwear and climbing on the table. 

Mulder looked away. "I'm not a doctor Scully. And I might miss 
something," he said, fishing desperately for an excuse.

She laughed again. "Mulder, you'll do fine." Her amusement was evident 
in her tone. At his continued hesitation, she stated flatly, "I am not 
going to my physician tomorrow to ask him to look for evidence of 
alien implants. He'll commit me. Come on, all you have to do is use 
the magnifying glass, look for anything that might be a scar, and mark 
it with the marker. You do know what a scar looks like, don't you?" 
Taking pity, she lay on her stomach on the table.

Hesitantly Mulder began looking on Scully's arms and neck, pausing 
over the scar where her known implant was located to study it. He 
pulled the sheet back and marked several places along her spine. When 
he stepped back, she turned over. He looked at her and shook his head. 
She saw him averting his eyes from her breasts.

"Scully, I am not a doctor. I can't look at your body...clinically."

"Mulder, I am perfectly decently clothed. There's more to this than 
there is to my bikini." 

He smiled at this thought. "I've never seen your bikini either, 
Scully." 

She sighed, "We need this evidence to figure out what happened and we 
don't have anyone we can trust but ourselves."

"I know." He paused thinking. "You're going to x-ray over these scars, 
right?"

"Yes."

"Alright, well if you already are going to do an x-ray because of the 
scars I think I see on your back, it will show anything, front or 
back, so continuing this really isn't necessary, right?"

"He was correct about that," thought Scully, "but the x-ray wouldn't 
show whether the object was frontal or dorsal unless she did the x-ray 
on her side and then ribs may interfere with the picture. Well, all I 
need is evidence. I'm not going to be stupid enough to remove the 
thing this time."

She looked at him and took pity again. "O.K. Mulder, we'll work with 
what we have here. I have to say your sudden modesty is very...sweet, 
Mulder. Come on, off to x-ray."

As they walked to x-ray he said jokingly but defensively, "I seem to 
recall it was your modesty that was offended this morning."

"That was different, Mulder."

"How?"

"We were in bed together, unclothed. And, as you pointed out, that was 
a purely sexual situation. This is medicine." At his silence she 
continued. "In medical school we did procedures on one another 
hundreds of times before we were allowed to do them on patients. I 
didn't go to an all girls med-school, you know. You learn a certain 
detachment."

"I bet all the med-students wanted to be your partner," he said with a 
leering grin as Scully turned on the x-ray and prepared the film.

"Actually," she quipped, "There was one student...blonde, she must 
have been a 38DD. Everyone wanted to be her partner. O.K. up you go," 
she said patting the table. "You know Mulder, dead bodies are the only 
bodies ever to have been x-rayed here before," she teased and grinned 
at his exaggeratedly pained expression as she placed lead aprons on 
him, exposing only the x-ray sight.

When she was done, Mulder dressed and she showed him how to operate 
the x-ray. When both x-rays were done, she took the film to develop 
it. He followed her into the developing room. An hour later, they were 
back in Scully's lab looking at the x-rays. Nothing.

"O.K.," Mulder began. "Let's narrow this down a little. We lost our 
memories. If something was done to specifically cause memory loss, it 
would be done to our brains. The implant would be there."

"Mulder, that is science fiction. We don't know enough about the brain 
to remove certain tumors, much less to implant devices to cause 
specific affects on areas of the brain. And we know even less about 
memory and how it works."

"That you know of."

"I am a doctor, Mulder. I'm not a neurologist, but I know that much."

"Will you humor me again. Maybe a CT scan will reveal evidence of a 
stroke, maybe we'll see an implant. Maybe we'll see nothing. But at 
least we'll know."

"I don't have the equipment or the knowledge to do a CT scan, Mulder."

"But you can order one for each of us and you know how to read them. 
You were anxious to do one only an hour ago."

She sighed. "I'll ask a friend of mine over at Mercy if he'll squeeze 
us in on Monday." 

He smiled his thanks. "So, what do you want to do tonight?" She looked 
skeptically at him.

****

Mulder and Scully sat in her apartment eating Chinese food, pouring 
over receipts for evidence, and watching one of Mulder's B movies that 
they had picked up when they stopped by his apartment for a change of 
clothes. They were startled by a knock on Scully's door. Looking at 
Mulder, she rose to answer it. The Lone Gunmen burst into her 
apartment. 

Without preamble, Langly began, "Based on what you told us over the 
phone, we did a little more checking around. We got a source to send 
us digitized copies of the Hilton's security tapes. We put these 
sections back on a videotape so you could watch it here. It shows you 
and Scully in various places in the hotel."

They watched the video and saw brief clips of Mulder and Scully arm-
in-arm or hand-in-hand going out the hotel doors several times. Longer 
clips captured them swimming in the hotel pool--she had been right 
about that bikini, Mulder thought--and eating in the lounge. They 
looked like a couple very much in love.

When they had finished watching, Byers began, "I also identified and 
spoke to the front desk manager who was on duty when you checked in 
and out. He confirms that you discussed at length and 
'enthusiastically,' in his own words, that you had decided to elope on 
the spur of the moment. He said he remembers because the conversation 
was so weird. Many of his comments seem to fit your personalities." He 
handed a transcript and tape of his conversation over to Mulder.

Mulder popped the tape into Scully's tapedeck. The front desk manager 
stated that he remembered the couple Byers was describing very well. 
He was working the desk himself during a peak hour and checked them in 
personally. His recreation of their conversation was very specific.

"Welcome to the Las Vegas Hilton. How can I help you?" the desk 
manager smiled at the handsome couple in front of him. The gentleman 
had his arm around the lady.

"We don't have reservations, but we were hoping that you had two rooms 
available," the gentleman stated. 

"You're in luck. We aren't completely full. Double or single rooms and 
for how long?"

"Well, to be honest, if possible we'd like one single for one night 
and a honeymoon suite for two weeks," he replied glancing somewhat 
shyly at the lady in his arms. She appeared to be new to the 
experience as well. Another couple who just met and are getting a 
quickie wedding that will end in a quickie divorce in two months. Such 
was the life of a hotel worker in Vegas. Somehow they looked a little 
different, though--so intense.

"Well, that's unusual. Most people engage the honeymoon suite months 
in advance. Those that are eloping don't usually come here," replied 
the front desk manager.

"I couldn't pass up on the Star Trek ride--great added attraction!"

The desk manager stared at the man while the woman with him gave him a 
long suffering look that implied she was very much accustomed to this 
man's obviously warped sense of priorities--Star Trek on your 
honeymoon! They must be another one of those Trekkie weirdo couples. 
Probably going to get married as Captain Kirk and Nurse Chapel or 
something equally strange. Whatever. He did have a suite and letting 
it out for two weeks was certainly good business.

As the manager processed their rooms, he listened to the gentleman 
speaking to the lady, who suddenly had a slightly apprehensive look on 
her face.

"Are you sure about this? We can do this in a more traditional way if 
you want. At least we could invite your Mom and brothers."

"You know we can't. We have to keep this quiet or they'll split us up 
and with what we just found, now is not the time. I can't believe 
you'd let evidence like that sit and wait."

"It's all the evidence we need. Besides, this is more important. I 
can't let this wait...you might come to your senses." He grinned and 
then continued more seriously, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I want this more with every passing second. This is right, 
Mulder. I wouldn't have believed I'd ever say that, but it is. And now 
is the perfect time."

The desk manager on the tape went on to explain that he had checked 
them in. He saw them on other occasions, including returning to the 
hotel the next day in a bridal dress and tuxedo. Each time they had 
been arm-in-arm, a few times, in secluded locations, kissing. "One of 
the few couples that might survive a Las Vegas elopement," he 
concluded. The only thing that stood out about their visit was that he 
had seen that couple each day, on a fairly predictable schedule, 
except for the three days before they checked out. Those days he 
didn't see them at all. That wasn't unusual for newlyweds, but the bed 
in their suite had not been slept in. He knew because the cleaning 
staff had asked if the room was vacant. When they checked out, he said 
they seemed out of it. Vague. Not nearly as intense as they had seemed 
the rest of the time. Almost drugged. He had assumed they were 
exhausted or hesitant to finish their vacation. The taped 
interrogation ended with Byers thanking the manager and informing him 
someone from the FBI might be by to ask him more questions.

"Good work, guys." Mulder complimented them. "We have something to 
work with now."

They moved to leave as Mulder stood up. Rather than walking with 
Langly and Byers to the door, Frohike went over to Scully. Recognizing 
the expression on his face, before he could speak Mulder grabbed him 
by the arm and propelled him towards the door. As Frohike sputtered 
his protest, Scully heard Mulder growl softly at him something about 
not pushing his luck or their friendship.

Scully smothered her laughter as Mulder closed the door. Her 
expression was not lost on him. "I just don't want him bothering you," 
he said by way of explanation.

"So, what are we going to do with this?" Scully asked to change the 
subject. "Do you want to go back to Vegas to talk more to the desk 
manager?"

"Yeah, tomorrow after the appointment at the hospital, we ought to 
head out. I'll get us some tickets."

****

Mulder and Scully walked into the Hilton somewhat hesitantly. They 
exchanged a glance to see if either recalled anything--they didn't. 
Mulder approached the desk and the man behind it turned to help them. 
Looking at them a little strangely, he asked if he could help them. 
Scully, who had been wandering around the lobby a bit, came up behind 
Mulder as he was explaining they had no reservations but that they 
would like two rooms. With Scully's arrival, recognition dawned on the 
face behind the desk.

"You are the two who were married here this week. Someone called me 
with a lot of questions about you. Two rooms? What's up? Why are you 
back?"

Pushy little bastard, said Mulder's expression as he pulled out his 
FBI badge, glancing at Scully. She took hers out as well, and Mulder 
introduced them and asked to speak to the manager in private. Without 
much explanation, Mulder began repeating the questions Byers had 
asked. He also asked to see their registration form, telephone records 
from their room during their stay and immediately before and 
afterwards, and to see the room they had stayed in itself.

"I can do more than show it to you, I can give it to you again. We 
don't have any rooms but the suites open right now,"

Scully was a little surprised when Mulder agreed. With paperwork in 
hand, Scully and Mulder headed up with the bellboy to the honeymoon 
suite. Mulder tipped the bellhop and turned to see Scully wandering 
around the room with her jaw slightly agape. She paused at the bed.

"Anything?" 

Scully jumped at the voice behind her. 

"Do you remember anything?" Mulder repeated.

Scully shook her head. "You?"

"No, let's have a look at these phone records..."

After hours of repeating calls, inspecting forms they had filled out 
for unusual signs, and interviewing people they had spoken to, Mulder 
and Scully could find no reference to anything other than your typical 
elopement.  Exhausted, they returned to the hotel and Scully called 
her friend at the hospital where they had done the CT scan earlier 
that day. While she spoke with him, Mulder began to fastforward 
through the security videos from the day they had disappeared. After 
several moments, Scully approached him with a very serious expression 
on her face. She was met by his equally solemn one.

"I got something from John. He found two small devices." She expected 
him to look triumphant but instead his expression grew more grim. 
"More than that, the scan also showed the implants are intercranial." 
Mulder still did not react. "Mulder, do you understand what I'm 
saying--someone drilled small holes in our heads and implanted 
something in our brains. Do you have any idea how...."

He interrupted her by pulling her in front of the television and 
indicating the paused image on the tape. There she saw the Cigarette 
Smoking Man in a video of the lobby. 

"God...." she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Well, I guess we have our answer," Mulder said switching off the VCR.

"Are you crazy?!" Scully exclaimed. "Answers? All that gives us is 
more questions. OK," she continued more quietly, gesturing at Mulder 
for him to hear her out. "I agree that this makes it certain that the 
Syndicate is responsible for the implants, but we still have to figure 
out what the implants do, why they put them in our heads, why go to 
the trouble of kidnapping us to do it to us, why let us go, how did we 
get married, and how is all this connected together...? What are you 
doing?" 

"Packing."

"Are we leaving?" Scully asked with an incredulous and impatient tone.

"We're going back to Washington. We need to find out more about these 
implant and we can't do that here."

"What do you expect to find in Washington? The only person who can 
give us that information is that man," she said gesturing toward the 
television, "and we don't have any idea how to find him."

"We can have a look at the implant...see what we can learn from it."

"You're not actually planning on having it removed?!" She paused to 
see his reaction. "You are! I can't believe this Mulder. Didn't you 
learn anything the last time we saw a chip implanted by these people 
removed? There is no way I am going to let you do this."

Without further comment Mulder picked up his bag and turned to leave. 
Scully grabbed his arm with one hand and Mulder saw her reach behind 
her back to the holster on her belt with her other. "I swear to God 
Mulder, I will make you listen to me on this, anyway I have to." He 
saw a near panicked expression on her face. He had seen her quickly 
conceal this very expression numerous times when he entered her 
hospital room while she was battling cancer. The cause of that cancer 
was suddenly foremost in his mind and he realized what was motivating 
her terrorized expression.

"O.K. Scully," Mulder said soothingly, putting down his bag. "I'm 
listening." She did not respond--she was concentrating on regaining 
control. "I'm sorry," he whispered, putting his hands on her 
shoulders. "I forgot. I should have realized how this would affect 
you. I'm so sorry." He pulled her into his arms and that gesture was 
her downfall. The stress she had been experiencing, the emotions she 
had been trying to suppress for the last 24 hours, overwhelmed her and 
Scully sobbed. Her knees buckled underneath her and Mulder only was 
able to prevent her from collapsing by picking her up into his arms. 
She put her arms around his neck and soon his shirtfront was drenched 
with her tears. He carried Scully to the bed and pulled her onto his 
lap, leaning back against the headboard, cradling her in his arms. He 
let her cry.

"I can't go through this again, Mulder...I can't.  I can't do this 
anymore. I can't loose anymore. I can't...." she mumbled between sobs. 
He stroked her hair and thought about her ordeal with the cancer. He 
knew he couldn't go through that again either. Much less if he 
couldn't be there for her because he had it too. A long time passed 
before Scully quieted and her breathing became more even. Mulder was 
about to speak when he felt Scully tighten her embrace around his 
neck.

"Thank you, Mulder," whispered, her face still buried against his 
neck. She pulled away, looking very contrite. "There is no one else in 
the world I would let see me like this," she said self-depreciatingly.  
Mulder could see "Agent Scully" was beginning to reemerge.

"Scully," he pushed her back and held her face in his hands to force 
her to look at him. "Nothing makes me happier than when you let me in 
like this. You do so much for me, you give me so much of yourself, and 
you never let me give back to you. I never had any family. I never had 
a relationship with anyone like the one we have. I want so much for 
you to feel you can depend on me the way I know I can depend on you. 
You are everything to me."

"Mulder," she whispered, taking his hands in her own. 

"I know I've said this a thousand times in the last 24 hours...but we 
will figure this out, you will not loose anything, you won't have to 
go through the cancer again..."

"We don't know that," she replied and again he saw a hint of fear 
haunt her eyes.

"I do. It isn't going to happen. We will find the truth here," he 
pulled her against him. They fell asleep talking and holding each 
other.

****

Scully awakened with an odd sense of deja vu. Mulder's arm was around 
her waist, her back against his stomach. Intertwining her fingers with 
his, she lie still breathing in his scent and enjoying the warmth of 
his body pressed against hers. She had to admit to herself that she 
loved the feeling of wakening in his arms. She did depend on him even 
if he didn't always know it. Her feelings for him ran deeper than for 
any other man in her past. If he weren't her partner, it would never 
occur to her to doubt that their relationship was ideal.

Mulder was awake and he felt Scully was awake as well. Her breathing 
had changed and she had grasped his hand on her hip. He could 
definitely get used to this, he decided. Never since Samantha's 
disappearance had he slept so soundly or felt so safe and complete.  
He knew he had to find some way to make this work. He could not go 
back to being without Scully after experiencing what life could be 
with her. He contemplated what he could say to her without pushing 
her. He certainly knew her well enough to know that would be a big 
mistake, but he had to let her know how important this was to him.

The one thing that he had not yet said occurred to him. "Scully?" he 
whispered in case she was asleep.

"Hmm?" she responded. She was not ready to move yet.

He hesitated. His face was against her hair and she could feel his 
breath on her neck. "I am not trying to rush things, but I want you to 
know...I love you. I knew that long before any of this happened."

She turned to face him and he opened his eyes. Their faces were inches 
apart. A myriad of emotions played across Scully's face. "I love you, 
too." He pulled her close to him. She rested her head on his chest, 
holding him close with her arms around his waist. Her hair was spread 
across his bare chest, and the sensation made Mulder realize how 
desperately he wanted her.  If he was going to maintain control, he 
needed to get out of that bed. 

Scully caressed Mulder's back and relished the feeling Mulder's hands 
running through her hair produced. She marveled at the intensity of 
the emotions his declaration had evoked. She was amazed by her desire 
for him, but she was not ready for this to proceed further. She needed 
to know more about how this relationship had developed before she 
could give herself to it completely. If she was going to avoid doing 
something she might regret, she had to get out of that bed. But she 
didn't want to hurt him by appearing to flee.

They both stirred at once. "I'd better hit the shower," Mulder stated 
and his mind added silently, "It better be a cold one." He stood and 
turned away from her to hide the physical evidence of his desire.

"Do you still want to head back to Washington today?"

"We've only got 2 days before we are officially back. I don't think 
there is anything more we can do here. Unless you can think of 
something, maybe we'd better head back and try to develop some sort of 
a plan based on what we have."

****

Scully packed while Mulder showered and they left for Washington. On 
the plane, Scully read through their field report from the case they 
had been working in California. Since she couldn't remember the 
outcome, she thought it would be a good idea to see if the report was 
complete. If it wasn't, she hadn't decided what she was going to do 
about it. She was certain Mulder had no field notes.

They arrived in Washington late and decided to return to the office 
the next morning--a day early. They were out of ideas regarding their 
situation. Scully wouldn't hear of removing the implants unless they 
knew more about them. Their only source of information was the 
Cigarette Smoking Man but they had no idea how to find him. Mulder 
intended to ask Skinner if he knew how to contact him, but he held 
little hope. Skinner had burned those bridges years ago and Mulder 
knew it.

The next morning Mulder and Scully arrived early to work, depositing 
their report on Skinner's desk on the way to the basement. Scully had 
been glad to see that it appeared to be complete. The only thing they 
could not account for was a large air shipping expense. Even Mulder, 
who usually disregarded regulations concerning accounting procedures, 
was concerned. He had a receipt for almost one thousand dollars--there 
was no way that was going to go unnoticed. They assumed that receipt 
was the cause of Skinner's angry summons at 9:00am.

"He doesn't waste time, does he?" muttered Mulder on the way to 
Skinner's office. "I was counting on a few hours to make up a good 
story about it." That earned him the patented Dr. Scully look.

"What in the hell is this?" Skinner began angrily, without preamble, 
when they entered the office. He had their field report in his hand 
and was literally shaking it at them.

"What seems to be the problem?" asked Scully, confused.

"Well, perhaps you would like to explain this report?"

"Sir, this was one of our more...normal cases. I turned out to be 
nothing more than a viral outbreak. I'm not sure what the difficulty 
is."

Skinner stared at them silently and then turned his head toward the 
wall in disgust. He tossed the report on the desk.

"Look," he began. "I don't care how you two investigate your cases as 
long as you continue to have the resolution rate that you have. I know 
you have your own agenda and you keep some of what you find to 
yourselves. That's fine with me too as long as you continue solving 
cases. But, when you call me up in the middle of the night and involve 
me in your cases, then by God, you are going to share the straight 
story with me."

"Sir, I don't have any idea what you're talking about," replied 
Scully, glancing at Mulder.

"O.K. Scully, I'll lay it out for you. Why don't you explain what the 
body I've got in the morgue is? If you really wanted to be helpful, 
you could explain why you couldn't return it to Washington through 
regular channels--why I had to receive it in the middle of the night 
and why I had to hide it and not log it in."

Mulder and Scully looked at each other. Skinner saw they were baffled. 
"You two really don't have any idea what I'm talking about do you?"

"No," said Mulder, speaking for the first time.

Skinner looked at them suspiciously and then shook his head. "No...Now 
you two have got me feeling paranoid. You called me from California 
and asked me to meet this body that you sent airfreight and to hide 
it. I know it was you. It was your cell phone according to my caller 
i.d. It was your voice, I'm sure of it. So I guess the question is, 
who had your phone and who could imitate your voice so well as to fool 
me? And what is that body?"

Mulder glanced at Scully before answering him. "We haven't told you 
everything here because we haven't figured it all out yet. We weren't 
going to give you all the details, but as it seems you know more than 
us, maybe we'd better. The truth is, we don't remember what happened 
in California."

Skinner stared at him hard and Mulder continued, "That report is the 
one Scully found written on her laptop. We assumed she had written it 
before we went on vacation to get it out of the way. The point is, we 
don't know what body you are talking about because we don't remember 
anything from about two weeks ago to three days ago. We woke up here 
in Washington on Sunday without any memory of returning. Apparently, 
we took a vacation--we don't remember asking."

He glanced at Scully again, trying to determine how much detail to go 
into. She nodded so he continued. "The only thing we have been able to 
determine is that we went to Las Vegas and stayed there ten days. For 
three days we were apparently missing from the hotel. The hotel staff 
said they saw us everyday but those, and those days there was no 
evidence we had returned to our...rooms. Security videos show us all 
over the hotel each day accept for those three. The desk clerk said we 
appeared to be drugged when we checked out." He paused again. "Scully, 
you tell him about what we found..."

"When we got back and couldn't remember anything, I examined Mulder 
for signs of injury that might explain our memory loss. I also had a 
CT scan done." The look she gave him told Skinner that he was not 
going to like what he heard next. "The scan showed small holes in both 
our craniums and tiny metallic implants. I have seen enough MRI's and 
CT scans of both myself and Mulder to know these are 
new...developments."

Before Skinner could reply, Mulder continued, "The only other thing 
the security cameras at the hotel in Vegas showed that was of interest 
was that cigarette smoking freak that used to hang out in your office 
was in Vegas, in that hotel, on the same day we disappeared from the 
surveillance videos.

The line of Skinner's mouth tightened. "He was here last week. He 
asked me what I knew about your current investigation and I told him I 
hadn't seen the report yet. He asked me if you'd sent anything to the 
labs and I said no. I was suspicious."

"Well, I'd like to see that body, if its still there," Scully said, 
rising.

"Wait a minute, I want you two in the hospital. If you can't remember 
anything and someone has been fooling around with those implants 
again...."

"I know more about those implants than anyone else, Sir." Scully 
replied in her no-nonsense tone. "I am a doctor. I have done a 
complete exam on both of us and I say there is nothing medically wrong 
with either me or Mulder. There is nothing that can be done about the 
implants. The danger of removing them to study them is too great. We 
need to collect information some other way. And that body seems to be 
the best place to start. It is very likely the exact thing that They 
were working to hide."

"Fine," Skinner sighed, leading them down to the morgue. He had put 
the body in one of the locked drawers and had kept the key himself. No 
one had seemed to notice, or at least none of the lab workers had said 
anything. He handed Scully the key and she opened the drawer and 
pulled out the slab. A fully dressed body appeared. Confusion ran 
across Scully's face.

"I've obviously already autopsied this body, you can tell by the way 
it has been wrapped and dressed. Why would I send it all the way 
to...."  Mulder moved to cut the strings that bound the white cloth 
body bag. 

Skinner had seen enough bodies to make him completely immune to 
surprises in the autopsy bay...or so he'd thought. This body made the 
bile rise in his throat and he clamped his hand over his mouth, 
backing away from the table. He saw a human form with completely 
translucent skin. Inside that body was another body, an alien looking 
form such as Skinner had never seen. 

Scully and Mulder were completely enthralled. Both already had donned 
surgical gloves and masks and were going over the body. "Clear the lab 
and lock the door," was the only comment Mulder spared him.

"Its alive," Scully was saying with wide horrified eyes when Skinner 
returned to the autopsy bay.

Mulder actually backed away a few steps. 

"It's definitely an E.B.E. This is the evidence you have been 
searching for all your life. It appears to be using the body for 
gestation, deriving nutrients. What are we going to do with this? If I 
cut into the host body, the E.B.E. might die if it's not fully 
developed."

"Do whatever tests you can...try whatever that is they do on pregnant 
women to examine the fetus."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to try to find some answers."

****

Scully met Mulder at his apartment that night. She showed him the 
results of the tissue samples she had done and the photos she had 
taken. They had spent several hours discussing their options when 
Mulder's door flew open. Both agents reached for their guns but the 
intruders were well prepared. Mulder and Scully were unconscious 
before they had even seen their attackers' faces.

Scully woke up with an incredible pain in her head to the sound of 
Mulder's voice calling out to her. She tried to respond as she came 
around and took in her surroundings. She was securely bound to a 
chair. Mulder was too, and they appeared to be in a room in a 
warehouse. Scully saw Skinner as well.

"The gang's all here," she whispered painfully.

Before either men could respond, the door opened. The agents were not 
surprised to see the Cigarette Smoking Man enter.

"Yes, you indeed are, this time," he replied to Scully's comment and 
glanced at Skinner.

"It was unwise of you to involve yourself this deeply Mr. Skinner. 
Pity."

Skinner glared silently at him in reply.

"Now, you are going to tell me what you've seen. And this time, we are 
going to make sure you don't leave anything out...any details, for 
example, about bodies. I told you the last time you'd regret not being 
completely forthcoming with me. I hate to employ extreme methods, 
especially where women are concerned, but I see I will have to." He 
paused before he continued. "Someone will return to interrogate you. 
Please be more honest with them than you were with me. It will prevent 
us from having to repeat this unfortunate scenario."

The agents looked at each other as the Cigarette Smoking Man left.  
Moments later, a rather burly man entered the room with a surgical 
tray of instruments. Glancing at all of them for a moment, he pulled 
Scully to her feet without comment. She moved to fight him, but with 
her hands and feet still bound, she had little hope of overpowering 
the much larger man. He lifted Scully by her arms and secured her 
handcuffs to a hook that hung from the ceiling. Her feet barely 
reached the floor. Mulder and Skinner as one realized what was going 
to happen and began struggling to free themselves, Mulder yelling that 
they would cooperate. The last thing Scully saw before the pain began 
was Mulder's tormented expression.

When Scully regained consciousness this time, she was strapped to a 
surgical table. With some panic, she tried unsuccessfully to sit up. 
Hearing her stir, Mulder called her name. She looked toward the sound 
of his voice and saw he and Skinner were also strapped to tables. 
Mulder and Skinner both had some bruises. Scully remembered and closed 
her eyes again. 

"Talk to me Scully," Mulder whispered, his voice thick with sorrow, 
guilt, and pain.

"I'm fine." Her standard reply came automatically to her lips. She 
heard Mulder sigh. "Any idea what is going on here?"

He knew she was referring specifically to the surgical suite they were 
in. "No. When they were convinced we told them everything, they 
brought us here. We've been here for almost a day I'd guess. You've 
been unconscious," he said in response to her shocked expression. 
"Which was probably best, although you scared us to death."

"I don't really remember anything..." she trailed off.

"Don't try. You don't have any serious injuries. They were careful not 
to produce any permanent evidence," Mulder spat out. She saw the tears 
in his eyes--the apology.

"I'm fine Mulder. We both know what we're doing. I stay with the X-
Files with my eyes open to the possible consequences."

She saw both Mulder and Skinner were about to reply, when the door 
opened, interrupting them. The Cigarette Smoking man appeared again. 
Mulder's lunge at him almost broke the strap that bound him to the 
table.

"I regret your discomfort Ms. Scully," he said in reply to Mulder's 
threat. "Now that we have all our property back in hand, all this can 
come to an end. While searching your apartments for evidence, we found 
what we missed the last time that you obviously found so motivating. 
Ms. Scully is a lovely find Mr. Mulder." As he spoke he inspected 
Scully's hand and removed the wedding band from her finger. Forcing 
his fist open, he did the same with Mulder's. "I can see why you were 
so determined to pursue your lost memories. Well, we won't be so 
careless as to leave you with anything so motivating again. All 
evidence has been destroyed and the unfortunate people in the hotel 
who were involved have been removed. You know, you two are lucky you 
are important to our plan. You are not so important, Mr. Skinner." He 
paused, glaring at Skinner. "Shame my orders are to leave no evidence 
that will drive Mr. Mulder and Ms. Scully to continue their 
investigation. I imagine your death would inspire them. Maybe next 
time." He left again as three men in surgical garb entered. They heard 
him say on his way out, "This time remove the implants when you are 
done--no evidence is to be left."

****

EPILOGUE

Mulder, Scully, and Skinner awoke in their respective bedrooms, all 
with no memory of the last three weeks. Mulder called Scully to see if 
she knew what was going on. Now, they were in their office looking for 
clues when they heard Skinner would be out indefinitely. He had been 
admitted to the hospital with unexplained short-term memory loss and 
was being held for observation. They were about to leave to speak to 
him when Scully said, "Hey Mulder, look at this."

She was pulling a plastic evidence bag and a folder from under one of 
the file drawers in their office that she had been checking out. "Did 
you put this here?"

"I don't remember doing so," he replied. "It looks like my style," he 
grinned, "but those are your files. I know better than to mess them 
up."

"Why would I put something under the drawer rather than in it?" she 
pondered out loud as she flipped through the file. "Mulder, these are 
DNA reports...I've seen this DNA before--in the Purity Control beaker 
you had me analyze...it has an extra strand. It's alien. Remember?" 
Her voice was rising as Mulder came over to look at the report. "But 
we lost all that evidence."

"I think I'll give the guys a call, maybe we've spoken to them 
recently. This is the type of stuff I usually run by them," he said 
picking up the phone.

"Turn off the tape, Frohike, " she heard him say. "What do you mean 
'How are things in paradise?' How's my what with Scully? What in the 
hell are you talking about?" Mulder was staring at her and his 
expression drew her over to him. There was a long pause as Mulder 
listened to Frohike. Then she heard him say, "Yeah, we'll be right 
over." He hung up.

"I think we'd better take this and go over to see the guys. They have 
some incredible news. Apparently we have spoken to them recently. If 
this is one of Frohike's sick jokes, I'll kill him." He dragged Scully 
out of their office to see the Lone Gunmen. As they disappeared down 
the corridor, Mulder repeating to Scully what Frohike had said, the 
shadowed figure behind them went unnoticed. It followed them at a safe 
distance.

****

THE END