************************************************************************** Trustyone's e-mail address has changed to: trustyonefanfic@hotmail.co.uk ************************************************************************** From: "Trustyone" Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 10:12:51 -0000 Subject: Para-abnormalities I: Touch and Go (and) II: Raring to Go TITLE: Para-abnormalities I: Touch and Go AUTHOR: Trustyone RATING: PG CLASSIFICATION: XH SPOILERS: Nisei/731 (and references from seasons 1-4) KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully UST SUMMARY: Scully is asked to help solve a cause of death, and Mulder can't help helping her. Investigations ensue and the complexity of the conspiracy deepens, and it's nothing like what they were expecting! DISCLAIMER: The X Files, Mulder, Scully, and X belong to The Creator (CC - If you don't know who that is then "Where have you been?"), Ten Thirteen Productions, and Fox Broadcasting. Agent Taylor, Webster and Roberts belong to me as well as the plotline (excluding any references to episodes). PLEASE don't sue - it won't benefit you at all, unless you want more X files stuff. No infringment intended, I just borrowed them, yadda, yadda, yadda... Author's notes: This is a first long fan fic for me (and probably last). This is *supposed* to be funny, but don't blame me if it don't tickle your funny-bone! And there are some minor references to episodes in seasons 1 to 5. The charaters are a little out of character. Also, this is a UST/friendship story, Okay? I have had the idea for ages but only just had the energy (and time) to actually write it. Hope you like it. Don't flame me for any mis-spellings. And, don't flame me for any inaccuracies either. I am no doctor, just a humble student who doesn't listen in biology (soz miss). Well, enough chitchat, here's the story... But first... P.S. Comment, suggestions, (help and constructive criticism - not too harsh) and flames are accepted (even needed). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE mail me at: Trustyone@thewebbs.demon.co.uk P.P.S. No flames for any typos!!! Now the story...ENJOY... --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities I: Touch and Go By Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X Willis residence Prescott, Arizona August 5 6:42pm She felt tense, but the warm water relaxed her aching muscles. She stepped carefully out of the shower wrapping a plush peach coloured towel around her. Work today had been really stressful due to the work she had to catch up on: the papers, forms, meetings. The list was endless. Her head pounded and ached with the thought of it all. She still had a few papers to finish for tomorrow's presentation, but she was too content on the thought of a nice, relaxing evening out with her fiance, Daniel. As she walked into the bedroom, a moist, warm scent filled the room, following her from the blue and white bathroom. Her skin tingling slightly from the cool air coming from the open, balcony window. A breeze made the net curtains sway gently, dancing on the invisiable waves of early evening air. The white light of the street lamp shone through the gap in the blue drapes, cascading the dimly lit room in it's bright brilliance. She walked over to her lavish closet and removed the slinky black dress from the wooden hanger and placed it onto the buttercup-yellow coloured bed spread. She closed the drapes, but didn't bother with the window, wanting to feel the soft touches of the unseen force of Mother Nature's words around her, even though she was beginning to feel a chill. She went over to her answer machine and pressed the play button. She then got dressed into some lovely royal blue underwear as she listened to the two messages: 'BEEP' "Hey, Kat. It's me! Remember the reports for tomorrow. Davis grilled me about them after you left today. He's not gonna get off our backs 'til this deal is sealed. Catcha tomorrow! Bye!....Oh, and...have a good night" Kathryn smiled, Liz could be so immature. Kathryn could alomost hear the mischevious grin on her friend's face. Sometimes you wouldn't think she was 29 years old. 'BEEP' "Hi Kat. 'Bout tonight, I may be late pickin' ya up. Gotta work late," She slouched slightly and let out a whisper of a sigh, the familiar masculine voice continued. "Anyway, I'll be there, 'bout 30 minutes late. OK? Just callin' to let ya know I ain't standin' ya up. Bye" 'BEEP BEEP'. she thought letting out a sigh of disappointment. She sat at her elaborate dressing table in her underwear and took a sip of water from the glass. She spat it out again, back into the glass, as a foul taste invaded her mouth, and battled with all her taste-buds. She placed the glass down and started brushing her long, chocolate brown hair. The taste growing worse, as if it was making its evil way down her throat. Suddenly, her hands and feet were overcome with a sensation of pins and needles. She dropped the brush and rubbed her hands together roughly to make the prickling sensation disappear. It was no good. The prickling feeling increased, making her skin irritated. Her hands and feet became reddened, the heated feeling quickly spreading up her slim arms and legs. "What the..." she gasped. The reddening skin started to develop into blisteres and then first degree burns. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the previously floral scented room. The smell caressed her nostrils roughly, forceing her to take deep, suffocating breaths of the stuffly, dark air. "Oh my God" she screamed out, panic in her voice as tearing pain began to register in her confused and fear-filled head. She ran to the bathroom, hurriedly trying to turn on the cold water of the shower. She was shaking so violently from the pain, shock and panic that she clumsily fumbled for the cold water knob. She unsuccessfully tried in vain to turn the shower on, but there was no point. She ran back to her bedroom, the smell of her burning flesh becoming overwhelming. She fell onto the bed, screaming and crying. Her hair began to melt onto her scalp, her eyes becoming cloudy due to the heat and burning spreading around her body. Inside her stomach, a hollow aching was growing, making her curl up into a ball. Tears streamed down her badly disfigured face. Her skin cooled by the tears for a few brief seconds. She closed her eyes. She continued to violently shake. The yellow bedspread was now a disgusting black charred sheet. She lay there, too exhausted to cry or fight the fate that she was now doomed to meet. The heat of the hot burns continued to wrap around her body, licking her limbs to the bare white bones. Large, gaping wounds showed off the pearly white bone, being quickly blackened by the smouldering burning. The pain too hot to bear. Suddenly, the pain and burning subsided, her head became light. She felt nothing. She opened her eyes to see nothing but a white brilliance, to feel a blinding tranquility. That was the last thought that registered in her memory. All there was on the blackened bed was the charred remains of her helpless body. Smouldering skin flaking off the limbs, a slight mist of acrid smoke lingered in the air. ---------------X J. Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC, Virginia August 7 4:31pm Special Agent Dana Scully typed furiously at the government standard-issue computer keyboard, the screen suddenly flashed ERROR across the green glowing screen. Scully was about to rip her red hair out. "Bloody standard issue pice of shit!" she cursed to herself, hitting the screen in defeat and leaning back. She rubbed the bridge of her slim nose and saw Mulder grinning. "What?" she snapped, closing her tired eyes. "Just hoping that you understand that computers can't feel pain" he said, lowering his gaze back to his own work. She threw a pencil at him, and considered whether she should also throw the sharpener at him as well. She decided against it and stared about the room. She sighed at the sight of everything. She was surrounded by stacks upon stacks of papers and books to do with ancient myths, conspiracies, abductions, and every other unexplained phenomena she could think of, and list was very long. Her conspiracy-paranoid partner rifled through the pages of a large textbook, his eyes darting from one page to the next. His pale blue shirtsleeves were rolled part way up his arms, his mis-matched tie slightly slackened around his neck. Cases lately had been a bit lame. Not X files. Fox Mulder was sick of the false trails, dead ends, pathetic cases, jerk-off assignments, cover-ups. He had had it up to his ears. He had badly wanted to hit the AD again because of weeks of built up stress due to lack of challenges in the cases that he and Scully had been investigating. Thankfully for him, Scully had restrained him from doing so. She had been worried that his water system had been tainted for the umpteenth time, which it hadn't. Suddenly there was a light knock at the office door. Both the agents looked up at the door, slightly startled. No one ever came to their office, unless it was a mistake, or a joke, or they were in trouble. Another knock. The agents looked at each other. Another knock, slightly louder. "Whoever's there...bet they ain't Krycek, Cancerman or Skinner" Mulder whispered to Scully. Scully looked at him, rolled her eyes and gave him an oh-you're-sooo-funny look. "Why are you whispering Mulder?" Scully stated aloud, loud enough for whom ever it was outside could hear. Another knock. She got up from the uncomfortable plastic chair and walked over to the door, minding the stacks of files as she went. When she reached the door she straightened her dark blue jacket which had become slightly creased. She also smoothed the matching blue trousers over her slender hips. A smart appearance was a must for Scully at work. Her red was always in an immaculate style, her clothes always smart and well fitting. Mulder smiled as she smartened herself up. "No, Scully, it could be dangerous. Be careful. You have your gun don't you?" Mulder mocked. Scully gave him a fed up, icy look as she turned the door handle. Mulder threw his hands up in mock surrender as Scully opened the door, still staring at him. Mulder sat back to watch the scene which was about to be played out. Scully turned to the doorway to see a young, smartly dressed woman standing there. She seemed slightly intimidated. "Yes? Can we help you?" Scully said in her well-known professional tone. "Are you sure you have the right office?" Mulder muttered, audible for both Scully and the young woman to hear. "Umm...Agent Scully? Agent Dana Scully?" the woman quietly said. She seemed to have been wondering if she *did* have the right office. "Yes" Scully replied. A wave of relief seemed to wash over the young woman. "Good. I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but...umm...I was hoping you could help shed some light on an autopsy I performed yesterday. To tell you the truth...I'm baffled. I've never seen anything like it" she hurriedly spoke. "Do you have the forensic results back? Do you have the report with you?" Scully was suddenly very interested, bombarding the already intimidated woman with questions. "Yes I do" She produced a pale brown folder and handed it to her. "The prelim results are in there and some of the extensive results, not all of them. I didn't have time to type them all up. I had to see you as soon as possible. With your medical background and area of work..." she tailed off, giving Mulder a wary look. "Well what would you like me to do?" Scully offered, making the woman's attention return to her. "Well, I was hoping you would be able to come down to the morgue tomorrow afternoon. I asked for the body to be brought here so I could do more extensive tests. From the results I already have.." She gestured to the slim folder in Scully's hand. "I was hoping you could give some further insight to the cause of death" she finished looking at her watch. "What time?" Scully stated. It was more of an order than a question. "8:30 tomorrow morning. I will be there at 7 to prep the body and equipment" "Who should I ask for?" asked Scully in a less harsh tone. "Oh, I'm sorry.." she held out her hand to Scully. "Taylor, Agent Charlotte Taylor" She introduced herself in a confident manner. Scully shook her hand and nodded. "If you'll excuse me I have a date with a dead guy" she deadpanned. Scully gave a knowing smile. "Enjoy" Scully returned as Agent Taylor began to walk off down the desolate corridor. "Thank you, I will I'm sure" she called back, the heels of her shoes tapping on the floor and becoming more faint with each step she took. Scully closed the door and turned to Mulder, who had listened to the whole thing with his hands supporting the back of his head. She headed back to her seat, saved the file she was working on and closed down the computer. She lead back in the chair and rested her feet on Mulder's desk, oblivious to Mulder staring at her. He was slightly annoyed by the invasion of space due to her feet. Not that there was much space. The desk was covered in papers and books. "Not often we get visitors to the office" Mulder stated as Scully opened the file. "Not *we*, Mulder, *I*. Not often *I* get visitors to the office" Scully rectified, flicking through the photos. "Sorry, Scully" Mulder droned, returning to his textbook. "It's alright *Fox*" she retorted back. He winced at the sound of his name, she didn't have to look at him to know that. "Thanks for the reminder *Dr Dana*" he shot back. They looked at each other and gave one another a quick, polite smile. Even though they had been working together for over five years, they didn't socialise with each other out of work. But they spent all their time together, but not to socialise, to work. It was a professional bond, but a trusting bond too. -----X Twenty minutes had gone by in an occupied, comfortable silence. Both agents concentrating intently on their work. Scully's murmuring though, frequently broke the comfortable silence. "What?" Scully muttered to herself, a little too loud. "What?" she repeated again. "Huh!" The little comments ensued, distracting Mulder from his research. "That can't be right!" she muttered to herself, totally engrossed by the facts of the autopsy results. "Jesus, Scully. Can't you read *quietly*!!!" Mulder burst out, his arms elaborating the statement. It was his turn to be pissed off. "Don't use the Lord's name in vain Mulder, especially when Catholics are present" Scully simply stated. She hadn't even looked up at his frustration-caused gesture. Mulder sighed. "What ya reading? Interesting?" he asked. "Uh huh" was the only reply he got. "Bet it beats a Jose Chung novel anytime" Mulder continued, determined to annoy her. "Hmmm" was the reply he was given. Mulder frowned. He hated being ignored, left out. "Scully..." no answer. "Scully?" he said louder. Still no reply. She was totally engrossed in the file results. "DANA SCULLY!!" he screamed. "What, Mulder? Can't you see I'm busy!" Scully was a little aggitated. "So what's the diagnosis Doc?" he said, pointing to the folder in her lap, letting the frustration subside as she gave him her attention. "What...from this file?...Death" Scully smugly said. "Oh my, Scully, you don't say!" Mulder mockingly said back to her. He rose out of his chair, walked round the desk to peer over her shoulder. She became more aggitated as his badly designed tie flapped in front of her, hitting her shoulder and jacket. She just wanted to rip the thing off and throw it far, far away, and at the moment, she didn't seem to care if Mulder was still wearing it. Mulder read for a couple of minutes then returned to his seat. "Well, Scully can you translate that into English" He opened up his top desk draw and withdrew a bag of sunflower seeds. "Well, according to this she burned to death. But the cause is unknown. There was no fire. No flammable substances on her skin or in the room she was found in, except for a few aerosols, but they were on the other side of the room. It looks like she just burst into flames" she stated in a rather highly pitched voice, which was a little uncharacteristic for her. Mulder sat up, considering the evidence so far. Scully continued. "Also, there seemed to be high levels of potassium in the victims blood stream and..." she paused, re-reading the piece of info again. Double-checking. "...there didn't appear to be any haemoglobin in the blood either. She couldn't have survived without that! It must have been a screw up at the labs, but the labs didn't...notify that anything had gone wrong" she said, flicking through the tox reports and various other test results. Her face showed that she was slightly (well, totally) suprised. She looked up, contemplating the fact. "Haemo-what-in?" Mulder asked. "Haemoglobin, it's the pigment in red blood cells which help oxygen get to the cells in the body. But, I think the test was just screwed up. I mean, that agent was young. She may have not done the test properly, or the labs messed up again" she stated. The sceptic had come alive. "If she wasn't capable of doing those type of test she wouldn't be here working for the FBI" Mulder pointed out, knowing full well he was right. "Why can't you just accept that this is an unexplained occurrence" Mulder could see a path to relieve his frustration of boredom, an argument: Sceptic versus Believer he thought. "So what do you think? Person-*without*-a-medical-degree" she said. The argument had begun. "Well, this might be a case of spontaneous human combustion" he explained. Scully rolled her eyes. He was always doing this, coming up with theories that were way out there. "There have been documented cases with have had B.S. conclusions attached to them because the real cause couldn't be found. That case you have has really similar characteristics of this phenomenon" He stood up and walked to the grey filing cabinet marked X. He pulled open a draw and produced a thick folder and handed it to Scully. He closed the draw, reseated himself and popped a few seeds in his mouth. "Just read 'em. Okay?" Scully, looking at her watch, which read 5:13pm, then looked at the bulging folder, rolled her eyes in a reluctant agreement. She practically battered the folder to fit in her brief case, grabbed her coat off the back of the chair and walked out the office. "Scully?" Mulder called after her, sorting out his own things. Her head appeared in the doorway. "What now, Mulder" she was impatiently wanting to get home. He could tell. "Enjoy the autopsy tomorrow and don't forget...read the case files" he said, gathering his own coat and car keys. "G'night Mulder" Scully called back walking down the still empty corridor. The staccato sound of her heels clicking on the cold corridor floor faded quickly. Mulder gathered together some textbooks and locked the door to the basement office of the X files department. ---------------X Scully's Apartment Georgetown Washington DC, Virginia August 7 9:24pm Scully took off her glasses and gently rubbed the bridge of her nose. She sighed, looked back down at the files Mulder have given to her to read up on. She closed the folder, placing it on the small table next to the sofa. She got up and walked into the kitchen. she smiled to herself at the thought. She loved the arguments she had with Mulder, she liked a challenge. And it was certainly a challenge to change Mulder's mind once he had set it on something. She made herself a salad sandwich and poured herself a glass of chilled orange juice from the fridge. She had changed out of her trouser suit long ago and was now contemplating the idea of a soak in the bath. It had been ages since she had had an evening to herself, to relax. She had been stuck with the expense reports since she lost out on a stupid bet with Mulder, but that was another story. Scully finished her sandwich and went to the bath to run the warm water and add some peach scented bubble bath. She got changed out of her clothes and put on her bathrobe. The bath was almost full when... 'RING RING' 'RING RING' she thought. knowing full well that the 'they' would be Mulder. Scully also knew that if she didn't answer it she would be wondering what the call was about. she thought, giving in to the sound of the phone. 'RING RING' Scully picked up the portable phone "Hello, Dana Scully speaking" she said, exhaustion hinted in her voice. There was no sound at the other end of the phone. 'RING RING' She looked at the phone. then she realised it was her cell phone. she thought wearily. Scully realised her cell phone was in her jacket pocket, after hunting round the apartment for a couple of seconds. "Scully" She was definitely not in the mood for a 'suprise'. "Agent Scully? This is Agent Andrew Webster. I work with Agent Taylor" the deep male voice said in a very professional tone. "Oh, is anything wrong?" The thought of the bath made her want to get off the phone. she told herself. "Um...well, Agent Taylor has just told me that the body has arrived and the condition of it has drastically altered since she last looked at it. She said that if this continues there might not be a body to examine tomorrow. She asked me to notify you. I hope I haven't disturbed you" "No, Agent Webster, you haven't. Does Agent Taylor want me to come down to the morgue?" she said, sighing inwardly. "Well it isn't nessicary, she offered to give you the rest of the lab results. But if you feel you have to..." he tailed off. Scully thought referring to the other results she was given earlier. "Tell her I'll be there as soon as I can" "Yes Agent Scully" With that he hung up. Scully looked back at the bathroom, she thought with a regretful sigh. Tonight was gonna be long, she just knew it. ---------------X Washington DC General Hospital Morgue Washington DC, Virginia August 7 10:07pm Agent Scully, ready to perform the autopsy with Agent Taylor, walked into the gleaming white room of the morgue. The heavy green doors swung shut behind her. Her hair slightly ruffled having had to rush there. She was confronted with the sight of a horrifically charred corpse and a professional Agent Taylor. "Evening" Taylor said, measuring the corpse. "I'm doing some prelim tests again. I want to check the first results" Taylor spoke, not looking at Scully. Scully walked around to the other side of the table. She couldn't make out the face, or gender for that matter, of the corpse. "Victim is a..." Taylor checked the file which was behind her. "...Kathryn Amanda Willis. Age 26. No particularly fascinating medical background. Died at home" "Who found her?" It was a normal question for Scully. She usually got the facts out in the field. Taylor looked up, slightly suprised at the question. She wasn't used to being questioned in a morgue. "I don't know. You'll have to check with my partner. He has the details. I get the body" "I know the feeling" Scully said, smiling. Taylor smiled too. Taylor handed Scully a shining silver scalpel. "You wanna do the honours? You being more experienced and all" "Sure. Just watch out for live frogs" Scully said, remembering her case in Chinatown. That had been disturbing. Burned, dead body complete with live-in live frog. "I'm sorry?" Taylor asked confused. "Never mind" Scully said back. She took the scalpel and carefully cut into the torso of the black body, reopening the Y insision that Taylor had made before. The sewen-up skin cracked and flaked off. Scully grimaced at the thought of what the victim went through to become this crisp shell. As the scalpel cut further down the body, a thick yellow-greenish liquid appeared out of the fresh gap in the body. "Ugh" Taylor whispered, reading Scully's mind. She had never seen anything like this. Scully grimaced again, raising her eyebrows in confused suprise and shock, not that much could shock her these days. After all she had seen and investigated, it took a hell of a lot to even make her flinch. The goo slowly flowed out of the body and onto the table. It had a stench as bad as the unearthed corpse Scully encountered on her first case with Mulder. Now that had shocked her too. Especially the mosquito bites, God did she feel stupid after she found out what they were. Mulder seemed suprised too at the sight of his partner clad only in a robe and underwear. The two agents stood at the table, watching the fluid drip out of the body. Taylor grabbed a vial and scooped some of the liquid into it. "Needs to be analysed" she said putting a label on it. She set it down in a plastic container. "Well, lets get on with it" she continued, enthusiasm showing in her tone of voice. Scully looked at her and handed her the scalpel. "It's your body" she said to Taylor. "Don't you want to do the autopsy?" Taylor asked confused. "No, I'm too tired to do it, besides it is your case. I am only here 'cos you needed my opinion. I'll watch" Scully stated. Taylor took the scalpel and cut into the body. "It may become a case for you and your partner" Taylor smiled. Scully gave in to a slight grin. It was a polite gesture only because it wasn't funny. She hated it when an ordinary case turned into a strange case. When she was wrong. When she had to put up with the inflamed ego of her partner when he had proved he was right, after she had tried to convince him that nothing strange was happening until she was blue in the face. Scully thought. ---------------X J. Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC, Virginia August 8 11:32am Mulder was sat at his desk deeply engrossed by the myths of the Mayan people. He couldn't be bothered to read the textbook last night. He had favoured his *interesting* tapes, as his partner referred to them, as his evening entertainment. He was also wondering where is partner was. She was usually the first in on a morning. As if on cue, Scully barged into the office. She was fairly flustered. But she was a bit too energetic for the time of day. "A bit late aren't you?" "Yeah...autopsy went on...a while last night. I slept in. Alright?" "You been at the caffeine again Scully?" Mulder mocked, looking up to see a death stare from his petite partner. he told himself. "Oh, Mulder, just shut up will you. And no I haven't had any coffee this morning, I haven't had anything. But I had enough caffine last night to power a small, rural town" Scully slowly said in an exhausted attempt to tell him she couldn't be bothered with any of his stupid antics. "Well, want me to treat you to a breakfast a la Mulder" he said, producing a bag of seeds and a flask of iced tea. "Pass on the seeds, but I'll take the iced tea" She took the flask from him, opening the lid to the lovely aroma. "Err...Mulder, why do you have a flask of iced tea with you? There is the cafeteria you know" She poured herself a cup of the liquid out of the blue flask into plastic mug. "Cafeteria iced tea sucks Scully. It is school dinner quality: Crap" Mulder stated, removing some folders off a seat so she could sit down. Scully sat as Mulder sat in his seat, looking back down to textbook, but not before noticing that Scully's skirt had ridden up her leg and showing off rather a lot of flesh. But, he didn't mind. he reminded himself. He grinned, looking down at his book. "What?" Scully asked. "Nothing" Mulder replied monotone and trying to get his composure back. But the tone gave him away. She knew him like a well read book. Scully looked down to see her skirt had ridden up a few too many inches, sighed, and manoeuvred so she could pull it down while remaining seated. Mulder laughed under his breath. Looking up at her with a grin. She liked that grin. she reminded herself. 'RING RING' Mulder picked up the phone. "Mulder...Yeah...She's here" He handed the phone to Scully. "Scully" She looked at the 'I WANT TO BELIEVE', she hated it. Mulder got back to his book, still listening to the conversation. "Okay" "Yeah, I'll tell him" "Yes, I'll be here. Just fax them" With that she hung up. The fax machine whirred to life and produced some results papers. Scully picked them up to read them, Mulder watched her as her eyebrows went up in suprise. "What?" he asked. "The victim was pregnant. But Taylor found no foetus. She must have had a miscarriage, that or an emergency abortion" "That isn't really that uncommon is it?" "No, but, there is only an emergency abortion if the baby is seriously deformed or if it is dead and is a threat to the mother's health. The strange thing is that it would have been in her med record either way. If she was or had been pregnant" "Anything else?" "Umm..." she looked over the three sheets briefly "...this is odd..." she rechecked them "...her blood had a foreign structures in it and...the haemoglobin *wasn't* present" she explained, disbelief evident in her voice. "Foreign? You mean *alien*, Doctor Scully?" Mulder's eyes lit up. Scully gave him the sceptic look she had perfected so well over the four years they had worked with one another. "Mulder...there could be any number of reasons why her blood was contaminated" The argument had begun. "Name one" he challenged "Well, when we performed the autopsy, there was a liquid found in all the tissues and vital organs of the body. That may have been injected into her and killed her" "Injected into every part of the body?" "No, some enzymes are known to multiply. This maybe a form of an enzyme that can do this, with fatal results. Maybe she even ingested the substance without knowing" Mulder paused to consider this fact. "Was the substance recognised?" "I don't know. It's still at the lab. Agent Taylor's bringing them with her later on" "So the substance still has no known origin?" "Mulder, we can't assume anything until the results come back" "Fine. Since we can't argue any more, wanna go for lunch a la Mulder?" he said, grinning. "What? Seeds and iced tea?" she asked a little worried that the answer would be yes. "Nah! Pizza and coke!" She smiled as he handed her coat to her and led her out the door. "Extra cheese?" she asked, as Mulder locked the door. "Always" she grinned at him as they made their way down the ever deserted corridor. ----------------X J. Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC, Virginia August 8 4:46pm Scully wanted to go home. She was exhausted, even though she hadn't done any physically strenuous activity. Unless forcing down your lunch was a strenuous activity. She hated Mulder's taste in restaurants sometimes, especially when he wolfed down his dinner in the name of hunger and she had to eat cardboard pizza. He had convinced her that they should try a new cafeteria. She wanted to kick herself, she should have known by now that when Mulder decides to eat or sleep somewhere new where you have to pay, there will always be drawbacks. And they even more annoying thing was that Mulder never, EVER seems to notice! Anyway, she sat at her computer, typing up notes Agent Taylor had sent to her on the autopsy. She had to admit, it certainly was a strange case. After the test results of the yellow fluid had come back, murder was now a possibility. And now she, Mulder, Taylor, Webster and an Agent Matthew Roberts were now flying to a small town in Arizona tomorrow. she thought glumly She was practically hitting the keys now with a very strong force, she was so tired and stressed out. "Hey, calm down Scully, you can get outta here soon. 15 minutes to go" His extremely frustrated partner had distracted Mulder out of his own little world of conspiracies and aliens. "Shut it Mulder. I don't wanna start debating with you about the case 'til we get up there. Okay? I'm not in the mood" "Oh, shame Scully. 'Cos I'm really in 'the mood'" he teased her. He had to do something to loosen her up, she was so tense. "Oh, Mulder. Stop being an idiot" "Jesus Scully, since when don't you want to argue with me?" "Since now. I am far too tired. I just wanna get home, have a bath, and go to bed. I need to be totally focused for the case" "Hmm...sounds like a nice evening you've got planned. Want me to join ya?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her. She gave him a don't- mess-with-me-now-Mulder-I'm-not-in-the-mood look, but smiled eventually. "Mulder...shut up" she said turning back to the computer, but she like the thought of that though. she told herself. Suddenly there was a light knock at the door. Followed by the slender face of Agent Taylor. She had circles under her eyes, and strands of hair had fallen out of her tied back brown hair. Scully knew she had just done an autopsy, because Taylor, like herself, wore her hair down when she wasn't in the morgue. Plus she looked totally drained. "Hi, Agent Scully, Mulder. I just came over to give you your tickets" She came in and placed the tickets on the table along with a folder for Scully which she gave to her by hand. Scully put the folder in her briefcase "Agent Webster and Roberts will pick you guys up tomorrow. Bright and early" She sounded awfully cheerful for how tired she looked. "Got it" Mulder said, gathering the tickets. "What time will they pick us up?" "About 7:15. Flight is at 8:00" Scully groaned. Mulder nodded in acknowledgement. "Hey, pick us both up from Scully's. OK? That way Roberts and Webster won't have to drive around as much" Taylor's eyebrows went up in slight suprise. Scully glared at Mulder. She knew that was just going to add fuel to the already burning rumours about them sleeping together. She was gonna strangle him. She knew everyone called her Mrs. Spooky behind her back. Mulder grinned back at her and shrugged. "That means we won't have to get up so early, Scully" Scully smiled through gritted teeth as she noticed the 'we' in the last statement. Taylor had obviosly heard it too. "Okay, then. See ya in the morning" Taylor spoke lightly as she walked off. "Well, then Scully. See ya in the morning. Bright and early" "Why did you do that?" "Do what?" "'*We* won't have to get up so early Scully'" she repeated his words. "What?" he asked innocently. "Since when have you been into making other agents' work easier?" "Since...carbon dioxide emmissions have risen dramatically in the past months? I'm just doing my part for the environment" Mulder gave her his innocent puppy-dog eyes. "Cut out the crap Mulder!" she said, shutting down the computer and gathered her stuff together that she would need for the case. Mulder did the same. "Oh, and Scully, I like my toast well done" She looked back at and rolled her eyes as he grinned at her again. Scully thought, refering to Mulder smiling. "Okay, Mulder. Whatever" She knew he would be at her place early. They both locked up the office and went home. ---------------X Scully's apartment Washington DC, Virginia August 9 5:46am 'Knock, knock' Scully came to the door, knowing full well who it was. She was still in a sleepy frame of mind. She had packed the night before. But Mulder couldn't be prepared for the sight he was going to see as his partner opened the door. Mulder was greeted with the sight of a whole new look of his partner. Not that he minded. . Scully's hair was slightly messy, and her shirt, well, he assumed they were her bedclothes she was wearing, was slightly hanging off her shoulder. "Morning Scully! Must say though, you have had better morning appearances than this" He pointed her attire. "Mulder, firstly, this is my home so I can do what I please. Secondly, we don't leave for another hour and a half. And, thirdly, I didn't think you would be here *this* early" Mulder shrugged slightly, dropping his travel bag by the door "Help yourself to the kitchen, make yourself at home.." she said sarcastically even though he had already made himself comfy on the sofa and was switching on the TV. "...so you've been here for five seconds and already you're Couch Comando!" he smiled at her briefly and went back to watching the cartoons. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I am going for a shower" "Want any help?" "Pardon? With what?" "*In* the shower, Scully, *the shower*" he grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows at her. She gave him a look of death as she disappeared into the bedroom. Although they both, secretly, liked the idea. they both thought. -----X Fifty minutes had passed by. Scully had had a long, hot shower to wake herself up and was now dressed in jeans and a sweater, like Mulder. The case didn't start 'til tomorrow but they were going a day early because the other agents wanted to get their bearings of the place. It was only a lame excuse Mulder had made up. He wanted to get straight out there onto the case. Skinner had agreed it was a good idea because, Mulder and Scully learned from a meeting with him, that the others had only been on ONE case out in the field. Most of their work was done in the D.C. area. Unlike Mulder and Scully, who could adjust to a place in ten minutes because of all the field work they had done over the years, the younger agents were new to this. They were learning a whole new type of investigation system. Mulder had popped out to a shop nearby to get some bagels while Scully had been in the shower. He said he didn't know his way around her kitchen, which was true. But, then again, he didn't know the way around his *own* kitchen. His diet consisted of sunflower seeds and iced tea or cola, unless he was working with Scully, then he would eat proper food. And he had starting eating real food since the first case they had been on. In some ways, they were always with one another, whether it be at the office, in the field or a day off (which was rare). "Want some tea?" Scully called from the kitchen. She was making herself a toasted sandwich for breakfast. Mulder had eaten all four of the bagels before she had gotten out of the shower. "Thanks" Scully emerged a couple of minutes later with two steaming mugs of tea. She sat down on the sofa, opposite to Mulder and handed him the mug. "So, Scully...what exactly did the results turn up?" she could tell he was trying to make light conversation. "Well, basically what I told you yesterday, but...the folder which Taylor dropped by with the tickets?...the substance found in the body was basically blood plasma. It was made up of all the dissolved minerals in plasma: potassium chloride, sodium, calcium, and phosphates but contained fatally high levels of those minerals. Somehow it was corrosive enough to burn the skin. Potassium and sodium are the most dangerous" "Really?" Mulder's eyebrows went up in fasinated suprise. "Yeah, I know. It's...it's as if this woman had an abnormal blood plasma structure. One which is unheared of in the history of forensic medicine and, well, biological science. This woman could not of lived with this abnormality" "Are you sure? I mean she could be an extremely evolved being!" "Mulder! Stop it! This is not Leonard Betts. Okay! Look we don't even know all the facts about the evening she died. Agents Webster and Roberts do" Scully was getting angry. Mulder decided to leave any theories for the case tomorrow. "And Mulder, Agents Taylor, Webster, and Roberts are not, and I repeat *not* people sent to spy on us by the conspiratoral forces against us. Okay? This was *their* case first. We were only roped in because, A), they have little experience in the field, B), we have no pressing investigations in our department and, C), because I was asked for my medical opinion on the body" She had a harsh tone in her voice. She knew it was hard for to her get things into Mulder's head. He was so paranoid of conspiracies and spies. He had once thought she was a spy, but gradualy his mind changed after the first few cases. He trusted her with his life and she had the same trust in him. But, the Krycek incident had made his guard go up again, even though he found it hard trust people in the first place. Scully knew she was definately lucky to be blessed with his friendship, let alone his trust. "I hate babysitting!" he said in a sulking tone, sinking back into the cream sofa. Scully gave him a sarcastically sympathetic look. "Thanks, Scully" They finished their tea and Scully went into the kitchen with the empty mugs as agent Webster knocked on the door. "Agent Scully...Mulder?" the gruff voice called. "Yeah, we'll be down in a second" Mulder called. He heard the heavy footsteps of the probably heavy built man fade away. Scully came back in in a hurry "What's the time?" she was slightly suprised. "Time to go" Mulder said, picking up his bag and opening the door for Scully. Scully grabbed her travel bag and coat and walked out the door. Mulder followed her down to the parking lot of her building where the three babies, as Mulder called them, were waiting. he thought grimly. "Well, this is going to be fun" Scully said over enthusiastically, to annoy Mulder. he thought. --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 1/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities II: Raring to Go By Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X An unknown gas station Somewhere near Prescott, Arizona August 9 4:27pm The lanky, uncomfortable form of Agent Fox Mulder rolled his shoulders back, trying to relieve the tension in them. It had been a long flight from DC to Arizona, which hadn't been helped by the fact it was delayed by an hour and a half. He sat in the rental car, which was parked outside a gas station in the middle of nowhere. His partner in paranormal crime, Agent Dana Scully, was inside paying for gas, the car company being cheeky enough to not put enough gas in the tank. The other agents were in another car, also needing gas for their car. He popped a seed into his mouth and looked out of the window to the sight of an empty road in the middle of a large grassy area, apart from the motel across the road. Only a bare field lay next to the road. That was about as interesting as this place could get, Mulder realised. he mused spitting out the seed shell and putting it in the car ashtray. He turned to the sight of his beautiful partner climbing into the passenger side of the car with a brimming paper bag. "God, this place is a rip off. Next time you call ahead for a car, ask for ones with gas included" she said snappily, handing him a bottle of cola. The long journey had gotten to her too and she wasn't in the mood for Mulder's banter. "Thanks, what else ya buy?" he said, taking a long refreshing gulp of the chilled liquid. "Road map. Your male navigation skills are notorious for getting us lost" she chided him playfully. "Ouch, Scully, that almost bruised my ego" He gave her the famous puppy-dog eyes. "Besides, we don't get *lost*, just misplaced" he explained in his sarcastic matter-of-factly manner, trying to lighten the increasingly tired mood. "Whatever, but remember...it's always *you* who gets us 'misplaced'" she said, throwing him the map. He gave her another puppy-eyed look and turned on the ignition. "So, what d'ya make of the Animaniacs?" he said, gesturing to the car behind them with the other agents. Scully gave him a confused look. He always gave wierd 'characteristics' or names to agents who were temporarily working with them. This case wasn't even an X File Mulder thought. Agent Charlotte Taylor and Andrew Webster were alright so far, but Agent Matthew Roberts wasn't all there. It seemed to Mulder that it must have been some paranormal phenomenon that Roberts passed any kind of mental examination to get into the FBI at all. "Why did you call them that?" Scully asked. "They are too motivated. Too excited. You can tell they haven't been working in the field for long" he explained, driving the car out of the parking lot. The other agents followed them. "That's your pyscological profile of them? Well, I suppose they are a little...'enthusiastic', but what's wrong with that? Surely you want them to be dedicated to this case...like you are to an X file" He knew she had a point. "Well dedicated is one thing. Paranoid and excited about work is another" he said flatly, watching the road. Half realising he had just described himself to a 'T', they both realised with a slight smile. Mulder turned and grinned at Scully. "Mulder" She gave him a you-really-aren't-that-funny-you-know look. He turned to her again and shrugged. "Well, seeing as though you don't think my intuition is up to scratch, you can choose the accomodation" Mulder said. "Whatever" she stated. But, she knew she would never be able to stay anywhere that she wanted to. He *always* got his way. she thought. And, she was dreading the motel that they were gonna live in for the next few days. she silently begged God, but, he never listened. But Scully wasn't suprised that God closed his ears to her plea. The list was *way* too long. ---------------X Viva-Viva Motel Prescott, Arizona August 9 9:32pm Scully and Mulder sat around the small table in Mulder's motel room, waiting for the others to arrive. Agents Webster and Taylor had gone to let the local authorites know that the FBI was on their turf. And Roberts had gone to the crime scene, just to know where they all had to get to tomorrow. Mulder, actually didn't mind the others being here now. It sure saved him having to put up with any crap from the local police chief. He and Scully ha actually gone into the town for a meal. If you could call burger and fries at McDonalds a proper meal. "Well, at least we didn't have to get inspected by the sheriff" Mulder said, braking the comfortable silence between them. Scully was going over some case notes Webster had given them in the car to the airport in D.C. "Huh? Oh, Mulder. Will you stop going on about babysitting. You know you are just being difficult. And I can't believe you even stooped so low as to get a single room!" Actually, she was a bit pissed off because she was having to share with Agent Taylor. Roberts and Webster were sharing a room too. And Mulder had a room to himself, but it had an ajoining door to Scully's room. He had made a joke of maybe having to 'protect' the ladies. She knew he was just winding them up by adding more suspicion to the already rife rumours that they were sleeping together. She had hit him when he'd said that, but it ended up looking like she was wanting to hide 'something' as if to say 'don't let them know what we are doing'. But she didn't really mind. She liked the fact that Mulder wasn't ashamed that their names were 'linked' together in the FBI rumours. She actaully thought about playing along with him. But she realised she would be stooping to the level Mulder was at and making it worse herself by making the rumours seem more truthful. Plus she sort of wished that they were, and playing along would just depress her. So she ended up forgetting the idea of playing along with Mulder. But not fantasising about... "Hey, Scully. We are there 'superiors' at this time and place, so we, like Skinner does with us, we are gonna screw with them, and we are gonna enjoy it. We aren't doing anything wrong Dana, so don't start to feel guilty because of your Catholic beliefs about honesty and crap" "You think my religious beliefs are *crap*?" "No, I didn't mean that or anythi-" he was cut off by a polite cough. What Mulder hadn't realised straight away, was the all three agents had heard the conversation between them from the 'we are gonna screw' part, but he realised this when Agent Taylor opened the door, popped her head around it and said "We aren't...err...interupting anything...are we?" She had a bit of a guilty look on her face which amused both him and Scully. "No, Agent Taylor, you aren't at all. Mulder and I were just..." "Talking" Mulder finished for her. Scully glared at him, knowing full well what he was doing. "You can come in" Scully spoke, gesturing to the chairs. The agents piled in. The men looked slightly intimidated by Mulder, but, that may just have been because of the other rumours that he was a loon. That, and the fact he was practically staring at them with an insane look etched on his face didn't help. "So, what's this all about?" Agent Webster spoke with his extremely deep voice. Just as Mulder had pictured him, he was heavily built and very intimidating. He would look right at home on a football pitch. "Scully and I just want to go over the schedule for tomorrow" "So...what is the 'schedule'?" Roberts asked in an equally gruff voice to his partner. Except his build was similar to that of Mulder than the quarter-back player he had for a partner. Mulder went to speak but was cut off by his petite partner in unexplained crime. "Well, seeing as though we have cleared up with local authorites, we will go to the crime scene after breakfast. And then we'll go question anyone who last saw the victim or who we think may be helpful to the investigation" she said formally. She was in working mode already. Mulder rolled his eyes at the 'professionalism' she showed with a click of her fingers. If someone said anything assisciated with work, she would imediatly switch form Dana Scully to Agent Scully. "That's it?" Roberts asked, suprised. You could even tell he was new to this. Mulder thought. "Well, for now. If another death occurs then we will have more to do" Scully said lightly. "Well then. See ya in the mornin'. Bright and early. Breakfast's at 7:30. Okay?" Mulder ushered them out of his room. He could be a little too obvious at times, Scully thought. "G'night Mulder" Scully called back as he shut his door and she went into hers, followed by Taylor. "G'night Scully!" Scully shut the ajoining door and got changed for bed. Taylor did the same. -----X About twenty minutes had gone slowly by. Both femlaes were sat in their beds. Scully was going over the case notes for the umpteenth time, trying to get the facts straight while Taylor was ready to go to sleep and forget about wotk for a few hours. "Agent Scully? Is your partner always like that?" Taylor broke the boring silence. "Like what?" she looked up from the folder. "You know...hyper. Really energetic about the case" she tried to expain. "No not always...but, yes, if the words *alien* come up" "Oh...the liquid?" "Yeah...Taylor, I suggest we both get some sleep. You will need it. Believe me" Scully took off her glasses, put them with the case folder on the bedside table and switched off the lamp. "Goodnight Taylor" "Goodnight Agent Scully" There was silence for a while apart from the sounds of a television coming through the wall. Scully guessed it was Mulder's room. It usually was. In fact, it *always* was. "Agent Scully?" "Hmm" "Does...does your partner...umm...ever...sleep?" "Huh? Oh, no. Sleep is not something you associate with Mulder. He's too paranoid" Suddenly she realised what that may sound have sounded like, a personal, first hand piece of knowledge. she thought, knowing what Taylor may be thinking, ---------------X Willis residence Prescott, Arizona August 10 10:30am Scully walked into the spacious bedroom of the victim's house. She was greeted by the site of Agent Webster and Roberts closely examining the area which had been badly charred and burned by the fire. If you could call it a fire. The burned area was concentrated in the area where the victim was found, a fire would have engulfed the entire house. She had to agree with Mulder that it did fit the description of spontanious human combustion. But, she didn't think that was the cause. The body did have burns on it, but not from contact with a naked flame. The burns where consistant with the burns found with that of contact of skin with a corrosive substance. "Agent Scully" Taylor followed into the room. "So what do you think happened here? I mean, why would the burnt area be concentrated to that area?" She indicated to the double bed. "I don't know at the moment. It could be because the victim ingested the substance which caused the burning, afterall, the extensive burning was found in the torso, the vital organs all charred and flaking" She grimaced mentally. "But she could have ingested it accidentally without knowing" Taylor stated. "True, but she could have..." "Topped herself" came Mulder's voice as he appeared through the door of the bedroom, finishing Scully's sentence for her. "Personally Mulder, I think you could have put that more tastefully" Scully had a look of distaste traced over her delicate facial features. "However you put it, it's always the same in the end. Anyway we could be looking at a murder" He produced a glass with a pale yellow fluid in it. "I found on the table earlier" he said walking over to the dressing table. Scully and Taylor followed. "The fluid in here has a similar colour to the 'plasma' you extracted for the victim. I sent some to Pendrell for testing. I know he would do it quickly as it is for a certain someone" he glanced a grinning at Scully as she tried to conceal her reddening cheeks. "So....what do you think it is? Altered plasma was somehow injested?" Taylor spoke up. "But how. It would have to be injested, so that means someone must have broken in to put the substance in the cup. But who and *why* would anyone want to kill Willis?" Sculy reasoned. "I don't know, but getting Pendrall to test that won't shed any more light on it. It's plasma, with stronger minerals, but how? Why?" Taylor questioned Mulder. "You should be able to tell *me* that. Afterall, it is your case, body and murder" He was teasing her. He knew it wasn't a simple murder. He wanted this case. Badly. Scully glared at him, reading his mind. Taylor walked over to the other agents just as Roberts called out to her. Mulder placed his hand on the small of Scully's back, gently leading her out of the room. Scully shrugged him off. Even though she enjoyed his little gestures at times, this was not one of them. He was up to something. "Okay Mulder, what is going on? You didn't have to be so rude! God, you can be so damn...." Mulder stopped her speech. "Scully, this is a murder, of sorts. It must be. Look at the facts. This fluid, this was what was found in that greasy residue on that french sub suit" His eyes were wide with excitement, like a boy about to open a big chritmas present, not knowing what could be underneath the paper and ribbon. "So what you're saying is that an alien possessed oil slick...sorry...alien possessed *blood plasma* found its way into the body of Kathryn Willis via the water supply" He could tell she was mocking him. Of course, she had to, she was the sceptic, what made them work so well together. "Scully, I bet that the 'plasma' that was in the body is the same as what is in this water glass. But, there will also be other elements with it" "Like what? An mineral cocktail. Of course there will be: stronger minerals, strong enough to kill! What's so strange about that! I think someone put the high concentration cocktail into her water system which she drank and it resulted in her death. We are looking at a murder, for a murderer with a high intelligence at that. And a *human* murderer at that. Her water must have been contaminated just like yours was. You of all people know that that is something plausible" she said with a strong air of finality. "I am not saying she wasn't murdered, I believe she was. I just think there is more behind this" "What? She was an abductee? A female Duane Barry? A MUFON member?" "Scully? Why do I get the feeling you are not totally agreeing with me on this?" he asked, already knowing the answer. She gave him a sceptic look. "Even if this true, *especially* if this is true. How, or where, are we going to start looking? We have no leads. No concrete, scientific evidence" "Well, lets talk to the person who found her, shall we? He may know something" With that he called the other agents to say he was going to question someone. Webster decided to go with him. The others told him that they would meet him later at the motel. "Wanna join us Scully?" he asked. "No thanks, I have a phone call to make, and I want to see what these find" she answered, pointing to Taylor and Roberts. Mulder nodded in agreement. "Catcha later Scully" "Yeah. Keep in touch" She indicated to her cell phone. He knew why she always said that. She was paranoid (not to the extent he was of course), but was paranoid that he was gonna run off and get himself killed while chasing after the 'Truth'. He nodded again. Then he and Webster left. --------------X Blyth residence Prescott, Arizona August 10 10:53am Mulder knocked on the pale wooden door and waited, taking in the stereotypical small american suburban town scenery. "Who's the guy?" Webster asked. He had no idea why they were here. "Fiance of the victim" it was all he could say as the sound of a lock turning broke their conversation and an exhausted man appeared in front of them. "Yes?" the man said wearily. "Daniel Blyth?" Mulder spoke, taking the lead. "Yes. What do you want?" the man asked, slightly confused. His eyes looked tired and his body seemed to slump with the stress and shock of his soon-to-be-wife's death. "Agents Mulder and Webster. We're here to talk to you about the night Kathryn Willis died" Mulder was in control. His voice and appearance professional. The man was slightly intimidated by the sight of him. "Come in" he said. Webster and Mulder walked briskily past the young man. He followed them into the spacious living room. The furniture was minimal and simple. It looked barely lived in but it seemed to have traces of life as a small satck of magazines were stacked in th corner. Apart from that, the furniture seemed untouched and there seemed to be a thin layer of dust over everything. This poor man wouldn't have felt like dong the weekly house chores after what had happened. Who could blame him? "What do you want to know?" The man indicated to the seats, inviting the agents to sit down. They obliged. The man had fairly light brown hair, cropped. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a black sweater. There were dark circles under his dark brown eyes. An indication of lack of sleep. Not that Mulder could blame him, under the circumstances. "Well, do you know if Kathryn had a grudge against anyone or if anyone had a grudge against her?" Mulder had a gentle tone in his voice. He knew this was a delicate situation. "What, you mean a grudge so bad it could drive the person to kill her? No...no. nobody I can think of, but, she did go away for a time. I don't know what happened when she was away, or why she went. She didn't talk about it much. Not even to me" There was a hint of hurt in his voice as the last words came out. "When did she go away?" Webster cut in. Mulder wasn't the only one who wanted answers or a piece of the action. "I don't know.......about one or two weeks ago. But it wasn't as long as the last time, I was worried sick" "She's done this before?" Mulder was suddenly very interested. "Yeah, about four months ago. It was just after we had got engaged. She didn't say why she went. But she had some really strange things to say when she got drunk. Stuff about she was taken to a white place, God speaking to her, voices. But she was usually pretty smashed" A smile crossed his face at the memory. "She was a believer in pastlifes and stuff like that. She had friends who believed in all that new-age crap. Loved things like the after life. She claimed she had died and came back to life because 'God wanted her to live a full life'. She said that's where she got her wierd ideas from when she was drunk. But, that was just one of the things people, even me, loved about her. I don't know why any one would want to hurt her. That is what this is about, isn't it?" a weak smile faded from his thin lips as he asked that last question. "We don't know at this time, but we are treating it as such at the moment as we collect evidence that will either support or deny this" Mulder explained monotonously. "Anything else important that we might need to know?" Webster cut in again. "No, that's it, I guess. If I haven't really answer your questions properly, I'm sorry. Things have been a shock lately" Mulder gave a symapthetic smile. "Thank you, Mr Blyth. You've been very helpful" With that, the agents left the house and the grieving Mr Blyth. As they were getting into the grey Taurus ford, Mulder's cell phone rang. "Mulder" "Mulder, it's me. You may be interested to know that we found something you might be interested in. It's an address book. There is a page full of people's numbers who are members of a so-called ST group" "What? What's that?" "A Stress Therapy group. Taylor looked it up, we are going to interview some of the members. See if they can shed any light on this, but I think it'll be a dead end. Oh...I also checked out her background at work and at the PD. She didn't seem too suspect to be involved with anything illegal. Pretty clean record actually, apart from a speeding ticket. She doesn't have anything like a summer house and all her relatives are deceased. Father died last summer. Oh...and she up and left for no reason what-so-ever. Her boss said it could have been to relieve stress from the pressure of work. She left for a while about four months ago and again a couple of weeks ago. She has also done this a couple times in the last two years" "Really?" "You don't sound too suprised Mulder. Is there something you're not telling me?" "You know me so well! But, we have just learned that Kathryn Willis went missing a couple of times with no reason, notice or anything. She didn't speak about it or anything" "Yeah!?! I just said that! So...what? She was abducted? Mulder, we've discussed this, there is no aliens! This isn't even an X file, just your normal run-of-the-mill VC case" "Well, look at the facts. The evidence is there Scully" He could practically hear her rolling her eyes at the other end of the phone connection. "Mulder, I think you mean look at the *lack* of facts and evidence. It is just coincidence. Convenient coincidence. You are looking too deeply" "Well, you better question them. They may have some answers we need. They may know why she disappeared. Even if it leads to a dead end. We have to look down every available lead. It is part of procedure of investigation Agent Scully" "Okay, since when have you gone by the book...and don't be clever with me, Agent Mulder" she snapped back, playfully. "Scully, just go and question some of those people in the book, I'll see you later" He heard a sigh from Scully's end as he hung up the phone. "What was that about?" asked Webster, slightly confused. "Oh, nothing, just a bit of confusion over evidence and theories" Webster still looked confused. Scully thought as she got in the car with Agents Taylor and Roberts. It was going to be a long day. ----------------X Smithson residence Prescott, Arizona August 10 12:58pm Scully gently got out of the driver's seat of the rental car. She was exhausted, and hungry. She hadn't had anything since breakfast. Her stomach grumbled. She longed for a toasted sandwich, hot cup of tea and an argument with Mulder. Taylor's idea of conversation was a bit dull, in fact *very* dull. At least with Mulder, Scully could have a go at him and his weird, loony theories. Scully' hair was a slightly disarray. A few strands danced in front of her face due to the light breeze. Agent Taylor, on the other hand, was completely perfect, Scully thought with a bit of venom. There were no creases in her chocolate brown, pin-stripe trouser suit, her hair neatly tied up in a chignon. Her make up had that 'just-applied-but-still-natural-and-professional' look to it. Scully wanted to scream, but, as always, she held fast onto that cool, calm, icy exterior, which she was infamously known for back at the bureau in DC. The agents walked across the neat stone path, which graced the perfectly manicured lawn. The house had a victorian-english look to it. The way the large cedar tree cast dark shadows across the front of the large house. Shading the large balcony window and dark blue door. It looked picturesque, Scully thought. She would love a house like this. It would sure beat her small apartment. But, it also had a fairly big resemblance to the victim's house, which kept her wary. She was a little disturbed about this case. But, as always, she told herself that it was just an irrational emotional response to a bad memory. Or, in this case, a horrific death investigation. Taylor knocked on the heavy wooden door, which was briskly answered by a thin woman who was a bit smaller than Scully. For some reason that made her feel better. It was a rarity. She thought she was the smallest person alive, especially when she stood next to Mulder, which was *all* the time. "Mrs. Smithson? May we come? I'm Special Agent Scully and this is Agent Taylor. We would like to speak to you about Kathryn Willis" "Umm...alright. Come in" said a shaky voice. They entered into a lovely hall that was beautifully decorated. It definitely had an english-victorian decor to it, which suited it perfectly. But the owner, Mr Smithson, didn't seem to fit the part of the owner of the house. She was dressed in jeans and a baggy sweater. Her hair was loosely tied back in a ponytail. She was about 30 years old, but the weariness on her face made her seem older. "Can I help you?" came the quiet voice of Mrs. Smithson. "Well, we know that Miss Willis and yourself were members of a Stress Therapy group. I was wondering if you could answer any questions that could help us further our investigation" Scully stated. Taylor and Scully sat down on the forest green leather sofa. "Well. There's nothing to tell, really. She had her problems... like everyone does. She needed to share it with people like myself who would understand. We became friends. That's it" "Would you call her a close friend of yours?" Taylor asked. "Well, of course" "Would you say that she 'confided' in you?" It sounded more like a statement than a question, Scully thought, letting Taylor take lead in this questioning. After all, she would have to some time in her future as a federal agent. "Well, yes, but some of the things she told me were under the strictest confidence" Taylor nodded in understanding. "Well, is there anything you *could* tell us. Like, did she... was she having any problems with anyone? An old friend? Boyfriend? Ex? Is there anything?" Scully asked gently. "Well...no" the woman said, unsurely. "Are you sure?" Scully pushed. The woman nodded. She seemed extremely shocked by the whole ordeal. "Umm, why did Kathryn start to go to the therapy sessions?" The woman let out a gentle laugh. "She told me she was under pressure at work. We worked at the same place, and recently we've worked together. She used to...'disappear' sometimes. She told me it was against her will. I thought she was joking and she laughed it off too..." she tailed off. "Go on. There is something else isn't there" Taylor asked. Silence was her only response for a time. The woman wouldn't speak. Scully noticed that she was looking uncomfortably at Agent Taylor. "Taylor, can I speak with you?" the agents walked over to the large fireplace, a few feet away from where Mrs. Smithson was sat. "I think you should go outside. I feel that Mrs. Smithson may talk if there weren't two of us here" Taylor looked a bit offended, but eventually nodded in agreement. "Excuse me Mrs. Smithson, I have a phone call to make" Taylor walked through the hall to the car outside. Scully gave a polite smile to Taylor as she left the room. Scully sat down next to Mrs. Smithson. "Elizabeth? Any information you have about Kathryn would help us a great deal" Scully said gently. More silence. Elizabeth just stared out of the window. "Elizabeth? Please talk to me. Tell me what she said to you. I know she did. You know it will help us. You want us to find out who did this don't you? What's the problem?" Scully asked gently, not wanting to probe too far. "How do I know that you won't think I'm crazy!" Elizabeth shot back, startling Scully a little. "How do I know you'll believe me?!" "I will, just tell me. It's alright" Elizabeth looked at Scully. She looked exhausted. "Well...Kat told me that one time when she 'disappeared' that...well...you have to remember that she had a really over active imagination...well... she...umm...she said that she was abducted by people who made her pregnant. I thought it was just a stupid story to cover the fact that she had cheated on her fiance" "Did she?" "No, she swore that she didn't. She loves...loved...Daniel. She swore to me that she had become pregnant through artificial insemination, against her will" "Was she pregnant? I mean, women do fake this type of thing all the time" "No. Kat wasn't the type of person who would lie over something like this. She said aliens had done it to her" She started laughing nervously. She was scared that Scully would think she had gone mad. "Elizabeth...did Kathryn ever tell Daniel she was pregnant? Did she ever see a doctor?" "No. She didn't tell him and she didn't see her doctor because Dan is a doctor too and, well, this is a small town, and everyone knows everyone. She knew he would find out if she did" "Did she have a miscarriage or abortion?" "No. Kat wouldn't have even considered it. But she did lose the baby, a couple days before she..." Liz tailed off briefly, "She 'disappeared' again a couple days before, she came back saying the baby had gone. She wasn't really broken up about it. But, that was because it wasn't Dan's. She said to me that she was going to be 'punished' for killing the baby. I thought she had had an abortion and was feeling guilty. I know it sounds stupid, but, I believe that whoever did it to her killed her for getting rid of it" Scully got up and contemplated this statement for a moment. Mulder was going to have a field day with this. Abduction. She hated that reason, because of her own experience. She gave a polite nod and excused herself from the grand house. She walked towards the car where Taylor was sat, eating sweet of some sort. "Well? What's goin' on in the world?" Taylor said, munching delicately at the sweet in her mouth. "Umm...can it wait 'til we get the motel. It'll take a while to explain and I *hate* repeating myself" she thought. Scully got into the driver's seat, revved up the car and headed towards the house of the next person in the address book. ----------------X Viva-Viva Motel Prescott, Arizona August 10 4:57pm Scully sat on the pale blue spread covered bed, typing up her notes from the interviews with Elizabeth and a couple of other acquaintances of the victim. She was a bit pissed off that Mulder was so late. He had called the total of nine times so far, saying he would be a bit later than what he had previously said. If he called again, Scully was going to shoot the phone, or save the bullet for when Mulder finally got back. She had had to put up with Taylor and Roberts for ages, but they had finally gone for food. Just then, a knock was heard on the door followed by a "Wake up call and bagels for Miss Scully" Scully walked over to the wooden door, opened it taking the bagels from Mulder and letting him and Webster in. "I should think so!" Scully exclaimed munching at a warm bagel. God she *was* hungry. She still hadn't had anything to eat. "Well, what did you turn up, Watson?" Mulder ribbed. He had found something else, she thought. He was so wired, and annoying. "Sorry, Sherlock. You first. I'm finishing this first" She gestured to the half-eaten bagel in her hand. Mulder looked a tad suprised. He had never seen Scully so eager to eat *cholesterol*- full food. "Fine. We spoke to Mr. Blyth. He wasn't too helpful either. He just told us what we already knew. He may be our number one suspect" Mulder was now relaxing on Scully's bed. She had to perch herself on the end of the bed, trying to get comfortable even though Mulder's big feet were sticking into her side. "Is that *all*?!?!" Scully was rather suprised that Fox Mulder hadn't uncovered more than she had, now she was looking forward to being in the spotlight. "Well, Taylor and I found out quite a few things about our victim. It turns out that she was pregnant. It wasn't Blyth's. She went missing just before she died. The baby died, we still don't know how though, while Willis was away. She told Mrs. Smithson that she was going to be punished for killing the baby. And she died. Smithson thinks that Willis was artificially inseminated without consent without her consent. I believe that Willis was killed by the person who made her pregnant, for killing the baby" Mulder was in shock. Deep shock. How could Scully find out all this? He practically shot up to the ceiling and hit his head on the light above him as he listened to Scully's smooth voice. "Did she have an abortion?" "Well, there were no sign of a foetus in the autopsy. Could have been an abortion, but she had been carrying for about four or five months" Taylor piped up "It would have been dangerous. If it was dead, it would have been still born, if she had had an emergency caesarean there would have been no foetus but, there was nothing like that in her medical info and there definately would have been" she finished. Scully nodded in agreement. "So the foetus was removed without record of it" Mulder said, half thinking to himself, half speaking to the others. "Mulder, maybe she had it at another hospital. But, there would have been a record. It's the law" Scully was getting angry. "Maybe here, but not where they come from" All eyebrows went up, questioning the sanity of Fox Mulder. Scully had had it. And he was about to get it too! "MULDER!!!!!!!!! Get it out of your head NOW!! There are no aliens, UFO's, conspiracies, human tests. I know the list is endless, but, this isn't even an X FILE" she screamed, restraining herself from hitting him. Mulder suddenly became very scared. "What about the lack of records from the medical background?" he argued back. The lines had been drawn. Now they were both ready to draw blood. "This is a small town. There isn't the hi-tech computer equipment we have in DC, they still use folders and paper for patients records, not computers. Not databases. The files could have been misplaced, or even lost. Places like this are a little prehistoric in the computer appliances department" "This isn't the Stone Age, Scully. Those records weren't lost because there weren't any records to lose! Believe it Scully!" "Your asking a *skeptic* to believe! Mulder you *have* lost it. Just accept it that people cheat on other people and accidents happen" "You sound like my Mom!" "Well, maybe you need some discipline! Kathryn could have gone to another hospital, to another doctor or complications could have happened when she was away. Maybe her records are at another hospital or haven't arrived at her local hospital" "Well what are you gonna do Scully? Call every hospital in the *country* for records on her?" "No. You are" "WHAT!?!" "And when you find them, then you will quit this stupid alien theory" "Yes MOM!" "Oh Mulder, go to bed" Scully demanded, indicating to the door of her room to leave. "Haven't you heard Scully. I'm an insomniac" Scully blew her lid, hauling a couple of pillows at him. "Mulder" she said calmly walking towards him. Their eyes locked in a battle of staring, or should that be glaring? Her blue eyes and his hazel eyes locked together, not wanting to lose to the other one's gaze. This was totally unexpected for Mulder, "leave this room at once or you manly-hood may live to regret it" she said in a low voice, which Mulder liked a lot, but it filled him with dread at he same time he thought. Scully indicated to her gun, a devilish glint in her big blue eyes. Mulder ran for his life, not before hauling a pillow back at his partner. It was only then that they realised that the others had departed earlier. -----X Scully was calming down from the heated argument. And there certainly had been *heat*, she thought. . But she couldn't help it. She loved the look Mulder got in his eyes when he was angry, they were so full of determination and desire to succeed. She also loved the look he got when she threatened him with her gun, pure terror of the female of the species. She chuckled to herself. She loved that, the knowing of the power she had over him sometimes. She also knew that he knew that she had been kidding about the checking the hospitals...well, she hoped he did. With those run of thoughts finishing she decided to go for a warm shower. She turned on the hot running water and began to get undressed. Tossing the stray pillows on the bed, she entered the bathroom. -----X Mulder was fuming. He hated being trampled on by women, told what to do. But the thing was that he loved being told what to do by Scully. That was a major weakness of his. She just affected him with the voice of hers, so independent (and the threat. That sent shivers down his spine. He hated Scully for the way she could turn around the situation). He loved it when she got cross too. The way her full lips formed into a sceptical pout. He sometimes dreamed about those lips, the way that they... ----------------X Viva-Viva Motel Scully's room Prescott, Arizona August 11 6:02am Scully and Taylor were woken with a start. There was a very heavy knocking at the door. Scully looked at Taylor, still sleepy- eyed. Taylor went for her weapon, which was placed on the small wooden bedside table. Taylor slipped out of her bed and lightly tiptoed across the floor. Scully noticed that Taylor's bedclothes were hanging off her a shoulder, exposing a little too much flesh for her partner to handle. She knew it was Mulder. It always was. "Taylor" Scully gestured to the state of the agents' atire. She quickly made herself look decent for the male on the other side of the door. Scully hadn't budged. Taylor opened the door, to reveal an extremely 'chirpy' Mulder. Already dressed, shaven, with his coat on and car keys in hand. "Well Scully, I see what you mean when you say you don't want me seeing you so early" Scully gave him a death stare, left the warm confines of her bed, grabbed her beige suit from the hanger and slammed the door of the bathroom behind her. Without a word to Mulder. But that didn't bother him. Mulder was to preoccupied with noticing that his conservative partner was wearing very short shorts for her bedclothes, and he sorta liked it. Scully could hear him and Taylor having an argument about times of morning and notification about visiting crime scenes. Scully had to agree. He did this enough in DC. Couldn't he give it a break when there were other officers on the case too? She knew the answer was no. -----X Half an hour had past and the agents were assembled in the parking lot of the motel. The parking lot was desolate for the time of day. But, it *was* 6:30 in the morning. "Okay. Scully and I'll take this car and go visit Mr. Blyth. You and agents Taylor and Roberts go speak to Mr. Davis" Mulder instructed Webster. Scully was still at a loose end trying to figure out this little charade of Mulder's. The others got into the forest green rental car with questions unanswered and Mulder and Scully headed towards the grey Taurus. "So. What's this about?" Scully asked, getting into the passenger side, again. "Well, I had a thought" Mulder started. Scully rolled her eyes. "What?" he asked, taking in her 'roll-of-the-eyes'. "Just you and your male 'intuition'...continue" "Fine. Well anyway, Blyth told me that there were a few other people that had disappeared. But then had moved away" "I thought you only questioned him once?" "No, went back later on. That's why I was late yesterday" he said popping a seed into his mouth. "So...what's the theory?" "Well, what if...What?!?!" Scully had rolled her eyes at him again. She shrugged to tell him to continue. "Okay, what if these people were abducted" "What...that's...*it*?" Scully was suprised. "Your suprised? About?" "Well...that's...it? That's *it*?" she repeated again and again. Mulder nodded. "You know, however many times you say it, it won't change the meaning" he remarked. He was pissing her off. "You mean that you got us *all* up at the crack of dawn, *two hours earlier* than need be, for that *tiny* theory!" "Well, yeah, but I haven't put all the pieces together yet" "Oh, well, that's good to know! Thanks for getting *me* up so *you* could *think*!" "Scully?" Mulder hesitantly spoke. He was very scared of redheads when they became angry. Especially Scullys. "Mmm" She replied. She was extremely bad tempered. She crossed her arms over her chest and peered out of the window, not looking at him. "Want some caffeine?" "Yes! Please can we get breakfast" she said with a sigh of light relief and a tone of mock excitedness like a child wanting to open a Christmas present. Mulder gave her the puppy-dog eyes crossed with don't-try-to-be-clever look. Scully rolled her eyes at his expression and they travelled to the diner in a comfortable silence as they were going over the case in their heads. --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 2/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X Well? What do you think so far? Good? Bad? Boring? Not funny? Too long? Anything? Well...mail me! (even if you have nothing to do and your bored! - hopefully not from this fanfic!) My addy is...Trustyone@thewebbs.demon.co.uk Look out for part 3!!!!!! -----X----- --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities III: One Long Day By Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X Davis residence Prescott, Arizona August 11 8:30am The slim mid-twnty year old woman that was Agent Charlotte Taylor knocked on the light brown door of the small white box- type bungalow. She and her partner, Agent Andrew Webster waited patiently acknowledging the time of day. Webster surveyed the rest of the road. All the houses were similar. Small, white, box-like, bungalows, small gardens and the road was lined with great big cedar trees which made the houses seem smaller. The early sunshine shone through the branches, covering the ground with doppled shadows. His dark blue suit suddenly felt too warm for the weather and he wished he had left his mackintosh overcoat in the car. He looked over to the rented vehicle to see the-so-far-useless Agent Matthew Roberts sat in the grey car, talking on the phone. The door was answered after a few minutes and revealed a young, tall but slender woman. Her dark, cropped hair was slightly ruffled and she was wearing a robe, a clear sign she had just woken up. "Yes?" Her soft voice said. She squinted slightly from the brightness of the world outside. "We're sorry to disturb you at this time in the morning, but, we are agents with the bureau" that was Webster's cue to produce his ID as Taylor did. "We were hoping to talk with Mr Davis. Is he available?" "Why? Is he in trouble?" The woman became very nervous. "No, we just want to ask him some questions about a woman who worked there" A wave of relief washed over the sun-kissed face of the young woman. Webster noticed that she was rather attractive, but then reminded himself he was on duty. he thought, . He was promptly brought back to the real world by *his* partner. "Webster? *Webster*! Come on, we can't waste any time!" She looked flustered. This was the first time Taylor had been in control of questioning someone one this case. She had to get it right. The pressure was on. "Dad, some fed's to see you 'bout someone from work" the woman called down the hall, then she disappeared into another room, probably her bedroom. A few minutes later, a middle-aged man appeared, slightly disorientated. He had just woken up. Taylor felt slightly guilty. "Don't you people sleep" he was extremely grumpy. thought Webster even though he wasn't leading this particular session of questioning. With that, they all took a seat in the sparsely furnished sitting room, Taylor took a deep breath and began her questions. ---------------X Blyth residence Prescott, Arizona August 11 10:38am "Thank you Mr. Blyth. You've been extremely helpful" the petite Dana Scully said with a polite but sympathetic smile. She turned to the towering Agent Fox Mulder who lead her to the car by putting his hand on the small of her back. She secretly liked it when he did, but she openly hated it because she thought her was being too over protective. That's what her big brother was for. They entered the car and Mulder started the engine. The door to the house opened again and Mr Blyth jogged towards the agents, gesturing them not to leave. "Yes? Anything else we need to know?" Mulder inquired. He was hungry. He hadn't eaten since 6:45 this morning. He mentally told himself to shut up as Mr Blyth spoke. "If you find anything more, you will let me know" "Of course, sir" Scully assured him. "Well, thank you. Kat would appreciate all this. I do. You have to find out who did this" he pleaded to Mulder. "We'll do our best, and don't worry, we'll catch the killer" was Mulder's final words as he began to move away from the side of the road. Mr Blyth waved politely at them and Scully turned to Mulder. "Catch the killer? Don't you mean the alien, or the mutant, or the freak?" Scully chided him. "Look, Scully, what he said in there...well, I didn't expect that he knew. It's thrown me a bit" Scully looked at him in mock horror. "Oh, Mulder, you poor thing" Scully continued. "Watch it *Doctor Dana Scully*" Mulder couldn't take it that his theory was wrong...for the moment. And Scully was enjoying every minute of it. "Oh, I'm sorry *FOX-Y*" He cringed at the sound of his first name being used in such a way. Scully suddenly regained her icy exterior, the cool, calm, collected Dana Scully. "Anyway, it's not unusual that he knew about the pregnancy" "I know that! But, why didn't he mention it before?" The questioned seemed to be directed at him than it did Scully. "Mulder, did you ever, and I mean *ever*, consider that he was the father?" "Do you think I'm insane!?...don't answer that. But, Scully, you said yourself that she had only told Liz Smithson about the baby!" Scully considered this a moment. "Well, Mrs. Smithson was fairly distressed, and under great pressure to remember lots of facts at a difficult and stressful time. Stress can make many people forget things, and in light of what has happened she probably..." "SCULLY! How can a person forget *that*. No one forgets that their best friend has told their fiance that they are pregnant" "Mulder!! Not *everyone* has your 'annoying-as-hell' photographic memory!" With that the fight diminished into a silence that far from comfortable. They drove the rest of the way to the diner, where they would meet the others, in that same silence. Scully was staring out of the window, oblivious of anything that whizzed past as Mulder drove the car at limit-braking speeds. She was thinking about Mulder, again. His fiery hazels eyes when they were angry, his body under his shirt, the way it... She mentally slapped herself for thinking that while Mulder was only centimetres away. That thought made her start a hundred other thoughts. She slapped herself again. Meanwhile, Mulder was having similarly 'unacceptable' thoughts about his fiery redheaded partner. ---------------X Accoday Diner Prescott, Arizona August 11 10:59am Even though Prescott was such a small town Scully noticed that wherever they had to go, it was *always* on the other side of town. Mulder had sworn by this diner which, she was now telling herself, was warning her that it wouldn't be a bundle of fun. He had sworn by the motel and that had had its share of disasters so far. Taylor snores, so Scully had become a temporary insomniac, the shower was broken and there was hardly any warm water, and the bed had extremely bad springs. She was really fed up. And she was preparing for a similarly disastrous fate to occur while sat in the cramped red and white booth at the far end of the diner. Mulder had ordered a really unhealthy meal...as usual. Scully had ordered a salad sandwich and the drinks had arrived. The plump waitress set them down on the tabletop and gave Mulder a wink. He suddenly became very uneasy and shifted around. His long legs hit Scully in the shins as he did so. "Hey!" "Sorry" He gave her a puppydog eye look and took a slurp of his iced tea. "Wonder where Taylor is" She was making polite conversation. Mulder looked quizzically at her for a moment. They never really conversed while eaten, well, unless it was about the case. He gave her a smile as realised why she had done it. There were two young lovebirds sat behind her in the next booth being *very* friendly with one another, that is as friendly as they could be in a public area. Scully couldn't take it. She was already edgy from lack of sleep. But, a small smile briefly crossed her lips as she heard the girl call her boyfriend "Foxy". Mulder had heard it too, and now he was the agitated and also going-red-with-embarassment one. Their meals arrived as the other agents walked in. They looked slightly flustered. They ordered their meals at the counter and then joined Mulder and Scully. Taylor slid in next to Mulder, Webster next to Scully and Roberts next to him. She was rather squashed next to the window. she wanted to scream at them, but she looked at Mulder with the same (kinda) puppy dog expression. He just chuckled back at her and shoved a couple more fries in his mouth. "So...whatcha find?" Mulder said between mouthfuls. Scully grimaced in disgust that *her* partner could be so rude. Taylor had the same expression. "Well, Mr Davis is *not* a bundle of laughs. Especially at the time of morning when we questioned him. But, he had no more info than we already have" Webster said, slightly disappointed, and practically trying not to drool over the fact he was sat next to Scully. "Mulder, why don't you tell us what you found out" Taylor asked. He nodded, gesturing to his mouth that he would once he had finished. -----X Five minutes later, the meals of the others had arrived and Mulder had just finished. Scully had been staring out the window the whole time. "Wow! I mean, why would Smithson lie!" Roberts gasped. "Don't go jumping to conclusions!" Mulder snapped. Roberts slumped back like a sulking child. "Yeah well, she is under stress. Stress can strain people especially when trying to recall stuff" Taylor piped up finishing off her jacket potato. Mulder wondered. "That's what Scully said" Scully was brought back to the conversation as Mulder spoke her name. "Huh?" "Nothin' Scully. We just discussing what we learnt" Mulder randomly indicated to the three with a turn of his wrist. Scully nodded. Suddenly a cell phone rang. All the agents answered their phones everyone saying their name simotaniously. "Mulder". "Taylor". "Roberts". "Scully". "Webster". In the end it was Scully phone. The others sheepishly placed their phones back in the inside pocket of their jackets as a lot of "Umm"'s and "Ah-ha"'s were escaping Scully's mouth. Mulder ordered a coffee to go while she chatted. A few minutes later Scully hung up the phone and turned to the others. "A body has been found at Kathryn Willis's house" Everyone's eyebrows went up. "They can't ID the body, too badly burnt. They want you and I to do the autopsy" she indicated to Taylor who began to out of the booth. Scully did the same after shoving Webster and Roberts so they would move. "Scully, keep in touch" "As always" she said swiping the coffee Mulder had ordered, giving him a slightly mischievous grin and disappearing out the door. Mulder ordered another and asked for the check. ---------------X Prescott county morgue Prescott, Arizona August 11 11:56am Taylor and Scully changed into the drab green medic uniform, prepped the body and were ready to get down to work. They both looked very similar with their hair tied back, latex gloves and breathing masks on. They couldn't take a chance with breathing in the faint fumes with rose from the crisp shell of a body as Taylor carefully placed the first incision down the middle of the, well what used to be, torso. The acrid smell hovered in the air. Scully felt slightly nauseous, she was glad she had had a light lunch. Taylor began to pull apart the flaking skin of the body to reveal the internal organs. Both agents looked at each other in slight suprise. The organ hadn't been affected and burnt like the Willis corpse. It was just your average burned body. There was no yellow fluid seeping from the organs, it was just like any other charred body. But the charring on the outside was extremely bad. Scully did prelim examination of the shell of the body, while Taylor examined the organs, but Scully kept a close eye on the young agent. She hoped this day would end soon. It had been too long and it wasn't even noon yet. Scully reappeared at the front desk of the morgue, dressed back in her wine-coloured suit and long over coat. She handed over a folder and some other forms then joined Mulder who was sat in the car outside. He looked totally bored. The other male agents were nattering away in the back seat. Scully smiled briefly as he gave her a mock help-me-please look. She got into the car on the passenger side again and said that Taylor would be out soon. She sat the rest of the wait in silence as the two young agents in the back resumed a chat about Ren and Stimpy. Scully sighed. Mulder head-butted the steering wheel. thought Mulder. Non of the other agents paid any attention to the bump appearing on Mulder's forehead. -----X Twenty five minutes later both Mulder and Scully wanted to permanently shut the male agents up, they were *so* boring! The petite agent Taylor jogged over to the car and got in the back seat. Her presence made the other two shut up. Mulder silently prayed to God and pray of Thanks. "Hi, sorry I was so long. Mulder what did you do to your head? Anyway, the results won't be back 'til later tonight, so we can't tell you anything" Taylor said, shuffling about to try and gain some breathing space in the back of the car. Both of her big, burly workmates just took up *too* much room sometimes. Mulder nodded, turned the key in the ignition and drove off back to the motel. "Where are we going, Mulder?" Scully asked. "Motel. Nothing else to do 'til the results comes back. Did you get an ID?" "No. Body was too badly burned for facial identity and the fingerprints were partial. They were so badly burned that Taylor had to do 4 prints of the right thumb before it produced a clear print, but even that was still bad" Mulder and Scully were having a conversation and purposely leaving out the other agents. "Well, we should go out to eat. I hate motel cafeteria food. Nearly as bad as the FBI cafeteria food" "Nearly?" "Well, yeah. Motel's serve better coffee" "Well, can we *please* leave the..." Scully tailed off in a whisper, pointing to the three in the backseat, having an argument about the mental capacity of Stimpy. She leaded closer to Mulder, "*Please*?" she whispered again. Mulder nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean" he whispered back. "No way! Stimpy is too gullible. That's why he does all that stuff, he is easily influenced" Roberts shouted back to Webster. "Umm, have you heard of *script writers*?" Taylor timidly said. The other two looked at her with bewildered expressions for a long moment. The silence was pure joy to Mulder's ears. The argument resumed and both Mulder and Scully sighed and slumped a bit in their seats. They drove in silence the rest of the journey, apart from the dumb argument. ---------------X Viva-Viva Motel Prescott, Arizona August 11 2:06pm Mulder removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose for the umpteenth time. He sat back in the small plastic chair and stretched out his arms for the (umpteenth time). He had very tense shoulders. Scully sat crossed legged on her bed staring at the screen. Mulder noticed she looked a bit out there. She wasn't typing or anything, her eyes weren't moving as if she were reading. Nothing. He was a little worried, she seemed extremely tired. He had to admit, this case was rather dull, boring and a strain, even for an insomniac like himself he was feeling tired by the work, or the *lack* of work. This just wasn't a challenge for him, or his partner. Scully's eyes were squared. she thought, barely. She was switched off. She tried with all her might to come to life, she could hear her partner's voice somewhere in the distance calling to her, but she just couldn't be bothered to answer. Mulder had to get up out of the horrid chair (but his ass was extremely grateful - it was so uncomfortable) and physically shake Scully to wake her out of this trance. She turned to him, staring blankly at his slightly concerned face and just kept on staring. "Scully" the panic evident in his voice, "Scully!" "Huh?...Wha...Mulder get off my shoulders!" she was now the fully conscious Scully he thought with a sigh of relief. She stood up and walked a few paces, trying to wake up fully. "So you returned!" he hugged her with too much enthusiasm. "What the Hell are you on Mulder!?!" She began to panic. Thoughts and memories of her abduction and of him being drugged with his apartment building water surfacing. "You seemed a bit 'spaced' out, pardon the term" he shrugged out of the friendly embrace but, Scully pushed him away. The force made him sit on the bed. She was still a little shaky. She hated it when he mentioned abductions. "Why did you say that?" she was scared. Her exterior and her porcelain features didn't betray her turmoil but her voice did. "Well, there are no aliens here on this case, but, I was beginning to think that they had decided to show up. You seemed to be in another world or 'planet'" he smiled, he was bored. But, the look on his partner's face made him think again, "Scully...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you" He walked over to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She smiled gratefully and re-seated herself on the bed, turned off the laptop and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. "You look tense, and exhausted. Maybe you should try a thing called sleep. It does wonders for many normal people" Scully playfully chided him. Scully was back to her normal self. But she seemed a little different than usual. Mulder put it down to the case and the fact that the victim had 'disappeared' mysteriously like herself. "Scully you of all people know that I'm far from normal" He grinned at her and sat at the foot of the bed. They shared a comfortable moment of silence until a key turned in the lock of Scully's room door. Mulder went to the table for his gun, but was disappointed that agent Taylor walked in. "We have an ID" she said gleefully. "Who?" Scully's professionalism returning, Mulder relaxed and sat down again at the foot of the bed. "Well, it was Daniel Blyth. His death seems to be similar to that of Miss Willis, but, he had been shot first. I remember you saying that there was a wound similar to a bullet, but, the burning was so extensive that you couldn't be sure. Anyway the body seems to have been just...set alight by flame. No agents were used to aid the burning and tiny amounts of gunpowder were found in the tox. screen results" Taylor finished her (secretly rehearsed) speech. She wanted to sound efficient and as professional as the infamous Dana Scully. Every pathologist in the bureau knew of her. Not only because of the area she worked in and who with, not only of the rumours about her and Spooky Mulder sleeping with each other, but because of her extensive knowledge and high skill at being one of the best pathologists in the bureau. Mulder and Scully looked at each other in shock. "What would he be doing there? At her house? Why would he be killed?" Scully looked at her partner with disbelief, "Mulder. I can't believe you, with your intelligent mind, wouldn't know why a man would visit his dead fiancee's house. It's obvious, he must have gone there to help his grieving. You're a bloody psychologist, you should understand" Mulder shrugged, "So...why was he killed? I'm sure you have an answer *Dr Dana*" "Well...umm...he could have been trespassing...okay so what's your answer, *FOXY*?" he cringed as she said it. "Well, I don't have one yet, I need more to go one" Taylor quietly crept out of the room, knowing the battle had resumed. She closed the door and went to her colleague's room. They hadn't been told about the murder victim yet. The door quietly clicked shut, the duo staring at each other with death stares. Mulder suddenly grew a mischievous grin, throwing Scully off guard a bit. He walked over to Taylor's bed and sat on it. Scully still didn't trust him, so she threw a pillow at him. He threw one back and made Scully see red. Red the same shade as her hair. She needed to get rid of all this stored energy. She lunged off her bed, other pillow in hand and clobbered Mulder. He in turn grabbed another pillow and whacked Scully. The fight went on for a few minutes, each one hitting the other. It started out as an angry way of not hurting the other, but it developed into a friendly play fight. Scully laughed as Mulder was sent to the ground with a powerful blow from his partner. She had had a lot of practice with this type of thing after growing up with two brothers. He grabbed the pillow he dropped, whacked her lower legs and sent her falling to the floor. He paid another blow to her right arm, which held her pillow, resulting in her dropping her weapon. Scully rolled over to the foot of her bed and pulled at the loose bedspread and threw it at Mulder. They were both hidden in darkness by the thick material. Although they couldn't see each other, they both knew the other had smiles on their faces. In their job, smiling was a rarity. Scully crawled under the cover towards Mulder, their heads appeared at the edge. She smacked him across the arm playfully. "You made me ruin my hair!" she said in a girlie voice. Mulder had never heard that tone come from the tomboy Scully before. "Ahh, well" was all he could reply. No return quip. No dry one liner. Scully began to get worried. They sat, staring at each other for a moment then they both lunged for a pillow and in synchrony they both hurled them at the other. The pillows met in the air, neither of them reaching their destinations. They fell to the ground with a dull thud. Scully got up, smoothed out her hair and tried to smooth out her suit. It was very creased. She also looked very red, she was boiling hot from the activities that had just occurred. Mulder did the same as Scully. Except he didn't smooth out his hair, it always looked slightly ruffled. They looked at each other and chuckled. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, Mulder answered it to see Taylor, Roberts and Webster at the door. The three agents were greeted with the sight of two flustered agents and bed covers all over the place. No prizes to guess what they thought had been going on. The agents looked embarrassed for interrupting. Mulder looked over his shoulder to see his partner still sorting herself out. He then realised what the others were obviously thinking. "Can we help you?" Mulder acted annoyed. He liked leading 'youngsters' along. "Umm...well...we heard a commotion...and we...well you seem to be...coping with the...situation. We are going to get something to eat. We'll come by later" With that Webster was off, thoroughly embarrassed. The others followed. Mulder laughed as he shut the door, but he quickly shut up as he turned to see his partner, hands on hips, staring furiously at him as she had before. "Another fight?" he mused. Scully didn't see the amusement. She pushed him out of the room and shut the door in his face. Not before ordering him to explain to the others what had happened. Mulder smiled he thought. He went to his room and decided to take a cold shower. Things had certainly reached to a hot, *hot* level in there and he was beginning to have wicked thoughts about, his partner, pillows and lace underwear that came low cut showing her... -----X Scully picked up the bedspread, replaced the pillows and decided to have a shower. She too was having not-to-platonic thoughts about her 'Fox-y' partner. -----X Agents Roberts and Webster walked with a quick stride. Taylor had to practically jog to keep up with the two big, burly men. "Should we tell the AD?" Taylor asked, finally breaking the embarrassed silence which had quickly settled between the agents. "Well...it isn't our place. They can do what they want. They obviously aren't discrete though" Roberts said in disgust. In actuality, he was slightly jealous that Scully was sleeping with her partner and not him. "Well, I think they should be left alone. I don't want to get involved with the AD" Webster said. "But the book...it clearly states that..." Taylor said, but was abruptly cut off by Roberts. "Screw the book. Mulder does" "And his partner" Roberts said. They exited the building, got in the car and drove to the nearest diner. ---------------X Accoday Diner Prescott, Arizona August 11 2:49pm It took Scully all her physical strength to push the door open. She was going red with sheer concentration of trying to open the door. She finally gave up as her lanky partner came up behind her and said "Allow me". He *pulled* the door open with ease and Scully smacked him as he grinned at her. She went over to the counter and ordered a take away sandwich and coffee. She wanted to finish the file report on her laptop. It would have been done earlier but because of the incident in the motel room she was in rather a hurry to get them done. She swiftly made her way out of the diner, taking the keys out of Mulder's hand as he passed her on the way to the table where the others were sat. "Looks like there's been a bust up between them" Roberts stated as an angry looking Mulder walked towards them. Taylor kicked him under the table to shut him up from further comments of a similar nature. "So Mulder, why was Scully in such a hurry?" Webster asked as Mulder seated himself. He was sat next to Taylor who was giving Webster a look to say don't-push-your-luck. "Huh? Oh, she wants to finish the files on the laptop. She likes to stay ahead of her work" "Mulder, are you feeling alright, is everything okay? I mean you look slightly pissed off" Roberts continued. He was now being the one being given the any-more-and-I'll-clobber-you look from the brunette Taylor. "Oh, you know. The case: it's so boring. I get drained when I'm not presented with a challenging problem" Mulder looked ready to pass out he was so tired. The hot shower he'd taken had made him feel extremely sleepy. He went to the counter for some caffeine. He needed to wake up. "Hmm...I bet he is drained and sleepy after such a physical 'workout'" Roberts muttered quietly. But it was audible to the others. They all exchanged brief smirks as Mulder returned. He sat down and took a long slurp of the coffee. He breathed in the aroma being emitted from the warm liquid. He drank the last of the coffee in one gulp, the agents finished their meals as a cell phone rang. Everyone went for their phones but realised that is was Taylor's. The others wanted to avoid yet another situation like last time. "Taylor" "Yes Agent Taylor. I hope you are not being inconvenienced" "Who is this?" Mulder was fully alert now at the sound of this question he thought. The muffled voice continued. It sounded sad and sobs kept breaking the sentences. "It's...Liz Smithson. Please...I...I need to speak to you" "I will send someone round there as soon as possible" She glanced in the direction of the two male agents sat opposite her. "No, I want to speak to you and Agent Scully, it's about Dan Blyth" "Okay, we'll be right there" Taylor hung up the phone, explained who it was and was out the door. Mulder followed along with Roberts and Webster. Taylor started the engine of the car and sped out of the parking lot. Mulder explained to the others what they had to do while Scully and Taylor spoke to Mrs. Smithson. They had to hail a taxi as the females had the cars. "Oh, great. Female drivers. Bet we can say bye to our wheels" Webster quipped as the three men stood outside in the now pouring rain as they waited for a cab. -----X They were standing there for fifteen minutes. Not a cab in sight. Suddenly, a dozen cabs came into view. Mulder thought. He was definately *not* a patient man at the moment. As a last resort, Mulder stood in the middle of the road, as the cold rain hit his face, and flashed his ID and waved his gun around and acted like a raving madman. He screamed over repeatedly, "TAXI!!!!!TAXI!!!!! Gimme a taxi *now* or I'll blow your heads off! Or do you all for *speeding*!" It worked wonders. Seven cabs stopped dead and the agent ran towards the nearest one. He looked back at the other two who seemed very frightened. They got in the back and Mulder reholstered his gun. The other two still looked frightened and stared at Mulder with questioning eyes. Mulder simply shrugged, "I knew I had a calling" "Calling for a cab and threatening a cab driver are two *completely* different things" Webster stated. "Viva-Viva motel please" Roberts told the driver and he was off. They arrived a few minutes later as the cabby drove them to their destination very quickly. He broke a few, in fact all, speed limits and didn't even charge them. He was worried about being filled with lead, or being fined. Mulder nodded graciously to the driver. The driver smiled nervously back and was off again. "They're still here" Webster said as he pointed to the rental cars. "Great, I can get changed then" Mulder said, "Looks like you could too". They were all soaking from head to toe. Water dripped off a strand of Mulder's face and fell onto his cheek. They walked into the motel to tell the ladies. ---------------X Smithson residence Prescott, Arizona August 11 3:36pm Scully pulled up the car in the driveway. She nodded to Taylor who was in the passenger seat. Mulder, who had a completely new set of clothes on, including a hideous tie which Scully just couldn't help but laugh at, reminded the females of what to do. "Okay, you keep her occupied and we'll look around" He gestured to the other newly clothed male agents. Scully nodded, "Mulder, we know what we have to do" She couldn't look at him with a straight face because his tie was extremely bad. He had picked it up instead of the black and grey tie. The one he was wearing had big red tomatoes and oranges carrots over it. He was wearing this tie because he had only brought three ties. One had got caught in the paper shredder at the PD (long story) and his other was soaking wet from the rain and he was positive it was shrinking so he only had the veggie tie left. The reason *why* he had bought that tie, and the reason *why* he had brought it were two even longer stories. They exited the car carefully, and walked to the front entrance to find the door had been smashed open and a high pitched screaming coming for inside. All the agents unholstered their guns and ran in, the men in lead. Scully and Webster followed the voice to find Mrs Smithson bleeding from many bullet wounds and smoking (not cigarettes) from flames. She was burning. Webster screamed a girlie scream and bolted to the bathroom and threw up his lunch. Scully went into the bathroom and told him to run a bath. "Do I smell that bad?" he asked confused. "No you blundering fool, just *do* it!" Scully screamed and ran back to help the suffering Elizabeth. -----X Meanwhile, Mulder, Taylor and Roberts were running around the house like headless chickens. Mulder ran from the sitting room to the kitchen to the sitting room again while Roberts and Taylor ended up chasing each other. They finally stopped when they heard a "YEOW!" come from the sitting room. The two agents ran in to find Mulder rolling on the floor in pain. "Mulder, what happened?" Taylor said rushing to his side. "Damn fire!" he gestured to the open fireplace. Bits of hot ash occasionally fluttered out onto the marble plinth. Mulder came to his senses, grabbed his gun and decided it was time for a plan. "Okay, we are gonna have to use our brains" Mulder said. "Damn" Roberts muttered. "Okay, Taylor...you and Roberts take the downstairs and check the front yard and out the back, I'll go upstairs" With that they all nodded and went their ways. Meanwhile... -----X Scully's fingers were burning from the immense heat being emitted for Mrs. Smithson. She couldn't touch her and she hated that she could help the poor women. Elizabeth was muttering something between the outcries of pain, but no one could make sense of it. "What's she saying?" Webster said. He had finished feeling sick. "How the Hell should I know. I'm a pathologist, not a translator!" she screamed over the load volume f noise coming from the burning women. Mulder burst through the door, gun in hand. He then ran to the bathroom and threw up too. Scully rolled her eyes, She then took off her coat, soaked it in the water in the bath and wrapped it around the poor woman. The Scully guided her to the bath and pushed her in. A few minutes later, when the smoke had cleared, Scully could see the extent of her injuries. The water had turned red from the blood. She had four gunshot wounds, one in the right shoulder, one in the left arm and two in her right thigh. She also had first degree burns. Webster called for an ambulance. "Well, who ever shot her wasn't a very good aim" Mulder said. Scully looked at him with a disgusted look. "Mulder" she whispered. She didn't want to alarm the still suffering woman, "this woman is dying and you try to 'lighten' the mood with a joke! Can you be anymore *insensitive*! You men are all the same: weak stomachs and bad timing!" "Hey come on Scully you have to admit, it was a horrific sight to see" "That's no excuse Mulder, this woman may have valuable evidence for our case and could have been injured to 'shut her up', and you think it's funny!" Scully had had it. Mulder gave a puppy dog eyed look again, then, when he realised it hadn't worked he ran back out of the room to continue his search. -----X Roberts and Taylor were acting like Commando and Rambo put together but gone seriously wrong in the 'mental' area. They ran around the back garden, covering each other's backs and nearly shot the dog, which had been locked in the garden shed. They heard the sirens of the ambulance and asked what was going on. They directed the paramedics upstairs and then resumed their pathetic attempt of searching. -----X Mulder had checked all the rooms up stairs, from the bedrooms to the linen closet. This house was very big and he was out of breath from running from one side to the other. He found another set of stairs and cautiously made his way up them. He heard Scully calling his name but he couldn't be bothered to reply. He carefully unlocked the door...slowly opened it a crack ...and then he...was met by the barrel of a rather scary looking gun. "Agent Mulder, I will advise you to be more careful in the future. Anyone could come up behind you and kill you. Will you ever learn" It was X. Mulder relaxed as he heard the voice and the gun went down. He still felt a tad uncomfortable as the loaded weapon was aimed at a rather 'delicate' area. "What are you doing here?" Mulder asked suspiciously as he reholstered his own weapon. "Mister Mulder, leave this alone" "No, why should I?" Mulder pointed out. "Mister Mulder, this is non of your business. These small town people are of no consequence to your quest" "Why? Why are these people dying? What did Dan Blyth have to do with this? What was done to Kathryn Willis? Why are you here? Why should I give up this investigation? And why did I buy this damn tie!?" he stopped his tirade of questions for a chance to breathe. "Mister Mulder, they are dying because they interfered. Kathryn Willis did have something done to her..." he was cut off by Mulder. "You mean, she was abducted and tested on, like Agent Scully. What did they do to her?" Mulder wanted answers, but he knew it was pointless because this guy never gave answers. "Mister Mulder, similar things did happen to Miss Willis as to your partner. Mr Blyth, he merely stumbled onto something he shouldn't of and was...taken care of" "Okay, why are you here?" "To stop you from making a huge mistake, Mister Mulder" "Like what?" "Like...wearing that bad tie" Mulder pulled his over coat closer together to cover the bad fashion error. "And what else?" "Mister Mulder, just leave this alone, you are not ready for this" "Why?" "Well, because..." "Because...?" "Just because. You will get no more answers from me" "Very well, just one more question. Why the Hell do you keep calling me *Mister* Mulder?" "Why is the earth round?" X replied, not giving any more answers away. This answer made no sense to Mulder. He stood there for a while in the dim attic of the large house as X slowly made his way into the shadows. Mulder stood there, Mulder turned to leave to find Scully, when suddenly the butt of a gun came crashing down on the back of his head and knocked him out cold. As Mulder fell to the floor he heard X say, "Like I said before, will you ever learn" Then everything around Mulder descended into a black nothingness. --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 3/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X Well? What do you think so far? Good? Bad? Boring? Not funny? Too long? Anything? Well...mail me! (even if you have nothing to do and your bored! - hopefully not from this fanfic!) My addy is...Trustyone@thewebbs.demon.co.uk Look out for part 4!!!!!! -----X----- --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities IV: Mistakes and Solutions by Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X Viva-Viva Motel Prescott, Arizona August 11 7:27pm The muffled noises slowly seeped into his ears, reaching his brain. The dark feeling of nothingness gently lifted from his eyes and he could make out - although it was still slightly blurry - the concerned looking red haired Dana Scully sat over him with a cool, wet cloth on his thumping forehead. "Mulder?" Scully's concern was evident. "Huh?...Wha...Where am I?" Fox Mulder said, confusion and pain registering like a bad hangover from a New Year's Eve party he had been to a quite few years ago, in the days when Phoebe Greene was in his life. His head was the worst, but his back felt sore and he felt a clamminess on his left arm. He guessed it was a blood soaked bandage. Scully smiled, she was extremely relived to see that he knew who she was. After she had heard the load but dull thuds of Mulder falling down the stairs, she became worried that he had got into another dangerously close shave with a shadowy person. "You're in the motel. You fell after the ambulance left with Mrs. Smithson and I wasn't gonna drive your sorry ass down to the general hospital seeing as though you were breathing and I'm a doctor. I didn't spend all that time in med school for nothing, you know!" She chuckled nervously, trying to mask her concern for her partner. "Scully, I'm fine!" he said trying to sit up. He knew she was worried, which was unnecessary, but he was giving her the same excuse she gave him when she was troubled, which made her not believe him. He gave up and returned to his laying position because his head started to spin as he moved. "Oh, right and do you make a habit of falling down the stairs? Or were you bored?" "Fall? Down the stairs? Come on Scully, I'm not *that* weird!" "Then what happened?" Agent Charlotte Taylor's voice spoke up. Mulder hadn't been aware of anyone else in the room. He couldn't see the agent, but he guessed that the other two rookie agents were here too. "Well, I found the intruder in the attic. We had a deep, meaningful conversation about the weather, why he nearly killed Mrs Smithson, his other motives, fashionable clothes of the season, etc, then he hit me over the head with a gun, then presumably pushed me down the stairs! You know Scully, the usual!" He felt really stupid talking to the ceiling. "Well, did he acually give you any tips for dress sense?" Scully deadpanned. "Scully, I have a bruised and aching back, an extremely sore head, and badly cut arm, but *that* really hurt. How could you insult my taste in ties?!?" "It's not just the ties I'm talking about!" She chuckled along with some brief sniggers from the others. "Hopefully, the knock to the head, knocked some fashion sense into you!" "Scully, where did this retaliation spring from? Are you sure your even Scully?" He smiled as she did. His vision was clearing quickly now. "So who was the person in the attic?" Agent Andrew Webster asked, getting back down to business. "Umm...dunno...couldn't really see it was dark up there you know!" Mulder answered, Scully knew he knew more than he was letting on. "Was it dark when you bought that tie?!?" Scully was having a lot of fun insulting her partner. "Jesus Scully! I'm a sick man" He tried to move again, but his head told him otherwise. Scully gently helped him up a bit, propping him up with some pillows. "So, what happened to Mrs Smithson?" Mulder asked after a wave of nausea subsided. "She...died on arrival. Massive blood loss due to several bullet wounds and extreme trauma to the dermis layer" Taylor said flatly. "Back to square one" Scully pointed out grimly "If we get no further leads in the next 24 hours, I say we head back to DC" she finished. "No! We can't. Blyth and Smithson both knew something. They are both connected to Willis. I say we go back and check all three houses. What time is it?" Mulder said with determination. "Oh no, G-man. No more heroics for you tonight, you need to rest. And there is NOTHING here!" Scully's doctor and unarguable tone of voice made him stay put. "Which room am I in?" he asked. "Mine and Taylor's. You're staying here. If you move you'll probably collapse or throw up again" "Again?" he asked confused. "Yeah, don't you remember? When you found me with Mrs Smithson?" she asked suprised. Mulder groaned at the embarrassing thought. "Well, where are you gonna sleep Scully? Taylor?" "Taylor's gonna be in your room, I'll stay here" she informed Mulder, and everyone. The other agents' eyebrows went up in questioning glances to the each other. Scully simply sighed, she had no time or energy to argue that nothing was going on. She ushered the others out of the room. Even Mulder's eyebrows went up. "Why Scully...I didn't know you were the type of woman to take advantage of an injured man?!?" He was wearing a devilish grin on his face. He was suddenly met with a pillow in his face. The other agents laughed. "Hey, early night, we wanna be bright and early tomorrow" Mulder said with a grin looking at the still slightly fuzzy figures of the agents. "What? You mean another up-at-six-a.m.-early-start?" Matthew Roberts said with a sigh. "Hell, no. Three a.m. early start. We are gonna be combing all three houses with a fine toothcomb, believe me!" All four other agents groaned. "Believe him" Scully said glumly. Taylor, Roberts and Webster left the room and decided to shower and then go to bed. It was gonna be a *long* day tomorrow. Scully closed the door, had a quick hot shower herself and changed for bed. She was wearing baby blue pyjamas and Mulder thought they looked gorgeous on her. They really brought out her eyes. he thought, <*Everything* she wears brings out her eyes, or her hair!> She settled down in the other bed ready for a good night's sleep. Mulder was still propped up, but he was too wired to go to sleep. He was thinking about what X had said. He could hear a soft sigh escape Scully's lips as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Mulder thought that if he got up quietly he wouldn't wake her. He slowly raised his lanky form from the comfy warm bed. He only had to straighten up a few more inches and he would be on his feet to move around. But he collapsed back on the bed as his head started spinning and whirling like a bad carnival ride. The dull thump of Mulder landing on his ass made Scully see what was up. She turned over slowly as if she were asleep to see Mulder trying to stand up. "Mulder, where do you think you are going?" Her authoritative tone startled him and fell back to the bed. "Scully...come on. I have to get up" "No you don't! Now go to sleep. Are really so noisy and active during the night?" she was slightly annoyed. "Well, Scully, if you really want to know if I'm so active during the night then you'll have to find out first hand" He wiggled his eyebrows and spoke in a low sexy voice, which made the hairs on her neck stand up, made her spine tingle and made her smile. She got up herself to help him back into bed. He was thankful for her being there, as always. Ever since she had been 'returned', he had been thankful she was back. "Scully, before you tuck me into bed could you help me with something?" he said with puppy dog eyes and a pouting lip. It got her every time. "Sure. What?" "Can you help me up?" he held is expression. She sighed in defeat. "Why do you want to get up?" she asked, a slight smile on her face. She was relieved he was alright. No permanent damage done. "I need to pee" he said flatly. She let out another sigh and the smile vanished. --------------X Viva-Viva Motel Scully's room Prescott, Arizona August 12 2:12am Scully awoke to the gentle humming of a male voice. She stirred slightly and turned over. Her heavy head told her it was way too early to get up. A few minutes later she realised that it was a male voice and she jolted upright wondering what the Hell was going on. She looked on the floor to see a shirt, trousers, socks, and a shoulder holster strewn on the fading green carpet. She was extremely tired and was still not 100% with it yet. She was, to some degree, still asleep. She began to have a bad feeling that she had 'rebelled' again and brought a guy back with her. She hoped the guy wasn't called Ed, she had a tendency to get into trouble with guy's named Ed. She began to feel guilty. she thought to herself. She hadn't budged from her seated position. Her conscience answered her with, the sarcasm evident in her mind and it scolded her for being so blind. She answered back, Scully slipped out of the warm confines of the bed and hurriedly began to pick up the mess of clothing. She went around the bed to find a hideous tie on the floor. She reeled back in horror. She mentally slapped herself out of gawking open mouthed at the hideous tie on the bed as Mulder entered the room, clad only in a white towel. Her heart went to her throat, she would give anything to be that towel right now. "Hey Scully! You're awake!" he said cheerfully. He took the clothes from her hands and started back to the bathroom. She stood there like a lifeless lemon, staring at his bare, muscular, absolutely to-die-for, gorgeous chest. She mentally slapped herself again. "Huh?!...Uhh...yeah, I'm up. I'm raring to go!" she ran to the large, similarly white, towel that was draped over the heater and started for the bathroom too. "Scully, is anything...wrong?" he showed concern in his voice as well as his facial expression. "What?" she was staring at his chest and didn't realise. She was also having 'naughty' thought concerning her 'platonic- relationship' partner, "I just want a shower. I'm groggy too. Lack of sleep doesn't help you know!" "Okay, I'll get dressed while you take a shower" He held the door for Scully to go into the bathroom. Then, she saw the bandage on his arm and the memories of the previous day came flooding back, to her relief. How could she have been so stupid!?!?! she thought. "How's the arm?" she said regaining her Scully-like composure. "Fine. Thanks for the handy-work!" He gestured to the neatly wrapped bandage. She shrugged. She went into the bathroom, Mulder closed the door and she ran the already hot water for a refreshing shower. She quickly hurried out again as she had forgotten to get some clean underwear and her suit. She was *not* going to come out with just a towel on. She startled Mulder as she ran back into the room. "Hey!" he said, pulling up the towel to cover his modesty. "Mulder, when you've seen one, you've seen 'em all!" she smiled back at him as he blushed. He remembered the time with the digital tape when his water had been tainted with drugs. He had stayed at Scully's the night after his father had been shot. She had undressed him, completely, so he could have a shower. He had been too sick to do it himself. As Scully rummaged around in the drawer to finds the garments she required, Mulder noticed that his partner was showing rather a lot of flesh. Those pyjama bottoms were extremely short, he thought with a smile. His mind began to wander like hers had before. He imagined extremely erotic scenarios with his partner, him and... His conscience was right. He brought his mind back to the real world, keeping the towel where it should be was his main priority. Scully dashed back into the bathroom and slammed the door. he thought, as he began to get dressed. -----X Half an hour later Scully was dressed in a navy blue skirt suit, hair styled and make up on. Mulder was also dressed, hair combed and waiting outside his room. They stood outside the door glancing around the dim corridor. They couldn't see a lot because it was still dark. They were waiting for agent Taylor to finish dressing herself after she had been moved last night. Scully had threatened Mulder with the silent treatment if he wore the tomato and carrot tie again today. He knew not to mess with a Scully woman and obliged. The other men were getting take out coffee and bagels from the diner across the road, although Mulder preferred the Accoday Diner. Taylor emerged from Mulder's room with a navy silk tie and clean shirt in her hand. Mulder grabbed them and dashed into the room, got changed and was out again in less than two minutes. He had caught up with the two women as they had walked off. They hadn't even reached the lobby. All the agents assembled in the lobby of the motel. It was rather rundown. The paint was peeling of the walls in the far corners. There was a faint mist of cigar smoke, which came for the fat, balding man who was sat behind the reception desk all the time. He had numerous stains on his vest, which Scully really didn't want to know where they had originated. Plus he kept smiling and winking at her in such a disgusting and sleazy way that it made her want to vomit. They walked out of the smoky lobby and got into one of the rental cars. They were all going to be together the whole day so they thought it best, and cheaper concerning fuel bills, to go in one car. They all ate and drank quickly, ignoring the fact that the coffee was cold and the bagels were stale. At least it was a source of nourishment and caffeine, my God they were gonna need it. She glanced at her watch. It was only 3:02am. Mulder briefed them all on what to look for and how to look for 'it' as they drove to the Willis house. They didn't even know what the 'it' was! The agents in the back looked like zombies. They practically had to hold their eyelids up to stay awake. Scully just felt lazy and sleepy. Mulder was fully alert and raring to go. She just wanted to slap him. They drove for fifteen minutes to the victim's house in silence. When they got there the three agents in the back fell out of the car. Mulder gracefully jumped out. Scully sat there, unable to move. she thought glumly and staggered out of the car herself and went to catch up with the others. ----------------X Willis residence Prescott, Arizona August 12 3:07am Scully snapped on a latex glove. The snapping sound of the rubber hitting her arm echoed around the sitting room. She sifted through a load of papers and documents that were in wooden cabinet drawers which she had placed onto the floor.They were mainly bills, bank statements and invoices. Nothing of help to the case. She went to the next drawer, then the next and the next. Still nothing. She had a positive feeling that they wouldn't find anything, she knew they wouldn't. She pushed her other, uncovered hand through her auburn hair and rose from her crouched postion. She tiredly made her way over to the large oak desk on the opposite side of pale coloured sitting room and opened the draw. She didn't feel optimistic about finding anything she thought glumly. ---------------X Willis residence Prscott, Arizona August 12 3:07am Mulder was on a wave of energy and he didn't seem to be falling of it any time in the near future. He had already cleaned out two bedrooms, from floor to ceiling. Nothing so far, but that didn't deter him in the slightest. Now he was in the bedroom where the first victim had died. The charred bed sheets had long since gone and now there was only the bare bed. He began to rummage around in her drawers of the victim's vanity unit. Still nothing. He turned to the mattress, took out his Swiss arm knife he thought sarcastically, and slit the top cover of the mattress from corner to corner. Then he peeled away the material and pulled out of padding of the mattress. Nothing. He sat on the bed, lost for ideas he scolded his oh-so-brilliant mind for not giving him the usual this- is-correct-but-out-there theory. He hopped off the bed and continued to look around, turning things over, and smashing anything and everything that could hide things in them. He then went through everything in the connecting bathroom suite. He even crawled for a few metres through the air vents in search of anything, but instead he found dead insects and dust. He decided that there was nothing upstairs and went to see if the others had got anything. -----X Taylor was absolutely exhausted, she hated Mulder. she thought, she was not, and I mean NOT, going to ever work with this raving lunatic-come-insomniac again. She began to feel sorry for Scully, having to put up with the jerk for seasons on end. How did she keep her sanity! Always worrying about if he was dead, etc. She had the 'duty' of searching in the attic. It was dark, damp, dirty, dusty, and cluttered. She was going to be here for hours, she just knew it! She hoped someone would bring here some coffee on an hourly basis, her eyelids were going to need it, as well as her sanity. The stacks of cardboard boxes loomed over her, threatening to topple over and engulf her small form. She sighed heavily and resumed her search coming across a large broken mirror. Her hair had started to fall out of it's neat style and her suit was extremely dusty She continued the lame search through boxes and bags of various junk, which you would only find in the attic. She was glad at least that she hadn't frawn the short straw of the basement. Roberts had been granted with that straw. She leafed through some old photo albums, scrapbooks, anything and everything that she found. She was totally lost. she asked herself, totally bemused with confusion. She looked around her, squinting at the lack of light which aided her eyes. She lloked back at the book and threw it at the broken mirror, making more shards of glass fell to the dusty, wooden floor boards. She sat back in pure boredom. she thought with a sigh, while wondering where the Hell Mulder got his theories, ideas, and bad ties from. she thought, getting to her feet. She stood up, surveying the mess and stuff around her. She spotted another collection of boxes, which seemed to have been untouched for years. She wiped away the thick layer of dust and set about working. she thought, throwing out the objects with anger. she thought depressed, looking at the useless objects which were now strewnd across the floor. ---------------X Willis residence Prescott, Arizona August 12 3:07am Scully sat on the now plastic covered sofa leafing through some large books. She heard a scuffling outside the large window, which made her look up. She was now aware of her surroundings (well as best as she could be considering her lack of rest and endless work). She set the book down on the sofa and unholstered her gun. She slowly crept towards the large bay window and positioned herself behind one of the deep red drape curtains. She took a cautious glance outside. No one there. There was another rustling sound. She always looked for the logical reasonings first, but since being paired with 'Spooky' Mulder, she had to think more like 'so-who-followed-me-home-today'. Ever since Eugene Tooms broke in to her house, she has been a lot more aware. More rustling and now a silhouette outside near the edge of the rose bed, which was set in front of the window. The person was acting really suspect, the way they were creeping along, crouched near the ground. Scully darted out of the sitting room, into the hall towards the front door. She couldn't call for the others as the door was open and the person would have been within ear shot if she had shouted someone. She decided to brave it, she hadn't fought with freaks, mutants, and weirdoes and not learn something about bravery to face potentially lethally violent individuals. I mean, she faced those type of people (if you could call them people) every workday. She slipped through the narrow opening of the front door slowly and hid behind one of the pillars that held up the overhang of the front porch. She could still make out the shadowy figure but not his facial features. Suddenly the person moved, as if sensing someone was watching. The person quickly moved in the opposite direction to the back of the house. Scully ran after the figure. Even thought she only had small legs she soon caught up with the guy, but only because the person was not running full speed. She sprinted forward, summoning all the power she could into her legs and then she tackled the person to the ground. The mysterious person turned around as he fell over, the back of his head falling into the soft soil of another rose bed in the back garden. "FBI, put your hands were I can see them!" she barked. She was sort of lying on the intruder to stop him from moving about and pointing a gun at his head. "No sudden movements or I'll blow your head off!" she added quickly. The figure suddenly stopped squirming. She couldn't make out any facial features, as it was extremely dark to tell her who it was until a voice spoke up. "Why Scully, I never knew you thought of me like this!" Mulder deadpanned, gesturing to they way she was straddled on top of her partner. "JESUS MULDER!!!!!!!! WHAT THE *HELL* DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!!!!!!!!!!!" she shouted at him, getting to her feet and helping Mulder to his by pulling him up by the arm. "I was just searching around the area where Dan Blyth died. He may of...had something...in his possession...which...could be helpful" he stammered, sensing that his fiery haired partner was glaring at him with an equally fiery stare. "Mulder, don't you think they persons who killed him would have *confiscated* the evidence!" she bluntly pointed out. He was clever but some things just passed him by that were so obvious. He stood there, dirty and creased, contemplating what she had just said. Scully turned on her heel and walked back into the house. Mulder followed suit. Scully sighed in frustration, she had had it with Mulder's antics. She just wanted to slap him, or just kick his ass. She was so wound up it was unbelieveable, and Mulder knew her well. He knew the signs. he thought, shuddering at the thought of what lasting injuries his partner could inflict on him with a scalpel. He hated pathologists, but Scully just frightened him sometimes, but he liked that, the fear he smacked himself. Scully, beginning to calm down, looked at the dirt-covered Mulder, and his hurt, innocent expression she screamed at herself. They looked at each other, and just knew it was going to be one of those days. --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 4/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X