From: Agent DM <agentdm@onlink.net>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 00:48:21 -0500
Subject: EP> Standin at the Cross Roads 14/25 NC-17

TITLE: Standin' at the
Crossroads
(Part 14 of 25)

Mulder was looking at her and his face was so blandly neutral that she 
wanted to rush over and slap the look off it.

"You're telling me that something forced you to orgasm in front of the 
police station?"  Mulder asked carefully.

"Well, I didn't think the location mattered much, Mulder.." she replied 
miserably.

"No, I suppose not," he answered musing.

"Well, don't you think that sounds a little strange!?" she asked 
shrilly.

"Wait here a second, Scully, ok, I have to get something I want to show 
you," he said abruptly getting up and walking to the door, "just hold 
that thought, all right, I'll be right back," and he opened the door and 
walked out.  She could hear him cross the hall to his room and then he 
returned carrying *The Book of Ceremonial Magic*.

"Scully look at this all right? I've marked the pertinent passages."
Scully started to read the text.  The first part described something 
called *The Mysteries of the Goetic Theurgy*, and there was page after 
page of arcane names, all of which were supposed to be names of demons, 
and what they looked like, and what they did.  There was one that Mulder 
had underlined, Saleos, and he was some kind of great demon duke that 
promoted lust between the sexes and gained strength and power from a 
couples union.

"Mulder, this is really strange stuff," Scully said quietly, looking up 
from the book.

"I know, but keep reading, please," Mulder asked.

Scully read on.  The text mentioned the rituals for summoning the 
demons, and the special symbols that signified each demon, and how to 
bind the demons to your will. There were even copies of grotesque 
medieval woodcuts depicting each demon. The text also mentioned circles 
of standing stones being used as a setting for conjuration, and runic 
symbols used to attract worthy human sacrifices.

"God, Mulder,"  Scully whispered.

"Listen, Scully , I read in another book before we came up here, that 
some of these demons inspire such lust in people that they can't help 
but..well, they fuck themselves to hell, so to speak," he breathed out 
raggedly. "I mean once they're summoned by the runes the sacrifice is 
easy because they're so besotted with lust that they don't know what's 
about to happen."

"Good Lord," Scully whispered.

"So, let's suppose I'm right and someone used the runes to summon 
Skinner, and then me, and then you too.  Sort of a buy one, get two for 
free, sale,"  Mulder stated, "God, I wish I had more to go on though, 
I'm basing a lot of my ideas on just gut hunches here, I really need to 
go back to town and try to find some concrete answers."

"And you think whoever is doing this magic...that they forced me to have 
those, those carnal thoughts about you..." she said it before she even 
realized she had, and her face felt hot under Mulder's gaze.

"About me?" he whispered gently, "Oh, Scully, I, I don't, oh..." he 
whispered.

"You mean you had no idea?"  she asked looking up into his face.

"Well, I..I.." he stammered and then he sat down heavily on the bed next 
to her.

"Yeah, I had more than an idea, I guess," he confessed looking at his 
hands.

"Oh, Mulder," she whispered, putting the book down and touching his arm.  
"When I was forced to have those thoughts it was so horrible partly 
because, well, partly because I have imagined what it might be like for 
us to make love.  And what those images were showing me, it wasn't 
making love, it was like two beasts, animals, fucking.  It was nothing 
like what I'd, what I'd like us to experience together. It made me 
sick," she said in a very small voice.

"Scully..." Mulder replied his voice sad.

"And, Mulder, that's why I prayed, I prayed to make it stop  because I 
didn't want to have to think of us..."

Mulder put his arm around her shoulders, "Scully, it's ok, I understand, 
I know, don't worry," he said as he rubbed her arm, "I've imagined what 
it would be like to make love to you too, and more times then I can 
count. Scully, I've wanted you for so long, but I want it to be the 
right time, a special moment between us, not under some kind of threat 
of losing our souls, or under some kind of chemically induced compulsive 
hallucination.  I want it to be us, and I want it to be real, 
because...well, because I love you."

She was shaking slightly and he put his hand under her chin and pulled 
her face up to his.  He bent forward and gently pressed a kiss to her 
lips. It was so light, and tender that Scully hardly realized he was 
kissing her.  Mulder left her lips and pulled her close.  Her head 
rested easily under his chin and they sat together like that for quite 
some time.

"Mulder?" Scully asked.

"Hmmm," he answered breathing against her hair.

"I love you too," she said, barely audibly, and if, if you'd ever want 
to make love to me, I wouldn't dream of saying no," Scully whispered.
 
Mulder pulled her a bit closer, but he didn't move, and he didn't say 
another word. 

Presently Scully sighed and said, "I still hope Maggie isn't involved in 
any of this."

"Me too. I really do want Skinner to be happy, Scully, he may be a royal 
pain in the ass, but the guy has guts, and I think he goes to bat for us 
more then we might realize," Mulder replied.  "I hope when we go into 
town tomorrow we find out she's the last person in the world that could 
be conjuring demons or sending chemically treated letters for that 
matter."

"Mulder?" Scully asked.

"Yes?"

"I think I hear a car," and they went downstairs to meet Skinner and 
Maggie Flynn.

Dinner that night was even more wonderful then the night before if that 
was possible. All traces of Scully's upset stomach seemed to have 
disappeared and she was very grateful because now she was hungry and the 
food looked delicious.

The table was set again, the lights were out, and candles were burning 
everywhere.  Maggie had steamed oysters for them all, and Skinner had 
made the salad.  It was excellent, and Skinner finally admitted to a 
hidden talent that neither Mulder nor Scully knew he possessed - he 
loved to cook, and he was really quite good in the kitchen.  There was 
fresh French bread, and a fragrant and fruity local wine that Maggie 
thought they'd all like to try.

Throughout the meal Maggie and Skinner were so caught up in each other 
that it was almost painful to watch.  But gradually, maybe due to the 
wine, or the pleasant sea breeze that circulated about, or the candles 
or maybe what they had said to each other that afternoon, Mulder and 
Scully began to feel some of the joy that Skinner and Maggie were 
experiencing.

Scully watched Mulder almost continuously, and when he looked her way 
she was usually smiling.  Mulder came out of himself more then she had 
ever seen him do, and he was really very funny, so she couldn't help but 
laugh at his jokes.

By the end of the meal all of them were tired from laughing and almost 
full to the brim.

"Why don't you all go out on the front porch and I'll bring out some 
coffee,"  Maggie said as they sat back in their chairs.

"I should help, Maggie,"  Scully said as Maggie got up to go into the 
kitchen.  "Thanks, Dana, we can carry everything out a lot faster that 
way," and as the two women made their exit, Mulder and Skinner walked 
out of the dining room and through the house to the front porch.

It was a crystal clear night and Skinner leaned up against the porch 
railing and looked up at the stars.  Mulder stood by the railing, a 
little farther down than Skinner, and leaned over to look up under the 
over hang at the sky as well.

"Mulder?" Skinner said.

"Yes, Sir?" Mulder replied.

"Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live your life 
over again?" Skinner asked.

Mulder decided to be honest, "Uh, Yes Sir, probably at least once a 
day."

Skinner looked over at him but in the shadows it was hard to read the 
expression on his face.

"Well, Mulder, I think I might be getting a chance to do that now," 
Skinner replied quietly.

"Now, here?" Mulder asked.

"Yes, here with Maggie," Skinner replied turning to look at Mulder.

"Mulder, listen, when you and Scully get done with the investigation 
here, I want the two of you to go back to DC without me, all right. I'm, 
uh, I'm going to stay here for a while," Skinner replied.

Mulder could tell he was completely serious, and even though part of his 
mind told him something might have been wrong with Skinner's decision he 
couldn't bring himself to criticize him.

"All right, Sir, and for what it's worth, I wish the two of you the 
best, I really mean it," Mulder replied.

Skinner cleared his throat and looking at Mulder replied, "Thanks, Fox."

-End of Part 14-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 15 of 25)

"Coffee anyone?"  Maggie was saying as she and Scully came out onto the 
porch.  She put the tray with the pot and cups down on one of the small 
tables that lined the porch.  Scully was right behind her carrying the 
cream and sugar bowls as well as a fist full of spoons.

"Here, let me take those," Mulder offered as Scully tried to juggle the 
spoons onto the tray.  As he took the spoons their hands touched and 
Mulder maintained the contact for a moment longer then was necessary.

Scully actually flushed and they did an awkward little dance as Mulder 
finally got the spoons away from her and onto the tray.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mulder thought he saw Skinner staring at 
them with more than average interest.

"All right, you guys, pour some coffee, we're making another trip for 
pie," Maggie laughed as both Skinner and Mulder groaned loudly.

"Now, no complaints, especially from you, Fox, you agreed to try my 
apple pie, after all," Maggie teased.

"I surrender, you've convinced me," Mulder answered, hands raised in 
mock surrender.

As soon as the women had left the porch again, Skinner crossed his arms 
and smiled at Mulder.

"What?"  Mulder asked, noticing Skinner's *cat that ate the canary 
look*.

"Agent Mulder, I'm going to give you a piece of your own advice, all 
right?" Skinner began.

"Sir?"  Mulder asked confused.

"Go with the flow, Mulder," he finished.

Mulder repeated the phrase in his mind as if Skinner had spoken in a 
foreign language. Then it dawned on Mulder what he meant, and Mulder 
felt his ears get hot.

"Ah, Sir, it's not what you think..." Mulder started, and then he told 
himself, 'Of course it's what he thinks you nitwit.'

"Oh, come on Mulder, I saw the way you looked at her, not to mention the 
way she looked at you..." Skinner let his voice trail off.

Mulder was suddenly in the unique position of feeling like Assistant 
Director Walter Skinner was the older brother he had never had, and he 
was advising him on how to handle his first girlfriend.  It was an 
awkward and uncomfortable feeling.

"Well, uh," he stammered.  This was getting worse by the minute. Now he 
sounded like his voice was changing, "Sir, we both know it's against FBI 
policy for two agents, partners I mean, to fraternize because..."

Skinner burst out laughing.  "Jesus, Mulder, you poor son of a bitch, 
you sound just like me."

Mulder looked over at him and just stared as he continued, "or at least 
just like I used to sound," he finished more subdued.

"Thank you," Mulder replied grimly.

"Listen, Mulder, and don't take offense all right, but if I were you, 
I'd take Scully out for a walk tonight, just get her alone somehow, and 
tell her how you feel about her.  It'll do you a both a world of good.  
And as for the regulations, fuck 'em.  We're not in DC now, and I don't 
give a shit about the rules, understand?"

Mulder understood.  But what he understood was that something was 
fundamentally wrong with this entire conversation and yeah, he sure as 
hell wanted to get Scully alone, because they needed to discuss this 
little turn of events right away.

Maggie and Scully came back out onto the porch at that point, so Skinner 
was forced to stop giving Mulder his brotherly advice.  Mulder sat 
bewildered, and bemused, as Scully placed a huge piece of pie in front 
of him.

"God, I can't eat all that!" Mulder exclaimed, and everyone burst out 
laughing, and then he did too, as he saw that Maggie had cut the large 
piece as a joke.  She was holding his much smaller piece on a plate 
behind her back.

The pie was delicious and Mulder did manage to eat his entire slice.  
After his cup of coffee, he put down the cup, and looked over at 
Skinner. Skinner gestured towards Scully with his head, and Mulder 
turned away and sighed.  It was obvious Skinner expected him to take the 
bull by the horns, so he decided now was as good a time as any to talk 
to Scully anyway.

"Say, uh, Scully, I think I'm going to stretch my legs a little before I 
go to bed, would you like to come along?"

"All right, Mulder,"  Scully replied and the two of them left the porch 
and walked off across the lawn.

"Mulder, where are we going to walk too?" Scully asked, "There's really 
no place to go, except down the road again."

"Well, it'll have to do, I need to talk to you about Skinner, so come on 
and walk close to me, all right," Mulder replied.

Scully drew up beside him and said, "What's going on?"

"Scully, Skinner isn't going back with us after we're through here, he's 
going to stay here with Maggie,"  Mulder said.

"Oh, I sort of expected something like that after what Maggie said in 
the kitchen," Scully answered.

"What did she say?"  Mulder asked.

"She told me she thought she was falling in love with Skinner, and she 
asked me if I thought it was wrong," Scully answered quietly.

"Wrong?"  Mulder asked, confused.

"Well, she's only been widowed for 2 years.  She just thought it was 
disloyal to her late husband mostly.  Especially since she knew Skinner 
before and he was her first..."

"He was her first love?"  Mulder asked.

"So I gathered," Scully replied, "And I don't know if it's important but 
she told me she was the first for him too."

"God," Mulder said.

"Listen, Scully, I'm beginning to get a little worried.  I mean, this 
thing with Maggie and Skinner, it's really nice and all, and I want to 
be happy for Skinner, like I said before, but, well he said something to 
me while you were getting the pie, that was so atypical it really 
spooked me."  Mulder stated, "oh, sorry, no pun intended," he added 
seriously.

"What did he say?" Scully asked stopping to stare up at Mulder.

"He told me that I should go with the flow, stop denying my feelings for 
you, get you alone and then...well, he didn't say I should jump your 
bones, he just implied that we'd both be a lot better off if we admitted 
how we felt."

"Skinner said that?" she asked amazed.

"Yeah, and not only that, when I quoted the regulations on 
fraternization he told me "fuck 'em, we're not in DC anymore, and he 
didn't give a shit about the rules."  Mulder finished.

"That is a little *un-Skinner-like*, I have to admit," Scully replied 
glancing back up to the porch.  She could just make out Skinner and 
Maggie sitting together on the porch swing and although they were 
talking, she thought she saw them looking their way briefly several 
times.

"Mulder, I think they're watching us," Scully whispered moving close to 
Mulder.

"You're kidding?" Mulder raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm sure they're watching," Scully replied and then she squeaked, 
"Mulder what are you doing?" as he took her into his arms.

"I'm giving them a good show," Mulder smiled down at her and then he 
kissed her with his warm, full, pouting lips.  Scully instantly molded 
herself against him and opened her mouth to admit his questing tongue.
'Oh my God,' she thought, he feels so warm,' and she ran her hands up 
the front of his body and then around his neck.  This kiss wasn't like 
the first, it was much longer, hot and eager, and finally Scully had to 
pull back because the heat was getting to be too much.  She staggered 
against him and said, "Mulder, I have to stop," she gasped, "I..."

Mulder's breath was coming in ragged puffs, "Whoa, I'm sorry, I know, 
that got away from me a little bit too.  Are they still watching?" he 
asked.

"No, they're going inside,"  Scully replied.

Despite the fact that the show was over, Mulder didn't let Scully go. 
She was trembling with the intensity of her passion, and he just wanted 
to feel her body against his for a few moments longer.

"Scully, I meant the kiss," he said, "I wasn't just acting for them," he 
said quietly.

"Neither was I, Mulder," she answered.  "But look, we both know this 
isn't the right time for this.  We have to get some rest, and then we 
have to go into town tomorrow and settle this case, one way or the 
other."

"Yeah, I know, you're right, we'd better get some sleep, come on, let's 
go back."  Mulder agreed and they both walked back up towards the porch.

-End of Part 15-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 16 of 25)

Inside the house Scully went upstairs immediately, telling Mulder to 
give her respects to both Maggie and Skinner.  Mulder went into the 
dining room to find Skinner clearing away the dishes from the dinner 
table.  Skinner put down a plate he was holding, and actually came over 
and slapped Mulder on the back.  'Jesus, this is just too much,' Mulder 
thought.  But he did his best to smile, and he was grateful when Skinner 
didn't say anything to him.

"Uh, Scully told me to say goodnight to you and Maggie, and thanks for 
the great meal.  She went up to bed.  I'm going to turn in now too, I 
guess.  We're going to try to go into town as early as possible in the 
morning."  Mulder stated.

"Fine, Mulder, enjoy yourself," Skinner said, and he turned around and 
went into the kitchen.

Mulder shrugged, 'Ok, so now he thinks I'm going to go upstairs and 
really show Scully how I feel about her, I guess,' he thought.  And God, 
he really wanted to. But the phrase "they fucked themselves to hell," 
flew instantly into his mind and he shuddered and turned to go up the 
stairs.

The clock on the mantle in the parlor chimed 2 AM.  Mulder slept and he 
dreamed, and the dreams were sweet.  He was with Scully, and they were 
walking happily, hand in hand on the beach as the sun set, and the gulls 
flew over the surf.  

Dana Scully slept and she dreamed, and the dreams were sweet.  She was 
with Mulder and they were walking happily, hand in hand on the beach as 
the sun set, and the gulls flew over the surf.  

Two stories below in her room, in her bed, Maggie Flynn writhed and 
moaned, "Please, don't, no, I really am trying, please" she pleaded.  A 
guttural, liguid-evil voice resounded loudly in her head, "You'd better 
try harder, bitch, or there's going to be hell to pay,"  and it laughed 
and laughed.  Tonight it felt stronger, better than it had before when 
that red headed bitch had cut off it's pleasure.  The beast had decided 
to leave the red head and her tall, lanky man alone. He'd have them both 
soon enough. They could dream their own dreams for a change.  No, 
tonight it had decided to gather real power, to take the next step with 
this woman, his host, and the man she desired, the one tossing and 
turning in the next room, *The Skinner*, the sacrifice.  Now!, Maggie, 
it said, NOW! and Maggie cried out as the thing inside her head reached 
to touch Skinner's mind.

Walter Skinner was in the jungle.  He was walking through the Vietnam 
jungle.  He was walking point, and suddenly the air was rent with tracer 
fire and there were VC everywhere.  He was firing his rifle and yelling 
for everyone to take cover but there were too many Viet Cong - it was an 
ambush.

He saw his best friend, John Rand go down next to him, the bullet going 
in between his eyes and then out the back of his head, taking most of 
his skull and brains along with it as it exited.  He screamed again and 
again, firing everywhere, and his helmet was knocked off by another of 
his platoon, as the man died grabbing for Skinner's shoulders. Then hot 
shrapnel splattered, and hit his head, and blood poured from multiple 
tiny wounds, and the blood blinded him, and he couldn't see to use his 
weapon. Skinner wailed incoherently as the rounds tore into his groin 
and he fell to his knees and Walter Skinner woke and he was screaming.

"Walter, Walter, it's all right, please, it's me,"  Maggie Flynn cried 
as she sat on the edge of the bed and tried to stop his arms and legs 
from thrashing.

"Maggie, Maggie, what the hell are you doing in here?"  Skinner asked 
totally confused, and not sure if he was still dreaming or not.  He 
stopped struggling, but he was shaking terribly, and Maggie held onto 
his shoulders.

"Walter, my God, my rooms right next door.  I heard you screaming at the 
top of your lungs in here.  I didn't know what was wrong, so I got my 
pass key..." she let her voice trail off as Skinner buried his head in 
her breast and whispered, "God, Maggie, I haven't had a dream like that 
in years.  I was back in Vietnam and oh, God..." and that was all he 
could say.

"Oh, Walter, oh babe," Maggie Flynn replied, rubbing his shoulders, and 
back.

"Maggie, I..." Skinner started to say, but she put her finger to his 
lips, and told him to be quiet, it was all right. He kissed her fingers 
and then he sat up and touched her hair, "Maggie, you've let your hair 
down," and he ran his hand through her raven tresses.  Maggie brought 
her hand up and pressed his to her cheek, and then Skinner smiled and 
took her into his arms.

A low snake-like voice hissed in Maggie Flynn's head, and it said, 
"Ahhhhh, Maggie, that's a good girl, that's so much better, yesssss, so 
much better," as Skinner's mouth began to explore her body.

Dana Scully sat at the dining room table the next morning alone with her 
coffee cup. She had come downstairs as early as she could, and found the 
lower floor deserted so she had gone into the kitchen and started a pot 
in one of the automatic coffee makers.  Now she sat at the dining room 
table with a mug of coffee just the way she liked it in front of her and 
content to wait for someone else to join her.

Mulder came down the stairs, yawning and stretching his back, "Morning," 
he said cheerfully, walking up behind her and touching her hair gently.

"Is that coffee?" he asked looking into her cup.

"Yes it is," she smiled up at him. He was dressed in the same rumpled 
t-shirt he had worn the night before, and his pair of faded jeans, and 
his hair was tousled from sleep and Scully thought he looked incredibly 
handsome.

"Ah, you're a saint, Scully," Mulder replied, and he went into the 
kitchen to help himself to a cup.

The first question out of his mouth when he came back in was, "Where's 
Skinner?"

Scully shrugged her shoulders.  "I haven't seen anyone this morning, I 
guess Skinner and Maggie aren't up yet," she said stifling a yawn 
herself.

Mulder put his coffee cup down and started to head towards the hallway 
that would take him to Skinner's room.

"Mulder, where are you going?" Scully asked even though she knew the 
answer.

"I'm going to play alarm clock," he answered, walking down the hall.

Mulder strode up to Skinner's door and knocked once softly.  There was 
no answer so he knocked a little more forcefully. The louder knock 
brought low sounds from inside.  "Who is it?" Skinner's muffled voice 
came from the other side of the door.

"Sir, it's 6 o'clock," Mulder called through the wood, "I thought you 
might like to know what Scully and I plan to do in town this morning."  

He heard Skinner fumbling around and then his heavy steps as he came to 
the door and unlocked it. He opened it just a crack to peer out at 
Mulder.

"Agent Mulder, it's 6 o'clock," he whispered, bleary eyed behind his 
glasses.  He was bare-chested and only had on his briefs.

"Yes, sir, I just said that," Mulder replied quietly, "but I thought you 
might have some additional suggestions for our trip into...."  Mulder 
was interrupted by a feminine voice coming from somewhere behind 
Skinner.

"Walter, is everything all right?" the voice sighed, barely audible with 
sleep.

Skinner turned his head around and said gently, "Yes, everything's fine, 
go back to sleep," and then he slipped outside the door, shutting it.  
He stood toe to toe with Mulder.

Mulder was speechless as Skinner half smiled at him.

"Well, Mulder," he said running a hand over his head, "I guess I don't 
have any special instructions.  I'll stay here and talk to Maggie a bit 
more, but like I said, I don't think there's much more for her to tell," 
he added.

"So, you'll be ah, you'll be interrogating Maggie then?" Mulder replied 
carefully.

"That's right," Skinner replied, a dreamy smile playing on his lips.

"Fine, Sir, Scully and I will let you know what we discover."

"All right then, you're dismissed," Skinner finished. Mulder turned and 
went back up the hallway.  He didn't look back as he heard the bedroom 
door click shut behind him.

Scully was still sitting at the dining room table and about to pour 
herself another cup of coffee.

"Well?" she asked as Mulder sat down and reached for the coffee pot.

"Skinner's going to stay here and interrogate Maggie Flynn," he replied 
a distracted look on his face.

"Interrogate her, were those his exact words?" Scully asked.

"No, that's what I called it," Mulder replied,  "I'm sure that's not 
what he'd call it..." he let the thought trail off.

Scully looked at Mulder, and then what he was getting at sunk in.

"Oh, Mulder," she replied.  "I don't know if I should be happy or sad 
for him."

"Well, I guess we should go into town and try to determine which is the 
correct way to feel," Mulder replied.

Mulder and Scully pulled up in front of the little museum in downtown 
Crossroads and it was still too early for them to go in, so they waited 
in the Ford again.

"Maybe we should have stopped for a donut," Mulder smiled slightly as 
Scully's stomach made a growling noise.

"I cannot believe I am hungry again after the meal we had last night." 
Scully said shaking her head.  "I'm going to have to go on a diet when 
we get back."

"I know what you mean," Mulder said puffing his cheeks out like a 
chipmunk with a mouth full of seed.

Scully smiled at him.

"Scully, let's try to kill two birds with one stone here.  Why don't you 
go over to the police station and take a look at that file and I'll wait 
here for Henry Merritt to show up."  Mulder suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea,"  Scully replied, "And I should ask at 
the police station about getting the paper analyzed as well. All right, 
if I get done before you, I'll meet you back here."

"And if not, I'll meet you at the police station," Mulder replied.

Scully, all business now, pulled open the passenger side door and left 
for the Crossroads cop shop.

-End of Part 16-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 17 of 25)

Presently, Mulder saw an elderly man walk up to the museum door, unlock 
it and go in.  He gave himself 5 more minutes and then he left the car 
and headed over to the museum, a look of concentration on his face.

The glass case with the standing stone exhibit was to the right of the 
museum door.  Mulder stood in front of it, reading all the material that 
was posted on the wall plaques above the case.  It seemed well 
researched, and told a concise history of the circle, and the fact that 
it had been there when the first settlers had colonized the area, and 
was thought to pre-date them by centuries.  The information went on to 
describe the likely uses for the circle as being determination of the 
planting and harvesting schedules as well as pinpointing certain 
astronomical events which may have had religious or agricultural 
significance to early men in the area. 'That's all fairly run of the 
mill stuff,' Mulder thought.  There was no mention of runes or demons or 
human sacrifice at all.  'Well, I guess there wouldn't be - it might 
hurt the tourist trade,' he mused wryly.

The model of the stone circle was very detailed and showed a talent for 
modeling that impressed Mulder.  The tiny sign on the outside of the 
case said *model by Kevin Boyce*.  As he was kneeling down to get a 
ground level view of the model, he noticed a pair of khaki clad legs 
suddenly standing next to him.  He stood up and looked into the face of 
the thin elderly man who had opened the door, and he was staring at 
Mulder through thick wire rimmed glasses.

"So, I see you're interested in our local mystery," the man said smiling 
broadly, "Henry Merritt," he added extending his hand.

"Fox Mulder," Mulder replied.  This was the point where he usually 
pulled out his FBI identification but something caused him to hesitate 
to do so.

"Nice to meet you, Fox, I'm the curator of this little tourist 
attraction," Merritt replied, sweeping the room with his hand, "Can I 
answer any questions you might have about the exhibit?"

"Well, actually, uh, you could, Mr. Merritt," Mulder replied.

"Hey, Henry will do, son, everyone calls me that around here."

"Well, Henry, I do have some questions regarding the standing stones, do 
you have some time?"  Mulder asked, smiling.

Merritt looked around the room and said, "Well, I don't think there's 
much of a crowd in here to keep me busy," and then he laughed.

Mulder chuckled along with him.

"Listen, do you like jelly donuts?"  Merritt asked.

"Strawberry filled?"  Mulder asked.

"Yup," Merritt asked.

"Love them,"  Mulder answered

"Well, I was just about to have a jelly donut and some coffee in my 
office, if you'd care to join me I can probably answer just about any 
question you'd have regarding those stones," Merritt offered.

Mulder munched on a fresh jelly donut as Merritt fished a clean cup out 
of his desk drawer, and poured coffee into it from the automatic coffee 
pot that sat on a small book case.

"Henry, this donut is excellent,"  Mulder said, chewing.

"Isn't it?  The bakery in town makes them fresh every day.  I can't 
resist them myself, I don't know what I'd do if I had a weight, 
problem," he replied patting his flat stomach.  He handed Mulder the cup 
of coffee.

"Now about those stones?" Mulder said. "I was wondering if they had ever 
been carbon dated?"

"Nope, the town wanted to do it, but Kevin Boyce wasn't interested in 
having it done.  The stones are on his property after all, so the town 
had to respect his wishes."  Merritt replied.

"That's kind of strange, don't you think, for a man that seemed to take 
such an interest in them?"  Mulder asked.

"Well, yes, but I figured maybe he didn't want a lot of university types 
traipsing all over his land.  Kevin liked his privacy.  He had to give a 
lot of it up running that little B&B outside of town, so I guess he 
hoarded what little he had left."  Merritt replied.

"You're talking about him in the past tense, did he move away?" Mulder 
asked playing dumb.

"No, unfortunately, Kevin died about two years ago, fell off that 
friggin' cliff in back of his house.  God, I was so sorry for his poor 
wife," Henry answered quietly.  

Mulder hid his surprise rather well he thought, and he took a sip of his 
coffee and asked, "What about the use for the stones?  Was there ever 
anything else that they may have been used for besides what's written on 
those plaques?"

"You mean the info about the planting and harvesting?"  Merritt asked.

"Yes," Mulder answered.

Henry Merritt sat back in his chair and it creaked under him.  He looked 
at Mulder for a moment and then he said, "Are you a superstitious man, 
Fox?"

"Superstitious, no, but I do have an open mind," he replied.

"Well, an open mind will do nicely," Merritt replied, and then he 
reached around and pulled a very old book from the glass fronted case 
behind him.  "I've been getting these books ready for display," he 
added, "But, you might want to take a look at this one."

"What's written out there in the exhibit is the official politically 
correct information for the tourist trade," Merritt began, opening the 
thin, old volume and placing it on his desk, "ah, here's the passage I'm 
looking for," he said quietly and he slid the book over to Fox Mulder.

Dana Scully was sitting at a desk in the police station pouring over the 
case file for Kevin Boyce's accidental death.  Kevin may have drowned, 
would have probably drowned, if he had survived the fall from the cliff 
near the standing stones.  

The inquest had decided that he had slipped and fallen into the sea, and 
either died from the fall, or drowned afterwards. His body had washed up 
far down shore several days later.  Scully sucked in her breath in 
dismay.  Maggie Flynn had said he had drowned.  She hadn't exactly lied 
outright, but she certainly had left out a lot of information regarding 
his death.  

There were photos of the body in the file and there were large diagonal 
tears across Kevin's chest.  They could have been caused by the fall or 
the time the body had been under water.  But Scully couldn't be sure 
because the marks looked almost like claw marks, and also there was such 
an expression of terror on the dead face of Kevin Boyce that Scully shut 
the file, forgot about analyzing any paper, and got up quickly to go 
meet Mulder.

Mulder was reading the page in the book that Henry Merritt had given 
him.  It was very old, in fact it was a diary of one of the first 
settler's from the area.  The passage described the standing stones and 
how they were a place to avoid, 'let no man drive his cows over the 
spot, or they will cease to give milk, and whither and die,' the diary 
said, and later, 'if a man finds hisself near the spot and darkness 
falls, said man should fall upon his knees and beg the Lord, Our God for 
the salvation of his soul.  Let all ye who settle here be warned, that 
the circle of stones is cursed and let all men know that it be called 
The Devil's Crossroad.'

Mulder looked up at Henry Merritt and said, "Well, I can see why this 
wasn't put in the exhibit."

Henry snorted loudly.

"Do you believe this, Henry?"  Mulder asked no trace of sarcasm in his 
voice.

"Believe it?" Henry repeated, "Well, Fox, I've heard the stories about 
the stones for years. My Dad and my GrandDad used to tell them to me 
when I was young.   They certainly believed them, and I know my father 
wouldn't pass by there at night for all the money in the world."

"The Devil's Crossroad?"  Mulder mused aloud.

"Yup, that's what the old timers call it.  Kevin Boyce was a local lad, 
I can't figure out to this day why he took such an interest in that 
spot.  After he and his wife bought that house and made it into the B&B 
he was really hepped up to turn those stones into a tourist attraction."

"Did he succeed?"

"Oh yes, it worked at least until he died.  His wife hasn't kept up the 
land around the stones at all though, so I expect she doesn't have as 
much interest in them, or she's taken the stories to heart and abandoned 
the damn place,"  Merritt replied.

-End of Part 17-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 18 of 25)

"Henry, you seem to have done a lot of research on the stones,"  Mulder 
stated.

"Yes, well, maybe that's because I have a degree in philosophy and 
comparative religion.  I teach a course on it over at the community 
college in Red Hook.  Fox, I've been interested in the occult for years, 
black magic and demonology, and I've also always thought it's good to 
understand your enemy,"  Henry answered.

"So, you believe in the devil then?"  Mulder asked quietly.

"Son, if you believe in God, then the devil is just a foregone 
conclusion," Merritt answered.

And there may have been the crux of the problem for Mulder.  He wasn't 
sure he believed in God, and therefore, even though he had managed to 
convince himself that something demonic was going on in Crossroads, he 
couldn't quite bring himself to believe it.  In truth, despite his 
espousing of his theories to Scully, he was actually much closer to her 
usual reaction in this type of situation.  He was skeptical.  And the 
thought bothered him because he was beginning to think that a belief in 
God might be the thing that was necessary to get them out of this 
situation alive, sane, and with their souls still their own.

"Henry," Mulder began, "Let's suppose those standing stones are some 
type of nexus for evil, *The Devils Crossroad* if you will. Would 
someone be able to conjure up the devil there somehow?"

"They could probably try to conjure something up out there, if they knew 
the right rituals.  But, well, the devil or as he's also known - 
Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, or the Lord of the Flies - he isn't the 
one most practitioners of black magic would want to conjure up.  The 
cost is too high to bring a big gun like him over to this plane.  He'd 
be too hard to bind.  No, if I was going to conjure something up, I'd 
probably try for some lesser demon.  There are so many of them, and they 
can do so many things for the summoner. You'd have a veritable 
smorgasbord to choose from."

"Would one of those lesser demons be Saleos?"  Mulder asked carefully.

"The duke of lust?" Merritt asked, "I see you've been doing a bit of 
research on the subject, Fox."

"Yes, well, I'm sort of a student of the bizarre and unusual myself,"  
Mulder nodded grinning slightly.

Henry looked at him then and it was obvious the old fellow didn't get to 
talk about his favorite subject with too many people, and the fact that 
Mulder seemed to be a kindred spirit made the old man warm to him even 
more.

"Well, Saleos is a particularly popular lesser demon.  A sorcerer might 
conjure him up to inflame lust in his partner if he was worried the 
other person was straying away from him, or wasn't quite completely 
enamored of him.  If the ritual were done correctly, the magician's 
partner would never want to leave, and their sex life would certainly be 
rather spectacular - at a price.

"What price?" Mulder asked.

"Well, Saleos demands human sacrifices, human souls, just like most of 
the other members of the infernal legions.  The magician would have to 
supply them or else..."

"Or else what?"  Mulder asked.  

"Or else the demon would take the magician, and then because no one was 
binding him anymore, he could pretty much run rampant, gaining strength 
from the fornication of anyone he could influence," Henry replied.

"Gaining in strength, for what?"  Mulder asked, the hairs suddenly 
standing up on the back of his neck.

"Until he was strong enough to use someone to open the gates of hell and 
let his infernal brothers loose to wreck havoc on earth," Merritt 
answered. 

"Whoa!" Mulder exclaimed softly.

"Pretty gruesome hey?"  Merritt replied, "Look, Fox, you don't think 
someone is using the stone circle to perform magical rites do you?"

"Henry, I hope not,"  Mulder answered seriously.

"Son, I've never seen any evidence of it, and I've been up there 
hundreds of times since I was a boy.  Of course I always went with 
protection when I got older."

"Protection?"   Mulder asked.

"Yes, with this," Merritt replied taking a crucifix and chain out from 
under his shirt.

"Oh,"  Mulder replied, "Listen, Henry besides the cross, is there 
anything else that you can use to combat one of these demons."

"Well, Fox the big thing that combats them is faith in God, and symbols,  
of that faith, like this cross. Also admitting they exists helps, 
because the devil operates best when people don't believe in him. Also, 
you can protect yourself by taking refuge in a protective magic circle, 
or by using a base metal such as iron to ground the demon and send him 
back to hell."

"Iron?" Mulder asked.

"Yes, but the iron works best when it's used by someone with faith."

Henry's speech was interrupted by a bell tinkling at the front of the 
museum.

"Oh, it looks like we have some tourist company coming in," Henry smiled 
as he got up.

"Fox, it's been a real pleasure to talk to you.  I guess you can tell I 
don't get much of a chance to discuss this type of thing around here.  
My students at the college aren't too interested in listening to an old 
man talk about God and the Devil."

"It's been my pleasure too, Henry,"  Mulder said shaking his hand.

"Oh, and Fox, if there is something strange going on up there at the 
standing stones, be careful all right?  And if I can help, let me know."

"All right, Henry, thanks,"  Mulder replied following him out into the 
museum proper.  The bell at the door had been Scully coming in, and 
Mulder straightened instantly when he saw her, and smiled.  Henry 
Merritt looked from Mulder to Scully and smiled too.

"Your wife?"  he asked.

"No, uh, at least not yet,"  Mulder replied.  He was surprised he had 
said it, but it wasn't something that sounded wrong to him at that 
moment.

Merritt chuckled and replied, "Well, good luck, son, I hope she says 
yes," and he patted him on the shoulder and turned back towards his 
office.

Mulder ran his hands through his hair and walked to meet Scully. 
"Scully, we have to talk," he said, 

"You must have read my mind, Mulder," Scully replied grimly, as Mulder 
ushered her through the museum door.

Back at the Bed and Breakfast, a black man's blues guitar was playing 
somewhere nearby, and the man was singing "Didn't nobody seem to know me
everybody pass me by. Lord, I'm standing at the crossroads, babe, I 
believe I'm sinkin' down", as Skinner and Maggie Flynn were locked in 
each other's embrace.  Skinner was thrusting into her again, and again, 
and she was telling him to do it harder, and to never stop.  In the back 
of his mind, Skinner realized it was impossible for him to have become 
erect again this quickly, and to stay hard for so long. And he knew that 
after they had used the second of the two condoms Maggie had found in 
her medicine cabinet, it was probably a bad idea to have unprotected 
sex. But the part of his brain that formulated those thoughts was 
rapidly shutting down under the endorphin rush that flooded his cerebral 
cortex.  All that mattered at the moment was the fact that he could keep 
it up, and that she was loving it, and he moaned with pleasure as Maggie 
writhed beneath him.  The black man wailed, "Mmmm, the sun goin' down, 
boy, dark gon' catch me here."

Mulder wanted to take Scully down to the beach and walk with her while 
he told her what Henry Merritt had told him, and what he feared was 
happening.  But, he knew the beach would be crowded with tourists, so 
instead he walked with her back to the Explorer.

"I can't think of anywhere else where we can talk privately, I'm sorry," 
he told her as they got in.  His only concession was to leave the 
windows open a bit, so they could catch the breeze.

-End of Part 18-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 19 of 25)

"Mulder, you go first, all right,"  Scully said.  "I just need to hear 
what you have to say first,"  she said.

So, Mulder told her everything Henry Merritt had said, and Scully's eyes 
got larger as he told her.  When he was finished she replied.

"Mulder, the police report said Kevin Boyce fell from that cliff next to 
the standing stones, no one seemed to know if he was dead when he hit 
the water, so he may have drowned, but..."

"But what?"  Mulder asked.

"But there were these huge slashes on his chest, Mulder.  They could 
have been caused by the fall but, well, I wasn't so sure.  Mulder they 
looked like claw marks."  Scully said.

"Claws.." Mulder let the words trail away.

"And Mulder, his face! Normally in death people's faces are slack, 
expressionless, almost featureless..."  Scully began.

"Yeah, I know, so..." Mulder prompted.

"Well, Kevin Boyce's face was frozen in some kind of rictus of horror, 
Mulder.  He looked like he had been terrified by something and that look 
had never left his face."  Scully finished quietly.

Mulder looked at her and all his fears and suspicions coalesced at once 
into an ugly, black thought and he sighed deeply and looked out the 
windshield into space.

"Mulder?"  Scully asked tentatively.

"Scully, I want to tell you what I think is going on now, and just let 
me ramble, all right?  I'm half thinking it through as I tell you, and 
if you interrupt I might leave out something critical."  Mulder said.

"All right, go ahead,"  Scully replied and shifted to look at his 
profile.

Mulder continued to stare through the front window, but he began to 
talk.

"Scully, let's imagine that seven years ago, when Kevin and Maggie Boyce 
bought the B&B, that something was lurking in those standing stones.  
Maybe some formless evil, biding it's time, waiting for just the right 
person to come along and give it a leg up into this world.  Let's 
suppose this evil was weak. But after this person, Kevin Boyce, came 
along and started to tend to the stones, and make them a tourist 
attraction, spending a lot of time, alone up there - the thing touched 
his mind somehow and started to influence him, to control him.

Scully didn't interrupt and she stared fascinated despite her horror.

"Ok, so let's say this evil being, a demon, influences Kevin to think 
that his loving wife, Maggie is seeing another man, or maybe that she 
still harbors love for a past old flame, and never really loved him in 
the first place, or who knows, maybe they'd been having marital problems 
anyway, and the thing just fed on that situation.  I can't be sure.  At 
any rate, the old flame was Walter Skinner."  Mulder continued glancing 
at Scully.  She remained mute so he plunged on.  

"So the thing makes Kevin get interested in black magic and shows him 
the way to summon it. Kevin succeeds in bringing it into this plane, but 
also in binding it, which didn't make it very happy. The thing grants 
his wish though, because by this time Kevin is desperate to have Maggie 
love him and stay with him, and this being the demon of lust, it was 
only too happy to have the two of them around for endless sexual 
amusement."

"So, over the years the thing feasts on them and their emotions, it 
plays them like a piano, but one day it tells Kevin that he has to pay 
the price for his wish and the price is a human sacrifice.  He says 
anyone will do, but Kevin can't bring himself to do it so..."

"So, the demon killed him and threw him off the cliff to make it look 
like an accident?"  Scully asked quietly.

"Yeah, that's what I think,"  Mulder replied.

"But what about Maggie?"  Scully asked, so afraid to hear his answer.

"Scully," Mulder said painfully, looking at her full on for the first 
time during his recitation, and taking one of her hands.

"That's where the hard part comes in," he said.

"Oh, no, Mulder,"  Scully whispered.

"I think this demon, the demon Saleos, was set free after it killed 
Kevin. But, you  saw the picture of it in the book, you know what it 
looks like.  I think it knew it couldn't walk safely among us in it's 
real form, it's probably still weakened form, weak from escaping the 
binding, and killing Kevin.  So, it took Maggie Flynn, possessed her, 
and used her to house it until it was strong enough..."

"Oh my God, Mulder."  Scully said, and at first Mulder thought she was 
going to disagree with him.  But then she said, "Mulder, Maggie told me 
Kevin used to beat her, that they had been having marital trouble for 
quite some time because he had caught her sending letters to Skinner."

"When did she tell you that?"  Mulder asked.

"When we were in the kitchen alone together those few times. She told me 
about the beatings just before she told me she was falling in love with 
Skinner."

"Shit,"  Mulder said.

"And Mulder, that night we were getting the coffee and pie, the night 
you kissed me again, I told Maggie I thought it was beautiful that she 
was in love with Skinner, and I told her that I was, that I was in love 
with you,"  Scully whispered, turning white, "So now that thing knows 
about us," she added, afraid.

"Well, Scully, I'm sure it would have found out eventually, because I 
think Skinner would have told Maggie anyway,"  Mulder comforted her.

"God, Mulder this, this is so irrational."  Scully said.

"Scully, I know, but I think this demon lured Skinner here because 
Maggie knew him.  And like I said before I think we were just the desert 
on the menu. I think it's going to sacrifice Skinner, and then us, so 
it's infernal buddies can take over mankind."  Mulder stated.

"Mulder, I can't imagine that woman, I mean Maggie is so, so sweet and 
considerate and.."

"Scully, I think we've been allowed to see the real Maggie Flynn on 
occasion. I think the demon lets her out so that people won't catch on 
that it's inside her.  Henry said that the devil operates best when 
people don't believe in him, or don't know he's there,"  Mulder 
explained.

"Oh, God, how horrible,"  Scully put a hand over Mulder's hand, "What 
can we do?"  Scully asked.

"Well, I have a plan, but I have to ask you something first Scully," 
Mulder said.

"What?"  Scully asked.

Mulder reached forward and took the crucifix that was hanging at 
Scully's neck into his fingers, "Scully, do you really believe?" he 
asked looking her in the eyes."

Scully blinked at him and then she replied, "Mulder, until recently, no. 
But after my illness, after the cancer went into remission. Mulder, I, I 
believe now.  I lacked faith before, but I've found it again," she said 
simply.

Mulder sighed, "Scully I told you once that I thought you had the 
strength of your beliefs, and it's going to be very critical that you do 
now, because I don't think I have enough faith, or belief in a higher 
power to get us through this mess,"  Mulder stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, Mulder,"  Scully whispered touching his cheek.

"The only one I have faith in, the only one I'm certain I trust, is you, 
Scully,"  Mulder told her.

Scully stroked his cheek with the back of her hand and then took the 
hand that was holding her cross and kissed it.

"Mulder, what do you want me to do?"  Scully asked.

"All right," Mulder replied setting his jaw.  "First I think we need to 
try to get Skinner away from Maggie somehow. Maybe if I can get him 
alone, I can influence him somehow to leave Crossroads or.. I don't 
know, something, I just hope he isn't too far gone by now to talk too."

"I hope not too," Scully replied.

"But before we can try to rescue him I think we need to construct a 
protective magic circle.  *The Book of Ceremonial Magic* gives detailed 
instruction on how to do it.  We can get supplies at the local sporting 
good, and grocery stores."

"Some shopping list," Scully said, and Mulder smiled a bit.

"And then we have to ground the demon, and send it back to hell,"  
Mulder finished.

"How do we do that?"  Scully asked, fear tingeing her voice.

"Well, Henry said that a person with faith using a holy symbol could 
ward off or fight the demon, and then they could use something iron to 
ground the demon, bind it to the earth, and send it back to hell.  I 
guess that's where you come in, Scully,"  Mulder said. "Someone with 
true faith has to ground the demon, and that's got to be you, because I 
don't think it can be me."

"And where do you come in, Mulder?" Scully asked.

"I'm the bait," Mulder replied.

Mulder and Scully went to a sporting goods store and Mulder bought
a hunting knife.  Then they went to the grocery store and bought 2 dozen 
containers of Morton's salt, and three boxes of Crayola crayons (the 
stores entire supply), and a box of large kitchen matches.  Mulder tried 
to find some long, tapered dinner candles but he couldn't find any in 
the grocery store.

"I guess we'll have to hope Maggie keeps a supply of candles at the 
house,"  Mulder said.  But as they were returning to the car Mulder saw 
a little candle shop and went in to purchase eight tall white candles.
"We'll only need four, the others are for insurance," he told Scully.

By this time it was late afternoon and Mulder and Scully were finally 
driving back to the B&B, determination in both their faces but fear in 
their hearts.

-End of Part 19-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 20 of 25)

When they reached the end of the long driveway that led up to the B&B, 
Mulder stopped the car and pulled it over to the side.

"Scully, let's get out and walk the rest of the way, I don't want them 
to know we're coming," and they both exited the vehicle burdened with 
their supplies, and walked as quietly as they could up to the steps of 
the B&B.

Inside, in his room, Skinner lay on his back in bed, Maggie Flynn above 
him, riding him, and he was dimly aware that he was in pain.  They had 
been coupling for hours, and he had come over, and over, and ejaculated 
into her so many times, he didn't think there was anything left to 
shoot.  His genitals were on fire, but he was still able to get it up, 
and just as he thought the pain would be too much, the pleasure would 
come again, and the images would enter his mind, and Maggie would be 
groaning how good he was, and he never wanted the ride to end.

Mulder and Scully entered the house and placed the bags with the 
supplies just inside the front door.  Mulder instantly had his weapon 
out of his holster.  Scully drew hers as well and both held them in 
front with both hands and swept the hallway.  No one was there.  Mulder 
drew close to Scully and said, "Go upstairs to your room and wait, I'm 
going to use your room to construct the circle in - it's bigger than 
mine, and there's no view of the stones from there."

"What are you going to do, Mulder, I don't want to leave you alone," 
Scully whispered back.

"I'm just going to take a quick look around and try to find out where 
Skinner and Maggie are, all right, then I'm going to come up and draw 
the circle," Mulder answered.

"All right, but, Mulder what about the iron?"  Scully asked.

"Shit," Mulder exclaimed, "how could I be so stupid," he hit himself in 
the head, because he had forgotten probably the most important tool they 
would need.

Scully glanced around and off to the left into the parlor. "Mulder will 
that do?"  she asked, pointing towards the fireplace.

"Yeah, excellent,"  Mulder replied, touching her on the back!  "See, I 
knew there was a reason I love you, you've got the brains, sweetheart,"  
he added in his best Bogart imitation.

Scully smiled weakly as Mulder snuck into the parlor and removed the 
sharp cast iron poker from it's hanger by the fireplace, handed it to 
Scully, and gave her a little nudge towards the stairs.

"I'll bring the rest of the stuff with me," he whispered indicating the 
bags by the door.

"All right, I'm going," she whispered, "But Mulder, be careful," she 
added as she turned and crept up to the third floor.

Mulder checked the dining room, kitchen, and back porch, and then he 
walked down the hallway towards Skinner's room.  Mulder had all ready 
had a pretty good idea where Skinner and Maggie were, and that's why he 
had sent Scully upstairs.

He took off his shoes at the bend in the hallway, and then his socks as 
well so that he wouldn't slip on the wood floor, and he flattened 
himself against the wall on the same side as Skinner's door and slid 
down it, his weapon at the ready.

As soon as he was just at the other side of Skinner's door he heard the 
sounds, and there was no doubt that they were in there, and what they 
were doing.

'Oh, God,' Mulder thought, 'maybe we're too late all ready,' and he 
backed off down the hallway on his way to join Scully upstairs.

He approached Scully's room, carrying the grocery bags, and since the 
door was open he walked in. Scully was seated straddling the chair as 
far back from the door as possible, her gun in her hands propped against 
the chair's back.

Mulder tried to raise his arms and she lowered her weapon, and he turned 
and fumbled the door shut.

"Did you find Skinner?"  Scully asked in a more normal voice.

"I found them both,"  Mulder answered, putting the grocery bags down on 
the bed.

"Mulder?"  Scully asked, pressing him.

"They were in Skinner's room, Scully, he's in there banging her brains 
out,"  Mulder replied bluntly, "and from the sound of things, they've 
been at it a long time."

"Oh, no,"  Scully replied.

"Well, we'd better get going because I think we need this circle 
constructed and then we need to try to get him out of there,"  Mulder 
advised.

They had to move some of the furniture around, but not much, luckily, 
because it was hard to do it quietly.  Mulder began to pour the Morton's 
salt in a large circle on the wood floor of the room.  He made a big 
outer circle and then a smaller inner circle, leaving a space between 
the outer and inner one.  There were four squares attached around the 
circle corresponding to the points of the compass.  Next, Mulder melted 
some wax from the candles into the squares and then he stuck a candle in 
each pool of wax so that they stood upright. He lit the candles. He took 
the boxes of Crayola crayons and took out all the red crayons, and 
started to write arcane symbols around the perimeter between the edges 
of the circle, and then in each of the four squares below each candle.

During all these preparations Scully kept watch, standing, facing the 
door, her gun drawn.  Finally Mulder stepped back and said, "Almost 
done, Scully."

She turned and looked at him, "What's left?"  she asked.

"The blood," he replied.

"Blood, what blood?" she asked in alarm.

Mulder took the hunting knife out of this suit coat pocket and replied, 
"My blood," and he drew the blade across his left palm with one swift 
stroke.

"Mulder!" Scully almost screamed in shock, only clamping her own hand 
over her mouth stopped her from giving them away.

The blood gushed from Mulder's palm and he quickly swung his hand around 
the perimeter of the outer circle, so that blood dripped into the salt 
around it's entire circumference.

"I'm sorry I had to do it that way, Scully, without warning you, 
because, well, I was afraid you'd try to stop me,"  he said, strain on 
his face as he squeezed his hand to keep the blood flowing.

"And you would have been right, Mulder,"  Scully said angrily, but she 
softened quickly as she saw the pain on his face, "Here, let me rip off 
part of a pillow case so I can bind that up,"  she said.

Once Mulder's hand was bandaged there was no more waiting.  "Scully, I 
want you to give me your weapon," Mulder said. Scully complied without 
hesitation.  He popped out the clip, and seated on the bed, removed the 
bullets from it.  Then he took the hunting knife and marked the nose of 
each bullet with a tiny cross.   He repeated the process with his ammo 
clip and then he loaded both weapons again, and handed them to Scully, 
"For insurance," he said looking her in the eyes.

"But Mulder, you'll be unarmed," Scully said sitting down next to him on 
the bed.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to take a chance that I might use the gun 
against you, and I plan to be running back up here anyway," he smiled at 
her gently, "Now Scully, I want you to take the guns and the poker and 
get into the middle of that circle.  Don't step on the lines or knock 
any of the candles down, though.  That's really important, don't even so 
much as smudge any of the lines, no matter what happens."

"Got it," she replied, all business.

"I'm going to go downstairs and try to lure Maggie up here and I hope I 
can.  I'll be coming at a dead run, and hopefully ahead of her. When I 
get back up here I'm going to jump into the circle with you.  And look, 
Scully, ah, you're going to have to shoot her,"  Mulder said quietly.

"Oh, no, Mulder, I can't," Scully argued.

"You'll have too, aim for some non-vital areas if you can, but shoot 
her, and incapacitate her. The bullets should have enough trace iron to 
start the binding process, and I'm hoping the little crosses will help. 
Once she looks subdued, and not until that point, I want you to come out 
of the circle and take the poker and.."

"What?"  Scully asked, beyond thinking.

"You have to drive it through her somewhere and pin her to the 
floorboards.  Do you think you're strong enough to do that Scully?
You're a doctor, I figured you might be able to do it without actually 
killing her."

Scully just looked at him blankly, as if she wasn't there anymore, and 
Mulder, in fear, shook her by the shoulders violently,  "Scully are you 
strong enough to do that?"  he hissed at her through clenched teeth.

She came back to herself instantly, and a look of calm determination 
came into her face, "Yes, Mulder, I'm strong enough," she said with 
conviction.  And Mulder let go of his breath.

"All right," he replied, "Now look, if anyone comes up here besides me, 
or even if I come back up here alone and you're not sure, well, you're 
not sure I'm really me, shoot first and ask questions later, ok?" he 
told her.

"Not yourself?"  Scully asked.

"Yeah, I'm thinking old Saleos may try to do some body hopping if he 
knows things are getting tough.  So stay sharp," he finished.

"Don't worry about that, Mulder," she replied, stiff lipped.  "Just make 
sure you run like you're going for Olympic Gold - leave the rest up to 
me," Scully added.

"Yes, ma'am Agent Scully," he replied with a smile.  "Now, go get in the 
circle."

Before Scully got up, she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. "For 
luck," she said and then she got up and gingerly stepping over the 
circle's blood and salt rim, sat down in the middle with her weapons and 
poker ready.

Mulder moved to leave and Scully watched his back, straight and set with 
purpose.  He turned just before he reached the door and said, "And 
Scully..." 

"Yes, Mulder?"

"Pray," he advised her as opened the door and left the room.

-End of Part 20-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 21 of 25)

As Mulder stood in the hallway he crossed his fingers in front of him 
and thought, 'I hope that book was right and that all this stuff works.  
I don't much like thinking that I'll have to assume the position in hell 
instead of Skinner's office from now on," and he headed for the stairs.

Downstairs, while Mulder was constructing the magic circle, Skinner was 
staring up at Maggie Flynn as he pumped into her, and he knew for sure 
that something was drastically wrong.  "Maggie, please, babe, I, I can't 
keep this up any longer, Maggie it hurts," he cried dismally through his 
pain and exhaustion.  Maggie opened her eyes and looking down at Skinner 
replied in a guttural, rasping, evil voice, "It hurts?  Walter, you 
ain't seen nothing yet," and the Maggie-thing stopped meeting his 
thrusts, and Skinner looked up into her face, horror taking possession 
of him, as he looked into her eyes, her bile yellow and snake pupiled 
eyes, and as he opened his mouth to scream, her forked tongue flicked 
out and she said, "Rides over, Walter,"  And Skinner opened his mouth 
and wailed in mortal terror.

Mulder was at the top of the landing to the bottom floor, when he heard 
Skinner scream.  It was an animal sound of terror, and it chilled him to 
the bone.  He yelled back up the stairs to Scully, "Scully, no matter 
what happens, stay in the circle!" and then he ran down the stairs and 
down the hall towards Skinner's room.  He slowed as he reached the bend 
in the hallway and then he slid sideways along the wall again until he 
was near Skinner's door.

A voice greeted him and the sound of it sent a cold pain right into his 
bowels.  "So nice of you to join us, Foxxxx," it hissed and the door 
swung open on it's hinges.

Mulder stepped around the open door and looked into the room.  What he 
saw there was something he would have given his right arm never to have 
seen, and his other arm never to see again.

Skinner was kneeling in front of his naked lover, back to the door, and 
he was also naked, and bleeding from scores of scratches on his back.  
The blood ran in rivulets and dripped onto the floor.  Maggie had a 
livid bruise that ran from her left eye, a bile yellow eye with a snake 
pupil, down her cheek. Skinner was sobbing and he said, "Please, please 
don't make me do that to her again. I don't want to hurt her,"  and 
Mulder was enraged to see him begging like that, on his knees, after he 
had been made to hurt the woman he loved.

"Maggie is in here, Fox..." the thing said as if it read his mind, and 
it flicked it's forked tongue, and suddenly it's eyes were blue and pain 
filled, and it was Maggie Flynn.

"Oh God, help Walter, please, Fox..." was all she had time to say before 
the eyes changed again and the beast was back.

"You bastard," Mulder spat out at the thing, and it laughed.  Skinner 
was making a mewling noise in his throat, and the creature bent forward 
and slapped him hard in the forehead. Skinner's whole head rocked back.

"Walter, shut the fuck up, you're distracting me," the creature said.  
Skinner was instantly silent and he bent over farther into a tight ball.

"Now, Fox, I want you to see just what being a bastard really means," 
the thing said, and suddenly Mulder felt the tendrils of another's mind, 
another's will, touching his own and he gasped in pain, but then in 
pleasure.  It was the most intense sexual pleasure he had ever felt and 
he knew he would become erect, and then the images started to come.  A 
small portion of his mind had expected to see Scully then, but she 
wasn't there.  Instead he was in his parent's house, in Chilmark, in the 
living room and his sister, his sister Samantha was there and she, and 
he was..." Mulder yelled with fear and revulsion at what the demon was 
making him see and feel and..

Upstairs, Scully heard him scream, and she knew it was Mulder, and she 
clutched her cross, and she prayed...

And the demon thing shrieked in fright, and released the cringing Mulder 
who did not hesitate to turn on his heels and run.

He ran, and the Maggie thing recovered, and leaving Skinner to curl up 
into a fetal position on the wooden floor below, ran after Mulder up the 
flights of stairs as he sought Scully's room, and the safety of the 
circle.

Mulder was far enough ahead that he reached the room first, ran through 
the door and vaulted into the circle in a perfect leap to land next to 
Scully.  "Get ready," he had just enough time to say, before they heard 
Maggie's footsteps in the hall outside.

As Scully raised the first gun, the steps stopped just outside the door.

"Knock, knock.." the demon voice said.

Mulder looked at Scully, and she shrugged her shoulders, and swung the 
gun up and aimed it at the center of the door.

"Look, I have a proposition for both of you," the demon said, "I 
wouldn't shoot if I were you Dana, because if you do, I'm going to kill 
Walter Skinner faster than you can say, FB fucking I, all right?"

Scully pulled her weapon up and Mulder said, "No, Scully!"

Maggie poked just her head around the door's edge and said, "Mulder, 
your partner's a hell of a lot brighter than you, so why don't you 
listen up for a minute while I tell you my idea?"

Maggie's eyes widened at seeing the circle, "Welly, welly, well," it 
said. "Maybe you're brighter than I thought, G-man.  I know, you know, 
that I can't touch or influence either one of you while you're in there, 
so why don't you hear me out?" the Maggie thing asked.

Mulder looked at her with his eyes narrowed.  He was afraid to agree, 
but if it would save Skinner's life, he guessed he could take a chance 
at listening to the thing's proposition.

"All right, come in, but not any farther then the bed.  Sit down there 
and tell us what you have to say."  Mulder sneered.

"Fine,"  Maggie replied, and she came in, docile, and sat on the bed.  
The thing's tongue flicked in and out a couple of times, and it's snake 
eye's nicitating membranes blinked and Scully moved closer to Mulder as 
she got a first glimpse of what was riding shotgun in Maggie Flynn's 
body.

"Here's the deal, Fox," she began, "I have to admit you two have been 
very good opponents.  It's been a long time since I've had two such 
worthy adversaries.  I really hate for the game to end - in a way,"

"Yeah, well, fuck you," Mulder spat out viciously.

"All in good time, Fox," the thing giggled, "but in the meantime, I'd 
like to offer you a deal."

"Go on," Mulder said.

"I'd like to leave you and your lady friend alone in your safe little 
nest here for the couple of hours of light that are left outside.  
You'll be perfectly safe and you can rest and martial your strength." 
Maggie said.

"And..." Mulder prompted.

"And, because I'm not a complete asshole, I'm going to give you a 
sporting chance to get Walter back," it said.

"How?" Scully asked.

"Well, let's just say, Dana, that Fox knows there's something else that 
can be done with your little circle to make it, and you, even more 
powerful. And Dana, once it's done I want you both to come up to the 
standing stones and we'll all go at it, mano a mano so to speak."

"Oh, sure.." Mulder started.

"I'm serious," the demon said, affronted.  "Look, we lie a lot of the 
time, Fox, but we also get really bored.  The two of you are the most 
fun I've had in years, so I've decided to tell you the truth, and cut 
you a break, ok?"

"Thanks a lot..." Scully said.

"You should thank me, Dana, it's not everyone that gets this 
opportunity.  Kevin didn't, and Maggie didn't, and neither did Walter.  
And, goodness, neither did old Robert Johnson, and the thing began to 
whistle the blues tune, the lyrics to which were all too familiar to 
them.

"Nice touch, hey?,"  the demon said, "Personally, I thought it was 
rather poetic. Well, anyway, the lyrics and the runes, and oh my, that 
phone call, they all certainly worked to get you up here, didn't they?"  
the thing chuckled thickly.

"So we're supposed to make the circle and ourselves more powerful, wait 
until dark and then go up to those standing stones and duke it out with 
you?"  Mulder asked.

"Right, Fox, that's about the long and the short of it.  But, you know 
what, I'm betting that you won't be able to do it, and so I'll win 
anyway. I'll have Skinner, and you, and the lovely Ms. Dana Scully to do 
with as I please,"  the Maggie thing smiled, showing two rows of very 
sharp teeth.  And with those parting words Maggie got up and walked 
towards the door.

"Well, maybe Walter and I will see you two later," the thing said, "but 
right now I have to go down and play with him some more. I think we're 
going to *Play Doctor* next," it said, and then Maggie headed off down 
the hallway.

-End of Part 21-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 22 of 25)

Both Mulder and Scully slumped against each other.  Scully put her gun 
down on the floor next to it's twin, and the poker.

"Mulder, if we both hadn't seen that thing, I would think I was going 
insane," Scully whispered running a hand across her forehead.  She had 
found a rubber band somewhere, Mulder noticed, and had tied her hair 
back in a pony tail.

Mulder looked at her and reached his hand out to touch her face.  It was 
the bandaged hand, and the sudden movement caused it to hurt, and he 
winced.

"Mulder, let me see that,"  Scully said, all Doctor, as she took his 
hand and examined the dressing.

"What did that thing mean when it said we could do something else to 
make the circle stronger?  Why wouldn't you want to do it, Mulder? 
What's left to make us stronger so we can get that thing?" she asked as 
she re-wrapped his hand.

"Scully," we have to consecrate the circle," he answered stiffly.

"Consecrate, what do you mean?"  she asked looking up at him.

"We have to have sex in it," he said flatly.

"What?" she breathed out at him.

"We have to..."

"Ok, I heard you the first time," she said.

"Scully, I, oh for crying out loud.  I didn't even want to think about 
that.  I wanted our first time together to be something special, not 
something like this," he replied miserably gesturing to encompass the 
room.  "This is awful," he added not looking at her.

"But is that thing right by saying that if we do have sex we'll be more 
powerful and maybe have a chance against it?"  Scully asked.

"Oh, yeah, it's not lying about that point, Scully. It's just playing 
the odds though.  It must think it knows me fairly well by now," Mulder 
replied quietly.

"Mulder, look at me," Scully said. He did. "I want you to make love to 
me,"  Scully stated flatly.

"Scully," Mulder replied awkwardly, "please, I, I don't know if I can."

"Oh..." Scully answered in a small voice.

"Yeah, well, contrary to popular belief, a man isn't always ready to 
spring to attention at a moments notice, you know, and certainly not 
under less than ideal conditions," he sighed, embarrassed.

Scully was sitting very close to him and she put her head on his 
shoulder.  "Mulder, that's all right. I'm sorry.  This is really 
terrible.  I know what you mean.  I had a totally different idea of what 
it would be like for us the first time too.  Would you like me to tell 
you about it?" she asked, her blue eyes wide and guileless."

"Oh, uh, sure,"  Mulder replied.  Scully pulled even closer and she 
began to whisper in his ear, and the things she said were very romantic, 
and then they were extremely erotic and then...

Mulder felt a familiar sensation flooding his genitals and he said, 
"Scully, I, I think I'm getting the idea."

She stopped whispering and then she started to lick his ear and nibble 
at his ear lobe.  Mulder smiled and turned to her, "Now I definitely 
have the idea," he said, and he met her mouth with his.  

They only stripped from the waist down, because they didn't want to 
waste any more time, and they didn't know where to pile all the clothing 
anyway. Mulder unbuttoned Scully's tailored suit coat and blouse 
because, well, he just had to see her, and touch her warm flesh, and 
Scully's hands shook as she loosened his tie, and unbuttoned his coat 
and shirt. There was some foreplay, not as much as they would have 
liked, but enough, and Scully was very wet and ready, and Mulder pulled 
her into his lap, his erection bobbing between them.

"Scully, he breathed against her ear, I, we have to do it this way, 
because I'm afraid of smudging the circle, all right, is this ok?" he 
asked her.

She clung to him, and shifted closer, "It's wonderful, Mulder, you're 
wonderful," she said.

"Scully, just...I'll hold you,"  Mulder was whispering, and she reached 
between them and guided his cock between her legs.  

Scully had to shift up slightly and then he was in her, and she pressed 
herself as close to him as she could, and her legs straddled his hips.  
He thrust into her slowly, and gently, and she rocked in his lap and the 
sensations were exquisite. Their bodies moved together, skin against 
skin.  Scully's nipples rubbed against the buttons of her blouse, and 
the buttons of his dress shirt, and the gentle tickling made her moan.  
She held tightly to his waist, and then moved her hands up his back.  
Mulder reached around and supported her ass as he picked up the speed of 
his thrusts.  She met his rhythm and she reached down with one hand to 
rub and stroke herself until emotion overtook her and she couldn't keep 
it up.  She groaned, "God, Mulder, you feel so good," and she had to 
hold on to him again.  Mulder moved a hand between their legs and took 
over stroking her, and Scully bit his lower lip lightly and moaned into 
his mouth.

When she started to come it was long, and slow and it built and built, 
and Mulder thrust into her hard, and fast, and she exploded in ecstasy, 
calling his name, and her love for him over, and over.  He felt her 
tighten around him and he almost lost all thought as he pumped into her, 
all his concentration focused on the last inches of his cock as he 
exploded into her, filling her, as well as spilling his seed onto the 
floor, in the circle, and the consecration was complete.

Mulder sagged against her, "OhMyGodILoveYouOh,Scully..Dana...you're so 
beautiful," he gasped against her hair.  "I swear, I'll make this up to 
you, I'm so sorry," he whispered, still inside her.  Scully moved 
against him, and even though he wasn't hard anymore, the feeling was so 
sensual, and loving that he gasped again, and she smiled.

"Mulder, you have nothing to apologize for," she said gently, "Making 
love with you was beautiful, and having you inside me, connected to me, 
it was, well, nothing else matters, all right," she sighed.

Mulder looked into her face and touched her lips with a finger and then 
he bent forward and kissed her again.  He didn't want to let her go, 
didn't want to separate from her,  but he could look past her out the 
window, towards the sea, and he saw that the sun was setting.  

Scully looked into his eyes, and then she reached down and ran her hand 
between their thighs, and she brought her fingers up and tasted him, 
tasted his semen.  Her eyes closed and Mulder felt tiny electric shocks 
move from inside her, up his penis and into his entire body.  It was 
power, the raw power of their love, and the magic circle, and for the 
first time, Mulder believed, and he had hope that they would be able to 
stand against the darkness.

Finally, it was Scully that reluctantly broke their connection.  She 
pulled away from him and, picking up their guns, and the fire place 
poker, she stood up and moved towards the edge of the circle.

"Scully, remember, don't break the line," Mulder said.

"Right," she answered stepping gingerly over the salt and blood.  She 
left her tailored pants, and underwear in the circle and instead walked 
over and pulled out her jeans, and a clean pair of underwear from her 
garment bag.  She hesitated a moment, the underwear in her hands, 
looking down at her thighs at the remnants of Mulder that glistened 
there, and she smiled, and pulled the underwear on, and then her jeans.  

As Scully sat on the bed putting on her socks and sneakers, Mulder 
quietly stepped out of the circle and went across the hall. He still 
felt the snapping of electricity in his body, and he didn't feel tired 
from his union with Scully at all.  In fact, he felt invigorated, and he 
quickly got his jeans and underwear, and pulled them on, and threw his 
suit coat onto the bed. 'Car keys', he thought and he grabbed them from 
his suit coat pocket. He stuffed them into his side jeans pocket and 
then got his ID and put that into his back pocket as well.  He carried 
his socks and sneakers back into Scully's room and sat down on the bed 
to don them as well.

Scully was just throwing off her tailored jacket, placing her ID in her 
jeans and then jamming both guns into the jeans waistband behind her 
back. 

"How fast can you draw those things, pardner?" Mulder asked.

"Fast enough, slim," she said and then she picked up the poker, "Can you 
carry this for now, I want to keep my hands free."

"Good idea," Mulder replied, "Are you ready?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be to go head to head with a soul sucking spawn 
from hell, I guess," Scully quipped.

"My kind of woman," Mulder answered and they headed out the door to meet 
their fate.

-End of Part 22-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads 
(Part 23 of 25)  

A quick check of Skinner's room told them both that no one was home.  The
room was a shambles, with blood spattered on the floor and bed sheets. 

"Good Lord," Scully said. 

"Does it look like he's lost too much blood?" Mulder asked.

"Not if it's from two people," Scully whispered.

"Come on, let's go,"  Mulder said, urgency in his voice. They left 
Skinner's room and went back up the hall through the dining room and 
into the kitchen.  Scully looked sadly back at the dining room table, 
scene of two happy meals when they had all thought that Maggie Flynn was 
a charming hostess, and Skinner had been paying court to her.  The 
thought steeled her nerve and she followed Mulder out onto the back 
porch and into the backyard.

In the distance, in the dark, where they knew the stones lay, there was 
an eldritch glow.

"Well, I guess we won't have trouble finding them in the dark," Mulder 
said.

"Oh, Mulder, wait, Scully said, and she ran back inside, into the 
kitchen, and returned with a large industrial style flashlight.

"We'd better take this, Mulder, there's a lot of ground to cover between 
here and those lights," Scully stated.

"Are you sure you haven't seen a few B-Horror movies?" Mulder asked.

"Not many, why?"  Scully asked.

"Because they always forget to bring a flashlight along in them," Mulder 
replied, walking into the weeds at the edge of the lawn.

Scully gave Mulder the flashlight, and he lit the way as they walked 
through the waist high weeds not bothering to hide that they were 
coming.  There was really no advantage to surprise. The demon probably 
sensed they were coming after they left the magic circle.

When they reached the first of the standing stones Mulder realized they 
didn't need the flashlight any longer because the glow in the area 
illuminated everything. He put it down and walked forward. The ground 
had been cleaned flat and no weeds surrounded the immediate area of the 
stones.  Mulder and Scully walked out of the grass and into the flat 
area and stood, waiting to see what would happen next.

A low, hissing voice spoke, "By the pricking of my thumbs, something 
wicked this way comes," and then it laughed it's guttural, inhuman laugh 
and said, "Greetings!" and they saw Maggie then.  She was sitting cross 
legged, and still naked, on the top of one of the smaller stones.  
Skinner was at her feet below, on the ground kneeling face forward this 
time and Scully's breath caught in her throat.  He was covered with 
bruises and scratches, some of which were still bleeding. He was naked, 
and his eyes were blank and staring, and Scully thought absurdly of the 
old expression, 'the light's on, but nobody's home.'

She hung back, her hand behind her on the butt of one of her guns. 
Mulder walked forward.  On the ground in front of him, between them and 
Skinner was a smaller magic circle.  Mulder looked down at it and he 
knew immediately that it wasn't a circle of protection.  It was a circle 
for summoning.  Maggie had been busy while he and Scully had been up in 
Scully's room, and now the final act of her labors was about to begin.

"So, I see you got it up for her," Maggie said, "Well, a minor problem 
really," she added, jumping down from the top of the stone and landing 
next to Skinner with a thump.  It was obvious from her appearance that 
some of the blood in the room at the B&B belonged to Maggie Flynn as 
well.  Skinner showed absolutely no awareness of her maneuver, or her 
presence, or even his own position. He just stared blankly and breathed 
in and out in ragged gasps, as Maggie touched his head and rubbed her 
hand across his scalp.  Blood trickled down in the trail left by her 
fingers.

"Stop that," Mulder shouted at her, swinging the fireplace poker back 
and forth, and the demon looked up through Maggie's eyes and said, "Make 
me, bone bag."

"Mulder, no, she's just trying to goad you into making a mistake,"  
Scully said, and Mulder listened, and stood his ground.

"A point for Ms. Scully," the demon said, and then she turned quickly 
and bent down to look into Skinner's blank face.  Suddenly, the thing 
was Maggie Flynn again and it said plaintively, "Walter, babe, please, 
help me, it was Mulder, Fox, did this to me. He beat me and then he 
raped me!"  she cried real tears, "Walter, please, hurt him back," she 
pleaded and with those words, Skinner came instantly awake, and with an 
animal scream of rage and pain, launched himself across the smaller 
magic circle at Mulder, tackling the younger man to the ground.  The 
fireplace poker flew through the air and landed a few feet away.

"NO!"  Scully had just enough time to yell, and then she grabbed the 
first gun, and planting her feet wide apart, she took aim to fire.  But 
she didn't have a clear shot, because Mulder and Skinner were rolling 
around on the ground next to the magic circle in a crude parody of a 
lover's embrace.

Mulder was yelling at Scully, "Shoot her, shoot Maggie," but Skinner had 
him around the neck, and he cut off Mulder's words.  Skinner was going 
to strangle him, Scully knew it, and as Mulder started to turn blue and 
go limp, she fired, hitting Skinner in the shoulder and the Assistant 
Director bellowed like a wounded beast and fell forward on top of 
Mulder.

The demon that was Maggie Flynn ran forward and jumped over the circle. 
She slapped Scully's gun hand so hard, that the weapon flew through the 
air and off into the weeds.  Then she hit Scully in the jaw and she went 
down with an oomph of air rushing out of her lungs.

Mulder was coming around then, and he crawled out from under the 
unconscious Skinner to crawl towards the fire poker. "Scully, shoot her, 
shoot her," he kept yelling.  But the demon had Scully by the blouse 
front and was pulling her up from the ground.  Scully's arms flailed 
about, and she managed to bring one around to her neck to grab the 
crucifix on it's chain.  She dragged it sideways and brought it into 
contact with Maggie's wrist.  The demon howled in pain, dropped Scully 
and fell to it's knees.  Scully was by it's side, instantly, the second 
service automatic out and jammed against the side of Maggie's head.  And 
then she hesitated.

"Scully, pull the trigger,"  Mulder yelled as he reached, and grabbed 
the poker.  But Scully couldn't do it.  She looked down into Maggie's 
face and all of a sudden, it was Maggie, and her crystal clear blue eyes 
were looking up into Scully's.  "Dana, I don't have much time,"  she 
said through cracked lips, "You have to believe - it, it will be all 
right for me, please, pull the trigger," she begged in a choked voice.

"Maggie, I can't,"  Scully cried.

"Dana, you have no choice, and besides, I'm dead all ready," Maggie 
replied and then she said, "Good bye, Walter, I love you," and she 
reached over, and grabbing Scully's hand, forced her to fire the gun.  
The shot was loud, and the bullet entered the left side of Maggie 
Flynn's head and blew her brains out in a shower of blood.  She fell 
sideways, and Scully heard Mulder say, "Scully, catch!" and she turned 
just in time to catch the poker that he had thrown through the air."  
Incredibly, Maggie was still trying to move because even though her mind 
was gone, the demon was still trying to animate her body.

Scully screamed incoherently, with grief, and disgust, and lifting the 
iron poker high over her head, plunged it downwards through Maggie 
Flynn's stomach, missing her backbone, as the poker drove into the 
ground beneath.

The demon wailed, and his voice was many legions strong, and there was a 
huge rush of displaced air, and Scully fell backwards as arcs of 
electricity shot up out of Maggie's body, through the air everywhere.  
Mulder ran over and dragged Scully away from Maggie's prostrate form 
over to where Skinner was lying.  The electric fire continued to rise 
and Maggie's body was completely incinerated in it's heat. Some of the 
arcing bolts traveled all the way across the field to land on the roof 
of the Bed and Breakfast, igniting the paper wrapped shingles that still 
remained there.  The fire spread and soon the house was engulfed and 
Mulder and Scully knelt beside the wounded Walter Skinner as the house 
burned.

"Scully, Scully," Mulder shouted into her face as he shook her.  
"Skinner needs our help, do you have your cell phone?" he asked.  

She looked at him bewildered, "No, Mulder I forgot mine,"

He felt his pockets desperately, no cell phone and then he thought, 
'Shit the one thing we forgot' as he looked back towards the flaming 
house.

"Dana, Skinner needs your help now, he's going to die if he doesn't get 
medical attention, Dana!"  Mulder shouted and she came back to herself.

"All right, move out of the way, Mulder," and she bent down and expertly 
began to examine the extent of his injuries.

"Scully, I'm going to get the car," Mulder said and just as he was 
getting up, and preparing to run for the Ford, headlights appeared 
coming across the weed choked field, and he stood up to flag down the 
Land Rover that was approaching.  The car braked to a halt and out 
jumped Henry Merritt, as spry as a 21 year old, and he came running 
over.

-End of Part 23-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 24 of 25)

"Fox, God, what happened?  I had this horrible dream, and someone told 
me to wake up and drive over to the B&B as fast as I could because his 
daughter was in danger," he said out of breath.  

"Who told you?" Mulder asked.

"I don't know, some Naval officer.  At least he had on Navy dress 
whites,"  Henry said, his eyes bugging out at Scully, as she tended to 
the wounded Skinner.  Mulder looked over at Scully to see if she had 
heard Henry's remark but she hadn't looked up from tending to Skinner.  

"Fox, what the devil happened out here?"  Henry asked again.

"The devil is probably the operable word, Henry," Mulder replied and 
Henry set his mouth in a determined line and said, "Say no more Fox, it 
can wait till later, let's get that man to the hospital," and once 
Scully had the bleeding from the bullet wound under control, the three 
of them managed to get Skinner into the Land Rover and transported to 
the Crossroads Municipal Hospital.

In the hospital, Mulder, Scully and Henry Merritt sat in the waiting 
room while Skinner was in surgery.  Mulder told Henry some of what had 
happened over the last few days, and he also told him that he and 
Scully, and Skinner worked for the FBI, and a little about the X-Files.  
But Mulder looked so exhausted, and shell shocked that Henry told him to 
explain the rest after he felt better.

Scully curled up next to Mulder on the couch in the waiting room, with 
her head in his lap and fell asleep.  Henry looked at them together and 
told Mulder to put his head back and go to sleep as well.  Henry would 
keep an eye out for the doctor.  Mulder did, and soon he was snoring as 
Henry poured another cup of coffee from the complimentary dispenser on 
one of the waiting room tables.

The next thing Mulder knew, Henry was shaking him, and he and Scully 
both woke up.

"The doctor's coming down the hall," Henry said, and then he sat back 
down a little bit away from them, so that they could have some privacy 
when the doctor came in.

"Agent Mulder?" the doctor asked.

"Yes" Mulder replied.

"I'm Don Black, Agent Mulder, I'm the one that pulled the bullet out of 
Assistant Director Skinner,' he said extending his hand.  "First of all, 
let me tell you right away that he's going to be all right, he's in 
recovery now and he's awake, and his vitals are good.'

Scully heaved a sigh of relief and Mulder took her hand and gave it a 
gentle squeeze.

"And Agent Mulder, he's asking to see you," Dr. Black said.

"See me?"  Mulder asked.

"Yes, he created a bit of fuss over the request as well, so I told him 
you could have a couple of minutes with him provided he calmed down and 
behaved himself,"  the doctor smiled slightly.

"That sounds like the old Skinner,"  Scully remarked, hope in her voice.

"Well, if you want to follow me, Agent Mulder, I'll show you to ICU. And 
Agent Scully, if you don't mind, I have some paperwork here that I would 
really appreciate having help in filling out."

Scully sighed and said, "The story of my life," but she gave Mulder a 
little push and said, "Go on, go see Skinner," and Mulder headed off 
after the doctor towards ICU.

Skinner was in a cubicle hooked up to a dozen machines with tubes 
running everywhere. Pretty much a familiar site as far as Mulder was 
concerned.  Mulder walked over and pulled up a chair to sit close to the 
bed.  "Sir, it's Mulder, I'm here," he said and then impulsively he took 
Skinner's hand in his and held it.

Skinner opened his eyes groggily and saw Mulder.  He didn't say anything 
put there was a slight pressure as he pressed Mulder's hand.  Then he 
struggled to speak.

"Mulder," he croaked out, I... Maggie?" he asked.

"Sir, don't talk now, all right, try to conserve your strength, you're 
going to be ok, you just have to rest," Mulder said. He had hoped that 
Skinner wouldn't remember what had happened, but it was obvious he 
remembered something otherwise he wouldn't be trying to ask about 
Maggie.  

"Mulder, is she ok, did Maggie, did she come back?" he asked and 
Mulder's heart fell down to his shoes.  Mulder knew then with horrible 
clarity that all the time he and Scully had thought Skinner was staring 
blankly, out of his head, that he had been aware of most of what was 
going on, but under the demon's control.  The thought turned Mulder's 
stomach, and he looked down because he couldn't meet Skinner's face to 
answer his question. 

A low groan came from the bed and Mulder knew that looking down had been 
a mistake because it had only served to allow Skinner to guess correctly 
about the fate of Maggie Flynn.  When Mulder looked up, Skinner was 
crying weakly and Mulder, sad beyond measure, took the older man into 
his embrace, and held him while he sobbed for his lost love.

Later, Mulder went back out into the waiting room and told Scully that 
Skinner was going to be ok.  He didn't want to tell her immediately 
about the scene with Skinner in the ICU.  He figured that could wait 
until they were rested and less emotionally drained.  It occurred to 
both of them simultaneously that neither of them had any fresh clothing 
or anywhere to go at that point, except for the Ford Explorer, and 
Mulder didn't relish the idea of sleeping in the car.  They also had to 
figure out a way to deal with the local authorities, and call the bureau 
to report what had happened in Crossroads, Maine, or at least the PC 
version of events.

Henry Merritt came up with the perfect solution.  They could all go to 
his place.  Mulder and Scully were welcome to spend the rest of the 
night, and sleep late in the morning if they liked.  Henry even promised 
to supply some of the delicious jelly donuts at breakfast in exchange 
for Mulder telling him more about the X-Files.  The whole subject 
intrigued him immensely, and Mulder sensed that the X-Files may have 
found an ally there in Maine.

So, the three of them drove over to Henry Merritt's quaint Cape Cod 
style house.  There had been a Mrs. Merritt they discovered, and her 
photo was lovingly displayed on the mantle piece.  Henry showed Mulder 
and Scully to the guest room with it's private bath, and then retired to 
his own bedroom upstairs. The house was cool and quiet, being installed 
with central air, and the first thing both Mulder and Scully did was 
take a long, hot shower.

Afterwards they gratefully climbed into the bed and pulled the sheets up 
around themselves. Mulder lay on his back and Scully snuggled close and 
he wrapped an arm protectively around her shoulders.  Then, even though 
they were extremely weary, they began to touch each other, seeking to 
gain that intimate connection once again. 

They made love in a slow and languid fashion.  There was time to enjoy 
each other, and Mulder wanted to give Scully all the pleasure he felt 
had been denied her in that other house in Crossroads.  He lingered over 
her body using his mouth and hands to tell her that she was the most 
wonderful woman in this world and any other, a Goddess, and the only 
women he would ever love.  He didn't care about his own wants or needs, 
all that mattered in that moment was Scully's desire and his ability to 
bring her ecstasy.  His pleasure was in the exploration of her body, the 
texture of her skin, her scent and her heat as she moaned and writhed 
beneath him.  He worked her up to a fever pitch, and she held back, 
letting him bring her to the brink, but not over the edge, until she was 
almost beyond thought and reason. At last she was crying, begging him to 
enter her, to fill her again, to complete her and it was something he 
wanted more then anything in the universe as well, and he thrust into 
her, finding the comfort and loving protection of her inner self around 
him.  They climaxed together, and even though it wasn't for the first 
time, it was a special moment for them, in it's affirmation that they 
were safe, and alive, and in love.

The next morning, Henry Merritt came downstairs early so that he could 
rustle up a hearty breakfast for his two guests. He had even pulled some 
old jeans and shirts out of his closet thinking they might look funny 
but they'd do until the two young people could find something better.

As he was passing the guest bedroom he noticed the door was open again, 
'Darn that thing,' he thought, 'I really have to fix those hinges,' and 
he quietly approached and put his hand on the door handle to close the 
door.  He couldn't help looking inside the room, and he saw Mulder and 
Scully, spooned together, side by side under the covers, and he could 
tell that Mulder's arm was wrapped protectively around Scully's middle, 
holding her close. Henry smiled and shut the door, 'What a nice couple 
they make,' he thought and then, 'now where did I put those jelly 
donuts?'

-End of Part 24-

TITLE: Standin' at the Crossroads
(Part 25 of 25)

EPILOGUE

Skinner was released from the Crossroads hospital and transferred to DC 
to convalesce.  The Bureau had him take a medical leave of absence 
through the rest of the summer and into early fall with mandatory 
counseling thrown in for good measure.  He completed the counseling to 
his therapist's satisfaction despite the fact that Skinner avoided 
telling him anything about demons, or runes, or what had really happened 
in Crossroads, Maine. Eventually he was released to do whatever he 
wanted for the rest of his medical leave.

Fox Mulder, basketball in hand, was getting ready to leave his apartment 
for one of his infrequent pick up games at a local gym with a bunch of 
the violent crimes section guys.  He would have liked to have spent the 
Saturday with Scully, but she was off with her mother having a pleasant 
mother-daughter day of visiting some art galleries, and shopping. So 
Mulder had decided on the game as his second choice to occupy his time.

Just as he was getting ready to leave there was a knock at the door.  He 
walked over and looked through the peep hole to see who was outside.  To 
his amazement, Skinner stood in the hall way, in sweat pants and a 
sweatshirt.  He looked rested, tanned and healthy.   Mulder opened the 
door.

"Oh, Mulder, you are home,"  Skinner said, blinking at him through his 
new glasses.  Where he had managed to get identical spectacles to the 
one's he'd lost in Maine, Mulder didn't know.

"Yes, sir, come on in," Mulder said. 

Skinner entered the apartment, "Sorry to just drop in like this, but I 
wanted to talk to you.  Do you have a couple of minutes?"

"Sure, I was going to play basketball, but I have plenty of time before 
I have to be there, is something wrong?"  he asked concern in his voice.

"Oh, no, nothings wrong, Mulder,"  he said, "I just wanted to talk 
that's all."

"Well, go on in and have a seat, would you like a soda?"  Mulder had 
almost said beer, but that memory was a painful one even for him, so he 
decided it wouldn't be wise to ask Skinner if he wanted one.

"No, that's ok, I'm not thirsty," he replied but he did walk into the 
other room and sat down on the couch.  Mulder went over and sat down in 
the chair across from him, putting the basketball down on the floor 
between his feet.

"Mulder, I just, I just came by to thank you,"  Skinner said clearing 
his throat.  "I wanted to thank you for saving my life and for well, for 
trying to save Maggie's," he said quietly.

"Sir, I..." Mulder started.

"Mulder, I remember a lot of what happened, not all of it, there are 
still some gaps that the therapist said I have a 50-50 chance of filling 
in someday, probably with more therapy.  But I just wanted you to know 
that I thought it took real guts to do what you did up there, and I am 
grateful."

"Thank you Sir,"  Mulder said simply.

"And, I'd like you to thank Agent Scully for me too,"  Skinner said 
looking at him closely for the first time.

Mulder looked away and stared over at his fish tank.

"Mulder, I remember what went on between you and Scully up there.  I 
know you love her, and I know she loves you. Fox, don't ever stop loving 
her, all right.  Take what you have and use it to it's best advantage.  
I think you'll find you'll be a hell of a lot more powerful together 
than you ever were apart.  And as for regulations, like I said, fuck 
'em," he coughed and said, "well, that's all I wanted to say,"  and he 
stood up to leave.

"Sir?"  Mulder asked as Skinner turned to go.

"Do you play basketball?"

"Does a bear shit in the woods?"  Skinner asked with a smile playing 
around his mouth, "Oh yeah, I play basketball."

"All right, let's see if you can put your money where your mouth is," 
Mulder grinned, and the two of them walked out the door together into 
the bright fall sunshine.

"Did you really think that
you could call up the Devil and 
ask him to behave?"
- Fox Mulder
'Die Hand Die Verletzt'

THE END OF THE WHOLE STORY