To Believe In The Believer O.K. This is the first story I've posted. So, if I don't have the hang of it quite yet I apologize. Tell me what you think. All comments are welcome (I must warn you I am not the best speller).I have to work on building a thick skin anyway. Send comments too: dks115@psu.edu This is a Quantum Leap X-over. For those of you who didn't watch Q.L. I'll give a brief overview. Sam Beckett is a genius who holds several degrees. One of which is a medical Doctors Degree and another is in Quantum physics. He had a theory that a person could time travel within his own life time.(For example if you were born in 1960 you could not travel farther back in time than in 1960.) Sam built a time machine but stepped into it before it was ready. Now he's kind of out of control. He leaps into other peoples lives (They in the meantime leap into his place in the future.) Everyone in the past sees him as the person he leap into,(even Sam sees the other person's reflection) and he has to try to fill that role. He has a friend and guide from the future, named Al Calavicci, helping him. Al is a hologram. He has no real sustance in the past, so he can walk through solid objects. He is also tuned into Sam's brain waves so only Sam can see and hear him. In order to leap out again he has to fix something that God or fate or whatever is controlling his leaping thinks went wrong. After he fixes the past, he leaps again. His hope is that one of these days He'll leap back home. That is his greatest wish. I am using characters copyrighted by Chris Carter and Donald P. Bellisario. No infringement is intended. For those of you who watched Q.L this takes place before the season finale. Well here it is....... New Mexico, Tuesday April 1994 Dana Scully looked at the pictures spread on her hotel bed. She looked at Mulder. Then she looked back at the pictures and closed her eyes. "Mulder, are you trying to tell me that you think there is some sort of Lochness type monster living in a lake in rural Pennsylvania? "Either that or somebody's family of sea monkey's got way out of hand." Mulder watched her, gauging how long it would take her to give in this time. Scully smirked "I hate to tell you this, but Sea Monkeys are nothing more than a type of shrimp." "Oh say it ain't so" Mulder dead panned. "C'Mon Scully, our plane to Pittsburgh leaves in 2 hours." "I haven't even written the reports for this case yet!" "You can do it on the plane." "Mulder, these pictures are all out of focus. They don't tell us anything." She looked closer at the shadowy figure coming out of the water. "It could be an oversized water snake." She looked pointedly at her partner. "or oversized imaginations." "Scully, this made the national news. If we don't get there within 24 hours that lake could be swamped with so many monster hunters we won't be able to prove..." He paused looking at her expression "...or disprove anything." Scully shook her head, trying not to smile. He always hooked her with that. 'Prove me wrong, Scully, if you can' She could see it behind his eyes. Behind the grin. A silent challange issued and accepted. "Alright Mulder, but if this turns out to be a really big sunfish you owe me dinner." "Seafood?" Fox Mulder asked on his way out the door. "No, crow." With a silent Ha Ha he disapeared into the hall. ************************************************************************ ***** Fox mulder sat back in his airline seat perusing over the information he'd gathered on DuBois Pennsylvania. It had a large enough population to be officially considered a city, but most of its residents lived in the rural area surrounding the actual town. "Mayberry with a mall." He said under his breath. "What was that Mulder?" Scully asked looking up from her laptop computer. "Oh, nothing, just..." "Talking to yourself?" She grinned. "Mulder smiled. "I'm the only one who gets my jokes." Sighing Dana Scully turned back to her reports. Mulder returned his gaze to the files. The sighting occured in Treasure Lake. The name applied to both the lake and the surrounding community. According to the file it was an exclusive resort-residence area on the outskirts of DuBois. Mulder frowned. He had a feeling that these people were not going to be cooperative. Places like this did not like controversy. It hurt the real estate value and attracted the 'wrong people'. 'Ah well I'm used to being unwanted'. "Hey Scully, you better brush up on your two step. We're going to the country club." Dana turned to him smiling. Suddenly the smile faded. She began glancing around, her brow furrowed in confusion. Mulder could have sworn he saw something, like a flash of light, but it was so brief he wasn't sure. "Scully?" He touched her elbow, studing her puzzled face. "You alright?" Sam Beckett looked into the face of an attractive brown haired man in his early thirties. Hazel eyes searched Sam's own for an answer to his question. The leaper glanced down at the I.D. pinned to the man's jacket pocket. Fox Mulder F.B.I. he read. Sam looked down at his own body and found an identical I.D. Only this one read Dana Scully. There was a piucture of an auburn haired young woman next to the name. "Oh great, I'm a woman." "What?" Mulder didn't know whether to laugh or be even more concerned Sam looked up in a panic realizing he'd said that out loud. "Oh nothing. Uh, excuse me." Dr. Beckett climbed over Mulder and headed down the aisle to the bathroom. Once he closed the door he leaned against it with a sigh. "I'm in a plane again. Well, at least I'm not flying it this time." Sam pushed himself off the door and looked into the mirror. Yup. He was a woman. He studied the blue-grey eyes looking back at him and sighed again. "Yowzaa!" exclaimed a voice behind him. Sam let out a yelp and spun around. "Al! Don't do that!" "Sorry buddy, but your a looker. Oh, I always did love a red head." Al circled his friend appreciatively. Sam winced. Partly because his best friend was oggling him and partly because there was so little room in the cramped compartment that Al passed through the walls. "You better knock it off Al. I think her boyfriend carries a gun." "What?" Al asked. "How do you know that?" "He's F.B.I." Al smirked. "Sam, that's not her boyfriend. that's her partner. Geez, I thought I was supposed to be the chauvinist. "But the way he was looking at me..I mean her..I just thought..." Sam shook off the idea. "What am I here to do Al?" "Scully?" Sam jumped at the knock on the door. "Are you alright?" "You're here to save him." Al said. "Yes I'm fine." Sam said to the door. "There must have been a change in air pressure or something. I got a little dizzy. But I feel much better now, Fox..." "Call him Mulder." Al urged "...I mean Mulder. Really I'll be right out." "O.K." The agent said unconvinced and walked back to his seat. Sam stared at the door in silence for a moment. He'd only known the guy for a few minutes, but already he found the idea of something happening to him upsetting. Maybe it was the saddness in his eyes that seemed to mirror Sam's own grief. This guy was looking for something he'd lost. Just like me, Sam thought. "What happens to him Al?" Al punched a few buttons on his handlink. "He's found dead in a lake 3 days from now. The time of death was placed at sometime Thursday night." "What was the cause of death?" "Drowning." Al growled. "At least officially." Sam raised a brow at him. "His partner never excepted that explanation. And she's a Doctor and a forensics expert. According to her report he was found with evidence of a blow to the head. That in itself suggested foul play. But everything was just swept under the rug, and his death was ruled an accident." "Is there anyone who would want him dead?" Admiral Calavicci laughed humorlessly. "Only half the people in Washington. I've heard of this guy Sam. they call him Spooky Mulder. he's a genius with a special talent for using Psychological profiles to track down criminals. That exceptional gift alone caused him some flack. Something I'm sure you can sympathize with. But then he started using his abilities to track the paranormal..." "What?" Sam sputtered. "Oh, I've been saving the best for last." Al grinned "You've just become partners with the world most gifted investigator of the unkown." "Oh, boy." Sam moaned. ************************************************************************ ***** "What, you mean this guy hunts ghosts?" "Ghosts, mutants, U.F.O.'s." Al smiled again. "Sea monsters." Sam caught the emphasis on the last example. "Is that what they are working on now?" He said gesturing to Scully's reflection in the mirror, "Sea monsters?" Al nodded reveling in his friend discomfort. "Try to keep an open mind Sam. This guy has stepped on a lot of toes in the government. And you don't do that unless your onto something." "Sea monsters." Sam repeated in disbelief. "How am I supposed to pretend that I believe in this stuff?" "You won't have to. Dana Scully doesn't belive either." "Oh that must have made an interesting work relationship." "Actually Sam, before agent Mulders death, they had one of the most productive partnerships the F.B.I. had ever seen. Besides we don't have the most conventional partnership either, but I think we do pretty good." Sam looked at Al, and couldn't help but smile. "O.K. you've made your point." "You better get out there, Sam." Sam nodded and waited for Al to leave. He straightened Scully's suit and pantyhose then walked back to his seat. Fox Mulder watched Scully as she reseated herself next to him. She seemed awkward. Almost like her body had become alien to her. "Are you sure you're alright? You don't seem yourself." "Sam laughed nervously. "I'm fine, just fine. Uh, do you mind if I look at those?" He pointed to the Files on Mulder's lap. Mulder silently handed his partner the files. Sam Beckett spent the rest of the flight memorizing the particulars of the case. There had been a legend of a mysterious creature living in the lake for over several hundred years. It had started as a Native American Legend but was soon adopted by the European settlers in the 1600's. There had been no scientific proof of course, with the exception of some very dubious photographs. The legend had finally lost popularity and died off. that is until recently. A boat carring some local youths had capsized. None of them had been seriously hurt, but they claimed to see a strange creature in the water right before their boat rolled. After that sightings multiplied by the day. the witnesses came from a diverse background, from small children to respected professionals. Then people started disapearing. First a high school student, then a resident doctor at the local hospital...the list included 7 in all. The only link between them was that they all were last seen at the lake. Sam didn't believe in the lake monster for one minute. But he thought someone could be taking advantage of the town's monster hysteria by praying on people around the lake. Whoever it was probably thought that everyone would just blame it on the lake creature and that he'd be in no danger of being caught. Is that what happened to Agent Mulder? Does he stumble upon the kidnapper and get killed for his trouble. But why the cover up on his death? No, there had to more to it than that, but what? He really wished he could use Scully's computer to look up some information on Fox Mulder himself, but he didn't dare with the guy sitting right next to him. It would look a little weird. But he definatly needed more information. "So, Mulder" He began desperately hoping Scully hadn't had the chance to ask this before. "what is your theory behind the disapearances?" "You mean besides the possibility that they were lizard lunch?" Sam took in the young man's expression. His sentence came out as a sarcastic quip, but his eyes were frightened. Deep down this man seriously believed that what he said was a possibility. Amazing. "Don't you think its more likely that some sicko is taking advantage of this situation? I mean where better to kidnap or murder than where there is a ready made scapegoat?" "Yes, that does seem logical doesn't it? The only problem is that there is no pattern between the victims. They come from different age, social, and racial groups. It is very unusual for either a kidnapper or murderer to work across groups like that. There is usually some connection. You know that Scully! And there is only one common factor between all thse victims." "The lake ." Sam answered Mulder and Sam/Scully arrived at the Shertin Inn in DuBois at about 9pm. Sam claimed exhaustion and retreated to his room to study all the files on Fox Mulder that he could get his hands on. It wasn't much. Sam was a decent computer hacker, but whatever was blocking his path was better. He wondered if it was an F.B.I. thing or a little something Mulder had whiped up himself. In the end all he had was the basics. He was impressed with the agent's scholastic records. Al hadn't been kidding when he'd said Mulder was a genius. What piqued Sam's curiosity the most though, was the file on Mulder's sister. He had access to some records until the age of 8, then nothing. All the information after that was effectively sealed. It was weird. He'd have to see what Al could dig up. Maybe there was a way to access those files in the future that wasn't available to Sam at this point in time. Besides Al's military connections could work miracles. Sam had a hunch that whatever happened to Mulder might have more to do with the agent than the case. He hoped that Al could give him something. Well, at least Mulder was safe for the night. Secure in that knowledge Sam curled up on the bed and drifted off to sleep. Fox mulder couldn't sleep as usual. Only this time it wasn't just his insomnia. Something was wrong with Scully. He didn't know what exactly, but she was just *wrong*. Ever since that moment on the plane, when Mulder thought he saw something, she hadn't been herself. 'Am I finally losing it?' He wondered. 'Am I so far gone that I see the paranormal everywhere? What Mulder?' he chided himself. 'Do you think you partner has been possesed?' He was worried. The only person he trusted enough to talk to about this was the person he was having doubts about. Maybe that was it. Was he just so afraid to trust that he was destroying the one relationship he could count on? 'Go to sleep Mulder, psychoanalyzing yourself never works.' He sighed, turned on the t.v., and channel surfed. 'Hmmf, stupid town doesn't even have the Sci-Fi Channel.' He smiled when he found the The Creature From The Black Lagoon on a cheezy horror movie channel. 'A little mood setter' Then it gave him an idea. if you want to find a publicity shy lake monster, when should you look for it? When nobody's around of course. 'See Mulder, all those years of school and you still get more ideas off of the t.v. And mom said I watched too much. He considered waking Scully then changed his mind. She'd just tell him to get some sleep. Why did people always say that? What? Did they think insomniacs just stayed up for the hell of it? 5 minutes later he was out the door and on his way to the lake. "Sam! Sam wake up!" Al Calavicci pleaded. "SAM!!" "Wha'...Al? Al, what are you doing? What is it?" "Doctor Van Helsing is out in the middle of no where Sam. And Ziggy doesn't like it." It took Sam's sleep fuzzy brain a minute to get the Dracula reference. "You mean Mulder? I thought he was safe until Thursday?" "Sam everytime you leap you change the ball game. But your right , he's not supposed to die until Thursday." "So what's the problem?" "He's not supposed to be where he is now either." "Isn't he in bed?" "No Sam." Al said with exaggerated patience. "Where is he?" "About a mile from the lake. On and off. He's been drining around in circles. Ziggy thinks he's lost." "What time is it?" Sam asked pulling on a pair of sweats. "About 3am." Sam sagged in disbelief. "Is this guy Van Helsing or the vampire? Doesn't he sleep?" "Sam, just hurry up." "I suppose he took the car. Just how am I supposed to get him?" Oh, I didn't think of that. Well, call him on the cellular phone. Maybe you can convince him to come back." I don't know his number." Sam complained. "Hit the first auto-dial button. Its probably his." Sam hit the button and waited. Mulder." came the swift reply. "Mulder where are you?" "Scully?" "Yes its me." Sam said "Where are you?" "I'm on my way to the lake...Ithink." "Its after 3am!" "I just thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the lake when no one was around, thats all." "So, your driving around a strange area, in the middle of the night, when you are probably exhausted. Just how lost are you?" Sam wasn't sure where his words were coming from. He was lecturing mulder like he'd done it all his life. "Sam I think your merging with Agent Scully." Al said looking at the comlink. There was silence on the other end of the line. "That lost huh?" Sam/Scully searched the room for a map. He found one in her suitcase and spread it out on the bed. "Do you see any road signs around you?" "Scully." Mulder protested. "Just humor me huh, Mulder. I'll feel better when your back at the hotel. If you still want to go monster hunting I'll go with you. That's what you have a partner for, for crying out loud! Besides you never could read a map." "Oh, that one time and I'm labeled for life." Sam felt Scully's fury disapating as he became completely himself again. He directed Mulder out of Treasure lake and hung up the phone. Sam sat back on the bed. "I get the feeling he does that to her alot." Sam told Al. Al nodded. "More than likely. You knoe those genius types. They get an idea in their head and they run off half cocked." Al lookded pointedly at Sam. Sam always wondered if Al wasn't a little mad at him for stepping into the accelerator in the first place. He'd never shown it though. But Sam thought he heard hints of it in the occasional friendly jibe. "He has been Scully's chief concern since she arrived in the waiting room." Al said. "She thinks we are holding him somewhere." "Try and convince her he's safe o.k.? And Al. see if you can find more information on Agent Mulder. Either from Ziggy or Agent Scully if you can. Especially about his sister. Something weird is going on there." Al nodded and vanished back into the future, just as Sam heard a knock on the door. Mulder stood there looking sheepish and tired. Sam gave him his best disapproving stare. A look he usually reserved for Al. "Back from your adventure?" "And you wonder why I don't take you along." Mulder said walking past Sam into the room. "Its stupid to go off by yourself. Especially without telling me. What if something were to happen to you. People *have* been disapearing around here lately ." Sam was anxious to get his point across. Maybe if he could keep Mulder from going on these nightly escapades he could keep him from dying. A job made easier if he could keep tabs on the guy. "Promice me you won't go running off by yourself." "Why should you suffer just because I can't sleep?" Mulder said plopping down on Scully's bed. From Mulder's tone Sam figured this was a serious problem of his. "You should do something about that. You can't ignore chronic sleeplessness." Mulder gave him a suffering look. "And what exactly am I supposed to do about it, sleeping pills? Not a good solution for someone with our occupation." "How about therapy?" Sam suggested. Mulder scowled. "Been there, done that." Sam got the idea that he didn't give it much of a chance. "Maybe you should try it again." "Still think I'm crazy Scully?" "Just because a person's in therapy doesn't mean they're crazy. But as a psychologist you already know that." "Yes, I know that." Mulder said quietly. "Scully," Mulder said turning over on the bed to face him. "Do you seriously think I could tell some other psychologist the things I've seen and not be carted away?" Not knowing exactly what he'd seen, Sam was unsure of how to answer. Mulder apparently took his silence to mean something else. "Thats what I figured." Mulder said rolling off the bed and heading for the door. "You up for an early breakfast, Scully, or are you going to try to catch some more shut eye?" Sam sighed and followed Mulder out the door. This guy was beginning to worry him and he realized he still hadn't gotten that promice. 9am DuBois police station. "We really don't need the F.B.I.'s assistance on this case." Chief Wilson stated. He had that look that many police officers got around federal agents. Sam wondered why there seemed to be so much hostility between people who wanted the same thing. All the other officers in the room refused to even acknowledge the agents. Mulder ignored the obvious bad blood , so Sam attempted to do the same. Fox Mulder gazed steadily at the Chief of Police. "Maybe not but I hate to get up early for nothing. So again, we'd like to take a look at your files on this case. Please." "Follow me." Officer Wilson stomped into a back room, filled with computers and filing cabinets. He pointed to a cabinet to his lef and handed Mulder a key. "Have a ball." Sam winced as the door slammed. "Friendly." "Mmmff" Mulder said from behind a file. "I don't understand I thought we already had copies of these files." "Copies, yes." "You think they've been altered?" "I know they have. And so have these." "What? How do you know that?" "All this information was printed out in one lump, although the reports were made days apart. Look, the clarity and color of the ink is the same in each report. They have 4 different printers and they appear to be run quite a bit. All printers print differently, some lighter some darker etc. What are the odds, considering how often these printers are used, that the same one printed out all of these reports? Especially since they were supposedly filed by diferent officers." "This is your evidence? That the same printerwas used? That doesn't seem like such an unusual occurance." "You obviously have never had to share a busy computer lab." Mulder could see his partner was unconvinced. "Besides the local police do not want us here. And there is more to it than professional rivalry. We make them nervous and I want to know why. C'Mon" "Where are we going?" "To the lake for starters. Then i want to talk to the wtinesses. I just hope whoever got here before we did hasn't dried up all the wells." Sam sat in the passanger seat, staring at Mulder. 'The man is completely paranoid. What was all that garbage about the printers? Maybe he just knows more than he's letting on. God I hope so.' Noticing that Mulder was looking back, Sam turned to look out the window. Mulder was trying to supress a serious case of the creeps. Scully had been silently staring at him for several minutes now. not that that was really so unusual. She often did that when he had made some leap of logic she couldn't follow. But it didn't *feel* like her. It felt to Mulder as if some stranger's eyes had been disecting him, picking him apart to see how he worked. Something was wrong. 'But with who Mulder?', his mind chided, 'her or you'. He began sifting through recent events in his mind. Maybe if he could figure out exactly when he'd begun feeling this way.... Sam heard Mulder's frustrated sigh, and turned back to face him. "Penny for your thoughts?" Mulder jumped in surprise. He'd gotten so engrossed in hir rememberings that he'd forgotten she was there. "Hey, you alright?" Dr. Beckett leaned toward him in concern. "You look a little spooked." Mulder laughed at the phrasing, but Scully's confused expression made him feel uneasy all over again. she should have gotten the joke. "I'm fine. Just a little tired." "Do you want me to drive?" "No, thats alright. We're here anyway." Mulder pulled the car into a deserted dirt parking lot. There were no other people around. April in Pennsylvania was still a little too cool to be frolicking around a lake. "So where are all the other monster hunters?" Sam asked. Mulder shrugged looking unsettled. "The kids boat capsized out there." The agent said pointing to the middle of the lake. "So now what?" "Now we wait." Mulder sat on the hood of the car folding his legs underneath him and pulling out a bag of seeds. "I really don't like this Jenn." Michael McClure said. The cops said we weren't supposed to talk to anyone about this. Jenn DiGalarmo turned the car down another dirt road. "This just isn't anyone. These are gov't agents. Do you really want to lie to the Gov't? Jenn heard Michael's sister Diana snicker from the back seat. Michael leaned forward against Jenn's seat. "Thats my plan. They lie to us often enough, it seems only fair." "How about you Diana? Are you going to knuckle under to the cops?" Jenn's boyfriend Scott asked from the front seat. Diana made a face. She really didn't like him much. She couldn't figure out why her friend wanted to date a teenager. 'I had to suffer being around them enough when I was in high school. I don't need this trip down memory lane.' "I'm not going to lie no." "Great!" Scott smiled "We're going to need all the collaboration we can get to convince people about the lake monster." "Let me out of the car." Michael said tugging at the door handle "Whoa! Wait a minute. I didn't see a 'monster." Diana crossed her arms. "Diana! How can you say that! After what we saw! After the way my crystal glowed! It talked to me Diana!" Jenn turned back to look at her friend. "I really want out of the car." Michael repeated. "Jenn, It was the sunlight or something okay? Your crystals did not glow!" "What about what I heard?" "Well......" "You think I'm nuts." It wasn't a question. "No I don't. I just...I don't know okay. I Believe you believe. I just think maybe you see what you want to." "She has a closed mind." Scott sneared. "I do not!" "We're here guys." "We wait." Sam rolled his eyes heavenward. "So, how long do you think it will bw before the mionster shows up?" Mulder could hear the humoring tone in her voice. It had been a long time since she had doubted him this much. "Scully, whats wrong?" "What do you mean?" "I dunno, you just...nevermind. We aren't waiting for the monster. It hasn't been sighted this early in the day." "What are we waiting for then?" "Them." Sam turned at the sound of a car pulling up behind them. 4 young adults piled out of the car. "Agent Mulder?" A petite dark haired woman, in black, walked forward extending her hand. "I'm Jenn Digalarmo. These are my friends Diana McClure, her brother Mike, and Scott Bliss. Sam studied the eclectic group. They were all young and a little on the short side ,but that was about all the had in common. Diana was also petite with short brown hair that had a streak of white at the temple. Sam smiled at that. He wondered if she got teased in school the way he did. She wore jeans and an oversized swaetshirt. Her brother was taller, maybe 5'(', with curly brown hair. He was a fashion antenym of his sister. The dark dress pants and suspenders made him look like he walked out of a 40's movie. Scott looked like a stereotypical teenager. He had on the traditional heavy metal t-shirtand ripped jeans. He noticed that he and Jenn wore matching crystal necklaces. The new age version of 1/2 coins he assumed. "So," Sam began. "You guys saw a monster in the lake." He had a feeling that these kids were probably jerking Mulder around. Whyever Mulder believed these strange things, Sam sensed that he needed to. Sam had a special dislike for people who manipulated those who needed to believe. "Definately." Scott and Jenn nodded. "No!" Mike countered. Mulder noticed Diana hanging back a little from the crowd. "What about you Diana? What did you see?" She stared at her feet for a second, then sighed. "I saw a black hump, with snake like skin, surface the water for about 5 seconds. Then the boat flipped over and all I saw was water." She glared at Scott. " It could have been a large snake or a tire. It could have been anything." "Including something a little 'out there'?" Mulder smiled at her, teasing. He sensed a bit of Scully in this girl. She saw something weird, and while she wanted to deny it, she couldn't dismiss it. "Possibly." she grinned sheepishly, then sobered. "I don't rule out any possibility. I just don't make snap decisions either." "Neither do we." Mulder said. "Thats why we need your boat. And why we need to ask you some questions." "Shoot." Scott said. "I need a full description of what you kids saw, and exactly what what you told the local police." Over the next hour Sam revised his opinion of their young witnesses. They obviously weren't making it up, because they would at least have bothered to get their stories straight. Michael insisted he saw nothing but a ripple in the water. Diana added very little to what she'd already said. Except she did recall an odd humming sound. At the time she'd just assumed it was the engine of another boat. But after their boat had capsized there was no other boat in sight, and they'd had to swim for shore. Aside from that Diana spent most of the interview wincing at the things Jenn and Scott said, while her brother layed back on the ground and moaned. Sam could understand why. He'd never met 2 bigger flakes in his life. They talked about how their crystals glowed as the creature exited the water. They talked about its auora, and how they thought it was trying to communicate with them. Even Mulder started to look uncomfortable. "Thanks guys." Mulder said interupting Jenn mid sentence. You've been a big help. Do you think we could set up the boat though? I have to interview the other witnesses before nightfall." "No problem." Diana said, looking relieved. Sam couldn't figure out what she and her brother were doing with these other two. Unable to resist asking any longer, he bent down and whispered to Diana. "If they embarrass you so much why do you hang out with them?" "I dunno. They're my friends. Besides sometimes they are right on the money. It's weird, but I've seen them predict things. Most of the time they are full of shit, though. But whatever they are, they're never boring." Diana grinned and went off to help hook the boat to Mulder's car. Sam was beginning to understand the feeling. ************************************************************************ * Agent Mulder and Dr. Beckett finished interviewing the other witnesses before dinner. Just as Mulder had suspected key parts of their accounts had been deleted from the police reports. For example Jenn and Scott's versions were reported, while the McClures were omitted. A reason for that wasn't hard to understand. The formers' descriptions would be ignored as pure fantacy. Diana's however seemed more worthy of investigation. That might not necessarily be why one was printed and the other deleted though. It was one description it particular that they kept ommiting, the humming sound. Diana had mentioned it and so had several other witnesses. They all insisted that they had reported this to the police. Mulder didn't like it. Surely they knew he'd conduct his own investigation. So why leave that part out? 'To hook you Mulder, thats why. They knew you'd look for a conspiracy so they fed you one..' Now the question is, are they throwing me off track, or luring me in? Mulder decided he needed Scully's input on this. he headed to her room where she had retreated after dinner. Sam listened patiently as Mulder went over his evidence and explained his doubts. "What do you think, Scully?" "I think your paranoid." "That's really helpful, Scully." "Okay, I think that the police were, understandably, not taking these witnesses seriously. Therefore the reports were a little sloppy. I think the sound was probably, as one of the witnesses suggested, a far off boat engine. I do *not* think that there is a conspiracy involving the police or anyone else. And finally I think you need some sleep." "Ah." Mulder looked at Sam curiously. "What?" Sam asked nervously. It seemed sometimes like Mulder could look through him, past all of the outer layers, and into his soul. It gave him the creeps. "So, I don't suppose you want to go for a midnight boat ride?" "What?" Sam was beginning to feel like this was the only word he knew. "To stake out the lake." Mulder said calmly. "Did you hear anything I just said?" "Yes, so are you coming?" "Mulder, I don't think this is going to get us anywhere." "That's never stopped you before." "Do we have any asprin in the car?" Sam sighed "Always." 1am Thursday Morning. On the shore of Treasure Lake. Sam glanced at Mulder. The younger man had fallen asleep about 25 minutes ago. "About time' Sam thought. Since Sam had arrived her over 30 hours ago Mulder hadn't slept a wink. That's not so bad in itself. Dr. Beckett had had a sleepless night from time to time. the problem was he'd had a feeling that Mulder hadn't sleep the night before Sam arrived either. He'd noticed the deep circles under his eyes, and just general symtoms of fatigue. He wondered what caused the insomnia. And if it was at all related to his death. Maybe he just got careless in his fatigue. He could have fallen. Possibly hit his head and that's how he drowned. Maybe Agent Scully criesd foul because she couldn't deal with the guilt of not getting him the help he needed. In Scully's official report, she'd said she was asleep at the time of his death. He'd apparently (against Bureau regulations) decided during one of his sleepless nights to wander out alone and stake out the lake. At first Sam had been willing to believe that foul play had been involved. Part of him wanted to believe Mulder's theories. The problem was so far he had evidence of anything other than run away imaginations. True people were missing, but that didn't mean anything paranormal was about or that any conspiracy was involved. Still Mulder was the agent, not Sam. "Maybe your privy to information I'm not." Sam whispered. "I don't know why, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt for a little while longer." "Sam?" Dr. Beckett jumped slightly at Al's arrival He looked over at Mulder to make sure he hadn't woken him." Relieved, he made a sushing gesture at Al and quietly got out of the car. "The kid finally crashed huh?" Sam nodded. "What's up Al?" "I was finally able to get partial acess to the X-File field reports." "Partial?" "I was able to access the Bureau's and a few of Agent Scully's versions of events. But all of Mulder's reports and many of Scully's were lost in a fire. "A fire? Where?" "In the agents' old office, about a year after Mulder's death. Apparently the X-Files had been sealed after the funeral and agent Scully reassigned. She has petitioned to continue the work, but was denied." "Was a reason given.?" "The Bureau said there was not enough evidence in the validity of the investigations to keep them open." Sam nodded. "Read some of their reports." Sam listened in disbelief as Al read the reports. In just the first few Al read, Mulder had been picked up for vagrancy (while sleeping in the streets of Atlantic City- looking for the Jeresy Devil???) ; Detained by the military ,twice, for breaking into restricted areas (While looking for aliens???) ; Been arrested for attacking a newly released mental patient (he believed to be a liver eating mutant??). But the one that got to him most was the file on Mulder's sister. "He believes she was abducted by aliens?" Sam asked "Apparently." Al said, shaking the hand link violently. "She disapeared from their home, when she was only 8 and he was 12. They'd been left alone in the house, while the parents were next door. When they checked on her in the morning she was gone. They never found any trace of her. No ransom note, no demands, no evidence of any kind." "Nothing? She just disapeared into thin air?" Sam gasped. He couldn't help but think of his own little sister Katie. They were 4 years apart, just as Mulder and his sister were. He'd babysat plenty of times too, when his parents went visiting. Sam wondered what he would done if his own little sister had disapeared like that. 'I'd have gone insane' he decided. "Samantha!" Sam started at the cry and turned around. Mulder, still asleep in the car, was writhing in a nightmare. He was covered in sweat and tears streamed down his cheeks. Sam climbed back into the car and grasped Mulder by the shoulders. "Mulder! Mulder wake up!" Fox Mulder woke with a start. Sam noted that his eyes were dialted and his breathing shallow. 'Jeez he's almost in shock' "Is he alright Sam" Al stood in the middle of the car peering in at the both of them. "I don't know." "Wha...What was that Scully?" Mulder ran his hands down his face. He seemed a little calmer now, but Sam had seen and heard enough. "I said we are going back yo the hotel." ""What? We can't Scully! We have to keep an eye on that lake. What time is it anyway? Good Lord! Why didn't you wake me before this?" "Because you needed to sleep. You still do. I wouldn't have awakened you at all except you were having a nightmare." Sam got out of the car and walked over to the driver's side. "Shove over." "Huh?" "You heard me, move over I'm driving." "Scully we have to..." "I don't give a *damn* about that lake!" Sam shouted. Mulder shut his mouth and stared at his partner wide eyed. "Look." Sam said lowering his voice. "We are both exhausted, and don't you tell me you aren't. We've been working all day and most of the night. We aren't going to be able to do anyone any good in this condition. We are just going to get sloppy and possibly hurt. We can come back later, but not before we both get a couple hours sleep. Doctors orders." Mulder looked Sam in the eyes, then sighed. Reluctantly he slid over to the passanger side. "Geez, you get cranky when your tired." Sam smiled in spite of himself and started the car. Mulder paced his hotel room. He knew he should try to get some sleep. If for no other reason than to avoid Scully's lecture. But something was nagging at him. Something about Dana, but what? She was finally acting like herself again. More or less. She was no longer reacting to his ideas like she'd never heard them before. Now she was just getting as irritated as she always did. Perhaps more. *That* was the problem! She'd gotten edgy before, sure. That was to be expected. He'd made poking new holes in her rational world his life's mission. But this was different. He'd heard her talking to herself a couple of times, and she'd started muttering under her breath. She looked frazzeled. Maybe even a little pale. Mulder felt pangs of guilt building. 'You know Mulder', he thought disgusted, 'sometimes you get too wrapped up in your own problems.' Something was obviously bothering his partner and it was time he found out what. Determined, he headed for Scully's room. He brought up his hand to knock, but paused when he heard Dana talking. He didn't hear anyone else in the room. 'She must be on the phone' he thought, and was about to walk away, when he heard something that made his blood run cold. "I think Mulder is a danger to himself." Sam said "And for his own good I think I ought to to report that to his superiors." "Sam." Al cautioned. "Your just supposed to keep him from dying tomarrow night, not cure all the guys mental problems." "But what good does it do to save him now, when he's just probably going to get himself killed later? Al, How can you ignore all those reports? Look, I like the guy. I really do. He reminds me of myself in alot of ways, but, God Al, how many times has Mulder almost gotten himself killed??!! Its a rare case that doesn't end up with him needing medical attention. And Lets not forget thge fact that he believes that his siter was abducted by *aliens*. Add all these things to his insomnia and the nightmares...Al the man's obsessive, possibly delusional and he needs help!" "If its as bad as you think it is Sam, then why hasn't Agent Scully reported him herself? Al countered. "Because she's too close. He's her friend and she doesn't want to hurt him. Maybe she thinks she can protect him herself. She's bailed him out of a lot of tight spots his reckless behavior has gotten him into...." "He's saved her to Sam." I know that. He's a talented agent. But he's gone too far, and I can't let it go on." Mulder stood shaking, as he listened to Dana talk about getting him fired, possibly committed. No, Not Dana...She was talking about herself as if she were someone else. Mulder went a few degrees colder. 'And she's been acting like someone else.' Mulder dashed to his room. He began digging through his suitcase until he found it. The compass. He ran back to Dana's door and studied the compass held in front of him. It was spinning. Mulder swallowed, something or someone in that room was disrupting the magnetic field. And that something wasn't Scully. Fury burned through Fox Mulder. He pocketed the compass and kicked open the door. Sam looked up in shock and found himself starring down the barrel of a gun. "What the..." "Who are you?" Mulder asked in a strained whisper. Sam could see the anger and the fear in the agents eyes. Oh God he heard! Sam licked his lips nervously. "Mulder its me, Scully." "No." Mulder smiled knowingly "Your not. Now tell me who you are and what you've done with her." "Al, now what?" Sam pleaded. Mulder glanced around the room. "Who are you talking to?" "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Mulder laughed. "That's suppossed to be my line." He sobered looking into Dana's eyes. Eyes that someone else was hiding behind. "Try me." He growled. "Okay" Sam said holding up his hands in defeat. "My name is..." "Sam!" Al warned. "....Dr. Samuel Beckett." Sam continued in a soothing voice. "I am part of a time travel experiment. I've been talking to Al. He's a hologram from the future, assigned to observe this project. He's tuned into my brainwaves so only I can see and hear him. Thats why it looks like I'm talking to thin air." Mulder blinked. 'oooh, this was good. Time traveling and invisable holographic friends. Great. And I'm nuts.' Al crossed his arms. "Sam keep this up and I'm outta here. You know the rules. You have to make them believe your who you leaped into." "Wait a minute." Mulder said. "Sam Beckett? *The* Sam Beckett? The nobel prize winner?" "That's it I'm gone. If I'm going to wink out of existence, I at least want to be looking at Tina when I go.....or maybe Scully?" Al mused as he disapeared through the imaging chamber door. Sam ignored him. "You've heard of me?" "Heard of you? You were on the cover of time magazine! You worked on that speed of light project with NASA. What was it called, Starbright? If that would have worked it would have brought space exploration ahead by a hundred years! Your possibly the most brilliant scientist this world has ever seen!" Mulder's excitement waned for a moment. "I just saw you on t.v. last week, so how can you be..." "Because that's the me before I leaped. Itold you I'm from the future." "Okaaay," Mulder said. "And you look like Scully because..." "I can't just appear in the past as myself. That would disrupt too many variables. Instead I leap into the lives of people currently in that time period." "So your in Scully's body?" "No, not exactly. My body leaps, not just my mind. What you are seeing is the physical auora of her body." "Her auroa?" Mulder was beginning to think that Scully was finally paying him back for all his loopy ideas. But then he remembered the compass. "So if your here, then where is Scully?" He asked trying to remain calm. "In my lab, in the future." "Is she alright?" "She's perfectly safe. And I promice you we'll bring her back as soon as possible." "So does everyone think she's you?" "No, no. Everyone at the lab knows whats going on. They do see my physical auroa thogh." "And what does Scully see?" "Come here," Sam motioned Mulder over to the mirror. Mulder stood there, trying to decide whether or not to trust Sam Beckett. Sam caught the wary look. "Look, you've got the gun. Just come here and stand behind me." Mulder positioned himself behind Sam/Scully. "When I look into the mirrior, I see Dana Scully. I see the physical auroa of the person who is supposed to be in this place and time. Was here in fact in the original history. So, if she were to look into a mirrior, or down at her body, she would see me." Mulder smiled a little at that." "Do you have any idea what an earful your staff must be getting? She's probably blaming it all on me." A thought struck Mulder. "Wait a minute, did you say the *original* history? "Er...yeah." Sam looked at his feet. "See in order for me to leap out I have to fix something that went wrong the first time around." "Fix?......Hold on, you're going to alter time? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" And just who desides what 'wrong' is? Did you ever stop to think that maybe we don't strangers popping into our bodies and messing around with our lives? We are not an experiment to fiddle with and see what happens!" "I know that! I had no intention of altering peoples lives. This isn't exactly my idea?" Sam yelled. "What do you mean? Is someone forcing you to do this?" "Not exactly,...at least I don't think so?" Sam had never considered that maybe the gov't was responsible for his leaping. He put that thought aside. Al would never have allowed that. "No, another person isn't making me leap." "Than what is?" "I don't know." Sam said quietly. Mulder felt ill. "What do you mean, you don't know? Are you saying nobody's in control? Are you telling me my partner is is the victim of an out of control time experiment?! Are you even sure you can get her back?" "As long as I put right what went wrong." "And that was?" Mulder spat out. Sam hesitated. "That was?" Mulder asked quieter. "Your death." Mulder sat down on the bed. 'This is great, just great.' He thought 'Okay Mulder think. The way I see it there are 3 possibilities. One I'm either the victim of a rather elaborate practical joke (And if that's the case, Scully, I swear I'm gonna kill you). Two, my partner has just completely gone insane. Or three, I'm dealing with a run away time experiment victim thats here to save my life.' Mulder thought about the plausability of all those possibilities...and went with three. Sighing he looked up at Sam. "Must my life play like a Twilight Zone episode?" "You believe me?" Sam asked dumbfounded. "Yes. I do. Scully, would never come up with a cockamamie story like this. Besides," Mulder said adopting an accusing glare. "She's never tried to have me committed." Sam sighed. "Look Mulder, you have to admit your behavior is ...odd" Mulder started to laugh. "Remind me what it is you do for a living?" "He's got you there Sam." "Dr. Beckett spun around. "Will you stop doing that!" "What?" Mulder asked "Not you. Al. He has this habit of sneaking up on me!" "Hello Al." Mulder said Huh? Oh. Hello kid." " Al says hi." Sam said "What is it Al?" "Well now that you are done completely screwing up our security..." Sam made a get on with it gesture. "...It seems you've changed history." "Mulder no longer dies?" Sam asked hopefully. " No, he still dies. But now so do you." "Oh, boy." "What?" Mulder got to his feet. "Dr. Beckett, you just turned white as a sheet. What is it?" "Oh, it seems that I've changed things a bit." "In what way?" "Well...instead of just you dying, now I do as well." You do, or Scully does?" Sam shuffled his feet "We've never quite figured that out." "Perfect! This is just perfect!" "Well its not like we can't fix it you know." Al grumbled Mulder noticed Sam looking at the empty air. He stalked over and pointed to where he believed Al to be. "What is he saying!" "Hey!" Al exclaimed as Mulder's hand passed through him. "Cut that out!" "He says we can fix it." Sam answered Mulder shook his head. "I need to be able to see him. This medium act of yours is going to take too much time in an emergency." "Medium?" Al began. "Hey! I'm not a ghost!" Sam was getting a headache. "You can't see him he's.." "Tuned into your brain waves, yeah I know. But isn't there a way to adjust it so we both can see him?" Not unless we know what your brain waves are. And then only if we can find a similarity." Mulder thought for a moment. "We both have photographic memories!" "We don't even know what causes that." Sam explained. "Do we have to? Just start fiddling with the frequencies that correspond to your unidentified brain waves?" Al started punching the buttons on his handlink. "Look no offence, but your not a doctor. What your suggesting just isn't feasi......" Sam stopped mid sentence. Mulder was staring at Al and smiling. Al waved. Mulder waved back. "How in the..? This shouldn't be working." Sam leaned against the wall. "I defy the normal realms of science." Mulder grinned. "You just defy normal." Sam muttered "And you are what, Mister average? I hate to tell you this .." Mulder waved his hands through Al, who sputtered his indigation. "but.. *this* is weird. Compared to you, I'm the normal poster boy." "He's got you again Sam." "Shut up Al." Al looked down at a rather ill looking Sam Beckett. "It wasn't all that amazing you know. It turns out your brain waves aren't all that different." "Is that supposed to comfort me?" Sam whispered "Keep in mind I can hear both sides of the conversation now." Mulder said "Sorry, I apologize." "Guys." Al said "We need to get serious here." "No, what we need to get is some sleep." Sam looked at Scully's watch and groaned. Almost 4am. "And Mulder, I do mean you. And don't go sneaking off by yourself. Now that Al's linked to your brainwaves he can track you." Mulder looked in askance at the hologram. "Think of me as Santa Claus." Al grinned "I know when you are sleeping. I know when your awake. I know if you've been ba...." "I get the picture." Is it too late to readjust the frequency?" Mulder asked hopefully. "I'm beginning to like the idea." Sam yawned "G'night Mulder." Sam watched as Mulder closed the door. "You see Sam, I told you that you were jumping the gun on turnig him in." "Nothing that has happened here has changed my mind one bit." "Sam! That kid trusts you!" "All the more reason for me to do what's best for him don't you think?" "Sam Beckett, after he bought your cocamamie story I think he at least deserves a chance." "Fine." We die *when* tomarrow night?" "Sometime after 10 o'clock." "He's got until dinner. If I see nothing that convinces me that something out of the ordinary is going on here, I stand with my original plan." "He's got one thing on his side already." "What's that?" "If he isn't on to something, then why do you both die?" With that Al made his exit. Thursday 11am Diana McClure sat at the end of her favorite dock. She was trying to type in the finishing touches on her Theater History Paper, but her brother wasn't making it easy. "Diana, I'm serious. I think we ought to go away for a few days." "Michael." Diana moaned. Michael shut off her P.C. "Hey!" "Oh, Big deal. You save it about every other line." He waved off his sisters protests. "Will you listen to me? The police told us not to say anything! And you went and blabbed the whole thing. You don't think you are going to pay for that?" "Michael Ian McClure, you need to read something other than Spy novels! The DuBois police are not going to make me 'pay' for anything. " "Diana, I don't think all of those men that came to the house that day were the police." Diana looked up at her brother. 'He's dead serious.' she thought "Who do you think they were?" "The government. I think maybe they are doing something in that lake. Something they don't want people to know about." 'Oh good Lord' Diana sighed to herself. "Mike, I swear I don't know whose nuttier. Jenn and Scott and their paranormal'powers' or you and your paranoia." "Diana I..." "Mike! Enough. I have to finish this paper by tomarrow. I don't have time for this." "Fine!" Diana watched her brother stalk off through the woods towards their house. 'The boy needs a date.' She thought. 'Then again, Diana, so do you.' She turned her P.C. back on and was about to start on her paper again, when she heard a splash. "Michael!" she growled in a voice only annoyed older sisters could manage I said..." What Diana saw when she looked up made her think many things. Not the least of them being that she would never call her brother paranoid again. "MICHAEL!" At the sound of Diana's scream Michael McClure stopped dead in his tracks. All anger at his sister turned into a deep fear that he would never see her again. He spun around and raced back toward the dock shouting for his father to come help. He ignored the branches slapping and scraping across his face, and continued in a dead run. As he broke through the trees his heart leaped into his throat. All that remained on the dock was his sister's abandoned computer and a trail of water. Michael sat on the dock, ignoring the water that was soaking into his pants. He stared into the now calm lake that he was sure had claimed his sister. "Don't worry" he whispered. "I think I know what to do." Sheritin Inn 11:45 am Sam Beckett sat wearily across the table from Mulder. He'd barely gotten 3 hours of sleep and it felt like even less. Al and Mulder had gotten him so worked up last night that he hadn't drifted off until 7am. He looked heavenward at God or Fate or whatever it was that controled his leaps. 'You think this is funny don't you? I get on him about his sleeping habits and you just had to teach me a lesson.' Mulder looked over at Sam sypathetically. He looked like hell. If that's what I look like no wonder I get Sam and Scully so upset. Mulder pushed a steaming cup across the table. "Have another cup of coffee. It helps." "Thanks." "When we get in the car we'll put on some music. Loud and fast. That works better than anything. "Do you subscribe to an insomniacs newletter or are these just things you've picked up along the way?" Sam grinned "Hey, Hey, wise cracks are my job." Mulder complained "Yeah well, so is the insomnia, but that you decided to share." "Agents Mulder and Scully?" a young waitress stood shyly at the side of the table. "Yes?" Mulder acknowleged. "There is a young man over there. He says he needs to peak with you." Sam and Mulder looked up to see a very distraught Michael McClure. "Send him over." Sam said. Mulder got a good look at the young man's expression as he approached. "What happened?" Michael leaned heavily on the table. His clothes were damp and in disarray. "She's gone! You've got to help me!" "Whoa, wait a minute," Sam interupted "Slow down. Who's gone?" "My sister! They took my sister!" "Who did?" Mulder asked, going pale. Michael looked crest fallen. "I was hoping you'd know. I thought you could help me." He started to back away from them, suspicion and despair in his eyes. Mulder grabbed the boys arm and looked him in the eye. "We will try to help you. You've got to trust us. Give us the details." Mulder steered Michael into the seat beside him. He could feel the young man studying him, trying to decide who to trust. Finally the boy sighed deeply letting his muscles relax. "We didn't tell you everything about that day at the lake. About two hours after we had made our statement to the police four men came to our home. Two of them I recognized as Cheif Wilson and one his officers. But the other two...even though they were dressed as deputies I don't think they were on the force. Cheif Wilson and the pther officer seemed really nervous. The other two though, they were..." Michael paused looking for the right words, the shrugged. "Cold, almost inhuman. They did most of the talking. And we were told in no uncertain terms that it would be best the community if we forgot about that incident. And that it would be best for our family if we never talked about it again. michael shivered at the memory. "These were not people who did nice things for a living." "But you talked to us." Sam said "Yes we did. Now they'll make her pay for it." Sam laid a hand on Mike's shoulder. "Its okay, we'll find her." Mulder gragged his coat. "Can you show us where you last saw her?" "Yeah she was at the dock.." "Did you call the police?" Mulder asked Mike winced. "My parents did. They are probably there by now so we have to hurry!" As they rushed to the car Sam had to admit that maybe Mulder wasn't as delusional as he'd thought. Maybe. Mulder stood on the dock staring at where Diana McClure had been sitting. Her brother had retreated to thr house to occupy the police. "Mulder.." Sam sighed "There's nothing here. We have no evidence of foul play." "Do you think he's making it up?" Mulder asked "Well' she could be playing a prank..." Mulder raised an eyebrow at Sam. "...No, I don't think he's making it up." Sam admitted. "Good, because I think I'm going to need your help." The agent said bending down to inspect the dock." "What do you have?" Sam bent down next to Mulder. Mulder gestured toward marks in the wood. "Scratches. Looks like they were made by fingernails." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of tweezers. in a few seconds he was holding a tiny piece of rubber in front of Sam. "I bet somebody's wet suit is leaking." "Now what?" "Can you swim?" "You aren't suggesting we go diving? Look Mulder, don't take this wrong. I'm on your side now, really, but i think we need to slow down here. If you are correct its us against the local police and possibly a faction of the government. If we are going to get away with crossing them we are going to have to proceed very carefully." "Okay, do you have a better idea?" Sam stared out at the lake defeated. "Do you even know how to dive? You have to be licenced you know." Mulder grinned humorlessly. "Look, I know we are taking a risk, but there is something going on in that lake. Something people are disappearing and possibly dying for. The only way were are going to find out what that is, is by taking a look. So, are you with me? If your not I'll understand, but I'd appreciate it if you would send Scully back, because we have a jog to do." Sam looked at Mulder. "You get the suits and I'll see if I can find an underwater map of the lake." Thursday 3:00 PM Bank of Treasure Lake. Fox Mulder and Sam Beckett crept quietly through the underbrush, trying not to attract the attention of the locals. Or anybody else who might be lurking about. They had decided on this area because it was thew deepest part of the lakje. And the only feasible place to hide anything from the residents." "What are you two doing?" Sam jumped in surprise and Mulder reached for his gun. "Geez!" Mulder gasped. Al snickered. "Sorry kid, you can't shoot a hologram." He stepped back to get a better look at there outfits. "Why do you two look like spawn from the swamp thing?" Sam and Mulder both glared at the hologram, who just grinned around his cigar. "Why do you think? We are going to get a better look at that lake." Sam whispered. "I take Mulder's won the bet. Way to go kid. Three hours to spare." "What's he talking about?" The agent looked at suspiciously at Sam. "Nothing. Just ignore him. Thats what I do." "Ha!" Al began glancing around himself nervously. "Is something wrong?" Mulder asked. "You guys haven't seen any sign of the lake monster yet have you?" "Oh good... Al! There is NO lake monster, okay? What we have here is good old fashioned human bad guys. This is all perfectly explainable." Mulder stared at Sam. "What?" The leaper asked irritably. "Nothing. I was just thinking that you and Scully would make a good couple." "Oh yeah," Al laughed "I can just imagine all the wild parties at their house." Sam stared heavenward. "Strength, give me strength. Are you here for a particular reason Al?" "Yeah, to tell you that that McClure girl disapeared, but I take it by your nifty little outfits you already know that." Sam flashed an annoyed smile and nodded. "Anything else?" Al sighed. "The time of your deaths have changed." Both Sam and Mulder looked up sharply. "Now instead of 10PM you die at 8PM." "Well, since the clock's ticking we'd better go." Mulder motioned to the lake. Sam nodded. Al opened the imaging chamber door as the youngermen disapeared into the lake. Almost two hours had passed with neither man finding anything. They had searched a good four miles of the lake, and everything seemed perfectly normal. Sam glanced down at his oxygen gauge. He only had 15 minutes left. Swimming over to Mulder he tapped at the agents gauge the pointed to the surface of the lake. Mulder nodded dejectedly and started to follow Sam. Not for the first time since Sam's arrival, he wished for Scully. Sam was a nice enough guy, and as civilians went a pretty good detective. But right now he neede to bounce some ideas off of Scully's mind. They had to be missing something. There was something in this lake, he knew it. Maybe if I took a look at that map again. A flash of light caught Mulder's attention. He glanced up and saw that Sam had already exited the lake. He should probably get the leaper's help in investigating the flash, but it might be gone by then. With one final glance at the surface of the lake, Mulder turned around and headed in the direction of the light. Cautiously he swam into the trench from where the light seemed to be coming. it took him a minute to lacate the source. When he did he realized he'd made a big mistake. Mulder spun away from the gov't issue flashlight just a minute too late. Two men grabbed Mulder by the arms and pinned him to the wall of the trench. The agent struggled as a third man injected him with a thick needle that went straight through his wet suit. Soon after Mulder's world went black. Sam was just re-entering the water to go look for Mulder. 'Figures' he thought. 'I leave him alone for a few seconds...' "Don't Sam." Sam Beckett turned to his friend. "Don't what? Al, where is he?" "They got him Sam." Doctor Beckett looked up sharply. "Is he dead?" Al referred to his hand link. "No, not for several hour yet. They'll probably interrogate him first." Sam started back toward the lake. "Sam! If you go back in there now there is a 100% probability thatyou'll be killed." Sam stopped short, his hands clenched into fists. Al moved close to his friend. "You can't help him if you're dead." "But i..." Sam froze in horror. His body tingled with the tell tale signs of leaping. He screamed in frustration. "NO! Not now!" Then he disappeared into the currents of time. Dana Scully found herself staring at a pair of flippered feet. "What the hell?..." Confusion settled over her as she took in her environment. "What am I doing here?" She slowly peered into the glassy waters of the lake. She felt relieved to see her own reflection looking back. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why she felt that way. "Honestly Dana, what did you expect to see?" Memories came slowly floating back. "Mulder..." She whispered. He needed her help. She couldn'rt remember why she knew that...she just knew she did. 'The oxygen level must have been lower that I thought.' Agent Scully shhok her head trying to get a focus. She threw off her flipperes and ran to the car. She needed a plan and she needed it fast. She picked up the map laying on the front seat scanning it to find the best place to look for Mulder. Fox Mulder slowly opened his eyes. He could only see the blue material that had been laid across his eyes. It was to loose to be a blindfold, and it was wet. Confused he reached up to remove it. Diana McClure noticed her cell mate had finally woken up. She had not been at all happy to see him arrive. He was the one she had been counting on to rescue her. If these guys could kidnap F.B.I. and not have to worry about the repercussions (which, by the way they had handled him when they brought him in, she didn't think they did) then who could stop them? "Its for the headache." Diana explained as Mulder fingered the cloth. "It will get worse before it gets better. I don't know what they gave us, but it is not user friendly." Mulder turned suddenly, and immediately wished he hadn't. The room spun several directions at once and his head felt like some one had put an axe through it. He felt someone gently hold his head while he emptied the contents of his stomach. "I tried to warn you." Diana set the bucket she had put near his bed back on the floor. "Don't move for another half hour at least. Trust me." She gave him a drink of water then pushed him back onto the cot. "Where am i ?" He whispered. He remembered being in the lake, and seeing a light, but the rest disappeared into a haze of nausea. "I don't know. I'm assuming we are somewhere in the lake. Or maybe under it. I haven't been out of these rooms since I got here." "Rooms?" He couldn't focus his thoughts. "Yeah. I don't think they were equipped for prisoners. It looks like we are in someones living quarters. We've got all the comforts of home. A bathroom complete with a shower and towels. A kitchen full of dishes, though they've shut off the stove. And this room. She gestured around to the plain white room. it contained two cots and a TV set. "Its bolted down." She said following his gaze. "All possible weapons have either ben removed or bolted down. The TV works though." She brightened. "We even have H.B.O." "Yippee." He said, slowly sitting up. "Don't do that!" she pleaded. "If you throw up again, I probably will too. I'm not the best nursemaid." "I'm okay." he lied sucking in deep breaths. He had to come up with a plan. If Sam was right he only had......"What time is it!?" he asked in a sudden panic. "I'm okay." He lied sucking in deep breaths. He had to come up with a plan. If Sam was right he only had....."What time is it!?" He asked in a sudden panic. "Six o'clock. Why do you have a date?" "Your awfully chipper for someone in your predicament." He said absently. he only had two hoursa to get them out of here. "Sorry. I get scared I get a smart mouth." "Oh, great." Mulder grinned "Me too. That means we'll *both* get beat up." "Yeah, I've noticed that the humor that saved me in school doesn't work very well here." For the first time he noticed the large bruise on the side of her face. "You okay?" "Yeah, fine." She fiddled with the blanket on her cot. "So, what's the game plan?" Mulder sighed. "The first thing we need is information. What have you been able to pick up since you've been here?" "Um, not much." Diana absently rubbed at her sore eye. "I've only seen our kidnappers three times, when the grabbed me, when they brought me lunch, and when they dropped you off." "Okay, lets start from the beginning. What do you remember about this morning?" "I was sitting on the dock doing my paper. I heard a splash. I thought Michael was trying to scare me by throwing stones in the lake. When I looked up I saw three guys in scuba suits climbing onto the dock." She was getting visibly upset but when Mulder reached for her she pulled back. "I was yelling for Mike, but the injected me with something. It gets foggy after that. I think they put a breathing mask on me. Then I hit the water....and that's it." Mulder nodded. "Whatever drug they are using it works fast." "Felt like that stuff they gave me when I got my appendix out." "Okay, what about lunch time?" "This guy came in. He looked kinda like a marine. Buzz cut. Little personality. He plopped a TV. dinner on the floor, and left. He didn't say a word, even though I kept firing questions until he shut the door." "Did he have any identifing marks? Tattoos? Stuff like that?" "Blonde hair. He was covered head to toe in some gray uniform, so I don't know about the tatoos. His nose looked broken." "When did you get the shiner?" Mulder moved to examine it, ignoring her protests. "When they brought you in. I tried to block their way out, when they wouldn't answer me. One of them just smaked me out of the way and they left." "Did they say anything?" "Yeah, something about hoping I liked spooky company. Whatever that meant." "It means they know who I am, for one thing. They didn't say anything else in front of you?" "No. Nothing. In fact Blondie got a glare for even saying that." 'Dammit' Mulder thought. "Well that doesn't give us much to go on." He got up and started inspecting the room. He was hoping to find something that would clue them in on their kidnappers identity. He turned over the mattresses looking for tags. When that came up empty he moved to the bathroom. Everything looked like it had been bought at the local Bi-Lo. A search of the rest of the quarters gave him more of the same." "Doesn't tell us much does it?" The kid looked ill. "Actuslly it tells me quite a bit. This isn't just some random corporation that decided to hide illegal activities here or some crime organization. These people are experts at espionage." "So my brother was right, its the government?" Mulder nodded and fought back a grin. She seemed most bothered by the fact that her brother had turned out to be correct. "Man! Now he'll never shut up." She mumbled. A key turned in the door and Mulder spun around pushing Diana behind him. He made ready to charge the door. The blonde man that Diana had decribed entered pointing a gun at the agent. He dropped two more TV. dinners on the floor and backed up never taking his eyes off of his prisoners. Mulder was confused. These people didn't usually feed prisoners they were planning to kill. 'So what happens in the next two hour to change their plans?' All at once the man began glancing around himself in a confused manner. Mulder's heart stopped. He'd seen this reaction before, on the plane when..." The blonde man looked up and stared in shock. The shock then turned to glee. "Mulder?" Mulder wanted to bear hug the man. "Sam?" The Blonde man nodded. "Sam Beckett, the best undercover agent in the business!" Mulder crowed. "You know him?" Diana gaped. "Oh, yeah." Mulder couldn't stop smiling. "Kid we just got our ticket out of here." Fox Mulder couldn't believe it. He'd never been this lucky in his life. Then a thought struck him. If Sam was here, and obviously looking nothing like Scully, then where was...? "Diana? Would you mind if I spoke to agent Beckett alone for a minute. Y'know classified stuff." "Uh, sure." She stammered and backed into the kitchen. She looked taked aback by their stroke of luck as well. But definately more hopeful. Mulder watched until she was out of sight then turned to Sam. "Where's Scully?" "The minute I leaped out she would have leaped into herself." "So, she's back?" Mulder's grin grew by the minute. Sam nodded. "How did you manage to leap here?" "Don't look at me. Someone up there must like you. Oh, and Mulder?" "Yeah?" Sam cuffed Fox Mulder on the side of the head. "Hey! What was that for?" Mulder stepped away from Sam rubbing his head. "For scaring me half to death! What is this love you have for wandering off by yourself? I know your not stupid. So, what is it huh? Death wish? You're part lemming? What?" "I dunno. Look we have more pressing concerns at the moment." He said avoiding Sam's eyes. Sighing, Sam decided to leave this conversation for later. "So any suggestions?" Mulder was suddenly all business. "First go find out everything you can about this place, with a way out on top of the list. See if you can find out what happened to the other victims, then come back here for us as fast as you can. I hate to say it but Diana and I better stay here. They probably have security cameras all over the place. And the longer it takes them to figue out we have someone on the inside the better off we are. Now hurry we're running out of time." Sam Beckett hurried down the hall. "Weaver!" Sam had checked all the other rooms looking for the other victims, but they had all been empty. "Hey Weaver!" Sam glanced around the corridor. The only two people there were himself and the linebacker at the end of the hall. 'Guess I'm Weaver.' "Yeah?" "Did you give the prisoners their meal?" The man was huge sam thought. he wondered if the government pumped these guys full of hormones. it would explain alot, the least being their wonderful attitudes. He hadn't failed to notice the bruises on Diana and Mulder. He had to forcefully keep himself from slugging this guy. "Yeah, I just dropped it of." "Well, give 'em ten minutes then go back and get them ready for the transfer. They're joining the rest of the prisoners." "Where are we sending them?" Sam tried to sound casual. "That's on a need to know basis, Weaver. Don't start geting curious on me." Sam nodded his head. the man walked passed staring at him suspiciously, then continued on down the hall. Sam needed to find a computer terminal. Maybe he could get a hold of a map of this place. And if he was very lucky maybe he could find out where the other prisoners had been sent. "Sam!" "Al! Oh, thank God. I need you to do me a favor." "Sam you leaped into two different people in the same leap!" "Yeah, yeah, I know that. Al...Al." Sam repeated his friends name until he got his attention. "I need your help here." "Sure, Sam what is it?" "I Need you to find a way out of here while I try to locate the other kidnap victims." "Right." Al punched a code on his handlink and disappeared. Sam Beckett headed off down the hall in search of a computer room. Dana Scully had never been so gratefully that her dad was in the navy. He had taken her diving many times and it was certainly coming in useful today. She had been down for over an hour, but she had finally found what she was looking for. She stared at the rock face in front of her. It was completely devoid of all any plant life, while everything around it was covered in a multitude of water flora. Dana smiled to herself. 'Found it'. Now all I have to do is find a way in. She started toward the wall when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Something *big*. Dana swam cautiously around the edge of the wall where it had disappeared. Then she saw it. 'Oh my God" What *is* that?!" Mulder sat on his cot trying to remain calm. It wasn't easy. They only had half an hour left and still no word from Sam. He watched Diana pace the same course through the rooms that she had been for the past hour. "Diana, could you please..." Mulder's complaint was cut off by a loud explosion and a tremor that knocked him to the floor. "Mulder?" Diana called in a strained voice. "Its okay." He began to crawl toward her voice. She met him half way. "What the hell was that?" "I don't know." They were both knocked down again. "Mulder?" The agent turned at the sound of Al's voice. "Hey kid, you okay?" Mulder nodded. "Where's Sam?" "I don't know." Diana answered "He's coming." The hologram assured. "I've found a way out but there is a small problem." "What's that?" "I already asked you that!" Diana said This conversation was beginning to make Mulder dizzy. "Uh, Mulder, I think you were right about that lake monster." Sam ran down the hall, stumbling every few feet as another tremor would rock the base. He had finally found where the others had been moved. Now all he had to do was sneak Mulder and Diana passed government spies. No problem. "Weaver!" Oh, not now, Sam pleaded. The other man caught up with Sam and handed him what looked like a night stick. "Whats this?" Sam asked "Change of plans. We've lost control of the project, we have to evacuate now!" A sickening grin spread across the man's features. " And we don't have time to drag the prisoners with us. We're to make it look like they drowned got it?" "Got it." Sam said fingering the club. He waited for the man to turn around and clubbed him over the head. "Sorry I don't have time for this." Mulder was kneeling by the door trying to pick the lock. Diana hovered anxiously over his right shoulder. Al's head was gruesomely stuck through the middle of the door. He had been giving the agent pointers for the past 20 minutes. Mulder was beginning to develop a deep sympathy for Sam. Diana sighed. "We should have left the door unlocked." " We couldn't. If anybody but Sam had come to check on us it would have been all over." "No , no kid, Not like that!" Al shouted "Will you shut up!" "I didn't say anything." Diana protested. "No, not you." Diana stepped back looking alarmed. "Uh, Mulder..." "Now you did it," Al said "She thinks your looney." The agent closed his eyes and counted to Ten. 'And to think' Mulder mused 'If I hadn't opened my mouth I wouldn't have been able to hear him. Be careful what you wish for Mulder.' "Its okay Diana. I was kind of talking to whomever was causing all this banging." As if to back up Mulder's story another tremor sent both non-holograms crashing to the floor. "Good save kid." Al said bending down over him. "You alright?" "Peachy." They all froze at the sound of keys jingling in the door. Al recovered first and stuck his out the door. "It's Sam!" "Its about time!" Diana and Mulder chorused as Sam opened the door. "Sorry." He gasped. "Lets go." Al lead the way to an airlock. There were scuba suits and equipment hanging on the wall. "Skip the suits." Mulder instructed passing out the breathing apparatus. They all adjusted the equipment the best they could with the ground shaking every few minutes. "C'mon, c'mon!" Al shifted impatiently. Sam went out first, with the men trying to keep Diana between them. She had looked panicky when they had put the breathing device on her. She was still breathing to fast. Sam knew some people felt claustrophobic in those masks, but there was nothing they could do about it, and she hadn't complained. They swam for the surface as fast as they could. Mulder looked back once. and stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't sure what he was seeing, but it was huge. It looked like the pictures of the pleisiosaurs from the dinosaur books he'd had as a kid. It was furiously slamming its tail into the side of the rock wall that had hid the base. Mulder continued to stare transfixed. Diana had turned when she felt Mulder let go of her arm. She forgot all about her struggle to breathe through that device. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She tugged furiously on Sam's sleeve and pointed. Sam couldn't believe it either. Good God, Mulder was right. About everything! Guilt over his doubt in Mulder mixed with the excitement of seeing an extinct species. He gaped in awe. Al was furiously waving his hand in front of everyones faces. "Hey!" The hologram yelled unencumbered by the water. "Hello, your lives are in danger remember? Sight see later, you've got to get out of here!" Sam came to his senses and shoved Diana on ahead of him. He turned and grabbed Mulder by the collar and started dragging him toward the surface. "Did you see that!" Mulder sputtered as soon as he was out of the water. "That was amazing do you know what this means!" "You did it Sam.!" Al shouted over the commotion. Mulder survives and he and Agent Scully continue on with the X-Files. They uncover the base and rescue the rest of the captives. Diana's reunited with her family. She finishes school this year and makes a career writing science fiction novels. Get ready to leap!" Al walked over to Mulder, who was still looking at the lake in wonder. "See ya kid. Good Luck." Agent Mulder turned to Al. "Thanks, Al. In a weird way I think I'll miss you." "Jenn and Scott were right." Diana mumbled. "Mike was right *and* Jenn and Scott were right." Mulder grinned at her. "Mulder." Sam said urgently. "Yeah?" He drug the agent away from Diana who remained staring out at the lake muttering to herself. We've got a problem here. When I leap, the real inhabitant of this life is going to return. I think it would be best if you and Diana got out of here considering you're unarmed, and not in the best condition for a physical fight." Mulder nooded. He still felt dizzy from the drug in his system. "But first you have to tell me what you found out about what were they doing in that lake!" In his excitement the agent grasped Sam by the arms. "Did it have to do with the monster or..." "Whoa slow down." Sam laughed. He handed Mulder a piece of paper. "First things first, this is where they are holding the prisoners. And yes it had to do with the monster. They were doing research on it. They had managed to take D.N.A. samples. I didn't have time to print out the evidence, but I think they were trying to...." Sam stopped short. His face contorted into an odd expression. Fox Mulder tightened his grip on Sam's arms. "What's wrong?" "Mulder.." Sam began in warning. "Mulder you have to get out of here!" Al motioned for him to get away. "But he didn't tell me.." Mulder saw the same flash of light he had seen earlier on the plane. "Oh, shit" He released the man who had been Sam Beckett only seconds before, and tried to run. Weaver grabbed Mulder by his arms and twisted them behind his back. "Diana run!" Mulder yelled through gritted teeth. Diana spun around to look at Mulder, then took off for the car hoping to find a weapon. She didn't know why Sam had turned on them but she wasn't about to waste time thinking agout it. "Move and I'll break his neck." Weaver barked. Diana glanced back and saw that Sam had Mulder by the throat. "Move and *I'll* blow your head off." Everyone froze as Agent Scully approached Weaver and Mulder with her gun drawn. "Let him go, and drop to you knees. Slowly." Reluctantly Weaver did as he was told, and Mulder staggered over to stand behind Scully. "You alright Mulder?" She asked as she cuffed the suspect. "I'm perfect Scully. Absolutely perfect." "Good then maybe you can tell me whats going on. I saw the weirdest thing in the lake. I came back to the surface for reinforcements." She gestured toward the crowd surrounding Diana McClure. Her brother knelt on the sand hugging his sister and crying into her hair. Jenn and Scott crouched beside them hugging them both. Diana looked embarrassed but happy. " I'll fill you in when we get back to the hotel Scully. I promice. Its a long story, and I guarantee you aren't going to believe any of it." Scully sighed and escorted her prisoner to the car. Mulder wandered over to the cluster of young adults. "So Diana, have told them yet." "Told us what?" her brother asked finally releasing his embrace. "Thanks alot Mulder." Diana scowled. "Told us what?" Michael repeated. "I saw it." Diana sighed "Saw what?" Jenn asked "The monster. I saw the damn monster." "I told you, I told you!" Scott let out a victory cry. "Oh come on Diana!" Michael said turning away from her. " I did! Michael, I'm serious. Look I'm sorry I didn't believe you about the conspiracy. You were right Okay? Happy now? I've learned my lesson. I'm not saying this to make fun of you. I really saw something!" He knelt next to his sister again, gently touching her bruised face. "I believe you saw something. But I also believe you took a blow to the head." "I'm not hallucinating! Ask agent Mulder he saw it!" "Look I'm not saying you guys didn't see anything, I'm just saying I don't think you saw what you think you saw." Micheal sighed as he got up. "Stay right here with Jenn and Scott. I'm going to go get the car." Diana threw a fistful of sand at her brother. "Don't bother I'm walking!" "Diana! Will you just wait a minute!" Her brother called running after her. "God, your such a jerk!" "I love happy reunions." Scott said. Mulder laughed and wandered back toward the lake. He stared out over the still waters and settled his eyes on the farthest point he could see. It had happened again. He had seen the evidence with his own eyes, but once again he had no tangible proof. And he knew there was no way Skinner would authorize a search of the lake for a monster that two recently drugged kidnapped victims had seen. The only other person who knew the truth was lost somwhere in the currants of time. And he was an X-file in and of himself. "Mulder you ready?" Scully called from the car. "Be right there." He focused back on the far away point. "Good bye Sam." He whispered. "And thanks." END