The door opened and he walked in. As soon as the entrance was shut behind him, he heard the click of the safety of a gun.
"Agent Mulder, I'm so glad you could make it."
Mulder didn't turn around, but he didn't have to; he recognized the voice. "You know, Agent Dell, if you didn't want me to come to the game tonight, you could have just told Marcus not to invite me."
Dell stepped forward and dug his weapon into Mulder's right side. "Shut the fuck up, Spooky," he growled, patting Mulder down and removing both of his guns. He prodded him forward, through the living room and the kitchen, to the entrance of the garage. Mulder silently took in each room, noticing the conspicuous absence of anyone else.
'Not much of a poker game,' he thought wryly.
"Open the door, Mulder," Dell ordered when they arrived at the Hummer parked in the garage.
"You know these cars get horrible mileage?" Mulder offered. If he could just distract Dell for long enough...
"Open the goddamn door!"
Mulder did as instructed and opened the back passenger side door. He was stunned momentarily by what was revealed: Agent Marcus, unconscious and tied up on the floor of the car.
Before he could react, he felt the sting of a needle in the back of his right arm. The world around him swam and he fell forward into the car.
'Pregnant?' Scully thought for the millionth time since the doctor had left her room. 'How did this happen? Unless barren means something different than I learned in med school.... How am I going to tell Mulder? If there was ever a time he would wear his panic face.... We should have heard the news together.' She silently sent up a curse on the Spilano Family. What more were they going to take from her?
Tears gathered in Scully's eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
There was a knock on her door and Mann, now accompanied by Shannon, came back into the room. "So, what did the doctor say? Are you good to go home?"
Scully briefly considered what to tell them, and settled on, "He said I could leave as soon as he had the paperwork ready."
"Excellent," Mann enthused, but Shannon looked slightly suspicious.
"Did he say what was wrong?"
"He said - " A sharp pain in Scully's right arm took her by surprise, causing her to gasp out loud and clutch it. The two marshals started forward in alarm, as Scully's face went ashen and she fell back onto the bed, her eyes slipping shut.
Scully looked at her surroundings, but there wasn't much to take it. Everything around her was ink black as if she was in space, but there was what felt like a floor under her -- not that she could see it. As her eyes adjusted, she spotted a curled up figure that she immediately recognized.
"Mulder?" she asked, hesitantly crawling over to him. He didn't move. She gently checked for a pulse and felt its steady rhythm. Then she ran her fingers through his hair, looking for a head injury. He groaned in response to her ministrations.
"Scully?" he said, but it wasn't really a question. "I know you make house-calls, but this is a bit ridiculous even for you, isn't it?"
"I see you're fine," Scully commented dryly, smiling with relief. "Where are we, Mulder?"
"I have no idea."
"You must have a theory though." She gently lifted his head and placed it in her lap, continuing to run her fingers through his hair.
"My theory?" Mulder asked, nestling closer to her. "My theory is I'm about to die and dreamt you up so I could see you before that happens."
"Well, I don't feel dreamed up."
He cracked open an eye and looked up at her with a teasing glint. "You saying that you think we're communicating psychically?" Scully didn't say anything, raising an eyebrow at him. "Now I know I'm dreaming, Scully," Mulder laughed.
Replaying his words in her head, she asked in alarm, "What do you mean, you think you're about to die?"
"I think I got myself into a tough spot that I might not be able to get out of." He said it so casually, as if to say 'Hey, it was bound to happen eventually', but his eyes held signs of sadness and fear.
Now Scully began to wish this was a dream. "Mulder, what did you do?"
"It doesn't matter," he said with a shake of his head. "Scully, I want you to promise me something. No matter what happens, you'll stay safe."
"Oh God," Scully breathed, and she felt tears gathering in her eyes. "They have you, don't they, Mulder? The Spilanos."
Mulder reached up and brushed away a tear that had escaped without her noticing. "It doesn't matter," he repeated.
"Of course it matters! They're doing this to you because of me. You can't expect me to just - "
"Why does this feel like our roles are reversed?" Mulder asked, chuckling softly.
"Mulder, this isn't funny."
"No, it's very serious. They're doing this because I was sticking my nose where it didn't belong. Don't let them use this to get you to come out of hiding."
"What would you do, Mulder?"
"That's why I'm telling you not to do it. Scully, I can't be the reason they kill you."
They stared into each other's eyes, neither willing to give an inch.
"There's something I need to tell you,” Scully said finally.
"What?"
"Mulder, I'm - "
" - pregnant."
"Welcome back, Ms. Williamson."
Scully's eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking up into the cheerful face of her doctor. She bolted straight up. "What happened?"
"You lost consciousness again," he said sympathetically, laying a hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting out of the hospital bed. "Unfortunately, this does mean we will have to keep you here a little longer. We can't have you passing out randomly; you'll just end up right back in the hospital."
Ignoring him, she glanced around the room. "Where are the man and the woman who were with me earlier?"
The doctor seemed caught off guard by her forceful attitude, but took it in stride. "They're just outside. Do you want me to have them come in?"
"Yes, please," Scully said, trying to soften her words but not the urgency. "I need to speak with them."
"Very well, but you must sit back and relax while I go and get them. I'd rather not have to try and revive you again so soon, if it's all the same to you."
Scully did her best to assume a relaxed posture, until he had left the room. Once the door had closed, she immediately went about trying to locate her clothes. It was time to go home.
Skinner's eyes were beginning to glaze over as he tried to follow the update he was getting from the agent in front of him. The man had succeeded in talking for 30 minutes without saying anything. He could have hugged Kim when she knocked on the door.
"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a phone call on line 1 for you. A Marshal Shannon."
Skinner tried not to show his surprise at the name. "Unfortunately, I do have to take that. You're dismissed, Agent. Have Kim set up another appointment for you so you can finish your report," he told the man, trying not to cringe at the idea of a second round of this, and waited for him to leave. Then he picked up the line. "Skinner."
"AD Skinner," a frustrated female voice said into the phone, "we have a bit of a situation forming out here."
Scully was pacing up and down her living room floor. After a long argument, she'd agreed to wait for word on Mulder before 'doing anything too rash', but she refused to do so in the hospital. If they didn't get a call in the next ten minutes....
The phone rang.
She was halfway to the phone before Mann picked it up. "Hello? Yes, sir, this is a secure line. Okay, she's right here." Mann walked over to Scully and silently handed her the phone.
"Hello?"
"Scully?" She knew it was Skinner before she'd taken the phone, but her heart sank all the same at the sound of her supervisor's voice.
"It's me, sir. Have you found anything?"
"Scully, we're still looking. You're going to have to give us some time."
Scully sank down onto the couch and took a deep breath. "You haven't been able to contact Mulder?" she demanded, already knowing the answer but needing the confirmation.
"No, but you know Agent Mulder. He's probably just out following a lead and - "
"I'm sure that's exactly what he's doing, but that doesn't make him in any less danger."
"Leave this to us, Scully."
"I did leave this to you and now Mulder is missing!" Scully snapped angrily, before she could stop herself. "I'm sorry, sir, I - "
Skinner sighed, cutting her off. "Scully, I truly am sorry about this, and we are doing everything within our power to - "
"I'm coming back."
Both marshals' heads jerked around towards her and Shannon stood up angrily. "Like hell you are," she whispered harshly, at the same moment as Skinner said, "That would be a very bad idea, Agent Scully."
"I'm coming back," she repeated, "with or without protection."
"I am ordering you to stay there, Agent Scully."
"With all due respect, sir, that is an order I cannot, and will not, follow. You are free to reprimand me for that if you wish."
Scully could practically see the vein in Skinner's head throb, as he tried to regain control over the situation. "Damn it, Scully! If you come back here they will have everything they want. They'll have no reason not to kill both you and Mulder!"
She shook her head, even though he couldn't see her. "I'm not going to let that happen, sir."
"Mulder, I'm - "
'Scully?' Mulder was dragged out of unconsciousness as he was thrown harshly to the ground. A door slammed shut before he could begin to process what was going on.
He forced himself to sit up, shaking his head to try and clear it of its drug induced haze. Glancing around, he determined that he was being held in the basement of a house, though he had no idea where since he hadn't been awake to judge travel time.
Agent Marcus had been thrown down on the floor next to him, but he appeared to still be out cold. They were both trussed up with their hands behind their backs and their legs bound. There wasn't anything in the way of furniture in the dingy basement, and the one window was too high up for him to reach on his own.
Barely resisting the temptation to pound his head against the floorboards, Mulder asked himself, 'What the hell am I going to do?'
Scully stared out the window of the airplane, seeing nothing of the vast sea of clouds. She had tried to sleep for awhile, hoping to regain that small connection with Mulder, but had not been able to shut her brain off enough to actually come anywhere close to slumber.
'Please be okay, Mulder,' she silently begged, as she waited for the plane's landing in Washington DC.
Next: Chapter 7
