From: JumperChick@aol.com
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 19:33:50 EDT
Subject: "Nova" (1/1)
Source: direct

Part 9
Day 69 (continued)
Scully woke with a start from a dip in the bed. Her 
eyes flew open and did not meet the X above the bed, 
but Mulder's face. 

"Oh thank God." Scully sat up and wrapped her arms 
around the surprised Mulder's neck.

He kissed her neck softly. "Sorry I'm late, I lost track 
of time. I got to walking around. It's really pretty out 
around here Scully, I'll have to show you some spots 
I found-What?" He asked worriedly after she pulled 
away from him and shot daggers out of her eyes. 

"You scared the shit out of me Mulder!" She wiggled 
out from between him and the wall to stand, hands on 
her hips, lips pressed tightly, a angry flush in her 
cheeks, still glaring at him. 

Mulder opened his mouth to say something but didn't 
know what to say for a moment. "I'm. I'm sorry, 
Scully. I don't exactly have a way to keep track of 
time out there. And once I realized it was getting late 
I had an hour and half's walk back." 

"I don't want to hear your excuses Mulder!" 

He held up a hand. "Ok, just relax Scully."

"Relax?! Oh sure, no problem. I've just been laying 
here for the past few hours worried to death that 
something happened to you and I wouldn't be able to 
find you!" Scully had two choices in situations like 
this; either start to cry, or be madder the hell. She 
almost always chose the latter. 

Mulder clenched his jaw trying to keep the words 
from coming out of his mouth, but they did anyway. 
"So you usually sleep when you are worried about 
my well being? That's good to know." His voice was 
bitter and hurt. Hurtful. 

Scully jaw dropped open. "Mulder." Scully stopped 
and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, 
trying to keep the angry, yet relieved, tears from 
falling. 

Mulder shook his head. "This is useless. I'll be back 
later." Mulder stood and walked towards the door, 
but Scully blocked his way with her small body. 

"No way. You aren't walking out until we are 
finished." 

"Scully! This is pointless. Whenever I do something 
that scares you -even when I had no way to stop it- 
like this time, you get pissed off. There's nothing else 
for me to tell you!" He leaned in close to her, 
speaking slowly and firmly. "I lost track of time and 
location. I am sorry I worried you. I didn't do it on 
purpose." He stood upright again. "Now if you insist 
on still being mad at me I would like to go 
somewhere else." 

Scully refused to give in this time. Call it pride, call it 
stubbornness, call it whatever you like, she just 
wasn't going to let him off the hook. Crossing her 
arms she leaned back against the doorway. If Mulder 
wanted to leave he was going to have to move her 
first, and she was planning on making that very 
difficult if he tried. 

"Oh I don't believe this!" Mulder turned around and 
took a deep breath, running his hands through his hair 
before turning around again. He spoke softly, trying 
to let the level of tension in the small room ease up at 
least a little. "What do you want me to say Scully? 
What can I do to make you feel better about all this? 
I've said I am sorry, and I mean it. I really am. I 
don't like to worry you, I really don't."

"Say you won't let it happen again." Scully ordered. 

Mulder's eyes closed, this was just getting worse and 
worse. "Scully, sweetheart, I love you." He took a 
step toward her, pinning her against the door with his 
height. "I really do. I respect you and I don't want to 
hurt you ever." His next words were careful, he knew 
he was on thin ice. "But you aren't thinking this one 
through." He quickly held up his hand when she tried 
to speak. "There is no way for me to promise 
something like this won't happen again. I can't 
promise something I don't have control over."

"Mulder you have control over when you come 
home." She said bitterly. He was trying to sweet talk 
her and it wouldn't work. 

"Not when I don't have a way to keep track of time. 
Some places are very heavily treed, I can't see the 
sun. And even that isn't very helpful. I refuse to 
promise something that I might not be able to keep. I 
won't do that to you."

Scully bit the inside of her cheek. She had 
overreacted. She knew that. But she couldn't help it, 
and she wasn't sorry in the least. She was tired of 
this. Seven years of being scared shitless that she 
might not see Mulder again would do that to a 
person. She let her eyes fall from his and looked at 
her feet, her arms loosening the tight determined 
pose. "You scared me." She repeated because she had 
nothing else to say. She couldn't stop the few tears of 
pain that rolled down her cheeks.

Mulder stepped forward even more. Taking her arms 
in his hands he loosed the cross completely. "I 
know." Tilting her head up with one hand on her chin 
he kissed the tears away from her cheeks. "I'm sorry. 
I am so sorry, Scully."

She sniffled and nodded, unable to meet his eyes. 

"Come here." He said softly pulling her into his arms. 

She buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms 
around his shoulders. 

"I don't want you to be mad at me. You're all I've 
got." He whispered in her ear. "You're all I want and 
you're all I need." He squeezed her against him. 
"You're my everything."

"I know." She whispered back. "You're mine too." 
She kissed his neck where the skin became hot and 
moist from her breath.

They stayed like that for a long time, lips pressed 
against each other's necks, exchanging feather light 
kisses of apology and forgiveness. Mulder finally 
pulled his head away from her slightly and kissed her 
lips. She opened her mouth to his gentle request of 
his tongue against her lower lip. His kiss was gentle 
and controlled. Scully slipped her hands from his 
upper arms to into his hair. She wove her fingers into 
the soft stands and pulled him closer to her. With her 
back still against the door Scully had some leverage 
over his height. Arching her back away from the 
wood her was able to push Mulder back. She kept 
walking, forcing him to either stop kissing her or 
move with her. When the back of his knees hit the 
end of the bed he sat down, bring Scully with him. 

Straddling his lap she tugged his shirt from his pants, 
breaking off the kiss only long enough to pull both 
his and hers off. Mulder danced his fingers over the 
newly exposed skin of Scully's back, tickling lightly. 
Wiggling in his lap slightly Scully smiled against his 
lips as he continued to tease her flesh. 

"That tickles." She informed in a soft voice as she 
moved to kiss his jaw. 

"I know." Mulder answered and ran his fingers over 
her skin again, this time on her sensitive sides. 
Scully bit his neck in rebuttal. 

"Hey!" He said laughing. "Play nice."

Smiling again, Scully kissed him thoroughly as she 
pushed him onto his back. They carefully worked the 
buttons of each other's pants open. As Mulder kicked 
his jeans off he pulled himself and Scully further up 
on the bed so his legs weren't hanging off the end. 

Scully kissed around his face, his eyes, his nose, 
spending great time on his ears before moving further 
down his neck. Working her tongue in circles she 
traveled the length of his collarbone. Scully paused 
suddenly. Mulder turned his head and opened his 
eyes to look at her. Without looking up at him, Scully 
placed a long kiss over the pink scar on his arm. 

Mulder watched silently as she laved the tender flesh 
with care. As if she was hoping to wash away the 
scar like a mother cat. With a gentle sigh, barely 
audible in the silence of the room, save for the soft 
crackling fire, Scully worked her way back to his 
mouth.

Slowly Mulder worked his hands in a continuous 
caress from her shoulders to her lower back. He 
slipped his hands down the back of her panties, 
Scully rose enough to allow him to slip them as far 
down her legs as he could. With a little squirming she 
kicked them off the end of the bed. Mulder quickly 
raised his hips enough for Scully to pull down his 
boxers, he pushed them off, finishing off the pile of 
clothes on the floor. 
Scully returned to her perch of straddling his thighs 
and kissed him the heat of anticipation became 
unbearable. Mulder supported her weight in his 
strong hands as she guided him into her waiting 
body. Sitting up straight, Scully tilted her head back 
and let a rhythm take over her movements without 
much thought. When she was with Mulder it seemed 
natural. She didn't need to question her movements, 
or her actions. She let her eyes slip closed from the 
vision of the X on the ceiling as she felt Mulder's 
thumb probe knowingly at her folds. 

She let the rhythm change with Mulder's new 
movement. She let him take some of the control, let 
him take her to the wonderful place that he was so 
good at taking her. Scully bit her lip to remain quiet, 
but a small whimper escaped. Her body pulsed its 
pleasure, it rejoiced at the feeling of Mulder releasing 
into her body. He gave her life, even if they couldn't 
make a new life they were build their life together 
stronger and stronger. 

Scully let herself fall relaxed onto Mulder's chest, 
frantic with trying to breathe properly. His hands 
slowly began to stroke and soothe her back after he 
pulled the bunched blankets over them both. 
 

Mulder tried to ignore the sound that was disturbing 
his sleep, but the sound wouldn't go away. He slowly 
figured, after listening closely, someone was 
knocking on the their door. Carefully extracting 
himself from Scully's grasp he pulled on his 
discarded jeans. He covered Scully's body with the 
blankets securely before opening the door. 

"Hey, you're alive." Langly greeted.

Mulder let out an only partly amused snort and 
stepped out into the cool hallway, closing the door so 
Scully wouldn't wake. "Yeah, I just lost track of time 
out there."

"Unbelievable." Byers said shaking his head after 
looking Mulder up and down.
"Huh?" 

Frohike nodding in agreement with Byers. "You are 
one lucky son of a bitch Mulder."

"What are you talking about?" Mulder, still half 
asleep was quickly becoming annoyed with them. 

"I have never seen Scully as scared as she was when 
you hadn't shown up after a couple hours." Byers 
said, looking just as pissed as the other two. "And 
I've seen Scully pretty scared before."

"Yeah," Frohike interrupted. "You scare her to death 
then come back and have make up sex." 

Mulder leaned back against the door with a sigh. 
"Look, guys, I'll say is again for the millionth time 
today; I am sorry. Ok? Can everyone just lay off?"

Langly held up his hands in innocence. "Hey we 
aren't here because we are mad. We were just 
checking up on Scully to make sure you showed up."

"I appreciate that. Thank you."

"No problem. See you tomorrow." They turned and 
walked away still muttering how unbelievable it was 
that he always ended up getting away with stunts like 
that. 

Feeling worse then before about the whole thing 
Mulder went back into the room. He sat down at the 
table and watched Scully sleep peacefully wrapped 
up, safe and warm. She didn't look that way when he 
first walked in and found her sleeping. Her brow had 
been furrowed, she shifted restlessly in the few 
seconds that he had been there before she woke, she 
looked just plain shaken. 

Mulder let out yet another sigh, this one annoyance 
with himself-even though there was nothing he could 
have done about it- and continued to watch over 
Scully as she slept. 

Day 70
Scully was reorganizing the supplies in the Medical 
Room when the door opened and a bleeding Mulder 
walked in. 

"A rock bit me." He said sitting down on one of the 
cots.

Scully rolled her eyes. She spent most of her day 
taking care of simple wounds like this. She didn't 
mind though, things could be much worse. "It bit 
you?" She asked as she placed a pan of water of the 
cot beside him. 

"Yeah. Came out of no where. Them rocks can be 
pretty tricky." He cringed as she placed his bleeding 
hand in the water and cleaned off the dried blood. 

"So I've heard." She pulled his hand out and toweled 
it off. The cut wasn't deep. "Tell me if this hurts." 
She gently pressed the bones surrounding the cut. 

"A little."

She nodded. "Ok, nothing is broken. I'll just wrap it 
up, try not to use it too much." She pressed a towel 
over the cut, then placed his hand over it. "Hold that 
till the bleeding stops." 

"It's quiet in here today."

Scully sorted through the cabinet looking for size 
bandage she wanted. "Now it is. People are always in 
and out of here for something. I feel like Dr. Quinn 
Medicine Woman." She mumbled as she sat down 
next to him again. 

He chuckled. 

"Let me see." She examined his hand for another 
moment before spreading a green paste over the 
wound.

"What's that?"

"Astragalus. It will help some with infection. After a 
few days you can just put aloe on it." 

"Oh. You have turned into Dr. Quinn Medicine 
Woman."

She glared at him before wrapping a strip of cloth 
around his hand, tying it securely. "I'll take some 
more bandages back to the room so we can change 
that. Don't throw the fabric out, I need to reuse it." 
While he nodded she leaned over and kissed his 
cheek. "Watch out for those rocks. I'll you see later." 
She stood up and went over to check on the bandages 
that where boiling to sterilize. Mulder just sat where 
she left him. 

"Are you going back to work?" She asked glancing 
over her shoulder. 

"Yeah. I will in a minute." Mulder swung his legs and 
relaxed on the cot, resting his hands behind his head. 

"Please get your feet off that." 

He wiggled down the cot slightly so his shoes hung 
over the edge. "Hey Scully?"

"Hmm?" She paid little attention to him as she wrung 
out the washed bandages. 

"Does that door have a lock?"

"No it doesn't Mulder." She was glad she wasn't 
facing him, he would have seen her smiling even 
though she kept her voice stern. 

"Oh. Well you want to push the table up to it or 
something?" 

Scully turned around with her hands on her hips. "Go 
back to work Mulder." She let a small smile play on 
her lips.

He sighed dramatically and stood. "Fine, but I'll get 
you later." He leaned down to kiss her but she 
playfully turned her face so he kissed just the corner 
of her mouth. Mulder smiled and grabbed her around 
the waist. He pressed his lips against hers. 

"Oh! Sorry!" A young woman said as she opened the 
door to the Medical Room and was met by the 
kissing couple.

Scully tried to jump away from Mulder but he held 
fast. "No. It's ok. He was just leaving." Scully 
blushed a dark pink as she stepped out of Mulder's 
grasp. "Goodbye." She gave him a small but firm 
push to the door. "Easy on the hand and be careful."

"Yes doctor." He said as he walked away. 
 
Part 10
Day 72 (Sunday)
"Where are you going?" Mulder asked sleepily, 
holding tightly to Scully when she tried to rise out of 
bed.

Scully struggled in his grasp to get up on her elbows. 

"It's Sunday, stay in bed with me." He mumbled 
trying to pull her back down. 

"I know it's Sunday. I want to go to mass this 
morning." 

Mulder's arms dropped from around her. He wasn't 
going to push for her to stay with him. Going to 
church just wasn't something he understood, he 
didn't even try to. All he knew was it is important to 
Scully. 

"You don't want to go do you?" She asked as she 
placed water on the stove to heat so she could wash 
up. 

Mulder rolled onto his side to look at her. "Sorry, not 
my thing."

She smiled softly. "I didn't think so, but I thought I 
would ask." 
 

Scully smiled politely at the people who had already 
arrived at the church but sat in a row all by herself. 
She looked around the small room, it was nice. The 
walls were decorated tactfully with paintings of saints 
and biblical scenes, most she recognized. Tall natural 
colored candles, obviously hand made, lined the front 
of the room. A small altar stood in the center of the 
line of candles.

The smell of incense, surrounded her. She inhaled 
deeply, feeling a deep sense of contentment.

Scully leaned back in her chair. She was comfortable. 
It was quiet and small. Perfect. She didn't feel forced 
to relax, it already felt like the church she had often 
gone to with her mother.

Scully studied the far right hand corner of the room. 
Two small doors were side by side. Confessionals. 
It had been a while since she had been, but for the 
first time in a long time, there was no guilt clouding 
her heart. She had made her peace with the 
tumultuous events of the last couple of months, 
realizing that there was no shame in being glad that 
she and Mulder were alive, while as far as she knew 
everyone else she had known and loved had died. 

The mass was simple but beautiful. Though she had 
been going regularly Before, she had not felt the 
sense of wonder and hope that she felt in this little 
room. So many people had gathered to share her 
same thoughts and prayers. How odd it was that the 
smallest mass she had ever been to was more 
important, more moving then any other. The prayer 
for the day was short. Spoken softly and slowly. 
Everyone listened with polite and eager minds. 

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where 
there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, 
pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is 
despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where 
there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master, grant that I 
may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; 
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to 
love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in 
pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we 
are born again to eternal life." 

The final words of the priest remained with her long 
after the mass had ended. "Go in peace." He had 
instructed them.

Scully marveled how those three words could hold 
such power. All her life she had longed for a sense of 
inner peace. And only now, after the sky had almost 
literally fallen, had she found it within herself, and 
with Mulder.

 
Mulder looked up from the book he borrowed from 
the library when Scully walked in. "Hey."

Wordlessly she walked over, took his face in her 
hands and kissed him. "I love you." She said barely 
pulling away, just to press another longer kiss against 
his lips. 

He smiled as she sat down next to him, not releasing 
his lips completely. When she finally pulled away 
Mulder spoke. "Enjoy your time?"

She smiled and nodded. "It was wonderful. I loved 
it."

Mulder patted her thigh. "I'm glad. So what do you 
want to do today?"

She just shrugged and flipped the pages of his book 
unseeing. 

"When I was out on patrol with the group they 
showed me where a small lake is. It's not a hot 
spring, but it is warmer then the river. We could hike 
up there if you want."

Scully nodded quickly. "I would LOVE to really get 
cleaned up. Just soak up the water, turn into a raisin, 
it sounds wonderful." 

Mulder chuckled and stood up, turning off the lamps. 
"Let's go then." 

 
"Wow." Scully whispered looking at the large lake. It 
was so shallow the rocks were easily seen through the 
sun reflecting water. To one side the water flowed 
very gently down a natural hill of rocks. All long the 
edge wildflowers grew, the bright yellows and rich 
blues mirrored off the gently rippling water. 

The lake wasn't empty by far. Many people swam, 
played with their children, or just soaked up the sun 
and cool water. 

Wordlessly Mulder took her elbow in his hand and 
lead her around to part of the water where no one 
was. He stripped down just to his boxers and looked 
at her pointedly, but she was still starring off at the 
scenery. 

"Scully? You going in?"

"Oh. Sorry." She smiled shyly and pulled off her 
clothes, leaving only her black tank top and panties 
on. 
They both walked out into the almost too-cold-for 
comfort-water, it only came up to Mulder's waist, 
and Scully chest. The sun beating down quickly 
warmed their cool skin making the water a pleasant 
contrast. 
Scully was silently cupping the water and running it 
over her body as she watched a few of the children 
laugh and splash around. She couldn't help but smile. 
They were happy and carefree. Maybe it was best 
they were so young when They came, they wouldn't 
remember what life was like before. How easy some 
things could be taken for granted, like being warm 
and having a full stomach. To be na=8Bve. How she 
wished to be na=8Bve like when she was young. 
Thinking the only problems were getting her brothers 
to leave her alone, the fight she had with a friend 
over who took who's Barbie doll, when she would 
finally grow out of her training bra, and where her 
family would be moving to next. The fact that those 
were her worst of her worries shocked her. 

As she grew older her worries changed of course. 
Would she pass medical school? Was she making a 
mistake joining the FBI? They became more 
important of course. 

The last few years before They came her worries 
seemed to revolve around one man. The man that had 
saved her life more times then she cared to count. 
The man who she threw away many of her morals for 
and who changed her life tremendously. If she was a 
petty woman she could easily blame all her problems, 
three months of her life missing, the death of her 
sister, a daughter she only knew for a short time, on 
him. Maybe if she didn't love him more then life it's 
self she would be able to give him some of that 
responsibility. But as amazing as it was, she believed 
if all the sacrifices she made the last several years 
had brought him to her, it was worth it. It was all 
worth finally having some one who understood her 
and loved her for who she is. 

Mulder touched her shoulder lightly. "You ok?" 

She blushed lightly realizing how spaced out she 
must have looked. "Yeah, I was just thinking. I think 
I am going to get dress, but let's stay for a while 
longer."

Nodding Mulder walked with Scully to the shore. 
They dressed and sat on the rocks by the water in a 
comfortable silence. It was nice to just sit and relax. 
For the first time since they started to walk Mulder 
didn't feel the need to look over his shoulder and 
watch over Scully every second. It was calm and 
peaceful. No threats appeared to be near them. They 
were in the company of new friends and honest 
people. 

Mulder glanced over at Scully. "Hey?" He said softly 
placing his hand on her back. 

Scully rubbed her temples trying to ease the headache 
she could feel starting. "I must be allergic to some of 
the flowers." Mulder stood and moved to help her up 
but she held up a hand. "I'm ok Mulder. My head just 
hurts a little, sinuses I think."

Frowning Mulder looked at her closely. "Let's head 
back?"

She nodded and started to walk in front of Mulder, 
staying just out of arms reach so he couldn't help her 
every step like she knew he wanted to. 

Mulder stared at Scully's back as she made her way 
slowly down the trail. He had to bite the inside of his 
cheek to keep from saying anything. Not that he had 
anything helpful to say, but he wanted to share what 
was on his mind. He was worried, it was very simple. 
She hadn't had any more nosebleeds, at least none 
that he knew of. She didn't seem to be feeling ill, but 
he didn't spend the day with her anymore. This 
headache could very easily just be from pollen. But 
this wouldn't be the first time she had hidden how 
she was feeling from him. 

He took a few large steps to stand at her side. He 
gave her a soft smile, one of apology for his 
uncontrollable worry and understanding that she 
didn't want to speak about it, he has learned how she 
worked. He didn't like it, but he accepted it. Mulder 
took her hand lightly in his, interlocking their fingers 
he brought their hands to his mouth and kissed each 
knuckle softly. 

They walked hand in hand all the way back to Nova, 
not uttering a single word. Mulder didn't say 
anything to her when they reached their room. He 
just laid her down on the bed next to him and read 
aloud from the poetry book by Anrienne Rich he had 
been reading while she was at church. 
 
"The glass has been falling all the afternoon,
And knowing better then the instrument 
What winds are walking overhead, what zone
Of gray unrest in moving across the land,
I leave the book upon a pillowed chair
And walk from window to closed window, watching
Boughs strain against the sky
And think again, as often when the air
Moves inward toward a silent core of waiting,
How with a single purpose time has traveled
By secret currents of the undiscerned
Into this polar realm. Weather abroad
And weather in the heart alike come on
Regardless of prediction.
Between foreseeing and averting change
Lies all the mastery of elements
Which clocks and weatherglasses cannot alter. 
Time in the hand is not control of time,
Nor shattered fragments of an instrument
A proof against the wind; the wind will rise,
We can only close the shutters.
I draw the curtains as the sky goes black
And set a match to candles sheathed in glass
Against the keyhole draught, the insistent whine
Of weather through the unsealed aperture.
This is our sole defense against the season;
These are the things that we have learned to do
Who live in troubled regions." 

Mulder finished reading and looked down at Scully 
where she had fallen asleep with her head resting on 
his shoulder. He couldn't help but smile at the 
peaceful look on her face. Tucking her hair behind 
her ear with one hand he placed the book on the floor 
with the other. Carefully he turned, Scully's head 
shifting to rest in the crook of his arm. He studied her 
face while she slept. 

He wished there were a way for him to tell her what 
he would do for her. The words that he would give 
his life for her just didn't cover it. He would give his 
soul if needed. He would do whatever it took to 
protect her from what was happening around them. 
The world had crashed down, now they had to deal 
with the after shocks. 

Day 74
Mulder woke with a start to loud banging on the 
door. 

"Dana! Dana we need you!"

Scully sleepily stumbled off the bed pulling on 
enough clothes to be presentable. Swinging the door 
open she shielded her eyes from the dim hallway 
light and focused on a panicked looking Greg Wells. 
Mulder had patrolled with him many times, saying 
that he was a nice man but always very jumpy. "What 
happened?"

"I-I shot a man! I didn't know he was a member. Oh 
god, oh god what have I done?!" Greg shook 
frantically. 

"Ok." Scully held up a hand. "It's ok, I'll be right 
there, let me just put warmer clothes on."

Greg nodded and ran off toward the Medical Room. 

Scully turned around and took the sweatshirt Mulder 
was handing her. "I might need your help Mulder, not 
many people can handle the sight of blood."

"Oh and I just love it." He mumbled as he pulled his 
shoes on. 

"Come on." Scully rubbed her face quickly, feeling 
the rush of adrenaline flow through her body. They 
quickly jogged down to the Main Room and into the 
open door of the Medical Room. Scully stopped short 
when she saw the man who was shot. 

"Oh my god." Mulder whispered at the sight. 
...

Part 11
Day 74
They stood in astonished silence for what felt like an 
eternity, when in fact it was only a few seconds. 

"Mulder," Scully touched his arm. "Go put pressure 
on the wound."

Mulder nodded numbly and kneeled by the end of the 
cot, he placed both hands, one on top of the other, 
over the bullet wound. 

"Don't press too hard in case the bullet cracked a 
rib." Scully called as she pulled out the items she 
would need to take the bullet out of the ribcage. "Flip 
him over, very gently, and see if there is an exit 
wound." 

Mulder did so, struggling to keep one hand over the 
flow of blood. "No exit."

Scully ordered the bystanders out of the room, after 
telling one of them to get Benjamin. She knelt next to 
Mulder, placing the items at her knees. "How is he?" 
She asked softly. 

"The bleeding's slowed a little." Mulder's voice was 
like her own. He glanced over at the doorway when 
he heard Benjamin question Greg about how this 
happened. "I can't believe they have people walking 
around in the middle of the night with guns."

Scully gave a tight-lipped nod as her answer. 
"Skinner? Sir, can you hear me?" She asked taking 
Skinner's jaw into her hand. She frowned after no 
response. She frowned even more at the amount of 
blood now also covering Mulder also. "Ok, keep your 
hand there. I'll take over in a moment." She sorted 
through the items on the floor. "I think I'm going to 
have to take the bullet out."

Mulder immediately noted the hesitant tone in her 
voice. "Scully. You do whatever you think needs to 
be done."

She nodded and dipped a scalpel into boiling water to 
sterilize it. "Stay here Mulder." She requested softly.

"You know I will." He moved his hand away from 
Skinner's chest. 

"Cut the shirt off for me." Scully focused on wiping 
away as much blood as she could while Mulder 
cleared the shirt away. "There's a bottle of 
chloroform on the shelf. Put a small amount on a 
piece of cloth and hold it over his mouth every once 
in a while for only a few seconds."

Mulder did as asked. 

Scully slowly made a small incision in the center of 
the wound. "Mulder, grab that lamp over there."
With one hand Mulder held the chloroform ready 
over Skinner's mouth and the lamp near Scully with 
the other. 

Scully pulled the flesh open, causing Mulder to look 
away. "A rib is cracked. I think-" Scully looked 
closely. "Yes. I can see the bullet. I just need to get it 
out." With sticky, bloody fingers she picked up a pair 
of forceps. She poised had her hands poised over the 
wound but paused. 

"You can do this Scully." 

Scully looked up at him and gave a curt nod before 
gingerly reaching into Skinner's chest. 

A low groan was wrenched from the large man. 

Mulder immediately pressed the chloroform over his 
mouth of a few moments as Scully grasped the 
slippery bullet on the fifth try. Pulling the forceps out 
of his body the bullet slipped out and bounced across 
the room. Scully breathed a sigh of relief and looked 
back at the wound trying to wipe away some of the 
blood.

"How does it look?" 

Scully squinted slightly, trying to get a good look 
with the shadowy light. "Amazingly enough I don't 
think it hit any organs. Looks like it bounced off his 
ribs. I need to clean and close this." Scully worked 
slowly and carefully. Mulder stayed in silence, trying 
to help but stay out of the way. 

 
"Here, let me take this off." Mulder said softly as he 
walked up behind Scully and griped the bottom of her 
bloody shirt in his hands. Scully raised her arms 
limply and let him help her wash the dried blood 
from her skin before he pulled a clean shirt over her 
head. He gently turned her toward him and cupped 
her face in his hands. "You should get some sleep, we 
both should."

She nodded numbly and looked over at Skinner. "We 
should stay in here, in case he wakes."

Mulder lead her to a vacant cot where they would 
have a good view of Skinner. Laying down her pulled 
her back against his chest, it was a tight fit. But 
neither minded. Scully felt her eyes grow heavy 
against her will. Burying her face in the crook of 
Mulder's arm she whispered her questions. "How do 
you think he found out about Nova?" 

Mulder kissed the exposed curve of her neck. 
"Probably the same way the Lone Gunmen did, he 
looked around. He knew this was going to happen at 
some point."

Scully was silent for some time. "I don't know about 
this Mulder."

"What do you mean?"

Scully took a deep breath and studied the 
unconscious man on the other side of the room. He 
looked worn and malnourished. Skinner still 
possessed his intimidating size, but he had lost a lot 
of weight. Scully was concerned his body couldn't 
handle the blood loss. But there was nothing she 
could do about it. He looked innocent enough. 
Skinner had done many things to help them, even 
saved their lives in the past few years. But before 
that, before he was their ally, he was an enemy. Just 
like the Cancerman, just like Them. 
Unconsciously Scully leaned back into Mulder. "I 
don't know if I trust him." She whispered truthfully. 

"Scully." Mulder's voice was surprised and 
disappointed. "This is Skinner." 

"I know." She said softly. 

Mulder let out a long breath against her neck and 
squeezed her slightly. "Get some sleep." 
Scully didn't want to sleep, she wanted to watch 
Skinner. Her mind was struggling between being a 
doctor; wanting to watch her patient carefully during 
the night, being a lover; wanting to keep Mulder safe, 
and basically a human; who's body needed to sleep, 
whether her mind was ready or not.

With Mulder holding her securely to him Scully feel 
into a nervous sleep. 

Day 75
Before Mulder was even fully awake he knew Scully 
was no longer next to him. Lazily he opened his eyes. 
Scully was kneeling beside Skinner, changing his 
bandage. Mulder hoisted himself up onto one elbow. 

"How is he?"

Scully glanced his way for a moment before focusing 
on Skinner once again. "Hasn't woken up yet." Was 
her simple explanation. 

Mulder studied her for a moment from his reclined 
position before swinging his legs over the side of the 
cot and pulling on his shoes. 

"Where are you going?" Scully questioned as she 
washed her hands.

"I want to have a talk with Benjamin." Mulder and 
started to walk towards the door.

"Wait. Mulder. are you sure that is a good idea?"

Mulder thought for a moment. "No, it probably isn't a 
good idea. But I can just sit around here and wait for 
something else like this to happen." He took a step to 
close the gap between them and kissed her cheek 
softly. "I'll meet you back here soon." 

  
Mulder tapped the back of his knuckles against 
Benjamin's door. 

"Come in." 

Mulder pushed the door open and stepped into the 
room. It was larger then the rest, obviously built for 
Benjamin. There were two fireplaces, a large table, 
king sized bed, decorations which would have been 
found in a home Before. Mulder couldn't help but 
notice the abundance of canned food stacked next to 
one of the stoves.

Mulder fought off the inferior feeling that surrounded 
him. 

"Mulder, how is that friend of yours doing?" 
Benjamin gestured to the chair next to him.

Mulder sat. "I think it's too early to tell."

"That was a very unfortunate accident." The older 
man said solemnly. 

Mulder leaned his elbows on his thighs, resting his 
chin on his clasped hands. "That's what I came here 
to talk to you about. It is just plain stupid to have 
people walking alone in the woods with weapons at 
night." Mulder wanted to skip the pointless small 
talk. 

Benjamin's expression and posture immediately 
turned defensive. "Well, Mr. Mulder, I appreciate 
your concern but I think you may a bit biased after 
last night."

Mulder forced his voice to stay calm and level. 
"No. I think this is unsafe for more then a few 
reasons. I am speaking from experience. I don't think 
you realize how dangerous this could become. People 
are going to start to panic when something like this 
happens again." 

Benjamin held up a hand. "Now Mulder, I know this 
is probably your career training, I'm sure you lead a 
very different life from what you do now. I 
understand you want to know why this happened. 
And I'll tell you what Greg told me; he heard a noise. 
He listened and watched. Suddenly the man stepped 
out and startled him. Greg fired, it was a mistake, he 
knows it. He panicked. And once he saw the Nova 
charm he panicked even more."

Mulder shook his head slowly, absorbing the 
information. "This is ridiculous." He spat out.

"Mulder just calm down."

"Calm down?" Mulder was doing the complete 
opposite. "An innocent man was shot, a fellow 
member. He may die. And you aren't worried in the 
least."

"Well I have complete confidence that Dana is doing 
everything she can." Benjamin's tone was annoyed. 
"She's an amazing woman, in more ways then one. 
You are a very lucky man Mulder, you shouldn't take 
a vibrant woman like Dana for granted, especially 
here in Nova, you never know when someone who 
deserves her will come along." 

Mulder's face went blank with shock. He couldn't 
believe what he was hearing. He didn't know whether 
to laugh at the man or hit him. "I think you better 
watch what you say, Benjamin." 

The man let out a long sigh. "And what do you mean 
by that?"

Mulder looked at him soberly. He didn't want to play 
this game. "You know what I mean." The men 
watched each other for a moment before Mulder 
waved a hand around the room. "You obviously have 
issues with sharing authority. Look at this room. You 
set everyone else below you, everyone will do what 
you say and want. That rule-book of yours," Mulder 
snorted in disgust. "That is insane. Just because you 
want to drop last night's situation you think everyone 
should go along with you. Don't you think we should 
do something about this?"

Benjamin frowned. "Are you blaming Greg for this?" 

Mulder opened his mouth to speak but paused. His 
anger was rising. Beating some sense into Benjamin 
was beginning to look easier and more appealing by 
the passing moment. "No I am not. I blame you." 
Mulder sat back in the chair, arms crossed over his 
chest. 

Benjamin looked shocked if nothing else. "Excuse 
me?"

"I blame you." Mulder said simply. "You are sending 
untrained people out into the dark, alone, with loaded 
weapons. If you think this is the only time something 
like this will happen you are terribly wrong. And now 
you don't want to do anything about it, you just want 
to sit around and let it all blow over." Mulder's voice 
raised on it's own accord. 

Benjamin stood, walked to the door and opened it 
wide for Mulder. "I think you are upset. I know you 
and Dana didn't get much sleep. Why don't you go 
and rest. You are not expected to work today so enjoy 
your time off."

Mulder stood stiffly. He knew he was stepping one 
Benjamin's toes. The testosterone was almost visible 
in the air. The man obviously didn't understand how 
Mulder worked. There were lines that could not be 
crossed with him, most of those line revolved around 
Scully. Those were the ones being crossed.

Mulder turned when he was just outside of the 
doorway to speak, but the door was firmly closed in 
his face. 
 
 
The Medical Room was quiet, tense. Mulder and 
Scully sat on opposite sides of the room. 

Scully watched Skinner carefully, for a few reasons. 
He has stirred a few times during the day, she thought 
he would wake. But he hadn't, yet. And she watched 
him in suspicion. A strange sense of possessiveness 
had filled Scully's soul. Her jaw was clenched so 
hard it ached, her neck was tense, she was prepared 
to strike. To save herself, to save Mulder. She felt 
like a wild animal protecting her mate. But this is 
Skinner. She didn't want that thought to imbed itself 
into her mind. But maybe it had. She was 
remembering the times she had met with him and the 
Smoking Man had been there, every time they 
worked together. Closely. She was remembering the 
time she and Skinner had held respective guns 
pointed at the other's head. But she remembers the 
time when she saved his life when he was infected 
with a strange disease. She remembered the times 
when Skinner did everything in his power to help her 
and Mulder. Help them get the X-files back, help 
them find each other. But the rational part of her 
mind was being shut out by the panicked overtired 
part. She wanted anything, anyone who could be a 
threat to her and Mulder away. Far, far away. They 
had worked too hard, suffered too much to be stupid 
now. 

Mulder stood from his seat and walked the room 
restlessly. It was getting late but Scully wouldn't 
leave the Medical Room to sleep in their room 
tonight. He was exhausted. But he wouldn't go 
without Scully. Even if he did leave he wouldn't 
sleep. After months of being with Scully so closely 
anytime apart seemed wrong. He wouldn't be able to 
sleep. He would just lay awake listening for the door 
to open and for Scully to come in and lay next to him 
in bed. Mulder wanted to say something, anything to 
Scully. But he was on very thin ice with her. When 
he returned from talking with Benjamin he had told 
Scully that things had gotten heated. But he refused 
to tell her the specifics. She was angry, it was that 
simple. And Mulder, like usual, had nothing to say 
that would make it better. So he didn't try. He just 
remained quiet and stayed with her. No matter how 
uncomfortable they were at the moment neither 
wanted to be alone. 

But Mulder couldn't handle the silence any longer. 
He turned to face Scully, to tell her he wanted to talk, 
he wanted to tell her what Benjamin had said. But he 
was interrupted by a low hoarse groan from the back 
of the room. 

Mulder looked past Scully as she turned around to 
meet the unfocused yet shocked eyes of Skinner.

Part 12
(Day 75 continued)
Scully immediately walked to Skinner's side and 
pressed a hand to his chest as he instinctively tried to 
sit up. "Lie still." 

Skinner fell back against the mattress with a grimace. 
"Where am I?" His voice was strained and low.

Of all the things Mulder thought Skinner would ask, 
that wasn't one of them. "Nova." He answered 
walking over to stand sit by the cot next to Scully. 

Carefully Skinner reached up in search for his charm. 
He frowned as he fingered the small object. "Who 
shot me?"

"Another member. it's a long story." 

Skinner closed his eyes and nodded at Mulder's 
explanation. "For some reason I'm not surprised to 
see you two here."

"Frankly I am surprised to see you here, Sir." Scully 
said smoothly. 

He glanced at her with half opened eyes, obviously 
struggling to keep them open. "I found out about this 
place only a year ago. When I finally accepted the 
fact that it was going to happen I figured I better save 
my ass." 

"Well," Mulder started before Scully could say 
anything. "You almost got your ass shot to death. 
Why were you walking around at night?"

Skinner shifted uncomfortably. He didn't want to 
answer these questions. Not now, not when he eyes 
felt heavy and his body throbbed with pain. "I knew I 
was close and I didn't want to spend another night 
sleeping on dirt if I didn't have to."

Frowning Scully stood up, taking Mulder's hand and 
bringing him with her. "We are going to get some 
sleep. It's been a long day. A woman, she's a nurse, 
named Judy will be in a moment. If you need me for 
anything she will come and get me. Rest and try to 
drink and eat something when you feel up to it." 
Scully said in a decidedly cool bedside manner. 

Mulder told Skinner he'd see him the next day as he 
shot him a `I don't know what's with her' look and 
followed Scully out. They walked in silence, Mulder 
trailing behind Scully, to their room. 

Scully walked in, still not uttering a word, examining 
hot ember remains of the fire she threw in a few logs. 
Once they caught she stood, stripped her clothes off 
and pulled on some sweats. Without looking up at 
Mulder, who was leaning against the closed door, she 
climbed into bed and closed her eyes. 

He watched her settle on her stomach, fumbling with 
the sheets and pillows for a moment before he pushed 
himself off the door and changed. He was tired, not 
only physically, but mentally also. His racing mind 
had worn him down.

Laying down next to Scully he ran his palm under her 
shirt and over the tense muscles of her back. With a 
soft sigh Scully turned her head to face him. He 
leaned toward her and placed a light kiss on her lips, 
then her closed eyes, and finally her forehead. 
"What's bothering you?" He whispered near her ear. 

Scully forced her eyes open enough to look into his. 
"Skinner." She said simply.

Mulder ran his fingers through her hair. "I figured 
that much, but you said he will be ok. That's true 
isn't it?"

She nodded slightly, focusing on the base of his 
throat in distant thought. "I think he will be, 
especially now that he has woken up." 

"So. what is it then?" Mulder asked after a moment 
of silence. 

Scully met his eyes again with a frown. "Do you 
think he can be trusted?"

Mulder's brow furrowed in thoughtful confusion. 
Skinner's innocence was the least of his worries at 
the moment. "I don't see why not Scully. I know 
we haven't always been able to, but things are 
different now."

"But that's the point. How do we know that he hasn't 
been working with Them again to guarantee his 
future?" 

Mulder leaned back from her slightly, taking it all in. 
After some moments of thought he responded. "He 
doesn't look like he has been helping Them, Scully. 
He looks worse then we did when we got here."

Scully rolled away, with her back to Mulder now. "I 
knew you wouldn't believe me."

Mulder sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist 
trying to pull her to him. "I didn't say that. I just 
don't think. maybe I don't want to believe you 
could be right." He kissed her neck softly. "But you 
know there isn't anything we can do about it. He was 
barely conscious. We can talk to him more tomorrow. 
He isn't going to go anywhere or do anything how he 
is now." He gently rolled her over so she was facing 
him. "So let's not worry at the moment, let's just get 
some sleep." 

Scully settled her head against his shoulder and let 
her eyes close. She was tired. She had been ever 
since Greg had woken her up, and hadn't slept well 
the night before. But sleep was calling now and she 
wasn't going to turn down the invitation.

Day 76
Mulder leaned back against the wall as he watched 
Skinner slip away into sleep once again. They had 
spent the morning talking when Skinner had enough 
energy for it. Actually it was more of an 
interrogation, Mulder being the interrogator. He had 
to admit he enjoyed it to an extent. After so many 
years of having to answer to Skinner, it is was a nice 
change. 

But now his problem was talking to Scully. Mulder 
was certain Skinner had nothing but good intentions 
and now he had to try to convince Scully. He knew 
she hated to admit when she was wrong, but he 
wouldn't ask her to. It was insane to expect her not to 
worry, he worried himself. He had gotten over the 
idea that Skinner could have been helping Them, but 
he had a feeling Scully wasn't going to drop it as 
easily. Lately she had been overly protective of him 
and herself. But Mulder was not in the position to 
complain, for the first time he could remember their 
roles were switched. 

Mulder's thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at 
the Medical Room door. He swung the down open to 
Greg nervously running his hand through his short 
blonde hair. Mulder nodded a curt greeting but shut 
the door to the Medical Room as he stepped out into 
the hallway. 

Greg pointed in question at the closed door. "I just 
wanted to apologize to Walter about what happened."
Mulder nodded. "He'll appreciate that, but he just fell 
asleep again."

"Oh. Well I'll just come back later then, thank you 
Mulder." Greg turned to walk away but Mulder 
caught his elbow.

"Actually, Greg, I was hoping to have a word with 
you. Do you have a few minutes?" 

"Um. Sure, but if this about what happened-"

"No. It's not, don't worry about that." Mulder 
interrupted as he gestured for Greg to follow him out 
a side opening and out into the bright sun. "I 
understand you made a mistake, you aren't to blame."

"I'm not?" Greg asked surprised as he shielded his 
eyes against the sun to focus on Mulder.

Mulder shook his head and scanned around the area, 
they were alone. "Not at all. I blame Benjamin."
Greg looked like someone punched him in the gut for 
a moment. When he recovered he quickly shook his 
head. "I don't think we should talk about this."

Mulder crossed his arms and leaned against the rocks 
next to the opening into Nova. If Greg wanted to 
leave he was going to have to walk a quarter mile 
around to the next doorway. "Why not?"

Greg let out a sigh. "Listen, Mulder, I know you 
mean well about this. But you just don't go around 
putting blame on Benjamin."

"Why? I think it's his fault. The way he runs things 
around here just isn't logical. These rules he has set 
up-

" Mulder paused searching for the right words. "They 
aren't realistic."

Greg glanced around them nervously. "This is 
Benjamin's place, we just let him do what he wants 
even if it is idiotic."

"So you agree with me?" Mulder waited but Greg 
said nothing. "Greg, you've got a family. Three kids 
and wife, correct?" Greg nodded so Mulder 
continued. "I only had to pay for Scully and I and that 
was a hell of a lot. In my opinion we should all have 
a say in what goes on here. Benjamin couldn't have 
done this all alone."

Greg held up a hand and started to walk backwards 
slowly, obviously preferring to walk a bit instead of 
continuing the conversation. "You do or say whatever 
you want Mulder, I'd prefer not to get kicked out. So 
just leave me and my family out of it." Greg regarded 
Mulder with respect for a moment. "If you care about 
Dana the way I think you do you will leave her out of 
it too. Don't ruin her life because you can't except 
how things are here." He turned his back to Mulder 
and walked on.

Mulder watched Greg walk away even after he was 
out of sight. His words were slowly sinking into 
Mulder. A knot of guilt settled in the pit of his 
stomach. But he didn't think what he felt was wrong. 
Mulder wanted Nova to be safe for Scully, and he 
didn't feel Nova was incredibly safe at the moment. 
He made his way back to find Scully. He found her 
first try in the Medical Room. Quietly he opened the 
door and sat next to her. 

Scully looked up from her book. "You going back to 
work?"

Mulder silently reached over and hand his hand down 
the back of her head, just to feel her. Remind himself 
that she is real and he has to be careful. Mulder 
pulled away nodding and glanced at Skinner, it didn't 
look like he had woken. "Yeah, I my lunch break is 
over."

"Did you even eat?" She asked with a frown already 
knowing the answer.

Mulder leaned over and kissed her cheek as he stood. 
"I'll grab something, I've got a fifteen minute walk to 
the field. I'll see you later."

"Bye." She said softly as he shut the door. She hated 
to see him go. Before They came she sometimes felt 
like she and Mulder were together too often, now he 
seemed to be away too often. She only spent time 
with him at night, and often they were both too tired 
from the day to do anything other then sleep. 

Scully pulled her knees up to her chest, balancing her 
small body on the set of the chair carefully, and went 
back to watching over Skinner. 
 

"Oh!" Scully jumped in surprise as she walked face 
first into Benjamin as he rounded the corned into the 
Medical Room and her out.

"Dana, I'm sorry." He placed a hand on her upper 
arm to steady her. 

Scully smiled up at the tall man. "It's all right, did 
you need something?"

Benjamin smiled softly. "Not really. I just wanted to 
come and see how you were doing. Not many 
beautiful, intelligent, AND eligible women around 
here."

Scully blushed slightly and held up her bucket and 
gestured for him to follow her to the Main Room to 
get water. "Well thank you for the compliment. But 
I'm not exactly eligible."

"I have to admit I am a little curious about your 
relationship with Mulder. I know you worked 
together but I was not under the impression that the 
two of you were romantically involved."

Scully bit her lip as she dipped the bucket into the 
flow of water, trying to find the best way to answer 
him. She never felt comfortable talking to people 
about her relationship, and she didn't quite know how 
to describe her and Mulder. "Well we worked closely 
together for over seven years, we have been through 
a lot and really depend on each other. We've only 
recently taken that next step but I think I have always 
known Mulder is the only man for me." She smiled 
shyly at that admission as they walked back toward 
the Medical Room. 

Benjamin held the door open for her but waited at the 
entrance. "Well, Dana you never know when a 
relationship might change."

Scully nodded, that was a truthful statement. You 
never did know what would happen. "I guess, but I 
believe Mulder and I will be spending the rest of our 
lives together. We can't survive without one 
another." She gave a small smile, looking at the blank 
wall, lost in thought, instead of Benjamin. "That's 
just how it is."

Benjamin shook his head. "I don't know about that. 
You are a very strong woman, I can tell. I think you 
would make it just fine without Mulder."

Scully looked back up at him, almost forgetting he 
was there at all. "I suppose I could make it on my 
own-"

"I didn't say on your own, I just said without 
Mulder."

Scully smiled at his statement but continued as she 
had planned. "I wouldn't want to without Mulder. 
Wouldn't be worth it."

Benjamin frowned for a moment. "Well I'll let you 
get back to work. Have a nice day." He gave a short 
polite nod and shut the door behind him. 

 
Mulder slowly shut the door, trying to stay quiet 
when he saw Scully asleep on the bed. He changed 
into clean boxers and washed swiftly, anxious to be 
close to Scully after a hard day. He slipped onto the 
bed and stoked the exposed skin of her arm, warming 
the cool air away from her body. "Hi." He whispered 
against her ear before placing a light kiss on the lobe.

Scully smiled sleepily and rolled onto her back, 
cupping Mulder's jaw in her hand she pulled him 
down to kiss her. He moved to pull away but Scully 
slipped her hand into his hair and held him for a 
deeper more passionate kiss. "I missed to you today." 
She whispered after he pulled away and settled his 
weight on his forearms on either side of her head.

"Mmm." He kissed her neck softly, noticing for the 
first time she was only wearing her panties and a 
tank. "I wasn't far away."

"I know." She mumbled, not happy with that answer. 
She gently pulled on his shoulders so he rested his 
weight against her body. "But I still don't like it." 
Scully skimmed her fingers over his bare back, 
slipping her hands under the waistband of his boxers, 
pulling him even more firmly against her. "It just got 
to me today."

Mulder struggled to move away from her enough to 
pull her top over her head. He kissed the newly 
exposed skin of her breasts slowly but thoroughly. 
"Why?"

Scully sighed softly as her sleepiness segued into 
arousal. "Why what?"

Mulder smiled and picked his head up to look at her. 
"Why did you miss me more today then usual?"

Shrugging slightly she traced a finger up and down 
his upper arm smiling shyly. "I was talking to 
Benjamin-"

"What did he say?" Mulder asked quickly, pulling 
himself up off of her slightly so he could look at her 
better.

Scully's brow furrowed. "Nothing really. He just got 
me to thinking about how much I need you. Why?"

Mulder let out a breath and lowered himself back 
down. "No reason, sorry." He traced his fingers over 
her belly to distract her, it worked. "You look 
beautiful." He said more to himself then her as he 
noticed the weight she had began to put back on. Her 
skin glowed naturally and her hair had regained its 
shine. She looked healthy and well. 

With a slight frown Mulder traced his fingers against 
her hairline. "How have you been feeling, Scully?"

She smiled at his concern, some things never 
changed. Running her fingers over his cheek she gave 
him a serious look. "Fine, Mulder. No headaches, no 
nose bleeds, I feel fine. Actually really good 
lately." 

Mulder dipped his head back down to her breasts as 
Scully struggled to get his boxers down. Once 
removed Mulder slid down her body, kissing and 
caressing along the way, taking her panties with him. 
On his return trip up he rested his head on her belly 
and gazed up at her. "You'll tell me if anything is 
wrong, won't you Scully?"

She nodded and ran a hand through his hair. "Of 
course I will, Mulder." She laughed softly. "Want to 
focus on the activities on hand please?" She tugged 
him back up her body and into the cradle of her 
thighs. 

He smiled and nodded. "I'd love to." He whispered as 
he pushed into her body. 

Day 78
Scully shifted tiredly in the wooden chair she spent 
most of her days in while at the Medical Room. After 
rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes she 
looked over at Skinner just as he shifted painfully. 
With a barely restrained groan she rose from her 
chair and walked across the room. 

"How are you feeling?" She asked looking down at 
Skinner.

"Like I've been shot." He groaned out.

His attempt at humor didn't go unnoticed by Scully, 
just unacknowledged. 

She kneeled down by the cot and removed his 
bandage. "It's healing nicely." Scully informed 
deadpan. 

"Scully. What can I do to convince you I'm not 
here to ruin Nova? I've told you, I'm here for the 
same reason you are, to live. I don't have any 
knowledge that anyone who is not a member 
knowing about it."

Scully ignored what he was saying as she cleaned the 
wound carefully. 

"Scully?"

She looked up, brows raised, lips pressed together. 
"Sir. I really don't want to talk about this. Ok?"

"No, Scully it isn't ok. I'm going to be here whether 
you like it or not-"

"Well I don't." She said simply. "I doubt that will 
change. And I am sorry, I truly am, but I don't trust 
you. I honestly don't feel comfortable with you 
around me and Mulder."

Skinner looked blankly at her. "I'm not asking you to 
trust me. I know that is too much to ask of you or 
Mulder. You only trust each other. I accepted that 
many years ago. What I am asking is that you accept 
the fact that I will be here. That just because you 
don't want me here, that you are cold to me, doesn't 
mean that I am just going to disappear." 

Finished with the new bandage Scully stood over him 
once again. "Consider it accepted."

"Scully?" Skinner called as she walked towards the 
door. "Scully wait a minute please." The door shut 
firmly behind her. "Jesus." Skinner muttered to the 
empty room.

 
"Mulder!" Scully scolded as he stepped into their 
room, soaking wet from the rain. She sighed 
dramatically. 
"Get those wet clothes off." She started to tug on his 
shirt. 

"Are you trying to seduce me?" He waggled his 
eyebrows at her.

Scully gave him a serious look. "Mulder. I'm not 
joking around. I don't want you to get sick."

"It's ok, Scully. The rain was warm, I didn't get cold 
until I walked inside." He pulled on a pair of dry 
sweatpants as Scully started to towel dry his hair after 
sitting him down by the fire. Just as she stepped away 
to hang up the dripping towel Mulder sneezed. 
Twice. 

"Oh Mulder." Scully sighed softly as she sat down 
next to him. She ran her fingers under his jaw looking 
for swollen glands. 

He smiled innocently. "Don't worry, I feel fine."

Scully sat back and looked at him with a frown. 
"What I am really worried about is the fact that any 
cold or flue is going to go crazy down here. Not 
much ventilation." She explained to Mulder's 
questioning look. 

Mulder patted her thigh. "Don't worry, Doc. We'll 
manage." 
 
Part 13
Day 81
Mulder knocked on Byers' door. It was swung open 
by Langly. "Don't you guys ever stay in your own 
rooms?" Mulder mumbled in a voice rough from a 
slight cold.

Frohike stuck his head out the doorway, looking 
down the hallway in both directions. "Where's 
Scully?"
Mulder rolled his eyes and pushed the smaller man 
back into the room and shut the door. "I need to ask 
you guys a favor."

"What?" Byers asked. 

Mulder shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned 
back against the wall. He felt like shit for doing this, 
but he didn't feel he had a choice. "Keep an eye on 
Scully."

"We already do that man." Langly said with a laugh.

Mulder nodded. "Yeah. But I need you to start 
keeping an eye out for Benjamin."

"Benjamin?" Byers asked in shock.

"Yes. He seems to have a little crush of Scully."

"Really? Wow." Frohike sat back in his chair in 
thought. 

"Yeah." Mulder rubbed his face with his hand. "I 
don't know, this is driving me crazy."

"Does Scully know about this?" 

Mulder looked over at Byers and shrugged 
noncommittally. "I don't think so. She has mentioned 
anything to me and I haven't to her. I'd just like to be 
really sure before I say too much."

"In other words, you don't want to piss her off." 
Langly supplied. 

"Pretty much." Mulder answered nodding. 

Day 82
"What is this? Prison labor?"

Mulder looked up at Scully with a humorless snort 
and tossed another rock into a wagon. "Pretty much." 

He mumbled. "What are you doing out here?" 

Scully leaned against a tree by Mulder. "I wanted to 
see how you were feeling." 

Mulder smiled affectionately. "I told you this 
morning I feel fine. No headache, no sore throat, 
nothing."

"All right. just take it easy." She looked Mulder up 
and down, still not convinced that he was well. He 
looked fine though, his skin glowed from a thin 
covering of sweat, the only things he worn were a 
pair of jeans, his t-shirt shoved in his back pocket and 
a pair of gloves to protect his hands. The only thing 
that kept her from tackling him to the ground right 
there was the fact that a other people were around. 
"Why are you doing that anyway?" She asked with a 
slight nod towards the piles of rocks. 

"Clearing this field out so we can plant here next 
season." He answered over the crack of rock against 
rock as he tossed them into the wagon. He glanced 
over at her trying to hide a smirk. "Why are you 
looking at me like that?" 

"Like what?"

Mulder stretched his arms over his head, pulled off 
his gloves and took a long drink of water. "Like I'm a 
tasty piece of meat that you are about to pounce on. 
You look a little flushed too." He added she as 
blushed. 

Scully glared at him. "It's warm out here and I was 
watching you because I am worried about your back 
with all the lifting." She lied. 

Mulder walked over to her with raised brows. "Likely 
story." 

Scully couldn't hide her smile. She shook her head 
good-naturedly as she reached up to wipe a smear of 
dirt off Mulder's cheek. 

"Thanks Mom." 

"Mulder, maybe you should get back to work. I don't 
see anyone else standing around." Benjamin called as 
he walked over to him. 

Mulder turned, stepping away from Scully so that 
Benjamin saw her for the first time. "I was just taking 
a short break, Benjamin. Don't worry, I'll start up in 
a minute." 

Benjamin smiled quickly. "Oh I was just joking. Take 
your time." He turned toward Scully. "How are you, 
Dana?"

Smiling politely she nodded. "Good, thanks for 
asking." 

Mulder, unconsciously, took a half step closer to 
Scully, keeping his eyes on Benjamin. 

Scully touched Mulder's upper arm lightly. "I better 
get back. I'll see you later."

"I'll walk you back." Benjamin said quickly. 

Mulder kept his anger in check as Scully got up on 
her toes and kissed him lightly. "Hurry back." She 
smiled shyly then turned to Benjamin and nodded off 
in the direction they needed to walk. 

Mulder watched as they walked side by side out of 
view.
 
 
Shoving the Medical Room door open with more 
force then needed, Mulder walked in and scanned the 
small area for Scully. 

"Hello, Mulder." Skinner greeted from his reclined 
position on the cot. 

Mulder frowned. "Hi. Has Scully been in here?"

Skinner looked at with a half amused and half hurt 
expression. "Scully doesn't stay here when I'm 
awake if she can help it." 

"I'm really sorry about that, Sir."

Skinner held up a hand and shoed away the thought. 
"Not your fault, she means well. You know. You 
don't have to call me `Sir' anymore."

Mulder smiled shyly. "Habit I think." He regarded 
Skinner in thought for a moment. "Has Benjamin 
been into see Scully at all?"

Skinner nodded with a shrug. "Yeah, I see him at 
least once a day. Doesn't he work in here?"

"The Medical Room?" Skinner nodded. "No, not at 
all. That bastard doesn't do a damn thing but order 
everyone around."

Skinner raised his eyebrows in his patented `Mulder 
take it easy' look. "Spill it Mulder, what's going on 
with this guy?"

Mulder let out a tired sigh and sat in a chair. "As you 
know he's the man how started Nova. He seemed like 
a great guy when we first got here. But now. I don't 
know.He doesn't lift a finger. His rules are 
ridiculous..." 

Skinner waited for more but nothing came. "Why are 
you worried about Scully and him."

Mulder thought for a moment, he really didn't want 
to tell Skinner about this. But he made the decision to 
trust Skinner, and he knew how he felt about Scully. 
He had always favored her. Treated her with care and 
compassion. Even when he should have been tough 
on her. "He seems to have a little thing for Scully if 
you know what I mean."

Skinner nodded quickly. "I could tell."

"Why? What has he done?"

Skinner held up a hand. "Calm down Mulder. He 
hasn't done anything. Its just his. body language. 
He fusses over her." Skinner took in Mulder's sagged 
shoulders and sad expression. "The affection isn't 
returned Mulder, don't worry. She is kind to him, but 
nothing more."

Mulder nodded slowly, taking in the information. He 
pushed himself up from the chair. "Thanks, I need to 
go talk to Scully."

"Mulder." Skinner called as he was about to shut the 
door. "I'll keep my eye out. I know I'm not going to 
be that helpful in my condition, but I'll do my best." 

"Thank you, Skinner." Mulder said softly before 
leaving to find Scully. He walked purposefully down 
the hall, oblivious to anyone or anything. He opened 
the door to their room with as much unnecessary 
force as he did in the Medical Room. 

With a gasp Scully sat up on the bed at the noise of 
the door. She shivered as a cold sweat cooled her 
skin. 
Mulder completely forgot about Benjamin when he 
saw Scully shake slightly, pulling her knees up to her 
chest and wrapping her arms around herself. "Scully? 
What's wrong?" He sat by the bed and took her face 
in his hands, frightened by the look of terror in her 
eyes. "What happened?"

Scully shook her head slightly to focus herself. "It 
was a dream, I'm ok."

Mulder nodded and pulled her against him, kissing 
the top of her head. "Tell me about it."

Scully stretched her legs out in front of her, but kept 
her arms, and Mulder's wrapped about her upper 
body. With him beside her she didn't feel the need to 
completely protect herself, he was comforting and 
safe. She thought in silence for a moment. The whole 
thing was a blur. "I was being robbed." She thought 
out loud in a barely audible whisper. "Not of material 
items, but of part of me. Like I was being taken and 
left behind all at once."

"Maybe a flash back of your abduction." Mulder 
supplied softly. 

Scully nodded lazily. "Maybe." For some reason she 
didn't think that was it. This dream was different. "A 
person took it from me. Not an alien. I'm sure it was 
a person. I don't know why but I know it was." 
Mulder made a soft affirmative noise. "Well." He 
said pulling away enough to push her hair back from 
her face. "It was just a dream and it's over now."

Giving a weak smile Scully nodded and laid back 
down on the bed, ready to sleep again. "I'm really 
tired tonight."

Mulder tucked the blankets around her, their talk 
could wait. She was shaken by her dream, he didn't 
want to upset her anymore. "Go back to sleep."

She nodded again, already halfway there. "Wake me 
if I start to dream again." She mumbled rolling onto 
her side. 

"Of course." He whispered even though she was 
already asleep. 
 
Part 14
Day 84
Scully squinted as she stepped out into the sun. The 
brightness didn't help the sick feeling she was 
fighting since morning. With a deep breath of the 
fresh air Scully walked a few feet in to the shade of 
the trees. 
Leaning back against a tree she let the wave of 
nausea pass. 

Finally feeling like herself, Scully looked up into the 
trees around her. "Hello?" She said softly to a young 
woman sitting a short distance away. Surprised she 
hadn't seen her when she first walked out she slowly 
made her way over. 

The woman looked up and smiled weakly. "Hi."

Scully took in the sight. She had been crying; her 
bright blue eyes were still red rimmed and damp. Her 
long brown hair was pulled loosely back, she was 
trim and tall. Scully thought she was beautiful with a 
sprinkling of light freckles over her nose and 
basically an innocent expression. "I'm Dana Scully." 
She said sitting down in the dirt near her. 

The woman nodded, uninterested. "Yeah, you're the 
doctor. My father has been talking about you."

"Your father?"

"Benjamin. I'm Amanda Walters."

Scully starred at her slightly for a moment. Benjamin 
must have had her when he was young, she had to be 
in her early thirties and he was fifty. "I didn't know 
Benjamin had a daughter."

Amanda let out a humorless snort. "He doesn't talk 
about me much."

Scully didn't need to think back to her psych rotation 
in medical school to know she was depressed and 
ended to talk to someone. "Why's that?"

Amanda looked her up and down for a moment. "My 
father is in love with you." She said nastily, dropping 
that particular bombshell to throw Scully. Since she 
had come to Nova, Dana Scully was all her father 
talked of, when they actually spoke to one another. 
Frankly she was just plain sick of hearing it. 

Slack jawed, Scully only starred at Amanda for a few 
heartbeats. "Excuse me?"

Amanda barely held back a smirk. "He talks about 
you all the time, Dana. I've seen it before. You are an 
attractive, younger, powerful and smart woman. 
That's what he wants." She couldn't keep the smirk 
away any longer. "And my father always gets what 
he wants."

Scully felt a heavy knot in her stomach, different 
from the one she'd just gotten over. This one was 
bred from seven years of being abducted, kidnapped, 
attacked, and being around psychotic monsters in the 
form of men and women. "I. I don't believe that, 
Amanda."

She shrugged and looked away. 

Scully stood shakily, her thoughts an unorganized 
jumble. "Well, Amanda, I need to get back to the 
Medical Room. I'm sure I'll be seeing you." 

Amanda shielded her eyes from the sun and nodded. 
"Bye, Dana." She called in a slightly ashamed tone as 
Scully walked away looking confused but even more 
then that, frightened. 

 
Leg bouncing impatiently, arms crossed and a grim 
expression on her face, Scully waited for Mulder. He 
wasn't late in the least, Scully was just anxious. 

The door open a half hour later, Scully still in the 
same position as before, and a hot sweaty Mulder 
walked in. "Hey." He said not wasting anytime in 
pulling off his dirty clothes. 

"I have to talk to you." Scully said jumping up from 
her chair. 

"Talk away." He said as he heated water to wash 
with. 

"Mulder this is serious."

He turned to her, regarding her calmly, which he 
learned was always the best way to handle a nervous 
Scully. "I'm listening, go ahead." 

Scully paced back and forth. "I met Benjamin's 
daughter today-"
"I didn't know he had a daughter."

Scully shot a threatening look at him for interrupting. 
"I didn't either. Her name is Amanda, she says he 
doesn't talk about her much. I didn't get a chance to 
get into it at all. She said something. I. I don't 
know what to think about it." Scully stared at the 
floor in thought. She still didn't know if she wanted 
to believe Amanda or not. It made sense, the way he 
followed her around, spoke softly, almost intimately. 
But he seemed so honest to her. He knew how she 
felt about Mulder. 

Mulder stepped in front up her, taking her upper arms 
in his hands so that she looked up at him. "Was it 
about Benjamin's feeling for you?"

She looked up at him in shock. "How did you know?" 
Her voice a strained whisper. 

With a sigh he sat down on the bed. "He's. He 
hasn't been hiding it from me. It's obvious he doesn't 
think I am good enough for you." Mulder shut is 
eyes, the way he used to when picturing the profile of 
a murder in his head. "He sees you are the only 
woman suitable for him. He's God here. It's his 
place, no one questions him. You are the only other 
person that people won't question. As the only doctor 
here no one has the knowledge to question what you 
do or say. It's. logical in its own way."

Scully wrapped her arms around her waist 
protectively. Suddenly feeling vulnerable and used. 
"So what should I do now?" 

Mulder sucked in a breath. "Well. don't encourage 
him-"

"I wasn't leading him on!" She interrupted 
defensively. 

Mulder held up a hand in a gentle manner. "I'm not 
saying that, not at all. I know you weren't. I guess. 
just be careful. Try not to be alone with him or talk to 
long. Ok?"

Nodding Scully leaned her head against his shoulder. 

"You ok?" He asked softly. 

Scully wanted to say she was fine, but she promised 
she would tell him anything that was wrong. Not that 
she could hide much even if she wanted to. They 
were in close quarters. Amazingly enough, to Scully, 
she didn't feel smothered. She felt loved. "I'm ok. 
Just really tired today."

He kissed her forehead softly. "Well, Dr. Mulder has 
a cure of that."

Scully tried to hold back her smile, it didn't work. 
"Yeah?"

"Mmm hmm." He said moving away from her. 
"Sleep." He laid her down gently and pulled a blanket 
over her body. "Good night." He kissed her softly as 
she closed her eyes with a lazy, sleepy and happy 
smile. 

 
Scully shivered. She was cold. And alone. No. she 
wasn't alone. But Mulder wasn't with her, half of her 
was missing. She needed that half. Something was 
wrong, she could tell. 

She opened her eyes, forcing them to stay up. It was 
dark. The only light from the fire in the corner of the 
room. It's faint red glow cast more shadows then 
what seemed normal. Turning the room in a bubble 
of darkness, furniture not visible, the walls 
claustrophobically close. 

"Mulder?" 

Scully's voice echoed against the stone wall. Her 
breathing was forced and thick. A lump filled her 
throat. Tears welled in her eyes.

She was panicking and she knew it.

She just knew she needed to find Mulder. 

Scully tried to slip off the bed. But she couldn't. A 
heavy weight settled over her midsection. Scully 
struggled against what seemed her own body. Once 
too breathless to continue she laid still and called for 
Mulder. Over and over. But no answer came. 

Suddenly she stopped her yelling, her crying, almost 
stopped breathing and listened. She wasn't alone. But 
who ever it was wasn't Mulder. 

She jumped as the bed dipped with the weight. She 
froze. Waiting. Waiting for anything to happen. 

Something did. 

A hand, a human hand, reached out and touched her 
cheek. 

And Scully screamed. Loud and long. For Mulder, 
for anyone. 

Her screaming continued as the hand slid down her 
body. Over her neck, cupping her breast, and settling 
on the weight holding her body down. The whole 
time she fought back, flailing her arms, kicking her 
legs. 
Finally, after what seemed like hours of fighting, she 
hit the mysterious person. 

 
"Scully!! Wake up!" Mulder yelled as he had to back 
away to avoid her blows. He had been calling her 
softly for ten minutes, avoiding touching her for free 
it would only make her dream worse, but he couldn't 
wake her easily. 

Her eyes flew open with a gasp as she was able to sit 
up. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the glow from the 
fire, her breathing frantic, sweat dripped from her 
brow and ran down her spine. 

Mulder reached out and placed his arm around her 
shoulders, pulling her to him. He murmured soft 
wordless words and stroked her hair back until she 
calmed slightly. "It's all right." He said into her ear. 
"It was just a dream, sweetheart."

Scully shook her head against his chest. "No. It 
wasn't a dream." She whispered. It was real. It 
seemed so real. 
 
Part 15
Day 86
Scully was determined to find Amanda. She had 
spent practically every spare moment yesterday 
looking. But it wasn't as easy as she thought it 
would. After asking around it turned out that Amanda 
didn't work. When Mulder had heard that he 
mumbled something about not being surprised since 
Benjamin didn't work either. Many people didn't 
even know Amanda existed. 

Scully had no place else to look but outside of 
Nova's busy areas. With a discouraged sigh she 
stepped out into the sunlight. It didn't work yesterday 
but she headed straight for the spot she met Amanda 
a few days ago. "Amanda?" Scully called as she 
walked about the thickly treed area. "Amanda, are 
you here?"

Amanda stepped out from behind a tree, book in 
hand. "Yeah?"

Scully smiled politely. "Hi. I've been looking for 
you."

Amanda leaned against a tree, arms crossing 
protectively. "What for?" 

"I ah." Scully tucked her hair behind her ears and 
tentatively made her way over. "I was hoping we 
could talk about your father."

Amanda looked away with a soft sigh. "What do you 
want to know?"

Scully wasn't really sure what she wanted to ask. All 
she wanted was to understand. Scully knew it 
wouldn't be easy to get information out of Amanda 
so she'd best start slowly. "I never heard why he 
started Nova."

Amanda answered, monotone, looking at the ground. 
"When I was six my mother was abducted, she was 
gone for a over a week. When she came back. she 
just wasn't the same." Amanda shook her head lost in 
thought. "I don't remember her too well. But I knew 
something was wrong. A month later she killed 
herself. My dad immediately started building Nova. 
It's been his life even since." She finally looked back 
over at Scully. "Except the random affair."

Scully shifted uncomfortably. For a few reasons. The 
topic of abduction was touchy, she and Mulder 
decided they wouldn't tell anyone. And Scully just 
didn't know how to handle Benjamin's feelings. 

"Amanda. Your father knows I'm involved with 
someone." 

Amanda laughed softly. "That never stopped him 
before."

"What are you reading?" Scully asked to change the 
subject. 

She held up the book, displaying the title. "Sylvia 
Plath. Ever read her?"

Scully nodded. "Yeah, a long time ago. Great work." 
Scully thought back, Plath was known for her poems 
about her father. They certainty weren't poems about 
love. They were about remorse, hatred, and anger. 

"Dana?"

Scully looked over at a young man she recognized 
but didn't know the name of. "Yes?"

"I've been looking all over for you! There was an 
accident and Jack broke his arm."

Scully glanced at Amanda as she started to walk 
quickly away. "Amanda, I'll talk to you soon." Scully 
cursed under her breath, she felt she was getting 
some where with Amanda and now she had to leave. 

 
 In the heavy daze of half sleep Scully heard Mulder 
come in the door. She didn't move, only mumbled a 
hello. 

"In bed again." Mulder noted pulling off his dirty 
clothes. 

"I had a long day." She said finally rolling over. 

"Yeah I heard. The idiot fell out of a tree." Mulder 
said laughing. "Is Jack ok?"

Scully watched him with interest as he scrubbed the 
dirt from his body. She had always found the way a 
man regarded his body fascinating. Mulder always 
spent a good amount of time washing his neck and 
shoulders, just skimming his legs and arms. He left 
his hot skin damp to evaporate in the cool air of their 
room, his bare chest glowing in the firelight. "Yeah, 
he'll be fine." She answered distracted. "I talked to 
Amanda today." Scully sat up and leaned against the 
headboard as Mulder sat near her hip. 

"What about?"

Scully quickly told him the story of Benjamin's wife. 
Mulder listened silently as she told him about 
Amanda's choice of reading. "I want to talk to her 
more Mulder. She seemed like she wanted to open up 
about Benjamin." Scully whispered for no reason. 

Mulder nodded and laid back on the bed, his head in 
Scully's lap. "Just be careful. Scully?" 
She tipped her head to the side quizzically she 
stroked her hands through his hair.

Mulder leaned his head side to side, following her 
caresses. "Don't tread on Benjamin's toes."

Scully lifted his head so that she could slide down the 
bed. With his head pillowed on her breasts she kissed 
his forehead. "Good point."

"I have them occasionally." He said flipping over to 
lie on his side beside Scully. "Sometimes I even have 
good ideas." Placing a hand on her hip he rolled her 
over onto her side to face him.

"Mmmm. This is a good idea." She murmured as he 
kissed and sucked her neck. She returned the favor on 
his freshly washed skin. 

Mulder slipped his hands under her tee shirt, 
immediately cupping her breasts. 

"Very good idea." She laughed softly as she tenderly 
rubbed her nose against his before placing an open 
mouthed kiss on his waiting lips. Skimming her 
fingers down his sides, causing him to squirm 
slightly, she pushed away his boxers. 

Mulder struggled with the buttons of her jeans, 
desperate not to break contact with her lips. 

Scully laughed softly when he cursed under his 
breath, pulling away to tear her shirt off and tug her 
jeans and panties down. 

"Don't laugh at me." He said with a smile.

Scully cried out softly in surprise as he pressed to 
fingers into her body. "I. I wouldn't dream of it."
Mulder suckled her ear lobe as his hand worked her 
body steadily.

Scully took a deep breath and gently pushed his hand 
away. "Enough of that." She breathed out. "I want 
you."

Mulder kissed her, long and deep as he pulled her leg 
up over his hip. "This ok?"

"Mmm. fine by me."

"Good." He said, slowly pressing into her. 

Letting her eyes shut she pressed her forehead against 
his shoulder, meeting his thrusts with the help of one 
of his hands under her body, his palm pressed against 
the small of her back. 

Mulder nudged her cheek with his nose. "Look at 
me." 

With a few deep breaths she was able to force her 
face up to his. She pried her eyes open and looked 
into his. The passion and adoration that she saw 
almost scared her. His dark eyes looked into hers 
unwavering, as he hips moved faster and deeper. 
With an awkward hand Mulder reached between their 
sweaty bodies and into her slick folds. 

Scully's eyes snapped closed as continuous waves of 
pleasure pulled her under. She relaxed completely 
against the bed, barely aware of Mulder's last few 
desperate stabs into her body as she struggled to 
catch her breath. 

Mulder rested his head on her shoulder, feeling 
Scully's rapid pulse beneath his lips. 

 
Mulder woke with a start, not knowing how long he 
was asleep. It took him a moment to realize it was a 
knock at the door that woke him. Disentangling 
himself from Scully he pulled on his discarded 
boxers and stumbled on legs, weak with sex and 
sleep, to the door. He opened it just a small amount, 
rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. 
Benjamin was on the other side. Mulder didn't know 
whether to laugh or be annoyed, it was obvious what 
he just woke up from. "Benjamin, what can I do for 
you?"

Benjamin frowned and tried to look around Mulder 
and into the room. 

Mulder glanced over his should to check to see if 
Scully was covered, she wasn't. He quickly stepped 
out of the room and closed the door behind him with 
raise brows, waiting for Benjamin to speak. 

"I need to talk with Dana for a moment."

Mulder nodded his head toward the room. "She's 
sleeping."

"Well, could you tell her to come to my room. I have 
something I need to speak with her about."
Mulder shook his head with a barely restrained smirk. 
"I think she's out for the night." He slipped that in for 
no reason other than male pride. "I'd be happy to give 
her a message."

Benjamin's eyes narrowed slightly. "Ok. Tell her my 
daughter, Amanda, wants to work in the Medical 
Room with her tomorrow."

Mulder couldn't keep the look of shock off his face. 
"Oh."

"I'll be sure to check up on them through out the day. 
Just let her know that Amanda will be there, at some 
point during the day."

Mulder nodded. "I'll do that. Good night, Benjamin." 
He placed his hand on the door knob and opened it a 
crack. Mulder watched with equal amounts of horror 
and amazement as Benjamin craned his neck trying 
to look into the darkened room. Mulder stepped to 
the side so that he couldn't see Scully. "Good night." 
He repeated firmly. 

Benjamin didn't say a word as he took a step back 
from the door and walked down the hallway.

"Bastard." Mulder mumbled as he walked back into 
their room. 

Part 16
Day 87
"Are you sure something isn't wrong?" Skinner asked 
for the- hell he lost track hours ago. 

Scully glared over at him. She knew she looked 
horrible. She felt horrible. Mulder had woken her up 
in the early morning, she had had that dream again. It 
played out the same way as the first time. It still 
seemed so real. Neither of them had been able to get 
back to sleep. Then an hour before she needed to get 
out of bed she started to feel ill. She still felt ill and it 
was after noon. All Scully wanted to do was go back 
to bed, but even that wasn't perfect. The fear of 
having that dream without Mulder there to wake her 
scared her enough to ignore the fatigue she felt. "I'm 
fine, just tired." She explained monotone. 

Skinner just sighed and shifted restlessly on the bed. 
He didn't want to sit around anymore. He had always 
hated being waited on, the military taught a person to 
fend for himself. He never would have been able to 
make it to Nova without that knowledge. The only 
thing that was saving him from insanity today was 
Jack. He would be in for a few days, but he was 
asleep. So Skinner was stuck with watching Scully do 
random things or read. He was sick of reading. "I'll 
get it." He called after a knock at the door. 

"No you won't." Scully held up hand to stop 
Skinner's struggle to sit up. "Oh, Amanda." Scully 
said surprised as she opened the door for Amanda to 
walk in. "I didn't think you were going to show up."

Amanda shrugged as she stepped into the room. "I 
woke up late."

"I'd say so." Scully muttered. "This is Walter Skinner 
and you know Jack." She said pointing the back of 
the room where Jack's bed was curtained in as he 
slept. 

"You're Benjamin's daughter?" Skinner asked 
extending his hand.

Amanda shook it half heartedly. "Yeah. I prefer 
Amanda though."

Skinner cracked a smile. "Sure." 

Hands on hips Amanda looked around the Medical 
Room, picking up jars and books only to drop them 
sloppily back down. 

Scully ignored what she was doing, but cleared her 
throat to capture Amanda's attention. "Well, 
Amanda, if you want to help out around here you'll 
need to show up on time. Seven, like everyone else. I 
don't know 
how much you'll be able to do, but we'll work on it-" 
Scully was interrupted by Mulder walking in the 
door. She couldn't help a small smile just at the sight 
of him. "I was wondering if you were going to show 
up."

Mulder laughed softly. "Yeah, running a little late 
today. I can't really stay either. I just wanted to see 
how you were feeling."

She shrugged. "Better. Fox Mulder this is Amanda 
Walters."

Mulder smiled politely and shook her hand. "Nice to 
meet you. I'm glad to here where will be someone 
around to give Scully a hand." Mulder looked past 
Amanda to Skinner. "And to give Skinner someone 
else to annoy all day."

Skinner glared, with humor, at Mulder. "If you had 
been sitting here as long as I have, Mulder, you'd be 
going crazy too." 

Mulder nodded. "Probably." He turned back to Scully 
and kissed her quickly. "I better get going. I'll see 
you later." 

"Mulder! Don't forget to eat some lunch!" She yelled 
as he started down the hallway. Shaking her head 
with a frown Scully turned back to Amanda. "Come 
on, you can help me bring in the clean sheets from 
outside." 

Amanda shrugged, indifferent to the idea and walked 
out behind Scully. "I know everyone calls Fox 
Mulder, Mulder. But why does he call you Scully 
instead of Dana?"

"We met while working for the FBI, old habit I 
guess." 

"How long have you known him?"

Scully wasn't sure if she felt comfortable with this 
game of twenty questions. "Over seven years."

"You've been involved with him for seven years?" 
Amanda asked in shock. 

"Well," Scully pulled sheets down from a line where 
she hung them to dry, folding as she spoke. "not is so 
many words. He's been my best friend for that long. 
Only recently we decided to go further then that, so 
to speak." 

"You seem very close." Amanda noted softly as she 
took a pile of sheets into her arms.

Scully nodded fondly as they stepped through the 
doorway and back into the confines of the cool rocks. 
"I've never been closer to anyone."

They were silent the rest of the walk to the Medical 
Room.

Scully smiled when she saw Langly waiting outside. 
"I just can't get rid of you guys lately. Every time I 
turn around I see one of you. Langly this is Amanda."

Without giving Langly a chance to say anything 
Amanda made something of a greeting type noise and 
walked into the Medical Room.

"Bitch." Langly muttered.

Scully looked into the Medical Room. "I'd like to 
disagree with you. but I don't think I can." With a 
sigh she turned back to him. "What can I do for you?"

"Oh. Nothing. I just was wondering how you are 
feeling."

Scully smiled knowingly at him. "Mulder has you 
watching me doesn't he?"

"Uh." Langly shifted on his feet. "I don't know 
what you mean. He mentioned to me that you haven't 
been well lately so I was just. checking."

With that same smile Scully patted his arm. "You 
never could lie to me, Langly. Tell Mulder I'm fine." 
Shaking her head she walked in to the Medical Room 
where Skinner and Amanda were making small talk. 

"So you've been living here since you were twelve." 
Skinner asked in shock.

"Yeah, I went to school fifty miles from here. But 
I've always stayed close by."

Scully listened in as she put away the sheets the 
Amanda had left in the center of the room. 

"Why did you want to work in here with Scully?"

Scully's head shot up as she waited for an answer, 
she was pretty curious about that herself. 

Amanda smirked. "Well. I wanted to see what made 
the woman my father is so obsessed with tick."

A wave of nausea washed over her. Without saying a 
word she walked out of the room, slamming the door 
behind her.

"That was low." Skinner said to Amanda. "It's 
obvious she isn't feeling well and you say something 
to upset her."

Amanda shrugged. "I didn't know she'd be react that 
way."

"Bullshit!" Skinner yelled, pushing himself to sitting 
position. "You did that on purpose."

With her hands on her hips Amanda glared at him. 
"What the hell does that mean?"

"You've got this wonderful little daddy's girl act all 
worked out." Skinner spat out, rather loudly. "You 
can come and go as you please. You don't have to 
work. You came here, so you must be lonely. Anyone 
can see that. Not that I blame you, your father 
obviously doesn't pay much attention to you. You 
said that to Scully because you were you're hurting, 
what's easier then dealing with your own pain? 
Making other's feel like shit. Well that act has to go. 
I don't want to listen to it, and Scully doesn't need it, 
and you need to grow up and move on. Stop being a 
little brat. No one wants to be friends with a brat!"

Scully smiled softly as she leaned against the wall 
outside of the Medical Room. That was so Skinner. 
Not much gets by him and he doesn't deal with 
people's shit. And he was always trying to protect 
her, whether she wanted him to or not. She felt guilty 
for treating him so badly earlier, but until now she 
just hadn't been sure who he was looking out for. 
Himself, Krycek, God knows. She should have 
known better, as always, Skinner, in his own way, 
was still looking out for them. 

Day 89
With her hand clamped over her mouth Scully rolled 
onto her side on the bed. She was going to throw up. 
She knew it. Fighting it for the last few hours had 
finally caught up with her. Clenching her jaw she lay 
still, hoping it would pass like the other times. But it 
didn't.

Falling to her knees beside the bed she emptied her 
stomach into a bucket that from that moment on 
would be used for only that. 

"Jesus Scully." Mulder said softly, rubbing her back 
with one hand, passing her a glass of water with the 
other. "Better?" He asked as she sat back against the 
bed.

Scully nodded as she sipped her water. 

"What's going on? You've been feeling ill for a week 
now."

She shook her head. "I don't know. I really don't."

Mulder frowned as he watched her carefully drink 
water. "Alright, let's get you in bed." Basically 
picking her up Mulder tucked her under the covers. "I 
want you to stay home today. Catch up on your 
sleep."

"I don't want to sleep if you aren't here." She 
admitted softly. 

He stroked her cheek lightly with his fingertips. "I 
know. But you haven't been sleeping much at all. I 
know it's because you are scared. But it isn't going to 
help when you are sick."

Nodding, Scully turned her head to the side and 
stared blankly at the far wall. 

"Hey." Mulder turned her face back to him. "I'll 
check on you, I'll have the Gunmen come too. Ok?"

"I'll just go to the Medical Room." Scully knew she 
shouldn't. She was lightheaded and too tired to even 
think about getting up.

Mulder shook his head firmly. "Don't even try it. 
You're staying here. I'll talk to Judy and take care of 
everything." He kissed her forehead for a long 
heartbeat before standing to clean up from Scully's 
morning activity. "I'll check on you as often as I 
can."

She nodded lazily. 

"I'm going to be late." He muttered to himself. "Bye, 
sweetheart."

"Bye." She said as he closed the door. "Hurry back." 
She whispered to the empty room. 

 
She knew she was having that dream again. She 
could tell by the strange feeling of being weighed too 
the bed. 

Immediately she chanted for herself to wake up. It 
didn't work. It never worked. 

Opening her eyes she was meet with the usual dark 
room. She could see the shadowy figure who was the 
mysterious visitor. The large hand grazed over her 
face lightly, despite her pleas and whimpering. The 
hand, heavy and un-dreamlike warm, traveled its 
usual course down her body. Over her breasts, down 
her abdomen, into the junction of her thighs, finally 
skimming over her legs. 

Scully twisted and fought as much as possible. 

Suddenly she stilled. The hand moved away from her 
body, hovering over her face. She focused in the low 
light on the hand, now glistening with blood.

 
Scully sat up quickly, trying to control her churning 
stomach, with a gasp. After a few deep breaths she 
laid back into the bed, staring at the rocks above her 
head. Shivering, not with chilliness, she wrapped the 
blankets tightly around her and waited for Mulder to 
come back.

Day 91
Mulder stood stiffly from the chair he had been 
sitting in for the past few hours watching Scully sleep 
at a knock on the door. 

She flat out refused to go to sleep if he wasn't there 
to wake her, no matter how tired she was. 

In turn Mulder refused to let her go to the Medical 
Room until she was feeling better. 

With an audible sigh Mulder stepped out into the 
hallway with Benjamin. 

"I was hoping to talk to Dana."

"Sorry." Mulder said, not meaning it. "She's asleep, I 
don't want to wake her."

Benjamin nodded, understanding. "How is she?"

"Not too well. She's very tired and sick to her 
stomach." 

Benjamin made a small thoughtful `hmph' sound. 
"Maybe she's pregnant."

A tight knot of pain settled in Mulder's gut. "We 
can't have children." He said as smoothly as possible, 
determined not to show emotion in front of 
Benjamin.

"Maybe you're not the father." 

Mulder stared at the older man, completely 
dumbfounded. "Scully is infertile." He spoke without 
thinking. Immediately he cursed himself silently. 
That was not his information to give out. Scully 
herself barely told anyone. It was primal male pride 
that made him say that. 

To Mulder's joy Benjamin looked disappointed. 
Mulder could only hope that fact might discourage 
Benjamin's infatuation with Scully. "Well. give her 
my best." He turned on his heels and walked down 
the hall. 

"I'll be sure to do that." Mulder mumbled using every 
last bit of his restraint not to smash Benjamin's head 
into the rock wall. But if he did that he knew 
Benjamin would kick him out of Nova. Mulder knew 
the only reason that he hadn't been already was 
because Benjamin knew that Scully would leave with 
him. Mulder wasn't sure if that was a blessing or not.

Part 17
Day 93
"Is that rain?" Scully asked sleepily at the soft 
pounding echoing off the rocks. 

"Think so." Mulder mumbled as he rubbed his nose 
under Scully's ear, inhaling the musk of spent 
arousal. 

Scully had finally begun to feel better, and there was 
only one thing she wanted to do. Mulder wasn't 
complaining.

Scully turned in his arms, so that she faced his chest. 
She traced her fingers over the muscles of his upper 
body which had become thick and firm with hard 
labor. He was healthy. She suddenly felt incredibly 
small next to him. She pushed her herself away 
slightly, taking in the sight of his heavy body partly 
covered by sheets. 

"What?" Mulder asked pulled her back against him. 

Scully pressed her smiling face into the junction of 
his neck. "Nothing." 

Shifting lethargically Mulder settled into the bed. "I 
don't believe you." He mumbled pouting. 

She let out a breathy laugh as sleep started to 
overtake her. The heat of Mulder's body, the distance 
sounds of rain, and Mulder's heartbeat beneath her 
ear lulled her into a restful sleep.

Mulder felt Scully's breathing slow and even out. Her 
grip around his waist loosened slightly and Mulder 
gently laid her from her side onto her back. Scully 
leaned into his hand unconsciously as he brushed hair 
from her face. He watched as she slipped deeper and 
deeper into to sleep. She looked relaxed and peaceful. 

Mulder knew it was only a matter of time before the 
dream came, it always did. 

With a soft sigh Mulder settled deeper into the bed, 
wrapping his arms around her. Pushing his thoughts 
from his mind he forced himself to sleep, knowing 
that at any moment he would have to wake Scully 
and stay up with her the rest of the night. 

Day 94
"Hey, Scully." Mulder greeted as he stepped into the 
room. The door shut and Mulder stood frozen by 
Scully's angry gaze. "What'd I do?" 

Scully stood up, arms crossed over her chest with 
tears in her eyes. "You know what you did."

Mulder thought for a moment in silence. Trying to 
find a way to fix this. "I. I'm sorry, I don't know 
what you're talking about." 

She took a step towards him, a small tentative step. 
"You told Benjamin I can't have children." Her 
words were nothing more then a whisper, trying to 
hide the secret from the fictitious ears of their room. 

"Shit!" Mulder hissed out clenching his eyes shut. 
With a deep breath, preparing for the battle this 
would cause he turned fully to Scully. "I'm so sorry 
Scully. I didn't mean to tell him that. He pissed me 
off and it just slipped out." 

Scully looked down at the ground, unable-unwilling 
to look at him. It hurt too much. "What's going to 
slip out next?" Her whisper did not hide the anger. 
"That I was abducted-"

"We said we wouldn't tell anyone that."

Scully's eyes- filled with tears- shot up to his. "I 
thought you understood that my infertility is just as 
personal as my abduction, guess I was wrong." She 
made a move to go to the door but Mulder grabbed 
her arm firmly. 

"Scully, please listen to me." He said desperately. 

Scully look at where he was holding her arm tightly. 
"Mulder, let go of me."

Mulder immediately loosed his grip letting his hand 
slide down so he held her wrist loosely. "I want to 
talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about. Your ego got in the 
way of you being respectful of me. That's it." She 
tugged her hand away from him. 

"Please don't walk away from me." He begged softly 
as she opened that door.

Scully paused in the doorway, but didn't turn around. 
"I just need time to think. I won't leave Nova." With 
that she shut the door firmly behind her. 

"Fuck." Mulder spat at the empty room as he sat on 
the edge of the bed and buried his face in his hands. 
 

Scully stepped in the empty church room, dimly lit 
by two lanterns. She didn't bother to light anymore; 
she wanted to hide in the darkness. Sitting on a heavy 
wooden bench she let out a long sad sigh. She was 
tired, physically and mentally. The tears resting in 
her eyes wouldn't fall. That would take too much 
energy. Pillowing her head on a folded arm she laid 
on her side on the bench, pulling her legs up close to 
her body. 
 

"Scully?"

Scully jolted awake, taking a moment to figure out 
where she was. She let out a soft sigh when she 
recognized the church and sat up to face Skinner. 

"Are you all right?" 

She nodded and cleared the sleep from her throat. 
"Yes. How are you feeling?" She asked to change the 
subject. Skinner left the Medical Room two days ago, 
even though he wasn't allowed to work for another 
few weeks. 

Nodding he sat gingerly beside her. "Not bad. Sore 
and stiff but better then lying still all day long. Is 
everything ok?"

She fought as hard as she could, but the tears still 
came. Softly and silently other then her humorless 
laugh, but they came none the least. "Not really, no." 

Skinner tentatively placed his hand on her back. 
"What happened?"

She shook her head quickly.

He pulled his hand away and sat back on the bench. 
"You have that look you get when Mulder does 
something to piss you off and you're trying your 
damnedest to hate him for it because you know you 
should. But you love him too much to stay mad as 
long as you think you should."

Scully smiled despite herself. "That obvious?"

Skinner returned her smile. "Only to me, I've seen it 
enough to pick it out now." He paused and looked at 
her carefully. "What did he do? Do I need to go kick 
his ass for it?"

Again Scully smiled. "No. Well. maybe. Can I 
think about it?"

Skinner chuckled and nodded. Then watched her 
expectantly.

Knowing she wasn't going to get away with not 
telling Skinner easily she gave him a short response. 
"He said some things to another person that he 
shouldn't have. Basic Mulder mistakes I guess."

Skinner was silent for a moment. "Did this have 
anything to do with Benjamin?" When she didn't 
answer, didn't even look at him, he went on. "There's 
something you need to try and understand about 
Mulder. He'll do anything for you, you know that. He 
wants to protect you, and I know you don't 
necessarily like that. But it's instinctive. Neither of us 
wants anything bad to happen to you. And we both 
see Benjamin as a threat, so.. He is angry and 
defensive around him. I know that isn't an excuse, 
but it's a reason." 

Scully slowly took in all this information. She wasn't 
sure what to say, about Mulder or about Skinner. 
Against her best instincts Scully had begun to look 
toward Skinner for guidance, protection, and plain 
old friendship-something new for the two of them. 
And Mulder. She loved Mulder more then she ever 
thought possible. And like Skinner had said, she 
couldn't stay mad at him. It's hard.impossible to 
stay mad at your other half. 

So she sat on the church bench with Skinner for a bit, 
in silence, looking forward at the paintings in the 
front of the room. Suddenly Scully quickly looked 
over at Skinner. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Skinner blushed. To Scully's amazement Skinner 
blushed. "Almost dying. a few times over the 
course of a few months really makes a person rethink 
life I guess." 

"I didn't know you were religious."

Skinner shrugged slightly. "I haven't gone to church 
in years. But... I think I will start again." 

Scully smiled softly. "I'd love for you to come with 
me on Sundays if you'd like?"

Skinner looked over at her and nodded 
appreciatively. "I'd live that." He smiled then 
gestured with his head towards the door. "Get out of 
here. Go let Mulder know he isn't a dead man."

With a slight laughed Scully left, but not after a 
lingering look into the church and one of the men that 
never stopped amazing her. 

Day 96
"Can I help you?" Benjamin asked coolly to the three 
men that walked up to him as he left the Medical 
Room. 

"We are friends of Scully." Langly said.

Benjamin nodding giving them a look that said `so 
what?'

"I take it you were just visiting her. How is she 
feeling today?" Byers said trying to make up for 
Langly's bluntness.

"Good." Benjamin made a move to step around them, 
but all five foot three inches of Frohike stepped in his 
way.

"It's good to know we have one more person to 
watch over her." He said with a face that passed off 
as wanting to punch Benjamin in the gut. "We 
worry." He gestured to the other two men. "Skinner 
does also, he is very close to her. And of course 
Mulder. But you already know that." Frohike soberly 
scowled at him.

Benjamin nodded. "She's a wonderful woman, 
doesn't surprise me that people care." 

"People-we really care." Langly said. 

Benjamin looked at them all in turn. "Is there a point 
to this?"

"Yeah. The point is that we don't like you hanging 
around her-" Byers cut Frohike off with a look. 
Benjamin smiled slyly. "Well. this is my place. You 
don't like it you are welcome to leave." 

The Gunmen were all silent, sending none too happy 
messages with their eyes. 

Frohike spoke slowly, and with the knowledge of 
knowing Mulder for many years. "You just might 
want to be careful. Mulder is a protective man, and 
he tends to have a short fuse when it comes to 
Scully."

Benjamin raised his eyebrows, not losing his smile. 
"For some reason I'm not frightened."

All the men turned as Scully opened the door. She 
smiled at the Gunmen. "I thought I heard people 
talking out here. What are you going here, guys?"

Langly shrugged. "We are on a break and came to say 
hello."

Scully continued to smile and opened the door wide 
for them. "Come on in then, I'm all alone at the 
moment." They filed in and Scully looked over at 
Benjamin who had a strange look in his eyes. One 
she couldn't quite put her finger on. But one she felt 
she had seen before. Many times. She gave him a 
slight, uncomfortable smile and a curt nod as a 
goodbye then stepped into the privacy of the Medical 
Room. 

Part 18
Day 99
Skinner looked back and forth between the book he 
was reading at his table and the door which was just 
knocked on. He really didn't feel like spending the 
energy needed to stand up. "Come in." He called.

Amanda slowly opened the door. "Hi Walter."

Skinner put the book down. "Amanda, how are you?" 
He asked surprised to see her.

"I'm fine. Dana asked me to stop by and see how you 
were feeling." 

"Oh. I'm feeling better." Skinner looked at her in 
silence for a moment. Amanda looked uneasy, like an 
animal ready to flee. "Why don't you sit down, we 
can talk for a while."

Amanda chewed her lip for a moment before 
nodding. "Ok." Amanda sat with Skinner. She smiled 
shyly. She liked Skinner. Even after he had bawled 
her out that one day for being rude to Scully he didn't 
seem to hold it against her. 

"Are you enjoying working with Scully?" Skinner 
asked leaning back in his chair relaxing, trying to put 
her at ease. 

"Yes, I really am. I haven't had the opportunity to do 
much of anything around here." Amanda laughed 
softly, shyly.

Skinner smiled at her timidity. "I'm not allowed to do 
anything. I know how you feel. Well at least about 
the work, but not about your father."

Amanda's head shot up. "What do you mean?"

Skinner was flustered for a moment by her panicked 
look. "Just, I can't imagine how it must be. He seems 
to be a very controlling person."

Amanda looked down at the tabletop, draw tiny 
obscure patterns with her fingertips. "It is. Made it 
hard to grow up I guess."

Skinner nodded slightly. "Yeah. It must be hard for 
people to look at you as anyone other then 
Benjamin's daughter."

"Yeah." She nodded lost in thought. "I'm little 
Amanda who has lived in Nova all her life because 
her mother was crazy. People don't really take me 
seriously. Like you, that's what you thought when we 
first met. I was being a bitch because, you were right, 
I didn't really know what else to do. So I was a 
spoiled brat."

Skinner looked at her squarely. "I don't see you like 
that anymore. There's a lot more to you Amanda. 
You just need to let it out." 

Day 103
"Scully, wake up." Mulder said in a soothing voice. 
But she continued to whimper and struggle in her 
dream world. "Come on, Scully, wake up." He 
firmly. She began to fight, her arms pushing away 
invisible threats, her feet kicking for purchase, her 
body pushing off the bed trying to break away from 
the mysterious restraint she had told Mulder about. 
"Scully, wake up." Mulder ducked as her hand came 
towards him, but not fast enough. The back of her 
knuckles hit his cheek bone with a loud sound 
somewhere in between a smack and a crack. 
Wincing, Mulder rolled away slightly as Scully jolted 
awake from the painful contact. 

"Mulder!"

"I'm here." He unconsciously groaned out with his 
hand over his eye. 

Scully turned towards him in the dim light breathing 
heavily and trembling. Shaking herself from the last 
of her dream she pulled his hand away from his eye. 
"Oh Mulder. I'm so sorry." She dabbed at the smear 
of blood with her thumb.

"I'm ok. Are you?" 

She nodded only half listening to him. "I want to get 
that cleaned up. You stay here, I'll go to the Medical 
Room." She slid off the bed and pulled on enough 
clothes to be warm enough for her short trip.

"Scully. Don't worry about it. Come back to bed."

She turned to him as she stepped into her shoes. "It'll 
make me feel better, ok? I'll only be gone a minute."
Mulder sighed and sat back against the cold wall. 
There was no was stopping Scully when she had her 
mind set on doing something. 

 
The nighttime silence of Nova was cut through by a 
blood curdling scream. 

Mulder jumped out of bed in his boxers, his legs 
tangling in the sheets before he was able to free 
himself and get out the door. He ran, a full force run, 
down the hall until he came to a stretching halt were 
Scully stood, shaking, and Benjamin stood shocked 
and confused from her reaction to meeting him in the 
hall. Mulder quickly stepped between the two, taking 
Scully's face in his hands he looked her up and down 
for injuries. She looked ok other then being pale and 
shivering. "What happened?" Mulder looked around 
as other people started to file into the hallway, 
Benjamin told them to go back to bed. Without 
waiting for Scully to answer he scooped her up in his 
arms and quickly took her down the hall and back to 
their room. "What happened?" He asked again, 
firmer, after he set her on the bed.

Scully shook her head. "I don't know. He scared me. 
I didn't think anyone would be awake. I don't know 
why I reacted that way." 

Mulder nodded as Skinner walked in the room. 
"What the hell happened?"
Amanda walked in a few seconds later. "Dana? Was 
that you?"

Neither Scully or Mulder said anything to explain. 
Pulling on clothes Mulder looked up at Skinner and 
Amanda. "Stay with her. I'll be back in a few 
minutes." 

Scully watched as Mulder pulled on his shoes and 
jogged back down the hall. It took a second for her 
still racing mind to focus. "Skinner, stop him." She 
said finally realizing where Mulder was mostly likely 
going.

"Amanda, stay with her." Skinner left the room 
quickly in search of Mulder.

Amanda sat on the bed next to Scully. "Did you 
scream because you saw my father?"

Scully nodded numbly. 

"I'm scared of him too." Amanda whispered.

Scully looked over at her, for some reason she wasn't 
surprised.

"What the fuck did you do to her?!" Mulder screamed 
at Benjamin as he ran down the hall, Skinner close 
behind him. 

"Calm down Mulder." Frohike said as he walked up 
into the dwindling crowd. 

Mulder paid no attention to him as he continued to 
glare at Benjamin. 

"I didn't do anything Mulder. I was just walking my 
hallways." 

Skinner caught Mulder with one arm around his chest 
as he tried to lunge towards him. "Stop it Mulder. 
This won't help anything." 

Benjamin stood with a smug grin on his face 
watching Mulder struggle against Skinner's hold. 

Scully walked up in front of Mulder, noticing the 
pained expression on Skinner's face as he tried to 
hold him with still weak muscles. She placed a hand 
on either of his upper arms and looked up at him. 
"Mulder."

He relaxed slightly at her soothing tone and glanced 
down at her for a moment, not wanting to take his 
eyes off of Benjamin. "I want him to stay away from 
you." He snarled.

Scully couldn't remember the last time she saw 
Mulder this angry. She ran her palms up and down 
his arms. Caressing him in almost a sensual way in 
front of the few people that Benjamin hadn't been 
able to shoo away. "It's ok Mulder. My dream set me 
on edge. It's ok, really." He eased back slightly as she 
ran her hands up around his shoulders. "Mulder look 
at me." She waved Skinner away discreetly. Skinner 
slowly let go and stepped back as Mulder looked 
down at Scully.

He leaned over, his lips close to her ear. "I'm worried 
about you." He said softly, his hot breath tickling her 
skin. 

"I know." She whispered back. Using the position to 
her advantage her pressed her lips to his neck feeling 
him slowly relax. "It's ok. Let's go and try to get 
some sleep." She slid her hands from his shoulders to 
his hands, clutching them she pulled him away and 
back down the hallway. But not before he shot one 
last deadly look toward Benjamin. 

"Come on Amanda." Benjamin said after he watched 
Scully take Mulder down the hall. 

Amanda looked at Skinner for a moment, then down 
at the ground, but didn't move. 

"Amanda. I said let's go. I'll walk you back to your 
room."

Skinner placed his hand on the center of her back. 
"I'll see you tomorrow Amanda." He told her with his 
eyes to go with him and not fight it now. Everyone 
was too on edge.

Amanda nodded and gave him a small smile as she 
walked away with her father.

Day 105
Mulder heaved the axe over his head with a grunt. He 
had been chopping wood for the last few days, orders 
of Benjamin. Not only was he chopping wood all 
day, in the heat, but he was also an hour and half 
walk back to Nova. It did nothing more then make 
Mulder even madder at Benjamin. He had too much 
time to think. Lately he had been spending most of it 
imagining different ways to us his axe to end the 
problem with Benjamin for good.

A particularly graphic one involving the said axe and 
the contents of a pack of Morley's in a certain bodily 
opening -he choose to ignore the fact that he couldn't 
get a pack of Morley's for entertainment's sake- 
when he was interrupted when Frohike walked out of 
the path to where Mulder was throwing wood onto a 
cart. "Hey."

Cracking his knuckles Frohike leaned against a tree. 
"He's got you busting your ass."

"No shit." Mulder grumbled. 

"You know you have really pissed him off, don't 
you?" Frohike asked slightly annoyed, but 
understanding his actions.

"No shit." He repeated.

Frohike sighed softly. "So what are you going to do 
about it?"

Mulder dropped the axe to the ground, wiping sweat 
from his brow with his forearm he turned to him, 
arms outstretched in question. "What can I do? The 
guy hates me because Scully loves me. Nothing I can 
do, nothing I want to do."

"But how long before he kicks you out of here?!"

Rubbing his face with his hands Mulder groaned. "I 
don't know. I'm trying to stay calm with this. It's got 
to blow over sooner or later. Maybe after a while 
he'll realize that Scully doesn't have any feelings for 
him and give up."

Frohike gave him a `yeah right' look.

Mulder sighed and picked up his axe again. "Useless. 
It truly is useless. The guy is insane."

Frohike nodded. "I'm just waiting for you to crack, 
Mulder. Watch yourself."

He nodded soberly. "I am, trust me."

"Fuck!" Frohike yelled suddenly as a large ship 
passed over them.

Mulder frowned, unfazed. "Been happening all day." 
He said once it was out of site.

"Great. Just what we need."
 
Part 19
Day 109
"Mulder?" Scully whispered softly, partly hoping he 
was asleep. She felt nervous, almost afraid. But the 
unanswerable question was eating her up inside.

Lazily Mulder rolled from have his back to her onto 
his side, his hand falling idly onto her belly, his eyes 
still closed. 

"I didn't know if you were still awake." She said just 
as softly, turning her head to look at him. 

"Barely." He mumbled. He actually had been, but the 
insecurity in her voice had woken him. 

Scully placed her hand on top of his, her fingers 
lightly stroking the length of his. She could feel his 
hand rising and falling with her rapid breathing.

"Something wrong?" He kept is tone light, trying to 
calm the tenseness he felt radiating off of her.

Scully looked up at his face, his eyes were still 
closed. "No. Everything is fine." She looked back 
down at their hands. 

Mulder frowned. "Well now that you said that I know 
something is wrong." He rubbed her stomach lightly, 
her hand now resting atop his. "Talk to me."

Sucking in a long breath Scully was silent for a 
moment as she organized her thoughts. She turned 
her head to look at his face once again. Gathering all 
the mental strength she could muster she whispered 
out the secret she had been keeping for a month now. 
"I think I am pregnant." She pressed his hand, under 
hers, against her belly.

Scully watched as his face hardened, his brow 
furrowed, the muscle in his jaw tensed, his eyes shut 
tightly. She watched as his throat worked to swallow 
thickly. "Scully." He said softly, painfully, as his 
eyes slowly opened to look into hers. They shone 
with unshed tears. 

She quickly looked away, back to their hands. "I. I 
know I shouldn't be- shouldn't be able to. But I think 
I am."

"Why do you think that?" He asked softly, trying to 
find the best way to handle this. Those few words had 
awakened his guilt about her infertility, the guilt of 
telling Benjamin, the fear that they will not have to 
deal with the pain when they find out she isn't 
carrying a child, countless-nameless feelings that tore 
his heart apart.

Scully's rehearsed reasoning poured out of her mouth 
quickly. "I haven't gotten my period in months. 
When I was sick- that easily could have been 
morning sickness. I was so tired. Now I'm putting on 
weight without eating more then usual." Finally 
hearing the words spoken aloud made her question 
each and every one. Not being completely convinced 
herself made it difficult to persuade Mulder. She 
forced her body not to tremble with fear of rejection. 

Mulder stayed silent for a moment. "Scully.. There 
is nothing more I want then for that to be true but-"

"Damn it Mulder! I'm a doctor for God's sake." She 
spoke defensively, squeezing his fingers in hers. 

"I know that." He said his voice thick with emotion. 
"But, it's not possible. You know that, you told me 
that. I. I just don't want you- I don't want me to get 
attached to this thought when it's impossible." 

Scully closed her eyes, the silent tears falling down 
her cheeks mirrored his. She knew what he said 
should be true, but she didn't believe it. She refused 
to believe it. With a deep empowering breath she 
pushed his hand off her body. "Feel this." She said 
desperately, but firmly. "Tell me there isn't a life in 
here." She pulled up her shirt to expose her stomach, 
then took his hand and pressed it against her warm 
skin, his fingers sinking slightly into the softness. "I 
feel it. Can't you?" 

Pressing his hand into her body more he buried his 
face in her neck, the pain taking his strength away. 

Day 110
"You look like hell." Skinner observed as he stepped 
up in line for morning rations behind Mulder.

Mulder glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah. Long 
night."

"Judging by the tone I take it the long night wasn't 
the enjoyable kind of long night."

He rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Not 
at all." Mulder paused for a moment before 
explaining. "Scully thinks she's pregnant." He said 
softly in case of listening ears.

Skinner was shocked. "Is she?" At Mulder's shrug he 
went on. "There's really no way to tell yet."

Mulder shook his head. "Not really. She's sure of it 
though."

"I take it you're not."

"I don't know. I'd love for it to be true, trust me. But 
it shouldn't be. She can't be." 

Their conversation was interrupted by Amanda 
walking by. "Hi, Walter." She said with a slightly shy 
smile.

"Good morning, Amanda."

Mulder looked on in an amused silence as Skinner 
watched her walk down the hall until she was out of 
sight. 

Skinner looked back over at Mulder as they took a 
few steps forward in the line. His smile quickly faded 
when he saw Mulder's face. "Don't say a word, 
Mulder."

Of course Mulder didn't listen. "This is a surprise."

"Shut up." 

Mulder chuckled. "What?" He smiled as innocently 
as he could manage. "She's a very pretty woman.. I 
don't have much to say about her personality 
though." 

Skinner nodded. "She's. coming around." 

Mulder took his bag from the rations counter and 
stepped away. "Well you have more patience then 
me. I'll talk to you later."

"Good luck yourself." Skinner called as Mulder 
walked away.

A few minutes later Mulder walked back into his 
room where Scully was sitting quietly at the table. 
They had barely spoken since the night before. "I ran 
into Skinner." He said softly as he poured her a glass 
of milk.

"How is he?" She asked absentmindedly, rolling the 
cold glass around in here palms. 

"Good." He set the pan on the stove. "I think he and 
Amanda have something brewing."

Scully's head shot up, a strange smile on her face. 
"Really? That's.. odd."

Mulder shrugged, returning smile glad for something 
to lighten the mood between them. "I don't know. I 
think it will be good for both of them."

"Yeah. maybe." Scully agreed lost in thought.

Mulder looked over at her as he leaned against the 
back wall waiting for the eggs to cook. "Having 
someone you care about, who cares about you makes 
a big difference. I honestly don't know what I would 
do if I didn't have you. I wouldn't have even 
bothered trying to save myself after They came."

Scully looked back over at him, a deadly serious 
expression on her face. "Don't say that Mulder."

He moved the pan off the fireplace and kneeled in 
front of her. "I'm serious. When I came to get you 
when this all happened. And I saw you, laying there, 
bleeding." His fingers traced over the healed skin of 
her forehead. "I knew that if you were dead I 
wouldn't have gone on. No reason to."

"Stop." She whispered painfully. 

He took her face in his hands. "I love you Scully. I 
always have, you know that. And you know that my 
life is nothing without you."

Scully sniffled softly, trying to keep the tears from 
coming. She pressed her face into his neck. "I love 
you too."