TITLE: "Quest" AUTHOR: Rebecca Marler EMAIL ADDRESS: info@bluemoonhorse.com RATING: PG, some language, I consider it mild CATEGORY: X SUB-CATEGORY: Crossover with Eerie, Indiana series SPOILERS: Post-cancer, post-abduction. Mentions of Scully's cancer, infertility but no specific information that gives away stories or endings. Takes place in Season 7. DISTRIBUTION: Distribution: just let me know and keep my name and email attached. However, I would prefer that you reference this site address instead: http://www.bluemoonhorse.com/rebeccastories.htm KEYWORDS: UST SUMMARY: As a favor to Langly, Mulder and Scully investigate some mysterious disappearances of children in the town of Eerie, Indiana. AUTHOR'S WARNING: this story isn't about a horrific serial killer, terrible monster or anyone who eats bodies. No small children are killed. The X-file case is more of a mystery and it may be seen as mild. I state this up front so some of you won't be disappointed. AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wanted to explore some of the characters, specifically Langly, Scully and her family - Bill, Melissa and Margaret, a touch of Skinner, and also what lies between Scully and Mulder both professionally and personally. My thoughts about Scully and her family differ quite a bit from what I've already seen written so I hope you find some surprises. ---------- 4:43 p.m., Friday F.B.I Headquarters, The Basement The first call came for Scully. Mulder answered. It was an issue with him to answer the phone first at all times. Perhaps it was a habit from working alone so long. Perhaps it was just a futile effort of enforcing control. As a psychologist, Mulder cataloged the reasoning behind the impulse but being Mulder did nothing to change it. "May I speak to Dana." Oh, Bill, the wonder boy, thought Mulder. He glanced across to Scully where she was perched on her high lab stool at her makeshift desk. Dead bodies or Bill? Not much of a choice there. Feeling her partner's gaze, Scully looked up. Mulder nodded silently to the phone and she picked up her own. She answered with a short staccato, "Scully," and continued reading the post- mortem results from a case they had finished months ago. Sharing a closet office had left both of them with little privacy for intimate conversations so Mulder had noticed for some time that calls from Bill or Margaret had become very frequent of late. Mulder partially turned his back to afford her a modicum of privacy. Today's call from Bill was probably a request for Scully to go off and do some family FUN-ction, Mulder thought. It seemed the Scully family always had some "to-do" that required her attendance whenever the agents were settled in D.C. for the weekend. The fact was that Dana had grown apart in the natural way that adult offspring do from their family. Though with her abduction and than the cancer, she had been thrown back onto the shores of dependence. Now healthy and back in the saddle, Dana was struggling to regain the lost boundaries. It was an uncomfortable position for Scully and Mulder gave his support by saying nothing. "No...I've got some things I need to take care of... This is the fourth time in the last two months...I know Mom would like to see me...Really, Bill, he has nothing to do with it..." Her voice was growing impatient and if Mulder had been on the receiving end of it he would have known better than to push it farther. The fact that Bill, the prick, and Mulder never got along didn't bother him much though it did unsettle Scully, the trained peacemaker. She had never outright asked him to make peace with Bill and the two partners had an unspoken agreement that it would be best if Bill and Mulder avoided each other. It wasn't old remarks made in a hospital hall that were completely out of line with the situation at hand but Bill's arrogant behavior towards Scully that caused Mulder trouble. Mulder felt that Bill should be a little more supportive of Scully's decisions; Mulder would have been with his sister. The fact that Bill didn't understand what it would have meant to lose a sister, and than didn't treat her with honor rankled Mulder to the core. As his own personal and obsessive psychoanalyst he understood that the Scullys' thought Dana spent too much time with him. They were protective. Whatever wrong decision Dana had made or would made was always due to Mulder not her own stubbornness. He involved her in dangerous matters that were ludicrous in nature. He was an "unsettling" influence on her. They felt he would get her killed. Not too damn wrong there, he mused, but if they thought he "influenced" Scully in her decisions her family had obviously overlooked her ironclad will. Personally, Mulder didn't trust any of Scullys a jot. Margaret had been willing to give up on Dana during her coma. She made assumptions about Dana and her life that Mulder could have told her were dead wrong. He could feel her "smothering mothering" a mile off and it had made him wonder if having a neglectful mother like his own had been all that bad after all. He also knew there was tension between Margaret and Dana that involved her father from a conversation he interrupted during an aborted lunch break. Dana hadn't been happy about her father's funeral arrangements or the disposition of some of his estate. Something had been said about personal effects, such as service pins given to Bill and a gift from some naval friend that had ended up at Charlie's house. The upshot of it was that since Dana hadn't followed her family's wishes to join the Navy she was being punished with the deprivation of her father's military mementos. That little cattiness was enough for Mulder to call The Lone Gunmen and stage a commando raid on her brothers' homes. The only thing holding him back was trying to explain to Scully how he had gotten the items in question to give her. Than there was the situation about Melissa. Mulder had the uncomfortable feeling a collected sigh of relief had been issued at her funeral. Oh they were sorry that Missy was dead. Of course they loved her! But now the New Age troublemaker, the one who didn't fit into their perfect Scully-military home was gone. Well, sometimes things do work out for the best... he could hear the unspoken thought at the funeral. Later at Missy's wake, Bill had been especially punchy about his dead sister's companion, a tall blonde woman who had quietly snuffled at the graveside and than left. Melissa's sexual orientation had definitely been another non-conforming act that the Scullys had put safely behind them with her death. Mulder shrugged away his knowledge of Melissa's bed partners. He didn't consider it any of his business and it wasn't as if he had ever planned on asking Melissa out for a date or something. After a long period of listening and one last "But..." Scully hung up without saying goodbye. "Head of the family?" She grumbled under her breath, "Asshole." Oblivious to his sideway glance, Scully went back to concentrating. He could become the next X-Files werewolf in here and she wouldn't notice. When you work as closely together as they did, ignoring the other was the only semblance of privacy you ever got. It seemed that Scully didn't want to talk; he shrugged and looked at the clock; the weekend was starting in about seventeen more minutes. The phone rang again, and Mulder wondered if Bill was calling back to either apologize or rant some more. "Mulder." "Is this... is this the F.B.I.?" "Yes ma'am. What can I do to help you?" Mulder rolled his eyes at Scully who understood it wasn't her family and went back to editing her report in order to submit for publishing. "Well... I have a bit of a...problem." "That's what we're here for ma'am." Mulder intercepted, thinking yes? Yes? Get to it now. You can say it. He leaned backwards to see the clock better. 15 minutes... countdown to the weekend. Its not like he had anything to do this weekend, but it was The Weekend. Appearances needed to be kept up. "It's a bit of a strange problem." There was a pause and Mulder started wondering if he had the patience to put up with this. The caller must have gained some courage though for she now spoke in a firmer voice, "I want to speak to a Fox Muldy who works there." "This is Fox MuldER speaking." Now the words started to pour out, stronger and surer. "I'm so glad. A relative of mine, Ringo, said I should contact you." "Langly?" Scully showed that she had been listening by raising her head and directing a raised eyebrow stare at Mulder. "Yes. Yes. He said this would be right up your alley. Well, that isn't exactly how he put it but my nephew always seems to know what to do even if sometimes I think it is strange. Besides he always remembers my birthday and sends such a nice little gift through the mail. After he fixed that problem with my phone bill... though I still don't know why I now have a credit on that account...also now I get cable free too, -- so thoughtful. Anyway, I thought that maybe he might have some advice about a little problem we're having." The voiced trailed off doubtfully, " On the other hand, the police say there isn't really a crime, so I don't see how Ringo thought you could help." "Ma'am. Let's start with your name." Mulder interrupted this flow of information thinking Langly? Has relatives? And they don't live under rocks? "Abigail Day." "And you live where?" "Eerie, Indiana." That figures, thought Mulder, not only relatives but odd ones living in odd towns. "Now you say you've been having a problem? What kind of problem." "As close as I can tell it started about six months ago. Children would disappear." Now that Ms. Day felt like she was talking to her nephews' friend she became slightly more coherent. "Than three days later they come home. Since the kids seem unharmed the police just call them runaways. But..." "But you don't think it is as simple as that?" Mulder supplied. He heard an expelled breath on the other side of the receiver. "Exactly. Ringo said you would understand. The children aren't harmed according to the newspaper accounts I've read. I really didn't pay any attention to any of it until a friend of mine, Sarah Heath is her name, had her son disappear. I just know that HE wouldn't runaway. His family is so nice." Nice families and what happens in them was about to spill out of Mulder's mouth but since his caller sounded elderly he didn't succumb to impulse. She was probably the type that read the Star. He discussed the "problem" with her some more and wondered if it was really worth it. No lights in the sky, the kids seemed healthy and sane afterwards, and even the local police weren't interested in pursuing the "problem." No pattern seemed to be developing. The disappearances that Abigail Day had been able to track down through the local newspaper consisted of 11 children, ages five to 18, male and female. The only common thread was that they disappeared for three days and reappeared with no recollection of being gone. He'd shoot it by Scully and see what she thought. "Thanks Ms. Day we will be in touch." "Thank you Mr. Mulder. Sorry about getting your name wrong earlier but sometimes Ringo just doesn't speak too clearly. I'm sure these disappearances don't seem to be a big problem but I am feeling distinctly worried and my hunches are always right." "Hmm okay, Ms. Day. I'll be getting in touch with your nephew and than make a decision." ---------- 11:33 p.m., Saturday Mulder's Apartment The cellular rang. Mulder rolled off the couch, staggered when his knee hit a stack of National Enquirers and than grabbed the phone. "Mulder." "Langly." "Look buddy you've just got go and visit my great-aunt in Indiana." "I have to huh?" "Just go out there and tell her that nothing is going on and than I can stop getting calls from her." "A looney, huh?" A pause on the other side and Mulder heard a click. Langly must have turned off the tape. They never did, though they always promised too. He guessed Langly didn't want his dirty linen aired to Byers or Frohike. "Actually, not. She's 72 and the most clear-minded woman I know. But she knows things. Always has." "Knows meaning wise? Or 'knows' meaning precognitive powers?" Langly avoided answering Mulder's direct question, intriguing the agent. "I stayed with her during the summers, man. She's like a second mother to me Mulder. She really needs your help and if she says there is something strange going down than you can be sure there is. Besides what do you have to do? Dana told me that you were bored. No new assignments or anything." "Scully? When did you talk with her?" Silence. Mulder grew impatient. "I told you guys to stop calling her. Give her a life. Okay? There's only one conspiracy Scully is interested in and that is why you guys keeping bugging her." "Scully called US," Langly sounded self-important and added in a smart ass tone, "That's confidential." Well this was getting interesting. Mulder immediately wondered if his birthday was coming up, but nah. Surprise party? I mean what would Scully want from these guys? Surely not "free" cable for her mom? Lately, he had noticed that Scully seemed to feel freer to consult The Lone Gunman without Mulder playing middleman. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not. On one hand, Scully was showing initiative and trust; on the other, shouldn't Mulder be her main squeeze? "I'll see what I can do." ---------- 8:15 a.m. Monday F.B.I. Headquarters Skinner's office Skinner reviewed Mulder's information in silence. The reflections of the slats in his office blinds in his glasses made his eyes seem opaque and flat. By force of will Mulder refused to squirm, but his mouth grew dry. He gave an uncontrollable cough. The F.B.I. agent had gone through four supervisors until Skinner had appeared in the cogs of the bureaucratic machinery. Mulder's personnel file read something about "resistance to authority due to poor father figure"... blah blah blah. All the psycho-babble that Mulder could have written in his sleep. Mulder thought the greater mystery than his predictable psych file was why Skinner stuck with the impossible task of managing his "problem child." Less than a month after Diana and he had become lovers, Mulder had been called to Skinners' office and told that effective immediately, his new A.D. stated, Diana was to be transferred to another office...an overseas office. It wasn't exactly the best way to start an employer-employee relationship. While Mulder was still expressing disbelief, Skinner had asserted firmly that it was for the good of the X-files that Diana be relocated. Mulder had assumed at the time that "They" thought with Diana's removal and lack of emotional support he would crash and burn. Somehow he pulled himself together again... as he always did after his failed relationships -- and continued his work alone. It was only later that Mulder had learned that she had requested the transfer herself. Quite a blow to his masculine pride but he recovered - his ego was flexible. If he had to thank Phoebe for anything, it was his tough skin. However, over time Mulder had come to grudgingly respect Skinner. He was a fair supervisor (mostly) and tried to get Mulder's more outrageous expense reports covered (mostly). However, he did not like sloppy or ill-conceived theories, which made Mulder wish fervently he had waited until his skeptical half had made it to the office before approaching their boss with such a flimsy story. Scully was the mistress of office politics. When he had heard Skinner swallowing her "I was drugged" story as an explanation years ago Mulder finally realized how good Scully was at playing the corporate game of non-committal, dodging, and misleading answers. She was his balance, the job the fulcrum, and with it together they had slowly gained hard earned credibility. That was the ultimate irony considering who had sent Scully to him in the first place. Debunking? Instead she made their work accepted. Especially in the last two years they had gotten more calls from other agents in assists. He had actually been greeted in the hallway and though Spooky jokes were still common it seemed it was more in the air of "he's a kook but one of ours" than of outright bullying. It also helped that his fellow agents were a little leery to whisper and joke behind his back when at any moment his forthright partner might turn and call them to carpet with their comments. Which rather left Mulder with a chip on his shoulder and no one to knock it off. "This sounds like a case for VCS," Skinner stated and Mulder was brought back to the present. The A.D. shuffled a few papers, indicating that the interview was almost over; Mulder could feel Kimberly and phone calls hovering outside the office door. The only way that he had gotten time in to see Skinner today was by coming in early. "As far as we know, no crime has been committed, sir. However, these kidnappings could lead to something quite dangerous. This type of perp usually escalates." Sir? When it came to authority, Mulder felt the urge to defy or to be sarcastic - but neither of those tactics got you what you wanted - perhaps he was learning from Dana Scully. Get a grip, cautioned Mulder's inner voice, you're losing it boy. "I thought you were adverse to profiling and returning to VCS, Mulder?" Skinners' question hung quietly in the air. Suddenly, images of past cases hung between them in the heavy silence. Remaining unspoken was the knowledge that Mulder went batty when profiling. "Children are involved, sir." Mulder could feel himself sweating, as Skinner was thinking back to cases Mulder didn't want to acknowledged in the light of day. Was all of this worth it just to make Langly's great-aunt happy? She was probably experiencing dementia. As an afterthought he added, "Besides, I don't think Scully has seen the state of Indiana this year." Skinner smiled at the mention of the woman's name and Mulder wasn't sure if that was an improvement. Skinner always listened to Scully over Mulder's own explanations. Just forget that Mulder's theories were "unusual," intuitive in nature and off the chart of explained phenomena, Mulder felt that Skinner still liked Scully best of the two partners. Which really didn't bother Mulder at all until while standing in the shower and washing his hair one day it popped into his head that Skinner was now officially divorced and Scully had a love of authority and the military. Those thoughts had led to getting shampoo in his eyes and twenty minutes of rinsing his stinging eyeballs out under the cold sink faucet. Skinner was well known for his protection of his female agents. Throw in the age difference and his ex-military bearing and Mulder was just waiting for the day that he would learn the two were an "item." When that happened, Mulder was going to shoot himself with his own service revolver. No, make that Skinner's revolver so he would get framed and leave Scully alone. Skinner continued to give Mulder a basilisk stare, which made the younger agent begin to fear that his supervisor could read his evil thoughts. Than Skinner remarked offhandedly and far too casually, "The Congressional Tours begin this week. I know how much you will miss those but I agree with your assessment of the situation." Oh yes, it was time for a road trip. ---------- Eerie, Indiana 6:35 p.m. Monday Abigail Day's House Abigail Day was indeed a little old lady. Like Miss Marple she wore a pink fuzzy shawl over small shoulders over her very upright carriage. She welcomed the two F.B.I. agents into her modest home, an updated Colonial, with cookies, iced tea and lemonade. Dana noticed that Day's home boasted quite a number of 18th century antiques, including a clock, some china and a group of snuff boxes displayed in their own glass cabinet. Langly's great aunt's home was quite neat but not astringently so as her refrigerator displayed an impromptu arrangement of children's artwork, handwritten cards and casual photos. Scully asked the questions, while Mulder moved around the house, playing a guessing game as to which child indicated a younger version of Langly. It wasn't difficult, especially during the teen years where one youth sported nerdy glasses and t-shirts emblazoned with names of heavy-metal bands. Their hostess noticed his attention and gave a little sigh as she picked up one photo of a pre-teen version of Langly framed in heavy silver. The photo showed a blonde haired boy with a toothy grin, glasses too large for his face. "Dear Ringo. He was such a troublesome child for his mother. She was a product of the sixties, living for free love, drugs and rock and roll. That's why he came here during the summers. She never told me who his father was but I think she was perpetually confused by the fact she even had a child. In many ways she remained a child herself, wanting to be free of responsibilities, following rock bands across the county. She lived out of hotel rooms or her car - slumming with friends. She was killed in a car accident. Hit by a semi-truck when the driver fell asleep. I'm sure Ringo never told you. He doesn't like to talk about it." She put the photo down with a sigh and handed Scully a thick manila folder with news clippings sticking out the edges. "Anyway I know you two are ready to start work on the case. When I talked to Ringo he told me to get everything ready for you two investigators. After Sarah's boy, Tommy, was taken, I researched back over a year but the first disappearance recorded in the newspaper was about six months ago, in the spring." "Taken? You used the word taken, Mrs. Day. That would imply someone causing the disappearances," offered Mulder. "It's really Miss," she corrected the senior agent. She saw his glance towards the black and white portrait of a man in military uniform embracing a younger version of Abigail. Dana too had naturally noticed the photograph of the man sporting the Naval outfit. She had judged it to be before her fathers' service time, perhaps from the forties. "A romance but not a marriage. The Second World War you know. Sometimes things are not meant to be. You shouldn't let that happen to you two." Abigail gave a wistful, loving smile to the photo of man ever smiling and ever young. She put the portrait and her memories aside. "Back to why I say taken. I just cannot believe that these little children from nice normal families would just up and leave. It's just too odd don't you think?" Mulder and Scully didn't interrupt to explain about "nice normal families" to Langly's aunt. To produce Langly, Day's relations couldn't have been too nice and normal. Scully continued to flip through the newspaper clippings, some of which contained photos with the articles. There was also a handwritten list of names with ages, addresses, and parent names all in a spidery and shaky handwriting, presumably Ms. Day's. "I made that list so you can get to work as quickly as possible. It includes the names of all the children that were listed in the newspaper, about eight of them. I've added three more disappearances I've heard about through the Eerie grapevine... the local Wal-mart." "Miss Day why do you seem so worried about these disappearances and reappearance's? I understand your concern for your friend and her son, but this goes a little beyond that. You've seemed to have taken a very personal interest in this," Scully inquired. The older woman became flustered and offered more refreshments but even though chocolate chip cookies were her favorite they didn't interrupt Scully's penetrating gaze. "I used to be a schoolteacher, Dr. Scully. I see that you've noticed my refrigerator and it's 'decorations.' I still get many cards and letters from children I've schooled. I've been around the children of this community forever and I guess that it has instilled a feeling of responsibility in me towards them. I know that Ringo hasn't told you but I am also dying of cancer." Scully was startled and Abigail quickly reached over and patted Scully's hand reassuringly. "Nothing like your own dear trouble, child. Just an old woman is getting older. The entire situation is just plain odd. Eerie is rather known, locally anyway, for odd occurrences. However, I have a feeling about this... I mean whoever it is could start harming these children. I think it would be easier to just stop him now." Finishing her judgment on the matter, she folded her hands in her lap primly; under the paper-thin skin, the blue veins showed easily. As the afternoon wore on, Scully didn't think she was ever going to convince Mulder to leave. He kept grabbing another cookie and getting refills of iced tea as he discreetly pumped Miss Day for information about Langly that could later be used for blackmail. Scully looked out the large front picture frame window. It was a warm sunny day. Probably, one of the last before fall truly began in earnest. For a moment she felt comfortable in the big, overstuffed chair. Crocheted doilies decorated the arms and the room smelt slightly musty. The sun was making it warm in the room; the large glass window was the cause her scientific mind classified and filed. Her defenses relaxed and she unbent enough finally to take her first cookie. It was harder than store bought and even a little burned about the edges. She thought about a tall glass of milk and dunking it. Than a feeling of happiness suffused her world. She was just happy. Cautiously as if it were a wild animal she was tracking, Scully explored it. Her and Mulder on the road, visiting an old lady - what was there to make her happy? She put it away in the small box she kept in her mind for special moments. When it came to life, Scully had decided it was better to just accept than to question. Mulder too looked relaxed and, oddly enough, happy too. He sat easily in his body, loose on the sofa though he was not so lost to propriety that he put his feet up on the mahogany coffee table. It was a comfortable time and they both needed it. Than she thought of children disappearing and the happiness faded leaving uneasiness behind. It was wrong to be happy. Something would punish her. ---------- 8:17 p.m., Monday Heartland Hotel Eerie Indiana, "If we stay at another damn town described as the Heartland, I am returning to Quantico permanently," stated Scully as they unloaded their suitcases from the car into their hotel rooms. Once again they were stuck on the third floor, next to the elevators, and facing the parking lot. It would be a noisy night. "It always makes me wonder where the Liverland and Pancreaslands' are," quipped Mulder. He threw himself on the bed, kicking his shoes off, so Scully assumed that he had marked this room as his own. She fiddled with the air conditioner/heater unit and Mulder took the moment to take a savoring look at her backside. "Any ideas?" asked Scully as she too took her own shoes off and turned to Mulder whose eyes, by this time, were innocently shut. She'd like to take her bra off and her pantyhose but decided that Mulder really wasn't that brother-like and settled for propping her feet up on the edge of his bed. "Other than that the sheriff's department are manned by morons? You'd think that Sheriff Gates had just become a law officer or something? And that the woods hereabouts are 'spooky?' I really hate that word." Mulder squinted up at the roof where he was trying to decide if the brown stain looked more like a rabbit or a squirrel. "The only real benefit to their indifference to the phenomena of their children disappearing is that they are unlikely to inhibit our investigation," stated Scully. "Everyone does seem to concur that the national forest north of town is, well, rather peculiar. But did you notice that no one was forthcoming with details? A large block of forestland can be spo -- eeire just because of the dark not because of any supposed supernatural element. Sheriff Gates did say we should talk to the local game warden." Mulder grunted from his place on the bed. In agreement or otherwise it was uncertain. He had an odd way of falling asleep quickly. The only problem was that he also had an even odder way of never staying asleep for more than about four hours at a stretch. It rather ticked Scully off that Mulder could wake up completely alert at 2 a.m. in the morning and feel the need to go off jogging. She did not feel the need to jog at 2 a.m. When she would hear those inevitable noises of movement behind their joint wall, she would find herself, suddenly, startlingly awake. Lying very still on her bed listening to the blood go in and out of her heart, she would stay in that position until the sound of his shower signaled his return. Than she could return to sleep. She never told him that she worried about him or that she was so aware of his comings and goings. It served no purpose and probably would make Mulder feel guilty. And he was the Guilt-King already. "Any profiles springing to mind?" Another grunt from the bed. Scully picked up her own room keys. She was uncertain if she wanted to let him sleep so he could stay up all night fretting like an animal in a cage, or wake him so they could get more work done. "I'm going to call the parents and arrange interviews for tomorrow," she said and found her information greeted by snores. Hours later when Mulder awoke, the room was dark, cold and without his partner. Stretching, he rolled off the too soft bed in one bound and headed to the open connecting door. Several years ago the two had always arranged for a connecting door; it just seemed safer when dealing with the psychopaths that crossed their paths on a regular basis. It was not mentioned to Skinner. Scully wasn't present but he found a note from her stating that she had gone out to get them some "real" food since the airplane meal had consisted of a rum and Coke with a bag of peanuts. Since she was gone, Mulder took his time to survey her territory. Wherever they stopped, for however long they were going to stay, Dana settled into the room, making it her own. Her standard FBI- wear of dark navy and black suits were hung on the tiny rack in the bathroom and beside them on the faux marble counter was the little travel iron she used to keep them pressed while on the road. Looking professional was very important to Dr. Dana Katherine Scully. Mulder thought it overkill considering the local idiots they routinely dealt with, however, Dana set herself apart in a different class in so many subtle ways. This was one. Mulder took a peek into her bathroom where her tub was neatly lined with her favorite bath goodies. He picked one up that had caught his eye and mind: "Slave for Rose." There's a concept, Mulder thought he could really appreciate. He was mildly surprised that she had chosen one with a scent. She had stopped wearing perfume during and after her cancer. Mulder knew that she had thrown her stock of Christmas perfumes and colognes down the toilet in a morose temper tantrum that had happened soon after her remission. She couldn't smell any of it but her apartment reeked for weeks later and he politely ignored the gagging smell. Her brothers kept buying her the stock girly Christmas present of perfume as if nothing had happened. As if Scully wasn't changed forever. Unthinking morons. On the counter she had arranged her toiletries such as a Colgate tube, squeezed from the bottom, that would prevent tartar and gum disease and something else he didn't know your teeth could get, dental floss, mouthwash, deodorant. A pad of prescription forms printed with her medical credentials pre-printed across the top, poked out of the top of her cosmetics bag. Before turning away, Mulder's eye was caught by a large bottle of prescription strength ibuprofen. He gingerly picked it up from the counter. This worried Mulder. He checked the prescription date and looked inside to see how many were there. It had been filled six months ago and it was still mostly full. Okay, perhaps not too much too worry about there. He lay down on her bed, bored. He rolled over to check the time on the hotel's bedside alarm clock and knocked a small book off the nightstand. Picking it up he noticed it was an address book. With the bad habit of the overactive mind with not enough to do, he opened it up and started casually flipping through the pages. It was filled with names of people he didn't know and had never heard Scully talk about. At each entry were birthdays, anniversaries and a check mark if she had sent them a Christmas card. There were many checks, indicating an extensive network of friends she had kept in contact with. How? When? Somehow she had managed. Surprisingly, there were also a few names of people he did know. Those of victims they had meet during former cases. Most had been sent Christmas cards. Some even had notations in some cryptic Scully "talk" he couldn't decipher. It struck him as rather bizarre that his own name was listed in this very ordinary little book. His birthday and underneath it, in a small notation in faded ink, was Samantha's name and birthday. There was no date of the abduction; did Dana not consider that an important anniversary? Perhaps from Scully's view that wasn't as important as whom Samantha was herself. That thought pleased Mulder. At least most of the names were women. Each male name was a stab in his heart. Who was he? How old? How did they meet? Do they talk long phone talk about personal things when the weekend rate was ten cents a minute? No "starring" system, thank God, or Mulder might have had to "lose" her pocketsize phone book. He heard the front door key turning and Mulder put back her address book and put his hands behind his hand. "Hi there." ---------- Tommy Heath's House Eerie, Indiana 9:30 a.m. Tuesday "I'm telling you that I don't remember anything. Nothing. A big blank zero, man." Miss Day's use of the word "child" was a stretch with Tommy Heath. He was 18 years old and about to graduate from high school. Scully and Mulder were interviewing him at his parent's home located down the street from Miss Day's house. He had that gangly, not quite grown into his wrists, puberty that tall men have before fully maturing in their thirties. He also had a bad case of acne and neither of the agents thought he had a personal life from the looks of his room which was brimming with sf posters and stray computer equipment. A girlfriend situation seemed unlikely. "So the last thing you remember?" Scully prompted again. It was standard procedure to ask and ask and than ask one more time. Many times witnesses or victims would remember additional details or trip themselves up in a lie by retelling a story. "I got off the school bus. That is it." He looked nervously over his shoulder at his mother, Sarah, who was wringing her hands. She had brought coffee for the two agents but seemed reluctant to leave. Mulder gave a silent signal to Scully, who stood up. "Mrs. Heath perhaps you can show me the location of the bus stop from your home." The two women stepped outside and Mulder could see Scully slowly enticing Tommy's mother down to the sidewalk where pointing began to take place. Mulder leaned forward confidently. "Come on Tommy. You didn't do that. Get off the school bus. That's for kids not men." "Well, uh..." Tommy began to look more uncomfortable. "Would your school friends be able to collaborate your bus trip?" "Look man I'm not under arrest here! I'm innocent." "Innocent?" "Of whatever you're thinking," jumped in Tommy. The words begin to spill out hastily. "Okay, okay I didn't take the bus home, but don't let my mom know that or I'm chopped liver. I went over to a friend's home, Gary Davis. He and I played some computer games and than I headed back over here before my mom would be home from work. Stepping out of Gary's home is the last thing I really do remember." Tommy was sweating heavily and kept looking out the window for his mom's location. Just to satisfy his curiosity, Mulder pressed some more and than confirmed what he had half-suspected. Tommy had been on the Internet surfing sites that his mom wouldn't have quite approved of. "And how did you get back home?" "The next thing I remember I was facing the front door. I didn't even know that three days had passed until my parents saw me!" "You didn't sneak away for some sort of trip that you don't want to tell your parents? Come on Tommy. I won't nark on you," Mulder cajoled. "We just want to know if we're too take your disappearance seriously." Abruptly, Tommy stopped being nervous. He looked straight at Mulder. "It's real man. It's fucking real. I was gone three days and don't remember a thing." He paused as if an afterthought struck him and Mulder prompted him with an encouraging, "Yes?" "I remember being happy. Just that I was happy. Now leave me the hell alone." The rest of the interviews fared the same. They were able to rule out three of the possible missing/not-missing kids. One was a runaway and admitted it under an oath of secrecy, another had been taken temporarily by an ex-husband, and the third had been gone only a day not three. So they were down to nine confirmed disappearances that they knew fit the pattern. A father of a pre-teen age victim had reassured them that he had taken his daughter to the emergency room to "just check" and that the doctors confirmed that she had not been sexually abused. None were reluctant to talk about their experiences, though most of their parents were surprised and uneasy at the involvement of the F.B.I. When pressed, a few other victims had mentioned recalling a sense of well being or happiness after their return. It looked more and more like no crime had been committed. A mystery yes, a crime no. ---------- Wednesday 1:13 p.m. County General Hospital Eerie, Indiana Mulder's cell phone rang and since Scully was with him having lunch, they both figured it was bad news. It was. "They have a body. The Sheriff is out at the 'spooky' woods with it. The other victim, a girl, is at the county hospital," said Mulder as he flicked his cell phone shut with one hand, while the other finished poking a French fry into a pool of ketchup. "Sheriff Gates suggested that you might want to interview her while I go inspect the crime scene." "Mulder we don't know that these events are related to the disappearances," protested Scully. "The girl is Ashley Wilkinson, big sister to one of our vanishing kids. I know it would be more logical for you to see the body at the crime scene but because of Ashley's gender, I'd rather you do the interview, especially if there is any evidence of sexual abuse." Which is how it happened that Scully was at Country General Hospital interviewing Ashley Wilkinson, a seventeen year old girl whose older boyfriend wanted to get some serious time in before returning to his dorm room at the state college. He was the body that Mulder was inspecting. Scully wished the parents would leave, however she didn't feel she could really ask it of them, as Ashley was a minor. The girl was half-curled in a fetal position under the white sheets with large, drug-dilated eyes. Ashley was clearly in shock and going under fast. She was dressed in a hospital gown and after looking over the meds they had given her, Scully was a little surprise she was still conscious. "So Andrew had come home from school..." prompted Scully in a calm voice. "He wanted to visit the Point. It looks over the lake. We've been there before." The father frowned and the mother patted his folded arms. Scully took note of the parents' attitude. Obviously, someone was in the dark about their daughter's deeds. "We were going to have a picnic. He had brought it all. Than he got so ... ugly." "He got ugly?" If she hadn't been so heavily sedated, Scully doubted that she would have heard such an honest assessment from Ashley about her boyfriend. It was clear that she hero worshipped the ex-high school football star. "He didn't want me to wait. Wait until we were married. We were to be married right after I graduated from high school." "Andrew was asking for you to have sex with him?" Scully clarified. "Yeeesss." It came out like a moan. Ashley hid her face behind hands covered with scratches and puffy wrists wearing large bruised bracelets obviously from forceful hands. Crescents of red showed under her fingernails. Her dark hair lay flat against her forehead, some strands still clotted with dried blood. Ashley's mother came up from behind her and started stroking the girl's head and it seemed to help as the teenager recovered somewhat taking her hands down to reveal hot messy tears. "You tried to fight him off." Ashley nodded. "But he didn't stop." Ashley bit her lip. Scully knew from her discussion with Ashley's doctor and looking over the girl's chart that the intended rape had not been completed. Physically, Ashley had gotten beaten up a bit, presumably at this point from the boyfriend, and her labia showed bruising. Though semen was found on her panties and thighs, actual penetration hadn't taken place. "You two were struggling," prompted Scully. The girl's father looked as if he was ready to punch someone in the mouth. Fortunately, Andrew the boyfriend was the body at the crime scene Mulder was investigating. "I begged him to stop." Ashley choked out. "He was hurting me. He didn't stop. I was scared. I started screaming. I heard something running towards us. It was a loud noise. I had my eyes closed and when I opened them, Andrew was slipping over to the side. There was a lot of blood. That's all. That's all. That's all." Ashley started crying, rocking and hugging her body. The Wilkinson family shot a look at Scully signifying that the interview had gone far enough. Scully changed tactics and persisted with a final question. "Ashley I understand from a friend of yours that your sister disappeared for a few days last summer. Do you remember anything about that?" At Scully's question, Ashley's body posture changed. She relaxed. Her clenched and trembling hands became quiet and still. For a moment her face held peace. "Oh yes. Well... I remember disappearing but nothing about where I had gone. I think I got lost in the woods or something." Her brow wrinkled and she looked to her parents for confirmation of her story. Their faces were blank and unhelpful. So not only had her little sister disappeared but she had herself, mused Scully. "I had been hiking with Andrew. He was so mad." She giggled behind her hand at the memory. "It was a good joke on him we thought." "We?" "Andrew didn't have a sense of humor," stated Ashley very seriously before her eyelids fluttered and she fell asleep. ---------- 2:15 p.m., Wednesday National Forest, Point The body was in a ridiculous position: sprawled face downwards, no shirt, and jeans worked down to its' knees. A very large hole was evident in the back of the chest. Sheriff Gates filled Mulder in on what he knew. "The game warden, Don Marks found them. Ashley was in shock. The boyfriend... well like that." Gates turned aside to give directions to others of his department, primarily the photographer and the assistant deputy. Meanwhile, Mulder crouched down next to the body. Massive amounts of blood stained the grass and soil. The dirt was also churned up and disturbed to one side of the body. In contrast the remains of a picnic, wine, cheese and some sandwiches were arranged neatly about three feet away. The wine bottle was still upright though opened. Once the photographer had taken a few snaps of the picnic area and had moved away to another area of the crime scene, Gates picked up one of the picnic sandwiches and started stuffing it down his mouth. "No breakfast or lunch," he mumbled as explanation, wiping the crumbs off on his uniform. "Okay with you if they remove him now?" "I'd like a few shots of this ground over here." Gates shouted an order to the crime photographer and than indicated to Mulder that they move back from the scene. "Here's our game warden who discovered them." Gates indicated a man in his early fifties, dark brown hair and eyes. His face was lined and weathered indicating many years out in the sun and wind, regardless of weather. A perfect Marlboro Man, thought Mulder who was essentially a product of the city. Rather short, about five feet, eleven inches judged the cop part of Mulder's mind. Marks nodded in acknowledgment of the introduction but said nothing. Mulder took the lead. "So you found them?" "Met the girl down the road," he indicated the gravel road that led to this area of the Point. "Travel that way regularly looking for poachers. She was stumbling around, almost as if she was blind. Covered all over with blood. Thought at first she was hurt herself so I radioed in immediately for an ambulance." "Did you recognize her? Or him?" "Seen her around. Think she works down at the Wal-mart. But don't know them, so to speak. Plenty of teenagers use this area to be alone. Rather a nuisance during deer hunting season." "Local hot necking spot huh?" asked Mulder, and Gates confirmed with a nod while eating a second sandwich. What the hell, thought Mulder as he took a proffered sandwich from Gate's meaty hand and started eating himself. "About what time was it when you found her?" "It was sometime after 7 p.m. but the dispatcher will have an exact record of when I called in." "Don't count on that," remarked Gates. Marks seemed to understand his comment and shrugged his shoulders. The F.B.I. agent asked for further clarification. "Got a little town war going on right now. The City Manager put the previous Sheriff on suspended duty and I'm just filling in till the whole thing gets settled. Campbell, that's the other Sheriff, hasn't taken it lying down. He's running his own dispatch center from his bedroom and sometimes the record gets a little goofed up. Have had two ambulances dispatched to the same accident, fire trucks going opposite directions. Just small town stuff like that." Marks interrupted, "Must have just happened though because of the blood." "Come again?" asked Mulder, turning away from staring at the body that was being closed up in a black body bag and back to the game warden. "The blood. It was very fresh. Can't be a hunter and not know about blood," said Marks matter-of-factly. He did not seem overly concerned that it was human blood and not that of an animal. Mulder mused that it would be convenient if Marks was their killer but thought that unlikely considering that they had a witness. "Did you hear or see anyone than? Especially on the road as you came up the hill?" "No. Would have too because this road dead-ends about a mile farther up. No tracks of a vehicle other than the kids and mine. Guess that makes me the number one suspect." Marks didn't smile, at his remark. He seemed to be taking everything with a morose sullen mood that Mulder guessed was his general method o approaching life. The agent ignored him and walked around through the small clearing. A very new, souped up truck with gleaming chrome, that he supposed was the boy's, was parked to one side. There was a nice view of the City Lake too from the Point. Mulder called the sheriff over and with him came the warden. Without touching them, he indicated several broken branches and gestured again to the earth. "Looks to me like someone came through the woods." "That's deer spoor, Agent Mulder," explained the game warden who used his foot to brush away some wet leaves, to show several clear, deep tracks of a deer in the soft clay. He seemed quietly amused at the agent's discomfiture. "Lots of deer around here. They're always making pests of themselves to the farmers and the Lyme disease in this county is a problem due to the deer ticks." Mulder could see that Marks was about ready to launch into a game warden lecture so he phoned Scully and told her that he would meet her at the hospital, where, lack of a local coroner's office, they were sending the body. ---------- Early Evening, Wednesday County General Hospital Eerie, Indiana To no-one's surprise, the boy had been killed by whatever had been pushed through his chest. "Whatever entered his chest was long, probably about 12 to 14 inches from the progression of the wound, back to front. It was definitely sharp and was spiral in nature. Small bits of material were left behind, scraped across the victim's rib bones. It appeared to be a white powder and perhaps it coated the murder weapon. I've sent those off to Quantico for analysis." The two were sitting in the hospital cafeteria where they had rendezvoused to discuss the pathologist's findings. Scully's glasses were perched on her nose, almost sliding off and Mulder had to suppress a desire to push them back up her face. When Scully looked up, Mulder turned his head to the television and interested himself for a brief moment in the soap opera. The cafeteria offerings seemed on par with what was provided to patients. With his extensive hospital stays, Mulder had no appetite for Jell-O, and was thankful for the "evidence" sandwich he had eaten earlier. Scully, in contrast to Mulders' disdain was chewing on a bran muffin. She always felt nostalgic for hospitals due to her internships; the only time they bothered her was when Mulder was in a hospital bed. She liked the smells, the nothingness of the walls, the fluorescent lights; hard to explain but she liked it all. "Don't you think that a bit odd?" Mulder said about Gate's absence from their conference. "Personally I would rather have him UN-involved than too involved in our investigation. Instead of complaining, Mulder, you should appreciate being left alone. So what do you have?" Scully finally pushed her own glasses back up her nose. "I've worked up a preliminary profile of our suspect. Over forty years old, most likely in his fifties. Probably a grandfatherly type that appeals to children. He will be unmarried or divorced with either no children, or children who died young. He feels protective towards children, especially very young ones around the ages of eight to 12, during the onset of puberty. At this time his interest in the kids doesn't seem sexual, but since we know that only one victim was tested for rape that's still a possibility. He's probably using some sort of drug, hallucinogen, euphoric in nature. That would explain the feelings of well being the victims have afterwards. He's very familiar with the woods. That's where he wants to be, outdoors. When he kidnaps the kids he keeps them outside most of the time. He feels a real kinship with wild things and especially the innocence of nature but also it's quick retribution. He was outraged by Andrew's attempted rape of Ashley. He destroyed the offender immediately using some sort of long object... definitely a phallic symbol. He probably had been watching them some time and than when Ashley was endangered he attacked Andrew. The weapon will be something that he carries with him, perhaps a staff, sword, or steel pipe. He probably thinks of himself as a hero or patron saint of the young. " During Mulder's recitation his eyes had become half-shut and were very, very dark. Scully didn't like him in this mood, but she respected what he had to say. After all it was his talent to infer a psychological profile from few facts. However, it didn't mean she had to like the "spooky Mulder" act that had gained him his reputation or the price it took on his mind, body and soul. "You're making the assumption that the disappearances are related to the boys' murder. Your connection is based on only the fact the sister of the victim disappeared," argued Scully, taking her traditional role. "AND, Ashley told you that she went missing too," interjected Mulder, who was still remaining very still, mentally and physically. "AND, Ashley was heavily sedated when she told me that. It could be transference of her sister's disappearance with her own trauma," Scully countered. "AND, the incidents are all happening around the 'spooky' woods." Mulder sighed, frustrated. His hand slapped the counter of their table, showing his tension in a physical form. "Scully aren't you happy that I seem to be coming up with a human assailant?" "At this time. I reserve judgment. So we're looking for a elderly woodsman type who feels so protective of children that he kidnaps them." She smiled with a grin that looked slightly feral and definitely predatory. "Yeah, unfortunately Marks fits that profile just a damn bit too easily. He was also on the scene that showed no indication of anyone else's presence." Mulder seemed to have broken out of his "spooky" mood and leaned forward, placing his hand over hers. He caressed her fingers with his own and gazed adoringly into her eyes. "Scully would you like to spend the night at the Point with me?" ---------- Past Nightfall, Wednesday The Point, Eerie, Indiana Despite the murder, Mulder and Scully had to chase off several parking teenagers to obtain a prime spot at the Point. With the flash of a badge, the hopeful teens were sent scurrying off home. Mulder was still in dress slacks and trench coat, but Scully had changed for the woods with thigh length khaki shorts, thick socks, hiking boots and a long sleeve jersey. She felt a little underdressed next to her partner. However, she wasn't going to chase a murderer through the Eerie woods in heels even if Mulder didn't care about his clothes. "Tell me again why we're here?" inquired Scully. "I want you to see the murder scene. Also, it's not unusual for perps to return to the scene of the crime. Sometimes they just come to see if they've gotten their moment of fame with the police and media. They like to re-live the excitement of the kill and returning to the spot gives them a high. Also, many serials like to come back and masturbate near the spot where they killed." "Ugh," grunted Scully, as she climbed over a fallen log and squatted behind a shelter of bushes and forest greenery. Mulder had already nestled into their hiding spot, rubbing his hands in a gesture of excitement. "If I'm here as a peeping Tom to see an elderly man make himself come, I think I'll go back to the hotel and get an early nights rest." "I thought you liked older men Scully? I know they like you." Mulder gave her a sideways smile that quickly died when the name "Skinner" ran through his mind in a whisper. His partner seemed unaware of his sudden discomfiture. "Besides," argued Scully, "there's no sign yet that this is a repeat crime. Only several kidnappings and one murder." Mulder surprised Scully by agreeing. "Tonight may not pan out but it beats sharing a lonely hotel room with fleas. Besides, I thought you liked the outdoors?" Mulders stopped in mid-discussion when he saw what Scully had pulled out of her pocket. It was a large size Snickers bar. Scully could feel Mulders' intense stare as she wrapped her mouth around the end of the candy bar and bit off a big chunk of caramel and peanuts. She knew his addiction to junk food and chuckled silently to herself. Those stolen moments to raid the hotel's vending machine before she had met him in the parking lot were paying off bigtime. "Sculleee.... That's an awfully big candy bar for such a little girl to eat all by herself," her partner started to whine. His face held yearning. "Is it my fault that you came out here without an evening snack? You're the one that keeps talking about my need to gain weight, so I'm just following the orders of the senior agent in charge." She had already gotten two bites down and it didn't look like she was slowing down. Mulder felt his mouth watering. "Now look..." Mulder began in a voice he usually used to negotiate those who were holding a gun to a victim's head . Scully just arched her eyebrow and Mulder brought her to the ground in a half tackle. Before she could do anything other than a choked gurgle, he had her down on the ground, his hands gripping her shoulders as he straddled her smaller body. The two were placed in a very intimate position of full frontal contact that Mulder had often fantasized about. Two noses were touching and in the nearly full moon, Scully's eyes were wide and black. Mulder became very aware of her heaving breasts so close to his own chest but before other wayward thoughts could enter his head, they heard it: a loud snap over to the right and behind them. Candy bar and unsettled tension forgotten, Mulder rolled off of Scully. He pointed to his ear and than the direction of the sound. Scully nodded in assent and fanned her hand out in a direction off to the opposite side. Pocketing the candy bar, she pulled her gun from its' back holster and started creeping in the direction indicated. Mulder went the opposite point and the two agents started to circle the area of the noise. It was at that point that things got spooky. Which of course, Scully later completely denied. Scully's thinking ~ I wonder if this is the guy? That makes this whole thing just a little too easy. Hm now I've got caramel and peanuts on my teeth. Where's Mulder anyway? He was just over there and now I can't see him. Good thing for the noise Guess Mulder wasn't kidding about necking at the point. Dammit where is Mulder? Maybe I should call him on the cellular Okay there I heard the noise again. Man this guy is good about hiding. If I come up on an old man with his pants down I'm going to yell freeze and than let Mulder put the handcuffs on. Mulder's thinking ~ Scully should have shared that candy bar. Boy, she looks good in shorts; good thing Frohike isn't around or we'd be using our guns to hold him off. I see her but not our guy. Where the hell is he? Maybe it was a raccoon or something. Okay there I heard that noise again. Man this guy is good about hiding. I hope he's decent, tho- Scully wouldn't be shocked by anything. She'd probably make me cuff him. The two agents were coming in on pincer movement when a much louder crash through the underbrush sent them both scurrying after the noise... in opposite directions. Scully ~ God damn I was almost on top of him. Glad I wore hiking boots. There he is. Shit... shit... shit. Where the hell is Mulder? I mean just where the hell is Mulder? Okay... okay... calm down... you need to find Mulder. You're always trying to find Mulder and he always shows up...EVENTUALLY. Like the cavalry in the nick of time. Must have radar. I mean dammit Dana Katherine Scully why don't you just put one of those under-the-skin id tags they use for pets. Than you could always identify if the charred remains as your partner immediately. Mulder... Mulder... She completely forgot the perp and was consumed with a desire to get to Mulder. Mulder ~ God damn I was almost on top of him. What a stench. Pee-u. Where the hell is Dana? I mean, fuck, why is she always not where you expect her to be? She's so sneaky. How can someone so small be so sneaky? Okay... okay... calm down... she's okay... I mean no lights in the sky... so she's here... somewhere in about 150 acres of wilderness... where's the nearest goddamn hospital? I'm sure one of us will be there in about two more minutes. I bet fucking Marks would be able to track down the little Scully... Sculleeee.... He completely forgot the perp and was consumed with a need to get to Scully. The two agents' bodies collided in a painful thump where their two heads met. Both fell on their bottoms, facing each other. "I WAS LOOKING FOR YOU!!" Both stared at the other, open mouthed. "Catch him?" "Catch him?" "Nope." "Nope." Mulder collapsed on his back panting. Scully copied him, but remained alert with her gun in her hand. Mulder raised his watch up and squinted at the dial using the bright light from the nearly full moon to help. It was much higher in the sky than when they had started chasing their suspect. "Do you realize we've been roaming around chasing after snapped twigs for about four hours?" "You got to be kidding?" gasped out Scully, dropping her arm and the gun with it. "Okay Scully, I know your ready for my outlandish theory now. I know what we're looking for." What didn't sound good. What sounded like unnatural. What sounded like... "A unicorn." Scully groaned. Since they were lost and neither knew the area well, both agents agreed to stay where they were till daybreak. In mutual, unspoken agreement they did not use their cell phones to call the local law for assistance in finding their way back to their car. "So Scully are you going to tell your mom about you and me being at the Point till dawn?" Mulder was lying on his back, hands behind his head, knees bent, watching the sparkling stars above shining in a dark blue sea. "I'm sure she'll forgive me," she curtly snapped. Scully's tone and movements made Mulder turn his head. She was obviously not comfortable and truth too tell neither was Mulder. He pulled a stick out from under him that had been poking into his back. "Are you uncomfortable, Scully?" "What gave you that idea?" she asked sardonically, rolling to her other side and tucking an elbow under her head. "Don't get me wrong Mulder, I enjoy camping. But even when I went with my brothers and Dad I always had to sneak a pillow into the backpack. I've to have a pillow," she grumbled. "We could roll up my coat and you could use that." "Than we would be lying on the cold, damp ground since we're using your coat as a groundsheet." A trenchcoat, even fully spread, did not provide much room and their hips were only inches apart. Scully continued in a doubtful, martyred voice, "I guess I can manage. It's only another couple of hours till dawn." "Come over here and you can use my shoulder." Scully obviously hesitated. "Come on. I won't bite and my shoulder isn't doing anything." Reluctantly and slowly, Scully edged over and set her head down on a nice firm shoulder. Even her damaged sense of smell got a bouquet of Mulder-sweat. Mulder moved his arm around to the back of her shoulders. Hmm that felt good, they both thought. Better change the atmosphere warned Scully's inner voice. "You're still after my candy bar aren't you Mulder?" "Now that you mention it..." After splitting the last of the Snickers, Mulder started talking about unicorns and Scully fell asleep. Mulder could tell the instant that his partner lost consciousness. Her breathing deepened and she gave the small little snuffle that was just short of a snore. Mulder had learned long ago with Phoebe that you do not tell a woman she snores... or that she drools on her pillow... or that her makeup is smeared. Yes indeedy, bedroom etiquette that Phoebe had ruthlessly taught him. He looked up at the night sky and admired the ocean of diamonds. He knew Scully wouldn't accept his unicorn theory. His Skeptical Scully would hash it out with him tomorrow, but that wouldn't change Mulder's conviction. Like the ironing of her professional suits, she couldn't risk her reputation in believing something so unbelievable as a white, one horned beast. Her disbelief used to enrage Mulder; years ago it seemed to him that her disapproval was not of his theories but of himself. Now Mulder knew how desperately she needed that skepticism. With it she could keep the bogeymen away. If she didn't believe in aliens, than her cancer couldn't be related to a force she couldn't understand, control or defeat with science. Scully needed her shield, a shield of protection that Mulder had stopped arguing with, though he couldn't resist teasing her about it still. Sometimes it still made him impatient but he tried to remember why she needed her protection. Mulder played with her hair, stringing it through his fingers and watching it fall back against her head. Despite the Mr. and Mrs. Spooky jokes, Mulder had studiously avoided making a play for Scully's physical affections. He didn't want to provide an easy reason for separating them after his experiences with Diana. Could Scully understand that? Could she understand that being with her every day, smelling her hair, touching her arm, watching her smile was more important than just fucking the living shit out of her? But, even he had to acknowledge that it was getting damned difficult to remember that. Mulder's breathing deepened just as Scully woke up. He could really saw logs. The noise vibrated in her ear. She shifted and pressed a little closer, wrapping her arm around his ribs. He'd never know and besides it was more comfortable this way. She knew it was a forlorn hope but she wished that Mulder wouldn't tell the Sheriff about his unicorn theory. Sometimes, Mulder's quests for self-destruction was just way out of hand. When would he learn to play it safe? Hold back until his outrageous theories until they could be proven? Well, being the "bad boy of the Bureau" was his specialty. She knew why he did it so she didn't get angry anymore, just a little sad. His obnoxious in-your-face attitude pushed them away. Pushed away anyone that he could feel anything for. Recovering from cancer had done enough damage to their unique relationship. Despite his hopes, Mulder had given into the idea that Scully would die and had acted accordingly...getting ready emotionally to say goodbye. After the cancer had gone into remission, Mulder backpedaled from the emotional crevice he had fallen into and struggled to regain his privacy. Mulder couldn't decide how close he wanted to be, pushing forward in haste with outrageous statements of "getting married" and "I love you" blurted out at completely inappropriate times when she could do nothing BUT laugh them away. Than running off by himself after dangerous cases and being incredulous of her distrust of Diana. Dana stood somewhere in limbo, wondering when he was going to be honest with her and himself. She loved him. He loved her. Their lives were both in danger from very dangerous men. If what Mulder believed was true, she didn't know how much longer they even had together before the world was literally going to come crashing down on their heads. Was he going to wait until they were in some underground bomb shelter together? As dawn slowly crept up through the branches of the trees, Scully rubbed her eyes trying to discard an unbelievable sight. Directly ahead of them was the clearing where the teenager had been murdered. All night they had been about five yards away from their parked car. She fell back onto Mulder's shoulder and her pained groan woke him up ---------- Abigail Day's House 10:30 a.m. Thursday "Are you frightened?" Despite Scully's personal inquiry, Abigail didn't stop stirring the sugar into her coffee. The two women were sitting in Abigail Day's kitchen waiting for Mulder to return from the Sheriff's office. Scully had declined to be in on the unicorn discussion and had asked her partner instead to drop her off at Day's house so she could update the woman on their progress or lack thereof. "It is far different for an old woman who has lived her life to die than for young one. My parents and siblings are all dead. Many of my contemporaries have either passed on or are in a nursing home - barely able to figure out who they are day to day. Each morning I get my creaky body up and out of bed wondering why things hurt so much. No, my life has been a rich one and I'm content." She handed a cup over to Scully, who accepted it graciously as older woman continued talking. "I remember something from a song that Ringo liked to listen to. It's always stuck in my head, perhaps because he played it really loud trying to get me to object! It said, 'sometimes you don't get what you want but you get what you need.' I've had plenty of needs fulfilled over the years." "Except love," stated Scully, who did not shirk from hard realities. "My girl! I've had love. Not the physical one you're thinking of perhaps. I've had plenty of love... from my family but also from my students." Day waved a hand to indicate her well-lined refrigerator. "Don't believe that myth that you have to be married to find 'fulfillment.' I wouldn't have thought that would be true of you due to what Ringo has said. Men are nice to have around especially when arthritis prevents you from opening up a jar of jam but they aren't necessary to find peace. Actually, I think men don't bring any peace at all into the bargain!" Dana thought of Mulder and peace wasn't the term that seemed to fit their relationship. Both women shared a moment glorifying in the superiority of their sex. The agent continued in a more serious tone of voice, "I keep informed of the latest in cancer treatments. I could help." "Thank you my dear but I have told my doctor that I didn't want a thing. I'm taking some painkillers to help me right now so I can live still on my own. I'm really too old to be thinking of radiation, don't you think?" It was time to stop talking about death so Day changed the subject. "Ringo told me so much about you and your partner. I feel as though I know both of you already. That's not quite fair since you didn't know of my existence a week ago." "What did Langly say?" asked Scully, curious. "About you he had nothing but praise. He thought you beautiful, brave and loyal. Much too good for Fox Mulder he said. I'm surprised he noticed your physical attributes; usually he doesn't meet or notice nice young women... he goes for the more slutty, grunge type. The girls he has brought home to meet me..." Abigail shook her head slowly. "But I keep telling myself it's what's inside that counts. His only negative comment was that he thought you could use more computer skills. He said you were a scoffer but seemed to take that as a challenge not a fault. He told me some of your troubles over the last few years. I am terribly sorry my dear." Let's get away from my troubles, thought Dana, I'm sick of hearing about my troubles. "And Mulder? He's known Mulder much longer." "Oh, yes I've been hearing about Fox Mulder now for years. A very confused young man isn't he? Between Ringo and his stories, I don't know what to believe half the time! You wouldn't know some of the wild theories his group of friends comes up with... complete paranoids. And they say old folks are the crazy ones!? Mulder makes him angry sometimes. I have the feeling that Agent Mulder is good at that. Am I right?" "Langly told Mulder that you were 'knowing' and I think you already have Mulder pegged," replied Scully with an agreeable smile. "He meant about my powers." At Scully's frown, she explained, "not about just deducing information from watching people. Even though those are quite astute. It comes from a long full life rich with people." "Your powers?" "From your line of work I'm sure you understand me. Finding lost things. Predicting events before they happen. It's becoming stronger now that the veil that separates us from the end is becoming thinner to me. I'm sure there are a lot of things I could help you with if you would just let me borrow that item of jewelry your so fond of." "I'm not ..." Dana had been raised to be polite and she couldn't quite find the words to refuse Abigail's request for her cross. "I don't believe..." "Whenever I hear that I ask that person to think of what I say as therapy. I'll tell you a few things, you'll agree or disagree. Some of it might make you happy, angry or sad. If it touches off a strong emotion from you than you should consider my 'reading' as a sign from your heart that you care about what I said. Don't believe it is true if that suits you. Though realize that you need to examine yourself." Abigail's explanation seemed pragmatic so Dana reluctantly handed over her cross and its chain. She didn't know what she expected or why she was agreeing to any of this. The older woman handled the jewelry gently. "You want to know if you'll have children even though you know physically it is impossible. You will one day and sooner than you think. He will be completely human." A chill ran up Dana's neck and into her hairline. Her scientific mind told her that Langly had told Abigail her wishes but the tingling up the back of her head didn't depart as the elderly lady turned the necklace over in hands bent with arthritis. "You have people watching over you. An older man, bald with glasses. He wants to help but he has been compromised. Be wary. Another is your partner. You need to ask him some questions about Canada. He won't want to answer. Persist in finding out so you will be prepared when the time comes. You must ask where no one can hear. No cars, no hotels, no office, no rooms. There are others that look after you but not who you think. Remember a church and when you helped God bring a wayward home? Do you remember a Nurse Owens? A spiritual animal died to bring you back. Again ask Mulder if you doubt me. You have protectors far more powerful than your enemies think. Your family is bothering you. Love them well and realize that in the near future they will be gone." At Dana sucked in her breath harshly, Abigail reassured her quickly, "Not to death. Circumstances will separate you, perhaps forever." "Yes, your cancer will come back." "When?" "In a few more years, sooner if you decide to remove what stops it. Don't fear that Dana. You will be the vanquisher. There are other methods of stopping the disease other than giving in to your enemies." Abigail gave Dana back her necklace. She had a grim look on her dried face. "I've seen what you are fighting and I am glad I will not be here to see what this world will become. A very dark period is coming to our beautiful world. Dana I want to give you something." Stiffly, the older woman got up from the hard kitchen chair and went to her bedroom. She returned with a small jewelry box. Dana opened the box, revealing an intricately worked ring with a large yellow diamond in the center. "This was my engagement ring and I want you to have it." "I just couldn't..." Scully attempted to hand it back but Langly's aunt refused. "Before you ask, yes it is valuable. And no, I would not give it to Ringo. He is my heir but he wouldn't give it wisely enough. I want you to have it because I like you and realize that you are the hope and goodness that will see us through these next years." Scully started to blush until she realized how serious Abigail Day was. The numbing, tingling in her neck intensified. She recognized some power like Clyde Bruckman's residing in the old lady. It frightened Scully more to hear about her role in it all. "Dana keep your faith in goodness, hope and love. You'll need it." Day patted the younger woman's hands again. "I've got something else to tell you. The last time I see you I'm going to give you a gift. A very important gift." "Is it valuable too?" asked Scully with a smile that meant to be humorous but it fell a little flat. She hadn't liked the surprise ending with Clyde either and she had a bad feeling that this was something similar. "Yes, very much you saucy girl. After you get it I want you to keep it on your person at all times. This is extremely important. You're not to give it to anyone under any circumstances. No matter what the temptation and you will be tempted. The gift is meant only for you. Don't lose it. Will you swear to me you'll do this?" "I don't..." began Scully but seeing the earnest and heartfelt concern on Abigail's face finally capitulated. "All right. I agree even though I don't know what I'm agreeing too." "Remember that I don't want you to tell your partner about our discussion." Before Scully could interrupt with protest or assent, Abigail continued, "It won't have a bearing on the case but I don't want to become a subject of a Mulder experiment to prove psychic powers." ---------- Sheriff's Department Mid Afternoon, Thursday Sheriff Gates was scratching his head after Mulder told him about his unicorn theory. He looked over at Marks, who had joined them to discuss strategy. Marks slowly leaned over and spat his tobacco out into a Styrofoam cup before he slowly replied, "We did have that unicorn trouble about three years ago. Not like those werewolves we've been having but almost as bad." Scully should have been there to see Mulder's expression. It was priceless. To Mulder it felt as though all the air in his lungs had been shoved out by a forceful fall from an incredible height. "Werewolves?" Mulder finally squeaked out in a girlish voice. Sheriff Gates looked very worried. "Unicorns, I don't know Marks. Sheriff Campbell was always the best at dealing with these types of problems. When the city manager appointed me it was just temporary..." Mark gave an impatient sigh and rolled his eyes at Gates' cowardice. Before the warden could reply a giant of a man burst into the office, shoving the door open with such force that it bounced the trash can behind it onto its side. The newcomer wore an exact duplicate of Sheriff Gates uniform, complete with a plastic badge on his breast pocket identified him as "Sheriff Campbell." "Listen Gates I want your men to stop harassing me! I've had enough of that crap and besides your position isn't even legal!" None of the men in the room changed position as the intruder continued, bellowing in a voice that had stopped discussion two rooms away. "Just because your Davids' nephew doesn't mean you can come in here and start telling my men how to handle an investigation. And who the hell is he?" All eyes, even Mulder's followed the newcomer's finger pointing at the F.B.I. agent. However, before he could explain his position, Gates interrupted, "Look Campbell we are in a big mess over here. This man is a F.B.I. agent who thinks we have a unicorn infestation." "Goddamn, not unicorns again!" cried out Sheriff Campbell. "Jesus Christ, Holy Mother of God." It seemed the local law enforcement of Eerie, Indiana, knew a lot about werewolves and especially about unicorns. Mulder was afraid to ask after vampires. "They stink. Did you know that? Very musky, almost like that of a skunk when they spray," Marks was filling in Mulder on the taxonomy of unicorns while Campbell and Gates argued over territory. Mulder found himself in the strange position as the student rather than the teacher of archaic knowledge. He wanted to interrupt with his own comments and regain his position as alpha male. "It's an even-toed ungulate such as the deer family. Though they have a longer neck and a thick snakelike tail. White body hair with feathers on their fetlocks like you see on a Clydesdale. Very small mouths rather like goats and a head as hard as a rock. The ears are rather shaped similar to a zebra so they can hear sound an incredible amount of distance away. Eyes are tiger yellow. Man, you don't stare down a unicorn. They'll have you cut up by their hooves in two shakes. Very, very vicious when cornered. I've always thought their classification an error. I mean they have been known to eat meat. That biologist over at State though disputes me. She thinks that they only rip flesh off during an attack strictly as a defensive maneuver not for nourishment. What the hell does she know anyway stuck to a desk every day? She should try the field for some real information. I mean the last skull we found back in '82 had shearing teeth for God's sake." He spat in his cup again, contemplative. "We're entering their mating season now. That's probably why this one has been so active." Mulder continued to stare at Marks in disbelief. The game warden took no notice. "So it all comes down to finding a virgin if we're going to kill it," ended Marks, who was busy replacing his tobacco wad. "And I don't think anyone in this room qualifies. Perhaps your partner?" As Mulders face changed shape trying to conceptualize Scully as virginal unicorn bait, Marks continued shaking his negatively, "Didn't think so. Too pretty to have last. Well as soon as those two fat-heads stop arguing we can start laying our plans." Marks stood up from his leaning position on Sheriff Gates, Sheriff Campbells?, desk and asked "Want some coffee?" ---------- Evening, Thursday Back to the Heartland Hotel Eerie, Indiana "So what happened at the Sheriff's?" Scully asked of her partner who had been acting strangely ever since he had picked her up from Day's house an hour ago. He had even let her drive, so now his knees were practically touching his chest as Scully had adjusted the car seat to her own height. "I've had... the strangest day, Scully." She heard the hard swallow from her side of the car and shot him a concerned, questioning look. "Guess they didn't like your theory..." Scully was about to begin her lecture on labeled "Caution" when Mulder cut her off with a strange, strangled laugh. "Scully..." he tried to begin again and finally the words broke free in a flood of passion. "They agree! They believe it's a unicorn too. I actually had to listen to an hour lecture from that fellow Marks about their breeding, eating and shitting habits. What he knows about unicorns could fill volumes. He says he's even hunted them before. But we need a virgin." "Don't...don't even begin..." warned Scully, her right hand upraised to warn Mulder away from any future comments. Scully, naked white flesh, garbed in a black teddy luring a unicorn out of the woods suddenly slammed into the forefront of Mulder's mind. He actually blushed. Removing that image as forcefully away as possible, he reclined his seat so he could stretch his legs out over the dash. "I think I want to retire in Eerie, Indiana. Let's look for a home together. Some sort of nice old Victorian that we could remodel with lots of gingerbread." "Mul-der..." began Scully, warningly. "I just love this town," her partner sighed happily. Back at the hotel, they separated to their rooms. After taking a shower, Scully lay on the bed staring at the standard, black issued, hotel phone. Reaching over she took it up and using her phone card dialed her mother's number from memory. "Hi mom, it's me Dana." Like she wouldn't know? At least it filled in the blanks, her inner voice shot back. "Hi dear. Are you still in Indiana?" "Yes. Get this, mom, we're now chasing after a murderous unicorn. Unbelievable! The local law enforcement agrees. Mulder has finally found a town filled with people more crazy than he his." "That's nice, dear. Have you spoken with Bill? He's been pretty upset since last Friday." "No, I haven't." Didn't she hear? Perhaps, she thought I was making a joke? But I don't make jokes like that, only Mulder does. She rolled over onto her back and shifted the phone to a more comfortable position against her ear. "Mom, I talked with a very nice lady here. She told me to better appreciate you." "She did? Well, I would agree than that she was a very nice lady than. About the old, that's relative; she wasn't my age was she?" The humor in her mother's voice that Dana had missed for some time had returned. "She's in her eighties. She's dying of cancer." Okay, Dana put your foot in your mouth. "I'm sorry to hear that." More silence. Dana was tired of stepping around the issues, so many of them, that lay between her and her mother. "Actually mom she gave me some very good news. Supposedly she's the local psychic here and she said that though my own cancer will come back I'll defeat it for good the next time." "I'm not sure... I..." Her mother finally stumbled out, being honest. "Dana, I don't know what to say..." "Let's just agree that I'm trying to be optimistic and that I would 'like' to believe that. She also gave me a gift. An antique engagement ring with a rather large diamond. I hope you don't mind. I know that you were thinking of giving me Aunt Hattie's wedding set but perhaps Charlie would like it?" "That sounds like a very expensive gift. I hope you showed proper appreciation for it." By the tone of her mother's voice, Dana knew she was miffed about Aunt Hattie's ring. However, her mother seemed to survive the disappointment and asked curiously, "What does it look like?" Dana described the ring she was wearing as she turned it every which way in the light. The diamond was truly beautiful. She planned on putting it right into the hotel safe bright and early in the morning but for tonight she just wanted to appreciate it. "I wouldn't have taken it but you could tell she really wanted me too. The only other relative she has is Ringo Langly and she didn't really think he would ever find the right girl for it. I'm going to ask him and make sure it's okay that I have it though as that's only fair." "Ringo? Is that a beetle?" "He's one of The Lone Gunmen. They publish an anti-establishment tabloid that Mulder reads. They help us out occasionally with solving some problems best left unofficial." "Dana fraternizing with radicals like that could cost you your job!" Her mother's worried voice came across loud and clear on the line. "Don't fret, mom. Part of my job is monitoring 'radicals' like them all the time." Dana's mind flipped through a file cabinet stuffed with images of freaks and mutants much worse than Langly, Byers or Frohike could ever be. "Tell me what's up with you? I heard the Church was having some sort of legal battle?" Margaret chatted more freely now that she was on familiar ground. Her daughter's concerns were of such a fantastic nature (unicorn, indeed!) that her mother really didn't know what Dana expected as a response. Margaret had never been good at replying to Missy's mumbo-jumbo New Age talk either; she had always relied on her good listening skills and an occasional uh-ah to muddle through. However, Dana expected more than just agreeable yes-noises. Over the miles she could sense her daughter's disappointment in her mother's lack of interest so just as Dana was going to hang up her mother asked, "So what's this about a unicorn you were telling me about?" Dana smiled and propped another pillow behind her head. She could tell the effort it took for her mother to ask so she told her the details, skipping the part about Mulder and their mutual snuggling in the woods. She really didn't think her mother would have forgiven her for that despite her comment to Mulder. Though Margaret liked Dana's partner, she was too quick to jump to conclusions. "That is odd, dear. I wonder if it isn't really a unicorn after all?" Dana resisted an "awww mom" since Margaret was actually listening to her wild story. "Did you know that the unicorn was a symbol of the Catholic Church at one time? I don't remember all the details. Let me know if you find out anything more. It does sound quiet exciting and not too dangerous." Dana thought of the unicorn description that Mulder had passed along to her, the one she had refrained from giving to her mother. Let mom believe that unicorns, if they existed, were gentle creatures that resembled "My Magic Pony" and with a switch of their cotton candy tail a trail of rainbows appeared. Besides, Dana didn't believe in unicorns either, just human murderers. "I love you, mom," said Dana, smiling. She was glad that she called. Her mom couldn't understand a lot of her work but at least she made the attempt. "I love you, too. And remember to call Bill." Same old mom, and come to think of it that wasn't too bad. Dana snuggled under the covers and turned off the light. ---------- 9:20 a.m. Friday Public Library Eerie, Indiana Mulder and Scully were at the local library, researching unicorns. The Eerie Public Library had two huge sections of shelves dedicated to the mythology of various beasts and Mulder had insisted on Scully's help to plow through them. He was determined to be more knowledgeable than Don Marks the next time they met. After acquiring an entire library table, the two agents scattered dozens of books across its' long length to the disapproval of the head librarian. All the books concurred. The best manner to catch a unicorn was to use a virgin. "Did you know Scully, that they used to sell 'scent of a virgin' at the local apothecary store? I guess it was rather like the deer musk they sell today to hunters," mused Mulder, pouring over one of the books they had found which seemed to know the most about unicorns. "You could splash 'eau du chaste' at your temples and the savage beast would be fooled." "Right, the dumb beast of man..." muttered Scully, under her breath as she thumbed through some more colorful unicorn anecdotes. Scully gave up any further conversation with her partner as Mulder had become engrossed in another passage "This bring us to the most interesting, the strangest, and the central belief about the unicorn - that its horn has a mysterious alexipharmical or prophylactic "virtue." It was supposed to be a detector of the presence of poison." "...so remarkable an object as the alicorn was not allowed to remain a mere detector of poisons. To the basic faith in its supernatural properties there was added the belief that it had a more general prophylactic power, and at length, invading the other department of medicine, it was widely accepted as a powerful therapeutic agent. Before the sixteenth century closed the alicorn had an important place in materia medica, for we learn from an accurate and scholarly physician of the time that it was then prescribed as a cure for all poisons, for fevers, for bites for mad dogs and scorpions, for falling sickness, worms, fluxes, loss of memory, the plague, and the prolongation of youth." Mulder looked up from his reading and gazed at Scully. She was obviously battling between skepticism and curiosity as her brow was furrowed in concentration and her was smirking in disbelief. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as her partner watched her in silence. He had to capture that unicorn. Watching her, the need blossomed into a full obsession. Mulder wanted to shout and run out to the Eerie woods with a bow and arrow. Calming his racing heart, he returned to his book, making mental notes about virgin-captures of unicorns and its miraculous powers against a myriad of poisons while Scully was involved in a passage of different nature. "In its simpler versions this interpretation likens the unicorn directly to Christ: its one horn is said to signify the unity of Christ and the Father; its fierceness and defiance of the hunter are to remind us that neither Principalities nor Powers nor Thrones were able to control the Messiah against His will; its small stature is a symbol of Christ's humility and its likeness to a kid of His association with sinful men. The virgin is held to represent the Virgin Mary and the huntsman is the Holy Spirit acting through the Angel Gabriel. Taken as a whole, then, the story of the unicorn's capture typifies the Incarnation of Christ." The pathologist left her hard wooden chair to make a copy of the page using the faulty and slow library copy machine. Her mom would appreciate this and, besides, without an eidetic memory she had to rely upon good old-fashioned devices. She looked back to Mulder who was entranced in his reading. Still wearing his trenchcoat, which sported grass stains from the other night, he was slumped in a hard wooden library chair that was a relic of the fifties. She sighed and looked at the clock. Almost lunch. What good did all this reading do anyway? Unicorns, indeed! In that moment she decided to return to the hospital and see if the witness, Ashley, was awake. Perhaps the girl could provide a coherent story after a night's rest. Scully was about to close the book when a passage caught her eye. Smirking she leaned over Mulder's chair, her mouth breathing softly into his ear. Mulder stilled. He held his breath as Scully's breath tickled his earlobe. She dropped the open volume in his lap and pointed: "...Commonly it dangles down like a turkey-cock's comb, but when a unicorn has a mind to fight or put it to any other use, what does he do but make it stand, and then it is as straight as an arrow." "So now we know where the legends of unicorns originated." ---------- Late Afternoon, Friday County General Hospital Eerie, Indiana "Goddamn you, stay away from her!" The argument was causing some attention and Scully could hear it quite a ways down the hospital corridor as she entered the wing. Curious, she came up behind a nurse who was trying to calm two men: one was Ashley's father and the other Don Marks, the ranger. Scully identified him by his tan game warden shirt and the Wildlife, Fish and Game patch on its breast, as, until now, she hadn't met him. Ashley's father was in a towering rage and his wife was holding his arm, obviously trying to prevent him from decking Marks. "I've told you before that I'd kill you if I caught you around her again." Scully, F.B.I. agent intervened in her best cop manner. Despite her small size, she was able to get the two men to separate due to her quite air of authority. The Wilkinsons retreated to a family waiting room down the hall. Scully took a moment to talk with Marks, who shrugged away her inquiries. Silently, she took a moment to watch his stiffly retreating back and than went down to meet the Wilkinsons where the husband and wife were sitting close together in an intimate discussion. "I hate that fucking asshole. To even imagine him touching..." "I know dear but it's all over. Gone and done with years ago..." murmured his wife, stroking his hand. They both became aware of Scully at the same moment. The intimacy was shelved and the two now stood firm against an outsider. Deciding that she wouldn't gain anything by inquiring at this time, Scully shelved the question on her mind and asked another. "I was wondering if I could visit with Ashley for awhile? We've discovered some new information. She may remember something now to better assist us with finding Bill's murderer." Scully did not add, "find the unicorn", as Mulder would surely have done so if he had been here instead of planning on how to distill medicinal applications from an alicorn. "Let me take you to her, Agent Scully." After giving her husband a reassuring pat, Jennifer left him alone so he could regain his composure. As the two women walked down the hallway to her daughter's room, Jennifer Wilkinson started to explain, "Don't judge Vince too harshly, Agent Scully. He's completely shocked by what happened to Ashley and Don's presence tipped him over the edge." "I can see that your husband and Don Marks aren't exactly the best of friends, Mrs. Wilkinson." The women's high heels tapped-tapped down the hallway. Now that the excitement was gone, the hospital wing had quieted. "Yes, that goes quite a ways back. At one time I dated Don and Vince just gets very upset when he comes around now." To put it mildly, thought Scully. "Does Don know your entire family? For instance, your daughter?" Jennifer Wilkinson blanched and shot a dismayed look at Scully. "Who told you? I can't believe..." She pulled herself together though and continued in a stronger voice. "Yes, he knows Ashley, extremely well. I wish he didn't." Opening the door to Ashley's room she announced them with, "Look honey, who's here to see you!" ---------- Early Evening, Friday The Hungry Pig Restaurant Eerie, Indiana The two partners were eating barbecue. Mulder always seemed to want to pick barbecue whenever they visited small towns. Scully had filled him in on the scene at the hospital. He shrugged it away. Unicorns were the object of his desire (well, really Scully was that but not to digress...) not flaky wildlife rangers. "So Mulder, where are you going to get a nubile, young virgin in this town?" "I've got one and here he is." Tommy Heath slid into the booth next to Mulder who confirmed introductions. "Tommy, you know Agent Scully from yesterday." "Yeah." The boy was distinctly uncomfortable about being there. He slumped in his seat, head downcast, while a shock of dark brown hair fell over his brow and one eye. He was wearing some sort of school jersey and faded blue jeans. With elbows poking Mulder, his long legs were in the way of Scully's under the small table. "You told me over the phone that if I didn't cooperate, you'd tell mom," he said sullenly. "You got that right, so isn't it better to cooperate?" replied Mulder cheerfully, eating more of his pig dinner. "Tell his mom what?" asked Scully, coming to the point. "See Scully, Tommy is eighteen, legally an adult. So he can come and help us catch our unicorn without his mother's permission. He is also our Class A Virgin." Tommy Heath grew scarlet, hushing Mulder, while wildly looking around to see if any neighbors had overheard. Mulder continued, obviously having fun at the teen's expense. "And Tommy is so eager to help because I know what he was doing the day he disappeared." Scully frowned. She turned to the teen. "Is Mulder blackmailing you to help us?" Tommy squirmed and almost opened his mouth in an affirmative when Mulder shoot him a warning frown that shuffled the boy into silence. "So now I've just got to confer with the Sheriffs' Campbell and Gates. Tomorrow is a full moon which would provide the perfect light for our nightly endeavor." "Mulder you're totally into this unicorn hunt. You are going to be so embarrassed when exactly nothing happens." "And you my dear skeptic are going to be totally contrite when you see it right there in front of your nose. Can you please keep your eyes open and directed at the object at hand this time?" "Ha...Ha..." laughed Scully dryly. "And what nightly endeavor might that be?" interrupted a fourth voice. Abigail Day squeezed in beside Scully. "Sorry to be so rude to interrupt, but I just can't have Tommy taken off to who knows where. I mean I'm the one who told you about his disappearance in the first place." The two partners exchanged one of their trademark, silent and enigmatic communications. Scully, however, disagreed with Mulders request to shut the old lady out. "Mulder thinks a unicorn was the murderer. So we are going to set a trap using Tommy, the virgin, as bait to catch it," the younger woman said as if she was explaining the technical workings of a watch. "Well, I'm sure dears," said Miss Day, readjusting her bifocals. Peering over to Tommy, who was completely humiliated by this time, the former teacher said comfortingly, "I'm sure it's a great comfort to your mother to know that you are saving yourself for that special girl. And your future wife will appreciate it too. However, I cannot let Tommy go alone. If you refuse to let his mother in on your plans I insist that you let me go and watch over him in her stead." "Completely impossible!" ---------- Late Night, Saturday The Point and the woods surrounding Eerie, Indiana Everyone watched in silence. The wood stilled. All the birds and other small wildlife became quiet as if a modern switch had turned off the volume to a nature tape. The unicorn emerged into the meadow, its head watching the virgin lure, Tommy Heath. It stood about as tall as a draft horse, much larger than any of the books that they had read had described it. The white of its hide was albino in nature, revealing a muzzle of pink and areas of pink around the yellow feral eyes that glowed in Tommy's direction. The mythical beast's neck was more slender than that of a horse, deer-like, but it moved in an unnatural gesture, weaving sinuously, snake-like, as it came towards the boy. The corded tail whipped behind it, agitated like a cat when it stalks. Mulder found himself staring at the horn, entranced. The alicorn was huge, at least a yard in length, shimmering and pearlescent as the inside of an ocean shell. The bottom of it was as thick as a fist, the tip as pointed as a javelin. Dana held her breath as the unicorn kneeled, one leg, one knee, than both knees. Slowly it lay its head in Tommy's lap. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marks raise his rifle and start to take aim for the moment the unicorn left Tommy's safety. Irrevocably, Dana Scully realized she simply could not let him do it. Thoughts of deer her brothers killing during hunting season flashed through her mind. Once the shot was fired, all their beauty was gone. It wasn't right to see this beast dead. "No," she said calmly and pushed down the barrel of the ranger's rifle. Marks gave her a look of disgusted disbelief and took aim again. "No!" Scully pronounced and her hand went down to her own weapon to reinforce her command. Mulder stepped towards Scully just as Marks replied by slamming the butt of his rifle in her face and knocking her down. To the ranger's left, Sheriff Campbell reacted next, decking Mark to the ground with two huge fists. The gun discharged, shooting its bullet harmlessly into the air. The unicorn decided it was time to notice them. Mulder had moved protectively towards Scully when Marks had struck her and now found himself between her and the charging unicorn. The entranced, peaceful animal had undergone a dramatic change. The pale beast sprung out of Tommy's lap to its' cloven feet with it's alicorn lowered. With an easy bound of about six feet, it started forward into a gallop. The muscles of the animals' shoulders and neck became bulged with power and about 2,000 pounds of moving, enraged animal was about to barrel into Fox Mulder. "Mulder!" Scully screamed out to her unmoving partner as she scrambled backwards, slamming her back into the trunk of a tree. The agent found himself doing exactly what Marks had cautioned him strongly against... staring down a unicorn. The distended nostrils flamed hot red and Mulder could feel the strong rancid breath of a carnivore across his face. It's yellow, unnatural eyes bored into his with the intensity of a wild tiger. The tip of the alicorn that Mulder had earlier admired was pointing towards his heart. In one beat the horn stilled as it if to make sure it's aim was sure but before it could proceed along its path another voice cried out. Mulder didn't remember what Abigail Day said. Was it stop, no, halt, don't? Whatever she said, if she did say anything intelligible, it swerved the unicorn's attention to her. The beast knocked Mulder down with its shoulder and he had an amazing view of the unicorn's belly as it leaped over his body, cloven hooves raking his face. He closed his eyes than and gave a quick prayer that was half curse before rolling to his feet, prepared to do battle or run... whichever course seemed the wisest. However the woods were once again normal. The unicorn had vanished. And so had Miss Day. ---------- 1 a.m., Sunday County General Hospital Eerie, Indiana Mulder was being Mulder at his worst. Along with Marks, the two Sheriffs, and Scully, Mulder had cursed everyone up down and reverse. His mouth was screwed tight, not in pain, but with intense anger. If he had been a teakettle, his boiling would have burned the bottom of the pot. Courtesy of the unicorn, the F.B.I. agent had two huge gashes in his face: a flap of skin was torn across his forehead and into his hairline, and the other had taken him right across the chin in a more shallow cut. At the County General E.R., Mulder's insults had driven the staff nurse and the doctor away so Scully was left to piece him together. Scully made the stitches slowly, taking her time to make them small. Her partner ranted that Scully was a sadist although she had told him she was being careful to preserve his looks. Sheriff Campbell had taken to calling her Doctor Scully at every chance upon learning her medical background. The tall, heavily built man watched with intent, morbid interest as she pulled the needle in and out of her partner's face and commented several times on the beauty of her work in a very admiring tone. Mulder wanted to punch him too, but decided that Campbell was really too big and Marks was the first in line. As Scully bent close to pull the needle through again, Mulder got a full view of a first class bruise. The blow inflicted by Marks had taken her under her right eye and the cheekbone. She should have been sitting down, putting ice on it but instead she was stitching him up... which made him feel doubly guilty and doubly angry with them all. Sheriff Gates was sitting in the corner of the E.R. room, an area partitioned off by two sliding curtains. He was shaking his head back and forth, mournfully looking down at shaking hands. It looked as if he had just gotten a chewing out by his wife or that his favorite dog had died. He kept mumbling things that no one could hear. Sheriff Campbell pointedly ignored him and the two F.B.I. agents took the call from him. "Where the hell is Marks?" demanded Mulder. He had been asking that ever since they left the woods for the emergency room. "I think more to the point is where is Miss Day?" countered Scully, who finally chose to speak. Sometimes you had to let Mulder's testosterone run its course. Upon Scully's question, Gates burst into tears. Scully was so surprised she stopped her administrations and just stared at the law enforcement officer. Campbell followed her gaze and shook his head. "She was his math teacher in the tenth grade. Lot of guilt there because he knew the risk she was taking." "The risk? You mean the danger of hunting the unicorn with us?" Campbell didn't answer Scully for a few moments as he took some time to collect his thoughts. "Gates never been on an unicorn hunt before but he knows procedure. We didn't expect you two to know about it all but Miss Day won't be coming back." As Gates gave even a louder sob into a very damp man's cotton handkerchief, Campbell gave him a look full of disgusted venom. "Not coming back? Surely, she'll be back in three days like the others," stated Mulder confidently. "Don't think so. Think that unicorn found what it was looking for." "And that was...?" "A mate, Dr. Scully. It's that time of the year. We thought we could protect Tommy, being that he had been taken once, tested, found lacking, and had been returned. But Miss Day went willingly and without being charmed. That's a sure sign she won't be coming back." Mulder exchanged a look with Scully, who avoided his gaze. It was too soon and too public a place to discuss the unicorn. "That still doesn't explain where the hell Marks is," said Mulder, hopping down from the medical bed and taking a painful look in the mirror over the sink. "I told Campbell to take him to the county jail. Not only did he assault a federal officer, he obstructed us in our duty. Also, of course he's the murderer." Scully washed off her hands and turned to find Mulder agape. "Explain that logical reasoning please," he said in a deadly quiet voice. Oh yes, Scully was going to hear more about that unicorn all right. "Don Marks had lied to you Mulder when he said he didn't know Ashley except by sight. It made me wonder what else he had lied about. Actually Vince married Jennifer when she was six months pregnant because the father of the baby, Don Marks, refused. I got that information from Miss Day because she was a teacher at the high school during the time." During a pause, Gates interjected his own comments. "Thought it was best at the time that he didn't marry Jennifer. If he was angry, he just naturally lashed out with his fists. Don was always in trouble, fights at road houses, hitting women." He gestured towards Scully's face. "I'm sorry about that, Dr. Scully. Scully continued, "When I talked with Ashley the next day she didn't remember finding Marks on the road. Instead, after the murder, Marks had been right at her side, helping her to stand. She didn't make the connection he was the killer because he kept asking her who had killed Billy. Her shocked mind just assumed he had come right after the event." "But what about the wound?" If she thought Mulder was hot before he was the sun's surface now. "I asked Sheriff Gates to check out Marks' truck for anything long and cylindrical, especially if it was spiral shaped. He found a twenty-four inch auger bit that Marks had been using to drill for soil samples. Even though he tried cleaning it off I'm sure Quanitco will find trace remains of blood that will match Bill's." "Scully..." Mulder was coming very close, invading her body space. Gates couldn't make up his mind to intervene or not. He had seen Dr. Scully assaulted in the last few hours and felt a mite protective of her so he stepped forward, warningly. The two partner's didn't notice; their gazes were locked in that silent communication that alternatively amazed and frustrated Walter Skinner. "Mulder..." She questioned back, mimicking the tone that he uttered her name. "You just will never believe me will you?" And he gave her a slight shake. Dana gave out the breath she was holding as for some silly reason she had thought he was about to kiss her. Gates relaxed too and only Campbell's contrite sobbing could be heard as background music to the moment of Scully's triumph. ---------- Abigail Day's house Tuesday Eerie, Indiana Mulder continuously reassured her that Abigail Day was bound to show up by the third day after her vanishing act, however, Scully had insisted that they contact Ringo Langly about his great- aunt's disappearance. She made the phone call while Mulder grumbled in the background. "Hello, Frohike, may I speak with Langly?" asked Scully, turning her back on her Mulder's face, for even without his mulish expression, it was something to be avoided with its double scars. After a wrangling with Frohike about their lack of dating status, Scully froze him out with a withering silence. Soon Langly was on the line and she was explaining their situation. His initial reply wasn't worth repeating but he told Scully he was catching the next flight to Indiana. "I'll pick you up at the airport and fill you in on any progress. Just let us know the time. Bye Langly." Twelve hours later Scully had picked up a very morose Langly from the airport. On the rest of the trip to Eerie, he insisted on blaming Mulder despite Scully's words. "She really did insist on coming along, Langly. I have to say that I allowed it too. It seemed harmless enough and I really didn't expect much to happen." Langly clamped his mouth shut and pointedly looked at the right side of her face. Marks' blow had developed into a full-fledge shiner. The bruising had puffed up under her eye and over her high cheekbone. It was now a colorful purple with hints of green. After they returned from the airport, Mulder mumbled a few words and Langly drifted away. Scully watched him as he sat in the porch swing in the yard. She could see the back of his blonde head and his discontented swinging. Mulder knew Langly best but he seemed unwilling to interfere with his friend's grief. She once wondered if Mulder was just a shallow person because of his behavior with victims. Clyde Bruckman had been one of those cases. Seeing his sad and wasteful death, Scully had truly felt sorrow, but Mulder had left it all behind, moving forward, and putting Clyde's history away in a X-file. During the case itself, he could be all sympathy and empathy but once the case was closed he had no feeling at all for the victims or their losses. Like Sherlock Holmes it was the mystery that consumed him, not the person. Initially, Scully had found it very odd for someone with a background in psychology until she understood that he examined people's emotions under his own dispassionate analytical lens just as she used her medical microscope. During her time in therapy, Scully had gained first hand knowledge of how a therapist could appear to be a patient's friend but always remained a professional, taking notes and analyzing behavior as if you were surely just a rat in a maze. Maybe a rat that you felt some liking for and hoped that it completed its run in a timely manner so you wouldn't have to shock it. Of the two of them, Scully knew that she was the one that felt ... the one that sorrowed. Mulder couldn't afford it. During her bout with cancer, when she woke at the hospital and heard his muffled sobbing, she knew he couldn't risk letting her know face- to-face how much he cared. Caring took too much out of him; he needed the fire to fuel his quest. So she had closed her eyes and just listened. Listened to his pain and by force of will prevented embarrassing him with her concern. Hesitatingly opening the screen door she want out to Langly. After sitting down next to him, she waited a few moments and than began to talk. "I wish I had known your great-aunt better, Langly. In the short time I did I could see she was a very special lady." Her partner on the swing didn't reply but she saw him swallow a hard lump of pain. "She gave me a present but I really think perhaps you should have it." Scully started to hand Langly the box containing the antique engagement ring. He stopped her with an outstretched hand, looking the other way. "Whatever Aunt Abby gave you, keep." He swung once hard. "She would know best what to do with it." "She really did insist on coming. I don't want you to blame Mulder for it. We couldn't have anticipated..." Langly snapped. "Mulder always gets away with these excuses, Scully. Don't apologize for him. If he wants to say something to me he can have the guts to get here out here and say it." Scully looked down at her own hands, holding the black jewelry box. "I'm the one that let your aunt come with us. Mulder was against it." Langly met her gaze for the first time. His eyes behind his glasses were red-rimmed from long term crying. "I thought it might be fun for her actually." "Because she was dying..." "Yes. Sometimes people treat you like you're some sort of alien, no joke intended, when you're approaching death. They talk about you as if you're already dead, in the past tense. Their gazes go over your head, meeting each other in pity. I didn't want to pity your aunt." "I just can't believe she's gone. I just can't believe it. I was getting myself ready for her to die some sort of long death in a hospital dead, and now there is just this big hole of blankness." "She said you spent the summers with her. You two seemed very close." Scully said gently. "She was the best. When my mother died, I came and spent the last three years of high school here. Abby always understood." Langly burst into tears and Scully reached out to hold his hand, while Mulder watched through the kitchen window. ---------- Quest - Epilogue Mulder and Langly worked out their differences. It had been done in some masculine, awkward way of not addressing the real problem and Scully found them still playing video games when she arrived at Abigail Day's house the next day. Mulder's restlessness was such that Scully agreed that he should return to the office, but she declined the opportunity of returning with him, preferring instead to stay for a few extra days and help Langly close up his aunt's house. It was Mulders' advice to have a Boston Mass auction house take over the responsibility of the gaining an equitable value for the antique china and furniture, however it was Scully who helped Langly pack it for shipping. Side by side, in silent and giving companionship, the two friends packed away the story of Abigail Day's life. Letters, photos, cards, and other items with a more personal signature, Langly put in a box to take back home. He also set aside a few items that had special significance or meaning, such as a small music box that played a baby's lullaby and a silk scarf he had given Aunt Abby for Christmas. Scully packed away linens, clothes and shoes and made a date for the local Salvation Army to pick up the items. Scully knew that Frohike had agreed to come out and would be there in a day or so as they were putting to bed the last issue of The Lone Gunmen. Feeling that Langly would be in safe and perhaps competent hands, with Frohike nearby, the agent made flight plans. At her request, Mulder had returned the rental car since she didn't want it on the Bureau credit card during a stay in Eerie that she considered to be now on personal time. So on her last day in Eerie she had arranged with Sheriff Campbell for a trip up to the Point. Reinstated as the one and true sheriff of Eerie, Campbell had quickly agreed to help her and suggested that he drop her off at the airport where a prop plane would take her to Indianapolis for a layover. Sheriff Campbell's vehicle was a beat up and muds splattered Jeep that boasted a grinding four-wheel drive. The trip to the Point was gravel and Scully found that it was best that she keep her hand on the grab strap at all times. Campbell was friendly and talkative as they made their way through the woods, but Scully's thoughts and gaze were directed outside the window. Campbell suggested that he would wait in the Jeep for her and Scully thanked him. She wasn't sure exactly what she wanted here. To find some trace of Abigail Day? A last chance to connect with someone she had truly liked? A curiosity about how a place could look so ordinary that was a few short days ago a scene of a crime and a place of lost? She sat down on the log where, Mulder and her had sought a hiding place during their stake out. The day was cool and a hint of storm coming was in the air that made her injured sinuses ache. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and forehead, looking down. Something caught her eye by the edge of her foot and reaching out she scooped up what she first mistook to be the curling of a shell. The small piece of spiraled horn must have been the tip. She turned it over in her palm, noticing how ordinary it appeared, bone pale and slightly chalky to the feel. It was Abigail Day's last gift. ---------- Thanks for reading this story! You might like some more information about it.... I have actually lived next to a town which had two police departments - it was when I was working as a news reporter. The Police Chief had been fired by the City Manager. The PC said it was unjust and not even legal - so he started his own police department from his home. This always struck me as comical as I wondered if he stayed up late in his pajamas listening to the police scanner and wearing bunny slippers. I've always loved the Eerie, Indiana show but unfortunately didn't get to view many episodes or tape any. I couldn't remember the name of the two boys that live there so if you know send me an email and I'll add them to the story. It was a delightful and innovative show combining the Twilight Zone with Leave it to Beaver. Sometimes I've noticed that it airs on Disney so if you get a chance watch it! When thinking about Eerie, Indiana, I knew that it would have unicorns. Probably griffins and other mythological beasts too. However, I wanted to show that in Eerie, the appearance of these creatures would be as normal as that of wolf or other wild creature. In the approach that the abnormal is normal, were the supernatural is natural, I knew that this would be the type of town that Mulder would find himself completely baffled by. I mean his theories accepted firsthand as fact?? And I knew also that I wanted to write a story where Scully (damn it!) was completely and utterly right! Dana's relationship with her family is very complex, more so than what I have seen in X-files fiction. I'm sure that she loves them and they love her, however, the bizarreness and danger of her job must confuse them. They are conventional people who have an unconventional daughter. It must make it difficult for all of them as they struggle to maintain family ties. I hope this story has shared some light on what I consider a very complex family structure. Many of the thoughts about Dana's family is from my own relationship with my mother, the love I feel for her and the need at the same time for her approval and my independence from her judgment. I think these are all universal struggles, regardless of your age or gender. "Not like those werewolves we've been having..." is one of my favorite quotes from Fire Sign Theatre and I just couldn't resist sticking it in there. I've actually eaten at a Hungry Pig Restaurant - not sure why Bar-B-Que places show the animal eating itself - just like fish places showing happy red lobsters on their signs. The incident of Mulder in Dana's hotel room was inspired by the Snooping series by Susanne Barringer. The Sheriff was also inspired by the story Rags by Jill Selby, who does a much better job than I of depicting a small town with heart.