Chapter 7
It's been two weeks since Mulder's last seen Mary. He's sure she's been in from time to time to bring in more baby supplies and to get rid of the dirty diapers, but he's never seen her. He's convinced that she's been drugging his food periodically, to make sure he's asleep whenever she needs to come into the room. But he never knows when that is. So he can't plan an escape attempt around it.
For the most part, he's been happy not to have to see the woman. He's been able to spend a lot of time getting to know and love Skye even more than he did when he first met her. And he's become more and more determined to get them both out of there.
So in that way, Mary's absence has been a blessing. On the other hand, it scares him to think what she might be doing or planning to do while she's been gone. He's afraid she might be planning on another kidnapping. The last time they spoke, after a weeks worth of failed seduction attempts on her part, she was convinced that they needed another baby. He hopes she hasn't been trying to get another one.
Over the years, Mulder has run across all kinds of lunatics. But Mary is about as crazy as they come. Sadly, he's sure this isn't the first time she's done something like this. He just hopes he doesn't share the fate of whoever else she's got buried in that back yard. Because then, there won't be anyone to stop her from doing it again.
Skye gurgles happily as she plays with her bare feet. Even the little girl seems to be able to sense Mary's absence. She's such a happy little girl whenever the woman isn't around. She's about as attached to Mulder as Mulder is to her.
"What have you got, Skye? You trying to eat your toes?" he asks, crawling onto the bed next to the baby. He tickles her stomach and smiles when she lets out her little baby giggle.
"I can't wait to get you home. You're going to have a great life," he promises solemnly. "Nothing but love and laughter and happiness. And maybe a pony when you're old enough."
He's rewarded with another giggle from the girl and he can't help but join in her happiness. The only thing better would be if he could share the moment with Scully. He's never even considered what would happen if she doesn't want the little girl in her life. He knows she will. If only they get the chance.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The tears keep on flowing and Mary is powerless to stop them. She tried so hard to please him. But he rebuffed her every advance. She tried for almost a week before finally giving up. He didn't want anything to do with her. He never wanted anything to do with her. He was just like the others. That baby became the center of his world and Mary became nothing.
For two weeks, Mary has been coming to grips with what she must do. She really loved Fox and letting him go will be hard for her. But she knows she must. She has to have a clean break so that she can move on and start a new family. This is the only way she knows how to bury the past . . . literally.
She gasps for breath, struggling in the heat to dig the graves. The small one didn't take very long. But the one for Fox is zapping her physical and emotional strength. It's never been this hard before. Probably because she's never loved anyone like she loved Fox.
With a sigh, she starts digging again. There's a lot of work still left to do.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A month since he's been gone and still no word on Mulder. Scully heaves a heavy sigh, knowing that this is all her fault. If she had only thought to find him sooner. If only she hadn't waited a whole week to start looking. If only she had gone with him.
The truth is, she went on that retreat with her mother for less than spiritual reasons. She was running from her feelings for Mulder. Before he went missing, she had gotten to her breaking point. She knew that if she had seen him, she would have jumped on him and given him the kiss of a lifetime. Going away for the weekend was the only way she could see to prevent major embarrassment on her part.
She wishes now she had followed her heart instead of her mind.
"Agent Scully, you're exhausted. You've been at this for weeks. I know you're not getting a lot of rest," Byers notes sympathetically.
Mulder seems to have disappeared into thin air. She can't make heads or tails of the evidence gathered by herself and the gunmen. Even the official investigation seems to be at a standstill. For all intents and purposes, Mulder just went away one day and never returned.
The evidence just doesn't seem to make any sense to her. She's studied all the clues they managed to dig up and knows something there. She just can't see it. It's like a puzzle she can't figure out. The gunmen are still helping her, but are losing hope too. When she looks at them, all she sees are their return gazes of pity. They mean well, trying to get her to rest, but she can't stop looking for Mulder.
"I'll sleep when I find Mulder," she grumbles, trying to hide a yawn behind her hand.
"Scully," Frohike tries, but decides not to fuss at her when she gives him a spine chilling look. "Well, at least let me get you some coffee."
She sighs, knowing the best thing would be to give in and let them do this one thing for her.
"Thanks, Frohike. Coffee would be . . . "
The guys all look to her when she stops talking in the middle of her sentence, wondering if she's finally shut down after all this time. Instead, they see her flipping madly through the files they've managed to accumulate over the past month on Mulder's disappearance.
"Where's that report on the car?" she screams almost frantically, them mention of coffee making a strange connection in her brain.
"It's right here," Byers says calmly, giving her the correct folder before she completely loses it.
"I can't believe I never thought of it before," she mutters. "It's been here all this time."
The gunmen look at each other, surprised at this behavior in her. It's a Mulder kind of thing to do, leaping to an unlikely conclusion that's usually the key in solving the mystery.
"The coffee," she says out loud, noticing their confused looks. "She put something into Mulder's coffee, probably a tranquilizer or something. Now look at this."
She points to the list of what was found in a stain in Mulder's car and her smile grows.
"This was taken from a stained area on the seat in the car. We just assumed it was coffee, or soda or any variety of things. But those compounds combine to form a rare, but powerful drug used for therapy in mental patients. I can't believe I didn't notice it before," she says, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Well, if the drug is so rare, there can't be that many doctors in that rural area of Virginia that have prescribed it recently. We can trace the drug to a doctor and then show him the picture of our mystery lady. Maybe we can get an address."
"Just what I was thinking, Langly," she smiles. "We find this doctor, we find Mulder."
She's practically giddy at the thought of their new avenue of search. She's definitely too excited to sit still. She starts pacing around the small room while Langly starts the computer search.
"Got him," Langly announces after only a few minutes. "Dr. Gregory Stevens. He works at a mental institution in Richmond, Virginia, but also has a smaller clinic outside of Laney."
"Not far from that gas station," she nods. "Get his address and I'll go talk to him."
"No need," Langly smiles. "His records are computerized, but the security sucks. I was able to hack in with no trouble at all."
"And it looks like we're in luck," Frohike adds. "The patient records include photos."
"Well, there shouldn't be that many patients he prescribed that drug to," Scully says. "That should narrow down our search a good deal."
By the time she finishes the thought, they've found a picture that matches. She must admit, the gunmen are awfully good at what they do. She's never given them enough credit in the past. All that will change in the future. But not now. Now, she has to go find Mulder. Copying the address from the file, she gathers her things to go.
"Scully," Byers calls to her. "We don't think you should do this alone."
"I know," she sighs. "I don't think that'll be a good idea. I'll call Skinner. He'll know what to do."
Chapter 8
Mulder could tell by the look in her eyes that Mary was up to something. She burst into the room earlier and grabbed the napping baby from her crib, not even bothering with any niceties. She was out the door before Mulder could lodge a protest.
Panic starts to fill his heart. He begins to pray like he's never prayed before that nothing happens to Skye. It would kill him to know he let something to happen to her while he stood helplessly by.
"Mary," he calls after the woman after he hears the baby start to cry. "Don't hurt her, Mary. Please. She's just a baby."
An eerie silence falls over the house where Mulder doesn't even hear the sound of his own breathing. The baby has stopped crying, but Mulder has no idea whether she's just being quiet or if something terrible has happened. He gets a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that if something bad hasn't happened yet, it's about to happen now.
He yanks on his chain with purpose now, trying desperately to pull it from the wall or break a weak link. He has to get out of the house now or he may not get another chance. He grabs a chair, trying to use it to break through the chain, but to no avail. He's locked tight.
He lets out a frustrated groan, looking around the room for anything he can use as a weapon. He knows his time has run out when he hears footsteps coming down the hall towards the room. All he can do is get into a protective position, guarding himself from any attack she may make.
"Your turn, my love," she says in a dull voice. As she starts walking towards him, Mulder hears a sound he never heard from her before - the tinkling of keys. Maybe he'll be able to get the keys from her and unlock himself before she can do any damage. He focuses on finding a weak spot on her, waiting for her to get close enough before he attacks her. But she has a surprise for him. She stops just outside his reach and pulls out a needle.
"So you won't feel any pain, my sweet Fox," she explains as she catches his questioning glare. "The others weren't so lucky. Only you and my beautiful Skye Blue deserve this honor."
He notices with much terror that there's dirt underneath all her fingernails and smudges of it on her cheek. She must plan on burying him and the baby with the other body he knows she has back there. Now she's mentioning 'others'. How many others has she done this to? He can't worry about them, though. He has to find out about the baby.
"Where's the baby, Mary?" Mulder asks, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach. "What have you done to her?"
"She's waiting for you to join her for her nap. Except this is a nap that neither of you will be waking from."
She steps closer to inject him with the contents of the needle and he dodges her as best he can. He knows that if she catches him, he's as good as dead. He can't let that happen. He's made a promise to Skye to get her out of there and he intends on keeping it.
Mary lunges at him again with the needle, intent on ending the game. He manages to catch her hand before it gets to her, knocking the needle away. They both fall to the floor and scramble for it, but he gets to it quicker. He rolls over in time to see her climb on top of him, her knees pinning his forearms to the floor. She tries to get the needle, but he holds tight, refusing to let her get it. Not giving up on her own plans to kill him, she wraps her hands around his neck and squeezes hard. He can only let out a strangled cry before the world starts to go black.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Scully and Skinner pull up to the house listed in the doctor's files as belonging to one Mary Simpson. This woman's picture was the nearest match to the woman at the gas station with Mulder. According to her doctor, Mary's a pathological liar, telling fantastic tales about her many marriages and children. Medical tests done on the woman can prove that she's never given birth and there have been no records of her ever getting married. So what would she want with Mulder, Scully thinks to herself.
"You think this is it?" Skinner asks her, breaking into her thoughts. "It seems quiet. Remote, even."
"The perfect place to hold a hostage," Scully mutters, already trying to come up with a plan for going in. She has a feeling this is the right place.
That feeling is proven correct when they hear a blood curdling yell coming from the house.
"Mulder," Scully screams, grabbing her gun and running towards the house without even a glance back to make sure Skinner was following.
She runs up to the door and kicks it in, breaking the lock with the first try. She dashes from room to room, almost panicking when each one proves to be empty. She finally stumbles into a bedroom at the end of the hall, gasping at the sight of a woman on top of an unconscious Mulder. Her first instinct is to shoot, but she has to go by the book on this.
"Are you Mary Simpson?" she calls to the woman, catching her startled glare when she looks up. She truly didn't hear them enter the house.
"I'm with the FBI. I'm going to need you to stand up slowly and put your hands behind your head," Scully instructs her. She hears Skinner come up behind her and knows he has his gun on the woman. She takes out her cuffs and is about to restrain Mary when she does the last thing anyone expects.
Scully's eyes pop wide open when the woman jams a needle straight into her own neck, plunging it in before Scully can stop her. Scully watches in shock as Mary's dead body drifts to the floor, the needle still in her vein.
"Scully, he isn't breathing."
Skinner's voice reaches through her fog, his panic evident. She looks down at Mulder's body and jumps into action, starting CPR on him. On the edge of her focus, she can hear Skinner calling for backup and an ambulance, but she doesn't pay much attention. All her energy is focused on making Mulder breathe again.
"Wake up," she begs while pumping his chest. She gives him another puff of air before doing the chest compressions again. "You're not going to die on me."
Tears are streaming down her face, but she tirelessly tries to resuscitate him until she's rewarded with a response from him. He starts coughing, gagging at the sudden flow of air back through his lungs.
Her tears of fear turn to those of joy as she cradles him in her arms, grateful that he's alive.
"Where is she?" he gasps, still trying to catch his breath.
"Mary's dead, Mulder. She shot herself with a needle I can only assume was meant for you."
"Dead? But where's Skye?" She tries to hold him down, but he struggles even harder to get on his feet. "I have to find her."
"Mulder? What's going on? Who's Skye?"
But he ignores her, already trying to leave, but finding himself still chained. He turns back and goes through Mary's pockets until he comes up with a set of keys. He unlocks himself and goes running through the house.
"Skye? Skye, Sweetie, where are you? Can you hear me?"
"Mulder, just stop a minute," Scully says when she finally catches up with him. "There's no one else in the house. We searched already."
She watches him blanche at that, afraid that he's about to pass out.
"No," he groans, pushing past her again to run out the back door of the house. He dashes all over the back yard, looking for something. Scully doesn't know what, but she knows it's important to him so she starts to look too.
By this time, the ambulances have arrived and Skinner is prepared to let them take Mulder by force to the hospital. It's obvious he needs some medical, and probably psychological, help.
"Skye," he yells again, and with a sickening feeling, Scully realizes what he's looking for when she sees a newly dug grave under a tree.
"Mulder." She calls him and points it out to him, surprised at the speed with which he gets across the yard. He starts digging frantically with his bare hands. She finds a shovel leaning against the tree and helps him, stopping abruptly when she hits a box. She's horrified at how small the little tomb is.
With shaking hands, he tears the lid off the box, lifting out a tiny body.
"Help her," he barely whispers, but she hears him anyway.
She pushes aside her horror and swallows the bile threatening to rise. She's pleasantly surprised to find a pulse. It's weak and shallow, but the baby is still alive.
"I need a medic," she yells over her shoulder before turning to Mulder. "She's alive. Just barely, but she's still alive. She may be okay if we get her to the hospital quickly."
He lets out a relieved breath, collapsing in a trembling heap at her feet. She bends down next to him, taking him again into her arms. She has no idea what Mulder has been through this past month, but she can see the effect it's having on him. Physically, he's going to be fine. But she can't even take a guess at his emotional state. All she can do is be there for him. When it's all said and done, there's no other place she'd rather be.
Epilogue
Mulder only allows the briefest of check ups once he reaches the hospital, so intent on finding Skye. He makes it to her room and is stopped cold at the tiny body lying in the middle of all the wires and tubes.
"I thought you said she'd be okay, Scully," he gasps, tears forming at the sight of the baby.
"She will be, Mulder. All of that is just for precaution since she's so little and they don't know how long she went without oxygen or the effects the drug Mary gave her will have on her system. But they're optimistic for a full recovery." She gives him an encouraging smile and takes her hand in his own.
"She's just so little, Scully," he sighs. "I can't help but worry."
"You love her, don't you?"
"With all my heart. I didn't think I was the type to go all goo goo over a baby, but here I am," he smiles. He looks back at the baby and his thoughts turn serious. He wouldn't want Scully to think he was joking about what he's about to say. "I want to keep her."
Her mouth falls open in shock, not knowing how to respond to him.
"Keep her? Like adopt her and raise her?"
"If they let me," he nods. "I promised her that once we got out of there, I'd give her the best life possible. I'm not going back on my word."
So many thoughts are running through her head, but the most prevalent is what does this mean for her? What does it mean for their partnership and the x-files? She doesn't want to be selfish. She would have made the same sacrifices without any thought if she had been allowed to adopt Emily. But she can't help but feel like Mulder is trying to move on . . . without her.
"One more thing, Scully," he says, biting on his lip nervously. "I want you to be there with us. I want you to get to know and love Skye the way I do. I want you to be her mommy, and for me to be her daddy. Visions of you holding her is what got me through that whole thing with Mary. Please help me make that a reality."
"Mulder," she gasps, tears escaping her eyes. "What are you saying? Are you . . . proposing to me?"
"Would you say yes if I were?" he asks, half joking, but very serious. "I had a lot of time to think, Scully. Mary was so lonely that she had to kidnap men and make them her 'husbands'. I don't want to ever be that lonely. And if I continue to hide what I feel for you, I'm afraid that one day I will be."
"What do you feel for me?" she whispers, wiping her wet cheeks with the back of her hand.
"I love you, Scully," he smiles, relieved to finally say it. "I've loved you for a long time."
"I love you, too."
"Really?" He gives her a big grin this time, scooping her up in his arms and hugging her tightly. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Probably for the same reason you never told me."
They both laugh at how foolish they've been, hiding their feelings from each other. The past month has shown them both how precious time is and neither wants to waste any more of it.
Mulder bends down, gently pressing his lips to Scully's. He came so close to never being able to do this, that it scares him.
"I don't know what I would have done if I'd never found you," she says, echoing his thoughts.
"Let's not dwell on it," he smiles, kissing her again. "We're together now. And as long as we don't let go of each other, that's how we're going to stay."
"Don't worry about that. I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again, Fox Mulder. We're going to be together forever. Until death do us part," she adds in a whisper.
"That sounds suspiciously like a yes to my proposal."
"Whatever it takes, G-Man," she smiles, giggling when he lifts her up and spins her around. Instead of putting her back on the ground, he goes to sit next to the baby's crib, setting Scully in his lap.
"You hear that, Skye? She's going to marry me and make us a family. I told you she was great."
"She really is beautiful, Mulder. I can't wait to be her mommy," she smiles, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him in for a kiss. It's the first chance she's ever had to kiss him the way she's always wanted to. She takes his breath away with her passion.
"I just have one question," she says, finally letting him up for air.
"Shoot," he pants, thinking of not much more than how sexy her swollen lips look.
"How in the world did she get the name Skye Blue?"
"Oh, that's a long story, Scully," he laughs. "A really long story. Maybe I'll tell you one day. But for right now, all I want to do is kiss you."
And that's exactly what he does.
The end.
It's been two weeks since Mulder's last seen Mary. He's sure she's been in from time to time to bring in more baby supplies and to get rid of the dirty diapers, but he's never seen her. He's convinced that she's been drugging his food periodically, to make sure he's asleep whenever she needs to come into the room. But he never knows when that is. So he can't plan an escape attempt around it.
For the most part, he's been happy not to have to see the woman. He's been able to spend a lot of time getting to know and love Skye even more than he did when he first met her. And he's become more and more determined to get them both out of there.
So in that way, Mary's absence has been a blessing. On the other hand, it scares him to think what she might be doing or planning to do while she's been gone. He's afraid she might be planning on another kidnapping. The last time they spoke, after a weeks worth of failed seduction attempts on her part, she was convinced that they needed another baby. He hopes she hasn't been trying to get another one.
Over the years, Mulder has run across all kinds of lunatics. But Mary is about as crazy as they come. Sadly, he's sure this isn't the first time she's done something like this. He just hopes he doesn't share the fate of whoever else she's got buried in that back yard. Because then, there won't be anyone to stop her from doing it again.
Skye gurgles happily as she plays with her bare feet. Even the little girl seems to be able to sense Mary's absence. She's such a happy little girl whenever the woman isn't around. She's about as attached to Mulder as Mulder is to her.
"What have you got, Skye? You trying to eat your toes?" he asks, crawling onto the bed next to the baby. He tickles her stomach and smiles when she lets out her little baby giggle.
"I can't wait to get you home. You're going to have a great life," he promises solemnly. "Nothing but love and laughter and happiness. And maybe a pony when you're old enough."
He's rewarded with another giggle from the girl and he can't help but join in her happiness. The only thing better would be if he could share the moment with Scully. He's never even considered what would happen if she doesn't want the little girl in her life. He knows she will. If only they get the chance.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The tears keep on flowing and Mary is powerless to stop them. She tried so hard to please him. But he rebuffed her every advance. She tried for almost a week before finally giving up. He didn't want anything to do with her. He never wanted anything to do with her. He was just like the others. That baby became the center of his world and Mary became nothing.
For two weeks, Mary has been coming to grips with what she must do. She really loved Fox and letting him go will be hard for her. But she knows she must. She has to have a clean break so that she can move on and start a new family. This is the only way she knows how to bury the past . . . literally.
She gasps for breath, struggling in the heat to dig the graves. The small one didn't take very long. But the one for Fox is zapping her physical and emotional strength. It's never been this hard before. Probably because she's never loved anyone like she loved Fox.
With a sigh, she starts digging again. There's a lot of work still left to do.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A month since he's been gone and still no word on Mulder. Scully heaves a heavy sigh, knowing that this is all her fault. If she had only thought to find him sooner. If only she hadn't waited a whole week to start looking. If only she had gone with him.
The truth is, she went on that retreat with her mother for less than spiritual reasons. She was running from her feelings for Mulder. Before he went missing, she had gotten to her breaking point. She knew that if she had seen him, she would have jumped on him and given him the kiss of a lifetime. Going away for the weekend was the only way she could see to prevent major embarrassment on her part.
She wishes now she had followed her heart instead of her mind.
"Agent Scully, you're exhausted. You've been at this for weeks. I know you're not getting a lot of rest," Byers notes sympathetically.
Mulder seems to have disappeared into thin air. She can't make heads or tails of the evidence gathered by herself and the gunmen. Even the official investigation seems to be at a standstill. For all intents and purposes, Mulder just went away one day and never returned.
The evidence just doesn't seem to make any sense to her. She's studied all the clues they managed to dig up and knows something there. She just can't see it. It's like a puzzle she can't figure out. The gunmen are still helping her, but are losing hope too. When she looks at them, all she sees are their return gazes of pity. They mean well, trying to get her to rest, but she can't stop looking for Mulder.
"I'll sleep when I find Mulder," she grumbles, trying to hide a yawn behind her hand.
"Scully," Frohike tries, but decides not to fuss at her when she gives him a spine chilling look. "Well, at least let me get you some coffee."
She sighs, knowing the best thing would be to give in and let them do this one thing for her.
"Thanks, Frohike. Coffee would be . . . "
The guys all look to her when she stops talking in the middle of her sentence, wondering if she's finally shut down after all this time. Instead, they see her flipping madly through the files they've managed to accumulate over the past month on Mulder's disappearance.
"Where's that report on the car?" she screams almost frantically, them mention of coffee making a strange connection in her brain.
"It's right here," Byers says calmly, giving her the correct folder before she completely loses it.
"I can't believe I never thought of it before," she mutters. "It's been here all this time."
The gunmen look at each other, surprised at this behavior in her. It's a Mulder kind of thing to do, leaping to an unlikely conclusion that's usually the key in solving the mystery.
"The coffee," she says out loud, noticing their confused looks. "She put something into Mulder's coffee, probably a tranquilizer or something. Now look at this."
She points to the list of what was found in a stain in Mulder's car and her smile grows.
"This was taken from a stained area on the seat in the car. We just assumed it was coffee, or soda or any variety of things. But those compounds combine to form a rare, but powerful drug used for therapy in mental patients. I can't believe I didn't notice it before," she says, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Well, if the drug is so rare, there can't be that many doctors in that rural area of Virginia that have prescribed it recently. We can trace the drug to a doctor and then show him the picture of our mystery lady. Maybe we can get an address."
"Just what I was thinking, Langly," she smiles. "We find this doctor, we find Mulder."
She's practically giddy at the thought of their new avenue of search. She's definitely too excited to sit still. She starts pacing around the small room while Langly starts the computer search.
"Got him," Langly announces after only a few minutes. "Dr. Gregory Stevens. He works at a mental institution in Richmond, Virginia, but also has a smaller clinic outside of Laney."
"Not far from that gas station," she nods. "Get his address and I'll go talk to him."
"No need," Langly smiles. "His records are computerized, but the security sucks. I was able to hack in with no trouble at all."
"And it looks like we're in luck," Frohike adds. "The patient records include photos."
"Well, there shouldn't be that many patients he prescribed that drug to," Scully says. "That should narrow down our search a good deal."
By the time she finishes the thought, they've found a picture that matches. She must admit, the gunmen are awfully good at what they do. She's never given them enough credit in the past. All that will change in the future. But not now. Now, she has to go find Mulder. Copying the address from the file, she gathers her things to go.
"Scully," Byers calls to her. "We don't think you should do this alone."
"I know," she sighs. "I don't think that'll be a good idea. I'll call Skinner. He'll know what to do."
Chapter 8
Mulder could tell by the look in her eyes that Mary was up to something. She burst into the room earlier and grabbed the napping baby from her crib, not even bothering with any niceties. She was out the door before Mulder could lodge a protest.
Panic starts to fill his heart. He begins to pray like he's never prayed before that nothing happens to Skye. It would kill him to know he let something to happen to her while he stood helplessly by.
"Mary," he calls after the woman after he hears the baby start to cry. "Don't hurt her, Mary. Please. She's just a baby."
An eerie silence falls over the house where Mulder doesn't even hear the sound of his own breathing. The baby has stopped crying, but Mulder has no idea whether she's just being quiet or if something terrible has happened. He gets a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that if something bad hasn't happened yet, it's about to happen now.
He yanks on his chain with purpose now, trying desperately to pull it from the wall or break a weak link. He has to get out of the house now or he may not get another chance. He grabs a chair, trying to use it to break through the chain, but to no avail. He's locked tight.
He lets out a frustrated groan, looking around the room for anything he can use as a weapon. He knows his time has run out when he hears footsteps coming down the hall towards the room. All he can do is get into a protective position, guarding himself from any attack she may make.
"Your turn, my love," she says in a dull voice. As she starts walking towards him, Mulder hears a sound he never heard from her before - the tinkling of keys. Maybe he'll be able to get the keys from her and unlock himself before she can do any damage. He focuses on finding a weak spot on her, waiting for her to get close enough before he attacks her. But she has a surprise for him. She stops just outside his reach and pulls out a needle.
"So you won't feel any pain, my sweet Fox," she explains as she catches his questioning glare. "The others weren't so lucky. Only you and my beautiful Skye Blue deserve this honor."
He notices with much terror that there's dirt underneath all her fingernails and smudges of it on her cheek. She must plan on burying him and the baby with the other body he knows she has back there. Now she's mentioning 'others'. How many others has she done this to? He can't worry about them, though. He has to find out about the baby.
"Where's the baby, Mary?" Mulder asks, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach. "What have you done to her?"
"She's waiting for you to join her for her nap. Except this is a nap that neither of you will be waking from."
She steps closer to inject him with the contents of the needle and he dodges her as best he can. He knows that if she catches him, he's as good as dead. He can't let that happen. He's made a promise to Skye to get her out of there and he intends on keeping it.
Mary lunges at him again with the needle, intent on ending the game. He manages to catch her hand before it gets to her, knocking the needle away. They both fall to the floor and scramble for it, but he gets to it quicker. He rolls over in time to see her climb on top of him, her knees pinning his forearms to the floor. She tries to get the needle, but he holds tight, refusing to let her get it. Not giving up on her own plans to kill him, she wraps her hands around his neck and squeezes hard. He can only let out a strangled cry before the world starts to go black.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Scully and Skinner pull up to the house listed in the doctor's files as belonging to one Mary Simpson. This woman's picture was the nearest match to the woman at the gas station with Mulder. According to her doctor, Mary's a pathological liar, telling fantastic tales about her many marriages and children. Medical tests done on the woman can prove that she's never given birth and there have been no records of her ever getting married. So what would she want with Mulder, Scully thinks to herself.
"You think this is it?" Skinner asks her, breaking into her thoughts. "It seems quiet. Remote, even."
"The perfect place to hold a hostage," Scully mutters, already trying to come up with a plan for going in. She has a feeling this is the right place.
That feeling is proven correct when they hear a blood curdling yell coming from the house.
"Mulder," Scully screams, grabbing her gun and running towards the house without even a glance back to make sure Skinner was following.
She runs up to the door and kicks it in, breaking the lock with the first try. She dashes from room to room, almost panicking when each one proves to be empty. She finally stumbles into a bedroom at the end of the hall, gasping at the sight of a woman on top of an unconscious Mulder. Her first instinct is to shoot, but she has to go by the book on this.
"Are you Mary Simpson?" she calls to the woman, catching her startled glare when she looks up. She truly didn't hear them enter the house.
"I'm with the FBI. I'm going to need you to stand up slowly and put your hands behind your head," Scully instructs her. She hears Skinner come up behind her and knows he has his gun on the woman. She takes out her cuffs and is about to restrain Mary when she does the last thing anyone expects.
Scully's eyes pop wide open when the woman jams a needle straight into her own neck, plunging it in before Scully can stop her. Scully watches in shock as Mary's dead body drifts to the floor, the needle still in her vein.
"Scully, he isn't breathing."
Skinner's voice reaches through her fog, his panic evident. She looks down at Mulder's body and jumps into action, starting CPR on him. On the edge of her focus, she can hear Skinner calling for backup and an ambulance, but she doesn't pay much attention. All her energy is focused on making Mulder breathe again.
"Wake up," she begs while pumping his chest. She gives him another puff of air before doing the chest compressions again. "You're not going to die on me."
Tears are streaming down her face, but she tirelessly tries to resuscitate him until she's rewarded with a response from him. He starts coughing, gagging at the sudden flow of air back through his lungs.
Her tears of fear turn to those of joy as she cradles him in her arms, grateful that he's alive.
"Where is she?" he gasps, still trying to catch his breath.
"Mary's dead, Mulder. She shot herself with a needle I can only assume was meant for you."
"Dead? But where's Skye?" She tries to hold him down, but he struggles even harder to get on his feet. "I have to find her."
"Mulder? What's going on? Who's Skye?"
But he ignores her, already trying to leave, but finding himself still chained. He turns back and goes through Mary's pockets until he comes up with a set of keys. He unlocks himself and goes running through the house.
"Skye? Skye, Sweetie, where are you? Can you hear me?"
"Mulder, just stop a minute," Scully says when she finally catches up with him. "There's no one else in the house. We searched already."
She watches him blanche at that, afraid that he's about to pass out.
"No," he groans, pushing past her again to run out the back door of the house. He dashes all over the back yard, looking for something. Scully doesn't know what, but she knows it's important to him so she starts to look too.
By this time, the ambulances have arrived and Skinner is prepared to let them take Mulder by force to the hospital. It's obvious he needs some medical, and probably psychological, help.
"Skye," he yells again, and with a sickening feeling, Scully realizes what he's looking for when she sees a newly dug grave under a tree.
"Mulder." She calls him and points it out to him, surprised at the speed with which he gets across the yard. He starts digging frantically with his bare hands. She finds a shovel leaning against the tree and helps him, stopping abruptly when she hits a box. She's horrified at how small the little tomb is.
With shaking hands, he tears the lid off the box, lifting out a tiny body.
"Help her," he barely whispers, but she hears him anyway.
She pushes aside her horror and swallows the bile threatening to rise. She's pleasantly surprised to find a pulse. It's weak and shallow, but the baby is still alive.
"I need a medic," she yells over her shoulder before turning to Mulder. "She's alive. Just barely, but she's still alive. She may be okay if we get her to the hospital quickly."
He lets out a relieved breath, collapsing in a trembling heap at her feet. She bends down next to him, taking him again into her arms. She has no idea what Mulder has been through this past month, but she can see the effect it's having on him. Physically, he's going to be fine. But she can't even take a guess at his emotional state. All she can do is be there for him. When it's all said and done, there's no other place she'd rather be.
Epilogue
Mulder only allows the briefest of check ups once he reaches the hospital, so intent on finding Skye. He makes it to her room and is stopped cold at the tiny body lying in the middle of all the wires and tubes.
"I thought you said she'd be okay, Scully," he gasps, tears forming at the sight of the baby.
"She will be, Mulder. All of that is just for precaution since she's so little and they don't know how long she went without oxygen or the effects the drug Mary gave her will have on her system. But they're optimistic for a full recovery." She gives him an encouraging smile and takes her hand in his own.
"She's just so little, Scully," he sighs. "I can't help but worry."
"You love her, don't you?"
"With all my heart. I didn't think I was the type to go all goo goo over a baby, but here I am," he smiles. He looks back at the baby and his thoughts turn serious. He wouldn't want Scully to think he was joking about what he's about to say. "I want to keep her."
Her mouth falls open in shock, not knowing how to respond to him.
"Keep her? Like adopt her and raise her?"
"If they let me," he nods. "I promised her that once we got out of there, I'd give her the best life possible. I'm not going back on my word."
So many thoughts are running through her head, but the most prevalent is what does this mean for her? What does it mean for their partnership and the x-files? She doesn't want to be selfish. She would have made the same sacrifices without any thought if she had been allowed to adopt Emily. But she can't help but feel like Mulder is trying to move on . . . without her.
"One more thing, Scully," he says, biting on his lip nervously. "I want you to be there with us. I want you to get to know and love Skye the way I do. I want you to be her mommy, and for me to be her daddy. Visions of you holding her is what got me through that whole thing with Mary. Please help me make that a reality."
"Mulder," she gasps, tears escaping her eyes. "What are you saying? Are you . . . proposing to me?"
"Would you say yes if I were?" he asks, half joking, but very serious. "I had a lot of time to think, Scully. Mary was so lonely that she had to kidnap men and make them her 'husbands'. I don't want to ever be that lonely. And if I continue to hide what I feel for you, I'm afraid that one day I will be."
"What do you feel for me?" she whispers, wiping her wet cheeks with the back of her hand.
"I love you, Scully," he smiles, relieved to finally say it. "I've loved you for a long time."
"I love you, too."
"Really?" He gives her a big grin this time, scooping her up in his arms and hugging her tightly. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Probably for the same reason you never told me."
They both laugh at how foolish they've been, hiding their feelings from each other. The past month has shown them both how precious time is and neither wants to waste any more of it.
Mulder bends down, gently pressing his lips to Scully's. He came so close to never being able to do this, that it scares him.
"I don't know what I would have done if I'd never found you," she says, echoing his thoughts.
"Let's not dwell on it," he smiles, kissing her again. "We're together now. And as long as we don't let go of each other, that's how we're going to stay."
"Don't worry about that. I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again, Fox Mulder. We're going to be together forever. Until death do us part," she adds in a whisper.
"That sounds suspiciously like a yes to my proposal."
"Whatever it takes, G-Man," she smiles, giggling when he lifts her up and spins her around. Instead of putting her back on the ground, he goes to sit next to the baby's crib, setting Scully in his lap.
"You hear that, Skye? She's going to marry me and make us a family. I told you she was great."
"She really is beautiful, Mulder. I can't wait to be her mommy," she smiles, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him in for a kiss. It's the first chance she's ever had to kiss him the way she's always wanted to. She takes his breath away with her passion.
"I just have one question," she says, finally letting him up for air.
"Shoot," he pants, thinking of not much more than how sexy her swollen lips look.
"How in the world did she get the name Skye Blue?"
"Oh, that's a long story, Scully," he laughs. "A really long story. Maybe I'll tell you one day. But for right now, all I want to do is kiss you."
And that's exactly what he does.
The end.