Summary- For this story, I ask you to imagine that the events of "Orison" took place while John Doggett was Scully's partner. There is no baby, Mulder is missing and presumed dead. This story is DSF/DSR, if that's not your cup of tea, than this story isn't for you.

AN- Thanks to my beta, Dana Katherine.

Chapter One- Admonitio

Sleep lost its tenuous grasp on Dana Scully twenty three minutes before the sunlight would dare to crawl over her window sills. In her black bedroom, her blurry eyes found the red glare of her alarm clock. It flashed 6:66. Her grogginess vanished and she examined the clock, tapping it quizzically until the numbers suddenly returned to normal. Of all the things she has seen in the last seven years, a malfunctioning clock, however demonically, was no surprise.

A few hours later at work, she greeted her partner. John Doggett. She was paired with him about a year ago, shortly after Mulder went missing. In the early stages of their relationship, she trusted him as one would a rabid animal, and treated him as such. But over time, as he saved her life again and again, she came to realize that he was a solid agent, as good as his word, and that his only agenda was to protect her in every way possible. They became friends, often spending time together outside of work. He had never made a move, but she sensed that he would like it to be something more. This intrigued her, but as close as she'd let him become, she was unsure of how much closer she was willing to let him be. Life, up until this point had been unmerciful, and she had no reason to believe it would improve.

Years ago, she'd dreamed of getting married and having a normal life with a man like Doggett, but those dreams seemed like they belonged to a past life now. She'd been immersed in the X-Files for so long that commonality had become fantasy. And with Mulder gone, she was the only one left to pursue the truth. She had never expected her life to turn out this way, but she couldn't find any alternative. The X-Files was her burden now. At least she didn't have to bear it alone.

Scully looked at her tall partner and thought how good he looked in navy. He brought her coffee, just the way she likes it. It wasn't long before they were called into Skinner's office. Scully sat next to Doggett and having grown accustomed, even comfortable with his presence, she made no attempt to monitor her body language, and she crossed her legs so that her toes pointed toward his flat feet. He noticed and cherished the small act of closeness, having over time, managed to earn her trust and ease her hyperactive defense mechanisms.

They both thought this would be a normal briefing. At least normal for the X-Files. They were wrong. Skinner told them that Donnie Pfaster had escaped from prison. The man who liked to keep women's severed fingers with his frozen peas, the man who abducted Scully. Their new assignment was to find out how he escaped and return him to justice.

Immediately, Doggett tried to think of a way to get Scully off the case without implying that she wasn't tough enough to face him again, which he knew she was. But he also knew from reading the case file how profoundly Pfaster affected her psyche. He knew that one of his deepest, most desperate desires for Scully was for her to not have to be strong all the time, for her to have a space for a human life outside of the insanity of the X-Files. He looked over at her, gauging her reaction. To her credit, she was able to control her expression; she succeeded in feigning a calm façade.

Doggett, being a man who prefers to stop a problem before it escalates into disaster, suggested that this case might be more suitable for him and Agent Reyes, owing to the personal circumstances involved. Scully shot him a look, which he had anticipated and he was ready to accept her anger if it meant that Skinner might let her stay in Washington. Her wrath was well worth the cost of her safety. Unfortunately, Skinner thought that Scully's personal experience with the man might help, and since she had no objection she was on the case. Skinner excused them and sent them on their way to the twin cities.

Upon leaving, Scully tried to outpace him but failed.

"Dana, what I said in there, what I meant was that you shouldn't have to go through this again. I know I wasn't there the first time, I know I wasn't there when he abducted you, but I got a sense from readin' that file that this is something you need to stay away from." Scully turned and looked at him, noticed the boyish fear in his eyes, the plain fear of seeing a loved one hurt. She ignored it. In the months they had worked together, he had always managed to see her at her worst, at her most vulnerable. She wanted to prove to him that she was strong, blissfully unaware that he was already well acquainted with this knowledge. They reached their office and he closed the door behind them.

"John, I'm just trying to do my job," was her brush off.

"I know you are Dana, an' I'm tryin' to do mine too. Just hear me out before you make a commitment to this case. Why don' you sit down." His gravely voice was even and earnest. She begrudgingly complied, sat down and crossed her arms and legs. "Look, this hasn't exactly been an easy year for you. You lost Mulder, and you lost your baby. That's two tragic, devastating losses in a short period of time. The last thing you need right now is have to go through all this again with Pfaster. I want you to stay here; I promise I can tackle this case with Monica. I promise I'll put him away for you."

Scully uncrossed her arms and legs and rose, fighting a strong urge to hug him, fighting even more fiercely an urge to obey. The idea of facing Pfaster again terrified her, but she couldn't show him her fear. If he knew how afraid she was, he'd never let her go, and she needed to go with him. The only thing worse than facing him again was letting him remain free.

"John, I understand your apprehension to have me on this case but there is one thing that I need you to understand." She leveled her gaze on him. "Donnie Pfaster is a monster. He does things to people that no one should have to think about, and it's not in spite of, but because of what he's done to me that I need to be a part of the team that returns him to justice. I don't have a choice. And I need you to know that I can do this." She reached out and took hold of his hand. He squeezed it softly and brushed his thumb over her knuckles.

"I know you can. But the second you want out of this case, I want you on a plane back home, ok?"

**********

Scully maintained an uneasy silence until they were about half way there, fearing he would object again, but he didn't. She tried to remember when a man had been so overprotective of her and she failed. It almost made her smile. Doggett ended the taciturnity.

"Look, we got some more time on this flight, why don't you fill me in a little?"

"Well, for a start, you may be more suited for this case because it's complete lack of supernatural elements. There is nothing special about Donnie Pfaster, he can't shape-shift, he's not an alien hybrid, he can't even see though walls." Doggett appreciated her ability to find even the slightest bit of humor in this line of work, her ability to laugh a little at herself.

"Upon psychiatric profiling, we found that Pfaster's deep hatred of women most likely stemmed from being the only male in an all female family, and that he felt oppressed and dominated by the women in his life, yet he didn't know how to live without female presence. As a way to satisfy his need for revenge and his need for feminine objects, he developed a fetish, most likely starting with the collecting of hair through his job at a local funeral home. This he was able to collect discretely, but it wasn't long before his desire for these fetish objects grew. He exhumed and desecrated a body in 1995, taking the hair and fingernails of the corpse. At that point, he was classified as an escalating fetishist. His desire for these objects could no longer be satisfied by decaying material; his compulsions would soon drive him to seek living samples. A few days after the grave desecration, he murdered a prostitute and collected her hair and fingers."

She paused for a moment to look at Doggett, who was watching her intently, his steely blue eyes worn with compassion. She looked away and continued. "Agent Mulder and I were called onto the case because the desecrated body was originally thought to have possible alien connections, but we quickly discovered that wasn't the case. We stayed on to assist the agents in Minneapolis, but unfortunately he was able to kill five women before we apprehended him." She looked up at him and he was still watching her with that look on his face. The emotionality of it derailed her consequent approach and she faltered. "...and that's about it," she murmured.

"You didn't tell me about the other part," he said softly.

"What other part?"

"The part where he abducted you."

"It's in the case file, Agent Doggett, which I know you have read."

"What happened to John?"

Scully's jaw lowered slightly and she tilted her head, eyes moving side to side as if looking for the words to say when the stewardess interrupted with their drink orders. Doggett thanked her, took the two cups of water and handed one to Scully.

"Your not goin' to throw that in my face, now, are ya?"

Eyes down, she smiled and looked up at him. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. It was very refreshing."

**********

AN- While writing this I tried to keep in mind that some dynamics of Scully's and Doggett's relationship are counter to hers and Mulder's; mainly that when she is paired with Doggett, she is the believer and he is the skeptic, so in this version of events she fills in Mulder's role while maintaining some level of vulnerability.

Reviews welcome!