Author's notes: Hi, y'all. This was one of my first experiments in
X-Files fan fiction. So, play nice. I know it's not great, but I just
found it on a disk. Oh yeah, the characters of Sheriff Jenkins and
Deputy Edwards are mine, not that anyone would want them. :)

Disclaimer: I've written very few fan fictions, but the disclaimer dance
was old a long time ago. Here gang, let us all say it together! This
isn't written for profit of any form, other than the hopeful enjoyment of
the reader. Besides, I'm in college, and broke doesn't quite describe it
fellas. :) The characters of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are the property
of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, FOX Television, is that it?

Anger

Anger. That's what it had all came down to. Pure anger. In retrospect,
she couldn't remember what had started it all, only that she couldn't
take it anymore. Her words had been calm and precise, but still cutting
deep. His face had registered his hurt at her cold words his hazel eyes
clouding over. Now, she was left sitting in a basement office alone, one
that did not even bear her name on the door.

The day had started out simply enough. She had reported to work at the
J. Edgar Hoover building at nine a.m., with nothing but paperwork planned
for the day. Well, Scully had paperwork planned for the day. That
seemed to be the established pattern for the partners, *they* solved the
case, then *she* did the paperwork.

As she entered the basement office, she could see only the top of
Mulder's head behind a mountain of folders and the occasional sunflower
seed. He was so absorbed in his reading, glasses precariously perched on
his nose, that he failed to even note the arrival of his flame haired
partner. After she had placed her purse under her desk, and flipped on
her computer she cleared her throat, in an attempt to gain the attention
of her distracted partner.

"Oh, hey Scully," Mulder called out, while still munching on a sunflower
seed and not bothering to look up from whatever possible case he was
reading about.

"Good morning to you too, Mulder." Meanwhile, she was just glad it was
Friday, and she would finally have two X-Files free days. She wasn't
sure where this bout of restlessness had come from, but it was best to
just hide for a couple of days, and face Monday with a refreshed
attitude.

"Oh, Kimberly called earlier and Skinner wants the report on the Scott
case by five this afternoon. I told her okay. So, how is the report
coming anyway?" Mulder asked, an innocent look on his face as he pushed
his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Not that you would know, since you never seem to help with the
paperwork; but it's coming. I should have it finished in time, I don't
know why I wouldn't," Scully said, her agitation showing through more
than she had intended.

A puzzled look on his face, Mulder just started at her.

In an attempt to save the morning, Scully walked over to see what Mulder
had been reading before she had came into the office. Scanning the
document, she got the look on her face that told Mulder she thought he
was off on another wild goose chase.

"Mulder, you've got to be . . ." was all she managed to say before he
interrupted her.

"Wait a minute Scully, give it a chance. At least read it all before you
declare it a ridiculous cause."

The rest of the day had not gone any smoother than the morning had, and
Scully was glad to be done with the report and turn it in to A.D.
Skinner. Her last stop before heading to her apartment was to pick up
her stuff in the office.

When she entered the office, Mulder was sitting at his desk the same way
he had been all day.

"Go home Mulder, get some sleep, or watch some of your movies, what ever
it is you do on Friday nights to relax."

"Uh, yeah Scully, have a good weekend," he said distractedly, hardly
looking up from his folder, "yeah, I'm gonna get out of here sooner or
later."

"Come on Mulder, don't sit in here all night looking at that worthless
file," all she wanted to do was go home, yet she couldn't leave worried
that he might not go home at all.

"Worth . . . Worthless? Is that really what you think?" his eyes
shining with flecks of hurt.

"Mulder . . . don't. Don't start this. Not again. This argument was
old four years ago. The file you're looking at isn't even remotely
valid. It's pointless to waste Bureau money and time pursuing this."

"One of these days, Scully, one of my so-called, pointless cases is going
to be something big, and you'll regret your hard-line stance."

"Mulder, listen to me, mysterious lights over a forest in the middle of
nowhere, whatever the locals are calling it, doesn't add up to anything
worth our time. So, why don't you just put the file down and go home?"
her blue eyes were drilling holes into his head, daring him to try and
convince her otherwise.

She crossed the office to her desk, gathering up everything that she
wanted to take home for the weekend. She was somewhat relieved when she
heard Mulder packing up. His voice caught her by surprise when he
finally spoke after several tense moments of silence.

"I guess I'm sorry that after so long, you still see extreme
possibilities as being more along the lines of the impossible. I'll be
sure to not interrupt your weekend away from all of this," with that he
left the office, his dress shoes clicking down the hallway to the
elevator.

Anger. As she sat unmoving in her chair, she tried but failed at
discovering where it had came from, this need to get away from the
X-Files, even to get away from her best friend. Funny, she wasn't
exactly sure when she had came to see him as her best friend, but he was
all the same. Even though she still felt angry, she also felt as if she
had shot yet another hole into the trust they had woven so delicately
around their relationship.

Silently she cursed herself for not holding her tongue. However, since
she couldn't take it back she felt no need to continue worrying about it.
Mulder is a big boy; he can take care of himself. With that, she too
left the basement office. She didn't notice as she was leaving that the
file that had caused such an argument earlier wasn't on Mulder's desk
anymore.

*****

Scully had gone home Friday night, and watched old movies. Sometimes it
was nice to hide from the world. Not to mention flukemen, killer bees,
morphing guys, and the assorted strange characters she and Mulder came
across in their work.

When she awoke the next morning, she didn't remember falling asleep. Her
television was still tuned to the classic movie channel, and was in the
middle of showing "Citizen Kane." Having never cared for the film, she
turned the set off.

The day was uneventful enough; she went to lunch with her mother, luckily
avoiding another Mulder-centric conversation. They went shopping for
most of the afternoon, and Scully returned home right around dusk.

For much of the afternoon, Scully couldn't quite shake a strange feeling
about Mulder. It stayed at the edge of her consciousness, begging to be
noticed. Still slightly annoyed at the argument they had had the
previous day, she ignored the feeling. However, after the sun fell, the
feeling became more persistent until she couldn't just ignore it.

*Fine,* she thought, *I'll call him and get it over with.* She picked up
her phone, noting that since it was only ten p.m. it was earlier than he
typically called her. She let it ring until his machine picked up and
she jabbed the off button on her phone. She then called his cell phone,
figuring that she could make up some excuse for calling him, especially
if it would make the nagging at the edge of her mind go away.

Her stomach sank when she got a recording saying that he had traveled out
of range. Damn it Mulder, where are you? she thought. Otherwise she
might not have thought much of his disappearing, but the feeling of dread
she'd had was growing worse by the minute.

Suddenly it hit her, the case file he had been so interested in. The one
she had called worthless. In vain she tried to remember where it had
originated from. She tried to picture the file in her head, wishing once
more for the gift of Mulder's photographic memory. Alabama, the case had
been in Alabama. But where?

*****

Mulder was cold, wet and most of all, alone. For the hundredth time he
wondered exactly how he had gotten into this situation. Dumb, dumb,
dumb. The words echoed through his mind over and over. Exactly how long
he had been stuck in a hole in the ground he wasn't sure. He had left
the office the day before, and found himself getting on a plane heading
out to the middle of nowhere in Alabama. Early Saturday morning he had
hiked off into the wilderness, searching for something that Scully would
label swamp gas. Now he was twenty feet below ground with a broken leg
and a killer knot on his head, stuck off in the middle of the forest.
This is why you're not supposed to work alone, Scully's voice scolded in
his mind.

"Come on Scully, leave me 'lone . . ." his voice, weakened by the fall
and cold, called out. "Probably why I'm in this mess in the first place,
just did it to annoy you." It took him a moment to realize that she
wasn't actually there.

"Now what am I going to do?" he questioned, not even wondering why he was
talking to himself. He figured he had to kill time somehow, seeing as
how his cell phone was useless and no one even knew they needed to look
for him, much less where to look.

Crickets began to chirp and darkness started to fall in the woods. One
more day, he thought, and maybe someone will notice my amazing
personality is missing. At that thought, he smiled faintly, before
slipping into unconsciousness.

*****

Scully had grabbed her coat and drove over to Mulder's apartment. She
knocked on his door, her anxiety increased when she received no answer.
Using her key, the one officially listed for emergencies, she entered the
dark main room. The place was a disaster, as usual, but she found what
she thought she might. The file was laying on the table by his computer.
On it was a scribbled note he had made listing his flight time and
carrier. American 602, 7:45 a.m. Saturday.

Reaching for the phone, she dialed the number in the phone book for
American Airlines to find out the destination of flight 602. It turned
out to be a flight to Mobile National Airport. It took only a few
moments to secure a seat on the next flight to Mobile. Her flight didn't
leave for two hours, and it gave her time to pack at her apartment, drive
Ronald Reagan International Airport and try and plan for what she would
do when she got to Mobile.

According to the file's information, the original sighting had been
reported in the forest outside of a small town, a two-hour drive north of
Mobile. Scully made arrangements to have a rental car waiting at the
airport so she could head north as soon as possible.

Finally situated on the plane, she could not relax, the feeling that had
originally been on the edges of her conscious were now occupying her
thoughts. --What if this time, I don't reach him in time?-- flashed
across her mind, just as quickly as it had appeared, she dismissed the
fear. --What's one more game of find Mulder and save his butt?-- her
thoughts countered, and she allowed herself a faint smile at the thought
of again saving his hide.

*****

Dawn found Mulder still slumped over in the pit he now called home.
Luckily the night air temperature hadn't dropped too low; however, he
didn't know how much longer he could manage without food, water or
warmth. His leg had long ago gone numb, but his head was killing him.
Well, he figured if his head didn't kill him, Scully would gladly take
the chance. That would be after she chewed him out for ditching her
again.

"Well, it wasn't really a ditch this time," at this he laughed, "she knew
it was lame from the beginning. Just one more time, shoulda listened
'suppose." By this point even Mulder noticed his speech was becoming
blurred, it was catching up to the fact his vision had been blurred since
he had awoke. It wasn't long before a dreamless sleep was again tugging
at the corners of his mind.

*****

By early morning Sunday, Scully feared she was hopelessly lost in the
woods. Sure, she could handle herself in an outdoor environment, but it
helped to have some idea about the area. She had contacted the local
sheriff, an older man named Jenkins. Apparently Mulder had spoken to him
briefly early Saturday morning, and the last anyone knew was that Mulder
was heading out into the woods to search for the cause of the mysterious
lights. Even Sheriff Jenkins agreed with Scully that it must be the
imaginings of a few local over-active imaginations.

Luckily, before she managed to become too deeply lost in the forest, a
deputy was dispatched to help guide Scully in the unfamiliar terrain.
Quickly they set out walking through the dense tree and foliage growth in
search of the wandering agent.

*****

Judging by the placement of the sun in the sky, Mulder was guessing it
was mid-afternoon sometime. He tried to recall where the hours since he
had first woken up had gone, he didn't remember falling back asleep.
Above, he could hear birds chirping and the wind blowing. He also heard
Scully's voice.

"Oh man. Come on, Scully, I asked you to leave me 'lone," he whined.
The pounding in his head hadn't eased since the day before, and his
vision was a mere blur of it's former self. Yet, the voice was
insistent, it kept calling his name.

"Scully?" he called, questioning if she was truly there. Yet, his voice
was weak, and he could tell it didn't carry very far amidst the sounds of
the forest. Again, his voice rasped out "Scully? Over here . . . " but
again, his mind was betraying him, ever so slowly no matter how he fight
it, sleep was reclaiming him. "Scu . . ." And again he was still.

*****

She couldn't explain it, but all of a sudden she knew where to walk. She
surprised the deputy by veering off to the right suddenly, and she began
to walk faster until she was jogging through the undergrowth.

"Mulder!" she cried, listening to only silence in response.

"Mulderrrr!" she tried again. They had been calling his name for hours,
but she wouldn't, no, couldn't give up. He needed her, she knew it as
surely as she knew she needed air to breathe. As surely as she knew she
needed him to live.

She barely caught herself before she would have fallen into a great hole
in the earth. Scanning the recesses of the pit at her feet, she was
about to move on when she spotted something blue in the shadows. Blue,
she wondered? Royal blue was rare in nature.

Scully yelled for the deputy to follow her voice. "Deputy Edwards, I
think I've found him!" broke through the silence of the trees. She could
have sworn to have heard a moan from below her when Edwards finally
caught up to her.

"Quick," she started, clicking into professional mode, "you've got to
help me get down there and see if it's really him. If he fell that far,
he's probably badly injured."

Tying a rope to a tree, they formed a pulley system to lower Scully into
the hole. Prior to lowering her, Edwards called the Sheriff's office on
his walkie-talkie, relaying their position and requesting medical back
up.

"Come on, Edwards, let's go," Scully all but demanded. "That's my
partner down there, and I'm not going to leave him there any longer than
I have to." As she spoke, she was climbing farther and farther down into
the ground. When she reached the bottom, she was taken aback at the
state Mulder had once again found himself in. But the time for reacting
would come later, when he was safe in a hospital.

*****

Mulder was once again woke up still in his prison of earth. Only this
time, Scully really was there. Squinting his eyes, he looked at her. He
finally spoke, although he believed her to once again be a speck of his
imagination.

"Not again," he rasped out of a parched throat. "Didn't you lecture me
enough last time? You've come back to lecture me again?" His hazel eyes
were glazed and told of hurt, pain, and confusion.

Scully, believing him to be talking about Friday's argument, only
replied, "sshhh . . . it's okay, we've just got to get you up out of this
hole." Yet her eyes told a story of guilt, her hostility long forgotten.
Time would come for such a discussion later.

The current rescue of Special Agent Fox Mulder went unimpeded. Sooner
than she would have thought possible, Scully was aware that the medical
team was above ground. She had done the best she could at keeping Mulder
warm, but there was little she could do otherwise. She could tell he was
in shock, so she concentrated on talking to him, letting him know he
wasn't alone anymore, and continuing to keep him warm. Progress was slow
at lifting him out, having to try and not aggravate the injuries to his
leg or head. Finally they were both out, and headed to the local
hospital.

*****

When Mulder awoke again, he was free of the earth that had surrounded
him. He surveyed the room as best he could. *Yep,* he thought, *same
as all of the others*. His eyes stopped on the head of his partner,
which was laying beside him on the bed, having had fallen asleep in her
chair propped up against the bed's edge. She awoke at his movement,
looking up to meet his eyes.

She smiled, and he looked away, unwilling to meet her gaze. She looked
at him, concerned, when he continued to avoid her eyes.

"What is it? What's wrong?" she questioned him, hoping to bring him out
of his shell.

"I'm sorry . . ." he said, so softly and quietly that she had to strain
to make out the words. "I'm sorry I got angry, and wouldn't listen, and
ran off without you. Again. And I even ruined your weekend. But, how'd
you know?" At that he looked up into her eyes, his own shining with a
sheen of tears unshed.

"Mulder . . ." she stopped, not knowing how to continue. "You don't have
to be sorry. The fault here is with both of us, sometimes we're just
both too stubborn for our own good. I should have been more open minded,
that's not a new idea for me since I started working with you." With
that she finally allowed herself to smile again.

"As to how I knew, I just knew. You know, Mom likes to say how connected
we are. All day yesterday, I couldn't shake the feeling you needed me.
So, last night I did something about it. Then today, I didn't know where
I was going in the forest, I just went. I was scared, but I found you.
Like always," she laughed, "someone had to save your butt."

"Thanks . . ." was all he managed before the drugs to kill the pain in
his leg forced him back into slumber.

*****

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to join us," Scully laughed
as Mulder half walked, half fell through the door to their office.

"Ha, ha. Let's see you manage with these things." It had been two weeks
since his ordeal in Alabama, and the crutches were still alluding him.
He had been back at work for a day, and had complained the whole time.
Leave it to Mulder to milk it for all of the attention it was worth.

"Poor thing, here sit down before you break something else. This time it
might be something more important than your head," she said with a sly
grin.

"Uh, huh, just keep 'em coming. You'll get yours you just wait," he
grinned back at her, as soon as he managed to collapse into his chair.
"So, what does Skinner have lined up for us anyway?"

Mulder knew he was in trouble the moment he saw the huge grin on Scully's
face.

"Oh man, not paperwork. Anything but that," he cried.

"Yep, here ya go, Grizzly Adams. You're on desk duty till the cast there
comes off, and for once, I'm not stuck with the fun stuff. Enjoy, I've
need to head over to Quantico for a while today to sub for one of the
teachers." The look on his face was enough to keep her smiling for the
remainder of the day.

"And remember," she called from just down the hallway, "in the basement,
no one can hear you scream." With a somewhat evil laugh, she was off
leaving Mulder to pout among his newly acquired paperwork.

fin