BREATHLESS IMPATIENCE

Breathless Impatience is written by Ridgley Warfield. All rights to this fan fiction belong to me. The X-Files are a licensed production of the FOX company and I do not own the characters in this plot. This story is completely fiction, thought up in my own mind, and is in no way true. This is badly written and really cheesy, however, do enjoy.

The projector screen flashed the image of a middle-aged man on the wall. The photo was anything but professional quality, but Dana Scully could make out the handsome face and wide smile.

"Charlie Pullman," her partner, Fox Mulder, droned on. "A 36-year-old computer teacher." He flipped the slide to reveal a crime scene. "Found dead in his high school classroom. Apparently he crossed a wrong wire and electrocuted himself."

Scully quirked on eyebrow at him and pushed a stray red hair back from her face. Mulder put another sunflower seed in his mouth and nodded back to the projector and a new slide. Scully studied his profile as he talked. His dark brown hair was still damp from a morning shower, excitement flashed from the depths of his hazel eyes at the possibility of a new X-File case. Returning her attention to the slides, Scully listened as Mulder described the next man.

"John Nielsen. Age 32. He'd been in the fire department nearly 10 years." Another picture of a burning house. "Burned to death when his house exploded into flames."

"The only connection I see is a work-related cause of death, Mulder." Scully recalled the half dozen photos of the victims and paused on a thought. "I'll admit it's odd that the victims resemble one another, but that could be coincedence." Each man in the slides had been average height and thin with long blonde hair.

"That's where you're wrong, Scully." Again the slide changed, but this time to reveal a woman. Her dark hair fell just over her shoulders accenting the deep azure of her eyes and the cream color of her perfect skin. "Diane Ward. A 32-year-old receptionist who has also dated each one of the victims. She had witnesses for her alibis so police dismissed her as a suspect."

"When does this become an X-File?" Scully asked impatiently, crossing her arms over her chest.

"The witnesses with her at the times the victims were killed commented that Miss Ward was depressed, often irritable. One said it 'seemed like her mind was somewhere else.'"

"What are you saying, Mulder? That she willed them to die with her mind?" Scully's skeptism weighted her words.

"What's wrong, Scully?" He grinned sideways at her. "Didn't you read Matilda as a child?"

"You expect me to believe this woman killed her boyfriends with ESP? What are her motives?" Scully found herself more interested in the possibility than the severe impossibility.

"Maybe they weren't Mr. Right after all." He was leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head, giving her that coy smile that made her want to tip his chair over and dump him on the floor.

"All right. And we find her how?" Scully spread her hands, emphasizing the question, and let them fall in front of her, clasped together.

"I think it's time to get Langly a girlfriend."

*****

The average sized, lanky man was sunk into the orange couch, arms crossed over his chest and his high-top clad feet were propped up on the beat-up coffee table, crossed at the ankle. His blonde hair spilled over his shoulders, hanging lazily against the chest of his black rock band shirt. The black-rimmed glasses failed to hide his sleeping eyes. Ringo Langly, communications expert for the Lone Gunmen, didn't hear his FBI pal, Mulder, enter the technological disaster area, didn't stir when his commrads Frohike and Byers greeted Mulder with a shout and Scully with a whistle, didn't even twitch as Mulder told them the plan.

*****

"Hey, Studmuffin!" Frohike called as he flung a copy of their newspaper towards Langly. Langly opened his eyes with an angry, disoriented look.

"Feel like playing Love Connection?" Mulder smirked, gaining a confused look from Langly.

"What's going on?" His voice was almost fearful, failing to hid his distaste in their conspiracy.

"You know, Mulder, he's going to have to get some new clothes if he's gonna get the girl." Byers interjected. Langly felt like he was on display in a musem, being critiqued head to toe.

"What? What girl? Mulder." Mulder finally pulled a picture from his coat, holding it out towards Langly, who tentatively reached for it while listening to the story behind it. Mulder diliberately leftout the parts about the deaths of each man, but knew Langly would ask soon enough.

"You expect *her* to go out with *me*?" He stifled a laugh with a snort. "Man, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly Tom Cruise or anything."

"Maybe not, but you're her type down to the letter." Langly looked back at the picture, resting his elbow on his knee and looking back to Mulder.

"What's the catch?" His voice was serious, with consideration.

"Well..." Mulder glanced to Scully and she nodded in silent agreement.

"Mulder seems to think that Diane murdered her ex-boyfriends with her extra-sensory perception." Langly's mouth dropped open and he jumped up from the couch as Scully finished.

"No way! There's no way in--"

"Langly, I promise nothing will happen to you," Mulder interrupted.

"No, I'm *not* dating a psychopath, Mulder." He chuckled bitterly. "I think that's the first time I've ever said that."

"We just need some inside information. Find out about her powers. We'll be here if anything happens." Scully reassured.

"Yeah? And what about when she's in jail and has nothing to do but get revenge?" Langly tossed the picture to the coffee table as Mulder and Scully searched each other. "Exactly." He stormed into a connecting room and slammed the door, causing Scully to jump slightly.

"So what's the plan, Mulder?" Byers asked calmly, scratching his neatly trimmed beard, as if Langly hadn't refused.

"I think I can pull some strings at the security desk where she works. He'll be hard to miss."

"How is he supposed to get her to spill her guts?" Frohike asked, standing invadingly close to Scully.

"Apparently you've never tried a nice fire-side chat, Frohike." The short balding man eyed Scully and she crossed her arms sternly.

"Don't even *think* about it."

*****

"I can't believe I'm doing this for you guys." Langly's voice held an edge of disgust. He buttoned the crisp white shirt and smoothed the black tie into place. He definately would have voted his worn-out jeans over the starchy black pants, but knew *that* wouldn't go over well. He glanced down at the heavy gold badge--Security Officer.

"Come on, Langly, who can resist a man in uniform?" Mulder joked as he watched Langly fiddle with the awkward clothing. Byers looked over the outfit and tapped his chin in thought.

"What about the hair, Mulder?"

"Leave it down, it'll be to much to pull it back. I think she'll pick up on anything that makes him feel *too* awkward." After the final look over, Mulder grinned, pleased with himself.

"Perfect. Let's go."

"This is the most stupid thing I've ever done." Langly growled as he followed Byers and Mulder.

*****

"Ma'am." Langly called out as soon as he saw Diane begin to slip past him. She turned, and looking a little surprised, approached the security desk curiously.

"Yes?" She asked sweetly, talking in his appearance and not hiding the pleased, lustful look on her face.

"Can I see your badge please?" Mulder forgot to mention she was breaktaking in person. Langly concentrated on what he was saying, trying not to fumble over his words.

Diane smiled, pulling the plastic ID card from her purse and holding it out so he could see it. "You're new?"

"Yeah, first day." He eyed the badge with fake interest and gave a genuine smile. "Thanks, Ms. Ward."

"Oh please, call me Diane. No one uses formalities here anyways." She said, returning the card to her purse.

"Alright, Diane." He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to calm his pounding heart.

"So, what's your name? I see they didn't give you a name tag yet. That's typical. Brian's been here a year and they haven't given him one yet."

"Langly. Ringo Langly." He held his hand out to her and she shook it, gently dragging her nails against his palm as they released. A chill ran down his spine and he forced himself not to visibly shudder.

"Ringo?" She tilted her head and his eyes roamed over her slowly. She dressed almost like Scully, in professional suits with matching heels. Of course, Scully's suits were never *this* spectacularly tight.

"Y-Yeah," He fumbled, forgetting how to speak coherently. "It's a nickname. My real name is Richard. I prefer Langly, though."

"All right, Langly." She smiled. "I'll see you later." As she disappeared around the corner he grabbed the phone and punched in Mulder's cell phone number.

"Mulder." Came the greeting.

"Yeah, it's me. What happens if I fall in love with her?"

*****

"Hey, Langly. Made it through the first day?" Diane winked, catching him off-guard. He jumped up from the chair and smiled brightly.

"Diane, hi."

"I was wondering if you're hungry? It's almost dinner time and I've been craving Chinese *all* day. We could go to that new place on 8th avenue." He was almost hurt by how casual her invitation had been.

"I'd love to. I just need to go home and get out of this uniform." He spread his arms, displaying the outfit as he looked down at himself.

"You're right. That's a good idea. Meet me there at 7, okay?"

"Got it. See you then." He watched her leave, wondering how a girl like her could see anything in a guy like him.

Langly rushed home as soon as the last person left and began to prepare for his dinner date. Setting aside a pair of jeans and a clean shirt, Langly picked up the phone.

"Mulder."

"First base achieved, man. I'm meeting her for dinner at 7." He shrugged out of the uniform shirt and sat on the edge of his bed, wishing he could keep the dinner private, but knew Mulder would fly off his rocker.

"Which restraunt? Scully and I will be there."

"The new Chinese place on 8th. But Mulder," Langly paused, afraid of his own sudden softness, and released the breath he'd been holding. "Just don't ruin this."

*****

Langly slid in the booth across from Diane, never letting his eyes leave hers. She had dressed in jeans and a knit top, and he was relieved to be in his own clothes where he could be himself. Carefully, Langly peered around the room and spotted Mulder and Scully at a table across the room, but still within earshot. He felt under the table, trying not to bring attention to his hand, and felt a small rectangular peice of metal slide under his fingertips. Mulder had bugged the table.

"So, tell me about yourself, Langly." Diane asked intrigued, folding her hands on the table top.

"There's not much to me. I'm your typical computer geek." He shot a look of distrust at Mulder, then returned his gaze to her. "What about you?"

"I'm pretty simple, myself. I can read palms, though." She smiled shyly and opened her palm out towards him. "Give me your hand."

Langly swallowed hard and held out his hand, face-up. She gingerly held it in her own hand and pulled him forward so she could look down into his hand. Her eyes flew over every inch of his hand while her fingers traced the lines with slow, gentle caresses. He found himself awe-struck and sucked in a lung-ful of air as his heart plunged down into his stomach.

"You're very intelligent," her voice had dipped down into sultry, almost putting Langly over the edge. "You're not very honest, but you're a good person at heart."

"It says that?" She giggled at his shocked expression.

"Hands tell a lot about a person."

"What else does it give away about me?"

"Well, you haven't had a lot of girls in your life, but you're hoping I'll be one."

"There's no way my hand betrayed me *that* much." He stated with embarrassment and casually pulled his hand back, folding his arms on the table. She laughed, reaching across the short distance to place her hand on his forearm.

"No, of course not." She reassured with sparkling eyes. "I was just hoping the same thing." Langly tensed momentarily, not accustomed to hearing words like that. He placed his free hand over hers, sandwiching it between hand and arm. He gazed at her, dumbfounded that she was looking back at him. It was too good to be true, he knew it was and he knew the catch. She was setting Langly up so she could kill him.

*****

It was nearly 9:30 when they'd finally decided to leave. Byers had come and replaced Mulder and Scully so no suspicions would arise. There was something unnerving about having Byers watch and listen to Langly on a date. It was for that reason he decided it was time to go.

"Walk me home, Ringo." She pleaded, hooking her arm into his. He shoved his hands in his pockets as she wrapped her arm around the crook of his elbow. They sauntered along the sidewalk talking about nothing in particular when she pulled him over to the side of a building, bringing fistfuls of his t-shirt towards her so he would bend down to her level. She kissed him for a long minute and he flattened his hand on the stone of the building to steady himself. Their slow kisses became more demanding as her mouth opened under his. Langly shivered as her tongue snaked into his mouth, her fingers pulling up his shirt and teasing her nails across his lower back. Just when Langly began to consider this moment as heaven, he was shoved hard from the side, knocking his lips away from hers.

"Hey!" He whirled around, ready to give the idiot a piece of his mind, and found himself face to face with Frohike.

"Sorry, must of tripped." Frohike dead-panned.

"Forget it, pal." He nodded and led Diane on by the hand.

"What was that?" She asked, looking back at the grungy man.

"Huh?" Langly answered absentmindedly, following her gaze as they continued walking. "Oh, probably just some old drunk bum." He fake-felt his wallet. "At least he didn't pick my pocket." Diane wrapped her arm around his waist, tucking her head against him, and Langly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, protectively.

Their pace slowed to a stop as they came to her apartment complex. She held both his hands, facing him with a small smile as she bid him goodnight. "Well, I guess this is goodnight."

"I had a wonderful time, Diane; I never knew Chinese could be so fun." She pulled his face down to hers again, letting her lips seductively linger before his.

"Can I make a suggestion?" She questioned, with a sultry tone.

"Of course," his voice was unrecognizable through the huskiness.

"Lose the uniform. You look so much better in this." She whispered, running her fingers from his chest to the front of his jeans.

"Consider it done." Their lips finally met in the sweetest goodnight kiss Langly had ever had.

*****

"Langly, it's moving too fast and you know it. She's playing you like a fiddle and you're falling for it." Mulder scolded.

"Man, what do you care? If I die, at least you'll have your answer. Let me have fun with this." Langly argued.

"Why is this so important? What's making you risk your life when you're the one who hated us for the idea?"

Langly thought before he responded, looking at the floor, "I love her, Mulder. Playing me or not, no one's ever treated me like this, kissed me like that, touched me the way she has. I'm sorry if that wasn't supposed to happen, but next time don't ask a loser like me." Deja vu rang through Scully's ears as Langly stormed out of the room, slamming the door for a second time.

"That's it, Scully!" He grabbed her shoulders, excitedly, and she could almost see the light bulb light up over his head.

"What is?"

"Diane preys on losers like Langly! I want to look into her family for any pre-mature deaths." He was already headed out the door before Scully could respond. Frohike and Byers watched as Scully followed in quick pursuit.

"Hey, Byers..." Frohike was still staring at the door.

"Yeah?" He asked, winding a cord neatly and placing it out of the way.

"Do you think Mulder's right?"

"That Langly's a loser?" He asked flatly.

"No." He glanced at Byers annoyed then looked to the door Langly had slammed shut. "That she's just playing him?" Byers stopped his cleaning ritual, weighing the possibility.

"There's a good chance that she is, but," he joined Frohike in looking at the closed door. "For Ringo's sake, I hope she's not."

*****

Frohike was seated, feet propped up on the desk in front of him, when Langly finally opened the door. He closed his magazine and watched his friend frantically search the room.

"Langly?"

"Where the hell is my flannel?" Langly bit back then stopped, dropping his head. "I'm sorry, I- I just need to get out of here for a while."

"Ringo, talk to us. What's going on?"

"There's nothing more to say about it, Frohike. Mulder doesn't understand it so why should you?"

"You don't think I've ever been in love? C'mon man, you know better than that."

"Dana doesn't count," Langly pointed out and leaned against the table behind him, crossing his arms.

"Maybe not, but I've liked others besides the beautiful Agent Scully." Frohike couldn't hide his smile, but cleared his throat when Langly's angry expression didn't fade. "That's not the point though. I just want to know what you think. Mulder thinks there was a pre-mature death in her family. I'm willing to bet it was an older brother or her father. Maybe she's not the one killing off her boyfriends--"

"Gee, you're helping."

"This is still a case, Langly. No matter what you feel, she is still a suspect to Mulder and Scully."

"I don't think it's her, man." He paused, as if unsure what to say. "I know she's a *really* fast mover, but I really don't believe she's the one who killed them."

"Is that Langly speaking, or Ringo?"

"What's the difference now? If you're asking am I speaking out of love, then the answer is no. Yeah, I love her, I won't deny that, but I'm still capable of thinking on my own."

"That's all I wanted to know."

"Yeah, well, go run and tell Mulder what I've confessed." Langly snapped sarcastically, eyeing his flannel and snatching it up. "I don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait around on me." With that, Langly left, this time without the slamming door.

*****

Diane set her her coffee mug on the table in front of the couch and quickly walked to the door. Three loud knocks had nearly startled her to death as she read her John Grisham novel. Peering out the peep hole, her heart skipped a beat as she saw Langly, head bowed, looking defeated. She quickly unlatched the lock and opened the door.

"Ringo, are you all right?" She questioned, concerned. He took in her appearance, hair pulled back and a pj pants set.

"Please tell me I didn't wake you up." He said glancing at his watch. It was almost midnight and he mentally kicked himself.

"No, of course not, I was just reading. Come in." She opened the door wider and he stepped through just enough so she could close it again. Diane searched his eyes, finding hurt and sadness. "Ringo, what happened?"

"I can't tell you, as much as I want to, I can't." He bowed his head again, waiting for her to either kick him out or kill him. She surprised him when she closed the distance between them and ran her hand from his stomach to his chest.

"Ringo, whatever it is, you can tell me. If you don't want to right now, it's okay." She placed her cool hand against his cheek, then pushed his hair behind his ear. He closed his eyes briefly and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Diane. I just can't right now."

"I understand. It's okay. Come on, let's go sit down." She took his hand, leading him to her couch. Moving the book to the coffee table, she waited for him to sit, then took her own seat as close to him as she could get. Langly wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against him. She turned his head towards hers with her index finger and gently kissed his lips.

"Diane, can I ask you something?" Langly sounded almost shy as he took her hand, laced her fingers with his.

"Of course you can." She watched him as he stared at their joined hands.

"How do you feel about me?"

"I care about you, Ringo. I know we haven't known each other that long, but I don't need a long time to discover that I really like someone."

"You don't know me, though, what happens when you find out something about me that you can't stand?" It was the closest Ringo could venture to asking about the murders.

"Hey, we'll cross that bridge if it comes up." She smiled up at him, pushing his hair back again.

"I just don't want you to kill me for anything I do unintentionally." He ventured a little further and she laughed as if he had told a joke.

"I would never kill you, Ringo, not physically anyways." She winked, teasingly and put her head against his chest. He couldn't swallow over his heart which had leapt into his throat from her words. "What about you, how do you feel about me?"

"I--" his voice cracked a little and he cleared his throat, starting over. "I feel like I'm in love. I've never felt this strongly about someone, never thought I would. I'm just scared something will happen and I'll lose you." She looked him in the eye reassuringly.

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. You'll never lose me, I promise." She kissed him again and he finally swallowed the lump in his throat, taking a chance.

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Yes," she smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"What happened to your other boyfriends?" He felt her tense and tightened his arm around her. "I just want to know." She was quiet for a long minute and Langly thought maybe she was ignoring his question until she let out a long, slow sigh.

"That's complicated." Langly could have sworn the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees. Diane was running her fingertips over his hand absentmindly.

"You don't have to tell me, Diane. I just want you to know that you *can* tell me. You can tell me anything." He kissed the top of her head and she pushed her head closer into him.

"When I was 13, a boy named Bobby Darin asked me to the school dance. He tried to get me to go make out with him and when I refused he told everyone that I was tight and sour. I left the dance in tears and my older brother promised that he'd never hurt me again. The next day was Saturday and Bobby had been out riding his bike. My mom came upstairs and told me that he had lost control of the bike and flipped it, killing himself. I never told her what my brother had said because it wasn't possible he could have killed Bobby. Jake had been at home the whole time."

"Do believe he did it now?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, besides me, he's the only one that has any psychic ability. I don't have that much, all I do is read palms. But... I don't understand how he could kill anyone without being there, you know."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Is that what happened to the recent guys you dated? They hurt you too?"

"Don't worry about all that, Ringo. You're not like them." She pushed herself up, picking up the cup of cold coffee. "Are you thirsty?"

"No, thanks, I'm fine." He stood with up as she began walking to the kitchen. "Diane, do you want me to leave so you can get some rest?" He leaned against the formica counter, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Actually..." she set the mug in the sink and stood in front of him, pulling at his arms until he wrapped them around her, snaking her arms around his neck. "I was hoping you would stay with me tonight." His answer was understood as he leaned down to her, kissing her passionately.

*****

Dana Scully leaned against the table and waited for Langly to sit down. Mulder was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, deep in thought.

"I can't believe you did that, Langly. It was beyond stupid." Mulder shouted.

"Tell me what I did wrong!! I got the information you wanted and I'm still alive. What did I do Mulder?"

"You put yourself in serious danger without having any sort of backup."

"Mulder, I'm not FBI. I'm sorry if that's not the way you would have done it, but I'm also not the one chasing after stupid theories."

"Theories are not the issue, you're my responsibility in this case and if anything happens to you it's my ass!" Mulder was furious and Langly couldn't understand him.

"Why is nothing I do good enough for you, man? I'm trying my best to solve your case since you're too chicken shit to get out there and do it yourself. Diane didn't do it, her brother did, you were right, he has esp or something like that, she wasn't ever really sure it was him, case closed, leave me alone now. Go chase an alien." Mulder opened his mouth to yell something else but Scully stopped him.

"Mulder, he's right. You're coming down too hard on him. Let's go." This time Mulder stormed out of the room and Langly looked at Scully. "You did it the way I would have, Ringo."

"Thanks, Dana. Maybe he'll understand sometime." He nodded towards the open door.

"Don't worry about it, I'll talk to him." He released a heavy breath as she left.

"So, are you going to confess to her that you were working for the FBI?" Byers asked calmly from the computer.

"What choice do I have? I can't lie to her."

"Why not? You lie to us all the time." He asked fairly.

"That's different. I don't love you guys."

"Langly, I'm hurt!" Frohike mocked from the couch.

"Shut up, Frohike." Langly flung a packet of papers at him, playfully.

"You know if you tell her she's going to drop you like a hot cake." Frohike told him soberely.

"Maybe and maybe not. Either way, I have to tell her. I'm messing up my own future, but I can't do that to her. I can't keep anything from her."

*****

Langly found himself numbly sitting on Diane's couch. She was animatedly telling him about her day, but he wasn't really listening to what she said. He was trying to form words, plan out how to break her heart in the least hurtful way. The senerio was the same each time, she always ended up in tears.

"Diane," he finally interrupted her and she stopped mid sentence. "There's something I need to tell you. It's not good, but I want you to know that it wasn't my choice and I'm sorry."

"What is it, Ringo?" She asked concerned, holding his hand tenderly.

"I--" He paused, not knowing exactly how to say it. "I have a friend in the FBI. He found the murder cases of your ex-boyfriends interesting and he needed someone to get close to you to find out more. I was that someone. This whole thing was set up from day one. The only thing was...I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you." Her nails dug into the back of his hand and she slipped her hand out of his. He flinched visibly.

"So it was all one big joke to you? Just helping your friend and not caring who got hurt?" She bit harshly.

"No, Diane. That's how it was supposed to be, but then I met you in person and--"

"And you figured I'd be a good lay?"

"Did you even *listen* to what I said? Diane I *love* you. Don't you think I hated every minute of hiding this from you? Don't you think I hate myself because I've just ruined any chance I had with you?" Her eyes were cold and hard, but she wasn't crying, which hurt Langly more than if she had broken down.

"I think you should leave, Ringo." She turned her back to him and he felt he should be the one crying. Standing to leave, he paused at her side.

"Diane--"

"Leave." She growled through gritted teeth.

"You promised." He wispered just loud enough so she could hear, then he was gone.

*****

He had never cried over anything in his life, never shed a single tear over a scraped knee or bloody nose, never showed a sign of weakness or vunerability and he was doing his best not to break down in front of Byers and Frohike.

"Told you you should have lied," Byers threw salt in his open wound.

"Yeah, well, why'd you let me go?"

"She'll come around, Langly." Frohike reassured.

"Yeah, she'll come around and call her brother and he'll *kill* me. Oh, GOD," He doubled over, nearly screaming as tears flooded his cheeks.

"Langly?! Are you okay?" Byers and Frohike were at his side, worried and shocked. "What can we do, Ringo?" He shook his head, trying to choke back his tears in little gasps. He felt embarrassed for his lack of self control, but thankful it was Byers and Frohike and not Mulder or Diane. Langly finally regained his control, his voice raw from his racking sobs.

"I'm sorry, guys." His wiped his face and took a couple of deep breaths and felt Byers' comforting slap on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay, Langly. Human's can only handle so much and bend so far." As if on cue, the phone began to ring.

"If that's Mulder, I don't want to talk to him." Langly said bitterly. Frohike picked up, turning the speaker and tap off and whipped around to Langly.

"It's Diane," He held the phone out and Langly took it with shaky hands.

"Diane?"

"Ringo, I need your help! My brother's holding me hostage, he wants you as a ransom. He said if you call your FBI friend that he'll die too." Diane's voice shook with tears and Langly felt the blood drain from his face.

"Where are you?" He waited for her to tell him her location then hung up. "He's got her hostage."

"Don't go, Langly, he won't kill his own sister." Frohike reassured.

"I can't take that chance." He scribbed the address down. "If I don't call within half an hour, that's where I am, call the morgue." With that Langly rushed out the door, hoping his friends would call Mulder.

*****

Langly pushed open the heavy metal door to the abandoned warehouse and stummbled inside. It was dark and cluttered with forgotten boxes of junk. The inside of the building was huge, muli-leveled. He walked passed a pile of boxes and felt something snake tightly around his ankles. He looked down quickly and saw a rope, tightly tied. The slack was pulled forward with an inhuman force and Langly fell back, twisting his body to brace himself as he hit the concrete and was being dragged forward at a sickening speed. His arm had broken the fall, and it felt broken as well.

The rope was lifted up, pulling him feet first into the air. The movement made him dizzy, but he found himself now hanging still in a wide open area. It was dark, but the sunlight was streaming through a busted window near the high ceiling. Langly could see the loft area of the second and third floors and looked around the first level.. The blood was starting to rush to his head and he looked towards the floor to gage how high up he was hanging. The floor was a good 5 or 6 feet below him. When he looked forward again, Langly saw the silouette of a man.

"You have me now, let her go."

"Oh no, I want her to see this. Ringo. That's your name, isn't it? Would you like to see her, Ringo?" Before he could answer he heard Diane pleading through sobs. She was close enough that Langly could tell she was bound by the wrists.

"I'm so sorry, Ringo. Please let him go, Jake! He loves me, tell him, Ringo, tell him you love me" She screamed and fell to the floor as if she'd been slapped, but Jake was still in front of Langly.

"Shut up! You're babbling!" Jake yelled . Langly felt the rope loosen around his ankles and he began to fall to the floor, bracing himself once again for the impact. His sore arm caught him again as gravity pulled him down, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"You're pretty quick, this might be fun after all." Langly was pulled to his feet by his hair, causing him to wince and yell out in pain. Just as he caught his breath, his invisible attacker punched him hard in the stomach. It felt as if he'd been hit by a sledge hammer and Langly's knees buckled as he clutched his stomach, losing his breath again.

Weakly, Langly climbed to his feet. "It'll take more than that to kill me." The same heavy blow he received to his stomach met his cheek and Langly staggered to the side. He felt his lip gingerly with his tongue and the coppery taste of blood filled his senses.

"Give up yet?" Jake sneered.

"Never."

"Ringo, please!! Jake stop it!" Diane called again. Another scream signified she'd been hit again and Langly was filled with rage. He rushed forward, forgetting his own pain and knocked Jake to the ground, pinning him by the shoulders.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a girl!!" He yelled and threw his best punch, hitting Jake square in the face. Jake reached up, shoving Langly backwards and jumping on him, turning the tables. Langly struggled to get away as Jake strangled him, pressing hard on his windpipe. Langly's vision began to blur from the lack of oxygen. His arms became too heavy to fight back and they fell to the floor as Jake increased pressure. All at once his vision faded out and the pressure was released. He heard voices shouting somewhere in the distance, but he couldn't move. His senses began to return and he saw Mulder holding a gun on Jake.

Langly tried to shout, but couldn't force his voice to even a whisper. "No! Mulder! Look out!" He was straining as hard as he could, and Mulder understood all too late. The gun was knocked from his hand and he was knocked backwards with a painful blow. A shot fired and Diane screamed and Jake's body went slack. Langly saw Scully, gun aimed and a no-nonsense look on her face. Mulder stummbled to his feet, grabbing his gun and Langly finally felt the pain of his own injuries, falling back against the floor, he finally lost all consciousness.

*****

Ringo Langly awoke in an unfamilar, white room. His vision was blurrier than normal without the black rimmed glasses and he looked around, catching site of Frohike and Byers. He looked down at himself, seeing that his right arm was bound in a sling and he was clad in a thin hospital gown.

"Hey, Ringo, how are ya, man?" Frohike asked, standing over the bed.

"I would be better if I could see." His voice was overly scratchy and raw from his nearly crushed windpipe. Byers handed him his glasses. "How bad am I?"

"You're not too pretty, but you'll live." Came Byers' calm response. Mulder and Scully entered the room and Langly looked away, ashamed.

"Feeling better?" Mulder asked, grinning.

"Mulder, I'm sorry." He swallowed painfully and continued. "I should have called you before I went out on my own."

"Mulder doesn't deserve an appology, he should owe you one," Scully interrupted, glaring at her partner. "All the times he does this to me. He would have done the same thing."

"How's Diane?" Langly questioned, concerned.

"Shaken, but she's fine." Scully answered.

"I think she's relieved that brother-dearest is out of her life now." Mulder continued. "Actually, I have a little surprise for you."

"Mulder, I don't need any more diskettes, but thank you." Langly managed, sarcastically

"I'll remember that at Christmas," Mulder countered, backing towards the door. He motioned to someone in the hall and Langly felt his heart completely stop as Diane appeared in the door way. His mouth dropped, unable to form any words.

"Diane..." He fianlly squeaked and she rushed to him, embracing him with a passionate, but soft kiss.