Date sent: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 01:59:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: JBjerk@aol.com

Hope (1/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>
Rating: PG
Category: XH
Spoilers: This story takes place a couple of weeks
after Zero Sum, so the rest of Season 4 hasn't happened
yet. Parts of other episodes of the series are
mentioned briefly, but not the endings so if you
haven't seen them yet, I didn't give anything away that
would make sense, so no need to worry. The X File part
of the story came from an idea from my 13 year old X-
Phile nephew, Jack.
Keywords: Mulder/Scully as partners
Summary: A man mysteriously dies in the Smithsonian
Institute and Mulder and Scully are called in to
investigate.

Note: This is my first time writing and posting
fanfic. I blame some of the people who frequent the
Gossamer site for this, because if you haven't written
such good stuff, I never would have though I'd give it
a try. Please e-mail your thoughts on this little
piece and please be kind. 8)
Forgive me, but I have no idea of the current lay
out of the Smithsonian Institute or Washington DC. I
haven't seen either since the Reagan administration.
Tempus Fugit and Max never happened, and never
will. Pendrell is alive and well and hopelessly in love
with Scully.

Disclaimer: I didn't create the characters you've
heard of in this story but I did create the characters
you haven't heard of. If Chris Carter and FOX don't
mind what I've done to their creation, I don't care
what anyone does with mine. No monetary gain is
required, expected, or (I can see into the future)
received.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Smithsonian Institute, American History
Washington D.C.
2:22 am

Jonas Cosoton, in his early twenties, skinny and
tall, walked down the hallway of the Smithsonian
Institute in his night watchman uniform, holding a
flashlight. The beam of the flashlight accented the
dim security lights that shone from the tops of the
walls. Once in a while he would stop at exhibits, such
as the Star of India in the mineral exhibit, that odd
but somewhat interesting statue of George Washington
dressed as a Greek god. He shook his head and tried to
figure out the artists of the world. Some of the stuff
was wonderful and he could look at it for hours, some
of them, he wouldn't give more than 2 cents and 2
seconds of interest to. The Spirit of St. Louis, now
that was a piece of machinary.

He first saw it when he was 8. his father brought
him through this very museum. He was in awe that a man
flew that thing all the way from new york to Paris. No
way in hell could he be that brave.

He'd seen everything in this museum once a month
since that day with his father. He always made sure to
frequent the exhibits, sometimes with dates. He off
the cuff mentioned to Carol Martin that they should
hang out here one Saturday. It was their first date.
It turned out pretty good. If they wanted to talk to
each other, they'd grab a seat and do just that. if
the conversation lagged, like conversations on first
dates usually did, they'd get up and start touring the
facility. Something would always interest one ort both
of them and they'd have something else to talk about
which would lead to another topic they had in common.
Yes, it worked that Saturday... He wondered whatever
happened to her.

He couldn't get over that he was working at the
place he knew so well. Sure beats T.G.I. Fridays. If
he saw one more Pacific Coast Tuna Salad again, he'd
scream in terror and run away as quickly as possible.
He liked this job. He liked it so much he made sure
his attire was perfect. He made sure his uniform was
freshly washed and ironed, something he didn't normally
do and needed lessons from his girlfriend, but there
wasn't a crease to be found, until he met up with Marv
Grandlee in the break room.

Marv, on his fiftieth year as a guard at the
museum, thought he was God himself and all those
trinkets were his. He was a slight man with a huge
tendency to make others around him feel like dirt.
Gil, a guy with glasses and a great sense of humor,
after working at the Smith for 3 years, took Jonas
under his wing and showed him the ropes of the job (not
many) and how to ignore Marv. One of the lessons
learned was take your coffee break at 1:45, before Marv
would take his at 2. That particular morning, Jonas
forgot.

Jonas went to the break room at five minutes to 2.
He grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard and filled
it with a can of Lipton Tea with lemon. He got a Mrs.
Debby Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie from the vending
machine and relaxed in the wingback chair that clearly
had seen better days. He usually sat at the table but
Nancy Vickman was sitting there with a bunch of stuff
spread out. She was finishing up a snack. Jonas
couldn't figure out what it was. She was always eating
the weirdest things. He tried to make friends with her
as she appeared shy and escpecially after Gil told him
about how her husband died on her so sudden and left
her with two kids.

In the room, there was a TV bolted to a table
which was bolted to the floor. The remote was on a
cord attached to the dining table. Jonas could feel
someone staring at him. He'd look at Nancy and she was
very good at turning away when someone caught her in a
stare, or it wasn't her. He took a bite of cookie and
he looked at Nancy again. She turned the page of a
book on the table. He finished the cookie and took a
gulp of tea.

A voice came from behind him. "So, you think you
can just park anywhere now, right?"

He turned and saw Nancy looking at him. "I parked
in the employee lot."

"In my spot," Nancy responded.

"He have assigned parking places?"

"Everyone knows I park under the light," she said
and she stood up from the table and walked to the side
of the wingback, right at Jonas' left arm. "I don't
think a single mother of two should have to walk in the
dark in a lonely parking lot in the city with the
biggest crime rate in the nation when I can park under
the light."

"I don't think I parked under a light."

She walked back to the table and took her
styrofoam plate and plastic fork and threw them in the
garbage. She walked to the wingback and glared at him
and said, "You have the piece of shit Ford Tempo,
right?"

"It's not a piece of shit..."

"Right?" she demanded.

"Yeah... Sorry. I'll move it."

"No, don't rearrange your life on account of
me..." She started to walk away. He got up and
followed her to the door. "I'm sorry. I didn't
think... Of course you should park under the light. I
won't park there again. I just didn't know..." He put
his hand on her arm. She swung around and he flew back
as he found out she knew Karate. She apologized
immediately.

"I'm sorry. It's a reflex..."

"Remind me never to attack you."

"That would be wise."

That's when Marv came in. The old geezer appeared
out of no where and Jonas slumped with dread. Nancy,
knowing when to take her leave, left, sneering at Marv
on her way out.

Jonas went back to the chair and drank some more
tea and watched the black and white movie on the
screen. Jonas could hear Marv grunting and grumbling
as he got a cup of coffee. He was alone with Marv,
'damn, why didn't I get here a half hour ago?'

"Damn Slackers have no respect for their elders.
When I was younger and an old man wanted to sit in a
certain chair, why, I'd get off my fat ass and let him
have his chair."

Jonas looked at Marv. "Are you suggesting
something?"

"Figure it out."

"I'm sitting here. You can sit there," Jonas said
pointing to a straight back dining set chair. The rest
was hazy in Jonas' memory, but the words escalated and
Marv's coffee flew.

Later, when it was quiet and he was alone and
thinking it over, retorts for the old fart flew in his
mind. He was mad at himself because he couldn't come
up with anything but a punch in the face. Why couldn't
he get his head to work as fast as his mouth wanted to?
Oh well, everyone hated Marv more than taxes and he
didn't hit him that hard.

Jonas turned to another hall and walked by the
vault holding the priceless necklace called the Hope
Diamond. The hallway turned into a balcony just over a
stuffed elephant on the floor below. All was usual
until he came closer to the vault. There was a burst
of electricity that knocked Jonas off his feet. He
shook off the daze in his head and looked up at the
vault. It was open the way it was when the necklace
was exhibited: lighted and the steel door was open.
The light that emitted from it was different, though.
It was bright. It was most inviting.

He'd, of course, heard about the origins of the
necklace and the so-called curse. All owners of the
gem, including socialites and Marie Antoinette all came
to bad, sad ends from just being in possession of the
magnificent blue sparkler. He couldn't get the curse
out of his head. Was it really real?

Stopping in front of the vault and squinting
through the light to take a good look at it, he said,
"So you're cursed, huh?" He put his hand on the thick
bulletproof glass. The light from the stone enveloped
his hand.

Jonas heard a noise. An unearthly noise. Did he
really hear it? It sounded like an animal in trouble
under water. He looked around. He walked to the
railing of the balcony and took a close look down at
the elephant. The trunk started to move. Did he
really see it? A loud roar escaped from the glued and
plastic mouth as the trunk swung up over it's head.
The sound was like a herd of elephants charging at him.
Jonas looked around and with the intensity of the
noise, cowered back against the wall holding the vault.

Who was that screaming, he wondered. Then he
realized it was him. The thunder of the herd and the
roar of the animals along with his own screaming rose
as the sounds came closer to him. As they got closer,
he went down further to the floor. Jonas covered his
head with his arms as the sounds were right on top of
him. His screams died down as he faded into
unconsciousness, thankfully, as no human would want to
consciously endure what happened to him next.

Away from Jonas, to the edge of the balcony, to
the first floor, to the elephant, head back and trunk
pointed to the ceiling.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Parking Lot of Smithsonian Institute
7:47 am

A trunk of a Grey Taurus reared up in the parking
lot of the Institute. Agent Scully reached in and
grabbed her kit and straightened up. A form emerged to
her left, startling her. She caught her breath and
slammed the trunk cover down. "Damn it, Mulder. I
wish you'd make your presence known."

"What's the fun in that?"

"Don't start with me. It's been a horrendous
day."

"It's only 7:48," Mulder said as he looked at his
watch.

"That's my point. At least this weirdo assignment
is close to home, I couldn't handle a plane trip
today."

Mulder reached to take the kit from her and she
brushed his hand away.

Mulder put his hands up defensively and explained,
"Just being a gentleman."

"Sorry," she said, relaxing. She gave him the
case and they walked to the front door of the museum.

"Aren't you going to say thank you," Mulder asked
as he tried to catch up with her. The case weighed
more than he thought it would.

"Thank you for being a gentleman. Who's our
contact here?"

"A Mr. Commaly, Director of the museum. "

"A man was crushed to death?"

"Yep," was all Mulder said as he held the door
open for Scully. She said, "Thank you again. What got
into you today?" as she entered the building.

"I'm always adorable," Mulder muttered as he
followed her.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hope Diamond Exhibit
7:56 am

Agents Mulder and Scully arrived to find a
security guard, couple of plain clothes policemen, a
photographer, a couple of guys in white coats, and Lois
Newbacher, coroner, milling about. Another member of
the group, Dean Commaly, with graying hair and tweed
jacket with the suede patched on the elbows went over
to them as soon as he saw them.

"FBI?" Commaly asked them.

Mulder flashed his badge and Scully scowled at the
people around the sheet covered body.

She walked past the extended hand of Commaly, all
business. "How many people have touched the body?"

"No one that I know of. I found him," Commaly
replied, not knowing what to do with his hand. he was
very jumpy. He turned to Mulder and said, "There won't
be any publicity on this, right? There can't be any
publicity, do you know how many people come through
here a year. My funding would go down if this was to
get out." He took a hanky out of his back pocket and
wiped his brow.

Mulder gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder
and saw Lois. He immediately got into a better mood
and flashed her his best puppy dog smile. She was a
little plump, but in all the right places with long,
flowing black hair. She'd been on the job for just
over a year and she and Mulder had crossed paths once
or twice. Mulder thought she was a snooty sort, but
she was a spit fire. That appealed to him. "Dr.
Newbacher, we have to stop meeting like this."

Lois twirled to the sound and found Mulder. She
smiled back and said, "Agent Mulder. When we came upon
this weirdo death, I knew you and Agent scully were the
ones for the job."

"It's nice to be memorable," Mulder boasted.

Lois laughed, "Memorable would be the word. Let's
see, last time was the pyromaniac 5 year old who did in
with her piano teacher. The time before that was the
old guy who was gludgened by a chef's knife, hatchet,
and for good measure, a broad axe, when he was alone in
a locked room... Before that was..."

"Yeah, but what was I wearing?" Mulder mused.

"I wore blue, you wore gray..." she moved closer
to him.

"Well, we'll always have Paris."

Mulder looked at Scully as bent over and she
pulled the sheet off the stiff. She wondered if this
was indeed a body. All she could make out was a
bloody, bruised pulp of skin. It was all too gross for
Mulder, so he turned his attention once again to the
lovely Lois.

"I have season tickets to the Redskins, Lois.
Anytime you want."

Lois smirked and shifted standing positions as
only a person with something over another could shift.
"I'm on the 50 yard line, third row, where are your
tickets, Agent Mulder?"

He chuckled embarrassingly and said, "Compared to
yours, in the parking lot."

Scully knelt down by the body, snapped on the
latex and started poking and prodding the lifeless
form.

"Maybe you want to come with me some time," Lois
suggested.

"Can I paint my face red and yellow and scream the
entire game?"

"If you buy me a dog and a beer."

Mulder sidled up to her and said, "I'll even buy
foam finger."

"I can't wait."

Scully called to Mulder, "If you two are finished
with Sunday afternoon plans, could I have a little help
here?"

Mulder said to Lois, "Work calls."

He got down on his knees beside Scully and looked
down at the hideous form laid out in front of them. As
far as Mulder saw it, there wasn't much to do with the
body but load him on a wheelbarrow and send him into
the shop.

"I need you to help me turn him over."

"What for?"

"There's something under his right hip. I can't
seem to pull it out."

Mulder smirked, "Where's his hip?"

Together they lifted his right side. They had to
work together as it was like lifting a long sack of
sand. While holding one part of it up, another hand
would have to lift another area. Scully pulled at the
shiny rope and lifted the prize up to take a closer
look.

The metal rope turned out to hold a brilliant blue
rock surrounded by shimmering clear rocks. The muscles
of the agents relaxed and the body dropped to the
carpet. He was forgotten for the moment as Mulder and
Scully stared at the cluster of gems in Scully's gloved
hand.

Commaly had to catch himself from falling as he
saw the Hope Diamond necklace in the hands of an FBI
agent and not in the vault.

"What the..." was the only thing to cross his
lips.

Scully looked up the wall to the vault that held
the Hope. It was sealed and closed.

Commaly snatched the necklace out of Scully's hand
and couldn't believe what he was holding. He glared
around the room and violently attacked a security guard
standing nearby. He thrust the necklace to his face.
"How did this get out of the vault?!"

"How should I know?" was the only thing to come
out of the poor guard, struggling for breath as Commaly
had his hands around his neck. It took Mulder, Lois
and two others to get Commaly off of him.

"This is supposed to be locked up!!!!!" Commaly
screamed as they took him to the ground. Mulder
decided the only way to pin him down was to sit on him,
so he did. Scully stood and watched the ruckus.

Commaly whimpered, "How did it get out again?"
Mulder got up from him when the guards took over and
sat him upright.

"Again, Mr. Commaly?" Scully asked with her
famous raised eyebrow. He didn't answer, just put his
hands to his head and repeated, "This can't be
happening. This can't be happening."

Scully pulled Mulder away from the others and
said, "Mulder, what the hell's going on here?" She
pointed to Jonas and said, "This man looks as if he was
pulverized by a herd of elephants." She pointed to Mr.
Commaly and said, "And this man is... catatonic."

Mulder looked around and down on the first floor
over the balcony. "This could be our beast, Scully."

Scully joined him at the railing and they looked
at the huge elephant with it's trunk raised,
motionless.

"Mulder," Scully sighed. "Don't go there."

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hope (2/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Commaly's Office
8:48 am

Scully realized the office was definitely a man's
from the decor. It had dark wood walls, beige
carpeting, a huge oak desk with clawed legs, a stuffed
marlin obviously a prize from a fishing trip, and a
wall of books, most of them about hunting and the Civil
War.

Commaly was sitting in his chair behind his desk
whimpering to himself, "It can't be happening again.
It can't be happening again. It can't be..."

Scully filled a glass of water from a water cooler
in the corner and handed it to him. He took it, but
was shaking so badly, it was on him more than in him by
the time he gave the paper cup back to her.

"What's happening again," Mulder asked as he took
a seat by the manic man.

"My predecessor, Harold Raimie. He told me about
an... incident."

Scully asked, "What happened, Sir?"

"Terrible. Terrible thing. A girl. On a school
field trip. Crushed by a chandelier that fell right on
top of her."

"Here in this museum," Mulder asked.

"I've always thought the Hope Diamond should be
destroyed," Commaly replied. "It's bad luck for America
to have it. Nothing good comes from it."

Scully was confused. "What does the Hope Diamond
have to do with a chandelier falling on a little girl?"

"It was found under her body. About 20 years ago
now. Her class was taking the tour in the old wing
where the Hope was housed before the renovations.
Harold told me the whole story. The class was loud,
rambunctious like kids can be. They had just been
looking at the Hope Diamond and the girl, her name was
Lisa... Lisa Freemont... a chandelier broke it's
casing and .... fell on her. The Hope Diamond was
found underneath her body. No one knows how it got
there. No one could understand it. I don't understand
it. How could this happen? Thank God there wasn't any
publicity about it." He turned very serious and said,
"We can't have any publicity. None. Harold told me he
was so upset about the goings on here so that was the
last straw."

Mulder leaned closer to the man and asked, "What
goings on here?"

"The ghosts. Surely you've heard the stories of a
ghost here at the Institute. Things move. Sounds
heard. Can be down right spooky at times. We
certainly don't like to talk about it, but there it
is." Mulder and Scully exchanged glances.

Scully turned to a security guard standing in the
office. "Where you here last night?"

"I came in this morning, 5:30."

"What's your position here?"

"I monitor the security cameras. My office is
down the hall."

"We'll need a copy of all the security tapes of
the area of the attack and we'd like to talk to
everyone who was in the museum last night."

Mulder moved behind her and said into her ear,
"Ghosts, Scully."

"Burglary gone wrong, Mulder."

"Burglary of what?"

She turned around and faced him. "The Hope
Diamond."

"There wasn't any evidence that it was stolen.
There's no evidence that Jonas Cosoton was attacked.
Where is the weapon? Where is the blood except on the
victim? There's no evidence of a struggle. There's no
evidence of a break in and look at the security on that
rock."

"So you're thinking a ghost stomped Mr. Cosoton to
a bloody pulp and reached through glass and steel and
took the most notorious necklace ever known on the
planet and placed it under the body."

Mulder said, "If it was a burglary, dumb thing to
do, put your prize under your victim."

Scully shook her head. "Maybe the thieves heard
these stories. Maybe it's a fake necklace--"

Commaly piped up, "Fake?! It's a fake?"

"Yes," Scully said at the same time Mulder stated
firmly, "No."

Commaly barked to the guards. "It's a fake?!
Where's the original? Where is it?"

"Mr. Commaly, it was replaced in the case. It's
real," Mulder told him. He turned to Scully and
continued. "It can't be a fake, you held it. It's too
heavy, too detailed, to brilliant for it to be anything
but what it is, the Hope Diamond." Mulder isn't about
to let her far fetched theories get in the way of his
own. He went on, "Ever since the Institute was built
there have been stories of ghosts haunting the areas
where the exhibits that meant something to them were
housed. The Hope Diamond itself is full of curses on
anyone who possessed it. Rich people suddenly losing
their wealth along with the lives of their families,
one of them was eaten by a pack of," Mulder choked out,
"wild dogs. Marie Antoinette was guillotined." His
eyebrows shot up, "You held it. I hope nothing happens
to you, Scully."

"Anything more you mean? We have things to do and
people to see." She motioned to the guard. "Can we
get the list of people and the tapes please?"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Security Room Smithsonian Institute
10:13 am

On a black and white monitor, Scully and Mulder
looked at the security footage provided by the guard.
It is the corridor balcony of the Hope Diamond vault.
The vault is sealed with the steel door and the only
light is the light from the sign of the area.

They see a 60ish man walk down the corridor and
stop in front of the vault. He stops and puts his hand
to the door and walks to the railing of the balcony and
smiles and said something to the floor below.

The guard said, "So that's Marv. He's been here
forever and boy is he Spooky..."

Scully smirked, "You're kind a guy, Mulder."

Mulder looked at Marv saunter down the hallway
taking something out of his front pocket and popping
them in his mouth. On the second handful, Mulder
realized they were sunflower seeds. He was eating them
shells and all. "Is that my future?"

"If you're not careful," Scully teased.

"Remind me to be extremely careful."

They fast forwarded the tape between motion. A
50ish man with glasses walked through. Nothing out of
the ordinary. The guard said, "That's Gil. He's a
good guy."

After a few minutes of fast forwarding, they saw a
young man in his early 20s. He stopped in front of the
vault and looked around as if he heard something then,
kept walking. The guard said, "That's Gary. He's new.
Been here for around 6 weeks."

Mulder said, "Stop the tape and replay it in slow
motion please."

The guard did. Gary walked by slowly. Nothing
unusual.

"What gives, Mulder? What are you looking for?"
Scully asked.

"There! Stop the tape!" The guard froze the
frame and they saw Gary's eyes were trained on the
camera as he walked by.

"So?" Scully asked.

"He's staring at the camera as he walked by."

"Mulder, If I knew a camera was there I'd probably
unconsciously look at it too. There's a deep seated
paranoid gene in all of us. You're on up close and
personal terms with that, Mulder."

"What happened to you this morning, Scully?
You're almost unbearable to be around."

"Can we keep going here, Sir?"

"Sure," Scully said.

A late-20's-early-30's woman walked by and out of
frame. The guard said, "That's Nancy. We all feel
sorry for her. She's raising two of the cutest kids by
herself."

"Where's the father," Scully asked as she rubbed
the bridge of her nose.

"He was a mechanic and a car he was working under
fell on top of him. So that was about two years ago.
Nancy even home schools her kids."

"When she works at night? How does she find the
time," Scully wondered.

They watched the tape as another man walked by
with a cookie. Except for the fact that he dropped some
crumbs and didn't pick them up, there was nothing
unusual about it or him. "Mike Manchester, what a
slob." was all the guard said.

They next saw a man with a stain on his shirt
walking down the hallway. "So that's Mr. Cosoton,"
Scully said. They intently watched his every move,
then the tape ran out.

"So that's it?" Mulder wanted to know.

The guard pushed rewind and play and they watched
again as Jonas walked toward the vault. The tape
stopped again. "That's all there is," the guard says.

"Rewind and slow mo it," Mulder said.

The guard did and as they scrutinized the tape,
they saw to the right of the frame, a half lit face in
the shadows.

"Who's that," Scully asked the guard.

"I can't make it out," the guard said.

Mulder and Scully regarded each other and then
Mulder spoke first. "Pendrell?" To which Scully
confirmed with a firm nod, "Pendrell, I'll get this to
him right away."

"We need a list of the names and addresses of the
guards on the tape," Mulder told the guard.

"Human Affairs would have that information."

Mulder instructed, "Get that tape over to Pendrell
and I'll go to Personnel and then make another stop.
I'll meet you back at the office and we'll go talk to
the guards."

Scully asked, "Where's the stop?"

"I'm going to ask the opinion of other paranoid
gene overload victims like myself," Mulder said with a
grin.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Office of the Lone Gunmen
11:21 am

"To what do we owe this honor, Mulder?" Langley
asked as Mulder entered the office and sat down. "We
weren't interesting enough for you when we had the
Zapruder film. How come you never called us back?"

"When did you call?"

"About a month ago."

"Oh, I never got it... There was someone in my
house... someone not me... he looked like me... he did
something..." The Lone Gunmen looked at him in new
confused light as he continued. "I'm not a loser."

Frohike offered, "Perish the thought."

After a pause, Mulder said, "Well, what about the
Zapruder film?"

"Too late," Langley said defiantly.

"Yeah, Mulder, what do you want this time? More
infiltration of Laboratories?" Byers asked.

"Well...," Mulder replied. So that was enough to
get the interest of the three men.

"Another locker break in?" Frohike chirped.

"You need more security clearances?" Langley
asked.

"Or maybe just your ordinary, boring hacking of
files?" Byers said.

"Kind of all of the above," Mulder said. The LG
were definitely interested. "I was wondering if it was
possible to steal the Hope Diamond."

Langley coughed. "The one and only Hope Diamond?
The one in the Smithsonian?"

"What do you want the Hope Diamond for?" Frohike
asked. "Can't wear it, can't sell it."

"I didn't think you were the blue diamond type
person, Mulder. Although it would match your tie,"
Byers said, laughing.

Mulder asked, "Is it possible to steal it without
leaving any evidence of it's being stolen?"

Byers, deep in thought said, "Sounds like
something I could wrap my head around."

"I knew that you would. Scully and I received an
X File this morning. A night watchman was killed by...
something that turned him into a bloody sack of
potatoes in front of the Hope Diamond exhibit. There
was no signs that the vault was broken into and the
Hope Diamond itself was found under the victim."

Silence permeated the room.

"So, what do you think?"

Byers looked at Langley, Langley looked at
Frohike, Frohike looked at the wall and back at
Langley, Langley looked back at Byers, who said to
Mulder, "It's a fake."

"So that's what Scully said," Mulder said.

"She's hot," Langley said. "You know, great minds
think alike."

"Not you too."

Frohike said, "Him one. I'm on to silently
devoting my every thought to this red headed actress on
some dorky FOX show... what was her name again?
Anyway, I'm Jack to her Gill..."

"Oh, God," Mulder muttered. "The necklace was not
a fake. I saw it. It was too antique, too brilliant,
too finely set to be a fake. Scully said it was
heavy..."

"Scully held it?!?!" all three shouted.

"Is she crazy?!?" Frohike yelled. "There's a big
fat curse on it. Does the name Marie Antoinette mean
anything to her? We better keep an eye on her. All
who have held ---"

"She knows, Frohike," Mulder got into the one
sided conversation. "She didn't know it was the Hope
Diamond until it was already in her hands. So that
should count for something. And she was wearing
latex."

Langley and Frohike both did their best Homer
Simpson impression, "Mmmmm, latex." Byers rolled his
eyes and shook his head and asked Mulder, "Why do I
hang out with these two?"

CONTINUED IN PART THREE

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hope (3/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Scully and Mulder's Office
FBI Headquarters
12:48 pm

Scully was on the phone as Mulder walked into the
office.

"We'll be right there," Scully said and then hung
up the phone. She turned to Mulder. "What did our
paranoids extraordinaire say?"

"You have a new admirer."

"Oh, God. Let me guess, the one with the beard?"

"The one with long flowing honey blond locks..."

"Langley? I didn't think he cared."

"We all care, Scully."

"We have to see Skinner. His secretary just
called."

She opened the door and turned to see Mulder deep
in thought. "You coming?"

Mulder was thinking of all the people who were
helping find a cure for her cancer and it was ironic
happenstance that she mentioned the one man who
actually put his life on the line for her. Oh, Scully
was talking to him. What did she say?

"Huh?"

"Are you coming?" she repeated.

"Oh, yeah..."

"Where were you just then," Scully asked.

He just shook his head and went out the door
before her.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Office of the Assistant Director
FBI Building
12:55 pm

Skinner was deep in paperwork when there was a
knock on the door. "Come in," he ordered.

Without a word, Mulder and Scully walked into the
office and sat down in the chairs in front of his desk.
Skinner finished writing, put the pen down and faced
them. He looked his agents over, Scully particularly.

"Abut the Smithsonian matter, I feel I need to
stress the importance of discretion. It would be wise
if there was no publicity on this case."

"Oh, you mean, don't go right to the newspapers
like we always do," Mulder kidded.

"I'm just reaffirming the obvious," Skinner said.
"How are you, Agent Scully?"

Scully, taken back by the U-turn in the
conversation, said, "I'm fine." She was uneasy by the
fact that Skinner was staring at her. She was getting
it from both sides as Mulder joined Skinner in looking
her over.

Mulder piped in, "She's a little cranky, but..."

"That's all," Skinner dismissed them.

"Huh?" Mulder grunted.

"Go back to work," Skinner instructed.

Mulder and Scully remained seated with a lost look
on their faces. "You had us come to your office to...
what?... tell us to keep quiet on our case?" Scully
asked.

"It's important that you do."

"A phone call would have sufficed. We lost time
on this. We could have been interviewing the guards,
enhancing the security footage, I could have sat in the
the autopsy of Mr. Cosoton with Dr. Newbacher..."

"You aren't doing any more medical examinations
for the foreseeable future, Agent Scully."

She looked at Skinner, who was trying to look
anywhere but at her or Mulder. Suddenly a spot on his
blotter became very important.

Scully stared at Skinner in disbelief. "Why?"

"Don't second guess my decisions, Agent Scully.
You are to remain in the X Files as an investigator
only until further notice. That's all. Get back to
work."

Skinner caught a glance of Mulder's stone face.
Scully noticed and demanded, "What's going on here?"

"Get back to work!" Skinner stated. "Now."

Scully stood and paused. "Yes sir," she murmured
and walked out the door, leaving it open.

"You too," Skinner said to Mulder.

"What *is* going on here? Does this have to do
with a certain bee detail you undertook a couple of
weeks ago?"

"That will be all, Agent Mulder." Skinner went
back to his paperwork. There will be no more
discussion.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Pendrell's lab
1:17 pm

Scully entered and slammed the door shut behind
her making Pendrell jump off his stool. Another tech
dropped a beaker and screamed, "Hey!"

Scully, embarrassed, apologized and shuffled over
to Pendrell, who smiled and sat back on his stool in
front of a video monitor.

"One of those days, huh," he asked as she sat
beside him.

"Major day... How's it coming?"

"I still can't make out a clear image, but I'm
close. Of all the guards, we may be able to cancel out
some of the suspects, although I don't know how anybody
could kill that man the way you described it without
leaving any trances of at least a struggle."

"What have you got so far?" Scully asked as she
moved closer to Pendrell and the monitor.

"Only this...," Pendrell said as he punched up an
image of the half face on the monitor. "I can tell the
mouth is curled into either a smirk or a smile, or its
a mug with no teeth, you know how they are all gums and
a tight straight mouth." He pantomimed the gesture of
Billy Bob Thorton in Sling Blade.

Scully simply stared at Pendrell. He shrugged and
said, "Sorry. Spent last weekend at a family reunion.
I saw my future in the faces of my uncles and I'm
having a hard time of it."

"Pendrell, you and your teeth will be just fine."

Pendrell smiled and decided his best way to make
the right impression on Agent Scully was to get back to
work, immediately. He typed orders into the computer
and the picture bacame a tish clearer, although not
enough to make a face recognizable. Scully leaned
closer to the monitor to get a better look. Pendrell
looked at the red head out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, there's no glasses, leaves out one of them.
How old do you this he or she is," Scully asked.

Pendrell was trying to decide if the color of
Scully's hair was an autumn or more of a chestnut sort
of red. Oh, she was talking to him. "Huh?"

"Can you make out if this face belongs to a man or
a woman?"

"I can only see what you see. I haven't a clue
from this angle."

"How long do you think it will be before you know
anything?"

"I've only been working on this since 11:30, give
me more time."

She looked at her watch. "Don't you take a lunch
break?"

He held up a bag of Fritos.

"Okay," she said as she slipped off the stool.
"See you later?"

"You betcha," he said.

She leaves as he ponders the vast vocabulary that
Agent Scully seems to pull out of him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hallway in J Edgar Hoover Building
1:42 pm

Scully walked down the hall not really focusing on
anything or anybody, so when Mulder appeared at her
side and walked with her for about 10 feet, she didn't
even realize it.

"How 'bout we drop in on the night watchmen..."

Scully, startled, said, "Sure."

"What did Agent Pendrell get from the tape?"

"No glasses."

"I guess we'll talk to...," he said as he pulled
the notes from his pocket. "Gil last." He turned to
the pages of names and addresses from personnel and
decided this Marv Grandlee would be the closest to the
office.

Scully demanded, "What was that with Skinner?"

Mulder paused. "I don't know."

"Why was he checking me out? He has a gift for
spreading discomfort. Why can't I do post mortem
investigations? Something is wrong, Mulder. Very
wrong and I'm going to find out what it is."

"We have a group of people to talk to. They've
all had plenty of time to get their beauty sleep.
Should we check out Marv Grandlee first?"

Scully stopped walking and Mulder stopped ahead of
her and turned around. "What?"

"You want to start questioning without me? I'm
going to go down and check on the body."

"You aren't supposed to go to the morgue, Scully."

"I can't *perform* autopsies, for some God known
reason. He didn't say I couldn't be *around*
autopsies."

"I think we should follow Skinner's --"

"Mulder, I'm going to the autopsy. I'll catch up
with you later."

She barrelled down the hallway to the parking
garage and Mulder wondered if he should let Skinner
know what she was up to or ... What was he thinking?
There was a truth that Scully needed to know and he'd
be the last person that would get in her way. He hated
it when people did that to him. Skinner was someone to
trust and Mulder decided to let his partner and boss
fight it out themselves. He had an old man to
question.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Commaly's office
1:45 pm

Lucille Crier, the portly efficient secretary to
the Director of the Smithsonian Institute walked into
Mr. Commaly's office and he wasn't at his desk. She
thought that was funny as she didn't see him leave
since he got back from lunch. Oh well, she thought.
She dropped some letters on his desk and took a pen and
paper from his desk and started to write a note that
she was leaving early. She had a doctor's appointment
on the other side of town and probably wouldn't make it
back before 5.

She turned to leave, and noticed the bathroom
light was on. She peeked in and didn't see him. He
never left lights on. Efficiency was important to the
man, but he had been acting strangely all day. She was
about to turn off the light when she heard a whimper
from the corner. She went around the door and saw
Commaly sitting on the floor with his head in his
hands.

"Mr. Commaly?"

Commaly lifted his head with all his strength and
looked at his secretary. His face was pale and his
eyes were watering.

"Lucille... I'm having my migraine again."

Lucille went to the cupboard and saw his open pill
bottle by the sink. There were a few pills on the
cupboard and she picked them up and put them back in
the bottle.

"I already took some, Lucille."

"Can I do anything for you, Sir," she asked him as
she put the bottle back in the drawer.

"No," he muttered. "I'll just sit here until the
pain goes away. Could you turn the light out when you
go?"

She flipped off the light and told him, "Call me
if you need anything. I'll see you in the morning."

She left her boss sitting on the bathroom floor.
Was it her imagination, or was he actually whimpering?
He had migraine attacks before, but never like this.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Marv Grandlee's house
2:15 pm

Mulder was sitting uncomfortably in a teetering
dining table chair looking at Marv staring back at him.
Marv was sprawled in a LazyBoy recliner chewing on
sunflower seeds. Mulder would be more comfortable on
the floor. He stood instead. Marv offered him a hand
ful of seeds.

"No, I'm trying to quit." Mulder said.

"What was it you wanted again?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me anything
about what happened at the museum last night, this
morning."

"What happened?"

Mulder was taken back. "Your colleague, Jonas
Cosoton was killed."

"Oh, yeah. Not my concern. I never liked the
little prick."

"You and Mr. Cosoton had a ... there was friction
between you?"

"Friction? What's that? I just couldn't stand
the little man. He comes in thinking he owns the
place. No respect for his elders." He pointed to the
bruise on his cheek. "See this? He hit me this
morning. Serves him right, what happened to him."

"Did you argue last night?"

"He was sitting in my chair."

"You fought about a chair? For that he deserves
to die?"

Marv popped another handful of seeds in his mouth
and crunched. "I guess not."

Mulder winced. "Mr. Grandlee, you don't happen to
believe in the existance of extraterrestrial life, do
you?"

"Huh? What was that?"

"Good...," Mulder smiled. "You have a good day,
Mr. Grandlee."

CONTINUED IN PART FOUR

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hope (4/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Autopsy Room
2:48 pm

Lois was hunkered over Jonas Cosoton's body.
There wasn't much holding his together as a unit so
Lois' assistant had to brace along his sides and hold
the skin as Lois pulled the vital organs out of their
casings. He was massively pulverized.

Scully, in scrubs, stood behind Lois and took in
everything. Lois would talk into the microphone for
records and talk to herself, her assistant, Scully,
seemingly all at the same time. Scully rubbed the back
of her neck and frowned. She was developing a
headache.

Lois put her hands up and stepped back from the
body. Her assistant let go of the skin and Jonas's
body collapsed to the steel table. The assitant went
to wash up while Lois reached over and turned off the
tape recorder. "You really shouldn't be in here, Agent
Scully. Orders from above."

"I'd like to know where that word came from. You
haven't heard?"

Lois paused, looked down and said, "I only heard
that you were probably on your way here and I shouldn't
let you get near the body."

Scully frowned, pissed, "Why the hell not?"

"I have no idea. Only following orders. Well, I
guess not. You're here. Please don't tell anyone I
let you observe." She looked at Scully and asked, "Are
you feeling okay?"

"Yes! I'm fine!"

Lois jumped and Scully apologized, "I'm sorry. I
don't like being asked that question every half hour of
the day. Why do you ask?"

"You look peaked. I'm sorry. None of my
business."

Scully's cell phone rang. She answered it,
"Scully."

Mulder, as usual, talked without identifying
himself. "Scully? I talked to the old man and he
doesn't seem the least bit bothered about the new guy
biting it," Mulder explained.

Lois took off her head covering, snapped off her
gloves, and pulled off the scrubs. Scully replied to
Mulder, "They say the world's becoming desensitized to
tragedy, with TV, movies, nightly news..."

"We've had this conversation before, Scully and I
still refuse to believe that TV has anything to do with
the decrease of the human condition."

"Mulder, after what happened to me in Maryland,
you don't think there's anything to that theory? I
almost shot you... again..." Lois, having just shoved
her scrubs into a laundry basket, reacted to Scully,
surprised. Scully noticed and shrugged.

Mulder said, "What happened to you in Maryland was
a sick somebody who is nameless, faceless, and soulless
that tweaked the cable line. It wasn't TV itself."

"Mulder, what are you wearing?"

There was a silent pause on the other end.

"How do you like it? Being stopped with
nonsensical one liners? Come back to the office and
pick me up. We'll see the rest of them together.
You're probably just asking the wrong questions to get
the answers of unconcern."

Scully pushed end and slipped her phone in her
pocket. "You two really have a way about you," Lois
said.

Scully replied, "You don't know the half of it."

"What's the other half? I mean ... are you and
Agent Mulder... you know..."

"Are we sleeping together? Is that what you want
to know?"

"Yes. Are you?"

"No."

"So, it would be okay if I take him up on his
offer of sharing my Redskin tickets?"

"I don't like football. I couldn't care less."

"Great."

Scully shifted legs, nodded to the corpse and
asked, "Did you find anything that surprised you?"

"He was put through a grinder, that's all I can
come up with. If he had fallen out of a 100 floor
window or in a flattened car accident, I'd understand
it, but this makes no sense. Only one rib was
unbroken, his femur, radius, and ulna were snapped in
three places. His sternum was unrecognizable. I
didn't even have to use a saw to open him up. I have
no idea what happened to him. You and Agent Mulder
have probably seen stuff like this before. What do you
think happened?"

Scully thought and said, "I've never seen anything
like this before." She moved to the door. She stopped
and turned back to Lois. "Oh, can you and Mulder wait
until the conclusion of this case before you partake in
pigskin adventures? I want this case over ASAP so I
can take some well earned vacation time."

Scully was actually out the door before Lois could
reply. She wasn't sure what she would have said if she
had the chance. She just hoped Agent Scully knew what
she was up against. What little Lois knew and took
part of was enough to make her sick.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Smithsonian Institute
Hope Diamond Exhibit
3:30 pm

Frohike stood like a beefeater against the wall of
the museum. Just down the hall was the Hope Diamond
and a horde of people standing in a slow moving line to
see it. He lifted a talking devise to his mouth and
whispered, "Byers, Langley's almost there."

He looked down the length of people. It wasn't
hard to pick out his lanky friend. His hair was at
least three shades lighter and 5 inches longer than the
others in line. Frohike wondered why Langley didn't
cut it. 'Then again,' he thought, 'If I wasn't bald on
top, I'd probably let mine grow too.'

Langley shot a look back at the little kid behind
him. "Did you just step on my foot?" he demanded from
the little guy. The scared child looked up at the tall
surfer dude and could only come up with, "A..mm...."

"Just say I'm sorry and it's okay."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. My brother pushed
me and I lost my balance and..."

"It's okay, kid. Chill."

Langley smiled and turned back to the reason why
he was there. A security guard walked by and Langley
tried to look as nonchalant as possible. The line was
moving and he was only about three feet from the
necklace. His mouth opened as he caught a glance at it
from between heads. It was astoundingly beautiful. He
was mesmerized by the sight.

He vaguely heard a voice in his head.
'Langley...' Where was that coming from? Was that my
voice? 'Langley..' he couldn't tell where it was
coming from. He was convinced the necklace was talking
to him. It was calling his name.

"Langley!!" came the voice and jolted him from his
stupor. He clutched the headset cord in his ear.

"Langley! Do - you - read - me?" Byers voice
blasted at him. "Nod - if - you - read - me. I'm -
right - above - you."

Langley lifted his head and nodded to the air
grate just above him. He put his hand in his pocket
and wrapped it around a Stanley tape measure.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Dean Commaly's Bathroom
4:15 pm

Still sitting on the floor of the bathroom, Dean
Commaly finally finished crying. The pain was so bad
he could hardly stand it. He tried to call his wife
earlier to tell her why he would be late, but he just
couldn't get himself off the floor. This was a bad
one. He'd have to see his doctor again soon. He
hadn't had a knockout migraine like that in years. It
was the stress. The incident with the poor guard came
out of left field. Things were getting back to normal.
There hadn't been any complaints from the workers
about anything happening for weeks. He thought that
clairvoyant he called in actually worked.

Lucille laughed when he suggested it to her, so he
went behind her back to hire her. She did wonders for
the Library of Congress. Ghosts. That could be the
only explanation for the poor man's death, right? That
poor man. Had the life crushed right out of him. What
an awful way to go.

He felt it was time to move on, like his
predecessor. Just in the last three weeks there were
swords that flew off the wall for no reason, almost
getting a janitor, there were eerie noises down in one
of the storage rooms, like dancing, or a party, but no
one was there. One morning, a guard noticed that
Charlie McCarthy had one of the ruby slippers on his
top hat. Then the death, the Hope Diamond, just like
Harold told him about the little girl. What a
nightmare.

He would sooner spend his time on administration
matters that he was hired for, not spooks and things
that go bump in the night. He wondered if Lucille
finished the paperwork he had her start before this
whole mess started. 'Yes,' he thought. 'Put your mind
on something else. Where's the dismissal papers...
I'll sign them and the transfer receipts from the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Maybe I can even take a
few days off when this whole mess is taken care of. If
it's taken care of...'

He stood up and stretched, but not too much, as he
was afraid any slight awkward movement would make the
pain return. He walked to his office. Lucille turned
all the lights off and it was dark. He felt his way to
his desk. He sat in his chair and turned the desk lamp
on. Light flooded the desk and some reflected across
the room. He thought he saw something moving in the
corner of the office. He looked up and swore he saw a
glimmer. He heard the crunching of metal.

"What the..." he mused as he stared straight ahead
with fright. An armored knight was walking closer to
him, on the other side of his desk. It was saying
something. "You can't get away with it" or something
like that. What was it that it said? What couldn't I
get away with? What did I do?

He was still wondering when the lance from the
armored man sliced right into and through his heart.
He was dead before he hit the floor, causing the
leather bound chair to move back and twirl in position.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Smithsonian Institute
Hope Diamond Exhibit
4: 17 pm

Langley finally made it to the vault holding the
Diamond necklace. He looked both ways to see if there
was a guard around. There was one standing to his
right. Langley stopped and watched him to make sure he
wasn't paying any attention.

People behind Langley were getting squeamish.
"Hey, Valley Boy. Move it along."

"My kid wants to see it."

"I have to get home and get supper on the table."

"I'm tired, Mommy."

This wasn't good. Langley didn't want the
attention on him. Luckily at that moment, Frohike,
noting the commotion, went to the guard and unfolded a
map of the museum in front of him.

"Can you help me? I'm looking for Archie Bunker's
chair. I heard it was here. Where is it? I heard
there's some big rocks here. I can't find 'em. The
gift shop?"

Langley saw the guard was occupied so he took the
tape measure out of his pocket and measured the vault
opening both ways, top to bottom and side to side.
People looked at each other and by the time anyone
could ask him what in the world he was doing, Langley
was gone.

Walking away from the exhibit, Langley mouthed
into his talking device, "Byers, 22 by 25."

"Roger," was the reply.

"Guess that blows Frohike's theory out of the
water," Langley continued.

"Not the first time," Byers smirked.

Hearing the conversation in his ear piece, said
out loud, "I resent that."

The guard looked at him. "Resent what?"

Frohike surprised, said, "Everything."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

CONTINUED IN PART FIVE

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hope (5/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Gary Hobson's apartment
4:20 pm

Mulder was fascinated with the collection of Auto
racing magazines piled on the 'coffee table' that was
actually concrete blocks with a sheet of panelling on
top. Richard Petty was on the cover of one and he
couldn't help but sit on the couch and open it to the
article.

Scully was pretty perturbed with Mr. Hobson. "He
was murdered. A co-worker was murdered at your place
of business. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Gary said, "Sure. It's just so freaky. I didn't
know him that well..."

Scully folded her arms to she chest and said, "I
didn't know him at all but it affects me. That's why
we're here, to find out what happened to the poor man."

At the mention of 'we' Gary looked at Mulder, who
was deep in thought of the life of Richard Petty.
Scully looked at the top of Mulder's head, as his face
was down, close to the magazine. "Mulder! Tell Mr.
Hobson how affected by his death you are."

"Huh?"

Gary continued, "Hey. I'm affected. I just
didn't know him that well. I don't know what happened
to him and hopefully you'll find the weirdo who did
this."

The silence didn't play well with Gary, who looked
from Scully's intense stare to the uneven part on the
top of her partner's head. What kind of hair was that
anyway? He finally spoke, " You don't think I had
anything to do with it, do you?"

Mulder shut the magazine and joined them in the
'kitchen' which consisted of a row of cupboards with a
dorm type fridge and hot plate. "Why would you think
we'd think you did it, Mr. Hobson?"

"Well, you're here, aren't you? Why talk to me if
you didn't think I did it."

Scully crossed her arms and said, "We're talking
to you to get all information we can about what
happened last night. It's Investigation 101."

"I missed that part of it," Gary said.

"Huh?" Mulder asked.

"I wasn't in the academy that long. I didn't make
it that far."

"What academy are you talking about?" Scully
asked.

"I wanted to be a cop more than anything. I ...
got kicked out."

"What did you do?"

"I ... sort of ... punched out one of my
instructors."

"Do you have a temper, Mr. Hobson?"

"No. I don't believe I do. He was just on my ass
from day one and I couldn't take it anymore."

Mulder moved in on him, "Was Jonas Cosoton on your
ass?"

"No. I hardly knew him. Really."

Scully rubbed her neck. Man, did she have a kink.
She rolled her head from side to side and front and
back. She must have slept wrong. She seemed to
remember something... Was it a nightmare she had? She
tried to remember writing down her dreams as soon as
she woke up like Melissa always told her to, but she
never remembered until she was in the shower. By the
time she got out, it was gone. She wasn't sure, but
she had a hell of a dream last night.

"Have you talked to Gil yet? He knew him better
than I did."

Mulder said, "Yes, as a matter of fact, we saw him
right before coming to see you and he wasn't any more
help than you were." Mulder noticed Scully and her
discomfort. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Hobson."

Mulder hustled Scully out the door. In the
hallway, Scully turned to Mulder and demanded, "What
the hell was that about? I have more questions for him
like why he punched his instructor, why he chose to
work at the museum, why he was so defensive..."

"Are you all right?" Mulder asked.

"What the hell is going on? I'm FINE!"

Two apartment doors opened and heads stuck out at
the scream. Scully apologized and walked back to
Hobson's apartment. Mulder took her arm and steered
her to the elevator.

"I think you should go home and take a nap."

"Take a nap? What am I, in kindergarten? I have
a job to do. What's gotten into everyone? I'm fine.
In fact I feel better than I did yesterday. In fact
I've never felt better in my life. Leave me alone!"

Mulder was left to watch her stringent figure
blast her way down the hallway and down the stairs.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Skinner's Office
4:45 PM

Smoke filled the room. Skinner took a portable
fan out of his desk and pointed it at the foul man
sitting across from him.

"It's started," the Cigarette Smoking Man exhaled.

Skinner sneered, "There aren't going to be any
side effects I didn't know about?"

"How you don't trust me, Mr. Skinner. Sometimes I
wonder why I help you out at all," CSM coughed as he
rose from his seat and stubbed out his butt in the
ashtray Skinner always seemed to provide for him.

He moved toward the back door when Skinner said,
"She doesn't look any different. She claims she feels
fine. I want to know, did she receive it this
morning?" After no reply from the man, he continued,
"If this doesn't work, there'll be hell to pay. You
haven't seen nothing until you've seen me require
revenge."

"Mr. Skinner, I've been threatened by the best.
Don't you dare try to---"

Skinner stood and said, "I've had enough of your
cryptic, condescending musings. I will hunt you down
and I will kill you if this does not work."

"Like last time? How you scared me by putting
holes in my wall."

Skinner rose and put his nose to the smoker's nose
and said, "This time I won't miss. I won't use a gun
at all. I'll use a knife and I'll cut things off one
by one while you scream for mercy. Mercy that you will
never see."

"Sounds like you need a vacation, Mr. Skinner,"
CSM said as he sauntered out the door.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Nancy Vickman's house
5:05 pm

Nancy was a whirling tornado. Between making
supper for the kids, mopping the kitchen floor,
watching the news (wondering why there wasn't anything
about the murder at the Smith), and picking up her
paintbrush every once in a while to dab more paint on a
fresh canvas, she was a blur. Mulder and Scully were
sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and
fresh biscuits and butter in front of them.

Scully said, "Ms. Vickman, are you sure you don't
need any help?"

Nancy stopped her mopping and smiled to her, "Ah,
no. TONY! Get your sister and come and EAT!" Mulder
about fell off his chair. He stood as two children ran
into the kitchen and plopped down at the table, little
Alison choosing Scully's lap.

Mulder looked closer at the painting Nancy was
working on. It was sort of an abstract, but you could
clearly see a hunched man in the corner with a large
predator over him, a large branch of some sort coming
out of the beast's mouth. Another figure, possibly a
man, was standing off to the side, as if orchestrating
the whole thing. "When did you start this, Ms.
Vickman?"

Nancy set a home made pizza and paper towels on
the table and the kids picked at it. Alison was
getting crumbs all over Scully, but she actually didn't
mind. She hadn't held a child since her nephew visited
last spring. Nancy said, "Oh, I couldn't sleep this
morning and I started it. It calms me."

"What is this thing," Mulder asked, pointing to
the beast.

"It's an elephant. Nice metaphor, huh?"

"In what way?" Mulder asked.

"Well, the guy was ... like ... stomped, right?
What would do a better job?"

Scully put Alison in her seat and stood by the
painting. "Very good metaphor, Ms. Vickman. What does
this man mean?" She asked, pointing to the huddled
figure. "Is this Mr. Cosoton?

"Well, sure. He's what I was thinking of as I was
painting. Such an awful thing that happened."

Scully breathed a sigh of relief that someone
bothered to be bothered. She looked back at the other
man in the painting. The one that had no face and was
almost standing at attention. "What is this man
supposed to represent?"

"Oh, no. That's just a guy."

Mulder said, "What kind a guy?"

"He's a figure I put in all my paintings. Just a
guy."

Nancy sat with her kids and started on a piece of
pizza. Scully looked at the painting again. "Ms.
Vickman, you started this painting this morning?"

Nancy nodded with a mouth full of pizza.

"Have you been painting long?"

While swallowing the pizza, she muttered, "I've
been painting since I was... oh, about 12. Just
something I took up to pass time."

"You're a busy woman now, Ms. Vickman. There's
quite a bit of detail in this painting. How can you
find the time?"

"I do it to ... relax myself."

Scully looks around the kitchen and sees Science,
Math, and English books on the counter. They are
teacher's editions. "Do you home school your children,
Ms. Vickman?"

"Of course. I don't want my children subjected to
the horrors of schooling."

Mulder was taken back. "Horrors. Ms. Vickman?
Elementary school is probably one of the best times in
a child's life. Friends, starting to learn fundamental
things..."

Scully looked at Mulder and realized he was
probably right. He was at his happiest in Elementary
school... before losing Samantha... She wondered how
many friends he had at that time in his life.

Nancy broke Scully's thoughts and said, "They are
their own best friends. They can't learn anything I
can't teach them. Tony is very gifted. He knows the
entire elements chart and he may be starting Algebra
soon. He's only 7."

Scully said, "A gifted program in school would be
a wonderful opportunity for him."

"Bah," was all Nancy said.

Mulder asked, "When in the world do you find the
time, Ms. Vickman? You work all night, you school your
children, you have time to fix a homemade pizza, you
have a spotless house, and you have a hobby," pointing
to the painting, "that you have put a lot of work into,
just today."

Nancy started to clean up the kitchen while the
kids ate. She said to Mulder and Scully, "I need to
get the kids in the bathtub and settled down for the
night before my mother comes and I go to work, so, if
you don't mind... unless you'd like to help..."

Mulder cut her off, "Oh, of course... we'll get
out of your way. Thanks for your time."

"No problem. Good day," Nancy wished them and she
was off cleaning the dishes by hand and putting things
away and finishing mopping all at the same time.
Scully had to move quickly, or she would have had Mr.
Clean suede shoes.

CONTINUED IN PART SIX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hope (6/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Scully's Apartment
1:15 am

Scully was having a heck of a time sleeping. She
figured she should get in some solid sack time but she
just couldn't do it. Her head was pounding, really
badly. After taking aspirin, tossing and turning, cold
compresses, and swearing, she decided to call Mulder
and see if he was still up.

He answered on the first ring. "Mulder."

"It's me."

"Can't sleep?"

"Headache."

"Really?" Mulder, who was at his computer desk
surfing the net, straightened in his seat and said,
"Should you... go to a hospital? Get it checked out?
Do you have headaches a lot, Scully?"

"You're making it worse," Scully replied,
groggily.

"You want me to come over?"

"No, you don't have to do that. Just lower your
voice and just talk, ok? You sometimes have that gift
of making me fall asleep when you really get going."

"Oh, you sweet talker you."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm on the Internet searching for stuff on the
Hope Diamond."

"Find anything?"

"Did you know one of the men who went down on the
Titanic owned it?"

"Really?"

"American millionaire Edward McLean. His
granddaughter committed suicide after wearing it too."

"Not because she was distraught because her dear
ole granddad died? Besides, Mulder, even if there were
a curse on the necklace, what does that have to do with
Jonas Cosoton. As far as we know he never
intentionally had the necklace-"

"Are we so sure about that?"

"What do you mean?"

Mulder clicked through a couple of links on the
computer. "Maybe he was in the midst of stealing the
diamond and the curse got him. Some ghost in the form
of the elephant got even with him for taking it."

Scully squinted at the pain in her head, and her
ear. "Wasn't I the one who told you it was a burglary
gone wrong?"

"You going to nit pick?"

"Pendrell should have the photo augmented by the
morning. We can at least find out who was in the
picture and go from there. Ow!"

"What? Your head really hurts, huh?"

"No, I stubbed my toe. There's someone at the
door."

"Visitors this late at night... or early in the
morning, I guess. You have a boyfriend I didn't know
about, Scully?"

"That's what I'm going to find out. Hang on."
Scully put the phone down on the bed and left the
bedroom.

Mulder went to another web page to read more about
Titanic's history. He waited. There was a strange
noise on the line. "Scully?"

No answer. "Scully?"

It was quiet on the line. What was that sound?
He thought it was a table being pushed, or a window.
"Scully?"

He pushed away from the desk and took off his
glasses and barked into the phone, "Scully!"

He heard a distant reply, "Just a sec!"

He waited, pacing the small apartment, and waited.
Finally Scully picked the phone back up and said,
"There wasn't anyone there."

"Are you sure?"

"I opened the door and there wasn't anyone there.
No one in the hallway."

"Someone rang the doorbell and left? This isn't
April 1st."

"No it isn't. Ow."

"Stub another toe?"

"No my head hurts."

"Scully, I'm coming over there right now."

"No, I'm tired, just talk to me."

"About what?"

"Doesn't matter..."

Mulder sat at the computer again and scanned the
monitor. "Care to know the details of the making of
the Titanic?"

"Sure."

"It all started in Belfast. A great titan was in
the midst of construction in the regular fog of the
city by the sea. Measuring four city blocks,
consisting of 4 smokestacks, one fake so people would
really believe it was the fastest ship afloat, three
anchors..."

Scully was right when she said Mulder could put
her to sleep. This recitation was better than another
pill. In fact, she was so asleep she didn't notice
that there was a man slowly making his way out from
under her bed. He pulled a black case out from under
the bed and stood and watched as Scully's chest slowly
went up and down in steady ryhtym.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Dean Commaly's office
8:12 am

Lucille walked into the office and turned on the
lights. She hoped that that day would be better than
the last. Her boss couldn't take another of those.
She did worry about him. He was jumpy over the least
little thing, but was an outstanding administrator and
quite the smoozer to acquire all the extra funds they
needed for the mineral exhibit renovations, and she
received regular raises. Nothing at all to complain
about.

She laid some papers down on his desk. She
noticed his chair was facing the window, back to her.
Surely he didn't sleep in his office. She went around
the desk and turned the chair. Empty.

She pushed the chair back to the desk and it's
wheel got caught on something. She moved the chair
back and saw him. "Mr. Commaly?"

She went to him on the floor. "Oh my
GOOOOOOODDDDDDD!" Her mind registered that there was a
huge blood stain on his back and on the floor under and
along side him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Dean Commaly's office
8:42 am

"You know, Mulder. I need an answer to my
question."

Mulder rose from the floor and the body of Commaly
and looked up with a smile as Lois walked into the
office. Behind her, the assistant quietly walked in.
He took a look at the surroundings and seeing Scully,
put his head down was as unobtrusive as possible.

"That depends on the question."

"With me on the 50 yard line, or you in the
parking lot."

"Ah, yes. Well, of course--"

"Could you help me here, Mulder," Scully said as
she was poking at something under the body of Commaly.

"De ja vu all over again," Mulder smiled at Lois
and got back on the floor with Scully.

Scully stopped what she was doing and looked at
Mulder with a sour expression. "I don't believe this."

She pulled on a metal rope and out from under
Commaly was the Hope Diamond.

"Would you quit touching that thing?" Mulder
scolded.

Lois pointed to the necklace and said, "Is that--"

"Yes," Scully cut her off. "What the hell is
going on here?"

Lucille, in her chair in the reception area, was
rocking back and forth crying. Scully came out of
Commaly's office and to her with the rock in her hand.
"Ms. Crier, did you notice this earlier?"

Lucille looked up and her mouth opened wide and
was flabbergasted. "How... What is... What in the
world?"

"The Hope Diamond was found under his body. How
did this happen?"

Lucille looked up at Scully and stammered, "I
don't... I haven't any.... How am I supposed to know?"

"You found his body, correct?"

"Yes," she choked.

"You said he was on the floor. Did you see this?"
Scully lifted the necklace up to her face. Lucille
pushed it away.

"No. I didn't. How could that thing have
possibly gotten out of its cage?"

"Cage? It's called a vault," Scully said, at the
end of her patience.

"Ms. Scully, I have no idea what happened. I came
in this morning with papers for Mr. Commaly to sign.
His chair was back from the desk, I pushed it back to
the desk and found him on the floor. That's when I saw
the blood and I got the hell out of there. That's all
that happened."

Mulder's phone rang and he answered it, "Mulder."

"It's impossible, dude."

"Thanks." He hung up. Scully looked at him. He
shrugged. "Frohike doesn't see how the necklace could
have been stolen with the circumstances of yesterday."

"Today would probably put him in a coma," Scully
replied.

Scully's phone rang. She answered it, "Scully."

"I have a face!"

"Of course you do, Pendrell. Everyone has a face,
what are you talking about?"

"I have THE face!"

"OH! Yes, who is it?"

"I don't know. Where are you?"

"The Smithsonian. There's been another murder."

"Really?" Pendrell answered excitedly. "What's
the FAX number over there. I'll send the image right
over."

She went to the FAX machine by Lucille's desk and
read it off to Pendrell and hung up. She turned to
Mulder and said, "Pendrell has a face."

"Yeeeaaahhh, so?"

"He has THE face. He's sending it over."

Mulder and Scully waited by the machine. Scully
looked around the room and noticed the assistant. She
looked at him closely. He seemed familiar somehow, she
just couldn't figure out from where. She was just
going to go to him and talk when Mulder said, "Who in
the world would want to kill a poor night watchman and
the Director of the Museum?"

"There's sickos in the world, Mulder.
Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of them up close and
personal." Scully rubbed at her eyes. Mulder put a
hand on her shoulder. She shook her head as if to say,
"(all together now) I'm fine."

Lucille piped up, "I don't know about poor Jonas,
but Mr. Commaly was going to fire one of the watchman."

"Which one?"

"Nancy Vickman. He would have done it months ago,
but he felt sorry for her, being a single mother and
all."

Scully asked, "Why would be fire her? She's about
the most efficient one of the whole lot of them."

Mulder leaned in close to Scully's ear and said,
"I bet she's an off shoot of the Sleepless Project."
Scully looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Oh, right. I was with ...," He had to spew out
the next word as if he just drank a whole bottle of
castor oil. "Krycek on that one. The Sleepless
Project. The government had been experimenting with
the perfect soldier. One who didn't sleep."

"Mulder, gimme a break."

"You weren't there, Scully. You should have seen
it. Augustus Cole was a soldier in Viet Nam--"

"That has nothing to do with a single mother in
Washington DC."

"That we know of..." Mulder said.

"She was never at work on time," Lucille said.
"She'd waltz in a half hour, sometimes even an hour
late. She'd leave early, too. Mr. Commaly turned a
blind eye, but he couldn't do that any longer. She was
reprimanded many times. He finally decided to fire her
a couple of days ago. With all the excitement around
here, I just got around to making up the paper work
this morning. That was just one of the papers I
brought into his office when I ... found him."

Scully mused, "That's how she got everything
done."

The FAX machine came to life and Mulder and Scully
waited for the image from Pendrell to roll out. It was
a grainy picture, but it was clearly Nancy Vickman.

Mulder thought and said, "The painting. That man
in the painting."

Scully asked, "What about it?"

"I don't know, but it didn't have a face. What
else about it?"

Scully tried to remember. "It was standing at
attention," Scully added.

"Like a soldier..." Mulder said.

Lucille perked up and said, "Oh, my God."

"What?" Mulder and Scully said together.

"Mr. Commaly's favorite treasure here. A knight,
down the hallway. He loved it. He mentioned it many
times. Classic medieval."

Mulder said, "Would Nancy know that?"

"Everyone knew it," Lucille said.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hallway

Mulder and Scully, with Lois, Lucille, the cop,
and a guard following them, went down the hallway and
saw the knight in armor. Bright, shiny, well taken
care of, except for the blood on the tip of the lance.

"Commaly's?" Mulder asked.

"We'll have to test it, but let's bring her in for
questioning," Scully said. "She's probably sleeping as
we speak."

The security guard spoke up, "No she isn't."
Mulder and Scully looked at him. "She's here. I saw
her on the monitors."

They went to the security room and looked at the
monitors. In the basement, Nancy was sitting cross
legged with her hands out from her body with the palms
up. She was in what looked like a maintenance room.

"What is she doing?"

"I don't know, Scully. Let's go get her," Mulder
said.

Just then, the lights went out.

CONTINUED IN PART SEVEN

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hope (7/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Smithsonian Institute
Security Room

Scully instinctively felt for Mulder, who in turn
grabbed her arm and moved her closer to him.

"What happend," Scully asked.

"The lights went out."

"Oh, thank you, Mulder." Scully never appreciated
lightness from her partner at such times.

A distant grinding and hum rose in volume in the
dark. Scully squeezed Mulder's arm tighter. "What's
that?"

The generator lights blinked and came to life. It
didn't add too much in the way of sight, but it helped.
Mulder's eyes adjusted to the low light when screams
echoed through the room. The scream grew louder, high
pitched and annoying. Mulder enveloped Scully in his
arms as they both looked at all the people in the room,
Lois, her assistant, a cop, a security guard, and in
the corner, Lucille sitting on the floor with her hands
to her face and the cause of the screams.

"It's okay, Ms. Crier. Get a grip," Mulder
instructed.

"Mulder..." Scully said.

"I know, I'm sorry Ms. Crier. It's just that
you're making us nervous," Mulder apologized.

The security monitors blinked on and grainy, dark
images of hallways and unlighted artifacts throughout
the museum came into view. Mulder turned to the
security guard and said, "You have a flashlight?"

The guard reached into a drawer and pulled one
out. He handed it to Mulder, who handed it to Scully.
He held his hand out to the guard again, who filled it
with another from the drawer. Scully and Mulder turned
on the flashlights. A thin beam of light emitted from
each. Mulder aimed his at Scully's chest and the light
reflected on her face. "You ready?"

Mulder told the others to stay put and followed
Scully out the door and down the hall. The others in
the room heard them move down the hall and then a set
of dainty footsteps coming back to the room. Scully
appeared at the door and asked, "Which way to the
basement?"

"To the left, down the hall all the way, turn
right, then left and take the first door to the right,"
the security guard told her. "Here's the key to the
door.?"

The cop approached Scully and said, "I should go
with you." Scully said, "No, Sir," Scully said as she
took the key from the guard and motioned the the
others. "Just stay here with them."

After she left the room, the others went to the
security monitors and watched as Scully met up with
Mulder and they went to the end of the hall. They
stayed there, talking to themselves. The guard said to
the others, "Are they figuring out strategy?"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Smithsonian Institute
Hallway

"The guard said it was this way," Scully said
forcefully. Mulder has to disagree, "I know it's this
way. I feel it."

"Mulder, he said take a right, then left, first
door on the right."

She started to the right. Mulder wondered whether
to trust his instincts or his partner. He shook his
head and followed Scully to the right.

"See?" Scully announced as they found the door the
security guard mentioned and Scully slipped the key
into the lock.

"You go first," Scully told Mulder.

"Why me?"

"I don't go first in museums anymore."

"I don't think there's any cats involved here,
Scully. Besides, I went first last time."

The guard and Lucille watched on the monitor as
Mulder and Scully stopped and talked again.

"The FBI sure makes sure all are on the same
wavelength before moving," the cop said. Lois, who had
a deaf brother and could read lips, smiled but said
nothing. She thought to herself, "They're on the same
wavelength, all right."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Stairway

Scully heaved the door open and pointed the
flashlight down the stairs. She squinted and tried to
see as much as she could. It was quiet and there was
an eerie stillness to the air. The stairway led down
into the darkness and an empty area to the left, a wall
to the right. She took one tentative step down. She
pointed the flashlight beam down the stairs, on the
stairs, back at Mulder, and to her face.

"Not much output from these things. Is yours any
better? Maybe you should go first," she said.

"I'm right behind you, Scully. Let's go," Mulder
ordered.

Not liking his tone of voice, she swung around and
said, "Don't order me around." She hit the flashlight
to the side of her hand and said, "Too bad we don't
have ours."

"What? You want me to go out to the trunk and get
them?"

"Yes. I'll wait here. In fact, I'll wait in the
security room with the others."

"Scully, are you scared?"

"No... just tentative. I can't see anything."

Mulder held her by the arms as he moved around
her. "I'll go first. Stay close. Nothing is going to
happen."

A stick of metal whished by at lightening speed
their heads and banged into the wall. Mulder belatedly
pulled her to a crouch on the stairs. She unsteadily
knelt and said, "What did you say?"

"Nothing. What was that?"

Sticks of metal one right after the other thrust
themselves at them and clanged against the wall and
settled at their feet. Mulder picked one up. It was a
socket wrench. Another was a screwdriver. Another was
a pliers. There was silence and Mulder said, "The
toolbox must be empty."

"Who's throwing them?" Scully asked.

Mulder flashed his puny flashlight around the
basement. He could make out the vague shape of a long
bench, a bunch of fuse boxes and tanks. "I don't see
anybody." He stood up, still holding Scully by one
hand, lifted her up too. She shined her flashlight
around and caught Mulder's face in the beam. He was
bleeding from the forehead. She reached up and wiped
blood from his eyebrow.

He wiped some more off while Scully said, "What
was that again about nothing was going to happen,
Mulder?"

He released his grip on her and took the handrail
and moved down the steps. Scully followed, right
behind him. He reached the bottom step and moved one
step away from the stairs. Scully tripped on the last
step and collapsed on his back. She grabbed his jacket
to keep from falling. He turned and helped her stand
upright.

"Sorry. Didn't see the last step."

"Just stick close, Scully."

They shone their flashlights around the basement
and to the right, around the wall, there was a corridor
and a blue light emitting from the room. Mulder led
Scully across the room and there was a loud crash.
They jumped and turned to the sound and saw one of the
water tanks overturned and water was rushing across the
floor.

There was a low hum, like a chant, coming from the
room at the end of the corridor. Mulder started toward
the corridor but turned to find Scully taking off her
shoes. She looked up at him when the light shined on
her. "New shoes, suede. I have to learn not to wear
suede shoes to work." She put her high heels on the
steps and followed Mulder to the corridor.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Boiler Room

Mulder and Scully made their way to the door of
the room and squinted through the blue light to see
Nancy Vickman, still cross legged in the middle of the
floor. Her arms straight out from her sides, palms up.
"Ms. Vickman..." Scully began. The chants of the hums
continued and rose in volume. Hoses attached to
machines and the wall unhooked themselves and flew
across the room at the agents. They ducked in time.
Boxes flew in the their direction.

Nancy, with her arms still outright, stood and
faced the agents. She stopped humming. She was
completely silent for what seemed an eternity. Mulder,
who had discarded the measly flashlight, moved toward
her.

"I wouldn't do that, Agent Mulder. In fact, you
and Agent Scully should just turn around and go up
stairs and leave me alone. Entirely alone. I'd hate
to see anything happen to you that isn't necessary."

Mulder put up a protective hand between his face
and Nancy and said, "We don't want to hurt you. We
just want to help you."

"I don't need any help. I'm taking care of
myself. I've always taken care of myself. I've never
needed any help," Nancy said in an unearthly tone, like
she was underwater. "That old fart isn't going to fire
me. Social services isn't going to take my kids away.
You aren't going to hurt me. No one is ever going to
hurt me again."

"As I said, Nancy. We aren't going to hurt
you..." He slowly moved forward.

She glared at him. "Leave me alone! Everyone
bothers me! I hate people! Why do you think I took a
night watchman job in the first place? I just want to
be left alone. Even when I was a little girl... Okay,
I was chubby. That didn't mean I needed to be teased
unmercifully for two years straight by that little
shit, Lisa Freemont."

Scully's mouth fell. "Lisa...? The girl who was
killed--"

Nancy's face turned into an ear to ear grin. "I
made a chandelier fall on her. I didn't even know I
had that kind of power. It was exhilarating! If I'd
known I could do something like that, no one would ever
have given me grief! I just thought and thought and,
what do you know. A chandelier fell right on her.
Just like I told it to. I think that necklace had
something to do with it. And that man."

Mulder asked, "What man? The man in the painting,
who is it?"

"Lucifer, of course. He was standing in the
corner that day. We became friends. He's helped me get
out of all sorts of troubles. That awful, terrible
girl... my marriage..."

"You made that car fall on your husband," Scully
asked.

"It was his own fault. He shouldn't have hit me
for burning the roast. I made sure I burned him. Had
him cremated." She started laughing. "He wanted to be
buried next to his dear old parents. Ha Ha Haaaa... I
threw him in the garbage! God, excuse me, Lucifer
knows where he is now!"

Mulder asked, "Why did you kill Jonas Cosoton?"

"How the hell should I know? ... He pissed me
off." She laughed and laughed that turned into a
cackle. It grew louder and higher. The blue light in
the room grew brighter and all sorts of different
colors joined the blue and made a rainbow of colors
that filled the room. Mulder looked back at Scully and
crawled to her.

They huddled together as the air swirled around
them, their hair stood straight out from their heads.
The air was so powerful, they had a hard time keeping
their eyes open as they saw Nancy cackle and float off
the ground. She suddenly stopped laughing and looked
down to the floor. "OOOOHHHHH!!! Help me, please,"
the scream turning into a whimper. She pouted at the
floor and she closed her eyes. She fell with a thud to
the floor.

The cascade of colors faded and the air stopped
swirling. Scully's hair fell in her face. She flipped
it back with one hand. It was deadly quiet except for
the heavy breathing of Mulder and Scully. Just then,
the lights came back on. Scully saw the heaped figure
of Nancy on the floor. She crept to her. She stopped,
dizzy. She put her head down and put her hand to her
forehead. Mulder came up behind her and put a hand on
her back. "Scully?"

"I'm fine, Mulder." She put her hand down and
went to Nancy. Mulder reached her first and flipped
her over on her back. Scully checked for a pulse and
positioned herself so she could perform CPR on her.
"Call for an ambulance, Mulder." Mulder didn't
respond. "Mulder..."

Mulder was looking at the floor by Nancy.
"Mulder, call 911!"

Mulder, still staring at the floor, was lost in
his own world. "Mulder!" He reached down to Nancy's
side, and tugged on a shiny metal rope. Scully
stopped CPR and looked at where Mulder was tugging.
She grabbed his hand.

"Don't touch it. You don't need bad luck, too."

He looked at Scully and asked, "As apposed to the
luck I usually have?" He looked back at Nancy. "You
stopped CPR..."

"She's gone."

The cop, security guard, Lois, and her assistant
came into the room. Lois saw that Scully was holding
Mulder's hand. She knelt to the other side of the body
from Mulder and Scully. Scully said, "I think it's a
heart attack."

Lois lifted Nancy's left eye lid. "Nope, brain
aneurism. That's what I was thinking when we saw what
happened on the monitors." She looked at Mulder's hand
and the rope leading under the body. "That's not..."

"That is..." Mulder said.

Scully freed Mulder's hand and sat back on her
butt. Mulder didn't notice and stood as did Lois.
They looked at each other, then down to Nancy's bosy
and back to each other. "You too come across this alot
I guess."

"Not this, particularly, but... seen some stuff."
Mulder said.

"Her poor kids..." Lois said.

People were mingling around and Scully picked
herself off the floor and stood braced against the
wall. She was very quiet and head bent down.

Lois shook the last traces of sadness from her and
turned her attention to Mulder and said, "So, should we
meet at the stadium, or you going to pick me up."

"I'm sure I could find your place on the map," he
smiled.

"I'll give you in depth directions, or, you could
follow me home. I'll show you the way..."

Mulder's mouth was open and ready to respond
affirmatively when he heard a faint 'Mulder' coming
from across the room. He looked over to see Scully
slowly going down the wall to the floor, rubbing her
temples. 'Mulder'.

He rushed to her side and caught her before her
legs went out from under her. He gently sat her on the
floor and crouched next to her. "Scully? What's
wrong?"

She lifted her head and tried to focus.
"Mulder.... Mulder, I can't see..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

CONTINUED IN PART EIGHT

Hope (8/9) - The Lonely Buddha <JBjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Smithsonian Institute
Basement

"Mulder, I can't see...," Scully moaned as she
braced ehrself against the wall.

Mulder rushed to her and put his hands on each
side of her head. He lifted her face up to him so he
could see. Her pupils were dilated. Tears were
streaming down her face. He brushed a few away, but
more came. He hugged her close. Lois knelt down to
them and looked closely at Scully. "What's wrong with
her?"

"I'm not sure..." Mulder said, very worried. "She
has a tumor..."

Lois looked at her eyes and said, "Let me see..."
Scully convulsed in pain and collapsed from
consciousness. She slumped hard against Mulder,
startling him. He lifted her up in his arms and
started across the room. Lois said, "Mulder, you
shouldn't jostle her."

"She needs to get to a hospital!" He hurried her
out of the room.
Lois yelled after him, "Let me look at her! I'm a
doctor!"

Panicked, Mulder ignored her and kept on running.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Stairway

"Mulder! Stop! You shouldn't juggle her around!"

Mulder, not caring, ran up the stairs with Scully
in his arms at record speed. Lois turned the corner
and screamed, "We should call an ambulance!"

"No time," he yelled back and continued to the
top. Lois tripped on a pair of shoes sitting on the
third step from the bottom. By the time she got to the
top, he was long gone.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Parking Lot of the Smithsonian Institute

Mulder ran to the car, still holding Scully. He
was moving so fast, it's as if she weighed nothing.
Scully was just dead weight in his arms. He leaned her
against the car as he felt for his keys. He unlocked
the door and set her gently in the front seat. He
fastened her seat belt and shut the door. He rushed to
the driver's side and lifted the door handle. It was
still locked. He searched for the keys, but realized
they were still in the passenger side. He went to the
other side of the car and took them out of the lock.

After unlocking the driver's side, he slid into
the seat and turned the ignition in one swift movement.
he looked at Scully and prayed, "Hold on, God, please
help her hold on!"

He sped out of the parking lot and onto the
street, making a couple of cars swerve to miss him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Mulder's Car

"Hold on, Scully. Please, God, hold on," Mulder
repeated over and over as a mantra.

He looked over at her. Her face fell toward the
passenger's window. He reached over and pulled her
face to him. She was still unconscious.

He maneuvered the car at great speed through the
traffic. After a couple of near misses and going
through a red light, he noticed red and white flashing
lights in his rear view window. "Oh, damn it! Hell,
I'm not pulling over!"

He reached into his breast pocket as he looked
over at Scully and the traffic. He rolled down the
window and held his FBI badge out facing back to the
cop following him. He looked down at speedometer, 56
miles per hour, in downtown Washington DC. 'Too bad,'
he thought. 'I'm not slowing down until I hit the
hospital.'

He looked over at Scully again, the only thing
holding her in the seat was the seat belt. She was
completely limp. "Hold on, Scully."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Georgetown Hospital

Mulder screeched to a halt at the Emergency
entrance. He flew out of the car and ran to the
passenger side. The cop screeched to a halt behind
him. The cop got out screaming, "What the HELL do you
think you're DOING?!?!?"

Mulder opened the passenger side door, carefully
so Scully wouldn't fall out. He unfastened her
seatbelt and she slipped into his arms. He pulled her
out of the car and rushed into the entrance of the
hospital, the cop yelling and following closely.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Georgetown Emergency Room

Mulder rushed into the Emergency Room reception
area with Scully dead to the world in his arms. "I
need help here!" A nurse, sitting at the desk, got up
and pointed to a gurney resting against a wall. Mulder
gently laid Scully on it and the nurse and another
intern wheeled her down the hall to a trauma room.

"What's wrong with her?" the intern asked Mulder,
who followed, holding Scully's hand.

"She can't see... she passed out... she has a
brain tumor... she can't die!"

They wheeled her into the room and the intern
pushed Mulder back as the door closed between them.
Mulder yelled, "Don't let her die!"

He paced backward to the opposite wall and
collapsed on it. He put his head down and prayed to
God. "Do something, do something, now!"

He looked up and saw black shiny shoes, blue
creaseless pants, a gun holster, a blue pressed shirt,
a shiny police badge, and a face with a heavy scowl.
"So, Mr. Unser, what do you have to say for yourself?"
The cop crossed his arms across his chest and tapped
his foot on the floor, waiting.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Waiting Room

After explaining the urgency of the situation and
the fact that he was an FBI agent to the cop, he stuck
the reckless driving ticket in his wallet where his
driver's license used to be. He replaced his wallet
back in his back pants pocket. He paced back and forth
in the grey and lavender waiting room.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell
phone. He dialed and put the phone to his ear. He
exhaled all the air out of his lungs and replenished
the supply trying to calm himself before Mrs. Scully
would answer. He got the machine. 'Is this the kind
of message you leave?' he wondered. "Mrs. Scully, it's
Mul--Fox. I need to talk to you as soon as possible.
Please call me on my cell as soon as you get this
message." He clicked the end button and put the phone
to his forehead. He closed his eyes and tried to stop
from crying.

When he decided to make another call, he noticed
blood on the side of the phone. He put his hand to his
forehead, he had reopened the cut from the wrench. He
wiped the blood on his pants and dialed the phone. He
waited three rings before he heard, "Skinner."

"It's Mulder, Sir." Mulder realized his voice was
cracking, so he cleared his throat.

"What's up, Mulder?"

"It's Scully, Sir. She's... "

"She's what, Mulder?" Skinner asked, very
interested.

"She's in the hospital... emergency room..."

"What?!?" Skinner screamed. Mulder reflectively
pulled the phone away from his ear. "You can't let
them do anything to her! You hear me? Nothing! I'll
be right down."

"Sir? What are you talking about?"

There was no answer. He was numb. What did he
mean, don't do anything? Didn't he want Scully to
live? Stupid, of course he does. Look what he did--.
Right, look what he did for Scully... He must know
something I don't. Why didn't he tell us... What the
hell is going on?

Mulder ran out of the waiting room and down the
hall, to the door they wheeled Scully into. He burst
through the door. "Stop! Stop what you're doing!
Right now!" He pulled out his FBI badge and repeated,
"Stop!"

The intern and doctor stopped in mid air and
turned to Mulder with bewildered looks. "Excuse me,"
the female doctor said.

"You can't do anything to her."

"We're giving her treatment to revive her from the
coma."

"She's in a coma?"

"Yes.. leave, Sir," the doctor said.

"No! You can't."

"Why not?"

Mulder fumbled for words. "I don't know" was all
he could come up with.

"That's not enough, Sir. If you'd please leave
this room." She motioned to the intern to escort him
out of there. "Leave my O.R., Sir."

Mulder pushed past the intern and said, "No! I
have to be insistent here. You can't do anything to
her. This coma may be the only thing that's saving
her."

He reached the table Scully was laying on. He
covered her white, cold hand with his own. "I can't
explain it, but the one who can will be here soon. He
can explain it to both of us." He looked the doctor
square in the eyes and said, "You have to trust me."

His cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his
pocket, clicked call, and put it to his ear. "Mulder."

"Fox... what in the world is going on? Is it
Dana?"

"Yes, Mrs. Scully. Get to Georgetown Hospital as
soon as you can, but please don't drive yourself. Get
a neighbor or--"

"Is she .... dead?"

"No, Mrs. Scully. Listen to me, don't drive
yourself. You're too upset. Dana's... doing okay.
Just come to Georgetown Hospital."

"Tell her I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell
her I love her."

"You can tell her yourself, Mrs. Scully."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Skinner's Car

Skinner was driving like a maniac. He had one
hand on the steering wheel and one hand holding his
cell phone to his ear. "You son of a BITCH! What did
you do to her?!"

CSM's Office

Cancerman was sitting with his feet on his desk,
coolly smoking a Morley. He smiled and said into the
phone, "So, Mr. Skinner. I can't seem to get a break
from you. I do nothing and you shoot holes in my
walls. I do something and you scream at me over the
phone."

"What did you do?" Skinner demanded.

"Completed my end of our little bargain..."

Skinner's Car

He drove into a parking space in the parking lot
of the hospital and grunted into the phone, "If she
dies--"

"Yada, yada, yada, Mr. Skinner," Cancerman chirped
and hung up.

Skinner pushed end and threw the phone against the
passenger's window. He calmed himself down and left
the car, slamming the door as he stomped into the
hospital.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

CONTINUED IN PART NINE

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hope (9/9) - The Lonely Buddha <Jbjerk@aol.com>

Disclaimer in Part One

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Emergency Room

Mulder was still standing guard over Scully and
the doctor and intern were still confused, but resigned
to the situation. Scully's breathing was steady, she
was hooked up to a resperator, just like when she
returned to the land of the living. Mulder prayed
she'd wake up this time also. The respirator was the
only sound in the room as Skinner burst through the
door. Everyone's attention focused on the bald man in
a business suit and trench coat.

Skinner surveyed the room and walked to Scully's
side. He pulled his ID out of the breast pocket of his
suitcoat and showed it to the doctor. "I'm Assistant
Director Skinner of the FBI. This agent is not to
receive any kind of medication from any of you."

The doctor said, "Why was she brought to our
emergency room if she didn't require medical
attention?"

Skinner looked at Mulder and said to the doctor,
"Miscommunication."

He pulled Mulder's sleeve and they went to the
door. Skinner turned to the doctor and said, "Don't do
any more to her, just keep her comfortable.

After they left, the doctor and intern looked at
each other. The doctor said, mainly to herself, "I'm
supposed to help people... I can help her..."

The intern said, "They're FBI..."

"This woman's body is shutting down," the doctor
said.

"I wouldn't want to fool with the FBI..." the
intern stated.

The doctor didn't know what to do, so she paced.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Waiting Room

Skinner pulled Mulder into the room and Mulder put
himself in Skinner's face and demanded, "What the HELL
is going on here?"

"Agent Scully is already receiving treatment."

"What? By whom?"

Skinner pulled back and said, "By the man you know
as Cigarette Man..."

"He's going to kill her. He's already killed her!
You're letting him!"

Mulder charged by him to the room, but was caught
and pulled back by Skinner. "Hold it, Agent Mulder.
I'm talking as your superior."

"You're pulling rank on me while my partner is
dying in the other room?! Go to hell!"

"Agent Mulder, you have to trust me."

"If you're trusting that bastard, you're on the
wrong side, Sir," Mulder sneered.

"Agent Mulder, about that 'bee detail' you
mentioned... That had to do with this... This is what
that was all about... You know I don't trust that man
farther that I can throw him, which I'd gladly do, but
I have to trust him. You have to trust me. We have
got no else to trust."

Mulder stopped, closed his eyes, and realized
Skinner was probably right. He didn't like it, but he
had to place his trust to someone other than Scully at
that moment. He looked up and stared out into the
hallway. He saw three men walk by. It took a second
for him to realize who one of them was. "What the hell
is he doing here?"

He walked to the hallway, but was stopped by
Skinner once again. "Mulder, stop."

"That's Lois Newbacher's assistant that just
walked by. He doesn't work here," Mulder said as he
left. Skinner followed.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Trauma Room

Mulder and Skinner came in to see the three men
gathered around Scully's bad. The doctor and intern
were gone. Mulder rushed in and one of the men grabbed
him and pushed him back. "You don't want to see this,"
he warned.

"Let go of me!" Mulder tried to fight him off.
The assistant, taking no notice of the commotion,
continued with his final treatment to Scully. The two
men with him pulled Skinner and Mulder from the room.
The assistant put the syringe back into his bag and
took Scully's blood pressure. he checked her pulse.
He unhooked the respirator. Her chest contined in the
even rise and fall rythym.

Through the window, Mulder watched every move.

The assistant opened one of Scully's eyelids and
satisfied, retrieved his things and walked out of the
room.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hallway

As the door opened and the assistant exited the
trauma room, Mulder had to be restrained.

"What did you do to her?"

The assistant said to him, "You should thank me."
He walked away and the other two released Mulder and
Skinner and followed him.

Mulder yelled after them, "Who are you?"

Of course, there was no answer, Mulder entered the
trauma room. Skinner started to, but decided to stay
where he was. He let the swinging door close and he
looked in the window as he saw Mulder slowly walk to
Scully's side.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Trauma Room

Scully was breathing. There was a small red
splotch between her eyebrows. Scully's eyes fluttered.
Slowly, she opened them. The lights hit her and she
fluttered her eyelids and finally opened them. It took
a second to focus, but when she did, she saw the
smiling face of her partner.

Mulder took her hand and with his other, brushed
her hair back from her face. His finger brushed the
spoltch that he knew wasn't there before. "How are you
feeling?"

"My throat is sore. What happened?"

Mulder said, "Your head hurt?"

"No. I feel pretty good. Kind of groggy. What
happened?"

"I'm not at all sure..."

Skinner stepped back from the door and the doctor
came into the room and moved to her patient. She
looked at Scully and with a smile of disbelief, said,
"So, how... how did this happen?"

"Is she all right?" Mulder looked to the doctor.
The doctor looked to Scully and said, "I'm Doctor
Ethan. I'm going to run a battery of tests," she
looked at Mulder. "Okay?"

Mulder nodded in agreement and told Scully, "I'll
get out of the way. See you later."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Waiting Room

Skinner was looking out the window, back to the
door when Mulder entered. There was a silence that was
broken by Mulder, "I'm sorry, Sir."

Skinner turned only his head to Mulder and said,
"How is she?"

"She's awake. There's a ... redness between her
eyes... but she's awake."

"That's good, Agent Mulder."

"That's all you can say?"

"What more is there to say?"

"You could tell me who those men were."

"If I knew..."

Thank you, Sir. You ... did what I tried to..."

Skinner turned to his agent and said, "I did what
needed to be done. She was caught in the middle. It
wasn't fair. There should be some fairness in this
world."

Later

Mulder and Skinner were sitting in chairs, Skinner
leafing through a magazine, and Mulder looking out the
window as Margaret Scully burst in.

"Where is she? Where's my girl?"

Mulder went to her and said, "She's getting tests
run. We're still waiting for the results." He sat her
down in a chair and sat next to her. He motioned to
Skinner and said, "You ever meet--"

Margaret looked at Skinner and said, "Yes. In
Melissa's... You're Mr. Skinner. Dana's superior."

Skinner nodded. Margaret said to Mulder, "How's
Dana?"

"She's okay, as far as I know. There was a scare.
We were investigating a case and she... went blind,
passed out. I brought her here..."

Margaret put her hand to her mouth. "Blind? The
tumor... It hasn't gotten bigger. This isn't it, is
it?"

"Mrs. Scully, I ..." Mulder stammered as he looked
to Skinner. "I think she's going to be okay."

Margaret looked at Mulder with unbelieving eyes.
"Fox.. I know you are having a hard time accepting it,
but Dana's going to..."

"Scully is NOT going to die," Mulder stated.

Margaret put her hand over Mulder's and said, "I
know you can't accept it, Dana and I have had many
discussions about this. You have to accept this."
Mulder shook his head. She continued, "It's one of
Dana's wishes. She wants you to accept it and move on.
I want you to find out what happened to her three
years ago. You need to find out for both of us."

"Mrs. Scully," Skinner said as he rose from his
chair and sat on the other side of her. "We firmly
believe that Dana is going to be fine. He believe
she's been cured. Somehow. She's healed."

"How do you know? How can you possibly know
something like that. It's impossible." Margaret stood
up and walked away. Dr. Ethan walked into the room
with folders in her arms and the biggest smile on her
face.

She announced to them, "She was supposed to have a
tumor in her nasal cavity?"

Margaret looked the doctor over and nodded.
Mulder stood by Margaret and introduced her to Dr.
Ethan. "Mrs. Scully, it's my pleasure to inform you
that your daughter does not have a tumor in her nasal
cavity. There's a mass, but it is not cancer."

Margaret put a hand to her mouth, looked at the
doctor, to Mulder, to Skinner, who were all smiling
with relief. She burst with relief and tears flew out
of her eyes. Mulder put a hand on her shoulder and she
grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "My baby girl....
She's okay?"

"Your daughter is fine, Mrs. Scully," the doctor
informed her. "In fact, I believe she's like to have
company. Can I escort you to her room?"

Margaret released Mulder and said, "Absolutely!"
She smiled brightly to Mulder and Skinner and left the
room with the doctor. Mulder and Skinner smiled and
laughed, louder than they ever had before in their
lives.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Georgetown Hospital
Room 1013

Scully was sitting on her bed with the head
raised, Margaret was sitting on the edge of the bed,
holding her hand. In fact, Scully couldn't pry her
hand away if she tried. They both had streaks of tears
on their cheeks. There was a bandage on the splotch on
her forehead, but other than that, she was normal.

Mulder, followed by Skinner entered the room.
Margaret rose, still holding Scully's hand and welcomed
them. Mulder produced a bouquet of mums and carnations
from behind his back and presented them to Scully. She
smiled and took them. "What, the video store wasn't
open? No Superstars of the NHL, NBA, NBL, EIEIO?

"I can't win for losing. I never heard the end of
that one. I figured flowers was safe."

Scully smelled them. She crinkled her nose and
smelled them again. "Hum... I wonder if I'll get a
sense of smell back. They're beautiful though, thank
you."

Scully looked past Mulder at Skinner standing in
the corner. "Sir... come in."

Skinner smiled at her and walked forward only two
paces. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Agent Scully."

Scully laughed, "Better? I feel fantastic! I'm
not ... sure how this happened, but I feel better than
I've ever felt in my life. Come, Sir. Have a seat."
She motioned to a chair by the bed.

Skinner shook his head and said, "I just wanted to
check on you. I should be getting back to the office."

Mulder took the flowers from Scully and Margaret
let go of Scully's hand and took the flowers from
Mulder. "I'm going to find a vase for these."
Margaret left the room with them. Mulder said,
"Scully, Assistant Director Skinner is the direct cause
of your well health." Skinner, uncomfortable, started
to speak, but was overshot by Mulder, "He put himself
on the line and made a deal."

Scully looked at Skinner and said, "With who-- I
see. Do you know what happened to me? When I was
abducted?"

Skinner shook his head. "No I don't. I have to
go." He took her hand and said, "You take all the time
you need to recover. I'm glad you're well."

"Thank you, Sir," Scully said.

Skinner tried to pull his hand away, but Scully
held on tight. "Thank you very much, Sir." She pulled
him into a hug. "Thank you."

Skinner nodded and put his arm around her. He
held her for a minute and let her go. "I'll look
forward to your report on the Smithsonian matter," he
said to Mulder, nodded to them both, and left.

Mulder sat on the side of Scully's bed and took
her hands in his. They could only smile. Then they
chuckled. Then they laughed.

"Welcome back, partner," Mulder said.

"I never left, partner," Scully replied.

Mulder asked, "Can I get one of those?"

"What?"

Mulder pulled her into a hug and she wrapped her
arms around him and they rocked back and forth.
Margaret opened the door and saw them. She smiled and
walked back into the hallway, shut the door quietly
behind her.

THE END