Time Traveler by Patty Hayes

Tue Sep 17 1996

Subject: Time Traveler by Patty Hayes

Please do not send comments for the author to me -- send them to
(YRLD43A@prodigy.com). You may direct requests for missing parts to me
though, but please try to find them at the archives first:

I am having a lot of fun with these and I would REALLY appreciate
feedback. So many of you have kept me encouraged with your kind
comments and criticism, thank you, it is appreciated. You can e-
mail me at YRLD43A@PRODIGY.COM . I hope you enjoy this.

Summary: A mysterious woman keeps returning to save Mulder from
death.

Spoilers: Some second and third season spoilers. No MSR. Some
violence. Mulder angst.

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program
"The X-Files"
are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting,
and Ten Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission.

Koontz is my favorite author. His work has inspired a great deal of

imagination in me. Imitation is the best form of flattery. No
copyright infringements are intended. This work is not to be
forwarded or distributed to any newsgroup, FTP, or WWW site without
the permission of the author.

I do give permission for it to be put on atxc.

****************************************
TIME TRAVELER 1/2
By Patty Hayes
September 15, 1996
********************
Tuesday 1:15 P.M. 1996

Mulder stood with his back against the wall. His gun was drawn and
he could feel the suspect waiting for him just around the corner.
Scully had gone around the back of the building, hoping to flush the
suspect out. He took a quick look and the suspect fired. Mulder
felt a hand grab him and jerk him back as the round passed, missing
his head by inches. He turned and saw a woman running away from him,
she glanced back at him for a second, then he heard Scully yell,
"Freeze, FBI. Hands in the air!" He rounded the corner to assist
her, momentarily forgetting about the woman.

As the local police hauled away the suspect, Mulder looked around at
the bystanders, hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman who had saved
his life a few moments earlier. He tried to remember what she looked
like. He only saw her briefly, but his photographic memory wouldn't
fail him. She had long wavy blond hair, probably 5'6", 125 to 135
pounds, he couldn't tell the color of her eyes, though they looked
dark. She looked to be maybe 25 or 30 years old, give or take a
couple of years. She wore a lightweight overcoat, tan or beige, with
a white scarf hanging around the collar, maybe. He couldn't help but
think that he'd seen her before, but he couldn't place her, yet.

Mulder and Scully were in his office later that afternoon finishing
the report on the last case. He wasn't concentrating on their
conversation. "Mulder, what's the matter, you haven't heard a word
I've said."

"I'm sorry, Scully. I was just thinking about something that
happened at the crime scene. I was at the corner of the building and
had just stepped out when someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back
behind the wall at the exact moment Kale pulled the trigger. I could
feel the bullet miss my head by barely an inch. I turned to find out
who it was and a woman was running away from me. I feel like I've
seen her before. I just can't get it out of my mind." He looked
puzzled.

"Maybe she just got scared and ran. I don't know, Mulder. It'll
come to you, though, be patient." She smiled at him. "That memory
of yours never fails."

"Yeah, I guess." And that was all that was said about it. Mulder
put it out of his mind.

**********
Wednesday 2:21 A.M. 1996

The cliffs were so steep and even though at six he was younger than
the other boys, he would not chicken out. They were taking turns
racing toward the cliffs on their bikes to see who would go the
farthest before stopping. He was tired of always being the outcast,
he would show them. He began peddling further away than anyone else
in order to get momentum. He was heading for the cliffs. The other
boys were yelling at him, a couple yelling to stop, but the others
were egging him on. He had just passed the point where the other
boys had stopped and he realized it was a big mistake. He was not
going to be able to stop, he was going over the cliffs. He closed
his eyes and before he could even say a prayer, an arm reached out
and pulled him off the bike. He hit the ground, landing on the
person who had saved him from going over. She released him and moved
away. He opened his eyes and saw a figure silhouetted against the
sun. As she turned to walk away he thought he was watching an angel.
She was dre
sed in a flowing white coat and had long blond hair.

Mulder sat straight up in bed. He remembered. Was it the same woman?
How could it be? It couldn't, it just couldn't, that was twenty
nine years ago. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a
glass of water and some aspirin. His head was throbbing. He sat
down at the table and began reliving the dream. The woman was not
his imagination. The other boys had seen her also. They didn't know
where she had come from, their attention was on Mulder, watching him
ride toward the cliffs. She just ran up to him and jerked him off
the bike as it went over the cliffs, that's what they said. They
leaned over the edge and saw the bike, mangled, at the bottom of the
ravine. Mulder didn't look, he sat staring at where the woman had
walked off to.

He tried to think of another time, another place where he had seen
her before. It was so close, so familiar. Yes, there was another
time. He was in Europe, at Oxford. He and three friends were going
to a rugby game. John Goodson was driving. He remembered that day
like it was yesterday. The incident could have killed him, could've
killed them all, but she was there. John wasn't really paying
attention to the road, he was too engrossed in the girl sitting next
to him. The road was barely one lane, there were tall grasses on
either side and too many sharp curves. If you didn't pay attention
you could run straight into another car. A car was broken down up
ahead and the road was so narrow that you would have to drive mostly
through the grass to get around it. Mulder saw the woman standing
next to the car and made John pull up behind her to see if they could
help. They had just gotten out of the car when a truck came
barreling around the corner and hit the broken down car head on. It
was demolish
d. If that car hadn't have been there, the truck would have ran into
them, probably killing them. The woman had literally vanished. They
didn't find a body in or around the car. They figured she must have
gotten scared and left. But it was the same woman. Young, long
blond hair, light colored overcoat and white scarf. At the time he
didn't make the connection, now it seemed impossible.

Three times he'd seen her. Three times she'd saved his life. Had
there been more that he was unaware of? Possibly. The aspirin was
working and he went back to bed to lay down. He stared at the
ceiling for awhile, thinking about past incidences where he had
narrowly escaped death. He didn't realize there were so many. He
always considered Scully his personal guardian angel, she had pulled
his butt out of the fire more times than he cared to count. Who was
this woman?

**********
Wednesday 8:05 A.M. 1996

Mulder was at his desk when Scully walked in the next morning, he
hadn't been able to go back to sleep so he went to the office to
catch up on paper work. "Morning' Scully."

"Morning, Mulder." She dropped a file in front of him. "Kale is out.
"

"What do you mean, he's out. How did he get out?"

"They lost him. He just walked out. No one can explain it, the
paper work got misplaced and the guards were sidetracked, apparently
someone pulled a gun in the middle of the precinct. In the midst of
the commotion, he just got up and walked out of the interrogation
room and right out of the police station." Scully sat down in front
of his desk.

"Great, now we've got to start over." Mulder ran his hand over his
face.

"Well, he knows we'll find him again. Do you think he'll skip town?"

He thought for a moment. "No, he's too arrogant. He'll stay and
take another one just to rub it in our faces. We've got to find him,
Scully, he's going to kill again."

They drove to Kale's house, it was the best place to start. Mulder
had to get the 'feel' of this man all over again. He was certain
Kale would change his method of killing. He knew how Kale thought,
now Kale would deliberately do something against the norm just to
throw him off.

"It doesn't look like he's been back here yet, Mulder. There's not
much to come back for though."

"Yeah, well, he'll need a place, Scully, to take his victim to. A
place he can call home for awhile. Some place empty, abandoned,
isolated."

"What about the warehouse where we arrested him?"

"No, I don't think so. He'll have figured we thought of it already.
But maybe some place near it, remember, he'll be arrogant in his
movements."

**********
Wednesday 7:45 P.M. 1996

Arthur Kale was a forty year old, unemployed steel worker. Working
in the steel mills had made him physically strong, and he used that
strength against the women he took. He despised women. They were
all alike. Women were weak, weak willed, weak minded and weak bodied.
How many times did he watch his weak mother cower to his father
before his father left. It was her fault that he left, she was too
weak, even the beatings didn't make her strong. They had made him
strong though, he learned early to be strong like his father. Kale
knew Mulder would be after him again. He also knew that this time he
would beat Mulder. He was so angry that he had to have been
apprehended by that insignificant red headed woman. Mulder had let
her do his job. Mulder had to be taught a lesson in strength and
Kale would do the teaching, using the red head. But first he wanted
to let Mulder know that he wasn't going anywhere.

Kale had set up in an old school building near the University of
Maryland in College Park. It was convenient and there were a lot of
young coeds available. It wasn't about sex with Kale, he didn't rape
them, he wanted them to fear him. He would make them think they
were going to be raped, but he wanted them to know he would kill them.
It would be a violent, bloody, slow death.

Kale was sitting in a car he had picked up in Washington. He
wouldn't be able to use any car for any length of time, he just
wanted to pick his prey, get her to his place and then dump it. He
had found the right girl. A petite pretty brunette, he could imagine
her shaking with fear. He watched her go into the library alone. He
would be waiting for her when she came out.

Two hours later he watched her as she walked down the sidewalk. It
had gotten dark and the grounds were empty, she was alone. She
walked toward Kale as she headed for the dorm room. Kale had exited
his car the moment she stepped out of the library and was hiding in
the shrubbery, he could hardly contain his excitement. He stepped
out as she passed and put the rag over her mouth and nose, she didn't
even struggle, it had happened so quick. He was disappointed in how
quickly she had succumbed to the ether, another weak one.

Kale sat and watched her, waiting for her to awaken. He had bound
her hands and feet and propped her up against the wall. He was
turning the knife over and over in his hand. It only took her a
second to look around before fear took control. He could feel her
fear and it was exhilarating. He walked over to her and held the
knife up to her face. Her eyes were wide with terror, her mouth was
gagged but she was screaming as he began to cut her.

**********
Thursday 10:10 A.M. 1996

Mulder got the call the next morning, another body had been found.
She was a college student, last seen at the library, never made it
back to her dorm room. He arranged for Scully to do the autopsy. He
winced as he read the report, she had been cut up pretty badly.
Forty two cuts in all with the stab wound to the heart finally
causing her death. The sick bastard kept her alive through it all,
the stab wound being the last. Mulder closed his eyes and took a
deep breath. This was overkill and it was done for his benefit.
Normally Kale teased the victim, nicking her with the tip of the
knife, getting as much fear out of her as possible before killing her
quickly. Yes, this was done for him.

"Mulder, I know that look in your eye." Scully studied him as he
read the report. The guilt starting.

"No lectures, Scully, let's just find him." He left the report on
his desk, stood and grabbed his coat as he walked out of the office.

They headed for College Park. "You know, Mulder, it's only fifteen,
twenty minutes from DC. He doesn't necessarily have to be in College
Park."

"He's here, I feel it, Scully. And he wants me to know he's here.
She was taken from the library and returned here, he doesn't want to
go traipsing around. All his other victims were taken from one place
and found in another. He brought her back here to make sure I'd come
here." Mulder was driving around the University, looking for the
place. There were no empty or vacant buildings on the grounds, so he
widen his circle.

"Mulder, he's going to be ready for you. What do you have planned?"

He thought for a minute. "I don't know. All I know is that this was
his eighth victim. I can't let him kill anymore, Scully." He
watched the road as he drove, not wanting to let Scully see what his
eyes would tell her. She knew anyway.

He was just about ready to head back to Washington when he saw it.
"That's it, Scully. That's the place." He sat across from an
abandoned school house on the north west side of College Park.

Scully called for back up. They sat in the car for ten minutes, then
Mulder pulled his gun, checked the clip and opened his door. "Where
are you going? Mulder, let's wait for backup."

"I'm just going to look around, I'll be right back."

Scully grabbed the flashlight from the glove compartment. It was 11
a.m. and even in the daylight the school would be dark from the
boarded up windows. She got out of the car and followed him, pulling
her gun out as well. They entered the school through a boarded side
door. The glass had been broken and the boards had been pulled back
to allow easy entry.

Mulder took the flashlight and they slowly made their way through the
vacant halls. They entered each room and found blood in the fourth.
"He was here, Scully. This is where he killed her." He stared at
the blood on the floor. Then he suddenly lifted his head. "He's
still here. Stay here and watch out." He whispered and moved for
the door.

"Wait! Mulder, wait." Scully grabbed his arm. "You can't just go
barreling down the hallway, he'll be ready for you. If he is here,
then he knows you're here too. Wait for back up."

"Scully, it's been thirty minutes, I'm not letting him get away again.
" His eyes pleading with her.

She dropped her head in defeat and sighed. "Ok, Mulder, let's go."
Scully followed him out of the room.

Mulder turned the flashlight off so as to not give away their
position, but they couldn't muffle their footsteps in the echoing
hallway. They moved slowly and cautiously as they searched from room
to room. At the end of one hall, Scully turned left and Mulder went
right. He opened each door expecting Kale to come at him with a
knife. He knew Kale was here, waiting for him.

Scully was near the end of the hall when she heard a noise in the
third room from the end. She put her back to the wall and with her
gun out front, opened the door. She waited for a sound and when she
heard none, she entered. It was a lab room, a couple of lab tables
in the back and the island with the gas jets toward the front. She
found nothing and was turning to leave when Kale, coming up behind
her, hit her hard. She went down and he grabbed her gun. He bent
over and put the ethered rag to her face, she fought it and rolled
away from him calling for help. "Mulder! Mulder!" Kale was about
to pull the trigger when someone ran into the room. A woman, with
long blond hair and a white trench coat. She ran for Kale, he turned
and fired, she went down. Scully was up and heading for cover behind
the island as Kale turned back to her. Kale was 6'6" and literally
towered over Scully, but she wasn't giving up without a fight. She
could normally take care of herself but she had gotten enough of the
et
er the first time to make her dizzy and sluggish.

Mulder heard Scully scream and ran back down the hallway. 'Damn, why
did I let her go by herself?' If something happened to Scully,
Mulder would never forgive himself. He entered the room with his gun
drawn, Kale and Scully were gone. On the floor was the woman. He
checked her pulse, she was still alive. He ran back out into the
hallway and started to search the rest of the rooms when he saw the
door at the end open. The morning air came rushing in. As he got to
the door he heard a car speed off, he didn't see the car or which way
it had gone. "Damn it! Damn it!"

He went back to the woman, she was his only chance at getting Scully
back. She was still breathing and her pulse was strong. The round
had gone through her shoulder. The blood had spread about her white
coat, making her look less and less like the angel he had once
thought she was. He called for an ambulance. The local police were
finally arriving. He cursed himself for not waiting. Kale wouldn't
kill her right away, he knew that. He had taken her to get to Mulder.

**********
Thursday 2:50 P.M. 1996

Mulder was pacing in the hallway of the hospital, waiting for the
doctor. He walked up to him as the doctor came through the operating
room doors. "How is she, when can I talk to her?" He was anxious to
find out who she was and where Scully was. He just knew she would
have the answers.

"She's fine. The bullet went clean through the shoulder. It'll take
a couple of days before she can leave but you should be able to talk
to her when she wakes up. She's in her room now." Mulder thanked
him and the doctor left.

Mulder had stayed at the school after forensics had left. He
searched the room again, went over it with a fine tooth comb and
still found nothing. He sat in the waiting room of the hospital.
"Where are you, you sonofabitch?" He mumbled aloud. He closed his
eyes and remembered another time when Scully was missing. He
remembered walking into her apartment and seeing the blood, the
broken glass, the ransacked room. He shuddered. He couldn't let
himself think that she was gone again. He would get her back,
unharmed, if it killed him. The woman was the key, he had to find
out how she was involved if he was to get Scully back. He stood and
headed for the blond woman's room.

END OF PART 1

From trevizo@utep.edu Tue Sep 17 23:54:21 1996
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From: Gil Trevizo <trevizo@utep.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Time Traveler 2/2 (fwd) by Patty Hayes
Date: 18 Sep 1996 00:54:21 -0400
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
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I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic
mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information
on the mailing list, go to http://mail.utep.edu/~trevizo/x-files.

Please do not send comments for the author to me -- send them to
(YRLD43A@prodigy.com). You may direct requests for missing parts to me
though, but please try to find them at the archives first:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/members/xfilesfanficarchive.d/contents.htm
http://www.bns.com.au/alee/fiction.html

__________
/ __ __ \
( (__) (__) )
--------[[[---------]]]-------------------------------------------------

Summary: A mysterious woman keeps returning to save Mulder from
death.

Spoilers: Some second and third season spoilers. No MSR. Some
violence. Mulder angst.

Disclaimer: See part 1.

********************

TIME TRAVELER 2/2
By Patty Hayes
September 15, 1996

********************
Laura woke up in a hospital room. It all came back to her in an
instant, the school, the man with the gun, the red headed woman. She
had to get out, now. How did it get this far? She was only trying
to help the man, Mulder. What had she done? Where was the device?
She had to get back before any more damage was done. She stood up
slowly, fighting off the urge to lay back down. Her shoulder hurt
like hell and her energy was gone, she felt wobbly, unsteady. She
was glad to see the device still in her inside coat pocket, undamaged.
She had her clothes over one arm and was about to punch in the
correct code when the device was snatched out of her hand.

Mulder had the device, studying it, turning it over in his hands.
"What is this? Who are you?" He was interrupted by his mobile phone,
he watched her as he answered.

"Mulder."

"Hello Mr. Mulder. I have someone who would like to speak to you."

"Mulder, I ... " It was Scully.

"Scully, are you Ok, where are you?" Thank God, she was alive.

"She's safe for now, Mr. Mulder."

Mulder's voice was dark and intense. "Who are you? If you harm one
hair on her head, so help me God, ... "

"I hadn't planned to do anything to her hair, Mr. Mulder." He had an
amusing tone to his voice.

"Listen to me, you sonofabitch, ... "

"No, you listen to me." Kale's voice became short and threatening.
"You come get her, Mr. Mulder. And you come alone, 8537 Avenue H in
Arlington. One hour. I'll show you how it's done."

The phone disconnected. He swung around and addressed the blond. He
was angry. "Who are you, what were you doing at that school? How do
you know Kale?"

Laura had to get the device back. Maybe it wasn't too late, maybe
she could fix things. She watched as Mulder held it tightly in his
hands. "My name is Laura. I .... I came here to help you." She
reached for the device.

He saw her gaze at the thing in his hand and when she reached for it
he pulled his hand back. "What is this?"

She didn't answer.

He pointed to her clothes, "Get dressed, you're coming with me." He
put the device in his coat pocket and stepped out of the room. He
didn't know what role she played in all of this but he was going to
find out and he knew she would be the one to get Scully back.

A few minutes later the door opened and Laura walked out. She would
have to tell him if she was to get home again, he had the device.

They were silent as they walked out to the car. "What do you mean,
you're here to help me?" He asked her as they entered the car.

"Agent Mulder," How was she going to tell him? 'He's going to think
I'm nuts.' She was shaking her head. "You're not going to believe
me. I'm not from this time. My father is a scientist, a genius. He
figured out how to manipulate time travel. I'm his test pilot so to
speak." She watched his face carefully. He was surprised, amazed
and maybe confused, but he didn't have a look of disbelief.

"How are you to help me?" He asked after a minute. It had crossed
his mind briefly when he was trying to remember where he had seen her
before but dismissed it quickly.

She took a deep breath. "This is so complicated."

"I'm not a stupid man, explain it to me." He was getting impatient
and time was running out.

"I'm from the future and in the future you're our best hope in
changing the existing government. We had a president that was
finally making a difference. Finally doing something about world
hunger, the homeless, education and other problems you're not even
aware of yet. He was our only hope and he was assassinated by the
same shadow organization that exists in your time today. He was not
'military' oriented. He was against war and war is big business. He
wanted a government that was truly run by the people, not by power
hungry dictators. When my father completed his work in time travel,
he kept it to himself. He works for the government and if it got
into their hands, well, my imagination isn't great enough to tell
you what they might do. There are a few of us that feel it's our
responsibility to change our time if we can. We studied history and
you came closest to revealing this shadow government. We felt that
with a little help, you would succeed and by doing so, eliminate the
shadow governmen
that assassinates our president." After letting that soak in, she
said, "I'm not crazy, I know how it sounds."

"So you've been saving my life for the past thirty years?" This did
sound crazy and he didn't know why but he believed her. "You where
there when I was six. If I died then, how did you know I was your
best hope?"

"You didn't die on those cliffs. You were crippled. You recovered
but had a hard time throughout your life, having to deal with wheel
chairs, crutches. I knew what your life was like, the accident
didn't change who you were, what you felt, I wanted to make it easier
for you. But it did change things, you were more active, you took
bigger risks. When I returned home, I discovered you were killed in
a car accident while at Oxford. And I had to come back to fix that,
then it just propelled from there, there was no stopping you. You've
kept me pretty busy." She chuckled and shook her head.

Mulder couldn't believe this. He had been crippled? Was this even
possible? "At the school, you went into the room with Scully, not me.
Why?"

Laura closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Because I knew
he killed her there and with her gone .... " She shook her head
again and hesitated. "You ... you lost it. You lost the drive to
fight them, you lost it all. You gave up, you went into a deep
depression and ended up .... " She looked into his eyes. "I
couldn't let it happen. If she was saved then the two of you could
continue your work, your search for the truth."

"Do you know my entire life?"

She knew what he wanted. "Yes."

"You know about my sister, about what happened to her?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you stop it?"

Laura put her head in her hands and rubbed her face. When she looked
at Mulder, he saw how tired she was, how much agony was in her face.
"I couldn't. That incident shaped you into the man you are. We
needed you to succeed in bringing these people to justice." She saw
the pain in his face.

"Then you're no better than they are." There was contempt in his
voice.

There were tears in her eyes. She couldn't tell him the truth just
yet, that she had tried to stop it. That she was willing to blow
everything so his life might be different, so he might have grown up
a happy child. She had been willing to do it because she had fallen
in love with him. But now was not the time, right now they had to
save Scully.

Mulder started the car and they headed for Arlington. As they neared
their destination, Mulder glanced at Laura a couple of times. Her
head was leaning up against the window, one hand on her left shoulder,
her eyes closed. "So you don't know anything about Kale."

Laura turned to look at him. "No, nothing."

"He said to come alone, so I'm going to leave you here." He pulled
up to the curb at the end of the street, a block away from the
address Kale had given him. "Here." He tossed her the device. "Do
me a favor, be gone before I come back and stay out of my life." He
got out of the car and left her there.

**********
Thursday 4:00 P.M. 1996

Mulder pulled his gun and surveyed the situation. The street had a
couple of abandoned homes. The rest were vacant lots, an old
neighborhood being torn down to make way for progress. He moved
cautiously past the first house to the second one, the address where
Kale was. He had a bad feeling about this, it was too quiet. He
looked for an open window. He peered into one of the windows and saw
a kitchen, nothing there. He went around to the front and glanced
into another window. He saw Scully tied to a chair. Her back was to
him and she looked like she was slumped over. He didn't see Kale.
He felt sick to his stomach. He moved to the front door, kicked it
open, and with his gun out in front of him, he entered.

He took a quick and cursory glance around and when no one came at him,
he ran to Scully. She was sitting in a chair, hands tied behind her
and her feet tied to the chair. Her head was tilted forward with her
hair covering her face. Mulder knelt down in front of her, lifted
her head and gently pushed her hair back. He saw the blood on her
face, the blood on her clothes, the pool of blood beneath her chair.
He felt for a pulse but knew he wouldn't find one. His heart broke
and he started to cry. Once again he had failed her. He untied her
and laid her on the floor, laying next to her, holding her and crying.

**********
Thursday 4:00 P.M. Year unknown

Laura made it back home, her shoulder screamed at her but she had to
ignore it. She had to find out what damage was done. Her father met
her at the door of the chamber in their basement. "Laura!, my God,
are you all right?" He saw the blood stains on her coat.

"Yes, what happened to him, Dad?" She needed to know now, before it
was too late.

"His partner died, Laura." Her father was sitting at the computer,
pulling up data. "He died four months later, suicide."

"Oh God. I've got to go back, Dad. I can't let it end that way."
She pleaded with him.

"Laura, you know you can't go back to the same place. We don't know
what it'll do, we can't risk it. He was living on borrowed time as
it was. If you go back and save him now he'll just end up getting
killed tomorrow."

"Dad, this is my fault. I didn't pick his road to follow, but I sure
as hell pushed him all along. I screwed this up and I have to fix it.
Don't you see? He's still our only hope. I have to go." She
hoped he would understand. "I might not make it back this time, Dad,
please don't let me leave thinking you're mad at me."

"I know you have to do what you think is right. I support it, but I
don't have to like it. I've put you in this position with this
invention, how do you think that makes me feel? I don't want to
loose you so soon after we lost your mother."

He looked so sad. Laura went over and put her arms around him. "I
love you, Dad. We knew the risks going into this, we knew that the
potential for loss was there."

"I know, I know. Go on. Fix it and get back, I'll be waiting." He
smiled at her.

Laura kissed him and said, "I love you, Dad." She stepped into the
chamber and disappeared.

**********
Thursday 11:00 A.M. 1996

In the next second Laura appeared in the front of the abandoned
school house, it was 11 a.m. again. She went in through the door
with the broken board and ran down one of the hallways. At the end
she saw Scully going down the left hallway. She ran to her and
called out in a whisper. "Wait."

Scully turned sharply with her gun aimed. A woman with long blond
hair was coming toward her, she had blood on her coat at the shoulder,
her hands were in the air. Scully whispered also. "What are you
doing here, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Kale shot me, he's in the third room from the end, he's
waiting for you, you can't go in." She had pulled Scully into the
alcove of one of the other rooms. "I'm here to help. I'll stay here
and keep watch, get Mulder."

Scully hesitated, she didn't like the looks of this. It smelled of a
set up. But there was something about her urgency.

"Please, you have to believe me, this is the only way. I'll make
sure he doesn't leave."

Scully turned and went to find Mulder.

Laura waited. She wasn't sure how she was going to pull this off,
she was only human and if Kale killed one of them now there wasn't
anything she could do about it. She heard Scully and Mulder
approaching. "He's still in there."

"Who are you? What is your connection to Kale?" Mulder wanted to
know who this woman was, how she came to be here, with Kale.

"I'll explain later, we don't have time now." She wanted them to
catch Kale, then she would leave and wouldn't have to explain
anything.

They walked down the hall toward the room where Kale was waiting.
Mulder listened at the door for a moment then entered the room.
Scully followed and Laura was close behind. Kale was waiting and
after all three had entered he slammed the door and grabbed Laura,
holding a gun to her head. Mulder and Scully turned, guns aimed.
Mulder stepped forward, in front of Scully, instinctively protective.
"You've no where to go, Kale. Drop the gun and let her go." Mulder
was calm and for a brief moment he wondered how this woman came to be
here. If she wasn't here, it would be Scully with a gun to her head.

"You're early, Agent Mulder. You weren't supposed to find me this
quickly, I had plans for your partner, but I guess this one will do."
He laughed maniacally.

Laura decided she had heard enough. Whatever was going to happen she
had to let happen. She raised her right foot and brought it down
hard on Kale's foot, then with the same foot she kicked him in the
shin. He loosened his grip and as she started running forward he
shot her in the back, at her shoulder near the first bullet wound.
She went down and as she fell, both Mulder and Scully returned fire.
Kale fell back against the door and dropped to the ground, dead.

Mulder went to Laura and turned her over, checking for a pulse.
Scully, after making sure Kale was dead, went over to Laura. "She
has a pulse, Scully."

Scully was opening her coat and blouse looking at how bad the wound
was. "Call an ambulance, Mulder. It doesn't look too bad, but it's
the other wound I'm worried about. They're too close to each other.
"

"Wait." Laura called to him. "I don't have time to explain, please,
I have to go. I know about your work. Just promise me you'll never
give up your search for the truth."

Mulder was confused. "We'll talk about it later, just relax, an
ambulance will here soon."

"Just promise me!" She raised her tone, impatient. They heard
footsteps coming down the hall, the backup they had called for.

"Ok, I promise." Mulder patronized her.

Laura reached up with one hand and touched Mulder's face for just a
second. She smiled at him. "I'll probably see you again." Scully
called for Mulder's help just then. Scully and Mulder went to the
door to move Kale's body so the door could be opened for the police.
They called for an ambulance and took Laura to the local hospital.

**********
Thursday 1:00 P.M. 1996

They waited outside the operating room for the doctor. Mulder still
wanted to know who this woman was and how it was that she had saved
his life at least three times over the past twenty nine years. The
doctor came through the doors toward them.

"Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, she's doing fine, the bullet went
cleanly through and exited through the front. It just missed her
collar bone, she was lucky there. She should be awake in a couple of
hours. The other wound was a bullet wound also, and it went cleanly
through, too. It's a fresh wound, she's a lucky girl. You need to
give your people a break between shootings if you don't mind my
saying so." He smiled at them. "She'll be put in room 104 in an
hour or so, if you want to come back."

They went to a restaurant near the hospital for lunch and talked over
what had happened that morning. "I don't know where she came from,
Mulder, she just walked up to me and told me to get you. She said she
was there to help. There was something that made me want to believe
her, I don't know why. Is this the same person you saw yesterday?"

"Yeah, Scully. Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I had
a dream last night that helped me remember where I'd seen her before.
I remembered two other times. First was when I was six, she saved
me from going over a cliff on a bicycle and the second was at Oxford.
It was indirect, but she saved me and my friends from a car accident
that would have killed us all. Then yesterday, when she pulled me
away from that bullet. And she looked the same each time."

"What are saying, Mulder? That she's your guardian angel or
something? I know you don't believe in divine intervention, what
other explanation do you have?"

"I've always thought of you as my guardian angel, Scully." He smiled
at her. "I don't have any explanations. I want to hear hers."

"Ok, Mulder, let's hear what she has to say." They paid their bill
and left for the hospital.

They checked in at the nurse's station first to get an update on
Laura's condition, she was doing fine. She had awakened about a half
an hour ago and was cognizant. They found out her full name was
Laura Ryan. She would be released in a couple of days. They headed
for her room. The bed was empty when they walked in and Scully
checked out the bathroom, it was also empty. "Where did she go?"
Mulder asked. They checked the closet and her clothes were gone.

Scully went back to the nurse's station and asked if anyone had seen
Laura leave. They had just checked on her five minutes ago. She
couldn't have left without anyone seeing her. Scully went back to
the room.

Mulder was standing by the bed, reading a note left by Laura. He
looked over at Scully when she walked in. "Look at this, Scully."
He handed it to her.

The note said "I'm sorry for any undue trouble or pain I may have
caused you. Remember your promise, a country full of people are
waiting. Try to stay out of danger, otherwise you may see me again.
"

Scully handed it back to Mulder. "What does it mean, Mulder, 'a
country full of people are waiting'?"

"I don't know, Scully, but I have a feeling we will see her again."

THE END