GROVETON (2/2)
by Carol Jenner and Suzanne Bickerstaffe
Agnt CJ@aol.com, Ecksphile@aol.com
April 30, 1997

Disclaimers and acknowledgements in Chapter One

Chapter Six

Sebring, Florida
Tuesday, March 4
2:30 PM

"What the hell...?"

Scully stared dazedly at Chris's form stirring on the
bed, automatically raising the muzzle of her gun to the ceiling
and sliding on the safety. But if this was Chris, then who -

She whirled and dashed out the door. The Jeep was
backing away from the cabin at high speed. Then, spinning in
a spray of gravel, it tore out onto the road and was lost from
sight in seconds. But not before she had glimpsed the huge,
bulky, and frighteningly familiar shape of the driver. Holstering
her weapon, she went back into the cabin, where Candy was
fussing over Chris. Suddenly Scully felt drained, too tapped
out to deal with the woman's histrionics.

"If you want to do something useful, Candy, walk down
to the motel office and rent me the cabin next to this one. I've
had enough togetherness for one trip."

The blonde snapped upright, a look of startled outrage
on her face. "I can't do that - Chris needs me!"

"Just do it. I'm a medical doctor, remember? At the
moment, he needs me more. And I need to think, which I can't
do with you emoting all over the place. Now please, just do as
I asked."

Candy looked down at Chris, who nodded. Furious,
she grabbed her purse and flounced out of the cabin.

"Okay Chris, where does it hurt?" she asked tiredly.

"Actually, it doesn't. I feel fine," he replied, surprised
himself. "One minute I was walking through the groves, trying
to find Mulder, and the next minute I was waking up here, and
you were pointing your gun at me. Where the hell am I,
anyway?"

"In Sebring, at the Palm Garden Motor Court." She
performed a cursory neuro exam as she spoke. "Vision clear?
Headache or dizziness? Everything move okay? What day is
it?"

"Um...yes, no, yes, and Tuesday, March fourth, right?
What happened to me?"

She sprawled in the chair next to the bed, her head
back and her eyes closed. "I think what's more to the point is
what didn't happen." She rolled her head to look at him. "You
could have - maybe should have - ended up like that cop, Scott
Kelley."

"But he's dead!"

"Precisely."

"But - "

She closed her eyes again. "Chris, just shut up and let
me think, okay?"

"Okay," he replied passively. He swung his legs over
the side of the bed experimentally and got to his feet. "I - um...
I'll just go and meet Candy and move your stuff next door."

"Fine. Whatever."

The door closed behind him and Scully breathed a sigh
of relief at the sudden silence. She let her mind go blank for
several minutes, relishing the quiet. But inexorably, her
thoughts returned to the case. Today's events just prompted
more questions, not the least of which was where her partner
was and why he had been taken. She shook her head. Only
Mulder could find this much trouble in so sleepy a setting. The
crunch of approaching footsteps in the gravel darkened her
thoughts. Only Mulder or his friends.

Reluctantly she got to her feet and went outside. Chris
and Candy were just exiting the neighboring cabin.

"You're all set up in there, Dana," he said tentatively.

"Thanks, Chris. And I'm sorry I snapped at you before.
I'm just worried about Mulder."

Unfortunately, Chris's sensitivity was lost on Candy.
"Dana, how could Chris be in two places at once?" she
demanded. "I mean, this is really BIZARRE! And who
kidnapped Scorpy?"

It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. She lost
it. "Look. Mulder may not have the heart to tell you, but I don't
have that problem. He HATES that name," Scully said
pointedly. "Besides which, his birthday is October 13th. If you
bothered to consult any astrological chart, you would know that
makes him a Libra, not a Scorpio. But somehow, I don't think
he'd take any more kindly to your calling him "Libby". So just
drop it. Got it?"

The tall, statuesque blonde looked hurt. "What did *I*
do?" she exclaimed plaintively to Chris.

Scully closed her eyes and counted to ten. "Nothing.
Look, I know you both must have a lot of questions, but right
now, I have a crashing headache. Give me an hour to take
some aspirin, shower and collect my thoughts. Then I'll explain
what I think is going on. All right? I'm sure you can keep each
other amused for an hour," she added waspishly. She strode
into her cabin and firmly closed the door.

Scully knew she was being a bitch, but at the moment,
she simply didn't care. She was tired, sick to death of Candy
and Company, and frantic about Mulder. God only knew what
condition he'd be in by the time she found him. Some vacation
this was turning out to be, she thought grimly, killing a
centipede in the shower stall. It would probably end up being
another of Mulder's patented "ICU Getaways" - if he were lucky.

She turned the faucet full on, pleasantly surprised that
the shower worked and the water was actually hot. Lathering
her hair, she tried to focus on the case, but hit a wall every time
she thought about Mulder. She had no earthly idea where he
might be right now. Why couldn't they just have taken the
much-needed week of vacation? Gone to some place boring
and quiet and peaceful, lapping up sun and margueritas? Now
Mulder had gone and gotten into a jam - again - and God knew
if she could pull off another miracle in getting him out of it.
Angry tears stung her eyes. She rinsed the soap from her
body and turned off the taps. Wrapping herself as securely as
possible in the skimpy motel towel, she went into the bedroom
and turned on the ancient air conditioner. The hum and clunk
of the the machine was almost reassuring that it might actually
cool the room. She spilled two aspirin into her palm from the
bottle in her purse, thought about Candy, and added a third.
Then she swallowed them with the metallic-tasting tap water,
lay down on the bed and closed her eyes while waiting for the
analgesic to work.

She must have fallen asleep, because the room was
comfortably dim when she opened her eyes. She glanced at
her watch and groaned. Nearly six. Hurriedly, she dressed and
headed next door, startled to find a late model compact car
parked outside Number Thirteen. Tapping at the door, she
went in at Chris's call to enter.

The lights were on, but the bedclothes, not
unexpectedly, were severely rumpled. Evidently the lovebirds
had found a way to kiss and make up after their argument of
the night before.

"Hope you like Chinese," Chris said. "Take a seat and
help yourself."

Her headache gone and having had some sleep, Scully
was surprised to find how hungry she was. She joined the pair
at the tiny dining table and began to help herself from the
numerous cardboard cartons. "Whose car is that?" she asked.

"Ours," said Candy proudly. "After we... I mean, after
you didn't come back, we decided we would be needing some
transportation, so I got the proprietor to give us a ride to the
nearest car rental agency. We picked up the food on the way
back."

"We also stopped at the police station and filed a stolen
vehicle report," added Chris. He laughed at Scully's sudden
expression of consternation. "Don't worry, we didn't get real
specific. If I can't explain to myself what's happened, I'm sure
as hell not about to try to explain it to some cop. I just told him
someone took it from here this afternoon, and said I didn't see
who did it. Which I didn't. But you did, didn't you?"

She wrapped up some Mu Shu pork in a pancake.
"Yeah, I guess I did. I don't want to believe it was who I think it
was, but in a way it would fit with everything else." She
glanced up at her companions. Candy looked as if she were
about to burst with curiosity any second, and Chris was clearly
intrigued. "Okay," she sighed. "I'll put you out of your misery.
But trust me, Chris - you're not going to like what I have to
say."

She took a deep breath and dived in. "The, uh...person
who stole your Jeep is someone that Mulder and I have run into
a couple of times before. Both times were in relation to the
existence of, uh...clones."

"What - you mean like those sheep in Scotland?"
exclaimed Candy.

"Well, sort of," Scully answered uncomfortably. "But
these were clones of people, except... they weren't ...exactly
...human."

Chris laughed nervously. "Wait a minute, Dana. I've
been spending too much time with your partner. I thought you
said these were clones of people, but they weren't human."

"I did."

"Well, if they weren't human, what the hell were they?"

Scully rubbed her temples. This was more difficult
than she had anticipated. She had consciously avoided
dwelling on some of the stranger events she had witnessed
during her tenure with the XFiles. The strain they put on her
belief in rationality, in order, in science, did not bear thinking
about. Coming from her partner, they could be dismissed by
others as just more of 'Spooky' Mulder's ravings. But somehow,
coming from her lips put a stamp of legitimacy on the story that
she was extremely uncomfortable with. Now, under Chris's
frankly incredulous glare, she felt renewed admiration for the
courage Mulder showed every time he testified to the truth of
their experiences. Her heart constricted painfully at the thought
of her partner, and she wished more than ever that he were by
her side.

"Uh, I don't really know what they were. They looked
and acted human, but... they, uh... they had this weird green
fluid instead of blood, which was toxic to humans. It contained
some sort of retrovirus, and.... Anyway, the clones are beside
the point, we were talking about who stole your Jeep. He... it....
Oh, God, this is difficult...."

"He's an alien, isn't he?" asked Candy triumphantly.

"I... I don't know. Mulder believes so, I think. But the
one incontrovertible fact is that he... it... appears to have the
ability to..." her voice dwindled to a whisper.

"Sorry. I didn't quite catch that," said Chris.

She cleared her throat. "Shapeshift. He can make
himself change into other people." She looked into Chris's
stunned face. "I know, Chris. I would feel the same way. But I
happen to have seen this guy do it. That's why I said you were
lucky. Often, it seems that those he 'becomes' are people he
has killed. Evidently it's not a necessary part of the process -
he shapeshifted into Mulder once, and he's still alive" - please,
God - "but there are others he has killed. Like Scott Kelley."

"This is crazy! You can't seriously expect me to
believe this!"

She shrugged. "I know," she repeated. "But you
wanted an explanation about how you could be in two places at
once, and how Officer Kelley could be with us and also lying in
some morgue. Now you've got it."

"Yeah. But I wish I didn't."

- - - - -

Somewhere in Florida
Wednesday, March 5
6:30 AM

Mulder woke to a sweet-salty taste in his mouth. The
last thing he remembered was a wall coming at him. His left
eye was swollen shut and blood had caked his hair to the
pillow. His right shoulder was on fire, but it was nothing to the
stabbing and pounding pain in his head. His mind flashed to a
time when a school friend of his thought he was Superman and
tried to fly down some stairs, only to knock himself
unconscious. He wondered what ever happened to John
Nilsen....

"Fox, I'm not going to tell you again!" warned his father.

"D-Dad?" But there was no one in the small room to
answer him. He tried to focus; as near as he could tell he was
in the interrogation room. Absently, he wondered what was
more damaged - him or the walls.

He tried to lie quietly, hoping that would make the
stabbing pain at the very least lessen. The puzzle of those
missing people was slowly coming together in his mind. He had
seen all that he needed - he just hoped some of that evidence
still existed. The others - he knew he had to warn Candy, Chris
and Scully. Oh God... Scully. I'm so sorry. Scully. You're
going to be so pissed. I promised you a vacation.

"WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN?!" screamed
Scully's voice.

"Aaghh" The screaming in his head made his temples
pound. He lay quietly, trying not to think, waiting for the spasm
in his shoulder to subside.

After several minutes, he focused his mind and set to
work on the puzzle again. All right. Obviously his captors didn't
know what they wanted to know, or they wouldn't be beating the
shit out of him. So where did the people go? He remembered
the books and the maps and the cloning tanks. Was it
possible? Could it be possible that someone or something had
perfected cloning, giving the beings individualized features,
making them look different? Or was it that the missing people
were actual abductees - or more to the point, their clones?
Would one of them be Samantha? What if they were making
actual communities? God knows, what I've seen.... Maybe
aliens did take them. But *why* would aliens take them?

He acted on the urge to get up, but the pain in his
head, shoulder and now his back were too much, and he gave
up the struggle. All that effort, and he didn't think he moved
even an inch.

But the question was, if this place wasn't on the map,
why was the 'government' so hot to be here? Too many
questions. Oh Scully, I need you badly. I hurt so much.

His mind flashed to the bathroom scene and Scully's
face when she saw him and Candy. He would have done
anything at the moment to go back in time. He knew he didn't
need Candy to change the lightbulb, so why did he let her? Oh,
Candy....

"Focus, Mr. Mulder, focus!" He could have sworn he
heard Deep Throat's voice this time. With his one good eye,
he looked around, but again he was alone.

Okay, they don't know anything, but apparently they
think I do, so therefore I'll have to hold them off. But Scully
doesn't even know where I am! So I have to escape, he
thought. Of course, the fact that he couldn't move was a
problem. He began to see where a little more religion in his life
might have served him in good stead. What were the odds of a
Supreme Being listening to a prayer that started: Oh God - if
there is one - help me!

The door to the room opened and Mulder slowly angled
his battered head to see his captor.

"Sleep well? How's the vacation, getting enough rest?"
There was a malicious smile on the Commander's face.
Mulder tried to answer but his mouth was dry.

"Don't worry. Another round like yesterday would leave
you dead. That would involve too much paperwork and not
enough answers for my purposes. You'll be thrilled to know
we're flying in a specialist to see you. I'll let you rest for now.
But later, I'm going to introduce you to Dr. Herprin. He believes
that there truly is better living through chemistry." He opened
the door and began to leave.

Mulder's mouth worked for several moments before he
managed to croak out, "W-water?"

"Oh, I'm afraid not, Agent Mulder. I've heard it's
contraindicated in injuries like yours. We wouldn't want
anything to happen to you before the good doctor gets here.
Just get some more sleep. We'll want you nice and rested for
this afternoon's session."

- - - - -

Palm Garden Motor Court
Sebring, Florida
Wednesday, March 5
8:20 AM

"Dana, Chris and I are ready to leave for breakfast.
Dana?" There was a perfunctory knock and Candy was in the
room before Scully could tell her to go away.

"We're going to breakfast. Want to come?" Candy's
dazzling smile faded. "Dana, are you okay? You look
AWFUL!"

Scully closed her eyes. Wonderful. Perfect. Just the
way I want to start the day, with Miss Universe, Ph.D. telling me
I look like hell. She surrendered to the inevitable, opened her
eyes and pushed herself up on the pillows. "You two go ahead.
I didn't get much sleep last night and I don't feel much like
eating anyway."

"Worried about Sc-, I mean, Mulder, huh?" The
fabulous blond tresses shimmered as she nodded
sympathetically. "Try not to worry. We'll figure something out.
Okay, we're going now. We'll bring you back something,
okay?" She was out the door before Scully could tell her not to
bother.

She threw the covers off with a groan and headed for
the shower. Why should I worry, she thought. Dr. Candy
McDermott is sure we'll figure something out. What a load of
comfort that is.... She let the hot water pound down on the
tense muscles of her neck and back. Between fitful naps, she
had worked on the problem all night and was no further ahead
than when she started. Blowing her hair dry, she surveyed
herself in the mirror. Her presence in Florida had done nothing
for her complexion, she noted, as her pale reflection stared
back at her. Her eyes were reddened and dark smudges
stained the skin under them. Sighing, she turned off the dryer,
did the best she could with makeup and pulled on some
clothes.

Quickly she made up the bed, then stretched out on it,
thinking furiously. What was happening to her partner right
now? Was he even alive? Her mind presented her with a
series of scenarios, each more terrifying than the last. How
many times had she been through this? How many times had
she gone into a situation, certain she would find Mulder too
late, his body broken and lifeless. It was all horrible enough,
but with the way she felt about - No, don't go there, girl, she
warned herself. There was nothing to be gained by that line of
thought. She forced herself to work on the problem objectively,
but the answers were no quicker in coming.

"Dana? Are you in there?"

Candy? Scully frowned. She hadn't heard their car
come back. The skin at the back of her neck prickled, like
hackles rising in warning. "Just a minute!" She tucked her gun
into the waistband at the back of her shorts, and opened the
door. "Come on in, Candy." She let the woman precede her
into the room.

Suddenly, she pulled her weapon, and gestured at the
armchair. Candy stared back, aghast. Coldly Scully ordered,
"Sit down - slowly." When she had complied, the agent said,
"Now suppose you tell me who the hell you are."

Before her eyes, the gorgeous form of the
meteorologist morphed into the bulky shape of the being with
whom she and Mulder had had only unpleasant associations.
"Put the gun down. You know it is useless. Worse than
useless - it could be very dangerous for you," the deep, heavily
accented voice commanded arrogantly.

"Possibly. But it makes me feel better, all right? I think
you owe me an explanation." She sat cautiously on the edge of
the bed, about eight feet away from the being. She still held
the gun, but not in the rigid "ready" posture.

"I know where your partner is."

Her eyes narrowed, but her face did not give away her
excitement, her relief, the race of her heartbeat. Mulder, he
knew how to find Mulder! "That's a good start. But why the hell
should I believe you? You've tried to kill us before."

His smile was grim. "If I had tried to kill you - either of
you - you would be dead now."

"You killed that cop - Officer Kelley."

"Like all the others, he killed himself." He shrugged. "I
cannot be held accountable for the strange reaction you beings
seem to have to exposure to my fluids."

"So where is Mulder? Why was he taken? What is your
part in all of this? And why should you help us?"

The being seemed to take her barrage of questions
seriously. "He is at a military camp about six miles from
Groveton. I have seen him there. He is... not doing well at the
moment. They are awaiting someone who will inject him with
something so he will tell them what he knows about Groveton."

Frustrated, Scully ran her hand through her hair. "But
we don't know anything about Groveton - that's the irony of all
this. He can't tell them what he doesn't know."

"Then why are you here?"

"You answer my questions first. What is your part in all
of this?"

"It is my mission. The people of Groveton were
unauthorized experiments, the very creatures I was sent here
to exterminate."

"You mean they were clones?" But how - "

"The experiments have been taken a step further by
these criminals. They have learned how to alter the
appearance of their creations, so that they do not all look the
same. I was sent here to exterminate the colony before they
were dispersed throughout your world to start other colonies.
Where did they go?"

"I have no idea - and neither does Mulder. Our friends
happened to be staying down here. When all the inhabitants of
the town disappeared overnight, they got in touch with us and
we said we'd take a look." Her tone was bitter. "We've been
here two days and still have no idea where they might have
gone. I had no idea they were anything but normal people until
you said otherwise."

He stared at her. "You really don't know, do you?"

"No, I really don't," she said tiredly. "And neither does
my partner."

"Then I hope he has a talent for dissembling. If those
who hold him find out he knows nothing, they will kill him. Only
the fact that they think he knows more than they do is keeping
him alive."

"Who are the ones who took him? I thought you
worked for them."

He smiled slightly. "I work for nobody but the Ones
who have given me my orders. I have, however, forged some
alliances which were... necessary... for my work here to
continue. From time to time, when it does not interfer with my
mission, I have done favors for some of those in your
government. Then, they conveniently turn their back on some
of my activities which they would find... troublesome. But work
for them? No."

Scully shook her head as if to clear it. "But, the
Smoking Man...."

The being barked a short, derisory laugh. "Him. He is a
fool, more of a fool than most of those here whom I have
encountered. But he has a genius for positioning himself where
he can do the most damage, both to interests other than his
own, and to my mission as well. As such, it has become
necessary to cooperate with him, until such time as he
becomes too great an inconvenience. But still - you should be
grateful to him."

She looked at him, dumbfounded. "Grateful to him?
You've got to be kidding!"

His expression remained stony. Kidding was not part
of his behavior, obviously. "Indirectly, he is the reason I am
here. It is his express wish that your partner Mulder survives."

"But why?" she gasped. "He's done nothing but put us
in harm's way. We're on opposite sides in everything. Why
would he want Mulder to live?"

"I can't answer that." At her disbelieving stare, he
shrugged. "I don't know the answer. The man's mind, his plots
and schemes, are too twisted for anyone to follow. Most have
nothing to do with my mission, so I take no interest. But I have
intervened before, in ways you have never discovered, to
protect Mulder. May I say he gets into more than his share of
trouble. And we must act quickly to protect him again."

Scully's mind was in turmoil. She had no reason to
believe the... whatever the hell he was... sitting before her, yet
she found found his words mysteriously compelling. It all did
make sense in a weird kind of way. Her heart had begun
thudding the second he had mentioned that Mulder was in bad
shape. Getting to her partner as quickly as possible was
paramount, and she had no idea how to do that on her own. It
appeared she had no choice.

"What's your plan?"

The being nodded.

End of Chapter Six

GROVETON 7/8
By Suzanne Bickerstaffe and Carol Jenner
Ecksphile@aol.com, Agnt CJ@aol.com
April 30, 1997

Disclaimers and acknowledgements in Chapter One

Chapter Seven

Basecamp
Wednesday, March 5
1:25 PM

The guards deposited the broken body on a cot in their
makeshift infirmary.

"Ah, so you're Fox Mulder," purred Dr. Herprin. Mulder
detected a hint of a German accent. From his age, he looked
like he could have been a veteran of World War One. "No need
to get up. I've always wanted to meet you. I knew your father.
An honorable man, but oddly naive. He never fully understood
what it was we were trying to do. I hear he's dead now. My
condolences."

The commander scowled. "Doctor, time is running short.
Could we get started?"

"Commander Avin, you are always in such a rush. This
will take time. I will call you when we are ready."

The military man felt his temper flare. He was in a foul
mood anyway, with the failure of his men to find Mulder's partner
and the other couple. And it had not been his idea to enlist the
help of the good doctor. Avin didn't trust ideas that were not his
own, and he certainly didn't trust foreigners. While his own
methods were crude, he was sure that they would have yielded
results in the end - better results than the psychologists with
their crazy theories, and maybe better than the miracle drug of
the mad scientist. Enough time had been wasted. "I'm ready
now. Give him the drug!"

"Very well," the doctor sighed resignedly. He had been
looking forward to having time to get to know young Fox and
reminisce with him about his father. It was true that Bill Mulder
never fully understood or believed in what they were trying to
do. He had even tried to warn Bill on many occasions, long
before the others had set into action the plan to ensure his
cooperation. That plan - the abduction of one of his children -
had resulted in the virtual destruction of the Mulder family, and
the complete annihilation of Bill Mulder, both as a man and as a
participant in the Project. Poor young Fox. So young and so
tortured. He sighed again. If there was any other way, he would
never have come here, to use this drug on Bill's son. But in
truth, the beings of Groveton were part and parcel of his
research - he needed the answer to the mystery of their
disappearance as much as the commander did.

The elderly scientist unwrapped a syringe and pulled a
vial of yellowish-green viscous fluid from his pocket. Carefully
he drew up two cc's of the liquid and nodded to the guard.
Mulder watched with the horrified fascination of a mouse,
transfixed by the snake that would shortly consume it. He
wanted so desperately to move and run, but his body was no
longer his to command, too broken even to move.

"My son, just breathe deeply and think happy thoughts.
Think of those happy times with your sister, eh?" He smiled at
Mulder like a grandfather.

The mention of his sister brought him back to life and
reminded that he had to find a way out, a way to get to Scully.
"You knew my sister?"

"Of course. She was a beautiful child. I always thought
it was a shame what happened to her. All right, here we go." He
nodded again to the guard, who grabbed Mulder's arm and held
it like a vice. Quickly the doctor applied a tourniquet, smiling as
he saw the veins pop up in Mulder's forearm. He swabbed the
area with alcohol, expertly inserted the needle and started
injecting the drug. "Just keep breathing slowly. This is a new
truth serum I've developed. You should feel honored - you are
the first human subject I've given it to." The doctor finished, then
stood straight and proud, like a cat showing its owner the mouse
it just killed.

Mulder's arm started to burn, a sensation that spread
with the circulation of the drug. After a few minutes he could
feel his whole body burning. He closed his eyes, and felt like he
was in the witch's oven from Hansel and Gretel.

The commander watched the pain etch itself across the
young man's face, aging him. "How long do we have to wait?"

"Not long, I suppose. This is the first human test, you
know. My monkeys didn't have much to say, eh? He began to
chuckle at his own joke.

"Explain to me again how this works," said Avin, never
taking his eyes off Mulder.

"My dear commander, it's very simple. The chemicals
in the brain that are produced when a subject is lying are
transferred to pain receptors. In other words, when he lies, he
will experience intense pain. If he lies too much, he will die from
the pain. If he tells the truth, he will not experience any pain -
well, not much anyway. Oh, I think he's about ready." The
doctor bent down to his moaning patient and checked his dilated
pupils. "Now Fox, don't fight this. Just tell us where the people
of Groveton are, dear boy."

I don't know, he thought dazedly. Please, just leave me
alone, I don't know. Maybe - maybe aliens -

"Mulder, aliens? There are no such thing as aliens!"
admonished Scully's voice.

He looked around confusedly. "Sccc...?"

The commander leaned closer. "What's he saying,
Doctor?"

"Fox, Fox listen to me. You need to tell us where the
people of Groveton have gone. Fox?"

Mulder continued to peer into the distance with his one
good eye, seeking the source of Scully's voice.

"You incompetant fool! You didn't give him enough!!"

"No! He'll tell us, give it time to work into his system.
He'll talk." Please, for your sake, Fox, tell us. "Fox, my son,
please tell us where the people of Groveton have gone."

"Fox, there are so many things that I need to tell you.
So many things you'll learn. You'll hear the words...and begin to
understand their meaning... the merchandise...."

"DAD!!!" He struggled against the grip of the guard.

"This is insane. I should've just beaten it out of him,
we're getting nowhere." The commander kicked a chair against
the wall in frustration.

"Commander, if you had done that, he would be dead."

"He's going to die anyway! At least I might have gotten
some answers! This is ridiculous. If you ever want to return to
your little laboratory, you'll make him talk. Give him more!"

"I don't think..."

The officer pulled out his weapon and aimed it at the
doctor's head. "You aren't being paid to think. Do it!"

Herprin filled another syringe and injected more of the
thick fluid into Mulder, apologizing, pleading with his patient to
tell them what they wanted to know. As soon as the drug hit his
veins, Mulder let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The commander went over and slapped him across the
face to make him stop. "Tell us what we want to know."

"In our line, nothing is just what it seems," advised Deep
Throat.

"Tell us!!"

"Alllieenns." Mulder's tongue wasn't working.
"Saammm hasss tthhheeemmm."

"Aliens? Sam has them? Who's Sam? You, guard!
Run to the communications room and have them check the
records to find this Sam."

Dr. Herprin held his silence. He knew that Sam was
Mulder's sister, but if it meant the commander would stop
beating on the boy and give the serum time to work, it was worth
wasting time.

"Well, Doctor, it seems your potion is working. As soon
as we get a line on this Sam, you can have him for your little
experiments."

"Thank you, Commander."

One of his men poked his head inside the door. "Sir, we
need you in the communications room."

"Excuse me, Doctor. I'm about to find out who this Sam
is." The commander appeared pleased with himself as he left
the room. The doctor knew it would be a matter of a very short
time before Avin would be back, probably in a fouler mood than
before. He knelt down to Mulder, who was moaning and
rambling incomprehensibly.

"Fox, Fox try to concentrate." Almost tenderly, he
brushed the sweaty hair away from his forehead. "Fox, Sam is
gone. She doesn't have them. She loved you very much. But
you have to tell me where the people of Groveton are."

"Gone. Gone... they're all gone."

"Yes, I know," he said patiently. "But where did they
go?"

"I ddonn't knnoww." He was crying. "I don't know, Dad.
She's gone, they took her, but I don't know where. There was a
white light...."

"Fox, where are the people of Groveton? Please -
before that Neanderthal comes back."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't.... I tried, but...." Mulder was
blindly reaching for the lapels of the doctor's labcoat. "Please,
I'm so sorry. Sam, they have Sam."

Herprin knew Mulder's file and was well aware of the
abuse and the trauma of his childhood. But he was also aware
that the commander was coming back, and he had to get
answers. "Fox, I forgive you. Now tell me where the clones
went."

"The government...aaahhh!!!"

"Ssshhh, the government?"

"No," Mulder was panting and white as a sheet. "Aliens,
aliens took them."

Herprin sighed and got off his knees. There was nothing
more he could do. He heard footsteps approaching the room.

Commander Avin came back in. "Did he say anything
more about this Sam?"

"Yes, he did. I believe he's referring to Uncle Sam. He
thinks the government is responsible."

"The government. Stay with him, try to find out more. I
need to know exactly who."

"I don't think he knows."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because my formula is perfect," the scientist replied
arrogantly. "If he knew anything, he would have told us, the
agony caused by the drug would have forced him to. I seriously
doubt that he knows anything more than what he's said."

The commander eyed the doctor suspiciously, "But he
hasn't said anything useful at all. You'd better not be lying for
him or we'll be using that formula on you!"

Herprin's face flushed with anger. "I'm not lying. You
and the others have made it abundantly clear what the
consequences would be of anything less than my full
cooperation."

"Then see that you remember that. Now - start
questioning him again - or we'll go back to doing things my way."

Stabbed by the unfamiliar emotions of guilt and regret,
Herprin turned toward the son of his old colleague once more.

- - - - -

"You're sure you know what to do?"

Scully started a bit at the gruff voice of her companion.
I know what to do, she thought. I just hope I don't regret doing it.
The plan was a good one...at any rate, it was the only one they
could think of. But it meant putting herself completely at the
mercy of this strange creature. The total surrender of control to
someone else was something that would have disturbed her with
anyone, other than her partner. But giving up her fate to this...
whatever he was....

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Then let's go." They got out of the Jeep and began
walking quickly but quietly through the trees and brush to the
edge of the basecamp.

"That's far enough."

Scully watched as before her eyes the creature morphed
into a tall, muscular soldier.

"Turn around."

Reluctantly, she turned and stretched her hands out in
back of her. This was the part of the plan she disliked the most,
shuddering slightly at the snick of the handcuffs closing around
her wrists. Then he blindfolded her. Her heart raced. "Look, is
the blindfold really necessary?"

"Everyone who is brought to this camp is blindfolded. It
would raise suspicion if I brought you in and you weren't." She
felt him grab her upper arm, firmly but not roughly. "Now let's
go."

She let him guide her over the uneven ground, noting
the change from the pine needle-strewn forest floor, to the
packed dirt of the road and then to the gravel of the courtyard of
the basecamp. Sounds of trucks and men's voices and boot-
clad feet surrounded her.

"Who's that you got, Shanahan?"

She heard the voice of her strange ally rumble beside
her. "Looks like I won me that furlough the Old Man promised.
Tough shit, Krupsky, but I found her - this is that guy's girlfriend."
Her lips tightened. Girlfriend - yeah, right. I should live that
long. We both should.

"Well, you are one lucky som'bitch! Here I am stuck on
guard duty, while you're out foolin' around and winnin' yourself a
thirty day furlough. Shee-it!"

"Where is he?"

"In the Infirmary with her boyfriend, the last I knew. Hey
sweet cheeks, I heard your boyfriend isn't doing so good. He
isn't going to be doing you any good for a while, anyway. So
when you're through in there, maybe you'll wanna come out and
play with us boys. Whaddya say?"

"Go fuck yourself."

Her head recoiled from the force of the slap and tears
burned in her eyes. Hands grabbed her hair as she tried to turn
her head to avoid the foul breath of her assailant. "When Lance
Krupsky wants to play, you'll play, got it?" He let go of her hair
and shoved her backwards. "Okay, Shanahan, take her in - but I
get her first if the Old Man cuts her loose."

"You got it." He led her up some wooden steps and
through a doorway. Once they had passed through the entry
room and into the hallway, he bent low to her ear. "That was not
an intelligent thing to do. I won't be able to protect you if you do
something so ill-considered again."

Scully clenched her jaw but otherwise gave no
response.

The voice was in her ear again. "We have come through
a large room with monitoring equipment and several men, all of
them armed. Right now we are going down a long hallway, with
doors on each side. The Infirmary is two more doors down on
the left."

She nodded slightly, somewhat heartened by the fact
that her companion was speaking to her, possibly sensing her
battle with her own helplessness and trying to keep her focused.

They stopped and her 'captor' knocked on a door. She
heard it open.

"Shanahan, what the hell do you - " He broke off
abruptly when he spotted Scully. "And who's our guest?" he
continued in a smarmy voice.

"Mulder's girlfriend, sir. Just as you ordered. I'll just
bring her in - "

"That will be all, Shanahan. I'll take care of things from
here."

"But - "

"I said that will be all! Don't blow this like you've blown
so many other opportunities, Shanahan."

"No, sir. Very good, sir." And without another word, her
only ally turned and went back down the hall. Scully felt her
hope fading with his retreating footsteps.

"Now, Agent Scully, please come in. There's someone
here who will be very glad to see you." He angled her through
the door and into the room. "Agent Mulder! We've brought you
a visitor. Now maybe you'll be more inspired to tell us what you
know."

Still blindfolded, she turned her head in the direction of
a moan. The room smelled of sweat and blood and fear. A chill
went through her as her mind raced. How the hell was she
going to get them out of this, now that her mysterious ally had
deserted her? There was another moan - definitely Mulder's
moan. At least he was alive - but for how much longer?

"I don't know where your people got the idea that it was
perfectly legal to kidnap Federal officers, but if you're in charge
here, you at least should know better," she said coolly. She
sensed the commander's approach. An instant later, she was
dazzled by the bright lights of the room when the blindfold was
roughly pulled from her face. When she could see clearly, her
eyes searched the room for her partner, finally lighting on the
cot by the wall. She hoped that she kept her horrified reaction
from reaching her face. Mulder looked God-awful, had
obviously been beaten severely. But their only chance lay in
their captors not knowing the closeness of the bond between
them. She had sized up the commander at a glance - he would
not hesitate to use her against Mulder, or him against her, if it
would get him what he wanted.

"Legal is such a relative term, don't you think?" Avin
smiled down at her, his eyes cold. "Now, Agent Scully, suppose
you tell us what you and your partner are doing down here."

"We're on vacation." She kept her tone cool, clipped,
seemingly taking little notice in the moaning, broken form on the
cot.

"Don't give me that shit. I've gotten enough of that from
your partner, and you see what it's earned him."

"I might also add that assault and battery against a
Federal officer carries very stiff penalties." She glared at the
commander. The chill of her tone suggested that the man
moaning on the cot was a Federal officer and only a Federal
officer, as far as she was concerned.

With every word she spoke, Mulder seemed to become
more alert. Now he was struggling to sit up. "S-scully...."

"Not now, Agent Mulder," she said tersely. She knew
how Mulder behaved when he was hurting and vulnerable, either
physically or mentally. As she knew from more experience than
she wanted to remember, during those times he openly craved
her touch, the soft stroke of her voice. But any demonstration of
that sort could be their undoing right now. She didn't believe in
telepathy, but it didn't stop her from trying to use it now. For
Christ's sake, Mulder, shut up. Act like you don't care, don't
blow this. Even as she tried to focus her thoughts, she realized
how difficult that would be for him. She was having a hard
enough time restraining herself from rushing to his side; how
much harder would it be for him, after what he had been
through? She stared at him, willing him to hold on, to keep
quiet.

"Now, I wonder how we might encourage Agent Mulder
to speak...," Avin mused aloud. "...now that we have his pretty
little girlfriend here to give him some motivation." He strolled
casually up behind Scully.

"I don't know where you idiots got the idea I was his
girfriend, but you're way off b - " she broke off as Avin's hand
closed around her throat. He dragged her to the center of the
room and threw her on the floor, where she lay gasping and
choking.

Mulder trembled with the effort not to move, not to cry
out. Granted, he would probably have trembled and yelled if he
had tried to move, as well. But he had understood Scully's non-
verbal message - the body language, her demeanor, the whole
act she had been putting on for Avin's benefit. He just hoped to
hell she had some sort of plan, because neither of them would
be able to hold out forever.

The officer strode over to Mulder and leaned over him
threateningly, grabbing him by the collar. "Tell us what we want
to know."

"W-we're on v-vacation." He flinched as the wave of
pain caused by the remnants of the drug hit him, sweat breaking
out on his brow once more.

"Bullshit! Maybe you'd like to see your partner injected
with some of Herprin's shit, eh? Or maybe I should just make
her the evening's entertainment for my troops? They haven't
had any nightlife in a while - they could use the diversion. What
do you think, Mulder? Because it will be your fault - all your
fault - for not telling me what I need to know. I don't think she'll
look so fresh and pretty by tomorrow morning, do you? Think
about it, Mulder. All your fault...."

Mulder squirmed on the cot, trying to hold himself
upright on his uninjured side. His gaze locked with Scully's -
hers defiant and reassuring, his full of his own pain, full of his
fear for her. Through gritted teeth he forced out, "We're on
vacation. She's not my girlfriend...she's just another FBI agent...
agh!" A soft cry escaped his lips and he panted for a moment,
trying to get his breath. "We don't... know... anything... about
Groveton. Now fuck off." Scully, if I'm wrong, if this isn't how
you want me to play this, please, please forgive me.

With a scream of frustration, Avin brought his knee up,
catching Mulder under the jaw and sending him into the wall. He
reached over to Scully, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her
to her feet. "Let's see how you feel tonight, as you're listening to
her screams, Mulder. Let's see if you're any more cooperative in
the morning, when I throw what's left of her back in here."

As Avin grabbed her by the cuffs and swung her towards
the door, she caught Mulder's eyes, trying to tell him he had
done well, that she would find a way out of this mess. Just as
the commander's hand reached for the knob, the door opened.

"Shanahan - I thought I told you that you were
dismissed. Never mind - I have something for you to do. Take
Agent Scully here and introduce her to the troops. Tell them to
show her a good time...."

"I already have something else to do," the soldier said
calmly.

Avin flushed darkly and his eyes looked as if they were
about to burst from his head. "You will follow my orders, or you
won't live to be busted back to private," he barked cholerically.

"Sorry, Commander - you've been out-ranked," the
young man coolly replied. With that, he morphed into the bulky
form to which he was most accustomed.

Avin stood gawking, stunned, for several seconds. Then
he came to his senses, and opened his mouth to scream for the
guards. Before a sound emerged, the being picked him up
effortlessly and threw him into the wall twelve feet away. The
commander connected with a snap and a sickening thud. He
slid down the wall, his head and neck at an impossible angle to
his body.

Scully's cuffs were undone before Avin hit the floor.
She rushed to the cot. "Mulder, can you sit up? Mulder, try to
sit up, we have to get out of here."

As she tried to revive her partner, the bulky being strode
towards Herprin. The doctor was cowering in a corner, his arms
raised in surrender, whimpering over and over, "Gott in Himmel,
Gott in Himmel!"

"Leave him," ordered Scully. "I need help with Mulder."

"He'll have to walk out under his own power," answered
the gruff, accented voice. He was morphing once more, this
time into the form of Commander Avin. "It must look like I'm
taking you out of here at gunpoint, otherwise we'll be stopped,
questioned. Get him on his feet."

He helped her to get Mulder upright, the agent crying
out when one of them inadvertantly pulled on his throbbing right
arm. She steadied him, her arms circling his waist tightly, while
he swayed and tried to remain conscious.

"Come on, Mulder....we just have to make it outside,
then you can pass out."

"D-don't be m-mad, Scully."

She almost laughed. After all the hell he had been
through, he seemed more disturbed by the idea that she could
be angry with him than the possibility of getting caught again.
"I'm not mad, Mulder. But you need to be able to walk out of
here."

"S-screwed up our vacation...."

"Yeah, I know. So what else is new? Can you walk?"

He tried a few steps, leaning heavily on her. "Will you
be pissed if I c-can't?," he panted.

"I'll definitely be pissed, Mulder. Come on, hold it
together just a little longer, okay? Just a couple of minutes and
we're out of here. Otherwise, you'll be 'gator bait, and I'll be the
platoon's hot date for the night."

That seemed to get through to him. He took a few deep
breaths and the reeling in his head cleared a bit. He took an
experimental step forward. "I can do this," he muttered grimly.
He nodded sharply, then grabbed more tightly onto his partner
as the room swam and his stomach lurched. "Remind me not to
nod, Scully."

"Don't nod, Mulder." Her smile faded as she looked up
at him, alarmed by his pallor, the beads of sweat dotting his
skin. He was in shock, that was certain. But his jaw was set
stubbornly, and she knew he'd make it out, even if it killed him.
If he made it out, it would be her job to see that it didn't. She
gripped him more securely.

"Are you ready?" The 'commander' had the door open,
scanning the hallway.

"Yes, let's go."

He motioned her in front of him with Avin's sidearm.
"Let me do the talking, and don't stop for anything." They went
down the hallway as slowly as they dared and as quickly as
Mulder could move, finally coming to the large entry room. The
men there sprang to attention as they saw their commanding
officer.

"At ease, men. Say goodbye to our visitors - they won't
be back." Several looked disappointed. Evidently Avin's plans
for Scully had been overheard and eagerly anticipated. She did
her best to look like she was marching to her execution. Her
partner added verisimilitude - he already looked half-dead.

The trio made it out through the door into the courtyard.
"Krupsky!" The guard jumped and guiltily, tossed his cigarette
butt away.

"Yes, sir!"

"Who told you you could smoke on guard duty?"

"No one, sir. I'm sorry, sir."

"Well, that stunt just earned you burial duty. When I
come back, you're to get a shovel and get rid of all evidence of
our guests. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"All right, you two. Let's go for a little walk in the
woods." As they moved away, Scully was sure she heard
Krupsky grumble "... a damn waste of a woman...."

She half-carried, half-dragged Mulder across the dirt
road and into the woods, closely followed by the physical form of
Commander Avin. When they had gone some thirty yards into
the thick pine forest, Mulder stumbled and went down. She tried
to get him up, but it was impossible without putting pressure on
his injured arm and shoulder. His eyelids fluttered, then went
still. She turned, about to ask for help, when the likeness of Avin
was replaced by the bulky, familiar form of their unlikely ally.
He tossed her the keys to the Jeep. "Get it started. I'll bring
him."

She stood open-mouthed for a couple of seconds as he
scooped up Mulder in his arms as if he were a child. Then she
headed for the Jeep. She had barely gotten it started when the
passenger door opened and Mulder was laid gently across the
back seat. "Just a moment," the voice commanded. She
jumped as he fired two shots into the air in rapid succession.
Tossing the gun on the ground, he leapt into the Jeep. "That
should give us a few minutes. Get going."

She didn't need to be told twice.

End of Chapter Seven

GROVETON 8/8

By Carol Jenner and Suzanne Bickerstaffe
Agnt CJ@aol.com, Ecksphile@aol.com
April 30, 1997

Disclaimers and acknowledgements in Chapter One

Chapter Eight

Sebring, Florida
Thursday, March 6
10:30 AM

"...all right, which hospital is it this time?" His tone was
resigned, almost as if he had been expecting the call.

Scully could clearly picture Skinner's face in her mind.
The glare, the twitch of his upper lip that was almost a sneer.
She had delivered this news too often not to know the AD's
reaction. The fact that this time she was delivering it by way of
the phone and not in person did nothing to diminish the graphic
image in her mind. "Sebring Community Hospital, sir."

"Intensive Care, as usual, I suppose."

"Well, yes," she admitted, "but only for twenty four
hours or so, sir. It's just a precaution. It won't even be that
long if they need the bed for someone else. By tomorrow he
should be transferred to the Trauma floor, and then he'll be
discharged a day or two after that, if all goes well."

"With Mulder involved, it's difficult to count on
everything going well, Agent Scully." He sighed. "You know, I
was under the impression that you two were going on vacation.
How did Agent Mulder sustain his injuries? Waterskiing?
Parasailing, perhaps?"

She cleared her throat. This wasn't going well. She
might as well tackle the hard part. "Uh, no sir, I'm afraid not.
He was kidnapped on the order of a Commander Avin,
subjected to an experimental drug against his will and was
beaten half to death." There was an edge to her voice as she
finished, almost a challenge to her tone, as if she expected the
AD to dismiss the episode as another one of Mulder's
hairbrained stunts, or as the result of his uncanny ability to ask
the wrong questions of the wrong people at the wrong time.
She was startled, then, by Skinner's response.

"You have a first name on Avin? How about which
branch of the military?"

"We weren't exactly on a first name basis, sir," she
replied dryly. Pointedly she added, "And it was the branch that
wears black uniforms."

He was silent for a moment. "Hold on for a minute,
Scully." She stood holding the phone, watching the activity
around her at the busy nurses' station. Skinner's voice came
back on the line. "There's no record in the data banks of an
officer named Avin in any branch of the military, Agent Scully."

"Did you really expect there would be, sir?"

He sighed again. "No, I guess not," he said tersely. "Is
Mulder going to press charges against this Commander Avin -
or is he going to press them against Mulder?"

She hesitated. "I doubt it, sir. Commander Avin is no
longer in the picture, if you get my drift."

"Jesus Christ, Scully! Mulder didn't kill him, did he?"

"No, sir, Agent Mulder did not kill him. He could barely
move at the time."

"Did you?"

"No, sir." She didn't elaborate.

After a pause, Skinner said, "I take it that you would
prefer to tell me in your report."

Relieved, she took the escape he offered. "Yes, sir. I
think that would be better. I have a couple of other names you
can check out. An enlisted man by the name of Lance Krupsky
- that's with a K, I think - and an old doctor, possibly a German
or Austrian national by the name of Herprin. But I don't think
you'll have any better luck with those, if you stick to official
channels." She lightly emphasized the latter words. But it
wasn't necessary - the use of those two words spoke volumes
between the AD and his subordinate.

"I'll see what I can do. What's the extent of Mulder's
injuries? How long will he be confined to desk duty this time?"

"At least until the cast is off. Fractured clavicle,
dislocated shoulder, a hairline fracture of the humerus and
another of the cheekbone. He was negative for skull fracture,
but there was concussion, of course."

"Of course."

She winced at the dry sarcasm, but plowed on. "We're
waiting for the results of some tests before internal injuries are
ruled out. He may have a kidney contusion as well."

Skinner was quiet for a few moments. "You're a
physician. Tell me, Scully. How much more punishment can
his body take?" he asked grimly.

Miserably, she replied, "I don't know, sir. I wish to God
I did. Then maybe I'd do what I could to get him out of the
field. He'd hate me forever, but it might save his life. But as
things stand, it's fortunate that he seems to have miraculous
powers of healing."

"Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin', is that it, Agent
Scully?" There was a hint of humor in his voice.

She smiled in spite of herself. "Something like that,
sir."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm...okay. I am now, anyway."

"What the hell went on down there, Agent Scully? I'm
sure there's more to the story than what you've told me so far."

"I - I'm going to have to think about that, sir. Yes,
there's more, a lot more. But at the moment, I wouldn't have a
clue how to explain it."

"Very well. Report to me first thing when you're back in
town. I can expect you by Monday?"

"If Mulder's fit to travel, yes, sir."

His tone changed then - warmer than that of a superior,
yet not quite as intimate as that of a friend. More gently he
said, "Keep me up to date on Mulder's condition, will you,
Dana?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm here if you need anything."

"I appreciate that, sir."

Scully hung up the phone and drifted into the break
room. She poured herself a cup of coffee, sipping it carefully
as she took it back to Mulder's little corner of the ICU. She sat
gratefully in the lounge chair at his bedside, provided by the
nurses late the previous night when it became clear that she
was not going to leave.

Stretching back in the chair, she watched the
reassuring regularity of his heartbeat on the cardiac monitor.
He was sleeping now, had been sleeping for the past several
hours. His dark hair hung in his eyes, long lashes resting on his
cheeks, his face stubbly from two days' growth of beard. The
left side of his face was still badly swollen and discolored. His
left arm lay at his side, taped to an armboard to prevent him
from dislodging his IV. The right was encased in a fiberglass
cast which was held out stiffly at an angle by a brace which
wrapped around his waist.

The last twenty four hours had been... well, frankly...
surrealistic. She could hardly believe herself that their nemesis
- who was also possibly an alien - had shown up in the middle
of nowhere to help her free Mulder. Now that the rigors of the
rescue were over, she had the leisure to wonder why the
Smoking Man had issued the directive to save her partner's
life. Whose side was he on, anyway? She rubbed her temples
wearily. Whose side was anyone on in this mess?

Mulder's IV pump began beeping. Scully pushed
herself from the chair and replaced the empty with the full bag
of fluid standing by on the bedside table. "It's okay - I took care
of it," she told the nurse who came hurrying into the room.

The nurse looked impossibly young to be in charge of
the ICU, but Scully had seen her in action and she was good -
very good. "Thanks. The patient in 3C is crashing and we
might be tied up for a while. Anything you need right now?"

"No, thanks."

"Look, here's his next dose of morphine," she said,
handing Scully a Tubex. "He's due for it any time now - he'll
probably need it when he wakes up. It's strictly against the
rules for me to leave it with you of course, but you being a
doctor and all.... Anyway, I wouldn't want him to be in pain and
have to wait for it if we're tied up next door." She dimpled
prettily.

Scully read the barrel of the medication cartridge and
nodded. "I'll see that he gets it." Evidently, her partner was
having his usual devastating effect on the nursing staff. There
certainly had been no shortage of females coming into his
room to see if there was anything he needed.

<<Code Blue, ICU, Room 3C....Code Blue, ICU, Room
3C....>>

"Shit!" The nurse was out the door at a run, as the
rumble of the rolling crash cart and the slap of rushing
footsteps filled the hallway.

Scully took Mulder's vital signs and checked the
circulation in his injured arm, carefully recording her findings in
his chart. Then she sat down, relaxing into the chair, her
thoughts once more on the events of the previous day.

The ride from the basecamp had been terrible. After
her ally had fired the two shots to simulate hers and Mulder's
executions, she had driven off down the rutted dirt road as fast
as she could. At any moment, she expected to see a pursuing
truckload of black-clad soldiers reflected in her rearview mirror.
Mulder moaned in the back seat, vainly trying to bite back a
yell every time the Jeep hit a pothole and jostled him.

Her knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. "We
have to find a hospital, fast."

Her companion looked casually over his shoulder into
the back seat at Mulder's form. "He will not die. He is in pain,
but he will not die."

She glanced over at him for just a second, then turned
her eyes back to the winding country road. "I thought I was the
doctor here."

His lips curled slightly. "You healers are strangely
proprietary about your talents - however inadequate they may
be. Think what you wish. In any event, the only thing that may
kill him is your driving. Turn left here."

The Jeep skidded into the turn. In moments they were
on the paved surface of the road heading into Sebring.

"You can slow down now. We aren't being followed
and I have no wish to be stopped by the police."

Scully glanced down at the speedometer - she was
doing better than 85. She eased up on the accelerator until
their speed dropped to 60, just five over the posted limit.
Ahead she could see a traffic light at a major crossroad.
Seconds later she could pick out a blue and white "H" sign.

"The hospital's to the right. No offence to your obvious
medical expertise," she said dryly, "but I'm turning."

Her companion merely shrugged.

About a mile after they had turned, the hospital came
into sight. Suddenly he demanded, "Pull over here."

"Why?" she asked sharply.

"Just do it."

She pulled into a strip mall parking lot. Her mysterious
ally opened the Jeep door and slid out.

"Where are you going?"

"I have no need to go to your hospital. He is safe now,"
he indicated Mulder with a nod, "and I have my mission to
complete."

She shook her head. "But.... I guess I thought...." She
took a deep breath and started over. "Thank you. Thank you
for getting Mulder out of there."

A faint look of amusement passed over the normally
expressionless face. "I need no thanks. I will do anything
necessary to carry out my mission. This was merely a favor for
one who makes that possible."

Nerves frayed, she lost her temper. "What's his name?"
Scully demanded. "Why did he tell you to save Mulder?"

He turned and walked toward the bus station at the far
end of the strip mall. For a moment, Scully considered trying
to catch up with him, but a glance at Mulder's pallor, and she
headed for the hospital.

What followed were several hours that seemed like a
replay of all the other times she had accompanied him to
emergency rooms around the country. X-rays, lab tests, her
partner's body invaded by needles, catheters, monitor wires.
Every time she had promised herself it would be the last. This
had been no different....

She was wrested from her thoughts as Mulder groaned
softly and began to stir. His eyes snapped open, wide with panic
and pain. Clumsily, he groped with his left hand, reaching,
searching for something. She caught his hand and held it as
best she could around the styrofoam and tape of the armboard.
"It's all right. I'm here."

Instantly he settled, his eyes closing. When they
reopened, the panic was gone, though the pain was still there.
"How long have I been asleep?"

"Almost five hours now. Feel better?"

"I'm thirsty."

She let go of his hand and picked up a cup and spoon.
"You can't drink yet. Here's some ice chips."

"I hate those fucking things. Not everyone shares your
passion for crunching chunks of ice between their teeth."

"Quit complaining and open up." She spooned a few ice
chips into his mouth.

They melted and he swallowed the small amount of
water they produced. "Some bedside manner you have, " he
grumbled.

"Must be all the practice I get."

Regret tinged his expression. "I'm sorry, Scully. I did it
to you again, didn't I?"

"In spades, partner."

"What's the damage this time?"

She ran down the list of his injuries.

"You sure about no skull fracture? My head's pounding
and I'm seeing double."

"You have a concussion, that's not unexpected. But I'll
take a look at the x-rays myself a little later to make sure they
didn't miss anything."

"Nice to have my own personal physician." He looked
around for something. "Uh, Scully... I have to.... Where's that
bottle thingy?"

"No, you don't 'have to'. You're just feeling irritation in
your bladder from the catheter."

"Shit. I hate those fucking things, too."

"You know, for someone who hates hospital procedures
as much as you do, you don't do a very good job taking care of
yourself so you can avoid them."

The lightness in her tone might have indicated
amusement to anyone else. But Mulder saw that her eyes were
dark with worry and fatigue. He reached awkwardly for her hand
again. "I'm sorry, Dana. I hate that I keep putting you through
this."

"I know you do." She let out a shaky breath and avoided
his eyes. "Sorry. I-I'm just relieved you're going to be all right."
She smiled down at him. "Of course, I could always look at it
like you're giving me the opportunity to keep current in
emergency medicine."

"Hey Scully, why is this red?"

"Quit playing with your tubes, Mulder. And yes, there's
blood in your urine. You probably have a kidney contusion. But
it looks better than it did last night, if that's any comfort.
Speaking of which, I have your morphine. Do you need it?"

"Need it, yes. But I don't want it. Not yet, anyway. It'll
put me to sleep and I want to stay awake for a while." He
stopped suddenly, listening intently as two all too familiar voices
came down the hallway towards his room. "Come to think of it,
maybe I don't really want to stay awake...."

"Forget it, Mulder. You owe me. If I have to put up with
them, so do you."

Candy burst into the room, with Chris following on her
heels.

"SCOR -oh, I mean Mulder - how are you feeling,
honey?" Candy plopped herself down on his bed, the sudden
movement setting his shoulder and head throbbing again. She
wiped the hair from back from his forehead. "Are they treating
you okay?"

She tried to remove his covers to survey the damage,
but Mulder pinned the top sheet down firmly with his left arm.
"I'm fine, Candy. Scully says I'll be able to leave in a day or
two."

"Well, that's good to hear," said Chris from the end of
the bed.

"Chris, I'm sorry we couldn't help you. You know, the
whole mystery of the disappearance of the Groveton people.
We're no closer now than we were," apologized Scully.

"I think that perhaps there are some things that we don't
need to know. I know that you and Mulder certainly would have
been better off if we had just let well enough alone. We'll never
know why they left. Maybe it's better that way."

Candy wrinkled her nose in a frown. "Oh, I don't think
so. We know what happened, right, Mulder? I mean it was
aliens, wasn't it?"

"Candy," Mulder glanced over to Scully, who was
waiting for his answer as eagerly as Candy. "I don't think we
have enough evidence in this case to say either way. Maybe
aliens had something to do with the disappearance, but maybe
not. Fact of the matter is we just don't know."

From her chair, Scully smiled gently. She knew how
hard it was for him to admit that not everything involved aliens
and the paranormal, that most things had rational explanations.

"So Chris, what are you and Candy going to do? Try to
rebuild Groveton?" she asked, in an effort to change the subject
from the uncomfortable one of aliens. She had already
experienced far more than she could ever explain.

"Actually, it's weird. Two weeks ago the Red Cross
wouldn't give me the time of day, and now they want me to go to
North Dakota to help the flood victims. They're even talking
about giving me a Directorship, which would mean us moving to
DC."

"Oh, Chris!" Candy sprang like a tigress off the bed and
wrapped her fiance in her long, elegant arms. "You never said
anything about DC!"

"Well, it's not definite yet. It depends...."

"Wouldn't that be great, Dana? We could be neighbors,
we could go shopping together! Oh Mulder, can you imagine?
Maybe I could get a job in the FBI and we could work with X-
Files together!"

"Uh...." Scully tried to stop Candy's torrent of
enthusiastic babble. God, she had to put a stop to this before it
got too far. Pigs would fly before she shared that cramped
office - and Mulder - with HER! She watched to see how Mulder
would handle this development.

"Actually, Candy, I already have a partner. She's all I
need." Scully felt the warmth rise in her cheeks, and her eyes
sparkled.

That comment was totally lost on Candy. "I think I'll start
the application process to the Bureau," she mused aloud.
"Surely they could use a meteorologist."

"Candy, it's not definite," interjected Chris, but nothing
was going to dampen her enthusiasm. He knew he shouldn't
have mentioned it, but it would be such a good move for him
careerwise and he was just so honored that it was even being
considered. Actually, he had mentioned it more to impress
Dana than for Candy's sake.

"Oh, absolutely!" chimed Scully. Chris and Mulder
looked startled. "I'm sure Agent McGough would just love to
work with you." Agent McGough had a reputation for being a
lady's man in the labs at the Bureau. Mulder would have smiled
if his face didn't hurt so much.

"Well, we have a plane to catch. We'd better be going.
Mulder, take care of yourself." He leaned down and whispered
to him, "And take care of that partner of yours."

"I will, Chris, thank you. Good luck yourself."

"Oh, Mulder." Candy leaned over and gave him the
kind of kiss that, under other circumstances, he might have
enjoyed. But there in the ICU, hurting all over, tubes running in
and out of his body, he was just glad when it was over. "I'll miss
you, Scorpy."

"Uh...yeah. Bye Candy."

She and Chris left hand in hand, Candy chattering
excitedly about the prospect of living in Washington.

Scully turned to Mulder and wiped a smear of Candy's
lipstick from his mouth. "You don't think they'll actually move to
Washington, do you?"

"Maybe we can ask Skinner for a transfer. Base the X-
Files in Juneau or something."

"With our luck, there'd be an earthquake or a pipeline
spill and they'd arrive on the scene" Scully pushed the chair
closer to her partner's bedside and collapsed into it. She
extended her hand through the siderails to hold his, his fingers
automatically twining with hers. She noted his face was drawn
and lined, and guessed the cause to be less Chris and Candy's
announcement than the pain in his shoulder and head. "Want
that morphine now?"

"After Candy, it's a temptation. But there's too many
questions I need answers to. How the hell did you ever find me,
Scully?"

She glanced at the monitors tracking his pulse and
blood pressure. Both were up - significantly. "Tell you what - I'll
answer your questions for ten minutes, Mulder. After that, I give
you the pain med and you take a nap. Deal?"

"Deal - so answer my question."

She sighed. "I didn't find you. Chris came in, saying he
had seen you taken away by some soldiers and that we had to
get out of town fast before they found us. He drove us into
Sebring. Except it wasn't Chris."

"What do you mean, it wasn't Chris?"

"It was someone we've met before - someone who can
shapeshift."

He stared at her. "The Bounty Hunter?" he asked in a
hoarse whisper.

She nodded, frowning. "When we got to the motel - a
place you can recommend to NICAP, by the way - Chris was
already there. I ran outside just in time to see our shapeshifting
friend driving off in Chris's Jeep. He came back the next
morning, as Candy this time, but I was on to him." She smiled.
"He just wasn't perky enough. Anyway, he said something
strange... that it was in his interest to protect you, and that he
had done it before."

Mulder was stunned. "Protect me? Why?"

Scully shook her head. "He said that he had a mission,
and to complete that mission he sometimes had to do favors for
men in our government who looked the other way to allow him to
do his work."

"Who the hell in the government would be interested in
saving my ass?"

"Interesting question, isn't it? Even more interesting
answer. He claims it was Cigarette Smoking Man who made the
deal with him to save you."

"But that just doesn't make any sense," replied Mulder,
stunned.

"I know." She shrugged. "Maybe he was lying. Anyway,
he had managed to infiltrate the basecamp so he knew where
you were." She took a deep breath and went on quickly, studying
the IV pump to avoid his eyes. "Which was a good thing, since I
didn't have a clue. He told me... he told me you were in bad
shape, and that we had to get you out of there fast."

Mulder grunted. "When beating the shit out of me didn't
work, they dug up Dr. Mengele to try out his new science project
on me." He raised haunted eyes to meet Scully's. "Turns out
the good doctor knew my father. Worked with him on the
Project. He even knew about Samantha."

"Oh, Mulder." She tightened her grasp on his hand. Of
all the tortures they had subjected him to, bringing up his lost
sister and his father's complicity in the Project were probably
hardest for him to bear.

He gave her a twisted smile. "They should have used
the drug first. By the time they gave it to me, I was so far out of
it that I couldn't have told them anything even if I had wanted to.
Not that I knew all that much." He related his discoveries in the
shed.

"It was a colony of clones, Mulder. The Bounty Hunter
admitted as much - that he was sent down here to terminate
them before they could be dispersed to start other colonies."

"That's what the maps were for, then - marking the
towns where the clones would be sent. Looks like they got out
of town just in the knick of time, as they say. But Christ, Scully!
How the hell did you know you could trust him? I mean, in the
past he's whaled the shit out of both of us, kidnapped you, been
anything but a good buddy.... How did you know you weren't
stepping into a trap?"

She shrugged. "I didn't. But my options were somewhat
limited, at the time. I had no choice."

Anger and fear warred for supremacy on his face. "You
let him cuff you and blindfold you and lead you into that viper's
nest? God damn it, Scully! You could have been tortured or
raped or killed! Don't you ever take a chance like that again!"

"I knew the risks, Mulder. And I accepted them. If our
positions had been reversed, can you honestly say you wouldn't
have taken that chance?"

There was a brief pause. "No," he finally admitted. "But
Jesus, Scully! When he choked you, when he threatened to turn
you over to that pack of animals - "

Now his vital signs were really elevated, threatening to
trigger the alarms. "Settle down, Mulder, or you'll get your
morphine now," she commanded, eyeing the monitors worriedly.

He took some deep breaths and tried to change to a
more comfortable position, until he realized that there wasn't
one. His hand was so tight around hers that her fingers began to
tingle. "You were so cool - acting like you didn't care...."

"I know," she said apologetically. "I had to play it that
way, Mulder. I knew Avin would try to use me to make you talk.
And at that point, I wasn't sure our shapeshifting friend was
coming back."

"I kind of figured. I mean, a lot of what was going on....
I wasn't exactly with the program. I thought that's what you were
doing. But it was so hard... to act like I didn't care that you were
about to be gang-raped by those - " His voice caught. He
paused a moment before he could go on. "I was just so afraid
that...."

"Yes?"

"I - I was afraid that maybe you'd think I really didn't
care..."

"Mulder." She smiled over at him, her voice soft. She
had never looked more beautiful in his eyes. "I could never think
that. Do you think it was easy for me, seeing you beaten to a
pulp and writhing in pain, to act like you meant nothing to me?"

His eyes met hers. "What do I mean to you, Scully?"

She smiled again and squeezed his fingers before
extricating her hand from his, and standing. "Your ten minutes
are up. Nap time, Mulder." She swabbed a port in the IV line
with alcohol and slowly injected the morphine.

He sighed as the drug hit his bloodstream. "You won't
leave, will you, Scully?" he mumbled sleepily.

Her cool fingers brushed the hair away from his eyes, off
his forehead. "No, I'll be here. I won't leave you, Mulder." She
caressed his cheek, his hair, feeling him relax beneath her
touch. Within moments, he drifted off to sleep.

"I won't leave you, Mulder," she murmured. "I'll never
leave you."

End of Groveton.