"Guardian Angel"
By Kirsten Kerkhof

XxXxX

You only live twice:
Once when you are born.
And once when you look death in the face.

After Basshö, Japanese poet, 1643-1694

XxXxX

Chapter 1

A.D. Skinner's office
FBI Headquarters, Washington DC, USA
Date & time: classified

	"AND JUST WHAT WOULD happen if I should 
refuse?", Skinner asked the man opposite to him as he 
opened a folder and looked at the photos inside. Then he 
closed the folder and looked up.
	The grey-haired man who was standing on the 
other side of the desk was not impressed and quietly 
lighted a cigarette. He calmly inhaled the smoke and 
when he blew out the smoke again A.D. Skinner's 
image became blurred. He wished Skinner would fade 
himself. Hell, that man could be such a nuisance! But 
the man had too much experience to let him know that.
	"That's not even an option, A.D. Skinner! It's 
over. You know that as well as I do. The X-Files are 
history. And there is no reason whatsoever to keep them 
open."
	Skinner stifled his anger. He felt damn well 
capable of making the man swallow his still burning 
cigarette. But he too had enough experience and self-
control to keep this emotion safely hidden.
	"Sir", the man said and extinguished his cigarette 
on the blotter on Skinner's desk. Ashes fell on the two 
files lying there. X-Files, numbers X-43070 and X-
43080. "I suggest you follow my advice. That's in every 
respect the best thing for both of us."
	Skinner looked at the ashes on the yellow covers 
and restrained himself. He knew better than anybody 
else that he hadn't always been the best friend of the two 
agents in charge of the X-Files, but this ... this was a 
down-right insult. Then the devil in him kicked in.
	"Get out! Get out of my office!", Skinner said 
furiously and pointed towards the door.
	The man looked at him, raised his eyebrows 
condescendingly, lighted a second cigarette and said 
quietly:
	"It's over, my dear Assistant-Director. It's just 
over." Then he turned around and left the office.

	SKINNER WALKED TO THE stairs that went down to 
the basement. He wasn't going here for fun, never had, 
but right now he had a very specific purpose to go there. 
And he wished he hadn't.
	He opened the door of an office and stepped 
inside. The shelves were cramped, filled with all kinds 
of  things the owner of the office, Special Agent Fox 
Mulder, thought important and interesting. His desk was 
like the rest of the office: chaos. Compared to this desk 
the desk of Mulder's partner, Dana Scully, was a relief: 
everything clean and neatly ordered. The contrast 
between these two agents couldn't be bigger, chaos and 
order, fiction and facts, parascience and science. And 
still they were the most efficient agents of the Bureau. 
Always had been, Skinner knew, from the very first 
moment on.
	To Skinner's left was the subject of eternal 
discussions: The X-Files.
	He walked towards them and opened one of the 
drawers they were in. He had not a single clue where he 
had to search, order and logical filing had never been 
Mulder's greatest talents. Yet, after a while he found the 
right place and with a sigh he put away the two files. He 
looked at the contents of the files that had been labeled 
numbers X-43067 and X-43092, both alien-abduction 
files. Typical! Then he resolutely closed the drawer.
	It was completely silent in the office. The 
pinboard on the wall was filled with all kinds of notes, 
photos, newspaper cuttings and things that probably 
only Mulder knew what they had been, long ago. And 
Skinner saw the poster. "I want to believe". Skinner 
frowned at seeing the poster and at the thoughts that 
appeared in his head at seeing those words. He thought 
about what he was going to do. Then he removed the 
thumb-tacks and rolled up the poster.
	He sat down in front of Mulder's computer, 
wiped away a few dried-out sunflower seeds and turned 
on the machine. The computer asked for the password 
and after three attempts Skinner was given entrance.
	"Dammit, Mulder. Why couldn't you take a 
password that is a little less easy to find?" Skinner 
thought. Despite his brilliant intelligence Mulder be so 
careless sometimes. And that hurt.
	He went for the e-mail and read the messages. 
Then he read the copies Mulder had made of the 
messages he had sent himself. There wasn't much there 
that was really interesting. Apart from one short 
message. He became curious and without knowing it a 
tiny smile appeared on his face that was usually so 
serious and emotionless.
	He got up, walked towards the X-Files, pulled 
open drawer number three and thought:
	'Bingo!'
	He took the small, dark-blue box from the drawer 
and opened it. He smiled at seeing its contents.
	Then his face became serious again and as he 
closed the little box, he decided it was not necessary to 
close down the X-Files. These cases were all but solved 
and much too important to be ignored so casually. From 
now on he would personally keep an eye on them to see 
to it that they would be investigated.
	To begin with the two most recent files, numbers 
X-43070 and X-43080.

XxXxX

Chapter 2

A.D. Skinner's office
FBI Headquarters, Washington DC, USA
27th February

	"AGENT SCULLY?" THE MAN at the desk asked.
	Dana Scully sighed imperceptibly. She hated this 
meeting, from the moment that it had begun.
	"Yes, sir?" she said, stifling her impatience with 
much difficulty.
	"For the last time, agent Scully. The things you 
and agent Mulder reported, they really sound most 
unlikely to me. Are you certain everything went the way 
you described it? It besides, this report is not even close 
to complete!"
	"I know that, sir, but what's in it is absolutely 
true. Agent Mulder and I know that it could raise a few 
questions, but ..."
	"Could raise a few questions? I know for sure it 
does!" another man in the office interrupted her. The 
man at the desk looked severely at him and he climbed 
down.
	"... but A.D. Skinner knows that this is the case 
most of the time, regarding the nature of the cases agent 
Mulder and I investigate."
	"Agent Scully, please allow me to pinpoint that 
A.D. Skinner is not here at the moment and that your 
reports have to meet my rather than his requirements!" 
the man at the desk said severely.
	"Of course, sir. We'll do our best", she said with 
a polite, but fake smile. She was glad this man didn't 
know her well, Mulder would immediately have 
recognised this smile as a total fake. But this man didn't.
	"That will be all, agent Scully", the man said.
	Scully got up, took the folder and walked towards 
the door. 'Well, after all that has happened, things 
haven't gone too bad after all', she thought.
	"Agent Scully?" the man said without looking up 
from his work.
	"Yes, sir?" she sighed. Oh-oh!
	"I'd like to make very clear to you that another 
report like that won't look very good on your career 
file!"
	This remark made Scully stiffen: an official 
reprimand! Then she started to boil with fury and she 
quickly walked out. A.D. Cardigan really didn't need to 
see this anger.
	A.D. Skinner, their usual superior, had taken sick-
leave and A.D. Cardigan replaced him for the time 
being. Skinner had always been quite obliging when it 
came to the cases Mulder and she investigated, the so-
called X-Files, but Cardigan was different. Or rather, he 
was like the rest and Skinner was different, but that 
wasn't important right now, for the agents had 
discovered pretty quickly that Cardigan fanatically went 
on with what Scully had stopped doing almost 
immediately in 1992: shut those X-Files down! Scully 
hoped Skinner would be back soon ...
	She quickly walked through the corridors of HQ, 
on her way to the basement.

	"SCULLY!" FOX MULDER CAME towards her as 
she entered his office.
	"You're pretty enthusiastic to see me again ...", 
Scully said compassionately.
	Mulder laughed and said:
 	"Of course, Scully! It's not every day that a 
beautiful woman enters your office, or is it?"
	"Just in case this compliment is meant for me, I 
more or less live here, so you're exaggerating 
outrageously again!" Scully said smiling. "But, Mulder 
..."
	"Okay, okay", he said and didn't pay attention to 
her words. "I've got something here, I know you'll find 
this interesting!"
	"How would you know?" she said. "And Mulder 
..."
	"Look, this came across my desk this morning! I 
haven't opened it yet, but I think I already know what it 
is! It's so great, Scully, at last, after all those years!"
	"Mulder! I ...", she tried again.
	"I have never seen such clear and irrefutable 
evidence of the existence of extra-terrestrial life on this 
planet, Scully!" Mulder said almost lyrically. Then he 
seemed to wake up from his dream and looked at her.
	"Eh ... what? What is it?"
	'At last! Thank you ...' she thought and said:
	"I've just been called in with A.D. Cardigan 
about that case in Virginia, and he more or less kicked 
me out of the FBI because this report was so vague and 
incomplete!"
	"What? What does he mean by that? He knows 
that this is about all we have?" Mulder said and 
frowned. He sat down at his desk and Scully went to sit 
on the edge of the desk.
	"I tried to tell him that, but he refused to listen. 
He even  threatened with an official reprimand! Now I 
don't know in how far that will be just a threat never to 
do something like that again, or that he's going to make 
work of it, but I really don't like it."
	Mulder looked ahead of him, his hands folded 
under his chin and thought. Then he got up and headed 
for the door.
	"Where are you going?" Scully asked.
	"Talk to Cardigan", he said and took his coat. "I 
don't care about what happens to me, but I told you a 
few years ago: I don't want you to have an offical 
reprimand on your career file because of me. I'm going 
to straighten things out!"
	Scully smiled and ticked with her hand on the 
desk, telling him to sit down again.
	"Come, things probably aren't as bad as they 
look. And besides we still have Skinner. I think you'd 
better wait for him, because you really can't talk reason 
with Cardigan. Believe me!"
	"I want to believe, Scully!" Mulder answered 
half-seriously, half-jokingly.
	"I know ...", she said. "Hey, why don't you tell 
me more about that mysterious little parcel you 
received? You were pretty lyrical about it all and in the 
end I guess I'm in to it anyway!"
	"In to what?"
	"Well, if the things that are in there are really 
extraterrestrial, there won't be a force in this earth that's 
strong enough to keep you from investigating this, not 
even me, so ..." she answered.
	"Dammit, Scully, you know me much too well!" 
Mulder laughed. 'Better than I know myself ...', he 
thought.
	"Okay, it's show time!" Scully said who went to 
stand behind Mulder. He was sitting in his chair again. 
She looked over his shoulder at the parcel as she placed 
her hands on his shoulders and leaned close.
	He didn't move, as if he was hesitating and 
Scully wondered why. She looked at his slightly 
trembling hands and saw that his face was just slightly 
flushed. Most probably because of the parcel, she 
thought. After all, it was quite something: this could be 
the ultimate proof, the absolute truth about the existence 
of extraterrestrial life on the planet! That what Mulder 
had been looking for so long.
	Or it was something else, but she would find out 
now!
	"You feeling good, Mulder, when I'm standing 
behind you like this?" she whispered sensually in his 
ear. She saw him start a little, but just when she thought 
'Bingo!', he turned around and with a devilish grin he 
answered:
	"No, this is just the way my trousers fall!"
	Scully mouth dropped open. Nobody had ever 
reacted like that before! So hard and ... so good! But 
Mulder wasn't like the others, she'd be admitting that 
right away.
	"Yeah, right!" she said and laughed. He gave her 
his breath-taking little-boy smile, the smile that they 
both knew made her heart ooze right down into her 
stomach. Which it did. It was about time to change the 
subject she thought, before she'd be losing her 
professional demeanour completely! She sat down in a 
chair.
	"Okay, what's in the parcel?"
	Mulder opened it and took two test-tubes from 
the tissue paper. He held them up to the light.
	"Of course I haven't studied them yet, but this 
one ..." he held the test-tube, marked as <A-23*1>, up 
"... appears to contain an implant. Like the one you had 
in your neck. And what I could make from the little bit 
of information I got with it, this is coming from the 
Netherlands, Europe."
	He looked at Scully who involuntarily touched 
the little scar in her neck.
	"I can have that studied", she said. "And then 
we'll know from whose neck it is, too."
	Mulder looked at her. He didn't understand this.
	"Oh yes, I hadn't told you yet", Scully said 
apologetically. "Two days ago I had my implant placed 
under the strongest microscope here in the building. Just 
because I want to know everything about this damn 
thing. And we were amazed to see that there was text 
engraved in the chip."
	"Text? What did it say?" Mulder asked. Scully 
saw he was absolutely fascinated by the phenomenon.
	"Wait, I've got the text here on the print-out we 
made of the image we saw ... eh ..." she searched her 
bag and took out a sheet of paper "... this is what it says:
//DANA KATHERINE SCULLY//X-77317//23.02.64//FW-
MS-AM//NL//
	She looked at Mulder wonderingly and felt the 
icy shivers run down her back at seeing his shocked 
expression. He was as white as a sheet.
	"What ... what's wrong, Mulder" she asked. She 
was really concerned about him.
	"Do you realise what's on there?" Mulder asked 
as he got up and walked towards her. He took the sheet 
out of her hands and looked carefully, as if he wanted to 
make sure she had read it correctly. Then he said to her:
	"Be right back. Just a second, okay?"
	Scully opened her mouth to say something, but he 
was out of the office already.

	SHE HADN'T BEEN WAITING for more than three 
minutes when he came back with the sheet of paper and 
a sheet for an overhead projector. He switched the 
projector on and placed the sheet on top of the machine. 
It was a photocopy of the sheet of paper.
	Mulder took a pointer which he miraculously 
managed to find among the rubbish in the corner of his 
office and pointed at the inscription.
	"We have five parts. One and three are clear of 
course, two is clear too, although I wonder where they 
got this information, but ..."
	"Wait a minute, Mulder", Scully said as she 
raised her hand to interrupt him. "What is that second 
part?"
	"That's the number of your X-File ..." Mulder 
said hesitatingly. He didn't feel called upon reliving 
those three months of his life again at all. They had been 
three months of living hell, filled with pain, guilt, and 
humiliation; the memory of it torturing him forever. He 
saw that Scully wasn't very happy to think about it 
either.
	"Eh ... okay, and four and five?" Scully said, 
eager to change the subject.
	"Well, I don't understand number five. It's the 
code of the Netherlands, but I don't suppose that has a 
lot to do with it. You don't have Dutch connections, do 
you, Scully?"
	"No. But perhaps ..." she hesitated, but then 
waved the idea away and to forget her saying it. Mulder 
shrugged and continued.
	"What shocked me when I saw it for the first 
time, was part four", he said and pointed at the code.
	"What do you mean?" Scully asked. She didn't 
see anything strange about the code FW-MS-AM.
	"Well, what about dividing the letters like this ..." 
he took a felt pen and drew a hyphen between the M and 
the S and removed the two existing hyphens, " ... then 
we'll get this: FWM-SAM, Fox William Mulder and 
Samantha Ann Mulder!" The excitement in his voice 
was catching, but Scully didn't take to it.
	"Mulder, I'm sure you're seeing too much in 
this", she sighed. 'There he goes again', she thought.
	"Scully, just think what this could mean!" 
Mulder's voice was trembling with excitement. "This 
means that whoever abducted you, they at least know 
Samantha!" Then the excitement in his face suddenly 
disappeared like snow in the sun and he looked at Scully 
in shock. Then it became clear to her.
	"Oh my God, Mulder! They know you as well!"
	"But from what?!"
	"Mulder! Those nine minutes in Oregon!" Those 
lost nine minutes on their first case together. The light, 
the time. The UFO ...
	He was sitting in his chair, his head in his hands.
	"Mulder, are you okay?" Scully asked concerned. 
She stood next to him and placed her hand on his 
shoulder.
	Then he got up and said:
	"Can we meet at your place in 30 minutes? We'll 
take about it further, okay?" He took his coat and bag 
and walked to the door.
	"Where are you going?" Scully asked.
	"Look where the bread-crumbs will lead me!" 
Mulder said and closed the door behind him.
	Scully sighed, took her things and went to the 
door.
	"Yep", she said as she walked out and locked the 
door. "We're on well-known terrain again. X-Files 
territory, complete with UFOs and everything!"

XxXxX

Chapter 3

Scully's apartment
Washington DC, USA
27th February

	MULDER WAS SITTING ON the couch while Scully 
had taken one of the chairs. Her shoes were under the 
other chairs, but neither of them could pay attention to 
it. Here they had something that was much more 
important.
	"I gave the test-tube with the chip to Agent 
Raymonds for more careful study", Scully said as she 
looked at the folder with data Mulder had brought. "By 
the way, what was in that second test-tube?"
	"It appeared to be a piece of skin", Mulder 
answered. He didn't look up either from what he was 
reading. "I'm not exactly sure of what it is, but I suspect 
it to be extraterrestrial in origin."
	Scully looked at him and laughed slightly 
condescendingly. She shook her head.
	"Of course, Mulder. I would be disappointed if 
you hadn't suggested something like that ..."
	He would never know why, but the slightly 
belittleing ring in her voice made him furious.
	'Goddammit!' he thought, 'After all she's seen, 
after all she's experienced, after all I've told her! And 
she's still not one bloody step closer to believing! I can't 
believe it!'
	With a slam he threw the folder on the table and 
got up.
	"Mulder! Where are you going?" Scully said. It 
sounded a lot snappier than she had intended, only 
resulting in making Mulder even more furious.
	"As you probably already figured out, Agent 
Scully, I'm going to investigate this matter, but it's 
obvious that I won't need you to help me! Why don't 
you go and join your sceptical colleagues, I'm sure you 
feel a lot better spending your time with them than with 
'Spooky' Mulder!"
	Scully shrank back in her chair as if he had 
slapped her in the face. Then she became furious.
	"Mulder! What the hell do you mean by that?" 
she asked.
	She got up and went to stand before him, her 
hands on her hips. Without her shoes she was over 20 
centimetres smaller than he was, but that difference 
seemed gone now. Right here were two equally strong 
personalities facing each other, something that couldn't 
be canceled by something as unimportant as size. She 
challenged him. She already suspected where the 
problem was, but she didn't grant him the pleasure of 
seeing her begging for forgiveness. Not now.
	Mulder looked at her just as coldly as she was 
looking at him. With his coat in his hands he looked her 
straight in the eyes, challenging her to apologise, but she 
didn't and Mulder began to feel some sort of awe for 
this petite woman. It suddenly struck him why she was 
sometimes called the Ice Queen: right now she was cold 
and hard as ice, not a feeling or emotion that could break 
through this facade. Except one: 'if you want to save our 
friendship, Mulder, it's going to be you to take that first 
step!'
	The absolute distance between the two agents was 
not more than a metre at most. In fact they could touch 
each other, but in the only distance that mattered right 
now, the emotional distance, they were miles apart. And 
they were both much too stubborn to give in.
	Then Mulder saw a tiny change in the icy blue 
eyes that were looking at him so piercingly. The change 
lasted for only one tenth of a second at most, then that 
cold glance was back again, but it slapped him in the 
face. It became so clear to him how incredibly stupid 
their actions were. He lowered his eyes, just for a 
moment and then he looked back at Scully. She hadn't 
made a single move, but her face had changed 
completely. Her eyes were soft again and a tiny smile 
played on her face.
	Mulder smiled sheepishly and looked at the coat 
he was still holding in his hands. Then he looked at 
Scully who had taken her hands from her hips and was, 
apparently shy and completely unnecessary, studying 
her perfectly manicured nails. Then she looked up and 
saw Mulder smile at her. She grinned and started to 
blush to the roots of her hair.
	"Come here", Mulder said reaching out and 
embracing her. She held him close. She was so 
incredibly ashamed of herself, but she derived some 
comfort from the fact that Mulder probably felt just the 
same.
	"I didn't know you could blush like that, Scully!"
	"Oh, embarrassment, things like that ...", she said, 
not entirely convincingly.
	"Is that so?" Mulder said and let his eyes wander 
over her body. He was no fool. Scully followed his 
glance and thought:
	'Dammit, Mulder! What are you doing?'
	She decided they were starting to think 
dangerously and broke away from his embrace.
	"Okay, so tell me what that parcel and everything 
that comes with it is all about", she said as she sat down 
again.
	Mulder looked at her but said nothing.
	"And I promise not to make any stupid remarks. 
My mouth is locked!" Scully said. She smiled.
	"Well, alright", Mulder said. "This test-tube 
which might just be, but I'm not entirely sure of course 
and maybe I'm wrong, extraterrestrial tissue, perhaps, 
who knows ..." Scully sighed and he chuckled "... I took 
to the lab for research. The results should be with us in 
about two weeks, so when we're back from the 
investigation we can include it in our report. Oh, and the 
code on that tube was <A-51*1>, maybe that refers to 
Area 51."
	"The place where they keep that UFO 
technology? The place that doesn't exist?"
	"Exactly", Mulder answered. "Anyway, I don't 
think we'll ever be getting an answer to that and I don't 
think it's all that important either. I'm much more 
interested in the tissue itself. And in the implant. It's a 
pity we don't have a print-out of that, I'm really curious 
about the inscription on that implant. But, okay, we'll 
get that eventually I guess."
	"Just a moment, Mulder", Scully said as she took 
her bag. She took out a sheet of paper and showed it to 
him. His mouth dropped open.
	"Is this that implant? How on earth did you get 
this?"
	"I knew we had delivered that chip, so I just 
hurried down to the lab. That's the reason I was a bit 
late, because I had to take a lot of effort to make those 
guys down there drop everything and do this for me."
	"How did you do that?" Mulder asked. He knew 
all too well that something like that could take days and 
that the people in the lab hardly ever gave something 
like that priority. And especially when that something 
came from the basement.
	"Oh", Scully said and looked at him innocently. 
"A beautiful smile works miracles, especially when 
there's one in the team who has a crush on you. And I 
just played the 'damsel in distress'!"
	"You're no 'damsel in distress', Scully!" Mulder 
said incredulously.
	"You know that, I know that, but they don't!" 
Scully said triumphantly.
	"You really are full of surprises, Scully!" Mulder 
laughed.
	"You've got no idea ...", she said mysteriously, 
but he didn't think it a very good idea to find out what 
exactly she meant by that.
	"Okay, we've got the implant here now ... let's 
see what's in it."
	They looked attentively at the print-out.
	"A five-part code again", Mulder said. He took a 
pen and a sheet of paper and started taking notes.
	"Part 1 ... let's see ... //THIJS ADRIANUS PETERS// 
... or whatever the pronunciation is." He wrote the name 
down and looked at the second part of the code.
	"Part 2 is a code as well, but it's no X-File."
	"What code is it?", Scully asked.
	"//HKL-196001890//. Does that ring a bell with 
you, Scully?"
	She shook her head. "Nope, haven't got a clue. 
And part three?"
	He looked at it and said:
	"//22.05.1982//. Must be the boy's date of birth. 
Mm, still rather young, I guess."
	"Okay, so that's clear. And part four and five?" 
Scully asked. She felt the adrenaline rush through her 
veins. A case! And not just your run-of-the-mill kind of 
case, this was a beauty! She knew that Mulder had 
decided to go ages ago and she also knew that Mulder 
knew she knew and that she would go with him. Hell, 
she was prepared to walk through fire for this man, but 
she was careful not to tell him. On the other hand she 
had nothing to tell him. He already knew it.
	"Mm ... I don't get it", Mulder said and frowned 
as he looked at the codes. "There's //DW-DG-LA//. And 
that 'NL' again!"
	"You know, Mulder ... I think ...", Scully said 
hesitatingly. She thought about it and decided to ignore 
it. But Mulder had noticed this wasn't the first time she 
had an idea about that last piece of the code and he 
wanted to know what she was thinking. For, whatever it 
was, he didn't have the faintest idea and at least she 
appeared to have some idea.
	"What?", he insisted. "What do you think, 
Scully?"
	"Ah, forget it. It's probably nothing ..."
	"You never know!"
	"Not with you, you don't ..." Scully smiled. 
"Okay, this is what I thought: look, we've got this code 
//NL//. You were right about it being the code of the 
Netherlands and the way the letters in that fourth part 
have been divided, both in my implant and in Thijs' one, 
is the way Dutch number-plates are made." She took the 
sheet of paper and said rather to herself: "So, here we 
have a Dutch boy, a Dutch number-plate and the code 
//NL// ..." She was silent.
	"How do you know so much about those number-
plates, Scully?"
	"Oh, my brothers and I collected number-plates 
from countries all over the world. My father brought 
them as presents for us when he came home. That why 
we had one from the Netherlands as well. The 
combination of the figures and letters was rather special 
for me, that's why I remembered it."
	"And just what combination was that, Scully? If it 
was so important for you to remember?" Mulder asked. 
His tone was cheeky.
	Scully looked at him and with a twinkle in her 
eyes she said:
	"DS-64-FM, Mulder ..."
	Mulder's eyes flew wide open and Scully had to 
try her hardest not to burst out laughing.
	"Ferry MacNeill, Mulder. He used to be my boy-
friend."
	"Oh ..."

XxXxX

Chapter 4

J.F. Kennedy Airport
Washington DC, USA
28th February

	THE NEXT DAY SCULLY was at the J.F. Kennedy 
Airport waiting until Mulder would condescend to 
actually show up. She had taken a flight to Amsterdam 
Schiphol for the two of them and right now she could do 
nothing but wait until Mulder would show up.
	'Dammit, Mulder, when will you learn to be on 
time? Has no-one ever told you that being on time is 
perfectly acceptable for anybody?' she thought 
impatiently as she glanced at her watch. In 45 minutes 
the plane would leave and Mulder was still not in sight. 
If they'd miss this flight ... And she had had so much 
trouble to find two seats on a flight to Amsterdam!
	"Scully!" she heard a well-known voice. She 
looked around and saw him approaching her. "I'm sorry 
I'm so late. My car broke down. I hope I'm still on time 
..."
	"You are, but we'll have to go immediately", she 
smiled. She never remained angry with him for a very 
long time.
	They checked in and boarded the plane. They sat 
down and Scully looked around her. Almost every chair 
was taken, but it was relatively quiet in the plane. Most 
passengers were business-people, she saw. Good, it was 
unlikely that they would disturb her when she was trying 
to sleep.
	"What's that, Mulder?" she asked. With her index 
finger she lifted the cover of the book he had in his 
hands.
	"The 'Undutchables', a book about the Dutch. 
Found it in the library. Those people over there are 
nuts!" he said and smiled.
	"Mm, makes you wonder what they think about 
us ..."
	Mulder chuckled and Scully decided that she'd 
better let him read in peace. 'Don't pay attention', she 
thought.
	The plane took off and Scully prepared herself for 
a long, long flight.
	"Wake me up when we're there ...", she said.

	SCULLY FELT SOMEONE TOUCH her right arm. She 
didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to, she was 
sleeping!
	"Mm, not yet ..." she murmured.
	"Hey, Scully, we almost there!" Mulder said.
	Scully slowly opened one eye and saw Mulder 
smile at her. God, she wished he wouldn't look at her 
that way. He was way too handsome, this was disastrous 
to her sense of balance. But at the same time she wished 
he'd look at her that way more often, for he really 
looked ... handsome ... really good ... just like in her 
dreams ...
	'Dammit, no!!' Scully woke up with a start and 
again felt her face become flushed.
	"Well, that's a colour that should make any 
tomato truly jealous and nobody that could blame it!" 
she heard Mulder say. "And that's the second time in 
two days!"
	'Change the subject, please', she thought and she 
asked:
	"Where are we, Mulder?"
	"Above the North Sea, almost in Amsterdam", he 
answered. "And that sure was a quick change of subject, 
Agent Scully! Are you sure you wouldn't want to talk 
about it?"
	"Ah, with Dr. Mulder, I'm sure", Scully said. "I 
don't think so ..."
	'Maybe there will be a time when I'll tell you 
what I was dreaming, Mulder', she thought. 'But not 
now.'
	Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice through 
the intercom requesting the passengers to fasten their 
seatbelts. Then the plane started its landing.

	AFTER THE TWO AGENTS had gone through 
customs at Schiphol airport and picked up their luggage, 
it was time for a discussion of plans.
	"Okay, Mulder, where are we going?"
	"I suggest we start by talking to Thijs Peters. I've 
got his address, it's in ..." he took a note from his pocket 
" ... in Tilburg. A town in the south of the country, 
150,000 inhabitants."
	"Only 150,000 inhabitants?" Scully said. "Must 
be quite a small town then. How many inhabitants does 
Amsterdam have?"
	"1,000,000. This is the largest city in the 
country."
	"Those aren't many either. Then I guess this 
country isn't too densely populated."
	"15,500,000 in a country that has the size of half 
of Maine", Mulder answered.
	"Oh, I see", Scully said. "By the way, how do 
you know these figures, Mulder?"
	"Hey, I'm an FBI-agent, aren't I?" he asked 
jokingly.
	'One of the best and you know it!', Scully 
thought. Then she said: "Okay, but where did you get 
them?"
	"Byers, Langly, and Frohike. Also known as The 
Lone Gunmen!" Mulder grinned.
	"The next time they go out for a drink and we're 
in DC, the drinks are on me", Scully said. Mulder 
looked at her. He was seriously amazed.
	"Eh ... what? What made you change your mind 
about those guys?"
	"I haven't changed my mind, Mulder, but this is 
one of the very rare occasions that they actually used 
their time for some useful purposes and I suppose we 
shouldn't let this memorable occasion go without a 
celebration."
	She was amazed to hear him laugh.
	"Okay, let's go find a train that takes us to 
Tilburg", she said and laughed.

	"MULDER, WE HAVE TO cross more than half the 
country! I'm sure we'd better take a plane", Scully said 
as they consulted the railway-guide Mulder had bought.
	"Scully, this country isn't that large. Half the size 
of Maine, remember? You can't take a plane here."
	"Oh yeah ...", she answered rather sheepishly. 
She was going to have a hard time adapting to the size 
of everything in Europe, that was clear. "How long is 
this trip going to take?"
	"I believe the trip will take us about an hour and a 
half. Which means we should be in Tilburg by ... let's 
say ... 4:00 p.m. Should give us plenty of time to look 
for a hotel there."
	"Sounds alright with me", Scully decided. She 
saw the train was due in 25 minutes and started to walk 
towards the platform. "I suppose we can go and see 
Thijs tomorrow, okay, Mulder?"
	She wanted to turn around, but Mulder stopped 
her. They were standing in a slightly quieter part of the 
station and Mulder was clearly up to something.
	"I want to give you something, Scully", he said, 
the look in his eyes strange and unknown. 'Oh boy', she 
thought and she braced herself. She knew what she felt 
for him, but she had never dared to think what could 
happen if these feelings would be mutual. And now that 
she was about to find out, she was absolutely terrified.
	"I saw this in a stand at the airport", Mulder said. 
He took a little paper bag out of his pocket and emptied 
it in his hand. It was a necklace. "and I just had to buy it 
for you."
	He placed the pendant in the palm of his hand and 
showed it to her. It was a little angel.
	"Oh, Mulder, how sweet! A little angel!" Scully 
whispered. This was so sweet!
	"Even better, Scully, it's a guardian angel!"
	"A guardian angel?" she asked as she looked at 
him. She felt tears in her eyes and she momentarily 
touched the little pendant.
	"Yes, I thought that was just the thing you could 
use as my partner. I've always wondered how you 
manage not to go insane next to me and I suppose you 
deserved some kind of reward for this."
	The clumsy way of expressing himself betrayed 
every deeper feeling her cherished for this woman at a 
single blow. Damn, he was so easy to read when it came 
to Scully, he thought. He could never hide anything 
from her!
	He opened the clasp of the necklace and fastened 
it around her neck. Her hair was soft and cool as he 
closed the clasp. He didn't remove his hands right away. 
Not yet, he wanted to enjoy this moment for a little 
while, enjoy the feeling of her warm neck and her soft, 
cool hair.
	He saw her eyes become soft and shiny.
	"Oh, Mulder ...", she said softly. She didn't dare 
to say more. Like many men he didn't like to see her cry 
and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to remain calm and 
composed. The pendant was still a little warm from his 
body and she felt so ... she didn't know ... grateful? 
Perhaps ...
	"What is it that made me deserve this, Mulder?" 
she sighed. "What made me deserve you? What have I 
ever done in my entire life that was good enough to 
become your partner? Your friend?" She wrapped her 
arms around his waist and looked him in the eyes. "To 
deserve you?"
	"Deserve me?" Mulder said softly. "You don't 
deserve me. You deserve much better than me!"
	She shook her head. "What do I have that you 
wouldn't find in anybody else? Why do you even want 
to put up with me, Mulder? I'm so hard and cold. 
Always trying to remain professional and emotionless, 
afraid to show whatever feelings I have. Hell, I'm as 
cold and unfeeling as the corpses I slice open all day!" 
She wanted to break away from his embrace. She didn't 
feel herself worthy of his friendship, but he prevented 
her from doing that by holding her even closer. She felt 
alarmingly close to tears.
	"You're perfect, Scully! I know why you are the 
way you are. I know that this is one of the consequences 
of being a woman in the FBI. The men would walk right 
over you if you wouldn't act that way. And you're not 
hard and cold, Dana. Had you been a man they would 
have called you professional and no-nonsense, but just 
because you're a woman you should be hard and cold? 
Nonsense! I wouldn't want you any other way!
	"That professional approach to things, you 
impressed me, you captivated me with it and after you 
had done that, you slowly started to let go of it and show 
me that other side of you. That beautiful side of you that 
makes me admire you so much. You are everything I'm 
looking for in a partner and in a friend. You are the only 
friend I've got, because you're the only one who takes 
me for what I am!
	"When you walked into my office in March 1992 
I thought you were going to put an end to my work, but 
the thing you did from the very first day on, was making 
sure that this didn't happen! You pushed me forward 
and held me back, you picked me up and knocked me 
down, you healed me and you shot me ..." he heard her 
chuckle despite her tears and he laughed "... but most of 
all you saved my life. I wouldn't be alive today if you 
hadn't been there for me, I would have gotten myself 
killed because of my recklessness.
	"Scully, if there is anyone of us who does not 
deserve the other, it must be me. And that's why I want 
to give you this necklace. You've always been my 
guardian angel, it's about time you had one for 
yourself."
	Scully was deeply impressed by what he had said. 
Her voice shook as she said:
	"Okay, so we both don't deserve the other's 
affection, we both don't feel ourselves worthy of the 
other. Mm, makes you wonder why we can work 
together so well after all ..."
	"We share things, Scully, we have experienced 
things that nobody should experience and it leaves its 
scars. But it has also brought us closer", Mulder said 
seriously. "I don't know what it is exactly, but I want 
you to know that I would not complain if I had to go 
through it all again for what we have together."
	He looked so sweet at that moment that she 
wanted to tug him by his ears and kiss him silly. But 
then the train was announced and the feeling passed.

XxXxX

Chapter 5

Railway Station Tilburg NS
Tilburg, the Netherlands
28th February

	THE TRIP HAD BEEN boring and uneventful. Scully 
had bought coffee at the Railtender aboard the intercity 
from Amsterdam to 's-Hertogenbosch. They had spent 
most of their time looking out of the window amazing 
themselves about the flat landscape and the short 
distances. In 's-Hertogenbosch they had taken the train 
to Tilburg and now they were in Tilburg. 
	"Are those people so tall, or am I so small?" 
Scully whispered as she looked at three girls talking just 
ahead of them.
	"Both, I guess", Mulder answered.
	Scully chuckled. They took a taxi to the centre of 
town and took rooms at the Heuvelpoorthotel. Their 
rooms were next to each other and they agreed to meet 
downstairs in the restaurant in thirty minutes.
	Mulder couldn't catch his breath as he saw Scully 
enter the restaurant half an hour later.
	'Whoa, Mulder!' he thought. 'Keep those 
hormones in check!' Not a chance he knew, she was 
looking just a bit too good for that. She was wearing a 
rust-coloured dress that reached her ankles. That wasn't 
the problem, Mulder's problems didn't start until the 
shape of the dress that hugged her curves the way he had 
only dared to dream of. Although the dress was long-
sleeved and not that low-necked it made a few of his 
wilder dreams come true. And she was wearing the 
necklace he'd given her!
	"You look pleased, Mulder", he heard her voice, 
dark and warm and much closer by than he had 
expected.
	Pleased? That must have been the worst 
understatement he had ever heard!
	He cleared his throat, pushed down all hormones 
and other disturbing emotions that had suddenly started 
to seriously bother him and managed to escort her to a 
table.
	"What do you think of this dress?" she asked.
	Was he going to tell her what he really thought or 
was it better to keep things on the safe side? Safe side, 
he decided. Maybe sometime in the future he'd let her 
know what his true feelings had been when she entered 
the restaurant ...
	"I like it. I suppose it's quite new, isn't it?"
	'Well done, Mulder, just try to talk your way out 
of this, you coward!' he reproached himself.
	"Mm, yes, and besides I haven't worn it very 
often. You see, I didn't think it very suitable for the 
Bureau", she answered.
	'You bet', he thought, 'If you had worn that dress 
before, I think frighteningly little work would have been 
got through that particular day. Especially by the male 
part of the staff!'
	They sat down and when the waiter came they 
ordered.
	"So", Mulder said, "if we want to we can take the 
evening off. So, what are we going to do? Go see if 
there's a nice pub around here, go to the movies, or 
spend the rest of the evening in one of our rooms 
studying this case?"
	"How about a bit of everything?" Scully 
answered. She looked at him with a slightly mischievous 
look in her eyes. "We go through this case once more, 
decide there's nothing we can do right now, then see a 
movie and look if there's anything in this town that's 
worth our while. How about that?"
	"Agent Scully, what a bad attitude concerning 
this case! I'm afraid I'll have to punish you for this 
unprofessional attitude!" Mulder said mockingly.
	"Please do ...", Scully murmured, too soft for 
Mulder to hear it.
	"What did you say, Scully?"
	"Ah, come on, we work 60 hours a week! Why 
shouldn't we take one evening off to relax? That's no 
problem, and besides there's nothing we can do right 
now!"
	"You're absolutely right!" Mulder said and saw 
the waiter approach them with their dinner.

	THEY SPENT THE REST of the evening in a genial 
atmosphere. Scully enjoyed this evening; both the film 
and the little pub just around the corner of the Korte 
Heuvel had been great, she thought.
	Mulder had been flirting outrageously with her, 
but he had also been really gallant. She had thoroughly 
enjoyed every minute of it.
	It was one a.m. now and they had decided to go 
back to the hotel. After all, they weren't on holiday here, 
there was work to be done.
	"Good night, Mulder", Scully said as she opened 
the door of her room.
	"Sleep well, Scully", he answered and entered his 
room.

	SCULLY CLOSED THE DOOR of her room and tossed 
her bag towards a chair. Then she went to the bathroom 
to remove her make-up. She carefully studied her image, 
curious to know what it would show. For this evening 
had been different from any other evening in her life.
	She caught herself at feeling sorry for the fact that 
he hadn't come with her to her room.
	'Dana Scully! Go stand in a corner and be 
ashamed of yourself!' she said to herself. And yet ...
	It wasn't the first time she had had a date, not at 
all, but ... Mulder wasn't someone she had expected he'd 
take her out. He was her colleague, her partner, not her 
date or something! And definitely not her lover! Or ...
	Mm, her image wasn't disappointing her. No 
strange blush or something like that. Tomorrow she'd 
talk to Mulder.

	SCULLY DIDN'T KNOW IT, but at that same 
moment Mulder was facing the same problem. He had 
taken off his coat and was sitting in a chair. Thinking.
	What had happened?
	He had taken Scully out. Nothing special, no 
hidden motives, just spending the evening out with his 
best friend. He had been in a gallant mood and she had 
enjoyed it. Why not? She deserved it. She deserved 
being pampered once in a while. She had to be so strong 
and independent all the time, she had needed it and he 
had enjoyed giving it to her.
	But was there more that had happened? What if 
she had misunderstood his flirting? No, she had not. Or 
...
	He had gotten up and found himself next to the 
bed. He sat down. It was time for a serious discussion 
with himself and his conscience, he decided.

>	Fox Mulder, what happened to you tonight?
<	Nothing, had a pleasant evening, that's all.
>	A pleasant evening?
<	Yeah
>	That's all?
<	Eh ... yes
>	That was an interesting hesitation, Mulder.
<	Thanks ...
>	Okay, Mulder, admit it. You love her.
<	That's right. I love her.
>	And do you think she loves you?
<	Yes
>	Yes?
<	Yes, but differently ...
>	What do you mean?
<	She loves me the way friends, colleagues, 
partners love each other. She trusts me and 	that is really 
important to me. But I don't think she loves me as a 
woman who'd want 	to ...
>	Go on
<	 ... who'd want to ... whom I could marry. Not 
that way.
>	Is that what you want? Marry her?
<	Don't think so. I don't know.
>	Do you love her that way?
<	...
>	Mulder?
<	Kind of, yes.
>	What do you mean, kind of?
<	I most of all love her the way she loves me. I trust 
her like nobody in the world and 	like I've never 
trusted anybody before. But I know I also love her in ... 
well ... a more 	traditional way ...
>	Is that so?
<	Mm-mm
>	...
<	...
>	Oh, come on, Mulder. Why don't you go to her? 
Come on, get up, go to her room 	and take her. You 
want her, take her.
<	Oh no! I can't! I'd ...
>	What?
<	If I'd do it that way ... I'd rape her!
>	What do you mean? You've done it to other 
women. You never thought you raped 	them.
<	No, but that was different ...
>	What, different?
<	Everything different! Scully's different. She ...
>	Yes?
<	Oh, please! We have arrived at this point without 
kissing or ending up in bed 	together! We can't possibly 
have a better, more satisfying relationship, this is the 
	best relationship I've ever had with a woman! 
Why would I want to sleep with her?
>	You don't want to sleep with her?
<	No! Or ... yes ... perhaps ... I don't know! I love 
her and if I ever find out she loves 	me too, who knows 
what will happen, but ...
>	But what?
<	I don't want to sleep with her because I love her!
>	That's interesting.
<	Yeah, ain't it great? I bet you never thought about 
it that way, did you?
>	Eh ... no, I never expected this from you ...
<	Maybe so, but there's got to be a first time for 
everything!
>	What are you going to do?
<	Go to sleep
>	And Scully?
<	What do you mean ... "And Scully?"
>	Well, what are you going to do with your feelings 
towards her?
<	Don't know. Not much I guess. Tomorrow I'll 
talk to her.

	But deep down they both knew they probably 
wouldn't be doing that. Not yet.

	NEXT MORNING AFTER BREAKFAST they started 
the preparations for the actual investigation. Mulder had 
joined Scully in her room and was rummaging through a 
lot of papers while Scully was on the phone.
	"Okay, that's settled then", she said as she put 
down the receiver. She walked towards him. "I arranged 
with Mrs Peters to be at her place at 1.00 p.m. this 
afternoon. Thijs isn't home, but we can at least talk with 
his mother."
	"One o'clock", Mulder looked at his watch, 
"Mm, that still leaves us, let's say, an hour and a half to 
get some work done. Okay."
	One hour later the two agents took a taxi and 
drove to the home of Thijs Peters and his parents. His 
mother answered the door and now they were in the 
living-room while Mrs Peters answered their questions.
	"Where Thijs is?" she repeated Scully's question. 
"God, I don't know for sure. You see, he left two weeks 
ago to go hitch-hiking to Eastern-Europe, mostly 
Rumania, Hungary, and Slowakia. He promised to let us 
know where he was, but he hasn't given us very specific 
directions. I'm sorry I can't help you with that."
	"That's okay", Mulder said. He had already 
figured out a couple of things. He looked aside to Scully 
who nodded, he was pleased to see that she had the same 
ideas as he had.
	"Mrs Peters, if it's alright with you, we'd like to 
see Thijs' room. Is that possible?"
	"Sure, why not", the woman said and she got up. 
"This way please."
	Thijs' room was not unlike the room of any boy 
of his age, except that he seemed to be extremely 
interested in UFOs and related subjects.
	Mulder walked past the bookshelves and looked 
at the books. Interested, he took a book from the shelves, 
opened it, sighed, and put it back.
	"What's up, Mulder?" Scully asked who had 
heard his sigh.
	"Oh, nothing, a book I didn't know, but ... in 
Dutch ..."
	The silence returned once more and they looked 
around. Then Scully frowned and gestured Mulder to 
come over.
	"What's that, Scully?"
	"Something that looks surprisingly much like a 
plan for the route he wanted to take. I think our friend 
Thijs wasn't as unsure about his destination as his 
mother thinks!"
	Mulder looked at the name on the bit of paper:
	"Komló in Hungary, wait a second, Scully! I 
know that! There's a nuclear power station there!"
	"A power station? What is it that this boy can do 
with such a thing? He is not even going get inside! What 
interest can he possibly have in that?" Scully asked.
	"Nothing", Mulder answered, "That is, if it's just 
a nuclear power plant ...", he added mysteriously and 
walked back to Mrs Peters. He thanked her for her time 
and co-operation and told Scully to come with him.
	"Oh yes, I almost forgot", Mrs Peters said. 
"Yesterday another American gentleman came by who 
was looking for Thijs. He said he was from some 
organisation and he was looking specifically for Thijs."
	"What did he look like?" Scully asked. "Did he 
give his name?"
	"Eh ... I don't remember what he looked like ..." 
the woman said. "He had short dark hair and ... well, he 
knew you, I believe. Eh ... his name was something like 
... Krajicek, like that tennisplayer, but not exactly that ... 
eh ..."
	"Krycek?" Mulder asked astonished. "Alex 
Krycek?"
	"That was it!" Mrs Peters said. "Alex Krycek. A 
very nice man. Very polite too!"
	Mulder decided he felt seriously sick and knew it 
was time to go. Scully said good-bye as Mulder stopped 
a taxi and told the driver to get them back to the hotel.
	"Mulder, what are we going to do now?" Scully 
asked.
	"What we're going to do? We're going to catch 
some rats!"

XxXxX

Chapter 6

Heuvelpoort Hotel
Tilburg, the Netherlands
01st March

	"SCULLY?" MULDER SHOUTED AS he was packing 
his stuff in such a hurry it must be a new world-record.
	"What?" he heard her answer. She was in her 
own room busy stuffing all her things in her bag.
	'I've got my clothes and everything, I don't think 
I forgot anything ...' she thought. Yes, she must have 
packed everything. Then she closed her bag.
	"Scully?" she heard Mulder say. She looked up 
and saw him entering her room.
	"Have you already figured out how we're going 
to get in Komló?"
	Scully didn't answer his question but looked at 
him and said:
	"Why are you wearing that?"
	"Wearing what?"
	"Jeans and a t-shirt. We still have to travel. And 
moreover I'm not exactly used to seeing you in anything 
else than your suits" she said.
	Mulder looked at his clothes and chuckled.
	"Mm, you are right, but I intended to send my 
luggage back to DC and take only the really necessary 
things with me to Hungary. And I guess jeans and t-
shirts are much better when we're dealing with nuclear 
power stations."
	Scully thought about sending home her luggage 
for a moment. It sounded reasonable, she had to admit it. 
After all she wasn't going to need her dress and her suits 
anymore.
	"I think I'll do the same. What are you taking 
with you?"
	"Jeans, couple of t-shirts, underwear, things like 
that."
	Scully looked at her bag and sighed. All the effort 
to pack her bag proved to be for nothing. But okay, he 
was right, she had brought too much, there was no doubt 
about that. She took a pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of 
her bag and placed the clothes on the bed. From the 
corner of her eyes she saw Mulder's amazed expression.
	"Hey, Scully!" he said. "I didn't know you owned 
jeans!"
	"So why should you know everything?" she 
murmured. She took the t-shirt and then she started to 
unbutton her blouse.
	She was about half-way when she suddenly 
realised she was busy giving Mulder a private strip-tease 
and she quickly turned around, holding her blouse 
closed with her hand. She saw Mulder standing in the 
door, arms crossed and obviously not intending to miss a 
single second of this second opportunity to see her 
dressed in little more than her bra. He seemed unable to 
suppress a feeling of disappointment, for his contented 
expression faded the moment she turned around and 
looked at him.
	"Mulder ...!"
	He pretended to be innocence itself.
	"Fox Mulder, go to your room and be ashamed! 
Deeply!" she said and pointed towards the door. Then 
she turned around again.
	"Yes, mom", she heard his answer and she 
laughed softly. Well, it was true, she had sounded just 
like his mother. Then she looked around to see if he had 
indeed left her room, but no, he was still standing there. 
He grinned broadly as he saw her amazement. Then he 
turned around and walked out of the room.

	THE TWO AGENTS HAD decided to travel by train. 
Scully had asked Mulder why they weren't just taking a 
flight to Budapest and the train to Komló from there, but 
ever since Mrs Peters had mentioned Krycek, Mulder 
had been acting extremely paranoid and refused to 
listen.
	"They'll know immediately where we are, 
Scully!" he had said and that was the end of that subject.
	It was two days later now and they were on the 
station of Budapest.
	"So, where are we going now, Mulder?"
	"Eh, if I'm not mistaken we can take a train to 
Pécs. We'll be heading south and that train also stops 
near Komló. Not in Komló because there's no railway 
station there, but I think we ought to try it."
	"Mm-mm. When does the train leave?" Scully 
asked. She looked around.
	It struck Mulder that she had been doing that for 
quite some time.
	"In 20 minutes, but what's wrong, Scully?"
	"Hopefully nothing, but I've got the feeling that 
your paranoia is kind of justified. I think we've been 
followed ..."
	"By whom?"
	"By ... they're gone", she sighed.
	"Well, when you see them again, tell me. And 
until we'll just watch out. You know, I don't think they 
want us, they've had plenty of chances to get rid of us."
	"So who are they after then?"
	"Thijs", Mulder said and looked ahead of him. 
"And I believe he's sitting right over ... there!"
	Mulder pointed towards a boy sitting slightly 
apart from the other travelers. His hair was short and 
brown and he was wearing a brown Bugs Bunny 
baseball cap. His red and green back-pack was next to 
him and he seemed tired and afraid.
	"Do you think he'll be taking the same train as 
we?"
	"Think so", Mulder said. "At least we'll have 
plenty of opportunities to keep a good eye on him."
	Scully nodded. She already intended doing that. 
Then she saw their train entering the station and they 
took their luggage.
	"I think we'd better take the same compartment 
as Thijs", Scully said. "You know, I think those two 
who followed us will be sitting there, too. If you keep 
your eyes on Thijs, I'll watch those two."

	THE TRAIN HAD LEFT exactly on time. That wasn't 
the problem. Scully had another problem concerning the 
trip.
	"Mulder", she said. "Does this train stop near 
Komló?"
	He looked at her. "What do you mean?"
	"Well, the train that stops near Komló leaves only 
three times a day, the train that doesn't stop there leaves 
six times a day. Are you sure we're in the right train?"
	He looked at her.
	"And you haven't told me that before?"
	"Well, I tried to tell you, and I'm really sorry, but 
you didn't quite listen to me!"
	'Oh shit!', he thought. "Ahum, so if I'm getting 
this straight, we're kind of in the wrong train right 
now?"
	"Kind of yes", Scully answered. "Even Thijs was 
smarter than we, because he got off the train just before 
we left ..."
	"This isn't happening! I refuse to believe this! 
This is a nightmare and when I'll wake up in a moment, 
I'm at home and I'll be driving to HQ one hour later for 
another day of paperwork!"
	"Well, it is indeed a nightmare, but I'm afraid 
somebody else will have to do the paperwork, because 
we're really in the wrong train."
	Mulder looked at the emergency brake and 
thought.
	"Okay. Hey, Scully, have you ever wondered 
how long it will take a speeding train to come to a 
complete stand-still if one uses this?"
	"No, not really ...", Scully said. "Oh no, Mulder 
...!"
	"Me neither", Mulder remarked. "But we'll find 
out anyway, because in about 30 minutes we'll be near 
Komló and I just want to get off this train there!"
	Scully sighed. Sometimes she wished he wasn't 
to terribly impulsive. Would he never change?

	SCULLY WAS STANDING WITH her back against a 
tree near the nuclear power station, panting. She looked 
aside and saw Mulder having a hard time to get his 
breath back, too. They had just been running like mad 
from the train to the power station. Surely about three 
miles and though she was quite used to running such 
distances, this had been over uneven terrain and God! 
She was exhausted!
	"I'm afraid we'll have to get our condition back 
to what it used to be, Mulder!"
	He nodded and grinned, "You bet! This is 
ridiculous!"
	"Okay, Mulder, what are we going to do?"
	"We'll have to try to get inside. One way or 
another. I know it'll be difficult, but even the best 
security has it's weak spots and our job is to find one of 
those weak spots."
	"But why has it to be so difficult? Trying to get 
inside illegally? Can't we just ..."
	"Certainly, Scully! You know what? We'll ring 
and ask the guards of one of the best guarded and most 
secret testing-sites the US government owns - apart from 
Area 51 - if it's possible to lead us around the premises 
and to show us what they're doing. Oh, and as we're 
there anyway, why not ask them if we can rent a 'you-
drive flying saucer' to get home quickly!? God, Scul-
ly!" His voice had been one big reproach. She felt 
seriously hurt.
	"Hey, cool it! I'm sorry!" she protested.
	"Let's go. We already lost too much time 
already", Mulder said. He was already sorry for what he 
had said, but he wasn't going to apologise. Not yet.

	THE TWO AGENTS HADN'T said very much while 
they tried to find an entrance to the building.
	Scully looked at Mulder as he tried a door. 
Bastard! Why hadn't he offered his apologies yet? Then 
she felt the colour flush her cheeks. Wait a minute, he 
was probably already sorry. If she knew Mulder just a 
little bit, she knew he had been sorry the moment he had 
said it.
	She smiled. Oh well, actually it hadn't been one 
of her smarter moves to say something like that. It had 
been quite a stupid remark ...
	"Hey, Scully!" she heard him whisper. She saw 
him pointing towards a grid in the wall. An entrance!
	Mulder pulled at it as Scully scanned the area, 
making sure they wouldn't get caught. After a few 
minutes the grid fell from the wall and Mulder pointed 
his flash-light into the tunnel that lay behind it.
	"I think this tunnel is still in use, Scully, but it's 
dry now ... Shall we try it?"
	She nodded. It wasn't that she felt very much 
attracted to involuntarily drinking a gulp of poisoned 
water, but they were so close to their goal now, she 
didn't want to turn back.
	Mulder went in first and Scully followed him. 
They went slow. Dreadfully slow. The smell in the 
tunnel was ghastly and it made Scully retch.
	After about 15 metres the tunnel came out in 
some sort of huge reservoir. Slowly but surely they 
became used to the smell and Scully looked at the walls 
and ceiling of the tank.
	"Well done, agent Mulder. When we're home 
again we'll be able to file an extensive report regarding 
the profound study of the sewer-system of an old-
fashioned nuclear power station somewhere in the south 
of Hungary! Skinner will be really pleased!"
	Mulder grinned.
	Then suddenly the grin faded.
	"What?" Scully asked, but Mulder told her to be 
absolutely quiet. Then she heard it too. A deep rumbling 
sound, rapidly coming their way!
	"What is ...", Mulder began.
	"Mulder ... it's water!" she said.
	They could hear the water splash against the 
walls and ceilings of the tunnels around them. They 
were trapped like rats. The only way out was the tunnel 
they had taken to get inside and that would take way too 
much time ...
	She felt her heart in her throat. She looked at 
Mulder one more time, grabbed his hand and then closed 
her eyes. 
	She became strangely calm, almost feeling her 
conscience floating out of her body. It was over, she was 
ready for the end ...

XxXxX

Chapter 7

Nothern tunnels, nuclear power station no 421066
Komlo, Hungary
03rd March

	"SCULLY!" MULDER SHOUTED AS he saw their 
chance to escape. He grabbed her coat and dragged her 
towards the opening.
	"Mulder no! You can't be serious!" Scully 
screamed as she saw how deep it was behind the 
opening. He must be kidding, that was so clear. He 
couldn't possibly be serious about their jumping in that? 
She looked at Mulder. His expression was dead serious.
	'Shit!' she thought. 'He is serious!'
	"Oh no, Mulder! I'm definitely not going to jump 
in there!"
	"We have to, Scully! It's our only chance to 
escape!"
	"Mulder, this is suicide!" she screamed. She was 
terrified.
	"I know ...", Mulder said. Before Scully could do 
anything he momentarily held her close. Then he 
grabbed her hand and pulled her with him as he plunged 
into the darkness behind the opening in the wall. She 
screamed as she felt herself falling rapidly. And landing 
in the water down there. She got up and gasped for 
breath. A strange feeling came over her, combining 
relief and fury. She was furious with Mulder for 
throwing her into the opening like that, but at the same 
time she was relieved to still be alive.
	"Mulder!?" she shouted. She couldn't see him 
anywhere.
	'Oh, my God, don't let him be dead!' she 
thought. 'Don't let him be dead, dammit!'
	She looked around and then she saw something in 
the water. Mulder! And he was unconscious! She waded 
towards him and pulled his head out of the water, 
grabbing his hair to do it. She didn't care how she had to 
keep his head out of the water, she only cared about the 
fact that it was out of the water. She felt for a pulse, 
thank God, he was still alive.
	"Mulder! Mulder, goddammit!!" she shouted and 
tried to make him come round. "Don't you do this to 
me!"
	She considered several ways of getting him back 
to consciousness, but none of those seemed appropriate. 
Then she chuckled. If this wasn't going to work, nothing 
was: she kissed him softly on the lips. She let go of him 
when she noticed he was waking up.
	Mulder knew nothing, felt nothing, thought 
nothing. Until he suddenly felt a wonderful soft pressure 
on his lips. He groaned and felt with his hand at his 
head, as he tried to sit up. He felt Scully's arms around 
him to help him get up. Then it all came back to him. 
The jump, the water, that piece of debris his head had hit 
so mercilessly.
	"Scully ..." he said softly. Dammit! This really 
hurt!
	"Ha, I knew this would be enough!" he heard her 
say. Her voice was cynical and triumphantly, but he 
didn't hear it. He only heard that little touch of affection 
and relief that he had made it. It flattered him and he 
considered losing consciousness again, a Scully-kiss 
was always worth the effort and a few risks, he thought! 
But he decided not to do that: if he'd do something like 
that he could forget about a kiss. She'd rather shoot him 
on the spot! Wasn't the best option either ...
	"Come on, I thought it was you who was so eager 
to go down this tunnel! Let's go!" Scully said and pulled 
him up, forcing him to follow her.
	The tunnel wasn't very dark and Mulder looked 
around around him.
	"You got any idea where we are right now, 
Mulder?" Scully said. It wasn't a question, but Mulder 
answered nonetheless. Just because it was that way.
	"Nope. Where are we?"
	"Under the reactor!" Scully said and she pointed 
her flash-light up. Mulder followed the beam of light. 
He couldn't see anything that was different from the rest 
of the tunnel, but okay, if she said so, he believed her.
	"What does that mean?" he asked.
	"That we have to get the hell out of here!" Scully 
said as she looked ahead of her. She walked on and 
Mulder followed her.
	"Scully?"
	"Yes?"
	"What do we do now? I mean, we can just keep 
on walking, but where will we end up then?"
	"Second question, I've got no idea where we'll 
find ourselves, question number one, we have to find an 
exit to this as quickly as possible. I don't care how, but 
we have to get out of here!"
	"Why?" Mulder asked. She turned around and 
looked at him with her 'Cut the crap, Mulder!'-look. 
	"Okay", he said, a little embarrassed, " I take it 
this question was too stupid to be answered ..."
	"Exactly!" she said as she turned around and 
walked on. Neither of them spoke until Scully saw 
something that looked like an exit.
	"Here!" she whispered and she pointed her flash-
light towards a waste-pipe that was at least two metres 
in diameter. It probably came from one of the factory-
halls, but dirt, moss and rust showed that it must have 
been out of order for quite some time.
	Scully tried to get the grid out, but failed.
	"Mulder, don't just stand there! Give me a hand!"
	He went to stand next to her and pulled. The grid 
creaked, moved and then it suddenly came out. The two 
agents fell backwards into the water as the grid rolled 
down the pipe. She didn't know why, but it made Scully 
burst out laughing. Apparently it was catching for 
Mulder started laughing too. He had fallen on top of her 
and she freed herself. She was glad the water was only 
about 30 centimetres deep here, she wasn't too keen on 
drowning here just now.
	"I have to admit I kind of liked this!" Mulder said 
and chuckled.
	"What? Almost drowning in waste water?" Scully 
asked. She raised her eyebrows.
	"No, being on top of you, G-woman!" Mulder 
said and grinned.
	Scully smiled, but saw in his eyes that he wasn't 
100% lying. It made her feel pretty warm inside.
	"Come on, we have to get out of here", she said 
while trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. She 
got up and looked around her. Meanwhile Mulder had 
another problem: doubt.
	"Scully, was I ...", he began. He just wanted to 
tease her a little but he was afraid he might have gone 
too far. " ... was I ..." but the Scully stopped him. She 
had heard something!
	"Shh! The guards!" she whispered. The two 
agents walked towards the left side of the tunnel as 
silently as possible. From one of the ventilation shafts a 
beam of light was shining down.
	Scully felt her heart in her throat. She looked at 
Mulder. His face was tense as he watched the beam. She 
felt like she could scream with fear.
	It was so long before anything happened that 
Mulder began to feel nervous. The situation was so 
incredibly threatening, so horribly dangerous, but at the 
same moment nothing really happened! He felt the urge 
to do something, to make a sound, anything, just to 
make something happen! So he'd know what he could 
do! He looked at Scully who was staring at the other 
side of the tunnel, her eyes wide with fear, lips tightly 
shut to keep from screaming, her hands holding the legs 
of her pants in a death-grip.
	But before either of them could have done 
anything something large and black fell down into the 
water. It was a black box, thrown into the tunnel by the 
guards.
	"What is ...?" Mulder said.
	Then Scully knew what it was.
	"Mulder! Run!!" she screamed as she grabbed his 
coat and dragged him away from the danger.
	Scully surprised him by grabbing his coat, but 
before he had regained his balance the airwave from the 
explosion hit them and pushed them forward through the 
tunnel.
	The flames of the bomb rushed towards them, 
much faster than either could run. Mulder looked around 
once more, saw the flames speeding towards them and 
them pressed Scully down into the water. He heard her 
scream as she fell, but he couldn't take notice of that 
because at that same moment the explosion came over 
them with all the force it had. The heat was unbearable, 
even under water.
	His lungs were exploding. He knew he just had to 
come up, flames or no flames. Then he felt the 
temperature get lower and knew that the fire was gone. 
He gasped for air as he got up.
	"Scully?!" He looked around him and saw her 
face down in the water, clearly doing a terrific job 
drowning. He lifted her from the water. He eyes were 
half-closed and she wasn't breathing. Water came out of 
her mouth and she was white as a sheet. Mulder's heart 
skipped a beat.
	"Scully! Dammit Scully!" He tried to wake her 
up. If he had drowned her ... he'd never forgive himself. 
"Scully, please ... don't do this to me ..."
	Then she started to cough and as she held his 
arms she coughed up the water from her lungs. He felt 
so relieved he didn't know what to do.
	"Welcome back!" he said and smiled. He helped 
her to get up. "Come on, we have to go, because they're 
bound to come back and then there will be more of 
them!"

XxXxX

Chapter 8

Nothern tunnels, nuclear power station no 421066
Komlo, Hungary
03rd March

	THE TWO AGENTS WALKED THROUGH the tunnel as 
quickly as they could. They had lost every sense of 
direction, but they knew they had to find an exit before 
the guards would find them.
	"Mulder ..." he heard Scully said. She had been 
walking behind him and he looked around. She stood 
still and was looking rather pale. "Can we stop for just 
one moment? I'm exhausted..."
	Mulder looked around him and said:
	"Sure. As long as we watch out."
	Scully nodded and sat down. Mulder sat down 
next to her, waiting for her to say what it was she had to 
say. But Scully said nothing, merely looked at her hands 
and at the water. Then she looked at Mulder, but what he 
saw didn't help much.Tears in her blue eyes.
	Scully was afraid. She hardly allowed herself to 
admit it, but it was the truth. She was terrified. And she 
wanted Mulder to know, she really did! But something 
in her stopped her.
	Why? After all those years she knew that Mulder 
didn't react the way she feared he would: pity her. 
Mulder didn't think she was weak, that she had to be 
protected, he didn't pity her, but he comforted her by 
lending her his own strength and giving her all the 
support and comfort she needed. And he offered her his 
shoulder to cry on. And even though she hardly ever did 
that she knew he felt that way. So why didn't she cry? 
She had so often felt the urge to do it. As a woman in 
the FBI it could be so difficult, she had gotten the 
feeling that she had had only one choice, becoming cold 
and hard. The skin of an elephant and unfeeling as an 
icicle. And it proved successful. She was a very much 
respected agent and even her reputation as 'Mrs Spooky' 
didn't make things worse.
	But at what cost? Was that insensibility also the 
cause for not being able to show her most treasured 
feelings to the only man in her life she lo- ... she cared 
about very much? Not even to him? Sometimes she 
wanted so badly to do just that. To feel his arms around 
her and cry her eyes out. Cry because of everything they 
did to hinder her, or just because of the disgust, the 
horror of the cases they investigated. She knew she had 
to just forget about them, leave them behind her once the 
cases were finished, she was trained to handle those 
atrocities, she had seen things no human being was 
supposed to see and after that she always found it quite 
easy to go on with her life. But sometimes those 
nightmares came back and then ... then she just wanted 
to ... cry. Cry her eyes out. Be angry, put aside that 
indisturbable agent and let the other Dana Scully take 
the lead. The Dana Scully with feelings.
	"Are you okay, Scully?" Mulder interrupted her 
thoughts. His voice was concerned.
	Scully wiped the tears away and tried to compose 
herself.
	"Yeah. Yeah, it's alright. I'm fine, Mulder." It 
didn't sound too convincing and she knew it.
	Would she let herself do it? Tell him about how 
scared she was? Could she ...? No! Not now!
	"I'm fine, Mulder", she said once more as she 
tried to make her voice sound light.
	Mulder said nothing and Scully knew he didn't 
believe her.
	"I'm scared, that's all."
	He only sighed.
	'Oh, Scully, when are you going to admit to 
yourself that you need to show your feelings?' he 
thought sadly. Not that he had to be that one person she 
would have to turn to for comfort. Really. If she would 
choose him, if he would be that person, it would be 
alright, he would feel honoured. But if it turned out to be 
somebody else, man or woman, old or young, then it 
would be perfect just the same. The only thing that he 
was terrified of was that at one fateful moment 
everything would go wrong because she wasn't capable 
of sharing her emotions. That she would simply 
collapse.
	But she had to want it herself. No one could force 
her to do it, not even him. Especially not him, he 
couldn't make her do anything against her will.
	The silence between the two agents wasn't very 
comfortable. They both fought emotions and thoughts, 
both in conflict with themselves and whether they 
should show it to each other.
	Scully sighed and was surprised to hear Mulder's 
chuckle.
	"What?"
	"That sigh was impressive, Scully. And right at 
the same moment as mine!"
	She smiled and looked at the water again. She felt 
slightly better already.
	It was as if Mulder sensed it for he turned 
towards her and said:
	"Ready to go?"
	She nodded and said: "Guess so ..."
	Mulder stood up and stretched out his hand to 
help her get up.
	"Ouch!" she said and smiled wryly.
	"What?" Mulder asked amused. Her face was a 
pleasure to watch when she looked at him that way. 
	"My muscles are protesting ...", she answered and 
rubbed her thighs and calves.
	"Care for a massage?" Mulder asked cheekily, 
curious to see if she would give the word 'blush' a 
whole new meaning. But no, she never even blinked, 
only looked at him with a look he found hard to 
decipher and even harder to resist and said:
	"Mm, sounds promising, but I think I'll pass for 
the moment."
	Mulder only laughed. The thoughts that filled his 
mind right then would shock even her.

	THE AGENTS WADED FURTHER through the filthy 
water. Scully's muscles were getting slightly better, but 
she knew the pain would probably be ten times worse 
next day. Oh well, under these conditions she couldn't 
really care. Her temper, getting worse by the minute, 
was the real cause of concern.
	"I wonder where we are", Mulder said as he 
looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel. Water constantly 
fell from the tubes and the stones. The never-ending 
dripping was getting on their nerves.
	"Don't know", Scully said. She hit a loose stone 
in the wall. It fell in the water and two rats ran away, 
startled by the piece of rock. She chuckled cruelly, threw 
the stone towards the rats and felt a sadistic pleasure 
when she saw that it only barely missed one of the rats. 
However it didn't make her boredom go away and she 
picked up a pebble, aimed and tossed.
	"Ouch!" Mulder felt with his hand on the back of 
his head where something hard had hit him. He looked 
up, but realised it couldn't possibly come from the 
ceiling. Then he looked back and saw Scully standing 
there, a cruelly sadistic smile on her face, hands on her 
hips. She was simply irresistable when she looked like 
that, he noticed to his surprise.
	"Scully?!"
	She merely grinned and Mulder decided it was 
time for revenge. He took a handful of mud and threw it 
in her direction. She ducked, but even so it wasn't 
without a satisfying result he noticed, for she stared at 
him, her mouth dropped open, her eyes amazed.
	"What was ..."
	"Slush, Scully. And definitely softer than what 
you threw at me."
	The cruel grin all over again!
	"Is there even a faint possibility you can tell me 
what made me deserve that?" he tried.
	"Guess I was bored", she said and shrugged. 
"You were in the wrong place at the wrong moment."
	Now it was his turn to grin and eventually she 
started to laugh as well.
	"I believe I just caught a glimpse of the 
dangerous Scully in you."
	She said nothing, but walked towards him, took a 
deep breath as she slowly raised her glance all over his 
body until she looked him straight in the eyes and 
whispered sensually, her mouth only inches from his:
	"Just you wait until I'm really dangerous ..."
	"Oooh ... I can't wait ...!" he whispered with a 
equally husky voice. He was walking on egg shells and 
he held his breath as he waited for her reaction. He 
smiled as he saw her lips slowly curve in a beautiful 
smile. She couldn't counter this one, he noticed. Sweet 
revenge!

	THEY HAD BEEN WALKING on for quite some time 
and once more Mulder wondered if there really was an 
exit to this labyrinth.
	Then he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and 
he stiffened. His heart-beat tripled and he automatically 
reached for his gun.
	"Whoa, Mulder. It's me!" he heard Scully 
whisper. He sighed in relief and turned around. Scully 
was standing behind him and with her finger on her lips 
she pointed upward. Mulder listened and started.
	"The guards, Mulder! They found us again!" she 
whispered. Her eyes were large with fear. "Do you think 
they're going to drop another bomb on us?"
	"I don't think so, Scully. They're way too clever 
for that. I think ..."
	He couldn't finish his sentence, for at that 
moment he heard a loud splash, just around the corner in 
the tunnel.
	"Scully! Run!!" he shouted and he pulled her 
with him. The tunnel went up and they clambered onto 
the dry piece of tunnel. At that moment Mulder looked 
around and saw the black metal of an automatic gun 
shimmer in the light falling through one of the openings 
in the tunnel.
	"Scully! They have guns!" His voice broke with 
fear. Scully screamed and in a reflex she pushed Mulder 
away, her body acting in an instict of self-preservation.
	Mulder wanted to say someting, but at that 
moment he heard the deafening rattle of the machine-
guns firing. He heard Scully scream with fear and pain 
and then saw her collapse onto the ground. She didn't 
move and his heart skipped a beat. Then the firing 
started again and the last thing he noticed was a 
gruesome pain in his legs and the taste of blood in his 
mouth. Then all lights went out.

XxXxX

Chapter 9

Cell 857, nuclear power station no 421066
Komlo, Hungary
03rd March, 4:02 p.m.

	VERY SLOWLY MULDER STARTED to notice what 
was going on in the world around him. He wanted to get 
up, but a stinging pain in his legs prevented that. He 
grimaced and for a moment he didn't move. Then he 
opened his eyes again and looked at his legs. They were 
professionally dressed.
	'Could have been worse', he thought.
	He pressed his hand to his brow, trying to get his 
thoughts back into some semblance of order and make 
his brain work acceptably reliable.
	Scully ... where's Scully? He looked around and 
for a moment he panicked when he didn't see her. 
Despite his growing concern he smiled at the thought 
that he was so concerned about her. He always worried 
about her, even though he gave her a lot more reason to 
worry about him than vice versa.
	Dammit! He rubbed his eyes. He really couldn't 
get his thoughts together! What the hell had happened?
	The tunnels, the bomb, Scully who had more or 
less drowned, that scene when he had tried to get her to 
show her feelings, that strange scene when a sadistic 
Scully had hit him with that pebble, out of boredom as 
she told him, and that dangerously sensual tone on her 
voice after that, that midnight velvet voice that had 
plunged his nerves on high tension and that had made 
him balance on the very end of his self-control, only 
inches away from giving in to every animal instict that 
started to bother him at that moment. And she very well 
knew he felt that way!
	And the machine-guns. He had dragged her with 
her, away from the danger, but she had freed herself 
from his grasp. Sheer fear had glimmered in her eyes 
when she screamed, hit by the bullets. She had collapsed 
and then ... then he had blacked out himself. He had felt 
his legs collapse under his own weight and he had 
stretched his arms out to catch himself, but he had never 
noticed that he had hit the ground. He had been 
unconscious before the sensation had entered his mind.
	Scully? Where was Scully? Oh, my God! She 
wasn't dead, was she? Goddammit, she couldn't be 
dead! Or could she?
	No! He shook his head. She wasn't dead. He 
would have know if she was dead. He would have felt it. 
No, she was just in another cell, but she was alive. He 
knew, his heart knew.

	AT THE SAME MOMENT that he decided to lie 
down again, he heard the locks on the door. Immediately 
he was on the alert and reached for his gun.
	'Dammit!' he thought, they had taken it from 
him.
	Then he braced himself for whatever, or whoever, 
was going to enter the cell.
	He admitted he was ready for everything, but 
nothing could've prepared him for the man entering his 
cell, followed by a few guards.
	"Krycek?" he said incredulously.
	Krycek only grinned and Mulder became furious. 
No, he was more than furious, he wanted to strangle 
Krycek on the spot.
	Krycek wasn't impressed by this, but turned to 
the other guards and told them to leave, speaking 
Russian. Then he returned to Mulder and looked at him, 
his look challenging. Mulder felt his fists clench, then 
relax. They didn't speak.
	"Well, Mulder, what's stopping you from 
thanking me?" Krycek broke the silence.
	Mulder thought he was going crazy. Thank Alex 
Krycek?
	"For what? Enlighten me what it is that I have to 
thank you for?" he said, his voice tight with fury. He 
couldn't begin to imagine the man's insolence!
	"Well", Krycek began. He looked at his hands 
and didn't seem impressed by Mulder's anger in the 
least. "Maybe because I'm the one who helped you get 
that parcel."
	"You?" Mulder laughed despisingly.
	"Yes, I did it", Krycek said and walked towards 
Mulder. "I wanted you to investigate it, Mulder. I've 
changed. Those bastards of the Consortium have kept 
me on the leash for long enough, manipulated me and 
for what? I've lost not only my arm, I can find a way to 
live with that, but most of all I've lost my life, my 
identity, my dignity. I want to pillory those bastards. I 
want to bring in the open everything they try to keep 
covered up in lies. But I can't do that on my own, 
Mulder, for they're keeping an eye on me. They see 
every step I make and force me to walk on a rope, miles 
up in the sky, every step I should dare to make to the left 
or right ensuring a horrible death. That's why I need 
you. You've got the contacts in Congress to expose this 
crowd. You can provide the evidence and end the 
biggest lie ever known to mankind. That's why you're 
here and that's why I'm here."
	Mulder didn't believe a single thing of what 
Krycek said but the man sounded sincere.
	"Then tell me why we were chased by that bomb 
and those bullets?"
	"Well, Mulder, that was your own stupid little 
mistake. Because even though I want you to go back to 
DC and expose the Consortium, the people here think 
you're guilty of high treason and you know the penalty 
for that."
	"Death", Mulder said and Krycek nodded.
	The man turned around and walked to the door.
	"Krycek!" Mulder shouted and Krycek looked at 
him. "Where's Scully?"
	"Oh boy, you indeed are close, aren't you?" 
Krycek said mockingly and Mulder felt the urge to 
knock this man down so hard he would never get up 
again.
	"Where is Scully?" he said furiously. The tone in 
his voice was low and dangerous.
	Krycek opened the door of the cell and seemed to 
hesitate. Then he looked at Mulder and for the first time 
Mulder imagined seeing a glimpse of remorse in the 
eyes of the man he hated more than the CSM.
	"She's dead, Mulder. She died in the tunnel from 
a bullet in the head. I'm sorry ..."
	Then he closed and locked the door, leaving 
Mulder horrified in the dark cell.

XxXxX

Chapter 10

Cell 543, nuclear power station no 421066
Komlo, Hungary
03rd March, 4:05 p.m.

	SCULLY FELT AN ALL-CONSUMING pain in her legs 
as she very slowly became aware of the world around 
her. She opened her eyes and forced them to stay in that 
position long enough for her to more or less figure out 
what the hell was happening to her right now.
	She looked at the bandages around her legs. Mm, 
looked good, she had to admit it and given the nature of 
the wounds - that was, what she could remember of it - 
the doctors must have been quite good.
	She was lying on the plank bed and tried to find 
out what had happened. The tunnels, the bomb, Mulder 
who had ...
	Mulder! She sat up with a start and looked around 
her. Where was he? Where was Mulder? Was he ...? No! 
He couldn't be. She simply couldn't imagine him being 
dead.
	She relaxed. The bomb, he had all but drowned 
her in his attempt to save her from being burned alive. 
She chuckled. How utterly Mulder, she thought. Trust 
him to want to save her and get her killed that way after 
all.
	And then ... then her fear, her longing for him, for 
his arms to hold her and let her cry, just let her cry her 
eyes out. Phah, even imagine letting herself go like that, 
she felt ashamed for her weakness. By the way, talking 
about shame, what had caused her to make avances like 
that? What the bloody hell had she been doing?
	"Just you wait until I'm really dangerous ...". 
Dana Katherine Scully, does your mother know you talk 
like this? But she hadn't been herself right then. She 
didn't know what had happened to her, but that strange, 
but so alluring combination of sadism and boredom, 
together with Mulder's lean, sexy body right in front of 
her, it had made her want to plunge head-first into very 
dangerous territory.
	She closed her eyes and thought. At least, she 
tried to, for the thought of Fox Mulder didn't leave her. 
Well, he had been trying her himself, too. Hadn't he?
	"Oooh ... I can't wait ...!" he had whispered. His 
voice and the look in his eyes ... it had made her heart-
beat triple. Dammit! He knew so well how to get any 
woman he wanted! She had seen long ago that she 
wasn't the only one who couldn't resist him, his 
muscular body and those sexy eyes. And it made her feel 
glad that most of the time they were simply too busy 
investigating, because sometimes she felt frighteningly 
close to giving him all she had, all she was, and then 
they would never get another job done again. But it 
made her feel proud that even though he could get every 
woman he desired, she was the only one he really 
seemed interested in! And with ...
	Her mouth dropped open as she realised the train 
of her thoughts. Shit, she was absolutely, head over 
heels, truly, deeply, madly in love with Fox Mulder! Oh 
no ...!
	And then? What had happened then? Oh yes, 
those bullets ... She had heard Mulder scream. Really 
scream, like she had never heard him scream before. 
And then? Then that horrible pain and she had tasted the 
blood in her mouth, just before everything was covered 
in darkness. What had happened to Mulder?

	"WAKE UP, AGENT SCULLY!" she heard a man's 
voice behind her. She dragged herself from her thoughts 
and looked in the direction of the voice. She started and 
frowned.
	"Alex Krycek?"
	He grinned.
	"What are you doing here?" she asked. What was 
he doing here and what was it he wanted from them?
	"Well, I thought that maybe Agent Scully would 
like some company ..."
	Scully felt positively sick.
	"Go away!" she whispered furiously. "Keep your 
hands off of me!"
	"Oh, but I wasn't going to touch you, Agent 
Scully. I merely wanted to inform you that you have 
been accused of high treason and we all know what the 
penalty for that is, now don't we?"
	Scully felt the colour drain from her face, then 
she felt the fury taking over. Krycek seemed to be 
enjoying himself about this conviction and she forced 
herself to think of another subject before she would find 
herself strangling this man provokingly slowly and 
extremely painfully, something she was just dying to do 
to him right now.
	"Where's Mulder?" The calmness in her voice 
was deceptive and very dangerous.
	Krycek looked at her but didn't speak.
	"Dammit, Krycek, where is Mulder? What 
happened to him?"
	Then, all of a sudden, a repentant look appeared 
in the eyes of the man standing before her as he said:
	"Mulder's dead, Scully. They shot him in the 
head."
	Scully felt the world around her fall apart and the 
only thing she heard was Krycek telling her softly:
	"At least he hasn't been in any pain, Dana. It was 
over right away. It was a quick, merciful death ..." Then 
she collapsed.

	SHE DIDN'T KNOW HOW long she had been crying, 
she felt she never wanted to stop again, never to get up 
again.
	Mulder ...
	Her head filled with images of the past few years. 
Images of Fox Mulder, images that belonged to him, 
images of these most beautiful years of her life. Images 
and memories. How he had looked up from his work, on 
that very first day, held out his hand, his voice almost 
dripping sarcasm as he had said: "Well, isn't it nice to 
be suddenly so highly regarded?" But also the way he 
had looked at her when they were on that Eugene Victor 
Tooms case. Even then. She had called him Fox. And 
that ice tea ... The way he was always next to her, not 
just because he was expected to be there. How he had 
more than once shown her his unshakable trust in her, he 
had trusted her with the only thing that could ultimately 
destroy him: his own trust. She remembered how this 
had given her the strength to wake up from her coma, 
when all she really wanted to do was to just give up and 
die. Nobody had believed in her. But he had ... He had 
believed in her and given her his strength to help her 
wake up, to make clear to her that she mustn't give up. 
That there was too much to do for her. Only he ... How 
he had come back from the dead himself, there in New-
Mexico, that dream in which he had told her that he 
came back to continue the journey with her. He had 
given her the sweetest look, right there in the elevator, 
after they had let Skinner leave with the digital tape. She 
remembered how he hadn't been able to shoot her when 
'Pusher' had forced him to point the gun to her heart, 
telling him to pull the trigger, forcing him to pull the 
trigger. They had been so close when they were in the 
hospital next to Modell's bed. That must have been the 
moment she realised that they had something other 
people probably would call 'love', but calling it that was 
so simple. People love films, shoes, cars. They had 
something so much deeper than that. 
	And the way ...
	And that look in his eyes when he had fastened 
that necklace with the little angel around her neck. And 
how he had kept his hands around her neck just a little 
longer than really necessary, the way he had looked at 
her attentively, almost trying to guess, to read what she 
was thinking as he did that. The little pendant had still 
been a little warm from his body ...
	Tears were running from under her closed eyelids 
down her cheeks as she held the necklace in her hands.
	'Oh, Mulder ... I've lost you forever! I ...'
	But then her thoughts were interrupted by the 
celldoor being thrown open. Five men entered her cell 
and grabbed her. She screamed and tried to kick herself 
loose, but quickly gave up the effort. They were much 
too strong and she knew it.
	"Where are you taking me?" she asked. The men 
didn't answer and she realised that the guards probably 
didn't speak a word of English. She sighed. Now she 
just had to wait and see where they were taking her. The 
guards threw open the door of another cell and pushed 
her inside.
	Her head hit the floor painfully and she uttered a 
soft curse.
	"Scully?" she heard a voice asking. That voice ...
	"Mulder?" She didn't know how to get up 
quickly enough. She saw his familiar figure appearing 
from the darkness and stop about two metres before her.
	For a few seconds the two agents were standing 
opposite of each other, neither of them moving. They 
both couldn't believe what their eyes were seeing, but 
what their minds couldn't comprehend. Then Mulder 
gave her a beaming smile and he covered the remaining 
space between them. She wrapped her arms around her 
waist as he pressed her close. Then he looked at her, 
scanned her body as if he wanted to assure she was 
really there. He still smiled as their eyes locked.
	"Scully, I thought you ..." he began, but he never 
finished the sentence as she saw one single tear trickle 
down his cheek. Her eyes filled with tears.
	"Me too, Mulder ...", she said.
	Then she pressed her face against his shoulder 
and let her tears soak his jacket.

	IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG for Scully to calm down 
and Mulder had reluctantly let her go.
	Now Mulder was sitting on the plank bed and 
Scully was sitting on the floor, her back against the 
plank bed. Neither said a word. Scully reached under her 
jacket and took her necklace.
	"Our little guardian angel!" she said and smiled 
as she looked at him. Mulder smiled and asked her to sit 
next to him. She got up and sat down on the plank bed. 
She felt content. And before she was really aware of it 
and without a specific meaning to it, she curled herself 
in his embrace. She just felt the urge to do so, she 
needed his warmth. She was so glad he was still alive, 
that Krycek, 'you SOB', had been ...
	Mulder momentarily looked at her and then 
looked away again, never loosening the embrace.
	"Eh ... Scully?" he began. He wanted to ask her 
something, but the subject was very sensitive and he 
didn't want to rush it.
	"Yes?" she answered. From the tone in his voice 
she had gotten a fairly good idea of what he wanted to 
say and it gave her butterflies in her stomach.
	"Eh ... what would you say if ..." he began, "... if 
I'd tell you that ..."
	Scully knew she couldn't hurry this and granted 
him all the time he needed.
	He looked at her and seemed about to finish his 
sentence when footsteps sounded in the corridor outside 
the cell.
	"Wait a minute, Scully!" Mulder said, 
immediately alert.
	The locks on the door were opened and four men 
entered the cell. One of them remained standing at the 
door while the other guards walked up to them and 
grabbed Scully. She screamed and tried to get loose. 
Fury took over Mulder's mind as he came to her rescue, 
but was knocked down very painfully by one of the 
guards. He tasted blood in his mouth and just before his 
whole world plunged into darkness, he saw how they 
took Scully with them. Then he passed out. 

XxXxX

Chapter 11

Cell 857, nuclear power station no 421066
Komlo, Hongary
03rd March

	VERY SLOWLY THE PIECES of world around 
Mulder started to fall back into place. His head hurt like 
hell and tasted the iron taste of blood in his mouth. The 
blood had coagulated though, so his injuries couldn't 
have been too serious, he thought.
	Scully! Where was Scully? Suddenly reality came 
down on him again and he got up. Ouch! Too fast! The 
world changed into a racing wirlwind and he quickly 
reached for the wall for support. Then slowly the spots 
of light and dark vanished and he could let go of the 
wall.
	He was about to walk to the door when he heard 
footsteps. The door was thrown open and Scully was 
thrown inside. She didn't get up but remained lying on 
the ground.
	"Scully!" Mulder gasped as he found it hard to 
believe his eyes.
	She had been beaten up completely. Her body 
was covered in bruises and blood was trickling from 
wounds all over her body. Her clothes were torn to 
shreds. He picked her up and placed her on the plank 
bed. She opened her eyes and the moment she saw 
Mulder she reached out for him and started to cry like a 
child. He took her in his arms as she clung to him.
	"Dammit, Scully! What have they done to you?" 
he asked as he tried to comfort her. She didn't answer, 
but instead started to cry even more desperately.
	Then suddenly she screamed. With one forceful 
move she pushed Mulder's arms from her body, flung 
herself out of his embrace and tried to hide in the corner 
farthest away from him. Mulder was bewildered. What 
had he done to cause such a reaction? The only thing he 
had done was ...
	Then it started to dawn on him what might have 
happened to her. And all of a sudden he also understood 
why she had reacted that way. He had softly run his 
hand over her back, from her neck, slowly downwards, 
and then he had placed his hand on her leg. And that had 
been the moment she had torn herself from his embrace.
	He rose and walked towards Scully. She started to 
scream again and tried to make herself even smaller and 
more invisible in the corner of the cell. He stood still 
and didn't move. Slowly but surely her fit of panic 
stopped. He kneeled down, about two metres away from 
her. He slowly stretched his hand out to her, inviting, 
encouraging her to trust him.
	"Scully ...", he softly said. "Dana ... come to me 
... don't you know you can trust me? That I will never 
hurt you ...?"
	He was amazed at hearing these words. If Scully 
hadn't been in this condition she most probably would 
have shot him then and there. Just think, treating her like 
that!
	But right now the situation was much, much 
worse and he knew he must be lucky even to get her out 
of that corner.
	It took more than ten minutes for Scully to bridge 
those two metres between her and Mulder. And during 
those minutes he didn't speak, only held his hand 
stretched out, inviting her to take it, to trust him, leaving 
it to her to decide whether or not to get out of that little 
corner and come closer to him.
	Hesitatingly she touched his hand, very lightly, as 
if even that tiny touch was a victory for her. Mulder 
didn't speak, just looked at her and smiled as she took 
his hand. When she had he stretched out his other hand. 
She took it and the way they were sitting there, both on 
their knees, half a metre apart, bridged only by their 
hands holding each other, more forcefully than ever 
before. It said more about the trust Scully placed in 
Mulder than words would ever be able to express. 
Mulder cherished this moment. He longed to taking her 
in his arms, pressing her against him, but only if Scully 
wanted it, too. He would never make her do things she 
didn't want to do. And especially now, as he felt the 
battle inside her, it was so important to give her all the 
time she needed.
	Then her hands relaxed and after looking at 
Mulder with a look full of pain and experienced 
humiliation, she finally collapsed.
	Mulder went to sit next to her and did nothing. 
Said nothing, didn't move, merely let her get used to the 
fact he was sitting so close to her. Then he very softly 
touched her. He wanted to prevent another panic-attack 
and didn't hurry things. Each time he touched her a little 
longer and finally she lay in his arms. She had hidden 
her face against his chest and he felt the convulsive sobs 
shake her body.
	"Scully ..." he said softly as he looked at her face. 
She didn't look back, but she needn't to. "You really 
don't have to answer me if you don't want to, but ..."
	He hesitated, felt sick at the mere thought of what 
could've happened to her.
	"... but, apart from ... torturing you ... did they 
also ..."
	He couldn't! He couldn't say it! And he was 
horrified to see that he didn't need to say it either as he 
saw Scully looking at him with a look so filled with pain 
and tears that his heart grew cold. Her hands were 
holding his jacket in a death-grip and tears were 
streaming down her pale cheeks.
	Scully wished she could die. Then and there. She 
felt so humiliated, so dirty. She couldn't begin to 
understand why Mulder even wanted to sit next to her, 
now that he knew what had happened to her, but at the 
same moment she wanted him never to let her go again. 
To hold her for the rest of her life and to protect her 
from everything that the world would do to her.
	Why? Because he was ... How to explain this? 
Did she really have to explain this? Didn't they 
understand it? Because he was ... Mulder! That's why! 
He was her partner, her best friend, and absolutely, 
without a single doubt the only one she wanted here 
with her at this moment. She hoped he'd never let her go 
again. He couldn't! She couldn't let him go of her!
	She saw the tears in his eyes and wrapped her 
arms around him as he pulled her even closer and spoke 
into her hair:
	"Oh, Scully ... Why? Why have they done this to 
you? Why you?" he whispered angrily. He was so angry. 
To humiliate this beautiful, proud woman like this, to 
break her strength like that. Her, of all people on earth 
they took her! Scully, his Scully.
	Slowly but surely she calmed down and she broke 
away from him. He felt cold and lonely as she did that. 
She looked at him sadly and sighed.
	"God, Mulder, how can you even bear to touch 
me?" She shook her head. She felt unworthy of his 
affection. She felt so dirty and low. "I'm not worthy of 
you. You deserve so much more than me!"
	Mulder was shocked. 
	"What do you mean by that, Scully? Of course I 
want to touch you!" He placed his finger under her chin 
and tilted her face, making her look him in the eyes. "I 
want to comfort you, Dana, support you. And believe 
me, you're going to need it! I don't think you always 
realised it, but since that one day in March 1992 ..." that 
one day that would forever be one of the most 
significant days in his life, forever etched in his 
photographic memory "... when you walked into my 
office, bringing so much light and beauty with you that 
you scared the hell out of me, making me want to kick 
you out of the office because you dragged me from that 
familiar darkness that had surrounded me for so long 
and that was so well-known to me ..." He let go of her 
face and felt her pressing herself closer to him. He 
smiled before he continued "...I had forgotten what it 
was like to trust a person and to see the world as a 
beautiful, wonderful, light place. But you know, your 
cool, scientific answers to my weird questions, meant to 
scare the hell out of you, made me feel a way I hadn't 
felt since ... well ... a long time ago, and after only a few 
minutes I already knew that you, the spy you were ..."
	"Was not", she said and looked at him, defying 
him to contradict her.
	"Oh yes, you were!" Mulder smiled and he was 
glad that Scully had to smile as well, even though it was 
hardly visible. "You were a gorgeous spy, sent to drive 
me so out of my mind with lust and desire that I would 
never be able to uncover all those fiendish conspiracies 
surrounding us!" 
	Scully laughed through her tears. Then she 
remembered he was trying to tell her something.
	"Are you going to finish you sentence or ..."
	"I don't think I am ...", Mulder said. "I don't 
think that, whatever I wanted to say, is still important 
..."
	And as Scully closed her eyes and curled up in 
his embrace there was only one thing left she wondered 
about aloud:
	"I'm so lucky, so incredibly lucky to be your 
friend, Mulder. What have I ever done that was good 
enough to deserve your affection and your friendship?"
	Having her eyes closed, she failed to see the 
reaction her words caused. That she didn't deserve him? 
That she was lucky? Hell, how was he supposed to feel 
then? He looked at her and saw and felt her fall asleep 
slowly. He kissed her hair and as he held her tight he 
shut his eyes. He was never going to let her go! 
Wherever she was going, he was going with her! He and 
Scully belonged together, they were made for each other 
and when they were apart everything was wrong. He 
didn't have a single doubt that she was his guardian 
angel. Was he hers? Probably not, but he sure hoped she 
saw him trying ... With this thought he too fell asleep.

XxXxX

Chapter 12

Cell 857, nuclear power station no 421066
Komlo, Hungary
04th March

	THE NEXT DAY THE men returned. And once again 
they took Scully. But right now they didn't grant Mulder 
the comfort of unconsciousness, but instead tied him to 
the plank bed and let him become furious as they took 
Scully with them. Then they untied him, he was unable 
to do anything about the situation after all ...
	'Take her to God knows what place, to do God 
knows what to her!' he thought. Why her and not him? 
He was the guilty one, wasn't he? He was always to 
blame ... Why did they take her? Because she was a 
woman? Because she'd probably succumb much quicker 
than he? Or was it just that? To watch her collapse 
before his very eyes? That she would die in his arms? 
No! She wasn't going to die! His Scully never gave up! 
She never had! And neither had he. Before it would ever 
come to that point they would escape! He bit his bottom 
lip and decided to spend the remainder of the day 
finding a way out of this.
	But when Scully was returned to the cell, in the 
same horrible condition as the night before, he hadn't 
found a solution.
	And the next five days weren't much more 
successful ...

09th March

	Today was the seventh day of their detention and 
Mulder was sitting in the cell, scared and lonely. He was 
waiting. For Scully. If she'd come back ...
	In these last few days the guards had 
systematically destroyed her, sapped every little bit of 
resistance and had made Scully, the proud, independent 
woman he knew and, he admitted it, loved, into a 
broken, vulnerable creature. Outwardly she was still 
Dana Scully, but even her strong personality was gone. 
Destroyed beyond repair.
	'My God', he thought, 'She doesn't deserve all 
this!'. He caught himself silently hoping it would all be 
over soon. Not for him, he couldn't do without her. She 
was the air he breathed, the impulse that made his heart 
beat. She was his whole life and a little more. But he 
hoped it for her.
	Then his thoughts were interrupted by the door 
opening. And as Scully was thrown inside and the door 
slammed shut, the thought flashed through him that he 
hadn't really expected her back. That she would have 
been dead before he'd see her that evening. But she 
wasn't dead! She was still with him!
	He knelt down beside her and lifted her up, 
careful not to touch her left hand. They had broken her 
left hand-fingers one by one and he knew how painful 
broken fingers were. She was so light, she weighed 
almost nothing ...
	She was like a rag doll in his arms as he carried 
her to the plank bed and placed her on it. Then he sat 
down beside her and wiped strands of hair from her face. 
Her hair was dirty with sweat and blood and it sticked 
onto her face, but he didn't care.
	"Scully?" he said softly. He caressed her face, 
carefully avoiding the wounds on her face.
	Then she started to cough and immediately her 
body doubled up with the pain that shot through her 
body.
	"Shh, Scully ... You're safe here, nothing will 
happen to you here ..." Mulder said softly as he used his 
sleeve to wipe the blood from her mouth.
	She didn't open her eyes, but like a small animal 
started to weep, desperately seeking a little affection and 
warmth.
	Scully wanted to reach out to the voice that 
promised her the peace she longed for so much. But she 
couldn't. She didn't have the strength anymore. She felt 
tears running down her cheek, the salt burning in the 
wounds on her face. Then she felt strong arms holding 
her, arms that didn't hurt her like those other arms, but 
arms that comforted her, warmed her, made her feel 
human again. God, she was so tired!
	"Mulder ...", she sighed and tried to open her 
eyes. It hurt terribly but she wanted to see him. She 
wanted to see the man who could give her life so much 
meaning. Who could give her back her dignity. Without 
any hidden motives or  anything. Just because he ... 
loved her? Did Mulder love her? She knew she loved 
him, but did he ... She had never felt so tired. She 
wanted to sleep. Sleep long. Sleep until her body had 
healed and ... Oh well, she didn't really know. Her body 
hurt so much. She had never known that so much pain 
was possible. She wanted to sleep until this pain was 
over. Could she? Sleep until all the pain had gone? Even 
with so much pain? Oh, Mulder ... she longed for him, 
for his affection. Maybe then she'd be able to sleep. In 
his arms. Mm, yes, if there was any chance of her 
sleeping it was in his arms. Dammit, she had to stop 
moving so much, had they really broken every bone in 
her body? Mulder ...
	He saw her face twitch a little as he held her close 
and he slightly loosened the embrace. He could see it 
was hurting her when he held her so tight, something he 
really didn't want. He didn't want to hurt her. She was 
in so much pain already, she really didn't need this on 
top of it all.
	Scully uttered a weeping sound when she felt 
Mulder's arms letting her go a little.
	"Mulder ... hold me. Please ..." she cried. She 
couldn't do without him, she had so little left in herself, 
didn't he understand she needed him?
	"Scully, it hurts. I saw it and I don't want that."
	"Mulder, they've broken every single bone in my 
body, they beat me up until I thought I was going to die. 
Every day I thought I was going to die, because I didn't 
think I could bear more. They tortured me beyond 
comprehension. I'm hurting all over, but I need you. 
Please ... hold me. Hold me close, I want to feel you. I 
can't do it myself anymore ... do it for me. Will you do 
that, Mulder?"
	She had her eyes open and looked at him. Mulder 
smiled at her, but inwardly he thought he was dying at 
seeing her eyes. These eyes, these blue eyes weren't 
what they had always been, he suddenly realised. These 
eyes were dead. He was looking in Death's eyes. 
Scully's body was still alive, but her eyes had died. He 
forced himself not to show it.
	"I'm so cold, Mulder ...", she sighed. She had 
closed her eyes. It hurt a little less like that. She found it 
hard to imagine, to remember what it was like not to be 
in constant pain.
	No pain. Feeling nothing, capable to do 
everything. That was what she wanted, no more pain, no 
pain at all. Death. When she was dead, the pain would 
be gone too ... She smiled to herself. Death, no more 
pain, no hunger, no thirst, no cold. Mm. No more pain, 
she'd no longer be tired, she'd be able to sleep forever, 
sleep until all pain had vanished. Sleep without pain. 
She longed to sleep. Did she want to die? She didn't 
want to die! She wanted to stay with Mulder, she loved 
him, she wanted ... God, no more pain! If she was dead 
all pain would be gone forever. Death, relief, Melissa, 
Ahab, death. Mulder? Mulder! Live! Live? Pain, 
suffering, torture, death. Missy, Ahab. Oh, Ahab ...
	"Ahab, wait for me! Missy! Don't go! Take me 
with you!" she whispered as she held her hands out, her 
eyes opened, seeing something Mulder never saw.
	His heart stopped at hearing these words. The 
heart-felt longing in her voice tore right through his soul 
and brought tears to his eyes.
	"Dana?" he said softly, trying to hide the sadness 
that filled his voice.
	"Fox ...", she sighed. She felt exhausted and sad. 
Then, very slowly, she made up her mind. It was a 
decision that tore her heart apart, but even so it became 
more and more appealing every time she thought about 
it.
	She opened her eyes and with her right hand she 
took the front of his jacket. Her eyes were full and alive 
again.
	"Mulder?" she started, her voice stronger than it 
had ever sounded in the past 48 hours. "Will you do 
something for me?"
	"Anything, Scully. I'll do everything for you."
	"No", she said and her eyes became shiny with 
tears. "What I'm going to ask you is something you'll 
never do. But still I feel I have to ask you."
	"Scully, cut the crap. I said I'll do everything for 
you and that's what I'll do!"
	"Promised?"
	"Promised!"
	Scully took a deep breath and opened her mouth 
to say something, but hesitated. Mulder wondered why. 
Surely it couldn't be that bad? But it was. It was the end 
of his world. It was the total collapse of the universe.
	"Mulder, finish the job for them. Kill me ..."
	She saw a colour drain from his face. She had 
expected this and she wished so much that she never 
would have felt the need to say this.
	"S-Scully, no ..." he faltered. He had to try his 
hardest to keep her in his arms. Right now he didn't trust 
his own body anymore.
	"Mulder, please. I beg you!"
	Mulder had expected all kinds of emotions - 
dismay, grief, maybe even resignation, he didn't know - 
at hearing these words, spoken so clearly by the only 
person on earth he'd never be able to kill, but the 
emotion that washed over him right now was 
unexpected and it surprised him: he became furious.
	"Goddammit, Scully! Are you out of your bloody 
mind? What the hell do you think you're doing, who do 
you think you are, asking me something like that? You 
don't honestly believe for so much as one second that 
I'd even consider killing you, do you?" Disgusted, he 
turned his face away from her look.
	"Mulder ..." she said softly and she softly stroked 
his cheek with her right hand. "Mulder, I know how you 
feel, and I know I'm asking the impossible, but ..."
	'Dammit, Mulder, look at me!' she thought.
	He had his eyes closed as he turned his face 
towards hers. He didn't dare to look at her, he wasn't 
sure what he'd do. The soft caress of her hand on his 
cheek made the anger in him go away and deep, intense 
grief replaced it.
	"Oh, Mulder ...", she sighed, seeing him so close 
to tears. "... I wish I'd never have to ask you all this ... 
but ... Mulder look at me!" she made him look at her.
	"... but I can't endure another day like the past 
seven days!"
	"I know that, Scully, it's just that ..."
	Oh God, didn't she understand that he'd never be 
able to kill her? Why did she ask him that? She couldn't 
ask this of him ... Could she ...?
	"Mulder, they'll come for me again tomorrow 
and they'll go on right where they stopped and ... 
Mulder, I will die there! I'm going to die there!" Tears 
were running freely over her cheeks and as Mulder saw 
it, the only thing he could do was to hide his face against 
her shoulder and cry. He felt her hand stroke his back as 
he held her, he heard her voice, soft and immensely 
sorrowful, speaking words of a terrifying future that was 
no future at all. 
	"I will die and nobody present will care about it! 
Mulder, I don't want to die there! I want to be with you 
when I'm dying, I want to feel you when it happens! I 
want you to hold me, comfort me, it will hurt, I will be 
so scared! I'm already scared, Mulder, I don't want to 
die! There's so much that I want to do, that I have to do, 
that we both have to do!"
	Mulder felt her wasted body shake with sobs and 
he held her tight. Whilst holding her like that he heard 
the sobs change into a convulsive coughing-fit. When it 
was over, she lay in his arms for a minute, completely 
exhausted. He wiped away the blood she had coughed 
up with his sleeve and removed a few strands of hair 
from her eyes. She didn't seem to notice ...
	"I don't want to die, Mulder, I don't want to die! I 
want to stay with you!" she whispered. With the 
indexfinger and middle finger of her right hand she 
softly wiped away a few tears from his face and said:
	"I will return tomorrow night! I will be strong, I 
will not give up! We're not ready yet, I'm not ready yet, 
ready to go!"
	He smiled at hearing this unexpected 
determination in her voice. Still he had some doubts.
	"But what if you don't survive the torture 
tomorrow, Scully? Or what if ..." for that was another 
way of losing her he realised " ... if I wake up tomorrow 
morning and you're gone?"
	"In that case, Mulder, I'll wait for you! I'll wait 
for you anyway. And I'll watch over you, I'll be there 
for you, always!
	"I'll let you know what I wanted to tell you, 
Mulder, and then you'll be able to carry on with your 
life. Go back to DC, go back to the X-Files. Don't give 
up on the X-Files, Mulder! Never! They're much too 
important, there's too much in it that people have to 
know. And find Samantha, Mulder. Find her for me. I'm 
so certain that eventually you'll find her, alive, and 
when you've found her ... tell her that, even though I 
was never intended to be your partner to help you, that I 
always believed in you and that I will keep believing in 
you forever. I'll believe in you and I'll watch out for 
you. Watch over you and over your wife and children 
and I'll be there when you're coming, too."
	"Wife and children, Scully? What makes you 
think I'd want those?" he said, his voice low. He knew 
who he wanted and that was impossible. How could he 
ever want somebody else?
	"You deserve a good wife, Mulder. And children. 
They'll give you so much more happiness than I'd ever 
be able to offer you. You deserve a family, a wife who 
loves you. But Mulder, promise me that, even when 
you're married and happy, that there will always be a 
small part of you that's all mine. That you'll never 
forget me completely. Will you promise that, Mulder?" 
She looked at him, begging him to promise her that.
	'Scully, you're the only one I ever wanted to 
marry, don't you understand?' he thought. 'Don't you 
know that there's no woman on earth who can compare 
with all the wonderful things that make you so special, 
so precious to me?' But he answered:
	"I'll never forget you. I love you and I'll love you 
forever. And ... I'm not sure whether I'll ever get 
married, for ... I'll never find another woman whom I 
can love and trust the way I love and trust you. With my 
life, my love, and my heart. You keep me from plunging 
head-long into insanity and if nothing else that would be 
enough to be forever in debt with you already. You've 
done so much for me that ... that ... I don't know ... I ..." 
He didn't know how to finish, but he saw that he didn't 
have to.
	"Mm, that was exactly the answer I was hoping to 
hear, Mulder!" she said and smiled. An unexpectedly 
cheeky look appeared in her eyes with these words. He 
stroked her hair and her face as she leaned her face 
against his chest and enjoyed his warmth. Her eyes were 
a little drowsy and her voice was soft and sweet as she 
said:
	"I feel so good ... That fit of coughing tired me a 
little, I think I could sleep now. But don't leave me, 
Mulder. I like you being here with me."
	"Sleep, Scully. I'll watch over you, just as I trust 
you to watch over me. You'll be safe here."
	"I love you, Mulder. Thanks for everything ..."

	MULDER SOFTLY HELD HER head to his chest and 
smiled as he looked at her and saw her falling asleep, a 
smile curving her lips. He placed a soft, sweet kiss on 
her hair and closed his eyes. Scully, his Scully. Proud, 
beautiful, and she loved him. His Scully ...

	NEXT MORNING THE GUARDS entered the cell to 
take Scully and found the two agents in each other's 
arms on the plank bed in the cell. Mulder was asleep and 
Scully was -- dead.

XxXxX

Chapter 13
Resurgam

Cell 857, nuclear power station no 421066
Komlo, Hungary
10th March

	THE GUARDS HADN'T BEEN impressed by what 
had happened. They had merely shrugged and then they 
had taken Scully's life-less body, leaving Mulder cold 
and lonely.
	He still couldn't comprehend what was going on. 
He was just sitting on the plank bed, his hands in his lap, 
staring at the rough floor but seeing nothing. His 
thoughts were chaos, his brain switched off.
	'Scully is dead. Scully is dead. She'll never come 
back', it said in his head. 'I'll never see her again. She's 
dead.'
	"Oh, my God! Scully!! You are really dead!!" It 
slapped him in the face. He looked up with a start and 
failed to notice that his hands were holding onto the 
plank bed, the knuckles of his hands white.
	Then he let go very slowly and rose from the bed. 
He walked slowly towards the door. His thoughts stood 
still, only three horrible words were powerful to break 
through the chaos in his mind:
	'They killed her!'
	Standing at the door he placed his hands on the 
wood of the door and closed his eyes. His fingers 
curved, his nails scratching the warm wood as he slowly 
knelt down, hot tears rolling down his face.
	He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, 
on his knees, hands covering his face, tears running from 
under his fingers, but then a soft little sound behind him 
made him look around. He blinked the tears from his 
eyes and tried to focus.
	Maybe it had only been his imagination. After all, 
how on earth could he have heard this soft jingling? He 
didn't care. For what was on the ground, glittering in the 
soft, filtered sunlight made him feel so good: a gold 
sparkling on the dark, cold floor. He got up and walked 
towards it. Then he kneeled down and picked it up. He 
smiled. It was the necklace he had bought for her at the 
beginning of this investigation. Her necklace. Their 
guardian angel.
	He closed his fingers around the little pendant, 
the necklace in his other hand. Then he folded his hand 
around the hand holding the pendant and as he was 
sitting on his knees, looking at the little window high up 
in the wall of the cell, he thought smiling:
	'You were right, Scully. You were right again! 
I'll never see you again, but you're with me. Always! 
Whatever is going to happen, I'll never have to give up, 
for I know you're close. Watching my back the way 
you've done that for so many wonderful years, 
protecting me from everyone and everything, including 
myself. I won't need a new partner, Scully, for I'll know 
you next to me. To support me when I need it. And to 
kick my ass when I deserve it!" he added and laughed as 
he looked at the pendant.
	And maybe, if he hadn't been so lost in thoughts, 
he might have seen the faint shimmer of light in the 
corner of the cell.

	'THIS IS HELL!' HE thought as he lay on the plank 
bed four days later, exhausted and in agony. Sleep was 
impossible. He had never thought such intense pain was 
possible.
	'So this is what Scully had to go through', he 
thought, 'and worse'. God ...
	The day they had found Scully dead in his arms 
they had changed their attention from her to him. And 
made it very clear to him. It was four days later now and 
they had destroyed him systematically. He was 
exhausted, his initial resistance was broken. His body 
was ruined, beaten up by this never-ending torture.
	Had he really deserved this? Had Scully deserved 
this? No, she hadn't, he was certain of that. He wasn't 
too sure about himself, he wasn't all that religious, and 
he knew he had done enough to deserve some kind of 
punishment, but so much? No, God couldn't be like that. 
Scully had told him about her faith, she believed God 
was good. Wasn't He? He wanted to believe. In Scully. 
In her faith, in what she believed.
	Why were they tortured like this? They'd told 
him that Scully and he were accomplices. To what? To 
whom? Krycek? If he was here, this was hell ... Just 
accomplices? And that was enough for this?
	It must be about midnight. A few hours of rest 
before they'd come back again. And go on with 
whatever they had thought up during the night ...
	Oh God, he couldn't! He was exhausted, he 
longed for peace, sleep. The pain was so horrible. So all-
consuming! He needed somebody for some comfort. He 
knew who he wanted, he wanted her, Scully, Dana 
Scully. He wanted to feel her, feel her strong arms 
around her, see her beautiful heart-shaped face, hear her 
voice. The voice that seemed to heal all injuries like a 
divine miracle. He felt tears on his face. He'd never 
cried so much in his life as he had in these past two 
weeks. But he didn't care. Not anymore.
	It took a lot of effort to turn his head so he could 
look out of the window and saw how the sun started to 
rise very slowly. A new day. The fifth day. God, no ...

15th March

	MULDER KNEW NOTHING AS he was in the same 
room he had been in four times earlier. He had stopped 
thinking, he blocked out his thoughts and feelings, let 
them have it their way ...
	He wondered how long he'd be able to persevere. 
Seven days, just like Scully? He didn't think so, she'd 
always been stronger than he.
	Scully.
	His Scully.
	She was waiting for him. She watched over him. 
Right now. He wondered where she was. He felt her 
presence, but he couldn't see her. He could still hear her 
saying that she didn't want to die. That she wanted to 
stay with him.
	She had longed for death, for the peace the 
neverending sleep would offer her. She had longed to 
see her father and sister again. And still she didn't want 
to die, because she wanted to be with him.
	Was that the reason that he did want to die 
himself? To be with her? Death. Rest, peace, Scully. 
Little Starbuck, her father had been so proud of her, 
even though she had always believed her parents 
disapproved of her joining the FBI. But he knew how 
they had secretly been immensely proud of their 
brilliant, beautiful daughter, her mother had told him 
that so often ...
	Was Scully here? Yes, he could feel her. He felt 
her, felt her small hand on his forehead as the rest of his 
body was being destroyed, telling him it wouldn't be 
long now. A cool, comforting, soothing hand. She was 
there. For him. In the room. Thank God ...
	"Mulder"
	Cold shivers ran down his spine and his heart 
momentarily stopped. That voice, he knew it so well! A 
voice he'd be able to pick from a million other voices.
	"Scully?" he whispered. He couldn't speak aloud 
anymore, his voice was gone. But he knew she could 
hear him, even though he only whispered.
	He slowly opened his eyes and felt his heart stop 
in his chest.
	"Hi, Mulder", he heard her voice, friendly and 
soft. The voice had an enchanting effect on his battered 
nerves. And this voice was only the beginning for he 
saw her. He could see her!
	Her hair was like liquid gold and she was wearing 
that beautiful rust-coloured dress. He had thought her so 
gorgeous when she had been wearing it, just weeks 
before. But this was all so unimportant compared to her 
face, a beautiful smile curving her full lips, eyes shining 
love, it gave her a supernatural beauty. She was no 
longer injured, she was so unbelievably beautiful to him.
	He closed his eyes. He wished he'd been able to 
look at her forever, but the light in the room hurt too 
much.
	"Scully ...?" he sighed.
	"Yes, Mulder?" she answered, mere inches away 
from him.
	"Scully, take me with you. I want to be with you, 
I don't want this anymore, the pain is so unbearable, I'm 
terrified! Take me with you, Scully!"
	He opened his eyes and looked up at her peaceful, 
beautiful face. But now she frowned.
	"Are you sure, Mulder?" she asked. Only now did 
he notice that her lips didn't move as she spoke. Their 
conversation appeared to go telepatically. "Are you 
really sure you want to go with me?"
	"Yes, Scully", he answered. "I know what I want. 
I want you, I want to go with you, believe me."
	"As always, Mulder" she said. "You know, I'll be 
so glad to have you with me again and ..."
	She didn't continue immediately, but bended over 
him, her lips close to his. He shivered, this was cold ...
	"...I love you", she whispered. "Forever."
	"That's a heck of a long time, Scully!" Mulder 
quiped. He heard her chuckle and she sounded amused 
as she said:
	"No problem, Mulder. I know how to solve that 
..."
	"I love you", was all he said before he closed his 
eyes.
	For a moment she looked at him with eyes full of 
grief and deep, fierce love. Then she reached out her 
hands.
	He felt an ice-cold hand on his forehead and a 
second ice-cold hand on his chest, right over his heart. 
The hand seemed to penetrate his chest, through flesh, 
veins, muscles, nerves, and bones, covering his heart. 
His head jerked back in a cramp as she pressed her lips 
on his, her touch urging his lips slightly apart, making 
him breathe in death, breathe out life until all life was 
drained from him.
	But it wasn't unpleasant. She carried out her 
morbid task softly and lovingly, very careful not to hurt 
him more than was necessary. And he knew it.
	'Typical', he thought and chuckled weakly. 'The 
first kiss Scully and I ever share is doomed to be a 'Kiss 
of Death', this is so typical!'
	Then he smiled, took her hand and felt himself 
slip out of his body, quietly and slowly drifting away 
into the soft, strong arms of the neverending sleep. 
Forever together with Dana Scully.

	"No, I'm not afraid to die. For she watches over 
me. She. My guardian angel." 

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