Title: Safe Harbor XV Author: shawntaw Category: MSR, Mulder/Scully/Skinner friendship, ProfilingMulder Rating: PG Disclaimer: I don't own the x-files characters. I think we may have established that by now, don't you? The fact that I don't have any money and am making no money from this has, unfortunately, been established as well. *L* Summary: Mulder is swiftly running out of time as Scully and Skinner race to save him... Feedback makes me very happy at shawntaw@hotmail.com :) DEDICATION: To my friend, Karan. :) She inspires me and is one of my best friends. Thanks!:) AND, OF COURSE, TO DANI WHO HAS MADE A WEBSITE OF MY STORIES: www.geocities.com/corran_14776/shawntaw.html Thank you.:) *********************************************************** Scully was standing impatiently at Skinner's elbow. "What do you see? What?" "Well, ol' Earl likes flowery, frilly decorations," Skinner leaned back from the window and dusted himself off, "Either he is very in touch with his feminine side, or Earl's got a woman living with him." "I say let's go in," Scully said. The superintendent, who had been standing silently a few feet away, piped up. "Mr. Green doesn't have a woman living with him as far as I know, but if you need in, I have a key." Scully and Skinner looked at one another. The probable cause they had for entering and searching Earl Green's residence was skimpy, at best. They came to a silent decision. "Yes, we'd like in," Skinner said to the superintendent. It was the only lead they had. The three of them walked around the apartment and the super keyed them in. *********************************************************************** It was late afternoon now. 'Earl' hadn't gone to work today; he'd called in sick. Arlene sat on her porch, watching the shifting shadows as time passed. She thought about the man dying in her basement. *Well, I've been in this situation once before. At least I'll know better than to give him water this time to prolong it.* She knew the time was getting close. There was, of course, only one thing to be done. ************************************************************************ Mulder's eyes opened. He felt lethargic. His tongue kept sticking to the roof of his mouth and it hurt to swallow. The pain in his stomach had gone away. His Scully still sat beside him, smiling her gentle smile. *I'm coming* he heard her voice *I'm coming* Mulder felt certain that it would be too late, so, he tried desperately to say goodbye. "Scuh-" he coughed and tried to swallow. Mulder moaned in pain. His Scully shook her head with a concerned frown *Rest now. Rest.* *I'm coming* her soft voice smoothed his furrowed brow *I'm coming* *************************************************************************** If a person didn't bother to look in the bedroom, Earl's apartment looked like any regular bachelor's apartment. Only, once the bedroom door was opened, it became obvious that all was not what it seemed with Earl. "Is there a girlfriend?" Skinner was asking the super as Scully dug through Earl's chest of drawers. She found a drawer of frilly panties and bras. There were also several wide bandages in the drawer. She closed the drawer as Skinner and the super talked and opened the next one. Nightgowns. "I hesitate to mention it, because she doesn't live here, but Mr. Green does have a twin sister," the super volunteered. Skinner and Scully both stared at him. "That wasn't in his personal info," Scully finally said to Skinner. "Nice lady," the super said, "comes by and takes care of the place when he's out of town or runs errands for him. Stuff like that." Scully and Skinner looked at one another again. Both had the same suspicion, but neither wanted to voice it yet. She turned back to digging through drawers. "How well do you know this sister, sir?" Skinner was saying. Scully opened the bottom drawer. It was filled with papers. She began shuffling through them. "Is her name Arlene?" Scully said abruptly, interrupting the two men. "Yes, I believe it is. Why?" "We got her, sir. We got her," Scully held up a formal-looking document. It was the title to a small house and a piece of land outside of town under the name Arlene Green. It had been recently paid off. Scully resisted the urge to yell, "YES!", and stuffed the document in her pocket. ************************************************************************* Arlene sat on the edge of her bed, looking out the window and watching the sun go down. She reached in between the mattresses and pulled out the gun there. Gently placing the gun on the bed, she pattered over to the chest of drawers and pulled open the top drawer. Withdrawing the box of bullets there, she returned to her perch on the bed and began loading bullets, slowly, one by one. Soon she would do what needed to be done. ************************************************************************* Scully and Skinner raced through the rapidly fading sunlight with a crinkled map, bumping along dirt roads and stopping now and then to stare at faded signs. "Damn! I think we should have gone left back there, sir." Skinner started to look for a place to turn around when he did a double-take at a faded sign as they passed it. "I think you're wrong, Scully. The sign back there said 14702. Isn't that-" "Yes! Yes it is! Turn around quick!" Scully yelled as Skinner practically did a full 180 degree turn in the middle of the narrow dirt road. Scully clutched the dashboard, but said nothing. They needed to get there as fast as they could. **************************************************************************** Arlene caressed the loaded gun in her lap. *The sunset is beautiful this evening. I almost wish Mulder could see it. It would be a small apology for my actions.* She sighed as the sun continued to slip away. **************************************************************************** Mulder had passed into unconciousness. In his fertile mind, he sat in a white room on a white chair, dressed in a white hospital gown. The gown was too short and he kept trying to tug it down over his knees. To his shock, his Scully appeared in a chair next to him. Mulder smiled. "Scully, what are you doing here? Actually, while you're at it, what am I doing here?" His Scully folded her arms across her chest. "This is your vision of Heaven, Mulder. My guess is that you couldn't imagine what it must be like. That's why all the white. And it obviously makes you feel very vulnerable," she gestured at the gown he wore. "But it is nice to know that you think being with me is Heaven," she smiled a big, genuine grin. "So far, I like your subconcious," she joked. He grinned back and looked around at the white room. *What else would be in his imagined Heaven?* His Scully placed a letter in his lap. "It's from your sister," she said, "she wants you to know that she's in a better place and that she doesn't blame you for anything that has happened." Mulder turned the letter over and over in his hands. He looked up at his Scully. "Really?" She looked back at him, seriously. "Really." To his right appeared a small table with what looked like a large stack of books on it. Upon closer inspection, he found that the large volumes stacked on the table were lists. Lists of the good he'd done in his life and lists of the bad. The largest ones were not the ones he expected. Mulder turned again to look at his Scully. "I love you, you know," he told her, even though he was faintly aware he was only talking to a vision of Scully. "I know. I love you, too, Mulder," she said with a smile and leaned over to give him a light kiss on his lips. "It won't be long now," she said, cryptically. **************************************************************************** As Skinner sped along over the darkening, dusty road, Scully tried her new theory out on him. "..so, I think the original profile was actually right. The killer is a woman, living as a man." "You're saying that Earl dresses as a woman?" "No, no, I'm saying Arlene dresses as Earl. She lives as a man. But she must kill them as herself. At least, I'm guessing that from the cologne that was on the third victim's clothes and from the smell of it on the female trappings in 'Earl's' bedroom at the apartment." Skinner chanced glancing away from the road at her. "That's a thin thread to follow, Scully." Her jaw tightened in the half-light. "Not really, sir. The cologne is the connection. And, whoever 'Earl' is, there still is no alibi for the night of Mulder's abduction." "You know, I thought maybe Earl was a cross-dresser when we found all of those women's clothes and the bandages. Some of the lady perps we picked up on some of my early busts with the bureau used to use those to bind their breasts so they could disguise themselves as men," Skinner commented. "Actually, that's what made it finally fall together for me. That and the comments about the 'twin sister.' " Scully agreed. They both fell silent as a ramshackle farmhouse appeared in the dim distance. ************************************************************************** Arlene got up from the bed as the edge of the sun disappeared from the horizon. Usually, by her routine, this night was for the sacrifice and the next day was for the cleansing. She had spent her birthday for the last few years dumping the bodies, scrubbing the basement, and washing her jeans. She walked to the heavy wooden door and lifted the plank blocking it. She paused as she opened it to admire the expensive sound-proofing she'd installed in preparation for her father's, and the world's, punishment. Leaving the door ajar, she stepped into the almost pitch blackness of the basement and began to descend the stairs. Arlene stared at her 'lamb' as she approached him. He looked perfect. How could she have been so mistaken? She paused and watched for movement before she approached. There was none. Arlene knelt beside him and took his head into her lap. Looking down into his pained face, she stroked his cheek with one hand and cocked the gun with the other. *Last one....no more mistakes....must get it right...the only solution...* She apologized to Mulder as she bent over him and squeezed the trigger. ************************************************************************** Still typing...You ever get inspired and just can't stop? That is what has happened here....This will be done by tomorrow...just wanted to post what I had so far and knew this would be a good cliffhanger!