Scully pushes her way out of the crowed elevator and rushes towards Skinner’s office. Mulder meets her at the door.
“Where have you been?” He asks her and then notices that the left side of her cheek is severely bruised and her lip has a little dab of blood on it from a fresh cut on her lower lip. A look of concern appears on Mulder’s face. He touches Scully’s bruised cheek gently. “Scully, what happen to you?”
“Mulder, please lets not talk about this now.”
          Skinner hears Scully’s voice and burst out through the front door of his office, before even looking at her he starts to yell. “Agent Scully where have you been. You’ve been keeping me and many Agents waiting for a whole hour!” He then looks up at her and notices that she is wearing a pair of dark tinted sunglasses. “Agent Scully what’s going on here?” He walks closer to her and sees her bruised cheek and cut lip. “What the hell happen to you?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Mulder says and slowly takes off her sunglasses. They both gasp when they see Scully’s black eye. Mulder places his hand on her shoulder. “Scully?” He looks at her questionably. She takes a deep breath and begins to talk.  “I got car jacked before coming over here. They caught me by surprise and before I could grab for my gun they had my face slammed up against the concrete.” A tear gleams in her eyes and she quickly grabs her sunglasses back from Mulder’s hand and puts them back on. ”Mulder, they stole my car, my purse it had all my credit cards in it.”
“I’m just glad your okay.” He hugs her in front of the door for Skinner and all the Agents in the room to see. Scully hugs him back quickly, a little surprised at his open show of affection towards her.  She pulls away from him a little embarrassed but feeling guilty for doing so.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, Agent Scully if you’re not feeling up to it I can postpone the meeting until later this evening,” Skinner says.
“No,” Scully says quickly. “I’m fine and it must be pretty import if you called this many Agents in on one case.” She peers into the room.
“Okay well then lets get started.” Skinner walks into his office.  Mulder puts his hand on the small of Scully’s back and guides her into the room.
“Well, its about time Agent Scully,” one of the agents says to her sarcastically.
“Hey, she has good reason for being late,” Mulder says, sticking up for her.
“Don’t we all,” the other agent replies.
“She was car jacked you insensitive prick. Just look at her face!” Scully places her hand on Mulder’s shoulder.
“Mulder, it’s okay calm down.”
“No Scully this guy is an ass!” Skinner steps in and intervenes.
“Can we all just act like adults here! We have more important things that we need to be discussing. If you all will just take a seat we can get started.”
Mulder looks at Scully and notices that her lip is bleeding. “Ahhh Scully your lip.” Scully touches her lip and then looks at the blood on her finger.
“Does someone have tissue?” Mulder asks a little frantic.
“God, Agent Mulder she isn’t going to die,” the other agent says. Mulder ignores his sarcastic remark and grabs for a Kleenex on Skinner’s desk. He starts to dab Scully’s lip with it and she pulls the Kleenex away from him.
“I can do it Mulder.” A few of the Agents in the room snicker and everybody sits down.
“If everyone is ready I’d like to start this meeting,” Skinner says.
“Yeah, it’s about time!”
“That’s enough Agent Kiezer.” Skinner looks over at Scully.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine, please just start the meeting.”
“Okay well you are all probably curious as to the nature of this case since I called such a large number of Agents in to work on this case. Ten pairs in all. You are all probably aware that the amount of kidnapping has gone up twenty percent in the last year. What you may not know is that ten percent of those kidnappings have taken place in a town a few miles out of Boulder Colorado.
“I’m sorry Sir, but ten percent?” Scully asks him. “That just doesn’t seem possible.”
“Half the children in that town have disappeared from their beds over the past two years. The FBI is finally being called to look into it. That is why I have called you all here. There is a cave near the small town that many witnesses have spotted a man coming in and out of it every few days. And one eyewitness said she swore she saw him go into the cave with a child and then come out the next day without the child. They’ve sent local police officers in there with a few people from the National Park Service but they went in and never came out. They sent in a few more of their men to look for them but they never came out as well.”
A few of the Agents sigh knowing what Skinner is going to say next.
“You guys are twenty of my best Agents and if anyone can find out what’s going on here you can.”
“Let me get this straight,” Agent Kiezer says. “You want us to go into this cave, the same cave that police officers and the children disappeared in, and find them? What makes you think that we will be able to find them? What makes you so sure that we won’t disappear as well?”
“What are you afraid Agent Kiezer?” Mulder replies. Scully gives him a nudge to try and keep him from saying anything more.
“Fine Agent Kiezer if you don’t want in I can get someone else.”
Kiezer gives Mulder a dirty look. “No, I’ll do it.” Mulder rolls his eyes.
“Great,” he says under his breath. “We are going to be stuck with this guy the whole time.” Scully hears him and gives him a look.
“Of course Agent Scully if you wish to opt out of this assignment in light of the circumstances that’s understandable. Mulder will be fine on his own.”
Agent Kiezer snickers. “Are you kidding? He can’t go anywhere without her.” Mulder starts to stand up. Scully senses that Mulder is about to do something rash and she reaches for his hand under the table. He grabs onto her hand and settles back into his chair.
“No Sir I’m up for this case. How soon do you need us all there?”
“I’d like you there no later then tomorrow afternoon. I’ve got everything all arranged.” He starts to hand out the plane tickets. “I have arranged for you to meet up with a team from the National Park Service and a few Speleologists. You won’t be in any danger of getting lost. He finishes passing out the tickets and sits back down in his chair. I’ll expect that one of you call me everyday with progress reports of the days events. Oh and I almost forgot here is a map of where the cave is. There will be a tour guide standing by at the airport when you arrive. Okay that’s it Agents you may go. Everyone gets up and walks out of the office. Mulder pulls Scully over to a secluded corner in the hall.
“Mulder what was with you in there?! You were acting like I was dying or something.” Mulder looks at her a little hurt by what she just said.
“Scully I was just concerned. What did I embarrass you in there? Is that it?”
“No, Mulder I’m sorry I’m just feeling really angry right now! I’m getting so fed up with all the hatred in the world and it feels like the good guys never win.”
“I know it might not feel like it but a lot of times we do prevail over evil.” Scully rolls her eyes and says in a sarcastic tone, “Yeah well not today.”
“Have the police found your car yet?”
“No and I don’t think they’re going to either.” She starts to walk off towards the elevator.
“Where are you going?!” Mulder yells after her.
“Home! I’ll see you tomorrow at the airport. I want to catch this son of bitch!” A few people turn around and look at Scully. Mulder quickly walks up to Scully and ushers into the elevator.
“Scully I’ve never seen you so angry before.”
“You don’t think I have a right to be angry?”
“No, you do I just…well you should be happy those bastards didn’t kill you.” The elevator doors open.
“Mulder, I’ll be happy later right now I’m angry.” She walks out of the elevator. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the airport Mulder.”
“How are you going to get there?!”
“I’ll take a cab,” she yells as she walks away from him and into the parking garage.
            The next morning….
         Scully boards the plane and walks up to her seat to see Mulder already sitting there.
“Thought you weren’t going to make it.”
“Sorry I had trouble finding a cab.” She sits down in her seat next to Mulder.
“Hey your eye looks a lot better.”
“Thanks.” She looks around at all the other Agents clad in their FBI jackets.
“Damn I forgot my jacket.” Mulder pulls one out of his bag.
“Here I have an extra one just for you” She smiles and takes it from him.
“Thanks Mulder.”
The Pilot’s voice suddenly comes over the speaker. “If you will please take your seat and buckle your seat belt we will prepare for take off.”
     As soon as the seat belt sign goes off a young boy runs up to the seats where Mulder and Scully are sitting.
“Are you really with the FBI?” He asks with excitement. “Are those real FBI jackets?”
Mulder and Scully smiles.
“Yes we are really FBI Agents,” Scully says.
“Is that why you are beat up?” The boy asks her. Scully’s eyes start to water before she is even aware of it. Mulder notices her sudden change of mood.
“Hey kid why don’t you go over to that pair of Agents of there.” He points to Agent Kiezer and his partner. “I bet if you ask nicely they will show you their badge.”
“Cool!” The kid exclaims and runs off.
“Scully? You okay?” She doesn’t answer him so he nudges her shoulder.
“Hey Scully!”
“Mulder, I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you were okay.”
“No actually I’m not okay.” Mulder is shocked at her candid remark.
 “What that kid said really made me think. I’m always risking my life getting beat up and for what Mulder? Is it because I have this crazy notion that I can actually make this world a better place. Well am I Mulder? Because I just don’t know any more.”
“What are you saying Scully, that you don’t want to continue in this line of work anymore? That it’s not worth it?”
“No Mulder I’m not saying that!” She starts to raise her voice. “You’re not listening to me!”
“Scully I am. I’m just trying to figure out what you are getting at.”
Scully notices the distressed look on Mulder’s cute face. She just wants to kiss him right then because he looks so damn cute. She touches his shoulder instead.
“I’m sorry Mulder, I’m taking my disillusionment with this job out on you. You’re just trying to help and I’m sorry. Look let’s just not talk about it right now and focus on the case. You don’t’ know how bad I want to catch this guy.”
“Oh I think I do.”

      An hour later Scully ends up asleep. Her head is resting on Mulder’s shoulder. He is afraid to move in fear of waking her so he just sits there content on watching her sleep. God she looks like an angel when she sleeps he thinks. A strand of hair is hanging in front of her face and he gently sweeps it behind her ear. Agent Kiezer happens to see this show of affection Mulder is demonstrating towards her and he gives him a thumbs up and smiles. Mulder looks away quickly a little embarrassed.
Agent Kiezer looks at his female partner sitting next to him.
“Hey Percy how come you never fall asleep on my shoulder?” He says to her jokingly.
“What are you talking about?” She says annoyed.
“Look.” He points over to Mulder and Scully. She glances over at them and catches Mulder’s eye and smiles.
“So why don’t you?”
“Because I don’t love you. Everyone in the Bureau knows that they have a thing for each other.”
“What? You mean you think they are sleeping together? God what I would give to sleep with Agent Scully. She’s a babe. What did Mulder do to get so lucky to be paired with her?” His partner jabs him hard in the ribs with her elbow.
“Ow! What’d you do that for?”
“You know damn well why I did that. Why don’t you just keep your mind on the case and off of Agent Scully.” She turns around in a huff and stares out the window.
      Two hours later the plane lands and the Agents all meet up with a team of tour guides. They all drive up to the cave where they are joined by a few Speleologists and a team from the U.S. National Park Service.  One of the men from the park service walks up to Mulder. “Hi I’m Mike, I’ll be one of your guides in the cave.”
“I’m Agent Mulder and this my partner Agent Scully.” They both shake his hand.
    One of the men from the park Service suddenly steps up on the back of his truck and starts to talk.
“Okay listen up Agents. There are some things I’d like to go over before we make our way into the cave.  First off my name is John and I’ll be one of your guides. There are two Speleologists here and four of us guys here from the park service. We are going to split you up. Half will go with Mike our speleologist and me over there, Seth. Seth, raise your hand. The other half will go with John, Rick and Anna. Guys raise your hands so we all know where you’re at.”
      Mulder nudges Scully. “So which team do you want to go with? Oh I don’t care Mulder.”
“Good because I was kinda thinking we’d go with those guys.” He points to the group of people that have a female speleologist on their team. Scully rolls her eyes. “Oh, I wonder why?” She says sarcastically under breath.
“What did you say Scully?”
“Nothing Mulder.”
“No, I want to know what you said.”
“I just said of course you’d want to be on the team with attractive woman. But I don’t know Mulder I think all the male agents are going to be fighting to be on that team.” Mulder looks at Scully embarrassed. “That’s not why I want to be on that team.”
“Sure,” Scully says and gives him a smile.
“Come on Scully we have to hurry if we want to get on the good team.” He starts to walk off and then turns around. “Oh and Scully don’t be jealous, I think you’re a lot more attractive then Anna over there.” He turns back around and walks off. Scully stands there shocked at the compliment he just gave her but feeling really flattered. As soon as she gets over the initial shock of Mulder’s comment she walks off to join him and the other agents congregating right outside of the cave. Anna sees her walking towards them. “Are you on our team?”
“Yeah I’m Agent Scully.” She sticks out her hand to shake Anna’s.
“Hi, I’m Anna. I’m glad your on the team we need another woman in this group.” Mulder looks over at Scully and winks at her.
What is with him? Scully thinks to herself. The two men from the park service walk up to the Agents. “I’m John and this is Rick over here.”
“So, are you feds going to tell us what we are looking for in this cave?” Rick asks them.
“You mean no one told you?” Mulder asks surprised.
“No, we just got a call from Assisisdent Director up at the FBI that said we had to show twenty agents around this cave. That’s all he said and we didn’t ask. Is it really that classified?”
“Let’s just say we are looking for some people and lets leave it at that,” Mulder replies.
“Okay enough said. Shall we get started? I thought we’d take you through the cave for a few hours and then if you don’t find what you are looking for we will break for lunch and then continue on until you guys find what you are looking for.”
“Okay lets do it,” Agent Kiezer replies. Mulder looks over at him. Oh shit we got stuck with this guy on our team, he thinks to himself. He looks over at Scully and gives her a look. She looks at him confused and walks up to him. “What was that look?”
“Didn’t you notice who is on our team?” He nonchalantly points over to Agent Kiezer.
“Oh yeah you two don’t see eye to eye on things do you?”
“That’s an understatement, and I didn’t like how he treated you in the meeting yesterday. He has no compassion for anyone.”
“Yeah, I feel sorry for Agent Percy. She sure got unlucky getting paired with him.”
“Yeah he is a pig,” Mulder replies.
        They all start to descend deeper into the cave and Mulder and Scully take out their flashlights and turn them on. They hear Rick start to talk up ahead.
“We are just going to lead you through some of the more general areas of the cave then we will lead you deeper into the caverns. Oh and let’s all try and keep it down. There are plenty of bats in here that I don’t think we want to disturb.” Scully starts walking a little faster to make her way up to the front of the group so she can talk to the speleologist. Suddenly her foot hits a rock that is sticking out of the ground and she tumbles into Agent Kiezer. He smiles and catches her purposely letting his hand brush up against her breast. “Hey babe. You trying to tell me something?” Scully quickly pulls away from him. “Get your hands off me!”
“Hey you bumped into me. You should be thanking me babe.”
“Just do me a favor Agent Kiezer and stay the hell away from me.” Mulder hears Scully’s raised voice and pushes his way up to the front.
“What’s going on here,” Mulder asks concerned.
“It’s nothing Mulder, just forget it.” Agent Kiezer walks quickly away from Scully and Mulder.
“What did that guy say to you?” Mulder asks her.
“Nothing he’s just a jerk and I just wanted to make it clear to him that I didn’t want him near me.” Mulder looks at her dubiously knowing that she isn’t telling him the whole truth.
“You know Mulder that guy is trouble. He could seriously jeopardize the safety of this search if he wanted to.”
“Well, when we go back to the trucks for lunch we will change groups okay Scully?”
“Okay.”
      An hour later as they are walking deeper into the cave one of the Agents stumbles upon a thin trail of blood.
“Hey come look at this.” Mulder and Scully along with everyone else rush over to the other agent.  Scully bends down to inspect what looks like blood.
“Is it blood?” Mulder asks Scully.
“It appears to be, I say we follow it and see where it leads.”
      They follow the blood until it leads them to large deep abyss in the floor of the cave.
“Shit,” one of the Agents says as he looks into the dark hole.
“Is there anyway you can get us down there,” Scully asks Rick. Before Rick can answer her Agent Kiezer interrupts them. “What are you crazy Agent Scully! We’re not going down there!”
“Well, maybe your not but I sure as hell am.”
“Woah, woah Scully I don’t know about this,” Mulder says. He walks up to the hole and looks down the deep abyss. “You can’t even see where that thing ends.”
“Mulder I want to catch this son-of-a-bitch.”
“How do you think our suspect got down there anyway, did he just sprout wings and fly down,” Agent Kiezer says sarcastically.
“Look if you’re all to blind to see it this is where the trail of blood ends! So that means that someone is down there! Now Rick can you get me down there?”
“I can put a harness on you and lower you down, but are you sure you want to do this? This could get dangerous. Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine. Okay then let me get the ropes and harness out.” He takes off his backpack and starts to unpack it. Mulder walks up to Rick. “I’m going to go instead of her.”
“What? Mulder no I can do it and besides I’m a lot lighter then you and it will be easier for you guys to lower me down.”
“Scully, I don’t know about this. It seems too risky.” She grabs onto his hand.
“Please I need to do this.” He squeezes hers back.
“Okay just be careful down there.”
“Okay, you about ready Agent Scully?” Rick asks her.
“Yeah lets do it.”
Rick secures the harness around her body and then attaches a few ropes to it.
“Okay your ready to go. But at anytime if you want to come back up you just holler and we will pull you right back up. Understand?” Scully nods her head starting to get a little scared but trying not to show it.
   Rick and John start slowly lowering her into the dark abyss. Before she even gets a few feet down Mulder yells for them to wait.
“Mulder what?” Scully yells up from the hole.
“Do you have a flashlight?”
“Yes, Mulder I do, two in fact. Okay guys keep lowering me.”
“No, wait!” Mulder lies down on the cold floor of the cave so that his head is looking deep into the whole and he can see Scully’s face. He scoots himself forward a little so he can just reach her ear with his mouth. “I don’t like this,” He whispers into her ear. I have a very bad feeling. Please don’t do this.” His voice starts to quiver as if he is going to cry. Scully suddenly gets even more afraid then she was before. If he feels this strongly to almost start crying maybe he really does sense something and I should just…no nothing is going to happen I’m going to do this. He’s just overreacting.
“Mulder, no I have to do this. We have to catch this guy.”
“Scully please!”
“Mulder if I’m going to continue working in this job I have to do something that makes me feel that it’s worth while, that I can actually make a difference. I need to find this guy and save the children.” The bad feeling in Mulder’s gut keeps getting stronger but he knows there is now way for him to convince her now. She has her mind set. The only thing he can do is let her go and pray that she’ll come back up from the abyss. But he has this sickening feeling that she will never come back up.
“Okay Scully, but just know that…I…..” He pauses.”
“What Mulder?”
“I just want you to know that I love you.” He kisses her cheek and gets up quickly. Scully suddenly gets very frightened by his words. He thinks he’ll never see me again…or else he never would have told me that. She almost tells Rick and John to pull her back up but then the stubbornness she has inside her tells them to lower her down.  Mulder paces back and forth as they lower her down into the deep abyss.
   Scully points her flash light down to see if she can see the bottom of the hole…but all she sees is blackness. This frightens her and she starts to breathe heavily. She suddenly hears Mulder’s voice call to her and this makes her feel better and her breathing slowly returns back to normal.
“What do you see?” Mulder asks her.
“Nothing yet.”
“Can you see the bottom?”
“No it’s just darkness, this must go down pretty far.”
“Just let us know when you can see the bottom.” Rick yells to her.
“Okay.”  I hope it’s soon she thinks to her. She starts to shine her flashlight around to see if she can see any evidence that shows that the suspect came down this way, but all she can see is dirt and rocks.
     Suddenly the light from her flashlight shines on something she knows isn’t rocks or dirt.
“Stop!” She yells up to them.
“Scully, what?! Are you okay?” Mulder yells down, starting to panic.
“I see something, an indentation in the wall of the hole and there is something back there I just can’t make out what it is…my flashlight is going out. Hold on I have another one in my coat pocket. She takes it out and turns it on. She shines it on the unidentifiable object that now becomes identified. “OH MY GOD.”
“SCULLY! Are you okay? What is it.”
“Mulder, you won’t believe what I’m seeing.” She shines her flashlight down and all around her.
“My god they are all around me.”
“What? Scully talk to me.”
“Mulder, there are indentations on every side of this hole and inside them are small skeletal bodies. Mulder they’re everywhere!”
      Suddenly up above a myriad of bats fly in from another cavern and surround everyone up above. Rick and John try their hardest to keep hold of the rope but more bats fly into them knocking them down and causing them to let loose of the rope.
    Scully screams as she feels herself start to fall. Oh shit this isn’t happening! Before she has anymore time to think she plunges into a lake of icy cold water.
     Up above the bats fly away and Mulder gets up and runs over to Rick and John.
“NO!!!!!” He screams when he sees the rope no where in sight. How could let go! how could you!” Rick and John just sit there in shock at what they just did.
“Answer me!” Mulder screams at them.
“I…We…tried…it was the bats, we couldn’t hold on.” Rick replies in a voice not higher then a whisper. John just sits there shocked.
“You killed her!” Mulder falls to his knees. One of the Agents runs up to comfort him.
“It will be okay.”
“No it won’t! It will never be okay again. Not with out her. I…I loved her.”
      Anna and Agent Percy start to cry. Rick walks up to Mulder and places his hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, it was an accident.” Mulder stands up in rage.
“You’re sorry! You’re Sorry! You just killed the person I loved more then life it’s self. And you’re saying you’re sorry! You bastard!” He tries to take a swipe at Rick but misses and falls to the ground in uncontrollable sobs.
      Suddenly he hears Scully’s voice. He stands up quickly and wipes the tears away from his face.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“I head Scully’s voice.” They all look at him like he’s crazy but then they hear Scully voice calling out Mulder’s name.
“Mulder! Mulder! Can you hear me?”
Mulder rushes over to the edge of the hole.
“Scully is that you?”
“Of course it’s me Mulder!”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I fell into a lake of water, and I’m freezing. It’s completely dark and I can’t see anything. Mulder get me out of here.” Her voice starts to quiver.
“Scully just hang on we will find a way to get you out of there.”
“Hurry Mulder! I’m cold.”
Mulder runs over to Rick and John. “Do you have another rope!”
“Sure do,” John says and pulls out another long rope.
“We can lower it down to her and the she can attach it to her harness and we can pull her back up,” Rick says.
“Okay great lets do it, come on!” Mulder runs over to the hole.
“Scully, Rick is going to lower down a rope for you to attach to your harness and then we will pull you back up okay?” She doesn’t answer for a moment and Mulder starts to panic and screams out her name. “SCULLY!”
“I heard you Mulder, I’m ready, tell them to send down the rope.” She starts treading water as fast as she can to keep herself warm but it isn’t working. She starts to get impatient. “Mulder are they sending the rope down.”
“You don’t see it yet?” Mulder asks shocked.
“No,” Scully replies, her teeth starting to chatter.
“Just hang on it’s coming.”  Rick looks over at Mulder nervously.
“Ummm, Agent Mulder?” Mulder looks over at them and notices that the rope is running out.
“We are kinda running out of rope here.” Rick says.
“Don’t you have a longer one?” Mulder asks.
“This is the longest one they make. It’s at least 500 feet. There is no telling how deep that hole is. It could be six, seven hundred feet maybe more.”
“Shit!”
“Mulder, you better hurry up with that rope, I’m starting to show symptoms of hypo---hypo---thermia.”
“Hang on just a little bit longer. We are going to get you out of there. Just keep talking to me Scully.”
“I’m just so tired Mulder.”
“Scully, No! Just keep talking and you’ll be fine.” Mulder looks over at Rick and John notices that the rope just ran out.
“Agent Mulder there is nothing we can do. We are are going to have to get some help.”
“No! By the time we do that she will be dead. You all know that. You are going to have to lower me down as far as the rope will go and then drop me.”
“Agent Mulder that’s crazy.”
“No it’s not, If I can get her and myself out of the water then we have a chance. I’m getting down there with our without your help, so you might as well help me.”
“Okay you heard the man lets get a harness on him, and Agent Kiezer we are going to need your help in lowering Mulder down.”
“I think this is a very bad Idea,” Agent Kiezer responds.
“Just get your ass over here Kiezer,” Mulder yells at him. Kiezer walks over to them. “Fine, what do you need me to do?”
“Rick and I are going to be in the back and we need you to get in the front and help us lower him down.”
“Okay, just tell me when.” They finish putting the harness on Mulder and attach the rope.
“Are you ready?” Rick asks him.
“Yes just a minute.” Mulder walks to the edge of the hole and sits down on the ledge.
“Scully! I’m coming down.”
“Your what?! Mulder don’t be stupid.”
“Scully listen to me, the rope isn’t long enough, so they are going to lower me five hundred feet and then drop me the rest of the way so you are going to have to swim out of the way.”
“Mulder that’s crazy and your not doing this!” She suddenly feels a wave of dizziness and sinks under the water almost losing consciousness.
“Scully I don’t care how much you argue with me I’m coming down. We have to get you out of that water. Okay guys lower me down!”
“Okay Agent Kiezer you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay Mulder here you go.” They slowly start to lower him down.
“Scully I’m on my way!” He doesn’t hear her respond and he knows that’s not good.
“Damn it Scully answer me!”  He hears nothing but silence.
“Damn! Guys start lowering me faster. I have to get to her before it’s to late.”
“Scully talk to me!”
      Scully suddenly regains consciousness and breaks through the surface of the icy cold water coughing. Mulder hears her coughing and breathes out a sigh of relief.
“Scully just hand on a little longer I’m almost there.”
“Mulder I can’t swim any longer.”
“Yes you can, and your going to. If not for your self for me! I need you in my life Scully and I’m not going to let you die! Now just keep talking to me. What do you want to do once we get out of here? We can go anywhere. So just name it Scully.”
“Well, ahhh….” Her teeth start to chatter violently and she has to fight to finish her sentence.
“Well, I haven’t been sailing in a really long it----“ She feels as if she is about to fall into a deep sleep and she let’s her body sink down into the water.”
“Scully?” He doesn’t hear a thing. “Scully please keep talking to me!” He fears that she has lost conciseness for good now and he knows what he must do.
“Hey guys! You have to drop me now!”
“What? But Mulder you still have one hundred feet to go.”
“If I don’t get to her now she is going to die!”
“Okay Mulder, we are going to count to five.  One, two, three, four” Just as they get to five and start to release their grip from the rope, Agent Kiezer looses his footing and slides straight into the hole. Rick and John try to grab him but it is too late and he starts fall.
    Mulder feels himself starting to fall and braces himself for the plunge in the water. He hits the water with force and then a few seconds later Agent Kiezer comes plunging in after him. They both kick their way up to the surface gasping for breath. Mulder looks at Agent Kiezer shocked.
“What the hell happened?” Mulder asks him.
“This is all your fault!” Agent Kiezer says out of breath.
“Fine whatever just help me find Scully.” Mulder dives under the water. He can’t see a thing in the black darkness of the water but he feels someone grabs his hand and he can tell by the delicatessens of the hand that it’s Scully. He finds her waist and pulls her up out of the water. She starts to gag and cough for air.
“Scully, we are going to get you out of the water just hang on.” Agent Kiezer takes a soaking wet flashlight out of his coat pocket.
“You think it will still work?” He asks Mulder.
“Well, turn it on and we will find out.” Agent Kiezer turns on the flash. Nothing happens at first and Mulder hopes sink. Then Kiezer hits the flashlight and it suddenly turns on illuminating the darkness. At first all they see around them is water.
“Jesus how large is this lake,” Kiezer says and frantically shines the flashlight around looking for land of some sort.
“I don’t know, but we have to get her out of this water and I’m getting really cold my self. Let’s just start swimming.” Kiezer swims ahead of Mulder and Mulder follows slowly behind with Scully in his arms. She has passed out and Mulder knows he has to get her out of here soon.
      The light from Kiezer’s flashlight suddenly shines upon a huge flat rock, about eight-ft long, ten ft wide and about three inches out of the water.
“Agent Mulder look over there!” Mulder looks up at where Kiezer’s flashlight is shining.
“That’s going to have to do,” Mulder replies and swims quickly over to the rock. Agent Kiezer pulls himself up first onto the rock. He pulls his knees up to his chest trying to get warm.
“Hey Kiezer! You need to help me get Scully up here.” Shivering, Kiezer scoots himself to the edge of the rock and lowers himself to his stomach so that he can reach down and grab Scully’s arms.
“Okay you pull and I’m going to push her up, okay?”
‘Okay ready, one, two, and three.” Kiezer pulls with all his might as Mulder pushes and they manage to get her up on the rock. Mulder pulls himself immediately up on the rock and rushes over to Scully’s side. Kiezer flashes light on her face.
“She doesn’t look good man.”
“Shhh don’t say that. She is going to be fine we just have to get warm.” He touches her face gently.
“Ahhh she is ice cold. We have to these wet clothes off of her. Kiezer why don’t you swim back over to the entrance of the hole and ask them if they have anything like a blanket or a jacket they can throw down to us.”
“No.”
“NO?” Mulder looks at him in disbelief. “This is Agent Scully’s life were talking about here.”
“Then you go do it. You’re the one that got me into this. I’m not going back into that water.”
“Fine but you have to keep her warm while I’m gone.”
“And how the hell I’m I supposed to do that.”
“With your body heat. Just hold her in your lap until I get back.”
“Okay but you have to help me get her into my lap.” Mulder scoots over to Scully and gently drags her over towards Kiezer and then Kiezer pulls her into his lap.
“Okay Mulder go.”
“Her just laying in your lap is not going to keep her warm. You have to wrap your arms around her.” Kiezer starts to feel uncomfortable.
“You know what, you stay with her I’ll swim over there.” Mulder smiles, happy that he can stay with Scully. He takes Scully off Kiezer’s lap.
“Okay hurry go!” As he watches Kiezer swim off into the darkness he wraps his arms tightly around Scully and rocks her back and forth.
“You’re going to be okay.” He looks down at her pale face and pushes the wet strands of hair that are in her face behind her ear. He then checks for her pulse. It is weak but still beating; memories of the first time that they met start to come back to him. He remembers how young and beautiful he thought she looked and how impressed he was by her intelligence. He remembers the strong connection he felt between them the moment he shook her hand. He knew right then that there was a special bond between them already formed by that single handshake. A tear suddenly gleams in his eye. “Oh god Dana you have to be okay. Please be okay.” He lowers his head to her’s and kisses her icy cold forehead.
     Agent Kiezer suddenly yells from the darkness. “Agent Mulder I got it.” He swims over to the rock and throws a waterproof duffel bag up onto the rock.
“It has everything from a blanket to a pair of sweat pants and a sweat shirt.
“Good work Agent Kiezer.You just saved Agent Scully’s life.” Kiezer pulls himself up onto the rock, and starts to shiver violently.
“Yeah well after she is warmed up I’m going to want to use that blanket I’m getting pretty cold myself.” Mulder ignores him and quickly opens up the bag. He hastily pulls out the blanket and the sweat suit. He takes Scully off his lap and lays her on the ground.
“Turn around Kiezer.” Kiezer looks at him confused.
“Why?”
“Because I have get these wet clothes off her and put these dry ones on.”
“Hey you get to look why the hell can’t I?”
“Because I’ve known her for much longer then you.” Kiezer rolls his eyes.
“Damn it Kiezer just turn around!” Mulder yells getting upset.  Kiezer turns around and mutters something under his breath.
    Mulder quickly strips off Scully’s wet clothes and puts the dry ones on. He then wraps the blanket tightly around her and starts to rub her arms trying to get her body heat to rise.
“Kiezer get over here and help me warm her up.”
“Oh now you want my help,” he says sarcastically.
“Just get over here.”
“Okay fine what do you want me to do?”
“Just rub her arms and legs, it’ll get her blood flowing faster and help warm her up.”
   A few minuets later Scully regains consciousness. She sees Mulder’s sweet face and smiles.
“Thank God!” Mulder exclaims and bends down and kisses her on the forehead.
Scully looks around confused. “Mulder, where are we?”
“We are on a rock in the middle of the water.” Scully tries to sit up and Mulder stops her.
“Just rest Scully.”
“Mulder, how are we going to get out of here?” She looks at him with fear in her eyes.
“Yes, that’s a good question, how are we going to get out of here Agent Mulder?” Kiezer asks. “I hope you have an Idea since this was all your fault.” Scully sits up angry. “Don’t you blame him. If it’s anyone’s fault it’s mine. I’m the one that insisted to be lowered down here. So I’m going to get us out of here.”
“Kiezer what did they say when you asked them for the blanket,” Mulder asks him.
“They said to just stay put and they were going to go get some help. But they said it might take a few hours. But I gotta say I don’t see that happening. I think we are really far down.”
“Hey be optimistic Agent Kiezer, we will get out of here.”
“You be optimistic, I’ll be realistic. We are going to die down here.” He starts to shine his flashlight around in a panic. His light suddenly shines on a small tunnel behind them with small drizzle of blood running down the side.
He stands up and walks up to the tunnel to exam it more closely.
“Guys come over here and look at this.” He shines his flashlight on the blood as Mulder and Scully get up to look at it.
“Looks like more blood,” Scully says.
“Yeah and it looks like whoever was bleeding was pulled through this tunnel,” Mulder replies.
Scully sheds her blanket and starts to crawl into the tunnel.
“Scully! What are you doing?” Mulder asks her shocked.
“I just want to go check it out. I mean we’ve come this far, we might as well check it out. And we still have our guns on us.”
“Okay but I’m going first,” Mulder says.
“Sure,” Scully says smiling, happy that she convinced him. She moves out of the way and lets Mulder climb in first and then she climbs into the tunnel. She looks back at Kiezer who has the blanket wrapped around him.
“Hey aren’t you coming,”She yells after him.
“You gotta be kidding. You guys have gotten me in enough trouble and I’m not about to get myself into more.” Scully rolls her eyes and keeps on moving.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Mulder asks her.
“I feel fine now Mulder.”
“Okay just let me know if you get tired an want to turn back.”
“I’m not going to get tired. We are going to find this guy. I can feel it.”
          After twenty minutes they are still crawling without seeing an end in sight.
“How far do you think this thing goes?” Scully asks starting to feel a little uneasy.
“You think we should turn back?” Mulder asks knowing what the answer will be before she even begins to talk.
“No, come on lets keep going.”
     After twenty more minuets they reach the end of the tunnel and crawl out into blackness. They both take out their flashlights and turn them on. The cave is illuminated with the light from their flashlights and they see another entrance to a tunnel. Immediately Scully starts to walk over to the tunnel.
Mulder follows her and stops her before she can crawl into the tunnel.
“Scully I think we should stop here. We are going to get our selves lost.”
“No we aren’t Mulder. We just need to keep track of where we have been. And so far we have just gone through one long tunnel and now we are going to go through another one. What is so hard to remember about that?”
“Scully, I’ve never seen you so determined before. Is it because of what happened to you yesterday? You know the car jacking?”
“I don’t know Mulder maybe it is. Maybe I’m just tired of bad things happening to good people and then the people that do these bad things go unpunished.”
“Yeah but that’s not always the way Scully. A lot of the times they do get punished.”
“Yeah well not enough.” She hoists her self into the tunnel and starts crawl through it not caring if Mulder is behind her or not.
Mulder tries to think of something to say to convince her to stop but can’t think of anything that she will listen to so he hoists himself up into the tunnel and starts to crawl after her.
     As they are crawling through the tunnel Scully suddenly sees light ahead.
What could that be? She thinks to herself.
“Mulder do you see that light up ahead?”
“Yeah, what do you think it is?”
“I have no Idea, but lets go find out.”
       They crawl to the end of the end of the tunnel and are amazed at what they see in front of their eyes.  What they see no longer looks like a cave at all. What it looks like is a neighbor hood. There are paved roads, lampposts and small little houses that look like little kids tree houses. In the distance they can see a large dome shaped building. They stand there flabbergasted unable to move.
  “Mulder I can’t believe what I’m seeing. It’s like a whole hidden civilization. How long do you think this has been down here?”
“I don’t know Scully but what do you think is with the tiny houses? They aren’t even big enough for an average adult to stand up in.” He looks over at her.
“Well, maybe it’s tall enough for you,” He says and smiles.
She gives him an annoyed look and starts to walk up to one of the small houses.
“Do you still have your gun on you?” She asks him. “Because I don’t.” She bends down and picks up a rock.
“Don’t worry, I have mine. But I only have a few rounds left in my clip.”
“Okay lets just be careful then.”
     Scully walks closer to the entrance of the small house. Mulder follows closely behind her. She knocks on the door first.
“Hello? Anyone in there?”
     There is no reply so she tries knocking one more time. Still nothing.
She looks over at Mulder.
“Okay on my count. One, Two, Three!” Mulder kicks the door down and walks into the house with his gun drawn. He has to duck to get in the doorway and retains that position as he moves through out the small house. Scully is just short enough to where she doesn’t have to duck. She follows behind Mulder with her rock clenched tightly in her small hand. The small house consists of a small living room; a hallway, which leads to a bathroom that, has nothing but a toilet. The bathroom leads to a small bedroom. They proceed into the bedroom and start to look around.  They see a small bed with stuffed animals laying all over it. Scully walks over to the small closet that is adjacent from the bed. She starts to open it.
“Careful Scully.”
She pauses for a moment and then slides the doors slowly open. Inside she sees a small round door with a little handle on it. She looks over at Mulder to see what his reaction is.
   Mulder walks up closer to the closet so he can inspect the small door.
“Where do you think it leads?” Scully asks.
“I don’t know let’s find out.” Mulder replies and starts to turn the knob. It makes a squeaking sounding and then the door opens.
    What they see before them is another tunnel, this one smaller then the two they crawled through previously.  Scully looks over at Mulder.
“Do you think we can fit through there?”
“I’m sure you can but I’m not sure about me and you’re not going in there by yourself.”
“Mulder I think you can fit, come on.” She climbs into the small tunnel. She has to lie on her stomach to fit. She starts to drag herself forward.
“Come on Mulder!”
      Mulder squeezes himself into the, tunnel barely fitting. He starts to inch his way forward.
“This is going to take awhile,” he replies already out of breath.
“Let’s just keep moving.”
         After an hour of inching their way through the small tunnel they come to an opening that leads them into a large domed shape building.
“This must be the building that we saw in the distance,” Scully says.
“Scully, look at that!” He points over to a hoard of children harvesting vegetables in a large green house up ahead. There are huge lights every where shining down on the green house to act as an artificial sun.
They both look at eachother with a look of astonishment on their faces.
“Mulder, I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I.”
      Suddenly the lights go out and they are plunged into darkness.
“Mulder!” Scully calls out in alarm.
“Yeah I’m right here.” He grabs onto her hand to reassure her and then pulls out his flashlight and turns it on. It doesn’t help much and all they can see is a few feet in front of them.
    Scully suddenly hears footsteps and sees Mulder fall to the floor in pain. Before she can respond she is hit on the back of the neck by some unknown object and falls to the ground unconscious.

      Scully awakens on her stomach to find that she is laying ontop of Mulder. She lies there for a few moments dazed and confused and then carefully gets off of Mulder. She checks for his pulse and is relieved when she finds one.
“Mulder? Wake up.” She pats him on the face lightly.  He doesn’t respond and it’s too dark to tell if he has opened his eyes or not.
“Mulder talk to me if you’re awake.”
He abruptly sits up and hits his head on a stalactite that is hanging from the ceiling of the cave. He curses and places his hand on his forehead in pain.
“I think I’ve been hit in the head enough for one day,” He says grunting.
“Are you okay?” Scully asks him.
“Yeah, where are you? I can’t see anything in here.”
“I’m right beside you.” She finds his hand and grabs onto it.
“Do you still have your flashlight?” She asks him.
“Yeah, I think so, hold on.” He reaches into his coat pocket and fishes out his flashlight and turns it on. The cave is illuminated and they both jump when they see the hoards of skeletons all around them.
“Uhhh, Scully, I think we need to get out of here!”
“Good Idea!” They both stand up quickly.
       Suddenly a small child appears before them in the darkness. They both jump back alarmed at the site of the child. The child looks to be about ten years old and she is standing there with a scared look on her face. Scully walks slowly up to her and kneels down beside her.
“What are you doing down here honey?” Scully asks the girl.
“I snuck down here to help get you out. He always puts the older children in here when they get to old and they can’t find a way out and they die.”
Scully looks over at Mulder alarmed.
“How did you get in here?” Mulder asks the girl.
“I know of a secret tunnel. I was working in the green house when I saw him take you so I thought I’d try to help you get out and then maybe you could help me get out.  I’m getting too old and soon he will kill me. There are no kids down her past the age of 12.” Scully touches the girl on the shoulder.
“What is your name honey?”
“Julia,” the girl replies.
“Well, don’t worry Julia we are going to get you out of here along with everyone else.” A faint smile appears on the girl’s face.
“How long have you been down her?” Mulder ask her.
“As long as I can remember. I do have a faint memory of my mom but I barley remember her.”
“Where you kidnapped?” Mulder asks her.
“I don’t know.” She looks down and tears start rolling off her face. “I just want to get out of here. He is so mean to us. And he has killed most of my friends in this room. I wanted to save them but I was afraid of getting caught. But I don’t care anymore I just want out of her dead or alive.”
The child’s words send a chill through Scully’s spine. She goes up to the girl and hugs her. “Don’t worry Julia we will get you out. I promise you that.” A look of incredulity appears on the girl’s face. “I don’t think anyone can get out of here…. He is always watching he knows all and hears all.”
Mulder bends down next to the girl.
“Julia, I’m sure you know this cave pretty well right?” Julia nods her head yes.
“Well, with your help I’m sure we can all get out of here. So why don’t you show us how to get out of this cavern.”
“Okay follow me.” She grabs onto Scully’s hand and starts to lead her over to one of the walls. She stops and points upwards. “The tunnel starts up there. You have to climb up the side to get to it.” Mulder shines his flashlight to where she is pointing and sees a pretty good size tunnel.
“At least this one is bigger then the last one,” he says. “Well, lets get going. You first Julia. You can lead the way.”
“Okay.”
“Do you need any help getting up there?” Scully asks her.
“No I do it all the time,” She replies and starts to climb up the wall. Scully stands close by just in case the girl falls.
    Julia reaches the top and crawls into that tunnel. “Okay your turn.”
Scully looks over at Mulder. “You want to go first?”
“No you go first. I’ll stand here in case you slip.”
“Okay here goes nothing,”Scully replies and starts to climb up.
    She makes it to the top with no mishaps and lets out a sigh of relief.
“Okay Mulder I’m up…your turn now.”
Mulder starts to climb up but when he is half way there the rock under his foot breaks free from the wall of the cave and he falls to the ground.
“Mulder! Are you okay?!” She can hear him cursing at the bottom.
“I’m just not having good luck am I Scully?” A faint smile appears on her face but then disappears a moment later.
“Come on hurry up,” Julia says. “He may be watching.”
“But, how could he see us from her?” Scully asks her.
“He just can.”
Mulder quickly gets up from the ground and starts to climb back up the wall to the tunnel. He makes it this time and they all start to crawl through.
     After ten minutes they crawl out of the tunnel and back into one of the small houses they saw before.
   They all step out of the closet and she leads them over to the bed.
“We are all supposed to be in our rooms now. He is going to do a bed check to make sure we are where we are supposed to be. After he leaves I can show you a place where we might be able to get out. But you guys have to hide hurry he’s coming I can feel it.”
   Mulder and Scully quickly look around for a place to hide in the small bedroom.
“Hurry, the closet,” Julia says and points over to it.
Mulder and Scully quickly walk over to the closet and get in silently closing the doors.
     A few minuets later they hear a mans voice it is very deep scatchy.
They both peer through the slits in the closet and can see that the man is sitting on the bed next to the girl, but it is too dark to make out the mans face.
“Julia, I think you know that your time is drawing near and I won’t have a need for you much longer. You have reached that age and soon you will go into the dark room to join the devil. Julia starts to cry and he slaps her across the face.
“Stop that! You know I don’t tolerate crying! It’s one of the rules! How dare you cry in my presence! You will get no dinner because this!” He gets up angrily from the bed and walks out of the room.
    As soon as he is gone Scully tares out of the closet and rushes to the crying girl and hugs her.
“It’s okay honey we are going to get you out of here right now!” She picks the girl up and starts to walk out of the room.
“Scully wait!”
“What Mulder?!”
“Don’t you think you are being a little rash?”
“We need to sit down and plan out how we are going to do this.” The girl stops crying and Scully puts her down.  She walks up to Mulder and begins to talk.
“There is no plan we can make. He can sense and hear everything. If we do get out, it will be because of luck not because we had a plan. So we need to go now and hope for that luck.
“Come on!” She grabs onto Mulder’s hand and starts to lead him out of the room. He hesitates for moment and then follows her.
    They reach the outside of the house.
“I can’t see a thing,” Scully says.
“Me neither,” and I must of lost my flashlight crawling through that tunnel, Mulder says fishing around in his pocket for his flashlight.
“I can see,” Julia replies.
“You can?” They both ask her shocked.
“I guess I’ve been down her long enough to where my eyes are used to it. Come on I’ll lead you,” Julia says and grabs on to both of their hands.
   They walk for what seems like forever, still unable to see a thing. Suddenly Scully feels coldness surrounding her feet and realizes that she is standing in water.
“Where are we?” Mulder asks her.
“This is the pool where he keeps his sharks.”
“Woah sharks!” Mulder exclaims and steps out of the water.
“Yeah, he says they are gods and that their powers keep the cave from collapsing.”
“I think it’s safe to say now Scully that we have a bonified psycho on our hands.”
 Scully steps out of the water. “Julia, do we have to swim through this pool? Is there another way to get where you are taking us?”
“No this is the only way. But the sharks sleep at night they won’t even now we are in there if we swim fast.”
Scully gives Mulder a scared look.  “I don’t know about this Mulder.”
Suddenly Julia stiffens and Scully can tell something is wrong.
“Honey what is it?”
“I can sense him he is near. He knows where we are and he is coming for us.”
“But how?” Mulder asks confused.
“He just does! Now we have to go!” She starts to make her way through the pool until it is too deep for her to stand and she stops and starts to tread water.
“Come on guys! There is no time!” Scully and Mulder step into the pool and start to gasp as the water reaches further and further up their bodies.
“Shit this is cold!” Mulder exclaims.
“Just start swimming your body will get used to it.”
     Suddenly they hear a loud splash in the water.
“It’s him!” Julia screams! And starts to swim as fast as she can through the water.
Mulder and Scully are unable to see a thing but they can here someone thrashing through the water towards them. Mulder grabs onto Scully’s hand.
“COME ON SCULLY WE GOTTA MOVE!”
“WHERE?! I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING!” She looses her grip on his hand and starts to panic. “MULDER!” She screams in sheer terror.
“I’m right here,” He says and grabs for her hand. The thrashing sound is getting closer and they hear Julia cry out. “He’s right behind you! SWIM!”
“Come on Scully we have to stay together. Get on my back.”
“What?”
“JUST DO IT!” She quickly gets onto his back and wraps her arms around him. As soon as she is on, Mulder starts to swim as fast as he can.  Suddenly Scully’s arms tighten around his neck choking him. “Mulder he’s got my foot,” She screams out! Before Mulder can react Scully’s arms loosen around his neck and her body slides off his back.
“NO!” He screams and turns around quickly. The thrashing of the water stops and there is silence. Mulder can’t see a thing and starts to panic. “Scully! Scully! Answer me! Scully! Scully!” He starts to cry with grief that he has lost her and starts to yell her name over and over again.
    Suddenly Scully breaks through the water and grabs tightly onto Mulder in terror. They both go under the water and then come back up. Mulder grabs onto the side of the wall to keep them afloat. Scully’s grip on him tightens and she starts to cry in uncontrollable sobs.
“Scully, it’s okay, calm down. You’re with me. Shhhh” He strokes her hair trying to calm her, but it doesn’t work and she starts to cry even harder.
“Jesus what happen to you when you were down there Scully?” She doesn’t answer him and keeps on crying.
“Scully come on we have to get out of this pool,” Mulder says starting to fear both the sharks and the man. He listens for a moment for any sounds that indicate the man is coming after them. But he hears nothing.
“Jesus where did he go?”
      Scully’s crying has abated but she is still holding tightly onto Mulder in terror.
“Scully you have to let go of me so we can get out of here.” She doesn’t respond.
“Scully?” God, she must be in shock Mulder thinks to himself.
      He starts to swim as best as he can with Scully still tightly attached to him. Finally the water is shallow again and he can walk. He lifts Scully up into his arms and starts to walk out of the water. He reaches the shore and sits down with Scully still in his arms because she refuses to loosen her grasp on him.
     Julia runs quickly up to him. “You made it!” She exclaims and throws her arms around him.
“Yeah, barely,” Mulder replies.
“Is she okay?” She looks over at Scully.
“I don’t know. I think something happen down there or she saw something that really scared her.”
“I know what she saw,” The girl replies. “But I don’t want to talk about it” She walks away from Mulder and sits down on the rock. “But I do know that he isn’t dead. He’s still close by, watching us.”
“Where did he go? I never heard him swim away.”
“There are tunnels under the water. He probably swam into one of those.”
      Scully suddenly comes back to reality and starts to cry and talk at the same time.
“Oh my god Mulder, I saw terrible terrible things,” She sobs. He starts to rock her back and forth in his arms trying to calm her.
“What did you see?”
“He showed me these terrible, terrible visions.” She buries her head into his shirt. “Every time I close my eyes I see them.”
“Shhh it’s okay,” Mulder says as he rocks her back and forth in his arms.
“You are going to be okay.”
“Just hold me Mulder and don’t leave me.” Mulder squeezes her tighter and continues to rock her back and forth.
“I’m not going to leave you. We are going to get out of here. I promise you. And when we do you and me will go have some fun together and forget all about what happened down here. Okay? Just trust me Scully and I will get you out of here.”
     After Scully gets over the shock of what happen to her they all get up and continue to make there way through the cave, with Julia continuing to lead them. Suddenly without warning she stops dead in her tracks causing Mulder and Scully to bump into her.
“What is it?” Mulder asks her.
“He is near,” Julia replies. “Come on we have to hide.”
“You know I still have a few rounds in my gun. Why do we have to hide? Can’t I just shoot him.” Mulder asks.
“No you don’t understand. He will trick you into doing something else with your gun then what you want.”
“Come on Mulder let’s listen to her,”Scully says and grabs onto Mulder hand.
Mulder lets out a frustrated sigh and follows.
   A few moments later she leads them to a tunnel in the wall.
“In here,” she says and points.
    Mulder climbs in first and then helps Scully up into the tunnel. Julia quickly scans the cave and climbs into the tunnel. Julia starts to breathe very heavily and Scully puts her arms around her to try and calm her.
“It’s okay he’s not going to find us,” She whispers.
“No, but he is, I just know it.” She grabs onto Scully’s hand tightly.
     They suddenly hear footsteps in the distance and Julia’s whole body stiffens with fear.
“He’s coming,” She says, her voice full of fear.
Scully’s body stiffens as well as she remembers the terrible visions he showed her under the water. The visions of the children he had left in the cavern to die. They were so hungry that they would kill the weaker children just so they could survive by eating their bodies. She shudders at the thought and tries to push the visions out of her mind.
    Mulder feels her trembling and wraps his arms around her.
“Everything is going to be all right. I promise you.”
     Suddenly they hear Julia scream as she is pulled out of the tunnel. Scully grabs onto both the girls’ arms refusing to let her go.
“HOW DARE YOU TRY AND ESCAPE FROM ME!”  The man yells.
“DID YOU THINK I WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO FIND YOU?! YOU KNOW BETTER THEN THAT JULIA! NOW YOU MUST PAY THE PRICE.”
He gives one last tug on her legs and she is wrenched out of Scully’s grasp screaming. Scully starts to make her way out of the tunnel to go after the girl but Mulder stops her.
“Wait stay here. There is nothing we can do for her now.”
“No Mulder I have to after her! I promised I’d get her out of here.”
“We’ll find her again. Just wait.”
“How are we going to find her Mulder? You and I can’t see a thing out there. She was the only one that could lead us through. There is no way we will be able to find her.”
Suddenly Julia screams and they hear a loud splash in the water.
“Oh god Mulder he’s throwing her to the sharks!” Before Mulder has a chance to react Scully has crawled out of the tunnel and is making her way to the shark pool. Mulder crawls out and follows her over to the pool. His eyes are finally starting to adjust to the extreme darkness and he sees the man no where in site. All he can see is the girl in the middle of the pool screaming. He wonders why she is screaming and then he notices a large fin sticking out of the water and it is coming right for her. Scully sees it too and dives into the water to try and save the girl.
“Scully NO!” Mulder yells and dives in after her.
     Scully’s adrenaline kicks in and before she knows it she has reached Julia.
“Hurry get on my back!” She yells to the girl.
Julia gets on her back and Scully starts to swim as fast as she can for the shark is following close behind. Mulder sees this and tries to divert the shark’s attention over to him. It works and the shark is now following him.
     Scully makes it to the shore with Julia unharmed. She looks quickly around for Mulder and notices that he is trying to swim to the shore, the shark following close behind. She notices that he is tiring and starting to slow down.
“Swim Mulder! Swim!” Scully yells. Julia starts chanting this as well.
Oh god he has to make it. She thinks to herself. I can’t live if he doesn’t make it.
“Mulder I love you! Now swim!”
    Scully’s words give him an incentive to live and he starts to swim with all his might. Just as he thinks he is home free he feels piercing sharp teeth dig into his left leg. He yells out in terror and in pain. Scully witnesses what just happen and she screams louder then she ever has before. “NO!!!!”
Without thinking she starts to rush into the water after Mulder.
Suddenly she hears gunshots and stops in her tracks.
 Mulder has shot the shark in the head and is now trying to make his way to Scully. She swims out to him and helps him to shore.
Julia runs up to them. “Is he okay?” She asks in a timid voice.
“I don’t know baby. I hope so.”
     She notices that Mulder is starting to pass out from the pain and she taps him lightly on the face.
“Mulder stay with me.”
“How’s my leg,” He replies in a weak voice.
She looks down and sees several deep bite marks in his leg that is oozing with blood. Mulder tries to sit up and look at his leg but he passes out when he sees how bloody and bitten it is.
I have to get a tourniquet on this she thinks. Without out thinking she starts to take off her sweatshirt and then remembers that she doesn’t have anything on underneath. She stops and slides it back down.
    Julia notices this and takes off her small sweater and hands it to Scully.
“Will, this work?” The girl asks timidly?
“Honey I don’t want you to get cold.” Scully says and hands it back to the girl.
“No, it’s okay I’m not cold. He needs it more then I do.” Scully smiles and takes the sweater from the girl.
“Okay hold on Mulder, You’re going to be okay.” She takes the sweater and ties it around the worst part of his wound. He wakes up when she does this and moans with pain.
“I’m sorry Mulder, but I had too.”
“It’s okay let’s just get out of here.”
    Julia and Scully help him to his feet and then he leans on both of them as he walks along.
“Do you know the way out?” Scully asks her.
“Yeah, not much longer now.”
         One hour later…….
       Julia leads them back to the pool that Scully had originally fallen into.
“Well, it looks like we are back to where we started from,” Mulder replies.
“I wonder what happen to Agent Kiezer?” Sculy remarks.
“Yeah me too.”
  Scully sees a flashlight on the floor and picks it up and turns it on. She shines it around and spots Agent Kiezer sitting a rock a few feet away.
“Agent Kiezer?” She calls out.
Julia stiffens when she sees the man Scully is shining her flashlight on.
“That’s him!” Julia screams. “We have to go! We have to go now!”
Scully looks down at her shocked. “No honey it’s okay. This is just an agent we work with. He isn’t going to hurt you.
“Yeah it’s okay Julia,” Mulder says.
“No it’s him it’s him!” She insists.
Suddenly Agent Kiezer pulls out his gun. “YOU’VE GOTTEN AWAY FROM ME AGAIN JULIA! AND ALL BECAUSE OF THESE AGENTS! I GUESS I WILL JUST HAVE TO KILL THEM FIRST THEN YOU. THAT WAY THERE WILL BE NO GETTING OUT OF IT THIS TIME.”
He pulls out his gun and cocks it and pulls the trigger, aiming right towards Scully.
“No!” Julia screams and dives in front of Scully taking the bullet square in the chest. Before he can get off another shot Mulder pulls out his gun and fires his last two bullets into Agent Kiezer. They hit him in the chest and he falls into the murky cold water. Mulder glances over at Scully and sees her sobbing over the Julia.
“Is she dead?” He asks. Scully looks up at him with the most painful look he as ever seen on her face and he knows what the answer is.
“I’m sorry Scully.” He tries to scoot over to her and comfort her but his leg hurts too much and he is punished to stay where he is and watch her body being wrecked with terrible sobs.
 

          One week later back in DC……
Mulder sits in his hospital bed waiting to be discharged. Suddenly the door opens and in comes Skinner.
“Agent Mulder, You’re looking a lot better today. How are you feeling?”
“Much better thanks. I’m hoping to be discharged today.”
“Good, well I came to talk to you about the case you and Scully were working on.”
“Did you get all the children out of the cave?” Mulder asks.
“Yes, we did. I still can’t believe you and Agent Scully found them.”
“We got lucky, were you able to find all their parents?”
“Yes, it turns out that every child that has been kidnapped in the last five years was down in that cave.” Mulder looks at him in disbelief.
“I know it’s pretty hard to believe that one man could hide that many kids for so long isn’t it?”
“Yeah and a FBI Agent at that.”
“There is more.”
“More sir?” Mulder asks him.
“Yes, there is evidence that this has been going on since the first kidnapping case ever. That this job, if you’d like to call it that has been passed down from generation to generation since 1900.”
“Sir do you know what you’re saying?”
“Yes, and I’d rather this not be leaked to the general public. We are keeping it very hush, hush.”
“Yes, of course sir.”
“There is one other thing I need to talk to you about.”
“What?” Mulder asks a little alarmed at the tone of Skinner’s voice.
“It’s about Agent Scully.”
“Is she okay!” Mulder asks immediately thinking the worst.
“Well, it seems that this case has affected her very badly. She won’t eat she won’t talk to anyone and frankly we are all starting to get very worried about her.”
“Where is she now?”
“Her mother took her home a few days ago.”
“Agent Mulder what happen down there? I mean I’ve known Agent Scully for seven years now and she isn’t the type of person that gets emotionally wrought like this over a case.”
“Well, maybe she’s just had enough and she can’t handle it anymore.” Mulder throws the covers off him and gets out of bed.
“Woah were are you going?”
“I have to go to her. She needs me.”
“Wait you haven’t been discharged yet.”
“See if I care,” Mulder says and puts on his jeans and shirt and walks straight out of the room and doesn’t look back.
     Mulder arrives at Margaret Scully’s house an hour later. He walks up to the door and knocks. Mrs. Scully comes to the door and smiles when she sees his face.
“Fox, I’m glad you’re here.”
“How is she?” Mulder asks.
“Not good.” She hasn’t said a word since I brought her home and I can’t seem to get her to eat a thing.
“I was hoping you’d come. Maybe you can get her to talk.” Mulder walks into the house.
“Where is she?”
“Over here,” Mrs. Scully replies and leads him to a room upstairs.
Mulder walks into the room to see Scully lying in a big bed with her eyes closed and she is sleeping.
“I’ll leave you alone with her.” Mrs. Scully replies.
“Thanks,” Mulder replies and walks up to the bed where she is laying.
He sits down next to her and combs his fingers through her silky red hair. He notices that her face is gaunt looking from not eating and this makes him cry. He lays his head down her chest and starts to sob. This awakens Scully and she opens her eyes.  She brings her hand out from under the covers and places it on Mulder’s head.
   Mulder, realizing she is awake sits up and tries to wipe the tears from his eyes.
Scully just stares into his eyes not saying a word.
“Scully, you have to talk to me and tell me what’s wrong.”
She stays quite for a moment longer and then breaks down and starts to cry. Mulder pulls her into his arms.
“It’s okay, It’s okay.”
“Mulder, its all my fault. I couldn’t save her! I couldn’t save her.” She sobs.
“Save who? Julia?”
“Mulder, she died for me. She saved my life. And why? Why would she do that? She was down in that god-forsaken place for whom knows how long, suffering and afraid. Mulder, you didn’t see what he would do to them. You didn’t see the visions he showed me. Every time I close my eyes I see here! I see her screaming! She should have been the one to get out not me. I promised her I’d get her out and I didn’t Mulder, I didn’t!” She sobs even harder into Mulder’s shirt.
“Awe, Scully it’s not your fault. And she’s in a better place now. She’s happy. At least with her help we were able to get the rest of the children out. They are all with their families now.”
  Scully looks up and looks up into Mulder’s eyes. “Will, you stay with me tonight? I can’t bare to sleep another night alone with those visions haunting me every time I close my eyes.” Mulder kisses her on the forehead.
“Of course I’ll stay will you tonight. I’ll stay with you for as many nights as you want me to.”
    He coaxes her to lie down and then lies down right beside her and puts his arms around her. They fall asleep in each other’s arms and don’t awake until morning.
 Mulder awakens first and watches Scully sleep. She looks so beautiful and peaceful when she sleeps he thinks to himself. He kisses her on the cheek and she awakens.
“How did you sleep?” He asks her.
“Much better. I didn’t have any of those awful dreams. I think having you here helped.” Mulder smiles.
“I’m glad.”
“Mulder?”
“Yeah?”
“Take me away.” He looks at her confused.
“What?”
“I need to get away from here for awhile.  Away from my job, away from everything evil in the word, just take me somewhere beautiful. A place where everything is peaceful and happy.” A tear glistens in her eyes. “Mulder, please.”
He wipes the tears away from her face. “Sure Scully I’ll take you away. I’ll take you some place beautiful.”

THE END……………