In Mulder's apartment Scully was asleep on the bed. She had been for the past 20 hours and Mulder hadn't left her side for more than a total of 5 minutes in all that time.

He had brought her home after clutching at her in sheer relief for what seemed like an eternity. He could not even remember how he'd found her but he'd had one young FBI agent on her toes tracking the telephone for him.

He'd found her collapsed just underneath the payphone in what appeared to be death. The pulse that he sensed on her neck was the relief that he needed to bring her back. She responded to him calling her name but rather than say anything she just reached for him. He understood completely. No words were needed to be said, she probably wasn't capable in her state. He and she both just needed to know that the other was present and alive.

He'd put her in the back of his car and taken her home. Removing the filthy clothes when he got there. Why he didn't go to her place he didn't know. It was definitely closer. He guessed that she's been ambushed whilst going from her car to her apartment. Maybe that was why he didn't go there. She didn't need to be anywhere in the vicinity of her attack. Looking out her window could be enough to remind her of the atrocity he suspected.

Mulder had sponged Scully when he had taken her clothes off. He didn�t care about possible forensics, he would keep the torn clothes for that. As it was, he couldn't stand to see Scully in a state of vulnerability and absolutely dirty as she was and no doubt would feel.

He passed the warm sponge over all of her body and despite the nakedness of it he was not affected. The nakedness of her soul was what affected him most. The scandal that led to her being in the state she was in.

He knew he needed to call her mother. It would be criminal not to alert her to the attack but he decided to talk to Scully before he took part in any such action.

Sitting beside her as she slept out of sheer exhaustion Mulder's heart leapt every time she moved, breathed a little differently or showed the tiniest sign of consciousness. He knew that she was alive and would be alright but the physical signs of life weren't enough. He needed to hear her, to know that she was there. Not miles away - probably reliving her torture.

For these reasons his heart was filled with wonder and joy as her soft white eyelids fluttered in a way they hadn't for the past 20 hours and her eyes became visible in all their clarity � despite their sadness and shock that was evident in her dilated pupils.

- "Oh Scully"
The words escaped his mouth as a movement of sheer relief as she let out a sigh and even maybe smile of relief that was equal.

They spent the next couple of hours talking, Scully sitting up in the bed and Mulder engrossed. She told with difficulty all that had happened as Mulder's position in his chair become increasingly tense. He felt he would punish the person who did this to her. He who ambushed her only metres from safety that would have made that night altogether different had she reached it in time.

As Scully reached the end of her telling of the ordeal, Mulder could see the pain all over her in the memory and it almost killed him not to reach over and comfort her. But he was going to let her ask for his comfort. After all, it was a man who did this to her and she might not be comfortable having another so close to her yet.
"How did I get here Mulder?" she asked quietly.
"You managed to call me on a payphone and I traced it to come and get you," he answered calmly, she needed steadiness in him now, not his anger. "I brought you here and put you into bed. You've been out for almost 24 hours now."
"Thank you Mulder," she said, lying back.

Scully lay in Mulder's bed as he watched her just thinking. All the events over the past 30 hours going through her mind. She knew that he could see what was going through her mind but she didn�t care.

Before she joined the X-Files she wasn't sure that she had someone to save her from the living the hell that is rape. She didn�t have someone to trust implicitly as she does now. Scully felt as lucky as anyone could ever feel. She knew that her healing from this ordeal would be long but the fact that Mulder was there was a Godsend.

"Hold me Mulder" she said in a small voice.

These were the words Mulder had been waiting for and he immediately moved towards the bed and lay next to Scully enveloping her in his arms to make her safe from anything like that ever happening again. They remained together and safe for hours. In fact the safety would be forever in their minds as they both knew that no other person was more important in the world than the other and that they consequently were complete.

THE END