***
'Mulder, you don't remember anything?' Scully asked him, sitting in her apartment.
He shook his head, not looking at her.
She shook her head. 'I wish you could remember something about where you've been. It might explain who decided to conduct neurosurgery on you. Plus how you can be psychic one minute, then have it turned off the next.'
Mulder shrugged at her. 'Bother's the hell outta me too.'
Scully patted his hand. 'I guess you're okay and that's all that matters.'
'Yeah, I feel okay.' He looked up at her, smiling. 'Hey, Scully. You got any of that Godiva I gave you for your birthday?'
She smiled at him. 'Why do we drink whenever we're together?'
'Oh, I don't know.' He said, grabbing her hand. 'Maybe I like it when you loosen up. Or maybe it gives me the courage I need to tell you how important you are to me.'
Mulder tangled his hand in her hair and brought her face closer to give her a quick kiss.
'Agent Scully?'
She blinked her eyes at the authoritative voice.
'There you are.'
She focused on Skinner. He was standing above her, smiling. 'How are you feeling?'
Scully touched her head. 'Where am I?'
'You're in the hospital, but you're okay.' Skinner said. 'You were found in the garage of the Westin. Do you remember what happened?'
Scully thought back. The Westin? The hotel? The last time she'd been at a Westin was in Los Angeles. No, in Seattle. Downtown Seattle. Krycek and her had come out to find Mulder.
'Alex.' She said, sitting up.
Skinner gently eased her back down. 'Easy, Agent.' He said softly.
'Where's Alex?' She asked.
Skinner looked at her, a strange expression on his face. 'If you're referring to Krycek, we've found no trace of him other than what was left in the hotel.'
'He was shot.' Scully said. 'He saved my life...'
'Agent Scully.' Skinner said. 'It's improbable that he survived with how much blood he lost.'
Scully's eyes welled up in tears. Again. She hated the water that seemed to be a permanent fixture behind her eyes these days.
'There was no evidence?' She asked.
'On Agent Mulder?'
'On Alex.' She responded softly.
�No.� Skinner replied. 'There was no sign of where he went or who could have taken him. All we found was his blood.'
Scully squeezed her eyes shut. 'I promised I'd stay with him.' She said softly.
'You never know about Krycek, Agent.' Skinner said, tilting his head to the side to look at her. 'He could be just fine. He is a slippery son of a-'
'I didn't find anything much about Agent Mulder, Sir.' Scully lied to Skinner, but wasn't quite sure why. 'Only that he is probably alive.'
'What makes you think that?'
'Krycek showed me some pictures, Sir.' Scully said, not able to look at him. 'It showed Mulder alive with Marita Covarrubias.'
Skinner frowned. 'Doing what?'
'Talking.' She said. 'Just talking.'
She wanted Skinner to leave. She felt uncomfortable with him there and didn't know why, which made her feel worse. She assumed that a lot of it was due to the fact that she didn't want to expose her new loyalty to Krycek. She didn't think anyone would understand right now and didn't want to complicate things.
'Where were they talking?'
'I don't know.' She replied. 'Krycek was very, reluctant, as far as giving information away, I mean.'
'He probably knows where Agent Mulder is.' Skinner said.
'I don't know, Sir.' Scully said. 'He seemed just as confused.'
***
Mulder sat in the chair, his hands dangling between his legs, his head down. He tried to speak, couldn't, and cleared his throat again. It was still sore from the oxygen tube.
'How long have I been here?' He asked softly.
Marita came around the desk to lean against it. 'Only for a couple of days. We thought it was safest for you to come here, after being abducted.'
'Why?' He looked up at her.
'We needed to make sure you weren't infected.' Marita replied in her sophisticated voice. 'We needed to monitor your vital signs.'
'Does Scully know where I'm at?'
'No, no.� Marita said. 'This has been kept in the strictest of confidence.'
Mulder shook his head, staring down at the ground. 'She must be worried sick. I have to let her know I'm okay.'
'Agent Scully is fine.' Marita said. 'Right now we need to worry about you, and where you're going to go from here.'
'What do you mean, 'where I'm going to go'?' He glanced back up at her. 'I'm going back to my apartment, to the FBI, to the X-Files and to Scully.'
Marita leaned down and put a hand on his arm. 'Things may not be so simple, Agent Mulder.'
He resisted the urge to move away from here. 'How so?'
'There are things you need to be aware of. Things that will change the way you look at everything.'
***
Skinner drove Scully back to the Westin. She was extremely reluctant to stay in the same hotel, but wanted to know that Krycek could find her if he needed to. She requested two different rooms, one for her and one for Skinner, and then she thought better of it and requested two more for when the three freaks showed up. The last thing she did was leave a note for Krycek at the front desk.
Skinner preceded Scully into her room. He flicked on the light and looked around. 'You sure you want to stay here, Agent Scully?'
'I'm not leaving.' She said, walking past him to sit down in one of the chairs by the window. 'I wish you'd quit trying to talk me out of it.'
'I just don't see what staying here is going to accomplish.' He said, sitting across from her. 'It seems to me that all our resources are back in D.C.'
'Sir, I know you don't understand it.' Scully said. 'But I need to be here. There's, other contacts I have that are here in town.'
An annoyed look spread across Skinner's face as he realized that she had been hiding things from him. 'Other contacts.'
'Yes.'
'Like who?'
Scully paused, then looked at him. 'Krycek and I met with Cancer Man and Mulder's sister last night.'
Skinner let that settle in for a moment. 'When were planning on telling me this?'
'I don't know.' Scully said softly. 'I learned some things that were very difficult for me. I didn't plan on sharing them yet.'
'You want to share them now?' He looked at her sternly.
'Spender said that Mulder is working with Marita Covarrubias. They are trying to create and alien-human hybrid that will contain the genetics needed to create a vaccine against colonization. He said that they were sided with those faceless rebels you keep hearing about.'
'I don't think I believe that.'
'Neither did we, Sir.' She paused. 'But then they showed us pictures. Of Mulder and Marita and of Mulder and others. Other men gathered around a table, plotting, doing something. And Diana was with them.'
'Diana Fowley?' Skinner was shocked.
Scully nodded. 'Yes. That's why, whether I want to or not, I find myself believing that Mulder is with these people. I know that he would have tried to contact one of us by now. I mean, why would he be hiding with Diana if there were something he doesn't want us to know?'
***
'I don't believe it.' Byers said.
Scully had repeated the story again when the Lone Gunmen showed up at the hotel later that morning. Of course, she left out the part about her baby having Krycek's DNA. She didn't quite feel like letting that little secret out of the bag yet.
'Mulder wouldn't side with those freaks.' Frohike said in his delicate manner.
'I don't mean that he's siding with anyone.' Scully said. 'Just that he's there now, and hasn't tried to contact us.' She looked around at everyone. 'That doesn't seem strange to anyone else?'
'Maybe he's unable to contact us.' Skinner said quietly.
'Maybe he is.' She agreed.
Langly cleared his throat and she looked up at him. He was even paler than usual. 'I just realized something.'
'What?' She asked when he was silent.
'Your ova.' He said, looking over at Byers.
'My what?' Scully looked between the three of them.
Now Byers had the perfect definition of disbelief on his face. 'Oh my God.' He said.
'Now wait.' Frohike said. 'That means nothing.'
'What?' Scully demanded. 'What the hell are you talking about?'
'Mulder had asked us to store something for him. He had stumbled into a laboratory, while you were in the hospital, fighting your cancer.' Byers began to explain and Langly picked up for him.
'He told us it was your ova, we needed to know in order to store it correctly. He didn't want us to tell you. He said he'd tell you himself when he was ready.'
Scully's mouth was agape, her eyes were wide. 'He stumbled across my ova?'
'Our lab was broken into a couple of months ago.' Frohike said. 'That was one of the things that we could never find.'
Scully stood up, her hand over her mouth; she turned in a slow circle. When she looked back at them, her face was livid.
'And none of you ever thought you should tell me this?' She raised her voice.
'Mulder said he was going to tell you.' Frohike sputtered. 'We didn't feel it was our place.'
'Your PLACE?� She yelled. 'Mulder finds my ova and you don't think it's your PLACE to tell me?'
'I guess that explains the mystery of how they managed to conceive a child from you.' Skinner said softly.
Scully sat down on the bed and buried her face in her hands.
Skinner approached Scully and put a hand on her shoulder. She was shaking. He assumed that she was crying but when she looked up, he saw that she was furious.
'Why the hell didn't anyone tell me about this?' She demanded, standing up. 'The man suddenly finds my ova and this seems normal to everyone?'
'We were with him when he broke into the lab.' Langly said. 'We were there when he found it. It didn't seem suspicious.'
'Scully,' Skinner said softly, 'this still doesn't mean he's in cahoots with the enemy.'
'Sir,' she said looking up at him, 'I don't even know who the enemy is anymore.'
'I just don't believe that Mulder would do this.' Frohike said.
'Alex said the same thing.' Scully gave a small shake of her head.
'Screw Krycek.' Frohike said. 'He wouldn't know the truth if it bit him on the ass.'
Scully whirled on him. 'Can we please leave Alex alone for one minute?'
Everyone was taken aback by her sudden defense of Krycek.
Skinner stepped towards the door. 'Maybe we should all let Scully get some rest.'
The three filed out the door and Skinner closed it behind them.
'You want to tell me what's really going on now?'
'What do you mean?' Scully didn't look at him.
'Your sudden loyalty to Krycek.' Skinner said. 'A man you wanted dead for a long, long time.'
Scully didn't say anything. She wiped at her eyes.
'Now you don't want to leave Seattle.' Skinner continued. 'When we both know the search for Mulder isn't even on the pacific coast.'
'And how would you feel, Sir?' Scully asked.
Skinner didn't answer; he waited for her to go on.
'Mulder always came to my rescue. Always managed to find me. Even up on top of the world, he manages to find me in the middle of a maze in a spacecraft that�s buried deep under ice. Manages to have the vaccine. He said a man who was high up in the syndicate approached him with all this. Does this sound real to you?'
Skinner still didn't say anything.
'I'm shown pictures of him conspiring with Diana Fowley, who should be dead. He's been missing for a week and he hasn't called anyone, but is sitting around a table in a meeting with someone who should be dead? I just find out that he had my ova, my ova for God�s sake, after I mysteriously become pregnant.' She turned to face him. 'What would you think?'
'I don't know what I�d think.' Skinner said softly.
She walked over to the bed and sat down. 'I've been told I should go into hiding.'
'Cancer Man?' He asked.
Scully nodded. 'Apparently my baby is the savior of the human race.'
'What're you going to do?' He asked gently.
She shook her head. 'I have no idea.'
***
A month had gone by. Scully had decided to go back to Washington D.C. after staying in Seattle for a week and coming up with nothing. There were things she needed to take care of back home, and no threats had been made on her life or the life of her baby.
Upon her arrival back home, she had found a cryptic message from Mulder on her answering machine:
�Uh, Scully it's me. I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay. I will be back as soon as I can and then I'll tell you everything. You won�t believe what I�m learning. Anyway, I'm fine and I'll be home.�
Well, that was three weeks ago and Scully wasn't impressed. At first she had cried, then she had gotten angry. Now, she was detached from it. The whole ova thing had thrown her over the edge. She was very angry with Mulder.
Skinner and the Lone Gunmen dropped by everyday. They brought her vegetarian food and kept her company. She was reluctant to return to her work on the X-Files and Skinner knew it. She didn't want to bring any unnecessary risks to the baby.
This evening, she was enjoying a rather wonderful portabello mushroom burger from the vegetarian cafe around the corner that Krycek had introduced to her. It was her new favorite dish and Skinner brought it to her all the time.
'Are you getting hooked yet?' Scully asked him, mouth full of food.
'You shouldn't talk with your mouth full, Agent Scully.' Skinner said, speaking with his own mouth full of a veggie burger. 'It's really very disgusting.'
Scully laughed, thanking God for putting Skinner in her life. He had kept her sane while her search for Mulder and Krycek had come to a grinding halt. She finally gave up on both of them and instead concentrated on herself and the baby.
'Resistance is futile.' Scully said to him.
'Oh hush.' Skinner said. 'You're winning. I cannot remember the last time I actually ate some meat.'
Scully smiled at him. 'Give yourself to the dark side.'
'I will never go vegan.' Skinner said, throwing a French fry at her. 'That's just mere insanity.'
Scully laughed and he joined her. 'It's not as bad as you think.'
Skinner was glad she was smiling and laughing. There were a couple of scary weeks that she didn't do either. He didn't know what had happened with Alex Krycek, but he knew that Scully had not quite been the same since their trip to Seattle.
Scully suddenly quite chewing and looked at Skinner. The look on her face scared the hell out of him.
'Scully, what's wrong?' He asked.
She just sat there, staring at him, her face blank. He concluded that she was choking.
'Are you choking?' He asked her, rising from his seat.
She shook her head, as there was a knock on the door.
Skinner moved to the door and took his gun out. 'Who's there?'
A voice came back to them. 'Alex Krycek.'
Skinner opened the door and Krycek all but fell in. Scully had rushed past him and caught Krycek. She guided him to the couch.
'Alex.' She said softly. 'Are you okay?'
'I'm fine.' He whispered. �Just tired. Been a long trip.�
She let him fall on the couch and he caught both of her hands with his own. Something about that seemed strange to her but she pushed the thought away.
'Are you okay?' He asked her, gripping her hands tightly.
'I'm fine.' She answered. 'What the hell happened to you?'
'The baby's okay?' He asked, his eyes closing.
'Fine, we're both fine.' She said, feeling his hands slip from hers.
His hands, that still didn't fit right.
His hands.
She suddenly gasped and stood up. Skinner was immediately right behind her.
'What's wrong?' He demanded.
'His hands.' Scully said in a strained voice.
Skinner took in her face, drained of color, and steadied her as she swayed. 'What about his hands?'
'His HANDS.' She said, sitting on the couch next to Krycek and grabbing his left hand. 'His arm. Oh my God, his arm.'
Skinner leaned over Krycek so quickly he nearly knocked Scully down. 'Holy shit!'
She traced a fingernail across Krycek's left palm and his fingers twitched. 'Oh my god.'
'How is this possible?' Skinner asked softly.
'It isn't.' She said, pulling Krycek's sleeve up to examine his arm. There was the faintest hint of a scar towards the top, but it looked like even that would heal. She began to cry and didn't know why. 'Oh my god, this isn't possible.'
'Scully?' Skinner asked she stood up and walked over to sit down at the table. 'Why are you crying?'
She shook her head. 'I have no idea. It must be the hormones.' She suddenly laughed and looked over at Krycek. 'I can't believe someone just put his arm back on.'
Skinner said down across from her. 'That�s unbelievable.'
'To think that this kind of technology might be available to us.' Scully wiped her eyes. 'Imagine the possibilities.'
Skinner looked at Scully for a moment. 'Scully, how did you know?'
'Know what?'
'About thirty seconds before Krycek knocked, you suddenly stopped eating and just stared at me. You look like you'd seen a ghost. Did you know he was coming here?'
Scully didn't answer him and he leaned forward. 'You can tell me, Scully.'
'I heard him.' She said softly.
Skinner looked at her strangely. 'You heard him walking up the hall?'
�No.� She said softly. 'I heard him in my head.'
Skinner leaned back in his chair and stared at her. 'In your head?'
'I shouldn't have said anything.' She said softly.
'No, no.� Skinner held up a hand. 'Just trying to understand. Are you saying you can read minds?'
Scully shook her head. 'It wasn't like that.'
'How was it?' He waited for her to continue.
'It was like, he was in my head.' She struggled for the right words. 'Not his voice. Just...I don't know...A feeling that he was there. I knew it was Alex. It was so obviously his presence.' She covered her face. 'I sound like all those people I used to think were crazy.'
'What do you think this means?'
'I don't know.' She smiled. 'It really scared me.'
'Do you think it's the same thing that happened to Mulder?'
Scully thought for a moment before shaking her head. 'I don't think so, no.'
'Well I'm a little concerned, Scully.' Skinner said. 'Mulder ignored it and we all saw what happened to him. I don't want to have to visit you in the padded room.'
Scully looked at Krycek's sleeping form. 'I think it's him.'
'Krycek?'
'Cancer Man told me that Alex had more alien in him then the other three children put together. That he was the perfect hybrid, with the exception of the anti-agent of course.'
'So you think he has a way of communicating telepathically?'
'It's my best guess.' Scully smiled.
***
Mulder set the phone back in the cradle as Diana walked in. She stopped and gave him a look, her eyebrows raised.
He grinned sheepishly at her. 'I had to let her know I was okay.'
'You didn't tell her where you are, did you?'
'I don't even know where I'm at.' He said, sitting down at the table. 'Besides, she wasn't there so I left a message.'
She sat down next to him. 'What did you say?'
'I sang 'Bingo' and clapped all the way up to the G.� He said, not looking at her.
She sighed. 'Translation: It's none of my business.'
Mulder smiled. 'Still sharp as a tack.'
They were interrupted as Marita walked in with two other men.
***
'I feel better about your guess than other people's facts.' Skinner said.
Scully grinned at him. 'Flattery, my dear Assistant Director, will get you everywhere.'
Krycek suddenly jumped up off the couch, startling the both of them. 'Get away from the door, get away from the door.' He said, pounding on the door immediately following.
Skinner and Scully both stood up, moving further into the kitchen, Skinner getting in front of her. They both watched Krycek.
He held up his hands, walking to the door. 'I'm sorry. It's the three musketeers. All I knew was someone was running up the hall and really needed to be here.'
He opened the door and they rushed inside, breathing heavily. They all looked at Krycek and he smiled. 'Hi boys, nice to see you too.'
'Oh hell.' Frohike rolled his eyes. 'Don't you ever die?'
Krycek pointed at Frohike. 'You were running?'
Frohike threw a finger up in the air. 'Hop on this and rotate.'
'Always knew I liked you for some reason.' Krycek clapped him on the shoulder as he walked by.
Scully moved into the room. 'To what do I owe this honor?'
Byers held up a piece of paper in triumph. 'We know where Mulder is.'
Scully snatched it out of his hand. The address was in New York.
***
Marita sat down on the other side of Mulder. 'We appreciate you staying here for our meeting.'
Mulder shrugged. 'The least I can do after you guys found me.'
'You're very important, Fox.' Diana said. 'You would help the project immensely by working with us.'
