TITLE:  Variation
AUTHOR:  Shoshana
EMAIL ADDRESS:  [email protected]
DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT:  Gossamer and by request.
SPOILER WARNING: Duane Barry/Ascension
RATING:  PG-13
CLASSIFICATION:  VA
KEYWORDS:  Mulder, Scully, UST
SUMMARY:  A different outcome for the episodes Duane
Barry/Ascension.  
DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me.
NOTE:  Thanks to sallie, my wonderful beta reader!

Variation
By Shoshana

"Mulder! I need your help!"

He had just pulled into a parking space in her lot when he heard the
glass breaking, the urgent plea for help.  He abandoned the car,
chimes still dinging relentlessly, warning the driver his keys were
still in the ignition and his doors ajar.  

There was no time to think, just to run--run as fast as he ever
could to the door of her apartment.  The door was wide open and he
could see debris everywhere beyond the threshold.  He'd raced up the
stairs, adrenaline pumping through his veins, trying to keep a cool
enough head to follow a modicum of procedure.  

He only stopped for a few seconds, enough to catch his breath and
draw his weapon.  He heard nothing now, Scully had stopped screaming
his name.  He navigated swiftly through the broken glass and
splintered wood, checking each of the few rooms beyond the kitchen.  

Mulder's stomach ached as the only other alternative came to mind;
she'd already been carried out to the parking lot and he had
precious seconds to spare.  He rushed out to the lot, listening for
her voice, hearing nothing but street traffic passing on the main
drag.  

He remembered the alley, the one with the electrical and cable
boxes, just around the corner.  Gun still drawn, he raced down the
dark and narrow passageway.  It was just wide enough to accomodate a
car and Mulder could see one, trunk ajar, filthy exhaust filling the
space between the brownstones.

He could also see the figure of a man, lifting a small, lifeless
body with some difficulty.  Mulder didn't need to see the man's face;
the hazy silhouette was definitely Duane Barry.  The mental patient
was oblivious to the Federal agent, still struggling to heft Scully's
dead weight into the trunk.  

Mulder advanced swiftly, using precious moments to collect himself
and do this right.  Barry probably wasn't armed with a gun, yet he
might have a knife.  He was much too close to Scully for comfort; he
could still do her harm if Mulder did not maintain his element of
surprise.

Barry finally completed his gruesome task of loading his prisoner
into the trunk space.  He slammed it shut and turned toward the
driver's side of the car.  That's when Mulder saw the gun, stuck in
the waistband of the man's jeans.  

This was going to be harder than he'd thought, Mulder muttered
mentally as he advanced quickly, gun drawn and pointed square at
Barry's back.

"Federal agent!  Stop!"  

Barry froze for a second, then took his last and very slim chance of
getting away with his bounty.  He pulled his weapon with disturbing
finesse, just enough to make Mulder regret his solitary status.

Barry stood stock still, gun in hand.  

"You ain't gonna shoot me in the back, are you, Agent Mulder?" he
taunted.

Mulder wasn't buying it.  He would shoot to kill, procedure be
damned.  This was Scully's life versus the life of this scumbag.  

He wasn't even sure Scully was alive in that trunk, to tell the
truth.  Barry had no clue and was about to meet his maker.

"Drop it, Barry!  You've got nowhere to run."  

Mulder wanted to lie and say back up was on the way.  He knew the
commotion in the apartment had already alerted Scully's neighbors and
the cops had to be there by now.  He wanted to believe DC law
enforcement was right behind him, ready to help him arrest this
bastard.  It would be so much easier that way, so much easier than
shooting this worthless asshole in the back.  

"Police!  Drop your weapons!"

The cops were here, on either side of the alleyway.  Mulder could
see Barry raise his hands, gun pointed straight at the officers
confronting him.  In the split second of crossfire, Mulder dropped to
the ground, self-preservation too strong to permit him otherwise.  

He stayed down, through the deafening gunfire, through the unearthly
moans from the dying man before him.  He pushed his gun away from his
body, assuming an unthreatening position on the ground.  He
desperately wanted to get to Scully, to make sure she was okay, but
he waited the thirty, maybe forty seconds, until a cop scooped up his
weapon.

"I'm a Federal agent!  My partner is in the trunk!  She was being
kidnapped," he told the female officer.

"Get up slowly and put your hands on your head, sir," she responded.
"Hey Mac," she called out to her partner while frisking Mulder for
weapons, "Open that trunk!"  

The policewoman found Mulder's ID and gave it a cursory glance, then
demanded paramedics to the scene over her radio.  The trunk was open
now and Mulder didn't wait for permission to rush to Scully's side.
The policewoman gave the thumbs up sign to the other officers and
they allowed him to help untie her feet and hands.  

She was alive, barely.  Barry had knocked her out and the unnatural
pallor of her skin frightened Mulder.  She'd been injured on the job
in the last year but never to this extent.  

The EMTs arrived, politely moving everyone, including Mulder, away
from the patient.  He watched silently, the whole incident and its
ramifications assailing him at once.  

She was hurt, badly, for no other reason than her association with
the X-Files, and with him.  The X-Files weren't even open and
this had still happened to her.  He couldn't let her take any more
chances.  Being a Federal agent was one thing; being a target for
every nut case he attracted was another.  He would never let her
partner with him again.  He would do something, anything, to get her
away from him and the misery trailing him like a curse.

They were taking Scully away on a gurney and the female cop was
shaking his arm gently, trying to get his attention.

"Sir, I need to ask you some questions.  I know you want to go with
her but we need to do this now.  We'll get you to the hospital as
fast as we can.  Is there anyone else we should call?"

Mulder thought for a moment.  Not her mother, not yet.  Vital signs
had been promising, he had observed that much.  He didn't want to
worry Mrs. Scully for now.  He knew he'd have to call soon but he
hoped for better news in a few hours time.

"Our boss.  Our former boss, that is.  AD Walter Skinner."

Mulder wasn't feel too loquacious.  He just wanted to get this over
with and get to the hospital.  The policewoman realized that and
after delegating the call to Skinner to another cop, pulled out her
notebook and started asking Mulder questions.  She was a seasoned law
officer and knew exactly what to ask now and what to leave for
tomorrow.  This agent would cooperate fully and perhaps more cogently
after his fellow agent was settled at the hospital in healing mode.

"That will be all--for now, Agent Mulder.  You will be available
tomorrow, won't you?" she finally said.  

"Sure, no problem.  I think I'm okay now, ma'am.  I'm going to go
see if my car is still in front of the building and drive to the
emergency room."

"Fine, agent.  Just tell us if you have any problems, okay?"  She
gave him a professional handshake and smile and left him to supervise
the forensics unit arriving as they spoke.  

Mulder found his car, doors shut and unlocked, still in front of the
building.  Apparently someone had called in the plates and deduced
it belonged to the Federal agent involved in the shooting in the
alley way.  He jumped in the car and tried to drive the speed limit
to the ER.  

He parked and ran up to the sliding glass doors, flashed his badge
at the security guard and proceeded to the nurses' station.  A young
nurse looked up and smiled.

"You must be Agent Mulder.  Mr. Skinner said you would be here
before too long.  Please have a seat while I call an orderly."

This was too easy.  He'd always had to demand to see his partner
before.  A chill ran down his spine as he ran through the worst case
scenarios in his mind.

Scully was dead.  No, the nurse wouldn't smile at him like that.
She would be somber and she wouldn't be calling an orderly to take
him to Scully.

Scully was deathly ill.  No, again.  That smile belied that
possibility.  Or maybe not.  Nurses were used to doling out false
sincerity to patients' families and friends.

He didn't get to review any more horror stories because the male
orderly walked up to him and requested his attention elsewhere.
Mulder followed the man to one of the emergency trauma bays, one
reserved for more complicated cases and with frosted glass in the
door.  His heart sank as he realized this, but he didn't have time to
ponder how damaged Scully was, a doctor came up to him immediately, a
young man barely out of medical school.

"Hi, Agent Mulder.  I'm Dr. Clark.  She's got some bumps and bruises
but I think she'll be fine.  She was mumbling and in and out of
consciousness there when she arrived but I think she'll be asleep for
awhile now.  We are going to move her as soon as possible."  Seeing
the relief on the agent's face, he added, "I know you thought the
worst because we used the trauma bay, but it was just a matter of
space tonight."

"Thanks, Dr.  Can I see her now?" Mulder asked, still anxious to see
her condition despite the doctor's assurances.

"Sure.  Just don't expect her to be conscious for a few hours.  I'll
leave instructions that you may stay with her upstairs.  Do you think
her family will be coming along too?"

Mulder grimaced, not certain at all when he would be calling Mrs.
Scully.  Or *if* if he would be calling Mrs. Scully.  He assumed
Scully might roast him alive if he got her mother upset about a mere
concussion.  Never mind that she was almost kidnapped by Barry and
taken God knows where--Scully would still be angry if her mother had
to suffer through this alongside him.  

"I think I'll hold off on calling them for now, thank you.  If you
do think she will be all right--"

"Yes.  I do, Agent Mulder.  No doubt about it.  She's a lucky lady
and she has you to watch over her, doesn't she?" the doctor said.  "I
have to get to my next patient, good luck."

The young man disappeared among the curtained cubicles of the ER and
Mulder followed a nurse into the trauma bay.  They were getting
Scully ready for transfer and he stood in the corner, watching them
at work.  His partner looked better, almost relaxed as she slept.
She had an IV and oxygen, but nothing more.  A good sign, he
thought.  

The immediate elation that she would recover completely was marred
by darker thoughts that drifted into his fertile mind.  He could not
go through this again.  He could not let her work with him and ruin
her life like this.  This wasn't a FBI agent's job; it was torture.
He knew there were many sinister forces against him, people in
government who never wanted his theories and revelations to see the
light of day.  He couldn't help but see Duane Barry as just the tip
of the iceberg.  *They* would find somehow, someway to harm Scully
again--to get at *him*.  Undoubtedly, she would never have a normal
life if she continued to associate with him, the albatross around the
neck of so many unknown cliques within the government.

He would convince her--not today, nor tomorrow, but soon--to stay
away from him.  No more clandestine meetings, no more consultations,
no more phone calls.  Someone was out to get him and they were going
to drag her through the muck and mire too.

*********

Skinner showed up an hour after Scully was settled in her room.  He
didn't look happy, but then he never did, Mulder laughed to himself.

"How is she?" he asked curtly.

"She's going to be all right.  Just bumps and bruises."  Mulder
stopped, looked down at the floor, and added, apologetically, "Of
course, it's no picnic being kidnapped, sir.  I don't want to see it
happen again."

"You think it will?" Skinner asked, not sure where the agent was
going with this.

"I think she will always be in danger if she associates herself with
me, sir.  I hope you are not here to tell me we are partnered again."

Mulder's adamance surprised Skinner and he nodded thoughtfully
before responding.  "I know it's not what you want to hear, Mulder.
I also think the decision should be left up to Scully."

"But--" Mulder protested.

"No 'buts' about it.  I've been given permission to reopen the X-
Files, especially after this attack on Scully.  I don't think you
have the power to tell Dana what to do, do you?"

Skinner grinned at Mulder, well aware of his female agent's
courageous spirit.  He had never met a woman so unintimidated by her
job, her colleagues, or her mercurial partner.  Mulder certainly was
a challenge worthy of Dana Scully and the two of them had forged an
exceptional partnership in the past year.  He wanted to give that
back to them; he wanted to have his best agents watching each other's
backs.  He trusted none other with the task.

Mulder bit his lip and closed his eyes in frustration.  For all his
elation at having the X-Files reopened, he was still spooked by this
attack on Scully.  He could fight Skinner if he chose to, an uphill
battle potentially resulting in his demotion or dismissal.  He could
resign and leave the FBI, teach psychology, write articles for Omni,
whatever.  At least Scully would be out of danger that way.  Or not.

She might always be in peril from this day on.  If he wasn't there
to watch her back, who would?  Skinner couldn't, though he might like
to protect her.  Mulder knew Skinner had a soft spot for Dana Scully.
He was a man and knew what men thought.  Yet, he knew what an
honorable man Skinner was, one that would never compromise his
relationship with a subordinate, especially a woman.    

Skinner waited silently beside him, accustomed to long silences from
his most intellectual agent.  Or nearly his most--Scully had actually
surpassed Mulder in the degree arena.  Her IQ was not quite as high
as his male agent's, but her other qualities, including a superb
logical mind and excellent tactical skills made her a worthy partner
to Mulder.

"Not much of a choice," Mulder finally said.  

"She won't quit," Skinner affirmed.

"Never," Mulder agreed.  

The two men smiled at one another and Skinner held out his hand.
Mulder took it and they shook heartily.  They broke apart and
Skinner's expression reverted to one more sober, more typical of his
personality.

"See you soon, agent," Skinner said, already on his way to the
elevators.

**********

"Hey, there."

"Mulwer?"  Scully's droopy eyes were at half mast.

"You must still be really tired.  Take it easy.  Are you
thirsty?"

"Yeah, please."

She drank a little from the straw with his help, all the time
eyeballing the IV line suspiciously.  He grabbed a tissue and caught
the drips before she could ask for help.  She put her head back on
the pillow and pushed her hair back with one hand, then closed her
eyes in thought.

"Dead?"

"Yes," he answered, not sure whether to elaborate.

There was a long period of silence, perhaps five minutes or so.  He
wasn't timing it but it seemed to stretch on forever.  He wasn't
going to bring up the X-Files until she asked.  Or her mother.  Or
anything for that matter.  Let her pick the topic of conversation
when she's ready to discuss the future.

"He must have had help," she said with a little frown.

"Barry?  I don't know, Scully.  He escaped by himself.  Don't know
where he got the car yet.  Haven't had time to find out.  You gave us
quite a scare, you know--"  

His voice wavered, he knew, but he wanted to let her know how much
all this had affected him.

Scully closed her eyes and said flatly, "Won't quit."

He smiled, thinking back to his conversation with Skinner.  "I know."

Her eyes popped open, one eyebrow raised in question.  "You do, now?"

"Before you accuse me of believing in extra-sensory perception..."
Mulder scolded, "Let me tell you Skinner was here earlier, checking
up on you.  Actually, both of us, but mostly you."  

Her smile matched his for a long moment.

"He reopened the X-Files," he told her, his eyes softening with
affection when he saw how much it meant to her also.  

He would never have been able to persuade Scully to leave, and she
would have fought back tooth and nail if he handed it down as an
edict to be obeyed.  He was stuck with her now, for as long as he
needed her.  The thought that it might be forever crossed his mind.  
That would really be too good to be true, he thought.  Be grateful
for what you have, asshole.

"I'm glad.  That, that implant.  It made the scanner go nuts in the
grocery store."

Mulder nodded his head.  He had checked his messages on his home
machine.  He understand why Duane Barry had been sent to take her
now.  They were too close to the truth.  He hadn't heard the message
when he'd driven up to her apartment earlier in the day.  He'd had no
idea why she was screaming for help--until he heard the message
after the thwarted kidnapping.  

"I want to go home."

"You will.  You got tossed around pretty good there, young lady," he
said, reaching over to give her hand a quick squeeze.

She smiled at him and they sat there for a few more minutes before
she said drowsily, "Skinner came."

"Yep.  He was here and apparently he made a few phone calls before I
got here.  I've never had such an easy time getting in to see you.  I
usually have to throw a temper tantrum just to speak to a doctor."

She laughed and his burden seemed to diminish immensely.  

"I didn't call your mom."

She nodded, "You were right not to do that."  She yawned, closing
her eyes and relaxing into the mattress.  "Guess I should sleep."

"You should," he agreed.  He leaned over and lightly kissed her
forehead, then turned to leave.

"No."  Her eyes were only open halfway, but her hand was on his
forearm tightly.

"No?  Okay, let me get a chair."

Scully released her grip and he pulled one of the more comfortable
looking chairs over to her bedside.  He took her hand in his,
soothing his thumb gently over her battered knuckles.  She'd fought
so hard today, the least he could do was stay her by her side.

"Better," he whispered.

"Mmm... hmm..." she murmured with satisfaction.

After a few minutes, when she seemed to have fallen asleep, he said,
"I won't leave."

It had to be his imagination when she smiled in her sleep.

fin

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