THAT'S ALL-PART 3

*************************************************

Dana Waterston's House
Wolfcove, Minnesota

Scully sat down tiredly at the dinner table, staring 
down at the microwave dinner in front of her. She wasn't 
really hungry, but she knew she should eat. And while 
she was exhausted, she didn't think she would be able 
to sleep, either. Everytime she closed her eyes, she 
kept seeing Mulder as he had looked when she had asked 
that ever-important question about believing. He had 
seemed angry, and even scared.

What had happened to him to make him this way? The man 
she had met today didn't believe in extreme possibilities, 
but he had once upon a time. Scully remembered a moment 
in their history when Mulder had stopped believing, all 
because some slick government people had led him to believe 
that he had been a major pawn in a giant hoax. He had 
regained his faith, though Scully wasn't quite sure how, 
and she had remembered how happy she had been to have 'her' 
Mulder back.

Had something similar happened in this world as well? Or 
was it something different? Even when he had stopped 
believing in aliens and UFO's, 'her' Mulder had still devoted 
himself to the X-Files, had still been determined to ferret 
out the truth from his government sources, had still enjoyed 
coming to work each day. What was different now?

"That's simple," a familiar voice said from across the room. 
"You're not a part of his life now."

Scully glared at Yasuo, resisting the urge to fling her 
cooling dinner at him. "Would you stop reading my mind." 
She stood, carrying her uneaten meal to the garbage. 
"You're not going to toy with my ego by making me think 
that Mulder needs me in his life to be happy."

"Why not if it's the truth?"

She spun around to face him. "What happened to him? Why 
is he falling apart like this?"

Yasuo seemed to consider the question for a while. "I 
think that is something you will have to ask him."

Scully crossed her arms under her breasts. "Do you really 
think he's going to be sticking around here long enough 
for me to do that?" She shook her head. "He doesn't want 
to be here. He doesn't want to be around me." It had been 
obvious all morning. Not once had the man looked directly 
at her after her interrogation, and when he left with Jake, 
he just about ran out the door.

"Are you so sure of that?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Scully practically 
shouted. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it!"

Yasuo just smiled, turned his head toward the door, and 
shrugged.

A knock sounded, startling Scully. With an exaggerated 
sigh, she marched across the room toward the front door. 
Standing on her tiptoes, she peeked through the peephole, 
and felt the ground drop out from under her feet. 
Figuratively, of course. She turned to glare at Yasuo, 
but he had disappeared. "Figures," she mumbled, the 
opened the door.

"Agent Mulder, what a surprise." She couldn't stop the 
sarcasm. 

Hands in his coat pockets, Mulder looked at her grimly. 
"I want to hear your theory, and I want the truth."

Placing her free hand on her hip, Scully returned his 
stare. "I think you already know what my theory is."

"A werewolf?" Mulder let out a laugh with no humor behind 
it. "You know, if I were to judge you by what I've heard 
and read, and by the Detective's praise of you, I would 
have determined you were one level-headed, classy lady." 
He paused, tilting his head in feigned curiosity. "So what 
made you so...open-minded?"

You.

She didn't say the word, but she felt it, and his narrowing 
eyes made it appear he had felt it, too.

He opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the 
chance as a loud scream ripped across the yard from the 
house next door.

Mulder immediately lost the lazy, haggard look and became 
alert and focused. He unholstered the gun on his hip and 
motioned to her with his left hand. "Stay here."

"Like hell I will!" Scully argued. She ducked off to the 
side, opening a drawer in the desk sitting there, and 
pulled out her own gun. 

Frowning, Mulder eyed it. "Don't worry," Scully told him. 
"It's licensed and I do know how to use it." With that 
she headed out the door and toward Rose Reynolds' house, 
pausing as another scream rent the air. Mulder pushed 
past her and ran toward the sound, which was coming from 
the woman's back yard.

Lithely, he jumped the chain link fence, and Scully 
couldn't help but admire his agility. Then all thoughts 
of athletic men left her mind as a horrible growl echoed 
from beyond. She struggled over the fence after Mulder 
in time to see a dark shape take off toward the opposite 
side of the yard.

"I'll get him, you stay with her," Mulder yelled over his 
shoulder, pointing toward the still whimpering Rose, who 
was lying just past her back porch, bleeding. Her little 
poodle, Sam, was barking crazily from inside the house.

Scully ran to Rose, quickly finding the worst of the 
bleeding and trying desperately to slow it. She cast a 
glance toward the direction Mulder had run, but it was 
too dark beyond Rose's porch light to see anything. 

Sirens began to wail, and Scully silently thanked whichever 
neighbor had called the police. Then she silently pleaded 
with God to take care of Mulder.

*************************************************

Mulder chased the dark shape, positive that it had to be 
a man, but as he closed the gap, he began to wonder. 
Maybe it was a man in a disguise, taking advantage of the 
wolf-man craze by dressing himself up as a hairy monster. 
But as the object of his pursuit ran underneath a 
streetlight, Mulder's certainties died. Men didn't run on 
four legs, not that fast anyway.

It was a wolf, and a big one. Skidding to a stop, Mulder 
aimed his weapon and fired. The animal jerked, indicated 
a direct hit, but didn't slow. It turned and jumped a 
fence into another yard. Determined now, Mulder followed, 
barely noticing the sound of sirens coming from behind 
him. 

He jumped the fence, dismayed to see the thick vegetation 
the engulfed this particular yard. Maybe he should let it 
go for now, he thought. It was wounded; it shouldn't be 
hard to find tomorrow. He moved forward carefully, weapon 
at the ready, but his caution was for naught. The animal 
jumped out at him from its hiding place behind a large 
evergreen, knocking him off his feet. Somehow, he managed 
to keep a hold of his gun, and he rolled himself over, 
regaining his feet just as the wolf turned to face him 
once more.

The two stared at each other. The wolf appeared black, 
but it was hard to tell in the dim light coming from the 
house next to them. But even that dim light couldn't hide 
the deadly glare of the animal's teeth as he snarled. Nor 
could it hide the glare in the creature's eyes, eyes that 
looked... 

'Just shoot,' Mulder told himself. 'Shoot, now!'

"Hey!"

A shout from the back door of the house distracted Mulder 
for less than a second, but that second was all the wolf 
needed. On feet almost as large as Mulder's hand, it turned 
and raced into the night.

"What's going on out there?" demanded the owner of the 
house. The sound of sirens became louder as a cop car 
raced his way. Mulder stood silent, a slight shiver racing 
up his spine. 

The wolf had looked him in the eye, and Mulder had looked 
back into eyes that were inexplicably... human.

*************************************************

"It was a wolf," Mulder said firmly. "I saw it. A big, 
black wolf."

Scully sat on the couch that was situated along the south 
wall of Jake's office, watching the two men sitting across 
the desk from each other. After ensuring Rose had arrived 
safely at the hospital, Scully had come straight here, 
only to find Mulder writing out a report at a borrowed desk 
just outside of Jake's office. Jake had seen her coming, 
asked about Rose, and then escorted both her and Mulder 
into his office, where he had proceeded to ask Mulder what 
he had seen.

"Do you know how rare black wolves are, Agent Mulder?" 
Jake asked him.

Mulder just shrugged. "That's what I saw," he told the 
Detective, his face devoid of expression. "Of course, it 
was night. It may not have been black, just dark." 

His demeanor disturbed Scully. He carried a bruise on his 
left cheek from something that happened during the chase, 
but since she hadn't read the report, she didn't know 
what. And if she wasn't mistaken, he was hiding something.

"How did you get that bruise on your face?" she asked.

Mulder hesitated slightly. "It jumped me, in that last 
yard. Knocked me down. I must have hit it on a rock or 
something."

"It attacked you?" Jake was incredulous.

Mulder shrugged. "I don't know that it actually attacked 
me," he said. "He jumped at me and shoved me to the 
ground, but he didn't grab hold of me with his mouth or 
anything." He paused, looking off into space as if 
remembering back. "Then the old man came out of the house 
and called out. It turned and ran before I could do 
anything." He focused on Jake. "But I did hit him earlier. 
I know I did."

Jake nodded. "That's odd that it didn't grab you. Even 
more odd that it ran when it did." He glanced at Scully. 
"It must be sick. We better tell the hospital to start 
Rose on a rabies vaccination regimen."

"It does sound sick," Scully replied, but she wasn't 
necessarily agreeing with Jake. She looked at Mulder, 
who was eyeing her speculatively. Almost as if he knew 
she was holding back. 

"We'll start tracking him in the morning," Jake 
continued, not even noticing the silent exchange between 
Mulder and Scully. "I'll call Clayton in; he's the best 
in the business." He stood, and Mulder stood with him. 
"Why don't you go and get some sleep, Agent Mulder. We'll 
meet you here at seven A.M. The sun will be up shortly after 
that and we can get to work."

Silently, Mulder nodded in assent, then turned to leave, 
giving Scully a small nod as he left.

Jake sat back down and looked at her. She looked back 
at him, knowing what was coming. Finally, he spoke.

"So what was Agent Mulder doing in your neighborhood 
when Rose was attacked?"

She thought for a moment, then decided that telling him 
as much of the truth as possible was the best thing to 
do. "He stopped by my house to ask about my werewolf 
theory."

"Ah, yes," Jake said as he stood again. He walked over 
to the couch and sat next to her. Despite her memories 
of pleasant dinners and quiet hikes through the woods 
with this man, Scully couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. 
"Exactly how did you get this theory, and why haven't 
I heard it before?"

Scully shrugged. "I just don't believe a wolf could be 
doing this, Jake," she told him. "Despite the evidence. 
Don't ask me why; it's just a feeling."

Jake stared at her for a while. "You know, in a way, I 
hope you're right."

Scully felt her eyes widen.

"I don't want wolves to get an even worse reputation than 
they already have," he told her quietly. "Not now, when 
they're finally gaining some ground in the Lower 48."

Scully nodded in agreement, and then sighed. "Whatever it 
is, we need to catch it, kill it." She sighed. "There's 
no guarantee Rose will ever be able to tell us what 
happened, even if she lives." The older woman had lost a 
lot of blood.

"We'll get it tomorrow," Jake said, and he sounded as 
confident as he ever had.

Scully wished she had that much confidence.

"And afterwards, I'll take you out to dinner."

She couldn't help but smile at his statement. "Maybe," 
she replied. He was a wonderful man, but while she was 
still in limbo between this world and the one she had 
left behind, she was making no commitments. She stood. 
"I need to get some sleep. Goodnight Jake."

"Goodnight," he said softly, and she could feel his eyes 
follow her as she left the room.

*************************************************

Wolfcove, Minnesota
Halloween Night

Clayton may have been good, but he wasn't good enough, 
especially after the cold rain started around nine A.M. 
Scully knew of a few things worse than slogging around 
in 40 degree temperatures with rain and wind 
accompanying it, but as the day progressed, she couldn't 
think of any of them.

When nightfall came, the small party of searchers, which 
included Deputies, trackers and a couple of hunters, 
decided on a new course of action. A stakeout. Dividing 
in teams of two, the group split up in different vehicles 
and parked at various points around the edge of town, 
hoping that someone would get lucky and see the animal 
they were hunting come out of the woods. 

Scully knew that Jake had wanted to pair up with Mulder, 
but he had been called in on another case, a robbery, at 
a home about four miles west of town. When he learned that 
Scully was determined to keep watch along with the others, 
he asked Mulder to pair up with her. Scully was surprised, 
but pleased, and began to wonder if her friend Yasuo was 
somewhere around working his 'magic.'

Mulder wasn't the best companion that night, but then, 
neither was she. They had both been out in the forest 
that day, though in separate groups, and though they were 
in dry clothing with hot food in their stomachs now, it 
was hard to forget the wet chill outside.

It was almost eight P.M. before Mulder spoke.

"There aren't any trick-or-treaters." They were parked 
near the entrance to the city park, which sat next to the 
lake. Several houses lined the road that let up to the 
park; their lights were on, but nobody was out and about.

"Do you blame them for staying home?" Scully responded. 

"I suppose not," he replied. "When I was a kid, nothing 
could keep me from trick-or-treating."

Scully looked over at him as he took a sip of coffee. 
"Did you go with friends, or did you have siblings?"

He paused. "I had a little sister," he said quietly. "She 
was quite a bit younger than me, so I usually went with 
friends while my mom took her. When my dad decided I was 
too old for it, he made me take her."

Scully pushed at subtly as she could. "You 'had' a 
sister?"

Another pause. "She disappeared when I was twelve. I only 
got to take her trick-or-treating once."

"Disappeared?" Scully asked. She had always been amazed 
at the trust Mulder had put in her on their first case 
together when he told her about Samantha. Was that trust 
here in this world too?

Mulder shook his head. "It's a long story." Then he was 
silent.

Scully frowned. The Mulder she knew had never been this 
closed mouthed, especially with her. But how could she 
get him to open up to her? And why did she want him to? 
She knew the answer to the latter question: she wanted to 
help him, to make him happy, or at least relatively happy, 
like she remembered him. Even if she could never take a 
permanent place in his life.

"Any other siblings?" she asked, trying to open up 
conversation.

He shook his head, and for a moment Scully thought she 
had failed, but then he turned to her. "You?"

"Two brothers and a sister," she told him. A sudden wave 
of sadness flooded her. "My sister was killed," she 
continued. "Shot by an ex-boyfriend." She grimaced. Melissa 
would have died too young even if Scully had never been 
involved with the X-Files. The thought didn't make her 
guilt any less.

"I'm sorry," Mulder responded. "Your brothers?"

"Alive and well. Charlie is married and the father of 
two boys. He's an architect, and they live in London. 
Bill is in the Navy; he and his wife just had a baby boy 
two years ago."

"Your parents?"

"My mom lives in Gladstone, Virginia. My dad passed away 
almost seven years ago." She looked him, very curious 
now. "Yours?"

He frowned and seemed to hesitate, but decided since he 
had asked and she had answered, he better return the 
favor. "My parents are divorced. My dad lives in 
Massachusetts. My mom in Rhode Island."

His father was alive? Probably because he had never gotten 
enough guts to try and tell his son the truth about his 
history with CGB Spender and the others. Or he didn't 
think Mulder would believe him.

There was another silence as Scully tried to figure out 
a way to ask her next question, but Mulder beat her to it.

"Why do you believe in werewolves?"

"Why don't you?" she countered. "You're the one that 
investigates the paranormal."

He glanced out into the dark. "I've seen to many hoaxes 
to believe that anything like that can be real."

"I don't believe you."

He glared at her. "I don't know where you got the idea that 
you know me so well, Dr. Waterston, but you don't."

Scully wasn't daunted. "What happened? You once believed, 
now you don't. What happened?"

"Where's Mr. Waterston?" he countered.

She was startled. "How..?"

"I talked quite a bit with Jake on our hike today," he 
told her. "He mentioned that you came to Wolfcove after 
you left your husband."

Scully wasn't sure she was happy with the idea that they 
had been talking about her, but it wasn't really a bad 
thing, either.

"You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours."

"Fine. You first."

She sighed. "He left his first wife for me, a much 
younger woman. We married, I got pregnant, he started 
seeing his secretary, yada, yada, yada."

"You had a baby?"

Scully should have known he would focus on that part. 
"She died. Before she was born."

He swallowed, as if her words caused him physical pain. 
"I'm so sorry."

If he hadn't said anything, she would have been okay, but 
his quite sympathy was her undoing. She turned her face 
away and swiped at the tears suddenly scudding down her 
face. Taking a deep breath, she faced him again. "Your turn."

This time, Mulder was the one who took a deep breath. 
"There was a woman, Audra," he started. "A believer, like 
myself. She was partnered with me several years ago and 
we became very close."

Scully tried not to feel jealous. After all, she had 
married another man in this world.

"I thought we had it made, both in our professional as 
well as our personal lives." He paused, not looking at her.

"What happened?" Scully urged.

"She was spying on me," he told her. "Somehow, I had gotten 
too close to a few too many government secrets, and she had 
been sent in to make sure I didn't get any closer. When I 
found out, she proved to me everything I had ever believed 
in had been a hoax." He paused. "Including her."

Scully knew he was simplifying it all. What Kritschgau 
had done to him in the other world, this woman had done in 
this one. Kritschgau had been a stranger. This woman had 
been someone he trusted, someone he loved.

It was as if Scully herself had turned on him. It was what 
the powers-that-be had wanted Scully to do when they had 
sicced her on Mulder all those years ago. Only she hadn't 
done it; she had done the exact opposite.

Mulder laughed suddenly. "I supposed you're really 
confused now?" His forced smile faded. "Or else you think 
I'm crazy."

Smiling, she looked at him. "No. I don't think you're 
crazy at all." 

She saw movement outside his window behind him and tilted 
her head to look past him. Seeing her movement, he turned 
to look. "What the hell is he doing?" he asked no one. 

Scully, eyes wide, realized Mulder could see the man 
walking toward him. 'Well, why not?' She thought. 'This 
is a dream after all.' "Uhm, that's Mr. Yasuo," she said, 
opening the passenger side door of the car. "He lives in 
this neighborhood. Let me tell him to get back home." She 
got out and moved around the front of the car, not happy 
to be out in the rain again.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

The little man shrugged, looking absurd in a big overcoat 
and floppy hat. "I guessed you might be ready to go home 
now."

"What?"

He nodded his head toward the car behind her, indicating 
Mulder. "Now you know why he is the way he is. And why you 
are so important to his life."

"Yeah, but..." she paused. "What about my life? What if I 
think this life is better for me?"

He smirked. "Do you?"

'Yes!' She wanted to shout, but she knew it would be a lie. 
Even here, in this little one horse town, on a cold rainy 
night in October, she didn't want to be anywhere else but 
with Mulder.

"No," she whispered.

"Okay, then..." Yasuo raised his arms in the air as if he 
was about to magically transport her back to reality as she 
remembered it, but Scully stopped him. "Wait!"

He paused, arms in the air, eyebrows almost as high.

"Not yet," she told him. "I want to catch this thing 
first."

Yasuo lowered his arms. "As you wish."

A loud howl sounded off to her left, toward the lake. She 
heard the car door opening behind her as Mulder rushed out 
to join her. She glanced at him and he met her nervous look 
with one of his own. "Let's go," she told him. 

He nodded, and together they made their way toward the 
sound.

Neither noticed that Yasuo had once again disappeared.

*************************************************

END PART 3

    Source: geocities.com/virtuesandvices