Title: Qualcuno 3/3
Author: Erin aka ScullyClone 
Category: Story/M&S UST and MSR but something gets between them (again). And no 
it's not a bee this time! And there is also quite a bit of Scully Angst too.
Spoilers: Just small references to "Miracle Man", "Talitha Cumi", and "Bad Blood".
Rating: PG I'm minding my manners in this one :)
Disclaimer: Oh geez! You get the point by now.

For any other details, see part one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
WHAT JUST HAPPENED.....

"Maybe they kidnappers took Kim and Gini somewhere else," she suggested.

But Mulder's mind was focused elsewhere. In the leaves, the sun shined off of a 
small metallic object. A ring. Mulder approached it and kneeled down.

"Muld..." Then Scully saw what he was looking at and joined him. The ring was on
a hand. Pushing back leaves and twigs, they uncovered the rest of the arm. Then
the shoulder, then the neck, and then the face. The dead open eyes of a young
girl stared up at them. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  

A few hours later the body had been officially identified as Ms. Gini Shi. Her
wrists were red, probably from being tied behind her back for a long period of time. She
had died of a knife stabbed through the heart. After Scully had examined Eric Autrey,
she concluded that the two surviving victims had the same kind of apparent scratch marks over
their chest in the same spot where Gini had been stabbed.

Later that night, after a day filled with confusion, Mulder and Scully were going over 
the details of the case in Scully's hotel room.

"It doesn't make sense that three victims should be taken in the same manner,
but only two of them returned. There should be a pattern here but the Shi case puts
everything out of perspective." Scully was sitting cross-legged on top of her bed, surrounded
by photographs taken during Gini's autopsy. Mulder sat at the small table by the window looking 
through Gini's autopsy report, trying to find some answer there. He found none. 

Mulder put down the folder and looked Scully in the eye. "But the Shi's case was
completely different from the other two. Maureen Autrey and David Miller both wanted the
victims back. Josh never wanted to see Gini again. Their relationship was completely based on
hate, unlike the other two."

Scully met his gaze. "That fact only complicates things more. It makes the
differences even bigger. What are you getting at?"

"I've been thinking about what Kim and Eric said the little girl told them. 'You have 
someone to go back to.' In Gini's case, she didn't."

"You don't actually believe they saw an angel, do you, Mulder?"

"Well, I didn't use the word angel. Maybe it could be something similar and along
those lines."

Scully raised an eyebrow.

"Look, Scully," Mulder continued, "remember the case about the so called 'Miracle
Man'? Remember Jeremiah? They both could heal people with their hands."

"Yeah, so you're thinking that someone else out there has the same ability. But
what about the people in black robes? What do they have to do with all this."

"The girl could've been saving Kim and Eric from those hooded figures
and..."

"Gini wasn't saved because she didn't have anyone to go back to," Scully said,
finishing Mulder's thought.

Mulder nodded. "Exactly."

Scully sighed. "Mulder that theory is..."

Now it was Mulder's turn to finish Scully's thought. "Bizarre? Out there? Highly
improbable?" 

Scully smiled. They did know each other way too well. "Take your pick."

"But admit it Scully. That does seem to fit everything together."

"But....." She had run out of ideas. "Mulder, it's been a rough two days and I've
hardly slept or eaten. I can't think right now." And with that she stood up and started
gathering the pictures together and putting them in a large brown envelope. 

"Hey, if that's a case there's a pizza shop right down the street. Want me to order 
something for us?" Mulder offered.

Scully gave Mulder a suspicious look. 

"What?" Mulder laughed.

"It's just not like you to give up on an idea like that so quickly, Mulder. Aren't you 
going to constantly remind me of it until I give in?" Scully asked, jokingly.

Mulder grinned. "Now do I ever do that?"

Scully opened her mouth, clearly about to contradict him but Mulder beat her to it. 
"I'll wait until you eat and are able to put up a good argument before I do that,"
and he continued grinning as he picked up the phone book from the bedside table,
flopped down on Scully's bed, and started searching through the yellow pages.

"OK Mulder, but order anything remotely weird on that pizza and I'll never let you
buy the food when we're on a case again," she said, smiling.

"Hmm, since when did I say anything about actually 'buying' the pizza? I just said
I'd order it," he joked, and raised his own eyebrow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  

An hour later, Mulder walked into Scully's room with the pizza. 

"I hope it tastes as good as it smells," Scully said. 

"Don't worry Scully," Mulder said sitting it down on the bed. "I checked the delivery guy for 
fangs and I don't think he was a blood sucking vampire like last time."

Scully cringed briefly at the memory of that case and sat cross-legged on the bed. Mulder 
leaned up against the headboard and made himself comfortable. They each took a slice of 
pizza. 

"So what do we do about this case now, Mulder," said Scully in between bites.

Mulder shrugged. "Well, all the victims have been accounted for. We still don't have a clue 
as to who kidnapped them though. So I guess we still have some searching to do."

"Where do we begin?" asked Scully somewhat hopelessly. "We've covered everything."

Mulder paused thinking. "Maybe right now we should just eat." He answered.

Scully smiled slightly, and took the advice.

"Hey Mulder, stop dripping cheese on the bed. I have to sleep here you know," Scully reminded 
him.

"You could always sleep in my bed," said Mulder slyly.

Scully just rolled her eyes and Mulder grinned and took another bite of his pizza. 

"Mulder, move over," Scully instructed as she got up and situated herself beside Mulder, 
leaning up against the back of the bed like he was. 

"Gee, Scully, we could just use your bed but can you wait until I'm finished eating?" 
said Mulder sarcastically.

Scully punched him lightly on the arm and he pretended to be in pain. "I'm only 
trying to get comfortable." She leaned slightly against his shoulder.

Mulder finished his pizza and draped his one arm around Scully's shoulders. Scully 
gave him a surprised look. 

"I'm only trying to get comfortable," he mimicked.

"Whatever Mulder." But Scully smiled in spite of herself.

Just then, someone in the room beside them turned on their stereo full blast, startling 
them both. Mulder's arm flew off Scully's shoulder as he jumped slightly.

"Ow!" Mulder winced slightly.

"What?" Scully inquired, a bit loudly so as to be heard over the loud music.

"My head!" Mulder moaned, pressing a hand against the right side of his head. "I banged 
it against the bed post."

The music was turned a bit lower so they didn't need to shout anymore.

"Here, let me see," Scully said, taking his head gently in her hands and turning it 
toward her. "Mulder, that little bump?"

"Well, it doesn't hurt that much." Mulder seemed a bit embarrassed, but he smiled 
anyways.

She laughed. Then a few seconds later she became aware of where he hands were. "Oh, 
ummmm..." She quickly replaced her hands in her lap and cleared her throat. She had also 
realized just how close Mulder's face was to hers. It wasn't like her to be so shy. She 
had given Mulder medical attention before. But now the circumstances were much different. The 
air between them seemed almost as though it were electrically charged. 

Mulder broke the awkwardness by giving Scully a relaxed smile which she returned gratefully. 

"Mulder, I think..." started Scully, but she was interrupted by Mulder's lips on hers. It 
happened so suddenly that it took a while for Scully to focus on what was going on. It 
was as if it was a dream. By the time she had fully comprehended that Mulder was actually 
kissing her (and she was unknowingly kissing back), the soft sound of footsteps broke them 
apart. They hurriedly got to their feet only to be blinded by a harsh, white light coming 
through the window. Scully reached for her gun which was sitting on the table beside the 
bed. But just before her fingertips could touch it's surface, her hand froze. In fact, her 
entire body froze. No matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't move a muscle.  She 
could only watch, horrified, as half a dozen shadows, drifted through the walls, their beady 
eyes glowing a violent red.

Mulder was in the same state, standing inches away from the dresser where his gun had 
been laying. He knew all too well what was happening. As the shadows grasped him it was if 
they had broken some kind of magic spell and he was able to move again only to be restrained 
by the dark figures. As the intruders dragged Mulder out the door all Scully could do was 
watch horrified as he fought in vain to free himself. Then the shadows and Mulder disappeard 
into the night. Scully slowly drifted into a state of unconsciousness and fell to the floor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Deputy Jeffries was woken late that night by a ringing phone. Rubbing his eyes, he picked up 
the phone. "Hello?"

"Deputy, it's Scully." She sounded frantic.

"Ms. Scully, wha..."

"They have Mulder. The shadows. It was exactly like David and Maureen said it was." There 
was the soft sound of a car in the background.

The deputy was completely surprised. "Agent Mulder? When?"

"I lost consciousness right after they left about an hour ago. I just came to." She was 
definitely panicking. "Deputy Jeffries, I'm on my way to the clearing in the woods now. 
Meet me there with back-up."

"No! Wait..." but she had already hung up the phone. He silently cursed and quickly 
dialed the number for the sheriff's office, and at the same time, started pulling 
clothes out of the closet. Scully was taking a huge risk going on alone... 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ten minutes later, the deputy and three other police cars, pulled up next to the 
forest. With guns at hand, the officers ran toward the clearing. Once there, they 
slowed. The only human in sight was Agent Scully standing alone and looking completely 
lost.

Deputy Jeffries approached her. "Ma'am?"

"They're not here. Where else could they have taken him?" She held one hand against her 
forehead as though she had a horrible headache. 

The deputy turned to the other officers. "Spread out!" he shouted.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After hours and hours of searching without stop, Scully had to be convinced by the deputy 
that Mulder wasn't anywhere near. She choked back the tears and drove with Jeffries to 
the sheriff's office to file a report and answer questions. 

Now that she was in the same chair and in the same interrogation room Mulder and her had 
questioned Maureen Autrey in, she realized the distress and pain that the victims had 
gone through. She bowed her head silently as if ashamed of something. She knew it wasn't
her fault Mulder had been taken but deep down she silently wondered if there was 
something she could have done to save him. 

"So that's exactly how it happened?" the deputy asked for the fifth time. 

"Yes! I told you before! That's what happened." She was getting annoyed. "Shouldn't we 
be out there searching for Mulder?"

"We're not sure where to start. I have some officers out questioning the surrounding 
neighbors but so far we have nothing to go forward on." 

Scully saw pity in his eyes. She didn't like it, she didn't like anyone to feel that 
sorry for her. It made her feel as if she were a little kid but she didn't feel like 
confronting him about it. There was more important things to think about now.

"Umm, Agent Scully?" The deputy seemed a bit confused about how to ask his next
question. "What were you and Mulder doing before this occured?"

This brought painful memories back to her. She imagined Mulder's soft kiss and 
holding back her tears seemed almost impossible, but somehow she managed. All those 
years she had waited for that and to be interrupted so suddenly just wasn't right. 
"We were eating dinner," she said carefully. "Mulder had ordered pizza and we were 
going over our notes." She really couldn't tell Jeffries exactly what had happened, could 
she? It would be risking too much. Her job and when Mulder returned their partnership. 
If Mulder returns, Scully painfully corrected herself.

The deputy sensed the uneasiness in her voice and didn't believe her. "Well, I guess what 
I'm really trying to ask is..." Here he cleared his throat softly. "Were you and 
Agent Mulder involved?"

A small space of silent awkwardness filled the room. Then Scully spoke. "You mean 
romantically? No, not really?"

"Not really?"

"We were very close, but never that close," lied Scully.

"Never?" Deputy Jeffries found that hard to believe.

"Does that surprise you?"

He lowered his eyes then met hers again. "Off the record," he whispered. "If you two had 
been involved that means he could just return like the other two who had, ummm....'someone 
to go back to.'" 

Scully thought it over. "Off the record." It was more a demand than a statement of fact. 
"We had never really expressed our emotions physically until last night. It was only 
a kiss...and..." Not knowing how to continue, she gave a confused shrug. 

Jeffries really did feel sorry for her. "I swear, that fact will not leave these walls 
unless you say otherwise."

"Thank you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Days past without a single lead in the case. Scully was losing hope fast. Mulder had 
someone to go back. He did. She loved him. So why wasn't he being returned? If only 
she had told him. 

She was in the sheriff's office pacing. It was an entire week since Mulder's kidnapping 
and they had nothing. Not a single shred of evidence. The woods had been checked over and 
over. Still no sign of anything wrong. She went over every aspect of the case in her head. 
There had to be something. She stopped in her tracks. Her hands were at her sides and 
shaking slightly. Suddenly her cell phone went off. She grabbed it out of her trench coat 
with lightning speed and before it even had a chance to ring a second time she spoke 
anxiously into it. "Yes?"

"Scully? It's me." It was Skinner. "Any news on Mulder?"

Her heart sank and she swallowed. "No Sir, not yet. But we can't stop looking."

Skinner prepared himself for what he was about to say. "It's been a week. The forests have
been searched many times."

"Are you suggesting that we give up on him?" Scully had a hint of anger in her voice.

Skinner paused. "I'm sure the local law enforcement can handle it. Right now, you're 
needed back in DC. There's paperwork to be filled out and people to answer to." Skinner 
had always sensed a special connection between Mulder and Scully and he knew his words
and this entire ordeal was having a terrible effect on her. But she couldn't look forever. 

Scully didn't speak. For the first time she was realizing that most likely Mulder would not 
return. The others had been returned in the space of three days. Could she really leave? 
Could she face an empty basement office alone? 

"Agent Scully?" 

"Yes Sir. I understand." And she hung up and for the first time since Mulder had been 
abducted she let a few solitary tears fall from her eyes. Maybe he didn't have someone to go 
back to.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She took the next flight home and arrived in her apartment early the next morning. She 
stayed only long enough to shower and clean herself up. There were dark circles under 
her eyes. 

As she walked through the FBI hallways to Skinner's office she braced herself for the 
questions. She swore to herself not to cry.

As she walked into the office she saw that not only AD Skinner was there. A couple other 
men and one woman she couldn't remember were seated around a table. 

"Agent Scully, please take a seat," Skinner informed her.

She did so slowly, almost mechanically. As if she were on auto-pilot and didn't have control 
of her body. 

A dark-haired man across from her spoke up. "We know the disappearance of Agent Mulder 
has been very hard on you so we'll try and keep this brief."

She only nodded. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the very same moment, a car pulled swiftly up to the FBI building, and with one 
quick motion, jumped into a parking space. The driver got out. His hair was a mess 
and mud stained the bottom of his black suit pants. A small red stain covered 
the pocket of his white shirt. He ran into the nearest entrance and made his way 
to the lonely office in the basement.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now, Agent Scully, about the x-files. Will you be willing to continue on them 
yourself?"

She couldn't believe this was happening. There was no way she could answer that 
question. "I...." Her voice was beginning to fade. "I can't deal with this right 
now." And she abruptly stood and walked quickly out of the office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Finding the basement office empty, the dirty strewn figure made his way to the assistant 
director's office, ignoring the curious glances thrown his way. The man barely missed 
Scully as she entered the elevator and made her way to the parking lot.

Without acknowledging the surprised look on the secretary's face, he walked right into 
Skinner's office. The people gathered at the desk jumped from their seats in surprise 
upon laying their eyes on who they thought was a dead man. 

"Agent Mulder?!" exclaimed one of the men. 

Mulder only answered with an out of breath "Yes." His eyes scanned the faces of 
each person in the room.

The man continued. "I believe you have a lot of explaining to do about...."

"Mulder," interrupted Skinner.

Mulder met his gaze.

"She just left. Try the parking lot," the assistant director continued. 

Mulder's eyes lit up and her left, quickening his pace. 

The man who had been doing the questioning gave Skinner a somewhat annoyed glare.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Scully approached her car, she grabbed the keys out of her pocket and searched through 
them trying to find the right one. She had to get out of here. 

She didn't notice Mulder emerge from the stairway door. As he jogged up to her, he slowed. 
Now that he finally found her, he didn't know what to say. He watched silently as she 
tried to find the right key. There were tears running down her face.

"Who died?" he asked in a low tone. 

Scully jumped suddenly, dropping her keys, which were now forgotten. Was she hearing things? 
She bit her lip and closed her eyes. It was impossible. As she turned slowly to face 
the voice she held her breath. 

Mulder was holding his too. She was only an arms length away. 

Scully opened her eyes and let out the air from her lungs in a relieved gasp. "I..Is it 
really you?"

As if to confirm this, he smiled and embraced her. Scully, still at a loss for words only 
managed to choke out, "But...how?" The words were muffled by his shirt. 

Mulder pulled away a little, letting his hands rest on her waist. He whispered softly, 
"I had someone to go back to." 

Scully relaxed in his arms. Her eyes were no longer frantic. She raised her hand to brush 
the dirt away from his brow and leaned in closer so that their noses were only centimeters 
apart. Both were completely silent. His right hand left Scully's waist and gently took 
hold of the hand which had been stroking his forehead. He held it in his grasp as if 
never willing to let it go again. And quite possibly he never wanted to. As he leaned in 
to kiss her they lowered their intertwined hands to their sides. Mulder's other hand 
softly came to rest in her hair. And their lips met. Softly at first but then the kiss 
escalated into something so passionate they were at a loss for breath. 

The door to the elevator opened and out stepped Skinner. But they weren't going to be 
interrupted again and remained oblivious to his presence. As their lips finally parted, 
they kept their faces close together and perhaps would have continued if AD Skinner hadn't 
loudly cleared his throat to gain their attention.

The two turned to face him, still in each other's arms. 

"Agents, there are some people up there who are in need of answers to all this." 

Scully opened her mouth to explain. "Sir...."

Skinner cut her off. "I didn't see anything." And with that he turned and returned to the 
elevator. As the doors closed he offered them both a slight smile. After all it was 
bound to happen sooner or later. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After things had settled down and Mulder and Scully had rejoined the conference, Mulder 
explained everything. The only difference from the other stories was that he told his 
with an air of authority. As if he were reciting a report. The reason that he had 
returned so late was because of his lack of knowledge of the forest. He had 
been lost in them for several days, but eventually he had found a stream and followed it 
into town.

"I took the flight after Scully's and arrived here," he finished. 

The man with the dark hair removed his wire-frame glasses and rubbed the bridge of his 
nose. Upon replacing them on his nose the disbelief practically shone from his eyes. 
"Agent Mulder, that is quite an incredible story."

"Yes Sir, but it's the truth."

The phone on Skinner's desk rang. "Excuse me," he said and answered it.

"Skinner." A pause. "Yes hold on a second." He held it out to Scully. "It's for you."

She took the phone. "Yes?" 

On the other end, Deputy Jeffries spoke in a victorious voice. "Scully! It looks like 
this case is solved." By the tone of voice Scully knew he was smiling. 

"What? How?"

"Early this morning, a teenage girl by the name of Jennel Good arrived at the sheriff's office. 
She told quite an elaborate story about how her and a group of young people from a 
neighboring town started their own cult."

"A cult?"

"Yes. It appears a group of five bored teens had been researching witchcraft on the 
internet. They weren't a very mentally stable group and had problems ranging from 
substance abuse to suicide tendencies."

"So they decided to perform their own rituals." Scully concluded.

"Exactly. But Jennel here, cracked under the guilt and confessed about everything giving us 
a complete list of the members involved. But..." Here his voice lost the exuberant tone 
it once had. "We failed to turn up Agent Mulder. I'm sorry, Ms. Scully." 

Scully laughed. "Don't worry deputy. That's been taken care of."

"You found him?" He was clearly surprised.

"He found me actually. He arrived here about a half hour ago."

"Well I sure am glad to hear that." 

"But Mulder and the other victims reported six abductors, deputy. You said there were 
five," said Scully confused.

"There was no little blonde girl in these ranks," he said as if that would explain everything.

"I see." Scully didn't know what conclusion to draw from that. An angel? A fairy? Maybe they 
would never know. "Thank you for all your help." Scully said, and it was clear that she 
was indeed thankful.

"Your welcome." And he added quickly before hanging up, "Oh, and Scully?"

"Yes?"

"Good luck to you and Mr. Mulder."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scully drove Mulder home that night. The car in the parking lot had to be returned to the 
rental company. 

On the way to Mulder's apartment, Scully addressed something she needed explaind. "So Mulder, 
about that kiss..."

"What about it?" Mulder's head leaned comfortably back on the passenger seat as he gazed at 
Scully.

"Well," she said, keeping her eyes on the road. "Just how do we go about it now?"

"How should we go about it?" Mulder asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure." She glanced at Mulder briefly and smiled slightly. 

"You know," Mulder started, "relationships between partners aren't exactly against 
Bureau policy. As long when we're on duty everything sticks to business..."

"Oh, well as long as it's not against Bureau policy. We always follow the rules don't 
we, Mulder?" Her smile grew.

"Oh course!" Mulder said jokingly.

Scully looked across at Mulder as if deciding on something. 

"What?" he asked innocently.

Scully took a left turn and smiled coyly.

"Uh, Scully. My apartments in that direction," Mulder said indicating with his thumb 
behind him. He grinned though because he already knew the reason why she had turned the wrong 
way.

"Yes, it is Mulder. But my apartment's in this direction." 

Mulder leaned closer to Scully and whispered in her ear. "Hmmm, well how can I argue with that?" 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

THE END

Finally! It's finished! Longest fanfic I've ever written. Please! I'm down on my 
knees and begging you. I need feed back!

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