Dreamcatcher 2
Ally

J. Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC. May 3rd 1999 7:42 a.m.

"Hey Ariel...you gonna stay in there all day or what?"

Mulder crossed his arms over his chest as his partner neared the side of the deserted pool. 50 meters long, Olympic sized, it was one of the few luxuries afforded them by their federal employers. Built only 10 years ago as part of a program designed to allow its agents a way of staying in good physical shape, but more importantly as a way of ridding themselves of the tensions a difficult case might bring, it was rarely this empty. But it was still early.

Scully smiled self-consciously up at Mulder, smoothed the errant red hair away from where it was plastered across her face, and regarded him through spiky, waterlogged lashes.

"Ariel?" she queried uncertainly.

Mulder grinned. "What, you never saw 'The Little Mermaid,' Agent Scully?"

Off Scully's continued bewilderment, he laughed and extended a hand down to her. "I guess not."

Ignoring his outstretched hand, Scully lightly rested her palms against the slick tiled surface of the pool's side and lifted her body out of the water in one fluid movement, hardly rippling the water's surface, trying unsuccessfully to hide the grimace of pain the movement brought.

Mulder, though, as sharp as ever, picked it up immediately. "Sore, huh?"

He stepped away from her a fraction to allow her the space to get to her feet, and as she did so, he handed her the thick, fluffy towel that had been hanging over the railing that bordered the pool, ignoring the look she threw his way.

"Mulder...do me a favor, would you..."

She began toweling the moisture from her skin, which glowed a deep honeyed gold in the light from the spots above them, and Mulder suddenly discovered that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

{Scully has a tan.}

{Scully never has a tan.}

Oblivious to his scrutiny, she continued. "The next time you decide to give me an impromptu lesson in the finer points of blasting a baseball into the night sky...just don't, OK? My arms feel like they've been ripped off at the shoulder and reattached. I could barely move them yesterday."

Mulder coughed, and extended a hand toward the shimmering expanse of water.

"Physician, heal thyself?" he queried.

Scully softened slightly. "Something like that, yes. Anyway, why are you here? We aren't due at the office for over an hour. What's going on?"

Mulder grinned, and let his gaze rest once more on his partner's honeyed skin. "I couldn't pass up the opportunity of seeing you in your bathing suit. The suntan is an added bonus, though."

"Mulder..."

He caught the warning note in her voice...and something else. Embarrassment? Pleasure? He couldn't define her tone but he knew enough about her to realize that the game playing was over, at least for now. He lightly rested a hand at her back and began steering her toward the locker rooms, enjoying, despite his best intentions, the feeling of her warm, bare skin beneath his palm.

"I got a call from Skinner this morning. He has a case for us. And you have..." He glanced at his watch. "Exactly twelve minutes to get dried, changed and ready before we get summoned to his domain for a meeting. I guess we're not going to make it on time."

Scully paused at the entrance to the women's locker room, and met the direct challenge in her partner's hazel eyes with a determined stare. "I'll see you there in ten. Bring coffee."

7:57 a.m.

Scully threw Mulder a triumphant look as she stepped into the outer office of her superior a mere eight minutes after their parting at the pool. Confident that her appearance bordered on the immaculate, she raised one sculptured eyebrow at him as she reached for the Styrofoam cup of evil smelling coffee he held in his hand.

"Well?"

Mulder whistled softly. Hair, makeup, clothing from the tailored linen suit to the impossibly high-heeled pumps all present and correct. No hint of chlorine, which suggested that not only had she changed in record time, but that she had found the time to shower away the scents of the pool.

{How the hell did she manage to do that in ten minutes?}

He decided to answer truthfully. "I'm impressed."

Scully took a sip of the coffee and winced. Disgusting as always, but at least it was warm and wet and took away some of the dryness in her throat that always followed a swim.

"So, any idea why we're here? Aside from the obvious, that is?"

Mulder shook his head, but before he could answer, the door to Skinner's office swung open and the stern face of their superior appeared. Looking even grimmer than usual, he nodded curtly at the two agents before him.

"Scully, Mulder. Come inside, please."

Scully set the coffee cup down on the small table that graced the outer office and sent a silent message to her partner.

{I guess we're about to find out.}

He nodded slightly and allowed her to precede him across the small expanse of carpeted floor and in through the still open door.

As was usually the case, two chairs had been placed on the other side of Skinner's large desk, and he motioned them to take a seat, allowing them to get relatively comfortable before he began.

"A case file came across my desk some days ago, requesting our involvement...your involvement with a child kidnapping. Initially, I refused the request and passed the details on to the VCS. Last night the file reappeared, and this time I believe it warrants a closer look."

Scully traded glances with her partner, before turning her attention back to the file Skinner now held out towards her. It was unlike him to be this vague, and for some reason, the vagueness unsettled her.

"Sir? I'm not sure I understand. Why now? Why not leave it with the VCS. Kidnapping doesn't normally fall under the rubric of the X-files."

She accepted the proffered file and flipped it open, her words dying in her throat as she scanned the first page.

Mulder waited patiently as she quickly read through the report of the child's abduction and subsequent discovery four days later, and her breath caught in her throat as she finally began to recount the details to him.

"The child disappeared from her bed on the night of twenty-sixth April, no ransom note, no communication, no evidence found at the scene. Intensive searches turned up nothing barring the usual surmising of what might have happened. No suspects. No leads. Nothing to indicate motive or even incidence of foul play. No sign of struggle at the scene. Shared a school dormitory with five other girls, none of whom remember hearing or seeing anything untoward."

She stopped reading suddenly as her eyebrows shot up to be almost hidden beneath the fringe of her rich titian hair. Mulder leaned forward, intrigued. For Scully to freak out, even marginally, after everything they had witnessed over the past six years, meant that something in that file had jarred her to the core.

"Scully? What?"

Slowly she turned her eyes toward him, no longer needing to read the file to apprise him of its contents.

"It says here that screaming was reported from the dormitory at approximately 11:05 last night. Almost immediately the dorm mother was on the scene to discover one of the other girls huddled over the missing girl's bed covered in blood. On closer inspection, it was clear where the blood had come from."

She handed the file to Mulder. "Take a look for yourself."

Mulder glanced down at the glossy 8x10 and blanched visibly, jaw clenching as he forced himself to keep focused on the grisly scene before him, captured for eternity by the crime scene photographer in full, glorious Kodak color.

A child-sized bed, a brightly checked comforter, now only barely visible beneath...beneath...

{Jesus, so much blood.}

"What the hell is that?"

Scully swallowed, trying hard to hold on to her professional facade in light of the gruesome realization she had made only seconds before, and one which she now had to pass on to her partner.

"That...is Elizabeth Armstrong. Returned to her bed exactly four days to the minute from when she was taken...or at least what was left of her."

"Jesus Christ."

Mulder felt the acidic taste of his recently digested breakfast coming back to haunt him. The glistening mass of blood, tissue and bone bore absolutely no resemblance to a human being, let alone the smiling little girl who stared back at him from the front page of the document.

"It looks as though something chewed her up and...and...spit her out again. How the hell did they make the ID?"

This time the question was directed solely at Skinner, who had remained silent throughout. He had already experienced the full horror of the missing girls' physical state, and unlike the two agents before him, had thoroughly read through the file.

"Blood and tissue typing. We're still waiting on the DNA results, but it looks pretty conclusive."

"Jesus Christ," repeated Mulder softly.

"Who would do such a thing? And why?"

Skinner frowned.

"That's why I've allowed your involvement in this case. You will fly out to Ohio on the first available flight. Scully, I want you to take a look at the...the body. See if the pathologist missed anything. I don't believe I need to tell you that this investigation is to move ahead with the utmost urgency. We are all under a tremendous pressure from the DA's office to come up with a feasible explanation on this one, and I feel that you two are best placed to head up the investigation. You will have the full co- operation of both the local PD and the field office down there. Use every resource available to you. I want this bastard caught."

Both agents nodded their affirmation, but before they could rise to their feet, Skinner waved a hand at them wearily.

"There's something I haven't apprised you of, Agents. Something not contained in the file..."

He sighed, forcing the words out. "This morning I received word from the Ohio office. Last night...last night another child was taken."

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