Genesis
Ally

Chapter 10

E-Z 8 Motel. Route 49, San Diego. 3:17a.m.

Scully's eyes snapped open as she became instantly alert. Her reflexes finely honed by years on the job, she was never completely relaxed even in sleep. She was surprised to find that it was past three, and realised that despite her best intentions, she had succeeded in dozing off almost immediately she had settled in the chair.

The room was quiet, and Scully could just make out the sleeping form of Christine Stevens on the bed. Obviously, whatever had woken Scully had not infringed on her slumber. For a second, Scully wondered if she had been dreaming, and had simply awoken with a start, but then she heard it. The faintest sound of someone knocking at Mulder's door, and accompanying it she felt a sharp pang of worry as she realised that he had not yet contacted her.

Without switching on the light, Scully rose slowly from her seated position, but kept her body crouched low as she fumbled in the darkness for her gun. Her hand closed over the leather holster which she had left on the side table, and reassured by it's familiar solidity, she began to move towards Mulder's room. As she did so, it suddenly struck her that she would look pretty stupid if the late night caller turned out to be no one more sinister than her partner, but then again, it was unlikely that if he had forgotten his key that he would be knocking at his own door.

The connecting door between the rooms creaked as she pushed it gently inwards, the sound cutting through the silence like a knife, and Scully held her breath. She was not yet inclined to let her presence be known to whoever stood on the other side of the room's door, at least not until she had determined whether they were friend or foe.

The door itself was equipped with a peep hole, and Scully reached up on tip toes to press her face to it. Her eyes widened as she recognised the distorted features of John Wickham, and for a second she was unsure as to how to respond.

Common sense told her that, as her superior Agent, she should let him in, but at the same time, the niggling feeling of unease returned to plague her. Why was he here? And more to the point, where was Mulder?

Her hand hovered over the door handle, but she was saved from making a decision when she heard the sound of a key being inserted in the lock. Dropping like a cat, she crouched to the left of the door, her body pressed against the wall, gun drawn and ready to fire.

She tensed as the door opened and Wickham stepped hesitantly in to the room, his back to her as he squinted in to the darkness, obviously looking for something - or someone.

"Agent Scully?" His voice was hoarse with the effort of whispering, and a heavy sigh followed it as he realised she was not in the room.

He moved as though to turn, but froze as Scully finally spoke.

"Don't turn around. Get you hands where I can see them. I have a gun pointing at you right now."

Obediently, Wickham raised his hands and laced them behind his head, hardly daring to breath as he recognised the strain that was all too evident in Scully's voice. He had enough experience of situations such as this one to know when the fastest way to get yourself killed was to start arguing. It wasn't an error he intended to make.

He heard the metallic click as she cocked the weapon, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand on end. "Stay cool, Dana. It's not what you think, OK?"

"You have no idea what I think," she said tersely. "Now move forward slowly to the chair and sit on your hands."

Wickham blinked as she snapped the overhead light on and brightness flooded the room, but without hesitating he complied with her request, getting his first good look at her, as she moved around him, sitting on the edge of the bed, gun pointed straight between his eyes. Her grip, he noted, was rock steady; her blue eyes like twin chips of ice, unwavering, unyielding.

"Why are you here?" she asked. "Where's Mulder?"

Wickham chose his words carefully, needing to make her understand, but at the same time trying desperately hard not to aggravate what was already an inflammatory situation.

"Mulder collapsed at my apartment just over an hour ago. He's in the hospital. He told me to come here, to come get you. He said something about you needing protection."

Scully narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "How do I know you're not lying?"

"You don't. But Mulder trusted me enough to send me here to get you. To protect you. Not that I'm thinking you need protection, Agent Scully. You seem perfectly capable to me."

He stopped mid sentence as he saw Scully's statement relax in to something almost resembling a smile, and she slowly lowered the gun.

Wickham looked visibly relieved. "Thank you, Dana. I thought for a minute there I was going to wear my brains as a hat."

"I'm sorry."

He waved away her apology. "Hey, after what Mulder told me, I expected as much. That was some story he told."

At the mention of her partner's name, a fresh wave of fear gripped Scully. "You said he was in the hospital? Why?"

Wickham wiped a bead of sweat from the end of his nose, and tried to find words which would break the news to her gently, all too aware of the fear he saw displayed in her eyes. He was pretty sure that the relationship between this woman and his one time colleague went much deeper than merely a professional partnership, and his earlier conversation with Mulder had only served to strengthen that belief.

He also suspected that Scully was teetering on the edge emotionally at the moment. He didn't want to be the one responsible for pushing her over. Nevertheless, she was a trained Medical Doctor, and she would learn the truth soon enough anyway.

"Like I said, he collapsed at my apartment, and although he was lucid for a while, by the time the ambulance showed up, he was in a pretty bad way. By all accounts he went in to full cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. They managed to bring him back but it's pretty touch and go right now. They were still working on him when I left to come get you."

Scully shook her head numbly, her statement gone alarmingly blank. Her mouth worked for a few seconds as she struggled to regain the control she needed to speak.

"But . . . but he was fine, I examined him myself. It was the flu; nothing more than that. I don't understand."

Wickham got to his feet and gently rested his hand on her shoulder, feeling the tension there.

"It's not the flu, Dana."

She shrugged his hand off angrily.

"Then what?"

"They're not sure yet," he sighed, delivering the final blow and hating himself for it. "They need to run more tests to make a definitive diagnosis, but early indications suggest a massive viral infection, possibly meningitis. They're waiting on the results from the spinal tap. I'm sorry."

"I need to go to him." She headed for the door, but Wickham called her back.

"Dana, wait. You can't just leave. Mulder sent me here for a reason, remember?"

Sudden understanding halted Scully in her tracks as she recalled her purpose for even being in San Diego. Torn as she was by the need to get to Mulder as quickly as she could, she also knew that she had an obligation to the sleeping woman in the next room, that it was her duty to keep her safe. She turned back to Wickham and nodded reluctantly.

"What do you suggest?" she queried.

Wickham sighed.

"When I phoned Mulder earlier, it was for the express purpose of covering my own ass. After hearing his story, hearing what you've both been through and the reasons for it. . ." he scratched his head. "Hell, I don't know what to think anymore. I've known Fox for a lot of years. Although I don't assume to understand every detail of what he's told me, or the reasons behind it, I know him well enough and respect his judgement enough to know that if he maintains that this woman is in danger, then I'm not about to contest that view. I believe that rightly or wrongly, we have to get Christine Stevens in to some kind of protective custody right away. I'm kind of hoping you'll be able to direct me from there, because quite frankly, I haven't got a clue on how to proceed."

"I'll go wake her, explain things to her." Scully headed for the connecting door, but before she disappeared through it, she turned and flashed Wickham a brief smile of gratitude.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For believing us," she said simply, before disappearing from view.

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