HOPE

By JoLayne

EMAIL: EnyaJo@aol.com

CATEGORY: X File, Humor

SPOILERS: This story takes place a couple of weeks after Zero Sum, so the rest of Season 4 hasn't happened yet, including the resolution of Scully's cancer. Parts of other episodes of the series are mentioned briefly, but not the endings so if you haven't seen them yet, I didn't give anything away that would make sense, so no need to worry.

NOTES: The X File part of the story came from an idea from my 13 year old X-Phile nephew, Jack, and was written during season four. Forgive me, but I have no idea of the current lay out of the Smithsonian Institute or Washington DC. I haven't seen either since the Reagan administration. And most importantly, Tempus Fugit and Max never happened, and never will!!! Pendrell is alive and well and hopelessly in love with Scully.

SUMMARY: A man mysteriously dies in the Smithsonian Institute and Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate.

CHARACTERS: Scully, Mulder, Skinner, Mrs. Scully, Lone Gunmen, OFC Lois, various others

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. Highlander characters you recognize belong to the FOX Network and Chris Carter. No profit to be gained from the writing of this story.

WASHINGTON D.C.

2:22 AM

Jonas Cosoton, in his early twenties, skinny and tall, walked down the hallway of the Smithsonian Institute in his night watchman uniform, holding a flashlight. It's beam accented the dim security lights that shone from the tops of the walls. Once in a while he would stop at exhibits, such as the Star of India in the mineral exhibit, and that odd but somewhat interesting statue of George Washington dressed as a Greek god. He shook his head and tried to figure out the artists of the world. Some of it was wonderful and he could look at it for hours... some of it, he wouldn't give more than 2 cents and 2 seconds of interest.

The Spirit of St. Louis, now that was a piece of art. He first time saw it he was 8. Jonas was in awe that a man flew that tin can all the way from New York to Paris. No way in hell could he be that brave.

Jonas had seen everything in this museum once a month since that day with his father. He always made sure to frequent the exhibits, sometimes with dates. He off-the-cuff mentioned to Carol Martin that they should hang out here one Saturday, a comfortable place to spend their nerve-racking first date. It turned out pretty good. If they wanted to talk to each other, they'd grab a seat and do just that.

If the conversation lagged, like conversations seemed to do on first dates, they'd get up and start touring the facility. Something would always interest one or both of them and they'd have something else to talk about which would lead to another topic they had in common. Yes, it worked that Saturday... he wondered whatever happened to her.

He couldn't get over that he was working at the place he knew so well. Sure beats T.G.I. Fridays. If he saw one more Pacific Coast Tuna Salad again, he'd scream in terror and run away as quickly as possible. He liked this job. He liked it so much he made sure his attire was perfect. He made sure his uniform was freshly washed and ironed, something he didn't normally do and needed lessons from his girlfriend. There wasn't a crease to be found, until he met up with Marv Grandlee in the break room.

Marv, on his fiftieth year as a guard at the museum, thought he was God himself and all those trinkets were his. He was a slight man with a huge tendency to make others around him feel like dirt. Gil, a guy with glasses and a great sense of humor, took Jonas under his wing and showed him the ropes of the job (not many) and how to ignore Marv (imperative). One of the lessons learned was take your coffee break at 1:45 am, before Marv would take his at 2. That particular morning, Jonas forgot.

Jonas went to the break room at 11:55. He grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard and filled it with a can of Lipton Tea with lemon. He got a Mrs. Debby Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie from the vending machine and relaxed in the wingback chair that clearly had seen better days. He usually sat at the table, ut Nancy Vickman was there with a bunch of stuff spread out finishing up a snack. Jonas couldn't figure out what it was. She was always eating the weirdest things. He tried to make friends with her as she appeared shy, specially after Gil told him about how her husband died on her so sudden and left her alone with two kids.

There was a TV bolted to a table which was bolted to the floor. The remote was on a cord attached to the dining table. Jonas could feel someone staring at him. He looked at Nancy. She was either very good at averting eye contact, or it wasn't her.

Suddenly, a voice boomed, "So, you think you can just park anywhere now, right?"

Jonas figured out the voice came from Nancy, who was now staring at him. "I parked in the employee lot."

"In my spot," Nancy responded.

"We have assigned parking places?"

"Everyone knows I park under the light," she said and she stood up from the table, walked to the side of the wingback, right at Jonas' left arm. "I don't think a single mother of two should have to walk in the dark in a lonely parking lot in the city with the biggest crime rate in the nation when I can park under the light."

"I don't think I parked under a light."

She walked back to the table and took her Styrofoam plate and plastic fork and threw them in the garbage. She walked to the wingback and glared at him and said, "You have the piece of shit Ford Tempo, right?"

"It's not a piece of shit..."

"Right?" she demanded.

"Yeah... Sorry. I'll move it."

"No, don't rearrange your life on account of me..." She started to walk away.

He got up and followed her to the door. "I'm sorry. I didn't think... of course you should park under the light. I won't park there again. I just didn't know..." He put his hand on her arm.

She swung around and he flew back as he found out she knew Karate. She apologized immediately. "I'm sorry. It's a reflex..."

"Remind me never to attack you."

"That would be wise."

That's when Marv came in. The old geezer appeared out of no where and Jonas slumped with dread. Nancy, knowing when to take her leave, left, sneering at Marv on her way out.

Jonas went back to the chair and drank some more tea and watched the black and white movie on the TV. Jonas could hear Marv grunting and grumbling as he got a cup of coffee. He was alone with Marv, <damn, why didn't I get here a half hour ago?>

"Damn Slackers have no respect for their elders," Marv grumbled, not caring, and hoping someone would hear him. "When I was younger and an old man wanted to sit in a certain chair, why, I'd get off my fat ass and let him have his chair."

Jonas looked at Marv. "Are you suggesting something?"

"Figure it out."

"I'm sitting here. You can sit there," Jonas said pointing to a straight back dining set chair. The rest was hazy in Jonas' memory, but the words escalated and Marv's coffee flew.

Later, when it was quiet and Jonas was walking the halls of his beat, retorts for the old fart flew in his mind. He was mad at himself because he couldn't come up with anything but a punch in the face. Why couldn't he get his head to work as fast as his mouth wanted to? Oh well, everyone hated Marv more than taxes and he didn't hit him that hard.

Jonas turned to another hall and walked by the vault holding the priceless necklace called the Hope Diamond. The hallway turned into a balcony just over a stuffed elephant on the floor below. All was usual until he neared the vault.

There was a burst of electricity that knocked Jonas off his feet. He shook off the daze in his head and looked up at the vault. It was open the way it was when the necklace was exhibited: lighted, the steel door open. The light that emitted from it was different, though. It was bright. It was most inviting.

He'd, of course, heard about the origins of the necklace and the so-called curse. All owners of the gem, including socialites and Marie Antoinette all came to bad, sad ends from just being in possession of the magnificent blue sparkler. Stopping in front of the vault and squinting through the light to take a good look at it, he said, "So you're cursed, huh?" He put his hand on the thick bulletproof glass. The light from the stone enveloped his hand.

Jonas heard a noise. An unearthly noise. It sounded like an animal in trouble under water. He looked around. He walked to the railing of the balcony and took a close look down at the elephant. The trunk started to move. Did he really see that?! A loud roar escaped from the glued and plastic mouth as the trunk swung up over it's head. The sound was like a herd of elephants charging at him. Jonas looked around and with the intensity of the noise, cowered back against the wall holding the vault.

Who was that screaming, he wondered. Then he realized it was him. The thunder of the herd and the roar of the animals along with his own screaming rose as the sounds came closer to him. As they got closer, he went down further to the floor. Jonas covered his head with his arms as the sounds were right on top of him. His screams died down as he faded into unconsciousness, thankfully, as no human would want to consciously endure what happened to him next.

7:47 AM

The trunk of a grey Taurus reared up in the parking lot of the Institute. Agent Scully reached in and grabbed her kit and straightened up. A form emerged to her left, startling her. She caught her breath and slammed the trunk cover down. "Damn it, Mulder. I wish you'd make your presence known."

"What's the fun in that?"

"Don't start with me. It's been a horrendous day."

"It's only 7:48," Mulder commented as he looked at his watch.

"That's my point. At least this weirdo assignment is close to home, I couldn't handle a plane trip today."

Mulder reached to take the kit from her, but she brushed his hand away. He put his hands up defensively and explained, "Just being a gentleman."

"Sorry," she said, relaxing. She gave him the case and they walked to the front door of the museum.

"Aren't you going to say thank you," Mulder asked as he tried to catch up with her. The case weighed more than he thought it would.

"Thank you for being a gentleman. Who's our contact here?"

"A Mr. Commaly, Director of the museum. "

"A man was crushed to death?"

"Yep," was all Mulder said as he held the door open for Scully. She said, "Thank you again. What got into you today?" as she entered the building.

7:56 AM

Agents Mulder and Scully arrived to find a security guard, couple of plain clothes policemen, a photographer, a couple of guys in white coats, and Lois Newbacher, Coroner, milling about. Another member of the group, Dean Commaly, with graying hair and a tweed jacket with suede patches on the elbows went over to them as soon as he saw the agents.

"FBI?" Commaly asked them.

Mulder flashed his badge and Scully scowled at the people around the sheet covered body. She walked past the extended hand of Commaly, all business. "How many people have touched the body?"

"No one that I know of. I found him," Commaly replied, not knowing what to do with his hand. He was very jumpy. He turned to Mulder and said, "There won't be any publicity on this, right? There can't be any publicity, do you know how many people come through here a year. My funding would go down if this was to get out." He took a hanky out of his back pocket and wiped his brow.

Mulder gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and saw Lois. He immediately got into a better mood and flashed her his best puppy dog smile. She was a little plump, but in all the right places with long, flowing black hair. She'd been on the job for just over a year and she and Mulder had crossed paths once or twice. Mulder thought she was a snooty sort, but she was a spit fire. That appealed to him. "Dr. Newbacher, we have to stop meeting like this."

Lois twirled to the sound and spotted Mulder. She smiled back and said, "Agent Mulder. When we came upon this weirdo death, I knew you and Agent Scully were the ones for the job."

"It's nice to be memorable," Mulder boasted.

Lois laughed, "Memorable would be the word. Let's see, last time was the pyromaniac 5 year old who did in with her piano teacher. The time before that was the old guy who was bludgeoned by a chef's knife, hatchet, and for good measure, a broad axe, when he was alone in a locked room... Before that was..."

"Yeah, but what was I wearing?" Mulder mused.

"I wore blue, you wore gray..." she moved closer to him.

"Well, we'll always have Paris."

Mulder looked at Scully bent over the stiff. Looking at it, she wondered if it was indeed a body. All she could make out was a bloody, bruised pulp of skin. It was all too gross for Mulder, so he turned his attention once again to the lovely Lois.

"I have season tickets to the Redskins, Lois. Anytime you want."

Lois smirked and shifted standing positions as only a person with something over another could shift. "I'm on the 50 yard line, third row, where are your tickets, Agent Mulder?"

He chuckled embarrassingly and said, "Compared to yours, in the parking lot."

Scully snapped on the latex and started poking and prodding the lifeless form.

"Maybe you want to come with me some time," Lois suggested.

"Can I paint my face red and yellow and scream throughout the entire game?"

"If you buy me a dog and a beer."

Mulder sidled up to her and said, "I'll even buy a foam finger."

"I can't wait."

Scully called to Mulder, "If you two are finished with Sunday afternoon plans, could I have a little help here?"

Mulder said to Lois, "Work calls."

He got down on his knees beside Scully and looked down at the hideous form laid out in front of them. As far as Mulder saw it, there wasn't much to do with the body but load him on a wheelbarrow and send him into the shop.

But Scully was extremely serious, "I need you to help me turn him over."

"What for?"

"There's something under his right hip. I can't seem to pull it out."

Mulder smirked, "Where's his hip?"

Together they lifted his right side. They had to work together as it was like lifting a long sack of sand. While holding one part of it up, another hand would have to lift another area. Scully pulled at the shiny rope and lifted the prize up to take a closer look.

The metal rope turned out to hold a brilliant blue rock surrounded by shimmering clear rocks. The muscles of the agents relaxed and the body dropped to the carpet. He was forgotten for the moment as Mulder and Scully stared at the cluster of gems in her gloved hand.

Commaly had to catch himself from falling as he saw the Hope Diamond, one of the museum's most prized possessions in the hands of an FBI agent and not in it's vault. "What the..." was the only thing to cross his lips.

Scully looked up the wall to the vault that had once held the Hope. It was sealed and closed. Commaly snatched the necklace out of Scully's hand and couldn't believe what he was holding. He glared around the room and violently attacked a security guard standing nearby. He thrust the necklace to his face. "How did this get out of the vault?!"

"How should I know?" was the only thing to come out of the poor guard, struggling for breath as Commaly had his hands firmly around his neck. It took Mulder, Lois and two others to get Commaly off of him.

"This is supposed to be locked up!!!!!" Commaly screamed as they took him to the ground. Mulder decided the only way to pin him down was to sit on him, so he did. Scully stood and watched the ruckus.

Commaly whimpered, "How did it get out again?" Mulder got up from him when the guards took over and sat him upright.

"Again? Mr. Commaly?" Scully asked with her famous raised eyebrow.

He didn't answer, just put his hands to his head and repeated, "This can't be happening. This can't be happening."

Scully pulled Mulder away from the others and said, "Mulder, what the hell's going on here?" She pointed to Jonas and said, "This man looks as if he was pulverized by a herd of elephants." She pointed to Mr. Commaly and said, "And this man is... catatonic."

Mulder looked around and down on the first floor over the balcony. "This could be our beast, Scully."

Scully joined him at the railing and they looked at the huge elephant with it's trunk raised, motionless.

"Mulder," Scully sighed, pleaded, "don't go there."

8:48 AM

Commaly's office was definitely a man's from the decor. It had dark wood walls, beige carpeting, a huge oak desk with clawed legs, a stuffed marlin obviously a prize from a fishing trip, and a wall of books, most of them about hunting and the Civil War.

Commaly was sitting in his chair behind his desk, still whimpering to himself, "It can't be happening again. It can't be happening again. It can't be..."

Scully filled a glass of water from a water cooler in the corner and handed it to him. He took it, but was shaking so badly, it was on him more than in him by the time he gave the paper cup back to her.

"What's happening again," Mulder asked as he took a seat by the manic man.

"My predecessor, Harold Raimie. He told me about an... incident."

Scully asked, "What happened, Sir?"

"Terrible. Terrible thing. A girl. On a school field trip. Crushed by a chandelier that fell right on top of her."

"Here in this museum," Mulder asked.

"I've always thought the Hope Diamond should be destroyed," Commaly replied. "It's bad luck for America to have it. Nothing good comes from it."

Scully was confused. "What does the Hope Diamond have to do with a chandelier falling on a little girl?"

"It was found under her body. About 20 years ago now. Her class was taking the tour in the old wing where the Hope was housed before the renovations. Harold told me the whole story. The class was loud, rambunctious like kids can be. They had just been looking at the Hope Diamond and the girl, her name was Lisa... Lisa Freeman... a chandelier broke it's casing and.... fell on her. The Hope Diamond was found underneath her body. No one knows how it got there. No one could understand it. I don't understand it. How could this happen? Thank God there wasn't any publicity about it." He turned very serious and said, "We can't have any publicity. None. Harold told me he was so upset about the goings on here so that was the last straw."

Mulder leaned closer to the man and asked, "What goings on here?"

"The ghosts. Surely you've heard the stories of a ghost here at the Institute. Things move. Strange sounds are heard. I can be down right spooky at times. We certainly don't like to talk about it, but there it is." Mulder and Scully exchanged glances.

Scully turned to a security guard standing in the office. "Where you here last night?"

"I came in this morning, 5:30."

"What's your position here?"

"I monitor the security cameras. My office is down the hall."

"We'll need a copy of all the security tapes of the area of the attack and we'd like to talk to everyone who was in the museum at the time of Mr. Cosoton's death."

Mulder moved behind her and said into her ear, "Ghosts, Scully."

"Burglary gone wrong, Mulder," she corrected him.

"Burglary of what?"

She turned around and faced him. "The Hope Diamond."

Mulder giggled. "There wasn't any evidence that it was stolen. There's no evidence that Jonas Cosoton was attacked. Where's the weapon? Where's the blood except on the victim? There's no evidence of a struggle. There's no evidence of a break in and look at the security on that rock."

"So you're thinking a ghost stomped Mr. Cosoton to a bloody pulp and reached through glass and steel and took the most notorious necklace ever known to man and placed it under the victim."

Mulder said, "Funky, huh?" When she seemed to have reached the end of her rope, Mulder reeled her back in. "If it was a burglary... it's a pretty dumb thing to do. Put your prize under your victim."

Scully shook her head. "Maybe the thieves heard these ghost stories. Maybe it's a fake necklace--."

Commaly piped up, "Fake?! It's a fake?"

"Yes," Scully said at the same time Mulder stated firmly, "No."

Commaly barked to the guards. "It's a fake?! Where's the original? Where is it?"

"Mr. Commaly, it was replaced in the case. It's real," Mulder told him. He turned to Scully and continued. "It can't be a fake, you held it. It's too heavy, too detailed, too brilliant for it to be anything but what it is, the Hope Diamond." Mulder isn't about to let her far fetched theories get in the way of his own. He went on, "Ever since the Institute was built there have been stories of ghosts haunting the areas where the exhibits that meant something to them were housed. The Hope Diamond itself is full of curses on anyone who possessed it. Rich people suddenly losing their wealth along with the lives of their families, one of them was eaten by a pack of," Mulder choked out, "wild dogs. Marie Antoinette was guillotined." His eyebrows shot up, "You held it. I hope nothing happens to you, Scully."

"Anything more you mean? We have things to do and people to see." She motioned to the guard. "Can we get the list of people and the tapes please?"

10:13 AM

On a black and white monitor, Scully and Mulder looked at the security footage provided by the guard. It is the corridor balcony of the Hope Diamond vault. The vault is sealed with the steel door and the only light was the light from the sign denoting the contents of the vault.

On the tape was a man around 60 walk down the corridor and stop in front of the vault. He put his hand to the steel and walked to the railing of the balcony. He smiled. The tape had no audio, so they didn't know what the man yelled off the balcony and the video was too grainy to read his lips.

The guard said, "So, that's Marv. He's been here forever and... boy is he spooky..."

Scully smirked, "You're kind a guy, Mulder."

Mulder looked at Marv saunter down the hallway taking something out of his front pocket and popping them in his mouth. On the second handful, Mulder realized they were sunflower seeds. He was eating them shells and all. "Is that my future?"

"If you're not careful," Scully teased.

"Remind me to be extremely careful."

They fast forwarded the tape until they saw motion. A 50ish man with glasses walked through. Nothing out of the ordinary. The guard said, "That's Gil. He's a good guy."

After a few minutes of fast forwarding, they saw a young man in his early 20s. He stopped in front of the vault and looked around as if he heard something then, kept walking. The guard said, "That's Gary. He's new... been here for around 6 weeks."

Mulder said, "Stop the tape and replay it in slow motion please." The guard did. Gary walked by slowly. Nothing unusual.

"What gives, Mulder? What are you looking for?" Scully asked.

"There! Stop the tape!" The guard froze the frame and they saw Gary's eyes were trained on the camera as he walked by.

"So?" Scully asked.

"He's staring at the camera as he walked by."

"Mulder, if I knew a camera was there I'd probably unconsciously look at it, too. There's a deep seated paranoid gene in all of us. You're on up-close-and-personal terms with that yourself."

Mulder squinted at his partner, said, "What happened to you this morning, Scully? You're almost unbearable to be around."

The guard asked, "Can we keep going here, Sir?"

"Sure," Scully said.

A late-20's-early-30's woman walked by and out of frame. The guard said, "That's Nancy. We all feel sorry for her. She's raising two of the cutest kids by herself."

"Where's the father," Scully asked as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"He was a mechanic and a car he was working under fell on top of him. That was about... two years ago. Nancy even home schools her kids."

"When she works at night? How does she find the time," Scully wondered.

They watched the tape as another man walked by with a cookie. Except for the fact that he dropped some crumbs and didn't pick them up, there was nothing unusual about it or him. "Mike Manchester, what a slob," was all the guard said.

They next saw a man with a stain on his shirt walking down the hallway. "That's Jonas Cosoton," Scully said. They intently watched his every move, then the tape ran out.

"So that's it?" Mulder wanted to know.

The guard pushed rewind and play and they watched again as Jonas walked toward the vault. The tape stopped again. "That's all there is," the guard says.

"Rewind and slow mo it," Mulder said.

The guard did and as they scrutinized the tape, they saw to the right of the frame, a half lit face in the shadows.

"Who's that," Scully asked the guard.

"I can't make it out," the guard said.

Mulder and Scully regarded each other and then Mulder spoke first. "Pendrell?"

To which Scully confirmed with a firm nod, "Pendrell, I'll get this to him right away."

"We need a list of the names and addresses of the guards on the tape," Mulder told the guard.

"Human Affairs would have that information."

Mulder instructed, "Get that tape over to Pendrell and I'll go to Personnel and then make another stop. I'll meet you back at the office and we'll go talk to the guards."

Scully asked, "Where's the stop?"

"I'm going to ask the opinion of other paranoid gene overload victims like myself," Mulder said with a grin.

11:21 AM

"To what do we owe this honor, Mulder?" Langley asked as Mulder entered the office and sat down. "We weren't interesting enough for you when we had the Zapruder film. How come you never called us back?"

"When did you call?"

"About a month ago."

"Oh, I never got it... there was someone in my house... someone not me... he looked like me... he did something..." The Lone Gunmen looked at him in new confused light as he continued. "I'm not a loser."

Frohike offered, "Perish the thought."

After a pause, Mulder said, "Well, what about the Zapruder film?"

"Too late," Langley said defiantly.

"Yeah, Mulder, what do you want this time? More infiltration of laboratories?" Byers asked.

"Well...," Mulder replied. So that was enough to get the interest of the three men.

"Another locker break in?" Frohike chirped.

"You need more security clearances?" Langley asked.

"Or maybe just your ordinary, boring hacking of files?" Byers said.

"Kind of all of the above," Mulder said. The LG were definitely interested. "I was wondering if it was possible to steal the Hope Diamond."

Langley coughed. "The one and only Hope Diamond? The one in the Smithsonian?"

"What do you want the Hope Diamond for?" Frohike asked. "Can't wear it, can't sell it."

"I didn't think you were the blue diamond type person, Mulder. Although it would match your tie," Byers said, laughing.

Mulder asked, "Is it possible to steal it without leaving any evidence of it's being stolen?"

Byers, deep in thought said, "Sounds like something I could wrap my head around."

"I knew that you would. Scully and I received an X File this morning. A night watchman was killed by... something that turned him into a bloody sack of potatoes in front of the Hope Diamond exhibit. There was no signs that the vault was broken into and the Hope Diamond itself was found under the victim."

Silence permeated the room.

"So, what do you think?"

Byers looked at Langley, Langley looked at Frohike, Frohike looked at the wall and back at Langley, Langley looked back at Byers, who said to Mulder, "It's a fake."

"So that's what Scully said," Mulder said.

"She's hot," Langley said. "You know, great minds think alike."

"Not you, too."

Frohike said, "Him one. I'm on to silently devoting my every thought to this red headed actress on some dorky FOX show... what was her name again? Anyway, I'm Jack to her Gill..."

"Oh, God," Mulder muttered. "The necklace was not a fake. I saw it. It was too antique, too brilliant, too finely set to be a fake. Scully said it was heavy..."

"Scully held it?!?!" all three shouted.

"Is she crazy?!?" Frohike yelled. "There's a big fat curse on it. Does the name Marie Antoinette mean anything to her? We better keep an eye on her. All who have held ---"

"She knows, Frohike," Mulder got into the one sided conversation. "She didn't know it was the Hope Diamond until it was already in her hand. That should count for something. And she was wearing latex."

Langley and Frohike both did their best Homer Simpson impression, "Mmmmm, latex."

Byers rolled his eyes and shook his head and asked Mulder, "Why do I hang out with these two?"

FBI HEADQUARTERS

12:48 PM

Scully was on the phone as Mulder walked in. "We'll be right there," Scully said and then hung up the phone. She turned to Mulder. "What did our paranoids extra ordinaire say?"

"You have a new admirer."

"Oh, God. Let me guess, the one with the beard?"

"The one with long flowing honey blond locks..."

"Langley? I didn't think he cared."

"We all care, Scully."

"We have to see Skinner. His secretary just called." She opened the door and turned to see Mulder deep in thought. "You coming?"

Mulder was thinking of all the people who were helping find a cure for her cancer and it was ironic happenstance that she mentioned the one man who actually put his life on the line for her, Skinner. Oh, Scully was talking to him. What did she say? "Huh?"

"Are you coming?" she repeated.

"Oh, yeah..."

"Where were you just then," Scully asked.

He just shook his head and went out the door before her.

FBI BUILDING

12:55 PM

Skinner was deep in paperwork when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," he ordered.

Without a word, Mulder and Scully walked into the office and sat down in the chairs in front of his desk. Skinner finished writing, put the pen down and faced them. He looked his agents over, Scully particularly. "Abut the Smithsonian matter, I feel I need to stress the importance of discretion. It would be wise if there was no publicity on this case."

"Oh, you mean, we shouldn't go right to the newspapers like we always do," Mulder kidded.

"I'm just reaffirming the obvious," Skinner said. "How are you, Agent Scully?"

Scully, taken back by the U-turn in the conversation, said, "I'm fine." She was uneasy by the fact that Skinner was staring at her. She was getting it from both sides as Mulder joined Skinner in looking her over.

Mulder piped in, "She's a little cranky today, but..."

"That's all," Skinner dismissed them.

"Huh?" Mulder grunted.

"Go back to work," Skinner instructed.

Mulder and Scully remained seated with a lost look on their faces. "You had us come to your office to... what?... tell us to keep quiet on our case?" Scully asked.

"It's important that you do."

"A phone call would have sufficed," Scully argued. "We lost time on this. We could have been interviewing the guards, enhancing the security footage. I could have sat in on the autopsy of Mr. Cosoton with Dr. Newbacher..."

"You aren't doing any more medical examinations for the foreseeable future, Agent Scully." She looked at Skinner, who was trying to look anywhere but at her or Mulder. Suddenly a spot on his blotter became very important.

Scully stared at Skinner in disbelief. "Why?"

"Don't second guess my decisions, Agent. You are to remain in the X Files as an investigator only until further notice. That's all. Get back to work."

Skinner caught a glance of Mulder's stone face. Scully noticed and demanded, "What's going on here?"

"Get back to work!" Skinner stated. "Now."

Scully stood and paused. "Yes, Sir," she murmured and walked out the door, leaving it open.

"You, too," Skinner said to Mulder.

"What *is* going on here? Does this have to do with a certain bee detail you undertook a couple of weeks ago?"

"That will be all, Agent Mulder." Skinner went back to his paperwork. There will be no more discussion.

1:17 PM

Scully entered and slammed the door shut behind her making Pendrell jump off his stool. Another tech dropped a beaker and screamed, "Hey!"

Scully, embarrassed, apologized and shuffled over to Pendrell, who smiled and sat back on his stool in front of a video monitor.

"One of those days, huh," he asked as she sat beside him.

"Major day... How's it coming?"

"I still can't make out a clear image, but I'm close. Of all the guards, we may be able to cancel out some of the suspects. Although I don't know how anybody could kill that man the way you described it without leaving any trances of a struggle."

"What have you got so far," Scully asked as she moved closer to Pendrell and the monitor.

"Only this...," Pendrell said as he punched up an image of the half face on the monitor. "I can tell the mouth is curled into either a smirk or a smile, or it's a mug with no teeth, you know how they are all gums and a tight straight mouth." He pantomimed the gesture of Billy Bob Thorton in Sling Blade.

Scully simply stared at Pendrell. He shrugged and said, "Sorry. Spent last weekend at a family reunion. I saw my future in the faces of my uncles and I'm having a hard time of it."

"Pendrell, you and your teeth will be just fine."

Pendrell smiled and decided his best way to make the right impression on Agent Scully was to get back to work, immediately. He typed orders into the computer and the picture became a tish clearer, although not enough to make a face recognizable. Scully leaned closer to the monitor to get a better look. Pendrell looked at the red head out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, there's no glasses, leaves out one of them. How old do you this he or she is," Scully asked.

Pendrell was trying to decide if the color of Scully's hair was an autumn or more of a chestnut sort of red. Oh, she was talking to him. "Huh?"

"Can you make out if this face belongs to a man or a woman?"

"I can only see what you see. I haven't a clue from this angle."

"How long do you think it will be before you know anything?"

"I've only been working on this since 11:30, give me more time."

She looked at her watch. "Don't you take a lunch break?" He held up a bag of Fritos. "Okay," she said as she slipped off the stool. "See you later?"

"You betcha," he said.

As she left, Pendrell pondered the vast vocabulary that Agent Scully seemed to pull out of him.

1:42 PM

Scully walked down the hall not really focusing on anything or anybody, so when Mulder appeared at her side and walked with her for about 10 feet, she didn't even realize it. "How 'bout we drop in on the night watchmen..."

Scully, startled, said, "Sure."

"What did Pendrell get from the tape?"

"No glasses."

"I guess we'll talk to...," he said as he pulled the notes from his pocket. "Gil last." He turned to the pages of names and addresses from personnel and decided this Marv Grandlee would be the closest to the office.

Scully demanded, "What was that with Skinner?"

Mulder paused. "I don't know."

"Why was he checking me out? He has a gift for spreading discomfort. Why can't I do post mortem investigations? Something is wrong, Mulder. Very wrong and I'm going to find out what it is."

"We have a group of people to talk to. They've all had plenty of time to get their beauty sleep. Should we check out Marv Grandlee first?" Scully stopped walking and Mulder stopped ahead of her and turned around. "What?"

"You want to start questioning without me? I'm going to go down and check on the body."

"You aren't supposed to go to the morgue, Scully."

"I can't *perform* autopsies, for some God known reason. He didn't say I couldn't be *around* autopsies."

Mulder smiled and said, "You know, it only took four years for me to rub off on you."

"Mulder, I'll catch up with you later." She barreled down the hallway to the parking garage and Mulder wondered if he should let Skinner know what she was up to or... what was he thinking? There was a truth that Scully needed to know and he'd be the last person that would get in her way. He hated it when people did that to him. Skinner was someone to trust and Mulder decided to let his partner and boss fight it out themselves. Besides, he had an old man to question.

1:45 PM

When Lucille Crier, the portly efficient secretary to the Director of the Smithsonian Institute walked into Mr. Commaly's office, he wasn't at his desk. She thought that was funny as she didn't see him leave since he got back from lunch. Oh well, she thought. She dropped some letters on his desk and started to write a note reminding him that she was leaving early. She had a doctor's appointment on the other side of town and probably wouldn't make it back before 5.

She turned to leave and noticed the bathroom light was on. She peeked in and didn't see him. He never left lights on. Efficiency was important to the man, but he had been acting strangely all day. She was about to turn off the light when she heard a whimper from the corner. She went around the door and saw Commaly sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. "Mr. Commaly?"

Commaly lifted his head with all his strength and looked at his secretary. His face was pale and his eyes were watering. "Lucille... I'm having my migraine again."

Lucille went to the cupboard and saw his open pill bottle by the sink. There were a few pills on the cupboard and she picked them up and put them back in the bottle.

"I already took some, Lucille."

"Can I do anything for you, Sir," she asked him as she put the bottle back in the drawer.

"No," he muttered. "I'll just sit here until the pain goes away. Could you turn the light out when you go?"

She flipped off the light and told him, "Call me if you need anything. I'll see you in the morning." She left her boss sitting on the bathroom floor. Was it her imagination, or was he actually whimpering? He had migraine attacks before, but never like this.

2:15 PM

Mulder was sitting uncomfortably in a teetering dining table chair looking at Marv staring back at him. Marv was sprawled in a LazyBoy recliner chewing on sunflower seeds. Mulder would be more comfortable on the floor. He stood instead. Marv offered him a hand ful of seeds.

"No, I'm trying to quit," Mulder said.

"What was it you wanted again?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me anything about what happened at the museum last night, this morning."

"What happened?"

Mulder was taken back. "Your colleague, Jonas Cosoton, was killed."

"Oh, yeah. Not my concern. I never liked the little prick."

"You and Mr. Cosoton had a... there was friction between you?"

"Friction? What's that? I just couldn't stand the little man. He comes in thinking he owns the place. No respect for his elders." He pointed to the bruise on his cheek. "See this? He hit me this morning. Serves him right, what happened to him."

"Did you argue?"

"He was sitting in my chair."

"You fought about a chair? For that he deserves to die?"

Marv popped another handful of seeds in his mouth and crunched. "I guess not."

Mulder winced, seeing his future in the old, crusty man. "Mr. Grandlee, you don't happen to believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life, do you?"

"Huh? What was that?"

"Good...," Mulder smiled. "You have a good day, Mr. Grandlee."

2:48 PM

Lois was hunkered over Jonas Cosoton's body. There wasn't much holding him together as a unit so Lois' assistant had to brace his sides and hold the skin as Lois pulled the vital organs out of their casings. The poor young man was massively pulverized.

Scully, in scrubs, stood behind Lois and took in everything. Lois would talk into the microphone for records and talk to herself, her assistant, Scully, seemingly all at the same time. Scully rubbed the back of her neck and frowned as she was developing a headache.

Lois put her hands up and stepped back from the body. Her assistant let go of the skin and Jonas's body collapsed to the steel table. The assistant went to wash up while Lois reached over and turned off the tape recorder. "You really shouldn't be in here, Agent Scully. Orders from above."

"I'd like to know where that word came from. You haven't heard?"

Lois paused, looked down and said, "I only heard that you were probably on your way here and I shouldn't let you get near the body."

Scully frowned, pissed, "Why the hell not?"

"I have no idea. I'm only following orders. Well, I guess not, because you're here. Please don't tell anyone I let you observe." She looked at Scully and asked, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes! I'm fine!" Lois jumped and Scully apologized, "I'm sorry. I don't like being asked that question every half hour of the day. Why do you ask?"

"You look anaemic. I'm sorry. None of my business."

Scully's cell phone rang and she answered it, "Scully."

Mulder, as usual, talked without identifying himself. "I talked to the old man and he doesn't seem the least bit bothered about the new guy biting it," Mulder explained.

Lois took off her head covering, snapped off her gloves, and pulled off the scrubs. Scully replied to Mulder, "They say the world's becoming desensitized to tragedy, with TV, movies, nightly news..."

"We've had this conversation before, Scully, and I still refuse to believe that TV has anything to do with the decrease of the human condition."

"Mulder, after what happened to me in Maryland, you don't think there's anything to that theory? I almost shot you... again..." Lois, having just shoved her scrubs into a laundry basket, reacted to Scully, surprised. Scully noticed and shrugged.

Mulder said, "What happened to you in Maryland was a sick somebody who is nameless, faceless, and soulless that tweaked the cable line. It wasn't TV itself."

Scully wasn't in the mood for another conversation that wasn't important to the case at hand. She smirked as she asked, "Mulder, what are you wearing?" There was a silent pause on the other end. "How do you like it? Being stopped with nonsensical one liners? Come back to the office and pick me up. We'll see the rest of them together. You're probably just asking the wrong questions to get the answers of unconcern."

Scully pushed end and slipped her phone in her pocket. "You two really have a way about you," Lois said.

Scully replied, "You don't know the half of it."

"What's the other half? I mean... are you and Agent Mulder... you know..."

"Are we sleeping together? Is that what you want to know?"

"Yes. Are you?"

"No."

"So, it would be okay if I take him up on his offer of sharing my Redskin tickets?"

"I don't like football. I couldn't care less."

"Great."

Scully shifted legs, nodded to the corpse and asked, "Did you find anything that surprised you?"

"He was put through a grinder, that's all I can come up with. If he had fallen out of a 100 floor window or in a flattened car accident, I'd understand it, but this makes no sense. Only one rib was unbroken, his femur, radius, and ulna were snapped in three places. His sternum was unrecognizable. I didn't even have to use a saw to open him up. I have no idea what happened to him. You and Agent Mulder have probably seen stuff like this before. What do you think happened?"

Scully thought and said, "I've never seen anything like this before." She moved to the door. She stopped and turned back to Lois. "Oh, can you and Mulder wait until the conclusion of this case before you partake in pigskin adventures? I want this case over ASAP so I can take some well earned vacation time."

Scully was actually out the door before Lois could reply. She wasn't sure what she would have said if she had the chance. She just hoped Agent Scully knew what she was up against. What little Lois knew and took part of was enough to make her sick.

HOPE DIAMOND EXHIBIT

3:30 PM

Frohike stood like a beefeater against the wall of the museum. Just down the hall was the Hope Diamond and a horde of people standing in a slow moving line to see it. He lifted a talking devise to his mouth and whispered, "Byers, Langley's almost there."

It wasn't hard to pick out his lanky, blond co-worker. His hair was at least three shades lighter and 5 inches longer than the others in line. Frohike wondered why Langley didn't cut it. <Then again,> he thought, <If I wasn't bald on top, I'd probably let mine grow too.>

Langley shot a look back at the little kid behind him. "Did you just step on my foot?" he demanded from the little guy.

The scared child looked up at the tall surfer dude and could only come up with, "A..mm...."

"Just say I'm sorry and it's okay."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. My brother pushed me and I lost my balance and..."

"It's okay, kid. Chill."

Langley smiled and turned back to the reason why he was there. A security guard walked by and Langley tried to look as nonchalant as possible. The line was moving and he was only about three feet from the necklace. His mouth opened as he caught a glance at it from between heads. It was astoundingly beautiful. He was mesmerized by the sight.

He vaguely heard a voice in his head. <Langley...> Where was that coming from? Was that my voice? <Langley..> he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He was convinced the necklace was talking to him. It was calling his name.

"Langley!!" came the voice and jolted him from his stupor. He clutched the headset cord in his ear. "Langley! Do - you - read - me?" Byers voice blasted at him. "Nod - if - you - read - me. I'm - right - above - you."

Langley lifted his head and nodded to the air grate just above him. He put his hand in his pocket and wrapped it around a Stanley tape measure.

4:15 PM

Still sitting on the floor of the bathroom, Dean Commaly finally finished crying. The pain was so bad he could hardly stand it. He tried to call his wife earlier to tell her why he would be late, but he just couldn't get himself off the floor. This was a bad one. He'd have to see his doctor again soon. He hadn't had a knockout migraine like that in years. It had to be the stress. The incident with the poor guard came out of left field. Things were getting back to normal. There hadn't been any complaints from the workers about anything happening for weeks. He thought that clairvoyant he called in actually worked.

Lucille laughed when he suggested it to her, so he went behind her back to hire her. She did wonders for the Library of Congress. Ghosts. That could be the only explanation for the poor man's death. That poor man. Had the life crushed right out of him. What an awful way to go.

Just in the last three weeks there were swords that flew off the wall for no reason, almost getting a janitor. There were eerie noises down in one of the storage rooms, like dancing, or a party, but no one was there. One morning, a guard noticed one of Dorothy's ruby slippers was positioned precariously on Charlie McCarthy's top hat. Then the death, the Hope Diamond, just like Harold told him about the little girl. What a nightmare.

He would sooner spend his time on administration matters that he was hired for, not spooks and things that go bump in the night. He wondered if Lucille finished the paperwork he had her start before this whole mess started. <Yes,> he thought. <Put your mind on something else. Where's the dismissal papers... I'll sign them and the transfer receipts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Maybe I can even take a few days off when this whole mess is taken care of. If it's taken care of...>

He stood up and stretched, but not too much, as he was afraid any slight awkward movement would make the pain return. Lucille had turned off all the lights in his office and it was dark, feeling his way to the desk. He sat in his chair and turned the desk lamp on. Light flooded the desk and some reflected across the room. He thought he saw something moving in the corner of the office. He looked up and swore he saw a glimmer. He heard the crunching of metal.

"What the..." he mused as he stared straight ahead with fright. An armored knight was walking closer to him, on the other side of his desk. It was saying something. "You can't get away with it" or something like that. What was it that it said? What couldn't I get away with? What did I do?

He was still wondering when the lance from the armored man sliced right into and through his heart. He was dead before he hit the floor, causing the leather bound chair to move back and twirl in position.

HOPE DIAMOND EXHIBIT

4: 17 PM

Langley finally made it to the vault holding the Diamond necklace. He looked both ways to see if there was a guard around. There was one standing to his right. Langley stopped and watched him to make sure he wasn't paying any attention.

People behind Langley were getting squeamish. "Hey, Valley Boy. Move it along."

"My kid wants to see it."

"I have to get home and get supper on the table."

"I'm tired, Mommy."

This wasn't good. Langley didn't want the attention on him. Luckily at that moment, Frohike, noting the commotion, went to the guard and unfolded a map of the museum in front of him.

"Can you help me? I'm looking for Archie Bunker's chair. I heard it was here. Where is it? I heard there's some big rocks here. I can't find 'em. The gift shop?"

Langley saw the guard was occupied so he took the tape measure out of his pocket and measured the vault opening both ways, top to bottom and side to side. People looked at each other and by the time anyone could ask him what in the world he was doing, Langley was gone.

Walking away from the exhibit, Langley mouthed into his talking device, "Byers, 22 by 25."

"Roger," was the reply.

"Guess that blows Frohike's theory out of the water," Langley continued.

"It's not the first time," Byers smirked.

Hearing the conversation in his ear piece, said out loud, "I resent that."

The guard looked at him. "Resent what?"

Frohike surprised, muttered, "Everything," and walked away.

4:20 PM

Mulder was fascinated with the collection of auto racing magazines piled on the 'coffee table' that was actually concrete blocks with a sheet of paneling on top. Richard Petty was on the cover of one and he couldn't help but sit on the couch and scan the article.

Scully was pretty perturbed with Mr. Hobson. "He was murdered. A co-worker was murdered at your place of business. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Gary said, "Sure. It's just so freaky. I didn't know him that well..."

Scully folded her arms to she chest and said, "I didn't know him at all but it affects me. That's why we're here, to find out what happened to the poor man."

At the mention of 'we' Gary looked at Mulder, who was deep in thought of the life of Richard Petty. Scully looked at the top of Mulder's head, as his face was down, close to the magazine. "Mulder! Tell Mr. Hobson how affected by his death you are."

"Huh?"

Gary continued, "Hey. I'm affected. I just didn't know him that well. I don't know what happened to him and hopefully you'll find the weirdo who did this."

The silence didn't play well with Gary, who looked from Scully's intense stare to the uneven part on the top of her partner's head. What kind of hair was that anyway? He finally spoke, "You don't think I had anything to do with it, do you?"

Mulder shut the magazine and joined them in the 'kitchen' which consisted of a row of cupboards with a dorm type fridge and hot plate. "Why would you think we'd think you did it, Mr. Hobson?"

"Well, you're here, aren't you? Why talk to me if you didn't think I did it?"

Scully crossed her arms and said, "We're talking to you to get all information we can about what happened early this morning. It's called Investigation 101."

"I missed that part of it," Gary said.

"Huh?" Mulder asked.

"I wasn't in the academy that long. I didn't make it that far."

"What academy are you talking about?" Scully asked.

"I wanted to be a cop more than anything. I ... got kicked out."

"What did you do?"

"I ... sort of ... punched out one of my instructors."

"Do you have a temper, Mr. Hobson?"

"No. I don't believe I do. He was just on my ass from day one and I couldn't take it anymore."

Mulder moved in on him, "Was Jonas Cosoton on your ass?"

"No. I hardly knew him. Really."

Scully rubbed her neck. Man, did she have a kink. She rolled her head from side to side and front and back. She must have slept wrong. She seemed to remember something... Was it a nightmare she had? She tried to remember writing down her dreams as soon as she woke up like Melissa always told her to, but she never remembered to do it until she was in the shower. By the time she got out, it was gone. She wasn't sure, but she had a hell of a dream last night.

"Have you talked to Gil yet? He knew him better than I did."

Mulder said, "Yes, as a matter of fact, we saw him right before coming to see you and he wasn't any more help than you are." Mulder noticed Scully and her discomfort. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Hobson."

Mulder hustled Scully out the door. In the hallway, Scully turned to Mulder and demanded, "What the hell was that about? I have more questions for him like why he punched his instructor, why he chose to work at the museum, why he was so defensive..."

"Are you all right?" Mulder asked.

"What the hell is going on? I'm FINE!"

Two apartment doors opened and heads stuck out at the scream. Scully apologized and walked back to Hobson's apartment. Mulder took her arm and steered her to the elevator.

"I think you should go home and take a nap."

"Take a nap? What am I, in kindergarten? I have a job to do. What's gotten into everyone? I'm fine. In fact, I feel better than I did yesterday. In fact, I've never felt better in my life. Leave me alone!"

Mulder was left to watch her stringent figure blast her way down the hallway and down the stairs.

4:45 PM

Smoke filled the room. Skinner took a portable fan out of his desk and pointed it at the foul man sitting across from him. "It's started," the Cigarette Smoking Man exhaled.

Skinner sneered, "There aren't going to be any side effects I didn't know about?"

"How you don't trust me, Mr. Skinner," CSM shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder why I help you out at all." CSM coughed as he rose from his seat and stubbed out his butt in the ashtray Skinner always seemed to provide for him.

He moved toward the back door when Skinner said, "She doesn't look any different. She claims she feels fine. I want to know, did she receive it this morning?" After no reply from the man, he continued, "If this doesn't work, there'll be hell to pay. You haven't seen nothing until you've seen me require revenge."

"Mr. Skinner, I've been threatened by the best. Don't you dare try to---"

Skinner stood and said, "I've had enough of your cryptic, condescending musings. I will hunt you down and I will kill you if this does not work."

"Like last time? How you scared me by putting holes in my wall."

Skinner rose and put his nose to the smoker's nose and said, "This time I won't miss. I won't use a gun at all. I'll use a knife and I'll cut things off one by one while you scream for mercy. Mercy that you will never see."

"Sounds like you need a vacation, Mr. Skinner," CSM said as he sauntered out the door.

5:05 PM

Nancy was a whirling tornado. Between making supper for the kids, mopping the kitchen floor, watching the news (wondering why there wasn't anything about the murder at the Smith), and picking up her paintbrush every once in a while to dab more paint on a fresh canvas, she was a blur. Mulder and Scully were sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and fresh biscuits and butter in front of them.

Scully said, "Ms. Vickman, are you sure you don't need any help?"

Nancy stopped her mopping and smiled to her, "Ah, no. TONY! Get your sister and come and EAT!" Mulder about fell off his chair. He stood as two children ran into the kitchen and plopped down at the table, little Alison choosing Scully's lap.

Mulder looked closer at the painting Nancy was working on. It was sort of an abstract, but you could clearly see a hunched man in the corner with a large predator over him, a large branch of some sort coming out of the beast's mouth. Another figure, possibly a man, was standing off to the side, as if orchestrating the whole thing. "When did you start this, Ms. Vickman?"

Nancy set a home made pizza and paper towels on the table and the kids picked at it. Alison was getting crumbs all over Scully, but she actually didn't mind. She hadn't held a child since her nephew visited last spring. Nancy said, "Oh, I couldn't sleep this morning and I started it. It calms me."

"What is this thing," Mulder asked, pointing to the beast.

"It's an elephant. Nice metaphor, huh?"

"In what way?" Mulder asked.

"Well, the guy was... like... stomped, right? What would do a better job than an elephant?"

Scully put Alison in her seat and stood by the painting. "Very good metaphor, Ms. Vickman. What does this man mean?" She pointed to the huddled figure. "Is this Mr. Cosoton?

"Well, sure. He's what I was thinking of as I was painting. Such an awful thing that happened."

Scully breathed a sigh of relief that someone bothered to be bothered. She looked back at the other man in the painting. The one that had no face and was almost standing at attention. "What is this man supposed to represent?"

"Oh, no. That's just a guy."

Mulder said, "What kind a guy?"

"He's a figure I put in all my paintings. Just a guy."

Nancy sat with her kids and started on a piece of pizza. Scully looked at the painting again. "Ms. Vickman, you started this painting this morning?"

Nancy nodded with a mouth full of pizza. "Have you been painting long?"

While swallowing the pizza, she muttered, "I've been painting since I was... oh, about 12. Just something I took up to pass time."

"You're a busy woman now, Ms. Vickman. There's quite a bit of detail in this painting. How can you find the time?"

"I do it to ... relax myself."

Scully looks around the kitchen and sees Science, Math, and English books on the counter. They are teacher's editions. "Do you home school your children, Ms. Vickman?"

"Of course. I don't want my children subjected to the horrors of schooling."

Mulder was taken back. "Horrors. Ms. Vickman? Elementary school is probably one of the best times in a child's life. You get new friends, you're starting to learn fundamental things..."

Scully looked at Mulder and realized he was probably right. He was at his happiest in Elementary school, before losing Samantha. She wondered how many friends he had at that time in his life.

Nancy broke Scully's thoughts and said, "They are their own best friends. They can't learn anything I can't teach them. Tony is very gifted. He knows the entire elements chart and he may be starting Algebra soon. He's only 7."

Scully said, "A gifted program in school would be a wonderful opportunity for him."

"Bah," was all Nancy said.

Mulder asked, "When in the world do you find the time, Ms. Vickman? You work all night, you school your children, you have time to fix a homemade pizza, you have a spotless house, and you have a hobby," pointing to the painting, "that you have put a lot of work into, just today."

Nancy started to clean up the kitchen while the kids ate. She said to Mulder and Scully, "I need to get the kids in the bathtub and settled down for the night before my mother comes and I go to work, so, if you don't mind... unless you'd like to help..."

Mulder cut her off, "Oh, of course... we'll get out of your way. Thanks for your time."

"No problem. Good day," Nancy bade them goodbye and was cleaning the dishes by hand and putting things away and finishing mopping all at the same time. Scully had to move quickly, or she would have had Mr. Cleaned suede shoes.

1:15 am

Scully was having a heck of a time sleeping. She figured she should get in some solid sack time but she just couldn't do it. Her head was pounding, really bad. After taking aspirin, tossing and turning, cold compresses, and swearing, she decided to call Mulder and see if he was still up.

He answered on the first ring. "Mulder."

"It's me."

"Can't sleep?"

"Headache."

"Really?" Mulder, who was at his computer desk surfing the net, straightened in his seat and said, "Should you... go to a hospital? Get it checked out? Do you have headaches a lot, Scully?"

"You're making it worse," Scully replied, groggily.

"You want me to come over?"

"No, you don't have to do that. Just lower your voice and just talk, ok? You sometimes have that gift of making me fall asleep when you really get going."

"Oh, you sweet talker, you."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm on the Internet searching for information on the Hope Diamond."

"Find anything?"

"Did you know one of the men who went down on the Titanic owned it?"

"Really?"

"American millionaire Edward McLean. His granddaughter committed suicide after wearing it, too."

"Not because she was distraught because her dear ole granddad died? Besides, Mulder, even if there were a curse on the necklace, what does that have to do with Jonas Cosoton. As far as we know he never intentionally had the necklace--."

"Are we so sure about that?"

"What do you mean?"

Mulder clicked through a couple of links on the computer. "Maybe he was in the midst of stealing the diamond and the curse got him. Some ghost in the form of the elephant got even with him for taking it."

Scully squinted at the pain in her head, and her ear. "Wasn't I the one who told you it was a burglary gone wrong?"

"You going to nit pick at 1:30 am?"

"Pendrell should have the photo augmented by the morning. We can at least find out who was in the picture and go from there. Ow!"

"What? Your head really hurts, huh?"

"No, I stubbed my toe. There's someone at the door."

"Visitors this late at night... or early in the morning, I guess. You have a boyfriend I didn't know about, Scully?"

"That's what I'm going to find out. Hang on." Scully put the phone down on the bed and left the bedroom.

Mulder went to another web page to read more about Titanic's history. He waited. There was a strange noise on the line. "Scully?" No answer. "Scully?" It was quiet on the line. What was that sound? He thought it was a table being pushed, or a window. "Scully?!" He pushed away from the desk and took off his glasses and barked into the phone, "Scully!"

He heard a distant reply, "Just a sec!" He waited, pacing the small apartment, and waited. Finally Scully picked the phone back up and said, "There wasn't anyone there."

"Are you sure?"

"I opened the door and there wasn't anyone there. No one in the hallway."

"Someone rang the doorbell and left? This isn't April 1st."

"No, it isn't. Ow."

"Stub another toe?"

"No, my head hurts."

"Scully, I'm coming over there right now."

"No, I'm tired, just talk to me."

"About what?"

"Doesn't matter..."

Mulder sat at the computer again and scanned the monitor. "Care to know the details of the making of the Titanic?"

"Sure."

"It all started in Belfast. A great titan was in the midst of construction in the regular fog of the city by the sea. Measuring four city blocks, consisting of 4 smokestacks, one fake so people would really believe it was the fastest ship afloat, three anchors..."

Scully was right when she said Mulder could put her to sleep. This recitation was better than another pill. In fact, she was so asleep she didn't notice that there was a man slowly making his way out from under her bed. He pulled a black case out and stood, watched as Scully's chest slowly went up and down in steady rythym.

8:12 AM

Lucille walked into the office and turned on the lights. She hoped that this day would be better than the last. Her boss couldn't take another of those. She did worry about him. He was jumpy over the least little thing, but was an outstanding administrator and quite the smoozer to acquire all the extra funds they needed for the mineral exhibit renovations, and she received regular raises. Nothing at all to complain about.

She laid some papers down on his desk and noticed his chair was facing the window, back to her. surely he didn't sleep in his office. She went around the desk and turned the chair. Empty.

She pushed the chair back to the desk and it's wheel got caught on something. She moved the chair back and saw him. "Mr. Commaly?"

She went to him on the floor. "Oh my GOD!" Her mind registered that there was a huge blood stain on his back and on the floor under and along side him.

8:42 AM

"You know, Mulder. I need an answer to my question."

Mulder rose from the floor and the body of Commaly and looked up with a smile as Lois walked into the office. Behind her, the assistant quietly walked in. He took a look at the surroundings and seeing Scully, put his head down was as unobtrusive as possible in case she remembered anything from just a few hours earlier.

"That depends on the question."

"With me on the 50 yard line, or with you in the parking lot."

"Ah, yes. Well, of course--."

"Could you help me here, Mulder," Scully said as she was poking at something under the body of Commaly.

"De ja vu all over again," Mulder smiled at Lois and got back on the floor with Scully.

Scully stopped what she was doing and looked at Mulder with a sour expression. "I don't believe this." She pulled on a metal rope and out from under Commaly was the Hope Diamond.

"Would you quit touching that thing?" Mulder scolded.

Lois pointed to the necklace and said, "Is that--."

"Yes," Scully cut her off. "What the hell is going on here?"

Lucille, in her chair in the reception area, was rocking back and forth crying. Scully came out of Commaly's office and to her with the rock in her hand. "Ms. Crier, did you notice this earlier?"

Lucille looked up and her mouth opened wide and was flabbergasted. "How... What is... What in the world?"

"The Hope Diamond was found under his body. How did this happen?"

Lucille looked up at Scully and stammered, "I don't... I haven't any.... How am I supposed to know?"

"You found his body, correct?"

"Yes," she choked.

"You said he was on the floor. Did you see this?" Scully lifted the necklace up to her face.

Lucille pushed it away. "No. I didn't. How could that thing have possibly gotten out of its cage?"

"Cage? It's called a vault," Scully said, at the end of her patience.

"Ms. Scully, I have no idea what happened. I came in this morning with papers for Mr. Commaly to sign. His chair was back from the desk, I pushed it back to the desk and found him on the floor. That's when I saw the blood and I got the hell out of there and I called the police. That's all that happened."

Mulder's phone rang and he answered it, "Mulder."

"It's impossible, dude."

"Thanks." He hung up. Scully looked at him. He shrugged. "Frohike doesn't see how the necklace could have been stolen with the circumstances of yesterday."

"Today would probably put him in a coma," Scully replied.

Scully's phone rang. She answered it, "Scully."

"I have a face!"

"Of course you do, Pendrell. Everyone has a face, what are you talking about?"

"I have THE face!"

"OH! Yes, who is it?"

"I don't know. Where are you?"

"The Smithsonian. There's been another murder."

"Really?" Pendrell answered excitedly. "What's the FAX number over there? I'll send the image right over."

She went to the FAX machine by Lucille's desk and read the number off to Pendrell and hung up. She turned to Mulder and said, "Pendrell has a face."

"Yeeeaaahhh, so?"

"He has THE face. He's sending it over."

Mulder and Scully waited by the machine. Scully looked around the room and noticed Lois' assistant. She looked at him closely. He seemed familiar somehow, she just couldn't figure out from where. She was just going to go to him and talk when Mulder said, "Who in the world would want to kill a poor night watchman and the Director of the Museum?"

"There's sickos in the world, Mulder. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of them up close and personal." Scully rubbed at her eyes. Mulder put a hand on her shoulder. She shook her head as if to say, (all together now) I'm fine.

Lucille piped up, "I don't know about poor Jonas, but Mr. Commaly was going to fire one of the watchman."

"Which one?"

"Nancy Vickman. He would have done it months ago, but he felt sorry for her, being a single mother and all."

Scully asked, "Why would be fire her? She's about the most efficient one of the whole lot of them."

Mulder leaned in close to Scully's ear and said, "I bet she's an off shoot of the Sleepless Project."

Scully looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Oh, right. I was with ...," He had to spew out the next word as if he just drank a whole bottle of castor oil. "Krycek on that one. The Sleepless Project. The government had been experimenting with the perfect soldier. One who didn't need sleep."

"Mulder, gimme a break."

"You weren't there, Scully. You should have seen it. Augustus Cole was a soldier in Viet Nam--."

"That has nothing to do with a single mother in Washington DC."

"That we know of..." Mulder said.

"She was never at work on time," Lucille said. "She'd waltz in a half hour, sometimes even an hour late. She'd leave early, too. One night she was spotted sleeping in the basement. Mr. Commaly turned a blind eye, but he couldn't do that any longer. She was written up many times. He finally decided to fire her a couple of days ago. With all the excitement around here, I just got around to making up the paper work this morning. That was just one of the papers I brought into his office when I ... found him."

The FAX machine came to life and Mulder and Scully waited for the image from Pendrell to roll out. It was a grainy picture, but it was clearly Nancy Vickman.

Mulder thought and said, "The painting. That man in the painting."

Scully asked, "What about it?"

"I don't know, but it didn't have a face. What else about it?"

Scully tried to remember. "It was standing at attention," Scully added.

"Like a soldier..." Mulder said.

Lucille perked up and said, "Oh, my God."

"What?" Mulder and Scully said together.

"Mr. Commaly's favorite treasure here. A knight, down the hallway. He loved it. He mentioned it many times. Classic medieval."

Mulder said, "Would Nancy know that?"

"Everyone knew it," Lucille said.

Mulder and Scully, with Lois, Lucille, the cop, and a guard following them, went down the hallway and saw the knight in armor. Bright, shiny, well taken care of, except for the blood on the tip of the lance.

"Commaly's?" Mulder asked.

"We'll have to test it, but let's bring Nancy in for questioning," Scully said. "She's probably sleeping as we speak."

The security guard spoke up, "No, she isn't." Mulder and Scully looked at him. "She's here. I saw her on the monitors."

They went to the security room and looked at the monitors. In the basement, Nancy was sitting cross legged with her hands out from her body with the palms up. She was in what looked like a maintenance room. "What is she doing?"

"I don't know, Scully. Let's go get her," Mulder said.

Just then, the lights went out.

Scully instinctively felt for Mulder through the darkness, who in turn grabbed her arm and moved her closer to him. "What happened," Scully asked.

"The lights went out."

"Oh, thank you, Mulder." Scully never appreciated lightness from her partner at such times. A distant grinding and hum rose in volume in the dark. Scully squeezed Mulder's arm tighter. "What's that?"

The generator lights blinked and came to life. It didn't add too much in the way of sight, but it helped. Mulder's eyes adjusted to the low light when screams echoed through the room. The scream grew louder, high pitched and annoying. Mulder enveloped Scully in his arms as they both looked at all the people in the room, Lois, her assistant, a cop, a security guard, and in the corner, Lucille sitting on the floor with her hands to her face and the cause of the screams.

"It's okay, Ms. Crier. Get a grip," Mulder instructed.

"Mulder..." Scully said.

"I know, I'm sorry. Ms. Crier... It's just that you're making us nervous," Mulder apologized.

The security monitors blinked on and grainy, dark images of hallways and unlighted artifacts throughout the museum came into view. Mulder turned to the security guard and said, "You have a flashlight?"

The guard reached into a drawer and pulled one out. He handed it to Mulder, who handed it to Scully. He held his hand out to the guard again, who filled it with another from the drawer. Scully and Mulder turned on the flashlights, a thin beam emitted from each. Mulder aimed his at Scully's chest and the light reflected on her face. "You ready?"

Mulder told the others to stay put and followed Scully out the door and down the hall. The others in the room heard them move down the hall and then a set of dainty footsteps coming back to the room. Scully appeared at the door and asked, "Which way to the basement?"

"To the left, down the hall all the way, turn right, then left and take the first door to the right," the security guard told her. "Here's the key to the door."

The cop approached Scully and said, "I should go with you."

Scully said, "No, Sir." She took the key from the guard and motioned to the others. "Just stay here with them."

After she left the room, the others went to the security monitors and watched as Scully met up with Mulder and they went to the end of the hall. They stayed there, talking to themselves. The guard said to the others, "Are they figuring out strategy?"

HALLWAY

"The guard said it was this way," Scully said forcefully.

Mulder has to disagree, "I know it's this way. I feel it."

"Mulder, he said take a right, then left, first door on the right." She started to the right. Mulder wondered whether to trust his instincts or his partner. He shook his head and followed Scully to the right.

"See?" Scully announced as they found the door the security guard mentioned and Scully slipped the key into the lock. "You go first," Scully told Mulder.

"Why me?"

"I don't go first in museums anymore."

"I don't think there's any cats involved here, Scully. Besides, I went first last time."

The guard and Lucille watched on the monitor as Mulder and Scully stopped and talked again. "The FBI must makes sure all are on the same wavelength before moving," the cop said.

Lois, who had a deaf brother and could read lips, smiled, only said, "They're on the same wavelength, all right."

Scully heaved the door open and pointed the flashlight down the stairs. She squinted and tried to see as much as she could. It was quiet and there was an eerie stillness to the air. The stairway led down into the darkness and an empty area to the left, a wall to the right. She took one tentative step down. She pointed the flashlight beam down the stairs, on the stairs, back at Mulder, and to her face.

"Not much output from these things. Is yours any better? Maybe you should go first," she said.

"I'm right behind you, Scully. Let's go," Mulder ordered.

Not liking his tone of voice, she swung around and said, "Don't order me around." She hit the flashlight to the side of her hand and said, "Too bad we don't have ours."

"You want me to go out to the trunk and get them?"

"Yes. I'll wait here. In fact, I'll wait in the security room with the others."

"Scully, are you scared?"

"No... just tentative. I can't see anything."

Mulder held her by the arms as he moved around her. "I'll go first. Stay close. Nothing is going to happen."

A stick of metal whooshed by at lightening speed their heads and banged into the wall. Mulder belatedly pulled her to a crouch on the stairs. She unsteadily knelt and said, "What did you say?"

"Nothing. What was that?"

Sticks of metal one right after the other thrust themselves at them and clanged against the wall and settled at their feet. Mulder picked one up. It was a socket wrench. Another was a screwdriver. Another was a pliers. There was silence and Mulder said, "The toolbox must be empty."

"Who's throwing them?" Scully asked.

Mulder flashed his puny flashlight around the basement. He could make out the vague shape of a long bench, a bunch of fuse boxes and tanks. "I don't see anybody." He stood up, still holding Scully by one hand, lifted her up too. She shined her flashlight around and caught Mulder's face in the beam. He was bleeding from the forehead. She reached up and wiped blood from his eyebrow.

He wiped some more off while Scully said, "What was that again about nothing was going to happen, Mulder?"

He released his grip on her and took the handrail and moved down the steps. Scully followed, right behind him. He reached the bottom step and moved one step away from the stairs. Scully tripped on the last step and collapsed on his back. She grabbed his jacket to keep from falling. He turned and helped her stand upright.

"Sorry. Didn't see the last step."

"Just stick close, Scully."

"No need to say that twice."

They shone their flashlights around the basement and to the right, around the wall, there was a corridor and a blue light emitting from the room. Mulder led Scully across the room and there was a loud crash. They jumped and turned to the sound and saw one of the water tanks overturned and water was rushing across the floor.

There was a low hum, like a chant, coming from the room at the end of the corridor. Mulder started toward the corridor but turned to find Scully taking off her shoes. She looked up at him when the light shined on her. "New shoes, suede. I have to learn not to wear suede shoes to work." She put her high heels on the steps and followed Mulder to the corridor.

Mulder and Scully squinted through the blue light to see Nancy Vickman, still cross legged in the middle of the floor. Her arms straight out from her sides, palms up. "Ms. Vickman..." Scully began. The chants of the hums continued and rose in volume. Hoses attached to machines and the wall unhooked themselves and flew across the room at the agents. They ducked in time. Boxes flew in the their direction.

Nancy, with her arms still outright, stood and faced the agents. She stopped humming. She was completely silent for what seemed an eternity. Mulder, who had discarded the measly flashlight, moved toward her.

"I wouldn't do that, Agent Mulder. In fact, you and Agent Scully should just turn around and go up stairs and leave me alone. Entirely alone. I'd hate to see anything happen to you that isn't necessary."

Mulder put up a protective hand between his face and Nancy and said, "We don't want to hurt you. We just want to help you."

"I don't need any help. I'm taking care of myself. I've always taken care of myself. I've never needed any help," Nancy said in an unearthly tone, like she was underwater. "That old fart isn't going to fire me. Social services isn't going to take my kids away. You aren't going to hurt me. No one is ever going to hurt me again."

"As I said, Nancy. We aren't going to hurt you..." He slowly moved forward.

She glared at him. "Leave me alone! Everyone bothers me! I hate people! Why do you think I took a night watchman job in the first place? I just want to be left alone. Even when I was a little girl... Okay, I was chubby. That didn't mean I needed to be teased unmercifully for two years straight by that little shit, Lisa Freeman."

Scully's mouth fell. "Lisa...? The girl who was killed--."

Nancy's face turned into an ear to ear grin. "I made a chandelier fall on her. I didn't even know I had that kind of power. It was exhilarating! If I'd known I could do something like that, no one would ever have given me grief! I just thought and thought and, what do you know... A chandelier fell right on her. Just like I told it to. I think that necklace had something to do with it. And that man."

Mulder asked, "What man? The man in the painting, who is it?"

"Lucifer, of course. He was standing in the corner that day. We became friends. He's helped me get out of all sorts of troubles. That awful, terrible girl... my marriage..."

"You made that car fall on your husband," Scully asked.

"It was his own fault. He shouldn't have hit me for burning the roast. I made sure I burned him. Had him cremated." She started laughing. "He wanted to be buried next to his dear old parents. Ha Ha Haaaa... I threw him in the garbage! Only God, excuse me, Lucifer, knows where he is now!"

Mulder asked, "Why did you kill Jonas Cosoton?"

"He pissed me off." She laughed and laughed that turned into a cackle. It grew louder and higher. The blue light in the room grew brighter and all sorts of different colors joined the blue and made a rainbow of colors that filled the room. Mulder looked back at Scully and crawled to her.

They huddled together as the air swirled around them, their hair stood straight out from their heads. The air was so powerful, they had a hard time keeping their eyes open as they saw Nancy cackle and float off the ground. She suddenly stopped laughing and looked down to the floor. "OOOOHHHHH!!! Help me, please," the scream turning into a whimper. She pouted at the floor and closed her eyes. She fell with a thud to the floor.

The cascade of colors faded and the air stopped swirling. Scully's hair fell in her face. She flipped it back with one hand. It was deadly quiet except for the heavy breathing of Mulder and Scully. Just then, the lights came back on. Scully saw the heaped figure of Nancy on the floor. She crept to her. She stopped, dizzy. She put her head down and put her hand to her forehead. Mulder came up behind her and put a hand on her back. "Scully?"

"I'm fine, Mulder." She put her hand down and went to Nancy. Mulder reached her first and flipped her over on her back. Scully checked for a pulse and positioned herself so she could perform CPR on her. "Call for an ambulance, Mulder." Mulder didn't respond. "Mulder..."

Mulder was looking at the floor by Nancy. Scully yelled, "Mulder, call 911!"

Mulder, still staring at the floor, was lost in his own world. "Mulder!" He reached down to Nancy's side, and tugged on a shiny metal rope. Scully stopped CPR and looked at where Mulder was tugging. She grabbed his hand.

"Don't touch it. You don't need bad luck, too."

He looked at Scully and asked, "As opposed to the luck I usually have?" He looked back at Nancy. "You stopped CPR..."

"She's gone."

The cop, security guard, Lois, and her assistant came into the room. Lois saw that Scully was holding Mulder's hand. She knelt to the other side of the body from Mulder and Scully. Scully said, "I think it's a heart attack."

Lois lifted Nancy's left eye lid. "Nope, brain aneurism. That's what I was thinking when we saw what happened on the monitors." She looked at Mulder's hand and the rope leading under the body. "That's not..."

"That is..." Mulder said.

Scully freed Mulder's hand and sat back on her butt. Mulder didn't notice and stood as did Lois. They looked at each other, then down to Nancy's body and back to each other. "You two come across this a lot, I guess."

"Not this, particularly, but... seen some stuff." Mulder said.

"Her poor kids..." Lois said.

People were mingling around and Scully picked herself off the floor and stood braced against the wall. She was very quiet and head bent down.

Lois shook the last traces of sadness from her and turned her attention to Mulder and said, "So, should we meet at the stadium, or you going to pick me up?"

"I'm sure I could find your place on the map," he smiled.

"I'll give you in depth directions, or, you could follow me home. I'll show you the way..."

Mulder's mouth was open and ready to respond affirmatively when he heard a faint 'Mulder' coming from across the room. He looked over to see Scully slowly going down the wall to the floor, rubbing her temples. "Mulder."

He rushed to her side and caught her before her legs went out from under her. He gently sat her on the floor and crouched next to her. "Scully? What's wrong?"

She lifted her head and tried to focus. "Mulder, I can't see..."

Mulder rushed to her and put his hands on each side of her head. He lifted her face up to him and saw her pupils were dilated. Tears were streaming down her face. He brushed a few away, but more came. He hugged her close. Lois knelt down to them and looked closely at Scully. "What's wrong with her?"

"I'm not sure..." Mulder said, very worried. "She has a tumor..."

Lois looked at her eyes and said, "Let me see..." Scully convulsed in pain and collapsed from consciousness. She slumped hard against Mulder, startling him. He lifted her up in his arms and started across the room. Lois said, "Mulder, you shouldn't jostle her."

"She needs to get to a hospital!" He hurried her out of the room.

Lois yelled after him, "Let me look at her! I'm a doctor!"

Panicked, Mulder ignored her and kept on running. "Mulder! Stop! You shouldn't juggle her around!"

Mulder, not caring, ran up the stairs with Scully in his arms at record speed. Lois turned the corner and screamed, "We should call an ambulance!"

"No time," he yelled back and continued to the top. Lois tripped on a pair of shoes sitting on the third step from the bottom. By the time she got to the top, he was long gone.

Mulder ran to the car, still holding Scully. He was moving so fast, it's as if she weighed nothing. Scully was just dead weight in his arms. He leaned her against the car as he felt for his keys. He unlocked the door and set her gently in the front seat. He fastened her seat belt and shut the door. He rushed to the driver's side and lifted the door handle. It was still locked. He searched for the keys, but realized they were still in the passenger side. He went to the other side of the car and took them out of the lock. After unlocking the driver's side, he slid into the seat and turned the ignition in one swift movement. he looked at Scully and prayed, "Hold on, God, please help her hold on!"

He sped out of the parking lot and onto the street, making a couple of cars swerve to miss him.

"Hold on, Scully. Please, God, hold on," Mulder repeated over and over as a mantra. He looked over at her. Her face fell toward the passenger's window. He reached over and pulled her face to him. She was still unconscious.

He maneuvered the car at great speed through the traffic. After a couple of near misses and going through a red light, he noticed red and white flashing lights in his rear view window. "Oh, damn it! Hell, I'm not pulling over!"

He reached into his breast pocket as he looked over at Scully and the traffic. He rolled down the window and held his FBI badge out facing back to the cop following him. He looked down at speedometer, 56 miles per hour, in downtown Washington DC. <Too bad,> he thought. <I'm not slowing down until I hit the hospital.>

He looked over at Scully again, the only thing holding her in the seat was the seat belt. She was completely limp. "Hold on, Scully."

Mulder screeched to a halt at the Emergency entrance. He flew out of the car and ran to the passenger side. The cop screeched to a halt behind him. The cop got out screaming, "What the HELL do you think you're DOING?!?!?"

Mulder opened the passenger side door, carefully so Scully wouldn't fall out. He unfastened her seatbelt and she slipped into his arms. He pulled her out of the car and rushed into the entrance of the hospital, the cop yelling and following closely.

Mulder rushed into the Emergency Room reception area with Scully dead to the world in his arms. "I need help here!" A nurse, sitting at the desk, got up and pointed to a gurney resting against a wall. Mulder gently laid Scully on it and the nurse and another intern wheeled her down the hall to a trauma room.

"What's wrong with her?" the intern asked Mulder, who followed, holding Scully's hand.

"She can't see... she passed out... she has a brain tumor... she can't die!" They wheeled her into the room and the intern pushed Mulder back as the door closed between them. Mulder yelled, "Don't let her die!"

He paced backward to the opposite wall and collapsed on it. He put his head down and prayed to God. "Do something, do something, now!"

He looked up and saw black shiny shoes, blue creaseless pants, a gun holster, a blue pressed shirt, a shiny police badge, and a face with a heavy scowl. "So, Mr. Unser, what do you have to say for yourself?" The cop crossed his arms across his chest and tapped his foot on the floor, waiting.

After explaining the urgency of the situation and the fact that he was an FBI agent to the cop, he stuck the reckless driving ticket in his wallet where his driver's license used to be. He replaced his wallet back in his back pants pocket. He paced back and forth in the grey and lavender waiting room.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed and exhaled all the air out of his lungs and replenished the supply trying to calm himself before Mrs. Scully would answer. He got the machine. <This isn't the kind of message you leave on a machine,> he thought. But, she had to know. "Mrs. Scully, it's Mul--Fox. I need to talk to you as soon as possible. Please call me on my cell as soon as you get this message." He clicked the end button and put the phone to his forehead. He closed his eyes and tried to stop from crying.

When he decided to make another call, he noticed blood on the side of the phone. He put his hand to his forehead, he had reopened the cut from the wrench. He wiped the blood on his pants and dialed the phone. He waited three rings before he heard, "Skinner."

"It's Mulder, Sir." Mulder realized his voice was cracking, so he cleared his throat.

"What's up, Mulder?"

"It's Scully, Sir. She's... "

"She's what, Mulder?" Skinner asked, very interested.

"She's in the hospital... emergency room..."

"What?!?" Skinner screamed. Mulder reflectively pulled the phone away from his ear. "You can't let them do anything to her! You hear me? Nothing! I'll be right down."

"Sir? What are you talking about?"

There was no answer. Skinner had hung up. Mulder was numb. What did he mean, don't do anything? Didn't he want Scully to live? Stupid, of course he does. Look what he did--. Right, look what he did for Scully... He must know something I don't. Why didn't he tell us... What the hell is going on?

Mulder ran out of the waiting room and down the hall, to the door they wheeled Scully into. He burst through the door. "Stop! Stop what you're doing! Right now!" He pulled out his FBI badge and repeated, "Stop!"

The intern and doctor stopped in mid air and turned to Mulder with bewildered looks. "Excuse me," the female doctor said.

"You can't do anything to her."

"We're giving her treatment to revive her from the coma."

"She's in a coma?"

"Yes.. leave, Sir," the doctor said.

"No! You can't."

"Why not?"

Mulder fumbled for words. "I don't know," was all he could come up with.

"That's not enough, Sir. If you'd please leave this room." She motioned to the intern to escort him out of there. "Leave, Sir."

Mulder pushed past the intern and said, "No! I have to be insistent here. You can't do anything to her. This coma may be the only thing that's saving her."

He reached the table Scully was laying on. He covered her white, cold hand with his own. "I can't explain it, but the one who can will be here soon. He can explain it to both of us." He looked the doctor square in the eyes and said, "This woman is the most important thing in my life and I want you to stop so she can be saved. You have to trust me."

His cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, clicked call, and put it to his ear. "Mulder."

"Fox... what in the world is going on? Is it Dana?"

"Yes, Mrs. Scully. Get to Georgetown Hospital as soon as you can, but please don't drive yourself. Get a neighbor or--"

"Is she .... dead?"

"No, Mrs. Scully. Listen to me, don't drive yourself. You're too upset. Dana's... doing okay. Just come to Georgetown Hospital."

"Tell her I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell her I love her."

"You can tell her yourself, Mrs. Scully."

Skinner was driving like a maniac. He had one hand on the steering wheel and one hand holding his cell phone to his ear. "You son of a BITCH! What did you do to her?!"

Cancerman was sitting with his feet on his desk, coolly smoking a Morley. He smiled and said into the phone, "So, Mr. Skinner. I can't seem to get a break from you. I do nothing and you shoot holes in my walls. I do something and you scream at me over the phone."

"What did you do?" Skinner demanded.

"Completed my end of our little bargain..."

Skinner drove into a parking space in the parking lot of the hospital and grunted into the phone, "If she dies--"

"Yada, yada, yada, Mr. Skinner," Cancerman chirped and hung up.

Skinner pushed end and threw the phone against the passenger's window. He calmed himself down and left the car, slamming the door as he stomped into the hospital.

Mulder was still standing guard over Scully and the doctor and intern were still confused, but resigned to the situation. Scully's breathing was steady, she was hooked up to a respirator, just like when she returned to the land of the living after her abduction. Mulder prayed she'd wake up this time, also. The respirator was the only sound in the room as Skinner burst through the door. Everyone's attention focused on the bald man in a business suit and trench coat and a mean attitude.

Skinner surveyed the room and walked to Scully's side. He pulled his ID out of the breast pocket of his suitcoat and showed it to the doctor. "I'm Assistant Director Skinner of the FBI. This agent is not to receive any kind of medication from any of you."

The doctor said, "Why was she brought to our emergency room if she didn't require medical attention?"

Skinner looked at Mulder and said to the doctor, "Miscommunication." He pulled Mulder's sleeve and they went to the door. Skinner turned to the doctor and said, "Don't do any more to her, just keep her comfortable.

After they left, the doctor and intern looked at each other. The doctor said, mainly to herself, "I'm supposed to help people... I can help her..."

The intern said, "They're FBI..."

"This woman's body is shutting down," the doctor said.

"I wouldn't want to fool with the FBI..." the intern stated.

The doctor didn't know what to do, so she paced.

Skinner pulled Mulder into the room and Mulder put himself in Skinner's face and demanded, "What the HELL is going on here?"

"Agent Scully is already receiving treatment."

"What? By whom?"

Skinner pulled back and said, "By the man you know as Cigarette Man..."

"He's going to kill her. He's already killed her! You're letting him!"

Mulder charged by him to the room, but was caught and pulled back by Skinner. "Hold it, Agent Mulder. I'm talking as your superior."

"You're pulling rank on me while my partner is dying in the other room?! Go to hell!"

"Agent Mulder, you have to trust me."

"If you're trusting that bastard, you're on the wrong side, Sir," Mulder sneered.

"Agent Mulder, about that 'bee detail' you mentioned... That had to do with this... This is what that was all about... You know I don't trust that man farther that I can throw him, which I'd gladly do, but I have to trust him. You have to trust me. We have got no else to trust."

Mulder stopped, closed his eyes, and realized Skinner was probably right. He didn't like it, but he had to place his trust to someone other than Scully at that moment. He looked up and stared out into the hallway. He saw three men walk by. It took a second for him to realize who one of them was. "What the hell is he doing here?"

He walked to the hallway, but was stopped by Skinner once again. "Mulder, stop."

"That's Lois Newbacher's assistant that just walked by. He doesn't work here," Mulder said as he left. Skinner followed.

Mulder and Skinner came in to see the three men gathered around Scully's bad. The doctor and intern were gone. Mulder rushed in but was grabbed by one of the men in black coats and shoved hard against the wall. "You don't want to see this," he warned.

"Let go of me!" Mulder tried to fight him off. The assistant, taking no notice of the commotion, continued with his final treatment to Scully. The two men with him pulled Skinner and Mulder from the room. The assistant put the syringe back into his bag and took Scully's blood pressure. He checked her pulse. He unhooked the respirator. Her chest continued in the even rise and fall rythym.

Through the window, Mulder watched every movement. The assistant opened one of Scully's eyelids and was satisfied. There was nothing to do but retrieve his things and leave.

As the door opened and the assistant exited the trauma room, Mulder had to be restrained. "What did you do to her?"

The assistant said to him, "You should thank me." He walked away and the other two released Mulder and Skinner and followed him.

Mulder yelled after them, "Who are you?"

Of course, there was no answer, Mulder entered the trauma room. Skinner started to, but decided to stay where he was. He let the swinging door close and he looked in the window as he saw Mulder slowly walk to Scully's side.

Scully was breathing on her own. There was a small red splotch between her eyebrows. Scully's eyes fluttered. Slowly, she opened them. The lights hit her and she fluttered her eyelids and finally opened them. It took a second to focus, but when she did, she saw the smiling face of her partner.

Mulder took her hand and with his other, brushed her hair back from her face. His finger brushed the splotch that he knew wasn't there before. "How are you feeling?"

"My throat is sore. What happened?"

Mulder said, "Your head hurt?"

"No. I feel pretty good. Kind of groggy. What happened?"

"I'm not at all sure..."

Skinner stepped back from the door and the doctor came into the room and moved to her patient. She looked at Scully and with a smile of disbelief, said, "So, how did this happen?"

"Is she all right?" Mulder looked to the doctor. The doctor looked to Scully and said, "I'm Doctor Ethan. I'm going to run a battery of tests," she looked at Mulder. "Okay?"

Mulder nodded in agreement and told Scully, "I'll get out of the way. See you later."

Skinner was looking out the window, back to the door when Mulder entered. There was a silence that was broken by Mulder, "I'm sorry, Sir."

Skinner turned only his head to Mulder and said, "How is she?"

"She's awake. There's redness between her eyes... but she's awake."

"That's good, Agent Mulder."

"That's all you can say?"

"What more is there to say?"

"You could tell me who those men were."

"If I knew..."

Thank you, Sir. You... did what I tried to..."

Skinner turned to his agent and said, "I did what needed to be done. She was caught in the middle. It wasn't fair. There should be some fairness in this world."

Skinner leafed through a magazine while Mulder looked out the window as Margaret Scully burst in. "Where is she? Where's my girl?"

Mulder went to her and said, "She's getting tests run. We're still waiting for the results." He sat her down in a chair and sat next to her. He motioned to Skinner and said, "You ever meet--"

Margaret looked at Skinner and said, "Yes. In Melissa's... You're Mr. Skinner, Dana's superior." Skinner nodded hello. Margaret said to Mulder, "How's Dana?"

"She's okay, as far as I know. There was a scare. We were investigating a case and she... went blind, passed out. I brought her here..."

Margaret put her hand to her mouth. "Blind? The tumor... It hasn't gotten bigger. This isn't it, is it?"

"Mrs. Scully, I...," Mulder stammered as he looked to Skinner. "I think she's going to be okay."

Margaret looked at Mulder with unbelieving eyes. "Fox.. I know you are having a hard time accepting it, but Dana's going to..."

"Scully is NOT going to die," Mulder stated.

Margaret put her hand over Mulder's and said, "I know you can't accept it. Dana and I have had many discussions about this. You have to accept it." Mulder shook his head. She continued, "It's one of Dana's wishes. She wants you to accept it and move on. I want you to find out what happened to her three years ago. You need to find out for both of us."

"Mrs. Scully," Skinner said as he rose from his chair and sat on the other side of her. "We firmly believe that Dana is going to be fine. We believe she's been cured. Somehow. She's healed."

"How do you know? How can you possibly know something like that. It's impossible." Margaret stood up and walked away. Dr. Ethan walked into the room with folders in her arms and the biggest smile on her face.

She announced to them, "She was supposed to have a tumor in her nasal cavity?"

Margaret looked the doctor over and nodded. Mulder stood by Margaret and introduced her to Dr. Ethan. "Mrs. Scully, it's my pleasure to inform you that your daughter does not have a tumor in her nasal cavity. There's a mass, but it is not cancer."

Margaret put a hand to her mouth, looked at the doctor, to Mulder, to Skinner, who were all smiling with relief. She burst with relief and tears flew out of her eyes. Mulder put a hand on her shoulder and she grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "My baby girl.... She's okay?"

"Your daughter is fine, Mrs. Scully," the doctor informed her. "In fact, I believe she'd like to have company. Can I escort you to her room?"

Margaret released Mulder and said, "Absolutely!" She smiled brightly to Mulder and Skinner and left the room with the doctor. Mulder and Skinner smiled and laughed, louder than they ever had before in their lives.

ROOM 1013

Scully was sitting on her bed with the head raised, Margaret was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her hand. In fact, Scully couldn't pry her hand away if she tried. They both had streaks of tears on their cheeks. There was a bandage on the splotch on her forehead, but other than that, she was normal.

Mulder, followed by Skinner entered the room. Margaret rose, still holding Scully's hand and welcomed them. Mulder produced a bouquet of mums and carnations from behind his back and presented them to Scully. She smiled and took them. "What, the video store wasn't open? No Superstars of the NHL, NBA, NFL, EIEIO?

"I can't win for losing. I never heard the end of that one. I figured flowers was safe."

Scully smelled them. She crinkled her nose and smelled them again. "Hum... I wonder if I'll get a sense of smell back. They're beautiful though, thank you." Scully looked past Mulder at Skinner standing in the corner. "Sir... come in."

Skinner smiled at her and walked forward only two paces. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Agent Scully."

Scully laughed, "Better? I feel fantastic! I'm not... sure how this happened, but I feel better than I've ever felt in my life. Come, Sir, have a seat." She motioned to a chair by the bed.

Skinner shook his head and said, "I just wanted to check on you. I should be getting back to the office."

Mulder took the flowers from Scully and Margaret let go of Scully's hand and took the flowers from Mulder. "I'm going to find a vase for these." Margaret left the room with them.

Mulder said, "Scully, Assistant Director Skinner is the direct cause of your well health." Skinner, uncomfortable, started to speak, but was overshot by Mulder, "He put himself on the line and made a deal."

Scully looked at Skinner and said, "With who... I see. Do you know what happened to me? When I was abducted?"

Skinner shook his head. "No, I don't. I have to go." He took her hand and said, "You take all the time you need to recover. I'm glad you're well."

"Thank you, Sir," Scully said.

Skinner tried to pull his hand away, but Scully held on tight. "Thank you very much, Sir." She pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."

Skinner nodded and put his arm around her. He held her for a minute and let her go. "I'll look forward to your report on the Smithsonian matter," he said to Mulder, nodded to them both, and left.

Mulder sat on the side of Scully's bed and took her hands in his. They could only smile. Then they chuckled. Then they laughed.

"Welcome back, partner," Mulder said.

"I never left, partner," Scully replied.

Mulder asked, "Can I get one of those?"

"What?"

Mulder pulled her into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him and they rocked back and forth. Margaret opened the door and saw them. She smiled and walked back into the hallway, shut the door quietly behind her.

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Jo - EnyaJo@aol.com