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Part 9

Days Inn
4:55 PM


She quickly put her car in park and ran for the beach. 
Her mind had been on temporary hold driving back to the 
motel but now the thoughts flooded back. Mulder. Candi 
had called Mulder. She had told him he was in hell. If 
he had fallen into a coma--with the amount of guilt he 
carried, she wouldn't get him back again until they were 
both ready for geriatric housing.

Her footsteps came to a halt as she saw Mulder lying on 
the blanket near the water--asleep or…

"Mulder!" It came out as a controlled scream. No 
response. She started to run and screamed his name 
again--this time with a little less control.

As she dropped to her knees before him, he partially 
lifted his waking body into a sitting position.

"Were you calling? I fell asleep."

She sat back on her haunches, hands on her thighs, 
trying to regulate her breathing.

"What's wrong? You didn't run into Candi, did you?"

She nodded softly.

"Oh, well, she's at it again, in case she didn't tell 
you."

"She told me."

He reached out his hand and touched her face.

"Nothing happened," he said.

"But you had to test it anyway. Without me here."

Her tone was more of disbelief than anger. Once again, 
his limitless curiosity amazed her.

"I was tired."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm not unhappy, Scully. And I'm too busy enjoying life 
at the moment to stop and take stock of all I might have 
done wrong."

She moved the hand that was still caressing her face and 
cupped it between both of hers.

"I guess--if I'm even partially responsible for this 
bizarre improvement in your internal makeup; that--other 
feelings outweigh your feelings of guilt--I've 
accomplished quite a bit in this lifetime."

Mulder gave a short, highly amused laugh and then stood 
up and pulled her to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get some dinner and then we'll have to 
figure out how to handle Candi."

He started walking but she pulled him back into her 
arms.

"I was so afraid, Mulder."

"I know, but the only ones who can send me to heaven, 
hell, or anywhere in between would be you and God--
assuming He exists, of course. Although the two of you 
would have vastly different methods of transport, I'm 
sure."

She leaned back and looked up at his face. His smiling, 
lovely face.

She took a deep breath and loosened her grip on him. The 
personal threat to both of them was over. She now could 
focus on stopping a person who was determined to be a 
menace to the female population of San Diego. It didn't 
seem as daunting a task as it had been on the way back 
to the motel. She wasn't going to be in the struggle 
alone. They began walking toward the motel.

Candi Winter's home
10:17 PM

Dana had been jealous of her. She should have known. It 
was, really, only natural. How foolish she had been to 
let the opinions of others taint the way she felt about 
Dana. She was really a very nice person. She really was. 
She hoped Fox would come out of his coma quickly so they 
could hurry up and get married.

While she regretted jumping to conclusions on the basis 
of what Gary had said, she didn't regret seeing him 
again. It was lovely. If that bitch wouldn't be in the 
car…if that bitch wouldn't be in his life. . .

Victoria. Sweet drunken Victoria. Not too much damage 
done. Not really. She had actually done her a favor, in 
a way.

Elaine and Crystal. She didn't completely believe in 
their innocence. Dana seemed to be much more gullible to 
the ways of the world than she was. But maybe she should 
have thought more about the effect it would have on the 
husbands. That wasn't really fair, she supposed. They 
were still married to these women and something like 
this could ruin them financially.  She hoped they could 
raise a lot of money tomorrow to help them out. That 
would make up for a lot.

Dana could have been a mistake and Fox was a big 
mistake. She had never even tried it with a man before 
and well. . .he was cute and sweet and she really wished 
she hadn't done that. He hadn't done anything to her. 
That was. . .what. . .misplaced aggression. Like that 
Rottweiler they had owned earlier in their marriage. 
Used to nip at her hands when he was angry with the 
mailman.

Misplaced aggression. 

She never hated Dana. She really hated Janet.

Gary had looked so damned tired. He didn't look all that 
happy. Not the way he did that time in the park, when 
they first got together. When he was living in some kind 
of fool's paradise. Now, he lived in the reality of life 
with a bitch.

If Janet was out of the picture, she and Gary still 
might not be together. He still might turn to someone 
else. 

But she would feel better.

Candi picked up the phone. 

March 16
8 PM

The disco ball didn't look too bad, Scully had to admit. 
With it on and the lights turned down, the illusion of a 
high school dance was somewhat successful. The chairs 
and tables were decorated and the buffet tables were set 
up.

When Mulder and Scully arrived that afternoon, the other 
ladies were already bustling around. Candi had been a 
no-show so far.

"I wonder what this is all about," Mulder said.

"She probably thinks you're in a coma, Mulder. Maybe she 
thinks I'll either arrest her or murder her or 
something."

"Maybe. Still, I think we should go to her apartment. At 
least, haul her in for questioning. Scare her a little. 
God, I really don't even know what we should do with 
her."

They had spent quite some time the night before trying 
to work out a strategy, coming up with a half-hearted 
plan that took for granted her absolute shock at finding 
Mulder in a fully conscious state--thus being more 
receptive to a lecture on how grown women should 
effectively channel their anger.

"I think we have to talk to her, Mulder. But, if she 
doesn't show tonight, we'll go over and do it quietly 
after the benefit. I think having you show up on her 
doorstep will have the same shock factor we were aiming 
for if she had come here." 

10 PM

The night was rather a nice one and the turnout  good. 
Mulder and Scully did all they had to do behind the 
scenes and then they just relaxed as Scully caught up 
with old, semi-familiar faces. Some had aged well; some 
were virtually unrecognizable due to rather unkind 
encounters with Father Time.

Mulder was waiting for the "partner/ friend/ 
date/companion" introduction. Instead, she was 
introducing him as "Fox Mulder"--no explanation unless 
asked. "Your boyfriend?" "Your significant other?" was 
responded to with a soft smile and a "You could say 
that." He was dying for someone to ask if he was the 
love of her life, but that was highly unlikely. Besides, 
he thought he was pretty certain of the answer to that 
question already.

And then there was Marcus. He expected a balding man 
with a pot belly the size of Texas. Instead, he was just 
a regular looking guy. Didn't age badly. No great 
character or personality flaws. He grabbed Scully and 
hugged her before introducing them to his wife.

"Dana and I went together for a few months in high 
school, honey."

"Oh, is she the one. . ."

"Yes," he cut her off, for which Mulder was rather 
grateful. He still didn't want details.

"So. . .you two are. . ."

"A couple," Scully said simply. 

They danced shortly after Marcus and his wife hooked up 
with some old football buddies. As a couple. In public.

"So, he was nearly your first, huh?"

"Nearly."

"Do you regret that he wasn't?"

"No. Not really. It doesn't really matter who was first, 
Mulder. I think what really matters is who is last."

"Ah…well, you know I do have certain tortoise-like 
qualities."

"I've noticed. So do I."

"Slow and steady…"

"Wins the race."

He leaned over and gave her a very chaste kiss on the 
lips and was happy he had curbed his natural instincts  
because Sister Agatha was already tapping Scully's 
shoulder. He wondered, briefly, if he could get a rap on 
the knuckles with a ruler if he wasn't a Catholic.

"Dana. . Glen Wahlberg is on the phone for you. You can 
take it in my office. He says it's very important."

They both left the gym in a hurry.

"Agent Scully. . .Crystal is out of the coma," he said 
as soon as she identified herself.

"My God, that's wonderful. How is she?"

"She okay. A bit dazed but okay. She doesn't remember 
anything. Not a thing."

"She didn't. . .say anything about where she was?"

"You mean like Victoria's purgatory story? No. I was 
half-expecting it. But, no--nothing like that."

"Well, I can't even tell you how happy I am for you but 
listen--you really didn't have to call us now. It's not 
like we have to call off the fundraiser or anything. 
There is still Elaine."

"No--that's exactly why I'm calling. They brought her in 
for testing and evaluation. She came out of her coma 
this morning, too. I saw her about five minutes ago and 
knew I had to call you immediately. Is that the weirdest 
thing you've ever heard of, or what?"

11:45 PM
Memorial Hospital

Weird didn't even begin to cover it.

They got to the hospital about twenty minutes later. 
Sister Agatha and the ladies of the Alumni Association 
had everything under control and neither Mulder or 
Scully gave them the news of the two women's miraculous 
recoveries. Not just yet. Not until they could see it 
with their own eyes and question them briefly.

Crystal was up and eating a bowl of jello with gusto 
when they were allowed into her room.

"Never thought I'd have an appetite for this sweet 
slime, but it tastes like heaven now."

"Um. . .Crystal. Do you have any memories of where you 
were?"

"Glen told me about Victoria's experience and I just--it 
didn't happen to me. Not that I recall. I don't actually 
remember anything except the events of the day I went 
into the coma and today. I was thoroughly surprised to 
find myself here."

They could hardly grill this woman so after a few 
pleasantries and a "call us if you remember anything 
pertinent" they walked back to the nurses station and 
found Elaine's room number.

Scully went in alone since Elaine had been in a coma 
much longer and might be in a more emotionally and 
physically unstable condition than Crystal had been. As 
she walked in, she found her lying back, stroking her 
sleeping husband's hair as he lay his head on the bed 
near her left hand.

"Dana…I heard you were here. Amazing the things they 
tell you when you wake up from a coma. God, I can't 
believe I just said that. It's so unreal."

"How are you feeling, Elaine?"

"I'm tired but I'm almost afraid to go back to sleep, to 
tell you the truth. But they took a whole bunch of tests 
today and. . .well, they say it won't happen again. Of 
course, they don't know why it happened the first time. 
Neither do I."

"Well, we can go into some of that later. Do you have 
any memory of being in the coma, Elaine?"

"They told me some of what's been going on. Actually, I 
told Mark when I woke up. I remember the fire. . .the 
screaming. And then--a calm peacefulness. That's what I 
remember. And then I woke up. I honestly thought I had 
been asleep for just the night, though. There was no 
sense of time passage. . .certainly not months." She 
tightly shut her eyes. That thought was painful to her. 
Scully could definitely sympathize.

"I had been depressed, Dana. But--well, maybe it's too 
early to tell but, as tired and weak as I am, I don't 
feel that anymore. There is a certain lightness I 
haven't felt in a long time."

Scully took her hand and squeezed it.

"I'll visit again before I go back to Washington. Just a 
social visit next time, I promise. Take a nap now. 
Everything will be okay."

She walked out the door and quickly told Mulder about 
the conversation. 

"This is just bizarre. Come on--we can call Sister 
Agatha on the way out of here and find out if we need to 
go back and help clean after the benefit. Well," he 
smiled, "I guess if the expenses already accrued are not 
high enough, we'll be giving out refunds for the next 
year or so."

"Mulder--wait." She grabbed his arm. 

She was looking at a tiny woman huddled into a corner of 
the admitting area.

"Mrs. Zleinek, what are you doing here?"

"I did it. I had to."

Scully did not like the sound of that. She lead the 
woman into the hospital cafeteria.

End of Part 9