Title: Nova

Author: Angel

Feedback: Please!

Archive: Please!

Classification: MSR, Colonization fic.

Rating: NC-17 (for some parts-very mild but to be safe!) Others are probably PG-13 or so.

Summery: The inevitable happens. Mulder has planned ahead and now does everything in his power to keep Scully safe. You MUST read all parts to understand! Available at Ephemeral and my home page.

Disclaimer: You know the drill. Characters are property of Fox, 1013, ect. No money is being made. No infringement is intended. Some poems are used without permission, names of authors are given. Prayers which I did not write, and I don’t know who wrote are included in some areas.

Homepage: (to find missing parts and sooner or later the completed version, also posted at Ephemeral)

A HUGE thanks to Evie my beta reader! Nova would never be doing this well, or going as fast, without her help! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Note: Want Nova updates in the mail? Just let me know!

"Baby don’t look up, the sky is falling." Tori Amos

(11/?)

Day 74

Mulder woke with a start to loud banging on the door.

"Dana! Dana we need you!"

Scully sleepily stumbled off the bed pulling on enough clothes to be presentable. Swinging the door open she shielded her eyes from the dim hallway light and focused on a panicked looking Greg Wells. Mulder had patrolled with him many times, saying that he was a nice man but always very jumpy. "What happened?"

"I-I shot a man! I didn’t know he was a member. Oh god, oh god what have I done?!" Greg shook frantically.

"Ok." Scully held up a hand. "It’s ok, I’ll be right there, let me just put warmer clothes on."

Greg nodded and ran off toward the Medical Room.

Scully turned around and took the sweatshirt Mulder was handing her. "I might need your help Mulder, not many people can handle the sight of blood."

"Oh and I just love it." He mumbled as he pulled his shoes on.

"Come on." Scully rubbed her face quickly, feeling the rush of adrenaline flow through her body. They quickly jogged do to the Main Room and into the open door of the Medical Room. Scully stopped short when she saw the man who was shot.

"Oh my god." Mulder whispered at the sight.

…..

They stood in astonished silence for what felt like an eternity, when in fact it was only a few seconds.

"Mulder," Scully touched his arm. "Go put pressure on the wound."

Mulder nodded numbly and kneeled by the end of the cot, he placed both hands, one on top of the other, over the bullet wound.

"Don’t press too hard in case the bullet cracked a rib." Scully called as she pulled out the items she would need to take the bullet out of the ribcage. "Flip him over, very gently, and see if there is an exit wound."

Mulder did so, struggling to keep one hand over the flow of blood. "No exit."

Scully ordered the bystanders out of the room, after telling one of them to get Benjamin. She knelt next to Mulder, placing the items at her knees. "How is he?" She asked softly.

"The bleeding’s slowed a little." Mulder’s voice was like her own. He glanced over at the doorway when he heard Benjamin question Greg about how this happened. "I can’t believe they have people walking around in the middle of the night with guns."

Scully gave a tight-lipped nod as her answer. "Skinner? Sir, can you hear me?" She asked taking Skinner’s jaw into her hand. She frowned after no response. She frowned even more at the amount of blood now also covering Mulder also. "Ok, keep your hand there. I’ll take over in a moment." She sorted through the items on the floor. "I think I’m going to have to take the bullet out."

Mulder immediately noted the hesitant tone in her voice. "Scully… You do whatever you think needs to be done."

She nodded and dipped a scalpel into boiling water to sterilize it. "Stay here Mulder." She requested softly.

"You know I will." He moved his hand away from Skinner’s chest.

"Cut the shirt off for me." Scully focused on wiping away as much blood as she could while Mulder cleared the shirt away. "There’s a bottle of chloroform on the shelf. Put a small amount on a piece of cloth and hold it over his mouth every once in a while for only a few seconds."

Mulder did as asked.

Scully slowly made a small incision in the center of the wound. "Mulder, grab that lamp over there."

With one hand Mulder held the chloroform ready over Skinner’s mouth and the lamp near Scully with the other.

Scully pulled the flesh open, causing Mulder to look away. "A rib is cracked… I think-" Scully looked closely. "Yes. I can see the bullet. I just need to get it out." With sticky, bloody fingers she picked up a pair of forceps. She poised had her hands poised over the wound but paused.

"You can do this Scully."

Scully looked up at him and gave a curt nod before gingerly reaching into Skinner’s chest.

A low groan was wrenched from the large man.

Mulder immediately pressed the chloroform over his mouth of a few moments as Scully grasped the slippery bullet on the fifth try. Pulling the forceps out of his body the bullet slipped out and bounced across the room. Scully breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at the wound trying to wipe away some of the blood.

"How does it look?"

Scully squinted slightly, trying to get a good look with the shadowy light. "Amazingly enough I don’t think it hit any organs. Looks like it bounced off his ribs. I need to clean and close this." Scully worked slowly and carefully. Mulder stayed in silence, trying to help but stay out of the way.

"Here, let me take this off." Mulder said softly as he walked up behind Scully and griped the bottom of her bloody shirt in his hands. Scully raised her arms limply and let him help her wash the dried blood from her skin before he pulled a clean shirt over her head. He gently turned her toward him and cupped her face in his hands. "You should get some sleep, we both should."

She nodded numbly and looked over at Skinner. "We should stay in here, in case he wakes."

Mulder lead her to a vacant cot where they would have a good view of Skinner. Laying down her pulled her back against his chest, it was a tight fit. But neither minded. Scully felt her eyes grow heavy against her will. Burying her face in the crook of Mulder’s arm she whispered her questions. "How do you think he found out about Nova?"

Mulder kissed the exposed curve of her neck. "Probably the same way the Lone Gunmen did, he looked around. He knew this was going to happen at some point."

Scully was silent for some time. "I don’t know about this Mulder."

"What do you mean?"

Scully took a deep breath and studied the unconscious man on the other side of the room. He looked worn and malnourished. Skinner still possessed his intimidating size, but he had lost a lot of weight. Scully was concerned his body couldn’t handle the blood loss. But there was nothing she could do about it. He looked innocent enough. Skinner had done many things to help them, even saved their lives in the past few years. But before that, before he was their ally, he was an enemy. Just like the Cancerman, just like Them.

Unconsciously Scully leaned back into Mulder. "I don’t know if I trust him." She whispered truthfully.

"Scully." Mulder’s voice was surprised and disappointed. "This is Skinner."

"I know." She said softly.

Mulder let out a long breath against her neck and squeezed her slightly. "Get some sleep."

Scully didn’t want to sleep, she wanted to watch Skinner. Her mind was struggling between being a doctor; wanting to watch her patient carefully during the night, being a lover; wanting to keep Mulder safe, and basically a human; who’s body needed to sleep, whether her mind was ready or not.

With Mulder holding her securely to him Scully feel into a nervous sleep.

Day 75

Before Mulder was even fully awake he knew Scully was no longer next to him. Lazily he opened his eyes. Scully was kneeling beside Skinner, changing his bandage. Mulder hoisted himself up onto one elbow. "How is he?"

Scully glanced his way for a moment before focusing on Skinner once again. "Hasn’t woken up yet." Was her simple explanation.

Mulder studied her for a moment from his reclined position before swinging his legs over the side of the cot and pulling on his shoes.

"Where are you going?" Scully questioned as she washed her hands.

"I want to have a talk with Benjamin." Mulder and started to walk towards the door.

"Wait. Mulder… are you sure that is a good idea?"

Mulder thought for a moment. "No, it probably isn’t a good idea. But I can just sit around here and wait for something else like this to happen." He took a step to close the gap between them and kissed her cheek softly. "I’ll meet you back here soon."

Mulder tapped the back of his knuckles against Benjamin’s door.

"Come in."

Mulder pushed the door open and stepped into the room. It was larger then the rest, obviously built for Benjamin. There were two fireplaces, a large table, king sized bed, decorations which would have been found in a home Before. Mulder couldn’t help but notice the abundance of canned food stacked next to one of the stoves.

Mulder fought off the inferior feeling that surrounded him.

"Mulder, how is that friend of yours doing?" Benjamin gestured to the chair next to him.

Mulder sat. "I think it’s too early to tell."

"That was a very unfortunate accident." The older man said solemnly.

Mulder leaned his elbows on his thighs, resting his chin on his clasped hands. "That’s what I came here to talk to you about. It is just plain stupid to have people walking alone in the woods with weapons at night." Mulder wanted to skip the pointless small talk.

Benjamin’s expression and posture immediately turned defensive. "Well, Mr. Mulder, I appreciate your concern but I think you may a bit biased after last night."

Mulder forced his voice to stay calm and level. "No… I think this is unsafe for more then a few reasons. I am speaking from experience. I don’t think you realize how dangerous this could become. People are going to start to panic when something like this happens again."

Benjamin held up a hand. "Now Mulder, I know this is probably your career training, I’m sure you lead a very different life from what you do now. I understand you want to know why this happened. And I’ll tell you what Greg told me; he heard a noise. He listened and watched. Suddenly the man stepped out and startled him. Greg fired, it was a mistake, he knows it. He panicked. And once he saw the Nova charm he panicked even more."

Mulder shook his head slowly, absorbing the information. "This is ridiculous." He spat out.

"Mulder just calm down."

"Calm down?" Mulder was doing the complete opposite. "An innocent man was shot, a fellow member. He may die. And you aren’t worried in the least."

"Well I have complete confidence that Dana is doing everything she can." Benjamin’s tone was annoyed. "She’s an amazing woman, in more ways then one. You are a very lucky man Mulder, you shouldn’t take a vibrant woman like Dana for granted, especially here in Nova, you never know when someone who deserves her will come along."

Mulder’s face went blank with shock. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He didn’t know whether to laugh at the man or hit him. "I think you better watch what you say, Benjamin."

The man let out a long sigh. "And what do you mean by that?"

Mulder looked at him soberly. He didn’t want to play this game. "You know what I mean." The men watched each other for a moment before Mulder waved a hand around the room. "You obviously have issues with sharing authority. Look at this room. You set everyone else below you, everyone will do what you say and want. That rule-book of yours," Mulder snorted in disgust. "That is insane. Just because you want to drop last night’s situation you think everyone should go along with you. Don’t you think we should do something about this?"

Benjamin frowned. "Are you blaming Greg for this?"

Mulder opened his mouth to speak but paused. His anger was rising. Beating some sense into Benjamin was beginning to look easier and more appealing by the passing moment. "No I am not. I blame you."

Mulder sat back in the chair, arms crossed over his chest.

Benjamin looked shocked if nothing else. "Excuse me?"

"I blame you." Mulder said simply. "You are sending untrained people out into the dark, alone, with loaded weapons. If you think this is the only time something like this will happen you are terribly wrong. And now you don’t want to do anything about it, you just want to sit around and let it all blow over." Mulder’s voice raised on it’s own accord.

Benjamin stood, walked to the door and opened it wide for Mulder. "I think you are upset. I know you and Dana didn’t get much sleep. Why don’t you go and rest. You are not expected to work today so enjoy your time off."

Mulder stood stiffly. He knew he was stepping one Benjamin’s toes. The testosterone was almost visible in the air. The man obviously didn’t understand how Mulder worked. There were lines that could not be crossed with him, most of those line revolved around Scully. Those were the ones being crossed.

Mulder turned when he was just outside of the doorway to speak, but the door was firmly closed in his face.

The Medical Room was quiet, tense. Mulder and Scully sat on opposite sides of the room.

Scully watched Skinner carefully, for a few reasons. He has stirred a few times during the day, she thought he would wake. But he hadn’t, yet. And she watched him in suspicion. A strange sense of possessiveness had filled Scully’s soul. Her jaw was clenched so hard it ached, her neck was tense, she was prepared to strike. To save herself, to save Mulder. She felt like a wild animal protecting her mate. But this is Skinner. She didn’t want that thought to imbed itself into her mind. But maybe it had. She was remembering the times she had met with him and the Smoking Man had been there, every time they worked together. Closely. She was remembering the time she and Skinner had held respective guns pointed at the other’s head. But she remembers the time when she saved his life when he was infected with a strange disease. She remembered the times when Skinner did everything in his power to help her and Mulder. Help them get the X-files back, help them find each other. But the rational part of her mind was being shut out by the panicked overtired part. She wanted anything, anyone who could be a threat to her and Mulder away. Far, far away. They had worked too hard, suffered too much to be stupid now.

Mulder stood from his seat and walked the room restlessly. It was getting late but Scully wouldn’t leave the Medical Room to sleep in their room tonight. He was exhausted. But he wouldn’t go without Scully. Even if he did leave he wouldn’t sleep. After months of being with Scully so closely anytime apart seemed wrong. He wouldn’t be able to sleep. He would just lay awake listening for the door to open and for Scully to come in and lay next to him in bed. Mulder wanted to say something, anything to Scully. But he was on very thin ice with her. When he returned from talking with Benjamin he had told Scully that things had gotten heated. But he refused to tell her the specifics. She was angry, it was that simple. And Mulder, like usual, had nothing to say that would make it better. So he didn’t try. He just remained quiet and stayed with her. No matter how uncomfortable they were at the moment neither wanted to be alone.

But Mulder couldn’t handle the silence any longer. He turned to face Scully, to tell her he wanted to talk, he wanted to tell her what Benjamin had said. But he was interrupted by a low hoarse groan from the back of the room.

Mulder looked past Scully as she turned around to meet the unfocused yet shocked eyes of Skinner.

……

Note: I am being really mean huh? =). Sorry! I’ll work hard to get part 12 out! Enjoy and let me know how I am doing!