Monday, April 20
Atlanta, Georgia
Ramada Hotel, South Lakewood Drive

Immediately following Mulder's phone call at a quarter till two, Sam and Scully were in Sam's car rushing to the hotel. Running down the hallway to Mulder's room, she pounded on the door earning some complaints from the neighboring guests. Although to Scully, there was nothing outside of Mulder and herself. To both Scully and Sam it felt like an eternity later when Mulder answered the door, looking worse than he did after the last round of nightmares.

"He's watching her, Scully. He's just waiting for his chance to grab her." Mulder was speaking very fast, and Sam was shocked by how greatly the dream had affected him. Scully managed to get Mulder dressed well enough to be seen in public and the three agents headed for the office. While en-route, Sam had Scully call Bailey and alert him to the newest development. He in turn alerted John, Nathan, George and Grace to the situation. Everyone was to meet in the Command Center at two thirty a.m. in hopes of getting a jump on the kidnaper.

Monday, April 20
Atlanta, Georgia
VCTF Offices

"Okay," Bailey said, "let's go over this again. Mulder, you said that in your dream, it was a one story suburban house. Right?" Mulder nodded his head, in his mind he was scanning every second of the dream he could still see, which for a dream was quite a bit. "Blue paint, dark paneling. You also mentioned a white Chevrolet Malibu in the driveway. I hate to say it, but that is a fairly common car. You couldn't see the plate?"

Shaking his head no, Mulder commented, "No. It was too dark to read the letters, it was Georgia tags though. There was a light on in the main front room. And he circled around the house, toward the back. A smaller window led to what I assume is the little girl's bedroom. This time the dream was different in that he was only checking the house out, I didn't see him getting away with the girl." He tilted his head for a moment, trying to make out a fuzzy detail when he said, "Wait, I think I saw his car this time. It's a beat up old Ford pick-up truck, looked like it was made in the 1950's."

John looked up from where he had been scanning a written report of the dream Mulder and Bailey were describing. "The problem being, pick-up trucks aren't exactly unheard of in this part of the country. In fact, they probably outnumber cars."

"It's a place to start," Bailey argued. "Let me know if you remember anything else, Mulder." Mulder shook his head in response, and moved to speak with Scully. "George, see how many trucks you can find matching that description. And also, search for a possible match on the house."

George turned to his computer, and commented. "Okay, it's needle in a haystack time."

"If anyone can do it, George. It's you. Just give us what you can. John, Nathan why don't the two of you start calling relators first thing in the morning and see if any of them might be able to place the house. It's a long shot, but we have to work with what we have. Alright everyone, the clock is ticking. We've got until sometime this evening to keep another little girl from being hurt." Bailey instructed. After he was finished speaking for the moment, he returned to his office.

The team was busy for the next few hours, but the action within the office picked up when the regular day shift arrived at eight. John and Nathan manned the phones, calling every realtor in the west side area. "Yes, ma'am. That's what I asked, ma'am. We're looking for a specific house. Blue with dark paneling. One story, suburban house. No? Is there someone else in your office that I might speak with that could know? Yes, I'll hold." By the end, John was almost growling into the phone. They had been on the phone for what felt like forever to John. Looking at his watch, he was surprised to see that they had in fact been calling people for three hours. It was already eleven a.m.

Over at his desk about five feet away, John could hear Nathan having similar problems. "Yes, I'm calling in search of a house. Yes. No, I mean I'm looking for a particular house. It's blue with dark paneling, somewhere in the western suburb area. Yes, I know it's a bit of a stretch. One story house. Do you remember anything that might match?" Nathan sighed loudly and rubbed his hand over his eyes. In a distracted moment, he tried to recall just how he got stuck with this particular chore.

"Yes, you do?" Three hours later, Nathan heard what sounded like optimism creeping into John's voice and turned toward where he was sitting. "Yes, one story blue house with dark paneling."

"Mr. Grant," the female realtor responded. "I'm not positive, since the description is so vague, but I think I might know what house you are referring to. It's a mid-size house over on Lily Oaks Avenue."

"Lily Oaks Avenue?" John repeated. "What number?"

"Just a moment, I'll check our records." He could hear keys clicking and she answered, "8952. The only reason I even remember it is because it was a young family. They just purchased the house a couple of months ago. I can email you a photo of the house, if it would help."

Suddenly sitting up straight in his chair, John replied almost eagerly. "Yes. Please do that. I'll give you the correct address to send it to, just one moment."

From his desk, Nathan heard John give the realtor the address that would send the photo to George's computer. When he hung up, Nathan walked over to his desk. "You found it?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, John leaned back in his chair. "I think so. She's sending a picture to George. It better be, 'cause this particular avenue of investigation will not only be aggravating, but a dead end as well." Nodding his head in agreement, Nathan began to walk into the meeting room. "Go and see what the picture looks like, Nathan. I'll go get Sam."

Sam looked up when she heard someone knocking on her office door. Seeing John standing there, she waved him in. "Tell me you've found something . . . " John walked in a sat on the edge of her desk. She could see something in the look on his face. "You found the house?" Her question was tinged with restrained hope.

"I just talked to a realtor who thinks she knows the house we're looking for. She's sending George a picture of it now. But Sam, do you really think we can rely on Mulder's dream for evidence?"

Sam stood, getting ready to go to Bailey's office and update him. "It's all we have, John. Go find Mulder and Dana and bring them to the conference room. I'll go tell Bailey." As she walked out of her office, John reluctantly followed and went to find them

Meanwhile, Scully had Mulder cornered in the cafeteria. "How are you feeling?" She made him sit down on one of the plastic chairs and ran a brief check up. She felt his pulse and was satisfied with the result and a minute later, she sat back. "I'm sorry I wasn't there last night tonight, Mulder." Pausing to look down at her watch, she realized it was already a quarter after two in the afternoon. "How did it get so late?" She asked, mostly to herself.

Seeing the guilt in his partner's eyes that he'd become so accustomed to seeing in his own led him to play it straight. "It's not your fault, Scully. There would have been nothing you could have done. We had no idea when the next one would strike. Besides, I don't like seeing your eyes so full of regret on my account."

Again taking in his haggard appearance, she persisted. "Mulder, you didn't answer my first question. How are you feeling?" She stressed each word carefully, hoping to avoid their typical 'I'm fine' response. "Mulder?"

He closed his eyes and sagged down in his chair. Running his hands over his face, he replied. "I'm tired, Scully. We've been running non stop on this for a week now. I'm used to running on little sleep and having recurring nightmares, but I'm drained. I'll feel better as soon as we catch this guy and keep him from hurting anymore little girls."

John neared the cafeteria in search of Mulder and Scully, but paused just out of sight of the two agents. He stopped when he heard the voices, not wanting to interrupt at an inopportune moment. When he heard Mulder describing sleepless nights and recurring nightmares, it suddenly occurred to him why Sam had taken such an immediate liking to the pair. In Mulder, for some reason, she found a grief similar to her own. He was curious what had led to Mulder's grief, but doubted he would ever know.

In an instant, he discovered a new found respect for the man he had distrusted and sought to disprove at every opportunity for the past week. While still acting for the good of the team as a whole, he had managed to throw obstacles in Mulder's path each chance he had. He might be stubborn, but he forced himself to admit he had misread Fox Mulder. Hearing a lull in the conversation, he cleared his throat and entered the large room.

Both of the room's two occupants turned toward the noise and saw John walking toward them. "Sam asked me to come find you. We may have a lead."

Mulder and Scully both stood and followed John out of the cafeteria and toward the meeting room. "What have you found?" Scully's question was straight to the point.

John turned sideways as he pushed open a door and held it for the other to agents to walk through. As he did, he responded. "When we were calling the local realtors that deal in the area we're concentrating on, one thought she remembered the house we described. Apparently, if this is it, a young family bought it recently. Now we just need you to verify that it is the house from your dream." Having reached the conference table, each took their seat.

"Thanks for the recap, John." Mulder said, an uneasy truce seeming to develop between them. John nodded his head silently and sat down. Sam walked in a minute later and took her seat between the two men. While they waited on Nathan and Bailey to arrive, George was already behind his computer typing commands to bring up the realtor's photo of the house.

Scully felt Mulder stiffen in his seat beside her and looked over at him concerned. "Mulder, what is it? What's wrong?" She placed her hand on his arm, hoping to draw him out of whatever was bothering him. When she was finally able to see his eyes, she understood.

"Scully . . . " His whispered voice almost seemed to echo and brought most of the noise in the room to a sudden halt. "That's the house." Mulder turned to look at the other agents at the table, Nathan and Bailey having arrived seconds after his announcement. He turned to Bailey, his face still ashen, and said, "That is the house."

Bailey nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Okay, people. That means we have a chance. We've lost a lot of time searching for it." He paused looking down at his watch. "It's already three. We have to hurry. All right people, let's go."

Monday, April 20
Atlanta, Georgia
En-Route to 8952 Lily Oaks Avenue

John slammed his palm against the steering wheel and muttered. "Damn. Stupid traffic."

Mulder, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned to look at John. "Does rush hour in Atlanta always start this early?" He turned his gaze back out onto the crowded city street they were trying to navigate. "In D.C. we usually have until at least four before it starts to pick up. Especially heading out toward the suburbs."

"Not usually. Today must just be our lucky day. We've already lost nearly half an hour. By the time we get to the house, it will be after five."

Mulder closed his eyes momentarily, "That will cut our safe window down to at most four hours. We need time to set up surveillance." He paused for a second. "We just need to keep this creep from having a chance to grab another little girl."

Scully and Sam sat in the back seat of the car, listening to the exchange between Mulder and John. Scully was just hoping that Mulder would be able to keep it together both until and after they caught the guy.

Monday, April 20
Atlanta, Georgia
8952 Lily Oaks Avenue

Sometime later they had taken up positions around the house. "All teams, call in." Bailey's voice crackled over the radio. He was in the van with George running surveillance equipment and another agent just down the street on the front side of the house. They had called the family that lived in the house and instructed them to stay in the interior rooms of the house and keep a close eye on their children. They didn't want to scare the kidnaper off by evacuating the family, and lose the chance to grab him. Confused, the family complied when warned against the consequences possible otherwise.

Mulder and Scully took up positions within direct line of sight of the little girl's bedroom window. Sam and John were watching the bedroom window of her older brother. Scully's eyes had shot to where Mulder was when Bailey revealed that Stacey Lynn Marshall had a brother that was three years older than her. She knew the stakes had been raised by that one statement. If they lost the little girl, Mulder would never forgive himself, for in Bobby Marshall he saw himself twenty-five years before.

Minutes passed and turned into hours. Soon, the sun had faded from the sky and lights started coming on across the quiet suburban neighborhood. Scully wore a pair of night vision goggles and kept a close eye on the window. Mulder held the radio, and had just finished checking in with Sam when Bailey's voice sounded quietly through the speaker. "Possible sighting. Coming your way teams one and two." One and two were the designations for Mulder and Scully and Sam and John, because they were in the closest proximity to the house. If he went for the window, they would be the one's to grab him.

Mulder was on alert, his senses ready for the coming confrontation. Scully was scanning the area's around the window and along the wall in either direction. He was at the window before anyone even knew where he had come from. "We've got him," Scully called. Scully watched as Mulder rushed forward not thinking, and attempted to tackle the suspect to the ground. Procedure had been forgotten in the rush of the moment to capture the kidnaper. Although being as quiet as possible, the suspect heard their approach and turned just as Mulder reached him.

What they hadn't seen was the knife that the kidnaper had in his hand. Mulder realized too late that he was swinging the knife outward. Momentum carried him forward into the kidnapers body. Fire lanced through his chest as he fell onto the knife. When the suspect attempted to get up off the ground where both he and Mulder had fallen and run, John and Sam hurried up behind him. Scully, who had been following behind Mulder, dropped to her knees beside the fallen agent.

"Hold it, buddy. Don't even think about it." Forcing the knife out of his hand, John pulled his hands behind his back and manipulated them into handcuffs. Sam was on the radio calling for back up and medical assistance.

Scully was frantically trying to control the bleeding in Mulder's chest. "Sam," she called. When Sam knelt down beside Mulder, she continued. "Place pressure here, would you?" Watching how Scully was in control of the situation, she marveled at her ability to click over into professional mode when her partner needed her. "Come on, Mulder. Don't you dare do this to me. What were you thinking anyway, huh? You knew better than to try that, but that's not what you were thinking about was it? This was only about stopping any other child from being hurt, wasn't it?" Scully kept up a steady stream of conversation with her partner, even if he was unable to talk back.

"How bad is it?" Sam asked.

Scully's gaze focused on Mulder's face. "Bad, but it's hard to tell how bad. He," she looked over at the man in handcuffs that John was leading away with disgust, "pulled the blade out at a different angle than it went in. So it's a wider cut than it might have been. Also, I'm worried about the location of the stab wound. It's possible it hit his left lung, but I can't tell."

The distant wail of an ambulance echoed through the neighborhood and both women willed it to arrive faster. Scully picked up Mulder's hand and held it for a moment, before taking over holding pressure on the wound from Sam. "Dana!" At Sam's exclamation, Scully looked to see Mulder struggling to open his eyes.

A scratchy sound came from Mulder as he sought to speak, finally managing a strangled, "Scully . . . "

"I'm here Mulder, don't try to talk." Her order for him to not speak didn't stop her from asking, "Why, Mulder?" The only answer she received was a choked cough from Mulder's throat. Her world slowed when a thin trickle of blood drained from his mouth. "Oh, God. Sam, help me get him on his side." Understanding the urgency behind Scully's words, she helped to prop him up on his side so he could still breathe.

Looking over Dana's shoulder, she saw the approaching medical team. "The ambulance is here." Scully looked over her shoulder, but her gaze quickly returned to where her partner lay. She felt for his pulse and found it faint and racing, the same as when she checked when he had first been hurt. Sam stood and waved the medics over to where they were.

"What do we have?" One of the men asked.

"Stab wound, hit the left lung. He's going into shock, his pulse is racing." Scully tried to fill them in, and was upset when they pushed her away from his side. After stabilizing him as best they could, they lifted him onto a stretcher and began to carry him to the ambulance with Scully close on their heels. She wasn't going to let him out of her sight.

John walked over to where Sam was standing looking down at her hands. "You alright?" She nodded her head and looked up at where he was looking at her with concern in his eyes. She recalled her conversation with Dana about love being worth the risk, and events such as had just occurred served to remind her yet again how quickly a chance can pass.

As if seeing her debate, John pulled her into his arms. "It's over, Sam. Mulder'll be okay and we caught the bastard that's been hurting so many little girls." John pulled back and looked at the woman he had just been holding in his arms. Again, there was little question why his feelings for her were so strong, even shaken she radiated a strength from within.

"Sorry, about your shirt, John." She pointed at the large blood smear across the front of his dress shirt where her hands had been.

He smiled softly, "No problem. Let's go get you cleaned up, okay?" She nodded her head. John placed his arm around her shoulders and kissed her lightly on top of the head. "What would I do without you, Sam?" he mused. After pausing to let Sam wash her hands, they walked over to where they had parked the car only hours before. "Let's go to the hospital and check on Mulder and Scully. She could probably use the support." He held the door open for Sam, and then walked around to the drivers side, climbed in and started the car.

Monday April 20
Atlanta, Georgia
Mercy Hospital, Emergency Waiting Room

Scully had been alternating between pacing and sitting for the hour since Mulder had been brought in to the hospital. He had been taken to emergency surgery as soon as they had arrived and a volunteer had insisted that Scully remain in the waiting room no matter what her credentials were as a doctor. For the moment, she was seated in one of the formed plastic chairs trying to not stare at the clock. She knew Mulder's chances were worse the longer he remained hidden away back in surgery. What the doctor in her knew as fact, the partner and best friend part of her refused to listen to.

She paid little attention to the sounds of the automatic doors opening and closing randomly throughout the course of her stay in the waiting area. It was this reason that she didn't realize that Sam and John had arrived until they walked up next to where she sat. "Hi, Sam. John."

Sam noted with concern how shaky Dana looked, and that she still had Mulder's blood on her hands and clothes. It was startling how the in control doctor had been replaced with concerned partner when she didn't have something to keep her occupied. "Dana, why don't we go to the bathroom and get you cleaned up? The nurses probably have some scrubs you can change into." Sam placed her hand on Dana's forearm, and Scully looked down at herself and saw the blood for the first time.

Scully nodded her head, saying "Okay, that sounds like a good idea. John, you'll say here in case the doctor comes out right?"

John looked at the woman before him, he saw a strength in her similar to that he loved in Sam. "Of course, I wouldn't think of anything else." He watched as Sam led Scully to the nearest bathroom and sat back into one of the uncomfortable chairs. Hurry up and wait time, he hated the hurry up and wait part of the job.

Meanwhile, Sam and Dana had retreated to the nearest bathroom after a quick stop at the nurses station to borrow some extra scrubs. Scully scrubbed at her hands and arms for almost ten minutes, and then she started trying to clean her fingernails. "You'd think by now I'd be a little more used to this type of situation where Mulder is involved, but the feeling of your heart falling into your stomach never seems to go away."

Sam smiled faintly. "I know the shock can be the worst. I've personally never had to go through the waiting, that factor has always be kept from me. I don't know whether I wished it had or not." She made eye contact with Scully in the mirror and a knowing glance passed between them.

"I can't even begin to imagine the pain you've gone through." She finished rinsing her hands and pulled a towel from the dispenser. "However, I do know just in the time I've known you, you've shown yourself to be one of the strongest individuals I've met."

Leaning against the counter, Sam spoke. "All I strive to do is to continue to live my life, to not let Jack live it for me."

Scully retreated into one of the stalls to change out of her now dried and stiffened clothes and into the green scrubs. "That," she said, her voice slightly muffled by the rustle of material, "is strength." A moment later she stepped out of the stall, almost looking like the events of the night hadn't happened. The only way you could see the stress she was still feeling, was to look in her clouded blue eyes. "What a mess," she commented when she looked at her reflection in the mirror, trying to tame her hair slightly.

"You look fine. Exactly what Mulder will want to see when he wakes up." Sam smiled as she spoke, hoping to at least try and soothe Dana's shattered nerves. Scully responded with a struggled half smile of her own. "Tonight showed me something though. Actually, it was something I already knew, just didn't want to face."

Her interest piqued, Scully turned to face Sam directly. "Really?"

Sam cleared her throat, and responded. "Ever since Jack, I've kept a shield around myself when it came to personal relationships. It became hard to let anyone too close, I didn't want to risk them catching Jack's eye for whatever reason he might choose. I had gambled once and lost. The lesson tonight forced me to remember, was that life is too short to pass up the chances it offers us. I blocked that part out, in an attempt to justify my pushing others away."

"And now?"

Sam smiled, "You're not going to let me get out of this are you? Tonight when I looked at John, after you had left, I let myself feel. I allowed myself to actually feel the emotions I'd been keeping buried. I looked in his eyes, and I knew. I love him, Dana. Tonight was the exclamation mark on the idea of not passing up chances. I can't live my life with another what if?"

Scully's smile widened. While Sam had been speaking she had been preoccupied to the point she hadn't heard the door swing open. John had stuck his head in slightly to make sure it was safe to enter and then walked in. For the last three sentences of her last comment, he had been standing there silently listening with a shocked look on his features. "Sam, I think it's time you told him that." Turning to where he was standing, she asked, "John, is the doctor back?" When he shook his head yes, her entire demeanor changed and she rushed from the room.

Turning slowly, Sam met John's shocked eyes. "You heard?"

"I heard," he nodded his head slowly. "As much as I'd like to be doing somersaults at this revelation, we should probably get back out there. The doctor said he pulled through, but lost a lot of blood. He's in recovery at the moment. Bailey just arrived, too."

Slowly, Sam walked over to where John was waiting. "Let's get going then, I want to be there if Dana needs anything." John held out his hand and Sam tentatively took it.

"You two really hit it off, didn't you?" John asked as he held the door open.

"Last Friday night, she had gone back to the hotel for some paperwork and Mulder and I started talking. I had noticed there was an inner strength about her, and some things he told me explained it. We have some things in common that makes it easier to associate with her. In a general sense, we can empathize with each other."

"And Mulder?" he asked as they neared the waiting room.

"Is in a word, tortured. Brilliant and very emotional. Have you noticed you can read his eyes? They're very expressive. Each of them is fiercely protective of the other. They practically embody the definition of partners and best friends. One without the other would most likely be incomplete."

John smiled softly, "Is that a professional opinion?"

"Ha." Her reply was cut off when they caught up to Scully who, along with Bailey, was still speaking to the doctor. "How's he doing?" Sam asked in between questions from Scully.

It was the doctor who answered. "He's stable. As I was telling Dr. Scully and Mr. Malone, he suffered a great amount of blood loss. The damage to the lung was the worst of the trauma and we operated to close the tear. We've managed to clear his lung, although he is still on assisted breathing until he wakes up. I assure you, it's just a precaution we take in situations like these."

"Do you know about how long he will be unconscious?" Scully was again in professional mode, she knew that Mulder needed clear heads not emotional babble. As it was, emotion was something she was uncomfortable with displaying for others to view. It was this that led to her title of 'The Ice Queen' among those in D.C. Sometimes she wished she could beat them over the head with the differences in feeling something and letting others view it.

The doctor regarded the four sets of eyes that had fallen on him, waiting on an answer. "I wish I knew, Dr. Scully. He's being moved from recovery to low-level ICU shortly. We'll keep a close eye on his vitals and wait and see. Right now, it's all up to him."

It was Bailey who asked, "Low-level ICU?"

"He will be in a room, but still under near constant supervision. I'll have Nurse Holland come and let you know the room number as soon as he is moved. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my patients." He turned and walked back toward the trauma area.

Tuesday, April 21
Atlanta, Georgia
Mercy Hospital, Room 508

After fifteen more minutes of waiting, Nurse Holland finally emerged with Mulder's room number. The key difference between this particular adventure of her's and Mulder's and any previous one, was she actually had some company while she was forced to wait. Although Bailey had been forced to leave soon after the doctor had spoken to them, Sam and John stayed close by her side through the night.

About six a.m., John had left to go home and change before heading to the office to start on the paperwork for the case. Sam walked him out from Mulder's room and down the hall to the elevator. "Thanks for staying," she whispered.

Kissing her forehead softly, he whispered back, "There's no need to thank me. I love you. When you need me, I'll be there. No questions asked. Besides, Mulder's not nearly annoying as I originally thought. That might be because since he's unconscious he can't talk, I'm not sure." Sam knew by the tone of his voice and the smile on his face that he was just kidding. She also knew that with John Grant when you made it into the ranks of being harassed, you were okay.

Smiling, she scolded, "That's awful."

"Part of my charm." His smile grew a bit larger. "See you later? I'll come back by sometime before lunch. Call me if anything changes, or if you just want to talk. Okay?"

His blue eyes had softened, and Sam felt herself slowly sinking in their depths. "You bet." John leaned his head down and their lips met in a gentle kiss, just prior to the chime of the elevator. Pulling back from the warm embrace he and Sam had been sharing, he stepped onto the elevator. "I love you," he mouthed silently. "Love you, too." Sam whispered. "Talk to you later." When the elevator doors closed, she walked back down the hallway to where Scully was sitting diligently beside Mulder's bed.

Scully awoke with a start, with no memory of having fallen asleep. Quickly, she checked on her partner to make sure he was still asleep, and turned to look behind her. "I'm sorry, Dana. Did I wake you?" Sam had just walked into the room when she saw Dana jump in her chair, having obviously finally collapsed in the poorly padded chair.

Rubbing her eyes, she responded. "No. It's okay. I should be awake anyway. I don't even remember falling asleep." Looking around she noticed for the first time that John was not there. "When did John leave?"

"About ten minutes ago, he had to go to work. That's where I went, I walked him to the elevator. I think you finally fell over from exhaustion about five minutes before that." Sam smiled as she spoke. Her face fell somewhat when she followed Dana's gaze back to the still body of her partner. "How is he?"

Standing up to stretch, she answered. "The same. I keep thinking he'll wake up sometime soon. Although, he's a hell raiser in the hospital when he's awake. So maybe it's a good thing he's recovering like this for a little while." A light came back into her eyes as she remembered several other hospital stays that Mulder had made her miserable during. Each time, she had mostly been glad just for him to be alive and coherent, however he never failed to try her patience.

Seeing her face lighten, Sam wondered out loud. "He's a whiner when he's stuck in the hospital, huh?"

"You better believe it. He'll have you running for the doors. It makes you wonder sometimes, just why he does so many stupid things to get put back in the hospital if he hates it so much."

"A real paradox, I'd say." Sam had taken the extra chair by the window while Dana had been speaking. "I bet he likes to complain a lot about minor things too, right? He seems the type to ignore major injuries, but play off the small ones for attention." She knew by Dana's answering laugh that she had hit the nail on the head.

Dana moved to stand by the window and watched the sun begin to come up over downtown Atlanta. "Oh, you're right about that. It can be amusing. When I'm not annoyed out of my mind, or terrified." Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts, Dana turned to Sam. "So, did you talk to John?"

"We talked. He told me he loved me, and for the first time since Tom died, I felt that spark, you know?" She looked at Dana's faint smile before continuing. "Like a small burst of lightning hit me in the heart. We've decided to give it a shot and see what happens, he went out with my roommate a while back, so that might lead to some awkward moments. Either way, I think we have a shot at pulling it off."

Looking at her Dana asked, "It?" The look in her eyes hinted at amusement.

Grinning, Sam replied, "What is it with all of you with your minds in the gutter?" She heard a noise behind Dana, and she looked over at where Mulder was just starting to struggle to open his eyes. Seeing her reaction, Scully turned and rushed to the bedside.

"Mulder?" Placing one of her hands on his arm, and brushing a lock of hair away from his forehead with another, she continued speaking to him. "Can you hear me, Mulder? Don't struggle against the ventilator tube, okay?" When his eyes were completely open she knew it was useless to try and reason with him, the panic in his eyes was enough to tell her they better remove the ventilator quickly. "Sam?"

She was already standing, and walking toward the door. "On it. I'll go find Dr. McDonald." Sam hurried out of the room in search of the doctor, while Scully continued to talk to Mulder. A couple of minutes later she managed to calm Mulder down enough that he might be able to avoid hurting himself anymore.

After only a few minutes, Sam came back to the room with Mulder's doctor in tow. "I hear our patient is awake," the doctor said as he walked across the room.

"Awake and fighting the vent," Scully replied. "There's no reason to leave it in, is there?"

Dr. McDonald placed his stethoscope on Mulder's chest to listen to the area around where his lung had been damaged. "You're right, Dr. Scully. I'd say its high time we took him off of the vent." Scully backed up to stand by Sam while the doctor took care of removing the tube from Mulder's throat. When he finished, he motioned for Scully to follow him out in the hall. "It's very important," he said once the door closed behind them, "that Mr. Mulder move as little as possible for the next few days, so as to not tear the stitches in the lung tissue. As to how long he will have to stay in the hospital, that will be determined by how his lung appears to be healing."

"What's is your best guess at how soon he might be able to leave, doctor?" Scully asked.

Sighing, he took off his glasses before speaking. "Not before tomorrow. And that will be pushing it. I'll check on him later today, and we'll see how fast he's progressing. I need to attend to my rounds right now, so I'll speak with you around, say," he paused to look at his watch, "eleven this morning."

He turned to leave after Scully replied, "Thank you, doctor."

She walked back into Mulder's room and saw Sam feeding him some ice chips. His eyes brightened somewhat when he saw his partner. "Hey, Scully," he managed to rasp.

Smiling, she responded, "Don't try to talk too much, Mulder. Let your throat rest for a little while. Sam I can take over there if you want me to." As she was speaking, Mulder signaled that he had eaten enough ice for the time being and Sam sat the cup down on the bedside table.

They were startled when the phone on the table began to ring at almost the same moment Sam sat the glass down. A curious look on her face, Sam answered the phone. "Hello?" Handing the phone to Dana, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "It's for you."

"Hello? Hi, Mom." She paused, listening to Maggie Scully's questions. "He's out of danger now. Wait a minute, how'd you know to call, Mom?" Another pause, both Mulder and Sam watched her as she took the one-sided call. "Director Skinner? How'd he know, I wonder?"

She was interrupted by the director's voice, surprising each of them. "Agent Malone called me, Scully. You should have, but I'm assuming you were otherwise occupied." Skinner's words were strict, but his voice betrayed his concern. As Scully continued her conversation with her mother over the phone, Skinner moved to stand closer to the bed. "I'm Assistant Director Skinner, Mulder and Scully's boss at the Bureau. I don't believe we've been introduced."

Sam took his extended hand and exchanged the strong handshake. "I'm Sam Waters, I work at the VCTF with Bailey Malone."

"Sam Waters . . . " Skinner's head tilted to the side as he tried to place the name. "I've heard of you, Dr. Waters. You're one of the best profilers in the Bureau, am I correct?"

Sam would have blushed if it were in her character. "Something to that extent, Sir. Although I must say, working together with Dana and Mulder was beneficial. If not for their involvement, we might not have caught this guy." Skinner nodded his head in acknowledgment of her comments.

Turning his attention back to Mulder, Skinner asked, "How are you feeling after yet another trip to emergency surgery, Agent Mulder?" He wasn't surprised when Mulder merely rolled his eyes in response to the question. Scully ducked between them to replace the phone in the receiver. "Is everything alright with your mother, Agent Scully?"

"Yes, sir. She said to thank you for calling her. If I may ask, Sir, what made you even think to call my mother?" Sometimes Scully wondered just how many surprises Walter Skinner had hiding up his sleeve or behind his wire-framed glasses.

Skinner straightened his tie, somewhat uncomfortably. "After enough trips to several emergency rooms with the two of you, I've learned how to play the game. Actually," he continued, "your mother and I had awhile to talk the last time we ran into each other in the hospital. I don't even recall the exact event, but she asked that if I would call her when something else happened. She knew you probably wouldn't. And for some reason, I knew she would want to know if it was Mulder, as well."

Scully laughed, "Yes, she seems to have adopted him as one of her own. Just what I need, another big brother."

Mulder coughed, "Don't compare me to Bill, please." Scully looked at Mulder whose eyes were a mix of anxiety and contempt for Bill. Although she had never admitted it, she knew of the less than friendly relationship her partner and her brother shared. She had overheard a conversation between them while she had been in the hospital, and ever since her recovery, had done her best to keep them apart. The humor in her eyes died for just an instant when her train of thought led her to remember Emily. "Scully?" Her eyes met Mulder's again, and she knew he had seen the shadow pass over her eyes. She could read the concern written in his hazel eyes and the tone of his hoarse voice.

Smiling, she only said, "Mulder, between you and Bill, Jr. there is no comparison. The difference is astounding."

Skinner cleared his throat, hearing Mulder's raspy voice had made his own throat constrict. "I have to catch a commuter flight back to D.C. so I need to leave. Mulder," he said, making eye contact with him, "I expect you and a stack of insurance papers back in Washington as soon as it's safe for you to travel, all right?" He paused and turned to look at Scully, "Agent Scully, I'll see both of you when the doctor decides it's best, not before. Is that understood?"

She nodded her head, "Yes, Sir."

Sam, having retreated to the widow seat during their conversation, walked over to stand by Mulder's bed when Skinner left the room. "Nice guy," she commented.

Mulder half laughed, half coughed at her statement. Scully slapped him on the shoulder very lightly. "Don't mind him," she humorously scolded. Mulder looked up at Scully with his patented puppy dog look and she laughed even more. "As bosses go, he's not so bad," Scully agreed. "And don't give me that look Mulder. I have protection from those eyes, I'm immune."

A knock on the door interrupted their joking, and John stuck his head in. "How's everything going?" he asked as he walked into the room. "Nice to see you awake, Mulder." Mulder, for his part, was somewhat taken aback by the difference in John's ever-changing attitude toward him. In an attempt to save his voice, his reply was only a brief nod.

"It's going much better, now." As she spoke, Scully watched the way John looked over at Sam. She could tell a difference from just last week. Both of their eyes lit up when they saw each other. Not minding the extra attention as much as he might regularly, John walked over and took Sam's hand. "How is the case finishing up?" Scully asked.

"The guy, Ronnie Duncan, wasn't in the interrogation room for ten minutes before he was spilling his guts. It turns out that Stacey Marshall was a student at LeMay Elementary, we were right about he was finding the girls. Anyway, it turns out you were right too, Sam." When she looked at him oddly, he continued. "It turns out when he was little, his big sister was abused by their parents. Eventually, when she was a teenager, she killed herself. The event scarred him. When he saw those girls, he still saw his sister. In his mind, he was easing their pain and ending their torment. He didn't differentiate between the other families and his own."

The room had gone silent while John had been speaking. It was Sam who spoke first. "Something like this didn't come out of no where, John. Did he have any priors? Any other similar cases where a suspect was never found?"

"Actually yes." John smiled, he would never cease to be amazed by Sam's ability to read a situation and follow it to it's end. "There was a warrant out for his arrest for a kidnaping attempt in Ohio. Also, when we went through the database, we found two other strings of kidnapings that had similar M.O.'s. One was in Virginia and the other was in Kentucky. Each time he changed the way he killed the girls. Right now, Bailey has him under lock and key. There is no way this guy is going to hurt anymore little girls."

Scully smiled, "I guess that's something." Her smile faded as she added, "But I wonder just how many girls he 'helped' before we managed to catch him?"

John lowered his eyes before he responded. "The best total we have is thirteen. Each location with the unsolved kidnapings and murders had a total of five. Five girls in Virginia, five in Kentucky and three here." No one said anything in response to John's final statement. Scully sat in the chair beside the bed, her gaze falling on the floor. There was nothing that could be said to such an obscene loss in life such as this. Each of the group could only console themselves with the fact that he was finally off of the streets and wouldn't hurt anymore little girls.

Wedesday, April 22
Atlanta, Georgia
Mercy Hospital, Room 508

"Okay, Mr. Mulder," Dr. McDonald was saying, "I'll clear you to leave on one condition. You have to be very careful. You are going to be quite sore for a while, especially once you are out of this bed for a little while. Also, I'm releasing you to Dr. Scully's care, is that understood?"

Knowing it was the only way he would be able to escape the hospital, Mulder agreed silently to the doctors orders. He knew that Scully would be keeping a very close eye on him for a while anyway. The pattern was one both of the partners was familiar with. He watched as Dr. McDonald walked slowly from the room and turned his gaze to where Scully was sitting. "Time to get out of this joint, Scully." Sam and John had each gone home the night before, they were both about to drop from exhaustion after being up for around forty-eight hours.

She nodded in response. "For the moment, Mulder, you're not going any further than the hotel. I don't want you running all over Atlanta under whatever pretense you try and dream up, and I really don't want you stuck on a commuter flight just yet. Agreed?"

His smile somewhat dimmed by Scully's drill Sargent mentality, Mulder agreed with little argument. He settled for a jab instead. "Yes, Mom."

"Okay, I'm going to go get the paperwork started and have a nurse come in to help you get dressed." As she was walking out of the room she heard Mulder begin to argue about the nurse, and added, "Not a word, Mulder."

Wednesday, April 22
Atlanta, Georgia
Ramada Hotel, South Lakeside Drive

"How is he feeling?" Sam had driven over around lunch to check on both Dana and Mulder.

Scully hadn't moved from the chair she had fallen into immediately after getting Mulder to lay down in his bed. "Asleep, for the moment. Honestly, I think he's a little sore, but he's been worse. On the Mulder scale, this barely rates a four." Sam sat a paper bag down onto the table by Dana's chair and Dana eyed it eagerly. "Is that what I think it is?"

Laughing, Sam sat down on the edge of the bed. "I thought you could use some non-hospital food. It's a bit on the greasy side, but what can I say, John picked the restaurant."

Scully dug into the food quickly, she had forgotten how long it had been since she had eaten anything other than Mulder's left over Jell-o. "How are things there?" Scully managed to get the question out in between bites of the hamburger.

"Good. We may actually get a chance to go out this weekend. Say, I can sit with Mulder in case he needs anything if you want to get some sleep. I bet you didn't get hardly any again last night." Sam could tell by the look on her face as she finished the burger and fries that she was right.

"Sam, you've already missed a lot of work because of us. You don't have to stay here and babysit Mulder, it's a job I've grown sadly accustomed to."

"No arguments, Dana. You need the sleep, and it can't hurt to have someone keep an eye on him right now. Besides, I brought some paperwork with me, just in case." As she spoke, Sam maneuvered Dana toward the bed in the center of the room. Lack of sleep finally causing her to give in, Dana kicked off her shoes and fell onto the bed. Sam crossed over to the unlocked connecting door and said, "Goodnight." Opening the door, she went into Mulder's room and pulled the door closed behind her.

Scully closed her eyes and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

In the room next door, Mulder woke up to find Sam sitting in a chair by the window reading over some paperwork. "Sam?" She looked up from where she had been reading and smiled. "Where's Scully?"

"She's next door getting some sleep. She's been running nonstop since before you decided to jump a man holding a knife."

Mulder's gaze fell to the floor, but not before she saw the regret filter across his eyes. "Yeah, I tend to do boneheaded moves like that a lot."

"Mulder, if you didn't do 'boneheaded' things like that half the time, I wouldn't recognize you. I'd be left wondering which alien clone was impersonating my partner." Scully's voice was sleepy, but her tone was joking.

He winced when he turned a bit too quickly to look over where Scully had walked into his room. "Hi, Scully."

"Hey, partner. Are you feeling better?" When he nodded his head, she turned her attention to Sam. "Thanks for staying with him."

Stacking her papers, Sam smiled. "No problem. However, I better be getting back to the office." She pulled the strap of her attache case onto her shoulders. "I'll see the two of you tomorrow?"

Mulder looked over at where Scully was standing awaiting her answer. "Yeah, we'll come in before our flight back to Washington."

Sam nodded and walked over to the door. "Okay then, see you tomorrow." With that she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, pulling door shut behind her.

A few minutes later, Mulder slowly climbed out of his bed, and went into the small bathroom. Scully sat down in the chair Sam had just vacated and waited on him to reappear. When he emerged from the bathroom, he picked up his running shoes and started to lace them up. Seeing what he intended to do, Scully jumped out of the chair and grabbed the left shoe while he was busy lacing up the right. "Mulder, what do you think you're doing?"

He looked at her for a second, confused by her question. "What do you mean, Scully? I'm bored, I want to go for a run." She had to fight to keep from laughing. "What?"

"What?" She repeated somewhat loudly. "Mulder, you wouldn't get five feet. And that's only if you managed to get past me. Take off the shoe, and get back in the bed."

"Oh, Scully. You gonna join me?" In response she merely rolled her eyes, and steered him back toward the bed. "All right, all right. I'm going. Geez, Scully. You're a regular slave driver." Having given in and taken off his running shoe, he climbed back into the bed. "Are you going to tuck me in and kiss me goodnight, Scully?" The leer in eyes was anything other than little boy like.

"In your dreams, Mulder. Turn the television on if you're bored, but you heard what Dr. McDonald told you. Rest, relax and maybe you'll recover." He could tell by the look on her face that she meant business, that was his Scully, after all.

Thursday, April 23
Atlanta, Georgia
VCTF Offices

"Hey, Mulder. How are you feeling?" Bailey asked when he saw Dana and Mulder approaching his office about nine the next morning. "Dana," he nodded at Scully.

Mulder actually smiled. He was so relieved to be out of his hotel room prison, that he would have been happy to run into almost anyone. Except maybe the likes of Donnie Phaster or the Flukeman. "I'm feeling better, Agent Malone. And really glad to be free of my hotel room." Bailey laughed at his zealous comment, while Scully rolled her eyes. It was a gesture he seemed to draw out of her more than anyone she had ever known.

"That's good to hear. We can go ahead and walk over to the conference room and finish up the last details on our case." He motioned in the direction of the meeting area with his hand. "I just need to get a few files first." He ducked back into his office, when he returned the three of them crossed the office to meet up with John and Nathan. "Everyone ready?" Bailey asked.

It was John who answered. "We're ready. Sam said she would be here in a minute, there was some last minute paperwork she was getting in order." The four of them took their seats around the large table, while Bailey stood at the head of the table. "Here comes George," John added.

"I just heard some interesting news," George commented before sitting down. After typing a few commands into his computer a picture appeared on the forward screen. "Lock up just called, our killer killed himself in his cell. He left a note, however brief." Another couple of commands later, a copy of the letter replaced the photo of the dead man. "It reads, and I quote. 'Do not judge me for trying to help the helpless. I know he who passes ultimate judgement will understand.'"

"Ultimate judgement?" Nathan asked.

Sam, who had taken her seat when George revealed the suicide, responded. "St. Peter. He's who decides who gains access to Heaven. Mr. Duncan apparently believed that his actions we're justified, even after he was captured. It's not all that uncommon really. I would say his note tells us that he little to no faith our judgement system."

"That, too, is not altogether unheard of in cases like this either," Mulder interrupted, and when Sam deferred, he continued. "He was scarred by his sister's abuse and subsequent death at such an early age, he molded the rules to fit himself. He would have had a very limited scope on the world around him, and his own ideas of what was right and what was wrong."

"He didn't play by our rules," Sam added. "He also didn't want to be judged by our rules. In essence, he took his case to a higher court."

Clearing his throat, John commented, "Well, he's not our problem anymore. Let the morgue boys settle it now." Bailey shook his head silently, but didn't interject.

After a moment of quiet, Scully broke the silence. "Mulder, I'd say that about wraps up our involvement in Atlanta. Our flight leaves in two hours, so we should probably be heading to the airport." Mulder nodded his head in agreement and they both stood up from their seats at the table. "It's back to the basement for us," Scully laughed.

"I can give you a ride to the airport," John offered. Sam glanced at where he had stared to rise from his chair. His offer had surprised her somewhat, but she simply smiled.

Mulder shook his head, "No thanks, you don't have to. We can just catch a cab." Scully was also slightly taken aback by the exchange between the two. They had spent parts of the previous week bickering incessantly. "Scully, you ready?"

"Thanks for everything," she was speaking to the group, but Scully's gaze fell on Sam. "Thanks for being there."

Sam laughed, "Don't just thank us, if it wasn't for your involvement, we might not have found Ronnie Duncan. It's regretful how it ended, but at least now families like Stacey Marshall's don't have to be quite so concerned."

Mulder nodded in agreement his eyes not meeting Sam's. "Yeah," he whispered.

"Isn't a small consolation, supposed to be better than none?" Nathan asked.

No one said anything in response to Nathan's statement. A moment later, Mulder and Scully turned to leave, walking toward the parking deck each still carrying their bags. "If only it ever worked that way," Mulder whispered while they were walking toward the door, so quietly only Scully caught his statement. She placed a hand on his arm gently, knowing there was no adequate reply.

End