***
5/5
***

The answer was quick in coming.

        "The child is dying.  The answer you're looking for lies
within her, but I warn you that you are better off not knowing- Agent
Scully is better off not knowing."  And that was the end of the phone
call.
***
        Within two days the girl was dead- once again there was no
identifiable cause of death, she had simply ceased to function.
***

        "Scully, I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Mulder stood
outside the autopsy bay staring down at his petite partner.  She was
dressed in surgical garb, hair pulled back and prepared to begin the
autopsy on the child who had so recently succumbed.  The previous
days- and the knowledge they had brought- had taken their toll on her.
The dark circles had returned under her eyes, the result of nights
spent searching for the answers to the questions he had finally
shared.
        "Mulder, I had her transferred to George Washington so that I
*would* be the one to do this.  We both knew that she wouldn't make
it- none of the others did- and this is our case,"  she turned to go,
"this is my job." Once inside, however, she wasn't so sure.  The
diminutive form on the table held possible answers she wasn't sure she
was prepared for.
        Drawing a deep breath, she pulled the sheet back and faced the
small, dark-headed corpse lying on the table.

***

        "My god..." Scully whispered the words into the empty air of
the lab as she peered through the microscope at the tissue samples
taken from the child.  An open file lay next to her, and she compared
the information in the file to the information she was seeing.   Her
phone was in the pocket of her lab coat.
        "Mulder, I need you down here now.  I've found something."

****

        "Look at this,"  she gestured to the microscope. "That tissue
sample was taken from a tumor- one of several- I removed from the
body. "
        "A tumor?  Cancer?"  Mulder glanced up, frowning. "No, Mulder,
she didn't have cancer.  In fact, "she drew a deep breath, "it's the
same type of mass I had removed,"
        "And which still hasn't been accurately identified,"  he
sighed.
        "Until now.  That's what I found.  Mulder, it's made up
primarily of gametes- reproductive cells,"  she glanced up into his
face, afraid to meet his eyes for some strange reason. "Ova- millions
of half-complete cells containing a variety of combinations of DNA."
        "Whose DNA?"  Scully swallowed and dropped her head.
        "Hers," she whispered, "and...something else.  The altered DNA
strand is there too."

***

        Mulder stood behind Frohicke staring at the flickering
monitor.  Scully had stubbornly refused to come with him, saying
instead that she needed to complete the report on the dead child. He
knew that she was frightened but he let her maintain the distance she
used to cover her fear.  Frohicke had been running comparisons of the
known data between the dead children and Scully- looking for patterns,
similarities, anything.
        "So I accessed her records from George Washington- all of
them- and what I've got so far is pretty clear. The hormone levels
*exactly* matched up from before and now. See, there's a pattern in
the estrogen- and here in the progesterone.-"  he was cut off by the
ringing of Mulder's cell phone.
        "Mulder," he answered, stepping away from the group.
        "Mulder, it's me.  I know what killed her. I think it's what
killed all of them.   It wasn't the tumors, it was the hormones."
        "Death by hormones?  Is that possible?"
        "The hormones didn't kill her, but they *did* stimulate her
reproductive system into maturing more rapidly- too rapidly. It looks
like her body somehow channeled *all* of it's energy into preparing
her reproductive system for something.  All of her other systems
failed due to the increased stress and decreased function of the other
systems, they destroyed each other and themselves.  I've never seen
anything like it. "
        "Wait a minute Scully.  What if those masses you found, what
if *they* caused the hormonal changes?  What if part of that DNA
causes it?  Could that happen?"
        "Well, it's possible that it could infect certain cells and
cause a change in their functions.  That's basically how a virus
works, except that a virus changes the cell into a virus-producer.
I've never heard of one that could change the cell into a hormone
producing agent-"
        "Could it produce those gametes?"
        "Well, it's possible but not very likely."
        "But it's possible, right?"
        He heard a loud sigh and could picture her standing there with
her lips pursed in a frown.  He was pushing those extreme
possibilities again.  Then there was a crash, like glass against
metal "Mulder!"  and the line was dead.
        "Scully?  Scully?  Call 911- send them to headquarters."
Mulder turned and rushed for the door as he frantically pushed the
call-back code.  The ringing phone taunted him as he pulled his car
onto the beltway, back towards headquarters.  *What could have
happened to her?* He had visions of another call, another frantic rush
headlong into a nightmare.  *But she was alone then, at home.  The
Hoover Building is a fortress- no one can get to her there.  She's as
safe as can be...*
        *"Anyone can be gotten to Mr.  Mulder.  Surely you recognize
that..."*

***

        The crash behind her was the first indication Scully had that
there was anyone else in the room.  The men *Why are there so many?*
stood all around her.  A blow came from somewhere behind her,  then a
needle, and then there was only blackness...

***

        Mulder sat in the light of a single lamp in the intensive care
unit at George Washington Hospital only hours later,  staring at
Scully.  *I couldn't protect her.  I can't protect her.*  There were
puncture marks on her abdomen and breasts, his mind whirled with the
possibilities.  *They took her again.  They'll keep taking her...*  He
wondered where they would find the implant this time- wondered when
the next mass would appear.  *How long will this go on?*  She was
sleeping this time, not unconscious, seemingly in good condition.  The
darkness around him seemed more oppressive than before, more filled
with demons than ever.  She would recover, he knew that, but the
possibilities for the future frightened him more than he could
imagine.  It wasn't their reproductive systems those hormones were
feeding, of that he was certain.  It was the creation of those cells,
those hybrid cells containing the seed for something... he didn't dare
to let his mind form the image.  He felt the tears begin to fill his
eyes and leaned his head into his hands.
        "Mulder?"  the whisper sounded painful as it pushed its way
past her dry lips.  "Mulder, we'll find it,"  she rested a moment,
closed her eyes, "I have faith in the truth,"  and she closed her hand
over his, drawing strength from their bond as she drifted back to
sleep.

End.