Spirit of Friendship (16/16)
by
Jason Cleaver (argo@easynet.co.uk)
and
Barbara Nice-Miller (SpookyJedi@aol.com)

Disclaimed in Chapter 1

***************

Rapid City Regional Hospital
Next morning

Mulder woke to the sensation of hands on his body.  One
on his forehead and the other on his chest.  He shifted slightly,
causing the owner of the hands to pull away.  His head felt as
if it were stuffed with cotton and his eyelids felt so heavy....
Forcing himself not to give in to the comforting darkness once
again, he struggled to open his eyes.....and found himself staring
into the kind face of Albert.

Albert smiled down at him then looked away.  "He is awake."

"Well it's about time," came a familiar female voice in reply.

Mulder blinked and his surroundings came into focus.  He was
lying in a hospital room with morning sunlight streaming through
the half-open blinds on the windows.  The owner of the female 
voice stepped up to the foot of his bed.

Karen.

She crossed her arms in front of her.  "Welcome back, FBI."

Mulder looked at Karen in confusion.  How had he gotten here?
The last thing he remembered was holding Scully....  Scully!
Mulder turned his head sharply to the side, to the other bed in the
room.

Empty.

A wave of panic threatened to engulf him as he pushed himself 
upright in the bed.  Eyes wild, he looked back at Karen and Albert.

"Where is she?!  Where's Scully?!" he demanded.   <<Oh, God.  
Please don't tell me...>>

"Fox!  Calm down, she's all right."

Mulder turned his head toward the new voice.  It was Melissa, 
pushing herself through the doorway.   Albert stepped to Mulder's
side and put his hands on the young man's shoulders, forcing him to
lay back down as Missy continued.

"She's a few rooms down.  I was just there.  She's not awake yet."

Mulder let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.  He 
cleared his throat and said, "What happened?  The last thing I
remember was telling Scully I was glad she'd decided to come
back.  How did we get here?"

Karen spoke up.  "Dana made her decision and the two of you were
free to return to the physical world.  Which you did.  You both
appeared in the center of the Circle, unconscious."  Karen pointed
to one of Mulder's arms, causing him to look down and see the white
gauze bandage for the first time. "Your arm was burnt and Dana was
now back in her body, which has been quite banged up these past few
days, so we took you here."

Missy spoke up.  "The doctors treated you both, though neither of you
regained consciousness, which had us all worried.  But then you both
slipped into regular, deep sleep patterns and seemed to be out of 
danger.  We've just been waiting for you to wake up."

Mulder pushed back the covers.  "I want to go see Scully.  Has anyone
seen my clothes?"

Albert reached down beside the bed and held up a duffel bag.  "Clean
ones.  I thought you might need them."

Mulder smiled as he reached for the bag and made his way to the 
bathroom.  "Thank you, Albert.  Always thinking."

He emerged a few minutes later, dressed comfortably in a t-shirt, 
sweatpants and tennis shoes.  He placed the hospital gown and empty 
duffel bag on the bed and went to stand next to Karen, who was
flipping channels on the TV.

"You haven't said anything about Petra," he said quietly.  "I never saw
what happened.  Where is she?"

Mulder could've sworn he saw a brief flash of pain cross Karen's face
and her eyes glisten with tears, but in the blink of an eye, she was
her normally composed self.  However, it was Missy who answered him.

"She's gone, Fox.  And she took Lili with her."

Mulder gave a deep sigh, saddened at Petra's death.  She
had been a staunch ally in this battle.  He would miss her.

Karen spoke up.  "And this is what we will all tell the police...."
She spoke for a few minutes, outlining her story. After 
everyone agreed to Karen's story, Mulder nodded.

"Then it's over." he said.

"Over?" Karen said, mouth turned up in a bitter smile. She 
gestured to the TV, where the news was on, showing images of a 
riot somewhere. It changed to police storming down a door, guns
out.

"We won a battle, Agent Mulder," She turned back to face him.
"We faced a being born out of the darker side of humanity,
born of the need to kill for no other reason than career advancement,
of the lust for gold and riches, of fear, of callousness.  Yes, we 
beat it, but all we did was send it back into the hearts and minds of 
the world again." She sighed. "All we did was gain a respite; 
some breathing space. Maybe not even that."

Mulder shook his head. "Is there any way to win completely?"

Karen laughed, the bitterness plain. "Sure," she replied, walking
over to stand in the doorway.  "All we need to do is renounce 
violence, give up hatred, cease raping the land for what we need 
and turn our backs on all the darker emotions that fuel our souls." 
She shook her head, "Sounds easy, doesn't it?"

"So what now?" Mulder asked.

"Now? You go back to your world, fight your little battles.
Your partner will heal, but I would keep an eye on her if I
were you; she left her body almost too easily back in the cave.
She could do it again without realizing it."  Then she turned
and walked out into the corridor, Melissa, Mulder and Albert
following.

"And you?" Melissa asked.

Karen turned away to walk down the corridor. "Back to
the frontlines." She replied, "Comdex still owns that mine,
there's nothing to stop them trying to re-open it again. I
have a protest to organize, letters to write. The war goes
on. It will probably always will."

She'd only gone a few steps when Melissa spoke up again.
"Need some help?"

Karen stopped, turning to face the woman, as she coasted to
a stop in front of her.

"*You*?" She said, in almost exactly the same tone of voice
she'd used at the airport when Melissa had told her about her
attempt to get Lili's name.

"Me." Melissa replied, holding out one hand. "You need me,
Karen, and not just for the protest. Besides, if you can't put aside
your hatred and darkness, what hope is there for the rest of us?"

There was a long pause. Karen stared down at the chair-bound
woman, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Where will you stay?" She asked finally.

"Does your place have wheelchair access?" Melissa answered.

"No." 

"Then we'd better get some, don't you think?"

"Now wait just one damn minute! If you think..."

Mulder grinned and turned to Albert, murmuring,
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Albert just smiled back at him and clapped him on the shoulder 
before following after the bickering women.

Mulder passed the nurse's station on the way down the 
hallway to Scully's room, where Nurse Hannah Wray stopped
him.  They talked for a moment, Hannah making sure Mulder
should be up and walking around, before giving Mulder an update 
on Father Mike, Kate and little Amy, before Mulder continued on 
to Scully's room.

He stood in her doorway now, watching her sleep, her face
relaxed and her breathing even.  He could see the small white 
bandages on her arms and face from where he stood.  Mulder sighed 
and looked downward, leaning against the doorjamb.  Even 
though he'd described a hopeful future to Scully, it now looked 
uncertain to him.  How would Scully deal with the aftermath of her
ordeal?  How had this affected her beliefs in science and 
religion?  And what about what Karen had told him?  About Scully
possibly being able to leave her body again?

"Did you find out Elvis is really dead?"

Scully's quiet voice startled him and he looked upward.

"What?"

"Your expression.  You look sad," she replied.

He shook his head and stepped into her room.  "No, just
thinking," he said as he sat in the chair next to her bed.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked.

He gave a small chuckle.  "I think I should be asking *you*
that."

She ran a hand through her hair, wincing slightly at the 
shoulder movement.  "Well, first of all, I don't remember
giving my permission to stay in this hospital overnight,"
she said with a grin.

He smiled back.  "You were unavailable for consultation. As a
matter of fact, we both were." Then he sobered.  "Really, Scully.  
How are you?"

She looked away from him.  After a long moment she said
quietly, "Scared, Mulder."  She looked back at him.  
"Scared because things happened to me that my beliefs can't
explain.  I may have to rethink a few things."  His expression
brightened and she could just imagine what he was thinking.
She smiled.  "But don't get your hopes up, I'm sure there's a 
rational explanation for what happened."

At that, Mulder got a good laugh.  With a comment like that,
he knew Scully would be just fine.

"So how did we get here and where's everyone else?" she asked.

Mulder gave her a rundown of how they got to the hospital last
night and that Melissa and Karen were probably still out in the
hallway, arguing, with Albert looking on.

Scully smiled.  "I thought I heard familiar voices out there."

Mulder thought of something else.  "Oh, and Nurse Wray told me 
that the woman from the church, Kate, will be fine.  She had quite
a few stitches in her hands, but they shouldn't leave scars.  And
her little daughter, Amy, was none the worse for wear.  Just
frightened.  They're being discharged this morning."

"And Father Mike?"

Mulder sighed.  "He *is* paralyzed from the waist down, but
Nurse Wray said he's quite a fighter and won't let this slow
him down for long.  Something about believing again."  Mulder
shrugged.  "He'll be here for awhile yet, but I think he'll be Ok."

"And Petra?"  Scully asked.  "She's gone...isn't she?"

Mulder nodded.  "Yeah, Scully, she is.  But please, don't blame
yourself.  Sacrificing herself to make sure Lili never returns was
her way of avenging May's death."  He paused. I hope she and Karen
said everything they needed to say to each other. No regrets, you 
know?"

Scully nodded.  "What are you going to tell the police?"

"Karen's already thought of everything.  The story is that
you, Petra and I went down the mine after the serial killer.  Gun
fire was exchanged, during which the suspect was killed and a 
cave-in started.  I managed to get you to safety, but Petra was killed
pushing me out of the way of a rock slide.  Karen, Albert, Mary and
Stacy heard the cave in and rescued us both, driving us to the hospital.
The lower levels of the mine are completely collapsed, sealing off the
chamber.  This way no one will attempt to locate Petra's body."  
He paused.  "I'm sure there'll be a memorial service for her."

"I owe her so much.  I'd like to go to the service."

Mulder smiled.  "I figured you'd say that.  I'll book a few extra 
days at our hotel."

"Know me so well, do you?" she asked lightly.

He reached up, took her hand and looked her straight in the eye.  
"Enough to know that you have alot to live for."

She covered his hand with her free one.  "Thank you, Mulder.
For everything."

Mulder replied quietly, "All in the spirit of friendship, Scully.
All in the spirit of friendship."


                *       *       *       *


Nurse Hannah Wray entered Amy Jacob's room and stood watching 
in the doorway as the little girl tried to dress herself without any help 
from her mother. The poor woman couldn't have helped anyway, not 
with the bandages covering her arms and hands.  Kate saw Hannah 
in the doorway.

"Hi," she said, "Could you help here?"

Hannah did, helping the little girl put on her shoes and sweater. 
Then she picked her up and gave her a little kiss.

"There!" she said with a smile, "You ready to go home now?"

Amy nodded. "Home.." She said, giving a big gap-toothed smile.

Hannah watched mother and child walk down the hallway, with a smile.
Amy turned back and waved at her, and then they were out of sight.

Hannah blinked.  She could've sworn that little girl's eyes had 
changed color.  Then she laughed at herself. 

<<But *red*?>> she thought, <<Obviously had to have been 
a trick of the light>>

Then she turned and made her way back to the nurse's station.

                       ***************

                        THE END