The Healer
by Susan Proto  (STPteach@aol.com)

Disclaimers in Part 1

Part 9/9

When the doctor completed his exam, he did prescribe
strong pain killers in addition to the block of strong
antibiotics.  He explained to Scully, Skinner, and Henry
pretty much what MaryAnn had indicated.  Dr. Polasky
then informed him the nurse would be in with the
medication shortly.

Mulder pulled the mask off as soon as the doctor left.
"Henry," he rasped.  "Please.  Now."

"Mulder, don't ask me to do this.  I don't think I can do
this."

"I don't want to lay in a hospital bed for the next month,
Henry.  They're going to need me to testify against the
sonofabitch who tried to kill us.  I need to be strong enough
to testify.  Please, Henry," Mulder pleaded.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Scully asked
incredulously.  "Mulder, let the poor man be.  He's been
through enough!"

"What?" questioned Mulder.

"He was so worried he did something to harm you.  Henry
thinks it's his fault the bullet moved and caused you to be in
so much pain," Scully elaborated.

"What do you mean, 'think?'" Mulder asked hoarsely.

"Well, surely you don't think the bullet moved because
Henry touched you, do you?" Scully asked in exasperation.

"You don't, Scully?" Skinner asked.

"No, of course not.  Why?  You do?" she asked
unbelievingly.

"Well, Scully, the bullet did move," Skinner said
tentatively.

"Sir, we also moved Mulder so Henry could touch him.
The bullet could have moved then," she responded.

"Is that likely?" asked Skinner.

"Hardly," Mulder rasped.  "Henry, please, there's no foreign
object in me anymore, so there's no need for you to worry
about hurting me.  Please.  I don't want the drugs and I don't
want to stay in the hospital and you have to get back to the
Batchtown children," he pleaded.

"Mulder, I'm not__" he began.

"__Henry, I still believe."

Henry looked into the eyes of his friend, and realized the
man truly did have faith in him.  In fact, he seemed to have
enough faith for both of them.

"Very well.  Would you help me turn him over again?" he
asked.

"For crying out loud, Henry, didn't you hear the doctor said
it was necessary to keep Mulder still to prevent the
infection from spreading internally?" Scully argued.

"Dana," Mulder called out as best he could, "please.  Henry
really can help me.  Please."

"How could you want to do this, when you were so damned
close to dying?" she asked angrily.

"I'm not dying now, and I want to avoid having to get rid of
this excruciating pain by taking a multitude of drugs.
Henry can help me walk out of this hospital a lot sooner
than the drugs.  Dana, I really, really believe Henry can
help me.  Like he did in moving the bullet away from my
spine."

"Mulder, you're scaring me, you know that?  What's worse,
is I'm scaring myself, because I'm going along with this
craziness.  C'mon Walter.  Let's get this over with before
MaryAnn comes back in with the medication and gives it to
me to save my sanity," Scully ranted.

Walter and Scully got into position to roll Mulder slightly
onto his side in order to give Henry access to Mulder's back
once again.  Henry laid his hands flushed against Mulder's
upper back.

Once again, Mulder felt an intense heat, but not the searing
pain of a bullet moving through his body ripping apart
vessels and veins.  This time, the heat, though
concentrated, felt almost soothing, as if it were weaving the
cells of his body back together again.

Mulder moaned, but not so much in pain, as in relief.

"Are you okay, Fox?" Scully asked.

"Yes.  It's okay.  It's good," he said into the oxygen mask.

Several minutes passed and when Henry felt the heat
dissipate, he removed his hands and said simply, "It is
done."

What none of the occupants of the room had realized was
MaryAnn Combs had entered a few minutes before and
witnessed Henry's interaction with Mulder.

"May I ask exactly _what_ is done?" she asked softly, but
startling everyone in the room anyway.

"MaryAnn!  We were just__.  I mean, Henry is very
knowledgeable in the practice of ___.  Oh shit," Scully said
and gave up.

Henry ignored both Scully and MaryAnn for the moment
and concentrated on Mulder.  "How do you feel?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," he responded as he removed the oxygen
mask.  "I think I feel okay.  I mean, I still feel this
incredible warmth inside, but it's not painful.  I don't hurt.
Oh God!" he realized happily.  "It doesn't hurt!"

When he tried to get up, however, he felt himself to weak
to even raise his head.  "Why can't I__?" Mulder began in a
panic.

"__Move?  Mulder, your body still suffered a terrible
trauma.  It will most likely take less time then if I hadn't
used my gift, but it will take some time for you to recover
nonetheless," Henry reassured.

"Please.  I want to know what just happened," MaryAnn
said sincerely.

"I'm not sure, MaryAnn," Scully replied in shock.  "I mean,
we can't really know if anything happened until we do
some tests, can we?"

"I must get back to Kentucky, my friends.  I must leave as
soon as possible," Henry said a little nervously.  The last
thing he wanted to happen was to be detained by curiosity
seekers in the medical profession.  He had his community
to care for back in Batchtown.

"Of course you do," said Mulder, immediately
understanding Henry's dilemma.  "Sir?" he addressed
Skinner, "Would it be possible to have someone from the
bureau drive Henry to the airport.  Soon?  Like, now?"

"Now?" Skinner asked, momentarily confused about why
the sudden need for Henry to leave.  It was only when he
looked over at MaryAnn that Skinner made the connection.
"Oh, of course, now.  Yes.  Let me make the call," and he
pulled out his cellular to do just that.

MaryAnn continued to stare at Henry, but she remained
silent.  When Skinner said an agent would be there shortly
to take Henry to the airport,  Mulder said, "Would you all
mind giving me a minute or two alone with Henry?"

Scully and Skinner nodded their heads in agreement and
accompanied a still inquisitive MaryAnn Combs out of the
room.

"But, Dr. Scully, what did he actually do to Mr. Mulder?"
she was heard asking as the two Federal officers ushered
her out of Mulder's room.

The two men actually chortled as they watched Scully, of
all people, try to explain Henry's actions.  Poor skeptical
Scully.  She so desperately did not want to believe, yet she
was left with little choice given Mulder's responses to
Henry's touch.

Mulder looked at Henry and though there was so much he
wanted to say, he didn't know quite what to say.

"So," Henry said, breaking the awkward silence, "when
you're finished with the trial and get your strength back,
perhaps you'll come back to Batchtown for a visit.  There is
much for us to still talk about."

"Henry, I would like that.  I would like that very much,"
Mulder said with emotion.

"Yes, besides, I think Mandy was smitten with you," Henry
said with a chuckle.

"I suspect Mandy becomes smitten with any male of the
species that walks through the door," Mulder retorted.

"True, but she makes a helluva tuna salad sandwich,"
Henry zinged back.

Mulder averted his eyes for a moment, trying to gather the
courage to say what he wanted to say without totally losing
it.  "I don't know how to thank you," he began.

"I'm not looking for thanks.  If I was able to help, then that's
all the thanks I need.  And a promise you'll stay in touch.  I
see a long friendship here, Mulder."

"Well, I thank you for that at least," Mulder replied and
then did something which, not twenty-four hours ago, no
one believed he'd ever be able to do again. He moved his
right hand slightly toward Henry.

Henry, with great satisfaction, reached out to grasp
Mulder's hand into both of his.  "This is all the thanks I
could ever need, Mulder."

Skinner knocked on the door to inform Henry the FBI agent
who was driving him to the airport was waiting outside for
him.  Henry acknowledged him and told him he'd be out
directly.

"I have to go."

"Yes."

Henry then bent down and offered the agent a gentle hug.
"Till the coming of 'soon'."

Mulder laughed and said, "Have a good trip back.  Say hi to
Adam and Joshua for me, okay?"

"And Mandy?" Henry asked with a broad grin.

"Oh, definitely Mandy," Mulder replied in kind.  "Good-bye, Henry."

Henry Marcos nodded, turned, and left the room.

Mulder let out a sad sigh and closed his eyes.  Suddenly, he
felt totally drained of energy and emotion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder was out of the hospital by the end of the week.  The
doctors were astounded by his progress.  The infection
cleared up miraculously within days of starting the
antibiotics and Mulder's physical therapy saw him weeks
ahead of schedule.

As Scully happily gathered his belongings, Skinner made
arrangements to have Mulder released.  No one could
remember the last time a patient was released directly from
the ICU.  No one thought it was possible.

Yet, Fox Mulder was living proof that it was indeed very
possible.  Drs. Polasky and Silvers talked about the
possibility of writing up Mulder's phenomenal recovery up
for a well known medical journal.  They asked Mulder if
he'd have any objections, to which Mulder simply smiled
and told them to go right ahead.

The thought of  Mulder's extraordinary recovery being
looked upon in the same light as his X-Files gave him a
moment's pause and he laughed to himself at the thought of
it.

Scully brought the wheelchair around for him.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking out of the hospital," he
declared obstinately.

"Yes, I know you are.  But hospital regulations require
them to release you from a wheelchair for insurance
purposes," she replied automatically.

"Well, it's ridiculous.  We spend all of this time and energy,
not to mention money, to get me well enough to walk out
of here, and they make me ride in this stupid wheelchair."

"Have you ever noticed, G-Man, we have this same
conversation every time you are released from a hospital?"
Scully responded with a sigh.

"So what does that tell you?" Mulder asked, as he finally
climbed into the wheelchair.

"That you are admitted to the hospitals way, way too often,
my love," she said with a wry smile and dropped his duffel
bag onto his lap.  Scully wheeled him out of the room and
onto the main floor of the ICU.  They were greeted with
many smiles, a smattering of applause, and many wishes of
good luck.

The medical staff marveled as he reached out to shake
hands and accept their kind words and good wishes for a
full recovery.  They also encouraged  Mulder to stay strong
in his role as a witness during  the shooter's trial at the end
of the month.

He promised he would, but jokingly added,  "Think I could
borrow a set of the barbells from PT just in case?''

Everyone laughed at that and  were impressed with
Mulder's ability to maintain his sense of humor and
emotional strength about the whole situation.  Though he
wasn't anywhere near full strength physically, Mulder was
certainly more fit than _all_ of the doctors or nurses had
thought possible.

All, except one.

MaryAnn Combs knew her patient would recuperate
quickly.  She had an idea as to why, she just didn't have a
clue as to how.  Yet, she realized there was a reason she
wasn't meant to know the answer to that question.
Apparently Henry Marcos had another responsibility, a
more pressing responsibility.

Someone had slipped the tabloid article about the 'psychic
surgeon' who could cure hemophiliac patients in a little
hillbilly town called Batchtown.   MaryAnn recognized the
face in the grainy picture as belonging to Henry Marcos.

She held onto that article.  MaryAnn had some vacation
time coming to her.  Perhaps she could learn a thing or two
>from Mr. Marcos.  So, MaryAnn Combs remained silent
about what she'd seen that day in Mr. Mulder's hospital
room.

You see, she too, believed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Part 9/9

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