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"The Measure of a Man"  

by E. Ocon (eocon@ix.netcom.com)  

Rating:  NC17 to be safe--there is violence, language, and 
attempted rape.  No relationship elements.

Summary:  This story was inspired by the episode "Ice" from 
the first season. Mulder and Scully go off to an isolated 
area where a strange illness has caused the men to attack 
the women of the party.  M & S are there to l ook into the 
murder of these men.  

Writer's Comments:  

On an obscure note, my story reminded me of an episode of 
"Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century" (I think that was the 
title of the show -- the one with Gil Gerard and Erin Gray) 
where Buck was on this planet where all the men turned into 
satyrs. I don't turn Mulder into a mythological being in 
this story (although that has some possibilities!).

I wrote this story because I really wanted Mulder to be the 
one with the parasite in "Ice"  ;-)

Caveat:  the science I use in this story to explain what 
happens is all BUNK!  I made it all up!  It was purely for 
the convenience of the plot.

This my first attempt at writing anything.  I have been an 
X-files fan for only a few months, but my obsession is 
growing!  Please e-mail constructive comments only.   





Standard Disclaimer:

     The characters and situations of the television program 
"The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris 
Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and 
have been used without permission. No copyright infringement 
is intended. This work is not to be forwarded or distributed 
to any newsgroup, FTP, or WWW site without the permission of 
the author.



The Measure of a Man

Part 1

"Scully, here's the fax," Mulder said.  We got it about 6 
hours ago from the mining company's research station.  It 
doesn't look like they were able to finish writing it before 
it was sent".

Scully took the paper from Mulder, reading it.  "6 
DEAD...HELP US....SEND NOMEN...Nomen?  Who's that?  Is that 
their main contact or something?"

"I don't know.  They've done a search of the employee 
database, as well as lists of mining experts, but there's no 
person with that name.  They're so isolated that local law 
enforcement is over 100 miles away.  They're not used to 
murder investigations, so we've been asked to go up there.  
We're going to fly there to begin the work.  About a week 
later, a back-up crew will come up to close the place down.  
Looks like we're headed for Colorado!"

Mulder studied the docket in his hand.  There had been 10 
people on the mining project, 6 of whom were now dead.  It 
was unknown at this time which 6 were dead.  The little 
plane they were in lurched sideways, spilling Scully's bags 
over onto his side of the aisle.  

"Damn!  I'm getting airsick...why couldn't we drive up to 
this site?"  moaned Scully as she retrieved her stuff.

"The roads aren't passable yet.  With all the melting snow 
from the mountains, most are covered in mud.  This is the 
only way to get there quickly!"

"Great."

Another jog to the left, and the plane started descending.  
Mulder could see the small ring of buildings in the 
clearing.  He couldn't see the mine opening from the air, 
but from the well-worn path into the woods, he could guess.  
The plane suddenly dropped onto the ground and skidded to a 
halt.  Even at this higher elevation the ground was soggy.

"You're here folks.  Sorry about the bumpy ride--it's tough 
this time of year," said the pilot as he made his way to the 
back of the plane to open the door.  

Looking out the windows of the main building, four faces 
looked expectantly at the plane.  They had heard it coming 
long before it showed up.  They watched as the pilot jumped 
to the ground and pulled the steps down.  

"I think we'll be OK.  The pilot isn't going to stay, and 
they sent a woman." Said Monica Gerard the geologist at the 
station.

"You spoke too soon--look!" yelled Samantha Green, mining 
engineer.  She pointed to the plane where Scully was 
standing.  As she stepped away, Mulder jumped to the ground 
and picked up his bags.  "I thought you sent the fax!"

"I did!  It finished right before Alex threw the machine 
against the wall.  I don't know why they sent him!"  she 
pointed at Mulder, who with Scully was approaching the 
building.  The pilot was getting back in the plane. Alice 
Green, sister of Samantha Green, also a mining engineer, ran 
out the door screaming.

"Don't let the pilot take off!  You can't stay!"  she yelled 
excitedly, pointing at Mulder.  She ran after the plane 
which was accelerating over the grass.  "Stop!  Stop!  Come 
back!"  she cried fruitlessly, as the plane hurled itself 
into the air.  She slowed to a halt, bending over with her 
hands on her knees, panting.  "Damn."

Mulder and Scully looked perplexed, watching Alice as she 
came back to them. "What the fuck are YOU doing here?" she 
said accusingly, jabbing her finger into Mulder's chest. 

"I'm sorry, but you asked for help.  I'm Special Agent Fox 
Mulder of the FBI.  This is Special Agent Dana Scully."

"Didn't you get our fax?"

"Yes, we did.  We attempted to locate Nomen, but we weren't 
successful. Is Nomen a co-worker?" asked Mulder.  He backed 
away as she bristled at him.

"You fuckin' idiots!!  The government WOULD screw this up.  
The fax said to send NO MEN, meaning only women.  Great!" 
she exclaimed as she stormed back toward the others.

"Why is that a problem?" asked Scully, looking sideways at 
Mulder.

"You'll know soon enough," Samantha sighed. 

"Miss Green, we..." he started, but Samantha cut him off. 

"How did you know my name?" she asked suspiciously.

"We were sent a file by your company, with your pictures, 
qualifications, etc.  I'm very good at remembering things.  
As I was saying, we are here to investigate the deaths of 
your co-workers.  From the tone of your fax our company was 
worried that there was foul play involved.  I presume from 
seeing the four of you here that the 6 dead are John Muller, 
Bob Smith, John Hanson, Bill Hammer, Randy Armstrong, and 
Alex Taylor.  Can we see the bodies, please?  My partner is 
a doctor, and an expert forensic examiner."

Mary Monell, chemist, who had been standing by the door, 
screamed loudly.  "Don't' let him come in here!  Go away!  
Go away!  It will happen again!" she sank to her knees, 
sobbing, with her face in her hands.  "Please, go away," she 
whispered.

Dana walked up to Mary and squatted down beside her.  "It'll 
be OK, Miss Monell.  My partner won't do anything to harm 
you.  I trust him completely.  It'll be OK," Scully said.

Monica went up to Mulder, standing boldly in front of him.  
"Well, if you must come in, I want you to give your gun to 
your partner.  There's no use tempting fate here.  None of 
us will be safe as it is, but at least without your gun we 
have a chance."

Scully stood up to talk to Monica.  "Excuse me, but would 
you explain yourself?  I will not have my partner treated 
like a criminal."

"Honey, you just don't know," Monica sneered.

"That's enough!" Mulder exclaimed.  "Stop talking about me 
as if I can't understand what you're saying.  Scully and I 
are here to look into these deaths, and I'd REALLY 
appreciate it if you would just show us the bodies and let 
us do our work.  A back-up team will be here in about a week 
to remove the bodies and shut this place down.  We're here 
for the duration, so you'll just have to put up with us."  
He brusquely walked by the women and went into the hut.

Monica turned to Scully.  "Well, you may trust him, but can 
you control him?"

Scully stared dumbfounded after her as Monica followed 
Mulder into the building.  'What a weeks this is going to 
be' she thought.  She picked up her bags and followed the 
others in.

Samantha pulled Scully aside as soon as she walked into the 
building.  "Agent Scully, could you do what Monica said?  
Could you keep Agent Mulder's gun for him?  I can't explain 
right now, but it would be best for all of us."  

Scully looked at the woman in front of her, and realized how 
serious she was.  "I'll do it on one condition.  As soon as 
you are able, I want you to explain to me AND Mulder what is 
going on.  I don't want any secrets."

"Fair enough.  We'll tell you as soon as you've finished 
looking at the bodies."

Scully walked up to Mulder in the infirmary.  He had started 
unpacking the medical equipment, and pulled out the camera 
to begin taking photos. "Mulder, I know this sounds 
irrational, but could you humor me and let me keep your gun?  
These women seem quite serious, and are afraid of you.  
Samantha Green promised to explain their objections if I 
keep it."

Mulder looked at her gravely.  "I don't know if that's such 
a good idea.  All of the dead here are men, and all but one 
was shot in the head.  The only logical explanation is that 
one or more of these women shot them.  I'd feel safer with 
my gun."

"I know you would.  But, if they see you as a threat, 
especially a threat with a gun, you might be in even more 
danger.  Let me keep it."

Mulder looked at her for a few moments, then reached into 
his jacket.  He handed her his gun. "Well, I guess you'll 
have to protect me now," he chuckled.  He turned back to the 
bodies to continue with the photos.

Surprised at how quickly he acquiesced, she put his gun into 
next to hers, tucked in the back of her jeans.  She pulled 
out her tape recorder and instruments to autopsy the men.

"Well, it's pretty obvious.  Except for Hanson, they all 
died of gunshot wounds to the head.  What I don't understand 
is, if one of these women killed them, why are they so 
unconcerned about having the FBI investigate?  If I had just 
murdered 5 people, I sure wouldn't be hanging around here 
waiting for someone to arrest me.  I wonder what's going 
on," Scully said as she washed her hands.  Mulder was 
sitting on a stool next to the counter, reading from some 
records.

"According to this, the men got sick one by one, starting 
with Hanson. The women didn't get ill, though."

"Well, how do you move from being ill to getting shot?" 
Scully said.

"I'll tell you."   Mulder and Scully both jumped at the 
sound of Monica's voice in the doorway.  "We shot them." 

"You shot them?  Why?" asked Mulder. 

"Because they were attacking us, trying to rape us.  There 
was no stopping them except to kill them,"  she started 
sobbing, words tumbling out.  "It started when we got deeper 
into the mine.  We found, well, some weird thing that we 
couldn't identify.  It was like a, well, a UFO or 
something."  She grinned sheepishly through her tears.  "I 
know that sounds crazy."

"Not to me it doesn't, " said Mulder.  "Go on."

"Well, we tried to get in, but there was no obvious door.  
We had finally given up and gone back to the surface, but 
Hanson was too fascinated to leave.  He stayed behind, to 
look around some more.  A few hours later he came stumbling 
back up the path.  He looked dazed and very pale.  We 
checked him over, but could find nothing wrong.  He seemed 
fine until a few days later.  He started acting strange.  He 
was restless, testy, and, uh, a bit amorous," she blushed as 
she said that.  

"What do you mean, amorous?" asked Scully.

"Well, to be blunt, he started coming on to all of us.  He 
really didn't seem to care which of us he was talking to, 
just as long as he was with somebody.  At first, it was kind 
of cute--he'd always been so shy.  But, then, he started 
getting a lot more aggressive, especially with Mary.  She 
had a hard time rebuffing him.  Well, he got really physical 
with her--this was about a week and a half after he came 
back from the mine. I think he would have raped her if 
Hammer and Armstrong hadn't pulled him off of her.  It was a 
real struggle.  We locked him in the storage room, and he 
just pounded on the door for hours, calling her name.  It 
was really scary.  By that time, though, Muller and Smith 
had also started the same behavior.  It was starting to get 
really dangerous.  We had five guns here, mostly for 
protection against animals; I took them all and hid them in 
the storage hut across the compound.  Things started to 
happen so fast.  They were trying to attack and rape us and 
we were running around in a panic.  I managed to get over to 
the storage hut to grab some guns.  I met up with Alice, and 
we killed them.  Armstrong had been on top of Mary, ripping 
her clothes.  Hammer had Samantha cornered.  What else could 
we do?  What else could we do?"  her voice trailed off as 
the tears overtook her again.

"It's OK, Monica.  We're here now.  There will be truckloads 
of people here next week to take the bodies and you back to 
civilization.  Nothing more will happen,"  whispered Scully, 
holding the woman.  She looked at Mulder with an inquisitive 
look.  He just shrugged his shoulders.

"How come you didn't shoot Hanson?" asked Mulder.

"After killing the others, we were prepared to do him in.  
However, when we opened the door, he was lying on the 
ground.  He had died, apparently from cardiac arrest.  We 
didn't expect that, but we were relieved.  You know, they 
were our *friends*.  We didn't want to kill them."

"I'd really like to take a look at that thing in your mine.  
Can you show me where it is?"  Mulder asked with 
anticipation.

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because we figured that whatever happened to Hanson was 
caused by that thing, so I had Alice and Sam blow up the 
tunnel.  It's buried under tons of rock."

"Wonderful," he said sarcastically.  "Where are our rooms?  
I feel like washing up after hanging around these bodies."

"They're in the next building, to the left.  Take any of the 
men's rooms you want.  We cleaned them really well."

"Thanks," he blurted, walking out the door.  Monica's eyes 
followed his retreating form. "Agent Scully, we never 
figured out how this condition was passed along.  Mulder may 
get it too."

"Well, we'll just have to keep an eye on him."

Mulder mumbled to himself as he crossed over to the 
dormitory building. "Great, stuck out here in the middle of 
nowhere with 5 beautiful women and I can't enjoy myself.  
What is this world coming to?" Mulder picked a room, threw 
his stuff down, pulled out a change of clothes, and headed 
for the shower.  It was small and smacked of summer camp, 
but it would do.  As he was showering, he started to feel a 
little dizzy. *I must be really hungry,* he thought as he 
leaned against the wall.  *First order of business is to 
find something to eat.*  His head stopped spinning and he 
finished his shower.

Two days before the back-up team was scheduled to arrive, 
the six of them were sitting in the mess hall eating dinner.  
In honor of the guests, Alice cooked a special meal. "Since 
we'll be leaving here day after tomorrow, I guess we can 
splurge on all the good stuff.  We'll be having a cheesecake 
for desert."

"Sounds wonderful," mumbled Mulder as he gobbled his food.  
"I can't believe how hungry I am.  It's been a long week."

Scully laughed to herself.  He always seemed to be surprised 
at the amount of food he could put away. 

They continued talking and joking for several hours, even 
pulling out what was left of the beer.  Scully decided to 
take another look at the corpses before she went to bed.  An 
idea had come to her and she wanted to check it out before 
she forgot.

As Scully leaned over the microscope, she felt two hands on 
her shoulders.  She jumped up out of her seat and whirled 
around with her gun.  "Mulder!  You scared me.  I almost 
shot you," she said, putting her gun back in her pants.

"Sorry, Scully.  I was just comin' to see how you were 
doin', if you needed help.  Didn' mean to scare ya," he 
said, laughing and staggering around a bit. 

"How much did you drink, Mulder?  You're drunk!"

"Only had eight or nine beers.  But good news, though--we 
found Alex Taylor's tequila stash.  Don't worry, I didn' 
have more than I can handle," he said as he tripped over the 
garbage can behind him, landing on his ass.  "Well, maybe I 
did," he said sheepishly, as Scully helped him up.

"Tequila!  Mulder, when will you grow up?  Let's get you 
back to the dorm.  You'll have one hell of a hangover when 
you wake up.  Better take some aspirin before you go to 
sleep."

"I don't need any.  I feel great!"  Mulder leaned heavily on 
Scully as they walked toward the dorm building.  His arm was 
around her shoulders and his hand was almost on top of her 
breast.  She looked up at his face but he seemed oblivious 
to what he was doing.  *Stop being so paranoid, Scully.  
Those women have you spooked.  He's just plastered,* she 
said to herself.  

Once she got him to his room, she dumped him into the bed.  
He was laughing as he lay there.  

"Woo, the room is spinning.  Let me off," he chuckled, 
trying to pull his shoes off.  Seeing that he wasn't making 
much progress, Scully knelt down to help him remove his 
shoes and socks.  "Hey Scully, you want to take my pants off 
for me?" Mulder couldn't stop laughing.  "Damn, I haven't 
been this wasted in ages."

"You mean, since last week!"

"Hey, that doesn' count.  I was just helpin' an old friend 
cope with his problems."

"Call it what you want, Mulder."

He had managed to get his pants and shirt off, and was 
climbing under the covers.  "Good night, Scully."

"Good night, Mulder.  I'll see you in the morning."

Scully was sitting in the mess hall finishing a cup of 
coffee.  She was going over the last of the paperwork, and 
had helped Mary and Monica pack up some of their equipment.  
The Green sisters had been the ones doing tequila shooters 
with Mulder last night, so she didn't expect to see any of 
them until after 12:00.  In fact, Alice and Mulder probably 
ended up in bed together.  All week the two of them had been 
flirting outrageously, inseparable.  Alice even called him 
Fox!  She had never seen him so openly affectionate with a 
woman.  Come to think of it, she couldn't remember ever 
seeing him with a woman at all.  He was so dedicated to his 
work that he didn't have time for any relationships.  *I 
guess I can't begrudge him a little enjoyment,* she thought.

Moments later, Alice came trudging into the mess; she very 
carefully poured herself some coffee and sat down across 
from Scully.  "Good morning," she rasped, wincing at the 
effort.

"Good morning.  I see you enjoyed yourself last night."

"Huh, if you can call it that..."

"Well, when Mulder came to the lab last night, he was pretty 
tanked."

"He went to the lab?  He said he was going back to the 
dorm."

"He must have seen the light on.  I was doing some lab work 
to test some theories."

"Oh, OK.  I guess that makes sense," she said skeptically.

Before Scully could respond, Sam came in, in better shape 
then Alice.  In fact, she seemed almost perky. "Hey, girls!  
I feel pretty good today.  How about you?"

Alice balled up a napkin and threw it at her.  Sam dodged it 
playfully, then gave her sister a hug. "I warned you about 
the tequila.  But no, you insisted on challenging Fox to a 
contest.  He's such a big guy, there's no way you could 
win!" 

Scully started a little at hearing Sam use Mulder's first 
name--he never let anyone call him that.  He must have been 
more drunk than she realized.  As if on cue Mulder appeared 
in the doorway.  He looked much paler than usual, and was 
wearing his sunglasses.  He walked to the table, sat down, 
and put his head on his arms.

"Would you like some coffee, Mulder?" Scully politely 
inquired, trying to stifle her laughter.  

"Want tea," he said, his voice muffled in his sleeve.

Alice chuckled and rubbed his hair.  He swatted her hand 
away and moaned.

"Don't touch.  Hurts." 

Alice laughed even louder despite her own headache.  She 
felt like she had gotten her revenge for losing the drinking 
contest last night.  Seeing him like this perked her up.

"Mulder, drink this.  Here are some aspirin," said Scully as 
she placed a steaming cup of tea and some pills by his hand.  
He slowly lifted his head to take the pills.

"Should've listened to you last night.  Feel terrible."

"Well, hopefully you'll be speaking in complete sentences by 
this evening," she said.  "We still have to do final prep 
the bodies, and organize the paperwork.  Monica also asked 
if we could help her and the others finish packing the 
equipment they need to take back."

"Uh huh."

"Go take a shower, Mulder.  You'll feel better."

"Uh huh."

Scully laughed as she walked back toward the lab.  She had 
seen him like this before.  It was best to just stay out of 
his way until he recovered.

Scully was getting worried.  Mulder hadn't come to help her 
and it was already 5 in the afternoon; she'd never known him 
to shirk his duties.  *I guess I'll have to go get him,* she 
thought as she left the lab.  He wasn't in the main 
building, so Scully decided to check the dorm, since he may 
have gone there to sleep off the hangover.  As she walked 
through the door, she heard a woman giggle and then let out 
a little scream of laughter.  She then heard the 
unmistakable laugh of her partner.  Scully walked down to 
Mulder's room and looked in the open door.  They were both 
naked in his bed; Alice was sitting on top of Mulder.  They 
were both laughing as Mulder rubbed his hands up and down 
Alice's sides.  

"Mulder!" exclaimed Scully she stared, shocked.  At the 
sound of her voice, Alice leapt off of Mulder and slid down 
next to him.  She grabbed the blanket around her.  They both 
looked at Scully, and erupted into more gales of laughter.

Mulder was grinning.  "Hi Scully," he said in his most 
seductive voice. "Alice and I were just having a little 
fun."  More giggles poured out of Alice as she lay next to 
him; when she saw her Scully's expression, she roared with 
laughter.

"Mulder!  Get dressed!  I need to talk to you now!"  said 
Scully as she stormed out of the dorm building.

Hearing the tone of her voice, Mulder sobered up.  "Alice, I 
have to get going.  When Scully sounds like that she means 
business.  Maybe I can see you later on?"  he stroked her 
face as she smiled.  

"Of course," she replied.  















"Mulder, we're on a case.  This case involves these women 
MURDERING the men in their party.  Didn't this cross your 
mind as you were lying in bed with her?"  Scully was 
standing in front of Mulder, hands on her hips.   "Have you 
lost all sense of professionalism?  We're supposed to be 
helping these women, solving this case--not having sex with 
them!"

"It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time," he 
countered.  "She's pretty, funny, smart, and laughs at my 
jokes.  Besides, this case is clear-cut.  The men got sick, 
threatened the women, were killed in self-defense, case 
closed.  What more is there to do while we wait for the 
cavalry?"

"Mulder, is this really you?  They said that a UFO caused 
this problem. Are you not even the slightest bit interested 
in that?  Or my findings?"   She couldn't believe what she 
was hearing from him.  Was this "Spooky" Mulder, willing to 
give anything to get his hands on UFO evidence?  Was this 
her tenacious partner who wouldn't settle for the "obvious, 
clear-cut" answer?

"OK, OK.  What are these 'findings' of yours?" he asked, 
exasperated.  He thought she was being a little too serious 
about this.  Maybe she should join them doing the shooters 
again tonight.

"Don't talk to me that way.  I did a further analysis of the 
bodies.  I checked various glands in their bodies..."

"Which glands?"

"Well, the adrenal glands and the testicles."

Mulder winced.  "You mean you cut their balls open?  OUCH!"

"Don't be so dramatic.  Considering the symptoms of the 
problem it was the most logical thing to do.  It turns out 
that they all had this parasite that attached itself to the 
adrenals and testicles.  Now, because they are all dead I am 
only speculating, but I believe that this parasite 
stimulated the production of the hormones of the 
body--especially adrenaline and testosterone.  When I did an 
analysis of their blood chemistry, the amounts of these 
hormones were extremely high.  I also found some other 
chemicals I couldn't identify.  That might account for their 
aggressive sexual behavior."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, I'd like to give you a blood test.  The others never 
figured out how this thing was passed from man to man, so 
the only way to be safe is to check you out.  It will only 
take a few minutes."  She approached him with a syringe and 
a swab.

"Stop right there.  You are NOT going to stick me with that 
thing."  Mulder got up and backed away from her. 

"Mulder, don't be silly.  It's just to be safe."

"Stay away from me," he growled.  "I'm not going to put up 
with this, being treated like an animal in a science 
experiment."

"Mulder, stop this right now!  Let me help you."

"Oh, now the truth comes out.  You already think I'm sick.  
I'm getting out of here."  Mulder stormed out of the lab, 
down the hall.  Scully put the syringe down and hurried 
after him.

"Mulder, wait.  I don't think there is anything wrong with 
you.  I just want to be safe."

"Leave me alone!" he yelled.  "I'm not letting you get near 
me!"  As he said those words, Alice came around the corner.  
Mulder grabbed her and started kissing her roughly.  "Hey, 
babe.  Why don't we continue our fun back in my bunk?"  he 
held her tight and started stroking her buttocks.

"Fox, let me go.  We have work to do.  There'll be plenty of 
time for that later," she laughed as she tried to squirm out 
of his embrace.  The more she struggled, the tighter he held 
on.  He was kissing her roughly on the neck.  "Fox, I said 
stop that," said Alice as her laughter died away.  She began 
to seriously struggle.  "Let me go!"

When Scully saw what was happening, she approached Mulder 
and grabbed him by the belt.  She jerked backwards and he 
lost his balance.  He sat on the floor looking at Scully 
with menacing eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that, babe."

"Mulder, listen to yourself.  You're definitely infected 
with the parasite.  You need help."

"I don't need anything but a good fuck.  Alice and I are 
going to continue where we left off."  He got up and started 
toward Alice, who was trembling by the counter.

"Mulder, stop," Scully said with authority.  He heard the 
metallic click of a gun being cocked, and he slowly turned 
to look at her.

"What are you doing, Scully?" he asked in a low, threatening 
voice.

"Mulder, stop right there.  You are ill and need to be 
helped.  If you continue to threaten Alice, I'll be forced 
to defend her."  She dropped her voice.  "Mulder, don't 
force my hand."

"You won't shoot me," he said as he slowly approached her.  
"You like me too much.  In fact, I bet you were jealous of 
Alice back there in the dorm.  I bet you wish it had been 
you back there sitting on top of me, my cock buried in your 
cunt.  I know you've wanted me for a long time--I could see 
it in your eyes.  Well, here's your chance, babe.  I'll do 
you right here on the floor."  He was reaching for Scully's 
gun and she stood horrified, listening to his words.  Before 
he could take the gun, though, Alice took a metal can that 
was lying on the floor and whacked him in the back of the 
head.  He collapsed limply to the ground.  She stood staring 
at him for a moment.

"I can't believe it's happening again.  He seemed so nice 
and sweet.  How could I have been so stupid?" she sobbed as 
she dropped the bucket.

"It's not your fault, Alice. This isn't the true Mulder--he 
would never treat anyone like this.  I know."

"Thanks," whispered Alice.  "We should probably lock him up 
before he comes to.  Let's get the others."

It took three of them to drag his limp body to the storage 
room where they had locked Hanson.  As he lay there, Scully 
quickly examined him to see if he was really hurt by the 
blow.  She also took the blood sample she wanted.  As she 
finished up, he began to stir, moaning.

"Scully, is that you?  What happened?" 

"There was a little accident.  You slipped and bumped your 
head.  You'll be OK."  As Scully was saying those words, she 
got up and slowly made her way toward the door. Before she 
got out, sudden comprehension lit up his eyes and he roared 
up.

"You lying bitch!  You attacked me!"  as he lunged for the 
door, Scully slipped out just as the other women slammed the 
door shut.  Before they could lock it Mulder shoved it 
partially open.  However, their combined effort finally 
succeeded in getting the door shut.  Scully was barely able 
to get the pin into the lock because her hands were shaking 
so bad.  They could see Mulder's face plastered against the 
glass in the door.

"I'll get you for this you pack of bitches!  I'll get out of 
here and fuck each one of you before I kill you!" he 
screamed in rage.

"Let's get out of here.  We have to figure out what we're 
going to do," said Scully.  She couldn't believe how stupid 
she had been.  She *should* have quarantined him when she 
first found out there was a problem.  *Oh, Mulder.  I hope I 
haven't made a fatal mistake,* she said to herself as she 
hurried back to the mess hall.

In the mess hall, the women sat at the table; a somber mood 
had settled over the room.

"He seemed so fun last night," whispered Alice, who was 
still shaken by the change in him.

"I could have told you that was how it started.  But no, no 
one listens to me."

"Shut up, Mary!  It was different with you and Hanson," 
Alice said, embarrassed.  "Fox and I seemed to really have 
something."

"Ladies, please," said Scully, trying to think.  "Let's not 
worry about that now.  We have to find a way to help Mulder.  
He's sick and needs our help."

"What he needs is a bullet in the head," threatened Mary.

Scully stood up and faced the women squarely.  "That is not 
going to happen.  Despite his obnoxious behavior he is still 
my partner and I won't let any of you hurt him.  All I have 
to do is figure out a way to counteract the parasite; then 
he'll be back to normal."

"Great, but he WILL break out of there.  That room could 
hold Hanson because he was a 98-pound weakling, but your 
partner is too big and strong to be caged there for long.  
We need a person to watch over that room to warn the others 
if he starts working his way out.  And he will NOT stop 
trying until he succeeds," said Monica in a dry tone.  "I'll 
take the first watch."

"Good.  We'll each do 3 hour shifts.  I'll go to the lab and 
take another look at that parasite.  Samantha, you'll spell 
Monica first, then Alice and Mary.  I'll take the last 
shift." 

"Come on, Mary.  Let's go finish packing up our equipment.  
Alice, why don't you consolidate our supplies so we know 
what we have."

Monica sat in a chair across from the door.  She saw Mulder 
pace back and forth, occasionally looking at her through the 
window in the door.  The angry gaze of those eyes shook her 
up every time. *Damn, has he got me spooked,* she thought.  
*It's like he's waiting for me to look away, or fall 
asleep.*  As she bent down to pick up her drink, she heard a 
loud crashing noise. Mulder had punched his arm through the 
window and was trying to reach the lock.  

"Dana!  Sam!  Anybody!  Come help me!" she screamed 
frantically as she began whacking at his arm with a shovel.  


"Stop that, bitch!  Let me out of here!"  He tried to grab 
the shovel away from her, but the awkward position of his 
body made it difficult.  

Scully and the others ran into the room, seeing Monica 
struggle to keep his hand away from the lock.  

"Sam, is there any wood here?  Something we can hammer 
across that window?"  

"Yeah, outside.  I'll be right back."

"Mulder, stop this!  We only want to help you!  If you 
continue doing this, we'll have to take drastic measures," 
grunted Scully as she blocked the lock with her body.

"Shut up, Scully!  I'm sick and tired of taking orders from 
you!  I'm the senior agent here and you're supposed to obey 
me! I order you to let me out of here!"  Scully hated 
continuing this conversation, but it had stopped him from 
trying to reach the lock.  She kept it up.

"Fat chance, bozo.  I'm relieving you of duty.  If you would 
stop this behavior I could get back to the lab and find a 
cure for you."

"I don't need your fuckin' help!  I'm just fine.  All I need 
is to fuck some red-haired pussy," he said in a husky voice.  
"Just come in here and spread those legs and I'll be good as 
new."  He laughed.

"Damn you, Mulder.  I'm not doing anything like that.  
You're just going to have to be a big boy and take a shot 
instead."  Scully was visibly relieved when Sam came back 
with the wood and tools.  They quickly nailed several boards 
across the window.

"That should keep him out of trouble for a while.  Hey, 
Dana, what's wrong?" Monica asked gently as Scully slid to 
the ground.  She buried her head in her hands and started 
crying.

"I can't believe all those things he said to me.  He's never 
been this way before," she stammered out between sobs.

"I know, Dana.  It's hard.  Alex Taylor and I were engaged 
to be married.  He talked to me the same way near the end.  
When he attacked Alice, I wouldn't let anyone else shoot 
him--I did it myself.  It was the hardest thing I've ever 
done," said Monica, hugging Scully.

"I should get back to the lab," said Scully.  

"Sam, can you spell me now?  I'd like to help Dana in the 
lab."

"Sure."

Scully and Monica made their way to the lab.  Suddenly, 
Scully had an idea. "I think I've got it!  Let's hurry."

"This is the blood sample I took from Mulder.  I have some 
tests I want to run.  Can you take a little of and put it on 
a slide so we can look under the microscope."

"Sure.  Dana, what are you thinking?" asked Monica as she 
prepared the slide.

"Well, I was thinking about why the parasite would not 
affect women.  Most of the hormones secreted by the body are 
in roughly the same proportions in men and women, except for 
the male and female hormones.  Both sexes produce both, but 
in men the amounts of estrogen and other hormones are small 
in comparison to the testosterone; in women, it's the 
opposite.  What if the reason women aren't infected is 
because we produce very little testosterone and a lot of 
estrogen?  The parasites seem to even increase the 
production of the testosterone in the body of the men, so 
they must thrive in that."

"So, what do we do for Fox?  It's not like we can tell him 
to just stop making testosterone."

"Well, that's true.  But, what if we injected him with a 
large amount of estrogen?  If we increase the amount, it 
might be enough to kill the parasite."

"Will that affect him permanently?"

"I don't think so."

"The slide's ready.  Hey, Scully, where are you going to get 
the estrogen you need?"

"How do you feel about needles?" Scully chuckled as she 
extracted some of her own blood.  She took some of the blood 
and added it to Mulder's blood under the microscope.

"Something's happening.  The parasites are showing increased 
activity.  Let's let them...no, they're settling down.  I'll 
try adding a bigger dose," she said as she put more of her 
blood on the slide. "They're at it again.  Some of them are 
actually dying," Scully said, looking into the microscope.  
"Not all of them, though.  Let me add a little more.  Yes!  
That did the trick.  So, if it's about 3 times as much, that 
would mean..." Scully's voice trailed away as she tried to 
figure out how much they would have to inject into Mulder to 
kill the parasite. "I'm going to have to take blood from all 
five of us to get enough hormones for Mulder.  I'll start 
with you and me, Monica.  When you're done, go get the 
others and have them come here."

"Dana!  Monica!  He's getting through the door!  I think 
he's trying to just bash his way out!" shouted Samantha as 
she burst into the lab.  "We have to get back there!"

"Sam, stay here with Dana--she needs a blood sample.  I'll 
get the others and stop him," cried Monica as she went out 
the door.

"You need my blood?  Why?"  Sam panted as she sat down in 
the chair.

"I figured out a way to help Mulder.  We're going to inject 
him with a massive dose of female hormones.  That should 
kill the parasite.  Now, it won't solve our more immediate 
problem of his violence, but at least it's a start."

"What about after?  If we stay here, he'll just get it 
again."

"Well, the clean-up crew is due here early tomorrow.  If we 
can keep him locked up all night, then we can inject him 
first thing in the morning.  It takes the body some time to 
equalize hormone levels, so he should be immune until we can 
get him out of here."

"Dana, I hope you're right."

"Yeah, me too.  Let's go help the others."

"No, Dana, you stay here and do your work.  I'll send the 
others back when we've contained the situation."

"Good luck!" Scully said as she turned to her equipment.

BAM!  

BAM!  

Sam heard Mulder throwing himself up against the door as he 
tried to force his way out.  Monica and Alice were holding 
the door closed with their bodies as Mary attempted to nail 
boards across the doorway.  Sam quickly grabbed the other 
end of the boards to help her.  Together they were able to 
nail them down.

"Whew!  That should hold him a while," sighed Monica as she 
sat on the ground.  She wiped the sweat from her forehead.  
He had almost made it out that time.

"We're never going to make it," moaned Mary as she slumped 
in a chair.

"Yeah we will, kid," Sam said.  "Dana thinks she has a cure.  
Which reminds me--Mary, Alice, you have to go give Dana some 
of your blood."

"What!" cried Mary.

"She's going to shoot him up with female hormones.  She 
thinks it will kill the parasite.  It won't stop his 
behavior, though."

"Great.  Sounds like a winner," Mary spat sarcastically.

"Well, it's better than shooting him!" cried Alice.

"You only say that because 'til he came around you hadn't 
been fucked since we've been out here."

"Stop that! It's not his fault he's sick," said Alice, 
bristling up to defend him.  "And besides, Hammer and I were 
*very* close."

"Stop this now!" yelled Monica.  "Listen to yourselves!  Can 
we get anymore catty?  We're scientists, for God's sake!  
Let's start using a little more brain power here.  Does Dana 
have to think of everything?"

"Sorry Monica.  Come on, Alice, let's go to the lab so Dana 
can play around with her chemicals.  Fat lot of good it'll 
do us, but it'll pass the time," said Mary.

"I'm starting to really hate her," mumbled Alice as she 
followed Mary out the door.

Scully worked through the night extracting the female 
hormones from the blood she'd taken.  It was slow work, but 
she was nearly complete when she heard a crash.  Monica came 
tearing into the lab.

"He broke through!  We've got to get out of here!" Monica 
grabbed Dana.

"Wait!  I have to get the extract into the syringe.  We've 
got to inject him," she said breathlessly as she shakily 
filled the plunger.  "Got it!"

"Let's move!" cried Monica.

"Hold it, bitch," growled Mulder as he stalked into the lab.  
"I've got some business to take care of with my partner."  

"No, you hold it, Buster.  You're not getting near Dana," 
said Monica as she placed herself between Mulder and Scully.  
She kept her eyes on Mulder as she tried to figure out a way 
to get around him.

"I don't take orders from a cunt like you.  I'll break your 
neck," he threatened as he slowly moved closer to them.

"Stop!  I don't want to hurt you," she stammered, looking 
around frantically for a diversion.  Before he took a step 
further, Mary appeared behind him and hit him in the back 
with a stick.

"Take that you brute!  Leave them alone," she said as she 
backed away.  He turned to glare at her.  This gave Monica 
and Scully a chance to move near the door; they stood behind 
a counter.

"You'll regret that.  I'm going to break your arms," he said 
as he lunged for Mary.  He landed on top of her and brought 
her to the ground.  Mulder grabbed her arm and twisted it.  
Before he could do anything, Scully grabbed the stick Mary 
had dropped and hit him against the chest.  He fell 
backwards, wheezing for air. 

"Cone on, Mary!" cried Scully as she led Monica and Mary out 
the door.  "We've got to get out of here." She met up with 
the others and they ran out of the building into the woods.  


"He's going to find us," moaned Mary.

"You're probably right.  But, if we can avoid him for a few 
more hours, the back-up team will be here and they can help 
us subdue him," said Scully, trying to form a plan in her 
mind.  "If we could at least catch him long enough to inject 
him, we could get rid of the parasite.  I don't want what 
happened to Hanson happening to Mulder."

"Catch him?  How are we supposed to do that?" asked Alice.  
She remembered how he charged through the door like a rhino.  
"That door couldn't even hold him for long."

"I have a plan that just might work.  We need to lure him 
into a tight space that we can block off.  Monica, are those 
walkie-talkies I saw in the storage shed charged?"

"Yes, they always are.  Why?"

"Well, we're going to have to communicate with each other if 
this is going to work.  Let's you and I go get them."

"No, let's all go together.  There's safety in numbers," 
said Alice with a determined voice.

"You're probably right.  Let's go."

The women returned to their hiding place without incident.  
They almost ran into Mulder on there way back, but luckily 
he was too focused on where he was going to here their 
anxious breathing.

"Now, here's the plan.  Mary, I need you to..."  dictated 
Scully as she filled them in on the details of the plan.

Some time later, Monica asked, "Scully, what are we going to 
use as bait?"

Scully looked at her with an unreadable expression.  "Me."











Mulder was stalking around the woods looking for Scully.  He 
found it very hard to concentrate because of the red haze in 
his brain--he couldn't seem to control himself at all.  If 
he could just get his hands on her he knew he'd feel a lot 
better.  Alice had been a fun diversion, but when he really 
thought about it Scully was who he really wanted. Damn her!  
He stopped suddenly.  Could it be?  He'd seen a flash of red 
hair by the river.  He snuck up very quietly.  He gently 
pushed the bushes aside and saw Scully stooping by the river 
filling a canteen.  Mulder could barely contain his 
impulses.  It wouldn't do to just run at her--she'd hear him 
coming and get away.  So, he started crawling toward her on 
his hands and feet.

"Dana, he's coming up behind you," Monica said through the 
walkie-talkie.  Luckily, Dana had it on the very lowest 
volume so Mulder wouldn't be able to hear.  "He's about 100 
yards away.  You better make your run for it."

"Hold on -- I want him to feel like he's really going to 
make it.  I don't think he has enough energy for a sustained 
run."

"Oh, Dana, he's getting closer.  I'm really glad you can't 
see his face--he looks like a demon."

"It's OK.  I'm going to make a break for it soon.  Are the 
others ready?"

"Yeah, they're ready."

"Here I go!" cried Scully as she ran across the stones in 
the river.  She and the others had mapped this route out and 
Scully had given it a few test runs--but during practice she 
didn't have her sex-crazed partner chasing her.   She 
managed to get to the other side, and turned to look.  

"Damn it!" screamed Mulder when he saw her take off.  He had 
heard the crackle of a walkie-talkie right before she ran.  
He followed her across the river, but he couldn't keep his 
balance.  He slipped off a stone in the middle of the river, 
but managed to grab hold of it before he was swept away.  
"You're going to pay for this, Scully," he said as he 
struggled back onto the rock.

"You wish!  You couldn't fuck your way out of a harem full 
of sex-starved nymphomaniacs," taunted Scully.  

"Shut up bitch!  You wait right there and take what's coming 
to you," he said as he finally established his footing.  He 
slowly made his way across.

"Just try and catch me you bastard!" yelled Scully as she 
ran down into the woods.

Mulder had finally made it to the riverbank when Scully ran 
off. "Come back here," he responded as he ran after her.

Scully ran at top speed toward the trap they set for Mulder.  
She didn't waste any more breath teasing him, knowing that 
he was now too focused on catching her to give up.  She 
could here his heavy panting behind her; it sounded like he 
was getting closer.  His height advantage was allowing him 
to catch up with her.  She wasn't too worried, though, 
because the first obstacle was coming up.

Scully ran past a tree where Mary was hiding.  As Mulder 
came up behind her, Mary pulled with all her strength on the 
rope they had going across the path.  Mulder caught his foot 
on the rope and went sprawling to the ground; the force of 
the impact knocked the wind out of him.  

"That's the oldest trick in the book," he wheezed as Mary 
walked by him.

"You fell for it though, asshole," she spat back as she ran 
down the path after Scully. 

*Oh, they're going to pay,* thought Mulder as he staggered 
back up.  He slowly started racing down after the two women.  


Scully knew that she only had a few moments to catch her 
breath when she heard Mulder fall, but it was enough to keep 
going.

"One down!"  Mary said as she went past Scully.  "He's up 
again."

"I know.  I'm going."  She delayed a little until Mulder 
could see her, then took off again.  

When he saw Scully  he picked up speed.  He was not going to 
let his prey get away that easily.  Mary's rope had only 
momentarily set him back.  He'd get that red-haired little 
vixen if it was the last thing he would do. He decided to 
try something a little sweeter.

"Scully, please stop," he pleaded, "I only want to tell you 
how much I love you.  Is that so wrong?  Please stop."

Scully stumbled a little when she heard this.  He was going 
for the heavy artillery.

"Not a chance, Mulder," she yelled over her shoulder.

"Bitch!" he screamed, dropping all pretense.

"You got it big guy," she said as she neared the second trap 
they set for him.  

Alice was watching from her post up in a tree.  She saw 
Mulder slowly gaining on Scully.  Suddenly Scully veered to 
the edge of the path; Mulder didn't seem to notice as he 
continued down the middle.  He was getting close to Scully.  
Before he could grab her, though, he dropped into the 
shallow pit they had dug and covered with leaves.  Alice 
leapt to the ground and quickly ran over to him with a 
syringe filled with tranquilizers; she sta bbed him in the 
back with it then swerved to run.  Mulder was able to grab 
her  ankle before she got away.  She slammed to the ground 
as he dragged her to the pit.  

"Dana!" she screamed as she struggled to get out of his 
grip.  Scully stopped running and came back to see Alice 
fall into the pit with Mulder.  He punched her in the face 
and she crumpled to the ground.  He turned to watch Scully 
come back down the path.  She had to think quickly.

"Mulder, it's not her you want.  You've already had sex with 
her.  You want me, remember?  I thought you were interested 
in me.  You know," she said coyly, "I've always thought you 
were quite sexy.  Why don't you climb out of that pit and 
come over here?  I've got something I want to tell you."  
She smiled sweetly at him and batted her eyes.  Mulder stood 
transfixed for a moment, then climbed out of the pit.  He 
slowly approached Scully. 

"You really mean that?" he asked.

"Of course.  Come here," she gestured.

"OK."  Mulder walked over to her, reaching out to grab her 
arm. Scully swiftly kicked him in the groin and took off 
down the path.

"Sucker!" she cried as she ran off laughing.

Mulder had doubled over with pain, eyes squeezed shut.  He 
couldn't believe he'd fallen for that.  How could he have 
been so stupid?  He pulled himself up, staggering a little 
as the drugs started affecting his system. He'd have to 
hurry or he'd lose her again.  He could still see her red 
hair bobbing up and down the path in front of him.  *One 
more chance, * he thought to himself as he started following 
her.  *Better get her before you pass out.*  he very slowly 
picked up speed.

"Dana!  He's still coming," said Monica from her post.  
"He's a lot slower, though."

"I didn't think the drugs would knock him out completely," 
panted Scully into the walkie-talkie.  "We just needed to 
slow him down some." 

 She wasn't running anymore; Mulder wasn't moving very fast 
so she slowed down to a jog. Mulder followed behind her.  
His lack of sleep and food, the several times the women had 
assaulted him, *plus* the drugs were really wearing him 
down.  He was too determined, however, to stop now.  He saw 
Scully disappear into a small cave.  *This is my big 
chance,* he thought as he followed her in there.

Monica came down from her perch higher on the hill. Mary and 
Sam came out of their hiding places to join her.  

"We're going to have to go back to get Alice when we're done 
here.  He knocked her out in the pit," she relayed to them.

"Is he going to pass out from the drugs?" asked Mary.

"Dana said he wouldn't, but he's definitely slowing down. We 
should be able to overpower him.  Let's go," she answered as 
the three went into the cave.

Mulder slowly felt his way through the cave.  There was some 
light coming in from above, but not enough to see very 
clearly.  He did notice a bobbing light in front of him.  
*Must be Scully.  This must be where they're hiding out.*

He stopped when he came around the corner and saw her 
kneeling down by some backpacks.  He quickly surveyed the 
lay of the cave and noticed there were no other openings.  
He had her!  He decided to go with a direct approach.

"Well, Scully, it seems that I've finally got you where I 
want you," he leered.  Scully whirled around at the sound of 
his voice.

"Mulder!  I thought I'd lost you."

"I'm not that easy to get rid of--you know that.  That's why 
I'm such a good FBI agent," he replied as he walked toward 
her.  Halfway across the room he suddenly staggered and sank 
to his knees.  He stayed down for only a moment.

"You girls shot me up with somethin' powerful.  But it still 
won' save ya'," he said, slurring his words; the drugs were 
finally taking over.  He swayed in his tracks.  Scully 
approached him cautiously.  

"You don't look so good, Mulder.  Why don't you let me help 
you."

"Don' need your help.  I'm jus fine," he muttered.  He could 
still feel the rage and desire inside, but the urgency was 
receding.

"It's OK, big guy.  I won't hurt you.  You're very sick and 
I've got some medicine that'll cure you.  Why don't you lie 
down?" she said quietly, putting her hand on his arm.

He flung her hand away.  "I don' trus' you--you hur' me," he 
mumbled.  Scully put her hand back on his arm and pulled him 
down to the ground with her.  

"Mulder, you *can* trust me.  It's me, Scully, your 
partner."

He looked at her with glazed eyes for a moment.  Before she 
could stop him, he grabbed the back of her head and pulled 
her toward him.  He captured both her lips with his and 
kissed her, wrapping his arm around her.  

"I really do love you, Dana," he whispered as he pulled back 
from the kiss.  She was too shocked to respond.  He leaned 
over and kissed her again.   She could feel his warm tongue 
exploring her mouth.  She couldn't believe how wonderful it 
felt, how she didn't want it to end.

"Mulder, stop," she stammered, pulling away from him.  He 
didn't try to grab her again; he just sat there, looking at 
her with those warm hazel eyes.

"Dana, you ready to shoot him up with those hormones?" 
Monica said as she and the others walked in.  

Scully leapt up to her feet, startled.  

"Yeah, I guess so," she stuttered, fumbling in her pockets.  
She found the syringe full of hormone extract.  She looked 
at Mulder sitting on the floor, her hands shaking.

As Mulder realized what they were going to do, he struggled 
back up to his feet.

"Monica, you and the others are going to have to hold him 
down." 

"Don' touch me," he said, backing away from the others.  His 
reactions were too slow, however, and the three women 
grabbed him and threw him to the ground.  Monica, the 
largest and strongest, sat on his legs.  Mary and Sam each 
held one of his arms down.

"Stop it!  Get off of me!" he yelled, squirming in their 
grasp.   He struggled in vain-- he didn't have enough 
strength left to free himself.  

Scully approached him with the syringe.  She ripped the 
sleeve off his shirt to get to his arm.  

"Scully, don' do this!  Nothin's wrong with me!" he 
bellowed.  

"Mulder, be quiet.  It'll be over soon?" she said as she 
injected him with the hormones.

The reaction was immediate. He let out a scream and began to 
convulse, his eyes rolling back into his head.  He started 
making gargling sounds in his throat.

"Hold him down!" yelled Scully, trying to hold down his 
torso as his body heaved and twisted.

"What's going on?"  cried Alice as she staggered into the 
cave.  "Did you inject him?"

"Yes!  He started to convulse!  I guess the parasite isn't 
going to die without a fight!" responded Scully.  The four 
women were desperately trying to hold on to his limbs.  "At 
this rate, the bug will either die very soon, or Mulder 
will."  Scully pushed the last thought out of her mind. 
Mulder heaved up a few more times, let out an inarticulate 
cry, then went completely limp.  The women slowly let go of 
him.

"Is he...is he...dead?" whispered Alice, approaching him.

Scully put her hand on his neck, feeling for a pulse.  
Relief flooded her face when she felt the steady but weak 
heartbeat.

"He's alive," she sighed, as she sat back, wiping the sweat 
from her forehead.  

"What do we do now?"  asked Monica, putting her hand on 
Scully's shoulder.

"Well, we should probably get him back to the dorm.  I'll 
need to run more tests on him to make sure all the parasite 
is dead.  I should probably take some more blood from us, as 
well, to extract more hormone.  He may need another dose."

"You know, we're not safe yet.  He may have no more 
parasite, but he's still going to be violent."

"I know.  But if we can get him back to a bed we could tie 
him down until the back-up crew arrives."

Back in the infirmary, Scully finished bandaging Alice's 
face where Mulder had punched her.  

"Alice, I'm so sorry about what happened.  I should have 
been the one to inject him."

"Dana, don't worry.  I knew the risk when I volunteered to 
be the one to do it."

"Well, I still am sorry."

"Believe me, I am too," chuckled Alice as she got up.  "I've 
got to go relieve Mary.  It's my turn to watch over him."

"OK.  Tell the others I'll be in the lab.  The back-up team 
should be here in a couple of hours."

"Great!  I can't wait to get back home.  It's been a long 
year."

Scully had been in the lab for a while.  Mulder's blood 
sample had shown no live parasites in his blood; however, 
the hormone levels were still very high, as were the levels 
of the other substances she couldn't identify. 

 It would be a few weeks before his blood chemistry would 
normalize.  When they got back, he'd probably be put under 
quarantine until he was better.  He wouldn't like that one 
bit.  He'd been her patient before, and he was obnoxious 
when confined.  Maybe she would take a few weeks off and 
take a nice, quiet vacation somewhere far away from him.  

Scully failed to hear the lab door open as she was musing 
about possible vacation spots.  She jumped when she heard 
Mulder's voice. 

"So, Scully, working late again?  Why don't you get some 
rest."  His voice was hard and cruel.  

"Mulder!  How did you get in here?  How did you get out of 
bed?" she asked, making her way toward the door.

"Oh, there's nothing a little sweet talk won't get you.  
Alice is such a nice girl.  It's too bad I had to hit her 
again.  Now I guess she'll have matching bandages," he 
smirked.  He lunged at Scully and grabbed her two arms.  
"You won't get away this time."

"That's where you're wrong!" she yelled, pulling herself 
away.  He seemed surprised at his inability to hold her.  
"You're very weak, Mulder.  You're no match for me right 
now," she said with a strong, authoritative voice.

"Well, I *would* agree with you, Scully, except for one 
thing..."

"What's that?"

"This," he said as he cocked his gun and pointed it at her.  
"I realized that I couldn't outfight you.  So, I figured I'd 
outsmart you."  He chuckled as he came toward her again.  
"Come on, Scully.  All I want to do is fuck you.  Is that 
really worth losing your life over?"

"Yes!" she screamed as she ran out the door.  He fired at 
her but she was too fast.  He tucked the gun in his pants 
and loped after her.  He followed her outside into the woods 
again.

"Are you getting a sense of deja vu, Scully?" Mulder yelled 
after her.  

She was tired herself, so he didn't need to run at full 
speed.  Scully was getting scared.  This time she didn't 
have reinforcements.  He had said he'd taken out Alice, but 
where were the others?  She swerved off onto the path they 
had taken earlier to catch Mulder.  She knew that area and 
felt she had a chance to beat him.  She noticed he was 
following her at a jog, not full speed.  He must know that 
she's tired herself.  She became so preoccupied with keeping 
her eye on him that she failed to notice the pit in front of 
her.  With a surprised yell she fell into the hole; 
something in her ankle snapped.

*Oh my God,* she thought as she scrambled out of the hole.  
She tried to stand up but she could barely put any weight on 
her foot.  She started limping away as Mulder rushed up to 
her.  He grabbed her by the arm and threw her on her back.  
He straddled her body and held her wrists above her head.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, panting.  "Well, Scully, it looks 
like I won.  Or, maybe *you* won since now you're going to 
get the fuck of your life. Now, if you try anything, I'll 
blow your brains out," he growled as he cocked his gun and 
held it to her temple for a moment. He then grabbed her 
shirt at the neck and ripped it down the middle; he tore her 
bra, exposing her breasts.  He moaned as he lowered his head 
to her nipples, moving the gun back to her head.

"You taste delicious," he murmured.  He held both her hands 
in one of his and reached down to undo her jeans.  She 
couldn't figure out where the gun was, so she just prayed 
that one of the others would get here in time to stop him. 
He continued to mouth her breasts as he managed to pull her 
jeans midway down her thighs.  

"That should be far enough," he said as he sat up.  He 
reached to undo his jeans, but couldn't quite manage with 
one hand.

"Damn button-fly jeans," he muttered as he got a couple of 
them undone. 

 Before he could continue, though, he heard a loud voice 
behind him.

"Agent Mulder, stop!  Move away from agent Scully!" 

Mulder spun his head to look, grabbing his gun.  A ring of 
federal agents surrounded them, pointing guns at him.  He 
didn't move.

"Agent Mulder, I said to move away from agent Scully. Put 
your gun down.  If you don't comply, we'll be forced to 
shoot."

Scully had frozen when she heard the voices.  As she felt 
Mulder loosen his grip on her wrists, she punched him in the 
jaw.  He fell back and she scurried away on her hands and 
knees.  He sat up and started after her, but the other 
agents closed in around him.  

"Agent Mulder, lie face down with your hands over your 
head!"  said the leader of the group.  

"Don't shoot, him!  He's sick!  He's not in control of 
himself!" cried Scully from behind the line.  Two female 
agents were trying to help her, but she pushed them away.  
Grasping her shirt around herself, she limped over to the 
other agents. "Let me talk to him," she said to the leader.  
"He'll listen to me."

"Go ahead."

Scully approached Mulder, who was squatting down ready to 
pounce on anyone who would approach him.  She slumped down 
next to him.

"Mulder, it's me, Scully.  I know you're feeling scared and 
threatened right now, but these people are here to help you.  
Please do what they say and lie down on the ground."

Mulder turned to look at her.  She could see the desperate 
look in his eyes. 

"Scully, all I wanted to do was show you how much I care.  
Why did you have to hurt me so much?"  he whispered.

"Mulder, I know that's what you thought you were doing.  But 
you hurt me, and you hurt Alice.  I know that's not the real 
you.  Come back to me, Mulder," she pleaded.  She moved 
close enough to reach for the gun; he made no move to stop 
her.  She threw it outside the circle of people surrounding 
him.  Immediately the federal agents ran up to Mulder and 
forcefully shoved him face down, pulling his hands behind 
him to cuff them.

"Wait!  I said he is ill!  He should be quarantined.  He's 
not a criminal!" she cried as they roughly dragged him away.

"Agent Scully, Alice Green is pressing charges against agent 
Mulder for assault, battery, and rape."

"Rape?  He didn't rape her!"

"Well, those are the charges.  We have to bring him in."

"Don't worry, Mulder.  I'll help you," she called after her 
partner.

"Agent Scully, how can you defend him?  He was going to rape 
you if we hadn't stopped him!"

"You don't understand.  He's ill--he doesn't know what he's 
doing.  How can I blame him for that?"

"Well, you have more tolerance than I."

Scully shrugged as she hobbled after the agents pulling 
Mulder along.  

Back in Washington, DC, Scully was walking toward the 
quarantine room at the hospital.  Mulder had been there for 
three weeks so far.  He was probably climbing up the wall 
since he wasn't even allowed visitors.  This had been her 
first chance to come see him.

As she walked into the room, she saw Mulder sitting up in 
bed surrounded by the quarantine barrier.  He looked up when 
she walked in; when he saw who it was, he quickly dropped 
his gaze to the book he was reading.

"Hi Scully," he mumbled.

"Hi, Mulder.  How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess.  I can leave here in another week."  He 
continued to stare at his book.

"Mulder, look at me."  She saw him finger the page in the 
book for a moment before answering.

"How is Alice doing?" he asked, evading her question.

"She's good.  I'm glad she dropped the charges against you.  
She wants to come see you, if you don't mind."

"No," he said abruptly.

"Why not?"

"I just can't," he said as he put his book down.  "I'm 
really tired.  Would you please leave?".  He lay back down 
in the bed and turned his back on Scully.  

"Mulder, I'm not going to leave until you talk to me."

"What do you want to talk about?  The weather?  Sports?" he 
spat at her, sitting back up.

"I want to talk about us."

"There's nothing to say.  I gave Skinner my resignation 
yesterday, so you'll be free of me soon enough."  He fixed 
his stare on his hands, twisting a bit of the sheet.

"I know.  That's why I'm here.  Skinner wanted me to come by 
and convince you not to resign."

"I have to resign.  If I can't work on the X-files, I can't 
stay.  If I can't work with you, I can't stay.  Why don't 
you leave me alone?" he moaned, working the sheet more 
fiercely.

Scully pulled up a chair.  "What makes you think you have to 
give up those things?"

"Won't I?" he whispered, finally looking into her eyes.  She 
could see the despair in his face.

"Mulder, I know that wasn't you attacking us.  It was that 
damnable parasite in your blood."

"You mean, you still want to work with me?  Even after I hit 
you, and said horrible things to you, and..." he gulped, 
barely able to get the words out.  "Tried to rape you?"

"Don't get me wrong, Mulder.  I was *very* angry back there.  
While we were trying to subdue you, I didn't stop to think 
about what you were really doing.  After you were taken 
away, though, it hit me all of sudden.  I was upset, and 
scared, and lots of other things.  Frankly, I still am.  But 
I've had a few weeks to sort things out too, and I think we 
can salvage this relationship. I truly and honestly believe 
in the work we're doing.  Our relationship won't be the 
same; I now it'll take some time before I feel safe around 
you again.  We'll work it out."

He looked at her for a long time, trying to read the truth 
of her words.  

"I'd like to start over again, too," he said, his voice full 
of emotion.  "I can't ever apologize enough, or make it up 
to you.  I know that."

She pushed the barrier toward Mulder so she could get 
closer.  Through the plastic, she took his hand.

"We'll get through this together.  We're partners, 
remember?"

"Yeah.  Partners."  

Mulder took another look at Scully, and allowed himself to 
hope. 



The End.