Title: When I see him again
Author: Laura Sprys
Date: 5/17/2001
E-Mail: short_and_cute@hotmail.com
Rating: bordering between no-rating and a PG
(but the PG would be a mighty stretch)
Category: MSR
Summary: A drug raid gone badly
Spoilers: DON'T PANIC: There aren't any spoilers.
I swear.
Disclaimer: I've borrow our illustrious duo for a bit ...
to write something that Carter wouldn't dare ...
Mulder and Scully having a life ...
because his toying is too hard to bare...

When I see him again
By: Laura Sprys

$%&$%&$%&$

Trying his best to get up, Mulder curled back on the
ground, the pain making the room before him spin. In
his haze, he saw Scully walk slowly into the room.
Her entire front covered in blood. Before he could
warn her, the bat swung with full force.

Mulder saw her fall after slamming into the wall, the
bat seeming to land a solid blow on the side of her
head. In the briefest of moments before he passed out,
he prayed the she never knew what hit her, that she
felt no pain as the wood broke her skull.

$%&$%&$%

Roughly 4 hours later, Mulder suddenly woke. The first
thing he noticed was his arm encased in a cast and a
throbbing pain in his stomach. He was just about to
holler for Scully when it flashed through his mind ...
he saw the wood flying through the air in slow
motion and her head twisting like a rag doll's.

Ignoring the pain, he got up quickly and went out
into the hall to find someone who could help him.
That person happened to be Skinner, who was directly
outside the door. Without a greeting, "what happened
to Scully? Where is she?"

Skinner, recognizing that Mulder was going to hit the
floor in about two seconds, held him up by the arm and
turned him back into the room. "Sit down Mulder, before
you fall down."

With a cold sweat breaking out on his face, he did as
ordered, hoping her wouldn't puke on his boss' shoes.
"Will you tell me what's going on? Where's Scully?"

"She's a couple of rooms down."

"Then she's alive? She's okay?"

"Alive, yes. Okay, not by a long shot."

Offering up a silent 'thank you', he focused back on
Skinner, "tell me what happened? When can I see her?"

"One question at a time. First, the bat broke your
forearm into four pieces, with three screws holding
it together. It also appears that you took a blow to
the abdomen as well but, except for massive bruising,
you'll heal."

Not really caring about his own condition, "but what
about Scully? Where did all the blood come from?"

"She got caught behind the ear which split her scalp
open and caused some small fractures in her skull."

He interjected softly, "no!"

"But she'll be fine. The doctors are with her right now."

"Has she woken up yet?"

He shook his head, "not yet and from what I'm told,
she could be out for another day easy."

"I want to be there when she wakes up."

"I'll see what I can do but first, I need to know
exactly what happened before we found you ... I mean,
if you're up for it."

"We went in, cleared the room and Scully headed for
one of the closed doors. I have no idea where he came
from but one whaled on me with the bat. After he
caught me in the stomach, I went down with the wind
knocked out of me." He paused here, remembering the
panicked gulps he took, trying to get enough air to
yell a warning. He shuddered at the thought of what
happened next, "while I was down, he swung at my arm
and cracked it good."

"And where does Scully come in?"

Swallowing hard, "Scully came out the door and the
last think I remember is the stunned look on her face
and her shirt soaked in blood."

"Who hit her?"

"I'm pretty sure it was the same guy who got me. I
know someone jumped over me and I remember the dark
hair."

"She didn't react to him at all?"

"Off the record?"

"All this is off the record Mulder."

"She just stood there. I don't think she had any idea
where she was or what was going on" Looking hard at
Skinner, "what was in that room sir?"

Breathing deeply for a moment, "when we went in, we
found the bodies of five children, two girl, three
boys. Two were hanging from the rafters, two were
broken and stuffed in cedar chests and the last was
in a home-made guillotine."

Mulder went white, "this was supposed to be a drug
raid."

"I know. We had no idea what we'd find."

A terrible thought crept into his mind and he
proceeded carefully, "how long had the children
been dead?"

"The one in the guillotine was still warm when we
got to him. The rest has been gone anywhere from 12
hours to two weeks."

A look of horror came across his face, "did you find
any fishing line or string in the room?"

"There was some attached to the blade so it could be
released. Why?"

He stood and headed for the door, making it to Scully's
room a few seconds later. Skinner caught up with him and
held him back, "why?"

With desolation bordering on tears in his voice, he
told him, "she had to have tripped the blade when she
walked into the room. He had been alive until that
point ... that's where all the blood on her came from.
It hit her from the jugular being cut."

Stepping back slightly, Skinner rubbed his forehead,
"shit, no wonder she didn't react to anybody."

Mulder pushed the door open, the muscles in his
stomach screaming from use, "I'm staying here with
her."

"Fine. I'll be back in a while. I want to get over
to the house for a better look."

"Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"Please keep this as quiet as you can. It's already
going to kill her ... she doesn't need more press."

Nodding, "watch her Mulder."

"Always."

$%&$%&%

The room was quiet when he opened the door, only the
faint glow of the sunset form the window allowed him
to see Scully. She lay on the bed, half her head
encased in gauze and tape, her face and neck still
spotted with blood, both hers and the young boy's.
Walking slowly into the bathroom, he soaked a washcloth
in warm water and gently cleaner her as best he could.

Once that was finished, he sat in the chair next to
her bed, assuming the role that Scully had played so
many times, that of watcher. He fell asleep there,
his head on the bed and his hand on hers.

%$%&$&%&$

Mulder's vigil won over the nurses and, given that
Scully had a single room, they dug up a narrow bed.
Rolling it into her room, two of the nurses maneuvered
a few things around and were able to push the extra
bed flush against Scully's. They had already woken up
Mulder and he climbed gratefully onto the mattress,
thanking them profusely. One of the nurse's told him
quietly, "we heard what happened in that room. It's
the least we could do for both of you."

$%&$%&$%

The floor nurses seemed to have adopted the pair and
when Skinner arrived the next afternoon, they wouldn't
allow him into the room, "they need their rest and
I'm not about to let you go in there and hassle them."

Skinner was silenced with a mixture of annoyance and
amusement with amusement winning out in the end,
"will you at least tell me if Agent Scully has woken
up yet?"

Smiling at him, "not yet but her vitals are good.
She'll wake up when she's ready."

$%&$%&$

Meanwhile, Mulder was drawn out of his sleep by a
change in Scully's breathing. Curled up on his left
side facing her, he opened his eyes and saw she was
in the process of waking up. "Hey there."

She answered him in a raspy voice, "Mulder?"

"The one and only."

Licking her lips, she gradually woke up more, "am
I in a hospital?"

"Yeah. We both are."

Slowly moving her hand to her head, she gingerly felt
the bandages, "I want to go home."

"We can't. Not until the doctors check us out."

Holding her head as still as possible, she swung her
legs off the bed, sitting for a minute to get her
bearing, "I'm a doctor and I want to go home."

Knowing arguing with her would be futile; he pulled
himself off the bed as well. Handing her her clothes
from the chair, which were still stiff from the
blood, "get dressed but don't go anywhere without
me okay?"

"All right."

Mulder pulled on his jeans as quick as he could with
a cast and major pain to deal with. Going out into
the hall, he saw Skinner at the nurses' station, "sir?"

"Mulder? What are you doing out here?"

"She's awake and she wants to go home."

The nurse shook her head, "she can't. The doctor'll
never let her out. Not this soon."

"Then you might want to go find a doctor because
she's determined to leave. Right now."

Starting down the hall, "I'll go wake him up."

$%&$%&$%

About two hours later, Mulder pulled the car in
front of Scully's apartment. While they had been
waiting for the doctor, Skinner had asked her for her
story. She covered it swiftly, "we went in. I
investigated another room and when I came out, I got
hit on the side of the head." She didn't mention
anything else and one threatening look from Mulder
kept Skinner from inquiring further for the time being.

Once they were in the apartment, though, Mulder
became torn as to whether he should bring it up or
not. Heading into the kitchen, he swallowed three
Tylenol in an attempt to dull the throbbing pain in
his arm. Going back to the living room, he found
Scully standing with her hand on her bandage.

Without turning around, she asked him, "I can't
remember, do you get blood out with cold water or
warm?"

"Cold." Coming over to her, "do you want me to wash
out your shirt?"

Still not looking at him, she said no and headed for
the bedroom, stripping off her shirt and bra as she
walked. Coming out a minute later, she was now wrapped
in a large thermal shirt and flannel pants. She headed
for the trashcan in the kitchen and dumped the small
pile of clothed into it. Still looking at the floor,
she aimer her words at Mulder, "I think I would like
a nap."

"All right."

Scully turned back to the bedroom but stopped in front
of the door, which had swung shut after she came out.
Her hand hovered over the knob but could not be forced
to turn it.

She stood there, trembling slightly until Mulder came
up to her, asking softly, "can I join you in that nap?"

Shaking her head yes, he opened the door swiftly and
she headed towards the bed, curling up immediately,
"good night Mulder."

Highly doubting it would be a good night for her
at all, he lay next to her, barely touching her back,
"see you in the morning Scully."

$%&$%&$

She tried her hardest to fall asleep but even Mulder's
warm body a few inches away wasn't a great comfort to
her. Finally she gave in about an hour later, sliding
from under the covers. Heading into the bathroom, she
grabbed the hamper and lugged it to the laundry room.
Sorting the clothes, she filled the washer and turned
it on.

Debating what to do next, the sloshing chug of the
washer caught her ear for some reason, the rhythm
calming the frantic pace of her brain. Without thinking
further, she switched off the light and settled
herself on the floor, her back against the warm
machine.

Mulder found her there about 1/2 hour later. Not
saying a word, he sat next to her, wrapping his healthy
hand around hers. Perfectly content to just sit with
her, Mulder leaned his head back.

After the final spin cycle, Scully opened her eyes and
looked in his direction, "he had the most piercing
eyes I've ever seen. They seemed to be lit from
inside." She went another few minutes before she
continued, "they reminded me of yours."

"It wasn't your fault Scully."

"Yes it was. I walked into that room. I set it off.
I killed that little boy."

"Not intentionally."

"No, but that doesn't change the fact that I ended
his life."

"Scully ..."

"Mulder," turning sideways so her side was now
against the washer and she was facing him, "I was
the last person he was. Tomorrow, I get to tell
his mother and father that I'm the reason their
son won't ever come home again."

"But ..."

"And I get to tell them that when I opened that door,
for a split second, I saw him smile. A big, toothy
grin that I will remember until the day I see him
again and am able to tell him that I'm sorry."

Mulder leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, which
she responded to with a smile of her own, "how 'bout
we split some aspirin, then crawl back in bed?"

"I love you Mulder."

"I love you too Scully."

$%&$%&$%%

Thanks for reading ... enter anytime ... my stories
like to have visitors (all of which can be found or
can be found soon, at the gossamer site -
either under Sprys, Laura or Sprys, L.)

Affirmation (Orison continued)
All Things (revisited)
Always been yours
Another Sunrise
Awake and Dreaming
Canceled
Channels
Dear Mulder
Indulgences
Joy in Mudville
Letters
Lost Keys
Lucky Ones
Miles to Go
Picture of the Past
Quietly into the Night
September Puddles
The Walk
Thrill of the Grass
When I see him again
Zzzzzzzz (Sleeping with the Kitty)