He was resting his head on the bed at Dana's side. He looked up quickly at the sound of his name, not toward the source of the voice but directly at her daughter. The hope was still fading from his eyes when he turned to face her.

"Hi, Mrs. Scully."

She reached out and touched his face, gently brushing the hair back from his forehead. She was surprised by the wistful sadness that darkened his eyes, realizing an instant too late that Dana had probably touched him this way.

"Fox, have you been here all night?"

"I guess so. What time is it?" His focus returned to his partner.

"A little after six." She followed his gaze to her daughter's pale features. The pain flashed as if it were something new instead of the constant companion it had become over the past few days.

"Fox, why don't you go get some rest? I'll be here with Dana." She squeezed his shoulder gently and he looked up at her with glassy, red-rimmed eyes. Exhaustion or tears, she couldn't tell which. Probably both. "It's all right, Fox. I'll call you if there's any change."

He nodded and stood up, swaying slightly for a moment. He was still holding Dana's hand.

"I'll be back in a few hours." He squeezed his partner's fingers gently and placed her hand back at her side. Then he turned without another word and headed for the door, shoulders slumped in defeat.

*He's not going to make it through this.* The thought surprised her, but as she watched him walk slowly away, she knew it was true.

She felt his body heat in the chair as she assumed his spot and reached out to take her daughter's hand, also still warm from his touch. "You're his strength, sweetheart, just as you've always been mine. I don't know what either of us will do without you."

She folded her child's limp fingers into her own and resumed her vigil.

***

He was surprised to find himself at his apartment door. The drive here was a blank. His numb fingers fumbled briefly for the right key, but as he rested his left hand on the knob, the door moved. It was unlocked and slightly ajar. His visitors. He pushed the door all the way open and found the chaos he expected. X's trap had worked but he felt no regret for having failed to take advantage of the opportunity. None of it mattered now.

He headed slowly for the living room, idly surveying the haphazard piles of papers, books and files that marked his path. If he *had* stayed here to claim the lives that X had offered up for him, it would have made no difference. He might even have lost his own life in the process. The sudden appeal of that thought drained the last of his reserves and he leaned against the archway on legs that no could no longer bear his weight. He sagged to a crouch, head bowed, hands outstretched in hopeless entreaty as the tears finally came.

"Where is it, Mr. Mulder?" The sound of a weapon being cocked jerked his attention toward his bedroom door. A man stood silhouetted in the shadows, leaning rakishly against the door jamb. "It's not in this apartment. I checked. While my orders don't include harming you, I'm quite comfortable with improvisation. Your choice." He motioned for Mulder to stand. "Tell me where it is."

Mulder ignored the gesture and remained crouched against the wall. "What did they do to Scully?" He could still hear the tears in his voice but he was past caring. Let this asshole think what he wanted.

"That's not my area of interest. To be frank, I couldn't be less concerned whether she lives or dies. My only..."

The throw-away reference to Scully was more than Mulder could take. Knowing the futility of his action, or maybe because of it, he sprang to his feet and threw himself at the man's gun hand.

The muzzle flash blinded him and the impact spun him around. Silenced. He had a silencer on the gun. *My neighbors appreciate your thoughtfulness*, Mulder thought blearily. He had landed on all fours with his back to the man. A foot planted against his backside propelled him the rest of the way to the floor.

"Mr. Mulder, you disappoint me." The hammer clicked back again, this time directly next to his ear. "I suggest you give me what I want."

He knew he'd been hit, but all he could feel was a heavy numbness spreading through his chest. "There's nothing more you can take away from me." He was surprised to find that his voice still worked.

The man was silent for a moment. Then Mulder heard the hammer click back into place and the man stood up.

"You're right, Mr. Mulder." He holstered his weapon and walked to the door. "The value of whatever evidence you have dies with your partner. And with you."

Through the fog that now pervaded his senses, Mulder heard the front door open and close. The rough texture of the rug under his face scraped across his cheek as he turned his head. His left arm was pinned beneath his body and his right lay useless at his side. He just needed to rest for moment, then he'd get to the phone and call for help. Just a few more minutes, and he'd be able to move.

He closed his eyes.

***

"How is she, Mom?"

Maggie looked up and smiled. "About the same, I think. Maybe a little better." She stroked her younger daughter's cheek softly with the backs of her fingers. "Where were you last night, Melissa? I thought you would be here."

"I went to Mulder's apartment to tell him what the doctor said about Dana's condition. To tell him that he was running out of chances to make his peace with what's happened." Her expression hardened at the memory. "He refused."

"Melissa, he was with her when I got here this morning. The nurse told me he'd been here most of the night."

"I don't understand..."

"Try not to judge him, Melissa. I'd never even met Fox until the night Dana disappeared, but we spent a lot of time together after that. I came to understand why she's so protective of him." She was silent for a long moment, her gaze turned inward.

"Mom?"

"I should never have sent him home. Dana wouldn't want him to be alone now." She stood up. "I have to call him."

"No, Mom. You stay with Dana. I'll call him."

***

He was drifting in soft, featureless darkness. It was more restful than any sleep he'd had in a long time, and he wanted to stay. But something in the dark kept tugging at him, barely skimming the farthest edge of his awareness. Something he desperately wanted to avoid. It gradually resolved into a shrill, insistent noise. He tried to roll away from it.

The pain made him gasp. Something hot stabbed into his chest from just under his right collarbone all the way through to his back. He immediately stopped moving.

Reality reasserted itself with a vengeance. The sound was his phone ringing and he knew what was on the other end of the line. He had no idea how long he'd been drifting, but the amount of blood soaking his shirt and the rug beneath him told him it had been too long. Or not long enough.

They were calling to tell him that Scully was dead. He had let himself hope last night. He'd told her how much he needed her, how much he wanted her to come back to him. Holding her hand, watching her breathe, he'd allowed himself to believe she would hear him and want to come back. But what would she be coming back to? A career in shambles, thanks to her misguided allegiance to him. A life with no prospects beyond following in his endlessly meandering footsteps toward an uncertain future. He'd drawn her down with him into the muck without a backward glance and now she'd paid with her life.

He squeezed his eyes shut against bitter tears. Nothing would ever change now. Scully had been the only good thing in his life and now someone was calling to tell him that she was dead. He looked around for the phone and spotted it on the floor near the couch. It was still ringing. Or maybe it was ringing again. It didn't matter. Nothing did.

He turned his face down into the soggy rug and closed his eyes.

***

She hadn't been alarmed, or even surprised, when Mulder didn't answer his phone. But now as she approached his door, a sense of foreboding chilled her and she paused with her hand poised to knock. Instead, she called out to him.

"Mulder? Mulder, it's Melissa Scully." Silence. She knocked sharply a few times, then listened again. Nothing.

"Mulder, I need to talk to you. Please let me in."

Maybe he wasn't home. But where else would he be with his partner on her deathbed? "Mulder, please." She knocked again, then placed her hand on the knob and turned it. The door was unlocked. She pushed it open.

He was lying on the floor facing away from her. Even in the dim light, she could see the dark stain on his back. "Mulder!"

She stepped over him and nearly slipped in the blood. It was literally pooled around him. She knelt next to him and her knees were immediately soaked with it. "Mulder, my God! What happened?"

She had never seen so much blood and it paralyzed her for an instant. She slapped his face gently. "Mulder? Mulder!" His eyes were closed but she could see him breathing.

She looked around frantically for a phone and found it on the floor at his feet. She punched in the numbers with fingers that felt clumsy and unfamiliar.

"911 Emergency."

"I need an ambulance quickly, please! My friend is bleeding to death."

"What is the address?"

God, she couldn't remember his address. "I don't know. Hegel Place, apartment 42."

"Just a moment." She heard the operator tapping keys. "Is it 2630?"

"Yes, that sounds right. Please hurry."

"Is he breathing?"

"Yes."

"Help in on the way. I want you to stay on the phone with me until they arrive. Can you tell me what happened? Where is he bleeding?"

"His chest." She looked more closely at the bloodstained shirt. "He may have been shot. He's an F.B.I. agent. I'm sorry, I just don't know."

A hint of alarm crept into the woman's voice. "If there's a chance he's been shot, I have to send the police." Melissa could hear her speaking to someone else. She watched Mulder closely in the interim.

"The police are on the way. Are you an agent?"

A surprised laugh chuffed out. "No, I'm a friend." She stroked his face. "My sister is his partner."

"You should hear the approaching sirens very soon. They're almost there."

Melissa cocked her head and listened. "Yes, I hear them." She turned to Mulder. "Mulder, help is coming. Can you hear me?"

"Is he conscious?"

"No."

The sirens were right out front now and she heard doors slamming. "They're here."

"Good. You can hang up now. And good luck." The connection was broken just as the door burst open and two men crossed quickly to Mulder's side. One of them took her firmly by the shoulders and moved her out of the way.

"We'll take good care of him." He turned his attention to the man on the floor. "Sir, can you hear me?" He raised Mulder's lids one at a time and flashed a penlight into his eyes. His partner was checking the wound in Mulder's back.

"Gunshot exit wound just left of the scapula." He was cutting Mulder's shirt away.

"Entrance wound about an inch below the right clavicle." They pulled his shirt off in pieces. One of the men began to bandage the wounds as the other relayed blood pressure, pulse and respiration readings to someone at the other end of his headset. None of it meant anything to her, but their grim expressions and controlled haste spoke volumes.

Melissa stopped listening and began to pray.

***

Maggie Scully looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps, expecting to see Fox and Melissa. The man who was coming toward the bed looked familiar but it took her a moment to place him. Fox and Dana's boss, Mr. Skinner. She had met him that night at Dana's apartment.

"Mrs. Scully? Could I see you outside for a moment?" He seemed distracted and anxious.

"What is it? Is something the matter?" She released Dana's hand and laid it gently at her side as she stood to follow him.

When they reached the corridor, he motioned her to a bank of chairs against the far wall.

"Mr. Skinner, what's wrong?"

"I just came from the Emergency Room. Your daughter's partner was brought in a short time ago by EMT's. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about what might have transpired here last night."

"Oh, my God. What happened to him?"

"He's been shot. His apartment was ransacked and he was found in the middle of it." He lowered his gaze and spoke softly. "We can't rule out the possibility that he did it himself. I was hoping you could tell me how he was the last time you spoke with him."

"His apartment? Melissa went to his apartment a little while ago to bring him back here. Was she there? Is she all right?"

"She's fine, Mrs. Scully. I'm sorry, I didn't think. Melissa's the one who found him and called 911."

"Where is she?" She felt the shaky relief of a disaster narrowly averted.

"She's giving a statement to the police. I'm sure she'll be up to see you shortly. What can you tell me?"

Maggie pressed trembling fingers to her lips for a moment. "How is he?"

"The wound itself wasn't that serious, but he's lost a dangerous amount of blood. He must have been lying there for a long time before he was found." Skinner glanced toward the ICU. "His mental state has been precarious since Agent Scully was found. I'm concerned that this may have been a suicide attempt. I need to know how he was when he left here."

"He wouldn't do that, Mr. Skinner. He knows how much Dana needs him now."

"I hope you're right, but I have to consider the possibility. He may not have consciously tried to kill himself, but taking unnecessary risks can have the same outcome. If he's a danger to himself because of the way he's feeling, I need to take him off duty. Now what was he like when you say him last?"

"He was upset, of course. He was here when I came to see Dana this morning. The nurse said he'd been here with her all night, talking to her and holding her hand. I told him to go home and rest." Her eyes widened in horror. "If someone was waiting for him..."

Skinner reached out and took her hand firmly. "Now don't *you* start. You were only trying to help him. He may simply have surprised a burglar and been too distracted to react quickly enough. Or it may have been someone who wanted to kill him. I don't know, but it certainly wasn't anything you could have prevented."

"I want to see him." She stood up and Skinner stood with her.

"Go back with Dana. We won't be able to see him for some time. I'll come get you, I promise." He walked with her toward the ICU entrance. "I'll send Melissa up here as soon as she's through with her statement." He turned to leave.

"Mr. Skinner?"

He stopped and faced her.

"Please give Fox my love."

He smiled. "I will."

***

"Mr. Skinner?" He turned to see a young man in green scrubs approaching him.

"Yes, how is he?"

"I'm afraid Mr. Mulder is not responding as well as we'd hoped." He flipped open a metal bound clipboard and scanned its contents. "He came through surgery with no significant problems but he hasn't regained consciousness. It could be a reaction to the anesthesia, but I doubt it. We've replaced most of the blood volume he lost and the wound itself isn't life-threatening. Frankly, we don't know why he's still losing ground."

"Are you telling me he's dying?" He managed to keep his voice steady despite the icy knot that had materialized in the pit of his stomach.

"I'm telling you that we're doing everything we can but it may not be enough. The rest is up to him." The man flipped the clipboard shut with a snap. "If Mr. Mulder has any relatives that need to be contacted, I wouldn't wait."

***

Melissa Scully stepped through the ICU doors balancing a styrofoam cup of hospital coffee in each hand. She'd spent nearly an hour giving her statement to the Alexandria police, then stopped by to check on Mulder. She had known the moment she saw his boss's face that the news was not good. She had stopped in the cafeteria afterward to gather her thoughts, trying to find a gentle way to break it to her mother.

What she saw when she entered the ICU froze her in place. Her sister's bed was surrounded by medical personnel and her mother was standing off to the side with both hands pressed to her mouth.

"Mom? What happened?" She set the cups down on the counter at the nurses' station as she hurried to her mother's side.

She was expecting the worst, so the watery, blissful smile was a pleasant shock. "She moved, Melissa. Dana moved." Melissa found herself wrapped in a sudden, bone-crushing hug. "I have to tell Fox."

Melissa pulled back slightly. "Mom, I stopped to see how he was doing on my way up here."

She couldn't bring herself to say the words, so she let the truth show in her eyes instead. Her mother's smile vanished. "Oh, Melissa. No."

"I'm sorry, Mom. The doctors aren't hopeful."

"Please stay with Dana. I'm going to see him."

***

She saw Walter Skinner coming out of Fox's room and slowed her pace. He hadn't noticed her yet and was making no attempt to hide his reaction to what he'd just seen. It made her heart sink.

"Mr. Skinner." He looked up as she approached. She recognized the military posture he assumed as well as the polite smile he wrestled into place.

"Mrs. Scully. How's Dana?"

She stopped directly in front of him. The difference in their heights made it necessary for her to crane her neck back to meet his gaze. "I was coming to tell Fox the good news. She moved." Her smile returned, but faded as he looked quickly away.

"How is Fox?"

"Not good, I'm afraid. The doctors don't seem to know why. I keep wishing I could ask Dana for her opinion."

She surprised him with a delighted chuckle. "I've been feeling the same urge myself. She's always been the one I turn to for medical advice. Now, when I need it most, she can't help me."

She was impatient to see Fox. "Dana needs him to help her find the way back. I think he just needs a little encouragement."

She patted his arm and disappeared into Mulder's room.

Skinner had to smile at the determined set of her shoulders. He had seen Scully use the same approach with Mulder on more than one occasion.

"You have two amazing women in your corner, Mulder. Don't let them down."

***

"Mulder, what the *hell* do you think you're doing?"

His eyes opened with a start and focused slowly on his surroundings. His head was resting against the passenger window of a moving car but he had no memory of getting into it. He sat up with a puzzled frown and turned in the direction of the familiar voice.

His partner was glaring at him, both hands on the wheel in a white-knuckled grip.

"Scully, don't you think you should be watching the road?" He could see the speedometer hovering just above eighty. The view outside the car told him they were on yet another godforsaken country road. Nothing but cornfields as far as the eye could see.

"Don't try to change the subject, Mulder. I want an answer."

He raised his eyebrows and nodded toward the windshield. "Whatever the question is, Scully, it's never going to get answered if you wrap the car around a tree."

She held his gaze for a few seconds longer, then faced front. When she spoke again, her voice had lost some of its angry edge. "There's not a tree within fifty miles, Mulder." She shot him another look. "I'm waiting."

"For what? What did you ask me?"

"I asked what the hell you think you're doing."

"Scully, as far as I can tell, I'm riding with you in a car in the middle of nowhere. Would you care to elaborate on your question?"

"Don't be cute, Mulder. Do you happen to recall how you came to be *in* this car?"

He thought for a minute. "No. I don't."

She looked directly into his eyes. "You've given up, Mulder, and I can't let you do that." She turned back to the road. "I *won't*."

"Hey, Scully, you been into the evidence room stash again? You're not making sense." He fell far short of the teasing tone he'd been shooting for. To be honest, she was starting to scare the shit out of him.

"You're the one who's always after me to consider the extreme possibilities, Mulder. What's the last thing you can remember before you woke up in this car?"

He was silent for a long time. When he spoke again, even *he* could hear the uncertainty in his voice. "I don't know."

"That's exactly what I mean, Mulder. You have the most incredible memory I've ever encountered, yet you've managed to block out everything that led up to this moment. Why do you suppose you did that?"

There it was again. Something was tugging at the back of his mind. Something he did *not* want to acknowledge. "Suppose *you* tell *me*."

The sudden deceleration threw him firmly against his shoulder harness. It locked immediately in place, pinning him to the seat. "Scully! What the hell are you doing?"

She ignored him, concentrating instead on bringing the careening vehicle under control. When the car finally came to a shuddering stop in the middle of the road, she shut off the engine, unlatched her seatbelt and turned to face him.

"Mulder, you are my best friend and I love you dearly, but there are times when it takes everything I've got to keep from beating the crap out of you."

Mulder recovered quickly and undid his own belt. He whirled on her. "Only you could make 'I love you' sound like a reprimand. And what the hell am I supposed to have done *this* time?"

"You really don't know."

"No, I don't"

She sagged against the seat. "You're dying, Mulder. You are *willing* yourself to die and I refuse to let you get away with it."

She had managed to render him speechless.

"You're not responsible for me, Mulder. You never have been. You didn't hand me over to them. That was Duane Barry. If you die now, everything we've worked for, everything I care about, dies with you."

Memory flooded back. "Scully... " His throat tightened and he had to stop.

She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, her eyes shining with emotion. "You've given me so much, Mulder. I wouldn't change a second of the time we've spent together. And it doesn't have to end. Not if we don't let it."

He could only manage a whisper. "I won't if you won't." A ghost of his cocky grin flitted across his face.

"That better be a promise, Mulder. I can't find my way back without you." She moved her fingers up to his eyelids and closed them tenderly. "I'll be waiting."

***

It was almost as if someone had thrown a switch. One moment he was unconscious and the next, he wasn't. Melissa had taken over her mother's post only a few minutes before and was just getting settled for another long afternoon. She and her mother had been trading bedside vigils for the past two days. She'd just begun her afternoon shift with Mulder when she glanced routinely toward his face and gasped to find him looking back at her.

Before she could recover enough to speak, he gave her a lazy blink and closed his eyes again.

"Mulder! Mulder, are you awake?" She grabbed his hand and tugged. "Come on, Mulder. Don't make me question my grip on reality."

For half a dozen heartbeats, he remained motionless and Melissa held her breath.

"I'm awake. Don't yell." His eyes opened, blinked once, and focused on her face. "Where's Scully?"

She curled her fingers around his and spoke very softly. "She's better, Mulder, but she's not awake yet. I'm sorry, you'll just have to make do with me for awhile longer."

"It's okay. She's waiting for me." His eyes slid shut again, but his lips curved into a gentle smile.

"I know, Mulder." She whispered. "I know."

****

End