Value & Honor by Forte (Forte1354@aol.com) Please see Chapter 1 for rating, summary, disclaimer, etc. ******************************************************************** - Chapter 4 - ******************************************************************** 2630 Hegal Place Alexandria, Virginia Friday, 6:50 p.m. Mulder arrived home after running a few errands of his own, including picking up his dry cleaning and some Thai take-out for dinner. As he'd crawled along the congested DC and Virginia roads, he'd contemplated the afternoon's events. About an hour after he had arrived back at the office from lunch, Scully had returned from her errand, empty-handed. He'd swiveled in his chair to greet her silently, phone to ear, as he'd endured another interminable background check. She had given him a rare, shy Scullysmile as she'd settled back at her desk. he'd wondered, pleasantly surprised. He'd returned the smile from behind the handset and gone back to his call. By the time he'd hung up the phone, she had been immersed in the autopsy files again. Each time he'd taken a break to steal another glance in her direction, she'd been studying those files as though they were the Dead Sea Scrolls. He'd been more than ready to escape the bullpen at 5 p.m. #-#-#-#-#-# "Hey, Scully, didn't you hear the bell? School's out for the day. We can unchain ourselves from these desks." "I know, I uh...," she stumbled over the words, keeping her eyes on the files in front of her. "I just want to get my thoughts organized before I take these files home for the weekend." "I'll wait for you," he offered. She shook her head. "No, thank you, that's not necessary. I'll see you Monday, Mulder." He frowned, then mentally swatted himself for his impatience. His face relaxed into an expression of understanding, and his words were gentle. "Call me if you find out anything, Scully." "Yeah, okay. Bye." She murmured the words from behind the closed curtain of her hair. Mulder retreated slowly, hoping she would call him back, have something further to say to him. She did not. He paused at the glass doors, stealing a glance at her over his shoulder before finally leaving. #-#-#-#-#-# As Mulder approached the front entrance of his building, he spotted a familiar figure following him up the walkway. She strode purposefully, hands clenched, face mottled by the shadows of leafless trees abutting a streetlight. For a split second he saw her as a charging demon -- dark hair, long dark robe, soulless eyes. Diana Fowley. Mulder's back stiffened at the memory of Diana's earlier behavior. What the hell did she want from him? The raging side of his brain screamed back at his rational side. "Fox... I've been waiting for you. I need to talk to you." Her voice was toneless, flat, just as Mulder had experienced it hundreds of times before. Now, though, he had a most unfamiliar reaction to it: his skin crawled, as though she'd scraped her fingernails down a chalkboard. He suppressed a shudder, then took a deep breath and promised himself -- for Scully's sake -- that he would not go off the deep end. "So talk." "Out here?" "The maid hasn't been in this week. What do you want, Diana?" She stepped up to within a foot of him, back straight, and looked him in the eye. "To apologize," she replied. "Fox, I'm sorry for this morning. I don't know how much you heard, but..." she trailed off, apparently waiting for a reaction from him, but he gave her only his continuing glower. She cleared her throat and started again. "I did something stupid this morning." Mulder remembered Scully's response to his offer to get her answers. <"This is my problem and I'll deal with it. But I appreciate your loyalty, Mulder."> He couldn't ask Diana direct questions, but he could... encourage her to talk... couldn't he? "Really?" His response barely hid his sarcasm. Fowley took in a slow breath, but continued to hold his gaze without wavering. "Fox, I found copies of some of Agent Scully's old X-Files reports yesterday. Do you realize that she tore up your theories like they were junk mail? It made me sick." Mulder flashed back to fervent words he'd spoken to his partner months earlier. <"As difficult and as frustrating as it's been sometimes..."> He maintained his eye contact with Fowley, as though daring her to blink first. "Scully makes me fight to prove every theory I have -- it's the way we work together. Hell, if she didn't argue with me over every paranormal explanation I suggest, I'd start to wonder if she'd been kidnapped and replaced with a clone." He winced inwardly as the words left his mouth. He wouldn't put such a plot past their enemies. "She mocked you, Fox. Doesn't that bother you? Doesn't that make you wonder why she was assigned to you in the first place?" Mulder's eyes narrowed; he concentrated on his breathing for a few moments in a vain attempt to hold down his anger. "Just what are you implying, Diana?" "Fox, you know I always believed in you and the X-Files. I've always believed that the truth is out there, just like you do. But Agent Scully... she doesn't. She has =no= faith in the existence of extraterrestrial life. She doesn't take this work seriously like you and I do. I resent that such important work was assigned to someone who would never take it to heart; someone who'd make it all look like some big joke." "Scully approached every X-File, no matter how bizarre, with the utmost professionalism," Mulder insisted. "Her scientific bent gave credence to the X-Files that I could never give it on my own. She made it more respected, not less." "Then why aren't you still assigned to the X-Files, Fox? She ripped apart every theory you ever came up with, didn't she? Don't you get it? With her as your partner, you were doomed to fail." Mulder made a sound that was half laugh, half bark. "Are you suggesting that Scully tried to destroy the X-Files? You've got to be fucking kidding me, Diana. Dana Scully is the most honorable human being I've ever met. She may disagree with my theories, but she always respects the work. She respects =me=. She's saved my ass so many times I've lost count. Without her, the X-Files would have been down the toilet years ago, and me along with them." "Damn it, Fox, =I= am trying to save your ass here! You don't have the X-Files anymore. Ask yourself why. I'm not saying she tried to destroy the X-Files on purpose. She just never believed in the work. If she did, maybe you would still have the X-Files instead of Agent Spender and me. Look at the facts, Fox. Go back and re-read what she wrote. Like I said, it made me sick." She turned her head and scrunched up her face, running her tongue along the inside of her mouth as though a horrible taste were inside. Realization dawned; Mulder stared at Fowley incredulously. "So this morning you were trying to do... what? Punish her? Make her quit?" "Half right, Fox." Her voice grew more quiet, more remorseful. "She was an excellent Agent, a valuable Agent -- when she was at Quantico. Superior instructor, popular with trainees, respected by her peers. That's where she should be." She paused, then lowered her voice. "You could still have the X-Files back, Fox. Agent Spender's heart isn't in it, but he's afraid to say so. I could talk to Skinner, get you transferred back -- " "=No=" Mulder interrupted. "No fucking way. I work with Scully, or nobody." His set jaw announced that there would be no further discussion on the topic. "I thought you said you came here to apologize." "I did. I still think I have a right to be angry at her, but I had no right to... say the things that I said to her this morning." She paused, then took a breath as though to steel herself. "It was incredibly stupid and petty." He took a breath of his own. "I came in at the tail end of things, and in any case I was too far away to hear anything. What did you say?" She paused again. "I found out things about her, Fox." "Things? What things?" "I know about her... medical condition." Scully's voice haunted him. <"How could she have known about.... about =that=? About =me=?"> he repeated, like a mantra. He willed himself to stay rational, lucid, to not give in to his rabid fury. "What are you talking about, Diana? What medical condition?" Fowley cast her eyes toward the ground, looking embarrassed. "I did some... digging. Investigating. I found out about her attempt to adopt that little girl in San Diego. The summary of her hearing mentioned her... abduction, and the results of what was done to her." "You did =what=?" Mulder felt the blood drain out of his face and wash down into his stomach with a gallon or two of burning acid. He turned away from Fowley for a moment and ran his hand through his hair before facing her again. "What the hell were you thinking? That's not the Diana Fowley I used to know. You trampled over Scully's privacy like she was some kind of -- " he sputtered, not knowing how to end the sentence. "Like a suspect," Fowley finished for him, raising her eyes to meet his again. "Yes, that's exactly what I did, Fox. I don't expect you to understand why I did it. I'm sorry, but it's done." Sarcasm dripped from Mulder's voice. "And let me guess -- you didn't find a damned thing about the X-Files." She only muttered, "She doesn't believe, Fox. I don't know why she stayed with the X-Files. Or with you." Mulder's eyes burned like red-hot coals. "Scully stays with me because -- " he broke off, realizing that he didn't know exactly =why= she stayed with him. Loyalty? Because it was easier to stay with him than break in a new partner? Easier than going back to teaching at Quantico? . Her sweet contralto came back to him. <"Mulder, you may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but I still wouldn't change a day."> "Scully stays with me because she wants to. God only knows why, but she does. You of all people, Diana, know how easy it is to dissolve a partnership." Even in the dim light Mulder could see her flush red. "That's not fair, Fox -- " "And your attack on her was? What happened with you and me is historic fact, Diana. What you've accused Scully of is =baseless=, in the extreme. You are wrong. Just plain, damn wrong." He ran his hand through his hair again, frustrated, angry beyond reason. "So what now, Diana? I mean, what the hell was the point of this conversation? To relieve your guilt? I don't appreciate being your personal therapist." "I said I came to apologize. My intention was to try to help you, and I let it get out of hand. So I'm saying 'I'm sorry'. To you. And to her, if you think I should." Mulder made the laugh-bark sound again. "Should you =apologize= to her? You've got to be kidding. You've only grossly violated her privacy, acted on the information you gathered to intentionally hurt her, and now you've been standing here basically accusing her of having no work ethic, no responsibility to her duties as an FBI Agent. What the hell is there to forgive?" He shook his head. "I see where this is going, Diana. Don't think I've forgotten how you can play those stupid little 'I'm so pathetic; please help me' games. You want me to apologize to Scully for you. No chance." He took another deep breath and shook his head again. "I can't believe you did something so vindictive, Diana. I never would have expected that from you." His eyes narrowed. "Scully has been through enough. You fuck with her again, and so help me God your ass will be in a very, very deep sling. Is that clear?" "Perfectly," Fowley answered, without wavering. "I'm sorry for being so over-protective of you, Fox. It's hard to remember when you don't have to watch your partner's back anymore." "I'm not your partner, Diana," Mulder said firmly. "Scully is my partner, and she has been for a long time. And she will continue to be for a long time, if I have anything to say about it." Diana nodded. "I understand." They stood in awkward silence. "If you have no other bombshells for me, I'm going to go eat my dinner," Mulder said finally, gesturing with the hand holding his meal. Diana nodded again, then ducked her head in apparent shame. "I'm sorry for..." She paused, then lifted her head again. "I'm sorry. Thanks for hearing me out, Fox. Good night." She hesitated for a moment. Mulder's back stiffened again as old memories returned, and he half-expected her to give him a quick, contrite peck on the cheek. If she had considered it, though, she thought better of it, because she turned and left him. And as she walked away, Mulder unable to see her face, a satisfied smirk crept across Diana Fowley's face. ******************************************************************** Mulder watched Diana until she turned a corner and was out of sight. His brow furrowed. He shook his head, as though to throw off the disbelief weighing down his thoughts, then pulled out his keys and entered the building. He stopped to pick up his mail, then headed towards the elevator and punched the "up" button. The trill of his cell phone jolted him from his thoughts and stabbed at his gut. He transferred his mail to his left hand and pulled out his phone. "Mulder." "Mulder, it's me. Where are you?" He tamped down his panic. "I just got home, Scully. Where are you?" "At home, reading the reports on these unsolved child murders. I've made connections between some of them and Morse's MO." Mulder could tell by the timbre of her voice -- indiscernible to anyone else; of that he was certain -- that she had found something important. The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival. Mulder considered the opened doors for a moment. If he got in the elevator, he would surely lose their phone connection, and he didn't want to wait until he reached his apartment to hear what his partner had to say. He turned away from the elevator and headed for the stairs. "So what did you find, Scully?" he asked. As he pushed open the stairwell door, she started her explanation. "I've been looking for patterns of Morse's MO in different geographic regions..." Mulder reached his apartment door within minutes, feeling all of his 37 years after climbing three flights of stairs, arms full. He held his mail and the bag of Thai food in his left hand, dry cleaning hooked over one finger, with his cell phone tucked between his right shoulder and his head. With his right hand, he reached back into his pocket for his keys. He barely managed the awkward juggling act, needing three tries to get the door unlocked, then pushed the door open with his right hip and entered the darkened apartment sideways, kicking the door shut with his foot. Throughout his acrobatics Scully continued to describe her findings; Mulder gave her synopsis his rapt attention. "So there seem to be enough similarities to connect Morse to murders across a large area of the Northeast, and in localized sections of the Southeast and Midwest as well -- " Scully interrupted herself when she thought she heard a noise from Mulder's end of the line. "Mulder, did you say something?" Then she =definitely= heard a noise from Mulder's end of the line: the dull *clunk* of his cell phone striking a solid object. "=Mulder=?" Dead air. "MULDER!" ******************************************************************** - end Chapter 4 - ******************************************************************** Feedback is cherished at Forte1354@aol.com or bjm1352@aol.com.