Okay, here's the beginning of my latest attempt at an X-Files story.
I decided this time to do a crossover between X-Files and VR5 (which
is now officially cancelled *sigh* :( ).  There is a minor amount of
swearing in this story, but nothing that would offend anyone horribly
(I hope =).  Okay, enough with the intro, here goes...

Copyrights (as always) belong to Ten Thirteen productions (for X-Files),
can't seem to remember the people who own the rights to VR5, but anyways,
you guys know the drill...;)

                  Hidden Secrets
                      by Siobhan Gormley


Motel Six
Buffalo, New York
1:13 am

"I swore I was going to hit you if you called me 'the little
woman' one more time," Scully complained.  Mulder grinned.

"It's all part of the profile.  We're supposed to be happily married,"
he answered.  He put his arm around her as another couple passed by.
"Anyways, I thought it was kinda fun."

"You're sick Mulder," she replied, shrugging his arm off as the couple
went around the corner.  They finally approached their room door and
Scully leaned up against it as Mulder unlocked it.

"You're getting old Scully," he commented.  She glared at him as he
looked away and opened the door quickly. Scully groaned in exhaustion
as she and Mulder entered their hotel room.  She sighed when she saw
the queen size bed and fell face first on to it.  Mulder couldn't help
but smile at the sight.

"Oh sweet sleep, why do you elude me?" she moaned, slightly muffled
by the sheets.

"Lack of sleep seems to make you into a poet, Scully," he said.  He 
stretched out beside her on his side.  She turned her face toward
him and grimaced.

"Lack of sleep makes me a very nasty person in the morning."  She
dragged herself off the bed and headed for the bathroom.  "I think
I'm going to take a shower, it'll probably relax me enough so I can
get some sleep."

"You know what Scully?  I'm glad Skinner gave us this assignment,"
he said loudly over the sound of water running.  Scully stuck her
head out the door.  

"Are you sure you're okay Mulder?  This case is nothing close to an
X-file."

"You can't tell me you don't enjoy playing husband and wife, now do you
Scully?" he replied, a wounded look on his face.  Scully chuckled.

"Yeah, just about as much as I enjoy listening to your snoring," she
answered, a wicked grin appearing just before she ducked back into
the bathroom.  A pillow flew toward the closing door and Mulder could
hear her laughing.

The water poured over her taut skin and she could feel the muscles
relaxing slowly.  Her ears perked up when she swore she heard a knock
at the door.

"What do you want Mulder?"  There was no answer, so she assumed it
must have been the room door and that Mulder had gotten it.

Mere seconds after getting out of the shower, she heard a clattering
sound come from the room and she hastily threw on her robe.  She
opened the door and looked out to see no one there.  There was a
food tray at the now open door, one of the lids missing for the food.

"Okay Mulder, what are you up to now?"  When he didn't answer, she 
headed straight for the door, almost tripping over Mulder's prostrate
form.  "Shit," she swore.  She checked his pulse and fortunately it
was a steady beat.  She began to check him for any indications of
injury, but the only thing she found were two marks on his head, one
at each temple.  "Who did you piss off now, Mulder?"

*******

General Hospital
2:30 am

Mulder lay unconscious in a private room in the hospital while Scully
talked with the attending doctor.

"You found nothing to explain those marks?" she questioned.

"No Dr. Scully, I've never seen anything like it.  They almost look like
someone burned them into his temples, but not with any instrument I've
ever seen."

She thanked the doctor and headed back to Mulder's room.  She stopped at
the nurses station to see if there had been any change in his status, but
the nurse told her that there was no change.  She walked away and into
Mulder's room.  He lay there, still as night.  She pulled a chair over 
beside his bed and looked at him.  She felt anger welling up inside her,
as well as fear.

"Dammit Mulder, why do you keep doing this to me?  Why can't we get through
one case without almost getting killed?  Skinner sent us on this one
assignment that should have been routine, but you had to screw up somewhere
and have this happen."  She slammed her fist on the bedside table, then
breathed deeply.  "This is stupid.  I shouldn't be blaming you.  I need
some sleep, that's what I need," she said to herself.  She got up from
the chair and headed for the spare cot they had put in his room, as per
her request.  Just as she pulled back the sheets, she heard a low moan
coming from Mulder.  She turned around and saw him stirring in his bed.
She ran to the door and yelled for the nurse to come, then flew back to
Mulder's side, taking hold of his hand.

"C'mon Fox, come back to me," she whispered.  His eyes fluttered open and
he looked up at Scully.  "Glad to see you back with us Mulder," she said,
smiling.  He looked at her in confusion.

"Who are you?" he asked.  Scully now looked confused. "Where am I?  What's 
going on here?"  He started to become a little frantic when he saw the
tubes going into his arm, but Scully and the nurse attempted to calm him
down.

"Mulder, calm down.  You're in the hospital.  There was an...." she looked
up at the nurse who was fixing his sheets and checking the tubes, "...an
accident.  I had to bring you here."  He looked at her, still confused.

"Is that my name, Mulder?"  His face screwed up into a grimace of distaste.
"I guess my parents didn't like me much."  A look of realization crossed
Scully's features.  She let go of his hand and turned to look about the
doctor, but he came in at that moment.  He walked to Mulder's bedside and
smiled congenially.

"Good morning Agent Mulder.  How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, but could someone please explain to me who the hell I am.
It's a rather annoying feeling."  The doctor's eyebrows raised in surprise.
He excused himself and pulled Scully aside.

"I don't understand.  He didn't have any signs that could lead to amnesia."
Scully frowned.

"Except for those unexplainable burn marks."  The doctor fairly snorted
at what Scully was suggesting.

"You don't really think...."

"Doctor, I've seen enough weird stuff to think just about anything at this
moment."  She walked away from the doctor and back to Mulder's side.  She
looked up at the nurse who was standing over Mulder, having just
taken his temperature.  "If you could leave us alone, I need to talk
to him."  The nurse looked behind Scully, at the other doctor, then nodded
and left.  Scully heard the door close after they had left.  She took his
hand again and smiled.  "Mulder, it seems like you have some sort of
amnesia.  We're not exactly sure how it happened, but we're going to
do everything we can to restore your memory."  

"I'm glad someone's going to do something about it."  He paused.  "You
never did answer me.  Is my name Mulder?  And who exactly are you?"

"It's your last name.  Your full name is Fox Mulder.  My name is
Dana Scully, I'm your partner."

"Partner in what sense?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips.  Scully
blushed.

"We work together, we have for the past three years.  We're FBI special
agents."  A look of disappointment crossed his face.

"Oh."  His expression changed to one of neutrality.  "Well, Dana," he said,
tentatively, gauging the look on her face, "I guess you're my best bet.  When
do we get down to the nitty gritty?"

"First off, we both need some proper sleep."

"But...."

"No buts about it Mulder.  I haven't slept for over 24 hours, and
you haven't gotten a peaceful night of sleep in a long time.  Now stop
complaining and go to sleep," she ordered.

"Yes dear," he answered, smiling sweetly.  She blushed again and this
made him smile even wider.  She got up from the chair and turned off
the light above his bed.  She was now standing over him, barely inches
away.  She couldn't see properly, but she swore he was grinning still.

"Goodnight Dana," he whispered.  She attempted to push down the feelings
she was getting at this moment, but was having one hell of a fight. 
Her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and she looked at him.  She patted
him on the shoulder.  He looked a little hurt at her condescending pat.

"Goodnight Mulder," she replied.  She walked over to her cot and lay down,
her back to him.  'Boy I could do with another shower right now,' she thought
to herself.

*******

One month later
Washington D.C.
11:21 am

Scully watched from the other side of a one-way mirror as Mulder was
quizzed on different aspects of his life.  They had returned to D.C.
the day after the incident, as they were calling it now.  For the past
month Mulder had been in the hospital in a vain attempt to jog his memory.
Scully, as well as others, had helped some, but he only really seemed to
take what they said at face value.  Scully had come to visit him every
day, even though Skinner had tried to convince her to let him do this
on his own.  Scully knew though that he looked forward to her visits.
She also didn't want to feel like she was abandoning him, which she knew
she would feel if she didn't come.  The test ended and she headed for the
door that connected to the testing room.  Once she went through it, her
sombre expression changed to a smile.  He looked up and he brightened up
considerably when he saw her.

"Hi Dana.  How are things in the real world?" he joked.  She rolled her
eyes at his attempt to make her laugh.  The doctor got up from his chair.

"You can leave now Agent Mulder.  We'll continue this tomorrow."

Mulder nodded and walked out with Scully to the main hallway.  They walked
in silence for a few minutes before either of them spoke.  Once they got
outside on the main lawn, Mulder spoke.

"It doesn't look very good, does it Dana?"

"I can't really say."  He looked at her as if to say 'tell me the
truth'.  "You're not gaining much ground Mulder.  Whenever any of
us mentions anything, you don't really seem to pick up on it.  I know
it's frustrating..."

"Frustrating is not the word for it.  Aggravating, yes."  He stopped walking
and Scully faced him.  "Dammit Dana, I want to remember!  Why can't I?"
A tear trickled down his face and Scully wiped it away.  Her hand lingered
longer than it should have and Mulder leaned his head into it.  "Dana..."
She pulled her hand away quickly, realizing what she was doing.  She felt
her pulse pounding out of control and she had to look away from him.

"Mulder, there's not much more that can be done.  This is the best
place for you to be."  She looked back up and he now had a dejected
look on his face.  She smiled half-heartedly, trying to get him to
smile.  "C'mon, let's get you changed.  I have somewhere to take you."


Washington D.C.
12:11 pm

Mulder and Scully drove along 23rd street, headed for Mulder's apartment.
Traffic was backed up for miles because of a recent accident.  Scully
hadn't said much once they had left the hospital, and this made Mulder
feel antsy.

"Dana, can I ask you something?"  She shook her head as if to take her mind
from wherever else it was back to where the rest of her was at that moment.

"Sorry Mulder, did you say something?"

"Yah, I was wondering why you never call me by my first name?  Is there
some reason for that?"  She smiled slightly, memories coming back to her.

"Nobody calls you, Fox, well, except for my mother and sister.  You just
preferred to be referred to or called Mulder.  I guess I thought if I
kept using it it might bring back some of your memory."

"Well if you ever felt like it, you could call me Fox," he said, suddenly
feeling a little self-conscious.  He looked out the window at the passing
scenery, hoping something might trigger his memory.

"Has anything come back yet Mul...Fox?" she asked, finding herself changing
to his first name when he looked back at her.

"Nothing yet.  Just for curiousity's sake, where exactly are we going,
you never did say," he queried.  

"It's a surprise.  I don't want you knowing beforehand, I want the memories
to come on their own," she stated simply.  

Traffic picked up again and they were on their way.

*******

Mulder's apartment
1 pm

After yet another backup and rerouting of traffic, Mulder and Scully
had finally made it to Mulder's apartment.  Scully looked at him
expectantly, hoping to see some glimmer of recognition in his eyes.
He had a look on his face like the building was familiar, but he didn't say
anything.  They got out of the car and entered the building.

"Agent Mulder, it's nice to see you out and about," commented one of
his neighbours.  He just smiled and thanked the person.

"Did I know..."

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure myself.  You never seemed the type
to go socializing with your neighbours."

"Boy, I sound like a real winner," he commented snidely.  Scully touched
him on the arm.

"Mul...Fox, <Gawd this is going to take getting used to, she thought>
you do have your good points."

"Like what?"  He now had her on the spot.  She stood there thinking, but
a bit too long for his liking.  "There, see.  I don't even know why you're
bothering about me Dana, I don't seem like much of a person to be around."
He stormed off down the hall and into the elevator.  Scully quickly
followed him and jumped into the elevator before the doors closed.  Scully
went to press the button for Mulder's floor, but it was already pressed.
Scully looked up at him in surprise.  "What?" 

"You pressed your floor number," she finally said.  He looked at her
incredulously.

"I just got in and pressed a number."

"It was probably such a routine thing in your memory..." she paused,
smiling.  "This is a good sign Fox."   

The elevator stopped at Mulder's floor and they both got out.  Scully
went to point him in the proper direction, but he had already headed
that way.  Again she was surprised by him.  He stopped when he
realized that she wasn't following him and turned to look at her.

"Did I go the wrong way?"

"No, no.  I'm just...I'm just being stupid.  C'mon.  Let's jog
your memory some more," she answered, walking to catch up with him.
She took out her key chain and selected Mulder's spare key.  His
eyebrows raised in surprise as she proceeded to open his door with
it.  She looked over at him.  "What?  You have a spare key to my
apartment as well."  He just grinned and she shook her head in
disgust.  

He walked around the apartment slowly, checking everything out.  Scully
walked over to the sink and poured herself some water.  She would have
liked something stronger at the moment, but she daren't risk it in case
Skinner called her in.  She walked into the small living room
area and unceremoniously plunked herself onto the couch.  Mulder came
out of his bedroom and back to the living room. 

"This room seems familiar to me," he stated.  He sat down next to her.

"What about it seems familiar?  The furniture, the carpet..."

"Not really that, just that I've spent a lot of time in here.  It's
sort of like what deja vu must feel like, if I could remember that."

Scully patted him on the hand, intending a friendly gesture, but he
took hold of her hand in his.

"You know Dana, maybe if we sit here for a while, something more might 
come back," he said excitedly.  

"Mulder, don't get your hopes up," she replied, reverting to his last
name.  She was happy he was starting to remember things, but she didn't
want him to push himself too much at the same time.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if you prefer to keep me dumb,"
he joked.  She went to get defensive, but then saw he was joking.
"Don't worry, I know you don't want me to push myself too much and
overload my brain, great though it is."  She groaned at this obvious
statement of joking self-aggrandizement.  She slipped her hand out of
his finally and walked to the door.  "I've offended you that much?"

"No, I forgot something in the car.  I'll be right back," she replied
over her shoulder.  She shut the door and he sighed.

"What's wrong with me?  Here I have a beautiful woman in my apartment
and I can't do anything right." He paused. "This is truly sad, I'm talking 
to myself," he said aloud.  He got up off the couch to wander around
the room again and see what memories came back when the phone rang.  He
instinctively picked it up to answer it.  

"Hello?" he queried.  The next thing he knew he was going through some
tunnel thing and he was suddenly in what could only be called "The
Wizard Of Oz" on acid.  He was in his apartment still, but the colours
were like a bad colourized movie.  His tie, already a riot of colours,
was now an offending collage of pastels.  And his clothes were no
better.  "Boy, I'm going to have to get them to stop giving me those
sleeping pills," he said to no one in particular.  

"Sleeping pills aren't so bad, just as long as you don't take too many,"
a voice said from behind him.  He turned around quickly to be faced with
a young woman in her early 20s.  She was as tall as he was, dressed in
a business suit not unlike Scully's.

"Who are you?  What have you done to my apartment?"

"My name's Sydney.  I can't explain everything to you right now, but
I'm here to help you."  She approached him and he looked at her 
suspiciously.

"In what way?"

"Someone asked me to help restore your memory.  Somehow someone
wiped it and you haven't had much success regaining it on your own."

"So you're like back up troops."

"I suppose you could put it that way.  Agent Mulder, I know you
probably don't trust me much at the moment, but I hope over time
you'll allow me to help you."  She looked around her, as if she
heard something.  "I have to go now, but try and keep me in mind."
She touched his hand and in a flash of light he was back in his
apartment with the phone receiver cradled on his shoulder.  He shook
his head and hung up the phone just as Scully returned.

"Who was on the phone?"  she asked.

"Uh, no one.  When I picked it up there was no one there."

"Hm, weird.  Well Skinner just called me.  He needs me to go in.
I guess I should return you..."

"Like an undercooked steak," he finished, grinning.  She groaned and
took him by the arm, dragging him out.

"I guess you haven't lost your sense of humor after all."

*******

Hospital
2:30 pm

Mulder sat on his bed, attempting to read.  The weather had turned bad
after Scully had dropped him off, so he had to stay indoors, much
to his chagrin.  He was bored and wanted to do something active, but
they didn't exactly have an indoor track or swimming pool around here.
When he had tried reading, all he could think about was Scully.  Her
smile, the way her reddish hair curled a certain way, her soft, pale
skin...He shook his head, breaking the reverie. He let out a long
slow breath and let his head fall back on the pillow, his eyes closing.
His memory seemed to bring up the image of a young blond woman.  She
said her name was Sydney, but he couldn't place where he knew her
from.  Surely it would come back as other things had begun to come back.
Suddenly the phone rang and he snapped his eyes back open.  He
reached over and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" he queried, and suddenly he was back in that tunnel and in
that surreal technicolor world, but this time in his hospital room.  He
looked towards the door and there stood the young woman.  "Sydney,
isn't it?"

"I'm glad you remembered, not many do."  She walked toward him and sat
at the end of his bed.

"It's a little hard to forget someone who gets into my subconscious."
They both smiled.

"Well, are you ready to start?"

"I've been ready for over a month now.  Some stuff has come back though."

"Simple things probably, but not what you really want to know," she guessed.
He nodded.  "Okay then, I guess we'll start with your childhood."  She
took his hand and lead him to the door.

"I don't remember anything..." he began, but as soon as she opened the
door, he was suddenly in his family's home.  He stared in amazement.
"How did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything, it's all in your memory, it just needed a little
prodding to come back."

They wandered around the house, Mulder running his hands along everything,
memories flooding back.  They turned the corner and in the living room
sat a young Mulder, his sister Samantha, and his parents.  He watched the
scene play out like a home movie.  Everyone was happy and contented.  Then
the scene changed to the night his parents left him to babysit Samantha.
The two of them were fighting over what to watch.  Soon after the room
started shaking like an earthquake, the door flew open and a bright light
emanated from outside.  Mulder saw a being standing in the doorway, not
too clearly.  He turned quickly as he heard his sister screaming and
calling out his name as she was being dragged out the window.  He still
couldn't do anything to help her.  He began to cry in anger, frustration.
He fell to the ground and managed to hit the gameboard lying there....

....and with a flash of light he was back in his room with the phone in
his hand.  Tears were streaming down his face and he began to wipe them
off with the back of his hand.  Someone knocked on the door and he told
them to enter.  Scully walked through the door and was about to say 
something when she saw his red eyes and wet face.  She immediately walked
over to him.  She went to ask him what was wrong, but he grabbed hold
of her tightly and she made comforting noises.

"Why couldn't I do anything to help her?  Why didn't I stop them?"

"It's alright Fox.  You're going to be okay," Scully told him, stroking
his hair and kissing him on top of his head.  His crying soon stopped
and he relaxed his grip on her.  She pulled away a little and took her
handkerchief out to wipe his face.  "You've begun to remember more?"

"Yes, but it wasn't on my own," he replied.  She gave him a
questioning look.  "Someone named Sydney has been helping me."
She now looked at him like he was nuts.  "She's real Dana.  Somehow
she's able to tap into my subconscious and bring up my memories, good
and bad."

"Do you know where this Sydney is?"

"No, but I'm going to ask her the next chance I get.  She's the key to
bringing back my memory."


One week later
Mulder's apartment
3:20 am

Mulder lay on his bed, sleeping soundly for the first time in years.
Since Mulder had seemed to be making incredible progress, the hospital
had decided to let him return home, but only under the condition that
he would return once a week until his whole memory was restored.  Scully
had assured them that she would drag him there if she had to.  He had
now been home only a couple of days, but things were seeming to return to
normal.  The only exception was that Skinner wasn't letting him come
back to work until he was 'his old self'.  Mulder had laughed at that when
Scully had told him.

Someone knocked on Mulder's front door, but when he didn't answer it, they
opened it themselves.  The person walked quietly through the apartment to
Mulder's bedroom.  She walked over to his bed and saw he was sleeping 
peacefully, so she decided to leave him sleeping.  She went to leave, but
found that her eyelids were starting to protest being open and the bed
looked particularly inviting. 'He won't mind,' she thought. She slipped
her shoes off and lay down on the bed next to him.  She eventually fell
asleep.
 
**

8 am

Mulder woke up suddenly, realizing that he wasn't alone.  He slowly
turned toward the other side of his bed, but no one was there.  He
started to think he was losing it when he heard the shower running.
He quickly got out of bed and pulled on a t-shirt.  He headed for the
bathroom and just as he reached the door, the shower stopped.  He stood
on the other side, hoping to catch whoever it was off guard.  The door
finally opened and Mulder grabbed a hold of the person, but the person
soon had him off of her and she had knocked him to the ground. Mulder looked
up from his position on the ground and was greeted with the sight of Scully
covered only by a large bath towel.  His face quickly reddened with
embarrassment, as did hers.

"I wasn't expecting you to be awake yet.  I hope I didn't wake you up,
you were sleeping so peacefully," she finally said, embarrassment still
tinging her face.  Mulder couldn't find anything to say.  He soon found
his voice though.

"When did you get here?"

"Early this morning.  I had been doing some leg work on finding out
about this Sydney who's been helping you and I figured I'd come and
tell you.  I guess I figured that you would be awake as well, so I
came over.  I think your insomnia is rubbing off on me Mulder," she
replied.

"I assume you found me asleep?" he asked.  She nodded. "Then why...." he 
indicated her being here now, only in a bath towel.

"I don't know, I just saw you were asleep and I was going to go back
to my apartment, but it just seemed like such a pain.  My lack of sleep
was starting to kick in and I didn't want to drive back, maybe causing
an accident.  I'm sorry if this...embarrassed you in any way.  I should
be getting to work anyway."  She quickly returned to the bathroom and 
closed the door before he could say anything more.  He got up from the
floor and walked to the kitchen to get some orange juice.  

Half an hour later Scully came out of the bathroom and tried to sneak
past Mulder who was now sitting in the living room using the computer.
She just reached the door when he called out to her.  She turned back
and walked over to him, biting her lip anxiously.

"I really have to..."

"Look at this Dana," he said, indicating something on the screen.  She
leaned over his shoulder and looked at the e-mail message.

'Fox, I've heard about your little misshap and I hope that things are
going better for you.  TTYL! =)  Mic'

Scully stood there stunned.  Mulder looked at her questioningly.

"I assume I know this 'Mic'?"

"You did," Scully replied.  His questioning look turned to one of
confusion.  "You knew her through e-mail, and one time we both met her
when we were working on a case in Miami, but she, or someone who looked
like her, turned up dead a few days after we got out of quarantine."

"So this 'Mic' is supposed to be dead?"

"That's what we both thought, but we hadn't really known much about
her anyway.  She was quite the mysterious character."

"Do you think someone's trying to play some sick joke on me?"

"I'm not sure."  She looked at the clock on the screen. "Damn, I better
get going Mulder, I'm late enough as it is."  She walked back to the door.
"I'll talk to you later," she said over her shoulder, just before she
closed the door.  Mulder just grunted in response and pondered the meaning
behind the message.

*******

Coffee Shop
Dowtown Washington D.C.
5:15 pm

Mulder sat alone at a table, waiting for Scully to appear.  He knew she
had said that they would meet at 5:30, but he just wanted to be sure...
he wasn't sure of what he wanted, he thought.  All these conflicting
feelings going on and to top it all off her being in his apartment this
morning didn't help matters either.  He had to concentrate on one thing
at a time, not try and push himself until he fell down.  Maybe it would
be better if he just concentrated on regaining his memory entirely, then
he could deal with all the other stuff after.  Scully did seem rather
uncomfortable at times when he even suggested intimacy, so maybe it was
for the best if he just held back on his feelings for her.  That was...

"Would you like another cup, sir?"  the waitress asked, breaking his
train of thought.  He looked up at the waitress and smiled.

"No thanks.  I don't want to be up all night," he answered.  She smiled
at him and had a look as if to say 'I could make it worth your while'.
Not until he looked away did she leave, and with a disappointed look
on her face.

"You should be careful Mulder, you might be leading to the delinquency
of a minor," a soft feminine voice whispered into his ear.  He turned his
head and was facing Scully.  She was smiling wickedly.

"I can't help it if women fall at my feet," he replied, smiling just
as wickedly.  Scully rolled her eyes and sat down in the chair next to
him.  "So what do you have Dana?"

"I had a hell of a time, but I was finally able to get something on
your friend Sydney Bloom.  She lives in Los Angeles and works for
Tel Cal, a local telephone company.  I was able to get an address
and phone number.  When I tried to find out anything more, I was
blocked at every turn with 'access denied' windows.  Whoever she is, 
she's well protected."

"So what do we do now?"

"I was thinking it over, and Skinner happened to call me in to give
me a new case.  You'll never guess where it is."

"LA?" he guessed.  She nodded.  "It's quite a coincidence, don't you
think?"

"Coincidence or not Mulder, I still have a case to take care of.  If
you just happen to show up in LA as well..." she trailed off, allowing
him to finish it in his mind.

"Have you packed yet?" he asked, getting up from his seat. She stood up
also.

"I'm packed, I was just waiting to meet you."  

"Let's go then."  He left some money on the table to pay for his coffee
and they left for Mulder's apartment, and then the airport.

*******

Flight to LA
7:30 pm

Mulder and Scully sat on the plane, trying to come up with a way to
get to this Sydney Bloom without spooking her and losing contact with her
for good.  Scully had explained to Mulder also that she had looked up
the information on that dead woman who looked like 'Mic', something she
felt she should have done in the first place.  It seemed that the woman
had been a book store owner in Miami for the past 2 years, having moved
there from Pittsburgh.  

"I suppose we were really fooled by this woman, whoever she was," Scully
said.

"I wish I could remember this 'Mic'," Mulder said.

"It'll come with time, as everything else has Fox," Scully comforted.
He couldn't help but look at her fondly.  Her face began to turn
red with slight discomfort at his sudden attention.  When he saw
her discomfort, he mumbled an apology.  "It's okay, Fox.  You're
allowed to slip up every once in a while," she grinned and he copied her 
grin.  The tension between them seemed to lower after that.

"So do you think we should confront Sydney immediately or should we call
her first to let her know we're around?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Well she should be home by now, hopefully, but I do need to check in
with the local office before we run off."

"I guess there's not much else to do now but wait," he said.  He leaned
his seat back and closed his eyes.  

'Guess so,' she thought.  She picked up her laptop computer and began
typing in the beginning of her report for Skinner on the new case.

*******

Los Angeles
Howard Johnson's
10 pm

Mulder and Scully walked down the hall toward their rooms.  Jet lag was
slowly starting to sink in, and both of them could only think of sleep.
They finally stopped at the first room number they had, by chance it was
the key Scully had chosen.

"I guess this is goodnight Dana?" he asked wearily, but still a little
hopeful sounding.  Despite his pact with himself about concentrating
solely on regaining his full memory, he couldn't help his feelings.  That
was the problem with them, they never obeyed logic.  Scully didn't notice
(or chose not to) his hopefulness.

"Yes Fox.  I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast, then I'm afraid I'll have
to leave you to your own devices for a while," she answered. 

"I'm sure the city will be safe," he commented, making her smile.  

"Goodnight," she said, and disappeared into her room.  Mulder wandered
next door to his room, and once inside, he proceeded to unpack.  He then
changed out of his clothes and lay on the bed, trying to fall asleep. After
nearly half an hour of trying, Mulder decided to turn on the tv to see if
that would help any.  He began to drift off just as Letterman began his
top ten list, when suddenly he heard a noise from the room on the other
side.  His eyes snapped open.  At first it was only a low moan, but loud
enough to hear it.  After a while though, it became louder, and a creaking
accompanied it.

"Great, just what I need," he said aloud.

**

Scully lay on her bed, trying to fall asleep.  She was tired, but
there was something nagging her in the back of her mind that was causing
her to stay awake.  She knew it had to do with Mulder, but she wasn't 
quite ready to admit exactly what it was, at least not out loud.  She
continued to toss and turn until there was a knock at her door.  She
threw on her robe and then looked through the peep hole.  It was Mulder.
She opened the door, a look of surprise on her face.

"Did I wake you?"

"No actually, I was having a hard time sleeping," she replied.

"Do you mind...?" he wondered, indicating coming in.  She opened the
door wider to allow him in.  He walked over to an overstuffed chair in
the corner and sat down.  Scully closed the door and sat on the other 
chair directly opposite him.  When Scully looked at him, he seemed to
have a look of great consternation.

"What's wrong Fox?" Scully asked, suddenly worried.

"Dana, can I ask you a personal question?"  Scully nodded seriously.
"How do you feel about me?"  This question took Scully aback, making
her blanch.  She felt her mouth go dry and she had to cough to make
any sound come from her throat.

"Um, well, that's quite a loaded question," she answered, "but I suppose
you deserve an honest answer." She took a deep breath, trying to control
the butterflies in her stomach. "As a partner and colleague, I admire
and respect you, even when you come up with some ridiculous ideas, but
as my friend...," she paused, the look on his face changing from a grin to
one of slight disappointment, "...as my friend, I care a great deal
about you.  I trust you with my life, and I always hope that you'll
feel the same."  Mulder sat there, ruminating over what she had said.
His look of disappointment shifted slightly to one of acceptance, but
the disappointment was still present in his voice.

"I suppose I can't beat that," he replied.  He went to get up, but Scully
put her hand over his, stopping him.

"Is there something you wanted to say Fox?"  He sighed, unsure whether
he should say what he was thinking.  Finally he decided that he might
as well get it out, he wasn't going to get the chance again.

"I suppose I should tell you, I've found that over the last while
I've been...feeling certain feelings for you.  I'm not sure whether
they were there before, for all I know they were always there.  I
guess it's my new found need to get things out in the open that
brought me here, that and my 'neighbours' aren't exactly the quiet
type," he said.  This last remark brought a smile to Scully's face.
"I just thought you should know how I'm feeling, so it won't freak
you out if I happen to...well, if I happen to do something overly
'intimate' shall we say."  Scully became slightly embarrassed
by this, because she knew deep down that her thoughts and feelings had
not been very far off from his.  She didn't vocalize this to him though.
"I'm sorry, I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

"No, no, it's alright.  I suppose you've become a little more
vulnerable because of all that has happened in the last month. I've
been around the most, so I guess you see me in a certain 'fonder'
way than before, sort of like a guardian angel or something to that
effect."  

"I thought I was the one with the psychology degree?" he joked and
she laughed softly.  He got up from the chair again, and this time
she let him go to leave.  "I hope this hasn't bothered you to much."

"Why should it bother me?  I've been through worse experiences than 
a guy telling me he has feelings for me," she replied with a smile.
Her smile gratified him and he left her room, heading back to his
own.  Scully let out a long breath.  "This is going to be an
interesting trip."


Los Angeles
12:20 pm

Mulder wandered down Rodeo Drive, doing a little people watching as
he walked.  Breakfast this morning with Scully had been a little tense
at first, but the more they joked with each other, the more relaxed
they both became.  Scully, as promised, had then 'left him to his
own devices'.  He had found himself wandering around the main streets
of LA, having become bored with swimming.  As he walked, a couple of
women seemed to be shadowing him, but not very well.  They seemed to
want to talk to him, but they had to get the nerve up.  He smiled to
himself, thinking that Scully would get a chuckle out of this.

"Excuse me?" one of the women finally asked, approaching him.  He stopped
and looked at her through his sunglasses.  Since he seemed ready to
let her talk to him, she continued.  "I was..that is, my friend and I
were wondering...Are you Christian Slater?" she blurted out.  He could
barely contain his laughter.  He shook his head, afraid to open his
mouth in case he would start laughing out loud.  He continued down the
street, leaving the two women behind him, disappointed and arguing.

"I told you..."

"You told me nothing..."

Someone watched Mulder walk down the street.   She smiled, thinking
how good it was to see him again.  She followed after him, bumping 
through the two arguing women who protested when she did this.  She
gave them both a look that shut them up immediately.

"Someone's having a bad day," mumbled one of the women as the person
continued following Mulder.

*******

Sydney Bloom's apartment
6:40 pm

Mulder and Scully drove up to the apartment building which Sydney
Bloom was supposed to live.  They parked along the street, hoping
some overzealous tow-truck owner wouldn't take the car away.  The
street she lived on was busy enough, so they wouldn't seem conspicuous,
even in their business suits.  Mulder had tried to convince Scully
to change into something more casual, but she had insisted that this
was a formal visit (of sorts) and that they should appear business-like.
He had reluctantly agreed.

They approached her door and heard some shouting going on inside.  They
looked at each other with raised eyebrows.  Mulder went to knock on the
door when it suddenly flew open.  They were now face to face with a man
in his mid-thirties, hair slicked back and in a very bad mood.  He looked
at Scully and Mulder suspiciously.

"May I help you?" he asked with an obvious British accent.

"Yes, we were looking for Sydney Bloom's apartment.  Did we get the
wrong number?" Scully wondered, taking an even tone.  The man continued
looking at them suspiciously without answering until someone pushed him
out of the way.  They were now face to face with Sydney herself, and
Mulder smiled.  Sydney instantly recognized him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you in the real world, Sydney," Mulder replied.
She pondered this as her friend continued to watch them.  She then
came to a decision.

"Well you're here now, you might as well come in."  They walked into her 
loft apartment and the man followed, closing the door after them.
Sydney turned to him in exasperation.  "Simon, would you just go away.
I'm fine with them."

"Sydney..." he began, looking slightly hurt.

"Simon..." she replied menacingly.  He took the hint and left.
She faced Mulder and Scully, a neutral expression on her face.
"Agent Scully, right?" she asked, indicating Scully.  She nodded and
looked at Mulder in surprise.

"You came up in conversation," he said quietly and Scully smiled.

"Don't worry about Simon, he thinks he has to be my personal
bodyguard, even though he tends to be more my personal nuisance,"
she said nonchalantly.

"That's something we were wondering about Sydney.  You seem to be
very protected for someone who works for a telephone company," Scully
commented.  Sydney smiled.

"Well, I was recruited for something a while back, something I didn't
have much of a choice in.  But that's nothing you need to concern 
yourselves with," she replied, heading toward her living room.  She
sat down and Scully and Mulder followed suit.  "Look, I know there's
a lot of stuff you probably want to know about me, but there's not much
of interest," she continued.  They gave her a disbelieving look and
she sighed.  "Come on, do you have to know about every detail of my
life?  I was just asked to help you out Agent Mulder, I wasn't given
every detail of your life."

"Well that's the difference between you and us, isn't it Sydney?"  Mulder
said.  Sydney started to look frustrated.  "Look it, we don't want to
know everything, we just want to know who got you to help bring back my
memory, and why, if you know that."  Sydney got up and wandered around,
thinking it over.

"If I tell you, do you promise not to go blabbing it everywhere?"

"We're very good at keeping secrets," Scully replied.  Sydney nodded
her approval.

"Alright.  There are some people who call themselves the Committee.  I've
never met any of them, well, Simon has something to do for them, but even
he has never met any of the 'Inner Circle', as the main guys like to call
themselves.  They give Simon a new assignment for me, and I basically have
no choice in whether I want to do it or not."

"So these people coerce you into doing their dirty work, so to speak,"
Mulder commented.

"I guess you could put it that way.  I've helped some people who needed
the help, but there was one or two I would have preferred not to have
helped," Sydney paused, a bad memory coming back to her.

"Do you know why they wanted you to help Mulder?" Scully asked, trying to
get her mind off of the bad memory.

"I never really know why they get me to do these assignments.  Most times
they just say that they need the person to get back to doing their work."
Scully and Mulder seemed to be a little disappointed.  Sydney was obviously
telling the truth, she was as much in the dark about all this as they
were.  They got up from their chairs to leave.

"Thank you," Mulder said.  Sydney gave him a slightly confused look.

"For what?  I didn't give you much of anything."

"You gave us your honesty, that's something we don't get a lot of
these days," Mulder replied.  Sydney gave him a curious look.  They
went to leave again, but Sydney stopped them again.

"Don't you want to know how I do it?" she queried.  Scully looked
at Mulder with a 'don't you dare say it' look that she hoped Sydney
wouldn't see, but she had.  "I *mean* how I'm able to call up
your subconscious."  They looked at each other, shrugged there
shoulders in a 'why not' way, and then looked back at Sydney.

"Sure."  They all walked over to a curtained off area.  Sydney pulled
it back to reveal a desk covered in monitors, a telephone and an old-style
modem.  There were also some VR glasses and gloves.  Mulder's eyes opened
in wonder and Scully just looked on interest.  "Where did you get all
this stuff?"

"Originally I had just put it together myself from leftover wire bits from
work, but after a little accident," she paused, smiling, "the Committee
replaced it all with this new equipment.  It's quite good, if you know
how to use it properly."  

"How exactly do you use all this stuff?"

"Well, if you mean how do I get into someone's subconcious, I set
up my VR setting, usually one they'll feel comfortable in, then I
call them up, and once I have them online, I put the receiver onto
the modem and there we are," she answered, showing them as she explained.
"One of you like to try it out, for fun that is."  Mulder poked Scully
in the side with his elbow.

"Why don't you give it a try Dana?  You might find something interesting
in there," he goaded.  She gave him a death stare.

"C'mon Agent Scully.  I doesn't hurt," Sydney said.  Scully sighed in
defeat.

"Alright, alright, I know when I'm outnumbered.  What do I have to do?"

"Do you have a phone?" Sydney asked and Scully nodded.  She got the
number off of her.  "Okay, choose a comfortable place for you and
describe it for me."  Scully did as she asked and Sydney input the
information.  "There we are.  Now I call you..." Sydney put on her
gloves and put the glasses on top of her head, then dialed the number.
Scully's phone began to ring, but before she answered it, Sydney stopped
her.  "It might seem a little weird at first, but don't worry, I've done
this tons of times."  With that little precaution, Scully answered
the phone, Sydney pulled down her glasses and shoved her phone on the
modem.

Scully was brought through that liquid metal tunnel to the other side.
She was in her apartment, in technicolor.  She looked about in slight
apprehension, then she saw Sydney.

"Nice apartment, decorate it yourself?" Sydney queried, looking around.

"Yes.  What exactly do we do in here?" Scully wondered.

"Whatever your subconscious wants.  I'll try and keep it in tow though,
we don't want to get carried away your first time in," Sydney replied,
smiling.  Scully breathed deeply and then found the scene around her
changing.  The two women were now in a bathroom.  Scully recognized it as
her own, but she was watching herself fighting off Tooms, then Tooms
changed to Donny Pfaster, and on and on the people changed, as well as
the scene.  Scully cried out in anger.

"Stop this!  Stop it!  I don't want to see it anymore!!!" she yelled at
Sydney.  Sydney tried to reach Scully but found she was having trouble
making it the few feet to where Scully was standing, observing in horror.

"You have to stop fighting it Agent Scully.  I can't get to you otherwise."

Scully looked at her as if she was nuts, but she could see she was serious.
Scully forced herself to look at what was happening, and the last
thing she saw was herself lying on a medical table, shadowy people doing
unknown things to her.  With a flash of light, she and Sydney were back
in Sydney's apartment.  The two of them were breathing heavily, as if they
had been through a major workout.  Mulder had to catch Scully as she
nearly fell to the ground.  He held her up as she leaned against him.

"What happened?" he asked, worried.

"I don't know, I've never had that hard a time at controlling the
environment," Sydney answered.  

"Fox, please, I think I need to sit down," Scully said weakly, finding
it hard to speak.  Mulder lead her over to the chairs in the living room
and she fell into one.  Mulder pulled one over and took hold of her
hands.  She smiled weakly at him.  

"Are you okay?  What happened in there?"

"I'm better now, I just don't see myself trying VR again too soon."

Sydney walked over to them after having shut down her equipment and 
pulling the curtain back around.

"I'm really sorry Agent Scully, I had no idea..."

"Don't worry Sydney, I'm sure it's not your fault."  Scully looked down
at Mulder's hands holding hers and she saw the time on his watch.  "It's
that late already?  Damn, I was supposed to meet the local coroner at
7 pm."  She got up and Mulder followed suit.  "Thanks for your time
Sydney."

"No problem.  I just hope I haven't totally turned you away from VR, it's
usually not that bad, once you have control of your subconscious, and
we all know how easy that is."  They all smiled at this last comment.
Sydney accompanied Mulder and Scully to her door.  "Until we meet again."
Mulder and Scully just nodded, then left.

"Are you sure you're okay Dana?"  Mulder asked as they walked back to
the elevator.

"As I said, I'm fine.  I swear Mulder, you're such a mother hen," she
commented sarcastically.  Mulder clucked jokingly and Scully smiled
wanly.  As Mulder pushed the button, Scully gave a little shudder, 
remembering a portion of what she had seen in VR.

**

Sydney closed the door and walked to her fridge.  She pulled out a
bottle of milk and proceeded to chug from it.  That VR experience
had taken a lot out of her.  

"Hey Syd, who were the suits?"  Sydney turned around from the open
fridge and was now facing her childhood friend Duncan.

"Just some people I'm helping."  When she didn't say anything more,
he nodded in understanding.

"It's one of *those* things, isn't it?"

"I'm not sure.  The two of them have some *major* problems going
on in their minds.  They seem perfectly suited for each other though."

"What makes you think that?" Duncan asked, curious.

"I don't know, something about the way they are together."

"I think you're spending too much time in VR and not enough in reality,"
Duncan commented and was rewarded with an orange thrown in his direction,
which he promptly ducked from.

**

Scully and Mulder drove away from Sydney's apartment building.  Another
car followed after them, at a discreet distance.  The person followed
as far as their hotel, but kept on driving once they had pulled into
the parking lot.  The two of them got out of the car and Mulder looked
off in the direction the car had gone.

"Are you sure that car was following us?" Scully wondered.

"Yes.  And don't look at me like I'm getting paranoid Dana," Mulder
replied, seeing her look of disbelief.  "I'm sure of it," he said
to himself.

End of part four

===========================================================================

Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
From: sgormle2@chat.carleton.ca (Siobhan Gormley)
Subject: NEW: "Hidden Secrets" (5/9)
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 03:33:42 GMT


Usual disclaimers apply...
Mic is my creation though (yes, she's *baack* ;)...

                  _Hidden Secrets: Part Five_
                      by Siobhan Gormley


Howard Johnson's
8 pm

Mulder lay on his bed, thinking over the day's events.  Despite 
Scully's thinking he was getting paranoid again, he was certain
that that car had been following them.  She had convinced him 
though that he needed to think it through properly before he
went charging off after the car and maybe end up making an ass out
of himself.  He hadn't told her, but he had had a similar feeling
of being followed earlier in the day when he had been wandering
around L.A.  

Scully had left him not long after they had returned to the hotel.
She continued to remind him that she had a case to take care of here,
as well as their own little side assignment.  He had reluctantly allowed
her to go on her own.  He was still a little concerned about her.  Even
though she kept vociferously claiming that she was fine, he had seen
out of the corner of his eye that shudder just after they left Sydney's
apartment.  He purposefully didn't bring it up because he knew she
would deny it and get more angry at him.

The phone beside the bed rang loudly, breaking him out of his thoughts
immediately.  He picked it up and was suddenly in that technicolor
world of VR again.

"Sydney?  What are you up to?" he asked.  There was no answer, but he
knew he wasn't alone here.  He was in a hotel room, but not the one
he was staying in in L.A.  It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't
quite place it.  He went to get up off the bed, but he found he was
restrained to the bed.  When he looked around him, he saw nothing
that would tie him down.  "C'mon Sydney, what's up?  Why are doing this?"
>From out of the shadows in the corner, a figure moved toward him.  The face
was obscured by a black veil.

"Sydney has nothing to do with this Mulder.  It's all me," the voice seemed
to purr in contentment.  "I always wanted your undivided attention, and
now I have it."  Mulder listened to the voice intently, hoping
something would bring a face to mind, but nothing came.  "Poor dear,
feeling a little helpless, aren't we?" she asked, chuckling.

"Who are you?  What do you want with me?"

"There are many things I want of you, but unfortunately I can't indulge
in my little...fantasies."  She seemed to draw the last word out while
she looked him up and down. "But, I have to get down to business, boring
though it may be.  Now Fox, I need you to do something for me," she continued,
running her hand through his hair.  When he didn't say anything, she continued
talking.  "I need you to take care of your darling partner, Dana Scully."
A look of horror played across Mulder's face.

"What do you mean, 'take care of'?" he choked out.  The woman sighed.

"Must I explain *everything* to you Fox?  After all you're the one with
the fancy degree," the woman replied.  Mulder's look of horror grew in
intensity.

"I could never...."

"Oh, but you must, you see, I have knowledge of certain things that are
very important to you."  Mulder looked confused.

"What could you possibly know that could be of such importance to me
that would make me do what you want?"  Mulder still couldn't see the
woman's face clearly, but he was sure she smiled.

"I know where your sister is, Fox."  A gasp of surprise escaped his
lips.  Obviously this was the exact emotion she had wanted to elicit,
because she seemed to become excited in her speech.  "Yes, Fox.  Your
search for your sister Samantha could be over with one little bit
of business taken care of.  Just think, after all these long hard
years of searching, the knowledge of where she is is so close."
She paused, catching her breath.  She leaned closer to him.  "We
could put everything behind us, start anew.  I know we didn't part
on the best of terms last time..."

"Mic."  The word escaped from his lips like a sigh. 

"I'm glad to see you remember Fox."

"Why can't I see your face? Why do you have it covered?"

"I'm not ready to let you see me as I am now.  I've changed, lots of
things have changed, except how I feel about you.  Not until you've
taken care of things will I let you see me, or know about your sister.
I don't expect you to accept it right away, but I won't give you too
long, we don't want Scully to get too far," she replied.  Mulder's
confused look returned, but Mic didn't explain what she meant.  "I
have to go now, but don't forget what I've asked you to do."  She
put one hand to each of his temples and with a sudden flash...

...he was back on his bed in his room at the hotel.  He hung up the phone 
that lay beside him.  Somehow he remembered what had gone on in VR, not just
fragments like before, but the whole conversation.  For once in a long
time he wished he couldn't remember.

**

9 pm

Scully knocked on Mulder's door, patiently waiting for him to open
it.  When he did, she was shocked to see him looking gaunt and drawn.
She quickly came into the room and pressed her hand against his
forehead.  He pushed it away, but she had had it there long enough
to know he wasn't ill, at least not physically.

"Mulder, what's wrong?"  He closed the door and walked over to the bed
sitting down on it.  Scully sat down beside him, her worried look
still on her face.

"I just...I've started to remember about Mic," he stated simply.  She
took his hands and he looked at them, then up at her.  She was
concerned, but she knew he wasn't telling her everything.

"Mulder, it can't just be remembering her that's made you look like
this," she said, indicating his appearance.  He sighed deeply, not
sure what to tell her.  "Tell me the truth, Fox," she said in a
gentler tone, as if she had read his mind.

"I was here in my room, when I got a call.  It was her." He paused.
"Dana, somehow she's able to use VR.  I don't know how she did it...
but she told me she knew where Samantha is."  Scully gave him an
incredulous look.  "I know, I know, there's no reason in hell I 
should believe anything she says, but Dana, I think she was telling
the truth.  I don't know what to do."  Scully looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?  Has she given you some sort of ultimatum?"  Mulder
got up from the bed.  He couldn't look at her.  He couldn't tell her
what this woman wanted him to do.  Scully came up behind him and turned
him around quickly to face her.  He continued to look away from her, but
despite their height difference, Scully yanked his head around so he
would face her.  "Fox Mulder, I want you to stop this protecting me for
my own good crap and tell me what she wants you to do."  The insistence
in her voice forced him to decide that telling her was the best thing
to do, she wouldn't give up until she knew. He breathed deeply, as if
that would give him the extra courage he needed to tell her.

"She wants me to kill you, Dana," he finally said, anguish crossing his
face.  Scully's hands dropped from holding his face in place, shock
overcoming her.  Mulder went to approach her, but she backed away, 
suddenly afraid of him.  "I told her I could never do it, though.  I
could never hurt you Dana, not even if it meant finding my sister."
Scully kept her distance from him, but her expression of fear turned
to one of slight relief.  

"I think I better go do some work," she said, heading for the door.
Mulder grabbed her by the arm, stopping her departure.

"Why are you walking away from this Dana?  Why do you continue to
walk away from my feelings?  What are you so afraid of?"  She stared
at him in amazement.  His eyes were bright with passion, and this
scared her slightly.  He saw the look of fright in her eyes and quickly
let go of her.  Before he could say anything more, she had left the room
and was gone to her own.

**

Scully ran into her room and quickly latched and locked the door.  She leaned
up against it, breathing heavily.  Once she regained her breath, she decided
to take a shower, suddenly having the need to feel clean.  She hadn't felt
like this since ninth grade when she was punished by the religion teacher
for passing love notes in class.  She had been thoroughly embarrassed in
front of her classmates, and the teacher had made it seem like it was
something extremely dirty.  But this was also nothing like passing love
notes to some guy you had a crush on, this was something much deeper,
something she was afraid of acknowledging.  She went into the bathroom
and started the shower, waiting for it to heat up.  After changing out
of her clothes she slipped into the shower, enjoying the feeling of
the warm water pounding on her flesh.  Things were getting more and
more confused.  Not only were things changing quickly with Mulder, incredibly
so, but there was something strange about this case she was working on.
When she had gone to see the coroner, she had gotten a cursory view of the
victim.  The victim had lesions of the same sort as people who had
contracted necrotizing faciitis, or the flesh-eating bacteria as it was
commonly called.  When she had asked the coroner how he had gotten it,
but all the coroner knew was that he was an upstanding citizen who didn't
get involved in any sort of dalliances.  Scully proceeded to tell the
coroner that it didn't matter if this guy was sleeping with half of
the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad, that wasn't the way he would have
gotten it.  The coroner then told her that he had no idea.  The man's
family claimed that he had been fine the day before he had been found dead.
Scully had then left and come back to the hotel, to this even more gut-
wrenching reality.  

"Why does this have to happen now?" she wondered aloud.  She found tears
streaming down her face, mingling with the water.  She sank down in the
shower and started to cry full force, in fear and in anger.

*******

Next day
10:13 am

Mulder sat alone in the dining area.  Scully had left earlier on, leaving
a note at the desk.  When he had tried calling her cellular, there was no
answer.  He had slammed the courtesy phone down in frustration, causing
the desk clerks to look at him in interest.  He had then walked away to
the dining area, deciding it was a better idea if he ate rather than run
off to the coroner's office half cocked.  The time taken to order the food
and then eat it would allow him to gather his thoughts.  Now he had to
figure out what he was going to actually say.  He knew he had
frightened her, not only because of what Mic had asked him to do, but
because of the strength of his feelings for her.  He now regretted
ever becoming so forceful.  A waiter walked over to Mulder's table.

"Sir, there's a phone call for you."  Mulder simply nodded and walked
back over to the front desk.  The desk clerk eyed him with interest again
and handed him the phone.  

"Hello?" he queried.

"Hello Fox, have you thought about my little request?" the voice asked.

"My answer hasn't changed Mic, I won't do it."  She tsked him.

"Fox, Fox.  That's not what I want to hear.  I'm giving you the chance
to do yourself a favor.  Scully's no fun anyway, and you get the bonus
of finding your sister."

"Well I don't consider things the same way you do Mic.  I could never face
my sister with the knowledge that I had killed someone just to find her."
Mic laughed cynically.

"That's not what I expected to hear from you Fox.  I always thought you
would do *anything* to find her."

"Anything short of murder."  He hung up the phone and handed it back
to the clerk who looked at him warily.

**

3:11 pm

Scully came back to the hotel, exhausted from the autopsy she had
performed.  The coroner had protested at her wanting to do one, but
with one look from her, he shut his mouth and led her to the morgue.
The man had died from the wounds inflicted by the necrotizing faciitis,
quite painfully it seemed.

She walked down the hall toward her room, and as she passed Mulder's
door, she hesitated.  She knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
'He's probably out somewhere,' she thought.  She opened the door to
her room and was surprised with the sight of Mulder sitting in a
chair, looking out the window.  He turned when he heard the door open.
Neither of them said anything at first, but soon a tentative smile
spread across both their faces.

"I would ask how you got in here, but I don't think I'd like the
answer too much," Scully finally said, closing the door behind her.
She sat down on the edge of her bed, still keeping some distance 
between them.

"Dana, I'm sorry if I scared you last night, I didn't mean to.  The
last thing I want to do is hurt you," he said, a saddened look on
his face.  Any defenses she had built up were now broken down with
that one look.  She sat in the chair opposite him, taking his hands.

"I know you wouldn't, Fox.  I just...I guess I'm having a hard time
accepting everything that's happening, it's all happening so fast,"
she replied, her voice fading near the end.  His hand traced the outline
of her face and she found herself shivering in pleasure.  They looked
deeply into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity before
either of them said anything.  "I think we should discuss some
business, you know, to get it out of the way."  Mulder seemed a little
disappointed with her, but he supposed that this could wait a little
longer.

"If it's important."  Scully nodded seriously, getting up from her
chair and picking up her briefcase.  She took out some papers and 
sat down again.  She handed the papers to Mulder who looked them over.

"You remember our case in Miami now?"  He nodded while he continued
reading the papers.  "Well, it seems that Miami wasn't an isolated case.
The man I did the autopsy on today died of the same disease.  Somehow
someone was able to pass it on to him.  It seemed a little strange at
first, he wasn't one of the scientists from the group who had created
it, but when I dug a little deeper, I found out that he had worked at
Miasma Laboratories as a security guard a while ago.  He and Dr. Kurtz
knew each other rather well, if you get my drift.  Dr. Kurtz must
have let something about the experiments slip one time, and he moved
out here to L.A. for his own protection."

"Obviously it wasn't far enough," Mulder commented.  "Where did you
get this information Dana?"  Scully smiled slyly.

"I have my ways."  Mulder just shook his head in wonder.  

"Well, this is certainly something else, I wouldn't be surprised..."
he stopped, a thought dawning in his mind.

"What is it Mulder?"  Scully asked, now worried.

"Dana, I think this is why Mic wants me to kill you.  Somehow she's
involved in all this and she wants you to keep you away from finding
out the truth."

"That may explain me, but why wouldn't she want you dead too?"

"Maybe she thinks she can keep me in check.  She does have a thing
for me," he said.  Scully looked at him with amusement.

"Maybe we can use that to our advantage," Scully said.

End of part five

===========================================================================

Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
From: sgormle2@chat.carleton.ca (Siobhan Gormley)
Subject: NEW: "Hidden Secrets" (6/9)
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 03:36:15 GMT


MINOR SLEAZE ALERT: There is one *almost* adult situation in
this part.  It ends up being only an intimate situation for M&S. 

Usual disclaimers apply... 
Mic is my creation though... 

                   _Hidden Secrets: Part Six_
                      by Siobhan Gormley

Mulder eyed Scully thoughtfully.

"And how exactly are we to use this to our advantage?"  She grinned widely.

"Well if she really does have 'a thing' for you Mulder, then she should
be quite easy to catch if you..." she trailed off, letting him finish it
himself.  He shook his head vehemently.

"Nah unh, no way Dana.  I am *not*..."  Scully began to laugh before
he could finish and he began to redden with embarrassment, realising she
hadn't intended him to do anything drastic, just pretend a little and then
trap her when she least expected it.  Scully wiped the tears of laughter
from her eyes and walked over to where he was standing.

"Don't worry Fox, I'll protect you from her," she replied, lowering her
voice to a husky tone.  They stood toe to toe for a moment, enjoying
the closeness.  Mulder traced her face with his hand again and she
leaned into his touch, not fighting it this time.  They smiled in
unison.  His hand rested on her neck and he could feel the pounding of
her blood.  Scully began to feel weak because of the rush of blood through
her system.  She shook her head to try to regain her bearings, but it only
seemed to make her more dizzy.  Mulder caught her as her knees buckled
slightly under her.  He held her close to himself for a minute, and she
drank in the scent of him, the one thing that always assured her
everything would be fine, he was there.  He then lay her on the bed, leaning
slightly over her.

"I think you need some rest," he stated, brushing away a wayward lock of
hair from her face.  She just smiled up at him, then decided that sleep
would be a good idea, she hadn't gotten much the night before.  She closed
her eyes and he walked over to the chair by the window and sat in it,
sighing contentedly, soon drifting off himself.

**

5:23 pm

Mulder woke up suddenly, the sound of the shower having broken into
his dreams.  He stretched all his muscles trying to get the kinks out.
He got out of the chair and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Dana?"

"What Mulder?" she replied, soundly slightly annoyed.

"Do you want to eat out, or should I just order us some room service?"
There was a long pause before she answered.

"Room service might be a good idea, we need to plot some strategy," she
yelled over the water.  He walked over to the side of the bed where
the phone sat and called downstairs.  Once he had ordered dinner, he lay
back on the bed, arms linked underneath his head.  The water was shut off
and he heard the door unlock.  He turned his head toward the door and
was greeted with the sight of Scully in her white bathrobe tightly cinched
at the waist.  He couldn't help admiring her curves and the way the
robe hung tantalisingly open just above her breasts.  When she saw his
admiring look, she blushed slightly.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" he asked, hoping he had.
She blushed even deeper at his compliment which brought a smile to his
face.  He motioned for her to come toward him, and somehow she found 
herself coming forward, as if he was pulling her along on a string.  She
had never felt such an attraction for someone as she did for Fox Mulder
at this exact moment.  She stopped at the edge of the bed, leaning up
against it.  He took a hold of her robe's belt and pulled her down on
top of him.  She gasped in slight surprise at how aroused he was, and
this made him smile even wider.  He reached up behind her head, cupping
it in his hand and drawing her mouth to his.  Their lips met, at first
tentatively, softly, then with each passing second, deeper, more passionate
and demanding.  His hand moved away from the back of her head and down 
her back, causing her to moan softly through their kissing.  Their lips
parted and Scully slid down him, causing him to moan in pleasure.  She
smiled tantalisingly.  Scully pulled up his sweatshirt and began to
softly kiss his muscled chest, eliciting further moans of pleasure from
him.  Just as she went to pull at his sweatpants, the phone rang. 
Scully instictively went to get it, but Mulder grabbed hold of her
arm, kissing it softly, making her momentarily forget about the insistent
ringing. He rolled over, now laying on top of her.  He kissed down her arm,
pushing at the robe.  She couldn't help but giggle at his attempt to fight
with her robe.  He eventually gave up on that course and went to kiss her
down her neck when he realized that the phone had stopped ringing, and that
she was holding it in her hand.  She smiled apologetically and put it to
her ear.

"Hello?" she asked, and suddenly she had that blank expression that
indicated her mind was no longer there.

**

Scully found herself standing in her apartment, but in the VR world.

"Sydney, what are you up to?" she asked.  When she got no answer, she
began to worry.  "Mic, is it you?"  A shadow moved out of the corner
and coalesced into a human being, but she was not very clear.

"So glad to see you Scully," she said, her voice dripping with
sarcasm.  "Enjoying yourself?"  Scully looked at the figure/Mic,
confused.

"What do you mean?  What do you want?"  The figure/Mic sighed, exasperated.

"You two are full of questions, aren't you?"  The figure/Mic moved
closer.  "You know what I mean Dana Scully.  You've taken him away from
me one time too many.  You don't deserve him.  I could kill you right
here, right now....but then I wouldn't get to see the real pain you would be
going through, now would I?"  Scully moved away from her, but found
the figure/Mic suddenly behind her, breathing down her neck.  Scully
tried to get away, but everywhere she moved to, the figure/Mic was there.
"How does it feel to be with him?  Is he a gentle lover, or does he
like it rough?" the figure/Mic questioned.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"  Scully screamed.  She was now
being assaulted with images from her memory, images she would rather 
forget.  The figure/Mic cackled evilly at Scully's pain.  She leaned
over Scully's curled up body.

"Don't worry dear, I'm sure Fox'll make it all better.  Just don't forget,
I'm watching your every move." And with a touch of her hand on Scully's
temple...

...Scully's mind was back in reality.  She dropped the receiver and
began sobbing uncontrollably.  Mulder pulled her tightly into his arms,
not wanting to let her go.  He made comforting noises as Scully started
to babble incoherently.

"She's mad Fox.  She wants to watch me die painfully, just for her own
viewing pleasure.  She said she's watching us."  Mulder held her face
gently out in front of him.

"No one's going to hurt you Dana, not as long as I have breath left in
my body."  He went to wipe away her tears, but found himself kissing 
them away.  Their mouths soon found each other again and passion mixed
with fear as they embraced deeply.  Scully pulled away as his hands
felt for her robe belt.  His expression was one of confusion and 
frustration.

"No, please Fox.  Just hold me," she pleaded in a quiet voice.  He
suddenly felt guilty for his selfish feelings and took her in his
arms.  "I'm sorry," she murmurred.  He pulled slightly away to look
her in the face.

"Whatever for?"  She smiled sheepishly and he nodded in comprehension.
"It's okay.  I think you need this more."

Scully eventually fell asleep in his arms.  Mulder lay there, contemplating
what she had told him.  Mic was 'watching them'?  Where?  A knock on the
door broke his train of thought.  'Damn,' he thought, 'forgot about room
service.'  He attempted to disentangle himself without waking her up.
She shifted slightly in her sleep, but she didn't wake up.  He tiptoed
over to the door, opened it, signed the receipt and pulled the cart in
himself, assuring the waiter that he could handle it.  He closed the door
behind him and then looked at the the cart and found he was starved.  He
looked over at Scully lying on the bed, looking so helpless and vulnerable.
Any thought of food left his mind as he heard her cry softly, obviously
having a nightmare.  He lay on the bed again, taking her back into his
arms.  Her crying continued for a couple of minutes more, but eventually
it died down as he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.  He
continued this until his eyelids began to feel heavy and he finally fell
asleep.

*******

8 am

Scully woke up with a start.  She was lying on her bed, alone.  She
could have sworn...no, last night must have all been a dream.  She
rolled over, a smile playing on her lips.  If Mulder *ever* found
out about this dream...well, he'd *never* let her live it down. She
shuddered a little with sudden remembrances of her nightmares. She
got up off the bed and headed for the bathroom.  Scully looked down
at her bathrobe and thought she must have fallen asleep in it last 
night.  Just as she approached the bathroom door, she saw someone 
inside.  Her eyes darted around to find her gun and saw it lying on
the table, half-way across the room.  Oh well, she'd just have to
put that martial arts training to use.  She snuck up to the door,
and it opened slightly when she hit it accidently.  The person
turned toward the opening door and Scully decided this was as good
a time as any.  She fairly charged into the room and grabbed the 
person in a choke hold, pulling him to the ground.  She looked down
to see who her 'guest' was and was embarrassed to find it was Mulder.
She quickly let go of him, leaving him gasping for air.

"Gee Dana, if I knew what it would be like the morning after..." he
joked.  She blushed deeply, embarrassed by her mistake and also
by his comment.

'So it had been real,' she thought.  She helped him up off the ground.

"I'm going to have leave you post-it notes, your memory seems to be
worse than mine," he commented lightly, brushing a stray lock of hair
out of his eyes.  When she didn't say anything, he continued.  "Am I
going to be doing all the talking today Dana?" he asked curiously.

"No.  Sorry, I just...I'm a little disoriented at the moment," she
replied, finally finding her voice.  She turned around and walked
out of the bathroom, Mulder in tow.

"It's okay, after what you must have gone through in VR, and the
nightmares you were having..." he reassured, putting a hand on her
shoulder.  She seemed to tense when he did this and he instantly
pulled away.  "Well I guess we should get down to business.  What's
the plan boss?" he asked, sounding sarcastic.  Scully seemed to
wince at his sarcastic tone and Mulder instantly wanted to take it
back.  She sat down on one of the chairs, pulling the robe tightly
around her as if it could protect her from some unseen enemy. Mulder
sat across from her and looked into her eyes which seemed clouded
with confusion and slight regret.  "Penny for your thoughts?" he offered.
She smiled half-heartedly.

"Sorry, <'Jeez I'm saying that a lot lately,' she thought> I guess I've
got a lot on my mind lately.  But we don't have time for sitting around,
we need to make some sort of plan, we have to stop Mic before she goes
too far."  She got up and went to the phone. "First things first, we
need to talk to Sydney.  She might be able to help, or at the very least
give us an idea as to how Mic is able to use VR."  Scully dialled Sydney's
home number but only got her machine.  She left a brief message asking her
to call her cellular number once she got in.  With that done, Scully headed
for the bathroom again.

"What now?" Mulder asked, just before she went in.  

"I'm taking a shower, you should get some clean clothes on, preferably
a suit," she answered, closing the door behind her.

"Yes master," he said, bowing toward the bathroom door.

"I heard that," Scully said from the other side of the door, bringing
a smile to Mulder's face.  He left for his room.

Scully looked at herself in the mirror.  She had a haunted look in
her eyes. "Dana Katherine Scully, you've *got* to get it together," she
said aloud.  "Great, now I'm talking to myself."  She turned on the
shower, then got in, scrubbing herself down until she was nearly raw.  She 
closed her eyes and put her head against the shower wall.  "What is wrong with
me?  I thought I had already dealt with it all."  She breathed deeply, trying
to stop herself from starting to cry again.  "This is not me.  I can handle
anything, I always have, especially Mulder."  She rubbed her eyes, but
images of her nightmares seemed to appear.  She quickly opened her
eyes and they were gone.  "What the...?" She closed her eyes again, but
nothing was there but blackness was there.  She shook her head.  "This 
stuff is getting to me too much."

End of part six

===========================================================================

From: sgormle2@chat.carleton.ca (Siobhan Gormley)
Subject: Re: Attention all archivists!
To: juodvalk (Vincent V. Juodvalkis)
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 95 10:21:33 EDT


I made a few mistakes with part seven of my story "Hidden Secrets".  If
you can change it to this....=)

Usual disclaimers apply....
Mic is my creation though....

                  _Hidden Secrets: Part Seven_
                       by Siobhan Gormley

Howard Johnson's
9 am

Mulder and Scully sat in the dining area, eating their breakfasts 
in silence.  Mulder knew there was something wrong with Scully, it
was obvious, but no matter how he had tried to get her to talk to
him about it, she would quickly change the subject.  Mulder put down
his coffee cup, hoping to get some conversation out of her.

"So, what do we do until Sydney gets home from work?"

"Well, I thought..." At this moment, her cellular phone rang.  "Hello?"
she queried.  She didn't say anything more, only grunting in acknowledgement
every once in a while.  "Alright, I'll see you in about half an hour."
She turned off the phone and looked at Mulder, his face now curious.
"That was the coroner.  It seems another body has turned up with similar
lesions as the previous victim.  It looks like our killer has struck again."

*******

L.A. Coroner's office
10 am

Mulder stood aside as Scully got her instruments ready for the autopsy.
He now remembered the ill feeling he had had the first time he had
seen a body like this.  He didn't feel much better, but at least he 
felt like he could keep his breakfast down.  He decided he'd go and
do some checking up on this guy, his file didn't give too much detail
on him.  Scully only nodded when he told her this, she was
concentrating on the procedures she was performing.

Scully went through the autopsy, detailling everything she did for her
tape recorder that she would dictate from later on onto her laptop.
She found that the victim, one Bruno Sanchez, had sufferred major
tissue damage, obviously from the advanced state of the disease.  

Just as Mulder returned, Scully finished up the autopsy and turned off
her tape recorder. Pulling off her rubber gloves, she turned to Mulder.

"So, what do we know about this guy except he had the unfortunate
chance to contract this," Scully asked him.

"Well, there's not much here that some would consider of importance,
but it seems he worked with an insurance company that had many important
clients, including the federal government."

"How much do you want to bet that he knew one of the scientists from the
project?" Scully wondered.

"That's one bet I don't think I'll take," Mulder commented, holding
the door open for Scully to pass through before him.

*******

Sanchez residence
11:30 am

"Thank you very much for you time, Mrs. Sanchez," Scully consoled, 
just as they were leaving the house.  Mulder and Scully walked down
to their car in silence.  Once they were on the road, Mulder finally
spoke.

"Well that was a waste of time," he complained.  Scully grimaced at
him.  "Sorry Dana, but it's true.  She didn't give us anything more
than what we had.  We need to go to the insurance company, they'll have
the files from past and present clients."

"And what makes you think they're going to just hand them over to us?
We don't even have a warrant, and I personally don't relish having to
explain to a justice as to why we want one."

"Dana, I'm surprised at such negativity," he said with mock surprise.
She smiled in spite of herself.

"Alright then, how exactly are we going to get a look at those files?"
Mulder smiled congenially.

"We're going to use your best asset."  She looked at him warily.

"And what's that?"

"Your dazzling charm."  She couldn't help but laugh at this attempt
at a compliment.  

"You better watch out Mulder, you might sweep me off my feet with your
compliments," she stated.  He smiled deviously.

"That's been my plan all along."

*******

All State Insurance Co.
12:15 pm

Mulder and Scully walked into the All State Insurance offices.  There
was only the secretary and two insurance agents in, the other agents
obviously on lunch.

"May I help you?" asked the secretary.  

"Yes, we were wondering if we could talk to someone in charge here,"
Mulder stated simply.

"That would be Chris Sargent.  Was there any particular reason...?"
Mulder and Scully pulled out their badges and flipped them open for the
secretary to peruse.  She nodded and quickly dialled a number on her phone.
"Chris?  Yeah, there's some FBI people here to talk to you.  Okay." She
hung up the receiver and got up from her seat.  "If you'll follow me."
They did as she asked.

"Get ready to turn on the charm there Dana," Mulder whispered, eliciting
a grin from Scully.  They finally stopped in front of a closed door.
The secretary knocked twice and a voice told them to enter.  The secretary
opened the door and Mulder and Scully were quickly introduced.  They
were surprised to be facing a woman, having expected a man because of
the name.

"Looks like we'll be needing your dazzling charm instead Mulder," Scully
commented quietly, barely containing her amusement.

"Agents Mulder, Scully, please, have a seat.  What can I do for you?"
Ms. Sargent queried.  They sat down.

"Well Ms. Sargent, we're conducting an investigation into the death of
one of your employees, Bruno Sanchez."

"Ah yes, Bruno.  It was too bad about him.  I didn't know him well, but
he was a good enough agent, he never cheated me at least," she said,
smiling sardonically at the last comment.  "What exactly do you need?"

"Ms. Sargent, we need to see his files for the federal government,"
Scully responded.  She raised her eyebrow in curiousity.

"Don't you guys need a warrant or something official like that?  After
all, we can't just go opening our files to anyone, our clients wouldn't
trust us if we did."

"Ms. Sargent, we know you're a sensible woman.  Yes, it's true, we do
*technically* need a warrant, but unfortunately we don't have time to
go chasing down justices for a piece of paper.  There's a cold-blooded
murderer out there and we have to catch up to her before she commits
another murder," Mulder said, giving her a trustworthy look.

"I thought he died of that flesh eating disease?" she questioned,
looking at them as if they were slightly off their rocker.

"That's the official story Ms. Sargent.  It's too long a story, but
trust us, it's necessary that we see these files."

"You guys figure looking through confidential files will help catch
this person?"

"Yes," Mulder stated simply.  She looked at both of them for a minute
before making up her mind.

"Alright, but if you let any of this out..."

"Don't worry Ms. Sargent, our lips are sealed," Mulder replied, a smile
on his face.  She couldn't help but smile back at him.  She got up and 
indicated that they should follow her.  They all stopped in front of a 
door marked storage.  Ms. Sargent opened the door and led them in.
She walked over to one of the file cabinets.

"This is the first set of files of Bruno's clients in the federal
government.  There are two others over here," she said, pointing to
the ones next to the one she stood in front of.  "I'll leave you
to it."  She left the room and pulled the door over, leaving it slightly
ajar.  Mulder and Scully looked at each other.

"Guess we should get started," Scully stated.  She opened up the first drawer,
Mulder walked over to one of the other cabinets and began looking through 
the files.

**

2:30 pm

Scully stretched out the kinks in her back and rubbed her eyes.  She hadn't
looked through this much paper work in...well, it had been quite a while.
She glanced over to Mulder and his pile of files.  He was sitting in
the middle of several different files, obviously each pile had some
significance, they always seemed to for him.  She laughed inwardly.  She
still couldn't figure out how someone who seemed so disorganized was
able to find order in the disarray.  But that was just the way his mind
worked, she supposed.  No matter how hard she had tried to pin him down,
he always did something new that threw her for a loop.  It was never boring
working with him, that was for sure.  Mulder looked up from one of the files
he was skimming over and saw Scully looking at him.  He smiled in that 
innocent boyish way that drove so many of her fellow female colleagues to
distraction.  She smiled back, sighing quietly.

"Find anything yet?"  he asked.  She shook her head.

"No, nothing that would set off any alarm bells.  Mulder, I don't know if
this is going to get us anywhere."

"I'm sure something will show up Dana.  Just have to have faith."  She shook
her head again, this time in disbelief.  She turned back to her stack of
files and continued her search.

A few minutes later, Mulder let out an exclamation.  Scully turned back
to face him.  He walked to her side, plunking a file folder in front
of her.  She looked at the name on the policy, one Dr. Paul Kurtz.

"Just because he had a policy for him doesn't necessarily mean..."

"Dana, look at the date on it.  It's almost fifteen years old.  Bruno
Sanchez obviously knew him back before he lost his sanity and torched
his lab.  For all we know they used to go out for drinks and talk about
things, like work."

"Mulder, even if they did know each other, you don't seriously think a
man like Dr. Kurtz would go spilling out tales of his work, especially
something that was so top secret as project Wipeout."

"Some people just can't hold their liquor very well and let things slip,"
Mulder commented, making Scully look at him incredulously.  "I know that
look well Dana, and until you prove to me otherwise, I'm going to take 
this as a lead, of sorts."

"Just my luck that both of them are dead and I can't prove anything,"
Scully said, getting up from her chair to start putting away the files.
Mulder began to put files away as well.

"Well, that's not totally true."  She looked at him curiously.  "We
don't know for sure that Paul Kurtz is dead."

"Mulder, he was shot right in front of your eyes."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it was something fatal.  For all I know
it was a tranquilizer."  Scully just shook her head in disbelief at 
his persistence.

"You know Mulder, I think your parents misnamed you."  He gave her a
curious look.  "I think they should have named you pitbull, you certainly
have the tenacity of one."  

*******

Sydney Bloom's apartment
7 pm

Once they had gotten their copies made of the files on Dr. Kurtz, they had
left the insurance office and gone back to the hotel to change.  They had
waited until six to hear from Sydney, but she never called.  When they called
her, her machine was still on.  They then decided to go to her apartment, 
maybe she had left her machine on when she had gotten home.  They
stopped in front of the door and Mulder knocked.  There was no answer.
Mulder knocked again.

"Sydney?  Are you in?  We need to talk to you," Mulder said.  Still no
answer.

"I guess she's out," Scully commented, turning back toward the elevator,
Mulder following close behind.  Just as Scully pressed the button, the
elevator arrived and Sydney stepped out. 

"Great, you're here.  We need some help," Mulder said.  Sydney looked at
them warily and walked past them without a word.  They looked at each other
curiously and followed after her.  "Sydney, is there something wrong?"
She turned to face them.

"Look it, I don't know who you've pissed off, but I wish they would
leave me alone.  I don't appreciate being knocked out just so some
weird woman can use my stuff," she replied angrily.  Mulder and Scully
gave her a concerned look.

"Sydney, we had no idea.  This woman, did you see what she looks like?"

"No, she had something covering her face the first time she showed up.
The second time I never even heard her come in.  Who is she anyways?"

"Someone we need your help to catch.  She's already threatened my life
and we're pretty sure she either participated in or was an accomplice to
several other murders.  I know this might not be something you want to
be directly involved in, but any help you could provide we would greatly
appreciate," Scully requested.  Sydney looked at them both then shook her
head.

"I don't know.  I'll have to think about it."  Scully smiled half-heartedly.

"That's all we ask.  But please, don't think too long, we don't know 
when she'll strike next."  Sydney nodded and then entered her apartment.
Scully and Mulder walked back to the elevator.

"I suppose we should have figured this would happen sooner or later,"
Scully said.

"What would happen?"  Mulder asked.

"That Mic would affect our work again."

"Dana, how were we to know she wasn't really dead?  We just slipped up
a little and took something at face value."

"No, *I* slipped up Mulder."  She paused.  "Gawd she certainly has
a way to separate us, even more so in our thinking."

"Dana, we've always been separate in our thinking."  She looked at him
as if to say, 'That's not what I mean'. "Look it, she may have 
tried to split us before, but we both now know what she's capable of,
and she won't do it again.  This time we're working together, I'm not
about to take off without you, no matter what."  He paused.  "Anyways,
I'm sick of getting whacked over the head all the time," he joked,
making Scully laugh.

End of part seven

===========================================================================

Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
From: sgormle2@chat.carleton.ca (Siobhan Gormley)
Subject: NEW: "Hidden Secrets" (8/9)
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 03:38:09 GMT


Usual disclaimers apply...
Mic is my creation though...

                _Hidden Secrets: Part Eight_
                     by Siobhan Gormley


Howard Johnson's
2:11 am

Scully lay peacefully sleeping when she suddenly was woken up
by the sound of the phone shrilling next to her head.  She groaned
in protest, glancing briefly at the clock.  She picked up the phone
beside her bed, but there was only the dial tone, and the sound of 
a phone was still going. 'Damn, must have left my cellular on the bed,'
she swore internally.  She reached around, searching for the offending
item.  She finally found it lying underneath the spare pillow.

"Hello?" she asked groggily.

"I thought there was something wrong with you Agent Scully when you
didn't answer."  It was Sydney.

"What is it Sydney?"

"I've made up my mind, I'm going to help you guys.  I don't like the
idea of this woman continuing to take advantage of my 'hospitality',"
she replied, making sarcastic emphasis on the last word.  

"Great.  We'll come over in the....later."

"Alright.  See you."  Scully turned off the phone and threw it half-way
across the room, falling back onto her pillow and back to sleep.

*******

Sydney's apartment
9 am

"I'm telling you Mulder, your friend Sydney has your sleeping habits,"
Scully commented.

"One phone call at 2 am..."

"2:11 am," she corrected, smiling.

"Sorry, *2:11 am*, doesn't make her an insomniac.  Anyways, you're the one
that wanted her answer as soon as she had it..."

"Is that all you two ever do, fight?" Sydney said from behind them.

"No, we stop and try to solve some cases every once in a while," Mulder
commented lightly, bringing a smile to Sydney's face.  "Where did you come
from?"

"The roof.  Anyway, come on in, we need to form a plan if we want to catch
this one, she's certainly the slippery type."

"That's putting it nicely," Scully muttered.  Mulder looked at her with
a touch of surprise.  "What?"  He just shrugged his shoulders and followed
Sydney in.  

They all sat in Sydney's living room, plotting strategy, continuously
debating the usefulness of each idea.  Finally they came to a consensus.

"Alright.  We all agree that Mulder is the key to luring her in." Mulder
gave Scully a pained look and she patted him on the arm. "Don't worry,
we'll watch out for you."  He rolled his eyes and gave her a look that
said, 'I feel *so* safe', which made her playfully punch him in the arm.
He made a face of mock hurt and rubbed his arm. "Mulder, you'll have to
get in contact with her, convince her that you want to talk in person,
that you've changed your mind.  Once you plan to meet somewhere, make
sure you have both our phones on you, Sydney needs you in there when
she brings Mic into VR.  I'll go with you to make sure things go as
planned, and as backup.  We can't bring in any outside authorities, hell,
I don't even think they'd believe us.  We all have to trust each other,
we have no one else to help us.  You'll have to watch Mic in VR though,
she already seems to have some sort of control in there.  Hopefully we
can keep her in there long enough to capture her and take her back to
Washington ourselves.  Okay, did I leave anything out?"  Both Mulder
and Sydney shook their heads.

"I just hope this three way conferencing goes alright, I've only done it
once, and I was the only one with the real control.  Hopefully I'll be
strong enough to keep her at bay," Sydney said, sounding worried.

"Sydney, you have to have faith in yourself, we'll need that in there,"
Mulder said.

"You're right, no use moping.  That won't help us any."  She got up from
her seat and headed for her kitchen.  "Do you guys want more tea?"

"Do you have any coffee?  I could really use the caffeine jolt right now,"
Mulder replied.

"Mulder, you don't need to be any more wired than you usually are.  No
wonder you don't sleep much, all that caffeine must play havoc on your
system," Scully commented.

"Yes Dr. Scully," Mulder joked, prompting another playful punch from her.
Sydney just shook her head at the two of them.

"You two amaze me," she stated, sitting back down.  They looked at her
curiously.

"In what way?"

"One minute you seem like sparring partners and the next you're all
concerned about each other. Some would say you two were secret lovers."
Scully nearly spat out the tea she was finishing off at that moment,
making Mulder and Sydney start to laugh.  Scully scowled a little at
first, not finding it very funny, but eventually their laughter made
her start to laugh.  Their laughter abated.  "So, what is the deal with
you two?" Sydney asked bluntly.

"You just charge headlong into your questions, don't you?" Scully asked.

"Dana's just a little shy, that's all," Mulder teased.  Scully gave him
a withering look.

"Don't listen to this one, he lives to torment me.  In all seriousness,
though, I guess we've become really good friends, as well as being 
partners.  It's hard to find someone you can trust so completely and not
be...too intimitately involved with them," Scully said, blushing slightly
at the last statement.  Mulder looked at her fondly, even though he felt
a slight bit of disappointment deep down.

"You're lucky.  I have a friend, Duncan, but I don't think he and
I could qualify to that extent.  It's not that I don't trust him,
it's just that he can't be let in on everything I do, like with you
guys.  Sometimes I wish I'd never stumbled onto this level of VR, it
seems to hurt him when I can't let him in."

"Sometimes we have to do things without the ones we care about in order
to keep them safe from harm, or as safe as possible," Mulder said.  They
all sat in silence, contemplating his words.  Mulder was the first to
move, getting up from his seat beside Scully.  "Well, on that happy note,
I think Dana and I need to get some stuff done.  Thanks for your help
on everything Sydney.  I'll call you once everything's set up with Mic."
Sydney nodded and followed them to the door.  She leaned on the open door.

"Be careful you two," she said.

"You too," Mulder responded, looking at her seriously.  Just as Mulder
and Scully walked out the door, Simon appeared, looking very upset.  He
glared at them and then pushed his way into Sydney's apartment, much to
her protest.  They could hear their yelling as they entered the elevator.
"Were we ever that bad?" 

"Not that vocal, that's for sure," Scully stated, causing both of them
to chuckle.  They stood in silence as the elevator descended, not really
looking at each other.  They both went to speak at the same time, ending
up overlapping.

"Dana, I was wondering..."

"Mulder, I want you to understand...."  They stopped, and started to laugh
a little at their foolishness.  "Mulder, Fox, I...I just want you to know,
that even though we've begun to...explore certain deeper...feelings that
seem to be there, I think we should hold back.  I don't want to ruin what
we have right now."

"You think that making love will ruin our relationship?"

"In a word, maybe."  He gave her a confused look.  "I don't know Fox, I'm
just beginning to realize that I haven't really dealt with a lot of other
things I thought I had put behind me.  I don't think this is the time or
place for us to get in over our heads.  Let's just put this on the back
burner, at least until we're both sure we're emotionally ready for something
so...involved."  He smiled wryly.

"I could never really say no to you Dana," he stated, touching her face
lightly, bringing a soft smile to her face.  The elevator stopped and
they walked out to the car.  "I guess I better start calling you Scully
again."  She smiled.

"I guess that would be a good idea," she responded, almost sounding
disappointed.

As they drove away, a car followed them.  Scully's phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Do you really think you're fooling me?"  Scully got a worried look
on her face.  Mulder mouthed a 'Who is it?' and Scully waved at him to
watch the road.

"Who is this?"

"Don't play dumb with me Scully.  Don't forget, I'm watching you two."
With that the line was disconnected.

"Who was it?"  Mulder asked again, this time aloud.

"I think it was Mic.  Mulder, I think she might be on to our plan."

"What would make you think that?  Did she tell you that?"

"No, not in so many words.  She just reminded me that she's watching
us."

"Well, we'll just have to go on the assumption that she doesn't know
our plans.  I know, I know, there's a chance that she does know our
plans, but we'll just have to take that chance."

A car sped up behind them, then quickly crossed over to the other lane
and past them, coming awfully close to running into them.  Mulder swerved
to avoid the car.

"Jesus, I thought D.C. drivers were bad," Mulder complained.  

"Mulder, did you notice what kind of car that was?" 

"Well I was a little busy trying to avoid a collision Scully," he replied
sarcastically, slipping easily into his old habit of calling her by her
last name.

"Well I looked, it was a black sedan."  Mulder looked at her, surprised.

"You're sure?"

"I couldn't be more sure."

"Damn!  We're in a lot more trouble than we first thought Scully."

"What's new?" Scully queried sarcastically.

*******

Papa Leone's restaurant
6 pm

The rest of the day Mulder and Scully had been extremely cautious,
Mulder almost to the point of paranoia.  They had decided to eat dinner
out, to break the routine they had gotten into since they had arrived.
The two of them sat there pushing their food around, not really eating.
Scully sighed loudly, making Mulder look at her with a certain amount of
amusement.

"Sorry I don't hold much interest for you Scully," he commented snidely.  She
looked at him, making a face.

"You know it's not you.  I was just thinking.." she paused, seeing he was
about to say something, but she said it before he had the chance, "I know,
a dangerous thing for me to do."  He smiled.  

"What deep thoughts were you thinking that made you sigh so forlornly?"
he asked.

"Just...well, I can't help to think of before I met you, before I even
joined the FBI.  Thinking back to those times reminds me how tame
it all was, how *normal* it all seems.  I didn't have to look over my
shoulder every five seconds to make sure someone or something wasn't
coming after me."

"Are you trying to tell me you want out?" Mulder wondered, sounding worried.
She shook her head, alaying his fears.

"No.  After all I've been through, I don't think I could ever go back to
that, despite what my mother wants."  Mulder got an intrigued look.

"And what does your mother want?"  Scully looked at him, a little annoyed.

"Are we playing shrink and patient here Mulder?"  He shook his head.

"No, I'm just being your friend.  I thought you wanted to get some stuff
off your chest, but if you're going to be that way about it," he stated,
a hurt look crossing his face.  He looked back down at his plate.  Scully
suddenly felt guilty for being so rude.  She pulled his head back up, making
him look her in the eye.

"Mulder, I'm sorry.  I just...I get a little touchy when it feels like
people are intruding.  I know you're not intending to, but sometimes there's
some things that are best not talked about, especially things concerning
my mother's wishes for me."  He smiled, suddenly understanding what she
meant.

"I guess we're both a little on edge tonight.  Let's make a pact, I won't
make you talk about things you don't want to talk about, the same 
goes for me and things I don't want to talk about."

"That's easier said than done Mulder, but I suppose we can try."

"Good."  He looked at his food and hers, both now cold.  "I don't 
know about you, but I'm not very hungry anymore."  Scully wrinkled her
nose looking at the chilled food.  They called for the check and left
once it was paid.

They walked toward the car in silence.  Scully shivered a little as
a cool breeze came up.  Mulder instinctively took off his jacket and
put it over her shoulders.  She thanked him with a smile, making him
smile as well.  As they walked along, his hand brushed hers and she
shivered again, but not from the cool evening air.  She felt the
closeness of his hand and took it in hers, causing Mulder to smile
boyishly.  They reached the car and Mulder reluctantly let go of her hand
to search for the keys.  Just as he leaned over to unlock her door, he
saw something out of the corner of his eye.  He heard another couple
coming their way, but that wasn't what he had seen.  He straightened himself
up.

"Sorry Scully, but I have to do this," he said.  Before she even had
the chance to ask what, he pulled her into an embrace.  At first she
tried to fight him, but eventually she let herself go and enjoyed the
kiss.  When they finally parted lips, she hit him and he fell hard on
the ground.  "What was that for?"

"What do you think?  Don't you know how to follow a request?  I thought
we agreed that we'd put this on the back burner?" she replied angrily.
He pulled himself up off the ground and leaned on the car, rubbing his
jaw.

"Scully, I had to do it," he replied.

"Okay, I'll bite.  What is your *wonderful* reason for this?"

"Someone was watching us.  I acted on impulse, hoping maybe you'd
fight me off, then maybe it would get back to Mic, making her think
that things weren't going as well as she thought between us."

"So you figured that she would get in contact with you if this
phantom follower informed her of our little fight?"

"Yeah, but I certainly didn't expect you to hit me," he replied,
still rubbing his jaw.

"Mulder, sometimes I wonder why a mind like yours was wasted on you,
your hormones tend to make more of the decisions," Scully commented
sarcastically.  She grabbed the keys out of his hand.  "Might as well
make the fight look authentic."  He gave her a puzzled look as she
headed over to the driver's side and got in the car.  He went to open
the passenger door, but Scully started up the car and drove away, leaving
him standing in the parking lot with his mouth open in amazement.

End of part eight

===========================================================================

Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
From: sgormle2@chat.carleton.ca (Siobhan Gormley)
Subject: NEW: "Hidden Secrets" (9/9)
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 03:39:06 GMT


Usual disclaimers apply...
Mic is my creation though...

                   _Hidden Secrets: Part Nine_
                       by Siobhan Gormley


Howard Johnson's
6:55 pm

Scully lay on her bed, still chuckling over the look on Mulder's
face as she had driven away.  He'd never forgive her for doing it,
but she figured he had deserved it.  It wasn't that she hadn't enjoyed
their kiss, it was that she preferred not to think about that aspect
of their relationship at the moment.  She went to pick up her book
beside the bed when there was a knock at her door.  She got up and
looked through the peep hole.  She smiled mischieviously when she 
saw it was Mulder.

"Go away Mulder, you need to cool off," she said, leaning up against
the door, trying not to laugh.  She heard his frustrated sigh.

"C'mon Scully, I promise I'll be good," he begged.  She started to laugh,
the pleading in his voice was too much.  He heard her laughter.  "I'm
glad I amuse you," he said sarcastically.  She heard his footsteps head
off toward his room.  Her laughter lessened and she lay back on her bed,
picking up the book and beginning to read.  Her cellular rang and she
turned it on.

"Hello?"

"Look, I know you want to make it authentic and all..." It was Mulder.
She couldn't help but snicker at the whininess in his voice.

"Would you like some cheese with that whine?"  she questioned, eliciting
a groan from Mulder.  

"Obviously I'm not going to get any serious conversation out of you for
the rest of the evening," he commented.  He disconnected and she
turned the phone off, a smile still playing on her lips.  A minute later
the phone rang again.

"Look it Mulder..." she began.

"It's not Mulder," a voice responded.  Scully sat up on her bed quickly.

"What do you want Mic?"

"Just to tell you how sorry I was that you and my dear Fox were no longer
on the best of terms," she said sarcastically.

"I'm touched to know you care," Scully replied, equally sarcastic.
Mic chuckled sardonically.

"Well, I always liked to look out for hard luck cases.  But don't worry
Scully dear, I'll take Fox off your hands soon enough."  A confused
look came across Scully's face, but she didn't have the chance to ask
what Mic meant because Mic hung up.  Scully walked to her door, intent
on asking Mulder if he had talked to her.  She opened the door and was
greeted with the sight of Mulder about to knock on it.

"Let me guess, Mic called you and asked to meet you?" Scully asked.

"Wow Scully, either you have hidden talents or you were talking to
her," Mulder stated, a smile playing on his lips.

"Try the latter.  I was just about to go over and talk to you.  She said
that she was going to 'take you off my hands', whatever that means."

"Well I think she believes that I've changed my ways and will do what
she wants."  Some people passed by and looked at the two of them
curiously.  "Do you mind if I come in, I promise I won't bite, unless
you want me to."  Scully rolled her eyes at the absurdity of his 
comment and let him into her room, closing the door after he had entered.
"She just called me, and I put on the performance of a lifetime, if I do
say so myself," he commented with false modesty.

"So she fell for it?  It almost seems too easy Mulder."  He tsked her.

"Scully, Scully.  Always the skeptic."

"And you're always the believer, getting yourself in over your head
because you are too easily convinced."  He put his hand to his heart 
and got a mock wounded look on his face.  Scully just shook her head
at his feeble attempt to make her laugh.  "I'm just being cautious
Mulder.  We know she's capable of almost anything."  Mulder put his
hands on her shoulders, now becoming serious.

"I know.  Look it, I'll take every precaution there is on Earth, but
I have to go on the assumption that she believes me."

"Fine.  So where does she want to meet you?"

"In El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Park, tonight," he replied, mangling
the Spanish words.

"Tonight!?" Scully repeated.

"She said that there was no time like the present."

"Damn!  And it's not going to be easy finding somewhere to hide," Scully
commented, quickly running strategy through her mind.

"I'm sure we'll be able to find something.  Anyway, I better call
Sydney."  Mulder walked over to the phone, talked with Sydney for 
a few minutes, then hung up and turned to face Scully who was now
sitting down.  "Alright, Sydney says she'll be ready."  Scully
nodded absentmindedly.  Mulder walked over to her and took her hands.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.  She looked into his eyes and
smiled half-heartedly.

"Of course.  I'm used to last minute planning with you."  He suddenly
pulled her into a hug, surprising her.

"Everything will be okay, isn't it always?"  She snorted out a laugh.
He pulled back and looked at her amused face. "C'mon, it's never *that* bad." 

"Yeah, if you consider ending up in the hospital and quarantine more times
than I can count on my fingers and toes once through is not *that* bad,"
she stated sarcastically.

"Well okay, I'll give you that," he conceded.  Scully got a look of
mock surprise on her face.

"What, the almighty Mulder is bowing to my opinion?"  He gave her a look of
mock disgust, then proceeded to tickle her, throwing her into fits of
laughter.  "Stop!  Stop!" she yelled amongst the laughter.  He finally
stopped, the two of them now breathing heavily from the physical exertion.
He leaned over her, caressing her smiling face.  He sighed in contentment
and straightened himself up.

"Well, I think we should get ourselves ready for this."  She sat up, nodding
in agreement.

*******

El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Park
11:55 pm

Mulder and Scully stood in the park, waiting for the midnight meeting
time to come.  They didn't say much, not finding much to say. Mulder's
cellular rang and he instantly turned it on.

"Yeah, hi Sydney.  No, no sign of her yet.  Yeah," he paused and pulled
out Scully's cellular, "they're both charged up.  Okay, I'll turn it on
now.  Um hm.  Alright, talk to you in a couple of minutes."  He turned his
off phone.  "Sydney's ready."

"Now we just have to wait..."  Scully started to say, but cut herself
off when they heard a noise in the area.  Mulder motioned to her to 
hide in her chosen place and he stood there, waiting.  

Scully went behind a tree nearby.  She heard Mulder's phone ring again
and glanced around to see him talking into it.  She heard a noise
behind her and went to turn but was hit over the head and went into
unconsciousness.

Mulder heard a noise behind him and hid his cellular in his jacket 
pocket.  He held the other phone in his other pocket.

"So glad you showed up Fox.  I wasn't sure if you were serious,"
a voice purred from behind.

"When I make a promise I keep it."  He turned to face her.  She was
dressed all in black, her face covered by a ski mask.  "Planning on
robbing a bank?" he asked sarcastically.  She laughed sardonically.

"You can always make me laugh Fox.  You'll be a good companion for
me."  He looked at her curiously, but she did not answer his look.
"I just want to be sure you're truly serious, that this isn't some
sort of set up."  He gave her a mock hurt look.  "Oh, you're *so*
cute!" she exclaimed, out of the blue.  The next thing he knew, she
grabbed his head and kissed him hard on the mouth.  He got over his 
surprise and pulled out the phones.  As soon as Mic pulled away to
catch her breath, he spoke into his phone and placed the other phone to
Mic's ear.

"Go ahead," he said and instantly they were both in a VR generated room.  
Mic looked around and started to laugh hysterically.  "I wouldn't laugh
too long, Scully will be cuffing you about now."  This statement made
her laugh even harder until she was doubled over.  Mulder began to
think that she truly was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.  "What's
so funny?"  She stopped laughing, but still chuckled a little.

"You."  He gave her a puzzled look.  "Oh, that's right, you don't
know, do you?" she questioned almost menacingly.  Mulder began to
think the worst and grabbed a hold of Mic, shaking her.

"What have you done to her?  I swear, if you've hurt one hair on her
head..."  Mic began laughing again, angering Mulder further.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't hurt your *precious* Scully, at least not yet.
She's just a little, oh, out of it, shall we say?"  At this moment, 
Sydney entered the room.

"Mulder, I can't hold this indefinitely.  When are we getting out?"

"I don't know Sydney, it seems that things aren't going as planned."
This made Mic chuckle.  Sydney and Mulder looked at her.

"I guess Scully didn't believe me when I told her I was watching," Mic
stated.

"She believed well enough, I just thought that what you said was the
ravings of a deranged person."  The room around them began to distort
slightly.  Mulder turned to Sydney.  "Sydney, can't you hold on to it?" 
Mulder wondered.

"This isn't me," she stated simply, becoming worried.  They both turned
to look at Mic again, but she was no longer there.

"Dammit!  Where the hell has she gone?"

"Over here," a voice stated.  They looked around the room they were
in, but there was no sign of her.  "You take me too literally."  
Suddenly Sydney was thrown through a door and the room changed.  Mulder
was now alone with Mic in this new room creation that looked like it 
was straight out of _Exit to Eden_.  The sounds of soft music played, but
there was no stereo system anywhere.  Mic slinked over to the bed
where he sat.  "Oh Fox, I've waited so long to truly have you alone.  I
know you may be a little...*shy* at first, but you'll get used to me."
He looked at her in undisguised disgust.

"I will *never* 'get used to you'," he fairly spat out.  He moved away from
her.

"Now, now Fox dear, that's not the way to talk to me.  It won't get you
anywhere," she cajoled.

"The only place I want to be is away from you.  I despise you."  This only
made her angry.

"I guess you won't change your mind," she stated angrily.

"*Never*."

"Then there's only one thing left to do."  Before he could ask her
what she meant, he was suddenly assaulted by various images from his
memory.  He began to scream in agony, he felt like he'd go into a
sensory overload.  But just as soon as it began, it was over.  He was
lying on the grass in the park, the phone beside his head.  He forced
himself to look around and saw that Mic was gone, only Scully's phone
remained.  After checking that, his brain shut down and he passed out.

*******

Two days later
6:32 pm

Mulder and Scully sat in Sydney's apartment, talking over the whole
ordeal.

"I don't know how she was able to do it.  I thought I was the only one
who knew how to use that stuff properly."

"Obviously there are a lot of things we don't know.  I wish we had been
able to get her, to find out more, but she was too much to try and handle
on our own, I suppose," Mulder said.

"Well I'm just glad that she's gone out of our lives," Scully commented.

"How can you be so sure?" Mulder wondered.

"She obviously figured that she wasn't going to get what she wanted
and decided to leave."

"Scully, this woman was borderline psychotic.  I don't think she'll give
up so easy."  Scully rolled her eyes at him.

"You're not *that* great a catch, ya know."  He got a hurt look on his
face as Sydney and Scully laughed over her statement.  "Well, we better
get going, we have a flight to catch."  Scully and Mulder stood up and
Sydney followed them to the door, opening it for them.

"If you're ever going to be in town again, give me some warning so I
can get a hard hat.  It's not much fun being knocked out," she joked.

"Tell me about it," they said simultaneously, causing them all to chuckle.

"Thanks for all your help Sydney," Mulder said.  She shrugged.

"No problem.  I guess I really didn't have much of a choice, well, most
of the time anyway."

"All the same, I'm glad I had someone on my side."  Mulder and Scully
said their final goodbyes and left.  Sydney closed her door and went 
outside to the roof.  Duncan was already sitting out there.

"So they're gone?" he asked.

"Yep.  You know, I think I'm actually going to miss them."

"You really like all this secret agent stuff?"

"No, not all of it.  They just seemed like good people, good people
caught up in a lot of trouble."

*******

Next day
8:30 am

Mulder and Scully walked out of Skinner's office, slightly puzzled.
Instead of the usual chewing out they had expected, he had been unusually
calm.  He had been a little ticked off with Scully for allowing Mulder
to go with her to L.A., she was supposed to be responsible for him after
all.  Other than that, he had been relatively relaxed about the whole
thing.  He had accepted Scully's report at face value and never questioned
it once, not even Scully's comments about Mic having something to do with 
the murders, as well as possibly with Mulder's original memory loss.

"Was it me, or was Skinner, well, not himself?" Scully asked.  Mulder 
hummed the _Twilight Zone_ theme, which made Scully gave him a withering 
look.  "Seriously Mulder, don't you think he took it all very well?"

"I guess so.  I'm just enjoying this little respite from his wrath.
One thing I did notice though, there seemed to be a distinct smell of
cigarettes in his office, didn't you think?"  Scully looked at him
incredulously.

"Oh come on Mulder."

"You can look me in the eye and tell me you didn't smell any lingering 
smoke?"  he questioned, stopping.  She stopped and looked him in the eye.

"Alright, I will admit there might have been a *lingering* smell, but that
could have been off his clothes from somewhere else."  It was now his turn
to look at her incredulously.  Scully raised her hands in the air in mock
surrender.  "I give up!"  she exclaimed as she pushed the button for the
elevator.  They got in.

"So what about our little agreement?" he asked, suddenly changing the
subject.  She looked at him, puzzled.

"What agreement?"

"Gee Scully, I thought you would at least remember something you were so
vehement about."  She suddenly realized what he meant.  The elevator
arrived at the basement and they walked through the corridor to their
office.

"What do you want to talk about that for?  I thought that was all cleared
up?"  

"Maybe for you it was, but I'm still a little unsure here."

"Mulder, are you trying to make a feeble attempt to ask me out?" she
asked, mocking him.  He suddenly became nervous.

"What if I was?" he answered, questioning her question.  She smiled 
broadly in amusement.

"We'll see, 'Mutant-boy'," she stated jokingly, ducking quickly into her
mini-lab before he had the chance to grab her and tickle her.

"This is not over, not by a long shot!" he yelled through the door.  Her
reply was laughter.

THE END