TITLE: Trilateral AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica@Mydomain.co.uk RATING: NC-17 (drug use, swearing, violence, sex) CLASSIFICATION: X.A.R.(Mulder/Scully & Scully/Other) SUMMARY: 26 dead people with burnt feet, black triangles on their chests and LSD in their systems. Mulder's friend - DEA agent James Zazulak - calls Mulder in to help investigate but Zazulak and Scully get on a little too well for Mulder's liking. Disclaimer (1): X Files, Mulder, Scully = Chris Carter, Fox, 10-13. No copyright infringement intended. I'd grovel in person if they'd let me. Beg for forgiveness. On my hands and knees. Wearing just my underwear. Handcuff me and..CUT!! ;) Disclaimer (2): I have done *some* research for this text but I've manipulated and twisted all the information I found until it fitted into the story. The main aim was to put in big words. I hope that most of them are at least reasonably correct in their context. The Soul Catcher, Senator Thorley, the dead people and DEA agent James Zazulak are the property of the author. This story is a serious X File but it is also a character piece with the later chapters focusing on Mulder Nad Scully's relationship. It does contain romance and sex, not always in a reasonable context and not always between M&S. If you're not interested in that but are interested in the X File then you may be able to get away with missing the middle chapters (I'll point them out when I get to them). XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (1/?): Prologue by Erica Miszti XXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Fires! I see fires. Help me. For god's sake." The young woman screamed. "Don't plead to God." The person standing behind her said softly. "He has abandoned you. Satan invites you into his protection through *I*, His exalted medium." "Shit, who are you? Shit! Save me. Make it stop." The girls blonde hair was matted with mud and saliva and blood. She spun around wildly, trying to get a good look at her tormentor, but they were only ever a black shape on the edge of her consciousness. The drug was in charge of her mind but she was completely focused on the person leading her trip. "Hell, beckons you. Your sins have returned to haunt you." The soft voice insisted. "I ain't done nothing. I ain't done nothing. Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!" She let forth a hefty scream as her feet exploded into flames. Pain shot through her, blinding all her senses. "Shit! Aahh! Fire! I'm on fire! God, help me!" The person in the clearing with her began chanting rhythmically. The girl's heart rate began to increase in time with the chant. The flames on her feet grew hotter but they did not spread up her legs. She saw herself walking on flames. Every vision of Hell rose up to meet her. Heat surrounded her and her clothes became saturated with sweat, but only her feet were burning. Then she saw Him and knew that he was the Devil. He held his hands out to her and she tried to run, but more flames burst up around her. She turned again to face the Devil. This time she was compelled to take his hands and her arms burst into flame as she did so. She screamed and life left her body with that single exhalation of breath. In the clearing the person howled like a wolf into the night air. "Satan, except my offering. Take back your own. The sinners of this world shall pay. By my hand they shall pay!!!!!!!!!!" End of Part One XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "It's not yet the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Erica@Mydomain.co.uk EMMISZTI@AOL.COM ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm "It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true." Gore Vidal "I am regularly required to believe in the impossible.. It's not so hard for me to believe in the outrageous." Graham Masterton, Mirror "..X Files viewers are given a vitalistic world informed by the discourses and technologies of the body, by Foucauldian bio-power. The truth is in the genes." Linda Badley, Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - 'Terma' TITLE: Trilateral AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica@Mydomain.co.uk RATING: NC-17 (drug use, swearing, violence, sex) CLASSIFICATION: X.A.R.(Mulder/Scully & Scully/Other) Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (2/?): Day One XXX Just outside Wausau, Wisconsin 12:57 "Okay, Mulder, it should be the next turning to the left." Scully said from somewhere underneath the map she was wrestling with. "What was that Scully?" Mulder asked, popping a sunflower seed into his mouth. He corrected the slight swerving of the car which the action had caused and sailed past the turning. The map was abruptly thrust down and Scully tossed a strand of very red hair out of her eyes. She looked at Mulder, then at the turning they had just missed, in astonishment. "Mulder, you missed the turn." She exclaimed. "You didn't say it was *that* turning." He complained, as he slowed the car down. "Yes I did." Scully insisted, still fighting the map for space in the passenger side of the car. "I didn't hear you." Mulder responded as he checked for traffic in the mirrors. "Too busy eating those darn seeds." Scully commented, finally winning the Battle Of The Map and stowing it neatly in the glove compartment. Mulder shot her a nasty smile and swung the car around forcefully in a wide arc. The wheels span uselessly for a moment and gravel flew up off the roadway. Inside the car, Scully was thrown violently against Mulder as he was thrown violently against the car door. "Where *did* you learn to drive Mulder? The OJ Simpson driving academy?" Scully commented wryly as she moved away from him and he corrected the car's motion. He threw her one of the 'fake' smiles that he reserved for her jokes. "If you've finished abusing me for the day," He began sardonically. "Why don't you go over the file for this case?" Scully bent back between the seats and pulled out the file. She opened the manila fold, read the report sheet, gasped and began flicking through the rest of the file. "Oh my god Mulder." She exclaimed horrified. He just put another seed into his mouth, bit off the shell and threw it out the open window. "26 deaths in 2 weeks. In *2* weeks?" She looked up at him astonished. "And they suspect that it's all the work of the *same* person?" "They've asked me to do a profile on the killer." Mulder remarked absently, past the next seed. "Based on just the police reports I'd have said it does look like the work of just one individual." "How come this isn't all over the media?" She carried on reading the report. "This case is being handled by the DEA at the moment?" She asked before Mulder could do anymore than shrug. "James Zazulak. He's an old acquaintance." Mulder commented as he grabbed another seed. "And I guess they haven't released the details so that they don't start a panic. Unless there's another reason.." He left the implication hanging with a raised eyebrow. Scully frowned at him, instantly grasping his meaning. They'd been the government's poop-scoopers before. "Why *have* we been assigned to this investigation?" She looked back down at the file and then back up at him with a skeptical expression. "Burnt feet and black triangles?" She questioned warily. Mulder shrugged. "Look at the cause of death." He instructed. "None clearly established in any of the cases." She read absently. "Traces of lysergic acid diethylamide.." "LSD." Mulder acknowledged. "That's what's got the DEA concerned. The deaths are spread from here back to California and it's probable that the killer is the supplier of the narcotic." "But LSD isn't actually the cause of death." "Jim suspects some form of satanic worship." Mulder replied with a teasing smile. "Great!" Scully complained quietly. Mulder chuckled softly and shifted his concentration back onto the road in time to see a gypsy fortune teller's trailer trundle past them. "Hey Scully, you think we should stop them and ask how this case'll turn out?" He smiled. "I can tell you how it'll turn out Mulder." She glanced at him to make sure she had his attention. He gave her a sexy little look that challenged her to do just that. "Psychic Scully?" He grinned. She returned it with a mock-skeptical look. "Go on then, tell me." He teased when she said nothing for a moment. She gave a short laugh. "We'll end up.." She began. "In bed?" He cut in with a mock-innocent expression. Scully caught his eye, held it momentarily, smiled and then looked away. "In your dreams." She said lightly. Mulder silently acknowledged the truth of that. "Ooo, *Mind-reader* Scully." He teased out loud. They drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence. ******************* Wausau Crime Scene 13:35 Mulder drew the car to a halt by a line of police tape at the edge of a large clearing. The woods around them weren't dense but where enough to keep the area well concealed from the nearest houses. There would have been few people close enough to witness whatever happened here. The agents climbed out of the Taurus and stepped up to the police officer - whose name was Randy Michealson - nearest the tape. Michealson knew that they were the FBI people before they even pulled their badges and was already holding the tape up for them to walk under. Zazulak had been mouthing off about Fox Mulder for the last day and a half. This man could be no one else. Mulder and Scully flashed their ID's at him and the thought was confirmed. They both ducked under the tape. Michealson watched them go with hungry eyes. The little red head was a babe. Mulder cast his critical eye over the crime scene before him. A small fire had been lit there recently, items of clothing were dotted around, an empty bottle of wine and two glasses - one smashed - lay nearby, red stains - presumably blood if this case ran true to the others - formed a rough triangle and then there was the dead body. A young blonde woman, dressed only in a red satin basque, was lying twisted in the centre of the triangle. Her feet where charred, her hair was covered with filth and there was a black triangle drawn on the naked skin of her chest. Police officers buzzed around the scene taking photos, making notes and bagging evidence. A tall, almost familiar looking, man spotted the two agents and his face lit up into a wide and genuine smile. As he came over to them Scully fought the urge to stare at him, he looked remarkably like Mulder. He appeared younger than her partner but that could have been because he hadn't been through the things Mulder had. His hair was different, significantly darker and long enough to reach over his collar, but they were the same height and build. Their face shapes were very similar. Scully stood back a little and watched as the two men shook hands. "Mulder, you're looking great, as ever." The man Scully assumed to be Zazulak enthusiased. "You're looking bronzed Jim, don't tell me you've actually managed to take a vacation. Or having you been hitting the sun-lamp again?" "You know me Mulder, anything to impress the women." Zazulak responded. Scully bit her lip. Mulder nodded in tacit agreement and let go of his hand, then gestured to Scully. "This is my partner Dana Scully." He introduced. "Scully, this is a James Zazulak, a fellow believer in the wonders of science." Scully reached out her hand and met Zazulak's. A frisson of electricity passed between them with the contact. Scully was surprised, she usually only got that with Mulder, and met his eyes. They were a clear sparkling green which glinted as the sunlight caught them. He too had noticed the spark. He spoke to Mulder but he held Scully's eye. "Yeah Mulder, but you know that I'm prepared to believe in more than just mainstream science. I like to believe in some of the unusual aspects of reality as much as you do. That's why I called you about this case." Mulder didn't like this. Not one little bit. For some irrational reason he wanted to grabbed Scully's hand away from Zazulak and walk back to the car. Without being truly aware of his reasons, he reached over, placed a hand lightly on Scully's back and guided her in the direction of the corpse. The contact between her and Zazulak was forcibly broken. Scully didn't notice the excessive force, she was of the opinion that Mulder always pushed her around like that. Which, without realising it, he did and she, without wanting to admit it, liked it. "Who's the dead girl?" Mulder asked Zazulak bluntly, placing himself between him and Scully. "Delilah Acadiane. She was only seventeen. Parents are both dead. She lived in Wausau with foster parents." Zazulak stated, as Scully moved away from Mulder to crouch by the body. "Any indication as to the cause of death?" Mulder asked her. "Nothing immediately obvious." Scully mused, her hands floated inches above the body as she give it a cursory visual exam. "No wounds visible on the body, apart from the charring on the feet." "Can I help you?" A woman in dark blue blazer and denim skirt asked. Scully looked up at her curiously. "I'm Denise Pickles, the County Medical Examiner." The woman informed her. Scully stood up and flashed her ID. "Dana Scully, FBI." She stated. "Would you mind if I performed the autopsy on the body?" Denise Pickles looked doubtful. "I'm a trained forensic pathologist." Scully added and Denise Pickles shrugged. "Alright by me. My least favourite part of the job." "Thanks." Scully replied with warm smile, the woman hadn't needed to let her and Scully didn't like to antagonise the local authorities in the way that Mulder did. "Could you arrange for the body to be moved a suitable autopsy bay, please?" "Sure." Denise Pickles answered and moved off to do just that. Scully turned to face Mulder and Zazulak. "What do you think Mulder?" She asked. He looked around the clearing, then at Zazulak. "Do you have any suspects?" He asked. Zazulak shook his head. "We've got zip. 27 deaths and nothing to bring us any closer to the killer." "What about these black triangles?" Mulder went over to the body for a closer look, drawing a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and putting them on. Gently he prodded the skin around the black lines. "All the victims had them and the lines always measure exactly 2 inches." Zazulak detailed. Scully watched Mulder curiously as he chipped at the line, which crumpled but didn't flake. "It's some kind of paint." He commented. "Have you got a line on this?" He looked up at the two people standing above him. They were standing too closely together for his liking. He looked away quickly, faking greater interest. "We already checked that out. It's black enamel paint of a type easily available in any hardware store." Zazulak remarked bitterly. "How about the narcotics involved?" Scully asked and Zazulak turned to her with a smile. Mulder looked back up at them and didn't like what he saw. Scully was smiling up at Zazulak in a way that she rarely used with him and he looked as if he was stopping himself from reaching out to touch her. "We've been looking into the possibilities on that linking back to the first death in California but so far we've had no luck on that either." He shrugged. "Hey, have you two eaten?" He looked across at Mulder, who was pretending to examine the burnt feet. Mulder looked up at him. "I fancy barbecue." He commented, half-gesturing at the feet. Scully pretended to look away in disgust but she actually smiled into her hand. ****************** Maria's Diner 18:46 "Did Mulder ever tell you about the first case we worked on together?" Zazulak asked past a doughnut. Scully took a sip of her coffee. "No." She said, giving Mulder a questioning look. He shrugged in an off-hand manner. He'd actually never told her anything about James Zazulak because he didn't really like him much. He was too smooth with women and Scully seemed to be falling for it. He reminded himself. "Our drug bust coincided with an FBI raid on the house of a suspected serial killer. Somehow our investigations had never crossed. There was some kind of computer foul up." He said dismissively. "We all turned up at once, each not knowing that the other would be there. Between both agencies holding each other at gun point, we managed to lose the perp!" He laughed and Scully laughed with him. Mulder smiled wryly as he remembered the scene, everyone yelling out freeze and toting guns around. "Did you eventually get the guy?" Scully asked Zazulak. "He was killed," Mulder responded, even though it wasn't directed at him. Scully appeared shocked as she turned to look at him as if she'd forgotten that he was there. "But not before he took out three DEA agents. The DEA agents started playing power games in the investigation and went off without us. Turns out that they needed our back-up when the situation got ugly but we were weren't there because they'd 'forgotten' to inform us that they were moving in." Mulder finished bluntly. Scully was giving him a nasty look now and Zazulak was looking itchy too. "It was our call. The drug bust.." Zazulak tried to say. "That was more important than the children he was killing?" Mulder cut him dead. "Those drugs could have killed hundreds.." Zazulak tried again. "The rivalry was more important than the three agents who died?" Mulder was firm beyond the point of brutal. "There was no rivalry between us Mulder." Zazulak appeared sincere but Mulder knew better. "What's the matter Mulder?" Scully asked. Mulder met her eyes and saw the concern written there. "It's not James' fault." She said softly. Mulder stood up. "I'm going to the motel to go over the crime scene reports. Are you coming Scully?" He reached a hand out to her. Scully looked at the extended hand. Then she looked at James. He smiled. "I think I'll stay for a while." She said, looking up at Mulder. His mouth hardened fractionally and Scully could only wonder at the reason why a light seemed to die in his eyes. "Don't worry Mulder, I'll look after her." Zazulak added with a smile. Scully smiled over at him. "Fine." Mulder said flatly. "I'll see you in the morning." He walked off. 'Stormed' would have been a better word. "Sorry about Mulder's behaviour." Scully said after moment of watching his retreating back. "He's been through a lot lately. We're both a little on edge." "It's okay. I've only worked with Mulder a few times, but that's enough to know how hard he pushes himself on a case." "Past the point of madness." Scully added and Zazulak nodded. "I genuinely like him Dana but he never lets anyone into what he's thinking." He paused and looked into her eyes seriously. "Does he let you?" "Sometimes." Scully answered honestly. "There are too many things going on with Mulder that none of us can understand. He has a habit of destroying people that get close him." "Is he destroying you?" The question was serious. Scully didn't want to talk about that so she made light of it. "I'm too stubborn to let him get away with anything like that." She smiled despite the pain inside her. "I can well believe that." He smiled and Scully accepted the backhanded compliment in the spirit it was intended. "So, you're a good couple?" He asked, the question's intention was obvious. "We're not a couple. We're just friends." She replied sheepishly. "Just friends? From Mulder's behaviour I'd have said.." "He's my best friend." Scully cut in. "He can be over-protective of me." She decided on half-truths. "A couple of years ago he got me involved in a case he was working on. A man..kidnapped me and I.." She paused. "..I was missing for three months." Nearly true, not a lie. "Mulder stills feels responsible." "Was he?" The question was brutally put and belied the friendship Zazulak had been suggesting between him and Mulder. "No!" Scully exclaimed. "Of course not. He did everything he could. It was bad luck and my own stupidity." Scully looked into his eyes for a long moment. There was a growing feeling between them that simultaneously thrilled and scared her. She never thought that love at first sight was real but maybe it was an extreme possibility that it might happen. It wasn't the same as her feelings for Mulder but those emotions were so much like breathing to her that she just accepted them as an everyday reality. This was new and exciting. ****************** Shawano, Wisconsin Sometime later that night "Patty? Do you feel okay?" Tony asked, not feeling so good himself. "Tony, where are you? I can't see you." She replied from out of the darkness of the warehouse. "Come on in both of you." A voice told them softly. "Who are you?" Patty asked from someplace he couldn't see. "I am the Soul Catcher." The voice replied. Tony's head was starting to spin. Colours trailed wildly around him. "I've come to punish you for your sins." End of Part Two XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "It's not yet the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Erica@Mydomain.co.uk EMMISZTI@AOL.COM ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm "It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true." Gore Vidal "I am regularly required to believe in the impossible.. It's not so hard for me to believe in the outrageous." Graham Masterton, Mirror "..X Files viewers are given a vitalistic world informed by the discourses and technologies of the body, by Foucauldian bio-power. The truth is in the genes." Linda Badley, Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - 'Terma' TITLE: Trilateral AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica@Mydomain.co.uk RATING: NC-17 (drug use, swearing, violence, sex) CLASSIFICATION: X.A.R.(Mulder/Scully & Scully/Other) Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (3/?): Day Two XXX Autopsy bay County Hospital, Wausau 08:30 Scully clicked off her Dictaphone and stripped off her gloves. With a tired hand she pulled the protective glasses off and straightened her pony tail. She'd got up early this morning to do the autopsy which had somehow not managed to get done last night. She'd stayed with James until the diner closed, just talking about themselves. She felt guilty for the things she held back. The information about her work. The details of the things she knew. Things he wouldn't understand or maybe even believe in. The realities of an existence that he would never know. She held back because she knew she must, not because she was afraid that she would scare him off or even for fear that he would not believe her, but because she felt loyalty to Mulder. These were the details of her life with Mulder and they were too precious to share. Some would consider that they were the bad things in her life but they were the reality of her and Mulder and, as such, they weren't all bad as long as her life with him wasn't something she saw as bad. Although lately, it had been something which she did increasingly see in that light. She wanted to escape from the hypnotic hold the X files had over her. She felt the same pull of them now that Mulder did but she still wasn't willing to sacrifice her life to them. She wasn't prepared to accept the possibility of that dingy basement being her world and those files being her life, containing the explanations for her life. She couldn't believe that Mulder was her doomed knight and that his chivalrous protection, his almost courtly love, was her future. Could James provide her with an alternative future? Her mind repeated to her over and over until she grew concerned that she was starting to view him as a get out clause in her deal with the X files. Mulder would not let her go for the sake of her soul or her sanity but he might let her go for the sake of her heart. "Scully?" His voice broke brought through her daydream like a shower of cold water. She turned in surprise to find him standing inches away from her. He attempted what may have been meant to be a smile but looked more like a sneer. "Daydreaming's not like you Scully." "I was just thinking about the autopsy results." She lied but he didn't take the topic change and ask her about the results. Instead he turned away and fiddled with some of the surgical impliments on the countertop. "How was the rest of your evening with Jim?" He sounded odd. "It was nice." She said through tight lips, remembering the direction her thoughts had been taking. He turned to lounge against the countertop. "Just nice?" His tone was bland. Scully met his eyes. "Is there something wrong with nice?" She challenged. They tried to stare each other out. Scully fleetingly imagined that he could see what she had been thinking. She held the stare with difficulty. To her surprise, Mulder broke the contact first. "Sounds kinda dull." He said, feigning disinterest, as he turned away. He gestured on the body on the table. "So what did she die of?" He asked, effectively changing the subject. "Nothing." Scully answered and he turned to her with an surprised expression. "Nothing? But she is dead right?" He joked. "She's not gonna jump up and walk away is she?" He asked sarcastically. "Well not now that I removed her heart." Scully dead-panned back at him. He threw her a 'Scully-cracked-a-funny' smile. On the surface things were back to normal. "If she didn't die of anything, then how come she's dead?" Mulder asked. "I don't know." Scully answered honestly. "It's the same as the other victims. The only wound on the body is the burnt feet. I sent a tissue sample for analysis to see if any kind of accelerant was used on them but the other victims had no trace of anything, so I'm not holding out much hope on that." She paused. "I'm still waiting on the toxicological results but there is no sign of damage to the heart or the brain. There's no sign that she died of a heart attack or a brain aneurysm. It's as if her heart just stopped for no reason." "Isn't that a heart attack?" Mulder asked with a frown. "It should be," Scully agreed. "but this is more like her heart just froze. There's no pulmonary or coronary damage incurred at all. There's no brain damage. There's not even damage to the respiratory system. Nothing that would show oxygen deprivation at any point. I can't explain it." She shrugged. "She shouldn't be dead." "Could a drug of some kind have that effect? The LSD?" Mulder leaned closer towards her. Scully crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "Not LSD, it's physical effects are surprisingly minor. Certainly nothing like this. I've read of cases where use of PCP leads to breathing difficulties, disturbed heart function and eventually causes death, but that would result in massive damage to the affected systems. I've never heard of anything that could cause this complete cessation of all body systems without causing them any visible damage. It's the damage that causes death!" She exclaimed. "She shouldn't be dead." She paused to draw a thoughtful breath. "*Something* might show up in the toxicological." She suggested. "Have you been through the results of the other victims?" "There were no toxicological reports in the other files. All the deaths occurred in small towns, I assumed that they hadn't been done." "But the investigation was being handled by the DEA," Mulder pointed out. "They would have been *searching* for any traces of a narcotic." "The coroner's reports did say that they had found traces of LSD in the victims bodies." Scully agreed thoughtfully. "And how would they know that if they hadn't run the full tests?" Mulder exclaimed. "They could have just tested for LSD?" Scully pointed out but she knew that it was a stupid argument. She was anticipating his next statement and she already had her answer prepared. "Zazulak's hiding something from us." Mulder stated firmly. "Why would he do that? He was the one who called us in on the case?" Scully defended him. "Only he can answer that." Mulder told her, meeting her eyes. "Why are you defending him?" He stood up straight in front of her. "Because you seem to have some kind of irrational prejudice against him. I thought he was supposed to be your friend." Scully had to crane her neck to look up at him but she held his eyes. "I never said he was my friend. I didn't trust when I met him before and I don't trust him now." They stood there for long moments only communicating with their eyes. The door to the autopsy bay opened abruptly. It was Zazulak. Mulder and Scully broke the eye contact with final icy glances at each other. Zazulak didn't smile as they turned to face him. "There's been two more deaths." He stated. ******************* Crime Scene Shawano, Wisconsin 10:41 The three agents got out of their respective cars and walked into the crumbling warehouse building. Long strips of police tape made a barrier across one of the doorways but Mulder, Scully and Zazulak just ducked under the tape and went into the room where the deaths had taken place. The location was different but the scene was reminiscent of that in the woods the day before. Items indicating a meeting were dotted around the interior of the large storage space; melted down candles, sodden paper cups, a bottle of a well-known soft drink and empty plastic food storage containers. In addition the floor was littered with debris broken from the walls of the building. Dust and corrugated metal panels were hazards dotting the floor. Without the aid of the lighting system brought in by the police, the room would have been pitch black. Mulder, Scully and Zazulak picked their way through the wasteland of destruction towards a group of police officers standing over the near naked bodies of a young couple. The agents all pulled their ID's. Zazulak stepped ahead and addressed the police. "I'm Agent Zazulak, DEA, and this is Agents Mulder and Scully, from the FBI. Whose in charge here?" He asked. A clean-shaven, clean-cut middle-aged man drew himself straighter. "I am." He stated firmly. "Sheriff Geller." He stuck his hand out and met Zazulak's in a strong grip. Zazulak nodded acknowledgment and let go. Sheriff Geller leaned past him to shake hands with Mulder and Scully. He lingered over Scully's hand until she had to practically snatch it back. Mulder ducked his head and smiled. The man was harmless. Mulder dismissed Geller and concentrated instead on Zazulak. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he watched the other man question the police officers about what they knew. Mulder could smell a fake a mile off and Zazulak reeked so much that it made him want to vomit. He already considered Zazulak untrustworthy, but what exactly *was* he up to? Why were the reports missing? Who took them? Zazulak? Why would a DEA agent aid in covering up information in a federal investigation? What were they trying to hide? He turned to see Scully crouching over the bodies of the couple. The condition of their bodies was the same as that of Delilah Acadiane. The female was dressed in a peach coloured satin slip and the male was wearing Marvin the Martian boxers. Mulder smiled wryly to himself, bad day to pick to wear *his* pair. There was a rubbery snap as Scully pulled on a pair of gloves. She began to poke and prod the flesh of the corpses. "Do we know the identity of the bodies?" Scully asked. "Patricia Thorley and Anthony Boyles." One of the police officers responded. "Thorley?" Mulder asked in surprise. "Doesn't Senator James Thorley live near here?" "She's his daughter." Zazulak told them gravely. Mulder cast Scully a wary glance. Her eyebrows were sky-high. ****************** Autopsy Bay 15:38 "The wounds on the feet are consist with those of the previous victims." Scully remarked out loud in the direction of her Dictaphone as she examined the burns on Patricia Antoinette Thorley's feet. "Direction of heat source indeterminable. Burn pattern and depth is constant across the affected area, which reaches across the entire sole of the foot and around the toe area." She picked up the corpse's right foot and looked underneath. "The burns also extend upwards on the back of the feet and end abruptly just below the protrusion of the ankle bone. Note that the burns end in an exact straight line at the back as if somehow shielded from the heat source. This is consistent around the toe area." Scully lay the foot gently back onto the metal and clicked off the machine. The torso of the body was still open and exposed in the bluish-white light of the room. Scully had already completed her examination of the internal organs of the young girls body and, apart from discovering that the girl had sex recently, had found nothing to shed light onto the cause of her death. Scully had sent a sample of the residue to be tested but she doubted that it would turn out to be anything other than the sperm of the other victim, Anthony Peter Boyles. This killer was too smart to leave a clue like that. There were also no signs on the body which might indicate that a rape had taken place prior to, or indeed after, death. Besides being dead, the Senator's daughter was in near perfect health. The door of the room opened abruptly and Scully jumped in surprise. "I'm sorry. I should have knocked first." Zazulak apologised from the doorway. Scully smiled forgivingly and gestured him inside. Zazulak smiled and closed the door. He came in and leant against the counter in much the same fashion as Mulder had in another hospital earlier in the day. In the odd lighting he looked very much like Mulder. Zazulak gestured at the body. "Found anything?" He asked. "Not really." She shrugged but then remembered something which Denise Pickles had forwarded to her. "But I did get the results of the toxicological for Delilah Acadiane and there *was* something odd." "Oh?" Zazulak inquired nonchalantly. "She didn't exactly have traces of LSD in her system. She actually had D-lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate, which is a hybrid drug supposedly useful in the treatment of anxiety states and obsessional neurosis." "But that would mean that the killer would need access to a medical store of some kind." Zazulak frowned. "Exactly. Hopefully that should narrow the field down somewhat." "Yeah." He agreed absently. "Have you spoken to the girl's father?" Scully asked and Zazulak ran a tired hand through his hair. "Yeah. I just came from seeing him. He's pretty cut up about it." "It's terrible to lose a family member in circumstances like these." Her voice was flat. "You sound as if you have personal experience." "My sister was murdered." Her tone stayed expressionless. "I'm sorry. Recent?" He asked softly. "Just over a year ago." Tears threatened but she held them back. "I don't know what to say." Zazulak said after a moment of tense silence. Scully smiled sadly and shook her head. "Don't say anything. I'm getting used to it." "Why don't I take you to dinner tonight?" He asked. "It's not necessary." She cut in hastily. "Of course it's not, but I'd like to." His eyes met and held hers. Intense emotions passed back and forth. "Have dinner with me." "But Mulder.." Scully said weakly. "I thought that you two weren't.." He added. "We're not, but.." She wasn't sure what she wanted to say. "Then have dinner with me." He insisted. She smiled and shrugged. "Alright." The single word felt like a weight off her shoulders. ****************** Scully's motel room Hoffmann Motor Lodge Shawano 18:00 Scully sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on the sheer hold-up. A knock sounded at the door just as she was straightening her dress back down over her legs. She checked her watch but it was still too early for it to be her date. An odd word considering that she was unsure what exactly it was that she was letting herself in for. Scully opened the door to find Mulder standing there holding a stack of files. "Oh." Mulder said flatly, taking in her appearance; a royal-blue halter neck dress in a fine jersey material that flexed as she moved. "I thought that we could go over the case files, but I see that you have other plans." He sneered a little. "I'm going out to dinner with James." Scully stated, hating herself for sounding defensive. "James!" Mulder remarked under his breath. The soft spoken musing irritated Scully more than she could understand. "And what is wrong with that?" She demanded. Mulder responded in kind. "Just that you seem to be getting awfully *friendly* with 'James'." "What exactly do you mean by that?" She stuck her hands firmly on her hips and glared at him. "You're always complaining about me ditching you, then you turn around and do just that to me." Mulder returned her expression. "I haven't been 'ditching' you!" She retorted sarcastically. "No?!" Mulder demanded. "No." Scully stated. "And I don't want to be having this conversation right now. I'm getting ready for a date and I'd like you to leave." She moved to shut the door but Mulder jumped on her words. "It's a 'date'?" He asked laconically and Scully spun back to face him. "Yes." She said firmly. "It's a date and if you have a problem with that then you should know exactly how *I've* ending up feeling all the times when you've ditched me. Now you *can* consider yourself one-hundred percent DITCHED!" She yelled and slammed the door in his face. Mulder thought. He went back to his room to face a lonely night reading the files on his own, tormented by the idea of Scully and Zazulak. ******************** Mulder's motel room Hoffmann Motor Lodge 18:30 Mulder's thoughts went round and round inside his head. He forced himself to concentrate on the case and *not* on Scully in that blue dress. End of Part Three XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "It's not yet the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Erica@Mydomain.co.uk EMMISZTI@AOL.COM ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm "It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true." Gore Vidal "I am regularly required to believe in the impossible.. It's not so hard for me to believe in the outrageous." Graham Masterton, Mirror "..X Files viewers are given a vitalistic world informed by the discourses and technologies of the body, by Foucauldian bio-power. The truth is in the genes." Linda Badley, Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - 'Terma' ======== I know I said that it was possible to avoid reading this one but, upon reflection and re-reading, you can't. Sorry. Like it's such a hasle to read the sex scenes, isn't it? ;) This is one of *those* NC-17 bits. Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (4/?): A Night Off XXX Scully's motel room Hoffmann Motor Lodge 18:30 PM A light knock sounded on the door and Scully wanted, for an irrational second, for it to be Mulder. She had been too hard on him and said things that she didn't mean, but he had behaved like such an asshole. She gave herself a final look in the mirror and answered the door. It wasn't Mulder. The man at the door was dressed in an expensive suit and his resemblance to Mulder was even more startlingly than it had been before. The only real difference was that his hair was darker and quite a bit longer than Mulder's. Scully stared for a moment and James smiled. "Hi." Scully managed at last. "It's quite a resemblance, isn't it? People used to think we were related." James commented dryly. Scully mentally jotted the thought down but couldn't work out whether it was a good or a bad difference. He smiled, a lovely genuine smile that was easier than anything which Scully had ever seen on Mulder's face. Why was she comparing him to Mulder anyway? "Are you ready?" James asked lightly. "Yes, I am." Scully stated firmly, as she grabbed her purse from inside and closed the door. ***************** The Number 42 Restaurant 19:36 Scully savoured the icy coolness of the Californian chardonnay as it slid down her throat. A tide of warmth spread through her body, partly caused by the wine and partly by the man sat opposite her. It gradually washed away all traces of Dana Scully, Special Agent, and she was left with Dana Scully, a woman in desperate need of love. "So how do you think the killer got hold of the LSD?" James asked as he jabbed a piece of sweet and sour pork with his fork and lifted it to his mouth. "He'd have to be a doctor or somehow involved in pharmaceuticals to.." She stopped abruptly. "Go on." James prompted after a moment. "No." Scully answered softly. "Look at us. Two single people having a lovely dinner and all we can talk about is a gruesome killing." Scully lifted her glass to her mouth and took a large sip. "You're right." James said sheepishly. "You're absolutely right. What do you want to talk about?" "How about you?" She spooned some mushrooms into her mouth and washed them down with chardonnay. The wine loosened her tongue. "You know so much about me and I know next to nothing about you." "There's not much to tell." James began cagily. "I was born in Virginia. My parents were pretty average. I went to an average school but got good results in science. Went to college, studied toxicology, then took the weirdest twist into virology for a couple of years, then went *back* to toxicology. I actually managed to finish that time, then from there I got recruited by the DEA and my career was decided for me." "You studied virology?" Scully asked curiously. With recent developments in her work on the X files the subject had taken on a greater interest for her. "Yeah." He shrugged. "The way those little bugs worked fascinated me for a while but working for the DEA is more immediately satisfying then academia." Scully nodded agreement to that statement. "What about family?" She asked. "My parents live in Canada. They run a small farm. Other than that my only family is my brother." His eyes dropped to his plate. "Well, it *was* my brother." "Was?" Scully delved gently, prompted by the wine. "We think that he's probably dead but the military's never given us any real proof either way." "Did he fight in the Gulf?" Scully asked and James raised his eyes to hers. He just nodded. If Scully had been more sober she might have seen the obvious deflection, the lack of truth in the gesture. "I'm sorry." Scully said with feeling, before draining her glass entirely. She reached for the bottle and refilled, first her glass, then James'. "What was his name?" Scully asked. James met her eyes steadily. "Alex." He replied. Scully raised her glass. "Here's to lost siblings. Melissa and Alex." She silently added and chinked the glass to his. She emptied the glass in one go. James smiled. **************** Outside Scully's motel room Hoffmann Motor Lodge 22:46 James took the key out of her grasp and opened the door for her. He took her hand and gently placed the key in her palm. "Wont you come in for a while." Scully offered softly, looking up into his melting green eyes. The image was a little blurry due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed that night. The world around her seemed perfectly wonderful. "I'd better not." He smiled sadly and reached out to brush a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear. The colours around them - to Scully's fuzzy mind - appeared to shift and blur into a delightful mass of oneness. James' hand moved to cup her face and they moved together slowly. Their lips met in an exquisite kiss. After a moment they drew apart. Scully felt oddly disappointed. The kiss had been warm honey - sweet and comforting - but lacking the sparks she been expecting. She tried again, letting her lips move over and under his, allowing her tongue to explore. Sweet and delicious. Maybe she was expecting too much and throwing happiness away with both hands. In favour of what? A partner who didn't even seem to have any respect for her? No life. No friends. No one to keep her warm in the middle of the night when she woke up with the fear of the truth. "Are you sure you wont come in?" She asked James, looking up at him with longing. He smiled and kissed her, making her believe that he was going to come in. Instead he stepped back. "You're beautiful. I better go before I decide to take you up on that delicious offer." He smiled again and left. Scully thought angrily as she watched him go. She turned round and stormed into her room. ********************* Midwich, Wisconsin 22:51 "Hey, where are we?" Darren McIroy asked, concern entering his voice. The figure stepped out of the shadows behind him and handed him a glass of wine. "Somewhere we can be alone." Came the reply. "We wouldn't want anyone finding out about us, now would we? What would Daddy say?" "Leave my father out of this." Darren said harshly and threw the drink back in a gulp. Light glinted off the perfect white teeth of his companion as they smiled widely. The drug was fast-acting. Darren immediately began to sway as the light exploded around him. The outline of the figure before him twisted and transformed into a garish monstrosity that did not resemble a human in any way imaginable. It seemed like the very devil to him. "What's happening to me?" Darren croaked past the slippery eels blocking his throat. "You're dying." A booming voice said, reverberating the air around him unnaturally. "No!" He gasped. "Why?" "Because you're not Samantha." The voice laughed. Darren McIlroy's feet erupted into flame and he died without any real answer as to why it was happening this way. ********************* Scully's motel room Hoffmann Motor Lodge 22:59 Scully removed the dress with a single viscous pull and threw it onto the bed. It dizzied her a little, her mind was still foggy with the alcohol. Dressed just in her panties and her hold-ups, she went into the bathroom. Half-naked, she stood before the mirror. Hating herself. A knock sounded on the door and she spun around in shock. He'd come back! Returning to the bedroom, she shimmied into her midnight blue satin pyjama top and went to the door. Taking a deep breath, she opened it. Outside the door the night was very dark and the figure of James in the doorway was shrouded in darkness. Combined with Scully's pleasantly drunken state it meant that she could barely see him. Scully's face broke into a bright smile. "You came back." She exclaimed and threw herself into his arms. Immediately she reached up and drew his lips down to meet hers. At first he appeared stunned but then responded with a fervour that matched hers. Scully's mind whirled with more than the alcohol as sparks erupted around her. The intensity was more than she'd ever experienced. Together they moved into the room, somehow the door closed behind them. Their mouths barely left contact, except to draw gasping breaths. Scully's hand went to his shirt and she ripped off buttons in her haste to remove it. His hands moulded her back through the fine satin, moving down to cup and caress her buttocks. They couldn't talk. They couldn't think. His clothes were removed with a series of tugs and ripping material. Scully sank to her knees before him, trailing her tongue down across his belly. His hands tightened in her hair as her mouth found him and her tongue caressed him. Eventually, she stood up proud before her lover. Her hands went to the buttons on her shirt and, slowly, she undid them. She reached up to push it off her shoulders but he moved so that his hands replaced hers. "You're beautiful." He murmured thickly as he slid the top off her shoulders and lowered his mouth to her nipple. Scully dug her nails into his back in an effort to control the wave of feeling which threatened to engulf her. Her knees were buckling. He felt her weight increase in his arms and she stumbled. He placed his arms around her in a grip designed to keep them both steady. She looked into his face and all she saw was the molten pools of his eyes burning with a strength of emotion that Scully had never believed would be directed at her. Then his lips met hers again. This time as her knees buckled he picked her up. To Scully it seemed as if she were flying; weightless and floating high in the atmosphere where the air was so thin that she had to gasp in ragged breaths, but she was safe because his arms were around her and he wouldn't let her fall. Then she felt the softness of the bed against her back and the hardness of his body as he sank down against her. His hands skimmed over her hips, dancing temptingly downwards to the place on her thighs were her flesh met the nylon of her hold-ups. He moved towards the end of the bed and, as his lips touched her hip, Scully guessed his intention. "Later." She rasped, her fingers entwining in his hair. "I want you now." He murmured something against the skin of her hip and moved above her. She closed her eyes as he entered into her flesh. She used all her muscles to keep him within her, tightening her legs around his in an effort to increase the sensation, digging her fingers into his back as he moved. His breath was hot and ragged against her neck. Scully was dying but she'd never felt so alive. She was in pain but the pleasure was incredible. The level of intensity could not be tolerated for long and her body seemed to explode and implode at the same time. Indistinguishable noises came from her throat as she groaned out her ecstasy for her lover's ears only. Moments after her pleasure exploded his could no longer be contained and, as he climaxed, he cried out her name on a drawn out groan. Scully felt dizzy and delirious in the aftermath. His body was still a pleasurable weight upon hers. The bubbling ripples in her body began to subside. Reality hit her like an express train. Her name. He'd called her name. Scully. He'd called out Scully. Only one man would call her Scully, even in this situation. Her body froze into a block of ice as she turned her head to look at him. His face was tucked into the curve of her neck but the sweat soaked hair was still a shade lighter than it should have been and at least an inch shorter. She thought. "My God." She exclaimed out loud. "That was incredible." He murmured. She thought. "My God." She repeated. His naked body was lying on hers. She could feel him still inside her. She thought. "Are you okay?" He asked, turning his head. She couldn't look at him. "Sorry, I'm crushing you. I forget how little you are, you always seem to strong to me." His shifted his weight onto his forearms. Scully's mind was unfreezing into a molten pool of pure panic. Once again she could hardly breathe but this time it had nothing to with passion. "Let me up!" She exclaimed, not looking at him. She couldn't look at him. She couldn't look into his face. "Will you let me up!" She shrieked. He was shocked but he moved. Irrationally she felt bereft without him but she impelled herself out from under him and ran into the bathroom. She slammed the door, locked it and fell to her knees by the toilet. Just in time, because she immediately threw up all of the expensive dinner she'd eaten that night. End of Part Four XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "It's not yet the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Erica@Mydomain.co.uk EMMISZTI@AOL.COM ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm "It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true." Gore Vidal "I am regularly required to believe in the impossible.. It's not so hard for me to believe in the outrageous." Graham Masterton, Mirror "..X Files viewers are given a vitalistic world informed by the discourses and technologies of the body, by Foucauldian bio-power. The truth is in the genes." Linda Badley, Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - 'Terma' ======== Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (5/?): Discoveries On A Night Off XXX Scully felt better for being sick. Standing up shakily, she crossed the sink and rinsed the foul taste of half digested dinner out of her mouth. A light knock sounded on the bathroom door. She closed her eyes and swallowed another wave of bile. "Scully? Are you okay?" He called softly. How would she ever be able to face him again? How could she have made such a mistake? She didn't answer him. "Scully please open the door. We need to talk." His tone was soft and imploring. Scully opened her eyes and crossed to the door. Her robe was hanging on the back of it and she quickly put it on. Before she could do anymore there was a knock on the motel room door and Scully listened in horror as Mulder answered it. No one else would come to the door at this time of night. "Oh!" Came James' shocked voice from the other room. "I came to see Dana." "She's in the bathroom." Mulder answered in a strange tone. "Coffee?" He asked curiously. With a sinking heart, Scully realised that Mulder had just figured it out. It was confirmed with his next question. "Was she expecting you?" "I guess not." James replied. "Look, you better take the coffee. Dana seemed like she needed it." There was a pregnant pause. "Or maybe she didn't." He sounded so dejected. Scully swallowed more bile. She'd hurt two people tonight, three if she counted herself. "See you in the morning." "Yeah." Mulder said softly. The door closed. Scully sank to the floor, sitting against the door. There was silence in the other room. The knock on the bathroom door almost came as a surprise to her. "Scully, open this door right now or I'll break it down!" His tone was so forceful that she complied without even thinking about it. She scrambled to her feet and cautiously opened the door. The first thing she saw was a tray with a pot of coffee and two cups sitting on top of the TV set, by the door. Her heart sank. Mulder was now standing in the middle of the room, not looking in her direction. He had a sheet from the bed wrapped around his waist and he was obviously naked beneath it. Scully winced as she pictured James' face when Mulder opened the door dressed like that. "Mulder..?" She said softly. His shoulder's tensed and he turned slowly. Her eyes travelled over him. His hair was a ruffled mess, his lips looked like they actually held traces of her lipstick and the sheet was slipping. "Have you had a good look? Recognise me yet?" He asked icily. "Mulder.." She began pitifully, her feet became interesting and she stared at them. "Look at me Scully." He said bitterly. She looked up at his face. "It's me. Mulder. You might want to check in the future." He turned away and began hunting for his clothes. She crossed to him. "Mulder, I'm.." He spun around. "..Sorry?" He finished for her. He took a step closer and she looked up at him dejectedly. "You're sorry." He said flatly. "Well," He turned away. "I'm sorry too. The greatest, most incredible, sex I've ever had then I find out that the woman thought I was someone else." "The woman?" Scully asked with an odd sinking feeling in her heart. "That's all I was to you? 'The woman'?" She wasn't angry. She just felt sad but she wasn't sure why. He turned back and looked down at her seriously. "I want to say yes." He said brutally. Scully felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. His face softened. "But I can't." He looked away. "Jesus Scully, you took me by surprise!" He laughed bitterly. "Literally. I don't know *what* I'm thinking." "Well, that makes two of us." Scully acknowledged softly. He looked back and she held his eye as steadily as she could. "I don't know how to undo what I've done!" She turned away from him. "I'm not sure if I want to." She said softly, then snorted as she realised what she'd said. "What am I saying? I must have lost my mind!" "What do you mean 'you're not sure if you want to'?" Mulder asked from behind her. "It's never been that good for me before." She said so softly that it was barely audible. "What a fucking mess!" Mulder exclaimed with real anguish. Scully shocked herself by laughing at the unintentional pun. Once she'd started laughing she couldn't stop. Behind her, Mulder realised what he'd said and began laughing too. Scully turned around with her eyes brimming full of laughter and they laughed together in a manner that could only be described as slightly hysterical. It felt good. They hadn't laughed together like this since their first case. After several minutes the laughter died and they looked at each other balefully once more. A thick metre of air separated them and both wanted to close the distance but didn't dare. "What do I do?" Scully asked seriously. "How do you feel about James?" Mulder asked flatly. "I don't know." She answered honestly. "How do you feel about me?" He asked with hardly more inflection. Scully looked away. "I..I..you're my friend." She finished pathetically. "I don't want to lose your friendship." "I don't want to lose yours either." Mulder replied softly. "So what do I do?" She asked again and he sighed with real feeling. "The way I see it, you've got two choices." She looked up at him but he wasn't looking at her. "One. We forget all about this, just pretend that it never happened. We both get on with our work and our lives." He spoke flatly. Scully swallowed what felt like a golf ball in her throat. "And two?" "Or two, we conduct a test." His eyes met hers and Scully could see that the calm tone of his voice was a deception. His emotions were just as confused as hers. It suddenly occurred to her that, while she had thought him to be James, he had *known* who she was. Yet he had stayed when she kissed him. He had returned her kisses. Whoever *she* had been making love to was suddenly less important to her than the fact that *he* had been making love to *her*. He must have wanted to. "What kind of a test?" She asked looking deep into his eyes. "One to find out how you feel about James." His voice remained flat but his eyes gave him away. "About James?" Her tone seemed higher than it's usual pitch. "Yeah.." He continued, the casual demeanour firmly in place. "..maybe it was only..er..that good for you because you thought it was James you were with." Scully surpressed a shiver. She thought. She chastised herself. "So.." Her lips were dried out completely - she resisted the urge to lick them - and she seemed to be having trouble breathing. "..what are you suggesting?" "A kiss." He paused. "If you feel nothing..then we go back to how we were before." "What happens.." She cleared her throat. "..what if I do feel something? What if I want more than a single kiss?" They stared deep into each others eyes. "Anything that you want." He took a strained breath. "Absolutely anything." The two words were a sigh on his lips. "All-right." Her voice broke on the word. Their eyes remained locked as they moved together as if pulled by a invisible thread. With her lips nearly touching Mulder's, Scully stopped. "Who are you?" She asked softly. "Mulder." He answered, his breath already a soft kiss on her lips. "Who are you?" She asked again. "Fox Mulder." He repeated. Scully moved a fraction closer. "Who am I?" He asked suddenly. Neither of them could have looked away from the other's eyes. "Fox.." She began, but had no chance to say anymore as his mouth crushed hers. There was no doubt in what was left of Scully's mind. It was Mulder and not James that caused the sparks. James may have been warm honey but Mulder was pure electricity. Scully was aware of Mulder picking her up and carrying her across the room. He laid her down on the bed, kissed her on the lips and stepped away from her. Scully looked up at him in shock. He crouched down next to her and brushed the hair out of her eyes. "Try and get some sleep. We can talk in the morning." "What?" She demanded sitting up. "You said *anything* that *I* wanted! I just decided to have *sex* with you. Dammit Mulder, why do you always do this? You make me feel like I have a choice in my life and then leave me hanging while you make the decisions. I'm sick of it!" "Scul.." He began. "Get dressed and get out." Scully finished without looking at him. "I mean it. Please leave." "Whatever you want." He said softly and began collecting up his clothes. Then he disappeared into the bathroom. Scully lay down again and fought back tears. Her mind screamed. "You idiot!" She chastised herself under her breath. She'd wanted James so that she could get her life back into perspective but now she only saw more problems. If she'd never known heaven then maybe could have settled for warm honey but no sparks. She could have had her excuse to leave Mulder and get married and have kids. Now she knew that it would only ever be second best. Mulder was her life whether she liked it or not and she could travel to the ends of the earth but she would never be able to forget. It had all been a stupid dream thinking that she could just walk out on him and the X Files. She was tied to both by fate, by a need for revenge and by love. She was not ready acknowledge that thought yet. The bathroom door opened and she quickly sat up to make sure that she was covered. Mulder stepped out dressed - sort of - as he had been when he'd come into the room. His shirt wasn't done up due to the fact that most of the buttons were missing. The floor was peppered with them. The collar of his shirt was ripped. His trousers were crushed beyond belief. He'd tried to calm his hair down a little and he'd washed the traces of her make-up off his face. She set her face into a cold mask. They looked at each other for a long moment that tested Scully's resolve to it's limits. He broke the look first and walked away from her, leaving her feeling more lonely than she had ever felt in her life. He was almost at the door, when he turned back and sneered. "Well, Scully looks like option one is as dead as option two. We're right back where we were earlier this evening. Only this time we seem to have ditched each other." He left. The door slammed shut behind him. Scully closed her eyes and let the tears come. She crashed onto the bed but could not stand the smell. It only reminded her of the things that they'd done. She stood up angrily, tears still streaming, and ripped the covers and sheets from the bed. She dragged them into an untidy heap on the floor and let herself fall onto the bare mattress. The sobs came uncontrollably. ***************** Mulder stood outside the door for a moment wanting to take it back. He could hear her crying. Tears threatened in his own eyes. He raised his hand to knock but changed his mind when he heard the sound of Scully throwing the bedclothes around. He acknowledged with a sinking heart that he could do no more here tonight. The only fact that he couldn't doubt was that he loved her. The sensible voice in his head asked him as he walked a dejected path back to his motel room. It was at emotional moments like this that it sounded so much like Melissa Scully. The voice was right. Mulder opened the door of his room and went inside. He left the lights off and crashed onto the bed dressed as he was. "I thought I was doing the right thing." He whispered to the imagined voice of Melissa. "Neither of us were thinking straight." He turned onto his side and wrapped his arms around his suddenly freezing cold body. "I've lost her." He whispered. "I've lost her to Jim. She'll never stay with me now." There was a smile in the tone that made him wonder for a second about ghosts and guardian angels. Was it possible that..? It didn't matter. Mulder closed his eyes and remembered. Her lips so sweet on his. Her voice saying his name. The look of longing and love in her eyes. "She's mine." He said in a determined voice. "I wont let her go." End of Part Five XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "It's not yet the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Erica@Mydomain.co.uk EMMISZTI@AOL.COM ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm "It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true." Gore Vidal "I am regularly required to believe in the impossible.. It's not so hard for me to believe in the outrageous." Graham Masterton, Mirror "..X Files viewers are given a vitalistic world informed by the discourses and technologies of the body, by Foucauldian bio-power. The truth is in the genes." Linda Badley, Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - 'Terma' ======== Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (6/?): And In The Morning.. XXX Scully's motel room Hoffmann Motor Lodge Scully stared at the second hand as it wound it's way around the dust-cluttered clock face, pushing the minute and hour hands to 10:13. A spider ran away from the moving sliver of plastic. She was late already but made no move to get up. A heavy beat pulsed inside her skull in time with the minute hand, as the alcohol continued to slide through her bloodstream from the night before. For the fourth time in an hour, her cell-phone - in her coat pocket - began its irritating 'bre-e-e-e-eping!!!'. The ringing continued for two solid minutes before it finally died with a sound almost like a sigh. Scully couldn't even be bothered to get up and turn the phone off. Suddenly the motel phone, sitting on the bedside cabinet, began to ring and Scully left that unanswered too. The minute hand chased the spider to 10:17 and still the phone kept ringing. Finally Scully could stand it no longer. She lifted the receiver but said nothing. There was a shocked silence on the other end of the line for a moment. Then Mulder's voice came; his tone steady and yet tentative. "There's been a murder with the same MO as our psycho in a town about 20 miles from here." He told her. There was no word about her lateness, no endearment and no questioning about why she hadn't answered the phone earlier. Scully didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed. "Can you be ready and packed in 10 minutes?" He asked. Scully reached for her purse, which contained a packet of painkillers, and went dizzy. Her stomach heaved violently. "Give me 20." She replied as steadily as she could. "Okay." Mulder's voice agreed firmly. There was a moment's hesitation and his voice spoke again in a gentler tone. "Dana, are you..?" Scully reacted to the unexpected use of her first name and there was no chance for him to say anymore. She pushed the receiver back into the cradle with excessive force. It was enough to cut the line, before it pushed the telephone off the table entirely. It clattered to the floor with a sound that was a cacophony of extreme noise to Scully's over-sensitized eardrums. She fell back onto the bare mattress clasping one hand to her head and one to her queasy stomach. ***************** 10:41 Mulder walked out of his motel room and headed in the direction of Scully's. This was one of those times in his life when he had no idea what to say. No wisecrack would span this gulf which had been created between them. He rapped firmly on the door, twice, and waited. The door was opened slowly and Scully looked away from him without even acknowledging his presence. She picked up her purse and her small suitcase, then pushed past him out of the room. Mulder risked a look inside. The room was spotless. The bed was neatly made up and all surfaces were clear of the debris of human habitation. It was the saddest sight in the world, an empty hole waiting for it's next transient visitor. There was no trace of the night before left in the place and yet Mulder could picture it all. He needed no visual cues to remember the night that he and Scully had finally crossed the invisible barrier which had been erected on a rainy night in Oregon. It wasn't the sex that he pictured the most vividly, for him that had been tainted by the realisation that she had imagined herself to be with Jim. Mulder was remembering the part after. The time that hadn't been stolen by the spectre of the DEA agent. The time that belonged to Scully and himself, when she had kissed *him*.. <"Fox.."> He ignored the messy scene they had parted on the night before and closed the motel room door. ***************** Parking Lot Hoffmann Motor Lodge Scully stood back as Mulder took the suitcase from her and stacked it in the back of the sky blue Taurus with his own case. She tried to ignore the strong, fluid movements of his limbs as he slammed the trunk closed. The sensations of having those firm back muscles underneath her hands returned to her, despite the defenses she had attempted to construct, and caused her fingers to itch with the memory. She kept her resolve firm with the same intention that she had used to force herself off the bed and to tidy up the motel room. She had been right in sweeping away the memory of last night. A relationship of that kind between her and Mulder was out of the question. She'd been drunk and dreaming. It was good that he had stopped when he did because it would have been worse this morning than it already was. She tried to believe that, despite the unfulfilled ache - which had nothing to do with alcohol - that still sat in her belly, as it had since he left her room last night. Scully crossed to the passenger side of the car automatically, as she almost always did. "Do you wanna drive?" He asked suddenly and her head snapped up abruptly. He never *asked* her if she wanted to drive. It threw her momentarily. "Probably not a good idea." She responded, acutely aware of the blunt beat still knocking inside her head. She looked up at him for the first time and found him frowning at her across the roof of the car. Mulder looked at Scully and his frown deepened. Her skin was pasty. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying and bloodshot with a hangover from the wine. She looked tired and drained. He wanted to go to her and hold her tight, but more than the car separated them. Remembering the way she put the phone down on him this morning, he didn't attempt to say anything and merely nodded acquiescence. They both took their usual positions in the car. ***************** Somewhere between Shawano and Midwich 11:05 The journey so far had been made in a silence which had hung heavy in the positively-charged air of the car's interior. Scully had traveled so long and so far with Mulder but none of those journey's felt as long as this one did. She tried to concentrate on the case but, between the alcohol still addling her thought processes and the brushes of Mulder's hand on her leg as he changed gears, she was finding it nearly impossible. "This can't go on." She said out loud. Mulder kept his eyes firmly on the road. "What can't?" He played deliberately obtuse. Scully sighed. "This. Us, just sitting here and not talking. It's like were strangers." "No." He answered softly. "It's just time that we defined what we *are*" He glanced over at her and, momentarily, their eyes locked. "We've drifted for so long that we've lost track." "Maybe I should leave." She breathed quietly. "No." He said firmly and the car stopped abruptly as he hit the brake. He turned to her. "You can't leave.." Mulder thought. Scully thought. "..the X Files." Mulder finished. Scully put her hand onto his. "Not permanently. I couldn't do that." She reassured him instantly. "Just a little time on my own. To re-evaluate what I want." "You deserve that." Mulder agreed. It was good enough for now. "I'm *not* leaving the X files." She said again. "Good." He smiled and placed his hand on hers. "When this case is resolved, I'll..go somewhere to think." "Alright Scully." "Are we friends again?" She asked the wrong question, when they both knew the right one. The unspoken thought hung in the air. Mulder side-stepped answering it. "We'll always be friends." He replied as he restarted the car and they set off to find the solution to a case that lay tied inextricably into their unknown future. End of Part Six XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "It's not yet the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Erica@Mydomain.co.uk EMMISZTI@AOL.COM ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm ***The Clones Network*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/cnet.htm "It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true." Gore Vidal "I am regularly required to believe in the impossible.. It's not so hard for me to believe in the outrageous." Graham Masterton, Mirror "..X Files viewers are given a vitalistic world informed by the discourses and technologies of the body, by Foucauldian bio-power. The truth is in the genes." Linda Badley, Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - 'Terma' "I love those breaking noises." Drop Dead Fred ======== TITLE: Trilateral AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk RATING: NC-17 (drug use, swearing, violence, sex) CLASSIFICATION: X.A.R.(Mulder/Scully & Scully/Other) Disclaimed in part one Warning - unrealistic pseudo-scientific explantions coming up. I don't care anymore whether this science in this is correct or not! Apologies to anyone that *does* care. This is science *fiction*. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (7/?): Day Three's Triangular XXX Crime Scene Midwich, Wisconsin 11:21 For the third day running, Mulder pulled the sky blue Taurus to a halt next to a line of police crime scene tape. The atmosphere inside the car for the remainder of their journey had been considerably less stressful but a layer of tension had wrapped around the agents, trapping them into an unasked for web of desire. Scully climbed out and started towards the tape. Mulder stepped up behind her and placed his hand on her back, as he always did, but they both suddenly saw the gesture for what it was; possession and foreplay. Carefully constructed blinkers were being removed from inside their minds. Mulder withdrew his hand and Scully took a step away from him. Mulder didn't really want to but headed towards Zazulak anyway. He'd never liked him and the thought that Scully had been prepared to have sex with the guy only increased that dislike. Zazulak spotted them and visibly tensed. He nodded curtly and gestured them towards the dead body. Mulder risked a glance at Scully but she was looking at the floor, her embarrassment was obvious. They followed Zazulak. It was obvious from the scene before them that they were dealing with the same killer. Each motif was clearly defined, as if the killer were following a rule book; a near-naked body (in this case a blond man in his mid-thirties) lying at the centre of a triangle formed with blood (never the victims but always different), with the triangle mirrored in black enamel on the chest and, of course, the burnt feet. "Who is he?" Scully asked, coming to stand next to Mulder and staring down at the lifeless chunk of human flesh spread-eagled on the floor. "Darren McIlroy." Zazulak said flatly, not looking at them. "Local businessman." Scully crouched down by the body and drew on latex gloves. She checked for similarities to the three bodies she had already performed autopsies on. "What business?" Mulder asked, just in case it might be relevant. He turned to look at Zazulak, but he was just staring down at the body. "His family part-owned Norton Pharm." He said without inflection. Scully looked up sharply and her eyes collided with Mulder's, which were wide with a combination of shock and excitement. They thought simultaneously. "Didn't Pinck Pharmaceuticals just buy out Norton Pharm?" Scully asked out loud. Scully could *see* the wheels turning in Mulder's head. "I wouldn't know." Zazulak answered and almost sounded genuine. This time even Scully picked up that he was lying. "What are you two planning to do today?" He stated curtly instead. "Are you investigating anything at all?" The sentence was bitter and sarcastic. "Or do you just plan to go back to your motel?" The sexual implication irritated the hell out of Mulder but he said nothing for Scully's sake. Scully bit her lip, it was her fault that they were late but Zazulak must have assumed that they spent the whole night together. Mulder touched her hand in way which he may have meant to be reassuring, but all it did was set her nerve-endings on edge worse than they already were. Zazulak sneered at the gesture. "Some of us *do* have work to do." He walked off without another word. "Sorry. This is my fault." Scully apologised to Mulder as they watched him stop and talk to a police officer. Mulder turned to look at her. She looked up at him in return. He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I didn't like the guy to start with." He smiled wryly. "I don't mind him hating me. What about you?" "I.." She paused. "I don't want him to hate me." She replied with a shrug. As they stood, their eyes speaking for them, neither of them realised the ease with which Zazulak had changed the topic away from Pinck Pharmaceuticals. "I'm gonna go and see Senator Thorley." Mulder told her softly and Scully nodded. He watched as she broke the eye contact with regret and strode off in the direction Zazulak had taken. Today was not going as he'd planned it to. With a wry expression and a shrug, Mulder pulled his cell-phone out of his coat pocket and hit one of the speed dial buttons with his thumb. He placed the phone to his ear and he didn't have to wait long before it was answered. "Danny, it's Mulder." He said immediately. "Yeah, right!" He smiled at the bad joke his friend and contact made. "Look Danny, could you get me background info on some bodies we've got here in Wisconsin. I'll fax you the details. Great. Oh and could you also get me details on the take-over of Norton Pharmaceuticals by Pinck..?" ***************** "James?" Scully said to his back and he stiffened at the sound of her voice. He did not look back from the paper he was writing on, leaning on the top of his rented black Civic. He didn't say anything. Scully bit her lip. "James', I just wanted to explain.." She began. "What's to explain?" He said in a monotone as he carried on writing. "You led me on, when all the time you were fucking your partner." Scully recoiled inside from the lack of emotion in the statement, as well as from the words. It sounded terrible when put that way. "It's not like that. Mulder and I are just friends." She said, knowing that it was a half-truth. Zazulak spun around to face her. His eyes were sparkling but, to Scully's surprise, it didn't seem like anger. It seemed like..excitement. "So why was he naked in your room?" He didn't give her a chance to answer. "What would the OPC have to say about that?!" "You wouldn't dare!" Scully exclaimed aghast. A nasty thought occurred to her. "Who are you?" She demanded. "No one you'd ever except *Agent* Scully." He said sarcastically. "Why aren't there toxicologicals for the earlier victims in the files?" She questioned flatly, at last seeing him clearly. "Small towns." He repeated with a smile that belied his statement. "Do you work for Pinck Pharmaceuticals?" Scully asked and Zazulak's smile grew wider. "I work for the federal government Dana, you know that." Scully didn't wait to hear anymore, she shot him a last evil look, turned around and walked away as quickly as she could. To her surprise, no one waylaid her. Zazulak watched her go with a smile. A young man in a dark suit stepped up to him. "Shouldn't we go after her sir?" He asked. "No need." Zazulak replied. "If Dana Scully lives beyond tonight, then there's always the contingency plan. Either way we get what we want." ***************** Thorley Residence Wausau, Wisconsin 13:01 "The fax to Washington went through okay?" Mulder asked the nameless law enforcement officer on the end of the phone line, as he switched off the car engine. The engine died with a bizarre splutter, that Mulder noted he would have to tell the rental company about. He didn't mind damage caused in chases and crashes, but he'd be damned if he'd lose his deposit for engine trouble. "Yes sir." The officer informed him in response to his question. "Good." Mulder replied, attempting to undo his seat-belt whilst still speaking into the phone. "Is Agent Scully back there yet?" He asked. ***************** On the road, Midwich 13:01 Scully drove with only one hand on the wheel as she tried for the third time today to call Mulder. She hit the speed-dial with her thumb and listened as it rang. "Skinner." A terse male voice answered. "Oh!" Scully exclaimed. "I'm sorry sir, I was trying to get Agent Mulder." "Scully?" Skinner asked and she could almost hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. "Well, this is the first time I've been mistaken for him. Shall I take it as a compliment or an insult?" "I don't know sir, have you ever seen a UFO?" She attempted to keep the smile out of her voice, but failed. Skinner laughed. "I've seen Close Encounters, does that count?" He returned. Scully bit her lip to avoid laughing. "How's the case coming along?" The voice was all business again. Scully sobered up. "Nothing that can be discussed on a cellular phone, sir." She said flatly. "That bad?" Skinner asked, it was impossible to read anything from his tone. "Yes sir." She answered. "You better go find Agent Mulder." The line cut out. Scully hit the cut-off button. This time she checked for the correct button before she dialled. Keeping her eyes on the road, and holding the phone to her ear again, she found herself rewarded with an engaged tone. "Damn." She muttered as she stopped the tone. She pushed her foot down on the accelerator and sped towards the hospital. ***************** Thorley Residence 13:04 Mulder slammed the car door and put the phone away in his pocket. Scully wasn't at the hospital, she wasn't at the police station, her cellular was engaged everytime he called; where on earth was she? He was concerned but knew that Scully could handle herself. Mulder rang the doorbell of the two storey mock-colonial house and waited. A dour-faced housekeeper opened the door after a few minutes. "I have an appointment with the Senator." He told her and she nodded, then led him into the house. ***************** Autopsy Bay County Hospital, Wausau 13:14 Scully hung up her coat in the corner of the room and crossed to the black body bag lying on the metal slab. The last thing she wanted to do right now was another autopsy, but the county medical examiner appeared to have handed control of these autopsies over to her and it wouldn't be nice to now ask her to do it instead. Scully picked up a sealed envelope from the counter-top and tore it open. It was the toxicological results for Patricia Thorley. Scully scanned the analysis with a coolly professional eye, picking out the LSD trace result. Nothing in the results appeared amiss. Scully pulled out her autopsy report and compared them. Her eyes alighted on the word 'seratonin' and widened when they saw the number next to it. She double checked it and it was still the same. She searched for the previous victims results. No wonder Zazulak hadn't wanted her to compare the sets of results. If she had she couldn't have failed to notice, as she was doing now, the obvious anomaly. The seratonin levels in the victims were consistently abnormally low, but LSD works by as a hallucinogenic *increasing* the production of neuro-transmitters such as seratonin. The LSD was a smoke-screen, there had to be something else which was hidden behind it so that it wouldn't show up. "Interesting reading Agent Scully?" Zazulak's voice asked from the doorway. Scully jumped and turned in shock to face him. He had his folded coat draped over one arm and he laid it down carefully over a stool, before he walked towards her. Scully purposefully closed the files and held them by her side. As her eyes met and challenged his, she could barely believe that this was the same man who, last night, she had practically begged to have sex with her. Whom she would have slept with if it hadn't been for the capriciousness of fate sending Mulder to her room that much sooner than Zazulak and causing her to confuse them with each other. ***************** Thorley Residence 13:37 The Senator was scared out of his wits. That was Mulder professional opinion as he watched him pace up and down the expensive, but tastefully, decorated living room. "They'll kill her, like they killed Patty. I shouldn't have let you in here. They'll find out. Lynsey will be in danger too." He muttered in a panicked tone. "Who's Lynsey and why is she in danger?" Mulder tried to cut in. Thorley turned his scared eyes onto Mulder. "My daughter. My youngest daughter. Now that Patty is dead, they'll use her to keep me in line." Thorley began walking again. "I shouldn't be speaking to you." "Keep you in line?" Mulder questioned, although he was scared that he already knew the answer. "Yes. Yes. So that I wouldn't tell what I know. They'll kill her." "And what do you know Senator?" Mulder asked patiently. He stopped pacing and walked up to Mulder. Their eyes met and locked. "They'll kill her." He repeated. "What do you know?" Mulder demanded. "I can't tell you. I can't let them hurt Lynsey too." He said in hushed whisper. "If you don't tell me, then how many people may get hurt?" Mulder demanded angrily. The Senator just shook his head. "When you have children Mr Mulder, then you will understand. I've lost one child, I wont stand by and lose another one." Mulder hung his head in defeat. Why did he feel as if he were talking to his father? ***************** Autopsy Bay, County Hospital 13:40 "What have you discovered?" Zazulak asked softly. "Not much." Scully bluffed. "I still haven't found a cause of death." "Is that so?" Zazulak nodded, but he knew she was lying. They both turn sharply at a knock on the door. "Come in." Zazulak called. A police officer opened the door and stuck his head into the room. "There's an urgent phone call for you Agent Zazulak, from Washington." He said nervously. Zazulak's mouth tensed angrily, but he nodded and followed the officer. At the door he turned back and looked at Scully piercingly. Scully met the gaze. The atmosphere simmered with anger around them. The spell pulled tighter until it was choking. Zazulak broke it first as he turned and left. Scully sighed as the tension went out of the air. She lay the files down on the counter and went for her coat, with the aim of leaving the room before Zazulak got back. The stool below it held Zazulak's coat. Her hand brushed and Scully couldn't resist opening the folds to check the pockets. ***************** Thorley Residence Mulder was sitting down in his car when the cell-phone in his pocket began ringing. He pulled it out and leant on the car. "Mulder." He said into the scrap of black plastic. "It's Danny." A throaty voice said tersely from the other end of the line. "Danny, what've you got for me?" Mulder asked. "Well Mulder," Danny answered. "You're either gonna love this or hate it. You know McIlroy's family just sold Norton Pharm to Pinck, well apparently the sale was violently opposed at first by the elder McIlroy, Darren's McIlroy's father. Then he suddenly changed his mind overnight." "Should this conversation really be taking place on a cell, Danny?" Mulder asked, catching his friend's line of thought. "You wanted this info a.s.a.p." Danny reminded him. "Anyway, we move on to Senator Thorley who was a member of a Congressional Commission set up to advise Congress regarding regulations on Genetic Research. Research, such as Pinck conducts. Let's say that the good Senator is not a an opponent of the research and leave it at that. At least he isn't an opponent now." The implication of blackmail was obvious. "What about the other girl?" Mulder asked past tight lips. "Delilah Acadiane, she's the most interesting of all. Her parents were virologists." "Virologists?" Mulder questioned. "Variola viruses as a speciality." Danny acknowledged, knowing what Mulder would make of that. "They died in a very mysterious plane crash a few years ago. Oddly enough, that was shortly after they changed their view that the smallpox virus should be kept and not destroyed." He paused. "If they'd lived, they would have been vocal opponents to the recent moves towards not destroying it in 1999." "Thanks Danny. That's cleared up a few interesting thoughts I've been having." Mulder acknowledged and was about to hang up. "Mulder?" "Yeah. "I also did some digging into your 'Agent Zazulak'." Danny stated. "And?" Mulder asked warily. "Up until 1990, he didn't exist. There is no such person as James Zazulak." ***************** Autopsy Bay, County Hospital Scully pulled out Zazulak's wallet and a brown envelope. Scanning the envelope first, keeping half an eye on the door, and found several sheets of paper inside. The first of which had 'Project: Black Triangle - eyes only', written across the top. Skim reading the contents, Scully had her worst suspicions confirmed. Zazulak was a covert operative, but what were his orders? The document said little of worth. It mostly contained biographies of some people whose name's Scully didn't recognise and had no time to read. Scully replaced the papers and opened the wallet. A few dollars, a wide assortment of credit cards (in various names, Scully noted), contact cards and, what looked like, a photograph. Curiously Scully took out the piece of crushed and faded photographic paper. It looked as if the photo had been screwed up into a ball on more than one occasion. As she straightened it the picture became more obvious. It was a small black and white photo of two men in military uniforms, Russian army it appeared like. What she spotted then Scully couldn't believe; the men were a very young Zazulak and Alex Krycek. <"my only family is my brother.. he's probably dead." "What was his name?" "Alex."> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder, 'Terma' Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk xhamadryad@aol.com ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm ***The Clones Network*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/cnet.htm "Comes a time when life seems to run smoothly. And fortune is smiling at last. And those skins of bananas and faux-pas piranha's. Lie deep in your fallible past. Then I prise off a gluttonous thrombus. Or trigger a cancerous sign. For abuse or decry me. Evade or defy me. The ultimate laugh will be mine." Gremlin, by Philip Warren. "Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit." Henry Adams ======== TITLE: Trilateral AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk RATING: NC-17 (drug use, swearing, violence, sex) CLASSIFICATION: X.A.R.(Mulder/Scully & Scully/Other) ****Is this a bad time to mention that this contains 'Terma' spoilers!?**** **Un-realistic pseudo-scientific explanations contained within** Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (8/?): Truth All Told XXX =20 County Hospital, Wausau 13:57 Scully's heels tapped eerily on the solid concrete floor of the hospital corridor. With each beat her mind replayed the same thoughts over and over, attempting to make sense of it all. Pinck Pharmaceuticals, a multi-national drug company which had just taken over Norton Pharmaceuticals. One of the deceased's family used to own Norton. Zazulak, a covert operative and brother of a Russian spy. He knows more than he's letting on and is involved with something called Project Black Triangle. All the victims had black triangles painted on their chests. =20 Traces of D-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide found. A drug used in the treatment of depressive mental patients, available only in clinical circles, which the untutored eye would interpret as the illegal drug LSD. Either way a drug which should increase production of the neurotransmitter, seratonin, and yet the victims all had abnormally *low* seratonin levels, a side effect not previously observed with either LSD or it's close relation D-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide. Yet the anomalous side effect was apparently there. Depletion of seratonin is a suspected side effect of Methylene-Dioxy-Meth-Amphetamine or MDMA, more commonly known as Ecstasy, but even that remains unproven in humans and only applies to long term consummation of the narcotic. This drug apparently kills in a short space of time, essentially by depleting the seratonin levels dramatically, and yet all that is left is a trace of a drug with an entirely opposite side effect. If it is the rapid depletion of seratonin that kills the victim, then the possible anti-dote would be to use the D-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide to boost the seratonin levels back up. If someone wanted to cover the dramatic drop, then administering a counter-active drug may be a suitable a measure. Or that could be the killing stoke. By that same mark, a higher dosage might counter-act the effect completely and save that person's life. Or it could kill them quicker. The pressure placed on the brain by the altering chemical compositions would result in an extra-ordinarily "bad trip" and may well result in brain damage and/or death. It would be a risk either way. But why would someone want to kill people in such a complex manner? What about the ritualistic iconography? The triangle could be explained by whatever is Zazulak's involvement and this mysterious Project Black Triangle but what about the blood triangle around the victim and the burnt feet? Could they be red herrings? If Zazulak is a Russian spy, as his own heritage would make one suspect, then is it a plot by the Russian's to kill prominent members of the American pharmaceutical and scientific community? Or it is a psychotic with demonic illusions, who happens to have obtained a lethal concoction of drugs to use in the enactment of their twisted fantasies? =20 Scully rounded the corner sharply and came to an abrupt halt. The why didn't matter for the moment. Someone was still in line to die tonight. If they could find that person and get to them with a syringe full of D-LSD, then maybe they could save their life. Turning around, Scully strode back into the depths of the hospital with a purpose. She pulled out her cell-phone and dialled Mulder's number as she did so. It started to ring and Scully breathed a sigh. ***************** Midwich County Sheriff Station=20 13:57 Mulder slammed the car door and walked in the direction of the Sheriff Station. He was at the door when his cell-phone started to ring, but Mulder was already inside the building and the phone was still in his car. It lay on the passenger seat where he'd left it after his conversation with Danny and rang insistently until it was picked up by the voice-mail service Scully had insisted he arrange for just such occasions. ***************** =20 County Hospital "You've reached the voice-mail box of Fox Mulder. Leave a message please." His rich voice said into her ear. Scully sighed but thanked the moment when she had insisted on the service. =20 "Mulder it's me." She said clearly after the beep. "They were all killed by a fast-acting drug Mulder. It rapidly depleted the levels of seratonin in their brains and killed them, then it was covered up with LSD to hide the effect. I don't why someone would do that but Zazulak's involved in it. You were right about him Mulder. I'm at Wausau County Hospital, join me when you can." Scully hung up. ***************** Sheriff Station "I'm sorry Agent Mulder, she was here about an hour ago but she went on to the hospital." The police officer at the desk told him. "Which hospital?" Mulder asked perplexed. "The one in Wausau I believe." The man answered. =20 "Thanks." Mulder replied and turned to leave. "Agent Mulder!" He called after him and Mulder turned back. The man was waving a handful of paper's at him. "A fax came through for you from Washington." =20 Mulder took the papers and nodded as he saw the cover sheet. They were the bio's of the previously deceased people, care of Danny. Mulder skim read them, paying close attention to their parents and found that across the board they were all scientists, politicians, academics and military officers. It was a real who's who of important or influential people. Someone was systematically killing people like, well, people like him and his sister. The big question, as ever, was why. =20 Mulder went out to his car and spotted his cell-phone lying on the seat. He checked the voice-mail on the off-chance that Scully had called. =20 "Mulder it's me." Scully's voice came through from the phone. "They were all killed by a fast-acting drug Mulder. It rapidly depleted the levels of seratonin in their brains and killed them, then it was covered up with LSD to hide the effect. I don't why someone would do that but Zazulak's involved in it. You were right about him Mulder." Mulder felt oddly elated that Scully had now seen through Zazulak (or whatever his name was), but he was unable to shake the sensation of fear on her behalf. Something bad was going to happen, it was just a matter of time. He started his car engine and headed for the hospital. ***************** County Hospital 14:35 "I'm sorry Agent Scully but we don't have any stocks of that here in Wausau. We could try sending to the mental hospital in Mystic Falls." The white-clothed Nurse Curtis informed Scully with regret. =20 "How far away is that?" Scully asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose in an agitated fashion. =20 "About twenty miles." Nurse Curtis replied. Scully pasted on a smile and touched the older woman's arm. "Could you organise that for me please?" She said. Nurse Curtis returned the smile and nodded. "Sure love." She said and left. =20 As soon as she was gone Scully's smile vanished. Instead she ran a tired hand through her hair, messing it up and turning the smooth inwards curl of the bottom into a mini ski jump projecting outwards. She rested her back against the counter-top and let her head loll forwards. Gently, she rotated her shoulders, working out the kinks that the last couple of days had put into them. What on Earth was she going to do about Mulder, especially now that Zazulak was out of the picture? She couldn't think about that now, - in the best tradition of Scarlett O'Hara - she would think about that tomorrow. =20 A tiny cough from the direction of the doorway startled her and her head snapped up. Standing there was a woman about 30 years of age, wearing a black half-length raincoat, with a pastel pink pantsuit underneath. Her hair was dark brown and her eyes were exactly the same rich brown as her hair. She smiled at Scully. "Agent Scully?" She asked tentatively. "Yes." Scully replied warily. "Who are you? How did you get back here?" =20 "My name isn't important." The woman replied. "I have information for you regarding the case you're working on." "What information?" Scully demanded, still cautious. "You need to come with. I have something to show you." The woman said. "Where to? Why can't you just tell me?" Scully straightened, the woman was still two inches taller than her. The woman shook her head. =20 "All will be apparent when we get there." Came the cryptic reply. Scully shrugged and gestured out the door. Both women walked out of the room. Scully stopped when she saw Nurse Curtis in the hallway. Nurse Curtis smiled and told her that the Mystic Falls mental institution did have a supply of D-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and were sending some over immediately. =20 "Could you please see that it reaches either me or my partner, Fox Mulder?" Scully asked her. =20 "And your partner is the tall handsome man you were here with yesterday?" Nurse Curtis asked with a smile. Scully was surprised to find her cheeks going red, a sensation that was her curse as a redhead but was something she did not like at all. She nodded. "Such a lovely young man." Nurse Curtis continued. "And the way he looked at you, so much in love." Scully's heart did a flip, but she surpressed it. Casting a look at the woman in the black raincoat, Scully returned her mind to the case. "When he arrives could you give him the syringe and tell him the dosage?" Scully said instead. Nurse Curtis smiled knowingly. "Yes dear, and where shall I tell him you've gone?" =20 Scully looked at the woman again. Mulder had done this before now, why shouldn't she? "Tell him," She began with a sardonic smile. "That I'm following a lead and I'll be in touch." She thought without real malice. Scully thanked Nurse Curtis, then she and the woman left the hospital.=20 ***************** Autopsy Bay County Hospital 14: 57 Mulder walked into the room and was surprised to find it empty. =20 "She's not here." Zazulak's voice came from the shadows beyond the body bag lying on the gurney in the centre of the room. "She left quite a while ago actually." He stepped into the bluish harsh light, which caused distorting shadows to appear on his face. Mulder stepped closer and they met with just the body separating them. Mulder's face was also twisted into garish shadow by the light. =20 "Where did she go?" Mulder asked laconically. Zazulak smiled and came around the gurney to stand next to Mulder, blocking the door. Mulder noted the move and covertly made a plan to get past him. =20 "She's gone to die." Zazulak told him, unable to keep the pleasure out of his voice.=20 ***************** =20 A Disused Warehouse Unknown Location 14:59 Scully knew she was in trouble when she stepped into the warehouse space. A large triangle had been painted in blood onto the floor and candles flickered intermittently to illuminate the dark expanse inside the building. Scully turned to face the woman. =20 "Who are you?" Scully demanded. "I am the Soul Catcher." She said, taking the raincoat off calmly and placing it on the floor. She straightened up to face Scully. "I've come for your soul." =20 Scully went for her gun, but Soul Catcher was faster with a high kick to her stomach that sent Scully sprawling to the ground. Her gun skidded away from her hand and across the floor. They both went for it. =20 ***************** Autopsy Bay Mulder frowned, momentarily thrown off balance by Zazulak's statement. =20 "But I thought that you were attracted to Scully?" He said. =20 "I am." Zazulak responded. "But I can't disobey orders. They say that she has to die, so she does." "Why?" Mulder asked, seriously thinking now about how to get past Zazulak and get to Scully. "Pawns have to be sacrificed for the greater good. We have to get this killer under control before the plans are exposed." =20 "And what is the greater good? Who do you work for Zazulak?" Mulder demanded with a sneer, moving the left testing Zazulak's responses cautiously. Zazulak side-stepped too. "If that's your real name." The other man smiled. =20 "Do you want my real name Mulder?" He asked silkily. =20 "Tell me." Mulder stepped right, Zazulak followed with a growing smile. =20 Mulder ducked left, sprinting to get past him but Zazulak was ready. He lashed out a fierce blow that hit Mulder square in the face. While Mulder stumbled and tried to recover, he grabbed his collar and shoved him face first into the concrete wall. As he let him go, Mulder fell in a heap onto the floor. Zazulak towered over him, then crouched so that his face was closer to Mulder's. A trickle of blood was sliding down Mulder's forehead. "Arntzen." Zazulak said. "My name's Arntzen." Mulder recognised the name immediately and his eyes widened. Zazulak/Arntzen stood up and kicked him in the stomach harshly. Then crouched down again to face him. Mulder's face was screwed up in pain. "Alex says hi." He sneered. Mulder shifted suddenly and kicked Zazulak/Arntzen's legs out from underneath him. He crashed to the floor and Mulder rose above him, smashing his fist in the other man's face. "And that's for Scully." Mulder returned. They struggled together, landing punches where they could. ***************** =20 Disused Warehouse Scully reached the gun a fraction before Soul Catcher, but the other woman smashed her foot onto Scully's knuckles. There was an ominous popping sound and pain exploded down Scully's arm. She lost her grip on the gun and Soul Catcher kicked it away into the shadows. Despite the pain in her hand, Scully clambered to her knees. Soul Catcher kicked her back down to the ground. Scully clutched her wounded hand to her painful stomach, but persisted in attempting to stand up. Each time Soul Catcher simply kicked her back to the ground. After several of these abortive attempts, Scully adopted a new tactic and jumped - an amazingly painful move - towards the other woman's stomach. The move sent them both flying to the ground. Scully twisted Soul Catcher's brown hair around her right hand and punched her in the face with her left. As she went down forwards, Scully delivered a blow to the back of her neck, which sent her sprawling onto the ground. She paid her back with a single brutal kick to the stomach. Scully left her there and went to the shadows for her gun. =20 She bent down to retrieve it, but Soul Catcher appeared from nowhere and jumped onto her back. Scully spun attempting to dislodge her. Mindlessly they hit out at each other. =20 ***************** =20 Autopsy Bay The two men collided with the gurney and sent the body crashing to the floor. They stood apart momentarily and regarded each other warily. They'd fought themselves to a standstill. Blood poured from Mulder's temple and from his nose, Zazulak/Arntzen had a trickle from his mouth, brushes were already forming on their faces and sweat poured off their bodies soaking their designer suits. They were both breathing with difficulty. "Why?" Mulder demanded sneeringly. "Why Scully?" =20 "She's next on the list." Zazulak/Arntzen said past his enlarged split lip. Mulder went for him and grabbed ineffectually at his collar, swinging him around easily. Zazulak/Arntzen could barely stand but tried to strike out. Mulder had just that little bit more strength then he did and easily deflected the blow. =20 "What list?" Mulder demanded. =20 "The Black Triangle list." He swallowed the blood and forced words out. "The blackmail list." =20 Mulder let go of him and Zazulak/Arntzen stumbled away from him. =20 "Tell me more." Mulder said glacially. Zazulak/Arntzen glared up at him. =20 "There are people that require more than negotiations to make them concur with certain interests. They need added persuasion." =20 "So you threaten their children?" Mulder grabbed him by the throat again. Zazulak/Arntzen broke free this time. =20 "It's not so unusual." He sneered. "Who do you work for 'Arntzen'?" Mulder asked bitterly. "The Russians, the government or both?" =20 "And more." Zazulak/Arntzen answered. "It doesn't matter." "Why kill all these people? Blackmail's one thing, but it's no use if they're dead." "We didn't want them dead. One of our assassins went psycho and took the list with her." Zazulak/Arntzen admitted quietly. =20 "And the MO? Is that just the act of a psycho?" "No." He said. "It was part of the plan. The deaths were never meant to happen in a cluster like this.." =20 "I get it." Mulder cut in. "A single death at a time, the LSD connection, the bizarre ritualistic nature of the act, all a fake to disguise a professional hit!" =20 "Exactly." Zazulak/Arntzen was in the way of the door again. =20 "But why is Scully next?" Mulder questioned, once again eyeing the door with a view to leaving.=20 "Because of you. She was meant to be used to blackmail you, but it hasn't worked out that way. While we're talking here, she's gonna die which will lead us right to our AWOL assassin." "So that you can get rid of them without press attention." =20 "Right." He stated. "Wrong." Mulder stated and grabbed a scalpel from the trolley next to him. He made a slash at Zazulak/Arntzen, who backed away. Mulder made his break for the door. =20 Zazulak/Arntzen, grabbed the back of Mulder's coat and swung him around, so that he collided with the door instead. Mulder grabbed his handcuffs, losing patience with the fight. Struggling he took hold of the other man's wrist and snapped the cuff on. Much scrambling later, Zazulak/Arntzen was cuffed to the gurney which had once held the dead body of local business man Darren McIlroy. =20 "Give my regards to Alex." Mulder sneered. "And give him this for me." Mulder punched him in the face and left. ***************** Disused Warehouse Scully shook the woman off her back and grabbed her gun but, when she turned back to face the warehouse, the woman had gone. A scrambling noise near the rafters caught her attention and she saw the Soul Catcher climbing up there. =20 "Freeze!" Scully yelled, the woman didn't and so Scully fired. She missed. Her hand was throbbing steadily, but Scully kept as firm a grip on the weapon as she could. She spotted a ladder against the wall, headed for it and began to climb with difficulty. At length she made it up into the loft space of the building. The Soul Catcher was nowhere to be seen. Scully advanced cautiously across the uneven mezzanine floor, stepping mainly on the solid wood of the rafters themselves. =20 "Hey Scully!" The woman's voice called and Scully looked up from her carefully treading feet. Soul Catcher was right in front of her. Scully raised the gun and took a steady aim. "You're as dead as Mulder's sister." She said. Scully took a step forward. =20 "How do you know that Mulder's sister's dead?" Scully demanded, taking another shuffling step forwards. The woman smiled. "I am his sister." She answered, taking great pleasure in the disclosure. Scully gaped and stepped forwards without thinking. The floor boards creaked and the patch of wood broke under her weight. Dust flew up and the world turned upside down around Scully. She felt herself falling through the air as the floor disintegrated beneath her. Then she hit the ground and pain zig-zaged through her limbs, seared along her spine and saturating her mind. For a second, before the tidal wave of pain broke, she remembered the woman's words but then everything slipped away from her and she lost consciousness.=20 =20 The woman, the Soul Catcher - Mulder's sister? - looked down, unsmiling, at Scully's twisted and misshapen body through the hole in the ceiling. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder, 'Terma' Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Xhamadryad@aol.com Xhamadryad@geocities.com ***Classified Writings*** http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/1919/fanfic.htm (under construction) "Comes a time when life seems to run smoothly. =20 And fortune is smiling at last.=20 And those skins of bananas and faux-pas piranha's. =20 Lie deep in your fallible past. =20 Then I prise off a gluttonous thrombus. =20 Or trigger a cancerous sign. =20 For abuse or decry me. =20 Evade or defy me. =20 The ultimate laugh will be mine." Gremlin, by Philip Warren. "Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit." Henry Adams "We didn't find the truth out there - so we decided to come here and watch 'Neighbours'!" Friendly Aliens, =A9John Pickering 1996 =20 ======== TITLE: Trilateral AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk RATING: NC-17 (drug use, swearing, violence, sex) CLASSIFICATION: X.A.R.(Mulder/Scully & Scully/Other) Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (9/10): Comedown XXX Wausau County Hospital 15:30 Mulder ran lightly along the hospital corridor, easily dodging people who got in this way. He reached a flight of steps and went down them two at a time. There was only one thought in his mind, over-riding even the vast conspiracy that Zazulak, Arntzen or whatever his name was, had sketched out to him. He needed to get to Scully. If he didn't, then tomorrow he would have to face her half-naked dead body lying in a triangle formed with blood and no one would ever believe him when he told them who was responsible. He stopped suddenly, realising that he had been running mindlessly, without a sense of where he was actually going. He should have beaten it out of that little sonuvabitch when he had the chance. He hated the sense of helplessness that this woman made him feel, but he could do nothing about it. He loved her and it was as simple as that. He hadn't been sure until he met Melissa. He'd always felt as if something was making him hold back his feelings for Scully, but had never known why. Then he'd found out about Melissa and had made peace with his soul. He would always love the soul he knew as Melissa and he would always miss her but, in this life, he was meant to be with Dana Scully. Fate had decided it and he was helpless before it. He couldn't throw this life's one chance of happiness away on a half-remembered dream of an old love. He couldn't let Scully die, especially not without telling her how he felt. Where on Earth was she? "Agent Mulder?" A soft female voice asked and he turned to face a tall nurse in her mid-forties. Her dyed red hair was the colour of fallen maple leaves and was cropped into a short and practical style. Her eyes were a welcoming chocolate brown that contrasted vividly with her hair. "Yeah." Mulder answered her. "I'm Nurse Curtis. Agent Scully left a message for you." "Where is she?" Mulder demanded and the woman looked away, avoiding his eyes. "She left with a strange woman. I was concerned, your partner is such a lovely girl. I followed them outside. They went in the direction of the old mattress factory warehouse." "Thanks." Mulder said and was about to run off when the nurse stopped him with a firm hand on his arm. "She instructed me to give you a drug, which may counter-act the effects of the killing agent." She informed him. Mulder followed the woman to a room where she gave him a hypodermic, a small bottle of clear liquid and a sheet of dosage instructions. Mulder eyed the label-less bottle against the light. "Will this stuff work?" He asked. "Miss Scully seemed to think it would." Nurse Curtis replied. Mulder nodded, put the vial in his pocket and hurried out. Nurse Curtis stood where she was for a couple of seconds, before crossing to the telephone mounted on the wall by the door. She dialed a number and waited. It rang a few times and was picked up but there was silence on the line. "Mulder was just here." Nurse Curtis said. "I gave him the vial." "Did he suspect that it wasn't the D-lysergic acid diethylamide that Agent Scully requested?" A throaty female voice answered. "I don't think that Scully told him what it was." "Good." The sound of the word was almost a purr. "Will Miss Scully be alright?" Nurse Curtis had begun to like the feisty female agent. "If that anti-dote does what it's supposed to, then she'll be better than alright." The line went dead and Nurse Curtis hung up with a hopeful smile on her face. Hundreds of miles away, in her New York apartment, Marita Covarubias wasn't smiling as she replaced the receiver into it's cradle. This was going to be too close. Mulder *had* to get there in time. ***************** Sleep-EZ Mattress Factory Warehouse Scully woke up and that itself was enough of a miracle to make her day. Her body was a single blinding ache with occasional shooting spasms of electric pain. She tried to move but found that she couldn't and assumed it to be that she was in too much pain. "Wake up Scully." A voice said from somewhere nearby. Scully vaguely recognized it and forced her eyes open. <"I *am* his sister."> The words exploded into her mind as she saw the woman's face and remembered her fall. "Who are you?" She demanded, trying to move again but realising that she was, in fact, tied to a straight backed wooden chair. "I'm Samantha Mulder." The woman responded in a sing-song voice that spoke of a trace of madness. She leaned closer and spoke with the clarify of the insane or the truly evil. "Don't be afraid Dana I've come to save you. And Fox." "Save me? By killing me?" Nightmare images came back into Scully's mind. <"Unruhe..Unruhe..Unruhe..Unruhe.."> "Yes." The woman who claimed to be Samantha said. "If you're dead, they can't blackmail him. They can't blackmail any of them if they're dead!" She spoke with such reason and logic. What frightened Scully was that she seemed to believe implicitly in what she was saying, so much so that it even made a twisted kind of sense to Scully. "The Plan," 'Samantha' continued. "That was all They ever spoke about. Anything is okay, as long as it progresses the Project. No one was important by comparison." She paced about and then ran back to Scully to stand nose to nose with her. "They drilled my teeth." She said in a plaintive tone that reminded Scully of Duane Barry. "They put stuff in my eyes and they put a monster child in my *womb*. They care about *nothing* but the Project." "The government?" Scully prompted, thinking of train cars and a secret railroad. 'Samantha' just looked at her as if she were stupid. "The *aliens*." She iterated. "The fucking aliens! The government help them but the aliens are responsible." She tapped her nose, then the back of her neck. "They put in these implants to mess with my mind. Make me an assassin. Well now that's what I'm doing. *Killing* people." She began pacing again. "All those people they wanted to manipulate by threatening their children." She laughed. "Now they can't because the children are *all* dead." She turned to look at Scully. "There's just you left to go and you came to me. I'll free your soul from the tawdry remnants of this life Scully. You wont go to Hell like the others. You're my brother's angel." She reached out and touched Scully's hair. "You shall be saved." Scully wanted to back away in horror but the chair held her fast. With a shock, she realised that she actually *believed* that this woman might well be Samantha Mulder. Of course, she was totally fucking insane but wouldn't you be. Scully didn't believe the stuff about aliens but some trauma must have driven her mad. "Samantha." Scully began as calmly as she could manage. "You don't want to do this.." Samantha wasn't listening. She'd gone over to a small bag lying on the floor and was pulling out several objects. She held up a bottle and smiled jovially at Scully. "I guess you wont drink the stuff!" She stated with a pleasant laugh. She put the bottle down and pulled out a syringe instead and filled it from a vial. "It wont hurt unless you fight it Scully. It's not designed to hurt unless you fight. It's a smart little drug they've devised." She stood up and walked towards Scully, wielding the needle like a cigarette in her right hand. "Samantha, no.." Scully tried but the other woman just smiled at her reassuringly and moved closer. She placed the needle against the skin of Scully's upper arm. She tried to move away but was bound too tight to move at all. The needle pierced her skin. "No!!" Scully exclaimed just as the door of the warehouse flew open and Mulder strode in. His gun was already in his hand and he took an immediate aim on the woman with a needle poised against his partner's arm. "Drop it!" He shouted to her. Samantha pressed in the plunger and the ice cold liquid sped into Scully's blood stream with an immediate effect of dizzying her. "It's for her own good." Scully heard Samantha say but she was already drifting away and it was a sensation she didn't like. She saw Mulder preparing to shoot. "Mulder don't.." She screamed with the last of her sanity. BANG!!!!!!BANG!!!!!!BANG!!!!!!! The three gunshots resounded loudly in the open space. Mulder saw the woman fall backwards away from Scully. He saw the needle still sticking in Scully's arm. Then he comprehended that the shrieking sound he could hear in the aftermath of the reports was in fact Scully. "Aaah!!! Aaah!!! Aaah!! Aaah!!! Aaah!!!!"" Her breathless squeak of a scream went on and on almost driving him crazy. He ran to her and fell to his knees by her side, ignoring the dead body lying a pool of spreading blood just beyond her. "Scully!" He exclaimed, pulling out the needle and throwing it away. This situation making him forget that he should keep the needle for analysis. "No! No! No! No!" The scream had changed into this mindless repetition. Mulder scrambled with the knots holding Scully to the chair. With the last undone, she fell forwards and Mulder caught her. "Mulder!" She exclaimed, at last recognizing him. "Everything's gone weird Mulder. I can't see. The light's too bright!" Mulder held onto her tightly. He rocked her a little. "It's okay, you're gonna be okay." Pulling a hand free, Mulder felt in his pockets for the syringe and vial. Over her shoulder, he prepared the injection. He put the needle to her arm and was about to inject when Scully realised what he was doing. "No, Samantha.." She shouted and jumped away from him. Mulder thought in horror but there was no time to think about it. Scully began shrieking again and clutching her skull. She hammered her hands against her head violently as if she were trying to shake something out. Mulder grabbed her shoulder, he had to fight her to manage, and injected the solution Nurse Curtis had given him. He'd never prayed so hard in his life for anything, as much as he prayed for Scully to live through this. Her breathing remained laboured but she relaxed a little in his arms. "Get me out of here." She said. "It's horrible, get me out of here." She was crying but she seemed instantly calmer. He helped her to her feet. They stood there for a moment just holding onto each other. Every now and then Scully gave a gasping sob. He tried to let her stand on her own but she just stood and wavered as if she was going to fall any moment. He steadied her with both his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her unfocused eyes. Her hands moved up to his face and she pulled his head down towards her. He went with it, unsure of what she was doing. Then her hands had left his face and were moving as if they were touching something in the air above his head. "She was right." Scully said in wonderment, between rasping breaths. "Angels. A halo." He clasped both her hands in his. "We're getting you to a doctor." He told her. Her anger was sudden and unexpected. She knocked his hands away. "Don't tell me what to do, I am a doctor!" She could barely stand without his help and he managed to catch her before she fell. He swung her into his arms and picked her up. Surprisingly, despite the anger of a moment before, she didn't protest. He began walking towards the door. "Flying." Scully said whimsically. "High up, atmosphere, wont let me fall. He wont let me fall." Then she grew agitated. "Mulder?" She demanded as if she couldn't see him. "Where are you Mulder?" She said into his shoulder. "Ssh." He reassured. "I'm right here." "Mulder, why did you go without me? I thought we were partners. The Arctic for God's sake, what were you thinking?" At length, Mulder recognised it as her side of the conversation they'd had after he'd recovered from his 'jaunt' to the Arctic after the alien assassin that had killed the clone he'd believed to be his sister. "No!" She shouted and began fidgeting. "Mulder!!!!!" She shrieked and fought him to get away. He struggled with her out of the building and into the rainy black of the falling dusk, in the direction of his car. As the rain soaked them, Mulder settled Scully into the passenger seat of the car and buckled her up. Her panic had subsided and was replaced by the frighteningly calm and vacant expression that he was coming to hate. Her blue eyes were glazed and unseeing in the small amount of illumination issuing from the light on the passenger door. He slammed the door and hurried around to the driver's side. Scully appeared to be dozing, although she seemed tormented by demons. Mulder phoned the police station to get them to the warehouse but only after he'd rung the hospital to ask what he should do with Scully. A doctor had listened to the symptoms he described and suggested that Mulder treat it like a bad acid trip. Keep her calm, don't let her hurt herself, put her in a position where she feels safe and ride it out. That was all they could do. Mulder was scared that there could be complications unlike an acid trip but the doctor couldn't give advice on something he knew nothing about. Mulder decided to head for the hospital and get some professional help for her. He drove fast, but carefully through the developing storm. "Why do you always have to drive?" Scully screamed, waking from her stupor with a suddenness that shocked Mulder into jerking the wheel. "Dr. Bambi!" She spat with real venom - and grabbed the wheel. Mulder had to fight her for control of the car as they swerved blindly back and forth across the rain drenched highway. After a while Mulder attempted just to hold on, he kept beeping the horn and flashing the headlights to warn the other motorists to get out of their way. They did but in many cases they were near misses. They fought with the wheel for some distance and the hospital turn was long forgotten in the nightmare ride into the black. The other cars disappeared off the road, a fact for which Mulder was grateful, but it meant they were alone driving further away from civilization offered by Wausau. Their luck couldn't last and they went off the edge of the black-top and into a ditch. The engine spluttered out as it filled with the muddy water that half-filled the ditch. Mulder pried Scully's hands off the wheel as she retreated back into the stupor. "A safe environment!" He muttered bitterly into the pitch black night. "Now what?" He demanded from no one in particular, certainly not the oblivious Scully. He undid her seat belt but, as he shifted, the movement caused a sloshing sound. The water was getting into the car, if they didn't get out they'd be in trouble. "Gimme a break." Mulder said angrily to the same no one. ***************** "That's so much better!" Mulder stated sarcastically. He was standing in the pouring rain, propping up the drugged up Scully as he watched the car sinking into the water of the ditch. He'd managed to salvage a blanket - which was currently around Scully's shoulder's - a flashlight and his half-dead partner. Scully tensed in his arms, then her entire body jerked. "The vegetable?" She demanded. Mulder sighed, he didn't need her going off again right now. "Come on Scully." He said picking her up and heading back in the direction they came. Soaking wet the tiny, thin woman felt like a ton of bricks. She started laughing. "This fits the profile?!" Scully exclaimed. Mulder thought. She's reliving events. This could get dangerous. If repressed memories came up regarding her abduction..? "Come on Scully, reality. Rainy night. Wisconsin. Me and you in the middle of the road. Hey, we've lost our deposit on other Taurus!" He smiled. "Come on Scully, laugh with me. Laugh at me." He was practically begging. "Mulder, I need your help!!" She called and pushed herself away from him. The power the words had over him, combined with the gesture, made him drop her. He'd heard them a million times in his nightmares. She landed on her back but quickly scrambled to her feet and was running away from him. Mulder saw her running but his own thought processes were getting a little confused now too. His mind snapped back into focus and he saw that she was already quite far away from him. "Scully!!" He called and ran after her. He caught up easily and swung her into his arms. She pressed her face into his chest and hugged him back. "What were you running from?" He asked. "The bogeyman." She answered in a babyish voice. "Charlie said that I couldn't get away from him by running but I can, can't I?" With the last part of the sentence she looked up at him imploringly. He knew that her eyes didn't really see him - who knew *what* she saw - but at least she was responding to him now. He shook his head sadly. "No Dana. I don't think that you can get away by running. There are some things you have to stand and face." "But they're ugly." The babyish voice persisted but Mulder felt that he was being allowed a glimpse into Scully's soul. "I'm frightened." "So am I, but I'm here with you. We can face anything together." "I love you Mulder." She said with perfect clarity and her eyes actually focused on him. He ran his hand down her face and smiled. "I love you too Starbuck." He answered. Scully shivered and her eyes glazed over again. She cowered away from him. "No!" She shrieked, her eyes wide with fear. "Get away from me!" He held her tightly and cried softly into her hair. She was facing her demons. ***************** Mulder had thought he would go mad watching Scully go through the horrors of her abduction. He saw all of her pain, felt it as intently as she did, and hoped that she would feel refreshed when she snapped out of it but that she wouldn't remember any of it. At length, she quietened and fell asleep in his arms. The rain stopped but they were still sat in the middle of the road. Mulder stared at nothing. Scully's heart beat was strong and steady, she was going to be okay. Mulder asked the fates that had brought them to this. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder, 'Terma' Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Xhamadryad@aol.com Xhamadryad@geocities.com ***Classified Writings*** http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/1919/fanfic.htm (Goes live - 17/4/97) "It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true." Gore Vidal "I am regularly required to believe in the impossible.. It's not so hard for me to believe in the outrageous." Graham Masterton, Mirror "..X Files viewers are given a vitalistic world informed by the discourses and technologies of the body, by Foucauldian bio-power. The truth is in the genes." Linda Badley, Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files "I love those breaking noises." Drop Dead Fred ======== TITLE: Trilateral AUTHOR: Erica Miszti EMAIL: Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk RATING: NC-17 (drug use, swearing, violence, sex) CLASSIFICATION: X.A.R.(Mulder/Scully & Scully/Other) Disclaimed in part one XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Trilateral (10/10): OPC XXX A Lonely Highway Wisconsin Mulder asked the fates that had brought him to sitting in the middle of the road, in the middle of a rain storm, with a drugged up Dana Scully asleep in his arms. Police sirens cut the air as if in response and flashing blue lights signaled the arrival of help. Mulder stood up painfully, pulling Scully with him, to face the future on their feet. Someone had tried to knock them down but they hadn't succeeded. As long as he had breath in his body, they would *never* succeed. ***************** Unknown Location New York City The man Mulder and Scully had known as DEA agent James Zazulak settled himself into the plush leather chair and accepted a cigarette from the man sat opposite him. "Have the details been cleared up?" The Cancerman asked him, between puffs. "Our end of the deal has been completed entirely." 'Zazulak' lit the cigarette and blew out a thin stream of smoke. "Not *entirely* completed." The Cancerman hissed. "We dispatched your problem and delivered you ammunition to successfully bury their work on the X Files." 'Zazulak' pointed out dryly. "Scully was supposed to die!" Cancerman exclaimed. 'Zazulak' laughed. "She'll die soon enough. Can't you wait for The Cancer to do it's job?" "You Russian fool! Your side of the deal was not completed, so the deal's off." He said flatly. 'Zazulak' glared at him as he stubbed the half-finished cigarette out violently in a glass ashtray. "You wouldn't dare!" 'Zazulak' stated. "We supplied you with the drug in good faith. When that fool woman stole it, I stepped in *personally* to aid you in stopping her. I even gave you the opportunity to remove your X File problem with minimal fuss." He stood up to face the unsmiling cigarette smoker. "You promised us an equal exchange of information." "The deal's changed." Was the only reply he got. The Cancerman pressed a buzzer on the desk next to him and the door to the office opened. In walked an extremely broad man in a black suit and dark glasses. His gun was obvious in the shoulder holster beneath his jacket. "Would you see that Colonel Arntzen is escorted to the airport and onto his plane *back* to Moscow." He ordered the man, keeping his eyes firmly on 'Zazulak' the whole time. "This wont be forgotten." Arntzen/Zazulak threatened. "Give my regards to your brother." Cancerman said flatly. They eyed each other coldly for a moment longer, before Arntzen turned and left. The Cancerman continued to sit in the straight backed leather chair and smoke. ***************** John F. Kennedy Airport New York City 17:50 Colonel Petrov Arntzen, aka James Zazulak, dutifully got out of the car and walked in the direction the Man In Black indicated. He forced himself not to make a move until they were almost at the elevator, although all his senses screamed for him to get away from the barbarian *now*. He casually bumped into the man, muttering apologetically, but at the same time grabbing the gun from inside the man's holster. He didn't stop to think, just rammed the barrel into the man's stomach and fired. The MIB crashed to the floor - alive - in a pool of spreading blood. Using his own travel bag as a silencer, Arntzen fired a shot into his skull. It was over in seconds. Arntzen grabbed his belongings and took the gun, wiping out all traces that he was ever there. He ran into the shadows of the parking level. ***************** Scully's Apartment Alexandria, Virginia 17:53 Mulder took the tomato soup off the boil and poured it into a bowl. He placed it on the tray next to some toasted rolls, a mug of hot chocolate and a small vase with a single pink rosebud. He carried the tray through to the living room where Scully sat on the couch propped against a barrage of pillows. "Mulder, I'm not hungry." Scully complained without really meaning it. "Just be quiet and eat." He told her harshly but with a smile to show that he didn't mean it. "Yes sir!" She replied with a salute and bent forwards towards the tray as Mulder placed on the low table. "Ooh I could get used to you calling me sir." He joked and she cast him a not-in-this-lifetime-buddy kind of expression. She ate the soup. "This is nice." She commented, after she'd swallowed down most of it. "You thought I couldn't cook?" He asked with a sardonically raised eyebrow. "I just didn't think you'd be able to handle something as technologically complex as a tin-opener." Scully commented sarcastically, but with a grin, as she met his eyes. "I can handle anything you want me to." His eyes told her every level on which he meant that statement. Her eyes held an answering response. The soup was forgotten as they closed the gap between each other. Their lips meet in tentative kiss, that soon turned into a frenzied exploration of each other's responses. Scully broke the embrace suddenly. "Mulder, I've got something I should have told you before now." She attempted to control her breathing by putting some distance between them. "Something I *have* to tell you before we do this." Mulder reached out a hand to touch her arm. She looked up at him with a heartfelt sigh. "You can tell me anything." He said sincerely. "Nothing will change the way I feel." "This will." Scully smiled wryly. "The woman in the warehouse.." She began. "You said 'no Samantha'." Mulder remarked suddenly and Scully gave him a questioning expression. "When I tried to give you the injection." He clarified. Scully couldn't look into his eyes when she told him this. "She claimed she was your sister." She said flatly, closely observing her fingernails. Mulder froze, despite the fact that some small part of his brain had already explored the sickening possibility. He closed his eyes but all he could see was the way the woman had been flung backwards as the three bullets he'd fired struck her. "Do you think that it was her?" He asked, swallowing down the sick feeling. Scully didn't answer for so long that he was compelled to look back up at her. She was watching him with so much pity that he could hardly bare it. "Do you Scully?" He asked past his tightening throat muscles. Her eyes were filling with tears. "She was very convincing." Scully finally answered. "I believed her." The words were just above a whisper. "Then I shot my sister." He said without a trace of emotion. Scully bit her lip. "No." She said shaking her head. "I could be wrong. Mulder, I could have been wrong. I was scared and in pain.." "I trust only you Scully." He interrupted. "I trust your judgement." "You did what you thought you had to. You saved my life." Scully insisted as she put her hand over his. Mulder closed his eyes and rocked backwards and forwards a little. He bit his lip and tears leaked out from under his eyelids. "Scully." He said brokenly. "Please hold me Scully. I don't want to be alone." Scully scooted over to him and took him into her arms. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and buried his face into his neck. Scully swallowed what felt like golf ball. She stroked his hair reassuringly. "You're not alone Mulder." She said softly. He gave choked sob. "Cry it out." She held him through his tears, barely noticing her own. "You're not alone." ***************** Marita Covarubias' Apartment New York City 23:21 Marita pulled the almost sheer robe over her near naked body and went to answer the door. She put the chain on and opened the door slightly. The man outside stepped into the light and her eyes widened. "Marita, let me in." He said, looking up and down the corridor warily. She took the chain off quickly, ushered him in and slammed door behind them. "What do you think you're doing coming here Petrov? Do you *want* to blow my cover?" She demanded softly. Arntzen stopped in the middle of the room and faced her. "Why did you give Mulder the anti-dote Marita?" He asked. Marita raised her chin defiantly. "Alex told me what you planned to do. It was wrong to use Scully as bait for the killer." "Did he tell you who the killer was?" "No." Marita stated, not sure that she wanted the answer. "Samantha Mulder." He said flatly. Marita gasped and began pacing. "But how..? This shouldn't have happened..but that means that Mulder shot.." She said more to herself than to Arntzen. "We have a bigger problem than that." Arntzen broke in. Marita turned to regard him questioningly. "They've reneged on the deal. He got one of his goons to 'escort' me to the airport." "Where's this man now?" Marita asked in an exclamation. Arntzen just looked at her and she comprehended without the need for words. She shook her head and went towards the door. "In that case you have to leave now. If they find you here, if anyone even sees you.." She had her hand on the door to open it but he stopped her. "Calm down. No one will see me." He moved away and turned his back to her. That was how much he trusted her. He turned his back on few people. Years of working with the KGB and the CIA had taught him that. "We can't let them get away with breaking up Mulder and Scully now." "What?" Marita demanded. Arntzen turned back. "I gave Them something that they can use to split them up." He admitted. "You did what?" She demanded more emphatically. "You're getting repetitive Mari." He said sarcastically. "We may need Mulder and Scully as a hold over the Consortium." "I can't believe you thought that you could make a deal with Them as it is!" Marita berated him. "They promised an exchange of information. We need to know what they know about the Black Cancer." Arntzen pointed out. "Then let's tell Mulder the truth, let him know what's he's in for." She suggested. "We can't." He rubbed his tense neck. "That's why the Cancerman thinks he can get away with this. We can't risk exposure any more than they can." He threw his hands up in a defeatist gesture. "We *need* Mulder and Scully, but on *our* terms." "So what happens now?" She asked. ***************** FBI Headquarters The Basement 09:50 Scully picked up the case file for the Soul Catcher murders. It remained an X File; closed through normal channels, but unexplained, dumped down here in a filing cabinet that only two people ever opened. The "psycho" - Sheriff Geller's choice of word - who'd been killing people was dead and still officially unidentified as yet. When he'd been sure that Scully was safe in hospital, Mulder had gone back to the warehouse. He'd lingered at the scene only long enough to request that the body be sent to Quantico for post-mortem examination. There the autopsy had been performed by a former pupil of Scully's. Angela Chapman was a woman who Scully trusted to have done a through job. Scully read her report now, in the quiet of the basement office, and found nothing unusual at all. No distinguishing marks. No trace of any tissue or blood abnormalities. No unexplained objects found in the sinus cavity, back of the neck, stomach or gums. Her blood type matched Samantha's. A check of her fingerprints had produced no results in the databases. If she was Samantha Mulder, then they'd have to wait for the genetic fingerprint to come back and check it against Mrs Mulder's. Scully flipped the page to look at the photograph of the body and froze. The woman in the photograph wasn't the woman who'd claimed to be Samantha Mulder. She looked nothing like her. Mulder chose that moment to walk in. "Skinner wants to see us right away." He said without looking at her. She didn't move, let alone answer. He walked over to her desk with a concerned expression. He saw the file she was holding and took it out of her hands. He stared at the picture for a moment. "She doesn't look how I expected her to." "It's not her." Scully said flatly and Mulder turned sharply to look at her. "That's not the woman who was in the warehouse." "Yes she was. I saw her. I went back there." He insisted. Scully shook her head. "They've switched bodies on us." She said firmly. "What?" Mulder demanded. "They.." He actually thought that he was going to faint. Scully stood up angrily and brushed a heap of paper off the desk. "Dammit! They couldn't even give you that much. They couldn't even give you a grave." "What happens now?" Mulder asked her flatly. "We go see Skinner!" Scully answered and gripped his hand reassuringly. ***************** FBI Headquarters Skinner's Office 10:01 Skinner didn't stand as Mulder and Scully walked into his office. He didn't ask them to sit down. "I'll make this brief." He said still looking the paper on his desk. It was actually a shopping list that Sharon had given him this morning but from his expression it could have the most sensitive and dangerous document in the world. He finally looked up at the agents. He really didn't want to be the one saying this. "Your conduct on your last case in Wisconsin has been called into question and your presence is demanded before an OPC hearing tomorrow afternoon." "What conduct?" Scully demanded, surprising him. He'd expected Mulder to speak first but, in fact, Mulder didn't look like he was going to speak at all today. He looked washed out, but Skinner couldn't linger on him because Scully's expression was approaching a glare now. "Some compromising pictures have been received by the OPC which suggested a relationship between yourselves that is unacceptable under Bureau protocols." "Bureau protocols?" Scully asked coldly. "What's in these pictures?" "I haven't seen them personally." Skinner admitted. "But, by all accounts, they suggest an intimate relationship between yourselves." He was kind of hoping that she would deny it at this point. Deny the intimacy he had seen in their hug during the Congressional hearing. "And what business is it of theirs?" Scully said instead. Skinner cringed. "Does that mean it's true?" He asked in a gentler tone. They'd seen him make a mistake without judgement, he owed them the same. "Off the record?" Scully asked and Skinner nodded. "Yes." "You realise what will happen if the OPC committee decides that your actions were inappropriate." It wasn't a question. "They'll split us up." Mulder finally spoke. ***************** OPC Hearing 15:40 "Mulder and Scully are fine agents.." Skinner began. "We're not here to discuss their ability as agents Walter, we're here to discuss the matter of the contravention of Bureau protocols regarding relationships between it's agents, and to establish whether such a contravention *has* occurred." The man at the head of the table said firmly. "That's understood Christopher, but if you let me continue.." "Please do." Assistant Director Carter interrupted again. Skinner sighed inwardly. It was just Mulder and Scully's bad luck that he was the one to act as their judge and jury. He was well known to frown on relationships between agents. "Mulder and Scully are fine agents who work well as an investigative team based largely on their close relationship. Since Scully joined the X files, the case solution rate has increased dramatically and is now the highest of any FBI department." "Have you ever observed any overly-intimate gestures between them?" The man sat to the left of Assistant Director Carter asked. "Not overly." Skinner replied. "But you have observed intimate gestures?" Carter pressed. Skinner hesitated. "Walter, need I remind you that lying to or withholding evidence from this committee is a serious offense in itself." "I need no reminding." Skinner said with a touch of bitterness. "Define intimate?" He bluffed, thinking of that embrace. ***************** OPC Hearing 16:30 "Agent Scully, what are your feelings regarding Agent Mulder?" Assistant Director Carter asked. Scully's chin rose a notch. "We're partners and friends. There's no regulation forbidding that is that?" She commented bitterly. A handful of photographs were pushed across the table towards her. She took them. "Do you recognise the people in these photographs?" The man to the right of Carter asked. "Yes sir." She didn't look up from the photo of her and Mulder kissing in the doorway of her motel room. "Could you tell us who they are?" He asked when she said nothing else. Scully looked up at the man. "They are myself and Agent Mulder." She said flatly. "I ask you again then, what are you feelings for Agent Mulder?" "I don't believe that they are relevant to this situation." Scully answered. Carter shuffled with his papers. "Agent Scully, it is this issue that we are here to discuss today." He told her and she turned her eyes on him. She inclined her head and shrugged. "We slept together, once, but it will happen again because I'm in love with him." She said defiantly, unashamed of the fact. The men sucked in their breath and looked at each other. "Agent Scully.." Carter began. "Are you going to split us up?" Scully demanded. "Why don't you just tell us, rather than make us go through this farce?" "Agent Scully." He said more forcefully. "You need to understand the situation. Agents can't work together when they admit to the feelings which you just have. Our priority is the investigation of crimes." "With respect sir, my feelings towards Agent Mulder are not a recent occurrence and, in the five years we've been working together, they have never got in the way of our investigation of a crime. Our case solution record stands, regardless our emotions." ***************** OPC Hearing 17:03 Mulder looked down at the picture and knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were going to split them up. "Do you recognize the people in that photograph Agent Mulder?" The man to the left of Carter asked. Mulder looked directly at Carter challengingly. "This is committee is no more than an exercise in evasion." He stated. "While we sit here debating a photograph, a crime is being committed." "There are many crimes committed every moment Agent Mulder, protocol must be maintained or else we lose touch with justice." Carter stated. "That's true." Mulder acknowledged. "This from a man who has consistently flouted protocol throughout his career." The man on the left added. "Only when it was necessary in the pursuit of crime." Mulder stated. "Agent Scully and I have done nothing wrong, why are we being punished?" "This is not about punishment.." "This committee is an irrelevance, the people pulling the strings have already decided the outcome. I will answer no more of your questions. State your judgement and let us get on with our jobs. Namely, investigating injustice and seeking to bring the guilty to trial - whoever they may be!" He walked out, leaving a stunned silence behind him. "Agent Mulder..!" Assistant Director Carter called out belatedly, but he was already gone. ***************** OPC Hearing. 17:50 "We've reached our decision in the most fair and honest in which it is possible for us to make it." Carter told the assembled group; which comprised of his fellow committee members as well as Mulder, Scully and Skinner. "It is the decision of this committee that FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully should no longer come into contact during working hours because of their close personal involvement with one another." Scully looked over at Mulder - sat on the other side of Skinner - who gave her a half-smile of reassurance. Skinner scowled. "It is therefore our decision that Agent Mulder should be transferred back into the Behavioural Science Unit, where he has previously demonstrated great ability." Scully was on her feet before he'd finished. "Sir. I would like to request I and not Agent Mulder be transferred out of the X Files department." "Request denied." Carter stated flatly. "Transfer me, not him. Please." Scully insisted. "You've had your answer Agent Scully, now please sit down." Carter locked his eyes with hers and they challenged each other to look away. "Sir.." She tried again. "Sit down Scully." Mulder said softly, coming to stand behind her. She turned to him in shock. "Mulder?" She questioned. His eyes told to sit down and she did, but she didn't like it. Mulder straightened and faced the committee. "I've already voiced my opinion of this hearing and I see no need to do it again. However I would like to say that this decision shall be detrimental to furtherment of the concept of justice. It died here today and you helped to kill it." He stepped back and offered his hand to Scully. She took it and together they walked out of the room. The door slammed loudly in the silence that followed their departure. Skinner met Carter's eyes challengingly. ***************** Scully strode down the corridor next to Mulder, shaking her head angrily. "They wont get away with this Mulder. We can challenge this. If anyone should leave the X Files, it should be me.." She protested. "Will you marry me?" He asked suddenly, turning to face her. She stopped dead and turned to him. "What did you say?" She demanded breathlessly. "I asked you to marry me." He smiled. The look of total incomprehension on her face turned into a wide grin. "Yes." She replied. Mulder grinned too. "They haven't split us up." He said. "They couldn't no matter what they did." He drew her into his arms. "No matter what." She answered and kissed him. The sweet kiss - in the middle of the corridor which was thankfully not busy due to the impending lateness of the hour - lasted for many glorious minutes. They finally broke apart. "So," Scully began. "What happens now?" "We live happily ever after?" Mulder questioned and Scully grinned. "You and me? Not a chance!" She replied and kissed him again. THE END (for now) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder, 'Terma' FYI - Trilateral means three-sided, so I hope you were paying more than passing attention to some of the plot intricacies. Please write with feedback, this was my most ambitious piece to date - more so than Secrets in some ways - and I'm really unsure about the tone it struck. Incidently - but importantly - I am away from my email between 19 April and 1 July (1997), so any emails to any of my addy's during that time wont get answered until July. My new web pages go live on 17 April, they included all the stories I've written to date. There is also a section to aid with research for fanfic, called 'Spooky Stuff - Paranormal Research Sources'. Question Everything, Erica ******* Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk Xhamadryad@aol.com ***Classified Writings*** http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/1919/fanfic.htm (Goes live - 17 April 1997) "Comes a time when life seems to run smoothly. And fortune is smiling at last. And those skins of bananas and faux-pas piranha's. Lie deep in your fallible past. Then I prise off a gluttonous thrombus. Or trigger a cancerous sign. For abuse or decry me. Evade or defy me. The ultimate laugh will be mine." Gremlin, by Philip Warren.