Keywords: None. XxXxXxXxXxXxX Chapter Seven XxXxXxXxXxXxX A pair of sedatives got her through the night, but Scully awoke on Monday morning with her hair mashed to her cheek and eyes that wouldn't quite open. She made coffee by motor memory alone and stumbled to the front door to pick up her paper. She brought it to the kitchen table, where she sat with her cup and her uneaten bagel, hoping she could find the energy to put on some clothes. Hot tails of steam rose from her coffee as she focused bleary eyes on the headlines. President in China. Bombing in Israel. Rapist Arraigned Today. The story was beneath the fold, a single column running alongside the teasers for the stories in other sections. Scully flattened it with her palm and squinted at the tiny print. She was not wearing her glasses. "St. Joseph's University student Gregory Alan Watts will be arraigned in Arlington County Court today on charges of rape and assault. Police are now saying they believe Watts is responsible for a vicious series of rapes committed over the past year throughout three counties in the greater D.C. area. Watts, 20, is thought to be responsible for at least ten attacks, including one assault against an agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation." It continued recapping the crimes. Savioshy was quoted as saying, "Our investigation of Gregory Watts is ongoing." And later: "We got the guy, all right." On page sixteen there was a photo, maybe taken on his college campus. Gregory Watts smiled big for the camera. Scully stared at him until a lump rose in her throat. Number two, she thought. He had been number two in the lineup. Near the end of the article, there was a quote from Chris Clark. "I think the detectives on this case have done a marvelous job. Watts has been caught. He will be tried, and he will be found guilty. The women of the city can finally feel safe again." In her bathrobe, with her cold hands around a coffee cup, Scully considered his words. She supposed for other women it might be true. XxXxX Mulder arrived at the office extra early, wearing his favorite suit. A fine layer of dust had settled over everything in just the few days they had been gone. Cracking the door was like breaking into a mummy's tomb. Back with his files, sitting in his chair, Mulder waited to feel comfortable again. He ran his fingers over the printouts from Texas like a blind man reading Braille. Every few seconds he glanced up, hummed a little anxious sound, and expected her to come through the door. He would say nothing first, he decided. He would wait to see how she played it, and he would just follow her lead. Maybe the Scully power of denial could work to his advantage and it would be like Nothing Ever Happened. He jerked upright when her heels sounded in the hallway. It wasn't until he felt the flood of relief that he realized he had been worried that she might not show at all. She stopped just inside the door, holding her briefcase in one hand and a small, feathery potted plant in the other. He leaned way back in his chair. "Good morning," he blurted. "Nice plant." "It's an asparagus fern," she replied, moving into the room. "I'm hoping not to kill it." "And you brought it here?" he asked with a smile. "Where even the bugs crawl down to die?" She stood on tiptoe to set the fern on top of a tall file cabinet near the windows. "I thought it might add a little color." Task finished, she dusted off her hands and cocked her head at him. "When did you get back?" "Late last night." "I see. You brought Rentham's files with you?" Her voice was steady but she was still standing ten feet away. "Yes." He shifted some around on his desk to illustrate. "Most of the data are straightforward, but Rentham kept his own handwritten notes in the personnel files. He used some sort of initial code that I can't decipher yet. I think maybe he was trying to find a pattern among the abductions. This woman here has a M23SCC-NK next to her name, and the numbers 32.3 and 90.2. This other woman has the same NK, but the other letters are different." Scully inched closer, eyeing the files. "Do either of them have children?" "Um." He pawed through to find the appropriate notes. "No." "Could stand for 'no kids.' Like DINKs -- double income, no kids." "Huh." Mulder shuffled some more papers until he found the records Rentham kept on Tina Appleby. "You may be onto something, Scully. Tina Appleby's code doesn't have the NK included." "What does it say?" She was close enough now that he could feel her breathing. Shoulder-to-shoulder, they stood over the mess of papers blanketing his desk. Mulder moved slowly, as if he might frighten her away. "Uh, Rentham wrote F3C, and the numbers 29.9 and 95.6." "We should enter all of them into a computer," she said, not looking at him. "Easier to see a pattern that way." "Yeah, that's what I was thinking." She touched the photograph of Tina Appleby. "How is she doing?" "She'll live." Mulder looked down at the top of her head, where her slightly crooked part was the only sign that anything was amiss. "How are you doing?" Scully nodded to herself. "I'll live." Neither of them spoke for a long minute. "I wasn't sure you'd come back," he said at last. "I wasn't sure either," she answered baldly, and his heart stopped. She met his gaze and held it. "But--but you did," he pointed out. She nodded. Don't ask, he thought, but couldn't stop himself. Mulder always asked questions he didn't really want the answers to. "Why?" Her shoulders rose and fell with a long breath. "It turns out," she said with some disgust, "that I still believe in justice." She scooped up a sheaf of papers, handed them to him, and switched on the computer. "You dictate," she said. "I'll enter." XxXxX Now that she had his face, the memory changed. Under the mask, she saw his dark, bushy eyebrows, prominent cheekbones, and flared nostrils. She felt his hot breath on her face, felt his fingers bite into her skin as he ripped off her underwear. She could see him now, see him doing these things, this boy with big hands and charming smile. Scully peeled herself from the back of the elevator and began walking briskly through the parking garage of the Hoover building. Just as inside, they had stuck her and Mulder as far away from everyone else as possible. The strange gray- green light of the parking lot never changed; like a casino, it was always removed from time, neither day nor night. Mulder was gone. So were most people. Scully picked up her pace. Her car chirped, a sharp, electronic echo that rattled her nerves even as she welcomed the familiar sound. She reached the door and yanked it open with trembling fingers. Tossing her briefcase in haphazardly, Scully scrambled in after it and yanked the door behind her. She leaned back and closed her eyes as her breathing returned to normal. The phone rang. Scully started her car even as she dug out the phone to answer it. She wasn't hanging around in the empty lot any longer than necessary. "Scully," she said. Her headlights lit up the grimy wall in front of her. "Dana, it's Chris." He sounded more subdued than usual. "I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time." "I was just heading home." He sighed. "I'm sure you know we were in court this afternoon with Gregory Watts. I'm afraid it didn't go as expected." "What?" Scully halted the car on the exit ramp. Chris did not say anything for a few seconds. "What happened?" "Watts made bail, Dana. The judge let him go." XxXxXxX Mulder threw open all his windows, blinds rattling as the restless air swirled inside. A front was coming through, not rain but wind, whipping up the trees and charging the air with electricity. Dressed in black, Mulder paced his living room like the famed panther. He felt the wind moving in him, urging him out onto the dark streets below. He wanted to get out, away, to take his anger and run it into the sea. Mulder grabbed his keys from the end table and yanked open his door. Scully stood in the hall, hugging herself. "Scully? What's going on?" He reached for her and she backed away. "How long have you been standing here?" "They let him go, Mulder." "What?" All the energy rushed out of him. "Watts. He made bail." "Come in," he said, holding the door for her. "Tell me." She brushed past him and went to stand in the middle of his breezy living room. "He knows where I live. He took my wallet with my license and my address, and now he's back on the streets." "You can stay here," he said immediately. The door slammed shut in the wind. "I don't want to stay here! I am not the prisoner! I want him gone, in jail, where I don't have to look at him or think about him. God, I am so tired of thinking about him." Mulder had seen the picture too. He tried not to think about it because when he did, it made him want to hit his fist against a wall until it was a bloody pulp. Scully's voice became rough with emotion. "It's like he's in me, like I can't get away even when I'm asleep. He has my thoughts, my feelings, my whole body tied up inside and it's like I can't even breathe." "Scully..." He stretched out a hand to her, but she inhaled sharply before he could touch her. "You ever just fuck someone, Mulder?" "What?" His heart hurt. "You know, a one night stand. You meet someone at a party, or a bar, and you just fuck them. Just sex, no consequences." She stared at him hard, but he could see her trying to contain her trembling. "Um, I guess I found there are always consequences." "But you've done it," she said steadily. He answered with a short nod. "And it's just sex. A person doesn't own you just because you have sex with them. It doesn't change your life forever." Her words grew increasingly desperate. "Scully, he didn't have sex with you. He raped you." "I know that!" she cried, covering her face with her hands. "Don't you think I know that? I just... I don't understand why it has to be this hard." He laid a hand on her shoulder, and this time she did not pull away. Hunched and tense, she let him pull her against him, her hands still over her face. He tucked her into his empty places. "I'm sorry," he murmured, his chin atop her head. "How could this happen?" she whispered brokenly, and he tightened his arms around her. "Why the hell did they let him go?" "They never found the items he took: the jewelry, the wallets, the clothes. Savioshy searched his parents' home and they searched his dorm at the university as well. Nothing." "He's got them stashed somewhere. They just have to keep looking." She nodded, relaxing a little. She laid her cheek against his heart. "Maybe--maybe now that he's been released, he'll lead them to it." "Sure." Mulder tried to sound encouraging as he rubbed her back. The wind slapped his blinds against the windows and Scully shuddered. "Cold?" She shook her head. "I'm just so tired." "You should lie down," he said. "Get some rest." Her voice quavered moist and hot against his shirt. "I need to go home." "But not tonight." She leaned back to look at him and he nodded to show he meant it. His apartment felt chilled clean, renewed, ready to offer peace. The night air tickled them both as Scully smoothed her fingers over his breastbone. "One night," she whispered, and he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Since I'm already here." He took her to his bedroom, where he did not even turn on the lights. They undressed by the light of the street lamp slanting through his blinds, turning Scully into a beautifully curved zebra before his eyes. She plucked his T- shirt from the floor where he discarded it and pulled it over her head. He watched in admiration as she slid her bra out through one armhole. She visited the bathroom while he shook out the sheets, lifting them high into the cool summer air. He climbed in and listened to the sounds of Scully moving around in his apartment. The floor creaked a different song for her; the tap ran a steady stream rather than the full blast he always used. He opened his eyes again when he felt the mattress shift under her weight. Mulder rolled to his side to look at her in black and white. "Find everything you need?" The pillow scratched with her nod. "Thank you," she said, reaching over for his hand. "For what it's worth," he told her softly, "I didn't think it would be this hard either." Her eyes slid shut as she held his hand between her breasts. "One day," she murmured, "it'll be over." "Yes." He felt the steady beat of her heart and the tide of her breathing against his hand. Her jaw slackened, mouth parting slightly as she found sleep. He gave her a few tiny fingertip caresses before extricating his hand to adjust the sheets up over her waist. Mulder lay down again so his position mirrored hers. He pretty much dwarfed her, legs stretching far beyond her toes, large hairy arm heavy and awkward next to her fine, delicate bones. She nearly disappeared in the hulking shadow of his shoulder. In his whole life, he had never felt so small. XxX He woke to shadow puppets around his room, as the wind had picked up again, Mother Nature putting on a show across his bare walls. Scully had hunkered down against him, submerged completely under the blankets with his arm trapped over her head. It was she who'd awoken him, he realized as she twitched again. Her knee jerked against his crotch. Mulder sucked in a painful breath and pulled away. She clawed his chest. "Scully," he said, searching for her under the covers. "Wake up." She fought him tooth and nail, panting like a trapped animal and crying out as he pinned her down. "Wake up!" he said, and her eyes shot open. He had her legs immobilized with his knees and both arms trapped above her head. "Help," she said, her eyes wild. "It's okay," he told her. "It's just a dream." "Mulder?" She went limp in his grasp and he let her up immediately. "It's okay now," he said. "It's all right." Her whole body started to shake, from cold or fright he did not know. Mulder gathered her against him again and tucked the covers around them. Her teeth chattered but she was not crying. "Sorry," she said as she slipped cold arms around his chest. He kissed the sweat from her brow. "Scully," he murmured near her ear. "What do you dream?" She had never told him everything that had happened that night. What few details he knew he'd gleaned from news reports. "He's on top of me," she said, voice small against his chest, "and I can't get up." Mulder stiffened and clutched her tighter. Details were bad. He didn't need details. "Shhh," he said, stroking her back as much to soothe himself as to calm her. "You're safe now. You okay? You want some water?" "I'm all right. I didn't mean to hurt you." She touched her lips to the scratch across his chest. "It's nothing," he told her as he lifted the damp hair from her neck. "You forget I've been mauled by a beast woman." She laughed gently into his neck and hugged him close. Mulder nuzzled her, extending her smile. He felt connected to her again, as though they had a shared experience among all her private pain. He wanted to taste her, feel her, bring her inside all his senses so they would never be separate again. Scully seemed to want the same thing. She tucked her leg between his, cuddling closer. "Scully," he murmured, filled with love. "Mmm?" He kissed her forehead and then her check. She answered with a soft sigh that tickled his face. Her hand crept up and combed through his hair over the back of his neck until he tingled from head to toe. He touched his lips to hers tentatively, almost an apology for the last time they had lain together like this. She froze for an instant, gripping his hair, and he gentled her with kisses until she relaxed into the pillow again. "It's okay," he breathed against her mouth. "Mulder," she whispered back, stroking the side of his face. "You don't have to--" He kissed her again, mouth soft and persuasive as he reached back to run his hand along her naked thigh. Her leg came up and over his, holding him in place. He hummed to her, letting her know it was all right, caressing her with splayed fingers until her skin quivered under his hand. He felt himself expanding, hardening in the cradle of her thighs as they kissed. Scully drew her fingers over the bumps of his spine and pulled her mouth from his. "We can't," she said in a tight whisper, even as her hips pressed for closer contact. He stroked her from breast to hip and kissed her nose. "Nothing you don't want." "No, it's not that. I--I don't have protection." "Oh." He settled more fully against her and her lips parted at the pressure. "It's okay, I've got it covered." Surprise colored her features, and she sounded uncertain. "You do?" "Yes, after you said we needed it. I thought just in case--" He broke off as she hugged him fiercely. "What?" "I'm so glad." He held her tightly and pressed his face into her clean- smelling hair. "I want you," he told her. "Always." She nodded but continued to burrow into him, as if she couldn't quite speak. He rubbed her head messily and placed occasional kisses on her shoulder, her arm, her temple. At last she squeezed him one final time and brought her face back to his. They kissed lingeringly, limbs and tongues sliding together in tandem. Mulder's toes curled as she stroked his ears. Gently, he worked his hand between their bodies, brushing the tender skin of her inner thighs. She pushed her hips against his fingers, sending his hand higher between her legs. Mulder watched her face as he touched her, but her expression gave nothing away; she had her head thrown back deep in the pillow, eyes closed, her breath coming in shallow pants. Mulder caressed her softly through her underwear for a minute or two before she wriggled away. She yanked down the offending garment and tossed it over the edge of the bed. Scully lay back down, still dressed in his T-shirt, with her legs spread slightly and her fingers digging into the mattress, as though she were bracing herself for some unpleasant task. Mulder hesitated, and when he didn't immediately climb back on top of her, Scully tensed visibly. "You're stopping?" "No," he told her. "No." He reached up and touched the smooth curve of her cheek. "Not if you don't want." She shook her head against his hand, and Mulder took a deep breath. The mattress bounced a bit as he moved up the bed and stretched his hand to the bedside drawer. Scully lay still as stone beneath him. He fumbled to get the box open one-handed, and the foil packet felt unfamiliar between his fingers. *You can do this* he coached himself even as his erection began to fade. He peeked down at Scully, who was looking back at him with wide, apprehensive eyes. She hadn't made a move to remove his boxers, and he knew it was because she was afraid of what she might find if she tried. "Is it okay?" she asked in a small voice, her gaze skittering away from his. Mulder sagged back down on the bed, palming the condom as he rolled to face her. Scully stared at the ceiling. "Come here," he said, urging her back against him. She was stiff but not resistant, like a life-sized action figure fresh from the box. "Like this," he whispered against her face as he ran his fingers through her hair. Facing her, on their sides, he didn't feel so oppressive. He stroked her and kissed her until her arms wound around him again. Her knee rested on his leg, and he welcomed it with slow caresses down the back of her thigh. Scully stroked her fingers along the hollows of his ribs and lifted her face for his kiss. The space between them grew warm and close. His brain fuzzed out again as his dick came back on line. He rubbed against her, felt her sharp intake of breath against his face. "Mulder, now," she whispered to his chin. He kissed her swiftly and pulled away. His erection bobbed as his underwear joined hers on the floor. Mulder's hands shook, Scully watching while he tried to open the slim packet. He felt about sixteen years old. "It's so dark. I can't see where I'm supposed to tear." "Let me try." He heard it rip neatly, her trim little nails getting the job done in nothing flat. Mulder lay facing her again and bit his lip. Scully fingered the opened packet as she stared as his penis. For a moment he thought she might finish the task herself. Wordlessly, she handed him the condom. She curled into a ball and watched him sheathe his cock. "Okay," he said, trying to sound confident. He scooted closer to her and she put her arms around him, hugging him convulsively. He kissed her neck. "All right?" She nodded and raised her leg over his hips so he could slip his penis between her thighs. They both jerked at the initial contact. "Tell me if this is okay." "It's okay." They held their breath as he eased his way inside her. Ah, Mulder thought, relaxing. There. He smiled into her hair and nuzzled her affectionately. Scully started to shake. "Scully?" He tried to pull back but she clutched him tight. "Scully, what is it?" She answered with a high, keening sob, and horror flooded through him. "Scully, talk to me. What is it?" He brushed sticky hair off from her face but she would not let go. She held him inside her with all her strength. "Don't leave," she choked out between awful sobs. "Please don't leave me." "No, I'm right here." He rocked her back and forth, holding her as tightly as he could while she seized and shuddered in his arms. "Please," she said again. Mulder was helpless against the tide, reassuring her with lips and hands that he was real and solid and not going anywhere. His erection softened and started to slip out of her, setting off a fresh round of wracking tears. "I'm here, I'm here, Scully." He repeated the words until he was hoarse, until he was crying himself from the sheer force of her anguish. "I'm right here." But Scully cried on, wrapped around every inch of him, and yet somehow unable to hear. XxXxXxX End Chapter Seven. All feedback welcome at syn_tax6@yahoo.com