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UNIVERSAL INVARIANTS

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by syntax6

Chapter Three: Double Vision


Ethan arrived before the squad cars did.  "Dana?" he called 
from the living room.

Scully, still panting from her struggle with Tooms, went 
mute.  Mulder's lip curled in a sardonic smile.  "Honey, 
he's home."

Tooms growled, the handcuffs clattering against the tub as 
he protested his capture.  Scully swallowed.  "I'll deal 
with it," she said, moving toward the door.

Ethan appeared on the threshold. "Hey, I thought I heard 
you in-- " He stopped short at the sight of the crowded 
bathroom and the yellow-eyed man chained to the tub.  "What 
the hell is going on here?"

Scully took his arm.  "Ethan, just keep back, okay?" she 
said in a low voice.  "He's dangerous."

"Dangerous?  He's in my freaking bathroom is what he is!"  
Ethan strained to see over her head as she backed him down 
the hallway.  "What's going on, Dana?"

"He's a suspect in a case we're investigating," Scully 
explained as calmly as she could.  "He broke in here 
tonight and we apprehended him."

She left out the part where she almost lost her liver.  The 
thought that Ethan could have walked in and found her 
mutilated corpse made her momentarily dizzy.  Scully took a 
deep breath and overpowered the nausea.

"Are you okay?" Ethan asked, studying her with concern.

"Of course," she replied, as though it had always been a 
sure thing.  As though all her self-defense training had 
not failed to fell Tooms.  If Mulder had not come charging 
in when he did, Scully would have been bleeding on the 
bathroom floor while Tooms devoured her from the inside 
out.

"Who is he?" Ethan asked, still trying to peer around her.  
Outside, the sirens signaled the arrival of backup. 

Scully sensed more than idle curiosity in Ethan's question.  
"I can't talk about it.  Listen, I'm going to have to go 
downtown with Mulder and straighten this out.  Why don't 
you go to Mario's and get a cup of coffee?"

"I don't want a cup of coffee."

"Ethan, in two seconds this place is going to be crawling 
with cops.  They're going to think you're involved."

"I live here.  I am involved!"

Scully heard clattering in the bathroom and looked back 
over her shoulder.  "Ethan, please."

"You're not putting me off, Dana.  Not this time.  I want 
to know what's going on."

"I'll explain it to you -- later."  She met his eyes.  

He gave her a hard look.  "You'll tell me everything."

"Yes. *Off* the record."

"Dana--"

The cops' heavy footsteps sounded in the outside hall.  
"You've got to go," Scully told Ethan, shoving him in the 
direction of the door.  He still had his coat on.

"When can we talk?" 

"I don't know.  Later."

"I'll call you," he said as she expelled him into the hall 
just as the cops reached her front door.

Ethan was waving and saying something to her behind the 
uniformed men, but Scully refused to look at him.  "In 
here," she told the men in blue.

They tromped through her living room and Mulder met them at 
the bathroom door.  "Everything okay?" he asked her as the 
cops took Tooms into custody.

He stood closer than Ethan had, towering over her, 
breathing in her ear -- as if he could press the truth out 
of her in the darkened hallway.  Scully smelled his cotton 
shirt and the hint of sweat beneath it.

The cops marched Tooms out the front door like a normal 
person, but her apartment seemed smaller, darker now that 
he had squeezed inside.

"I'm fine," Scully said, and Mulder pulled back, opening up 
her space once more.

~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, Scully waited endless minutes for Ethan to fall 
asleep before getting up to call the one person she could 
be sure was also awake at that hour.

"It's me," she said when Mulder answered.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," he replied, and she 
smiled as she snuggled under the afghan on her couch.

She heard the TV playing in the background.  "What are you 
watching?"

"Night of the Living Dead."

"A classic."

"You watch horror movies?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Sure.  They're entertaining enough."  Scully had never 
feared the dark or the Bogey Man, not even as a child.  No 
matter what Bill tried to tell her, she knew monsters 
weren't real.  "What channel?" she asked Mulder.

"Five."  Scully flipped on her TV.  He was eating something 
now; she heard crunching.  

She watched the screen without really seeing it for a few 
moments.  "Okay," she said at last, sitting up.

"Okay," Mulder agreed.

"The thing I want to know is -- how does Tooms know he's 
supposed to eat five livers every thirty years?  Why not 
four livers every ten years?  Why livers instead of 
kidneys?"

"It's a live-er, Scully.  Containing 'life.'  There's no 
life in kidney."

"Mulder, the liver's role is to remove toxins from the 
bloodstream.  I hardly think that consuming another 
person's poison filter is the way to achieve eternal 
youth."

More crunching from Mulder's end.  "It works for Eugene 
Tooms."

"We don't know that yet."

"Scully, he was about to use you as snack food."

Scully stopped her protest before it started.  "It still 
doesn't answer my question about how he supposedly knew he 
had to eat five livers every thirty years."

"Don't you ever get specific food cravings?  Wake up in the 
middle of the night with a hankering for a pastrami 
sandwich?"

"This is a bit different."

"Not really.  His body tells him what he needs the same way 
our bodies make specific demands of us: we eat when we're 
hungry and we drink when we're thirsty."

"But we don't start out knowing what to eat and drink," 
Scully argued.  "As babies we'd eat hair pins and plug 
nickels if our parents didn't stop us."

Mulder didn't say anything for a long minute.

"Mulder?  Are you there?"

She heard him shifting on his couch.  "You could be right, 
Scully.  Maybe Tooms has relatives that have passed on the 
liver-eating tradition.  We should check it out."

Scully put one hand over her eyes. "Mulder, that's not what 
I--"

"Dana?"  Ethan appeared in the living room wearing only his 
boxers.  "Who are you talking to?"

"I've got to go," Scully said.  "Talk to you tomorrow."  
She hung up the phone before Mulder could reply.

Ethan rubbed his prickly jaw.  "Let me guess: Mulder?  He's 
not still insisting that guy was some kind of mutant, is 
he?"  

Scully said nothing, and Ethan joined her on the couch.  He 
put an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.  "You know," 
he said, fingers finding her hair, "if you want to talk 
about what happened, you can always talk to me."

"I told you what happened."

"I know.  That's what I mean.  I can understand if you're 
having trouble sleeping.  I just don't want you to think 
you can't talk to me."

She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder.  "No, I 
know."

Ethan yawned and patted her leg.  "You think maybe you want 
to come back to bed?"

"Yes."  

He took her hand as they stood.  "A liver-eating mutant," 
he said, shaking his head.  "I'm sorry, Dana, but that 
story makes no sense."

"To me either," she agreed through a yawn.  Except when she 
was talking to Mulder.  Somehow when he explained it, 
everything seemed plausible.  She found herself agreeing to 
the impossible.

She cast a last look at the phone as Ethan led her back to 
bed.

"Sweet dreams," he said, pulling her close.

But behind her eyes a family of Toomses sat down to 
Thanksgiving with plates piled high with liver.

~*~*~*~*~*~

As June slipped into July, summer thickened at the waist, 
feeding off the heat of the city.  Scully and Ethan rose 
late on Sunday, sun already streaking through the windows 
as the temperature rose inside her apartment.  Ethan cooked 
eggs wearing just a pair of shorts while Scully went in 
search of the morning Post.

Yawning, she bent to retrieve the paper.  Instead of a fat 
slab of Washington Post, she came away with an anemic sheaf 
of paper that read "Scottsbluff Star-Herald" at the top.  
It was a Nebraska paper dated three days ago.

"What the hell?"  Scully glanced up and down the hall but 
saw no other papers.  She flipped the Star-Herald over, 
squinting at the headlines.

"New School Bus Route Debated"

"Twister Touches Downtown"

And there, at the bottom left, "Wife Says Husband Is 
Imposter."

Scully swallowed a curse and slammed the front door.  From 
the kitchen, Ethan called, "Dana?  Is everything okay?"

Scully ignored him and picked up the phone.  As it rang 
through, Mulder answered.  "Hello?"

"If you're going to drop by so early, you might as well 
stay for breakfast."

"Um, Scully?  What are you talking about?"  He sounded 
genuinely confused, not gloating or mocking as she might 
have expected. 

Scully looked down at the paper in her hand.  "You didn't 
come by here this morning and leave something for me?"

"If you like, you can come here and verify the size of the 
ass-dent in my sofa," he replied.  "I haven't moved since 
around 3 AM.  Why?  What do you have?"

Scully stared at the grainy image of an older couple posed 
in church clothes.  "Agnes Deluth claims Kenneth Deluth, 
her husband of twenty-one years, is alien imposter," the 
paper said.  Scully tightened her grip as the hairs on the 
back of her neck stood up.  

Not again, she thought.  She remembered Mulder staggering 
dazed and confused from Ellens Air Force Base.

"Scully?" Mulder prompted.  "You thought I left something 
for you?"

"It's nothing," she answered quickly, flushing even as she 
lied.  "I, uh--must have been some mix-up with Ethan."

Mulder chuckled.  "Believe me, Scully, if I ever start 
leaving you flowers and chocolates, I'll be sure to sign my 
name."

"Sorry to have bothered you," she said, and hung up the 
phone.

Ethan came into the room holding a spatula.  "Eggs are 
done.  Who's on the phone?"

"No one."  He turned and she shoved the Nebraska paper in 
between two books on her bookshelf.

"You get the paper?" he called over his shoulder. Scully 
grabbed two plates.

"We didn't get one this morning," she answered, the lies 
coming faster now.  She washed them down with orange juice 
and a side of eggs.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Friday night found Mulder bouncing a basketball underground 
as he waited for one of the Gunmen to let him inside.  At 
last, they buzzed him in and he dribbled through the door.  
"I'm supposed to be playing two-on-two tonight, boys," he 
said as he entered.  "This better be good."

"Mulder, come on in, man," Langly said.  "We ordered 
pizza."

Mulder faked left with the ball but then threw it hard at 
Frohike, who caught it in the kitchen with a guttural 
"oomph."  "I didn't come here to eat, thanks.  You guys 
said it was important.  What gives?"

The Gunmen exchanged a look. "Why don't we all sit down?" 
Byers suggested.

"UFO crash?" Mulder guessed.  "Alligators in the sewers 
again?  You guys looking to start a local chapter of Geeks 
Anonymous?"

"Show him," Frohike said to Byers as they all took a seat.

Byers pulled out a folded newspaper.  "This came across our 
radar last week."

"You have radar in Nebraska?" Mulder asked as he scanned 
the paper.  "I knew those machines were powerful, but this 
really takes the cake."

"Never mind how we got it," Frohike said.  "What matters it 
what we did with it."  He pushed out his chin.  "Turn it 
over."

"Wife Says Husband Is Imposter," Mulder read from the 
bottom.  He quit the wise cracks and sat forward on the 
sofa.  "This is dated ten days ago.  How long have you had 
this?"

"A while," Frohike said, expelling a slow breath.

"This looks similar to the case in Idaho," Mulder murmured 
as he read.

"Possible," Byers agreed.

"Look where the guy works," Langly added.

Mulder turned to the inside page.  "Genetech Laboratories.  
Rumor has it they are working on human cloning."

"The husband denies it in the article," Byers said.  "So 
does his brother, the president."

"Ken Deluth is an MIT graduate and head of the research and 
development division," Mulder read.  He lowered the paper.  
"And possibly the company's pet guinea pig.  I can't 
believe you guys waited this long to tell me about this."  
Mulder stood up.  "I've got to call Scully."

"Mulder, wait," Frohike said.

"I've waited too long already."  Mulder was searching for 
his ball.  "I can get a flight out tonight and--"

"It's about Scully," Byers said, and Mulder stopped 
searching.

"What?"

"You said not to bug her," Frohike began.  "We didn't."

"We've been worried," Byers broke in.  "Ever since you said 
she might be a spy."

Mulder bent to retrieve his ball.  "Thanks, but I think 
I've got it covered."

"Like you had Diana covered?" Frohike challenged.  Byers 
stiffened, and Langly looked at the floor. Frohike glared 
at them.  "That's right.  I'll say it.  Someone's got to 
have the balls around here--"

"Diana has nothing to do with this," Mulder said evenly.  
"That situation was totally different."

Frohike's face softened.  "She fucked you over, man."

"She was not a spy.  Diana cared about the X-Files just as 
much as I did.  She believed."

Byers took a step forward. "She left and she took a bunch 
of files with her."

"She's keeping them safe," Mulder replied, sounding less 
certain.  He shook his head.  "This is bullshit.  I've got 
to go."

"We gave her the newspaper first," Frohike said as Mulder 
turned to leave.  Mulder stopped with his back to his 
friends.  "Scully," Frohike continued. "We dropped the 
paper off last Sunday at her place. We wanted to see what 
she'd do with it, if she would bring it to you or to them."  
Frohike hesitated. "She kept it from you, man."

Mulder's head fell back as he stared at the ceiling.  "You 
don't know that," he said at last.  "Maybe she never got 
it."

"She got it," Byers said softly.  "We made sure."

Mulder turned around.  "And you knew she hadn't said 
anything to me."

"You're here," Langly pointed out.  "Not in Nebraska."

"Sorry, Mulder." Frohike scuffed one boot on the cement 
floor.  "I know you liked her."

"I never said I liked her."  He resisted the urge to hurl 
his ball through the window.  Instead he said nothing, 
standing like a fool while his friends took pity on him.

"What are you going to do?" Byers asked finally.

"Catch the next plane to Nebraska," Mulder replied.  "A 
round-trip ticket for one."  He tossed the ball to Frohike 
again, who caught it easily.  "Watch my ball while I'm 
gone?"

Frohike gave him a crooked smile.  "Always."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday morning, Scully went down to the basement with 
coffee in hand, only to find a sight she had not 
encountered before -- Mulder's office was locked up tight 
as a drum.  Lights out, door locked, and she did not see 
Mulder around anywhere.

Scully squinted in the window but could deduce no clues as 
to his whereabouts.  She set her coffee down on top of a 
box and dug out her cell phone.  The answering machine 
picked up at his house.

"This is Mulder, and here is the beep."

"Mulder, it's me.  It's nine o'clock and your office is 
still locked up.  Just wondering where you are."

When she finished there, Scully tried his cell phone.  He 
picked up just before voice mail would have kicked in.  
"Mulder."

"Hi," she said.  "I'm standing outside your office and 
you're not in it."

"Ever the crack investigator, eh, Scully?" There was a hard 
edge to his tone Scully had not heard before.  She waited 
but he offered no further explanation.

"So where are you?"

"Out," he said flatly.  "Way out.  You're on your own 
today, Scully."

"Out working?"

"Personal day," he said.  She heard him spitting out a 
seed.

Scully frowned.  "Mulder, are you okay?"

"I'm just fine," he said, but it sounded like an insult.  
"Listen, I've got to go. Say hi to the stiffs for me, 
okay?"

"Mulder, wait--" But he had already hung up.  Scully looked 
at her phone and tried to figure out what the hell had just 
transpired.

She had the distinct impressed that she'd been ditched.

Coffee forgotten, she trooped back up the stairs to the 
requisitions office.  "Has Agent Mulder booked any travel 
in the past two days?" she asked.

"No, Ma'am," said the man with the computer.  "Last travel 
Agent Mulder had was week before last when you two went to 
Austin, Texas."

Scully drummed her fingers on the counter, already planning 
her next move.  "Thanks."

You should be glad, she told herself.  You don't have to 
tag along to Bumfuck this time.  You get to sleep in your 
own bed under sheets that aren't stained.

She poked at the elevator button.

Let him hare off, she thought, arms folded.  Let his ass go 
numb in some rented car while he sits outside under a 'no 
trespassing' sign at three in the morning.

The doors slid open and Scully wedged herself in among the 
crowd.  What was it this time, she wondered? Pink 
elephants?  Psychic midgets?  Maybe an unusual pattern of 
IRS audits around Area 51?

Remember the last time you tried this, she fumed at Mulder 
silently.  Remember how well that worked out for you?

Ellens Air Force Base.  Kidnapped Mulder.  Strange human 
testing.

Scully suddenly remembered the newspaper burning a hole in 
her bookshelf and knew immediately where Mulder was.

"Shit," she said, and the rest of elevator turned to stare.

Scully hit the button to go back down to requisitions.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thunderstorms slowed air travel through the Midwest, so 
Scully did not catch up with Mulder until dark.  She 
checked in to the motel room next to his and knew exactly 
where to find him: parked in a rental car outside the fence 
surrounding Genetech Labs. 

He ducked when her headlights hit his car; she saw the 
brown hair disappearing under the dash.  Subtle, Mulder, 
she thought.  No wonder you get your ass captured every 
five minutes.

Scully killed the engine and went to rap on his window.  
Mulder sat up and blinked at her.  She motioned for him to 
roll it down.  After a long minute, he complied.

"Go away, Scully," he told her.  "This doesn't concern 
you."  He went back to surveying the company through 
binoculars. 

"The hell it doesn't concern me.  I'm your partner.  That 
means we're supposed to work together.  Who are you to make 
decisions about what does and doesn't concern me?"

"You made that decision yourself." He lowered the 
binoculars and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Let me guess: you're the one who put the paper outside my 
door.  I should have known.  What was it, some sort of 
test?"

"If it was, you failed with flying colors."

"Why, because I didn't come running out to Nebraska to 
chase a silly newspaper story?"

"Because you didn't come to me."

Scully shut her mouth.  She put her hands on her hips and 
looked around at the trees. "There is no such thing as 
human cloning, Mulder."

Mulder flicked a seed out the window, and it landed at her 
feet.  "Then there is no need for you to be here."

She glared at him but he held her gaze.  "Go home, Scully," 
he said.  He sounded tired.

Instead of going home, Scully went around and climbed in 
the passenger seat.  Mulder sighed.  He picked up the 
binoculars again but did not say anything to her.  Usually 
when they sat like this, she could not get him to shut up.

Scully fingered the edge of her windbreaker.  Mulder 
crunched seeds.  "Have you found anything?" she asked at 
last.

He shrugged.

"Did you talk to Agnes Deluth?"

"Yes, I did."  He spat out another seed.

"And?"

"And she thinks her husband is an imposter."

When he did not elaborate, Scully sat back in her seat.  
Her cell phone rang.  Mulder appeared to pay no attention 
as she answered it.  "Scully."

"Dana, where are you?  Dinner is getting ready to burn 
here."

Scully closed her eyes.  "Ethan.  Sorry.  I'm afraid I 
won't be there for dinner."

"It would have been nice to hear that sooner."

"Yes, I know.  I'm sorry."

Ethan gave an annoyed sigh.  "When will you be home?"

"I don't know.  I'm working a case."

"Wait, you're not in the city?"

"Define city," she said lamely.

"Dana..."

"I'm in Nebraska.  I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but 
I left in a hurry and I just didn't think."

"You just didn't think.  That's supposed to make me feel 
better?"

"Sorry," she said again.

"You always are."  Ethan sighed again.  "Call me," he said.  
"If you think of it."

"I will."

They said goodbye and hung up.  Mulder was still watching 
the brick building in the distance.  "Trouble on the home 
front?"  Scully ignored him, and he turned to eyeball her.  
"You know you really shouldn't run off without telling a 
person where you're going."

"Funny," she said, but he looked amused for the first time 
since she'd gotten there.  Mulder returned his attention to 
the building.  "So are you going to tell me what you've 
found, or am I going to have to go buy my own pair of 
binoculars?" she asked at length.

Mulder lowered the glasses.  "See those lit windows on the 
fourth floor?  Those are corporate headquarters where Ken 
Deluth works.  There seems to be two shifts of workers -- 
one nine to five; the other six to four AM.  You want to 
know something strange?  Deluth has an identical twin."

Scully arched an eyebrow.  "Working here?"

"They all do.  Deluth, his brother Steve, and the wife 
Agnes.  Of course she's been off lately since her 
accident."

"Accident?"

"Seems Agnes was involved in a hit-and-run about three 
months ago.  Spent three weeks in the hospital.  When she 
got out, that's when she started complaining that the 
husband she came home to wasn't the same one she had when 
she went in."

"And you're thinking that's when they made the switch."

"It would give them the opportunity, yes."

"And what about the motive?"

"The Deluth brothers founded this corporation with an eye 
toward human cloning.  Who better to serve as test 
subjects?"

"I'd want to make sure the kinks were out first before I 
tried it."

"Who's to say they didn't?  We don't know this is the first 
time they've tried it.  It may be just the first time 
they've gotten caught."  He scooped out another handful of 
seeds.  "Rumor has it the Deluth marriage was in trouble.  
Kenny boy may have been looking for an easy way out."

Scully smiled.  "Oh, of course.  Marriage gone stale?  
Stuck in a rut at work? Just send in the clones!"

"Don't worry, they're here," Mulder replied, grinning back.  
Scully shook her head.

"Okay, then.  So where is the original Kenneth Deluth in 
all this?"

"Maybe taking a world cruise," Mulder suggested.  "Or maybe 
he just lives in the office."

"You're kidding me."

Mulder shrugged.  "The light never goes off."  He peered 
through the binoculars again.  "There they go now.  Take a 
look."

He handed her the glasses.  Scully saw two identical men 
exiting the building.  One held a briefcase, and they were 
talking animatedly about something.  For just a second, she 
imagined she was seeing a man and his clone.  Her skin 
tingled.

"What does Steven Deluth do at the company?" she asked as 
Mulder took the binoculars back.

"He's the president.  I think he's the one with the 
briefcase, but I can't be sure."

Scully leaned forward to get a closer look out the 
windshield.  "There's a car pulling up."

"I see it."

Scully strained, but she could not see what was going on.  
A second later, Mulder swore and smacked the steering 
wheel.  Scully jumped.  "What?"

"You had to do it, didn't you?  You just had to go running 
upstairs to tattle."

"Mulder, what are you talking about?"

"It's one thing to keep things from me.  It's another to go 
behind my back--"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You took that newspaper to Blevins!  You told him 
everything!"

"Mulder, I swear.  I never told anyone."  She dug inside 
her windbreaker and pulled out the rumpled front section.  
"Look, here it is.  I didn't give it to anyone."

"So you made a copy."  Mulder sounded disgusted.

Scully swallowed.  "I didn't.  I kept it on my bookshelf 
until today.  Mulder, you have to believe me."

His look said, give me one reason why I should.  She had 
none.

"I didn't tell anyone," she repeated.  "I--I saw the 
similarity to our previous case.  I thought you had given 
me the paper.  When you denied it, I thought maybe it was 
that man..."

"What man?"

"The man you met in the bathroom.  The man who said it was 
dangerous.  I thought maybe it was a trap."

"A trap," he said, shaking his head.

"Yes," she replied stubbornly.  "A nothing case meant to 
lure you out into the middle of nowhere so they could hurt 
you again."

He silently handed her the binoculars.  Scully accepted 
them, and after a beat, she raised them to look past the 
fence toward the men. Ken and Steven Deluth had been joined 
by a third man.  They stood talking by a long, dark car.  

Scully shifted, trying to see the third man's face in the 
dim light.  It flashed suddenly as he lit a cigarette.  
Scully let the binoculars fall to her lap.  She stared at 
Mulder.

He nodded at her.  "Still think it's a nothing case?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Back at the motel, Mulder slipped his key in the lock as 
Scully cut the headlights on her car behind him.  "Mulder," 
she said, jogging up to him as he opened the door.  Mulder 
waited without looking at her.  "Who is that man?"

"You would know better than I.  You're the one who spends 
all that time up in Blevins's office with him."

"He never says a word."

Mulder tapped his key on the doorframe.  "To me either."

"You don't know his name?  His position?"

Mulder hesitated, and then shook his head. 

"Well, he's got to be somebody.  Blevins must know."

"Scully--"

"What?"

"You've got to pick your battles."

"I thought you were saying this man is the battle."

"He's part of it," Mulder conceded.

"Then we go after him.  We find out who he is and what he 
knows."

Mulder laughed and looked at the stars.  "What the hell do 
you think I'm doing here, Scully?"

Scully faltered.  "I-- I don't understand.  You knew that 
man was involved in this case?"

"No, I didn't know," he said as though she were five years 
old.  "That's the point.  I am here to find out."

"Oh."

"That man, whoever he is, has politicians and industry 
presidents alike in his pocket.  There's a reason no one 
tells you his name; they probably don't know what it is 
either.  You think we can just march in there and take him 
on?  Give me a break.  The only way we're going to know 
what he knows is to show up at these places and take quick 
notes, because neither he nor the evidence is going to hang 
around very long."

"I see."  She looked at the ground.  "I'm sorry."

Mulder nudged the door open again with his foot.

Scully took a deep breath.  "You want to get something to 
eat?"

"No, you go ahead.  I'm going to turn in."

"Okay.  Night, then." 

She was still standing there, so Mulder turned to look at 
her.  "Tomorrow we can go see Agnes Deluth."

Scully gave a quick nod and wiped her palms on her pants.  
"Tomorrow.  Got it.  I'll be here."

He smiled and shook his head.  "Good night, Scully," he 
said, and shut the door behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Agnes Deluth had graying brown hair and an apple-shaped 
body.  She served them over-sweet iced tea while relaying 
her tale from a flowed armchair.  "I told all of this to 
the other agent," she said.

"Other agent?" Scully asked.  "You mean Agent Mulder?"

"The one who looks just like him, yes."

Scully shifted to look at Mulder, who spread his hands in 
confusion.  "You spoke to someone who looked like Agent 
Mulder?"

"Spitting image.  He was nicer, though.  Asked me about 
Kenny."

"That was me," Mulder said, sitting forward.  "I was here 
asking you about Kenny yesterday.  Remember?"

"Oh, no, dear." She smiled.  "That wasn't you.  It was the 
other one."

Scully frowned.  "Mrs. Deluth, you were in a car accident 
recently?"

"I don't remember it, but they tell me that's what 
happened.  Someone hit me and drove off again, don't you 
know.  I was in the hospital a long time, and the car was 
totally ruined."

"And when you got out of the hospital, that's when you 
first noticed a change in your husband?"

Her thick brow furrowed.  "Well, no.  They both came to 
visit me in the hospital."

"You mean Kenny and Steven?"

"No, Steven was there too.  But I'm talking about Kenny and 
the other one."

"Mrs. Deluth," Scully asked, "what kind of injuries did you 
sustain from your accident?"

"I broke two ribs!  It still hurts when I sneeze sometimes.  
Cuts and scrapes.  I got a concussion -- that's a bad bump 
on the head. Oh, and a pin in my left leg.  That's why I 
walk kind of funny."

"Sounds like you've been through a lot.  Will you excuse me 
just a moment?  I'd like to talk to Agent Mulder a moment."

"What's up?" Mulder asked as she led him into the narrow 
foyer. 

"I want you to go outside and ring the bell again."

"What?"

"Just do it, okay?"

Mulder left and Scully re-entered the living room. "Sorry 
about that," she said to Agnes.  Mulder rang the bell.

"Oh, the door.  Let me just go see who it is."  Scully 
followed her to the front, where Agnes re-admitted Mulder.  
"Why, hello," she said.  "We were just talking about you."  
She turned to Scully.  "This is the young man I was telling 
you about, from the other day.  Come in, come in.  I'll get 
you a glass of tea."

"I already have tea," Mulder said, but the woman bustled 
off anyway.  Mulder bent down to Scully.  "What's going 
on?"

"I'll explain later," Scully whispered back as their 
hostess returned with tea.  When they were reseated in the 
living room, Scully asked her, "How did you know that your 
husband was an imposter?"

"It's hard for people to tell," Agnes acknowledged.  
"That's why no one believes me.  He looks just the same as 
ever on the outside.  But inside, he's got no soul.  He's 
just an empty vessel."  Her chin quivered.  "I keep asking 
to him to tell me what he's done with Kenny, but he won't 
tell me.  I hope he hasn't hurt him."

"I'm sure your husband is safe," Scully said.

Agnes sniffed.  "You know where Kenny is?"

"I have an idea.  Let me talk to the doctors and get back 
to you, okay?"

The woman nodded.  Mulder leaned forward and put his tea on 
the coffee table.  "Mrs. Deluth, was your husband ever in 
the hospital that you know about?"

"Kenny?  He's as healthy as a horse.  Never been sick more 
than a day in his life.  Worst he ever did was break his 
arm when he fell off a horse as a kid."

Scully stood up.  "I want to thank you for the tea and for 
taking the time to answer our questions."

"You believe me, right?" Her large brown eyes searched 
Scully's face.  "You believe me about Kenny?"

"Yes, I believe you."

They said their goodbyes and Mulder followed Scully out the 
door.  "You believe her?"

"I believe she thinks her husband is an imposter.  I don't 
know why I didn't think of it sooner, Mulder.  Probably 
because it's so rare."

"Think of what?"

"Capgras syndrome," she said as they reached the car.  
"It's named after the Frenchman who first identified the 
disorder.  People afflicted with it come to think that 
their loved ones are imposters.  Often it's a close 
relation, such as a spouse or a parent, but I've seen 
documented cases where the patient believes their dog is an 
imposter.  I think Agnes Deluth is suffering from Capgras 
syndrome as a result of her accident."

"That's why she didn't recognize me?"

"She did recognize you.  She just didn't think you were 
you.  Capgras syndrome occurs when the visual part of the 
brain is unharmed but it becomes disconnected from the 
emotional part of the brain.  You recognize that you know a 
person, but you don't have the expected emotional reaction 
to their presence.  That's why they seem like imposters."

"I don't know.  Why would the company call in the big guns 
if it's just some sick old woman we're talking about?"

Scully considered. "The company had admitted their interest 
in cloning.  Maybe they have had some success.  Maybe 
there's something else going on there they don't want 
anybody to know about, and they don't like the interest 
Agnes Deluth's claims are bringing to their company."

"Could be."

"I'd like to go to the hospital and see her medical 
records.  We might be able to tell from an MRI if there is 
damage that's associated with Capgras Syndrome."

"Good idea.  And while you're doing that, I'll look into 
Ken Deluth's medical records."

"What for?"

"I want to know about that broken arm.  If the new Ken 
doesn't have a matching scar, well..." He broke off 
meaningfully.

"What do you plan to do, Mulder? Kidnap Ken Deluth and run 
his arm through an X-ray machine?"

"I haven't thought that far," he admitted.  "First I want 
to confirm that Ken Deluth suffered the break."

They split up at the hospital and met later in the 
cafeteria.  Scully was looking at a file and munching 
potato chips when Mulder slid into the booth across from 
her.  

He stole a chip.  "Ken Deluth did fall off a horse at eight 
years old and break his right arm."  To illustrate, he 
pulled out a copy of the X-ray.

"Yes, and Agnes Deluth did suffer damage in the limbic 
cortex near her right amygdala."  Scully showed him the 
scan.

Mulder looked at the two pieces of medical evidence lying 
on the table.  "No way of knowing whose trump is higher at 
this point," he said.

"I say we go talk to the Deluths again," Scully replied.  
She grabbed the chips from him just as he was about to help 
himself again.  "Bring your X-ray machine if you like."


Mulder rolled the car to a stop just down the street from 
the Deluth house.  "Looks like we're late to the party," he 
said.  Two squad cars and an ambulance sat out front, all 
with lights blazing.  A dozen neighbors lurked on the 
sidelines.

Mulder and Scully slammed their car doors in unison and 
walked toward the Deluth home.  A uniformed officer stopped 
them at the edge of the lawn.  "Mulder, FBI," Mulder 
explained as he flashed his ID.  "This is Agent Scully.  
May we ask what's going on here?"

"Homicide, sir."

At that moment, two detectives emerged from the house, one 
of them gripping Agnes Deluth by the arm.  She was sobbing.

"Who's the victim?" Mulder asked.

"Husband, Ken Deluth," the officer replied.

Mulder and Scully pushed past him.  "FBI," Mulder said, 
stopping the detectives.  "We've been questioning this 
woman pursuant to a federal case."

"Well, you're going to have to ask your questions from the 
county jail," the answered the heavy-set detective.  "We've 
got the gun and the confession."

"You shot him?" Mulder asked Agnes.

"He wouldn't tell me.  He wouldn't tell me what happened to 
Kenny!"

"Let's go," said the detective as he tugged her away.  "You 
want to talk to her, you can get in line."

"Dammit." Mulder kicked the stone step.

Scully blew out a breath that stirred her bangs.  "It's my 
fault. I should have considered.  Capgras sufferers can 
occasionally become violent with the people they suspect of 
being imposters."

"He had no soul!" Agnes cried just before they stuffed her 
in the back of a patrol car.

A few minutes later, the coroner's men brought Ken Deluth's 
covered body out the front door.  "The X-rays," Mulder 
said, perking up.  "They'll do x-rays, right?"

"Possibly.  The cause of death here is not in dispute, 
Mulder.  They may just remove the bullet."

"Then you've got to do it."

"Mulder--" She shut her mouth at the look on his face.  
"I'll see what I can do."

~*~*~*~

Mulder was waiting outside in the hall when she finished.  
Still in scrubs, Scully went to tell him the news.  "Agnes 
Deluth shot her husband, Ken," she said as the door swung 
shut behind her.

Mulder stopped chewing his thumbnail. "He had the break?"

"Yep."  Scully leaned against the wall to brace her aching 
back.  "One healed fracture to the right ulna, just where 
the records said it should be."

Mulder leaned on the opposite wall.  "Doesn't prove 
anything," he argued eventually.  "Maybe they switched him 
back.  Maybe the clone is hiding somewhere--"

"Mulder--"

"That's why they brought the Smoking Man in.  Things were 
heating up, they knew we were here, and so they called the 
whole test off."

"Mulder."

He looked at her.  "What?"

"She wouldn't have shot him."  Off his look, she explained, 
"Agnes did not recognize the man in there as her husband.  
If, as you are supposing, they had substituted a clone and 
then switched the real Ken back in, Agnes should have 
recognized him when he came through the door.  She would 
have welcomed him back, not shot him in the head."

Mulder's shoulders sagged.  Scully did not get much thrill 
in being right.

"Sorry," she said.

He hung his head.  "Yeah."

"I'll clean up," she said.  "We can get dinner."

"No, thanks.  I wouldn't be very good company right now."  

He left her alone in hallway, walking the down the dark 
corridor and out into the night.

Exhausted, Scully pushed away from the wall and went back 
inside the autopsy bay.  She was cleaning her tools when a 
second body was wheeled into the room in a bag.

"Where would you like her?" the young EMT asked.

"Like who?"

"Agnes Deluth."

Scully's scalpel clattered the floor.  "Agnes is dead?"

"Hanged herself in her cell.  We've got orders to put her 
on ice."

"I'll do it."

"Suit yourself."  They left the morgue, and Scully walked 
over to the body bag.  She unzipped it far enough to see 
Agnes's line, anguished face.  An ugly red mark ringed her 
neck.

Scully zipped her back up and went to find her phone to 
give Mulder the bad news.  Her hand was on the phone when 
she stopped again.

Scully slipped the phone in her pocket and went back to the 
body.  This time she unzipped the bag all the way.  She 
palpated the ribs and the knee.

Then she got out the X-ray machine.

~*~*~*~*~

"Yeah, come in," Mulder called at the knock on the door.  
He muted the ball game as Scully entered the room.

"I brought pizza," she said.

"I told you I wasn't hungry."

"I know, but I can't remain upright any longer without some 
form of sustenance.  I won't make you eat any."

"And you need to eat it in here because?"

She tossed a large envelope at him, which landed square on 
his chest.  "Agnes Deluth hanged herself in her jail cell 
tonight," she told him.

"Figures."  He opened the envelope.  "What's in here?"

Scully took a bite of pizza, bringing up a second hand to 
catch the dripping cheese.  "X-rays."

"You already told me they're a match."

"Not of Ken Deluth.  They're from Agnes."

"Yeah?"  He pulled out the pictures.  "What am I looking 
at?"

"A broken neck."  

"So?"

"So that's all I found.  No rib fractures.  No skull 
fracture.  No pin in her knee."

"Holy shit."  Mulder sat up and held the X-rays to the 
light.  "How did you get these?"

"I was there when they rolled her in."

"Rolled who in, that's the question," Mulder said as he 
studied the images.  "So we were right -- they are 
performing human cloning.  We just had the wrong guinea 
pig."

"We don't know that."

He shot her an exasperated look.  "You can disagree with me 
all you want, but these images don't lie."

"Steven Deluth wants both bodies cremated," Scully told 
him.

"I'll just bet he does. Scully, this is great work."

Scully colored and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin.  
"They don't prove anything."

"It's more evidence than we usually get."  He smiled at her 
and she smiled back.  "Hey," he said. "Got any more of that 
pizza?"

Scully stood and handed him the box.  "Keep it.  I'm done.  
I've got to go make a phone call."

"Ah, keep the home fires burning. Understood."  She turned 
to leave again, but he stopped her once more.  "Hey, 
Scully?"

"Yeah?"

"Nice work."

She smiled.  "Night, Mulder," she said from the door.

"Night," he replied with a mouth full of pizza.  He was 
still reading the X-rays.  Scully left him to his prize and 
closed the door behind her.

Back in her room, she kicked off her shoes and pulled her 
hair free of the ponytail.  She stretched out on the bed 
with the phone, already calculating how she could tell 
Ethan about her success without giving away anything 
confidential.

Scully rolled over as the phone began to ring.  Almost 
midnight there, but Ethan would still be up.

A minute later, the machine kicked in.

"Ethan, are you there?  It's me."  She waited but he did 
not answer the phone. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

End chapter three.  Continued in chapter four.

This one is for Nancy, because there's a little bit of 
Scully in all female scientists. :-)  Come back soon!

Many thanks to Amanda for proofing!

Feedback always welcome at syn_tax6@yahoo.com