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

UNIVERSAL INVARIANTS

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

by syntax6

Chapter Ten: Vows


Morning dawned cool, wet and gray as winter and spring 
continued to war for control of D.C.'s weather.  Constant 
rain drizzled against the window even as the city began to 
green up again.  

Scully snuggled deeper under the covers.  "I don't want to 
move," she said into the pillow.

Ethan chuckled and kissed her neck.  "Then stay here.  I 
can think of lots of things to do that don't involve 
leaving this bed."

"I just bet you can," she said with a smile.

His fingers found her belly through a gap in her 
nightshirt. "I don't have to be at work until noon today.  
You could call in, say you had a doctor's appointment or 
something."

Scully stroked the side of his face for a minute and then 
sighed.  "Can't.  I have to go to Baltimore."

"What's in Baltimore?"

"The Druid Hill Sanitarium."

"The Druid Hill what?"  He propped himself up on one elbow.  
"Hey, wait a minute.  Isn't that where they sent that crazy 
man who broke in here?"

"Tooms, yes."  She wriggled out from under his considerable 
weight.  "They're thinking of releasing him, and Mulder and 
I have been called to testify."

"Releasing him?  It's only been a few months since you put 
him away the first time! He attacked you.  You mean they're 
going to let him out after that?  He broke in here and 
nearly killed you!"

Scully, her back to him, touched her middle.  Sometimes 
when she closed her eyes she could still feel Toom's strong 
fingers probing at her, trying to find her liver.  "Nearly 
killed is an exaggeration," she argued. 

"The hell it is.  You told me this guy eats people's 
livers.  What kind of insane parole board would ever let 
him out on the streets again?"

"That's why we have to go up there.  To stop it."

"Let Mulder do it."

She turned.  "What?"

"The last thing this Tooms guy needs is to see you again.  
He doesn't need to be reminded of any unfinished business."

Scully went to her closet to pick out a suit.  "I can't not 
go, Ethan.  You know that.  Besides, he's going to be under 
lock and key.  He can't hurt me."

"What if they let him go?"

Scully dropped her hand from her clothes.  "They won't do 
that."

"But what if they do?"

"They won't.  Mulder and I between us have enough evidence 
to keep Tooms locked up for the rest of his natural 
lifespan, whatever that may be."

Ethan came up behind her and put his hands on her 
shoulders.  He tugged until she leaned back against him.  
"I just don't want to see you get hurt," he said, folding 
his arms around her.

She patted his hand.  "I'll be fine."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully hurried down the bleak hall of the sanitarium, the 
clicking of her heels smacking back at her off the narrow 
walls.  She found the door to the hearing room and slipped 
inside to take a seat.  Mulder met her eyes briefly before 
continuing his testimony.

"I contend that perhaps through genetic mutation, Eugene 
Tooms is capable of contorting and elongating his body in 
order to gain access to victims so that he may extract the 
livers which provide him with sustenance for the 
hibernation period of 30 years. He needs one more liver to 
complete this cycle."

Scully looked at her lap as the courtroom erupted in 
murmurs of disbelief.

"Your honor," protested the defense.

"A preliminary examination done at the time of Tooms's 
arrest revealed abnormalities in his striated muscles and 
axial bones," Mulder continued.  "His attorney blocked 
further study."

"I must ask that you place the safety of..."

"Counsel?" the judge interrupted. 

"...the people first and foremost..."

"No further questions, your honor."

Mulder raised his voice.  "This is a rare and unusual human 
creature."

"Agent Mulder!"

" ...who should not be released, but should be retained for 
further study."

The Judge scowled.  "You may step down!"

"If you release Eugene Tooms, he will kill again. It's in 
his genetic make-up."

Outside, Scully caught up with Mulder as he sat on a bench 
with his head in his hands.  He looked up at her approach.  
"You think they would have taken me more seriously if I 
wore the gray suit?"

"Mulder, your testimony -- you sounded so..."

"I don't care how I sounded so long as it was the truth.  
And where were you?  Your testimony was important."

"I got called into a meeting with Assistant Director 
Skinner."

Mulder looked at her curiously.  "What did he want?"

Scully reflected on the conversation.  Skinner had chewed 
her out while the man with the cigarettes stood there and 
said nothing.  "Just wanted to reel me in," she told 
Mulder.

"They're ready now," came the announcement.  Scully and 
Mulder went back into the courtroom to get the bad news.

Tooms was released.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully and Mulder ate thick sandwiches inside their steamy 
car.  Rain beat down hard and steady on the metal roof.  
Outside people hurried past with umbrellas, not noticing 
the two people having a picnic in the parking lot.

"I can't believe they let him go," Scully said. "I promised 
Ethan that wasn't going to happen."

"Dangerous promise."

"Yeah, well, he's afraid Tooms may pay us another visit at 
the apartment."  She lowered her sandwich and licked her 
lips, hesitating.  "Do you think that's likely?"

"That he'll bother you again?  Things didn't turn out very 
well for him the last time he tried it, so I'd be surprised 
if he went after you again.  A liver is a liver is a liver, 
right?  So I don't think so."  He leaned over to her.  "But 
I'm not going to promise," he added pointedly.

Scully lowered her gaze, looking chagrined.  He sniffed.  
She smelled faintly of cigarette smoke.

Mulder settled back into his seat.  "So tell me more about 
this meeting you had with Skinner."

"Not much to tell," she replied, lifting a shoulder.  "He 
feels we should take a more orthodox approach to solving 
cases."

"And the Smoking Man?  What did he say?"

Scully looked at him sharply.  He tapped his nose.  She 
sighed.  "He said nothing.  As usual.  What does he want, 
Mulder?"

"Come on.  You must know."

She shook her head, eyes guileless.  He could not believe 
they had sent her to him this naïve. 

Mulder squinted out at the rain and considered how much to 
tell her.  "Let's just say," he said slowly, "when I asked 
for the X-Files, it took months for them to be delivered 
from storage.  When they arrived, the boxes stunk to high 
heaven.  It's a perfume I've become more familiar with 
since then.  You smell it every time you walk into 
Skinner's office."

"The Smoking Man had the files?  Why?"

"My guess? To keep anyone else from having them."  Mulder 
took a long swig of soda.  "And I think he wants them 
back."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Ethan arrived home late from the studio just as she was 
preparing to leave again.  "Hey," he greeted her as he 
tossed his keys onto the side table.  He looked her up and 
down, taking in her overcoat.  "Where are you off to?"

Scully slipped a root beer into her paper bag.  "Work."

"The office?  At this hour?" Ethan grabbed a soda for 
himself and popped the top.

"Not the office."

"Must be in for the long haul if you're bringing rations."

"They're for Mulder.  He's on stakeout."

"Stakeout?" Ethan set his soda can down.  "Not that Tooms 
guy."

Scully avoided his eyes.  "I have to get going."

"Dana."  He blocked her path.  "I thought you said he 
wasn't going to get out."

"Ethan, I'm late.  I have to--"

His fingers bit into her arm.  "Let someone else handle it 
for a change.  This guy nearly killed you."

"There isn't anyone else!"

Ethan went still, glaring at her.  He released her arm.  
"That's right.  I forgot.  It's just you and Mulder against 
the world, right?  No one else will do."

"They *released* him.  No one else believes he's 
dangerous."

Ethan's expression softened.  He touched her elbow.  "I 
believe."

Scully drew a long breath and grabbed her paper sack.  
"I've got to get going."

"Mulder will be with you?"

"Right now he's by himself.  I'll talk to you later, okay?"  
Scully kissed his cheek.  

He hugged her tight.  "Promise me you'll be careful."

"I'll be careful."

"Promise."

Scully closed her eyes.  "I promise."

~*~*~*~*~

She found Mulder's car parked in the shadows down the 
street from the Green house.  She waved at him and went to 
the passenger door.  When she opened it, an avalanche of 
fast food remnants threatened to rush out onto the 
sidewalk.  Scully shoved them back in. 

"Mulder, it's getting a bit ripe in here, don't you think?" 

Mulder reached across her lap and pulled out a pine tree-
shaped air freshener.

"Pine-scented," he said, waving it at her.  He stuck it on 
the rearview mirror.  "Better?"

Scully shook her head, bemused. 

"Tooms hasn't come out of the house all day," Mulder told  
her. "I sat through a Phillies game, an Orioles game, and 
four hours of Ba-Ba-Booey. When it got dark, I took a walk 
around the block. Do you have that sandwich that I asked 
you to bring?"

Scully dug the sandwich out of her paper bag. "It's 
liverwurst." 

"Ha-ha," replied Mulder, but he opened it up. Scully took 
note of the smudges under his eyes.

"Mulder, you know that proper surveillance requires two 
pairs of agents, one pair relieving the other after twelve 
hours."

"Article 30, paragraph 8.7?"

"This isn't about doing it by the book. This is about you 
not having slept for days. Mulder, you're going to get 
sloppy and you're going to get hurt. It's inevitable at 
this point." 

"A request for other agents to stakeout Tooms would be 
denied. Then we have no grounds. 

"Well, then I'll stay here. You go home." 
 
Mulder put his arm over the wheel.  "They're out to put an 
end to the X-Files, Scully. I don't know why, but any 
excuse will do. Now, I don't really care about my record, 
but you'd be in trouble just for sitting in this car and 
I'd hate to see you to carry an official reprimand in your 
file because of me."

Scully sighed.  "Fox," she said, trying out the word.

Mulder's laughter cut her short.  She looked at him, and he 
waved the air awkwardly.  "And I... I even made my parents 
call me Mulder. So... Mulder." 

"Mulder, I wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody but 
you."
 
~*~*~*~*~

Scully's head lolled back against the car seat.  Hours of 
sitting rendered her rear-end flat and her feet numb.  The 
build up of carbon dioxide steamed the windows and made her 
sleepy.  

She yawned against the back of her hand.  The dashboard 
clock told her it was just after two-thirty.  The only 
people awake were she and the yahoos sharing conspiracy 
theories on talk radio.  The last caller just spent ten 
minutes advancing the theory that Janet Reno was a man.

All the lights across the street remained off.  She saw no 
sign of movement from Tooms.

So tired.  She blinked slowly.  Her eyes were closed.  She 
told herself to open them again but the lids refused to 
rise.  Wake up.

"Hey."

The sudden rush of cold air as the door opened made her 
lurch up with a gasp.  Ethan sat in the passenger seat.

"What the hell are you doing here?"  Her heart was still 
slamming around in her chest like a pinball.

"What the hell am I doing here?  What about you?  I thought 
you said Mulder was going to be with you."

"He needed rest."  Scully glanced at the house where Tooms 
was staying.  Still no signs of life.  "Ethan, you have to 
go.  Right now."

"The hell I will.  I'm not leaving you here by yourself." 

"I'm fine."

"You didn't even hear me drive up!  It could be that 
monster sitting here next to you instead of me.  I can't 
believe Mulder would go off and leave you alone like this 
after what happened last time.  What the hell is he 
thinking?"

"I made him go.  Just like I'm making you go now."  She 
reached across him and pushed open his door.  "Get out of 
here, Ethan."

He slammed the door shut again.  Scully jumped as the noise 
echoed down the quiet street.  "Shhh!  What the hell are 
you doing?"

"I'm not leaving you."

"Ethan, I know you think you're helping but you're not. I'm 
trained for this.  You're not.  Instead of worrying about 
Tooms, I have to worry about you. I'm in more danger with 
you here."

Ethan reached into his pants and pulled out a revolver. 
"Don't worry about me.  I can take care of myself."

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"It's legal."
 
"You don't know how to fire a gun."

"Put your finger here and pull."  He located the trigger.  
"How hard can it be?"

"Jesus, stop that.  You want to get us both killed?" 

"Hey, if we're going to have mutant men breaking into our 
apartment, I want to be prepared."

"Ethan, listen to me.  Put away the gun.  Put it away now 
and go home."  Scully risked another glance at the quiet 
house.

"I will if you'll come with me."

Scully bowed her head.  "You know I can't do that."

"Then I'm staying."

Scully said nothing.  She picked up her cell phone and 
started dialing.

"What are you doing?" Ethan asked.

"Calling the cops.  You're interfering with a federal 
investigation."  Scully put the phone to her ear.

"You--you wouldn't do that."

"It's ringing."

"Fine."  Ethan shoved open his car door.  "I'm leaving.  
I'll go.  But don't expect me to be home when you get 
there."

Scully winced as the car shook with his slam.  In her ear, 
a woman's mechanized voice broke the news.  "At the tone, 
the time will be three-oh-two and forty-five seconds."

~*~*~*~*~

Scully caught up with Mulder outside of Skinner's office.  
"Mulder, I got your message..."  She broke off as she saw 
his face.  He looked even more worn than the night before, 
when she had sent him home to rest. "What happened?" 

"Skinner wants us both inside right now."

She touched his arm, stopping him. "Mulder, what's going 
on?"

"Apparently while you were keeping watch last night, I 
broke into the Green's house and beat the crap out of 
Eugene Tooms."

"What?"

Mulder opened the door and Scully followed him inside.  The 
Smoker was already halfway through a smoke, ash dangling 
precariously.  He took a deep puff and stared right at 
them.

"Agents, have a seat," Skinner ordered.  Scully looked to 
Mulder, but he did not look back.  They sat in silence.  
"These are serious allegations," Skinner said, coming 
around the desk to loom over them.

"A good forensic scientist would know that there is not 
only a shoe print but also an impact point from inside the 
shoe.  An in-depth analysis of Tooms's injury would show 
that my foot was not inside the shoe at the time of 
impact."

"Mulder, are you suggesting that Tooms is framing you?"

"Of course."

"If indeed you were engaged in unauthorized round-the-clock 
surveillance of the Tooms, how could he possibly gain 
access to your shoe without you seeing him?"

Mulder opened his mouth to speak.  Scully sat forward.

"Sir? I was engaged in unauthorized surveillance as well 
and Agent Mulder was orienting me on the situation at the 
time Tooms was admitted into the hospital.  Agent Mulder 
could not have done it because he was with me."

Skinner squinted at her.  The Smoker paused in mid-puff.  
She could feel Mulder's eyes on her.

"You wouldn't be lying to me, would you?"

"Sir, I would expect you to place the same trust in me as I 
do in you."

Skinner paused.  "Agent Scully, may I have a word with 
Agent Mulder, please?"

Scully had no choice but to leave Mulder in the lion's den.  
Outside, she loitered in the hall and pretended to read the 
plaques detailing great feats of agents past.  Mulder 
emerged after another five minutes, already loosening his 
tie.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"Don't ever do that again."

Scully blinked.  "Excuse me?"

"That line of bull you fed Skinner about how I was with you 
at the time Tooms was attacked."

"I was just trying to help."

Mulder raised a finger at her.  "All you did was drag 
yourself into the mess with me.  They're looking for 
anything to hold against us right now.  If they think 
you're lying for me, then that's evidence they can use to 
bury us.  You're not doing us any favors."

"I'm sorry."

He rubbed his eyes.  "And you're a lousy liar."

"Sorry," she said again.

"Go home and get some rest.  Ethan will have forgotten what 
you look like."

"What about Tooms?"

"We're forbidden to go near him."

"Mulder..."

"Look at it this way," he said, "at least it means our 
livers are safe."

~*~*~*~

Scully shut the apartment door behind her and leaned 
against it.  The house was gray and silent.  No message 
blinked on the answering machine.  Scully shrugged out of 
her coat and walked to the bedroom.

The bed had not been slept in.

She curled atop the bedspread, pillow tucked under her 
chin.  Scully slept.

~*~*~

Tooms made the mistake of gnawing on a ribcage along with a 
liver.  Scully matched the tooth marks and Tooms was 
busted.  It was up to Mulder to beard the mutant in his 
nest.

One terrible escalator ride later, Mulder was covered in 
bile but Tooms was gone for good.

"Mulder," Scully said, trying not to wrinkle her nose too 
much at his smell.  "Are you okay?"

Mulder shook off some of the vile yellow substance.  "You 
definitely get the next mutant."

Cleaned up, they accepted kudos from the Baltimore police 
department even as Skinner offered stony silence.  The 
gloomy weather continued to dominate, gray skies and mist 
stalled overhead.

Mulder stopped on the way to the car and stared at a 
caterpillar's cocoon glued to the naked branch.

"Okay, let's go." Scully rattled the keys.

"It's amazing how things change, isn't it?"

Scully followed his gaze.  "The caterpillar?"

"No, a change for us.  It's coming."

"How do you know?"

He looked sideways at her.  "A hunch."

Mulder walked away, leaving her no choice but to follow.

~*~*~*~

During the dead time, as Mulder thought of the time between 
cases, he walked the streets where Patty had lived.  He 
passed her house.  He jogged by her school.  Sometimes he 
sat outside her gym and watched the girls come and go.

Tonight he went back to the used CD store where she had 
disappeared.  It was locked up tight, chains across the 
door.  Mulder cupped his hand around his eyes and peered 
inside.

Next month would mark the one-year anniversary of her 
disappearance.  The CDs topping the charts that day now sat 
in the bargain bin.

Mulder backed away from the door and studied the flyers 
pasted halfway up the display window.  Local concerts and 
theater performances, many of them long past, were detailed 
in black-and-white.  In the center sat one faded flyer.

Missing, it read.  Patty Maureen Waeleski.

Mulder touched the cold glass.

He sighed and turned back down his well-trod path past the 
toy store, the GAP, the café and the art house movie 
theater.  Mulder stopped to look at the marquee. 

Maybe he could see a movie.  There was no way he was going 
to sleep that night.

As he considered the options, the doors opened and people 
began to trickle out into the night.

"I knew it had to be the barber," a familiar voice said.  
"Of course he was the only one who could plant Jim's hair 
at the murder scene."

Mulder looked down and saw Melinda in front of him.  She 
was laughing and hanging on the end of a large blond man.  
Her smile disappeared when she saw Mulder.

He held up his hand.  "Hi."

"Hi."  She said something to the man that Mulder couldn't 
hear.  He nodded and Melinda strolled across to Mulder.  "I 
was thinking of seeing a movie," he said.

"We saw 'Unkindest Cut,'" she said.

He nodded.  "The butler did it."

"Yeah."  She scuffed her shoe. "Sorry about giving it away 
like that.  I have a big mouth."

"I've had enough of murder mysteries anyway."

People dispersed around them, leaving only Melinda's date 
cooling his heels by the potted fern.  
"What's his name?"

"Steve.  He works at the station."  She tilted her head.  
"You were going to call," she said.

"I was."

"But you didn't."

"I guess not."

"You mind if I ask why?"

Truthfully, until he found her standing in front of him, he 
had not thought of her at all.  "I don't know," he said, 
because it was the truth.  "Work, it's been kind of crazy 
lately."

She nodded, accepting his lame attempts at explanation.  
"You still working Patty's case?"

"Always."

"I hope you find her."

Mulder figured at this point they were looking for a 
skeleton.  "Thanks.  Me too."

"I've got to get going," she said, running her hand down 
the length of his arm.  She squeezed him.  "If you ever 
have time to make that call..."

"Yeah."

Mulder said goodnight and watched them walk away. He 
stepped up to the booth and a gum-chewing teenager gave him 
a bored look.  "Can I help you?"

"Is there really a movie called 'Hell'?"

"It's 'Hell Hath No Fury' but Hell was all they could fit 
on the sign."

Mulder slid his money across.  "One for Hell," he said.

~*~*~*~

Scully had told Mulder she was leaving right after him, but 
three and a half hours later she was still in the office.  
She had straightened the books, filed their reports on 
Tooms and cleaned off her table.  All her email was 
answered.  In a few minutes, she would have to go home 
because there was quite literally nothing left for her to 
do.

Footsteps sounded in the hall.  Scully looked up, expecting 
Mulder.  Maybe he would want to grab coffee or something.

Ethan appeared in the doorway, and Scully leaned back in 
her seat.  "How did you get in here?"

"Bribed security."

"Ethan--"

"They've seen me pick you up.  I told them I was here to 
get you."

"I have my car, thank you."

"Dana," he said, entering the room.  "Please hear me out."  
He drew up a chair and sat down beside her.  "You were 
right to toss me from the car the other night.  I shouldn't 
have come.  I just was so afraid you weren't safe.  And 
then when I drove up and saw you were alone..."  He reached 
over and touched her knee.  "I panicked."

"This is my job, Ethan.  You can't keep worrying every time 
I step out the door."

"Yeah, I can."  He tapped her gently.  "I love you.  It 
would kill me if anything happened to you.  But you're 
right -- I need to keep better perspective.  I'm trying.  I 
promise."

"I got home and you were gone," Scully said.

"I'm here now."

She smiled and looked down at his hand on her knee.  
"Yeah, I guess you are."

"I've been doing a lot of thinking the past couple of 
days," he said, and slid to his knees on the floor.

Scully stared.  "Ethan, what are you doing?"

"I've been thinking, and I think your father was right.  
Sometimes you just know.  And I know I don't want to live 
without you."

"Ethan..."

He pulled out a ring and offered it to her.  "Dana Scully," 
he said, "will you marry me?"

~*~*~*~*~

End chapter ten.  Continued in chapter eleven.

Mulder smooches to Amanda for proofing!

Hang on folks, the ride gets bumpy over the next few
chapters. ;-)


Feedback welcome at syn_tax6@yahoo.com