Her Turn (PG-13)

She was going to freeze to death, they were going to die.  There was no way they could find shelter out here and the temperature didn’t have anywhere to fall.  She was wearing his heavier clothes; she’d had none of her own when he’d found her. 

Her mind was still trying to wrap around that.  How had she gotten here?  Why had she been nude?  And where was here?  There was only a blank when she tried to think, that and a headache.  She hurt everywhere but for some reason her throat was especially sore, not like a sore throat, but aching.  Maybe it was the impossibly cold air she was trying to breathe. 

Mulder was getting the worse of it; he was ahead of her, breaking a trail in the blowing snow.  They couldn’t speak, not walking like this.  He had been carrying her, she remembered that and . . . something growling?  They had climbed up, crawled up, being chased by something.  Then they had run and, and somehow been . . . falling?  She must have blacked out again then, but she had Mulder in her arms, rocking him.  He was exhausted, but still moving, protecting her with his body as he fought to find them some kind of shelter.

She had so many questions!  The main one was, were they really here?  And where was here?  God, it must be upper North Dakota, even Alaska in the middle of a blizzard.  Had they been on a case?  There was no memory of a case.  What did she remember?  Salt Lake City . . . a, a transfer . . . Yes! She’d been at Mulder’s apartment to tell him she was being transferred.  He, he’d followed her out into the hall and, and he’d kissed her.

Even as she shivered, still staggering behind him in his footsteps the thought that came to her was, that must have been some kiss.  She had absolutely no memory after that until Mulder was dressing her and she had never been so cold.

She looked around once more at the stark white surroundings.  Thank goodness Mulder was with her.  She had no idea where they were going and in this whiteout she didn’t even know what direction they were headed.

He turned to her and tried to speak.  He had a beard?  What was he saying?  “I love you.”  Then he was gone, vanished and she was alone in the white and the cold.

She jerked awake, completely disoriented for a moment before she recognized the doctor’s quarters at the hospital.  The blanket had slipped off of her and lay on the floor beside the small bed, but that wasn’t why she was cold.

She had told him she wasn’t coming home.  How the hell could she have said that to Mulder?  Okay, she was unnerved by how quickly he’d flung himself back into an X-File, or what appeared to be one, but it was Mulder.  The man had literally gone to the ends of the earth to save her, when there had been no chance of doing so.  But it was Mulder and he had saved her and she had said she wasn’t coming home to him?

She rose and returned to her office.  She had work to do; it was why she had stayed, not to stay away from him, but to help Christian.  At least she could tell herself that. It had only been a dream.

Trying to stay distracted, she began going through the information she had accumulated once more.  One article caught her eye, "Medical News Archives", an article about stem cell research carried out in Russia by which the intrathecal injection of stem cells in the base of the brain forced the acceptance of transplanted body parts, including joining the heads of two dogs on a single animal.

She read closely, something nagging at her.  The beep of her computer let her know the printer had stopped. She pressed the restart button on her printer, and enlargements of photographs from the article emerged. These show a dog's severed head and a dog with two heads. She grabbed her cell phone, shit!

God, she was an idiot.  Where was he?  He wouldn’t have stopped, not if there was even a chance of rescuing that last girl.  What was happening and why the hell was she not at his side where she should be?  He had vanished in her dream, just gone in the whiteness.  She had to find him; it was her turn to rescue him.

She dialed him. No answer, just his voice mail.  Was he screening?  No, Mulder didn't do that.  He always took her calls, at least he always had.  How could she be so stupid!  He was free now, exonerated from a crime he had never committed and she was the one acting like he'd stolen her candy.  Was she that selfish? After everything the man had done for her - her dream came back to her and she closed her eyes.  And she couldn't be happy that he was doing what he had trained for, what he had lived for so many years?  She had to find him.

"This is Special Agent Drummy."

"I've been trying to find you. I can't reach Mulder."

"Is this Dr. Scully?"

"Yes, it's Dr. Scully," her exasperation was not hidden.

"Where is he?"

"If I knew that I wouldn't be calling."

"Dr. Scully, I'm going to suggest you call the police. This is not an FBI matter."

"Listen to me! I need your help!" She'd officially lost it now, but he apparently hadn't realized it.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"Then let me talk to somebody there with some balls who can!"