From: susanf34@comcast.net   
      
   *NO ARCHIVE*   
      
      
      
   **Headers, disclaimer, etc. can all be found in   
   chapter one.     susanf34@comcast.net   
      
      
   Chronology   
   by Susan   
   ~~~~   
      
   chapter three   
      
      
   When she opened her eyes, she didn't know where   
   she was.   
      
   And then she breathed in.   
      
   He was everywhere.   
      
   On the sheets. The pillowcase. In the sunflower   
   seed remnants in a cup on the nightstand. In the   
   pile of dirty clothes sitting on the desk chair   
   and the rather large running shoes underneath   
   the same chair.   
      
   She had awakened in his bed before, but those   
   times he had been there with her, his long lean   
   body spooned up behind her, his warm breath in   
   her ear.   
      
   This time she was alone and wearing the same   
   clothes she'd worn all day yesterday.   
      
   And she was about to throw up.   
      
   Her hand over her mouth, she quickly jumped out   
   of the bed and hurried to the bathroom just in   
   time to empty last night's dinner into the toilet.   
      
   Using the counter for leverage when she was done,   
   she lifted herself up from her knees and leaned   
   over the sink. She turned on the faucet and   
   splashed some cold water on her face, then slowly   
   exhaled.   
      
   How much longer was she going to be sick like this?   
      
   According to her calculations, she was about ten   
   weeks pregnant, and although she knew that some   
   women experienced severe morning sickness well   
   into their second trimester, she didn't know how   
   much more of this her body could take.   
      
   Placing her hands on the sides of the sink, she   
   leaned forward and looked at herself in the mirror.   
   Her hair was a mess, her face pale, and the circles   
   under her eyes were even darker than they'd been   
   when she'd gone to Oregon.   
      
   If Mulder were here to see her like this, he'd   
   insist that she see a doctor and make sure that   
   everything was okay with the pregnancy, then he'd   
   drive her there himself and insist on being in   
   the examination room with her.   
      
   And if he were here, she would've done everything   
   he asked.   
      
   There was a time when she wouldn't have, when she   
   would've fought him on what he wanted and kept her   
   fears a secret from him, but not anymore.   
      
   Now if he were here, she would tell him everything   
      
   she was feeling, and she would let him comfort her.   
      
   But he wasn't here.   
      
   He wasn't here to cup his hand around her face,   
   softly brush his thumb back and forth across her   
   cheek.   
      
   He wasn't here to lie in bed behind her, gently   
   massage her uncomfortable belly with one hand,   
   stroke her hair with the other.   
      
   And he wasn't here to whisper in her ear and tell   
   her that she was going to be all right.   
      
   But where was he?   
      
   Three nights ago, she'd dreamt of him strapped to   
   a chair, his barely clothed body being tortured   
   with devices she'd never seen before.   
      
   But was that what was really happening to him?   
      
   Probably not, but still, the images of him she'd   
   seen in her dream had shaken her to the core.   
      
   "Where are you, Mulder?" she quietly asked the   
   reflection in the mirror as she grabbed the towel   
   from the rack and dried her face, then went back   
   into the bedroom.   
      
   She was just about to sit down on the bed again   
   when the phone rang. Though its shrill ring was   
   loud in the silence of his apartment, it didn't   
   really surprise her, especially given the fact   
   that Skinner had been keeping rather close tabs   
   on her these days. Not really wanting to talk to   
   him at the moment, she let the machine pick up   
   the call.   
      
   That was a mistake.   
      
   "This is Fox Mulder. Leave a message at the sound   
   of the (beep)..."   
      
   Hearing his voice, the same voice that had answered   
   thousands of her calls over the years was like a   
   jolt to the heart, and for a moment, she simply   
   stood there, too stunned to move.   
      
   "Scully, it's Frohike. I know you're there. I also   
   know you probably don't want to talk to anyone   
   right now, but I have something important to tell   
   you, something I know you're going to want to hear."   
      
   The serious tone in his voice snapping her out of   
   the daze she was in, she quickly sat down on the   
   bed and picked up the phone.   
      
   "Frohike?"   
      
   "Agent Scully, are you alright? We've been worried   
   about you."   
      
   "I'm fine," she lied. "You've found out something   
   about Mulder?" she asked cautiously, not wanting   
   to get her hopes up too much.   
      
   "We think so, but we don't want to talk about it   
   this way. Big brother may be listening."   
      
   She closed her eyes, ran her palm over her hair,   
   then said, "I can be there in an hour."   
      
   Hanging up the phone, she stood up and straightened   
   the covers on the bed. Then she picked up the   
   journal she'd fallen asleep holding onto last night   
   and thumbed through the pages. Two nights ago, she'd   
   come across Mulder's short entry about the first   
   time he'd brought her to meet the gunmen, and now   
   after talking with Frohike, she found herself   
   needing to read it again.   
      
      
   XXXXXXXXXXXX   
   2/15/94   
      
   I took Scully to meet the gunmen today for the   
   first time, and it was even more entertaining   
   than I thought it would be.   
      
   Frohike said she was hot, Langly called her my   
   skeptical partner, and Byers ripped her twenty   
   dollar bill into two pieces.   
      
   Once we left there, Scully called them the most   
   paranoid people she'd ever met and in her words   
   didn't think that "any of their conspiracy   
   theories were even remotely plausible."   
      
   As for me, I have to agree with Frohike.   
      
   I think she's hot too.   
   XXXXXXXXXXXX   
      
      
   Scully closed the journal and for the first time   
   in days, she let herself smile.   
      
   Reading about how Mulder had felt when she'd been   
   abducted had been emotionally draining last night,   
   but unlike those entries, this one about the three   
   people they'd both come to rely on over the years   
   was a nice memory for her.   
      
   And despite the fact that she still thought they   
   were the three most paranoid people she'd ever met,   
   she also knew that if anyone could find something   
   that would help Mulder, they could.   
      
   Carefully putting the journal back in his closet,   
   she shook some fish food into the aquarium, grabbed   
   her car keys off the coffee table, then headed out   
   the door.   
      
   ~~~~   
      
   Lone Gunmen Headquarters   
   9:30 am   
      
   It was forty-five minutes later when she arrived   
   at the gunmen's hideaway.   
      
   Mulder used to call it that, "the hideaway", and   
   though its location was tucked behind the other   
   dwellings on the block, it sounded strange to her   
   to refer to it that way.   
      
   A hideaway is a place where lovers meet to carry   
   on an affair they want to keep secret from their   
   spouses, not a place where three men spend countless   
   hours trying to expose a government who wants to   
   keep secrets from the American public.   
      
   Still, she was grateful for everything they'd done   
   for her and Mulder over the years. Their knowledge   
   of computers and hacking abilities had proven   
   invaluable time and time again, and she hoped that   
   this time they'd be able to help her as well.   
      
   Straightening out her jacket, she took a deep   
   breath and pressed the buzzer beside the door.   
      
   "Just a minute, Agent Scully," replied Byers over   
   the intercom system.   
      
   She listened as one of them unlocked and unlatched   
   all the locks she knew were on the other side of   
   the door and was surprised when it was Skinner   
   who opened the door.   
      
   "Agent Scully," he said, his tired eyes studying   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)