From: mrkeller829@gmail.com   
      
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   "Chermera" by Mary Ruth Keller Part 42  of 45   
   E-mail: mrkeller@eclipse.net, mrkeller829@gmail.com   
   PG-13   X-File: Myth-arc   Disclaimed in Part I   
   Already sent to Gossamer   
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   Royal Victoria Infirmary   
   Great North Trauma and Emergency Center   
   Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK   
   Wednesday, July 22, 1998   
   6:53 am   
      
   "Well, at least we have good news to pass on to them." Rosen eyed her former   
   partner as they trotted down the hall, side-by-side. She glanced down at the   
   four small coffees in the paper tray, pleased to see that little of the dark   
   liquid had sloshed out    
   of the slits in the lids.   
      
   Nichols held up a brown paper sack. "A treat for breakfast for those two.   
   Scully's had no solid food since she was spirited out of the Embassy, so far   
   as I can tell."   
      
   Rosen nodded. "Mulder probably only had just what you got him to eat at the   
   hotel." They exchanged rueful grins, knowing the agents as well as they had   
   both come to over the years.   
      
   They turned into the room. Dana Scully was asleep, supine, a carefully-placed   
   blanket swaddling her shoulders, but she was free of IV's and drainage tubes.   
   Her left arm was stretched out along her hip. Her partner had nestled the   
   recliner against the    
   rails of the hospital bed, where he was on his side, his fingers through the   
   slats to rest, open limply, on the extended wrist.   
      
   "I hate to wake them, Nic." The brunette astronomer, one hand grasping the   
   pillow by the gauze-wrapped head, was bending over the diminutive agent. "You   
   know they're both exhausted."   
      
   Nichols sighed. "Yeah, but, you know them, Ros. They'll want to know as soon   
   as possible." He shook a muscled shoulder gently. "Hey, Chief."   
      
   The fingers instinctively tightened around his partner's arm before his eyes   
   opened. He coughed once, then pushed himself upright, where he swayed   
   groggily. "What's going on?" He patted the small fingers. "Doctor, rise and   
   shine. The kids are home from    
   college." He rubbed his face with both palms.   
      
   Her eyes still closed, she smiled gently. "Mulder, I was dreaming about   
   scones, and now, I smell them. You promised me you were going to sleep through   
   the night, G-man." She met Rosen's hazel gaze. "You look like you have good   
   news." She turned her head    
   to the left. "Morning, Nichols."   
      
   He held up the sack. "We have more than that, so let's get you two settled."   
   He was extracting four paper plates to hand to his former partner.   
      
   Rosen lined up the plates in a row on the rolling table, then Nichols placed a   
   scone on each. The coffees were still in the tray, but Rosen tapped the cup   
   closest to the diminutive agent. "Cream only, Scully." She held one out for   
   Mulder. "Lots of sugar,    
   just the way you like it."   
      
   Her right arm still taped against her ribs, Scully's left hand hovered over   
   the round blueberry scone before breaking a corner off the triangular lemon   
   pastry. After chewing and swallowing, her eyes slid shut momentarily. "Thank   
   you, both of you. I never    
   thought anything could taste so good."   
      
   Mulder settled in the recliner, his eyes dancing as she ate another bite. He   
   had a mouthful of the blueberry, so said nothing, content to watch his partner   
   enjoying herself, her green-blue eyes sparkling, her breaths coming easily.   
   The hours he had spent    
   by her side, listening to machines beeping as she lay motionless, tubes   
   running into and out of her, would continue to harry him in his sleep, he knew.   
      
   Rosen chuckled. "We've been walking past these every morning, Agent Scully."   
      
   His scone finished, Mulder took several gulps of the coffee, then looked up.   
   "Thanks, both of you. So, you found Rhys-Jones?"     
      
   Nichols huffed through his mustache. "Right where Agent Scully thought he   
   would be, Chief. He was unharmed, if a bit dehydrated. There was no sign of   
   Frijdolf."   
      
   "I'm sure the Smoker knows right where he is." Scully took a quick sip of the   
   still-hot coffee.   
      
   "Probably." The brunette astronomer nodded to the woman on the bed.   
   "Rhys-Jones told ap Gwinn Frijdolf had helped him hide, then ran off himself."   
      
   Nichols patted his mustache with a brown paper napkin. "We had to let the   
   Inspectors and the locals take over. Until we can tie these events to   
   something back in the US - "   
      
   "We have no jurisdiction." The tall agent let out a huff as he crossed his   
   arms.   
      
   "We can't even hold the 'Professor' and the 'Teacher.'" Rosen paused as her   
   index finger rubbed against the side of her thumb. "They claim they *are*   
   local actors, hired to play a part by Krycek, that he made certain they were   
   isolated from any details    
   about Scully's background. They said he just told them it was improv."   
      
   Three snorts answered her, before Mulder smiled mirthlessly. "Then their   
   performance here was all part of an acting job? BAFTA's all around, I say, if   
   it was. There's more to these two than they're willing to admit. We need to   
   keep after them, somehow.    
   Your 'Professor' has a mental problem I'd like to correct him on." He glowered   
   at the spot where the 'actor' had lain the previous morning. "A problem too   
   many men have, even after all the Curies, the Meirs, and the O'Connors."   
      
   Scully huffed in agreement. "So, any word on the 'Matron'?"   
      
   The astronomer shook her head. "No. They claim not to know her, but, we had   
   little time to interrogate them before they were taken away. Ap Gwinn was   
   quite insistent we get back to you two."   
      
   The diminutive pathologist took a sip of the coffee. "She may actually have   
   been involved in the plot. I'd like to show ap Gwinn and Rhys-Jones her   
   sketch."   
      
   Mulder turned to her. "What makes you say that, Scully?"   
      
   She straightened, reminding herself to take deep breaths. "Although it was   
   obvious she had never done anything like what was done to me before, it seemed   
   like she knew what was going to happen before it did, part of the time. That's   
   the best way I can    
   describe the sense I had of her. The other two did seem like they had been   
   kept partially in the dark, that they were making it up as they went along, as   
   were the Quaestores."   
      
   Rosen's dark eyebrows elevated. "Oh, you mean the men in the grey robes?"   
      
   She nodded. "They thought this was an initiation-"   
      
   "One you completed, Scully, when you relieved Krycek of his weapon." Mulder   
   was regarding his partner soberly.   
      
   The balding Montanan chewed his mustache for a moment. "So, is that good or   
   bad? Are you in the Forty, or not, Scully?"   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)