From: msk1024@yahoo.com   
      
   Title:   Out of the Everywhere   
   Author: Kel and Michelle Kiefer   
   Email: ckelll@hotmail.com   
          msk1024@yahoo.com   
   Category:  Casefile   
   Spoilers: Conduit, En Ami   
   Rating: R   
   Archive:  Just ask.   
   Disclaimer:  Not ours.  Sigh.   
   Summary:  A missing child and a family   
   with something to hide.  In the aftermath   
   of "En Ami," Mulder and Scully investigate   
   a "classic alien abduction."   
   Comments: Writers know what they wanted to   
   say, and that makes it hard for them to see   
   when they haven't succeeded in saying it.   
   That's where betas come in.  "Out of the   
   Everywhere" is stronger and clearer because   
   of the efforts of our betas.  Thank you to   
   Marasmus, Syntax6, MaybeAmanda, Sdani and Linda.   
      
   Out of the Everywhere - part 12   
      
   It came down to this: Destiny was alive, or she was   
   dead.  How fitting that the key to her fate would come   
   to them in a binary code.   
      
   Since her arrival in Sioux City, Scully had thrown in   
   with the theory that Destiny was alive.  That aliens   
   had taken her and would soon return her.  Mulder had   
   mulled the same evidence but his theories kept turning   
   to human abductors.   
      
   Two cars traveling to the lake:  another binary   
   choice.  Scully rode with the abductees.  Ruby   
   chattered nervously.  Darlene was silent.   
      
   Ruby drove with a heavy foot, slamming on the brakes   
   when the road curved.  Darlene's face was gray and   
   sweaty when they finally parked.   Mulder pulled in   
   next to them, but before Scully had a chance to talk   
   to him, Kevin streaked past, running down to the lake.   
      
   "Stay with your mom," Scully told Ruby, and she   
   followed him.   
      
   Kevin was losing control.  It was a matter of luck   
   that he didn't twist an ankle in his wild race.  His   
   screams sounded hysterical.   
      
   Scully hung back as he charged from the hot dog stand   
   to the beach.   Hopes withered as they realized the   
   battered structure housed nothing more than dirt and   
   debris.  Dread gripped her as she pictured Destiny in   
   the underbrush, floating in the lake, in a shallow   
   grave.   
      
   Mulder wanted her to take Kevin home.   
      
   When Scully heard the first piercing cry coming from the   
   woods, she knew it at once.  She recognized Destiny's   
   famous shriek even though she had never heard it.   
      
   Again Kevin took the lead, and then Mulder.  Scully   
   tore after them through the trees.   
      
   She heard Destiny scream for help and Kevin scream for   
   her to stay still.  Drawing her weapon, Scully ran   
   toward the shouts.   
      
   There, in a clearing ahead.  Mulder, gun drawn.   
   Destiny--finally!  A wolf, a gray wolf, still scrawny   
   from winter.  Kevin, running, screaming.  Running at   
   the wolf.  Gun?  No clear shot.  Then the crack from   
   Mulder's gun.   
      
   The wolf in flight.  But Kevin, falling, fallen, hard   
   on the ground.   
      
   "Kevin!" she screamed, running to him.   
      
   Mulder wouldn't have taken that shot.  She knew it.   
   As she reached Kevin he was halfway to his feet.   
      
   "I'm okay.  I heard the gun and I dropped," he said.   
      
   "I fired in the air," Mulder said, and Scully only   
   nodded.  She'd known that.   
      
   Destiny was screaming without words.   
      
   "She sounds like a car alarm," Mulder muttered.   
      
   "Is she hurt?" Scully asked, pushing past Mulder.   
   Destiny's hands flailed, and her screams rose and   
   fell, punctuated by her breathing.   
      
   As Kevin picked her up, Scully examined the child.   
   There were no obvious injuries beyond a few scratches   
   on her arms and face.  Scully managed to catch one   
   of Destiny's waving hands, but didn't see any burns   
   or cuts.   
      
   "Does anything hurt?" she asked the child, but   
   Destiny apparently wasn't capable of doing more than   
   shrieking.   
      
   "Oh my God!" Ruby shouted as she burst into the   
   clearing.  Behind her, Darlene struggled to follow,   
   wheezing and out of breath.   
      
   "Mommy!" Destiny practically leapt from Kevin into   
   her mother's arms.  Ruby was crying, her face buried   
   in the child's neck.   
      
   "I can't find any injuries, but she was screaming and   
   shaking her hands," Scully said.   
      
   "What is it, Baby?" Ruby asked softly.  "I bet I know   
   what's the matter?  Kev, take her for me."   
      
   Kevin held Destiny as Ruby pulled a wetnap out of her   
   pocket.  "I think it's the sand," she said as she   
   wiped the child's hands.  "See?  All clean now.  Okay?"   
      
   "Okay," Destiny answered, rubbing her fingers together.   
   "Okay now."   
      
   ************X**************   
      
   As she entered the waiting room, Scully could not   
   hide her smile.   
      
   In the space of hours, Kevin had transformed from a   
   frightened, anxious boy to a perfectly normal teenager.   
   The beep beep of his Gameboy filled the air as he   
   sprawled, boneless, in his chair.   
      
   In the next chair, Mulder smiled at Scully.  The sight   
   of him, standing and walking over to her, made her heart   
   beat a little faster.  She was always aware of her   
   partner's beauty, like a low-level buzz of attraction.   
   But it wasn't until a case was resolved--when the adrenaline   
   rush subsided and life slowed back to normal time--that   
   she felt the power of this thing between them.   
      
   "How is she doing?" he asked.  Doctors were still   
   checking Destiny over, with her mother and grandmother   
   standing by.  It was Darlene that had Scully worried.   
   The events of the morning had taken a great deal out of   
   her.  She'd been leaning heavily on a counter in the   
   examining room.   
      
   "Destiny is fine.  The same kid that went ballistic   
   over sandy hands managed a blood draw without a peep."   
      
   "Are they doing the tests we need?"   
      
   "Darlene was pretty resistant but Ruby agreed to it,"   
   Scully said.  "I asked them to do a CBC with a   
   differential.  It'll tell us what we need to know."   
      
   "Whether she shows signs of sustained weightlessness."   
      
   She nodded.  Scully's admiration of Ruby continued to   
   grow.  The young woman had shown great strength and   
   maturity as she comforted both her daughter and mother.   
   Allowing them to investigate what had happened to   
   Destiny was a brave act.   
      
   Scully wasn't sure she would have had that courage.   
      
   "Is she being admitted?" Mulder asked.   
      
   "The doctors want to, but Ruby just wants to get   
   her home.  She's probably right."   
      
   "Will she let us talk to Destiny?" he asked, probably   
   remembering his lost opportunity with Ruby years ago.   
      
   "I think so," Scully said.  "But Mulder..."   
      
   "What?"   
      
   "I'm not sure how useful that's going to be.  When   
   we were driving here from the lake, Ruby asked   
   her where she'd been.  Destiny kept saying she'd been   
   'here."  She seemed completely unaware of where she'd   
   been or how long she'd been gone."   
      
   "She's an odd little girl," Mulder said quietly, so   
   Kevin wouldn't overhear.  "Maybe someone who deals   
   with young children..."   
      
   "Maybe," she mused.   
      
   "Agents."   
      
   They turned as Sheriff Linklater entered the room.   
      
   "I heard you found Destiny Morris," he said, extending   
   a hand to Mulder.  "Good work, agents.  How is she?"   
      
   "She seems fine," Scully answered as the sheriff shook   
   her hand.   
      
   "That's good.  Still no clue as to who did this?"   
      
   Mulder shook his head.   
      
   "Probably a waste of time, but I sent a team over to   
   the lake to work the scene for evidence."   
      
   "That's good," Scully said.  She doubted they would   
   find anything.   
      
   "Actually, I came here to tell you that Council Bluffs   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)