From: msnsc21@yahoo.com   
      
   ok to send to newsgroup; I'll send to Gossamer and Ephemeral.   
   Thanks!   
      
   Home Fires II part 2 of 2   
   by ML   
   disclaimers, etc. in part one   
      
   x-x-x-x   
      
   Near Hammersmith, London   
      
   JD wrapped his jacket around him a little tighter and shifted   
   his long legs.  He'd had to rent a car that was almost ridiculously   
   small, and now he sat with his knees under his chin, watching   
   Phoebe's door.  He'd made sure, courtesy of some gadgets from   
   the Gunmen, that she couldn't sneak out the back without him   
   knowing about it.  He watched her front door from across the   
   street.   
      
   The street reminded him of some of the nicer brownstone   
   neighborhoods in New York -- rows of houses with a short   
   flight of steps leading up to the front door on each.  The   
   street was well-kept, and after about nine in the evening,   
   very quiet.  Many of the houses appeared to be divided into   
   apartments, but Phoebe seemed to have one all to herself.  He   
   watched as lights winked out in windows all along the street.   
   Phoebe's stayed lit for a long time.   
      
   "How'd you get yourself involved in this, man?" he asked himself.   
   He wouldn't say he was in over his head, but he could see it from   
   where he sat.  He remembered back to the days when he was a new   
   recruit to the Bureau and all this undercover stuff had been new   
   and exciting.  That had worn off soon enough, and a good thing,   
   too.  It was a job, and if you let excitement in, fear soon   
   followed, and mistakes got made.   
      
   Not that he hadn't enjoyed what he did sometimes.  Most of the   
   time.  Getting the bad guys was a rush, for sure.   
      
   Suddenly, light flooded onto the street from Phoebe's front door.   
   She turned and shut the door behind her, and headed right across   
   the street toward him.   
      
   He got out the car and stood up, stretching his cramped muscles   
   and instinctively reaching for the gun that wasn't there.   
      
   Phoebe smiled as she approached.  "I called your hotel and left   
   a message.  Fancy meeting you here."   
      
   "What do you want, Phoebe?"  he asked warily.   
      
   "I might ask the same question of you," she said.   
      
   "I'm just waitin' for you," he said.  "Never pegged you as a   
   homebody.  I thought you might show me some of the nightlife   
   of London."   
      
   "We won't be going in that sardine tin you call a car," she   
   said.  "Come with me."  She turned back across the street to   
   her front door.   
      
   JD followed her into the house cautiously.  He caught a glimpse   
   of rooms off the hallway and noted in passing the polished   
   floors and beautiful furnishings.  Phoebe didn't pause, but   
   led him through the downstairs hallway and toward the kitchen   
   and the back door.  "I keep my car back here, in the old   
   carriage house," she explained.   
      
   They went out the back door and crossed the alley to the   
   fanciest-looking garage JD had ever seen.  Phoebe unlocked   
   the door and rolled it back to reveal a cream-colored Land   
   Rover and a green Jaguar.  "The town car and the country   
   car," she said with a little smirk.  "Which would you prefer?"   
      
   "Where are we going?"  he asked.   
      
   "Don't play coy with me.  You know exactly where we're   
   going," Phoebe said.  "Come on, the Rover it is."   
      
   Late as it was, there was still plenty of traffic until   
   they got away from the city.  They drove in silence until   
   Phoebe asked out of the blue, "How long have you known Fox?"   
      
   "Let's see...since the Academy, so quite a while now,"   
   JD said.   
      
   "Longer than his partner, then," she said.  "And he never   
   mentioned me?"   
      
   "Nope.  He wasn't one to talk about his past much."   
      
   "So is he married to his partner now?"  Phoebe asked.  "I   
   hear he has a child with her, anyway."   
      
   JD turned sideways in his seat to face Phoebe.  "Listen,   
   I'm not trying to be rude, but if you want to know more about   
   Mulder, you should ask him.  You and Mulder, that was a long   
   time ago.  You want my advice, you'll leave his personal life   
   alone.  Especially if you want his help, and Dana's."   
      
   Surprisingly, Phoebe nodded.  "You're right, of course.  There   
   are larger issues at stake here.  Thank you for reminding me."   
   There was not a hint of sarcasm in her voice.  She sounded   
   almost conciliatory.   
      
   JD nodded back and watched the lights stream by his window.   
      
   "What's your story then?"  Phoebe asked suddenly.  "Or are you   
   off-limits as well?"   
      
   "Not that much to tell," JD said.  "I'm retired from the DEA.   
   I'm a consultant now, free-lance stuff."   
      
   "What sort of free-lance stuff?"  Phoebe asked.   
      
   "Oh, you know.  This and that.  Troubleshooting. Investigations.   
   Stuff like this."   
      
   "Troubleshooting."  Phoebe had a half-smile on her face.  "I   
   quite like the sound of that.  Am I trouble, then?"  She brushed   
   her hand against his leg as she reached for the gear shift.  It   
   could have been deliberate, or not.   
      
   JD chose to ignore it.  "You tell me, Ms. Green."   
      
   "Call me Phoebe, please," she practically purred, "JD."  It was   
   the first time she'd called him by name.   
      
   JD turned away again and rolled his eyes at the dark landscape.   
   This chick shifted gears faster than anyone he'd ever seen.   
      
   Fortunately, they were almost there.  Phoebe slowed the car and   
   took a different road into the business park.  It wound around   
   to the back of the building.  She parked a distance away and led   
   the way to a nondescript side door.  "It looks like a fire exit,"   
   she said, "but it's actually not."  She fiddled with something and   
   the door swung silently inward.   
      
   The door led to a narrow hallway that seemed to follow the outer   
   wall of the building.  Recessed lights along the floor lit their   
   way dimly.  Eventually they came to another door, also flush with   
   the wall and unmarked.  Phoebe opened it the same way, and they   
   stepped into an empty laboratory.   
      
   He saw rows of laboratory benches with test tubes, Petrie dishes,   
   and all the other accouterments of a well-equipped lab.  JD was   
   pretty sure, however, that this was not one of the labs he'd seen   
   the day before.   
      
   "That's right," Phoebe said before he could ask.  "This is our   
   other operation.  The one I told Mulder about."   
      
   "It still doesn't look like the pictures you showed him," JD   
   said.   
      
   "I've called Mulder and explained the situation to him," Phoebe   
   said.  "We aren't cloning anything here, we're working on a cure   
   for a deadly virus.  You know about the virus, don't you?"   
      
   JD nodded.   
      
   "My uncle was involved in the research before.  Unfortunately,   
   most of the information was destroyed not long after he died.   
   We've had to start almost from scratch."  She walked along the   
   rows of laboratory benches.  "That's why I contacted Mulder.  I   
   didn't think he'd believe me unless he saw it in person."   
      
   "Why all that shit about cloning?"  JD asked.   
      
   "I knew that it was a subject near and dear to Dana Scully's   
   heart, and that if I could get her involvement, then I could get   
   Mulder's, too."  She looked chagrined.  "It doesn't make me out   
   as a very good person, does it?"   
      
   "Can't say that it does," JD said.   
      
   "I said the same thing to Mulder:  if I'd started out being   
   friendly and open, she would immediately have suspected   
   something.  She doesn't like me much, you know."   
      
   "Yeah, I got that," JD said.  "But I don't see anything here   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)