Life While They Live It
by. Paul Wartenberg
Part XI - 'Sincerity and Sufferings'

COPYRIGHT: Once again, let me state for the record that I am poor.  I
am not making money off this.  Mulder, Scully, and additional characters
are owned by Chris Carter and Co., and I hope
they know that it would be very nice if they didn't sue me for this.

NOTE: I do strenuously apologize for not keeping up with this storyline.  I
had become overwhelmed with another long-term project, the Senseless
'Shipper Surveys, that took most of my off-work time.  Of course, there's
some time now before Season Eight begins where I can try to do a few
more chapters of this story...hopefully.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO WAITED FOR TWO AND A HALF
YEARS FOR THIS.

RATING: Romance, but nothing naughty.  There is vulgarity, but it's
Scully saying most of it so we're cool about it, right?...oh, and hopefully
a good-sized serving of humor (at least it was funny when I wrote it...) ;-)

SUMMARY: Post-Gethsemane.  What if Mulder DID commit suicide?
What if Scully's cancer
was incurable?  I know, I know, that doesn't jibe with Redux, Redux II,
most of season 5, the movie, and all of season 6...with the possible
exception of Triangle...and also all of Season 7, with the certain exception
of all things.  Then what could possibly explain why Scully is back in high
school?...and why Mulder is taking her to the prom?...


Men are never convinced of your reasons, of your sincerity, of the
seriousness of your sufferings, except by your death.  So long as you are
alive, your case is doubtful; you have a right only to your skepticism.
- Albert Camus

Annapolis

     He decided he couldn't tell them.
     Troy sighed as he leaned his head against the car window.  His
broad shoulders were slumped, the burden still there even with his decision
made.
     Melissa sat next to him in the driver's seat, with Dana and Fox
sitting in the back, a few shopping bags in their laps.  He was somewhat
bemused that he didn't hear a peep out of the two during the drive.
They're just sitting there, he noted, not even kissing.  Were they holding
hands, perchance?...
     Troy knew he had already told them too much.  He had told Dana
about a group she shouldn't have known.  He had tipped Mulder off to the
existence of the secret that only his family was supposed to keep until the
twenty-sixth child.  Now Mulder, who seemed to have an active interest in
such things, knew the Bloodline stories were true.  At least it wasn't the
secret itself that he knew.

     He certainly couldn't tell them what Martin forced from him the
night before, when Fox's cousin had been told why the Viators were
lifetime members of a usually closed-off secret society.  Martin had
somehow already known about them, by the way he reacted to that last
name.  And he knew how to ask the right question about that secret, which
unsettled Troy slightly.  It was when Marty wanted to know how his
cousin Fox could ever come into contact with Troy's cousin Dana...what
were the odds, he asked?  As if someone else wanted the two to be
together...
     And now Troy was wondering about that too.
     This last bit of news he just heard, the revelation from Dana that
she was from the future along with Fox, that they were partners then who
died because of a conspiracy's actions against them, had caught him way
off-guard.
     He thought of the Bloodline that Dana could trace from herself and
her sister, back to her mother and Troy's mother, back to their
grandmother and the one before her, and so on back to Mary Magdalene.
The woman who traveled with Joseph of Arimathea to France.  Joseph,
entrusted with the protection of the Holy Grail that carried the Blood of
Jesus.
     It was a metaphor.  A cover story.  Magdalene was the cup that
held Jesus's Bloodline.  And from her a girl born of the Son of God.
     Troy had long been warned to keep this knowledge.  Others
wouldn't believe it.  Many would react violently.  It destroyed the image of
Christ as a Pure Man.  Even if the bonding between Jesus and Magdalene
was of pure love.  Even if it was a part of things that men and women as
man and wife pass on through their children.
     He thought of his cousin.  Surely the Bloodline would give her,
well, powers of a sort.  It could explain how she traveled back into her
youthful days.  A wish fulfillment perhaps?  But Mulder wasn't part of the
Bloodline.  How could he?...  Unless that was part of the wish too...
     Troy rubbed his head.  Once Dana had told Troy, Mulder had
confided to him that there were others, a man named Frohike, and a
nemesis they called CancerMan, whom the two teens also knew were back
in time with them.  Dana certainly wouldn't want her nemesis, possibly the
man responsible for her death, to be here.  That couldn't figure into the
equation at all.
     So.  He decided.  He had told enough.  And he should just let it go.
Travel back to Virginia Beach and be done with it.  Except one thought
still bothered him.
     He knew the Dana and Fox riding in the car with him met in the
future, which explained how they knew each other in this present time.  But
still...

London

     It was during dinner at a nice, quiet bistro that Martin Mulder
received word the Diogenes Club would be open to him tomorrow.
     He had made his phone calls as soon as he arrived.  One was to his
representative in this country, checking to see if his small collection of
finished works were still circulating the tiny-yet-influential galleries.
The
remaining twelve calls were to people associated to the Group to see if he
was allowed to enter the sanctum of the Club's library.
     It was a Parliament member from the Buckingham district that
finally secured him entry.  The same one that Marty and Fox had aided the
year before during a particularly nasty episode.  It did make the
news...somewhere on the back pages where it could be discreetly hidden,
of course...
     I'm probably going to have to do another favor for this one, Marty
sighed to himself as he hung up the restaurant's phone located at the maitre
d's reservation stand.  He didn't worry how the Group knew to call him
there: they had a trend of finding him anywhere even in an unregistered
hotel room.  Still, there were things going on with Mulder and his new
girlfriend...and that family of hers...that needed to be straightened out...
     He was stunned that week his cousin appeared out of nowhere
seeking Samantha.  Usually Fox would give a little more warning than that.
And then, the way he did his search, going to some small-time electrician
named Frohike, and then disappearing for some time for two days,
somewhere out to the Appalachians.  It made little sense.
     Marty had asked, of course, if he had used any resources available
with the Diogenes Group.  Mulder had said no, but Marty wanted to make
sure.  At least Smith would know.
     There was that family, too.  The name Scully didn't ring any bells,
but it was when they bumped into Dana's cousins the Viators that gave off
the alarm in the back of his mind.
     He never told Fox about that one task he pulled for Smith a while
back.  Oh, the two had shared a handful of missions for the Group, but this
one was given only to him.  There was a small private art collection once
belonging to a Catholic Cardinal in France that Smith wanted appraised,
and of course being the burgeoning artist he was Marty was the best
candidate.  He was sent over with rather specialized portable gear and a
short time period to do it.  At night, and avoiding rather heavily-armed
guards.
     Marty checked the artwork, and found them to be real and
immensely valuable.  Not to mention dangerously heretical.  When he
checked the history of the Cardinal, he found out why the art was so
important.  The Cardinal in question was the Royal Confessor to Louis
XVI.  Rumors had it he had taken the king's last confession before the
Parisian mobs took him to Madame Guillotine.  The Cardinal disappeared
briefly, returned to face the mobs himself, and before he died left a
confession of his own to his attending priest who fled for America.
     Martin became a little curious about what the confessions might
have been.  He spent some time in the Group's library in London once he
got back, before they had banned him from ever reading those books again.
He found the priest had changed his name, renounced his duties, and
settled into a normal married life...as Adam Viator.
     Confronting Troy Viator about his family's connection to the
Diogenes Group could have gone a lot smoother, Marty reflected as he sat
back down to his dinner.  He didn't have to ask about all that artwork
related to Rennes-Le-Chateau.  But he needed to know how Fox could
have contacted that girl Dana and all...
     Martin wondered now about the Cardinal's art collection, and
where he went those few days.  He wondered again, more fiercely now,
what the confessions might have been.  And he wondered what just was
going on with his cousin Fox, and the kind of trouble he's gotten himself
and his new-found friends into...

Crofton, Maryland

     Frohike waited in the hotel room with the files recovered from an
underground warehouse in the mountains of West Virginia and wondered if
anyone was going to call soon.

Washington, DC

     The Well-Manicured Man waited in the quiet office sipping tea.  He
was bothered slightly by the new surroundings, as the New York office
could no longer be considered safe.  This new place, recently purchased
and discreetly staffed by his own people, those he knew well, would have
to do for now.
     There were still far too many risks to reclaim some inner peace.
The consortium member, the one with the constant habit of smoking, that
had begun this war didn't seem to realize the amount of damage he had
done.  The...others that were watching them, appraising their progress,
awaiting with the threat of apocalypse.  They were bound to see the
destruction of so many projects, and perhaps take a more direct and lethal
interest in their affairs...
     There was a knock on the door.  A young man, as cleanly attired as
the Well-Manicured Man, stepped in. "He's here to see you, sir."
     The elder simply waved his hand, smiling only so slightly.
     The young man stepped aside, letting an older gentleman pass.
William Mulder, his face haggard and worried, removed his hat and made
his way to a chair facing the Well-Manicured Man.
     Once the young man closed the door behind him, Mulder spoke.  "I
hear there's been some calamity."
     "Yes.  Quite some."
     "My son.  Is he...?"
     "He's still in Annapolis with that family."  The Well-Manicured
Man took another sip from his tea.  "I should inform you that I have had to
take the mantle of First Elder now.  And I have to inform you, regarding
your son, we are going to have to take some drastic action..."

Annapolis Bay

     A dark, dripping figure rose from the waters, grabbing onto the
rocks along the shoreline of a river feeding into the bay.  The Alien Hunter
stumbled, regaining his strength, coughing out the gallon or so of water he
swallowed during his prolonged swim.
     He had spent almost a full day underwater, in battle against
Jeremiah Smith.  The cataloger proved to be a tougher prey than he
looked.  Finally, as the currents washed the two this far, the Hunter had
caught against an underwater outcropping of stones, trapping himself.
Jeremiah swam away.  Only now did he reach the surface.
     The Hunter shook, hating the coldness of the wind blowing over
the bay.  He knew, somehow, he had failed to protect the First Elder.  He
also knew there was one way now he could redeem himself...

Scully residence

     "Hey!" Dana called out as she opened the front door.  "We're
back!"
     Buddy ran for the door, barking a few times as dogs were wont to
do, even when familiar bodies were entering.  He watched the quartet of
humans dragging in many bags and sniffed each one for traces of food.
Finding none, he huffed and walked off.
     "Hey!  Hello," Melissa shouted as well, wondering where their
mother got to.  Ma Scully was staying home today to finish cleaning up
after the big family get-together that weekend.
     "Mom?" Dana slowly walked from the foyer toward the living
room.  She spotted her mother sitting there with a concerned look.  She
then spotted someone who shouldn't have been there at that moment.
"Dad?"
     Captain Scully turned about in his chair, glancing sternly, almost
angrily at his daughter.  He should have been at work at the naval base that
afternoon.  Dana shuddered briefly, then glanced past her parents...
     ...to spot two FBI agents sitting on the sofa.  Oh, Hell.
     She quickly recognized both of them, especially the early-middle-
aged one with wide-rimmed glasses.  Blevins.  She last saw him as the
Section Chief investigating Mulder's last alien autopsy case and subsequent
suicide.  The other one, a black man roughly the same age, was...
     "Reggie?" Mulder quietly noticed as he stepped in behind Dana.
He didn't say it loud enough for Agent Reggie Purdue to hear him, so
Scully hoped with luck there wouldn't be any embarrassing questions about
how two teenagers would know two FBI agents they weren't supposed to
have met yet.
     "Excuse us," Agent Blevins spoke, nodding to the just-arriving
teens, "If we could have another minute or so to speak with your parents
and..."
     "No."  Captain Scully stood up from his chair.  "We will discuss
this now.  Mister Mulder."
     Mulder shook a little.  The elder Scully's tone of voice was angry
and confrontational.  "Uh, yes?..."
     "You did tell me that you were visiting just briefly while you
inquired about a missing sister of yours."
     Mulder nodded slowly.  "Yes."
     "And I suppose that these inquiries involved the FBI at some
point."
     Mulder nodded again.  Troy and Melissa both were taking this
moment to try and step back a little.  Just in case they needed to run for
their lives.
     "I see."  Captain Scully stepped toward the young man.  "Now,
Mister Mulder, regarding the late night trip to New York that you took my
daughter on..."
     Mulder and Scully quickly glanced at each other.  Oh no.
     The elder Scully was close enough now to Mulder to whisper his
next question.  "And do you remember, Fox, that I asked you to make sure
nothing happened to my youngest daughter?"
     Mulder stared back into the captain's eyes, that showed no
emotion.  "Yes, sir," he whispered back.  "I promised."
     Scully's father blinked, just enough to show disappointment,
perhaps some touch of regret.  "But that didn't happen, did it son?"
     Mulder didn't answer that one.  Dana tried to whisper some
defense.  "Dad, if..."
     She didn't finish.  Her father glared back indicating he wanted no
protest or plea from her.  Not now.   Captain Scully stepped back and rose
his voice.  "These agents here are telling us that they've been assigned to
watch the two of you.  Because of some kind of illegal cover-up.  Worst of
all, Mister Mulder, is that they've told me a SWAT team had to smash into
your cousin's apartment to scare off a would-be assassin."
     Mulder wanted to say that he was making it sound worse than it
really was, but knew this wasn't the time for a smart-ass response.  He kept
staring at Dana, watching her expression and seeing a sign of dismay he
had seen once before.
     "Mister Mulder."  Captain Scully arched his shoulders back.  "I
don't want my children involved in this sort of thing.  This...bringing in
federal agents.  The possibility my family could get hurt.  You're not going
to be able to keep that promise you made to me."
     Dana tried one more time.  "No, dad, look..."
     "Not now, Dana."  Her father didn't use Starbuck.  This was a
serious situation.  "Mulder.  I want you to leave my house.  Now."
     Mulder glanced away from Dana to stare in shock at her father,
then nodded.  "Okay.  I'll need to...get my things."
     "Dad!  No!"  Dana stepped forward, putting an arm to her father's
side.  "Ahab, if he leaves he could..."
     "Dana!"  Her father glared at her. "Go to your room!  NOW!"
     "Bill, don't yell at our daughter like that," Mrs. Scully finally spoke
up.  But she glared at her daughter, not with anger but with regret.
     Captain Scully pursed his lips before speaking again.  "Dana.  You
didn't tell us what happened in New York.  You didn't tell us.  You didn't
trust us.  Go to your room."
     Dana, close to tears, turned and ran.  Mulder watched her go,
before turning himself to head for the basement for his gear.
     Melissa slowly glanced between her parents.  They stayed silent,
but the stares they returned at her signaled their knowledge of her
collusion
with her sister.  She silently turned and headed for Dana's bedroom to try
and console her.
     That left Troy.  For a broad-shouldered tall teenager he was
desperately looking for a place to hide.  "Um, Uncle Bill..."
     "Troy."  The elder Scully sighed, having spent too much anger to
bring it back up again.  "I think it's time you went home.  Your family's
waiting for you.  Go get your stuff."
     Troy nodded slowly, and headed up the stairs to Charles' room
where his gear was.  He passed Dana's closed door, hearing whispers but
not tearful emotions.  He sighed, gathering his belongings stuffed under
Charlie's bed, especially the small kit he had retrieved from his father's
car
the night before.  The teen returned to the foyer where his aunt waited.
     "Well, Aunt Maggie, I guess..."  Troy didn't finish.
     She smiled and hugged him.  "Give my best to your mother."
     "Is...Dana going to be...?"  Troy tried to ask, but he noticed his
uncle standing nearby.  "Well, good-bye then..."
     He headed out the door, but waited outside.
     Mulder trudged up from the basement, one bag slung over his
shoulder and a suitcase in the other hand.  He stood quietly while Mrs.
Scully hugged him, and waited in front of Mr. Scully in case there was
anything left to say.
     The two FBI agents walked up.  "If it's all right, Mr. Mulder,"
Agent Purdue spoke, "we'll tag along with you.  Make sure you get to
your destination all right."
     Mulder scowled just slightly at the two of them.  He wasn't sure if
it was safe to go with Blevins as he never did entirely trust the section
chief
assigned over the X-Files, but he ought to be able to trust his old partner
Purdue from another lifetime...
     "Mister Mulder."  Captain Scully finally spoke.  "I do hope you find
your sister."
     Mulder nodded.  "Thank you sir."
     Blevins opened the door, letting Purdue lead out with Mulder in
tow.  Blevins nodded to the parents.  "I am sorry if this caused any
problems, but I felt you...did need to know."
     Troy watched the two FBI agents escort Mulder to his car, which
was parked down on the street.  "Mulder?  All right if I..."
     "No, Troy."  Mulder tossed his stuff into his car.  The agents turned
to their car, parked on the other side of the street, looking to tail Mulder
to
wherever he had to go.  "Just...do what your uncle said.  Go home."
     Troy watched them drive away.  He thought for a moment, cursed
himself, then headed for his car.

     Scully waited in her bedroom.  It had been some time since Missy
came in to try and console her sister, and more time since Mulder and Troy
had been tossed out of the house.  Practically an hour ago she was enjoying
life again.  Suddenly, everything seemed so...empty.
     The door opened.  She was slightly surprised to see her mother
instead of Ahab, expecting her father to resume a lecture or twelve on how
little girls should behave.
     "Dana, darling," Mrs. Scully sighed, sliding onto the bed next to her
youngest daughter.  "I know this is a little difficult right now..."
     "It wasn't as bad as those FBI agents made it sound, mom..."
     "Little one."  Now even Margaret was getting stern.  "This isn't
some Nancy Drew Hardy Boys story book.  You can't go around getting
into adventures and fights and God knows what else."
     "Mom, I..."  Dana tried to think of something to say, something to
assure her that her little girl could take care of herself against school
bullies, alien assassins, and other common adversaries.  She couldn't.
     Mrs. Scully quietly placed a hand on her daughter's knee and
smiled.  Finally, she noted, "Your father's not angry at you.  He's just a
little disappointed, that's all."
     "That I didn't tell him about Marty's apartment?"
     "Mostly, yes."
     "Well, is he disappointed with Bill then?  He wasn't even
chaperoning at that point."
     Mrs. Scully arched an eyebrow.  "Your father's already on the
phone trying to pull a few strings with the Annapolis commandant to have
your brother working kitchen detail for the rest of his life.  But don't you
start trying to point blame somewhere else, little one."
     Scully sighed.  "Mom..."
     "Dana."  Her mother hugged her and stood up.  "You know prom's
out of the question now."
     Scully nodded quietly.
     Mrs. Scully shook her head and turned for the door.  "Your friend
Sylvia's probably going to be more upset about that than you are."
     "Knowing Sylvia," Dana muttered.  "Mom.  I know...I get the
feeling you tried to stand up for me and Fox today.  I...thanks, Mom."
     Her mother didn't turn back as she opened the bedroom door to
walk out.  "You're still grounded until you're 40, little one..."

Undisclosed Hotel
Crofton, MD.
Three hours later

     Troy noticed one FBI agent standing next to the dark sedan in the
parking lot.  He think Mulder called him Purdue.  Since Mulder's future
self was in the FBI as well, Troy assumed that Purdue fellow was an old
friend of Mulder's.  Hopefully, he can be trusted.
     Troy knocked on the door to Mulder's hotel room.  "Fox?  It's
Troy.  I wanted to talk."
     There was a pause, the sound of things being knocked about in the
room.  The door swung open with Mulder standing there with an ice
bucket in his hand.  "You followed me here?"
     Troy nodded.  "Look, there might be a few things going on with
your cousin Martin I should tell you..."
     "Hold on."  Mulder handed the bucket over to Troy. "Make like
you're getting ice for me.  The machine's down at that hallway.  But I want
you to actually take the hallway to the other side of the hotel building.
Go
to room 207.  Ask for a Lone Gunman."
     Mulder closed the door on a confused Troy who stood there for a
minute with an ice bucket in his hands wondering just how crazier this
whole thing was going to get.
     "I should go back to Virginia," he muttered as he passed the ice
machine.  He glanced over his shoulder, seeing if the FBI agents were
tracking his moves.  Troy wondered where the other FBI agent got to.
     He snuck to the other side of the building and took the stairs up to
the second floor.  He knocked on the door of 207.  "Who is it?" a voice
called out.
     "I'm looking for a Lone Gunman?"  Troy waited a second before
the door swung open to reveal a short middle-aged man with glasses two
sizes too big for his eyes and a Grateful Dead t-shirt about five years
faded.
The man glanced him over.  "I don't know you."
     "Mulder told me to ask for you."
     "You're supposed to be getting ice, right?  What's your name?"
     "Troy.  Viator."
     The man scowled at him.
     "Mulder's a boyfriend to my cousin Dana."  Troy hoped that might
clear things up a little.
     The man's face fell.  "Boyfriend?  Scully and he...?  Damn lucky
bastard..."
     The man walked away from the door but left it open.  He searched
for something under the bed sheets and pulled out some folders.  He
walked back and handed them over.  "Stuff these somewhere and sneak
'em back to Mulder, will you?"
     "Sure, uh...?"
     "Name's Frohike."  The man shook his head as he closed the door.
"Boyfriend.  Damn..."

     Troy got the folders back to Mulder's room hopefully without the
FBI agents noticing the sudden girth around his waist or that the ice bucket
was still empty.
     Troy fished the folders out from under his shirt, scratching at a
paperclip stuck to the top of his underwear.  He snagged it and threw it
near the wastebasket.  "Well, this is getting to be a little bit more fun."
     "Sorry about that, man," Mulder replied, plopping the folders onto
the bed.
     "Ah," Troy added, wincing a little.  "I just, well to kinda say it,
wanted to apologize about Uncle Bill..."
     "No, that's..." With a sigh, Mulder rubbed one hand across the top
of his head.  "He's looking out for Scully..."
     "...Try calling her Dana..."
     "...Okay, Dana.  He...well, we can't tell him."
     Troy sat cross-legged on the floor.  "So what will you do now?"
     "You met Frohike."
     "Yeah."
     Mulder grabbed the top file.  "We're going to keep looking for my
sister."
     "What about Dana?"
     Mulder paused.  "I'll come back to tell her.  When this is over.  I
promise."
     Troy leaned up a little from where he was sitting to glare at the pile
of folders.  "And what exactly is...this?"
     "This."  Mulder flipped through the papers in his hands.  "Some of
these documents were ones I had known about in...my other life,
documents involving my sister.  Frohike and I went for a day to the
underground facility to take another look around..."
     "Don't these places have security or guards or something?" Troy
asked.
     "Security, yes.  No guards, though.  I think they wanted to avoid
having guards walk around all the time and have people wonder what's
being guarded."  Mulder stopped to read through one sheet, then
continued. "Last time, there were people hunting us, so we didn't have
enough time to check all the files.  And there were lots and lots of files.
Originally Scully and I found just the medical documents.  Frohike spotted
another level of files."
     Mulder raised the folder in his hands.  "These.  The experimental
files."
     Troy scowled.  "The what?"
     Mulder showed him.  Detailed documentation of physical and
psychological manipulation of human test subjects.  Very detailed.  Troy
blanched at the photos of the woman and what had...  "Oh God.  Your
sister?"
     Mulder shook his head as Troy pointed to the photo in that file.
"No.  This was a woman in Allentown.  Scully met a group of women there
who were abducted and experimented on.  Just like...she was..."
     "Dana?!" Troy gasped, then worried his voice may have gotten too
loud.  "This happened to Dana?"
     "It's how she died.  It's why I killed myself."  Mulder closed the
folder.  "But right now, in this year, the women are still alive and
hopefully
we can save them before...they all die too.  I'm looking for a location,
some place to find the men responsible...to find a way to confront them and
stop them in their tracks."
     "Bastards."  Troy couldn't believe it.
     They each read through the files.  Troy at one point asked what
specifically to look for since a mailing address didn't seem to come with
the forms, but Mulder shook his head.  He'd know it once he saw it.
     Troy finished one folder and handed it over to Mulder.  "Have you
thought about taking this to the...wait."
     Mulder took the folder from him.  "Wait for what?"
     "I just realized why you aren't using your connections with the
Group.  You think they're involved with all of this."
     Mulder glanced away.  "Maybe.  I'm not sure."
     Troy's eyes widened in shock.  The possibility of being associated
with such a group suddenly didn't appeal to him.  He blinked, deciding it
could wait.  He grabbed another folder of another abducted woman,
wincing at a new image of degradation.
     Troy didn't notice how dark it got outside after a few hours of
reading and re-reading through the files.  He didn't notice, actually, until
the hotel lights went out.

Scully residence
Annapolis

     Scully was still sitting in her room.  Dinner had been called with
only Charles and Melissa able to attend.  She had an image of Buddy trying
to take her seat at the table, knowing how much the German Shepherd
wanted a shot at food before it became a table scrap.
     Someone knocked, waited for a second, then opened the door.  Her
father stood silently, holding a lukewarm dinner plate in his hand.  "Here's
dinner, Starbuck."
     Scully sighed, noticing her father's attempt to start a normal
conversation.  "Thank you, dad."
     The elder Scully walked in and placed it on her work desk, clearing
some space by moving her homework out of the way.  "Dana, I know
you're angry with me right now.  Thinking I'm ruining your life, maybe..."
     "Dad.  I know you're trying to look out for me..."
     He turned to face her, his expression showing he knew there was a
rebuttal coming.
     Scully stopped and changed what she was going to say.  "...and I
know there's no argument that will change your mind."
     The captain sighed.  "Two new FBI agents just checked in with us.
Someone named Skinner said to maintain an eye on you just in case."
     Scully nodded to herself.  She was worried with Blevins and Purdue
appearing that someone at the FBI had changed orders, forcing the agents
to make contact with her folks and cause a situation to separate herself and
Mulder.  Someone was keeping a lookout for them still, which was good.
     Her father stood, somewhat awkwardly, not knowing what to say
next.  He didn't want to begin another argument by bringing up the New
York incident.  Perhaps later, when both sides have cooled down a bit.  He
nodded to her, and turned to go.
     Scully watched him head for the door.  "Ahab?  Is there a chance I
can speak to Fox anytime soon?  Just to...see how he's doing?"
     Her father paused.  "Not right now, Starbuck.  No."
     She sighed as he closed the door behind him.  She stepped to the
dinner plate, noting a nice Alfredo pasta dish.
     Just as she picked up her fork, the lights went out.

Crofton, MD

     "Shit!" Mulder cried out.  Troy heard him stumble from the bed in
the darkness.  They both stood, with Troy reaching for the curtains,
tripping over the furniture as he did so.  As he parted the curtains, a
small
sliver of moonlight came in, giving them a chance to adjust their vision to
the night.
     "Dammit!" Mulder added.
     "What?"
     "The light on my watch isn't working." Mulder stumbled away
from the window.  "Hell!"
     "What's with all the expletives, Mulder?"
     Mulder returned to Troy's range of vision, holding some of the
papers.  "They're coming."
     Which wasn't a good time to hear a hard pounding knock at the
door.  Two guys committed themselves to a high-pitched girly "AHHHH!"
     "Mulder!" It sounded like Frohike.  Troy opened the door to spot
moonlight reflecting off wide-rimmed glasses.  "Things are getting freaky
right now!"
     Mulder quietly brushed past the two of them, glancing toward the
parking lot.  "Hey, where are Purdue and Blevins?"
     "The FBI guys?" Frohike followed him.  "Damn.  I don't know."
     "Who's coming?" Troy called out.  "What the Hell's going on?"
     He headed out to the parking lot, going toward his car.  Behind
him, he could hear the shouts of the other hotel guests milling about in the
darkness asking the same thing he was.  He glanced over to where Mulder
and Frohike were dividing up the folders between them.
     Troy realizing he could see them pretty good now that there was
some light coming back.  At least, he thought it was the parking lot lights.
He suddenly noticed the lights were getting too bright.
     And then the entire area was bathed in light.
     Troy rushed to his car, pulling out his keys and looking to unlock
the trunk.  He placed a hand on the car's body and pulled away in pain.  It
felt hot.  Need overrode the pain.  He slid the key into the lock trying not
to touch the car directly.  He popped the trunk open, and looked inside for
his gear.  Especially the gear his father insisted his boys carry with them
just in case.
     Behind him, the shouts and cries of the hotel guests faded.  The
light still surrounded them, but it didn't feel warm, not like the metal
body
of the car or the metal box sitting there.  The box containing counter-
surveillance equipment, ear noise filters, the stuff Robert called "spy
gadgets."
     Troy gasped when he saw the gear.  Melted.
     He glanced back to where Mulder and Frohike would be.  The light
surrounded the area but wasn't blinding.  He spotted others standing about,
some glancing up, others just...standing there.
     There.  Mulder was further down the parking lot, running.  Troy
started to chase after him, not yet wondering where Frohike might have
gone.  Or...why was that?...
     As Troy caught up to Mulder he saw others walking toward him,
no they were standing with him.  Their shadows actually, that was what he
saw, which seemed odd since the light was coming in every direction,
surrounding the whole place, surrounding himself...No.  Wait...
     Troy blinked.  Maybe once.
     And the light was gone.
     Troy stood for another minute or so, adjusting back to the
darkness, before he heard Frohike's voice.  "Mulder!  Mulder!..."
     He turned, watching Frohike walking back into the parking lot,
carrying a few folders, but not all of the ones he and Mulder were handling.
"What...what was that?"
     Frohike glanced about frantically, even more so once the parking
lot lights, the real lights, came back on.  "Dammit.  He's gone."

Scully residence

     The lights flickered back on only after a few seconds of being off.
Scully shook her head.  There's a possible thunderstorm on the way in...
     But she noticed the digital clock on her desk.  Even in a short
power outage, the thing always goes into the blinking-to-tell-you-to-reset-
me-again mode.  This time, it was working perfectly normal.
     Except that Scully was damn sure it shouldn't be saying it was nine
minutes later.
     She stormed out of her room, heading downstairs to the other
clocks.  Her father spotted her, calling out to remind her she needed to
stay
in her room, but she didn't hear the specific words.  Instead she noticed
the
other clocks.
     They were all normal.  The spring-turned wall clocks were normal.
The digital clocks were all flashing.  Except for hers.
     "Something's wrong," she stated as fact.  Scully turned to face her
father, who was calmly walking up to her.  "Something's happened to
Mulder."

     The two FBI agents watching over the Scullys spent a half-hour
trying to reach their superiors and get a report in from Blevins or Purdue.
They finally got word back, but spent another half-hour arguing with
someone else back at headquarters double-checking what it all meant.
They finally told Scully that Mulder had disappeared.  Blevins was
reporting that Mulder's hotel was empty and disheveled as though there
might have been a struggle.  A young man whom Blevins noted was at the
Scully's home earlier was seen at the hotel.  Details were sketchy.  The
hotel guests remember seeing something but couldn't specify what it was.
Purdue had checked in, trying to coordinate a search detail with local
authorities.  Mulder may have run off somewhere into the woods of
Maryland.
     Scully returned to her room, with her father sternly leading her
back.  He wanted to reinforce his belief that she shouldn't be running off
into trouble.  They both did so silently, knowing exactly what the other was
thinking.
     She sat and sulked.  This reminded her of a few times when she was
ordered to stay at the bureau, to not chase after Mulder, to not disrupt the
chain of command.  This time it was worse.  This time it was her father she
needed to disobey.
     The phone rang.  Scully heard someone downstairs answering it.
Charlie's voice said a few things before going silent.  The conversation did
seem to take some time before Dana heard her mother's voice.  She began
talking as if she was now on the phone.  A few seconds later, someone
quietly opened the door.
     Charles stuck his head through the opening and whispered.  "It's
Troy.  He saw Fox disappear at the hotel.  He said he wants to see you.
He said he's changed his mind."

TO BE CONTINUED
Part XII - 'Price of Admiralty'