Title:        The Rescue
              Written 11/4/2000

Author:       Fatcat FatCat33047@yahoo.com

Rating:       PG (or less)

Category:     X-File/MSR

Spoilers:     Everything up to November 5, 2000.

Summary:      Tomorrow night everyone will know Chris Carters
              story.  This is my Season 8 answer.

Disclaimer:   So you think you're the only ones with answers, Mr.
              Carter?  Thanks again to FOX, 1013 and all those
              others for the use of their characters.  I hope it
              continues to be fun during season 8 and 9.


Author's notes:  Boy was I an optimist!  I came across this little
gem while I was cleaning up some old files.  It was written prior
to 11/5/2000, the date that stands in X-Files infamy as the opening
show for Season 8.  I thought I would dust it off and clean it up a
little and post it for the fun of it.  This was meant to be a
slightly humorous look at what could happen.  Hope you enjoyed the
look back at a hopeful fan's opinion three years ago.

Feedback always appreciated.  Heck, I'll print it and use it to
decorate my Christmas tree!

XXXXXXXXXXX

Dana Scully slowly walked the last few steps to the door of her
office.  She hesitated in front of the locked door and looked at
the nameplates hung there.

Fox Mulder, Special Agent.

Dana Scully, Special Agent.

She raised her fingers to trace Mulder's name.  It seemed so long
ago that she had first laid eyes on this nameplate.  Fox Mulder was
a name she had heard for years.  He had a reputation for brilliance
and eccentricity from the day he walked out of the FBI Academy.  His
solve rate with the VCS was legend.

She had her own nameplate up there now.  She had her own reputation
and right now it was fueling the rumor mill as fast as her waistline
was expanding.

She realized the phone in the office was ringing and quickly
unlocked the door to answer it.

"Scully."

"Ah!  Ms. Scully.  This is Mr. Mulder's interior decorator.  I need
to meet with you to discuss the fabric swatches for the new couch
in the living room."

"Decorator?  Is this you, Frohike?  I don't..."

"Perhaps you remember meeting me when I was doing his bedroom.  We
had an interesting discussion about the mirror tiles over the
waterbed.  Would tonight at the 'Jose's Taco World' near his
apartment be convenient?  Say 6:00PM?  I must go now.  I have
another client waiting for me at his home.  See you there."

The phone went dead.

Scully stood glaring at the receiver until she realized her feet
hurt.  She was definitely going to have to get some more comfortable
shoes.  Right after she killed Frohike.

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number for the Lone
Gunmen.

"Hello," Byers answered.

"Hi, it's me.  Turn off the tape."  She waited.

"Hello Agent Scully, what can I do for you?"

"Is Frohike there?"

"Yes.  He's back in the dark room working with Langley on the
pictures for our latest edition of the newsletter.  I'll get him."

She could hear Byers setting down the phone and walking away to get
him.

Frohike's gravelly voice came on the phone, "Hey, Scully, what's
up?"

"Frohike, did you just call me and ask me to go to 'Jose's Taco
World' for supper?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, but if you have a craving, I'm always up for Mexican food,"
Frohike quickly responded.

"No, I couldn't touch Mexican food right now," she said.

"I do, however, want you three to get over to Mulder's apartment as
quickly as possible.  I just had a very strange call and I'm going
to need your assistance.  Bring your van and the standard
equipment," Scully said cryptically.  She was aware of the perils
of saying too much on an unsecured phone line.

She made a quick call to Kim, Skinner's secretary to tell her she
would be out for a while.  She quickly put the files she had
been working on the day before into her briefcase.  As a second
thought, she put a few rounds of extra ammunition for her handgun in
the bag before she exited the office and drove to Alexandria.

She had been parked outside Mulder's apartment for about ten minutes
when she saw the Gunmen's van circle the block and park in the
alley.  She got out of her car and went in the front door with her
key.  She met Frohike and Byers in the hall and motioned them to
stand back.  She drew her gun and quickly opened the door to
Mulder's apartment.

A middle-aged man sat in the middle of Mulder's couch, watching one
of the videos that Mulder didn't own.

"Your boyfriend has pretty smutty taste in movies.  It took me
three months to convince my wife I really wanted to watch these
videos with her after we switched back into our own bodies.  I've
got to hand it to him, though, it really perked up my married life.
Hello, Agent Scully.  I hear that you have a bun in the oven.
Mulder's I hope."

"Who are you and how do you know my name?"  Scully pointed her
weapon at his heart.  "Turn off the set and slowly put your hands
up behind your head.  Search the apartment guys," she said to Byers
and Frohike as the stranger complied with her orders.

He smirked at her but followed her orders.  "I wasn't sure you would
get my hint.  I wasn't on a secure line so I couldn't take a chance
of giving you even my first name.  I have a life too, such as it is,
Agent Scully.  I don't want it to end any faster than necessary.
I'm taking a great risk just being here right now."

"Who are you and what do you want?"  Scully spat.  She instinctively
didn't like or trust this man.

"I heard Mulder was gone.  I want to help."  He looked sheepish as
he said, "I know that sounds weird coming from someone like me, but
I feel I owe Mulder, and you, somehow.  Look, things have been
better between my wife and me ever since that time and I... I just
want to try to help him."

"Help him?  How do you even know him?  What time are you referring
to?  If you're one of his friends you would have heard that Mulder
has been missing since last May.  What information could you
possibly have about someone you don't even know?"

Frohike and Byers reentered the room.  Frohike crossed over to the
stereo and turned on some music to cover their conversation, just
in case.  Scully smiled at him as he returned and stood behind her
next to Byers.

"Can I put my hands down now, Dana?  If you let me get my I.D. from
my coat pocket, I think it will help explain everything.  Don't
shoot, okay?"  The stranger slowly lowered his arms and pulled out
his wallet.  "You look like you could use a seat, too.  Come on,
you have two protectors.  Have a seat.  I know my wife gets tired
very quickly now that she's pregnant."

Scully glared at him but did move to sit down in the chair across
from him.  She kept her gun trained on his chest, as she motioned
for Byers to get his I.D.  She was shocked by what she saw.

"Morris Fletcher.  You... you're with The Company?"  She tried to
grasp this new piece of information.  The Central Intelligence
Agency!  What interest did the CIA have in Mulder's disappearance?
She studied the man in front of her for a minute.  She had met him,
but she couldn't remember when.  Where was Mulder's eidetic memory
when she needed it?

Frohike and Byers were astounded by her statement.

She stared at him for a moment then pulled out her cell phone with
her left hand and called Langly.  "Is it all clear?"

"Yeah, there's no surveillance equipment within a three block
radius except for some guy taping his girlfriend cheating on him."

"Thanks.  Come on up."  Scully ended the call and glared at the
intruder.  "All right, Mr. Fletcher, I'm going to lower my gun, but
I still have the safety off.  Don't try anything.  What do you want
to tell me?"

"I know where Mulder is."

If he had pulled the pin on a hand grenade, the stranger couldn't
have shocked the three occupants of the room more.

"How do you know where he is?" Scully finally asked.  "No, wait.
Start from the beginning.  When did you meet Mulder and me?"

The stranger nodded and began to explain.  "I met both you and your
partner previously in the desert around Area 51.  You were in the
wrong place at the wrong time.  Due to a spatial anomaly in the
time warp continuum created by a cloaked aircraft that was being
tested there, Mulder and I traded bodies.  I'm not sure you
believed what happened even when we were switched back."  Fletcher
looked at Scully, waiting for any kind of recognition to dawn in her
expression.

When she didn't respond, he continued.  "For several days I had
access to Mulder's single life and Mulder was stuck in my marriage.
I toyed with the idea of never going back to my life until I saw my
wife interacting with Mulder while he was in my body.  She was so
jealous of you Scully, she was breathing fire.  The man she thought
to be me wanted only you.  She actually cried when she thought she
had lost me to you.  I'll never forget how I felt, knowing she
loved me that much after all the years and all the crap I've put
her through..."

Fletcher was quiet for a while, lost in memories, before he
finished the story.  "Well, I knew I had to intervene and get my
life back.  When you and I met with the other agents in the desert
to try to reverse the process, for some reason, I was the only one
that didn't forget the previous few days.  Do you remember now,
Dana?  I was the one who cleaned out Mulder's bedroom and bought
the waterbed.  You thought I was Mulder, the same man you always
knew, and were very confused when I came on to you."

Scully stared at the man in front of her, wondering if he were
telling the truth.  She knew that she had repressed memories
before, could this be another incident that she couldn't handle
remembering?  The missing memories of the time during her abduction
were still a blank.  As she concentrated, she began to remember
flashes of the incident he was referring to.  She remembered the
waterbed and how repulsed she had felt when Mulder had tried to
seduce her as they had laid back looking at the mirrors above.  It
hadn't felt like Mulder and she wanted nothing to do with him.  She
seemed to remember staring down the sights of her gun at a hand-
cuffed Mulder.

Everything fell into place and she realized she did have fragments
of memories that included Fletcher.  He had assumed that their
relationship was more than professional and had thought to take
advantage of her while switched with Mulder.  Another flash of
memory revealed her standing close to Mulder/Fletcher as he put a
few sunflower seeds in her hand.  'If you weren't so damn ugly, I'd
kiss you'.  Even though she accepted that he was telling her at
least parts of the truth, she didn't trust him.  "Why should I
believe you now?" she asked raising the gun slightly.

Morris raised his hands and started to squirm.  "You know I'm
telling the truth.  I could tell you knew I wasn't Mulder as soon
as I opened my mouth.  Dana, you handcuffed me to the bed."

The three Gunmen stared, slack jawed, eyes popping at Scully.

"I told you she's hot!" Frohike murmured to his friends.

"Where is he?" Scully whispered.  She was near her breaking point
and everyone in the room could see it.  Her gun hand began to
tremble and Morris Fletcher's eyes widened.  He was sure she was
going to shoot him.

"Dana, please.  I'll tell you," he babbled.  "I'll tell you
everything! I need a map to show you at the same time.  The
location doesn't have a name.  It's a secret installation disguised
by an abandoned mining operation outside Beckley, West Virginia.  I
was in the assigned security force that unloaded all the 'abductees'
collected.  They are undergoing brainwashing even as we speak.
They're all being given memories of the 'testing' at the hands of
the 'aliens'.  They will not have a mark on them and everyone will
think they're crazy.  But they will remember the pain and their
abductors so completely they will never be convinced otherwise."

"Why?  Why are they doing this to Mulder, to all those people?"
Scully demanded.

"Why?" Morris spat.  "Because they can."

"What do you get out of this?  Why do you care?"  Scully
challenged.

"I told you.  I feel like I owe Mulder a big debt.  He opened my
eyes to how much I love my wife and kids.  I owe him big time."
Morris delivered that statement with a quiet dignity that was
unusual for him.  He seemed to feel uncomfortable with the depth of
emotion he exhibited before Scully and the others but he also
seemed sincere.

'Because they can.'  How many atrocities had been committed by the
human race just because they could?  How far back into our history
did one have to go to find the time this first happened?  How far
into our future will we have to go to find the last?  Scully chewed
on this as she listened to the conversation swirling around her.
It was all too much and she did something she had not done for
several weeks.  She fainted.

Because she was still seated, the four men arguing about the timing
for the assault to free Mulder back did not notice it at first.  As
soon as Byers realized what had happened, he quickly mobilized the
others to find a footstool and elevate her feet.  In a matter of
moments, after silent incriminating glares being exchanged by the
men, Scully regained consciousness.  Frohike offered her a glass of
water and she gratefully took a drink before continuing the
conversation.

"All right, all right!" she said.  "Let me get this straight.
They've used stealth technology to kidnap these people and are
brainwashing them before returning them?  What possible application
could a brainwashing technique such as this have in peace time?"
Scully asked.

"Dana, Dana, Dana."  Morris Fletcher shook his head.  "Why do you
think anyone would develop such a weapon?  Why did we develop
Nuclear Warfare?  Chemical Warfare?  Biological Warfare?  We want to
be number one in the weapons race.  Don't be fooled by all the
'Kinder, Gentler' talk of the politicians.  We are constantly
increasing our arsenal of weapons, accelerating the development of
weapons and ways to subdue our enemies.  How else will we win all
the marbles?"

"But, why Mulder?  Why all the abductees?"  Scully asked.

"Yeah," Frohike interjected.  "Why not just try it out on the
enlisted men like they have in the past?"

"What group of people could they just snatch in the night with no
new elaborate explanation needed?"  Morris shrugged.  "They were
all people that had a history of disappearance and return.  They
were already less than credible in the eyes of society.  If they
could implant these scenes of torture in the minds of these people
they could follow them and document that the process was a success.
Their wild stories would only fuel the indifference of the law and
the public.  They were the perfect group to test the new transport
and the new brainwashing chemicals and techniques on.  Do you
understand now?"

"Yes, unfortunately I do."  Scully closed her eyes and thought for
a minute.  "Whatever we are we going to do next needs to involve
food; I can't take a chance of keeling over during an assault."  All
the men nodded agreement.  "And I think we should call Walter
Skinner."  A maelstrom of discussion erupted over her last
statement.  Everyone but her thought that it was a bad idea to
include A.D. Skinner in their plans.

"That's it!"  Scully yelled over their bickering.  "Walter is in.
He needs this as much as I do.  He feels he 'lost' Mulder and it's
devastated him.  He deserves the chance to redeem himself.  That's
my final decision."

Everyone in the room realized when Scully spoke with that kind of
resolve it was a done deal.

A call to Walter Skinner by Scully brought immediate response.  He
arrived at Mulder's door within a half an hour, a huge order of
Chinese take-out in hand.

He was mildly surprised when Langly opened the door and ushered him
in.  You could have knocked him over with a feather when he saw the
rest of the assembly.

"Agent Scully, Byers, Frohike, Langly."  He glared at the unknown
man in the room.  The look of this stranger made him uneasy.

"Sir, I would like you to meet Morris Fletcher.  He's with The
Company.  He knows where Mulder is."  Scully came straight to the
point.

After hearing the story and a few rounds of verbal sparing with
Fletcher, Skinner looked at Scully and asked, "Do you believe him,
Scully?"

Scully, who was immersed in a huge plate of food at the time, looked
straight into Skinner's eyes and said, "I feel his explanation is
more plausible than an alien abduction.  I think we should at least
go to West Virginia to check his story out.  He is willing to go
with us."  She shrugged and said, "Besides, I can always shoot him
later if he's lying."  She calmly continued to eat with her chop
sticks.

'So much for the weaker sex' was the general consensus of all the
men in the room.

Walter Skinner glared at Fletcher and growled, "You won't even get a
chance, Agent Scully.  He'll already be dead."

"Is this any way to talk about a man who had brought you your first
real lead?"  Morris Fletcher paled and put down his plate of food.

They continued their discussion for another two hours.  Langly,
Frohike and Skinner left to make all the arrangements and to gather
the items they all felt they needed.  They were to meet back at
Mulder's apartment in three hours.

"I suggest you sleep, Scully.  Byers can watch Fletcher while you
get cleaned up and take a quick nap.  I doubt you'll be able to
sleep much in the car," Skinner advised her.

Scully quietly agreed and went into the bedroom as the others
left.  She packed an overnight bag with some clothes for Mulder and
toiletries that they would both need.  She then showered and got
dressed in some black maternity jeans and a black turtleneck sweater
she found in Mulder's closet.  It was huge on her, but made her feel
closer to him already.  It seemed as if her head had hardly touched
the bed when she was awakened to leave.

She stood at the alley entrance to Mulder's apartment building,
staring in amazement at the van Skinner had brought back.

There were Amway bumper stickers on it and a large banner that
proclaimed 'F.E.D. 2000 Charleston, WVA'" in the back window.

"Sir?"  She turned an incredulous face to Skinner.  "Aren't we
supposed to be sneaking up on them?"

Walter Skinner had one of his rare smiles on his face.  It looked
out of place.  "This is just to get us to West Virginia, Scully.  I
needed to find a way to transport our motley crew that wouldn't
arouse suspicion.  There's a large Amway function this weekend in
Charleston and I felt this would suffice to get us out of
Washington.  I have a fully equipped assault van waiting for us
outside Beckley.  It's in a small community named Stanaford, along
with some well-trained men I have known and trusted or a long
time.  Sometimes you need to hide in plain sight."

"Bitchen'!"  Was the general consensus of the Lone Gunmen.

Morris Fletcher just rolled his eyes and crawled into the back.

The rest of them piled in and they took off.  The trip across
Virginia was uneventful except for the number of rest stops they had
to make.  Of all the men in the van, only Morris Fletcher had
traveled with a pregnant woman before.  His smirk did not endear him
to any of the others.  They arrived in Stanaford in the early hours
of the morning.  Skinner's contact met them and took the van to
ditch it.

The next few hours of waiting were the hardest of Dana Scully's
life.  They needed to wait for the cover of darkness to close in on
the hidden facility.  The plan was polished and timed.

As she had drawn closer to Beckley, she had become more and more
confident that Mulder was near.  She was concerned about his mental
state but she knew he was alive.  She stayed calm by thinking of
the new life growing in her.  She slowly stroked her gently rounded
stomach and concentrated on Mulder.  'Help me stay strong, baby.  We
need to find your daddy.  Hold on Mulder, we're coming.  It's not
aliens.  We're going to shut down this operation.  You will be safe
by midnight.  Hold on, Mulder, I need you more than ever before.'
She thought of how happy he would be with her news.  'Did you know
I'm pregnant with your baby?  I found out right after you
disappeared.  I don't know how.' She mentally blushed, 'I know how
it happened, Mulder.  But we both thought I was barren.  If anyone
could make a miracle I should have known it would be you.'

Only with Mulder could she believe in miracles.  'Your child and I
are on our way to rescue you.  Don't give in to the lies being told
to you.  It's just another conspiracy.  Just human monsters, Mulder,
not aliens.'  She prayed that Morris Fletcher's story was true.
'Think of me!  Mulder, think of names for our child!  What do you
want Mulder?  A girl or a boy?  I don't care.  I just want a
husband to go with a healthy baby.   Will you marry me Mulder?
Will you be ours for the rest of your life?  Think of us!  Hold on
Mulder, we're coming....' These thoughts circled Dana's mind like a
mantra.  They allowed her to remain calm and ready to act.  'Hold on
my love, we're coming!'

Over and over her love poured out with her mental messages.  She
envisioned a warm glow of love and comfort surrounding Mulder very
similar to the feeling she had during the presence of the Angel who
had come to earth to rescue his four children from the Devil, very
similar to the glow she felt during her vision at the Buddhist
Temple.

She had not previously believed in the ability to project thought,
and she certainly was not one who had ever tested as having one
grain of psychic ability.  But as she immersed herself in these
thoughts, concentrating on being loving and supportive, she began
to believe she could feel Mulder's presence with her mind.  She
could feel his questioning, could feel his love being radiated back
to her.

She concentrated harder trying to get him to maintain the contact.
She needed to know how to reach him once the perimeter of the
compound was breached.  They were not communicating with mental
pictures or words, just feelings.  She needed to be able to feel
the strengthening or weakening of his thoughts to guide her to him.
She did not trust Morris Fletcher to know everything or to
completely tell the truth.  She needed to trust her love, her own
abilities, her own proof.

"Agent Scully, it's time," Skinner said.

They all dressed in the black clothing provided by the assault
team.  Skinner's friends had provided not just bulletproof vests,
but full body armor that was lightweight and flexible for all of
them.  Tight fitting helmets outfitted with an oxygen supply, night
vision cameras and radios were passed around.  Assault weapons
loaded with armor piercing bullets were given to the trained
agents.

The Gunmen were given the body armor even though two of them were
going to be on the outside of the compound.  Their expertise in
handling the electronic equipment needed to breach the security
systems required them to remain with the van.  The third, Frohike,
was given a weapon with rubber bullets to stun instead of kill.  He
tucked some of Langly's electronic gadgets in for good measure.

Every member of the team had stun rods that doubled as a club.
Various areas of the body armor held every conceivable item they
could need for an operation of this scope.  Everything from nail
polish to duct tape to an emergency medical kit had been efficiently
stored on their persons.  The trained assault members had concealed
weapons and carried a spare suit of armor for Mulder.

At exactly 10:13 PM the assault began.

Only the months of exercise Scully had doggedly pursued allowed her
to keep up with the men.  The strengthening of the mental contact
with Mulder drove her.  After they had breached the security system
and entered the bowels of the facility, Fletcher's knowledge ended.
The ease of their entry was testament to the disregard these people
had for other agencies.  It was plain they felt they were so above
the law no one would even make an effort to gain entry.

She stood in the hall outside the elevator and sent a mental S.O.S.
to Mulder.  'Help me find you, Mulder.'  The warmth of his touch in
her mind allowed her to direct the leaders down three floors, a
right and a left turn, down the hall, to the right again and at last
to a hall of doors.  All the doors were locked.

Guided by Mulder, Scully indicated which rooms were occupied as she
sped to the last room on the left.  She held up her hand and
motioned for the men that this was their destination.  The door was
quietly opened after being disarmed by Langly's voodoo back in the
van.  He started working on the rest of the doors that lined the
hallway.  The group silently moved into the small anti-room that had
a door to the interior and a large glass window in it, allowing a
clear view of the next room.

There were several men dressed in white surrounding a table bathed
in brilliant white light.  Only the quick adjustment of the night
vision cameras to shielding allowed them to continue.

The men around the table were arguing loudly.  So loudly in fact
they had not noticed the arrival of the team.

"How does he resist the chemicals?"

"We've had immediate success with the others that we processed, but
he is seemingly impervious to our technique!"

"What have we missed?  The other's resistance was destroyed almost
immediately.  They are ready to implant with the new memories."

"Could it be linked to his immunization to the black oil?"

"Don't be ridiculous!  There is no such substance as black oil.
This resistance must be a fluke of nature."

"Are you completely mad?  Of course the black oil is real.  I worked
with it along side some of the top Russian scientists during my time
in Siberia."

Skinner called back to the van, signaling Byers to turn out the
lights in the area.  The room was immediately immersed in darkness.
As soon as the lights went out the rescue team opened the door and
silently surrounded the others.

The members of the medical team were thrown into chaos.  Each was
quickly stunned and laid out on the floor.  They had no idea what
had hit them and no alarm was sounded.

Scully and Skinner raced to the table to release Mulder.  He seemed
to be unconscious, lying still with his eyes held open by an evil-
looking contraption, headphones on his ears, manacled hands open
and relaxed.  As she frantically worked to free him she began to
cry, her heartbeat increased as her fear for him spun out of
control.  'Oh!  No!  What have they done to you?  Are you still
there?  Come back to me, Mulder!  We need to leave right now!'

Mulder turned his head and looked directly at her, picking her out
of all the black clad figures surrounding the table.

"Yes!"  He grinned and whispered, "Yes!  Scully, the answer is yes!"

She smiled back at him behind her mask, realizing he could not see
her face.  She nodded her head and motioned for him to lay still
while she worked on the straps that held him down.  He sat up after
the last of the restraints were removed.  He stood up against the
side of the table.  He was unsteady on his feet at first, but soon
regained his balance.  Scully helped him don his black suit of armor
and one of the others gave him an extra weapon.

He had wasted no time getting dressed and they turned to leave in a
few moments.  Skinner motioned to Frohike.  The assault team members
were checking the hallway to make sure they were still safe.

Upon entry to the room, Frohike had immediately moved to the
computer and monitor beside the table.  His gloved fingers flew over
the keys as he downloaded the program to a zip drive even as he
continued to probe the program being used to alter Mulder's memory.
He had quietly chuckled and began furiously typing again.  He was
rising from the console, as they were ready to leave, unplugging his
equipment.

"Everyone out," he said through the headsets.  "I've got this set
for a 30 second time delay then it will run for 10 minutes.
Everyone in this room will be exposed to their own mind control
image of the aliens attack and retribution for abducting their
specimens.  I've downloaded a virus that will destroy the program
and their entire computer system at the end of the timed run."

He motioned for them to get moving.  "We all have to get out of here
by the time delay is up.  Move it!"  He hit enter on the keyboard
and ran for the door.

Everyone had left the room and were working their way back down the
hall.  The other agents had opened the unlocked doors up the hall
and the rest of the prisoners were being lead quietly out of the
complex.  As they exited the facility, Skinner signaled Langley to
re-lock the doors in the testing area and to lock down the front
door so that no one in the facility could get out right away.  They
loaded everyone up in the large van as it pulled up in front of the
facility and quickly exited the area using a country road that led
around Beckley.  They drove up the mountain road and down the other
side, stopping at a turnout along side the road to removed the
black tarp that had covered the entire body of the van.  They were
using one of their enemies tactics and were just another anonymous
delivery van to anyone they met on the road.

Twenty-four hours later, the entire group of abductees had been
loaded onto planes and were being transported back home.  Frohike
and Langly had been able to deprogram them using the bootlegged
program with some minor adjustments.  They destroyed the program as
soon as the last victim was free of the implanted images.

An FBI task force was on its way to Beckley to close down the
operation.

Skinner, The Lone Gunmen, Morris Fletcher, Scully and Mulder were
back at Mulder's apartment when the news came that there was not a
shred of evidence left at the site of the operation.  The task force
had arrived in Beckley only to be informed by local authorities that
a 'cave-in' of the old mine shaft outside town had sealed all the
entrances to mines and conveniently obliterating all evidence
forever.

Mulder looked at Morris Fletcher and asked,  "How are you going to
explain this to your superiors, Fletcher?"

"Explain what?  They think that 'Aliens Attacked'," Morris said with
a sly look on his face.  "Besides, I've been in Atlantic City in the
honeymoon suite of Trump Towers with my wife since I got off duty.
After I transported the abductees to West Virginia, we met there
and we've been celebrating our anniversary and the coming birth of
our baby behind a DO NOT DISTURB sign.  I have room service
deliveries and receipts to prove it.  That's my story, and both my
wife and I are sticking to it."  He became serious as he said,
"Thanks to you, we still have a marriage to celebrate and a new baby
on the way."

Mulder looked puzzled.  Scully put her arm around his waist and
told him she would explain later.

Scully said, "Thank you!  Everyone, thank you so much.  Sir, please
thank your team for us.  Guys, what can we say?  Thanks again.
Mulder and I are going to go back to my place now."

"Not so fast, Agents.  There are a few loose ends to tidy up,"
Skinner said.

Morris walked to the door and checked to make sure the hall was
empty.  He smirked at Scully once more and said, "That's my cue to
leave."

Mulder and Scully groaned as they watched him enviously, visions of
reports and paperwork filling their heads.

Skinner continued, "There's a lot of explaining to do about this
whole operation."

"Yeah!"  Frohike, Byers, and Langly interjected as one.

"Sir, we'll be glad to do all the paperwork Monday, but right now,
we both really need to get some rest," Mulder said to Skinner.

"Paperwork?" Skinner said incredulously.  "Paperwork?  I'm not
interested in any stinking paperwork.  I want the real facts here.
Scully, how did you know where to go when we were searching for
Mulder?  Mulder, just exactly what did you mean when you said 'Yes'
to Scully, and how did you know it was her in that get-up?"
Skinner's bemused expression was echoed by the Gunmen.

Mulder and Scully looked at each other and smiled.  How could they
explain what had happened on that mountain in West Virginia?  They
had just experienced their own personal X-File and were not able or
willing to bring it to light of day until they had discussed it
with each other.

"Well, Sir, I think the chemicals they were using opened our minds
to possibilities that normally wouldn't be...possible," Scully
stammered and Mulder nodded.

This only started a tsunami of questions from the four others in
the room.

Scully looked into Mulder's eyes and sent him a mental nudge.
Mulder's eyebrows lifted and then he smiled as he shrugged.

"Well, Sir..." Scully said before she delicately began to crumple
to the floor right in front of Mulder, who immediately responded
by sweeping her up into his arms.

"I have to get her to bed for some rest.  We've got to think of the
baby!" he said as he immediately carried her through the doorway,
slamming the door behind him.

The four men left in the room stood with their mouths open.   They
looked at each other in astonishment.  A feminine giggle was heard
just before the elevator doors banged shut.  Had the straight-
shooting Agent Scully just faked a faint?

"Hey!" Frohike said finally.  "How did he know she's pregnant?  He
sure couldn't tell it by looking at her in that black body armor.
We were with them the entire time and she never said a word about
the baby!"

Skinner laughed, "Give them a couple days and then we'll grill
them!"

He ushered the three Gunmen out the door.  "After all, we have a
department at the FBI that investigates unexplained phenomenon.
This is definitely an X-File!"

The End

Wow, what a difference three years makes.

Thank for reading.

FatCat