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New! Three Men & a Mom by Susan Proto
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999

Category: Story, MulderTorture, Angst, M/S UST/RST

Rating: PG13 for language

Spoilers: Through Sixth Season

Summary: Mulder takes it upon himself to seek out the truth, and pays dearly
for it.

Archive: Yes

Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully, Maggie Scully, Walter Skinner, and the LGM
characters belong to 10/13 productions and Chris Carter. I'm just borrowing
them. I won't keep them. At the end of the story you can have `em back, I
swear, (unless you *want* to give `em to me.) All other characters belong to
me, and if Mr. Carter wants to borrow them, all he needs to do is ask. <grin>

Do I want feedback? Of course I want feedback! Will I respond to you? Of
course I'll respond to you....but be patient..I'm planning a Bar Mitzvah, and
real life is a tad hectic! Thanks in advance for your understanding!

And yes, Vickie, the bruisin' was for you! Thank you for your help yet again!

Three Men & a Mom
by Susan Proto (STPteach@aol.com)

Part 1/4

"Hi, Sweetheart," Maggie Scully greeted as she responded to her daughter's
phone call. "How's Rochester?"

"Snowy. Very, very snowy," she replied with a hint of disgust.

"Well, Dana, if it's any consolation, you're not alone. We've had about six
inches so far, and another six are due through the night," Maggie said.

"Mom, that's a pittance. They've had forty-nine inches of snow fall here in
less than a week! It's insane! Mother Nature is wrecking havoc!" complained
Scully.

"When do you present your paper?" Maggie asked in order to change the subject
and hopefully her daughter's foul mood.

"Tomorrow morning. I was hoping to get out today and visit the Science Museum
or at the very least, the Kodak Museum, but there's so much snow falling here
again, they're recommending we all stay put. I'm a little bummed out."

"Well, at least you and Bonnie will have some time together," Maggie said
brightly, referring to Bonnie Streidt, a med school colleague of Dana's who
was also presenting at the conference.

"Guess again, Mom."

"You mean you and Bonnie won't have time to get together?"

"No, Bonnie's flight was canceled because of the weather. Apparently my
flight was the last one that made it in before they closed the airport.
Hopefully, the snow will let up a bit so she can make it here in time for her
afternoon presentation," Scully said dejectedly.

"Oh, Dana, I really am sorry. I know you were looking forward to spending a
little time with her," Maggie commiserated.

"Yeah," Scully agreed plaintively, "I was really looking forward to a little
'girl talk,' ya know?"

"Yes, Dear, I do know," Maggie agreed.

"I just don't have that many opportunities to talk with other women, Mom. I
mean, I spend so much damn time with Mulder on the road nowadays, that I
couldn't cultivate any new female friendships now even if I wanted to. God,
Mom, I was so excited about getting away and seeing Bonnie and reestablishing
that friendship, but now__? It's just so frustrating!" Scully said in
exasperation.

Maggie was about to agree with Dana when she was cut off by the younger
woman's continued ranting. "Mom, you know Mulder. I mean, the man is my
partner, and I'll do anything for him, but sometimes I just need to get away,
you know? I need to be able to have a conversation with another human being,
and there are times when I just don't know if that's possible with our crazy
schedule."

"Dana, you don't have to feel guilty about wanting some time away from Fox,"
Maggie assured.

"I don't feel guilty! Well, not exactly, anyway," she mumbled.

"Dana, your father and I had a long and wonderful marriage. Now, mind you, it
did have a couple of valleys during those thirty- five years, but sweetheart,
I still loved him with all of my heart, and one of the reasons our marriage
survived was the man was at sea for over half of those thirty-five years.

"Now, that's not to say I wouldn't have wanted him home a little more often;
oh what I wouldn't have given for an extra Christmas or two, but Dana, the
fact of the matter is, our marriage was stronger because the Captain knew I
was a strong woman who could take care of herself. Of course, I suspect I was
probably a lot more adept at handling the domestic end of our lives than he
ever was, but your father was able to relax knowing I could take care of
myself and you kids. My independence was one of the things your father loved
about me," Maggie said.

"Mom, Mulder and I, we don't think in those terms," Scully rebuked.

"Oh, like hell you don't!"

"Mom!" Scully gasped not only at her mother's salty language, but also at her
vehemence. "Mulder and I are partners; we're best friends, but__."

"Dana Katherine Scully, don't even try to deny to me you and Fox love each
other. I've had enough of your declarations of _trusting_ only each other.
Are you both that blind as to not see what you're really saying?" Maggie asked
with a note of irritation. "Honestly, Sweetheart, don't you think it's time
to stop kidding yourselves and just tell one the man you're in love with him?"

"Mom! I can't believe we're even having this conversation. And over the
phone yet. Long distance, no less! I wanted some female bonding time, but
this isn't exactly what I had in ___."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!

KNOCKNOCKNOCKNOCKNOCK!!!

"__Oh my goodness!" stammered Maggie.

"Mom? What is that? What's going on?" asked an anxious Scully.

"The door. Someone's banging on the door. I can't imagine who would be out
in this weather," Maggie murmured nervously.

"Mom, don't open the door before you see who it is," admonished Scully.

"Thank you, Dear, for those words of advice. Now I know why you're in the
FBI," she said with a hint of sarcasm brought on by a case of nerves.

Maggie walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. She saw a
tall, thin man with blond hair and glasses. He was bundled in a heavy parka
to ward off the cold, blustering snow that was falling heavily.

"Who is it?" she asked, as she didn't recognize the man.

"Mrs. Scully!" he called out. "Mrs. Scully, please, open the door! I'm
Langly. I'm a friend of Mulder's. Please, Mrs. Scully, we need your help!"

"Dana, it's blond haired man with glasses," said Maggie.

"Langly?" asked Dana.

"Yes," she responded, "yes, he said he needs my help. He says he's a friend
of Fox's."

"He's one of the Lone Gunmen, Mom. You've heard me speak of them, right?
Langly's okay. Open the door," assured Scully.

Maggie unlocked her front door and opened it to see the tall, thin man
stepping side to side in an attempt to ward off the cold. Maggie waved him
in, but he remained outside.

"Mrs. Scully," Langly began in a panicky tone, "I'm sorry to bother you, but
we didn't know what else to do. He refuses to let us bring him to the
hospital. He gets hysterical when we even suggest it," he explained.

"Mr. Langly, what are you talking about? Who__?" Maggie began to ask, until
it suddenly dawned on her who Langly must have been talking about. "Ohmigod,
Fox?" to which Langly nodded passionately. "Where is he?"

"He's in the van with Byers and Frohike."

"Well, don't just stand there, go bring him in!" Maggie commanded in her best
Navy wife tone of voice.

"Mrs. Scully, I should warn you __." Langly paused for a moment, and then
said softly, "He's a mess, Ma'am. They messed him over pretty badly."

"Mom!" Scully was only hearing every other word, but she was able to deduce
fairly quickly that Mulder was in trouble. "MOM! Please, answer me!"

"Oh, Dana, hold on one moment, please! Mr. Langly, please bring Fox into
the house, now!" He murmured a 'yes, ma'am' and ran back through the snow
and ice as quickly as he dared to the van. Maggie then addressed the now very
distressed woman at the other end of the line.

"Dana, Mr. Langly says Fox was hurt. I don't know how badly, but the young
man seemed very distraught, so I have to assume it's not good. I'll tell you
what I see as soon as they bring him into__."

Maggie caught her breath and gasped. She watched as Fox Mulder had to be
carried up the walkway by the three Lone Gunmen. Langly and Byers supported
Mulder under his shoulders, while Frohike had his feet.

The two other men quietly introduced themselves as they also thanked Mrs.
Scully for taking their charge in on such short notice.

As they carried the agent into the Scully house, Maggie tried to quickly
assess the young man's condition. Maggie could tell, even without a medical
degree, Fox Mulder did not belong in her home. He belonged in a hospital.

"Why isn't he in a hospital?" she whispered to no one in particular, as the
men laid Mulder as gently as possible on the couch.

"MOM! How is he?" Dana screamed out in distress.

"I'm checking him over now, Dana. I'll try to describe what I see, okay? But
first let me look at him. I'll put on Mr. Langly," she said.

Maggie looked at the battered man before her. His face was a barrage of
mottled, purple and black bruises. He had one very deep cut over his left eye
and a less deep one on his left cheek. The bruising was around his entire
face, however, which left both eyes practically swollen shut.

Maggie's eyes traveled down from Fox's face to his neck, which also appeared
bruised, with deep, red markings. Maggie would have sworn Fox was choked, for
the markings seemed to look like imprints of fingers.

She then took note of his clothing. He had no winter jacket on, not even his
leather jacket. Instead, Maggie saw the injured man wore a black turtleneck
which was pulled and misshapen. It was pulled up partially from the waist of
the black jeans he was wearing which exposed the skin on his right side.

His turtleneck was filthy, as if he'd been rolled around in dirt. The jeans
were in the same dirty condition. Maggie did notice something strange however.
Fox wore no shoes. He had on socks, but those too were unclean.

Since his eyes were swollen shut, Maggie had a difficult time telling if Fox
was conscious or not. "Fox," she called out gently. "Fox, can you hear me?"

"Ohhh," he groaned in response. At least he was conscious.

"Fox, you've been hurt, sweetheart. You need to go to the hospital," Maggie
said as gently, but as firmly as possible. She was only saying what she
thought was best for her daughter's partner, but his reaction was anything but
what she would have expected.

"NO!" he screamed. "NO! No hospital! NO! I won't go to the hospital!" he
cried out over and over again.

Maggie called out to him and tried to calm him down, but he only struggled
more when he felt Maggie's hands on his shoulders. His screams quieted only
to turn into moans and whimpering pleas of, "No hospital. Please, don't wanna
go, please no. Don't wanna go hospital. No. No. Please, don't wanna go."

Maggie thought her heart was going to break. She couldn't understand why he
would refuse to go to the hospital when he was in such obvious pain.

"Fox, listen to me. You need medicine to help stop the pain. I don't have
that medicine," Maggie tried to explain.

"Scully," he moaned. "Scully has medicine. Scully? Where's Scully?" he
cried out. He began shaking his head from side to side and then his whole
body followed suit.

Maggie knew he was delirious not only with pain, but also with fever. She
felt his head and the heat which emanated from his forehead was almost
overwhelming. "When did this happen?"

Langly told Scully to hold on, but she insisted on hearing what had happened.
She'd already been given a blow by blow description of Mulder's condition by
Langly up to this point.

Byers took over and related to Maggie, and Dana, how Mulder had called them
earlier saying he was going to Oriole Park in Camden Yards, on a hot tip about
something to do with Assistant Director Skinner. He wouldn't go into any more
detail than that; he just wanted to let someone know where he would be since
Scully was out of town.

"My God, Mulder actually got himself some backup?" Scully said incredulously.

"Yes, Agent Scully. He did." Byers paused for a moment as he watched Maggie
try to assess the damage to Mulder's body. As Maggie lifted up Mulder's
shirt, Byers continued. "And it's a good thing he did, because the next time
we heard from him, he was pretty incoherent. He managed to let us know he'd
been beaten up by three or four men, and that his body was left outside the
stadium.

"Obviously with this snow falling, there was no one nearby to offer
assistance, or if there were, they probably mistook Mulder for some poor
homeless person who was drunk. Someone did a good job of stripping him of his
coat, and shoes. For some reason they left the ID Badge, and his ankle gun was
safe, but they got his cell phone.

"When we'd finally gotten to Mulder's location, we found him pretty much in
the condition you see him in now. Badly bruised, bleeding, and semi-
conscious," Byers described.

Maggie managed to lift up Mulder's shirt without causing him too much
distress. She was horrified to see what was underneath the shirt. Maggie
reached for the phone. "Dana? He's got very, very bad bruising on his lower
right side," Mother said to daughter worriedly.

"How tender is it to the touch, Mom?"

Maggie attempted to palpate the area gently, but Mulder groaned in pain. "I
take it you heard. Consider it very tender."

"Mom, he's got to get to the hospital. He may have ruptured a kidney, if not,
badly bruised it."

"Did you hear his reaction to that suggestion, Dana? He became more agitated
than I would have thought possible in his condition."

"Besides," interjected Frohike, who up until this point had remained rather
quiet, "if the EMS were actually able to make it here, Mulder would only
refuse treatment. They won't treat him if he refuses treatment. They won't
take the chance on being sued. But I think it's a moot point. I don't know
how quickly an ambulance could make it here anyway. We barely made it, and we
were driving the sixties answer to the SUV."

Scully smiled slightly as she remembered the ride she'd once taken with the
boys in their VW minivan to rescue Mulder on another of his off the beaten
track misadventures. "Mom," she called out, "Is Frohicke right? Is the
weather that bad now?" Maggie looked out the bay window and had to agree with
Frohike's assessment.

"It's bad, Dana," she said with a sigh. "The roads haven't been plowed up
this way yet, and we're not even on a secondary road. I don't expect to see a
plow here for quite some time."

"Oh God, Mom. What are we going to do?" Dana asked plaintively.

"Well, dear, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to give the phone
over to Mr. Frohicke, so he can keep you informed as to what's going on. I'm
going to attempt to clean up your partner, so I can get a better handle on his
condition. Okay?" Maggie asked, and before Dana had a chance to answer,
Maggie handed the phone over to Frohike.

"Bathroom," Mulder suddenly groaned. "Gotta take a piss. Oh God, NOW!" he
cried out as he attempted to sit up on his own. He groaned again, but this
time in pain. Langly and Byers quickly ran to Mulder's assistance and gently
lifted him up from under the shoulders.

"C'mon Mulder. We'll help you walk to the bathroom, okay?" asked Byers.
Mulder didn't respond, but he didn't groan either. He stood up in between the
two men and shuffled into the bathroom.

Once inside, Mulder tried to unbuckle his belt, but his hands could barely
find the buckle, much less undo it. Byers told Mulder gently, "Hold on,
Buddy. Let me get that for you."

"Byers, you coming on to me?"

Both Langly and Byers chuckled out loud for which both men were extremely
grateful, as their nerves were quite frayed by that point. Once Byers got the
belt undone, he proceeded to unclasp Mulder's jeans. He pulled both jeans and
boxers down to a discreet level, and then both men turned their heads in
order to allow the injured man to urinate with a modicum of privacy.

As Mulder began to pass the urine, he began to moan in pain. As he
continued, he then began to whimper in pain. Finally he was crying out, and
both Byers and Langly turned quickly to see what was suddenly so wrong.

"Oh, shit!" cried out Langly.

"Mrs. Scully! Mrs. Scully! Come quickly!" called out Byers urgently.

Maggie came running into the bathroom immediately not knowing what to expect.
When she walked into the bathroom she'd half expected to see Mulder passed out
on the floor. Instead, she saw him standing hunched over in apparent pain,
with his pants and boxers having fallen to his knees. Byers pointed to the
toilet, which looked like a sea of red.

"Ohmigod," gasped Maggie. Mulder's kidney was definitely injured to some
degree. "Fox, you're bleeding, sweetheart. Please let us call for an
ambulance. It's going to take some time before it can even get here, but at
least they'll know you're in need."

"Noooo," he pleaded. "Nooo hospital. Kidney's bruised, that's all," Mulder
panted. "The blood will stop after a bit. Promise."

"Fox Mulder, you're going to tell me your kidney has been injured so many
times that you're able to tell when it's only a bruise?" Maggie asked
incredulously. He nodded in response.

"Fine. I won't argue with you at this point, but Fox, so help me, if your
symptoms become worse, I am going to call for an ambulance. Now, if Mr.
Langly and Mr. Byers don't mind, I think it would be best to get you stripped
and into the shower so we can cool you down and clean you up. I have no idea
of what kind of a breeding ground your body is for infection at the moment,"
proposed Maggie rationally. "Gentlemen? Would you help me rid Fox of these
clothes, please?"

"Mrs. Scully!" Mulder exclaimed.

"What is it, Fox?"

"Mrs. Scully, I'm __. I'm naked_," he stammered with embarrassment.

"Oh, for heavens sake, Fox. I have two sons and had lived with the Captain
for over thirty-five years. Do you really think your assets are all that
different from theirs? Now strip!" she commanded.

Mulder felt himself not only blushing from the fever, but from a discomfiture
he hadn't thought possible. This was his partner's mother! Unfortunately,
the task of removing his clothes caused Mulder to quickly forget his self-
consciousness, since he had to now deal with the pain of removing his clothes.

"Oh, God! Hurts!" he cried out.

"I know, Sweetheart, and I'm sorry. But we've got to clean you up and try to
lower that fever. We won't take long, I promise, and then I'll have some
clean, comfortable clothes for you to put on. I promise, Fox."

Maggie adjusted the water temperature so it was just slightly warmer than
tepid, as she knew the shock of anything colder might cause her patient even
more discomfort than what would be helpful. She then asked the other two men
to help Mulder step into the shower. She let it be known she would wash him
off so as to avoid embarrassing them as well. However, she did ask they stand
nearby to support him in case Mulder felt dizzy, and it became difficult for
him to stand.

After a few minutes passed, everyone simply accepted the situation and Mulder
relaxed somewhat under the warmth of the water. Meanwhile, Frohike's voice
was heard from the other room.

"Damn it!" he cursed as he walked into the bathroom. He took one look at
Maggie, who took a moment from her task of cleaning up Mulder to see what
Frohike's harsh words were about.

"Sorry, Ma'am," he said contritely. "The telephone went dead. The snow is so
wet and heavy, it must have taken down some lines. We lost contact with Dana,
and I would suspect any contact with 911 as well," lamented Frohike.

"What about Mulder's cell?" Langly asked.

"He didn't have it on him, remember?" reminded Byers. Langly and Frohike
nodded in agreement to this fact.

"Do you by any chance have a cell phone in your car?" asked Maggie.

"Umm, well, normally we do," hesitated Langly, "but it just so happens it's
recharging by my computer back at the office."

"Oh, great," muttered Frohike.

"I'm sorry, Frohike, I hadn't anticipated we would lose phone service during a
crisis. I'll try to think ahead next time, okay?" retorted Langly, though
more out of anger toward himself than Frohicke. He so rarely ever let the
cellular die down.

"I guess we're on our own, boys," Maggie said with a whole lot more confidence
than she actually felt. "Okay, Fox, you're as clean as we're gonna get you
tonight. Let's get you dried off and dressed. Mr. Byers and Mr. Langly,
would you please help Fox dry off, while Mr. Frohike helps me open up the sofa
bed. I think Fox would be much more comfortable, don't you?"

"Yes, Ma'am," replied Frohike. It would appear all of the Scully women were
capable of getting Frohike to eat of their hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Between Billy's and Charlie's old clothes, Maggie managed to come up with
something for Mulder to wear. The three friends assisted her in putting the
sweat pants and tee shirt on him, as well as the sweat socks. Maggie then
placed a lightweight comforter over her patient, as he was still running a
fever and she didn't want him to become overheated.

She also managed to get some Tylenol inside him before she tucked him for some
much needed sleep. "Fox," she said as she leaned over to tuck him in, "I'm
going to wake you up in an hour or so, since I'm not sure of the severity of
your concussion. Do you understand?"

"Just a little one," he mumbled and then Mulder grunted something in the
affirmative and hunkered down to sleep. Just as Maggie was about to stand up,
Mulder called her name. "Mrs. Scully? Thank you." Within minutes he was
sound asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Langly and Byers tried to get the phones working in any legal, or not so
legal, way they could, Frohicke supervised Maggie's preparation of coffee.

"Mr. Frohike, do you have any idea why someone would want to hurt Fox so
badly?" she asked as she measured the coffee into the filter. "I don't
understand how one person can subject himself to so many situations where he
can become hurt."

"Mrs. Scully, you just don't know the kind of people Mulder's trying to
expose. They're evil, ma'am, and they will stop at nothing to get Mulder out
of the way if they feel he's a threat to their plans. And believe me,
Mulder's a threat. He's been a threat to the consortium for a very, very,
long time."

"You'd mentioned this had something to do with Mr. Skinner, yes?" she asked to
confirm.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Please, call me Maggie."

"Yes, Ma'am_, oh, sorry. Maggie." Frohike paused for a moment and then said,
"Name's Melvin. Please, call me Melvin."

And so Maggie and Melvin prepared the coffee. Maggie soon came to find out
Byers was, in fact, John, while Langly's first name was Ringo.

"My, that is an unusual name, Ringo," Maggie said with a small smile.

"I wish I could say it was because of something really cool, like they met the
Beatles and Ringo was their favorite, but that's not the reason. Dad owned a
jewelry store, and his specialty was jade and turquoise rings. Hence, when I
was born, I became 'Ringo.'

Maggie smiled at the story, and could just imagine how much Ringo Langly
probably wished he could meet Ringo Starr himself, just so he could turn his
wishful thinking into something that remotely resembled a reality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Dana Scully panicked. She lost contact with her mother, and she
didn't know what to do. She tried the operator and was told there was no
service at that time. Prevailing weather conditions were wrecking havoc with
the telephone service.

Damned weather conditions were wrecking havoc with Dana Scully's peace of
mind.

Scully knew the weather was bad, and it was not a conspiracy or plot by the
government which prevented her from connecting back with her mother. But if
there were, she wouldn't have any trouble shooting anyone on sight who
preventing her from reaching home.

Mulder was hurt. Again. He'd finally done it right and got himself backup,
but still, he ended up hurt.

And she was too, too far away from him to help. "God damn it!" she shouted
out loud to no one but the four walls. "It's not fair! It's not fucking
fair!" She made several more attempts to get through to her mother's number,
and once even tried in vain to get through to Mulder's cellular.

Nothing worked.

Mulder needed her, and she wasn't there to back him up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Part 1/4
Three Men & a Mom
by Susan Proto (STPteach@aol.com)

Disclaimers in Part 1

Part 2/4

Maggie reached over to rouse Mulder when she'd noticed there was a little
blood coming out of his ear. "Oh, dear God," she whispered. She knew this
could mean a more serious head injury than she'd first thought, and it
frightened the hell out of her.

"Fox," she called gently at first, but when she received no response, she
called out his name even more loudly. "Fox, please, sweetheart, you need to
wake up."

"Water?" he called out quietly. "Thirsty." His voice was indeed raspy and
sounded as if he was in pain.

Maggie didn't hesitate as she responded to his need. She held a cup of water
up and guided a straw to his lips. He sipped greedily and then laid his head
back as if in exhaustion.

Mulder slipped in and out of consciousness. As he laid, his mind drifted back
to earlier in the day. He had been following up on one of the few leads he
had regarding his AD's mysterious medical condition. Several weeks had passed
since AD Skinner had been so ill with the mysterious nanomachine virus. He'd
specifically directed both Mulder and Scully to not look further into the
situation, however Mulder couldn't help himself.

He found it difficult to believe Skinner had everything under control, and in
fact, Mulder firmly believed someone was actually in control of Skinner. That
someone was the long haired man in the photo Skinner, Scully, and he had
shared at their last meeting regarding the subject.

It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that Mulder had finally determined who
the man in the photo actually was.

Krycek. Alex Krycek. Mulder felt like a total buffoon for not connecting the
name with the photo's face earlier. Of course the long hair and beard through
him off at first, but once Mulder got a computer generated image of Krycek
with the same physical traits, it was obvious who was behind Skinner's
problem.

Mulder had wanted to continue investigating before he went to Skinner with
hard evidence. Whenever he'd thought of that, he had to laugh. Scully would
have been so proud of him.

Imagine, Fox Mulder looking for hard evidence.

Unfortunately, Scully wasn't going to have the chance, since Mulder was
determined to keep Scully out of the loop regarding this particular
investigation. She'd already been subjected to way too many tests and medical
problems, so there was no way Mulder was going to take the chance that she
could be infected in the same way Skinner was. Mulder wouldn't put it past
the consortium to try something as deadly as that.

Finally, after he'd put out many feelers and had spoken with as many contacts
as he dared, Mulder's time and efforts were apparently going to pay off. He
was approached by a man who claimed he had information regarding a very
important man in the FBI. Someone who had had a brush with death recently.
The informant claimed he could get the controls to the FBI man's problems.

Mulder agreed to meet him in Camden Yards, in Baltimore. His first
inclination had been to call Scully to let her know he was going to be out of
town for a day or two, but not to worry. Which of course, would immediately
induce Scully to worry and rant and rave at him, until he broke down and told
her where he was going. She would then tell him she was going with him whether
he liked it or not.

There was a time when Mulder won those particular arguments, hands down.
Apparently times, they were a changing, for Scully had begun regularly
accompanying Mulder on trips she used to insist were unnecessary, frivolous,
and cost unnecessary tax dollars.

However, it was all moot this time around. Scully was out of town, and
presenting a scientific paper she'd co-authored with the head of the forensics
department. It was about some minutia piece of research data that no normal
person would ever think of trying to understand.

Mulder had considered calling Skinner for all of a minute and a half. What
was he going to say to the AD? I'd like you to give me approval on a plan to
delve into your private affairs, even though you told me to stay out of it,
but sign it anyway because it may save your life?

Mulder was about to take off without letting anyone know what he was about to
undertake when his small, rational, Scully voice gnawed at him to use his head
and get himself backup. Of course, Mulder being Mulder, improvised. Rather
than go through normal FBI channels for bureau backup, he did the next best
thing.

He'd called the Gunmen.

Mulder knew he had to let someone know where he would be on the small chance
something would go wrong.

Okay, Mulder knew where he was concerned it was never a small chance. And
fate kicked him in the ass again, just to prove him right.

When he'd arrived at the spot outside the stadium, it had been snowing for
about an hour and the ground was just beginning to get covered with a layer of
white. He hadn't seen any cars drive by, nor had he seen any parked nearby,
so when he'd heard the voice call out to him, he was startled.

"Agent Mulder, are you alone?"

"No, there's an entire SWAT team ready to blow you away if you make a false
move," he replied sarcastically.

"Oh, my. Ever the jokester, eh Agent Mulder?"

"Look, you said you had some information about someone important at the
bureau. Something that could cure an illness. What can you give me?" Mulder
asked quickly cutting to the chase.

Unfortunately, the man behind the other voice had a similar notion. He too
was ready to put his plan into action. "Agent Mulder? I think it's time for
you to look in other directions," the unknown voice said.

"Other directions? I don't understand," stammered Mulder. "You said you
would have some controls for me to help cure the illness."

"No, I'm afraid not today. All I came with tonight was some advice, and some
encouragement for you to follow that advice. Agent Mulder, if you know what's
good for you, you will go in another direction of this investigation."

"Oh really?" Mulder asked belligerently. "And what if I'm not ready to leave
the direction I'm already on?"

"This."

And with that Mulder felt two pairs of strong hands grab each of his arms from
under his shoulder and his wrist. He felt his arms pulled back as tightly as
possible, just short of dislocating them. The pain was excruciating.

Next, the man whose voice was so stern, also packed a very good right hook,
for his fist not only met Mulder's face, but the gold and diamond ring on his
finger cut his cheek and eyelid easily and deeply. Mulder tried to scream
out, but the clenched fists kept finding their way to Mulder's mouth, and
cheeks, but mostly his eyes. Within a few short minutes, Mulder felt his eyes
begin to close involuntarily. He couldn't see, and he had no way of knowing
where the next blow was going to land.

Suddenly, he felt as though he would never be able to catch his breath again,
as the fist found it's target right over his diaphragm. The pummeling
continued until Mulder thought he could feel each purple and black bruise form
on his torso. Suddenly he felt himself released, and he fell to the cold, wet
ground. As he began to curl himself up in order to give himself some relief,
he felt new
forces attacking him.

Kicks. First toe, then heel. Toe, then heel. Toe, heel, toe, heel.

Mulder cried out in pain with every assault on his body. No part of him was
safe from the onslaught. The kicks assailed his head till he felt as though
his ears were ringing. He could not open his eyes, so he found his inability
to see his assailants was all the more terrifying.

Mulder tried to protect himself, but each kick took more and more out of him.
Finally, Mulder felt something hard and heavy hit his head with as greater
force as he'd ever felt. He realized it was most likely a pistol handle, but
happily, he was able to feel his small Sig still strapped to his ankle.
Unfortunately, after the next blow, he was no longer able to feel much of
anything.

He curled up and waited for the next blow. He waited for what seemed like an
eternity, but it never came. Mulder tried to open his eyes to get a look
around, but he realized his eyes were swollen shut, and they weren't opening
again anytime too soon.

He reached into his jacket pocket, very gingerly, and pulled out his cell
phone. He managed to feel around the touch pad and tried to figure out the
Lone Gunmen's number. Mulder was not only surprised he'd dialed correctly,
but he was also profoundly relieved.

"Lone Gunmen, we're paranoid so you don't have to be," said Langly in sing
song fashion.

"It's me," Mulder rasped. "Tape. Off. Now."

"Hey, Mulder? That you, man?" asked Langly.

"Help."

"Oh shit, Mulder, did you get yourself hurt again?" cried out Langly. "Damn
it, guys, Mulder's gone and gotten himself hurt again!"

"What is it?" called out Byers.

"Hey, Mulder? What happened. You get run over by a train?" Langly asked with
a chuckle, unsuspecting Mulder was hurt seriously.

"Mack Truck."

Langly continued to chuckle while he parried with Mulder and his wise cracks,
until Mulder let out a shriek. "No! Oh God, no!" he cried out again and
again.

"Mulder? What's wrong? What's going on?" Langly called out. When Byers and
Frohike had heard the desperate plea in Langly's voice they joined him.

"Put him on speaker," called out Frohike. "Where are you, Mulder? Are you
still at Camden Yards."

"Yards." It was all Mulder could do but to echo.

"We're on our way, Mulder. We'll call the police and they'll meet ___,''
began Byers.

"NO! No police. NO Hospital. Please. Home. Wanna go home." Mulder was no
longer speaking in a normal speaking voice, as he was now reduced to tears of
pain. He was, quite frankly, scaring the hell out of the Gunmen.

"Hang in there, Mulder. We're on our way."

Before Mulder lost total consciousness, he felt two pairs of arms tugging at
his leather jacket with his cell inside of it. A third pair of hands began
untying his sneaker laces and pulled those off as well. Once the latest of
the scavengers had left Mulder in his obvious discomfort and pain, Mulder
began to feel the snow seep up through his jeans and now shoeless feet.

Mulder was very grateful he'd managed to stay conscious long enough to make
the phone call. Extremely grateful.

It was time to give himself permission to fall back into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
The next thing he knew, The LGM managed to finagle a stay with Maggie Scully.
He'd been standing, naked, in her shower while she washed him down as if he
were six years old. He'd felt terribly embarrassed at first, but eventually,
he'd just felt so terrible, it didn't matter to him anymore.

All he wanted to do was put on some dry clothes, get under a blanket, and go
to sleep. But now all he felt was someone tugging at him to wake up, and he
didn't want to. He wanted to forget about the pain and sleep until it was all
gone.

But it wasn't gone, and someone kept trying to rouse him. It hurt. It hurt
more than he ever remembered hurting before. Maybe, as much as he didn't want
to admit it, he did need to go to the hospital. The pain in his kidney
region was excruciating, and his head continued to pound more and more till he
felt tears begin to run down his cheeks.

He didn't want to cry. It didn't help his situation, and it even exasperated
it a little. But he couldn't help himself. He wanted his Scully, he wanted
something to make the pain go away. Shit.

"Hospital,'' he rasped.

"Oh, sweetheart," he heard a tender voice say. "We can't take you to the
hospital just yet."

"Hurts."

"I know. I know it hurts."

Mulder felt her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and in a vain attempt to
seek some solace, he felt himself lean into her touch.

"Scully," whimpered Mulder.

"Yes, sweetheart, it's Scully," consoled Maggie. "It's Scully."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frohike watched the scene as it played out before him. He saw a man in too
much pain trying to find comfort from a woman who tried her best to offer it
to him. Neither were succeeding.

Mulder continued to moan and cry out in anguish. Maggie continued her
attempts to ease his pain, but Frohike could see her become more and more
anxious as Mulder's discomfort became worse and worse.

"How does he do this to himself all the time?" he asked her.

"What?" Maggie looked up from her primary concern to Frohike's face. She saw
he was quite serious, and concentrated on the question he'd just asked. "I
don't know if it's so much 'how' as it is 'why'. I think he feels this
compulsion to save the world, no matter what danger it puts him in.

"I saw it in him when Dana was missing years ago. He was absolutely driven to
do whatever he could to find her; even if it meant going without eating or
sleeping. When he thought he'd failed, he felt completely and totally
defeated and I'd feared he was going to do something drastic, irrevocably
drastic," she murmured.

"I remember that time," interjected Byers, who'd been listening from the
doorway. "We all remember that time. Mulder had us working night and day
following up leads that went nowhere. As it turned out, the consortium
appeared to be the ones who had all of the control. It didn't matter what any
of us did; Dana was returned when they decided to return her."

Frohike nodded slightly, but then said with a quiet, but adamant tone, "Yet,
I have to believe they returned her as a direct results of Mulder's
relentlessness. He didn't give up; he kept pushing us to not give up.
Maggie," Frohike continued as he looked directly into her eyes, "in his eyes
failing was not an option. He didn't have a right to fail, because he felt it
was because of him she was taken."

"I know that, Melvin, but how do you convince a man he is only human?" asked
Maggie.

"You don't," Langly interjected. "You become Robin, to his Batman, because
you know, in the end, he's right. And you want to do whatever you can to help
him right the world's wrongs. And you do whatever you can to help him stay
alive while doing it."

The three men nodded in agreement, while the mom continued to offer her
patient loving comfort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was taking too long. Scully. Mulder wanted Scully. She would know what
to do to make him feel better. His Scully always knew, and even if she
couldn't make the hurt go away, she could at least make him forget about it
for a little while by holding him. He wanted his Scully to hold him.

He hurt. The pounding in his head grew and unfortunately kept pace with the
sharpening pain in his side. The kidney was badly bruised for sure, but the
thought that it might be ruptured was also a remote possibility. At that
moment, however, Mulder was in too much discomfort to give that his full
attention. All he wanted was a way to numb himself from the pain.

Too many clothes. Too many covers. Hot. Too hot. Off. Get it off!

"Mulder, what the hell are you doing, man?" Frohike cried out while he took
the next watch. "C'mon, Mulder, you're scaring the shit out of me."

Byers entered the room just as Frohike spoke. "What's wrong?"

"The guy's going into a spaz attack! Help me, Byers!" Frohike cried out as he
struggled to stop Mulder from ripping at the covers and his clothes.

"Mulder," Byers called out to him, "what's wrong? Talk to me, Mulder. What's
wrong?"

"Hot," he whimpered. "Hot. Hurts. Scully. Want Scully."

Frohike reached over and touched the younger man's forehead. "Shit. He's
burning up. Better go tell Maggie," Frohike said. "You wanna go or would you
mind staying with him for a few minutes." Byers waved Frohike off and took
vigil at the patient's bedside. Frohike meanwhile walked into the kitchen to
see Langly still playing with the kitchen phone and Maggie warming up a pot of
chicken soup.

When Frohike entered the kitchen, Maggie explained, "I thought in case he gets
hungry, he can have some of the broth. Meanwhile, I figured we should all
have something to eat as well." Then she noticed the troubled look on his
face and asked, "Melvin, what's wrong?"

At this Langly looked up and recognized immediately something was bothering
Frohike. "Is he okay?" he asked.

"I don't know. He's burning up, and he keeps struggling to throw off the
covers and his clothes. He's really uncomfortable, and he__." Frohike paused
momentarily, and then said, ''He's calling for Dana. He's hurting real bad,
folks. Damn, why the hell didn't we just ignore him and take insist we take
him to the God damned hospital!?" he asked with an anger more directed toward
himself than anyone in the room.

Langly recognized that fact and, in an effort to comfort him, said, "You
didn't insist upon taking him for the same reason none of us insisted. This
is Mulder, and we always assume he knows what's best for himself, because
amazingly enough, he usually does. None of us factored in the possibility of
a major snowstorm reducing our options to zilch."

"I wish there was a way to get a hold of Dana," Maggie said. It would
certainly make me feel better and perhaps it would soothe Fox a bit to hear
her voice."

"I'm trying my best here, Mrs. Scully," replied Langly.

"It's Maggie, Ringo. Please, call me Maggie." Langly blushed little when
she addressed him by his first name. When he nodded in agreement, all Maggie
could think about was what was it about parents and their need to bestow such
unique and odd names upon their offspring. The name 'Fox' was certainly
unusual enough, but 'Ringo' was almost downright cruel.

Suddenly the three of them heard shouts from the den. They rushed back into
the room to see Byers desperately trying to keep a very delirious Fox Mulder
from falling out of bed.

"Help me! I can't hold him, and I'm really afraid he's going to hurt
himself," pleaded Byers.

Maggie reached over to the side table for the digital thermometer she'd set
there when Fox had first fallen asleep. Now, as she placed a clean plastic
protector on the thermometer and placed the probe in his ear, she spoke
soothingly to him in an attempt to calm him down.

After a few moments passed, Mulder laid still. She gasped slightly when she
realized his temperature had gone up almost two and a half degrees. Fox's
temp was now at a high of a hundred-four and a half.

She looked down at the now quieted man, and placed her hand lovingly on Fox's
forehead. She pushed sweaty locks of hair off of his face, and she offered
him even more words of comfort. Finally, when she felt he would remain
motionless, she directed her remarks to the Gunmen.

"He's burning up, boys. We need to strip him and get his body temperature
down. I don't want to take the chance of having him stand under a shower
again. I don't think he'd be steady enough, so we'll just remove his clothing
and I'll give him a sponge bath."

Maggie started removing the lightweight blanket and sheet which covered
Mulder's body. Next, as she grasped his tee shirt from the hem, she felt him
begin to shift around on the bed. "Fox, I need to take off your shirt, dear.
Let me take it off, so I can help you feel better."

Mulder couldn't really determine what Maggie was talking about, but he was too
exhausted and in too much pain to really care. All he wanted to do was feel
better, and he hoped Maggie would be able to provide that relief. As she
lifted the sweat soaked tee-shirt from him, he began to shiver. The cool air
met his sweaty body and caused him to shake violently.

Maggie quickly threw the sheet back over him as she then went to remove the
sweat pants. Maggie tried to keep the sheet over him, as she remembered he
was not wearing underwear. Charlie nor Bill had left any, so there were none
to loan Mulder in the first place. She enlisted the aide of Byers and Langly
to complete the removal of the sweats, while she went to get a basin filled
with tepid water and a sponge.

Frohike had followed her and asked her if she had any extra towels. Maggie
pointed toward the linen closet, and he helped himself to a few large ones and
a couple of smaller ones. When he saw the bottle of rubbing alcohol in the
closet, he grabbed it as well.

As they walked back to the den together, Maggie noticed the rubbing alcohol.
"Melvin?" she asked as she looked at the bottle.

"I remember as a kid my mom used to give me an alcohol rub when I had a high
fever," he explained. "Mom would pour some into a basin like this and dip a
wash cloth in it and wipe me down."

"I used to use it when the children were babies too, but after Dana got into
Medical School she'd told me tepid water was just as effective and the odor
wasn't offensive like rubbing alcohol. I think she said the alcohol
evaporated too quickly to be really effective." Maggie then looked at the
sweet little man. He seemed a little disappointed his idea wasn't received
with open arms.

"I could use a little help carrying this basin, though," she said seriously.
"Melvin, would you mind switching with me and allow me to carry the towels
while you carry the water?"

"Of course, Maggie, not a problem. He quickly put the bottle of rubbing
alcohol down on a nearby table, as well as the towels. He took the basin from
Maggie, to which he remarked, "This is a lot heavier than it looks." Maggie
smiled at that, and agreed that, ''Indeed, it is much heavier than it looks,"
and she picked up the towels. She left the bottle where it was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they reentered the room, Frohike called out, "How's he doing, Byers?"

"I don't know. He's stayed real quiet, which I think makes me more nervous
than if he were up and ranting and raving like a lunatic."

"He may have become unconscious again as a result of the concussion. Or it
could be from his injured kidney. Or both?" surmised Maggie.

*Bingo! Give the lady a kewpie doll!* were the muddled thoughts of Fox
Mulder. The continuous throbbing in his head compounded by pain in his side,
as well as the discomfort of the fever, made Mulder wonder if he had any good
reason to remain conscious. He couldn't think of even one, so he allowed
himself to pass right out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Part 2/4

Three Men & a Mom
by Susan Proto (STPteach@aol.com)

Disclaimers in Part 1

Part 3/4

Scully paced back and forth until she'd finally made a connection with the
bureau. There were spotty outages in phone service throughout the Maryland
and DC area. Rochester's phone service was sporadic at best as well. But,
she'd finally made a connection.

"Skinner," responded the voice.

"Sir," Scully began, "I am so sorry to bother you at home, but I didn't know
where else to turn."

"Agent Scully?" he asked in a surprised tone. Since their last meeting, which
involved him more personally than he'd ever wanted to be involved, Scully and
Mulder had apparently gone out of their way to avoid him. "Is there a
problem? I thought you were out of town at a conference."

"Yes, Sir, I am. Nice of you to notice, Sir," she replied with a hint of an
edge. Scully still felt the ramifications of being told one moment she and
her partner were fighting the good fight, only to be told in the next to take
a dive. But all of that didn't matter to her now. She couldn't get through
to Baltimore, and Mulder's life was at stake.

"Sir, I am having difficulty getting a phone connection to Baltimore. My
mother's house __," she began.

"__Is something wrong with your mother, Scully?" asked Skinner quickly.

"No, Sir. It's not my mother, it's Mulder, Sir."

"Mulder?" he echoed.

"Yes, Sir. He was apparently injured by some people who had given him the
impression they might have some new information for him."

"Information? Information on what? His sister?" he asked, annoyed that this
wayward agent had apparently gone out and gotten himself injured again over
something as nebulous as the twenty-six year old kidnapping of his younger
sister.

"No, Sir. It wasn't about Samantha. It was __," she began once again, only
to be cut off by the AD.

"__Please don't tell me he's still trying to find a connection between your
cancer, the consortium, and UFOs. Please tell me the man had finally learned
to let that rest."

"No, Sir."

"What?"

"No, I mean, no, he was not investigating any connection between the
consortium, aliens, and my cancer," she confirmed.

"Well, then what was the information he was seeking, Agent Scully?" Skinner
asked in exasperation.

"Apparently, Sir, Agent Mulder has been conducting, on his own time, an
investigation regarding an unusual medical condition that has befallen one of
our own," Scully replied opaquely.

"Scully, what the hell are you talking about?" Skinner replied angrily. "I
don't like riddles!"

"Oh, well then, I'll just come right to the answer. You, Sir. He's been
putting in extra hours, on his own accord, to try and find out what the hell
happened to you," Scully responded with equal ire and emotion.

"Of course, his tenacity has landed him flat on my mother's couch, in
desperate need of medical attention, in the middle of a raging snowstorm,
where all of the phone service has apparently died." Scully paused for a
moment and said tremulously, "I need your help, Sir."

"Damn it, Scully, I told you both to keep out of it. What the hell is the
matter with that man?" Skinner asked with disgust.

"He doesn't give up on those people he cares about, Sir. He never has, and I
doubt he ever will," she responded quietly.

Several seconds passed before a word was said. Finally, Skinner asked, "What
happened?"

"He went to meet a contact in Camden Yard who was supposed to supply him with
information. Mulder got a beating for his trouble."

"How bad?" he asked.

"I can't be sure, since I'm not there, but from the description Langly gave
me, it's not __, it's not good, Sir. I don't know if they can get through to
emergency services."

"I'll see if I can get through to them. I'll also see to it that the police
are made aware there's a medical emergency and he's to have top priority,
okay?"

"Yes, Sir. Thank you," she responded with an audible sigh of relief.

"Scully, I___," he began, but he didn't know what to say.

"__I know, Sir. I know you'll do what you can for him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie finished her tender ministering of Mulder and put the sponge back in
the basin. The water had cooled down way too much for her to continue
sponging him down. She took his temp and found it to be down a degree and a
half. It now read 103, which though still high, was at least more manageable.

She'd sent her three assistants into the kitchen to get themselves each a bowl
of soup. She told them there was luncheon meat in the fridge, as well as some
cheese and spreads, and they were to make themselves something to eat.

She would join them later.

But right now, she watched over Fox. She knew if she didn't take the best
possible care of him, her daughter would never forgive her. Of course, she
wouldn't be able to forgive herself if anything happened to the love of her
daughter's life. He was a good man, and Maggie wanted more than anything to
see him get well and find his way back to her daughter.

RIIINNNGGG! RIIINNNGGG! RIIINNNGGG!

Maggie jumped high it startled Mulder into consciousness. "Wha'? Wha's
w'ong?" he slurred.

"Nothing, Fox. It's just the phone. Oh, it's the phone!" she exclaimed when
she saw John Byers walk into the den with the wireless phone in his hand.

"Hold on, Sir. I'll put her on," Byers said seriously as he passed the phone
to Maggie. "It's Assistant Director Skinner, Ma'am."

"Oh, thank-you, John." She took the phone from him, cleared her throat, and
then addressed the AD. "Hello, Mr. Skinner. I'm very relieved you called.''

"Yes, Mrs. Scully, I suspect I know why. Dana contacted me about forty
minutes ago. I've been trying to connect with your home for that duration,
and I too, am very relieved I've finally succeeded." He took a breath and then
said, "How is he?"

"He's been in and out of consciousness, Mr. Skinner. He's developed an
infection somewhere and has a raging fever which was, at one point, almost 105
degrees."

"What is it now?"

"It's gone down since I gave him the sponge bath, but it's still at 103
degrees. That's still way too high, Mr. Skinner, and I'm afraid it may spike
again," Maggie added concerned.

"Are the roads passable by you?" asked Skinner.

"No, I don't think so. We're really off the beaten path. I don't expect a
plow up here before late morning.''

"Okay," Skinner began, "I've already contacted the local PD. They said they
were going to notify the DOT and try to get your area a first priority for
plowing and salting so an ambulance can get through. The EMTs will be notified
when your area has been plowed.

"You stay on the phone. I don't want to take the chance of losing the
connection. I'm going to try and call Scully on my cellular so you can talk
with her."

"Oh, Mr. Skinner, that would be wonderful. Thank you," sighed a most grateful
Maggie. By this time, all three of the Lone Gunmen had returned to the den.
They'd finished their short respite, and Maggie decided she was now quite
hungry herself.

While she waited for the AD to call her daughter, Maggie went into the kitchen
to grab a bowl of soup for herself. The contact with the outside world
improved her outlook considerably, as well as her appetite.

She brought the bowl of soup over to the dinette, and having eschewed a
sandwich for some saltines, she crumbled the crackers on top of the broth.
She was just about to take a spoonful when she heard a ruckus coming from the
other room.

"Shit! Oh, shit!"

"C'mon, Mulder, don't do this to us!"

"Damn it!" cried out the third voice.

Maggie dropped her spoon and ran into to see what was wrong. When she
appeared at the doorway, she couldn't quite tell what the problem was, as all
three men surrounded Mulder where he laid on the bed. When she moved in
closer, she was able to see their cause for concern.

Fox was seizing. She reached over to touch his forehead and realized his
fever had probably spiked again. It had been quite awhile since he was awake
enough to swallow the Tylenol (r) so he hadn't any medication in him at this
point to help reduce the fever. She prayed it was a febrile seizure which was
induced by the high fever, and not a grand mal cause by his concussion.

She directed the boys to move away from the bed, as holding him down like
they were might actually cause him more harm than good. "The only thing you
need to do, gentlemen, is to roll him onto his side so he doesn't choke on
anything," she explained calmly as she demonstrated. "Did he only just start
seizing?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am," said Byers. "It's been only about thirty seconds now, but
shouldn't this be over already?"

"Yes, but we all know Fox rarely goes by the textbook, right John?" asked
Maggie. Maggie saw him nod, and then gasped, "Oh! Mr. Skinner!" as she
pointed to the still connected phone.

Langly immediately picked up the phone and called out to the Assistant
Director. "Mr. Skinner? You there?"

"Is he okay?" asked a raspy voiced Walter Skinner. He'd lost his voice
momentarily when he'd tried in vain to gain the Lone Gunmen's attention over
the wire. Skinner had heard the reaction of the Gunmen to the beginnings of
Mulder's seizure. The AD was petrified this was going to be a permanent
condition.

If that were the case, Mulder would lose his field agent status.

If that were the case, Skinner figured someone could just put a gun to the
poor guy's head now and get it over with. Mulder as a civilian would be very
much like a slow death, and it would be much kinder to end his life quickly.

"He's having a seizure, Mr. Skinner," said Langly.

"I deduced that already! What I want to know is, is he all right now?" he
demanded.

"I'm not sure. He's still seizing."

"What?" Skinner exclaimed. "That's too long! Too damned long." He muttered
to himself and informed Langly someone would be arriving as soon as possible.

Langly laid the phone down on the end table and looked on with concern at his
fallen friend.

Maggie had managed to reach for the thermometer again and took Fox's
temperature. As she suspected, it spiked back up and registered 105 degrees.
Maggie hoped Mr. Skinner was correct, and the DOT was going to arrive soon.
She wasn't sure how much longer Fox could hang on without medical attention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I got through," he said succinctly.

"How is he?" Scully asked quickly, not even taking the time to offer her
thanks for his diligence.

"Scully, he's had a seizure, but your mom feels it may be due to the high
fever."

"How high is high?" she asked anxiously. She's already had one nightmare of
an experience with Mulder and seizures. She wasn't sure if she could handle
another one.

"105."

"Christ All Mighty," gasped Scully. It wasn't often she used the Lord's name
in vain, but as helpless as she felt at the moment, it wasn't a surprise to
either her or Skinner. "Sir, can they get to him?"

"They're working on it, Scully. I promise you."

"I don't know what to do," she bemoaned.

"Dana, you're hundreds of miles away. You've done what you could do. He'll
be all right, you'll see. He will," Skinner exhorted.

"I can't get to him," she whispered in anguish.

"I know. I'll go to him," Skinner responded, knowing full well he was not
enough, but it was all he had to offer.

"Go to him. Soon. Please," pleaded Scully. "Tell him I'm coming."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skinner found out the plows arrived approximately ninety minutes after he'd
spoken with the local PD and the DOT department head. He was, quite frankly,
amazed with the speed with which they'd responded. Skinner was hoping they'd
get to the plowing within a few hours; never in his wildest dreams had he
expected it to be in under two.

He later came to find out Mulder had ingratiated himself to one of the
detectives in the Baltimore precinct some years back. Apparently Mulder, as a
young field agent still in Vicious Crimes, Mulder had gotten himself caught up
in some crazy situation involving hallucinogens and inhalers.

Somehow, Mulder had become an innocent victim of the drugs and had spent some
time with this detective trying to explain his part in the situation, as well
as those of three rather unique characters. Skinner had to laugh when he
realized it was the Gunmen.

So, thanks to a Detective Munch, the DOT had the plows out immediately to Mrs.
Scully's home to create a path for the EMT ambulance. Skinner was never going
to question Mulder's social skills again. He somehow always managed to win
over the people that proved to be the most important.

Amazing.

Not terribly surprising, but Skinner did consider it amazing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of 3/4

Three Men & a Mom
by Susan Proto (STPteach@aol.com)

Disclaimers in Part 1

Part 4/4

Frohike was the first to hear it. "Shit! Do you hear that?" he asked in
hopeful amazement.

"Ohmigod, they've plowed through!" Maggie exclaimed in a mixture of excitement
and relief.

"I'll go point the way," said Byers pragmatically.

While Byers went to the door, Langly moved over to where Maggie had been
sitting all this time. She'd given him another sponge bath, but Mulder hadn't
been conscious since his seizure. "Hey, Mulder Man, they did it!" he said in
a quiet, but upbeat tone. "The cavalry has arrived, my friend!"

Frohike looked over at Maggie and wondered how she managed to keep her
composure for this long. There was no doubt in his mind where her daughter
got her strength. "Maggie, he's going to be okay, you know. Mulder is like
that watch, you know? Takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin' ?"

"I know, but the parts have to wear out eventually, don't they Melvin? He
can't go on like this and expect to live a long life. The parts are just
going to give out," she said. For the first time all night, Frohike saw tears
pool in Maggie's eyes. Now that she was ready to turn over the baton to the
next caregivers, Maggie was finally allowing herself to feel something other
than stoicism.

They both looked up to see Byers pointing the way into the house to the
patient. The two EMTs came in with as much equipment as they could handle,
but they'd left the gurney in the ambulance. They didn't think they would be
able to negotiate it over the snow covered paths to the Scully entrance. They
would have to improvise something to enable them to carry their charge out to
the ambulance and place him on the gurney there.

The man, James Honig, and woman, Cathy Murphy, set themselves to work right
away. The three men and Maggie stood off to the side, wanting to do more, yet
knowing the best thing they could do for their friend was to let James and
Cathy do their job.

As they got their equipment ready, Honig noticed the state of Mulder's undress
and asked, "High fever?"

"Yes," said Maggie, grateful she could provide some assistance. "He was up to
105 about an hour ago. He had a seizure."

He nodded and proceeded to take his temperature, using a thermometer much like
the one Maggie used. Murphy, in the meanwhile, set up communications with the
base hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center.

"103 and a half," he said aloud as Murphy wrote the information down on a
chart. Next he took Mulder's blood pressure and found it to be on the high
side. "BP's 160 over 110, Cath," informed Honig. He watched as she wrote the
information down, while he took Mulder's pulse. "It's around a hundred, so
it's within normal range, but somehow I get the feeling that's a bit high for
this guy. Ma'am," he said turning to Maggie, "would you know if he's
athletic?"

"Yes, he runs and swims every chance he gets," she confirmed.

"I figured," Honig nodded. "Cathy, his normal pulse is probably closer to
sixty to seventy, so a hundred should be considered as rapid."

"Got it. Respirations?" she asked.

"Ten. Get the O2 ready, okay?" Honig advised. Murphy nodded in agreement as
she dialed into the hospital base to receive confirmation on treatment.

The paramedics worked quickly as they confirmed with the hospital base team
their next acts. They started IV lines for Saline and prepped an area for a
possible blood transfusion. The EMTs noted the badly bruised abdominal area
and confirmed with Maggie there was blood in Mulder's urine earlier.

Honig and Murphy then encouraged Maggie and the Gunmen to enlighten them with
any other information they believed would be helpful in understanding the
patient's condition, as well as anything that might help in his course of
treatment.

"Get Agent Scully here, STAT," muttered Frohike.

"Sorry, what was that?" asked Murphy.

"His partner, Agent Scully, is out of town, but he relies upon her a lot when
he gets hurt," explained Frohike.

"He gets hurt a lot?" asked Honig.

"Nature of the job," interjected Byers, "FBI."

The paramedics nodded their understanding and prompted the others to share any
other information. Once that was done, Honig and Murphy readied their patient
for transport quickly, and before Maggie or the Gunmen realized it, Mulder was
being carried out on a blanket to the awaiting gurney.

The four of them immediately grabbed their coats in order to follow. Maggie
asked if it would be possible to travel with Mulder, but the EMT's suggested
it might be safer for everyone concerned if she traveled separately.

Maggie didn't argue. She realized it would be a harrowing enough drive,
plowed streets or no plowed streets. The snow was still coming down rather
heavily, and where ever it had been cleared was now rapidly becoming covered
again. Maggie looked at the VW minivan dubiously, but she had to be at the
hospital for Fox. As Maggie was never one to enjoy driving in this kind of
weather, she sucked it up and climbed aboard the Gunmen's VW chariot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amazingly, or perhaps not so amazingly, Walter Skinner had beat them all to
the hospital. He'd been in contact with the EMT base of operations and had
been informed earlier as to which hospital Mulder would be brought.

He stood there and watched Mulder carried in on the gurney. It was all
Skinner could do to keep his control. To coin a phrase, Mulder really did
look like death warmed over. The contrast between Mulder's dark lashes on his
very, pale skin was enough to make Skinner shudder and wonder if he was able
to do too little too late for his agent.

Honig and Murphy basically ignored the tall, balding man with the imposing
stance, and brought him directly into the first available trauma room. The
nurses were about to start cutting away clothing when they saw he was already
nude. "He was being cared for already and they were treating him for a high
fever. He'd had a febrile seizure, or so Mrs. Scully assumed, though he did
receive a head trauma. She reported there was slight bleeding from the right
ear, but that had stopped rather quickly."

They ran through the remaining items in their case history, and then it was
time for Honig and Murphy to get ready for their next run. As the two of them
walked out of the trauma room, Skinner leaped to his feet to stop them and
gain information.

"How is Mulder?" he asked sternly, though with a slight tremor in his voice.

"They're working on him now, Mr. ___." Cathy stopped and looked at the man
before her. She saw him as a very imposing figure under normal circumstances,
but somehow she saw this scenario as anything but par for the course.

"__Skinner. Assistant Director Walter Skinner, FBI."

"Ahh, well, Mr. Skinner, I can assure you the trauma team behind that door is
the best there is. Don't you worry. Mr. Mulder seemed fairly stable by the
time we brought him in. I know they're going to do the very best they can to
help your agent." With that, the pair left , and Skinner remained looking
towards the trauma room which held Mulder.

"Mr. Skinner!" called out a voice. "How is he?"

Skinner turned around to see Mrs. Scully, her pallor was chalky save for the
blush in her cheeks as a result of the cold, snowy winds. Byers, Langly, and
Forhike followed right behind her.

"I don't know. They've only just brought him in. No one has come out to
speak with me yet," he said in a voice that was less than his normally
confident tone.

"Mr. Skinner, why don't we sit down now," suggested Maggie gently. She
immediately recognized Skinner's shakiness, and led him to one of the many
waiting room chairs.

"Scully. Gotta call Scully back," he said quickly.

"Oh, do you have your cell phone handy?" she asked gently. When he nodded,
she merely reached her hand out and he pulled it out of his coat pocket. He
offered it to her, and she gratefully accepted it. Maggie then pulled out a
piece of paper that she had the foresight to take with her and dialed the
Rochester hotel Dana was staying at.

"Hello!" she responded after hearing a half a ring.

"Dana, it's Mom. Fox was just brought into the hospital."

"How is he? Mom, tell me the truth!"

"Dana, I don't know. He's hurt, but I don't know how badly. He was just
brought into the emergency room, and we haven't spoken to a doctor yet.
Sweetheart? Mr. Skinner is here," Maggie said. When she received no
response, Maggie said, "He did a fine job of getting the help we needed to the
house. We should be very grateful to him for that."

"Yes, of course," Dana replied stiffly.

"Dana__," Maggie exhorted.

"__Mom, don't. I am grateful he was able to do what I was unable to do, but
please, there's more to this than you are privy to, so please, don't.

Just then a nurse came out of the room looking for Mulder's next of kin. "Put
her on the phone, Mom. Please! I need to hear what's going on!" Dana
pleaded.

"Fox's next of kin is his partner, who unfortunately is stuck in her own
snowstorm in Rochester, New York. She's on the phone though," Maggie said as
she handed the phone to the nurse.

"Oh, very well, then," the nurse responded as she spoke both into the phone
and to the crowd surrounding her. "Mr. Mulder is being brought up to the
operating room right now. The x-rays indicate he's suffered a concussion as
well as a ruptured kidney. They're confident they'll be able to save it, if
the x-rays are accurate.

"Between the prep and settling him in with the anesthesiologist, the procedure
should take a couple of hours," she concluded. "You can wait in the waiting
room on the sixth floor near the operating rooms."

And with that, she handed the cell phone back to Maggie, who in turn handed it
to Skinner. He looked at her questioningly, but then put the phone to his ear
and said, "Hello?"

"I'm going to try to get a flight home. I don't know if I'll be able to, but
I can't just stay here," she said with frustration.

"I understand. We'll be here waiting for you, Dana. I'll put your mother
back on," said Skinner.

"Dana? Will you be able to get a flight out?" she asked.

"I called the airport. They've got one runway opened and the snow has finally
stopped here, so hopefully I'll be able to get out of Rochester. I don't know
if I'll be able to get a direct flight, or if I'll have to go to New York
first. But when he gets into recovery, tell him I'm on my way. Please, Mom.
Tell him I'm trying to get there as quickly as I can."

"I will, Dana. He'll know you're coming, I promise."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip back to Baltimore was a bit of a nightmare, but Scully didn't allow
the delays and the cancellations to deter her. The only thing she allowed to
fill her mind was being at Mulder's bedside as soon as possible. When she
walked through the doors of the ICU five and a half hours later, she was
amazed to find Walter Skinner, the Lone Gunmen, and her mother standing vigil
in Mulder's room.

She was stopped by the nurse at the desk who asked, "Scully?" When she nodded
mutely in response, the nurse said with a very tired smile, "You're expected."

Scully headed toward the entourage of people and was amazed they were all
allowed to remain in the room with him. "Mom?" she called out as she walked
into the room.

"Dana!" Maggie cried out as she ran to hug her in greeting. "Oh Sweetheart,
I'm so glad you're here."

"How did you convince them to let you all stay?" Scully asked in amazement.

"We simply refused to go until you got here," Skinner said.

"Yeah, and you try to argue with that logic, especially when it's offered by
an Assistant Director of the FBI," said Frohike with a tinge of admiration.

"Thank you for waiting with him. How is he? Did he wake up? How long was he
in surgery? What's his prognosis? Where's his chart? When can he___."

"__Whoa! Dana!" interrupted the AD. "Hold on with the questions. One at a
time, please. It's been a long night for all of us," Skinner added wearily.

"I'm sorry, I just need to hear he's going to be okay," apologized Dana.

"He's going to be fine, Dana," reassured Maggie. "The doctors were able to
repair some minor damage to his kidney, and he did suffer a concussion, but
the doctor said Fox has got a hard head."

"That's an understatement," muttered Skinner in retort. The Gunmen couldn't
help but chuckle at the comment, because they knew only too well how
bullheaded Fox Mulder could be.

"How long was he in surgery?" Dana asked.

"About three hours total. He was in the recovery room for the last two, so
he's only been in the room for the last half hour or so, Dana. I guess he was
waiting for you to arrive before he woke up," Maggie said.

"I guess. Look, why don't you all get a cup of coffee or something. I need
to convince someone it's okay to wake up now," Dana said with a smile.

Everyone nodded their agreement, but before they left, Dana called out,
"Wait." Everyone stopped and turned back to her. "I just want to say thank
you to you all. For giving him backup when I couldn't be here to do it."

Then, she turned specifically to Byers, Langly, and Frohike. "Thank you for
helping him, guys. You're amazing friends, to Mulder, to both of us. I want
you to know we both value your friendship." The guys stood there, blushing
and even shuffling their feet a bit, but when Scully walked over to hug each
one of them, she thought they were going to implode.

Next, she walked over to Skinner, who looked as relieved as anyone to see
Scully there to take over the vigil. "Sir, I know you and I have had our
differences of late, but I want you to know what a relief it is to me to know
when push comes to shove, I can still count on you. I think I'll always count
on you, Sir. I hope that's okay with you."

"It's okay with me, Dana, and I promise to explain myself someday. Just not
now. But soon. You know, I count on you and Mulder too, don't you? I think
I'll always count on the two of you, too. You think you'll be all right with
that?" He smiled his weary smile and then reached out and pulled her into an
embrace. "I am so glad you're here for him." She returned the embrace and
hung on to him for an extra moment of security and comfort.

Finally, she went to Maggie and said, "Mom, you and I were having a bit of a
disagreement before Langly started pounding on your door. Well, I had a lot
of time to think about what you said while getting back here. I realized you
were right. It's time to stop saying everything but what we really mean in
our hearts. I promise, Mom. I'll tell him what's in my heart before he
leaves this place."

Maggie didn't say a word. The gentlemen in the room, however, could be heard
muttering, "About time," or "Took her long enough," "Finally waking up and
smelling the proverbial roses," as well as a very raspy, "Scully? That you?"

Mulder woke up, but unfortunately his eyes were still quite swollen which made
it difficult for him to see exactly who was in the room. But he had his
ScullyRadar on and he could pick her voice out in a room with dozens of
people.

"Yes, Mulder, it's me." Scully could see his throat was very dry, and she
quickly offered him some ice chips. He took them gratefully.

"You made it. I'm so glad you're here, Scully. I need you here with me."

"I know, Mulder. I need you too."

Suddenly, Maggie developed a tickle in her throat and started coughing
lightly. Amazingly, the Gunmen developed a similar tickle, and they too began
coughing. However, when AD Skinner began coughing as well, Scully threw her
hands up in surrender.

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell him!"

"Tell me what, Scully?" he asked a bit more easily. "Everything okay?"

Scully couldn't help but chuckle at that and the expressions of everyone in
the room who were apparently determined to be present for her declaration of
honesty.

"Mulder, what I have to tell you is __. Well, yes, I need you. And yes, I
trust you. And yes, you're my best friend. But all that really means is that
I love you, Mulder. And it's not every woman who gets to make that
declaration in front of her mother, her friends, and her boss. So, you better
not screw this up, Mulder."

Mulder suddenly felt no pain. The pounding in his head disappeared. The
sharp pain in his abdomen and the soreness in his kidney area were a thing of
the past. Even knowing he had the dreaded Foley Catheter in place was
something he could now ignore.

His Scully said she loves him.

"I need you, always, Scully. And I trust you, forever. And you are my best
friend, for life.

"I love you, too, Scully."

A great ruckus came from the room of Fox Mulder which caused the ICU nurses to
come flying in to make sure their patient was still alive. As it turned out,
he'd apparently woke up, and was very much alive. And was seemingly well on
his way to mending, as they noted the lovely Ms. Scully was gently kissing the
bruised, but welcoming lips of Mr. Mulder.

Yes, once again Mulder was under the influence of some very good drugs, but
it was Scully who said those three amazing words first this time.

Screw it up? Not in this lifetime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of 4/4

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