Title: Once Bitten

Author: Andrea

Rating: NC-17

Spoilers: En Ami...that's it

Category: MSR, post-ep, Mulder POV  

Disclaimer: No, they're not mine...whatever! 

Archiving: I'd be honoured.

Notes: Thank you so much to Jemirah and Aly for supplying beta
on demand and for moral support during creation of this fic.


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

Not too much farther now, I told myself. It was almost as though
my quads knew where they were and were trying to get me to stop.
It was just a couple more blocks and I knew that I could make it
easily, but my muscles were trying to trick me into believing
that they couldn't go any further. I tried to think about
something else. It was a fine, fresh morning. It was still early
enough in the season that the mornings were pleasant. It wouldn't
be long before the haze and humidity of summer would not vanish
overnight, but linger in the morning air making it seem thick
and stale. If my rebellious leg muscles were complaining now, the
dog days of summer might result in a coup.

As I rounded the corner onto my block, I dropped to a walk, using
the final few yards as a cool down. By the time I had reached my
building my breathing had almost returned to normal. Before I
went inside, I stretched my legs a bit, attempting to make amends.
After a hot shower I was sure that we would all be friends again,
although taking the stairs had started another mini-revolt and my
legs were quaking by the time I'd reached the third floor. The
last two flights seemed endless. Yes, the elevator would have
been easier, but it seemed somewhat hypocritical after going for
a run.

Once inside my apartment, I kicked off my shoes and headed
straight to the bathroom, peeling off my shorts and t-shirt as I
went. When I lifted the lid of my laundry hamper to toss in the
damp bundle that I was carrying, the stench nearly knocked me
over. It left little doubt in my mind as to what I would be doing
when I was finished in the shower. Turning on the water, I made
it as hot as I thought I could bear, and after removing my
remaining clothes, I stepped under the almost scalding spray.

Since the weekend was the only chance I had to linger in the
shower, I didn't rush and spent a great deal of time just letting
the water run over me. I emerged a little wrinkled, but very
refreshed.

Remembering to grab the hamper, I brought it to the bedroom so
that I could add the dirty clothes that were strewn haphazardly
around my room to the aromatic pile. I was glad that I had
noticed the foul smell because Scully was coming over later to
wrap up the paperwork on the Havelock case. If she had needed to
use the bathroom, she might have been overcome by the fumes
emanating from my laundry. I dressed quickly, managing to find
some clean clothes in my dresser. Since laundry usually wasn't 
high on my priority list, I had to scrounge, and all I had left 
were my teddy bear boxers. It didn't really matter, no one was 
going to see them, anyway.

Deciding to grab some breakfast after I had started the wash, I
headed through the living room, intending to go straight to the
laundry room. I stopped short when I saw the light on my
answering machine blinking out of the corner of my eye. Dropping
the laundry, I went to the desk to play the message. It was
probably Scully, just checking in. The automated voice on the
machine confirmed that she had called while I was running.

"Hi, Mulder, it's me." I smiled at the familiar greeting. "I
can't make it this afternoon. Something's come up; a family
emergency. I'll call you when I can."

Was this some kind of sick joke? I replayed the message; it was
definitely Scully. The message was not exactly the same as the
one she had left a few short months ago, but hearing those words...
'family emergency', almost took my knees out. Was it some kind of
code? Was she trying to tell me something? My mind was racing and
my stomach churning as I pressed #1 on my speed dialer. Her
answering machine picked up after four rings.

"Hi, I can't take your call right now. If you leave your name and
number, I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

I had recently convinced Scully to have a more anonymous greeting
on her answering machine, telling her it would be safer. Next, I
tried her cell, but only got "The customer you are trying to
reach, blah blah." I hung up the phone. Taking deep breaths, I
tried to think clearly. Her mother! If it was an emergency, her
mother would know. I dialed Mrs. Scully's number but her
answering machine picked up after six rings. The greeting was
the same as Scully's, verbatim. She hadn't mentioned that she'd
asked her mother to change her greeting as well.

Before I got Skinner and the Gunmen involved, I decided that I
should check out her apartment. I'm sure that they would think
that I was blowing this all out of proportion and I hoped for
once that they were right.

During the interminable drive to Scully's apartment, I tried her
cell again, but I got the same recorded message. Then, while I
was waiting for another in an endless line of red lights to 
change, I wondered if she had tried my cell. 

The cell phone's memory revealed that she had called me four 
times since Frohike's 1 a.m. pizza and beer invitation. Shit! 
Why hadn't I taken the damn phone with me? Almost every other 
brave spirit that I had passed this morning was sporting
theirs.

As I drove down her street, I scanned her block for her car, but
it was nowhere to be seen. After finding an empty spot and
parking the car, I bolted up the stairs and down the hall to her
door. The last time I'd needed to check her apartment, she still
hadn't given me a key to the new locks that she'd had installed
after the Pfaster incident. I had rectified that post haste. She
had been so mortified that Spender had duped her, she hadn't
raised an eyebrow when I asked for a replacement key.

While I was searching for the key on my ring, I knocked on the
door in the off chance that she was actually there, but by the
time I was inserting the key into the new lock, I hadn't heard a
sound.

The few times that I had been in Scully's apartment when she
wasn't there had left me with the same feeling that I was having
now--almost bereft. It smelled of her and everything reminded me
of her, but without her there it seemed vacant and echoing,
almost like even it was uncomfortable without her presence.

I quickly checked all of the rooms and discovered, much to my
relief, that nothing was untoward. All of her luggage and
toiletries were still here, so I doubted that she could have gone
far. I could bear witness to the fact that she could have packed
everything she needed for a two week trip in less than five
minutes, so she must not have left the D.C. area. This brought me
back to her mother.

Checking the caller ID on her phone, I saw that just before she 
had called me this morning she'd received a call from her mother. 
Hoping that I may have just missed her, I tried Mrs. Scully's 
number again, but got the machine. I tried Scully's cell 
again, but it was still off. Then I remembered that she had said 
that she'd call me when she could, so I tried my machine but 
there were no new messages. Besides she would have tried my cell 
too, and there hadn't been a peep.

The next logical step was to check Mrs. Scully's house. It was an
hour to Baltimore and the inside of my cheek was already raw.

During the trip I tried to convince myself that Scully was fine
and that her mother had obviously called in need of assistance.
But I had to be sure; I wouldn't be able to rest until I was. I
couldn't stop myself from having visions of Scully and that
black-lunged bastard. In my wildest dreams I couldn't imagine
that she would have gone with him again, but I never would have
believed that she'd gone with him the first time if I hadn't
heard the words from her own mouth.

What if this time he had gotten to Scully through her mother?
That would certainly be right up that son of a bitch's alley.

When I got to Mrs. Scully's house, her car was in the driveway,
and I pulled in behind it. The house appeared empty, but I
needed to check anyway. Since I couldn't risk knocking on the
front door and then going around back to pick the lock without
looking suspicious, I walked confidently to the back of the
house, trying to appear like I belonged.

My lockgun opened the back door with ease. When this was over, I
would have to tell Mrs. Scully to get better locks installed. The
rear door led into the kitchen and right away I could tell that
something was amiss. Sitting on the table was a cup of tea and a
slice of dry toast. One small bite had been taken from the toast
and the tea looked untouched - the cup was almost full. From what
I knew of Mrs. Scully, she would never leave the house with food
left on the table. Scully had told me that she had come by her
cleanliness honestly.

Checking the rest of the small home quickly, I found Mrs.
Scully's bed unmade and one of her dresser drawers was askew,
like it had been closed quickly.

It seemed obvious to me that Margaret Scully taken ill, her
daughter had come to her aid and they were at the hospital right
now. Any sane person probably would have called it quits at this
point, but I had seen far larger scenarios concocted to make me
believe some untruth, so I was not giving up until I saw Scully
with my own eyes.

Now I had to start checking the hospitals. I didn't know
Baltimore well, but I knew that there would be far too many
hospitals for me to check in person. Where would Scully take her
mother? Being a Navy widow, Mrs. Scully would have insurance
coverage, but it would require that she use a military facility.
But if this was the emergency that it appeared to be, Scully
would have taken her to the closest hospital.

I called directory assistance and told them that I was an FBI
agent in need of some information. After giving the operator my
badge number and answering the requisite questions, I asked which
hospital would be the closest to the Scully residence. The 411
operator didn't have that information, but she patched me through
to a 911 operator who could.

"There are two hospitals that are about the same distance away
from that address, Agent Mulder," the congenial operator informed
me.

Two, I thought, well that narrowed things down considerably.
"Hey," something suddenly occurred to me, "Is one of them a
Catholic hospital, by any chance?"

"Yes, Baltimore Mercy," she informed me.

Confident that Mrs. Scully would prefer a Catholic hospital, I
got the address and thanked the operator. With my heart pounding,
I left the house and drove straight there.

The hospital's parking lot was packed. Saturday must have been a
popular day for visiting. It would have been faster to have left
the car at Mrs. Scully's house and walked.

In the large open lobby of Baltimore Mercy there was an
information desk staffed by a volunteer.

"Could you please tell me which room Margaret Scully is in?" I
asked, trying to sound pleasant instead of desperate.

The middle-aged woman smiled and began to clatter away at her
keyboard.

"She's in 513 East," she smiled at me.

"Thank you," I said quickly and turned towards the bank of
elevators.

"Sir, just a minute," she called me back.

"Yes," I turned around.

The volunteer beckoned me with her finger. "Mrs. Scully is not
in her room yet. She's still in surgery."

"Oh," I said, not being sure what to ask next.


"The waiting room is on 7 South," she smiled again.

"Thank you very much," I said, hoping it sounded as sincere as I
meant it to be.

The elevator ride to the seventh floor was quick, and a pleasant
nurse at the nurse's station directed me to the waiting room. The
small room was empty, except for a solitary red-head, who was
leaning back in her chair, eyes closed.

"Scully," I let out a sigh of relief.

Her eyes flew open immediately. "Mulder! What on earth...?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine," she looked a little puzzled, "It's my mother,
Mulder."

"I know," I nodded.

As I made my way to the chair beside hers, I couldn't figure out
the expression on her face. It seemed to be a mixture of
confusion, relief, and happiness. At least she didn't seem to be
angry.

"How do you know? How did you find me?" She cocked her head at me
as I sat down.

"I'll tell you later," I promised, "Right now I want to know how
your mother is."

"Well, it's her gall bladder. The doctor said it must have been
bothering her for a long time. When they did the ultrasound they
could see that it was very swollen and there was a lot of scar
tissue. Normally they would wait for the swelling to go done
before they operated, but from her temp and her white blood cell
count they suspect that it's ruptured and is leaking into her
abdominal cavity," Scully told me, her face pale with anxiety.

"That sounds serious," I grimaced.

"Why is it that she will never admit when she's sick, Mulder?"
Scully shook her head.

"I can't answer that, Scully, but the apple certainly doesn't
fall far from the tree."

"I'm not as bad as my mother," Scully defended herself.

"C'mon, Scully, you know that you don't like anyone to know that
you might not be feeling well," I reminded her.

"I would *never* let anything get this advanced, Mulder," she
said, immediately looking worried again.

"When did your mom go into surgery?" I changed the subject. It
wasn't the best time to be having that debate.

"About an hour ago," Scully told me after checking her watch. "It
shouldn't be too much longer."

I reached over and took hold of her hand; it was like ice. She
gave me a small smile. I was trying desperately to think of
something comforting to say, but everything that came to mind
sounded like a platitude. So, we were sitting in the quiet
waiting room, just holding hands, when a loud rumble rudely broke
the silence.

"Hungry, Mulder?" Scully was trying not to laugh.

Not eating at all that day had been worth it just to see her
smile, but I wasn't about to confess that I'd been running on
adrenaline up until now. I guess since I had finally relaxed
somewhat, my stomach decided that it was time to announce its
displeasure at not being fed.

"I haven't eaten anything yet today," I admitted.

Her mouth was opening to admonish me when a forty-ish man in
scrubs walked into the waiting room. Scully jumped up when she
saw him. His smile was all it took for the tension to visibly
drain out of her.

"Everything went well, Miss Scully and your mother has been moved
to recovery."

"How bad was it?" Scully wanted to know.

"About as bad as I thought. It *had* ruptured, but with a heavy
course of antibiotics she should be fine. I'd like to keep her
here until her temp goes down and her white count gets back to
normal; probably two to three days."

Scully was nodding as the doctor spoke. "When can I see her?"

In about an hour. By then they'll have moved her to her room. Did
they tell you the number?"

"Yes," she nodded again, "And thank you so much," Scully shook
his hand briskly.

"I think you are as much responsible for saving her life as I am.
If you hadn't gotten her here so fast..." his voice trailed off.

"Well, I'm still very thankful that you took such good care of
her," Scully told him.

"You're very welcome," he shook her hand again and then left us
alone again.

Taking hold of my hand again, Scully began to pull me towards the
door of the waiting room.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to the cafeteria."

"Hospital food," I laughed, "My favorite."

Leaving me at a table with two roast beef sandwiches and a
carton of milk, Scully left to call her brother. By the time she
got back I only had half of a sandwich left.

"I wasn't gone that long, Mulder. What did you do, inhale it?"

"I was pretty hungry."

"Try eating breakfast next time," she rolled her eyes at me and
then furrowed her brow. "You never said why you were here *or*
how you found me."

"I'd rather talk about that later." I didn't think that this was
the time or the place to have that discussion. "Tell me what
happened this morning."

"Well, I almost missed her call. I was just on my way out to do
some errands when the phone rang. She sounded terrible, Mulder -
she was in so much pain. I tried to convince her to call an
ambulance, but she refused," Scully sighed. "When I got there she
was still in her nightgown and she refused to go until she got
dressed. I was lucky to get her here in time. If she'd remembered
that she'd left her breakfast on the kitchen table, she probably
would have insisted on cleaning that up before we left. She
wanted to make the bed before we left," her voice was trembling,
"I had to put my foot down." She fought to blink back her tears.

"You got her here in time, Scully," I reminded her gently.
"Everything is going to be fine now."

She took a shaky breath, "You know me, Mulder. I always break
down when everything's over," and then she smiled softly at me.
"You have no idea how much it helps to have you here, Mulder.
Thank you."

"No problem at all, Scully," I assured her. We were quiet for a
couple of minutes before I broke the silence. "I'm going to get
a coffee. Would you like anything? Have you eaten?"

"*I* had breakfast," she smirked, "But a cup of tea would be
nice, even if it's cafeteria tea."

So we sat in the cafeteria talking about inconsequential things
while we sipped our caffeinated beverages of choice until I
noticed that nearly an hour had elapsed.

When we got to the room, Mrs. Scully was already there, but she
was still asleep. A nurse came into the room and told us that
Mrs. Scully had been awake briefly in the recovery room and
would probably be drifting in and out of sleep for the rest of
the day.

Scully sat down on the edge of the bed and gently picked up her
mother's free hand; the other had two IV lines running into it.
It was almost another half hour before Mrs. Scully began to stir.

"Dana," she said when she opened her eyes. Her voice was still
raspy from the anesthetic.

"Hi, Mom," Scully said softly.

Then Mrs. Scully saw me sitting in the chair. "Fox! What are you
doing here?"

"Shh! Don't talk," Scully gently chided her.

"It's the least I could do after all of the times that you visited
me in the hospital, Mrs. Scully," I pointed out.

"The roles are usually reversed, aren't they?" Mrs. Scully
laughed, but the pain that her chuckle caused made her wince.

"Mom, you've got to rest," Scully said quietly but firmly.

"I know, Dana," Mrs. Scully nodded. "Before you go home, could
you go back and tidy up the kitchen? I shouldn't have left that
mess."

"We had bigger concerns at the time, Mom," Scully reminded her,
"But yes, I'll go and tidy things up and I'll also get a
nightgown and some slippers."

"Oh and my robe and toothbrush, please," Mrs. Scully tacked on.

"That can wait until tomorrow," the nurse had come back into the
room. "You should really get some rest, Mrs. Scully."

"I'll be back with your stuff tomorrow morning. And Father McCue
already knows that your here, so he'll probably pop in some time
between masses tomorrow," Scully told her mother and the gave her
a kiss on the cheek. "You do what the nurses tell you," she
warned as she got up.

"I hope you're feeling better soon," I told Mrs. Scully after
giving her a quick peck on the cheek as well.

Her eyes were drifting closed, and she was almost asleep before
we left the room. On the way to the parking lot I convinced
Scully that she should leave her car at her mother's and I would
drive her back to her apartment. It had been an exhausting day
for her and I didn't want her to take any chances.

So after she tidied up at her mother's we got back in my car and
headed towards D.C.

"Are you going to tell me how and why you found me now?" Scully
asked once we were on the highway.

"I'd rather wait until we get home, if that's okay with you. Why
don't you close your eyes and get some rest. You've had a tough
day and it's not even 4 o'clock yet. There will be plenty of
time to talk later."

"I am tired," she agreed. She closed her eyes, and soon I heard
her breathing become slow and regular. I had to think of a
way to explain what had happened without upsetting her. I now
knew that she had obviously been so worried about her mother that
she hadn't thought about the message that she had left on my
machine or the impact that it would have on me.

Once I'd pulled up in front of Scully's building and parked the
car, I put my hand on her shoulder and she woke up immediately.

"Wow, I didn't think that I was that tired," she chuckled. "Come
inside so we can talk and then I'll make us something to eat."

"That sounds nice," I nodded. When we got inside Scully excused
herself to use the bathroom and I was happy to have the extra
time to think about how to tell her what had happened. In no time
she was sitting on the couch beside me, her eyebrows raised
expectantly.

"Can I start with how?" I asked. When she nodded her agreement I
explained in detail the steps I had taken to find her. As I spoke
her eyes grew wide. I stopped when I told her about the volunteer
at Baltimore Mercy.

Her mouth was practically hanging open. "Why, Mulder? Why did you
go to all that trouble?"

"It was the message you left," I said softly, but I could tell
from the bewildered look on her face that she still had no idea
what I was talking about. "You said it was a family emergency."

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I saw horror fill her
eyes. She put a shaky hand to her mouth.

"Oh my God, Mulder," she whispered. "I didn't even realize what I
was saying. My mother was...I didn't even think.." Tears had
welled up in her eyes and were spilling onto her cheeks. I
quickly pulled her onto my lap and hugged her tightly. Her face
was pressed against my neck, and she was shaking as she wept.

"No, Scully," I said gently, "Don't cry. I understand completely.
I'm not angry, not at all. I was scared. I had to make sure..."

"I should have called you once they had taken her into surgery,"
she lifted her head to speak to me. Her cheeks were damp with
her tears, and her voice was shaky.

"You had much more important things on your mind," I tried to
reassure her.

"That's no excuse for what I did to you, Mulder," her eyes began
to fill with tears again. "I can't believe I was so thoughtless."

Using my thumbs, I tried to brush the tears away as they spilled
onto her cheeks. "Scully, you were beside yourself with fear
for your mother. It was perfectly reasonable."

"Still, I should have heard the words when I said them." My
thumbs able to keep up with her tears. My heart was breaking. I
knew she was going to react like this. I had even considered
lying to her about why I had tracked her down, and now seeing
what I was putting her through, I wished that I had been able to
come up with some plausible excuse, because this was killing me.

"It's okay," was all I could think to say. She tried to shake her
head, but I was holding it. "Yes, it is," I insisted and without
really realizing what I was doing, I had pulled her face close to
mine and kissed her gently on the lips. "It's okay," I repeated,
kissing her again, her lips still salty from her tears.

As I kissed her, I felt her body relax against mine. Her mouth
opened slightly under mine. "Okay," I whispered a third time.
Then I let my tongue run gently along her top lip. Her mouth
opened further, giving me the permission that I had been asking
for. Trying to keep the kiss gentle, I deepened it slightly by
letting my tongue play over her teeth. My heart soared when I
felt her tongue caress mine.

I moved my hands from her face into her hair to increase the
depth of our kiss. Tilting her head to the other side, she began
to gently run her tongue first along my bottom lip, then along my
teeth and finally she was stroking the roof of my mouth. I was so
overcome with the sensation of her kiss, that I wasn't aware that
I was still participating, until she sighed softly into my mouth.

My hands had dropped to her breasts and I was squeezing them
through her blouse. Some part of my brain that was still capable of
rational thought interpreted her sigh as approval and I found
myself undoing the buttons on her blouse. As I caressed her
breasts through the silky fabric of her bra, I felt her nipples
harden in response to my touch. Arching her back, she thrust her
breasts more firmly into her hand.

Desperately wanting to feel the softness of her breasts against
my hands, I reached around and undid the clasps. Soon, but not
soon enough, her blouse and bra were on the floor and her breasts
were in my hands. When I gently rolled her nipples between my
thumb and index finger, she moaned softly and pressed her hips
against my erection.

Things had progressed to a point that I hadn't even considered,
given the events of the day.

"Scully," I said softly, pulling out of our continuous kiss.

"Mmm," she said, kissing me again.

"You know that I love you, don't you?" I had to pull back again.

"I know, Mulder," she said quietly. "And I love you, I'm so sorry
that I couldn't tell you sooner."

"That's okay," I said, they seemed to be the only words I could
come up with again. "And you know that I want to keep going, but
I just want to make sure that you want to do this right now. Are
you sure this is a good time?"

"Oh, Mulder," she sighed. Yes, I am very sure, but I can't tell
you how much it means to me that you'd be willing to stop if I
wasn't ready." Her mouth covered mine as she kissed me
passionately.

"Of course, I'd stop," I said in between kisses. "I'd never push
you to do anything that you didn't want to do."

"I want you to make love to me, Mulder," her voice had become
rough. My already throbbing cock surged at her words. After
tugging my shirt out of my jeans, she tossed it onto the floor.
As she began to work on the fly of my jeans, she looked into my
eyes. Her eyes no longer appeared red from her tears, but seemed
hazy and heavy-lidded. I wondered if the lust that I saw in her
eyes was visible in my own.

Once she had my fly undone, she got up to help me pull them off,
but kneeling in front of me so that her face was only inches away
from my arousal. When it was released from the confines of my
jeans, my cock seemed to grow even harder. As she pulled off my
jeans and boxers, Scully let her hair gently brush against me.
The cool silkiness against my hot flesh felt incredible.

As soon as she had whisked my clothes away, I sat up so that I could
remove her pants. When I got close to her I could smell her musky
scent through the layers of her clothing and it felt like even
more blood rushed to my cock.

When I had taken the rest of her clothes off, I pulled her close
and took her nipple into my mouth. She groaned and collapsed
against me. I moved so that I was up against the back of the
couch again, never releasing her nipple. She straddled me
and I could feel her heat against my belly. My cock was twitching
in anticipation of being inside of her.

Almost as if she could sense my need, Scully began to lower
herself onto me. As her moist heat enveloped me, I groaned and
lost contact with her breast.

"Oh God, Mulder," she sighed as she continued to take me in. Her
breasts were now out of reach of my mouth so I moved one hand to
her breast, while the other gently cupped her ass.

"Yes," I sighed. "So right." I was completely inside of her now.
When she began to move, my head started to swim. I had never felt
anything like this before. She was overwhelming my senses. I
couldn't get over the look of rapture on her face. All that I
could hear were her soft sighs and my name on her lips. The smell
of her desire made my own want even more powerful. I could still
taste the sweetness of her skin on my lips.  As I slid my hand
between our bodies, I could feel her quaking as she approached
her peak.

"Yes, Mulder, yes," she panted when my thumb found her clit.

My orgasm was approaching rapidly, but I forced my eyes to stay
open to that I could witness her climax. I moved my thumb a
little faster and felt her internal muscles clench in response.
I feared that I might not last after all. But then she went taut
and began to quake around me. The look of sheer ecstasy on her
face was the last thing I saw before the white lights began to
flash in front of my eyes.

When I floated back down to earth Scully was shivering on top of
me. "You're trembling, are you alright?" I asked gently.

"This is good trembling," she whispered and then kissed me
softly. I gently stroked her back as we continued to exchange soft
kisses. I was still having a hard time believing that this had
actually happened. I kept waiting to wake up from *the* most
realistic sex dream I had ever had about my partner; and I'd had
many such dreams. Fearing that if I lost contact it might all
fade away, I began to cling to her tightly.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mulder," she must have read my mind. "I
know that this will last a long, long time."

"Forever wouldn't be long enough for me, Scully."

end

please send feedback to: ardywyn@hotmail.com