From: "Imke Veen" To: "XF NC17" Subject: [XFNC17ff] Locked Away (1/1) Date: Sunday, November 17, 2002 1:10 PM Title: Locked Away Author: Hazmat Rating: NC-17 Classification: SRA Spoilers: Nothing specific Keywords: MSR Distribution: Everywhere you want, just drop me a line so I can visit. Summary: A mysterious woman lures Mulder and Scully to Europe. And then everything changes... Author's Note: I've been planning to write this story since December. (my God, It's almost been a whole year!) But life had different plans for me... anyway, here it is and let me know if you like it: hazmatabi2002@yahoo.de. I'll be coming up with a sequel to this one( next year, if I keep up that tempo..), so warn me if you think I shouldn't... otherwise I won't spare you... LOCKED AWAY "Mulder, would you finally have the courtesy to tell me why we're flying to Amsterdam all of a sudden?" He leaned into his partner and whispered silently, "I really can't talk about this here. Just let me tell you it's extremely important." Scully sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. The flight would last another five hours at least and she would make him feel as guilty as possible. When she had been ready to leave for work this morning he nearly broke her door and his hand in the process of knocking when he showed up. He had forced her to pack a carry on for a journey to Europe never bothering to explain why they would have to go there. He had kept on babbling something about saving both their lives and the future of the planet and that he couldn't explain it right then. He even had her pack personal things that were important to her. And all that in five minutes. She hoped it wouldn't be too bad because she thought she hadn't really succeeded in that task and packed stupid things where she should have taken something really important. Like contracts or something. More family photos. But one thing was pretty clear to her by now: this was no official FBI business. If she wasn't mistaken this was going to be the weirdest of all wild goose chases and they were going to get their asses kicked for this one. Fine, if she lost her job at least she'd have someone to put all the blame on and make him pay for it. Most certainly literally. "Then can you perhaps tell me why we're going to Amsterdam and not straight to Germany?" "More flights available. And they won't be able to trace us as easily." "I suppose you can't tell me who *they* are?" He lifted his hands in a helpless gesture and sighed. "I'll explain everything as soon as it's save, Scully, I don't mean to keep anything from you in this matter. It's just too damn important." She nodded slightly and turned her gaze out into the clouds again. This would be the last time, she swore to herself and rubbed her temples in a vain attempt to get rid of the headache torturing her. The last time he dragged her off into nowhere. The last time he kept her in the dark. The last time she was taking this shit from him. And the very last time she would yield to this puppy dog look of his. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX When the plane finally landed in Amsterdam Scully's legs were numb and her head was buzzing. She was grateful they only had carry-ons and didn't have to spend too much time among the hundreds of tourists, which descended from the plane with them. As soon as they reached arrival area of the airport Mulder kept looking for someone who was supposed to pick them up, Scully assumed. After a few moments he tugged on her sleeve and practically dragged her over to a pale young woman with jet black hair to her waist. Before Scully could start to wonder who that woman was said woman had shaken both their hands and murmured hastily, "I'm Brooke, let's get out of here. I've already spotted one of their spies." Scully's questioning look was left unanswered and she had to hurry to follow Mulder and the pale woman out of the airport building. Before she realized what was happening she was in the backseat of a tiny Opel driven by Brooke. Neither she nor Mulder seemed eager to talk to her. Mulder just sat there and nervously chewed his bottom lip while Brooke was driving rather offensively through the night and kept glancing nervously into the mirrors and to the side of the road. "Dammit," she whispered under her breath, "We're being followed." She stepped on the gas pedal and accelerated up to 140 km/h. A black BMW was right behind them catching up slowly but steadily. "Why don't you drive any faster? " Mulder asked impatiently. But Brooke choked out a nervous laugh. "These are the Netherlands, Agent Mulder. The speed limit here is 120km/h and the Dutch police are very eager. Wouldn't be too much of a problem if the papers of this car weren't fake. I'll change onto N201 to get rid of them. I just hope they won't follow us there." He still wasn't convinced and Scully had never been so the agents were actually surprised when her plan worked out. The BMW didn't follow and soon Brooke pulled over to a rest area where she parked the car as far away from the road as possible. "Yes!" Brooke hissed triumphantly, "that will do for now." She got out of the car and lit a cigarette. After taking a few deep drags she turned to Mulder and Scully who had also stepped out into the night. "So," Scully began, "Can anyone finally tell me what's going on here?" Brooke raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You haven't let her in on my project, Agent Mulder?" "I already told you to leave the Agent, Brooke. We didn't have any time for talking so far. Maybe it would be best if you told Scully about... this." Scully's eyes grew wider with every word. Who was this woman and how long had Mulder known her? What was *this* and why did it require such discretion? Her questions should be answered sooner than she would have thought possible. Brooke didn't finish her cigarette and threw it onto the asphalt. "I have contacted your partner about two month ago and requested that you two join our community." She opened the car's trunk and retrieved a pair of license plates and a screwdriver. She handed the plates to Mulder and began to loosen the front plate of the car. "I started the project maybe five years ago when I found out it was all true, this talk about invasion. I got to know people who could prove to me what was going on and what had to be done to survive. I can't give you any names outside the facility but you'll get to know everyone soon enough." She had gotten the plate off and Mulder handed her the new one reading a different code that her fragile white hands swiftly began to fasten. "I have been supported by people with the money and knowledge to realize my plans. We build a small city completely underground. It will have room for about 80 000 people most of which are already there. Roughly a thousand are scientists, psychologists and lab personnel. The rest are just average people, mostly middle class. Representatives of every country in the world." Brooke finished the front and started to remove the license plate at the rear of the small car. "Guards or military are not necessary; the facility is secret and save without such measures. My specialists estimate it will take about the next thirty years before we can live on the surface again so we're stocked with everything we need or might need in that time. You won't miss anything." The old plate was gone and the new one in place. "Maybe daylight," she added thoughtfully. Scully's hands were on her hips and she stared unbelievingly at the young woman. "You are telling me that extraterrestrials will invade earth and we have to wait thirty years underground until everything is alright again?" A tiny smile crept into Brooke's face and she reached for another cigarette. "Basically, that's it. I could go into detail now but I think you'll learn just as well as we go along." But Scully still couldn't believe her own ears. This was just too much. Mulder stepped a little closer to her and laid his hand onto her shoulder. "You can believe her, Scully. We've been emailing for months, this isn't just a serious case of paranoia." She watched the small woman her partner put so much trust in. Brooke had granted them some privacy and was pacing the length of the rest area. Tight black leather pants clung to her short but shapely legs and an equally black trench coat fluttered around her tiny figure. Scully drew a deep breath and nodded her head curtly. "Okay, she'll have her chance. But if she won't get me any prove about this invasion crap soon I'm on my way to the States no matter how much you believe her." He actually looked relieved at her answer. "Thank you, Scully," he almost whispered. By then Brooke had finished her cigarette and reached the car again. "We really need to get going. We'll have to be across the border before dawn and I'll have to change the license plates once more." They got into the car again and continued the detour mostly on secondary roads until Brooke turned onto N225 after Utrecht. She began glancing cautiously around them once again. "I think they're gone," Mulder said to calm her a bit. She nodded. "Yeah, seems so." Scully thought she would finally want to know where exactly they were heading. "So, where are we going to at all?" she asked. "Emmerich, for now. We'll spend the day there at a friend's place. When it's dark again we'll move on." "And this friend of yours, he knows about this whole project?" Brooke swallowed heavily and shook her head. "I can't take the liberty to save people because I like them. The goal is to preserve as much of the human gene pool as possible. They're on holiday." The rest of the drive was spent in silence. They changed onto the N36 in Anthem and stopped at another deserted rest area near the German border where Brooke equipped the car with German license plates. "These are real," she explained, "The police are very watchful these days. Even they seem to sense that something's up. Usually I'm not even checked at the border but that has changed over the last few months." They followed the same connecting road until they reached their destination about an hour before dawn. Brooke parked the car on a public parking lot and they walked nearly two more kilometers to the house. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "This is the guest bedroom. I take it you don't mind sharing a room?" Scully blushed hotly but Mulder had already ushered her into the room and assured Brooke that it would be okay. "I'll be downstairs in the living room if you need anything." She paused a moment. "I may seem a little cold but even I can't sleep in their bed." Mulder nodded his understanding and closed the door behind him. Scully slumped down on the extended couch and rested her face in her hands. "Oh my god, Mulder, what have you gotten us into?" she asked rhetorically. "I'm really serious about this. The stakes are a little high for imposters, don't you think? Brooke has shown me proof and you will see it too." "Why didn't you ever tell me anything about her and this project?" "I was planning on that. But suddenly she called on a save line and told me they had underestimated the time span until invasion. We had to start right away. I'm sorry I couldn't prepare you for this, Scully." He sat down beside her and carefully touched the side of her face. "You look awfully tired... are you okay?" She nodded quickly and opened her bag. "I'm just tired, Mulder. I need a little sleep." Later Scully lay awake in the bed in the foreign country a stranger had led her to. To her astonishment Mulder slept soundly beside her. He didn't sleep very well normally but either the journey had exhausted him immensely or it was her presence that calmed him enough to sleep that well. Scully's head was pounding madly now and of course her bottle of painkillers was empty. She sighed heavily which caused Mulder to stir slightly and padded down the stairs in her pajamas. Brooke had apparently darkened the whole house. Although it had to be mid morning by now there was not a single ray of sunlight to be seen. Scully came into the living room to find the young woman hunched over a laptop with a frown on her face and typing commands every few seconds. "Hi," she introduced herself hesitantly and Brooke looked up from her laptop and pushed the lid down. "Hi," she replied, "Is there anything I can do for you?" "Um, I just wondered if you had some painkillers for me. I've got a really bad headache since Washington." "I'm sure they have something in the house. Sit down a moment; I'll get it for you." Scully nodded wearily and sat down on the couch. For a minute she considered opening Brooke's laptop and see what she'd been doing. But she remembered the trust Mulder put into this woman and kept her hands to herself. A few minutes later Brooke's black figure came through the door and handed her a blister packing. "Here. They're only light but you can take more of them. I used to take those myself." "So you stopped?" "I... let's just say I didn't need them any longer." Scully nodded, sensing she wouldn't go into detail here and swallowed three of the tiny pills. She drew up her legs and tucked them under her body trying to hide her discomfort in this whole situation. "I don't think I can sleep now anyway. How about you tell me how you got to know my partner?" Brooke sat down beside her and opened the laptop again to reveal nothing but a blank Word2000 document. Scully inwardly shrugged her shoulders. Maybe it was just a reflex to close the lid once she wasn't alone or working any more. "I have connections deep into the BKA. People I studied with. People who owe me favors. And peolpe who would be in great trouble if their bosses knew what I know." She smiled a little at the memories but grew serious again very quickly. "The work on the project grew increasingly important during the last year and I had to start gathering experts in various fields of science. But most crucially I needed people who had had dealings with them before. I had already used all my sources in Europe and had some problems to find people who could sort out the Overseas UFO sightings and stuff. But eventually I found a top floor secretary in the BKA who had one secret too many. I got her to sort out the fakes and psychopaths all over the world and after three month of night shifts she came up with your partner's file." "But how could she get into..." Brooke grinned at the look of horror on Scully's face. "It's fairly easy to access any database in the world if you have the right equipment. And I sent her some computer experts from Pakistan that did a really nice job. Anyway, that's how I got his e-mail address. It took me some time to get a save connection that couldn't be traced by your specialists. And once the Pakistanis got me a real good code system all I had to do was tell him and he was in." "That's so like him," Scully grumbled, "He didn't doubt anything you told him?" "Oh, he did. But I got used to that while finding the right people for the project. So I sent him tons of our results and reports on their activity and then it was easy to convince him to join us. Then he told me about you and that he wouldn't come without you. That was absolutely no problem with me because your expertise shall come in handy as well but he kept assuring me he would never leave you behind." She paused to study Scully's face that was now turned away from her slightly and could practically see the clouds surrounding her. She laid her hand on her arm and began to talk more softly. "You mean so much to him. He said if he was to survive and you were not it would all have been for nothing." Scully closed her eyes and dropped her face into her hands. She let out a shuddering breath and tried expel the throbbing in her head. "He never told you, am I right?" Brooke continued, "You are his world, Agent Scully." "Dana. Call me Dana," she whispered and her head fell to the back of the couch heavily. "He often told me I meant a lot to him. But I guess I never realized how deep his feelings are." "So I think you'll have a lot to talk about for the next thirty years," said Brooke and smiled warmly. Scully sobered as her thoughts of this project and her doubts in the woman with the shining black hair returned. "I need more than Mulder's belief here. I need to see that your results are correct and the measures appropriate." Brooke nodded and bent over her computer. "I can absolutely understand that." She clicked here and there, typed a few commands and handed Scully the laptop. "This file should contain everything you need to know for now. I'll leave you alone with this, take your time." Scully nodded already immersed in the text and Brooke left the room and closed the door behind her. It took her about two hours to read all the facts Brooke had given her and afterwards she just sat there staring at the numbers and calculations in front of her. She had been given proof. After seven years of working on hunches and believes she finally had proof in her hands. And it wasn't good news that could be derived from it. She had to accept what Brooke had told her; there was no way in denying it. Scully laid the laptop back onto the cocktail table and stood up stretching her taut muscles. A look at the wall clock told her it was well into the afternoon and she went over to the window front to open the blinds. The room was flooded by sunshine instantly and she reveled in the warmth on her face realizing she would have to live without it for maybe the rest of her live. Suddenly she spun around at the sound of pained screaming and the smashing of the living room door. Then Brooke's panicked voice called through the closed door. "Dana! Close the blinds!" Scully was extremely puzzled but did as she was told. Then she went over to the door and opened it. Brooke was leaning limply against the railing of the cellar stairs and breathing heavily. As she felt Scully's questioning glance on her she lifted her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to panic. There's nothing to be worried about, just keep the sunlight out of here." She brushed past Scully into the living room and dropped bonelessly onto the couch. Scully hesitated for a moment, and then she kneeled down beside her and took her cold pale hand in her own. "Tell me," she demanded carefully. "It's nothing, really. I have an allergic sensitivity to sunlight. If I come into contact with direct sunlight I get burning red patches on my skin. If I'm exposed longer than a few seconds it practically burns my skin away. I'm sorry I scared you, Dana. It's just been a long time since I last got burned." "It's okay, Brooke, don't be sorry." Scully reached over and grasped her other hand, the one she had opened the door with. The skin was red and hot where the sun had touched it and Brooke inhaled sharply when Scully carefully stroked the burned skin. She had seen sever sun allergies but never had she heard of such an extreme reaction. And Brooke's skin was so cold where she wasn't burned. A loud bang made Brooke jerk upward and broke Scull's reverie. The two women turned around in surprise to find Mulder in the doorway his weapon drawn and trained at them. As he saw they were alone he dropped the gun and came over. "Are you okay?" he asked. Scully nodded. "Yeah, just a little misunderstanding." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Once it was dark again they continued their journey northwestward. The small car made its way through the blackness avoiding towns and villages using roads as large as possible. Brooke was sure to be safer there with nowhere to hide for possible pursuers. They didn't know where the facility was, they only knew she knew it. Mulder complained he was getting hungry and so Brooke pulled over to a McDonalds. Scully hadn't even realized how hungry she was until she started eating. But after a few bites she looked over at Brooke who had lit a cigarette and sipped on her coffee but wasn't eating anything. "What about you?" Scully asked, "Aren't you hungry?" "No, I don't need much food." Mulder grinned. "You don't think you're too fat and starve yourself, right?" Brooke smiled back just a little and shook her head. "I'm just not hungry." "Can you show me your hand again?" Scully asked and Brooke stretched out a tiny white hand that was completely healed. "There are no traces of the burns!" Scully exclaimed, "That's a really fast healing, Brooke!" Her black clad shoulders shrugged and she pulled her hand back. "I don't know how this happens myself but it's always been so fast. My doctors could never explain it, either. Ready to go?" She was out of the restaurant in a flash and the agents followed a bit confused. Back on the road leading further north the three of them had gone completely quiet. Scully had moved to practically lying across the backseat and her thoughts shifted toward the young woman who was driving them. She had somehow begun to like Brooke but was finding many odd things about her. Her strange food habits, this allergy to sunlight. She never seemed to wear anything other than black and her skin was even paler than Scully's own. Still she couldn't put her finger on it; Brooke just seemed a bit kinky. Mulder was now wide-awake again as she was used to. She still didn't know why he had been sleeping so well in the morning. After what Brooke had told her it could very well have been her presence. But the only reason she hadn't slept as deeply as well had been her headache. So she still supposed he had just been tired. Luckily that damn headache had finally subsided and Scully found her eyes drifting shut from time to time. She began to feel the heaviness of sleep and her mind created a place she often sought refuge in in her dreams. One of her childhood bedrooms. She had forgotten what base it had been on but she felt secure there, even if it was only in her dreams. She was lying in bed naked and she wasn't alone. Mulder was with her like he always was. In most of her dreams they just lay there holding each other but every now and then those dreams were more erotic. Usually after a particularly stressful day and today was no exception. Today they were in her small bed. Both naked, their limbs entangled with each other's. His hands seemed to be everywhere on her body stroking every square inch of her skin. She was relaxed and excited at once beneath him. And tonight she was impatient. She reached out for his cock and swiftly guided him inside her. Their moans vibrated through their entire bodies like a tidal wave. He began to move inside her and fastened his mouth to the nape of her neck... XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Scully?" She jerked out of her dream and blinked a few times in the darkness. She looked up to find Mulder gently shaking her shoulder to wake her. Dammit, how far could this go? She was having erotic dreams in the presence of the object of said dreams. "We're there." She nodded absently and followed Mulder and Brooke out of the car to get her things from the trunk. Brooke led them across a half filled parking lot and Scully had quite a lot of trouble avoiding the many patches of mud and water on the messy surface. "The entrance to the facility is hidden, of course," Brooke began as they came nearer to a group of large buildings standing out against the small town houses, "It may not look that way but it's always best to hide things in plain sight. This is a school and the entrance to our hideout is in one of the cellars." Scully still had problems believing what she saw although Brooke had shown her a lot of her research and the facility on her laptop. The small woman in black had keys to every door they came across and she led them through a long hallway with an aula at its side and then along the side of the yard until they entered what looked like the oldest building around. Brooke didn't bother to switch on any lights but just led them a few steps up and along a broad hallway. Then she turned left into a staircase and went down into the basement. Only then she lighted the room they were in. The room was small and all the walls and floor were covered in wooden panels. There were hooks and shelf boards to their right and a wooden door in front of them. But Brooke turned them to a steel door to the left and went into an even smaller room that contained a deep freezer and a sleazy refrigerator aside from other rubbish that had accumulated over the years. The only free wall had another steel door. Brooke crouched down beside it and revealed a control panel beneath a pile of old wine boxes. She pressed her hand to it and a green light buzzed under her palm to scan it. A red light began to glow and she punched in a couple of numbers. Then she closed the panel again and opened the heavy door. To Scully it looked more like she was pulling a piece of rock out of a mountain. The door was at least three meters thick but the tiny woman moved it as easily as any other door. "This is the metal you read about in my research protocols. The whole outer and most of the inner structure of the City are made of it. It was the first thing I had to work on back then and you read yourself that it will hold anything." Brooke darkened the school's basement again and the three of them stepped into a rather large elevator. "I'll take you right to your homes for the next thirty years or so. Later I can show you the most important areas of the City," Brooke explained but neither Mulder nor Scully found anything appropriate to say in the situation. The ride was long and they spent the rest of it in silence. The doors opened and they stepped out into a huge open area that reminded Scully a bit of the halls in airports. Just much larger. Like a huge auditory. But flat, no elevated seats. There was a small platform on one side and a few chairs stood along the walls. But otherwise it was empty. There was a long row of more elevators on the opposite end and Brooke led them directly to one of them. Their trip went further down then along lots of corridors in pale but friendly colors until they reached one that had numbered doors along it. Mulder and Scully followed Brooke into one of them and she closed the door behind them. "This will be your apartment for the next thirty years, Dana. Yours is right next door, Mulder. This is the living area for scientists, one level below the rest of the population. The apartments are all alike for simplicity but of course you're free to change them to your liking. This is living room, the kitchen's to the right and bath and bedroom to the left." She rummaged a little in her coat pockets and withdrew two plastic cards that she handed to Mulder and Scully. "These are IDs and security cards. They are coded with the security level you have access to and that's security level 4." She turned to a small plastic box on the wall next to the door. "This machine allows you to provide other persons with access to your apartment. Just run both cards through it back to back. The LED will glow green if the installation was successful." Brooke shrugged her shoulders. "That's about it, I guess. I'll take you both to the lab tomorrow morning and leave you alone for the rest of the night." She motioned for Mulder to walk out of the door. He threw a quick glance at Scully before he left and Brooke turned to follow him. The pale woman smiled at her and Scully could have sworn that she had looked her up and down in a matter of seconds. The door fell shut and Scully shook her had to get rid of the image. She sighed and gazed unseeingly at the neutral furniture of what was supposed to be her home. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX She dragged her luggage into the bedroom and smiled satisfied at the queen-sized bed in the middle. At least she would be very comfortably locked away for however long it would take in the end. The living room had a working corner with a large desk and a brand new computer on it. Curiously Scully booted it up and opened the only file on the desktop. It contained information about the facility in general and more specific about the different levels along with a blueprint of the whole structure. She still couldn't really grasp it and inwardly hoped that the calculated time of attack would never come to pass. The different levels swam before her eyes: storage, subterranean gardens and fields, labs, maintenance, shopping, living, sports; it became all a blur on the screen. But Scully took a deep breath and swallowed back the welling tears. Then she found a link to her soon to be workspace in the laboratories and went through the description of the sensor equipment she would be handling in just a few hours. They would have access to cameras on the surface all over the world but presumably those wouldn't survive invasion. So they had sensors for almost every substance on earth and the few they knew were brought or emitted by them. The most important indicator she would have to monitor was a substance Brooke had named nine-one-one: most likely it was something they left in the atmosphere when breathing. Like CO2 for humans. Brooke's other scientists assumed there would be an immense increase in that substance in the atmosphere just before the invasion because their ships would enter the atmosphere. So that was the point they had to get ready for everything they could or couldn't expect. The point of no return. They would keep track of everything else they could possibly use to calculate how earth would look like and to determine when it would be time to return to the surface. Not that it would be soon anyway. The merry chime of her doorbell shook Scully out of her reverie and she went over to look through the peephole. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found Mulder on the other side of the door. Wordlessly she opened and he came in, a somewhat chagrined look on his face. Scully gestured for the couch and sat down next to him after she had shut down the computer. "Scully, I want to try to apologize," Mulder began, "if you let me. I know, I should have told you earlier but I just didn't think everything would happen so soon." "You did what you had to do. I wouldn't have believed you anyway. I can hardly belief it now if I'm honest." She leaned back against the soft throw pillows. Suddenly she felt the tears back in her eyes. "I just wish I could have told Mum goodbye, or even take her here." Mulder laid his hand on her arm and his eyes became very sad all of a sudden. "You know why we couldn't have done that. I'm sorry you had to leave like this but it was the only way." "Yeah, I know that. But that doesn't make me feel good about it. I feel like we're letting down quite a lot of people here, Mulder." "We do," he said quietly. "But it's the only way," she whispered as she felt the tears begin to roll down her face. And then she drew her legs up onto the couch and sobbed freely into her hands. Quickly Mulder gathered her into his arms and held her close. Of course he didn't like to see her cry but it was good to know she dared to in his presence. He would have given anything for her to let him see her like this and now she just did. After a while she felt the tears ebb away and she looked cautiously up into Mulder's face. "I'm sorry, Mulder that was childish of me," she said pulling away from him and walking over to the desk. He watched her fidget with the rubber mat on it. "No, you're just being honest with me. Scully, what I wanted to ask you is if you're okay with what you're supposed to do here?" She nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I just went through the description of working with the sensors and I think I'll do just fine." "No, Scully, that's not what I mean. I mean, you will have to work on something in which's existence you're not sure to believe." "I know. But I don't have a choice, Mulder. All this, this stuff here, this whole facility and everything; it's too complicated to be just an elaborate hoax. And as I'm already here I can as well do whatever I can to help Brooke's plan along." "Well, and I'll finally get the chance to work as a psychologist. Many people will have problems with this situation. And much worse than you and me." Scully actually smiled at the picture of Mulder and a patient on a couch. "I can hardly imagine you like that. Maybe you'd miss your wild goose chases. Maybe I'll miss them..." He got up and walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms again. "We'll be okay, Scully, we'll make it. Perhaps we can see this as a new chance." She sighed into his chest. "Yeah, at least we should try." Seemingly on their own her arms began to roam his back and she reveled in the feeling of the smooth muscles beneath her hands. So seldom had she the opportunity to touch him like this and feel his body against hers. His hands went to her hair and he played with the silken strands for a few moments before she lifted her head and looked into his eyes. Their color was suddenly indefinable and they were like deep wells of black water. She saw her own eyes in them mirroring the emotions in his. She saw their deep friendship in their eyes and she saw her love in his eyes mixed with a flash of desire. His hands came around to cup her face and his thumbs lightly stroked her cheekbones. Scully pulled him tighter into her body and closed her eyes in anticipation. She had waited for this moment so long. Almost seven years if she was honest with herself. But suddenly she felt herself deprived of his heat and her eyes flew open. "I'll see you tomorrow in the lab." she heard him mumble by the door and before she could even open her mouth he was gone and the door was shut. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Brooke had shown Mulder and Scully around the scientific labs and the hospital level of the City and they had left Mulder in his new office. Now Scully was alone in her new workspace: a super modern lab with everything she could wish for. Assistants would do most of her actual work but she was the only one who would work with the sensor equipment. She had now spent about two hours accommodating with the machines and digital readouts. Then she went right to the sensors that held most of her interest: the nine-one-one sensor bank. But the digital numbers were still confusing to Scully and she accessed the readouts of the last hours of the night. A horrible idea came to her mind as she saw them but she had to be sure and so she transferred the data to another workstation and turned them into a graph. She gulped hard as she saw on her screen what she had already feared: They were already very very near. She hurried over to the next intercom and called Mulder and Brooke saying they had to come back to her immediately. When the two arrived Scully had double-checked the results at least three more times and to Brooke the news was unmistakable. She turned even paler if possible and asked breathlessly: "When?" "If my calculations are correct, tomorrow around 10 am," answered Scully. Brooke's eyes seemed to unfocus a little while she spoke again. "Okay, I'm leaving you; I still have to get some important people in here and prepare everything. I'll see you tomorrow at 9.45 in the auditory. If you find anything important call me." And then she was gone leaving Mulder and Scully completely stunned by the speed all of this seemed to happen. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The huge auditory was filled to the last seat when Mulder and Scully came in. Brooke hurried down the wide aisle in the middle after she'd spotted the two of them. "God, I'm so nervous," she said, "I know we're perfectly prepared but... I don't know. I still feel uneasy." Scully shifted her weight from one foot to the other and simply didn't know how to comfort the woman that seemed to look even slimmer today than when they had met. But Mulder put his large hands on the women's shoulders and steered them down the aisle before the need for more words arose. "Come on, ladies, they're all waiting." The agents took their seats in the front row and Brooke stepped up to a tribune on the small-elevated platform. The facility's inhabitants grew very silent and Brooke took a deep breath before she started. "People of the world, inhabitants of this facility. This is an exiting moment for all of us and I don't have to tell you why we're here today. You have been selected to be the survivors and I deeply regret that the capacity of this facility isn't greater. But on the other hand I'm really grateful that I have the opportunity to save at least a fraction of the human race. Until now I have secretly hoped fate would simply pass us and they would just leave and I could let you all go. Unfortunately this is not the case and we will have to face this challenge together. - Let's take a look at the cameras now." She picked up a tiny remote control and aimed it at a row of six monitors behind her. They flickered alive and the audience was able to see pictures of the world's largest metropolis. "I hope we won't have to... ", Brooke started but she was interrupted by the sudden intake of breath of thousands of people. The monitor showing LA was picturing burning ruins from one second to the next. And within the next ten seconds all the others followed. The people in the auditory were silent; none dared to say a word. Apparently Brooke had done a great job preparing everyone. Scully felt a shiver run down her spine and closed her eyes when she thought of the amount of people who had just now died in a few seconds. And of those who were not yet dead. Pictures of members of her family invaded her mind. They were lying in their homes bleeding, struggling with all those flames. But then a buzzing noise filled the air and she opened her eyes again. The screens were filled with static; they had lost their last connection to the ground. If it weren't for her sensors. Brooke switched off the monitors and turned to the people once again. "We all knew this would happen. But to actually see it is still another matter. I won't keep you long now. I just want to remind you that we have to be strong in the time following, that we have to stick together and rely on each other. Because each other is all we have left now." Then she came down from the podium and stepped over to Mulder and Scully who rose as she approached. Brooke stood in front of them her arms hanging limply at her sides. People began to leave the auditory now, some were weeping silently but most of them just stared ahead. When everybody was gone Brooke took a deep breath and the three of them started to walk over the one of the large elevator doors as well. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Scully swept away the debris of hours of work from her large desk in the lab. Then she spread the sensor graphs from the past 13 hours on it and stared at them trying to conclude something useful. She was alone in the lab. The assistants and other researchers had gone home. Maybe she just hadn't realized there was all the time in the world to work on this data but she felt an uncertain urgency to learn as much as possible as soon as she could. Or maybe she just didn't want to deal with being alone in this cave under the ground. But she dismissed that thought forcefully and turned back to the graphs. Only moments later someone rung the bell of the security door and she walked over reluctantly. A look at the surveillance camera told her it was Mulder standing outside. Of course, who else would come looking for her at this time? She sighed and opened the doors for him. "What are you still doing down here? It's late and I know it's none of my business but you should come up and rest a little," he greeted her. She gestured over to the table. "I have to make some sense of this stuff. It's all so crazy. There has to be something." "Scully, come up with me. You have the next thirty years to figure it out." "Yeah, I know," she agreed tiredly, "okay, let's go." They rode up the elevator to the scientist's living area in silence and walked down the plain corridor with the plain walls to their plain doors. Scully raised her card to the small white slit next to hers and it clicked silently open. She stepped in but then she hesitated and turned around. "Can... can you come in for a moment, Mulder? I don't think I want to be alone now." He smiled and followed her into the room closing the door behind him. Scully felt the strangeness of the new situation draw closer as she walked through the foreign room that was supposed to be her home. She sat down on the brand new couch. She tried to feel more comfortable, more at home but failed miserably because the only thing she could manage was to stare at the undecorated walls around her. Mulder watched her for a minute, and then he sat down on the other end of the couch and approached her carefully. "Are you okay, Scully? Don't lie to me; I can see you're not." She tried to compose herself once more but she found she couldn't. Once more she was tired of pretending she got along well. Since they had come to the facility she had tried to evade her true emotions about all this. But now it was too much and she failed to keep up her walls. Finally she began to cry and drew her knees up on the couch to hide her face between them. "God, Mulder," she gasped out between sobs, "how am I supposed to be okay? Life as I knew it just ended, I lost everything I ever had. My family, my friends..." "Scully, Scully, it's okay, I just..." "They're dead, Mulder! Don't you see it; they're all dead out there!" He moved right beside her and laid his arm around her shoulders. "I know, Scully, I'm here. I'm here." She rocked back and force crying more quietly now and he kept his arm around her trying hard to comfort her. After some time she felt only empty and her sobs eased away. She knew she had opened her soul to him and that made her feel very vulnerable. But then again she was very aware that it had been her only option. She had been crying in front of him before but this time she had really lost it. She had let him see all her desperation when he most certainly had enough of it himself. She had selfishly demanded his care and hadn't even tried to give some comfort to him. "Mulder?" she asked silently, lifting her head from between her knees. "Hm?" "You're the only thing that is left of my life." He leaned his head against hers and whispered, "So are you." Scully turned her head and looked for the depths of his eyes. He searched her eyes as well but the only thing he found was deep grief. He had to erase that look. And before she could form another thought his lips were on hers and he stroked them with his tongue until she gave in to the temptation and opened them. She felt all power slip away from her and let him explore her mouth freely. She was too stunned to kiss him back but warm shivers were running down her spine and settled deep in her belly. Desire clouded her thoughts and she lifted her hand to reach for him. But just then he pulled away and jumped off the couch. "I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Before she understood what he wanted to say he had left and the door snapped shut behind him. And suddenly the tears were back. Scully curled up on the couch and cried freely to herself. She couldn't have said how long she had been lying there until her own sobbing rocked her to sleep. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Scully hesitated a few moments before she knocked on the high polished office door. Kind of an improvement from the basement office, she though. She didn't wait for him to answer and walked right in before she lost her resolve. Mulder's head jerked up at her entry and he dropped a few papers he had been holding in his left hand. "Hi," she said quietly, "nice office." "Scully, you've already been here." he answered gravely and stood up. "I know. I'm here to talk to you." Mulder shook his head. "You don't need to say anything. I should have been glad you let me see beyond your obvious self. But I used you; I betrayed your trust in me." "Maybe you would like to hear my side of the story..." He stood up and took a few steps toward her. He lifted his hands in defense. "Don't try to be nice, just don't. You're all I have now and I don't want to risk losing you because of my stupidity." She lifted her right hand and laid it against his left one as she stepped closer. Talking didn't seem to make him understand, she had to try the other way. "Scully?" "Would you finally shut up?" Then she stood on tiptoe to reach him and kissed his astonished mouth. And apparently he understood this language and began to kiss her back. "God, Scully," he murmured into her mouth and closed the small gap that was still between them. Scully pressed herself against him and let her hands roam his broad back. This felt so natural, so familiar to her. She could have sworn they had been together like this for a lifetime. One of his hands held the back of her head while the other swept down her back to come to rest on her ass, squeezing softly. But Scully felt the need for more skin and pulled at the crisp white fabric of his shirt. Mulder hesitated and broke their kiss. "My secretary's out there..." he said but Scully shook her head and began to work on the buttons of the offending shirt. "I told her we had an appointment and that she could take her lunch break," she grinned finally pulling away the garment. But before she could admire the freshly exposed skin he had grabbed the hem of her blouse and pulled it over her head. She tried to reach for the fly of his slacks but he pushed her hands away and swiftly removed her bra. As soon as the flimsy fabric was gone he bent down and fastened his mouth to one of her nipples. Scully's head flew back as he suckled and lightly scraped her tender flesh with his teeth. She lowered her hands onto his shoulders as she felt the sensations trickle down her spine and wetness pooling between her legs. He began to trace a hot line down her belly with his tongue and made short work of the button fly of her jeans. Scully's hands traveled to his hair and she let the silken strands run through her fingers while he pushed her jeans down her legs. She tugged at his upper arm; he got the clue and stood up searching her eyes with his. She tilted up her head and they kissed passionately when he started to walk her backwards toward the wall. Her back hit the rough wall next to the door and his hand slid agonizingly slowly into her panties. She moaned breathlessly into his mouth and pushed her hips against his hand. She broke the kiss and her breathing accelerated as his fingers dipped into her wetness and stroked her in long slow sweeps. She let her head fall forward against his shoulder causing him to discover the back of her neck. His fingers grew more insistent and two of them dipped into her slippery opening. She sighed contently when he pushed deeper and began to stroke her front wall insistently. Moaning continuously now she bit down on his neck and sucked his skin into her mouth. But then he moved his thumb to her clit and circled it lightly but thoroughly. She let go of his skin and held on to his shoulders panting heavily. Her hips bucked urgently against his hand and he began to stroke her clit more firmly never ceasing the movement of his fingers inside her body. Then he began to thrust said fingers harder and pressed his thumb down onto her clit repeatedly. She threw her head back in pleasure nearly hitting the wall if it hadn't been for his other hand. And before she could resume her work on his neck she came hard clenching her inner muscles around his hand. She gripped his shoulders tightly and shuddered in his arms as the jolts of pleasure rippled through her entire body. Slowly she caught her breath and leaned heavily against him. He withdrew his hand from her panties and laid both his arms around her lithe body. He held her as close as possible and she felt the evidence of his own desire press into her belly. "Let's go upstairs," she whispered still slightly out of breath and freed herself of his embrace reluctantly. He nodded shortly and grabbed his shirt while she pulled up her jeans and picked up her blouse. Halfway decently dressed Mulder turned the doorknob and threw her a quick smile over his shoulder. She smiled back and they made their way up to whichever apartment was nearer. the end (?) More notes: Hope you liked it. Maybe you noticed lots of wrong tenses and prepositions… that's because I learned English in school and not in family like most of you. I hope you could stand it…