Part 2 of 2

More than an hour had gone by and the gunmen were
still working on the disk. "We've got something,"
Byers said. "But it's going to take us a while to
figure it out."

"Look, I think I better get down to the office,"
Scully said. "We still haven't been able to reach
either Mulder or Skinner on their cell phones and
people will think it's awfully strange if all four of
us just don't show up for work. I'll got down there,
make some sort of explanations for where everybody
is."

"What about me?" Holly asked.

"Do you mind staying here?" Scully replied. "I really
think it's safer for you."

"We're perfectly harmless, Holly," Langley assurred
her. "Especially Frohike."

Holly giggled a little at that. "No, I don't mind.
Just call me as soon as you know anything."

"Sure," Scully said on her way out.


Three hours later, Scully was about to climb the walls of her basement office. She had told Skinner's
secretary, and several other agents who had inquired,
that Mulder and Skinner were off investigating leads
on a possible case. She told them Mulder had phoned
her late last night to let her know his whereabouts,
as well as that of their boss. She hadn't bothered to
explain Holly's absence; she thought it better if no
one made the connection between a researcher not
showing up for work and a case which the Assistant
Director was investigating personally.


Mulder and Skinner were running full tilt down a
hillside in West Virginia. The terrain was rough, but
it wouldn't have been so bad if either man was dressed for it. Skinner, however, was still in the dress shoes and suit - complete with jacket and tie - that he had worn to the office the previous day. Mulder was slightly better off, clad in jeans, boots and a sweatshirt, but it still wasn't the outfit he would have chose for a mountain run.

"Mulder, I'm slowing you down," Skinner finally said.
"They're going to catch both of us if we don't split
up. You go on ahead."

"No sir," Mulder answered. "We're in this together."

"I can't match your speed."

Mulder shrugged. "You're a dozen years older than me.
I can't match the speeds I reached when I was at the
academy anymore, either. But what we've lost in speed, we've gained in experience. And my experience tells me we stick together."

Skinner looked at the younger man and started to open
his mouth to order the agent to go on ahead. Instead,
he simply nodded.

"I've got an idea," Mulder said.


Scully was startled out of her reverie by the chirp of her cell phone.

"Scully."

"Scully, it's me."

"Mulder, where are you?"

"West Virginia. Get in your car, take the same route
we took the last time we came here and stop just as
soon as you cross the state line. We'll meet you
there."

"Okay."

"They may be trying to lock a trace on this call, so
I'm going to let you go now. Bye."

"Bye."


In the early afternoon, Scully pulled up beside a
roadside marker. Mulder and Skinner burst out of the
trees a dozen yards away and sprinted toward the car.
Mulder jumped in the front seat and Skinner jumped in
the back.

"You guys okay?" Scully asked. She'd brought her
medical bag, just in case.

"Fine," answered her husband. "I mean, we're winded,
scratched up, bruised, hungry and exhausted, but other than that, we're fine."
 
"I figured you wouldn't exactly have had time to stop
for lunch. I brought some sunflower seeds, nutrition
bars and bottled water with me. Think it's safe to
stop and have a mini-picnic?"

"No, not yet," Skinner answered. "We need to stay low
until nightfall and I know just the place. Next town
you go through, take a right at the one-and-only
traffic light."

"Yes sir. Mulder, make me one promise, okay?"

"Sure, Scully. What is it?"

"Promise me we will NOT retire to this state.
Everytime we come to West Virginia, something happens
that's even more bizarre than the last time we came
here!"

"Could keep our golden years interesting, Scully."

"Mul-der!"

"Just think. Skinner could get a house just down the
road. We could all get together to play pinnochle. Or
hunt for aliens, depending on what mood we were in."

"Leave me out of this, agents," Skinner said.
 

After several more twists and turns, the three of them came to a small cabin in an isolated glade. It was sheltered by trees, so that it wasn't even noticeable until they were right on it.

"Who owns this place?" Mulder asked.

"My ex-in-laws. But they only use it during the summer months. We'll be safe here until dark, then we can drive back to headquarters."

"Are you two ever going to explain to me what's going
on?" Scully asked. "I left Holly with the gunmen. They were working on the disk, but hadn't called me before I left, so I assume they hadn't gotten it decoded yet."

"When we're inside," Skinner answered.


An hour later, they had eaten and Mulder and Skinner
had brought Scully up to date on what they had
discovered and who they believed to be behind it.

"There's only one thing I don't get," Scully said
slowly. "To have fired at Holly before she'd even had
a chance to look at the disk, they'd have to have
someone on the inside at the bureau."

"Yeah," answered Skinner grimly. "Looks like we're
dealing with another Krycek situation. Any nominees?"

Mulder shook his head. "None that come to mind right
at the moment. You, Scully?"

She shook her head as well.

Skinner sighed. "Once we're back in Washington and
have reported our findings to an oversight committee,
as well as amalagating the information on Holly's disk into the mainframe, we'll be home free. Then we can start looking for whoever set us up and tried to kill Holly. However, neither Agent Mulder nor I got any sleep last night and I'm betting you didn't get much either, Agent Scully. So why don't we all get some rest? There's a bed through that doorway; you two take that. I'll stay here on the couch."

"Yes sir."


As Mulder unlaced his boots and lay down against the
slightly musty-smelling pillow, he grinned.

"Mulder, exactly what is it that you find amusing
about this situation?" Scully asked.

"Scully, it's just that never - not even in my wildest dreams - did I imagine Skinner would ever order us to go to bed together!"

"Mulder, he knows we're married. All he means for us
to do is sleep!"

"Quite frankly, after the night he and I had, that's
all I'm capable of at the moment," her husband
answered drowsily.


A few hours later, Skinner arose from the couch and
stretched. The large picture window in the room where
he had been sleeping was lit with the rosy glow of the last rays of the setting sun. Time to get moving.

Skinner walked to the doorway of the bedroom and felt
his mouth curve upward into an indulgent smile. Mulder and Scully were snuggled together on top of the bed in a jumbled mixture of arms and legs. Except for their shoes and jackets, they were still fully clothed and the overall picture they presented was not so much one of sensuality as of innocence. They looked younger when they slept, almost like a couple of teenagers, despite the dark stubble on Mulder's face. In a way, he almost hated to wake them. He and his ex-wife used to take naps on that same bed, in almost that same position. Still, they were working a case, not taking a vacation.

"Agents," Skinner said, his voice just a bit louder
than normal.

The agents blinked and sat up, the slightly guilty
look on their faces heightening their resemblance to a pair of teenagers. "Um, yes sir?" Scully asked.

"Time to get moving," Skinner said.
 

Once they were out of West Virginia and nearing the
outskirts of Washington, Scully called the gunmen on
her cell phone. The code had been broken; it confirmed what Skinner and Mulder had discovered the previous evening. The agents and their boss swung by to retrive the data - and Holly.

"Come again," Frohike asaid to Holly as she was
leaving. "Anytime. No need to call first."

"Is he always so. . .desperate?" Holly asked as she
got in the backseat beside Scully.

"Ever since I've known him," Mulder confirmed from his position at the wheel.

When the four of them arrived at bureau headquarters,
they found a lingering, acrid smell of cigarette smoke in Skinner's office.

"Well, that settles *THAT* question," Skinner said,
with a trace of wry humor.

"It was never really a question of who was ultimately
behind it," Scully said with a shrug. "Unfortunately,
we still don't know who he has doing his dirty work
this time around."

"He is a bit hard on the hired help, isn't he?" Mulder responded. "Krycek's out of the bureau and down to one arm, Fowley and Jeff Spender are both dead; guess he needed a new recruit."

As Skinner and Holly downloaded the information on the disk onto the bureau's mainframe, Mulder traced a line down Scully's face, tucking an errant piece of hair behind her ear. Now that the immediate danger was past, his Oxford-educated brain was responding to the relief and fatigue he felt by reducing his thoughts to simple declarative sentences. Go home. Get laid. Get some sleep. The hours he'd spent lying next to Scully - despite being fully clothed and only a few feet away from their boss - had undoubtedly influenced the direction of his thoughts.

Skinner looked up at the tired agents and smiled. "You two can go now. I'll see that Holly gets home safely. And feel free to come in late tomorrow. We've pretty much got this thing wrapped up and the last 24 hours haven't been easy on any of us."

"Thank you, sir," Scully said.

"No, agents. Thank you," Skinner replied.