Time - of Need by Fiona MacDonald skyfox@enterprise.ca -- Summary: A character from the Star Trek world drops in to ask for Scully's help. -- -- These characters belong to Chris Carter and Gene Roddenberry, who are generous enough to allow us to play in their worlds. No copyright infringement intended. Please do not repost, forward or otherwise distribute without the permission of the author. You can email me c/o skyfox@enterprise.ca -- ********* Time - of Need (part 1/3) by Fiona MacDonald Her coat was covered in blood. She raised her hands and looked at them in horror. Deep within her she knew that it was not her blood that covered her, but her mind was too busy screaming to acknowledge it. Someone touched her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Agent Scully. There is nothing we can do." The scream became reality. It took two officers to hold her back as they covered the body. Someone slapped her face and grabbed her by the shoulders. She looked at him; barely registering Assistant Director Skinner's presence. "Dana, pull yourself together." "Rodriguez, Harper, take Scully back to her place and stay with her . . . " Scully pulled away. "No, I'm fine, sir. I'll walk." Skinner motioned for Rodriguez and Harper to follow her. Skinner watched Scully leave. He was overwhelmed with the feelings of helplessness and unfairness. He sighed deeply. Pushed the feelings down and turned to watch as they prepared to remove Agent Fox Mulder's body. Sometimes he really hated his job. ***** Scully walked -- oblivious to where she was and with no destination in mind. Instinct and training had enabled her to lose the two agents assigned to follow her almost without her knowledge. Reality had become a distant dream and the events of the evening the nightmare she lived. Again and again, her mind played over scenes, like some cheap horror film. Mulder's exhaustion, his persistence and determination to solve this case. Driven by his belief that the missing documents held the answers that they sought. They had argued that afternoon . . . "Dammit, Mulder, you have no idea of what you're getting into... " "Scully, those documents have secret government information in them. Information that some people want back so very much that they are willing to do almost anything to get them." Scully sighed and spoke softly, "That's exactly what I've been saying. That's why I told Skinner about our meeting tonight. He's going to be there with backup, in case anything goes wrong." Mulder spun around, his eyes bleak as he looked at her. "I trusted you, Scully . . . Why?" And before she could answer he had stormed out of he office. She had not seen Mulder alive again. She had arrived at the warehouse with Skinner, both of them worried about the renegade agent, but neither willing to admit it. They had just stopped the car when they heard the gunfire. Skinner paused long enough to alert the arriving backup, but soon caught up to Scully. The building was eerily quiet and they had slowed their pace. Row by row, they had proceeded through the warehouse. Scully had been the first to see Mulder . . . There had been a lot of commotion and confusion. Sirens and lights, as the ambulance and other agents arrived. Dogs. There had been dogs to try and track down Mulder's assailant, but no trace could be found. There had been blood. A lot of blood. She had tried to stop it, but it just would not be stopped. There had been screaming . . . A sob escaped her. She wiped the tears with the back of her hand. Someone blocked her path. Vaguely, she wondered where they had come from, she did not remember seeing anyone else on the street for some time. She tried to step around the man, but he stepped into her path again. Suddenly, she became aware of how isolated this area was. Out of instinct, she had headed to the river front. It always made her think of her father. She frowned at the man, easing her hand under her coat behind her back. He smiled. "Good evening, Agent Scully." He seemed to appreciate her shock. She pulled the gun and aimed it at him with both hands. He laughed! It was not a response Scully had expected, nor encountered before. "How typical of you inferior humans. My dear, please put that away before you hurt yourself." Scully felt like she was in one of the B-movies Mulder always watched. She did not move the gun as she spoke. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?" He continued to smile. He was tall - about six-two - well built. Dark, wavy hair was cut short and penetrating blue eyes watched her unwaveringly. He was wearing a trench coat over a dark grey suit. Scully acknowledge he was good looking - if you liked the arrogant type. And he was arrogant, his whole demeanour reflected it. This man was not definitely not afraid of her or of her gun. And this scared Scully. She pushed the fear away and met his gaze. "Answer me." "Well," he sighed dramatically. "If a name is so important, then you can call me Q. But I get to call you Dana." Another smile. "I know everything because I am omnipotent. I have come here to help you." "Omnipotent!" The guy sounded like he really believed it. "Yes. Dana this is silly. It's cold and damp here. Why don't we go back to your place so we can continue this conversation in comfort." It was more a statement than a question. "Back to my place?" "Really, Dana. You sound like a parrot when you repeat everything I say . . . " He snapped his fingers. There was a flash of light and Scully found herself in her living room as he continued. ". . .And I know that you are much more intelligent than that." It was too much for Scully. She pulled the trigger and . . . nothing happened. He snapped his fingers again. This time the flash was smaller and the gun disappeared from her hand and appeared in his. Scully missed his triumphant smile, as she slid to the ground. Q looked down at her and sighed deeply. Humans could be so tiresome at times. He snapped his fingers once more. He was gone. And Scully lay unconscious, asleep under the sheets of her bed. ***** The sun was shining brightly when Scully awoke. She looked at her alarm clock in dismay and started to rise. It was already ten o'clock. Mulder would be . . . Mulder was dead. She dropped back against her pillow. All urgency to get up was gone as the events of the previous evening assailed her mind. She turned and buried her face in the pillow to block out the light. Slowly she became aware of her doorbell ringing. It was probably someone Skinner sent to check on her, so she had better answer it. She got up, surprised to find herself wearing the lacy negligee she had bought one day on a whim and had never worn. The doorbell rang again. Grabbing her terry robe from the bottom of the bed, she hurried for the door. Strange, she did not even remember going to bed. "OK. All right, I'm coming!" Scully yelled to her visitor, tightening her belt, she opened the door. Blood drained from her face and she stood motionless. "What's the matter, Scully? You look like you've seen a ghost," Mulder drawled and gave her a wink. Without waiting for an answer, he walked past her into the house. "You were late so we came right over. This is Agent Quarton," he lowered his voice conspiratorially. "He's been assigned to help us." Scully found herself staring at the man from the previous evening. Mulder headed into the kitchen. Q raised a silencing finger to his lips and in equally conspiratorial tone whispered, "We'll talk later." Q followed Mulder, leaving Scully to close the door and try to gather her thoughts. End of part one From math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net! vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu! yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon Mon Aug 12 13:33:23 1996 Article: 22751 of alt.tv.x-files.creative Path: math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net! vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu! yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon From: Gil Trevizo Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: XF:X-Over: Time - of Need (2/3) by Fiona MacDonald Date: 11 Aug 1996 17:16:08 -0400 Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 225 Sender: daemon@cs.yale.edu Message-ID: <19960811171606.aaaa000SS@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: babyblue.cs.yale.edu Status: RO Sorry, didn't include the disclaimer in the last one. Here it is... I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information on the mailing list, go to http://mail.utep.edu/~trevizo/x-files. Please do not send comments for the author to me -- send them to (skyfox@enterprise.ca). You may direct requests for missing parts to me though. __________ / __ __ \ ( (__) (__) ) --------[[[---------]]]------------------------------------------------- Time - of Need by Fiona MacDonald skyfox@enterprise.ca -- Summary: A character from the Star Trek world drops in to ask for Scully's help. -- -- These characters belong to Chris Carter and Gene Roddenberry, who are generous enough to allow us to play in their worlds. No copyright infringement intended. Please do not repost, forward or otherwise distribute without the permission of the author. You can email me c/o skyfox@enterprise.ca -- ********* Time - of Need (part 2/3) by Fiona MacDonald "What the hell is going on?" Scully's voice reached the kitchen before she did. She stepped in and stopped in amazement. Mulder stood frozen in the act of pouring coffee -- or trying to. He held the cup in his left hand and the carafe in his right. A stream of brown liquid connected the two, but the coffee did not pour. Queequeg sat unmoving at Mulder's feet, his right paw raised to pat Mulder's leg. "I do hope that you are not going to faint again, Dana." Scully turned to Q, her blue eyes open wide. "What . . .?" "I tried to tell you last night, Dana. I have been sent here to help you and Agent Mulder." Q leant against the counter with his arms folded across his chest. A small frown crossed his face. "But . . . Mulder is dead. I saw him die." Scully looked at Mulder. "This can't be real. I must be dreaming." Scully turned to leave and found Q blocking her way. He took her arm and led her to a chair at the table. Turning the chair, he seated her with her back to Mulder. "Dana, listen to me. This is really important. That has not occurred yet, it did not happen until tonight. It was not supposed to happen at all." Q knelt on one knee beside Scully, bringing him to her eye level. "I know that this is going to be difficult for you to comprehend, but Mulder will die again unless you pull yourself together and help me. Can you do that?" Wordlessly, Scully nodded. "Good. The most important thing that you have to understand is that Mulder must never know what has happened." Scully nodded again. "I am not from your world or your time. I am part of the Continuum. Time for us does not exist, because we are not mortal. We simply exist wherever and whenever we are. Right now you are outside of your time with me and that is why it appears that Mulder and that animal are not moving. There are other parts to the Continuum and one of those parts has come here to interfere with your future. I am here to stop that Q, but, much as it pains me to say, I have not been able to on my own. But I have to stop Q, otherwise we well be doing this endlessly. You and I working together have a chance to defeat Q. Q was there last night and will be there again tonight. We have to find a way to protect Mulder long enough for me to find Q" "Why can't Mulder know?" Scully's mind was spinning. None of this could be real and yet it was. Q shook his head, "That would be even more detrimental than his death." "But you are the proof that he has been searching for." "He will find that proof, Dana. That is why Q wants to kill him. But neither Mulder nor your world are ready at this point in your time for that truth. It is a big universe out there and not everyone is on your side." "Not everyone is on our side here either." Scully replied ruefully. She looked at Mulder and remembered last night and the blood. Whatever the risk, whatever her doubts she had to agree. Because she knew that Mulder would. For her. "So, what are we supposed to do now?" She stood up. Q stood also and smiled his most charming smile. "I think that you should get dressed. Although you look very attractive in lace, I do not think you want to be seen in public like that." Scully pulled the collar of the robe tighter. She felt the heat rise in her face as she realized he knew what she was wearing. "You look very attractive when you blush. If I thought I stood a chance, oh well . . . " He snapped his fingers and Scully found herself in her bedroom. Really, she thought, he should give a person a warning. ***** Scully heard the voices arguing in the living room. The two men were standing at the centre of the room when she entered. Mulder was staring coldly at Q who was doing the talking. "How could you tell if it was an 'alien'?" Q leaned in toward Mulder. "How would you know if one were staring you in the face? And what would you propose to do with one if you found one?" "We have the right to know!" "Well, when you know the 'truth', Agent Mulder, look me up. I would be interested to hear what you think it is." "Gentlemen," Scully interrupted before Mulder could reply. "I believe that we have a job to do." She gave them both a warning look. "Mulder, thanks for coming over, but I would like to take my car to work today. Why don't you and Quarton go ahead? You could pick up lunch and I'll meet you at the office." The two men exchanged looks and Mulder nodded. "Are you sure you're okay, Scully?" Mulder pulled her aside at the door. He looked very concerned. "It's not like you to be late for work." "I'm fine, Mulder. I just forgot to set the alarm last night. I had some bad dreams, you know?" He nodded. He really did understand about the dreams. He hoped that they were never as bad for Scully as they were for him. He smiled at her and turned to Q. "Feel like Chinese?" Q caught Scully's nod over Mulder's shoulder. "Sure. That would be fine." ***** Scully entered the office that they shared in the basement level of FBI Headquarters. Mulder was already seated behind his desk, the chair tilted back and his feet resting on the desk. He was deeply engrossed in a file. He looked up and smiled. "Scully, you'll never believe what I have found!" He had that little boy with the new toy look on his face. Scully forced a smile, she knew what he was about to say. "There are many things that you find that I have trouble believing, Mulder. What is it this time?" Mulder dropped his feet to the ground and grinned, "I got this note under my door this morning." He passed a small folded piece of paper to Scully. She looked at the paper. 'Check file number X-alt.1996C' Nothing more. She was surprised. "Check it out, Scully!" He handed the file to her. "Mortimer owns a large warehouse near the river. I bet that's where the documents are. I'm going to meet our contact there tonight." "Mulder. . ." "I know what you're going to say, Scully," Mulder stood up. "But I can't take the chance that this is just a false lead. There is a probability that those files contain the evidence we need to prove the government is involved in a cover-up conspiracy. Those files maybe the link to finding Samantha." "Mulder, listen to yourself - a chance, a possibility, maybe. This could be a setup. We need to check this out first. Tell Skinner. These are powerful people that we are dealing with here!" Mulder stared intently at her as she talked and then spoke quietly. "I'm going, Scully. You don't have to come, but you aren't going to stop me." He turned and walked out the office nearly hitting Q, who was on his way in with the bags of Chinese food. Q watched him stomp off down the corridor. "What's wrong with him?" "Don't you know," she snapped. "I thought you knew everything." Q raised his eyebrows. He continued into the room and sat in the chair Mulder had vacated. Scully crossed her arms and stared at him. "Humans are very complicated creatures, my dear. That's what I like most about them. They never behave the way one would expect them to." "Well this isn't happening the way I expected. I thought that everything would be the same until we changed it." "Is it not?" Q looked concerned. "No, Mulder never received a note and he wasn't in the office before me. The file was in a pile on his desk that got knocked over. I thought that I could hide the file before he got here, but I had a flat tire on the way over. Yesterday. . . last time he only found it by accident." "Accidents do not just happen. I believe that circumstances were arranged for Mulder to find that file. And now that things have changed I am afraid that means my presence here is not as much a surprise as I had hoped. "You let Skinner know what is happening. I had better find Mulder. I will bring him to your place when I do." Q raised his hand to snap his fingers, but Scully stopped him. "And then what?" "Oh, I am sure you will think of something." Q smiled and in a flash, he was gone. Scully groaned. Things did not appear to be getting better. No, they definitely were worse, because she had no idea how they would stop Mulder. End of part two From math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net! vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu! yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon Mon Aug 12 13:33:23 1996 Article: 22750 of alt.tv.x-files.creative Path: math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net! vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu! yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon From: Gil Trevizo Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: XF:X-Over: Time - of Need (3/3) by Fiona MacDonald Date: 11 Aug 1996 17:17:19 -0400 Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 161 Sender: daemon@cs.yale.edu Message-ID: <19960811171716.aaaa000S_@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: babyblue.cs.yale.edu Status: RO I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information on the mailing list, go to http://mail.utep.edu/~trevizo/x-files. Please do not send comments for the author to me -- send them to (skyfox@enterprise.ca). You may direct requests for missing parts to me though. __________ / __ __ \ ( (__) (__) ) --------[[[---------]]]------------------------------------------------- Time - of Need by Fiona MacDonald skyfox@enterprise.ca -- Summary: A character from the Star Trek world drops in to ask for Scully's help. -- -- These characters belong to Chris Carter and Gene Roddenberry, who are generous enough to allow us to play in their worlds. No copyright infringement intended. Please do not repost, forward or otherwise distribute without the permission of the author. You can email me c/o skyfox@enterprise.ca -- ********* Time - of Need (part 3/3) by Fiona MacDonald Assistant Director Walter Skinner took the cup of coffee offered by his Agent Dana Scully. He had not really wanted another cup - it had been an excuse to keep her occupied. Scully had shown up in his office as he was about to leave. She had explained Mulder's plan to meet his contact on the Mortimer case at the warehouse. He had agreed with her concern and had arranged to have a specialty team standing by. They had gone to her apartment to wait - four hours ago. Scully continued to pace. She glanced at her watch again, less than a minute had passed since the last time she had checked. She was mumbling to herself, but Skinner could not make it out. It sounded like '. . . it didn't happen like this. . . ', but he could not be sure. Suddenly, a bright light surrounded Scully and when it faded she was gone. Skinner stared in astonishment. ***** Scully felt slightly disoriented as her apartment suddenly became a dirty back alley. She looked around cautiously and her suspicion was confirmed when she spotted Q leaning against the wall, beside a large dumpster . He raised a finger to his lips and motioned her to join him. As she approached, she heard the voices. There were three. Two - one male, one female - she did not recognize, but the third was definitely Mulder's. The male sounded frantic. Scully pulled her gun. "C'mon, Queen. I got him here just like I promised. Ya know I won't say nothin'. Please, lemme go." His reply was the quiet sound of a gun fired using a silencer. Scully would have jumped out at that moment but Q held her back. She looked at him, tears forming in her eyes and he shook his head. Mulder spoke. "Who are you? Who do you work for?" ""I work for no one, Agent Mulder. I am the 'truth'. You have been looking for me and here I am." "What 'truth' are you? " Laughter filled the alley. Q pointed to a doorway in the opposite wall and motioned for Scully to go there. She moved quickly and quietly. Blood was pounding in her ears and there was a pain in her chest. Leaning back in the shadows, she realized she had been holding her breath. Letting it go, she schooled herself to breath normal and peeked past the edge of the doorway. In the dim light from the street, she could see Mulder against the opposite wall. He stood with both hands on his head. At his feet lay the body of his contact. The woman pacing in front of him was beautiful. She had the height that Scully always longed for. The perfect figure clad in a black catsuit. Her skin was pale and her short hair dark as night. But it was her eyes that scared Scully. They were clear grey and cold as ice - even as she laughed. Scully understood. This was the other Q. "I am your truth, Fox Mulder. But you will never be able to prove it." She stopped directly in front of Mulder. She raised the gun with a smile. "Mulder, nooo. . ." Scully screamed. She threw herself from the doorway at the woman. The gun fired as they collided and in her peripheral vision Scully saw Mulder fall. The scream started in her head. The two women looked up at the flash of light. Q knelt before them. He pulled a metal cylinder from his pocket and depressed a button on the side. A long needle ejected from the end and he grabbed Q by the hair forcing her head forward. "Noooo. . ." The dark-haired beauty's scream ended as the needle plunged into the back of her neck. Scully backed away, still on her hands and knees. Green liquid oozed from the wound and the whole body started to deteriorate before her eyes. She had seen this happen before. She looked at Q. "It had to be done," he said sadly, without looking at her. "You better check Mulder. . ." "Mulder," she turned quickly to see him lying against the wall - blood on his coat. Panic started to rise in her chest. A hand grasped her arm. "It's just a flesh wound," Q smiled softly. "But he will have a nasty headache from hitting the ground too hard with his head." Scully rushed to Mulder's side and quickly confirmed Q's diagnosis. Already, Mulder was beginning to regain consciousness - his eyes fluttered and then opened. He tried to smile, unaware that it looked like a grimace. "You're late, Scully. But you're here." Scully sat beside him, supporting his head on her lap. She closed her eyes, but the tears fell anyway. "Hey, Scully, I'm okay. Don't cry,." Mulder voice was soft. She opened her eyes. He looked around. "Where's Skinner?" Scully looked at Q - where was Skinner? Still at her apartment? He smiled. "I have already taken care of that. "Well, I really must be going now," he smiled at Scully and winked. "It has been a pleasure, my dear. You really should wear that negligee for him, you know." With a snap of his fingers, a flash of light, Q was gone. Mulder stared in amazement. "I. . . I don't believe that. . ." Scully smiled, "I do." The alley filled with the sounds of sirens. They looked up to see Skinner leading Rodriguez and Harper down the alley. He looked at the two agents. "I received an anonymous phone call at home that two of my agents were in trouble - I should have known it was you," he looked around and shook his head. "You've got some explaining to do." ***** In the basement of the offices of the FBI, two agents were finishing the report on their latest case. Agent Scully watched Agent Mulder as he read the paragraph he had just finished to her. There had been so many things that she had taken for granted in their relationship. She had always believed that he would be there for her -- forever. Now she noticed little things -- how he pursed his lips when she questioned his beliefs, the earnest expression on his face as he explained his reasoning behind his crazy ideas and the way he seemed to rely on her questioning as motivation for him to continue. Yes, Scully thought - looking past Mulder to the poster on the wall - he really does want to believe. Maybe she did too. Scully smiled. And maybe she would wear that negligee - someday. END