TXF: Scenes in Between

“Scully, you have to believe me. Nobody else on this whole damn planet does or ever will. You’re my one in… five billion.”

She swallowed past the lump in her throat, schooled her features to keep the pity from her face. How had it come to this, with Mulder in restraints on a psych ward? What was it about this case specifically that had driven him over the edge? She’d seen him borderline delusional before, believing in things so fiercely that he shut out reason. But attacking witnesses, without any provocation? That was the very definition of ‘danger to himself or others.’

“Guess that’s a ‘no’ then.” He said it lightly, but she could see the hurt in his eyes before he looked away.

“Mulder–”

“Scully, just… just do me one favor, all right? Can you do that?”

She crossed her arms and sighed. “I can try.”

“Before you put the lid on this case for good, go back to Quantico and look for a bite mark or puncture wound on the back of Mark Backus’s body. And even if you can’t find one, run a tox screen anyway.”

“Mulder, as long as you show signs of improvement, they won’t keep you here past the 36-hour observation period. I thought I’d stay and, hopefully, we could fly back to Washington together tomorrow.”

“Well, let me put it this way: if you do what I’m asking and you find absolutely nothing, it’ll go a long way toward convincing me that everything I’ve seen is some sort of hallucination.”

Scully sighed again. She wanted to help him, of course she did. She did not, however, love the idea of leaving him, flying all the way back to D.C. on a fool’s errand only to fly back the next day and escort him home. Then again, if his delusion persisted unchecked, it may be days or even weeks before he was discharged. If she did as he asked, if she was able to show him quantifiable evidence that the victim had not been assaulted by Pincus prior to his death, it might be enough to break through the scenario he saw being played out in his mind. It was still perhaps a long shot – a person in the grip of a paranoid delusion frequently found reasons to disbelieve even incontrovertible evidence – but in this case, knowing Mulder as she did, she thought it might actually work.

“All right,” she said finally. “I’ll go. On one condition.” She waited until he was looking her in the eye again before continuing. “If I don’t find anything, that’s it. Case closed, end of story. All right?”

He tried to raise his arm, making a face when the restraint kept him from doing so. He angled his hand upward as best he could, three fingers outstretched.

“Scout’s honor.” His lopsided grin made her chest constrict. He looked so much like his normal self, and she wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse about him being in here.

Nodding, she reached for his hand again and squeezed it. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Try to get some rest.”

“Can’t exactly do otherwise, can I?”