Go Ask Alice... (Part 4 of ?)

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Summary: Mulder & Scully spend a day of discovery together, and Scully learns of what Mulder has done. (HERE THERE BE MAJOR ANGST!!!!! MulderAngst, ScullyAngst, SkinnerAngst, and a little AnnaAngst thrown in for good measure)

Thank you's: Thank you to MulderAngst and all of you wonderful writers & esp. Susan Proto who inspired me by writing the 'Abah' series!

Disclaimer: You know it's coming, and here it is! ALL of the characters, names, descriptions, places, etc. (except Anna & Austaur who belong to me) belong exclusively to Chris Carter and 1013 productions.

Mulder cursed as the shampoo slipped out of his hand and into the blackness of his existence. He bent over to look for it and whacked his head on the side of the shower. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he kneeled down and searched again, this time coming up successfully with the shampoo in hand. He sighed, and began washing his hair.

He smiled as Scully's voice drifted in over the roar of the shower. Scully's voice. He never thought he would hear it again, never to hear her say his name in exasperation or anger, or even in annoyance. Anna did it, gave him his Scully back.

Every bump, bruise, or frustration was worth it, as long as Scully was there. As long as she could yell at him, or not, if she chose. He could wait, stumbling in this darkness, as long as he knew Scully was there, waiting for him.

"Ok." Mulder replied, frowning momentarily. A cloud, passing over the sun, holding the light at bay momentarily before drifting on.

Mulder frowned again as thoughts of Anna drifted back into his mind. She gave him back his Scully, but at what price? Scully didn't know, even after Skinner had told her the entire story behind their rescue and what he knew about his niece, she still couldn't grasp it all. *Scully always had a hard time believing...even when the evidence was right in front of her.* He dressed quickly *thank you Scully for laying out my clothes where I could find them* and opened the door.

"Good morning Mulder." Skinner said, his voice scratchy from lack of sleep. Mulder sympathized, his sleeping patterns still haven't returned to normal.

*Whatever Anna did to cure Scully worked on more levels than one. Every time I woke up last night, she remained sleeping.*

"Sir." Mulder replied, and feeling Scully's gentle hand on his arm, followed her to a chair where he sat down to put on his shoes.

"He's right, you really need to get some rest." Scully said, her voice revealing the guilt she felt from not noticing this in the first place.

"With all due respect Sir, you are going to fall over if you don't get some sleep." Scully jumped in, cutting him off. "I remember where her room is, I can take Mulder and we'll stay with her."

Mulder smiled to himself. Give up Skinner, no one can stand up to her when she is 'doctor' mode.

"Austaur..." Skinner tried to put forth another argument, which Scully shot down even before he could use it.

"I can handle him. Walter," Scully said, her voice dropping as she grabbed his attention by using his first name and tried to reason with him. "Even Assistant Directors of the FBI need sleep. If you really want to help, you need to get some rest so that you'll be able to."

"Ok." Skinner said, his voice resigned. "But you can't take her to the hospital. Your word, Agent."

Scully opened the door to Anna's room and was immediately blocked by a very tall, very stoic, Austaur.

Scully stood her ground and glared up at him. It's a good thing I got a lot of practice pulling rank while looking up at Mulder.

"Austaur!" Danethra chided. "Stop making an ass out of yourself. I am sorry," she said, walking into view as she pushed him aside. "I'm Danethra. It is good to see both of you."

Scully looked over at her, puzzled. I know that voice... where? She studied the lady closely as she sifted through her memory. Suddenly, her eyes widened.

"Nurse Owens?" She said, thoroughly confused. The lady standing before her looked nothing like what she remembered, but the voice was the same. Danethra smiled down at her, refusing to acknowledge the question.

"Dana is a doctor, Austaur." Danethra said, practically shoving Austaur past them and into the hall. Turning back to Scully, she smiled. "I don't see any reason why you should not be able to see Anna. If you need anything..."

Scully stared at the now-closed doors, recovering from the puzzled shock. It wasn't until Mulder touched her arm that she jumped and returned to reality.

Scully lead Mulder across the room and gasped when she was finally able to see Skinner's niece. She quickly moved over to her and began looking her over, her face becoming more grim as the seconds passed. She was so caught up that she didn't realize she had left Mulder standing alone in the room until she heard the chair crash to the floor.

Mulder stood stock still, his face running through several emotions before finally settling somewhere between embarrassment and frustration. He had tried to find his way over to the bed, but the chair had been moved from the last time he had been here. He knelt down carefully and moved his hand across the floor until it landed on the chair leg.

Her heart fell on the floor as Mulder struggled and she sat in guilt-ridden shock as she watched Mulder right the chair he had knocked over and move to stand quietly beside it, his hand resting on its back. As he stood there calmly and patiently waiting for her - obviously afraid to try and traverse the room on his own, everything hit her at once and she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out.

She had been so wrapped up in her own miraculous recovery, that she had not really thought about the implications of Mulder's limitations. He had been so cheerful since she regained her hearing and speech, so much like his old self in his manner that she had let her mind bury the truth - glossing over his handicaps as if they were just another Mulderism, another couple of days while he recovers from yet another injury.

Scully walked over to him and grabbed him, holding him close, and looked up at him, the tears running freely down her face. *How could I be so selfish? So stupid?* She was almost glad that he couldn't see her right now, then she noticed the goofy smile that covered his face.

"Scully." Mulder laughed. She stared at him in total shock as he stood there grinning down at her. "Ok. Scully."

It was so unlike Mulder, Scully stared. *How can he be so happy? How can he when... * Scully felt the tears well up again, and she forced them down, holding onto her puzzlement over his behavior.

Scully pulled away from him, quickly understanding what he was saying. *I am getting better at this. No surprise there, I have always been able to read him better than anyone else. * She helped him to the end of the bed where he sat, waiting, while she turned her attention back to Skinner's niece.

When Scully went to remove the bandages covering Anna's hands, she was surprised when Anna weakly tried to pull her hand back. She hadn't realized that the girl was awake.

"Anna?" Scully asked, carefully watching her face and smiling as Anna opened her amber eyes and looked up at her. She watched as Anna focused on her.

"He is right here." Scully said, looking back at Mulder who was listening intently.

"What? What worked? Mulder?" Scully said. She turned back to Anna, who was once again unconscious.

"Scully?" Mulder said, frustrated that she was getting so upset and he couldn't do anything about it. He knew what she wanted, but he couldn't do it.

"Can't? Can't what?" Scully yelled before her brain started working again and she knew what he was trying to tell her. She closed her mouth and felt like a total jackass.

"Talk. Enough!" Mulder yelled back. He fought to say more, but suddenly his world faded.

"Shit!" Scully swore as Mulder lost consciousness. She caught him in time and lay him gently on the bed. She didn't need to look at the clock to know what time it was. It took her a moment to realize why he had dropped off so suddenly when he had been able to stay awake this morning. *He can't fight it when he is upset. Oh. Damn.*

Scully felt drained as she glanced over the bed, and the two people who now occupied it. Anna needed to be in a hospital, her condition - no matter the cause - was too severe to be treated effectively here.

Scully pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down. Her mind ran through the events since their rescue and the things she had seen, and been told. It didn't take that long for her to understand...Anna's visit with Mulder, her miraculous recovery, Mulder's strange behavior, even Anna's current condition, they linked together to give her the answers.

Scully looked at her partner with wide eyes, knowing full well what he had done. The emotions overtook her and she let herself cry for him, for her, and even for the strange Anna.

Mulder was waking up; Scully's voice drifted through him and quickly brought him back to the waking world.

"Well, you're in her bed. I guess it's a good thing I was here to chaperone, or I might get jealous." Scully joked. "Here. I found it on Anna's desk."

Mulder ran his hands across it, his face lighting up when he realized what it was.

"Computer." Mulder said, smiling as he opened the laptop. Scully reached over and helped him find the on button. He waited patiently as she clicked her way into a writing program.

"Sorry." Mulder mumbled, remembering the cross words they had had before he zonked out. Scully knew exactly what he meant.

Mulder grinned and felt around until he was sure his hands were in the correct position. His fingers, slowly at first, picked up speed as they flew over the keys. He felt her lean over closer to him, reading the words as they appeared on the screen.

'This is great! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Are you reading this? How are you doing? Are you Ok? Is Anna going to be ok?'

"Slow down Mulder!" Scully laughed, she understood his enthusiasm. "One thing at a time. Yes, I am reading it. I am fine, really!" She added when she looked up and saw the wary look on his face. "Tell me everything, Mulder. Even though I have a good idea, I want to hear it from you."

"Mulder, I know what you did. I just want to know why, and how. Please? I have to know." Scully pleaded. Knowing Mulder's stubbornness, and seeing it in his face now, she tried a different approach.

"I can't help Anna until I know what happened to her. She healed me, didn't she?"

"Scully." Mulder said, then, as if he had suddenly remembered the laptop, started typing.

'I don't know how much of this you understand Scully, but you have to believe this time. Anna is suffering from a sort of backlash from manipulating energy. The gate she created to get us out of there, somehow she has the ability to harness energy and direct it.'

'It's magic, Scully. Real Magic, not illusion. Basic quantum physics. The earth, and everything in it is made up of energy. Anna can grab that energy and use it, manipulate it into, well, I'm not sure what all she can do.'

'You saw it, Scully. I know you saw it. From what I understand, she was already recovering from a backlash of energy before she tried to help us. She didn't have the strength to hold onto the energy, keep it in control.
Apparently, using this power of hers is draining, like running a 10 mile marathon, or any type of physical activity. She actually directs pure energy through her body, using her body as a conduit of sorts to focus and direct where she needs it to go.
'Because she was already weakened, when she tapped into the amount of energy she needed to form that portal she knew she couldn't hold it. It burned her up, from the inside. The gate collapsed and the energy ran back into her.'

"Struck by lightening." Scully whispered, finally grasping the concept. "The burns on her hands?"

'When the energy doubled back into her, she did the only thing that could save her, she forced it through her hands into the ground. She grounded it. Imagine it Scully, how that must have felt, and she lived through it.'

'Skinner had told her about us, about me. She was still weak, even then, but she wanted to see me. When Skinner left us alone, she started talking to me. She could read my thoughts, Scully. She showed me what happened, and, well, I felt what she was feeling. I know what she is going through.
'It was hard for her, to use her abilities to talk with me in that way. It physically hurt her. Because we were, I don't know how to describe it, Linked somehow, I just knew what she knew.'

'That she could cure us, Scully. That she had the power to make us whole again. But at the same time, if she tried, she knew it could kill her. She came so close to dying when the gate collapsed. I knew if she tried to help both of us she would die, and so did she.
'She wouldn't listen to Austaur, he knew too. Even though she knew it herself, she was still determined to help. I knew I couldn't stop her, so I gave you to her.'

"Oh, Mulder!" Scully wailed, even though she had suspected it, his admission made it so much more real.

'Her mind was made up. She healed you, she brought you back to me. I can wait, Scully, as long as I know you are here with me. As long as I can hear your voice, I can wait.
'You have to save her, Scully.'

Scully held her breath as she read on. She was crying, and she didn't even realize it. The words hung on the screen, the intensity of them embedding themselves into her mind. She had to save Anna, not only for the sacrifice Skinner's niece had made for them, for her, but also because she was the only person who could make Mulder whole again.

Looking down at Anna, the condition she was in, the task was overwhelming. *Especially considering she needs to be in a hospital!*
She caught Mulder's hand reaching for her out of the corner of her eye; she reached out and took a hold of it, letting him run his fingers over her face. She felt something on her lap; looking down, the computer screen glared up at her, the words staring up at her from the dim glow.

Ok, go easy on me, this is my first submission! ;)
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Soliloque@mindspring.com