Title: Someday
Author: Virtues & Vices (AKA Virtie)
E-mail: virtuesandvices@aol.com
Website: http://www.geocities.com/fanficcorner/
Rating: Hard R for language and sexual situations.
Category: MSR, Conspiracy, angst
Classification: TR - Adventure/Romance
Spoilers: Tiny ones. Blink, and you'll miss them.
Archive: Yes, but please let me know where first.
Summary: Mulder's final attempt to keep ahead of the
Syndicate puts him on the run with Scully. The third of a
series, the first being 'The Letter', the second 'Eyes in
the Night', and the last 'Wambli'. As before, one does not
have to read the others to enjoy this one.
Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully and other X-File characters are
the property of CC, Fox and 1013. I only wish I was, too.
Dedication: To the wonderful Mortis. Where would I be
without you? Not here, that's for sure. Thanks for everything!

************************************************************

Someday

*****

U.S. Post Office 
Arlington, VA 

He held the future in his hands. 

It was a rather plain little box, about the size of a small
lunch box, and he knew that the object inside was much
smaller, but it was probably the most important package in
the world. Ever since he had learned of its existence, eight
months ago, he had been determined to get his hands on it
before others less honorable than he did. Now, he finally
had it, and he knew his life was in extreme danger as long
as he knew where this box was. He was a walking dead man. 

He had faced death before, but now he desperately wanted to
live. He wanted to live to insure that the contents of this
box were tested, to make sure it wasn't some hoax. He wanted
to live to insure that if the contents were indeed genuine,
they could be replicated so the world might share in his
discovery. But most of all, he wanted to live because of the
hope that he might find happiness with the one person who
made life worth living. 

The creator of the box's contents was already dead, that he
had learned just this morning. He couldn't go home, it
wasn't safe. And he couldn't go to anybody in D.C. for help.
Not his boss. Not his partner. Not even his friends, as few
as they were. He would have to grab some cash from the ATM
here at the Post Office now, before 'they' discovered he had
the package. Then he would have to lie low for a few days.
Fortunately, he had prepared for this eventuality. 

He would have to contact the one person whom he trusted to
test the contents. The one person who would help him find a
way to keep it safe and to distribute it when needed. The
one person he respected, trusted, and loved above all
others. 

He had to contact Scully. 

************************************************************

U.S. Federal Building 
Spokane, WA 
6 Days Later 

Scully's head was throbbing. She sat with her elbows on her
desktop, trying to rub away the pain from her temples.
Migraines caused by stress had to be the worst kind of
headaches, she thought. And a job that was 80% desk work
didn't help. Being out in the field had always seemed to
keep these headaches at bay. 

She looked up and out the window. Another sunny, summer day
in Spokane, with temperatures in the 90's. At least the
humidity wasn't as high as it was in D.C., and it had rained
more this summer than last, making it a little more green
outside town. But she would have preferred spending the day
next to a lake in the shade reading a good book, not stuck
in this air-conditioned, but still stuffy, building. Not
here finishing up the paperwork from at least five different
cases. It had been like this for the past two weeks. 

It didn't help that she hadn't heard from Mulder for almost
a week. 

Not getting an e-mail or a phone call from him for three or
four days wasn't unusual; He rarely contacted her when he
was out of town on a case. But she always knew when he was
leaving on one, and didn't expect to hear from him for a
while. He had said nothing last week about a case, but there
had been no response to her e-mails or phone messages.
Scully couldn't help it. She was starting to worry. 

"Agent Scully?" Liz Girard, her assistant, poked her head in
from outside the office. "Bill Hout called and said that the
Sherman trial was being postponed until further notice." 

Scully groaned. If it wasn't one thing, it was something
else. The Sherman trial had already been held up twice, and
Scully, being the arresting officer, had to be ready to jump
when they finally got the trial rolling. Without her
testimony, the pediphile might not get sent to prison for
good like he deserved. She nodded at Liz, then directed her
attention back to her work. 

She soon found her mind drifting to Mulder again. He was
planning on coming out in late August. They had arranged
their vacation time to coincide, and he planned on taking
her to Seattle. She wasn't sure exactly what was in Seattle
that was so special that he had chosen it as a destination;
except maybe the hotel he had made reservations at. She
doubted they would leave the hotel room much. 

Justin Monroe, one of the agents under her charge, and Cat
O'Neil, Mulder's partner, knew about Scully's developing
relationship with Mulder, but she doubted many others did.
She wondered what Skinner would say when he found out that
she and her ex-partner were vacationing together. 

Scully hadn't seen him in six months, not since the case
that had brought them together in February. Serial killer
Matthew Ross, AKA 'The Beast', had been captured with 
the help of animal-psychic Moira Anderson. Ross was 
now in prison awaiting trial next month and Moira was 
still a friend, a friend who had encouraged Scully to 
take that final step in her new relationship with 
Mulder. Though six months had passed, she could 
still remember their last moments together as if 
it had happened just last night. She still had 
the note he had left for her. 'Someday'.

The phone rang, breaking Scully's train of thought.
"Scully." 

"Agent Scully? It's Cat O'Neil." 

Scully felt her breath catch and her heart speed up. "What
is it? What's wrong?" 

Cat's sigh on the other end was loud and frustrated
sounding. "I was hoping you could tell me, but judging from
your voice, you don't know anything, either. Mulder's gone.
No one has seen hide nor hair of him for almost a week." 

Scully leaned heavily back in her chair and closed her eyes.
Oh, no. "Did he tell you where he was going?" 

"Nobody even knew he was going anywhere. He didn't take any
luggage, he made no plans. We aren't even on a pending case
at the moment. We'd closed one up just before he
disappeared." Her voice sounded worried and stressed. "He
was acting perfectly normal, or as normal as he ever is, the
last time I saw him. He's just gone. I'm terrified something
bad has happened to him!" 

"Why didn't Skinner call me?" Scully didn't realize she'd
asked the question out loud until Cat answered. 

"He was going to, but we both decided to keep quiet for a
while. Skinner said Mulder's done this before and that we
should cover for him. He also said that if you didn't
already know, you would soon enough. But it's been six days
with no contact. That's too long!"

Scully had to agree with Cat. "What does Skinner want to do
now and how much trouble is Mulder in?" 

"Skinner's willing to give him more time," Cat answered.
"The Bureau is ticked at him, as usual. OPR is very anxious
to get their hands on him. Any excuse to fire him. John and
the boys think he's dead. They'll really believe that after
I tell them you haven't heard from him." 

Scully barely registered Cat's use of Byers' first name.
"He's not dead. I'd know it if he were dead." She said it
with confidence, then wondered how she could be so sure. 

"Look, I've got to go," Cat said. "Both Skinner and I
thought you should know what was going on." She paused.
"You'll call me if you hear from him, right?" 

Scully was silent for a while. If Mulder did contact her and
involve her in whatever was going on, she was pretty sure he
would not want anyone else to know, especially if he hadn't
told the Gunmen anything by now. Softly, she told Cat, "I
can't promise anything." Then, she hung up. 

************************************************************

Scully's House 
Colbert, WA 

Once home that evening, even more stressed than before,
Scully immediately checked her messages. Nothing. She had
called Skinner after talking to Cat and had asked for
permission to send an agent out to help Cat find Mulder. She
had desperately wanted to go herself, but something held her
back, and it wasn't her job here. Mulder knew where she was
now, and if he wanted to contact her, she best be easy to
find. Knowing that Justin Monroe had gotten along well with
Cat, she asked him to go. While Justin was not a 'fan' of
Mulder's, he agreed, privately excited about going to D.C.
He'd requested more times than he could count to be assigned
there. Scully had to remind him it was only temporary. 

She couldn't sleep that night. She hated sleeping with the
air-conditioner on, so she worked up a sweat tossing and
turning. Somewhere around 3 A.M., she fell asleep.

And she dreamed.

***She was on a beach. A lovely beach, with white sand. 
It was facing a beautiful azure ocean. Somehow, she 
knew it was the Pacific. A warm wind was blowing off 
the water, tugging at her hair and at the white, gauzy 
dress she was wearing. She closed her eyes and 
breathed in the fresh, salty air. She leaned her head 
back and felt the warmth of the sun on her face.

She felt him come up behind her and turned, smiling.

He stood barefoot, in jeans, his shirt unbuttoned, the edges
flapping in the breeze. He wasn't smiling. In fact, his
expression was worried. Scully felt her smile disappear. She
knew she was dreaming, but his worry frightened her.

"Where are you?" she asked, her voice sounding oddly
distorted.

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself, Scully," he
said quietly.

"Are you all right?" Even knowing this was a dream, she
hoped to find answers.

"What do you think? What do you feel?" He smiled sadly. "All
our work, Scully. It's all come to this."

"What?" 

"I'll tell you soon." 

"When? When will I see you?" 

"Soon," he said again. "Just start looking." 

Mulder turned and started walking up the beach. Scully
wanted to follow, but her feet felt like they were stuck in
cement. She realized the SHE wasn't controlling this dream. 

"Mulder?!" she called after him. 

He turned, a full smile on his face now. "Someday, Scully!
Someday!" Then he turned again and disappeared into the
glaring sunlight.***

Scully woke, her body bathed in sweat. Without really
knowing why, she jumped out of bed and went to her computer.
She turned it on and waited impatiently for the hard drive
to warm up. Then she called up her e-mail messages. One new
one was displayed: 

'722500-THE ROCK'

Scully felt her brow furrow. The address of origin seemed
familiar. She wracked her brain, realizing she hadn't seen
it in more than a year. With anger and confusion, she
grabbed the phone, glad for once she had two phone lines,
and dialed a number she hadn't used since she left D.C. She
waited impatiently as it rang several times, staring at the
message, not understanding. Finally, someone answered. 

"Lone Gunmen," a sleepy sounding Langly answered. 

Glancing at the clock, Scully realized it was only 5 A.M. in
D.C. It didn't matter. She needed answers now. "What the
hell does this mean!?" she demanded without preamble. 

Pause. "Scully?" 

"Yes, it's Scully. I got your e-mail, and I want to know
what it means!" 

"Just a minute." She waited as Langly gathered the rest of
the Gunmen, wincing when he dropped the phone at one point.
Finally, he came back on the line. "Speakerphone," he said.
Scully heard a click, and knew that now all three could hear
her. 

"I repeat: what does this e-mail mean?" 

She heard Frohike first. "We don't know, Scully." He sounded
more awake than Langly had. "Mulder gave it to me about a
week ago, said to e-mail it to you if he didn't show up in a
week. At first, I didn't think anything of it. He's been
acting so weird lately." 

"So Mulder wanted me to have this?" She looked again at the
numbers. What was Mulder telling her? 

Scully stared at the message, something tugging at the back
of her mind. Then she recalled what Frohike had just said,
"Wait a minute. What do you mean he's been acting weird? In
what way?" 

"Well, excitable, temperamental, more than usual anyway." 

Byers interrupted. "He's actually been acting like he was up
to something. Even Cat noticed it." 

Cat. Hmmm. Later. "I talked to her today. She said he was
acting normal." 

"Well, yeah. He was. Just before he disappeared." 

"Other than purposely mentioning his 'vacation' to Seattle
several times to Frohike," Langly added. 

"Sure. Rub it in," Frohike quipped. 

Scully would have been amused by their banter at any other
time, but not tonight. "Do ANY of you know what this means?"

Byers was the first one the respond to Scully's inquiry. "We
guessed it was some private thing that only the two of you
knew about. Something you set up when he was in Washington,
maybe?" 

The Rock! Scully released a breath. "Of course!" she
whispered. "You guys, I love you! I gotta go!" She barely
registered all three voices expressing worry and surprise
before she hung up the phone. 

Looking at the calendar next to her desk, she frowned. It
was July 20. If '722' was what she thought, July 22, then
she had only two days. The '500' was easy, now that she knew
what to look for. 500 hours. 5 A.M. 'The rock'. She smiled.
"Looks like I'll get to see your refuge sooner than I
thought, Mulder." She stood to get dressed, knowing sleep
was impossible now. Too much to do. She had to be in South
Dakota in two days. She had to meet Mulder.

************************************************************

Black Hawk Stables 
North Spokane 

Scully knew by noon that day that she was being followed.
She began to feel paranoia creep through her, convinced that
every employee of the Federal Building was watching her. And
while she was sure someone was, she had no idea who it was
or who they were working for. She kept about her business as
usual, even down to her riding lesson that evening. 

A few weeks after Matthew Ross' arrest, Scully had started
taking lessons from Moira. Twice a week, after work, she
drove out to 'the barn' to spend an hour learning dressage
and jumping. It had become a sort of stress relief for her,
and she had made a lot of horsy friends, most of them
teenage girls who were in awe of her position in the FBI.

Tonight, however, she didn't feel much like talking to
anyone, and quietly ignored the chattering and laughing
going on around her while she went about preparing for her
lesson. 

Outside, while lunging her horse to warm him up, she spotted
a car parked on the road just past the gate. Her breath
caught, both in fear and anticipation of the challenge ahead
of her. 'They' were hoping Mulder would come to her, or that
she would lead them to him. Scully laughed softly to
herself. Didn't they know that the hardest person to surveil
was a person who was trained to do it herself and knew all
the tricks in the book? 

Suddenly, Scully was nearly pulled off her feet, and she
shot her attention back to the horse circling around her on
the end of a long line. Wally was a little grey Thoroughbred
with tons of energy, and he proved it by bucking and
cavorting around Scully. She had just started riding him
about a month ago, and was still getting used to his antics.
Bred for the racetrack, Wally was very efficient when it
came to re-locating his riders. Scully hadn't come off him
yet, but she had come close to taking an unplanned dirt bath
more than once since she had started riding him. 

Soon, she had Wally calmed down enough to get on his back.
She rode into the arena, which had been watered to reduce
the dust, but was still stifling from the heat, and started
her lesson with her three classmates. She tried her hardest
to keep her mind on her riding, but it kept drifting. With a
sudden, sharp twist, Wally shied at an imaginary monster by
the arena wall. Scully grabbed his mane quickly, regained
her seat, and got him under control. She took a deep breath
and glanced at Moira with a guilty expression on her face.
Moira just looked at her, a speculative gleam in her eye. 

Finally, they were done. Moira flipped off her microphone
and walked over to Scully. "You seem a bit distracted
tonight. Need to talk?" 

"You know me too well," Scully said wryly. "I need to ask a
favor of you." 

Moira nodded, then let Scully ride off to care for her
horse. As quickly as she could, she untacked Wally and put
him on the hot walker to cool down. Then she found Moira. "I
need to borrow your pick-up." 

Moira's eyebrows shot up. "My pick-up? Why?" 

Scully sighed. "I can only tell you this. See that car
parked by the gate?" She waited until Moira glanced down at
the entrance to the stables. "I need to get out of town
without the people responsible for that car knowing about
it." 

"This is something dangerous, isn't it?" 

"Not for you," Scully quickly emphasized. "But, yes. It may
be dangerous for someone else." 

Moira was silent for a moment. "Fox?" Despite Scully's
attempts to remind Moira he preferred to be called Mulder,
Moira always called him Fox. 

"Are you sure you can't read my mind?" 

Moira smiled. "I'm sure. It's just that I remember you
mentioning on Tuesday that you hadn't heard from him in a
week and you were starting to worry." 

Scully nodded. "Can you help me?" 

Moira nodded. "Of course. I'll do anything you need." 

"Okay, here's what I need you to do..." 

************************************************************

Fortunately for Scully, the moon was waning that night.
Dressed in a black shirt and jeans, with a duffel back full
of 'goodies', including ammunition, Scully slipped out her
back door at 2 A.M., jumped her fence, and silently
disappeared into the forest behind her house. 

Less than an hour later, she reached the parking lot of the
Saint Joseph Catholic Church, the same church she attended
every Sunday. Sitting in the parking lot, just as she asked,
was Moira's pick-up. Finding the keys under the rim of the
left, rear tire, Scully climbed in and started her journey.
She had a little over 26 hours to get to Custer, South
Dakota and Mulder.

*****

End of 1/7