From: larchiba@unixg.ubc.ca (Jessica Lynn Archibald) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: new: FEVER DREAM Date: 2 May 1995 00:17:21 GMT Here's my first fanfic, just a short whimsy to stretch my figurative legs. There's a longer story called VESSELS coming as soon as I'm sure I'll have my account long enough to post it (it'll take a while). If not, it will be coming in the fall. NOTE: Please post any comments or criticisms as my E-mail is lost somewhere in cyber space thanks to the modem program from hell. You all know the copyright drill and if you don't you're reading the wrong newsgroup. This story contains characters copyrighted by Chris Carter and TenThirteen Productions. No copyright imfringement intended. The story, however is copyrighted 1995 by Jessica Archibald. Enjoy. FEVER DREAM by Jessica Archibald Dana Scully walked into the office she shared with her partner after two days of absence and knew immediately that Fox Mulder was flying higher than the proverbial kite. He was sitting at his desk, madly scribbling away at a file, but even in the dim lighting she could tell that he was flushed and when he glanced briefly up at her, his eyes were dilated and sparkling with unnatural brightness. "Scully! I was afraid *they* had gotten you!" She was taken aback by the concern in his manic tone. "Mulder, you shouldn't be here..." "That's exactly what They think," he agreed, waving her over. "But so far They haven't managed to get me fired. They've tried." she thought. Three days ago, she, Mulder, and two police officers had been pursuing a serial killer along the docks of Chicago. They had split up, the cops going one way, the feds the other. The killer had thrown a packing crate in the agents' path. Knocking Dana out of the way, Mulder had chivalrously tripped over it in her stead and fallen into Lake Michigan. In the middle of winter. Into very cold water. It had taken Dana five minutes to catch the murderer, cuff him and shout for the police. As soon as they had arrived, she had dived into the lake after her wayward partner. she had heard him splashing about and knew that he hadn't drowned yet. By far the more competent swimmer, she had gotten them both to shore with a minimum of fuss. Poor Mulder had been freezing by the time they had gotten attention from an ambulance summoned by the police officers, valiantly making lame frozen fish jokes and chattering his teeth. He had already had a bad cold before all the excitement. They had finished up the paper work that same day and she had taken two of her vacation days to visit with her brother, who lived in the area. Mulder had gone home. She hadn't spoken to him since. Now, it took her all of two seconds to see that the cold had progressed into something much worse. "Mulder, you're sick." "That's what They want you to think." He stared at her, wide eyed and she could practically *see* the heat radiating off of him. "Why did they even let you in the building?" she fumed. The guards at the door of FBI Headquarters should have taken one look at him and sent him home. And if they hadn't, it meant that she *would*. "I'm taking you home." "I'll live, Scully. I have to finish this report for Skinner before the aliens come and steal it. You should finish yours too, before They come looking for it. For you." This was said with none of his usual humour. He was dead serious. If there was anything more given to wacky theories about aliens stealing from bureaucracy and coming after his partner than Special Agent Fox Mulder, it was a Mulder with a high fever and delusions. "Mulder," she began in her calmest tone, moving to stand next to him, "I don't think that the aliens will steal your report." "Somehow, Scully, I didn't think that you would." He stood, swayed and rubbed a hand over his head. "After all, you don't believe in that sort of thing. But you've got to watch out...Samantha..." His voice trailed off and he started to pitch forward, eyes flickering shut. "Mulder!" She managed to catch him as he started to fall, but he was heavy and his chair had tipped over when he dropped. His weight was going to drag them both down. "Agent Mulder, what's the idea calling my office and raving about little green men...?" The door to their office was still open and Assistant Director Walter Skinner stood there, slightly open mouthed. "Sir, help!" Dana squeaked, losing the battle with her partner's limp form. If someone didn't do something soon, they were both going to end up on the floor. Skinner crossed the room in three long steps and circumvented Mulder's desk, catching hold of the other man and taking his weight from Dana. She hastily straightened the chair and Skinner dropped him gently into it. Placing one hand on her friend's forehead, Dana bit her lip. Any hotter and he'd be radioactive. "Is he all right, Scully?" "I'm not sure, sir," she replied. "He's running a high fever." "Should I call for an ambulance?" Skinner peered at Mulder, a concerned look on his face. "I think it would be better if I take him hime, get him on some antibiotics." "This isn't one of those viruses the two of you always seem to stumble upon, is it?" He didn't look overjoyed at the prospect of spending the next month in a quarantine facility. The idea didn't thrill Danan either. "Nothing so exotic, sir. He fell into Lake Michigan and the exposure merely worsened his cold." "Are you going to need help getting him..." Her boss trailed off, nodding at the unconscious agent. She eyed her partner. Getting him to her car, up to his fourth floor apartment, and onto the couch that served as his bed would not be easy for her without some help. "Uh, yes, sir, I think I will..." ********************************************** Dana drove, Mulder passed out on the back seat and Skinner following in his own vehicle. She stopped at a drug store to get a prescription filled curtsey of a phone call to a *practicing* doctor that she knew. The man trusted her diagnosis and phoned in the order. As usual, Mulder's apartment was a complete mess. She got the door open and Skinner entered right behind her, half-dragging, half-carrying the younger man. "Where?" "The couch." After getting Mulder, settled, Skinner straightened and looked over at Dana. "I don't want to see him for a few days. My secretary thinks he's gone crazy. He called my office and said that the aliens were coming to get all of his reports and that if you didn't arrive soon that I should start a man hunt for you and a flying saucer." She was torn between a groan and a laugh. Leave it to Mulder to stir up the whole Bureau while in the grips of a fever. She had seen the looks that the three of them were given on their way out. Spooky jokes were going to be buzzing around the building for days. "I won't let him back to work until the fever's past," she promised. "In that case, I don't want to see *you* either." He headed for the door. "Sir?" He swung back to face her. "Thank-you." "Better he sweat it out here than at the office." Stepping through the door, he pulled it shut with a final, "Let me know if he gets any worse." ********************************************* The aliens had taken Samantha. Fox was as sure about that as he was about his name. And who would name their child 'Fox' anyway? But that wasn't important now. He had to reach Sam before they disappeared. He had seen them go out the door to his apartment with her and now he lurched to his feet as the room swayed dizzyingly and set out after them. How did he get back to his apartment? Had They brought him there, and if so, why? The questions were making him dizzy. He felt hot and confused. He wished Scully was here, she was a doctor, she'd know what was wrong with him but she was in Chicago...no that wasn't it. She was missing, taken by a man named Daune Barry who was now dead and no one knew where she was...no that wasn't it either. The aliens had Sam *and* Dana, that was it. He had to rescue them both. But first he had to find them The aliens would have to head for high ground in order for their space ship to take off. High ground...the roof! Stumbling to his door, he found it unlocked, which was just as well because someone had been messing with the lock; it was a hundred time more confusing than it should be and it was all he could do to turn the knob to pull the door open. The hallway outside his door seemed to be twice as long as he remembered but his sister and his partner needed him, so he forced his way along, breath rasping in his chest. Had the aliens experimented on him to make him so weak, was that why he was having so much trouble? The elevator came into reach...it would take too long. He made it to the stairs instead and started going up them. He could see the aliens ahead of him, their tall forms speeding up the stairs, but FBI Agent Mulder was right behind...only where the hell was his gun? How was he supposed to stop the bad guys, the *aliens*, without his gun? He'd have to find another way. The stairs led onto the roof and there they were. The aliens at least. Where were Sam and Dana? Inside thier ship...no! It was taking off, swooping over the edgoe of the roof and soaring up into the sky. He had to catch it! Shouting Sam's name, he ran for the edge as fast as he could, straining to keep the alien ship in sight. It was hovering just off the edge, taunting him. jwell, he'd show them. He'd leap onto their ship...it seemed rather small compared to what he thought it would look like. Maybe the aliens had operated on him and now he could fly after them.. that was it. He had to try at least. He could hear Sam calling him. He climbed onto the ledge... ***************************************** She had left the prescription in her car. Some doctor. Mulder was still unconscious, so she risked nipping down to get it after taking his gun away and hiding it. No sense in leaving a loaded wapong near a man who was afraid the aliens were coming for his paperwork. On the way back to his apartment, Dana was astonished to see the door to his place flung wide open. She heard the stair door click shut and made the logical assumption. Busrting through, she could hear pounding footsteps above her and she started up after him, calling his name. She could barely make out his hissed mutterings about aliens and his sister as she pursued him. "Mulder! Stop!" The roof door banged open and she arrived about half a minute behind him, skidding out onto the rooftop, coming to a horrified stop. The ledge of the building was only twenty feet beyond the door and Mulder was on top of it, looking for all the world like he was going to jump. "Mulder, NO!" His head swung to face her but there was no recognition in his eyes. "You're one of *Them*, aren't you? You're trying to stop me from going after the." He pointed wildly out past the roof into open space. "Well, you don't fool me." "Samantha's on that shop and I'm going after her." He swung back, away from her. She had rarely been so frightened. If he jumped the fall would kill him and she didn't know how to reach him throught the fever that was burning through his body. The answer came to her in a flash of memory. The two of them sitting in his car, watching Tooms' home. she thought now, half praying. "Fox, I'm right here," she said softly, praying he would hear her through the fever foggin his mind. "It's Sam. I'm here, I'm not on their ship." Confusion flashed on his face as he turned back to her. A confusion that made him look like a lost little boy nad nearly broke her heart. "S--Sam?" "That's right," she replied, counting on the fever to allow him to see what he wanted, his dark haired sister and not his redheaded partner. "Please, don't go after them, Fox." **************************************** Fox could barely see the form of the woman in front of him. Was it really Sam? Who else would call him by his first name? He stepped carefully off the ledge as the space ship flew away and came towards his sister. "But they've still got Scully, Sam." "No they don't, Mulder, I'm here too." Fox leapt back like he'd been burned. It was another one of those alien shapeshifters trying to confuse him. He'd fallen for it and now the other aliens had gotten away with Sam and Dana. The shapshifter reached for him, but he swung out and connected, knocking the alien down onto the gravel of the rooftop. "You tricked me!" he yelled and then swayed as the dizziness grew until he fell onto his knees. The shapeshifter sat back up, face scratched and bloody thanks to the hard texture of the roof. Except the blood was red, not green, and there were no accompanying stings of alien chemicals. Uncertainty flashed through his mind and for an instant, the dizziness abated, leaving him in full control of his factulties. "Scully?" "It's me, Mulder, just take it easy." She seemed a little wary. What had he done? "I'm sorry, oh, God, Scully, I'm so sorry." She crawled over to him and hugged him hard, ruffling his hair. "It's okay, Mulder. You're sick, hallucinating. We have to get you back inside. Let's cancel your flying lesson." He nodded, started to get to his feet, and then he fainted. *************************************** It took two days before the fever broke fully, barely half a day before a self imposed deadline would have made Dana take him to a hospital. After the escapade on the roof, she had camped out int the chair next to the couch and refused to budge more than a room away until he was lucid again. She still couldn't believe he had come *that* close to taking a swan dove off his building. He'd been rational off and on since then, never for more than forty minutes and always with a hint of mania behind his eyes. This time, his eyes were clear. "Scully, what're you doing here? When'd you get back from Chicago?" "A few days ago, Mulder," she said "A few days...what's going on?" "What's the last thing you remember?" "Um...Sunday's football game?" "That figures. You've been sick as a dog for the last three or four days, Mulder. It's Wednesday." "*Wednesday*?" "You mean you don't remember passin out in front of Skinner?" she asked mischievously. "I did not!" "Oh yes, you did, right after you phoned up his secretary, babbling about little green men stealing your paperwork." He continued to deny it, but a bell was beginning to ring faintly in his mind. He stared at the healing scrapes on her face. Uh of. "Did I do that?" She hesitated. "Oh, God," he groaned. "It's okay." She giggled, something he had rarely heard her do. "It was worth it to see the look on Skinner's face when he walked into the office." "Oh, *God*," he said again, this time with more feeling. "Next time," she admonished, "let *me* trip over the packing crate. You tall people fall over things too often." She stood. "I'm going home. There's a bottle of antibiotics in the kitchen, finish them off or I'll tell you what other embarrassing things you did." "Have you been here the whole time?" "Someone had to keep you from jumping off rooftops." The words were light, but the look in her eyes was not. "Thanks, Scully." He remembered her calling him 'Fox' and luring him off the ledge. "Or should I say 'Sam'?" She winced. "I'm sorry about manipulating you like that but..." "That's okay." He sat up and offered her a weak smile. "Next time, you can go for the swim in Lake Michigan." The aliens may have gotten away, but the fever dream made him think there would always be other chances. THE END Feedback would be most appreciated. I hope you enjoyed the story!