***Chapter Nine***

The food was getting better.  Maybe the "lunch lady" guy was
just a better cook, maybe it was that he had so few people
to cook for.  I don't know.  Maybe I was just hungry.

Walter didn't wait until eleven to drag me out of my lab. 
He let me pay a visit to Mulder and Keesha, and then took me
to the cafeteria.

He sat me down at a table and brought me my dinner.  Someone
else got me a cup of coffee - and put real cream in it. 
People kept stopping by the table and saying things.  

"God bless you, Dr. Scully."

"Dr. Scully, I know you'll bring my boys back to me."

"Dr. Scully, I thank God you and Mr. Skinner are here for
us." 

"When we get through this, Dr. Scully, it will be because of
you."

"I tell you this, little lady.  I'll never say a bad word
about the government again.  Not after what you and Skinner
have been doing for us."  

I don't know which was worse: that I was doing nothing
except for puttering around in a lab while people were
*dying* or that it was the government that may have gotten
them into this.  

I must have been exhausted.  That's the only explanation I
can find for my loss of control.  I just couldn't keep the
tears from flowing.  I felt a hand on my shoulder.  For a
moment it felt familiar, and then I remembered where my
partner was.

"So slender to carry the world."  I don't think he meant for
me to hear those words, he said them so softly.  Almost
magically, the people around us disappeared.  I don't know
how he did that.
 
Then the tray was in front of me and Walter was sitting next
to me.  He took my hand.  His hand was warm.  

"Dana, do you need to leave?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine."

"You are not fine, Dana Scully."

I wiped away the tears with my free hand and took a deep
breath.  

"No.  I'm not fine.  I'm scared.  I'm scared that I'll fail
and let all those people down.  That I'll let you down. 
That I'll let Mulder down, and he and Keesha and all the
others will spend the rest of their lives like that."

He nodded and squeezed my hand.  "I'm scared, too.  I'm
scared that we won't do our job and help these people.  I'm
scared that forces within our government may have made this
situation.  I'm scared that someone is keeping this a
secret.  I'm scared of the uses the military might find for
this disease."  

I had never thought I'd hear Walter Skinner say things like
that.  On the other hand, if someone like him could admit he
was frightened, then maybe it wasn't so bad that I was
frightened, too.  I squeezed his hand back and tried to
smile.

After dinner, I went back to my lab.  Mr. Grange, the
science teacher, was already there.

"Just in time, Dr. Scully.  I have a report all ready for
you." 

To my amusement, it was in an old-fashioned graph paper
notebook, exactly like I'd used myself in high school. 
Unlike the one I'd kept, though, the handwriting was
beautiful and each number was crisp, clear and figured out
only to significant figures.  The nuns had despaired of my
handwriting early on.  Laptop computers are a godsend.

"I see you used bottled water as a control."

"Yes.  If you notice, all the municipal water has the
organism, but not the well water."

"I see.  You did manage to infect the bottled water.  Why
isn't it in the water table.  Do we need to warn other towns
around us?"

"I don't think so.  The well water should have been
infected, but it isn't.  I do see what looks like dead
organisms.  It looks like only the initial infection lasts
any time - if you check the bottled water I infected, you'll
notice that there is a significant reduction in the amount
of the organism now."

"Yes. I see that, Mr. Grange.  This is good news.  There
might be some growth medium infecting the water at the
tower.  It also means no other town is in danger.  Thank
you."

"I ran some other experiments using the tap water. I'm
testing for some element that is in the rainwater but not in
the ground water that might be sustaining the organism."

"Let me know if you find anything.  Have you tried killing
the organism in the tap water?"

"Yes.  Bleach works.  Boiling for ten minutes works.  Lower
temperatures don't work at all - I've tested hot tap water
as well as cold.  Soap works.  I'm still waiting for the ice
cubes to test freezing.  It's all there."

"So normal water processing would take care of the
pathogen." 

"I'd say so."

"There's nothing else, then."

"Not really.  Dr. Scully, you have been an inspiration to
all of us.  This is the first time I've done any real
scientific work since grad school."

I just smiled.

"Good night, Dr. Scully.  I'm off to dinner."

"Thank you, Mr. Grange.  I'll see you in the morning."

I sat down to read the report.  Everything was indeed there. 
He even charted the reduction in the amount of organisms in
the control groups.

He'd also exposed the organism to air - it died.  This meant
that it was transmitted by water and there was probably no
need for a quarantine - not that anyone should take any
chances.

Until I received a sample of my mother's blood, I was stuck. 
I needed the blood of someone I knew for certain had gotten
the inoculation but who had never, ever, been in Barryville. 
Mom was perfect. 

There was nothing else I could do until I had those samples. 
I went to the wards.

Walter was there.  He was turning patients.  He seemed happy
to use his muscles for a change.  He was so gentle with them
- gentle in the way only a strong man could be.  And he
spoke to them.  I didn't hear what he said because it was
too far away and he was speaking too softly, but his lips
only stopped moving between patients.  He kissed all the
children before he left them.

This was not Walter Skinner the assistant director, nor
Walter Skinner my partner's lover.  This was the friend I'd
discovered one night in my partner's apartment.  He was my
friend.  And as much as I missed Mulder's insight, I was
glad Skinner was here. 

Walter finally noticed me.  He touched his patient on his
shoulder and came over.

"How are you doing, Dana?"

"Stuck.  We need those samples."

"So you came here instead of going to bed?"

"I needed to be reminded that there are humans involved."

"You never forgot."

"You look worried about something."

"Whoever did this is keeping it a secret.  We know this
secret.  All of the people in the town know this secret. 
I'm worried that Barryville will disappear, and take us
along with it."

"You sound like Mulder."

"Sometimes Fox has the right idea."

"I don't know what to do about this.  I'll leave that to
you." 

"Good thinking.  Go to bed, Dana."

"Not yet.  I want to talk to Mulder."

He nodded and went back to his work.  As I walked to
Mulder's cot, I spied a rosary draped over another patient. 
I touched the woman lying there to ask permission and took
it.

I held the beads in my hand as I told Mulder everything that
had happened - the findings, the possible involvement,
Walter's worries, my worries.  For once, he listened.  Last
time he did, he was someone else.

Then I prayed.  I said a novena - the first novena I'd said
since my cancer went into remission.  When I finished, I
felt better, as if I'd accomplished something.  Maybe I did. 
I took Skinner's advice and went to bed.  

Feeling a lot like a child, I crossed myself and said a
paternoster before going to sleep.  It certainly couldn't
hurt.  My mother and her priest would have been proud of me. 
Mulder would have been tolerant.

Then I settled down, half fearful of what, or whom, I might
see in my dreams.

I saw Mulder.  He had Keesha in his arms, and he was
shouting my name.  I couldn't hear it, but he was shouting
all the same.  Once again, I fought my way closer.  I tried
to see where we were, but all I could get was an impression
of *nice.*

"Scully!"  I could hear him.

"Mulder!"

"It's hard, Scully.  We're losing our way.  People are
starting to drift.  Hold me here."

"How?"

"I can hear you talk to me.  I can feel Walter.  We know who
is with us.  Anchor us."

"Come back to us."

"We can't get back in.  Like a genie, you let it out and you
can't put it back.  Let it out."

"Let what out?  Mulder!"

"Tired.  So tired.  Watch the sick ones, they go first.  And
tell Walter...I know when he's there. I'm glad he's there. 
Tired." 

They were gone.  And I had more questions than answers.  And
I understood what an anchor was.

I don't remember waking up, exactly.  Walter said he heard
me murmur "anchor" as he walked in, and then I was asleep
again. 

***Chapter Ten***
                    
May 11
Barryville High School

There was no sunlight in the tiny classroom.  Walter's alarm
watch woke us up.  

Everything was finally clear.  Perhaps my brain had
processed it after my dream.

"Walter, I know what we have to do."

He was wide awake.  My father was like that, too - alert as
soon as he opened his eyes.

"About what?"

"Have you received any orders to keep this quiet?"

"No."  His eyes widened.  "No, I haven't.  Would this start
a panic?"

"Panics start at the oddest things.  I couldn't predict.  If
you make it clear that the organism can be killed by boiling
or regular water processing, there should be no problem, but
who knows?  Tell them that the disease is a mystery we are
on our way to solving, and that very few people have died. 
Don't even hint that one group of people are immune, or why. 
Be visible.  Do you have a suit with you?"

"Not really.  Does it matter?  No one will see me.  I'll
conduct the interview by phone. Anything else?"

"Yes.  All the things you did last night?  Keep them up. 
Get other people to do the same when they can spare the
time." 

"What things?"

"Talk to the patients, pat them, kiss the kids.   I had
another dream last night.  Mulder told me something about
anchors.  Keep them anchored, Walter.  You can do it." 

"If you say so.  Meanwhile, before I leak something to the
press and you get those samples, let's get the day started."

"Yes, sir."

I don't know how they did it, but they managed to send both
blood samples - and it was Frohike's blood - via the medical
supply airlift.

By this time, I could set one of those tests up in minutes. 
My mother had the antibodies; Frohike did not.

Janice Barry came to my classroom with a portable radio.

"Listen to this, Dr. Scully."

It was a county level news station.  I could hear the tag
end of a local commercial.

"And remember, Big Tom is your friend when it comes to
buying a pre-owned automobile.  That's Big Tom on Temple
Road."

"And we're back with Assistant Director Walter S. Skinner of
the FBI on the phone from Barryville, which is in the middle
of a strange and deadly epidemic.

"Mr. Skinner, what is the FBI's involvement in this?"

"Two of my agents form a unit that investigates strange
occurrences such as this epidemic.  They received word of
the situation last Thursday."

"What is the situation?"

"People are falling into strange comas, and some are dying. 
One of the agents, Dr. Dana Scully, has isolated the
organism that causes the coma, and has determined that it
will not go beyond this community.  It seems to live in the
water tower used only by Barryville, and nowhere else.  We
have been unable to successfully infect other sources of
water, and believe that the disease is not carried either by
air or contact."

"What are the symptoms?"

"Onset is sudden and complete.  The victim looks dead at
first, but careful examination will reveal a slow heartbeat,
and EEG's will pick up minimal brain function.  These people
are alive, and we will bring them back.  Dr. Scully is a
determined woman and I have every faith in her."

"What are her plans now?"

"She is working on a cure or a vaccine.  We have evidence
that a vaccine is possible."

"This is WBCR, Barry County Radio, with Assistant Director
Walter S. Skinner of the FBI."

"Turn that down, Ms. Barry."  Thank the Lord it was now in
the open.

"Why is he doing this, Doctor?"

"There is no need to keep it a secret, and maybe we can get
some extra help."  Something was bothering me.  

"Janice, did anyone else die recently?"

"Two more in the Girls' Gym and one in the hospital.  No one
in the Boys' Gym." 

"Anything odd about them?"

"Mrs. Henry was an 85-year-old widow, and her kids and
grandkids are all on cots somewhere.  Her kidneys were
starting to fail.  Mimi Jones was new in town.  Don't know
much about her, except that her boyfriend had just dumped
her and she wanted to make a fresh start.  Little Tommy
Perry was eight months old and healthy.  He's the one from
the hospital."

"We need to correlate this.  We have information on the
victims and on the survivors.  We need information on the
dead.  I want ages, sex, occupations, if they have family
and where the family is, how long until they were found if
that information is available, where they were when they
died and illnesses, if any." 

Barry wrote all of this down.  "It does seem as though an
awful lot of them were sick."

"Oh, my God.  Are we treating existing ailments?  Or have we
been blinded by the coma?"

"I don't think we have been taking care of pre-existing
conditions."  She looked shocked.  "What were we thinking?" 

"Some of the illnesses might not be present now - high blood
pressure, some metabolic disorders.  We have to check. 
Janice - are there any pregnant women?"

"Yes.  Several.  They are all on monitors in the hospital
maternity ward. The babies seem to be still alive."

"Thank God!"

"Amen.  I'll get right on those things, Doctor."  

"Janice...thank you.  I don't think I could have done this
without you."

"I'm a Barry, Dr. Scully.  This is my town."  There was
something very old and familiar in her voice.  It made me
think of my mother and of Sr. Mary Josene, my elementary
school principal, and, oddly enough, of Kim, Walter's
assistant.

"This is a fortunate town, then."

"Yes.  You're here."  She left with her notes.

Walter in walked shortly thereafter, with lunch and that
thermos. 

"Will no one leave me in peace to think?"

"Nope.  Someone has to take care of the doctor.  Nurse Barry
is busy interrogating dead people, so I figured I'd do
lunch. 

"Actually, I'm glad you're here.  I heard you on the radio
this morning."

"I also made it to CNN.  They can't hide it now."

"All I need to do is find a cure."  I shook my head.  "I
can't do miracles, Walter."

"What do we have?"

"In terms of being sick and not sick, we have antibodies in
the group that isn't ill and none in the group that is ill."

"So all we have to do is transfer the antibodies from one to
the other?"

"Yeah.  I have to start making a serum.  I don't even know
if it will work, or if we will have enough, or even why we
have them and they don't."

"You'll need more blood?"

"From everyone still standing.  I feel like a vampire."

"Do blood types matter?

"No.  We filter that out."

"Start with me.  And start with Fox."

"If I didn't, he'd kill me.  Walter, I noticed something. 
Remember I told you about touching the patients?"

"Yes."

"Have you been in the Girls' gym at all?"

"That's not where Fox is."

"Last night, two people died in the Girls' gym.  No one died
in the Boys'.  I think the difference is you.  Tell the
people in that ward to talk to the patients, to touch them. 
They are still alive and still human, and deserve to be
treated that way." 

"I'll tell them.  And they'll do it.  Dr. Scully's word is
law at the moment."

I never wanted power.  Now I had it and it galled.

"Good.  Ask Mr. Grange and any one else who can handle a
test tube to come up here, please.  But first...roll up your
sleeve." 

He grimaced, but complied.  I was getting rather good at
taking blood, too.  I hadn't taken so much since I finished
my internship.

Shortly thereafter, I had the first dose of serum ready.  I
checked to make sure that the antibodies were present and
filled a syringe.  The Boys' gym was a flight down. People
joined me as I walked. I felt like I was leading a parade. 
I hate working with audiences.

Walter was standing next to Mulder.  I injected it directly
into my partner's IV port.  Now, all we could do was wait to
see what it would do.  And pray.  I found myself beseeching
St. Luke for his help.  My mother would be proud.

We only had one centrifuge available, and it was going at
full capacity to separate the blood so that we could make
serum.  I still didn't know if it would work, but I wanted
to be prepared in case it did.  

I was checking on blood and syringe supplies when Walter
came into my lab with a handful of fax sheets.  His eyes
were blazing.  I'd seen that look before, of course, but
usually Mulder was on the other side.

"It's all here, Dana.  Everything the three of them could
dig up, plus whatever other information my own contacts
could get.

"We were experiments.  All of us - you and your family, all
of us standing here.  All experiments.  And we were the
lucky ones."

"Let me see those."  He handed them over.  I glanced through
the reports.  As I read, I felt the blood drain from my
face.  Walter guided me to a chair.

"Biological warfare, tested on our own soldiers.  To be used
on whole countries.  But the first try didn't work.  It was
carried by air, and it was too close to diseases we were
familiar with.  No one got more than ill, and we all
developed antibodies.  We didn't have the skills then to
make it more effective."  There was no emotion in Walter's
voice.  I buried my head in my hands as he continued.

"We have those skills now, and we have the AIDS virus to
help us out.  They learned to suppress the immune system for
this one bug.  Damn.  So they went back to work.  This would
knock out an entire city if they can get it past the water
processing plants."

"They can.  All they need to do is add the nutrient to
plastic bottles.  And it's perfect - it's based on
pollution.  Acid rain is the perfect medium.  Mr. Grange
figured that out.  Oh, God, Walter!  The ground filters it
out before it hits the water table.  They were using this
town as guinea pigs.  Who?"

"The military.  The consortium, maybe, to fight the aliens. 
They were surprised at the coma.  Now all they need to know
is how to bring the victims out, just in case our boys get
it.  We were just fortunate that the earlier antibodies work
for us.  We're doing their dirty work and we have no
choice."

"If you hadn't gone public this morning...we'd be dead.  The
people who did this don't care about human life.  But they
can't touch us now."

"I hope you're right, Dana.  For all of our sakes."

I stood up.  This was no time to cry.  "We have work to do. 
I need to test Mulder's blood.  Are you coming with me,
Walter?"  He looked at me and shook his head.

"Coming, Dana."

The blood results were good.  The pathogens, whatever they
were, were dying.  Mulder himself had a low grade fever. 
However, there was no other change.  He was still in a coma. 
We decided that getting rid of the bugs would be a good
first step anyway, so we began injecting serum into all the
victims, stopping only to make more.  

One of the history teachers was a fan of a series of books
about dragons.  She suggested a primitive centrifuge -
swinging a test tube in a circle.  An auto mechanic and a
shop teacher came up with a mechanized form.  And we got
more medical supplies from Columbus - thanks to Walter's
publicity.

By the next day, we had wards of people without any trace of
the organism, all lying as still as death.  But no one had
died in the night.  And Mulder left me alone.  I didn't know
what that meant.

***Chapter Eleven***

May 14
Barryville High School

We had been in Barryville a week.  The organism was gone and
the quarantine was lifted, and no one else had died, but
that was the only change.  

No one was neglected any more.  Everyone got a kind word, a
touch, a kiss, something, all day long.  Those who needed it
had their normal medical treatment.  The death data had
painted a clear picture - no one who had any family or
friends around them had died, unless they were already
seriously ill.  None of these had died of their illnesses,
or anything else.  It was as if they'd decided they didn't
want to return.  Mulder had told us that in my dream.

I spent my time trying to revive them.  I tried L-Dopamine,
I tried stimulants, I tried anything I could think of.  I
even yelled at Mulder.  He was hooked up to an EEG - I
wanted to know if anything changed in him.  Walter kept
stealing time to caress him.  He never stopped, but he was
looking exhausted.  We all were.

It was too much.  I dropped my tray of useless medicines and
ran to our little, windowless room and let myself rage.  I
couldn't do anything, make anything work.  Mulder and Keesha
and all the others would be like this forever.  Maybe they
wouldn't even age.  Wouldn't that be a kick?  Mulder
beautiful forever while Walter and I crumble to dust?  I was
so useless!

"Dana?"

"Walter, go away, please!"

"Dana, the EEG is moving.  Something's happening!  Come,
see!"

I jumped off my cot and came running.  Sure enough, there
was the beginnings of higher brain functions.  Walter
grabbed Mulder's hand.

"Come on, Fox.  Come back to us all the way.  I need you,
lover.  Come back home.  This is Walter.  I know you've
never obeyed an order in your life, but listen to me now.  I
love you, Fox and I'll bring you back with main force."

"Mulder, don't ditch me now.  You know I'll come get you. 
Come back!"

Mulder's eyelids fluttered, and his mouth twitched.  I could
see him trying to make words.  I clutched at Walter, who'd
also seen this.  He bent closer to hear the tiny whisper.

"He says...he says you can't get rid of him...He's back." 
There were tears running down Walter's face.  I'd never seen
him cry before.  "He says... Oh, God.  He says he loves me. 
Why'd you wait until now, you bastard?"  Walter buried his
face in Mulder's chest, unable to contain himself. 

As for me - I spent the next few minutes crying on Janice
Berry's shoulder.  For once, I wasn't ashamed to cry in
public.  She was crying, too.  Everyone was - especially
when first Keesha and then the others started to move.  They
were back.  All of them were back.  Within a few minutes, we
heard shouts from the other ward and the hallways and
classrooms, and there were phone calls from the hospital.

The next few days were a blur.  Miraculously, almost no one
needed physical therapy, and there was no harm done by the
interrupted medical treatments.   Even the pregnancies were
fine.  As people groaned and moved and got back into life,
we moved them home.  The gym emptied rapidly.  I did a few
random blood tests, and everyone had the antibodies in their
systems.

The army built the town a new water tower and the old one
was emptied and destroyed.  Walter made certain the whole
country, the whole world, knew it was over, and he made
equally sure I wrote a detailed report.  He also made rather
too much of me.  I read what he wrote.

"It was only due to the untiring efforts of Agent Scully and
to the depth and breadth of her medical skills that we were
able to succeed in this.  I recommend that she be cited for
her work.  She is perhaps the finest agent I have ever had
the privilege of serving with."

I was doing my job and fulfilling both of my oaths.  I could
do no less.

***Epilogue***

Mulder moved next to me on the plane ride home.  We were
traveling first class for a change - and we were all alone
in the cabin.  He and Walter had begun with some discreet
snuggling, but Walter was asleep now.

He had to pick up the rag doll that Keesha had given me "so
I wouldn't forget her."  Barryville was a part of me now.  I
wouldn't forget any of them.  Even so, it felt good to put
the toy on the seat next to me.  It was the only gift I let
them give me.  Mulder unselfconsciously cuddled the doll. 

"The famous Dr. Scully."

"Stop it, Mulder."

"That was me in your dreams, you know.  I needed to reach
you."

"You did.  But I thought it was my subconscious talking to
me."

"The ever skeptical Dana Scully."

"What took you so long to get back?"

"I had to find the way.  Scully, I can't describe what it
was like.  We were all in this place - the whole town.  We
were like balloons - tethered to the Earth with ribbons.  As
time went on and more people joined us, the ribbons got
thinner.  I had the strongest ribbons.  I had you and I had
Walter and you were both always thinking about me, talking
to me, keeping me there.  Other people ... some removed
their ribbons and floated away.  Others were just too weak. 
The ribbons snapped.  

"I kept trying to get back, but when I tried, the way was
closed.  I could feel Walter, but I couldn't get back.  I
could see it, but I couldn't reach it.  And then the way was
open, but I didn't have the strength to use it until you two
shouted at me.  Then I could lead the others.  I don't know
how long we could have waited.  It kept getting harder.  You
did save us, Scully."

I didn't say anything.  He was wrong, but I didn't say
anything.  He smiled that smile and went back to Walter,
leaving the doll behind.  


---
Copyright 1998 Debra Fran Baker and NightRoads Associates.

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