Summary: A man was killed the same way as the Eves had killed there fathers, Teena becomes there main suspect.

She was alone in a cold darkroom. She huddled up in a corner trying to keep from crying. She had not seen anyone for weeks. She had not spoken even longer than that. There was something wrong with the person in the cell next to her. She used to be able to talk to her but she was gone. And so was the other, she had been moved a way from her. She had never found out why but the one she knew of was no longer there.

She cried in her little corner and recalled a song from Cinderella, she wasn't exactly sure what the name was but now she sung the chorus softly so only she could here it. "In my own little corner in my own little chair. Right her in my own little world." She thought that fit her right now.

She heard movement outside her cell. She quickly wiped her tears; she would never let them see her cry. She had been in this place for about four years. She stood as the door opened. "Eve 10," a man called from the door. Dr. Newmark stood tall and towered over her.

"Yes?" she asked firmly. She hated this man and spent her time trying to beat him, but she never had.

"Eve 9 is dead," he said so unfeeling and cold, he didn't care about her only the project. She hides her emotions from him at all cost. If he knew how much this hurt her he would find more and more ways to hurt her. "So," she said turning away from him. "She killed herself" she didn't believe him. She believed she was dead but she didn't think that Eve had taken her own life. He put a hand on her shoulder. "You have no choose but to cooperate." That moment changed the whole rest of her life. **

One & Half Years Later.

Ring, ring, were the first things Scully heard in the morning. Her cell phone waking her up in the morning wasn't surprised but still annoying. "Scully."

"Scully it's me!"

"Yeah?" she asked still clinging to her pillow.

"Can I come over?"

She sat up in bed and looked at her clock. 5 a.m. "When?" she asked starting to get up to get dressed.

"I be at your apartment in five." He hung up before she could complain.

She decided just to grab her robe instead of getting dressed. If she needed to get dressed he would have told her. As she walked to her living room just as there was a knock at the door. She opened the door and let him in. She closed the door behind him as he sat down on her couch. "So what's up?"

As she sat down next to her Mulder looked shocked. "Your not going to yell at me, for coming by so early."

"I'm too tried. So."

He pulled a file out, and handed it to Scully. She looked though it, almost immediately she raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Yesterday Kyle Lucas, age 46, was killed by extenuation on a child's swing set. With two puncture wounds on his neck."

She knew what he was thinking. The Eves. She thought back to one of their first cases. The girls were clones of a government project. The Litchfield Project, she recalled. "Do you think there were more Eves out there?"

He shook his head. "You didn't see something." He pointed to a line in the fill. "Look at this Scully you won't believe it." It was a line labeled family.

"Wife Anna Lucas, step-daughter Teena Simmons-Lucas." she looked at him with a look of disbelief and he nodded. "But she was locked up, in that prison."

"Not so locked up."

Denver, CO

Mulder and Scully drove up to the big, white house on the corner. They could see the police barrier from the car. They got out of the car not really knowing what they had to do. They needed to talk to Teena. She said she was home alone at the time of the murder but she had not been suspected by local law enforcement. That much was for sure. They knocked on the door. After a minute an older women opened the door.

"Can I help you," she said. And Scully could see that under her eyes were raw, she must have been crying a lot.

Scully pulled out her credentials and Mulder did the same. "I'm Agent Scully and this is Agent Mulder, with the FBI. May we come in."

"Sure." Anna Lucas said allowing them to enter. "You're here about Kyle." She said leading them to the living room.

"Yes," Scully responded, Mulder was letting her do the honors.

"What did you want to know?"

"Actually, we want to speak with your daughter, Teena." This didn't seem to surprise her. Maybe she heard of past. "She is in her room. She took this pretty hard, harder than I expected." She looked sad a moment.

"How long ago did you adopt her?"

That caught Anna off guard but answer anyway. "Kyle brought her home over a years ago," she said cautiously.

"Brought her home from where?" Mulder asked.

"She was institutionalize after the death of her father. He worked at the institution she was being kept." She was lying and Mulder and Scully knew why. But they didn't wish tell her just yet. "I'll take you to her."

"Teena," Anna said as she knocked on the door.

"Come in." a voice whispered from behind the door. Anna opened the door and walked in, with Mulder and Scully behind her. The room was dark without the light on. The light from between the blinds were the only light that let them see anything. They could see someone sitting in the bed.

"Can I turn on the light."

"If you wish," a familiar voice said. As the light turned on she spoke. "Nice of you to come, Mulder and Scully. Anna I can talk to them alone." Anna left still confused that she knew who they where. "Close the door, Anna doesn't need to here this."

"How did you know we would come?" Mulder said moving in towards her.

"I just knew," she said looking at them for the first time. She looked very much the same but older and sadder. "You think I did it."

"You have before," Scully said cruelly.

"Well you won't believe me when I say: I didn't do it." It was clear from her appearance that she was having a hard time.

"How did you get out?" Mulder asked. "My treatment was going so well that they thought I could enter society again."

"What brought on this change, last time you saw us you tried to kill us? Is Cindy out too?"

"She's dead. They told me she killed herself."

"You don't seem like you believe that," he said still not moving close to her.

"If you must know, I don't. She wouldn't and I would know if she did."

"And why is that?" Scully chimed in.

Teena jumped off the bed and went to the window. She parted the blinds just enough to peek outside. "I can't explain it. It was always that way between us, the Eve's I mean."

"If you didn't kill Kyle Lucas who did?" Mulder asked moving to her.

"I can't believe this," she said as she left the window moving into a far corner of her room. To Mulder, she looked like she was moments from bursting into tears. "I would never do that," she paused a moment, "not to him anyway."

"Why not?" Scully asked.

"At Litchfield I was separated from her and the others. I was alone and except for the doctors." She put her hands on her head, she appeared to be getting a headache not to bead at first but getting worse. "He saved me." She said almost collapsing to the floor.

"Are you okay?" Mulder asked moving to aid her.

"I'm fine!" she screamed as she crouched down in the corner. She was lying, of course, because Mulder could see her tears. He put his hand on her back and looked over at Scully. She didn't know what to think. Teena screamed again.

"Can we do anything?" he asked trying to help her she didn't respond. "Can you answer me?" He realized she could. "Scully get Anna!" he screamed as he moved her to her bed. Scully ran out of the room and he could hear her scream for Anna. He laid Teena down and held her hand as she cry and screamed. She couldn't keep still.

Anna ran in with a bottle of pills. She rushed to her stepdaughter's side. Mulder moved back to let her though. "It's all right Teeny," she said as she pulled out one of the pills. She turned to Mulder; "Can you hand me that glass please. On the dresser." He did so and she practically had to shove the pill down her throat. Teena began to calm down and seemed to fall asleep. Anna moved back to Agent Mulder. "She gets these headaches a lot."

"What are they from?"

"I not sure exactly what. Kyle knew he was her doctor. I believed that their stress related. This isn't the first time this had happened but it's not usually this bad. I gave her, her prescription; it's a sedative she should be fine. I'm just not sure what to do."

He realized that Scully had not returned yet. "Where is Agent Scully?"

"She is calling an ambulance."

"I thought you said this is nothing to worry about."

"It's not when Kyle was here but he always took her to her doctor at the hospital." Anna seemed confused she looked like she was about to break down crying but she held herself together and looked at Mulder. "I'm no doctor, Mr. Mulder. I only know to give her the pills. I knew she would be a lot of work, Kyle warned me about here problems, I was scared at first but I learned to love her I think. But I don't know what to do with her problems."

Scully entered the room and kept her eyes on the sleeping Teena. "The ambulance should be here soon. What happened to her?"

The hospital hallway was empty, besides Mulder and Scully. The door to Teena 's room was shut. They had been waiting out there for hours. The doctor had come back and forth not answering their questions. Finally Anna came out of the room.

"I didn't expect you to wait this long."

"We had some more questions," Scully said trying not to sound harsh.

"For her or for me?"

"We could actually use both."

"Why don't you get me out of the way right now? I have the time while Teena is with her doctors."

"All right lets find some place private." They were given one of the extra offices to talk in. "Well Ms. Lucas, what did you know about Teena's past before you took her in?"

"Remember it's a felony to lie to the FBI," Mulder added.

Anna was uneasy. "She was institutionalized when she was eight for congenital sociopath tendencies." This was all information they knew but they needed to know what she knew. "Did she acted on them?"

"Yes," she said sounding ashamed.

"What was it?"

"She killed her father the way Kyle was killed." She was in tears in her eyes. She didn't want to help incriminate Teena but she didn't have a choice.

"Is that all you know?"

"Yeah," she said soft and tired. "She couldn't have done it she wouldn't have done it. She loved him!" she cried.

They left her in the office. Scully was sure that it had to be Teena. "I don't think she did it, Scully."

"What?"

"I'm serious, think about it. She would do anything to get away why draw our attention."

She thought a moment, he was right. "Then what?"

"I don't know, I want to talk to her again."

"I talked to her doctor and we have to wait about an hour."

"Let's wait." They sat in on the bench in the hallway.

She sighed remembering her first dealings with the Eve's. It was a long time ago. She had barely known Mulder than and now he is the only one she knows. "Scully we've been though a lot haven't we?"

"Yeah we have Mulder." He looked at her into her bright eyes. He realized she was thinking just as he was that time is passing that their relationship had grown. He thought of what he almost did before she got stung. He thought about his action everyday, he didn't regret it. He just had no idea how to set it up again. He could only hope she felt the same way.

She would stay up nights trying to figure out what had happened. She loved him but didn't truly know it. She wanted to continue were they left off. Mulder's arms around her his lips moments from hers, she could die thinking about it. Without thought she reacted for his hand. He looked at her with the look he had had in the hallway. He reached to her face putting one hand on her cheek.

"Scully, I."

He was cut of by Teena's doctor telling them they could enter. They broke apart ashamed at their contacted.

They entered the room not daring to touch each other. Teena lay in the hospital bed looking up to them. "Sorry about that. I can't control them."

"That's fine, but can you answer a few questions for us, now?" Mulder asked not treating her like she was guilty of anything. He had worked it out with Scully that he would be good cop and she would be the bad cop.

"Sure, I'm on enough medication that I won't have another attack."

"I am going to be blunt. What happened at Litchfield, how did you get out?" Scully solicited.

"I thought you would know you left me there." She paused a moment and thought again. "It's not your fault, you did your job. I had my own problems. Well to answer your question I must ask one. You talked to Eve 6, correct?"

"Yes, during the investigation."

"Good than you know what that place was like and the doctors. no maybe not. I was put on heavy medication and treatment. The doctors did to me as they had done to the rest of the Eves. They did test both physical and psychological they found nothing. You see they had the three of us: Eve 6, Cindy and I in the same area. We could talk and keep each other from snapping under their torture. They figured it out and separated us. I was only 10 years old than. I had no choice but to listen to them. They kept me isolated from everyone except one doctor; he was a terrible man. If I was to kill anyone else it would be him." She realized what she had said and quickly tried to cover for it. "The else was the death of, um."

"You're father." Mulder helped.

"Yes," she said sounding ashamed. Mulder realized she had not fought the word 'father' during her interrogation six years ago, She had said she had had no father that she was created. Cindy had said the same. "Anyway I was alone for two or three years. I only had one goal and that was to not let the doctor get to me. I had to hide everything he did that hurt me if he knew what hurt me he did more of it. These attacks are what he used to control me. I was winning until he told me that Eve 9-Cindy had killed herself. I believed he killed her to get to me. It worked and he began to influence my mind. I hate to admit it worked until I was saved." She smiled lost in thought, than returned to her focus. "Kyle saved me. It was six months after Cindy had died. One day Dr. Newmark stopped coming and Kyle took his place. He made me want to change to get better. I was nine when I first realized what Cindy and I did as wrong but because of Newmark I wasn't being helped.

"Well when Kyle took over my recovery sped up. He seemed to understand me and knew what I needed. He realized the environment I was in was not right for me now and got me out under his supervision calling the episode temporary psychosis from a chemical imbalance. I loved him and I believed he loved me. I would do nothing to hurt him." She closed her eyes to hide the tears.

"If you didn't kill him who did, Teena?" he asked still being the nice guy.

"I was in my room that faced the other way. I refused to go into the backyard or even look into it as long as they had the swing set there. I went down stairs after hearing noises from the out side. I peeked out of the kitchen window and saw him there the way I had put my father there. I ran out to him. Details were the same only things that Cindy or I would know. I know you think it was I, Ms Scully, but I didn't do it, I believe it only could be Cindy or any other Eve."

The car was parked in the seat looking up to the big house. It was dark and the two people were prepared to stay there all night. "So, Scully what do you think now."

"I realized that Teena never referred to herself as Eve like she did in the interrogation."

"I noticed that too. I think that means she has gotten better, I think this might be the work of Eve 8. She never mentioned her. We never knew what really took place between them and Eve 7 and 8. Let's ask her tomorrow."

"Why not now?" Scully asked looking up at Teena's window.

"It's after ten, Scully, she's sleeping," he said surprised that she would be so impatient.

"What are you talking about?" she asked almost laughing.

"Huh?"

"Mulder, she's 15 she be wide awake for hours! Hell, I used to seek out of the house and smoke I never slept. Didn't you?"

"I was a perfect child, I went to bed on time and did everything my mommy told me," he said sounding like a three-year-old.

Scully couldn't let that slide. "You just a chorus boy aren't you?" she asked using the same age tone he did. "Well, I like boys that are 'Spooky'." She said with sexy tone rising her eyebrows in the "come and get it" way. She couldn't believe she said it she forced her self to turn her face too normal. It was the most courage she had had to suggest anything of the kind she was embarrassed and turned away. His left hand came up and captured her face. He knew how she felt and shared it. She knew and there was no denying it. They were looking right into each other's eyes. He could only do one thing.

"Really?" he asked moving his lips closer to hers. She was in his arms and moved as close as she could get to him.

"Really," she said than prepared her lips for a kiss.

"Well, I've been keeping an eye out for a skeptic..." His lips barely brushed hers when she pulled away. He knew why.

There was scream in he background. They were out of the car in seconds dashing to the house where the scream originated. They kicked-in the Lucas's door guns drawn. They ran into the kitchen where they saw a light. They ran in and found Anna's body lying bloody on the ground. Scully moved over the body as Mulder saw the open bay window.

He ran out into the ally looking for any sign of Eve. All he caught was a glimpse of lights in the distance. It was to far away for Mulder to run after it so he reluctantly went back to the house. "Just saw a car in the distance there's no one. Where's Teena, is Anna still alive?"

"She's dead Mulder. I haven't seen Teena," Scully said standing back up. "Stabbed in the juggler."

"Do you hear that?" She listened to the air and heard a faint sobbing. They walked to the other side Kitchen Island. They found Teena sitting in a ball crying like a little baby. There were traces of blood on her body. Mulder knelled down next to her.

"Teena can you hear me?" he asked putting a hand on her shoulder. Scully had moved back to the body and called the police. Teena didn't respond to his voice or touch. She had stopped crying and was just staring into nothingness. He stopped trying and stood up. He looked over at Scully who was finishing her phone call. She looked over as he spoke. "She's unresponsive, she needs to go back to the hospital."

"We have to keep her here till the ambulance comes.

"Scully can you take a look at her, I think might be hurt." Scully moved back to Mulder's side, kneeling next to Teena.

"I don't see anything. Can we move her?"

"Yeah," he said as he gathered her up in his arms. She didn't finch or move nor did her eyes focus. He moved her to the couch in the living room. Scully gave her a quick check up. She looked on her arms and saw a few buses along her wrists along with some old scars. "I not sure but she was attacked the buses look new, they weren't here earlier."

He nodded. "What about the scars?" he paused than realized and slightly changed the question. "I mean how old are they."

"They look like they've been healing for about half a year or so. There not resent." She did a few small tests. Scully for the first time was actually feeling sorry for Teena. She having talked to the girl earlier saw almost no trace of the girl who they put away all those years ago. Eve 10 was emotionally strong, cold, and had no regard for others was the opposite of Teena was. Teena was emotionally weak, warm to her stepmother Anna, and both Mulder and Scully observed her having respect for the people that were trying to help her.

The crime scene was being taking care of. Teena was in the hospital under police guards. She still was still in a catatonic state. Both Mulder and Scully were to be notified if there was any change in her condition. They had yet to figure out what had taken place.

Mulder and Scully were going though files pertaining to anything having to do with Kyle, Anna, and Teena. Scully was rereading Kyle's autopsy report for the fifth time. Mulder was going over their back grown checks.

"Hey Scully."

"Yeah." She responded to his "intrigued" tone in his voice.

"I was read the check on Teena and I thought you should hear this." She nodded for him to continue. "It says here that she never went back to school and she was privately tutored by an Adam Edan."

"What's so strange about that? Teena is extremely intelligent we knew because of the Project."

"I know that but did you here the guy's name?"

"Adam," she said without thinking than figured it out. Adam, Adam, she thought, Why should that. She remembered something Eve 6 had told her "The Adam's made the Eve's" "Adam?" she asked shocked, Mulder just nodded and smiled. "It could just be a coincidence."

"Common Scully don't tell me it's not worth investigating. Think about it what do we know about Kyle Lucas, even on the thought that Teena did do it, why?"

"Well I suppose we should question him anyway, for his connection to the Lucas family."

"True. I got an address, he lives over in Adam's City." He shot her a glance, she gave her "it's only a coincidence" look and he continued. " It's about." Mulder opened up his Rand McNally computer trip program He typed the information a waited for directions. "Nine minutes or so depending on traffic. We should get to the hospital to check on Teena before we head out."

She nodded and looked at the clock. Six a.m. and she hadn't gotten any sleep that night. The crime scene was wrapped up by one o'clock, they checked on Teena around two-thirty. She went back to the motel for sleep and she had thought he had done the same but around four he was knocking on her door with a box of files to go though. "I drive," she said as they reached the car.

"Think fast!" he said tossing her the keys. He had given up pretty easily for a change. He's probably just tried, didn't sleep at all. As they drove Mulder fell asleep. Scully looked over at him; he looked as if he had no care in the world. A small smile crossed her face. Her thoughts drifted from their case to what had happened last night. She wanted him but every time they wanted to be together every time they tried to take a leap, something would happen.

The detour to the hospital was quick, because Teena wasn't any better. The doctors could make no progress so she would remain at the hospital under guard. They had driven out to Adam's City around nine o'clock. Mulder had insisted on driving. They pulled into the driveway of the Edan's Residence and quickly went to the door.

Scully rang the doorbell and turned to Mulder. "Remember as much as you may think he's. you know," He nodded, "well we don't have any proof of it. Don't embarrass yourself!"

"All right, not till I have proof," he said childishly.

"Don't mock me!"

"Well just be prepared." The door opened and Mulder and Scully turned to see a man that looked exactly like Kyle Lucas. Mulder suppressed his reaction and Scully did the same.

"Can I help you?" he asked a smile.

"Yeah, I'm Special Agent Mulder and this is Agent Scully. Are you Adam Edan?" the man just nodded. "Can we have a word with you?"

The smile faded but only a little. "What's this concerning?"

"Teena Lucas."

"Come in," he said moving away from the door letting them enter. He led them to his living room. They took a seat on the couch; Adam sat across from them. "What would you like to know. I've heard about the horrible events of he father Kyle." Though he seemed quit normal and relaxed Mulder and Scully could see in his eyes he was scared.

Mulder gave Scully a look and She knew what he was going to do. Scully realized to their advantage they could communicate without speaking. A simple tinkle in her eye could tell her anything and vice versa. She gave him the signal of her permission and Mulder began.

"Your one of Adams aren't you and so was Kyle, right?" Mulder asked making it sound more like a statement. Adam Edan almost leaped out of his seat.

"What are you talking about?" he asked still trying to keep up the phased.

"Litchfield," Mulder said in his customary monotone. Adam looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

"How did you know about that?" he asked in a deep slow voice.

"We know all about the Eves." Scully decided to speak.

"Mulder and Scully," he whispered under his breath. "You the ones who investigated Eve 9 and 10." They both nodded; he closed his eyes to relax for a minute. "You think she killed Kyle."

"No actually," Mulder answered.

"That's bizarre, I would think that she would be your prime suspect."

"Of course, but we think you might be able to clear her. We want to know everything you know about Litchfield, Teena, and any other Adam or Eve involved."

"All right," he said with a sigh. "Anything to help my, well, niece. As you know Sally Kendrick created Teena and Cindy. Sally or Eve 7; Eve 8; Adam 5 and Adam 6 escaped Litchfield over the years. Some of the engineers took us in and corrected the flaws, well most of them, in us. After they died Sally and Adam 5 or the person you probably guessed is Kyle set out to corrected the flaws. I, Adam 6 and Eve 8 took a more hidden place in society. We were the back up plan, if anything happened to them we took over." He paused a moment. "One thing you probably didn't know is that Eves 9 and 10 killed Sally. She tried to help them, but they still had the flaw."

He smiled slightly. "They didn't know what they started when they created them. My sister Eve 6, whom you met, was left behind to say that the Adams were all dead. She was not saved for that reason. Eve 8, who was self named Evelyn "Eve" Landings, was the first contacted with the girls after they had been put in Litchfield. She had a diagnosis that we should only save one of the girls, Cindy. She told Kyle and I that we should stay away till she could get Cindy out. I hate to say it took us to over a year and a half ago to find out that Eve was deceiving us. She had been working with the enemy that had been keeping our family apart. She killed Eve 6 and sent Teena to be her replacement. Dr. Newmark had been following her orders. He plan to turn Cindy to her side we were told had failed and Cindy experiencing the psychosis the rest of us had killed herself. Eve disappeared and Kyle and I endeavored to help his, well, daughter and my niece. He help sally to create them and felt as if he could leave her there. I agreed so I was to stay as his alibi when he killed Dr. Newmark to save Teena. We are what is left of our family we must take care of one another."

"How did it come to be that you were Teena's tutor?"

"I was the logical choice I knew what she was but I couldn't be in her life. Anna doesn't know what I look like and she still can't. Kyle loved her and she must remain innocent."

"That easier than it sounds, Anna was killed last night."

"Yeah, and she's the only one who could tell us what happened," Scully said trying to sort out what was going on.

"I can probably help get her out of it. I have before when she was in Litchfield." He sat back and thought than spoke to Scully. "Don't be worried, I haven't killed anyone nor have I ever plan to."

"What about Dr. Newmark?" Mulder snapped from the driver's seat.

"He was a monster! He was hurting her worse than he was killed. These states that Teena gets in are because of him and his abuse of her. I had to teach her not to blame you for putting her there. She has learned to forgive those who try to help and at the time you were right. I fear Eve is trying to get Teena back to be what she was when you first meet her. Teena has tried so hard. She is being guarded?"

"Yes, we ordered them." Adam just nodded. Mulder saw in him a concern family member and not a threat to anyone. They know who they were looking for Eve 8. There was only one way to confirm it and that was to talk to Teena.

The guards where surprised to see Mulder and Scully arrive so soon. They walked strait into the room with Adam behind them. They stood near the door as Adam went to the bedside of his niece.

"Teeny it's me," he said to her as he grabbed her hand. "He put his other hand on her face. "Teeny everything is okay, you are safe I know your world is peaceful but I need you here." She didn't respond. He swallowed hard and began to hum and tune that had known from childhood. "In my own little world" from Cinderella. "Damnit!" he swore as he stopped humming. "It used to work but only with words that I never knew."

"I know them." She 'fessed up.

Adam smiled, "Please come here and sing it."

"I can't sing well I sound ill," she said s Mulder laughed remembering their time in the woods.

"Please anyway." He pleaded. Scully got up her courage and began to sing softly to her. Slowly Teena's eyes focus on Scully and she sat up and saw Adam. Scully stopped singing as Teena leaped into Adams arms. "I knew you'd come."

"Teena," Adam started tucking her back into bed "what happened last night?"

"It was Cindy and Eve 8. They killed Anna because I wouldn't go with them!"

"Cindy is dead."

"Know it was her! I know it!" She cried again. "He lied, she was there!" Adam put his arms around her.

"I believe you, don't worry." Adam comforted her. "What did they want?"

"They wanted me to join them. To take my place as the better humans like they have. They want to take over the world, as 'Saturday morning cartoony' that may sound but it's what they want." She pleaded with them.

"What can we do?" Mulder asked moving next to Scully.

"If they come after me again, when they come after me again, I'll need you guarding me in secret. Stay hidden, you've dealt with the Eves before you know how to hand them."

"Kyle was one of them how come he got killed how come he didn't fight back."

"He wouldn't kill his sister or his daughter. They want me because Cindy and I share something that the other Adams and Eves never had. We didn't needed to speak though words we just knew what were in each others minds."

"Eve wants that. We could not kill her because she was our sister, Kyle and I had hoped she would get better but she is to far gone now." Adam continued.

"When will they come?" Scully asked Teena. "Tonight, like yesterday, 10:30 on the dot. They wouldn't kill the guards they have no reason to. They killed Kyle because he wouldn't join them and to put me away so they can get to me. He was a warning and Anna was a threat. I could have saved her, and I didn't! She cared for me and I didn't save her. She knew it all and she told me to save myself. I told her everything before they came; I did it to save her life! And it killed her!"

"All right, I want you to calm down and rest for a while. We'll be here." Adam stepped in again.

"How do you know they will come." Scully asked.

"I just know, because Cindy knows."

Teena lay asleep in the bed still catatonic as it said on her charts. Scully remained at her bedside chair seeming to be read a copy of "Time". Mulder and Adam were nowhere in sight. At 10:24 p.m. Scully seemed to drift into sleep.

The hall was quiet except for the complaints of the police guards outside of Teena's door. They were unprepared for the Doctor and the patient they were supposed to be guarding to walk by. "Hey what's going on here?" the guard asked the Doctor. "How did you get out?"

"She escaped though one of the vents when Agent Scully fell asleep. I'm just returning her to her room." The female doctor said moving to the guard as the girl moved to the other. "Please let us in."

As they turned to open the door. Eve and Cindy hit them over the head and knock them unconscious. "See how the simple minded work, Eve 9. Don't forget it." They entered the room quietly not to awake the sleeping Dana Scully in the chair. As they approached them Eve took a siring out of her Doctor coat pocket. Cindy stayed behind her. She brought the surgical needle to Scully's shoulder and was about to inject her when Scully jumped into up knocking Eve to the floor. The surgical needle fell out of her hand to Cindy's feet. Scully managed to cuff Eve to the bed as Cindy grabbed the surgical needle.

"Don't be stupid Cindy, RUN!" Eve scolded her as Cindy ran out the door. Teena Fully awake ran out after her.

"Teena, don't!" Scully demand after her as she left Eve to run after them. She looked down the empty hallway listen to see if she could hear them. "Mulder!" she yelled as she entered the run across the hall. "I got Eve in hand-cuffs and Teena has ran after Cindy." Mulder and Adam were standing in the room waiting to act.

"Okay I'll stay with Eve you guys go find Teena and Cindy." Adam said as the y moved to Teena's hospital room. It was empty. There was no sign of Eve. "Shit!" The bed had been moved and broken and there was no sign of the handcuffs.

"They couldn't have left the floor. Let's spread out and look for them." Mulder announced running down the hall.

Teena raced down the stairwell after Cindy. She could hear her footsteps in front of Cindy as she ran down. When they stopped she new they reached the basement.

It was dark and dingy. She called out into the darkness, "Cindy we need to talk!" She came to a long narrow hallway. A shadow was at the other end looking back at her She moved quickly to it. "What do you want to talk about, Teena?" she asked cruelly.

"Why are you doing this?" She got a good look at Cindy. Her hair was darker now which fit her nature, her eyes had the dark shadow that Teena had lost years ago.

"Because I want to save you from the worthless existence of trying to fit in." Teena saw the surgical-needle in her hand, "We have plans, Eve showed me how much better we are than them."

"We our not better, Cindy!" She yelled still hoping that she could reach her.

"You don't understand not yet. The weak Adam's had got to you!" She realized that she only had one fait for Cindy, she had to be stopped.

A noise came from the stairs that made both of them turn around. They saw a shadow in the distance. As the figure stepped close to the dim light. They saw a glint of red on the woman's hair. It was of course Scully. She didn't see them and moved into an off main hall with her gun drawn. Teena looked back to Cindy, who to her surprise removed a gun from her belt and smiled. "I wanted to do this five years ago," she said almost knocking down Teena as she ran after Scully.

"Cindy, don't!" she said run after her. "Scully watch out!"

She lost track of Cindy in the darkness. She moved into the maze of the file cabinets, which filled the one large room next to the hallway. She heard footsteps and tried to follow them. The noise led her back to the hallway. She stayed in the doorway and peeked out. She could see Cindy at the end by the door with the gun drawn. She looked the other way to she the shadow of a women exit the room into the hallway. She was sure it was Scully. She could alone scream as Cindy ran up and fired at Scully. "No!" She ran to the body that had been shot to the floor just as Cindy had. She reacted the body first and The shoot was dead on strait in the head, there was no question it was fatal. As she got closer something accord to her. That's not Scully, she though as she moved to take a closer look.

"You idiot," Teena said to Cindy who was now next to her.

"Oh my god." Cindy whispered as she saw the face. The gun fell out of her hand as she fell to the ground. She could speak she just sat there. Eve 8 was dead by her feet, done by her hands.

Teena just stood there as the real Scully moved from the other room into the hall moving to them. That's when Mulder and Adam reached the bottom of the stairs. "Over here," Teena called them over, "Eve is dead."

"Who fired the shoot?" Scully asked making sure she was really dead.

"Cindy." Teena said moving into Adams arms for a hug. "What will we do with her?" she asked taking him to Cindy.

"We will find the best care for her, she is still family." Adam looked at his sister, dead on the ground.

"We have to arrest Cindy." Mulder finally spoke. "She is involved with two murders."

"We understand. I just want her to get help not at Litchfield. She would never get better there."

"I don't know how to swing that."

"I do, and will you don't have to worry."

Scully cuffed Cindy and stood her up. "What will happen to you two, now? You can't hide in Colorado anymore."

"We will disappear soon enough."

Cindy or Eve 9 was not declared competent to stand trail due to her psychosis and was institutionalized back to Litchfield for further diagnosis. A month after being back at Litchfield she was transferred to a institution in New York named Fern Cliff. She will remain there till she is competent to stand trail.

After her hearing there had been no sight of Teena Simmons-Lucas or her new guardian Adam Edan in the United States. Their former homes had been packed up and sold. There had been no question that Eve 8 or Evelyn Landings killed Kyle and Anna Lucas. Cindy in her hearing she told the court that Eve was the one that actually killed the Lucas's.

Scully had not gotten the resolve from the case she had hoped. They never really found out what had happened because Cindy had been so effected by her killing of Eve. She didn't put any closer. Mulder felt the same way. There were to many questions that couldn't be answered. Adam had told them what was going on but never told them why.

Mulder and Scully were sitting in their office discussing their next case when Nelson the security guard came in.

"Can we help you?" Scully asked surprised why he would be there.

"Yes, this package just came for the two of you, it says urgent on it so I thought I should get it to you right away." He handed it to Scully.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome," he said as he left.

She looked at it. It was a box about the six by six inches. There was no return address; "There's no return address, Mulder."

"Open it." She quickly broke the tape and opened the box. She looked in and found a snow globe and a letter inside. She picked up the snow globe and looked at it. It had the setting of London, England. She handed it to Mulder as she opened the letter.

She almost had the small thought it was Phoebe Green but that quickly faded. "Read it out loud Scully." He asked before she even stated.

"Dear Mulder and Scully," She read aloud, "I hope you like the gift. I found it in my new home I hope you like it. My uncle AE thought it would be best I write to you like this. I am doing well here; this place is really different. I've been keeping up on how my sister is doing I've head that you have to. I'm starting college in the fall, He says I'm ready. I guess I must be avoiding the real reason I am writing. I would like to thank you for all you have done. And do to my new treatment I have to apologize for trying to kill you about six years ago. I just like to say I hope you have the best of luck together, TS Davenport." Scully stopped reading.

"Teena?" Mulder laughed.

"Yeah that's what it looks like." She laughed back. She was living under the name Davenport now but TS was obviously Teena Simmons. She never expected to hear from her again. "Maybe there's some hope for are unanswered questions after all."

It was morning before Jean had returned home again. It was almost five-thirty when she started up the trellis. She had to be quiet now. This wasn't the first time she had done this. It was probably the tenth.

She barely made a noise as she touched down on the hard wood floor of her room. The room was still dark and if she didn't know it well she would have never been able to walk though the room. She was about to drop her backpack as she heard a noise outside her room.

She dived into the corner next to her computer to hide as the door swung open. She heard two gunshots fired at the dummy in her bed immediately after the door opened. It was with a silencer but the sound of the bullet hitting the plastic of the dummy made an explosion noise.

Her heart was beating out of control as she tried to keep quiet and hidden in the dark. The shooter moved into the door and she could only make out that he was wearing head to toe black, his face was covered with a ski mask.

He moved to the bed to see what had gone wrong. Another man entered the room. He was also in all black put he just wore a baseball cap. He was holding his gun in his right hand and she noticed his left arm looked like it was just hanging there. dead.

Jean had no idea what the hell was going on. All of her instincts told her to stay hidden and quiet.

The second man walked straight over to the bed and pulled back the sheets. All he saw was the dummy. "Where is she?"

"I dunno. Looks like the kid sneaked out."

"Damnit! You were supposed to be watching the door!"

Jean listened intently trying to understand what was going on. She was squatting in the corner holding her self up with one hand on her desk. She didn't realize it but she began to slip forward. She fell into the desk with a thud, knocking her disks with a crash on the floor. She knew she was caught and everything seemed to slow down.

The two intruders looked over at where the sound transpired. Jean knew what she needed to do, and she had to focus to do it. She took a deep breath and did a cartwheel in front of them landing by her dressing table. She was still facing them, as her hand moved to grab the tranquilizer gun. She thanked her lucky stars that it was loaded. The second man moved to quickly to holding her down with his good arm pressed against her chest, she felt the cold of his gun brush against her hip as she struggled with him. She was relived that her hand with the tranq. Gun had gone unnoticed. As the man holding her told the other man to shoot she had brought up the gun and shot him.

The man holding her loosen his grip in response. That was all she needed to break free and his gun fell across the floor. She spun to face him just to get a good look at his face. He grabbed her shoulder holding her tightly to him again not to let her free again.

Then something reminded her what her father once told her. It was an amendment to "the birds and the bees" talk. "If any boy tries to hurt you, you kick him where it really hurts." So she did. The man fell back into her dressing table, which gave her time to escape the room.

As she ran out in the hallway she heard her brother crying from his room. She made a detour from the stairs to get to him. She quickly bundled him up in her arms and ran to the back stairs to the kitchen.

She almost tripped when she got to the stairs and didn't know why. She looked down and saw her parents lying in puddles of blood. She knelt down and saw gun shot wounds in there heads. They were dead.

As she ran down the stairs she wiped the blood that was on her hand onto her jeans. She couldn't processes what was going on yet. All she new was he had to run. She made her way out of the house into the street where she located her car.

The silver Beemer convertible was where she had left it right in front. She got in as fast as she could and put Josh next to her. She fumbled with the keys trying to get them in as she saw the second man run out of the house. She could see him only slightly better in the sunrise. She got the keys in and started the car and began to move forward.

He ran out in front of the car but Jean didn't stop. She hit him with the left side and didn't look back. She assumed he was fine but after what he did, she didn't give a flying fuck.

Josh was sitting in the passenger seat crying. Josh was only three years old and right now the dearest thing to her heart. "It's okay, we're safe. You can stop crying and strap in." He did what his big sister told him, she did the same realizing she hadn't done something that was second nature to her as she entered any car.

Joshed looked at her with big brown eyes and asked, "Where are we going?" he asked settling into the seat.

She thought about it for a minute. Where could she go? She wasn't safe in Curtuan; anyone she trusted was in the Sierra. Than it came to her, there was only one logical choice. Her uncle.

Skinner scanned through the report he had just been handed by his two most difficult Agents. He was surprised it had been only one report. They actually agreed on something, he thought and almost smirked.

He looked up at his agents Mulder and Scully. He realized how much they have been through together, all three of them. He didn't know how he would handle Krycek, turning him against them. He brushed it off to get back to work. "Well this seems to be in order, and you have had no other contacted with the girl Teena or the man Edan."

"That's correct, sir." Scully lied, but it was to protect Teena and Adam. Mulder had felt the same way.

"Well I guess that wraps it up," he said moving the file to the side. He opened his mouth to say something more when his assistant, Kimberly rushed in. She looked out of breath.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir, but security say they have a problem they need you for."

"What is it about?" he asked getting up and out the door. "Wait here Agents." He called as he and Kimberly made it out of the room.

She rushed with him and spoke, "A girl was giving the guard a hard time and throwing a fit because she wouldn't be let into see you. They said she also had a young boy with her "

"All right go back to your desk."

Skinner entered the security office. He turned to the security guard; "You said there was someone to see me."

He barely opened his mouth to speak before the girl ran to him and put her arms around him. He returned the hug. The security guard moved closer to them. Skinner waved him back.

"It's okay, this is my niece."

She couldn't say anything she was just happy to see him because he made her feel safe. She began to cry into his shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" he asked not having any idea why she would show up like this. "Where's Jess and Joe?"

"They're dead," she whispered in his ear.

He moved her away from the rest of the people not fully comprehending what she told him. "What happened, why are you covered in blood?"

She told him everything that happened. He was in shock. He had heard this stuff for other people or case files but when it was someone he loved, his sister and even his brother-in-law, it was different. "They're going to kill me," she cried into his shoulder.

She could not say anything as her uncle rushed her up to his office. He had given her arms a break by carrying Josh in his left arm. His right arm was around her shoulders holding her close.

She hadn't been able to breathe yet but in his arms she relaxed, he always made her feel safe here in his arms. They entered his office and he closed the doors behind them. He moved his niece and nephew to the couch forgetting about the two agents sitting in front of his desk staring at him and his guests.

He put Josh down on the couch as he nudged Jean to sit down as well. She was about to open her mouth to protest but than she just sat. She put her backpack next to her. He squatted to look in her eyes, "Are you okay, seriously, no jokes Jeanie?"

"I am okay, just a little soar and bruised," she said shakily. He put his hand on her shoulder; she winced at the touch. That was the shoulder the man hurt when he grabbed her.

"I can see that." He needed to find out what happened but he needed back up. "Hold on." He got up and went to his agents. Mulder and Scully stood up at his approach. "What's going on, sir?" Mulder asked in a whisper. The three of them huddled up for the answer.

Even though he whispered Jean still heard him. She quickly grabbed her backpack and pulled out her CD player and headphones. She gave them to her brother to put on and went to join the trio.

Skinner didn't have a chance to answer Mulder before Jean came over and answered for him. "I'm Jean Skames-" then changed her response, "Skinner-Ames. I'm his niece," she said in a more assertive then a moment ago. "We're here because someone is trying to kill us."

Skinner nodded to them. Scully looked at the girl closely. She saw the dry bloodstains on her clothes and also on her wrist that seemed to continue even under her jacket. There was blood that was barely noticeable in her obviously dyed red hair. It was much like hers except the girl's hair was much longer. The girl was taller than she was but not taller than Mulder and Skinner. That was because the girl kept her eyes on her shoes. Scully turned her attention back to the AD.

"My sister and her husband were." He looked over at his nephew.

"Its okay Josh can't hear you."

"They were murdered this morning. The local law enforcement was called almost an hour after they were found." Mulder and Scully both saw almost no emotion face. Mulder just assumed he was still trying to believe it. He than realized that Skinner won't let anyone rest till this event was solved, he didn't blame him, but the quicker it was done the better.

"They were found by you?" Mulder directed at Jean, also noticing the blood. She nodded silently closing her eyes at the thought. Her eyes were still on the floor.

"Yeah she was also attacked and they tried to kill her to but shot. what was it again?" he asked giving his niece a perturbed look.

"A plastic body-double dummy," she said softly still looking down on the floor. Skinner nodded not thinking anything of what was in her bed.

"Do you mind if I ask why you had that in your bed or you let alone in your possession?" Mulder asked not quite sure what to say in the situation. For the first time the girl Jean looked up at him. She had the eyes of her uncle, the same big brown eyes that made her look innocent but for only a moment.

"Well," she began in an almost supremacy that found his question an amusing annoyance, "if you must know, I happened to be making a movie, and instead of throwing my best friend, who happens to be my lead actress, off a bridge or something of that nature I had the dummy made, which when it is not working, gets put under my bed with it's partner."

"So why was it in your bed?" Scully asked because she avoided half the question.

"I was getting to that." She lied; "Well last night I had an argument with my parents, well mostly ::mom::, because they wanted me to go with them for another year." she was talking directly to her uncle now. "I mean I had every right to be upset, I mean they left me for one year already, what's one more year anyway."

"Jeanie you're off track, we can talk about that later." Skinner interrupted trying to get her to the point.

"Sorry and do not call me ::Jeanie::, it's Jean or Skames you know that!" he nodded impatiently as she continued. "Well, I went to my room and I was so upset and I couldn't stay in my room any longer and they were still up. So I.well." She was trying to say the right words, "I went out my window, and went to Aurthy's and stayed there all night, I came back early this morning. That's why I'm not dead, less than a minute after I got in the window one of the guys came in and shot me, well the dummy, anyway."

"Do you remember anything about the ::guys::?"

"Yes, and no. I didn't see the first guy as well as I saw the second guy and I saw the second guy pretty damn good. And he is memorable. The only had one arm," she said ignorant about how much she had given him. "I saw his face too, he wasn't wearing a mask like the other." Mulder and Scully just stood there with their mouths gaping open.

They both had one thought in their minds then. They looked to Skinner who had the same idea. "Jean what did he look like, I mean details, sweetheart."

"Brown hair, brown eyes late twenties, early thirties kind of smug, I don't know I only saw his face real good when I hit him with my car. I was confused."

"It's okay, if we show you some pictures do you think you could point him out?"

"Yeah, you think you know the sonofabitch?" she asked with a glint of hope in her eyes.

"Maybe," Skinner said than turned to Mulder. "Can you put some pictures together?"

"Sure," Mulder said and then left Skinner's office.

"Jean, I want Dr. Scully to give you a quick look over, and you should get washed up and changed out of those clothes."

"Yes sir!" she said standing up straight and gave a salute.

"Funny, Skames, reminding your dear uncle of his Marine days," he said mockingly, as she relaxed with a smile. She moved quickly to her backpack and started sifting through it.

"Shit." They heard her say looking rather annoyed.

"What is it?"

"All I have is a skirt in my bag that's not even mine, I forgot my spare clothes. I guess I could wear it but I need a new shirt, this ones."

"I have a T-shirt you can wear," he said going to his closet and pulling out his FBI, gray, T-shirt. He handed it to her and she smiled as she looked at it.

"I've been trying to get this from you for years."

"I know," he said leading her towards the bathroom in his private office. Scully was going to follow her in when Skinner stopped her. "I'm not sure what to do with her."

"I'll talk to her," she said reassuring him.

"Thanks," he said letting her go to his niece. Scully closed to the door behind her and Skinner went back to the main part of his office.

He saw his nephew Josh asleep on the couch in the back of his office. He went to the sleeping child and covered him with his jacket. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't think straight. His baby sister was dead. He hadn't seen her almost a year and he blamed himself. She could only come in a few times a year when they were working and he hadn't been able to get away. Sharon always made him do that. She was the one who kept him in touch with his family.

If Krycek was the one to kill his sister and brother-in-law then he could only blame himself. Krycek had already threatened his life and was still in control. He knew it was Krycek. There were no doubts in his mind. He had warned him, and he had not listened.

A few weeks ago he had proven to Krycek that he didn't care about his own life that he would rather die than to work for him. Krycek found a new threat for him, as long as Josh and Jean lived he would have to work for Krycek.

He wanted to tell someone he wanted to scream out to the world that he was being blackmailed but he couldn't he had to save his family. He stood up and darted across the room to his desk. He sat down taking a deep breath. He was hurting more than anyone could know. Tears started to form in his eyes and he didn't stop them.

"So you're a doctor, Agent Scully?" Jean asked skeptically as Scully began to examine her shoulder. Jean's shirt was off and only wearing a bra and she felt very nervous.

Scully tried to be gentle making sure there was no serious damage. Just black and blue marks and some old scars. "Yeah, I was recruited out of Med. School," she said trying to start a conversation with this girl. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen last week, I'm graduating from high school on Wednesday in two days."

"Really, what grades did you skip?" she asked continuing to look her over.

"None or most of grammar school I guess." Scully looked confused, she smiled, "You see I grew up everywhere, sure I have only had two houses in my life but I was barely lived in them. My parents were both scientists of sorts. They spent most of their times leading expeditions to the middle of no where and I got dragged along. I was tutored on about every subject, so when we came back to civilization I was two years ahead."

"Interesting, so what are you planning on studying?"

"Film. You don't have to do this?" she asked to Scully's dismay.

"Do what?" she asked looking at her face.

"You know, distract me." Scully was quiet; she wasn't sure what to say. "It hasn't settled yet, I don't feel like there dead I just don't need kid gloves right now. Will you tell my uncle that?"

"Sure," she said with a smile. "Now let me get a look at your back, and then we're done." Jean did as she was told and Scully continued to look at her bruises. "You're lucky it looks like you have a bad scrape on the middle of your back." Scully cleaned up the up and looked down the rest of her back. Colors from her right lower back caught her eye. She kneeled down to take a closer look to make sure she wasn't imagining what she thought she saw. She wasn't. "You have a tattoo?" Scully asked surprised standing full again.

Jean smiled as she thought about the powerful tiger tattooed in her back. "Yeah, I got that almost four years ago. The tiger was a reminder of what could have happened; a warning." Scully was intrigued she thought about her own tattoo the circle snake in the same spot she had the tiger. In a way that was her warning.

"Here let me help you clean up." She put the washcloth under the water and started to clean Jean's arms. "Your necklace, that's a tiger claw isn't it?" Jean nodded. "May I ask why the tiger symbol is your warning?"

"When I was seven I spent a few years in Cambodia, of course in the middle of nowhere, anyway the group had set up camp for the next few days and we all or Mom decided we were going to take a quick hike around the area. We were fighting and during the hike I wandered off and no one noticed. I was then brought face to face with a ::tiger::. Well, I screamed but they didn't find me till the tiger had already attacked me. That's why all those scars were by my stomach. This," she said holding up the claw, "was found in my side after Peter had shot the tiger with the tranquilizer gun. It's there to keep me focused, she looked me straight in the eyes and I wasn't scared.

"I almost died that night, but the spirit of the tiger pulled me through. The tiger now gives me strength and it fills me with courage. That's why I could fight those men, I had survived worse they were colder than that tiger, the tiger attacked me for self defense and the men were doing it just for power. The jungle is more civil than the ::civilized:: world."

"I'm finished. You can get dressed now," Scully said moving to leave. Jean put the shirt on quickly. "You know, I have a tattoo also."

Skinner wiped the tears away as he heard Agent Mulder enter the room. "Did you get the mug shots?"

"Yeah, random people fitting that description with Ratboy mixed in somewhere," Mulder said sitting across from him. "You think they did this to get to you?"

Skinner nodded. "I want to have guards on them at all times and I want them in hiding."

Mulder shook his head. "I think it's a good piece of mind idea but if they truly were trying to get to you the more you have to lose the more control they get so your niece and nephew will be fine." Skinner nodded in agreement.

"But I'm still going to do it." Mulder understood he would probably do the same if he could. Scully walked out of Skinner's inner office. She closed the door and went to join them. "How is she?"

"Physically she's fine, just bruised and scraped. Mentally, the news hasn't sank in too much yet, but that might be more of Mulder's field, but I believe she'll be fine after it all sinks in." Skinner nodded and Scully took her seat next to Mulder.

"If you haven't guessed I want you two to work this case with me."

"What about the children?" Scully asked thinking he would be taking care of them now.

"There going to be in hiding."

"I don't think so." Jean interrupted walking next to him. She looked much better. She looked rather strange wearing a T-shirt over a nice shirt and a pair of boots. Her hair was nicely put into a bun with two strands hanging loose in the front. She looked as determined as her uncle.

"It's not your decision to make," he said standing up in front of her.

"I think it is." She paused for a moment and started up again when he was going to speak. "You can't lock me away, you don't have to. I'm not going to break and I can take care of myself, I can stand up to them, and I can beat them. Hell, I have beat them!" she sighed. "Joshie of course needs to be in hiding, he not strong, he's little and. well, frankly, I can't. I can't sit by and do nothing I have to do something and right now I want to find the assholes who did this!"

"You need to be protected." he insisted. She moved closer to interrupt.

"Don't start that crap!" she pointed an accusing finger at him. "I fight just as well as mom does-did!"

"Fine!" he finally yelled back. It was at that time that Jean felt a little tug at her skirt. She looked down to see Josh.

"Towo muuch yulling." He moans rubbing his eyes.

"It's okay," she said with a smile she picked him up, "we'll stop yelling." She gave her uncle an evil stare then returned her attention to her brother.

"Goood," he said resting his head on her shoulder.

Both Mulder and Scully were surprised that one-minute she could be fighting and the next second she was playing big sister. Mulder thought of Samantha, how when she was little he would try to take care of her but he wasn't that much older. Jean was thirteen years older. He wondered what difference it made.

Scully realized how protective her older brother Bill jr. was of her. She had never gotten along with him too well, he could never except that she was a strong woman and didn't need to be protected.

"Why don't you finish your nap, okay?" he nodded and almost leapt out of her arm. She smiled after him then turned her attention to the adults. "You have some pictures for me to see?" she asked completely changing her tone.

"Yeah," Mulder said handing her a stack of photos. She flipped through them and stopped cold at one of the photos in the middle of the pile. "This one." She said softly and scared. She handed it to her uncle. Krycek! It was Krycek! He handed the picture to Mulder and Scully. "Oh shit," they mouthed in unison.

"You are not aloud to leave the sight of the three of us is that clear?" He said harshly trying to contain his own emotions.

Then she looked at him as if she just remembered. "Oh shit I need to call Hal."

"Who?"

"Sheriff Jones, who also happens to be Aurthy's father the family I've been staying with for a year. Also the people I freaked out two hours ago as I was driving as fast as I could to get here. I also just said it and hung up in fear of a cell phone trace. I can also tell him the FBI is coming"

"Okay, call them call from in there." He finally gave up and pointed to his inner office. She nodded she turned away when to head to the office when she stopped and turned around again.

"Who is Josh going to be with? You do know he doesn't react well to strangers, right?" she asked and anyone could see the concern in her eyes.

Skinner thought for a second; " You're paranoid right?" she nodded wondering where he was going with that. "Is there anyone that Josh knows that you trust?"

She gave a huff, "Well anyone I trust either doesn't know Josh or is in the ::desert:: except." she didn't want to finish that sentence. He knew whom she meant. He knew that the person was the most logical choice. "I'll call her, I see her all the time, I saw her last week for my birthday."

"No it's okay. I'll make the call, I know she'll do it no matter what, she's his aunt."

"If your sure?"

"Yeah, go make your call." She closed the door behind her. He sat back down and looked to his two waiting agents. "She's so much like her mother, it's best not to mess with her. Who she was referring to is Sharon." They nodded at the mention of his ex-wife. "I guess she thinks I can't handle it. Even though we're divorced Sharon and Jesse-my sister, remained family mostly because Jean and her are close." He picked up his phone and dialed in Sharon 's number and waited for her to pick up.

Mulder and Scully had both met Sharon right after his divorce. She had told them that Walter had spoke highly of them.

"Hi Sharon, its Walter. I need you to come down to my office right away it's an emergency." He waited for a response. "It's about Jeanie and Josh. I can' t say over the phone. Thanks, we'll be waiting."

Jean spread out the contents of her backpack onto the conference table in her uncle's office. She split it in to piles and tried to organize it. It had failed and she put it all away except for her laptop. She sat down in front of it trying to forget there was someone in the room with her.

All she wanted was to be alone. She enjoyed her solitude, it help her concentrate on her work. She would have begged her uncle to let her be left alone but he wouldn't and she didn't want to argue and upset him again. Her uncle had left his office to call some agents in Philadelphia to start taking care of the cleanup. Josh had started to get antsy so Agent Scully offered to take him for a walk around the floor. She liked Scully, she was smart, strong, and she even let her see her tattoo of the snake. Also her attitude to Scully made Josh not afraid of her so he didn't fuss.

She looked over her shoulder at the man sitting in the black leather chair facing her. He looked up as she looked over. She made a groan and she turned back to her computer. "Is they're something you wanted ::Miss Skinner-Ames::?" he asked getting up to sit across from her.

She looked up at him annoyed. "No, I'm fine. I prefer to be called Skames if you don't mind." She continued to work but couldn't because this Special Agent man was staring at her. "Is there something I could do for you, Agent."

"Fox Mulder," he said, as she immediately became amused. He assumed it was his name. He had dealt with that most of his life so he barely reacted.

"Wait a second, you're Mulder?" she laughed so hard she almost fell on the floor.

"You know me?" he asked curious of what her uncle had told her.

"That was Scully, right. Oh my god, you're the alien boy!"

"Alien boy? Is that what your uncle told you?"

"Kind of, I was doing FBI research for my book and now my movie, so I called up my uncle. Well I thought my subject was really out there till he said he had a division like the one in my story. He told me stories about you guys but I assume he was making the whole thing up based on his favorite agents. So I based my characters loosely on his stories, it's science fiction." Mulder was taken aback by that last remark. His favorite agents huh, Mulder thought.

"So what kind of stories did he tell you about us?"

"Oh just some crap that you chase after aliens and the paranormal. Some conspiracy crap like that, the stuff I write about."

"So he told you about the X-Files?"

She stopped laughing and just looked at him. "The stories were true?"

"Maybe changed slightly but why don't you tell me what you book is about and I'll tell you what he made up."

"Okay its called "Trust No One", I know the title's pretty lame but it's better than my first title. Anyway, I'll just tell you about the movie because the novel is too complicated."

As she told the story Mulder could not believe how much was taken from the events that happened to them during the summer of '98. "Did your uncle tell you all this?"

"No this is what I made up, the stuff from the book is loosely based on what he told me. The older I get the less he tells me. But there are big changes in my story. I mean in my story the woman is the one who's life's work is the X-Files, I'm sorry but that's the best name for them. I kind of jumbled them up I don't believe in absolute skepticism or absolute belief."

"So you made up the events?" he asked not believing she could be that close to the truth.

"Of course, I believe I dreamed up in the spring of '98. If you don't believe me you can see the outline in my journal. I keep them accurately dated."

"No that's okay I believe you. So you're making it into a movie?"

"Yeah," she said pulling something up on her computer screen. "I had my friends Aurthy and Lippy play the leads."

"Really how old are they?"

"My age a little older. Before you get ideas of them looking strange trying to be adults it's an all-teenage cast. With my budget it was all I could afford. But it let me spend more on software and special effects. So are you?"

"What?"

"Spooky," she said plainly.

"I don't happen to like being called that but yes."

"Well maybe later I can find out what is real and what was the figment of my uncles imagination."

Scully happily walked Josh through the halls. She enjoyed holding him in her arms. She always liked little kids and this gave her practice for when she would visit her brothers. Her brother Charles had two boys but they're a lot older than Josh. Her Brother Bill's son is not yet a year and a half. She remembered when he was born; it was right after Emily died. She was still mourning her own daughter but in her own way.

She looked down into Josh's eyes. They still looked innocent. He was happy and she could tell he had no idea what was going on. "Whaz your nammme agane?" he asked her as she rounded a corner.

"Dana Scully," she said in a sweet tone that made her sound like a kindergarten teacher.

"Schoollie," she nodded her head at him. She was surprised he used her last name than remembered that that's what their parents used for their colleges "I like it!"

"I'm glad you approve." She was so into taking care of this little boy that she didn't even notice the strange look that other Agents and support staff were giving her. She rounded another corner and literally bumped into Skinner. "Sorry, sir," she said tightening her grip on Josh so he didn't fall.

"It's okay," he responded with a half grin on his face looking at Josh. "How you doing Joshie?" he asked in a little kid voice, Scully never in her whole life expected to here out of Skinner's mouth. She had to suppress a laugh.

"Uppy, Ancle Wully." Josh said reaching for his uncle. Skinner put his hands out to receive him. Scully reluctantly handed him over.

The three of them continued down the hall. "I took him for a walk because he started to climb the walls and this use to calm my nephews down. I was hoping he would fall asleep."

"It's okay, I had to do this a couple of times myself when he visited for Christmas two years ago, he'll be out in a minute." And sure enough he was right. Josh snuggled up his uncles' arms and fell asleep. "Let's get him back to the office, Sharon should be here soon." She nodded and followed him to his office.

"If you don't mind my asking, how are you doing, sir?" she asked with all the respect and concern she had for him. He didn't say anything for a moment and she went on. "I know your busy playing 'super uncle' but you need a chance to vent."

He turned to her and smiled, "I already 'vented' you should see the conference room. I understand your concern, and thank you. I have to steal the words from Jean when I say it hasn't sunk in yet."

"Well, if you need to talk I can speak for Mulder and myself that we're here for you." She paused than added. "Jean would like to talk to you also. She's looking at you to get her though it. She'll needed to talk about it sooner or later and it's going to be you."

They reached his office and Skinner was thinking about what Scully just said. She was right; it had just occurred to him that Jean was his now. She was left to him in his sister's Will. In truth they were both left to him and Sharon, but they would cross that road as they came to it.

They entered his office to the sound of laughter. "What's going on?" Scully asked taking the seat next to Mulder.

"Nothing, just talking, Scully," Mulder said returning to his monotone mood. Skinner laid Josh down and took the seat next to Jean. There was a pregnant silence in the room. No one knew what just to say in this moment. As if right on time Kimberly opened the door.

"Sir, Ms. Skinner is here," she said letting Sharon in past her. Walter stood up and quickly moved over to her. She looks just as she did the last time he saw her. She had always been that most beautiful woman he had ever known. He had told Jean to stay where she was.

"What's going on Walter?" she whispered in his ears as he guided her to the far corner. She had seen Jean; Josh and his two agents and she had no idea what was going on.

"Jess and Joe were murdered this morning and Jean was almost killed." He said straight out, but only loud enough for her to hear. Sharon went limp and almost fainted to the floor but Walter kept her steady.

"Oh my god," she said trying not to be heard.

"I think it's because of me." She shook her head.

"What can I do?" she asked regaining her strength.

"I'm going to put Josh in hiding for a little bit and he needs someone he know, to be with him."

"I'll do anything," she answered looking at her sleeping nephew. "What about Jean?"

"She refused to go into hiding she is going to be with me, Mulder and/or Scully at all times."

"All right she's too much like your sister to do otherwise." She looked him in the eyes. "Are you okay, Walter?"

He loved the way she always tried to get into his head. "As much as I can be, Sharon." She nodded and gave him a warm hug. Even though they were divorced she still genuinely cared for him and vise-versa.

"When do we leave?"

"Right away," he said breaking off the hug. "I arrange everything already. They take you home to pack and settle things for at least the next week." She nodded and they headed back to the group at the table. Jean jumped out of her seat to hug her aunt.

"Thank god your safe, Tiger." Sharon said to her niece whom she was always more than close with.

"I don't get beat that easily," she broke off the hug. "Take care of Joshie, okay."

"Yeah I will always take care of him. And I always be here for you, too, when you need me." Jean hugged her again.

"Thank you." Skames whispered back to her.

Josh and Sharon had left for the safe house. Walter preparing for the four of them to head up to Curtuan, Pennsylvania. "I'll drive us there, I know the way by heart, it's only about a hour and a half." Skames offered.

"But why did it take you that long to get here?"

"I went to your apartment first but when you weren't there I got stuck on one of those circle things."

"All right, where's you car?" he asked giving into her again. He didn't want to upset her.

"Down the street," she said gathering up her stuff. She looked to Mulder and Scully who were ready to leave. "You guys don't mind if I drive do you? Well don't worry I've been driving since I was nine."

Mulder was going to question it but decided this wasn't the time. They just nodded and said it was fine.

The car glistened in the sunlight. Jean was in the lead of the agents. Mulder and Scully stared in awe as she unlocked her car. Skinner seemed not too surprised by her car. She unlocked it and retracted the ruff back. She got in, sat down, strapped in and unlocked the doors.

Skinner took the passenger seat and strapped in. Mulder and Scully hadn't moved from the curb. "Are you going to come with us or are not going to join us on this trip to the ::sticks::."

They got in quickly to hide their shock. As they strapped in and she started the car. As she began to drive Mulder asked, "Whose car is this?"

"Mine, it was my birthday/ Christmas/ Graduation present." She stopped talking as she pulled into traffic.

"It's pretty nice for a first car." Scully added.

"As I said I've driven since I was nine. When we went on explorations, depending where we were we sometimes had jeeps. Well anyway my ::baby-sitter:: Peter taught me in the desert and he said I was a natural. But I'm not used to heavy-city driving yet. I don't get what I had this morning in Curtuan."

"What is Curtuan like?"

"Well it's a very small town. Population is now 109 and a half."

"Half?" Skinner asked skeptically.

"Well, Lippy's older sister's baby is due tomorrow. So Curtuan made it's fortune by making and selling honey. The business has been booming since they put up the web sight. There is only 14 kids in my high school, seven are graduating including me. There are four juniors, one sophomore, and the rest are freshman. The grammar school is only 6 kids. Actually it's one school, where we all share the same gym teacher who happens to be our town leader, Hannah Morrow. Oh yeah this is the most kids that ever graduated in one year that because we have a set of triplets.

"Everybody knows everybody. That's why Jess and Joe moved there. It was a lot like the Jadwin-Howard project town back in Alaska."

"They lived in Alaska?" Mulder asked, the only one in the car that didn't know what the Skinner-Ames did for a living.

"I was born there actually. It's where my main home was 'til I was nine. That's when we moved to Curtuan." She thought a minute. "Come to think of it we still have a furnished house in Alaska. I'll work something out." Scully than explained to Mulder what her parents did and Mulder than understood.

"Well, when we get to Curtuan, I want you to pack up the stuff you need and we'll take it back to DC with us tonight. But not everything, just what you need." Her uncle broke in and she nodded. "You could also work out what you will want to keep and what we'll sell or give away." She nodded again as he realized how horrible he sounded. He looked over at her and she gave him a quick glance saying to him that she was okay.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, this whole thing was eating him up inside. He kept thinking back to the little girl he had terrorized in his youth. He remembered when he almost beat up the first guy she kissed and how she broke it to their parents that she was getting married at 18 years old. He remembered when she called to tell him Jeanie was born.

He know realized that what Mulder faced was ten times worse. He never got resolved what happened to his sister, all he had was a killer that he could never bring to justice. He had killed before, Mulder's father, Scully's sister, and now his sister and brother-in-law whom he always felt was his brother. Now Krycek would win the game. Walter would never risk Jean or Josh now. When Krycek comes tonight I have to give in, he realized.

"Well I guess that means were going to be living together," she said indifferently keeping her eyes on the road.

"For a little while. Actually I was thinking of you living with Sharon." He said to her disappointment. Seeing her reaction he added, "We'll talk tonight," he said giving her a smile. He was surprised that he said that. He never let anyone get to. close. He didn't let Sharon and that was his biggest mistake.

Curtuan, PA

Jean could see the police tape as she pulled onto her street. There were only two cars with government plates but otherwise that street was empty.

The town's people were most likely gathered together at town hall trying to give comfort to one another. She pulled into a parking space not directly in front of her house. This was a lot harder than she realized.

They all got out of the car and headed for her home. Halfway there she froze and just stared at what waited in front of her. Her eyes shut and felt as if she was looking down at the dead bodies of her parents. "You don't have to go in if you don't want to," Scully said next to her, breaking her out of the past. She turned to Scully and gave a small smile. Mulder and her uncle were still moving to the house.

She didn't want to go in but she didn't have a choice. Jean was not the type of person that puts things off. She remembered going home directly after school and doing her homework yet to get it out of the way to have more free time at night. If she didn't do it then she would end up doing a piss-poor job five minutes before class. How she could compare this event to homework was beyond her. "I have to go in now or I'll never be able to do it." She took a deep breath and started to move again. Scully put her arm around Jean's shoulders, being careful not to hurt her bruised one.

"I'll be behind you all the way," Scully said offering her support she knew she needed.

"Thanks." Jean was at her home before she knew it. She was in the doorway just looking in. Her uncle and Agent Mulder were talking to the four FBI agents already inside, standing in the living room. The room that in the past night had been the sight of the last fight with her parents. The last fight, that had a whole new meaning for her.

Scully patted her on the back and she walked fully inside the house. She looked around trying to remember when she last felt like a visitor in her own home.

Everything seemed cold distant in some way like she wasn't even there. She entered the living room and moved close to her uncle as he talked to the Agents.

"Well I guess that's all for now." One of the other agents said. "Everything has gone to the labs. The bodies were identified and are being taken care of. We should have a report for you at the end of the day, sir."

"Good," he looked at his niece and put his arm around her realizing how hard it was for her to be here. He was going out of his mind. This house was the place he last really saw her. He wanted to break down and cry but he had to keep cool, it was his responsibility. It was his fault, and he couldn't get over that. "You can go back to Philadelphia. Send the report to my office, I'll be back in DC tonight." His tone was cold and commanding, but when he was working was it anything else.

The four agents nodded and headed for the door. Jean broke off from her uncle's arm and sat down on the old couch. Skinner looked at the couch strangely. Jean noticed his expression as he asked with a questioning look.

"Is this." he started.

"The couch this you had when you were a kid? Yes." She smiled but for only a moment.

"She never threw anything out did she?" he asked sitting next to her.

"Not that I can remember. Oh yeah don't think of getting rid of this thing, I'm keeping it ::forever::" she said regaining her sense of humor. He smiled at her.

"Do you know what you want to take with you today?"

"Basically, clothes, personal stuff, my desktop PC." He gave her a "what for" look and she went on. "You mean leave my best friend? I have to keep up the distractions and there all computer related. I get my stuff." She stood up and headed for the stairs.

She stopped at the stairs fearing what she would find up there. She couldn't do this alone. "Agent Scully," she called to the living room, "can you come with me?"

"I'll be happy to," she said walking with her up the stairs.___ Jean got to the top of the stairs and closed her eyes, so she wouldn't see anything to remind her. She blindly walked in her room. She didn't open her eyes till she was well inside.

She moved quickly once she was inside. Surprisingly the mess of the dummy had been cleaned up. She got her duffel bag and filled it with clothes from her closet. It was not hard to find appropriate black clothes because that's what she mainly had. She went to her dressing table and swept all of the contents on the table into her bag. She closed the duffel, which was now stuffed. She grabbed her other bag and moved to her dresser. She opened the drawer that had all of her disk of scenes for her movies and other projects. She put them all in her bag.

Then she went to her desk and gathered the disked she had dropped and put them in the bag also. She was trying to hurry and almost forgot Scully was there. She slowed down and started to think. She almost fell to the ground in tears. Scully went to her and gathered her in a hug.

Scully entered the room right after Jean did. She was not surprised that is was a mess. It looked like an average teenage girl's room. Though there were an awful lot of tiger posters, and modern technology it reminded her of her room after Missy left for college and she had a room to herself.

Scully saw her move quickly. She knew why, and understood. She wouldn't be able to keep it up but Scully would be ready. She admired Jean, she was handling things so well and she had been through a lot.

She saw Jean start to cry and she gave her a big hug, which Jean didn't only need but Scully needed also. She needed to feel that there was still something alive in the world. She had been dealing with the dead so long she wished for something living.

The only living thing she had been with was Mulder. They had almost kissed again but were cut off and a woman died because of the distraction. Since then they had both been scared to take the risk again. They came to this without even talking they just knew. As long as they didn't say it, it wasn't an issue to deal with.

She turned her attention to Jean and spoke softly in her ear. "You can finish later, lets go back downstairs." Jean nodded and grabbed her bag of clothes and they quickly made it back to the living room.

Jean went to change in the down stairs bathroom as Walter Skinner went up to Josh's room to get some of his things. Mulder and Scully were left alone in the living room of the Skinner-Ames family.

Scully was intrigued by the early American deco. The couches were leather and the rest was dark cherry colored wood furniture. The walls were wood paneled. The room would be very dark if the lights weren't on. There were shelves full of artifacts and bone fossils. The room seemed cold to her as if she was in a museum. The only thing that seemed comforting was the couch. She was surprised that they would have a room like this with a boy as young as Josh running around. Then she remembered they didn't live here too often.

Mulder was at the other end of the room looking at the family pictures that were placed on a table behind the couch. He looked at them one by one. Scully saw him pick up one of the frames and a small smile crossed his face.

"What is it?" she asked walking over to see the picture. He handed it to her. It was an old picture of two children a boy and a girl. They were sitting on the stairs of a nice looking suburban house. They both had big smiles on their faces, like there was nothing in the world that could drag them down. The girl was, of course, Jeans mother because she looked just like her and the boy was familiar but there was something wrong with the his looks. She knew what it was, the dark hair, there shouldn't be any. "So he did have hair." She joked with Mulder. He smiled bigger and to a quick look at all the pictures and then at her.

"So could you ever picture yourself in a place like this?" he asked her as she looked around the room again.

"I don't know, I used to, but now there's not too much chance of that happening," she said softly still thinking over the question once more. Mulder instantly regretted the question, he knew talking about having families upset her. He knew what was wrong but as he had always been able to do was no say anything. If you don't say it, it's not an issue.

Mulder was about to open his mouth to say something when AD Skinner entered the room. He was carrying an army green duffel bag with his nephew's name on it.

"What are you looking at?" he asked gesturing to the picture in Scully's hand.

"Just an old picture," she said embarrassed. He took it from her and smiled as he looked at it.

"She was twelve and I was fourteen. I remember it was the fourth of July and we were having a barbecue." He was lost in his memories. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

He looked though the peephole; Mulder and Scully close behind. He opened the door satisfied that the people outside did not pose a threat. There was a boy and a girl around Jean's age. "Can I help you?" he asked them.

"You're her uncle, right? From the FBI?" she asked then sort of smiled, she was holding something he assumed to be for Jean. "I remember you from a few years ago. You probably don't remember me, I'm Aurthy."

"Jones, yes I remember." He turned to the boy. "You must be Mr. Pennet." The boy nodded and still did not say a thing he let Aurthy lead. They stood there not quite sure what to do.

Then Aurthy stopped stalling and spoke. "We'd like to see her," she said with concern that would easily turn to tears.

Skinner didn't have time to answer before Jean spoke from behind them. "I can't believe you showed up here!" she said forcefully and seemingly pissed off. Scully was shocked she would greet her friend with such disrespect.

The girl Aurthy didn't seemed too surprise at her reaction and fell into a self-protective roll. "You know what ::Jeanie::," she began as she pushed past Skinner, and walked to Jean, "I have taken enough of your crap."

"Well you know I always thought you were a bitch, Aurthy, you stole my dog," she said making everyone believe she was serious. Everyone besides the boy in the doorway, who was at this point completely cracked up.

The fighting girls look at there guy friend and immediately started to laugh. They girls hugged and made their way over to the boy. "How are you doing, Tiger?" Lippy Pennet asked as he gave her a hug.

She just gave him a "what the hell do you think" look and gave him another hug. Jean looked at her friends and was extremely happy they had shown up. She closed the door and they made it into the living room.

Aurthy and Lippy didn't know what to say and were a little intimidated by the FBI Agents in the room. "So, um, what's happening here."

"Well, almost everyone is at the town hall. People are scared and Hannah, our lovely leader, is trying to keep people calm." Aurthra sighed and sat down on the couch. "Dad on the other hand has no idea what to do, he's scared. The most he had to deal with before was when Billy Crandle robbed the factory. He was also worried about you and so was mom." She held out the box she was carrying. Jean took it and slightly smiled.

"She didn't."

"She did, she's been cooking since 8:30, this morning. Believe me there is more in the car. This is your favorite."

"Lemon squares!" she said as she opened the box, it took her about five seconds to start digging in. She closed her eyes at the familiar taste and spoke, "This was the best part about living with the town baker." She opened her eyes and sat down on the chair. The adults watched from the distance letting the kids take over her moral.

Then it occurred to her what was really happening and the diversion had not worked. It was then when Aurthy leaned over to Lippy and whispered in his ear. He smiled and nodded to his friend. "I know where they are," he said in response.

"Know where what is?" Jean asked in a playful worry. She hated it when her friends did things behind her back. Lippy just smiled at her and stood up. He walked past her and headed towards where the adults stood. "Lippy- Lionel Paul Pennet what are you doing?" she forced again in a tone that made him think of his mother.

"You'll find out, ::mom::," he said turned back to her and stuck his tongue out childishly. She just gave him her look and he was on his way. She turned back to face Aurthy, who was now smiling like Lippy.

"What's your boyfriend doing know Aurthy?" she asked her best friend one last time. Aurthy simply made a zipping action over her lips.

Lippy was at the bottom of the stairs about to go up, but someone stopped him. Lippy didn't know why. "What?" he asked the FBI agent.

"What are you going to do?" Agent Mulder asked not wanting upstairs alone or if at all. According to Scully there was a big blood stain all over the light colored carpet and he had no intention of scaring this boys memories.

Lippy spoke softly so only Mulder could hear. Mulder nodded and said, "First why don't you check the stuff she packed. Its right next to you." He pointed to the duffel bag and Lippy nodded and started to look though Jean's stuff. Mulder was amused at Lippy's choice of methods to cheer up his friend but it was also wonderful. He wondered what it was like to have friends like this. He found the one he wanted and headed back to the living room.

All six of them piled into the TV room. The room used to be Joe's office but Jean took it over during production when he wasn't there. But it wasn't a big loss because he never used it.

Jean had redecorated it with some plastic blow up furniture and a few posters. Scully cautiously sat down in one and had to get used to the feel. Mulder and Skinner took the other chairs and the Three Musketeers, as they had been called, grabbed the couch.

"What are you forcing me to watch?" she asked again but didn't expect a response.

"Wait and see Tiger Skames." Aurthy said and pressed the play button on the remote control. The television turned to a black screen and faint music in the background. As the music got louder the black started to fade into video clip.

Jean knew what it was and was grateful that her friends did this for her. The music being played was "Get What You Give" by The New Radicals. It was the song she had put to out-takes and random moments between her and her friends. She made the tape as her going away present for them and in a way herself.

As she laughed at the tape she remembered why she had made it for them. Aurthy and Lippy were older but they were only in 11th grade and would not be graduating for another year. No matter if she had gone with her parents or stayed for the summer she would be leaving at the end of August. Jean thought about all the bad things that have happened to her and what will happen to her.

Than it occurred to her. She was young and had her whole life in front of her. She had two choices to die now or to live for the future. As she turned her attention back to the video, she made her choice. She was going to live and have fun, but she didn't realize how hard it really was.

As the video concluded Jean turned to her friends and said, "Thank you." They got together in one big hug. Mulder, Scully, and Skinner just watch them.

Skinner hated to do what he had to do next but he needed to get the show on the road. "Jean, it's getting late, we should get back to DC." She got up and nodded to them.

"Do you want to get some more of your things before you leave?" Scully asked as the party moved back to the stairs.

"Yeah, but."

"We'll go with you." Aurthy and Lippy said in unison. She smiled and they went up to her room.

Almost a half an hour later they were all standing back in the living room. The second time around in her room had worked out much better.

"I have to go now or dad will have a fit." Aurthy said giving her friend on last hug. "Don't worry dad, mom, and I will pack things up here. Hannah will probably help to. Don't forget, you're part of my family call us anytime."

"I will," she said leading them to the door. She smiled at them as they left walking thought the front yard, and disappeared into the dusk. She closed the door and went to the living room to double check she had everything she wanted.

Her Uncle was on the phone in the kitchen getting the report from the FBI. Mulder and Scully loaded the other duffel bag and her computer in her car. She was double-checking when she suddenly froze.

Go to the window. She heard in the back of her mind. She brushed it off but she heard it again. Tiger, go to the window!

This time she did as she was told and went to the window and pulled back the thick dark curtains. She couldn't see anything but there was a reason for her to be looking out there. She was about to give up thinking it was a figment of her imagination, she hadn't slept in awhile.

That was when she saw him, in the tree line. She couldn't see face but she knew it was him the same dead looking arm. She closed her eyes and shook her head, when she opened them the man was gone.

She was still standing there when her Uncle walked in. "Jeanie you okay?" he asked putting her hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, just taken a look." She went over to her bag and closed it. She picked it up over her shoulders, "Are we going now?"

"Yeah, you have everything?" he asked looking around. She looked around as well.

The picture. the voice called to her. She looked at them one by one trying to determine which one the voice referred to. She was drawn to the picture of her parents wedding photo. The second she put her hand on it the voice called again. That one take, and keep it always.

The car was almost silent on the way back. Skinner was driving and Jean fell asleep in the back seat along with Scully. Mulder was up front and seemed to be starring off into space.

Skinner was left to worry in the silence. Worrying about Jean, and Josh, Sharon and mostly what he's going to do about Krycek. He would do what ever he wanted him to. He checked on his niece through the mirror and smiled. She was so much like his sister, he loved them bother very dearly and he owed everything to his sister now. This was all his fault.

Mulder and Scully helped them get everything to his apartment and then took a cab to there homes. Skinner was looking out the window of his apartment waiting for a visit from him. She saw her niece pass out again and he moved her from the couch to the guest bedroom.

The room was just a place for his stuff he had yet to unpack, but it had a couch that folded out into a soft mattress. This room would become hers soon. He laid her down and left the room softly.

He walked back to the living room and realized he was not alone. He knew that he was waiting. "What do you want Krycek? Why did you kill them, why did you kill her?" Skinner asked not wanting to play his game.

"All in good time, my dear Skinner, all in good time." Krycek said and headed for the door. Skinner just stared at him. He stopped before leaving, "But if you don't do as I ask, Jean will pay the price." With that he left and Skinner was not going to stop him.

"You didn't complete the mission?" the Cigarette-Smoking man asked in surprise.

Krycek answered defensively, "Jean was always the variable, she is unpredictable. Like her uncle." He then had a reason; "It works better this way. He has more to lose. She also might have what we need."

'Get up,' the voice told her. She rose from her sleep. It had been almost a week since her parents had died. She did not know what woke her and she just stared at her room.

It was now hers all her stuff had been moved in. It had also been settled that she would live with her uncle and Josh would live with Sharon.

Get up. the voice said and so she did. She had been hearing the voice a lot recently and she listened every time. She got up and listened to the instructions. She went out into the hall and then to the living room.

She spotted what the voice had been telling her to get. She picked up her parents wedding picture and just looked at it and smiled.

She didn't know why but the next minute she smashed it to the ground with a crash. It was like she was watching outside of her body when she did it. She looked down on it with curiosity. It was in pieces. She almost started to cry when she noticed an envelope in the crushed pieces. She opened it quickly and found a map and a silver key inside.

Title: Teenage Girls Series #3: Alaska's Secret
Author: Xandra
Spoilers: Avatar, SR 819, and probably any Skinner episode. Ice. All the episodes seemed to blend into one to me so I can't be sure.
Author Notes: This is the sequel to my last story "Teenage Girls Series #2: Tiger Skames". "Teenage Girls Series #1: Eve's Resurgence" was the first in the series and also has some relevance in this one. Also I would like to say that in my universe, Biogenesis has not happened ::yet::. It will though but since they don't say the date anymore it's going to be taking place in October or November. So I have the whole summer months to have most of this story-taking place. I also made up the town of Curtuan and Jadwin-Howard so doesn't try to find them. If you would like to read the rest of this series it's at my web site: http://xandra1013.tripod.com/xandrasx.htm Distribution: Anywhere just tell me first.
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully, Skinner, and anyone else for the show is not mined. They belong to the god: Chris Carter!
Classification: S, conspiracy, Skinner-ANGST, MSR, minor Scully-ANGST

Summary: Jean Skinner-Ames sets out to find here parents secret.

Skinner's Residence June 18, 1999

It had been a month since she moved in and already Walter was finding traces of her everywhere. There was no denying she was a slob. She left her papers everywhere, and never cleaned up anything. From the way she left every other room he was scared to go into her room.

She also had some good qualities that benefited him. She was an excellent chef. She also was good for his moral. She gave him a reason to come home after work and she gave him reasons to smile.

Jessie's will states that the kids are left to both Sharon and himself. They had work out, well, Jean had worked out, and that Josh would live with Sharon most of the time. Jean, of course, would live with Walter most of the time.

Right now he didn't care. His once perfectly neat apartment looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. Skinner was getting ready to go to Chicago, when he could find his car keys. He couldn't find a thing and if he didn't leave now he was going to be extremely late for his flight. "Jean, get out here!" he screamed down the hall to her room. He went back to the living room and continued to look.

It took a few minutes before Jean sleepily arrived in the room. "What?" she moaned rubbing her eyes. She had just been woken up and had no idea why. "It's six-thirty in the morning."

"This room is a mess, and so is the rest of the house and I don't even want to talk about your room-"

"Can you get to the point please." She yawned.

"I want you to clean up this place before I get back on Sunday!" he paused a second from his anger and continued, "And I can't find my keys," he said sounding pathetic.

"Wait here." She commanded, obviously annoyed that her would wake her up. She went to her uncle's desk and opened the top drawer. She grabbed the keys and ran back to her uncle.

"Here you go," she said handing him the keys and began to fix his tie. "There, now go, you're going to be late," she said pushing him to the door.

"Thanks," he said opening the door and giving her a hug. "I'll call when I get to the hotel, Scully will be here around five."

"And I'll clean up, I promise." He closed the door behind him and Jean was left alone in the apartment. She was happy when she heard her uncle was going to be away for the weekend, she needed sometime away from him. She would only be that way for a little while. Scully had offered to stay with her because her aunt and brother were on a trip to Sharon's sister in Montana. She would have stayed with Aurthy but the Jones's were on vacation.

As she began to clean up she realized how much she liked living here. She was in the prefect place for her school in the fall. She didn't have people nagging her all the time and she only had to clean up once a month.

She also gained two new friends, Mulder and Scully. Actually Scully, was more of a baby-sitter because anytime that she was in town she would come over and stay with her till her uncle came home. She didn't mind it too much because she like Scully, but you can have too much of one person.

Mulder was kind of like a big brother. He was older but someone that you could just hang out with and just have fun with. Than it occurred to her that they were both like siblings to her. They were what she wanted to be for Josh.

She was stacking up her papers when a thought dawned on her. She checked her watch to be sure and she was right. It wasn't even seven-thirty and she was out of bed. She put the papers down on the coffee table and went back to her room.

It wasn't ten o'clock 'til she ventured out of her room again. She finished cleaning the visible parts of the apartment. She walked through in the newfound cleanliness of the living room.

She looked at the picture she had put to liven the room up. She looked at them and then stopped at the last one. It was the wedding picture. It was in a different frame but it still held the same memory.

She thought back to that night when she dropped the frame on the floor. She still had no idea what had happened that night. She didn't know what possessed her to break the frame but she knew she was meant to. The key and map were safely hidden away. She had yet to find out what they were for.

She didn't tell her uncle about them. When he had ran in after hearing the crash she told him that she knocked it over on her way to the kitchen, she was in tears and made the story more believable that it was an accident. She hadn't heard the voice since that night. She brushed it off thinking it was just a coincidence. In her weaker moments she thought she was going insane.

She went back to her room. It was a mess, even she agreed to that but she wasn't going to clean it. Not for another few weeks. Anyway it made it harder for someone to search her room.

Her room was a mix of her old stuff and some things that she had taken from her uncle. She had brought most of her furniture with her. She was grateful for that she didn't like to change, and her parents dying was as much change as she could handle.

She went to her dressing table and pulled out a CD case from the back of the top drawer. She opened the case and pulled out the back plate where the CD case connected to. Between that plastic piece and the back paper of the album. There lying innocently was the map. She took it out and brought it over to her bed.

She sat crossed legged on the bed and put the case in front of her. She picked up the map and studied it for the hundredth time. She was trying to figure out where it had came from and what it was for.

It was hand drawn, and was very detailed. There were no words on it that she could read except the letters "HGME-SA" in the top-left corner of the map. The rest were smeared over time. To her while growing up, map reading had been a second language. She kept all of the maps from their explorations but this didn't fit any of the trail maps. She had come to realize that if it was hand-drawn that it most likely could not be found on any other official trail map.

The paper the map was drawn on was not that old and she knew her father drew it. If she could only find out what it was of she would be able know what this was for.

She reached to her nightstand and grabbed the picture of her and her friends. She opened the backing of the frame and took out the key she had hidden. That was the part that made her want to find what this was the most. She knew she had seen this key before. She hated mysteries. She never had the patience for them. It seemed now she had no choice. She put the map and key away in their hiding places and put the CD case and Picture frame in her backpack which she would be taking to Scully's apartment.

She looked at her clock and realized she should start packing up the rest of her things. As she packed she thought about what the map and key could be for. One part of her was realistic telling her it was probably nothing special. A trail that her parents went on when they got married. But she thought back to the voice she kept hearing that was telling her that it was something more.

Five o'clock came a lot soon then Jean had realized. Before she knew it she was sitting in Scully's living room watching a movie. The movie kind of sucked; as Skames put it, and Scully didn't like it much either but they kept it on anyway.

When it was over they just sat in the mess they had made in her living room and talked. They still didn't know each other that well but they were trying. Scully was curious about her life traveling with her parents. She realized it didn't compare to the moving around she had done with her father and she kind of envied Jean.

"...Well, in short, I hate the desert and didn't want to go" Jean said responding to Scully question. "Even if it meant not..." she began and faded off.

"Meant not, what?" Scully asked guessing already what it could be, and gave a sly smile. "Does Tiger Skames, have a boyfriend?" she added sounding the way she talked when she was a teenager. Jean blushed and Scully took that as her answer. "What's his name?"

"Peter," she said taking a sip of her diet coke.

Scully was confused; she thought Peter was the name of her tutor. "But I thought Peter was the name of your tutor?"

"It is." Jean said as she stole the popcorn bowl from Scully. "Walton Peterson, that is. My boyfriend is Peter Tree-Starr or as he has been nicknamed P'tree."

"P'tree?" she asked in a laugh.

"Well it's kind of the way that you only call Mulder by his last name and he calls you Scully. It's professional." She began to say defensively. "I grew up only hearing last names, but when there's a duplicate or it's too long you have to change it. Skinner-Ames was too long so it was shortened to Skames. Hence, P'tree's mother who was just known as Tree and his father known as Starr. I could only come up with P'tree." She looked at Scully who looked greatly amused. "Well, what would you expect, I met him when I was three." She said to end the conversation. She stared off for a moment and when she returned to ask to let the subject go for awhile.

"But on the subject of relationships, why aren't you and Mulder happily married?" she asked beginning to clean up the mess they had made in the living room.

"Well why would you say that?" Scully said pretending to be coy at the mention of such a thing. She started to help her clean up the plates from their dinner.

Jean resisted a laugh and looked knowingly in her eyes. "Come on I see they way you look at each other, there has to be something between you two." "We're just friends," Scully said trying to convince Skames and even herself that their relationship was professional.

"Right" she said rolling her eyes. "You may think that and he may think that but you know it's not true." She was right Scully told herself. After they're almost indiscretion that they believed had gotten Anna Lucas killed. They were scared to address the relationship. She tried not to think about it. She loved him. She knew that and he knew that and vise-versa. They were scared to move in chance it might ruin what they had already....

Scully broke her train of thought, and quickly looked down at her watch. "It's after eleven you should at least get ready for bed," she said tying make her lose where this conversation was going.

"Scully, you've got to be kidding." Jean said in disbelief.

"Well, I'm not. It would be different if you were just going to sit around here all day tomorrow but your not. At ten you got an appointment with Dr. Snider."

"I don't want to go to her, I hate her," she said going back to the couch. She hated the shrink her uncle made her go to. She had seen this woman six times and told her absolutely nothing of revenants. She didn't trust her and she had no plan of ever trusting her. Scully joined her in the living room and answered her pending question before she asked it. "I know I don't have a choice. He wants me to go."

Scully sat down and was about to say some words of encouragement when her phone rang. She reluctantly picked it up. "Scully," she said into the phone.

"Hi Dana-sweetheart, it's you mother." The voice of Maggie Scully called to her daughter over the phone.

"Hi mom, what's going on?" she asked concerned of why her mother was calling so late.

"Are we still on for tomorrow night, you were supposed to call me so we could make the arrangements-"

"Oh, I'm sorry mom I forgot," she said remembering that Bill and his family were coming in tomorrow and she was supposed to meet them at her mom's house tomorrow.

"Well I'm glad I called then. I needed you to pick them up at the airport at 11:30 then give them a ride to their hotel, then here-"

"Mom, I don't know if I can," she said not knowing what to do with Jean.

"Why, honey?" she asked with concern.

"I'm taking care of Jean this weekend."

"Well she can come too."

"I don't know if she'll want to come-"

"Ask her."

She looked to Jean who was already listening to the phone conversation. Scully put down the phone and when over to Jean. "I have a family get together at my mother's tomorrow would you mind if we went?"

"That's fine, I don't mind."

"The only thing is I need to pick up my brother and his family around the time I have to pick you up and then I have to stay with them for awhile- and I don't want you to be subjected to that."

"Well, since there is no way in hell you'll let me be alone, let's see if I can spend the day with Mulder."

"You wouldn't mind? That's what I was thinking anyway."

"Well you could spend the day with you brother and his family and Mulder will drop me at your mom's whenever you want me to be there for dinner."

"Good plan, but I need to call Mulder first."

It was all worked out. Scully would drive Jean to her shrink but Mulder would pick her up and do whatever with her until her dropped her at Maggie's house at 5:30 p.m.

Dr. Leah Snider's Office June 19, 1999

"What do you want to talk about today, Jean?" Dr. Leah Snider said for the fifth time today.

"There is nothing I care to talk about, today," she said just to be difficult. She hated that her uncle made her see a psychologist. Her parents had sent her to three in the course of her life and not one of them ever found out anything about her.

She didn't trust them. She didn't let anyone to know too much about her. She had gone a few of them, they were nice but she could never open up.

Leah was the last person she would ever trust. Everything about Leah screamed that she was a fake. Her uncle forced her to go to her and never gave her an option of anybody else.

Leah was tall with straight blond hair. Her eyes were brown and they showed that she was hiding something that she was trying to get information for someone. She showed a lot of self-confidence that led her to be conceited.

"So, Jean your uncle told me that you were born in Alaska, and you lived there for awhile. What was it like?"

Tiger. Tiger, the voice bated her from the back of her head. Don't tell her a damn thing! She's working for him!

Jean looked closely into Leah's eyes and saw her secret. In Leah's eyes she could see the man her uncle told her had killed before. The man that haunted her dreams. The one who killed her parents.

She only displayed a moment of fear before she regained her emotionless state. She looked at Leah again and realized she was waiting for an answer.

"It was cold."

She spent the rest of her session that way. She was scared by the thought that had entered her mind that she was working for Krycek. She could not get the thought out of her mind as she waited for Agent Mulder to pick her up.

She felt uncomfortable in the waiting room. She was scared someone would come out and grab her. She closed her eyes for a moment trying to calm herself when a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

She screamed at the touched and jumped out of her chair to face the person. She only took a breath when she realized it was Mulder. "You scared the shit out of me," she said finally relaxing.

"I can see that," he said putting his hand back on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said in much the way Scully always did.

"I think you spend too much time with Scully," he said leading her out of the building.

They got in his car and strapped in. "So where are we going on this lovely afternoon, Agent Mulder?" she asked returning back to her humorous self again.

"I have some friends I want you to meet. They're the experts, well not experts. Their helpful in fighting any global conspiracy. They even publish a newspaper-"

"'The Lone Gunman'?" she asked to his surprise.

"You heard of them?"

"I'm a subscriber."

"Welcome Agent Mulder," Frohike said opening the heavily locked door. "And who's your young friend?" he asked as Jean entered.

"Actually I think you might already know her," Mulder said as Jean stared almost in awe of her surroundings. Frohike was just confused.

"I'm Tiger Skames-," She said extending a hand to him. He took it and shook back, surprised with her as a whole.

"You're Skames?" he asked in confusion believing that she was going to be different from this teenager in front of him. He almost sounded disappointed.

"You must be, Frohike." He nodded and she looked around for signs of anyone else. "Where's the rest of the gang?"

Frohike called out to the back room and a few minutes later Byers and Langly emerged from the back room. They were surprised to at who Skames really was.

"I'm not what you expected?" they shook their head not knowing what to say.

Byers finally spoke, "When we chatted with you online you seemed much older."

She looked skeptically. "It wasn't age it was paranoia. I always makes a person seem older."

"Why did Mulder bring you to us, and how did you meet him?" Langly asked suspicious of how she came to arrive in front of him.

"Well he didn't know that I knew you before hand and..." She turned to Mulder. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Something to do. I'm not a good baby-sitter."

"I don't need a baby-sitter, maybe a less over protective uncle."

"Who is your uncle?" Byers asked wondering why she would be in Mulder's care.

"Assistant Director Skinner," she said looking around their cluttered office.

"You're his niece?" They said in disbelief.

"Why is that so hard to believe? What did you think? Everyone in his family was bald?" she asked in a tone that made her seem like a princess speaking to a commoner. She was getting annoyed at there ignorance.

"Well yes." Langly said in all honesty.

"Well Blonde your wrong. And you guys are exactly the way I expected you."

After about an hour, Mulder and Frohike went out to get some take-out for lunch. Byers, Langly and Jean spent the time in conversation.

"So your saying that bees are going to infect the population with some alien virus." Jean said in a laugh. "Okay that sounds like something my friends and I came up with on one of our highs."

She was distracted and from her current problem of the map and key. She thought of where she was and looked to her two sort of new friends. She got an idea an idea that could help her. "Listen," she began to say turning serious, "I need your help," she said the words and then realized that if she were wrong they voice would tell her and she would be in danger.

She waited and the voice never came. She felt relieved and then continued, "You can't tell this to Mulder or Scully, I don't know exactly what I have found but maybe you could help."

Byers was very intrigued by what she had asked of them and nodded, he looked to Langly who nodded as well. She excepted it and moved on. She opened her backpack and took out the CD case. She opened it and took out the map she had hidden there. She on folded it and handed it to them. "I need to know where this map is set at or what these makings mean."

They took it and began a quick look to analyze. Byers looked up at her in a little bit of shock. "What is it?" she asked moving closer to see the map with them.

"These letters "HGME-SA" are familiar, I've seen them before." Byers said trying to figure out where he had seen them.

"In what way?" she asked acting more like Scully then her usual self.

"Government files." Langly answered for him.

Jean didn't hide her shock at hearing that and Byers looked up at her. "Where did you get this?"

"It was hidden in my parents things. It also came with a key but you can't help me with that. I know for a fact that my father drew that map, and from where they hid it was of much importance. It's a trail map and I need to know where it's for or at least what those letters mean."

"Is there anytime you remember your parents expositions that were government funded?"

"Not that often. They were mostly funded by universities and private foundations. I don't remember who funded them, I was little and when I was older all I cared was making sure I could bring my laptop with me."

"Can we keep this for awhile." Langly said moving it over to his worktable.

"No!" she said then considered the alternative, "Can you copy it and look at it? I want to keep the original."

"I understand." Byers said taking it to the copy machine. He made the copy and gave the original back to Jean.

"Thank you," she said folding it up and putting away.

"How can we reach you when we have an answer?" She took out a piece of paper and wrote down her cell phone number.

"If I don't pick up, I can be reached at Scully's house at least 'til Sunday night." They nodded. It was then when there was a knock on the door. Mulder and Frohike arrived with the food. Jean was thankful that Byers and Langly had kept their promise. They ate and spent the rest of their time there in friendly debate. It reminded Jean of all the time she spent with Aurthy and Lippy and she realized how much she missed it. Just sitting around and talking.

Not too much later Scully called and told Mulder that they should start heading over. Scully obviously was just making sure he didn't forget to get Jean there on time.

Margaret Scully's Residence

Mulder stopped the car and just stared into Maggie Scully's home. "Is there anything I should know before I go in there?"

Mulder smiled and gave her an answer; "Well Mrs. Scully is nice and will try to treat you like family and Bill jr. hates my guts. I don't remember much of how Tara Scully, Bill's wife, is but I remember her as being pleasant."

She nodded and looked at the house a little nervously of how to act. "Will you walk me in?"

He thought about it a second and turned off the car. "Sure," he said getting out and began to get out of the car. He walked her to the door then turned to leave but she stopped him as she rang the doorbell.

"I'm not doing this first part alone." She smiled mockingly at him.

"You are so dead," he whispered in her ear as the door opened.

The door opened to reveal a pleasant looking woman, "Hello," She said sweetly, "You must be Jean," she said extending a head, Jean took it and smiled.

"You must be Tara," she said in response "it is nice to meet you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, come in, both of you. It's good to see you again Agent Mulder."

"I'm sorry I can't. I have to be going and I don't want to interrupt your family's get together," Mulder said trying to excuse himself from the occasion not wanting to spend anytime in Bill Jr's presences.

"Nonsense, Maggie wanted me to invite you in for a little while," she said smiling and Jean forced Mulder to walk in with her.

Tara led them to the living room. Scully and her brother were in there talking and didn't realize they had walked in. Bill's back was to them. "Dana, your guest is here." Tara said forcing both of them to enter the room.

Scully got up and was surprised to see Mulder, she looked over at her brother hoping that he would behave with Mulder here. She didn't say anything and talked to Jean. "Come over here and meet my brother." Jean did as was commanded. Tara had already taken a seat next to her husband and Mulder just stood in the doorway.

"Jean this is my brother Bill, Bill this is Jean Skinner-Ames." Scully introduced and Bill extended a hand. Jean took it trying to be as sweet and kind as she could be. She took a seat next to Scully, still unsure what to say.

"Mulder," Tara called to the man standing in the doorway, "Come sit down." Bill was angry at the sight of him in the house.

When Mulder and Scully saw the angry look on Bills face and Scully quickly called for her mother. Maggie Scully walked out of the kitchen and greeted him. "Fox, your looking too thin. You should stay for dinner."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Scully but I have to be going," he said trying not to upset Scully's mother.

"Why?" she asked knowing he had no reason not to stay.

"Mom, he has plans." Scully intervened. Thank god for Scully, he thought, she always knows how to help.

"All right, Fox, but you have to come over for dinner another time."

"Sure," he said beginning to leave, "Tara nice to see you again. You too Bill." He added trying to be polite, "Jean, I'll see you around," he said and she went up and hug him for a moment. He would have found it strange but she needed friends. She had been through a lot.

As he turned to leave Scully moved to him. "I'll walk you out." They left together heading for the front door. "Brave of you to come in."

"Tara forced me and Jean was no help."

"How was she today?"

"She was fine just a little jumpy. I took her to see The Lone Gunmen."

"She must have enjoyed that." They stood there awkwardly for a minute. They were just staring at each other. All Mulder wanted to do was reach out and kiss her, but he couldn't. Not here not with her family here. All Bill reminded him was that he was responsible for every bad thing that happened to Scully.

"I better get going before your mother makes me stay." He finally got the words out of his mouth.

"Yeah," she nodded not really wanting him to leave. "I'll see you on Monday." Mulder left and she slowly went back to the living room realizing that she had left Jean alone with her family.

"So Jean, where are you from again?" Mrs. Scully asked at the dinner table.

"Curtuan, Pennsylvania it kind of by Philadelphia. It's a real small town, I had been living since I was nine." Taking a bite of her salad. Jean was grateful that she didn't have to cook today.

"And before that?" Tara asked tending to her son who was in a high chair next to her.

"A small town in Alaska, well sort of. My parents traveled a lot so I wasn't at my homes too much." She decided that they didn't need to know everything about her right now.

"Well it must be a change for you living in a big city."

"Yeah, it's strange walking ten blocks and still being in the same city. I'm as so not used to the driving." So far the whole evening had been pleasant at least for Jean. She was used to family get-togethers as being painful and full of arguing and chaos.

The conversation remained much that way. Bill asked Dana about work and Tara asked Maggie about what it was like to raise her own kids. Jean just sat there and ate doing what she does best, listening.

She listened to every thing they had to say. Once she was told that knowledge is power, so the more knowledge she took back with her the more power she had. They were halfway though the main-course when she had been talked to again.

"I hear you're starting college soon, what will you be studying?" Bill asked trying to hide that he didn't like the fact that Dana's boss ::forced:: her to take care of his niece. He would only bring it up if he thought Dana would listen to him but she always resisted anyone telling her what to do.

"I'm planning to major in film and/ or writing. I want to be a director but I still just like to write stories too."

"What kind of stories?" Tara asked being genuinely interested in what she had to say.

"Mostly science fiction." She didn't want to answer any question right now. The top of conversation reminded her of her father. He always took an interest in what she was working on, when he got around to it. Her good thoughts turned to anger and she couldn't stay at the table much longer.

Just as Tara was about to ask another question, Jean felt a tingle next to her hip. Her cell phone was on vibrate not to disturb the dinner. "I'm sorry I have to get this it may be my uncle." She excused herself and pressed the talk button when she reached the hall.

"Skames."

"It's me." She heard the voice of Byers over the line.

"What did you find?" she asked moving further away from the dining room.

"I haven't found what the letters mean but Langly was able to read some of the smeared words. Does the name JH Alaska seemed familiar to you?"

Jean thought as if she could almost die. "Yes I do. It's the name of the place I was born. JH Alaska is actually Jadwin Howard a small town in Alaska." She now knew where to look.

"I'm glad we could help, now you know where to start."

"Can you keep checking on what those letters stand for."

"Sure."

"Thank you guys for the help." She was excited she finally had some direction. She had felt so stupid that she hadn't thought about it earlier. She now had a new problem how was she didn't know how to let her uncle allow her to go to Alaska.

Skinner Residence -Sunday afternoon June 20, 1999

Jean wanted to get back home in time to meet her uncle when he arrived home. She also wanted to have a chance to prepare a reason to let her go to Alaska. He wasn't supposed to be home for another few hours so she started to clean up her room.

As she faced the task of cleaning her room. She was half way through the mess when she realized she needed to get her black sweater, which she loved, from her car.

She put on her shoes and took the elevator down to the parking lot. She was impatient to get there and basically ran out to her car. She opened the door and grabbed her sweater. The parking lot was empty of people except for her. She walked though rows of cars to get back to the elevator.

When she reached the elevator she pushed the button for it to come. As she waited she saw her uncle's car pull into a parking space at the other end of the row. She smiled and was about to run over to it when she saw someone greet her uncle as he got out of the car.

She thought she was seeing things from far away but they moved closer to her and she hid behind the wall. There was a wall between them and Jean could hear everything they said and she all most fell to her knees.

"What do you want Krycek?" she heard her uncle ask.

"It's time for you to work for me." The other man said emotionless.

"What do you need me to do now?"

`"Take your niece to her home in Alaska," he said simply.

"That's it?" he asked in disbelief.

"Your niece will find what I want and when she does fine it you will know."

"How will I know it's the right thing? Or if she'll even tell me?"

"You'll know, believe me. Just let her explore and she'll fine it and she won't hide it from you. Dr. Snider put the idea in her head and she'll ask you if she can go to Alaska."

"Fine," Skinner said and she could hear one of the men walking in the other direction. She heard her uncle sigh and if she didn't move now she was going to be caught. She didn't have time to think and darted to the open elevator door. Just as the door closed she heard her uncle turn the corner.

She sighed in relief as the elevators climbed the floors. Her mind was in the same state it was the morning her parents were killed. She didn't even have to hear her uncle say the name before she knew whom he was talking to.

She got back to the apartment and locked herself in her room. She knew she didn't have too much time so she tried to collect herself. She wiped away her newly formed tears.

"Jean, I'm home." She heard him call and she quickly looked at herself in the dressing table mirror. After she was confident she looked normal she went out and greeted him. She didn't let him know what he knew.

She acted as normal as possible when she was with him as she considered her next plan. She was right about Snider and now she realized that she wanted to go to Alaska since she started to see her.

She had a plan and for right now it was to follow what Krycek had laid out for her. She had the upper hand now. For her knowledge was power.

Jean lay in bed that night planning her next move. She already asked her uncle if she could go to Alaska and now she would need a plan once she got there. If her uncle was working for Krycek she was concluded that he has being blackmailed.

He would have no choice but to betray her. He would take whatever she found and she had a feeling that it was not meant to be put in the wrong hands.

She knew she needed back up for this mission. Someone she trusted and she knew who it would be. But she needed a distraction to keep her uncle not completely focused on her.

By the next morning she knew exactly what she needed and how to do it. She had confidence in herself that she could pull it off. She needed to start putting phase one in top motion. She would do that this afternoon.

Skinner Residence June 21, 1999

The first part of Phase One was to get all the key players in the game. Right now the board there was she against Krycek, Dr. Snider, and her uncle. She wanted to even it out a little bit more. She had the plan to add three more people to her side.

First she would plea to her uncle and take Mulder and Scully along. She could justify it by saying she wanted her friends with her. Usually the roll would fall to Lippy and Aurthy but they wouldn't be in the position to help her. They were her backups at home. Before she left she would give them a copy of everything she knew and had just in case something happened. Mulder and Scully wouldn't know what's going on until they were faced with it.

The third team member would know only a little bit more. Her friend Walton Peterson or Peter would meet their plan in Jadwin-Howard and take them to they house and stay with them as long as she asked. She was lucky Peter had decided to leave the Sierra earlier and move back to his home in Anchorage.

The last part of Phase One was to keep her everyone in the dark of what she knew. She could do that and she had to do that.

She set up the travel arrangements for four days. This would give her enough time to see Aurthy and Lippy and tell them everything. She was going up there in two days. It also gave the Lone Gunman some more time to find out what those letters meant.

She almost went out of her mind with anticipation. She really wanted to get to the second phase of her plan.

Airplane en route to Anchorage, Alaska June 24, 1999 11:47 p.m. Day 1

The fight was relatively empty. Jean was happy. Besides Mulder, Scully and her uncle there were only eight other passengers. Jean's party was all sitting in first class. Her parents had saved up a lot of frequent flier miles of the years and she used them to her advantage.

Since the fight had not been filled Jean was able to get her own seat and spread out comfortably on the seats. Her uncle sat in the seat to the left of her and Mulder and Scully in the rows in front.

She looked at her uncle who had just fallen asleep. She had chosen a night flight so they would be ready to get to work tomorrow. Mulder was read and Scully who was sitting in front of her was asleep as well.

She looked at her uncle and felt sorry for him. What could make him work for that murderer? She tried not to think about it. It just made her feel that nothing she ever believed was real. She focus her mind on the subject of seeing her friend Peter again. She did so and snuggled up under her travel blanket and fell asleep.

Mulder didn't find sleep that easy. He still had no clear reason why he was on this little trip back to Alaska. His last trip had been quite a bit to write home about. He remembered how they locked him in a storage closet when they people thought he killed someone under the influence of an alien organism. Scully was the only one that believed he didn't do it.

He looked over at Scully whose face was slumped next to the window. There was an aisle between them and Mulder wished it wasn't there. The one good point for this trip is he would get some off duty time with Scully. They bad thing was Skinner would make them uncomfortable. He smiled as he watched her sleep, wishing he could put his arms around her.

Day 2

Walton Peterson was waiting by the gate when the plane arrived. He was glad that Jean had contacted him. He felt as if she was his daughter in a strange way. He always looked after her and made sure she was all right.

Actually, he did raise her. He got his first job with her parents when she was only a year old. He was originally hired as a part of the team. He was a scientist his specialty was ecology. He was the only the assistant. When there were cut backs, when Jean was six, Joey hired him on as a tutor.

He brushed his fingers though his long dirty blond hair and sighed. He wanted the plane to let out the passengers already. He smiled when the door from the outside had opened.

He could see people moving into the terminal. Jean was the first one out and went directly into Peter's arms. He put his arms around her and started to laugh with her. The rest of the flight maneuvered around them. The gang just waited silently.

She left the embrace and looked in his face. At this moment she was truly happy. Peter's arm was around her shoulders as he turned to meet her friends.

"Who are your friends?" Peter said in his normal English accent, that caught Mulder off guard.

"This is Mulder and Scully the ones I told you about." He shook their hands in turn.

"You are Scully?" he asked shaking her hand slowly. She nodded as she looked up into his eyes. He was very tall and muscular and Scully seemed minuscule in comparison. He gave her a look that almost made her blush.

Jean wanted to pull out her camera and capture the look on Mulder's face. It was the look of pure jealousy and Jean had to hinder a laugh. "And I believe you know my uncle." Jean continued thinking Mulder had enough torment for the moment.

"Yes, Walter it is nice to see you again," he said, moving away from Scully reluctantly. He shook his hand quickly and looked back to Jean. "Lets pick up you luggage and start the drive out."

"Sounds like a plan, my dear Peter," she said walking in the direction of the baggage claim. She smiled with her old friend and felt truly at peace with the world.

Peter and Jean waited for the luggage to come out as Mulder and Scully took a long awaited trip to the bathroom. Skinner had excused himself to make a phone call. It was the middle of the night here in Alaska and back in DC it was morning.

"You must be tired." Jean said waiting for the bags to start coming out.

"Not really I got to Anchorage yesterday afternoon and went to bed. I got up about an hour ago," he said then heard the beep warning that the conveyer belt was about to start. "So how was my performance?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Whatever do you mean?" she asked mockingly smiling back at him. "It was beautiful."

"Why do I want to make Mulder jealous, anyway?"

"Because I need to make him realize that he loves Scully," she said grabbing their bags off the belt.

"Well why don't you let it happen naturally?"

"It will, they just need help."

They all piled into Peter's hunter green SUV. Jean sat up front with Peter. Walter was behind them and got the two-seater to himself. Mulder and Scully were in the three-seater. They were as far apart as they could be.

They started the long drive out to Jadwin-Howard. They would be in the car for no less than six hours. Jean was at loss of what she could do to keep the people in the car entertained.

"So, Peter, where in England are you from?" Scully asked.

"London," he said keeping his eyes on the road. "I've lived in the States for almost 16 years now. Well when I'm not working anyway."

"I thought you were in the Sierra on the paleontology expedition?" Skinner asked as he shifted in his seat.

"I was but two weeks ago when we found out what happened to Skinner and Ames, we where in a city so when the rest of the group set back out. I decided to come up here for a while." His voice was changing quickly from normal to upset as he talked.

He loved them like they where is own family. He realized that after time that he didn't know what he could do without them. He would do everything to save them and now that they were gone. He would do anything for Jean to make it up to her parents. He had betrayed them once and he pledged himself as being there loyal servant.

He could never tell that to Jean. She was never supposed to know what he did and he would sacrifice anything of his for her.

They were halfway though there journey and the car was quiet. Mulder and Scully who had been on opposite ends of the back seat somehow in sleep moved together. Jean smiled as she looked back at them and smiled. Her uncle was asleep too, but didn't look too as cute.

As she looked at him she almost forgot how angry she was at him. She was also scared of him. She didn't know what to do about her new found knowledge. He was working with Krycek. Not with, she reminded herself. The only way that she was able to keep her cool with him was to realize he was doing it to save both her and Joshie.

To detract herself she turned her attention to Peter. "You were staying at the house right?"

"Yeah, I got the place ready for you guys."

"Good, that saves a lot of time. Did you pack up anything?" she asked hopping he had done at lest some of the packing. She hadn't gotten a chance to tell him the reason she was really here but she would that night.

"Some, I cleared out the second floor of the west wing. That was mostly the equipment and old files from there expeditions." Jean looked upset for a moment and Peter called her on it. "What's going on?"

"They're still there right?"

"Which?"

"Their papers," she said with urgency.

"Yeah, I wouldn't throw those out." She sighed in relief. "You're looking for something in the files, that's why you really came. I could have taken care of it by myself but you needed to find something."

She looked quickly behind her to make sure they were sleeping. When she was satisfied that they were all asleep she turned back to Peter and told him what she found in the picture. When she was finished Peter didn't look in the least bit surprised.

"What do you know?" Skames said with all the seriousness she could muster.

"Not much but your parents hid things from me as well." They saw her uncle start to stir. "Lets finish this later."

The big, brick house stood proud where the road ended. The Rustling trees and the backdrop of mountains looked all most serene. Jean smiled as they approached it. It was just as she remembered. She hadn't been back since she was ten. Her parents had gone back several times but never brought her.

They pulled up to the gate and Peter typed the password into the panel right outside his window. The gate opened to his command and they drove into the driveway. The house was elegant and most likely worth a hell of a lot of money. Jean had told them what it looked like and even showed them pictures but they didn't expect anything this grand.

Scully who had just woken up and literally jumped away from Mulder. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the contact but she was still scared of what might happen.

Mulder who had been awake for hours was upset she had not kept the contact. He looked at her as she fixed her hair trying to get rid of the scruffy look she got when she fell asleep in the car.

"Where here everybody out!" Peter called as he hopping out of the car. They all got out and grab their bags from the trunk. The gate opened out to a paved road perpendicular to the road they had just been driving in. It ran in front of the house they parked right in front of the door that was in the middle.

Scully grabbed her bag and walked around looking up at the sky and the rest of her surroundings. She pulled her brown suede jacket tightly around her body. She had been to Alaska before and she forgot how cold it was here even when the sun as out. She walked to the left side of the house. She found a cobblestone path that lead to the backyard and decided to take it, Skames had told her that these paths were beautiful.

Plants guided her way to the backyard. She brushed back a branch with aloud her to have her first glimpse of the view. She was breathless as she looked up at the mountains that seemed unreal She continued to walk the path that continued on though the backyard. In the distance there was a lake that perfectly reflected the mountain landscape.

She really wished she had a camera but than realized that if Jean didn't have one there was a town close by. This was her vacation, she realized. Scully needed the vacation and so did Mulder. As she got lost in her surroundings she didn't notice the cold and let her jacket hang normally. She got to a point, which marked the center of Backyard that looked more like a park. There was a fountain there that looked wonderfully with age. It was the perfect viewpoint to unwind it was like being in perfection. As she looked out to the calm in front of her and didn't notice anything else.

Mulder crept up behind her not wanting to destroy her serene. He watched her as she spread her arms out as if to fly as a gust of wind blew to them. He closed his eyes and took her lead by raising his arms and felt himself smile as the wind blew through his hair.

"This place is beautiful isn't it?" she whispered back to him. He thought she was unaware of his presents but she had heard him move up behind her. He moved right behind her and took a chance by siding his arms around he waist. She didn't move away in fact she moved back into his arms. "I'm cold," she said childishly, looking up at him. He just smiled at her and she smiled back.

They didn't know how long they stayed that way. But then they heard some noise coming from behind them. The turned around still together. They saw one of the sliding glass doors open to reveal Jean, Walter and Peter staring at them. They moved apart and head back to the house.

They were slightly embarrassed as they made their way back to the house. They walked inside the house and found themselves in a library. The heat was on and Scully took of her jacket. "Mulder, will you come with me a minute," Skinner said and Mulder obliged him. They left the room.

"I'll take that, that Ms Scully." Peter said and had Jean and Walter's jackets over his arms well.

She handed it to him and he left the room quickly. Jean was at the other end of the room looking at the books that made up all the walls of the room. Scully had been told that her father was rich but she didn't expect their library to be bigger than her apartment. Scully walked over to Jean.

"So what are you doing?" Scully asked moving up behind her.

"Just seeing if there are any books I want to keep. The rest I'm going to donate to the town's library," she said continuing to study the bookshelves.

"That's a good idea," Scully said looking at the books herself. "Why do you have so many books?" "My grandparents-on my father's side- collected books, we have first additions of a lot books. We left them here when we moved to Curtuan because it was kind of a last minute move..." She faded out after she saw the look on Scully's face as her eyes widen as she caught a glimpse of one of the face. "What is it?"

Scully pulled the book out of the shelf and looked at it. Jean read the name over her shoulder, "'Moby Dick?'" She asked skeptically having read the book before and not enjoying it at all.

"My father used to read it to me when I was little." She didn't look up from the book and she opened the book. Published 1851 it's a first addition, she thought.

Jean looked at her than smiled. Scully snapped out of it and began to place the book back into the shelf. "Don't do that." Jean ordered and Scully obeyed. What, her face asked. "Keep it."

"No I couldn't-"

"Keep it! I don't like the book, I found it boring if you like it than take it and put it to good use."

"Thank you," Scully said tears starting to form in her eyes. Jean realized what she had done for her and smiled to herself.

Mulder was sure he was going to chew him out for his contact with Scully but he brought up a different subject. "How's Jean doing?" Mulder just looked confused. "Since I got back from Chicago, Jean has been acting strange." Skinner confessed to him.

"Well I noticed she had been strange about you. I realized that she never seems to be alone with you."

"Why would you say that?" Skinner asked although having some idea why it was going on.

"Well," Mulder said rubbing his neck not wanting to offend his boss, "why are Scully and I here?"

"Because you're her friend's, she needed someone that she could talk to-"

"Sir, why wouldn't that be you."

"I don't know," he said in disappear. There was quite for a long time of silence. Mulder was going to say one more thing when Skinner interrupted him. "Thanks for your help, you can go." Mulder breathed heavy and reluctantly left.

Skinner just stood in the office that he had brought Mulder to. One idea crossed over his mind, she knows.

Jean was making dinner when she heard the phone ring from her pocket. She quickly got it so the people in the other room would hear it. "Skames."

"Hey, it's Byers. I got what you want..."

10:58 p.m.

Jean had spent the day half-packing and half searching for any clues to what she found. After dinner Jean retreated up to her room and began to remains with her self of her things that where left with.

Her room was set up much like her room was in Curtuan and it was what her room in DC was becoming. She got up and looked at her dresser that was the length of the wall and went up to her waist. It was set up the way she remembered it. There were a few landscape pictures that she remembered taking, some knickknacks that she picked up during there times in cities.

She had a box next to her carefully placed the things in. She was careful they would not break. She packed all the pictures and half of the books in her room. Her grandparents, Kate and Andy Ames, where a big collector of well everything. Books mainly, but her Grandpa Andy did what her father did and collected every thing he found. Her Grandmother was an heiress never worked before she met Andy. They had met when she was going to sponsor his expedition to Africa. Kate has never wanted to work she had never found the need for it but when she met Andy she felt this need to join his team. To make a long story short, they fell in love got married, moved to Alaska and sent their only son to Pennsylvania for school.

They had started this town and they had built this house and she realized she wouldn't give it up. The town was their plan, their dream. Jadwin-Howard was her grandmother's maiden name. Jean looked around at the room that her grandparents used to live in. She smiled and knew what she was going to use this place for.

She was getting a head of herself. She hadn't yet gotten a chance to talk to Peter but he was due in her room at any moment. She got up and sat on her bed or him to come. After a few minutes she heard a knock and aloud Peter to enter.

"How are you doing, sweetheart?" he asked sitting next to her on the bed.

"I'm fine, Peter," she said just staring at him. "What do you know about the Harold Gordon Monroe Expedition?" she asked with almost know emotion at all.

"It was the expedition to Cambodia, when you..." he couldn't finish the sentence and she knew what he meant.

"I'm here because of this? What were they trying to find?" she already knew some of the mystery but she needed to know what he knew.

He looked into her eyes and saw that she already knew. "It was a government founded expedition in which the hired the Skinner-Ames team to track down an artifact that was where we were." She nodded; it confirmed what Byers had told her.

"Did they find it?"

"Yes," he said after several minutes, not able to look at her in the face.

"Where is it now?" she asked getting up and walking around her room not ready to look at him. Anyway pacing her room helped her think clearly.

"I don't know. They never turned it in, they hid it and they didn't tell me where," he said and she could feel he was telling the truth. She pulled the map out and showed it to him.

"Is this familiar?" his eyes widened at the sight of the map.

"Your father drew it. This is here in Jadwin-Howard; the mountains are the same. I know I studied them when the whole team used to live up here. It's beyond Katy Lake in the backyard."

She was thinking of what her next move would be. She was on phase two now she had to come up with three. This was going to be hard and vigorous work and she figured it out in less than two minutes. "Peter, tomorrow morning 5 a.m. wake me up and ready to go to Katy Lake were looking for this trail. One thing I need you do tonight is look for any references to this expedition. Wait scratch that. Bring them here I do it myself." He nodded in understanding and got to what she asked.

Scully was lying down on the bed in her room. The room was more than she had expected. It was beautiful with a canopy over the bed. Jean had told her this was her Grandparents room. She was dressed in her blue satin pajamas and not under the covers yet. Only the lamp next to her bed was on but it seemed to illuminate her room.

Her head was propped up so she could read. She was reading the book that Jean had given her. She didn't realize it but there were tears forming in her eyes. The book reminded her of her Father. Ahab had read this to her and she would always treasure it. The tears became heavy and before she could stop it she was all out in tears.

As if on cue to her emotional state there was a knock on her door. She got up realizing there were two doors in her room. One was to the hall and the other connected her to Mulder's room. The knock was coming from his room and she quickly wiped her tears before she opened the door.

"What's up?" she asked trying to sound as normal as possible hoping he wouldn't notice the puffiness of her eyes in the dim light. He was dressed in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, which was his normal sleeping attire.

"Can I come in?" she moved back to let him in. She sat down on her bed and Mulder continued to stand. "Did you notice that Jean has been avoiding Skinner?"

"Yes," she began being happy that he didn't call her on her appearance. "But she's 16, Mulder, that's how teenage girls act. For a question I know that you're going to ask next, we're here because Jean wanted support. She's going through a lot. She lost her parents and she's at a very emotional time of her life and she needed friends. Mulder we're her friends."

"That's true but there's something more going on here."

"Well if you believe that then ask her tomorrow. She would be happy to oblige you." Mulder noticed her half heartiness and decided to call her on what he saw earlier.

"I will." then changed tone, "Are you all right, Scully, and don't say your fine, I know better and I saw the tears," he said finally sitting next to her.

She reached behind her and showed him the book. He immediately knew what had upset her. "I'm sorry," he said softy. When she was upset his heart would felt as though it as about to burst.

"I'm all right, it just drudges up some old memories." He leaned towards her and gave her a hug. It was the first hug since before Anna Lucas was killed. Her tears began to flow again and she clung more to Mulder. Not because of her father anymore, it was her life and the family she had left and mostly because she wanted to be with Mulder and couldn't be at the same time. Mulder was having the same conflict inside him. She pushed him away and Mulder was going to leave and go back to his room.

"Don't go," she said as she stood up going after him. "I want you to stay here tonight." Mulder's heart leaped and he moved to her. She couldn't believe she said it but she meant it. She needed to go with her instinct. She just wanted to be with him not sleep with him. She wanted his arms around her telling her that everything's going to be fine. He knew that even though he didn't know what was going on.

He asked her with a glance, and she answered still with a huge space between them. "My brother Bill and I had a fight. It wasn't just a brother sister fight, it was a true fight of anger and he told me he never wanted to see me again and I wasn't his sister anymore." He almost ran to her and put his arms around her.

Mulder knew what kind of an asshole Bill could be and the worse thing is she looked up to him. In some ways he was a lot like her father in his actions. He had seen Scully be strong when she's fighting someone or something that was twice her size and could be crying the next when someone she truly cared about had been hurt and/or hurt her. He was going to kill Bill the next time he saw him.

Scully thought about the fight she had with Bill before she left. He didn't like the fact that his little sister was going around the world for her boss's niece and on top of that Mulder was going to be there. Bill had done whatever he could to get Scully away from Mulder. Last weekend, when she had seen him at her mother's, he expressed his distaste for everything she had worked for in her life. She knew deep down that Bill was just scared of losing her like they did Melissa but there was something about the way he said it that made her feel that it was not just because of that. He had had moments like that before but she usually brushed them off, but this time she couldn't. There was something in his eyes that said if she stayed with Mulder something terrible would happen.

She couldn't think about it anymore. She realized where she was and she liked it. This time she had not followed Mulder she had gone out of her way for a friend. Not that Mulder wasn't a friend but he was a different kind of friend. She felt better with his arms around her and never wanted him to leave her. She wanted him to kiss her but she knew he wouldn't not when she was like this. He would never take advantage of her.

Skinner wasn't asleep either. He was in bed trying fall asleep but he couldn't. He kept thinking of what he of what he had to do for Krycek. The newfound information about whom his sister worked for. He had found out before he left that she had gone on many government missions that where hidden even from the people on the teams. She had been hired to find classified items. In all there were six different Expedition. He had found this information from Krycek and found out they had only returned five of the objective.

The sixth was an item that was hidden and no one knew where. The Syndicates' only hope was for Skinner to bring the piece back to them. Hated what he was forced to do. He had to though he had to save what was left of his family. He had no other choice.

Day 3

Jean had maybe gotten three hours of sleep before Peter had woken her up to start the hike. She had dressed before she went to leave so she could get straight on with her plan. She had a very quick breakfast and was out of the house by 5:25. They would have been out sooner but it was pouring. She didn't want to get sick before she could start phase three.

They had no trouble walking though the backyard out to Katy Lake. They were experienced hikers and this walk through the mud was second nature to them. The rain was down to drizzle. They didn't talk much as they scoured the tree line for a clearing or a marker of some sort that marked the beginning of the trail. She almost finished her rounds of the grounds when something in the trees caught her eye. It was deep into the trees but she romped through the brush. It was barely noticeable.

It was green but she noticed it as the wrong color of green to be a leaf or bug. She reached for it and realized what it was. It was a chip her parent would attach to trails when they would hike to know where they were so they wouldn't get lost. But there weren't any here. She had found that there should be a structure out in the trail. She had been back and forth through them and knew them by heart and she never remembered this structure.

"Peter!" she called out to the guy down the road she had just left. He was by her side in seconds and went through the brushes next to her. "Is this it?" she asked looking at the official map of the area.

"Yeah," he said looking at the difference between the height of the brush. There was a lace that looked shorter than the others. "It's here, Tiger. I need to see the map."

She handed it to him. Already her mind was whirling. She was already thing of a plan to get her uncle, Mulder and Scully to let her go on a hike. She would just take Peter for a day hike and she would hide it again. Just as she started trouble shooting, Peter started to speak.

"This map goes by miles and according to my count 26 miles there and the same back."

"Shit." her whole plan was ruined. "Damn it, Uncle will never let me go without him or Mulder and Scully." She was pacing trying to think of what she could do now. She realized she had no choice but to bring them along and worry about the other part later. She looked at her watch it was almost nine o'clock. Everyone would be getting up soon. She looked down and saw coats of mud on her clothes "Let's head back to the house so we could get clean up before they get back."

Sun shined through the curtains in Scully's room. As she began to wake up she felt wonderful she didn't think she ever slept that well in a long time. She was under a heavy quilt and the more she moved the more cold air entered the bed. It took her a few minutes of waking up to realize and remember that she was not alone.

She felt him lying next to her. She smiled. He had been there all night. He fell asleep holding her. That was all they did. She fell asleep in his and loved every minute of it. She turned to face him. She was half sitting up looking down at him; she was still under the blanket. He was still asleep. She didn't think she ever saw him sleep that well unless he was in a coma or on heavy sedation. She chuckled as he started to drool on her pillow.

She felt like a teenager again. She couldn't think straight. She knew she loved Mulder they had been through so much but she didn't know what to do next. She was waiting for Mulder to make the move and he was probably waiting for the same thing. They were so unsure about each other's emotions and they would start getting hurt if they never say anything. But that would all change now, she thought.

As if on cue Mulder began to wake up. She was still smiling when his eyes opened. He couldn't think of a better way to wake up. "G'moring." he moaned as he began to sit up. She moved her hand telling him not to and he lay back down. "What?" he whispered.

"We're on vacation. We don't have to get up now.," she said with a playful smile that didn't show anything had been worrying her the night before.

"What time is it?"

She reached over him to the end table on the other side of him. "A little after nine." than she stopped to think. "What if Jean comes in to talk to me, or Skinner?" she asked letting all of Mulder's past concerns passed them onto her.

He looked at her with the look she had given to her earlier. She realized how stupid she sounded, and she laid back down in his arms. "Well anyway their across the building from us," he said to her face. She began to drift into sleep again when she heard a knock on her door. "Scully," she heard Skinner's voice outside the door. Mulder heard it to and together they jumped apart and out of the bed as her door opened.

"Wait a minute!" she heard the door stop moving and she literally pushed Mulder to his way door. She grabbed her rebound put it on quickly. "Come in." When Skinner looked at the people in the room Mulder was standing near the open door and Scully who had a look on her face of questioning why he had barged into her room. "Sorry, was I interrupting?"

"No," Scully said plainly, "We were just talking."

Skinner brushed off the thought he had just had about his two agents and was going to carry out his goal for coming to her room. "Sorry but Jean was running through the 'park' and fell. Peter thinks she might have broken her arm."

"I'll be down in a minute," Scully said trying to find her shoes. Skinner left and Mulder moved back into Scully's room. As she was bending down to get her shoes on she looked up at him with a look of amusement on her face, "Across the building, huh?" "Well there's always possibilities.," he said following her out the door.

They met Skinner at the end of the stair case. "She's in the living room." he said leading them into the room next to the library. Jean, who was even more covered in mud than she was twenty minutes ago. "Are you okay?" Scully asked Taking the wrist Jean had been icing into her hand for inspection.

"I'm fine. It's nothing the only problem I have is that all the men in my life are too over protective!" she ended cruelly looking over at Peter and Walter.

"I know what you mean," Scully said only for her to hear, then loudly announced, "She's fine, she just needs to ice it for a little while."

Jean gave Peter and Walter an all knowing look and stood up. "What were you doing out so early?" Mulder asked.

Peter wasn't sure how she would answer Mulder's question but whatever it was he would go along with it. "I was looking for the perfect trail to take a two day hike on," she said without flinching. The three FBI agents looked at her as though she was crazy and she just smiled. "You guys don't have to go. Peter and I can go by ourselves-"

"I'm not letting you go without me." her Uncle Walter interrupted. Jean just rolled her eyes.

"Well if he's going to go we should go too, Scully," Mulder said seeing more in Jean then she let on.

"You're kidding, right. You, me and the woods don't mix." she was referring to all the past nice trips to the forest that usually ended with them being quartered, in the hospital, or someone being sent to the hospital.

"Scully..." Mulder whined like he was a little kid. She looked over to Jean and without words she was telling Scully to come. She looked at Mulder again and sighed.

"I'll go," she said softly.

"What was that?" Mulder said to mock her.

"I'll go! But if we end up in the hospital your going to pay, big time." she yelled in Mulder's face. "So how far are we hiking?"

"Twenty-six miles."

"Twenty-six? Great," she said not believing what she was getting into.

"We leave tomorrow morning, early. We'll get the gear together tonight and we'll get a good nights sleep."

That afternoon Peter took Mulder and Skinner into town to pick up supplies that they didn't have. Jean was left at the house with Scully who was in charge of backing up the gear they already had in the house. "So Scully have you ever gone back-country before?"

"Not intentionally. I've gotten stranded out in the woods more times then I care to admit."

"Well I don't plan on ditching you guys so it should be all right." she almost laughed. "Well let me get you some hiking personal gear." They were in the warehouse that was packed with boxes. "You need some hiking boots. They should be around here, somewhere..."

She disappeared behind some boxes. She was gone for a few minutes when Scully got up to look for her. "Jean where are you?"

"Over here." Scully heard from one of the piles of boxes. "Follow my voice..." She began to sing a song 'til Scully found her. "Your good at this, it usually took people a while to be able to find me in the warehouse. Here," she said holding out a box, "this are for you." Scully began to try them on. "Good, they fit. Now lets go back to the house I'm starving.

They made lunch and were finished by the time the guys got back. "How was the shopping?" Jean asked handing them the sandwiches she made for them.

"All right, Skamey." Peter said then bit off more than half of the sandwich. "How was the packing?"

"Fine, I made a list of what I packed so far. I would like you to go over it with me just to be sure." The all managed to move to the kitchen table.

"Sure. How many tents are we bringing with us?"

"One," she said casually. She was looking down at her food when she spoke and didn't see the glares she was getting from her friends across the table. Peter was normal but the others could not believe what she was suggesting. "What?" she asked in confusion.

"One tent for the six of us?" Mulder said not too thrilled of being squashed in a tent with any of them, well maybe just Scully.

"You guys have been spoiled." she muttered before giving him the explanation. "Well unless you want to carry an extra tent for yourself. Believe me you'll be carrying enough as it is and Peter and I are aren't going to help you." She said with all seriousness and had the expression of a FBI agent. "Also it's going to be cold out there and you'll want to be sleeping smack up against the person next to you. You do have a choice and if you want your own tent I'll be happy to fish one out for you it's your back."

Day 4 5:30 a.m.

Mulder had decided against bring his own tent and was thankful that he didn't. Judging by the weight that was already in his assigned backpack. It was five thirty in the morning and Mulder was waiting alone for the rest of- what Jean started to call the team, to show up. Jean had walked him out there but had to go back to help Peter lock up the house.

He could see them moving towards him in the distance. It was easy to spot them because they were in a golf cart like vehicle. He saw Scully in the back seat; he spotted her by the color of her hair. They had stayed in there separate rooms. It was safer that way. The last thing they wanted was to truly get caught in the act- of doing anything.

The car stopped a few feet away from him and they all piled out like it was a clown car. "It's about time you guys got here," Mulder said unloading the other packs for the trip.

"Well, Mulder," Scully began, "I think it's your turn to wait for once." she finished as she pulled her pack on he back. She looked rustic on the clothes she borrowed from Jean. Her hair was tied back in a braid and her cheeks were pink from the cold. He couldn't keep from smiling at her as he watched her get ready.

He turned to see Jean attaching different items to her belt. She was dressed in safari gear that was changed slightly to account for the cold weather. Her hair was tied back in the same type of braid as Scully' s and she looked right somehow. When Mulder fist saw her he knew that she didn't exactly look right. But now she looked right this was her element.

The last item she attached was her tranquilizer gun. As she held it in her hands she became flooded with memories of the last time she had used it. She shrugged it off slowly and continued. She wasn't able to do that a few weeks ago. She grabbed the last thing out of the vehicle and began to speak to her waiting team. "Well is everybody ready to get moving?" they nodded and continued with her orientation. "Before we head out there are a few rules you guys need to know. First I need to make sure that you don't have any type of food or anything with an odor." They nodded again and she went on, "Okay well, I will be taking the lead and Peter will be taking the rear. I suggest that you stay between us. I only have three walkie-talkies so everyone gets a partner and watch out for you. Mulder and Scully you're together. Uncle you'll stay with me, and Peter can be alone. I know it may seem like we'll always be together but I hike fast and it's hard for me to slow down. Also the trail is old and I will mark where I have passed with these blue chips..."

Skinner watched her as she continued to prepare them. There was a weird half grin on his face as he began to think of his sisters He had seen his sister do this type of orientation before and now watching Jean brought back strange memories. It took a few annoyed glares from Jean to get him out of it.

"Okay let's get moving," she said after handing Scully the walkie-talkie. She turned away from everyone and started down the trail. She heard the footsteps of everyone behind her. She stayed ahead of all of them to work out all of her worries.

She was angry today. As much as she tried to forget what her uncle was doing. He was working for Krycek and according to the phone conversation she heard her uncle have with him the past night. He told Krycek everything. Deep in side her see knew he didn't have a choice and even deeper she didn't care about him trying to save her. He was working with the man that killed her parents. Then even deeper down than that she realized that it was just not for her but for Josh as well. She would do anything for him even give up what she was going to find. Her mind kept digging deeper and deeper until it drove her mad and she would start all over again.

Not even realizing it, about two hours had gone pass and she was walking very quickly. She heard her name being called for behind her and in her walkie-talkie. She stopped and turned around. She only saw trees behind her. She picked up the walkie-talkie and held it to her mouth. "Tiger to Pete what's going on?" she asked knowing perfectly well what he was going to say. She took a deep breath as she waited for the response.

"Slow down Tiger. If you hadn't noticed you lost your partner," he said knowing what had caused her to speed up. "What marker number, are you on, anyway?"

She looked down at the markers in her hand. The next number to come up was nine. "There are eight in the field. Where are you?"

"Number five. It's going to be awhile."

"I'll take a water break!" she said getting annoyed quickly. She clipped the walkie-talkie back to her belt and took out her water bottle. She took a big gulp of her water and found a convenient rock to sit on. She wasn't tired; she actually wanted to keep moving. She hated waiting around for people to catch up.

She stood up again began to pace. She didn't know what to do next about anything. The only thing that she wanted to do besides yell at her uncle was to hike. She needed to keep moving to the future to find what she needed to fine. She heard someone come up behind her. She turned and saw her uncle approach her. Her attitude stayed the same angry mood.

"I'm glad I caught up, I wouldn't want you to be alone too long." He smiled out of breath obviously from running to catch up. "You really hike fast."

"Have some water." she ordered turning away from him. She couldn't bare too look at him not yet. She didn't talk while they were waiting and when Peter reported he had just passed the ninth marker when she started hiking again.

Not too far behind them Mulder and Scully were going at a nice steady pace. Actually Scully was, and Mulder had to slow down to keep up. She didn't want to annoy Jean but she wanted to get back at Mulder for making her go. She would apologize to Jean later but right now she was going to continue to make his life hell.

Peter didn't seem to mind taking it slow. He walked far enough behind them not to intrude on their privacy. Jean had given Peter instructions to give them space. Peter didn't understand why Jean cares so much about them, but she connected strangely with people all her life.

Scully stopped walking for a second and adjusted her shoes. "You okay, Scully?"

"I'm fine, Mulder, I'm just a little tired," she said continuing to make him hike at her pace.

"Scully," he whined to her, "can we please go faster?" She smiled at him and gave him a simple shake of the head.

"Not until we eat lunch.," she said as he put his arm around her. "Fine I'll go a little faster!" she said running out of his arms and down the trail. Before he knew it he was running after her. He was laughing and smiling. He couldn't help it as he saw her smile back at him. For once he was truly happy and he would do whatever it took to keep it that way.

That night was quiet. Peter and Mulder played with the campfire as Scully and Skinner set up the tent farther down the trail. Jean had taken it upon herself to take care of the food-bear issue. As most people know bears are attracted to food and if you were going back country like they were it had to be tied up high in a tree. Jean was setting it up so that after they all had eaten they wouldn't be receiving any unwanted visitors in the night.

It had just turn to dusk and around ten thirty and they were all tired. When Jean joined the rest of her team around the campfire she went to the opposite end of the fire. Finally Walter had began to realize that Jean was acting worse than usual. The campfire was quiet and it didn't look like it was going to be broken soon so he thought this would be his chance to talk.

When he walked around to meet her she got up. "Well I'm beat. I going to go to bed now." As she got up Scully removed Mulder arm from around her and got up to join Jean.

"I'm tired too," Scully said to Mulder disappointment at her leaving him so soon. She would have stayed but she was really tired. Jean and Scully went down the road to the tent together. Skinner decided that he would talk to Jean in the morning. Jean attached her flashlight to the middle of the tent and they began to set up their beds.

Jean had fitted each person with a therma-rest sleeping pad. She inflated them and spread the sleeping bags over them. They were going to sleep next to each other and she made sure there was room for the guys before they fell asleep. They snuggled up in their sleeping bags. "So are you having fun Agent Scully?" she said with the last bit of sarcasm she had.

"I'm having the best day of my life..." she muttered as she drifted into sleep.

Day 5

Scully awoke to find a surprising but not unpleasant arm around her. It was still dark out. She could tell by his breathing in her ear that he was still asleep. She remained that way and even moved closer to him. She realized that he had probably had just moved this close to her in his sleep. But secretly she liked to think it was something more than that.

She closed her eyes and fell back asleep. It seemed like only a second passed in Scully's mind before she opened her eyes again. His arm was still around her. She began to focus her eyes to the light and realized that they were the only ones in the tent. She sat up quickly and moved away from him. She was embarrassed because everyone saw the way they were sleeping next to each other.

Mulder woke up and sat up to see her across the tent putting on her shoes. He was mainly confused. He hadn't woken up that whole night. He sat up confused why Scully would be in such a hurry to get up. "Scully?" he asked as he got out of his own sleeping bag not realizing how cold it was.

"I think we kind of overslept.," she said hurrying to get out of the tent. Mulder followed her out of the tent. He didn't exactly grasp what was going on but did so anyway.

They came out of the tent to see the rest of the group already started to eat breakfast. "It's good of you to finally get up. Now I can take the tent down." She said as she put down her food and walked pass them. But that wasn't before giving Scully childish looks. Scully just rolled her eyes and pretended like nothing happened. She didn't know why she felt so guilty. Nothing happened. But she still felt as if there was something wrong about being with Mulder. She took a deep breath, brushed if off and ate her breakfast.

The second days hike had gone about the same as the first one. The only difference this time was Mulder and Scully weren't behind on purpose. Jean was bolting through the trail like there was no tomorrow. Skinner was almost running to catch up with her. Peter was lagging behind as well but if he needed to he could catch up to Jean in a matter of minutes.

Skinner was walking as fast as he possibly could to catch up with her. There was no doubt in his mind that she knew he was working for Krycek. He didn't know exactly what she knew but he was sure she misunderstood exactly what was going on. He didn't know what he would say to her but he knew she wouldn't like it.

He would bring it up anyway. He had to make it clear to her why he was going to take it from her. He had no choice and when Jean actually listened to him she would agree with his decision. That maybe pushing it, but he could hope.

It was mid-afternoon Mulder started getting a bit pissed off while he followed Scully through the woods. She would talk to him and he didn't know why. He could see that she wasn't exactly angry but he really didn't know what to think. "We need to talk, Scully."

"What about?" she asked as if she was acting the same as usual.

"Why are you acting like we're strangers?" He stopped her in the trail.

She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She had realized that she was acting strangely. She closed her mouth and slowly started to walked down the trail. Mulder stayed where he was and just watched her

About two yards away she stopped and turned to look at him. "I feel like a teenager that has to sneak around.," she said honestly. Mulder still didn't move. "I'm sorry if I'm acting strangely. I just need a chance to think. To think things through, you know?" He nodded but still didn't move. She took a deep breath and began to walk down the trail.

When she had walked far enough for her to be blocked by a tree he ran after her. "Scully," he called and she stopped and half turned to him. He put his hand on her shoulder and half-smiled. "You know when I need to think I go for a run." She barely had time to smile when he grabbed her hand and began to run again.

They laughed as they ran. It was much like the day before they didn't think anything could go wrong...

Jean looked down at her map. She was almost there. It was less than a mile away. She stopped and took a water break. She knew her uncle was right behind her. She didn't care anymore. She hated having to hate him. She heard him coming and waited for him.

Skinner was surprised to see Jean waiting for him. Her body language was telling him that this was the time for him to tell her. He stopped where she was and looked in her eyes. He had planned out each word carefully but now as he looked at her he couldn't say what he wanted. "You know don't you?" he asked already knowing the answer.

"About your dealings with Krycek, yes." she admitted with a stoic look over her face.

"I'm sorry." he whispered and tears began to form in his eyes. "I don't have a choice but to do what he asks." She made a yeah-right look on her face and turned away. He put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "I'm doing this to save you!" He said louder starting to get angry.

"I don't need to be saved. I remembered the stories you told me up until last year about conspiracies and aliens. I figured out that all those 'stories' were true. Knowing what you know I would gladly give my life to stop them-"

"And you think I wouldn't do anything to stop them! I was going to die to keep myself from crossing over to their side! When they found that death didn't mean anything to me, they killed Jess and Joe! They tried to kill you. I not doing this for my own life, I'm doing this for you and Josh! Your parents died because of me. I'm not going to let you die or get hurt! Not if I can prevent it..." his voice started to fade the more he spoke. Tears were forming in her eyes and she couldn't look at him. "I'm sorry.," he said again.

He didn't have to be though. Jean had already put her arms around him. He did the same and held her close. She loved him so much that she couldn't hurt him anymore. She needed to blame someone anyone, because the people responsible for everything were untouchable. She closed her eyes and heard the voice in her head, Don't give up your close. She broke away from him and looked down the trail. She could see the out line of a cabin up the road.

They didn't have a care in the world as they ran down the trail. It seemed perfect that they would catch up with Jean any minute now. Then if out nowhere Mulder fell flat on his face onto the ground. Scully fell next to him but didn't hit the ground as hard as he did.

Scully didn't miss a beat. She stood up and held out a hand for him. "You okay?" she laughed thinking he was all right.

"No, my ankle," he moaned as he moved his leg out from under him to take a look at his ankle. "I think it's sprained."

Scully moved in for a closer look. He was right. She took off her backpack and grabbed her walkie-talkie of her belt. "Hey team, this is Scully," as she waited for a response she grabbed the first aid kit.

"This is Jean, what's going on?"

"Mulder, sprained his ankle."

"I'll come and help you out," Peter said as Scully looked around the area for the chip.

"I'm at marker number..." she looked around for Jean's marker, "Forty-eight!"

"I'll be there soon hold tight." She heard Peter say.

"When you three get together stay there, set up camp we'll come back to you." Jean's voice was heard.

"All right Tiger, I'll see you there." Peter said.

"I'll be waiting, we should be fine." Scully clipped the walkie-talkie back to her belt. She grabbed the first aid kit and opened it. She took out a chemical ice pack, a bottle of aspirin, and an ace bandage. She helped him sit in a comfortable position.

"Mulder, take some aspirin.," she said throwing him the bottle as she removed his shoe. She held the dry ice pack in her hands. She twisted it and she heard the crack of the inner bag. It turned cold in her hand. She pressed it against the swollen part of his ankle. "Can you hold this here for a minute."

"Yeah," he said as she pulled her hair out of her face. The braid had fallen out when they were running. Mulder could see a shadow of dirt on her face and in her hair. There were a few small cuts on her face and neck. Even dirty she was still beautiful. She was on her knees dusting off the dirt that clung to her clothes. For a minute as he watched her, he forgot about the pain.

Scully grabbed Mulder's backpack and put it under his sprained ankle. She than took off the ice pack and wrapped the foot in the ace bandage. She put the ice back on his ankle. She slumped down on the ground next to him, with the first aid kit still in hand. She looked at his face. "You got a cut right here.," she said as she moved closer to his forehead.

She took out an alcohol wipe and with a sting she wiped it clean and applied a Band-Aid. He smiled at her as she cleaned him up. "You really know how to have a good time Mulder. How come I feel like every time we go out in the woods I always have to take care of your injures?"

"I'm sorry," he said giving her his normal puppy face that she always had to forgive. "Anyway that root I tripped on came out of nowhere!" She started laugh.

"Of course, Mulder. How else would a perfect man like you trip on something that had been in the ground who knows how long before you were born has been sitting in the ground," she said mocking him.

He put his arm around her shoulders and she rested her head on his shoulder. She looked up at his face as he began to stroke her cheek with his thumb. They looked down into each other's eyes as they had done so many times before. As if they knew what was in the other's mind, their faces moved closer and closer. Soon their lips were almost touching. And finally they did.

Neither of them knew how much they wanted to be together till this moment. The kiss was soft and gentle. It filled both people with a small tingle inside them. It reluctantly broke off and they looked at each other for a moment. They both smiled and tried it again.

Jean continued down the road to the cabin with her uncle close behind. She reached the door and took the key out of her pocket. She looked at her uncle before she opened the door. He spoke first. "You should go in alone."

"I was planning on it." She didn't know what she would find when she walked through the door but she knew she had to do it alone. She pushed open the door without saying another word. The room was dark she grab her lantern before entering. She closed the door and looked around.

There wasn't much in there except for a few crates and boxes. She looked through them all carefully and realized they were empty. Her first thought was that "they" got here before she did. Don't give up, the voice said inside of her.

Look under the floor! The voice commanded her. With the flashlight she scanned the wood floor for any loose looking panels. She found are in the corner at the other end.

She moved to lift up the panel. The voice inside of her was telling her that this is was it. Underneath the panel there were two boxes. She opened the first one.

Inside she found an artifact. It was a three dimensional half sphere surrounded by a metal rim. It looked like one piece of a bigger artifact. It looked alien but she had seen it before, but she wasn't sure where. She touched it and held it in her hands. The half sphere was emerald green and the whole thing was about four or five inches in diameter. This isn't right! She heard the voice say.

She opened the other box. It was the same identical piece! She picked this one up and immediately she knew where she had seen it before. Cambodia. That's when they found it. The day she was attracted by the Tiger. It was in her backpack. That's it you have the key! The voice sounded excited and happy for the first time.

She now knew what was going on. She looked at the fake artifact. It was her parents plan to give them the fake. For all she knew the other ones they had were all fakes. She knew what she had to do.

Jean emerged from the cabin 15 minutes after she had gone in. Skinner could see she was holding something wrapped up in some paper. She handed it over to her uncle; "To save our family.," she said looking ashamed. As she walked down the trail back she didn't say a single word.

That night everyone was quiet. In the morning they would head back to the house and then back to DC. Jean announced that she was going to keep the house here in Alaska and Peter was going to take care of it.

Mulder and Scully were too involved staring at each other to notice the evil stares of anyone else. Jean felt terrible. She didn't know what to do now. She had no plan and no idea what would come next.

4 Days later Washington DC

Although Skinner had been with Mulder and Scully in Alaska he still had no idea that their relationship had advanced ever so slightly. So they resumed business as normal. They were going to take it slow like they started, they would only advance when they were ready.

The only one who knew about them was Jean. They didn't even have to tell her she figured it out in about two minutes. Jean spent most of her time in her room in tears, or that's what Skinner thought. She wasn't in her room crying. She was really studying the artifact. She sat on her bed with it. She wasn't going to let anyone know about it till the voice told her to.

She could keep a secret, she always could.

Unknown to Skinner he turned in the fake artifact to the consortium. They would figure it out for a while when they learned what they were doing. To Jean it wouldn't be too much time and now all she could do was wait for the guidance from the voice.

Title: Teenage Girls Series #4: Toys & Games
Author: Xandra
Spoilers: Avatar, SR 819, and probably any Skinner episode. I don't know anymore if they're not too big anyway.

Author Notes: This is the last story with Jean Skinner-ames but she will be back. Also because of school the next story may take longer then expected to come out. Also I would like to say that in my universe, Biogenesis has not happened ::yet::. It will though but since they don't say the date anymore it's going to be taking place in October or November. So I have the whole summer months to have most of this story-taking place. I also made up the town of Curtuan and Jadwin-Howard so doesn't try to find them. For missing chapter's of my story go to: http://xandra1013.tripod.com/xandrasx.htm

Distribution: Anywhere just tell me first.

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully, Skinner, and anyone else from the show is not mine. They belong to the all mighty: Chris Carter!

Classification: X, Skinner-ANGST, MSR, minor Scully-ANGST

Summary: Jean life is falling apart and the only thing that could save her is finding the rest of the device.

The room was filled with smoke. Christopher Jackson coughed as he entered the dark room that over looked the lab. Jackson was carrying a stack of files for his boss, he only saw the back of his head over the chair in which he could see the whole engineering lab. He gave the papers to his boss who had just lit up another cigarette.

"Is this the report?" he asked Christopher as he took the papers out of his hands.

"Yes, sir. The project is ahead of schedule. We should be operational in a few hours, at the latest." Christopher said sounding very proud of himself and his team.

"Good." the Cigarette Smoking Man said without expression at all. He continued to watch the people working in the lab.

"What do you think this device is?" He looked down at the devise that was being fitted together.

"A weapon, or some kind of communication device."

"Are those the only options, what if it's something different..." The Cigarette Smoking man turned to the man next to him. Jackson was a dreamer, he knew but he never thought that he could be so ignorant to what this had to be.

"It's not," he said breaking the dream that Jackson had created for himself.

"Clear out!" Jackson called out before they turned on the device. Everyone cleared out of the inner lab that was surrounded by a glass window so everyone could see in. When everyone was out of the room, Jackson sealed the door. He looked up to the observation deck where the man with the cigarette in his hand gave him the signal to begin.

Jackson flipped the switch that would connect the final piece to the device. The team had determined the green piece was the power source, once the mechanical arm was put in its place in the center of the assembled pieces. He looked down at the blue prints. It was shaped like a kite. Right now the middle had a four and a half circle missing.

Everyone was breathless as the mechanical arm picked up the circle and placed it in the device. The circle clicked into place and...

Nothing. Nothing happened. The piece was a fake! The Cigarette Smoking man stood up and looked down at Jackson. Jackson looked scared as if he would never see another day. But he was correct; CSM thought as he too another puff of his cigarette.

Outside the Office of Dr. Leah Snider July 14, 1999

Jean Skinner-Ames hated not having her own car. She had to wait for Scully to pick her up from her appointment with Dr. Snider. Scully had kindly offered to pick her up, because she was the one who crashed it, but that's another story.

Jean still had to go to Dr. Snider, because her uncle would not tell Krycek that she knew. It was to keep her safe. She knew how to keep lying to Snider, but she could think of how to keep it from Scully or Mulder.

There was another secret welling up inside of her. This secret she could not trust to anyone. There was something inside her. It wasn't just the voice anymore. Since she got the artifact she would do things and not realize it. Before, she would choose to listen to the voice now it would act on it's own. She couldn't explain it and she didn't know what to do about. She wouldn't even tell Aurthy and Lippy.

It was then when Scully's car pulled up next to her. Jean faked a smile and hopped in the car. She put her worries to the back of her mind, and started a conversation with her friend. "How are you doing?" Scully asked pulling into the street.

"I'm fine," she said cheerfully, "So how's Mulder?" she asked just to see a flush on Scully's cheeks.

"He's fine," she said trying to hide the excitement in her eyes. Jean had made a deal with them not to say anything to her uncle about their growing relationship. So far they had not had the time to progress too far in their relationship. They had to keep their professional responsibility while working, and their last days in Alaska were spent in close proximity of Skinner.

"How's your family?" she asked and Scully knew where she was heading.

"If you're hitting if my family knows about Mulder and myself, my mother knows."

"What does she think?"

"She asked me why didn't it happen sooner." She laughed and Jean started to forget about her current dilemma.

"What about Bill?" Jean asked, getting the hard question out of the way.

"He doesn't know, yet." She knew just like everyone else that Bill would freak out if she and Mulder ever got together. After her last conversation with her brother she was not going to volunteer any information about her relationship with Mulder to him. When she got back from Alaska her brother called and apologized. She accepted it and moved on.

Walter Skinner parked his car in the parking lot for his building. He sighed as he got out of the car. His life had not gone as he had once planned. He was doing things and working with people that he would spend his whole life trying to defeat, but because of getting into the wrong place in the wrong time he would never have what would be called a normal life.

He was lost in thought and didn't notice the man who was following him to the elevator. "Guess who?" the man, said pinning Skinner up against the wall. Krycek turned Skinner to face him.

"What do you want?" Skinner said not even trying to fight back.

"You know what I want!" Krycek slapped him across the face. Skinner's face had a look of confusion to Krycek's claim. "You gave me the fake artifact! I giving you one last chance to give me the real one before I kill your niece."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I gave you the only one I had. What are you talking about?" he asked with sincerity.

Krycek released him and stepped back. "Who would your sister give it to? Who does she trust?"

"I don't know! I can't help you with this, if you hadn't noticed I didn't know her too well." He thought about how he managed to avoid her when she came home this last time. He blamed it on work but if he knew it was going to be the last time he would see her he would have made the time.

"You have one last chance to find the artifact or I will destroy your family." He disappeared into the parking lot. Skinner quickly made it up to his apartment and washed quickly.

He was unsure of what to do next. He needed to talk to Jean. She probably knew exactly what was going on. He came to the realization that she didn't trust him anymore. He looked down at his watch. She should be home anytime now.

When he was about to take a seat he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to reveal some one unexpected. It was a boy who looked about his niece's age. He was medium height and had a big smile on his face. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Ti- Jean Ska- Skinner-Ames." the boy said and Skinner figured out who he was.

"Are you Peter Tree-Starr?" Skinner asked hoping that he got the name right.

"Yeah, you must be her uncle, Walter?"

"Yes I am. Please come in." Walter tried to remember if Jean had said anything about him coming to town. Peter's smile faded when he sat down on the couch. He was nervous and embarrassed in some way.

"Is Jean here?" he asked uncomfortably.

"She should be home any min-" He was cut off by the sound of the door opening again. Jean wasn't paying attention as she walked in .She didn't notice the boy on the couch as she dropped her backpack next to the door. She was going to walk of to her room with out even speaking to her uncle. When he spoke to stop her. "Jean!" She had been not talking to him for a while. She had managed not to talk to him and down right ignore him for days.

"What?" she asked getting annoyed. He had agree to let her act that way when they were alone. But when they were with other people she needed to act like there was nothing wrong between them.

"Hi." she heard a soft sweet voice in the living room. She turned and saw the boy standing behind her uncle. She practically ran into his arms.

"P'tree!" she said as he put her arms around her. They shared a gentle kiss and they just smiled at one another. "What are you doing here?"

They broke apart and he grabbed her hand in his. "Well I missed you. Come on I haven't seen you in almost a year. So I gave Tree and Starr my terms. Basically, I said that if they didn't let me come here I would be a big pain in the ass for the next five years." He chuckled and smiled at her with a strange grin.

"I missed you," she whispered to him falling back into his arms. She closed her eyes hoping, what she called "The Voice", would not take this moment away from her. She sensed that it would let her have this moment to herself. ::I don't want to hurt you:: the voice whispered to her.

They sat next to each other on her bed. Jean was not sure exactly why he came but she was glad he did. He looked at her trying to think of what he could say to her. He was worried after he received a rather strange letter from her. "So why did you come? It's very unexpected. It's not like you."

Peter was confused. He took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to Jean. "Your letter is why I came. You asked me here." Now Jean was confused.

She quickly opened the letter and read it. It was from her it was her stationary but she never remembered writing it. She knew what was happening. The Voice wanted to tell him what was going on. Jean could tell the Voice felt he was familiar to it. She wished she could communicate with her but all they heard from each other were faint. She never knew for sure what the voice was saying to her.

"It's not safe to talk here," she said as Peter got even more concerned over the fact that she wasn't acting like herself.

They took a walk in the park. Jean only spoke after she looked over her shoulder the tenth time to make sure they weren't being followed. She sat down at the nearest park bench and sighed.

"Tell me, Tiger, what's going on?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

"You might not believe me when I say it but-"

"I'll believe you, I trust that you're not making this up." He lied, but not in a bad way. Sometimes she would overreact and misinterpret what was going on.

"Well it all starts with how my parents died-by the way this will go a lot faster if you don't interrupt me." he nodded and she continued. She told him about Krycek and her Uncle and about the artifact, but not about the Voice. She omitted its part in the story.

P'tree just sat there with his mouth gaping open. In the logical part of his mind he though she finally cracked. This sounded like one of her stories. He looked in here eyes and saw she was serious.

She knew what he was thinking and she looked deep inside of herself to fine the other life inside her. For the first time it heard it's thoughts. ::Please tell him, please tell him, please tell him, please tell him:: she heard. It didn't sound like the strong voice that was there before. It was softer, frightened almost. But she new it was the same creature. "Tiger? Skames?" she heard another voice that broke her out of her bond.

"Hmm," she said forgetting where she was. "Oh, sorry," she said embarrassed that she would fade out while he was talking to her. "What were you saying?"

"I was saying," he was annoyed, "what aren't you telling me?"

She sighed and closed her eyes trying to think of how to explain the voice. There was so much she didn't know about. So many pieces were missing from the puzzle. Jean closed her eyes. She focused to find the Voice inside her head. After she found it she traced it back to its origin. And like so many times before she was blocked. "Ever since," her eyes were still closed, "I was attacked by the Tiger, I've heard a voice in my head that wasn't mine. It's starting to drive me insane. Before it just told me what I should do, like a suggestion box, but now it's doing things with out my consent. It has control over my movements, we share it, but I can't get the control back unless it gives it to me. That letter, I didn't write it."

"It did," he said softly hoping that she really hadn't gone insane. "That's why you're surprised I came."

She nodded, "Usually I know what it's doing, it' like watching yourself from across the room. But I must have been asleep."

"Well, have you told anyone else about this?" he asked as he began to pace in front of her.

She shook her head, "No, no one. No one would believe me. Probably not even you." She knew before she told him he would not believe her right away. He was a lot like Scully. Not believing anything until it was 99.9% backed up by physical proof. Well, she though, he'll have to deal with my 99.9% of hearsay evidence. And the artifact. She could show him the artifact just yet.

"Just tell me." And she did. She told him everything that had happened to her since her parents died. Peter was trying to think of what he could say to her in a way not to think he had just dismissed her story. He was silent for almost ten minutes and Jean needed to hear his answer.

"Say something." She almost ordered him.

"What am I supposed to say, Skames! You give me this ridiculous story and expect me to believe it whole-heartedly! What do you want me to say? I'll say it!" P'tree was surprised by the hostility in his voice. Jean wasn't, however. She knew that Peter would act this way. Peter got up a paced for a minute before calming down. "Sorry," he said looking ashamed.

"It's all right. Anytime I say it to myself it sounds crazy."

"No kidding," he said sitting down. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. He smiled as he saw that certain spark in her eyes that told him that she was telling the truth. "I believe that you believe this is real. I, may not believe this is real but I will stand by you all the way."

Jean just started laughing. "You think I've gone insane," she said and by the look on his face she knew she was right. She stopped laughing and sighed.

"Skamey..." he started and didn't quite know how to finish it. "Skames... Tiger... Jean you know I'll follow you anywhere. I believe you believe it will be that way forever. But it just sounds to strange to me."

"Will you give me a chance to prove it to you?" she asked standing up and starting to pace.

"What?"

"Will you let me prove it to you?"

"Jean," he whined, "how are you going to do that?" he asked doubting her for the first time in his life.

"I can prove it, I just need time."

"How much time? I'm only here for six weeks."

"That should be fine," she said sitting down next to him again.

"You're serious aren't you, Jean?" he asked with a smile and she nodded. He gave her a big hug and she felt herself fall back in her mind. She felt as the Voice took over and shut her out of the situation.

Peter didn't know what was going on. He saw only the girl he had known for thirteen years. He looked into her eyes again and fell off the bench.

Jean took this moment where the Voice put it's guard down to take back her body. "What's wrong?" Jean said helping him up.

He looked into her eyes again and sighed in relief. He didn't know what had happened, but something was different a minute ago. The sparks in her eyes were different. "Nothing," he said with a smile. "I just a little tired, I guess."

There were no fights or any new lies. They were all surprised by Jean's relaxed attitude this evening. Her uncle was particularly happy because he hated how their relationship became. As much as he wanted to he to think she was over it, he knew that would never happen.

But even with all the thoughts that were going on in their heads it didn't ruin the relaxed night they had.

That night after Peter had gone back to his hotel Jean couldn't sleep. She couldn't think of anything but how to prove that she was telling the truth. She wouldn't risk being caught with the artifact. She had to think of some other way.

She looked at her clock. It was two in the morning and all she wanted was to sleep. She turned over in her bed to face her door. There was a little bit of light shining though, which came from her uncle's room.

Over the past few months Jean noticed that his sleeping habits were just as bad as hers were. She knew he wasn't asleep, and she knew that she would never get to sleep either. She got up and opened her door.

Jean was almost blinded by the light. Her eyes adjusted quickly and she walked sleepily into her uncle's bedroom. He was lying on his bed reading a book. He wasn't facing the door so he didn't see her come in. He didn't move at all and Jean thought he might actually be sleeping. That was until he moved to turn the page in his book.

"Hi," she said softly as she sat down at the edge of his bed by his feet. He wasn't to surprised to see her.

"Hi yourself, Jean," he said as he put his book behind him and sat up to look at her better. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Couldn't sleep. I haven't been able to sleep and I noticed that you don't sleep so I thought you needed company." She didn't look as tough now as she did during the day.

"I'm just doing some reading." He lied he had barely paid attention to the book he had read a million times and was thinking about how he could ask her about the fake artifact. But he wasn't sure how to word it.

She moved onto his bed and sat down next to him. "What ya reading?" she asked grabbing the book from behind him. "'Julius Caesar' good play." She flipped though the pages and chuckled softly.

"What?"

"I don't know. This book just applies to us and the people we know."

"What do you mean?"

"You might call me crazy but I believe that Mulder would be Caesar, stubborn but loyal to his beliefs." He uncle laughed. "Scully would be Mark Antony, loyal to her Caesar until her bitter end. And you..."

"Who do you see me as?" He knew she didn't want to answer but she would if he asked.

"Brutus. Although I would say that I don't believe Brutus suits you too well. He had honor and stayed on one side." She knew it was harsh but that's how she felt. "But you have no choice."

"Who are you?" he asked brushing off her comments because he felt the same way.

"Though he has a what I think of as a small role, Artemidorus. The one who know the truth but doesn't get a chance to help anyone with his information."

The question was tugging at him even more. "Where is the real artifact?" he finally asked.

"They found my surprise." She smiled. "I don't know. I finished what mom didn't. She never wanted them to get there hands on it! And I will give up anything to continue to keep it from them!"

"At what cost, Jeana?" he asked and she was surprised to hear her name spoken like that, it's what her father called her. He did so knowing it wasn't her name. It had been years since he had spoken it. "Would you risk your life?"

"Yes!"

"But would you risk Josh's?" ::Damn it! ::, She thought ::he always has to bring Josh into it. ::

"Your right. I'll consider helping you. Good night," she said and left with out another word. Walter was left alone knowing how much pain was in her heart and how she hated to lie to him.

July 17, 1999

Jean drove though the streets of Washington DC not knowing exactly what she was doing. Jean was driving from street to street trying to find... something she didn't know what she was looking for. In reality it wasn't Jean that was looking it was the Voice. On intuition the car stopped dead in the middle of the street. As the horns honked at her in annoyance. She parked quickly and got out. She began to walk down the closest alley. She was dressed in a black business suit and her hair was tied in a tight bun. She looked like she was thirty. Jean couldn't figure out why the Voice would decide to dress this way. Jean couldn't do anything. She could only sit-back and watch someone controlling her entire body.

Christopher Jackson ran for his life though an alley in DC. He didn't know what had happened. He thought he was going to be killed. Instead he was taken to someplace in Washington DC. He had never been here before and had know idea how where he was.

He had barely escaped from his cell when the men started after him. He had thought he lost them a few miles back but he couldn't be sure.

He had gone half way down another alley when he saw someone who looked like she had been waiting for him. She was wearing a suit and looked like one of the people he was escaping from. "Who are you?" he called as he approached her. "I ask the same," she said and Jackson stopped dead in his tracks. He squinted to see the face and as he looked his eyes widened in shock.

"Skinner?" The Jackson asked as if he had seen a ghost. "I thought you were dead?" he asked moving in for a closer look.

::He knew Mom? ::, Jean though as she listened to the situation.

"No, not exactly."

"You are Jean?" he asked understanding Jean's body nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"You are Christopher Jackson?" she asked knowing she was correct.

"Yes, you remember me?" He was surprised; they had last met when she was seven.

"They will kill you. You are trying to escape." Jean noted that the being controlling her body didn't no how to speak well, but was getting better with more practice. "How did you..."

"Can't help you but I can help you do the right thing by helping me."

"You're not Jean."

"Yes and No. We are together; we are two parts of one. Call me Altiger." ::Is that your name? :: Jean asked but got no response.

"What do you want?" he asked. He was afraid and started to back away.

"What's mine." He was about to run when Altiger grabbed him and pinned him to on of the buildings. She was about to choke him. "Where is it?" she asked and by the cold look in her eyes he knew what she wanted.

"Philadelphia. The Harold Gordon Monroe Foundation Building. Fourteenth floor, lab 45. But you won't be able to get up there."

"Why?"

"There are eleven check points to get up there. Key cards, rental scans, fingerprint ID's, the works. It's a fortress." She let him down and began to think. Altiger reacted out to Jean. ::We need a plan. You're better at this then me. That's the only way you could help me. :: "Your parents had it already to go, but that information is now lost with them."

::It's taken care of. :: Jean told her hoping she was enough like her parents to finish what they started.

Altiger turned back to Jackson. He was a friend to Jean's mother and for his help she ode him something. She pulled a small vile of clear liquid out of her pocket. She handed it to him. "This poison is quick and painless. It's civilized compared to what they'll do to you." With that she walked away and disappeared.

It took Christopher a minute to realize what had happened. He played with the vile and realized that it was his best option, but not until he was face to face with the men who were going to kill him. Jean was no longer the girl he saw in the hospital room when she was seven. He didn't understand what had happened to her but he didn't doubt he did the right thing.

Perry Ellis Restaurant July 17, 1999 8:13 p.m.

Mulder and Scully sat quietly next to each other in there booth. They were invited out to eat out with Jean and Peter. This was the first time since they met her that she was late.

"So Scully, have you met the little sister's boyfriend yet?" Mulder said jokingly. Scully gave him the look. One time Scully had said that Jean felt like a little sister and Mulder wouldn't let her live it down.

"No, I haven't. But when they get there don't act all big brotherly like you always do around her. If you hadn't noticed you act like she's your sister too. Believe me the over protective big brother act is very annoying when you're with your boyfriend," she said continuing to joke and Mulder shook his head thinking she was wrong.

"She can't be both of our sisters. That would mean that we're like brother and sister," Mulder said just to start another game with her.

"Well for a while I thought that you were like a brother." Scully played back.

"I hope you don't feel that way anymore," he said trying to sound concerned by her remark. "I wouldn't want you to feel like you were kissing me like kissing Bill."

"Well let me see how different it is." She leaned into kiss him. As they kissed she felt the same type of spark as the first time they kissed. The world seemed to melt away around them leaving them alone with each other. They would have stayed that way forever if they weren't interrupted.

"Great way to keep a secret. What if I brought my uncle with me." Jean said as Peter entered the booth seat across from them.

"Well, Skames, sometimes it's worth getting caught."

"Mulder, Scully this is Peter," she said.

Mulder turned to Peter. "Peter nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet," Scully said extending a hand to Peter.

"It's a pleasure," he said trying to make the best impression. He knew that they had been good friends to Jean since her parents died. They all sat down together for a nice meal.

"Peter what is your last name again?" Mulder asked as they looked at their menus.

"Tree-Starr."

"Interesting name it sounds-" Mulder was going to go on but Peter interrupted him.

"Believe me it's nothing. My father's last name is Starren and my mother's last name is Treen. It's kind of like Skames they just didn't want to give me as long a last name. It even says Tree-Starr on my birth certificate." Mulder made an understanding jester.

Jean's mind was on anything but the conversations at the table. She did even tell Peter her real motives for going out to dinner with Mulder and Scully. She needed information and only Mulder could get it for her. She couldn't get it from her uncle because he would want to know what she was going to do next.

Yesterday's events had been very knew for her. Altiger had never been in control that long. In fact it was scary. She hated not being in control and she didn't understand what Altiger was doing. Jean noticed that when Altiger takes over she becomes stronger. Jean could never pin a man like Christopher Jackson. He was twice her size and six inches taller.

She waited through half the meal before she found her opening to ask Mulder. He got up after his main course and went to the bathroom. Jean waited a minute then got up herself. She waited outside the bathroom door for him to come out.

Mulder was surprised to see Jean waiting next to the door. "What were you afraid I would get lost on the way back to the table?" Mulder asked sarcastically.

Jean didn't even break a smile. "We need to talk."

"What is it?" he asked moving off to the side where they couldn't be heard.

"I need some information." She pushed a piece of paper into his hand. Mulder quickly read it.

"What do you need blueprints for? And why wouldn't you go to your uncle?" Mulder asked her wondering why she was acting so strange.

"I can't tell you right now."

"Then when?" She didn't say a thing. "Is this about the real reason we went to Alaska?"

"I can't say." But he could see she was surprised that he put the pieces together. "I will tell you but after I get the information in my hands." He nodded realizing this was the best deal he would get. "When can you get the information by?"

"If I go into work tomorrow, which I probably will, I should be able to get the prints by Monday. I'll call you when I do."

"Good. Thank you." She looked back at the table and saw Peter and Scully locked in a nice conversation. "We should get back to the table, before they notice we've been gone too long."

All through dinner Mulder kept thinking about what happened. Mulder had not told Scully about Jean's request. He didn't know why but he had a guilty feeling about not telling her. Jean did not say that he couldn't tell anyone but he thought that was a given. The question of what it could be was burning through him. Scully was right when she said he'd do anything for the truth. He could feel that she knew something that was important to him and his quest. **

It seemed strange to Jean but she always seems to have a plan. She wouldn't reveal the entire plot to anyone until it was all set up. She kept thinking of what Altiger did the other day. She could read Altigers thoughts now and she knew Altiger wouldn't have hurt Jackson. Jean was scared because she didn't know how to control Altiger as Altiger did to her. She would never know how far Altiger would go before she would go too far. Jean was entering another sleepless night. Sunday would be quite a long day. She hated waiting but it would give her more time to refine her plan to get... She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be getting. Only Altiger knew. Every time Jean would ask she would be flooded in her mind and she couldn't understand what they meant. The plan couldn't start fast enough for her. She would be able to get more done in the next couple of days because Peter had taken a trip to Florida to visit his grandparent. He would not be back for a while which gave her a chance to work alone.

**

Walter Skinner Residence July 19, 1999 10:12 A.M.

Jean was quickly getting dressed. She had overslept and Mulder was all ready in the elevator on his way up. She pulled on the pair of blue jeans closest to her. She decided that she could just leave the blue flannel pajama shirt on, which looked like a normal shirt anyway, and ran for the door.

She got there just as she heard a knock. She opened the door to reveal a very angry Fox Mulder. He pushed his way in and stood in her living room. He said nothing as he waited for her to close the door. She turned to face him and waited for him to speak.

"What do you need this for?!" he asked her which was more like he was accusing her of lying to him. He held up a folder of papers in the air. "What did you find and then I'll tell you?" she asked dryly, reaching for the folder but he pulled it away.

"Do you know how hard it was to get the real files. I had to go through the Lone Gunmen and even they had trouble with it."

"But you got them," she said as a rebuttal

"Yes I did. And I want to know why I should just give these security blueprints to you, not knowing what they are or what you need them for?"

"Mission Impossible," she said simply and sat down in the chair. She did not seem at all disturbed by Mulder's reaction to this situation.

"What?" he asked confused by her statement.

"Mission Impossible. You've seen the show or the movie haven't you?"

"Yes, both of them." Mulder sat down in anticipation for her explanation.

"Well, they had to get into high security building and so do I." She took a deep breath and began to recite a very planned out speech. She spoke with ease because she had swept the room for bugs after her uncle left. "My parents found something on one of their expeditions. Actually they were sent to find it."

"Fine what?"

"The HGM Foundation took it from them. Rightfully they were my parents and I want them back. I was never told and anyone who knew what it was is dead. They might be extra terrestrial. It's in that building and I'm the only one who could get to it."

"You can't it's too dangerous." Jean rolled her eyes. "You're sixteen Jean what if I told your uncle about this!?"

"I can't just leave this alone!"

"I'll not saying you will. I'll go."

"You won't make it! I'm the only one who can. Plus you have too much at risk. I'm a minor, my uncle is the an AD at the FBI, I'll be fine."

"Jean these people won't arrest you, they'll kill you!"

"So, I will die. I should be dead already! It's a fluke I'm still alive."

"I'll go, I'll do this for you. Its part of my quest. Government conspiracies remember."

"You won't know what to do. If I don't go neither do you. I have information you don't have that's vital to the mission."

They stared at one another for a few minutes and she knew what she had to do. "I won't do it. If I had the papers it would make me feel like I have control. I want to do what my parents had time to do. I won't do it because of Josh. With me gone he's at even more risk. But if I don't go neither do you."

She grabbed the folder from him and walked onto the balcony. Mulder followed her. Jean took the lighter off the table.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting an end to this." She held the file out in the air in her left hand and lit up the lighter. She moved the lighter under the papers. They caught fire quickly and she dropped them to the floor. They both watch it burn.

Jean had lied through her teeth to Mulder. She omitted all of the important information. She had not told him the information she had found the day before.

She knew that her parents knew about where the artifact was being held and decided to do some research. She looked though all of the stuff she had brought from Curtuan. She also called Aurthy and made her and Lippy look through the boxes that were still there.

Jean looked though the rest of the picture frames. She had found the map there maybe her parents hid the whole plan their pictures. She looked through them all and had found nothing. The only other thing she had brought from her home was the couch. She had opened the couch and found what she was looking for.

Now she had to get back the information that she had burned to get Mulder off of her case. He probably didn't realize it but he gave her a way to get the information back. Surely the Lone Gunmen kept a copy of it.

She knew Mulder most likely told them not to give the copies to her, if he knew that she was lying to him. But they weren't going to deal with Jean they would be dealing with Altiger.

"I'm coming!" Frohike yelled as he made his way to the door. He saw Jean on the monitor. He opened the door. "Come in my young friend," he said and she pushed in past him.

Byers and Langly were sitting at the desk. "What can we help you with today?" Byers said walking to her.

"I need the information you gave Mulder!"

"We can't do that." Langly offered.

"Why not?"

"We promised Mulder we wouldn't."

"I don't care what you promised Mulder, I want them now." Altiger reached out her hand and grabbed Byers throat. Langly and Frohike looked shocked. "I want the information now!" This time they couldn't give it to her fast enough. "Tell no one!" She let Byers go and he fell backwards onto the floor.

"Don't blame Jean, she had no part in this." Altiger added as she moved for the door.

"Who are you?" Byers asked once he got his voice back.

"That's none of your concern," she said as the door slammed behind her.

By the time Altiger was in the car Jean had already been given back control. She still couldn't believe what she was doing and she hoped that she would never have to do something like that again.

She was going to leave town tomorrow after Peter got back. She told her uncle that she was going back to Curtuan with Peter so she could finish her movie. It was a good cover because he uncle wanted her out of the house anyway.

She felt guilty not telling the people she loved that she was most likely going to die in the next few days.

Walter Skinner looked at the clock next to his bed for the fortieth time. It was almost three in the morning and he still hadn't fallen asleep. He had stopped trying to read himself to sleep an hour ago.

He was running out of time to save his family. He was doubting if he could actually accomplish that goal. He felt someone else in the room. He turned around quickly and saw Jean standing in the doorway.

"Sorry." She moved into the dark room. He sat up and she sat down right next to him.

"It's all right. Are you all right?" he asked seeing traces of tears in her eyes.

"I was thinking about mom and dad."

"Don't worry. I'm going to make everything okay, somehow." Totally unexpected of him She leapt into his arms giving him a big hug. He put his own arms around her still confused at the situation at hand.

This wasn't a simple hug like the ones they did to show that they were a happy family. She gave him the kind of hug that she gave him before she entered the cabin.

"I love you. I forgive you," she whispered in his ear and Walter thought he was dreaming. She got up and left the room.

The entire scene had felt like a dream. The room was exactly the same as before she had come into his room. She came and left with little physical change but the mental change that occurred made him feel, well good for once. He did not know what brought on the change but for right now he didn't care.

July 21, 1999

Peter didn't even have the chance to get out of the plane before Jean dragged him to the car. Before he knew it he was half way to Curtuan, PA. He had lived there for a short time and was happy he was going to see his old friends Lippy and Aurthy again. In fact he was going to be staying at Lippy's house while Jean was staying with Aurthy.

He wasn't sure why he was taking this trip. He listened to Jean explanation that she thought he would like to see some old friends but he couldn't believe that. Jean was growing almost mad now. She was unpredictable, she was forgetting things. Doing things that are completely out of character. If she weren't so paranoid he would have been able to tell her uncle, or even Mulder and Scully.

He knew she was suffering from some kind of multiple personality disorder but she was too aware of it. He knew her for so long and loved her so much that he could do nothing but stick by her side. He watched her as she drove and she didn't even pay attention to him anymore. She just drove and he could feel that he might have lost the one he loved.

Jones' Residence Curtuan, PA 10:31 P.M.

In Jean's mind this place never changed. The people still were kind, the streets were still clean. The Mayor was also the gym teacher and the doors of the school were painted lime green. Well, that was compliments of the graduating class of '96 when only two of them wanted to be remembered. The town always respected the pranks because they had never hurt anybody. Jean's class had had not done anything. The day they had planned to execute the prank was the day her parents where killed. She was amazed on how much one event could effect a small community.

When she had greeted her friends and people she had thought of as family she had been fighting with herself inside. Altiger had been trying to tell her something but she wouldn't listen. She knew everything was safe. All of the things she needed for tomorrow's mission were safely locked away.

Jean was getting ready for bed at Aurthy's house. She was staring at her face in the mirror and she didn't see herself anymore. She hoped that her plan would work but she feared that it would end with her being killed. She hadn't told anyone yet. She was going to tell Aurthy, Lippy and Peter what she was going to do in a few hours when the boys sneaked back over to the Jones' house.

She had an overwhelming sense of dread when she walked out of the bathroom .She thought it was worries about the coming day. Aurthy was sitting on her bed and Jean joined her. Jean felt comfortable in her room. She had lived there doing the past year and she still had some of her things there.

"Are you all right Jean, you look sick?"

"I'm fine, really. I just..." ::I hope she'll be all right, They should be hear soon. Why can't I tell her? Daddy can be strange sometimes. :: Jean heard in her head. It wasn't Altiger it was in Aurthy's voice. Jean just stared at her. Now she really thought she was going insane.

"What?" she asked and Jean knew even without reading her mind that Aurthy was hiding something from her. ::I think she knows! ::

"Who's coming?" Jean asked and she let the voice from Aurthy's mind go into hers. ::I can't tell her that her uncle is coming and that he knows something's up. :: "What does he know and when is he coming?" Aurthra was shocked and confused she didn't know how her friend knew so much. But she couldn't keep her mind from drifting to the answers to her questions. ::I don't know...They'll be here soon. ::

Jean ran to the window as she heard a car pull up. She saw her uncle and Agent Mulder get out and knock on the front door. "You should have told me! I thought you were my friend!?" Jean ran out of the room and Aurthy followed. Jean ran into the room across the hall and opened the window. "I'm not going to let them take me!" Jean pulled herself up and jumped out the window.

Aurthra couldn't breath. She ran to the window as she heard a thud when Jean's body hit the ground. She was scared to think of what had happened to her friend. She saw Jean running off into the woods.

Jean looked out the window. She looked down at the backyard. Jumping out of this window would most likely kill her. Unlike her old house it didn't have anything to hold onto as she climbed down. Jumping was her only way out.

She remembered every time Altiger had been in control she was a lot stronger and had better reflexes. For the first time she let Altiger surface. Altiger had no fear of jumping and did so easily.

Her feet hit the ground perfectly. She barely flinched as she kept her balanced. She was about to run almost immediately into the woods behind the house.

"She jumped out the window and ran into the woods." They didn't have time to ask how she had found out but they had to find Jean before it was too late.

Hal, Mulder, and Skinner had split up in the woods. They tried to be as quiet as possible but Jean had an advantage. She could hear their minds. She watched from a branch of a tree and looked down on them. Right now Jean was in control. But she didn't know for how long. She was fading in and out but hearing the voices was a constant.

After fifteen minutes of hiding in the trees the voices stopped and she heard their real voices. Altiger was no longer taking over her. She looked down and saw them directly underneath her. She pulled herself even more into the shadows. She stood up on the branch keeping herself plastered against the trunk of the tree. She also did it because the branch got weaker the farther out she was. She was grateful she wasn't scared of heights.

The night was hot and she couldn't help but start to perspire. She didn't know exactly why because she was only wearing gym shorts and a tank top. With one arm still around the trunk of the tree she used the other hand to wipe off some of the perspiration. First her face and then her neck then ran her fingers though her pony tail. She rubbed her fingers around her neck. She didn't realize it before but it was kind of sore. She was tired but what could she do as she waited up a tree for them to leave her alone. As she touched her neck there was something wrong.

She figured out what was wrong. Her necklace, the tiger claw, was not around her neck. She looked around the field of her vision. She had had it on when she jumped from the second floor, so she must have lost it in the woods. She didn't see it on the dark ground, which wasn't surprising. She then looked at the branches that she had climbed up. At the branch she pulled herself up, her necklace was caught on a small branch. She sighed heavily as her stomach began to ache.

She would have just let it sit there and she would grab it before she left the area. But this time she couldn't. It was hanging right over Mulder's head. If she didn't reach for it, they would surely see it and then find her. She only had one chance to get though this. She thought that since it was dark she could grab it without them seeing. The only light was coming from the houses a little more than ten yards away.

As she got ready to reach for the necklace, she was hoping that she could get away with this. While she was in the tree she had time to think of why they were here. The one thought was that Langly, Frohike, and/or Byers told Mulder what she did and he told her uncle. ::They think I'm insane.:: She knew she was right.

She moved out as far as she could on the branch. As if anticipating her, Mulder, Skinner, and Hal moved so that the necklace was in the middle of a circle they formed. ::Shit! What the hell am I going to do now? :: She slowly grabbed some pieces of bark off the tree and threw it off into the distance. It hit the trees a few yards away. Jean almost wanted to cheer out loud when they moved to see what made the sound.

She took that moment to grab the necklace. She held it tightly in her hands and pulled herself back up onto the branch. She took a deep breath and put the necklace around her neck. That's when it happened. She felt pretty good after she grabbed her necklace that she didn't notice that she had begun to lose her footing. "Shit." She muttered as she fell to the ground.

She had one stupid thought when she hit the ground. ::Maybe they wouldn't notice. :: Well they did. They came running over to her. She was face down in the dirt and her body was still in momentary shock. Altiger hadn't taken over like she had hoped. She jumped up as soon as she could and found herself surrounded.

Her head was pounding and she couldn't make out what they were saying. There was a high pitch buzz in her ears. She turned round quickly seeing which person was where. She was in a ready to attack pose she had picked up when she took karate. Hal was behind her to the left, Mulder was to her right, her uncle was right in front of her face.

She looked into her uncle eyes. She started to feel faint. Her head was jumble of images that she could not focus on. As she felt her body fall, she felt anger and hatred. kept her self-steady and attacked her uncle. She couldn't stop herself. She beat him until he fell to the ground. And once he had fallen to the ground she began to kick him.

Mulder and Hal did all they could to hold her back but she kept breaking free. Jean couldn't stop herself; her mind had chosen this moment to lash out at the world. And she blamed the first person she could. Mulder and Hal manage to pulled her back long enough for Skinner to get up.

He couldn't speak he didn't know truly what was happening to his niece. He had thought she had forgiven him. But he knew it wasn't her. Jean was suffering from some kind of multiple personality disorder. She wasn't responsible for this. He wiped his hand against his cheek. He looked at his hand and realized he had wiped a cut she had given him on his face.

As Walter recovered from the attack, Mulder attempted to put handcuffs on her. Jean was violently trying to get away but Mulder was triumphant. He pinned her arms behind her back. Jean's head was spinning as she was dragged to the car. She didn't understand what they were saying. She could swear they were speaking a completely different language. She was still pulling her self away. She thought that she needed to get away from them at all costs.

They had almost gotten to the car when she forcefully raised her hands up and knocked Mulder in the face. She took that moment to run off down the street. She needed to get to Peter. He would help her. She didn't know how much time had passed when she arrived at Lippy Pennet's house. She knocked on the front door. She thought she could find a safe haven behind the door but she was wrong.

All she found was Lippy's father, Dr. Roy Pennet, waiting for her. She saw that he had a syringe in one had that he tried to hide behind him. He said something she couldn't understand. And she backed away slowly at first but stopped when she saw Mulder and her uncle pull up in their car. To the left Hal with Aurthy close behind her. Dr. Pennet was behind her with Lippy and Peter to her right. She kept hearing them talk to her but all she heard was gibberish. She still struggled as Walter and Mulder tried to grab her. She kept pulling back and was trying to get to Peter. She hadn't noticed it but Roy had injected the continence of the syringe in her back. She felt the tranquilizers take effect and she fell for real this time.

She felt them move her to the car. Mulder laid her down in the back seat and slammed the door. She didn't know where she was going. The last thing she saw as the car pulled away was Peter's concerned face outside her window.

Philadelphia General Hospital July 22, 1999 3:04 A.M.

Scully walked quickly through the hallways of the hospital. She was a mix of anger and concern. She got a call around midnight from Mulder telling her that Jean was being put in the psycho ward of the hospital. Mulder hadn't given her all the information. As she rounded the next corner she saw Peter, Aurthy and Lippy loitering in the hall.

"Where is Mulder?" she asked them.

"He's in the room with the doctors. He'll be here in a minute." Aurthy said. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. So did Peter and Lippy.

"Great. What are you guys doing here?" Scully asked, trying to calm down.

"She's our friend. Where she goes we go." Lippy said.

"Do you know what happened?"

"We were hoping you knew." Lippy said and Peter took the moment to move farther down the hall. He seemed like he was about to beat something up. If out of nowhere he slammed his arm against the closest wall. Aurthy went over to him and tried to calm him down but he just pushed away.

After five minutes of waiting Mulder and Skinner arrived. Mulder pulled Scully off to the side. "What the hell happened? And why didn't you tell me?!"

Mulder took a deep breath and began. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but it happened so fast." Scully wasn't impressed. "I got a call last night from the Lone Gunman..." He related what the Lone Gunman had said went on between them and Jean. "So after hearing that I immediately called Skinner. We agreed that the best course of action was to go to stop her from getting herself killed." He then finished with the events that occurred when they tried to talk to her. "The doctor's think it's a multiple personality disorder. She's become violent and they put her in a straight jacket. She won't talk to anyone."

Scully took a minute to think it all though and then found one thing in his explanation that didn't make sense. "What do you mean 'getting herself killed'?"

Mulder had just gotten the question he had hoped he would never get asked. "Scully..."

"I want an answer, Mulder, not an excuse." Scully argued.

"Jean needed me to get her some information. She knows something that she's not telling anyone, something that could be important to the X-Files. I didn't know what she needed that information for but if I got it she would tell me what she knew. When I found what she was planning I couldn't let her go though with it. Eventually we both backed down and decided to leave it alone. She burned what I found but I had told her where I had gotten it before she burned it."

"Uh-huh." Scully buried her face in her hands trying to get a handle on the situation. "Mulder, why didn't you tell me? I don't know about you but that type of display from a sixteen-year-old isn't exactly normal. If you knew there was something wrong with her you should have told me!"

"She didn't want me to. I thought she needed some kind of release to get through her feeling that she had power over the men whom ruined her life. I felt the same way and I still do. I never thought that she would go through with it. We made a deal: if she didn't go I wouldn't go."

"If you were in her place what would you do?"

Mulder closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He hated it when Scully was angry with him. This time it was worse because he blamed himself as well. This wasn't one of those things that was only about him. He was selfish but Scully always pointed it out. He tried not to be self centered, it was part of a deal they made with one another. He had to remember that he is not the only person on his side, and she had to be a little more of an open mind. So far they both weren't living up to their deal. But this time it was different. This wasn't about himself. This was about a sixteen-year-old, whose parents were murdered. She was obviously a lot more disturbed by these events a hell of a lot more than she's let on. "I probably would have done what she did." he admitted after a long moment of silence.

"All right for now, but remember I'm still angry." Scully replied and moved quickly away from him. She walked over to where Skinner was talking with the doctor and Jean's friends. Mulder followed her. "...but I have to see her!" Peter yelled at the doctor. He didn't believe it until this happened but maybe Jean wasn't really going as insane as he thought.

"I'm sorry I can let you do that." Dr. O'Malley replied as if this boy was a bug he wanted to get rid of.

"Why?"

"It's after visiting hours and she needs her rest. Also it's hospital policy that only family members are allowed in-"

"Dr. Steven O'Malley please report to room 208. Dr. O'Malley to room 208." A voice said out of the loud speaker.

"I'll be back soon to talk about this," he said then turned his heels and headed towards where he was needed.

Peter realized that all of a sudden he had gotten paranoid. Everyone was out to get them. As he looked, peering through the glass window of the door and through the window behind so that he could see Jean's face. He couldn't hear her uncle reassuring him that he would be able to see her soon. His mind was with Jean.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed. She was staring out the window back at him. Or at least he thought that she was. She was so full of drugs that he couldn't be sure if she was looking at him or a figment of her imagination or both. But he knew she could see him. In a minute he snapped back to what was going on behind him.

"...Peter!" Aurthy almost yelled at him.

"Hmm," he said turning back to his friends.

"As Walter was saying," Scully noticed Aurthy had no problem with using anyone's first name, "He spoke to our families and Lippy and I are going to check into the hotel around the corner. Why don't you come with us?"

Peter didn't say a thing. He sat down on the bench outside the door. "Thanks Aurth, but I think I'm going to stay here till they let me in."

"Mulder, can you take them to the hotel? I want to stay here with him and Jean." Walter said and then looked at Scully, "Scully if you don't mind I would like you to stay here for a while."

Scully nodded and Mulder helped Aurthy and Lippy round up there things. He started them down the hall then turned back to Scully. She looked at his face and saw that he was sorry for not telling her. She just looked away. He lingered for a moment hopping she would turn back to him but he knew she wouldn't. He continued to walk down the hall hoping he had not put their relationship in danger.

She could here what everybody in the area was thinking. There was the nurse right outside her room who was keeping anyone from coming in, beyond another door she heard the minds of her uncle, Peter and Scully. Her uncle's mind was filled with the repetitive "How could I let this happen?" And Peter's was much the same. Scully was trying to think of her most convincing story to get into see her.

She would be glad to see Scully, but she would prefer to see Peter much more. As much as she wanted to, she would say nothing to Scully, Mulder or her uncle. Peter was the only one she would speak to. Even with the set back she was still coming up with another plan. She had a few advantages over everyone else. One: she could read their minds, which is almost always a plus. Two: they all think she doesn't know what's going on around her.

The only thing she was having trouble with was the fact she didn't know what time it was. There were no windows and she didn't know if it was light out yet. She hoped it was because that would mean that someone would be in to see her soon.

As if on her command the doctor, with Dana Scully, walked into her room. "I would like to be alone with her." Scully ordered him.

::Only because she's her doctor...:: O'Malley thought closing the door behind him.

Scully was on her knees looking at Jean's unchanging expression on her face. "Jean it's me," she said putting her hand on Jean's cheek. Her face was cold to the touch and Scully couldn't keep the tears from forming. "Can you hear me?" Scully was waiting for any type of response.

Jean wanted to respond. She wanted to tell her friend that she was fine, but she couldn't. Scully just watched her for a few minutes before standing up. Jean got a look at her watch as Scully pulled a chair up next to her. It was nine in the morning and she realized that she had not moved in just about six hours.

After a little while Scully started to talk to Jean. She knew it didn't matter what she said but she didn't want her to be alone.

It wasn't till that afternoon when Peter pushed his way into Jean's hospital room. Scully was still in there asleep in the chair. He was quiet not to wake her. He looked out the window and saw Mulder pacing back and forth.

He put a hand on Scully's shoulder and she jumped awake. She looked up at him. He smiled, "Mulder is out there. I think he really wants to talk to you."

Scully stood up and turned to Peter. "Well I'll let you two be alone." She said rubbing her eyes as she stumbled out of the room.

Peter put his hand on her face. She was freezing. He carefully pulled her back towards the back of her bed. He pulled the covers over her and he sat down next to her. "Hey Jeanie," he said putting his hand back on her face. He still couldn't believe the unexpected change of heart from Dr. O'Malley "Will you speak to me? I know you can, you're just stubborn." She didn't change.

Inside Jean was smiling at the way Peter was treating her. Everything was going exactly as she planned. When she was sitting there she was improving her telepathy. Altiger was helping her develop them. The last time Dr. O'Malley came in she had "influenced" his mind to let Peter in. She had practiced the technique on Scully earlier that day. Jean hopes it will work on Peter the way she wanted it to be.

"I love you, Jean," he said and looked into her eyes. That was her chance. Peter was overcome by images in his head. Flashes that he couldn't understand or interpret at first but some became clearer as he analogized them. He saw everything she knew including the location of the artifact, the mission to retrieve the other pieces and where the information for the building is.

For a few minutes he doubted what he saw in his mind. But when he looked into her eyes he could see that she gave the images to him. ::Help me. :: He heard her voice in his head.

Without even another thought he spoke, "I'd do anything for you. Now sleep, I'll do as you asked," he said then headed for the door. ::Thank you. :: He heard as he left. He smiled and headed out to find what she asked.

Peter needed to get out quickly. He knew there would be plenty of questions concerning why he was leaving so soon and he didn't want to be slowed down. He slipped past Walter Skinner, and didn't have to work hard to get past the softly arguing Mulder and Scully. He made it through to the waiting room and found whom he wanted.

Lippy and Aurthy looked up as he came. "Are you all right Pete?" Lippy asked gesturing him to sit down with them.

"Ya, I'm fine," he said then regrouped. "Is Jean's car here or at the hotel?" he asked using some of the insight that Jean had given him.

"It's right outside. Why?"

"It's hard to explain...," he said as they followed him to the car. "It will be easier when I get the proof." Even though they had no idea what he was talking about but they followed him anyway. He didn't waste anytime when he got to the car. He went to the back seat, ignored the big pot of dirt, and pretty much ripped up the upolsery on the seat. He put his head in and pulled out a big box. He didn't even open the box before jumping in the front seat of the car. Finding the box was enough proof that she was right, and that he had to follow her plan. Her turned it on and said to Lippy and Aurthy "I need to get to the hotel."

Luckily for Peter, Jean had told Aurthy and Lippy parts of the whole story. They had opened everything up and spread it around one of the rooms of the suite. They had brought up the box and the potted plant that was in the car. "Where did she get this stuff and why did you make us bring up that annoying pot?"

"From what I got Skinner and Ames, her parents. They were planning to do what Jean wants to do. Look, these ID's were originally for them but Jean changed her mother's and put on her picture. I think I could do the same with her father's."

"But what where's the artifact?" Aurthy asked starting to put the things back in the box in case someone came in unexpectedly.

"Ah, well that's where the plant comes in," he said with the same amount of excitement Jean got when one of her stories all fell into place. Peter went over to the plant and basically ripped it out of the pot. He smiled as his hands went through the dirt. Lippy noticed that Peter had caught a hold of something. Peter grimaced as the object got stuck in the pot. He pulled it out a little too hard for his taste because he was scared of hurting it.

He almost fell backward when he pulled but luckily Aurthy was right behind him. He had pulled a once white cotton bag out of the pot. He brushed it off and opened the bag. He looked like a kid in a candy store as he pulled it out. "Here's the artifact," he said holding it up in he air.

Aurthy and Lippy couldn't believe their eyes. Aurthy walked up to Peter took the artifact from his hands for a closer look. It was in her hands and Aurthy could feel its power. She handed it to Lippy to see if he felt the same thing. The look in his eyes was enough to tell that he felt it.

"It's amazing isn't it?" Peter said taking back the artifact and putting it in his backpack.

"So what's the plan?" Aurthy said changing her attitude to the one Jean had written for her. In her movie. Lippy did the same.

"We have to get her out of that hospital tonight. But we have to get everything ready first. We have to prepare for us to go on this mission the second we get her out of there."

"She needs to know were coming, we should warn her." she agreed.

"We can't. They're watching her. But she'll be ready and so will we."

Philadelphia General Hospital 3:04 a.m.

She could feel them coming. She knew their minds well enough to know they would be here very soon. She wanted to laugh as she heard what they were thinking as they were trying to get to her. But Jean had other things to worry about. She was trying to keep everyone who was in their way preoccupied. She caught a break when the nurse and her uncle that were outside her door had fallen asleep.

As they came to the outer door she closed her eyes to make sure that her uncle and the nurse would stay asleep. Before she knew it Peter was looking down on her. She opened her eyes and for the first time in two days smiled up at him. "I knew it," he said as he helped her up.

"You knew what?" Jean said as she got up. Her voice was different but she hadn't spoken for about 24 hours now. Aurthy and Lippy didn't react to her immediate recovery. Aurthy handed her a gym bag. "So I'm going to prove it to you?" he nodded eagerly.

"Here, change into these. Lippy, Peter, watch the door." Aurthy said to them as Jean opened the bag and pulled out her black pants suit. As she began to change she noticed that her friends were also wearing the suit they wore in same type of things she was about to put on. She knew why. The outfits they wore made them look older and they could be taken more seriously.

She was ready to leave five minutes after they got there. Peter set up the bed to make it look like she was still there before they left her room. They moved quickly so they wouldn't be spotted. Jean was having no trouble trying to fit in again. Sure inside she was almost to the point where she was the evening before but now she could control it.

They jumped into the car and for the first time Jean let Aurthy drive. It was pouring outside. Jean found it fitting. She grabbed the box and her backpack that Peter had packed for her. Jean needed to get ready on the way to the HGM Foundation. She fitted herself with her tranquilizer gun and all the keys and maps of the building. She was reaching for the last map when Peter grabbed it from her. "You're carrying enough I'll take this."

"You're not going with me Peter. I won't let you, it's too dangerous." She continued to argue with Peter as she handed Aurthy a hands free long-range walkie-talkie. "There is an extra walkie-talkie in the glove compartment just in case.," she said breaking from her conversation with Peter.

"I don't get one?" Peter asked as they pulled up to the side street. She opened the car door and looked back at him.

"I thought you were coming?" she asked with a smile. She knew from the start that he would be joining her. Peter smiled and got out of the car after her into the rain. Jean swung by the front seat before she left and told Aurthy to only move unless they were spotted. Jean and Peter headed for the front door of the building.

Before buzzing in she looked over at Peter. He looked like he was in his late twenties. She imagined she looked the same way. Considering Christopher Jackson mistook her for her mother. "You ready?" He nodded, "Remember let me do the talking." She buzzed for the security guard.

The door opened a minute later. The security guard was twice as big as Jean and Peter. Peter was taken aback but Jean didn't flinch. "Can I help you?" He said leading them to the security desk.

"Yes," Jean began, "I'm Dr. Sonya Parker," she pulled out her ID that said she was cleared to go anywhere in the building. "I'm here to check on my project on the 8th floor."

"I haven't seen you here before, Dr. Parker," he said skeptically taking her ID. Jean said nothing. "Sir, can I see your pass."

"Dr. Salvatore," Peter said as he handed it to him. It was identical to hers. The guard typed the ID numbers into the computer. As the information came up he got a look of excitement on his face. "Well Dr. Parker, Dr. Salvatore do you have you work paper..." Jean didn't know what he was talking about.

She looked at him and saw his hand move to his gun. "Yeah," she said reaching into her jacket. "I got my paper right here!" She said pulling out her tranquilizer gun and lighting fast pressed it into his arm and pulled the trigger. He fell to the floor.

She picked up his gun as Peter hand cuffed him under the desk. "Let's go Pete, we don't have much time."

They went to the elevator and pressed the up button. "We have to go to the 8th floor not the 14th because you can't get past the security on any of the higher floors. We'll have to go through the air ducts." She tucked the gun, she had taken, into the small of her back and handed Peter her tranq gun. She clipped the walkie-talkie to her ear and spoke into the microphone. "We're in the elevator. If anything happens out there keep us informed." She heard the tone of confirmation and went on.

"You got this whole thing planned out didn't you?"

"Mom and Dad did." The elevator came. They went in and Peter pressed the button for the tenth floor.

The moment the door closed Jean took off the black suit jacket and started unbuttoning her dress shirt. Peter turned around embarrassed and confused at what she was doing. "Oh turn around, Peter. I'm wearing a tank. You could see more of me when I'm in a bathing suit." She was right she was still wearing a black ribbed tank top. "The less you wear going thought the air duct the better." She put the clothes in her backpack and Peter followed her lead except he was wearing a white T-shirt.

The door opened on the 8th floor. Fortunately for them the only other guard on the building was not on that floor, but unfortunately they weren't on the floor they needed to get to. "We need to find room #0845," he said looking at the room numbers and the blueprints. "That should take us exactly four floors below to find the rest of the artifact." She nodded as she came to the door.

She saw a vent next to the door. That one was big enough for them to get in and she prayed the others would be the same. She tried to open the door but it was locked. "It looks like your parents were going to pick the lock. "Peter said reading the little notes on the plans that Skinner-Ames had made. Jean smiled again as she rummaged though her backpack. "What are you getting?"

"I'm way ahead of them." She pulled out a standard FBI issue lock picker. "I stole this from my uncles desk before I left." She unlocked the door. "Looks like it came in handy. The other doors we open will be key-cards, which we don't have." She opened it and walked in.

They closed the door behind them. It was dark and Peter turned on his flashlight. The room was big and filled with desks. It looked like a normal office building. He shone the flashlight around until they found the vent. "Let's get moving."

Walter Skinner awoke suddenly. He had a weird feeling coming over him. He saw the nurse at her station playing cards and decided to go in and see Jean. As he approached her door. The feeling increased. He went over to her bed. Immediately he knew what was wrong. She wasn't there.

He ran out of the room to the nurse. He was screaming. "Where is she?" and things of that nature. The duty nurse called security as Skinner took out his phone and called Mulder at the hotel.

"Mulder." a sleepy Mulder answered his phone.

"Mulder, Jean is missing. Are they still there?" He was referring to Peter, Aurthra, and Lionel. It took a minute for Mulder to answer.

"They're not here, sir." he finally answered.

"Damn it! I think they took her to that building she had you find out about. Can you get here now? I need to get there."

"I'll be there in ten minutes," Mulder said then hung up the phone.

Skinner went back to the panic of nurses and other hospital staff over their missing mental patient. He went over to the nurses' station where the monitor for Jean's room was. He rewound the taped for about an hour ago. He saw Jean's friends enter the room and then her leaving with them. She was walking perfectly.

He slammed his hand down on the desk and headed for the door. He knew what she was planning and he couldn't let her do it.

The air vent was getting stuffier by the minute. They where climbing straight up and there weren't many foot holes to keep their balance. They at least had some experience in climbing. When they were younger they would climb trees or mountains depending on what was the closest. But never did they suspect that the would be climbing this.

"How much farther?"

Jean counted the floors they already passed. We have four more left," she said pulling herself into one of the side vents. "We'll rest for a minute." she called down to him. They sat there catching their breaths. Jean kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong from this point but she would roll with the punches. She didn't stop just for Peter she had stopped because Altiger was slowing taking control, again.

Somewhere else in the building

"We lost her." Krycek said upon entering the Cancerman's office. "She left the hospital and her Uncle didn't know about it.

"That's why I'm here. This building is her target and if you check on our guard downstairs we will find she is already in the building."

"We'll get her.," he said turning to leave.

"No. Let her go to the artifact. She has brought us the missing piece. We will grab her after she has gotten all the pieces, and then, you know what to do."

They had one more floor to climb up and Jean found that she could no longer keep control of herself and Altiger took over fully again. She began to climb faster and left Peter in her dust. She was in the lab a good four minutes ahead of him. She jumped out of the vent and stood up in the dark.

She turned on the flashlight scanned the room. She caught a glimpse of a display case at the far end of the room. Altiger ignored the struggling Peter and went straight over to it. She stopped dead about a foot before reaching it.

Peter called softly out to her as he pulled himself up into the lab. He knew the Altiger had taken over. When Jean had projected the images into his head, she had also showed him how to see the signs. He didn't know how he had to act around her.

He walked quietly up behind her. He looked at what she was looking at. He didn't know why she wasn't moving. "What's going on? The pieces are right there!"

Without moving Altiger answered, "It is not. They are fakes."

"The pieces have been moved. There is a new security guard downstairs. We have guards outside Lab 45 waiting for her." Krycek told his boss.

"Make sure you take her in good health. There's something about her that we need to fine out."

"Of course."

"We can't let you go in now. You can get her killed!" Aurthy yelled at Skinner and Mulder as they tried to get past her and Lippy.

"She could get killed no matter what we do." Skinner argued.

"We can't let you do this..."

Jean was quiet for a long time by Peter's measure. She seemed to be lock in concentration and Peter didn't want to bother Altiger. He was confused on how without even touching it she knew it was a fake. But then again Altiger wasn't normal.

She opened her eyes and turned to Peter. "Peter?" Jean called out to him. Peter knew it was Jean because the voice had all the emotion the voice carried.

"Jean, that you, right? Not that-"

"No! It's me." He heard her take a deep breath. "One thing I've learned was Altiger isn't good at planning then she is at doing. She can't make a decision, but I can and she can carry it out."

"So you have a plan?"

"Yes." She pulled something out of her bag. He couldn't see what it was except it had a green glowing light in the dome. He assumed it was the artifact. "It will lead the way to the other pieces." He realized that the lights were in the pattern of the floor plan and there was another line showing the way to get there. It was right down the main hall. He could see that this was the most important piece of the device.

"That's cool. How did you know it could do that?"

"I didn't." holding the piece in her left hand she pulled out the gun she had taken from the guy downstairs. She reached for the door.

"Wait shouldn't you tell Aurthy that this is going to take longer then expected?"

"I did. She can here everything I say."

"Oh."

She was going to open the door to the lab when she stopped and moved away. "We can't go out that way, they're out there." He didn't question her. "They're waiting for us to get out there in the main hallway. Let's go back in the vent and move left into the secondary hallway." **

"They're going into a vent?" Mulder asked after hearing Jean in the walkie-talkie he had taken from Aurthy. For the first time Aurthy looked like she could kill him.

"Give that back!" Aurthy tried to grab it but Mulder pushed her back.

"Can we get to them?" Skinner asked as he held Lippy back.

"I don't know where they are," Mulder said. "How do I talk to them, Aurthy?"

"You don't. Only I know how to and you will never find out."

"What should we do?" Mulder asked Skinner.

"You keep monitoring Jean. I'll put these kids in the car so they don't get away."

Jean's plan worked. They made it to they secondary hallway that ran parallel to the main hallway that had all the guard in it. They had to be careful as they made their way down the hall.

Every few yards there was space where they would be seen. They made their way with little trouble. They came to the last stretch. There was only one more passage left that would bring them back to the main hallway. She peeked her head around the corner to get a sense of how many guards were out there. When she was satisfied she moved back in the safe zone where Peter waited. She pulled the walkie-talkie out of her ear. "She should have checked in by now. My uncle must be there, this is useless.

"There is about five yards to the passage way for us to cover before we get to the main hall." She whispered. "There are seven guards on this floor that we have to take out before entering that room." She put the piece in her backpack and took out the extra tranquilizer gun from her bag and traded it for her own that Peter held.

"I thought you were going to use the gun?" he asked getting used to the grip of the new tranq. gun.

"I don't want to hurt anybody. Permanently I mean."

"So what do we do now?"

"I have a plan..."

They had gone over the plan twice and waited for them to be completely relaxed. Before starting what they couldn't stop. They only had one chance and they didn't want to blow it.

They positioned themselves on each side of the passageway. Each ready to fire in a seconds' notice. "On three. One, two... three." She called and they moved halfway down the passage.

Two of the guards spotted them "Freeze!" They screamed as they ran to get Jean and Peter. Jean and Pete waited for them to get closer and fired. The two guards fell to the ground. Jean and Peter stayed where they were for the next batch of guards to come running down the passage.

Jean looked over and Peter. They could just about read each other's minds. They stayed in a ready to fire position. They heard the voices of the mean running down the main hall trying to find out what happened with their friends. Jean held up three fingers, then pointed two to the right and one to the left. This was their signal. Since Jean could still read minds she decided to use it to her advantage. There were three guard coming all together and how many and where they were coming from. Peter nodded and waited for them to show up.

This time hitting their target caused almost no stress at all. Peter hit the guard on the left and Jean had no trouble hitting the two to the right. "You always had good aim." Peter said as they went all the way down the passage quietly stepping though the sleeping bodies.

"There are two more guards on this floor," she whispered, "their guarding the door we need to get to. They have orders not to move. We could shout them both but we need the one on the left to get into the lab."

"What could make him help us?"

"His life." She took out the real gun she had never wanted to use. She put the safety on the tranq. gun and put it in the small of her back.

"I thought you never wanted to use that?" Peter asked finally understanding how dangerous this situation really was.

"If I do my job right, I won't have to. We'll go on three." She counted to three and ran out into the hall. Before Jean could do her job Peter had to do his. Peter was about to shoot the guard but he froze. Jean was moving forward not noticing his hesitation. The guard pulled out his gun and threatened them to stop where they were.

Jean looked at Peter out of the corner of her eye. "Peter come on shoot him. It won't hurt him and I can't," she said so only he could hear. The guard was right in front of them and if he wasn't out of the picture right know the mission would go to hell.

Without thinking she pulled the gun out of his hand and pulled the trigger. Even with one hand her aim was good and the guard was down.

She tossed the tranq gun back to him and held the gun on the other guard. She completely ignored Peter and he thought that Altiger might have taken over. "You open the door or else I ::will:: kill you. She said as stoic as she thought Altiger would have said it.

The guard couldn't move quickly enough for her. The gun was right up against his head. As the door opened Jean reached into her pocket and pushed the tranquilizer dart into his arm. She walked in to he room. Peter followed, he was worried about what had happened back there.

The bright lights were on in the room and the device was right there. It was on a table all put together all she had to do was insert her piece in the center.

As she was getting the piece from her backpack Peter decided to speak. "I'm sorry about what happened back there."

"It's fine," she said as she concentrated on getting the piece into the right spot. Jean was distracted and didn't care about anything that happened before.

The piece she held looked wild with the green display shining against her face. It almost seemed excited like the being inside her...

As she was about to place the piece in when it occurred to her. Altiger was the being living inside the tiger that attacked her. Al-tiger. She felt stupid as she finally put it together. ::Al, what could that stand for?:: She would find out soon. She placed the piece in anticipation.

Both Peter and her saw the rest of the pieces light up as the piece connected itself with the others. They fussed together. "It's beautiful." Peter said having seen so many things that were thought to be lost forever.

She knew he was right but her destiny wasn't finished yet. She had one more step but she didn't know how to get through it. "Yes it is," she said then turned to him and turned him to her. "I'm going to do something that I have a 50/50 chance of living through." She gave him one long kiss, thinking it might be the last she would be able to give him. Once she put her hands on the green display dome she would be confronted with Altiger. That would be the battle for her body. She stopped the kiss by pushing him as far away as she could.

As she placed her hands just above the device ready to put them down on it. Peter was going to pull her back when she placed her hands down. He couldn't move as a green light filled the room followed by a burst of energy that pushed him to the ground. He sat up and saw the beam floating around Jean like a force field. He was scared to touch it.

"She has the device?!" The Cancerman scream outraged at the concept that a 16 year-old could out smart him. He ran out of his office to ambush the girl himself. Krycek followed with one of the guards.

Jean felt as if she was spinning. Everything was a mesh of colors. She knew things were there but she was moving to fast to process. Everything went black and she felt as if she was flying.

The seen changed and she was now she was floating with the clouds. She looked down at the planet below her. It wasn't earth it was so different. She couldn't even tell the reasons why. She passed an Alien City and flied back into space.

She came to a new planet that she recognized. It was Earth. She was being brought down to on specific place on the Earth. Cambodia. The place where she had first joined with Altiger. Closed her eyes.

The next time she opened them she was standing in the exact place she was when she was attacked nine years ago. The light from the sun peered thought the trees washing everything in shadows. She looked around for a moment before the tiger appeared.

She took a deep breath as she looked into the tiger's eyes. They were the same way she remembered them. She thought she was going to be attacked again. Then she remembered that she's not actually here. She walked straight up to the tiger and petted it. The change was instantaneous. The tiger transformed into some kind of alien. It was short and gray with big black eyes. Jean jumped back and she heard an intense ringing in her ears that made her fall to the jungle floor. Jean was sure it was trying to take over her.

She looked up at the Alien coming to her. It extended a hand to help her up. In that moment, besides the pain she was feeling, she knew that it didn't want to hurt her. That she had to trust it. She grabbed the hand and pulled herself up.

She hand to turn away as she got up and when she finally looked back the figure of the alien turned into a girl! She looked a little younger than Jean. She had blond curly hair and was wearing a loosely fitting dress that had a yellow flower pattern on it.

As Jean looked in awe of her transformation. The girl just smiled, "I thought you would like this appearance," she said. The voice was sweet and happy so unlike the one she had heard in her head for so long. But still somewhere in the voice there was a trace of The Voice. Also she noted that she spoke better now, more fluently then before.

"Altiger?" she asked the girl she nodded and Jean continued, "Alien-Tiger."

"Yes." She laughed. "You can understand me and I can understand you. Do you know how long I've waited for this?"

"What do you mean?" Jean had some idea of what was going on but she wanted to hear it from Altiger.

"Well, I'll explain it," she said cheerfully. Jean couldn't get over it. She sounded like she should be a cheerleader. Altiger sat down on the ground and motioned for Jean to sit next to her. Jean did so and Altiger took her hand.

"Well before you got here I showed you a world. That was my original home. Ten years ago when I was just, your equivalent to a two-year-old, my parents took me on a ship to your planet. We were supposed to give the device to a colony here but the ship crashed. My parents and my other people died on in that crash.

"I was the last one left. I was alone a little but I knew if I found that device I would be able to get by. You see it's a...I don't know how it translates. I guess it would be a toy, young children use it to learn. It makes scenes depending on the persons mind, like this one." She paused a minute and looked into Jeans eyes. "It helps two languages to communicate.

"I was scared and alone. My people could transform themselves into anything and I chose the first thing I saw, a tiger. I took that shape so I could look for those pieces in peace. I could only find one piece because you and your parents took the other pieces." Jean took a deep breath. What she was waiting for had to be coming up.

Altiger looked pained as she spoke. "On one of the days I was looking for the rest of the pieces your mother found the piece I had already hidden. I always had a special connection with it. When I found out it was missing I traced it to your backpack. I assumed that you mother put it there." She paused. "I was alone and scared. I didn't know about your people like I do now. I couldn't understand you and you had what was mine, I was confused so I attacked you. I didn't know you we're a child like me. I didn't know that until I looked into your eyes." She got up and began to pace. The once cheerful girl had slowly become upset.

"I realized that during the attack I injured you. So I did the only thing I could do. There was no reason to stay where I was, because I was alone. I put my mind into yours, my spirit actually. I was able to keep you from harm but once I was inside your head I got lost and couldn't go back to my body. It had permanently turned into a tiger and I couldn't go back. All I wanted was to get my toy back. I just could never say it the way you would understand.

"I knew nothing of your language or the pictures in your head. I didn't know how to talk to you and tell you I was there. Over the years looking through you eyes I learned things. Words, pictures, anything to communicate with. So I did. I could read minds even thought I didn't know what they were talking about. I got feelings of people intentions and eventually you picked up on them. And I learned new things to when you started to understand. Like how I learned to take over."

"You know for a while I thought I was crazy." Jean added having not spoken for a long time.

"I know, believe me, that thought is universal. When your parents were killed I cried too. I love your brother and your uncle. I'm a part of you."

"What happens now?" Jean said standing to Altiger.

"Nothing really. When you go back to the real world I'll still be there. I can't leave you. I don't know how. But now we can communicate with one another easily. The toy has bridged the gap in our minds and everything will be clearer. I can help you with more ease now."

"So I'll have my own best friend inside my head?" she joked.

"Basically." Altiger said returning to her playful self. They both laughed.

"Do we need the toy anymore?"

"No you can let them have it. Give them hell when you get back. I won't bother you."

Jean looked around. "Will I ever see you this way again?"

"I'll show you when we get back," she said trying to get her back to the real world. "Peter is in trouble."

"I better hurry. I'll give ::them:: hell for both of us." she smiled and the realized, "How the hell do I get back?"

Peter had never been more worried in his life. She had not moved from the beam for ten minutes. He had tried to get to her but the field pushed him away. All he could do was wait.

He heard sounds from outside the room. He quickly locked the door from the inside and tried pushing a desk up against it. It was too heavy for him. The door swung open and The Cigarette Smoking Man and Krycek walked in. Peter looked over at Jean and hoped she could get out of that thing right now.

As if on cue the force field shut down. Jean turned, with the device in her hands and looked at Krycek and then the other man. They did not seem surprised by what they just saw. Peter ran next to her. She fought the urged she had to go over to Krycek and kick his ass but she held it back.

"Give that to us!" The old man yelled at her.

Peter prepared himself for a fight. "I have every intention to," she said plainly.

She enjoyed seeing the shock on their faces. "What are you doing?" Peter whined in her eyes. She elbowed him in the ribs. He decided she knew what she was doing.

"Then give it to us."

"I will." She took a deep breath and continued, she heard Altiger cheering her on. "Do you know what this is?"

They didn't answer her. "That was not a rhetorical question. I will take that as a no. You probably think this is a weapon. Something that you could use to further control the world. You killed to get this and you don't even know why you killed for it!" " She was screaming now. All of the anger she had for them was showing up right now. She took another deep breath and the next time she spoke, she was as calm as when she started. "Well, I'll tell you what you found: nothing but a child's toy. It's a toy. It fits in with all the games that you play. The world to you is nothing but games and toys."

She put the toy back on the desk to the gun. She picked up her backpack, grabbed Peter's arm. She pulled him with her to the door. The man hadn't moved since she made her little speech and she was not sure if she could cross them.

"Can we leave or are you going to kill us?" Jean asked sarcastically.

"Krycek, escort the young Miss Skinner and her friend to the lobby. I believe her uncle is waiting." Krycek moved out of the way but she didn't moved.

She realized that he would not hurt her. "Let's go then."

Jean and Peter did not speak once they entered the elevator. Krycek kept looking at her. She did the same, she saw no remorse in him. He had killed many people and didn't seem to care. She couldn't stand being in the same room as the man who killed her parents.

Jean put her jacket back on as the door opened on the ground floor. "Walk them out." Krycek said to the guard who was waiting for them. Clearly he didn't want to run into Mulder or Skinner just now.

She and Peter walked out of the elevator but Jean turned back. She handed Peter her backpack and went back into the elevator. "What are you doing?" Krycek asked as she slammed the door close button.

"Giving you what you deserve-" it was at that moment that she kicked him in the balls. He moaned and Jean couldn't help but smile. Then She punched him in the face. He fell backwards into the wall. "But this isn't even the tip of the ice burg!" She pressed the door open button and walked out.

Peter said nothing to her about her actions. And even if he did say something she wouldn't have heard it. She was listening to Altiger cheering her on again. She didn't know what was going to happen with them but she knew it wouldn't be that bad.

Scully's Apartment July 24, 1999

Mulder had wanted to come over yesterday but he felt she it was still too soon. He was scared about what had happened between each other. She was still angry with him for keeping her out of the loop. He understood how she felt. He probably would be acting the same way.

He was still in the hallway because he was scared to knock on her door. At last he finally did. She opened the door a minute later.

To his surprise, when she turned to greet him she was wearing a smile. "Hello Mulder."

He was confused "Hi, Scully," he said finally. "Your not still angry?"

"I am," she said and he became scared, "but I'm not going to let that get between our six years of friendship," She said still keeping herself in control that easily. Let's talk..." She let him enter her apartment.

Josh had spent the whole week at Uncle Walter's house because it was easier for Aunt Sharon to pack up her house with out him around. She was moving to Montana for a new job and so she could be closer with her sister. She was going to take Josh with her. Walter was upset but he thought it was for the best. Jean had decided to go with at least for a while.

Jean looked around for anything she might want to take with her. They were leaving today but she wasn't ready to go. Her aunt would be by soon to pick Josh and her up to go to the airport. Jean heard the running of her brother in the kitchen and went in to join him.

She smiled as she watched him eat. Most of the cereal wound up on his face. She grabbed a towel and cleaned up his face. "Jeanie? You coming right?" he asked his big sister. He looked so innocent and sounded so sweet. She could never get angry about him calling her Jeanie.

"For a little while. Till you and Auntie get settled." She wanted to protect him from everything but she couldn't she remembered when she told him what happened to their parents. "Is Unky Wully going to be wonely?" He made the word lonely sound like a death sentence.

"I don't know." She looked at her watch. "I want you to go to the bathroom right now before we leave, okay?"

He nodded and ran out of the kitchen. As she cleaned up his meal, she thought about his question. "Is Uncle Wally going to be lonely?"

She walked back into the living room and saw him standing at the balcony. She went out to talk to him. "She'll be hear soon."

"I know," he said without looking at her. "How long will you be gone?"

"I'm not sure. As long as Sharon needs me, I guess." Then added, "I'm not starting college for at least till January. I have a lot to reconsider. My goals have changed. And I want to still be a kid." It was true she had no more interest in making movies. With everything that happened she didn't want to deal with it.

The events of a few weeks ago were never talked about. It was best for everybody who was concerned. They had moved on and in some cases moving a lot forward.

Even though he was still compromised by Krycek, they had reached the point they where at five years ago. They were friends again. She was looking up to him like he was her father. In a way he was the father of this part of her life. "I'm coming back, you can bet on it."

As they exchanged a hug he thought about how strange this place would be without her. Especially how clean it would be. They walked back inside the apartment. "I'm going to miss you."

"Me too. Let's get Josh and go downstairs to meet Sharon." He grabbed her suit case as Josh ran back into the living room. They were halfway out the door when; "I left something in my room. Meet me downstairs."

"Okay, but lock up." She nodded and ran back to her room. She grabbed her ever-trusty backpack and turned to leave. She hesitated and looked at her room. It was much like her old one. She had put up the tiger posters. She had always found it fitting to keep them there. In the past weeks she had stopped thinking of her tattoo as a warning and more of the picture of the other soul inside her. She had a friend that could never be taken away. She thought of how lonely her uncle was going to be and that she would never be alone again.

Altiger sat in her mind looking out into her world. Not that she understood everything Jean did she had no problems taking over. She would acted just like Jean that she didn't have to take over. There were so many bad things in Jean's life; she wanted to take away. If it was in her power she would never let anyone hurt her friend, Tiger Skames, again.

Title: Teenage Girls Series #5: Suite Seventeen
Author: Xandra
Spoilers: I don't know anymore if they're not too big anyway.
Author's Notes: I could have not have written this story with out Patty, Sirvy, Margie, Sam, Peter (who didn't do much of anything just kept me on the phone), and the person that gave me the inspiration for the opening scene of this story: my chemistry teacher, may she go into early retirement before the final!
Distribution: Anywhere
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully, Skinner, and anyone else from the show are not mine. They belong to the all mighty: Chris Carter!
Classification: X, MSR,

Summary: Mulder and Scully go undercover at an all girls boarding school where some members of the faculty are being pushed out by an unseen force resulting in one of death.

Colti Academy for Young Women East School Building Ms. Rose Trixly's Chemistry Classroom

She had spent her whole life teaching. It had once brought her great joy to teach. She loved seeing the spark in the student's eye when they finally understood the concept but she knew it was a death sentence. This sentence started 18 years ago when she turned forty-five. That was when she looked back on her life and saw nothing. She never married, never had children of her own. Anyway by now she had seen so many children that she didn't want to look at another one. But she still remained a teacher. That was all she knew.

She was sitting at her desk in the chemistry lab. She liked it when the classroom was empty. This was her free period. She double-checked the names on the files. Samantha Springstein, Margaret Sheridan, Leah Spolitoe, and Sirvy Siripat. These were the students that she really hated.

Those four girls had scared off her only friend at this school, Wendy Smacaz. She left the school a month ago and accused those girls of being the devil's tools ... Well only Wendy could say what they were. So Wendy quit her teaching job and was committed. That was Ms. Trixly's last straw. She needed someone to blame and it was going to be them. Ms. Trixly was going to get her revenge.

As if on her command the girls walked in. As usual they looked confident in themselves. They walked in and without a word the girls took their seats at their lab table. Ms. Trixly ignored them for a few minutes. She had given them no clue of why she had called them here and she wanted to see her students sweat.

The girls did crack, however. The hatred had been two sided and they had learned not to be effected by anything Ms. Trixly had done to them. She grabbed the files and passed them out to the appropriate student.

They opened them at the same time and found the bad news. The mien had changed to anger/fear splashed across their faces. That's when Rose Trixly began to speak. "You girls are a disgrace. For the past ten weeks what you have done has been horrendous. You have-" The ringing of her phone cut her off. "-Wait here! "She said in annoyance.

As she took the call in her office. The girls leaned close to talk to one another. "I can't believe her." Margie scowled under her breath.

"I can't afford to fail this class, my parents would freak on me." Leah heard Sam say as she made sure Ms. Trixly was not listening.

"Well it's not like my parents care, but as long as Ms. Bitch-ly is here I don't think we have much of a choice." Leah said looking over the file that the teacher had given her. "I turned in all these assignments."

"Well if this is true and we've been doing so bad they should have told Joan."

"Like she would be much help. She hates us too. I wish we could get rid of her, like the others." Leah said in despair.

"Why can't we?" Margie asked.

"Because our tricks aren't enough to scare her." The quiet Sirvy offered. She wasn't usually this quiet. She was loud, obnoxious, and full of spirit. Leah was relieved when Sirvy spoke up.

"Sirv, am I right to assume you have a plan?" Leah asked. Sirvy got a big smile on her face, which made the other girls start smiling. "What are you thinking?" They leaned in and Sirvy told them her plan.

Ms. Trixly was arguing with the person on the other line so they were off guard when she slammed the door and came back into the room. They jumped apart as Ms. Trixly's voice commanded their attention; "I'm going to the office. Wait here!" She stormed out of room.

The second she was passed the doorway the girls were right after her. The hallway to the stairs wasn't big but it was isolated from the intersecting hall. There were no other classes on that hall. So it was the best place for them to carry out their 'prank' without any disruption.

Ms. Trixly was only two steps away from her room when she felt something not quite right in the air. She stopped all movement when the plaques and paintings on the walls around her started to shake. Immediately she looked back at he door. She didn't see the girls and she hurried to get away from her room when she heard a noise of laughter coming from her room. As she ran to the stairs she heard them coming from behind her. She didn't even turn around as she bolted for the stairs. In her confusion to get away she ran up the stairs instead of running down to the office.

The girls just stood outside the door in a line staring down the corridor at her. They did not flinch. They were concentrating on her.

Ms. Trixly froze as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around slowly and saw no one there. She tried to scream but she felt another hand covering her mouth. She continued to try to get up the stairs. But now it felt as if two people were holding her back, pulling her back to the hallway.

In an instant Leah snapped out of her concentration and looked at her friends and then at Ms. Trixly. Something was wrong she didn't quite know what. Sam was to her left and Margie was to her right followed by Sirvy. She grabbed the two friends next to her. They snapped out of their trance and looked at her.

"What's going on, Leah?" Sam said trying to figure out what was going on.

"I don't know." as if not really hearing them, she walked slowly to the stairwell. Ms. Trixly wasn't moving. She had stop trying to get up the stairs and had just stopped. Leah looked more closely. She could swear she saw space between Ms. Trixly's shoes and the stair. She turned back to Sirvy.

With just that one look Sirvy fell backwards onto the floor. At the same time Ms. Trixly fell, landing at the foot of the stairs. Sirvy stood up and walked to where Leah stood. The four of them just looked at the unmoving body of their teacher.

Leah was breathing heavy not believing what just happened. Margie and Sam didn't not what was going on but the expositions showed fear of what they had done. Sirvy was different her face was cold and Leah saw delight in her mien. Leah froze until she heard a door down the corridor open. She followed as her friends ran out to Ms. Trixly.

They got there about the same time as Mr. Louria, the French teacher, got out of his classroom. Leah could see from close up that her neck was twisted and broken. He told the girls to stay back as he rushed to Trixly's side. Other students and teachers started to peek out of their room? "Miss Springstein, Miss Sheridan go down to the office and get Miss Bretz up here now!" They hurried away as fast as they could.

Leah looked over at Sirvy with fear in her eyes. That look was part of a silent communication between the two. Sirvy didn't have a chance to respond before Mr. Louria spoke to them. "Did you see what happened...?"

One week later...

The car slowed as it approached the gate to the school. The two individuals inside the vehicle ceased their conversation as the Security guard came to the driver's window. The driver put on a big smiled as she opened the window to speak to the guard.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" he asked with a flirty tone. It wasn't everyday that someone this good looking showed up at this school, who wasn't under the age of eighteen. The back seat of the car was filled with boxes so he was sure she would be here for awhile.

"Yes. I'm Natasha Sculder and this," She gestured to the tall dark haired man next to her, "And this is Steven Mulline, we're here to see Ms. Jennifer Bretz."

"Oh, you must be the new teachers," he said, as he skimmed the entrance list for their names. The red hair teacher nodded. "Wait here a sec. I just need to get you passes." He went back into his booth.

The women looked at the man next to her. "I can't believe you changed our names behind my back." she whispered to him then turned back to the approaching guard.

"Here you go," he said handing her the passes.

"Thank you. Where can we find Ms. Bretz?"

He was happy to help; the man sitting next to her didn't discourage him. "Yeah," he pulled out a map, "Bretz's office is down the main road in the Laura Colti School Building." He traced the path for them to go. "You can't miss it, there's a big sign right in front. Be careful when you drive the girls tend not to pay attention to the cars. Good luck Ms. Sculder."

She thanked him again and drove though the gate. She rolled up the window as she drove on. From where she was all she could see was a grassy park, with a faint outline of buildings in the background. The grounds of the school were beautiful. She could see the colors from the flower beds and she couldn't wait to walk though them later. For now she had to deal with the man sitting next to her.

"Sculder? Sculder! Sculder, Mulder! Is that the best name you could come up with behind my back?" Mulder gave her a cocky grin.

"Well you try and coming up with a 'S' name in two seconds besides 'Scully'" He argued.

"That's easy. What about 'Smith', 'Sanders' or 'Samson' even 'Skames'-?"

"Oh Jean would have loved that." He muttered.

"And why did it have to be an 'S' name, anyway. It was originally supposed to be Halliwell. This time I was supposed to choose the names!"

"Well, Tasha, you did choose the names."

"No, I was supposed to choose your name too, Stevie. Why did you change my name anyway?"

"When I was looking over the files of the girls we're supposed to be watching, I realized they're last names all start with 'S'. Believed they open up more to you if they could let you in to their club."

"All right," she said giving up. She still was confused of why she was here. About a week ago Mulder called her attention to an accident at this school. Ms. Trixly suppose to have died from falling down the stairs but when she looked at the body Scully determined that she really was choked to death. Besides that she found an unidentified residue around her neck, ankles and on her left shoulder. On top of that, five teachers over the past two semester have claimed that the school was haunted.

"Mulder, why are we doing this?" she asked.

"Well, leaving out all the evidence that a supernatural force was involved. We are investigating into this teacher's murder. And we're undercover because Ms. Bretz doesn't want her school disrupted anymore then it was by the first investigation."

"And those four girls are the main suspects?"

"Yep," he said and she could tell he was trying not to tell her something.

"What do you think this is?" she asked accusingly.

"I don't know yet-" He was going to add something more when she cut him off.

"We're here," she said putting the mini van into park. "We'll talk later."

They got out of the car and headed for the school building. This area was filled with students waiting to load the buses taking them into town. It was a Friday afternoon and the girls did not have classes again till Monday morning. This was their time to have fun.

To Scully all the girls looked the same. They were wearing the same type of uniforms she wore when she went to school. Navy blue jackets with the school emblem on the left side, white dress shirt, plaid skirts going to just about to the knee and white knee socks with a pair of black Mary Jane's. The girls had little variations but they still looked the same.

The girls didn't even seem to notice Scully. Their eyes were on her partner. She looked over at Mulder and he didn't seem to notice all the looks the girls were giving him. Scully had to suppress a laugh.

"What?" he asked her with a look.

Scully just smiled and walked through the door of the school. She walked in hoping to escape the crowd of students only to run into another group as she entered the hall. She and Mulder were nearly trampled by them. They heard the bus doors open and everyone had cleared out of the building. The hallway was empty.

"Now where's the office?" Mulder asked. They looked around a minute and thought they were lost. All the halls looked the same to them.

"I um... over here maybe?" She pointed down the hall to the right.

"I think it maybe left." They stood there a minute. "That might be a map over there. I'll go see." She was waiting for him when two students passed her in the hall. They were in conversation with each other. They stopped as they saw the confused adults in the hall.

"Can I help you?" one of the girls asked her there was no denying her Asian heritage. The other waited quietly next to her. Scully had already placed a stereotype on the second girl. She was the sidekick. Scully scolded herself for that she always jumped to conclusions.

"Yeah," Scully started, "We're looking for Ms. Bretz's Office-"

"Can you point us in the right direction?" Mulder finished walking over to them.

"Sure," the girl sighed as she got her first real glimpse of Mulder. Scully had a hard time controlling her expression. He still had no idea what was going on. "You're all the way on the wrong side of the building. It's easy to get lost if you don't know where your going." She looked at her friend; "We'll walk you there."

"Thank you."

The girls lead the way. "By the way I'm Sirvy and this is Margie."

"It's nice to meet you," Scully said realizing she ran into two of their main suspects. She was sure there was only one 'Sirvy" at this school.

"So what brings you to Colti?" Margie finally spoke. Unlike her friend she didn't look at Mulder any differently than she looked at Scully.

"We're the new teachers." That caught the girl's attention. She didn't know if that was good or bad. "My name is Ms.-Sculder." She got the name out as fast as she could. Mulder gave her a quick smile.

"What do you teach?" Sirvy asked.

"I'm the new chemistry teacher and Mr. Mulline is the new history teacher." Slowly but surely they had reacted the office. "Thanks for your help. Well see you around." The girls departed and they walked back into the office.

The office was empty except for one secretary. She was busy answering the phones. She noticed them waiting and asked them to wait. "Can I help you?" She asked after the phones stopped ringing.

"Yes, we're here to see Ms. Bretz." He asked in a serious fashion.

The young woman's expression darkened. "I'm sorry. I know you must have dropped a lot to come out here. But you were told you have to make an appointment if you want to see Ms. Bretz. She's a very busy woman."

"But-"

"I know you're concerned about your daughter or daughters safety," She went straight into a rehearsed speech, "but I can assure you this school is safe. There is no reason to worry. Ms. Bretz does not have the time to-"

"We're not parents," Scully interrupted.

The young woman face turned bright read and she stuttered as she spoke. "Oh," she said trying to regain her cool exterior. "Can I..." she looked down at the appointment list. "Yes, yes. You're the new teachers?" They nodded. "I'm sorry. Because of the resent events this place has been crawling with concerned parents. And you two look like..." She faded out and quickly recovered. "But never mind that, Ms. Bretz is waiting." She led them to the back of the office.

The door to the office was open. Jennifer Bretz had just hung up the phone when they entered. She was a lot younger than Scully had thought. She was no older than thirty. She stood up as they entered. Jen closed her jacket, which had a strong relationship to the student uniforms.

"Jen, these are the new teachers." The assistant informed her. Jen's expression changed slightly but recovered.

"Yes come in Ms. Sculder, Mr. Mulline. Take a seat." They did so. "Castra, you may go." Just as Castra closed the door behind her Jen called out to her. "Cassey wait." She peeked her head inside the office. "I need you to find Miss Spolitoe and send her here. Tell her, her brother isn't coming for her." Cassey nodded and left.

Jen sat down at her desk. "Agents Mulder and Scully, it's nice to meet you in person. Thank you for respecting my wishes by not disrupting the school."

"We understand and we're glad you let us continue with our investigation."

"Good. I have a few concerns that I would like to discuss before I show you around."

"Go right ahead."

She smiled and continued. "One: you are qualified to teach these classes? I'm not worried about history. Our janitor could teach that with his eyes close. It's just that I don't want our chemistry lab to be blown to bits."

"I'm qualified." Scully reassured her. "I'm a scientist. I went to medical school."

"And you joined the FBI?" she asked amused. "Well, anyway the second thing is," her tone was serious now, "Do you really think some of our girls killed her?"

"There is evidence of foul play."

She swallowed hard. "Okay," she said with disappointment. "School doesn't start again until Monday. That's also when all of the students are coming back. We canceled school this past week. This school has an image to up hold. Ms. Trixly's death has called a fair amount of students to be pulled out. The girls you suspect I've known for years."

"But as you said to us earlier that those were the only persons that wasn't accounted for."

"Yes, we keep tabs on everyone. Attendance is taken in every class. Any teacher who didn't have a class except Ms. Trixly was in the teachers' lounge. The girls were under her supervision until she was called to the office."

"We'll talk to the girls," Scully said.

"You will only see them for two hours a day. Right now there is no other way to see them for longer. Your rooms will be in the staff building..."

As she spoke the door to her office slammed open. A women a little older than Scully walked in. She looked as if she hadn't slept in weeks. "Joan what's wrong?" Jen ran to her.

"Jennifer I can't take this anymore. This school is cursed!" She screamed. Ms. Bretz had no idea what to say.

"What happened?" she asked closing the door then trying to get Joan Conner to sit down and relax.

Joan made no sense when she tried to explain what had happened. "...I can't stay here anymore!" She stood up and started to pace. Joan was in tears. "I'm leaving! I'm not going to turn out like Wendy. I'm quitting. I'm already packed. I'm never coming back to this place!" She ran out of the office leaving a concerned Jen in her wake.

"Wait here. I'll just be a minute." Jen left the room in a hurry.

Mulder and Scully just looked at one another. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, Mulder."

Jen returned and looked absolutely pissed off and disgusted. She slammed the door behind her. "Well Agent Scully whatever I said about not spending enough time with them ignore it. You're going to be their supervisor. You will be the person that makes sure they get up for breakfast and make sure they are in bed at night. You will now be sleeping in the faculty room in the 10th grade dorm." She sat down at her desk and pulled out a black notebook.

She fiddled through the pages and did not speak for a minutes. As if out of nowhere she started to laugh. She looked at Scully, "Not only was Joan one of their advisers but the faculty suite she lived in is not just next to them you have a connecting door to them. The supervisor in charge of the building, who you will be working out your schedule, is Donna White. She is away for the weekend but she'll start working again on Monday."

She marked something in her notebook and then looked up at the Agents. "Sorry about that. It's been a hell of a semester. Is this arrangement all right for you?" Scully nodded. "She's like the ninth person who quit because they said this place was "haunted"." She complained.

"Do you believe that this school is haunted?" Mulder asked.

She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. "I've lived here since I was born. So did my mother, aunts, and uncle. My grandmother started this place, my mother took it over and when she died I took over. There has never been a ghost here. This place wasn't built before my Grandmother started this place. I don't know what's going on but there is nothing supernatural about it." She paused a minute then grabbed another notebook. "Let me show you around the school. Remember from here on out you are Sculder and Mulline."

They walked down the hall and Jennifer handed them each a notebook with their names on it. Sculder fiddled through it. It was all the information on her classes, a map of the school, living arrangement, guidelines and responsibilities to the school. She assumed Mulline was the same. "That's everything you will need. Mr. Mulder you will be sharing an apartment with Mr. Willmore the algebra teacher. The apartment is in building seven as listed on your map. The 10th grade dorm is just across the road. However since you are not in the factually building you get the suite to yourself."

Jennifer continued to give the tour of the school building as she explained school policies to them. They rounded a corner and a student called out to them. "Ms. Bretz!" She called from behind. The girl was 5'5 very slender, with long straight brown hair. She had looked like she was in a hurry. "Yes, Leah." Jen responded. This was the third student they were going to be watching.

"Castra said you needed to see me but I have to catch my flight to New York," she said joining them.

"Your trip has been canceled. Your brothers business called him out of town." The girl looked shattered.

"Can I meet where he's going?" she asked in desperation.

"He's gone to London. I'm sorry. I think he's going to call tonight. He's definitely going to call for your birthday on Monday." Jen paused a moment then introduced her companions. "This is Mr. Mulline the new history teacher and this is Ms. Sculder the new chemistry teacher."

"Nice to meet you I guess I'll see you in class on Monday."

"Oh, Ms. Sculder will be replacing Joan as well." The girl looked positively confused. "Joan left. She quit about a half hour ago."

"Really?" She was lost in thought. They could tell she knew something. She was silent a moment then asked another question. "Have you heard anything from my Father and Rainbow recently? Are they coming in on Sunday."

"No I'm sorry. I don't think they're coming this year. Where are they anyway?"

"Last time I heard from them was this summer. They were in Rome. Well I better get my stuff of the bus." She departed and Jen looked very depressed.

"That was Leah Spolitoe." If they didn't know then she continued, "It's so sad. Her mother went to school here. I remember she was nice to me when I was a little kid. Sari Kelly was a wonderful women but she married an asshole. After she died ten years ago he couldn't wait to dump the kids and marry his mistress. If it wasn't for her older brother Andy she would never leave the school. Well let's get on with the tour. I would have you move in first but I waiting for a call to tell me that Joan has left the campus."

Leah could not believe what she had heard. She rushed straight out to her dorm building. The building was old but had been fixed up inside with modern luxuries. She swiped her id into the lock and walked in the building.

She carried her heavy two bags down the long hallway and stopped at the second to last door. She looked at the plaque next to the door: "Suite Seventeen: Margaret Sheridan, Sirvy Siripat, Leah Spolitoe, Samantha Springstein." This had been her home for the past semester. Those were her roommates. They were put together due to alphabetical order but they were best friends. No matter what. She had been friends with Sirvy the longest.

They had been sharing a room with here since they were ten. They always managed to stick together. Sirvy was in the same boat she was in. As much as Leah never saw her father, Sirvy had seen her family less.

That wasn't the case with Margie and Sam. Their parents had picked them up the day after Trixly died. Leah doubted that her father even knew. Andy knew. He had tried to get out to see her but he had work. She wasn't angry with him she was angry that nothing in her life was ever easy. She would get over not seeing her brother soon.

She walked in the door. There was no one else there. ::Oh well, :: she thought, ::I'll catch them later::.

The room was big and divided into four parts. There were four alcoves in the four corners in the room and a big alcove straight back. Each of the four in the corners had a bed, a dresser, and a small end table. Each girl put their own special touches to their alcove to make it feel like home. In the bigger alcove there was the communal desk, computer, telephone and table. Also there was the door to their bathroom. Between the alcoves on the left a closet that they all shared. Between the rooms on the left was a door leading to "Suite nineteen" or "Faculty Suite" was where Joan had lived.

She went to the back left alcove and put her stuff on her bed. She would unpack later that night. Her walls were not decorated like the others. Just one or two paintings that her mother had painted.

She took off the navy blue jacket and laid it on her bed. They were not required to were the uniforms on weeks when they didn't have class. She liked the look of it though. It had grown on her over the years. She went over to the mirror on her dresser. She grabbed her brush and a bunch of bobby pins and quickly pulled her hair back into a bun. She liked it better when her hair was out of her face.

Now that she was ready she walked over to the door to Joan's suite. The door was unlocked and she opened it. The room was completely bare of anything Joan had owned. Leah made a big smile. This was the best thing that could happen to them. Especially with the accident with Trixly.

Lee scorned herself inside for thinking about Trixly. The only way she could get over what happened is to deny it. She started to believe the lie they made up and she was happy to. She knew the truth but she had to protect her friend. Now with anyone who suspected something about them was gone and they could stop their 'tricks'.

She went back into her room and waited for her friends.

Later that afternoon...

Steve Mulline helped Natasha Sculder get her suitcases out of her car. They had been friends at the other school they worked at and they both decided to take this new job together. There were a bunch of rumors roaming about, about the real reason why they left. Some of them drifted over to Colti. The rumor for them leaving is that they were involved with each other. The principal of their old school did not approve of the relationship so they looked for new employment. They found this place in need of new teachers and they were happy for the relocation.

Tasha grabbed the suitcases from Steven's hand. "I'm going to put these in my room then I'll comeback for the boxes. Sorry but guys aren't allowed in the building." She struggled with the acquired bags as she opened the door. Surprisingly the hall was very quiet. Most of the girls were out shopping in the small town nearby. She walked through the long hallway. She found the door to her room and opened the door with a swoop of her ID card. She put the bags in just inside the door and took a look around.

It was small but it would fit her needs. There was a kitchenette and a nice bathroom. As she walked back through to the door she noticed the connecting door was open.

"Nice to see you again Ms. Sculder," one of the girls called from the room. She put on her best smile and walked though the door. There were four of them sitting in a circle playing some kind of car game. Sirvy was the one who called out to her. "We heard you were replacing Joan."

"Yeah. I'm just moving in." She had met all but one of the girls. "I met all of you today except for you?" She extended a hand to the last girl.

"Samantha Springstein," she said enthusiastically.

"Natasha Sculder." She stepped back and then addressed the whole group. "I guess the policy is you can call me by my first name here but in class you call me Ms. Sculder?"

"That's correct." Margie said grabbing her cards that Leah had passed out.

"So I guess you can call me Tasha." She didn't know what to say for the moment then she remembered about Mr. Mulline. "Well I better get the rest of my stuff from the car-"

"We'll help!" they said in unison getting up.

Scully was surprised that the girls were so eager to please. "Thanks, lets go." The report had said they were detached and didn't open up too quickly. But then she looked again. Their door was closed when the other doors were open. It wasn't just that they wanted privacy either. There was no one at the dorm to disturb them. They weren't detached they were isolated from the other girls.

They made their way down the hall and there was no surprise on Sirvy's face when Mr. Mulline was out there. He was pulling her boxes out of the car. Steve had not seen them all come up from behind him. He turned around and half smiled at them. Mulder never expected that to see Scully surrounded by a bunch of teenagers. "Hi," he said softly out of breath from moving the heavy boxes.

"They offered their help," Scully said grabbing some bags from the back seat. Margie and Leah joined together and picked up one of Sculder's heavy boxes and carried it back into the building. Sirvy was going to help Steve carry the next box but Tasha picked up the other end in stead. Mulline and Sam were the last ones out there.

He went to grab the next box and she rushed to help him. "Here, let me help you," She said sweetly grabbing the other end of the box. "Ah, what does she have in here anyway?"

"Dead bodies, I think," The teacher joked with her. "I didn't catch your name?"

"Samantha, but everybody calls me Sam." Even though he already knew her name when she said it he flinched a little.

"That's a beautiful name," he said as he moved around to make sure all of Tasha's things were out of the car.

"Thanks," she said following him around the car. "So I hear you're the new American History teacher around here," she said leaning up against the side of the car. There was no doubt in Mulder's mind that this girl was flirting with him. He would have a good joke with Scully about it later. After she continued to talk with him Sculder and Leah came back.

Leah went over to the last box. She took one look at Sam and their new teacher. "Sam help me take this." Reluctantly Sam helped her bring the box into her room.

Mulder and Scully did not speak until the door had completely closed. Mulder put his arm around her. "How are you doing Tashie?"

"Fine. I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon with them. I meet up with you at dinner. The faster I get to know them the better. But they're nothing like we were told. Well maybe the way Bretz described them."

"Interesting. Well one piece of information I came across is that that Samantha girl was flirting with me," he said trying to make her jealous.

"Really. Her and every other girl at this school." She smiled.

"Well I'm glad to be here with you." He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "Very glad in deed..."

"You guys weren't kidding their great." Sam said going back into the suite after dropping the box off in Tasha's room.

"Do I lie?" Sirvy remarked sarcastically.

"And that Mulline guy, oh my god I can't believe he's going to be one of our teachers." She sat back down on the floor.

"I know."

"Well Sirv, Margie how the hell did you get rid of Joan so fast?" Leah asked, sitting next to her friends.

Margie and Sirvy just looked at each other and smiled. "Trade secret." Margie said. "When we met her in the hall we were motivated. And her name fits with us. 'Sculder' another member of the S.S.S. Squad." Which stood for Sisters of Suite Seventeen. It was a little club they made when they were at the school over the summer session. It was lame they knew but they had power, and one day everyone would know it.

"Well who says crime doesn't pay." She looked at the clock. "Dinner is in a few hours, I say we get to know our new supervisor before Nimzay and her cronies get here."

"Good plan." Sirvy agreed. "I like her and she is friends with that Mulline, so we should be seeing him more than just in seventh period." The girls shared a giggle.

"Hey, I have an idea." Leah spoke up.

"There's always a first time." Sam muttered.

"Funny," she said giving Sam a nudge. "Why don't we do something different like go into town for a while? We might as well leave this school before classes start up again."

"Good thinking." Sirvy knew that they should indulge Leah because she had been so stressed out lately. "Now let's get back to our card game." Sirvy said then realized that the cards were no longer sitting on the floor in front them. The girls looked over at Margie.

"I put them on the table before we left." Margie pointed out.

"I'll get them." Leah said, but she didn't move. She simply raised her left hand and concentrated at the box of cards on the table. The girls all watched as the box started to shake and quickly floated into Leah's waiting hand. The girls were not shocked at an event that would be a big deal to anyone else. "Poker anyone?" she asked with a smile.

The William Colti Dining room 6:14 p.m.

Dinner, at the Colti Academy for Young Women, started promptly at six o'clock p.m. every day. The dining experience was grand. The room looked like it had once been a ballroom. And the organization of the dinner was precisely timed. First Ms. Bretz or another member of the faculty would make the announcement for the evening. Then the waiters would bring the food out to the tables at precisely 6:15.

The room was less than half full that was not uncommon for this week. But even with the small crowed the noise was just as loud. Seats were not assigned at dinner so the girls were spread across the room. As time began to pass the once organized meal looked chaotic.

The only sane place in the room by 6:25 was the staff table. Off to the side so not to be disturbed by the students. The staff table was half-empty as well but the teachers usually didn't hang around during the weekends. The staff was allowed to wear anything that they wanted.

"Are they always this loud?" Mulline asked the other teachers at the table. They chuckled at the new teacher.

"Let me guess the children were quieter at your old school? What school was that by the way?" Mr. Louria asked good naturedly.

"Lincoln Academy," Natasha Sculder answered, "It's over in Illinois."

"Oh yes I've heard of it." Ms. Namas, the math teacher added. "It's a very good school."

"Why did you two leave, might I ask?" Didi the nurse asked and she piled a heap of mash potatoes onto her fork.

"We had some problems with the management." Steve answered and Sculder stared at him for a moment then turned away nervously. She didn't trust him to say what they had planned out before hand. "We didn't agree with their conservative attitudes towards teaching. We prefer a much more liberal environment." Well done, Scully thought, he's sticking to the plan.

"I understand." Louria nodded and so did the other teachers. "This school is known for being liberal than most boarding schools.

"Well how did you find this place?" Sculder said pulling them away from their current conversation.

Across the room Leah, Sirvy, Sam and Margie were at the big table all by themselves. They were in the corner and could see everyone else in the room. They were content with just talking with one another.

The room was filled with social teenagers all talking to each other but no one was talking to them. Nimzay Clark watched them from her table with her friends surrounding them.

"They're such losers." She told her friends. They just nodded with her. Nimzay, or Nimmy as everybody called her, could be considered the most popular girl at the school. But she seemed more concerned with her four enemies in the corner. A ripple of laughter went through the four girls. That was the last straw for her. She got up and walked over to their table with her two stooges right behind.

"What's so funny? Did you finally realize how stupid you are?" The girls didn't even have to react before Nimmy walked off. They merely broke into laughter.

"That girl has some serious problems." Leah muttered and the laughs stopped. They had learned long ago that what the other girls said didn't matter to them. That was the best revenge of all.

The next day Scully had taken it easy. There were slim to no student on campus and all she had to do was get equated with the school. She had decided to take a walk around the gardens at noon. Actually a note in her mailbox suggested it to her. The note contained a hand drawn map of where exactly to meet him.

She had comfortably pulled on a pair of jeans and a warm gray sweater and rushed to follow the trail. She was following the map exactly but she felt that she was lost. She couldn't see the buildings from this far away and she saw no sign of the person who had given her the note.

She stopped along the place the map told her to. The bare bushes were up to her shoulders and she realized that if the person was sitting she could not see them. "Hello?" she called as she turned in a circle.

She felt someone behind her. Before she could turn around and greet him, his hands were already sliding around her waist holding her close to him. She closed her eyes capturing this moment in her mind. He slowly started to kiss her neck and she sighed contentedly.

"Hi, Mulder..." she whispered softly barely able to form the words. She knew they shouldn't do this type of thing while they were working but what the hell. Nothing else was happening at the school.

"Hi yourself." Mulder led her to the clearing where he had laid out a blanket and a picnic lunch. "Care to join me?" he asked her, as he sat down on the blanket.

"I don't mind if I do." She sat down and found herself in his arms again. As she rested on him, he reacted over to the picnic basket. He pulled out a pair of Champaign glasses and a bottle. "What have you got there?"

"I tried to get Champaign but alcohol is not allowed on school grounds, so I got us some Sparkling White grape juice."

"Well it's the thought that counts." She smiled up at him.

Their relationship had taken quite a beating after the stuff with Jean Skinner. He had not telling her that Jean was in danger had hurt Scully. Even though they were set on working it out there was still more obstacles.

Diana Fowley was a big one. Scully had felt so threatened by her that she couldn't stand it. When Mulder had been sick and Diana answered the phone in his apartment it thrown her for a loop. She and Mulder had yet to get back together and she thought that with her there they never could. But she was gone. And Scully felt so guilty for doubting Mulder's trust in her. Fowley had redeemed herself before being killed and Scully couldn't face Mulder with that.

Slowly Scully moved on. She needed Mulder to make the next move and it took him to the New Year to make it. Just when she had lost all hope of having that relationship with him again, he kissed her. That kiss repaired all wounds. Ironically their relationship was reborn on New Year's Day. Which Scully realized was just a couple of weeks or so.

"So did you find out anything about the girls last night?" he asked her handing her a glass.

"Besides the fact that they all are above average card players and know how to cheat at every card game, nothing much. In fact I'm sure everyone here knows how to cheat at cards."

"Why would you say that?"

"You didn't no this but I went to boarding school for two years. That's when I learned to cheat at cards. It's a tradition to be passed down from student to student. In fact Missy taught me."

"Well, remind me never to play poker with you." He laughed.

"Where did you get the idea for this?"

"I just thought we should relax before school starts on Monday and this was the best that I could come up with.

Willmore/ Mulline Apartment Monday 6:30 a.m.

"Wake up!" A voice woke Mulder from his sleep. He was awake but didn't move. He felt a shoe thrown at him from across the room.

"Whaa? Who's there? What time is it?" He mumbled as he sat up from the couch he had fallen asleep on. There was almost no light in the room.

"Ed Willmore, your room mate. Six-thirty in the morning." He turned the light on. Willmore was in his late sixties, gray hair and beard. He reached a hand to the groggy Mulder.

"Steve Mulline." he shook the man's hand then looked around for the clock.

"I assumed as much. I came in last night and you were sleeping on the couch so peacefully that I didn't want to wake you."

"Thanks." He was looking around for his suitcase realizing that he had been there all weekend but never unpacked. But right now "What time do I..."

"Breakfast is over at seven for the staff. Your department meeting is at seven-fifteen. You..." He grabbed the notebook Ms. Bretz had given Mulline. He was flipping through the schedule. "You have to be in your class room by 8:10."

"Thank you again," Mulder said not believing how friendly Ed was. Mulder was still trying to find his bags, which were not where he had left them the night before.

"Oh, I moved your things to your room over there. Why haven't you started to unpack yet?"

"A friend was supposed to help me but she hasn't gotten a chance to come by."

"It's up to you." Mulder went into the room Ed had said was his. In fact he had just peeked his head in two days ago then fell asleep on the couch. He didn't even remember what he had done on Sunday. Opened his suitcase and pulled out his clothes for his first day of teaching.

Faculty Suite 10th grade Building 6:30 a.m.

Scully cursed as the alarm next to her bed went off. She hit the alarm clock on her end table almost knocking it to the floor.

Last night all of the girls had come back to the school. Most of them had not seen each other in a week and the halls were full of noise all evening. Not to mention that around midnight the girls next door threw a Birthday Party for Leah Spolitoe. That party ran for awhile and Scully had to stay awake to keep them quiet. Now she had to go make sure the girls got up for school.

She slowly got up, grabbed her robe and walked to the double door. She closed the robe around her and knocked on the door. She walked in before waiting for an answer.

The room was still dark and she stood in the middle between all the alcoves. "Wake up!" She screamed at the girls waking them from their slumber. She heard the normal groans from the girls but she heard something else from Leah's alcove.

Scully rushed to turn on the light. "What was that? Are you okay Leah?" Scully asked as she ran back to Leah's alcove.

Leah was already out of bed picking up her things that had fallen to the ground. "I just got up to fast and knocked into my dresser." Leah said quickly.

For some reason Scully didn't believe her. Probably because Leah acted so guilty. The more time she spent with Leah the guiltier she acted. Scully sighed. "You're all right, so I go wake up the rest of my rooms. Happy Birthday." She walked out of Leah's alcove. Leah sighed heavily and gave Sirvy, who's alcove was opposite of Leah's, a look of relief as if she was scared of being caught doing something wrong. Sirvy gave her a look of reassurance and everything returned to normal.

"Breakfast starts in a half hour!" Tasha shouted as she slammed the door of their Suite. As she was in the hall she heard Donna White waking up her half of the dorm. Scully had met her yesterday and found her to be a delightful and helpful woman. Her only job was to watch after the girls and she did a good job of it. She was a guidance counselor and in charge of the dorm. She was Joan's supervisor and from what Scully could figure Joan was doing a terrible job.

Tasha woke up the rest of the girls on her list and went back to her room to get dressed for her first day of teaching high school. She had taught before but that was at Quantico with students who really wanted to learn. This would be a wonderful challenge.

8:05 a.m.

Mulder was already running late. He could not remember where his classroom was. The hall was filled with the students waiting to get into their classrooms. He made his way to an empty area and looked for the map in his binder. He quickly located himself and made his way to his classroom.

The room was on the second floor in the West wing and he was on the first floor of the East wing. He ran as fast as he could to get there before the bell rang. He wished he took Scully's advice and gone to the room more then once.

12:30 p.m.

Scully's day was going quite well. Her first two classes were a breeze. There was no suspicious behavior in her other classes and she feared that they might being be putting on this whole charade for nothing. She had been there all weekend and nothing had happened. The only thing she got from the staff was that the people who had left weren't exactly liked among the students and teachers. Ms. Trixly was the most disliked of them all. No one seemed to mind that she was dead. She was going to be fired the day that she died anyway.

Now she was coming up to her fifth period class. The class that had Leah, Sirvy, Margie and Sam in it. If anyone were involved in her death it would be them. The only ones unaccounted for. But from as far as Scully could see they were normal and not capable of being murderers. Then she thought of the evidence of the residue for which she could not explain and the fact that Trixly died of being choked. Instead of from falling down the stairs.

The bell rang as Scully was thinking. The girls walked in and took their seats at their assigned lab benches. There were only 15 students in this.

She stood up in front of the class and waited for the girls to give her their attention. When she was satisfied they were ready to listen she went into her practiced introduction speech that she had recited a bunch of times this morning. "As some of you may already know I'm the new chemistry teacher, Ms. Sculder.

"I don't care about the way your other teacher handled this class and I don't care about how she taught. This is my class and I'm going to do this my way. I can make this fun or torture, depending on how you act. I'm flexible. I can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. Take you pick." The girls in the class just gave her little vacant stares. "Any questions?"

Mulder couldn't believe how much fun it was to teach American History. Thoughts he added his own conspiracy ideas into his teaching he was really getting into it. He was even starting to get used to the stares half of the girls were giving him.

He was now in seventh period and had to keep a closer eye on those girls. Unlike Scully he was driving straight into the lesson plan.

Sirvy couldn't get her eyes off of him. Sam couldn't either but at least she was more open about it, which was better for Mr. Mulline. That was a warning sign of what she was thinking about and he could confront her sooner. Margie didn't notice him much. She had sworn off any man other then her boyfriend Mike. As for Leah, she was more preoccupied with her own problems and men were the last things on her mind.

Mulline was talking about something to do with the Democratic Party but Leah couldn't really hear him. She was looking over at Sirvy trying to figure out what she was thinking. Sirvy seemed to have no remorse for what she had done.

Leah didn't have a problem with it at first but now it was effecting her deeply. Her mind was losing its focus. Leah had been getting bad nightmares that had been causing her 'power' to act up as she slept. She felt very out of control of herself.

She also felt another problem over the horizon. She put the thought in the back of her mind. She would deal with it as it came up.

Scully stretched out her arms as she walked outside. The school day was over except for extra curricular actives. It was a perfect day. Especially for January. ::That's the benefit of global warming::, She thought. Most of the girls were hanging outside in the grass.

Her first day as a teacher was successful. She was waiting for Mulder to come out and join her. They were meeting to compare notes of the day. She saw him coming out of one of the side doors. He saw her quickly and rushed over to her.

They took a walk around the area quietly exchanging notes. Neither of them had come up with anything. "...The only thing I know is that Leah is feeling guilty about something. She acts like someone is out to get her."

"Technically she is." Mulder interrupted.

"Yes, but if any of them are going to talk to us. She's going to be the first."

"But what if it's not them?" Mulder asked ready for Scully to call him on the question.

"You think this school is haunted." She concluded, her tone was a cross between routine and disappointment.

"Yes, actually. I asked my helpful roommate who has been here since the time when Laura Colti, Jen's grandmother still worked here. He told me both Laura and Gracie- Gracie is Jen's mother- both died here at the school. They put their lives into this place. That they chose to watch over it. And if they found some bad teachers that would bring the school down. The residue could be a product of..." Scully gave him one of her looks, "Your right that explanation is even sounding like crap when I say it."

"Good..."

From a hill not so far away Mr. Mulline and Ms. Sculder were being photographed. Sirvy pulled the camera away from her face and sat back down next to her friends. "Can I get a copy of those?" Sam asked Sirvy.

"Make you a picture in photography club later."

Leah looked at her watch. "Marg, Sam you better go or you'll be late for tennis practice." Leah said intentionally trying to get Sirvy alone. But Leah was watching out for the other girls as she always did. They always called her the 'Mother' because she was the responsible one. Even with it being her 16th birthday she still wouldn't let her mature-responsible attitude drop for a moment.

"All right let's go, Margie," Sam said to her as she stood up and brushed the grass off her skirt, "We have to go change."

They left and Leah was grateful that she could spend some time alone with Sirvy.

Sirvy turned away from Leah and looked down to Mulline and snapped another picture. The camera was actually Leah's birthday present but they shared almost everything. "We need to talk, Sirvy."

"About?" she asked, not looking at her.

"Ms. Trixly. I know what really happened. I haven't brought it up till now because... well, because of Margie and Sam. They don't need to know. They weren't responsible. We were."

"That's not true. She died from the fall not our 'tricks'." Sirvy did a complete about face and looked at her. "Come on Lee, forget about it for once in your life. Concentrate on someone else like I do." She was referring to their new teacher.

"You're not just concentrating, you're setting your sight on something you can never have. It's happened before and it always ends badly. You know that. You know what happened to Matt."

"Ya, I know."

"So what are you going to do about it-" As she was speaking Sam called up the hill to her. "Andy's on the phone!"

"'Kay, be down in a minute." She looked at Sirvy. "We'll talk later." She ran down the hill and ran to her room. She quickly ran to the phone on the desk. "Hey, Andy!"

"Happy Birthday, Sweetie! I sorry I'm couldn't be there for you."

"It's all right..."

"No it's not. We have to look out for each other. I was wrong, and I need to recognize that or risk turning out like dad."

"You won't turn into him. Your to good a person, you have a heart, he doesn't."

"I'm still really sorry. I'll visit you this weekend. I promise."

"I'm fine, you don't have to come. We're all fine."

"I'm supposed to buy that? You sound strange today."

"There's just something's here I have to take care of."

"Like?"

"Girl things." she lied. She didn't want him to worry about her anymore.

"Fine, but I'll come anyway. We could do those 'girl things' together." he joked which made Leah laugh. He was happy to here that sound from her again.

Sculder's Classroom Wednesday

"Everybody clean up! Wash up! Bell's going to ring any minute!" Ms. Sculder called to the girls. They were finishing up an experiment involving acids so their goggles, gloves, and aprons were on. "Don't forget to bring those acids back over here!"

Leah kept looking over at her all during the period. Scully had hoped that she wanted to tell her something, but she never came over to talk.

The bell rang and the girls scattered to the door. "Don't forget your homework packets are due on Friday!" She turned away from the door to reset the material for her next class, which was in about fifteen minutes. She lifted the glasses like goggles back onto the top of her head.

"How's it going?" She heard a man's familiar voice from behind her.

She turned around and she could see Mulder was trying to hide a laugh. "What?"

She was wearing a plastic apron, goggles and big gloves. Her hair was wildly sticking out like in all those mad scientist movies. "You look like a mad scientist," he admitted with a laugh.

She put the goggles on the table then ripped off the gloves as well. "Well you look like an ad for Calvin Klein." He laughed again. "Are you here for any specific reason?"

"Maybe..."

"I have to set up for my next class." She told him sending him the message "I'm not in the mood for shit right now."

"No not really. But we haven't talked today; I just wanted to check in before lunch. Anything happened last night or today?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary for here. Leah still looks disturbed, but that's the type of life she has according to Donna White."

"Well I'm going to go grab lunch. I'll talk to you later, Scully."

"Yeah Mulder, whatever." She muttered as he left. She got back to work. She always loved it when Mulder stopped by for no reason. He just needed to know he was still loved.

"...I'll talk to you later, Scully." Leah heard from right outside the door. She hid when Mr. Mulline left the room. Careful to make sure he didn't see her.

::Scully? :: She thought as she looked back in the classroom. She was going to talk to Ms. Sculder about the Sirvy when she heard them talking. ::Scully, Sculder. The names are similar. They're good friends maybe it's just a nickname. ::

She decided not to talk to her just yet. She took one last look at the teacher and went to her next class.

History had become the best class since Mr. Mulline showed up. He had a strange way of looking at history that made you think he was completely crazy or a genius. Whatever it was the girls didn't ever want to miss his class.

Half of the girls had a look of utter confusion by what he was talking about and the others didn't seem to care. They were staring at him with dreamy eyes. Surprisingly Mulline didn't notice.

"... JFK was suposedly killed by *Lee Harvy Oswald? * Now who hear believes in the second gunman theory? Raise your hands." Scully caught some of his lecture form the doorway. Upon hearing this she moved further in the classroom to here more. A few girls raised their hands to answer his question.

He caught her out of the corner of his eye but continued teaching. Leah noticed her too, but she didn't dare look over. She was confused but she'd get to understand it better in time. Right now she had to keep an eye on Sirvy.

He looked at the clock quickly. The bell was going to be ringing in a minute. "Okay read chapter 30 tonight please. We will go over it tomorrow. I'll answer any questions then." The bell rang and the girls slowly left.

Scully heard random comments from the girls as they left. Things like, "He's awesome, great conspiracy garbage." "He's strange but he's a major hotty!" and her favorite "He should be in a mental institution!"

She made her way to the front of the class. She didn't speak until the room was clear. "No longer do you look like a Calvin Klein ad, you now remind me of Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones."

"Really? Why?" he asked with all honesty. He was looking around his desk for his fountain pen. It was his favorite it had been a present from... He couldn't remember now but he had it for seven years.

"Remember the part where he's teaching his class and all the girls are falling all over him?"

"Yeah?" He was still looking around for it. Then he remembered it was a Christmas/ Chanukah present from Scully.

"That's what your class was like today."

"It was like that yesterday and Monday." He looked through the drawers in his desk.

"What are you looking for?"

"That pen that you gave me."

"Oh," She smiled for a second but it quickly faded. She went back to the more pressing subject. "Mulder, just be watchful. They have crushes on you but that's not a good thing. If anyone of them seems to be trying too hard and things like that, tell me. Okay?"

"Sure thing, Scully." He paused then added, "Now can you help me find my fountain pen?"

::There he goes with that 'Scully' business again. And where did she get 'Mulder' from Mulline. :: Leah had stayed longer on purpose to listen to them. She couldn't listen long because other people were coming down the hall. Somehow She would find out what was going on.

Wednesday Dinner

Everything seemed normal from where Mulder and Scully sat. Leah and her friends were at their normal table. The noise level was at medium and the food was 'okay'. This seemed like a peculiar uneventful meal so their guard wasn't up.

Nimmy walked up to the table of Suite Seventeen, and traded words with Sirvy Siripat. From where Mulder was it looked like it would turn into a fight, but trusty young Leah broke it up. Sirvy sat back down and Nimmy walked away smiling. Sirvy looked off into the distance for a moment and so did Leah.

A sudden crash of plates on the other side of the room caught everyone's attention. Sirvy merely looked at the rolling food cart and unlocked the wheel and it began to roll towards Nimmy. Not until the cart hit Nimmy did anyone realize it had moved. She was knocked hard in the back and fell down.

It caused a big commotion in the room and a few teachers came over to help her. Nimmy was more embarrassed than hurt. Ms. Sculder helped her up. "You're lucky. If that thing were going any faster you might be in worse shape. But you should still go to the nurse." Tasha escorted her out.

Leah turned away from Nimmy and looked at Sirvy. She was smiling. Leah knew that she had done that. Leah also knew that Sirvy was trying to kill Nimmy, if she hadn't slowed down the cart.

Sirvy was becoming harder to control. Not just the fact that she was being reckless with her power but she was becoming stronger. That's what scared Leah the most, Sirvy becoming stronger than her. As long as Leah was stronger Sirvy couldn't do much harm.

Thursday 3:10 a.m.

Leah laid awake in her bed looking up at the ceiling. She hadn't been sleeping well. She hadn't been doing well in her classes. She could barely stay awake in the classes to do well anyway.

School was the least of her problems. She blamed herself. She was the one who started all the 'tricks'. Now she couldn't control her power when it began to surface when she slept. Tasha had almost caught her.

Two mornings ago when she was sleeping things in her alcove started to float around. That hadn't happened before. She didn't want her power to be exposed. She was careful and used it to be discrete. Sirvy on the other hand was reckless and haughty. She didn't recognize what Leah needed her to know.

Leah had become paranoid. Paranoia did not become her. She saw threats everywhere. She even saw enemies in both Natasha and Mulline. But that was ridiculous. She tossed and turned in her bed and tried to sleep again.

Leah was scared all day. She was trying to keep an eye on Sirvy and also find out more about Sculder and Mulline. She had found her right after classes. Mulline and Sculder were going for a long walk. They always took long walks after school.

She assumed Sirvy would be okay for a little while. Anyway she was going to be with the others and she would stay in line. Leah went back to her room.

She was going to snoop around Tasha's room. She waved her hand over the lock. It unlocked like normal and she walked in. She first looked on Sculder's desk. There was nothing. She searched in as many places as she could, then moved onto her nightstand.

She found a lock box in the closet. And used the key taped under her phone. She opened the box to find a gun. She could think of no reason for a teacher to have a gun. She picked it up slowly and quickly put it on the bed.

She looked in the box again and found something black-which looked to her like a wallet of some kind. She opened it, looked at it and quickly put it away. She put the gun back in the box exactly the way she found it. She placed the box and key back where she found it and went back to her room.

She couldn't tell anyone what she found out. She sat down on her bed and closed her eyes. She was trying not to cry. ::They knew we killed her...:: She thought over and over again. She felt as if she was dying.

A few minutes later she heard the door open. She didn't move, "...But I thought you liked him?" She heard Margie ask.

"I'm so over Mr. Mulline. She can try if she wants. But now all I want is George Harrison." She heard Sam respond. "Hey Lee!" Sam called as she saw her sitting in the room. She grabbed her tennis stuff out of the closet. "We're just going to play in the indoor court to have a friendly game. Do you want to join us?"

"No that's okay," she said shakily.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah." She smiled. Trying to hide the fact that she was falling apart inside. "I just have a little headache."

"All right," Sam sighed, "But feel free to join us if you want to talk."

"Thanks."

"No problem, we're friends. I'll see you later." Sam and Margie left.

Leah stood up. Pacing always made her feel better. She could think well when she was in motion. She had to think of what to say, how to say it and what to do.

As she made her tenth circle around the room she slipped. She fell flat on her face right in front of Sirvy's bed. "Ouch!" She muttered. As she pulled herself up something under the bed caught her attention.

It was a box that had not been there before. Felt that she needed to open the box, a compulsion prompted her to open the it. Upon examination it was a normal shoebox that used to be in their closet. She hesitated. This would be the second box she opened today. Leah expected that this would be far worse than the first box.

She stopped stalling and pulled the top off. The contents of the box were a whole bunch of photographs, graded history papers, and a fountain pen.

::The pen! That's the one that Mulline lost! :: She remembered from spying on him and Sculder-Scully yesterday that he couldn't find his pen. The pictures were all of Mulline and they weren't just the ones of him in the park. There were pictures of him in his apartment.

Leah knew what Sirvy was doing. She was collecting anything she could from him. She was disappointed that she didn't keep a closer eye on Sirvy. Then she remembered. When Sam and Margie had come back to the room Sirvy wasn't with them.

Leah grabbed her winter coat from the closet and ran out to find Sirvy. She decided to check the tennis court first.

She arrived while Sam and Margie was in a match. "Lee, I'm glad you came!" Sam said as she saw her enter.

"Where's Sirvy?" she asked Sam, knowing she wouldn't like the answer. She put her coat down on the bench.

"Oh she's walking around to find and speak to Mr. Mulline-" Leah almost ran out of there. "What's going on?" Sam asked starting to run after her.

"Stay here!" Leah yelled.

Leah ran out into the cold air with nothing but her sweater to keep her warm. She forgot to grab her coat before she left. She ran off in the direction of where Mulline and Sculder were walking earlier.

She figured the quickest way to find her was to take a detour through the woods. She pushed her way through the bare branches. She felt the branch scrape and rip her stockings. She imagined that when she was through with this trek, her stockings would be completely ruined.

She knew where Mulline and Sculder were. And she was going to get there the quickest way she could. The wind chilled her as she started her way up a steep hill. She was sure that they would be at the pond. She had been here long enough to know every short cut in the book.

Sitting on a bench, looking at the cold pond, Mulder and Scully thought they were alone. His arms were around her. Unaware they were being watched they kissed.

They barely heard the rustling of the woods behind them. They were unaware of a stalker running off back into the woods. Sirvy was angry and mad. She would get her revenge. But only at the right time.

Leah was confronted by Sirvy. Leah had just slid down the hill and found Sirvy right there waiting for her. Sirvy looked worse than Leah did. Well in her facial expression rather then whole appearance. Leah's uniform and body was covered with dirt but that paled in comparison to the look Sirvy had on. She looked as if her life had ended and she finally realized what she had done.

"What's going on, Sirv?" Leah asked breathing heavily trying to catch her breath.

"Tasha and Mulline are together." Her expression changed from remorse to anger. Not just anger, revenge. Leah had known each other long enough to know what she was thinking. Sirvy had that madness in her eyes she got when she was going to kill Nimmy. And hints of it after she killed Trixly.

"I won't let you hurt her!" Leah shouted. Sirvy snapped on her and as her mind hit her with a fallen tree branch on the head. Leah fell down and responded by doing the same to her. But because of the pain, Sirvy didn't fall.

"I'll do what ever I want! You or anybody else won't be able to stop me!" She ran off, leaving Leah alone.

Leah brought her hand to her head. She was bleeding pretty badly; she was a bit dizzy. She needed to stand up and get some help. Her knees were scraped and bloody. She was aching all over and she could barely stand up.

But she did and limped her way back to the pond. No one was there. She took the path back to the building holding onto the trees for support as she walked. After a few minutes she was still insight of the pond, but she hear people coming back to it.

It was Mulline and Tasha. She realized this would be the last chance to atone for her mistakes. She had to tell them everything. They stopped coming towards her and turned back to were they were going. It looked like they dropped something. "Wait please!" Leah screamed. "Please help me!"

The stopped, turned around, and ran back to her. "What's happened, Leah?" Scully asked the injured girl. "Help me get her to the bench."

"I know who you are," she said almost crying, as they moved her. "And I know why you're here, Dana Scully."

Leah was sobbing in Scully's arms. The girl was ice cold. Scully quickly gave Leah her jacket. "What are you talking about?" Mulder asked hoping they didn't blow their cover.

"Don't try that. I know your FBI. I found her badge in her room. You know about Ms. Trixly. I'll tell you what you want to know." They both knew there was no denying it now.

They moved her over to the closest bench and had her relax before she spoke. Scully sat next to her. "What going on? How did all this happen?" Scully asked trying to clean up the bleeding to her head.

"Sirvy, she's angry. I got in the way. I didn't mean for all of this to get out of hand. It's entirely my fault. I just did it for a laugh at first then to get revenge..." She stopped realizing what she had just said. She wasn't sure if this was the way to go. But she didn't have a choice now, once she started to tell them she couldn't stop.

"What did you do?"

"I'm telekinetic. I make things move with my mind." Leah looked at their faces and conjured a weak smile; "You don't believe me. Well this is something I can prove. Watch." She focused on a fallen branch on the path. She tried to move it but it didn't budge. "My head hurts it's effecting my concentration. But I can do it!" She cried again. "And if I don't get my powers back, Sirvy will be completely out of control."

"I believe you," Mulder said. She was surprised but it didn't penetrate the pain she was in.

"Thanks for taking my word for it. I've had this power since I was eight. I don't remember exactly how I started using them. I met Sirvy my first year here. Later I found she had the potential to do what I do. I trained her and it soon became second nature to us. But I was scared of being seen. It has been my experience that people are scared of change so I kept us hidden. We were never going to get blamed for ticks we played on the teachers that left. I never expected her to turn on me. She killed Ms. Trixly. Sam and Margie don't have this ability.

"That's all we were going to do. The one thing I didn't count on was Sirvy's need for revenge and her obsession with thing she can't have, like you." She was looking at Mulder. "She's obsessed with you... Is you name Mulder?" He nodded, "She had a box with photos of you, anything of hers that you touched, and your fountain pen. That's when I knew you were in trouble.

"This happened before, a few years ago. Sirvy used to take violin lessons in town every Saturday. She fell for her teacher Matt Zagata. She would spend as much time with him as she could and no amount of time with him was enough for her. She had the same type of box made up for him, that she made up for you. When she found out he had a girlfriend she wanted to kill her. She would have tried to but I stopped her. I don't even know how I did it, but I managed to convince Matt to leave town and we never saw him again.

"When I found her she was crazed. She thought you two were together." Mulder and Scully yelled at themselves inside. She must have seen them kiss. "Well anyway, she going to try and kill you, Dana! I told her she couldn't and that I was stronger but she hit me over the head with a branch then ran off." Scully didn't know about the telekinetic bit but was more focused on taking care of her injuries. She thought that Leah was just confused.

"Well talk more later, we need to get you some help. You may have a concussion." she turned to Mulder, "Help me get her to the nurse."

Scully and Mulder waited with Leah in the nurse's office. They had talked to Jen Bretz and she was heading to a security team to search for the missing Sirvy Siripat.

No one except a privileged few knew anything was wrong. This was all being done discretely. Leah was grateful for that. All she knew they wouldn't be able to find her. Even if they did find her only she could stop them. She was all bandaged up and Scully came over to talk to her.

"How are you feeling?" Scully asked.

"I've seen better days. Did you find her yet?"

"Not yet. But we're still searching. We called your brother he's on his way."

"I need to get back out there. I'm the only one who can stop her," she said trying to get up and leave. Mulder and Scully held her back. "Just let me go." She whined.

"You're too weak," Mulder said.

Leah nicely asked the nurse to leave. "I'm stronger than you think. If you don't let me go at least let me come up with a plan. I know her better than anyone."

"What do you have in mind?" Mulder asked and Scully was about to kill him. This was turning out like what happened to Jean.

"Mulder I need to talk to you outside, now." Scully commanded.

Leah was left in the room alone. She only had about ten seconds of that before the window opened. It had opened on it's own and Leah new Sirvy was out there. And then she was in the room. Leah didn't flinch. "I need you..."

**

Sirvy had dragged Leah out of the infirmary without anyone noticing. Leah knew exactly what Sirvy was going to do. They had each had their low times at this school. Times were all they wanted to do was die.

Sirvy had to almost carry Leah up the fire escape on the outside of the School Building. "What are you doing why are you taking me up there?"

"Remember after my father got remarried for the fourth time and I came up here and your father hated you and you came up here? Well I'm going to finish what we should have done then!"

Leah remembered when they had saved each other from killing themselves. They wanted to die but they were too scared to jump off the roof of the building. "We always said that we'd do it together."

"I don't want to die!"

"Well, what do you have to live for now. I know we were caught in Trixly's murder. I know all about the FBI! I was listening to you tell them all about me. I don't have him and you never had anything! What's the big deal? We'll be charged with murder anyway!"

They were on the roof now. Sirvy walked straight out to the edge. Leah tried to stay back but Sirvy held strongly on to her. Leah looked around for anything she could hit Sirvy with but there was nothing just some cable wire. Leah had been here so many times ready to jump but this time she didn't want to.

She screamed loud. Her scream could be heard for away and the people came rushing. Mulder and Scully were the first to arrive. Then Sam and Margie. Soon it looked as if the whole school had arrived. They were five stories up. Scully and Mulder started up the fire escape.

Leah was very close to the edge and began to feel dizzy. Every time she tried to take a step back Sirvy would jerk her forward. She felt like she was in hell. People were screaming from the ground, Sirvy was moving closer and closer to the edge.

"Come on, Lee! I know you blame yourself for her dying. Now you don't have to live with it any more..." Sirvy kept listing all of Lee's reasons to kill herself and after a while Lee started believing them. She was waiting to be saved but she thought she never would.

"I'll jump!" Lee finally gave in. She had to stop the madness She grabbed Sirvy's hand. They would jump together. It had to be that way.

Leah looked around again. Then looked back out to where she was going to jump. She felt Sirvy lunge forward but Lee stood her ground but Sirv was too heavy. Leah was still holding her hand when she began to fall.

Lee couldn't hear anything around her. She slipped and was barely hanging onto the side of the building and her grip was slipping. She was supporting herself with one hand trying to keep Sirvy alive with the other. That wasn't easy because Sirvy was trying to make her fall. She felt the stone under her crumble under her fingers...

The cable wire that was all over the roof started to move closer to them. Just as her hand slipped off a loop of wire wrapped itself around her wrist. It was tight and it held her up there. She looked down at Sirvy. Leah was waiting for someone to help them. The weight was pulling on her she couldn't hold onto her much longer.

"Just let me die," she whispered and pulled her sweat-drenched fingers from Leah's hand.

Sirvy fell straight and quick. Leah didn't even hear her cry. She closed her eyes and didn't open them for what felt like ages. She was crying again. She didn't open her eyes until Mulder had her safely on the roof. She couldn't even stand, she had to be carried to the ambulance. Her mind was in shock. She couldn't make out what everybody was saying. She wasn't ready to except what had happened.

Thursday

Leah laid awake in her hospital bed. She had been brought in last night and they wanted her to stay for observations. She couldn't believe that last night was something other than a nightmare.

She wouldn't see anyone except her brother, who had arrived late last night. Or that's what she told most of the people who wanted to visit her. She had actually wanted to see two people who should be arriving any minute.

The red haired woman and the tall brown haired man stood in her doorway. "Come in." She asked them and they came and stood next to her. "I heard you are leaving today and I wanted to say thank you."

"For what?" Scully asked.

"For not telling anybody about my gift and how Trixly really died."

"That wasn't a problem due to the testimonies we received from Sam and Margie. That Sirvy strangled Ms. Trixly then made you make it look like an accident. There is no mention of telekinesis." Mulder added. He knew that if anyone found out about that this girl would lose any chance of a normal life from now on. He was scared that what happened to Gibson would happen to her.

"Thank you. It's not like it's entirely untrue." She smiled weakly again.

"What are your plans for when you get out of here?"

"Andy's getting my things from Colti, then I'm going to live with him in New York. I can't ever come back here again. I'll always think of her. We were like two very screwed up sisters." Scully nodded and didn't really know how to react.

"We better get going we have a flight out to in a few hours." Scully told Mulder. "Take care Leah."

"Goodbye, Leah"

Leah looked over at Mulder than at Scully, and realized something that had been bothering her, "You don't believe I have that gift do you? You never saw the times I used it. But your partner here who hasn't seen it either believes it just because I said it was true. Interesting... Well, goodbye."

Confused by her last bit of dialogue, they turned to leave the room. Right before they reacted the door it slammed shut. They could see from the window on the door that there was no one outside the door and they certainly didn't touch it. They turned around to see a smiling Leah, "Surprise!"

The End

I would like to thank the real Sirvy, Margie, and Sam for helping me write my characters. Margie I promise you will do more than play tennis next time! Patty thank you again for making sense of my story you are a life saver.