Title:      Taking the Dream 
Author:     dtg
Email:      dgoggans@earthlink.net
Website:    http://home.earthlink.net/~dgoggans/
Rating:     PG
Keywords:   missing scene
Spoilers:   Requiem
Archive:    Please link to the story on my site.
Summary:    A moment we didn't see in the episode
            when Scully learns of Mulder's abduction.
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Chris Carter,
            1013 and Fox. No copyright infringement
            intended.  
Notes: Special thanks to Dawn and Michelle for speedy
and insightful beta. 


***

"There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories
were full of hearts being broken by love, but what 
really broke a heart was taking away its dream--
whatever that dream might be." -- Pearl S. Buck   

***
Taking the Dream  by dtg




Forty-five goddamned minutes since they had taken her 
behind the double doors, and not one word on her 
condition. Frohike was as close to violence as he 
could ever remember. 

"Look, somebody's got to know what's going on back 
there. I want to talk to her doctor. NOW!"

The nurse at the admitting desk looked coolly up at 
him. "Who is the patient?"

He could feel the blood pounding in his head as he 
ground out the words through clenched teeth. "Dana 
Scully."

She consulted her computer, calmly tapping the keys 
as she scanned the screen. Her gaze shifted smoothly 
from the monitor to his face. "And you are...?"

He nearly lost it. Only the certain knowledge that 
this woman would have him tossed out on his ass kept 
his hands away from her throat. "Melvin Frohike. I 
came in with her in the ambulance. I'm a friend."

She nodded in the direction of the double doors. "You 
can go back now."

He stalked to the doors and waited for the click as 
she released the security lock. The moment he stepped 
through, he heard the lock snick closed behind him. 
To his right was another desk and another nurse, no 
friendlier than the one he'd just left. She did, 
however, tell him where Scully was without demanding 
three forms of picture I.D., and he actually managed 
a nod of thanks.

Down the hall, all the way at the end, was Scully's 
room. There was an observation window next to the 
door, and he watched her for a moment before he went 
in. She was staring into space with a strange little 
smile tilting the corners of her mouth. When the door 
closed behind him, she looked up and the smile went 
supernova, lighting her entire face. He felt like 
he'd just been sprayed with sunshine.

"How are you feeling?" His voice squeaked like a 
thirteen-year-old boy's and he could feel the flush 
heating his face.

She held out her hand, and he crossed to her side to 
take it. Her fingers were icy.

"I'm fine, Frohike. I really am." There was a touch 
of wonder in her voice that puzzled him.

He felt a bizarre urge to kiss her hand, but instead 
he squeezed her fingers gently and laid the hand back 
down at her side. "What did the doctors say?"

Her eyes lit up again. "They're running some tests, 
but there's nothing to worry about. They just want to 
keep me for a few hours to make sure."

There was something else. He could feel it, but he 
knew better than to push. Watching Mulder with her 
had taught him that. "I should call the guys. They're 
probably climbing the walls by now." Byers and Langly 
had stayed at the Hoover building, trying to reach 
Mulder. He was gonna freak when he heard about 
Scully.

Scully leaned back into the pillows and closed her 
eyes. "Tell them I'm fine. I just need to rest a bit, 
then you can give me a lift home."

He patted her hand awkwardly. "I'll be back in a few 
minutes."

His relief lasted until he got Byers on the phone. 
The way the man answered... the tension in his 
voice... made Frohike's blood turn to ice.

And then the words sank in. "What the hell do you 
mean, *he's gone*?"

Mulder had disappeared. Skinner was already on a 
plane, on his way back. Skinner's report said Mulder 
had been abducted by the UFO. He had seen it take 
off.

Frohike stood with the receiver pressed to his ear 
for many minutes after Byers had hung up. It was 
impossible. It was a nightmare. And yet, he knew it 
was true.

How in God's name was he going to tell Scully? There 
was no question that *he* would have to do it. No way 
was he going to let her hear it from that jarhead 
Marine. A sledgehammer would be more subtle, and 
probably a lot kinder. 

This was going to break her heart, and it should come 
from a friend. He just had no fucking idea how he was 
going to say it.

Frohike trudged back to Scully's room with the weight 
of the world on his shoulders. With one last deep 
breath, he pushed open the door and crossed to her 
bed. He knew she was enjoying the last peaceful rest 
she would have for a very long time. He touched her 
shoulder gently, and she opened her eyes.

She looked up at him sleepily, a smile starting on 
her lips. He knew the instant she realized that 
something was wrong. 

"What?" The fear in her eyes put a tremor in her 
voice, and suddenly he felt like the biggest bastard 
on the planet. "Frohike, what *is* it?"

He took her hand in both of his and tried to find his 
voice. "Scully, I..." 

While he was searching for the words, she sat up and 
pulled her hand back. Her voice had an edge of panic. 
"Where is he?"

There was no need to ask who she meant.

He wanted to be anywhere but here, doing anything but 
this. His throat was closing up on him, and his eyes 
stung. And every second that ticked by was killing 
her by inches. He could see it happening.

"I... I talked to Byers a few minutes ago. Skinner is 
on his way back--"

Her hand closed over his wrist with a strength that 
surprised him. "Melvin, tell me what's going on."

He was having a very hard time meeting her gaze. She 
squeezed his wrist until he looked at her. Those blue 
eyes bored into his, demanding the truth.

"Mulder's been... taken." 

Time seemed to stop. There was no sound for a long 
moment. Neither of them even seemed to be breathing 
as the horror took hold.

"What do you mean 'taken'?" Barely a whisper, but he 
flinched as if she'd struck him.

"They're searching the woods, but they're not going 
to find him. Skinner said..." He swallowed painfully. 
"He said that Mulder was taken by the UFO. He saw it 
take off."

"I knew it. I knew it. Goddamn it, I *told* you..." 
She wasn't talking to him. She was talking to Mulder. 
The tears were there in her voice, but her eyes were 
dry and dark, swirling with emotions he couldn't 
read.

His wrist was beginning to hurt, and he put his free 
hand over hers in an attempt to gently loosen her 
grip. She gasped and looked at him as if he'd just 
materialized in front of her, jerking her hand back 
as if he'd burned her.

There was no mistaking the emotion in her eyes now. 
"Frohike..." A choked whisper. "I... I need to be by 
myself for a few minutes." Her breathing hitched as 
that careful control began to disintegrate. All he 
could think to do was touch her, but he couldn't seem 
to move.

"Please..." The first soft sob escaped, and she 
begged him with brimming eyes.

Feeling like the worst kind of coward, he slunk out 
of the room and stood with his back against the 
closed door. The muffled sounds from inside the room 
completed his damnation. 

He was still standing there, head bowed in defeat, 
when Byers and Langly walked up to him.

"What happened?" Langly grabbed his shoulder, and he 
looked up. Byers was standing at the window next to 
the door, one hand over his mouth, his eyes fixed 
on something inside the room. The look on his face 
told Frohike more than he wanted to know about what 
he was seeing.  

He turned to Frohike. "You told her." 

Langly dropped his hand from his friend's shoulder. 
"Oh, man we wanted to get here before you said 
anything."

Frohike looked from one to the other, trying to read 
their faces. There was even more going on here than 
he knew. "What?" And then the awful possibility hit 
him like a truck. His mouth went dry. "Did... did 
they find his..." He couldn't even say the word. If 
Mulder was dead, it was truly all over.

Langly shook his head. "No."

"Then *what*?"

Byers looked back into the room for a moment, then 
met Frohike's questioning gaze. "We... looked at her 
records before we came over here."

"No." The cancer was back. He felt the floor tilt 
under his feet. "The--"

Byers read him instantly. "No, it's not the cancer." 
He took a deep breath. "She's pregnant."

Two things occurred to him immediately. First was an 
utterly inappropriate feeling of vindication. He had 
always known that Mulder and Scully would end up 
together. This baby proved him right. Second, that 
there was no way Mulder could have known about his 
baby, or he would never have left her side. Not for 
the X files, not for Samantha, not even if it meant 
having everything he'd ever believed proven beyond 
any doubt. 

"Melvin?" Byers' hand was on his shoulder. He looked 
down at it stupidly, then up into his friend's 
worried eyes. 

"You guys go back and start digging through satellite 
images. There's got to be some trace of this thing. 
If we can find out where it was going..." It was the 
faintest of hopes, but it was all they had. "I'll 
wait here in case she needs anything."

After they left, Frohike realized he was still 
propped against Scully's door. He pushed himself away 
from it and stood for a moment on rubbery knees. The 
awful certainty that Mulder was truly gone this time 
seemed to have hollowed him out somehow, leaving a 
raw ache that felt irreversible. He could not imagine 
what it was like for Scully. He didn't want to. 

He moved to the window. She was sitting up against 
the pillows now, her hands clutched together in her 
lap, twisting the sheet into a knot. He couldn't see 
her eyes, but her face was still wet with tears. He 
had never seen such misery.

She seemed to sense his eyes on her. She looked up 
quickly, her face lit for just an instant with 
something heartwrenchingly close to hope. It was gone 
almost before he could recognize it, the moment she 
saw that it was him. Not Mulder. 

He dropped his gaze, shamed to have been caught 
intruding on her grief. 

*Take care of her, Fro'. Don't let her give up.*

His entire body jerked in reaction, the voice was so 
clear. So real. 

He answered it aloud, not caring how crazy he 
sounded.

"With my life, buddy. With my life."

* * *


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