Novels The Damascus Files In The Interest of Science Other Stories A Deafening Silence Finding Zuzu's Petals Into The Mystic Je T'aime Knockin' On Heaven's Door Knowing Korena, Korena Matthew 19:14 Nightwing Sweet Dreams Symbiosis A Texas History Lesson This Could Be Heaven,   or This Could Be Hell Timepieces Your Soul in My Heart Other Info About Kat Linkage Feedback   In the Interest of Science Select a chapter Return to Story Index Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Full Text Only Chapter Nine April 4th Unknown location Mulder had a peaceful, nightmare-free rest without the benefit of a sleeping pill. It had been a long time since he'd had that many hours of non-drug-induced sleep. It was noon before a nurse woke us up to let us know Doctor Williams was on his way. I hurried to my room to shower and change, and the nurse assisted Mulder in cleaning up and getting presentable. Although he tried to hide it, Mulder was eagerly awaiting the doctor when I came in to his room. A few minutes later the affable physician came in. "Good afternoon Dr. Mulder, Dr. Scully." He teased me, a twinkle in his eye. He spotted the file folders strewn across the room. "I see you've been catching up on your reading." Mulder nodded. Dr. Williams pulled a chair alongside the bed and sat down, picking up from the bedside table the thin manila folder that contained the information on the transplant procedure. "Do you have any questions?" the doctor asked with a smile. "Only about a hundred," Mulder said softly, the corners of his mouth tugging into a half-smile. "I almost don't know where to start." "I'm sure you'll think of a place," Williams said slyly. "But, how about I start at the beginning? You can ask your questions as we go along. I'll tell you exactly how we plan to proceed. Okay?" Mulder shrugged his agreement and scooted up in the bed to listen to the doctor's explanation. "Tomorrow morning, we'll start giving you injections. We plan on three a day. Now, I'll be truthful with you, we're not absolutely sure that will be the correct dosage because, as you know, you are our first human subject." He stopped to study Mulder's reaction to this knowledge. Mulder didn't even bat an eye, while I, on the other hand, had to sit down on the corner of the bed. My knees had grown weak. We both had read the reports, we knew this was a still an experimental procedure. I just didn't like being reminded of the fact. "I don't quite understand what these injections are. I mean I know they are alien cells of some kind and I know you've found out that they regenerate damaged tissue. But what kind of cells?" Mulder asked, his brow furrowed with intensity. I knew what the injections were. They were another thing I wasn't comfortable thinking about. "I don't want you to misunderstand this part, Mr. Mulder." Williams explained. "What I'm going to tell you might be upsetting, so I want to reassure you now, that your immune system will keep what we inject in you from being harmful. You survived and eradicated the black cancer with little more than a placebo vaccine so we're confident these injections will do what they're meant to do and..." "Just tell me what's in the fucking shots." Mulder said, raising his voice in exasperation. The doctor chuckled at my partner's outburst. "Sorry. I just want to make sure...", he stopped short, reading Mulder's frustration over another long winded explanation. "Sorry. The shots contain a parasitic organism, a parasitic, ALIEN organism, that will stimulate your immune system into repairing and regenerating the tissue to which we plan to connect the transplanted limbs. This includes nerves, blood vessels, all of what will be the connecting tissues. All the scarring and mutilation that resulted from your accident will be gone. We will have healthy, viable tissue to attach your new limbs to. Do you understand what a breakthrough this is?" I had read the report so I knew what the parasite was supposed to do, but I couldn't help getting shivers of excitement over the miracle these scientist had discovered. The test subjects had actually grown living, healthy tissue from scarred, mutilated, even burned stumps. It was as though the new tissue was hungry for the transplant. Healing was rapid and complete and the animals quickly began to use these newly attached, cloned limbs as though they were the ones they had been born with. There was hardly even a scar at the point of attachment. It was amazing. I glanced over at Mulder as he listened to Dr. Williams. The doctor was offering him a testimonial of sorts, elaborating on what we had read and I saw my partner's eyes were shining with excitement. "So, are you game?" Williams asked. Mulder nodded, unable to speak. He struggled valiantly, but a tear trickled down his face and he hurriedly swiped it away. I didn't even attempt a fight. My eyes were streaming. When Mulder looked over to me, his guard broke down completely. I rushed to his side just as a huge sob escaped from deep inside. I wrapped myself around him and he clung to me with his lone arm, his whole body shaking, heaving with emotion. We both had shed a river of tears in those long, painful months since the accident, but these were different. These were the healing tears of joy. Unknown location Early April The injections began the next day, and other than soreness from the needle, initially they caused no pain. They were given in the transplant sites, which of course meant the scarred ends of his leg stumps and the broad, puckered indention where his arm had once been attached to his shoulder. While admitting the shots did hurt, Mulder claimed the pain was not nearly as bad as that he'd felt with the sores his prostheses had caused. We passed the time watching and waiting. We played Scrabble, chess, cards and Mulder, of course, watched sports on TV. It was around noon of the fifth day that Mulder began to feel a change. He claimed that it didn't quite hurt, that it wasn't really a tingle. We checked the sites and they did look slightly inflamed, but the minor redness and swelling we saw could also be attributed to the injections. After giving it much thought, Dr. Williams decided to increase the dosage of the shots. It worked. The next morning, the fun began. I was in my little room, asleep, when I heard Mulder scream. I don't think my feet touched the ground my first few steps. After hitting the wall switch to turn on the light, I saw him. He was bathed in sweat, sitting bolt upright in his bed. His face was flushed red and contorted in anguish. His eyes were wild and unfocused. The moment I touched him I knew his temperature was high, too high. The night nurse came running. She too, had been awakened by his scream. "He's burning up, get a cooling blanket, then go call Dr. Williams," I ordered, grabbing a towel from the bathroom. Quickly, I wet it with cool water and wringing the excess on the floor, hurried back to Mulder. I wiped the sweat from his chest, his face, his neck, attempting to bring his core temperature down. Mulder shivered as I bathed him down. He began thrashing about, fighting my treatments, but I leaned on his arm and was able to keep him from hurting himself and me. Soon, he began to calm and when the nurse got back, we readied the cooling blanket, then draped it over him. He was sleeping peacefully when the Doctor arrived. "Damn, I should have stayed where we were", the man cursed himself angrily. "Any convulsions?" I shook my head and leaned over to see what the ear thermometer read as the nurse took his temperature again. 102. My sigh was audible. Dr. Williams still looked angry, but I knew it was at himself. He shook his head wearily. "Spiking a fever is normal at this point. It means his immune system has kicked in, but I can't believe I was stupid enough to increase his dosage. Damn, my impatience. How high do you think his fever was initially?" He asked me, his eyes worried. "By the time we got the blanket on, it was 103.1, so, probably not much more than a degree higher," I replied, trying to reassure him that there would most likely be no permanent damage to his patient. "Mulder is hypersensitive to fevers. I've seen him delirious at 103. It should have been in his chart. Sorry we didn't tell you." The doctor seemed to be calming down and offered me a ghost of his usually broad smile. "Well, we had to let it spike and at least his sensitivity gave us an early warning that it was climbing. We'll just watch him now to keep it under control." He smoothed the silver blanket idly with his hand then turned to face me, "I think we can take this off when it gets down another degree, don't you, Doctor?" I smiled at his acknowledgment of my skills and nodded in agreement. "Scully?" Mulder stirred, then tried to push the cold blanket off. "Why's it so fucking cold?" he muttered, struggling awake. He glanced in surprise at the small crowd gathered around his bed. "Did something happen?" I patted his thigh in reassurance and smoothed his ever-unruly bangs back off his forehead. Dr. Williams winked at me then turned to leave. "Come on, Jen," he called, motioning for the nurse to follow, "I think he's being taken care of." I smiled down at Mulder and he gave me a sleepy grin in return. "Sculleee," he murmured, drifting off. "I'm here, Mulder" Unknown location Late April/Early May Within a week, the treatments were in full swing. The alien parasite was doing its job, stimulating Mulder's immune system into regenerating and healing tissue like no other human being had ever been able to do. We could almost see the changes happening before our eyes. Mulder ran a constant, low-grade fever, but his spirits were higher than I had ever seen them. The change in his disposition and outlook was amazing. It was as though he was being reborn and we were watching it, step by step. I can't begin to explain the awe and wonder of it all. It was the twentieth day of the procedure that I noticed the first growth. I was examining the tissue where his arm would be attached. The thick scars had disappeared. There was a thin covering of new skin over the entire area and I could see newly grown nerves, muscle, capillaries, veins all waiting, there beneath the surface, ready to join with the cloned parts. It was fascinating and a bit frightening. I was palpitating the bulge, as I had been shown, but on that day, I felt something different -- a hard mass, deep within the tissues. As a forensic pathologist I had felt my share of lumps and the knowledge of what it might be made my stomach plummet. Mulder was lazily channel surfing the satellite TV while I did my exam. Maybe my breathing changed, maybe he felt my hands begin to shake while I studied the offending mass. I don't know how, but he knew something was wrong. "What is it, Scully?" I tried to make my face impassive and even attempted a smile. Mulder knew me too well. "You found something wrong." It wasn't a question, it was a statement and he grabbed my hand, to comfort me. "Maybe you better get Dr. Williams", he urged, knowing I was too upset to even know what should be done. I nodded and stumbled off to find the doctor. By the next day, we had found five tumors, varying in size from a pea to a lemon. They were scattered between the three injection sites, where his new tissue was forming. Dr. Williams had the surgery readied and did a biopsy of the first mass. Being that Mulder was this laboratories only patient the results came back immediately. It was benign. I sat beside Mulder, waiting for him to awaken from the anesthesia so I could tell him the good news. Dr. Williams came into the room to check on his patient and I gave him a smile, happy that we were back on track. I felt a chill at seeing the Doctor had a worried frown on his face. "What's wrong?" Dr. Williams shook his head and sighed, "I'm not sure we should assume that they're all benign. I know it's got to be the treatment that's causing them. I just don't quite know why. We took a chance at comprising the site by doing this biopsy so I'm afraid to biopsy the others. We're going to have to stop the procedure. No more injections. We need to watch to see if there's change in these or if more develop. It would force our hand and we'd have to go in and remove them. I don't know, but I think we've failed." His eyes were sad and he gave my shoulder a compassionate pat as he passed by. I sat in stunned silence, tears springing to my eyes at the horrible change in events. I didn't know what to tell Mulder. I couldn't bear the fact that his new-found hope was going to snatched away like this. The moment of truth arrived within minutes when he began to stir. I walked to his side and put a hand on his face. He opened those wonderful, deep hazel eyes and smiled upon recognizing me. I gave him a grin in return which he instantly read. "Malignant," he croaked and tried to clear his throat. I offered him some ice chips, which he greedily accepted. "No, it was benign. But we're going to have to stop the experiment, at least until we find out what's going on here," Dr. Williams answered for me. Mulder just sighed, taking in the pronouncement calmly. He glanced up at me, his eyes growing soft at seeing my silent tears. He stretched out his hand to me and I clasped it in my own. "I love you," he murmured pulling me to him. Instantly dissolving into tears, I buried my head on his chest. He caressed my back gently, murmuring soft words of comfort. I finally got my emotions in hand and looked up at him, drinking in that face. He smiled bravely at me and it gave me the courage to finally say the words out loud. "I love you, Mulder." Go to Chapter 10 DISCLAIMER: "The X-Files" and its characters are owned by FOX and its related entities. All rights reserved. This website, its operators and any content on this site relating to "The X-Files" are not authorized by Fox. No copyright infringement is intended. This site created and maintained by Wasatch Design and Consulting.