TITLE: An Illusion Caused By Distance AUTHOR: nikki DATE: May 1999 RATING: PG SPOILERS: Biogenesis KEYWORDS: Scully, Mulder, Skinner, Diana Fowley CATEGORY: S,V,A SUMMARY: Scully, Mulder, the ocean, Diana--what are they hiding under their cool facades? THANKS: I cannot give nearly enough thanks to Gerry, Sally and Sarah who read this story far more times than anyone should have. ARCHIVE: Gossamer, Exemplary, Ephemeral, MulderTorture Anonymous--yes please!! All others, please let me know--I love visiting new archives! FEEDBACK: Is gratefully received and always responded to. nikoleaw@aol.com Please come visit the rest of my fanfic at http://members.aol.com/nikoleaw2/index.html DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. I'm just taking them out for a little test drive. I promise I'll be careful and I'll return them with a full tank of gas. No point in suing me--I'll be broke once I leave the gas station. The pressure had been building in her ears for nearly five minutes now. As Scully hazarded a quick glance out of the window, she could see the waters of the Atlantic below. From her lofty vantage point in the sky, the ocean looked calm and welcoming, but she knew that the appearance of tranquillity was merely an illusion caused by distance. She bent down, picked up her purse and began rummaging through it for the pack of gum that she had bought at the airport in Abidjan nearly 30 hours earlier. She was removing a stick when her cell phone rang. Chastened to realize that it must have somehow gotten turned on in her bag during her trip, she was tempted to simply turn it off now. She knew that she was returning to a host of unanswered questions, that lives were depending upon the information that she had gathered and she wondered if delaying facing those responsibilities for a while longer would really make a difference. She had wondered those very same things when her phone had rung as she was preparing to board a similar plane nearly 3 days earlier. As she'd been frantically packing a bag at home, Skinner had called her non-stop, alternating between her cell phone and leaving messages on her machine, insisting that he needed to talk to her, that things weren't as they had seemed at the hospital. Part of her had been grateful that the mechanics of checking her answering machine from Africa hadn't worked. The American operator had said something about that being a common problem. She hadn't worried much about it--she was in regular contact with the hospital for updates on Mulder's condition and not being able to hear Skinner's messages meant one less set of lies she needed to sort through at that moment. So, as she'd prepared to board her flight to Africa, she'd turned off her phone mid-ring, temporarily banishing all thoughts of Skinner and his questionable alliances from her mind and concentrated on finding the answer to the puzzle to save Mulder's sanity. Now, as she tried to avoid dropping the stick of gum back into the depths of her purse while she fished out her ringing phone, she considered all of the warnings about using cell phones while in an airplane. She decided that whatever the problem was, there was nothing she could do about it at the moment and Skinner, or whomever it was, would just have to wait another half hour until the plane landed to talk to her. **** As Scully made her way through the crowded airport terminal to the gate for her connecting flight to Dulles, she adjusted the strap of her carry-on bag over her shoulder and used her now free hand to retrieve her cell phone from her purse. She flipped it open and turned the power on, preparing to call the hospital for an update on Mulder's condition. Before she could dial the first number, the phone rang. She briefly contemplated turning the power back off and disconnecting whomever was calling, but decided against it. "Scully." "Agent Scully?" There was a tremendous amount of ambient noise emanating from the crowd around her, as well as the low state of her battery as indicated by the red "battery low" light that shined accusingly at her. "Yes. Who is this?" "Agent Scully, this is Diana Fowley. I've been trying to reach you for over two days." Even with the noise around her, Scully could hear the strain in Diana's voice. "I was following up a lead..." "Where are you?" Scully paused thoughtfully before answering. "I'm near New York. Why? Has there been a change in Mulder's condition?" "Not recently, but...Agent Scully, I don't want to talk about this over the telephone. Can you come to the hospital as soon as possible?" Scully thought she heard just the slightest hint of desperation in Diana's tone, and that alarmed her. "Of course. But can you tell me..." Diana cut her off with a brusque. "I'll be waiting for you in the fourth floor lounge area. I'll talk to you then." Before Scully could utter another sound, she was listening to a dial tone in one ear, and a flight attendant in the other, asking her to please remember to turn off her phone before boarding the plane. **** Scully strode briskly down the hospital corridor. Although she'd been unable to reach Mulder's doctor, Scully had spoken with the Charge Nurse just before her flight had left Africa. She'd remained in Africa for less than 24 hours, but she had patiently borne the idiosyncrasies of international telecommunications to call the hospital every 6 hours to check on Mulder's condition. The nurses had been unable to tell her anything more than the fact that Mulder was stable and resting comfortably, but Scully had been relieved to hear even that much. She was disturbed to find that when she called the hospital after talking to Diana, she'd tersely been told that they were unable to release any information at all about Mr. Mulder and that she would do best by coming to the hospital as soon as possible. The sense of foreboding that she'd experienced after talking to Diana increased ten-fold upon hearing those words. When she finally arrived at the hospital, the news that greeted her was like a knife in her stomach. As she rounded the final corner before reaching Mulder's wing, Diana walked up to her. "Agent Scully." Scully gave her only a quick glance in acknowledgment and continued walking. Diana quickened her stride and placed herself directly in Scully's path. "Agent Scully, before you see Fox, we have to talk." Scully stopped walking and gave her a fierce look. "How long has he been comatose in ICU?" Diana met her sharp gaze without flinching and answered, "That's what I need to talk to you about. After you left, he became even more agitated. Nothing that the doctors tried was working. He'd been awake for over 72 hours and delirium was clearly setting in. The doctors wanted to try...alternative therapies, but Fox was in no condition to give his consent, and we couldn't reach you." Scully's eyes narrowed as she asked, "What did you do to him?" "I called his mother. I explained what was going on, and we got a lawyer, so that his medical power of attorney could be given to me..." Scully couldn't keep the anger out of her voice as she cut Diana off. "I called every few hours for an update on his condition. No one indicated that there was any problem, that the doctor's wanted to talk to me." "You have to understand, Agent Scully, *none* of the drug therapies were working, and the doctors were becoming worried about the strain on Fox's body. Decisions needed to be made quickly. Apparently we missed your first phone call by just a few minutes, and no one knew when you'd call again. By the time you made your second call, we'd already made arrangements for the therapy to begin." Scully's voice was heavy with sarcasm as she answered. "How lucky that you just happened to know a lawyer that could arrange for you to be given his medical power of attorney so fast." Diana sounded tired as she answered simply, "I did what I thought was best." Scully noticed the dark smudges under Diana's eyes that even her skillfully applied makeup couldn't hide, and the wrinkles and creases in her tailored suit that spoke of long hours of wear. But Scully was too angry about the situation and too worried about Mulder to feel any sympathy for Diana. Her voice was a harsh whisper as she again asked, "What the hell did you do to him?" Diana looked past Scully and took a deep breath as she prepared to tell her. But the delaying tactic only served to further irritate Scully's already raw nerves. She roughly pushed past Diana and took off at a near run down the hall towards Mulder's room. She came to a stop directly in front of the observation window into the ICU. Her eyes came to rest on Mulder's still form, lying in a bed with numerous IV lines and monitoring equipment attached to him. He looked peaceful. For a moment, all she could do was stare blankly. After a few seconds, her medical training kicked in and she began attempting to determine precisely what functions were being monitored. She noted that despite his outward appearance of peaceful slumber, the EEG was registering tremendous, if erratic brain activity. Her mind briefly went back to the view she'd been afforded from the airplane, of the peaceful appearance of the ocean's tumult when viewed from a distance. Diana's voice brought the reality of the present situation crashing back down upon her. "Electroshock therapy." Scully slowly turned around and stared at her in disbelief. "What?!" Nightmare images flashed through her mind. Mulder, strapped down to a table, eyes wide with terror; his graceful form arching unnaturally against the restraints as a mechanical device forced signals to his already overstimulated brain. Her ears started to ring, and she wasn't sure if it was from her rising blood pressure or the ghosts of his terrified screams. Diana sensed her roiling emotions and tried to calm her. "It's not like you think. Not like in the movies, or even in the early days of electroshock. It's proven to be quite effective in..." Scully's body was rigid and her voice was low and rasped with fury. "You allowed a man who the doctors said was showing highly increased and unusual brainwave activity to receive electroshock therapy? A man whose brain was already undergoing what amounts to an electrical storm?" Diana's voice was anguished as she responded. "We couldn't reach you and we didn't have any alternatives. The hospital was so concerned about Fox's drug resistance that they were talking about transferring him to a prison facility for security reasons." Scully could hear the unspoken plea for forgiveness in the slight waver in Diana's voice, could see it in the shine of the unshed tears in her eyes as she repeated the words she'd spoken just a few moments earlier. "I did what I thought was best for Fox." Scully took a step closer to Diana and hissed at her, "If he dies, so help me God, I will kill you myself." Diana turned and looked through the observation window, her gaze softening as it lingered on Mulder for a long moment. She then took a deep breath as she straightened up and turned to look Scully in the eyes. Her face appeared calm, composed, only her eyes giving showing any hint of her previous emotional display as she coolly answered. "If Fox dies, you'll have to take your place at the end of a very long line of people waiting to kill me." She looked at Scully a moment longer, then turned and walked away. The End Don't forget that feedback lowers your cholesterol!! nikoleaw@aol.com +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++