Long Since
by Mack the Spoon

Classification: VRA
Keywords: MSR, missing scene
Spoilers: IWTB
Rating: PG
Summary: "Then let me talk to somebody there with some balls who
can." Skinner POV.
Disclaimer: I don't own this show, the characters, or the movies.
Feedback: I would love it! It would be a lovely gift. Please send
it to glace_aux_fraises@hotmail.com .
Archive: I'd be honored! But please send me an email to ask,
first.
Author's Note: I really wanted there to be more Skinner in the
movie. But I do understand why there wasn't, and it just means I
had to write more of him.
Big thanks to Dasha for her edits and thoughts! Any remaining
geographical errors are either the movie's or mine. :-)

~~~~~~~
Of course the simple fact that she was calling me gave me a big
clue that something serious had happened. Even though she had
been free for years now, it wasn't as if we often called each
other just to chat - we were both too used to keeping to
ourselves, especially after all the two of them (and me to a
lesser extent) had been through. So I was already preparing
myself for some disaster when I answered the phone. "Dana?"

"Sir," came her response. She never could completely get over
addressing me by the formal title. "I, uh, I need your help."

Straight to the point, as I had expected. I replied in kind.
"What is it, Scully?"

"It's Mulder," she said, and I could hear a slight tremor in her
voice. "He's... he's missing. I can't get a hold of him."

"I'd heard he was working on a case for the FBI," I said. "What
happened?" I had hoped that his being 'pardoned' would make it
easier on these two from now on.

"He told me he was going to keep investigating this woman's
disappearance, and that was hours ago," she said. "I found
something out myself about this case, almost by accident, but he
needs to hear it. I think he's in danger." The tremor was still
there in her voice, but I also heard her resolve.

"And what about the team he was helping? With Agents..." I
corrected myself, remembering that Whitney was dead, "Agent
Drummy, I believe?"

"Agent Drummy just told me to call the police," she said angrily.
"They drag him out of hiding for this, and then they have the
nerve to tell me it's not an FBI matter!"

"All right, listen. I'll be there as soon as I can," I replied.
It seemed most of the FBI still was quick to wash their hands of
Fox Mulder, but I barely even remembered a time when I would have
felt the same. "Are you at the hospital?"

"Yes, and Mulder took my car," she sighed, resigned.

He apparently hasn't changed in that respect since I last saw
him, I thought. "All right. I'll contact the local police and
find out if anyone knows anything, and then I'll come pick you
up."

"Thank you, sir. You know my number."

"I do. And Dana - he will be all right. We'll find him." I tried
not to let myself flash back to another time I'd told her the
very same thing, many years ago.

She sighed again, and I thought I heard a hitch in her breathing.
"Yeah," was all she said, and then she hung up.

~~~~~~~
It turned out the police had located Scully's car - at the bottom
of an embankment. They didn't think there was anyone inside,
though, which was a little bit of hope I could pass onto her. She
met me outside when I got to the hospital, and I could tell she'd
been out there waiting for some time. She simply nodded when I
told her the update.

The drive was almost silent. Under other circumstances, I would
have tried to catch up a little, maybe. But I didn't even bother
to ask how she was, since she wasn't hiding the fact that she was
terrified. There wasn't much else I could think to talk about.

It was dark by the time we got there. Scully was out of the SUV
before I had put it in park, already talking to a State Patrol
officer when I got out. They were next to what I saw was a tow
truck. When I reached her, she was holding a bag with a cell
phone in it. "Here's his cell phone. It's got blood on it." Her
voice almost broke before she finished.

"Hey, listen to me. Calm down, stop and think. He's okay. He's
got to be. He climbed out of there somehow, so if he climbed out,
he must have climbed up." I could see that this evidence had
brought her even closer to breaking down. I didn't know if she
would hear any reassurances, but she needed to.

She nodded, so I guessed I had gotten through a little bit. Once
again, I was struck by how deeply these two needed each other.
Both of them had shown time and time again that they weren't
really whole without the other. That made me wonder, as I had
during the drive over here, what could have possessed Mulder to
run off and leave Scully behind again. He had barely even waited
until it was safe for him to leave the house. Surely he'd learned
something, after being with her as long as he had. Then again,
Scully didn't seem as into this case as he clearly was, and I
imagined that could have created problems. But, I mused as we got
back into my SUV, what did I really know about their
relationship, anyway? It had always been hard to quantify what
they had, beyond seeing that mutual need and reliance.

Scully stared out the windows as we drove the way that Mulder
presumably would have gone. I didn't tell her that this was like
looking for a needle in a haystack. I knew she knew. And as I
glanced at her, I knew she didn't need another reason to despair.
"We will find him," I said again. She didn't really look at me,
but I thought I saw her lips tremble. Despite myself, I did flash
back to that terrible night when we'd found Mulder's body in a
clearing in North Carolina. That could not happen again, none of
it. I continued, almost desperately. "Look, I know Mulder. He'd
get to a phone and call first. He wouldn't do anything crazy."

Now she did look at me, and she clearly thought I might be the
one who was nuts.

Okay, she had a point. This was Mulder we were talking about.
"Not overly crazy," I amended. I wasn't sure I'd succeeded in
comforting her at all, so I decided to give up for the moment and
focus on just finding him. None of us spoke for a while, although
I still wanted to either ask her how she was doing or at least if
there was any other clue she could give for what we were supposed
to find.

Suddenly, she broke the silence. "Wait a minute, back up." There
was excitement in her voice. "Just stop, back up a sec," she said
again, and I did so, careful of the snow on the road. "Stop." She
got out as soon as I had, not bothering to tell me anything (did
I really expect anything else?).

I think I asked her what was going on, and she muttered something
about "Proverbs 25:2". I had no idea what she was talking about,
but it meant something to her. She was flipping through the mail
in a mailbox, and stopped. She told me distractedly that the
address on the envelope belonged to someone with a Russian-
sounding name, who I guess must be in some way related to the
suspect in this case. Before I could answer, she put out a hand.
"Listen." It was the sound of barking dogs.

She continued once we were back in the car. "We've got to get
down there, to this house. I think Mulder's there."

I felt like I was in over my head, to be honest - I didn't know
much about this case, and Scully was acting... less than
scientifically. But I followed her lead on this. Maybe she had
absorbed some of Mulder's ability to make those leaps of
intuition that seemed to defy logic. She acted so sure.

My doubts faded a little as she briefly described the research
done in Russia, and how it seemed to tie in with what the FBI and
Mulder had found out so far. I didn't know what I thought about
this Father Joe character, and apparently, neither did Scully,
but she also said dogs had been part of what he described. 

Getting into the place once we arrived took some creativity. I
don't think either Scully or I were used to climbing fences
anymore. I told her I would take inside the building and she
could scout around the outside. I doubt she was too happy with
that at the moment, but she had to agree that I had the gun and
she did not.

Our separation meant that I didn't see Scully's confrontation
with the man who was trying to kill Mulder. I have to admit I
half-wish I had seen it, though. If there's one thing I learned
being their superior, and then being their friend, it's that you
don't want to be the person who is endangering Mulder if Scully
catches you. The same is true of Mulder if he catches you
endangering Scully. Let's just say Scully kicked the guy's ass,
probably without a second thought and with very little effort.

I was on my way to herding the last of the nutcase doctors into
the box they had for a purpose I didn't care to examine too
closely when Scully came in. She informed me that Mulder needed
warm clothes and fluids, and I knew she probably wanted nothing
else but to be able to help him immediately. Unfortunately, there
was also the kidnapped girl, and her need of medical attention
was more extreme. When I pointed her out to Scully, she went
right to work. I figured the least I could do was check on Mulder
once I'd dealt with the doctors.

He looked like he was in pretty bad shape. I'd seen him worse
(hell, I'd seen him dead), but him lying there, unable to move
other than to shiver, was still a pitiful sight. He said
something barely audible about the girl as I came close. I told
him Scully was taking care of it and took off my jacket, and he
finally recognized me as I wrapped it around him. I was surprised
and a little worried that he didn't even seem to have the energy
to give me a smart remark. All he did was mumble, "I'm cold."

So, in the interest of keeping my former agent alive, and in so
doing preserving the happiness and sanity of his partner, I
wrapped my arms around him, too. And Mulder didn't even have a
joke for that, even though I was pretty wide open for it. He did
crack a smile before falling asleep again, though, so I probably
would hear about it later.

I don't know how long it was before the paramedics arrived. I
directed some of them to go inside, and the others provided a
blanket for Mulder and started to quiz him about his injuries. I
could see that he was having a lot of trouble staying awake, but
he answered as best as he could. I filled in where I could, too.

Scully came back out before they loaded him into the van, and
seeing them together allowed something inside me to relax a
little for the first time since she called me that day. This
time, I hadn't failed Scully, even though she had done the actual
rescuing of Mulder. Still, as I watched her smile tenderly at him
and then climb into the van behind the stretcher, I felt like I
might have even gained a little absolution for the many ways I'd
let them both down over the years.

Just when I thought I might have totally dropped off her Mulder-
centered radar screen, Scully turned to me. "Thank you, sir," she
said, quietly and very sincerely. She paused, as if she wanted to
say something else, but nothing else was forthcoming. The agony
had still not quite left her face.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Of course, Scully. Go take care of
Mulder," I told her gently. "I'll meet you at the hospital. The
police can meet us there to take your statement, and Mulder's."
They might not want to wait, but I was definitely willing to
throw my weight around to get Scully and Mulder a few moment's
peace so they could reconnect. They obviously needed and deserved
it.

~~~~~~~
Author's Note, part two: Bonus points to anyone who can guess
what song I might have gotten the title of the story from! :-)

Let me know what you think of it, at
glace_aux_fraises@hotmail.com .