From Beyond (7/11)
by Bonkersfm

EMAIL: bonkersfm@yahoo.com
CATEGORY:MSR CASEFILE
SPOILERS: Starts after IWTB
RATING: NC17 sex and violence
SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully's relationship is put under strain when a 
casefile leads to some bizarre behaviour on Mulders part
DISCLAIMER: mine? If only!


CHAPTER 7

Evening - day 3

She turned and stared at him for a 
moment. "I came in here to check my 
email; my lap top isn't working." 

Her voice shook, as did her hands as 
she moved the mouse to tap on the 
toolbar at the bottom, bringing the 
image files up into full view. "Who 
is she?" 

Mulder squinted at the screen as 
nearly thirty images appeared of a 
young girl. It was the girl in his 
dreams, clad in some of the images, 
but naked in most. The images looked 
like some kind of amateur 
pornography, nothing sinister at 
all. Distasteful they may be, cheap 
certainly, but they were nothing as 
malevolent as the images in his 
dreams.

"I don't know who she is. Should I?"

"Mulder there are about a hundred 
pictures of her stored on your 
computer. I could stomach this if 
they were crime scene photos, hell 
I'd feel better if they weren't all 
the same woman."

"Scully what are you saying? 
Honestly I don't know how these 
images got here; I've never even 
seen her before. Are you sure they 
didn't download by themselves?" He 
knew how absurd that sounded, but 
continued to plead his case, even 
when she arched her eyebrow at his 
response. "Come on Scully, you get 
this type of thing all the time. You 
click on a link and get free 
advertising. That's all it is."

"Then, why," she moved the mouse now 
to a different application, "has she 
replied to your email?"

"Email? Scully what are you . . ."
But there it was, as plain as day; 
an email from this woman. Well, not 
a personal email, an automatic 
message declaring a failure to 
deliver. At the bottom of it 
however, Mulder's original message 
read,

'I need to see you. You're going to 
be hurt. Can we meet?'

He stared blankly. "Scully this 
isn't from me." He scanned down; 
trying to find the time and date 
that the email was sent. 

"Mulder this was sent the night that 
you hurt yourself. An hour after you 
sent this is when you wandered in 
with the shard of glass in your 
shoulder. Look, I believe that you 
don't remember contacting this 
woman, but the fact remains that you 
did. Looking at your outbox, you 
also sent this to three other 
contacts, a T Sweetn, G Abercrombie 
and someone called PS517"

"Then why don't I remember?"

"The same reason you don't remember 
stabbing yourself or . . . other 
things."

He didn't like the hesitation in her 
voice. "What other things?" He 
asked, taking her elbow in his hand.

"It doesn't matter Mulder, it's 
nothing." She got up now, moving 
closer as if to reassure him. His 
stomach churned at the thought of 
him hurting her that night.

"Tell me." The volume in his voice 
made her step back for a moment. She 
quickly turned and retreated through 
the living room and into the 
kitchen. He followed closely, 
wanting to grab her and shake the 
truth from her.

"Mulder I told you it's nothing . . .it's . . ." 
She knew he'd never let it go. Like a dog 
with a bone, was Mulder, when it 
came to the truth. She reached into 
the fridge and retrieved two beers, 
handing one to him. He stared at her 
hard before taking it. "It's okay, 
one won't hurt."

He took it from her, mirroring her 
actions by taking a seat at the 
table.


"That night . . ." She began. "I 
woke up and you were on top of me. 
You were pulling at my clothes and I 
didn't stop you, because sometimes 
it's what you do . . ."

Suddenly he knew where this was 
going. He put his head in his hands 
and she instinctively reached over 
to him. "What happened?" His voice 
had become muffled.

"It happened. It was okay at first, 
but then it changed. You changed. It 
wasn't you. If I'd closed my eyes 
there's no way it would have been 
you. When I tried to stop you, 
that's when you attacked me."
He felt sick. Tears threatened to 
fall and his eyes burned as he 
imagined what it must have been 
like. He'd always been the same. She 
was the person he wanted to protect 
from everything, and yet he'd hurt 
her. 

"Mulder, please don't be upset. 
Please listen to me. I honestly 
think you need to look elsewhere for 
the answer to this. Now will you go 
and see someone? I agree that drugs 
will treat the symptoms not the 
cause. I agree it's not the answer, 
but neither is hypnosis."

He nodded and from his seat beside 
her now, reached over and squeezed 
her hand as it joined to his. She 
stood, putting a hand through his 
tousled hair and pulling him closer 
to her. 

"Okay." She sighed loudly. "Now, 
where's dinner?" She tried to make 
her voice sound optimistic. Her 
shaking hands betrayed her.
    

*****************************

He slept on the sofa, at his own 
insistence. His sleep had been 
disturbed to say the least, fraught 
with vivid dreams and malevolent 
images. Eventually he had turned the 
television on, partially for 
background noise, but with the 
ulterior wish that the girl might 
appear to him again. She hadn't, but 
Gail Abercombe had.

"Scully!" He shouted. "Scully come 
down here!" It was nearly six in the 
morning, and he had woken to the 
sight of Gail's face splashed across 
the television. Not in the form of 
some cheap film as the other girl, 
but on the morning news. He heard 
the light padding upstairs and 
waited for Scully to join him. 

"What is it?"

"Just listen to this."

He turned up the volume and 
listened as the reporter told the 
tail of how Gail Abercombe's body 
had been found a mile from her car, 
raped and strangled to death. He 
watched carefully for Scully's 
reaction. 

"Mulder, the photographs on your 
computer are not of this girl. I 
don't understand…I…"  As realisation 
dawned that this was one of his 
contacts, they were alerted by a 
knocking at the front door.

"Open up." An authoritative voice 
called out. "Police, please open the 
door." 

Scully rose quickly, signalling for 
Mulder to stay where he was. She 
opened the door to a man dressed in 
a suit accompanied by a policeman in 
uniform. 

"Can I help you?" She asked

"Yes we're looking for Fox Mulder. 
We were told we might reach him 
here."

Before she had time to stall them, a 
shadow fell over her shoulder, and 
Mulder opened the door further to 
let them in.


          -x-

"So, you can confirm your 
whereabouts last night Mr Mulder?"
"I was here, asleep." He answered 
truthfully.

"And can anyone confirm this?"

"I can." Scully butted in, 
confidently. "He was in bed with 
me."

"Can you be sure he was 
with you all night? This incident 
took place less then ten miles from 
your house."

"Yes I can." She answered, defying 
anyone to tell her otherwise.

"How?"

"Well, we didn't go to bed until 
after midnight. We were awake until 
two in the morning and I got up at 
four to use the bathroom, then we 
had were awake until five again. 
Would you like to know anything 
else?"

Everybody fell silent, a little 
uncomfortable at what Scully was 
insinuating. Mulder loved her 
attempts at refinement even now.

"No not at the moment." The 
detective seemed disgruntled at such 
a crude alibi. Mr Mulder, your name 
and address were attached to the 
last email that Miss Abercombe 
received. You said that you wanted 
to meet her. Did you?"

"No I didn't. I didn't email her 
either, someone has hacked into my 
computer."

"Then you won't mind us taking your 
computer, to examine it for 
tampering, or other . . . 
abnormalities.  "

They exchanged nervous glances that 
were not lost on the detective. 

Scully acted quickly. "I'm a physician. 
Some of the files on that computer are 
extremely  sensitive."


"We won't tell." The detective got 
up now, waiting to be shown the way. 
Mulder took them to the office as 
Scully went into the kitchen and 
sat. And thought.

When the detective and his sidekick 
left, Mulder went in search of 
Scully, finding her wiping the 
surfaces of the kitchen down. He 
went behind her, his arms encircling 
her waist.

"Two hours Scully? If you'd wanted 
them to believe you then you should 
have made up a more plausible 
story."

"Mulder how can you joke about this? 
They're going to find those photos."

"And what then? They wont have any 
evidence to tie me to the scene. All 
they have is that email and those 
photos, which could easily have been 
planted by someone else. I think the 
real question we need to be asking 
is how I knew to contact that woman. 
She must be tied to the other girl."
Scully turned in his arms, looking 
at the floor.

"Mulder I thought we agreed that 
this girl was just a side affect of 
you not sleeping..."

"No, you agreed that. How do you 
explain me contacting that girl the 
night before she died?"

"You said yourself you didn't 
contact Ambercombe. You're reaching 
Mulder."

"So how do you explain it?"

"Co-incidence." She said weakly, 
knowing how much it would annoy him 
that she wouldn't make this kind of 
leap with him. He turned and left 
the kitchen heading up the stairs 
and returning within minutes clad in 
shoes and jacket.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To find out more about this 
coincidence." He answered. 


Continued in Chapter 8