We'll Find A Way
by Namarie

Spoilers: IWTB
Category: SRA
Keywords: MSR.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There was something he needed to do right now, Mulder
thought groggily. Ah yes, that was it. "Sorry about... your car,"
he slurred.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder, Scully, or Skinner.
Archive: Sure, but please ask permission first.
Feedback: Would be welcomed with great happiness at
pomme_noire@hotmail.com
Author's Note: I thought that since most of the IWTB fics are from
Scully's POV, I would try to see what Mulder's thoughts were for
some of my favorite scenes - and some that weren't in the movie.
Part of the dialogue is from my earlier IWTB fic, "Warmer Climate."
Thanks to Dasha for her insights and encouragement!
~~~~~~~


Mulder heard the car pull up and glanced at the clock in surprise.
She was much earlier than he usually expected her. Something out of
the ordinary must have happened at work.

He stood to look out the window and watch her for a few moments as
she got out of the car and headed for the front door. She
definitely looked preoccupied. With that thought, he sat back down
at his desk and continued cutting out the latest article to add to
his collection, his back to the door - he wouldn't want to seem
like he was just sitting around waiting for her, after all.

The front door closed. After a few seconds, his door opened, and
Mulder felt her presence behind him. "What's up, Doc?" he asked.

"You've become very trusting for a man wanted by the FBI, Mulder,"
she said.

He only turned around halfway through his long, rambling reply, to
see her familiar half-exasperated, half-affectionate expression as
she waited for him to finish.

When Scully told him the reason she had come home early, Mulder's
first response was a bitter, complete dismissal. This reaction
persisted even as she gave more details of the case with which the
FBI wanted his help, though it was mixed with a growing interest.
He couldn't honestly say that actively working a case again, and a
possible X-File at that, didn't have any draw for him. But it
rankled that the Bureau was promising to drop the charges-- the
trumped-up, falsified charges that had led to a flight from
everything Scully and he had known -- instead of giving the
slightest acknowledgment that he had never been guilty in the first
place.

Still, as Scully pointed out, this was as close to a request for
forgiveness as he was likely to get from them, and it was
apparently the best hope to save this Agent Banner. In the end,
there was only one answer he could give, and Scully knew it. But
after all they had been through together, Mulder hoped she also
knew what his condition for accepting the offer would be. However
this turned out, there was no way he was going to allow the FBI to
separate them.

~~~~~
Mulder only had time for a moment of fear and regret at his
foolishness before the truck rammed into his car again. The airbag
deployed, and through the daze produced by the jolt, Mulder was
dimly aware that the car was still being pushed. He felt it teeter
dangerously on the edge of the cliff before it succumbed to gravity
and began its fall down the side. Mercifully, he lost consciousness
after the first roll.

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was the cold, mixed in
with a healthy dose of pain - in his head, neck and ribs,
primarily. He was upside down, but when he fumbled painfully for
the seatbelt catch, at least there wasn't far to fall.

The next task was to pull himself out of the shattered window. This
took a great deal of effort, and Mulder became very aware of all
the parts of his body that ached as he laboriously pushed away the
snow next to the window and managed to climb out onto the ground.
He almost wanted to stay stretched out there to catch his breath,
but he knew from experience how much colder lying on the frozen
ground would make him. He struggled to his feet.

The next obstacle was even more daunting -- he had to find a way
back up to the road somehow. Mulder sighed heavily as he looked up
at the rock cliff in front of him. *Well,* he thought wryly, *at
least the exertion will keep me from freezing to death.*

Mulder was sure he'd managed to injure himself further by the time
he finally reached the road. At very least, the blood on his face
had surely frozen by now. He stood in the middle of the snow-
covered street, panting, then decided to start walking in the
direction that the truck had presumably gone. The man driving the
vehicle was the man who had abducted the women, so by following him
Mulder might just find his victims. It was just too bad he didn't
have a gun with him. Scully and he still owned weapons, but they
were back at the house, and hadn't been touched in years. That was
the consequence of the relative feeling of safety they had managed
to build up for themselves, which this case and his continued
involvement in it had definitely shattered.

~~~~~
The lack of a real weapon hit Mulder much more keenly when he
reached the facility and was confronted with the incredible sight
of a two-headed dog rushing toward him, both heads growling and
barking viciously. After registering the astonishing fact that it
had two heads, he only had time to raise his arm to protect his
face before they were both on him.

*Just another couple of injuries to add to my laundry list,* Mulder
reflected grimly as he stumbled away from the site of the dog
attack. He'd succeeded in forcing the animal off with the use of
the wrench he had picked up, but some bites had managed to make it
through all his layers of clothing. Still, at least the dog helped
to confirm that he was in the right place - Father Joe's visions
had stressed the importance of dogs, and the two-headed monstrosity
was certainly not the only one around, based on the almost
continual barking. Now he just had to find a place to hide, in case
someone came out to investigate the noise of the attack.

~~~
The shock of the injection nearly dropped him to his knees. As he
slumped against the side of the tank in which the woman was lying,
in preparation for having God knows what done to her, Mulder
briefly reflected that this had not been a good idea. At all. This
conclusion was reinforced when the man who had run him off the road
came into view. He pulled Mulder to his feet, spat something in
Russian, and then knocked him to the ground again with a well-
placed fist. The wrench fell out of Mulder's slack grip as he
hovered on the edge of unconsciousness. *Scully,* he thought,
blinking up at his assailant's face. *I shouldn't have... I can't
die now...*

The pain of being dragged outside felt distant, even when his head
hit against each one of the steps with a resounding thud. Mulder
weakly attempted to slow his progress by digging his hands into the
snow, but his muscles didn't want to cooperate. *It's that animal
tranquilizer,* Mulder realized. He didn't want to think what that
meant for his destination. He wasn't given the luxury of denial for
long, though.

The man dragged him inside a barn, dumping him unceremoniously next
to what looked like a chopping block. Mulder could smell blood on
the ground near him, and the frozen body a few feet away was
missing a few key limbs as well as its head. The remaining arm wore
a medic alert bracelet.

Taking as deep a breath as he could, Mulder moved his hand onto the
ax as the kidnapper turned away to deal with the other body. He
managed to make his fingers grip the handle, but no matter how hard
he tried, he could not even shift the tool slightly from the stump.
The kidnapper pushed his hand away with ease. Mulder found that
just that pathetic effort had exhausted the last of his strength:
he was not able to resist even slightly as he was forced onto the
chopping block. This was it. He closed his eyes as he heard the
sound of the ax being sharpened. *At least maybe it'll be a cleaner
cut,* he thought, exhaling slowly. *I'm sorry, Scully. I didn't
mean to leave you alone...*

"Hey." He couldn't seem to make his eyes open, but he was sure he
had just heard Scully. He opened his eyes a fraction, just in time
to see Scully wield a club and strike the man with impressive
force. He crumpled to the ground. Then Scully was calling Mulder's
name, gently lifting his head. "Mulder, can you hear me?"

There was something he needed to do right now, Mulder thought
groggily. Ah yes, that was it. "Sorry about... your car," he
slurred.

Scully didn't reply, other than to keep fussing over him. But there
was something else important that he needed to tell her. "The
girl... she's inside, she's still alive."

"Okay, Mulder," Scully responded soothingly. "Let me go see what's
going on inside, and I'll bring you some blankets if I find any.
You're freezing."

*You're telling me,* Mulder wanted to say, but he decided it would
be too much effort. Scully shifted him into a marginally more
comfortable position before standing. She paused, stared down at
him with pure anxiety visible on her face for an instant, and then
turned to go inside.

~~~
It was impossible for Mulder to tell how long he was alone lying in
the barn. His thoughts strayed, coming to rest on Scully, on the
girl inside, on Father Joe. He began to shiver uncontrollably even
as he drifted closer to blackness.

Slowly, Mulder became aware that someone was bending over him. It
wasn't Scully. "The girl," he repeated. Was anyone -?

"It's okay, Mulder," came a familiar voice. He felt himself being
wrapped in a coat. "Scully's with her. She's in good hands."

He wrenched his eyes open at that voice. It couldn't be...
"Skinner?!"

"I've got you, Mulder," Skinner said in response. He wrapped his
coat more securely around his former agent. Mulder managed to
mumble that he was cold, before being surprised to find himself in
Skinner's arms. That did certainly help with the chill, so Mulder
didn't complain.

Skinner was mostly silent the whole time they waited, though he
told Mulder that he had called for an ambulance and for FBI backup.
Mulder's eyes had drifted shut again by this point, but he thought
he had succeeded in acknowledging Skinner's information with an
eloquent "Mmm." He was still too cold, and with the promise that
the girl was going to be fine and that Scully was nearby, he was
finding it harder and harder to stay even partially awake.

Mulder distantly felt Skinner shift, and heard Scully's voice.
"How's he doing?"

"He's cold, he's got some cuts, and he seems a little out of it,"
Skinner answered her, "but I think he'll be all right."

Then he was being carefully transferred into Scully's arms, and she
was saying his name again. He opened his eyes with effort and
focused on her face. "Scully? Is... is the girl all right?"

"She's gonna be fine, Mulder," Scully told him. "Can you tell me
what happened to you?" She emphasized the last word.

Mulder blinked, trying to clear his mind enough to give a semi-
coherent response. "They injected me with something," he began.
"Then Axe Man over there dragged me out here to the chopping
block." He was going to turn around to see if the kidnapper was
still unconscious, but the motion hurt his neck and caused his
headache to increase, so he gave up. Then he smiled at Scully.
"Nice shot, by the way."

She gave him a wide smile in response and pushed a lock of hair out
of his eyes. "I guess those baseball lessons finally came in
handy."

He laughed at the pleasant memory, and then fought off a yawn.
Despite his best efforts he was falling asleep. "Sorry, Scully," he
mumbled. "Can't seem to stay awake."

She told him to try to stay awake until the paramedics arrived, and
Mulder did his best to comply. It got harder after Scully left to
check on the girl again, though he did congratulate himself on
being alert enough to ask Skinner if he was ready to hug him again.
And despite Skinner's characteristically gruff response, he did
continue to hold Mulder until the EMTs finally arrived. After that,
it was the too-familiar (even after several years away from it all)
blur of the ambulance ride and hospital check-in, with Scully
alternating between crisply informing the EMTs, nurses, and doctors
of the situation and hovering anxiously in the background.

Mulder recited what he could bring to mind of the various injuries
he had received that day at least twice - to the EMTs and to the
admitting nurse - but could not stay conscious long after that. The
last thing he remembered was Scully holding his hand as he lay in
his hospital bed, telling him it was all right if he went to sleep
now. That was all he needed to hear.

When he awoke some hours later, Mulder was briefly surprised to see
Skinner in the chair next to his bed instead of Scully. But then he
remembered: Scully had told him with a mixture of regret and guilt
in her voice that she couldn't stay with him as long as she wanted,
since she was expected at work. Mulder had wanted to assure her
that he understood, and that he wasn't hurt or offended in the
slightest. After all, she was here now, wasn't she, even after what
she had said to him in the locker room? But he had still been too
groggy to communicate such complex thoughts, so he had settled for
a careful shake of his head, a smile, and a squeeze of her hand. He
thought she had gotten the message.

Skinner noticed his eyes opening, and he leaned forward. "Mulder,
how are you feeling?"

"Still tired," Mulder responded, swallowing, "but not in pain, so
they must have given me some good painkillers."

"I'm sure they did," Skinner told him. "Scully saw to it."

Mulder nodded. Skinner was still looking at him, and seemed to be
about to say something, but then he changed his mind. "I'm gonna go
talk to the doctor and see if you're okay to be released." He stood
to leave.

"Thank you, sir." It had been years since Skinner had been his
boss, but the honorific still came naturally to Mulder. Skinner
smiled slightly, nodded once, and left the room.

Shifting position so that he was facing away from the door, Mulder
sighed. He hoped Scully could get off work early today. Somehow he
didn't feel like he would be able to occupy himself at the house
with his usual pursuits. That was assuming, of course, that he
didn't just sleep the entire time, which still seemed very
probable.

In fact, Mulder had dropped off to sleep again by the time Skinner
returned. The older man looked apologetic as the sound of him
opening the door brought Mulder awake, but Mulder merely yawned and
asked, "What's the verdict?"

"If you want to be released, your doctors are fine with it,"
answered Skinner. He stood in front of the chair he'd occupied
earlier. "I can give you a ride to the house."

"An FBI bigshot like yourself doesn't have something better to do
than look after a pardoned criminal?" Skinner sighed at the heavy
irony in the last two words, but before he could say anything,
Mulder continued on. "Really, I'd appreciate it. But I didn't even
know you knew where we lived."

Skinner nodded. He cleared his throat. "It's, uh, actually one of a
list of places in the area I suggested to Scully when I contacted
her a few years ago..."

"To let her know she didn't have to run anymore," Mulder finished
quietly. Skinner nodded again and started to look uncomfortable,
maybe even guilty, but again Mulder didn't let him apologize. "It's
a good house."

There was a pause. "So, I'm guessing I can't convince you to use a
wheelchair to get to my car, Mulder," Skinner said finally, with a
quirk of his mouth that could have been a smile.

Mulder smiled. "Well, I haven't actually tried anything as risky as
standing up yet. Let me get back to you on that once I have."

"You'd better wait until I call the nurse before you try it,"
Skinner cautioned him, not bothering to hide his smile this time.
"Scully would kick my ass if you fell and hurt yourself on my
watch."

Chuckling, Mulder carefully pulled himself into a sitting position.
"She would." He still felt a little woozy, but he thought he could
manage at least changing into his clothes - which were at least dry
by now, and had been cleaned by the hospital staff - without too
much help from the nurse. He wondered if it would look like he was
getting soft in his advancing years if he didn't refuse the
wheelchair.

~~~~~
It turned out he had predicted well. As soon as Skinner dropped him
off at the house, made sure he was settled comfortably on the
couch, and left - after telling his former agent somewhat
cryptically not to expect to continue living in isolation as he had
been - Mulder ended up falling asleep on the couch until Scully
woke him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey."

Mulder sat up, blinking blearily. "What time is it?" The last of
the dizziness had faded, to be replaced by the mental fuzziness
Mulder recognized as coming from sleeping so late into the day.

"It's almost four. Have you been sleeping this whole time?" She was
shrugging off her coat as she spoke.

"I guess so." He ran a hand through his hair, taking care to avoid
coming in contact with the stitches above his eyebrow. "Skinner
sprang me from the hospital sometime this morning. Is your shift
already over?"

Scully smiled ruefully. "No. I just came by to check on you. I have
to be back at work soon."

"What, you don't trust Skinner's nursing abilities, Scully?" Mulder
inquired, looking up at her and trying not to read into what she
had just said - or not said. "Because aside from a lingering
headache, I feel pretty good."

She sat down next to him and took a deep breath, staring at her
hands in her lap. "No, I-- it's just that..."

Mulder waited silently, knowing that she would say what was on her
mind soon enough. He had an idea of what it was, but he wasn't
going to pressure her.

After a few moments, Scully turned to look him in the eye. "Mulder,
I... I said some things to you yesterday, because I was feeling
like I didn't have any choice or control over what was happening to
me, to us. And I know that's not a good excuse." She paused for a
second. Mulder nodded, encouraging her to continue. "But then we
both kept working, and then you went out and got hurt, and... I
haven't gotten a chance to really talk to you since then."

He took her hand. "I'm awake, Scully. You can talk to me now."

With a tired sigh, she leaned against him, keeping her hand in his.
Then she looked up at him. "Well, I guess you can already tell by
the fact of my being here that I'm not not coming home."

"Yeah, I had started to guess," Mulder replied, gently teasing. He
squeezed her hand and kissed the top of her head, belying his light
tone. Even if he hadn't truly believed her threat to be real, he
wouldn't and couldn't take her for granted now, as he had in the
past.

Scully sighed again. "But you know, Mulder..." She reached up with
her other hand, touching his face very close to his stitches. "This
is exactly what I was afraid of."

"I know," Mulder told her. It was his turn to sigh. She wasn't
angry with him - she hadn't really been, even when they had argued
yesterday - but they still hadn't resolved the reason why she was
upset with him, either. And he thought there was something else
bothering her, something to do with the case even now... but she
still wasn't ready to tell him about it.

"I have to get back," Scully said, breaking the silence that had
fallen again. She sat up, retaining her grip on his hand, and gave
him a genuine, heart-stopping smile. "You found the girl in time,
Mulder. I'm glad."

Mulder stood as she did so, pulling her into his arms. "And you
found me in time, Scully. Like you always do."

~~~~~
Author's Note 2: In case you were at all wondering about the
timeline, in my universe, Scully goes with Mulder to the hospital
after the rescue, goes back to work for a while (as seen in "Warmer
Climate"), and then in this fic, comes back home to Mulder for just
this short visit before going back to work. The next time she comes
home, then, is the pivotal final scene in the movie. I don't know
if that actually makes any sense, but that's my explanation.