Maybe Tomorrow, the Series. . . VII
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow :::Final:::
By: Jenn Nistor

Disclaimer: Ugh--must I continue writing all of these things. The characters Dana Scully, Fox Mulder, and the Cancer Man are the property of Chris Carter, Fox, and 1013 productions. No copyright infringement is intended.

Notes: Here is another story in my Maybe Tomorrow series. I lied. I said that I didn't have time for another one, but I do. So here it is. This one is slightly MSR. There is a lot of both character angst and some violence.

Summery: It started out as a routine case. No one would have suspected that a case so simple could have ended up so tragic. While Scully lies in a hospital room dying, Mulder must find a way to grasp the fact that 'Tomorrow' isn't all that it seems.

Maybe Tomorrow VII
"Here Today, Gone Tomorrow 1/3"
By: Jenn Nistor (Jenn6092@aol.com or Jenn1013X@aol.com)

November 1, 2000
Treeline Oaks Community Hospital
Kyper Massetusis
8:18 PM.

"Dr. Newman, Dr. Newman. . . Please report to Emergency STAT. Please report to Emergency STAT."

Mulder ignored all surrounding sounds and kept his attention focused on his hands. His hands seemed to be the only part of him still connected to his partner. They still held her blood and nothing would erase it. When the doctors had tried to get him to wash it off, he had refused and in return clamped his hands tighter together.

It had started out as a normal day. All they were doing was investigating a normal case, in a normal town, and in their normal way. There was nothing strange. No UFO sightings or serial killers. They were simply investigating the disappearances of two teenagers in probably one of the safest neighborhoods in Kyper, a small town in the outskirts of Boston. And now here he sat, alone, in a strange hospital's waiting room.

Scully was God knows where with God know who. She had left him alone. Alone and afraid of the world.

"Mr. Mulder." a soft voice came from above his head.

Mulder glanced up. "Yes."

"I'm Dr. Chase Lester, I'm the ER doctor in charge of Miss. Scully's case." she held out her hand.

Mulder didn't move, he kept his hands still. He knew that the doctor would probably freak out at the signs of his hands. After all it was Scully's blood that rested there and to any normal person it would seem that he was slipping into a state of shock.

The doctor tried to smile, but she was alarmed by his appearance. She wasn't used to a whiteness of a victim refusing medical attention when it was obvious that he needed it. She almost felt sorry for him, but she pushed her pity aside and glanced down at her folder. "Miss. Scully is suffering from massive internal bleeding. The bullet severed many organs and we were unable to stop the bleeding some places." she began.

Mulder wasn't listening. Instead he sat there, trying to remember what had led up to this careless incident.

*****************
October 29, 2000
Happytown Suites
Kyper Massetusis
3:12 P.M.

Scully slammed the door shut with a loud smack. A picture of some old haunted house fell from it's place on the wall and slipped behind a chair that rested at the right side of the door. Mulder, who had been reading through some notes, jerked his head up with shock.

"What the--" he let his voice trail off when he saw what she held in her hand.

"What the fuck are you doing!" she screamed. "Why the hell do you keep doing this to me."

Mulder held up his hands. "Scully I--"

She didn't let him finish. She grabbed a vase of the small table and hurtled it across the room. It barley missed him as it shattered against the wall just above his head. Small glass particles fell onto him, but he ignored them.

"Scully you--!"

"Shut up, Mulder!" she screamed, interrupting him again. "I'm sick of all this shit. Why can't you just understand that I want you to leave me alone."

"Scully." he jumped up and took a step towards her. "I did it for your own good. Please understand."

"You can't send me home, Mulder. I don't get what the big deal is. This is some stupid case where two kids probably ran away together. I think I can handle it."

He shook his head. "Scully, please. I just don't want anything to happen to you. I know that this isn't dangerous, but still." he held out his hand. "You haven't been acting right lately. The normal Scully wouldn't try to knock my head off with a vase no matter how mad she was at me." he motioned to the shattered particles on the floor. "You need a vacation Scully. You need to get some help."

"Damn it Mulder!" Scully screamed. "I'm fine, will you just leave me alone. I'm sick of you leaning over my shoulder and watching my every move. Your the one making me crazy." she slumped down in the chair next to his bed. "Just go away."

Mulder shook his head. "No! You are going to listen to me for once." he grabbed her arm. "I care about you Scully. I care about what happens to you and I don't want you to get killed. Why the hell won't you let me help you?"

"Because!" Scully cried.

"Because, why?" Mulder asked softly.

"Because your always here." she motioned around. "Your everywhere I am, I see you in my dreams, I see you every fucking time I close my eyes. I see you every second of everyday and I hate it. I hate it!" she pulled away and backed into the corner. "I love you Mulder, but I can't be here with you. It's just not in me anymore." tears stung her eyes. "Please, give me space. I need you to back off of me for awhile. I feel like you are pressuring me to make a choice between you and-- and something else."

"Are you scared of me?" Mulder asked hoarsely. "Because if you are, you have no reason to be. I'd never hurt you again. You know that." he paused. "And as for you making a choice, I'm not making you choose anything. I'd never make you choose."

"I'm not scared of you." she sighed. "This really doesn't have anything to do with you. I just need space. I'm starting to feel trapped in this world that I've created."

"Fine." he backed away. "I'll give you your space, but I'll always be here if you need me."

"I know, that's why I love you, but don't ask me to give you anything else. I don't have anything else to give you." she paused. "You really don't have to worry about me, you shouldn't worry about me. If I know that you are worrying about me, then I'll worry about you and I won't be able to stop."

"It doesn't have to be this way, Scully." Mulder whispered. "Can't we let things go back to the way they used to be before our separation?"

Scully actually considered saying 'yes', but there was no way that thing's would be the way they used to be. To many things had happened. She wasn't the same and neither was he. It was getting to the point where she was about to walk out and leave her job, but she knew that he needed her. Besides, if she quit, she'd be letting *them* win and there was no way she'd be able to live with herself it that happened.

Shaking her head, she hoisted herself up and moved towards the door. "Things can never be the way that they used to be, but that doesn't mean that we have to let everything we had together go down the drain." she opened the door. "We can build off the past and pray that it makes a better present."

"Or we could forget the past and start a new present." Mulder suggested.

"I'll think about it, Mulder." Scully said, then left.

*****************
Present Time

Mulder glanced back up at Dr. Lester. He hadn't really been listening to what she was saying, but he had gotten bits and pieces of it. Massive internal bleeding. . . . swelling. . . . unable to operate. Those few words ran in his mind.

It was almost like a dark cloud had settle over him. He didn't seem to want to admit that his partner may be dying. All he could think about was the last thing she had said and the last look she had given him. She had begged him to help her, to stop her pain. But there was nothing he could do at the time.

He had never heard any sound as beautiful as those sirens as they pulled into the house driveway. She had lost so much blood and his arms were tired of applying pressure to the wounds. He remembered almost feeling relieved when the paramedics and police had come pouring through the doors. At the time he hadn't really been worried about the severity of Scully's wounds, he had been more worried about getting someone to help her.

"So your saying that she's dying?" he asked, afraid to hear the answer.

Chase didn't say anything. There wasn't much that could be done. Their hospital was short staffed, the equipment that they had was limited and with out proper medical attention the agent had very little chance of survival.

It wasn't everyday that they had FBI agents staking out their town and she couldn't remember a time in all thirty three years she'd lived there that a cop or an agent had been shot. They just weren't prepared for that type of injury. 

"We're going to transfer her to Boston general by life support helicopter." she replied. "Our facilities are not adequate enough to handle a case as serious as the nature of Miss Scully's and we're afraid that if she is not transferred soon she will bleed to death."

"Then why the hell aren't you transferring her!?" Mulder cried.

Chase sighed. "Although Boston General is only a thirty minute drive and a ten minute helicopter ride, the closest helicopter is about a half an hour away by air, and it may take longer. We have her stabilized and we're praying that we can keep her stabilized long enough to fly her to Boston. I'm sorry about the wait, Mr. Mulder."

"Can I see her?" he asked.

The doctor nodded and motioned for him to follow her down the long hall to where Scully awaited. "Please do not be alarmed at her appearance." Chase said, pushing open the door.

Mulder did not show any reaction to Scully's condition. She was strapped down to a stretcher, tubes and wires were attached to various parts of her body, and a respirator was the only thing pumping life into her. If he had not seen her this way before, he would never have recognized her.

"Are you two close?" Chase asked, not sure of whether or not to pry. From the way things looked, she could tell that they were more than just close.

"Yes." he replied, softly. He didn't take his eyes off his partner. "She and I have been partners along time and have gone through everything. This is just one more minor set back. She's been through worse."

Chase couldn't imagine anyone going through anything worse than being shot over and over again, then being left to bleed to death. This was by far the worst she had ever seen, but she didn't question the mans words.

"I'm very sorry about what happened, Mr. Mulder. I can't imagine anything worse than being shot five times in the chest and surviving. She must be very special if she's survived under worse circumstances."

Mulder smiled slightly. "Yes, she is very special." He thought back to the time when everyone had given up hope on her. It had been his beliefs that had kept her going all that time she was in a coma. And if that had kept her going then, well he hoped it would be enough to keep her going now.

"Would you mind telling me how this happened?"
He shook his head and sat down in the chair next to where Scully lay. "No, I might as well practice on you......."

****************
Same Day
Earlier time 4:13 P.M.
1146 Newman St.

Their fight three days before had made them more distant than ever. Mulder sat silently, staring out the window of the car. While Scully sat nervously next to him. They hadn't spoken much, with the exceptions of 'yes' and 'no' they had suddenly picked up a limited vocabulary.

"This is pointless." Scully muttered, rolling down her window. "They aren't coming back here, I don't see why we have to sit here all day."

Mulder laughed. "Have some patients, Scully. The night's young. I predict that Jones and his boy's will be back before morning."

"Mulder. . . . . ." Scully squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm not going to wait here all night because of you and your never right predictions." she started to get out of the car when he stopped her.

"Since nothing is going on, it's a good time for us to talk."

She shook her head. "I don't think so, Mulder. I'm not in the mood to discuss our personal problems."

"Scully this has nothing to do with us, remember." he flipped on the air conditioner. "You've been this way ever since Valentine and I want to know why."

"Maybe tomorrow, Mulder." she replied and kept her eyes trained straight a head.

"And what if there isn't a tomorrow, Scully." Mulder cried. "What if something happens to one of us. Then what? I don't want to leave you never knowing what I did wrong, or where ewe went wrong."

"There's always a tomorrow." Scully whispered. "No matter how hard I try to deny it, there is always another day. There is always another hour, or minute and a second. I can't escape time. I can't stop it and I can't get out of it."

"Why would you want to?" Mulder asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel like I'm trapped."

"Is it better to hold possession over your own life or to have others gain and hold possession over you?"

"I don't know anymore, Mulder. I--" she let her voice trail off when she saw a black van pull into the drive way of the house they were staking out. "Bingo." she pointed in the vans direction as two men climbed out. "You better call for back up."

"They don't look dangerous, Scu--" he quickly closed his mouth as one of the men started to unload what looked to be a weapon of some sort.

As Mulder radioed in for back up, Scully reached into the back seat and grabbed one of the bullet proof vests and a ear radio set. "I'm going in, Mulder." she said softly.

Mulder shook his head in protest. "Wait for back up, Scully. We don't know what those men have."

"No, two teenagers may be dying in there. I have to go in." she quickly strapped on the vest and handed Mulder the other side of her radio. "I'll be okay." she started to reach for the door again when Mulder stopped her.

"If you think that this is your chance to die, then your not going in. I refuse to let you kill yourself."

She pulled away and opened the door. "I'll call you if I need you." she pulled her gun from her side and climbed out. "When the back up gets here, come in." she didn't wait for his reply. She ran towards the house and to the door.

Holding her breath, Scully pushed the door open and quietly crept in. The house was dark, with the exception of a couple candles. Silently, she made her way to the back of the house and to down a narrow staircase.

"Scully."

"Yes, Mulder." she whispered into her headset.

"Two more guys just entered the house, they were dragging a large trunk."

"Okay......" she stopped at the bottom and made a quick left. "I'm--"

"Who are you!" someone cried.

Scully whirled around to face one of the men she had been trailing. "I'm with the FBI, drop your weapon." she trained her gun on the man, praying that he couldn't see the fear in her eyes. Now that she was in deaths path, she suddenly realized that she didn't want to die. There was too much to live for.

"Scully!" Mulder's voice rang in her ears.

She ignored him and kept her attention on the man. "Drop your weapon." she repeated.

The man laughed. "And why would I do that?"

"Because there are five dozen squad cars surrounding this place and you won't be able to escape." she replied. "Killing me will do you know good."

He shrugged. "So what........"

Before she knew what was happening, she felt a sharp pain in her chest and the world went black.