Not With a Whisper - Part 2

Outside in the dark blue Ford Taurus, Tony Rimmer adjusted the earphones on his ears. The joint was really jumping tonight he thought as he listened. The short blond and her tall Viking Prince were humping like hell. And for God's sake he couldn't believe Sian Phillips was screwing that pathetic little dwarf he had seen her with earlier in the day. 'I thought that white furred bitch would have better taste then that,' he mused listening to her moans of pleasure as the pathetic little geek put it to her. The only one who was truly unoccupied was Mulder, Rimmer thought. 'Ha, time to change that, you FBI fuck,' he thought. He had followed him around in the mall downtown today and then later watched from afar as he bought the ring for his red headed lady love. The guy had some class though, he thought. The ring had been tasteful at least. Having all ready touched his mind and gotten his scent at the airport and back in the apartment in DC, it was relatively easy for Rimmer to reestablish the psychic bond with the Agent. Now, he let his mind loose and touched Mulder's slumbering brain.

Fox Mulder dreamed. He dreamed he was in a forest, a dark tangle of trees, ferns and undergrowth. He swiveled to look around and stretched with the pleasure of his heightened senses. The crisp air on his face, the earthy smells, the sounds of tiny rustlings at his feet. Everything seemed vivid, alive and new and he reveled in it. For some reason he could see in the dark, and he sensed that he wasn't standing upright. No, he, he was standing on all fours. And when he glanced down he could see his legs, and they were covered in fur, and his hands were more like paws and they were equipped with razor sharp claws. All this didn't seem strange to him however, just different, and he ran his pink tongue over his lips as he loped off through the brush. Presently he caught a sent. It was musky, afraid, it was a deer, and it was running. Mulder became incredibly excited as he heard the deer fleeing before him. He began to run, crashing through the underbrush, and suddenly he looked around and noticed he had been joined by other four legged furry shapes.

He was a wolf he realized suddenly, a huge brown wolf with dark hazel eyes, and he lifted his head and howled with the pack as they ran on after their prey. A large white wolf, a female, ran by his left side, and on his right a larger red wolf, a male streaked along as well. But Mulder pulled ahead of them both, and soon he saw the terrified deer right ahead of him. He knew it was a doe then, and he took four strong bounds, and he was upon the deer in a flash. He threw himself up onto her neck and pulled the doe crashing down under him. He gripped the deer's neck in his jaws, grunting and growling as he did so. The creatures eyes rolled in terror and her tongue jutted out as the doe bleated in pain and panic. Blood was on her lips, and Mulder was inflamed with the killing lust as he began to squeeze his jaws tight. The deer writhed in her death throes.

But, just as he began to taste the hot blood of the deer in his mouth, the prey's body shifted, and the doe's face became that of Dana Scully's, and she was screaming in terror as Mulder felt her neck snap under his teeth.

Mulder woke with a shout of utter fright. He jerked up and the book he had been reading fell from his lap with a thud. His glasses fell off as well and clinked into his lap. 'God All Mighty, what, what an awful dream,' he shook his head with dismay, reaching to pick up his glasses. He put the glasses back on and gasping, struggled to still his breathing. He listened to see if his yell had disturbed anyone else in the house. All was quiet, however, and he sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. His stomach was sour, and he was having a massive case of acid reflux from the pizza he had eaten earlier. 'Shit that's what I get for eating spicy food so late,' he sighed getting up to retrieve the book. He remembered he had some Pepcid AC in his duffel upstairs so he got up and headed out of the library to find the medication. As he headed upstairs he turned off lights as he went.

Mulder entered his room and went to his duffel, took out the meds and went into the bathroom to get water to go with the pills. Exiting the bathroom he walked over to the bed and set his wrist watch alarm for 7 AM. 'Should be plenty early enough to get ready for the conference,' he thought as his shoulders sagged. 'God, that dream...' passed through his mind again and the thought made him really dreadfully tired so he decided to lay down on the bed, fully clothed to try to get some sleep. He'd only been laying there for a few minutes when he heard the muffled sounds coming from Frohike's room. 'Oh Jesus,' he thought with annoyance as he heard the low moans and creaking bed next door. 'God, doesn't he realize somebody might like to sleep around here,' he thought, turning onto his side. As the noises continued, albeit very quietly, Mulder yanked the pillow from under his head, placed it over his ear and closed his eyes. The terror filled dream he had experienced earlier began to recede and he was fast asleep once more. This time no dreams came immediately, and soon he was snoring.

Next door, Frohike was in Sian Phillips embrace. He was beyond believing that he could ever be this lucky again in his entire life and he didn't even stop to question whether it was a permanent state of affairs or whether he would ever see the gorgeous blond again after leaving Milwaukee. It wasn't even the sex he thought, hell he would have been just as happy to sit and talk with her for hours. He was still surprised that he was making love with her, and to know that she truly enjoyed being with him. Sian touched his eyelids as he lay next to her now, drowsy from his efforts, and he fell asleep breathing against her breasts. Sian smiled down at him and reaching over gently removed the condom that he had used with her. The protection hadn't been necessary of course, but Sian had been touched at his thoughtfulness on the issue.

He really looked so cute, smiling, and asleep, she thought and she quietly got up and went into the bathroom to dispose of the rubber. As she stood looking into the mirror she was suddenly met with a chill, and she sniffed the air, her green eyes aflame as she sensed danger. Every muscle and nerve in her body went on alert. She exited the bathroom and went over to her clothes which hung over the back of the chair with her overnight bag, next to the room's desk.

Frohike shifted in his sleep and asked groggily, "Sian, is everything all right?"

"Yes, Mel, everything's fine, lover, go back to sleep," she assured him with a light stroke to his brow. Frohike sank back into slumber and Sian took the keys to his room, and the main doors from the desk top, stepped out of the room and locked the door behind her. She crept downstairs into the darkened lower floor. All her senses stretched out and she could just make out a presence. The hair on the back of her neck and her arms stood on end. One of her own kind she thought, but male, and vaguely familiar. She cast her head about again to pick up the scent, and soon she knew the direction from which it came and she walked back through the kitchen to the house's back door. She opened it cautiously and stepped out into the cold January air.

A tall shape stood up in the shadows by the dumpsters. Sian growled low in her throat, and she felt the nubs of her fangs spring from her gums.

"Hey, cool it Sian," the tall shape hissed, "Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Rimmer added stepping into full view.

Sian relaxed slightly when she saw the familiar face. But she didn't let her guard down completely, "Tony, what are you doing in the states?" she asked her eyes narrowing at him.

"Business, my dear. What are you doing in Milwaukee?" he asked in return.

"I live here now, Tony. The pays better. A girl has to make a living you know."

Rimmer chuckled and looked up idly at the dark house above them. Sian followed his gaze and then looked at him with further suspicion.

"You're business wouldn't involve anyone in there would it?" she asked, the warning plain in her voice.

"In there? No, Sian," he lied smoothly. Rimmer had been in the enforcing business longer then Sian. He had also been brought across as a shapeshifter way before she had and he was very powerful. Under normal circumstances, Sian would have caught his lie, but his seniority allowed him to mask the untruth. Sian knew this was a possibility also, so she was still worried that he was coming after one of her friends.

"Look, Sian, if you're worried about your little human up there, God, that dwarf you're fucking, he's safe, don't worry," he hastened to reassure her. It wouldn't do for the she-wolf to go on the rampage Rimmer thought.

"Well, you'd better stay away from everyone in this house, Tony, or there will be hell to pay," Sian snarled.

Rimmer held both hands up in surrender, smiling ferally at her. "No worries, Sian, they are as safe as little lambs," he replied, 'lambs headed for the slaughter,' he grinned inwardly.

"All right, Tony, I'll take your clan oath on that," she whispered and Tony made the sign that signified his clan loyalty. Sian relaxed.

"So, how long will you be in Milwaukee?" she asked.

"Oh, just until tomorrow night. I'm making the grand tour, for Alex," he added, meaning London's alpha wolf, "I go down to Chicago on Wednesday to meet with the Midwest clan leader."

"Oh, well, sorry to hear Alex is still so caught up in his political intrigues," Sian sighed.

"Well, not really Sian, he's been having me put out peace feelers now for weeks. It think the old asshole is getting ready to bury the hatchet," he added.

'Probably right in your head, you prick,' Sian thought staring into Rimmer's icy eyes.

"Well to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Sian asked him finally.

"Oh, I just wanted you to know I was in town so you wouldn't be surprised if you sensed me around. And for old times sake. I did enjoy our one bit of business together, Sian," he smiled. She had been quite spectacular at the time Rimmer thought, especially when they had thrown caution and clan propriety to the wind and fucked each other almost unconscious after killing a dozen men in a Spittelfield's crack house. Those had been the good old day Rimmer thought. He half hoped Sian wasn't going to give him any grief over his killing of Fox Mulder. But he was just as prepared to rip her throat out now as he had been to screw her two years ago.

"Oh, well, I suppose I should be flattered Tony," she chuckled. Rimmer frowned at the sarcasm in her voice.

"No, I'm sorry, I am flattered, really, I, I was just a little startled to see you that's all," she hurried to say.

"No harm done, white one," he replied seductively, walking over to touch her on the cheek. She arched her head slightly and rubbed against his hand.

He drew away quickly and said, "Well, I need to take care of business, Sian, Au revior, my sweet. I'm sure we'll cross paths again. Enjoy your little human," he laughed and then he was gone. Sian blinked and shook herself all over. She turned and quietly reentered the house.

'I hope that bastard is telling the truth,' she thought. 'I'm not in the mood for a fight right now," she added. However, if Rimmer so much as harmed one hair on the heads of anyone in this house she would not hesitate to snap his spinal column and she would be glad to do it.

Sian stopped to listen to the various sounds to make sure all was well. The wolf women's hearing was very acute, and she could hear Janet Price and Jim Rafferty snoring lightly in their suite on the third floor. She could hear Mulder talking in his sleep, and then his silence, and Frohike tossing a bit. She hastened up the stairs and unlocked the door to Frohike's room. The photographer was waking up again and Sian carefully climbed back in bed beside him. He reached sleepily for her, but she stroked his neck and then his face whispering, "Melvin, go back to sleep, you're going to be totally dead on your feet for your presentation tomorrow if we go at it again," she chuckled slightly as Frohike gave her a lopsided smile. She lay back and pulled him close as his head lolled onto her breast and she closed her eyes as he snuggled next to her.

Tony Rimmer sat in the front seat of the Ford Taurus and shook with laughter. This whole thing was too rich he thought. Sian Phillips boffing that repugnant little gnome, the equally diminutive blond upstairs amusing herself with her tall fiancee, and Fox Mulder mewling in the library below as Rimmer forced him to dream of the pack, and the kill and his slaughtered lover. Tony really wanted to just walk into the Shepard Avenue residence and butcher everyone in it - they all deserved it, they were such cunting fools. But he knew he had to show some restraint. It would be suicide to draw too much attention to his real identity and the world of the shapeshifters. Discretion would be the better part of valor he thought even though it would be damned hard to do.

Rimmer hadn't even revealed his wolf form to the smoking man in DC. He had just let the petty tyrant think he was an accomplished psychic able to warp men's minds to his will. He did intend to let him get a glimpse of his true form however when he returned, and after the pay off for this little job, of course. It would be the last thing the cancer stick puffing shit would see, and Tony was really looking forward to the moment.

The smoking man's instructions on this mission had been clear but rather annoying to Tony. Rimmer would have been more content with a direct approach with Fox Mulder. He would have just enjoyed grabbing the Agent off the street some dark night, crushing his neck, and then ripping his heart out for a snack afterwards. But the DC dick had wanted Rimmer to torture him a bit first, and then incredibly give the guy the idea that he had a sporting chance against Rimmer at the end before he delivered the coup de grace.

Maybe the old fuck was part wolf himself. Maybe he had a little shapeshifter in his ancestry somewhere along the line. He was certainly blood thirsty enough to fit into a certain segment of their society Rimmer thought. Of course, he could understand some of the man's motivation. The old established wolves always got nervous when their son's showed some initiative and threatened to rock their little world in a struggle for dominance. Rimmer knew the cigarette man would want to eliminate Mulder before his son had a chance to dethrone him and he could understand that need at least.

Still, the whole job was taking too long, it was too drawn out to be really fun. Rimmer wanted it to end, and ultimately he would have preferred that it ended in another way. Tony didn't really want to kill Fox Mulder. In fact he would have liked to bring the FBI man across into the life of the pack. Rimmer had delusions of grandeur. He knew Milwaukee was a city without an alpha wolf - a no-man's land controlled at a distance by a weak and decrepit elder leader in Chicago. Rimmer thought that if he planned things right, he could set himself up in Milwaukee as an alpha wolf. A first step in that plan might be to recruit some subservient hunters as pack members. Mulder would do for that role. Tony thought he might even be able to convince Sian to become his alpha bitch if he played his cards right. He sighed. Well it was an idea. He'd have to see how things went however. It could be a plan that was better left for the future, but the near future, he hoped, as he ran a hand through his golden red hair.

'Well, at least things would be heating up tomorrow,' he thought, 'and then it will be end game and I can finish the whole bleeding show.' Rimmer took the head phones off and placed them down next to him on the front seat. 'In the meantime, there's always the Cheetah Club' he mused thinking of the Divine Desdemona a.k.a. Susan Foster, the exotic dancer now his sex toy, that awaited him there. Tony switched on the ignition and once again pointed his car south into downtown Milwaukee, a evil smile on his wolfish lips.

Tuesday dawned and the occupants of the house on Shepard Avenue began to stir. Frohike and Sian Phillips had gotten up early and walked quietly down to the communal shower. The hot water was pouring down on them and Sian scrubbed Frohike's back tenderly. There was no sex between them that morning, just the shared pleasure of each others company, and Frohike thought that was very fine. Janet rolled over in bed and kissed Jimmy Rafferty on the forehead. Jim's eyes opened and he reached to brush a strand of her hair back behind her ear. She kissed his lips and then giggled at the love in his eyes. "Honey, we'd better get up and fix some breakfast," she said. "I'm starving and I imagine Frohike will be in serious need of energy food this morning." Jimmy laughed, and agreed and they got up to go downstairs.

Fox Mulder's watch alarm went off at 7 AM and he grudgingly brought himself out of his dreams. He had finally dreamt something pleasant that night, a wonderful vision of walking with Scully on a sunlit beach somewhere tropical. He had seen the ring on her finger plus the second ring, a wedding ring as they walked. He knew it was their honeymoon and his heart had soared at the scene. Mulder woke reluctantly but refreshed and he had headed down to the now vacant shower to clean up for the conference.

Once everyone was showered, clothed and fed, they gathered up all the material needed for their various presentations, loaded up the van, and made the exodus for downtown Milwaukee and *The Whisper Group* meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Tuesday morning had dawned for Dana Scully in DC and she did meet the sun with a happy face. Her Mother sat at the kitchen table as Scully prepared breakfast for them. The coffee was perked and Scully was putting bagels and fresh fruit onto plates.

Margaret Scully all ready had a cup of coffee before her and she was smiling at her Daughter because Scully was more content and joyous then she had seen her a long time.

Mother and Daughter had chatted over breakfast, lingering in their bathrobes and slippers over their food. The subject of Mulder had come up again and this time the conversation was light and pleasant with Scully telling her Mother about some of Mulder's more amusing jokes and acerbic humor. At one point in the conversation Walter Skinner's name came up and Scully squinted at her Mother because she seemed suddenly interested in the Assistant Director and the idea still gave Scully fits. Dana was successful however in steering their chat into other avenues and they whiled away the time until mid morning. Finally the two women had showered, dressed taken their coats and purses and left the apartment for their day of shopping.

At around 1 PM, Fox Mulder waited outside a section of the ballroom in the Hyatt Regency Hotel where *The Whisper Group* conference was in full swing. The first speaker was inside finishing up his presentation and Mulder could hear his voice and then the crowds laughter at some joke he made. Frohike was scheduled to go on after Mulder and the photographer had excused himself to use the rest room a sudden attack of stage nerves causing him to have to piss. Mulder sat down on a bench against the wall and opened his presentation folder to take one final glance through his paper on Clyde Bruckman.

As Mulder read, the hairs on his neck suddenly stood on end and he became aware of the feeling that he was being watched. He looked up and scanned the lobby and his eyes fell on the tall red headed man from the airport. The man was standing near the elevators and his ice cold blue eyes were boring a hole right through Mulder's skull. Time seemed to stop and everyone in the lobby was moving in slow motion as the tall well dressed man pinned Mulder under his hypnotic stare. Mulder got a glimpse then of the forest and the chase and blood and darkness and as quickly as he felt all the sensations they were gone and so was the tall stranger. Mulder blinked and time returned to normal. Mulder stretched, the memory of the moment fading fast, and he looked towards the doors to the ballroom as he heard the applause that signaled the first presentation was complete. Standing he opened the door, walked into the room and headed up to the stage where the speaker was just leaving the podium.

Tony Rimmer exited the lobby of the Hyatt Regency smiling. 'The pump's primed,' he thought. Mulder was softened up enough now to go along with just about anything Rimmer was going to do this evening and he had pretty much decided how the Agent was going to meet his death - or just remotely his rebirth. He still held out some hope that he would be able to bite Mulder at some point and convert him rather then kill him. He was leaving his options open. 'To be or not to be,' he mused. Well, it didn't matter. The game was afoot and that was the ultimate pleasure. 'And speaking of ultimate pleasure, I'd better get back to the Divine D,' he thought. The exotic dancer, Susan Foster was waiting for him in her apartment near the FBI Headquarters. Tony had checked out of the Phister Hotel and then picked Susan up at the Cheetah Club the night before. He had decided to make her apartment his final base of operations, and he had escorted her there last night for an evening of debauchery which she had begged him for.

Rimmer had fucked her in every conceivable position possible during the evening and made her scream for more. He had tweaked her orgasms until she was almost passing out from their intensity and then he had sprawled back on the bed, the woman straddling his hips, impaled on his huge cock. He watched her as she rode him, rubbing her clit in a frenzy, and he closed his eyes and smiled. As the woman pumped up and down on his erection and her cunt spasms squeezed him tightly Rimmer grunted just allowing himself to begin to feel his own ecstasy. He had grinned then and picked up the cell phone lying next to him on the bed and punched in a number in DC. The phone was answered after one ring.

"Rimmer here, Sir,' he grunted into the receiver end as another spasm constricted his penis.

"Mr. Rimmer, I'm glad you're reporting in, I was getting a bit anxious," the smoke hazed voice hissed from the other end of the connection.

"Well, never fear, things are moving along quiet nicely Sir," he licked his lips, 'moving, yeah, I'll say they're moving' he gave out a low groan as the blond writhed against his crotch.

"And...my son?" the cigarette smoking man was asking.

"OH, Mulder's primed, I don't think the conclusion of my little play will be any trouble," Rimmer assured him, thrusting slightly to meet the blond's hips. She groaned loudly and Rimmer could hear the sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

"See that it isn't, Mr. Rimmer the voice said, "And remember the stipulations of our deal," he added breathing somewhat heavily as he listened to what he now obviously knew was going on in the Milwaukee apartment.

"Yes, Sir, I know - torture, terror and fake triumph and then I frag his ass," he hissed as the blond raked his chest with her nails.

"Correct, Mr. Rimmer, and don't forget it," he advised.

"No problem, Sir," Rimmer stated, and then he added, "if you'll excuse me for a moment, I have something I need to finish here," and he put the cell phone down on the bed next to him, the connection still open. He grabbed the blond by the waist and flipped her over violently, forcing her legs up as he drove into her, hard and deep. She shrieked in lust and Rimmer could her a low moan coming from the cell phone next to her head and he laughed as he came with a guttural roar.

Rimmer smiled at the memory. He chuckled at the thought of the cancer man beating off in his office in DC as he listened to Rimmer and the exotic dancer. It had been a sublime bit of business. Now Rimmer really wanted to get back to the Divine Ds apartment because when it finally came down to it, Susan Foster had a very important part to play in his plans and he didn't want her to wait to take center stage much longer.

Dana Scully and her Mother carried the packages from their shopping expedition back into Scully's apartment at around 6 PM. It was late but they had had such fun shopping and stopping in an art gallery on the spur of the moment. Dana had decided to cook for her mother tonight and then to call Mulder to tell him how things had gone on Monday evening. As she was putting her packages in her bedroom and planning a dinner menu in her head she heard the phone ring in the living room.

"I'll get that honey," her Mother called.

Scully put her packages down on the bed and then she went back into the living room. Her mother was talking into the phone and it was obvious the call had been for her and not Scully.

"Well, how nice," she was saying. "But, I'm not sure, uh, let me ask Dana," she was saying, "Just a moment, she's right here," Her Mother pressed the mute button on the phone and then she turned to Scully, a half flustered and pleased look on her face.

"Honey, this, it's Walter Skinner on the phone," she whispered smiling nervously.

"Skinner, is something wrong?" Scully was worried that even though the call sounded like it was for her mother that something had happened to Mulder.

"Oh, God, no honey, nothings wrong!" Margaret Scully hastened to reassure her, "He, he's calling for me. I told him I was staying with you the other night in the restaurant so he called me here. He wants to know if I'd like to have dinner with him this evening."

"Dinner?" Scully raised an eyebrow, "Alone?"

"No, together, honey," she teased, but then she went very serious, "God, Dana, I think he's asking me for a date," and then Margaret was suddenly extremely flustered.

Scully's mouth dropped open, "Oh, Mom..." she started to say.

"What should I do?" Margaret whispered.

"Well, don't keep him on hold forever," Scully advised equally upset. She didn't know what to say. This was incredible.

Her Mother put the receiver back to her ear and it was evident that Skinner was talking to her right away.

"Oh, no, it's not that short a notice, Walter. No, we haven't eaten yet, we've been shopping all day. Yes, I have to admit I've worked up quite an appetite," she took a deep breath and then came to a decision.

"Walter, I'd love to go to dinner with you. Yes, Thai food would be marvelous. 8 PM? Fine, you know the address? Oh, yes, of course you would. All right, I'll see you then," she finished hanging up the phone.

"Mom, I think we'd better have another talk," Scully sighed at the look of utter confusion and chagrin on Margaret Scully's face.

At 6 PM in Milwaukee, Janet Price, Jim Rafferty, Frohike, Mulder and Sian Phillips were just sitting down to a post conference dinner in the restaurant of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. It was a convenient location and the food was passable but their main intent was to enjoy each others company for one final evening before Mulder and Frohike returned to DC. They all ordered traditional Milwaukee German specialty dishes, Mulder opting for veal rather then the despised kielbasa. As he ate his meal he was content but slightly buzzed and he chalked that up to the enthusiastic reception his paper had gotten that afternoon and the fact that he was thinking about returning to Scully and her possible answer to his marriage proposal.

Frohike was lost in Sian Phillips eyes and Mulder was really happy for the photographer. He figured Frohike could always talk to her over the Internet if he wanted, and Milwaukee was only a plane flight away, so the relationship might have a chance at continuing despite the fact that they looked so mismatched. Sian Phillips really did seem eager to be with the Lone Gunman and Mulder just shook his head with a smile at the vagaries of fate.

Janet and Jimmy were laughing and joking, and in love, and all in all Mulder thought, the evening was going to be wonderful. He picked up his knife and fork and cut another piece from the excellent piece of veal on his plate.

It was close to 8 PM in DC and Margaret Scully was breathing deeply to calm herself. She and Dana had indeed talked for quite some time about Skinner. Dana had explained that she wasn't entirely happy with her Mother accepting the invitation to dinner with her Boss and why. It had been hard to admit to her Mother that Skinner made her so nervous and even though she respected him he still made her feel like she was about six years old. And of course, she did have to work with him, maintaining a professional demeanor although that wasn't as hard since he had known about her relationship with Mulder. Of course she had to tell her mother about that little fact as well.

Margaret Scully had listened and then confessed that she wasn't sure she should have accepted either. After all, she hadn't had a single date since her husbands death. She hadn't even thought about another man in all that time. She was totally flummoxed and afraid that she would make a total fool of herself even though it did seem like she wanted to go.

But as they talked, Dana Scully began to realize that maybe her Mother had grieved for her late Father long enough. It wasn't healthy for her to deny herself the pleasure of a man's company forever. She needed some sort of social life. Scully chided herself for making too much of the Skinner situation. 'I mean, God, he just asked her to dinner, it isn't like he's serious or anything'" she mused. After the extended conversation in the restaurant about cooking - a subject she knew Skinner was very familiar with after the Maine case, she figured he just wanted someone to talk to about a shared interest. She knew Skinner was lonely. Since the horrible events in Crossroads, Maine, and the loss of his love, Maggie Flynn he had mostly been absorbed in the job and it's day to day grind. He had no social life to speak of so Scully finally decided she really couldn't begrudge him escorting her Mother to dinner. After all if he was going to pick an attractive older woman to entertain he couldn't go wrong in squiring Margaret Scully.

Dana had smiled and told her Mother to go for it and then they had both laughed long and hard to break the tension. Margaret Scully sat on the couch now, dressed in a stunning red dress that she had purchased just that afternoon. Dana thought she looked beautiful. The door bell rang promptly at 8 PM.

"Look, Mom, I'll be in the kitchen, all right?" Scully whispered. She thought it might be more easy for her Mother to answer the door on her own without her hovering like some suspicious chaperone.

As she poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot on the counter she could hear her mother opening the apartment door.

Skinner was greeting her and Scully could tell from the tone of his voice that the dress was a hit. She smiled. She wished she could have seen what he was wearing but it really wasn't important. Skinner was somewhat of a clothes horse so she knew he would have done it up right. They made small talk for a couple of minutes, and then Scully heard her mother getting her coat from the closet near the door.

"Honey, we're going now," she called and Dana took a deep breath and just poked her head out of the kitchen door. 'Yup, I was right, he looks great,' she thought taking in Skinner's tailored suit.

"All right, have a nice time you two," she smiled. Skinner smiled ruefully at her. He was nervous for once and Scully suppressed a grin.

"I won't keep her out too late," Skinner was saying a slight smile playing about his lips.

Scully grinned back and keeping with the good mood and light tone said, "Well, see that you don't - Sir." and then she smiled more broadly to show that she was only joking.

Skinner took her Mother's arm then and opening the front door gently steered her through it and out into the crisp January evening.

Scully went back out into the living room with her cup of coffee and sat down on the couch. She picked up a book she had been reading and settled back to wait for her Mother's return.

Tony Rimmer sat naked on the edge of Susan Foster's bed in downtown Milwaukee. He glanced at the clock as the equally naked blond knelt between his legs, his cock in her mouth. Rimmer was stroking her head with one hand as he idly glanced over at the clock. '8 PM' he thought. 'Well, it's about time I got this show on the road,' he added.

"Susan, my dear, that's really exquisite, but could you stop a moment please. I don't want to come yet. I'd like to save that for you," he grinned down at her ferally as she looked up into his face and released his erection.

"Oh, sure, Tony..." she purred. She was panting for him now and he stood up and extended his hand to pull her to her feet. He embraced her and kissed her tenderly on the lips. She opened her mouth and he stuck his tongue into her and deepened the kiss. As he explored her taste he reached into her mind and let her feel that she could never experience such rapture again. He also told her that no matter what happened next she would do anything he asked without hesitation. She groaned and Rimmer moved her over to the bed and sat her down on it. She made to pull him down on top of her but he disengaged himself.

"Look baby, I need to take a leak, all right, I'll be right back, keep the home fires burning," he licked his lips as she lay back, stroking her breasts and between her legs.

Rimmer walked into the bathroom and shut the door. This part of his life was always a little painful and inconvenient and he always felt just a trifle vulnerable during it. He didn't want Susan to see what he was going to do now and just possibly have his control over her broken. It was a remote chance but caution was what had kept Tony Rimmer alive for so long. He stared into the mirror and then crouched down on the floor on all fours. He grunted in discomfort and then retched slightly in pain as his bones began to shift and pop and twist. His legs elongated, turned furry, and bent at an odd angle. His arms swelled and became equally as furry and his ears lengthened as well. Sharp talons sprung from his finger tips and fangs broke through his gums. He snarled quietly and mewled a bit as the pain swept over him one last time and his shapeshifting transformation was complete. Tony Rimmer stood on all fours next to the tub in Susan Foster apartment and his ice cold blue werewolf eyes glowed with a supernatural light, and his now mammoth erection swung between his legs.

Rimmer reached up with a nearly human hand-like paw and twisted the bathroom door handle. The door swung open and he loped back down the hallway to Susan's bedroom.

The blond was masturbating on the bed and Tony crept up to her and stuck his head up over the bed's edge between her legs. She looked down into his wolfish muzzle, her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened to scream. Rimmer pinned her eyes and then sent a bolt of psychic energy into her mind and she smiled at him.

"Oh, hello Tony, what took you so long?" she asked him, dazed.

Tony laughed. He pulled the dancer down off the bed and flung her to the floor onto her hands and knees. She pushed her ass up into the air eagerly as he grabbed her by the waist, and without further preamble, the werewolf thrust violently into her. The blond screamed in fear and torment then as Tony pulled back and then pounded into her again and again, snarling and groaning. 'God this is so fucking good,' he thought. 'The only way, the only way,' he kept repeating and he mentally stifled the blond's shrieks because he didn't want to attract attention.

Susan Foster writhed in front of him. There would be no pleasure for her now, only terror and anguish in her mind, and complete compliance to the wolfman with her body. Tears streamed down her face as Rimmer continued to brutalize her with his cock and his claws. Blood ran down her legs and back and finally when she was close to collapse she felt the wolf's muzzle at the back of her neck. Rimmer was close to coming, he grunted in time to this thrusts and rolled his hips and head in white hot bliss.

He gripped the blond's neck in his jaws and then as he drove into her hard and deep for two last tremendous thrusts, he erupted, his jaws shut in an orgasmic rictus and he snapped Susan Foster's neck like a broken twig. As Rimmer's semen spurted into her dying body, her blood spurted everywhere, and Rimmer caught some of it in his now gaping and gasping jaws.

It was nearly 11 PM and Janet Price was wheeling the black Dodge Caravan out of the Hyatt Regency Parking garage and heading for *The Whisper House* on Shepard Avenue. The little group, still including Sian Phillips was happy but tired and somewhat subdued now as they drove off into the night. Jim sat next to her riding shotgun and he smiled as he glanced in the rear view mirror. Mulder was seated on the middle bench seat staring out the window into the Milwaukee City lights a small smile on his face. Rafferty figured his mind was miles away. He could just see past Mulder to the rear bench seat where Frohike was talking quietly to Sian. Janet had invited her to return to the house with them again and Jim had to chuckle at the way she had finally excepted the fact that Frohike and the tall blond were an item. It was a strange vision but fun to watch Rafferty thought. He reached over and patted Janet on the knee and she smiled over at him. The van sped on towards the lakefront route and towards the East Side.

Dana Scully had dozed off when a noise outside her front door awakened her. She rose from the couch instantly and went to open the door to let her Mother in. Something caused her to hesitate however, and she stepped forward impulsively and pried the curtain aside just a bit to make sure it was indeed her Mother returning, 'It had better be, it's almost midnight,' she yawned.

Through the window she could plainly see Skinner and her Mother on the stoop. They were standing very close and then Skinner bent over and started to give her Mother a kiss on the cheek. But then he hesitated, looking into her Mother's eyes, and searching her face for something. Her Mother touched his arm, and then instead of a chaste kiss on the cheek Skinner drew Margaret Scully close and kissed her on the lips.

"Oh shit," Scully breathed as her Mother melted against him, 'Jesus,' Scully amended and she dropped the curtain and backed quickly into the living room. Her knees were shaking and she sat back down on the couch with a thud. 'God, her Mother was kissing him, kissing Walter Skinner, oh for Christ sake! And on the first date. I mean wasn't there something against that according to Miss Manners? Oh my God! Well, the A. D. certainly doesn't waste any time does he? Holy Mother Mary. But he has been so lonely and my Mother is really warm, and fun, and attractive and...oh dear Lord,' Scully's mind was in turmoil. She struggled to compose herself as she heard her Mother's key turning in the lock.

Margaret Scully came in the door and Dana took one look at her Mother's face and she knew. She had seen that look enough times in her own mirror when she thought about Mulder to know what it meant. Margaret Scully was very close to falling fast for Skinner and Scully could not believe it. She was too skeptical to consider love at first sight as a valid reason for this unexpected turn of events. She began to think it was more than likely the feelings of two lonely people taking a sudden turn and she wasn't sure it was a turn for the better.

Her Mother was quietly closing the door behind her and taking off her coat. After she hung it in the closet she stepped back and then Scully felt a tremendous rush of love go through her body because her Mother was smiling as she reached up and touched her lips with her finger tips.

"Mom, are you all right?" Scully asked quietly from the couch. Her Mother jumped slightly and then turned to look at her daughter.

"Dana honey? Oh, you shouldn't have waited up for me," she smiled at her as she walked into the living room.

"Oh, that's ok, Mom, I wanted to finish this book anyway," she said placing the novel on the coffee table. Then she patted the couch next to her and said, "Why don't you come over here and tell me all about your evening. Was the restaurant nice?"

Margaret Scully crossed to the couch and sat down, a dreamy expression on her face and Scully thought, "Yes, she looks just like me after Mulder and I..." and then suddenly she thought, 'Oh my God, I forgot to call Mulder!' With everything that had been going on between her Mother and Skinner she had completely neglected her promise to call him that evening.

"Oh, Mom, I forgot to call Mulder," she blurted out.

"Oh, Dana, Lord, you'd better try to get him, he must be frantic by now!" her Mother touched her arm. Scully picked up her cell phone from the coffee table and punched in Mulder's cell phone number. She sat back as the phone rang.

Janet Price closed the garage door on the Dodge Caravan and turned to follow the rest of her little group into the house. Once inside everyone decided it was best to go to bed. Mulder and Frohike's flight wasn't until Wednesday afternoon but both of them thought it might be best to turn in.

"All right you guys. I'll let you all sleep in the morning and we can all have a big brunch before we drive you to the airport," Janet said

"Thanks, Janet," Mulder replied, "I really enjoyed today. The conference was great."

"Hey, your paper was great, G-man," Frohike chimed in slapping him on the back.

"Hell, Frohike, I don't think it held a candle to yours," Mulder grinned. The photographer had really outdone himself with slides regarding the new lenses, and a demo of spirit photography, and then the many ways photos could be faked at the end of the presentation. Mulder had been very impressed and almost felt his paper was boring by comparison.

Frohike laughed. "Yeah, well, you got the most applause, Mulder. But maybe that was just because you've got that GQ look," he teased.

Sian Phillips laughed and patted Frohike on the arm. He smiled over at her and then said, "I'm beat, Sian, I'm going up to bed."

"All right, Melvin, I'll be up in a minute," she replied smiling at him with love in her eyes. Sian couldn't quite believe it but in just a few days this little man had captured her wolfish heart. She wanted to see him again or at least try to maintain the relationship. She'd do it long distance for now if she had to but she was even considering relocating to Washington, DC. It wouldn't be a bad move, DC held lots of action and there was certainly a need there for her special, hidden talents.

Of course, she would have to tell Frohike about her true nature. She had probed his mind enough to know that he would be shocked at first but the experiences in his life as well as his association with Mulder had made him more then open to extreme possibilities. She thought things could be worked out in the shapeshifting department. And then of course she would bring him across. He wasn't exactly a prime pack candidate but the clan could certainly use his genius and photographic expertise not to mention his underground hacker connections. She smiled to think what the change would do for him too. He wouldn't be quite the gnome like individual he was now, not that she didn't find that aspect of him charming. No, he would be much larger, muscular, powerful and graceful. She grew slightly wet with the thought.

She watched as Frohike went up the stairs and then she turned to Janet and Jimmy and said, "I, I just want to thank both of you for inviting me to stay here for the last couple of days. I can't tell you how much..." and she suddenly became uncharacteristically flustered and her voice trailed off. Mulder and Jim Rafferty stepped aside, slightly embarrassed and Janet stepped forward and hugged Sian around the waist.

"Oh, honey, don't mention it," she replied quietly, "I'm so happy for you."

Janet released her then and Sian said, "Good night everyone, I'll see you in the morning," and she turned to go up the stairs.

Mulder scratched his head and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, well, I guess I'd better hit the sack as well."

"I'll turn off the lights and lock up down here you two, go on up to bed, Jim," Janet replied, "Oh, and Mulder, can I stop by before I go up and see that ring?" she asked.

"Oh, sure, Janet, great, I'll leave my door open a crack, just come on in," Mulder replied and then he turned and headed up the stairs with Rafferty following behind him.

Janet Price began to make her rounds of *The Whisper House* checking doors and windows and turning off lights as she went. When she reached the door to the basement work rooms she noticed it was open and the lights were on downstairs. 'What the hell,' she thought, 'Jimmy must have left the lights on again,' she thought in exasperation. But as she made to switch off the light she noticed a dark, wet stain at the bottom of the steps. 'Oh shit, have we got a leak?' she thought. 'No, that doesn't look like water, God I can't believe Jim would have spilled paint down there and not cleaned it up,' she mused descending the steps to get a better look. As she reached the bottom step and beheld what was splayed out on the floor before her she put her hands to her face and screamed in terror.

Fox Mulder sat on the bed in his room upstairs and fingered Scully's engagement ring in it's box. It glinted in the rooms soft light. He was smiling and then he suddenly heard an almost inhuman shriek of terror coming from below. He dropped the box onto the bed, grabbed his weapon from the holster behind his back and was out the room's door instantly and thundering down the stairs.

Frohike was just unbuttoning his shirt as Sian sat on the edge of the bed to remove her shoes when the air was split with a wail of terror from the basement. Sian rushed past Frohike in a blur of motion, and the photographer's neck snapped around as the door to the room flew open and she was gone. He turned and dashed after her at a dead run.

Jim Rafferty was standing in his briefs when he heard Janet's loud screams from the basement, 'Oh my God, that's Janet,' he thought and he was out the door in three long strides, panic on his face.

Mulder was the first down the basement steps and he collided with Janet who stood paralyzed. He caught the small blond who was still screaming and rapidly turned her around in his arms and looked into her face. He recognized hysteria well enough when he saw it. He jammed his gun into his belt and then he took the only route to stop her wails that came to mind. He slapped her across the face and Janet stopped at once sagging against him. He held her close as she shook and then he looked past her into the room. 'Christ,' he thought as he beheld the charnel house the room had become.

Blood covered the floor in a circle around the naked body of a tall blond woman. She was splayed out - her arms and legs stretched wide almost in the position of a crucifixion. Mulder couldn't see her face, only the halo of her long blond hair because a large sheet of white paper was covering her head. The paper had writing on it that he couldn't make out from the steps, and the missive had been nailed to her forehead, the bloody hammer print staining the paper. But the worst thing about her body was the fact that she was gutted from the base of her neck to her pubic bone. Her organs had been yanked out and spread all over the floor near her body. A quick cursory inspection told Mulder that almost everything was there, except for her heart he thought. He felt the gorge rise in his throat and he gagged it back down as his professional persona took over. Suddenly he was Special Agent Fox Mulder and he gently extricated Janet from his embrace and turned her around towards the stairs. By his time Sian Phillips was coming down and Mulder pushed Janet up towards her.

"Sian, take Janet back upstairs," he said in a clipped voice, "and don't let the others come down here under any circumstances," he added tersely.

Sian looked past him, saw the body, and her eyes narrowed. Mulder was surprised to see no look of horror or shock on her face as she gently took Janet by the arm and went back upstairs. He could hear Frohike and Jim Rafferty's excited voices from above but Sian was saying something and they were fading away slightly.

Mulder walked over to the body on the floor and bent down to take a closer look. He wanted to examine her further but he hesitated because he didn't have any gloves. Then he glanced around and noticed a box of latex gloves on one of the work benches. He walked over, drew two out and put them on. Then he bent back down to take a look at the women's corpse.

Her heart was indeed missing he observed. It looked like her neck was broken as well. He bent over and tore the paper off her forehead. Her face was horrible beneath it, her eyes wide open and staring and her mouth open in a silent scream. Mulder walked over to the work bench again, grabbed a large rag that was lying there and threw it over her face. Then he stepped back over to the bench and turned on one of the bright magnifying lamps that was bolted to the wall over it. He placed the note flat on the bench and began to read it.

******Sorry Sian, I lied, I'm afraid. Well Mea Culpa, my dear. I hope you'll understand. This is just business.

Fox Mulder. Greetings again. We've seen each other over the last few days, but I haven't had the pleasure of making your direct acquaintance yet. Consider this little calling card an invitation to get to know me better. Also, I bear you glad tidings from DC, from a certain cigarette smoking mutual friend of ours. He wants me to discuss some things with you as well, G-man, so listen up. We need to meet, and soon, in fact, Agent Mulder. Wait for my phone call tomorrow night. And be prepared to come because if you don't I'm going to come up to that fucking house on the hill, and slaughter everyone in it, you bastard. Don't think I'm not serious. Ask Sian, she'll tell you.

Yours truly,
Anthony Rimmer***********

Mulder sucked his breath in and bit his lower lip, 'Oh fuck,' he thought angrily. A sudden noise drew his attention and he whirled around to see Sian Phillips standing quietly at the bottom of the stairs.

"Sian, this letter, it, Sian, what in God's name is going on here?" Mulder asked.

"Fox, I, well, I can explain," Sian said.

Mulder glared at her. "You'd better, Sian, this is serious," he hissed handing her a pair of latex gloves and then the letter he had in his hand.

Sian looked at him closely and then she came to a decision. Tony Rimmer had overstepped his bounds for sure now. Besides calling out Mulder, the woman's body only served as a signal for Sian also. It was a battle signal, a challenge to fight, to kill or be killed, and she was perhaps for the first time in a long time, afraid.

Sian would need help in this war. Tony Rimmer was a skilled assassin and older and more powerful then Sian. He was no minor wolf easily vanquished like Ross Baker had been. She knew Mulder would need help as well to defeat him, so she decided on the only course she could. She would make Mulder remember the events in Addison, Wisconsin and her role in them and then she would try to convince him to aid her in killing Tony Rimmer.

Mulder stood staring at her as she glanced at the letter one last time and then placed it on the work bench. She was standing very close to him and she removed one of the rubber gloves from her hand. Stepping forward quickly, she grasped his arm and then she sent a bolt of psychic energy into his mind. Mulder reeled back but Sian kept a tight grip on his arm as the Agent groaned in shock. He fell to his knees and Sian followed him down and then held him in her embrace as the memories flooded into him. Everything went in, except for one tiny fact, the one that Scully had wanted devoutly to keep from Mulder, the rape by Ross Baker. Other then that he got it all, and he got it fast, and when Sian was done, Mulder looked up into her face in wonder.

He extricated himself from her arms and moved away to sit in one of the chairs that lined the workbench.

"Uh, Sian, I, I don't know what to say," he whispered as she got up and pulled a chair up to sit next to him. She had probed his mind as well during their bond and she read there the story of the smoking man and everything that he meant in Mulder's life. She snarled at the thoughts.

"Mulder, you don't need to say anything, but you need to listen to me because we obviously don't have much time. And I think we should take this discussion upstairs. I'm going to have to tell the rest of them what's going on for their own safety and quite frankly I'm going to need their assistance. I could use your help to explain."

"Yeah, all right, but let's find something to cover the body first," Mulder replied.

Once they were upstairs they went into the den where Janet, Frohike and Jim Rafferty were sitting in shocked silence. Janet was more calm but she was still shaking on the couch, and Jim held her close in his arms.

"What the fuck is going on here, Mulder," Frohike barked from his seat in a chair. "Janet said something about a dead woman in the basement!" Frohike was shaking slightly also, and Sian crossed to stand next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Sian's right, there's been a murder, and we need to explain something to all of you." Mulder said crossing to a chair next to Frohike and sitting down. "It's going to take an open mind too, but I know you're all open to extreme possibilities, so bear with us," Mulder began.

And then he and Sian began to explain about Tony Rimmer, and Sian, and the shapeshifters and what had happened in Addison, Wisconsin. Mulder explained a bit about the Cancer Man too - Frohike knew him only too well, and the danger of his involvement was not lost on him. Sian told them all that they would have to kill Tony Rimmer and then destroy all the evidence so that no one would know about the werewolf clan. She begged for their help and Mulder backed her up.

As they explained they could see the faces of their companions go from disbelief to various levels of acceptance. When it seemed that the three were willing to believe but not quite convinced Sian decided to do something that would definitely sway them. She stepped across the room and to their utter shock, took her clothes off, got down on all fours and transformed before their eyes.

Frohike gagged suddenly at the sight, and standing up, ran out of the room. Sian's muzzle turned in the direction of his fleeing back, and she quickly changed shape again and reached for her clothes.

"I'd better go talk to him," she said.

"No, Sian, let me go," Mulder said but just as he commented his cell phone rang. He took it out of his sport's coat pocket and flipped it open, "Mulder," he barked into it. It was Scully. 'Oh Jesus,' he thought getting up to walk away from the other three people for some privacy.

"Mulder, is anything wrong?" Scully asked immediately recognizing even over the long distance connection, the tone of his voice.

"Yeah, Scully, we have a problem here," and he started to explain about the dead woman, and Cancer Man, and Tony Rimmer.

"Oh my God," Scully was saying.

"And Scully, Uh, Sian Phillips is here, and, well, she gave me back my memories about Addison, Wisconsin," Mulder added quietly.

"Oh Christ, Mulder, I'm, I'm so sorry..." Scully whispered over the distance.

"It's ok, Scully I understand why you did what you did, it's all right," Mulder replied.

"Mulder?" Scully asked.

"Yeah, Scully?"

"I'll be on the next flight out there. Now, don't argue with me either. I've had as much experience with the shapeshifter's as you have. You'll need all the help you can get. And I can help take care of that body. Mulder, if Sian hasn't explained it too you I might as well tell you - we're going to have to erase all the evidence. Those creatures are extremely dangerous, Mulder. Sian implied up in Addison that she would kill us if we revealed their secrets," Scully said.

"Yeah, I sort of got that idea," Mulder agreed, "All right Scully, come on out, but be careful, all right. Let me know what flight you'll be on as soon as you can."

"All right, Mulder, I'll try to get a flight on United. But don't come out to the airport to meet me, just give me the address of *The Whisper House*. I'll rent a car and drive up there as soon as I land."

"Ok, Scully," Mulder replied, and then he gave her the address.

Scully started to say good bye, but then she had one last thought and her voice came into Mulder's ear over the miles.

"Mulder, I had that talk with my Mother," she said.

"Yeah?" Mulder whispered.

"She wants you to start calling her Mom," Scully smiled into the phone.

Mulder grinned wider and gripped the phone tightly, "Tell her I said it would be my pleasure," he replied, "I love you, Scully," he added, "and stay sharp, Dana."

"Sharp as a tack. I love you too, I'll see you soon," Scully replied breaking the connection.

Mulder put the cell phone away and turned towards Janet, Jim and Sian.

"We're about to get some extra help, guys, and she's a fucking crack shot."

Outside in the Ford Taurus Tony Rimmer took off his earphones and dropped them on the seat. He flexed his arms lazily and then cracked his back. 'Well as that old saying goes, *the cat is out of the bag*,' Rimmer thought. 'Well, no matter, I'm ready for the fray,' he grinned. 'Too bad about that stupid bitch, Sian Phillips though,' he sighed. 'She was going to have to either submit to his will or die now,' he thought. And if she died, well, there was always Mulder's fetching little red head. Her imminent arrival was a development that could prove interesting. Tony moved his head back and forth to further work out the kinks in his muscles. Rimmer remembered only too well Scully's performance back in the apartment in DC as Mulder had fucked her. Her moans and screams had been quite delightful. Rimmer thought it might be pleasant to make her acquaintance. 'Yes,' he thought, 'I think I'll have to meet Ms. Dana Scully,' he decided bending forward to turn over the ignition. As the car sprung to life, Tony Rimmer glanced back at *The Whisper House*. 'Well, this is it, G-man,' he thought. 'You're about to take a walk on the wild side, Fox, so enjoy life while you can.' and then he laughed. 'Well, I'd better go get some sleep,' he advised himself as he gripped the steering wheel, 'Wouldn't want to be sluggish for Mr. Mulder or Ms. Scully,' he grinned and then he drove the car back towards the late Susan Foster's apartment in downtown Milwaukee.

After talking to Scully, Mulder got up and went in search of Frohike, leaving Sian to continue to talk to Janet and Jim. He figured Frohike might have gone up to his room and as he neared the open door upstairs he could hear the sound of vomiting coming from inside the room's attached bathroom. Mulder walked in quietly and sat down on the bed. Frohike finished and came out of the bathroom.

"Mulder," he said weakly crossing to the chair by the desk. He sat down and put his head in his hands.

"Frohike, she, she's the same person really. I mean, she touched my mind, I know," Mulder said quietly.

Frohike looked over at him, "Mulder, I, God, I just couldn't see her like that, it was a shock, man. And the pain, Christ it looked like it hurt," he whispered referring to Sian's transformation.

"Yeah, it doesn't look pleasant, but I think it's something she knows how to cope with."

"God, I hope so," Frohike sighed.

"But Mulder, I, Jesus, I'm in love with her...I slept with her, and all this time she, she wasn't, Mulder, I don't even like dogs," he whined pathetically running a hand over his face.

Mulder smiled slightly, "Frohike, if it's any consolation, when she fed me those memories I picked up a lot of her emotions. She loves you too, truly. One of the reason's she's going into battle with this prick, Tony Rimmer, is to protect you," Mulder finished watching Frohike closely.

"Really?" the photographer asked.

"Really," Mulder replied. And as he watched Frohike sat up straight and set his shoulders. A look of determination came into his face and his lips formed a tight line.

"All right, Mulder, what can I do to even the odds?" he asked.

Mulder straightened up himself then, "Well, I think we need to go back downstairs and formulate a plan of attack. We don't have much time until Rimmer calls to let me know where the meeting will be. We need to have some idea how we're going to protect ourselves and then kill the son of a bitch."

"Yeah, Mulder, but what about that fucking black lunged bastard back in DC?" Frohike asked.

"Well, I think he's going to have to wait for now, Frohike, but he's going to pay if I have anything to say about it," Mulder hissed.

"OK, Mulder, I'm with you all the way, big guy, let's go back downstairs and brainstorm. I need to apologize to Sian anyway. God, I really lost it."

"Yeah, well it's not every day that a guy gets to see his lover really bark like a dog, I guess," Mulder smiled slightly.

"Ho, you got that right," Frohike replied with a grin.

"And Frohike, speaking of lovers. Scully's coming out on the next flight," Mulder added as they both left Frohike's room and headed for the stairs.

"Good, that should help ace the bastard," Frohike nodded following Mulder down.

Mulder hoped Frohike was right. A feeling of dread was threatening to creep over his soul and he was fighting hard to keep his thoughts steady and as he had advised Scully, his mind sharp. If he didn't he thought it would prove fatal.

Dana Scully moved around her bedroom tossing her belongings into an overnight bag, worry creasing her brow.

As soon as Scully had gotten off the phone with Mulder she had called the airport and booked a 6 AM United airlines flight for Milwaukee. Her Mother had watched her make the call in patient silence. Scully had then called Mulder back, quickly told him the flight number and her time of arrival. She hung up with him and then turned to her mother to explain what was going on. She hadn't elaborated too much, she just told her that there had been trouble in Milwaukee, a murder, it was shaping up into an X-File, FBI business, and Mulder had requested her assistance. Her mother swallowed hard and nodded agreeing that of course, she had to go and not to worry about her or anything in DC.

"Mom, you'll have to take a cab home later, I'm sorry," Scully said.

"Oh, that's all right, honey, don't trouble yourself about that," her Mother answered. "And, Dana, why don't you go get some sleep. I can wake you in time for you to drive to the airport.

"Well, Mom, I have to pack. I'll sleep if there's time, but I may have to do that on the plane," she added. Sleep wasn't something she thought was possible now anyway, she was starting to run on adrenaline, "I think you should go to bed though, Mom, you look beat yourself," Scully added, touching her Mother's arm with affection. Her Mother smiled back at her. It looked like their little talk about Skinner was going to have to wait. 'Skinner?" she thought, 'God, I'll need to call him too,' she thought as her Mother got up off the couch and left her side to head off towards the guest bed room.

As soon as her mother had closed the bedroom door Scully picked up her cell phone and dialed Skinner's number. The phone rang several times and then a slightly blurred voice barked into it.

"Skinner."

"Sir, this is Dana Scully," she winced. She had obviously rousted him from sleep.

To his credit however, Walter Skinner was awake instantly. Years of experience making him alert at a seconds notice at the tone in her voice.

"What's wrong Agent Scully?" he asked falling into Assistant Director mode.

Scully hurried to explain the situation. She told him pretty much the same thing she had told her Mother. There had been a murder in Milwaukee, and it was definitely an X-File and would prove to have some dangerous elements in it much like their case in Crossroads, Maine. Mulder had requested her assistance and she was flying out there on the 6 AM flight.

Skinner had listened without interruption and when she was done he said, "Like Crossroads? Christ, Scully," as his professional demeanor dropped slightly. But then he had recovered and added, "Very well, it's an X-File and that comes under Mulder's expertise as well as yours, of course. Go ahead out there. We'll consider it an open case, I'll take care of the paperwork back here tomorrow. Don't sweat it."

"Thank you Sir," she replied.

"And Scully, watch your step and tell Mulder to do the same. And if you need any help don't hesitate to call me. All right?" Skinner advised.

Scully sighed. She did have something she needed to ask Skinner's help on but the request was going to be difficult. Scully knew that dealing with the situation in Milwaukee would be incredibly dangerous given the involvement of the shapeshifters. She had no idea what might happen. But, she was afraid that there was a possibility that she might not return from the Midwest. She was worried about her mother in that eventuality.

"Sir, I, I do have a favor to ask you," Scully said.

"Shoot," Skinner replied.

"Well, I'm a little worried about my Mother. I'm going to have to send her back home in a cab later this morning. She's really worried, Sir, about my trip even though she won't admit it to me. I just figured she might need someone to talk to, Sir, just in case...." she winced. She was managing this badly she thought as she let her voice trail off.

"Scully?" Skinner interrupted, "Your Mother's welcome to bend my ear anytime. I'll give her a call later today, if you'd like, just to make sure she's coping," he added quietly.

Scully heard his tone and smiled slightly. A certain tension was leaving his voice, and it was being replaced with an emotion Scully had heard there before, once, in Crossroads, Maine. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'What will be will be.' She couldn't afford to worry about Skinner and her Mother right now. 'God, they're adults, I should mind my own business,' she mused. And then she grinned, 'Lord, if Bill is having conniptions over the thought of her relationship with Mulder what would he think about this little development? But then of course, Skinner was much more staid and respectable wasn't he? Maybe he'd be more acceptable to Bill. And if not she could just imagine the backlash he was in for from her Mother if he protested this time around. She smiled broadly at the idea.

"Thank you Sir," she replied.

"Fine, Scully, keep me posted, all right," Skinner finished and then he broke the connection.

Scully had put the cell phone down and then gone into her bedroom to pack. She crossed to her dresser drawer and opening it took out her extra side arm, the one she had used during her suspension from the Bureau. She pulled out one of the extra ammo clips that went with it and tipping the gun up rammed it into the handle with one violent stroke.

At 2 AM, Sian Phillips and Fox Mulder stood at the bottom of the basement steps in *The Whisper House* staring at Susan Foster's body. Sian had volunteered to dispose of the evidence and Mulder had grudgingly agreed to let her do it. He felt uncomfortable about just letting this unfortunate victim's remains disappear into oblivion but Sian assured him that she could make arrangements for her to get a decent burial.

In truth, she lied. For Sian, Susan Foster's remains were just meat, meat for the beast that was Tony Rimmer. Whatever this woman had been, and knowing Tony's taste in human females, she had come from a lower sub order of humanity, her essence was long gone and what was left was merely a cold husk. Sian intended to take her body, weight it down inside the sleeping bag and tarp she had retrieved from her Toyota RAV4, and dump the corpse into a secluded stretch of the Milwaukee river. In sympathy for Mulder's sensibilities, however, she didn't mention a single word regarding her plan.

So, now they stood staring at the exotic dancer's body, and Sian moved to pick up the sleeping bag. Mulder crouched next to the body, latex gloves on. Sian watched him as he stared at her corpse and a sudden formless feeling of strangeness came over her. All her body hair stood on end. She moved closer to the Agent and stood very still.

Mulder studied the corpse and he suddenly felt dizzy. He was focusing on the blood pooled around her neck and he started to sweat. An image sprang into his mind, an image of a doe running through a forest. Mulder sniffed the air. He could smell her even now, her fright and terror, and he became excited. He licked his lips and removed one of his latex gloves. He reached down and touched the congealed blood on Susan Foster's neck and started to raise his damp fingers to his lips.

His arm was stopped in a grip of steel before it could reach his mouth.

"Mulder, Stop!" Sian Phillips hissed and the Agent looked up into her eyes, a dazed expression on his face.

Sian's brows furrowed and as she gripped his arm she let the tendrils of her mind enter Mulder's brain again, and then she gasped, 'Shit, how could I have overlooked this before,' she thought, 'my God, how could I have been so stupid and lax?' she mentally kicked herself. But of course she thought, she hadn't been lax. Tony Rimmer was extremely skilled and the auto suggestions he had planted in Mulder's mind were very deep. Sian had to probe hard to get at them but now she saw what Tony had done to Mulder and it enraged her.

"Mulder, listen to me," she whispered into his ear. Mulder was panting now, almost hyperventilating, and Sian had to move fast before he blacked out. "Fox, Tony Rimmer has planted something in your head, he, he's going to be able to play you like a piano later if he wants because of it. I need, I need to remove the auto suggestions and it's going to hurt, so just hang on, I'll try to make it quick," she warned him.

Mulder must have heard her which was good she thought because it meant he was stronger mentally then she had originally thought. He shook his head up and down and sat down with a thud from the squatting position he had been in.

Sian Phillips ripped into Mulder's mind, and he doubled over further, groaning as he passed out. Sian strained to follow his mind down into unconsciousness and then she felt the bubble of Tony's control burst and disappear and she released his arm and staggered backwards. She just stopped herself from falling down. Mulder fell back flat onto the floor, his breath coming in puffs. Sian squatted down next to him and ran her hand over his forehead and his breath slowed in relaxation.

She picked him up then and carried him over to the corner of the room, placing him carefully down on the floor on his stomach. Then she went back over and started to clean up what was left of Susan Foster from the basement floor.

Mulder woke up and hoisted himself onto his hands and knees. He looked around and saw Sian Phillips mopping up the small amount of blood that was left on the floor in the middle of the room. He stood up and smoothed the front of his black turtle neck down. His jeans were all scrunched up so he smoothed those down as well. He walked over to Sian.

"Thank you," he stated flatly running a hand through his hair.

"No problem," she answered, "The body's gone," she added, "I arranged for her burial," she said, "Look, Mulder, don't feel bad about what Tony did to you, all right. It's not your fault. He, he must have established his control much earlier for him to bury the suggestions so deep."

Mulder's mind flashed instantly back to the night in Scully's apartment when they had brutalized each other in their sadistic sexual encounter. He quickly told Sian about the incident.

Sian sighed. "That bastard!" "Mulder, believe me, none of that was your fault or Scully's either. When, when we control humans and force them into that type of brutality, well, they're hardly human any more at that moment. Sure, you can talk and such, but your reactions will be largely animalistic. They'll be those of the wolf in control. In fact a really skilled shapeshifter experiences the very acts he's influencing right along with his victim. Christ, I can imagine Tony was going right along for the ride with you and Scully," Sian sighed shaking her head.

"Crap," Mulder hissed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Mulder," Sian apologized.

"All right, that's ok Sian, you don't have to apologize for that asshole. Listen, where's everyone else?" Mulder asked stretching his back.

"They're upstairs in Janet and Jim's room. Melvin claims to have a plan of attack and he's organizing things. As soon as this is cleared up they're coming down here to organize some equipment."

Mulder glanced at his watch. 'Christ it's 4 AM,' he thought. No one was going to get any sleep and he didn't think that was going to be a good thing.

As if Sian had read his mind she replied to his thoughts, "Mulder, why don't you go up and get some sleep, the rest of them are just waiting for Scully to show up and then they're all going to try to get some rest. Melvin said that once everyone's more rested it'll be time to go over the battle plan."

"Rest? Jesus, Sian," Mulder sighed, "I don't think I can sleep."

"Mulder, I can help you if you'll let me. In fact, I intend to help all of them before long. It won't do for you to be running on empty. Just let me finish mopping this up and we'll go upstairs. I'll help you to get to sleep and then I'll stand watch," she suggested.

Mulder agreed and when Sian was done cleaning up the blood they exited the basement and went up to Mulder's room.

Dana Scully stood at the Hertz rental car counter at Mitchell Field in Milwaukee signing her credit card slip. She picked up her overnight bag and swinging it over her shoulder next to her purse, went to get her rental car. As she turned around she bumped smack into a tall red haired man standing behind her.

"Sorry," she mumbled turning to hurry away.

"No problem, my dear," Tony Rimmer smiled with his wicked lips he turned to follow her up the concourse.

On Shepard Avenue, just before Scully's arrival in Milwaukee, Sian Phllips sat in the den and composed her thoughts. She used the ancient meditation techniques of her race to gather strength and steel her will for battle. She would not need to rest again from this point on and her senses and energy level would be at their peak.

Earlier she had quietly touched all the humans in the house and gotten them to fall into peaceful, pleasant dreaming slumber. When they woke they would be invigorated and as ready for the events to come as they could be. All had gone to their beds uncomplaining, all that was except Melvin Frohike. He had been shaking when Sian came into his room.

"Melvin, I'd like to help you get some rest, now, honey," she said.

"Sian, I'm, God, I want to apologize again for being such a loser earlier...Please..."

She had crossed to the bed and sat down next to him, "Melvin, it's all right, really, I understand. My Lord, I imagine my true nature must have been a tremendous shock to you, I..."

"I love you, Sian," he blurted out interrupting her.

"Oh, Melvin," she replied quietly.

"I don't give a flying fuck what you are - it doesn't matter, it won't ever matter," he sighed.

"I love you too, sweetheart," she replied and she embraced him then and as they kissed she sent him to sleep.

Sian allowed them all to sleep and at 8:30 AM the front door bell rang. Sian shifted and rose to go answer the door. She swung open the inner doors and met the frowning face of Special Agent Dana Scully standing in the vestibule.

"Where's Mulder?" Scully asked pushing past her into the hallway.

"Nice to see you again as well, Dana," Sian replied staring down at the much smaller woman.

Scully dropped her overnight bag onto the floor and turned to look at Sian and her serious face softened a little.

"I'm sorry, Sian, I didn't mean to be rude, really. I'm just wound up very tight right now. I didn't get much sleep."

"I can understand, Dana, that's ok. Look, I've, well everyone's sleeping right now with a little suggestion from me actually. Mulder's upstairs in his room. I can show you where he is if you'd like."

"Thanks, that would be fine," Scully smiled weakly at her.

"And, Dana, if you'd like I can see to it that you get some rest too," Sian offered.

"Well, I'll think about it, Sian, but I just want to see Mulder right now, please," she sighed and then followed the blond werewolf as she headed towards the stairs.

Sian knocked on Mulder's door and called out, "Fox, there's someone here you'll want to see."

"Mulder, Mulder, it's me," Scully called through the door.

"Scully, oh, wait a sec I'll get the door," Mulder answered and she heard his feet slap across the wooden floor.

Mulder opened the door and stood in his t-shirt and boxer's staring down at Scully for a moment. Then he stepped forward and grabbed her, hugging her close. Her night bag and purse slipped to the floor.

"I'll go back downstairs, Dana, if you want me for anything just let me know," Sian said and she turned and left them alone.

Mulder released Scully and picked up her carry on and purse and then placing a hand on the small of her back gently ushered her into his room and then closed the door. He walked over and put her bags down on top of the desk and then turned.

"Oh, Mulder," Scully breathed and then he crossed to her again and gathered her into his arms. He bent down and kissed her deeply. Scully molded herself against him and eagerly returned his kiss, opening her mouth to admit his questing tongue.

They tasted each other for several minutes and then Scully pulled away from Mulder and lead him over to the bed. They sat down on the edge together.

"Mulder, maybe you can fill me in a little more about what's happening later, but I think right now, we both could use some more rest," Scully whispered looking into his sad eyes.

Mulder searched her face and knew she was right. She looked exhausted. She needed to sleep. Sian was on guard downstairs and their battle plan was almost complete thanks to Frohike, Janet and Rafferty. They could afford to rest and regroup.

"Yeah, you're right, Scully," he smiled gently at her and then he tenderly began to help her undress. He removed her coat and sweater and jeans, unfastening even her holster from her belt. She unfastened her bra and let it slip onto the floor with rest of her clothing. Before she could remove anything further, Mulder pulled her down next to him on the full sized bed and maneuvered her under the covers by his side.

"Mulder, just hold me," Scully said and he pulled her close and Scully realized that she wouldn't need Sian Phillips help to get to sleep. All she needed was Mulder's warmth and the touch of his protective embrace.

*The Whisper House* began to stir at various times over the next few hours. Frohike came down first and found Sian in the library reading one of the many occult volumes. He told her he was going to make some food for everyone and Sian followed him into the kitchen to help. Janet and Jim Rafferty came down next.

At around 4 PM, Mulder and Scully were the last to appear, and when they walked into the kitchen, Frohike put down the soup spoon he was using on a large pot on the stove, and grabbed Scully in a bear hug.

"Boy, am I glad to see you," Frohike grinned squeezing her tight.

Scully glanced over at Mulder and raised an eyebrow. Mulder was smirking.

"He knows you're a dead shot, Scully," he laughed.

"Welcome to Milwaukee again, Dana," Janet added, "I just wish it were under better circumstances."

"Yes, well, the circumstances can't be helped, Janet," Scully answered kindly, crossing to the smaller woman and putting an arm around her shoulders.

Janet was doing much better, the Sian Phillip's induced sleep having brought her out of her previous hysteria and near paralysis. Scully's kind words seemed to buoy her spirits further and she smiled at her weakly. Scully released her shoulders and took a step back to look at Jim Rafferty who was standing at the sink rinsing out some soup bowls.

"Dana, this is Jim Rafferty," Janet said making the introductions.

"Jim, nice to meet you, and I heard congratulations are in order," she said taking his outstretched hand and shaking it.

Jim blushed and replied, "Thanks Dana, and I guess I should say the same to you."

Mulder coughed. Scully glanced back over at him and smiled a little to assuage his discomfort, "Well, yes, thank you, Jim," she said, and Mulder grinned back.

"Hey, if you all want to eat why don't we go into the dining room. Sian and I can bring out the soup and stuff," Frohike offered, "And then we can go over the plan for tonight," he added quietly.

It was near dusk as they finished their meal. Janet and Jim cleared the table and Frohike went back upstairs to his room and brought back a note pad full of his cramped handwriting.

"Ok, folks, here's the drill. This is the best thing we could come up with so anyone has any better ideas, please don't hesitate to jump in," Frohike said and then he began to explain.

Of course they would have to wait for Tony Rimmer's phone call to Mulder before they could spring into action. Sian had theorized that Rimmer wouldn't contact them until after dark and then probably around midnight, the witching hour, because Tony was if nothing else theatrical, and that would appeal to him.

Frohike had figured that they would have enough time between dusk and midnight to load the rest of the surveillance equipment into the all ready well equipped Dodge Caravan. This vehicle would be the base of operations and Frohike, Janet and Rafferty would ride in it to monitor the equipment. Sian and Scully would take the second Dodge and Mulder would drive Sian's Toyota to wherever Rimmer wanted Mulder to meet him. The other vehicles would follow him at a discreet distance and once they were at the location Mulder could go in, with Sian and Scully acting as back up. At that point it was anyone's guess what would happen but at least it was a plan.

Mulder had some concerns.

"How will you guys keep track of us all?" he asked.

Frohike sent Jim Rafferty into the basement to bring up a large box. Scully raised an eyebrows when she saw the *Eyes and Ears* brand name written on the lid.

"Hey, you'd be surprised what kind of stuff we've had to investigate on occasion," Janet shrugged at Scully.

Mulder recognized the tiny video cameras and combination microphones and ear pieces that he had worn during his pursuit of Robert Modell a.k.a. Pusher.

"That should do it," he nodded.

"We can pretty much follow your entire progress anywhere with these, Mulder. The van is equipped with the screens to follow all three video cameras and the audio for all the microphones. We have redundant walkie talkies in the vans and an extra for the Toyota," Rafferty added, "so we can stay in constant touch."

"But if you're sitting around outside while Mulder, Sian and I go in to find this assassin how are you going to protect yourselves?" Scully asked.

Janet Price got up and walked out of the room. They heard her going into a closet under the stair well. When she returned she was carrying two large gun cases and a smaller case slung over her shoulder. She put them down with Jim's help on the table and opened them up. Both larger cases contained deer hunting rifles. The third case contained a really serious looking sawed off shot gun.

She took it out of the case and cocked it with one arm. Mulder's mouth dropped open.

Janet laughed, "Don't look so shocked, Mulder. You know what a big fan I am of Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2."

"Janet and I both deer hunt," Jim added, "so, if you need back-up, I guess we're it."

"Well that's fine," Sian said, "but remember, bullets will slow us down, they may even incapacitate us in our wolf form, but they won't kill us. You have to severe our spinal columns to do that. Don't forget it because Tony won't."

"Right," Frohike replied, "So, can you guys think of anything else we need to do?"

"Load the vans," Mulder answered and they made to do so. By eight o'clock the van's were loaded and there really wasn't anything else to do but wait for Rimmer's phone call. The couples all came to about the same decision at the same time. They wanted to be alone with each other for the few hours before midnight so in tacit agreement they went to their separate rooms. Janet and Jim told everyone that there was a phone in their suite so when Rimmer called it would certainly get their attention and they would send for Mulder. Mulder shook his head in acknowledgment. Then all three couples went upstairs.

Frohike and Sian Phillips, in a concession to privacy didn't take the room that Frohike had been using up until that point. Instead they went up to the third floor and went into one of the other guest rooms diagonally across and down the hall from Janet and Jim's suite. As soon as the door to the room was shut, Sian turned and embraced the little photographer and they began to kiss and then to undress each other.

"God, I, I love you so much," Frohike said yet again as they sunk down onto the bed together. "I love you too, Mel,' she whispered as she drew him close.

Janet and Jim Rafferty went to their suite with their guns and checked them out again. They would be the last things they loaded into the vans and they wanted to make sure they were ready for use. Then they had gotten into bed and fallen asleep for a few more hours of rest before the battle would begin.

"You're Mother and Skinner?" Mulder was saying in his room. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Scully was shaking her head and smiling.

"God, that's almost as weird as Frohike and Sian Phillips," he chuckled.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Scully replied jabbing him in the stomach. They were sitting cross legged and in their underwear, facing each other on the bed and Mulder looked into Scully's amused face.

"Uh, Holy shit, that, that's going to make Skinner my father-in-law," he realized and then he really started to laugh.

"Mulder, I don't think things have gotten that far yet," Scully replied. 'God at least I hope not,' she thought.

Mulder looked at her and his brow furrowed. 'Oh!' Scully thought 'he thinks I meant between us and not between my Mother and Skinner,' and she opened her mouth to say something further but Mulder was getting out of bed.

"Mulder..." she began as she watched his boxer clad legs move across the room.

He walked over to his duffel bag and took something out of it. Scully shifted closer to the edge of the bed and watched as he came back and sat down next to her.

He had a small box in his hands.

"Scully, I got this for you the other day," he said, "I think, I think it might be a good time to give it to you now," he said and he opened the box to let her see the ring. She was stunned.

"Oh, Mulder, it's beautiful," she whispered.

"Scully, uh, Dana.." he cleared his throat, "I guess this is my moment of conventionality here. You would do me a great honor if you'd become my wife, Scully. I, oh Christ. I want you by my side for the rest of my life, no matter what happens. I mean, my life has been so fucked up until now, and if marrying you is going to act as an anchor, a last chance at stability for me, or whatever, then so be it. But I can tell you this - our marriage isn't just about me and my wants and needs, Scully, it's about us. I don't feel complete without you, and I have this feeling that you may feel the same. So, shit, what I'm trying to say is, will you accept this ring, and marry me?" he asked looking into her eyes.

Scully started to tear up then and she looked at the ring in his shaking fingers. "Mulder, I...God, yes, I'll marry you,' she whispered.

Mulder's face lit up with an expression of absolute and utter joy and he took the ring and slipped it onto Scully's finger.

Scully held it up in the soft light of the room and it sparkled.

"Mulder, God this is so wonderful," he said tears still in her eyes. "I love you so much. You're the only one I ever want to be with, and for the rest of my life too," she said turning to look into his face. She reached over and touched his cheek. She was going to make a suggestion and she hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way.

"But, well, let's not rush to the altar all right?" she whispered stroking his jaw to temper her words. "We really have some serious issues to work through first and I think we need to address them. We've made this commitment now. We can take the time to plan the rest out really well, ok?"

"Oh, well, yeah, I can see your point," Mulder agreed. Looking into her face he would have denied her nothing at that moment. He grinned, "Besides, you have to help me pick out a ring for myself too you know, so I won't feel left out," he teased.

"Ha, I think I can manage that," she grinned.

"Hey, Scully, maybe it'll be a double wedding, you know, you and me, your Mom and Skinner."

Scully choked and then she started to laugh almost uncontrollably. Mulder laughed as well and then he pulled her close and they began to kiss. Mulder felt as if this time was the first time he had touched Scully, and she felt the same. The explored each others mouths, tasting each other slowly. Scully sighed. They both moved back up onto the bed to face each other, and then they helped each other to undress.

Mulder sat down and Scully straddled his legs. She pressed her skin to his skin and Mulder began to stroke her hair and her neck with his hands and then he followed his hands with his lips. He was incredibly soft and tender and when he reached Scully's breasts and her tight nipples, she arched her neck. As Mulder sucked on one of her nipples, Scully touched his cheek with her fingers, and then she lifted her breast from beneath, and Mulder took more of her flesh deeper into his mouth. She moaned.

Scully was straddling his thighs, and rotating her hips slowly over his cock and his balls in a tremendously sensuous motion. Mulder breathed heavily against her neck. He moved his head to look into her eyes as she rubbed herself along his length.

"Scully, I... God, Scully, you, you're so wet," he gasped as her folds played up and down his penis. He rested his hands on her back and then he ran them up and down her spine in time to her movements on his lap.

Scully looked into his hazel eyes and smiled. At that moment there was no guilt there, no pain, no worry, only Mulder's arousal and the bottomless depths of his love for her. She reached up and met his lips.

Soon Mulder was very hard and Scully moved back slightly, reached between them and stroked his erection as she continued to probe his mouth with her tongue.

"Oh Jesus Christ," Mulder was moaning as Scully pumped his cock and he struggled to reach his hands down between their legs to rub her clit. They closed their eyes and leaned against each other savoring the mutual masturbation. Scully was close to coming, she gasped in ecstasy 'Lord!' she thought, 'this is so good,' and she knew she wanted Mulder inside her. She quickly shifted up and guided Mulder's cock closer. He thrust forward, but gently, and she eagerly helped him to enter her. They sat very still for a moment, breathing and feeling the sensation of being connected, the fullness and completeness, inside, and enfolding.

Mulder rubbed his cheek against Scully's hair. "Hold me, Scully," he whispered and then he began to move within her, tenderly and slowly and Scully held him close. They moved together languidly as long as they could, but finally they couldn't hold back any longer and as Mulder picked up the pace of his thrusts, Scully felt her body begin to tense before her orgasm.

"Mulder, I love you, it's so good, Oh God," Scully moaned into his neck and then she reached down and stroking herself hard, she came, pumping against his stomach. She was spasming over and over, and Mulder was grunting as he felt her tightening against his flesh.

Mulder cradled her and met her writhing hips, he thrust deeply and moaned incoherently and then he came with her, grabbing her tight to his chest. They collapsed in each others arms, gasping and laughing again, and supremely satisfied.

Later as a clock chimed somewhere, Scully extricated herself from Mulder's arms and got up. She was incredibly thirsty she thought and even though there was water in the bathroom she really felt like she wanted a Pepsi. So, She quietly pulled on her clothes and then headed downstairs to the kitchen in search of a soda.

Standing at one of the refrigerator's doors she rooted around inside amongst the leftover open house sodas, "Ah ha," she said aloud as she spotted a Pepsi way at the back. When she closed the door and looked up behind it her breath caught in her throat.

"Good evening, Agent Scully," the tall red headed man grinned down at her shocked, upturned face. Scully dropped the Pepsi to the floor and the top popped, spurting brown carbonated liquid all over the wood as the can spun around and around.

Just before midnight, the phone rang in Jim and Janet's suite. Rafferty was awake instantly and picked it up.

"Yes," he said into the receiver.

"Get Mulder, you freaking Viking," a British accented voice hissed into the phone.

"Hold on," Rafferty answered his face going pale as he hit the hold button on the phone, "It's him," he hissed at Janet and then he went to get Mulder and Scully.

He pounded on Mulder's door, "Mulder, get up, Rimmer's on the phone. Mulder was up like a shot and reached to wake Scully but she wasn't there. He checked the bathroom and when she wasn't in there either he frowned. 'She must be downstairs," he thought and then he pulled the room's door open.

"All right," he said to Jim, "Have you seen Scully?"

"No, she must be downstairs, I'll go get her," and then he left the Agent as Mulder climbed up to the third floor suite. By this time Frohike and Sian Phillips were standing in the hallway as Mulder passed them and entered Janet's room. Janet held the phone out to him and he took it and gritted his teeth, depressing the hold button.

"Mulder," he said into the receiver.

"Good evening Agent Mulder," Tony Rimmer replied pleasantly. "How are you feeling this evening?"

"Cut the crap, Rimmer and get to the point," Mulder sneered.

"Oh, Fox, temper, temper," Rimmer replied with a chuckle, "But, all right, I'll dispense with the chit chat if you insist."

"Good, I'm all ears," Mulder replied.

"Fine. Here's the story. Our mutual friend in DC hired me to trail you out here Mr. Mulder. Actually he wants me to kill you, I'm afraid. Of course he's unaware of my special abilities. He just thinks I'm an extremely efficient assassin with unique psychic abilities - and of course he is right in that assumption. But he really hates your guts, you fucking FBI sod, and he wants you dead. So here I am, your friendly werewolf hit man." Rimmer explained calmly.

Mulder sucked in his breath. So it had come to this. The Cancer Man was back and he was back with a vengeance. 'Well, so be it,' Mulder thought. He wasn't going to go down without a fight. And if he won the war he was going to go back to DC and send the black lunged son of a bitch straight to hell, "Ok, so why the phone call and all the other dicking around, Rimmer?" Mulder asked.

A hint of annoyance crept into Rimmer's voice, "Oh come on, Mulder have some respect, please. I'm an artist in a way. I like to orchestrate these things. And I like to give my targets a sporting chance on occasion if I respect them enough. You qualify, Mr. Mulder for my grudging respect. So, I'm going to give you a chance to get me. Who knows, you might succeed and then you can go back to DC and make that cigarette smoking bastard pay for his mistakes."

"Yeah, Ok so where do you want to meet," as he was asking the question he could hear Frohike's worried voice just outside the door. Jim Rafferty came in then followed by Frohike and Sian. When Mulder glanced in his direction the expression on Jim's face froze his heart, and struggling to maintain the calm in his voice he said into the phone, "Rimmer can you hang on for a minute, I think I'm having trouble with the connection here."

"Make it fast, Mulder," Rimmer chuckled and Mulder pressed the hold button.

"Mulder, I looked all over the house, I, I can't find Dana anywhere," Rafferty whispered his face getting whiter by the minute.

"Oh my God," Janet hissed.

Frohike looked on in stunned silence.

Mulder's hand shook as he depressed the hold button.

"Mulderrrrr..." a groaning voice came through the connection. It was Scully and she sounded like she was in pain, and terrified.

Her voice stopped abruptly and then Rimmer came back on the line, "I'm sure you know I'm deadly serious now, Fox. And by the way, it's been really stellar to make Agent Scully's acquaintance."

"You cocksucking monster, you bastard, God damn you, I'll fucking kill you, you rotten limey turd, you bastard, you snake, fuck you...." Mulder was raving and shrieking into the phone.

Sian Phillips dashed forward and grabbed the receiver from Mulder's hand. Janet pulled him away and held him back with Frohike's and Jim's help.

"Tony, this is Sian."

"Good evening my white furred beauty," Rimmer replied urbanely, "Please tell that frothing FBI dickweed that his lady love is still alive. She's a little the worse for wear but she's alive," Tony fingered the black eye Scully had given him before he had knocked her out.

"Cut the shit you fucking asshole," Sian hissed.

"Sian, I'm crushed. This is just business, can't you understand that?" he asked in a last ditch effort to win her over.

"No, I don't understand it you jumped up little freak. All bets are off you prick. I'm going to snap your neck tonight Tony, and I'll enjoy listening to the sound of every breaking vertebrae."

"We'll see about that, you cunt," he finally hissed.

"Just so we understand each other, lover..." she drew out the sarcasm on the last word and Rimmer snarled into the phone, "Now where do you want Mulder and I to meet you?" she asked.

"The third ward, a charming little warehouse establishment called "Paintball Dave's. You have until 2 AM Sian. If you don't show up by then I'll kill this little red head and the I'll come after you and Mulder anyway. And for God's sake, just bring Mulder all right. Leave the rest of the goon squad home, please. That cancer ridden son of a bitch back in DC isn't paying me enough to take care of all of them, understand."

"Fine, 2 AM," we'll be there," and she hung up the phone.

Tony Rimmer flipped the cell phone shut in the cavernous warehouse complex that was *Paintball Dave's Splatter Emporium* in the artsy Third Ward of Milwaukee. The area was a warren of warehouses, most of them like Dave's business. Some of them had been converted into galleries and artist's studios or loft apartments. But this end of the area was still seedy and the warehouses that made up *Paintball Dave's* were old and just enough up to code to be legal for their clientele.

Rimmer turned around and looked at the bound and gagged Dana Scully and gave her a toothy grin.

"Well, Ms. Scully, your man is on his way, I'd say."

Scully squirmed in her bonds and cursed at him around the gag. Rimmer stepped forward and yanked the gag down.

"You are absolutely dead you overweening shit," Scully hissed at him. Her mouth was bleeding and she had a livid welt on her forehead where Rimmer had struck her. But her eyes flashed in anger and defiance.

Rimmer stepped forward and grabbed her bound hands and strung her up to meet his face. Her feet didn't touch the floor.

"Dead? You red headed bitch. I wouldn't count on it, here's how dead I am," he snarled at her and then he threw her almost full force into the warehouse wall. Scully slid down it crying out in pain as she felt her ribs snap. She curled up into a fetal position against the wall in preparation for the kick she thought was surely to come. But instead Tony Rimmer walked over to her, bent down and stroked her forehead gently. The pain from her broken ribs began to recede. He ran his hand over her breasts and then down her rib cage. Scully flinched away from his touch but then she leaned into it because the warmth was causing all the pain to go away. She felt her ribs knit back together.

"See, Dana, I can be kind as well as cruel," Rimmer said, and Scully gagged then, because his eyes, his voice and the quote were a much more sinister and powerful version of the late Ross Baker, the insane werewolf of Addison, Wisconsin.

"Mulder, you have to snap out of it," Sian Phillips was shaking the Agent violently by the front of his LL. Bean sweater, "Scully's still alive but we only have until 2 AM to rescue her."

After the phone call Mulder had continued to lose it, screaming and spitting. Frohike had tried to calm him down but he was raving. Sian sensed that some of his panic was a residual effect of Tony Rimmer's conditioning and she had hurriedly explained this to Janet, Jimmy and Frohike. Mulder had grown suddenly silent then and Sian had taken him by the arm and propelled him out of Janet's suite.

"Listen, go get the rest of the equipment ready and load up the vans, I'll take care of Fox. I, something has to be done about this," she told them as she dragged him out into the hall and down the stairwell. Mulder was limp under her hands so she steered him all the way downstairs and into the library and then she shut the library doors.

Now she was shaking him so hard his teeth were rattling. Finally when she saw it was having little effect she sent another bolt of psychic energy into his head and then she simultaneously slapped him across the face. As she was preparing to slap him a second time his hand shot out and caught hers in a strong grip.

"That will do, Sian," he hissed completely himself again. She released him and he sat down in one of the library chairs.

He put his head in his hand for a moment and then sat up to shake it. There was a look of fire and determination in his eyes as he looked over at Sian, "There is no doubt that fucker is going to die," he snarled.

"Mulder, this is bad," Sian replied quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"Mulder, I hate to admit this but, I'm afraid. I don't think I, I don't think I'll be able to beat him," Sian sighed and then she sat down in one of the other chairs in resignation.

"Not beat him? But you didn't have any trouble with Ross Baker," Mulder replied worry furrowing his brow.

"Well, Mulder, Ross was young and just a jumped up little despot. I had a lot of seniority and skill over him. Killing him was relatively easy. But, Tony, well, Tony Rimmer is a werewolf of a totally different color."

"So you're saying you won't be able to take him on?"

"Oh, I can take him on all right, Mulder, and I will. I won't back down from his fucking challenge - no way in hell. It's just he's more then likely going to kill me and then he'll go through the rest of you like crap through a goose," Sian answered in dismay.

"And we won't be able to stop him?"

"No."

"Shit," Mulder hung his head. If they couldn't stop Rimmer and he killed Scully, then Mulder was half inclined to just walk into *PaintBall Dave's* and let Rimmer rip his heart out too. Or maybe he would save him the trouble and just blow his brains out.

"Mulder, there is a way though to beat Rimmer. It's a remote chance, but it just might work," Sian began.

"What, Sian? I'm open to any suggestion at this point," Mulder answered desperately.

"I can get another shapeshifter to help me," she replied, "two clan members might be able to go up against him and succeed, just maybe. I think it might work though, and I'm willing to give it a try."

Mulder pulled out his cell phone and handed it to her, "Call up whoever you need to, Sian. Just tell them to get over here fast."

"I don't need to make a phone call, Mulder, the wolf's sitting right here," she answered staring into his face.

Mulder raised both his eyebrows and his eyes went wide, "What the hell do you...."

"Mulder, I can change you. It doesn't have to be a large bite, just a nip really. I can help you through the first change. It'll happen almost immediately. It won't be pleasant but I'll make it as easy for you as I can. Once you've changed I'll show you how to change back and then we can go down to the Third Ward and..."

Mulder looked at her in amazement, "Uh, Sian, isn't this bite thing permanent? I mean Ross Baker lead me to believe that once you're recruited into the family it's for life. Sort of a werewolf Mafia. I'm not sure I want to be a *Made Man*, Sian. It might prove to be a bit awkward even if my nickname is all ready Spooky Mulder," he tried to grin but didn't quite make it.

"Well Ross Baker was largely full of shit, Mulder. There is a way for me to turn you back to the proverbial human condition after all this - it's difficult - but possible. Don't worry about the reverse trip. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she answered with a sigh.

Mulder studied her face for a moment and as he did so Scully's terrified voice came back to him, "Yeah, all right, Sian, let's do it," he said with finality.

"All right, look, we'll need more room. I think I'd better take you down to the basement. I'm going to tell the rest what I'm going to do also and I'm going to suggest they wait outside or in the vans. The garage is heated maybe they can wait in there."

"Why?" Mulder asked.

"So they don't hear your screams," Sian answered.

Frohike stood next to the vans in the garage with Janet and Jim Rafferty. He was twisting and untwisting some wire he'd picked up in the basement. It wasn't helping to calm him but it helped to center his anger.

"So you know where this *Paintball Dave's* is located?" he asked again for the third time.

"We know where it is, Frohike," Jim Rafferty answered patiently chewing on one of his nails.

"I wonder how long this is going to take?" Frohike asked looking at his two companions and then back in the direction of the house.

"I hope not long," Janet answered looking at her watch.

In the basement workroom, Sian Phillips had Mulder strip. She watched interested as he removed his boxers and walked over to place them on top of one of the work benches with the rest of his clothes and his two guns.

"Hmmm," she thought distantly, "Dana Scully is a very lucky woman,' as her eyes strayed below his waist. But then she put all thoughts of sex out of her mind, and told Mulder to sit down on the floor in front of her. She stood in front of him and removed her jeans, and sweater, and then the rest of her clothes as well, throwing them off to the side. She then sat down across from Mulder.

"What do I do now?" Mulder asked. He was surprised that Sian's nudity had no effect on him. Maybe it was the fact that her green eyes were glowing slightly.

Sian noticed a bite mark on his left arm. She reached over and probed it with a finger, raising her eyebrows. Mulder remained mute.

"Mulder, you don't have to do anything really. Just sit back and breath deeply. You know those classes pregnant women go through, Lamaze? Try to breath like that or something, whatever."

"I used to meditate," Mulder offered helpfully.

"Good, try to meditate. And Mulder, I wasn't kidding about the screaming. This is going to hurt like hell the first time so if you need to wail, go ahead, it'll help."

Mulder shut his eyes and began to pace his breathing. He felt Sian Phillips touch his chest over his heart and then his forehead. There was a smell then, an earthy odor of the forest. It was dark and he could see shadows in the foliage, and eyes, so many eyes, glowing ice cold blue, black, brown, red, and they beckoned they beckoned, they...he felt Sian grasp his arm gently and then her lips pressed against the scab of Scully's bite wound. He sucked in his breath as she bit down lightly, broke his skin, and sunk her canines into his flesh.

There was a feeling of warmth and almost sexual arousal and then suddenly the pain came. And it was agony. Mulder felt like every muscle and nerve in his body was on fire. His brain was boiling. He moaned and clutched his stomach and then his genitals as a terrific cramp tore through his balls and up into his spine. He could just hear Sian's voice calling to him from a great distance, "Go with it Mulder, let it happen, feel the flow, feel me, come for me baby," as if she were having sex with him. And it a way it was like sex because he was joining with her mind and her saliva was flowing into his veins from the bite on his arm. He gasped for breath and then his bones started to pop and shift and then the screaming began. He never thought he could scream that loud in all his life but he did. But as he screamed he changed and the last scream he uttered wasn't a human scream at all, it was the howl of a wolf and he sprung up onto all fours in the basement of *The Whisper House*, his hazel eyes glowing with supernatural fire.

Sian stood up and stood back. She hadn't changed yet but as soon as she saw that Mulder wasn't going to totally lose it on her she transformed and then they both stood facing each other under the lights of the basement.

Mulder struggled to talk. The muscles of his muzzle clenched and unclenched. Sian's wolfish lips smiled at him.

"Hang on, Fox, speech is hard at first, just think about the sounds and the mechanics of it for a moment and then try again."

Mulder swallowed and his jaws worked, "God, Sian dis is really stwange," he said and Sian laughed.

"You have a talent for understatement Agent Mulder," she chuckled.

"Sian, I have to take a pith," he lisped again, "I mean a leak, a piss," he said. His speech was improving by the second.

"Oh, don't stand on ceremony with me," she said. Mulder raised a wolfish eyebrow and started to try to stand up to relieve himself. He fell flat on his face. Sian howled with humor.

"You idiot, go lift your leg on a bench for God's sake," she choked out.

Mulder's wolf lips twitched into a sheepish grin and he walked over and took her suggestion.

"Now, Mulder, walk around the room and get the kinks out," Sian told him.

Mulder walked, and stretched, and marveled at his transformed body. He flexed his arms and legs and felt his fangs with a taloned finger. He could feel the raw power in every muscle and sinew. He was finally able to stand up and he found it remarkable that his head brushed the 7 foot ceiling of the basement. All his senses were magnified and he could just feel the embryonic development of a sixth sense, the one that would allow him to control men's minds.

"You won't be able to use much of that unfortunately, Mulder," Sian told him as she felt his weak telepathic probing. Those skills develop over time and with training from an elder. We don't have time for that training. But believe me, you're physical change is more than adequate to face Tony. I'm beginning to think this just may work."

"Ok, how do I change on my own?" Mulder asked, "And how do I change back, Christ, I may be getting used to this, but I'm sure I can't drive your Toyota with these," he said extending his human-like paws.

Sian gave him the secrets of transformation then as well as the ones that would change him back. Mulder practiced them both again. The second transformations hadn't been nearly as bad and when he was done Mulder had gotten up and put on his clothes. Sian had changed back as well, dressed, and then they both went back upstairs.

Tony Rimmer glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to 2. He glanced over at Dana Scully. She was sitting up against the wall but her head was lolling down against her chest.

"Come on Dana, I know you're awake, cut the shit," he hissed at her.

Scully's head came up and she looked at him with total hatred.

"Ouch, if looks could kill," Rimmer laughed at her. Then he strode over and picked her up by the handcuffs that bound her wrists, "It's show time, baby," he said dragging her off into the depths of the warehouse.

Mulder pulled the Toyota RAV4 up a block away from *Paintball Dave's* warehouse. The two black Dodge Caravans pulled up behind him. Sian got out of one of them and walked up to the other and knocked lightly on the side door. Frohike slid it open and as Mulder came up behind Sian they both climbed into the back amongst the equipment. It was really cramped and Janet and Jim had taken refuge in the front seats. Janet held her sawed off shot gun cradled in her arms and Jim had one of the deer rifles propped up on the console between the seats.

Frohike bustled around adjusting audio and video. Mulder glanced at his belt. He had jammed both of Mulder's gun into the back of his pants. Mulder had given them to him just before they left Shepard Avenue with the admonishment to take the safety off before he tried to fire them, and not to shoot himself in the foot.

Frohike turned around to face Mulder brandishing two of the "Eyes and Ears" units.

"Here you go, you two," he said quietly.

"Hey, wait a second, Frohike, we have to change first and, fuck it, these things aren't going to fit after we're all warm and fuzzy," Mulder replied with chagrin.

"Ha, G-man, I thought of that," Frohike answered brandishing a large roll of duct tape, "Duct tape, a 1000 and one uses," he deadpanned.

Mulder grinned. Sian Phillips looked into Frohike's eyes then and Mulder caught the look and turned away to give them a moments privacy.

Sian touched Frohike's face gently and then she bent forward and kissed him. Frohike sighed and drew her face closer to his and explored her mouth for a moment. Then he released her lips, "Good luck, Sian,' he said simply and then he turned towards Mulder. "All right, let's go over to the other van and you guys can wolf out. I'll adjust these things afterwards," he said.

Mulder and Sian Phillips loped towards the entrance to *Paintball Dave's*, sticking to the shadows as they went. Mulder had no trouble seeing in the dark. The "Eyes and Ears" sets had been comfortably arranged on their wolf heads with duct tape and some extra wire Frohike had also brought along.

"Are you getting this, Frohike?" Mulder whispered into the microphone.

"Loud and crystal clear, Lone Wolf," Frohike's voice answered tinny in his ear. "That's a five by five on audio and video," he added.

"All right, we're near the entrance," Mulder replied. Sian crept ahead of him and when she reached the door she pushed against it. It opened.

"How convenient," she whispered over to Mulder as he drew up beside her.

At the center of the warehouse, in the very center of the maze that was *Paintball Dave's* premiere test of a paintball team players skill, Dana Scully hung suspended, bound and gagged, from a hook in the ceiling. Her arms were on fire as gravity pulled her body weight down. She tried to hold very still because if she moved she twisted around and the pain from the movement was horrible.

Tony Rimmer stood below her, naked, hands on his hips, and he was grinning, his teeth huge, and his eyes glowing.

"Just hang around here, Dana. I think you make a most attractive capture the flag, my dear. In any event you won't have to twist in the wind very long. I can feel the marines landing even as I speak," and as he said that he changed and Scully gasped in anguish.

Mulder entered what must have been *Paintball Dave's* office area. It was sort of a staging room with safety posters on the walls, the rules for playing paintball, a long counter, and cases with paintball equipment for sale displayed in them. Sian followed him in and prowled about.

Mulder sniffed the ground and then the air. He could smell a musky alien odor, the smell of another male wolf, and he snarled, and the hair on his hackles stood up. He walked over to one of the cabinets and urinated on it with authority, marking his territory. Sian smiled her approval.

"You're getting the hang of this Mulder," she said.

"God, Mulder piss a bucket, but don't get any on the electronics, ok?" Frohike's voice came to him over the ear piece.

"Hey, even I can't aim that high," Mulder replied and then as he reached a hallway leading off to the side he sniffed and picked up another scent. It was Scully.

Sian drew up next to him and she sniffed as well, "She's still alive, Mulder, can you tell?"

"Yeah, I, I can tell," he whispered. The two wolves moved off down the hall way and into the depths of the warehouse.

As soon as they were out of the hallway they came into an open area full of walls and tunnels, false furniture and every manner of hidden spots. It was a maze, and Mulder thought it wasn't unlike an obstacle course at Quantico except much more elaborate and strange. The warehouse stretched up two stories and there were ladders and cat walks around the perimeter leading up to the second floor. The middle of the warehouse was open however, and as Mulder looked up towards the ceiling he could see a lone figure suspended from the rafters. His night vision told him it was Scully.

"Oh my God," he hissed.

"Shit," Frohike's voice groaned in his ear. Mulder ran off towards Scully's direction and Sian hurried to follow him. Mulder sensed Rimmer was very close and he prepared himself to meet him at any moment.

"Hold it together you guys," Sian advised and just as she said it their senses were assaulted. Rimmer had obviously turned on the buildings sound and light system. Sweeping lights moved and crawled about the walls. Strobes began to flash creating the strange twitching motion effects that they were infamous for in every SF film since 1979. To complete the sensory overload, blaring Rock Music pounded their ears. The song was *Welcome to the Jungle* by Guns N' Roses.

Mulder fell down and writhed on the floor. The audio and video assault were too much for his new wolf senses. Sian dashed over to him and touched his head before he could damage his *Eyes and Ears* equipment. She probed his mind and shut off the confusion and pain and Mulder stood back up, calm again.

"Take a deep breath, Mulder, this shit won't bother you anymore," Sian said licking her lips.

"Frohike, can you still see and hear us?" Mulder asked swiveling his video camera over towards Sian.

"Barely," he answered and just as he said it a huge red furred form dropped down from above right onto Sian Phillip's back.

"Sian!" Frohike screamed into Mulder's ear piece.

Sian Phillips bucked and rolled beneath Tony Rimmer to the deafening sounds of Guns N' Roses. In a split second Mulder was upon the slightly larger red furred wolfman, pulling him off her in a snarling frenzy. He levered Rimmer up using both his back and front legs and tossed him over his head and into the wall with a crushing wallop. Rimmer was on his paws in a flash and then all three wolves stopped to stare at each other in defiance as the bass beat of *Welcome to the Jungle* blared around them.

Out in the front of the Warehouse in the equipment filled black Dodge Caravan, Melvin Frohike was yanking a set of headphones off his head. The violent battle inside the warehouse had obviously dislodged Mulder and Sian's connection to him and he was beginning to panic. He threw the headphones down onto the floor of the van and then turned to grab the side door.

"Frohike, where the hell are you going?" Rafferty asked.

"I'm going in there, Jim, they need help for God's sake, I can't just let them get chewed all to hell."

"Well, don't just rush in, Frohike, hang on a minute. We're coming with you. You're going to need more fire power then those two little pop guns," Janet advised, tensely as she gripped her shotgun.

"All right, Yeah you're right. And wait, we can at least put on these other three portable walkie talkies. At least we can communicate once we're inside," and he pulled the devices over towards them with shaking hands, "but hurry up!"

Inside the warehouse Tony Rimmer glared at Sian and Mulder. He lifted his leg and pissed a huge stream of hot urine in Mulder's direction. Mulder jumped back as some of it hit his paws. Rimmer laughed. He shouted over the music, "I wish it was hydrochloric acid you piece of shit," and then he ran off into the maze towards the direction where Scully was hanging.

Mulder looked at the slightly dazed and bleeding Sian Phillips, "Are you all right?" he asked, concern on his fuzzy face.

"Yes, let's go," she breathed, and they ran off in pursuit.

Frohike, Jim and Janet entered the warehouse through the main entrance and crouched down in the entry office.

"Look, someone has to stop the special effect show in there," Frohike said as they listened to the loud rock music coming down the hallway that lead into the maze, "I think you should handle that, Jim. Take Janet with you and shut that fucking noise off. Wait for my signal. When I call, come running."

"Where are you going, now?" Janet asked fear in her voice.

"The Jungle," Frohike barked.

"Well, here, we'd better trade I think," Janet said quickly and she handed Frohike her shotgun and the bandoleer of extra shells she was wearing.

Frohike handed her Mulder's two guns and she jammed them into her belt.

Then she bent forward and kissed Frohike on the cheek, "For luck," she said and Frohike walked towards the hall way that lead out into the maze.

Tony Rimmer had climbed up one of the ladders to the second story and unhooked Scully from the hook in the ceiling. He laid her down carefully on one of the overhead catwalks.

Scully was unconscious now, the pain in her arms having caused her to pass out, so Tony Rimmer pushed her back against the wall so that if she came too she wouldn't pitch over the side. Rimmer had all ready decided that he wasn't going to kill Scully. She was too feisty and sexually attractive for him to bring himself to do it. 'No,' he thought, 'I think I've definitely found my alpha bitch,' he mused licking his red lips. 'She's certainly a hell of a lot more desirable, at this point, than that slut Sian Phillip,' he thought.

Glancing down he could just make out Sian and Mulder winding their way through the maze towards his location. He could not fathom the fact that Sian had brought Mulder across. The event was a serious problem he thought. A real fucking inconvenience. Now he couldn't influence Mulder and all possibilities of making an easy kill had flown out the window. Now Tony would have to fight, and fight for his life. The prospect was a royal pain in the butt.

But Rimmer smiled. He was good. He had confidence, and he had Scully and if nothing else, this might prove Mulder's downfall. He watched again as his two adversaries reached the spot where they knew Scully had been hanging. He drew back into the shadows of the cat walk, and waited.

Frohike crept through the maze. He had to crawl on his belly at one point but now he was upright and he hurried towards where he thought he had seen Mulder and Sian looking at Scully's suspended body before the communication link had been cut. He held the shotgun before him loosely in both hands, and as he did so the strobe lights and loud music stopped. Only the sweeping lights remained to light the warehouse dimly and Frohike thanked God that Jim and Janet had been quick enough, and smart enough to figure out how to give them some light for the end game that was to come.

"Where the hell is she?" Mulder hissed at Sian as he yanked the broken *Eyes and Ears* set from his head in fury.

"I don't know Fox, I can smell her but I can't see her," Sian replied yanking her set off as well.

Mulder sniffed the air. He could make out Scully's scent and it was quite close. Then suddenly his nostrils were assaulted with the smell of Tony Rimmer's spore and the furred assassin dropped down on top of both of them from the catwalk above.

"Mulder!" Sian howled she was thrown to the side, and the two males rolled about the floor clawing, and biting each other with impunity.

Mulder lunged at Rimmer again and again, snapping impotently at his neck. The older wolf was just too strong and although Mulder fought valiantly Tony Rimmer was gaining the upper hand. He flipped Mulder over onto his back, and slammed his wolf's skull repeatedly into the warehouse floor. Mulder was knocked senseless. Tony was preparing to deliver a killing bite to the throat when Sian Phillips slammed into him throwing him backwards as she rode him down.

Sian knew she was in the fight for her life and Mulder's life and Frohike's life and...." she clawed Rimmer violently across the face, deepening the gashes all ready put there by Mulder's claws. She bit into his foreleg driving her teeth to the bone.

Rimmer shrieked but the pain seemed to inflame him and he reared up, pushing Sian backwards and slamming her into the floor with all his strength. There was a sick snapping sound as one of Sian's legs broke. She screamed in agony and rolled across the floor.

Mulder was just starting to come round and he was further jolted partially back to himself by Sian's body thudding into his side as Rimmer threw her over. Tony dragged her away from Mulder by her tail then and grabbing her legs worked his way up her body. There was blood in Mulder's glowing hazel eyes so he could barely see what was going on.

Rimmer had walked up Sian's body and stood on her chest now looking down into her green glowing eyes. Her head lolled to the side and she gasped for air, the pain from her leg and several broken ribs also making her dazed and helpless. She looked up into Tony's face and she knew she was going to die. Sian composed her mind. In the time honored tradition of her kind she slowly bent her head to the side, exposing her throat to her victor for the killing blow.

"Sorry, my sweet," Rimmer growled almost sadly and then he bit into the flesh of her neck. Mulder howled out and the sound distracted Rimmer slightly and he rose up and looked over towards Mulder. Sian was bleeding, mortally wounded, as he shifted his knees on her chest.

"Come and try that with me you fucking bastard," Mulder hissed. But before Tony Rimmer could spring for the kill there was an almost inhuman scream of anger, fear and anguish.

Melvin Frohike stood at the end of one of the passages that lead into the center of the maze. His face was twisted in rage and horror as he beheld the dying body of Sian Phillips and he ran forward yelling, "Bastard, Noooooooooo!..." and then he pulled the trigger of the sawed off shotgun at almost point blank range. Both barrels blasted Tony Rimmer backwards through the air and into the opposite warehouse wall.

Frohike threw the shotgun to the side and fell down on the floor next to Sian. He picked up her body in his arms and pulled her into his lap. He was keening ,and his cries galvanized Mulder. The Agent dashed over to the prostrate Rimmer and he straddled his body.

It quickly became apparent that Rimmer was also done for. The shotgun blast had torn through the middle of his body almost shattering his spinal column and now he was struggling to breath, gurgling blood in his mouth. He was trying to talk so Mulder bent down to listen.

"Congratulations, Mulder," he coughed blood. "May the best wolf win, even if it was a malignant little dwarf," he tried to grin.

"Yeah, you rat bastard, I hope you choke!" Mulder sneered, "Die slow, Tony," he said.

"Mulder?"

"What?"

"I just wanted to ask you a favor, you won, do me one last thing, all right?"

"What, you fuck?"

"When you get back to DC, tell that cigarette smoking father of yours that his son...Well, just tell him I hope he rots in hell," he lisped sarcastically, and then Rimmer turned his head to the side so that Mulder could deliver the coup de grace.

Mulder looked in shock at Rimmer as his words froze his guts, and then he stared at his exposed throat. His wolfish face twisted in fury and he shouted into his ear, "I wouldn't foul my mouth with your blood you God damned son of a bitch," and then he stood up and brought one taloned foot down to crash through Tony's shattered rib cage, severing his spine with a loud crack.

Mulder stood there breathing heavily. He heard Frohike crying nearby and then he heard Janet and Jim Rafferty running into the middle of the maze.

"Oh my God," Janet exclaimed. Mulder limped over to confront them. "Get out of here,' he said bleakly, "it's over, go back to the vans and wait." He didn't have any strength left to deal with them. They took one look at the scene, turned around and walked back through the maze.

Mulder thought to look for Scully, but Sian and Frohike needed his immediate attention. He could sense her presence and smell her scent now more clearly and he could tell that she essentially all right and quite close by. So, Mulder walked over to Frohike.

The photographer was sitting his back against the wall and cradling Sian's head in his lap. Her blood was pooling over his jeans and he was stroking her fur gently.

"Oh, God, Mulder, please, can't you do something, she, she's dying," he whispered looking up into Mulder's muzzle. Frohike's face was stained with tears, and dirt, and more of Sian's blood streaked the lenses of his glasses.

Mulder bent closer to look at Sian's throat and he knew it was hopeless. Tony's bite had damaged her spine it was more than likely a mortal wound.

"Mulder..." Sian struggled to speak. "Mulder, leave me with him for a second," she said rolling her eyes up at Frohike.

"All right Sian," Mulder said and he walked over and sat down with his back to them. He began to lick the fur on one leg to clean one of his wounds.

Sian looked up into Frohike's stricken eyes, "Mel, ddddon't cry for me. Don't worry. I, I love you, I'll love you forever," she said gently.

"Oh, Sian, Oh God, Please, don't..., Oh, honey...I love you too, forever too, Oh, Christ," he started to cry again as he stroked her white furred head. Sian mustered every once of strength she had left, and she went into his mind. She sent him all her healing and her love, she bolstered him and strengthened his abilities to continue with the good fight, and then she began to remove herself from Frohike's thoughts. She left just enough of herself there to allow him to think he had met an attractive woman on the trip, they had enjoyed each other during a fun and satisfying one night stand, and then he had moved on with a pleasant memory of her arms around him. As she finished the last of her erasure she sent him to sleep and Frohike sagged back against the wall.

"Mulder," she gasped.

Mulder turned and hurried over. Seeing the sagging Frohike he gently extricated him from Sian and carried him a short distance away. He placed him gently down on the floor and returned to Sian's side.

Sian coughed, "I'm dead, Mulder," she sighed closing her eyes. But then she opened them and looked into his haunted wolf face. "Mulder, I told you there was a way I could return you your humanity didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," Mulder replied quietly.

"Well, then maybe this is for the best, Mulder. Because for me to give you that gift I would have had to let you kill me anyway. Now, you'll just have to finish what Tony so obligingly started," she wheezed.

Mulder looked at her in horror, "And you knew this ahead of time?"

She shook her head slightly and the movement caused her to mewl in pain, "Please, Mulder, it's the only way," she hissed, "it hurts," and then she exposed her throat to him.

Mulder looked down into her profile, and then he stroked her soft face. He could feel a bit of the sixth sense welling up in his head, just enough he thought...maybe enough, and he sent his thoughts into Sian's mind. He gave her a vision of her and Frohike together again, they were hand in hand walking in a forest somewhere, into a clearing, into the bright warm sun, and as she smiled, he bent forward and bit into her neck, severing her head from her body.

Dana Scully rolled over onto her side and sat up. She was still bound and gagged but she was just working the gag from her face as Mulder approached her across the cat walk. Her eyes went wide because he was quite naked. He was covered in scratches and drying blood but no more the worse for wear. He quickly covered the distance to her and knelt down beside her. He untied her legs.

"Do you have the keys for the cuffs?" he asked.

"In my pocket," she said flinching from the pain that was still in her arms.

Mulder gently retrieved the key and then unlocked the manacles. Scully sagged against him, "Mulder what..."

"Rimmer's dead Scully, so's, Sian, come on, let's get the hell out of here," he sighed, in exhaustion.

*The Whisper House* was quiet. Mulder, Scully, Frohike, Janet Price and Jim Rafferty all slept the sleep of the totally exhausted.

Mulder had carried the unconsciousness Frohike back to the Dodge Caravans and placed him carefully inside the more empty vehicle. Then Mulder had redressed and he and Jim Rafferty had gone back inside the warehouse to retrieve both Tony and Sian's bodies. The warehouse sat right on the Milwaukee river so it was a simple enough job to wrap both their corpses up, weight them down with things they found in *PaintBall Dave's* and then consign them to the dark waters. Jim had said a prayer for Sian as Mulder bowed his head. They had cleaned up the blood as best they could but Mulder figured with the filth of the warehouse and the zillion paintball splatters over every surface, no one was going to notice the blood that was left on the floor.

The group had driven back to Shepard Avenue in silence. Mulder had wanted Scully to go to St. Mary's hospital nearby but she had insisted it wasn't necessary. Her arms and shoulders were sore and tingling but she thought they would be all right in a couple of days. She took a hot shower before going with Mulder into his room. He had given her a message and her arms felt much better.

Janet and Jim saw to it that Frohike was cleaned up and then they had put the still sleeping photographer to bed in his old room next to Mulder and Scully. He was snoring and smiling now, in his boxers and tee shirt, over the memory of the gorgeous blond he had been lucky to meet in Milwaukee.

"Mulder, are you all right?" Scully asked stroking his cheek.

"Yeah, I'm OK, Scully, I guess," he sighed.

"I'm so sorry about Sian," she said

"Yeah, me too," he replied with a far away look in his eyes.

"I'm just glad she had a chance to make sure Frohike wasn't going to remember anything about her death. God, I can't imagine what that would have done to him," Scully said.

"I think I can," Mulder said looking into her eyes. She searched his face and then she reached up and kissed him gently. Mulder smiled at her for the first time that day and then he kissed the ring on her finger. Mulder pulled her close, they snuggled together and fell fast asleep.

In a dreary apartment in Washington, DC a man woke from dreaming. He reached over to the night stand and grabbed the pack of Morley cigarette's that rested there. He lit one up and inhaled the smoke deeply into his lungs. He coughed. 'God, what an idiotic dream,' he thought. 'Why the hell would I be dreaming about Star Wars for Christ's sake? I am your father Luke? How fucking asinine!' he mused. Still he vaguely remembered that he'd liked wearing that Darth Vader outfit. But the fact that Mulder was dressed as Luke Skywalker had disturbed him. He took another drag on the Morley and swung his long legs over the bed's edge. He slipped his feet into his slippers, and then he got up to take a piss. As he crossed the apartment he stopped to listen. 'Oh, for God's sake who's dog is that howling?' he thought. But then the hair on the back of his neck stood up because it didn't really sound like a dog. It sounded more like a wolf and there wasn't just one. The man threw down the cigarette and crushed it under foot. Then he crossed to his dresser, opened the top drawer, and took out a .44 caliber gun almost as long as his forearm. There was a scratching at his door and the man turned and for the first time, in a long time, there was fear in his eyes.

EPILOGUE

It had been a month since they had returned to DC and Mulder was standing in Scully's kitchen making coffee on a Saturday afternoon. Sun from the window over the sink was shining down onto his hands and the ring on his left hand was sparkling in the light. Mulder smiled. Scully had given him the ring a week ago. It was very masculine, and well designed, and Mulder liked it immensely.

It was a gorgeous day, and Mulder didn't want anything to spoil it. He had been thinking of the Cancer Man and the possibility that he was indeed his father. It was something he had considered before, of course. But in the long run there wasn't much he could do about the fact if it was true. He wasn't sure even now whether it was true. He figured that Rimmer may have lied about it in a sick attempt to get back at Mulder before he died. At any rate, Mulder thought, he would deal with the bastard later and through more official channels if he could. I wouldn't do to seek revenge and have his efforts backfire against him or God forbid, against Scully. He decided to let sleeping dogs lie for the moment. He could afford to wait and deal with the problem later after he'd had time to plan a suitable course of action.

Scully was on the phone to her Mother. Mulder was glad to hear that things between Margaret Scully and Walter Skinner seemed to be moving along, but at a nice slow pace. Both he and Scully were having enough time to get used to the idea that Skinner might become one of the family, but at least it wouldn't be in the immediate future. Still, they were spending a lot of time together, dining out and visiting galleries and such, and Scully's Mother seemed really happy. Mulder noticed the change in Skinner as well, and he thought the guy was seriously in danger of being in love again as well.

"So, Mom, say hello to Bill when you meet him at the airport. I suppose we'll all need to get together while he's here," Scully was saying into the phone. Then she laughed, "Yes, I guess that can wait until you've had your little talk with him. All right, Mom, I love you, Uh, say hello to Walter," she said. Scully still wasn't quite used to referring to Skinner by anything other then Sir. Mulder really grinned to think what it would be like if she had to call him Dad.

Frohike had called earlier and Mulder thought he sounded pretty much like his old self. He was a little wistful but not overly so. Mulder agreed to go out with him, Langly and Byers for pizza and a movie that evening. Sian Phillips seemed to be just a pleasant memory. Sian's death saddened Mulder greatly because in a selfish way he knew it had been necessary for his own salvation. He felt tremendous gratitude to Frohike for killing Rimmer, and even though the guy would never know he had saved all their lives, Mulder endeavored to show him the new respect he so justly deserved.

Scully walked into the kitchen.

"Coffee's almost ready," Mulder said turning to face her. She looked radiant, all traces of the horrors that they had been through a month ago had been erased from her.

"Uh, Scully, you know, I really like making coffee and stuff here, I mean, I really like your place," Mulder said.

"I sort of got that idea, Mulder," she smiled at him, humor in her eyes.

"Well, I was thinking, you know, the lease on my apartment is up at the end of next month. Uh, what would you say to my moving in here, permanently, I mean?" he asked quietly.

Scully moved over to him and hugged him around the waist. "Yeah. I think that could be arranged Agent Mulder," she said into his strong chest.

Mulder relaxed and wound his arms around her shoulders.

"But Mulder, you just have to promise me one thing, all right," she said smirking into his t-shirt.

"Anything, Scully."

"Just don't leave the toilet seat up, ok?" Scully replied and they both dissolved in joyous laughter.

THE END OF THE WHOLE STORY