Season Six:
Episode 7

A manor house French countryside
1:14 pm

The room is decorated with ornate turn of the century furnishings, wall hangings, sconces, candelabra and the like. An examination of the room reveals a large wooden desk of the same vintage. The laptop computer, facsimile machine, printer and telephone are the only modern accouterments. The fax machine begins to make noises indicative an incoming transmission. One page is received.

A striking woman in her early forties crosses the room to retrieve the document. It read as follows:

AK returned. With complete bilateral symmetry. Without memory. Consortium concerned as to nature of "message." More later.

D

P.S. MC contrite.

"Alex, what have you gotten yourself into?" she mused.

Special Agent Jeffrey Spender was sound asleep. At first, the ringing of the telephone did not register. By the time it did, he untangled himself from the bedclothes and picked it up, a dial tone awaited him. "Damn," he muttered as he looked at the clock which read 5:23 am. With a sigh, he settled back into bed, tossing and turning a bit to get more comfortable.

As soon as he stilled, the telephone rang again. The second surge of adrenaline of the early morning made him eschew the usual, "Hello," for an irritated, "What?"

"Don't believe everything you read. Be especially skeptical of correspondence, whether hidden or in plain view."

"What the hell are you talking about? Who is this?" Jeffrey practically shouted at the dial tone. Realizing that no further information was forthcoming, Spender picked up a motel note pad and wrote down the message. He then tried to imagine "hearing" the message again. He thought the voice seemed familiar but couldn't be sure. He certainly couldn't associate a face or a name with it.

Accepting that he had done all he could to glean information from this unexpected event, Spender then considered his next move. "To tell Mulder, or not to tell Mulder. That is the question."

Special Agent Dana Scully looked up from reading the newspaper as Alex Krycek entered the living/dining room. "Sleep well?"

"After such an inspiring rendition of "The Three Bears," what choice did I have? he answered as he went into the kitchen in search of coffee. Scully heard him rattling around, and found herself wondering how men managed to make so much noise doing such simple tasks.

"That was all you were in any condition to comprehend last night, Alex. You were exhausted." He had been all but asleep by the time Dana had checked in on him. She had begun the children's story as a joke, and he'd drifted off.

"You really do need to tell me the rest of the Alex Krycek story this morning," he stated as he sat down with his coffee. "I need to know what I've done."

"After you've eaten."

"Don't be difficult."

"Don't be stubborn. You need to get your strength back."

"Why don't you select the appropriate breakfast items for me, Dr. Scully?" he suggested as he picked up the sports section. "You probably wouldn't approve of mine." Krycek smiled behind the newspaper as Scully went into the kitchen. Expecting her to take some time, Alex was surprised when she returned only a few minutes later with a somewhat elegantly presented continental breakfast. "Very efficient. You talk while I eat. Ok?"

Dana wondered where the "Dr. Scully" came from. She was sure she hadn't mentioned that she was a doctor. If he remembered her medical training, he didn't seem to realize that he had garnered some new information. Because he might be merely being sarcastic, she did not comment. Instead she prepared to relay what she knew about Augustus Cole, a tram operator, Mulder's father, her sister, etc. But first she had a question of her own. "Your question about whether you had shot anyone was prompted by a memory. What was it?"

Krycek considered as he ate one of the bagels on his plate. "I had discharged my weapon. There was an inquiry. One of the questions they asked was what my motivation was. That was my answer."

For a moment, Dana Scully wondered whether she should ask more questions to prompt Krycek to examine that memory further. The expectant look on his face, as he started on his second bagel, decided her on an alternative course of action. "I think I can shed some more light on that particular memory. When you worked with Mulder, your first assignment involved the ultimate sleep depravation experiment..."

Agents Fowley, Mulder and Spender met for breakfast. Spender was the last to arrive, and Mulder and Fowley were rehashing the events of the previous day when he sat down.

"...something that he hadn't shared with us."

"I told you he was hiding something!" Mulder exclaimed. "Good thing Spender here sent you to get him drunk and take advantage of him."

"Coffee, please" Agent Spender asked the waitress, before attempting to focus his attention on the conversation of the other two agents.

"Dr. Collingsworth remembered a potentially useful bit of information," Diana Fowley repeated for Spender's benefit. "Mulder's been too busy crowing about how he knew there was more to it, to actually hear what it was, so you haven't missed anything. Are you all right, Spender?"

"Nothing that coffee won't cure. Go on Diana."

"The events he referred to occurred several months ago, and did not come to Robert's mind when we spoke to him."

Spender glanced at Mulder who mouthed "Robert" behind Diana's back.

"When I asked him if he had noticed, or if anyone else had noticed, any changes in the group's behavior, he recalled that a woman named Mariana Coventry had met with the scientists, both individually and as a group. She, whom he described as a very pretty blonde, said she was writing a book on the Ebola virus. Dr. Collingsworth thought it more likely that the woman was recruiting the group to continue their work at another institution. Robert indicated that the four scientists appeared to isolate themselves even further from others after the woman left. He wasn't alarmed, because, in his experience such withdrawals often precedes a spate of intense research work." Diana Fowley paused for dramatic effect, a slightly superior smile on her face.

"Marita Covarrubias," Spender anticipated.

Diana Fowley looked at the younger agent with amazement. "Yes. He identified her picture. He seemed quite certain."

Mulder was not shy about asking the question that Fowley had avoided. "How did you know that, Jeff? Are you always so intuitive prior to your morning coffee?"

Neither Diana nor Mulder missed the hesitation prior to Spender's answer. Jeffrey hadn't consciously arrived at one to the question that he had asked himself that morning, but the die had already been cast. After cautioning himself never to speak before caffeine again, Spender replied. "Someone called me early this morning to tell me not to trust what I read, particularly in correspondence."

"Who?" Mulder inquired sharply.

"Don't know. Didn't recognize the voice. Male is all I can really say. Anyway, the only correspondence I've read recently is a letter saying that Ms. Covarrubias had failed to dismantle a research project."

The three sat in silence for a moment. Mulder broke it. "We need Elaine Broadford. Spender and I talked to her administrative assistant, her Research Director colleagues, several of her subordinates, her travel agent and some other people who might've been expected to know where she is. No one knows, or no one is talking."

"Are you sure, Mulder?" Diana asked. "It seems as though we have what we need. Robert seems concerned about interrupting what is apparently a much needed vacation."

"Jeff?"

"I'm don't know what she could add, Mulder."

"All right. You two finish up here with the four residences. I'm going to play a hunch." Fox Mulder did not like coincidences. He didn't like them at all.

Alex Krycek was silent ... and distant. He had been ever since Scully had finished the tale that he had demanded to hear. Dana was trying to let him do what he had to do, but he was making her nervous. She had watched tension mount and could see that he needed to let off some steam. If decompression took the form of anger or violence, she didn't want it aimed at her. She was reminded of admonitions against "killing the messenger," as Krycek began pacing.

"Alex?" Krycek stopped moving at the sound of her voice. He was so still, it seemed as though he had stopped breathing as well. Nothing else happened, so she tried again. "Alex...please say something. You're scaring me."

The man who turned to face her looked...haunted. "I'm scaring myself, Dana. I feel like...I'm coming apart."

"You shouldn't try to keep everything bottled up...Talk to me, Alex."

"I can't. I shouldn't. I won't." The three simple sentences were said so quickly that they ran together. He turned away, sat in one of the wooden chairs, put his elbows on the dining table and his head in his hands.

"Talking seemed to help before," Scully reminded him softly. She didn't dare approach him. Not with his attention turned completely inward and all of his muscles tensed. Agent Scully had no idea what his reaction would be.

Krycek lifted his head and rested his chin on his thumbs. In that position, his hands naturally clasped in front of his mouth, he appeared to be praying. "Helped who? If I've done all those things ... or even some of them , you have no reason to help me. Quite the opposite in fact."

"Alex, I ..."

"It's ok Dana. I'm sure you're just doing your job. Cancerman or whomever decided that Marita wasn't the right angle, so they substituted you. It makes sense really. It's simpler." As Krycek continued, he spoke as though analyzing himself. "Just give him someone to talk to...to confide in. A woman who smiles at him to throw him off balance. Someone compassionate and...intelligent. Yeah, he'll rise to that challenge."

"Alex. Stop!" Her shout startled him, and Scully pressed the advantage. "This isn't just about you. They put me in here with you ... without any explanation. No one shared any plan...any agenda ... with me. I was brought here, and you needed help. I tried to help you. That's how I'm wired. I try to help people. Any problem I have reconciling helping you with your past actions makes me as much a victim of whatever is going on as you are." Dana Scully was a little frightened at how angry she had become. She didn't want to think that perhaps, despite her arguments to the contrary, there was a shred of truth in what Krycek had suggested.

"Righteous indignation. Well played, Agent Scully."

Dana's temper achieved full vocalization. "Who the hell are you to accuse me of anything? You've betrayed everyone who ever trusted you! You are only alive because some of your enemies are more civilized than you, your other enemies made some mistakes and your remaining enemies still have some use for you! Although what it is, I can't even begin to imagine!"

"I do have some minor talents."

Dana Scully ignored his comment and did not immediately register his more relaxed posture. "Yet you sit there, studying me like I'm some sort of creature you've never seen before, and smiling...SMILING... at me! Damn you Krycek!"

"Dana, I had to know."

"Know what?"

"Whether you were sent in here to get at those memories you mentioned, to seduce me, to kill me or whatever. Whether you accepted an assignment and, if so, from whom."

At that moment, the man she was conversing with was Alex Krycek as Scully remembered him. For some reason, that comforted her. She also suspected that he had reclaimed more of his memory and that he was keeping his own counsel in that regard. Scully approved.

Driving a rental sedan, one of the two he had insisted the three agents obtain, Mulder reflected on the events of the day. He had gone to Elaine Broadford's apartment and charmed his way in. The resident building manager was a nice older woman. He had searched the apartment discretely and had finally found what looked like directions to a campsite. Mulder had set out with some optimism. Then he had gotten lost. Hopelessly lost. After going into a service station to ask directions, he resumed again. He had gotten quite far afield, and would be lucky to get back to Columbus before dinner. Mulder hoped that his effort was not going to be wasted.

His new directions indicated that he was coming up on the last turn toward Elaine Broadford's hideaway. Sure enough, he saw a Winebago as soon as he rounded the bend. As he parked the car, a blonde woman emerged from the motor home. Mulder got out of the car and moved toward her. His step faltered momentarily. From a distance, Elaine Broadford could pass for Marita Covarrubias. "Interesting," thought Mulder.

"I have a gun," she stated matter of factly. "And my boyfriend is due back from his hike at any moment."

"I'm sure you do and he is, Dr. Broadford. I'll make this brief. I'm here to ask you a few questions about the four immunologists who were in your department."

"Who might you be?"

Fox Mulder smiled sheepishly as he closed the distance between them and offered her his identification. "Special Agent Fox Mulder. I'm with the Federal Bureau of Investigation." She took his id, compared the picture with his face and returned it to him. He next showed her a picture of Marita Covarrubias. "Have you ever seen this woman?"

"Yes. She came sniffing around the department several months ago. Robert liked her, so she had the run of the place. Why?"

Mulder thought he heard a hint of jealousy in the woman's tone, but didn't comment. He couldn't imagine someone who was attracted to Marita Covarrubias not being attracted to this woman. They could be sisters. "Did she pay any particular attention to the four scientists who recently died?"

"Them more than any of the others - yes. She claimed to writing a book on Ebola, Agent Mulder, but I found that very hard to believe. She seemed like an inspector. Almost like she was checking up on something."

"What could she have been inspecting?"

"I don't know, unless it was Robert's stamina. She might have been sent by the Center for Disease Control or some other organization to examine our Biohazard Level 4 facility and procedures, but I doubt it. There would be no reason for secrecy. Surprise maybe, but not secrecy."

The concept of inspection intrigued Mulder. It sounded like a Consortium activity. Any possible connection between those men and Ebola was frightening and warranted a close look. Mulder forced such thoughts to a dark, quiet corner of his mind and continued. "Dr. Collingsworth thought that she was interested in recruiting them. Was that possible?"

"Anything is possible. Robert probably hoped she was. Those four were a trial for him. They were extremely willful." Noticing the look of interest caused by her last comment, she added, "Their willfulness was scientific, Agent Mulder, not sexual."

The First Elder had summoned Cigarette Smoking Man to the observation area. The word "urgent" had been used. When Cigarette Smoking Man entered the room, he sensed the tension immediately. "He's no longer telling Agent Scully everything," Marleton stated without preamble.

"Of course he isn't," Cigarette Smoking Man replied mildly. "A loss of memory is not commensurate with stupidity. He knows the room is monitored. He'll tell us what he wants us to know and a few things he doesn't realize."

"He won't tell us what we want to know!"

Cigarette Smoking Man smiled at the agitated Consortium member. "When the time is right, we will change tactics. And then ... he will tell us everything." With that, Cigarette Smoking Man shifted his attention to the scene before them.

Alex and Dana were facing each other, she sitting on the couch and he on the coffee table in front of it. "What's in this for you?" Krycek asked, and noticed Scully's wince. "Nothing wrong with a little healthy self-interest. What is it?"

"Information, I guess. Answers, I hope."

Krycek sensed immediately that Scully was uncomfortable with this conversational gambit, but his curiosity had been piqued. He did remember that that trait was both the cornerstone of his successes and the cause of many of his failures. Unlike the cat, it hadn't yet killed him. "What are the questions?"

Dana looked at the man in front of her and felt the urge to open up, like she had in the hotel room with regard to the bee and the associated virus. "Whatever happened to the bee?" she wondered, before returning her thoughts to the matter at hand. He was still looking at her expectantly, but remained silent so she tried to deflect the conversation. "I thought we were working on getting your memory back, not on my problems."

"I'm tired of trying to remember. I figure my chances of are probably better, if I don't focus on it all the time. Don't you think?"

Scully nodded and sighed. "Alex, I want answers, but I'm afraid of them." When Scully thought about her previous statement, she found it lacking. "Forget it. I'm not making any sense." With that, Dana retreated to a corner of the couch and tried to tune out her surroundings.

"Is this about your experiences when ... you were taken?" The question was barely audible, but Scully heard and glanced at the man who asked it. She had glossed over that part of what he referred to as "the Alex Krycek story," and thought that she had downplayed her involvement to such an extent that he would overlook it. He evidently hadn't.

When she nodded there were tears in her eyes. Alex moved from the coffee table to the couch and whispered, "Tell me." When she didn't move or respond in any way, he continued, "Dana, it seems like you need to tell someone, ... and I don't have any appointments or other pressing engagements."

Dana Scully was laughing and crying at the same time. Laughing at Alex Krycek's attempt at humor and crying on Alex Krycek's shoulder. That was too weird to contemplate, so Dana started to talk. She talked about her abduction and all of the events surrounding it, including her cancer and her daughter Emily. She talked about her frustrations with Mulder. She talked of missing her father and of her strained relationship with her brother. And she cried.

Alex listened and held her.

Cigarette Smoking Man observed the two of them with interest.

"Where is Mulder?" Diana asked for what seemed like the fiftieth time. She and Spender had spent an uneventful day poking around the apartments of the four deceased scientists. Nothing that they had found added anything to what the Columbus police had pieced together. There were personal journals, angst-ridden love letters and other items that indicated that the three men had developed an obsession for their female co-worker. Dr. Callahan even had a book on Russian Roulette.

"No idea," Spender replied as he poured Diana more wine. They had found a nice restaurant for dinner. Mulder was a fast food sort of guy. That got old quickly, as far as Spender was concerned.

"He said he was playing a hunch. A Mulder hunch could take days to play out. We're done here. On to Pennsylvania?"

Spender was ready to leave Columbus as well. "If he's not back in the morning, I say move on." He was about to continue when Diana's cellular telephone rang.

"Fowley."

"Hi, Agent Fowley. This is David Brockton down at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. How are you today?"

"Fine, Dr. Brockton. Working late?"

"Just getting a few things out of the way, including analyzing the samples you folks sent us. They match the manifest you included. No surprises."

"Thank you." Diana smiled slightly as she terminated the call. "So much for Mulder hunch number 1. Nothing out of the ordinary in the freezer. Oh well, how about another bottle of wine?"

Spender was aware of Diana Fowley's shift from business mode to something else. "Come on Mulder," he pleaded silently. "I don't need this."

When Cigarette Smoking Man responded to the summons of the First Elder, Dimitri took the opportunity to take care of some business. This time, he entered Marita's quarters without even knocking. She was eating dinner and watching CNN.

Marita Covarrubias was becoming accustomed to her complete lack of privacy. As a result, she didn't even look up as Dimitri sauntered into the room. Her indifference destroyed any impact his entrance might have had, and put him on the defensive.

Consequently, he spoke first, even though he didn't intend to. "I have passed along your message to Katarina."

"You didn't have to report 'mission accomplished.'" Marita was trying for sardonic, but her statement came out sounding defeated. Her demeanor matched her tone, and the combination restored Dimitri's faith in his command of this particular situation.

"I have received her reply." Marita couldn't suppress her reaction. She became instantly alert, moved closer to Dimitri, looked up at him and waited.

When he smiled at her but did not speak, she frowned. This game was familiar to Marita, but she was used to making the other player, usually a man, squirm. She didn't particularly like this role reversal. After a few moments, her need to know overrode her pride. "Well?"

"Katarina wants a meeting, and she wants you to arrange it." Dimitri expected a plethora of questions regarding the assignment. There were none. There was only expectant silence and a warm, perhaps slightly suggestive, smile. He wasn't sure, but she may have moved closer to him as well. This confluence of circumstances made him nervous. Nervous men are either silent or talkers. Dimitri, as Marita suspected, was a talker. "She wants to meet with Alex to bury the past and discuss the future. She wants to do it before the Consortium gets what they want from him. She is also intrigued by the boy. I anticipate she'll be interested in the FBI agent as well, even if only to reviewuate Alex's."

"Is that all?" Under the circumstances, Marita had no trouble with sarcastic. "Maybe we could have the First Elder play the harp in the background and the smoker serve drinks?"

"I'm sure that won't be necessary."