After the Future - VI part 2

"She didn’t find anything. She kept good notes, but there’s nothing here." Byers turned to Walter. "Frohike’s gone over the data too."

They all turned as the door opened and a distraught Mulder walked in. "What have you found?" Byers glanced at the other two men in the room.

"Mulder . . . "

"Don’t tell me nothing! Don’t!" He advanced on Byers and Walter stepped between them. "He’s got to find something." Mulder turned to Walter.

No one had noticed Maggie enter with Beth. "She injected me with her blood when the virus first broke out. What if I gave her my blood now?"

"Maggie, I can’t take enough of your blood to make a difference. Maybe if we transfused her whole body, but you can’t give that much." Beth responded.

"I can! Take what you need – "

"Maggie!" Walter had his hands gripping her arms.

"Maggie, no. You can’t." Mulder’s shoulders were slumped, his voice was low, defeated.

"She’s my daughter, I have to. Just as she would for Katy."

"Katy!" Everyone turned to look at Byers as he spoke. "Katy might be the answer. We saved her stem blood, remember? Just in case she ever needed it in the future. If we used that and a pint from Maggie . . . "

"Charlie and Mary have the same type as well." Maggie offered.

"Okay. Get them over here. Mulder, I don’t know, but I don’t have any other suggestions."

"Do it."

Byers sent Langly over to begin thawing the stem blood, after taking him aside and warning him to only thaw half. Might as well hedge their bets. Beth began sterilizing the instruments necessary for the transfusions. Mulder had retreated into himself, staying where he could touch her, speak only to her.

They took Maggie’s blood first, with Walter standing over them ensuring that they didn’t take more than a pint. Charlie and Mary brought Katy with them when they came to offer their blood. Byers decided to hold them in reserve. He wanted to try Katy’s blood first. Then . . . then they’d go to plan B. Maggie slipped the baby into Mulder’s arms, which closed around her as though drawing strength from her.

Finally he looked up from his daughter. "Where’s Langly?’

"It takes a while to thaw the stuff under controlled conditions Mulder. But her temperature isn’t rising anymore. I think we’ve bought her some time."

"Is it enough?" Byers and Walter exchanged glances. "Nevermind, I don’t want to hear." Mulder collapsed into a chair and took the cup Beth handed him. He couldn’t stay away more than a few minutes and was at her side again. The others settled in to wait.

Walter brought Maggie a cup of tea where she waited with her feet up at his insistence, "Drink this, Maggie. Will you eat anything?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly the wedding night you imagined." He squeezed her hand. "I’m sorry, Walter – "

"Shh. Don’t give it another thought. I married into the whole family Maggie; I’m as worried about Dana as you are. And Mulder. I don’t know how much more his mind can take. If anything happens to her . . . "

"We can’t let it Walter. If she needs more of my blood, I’m going to give it to her. Don’t Walter." She took his hand as he started to protest; "There’s no way I can live with myself if I don’t do everything . . ."

"Let’s give Katy’s blood a try Maggie. She should have a double immunity. It’s the best hope." He folded her into his arms and they held each other, no other words to say.

After a few moments she pulled away. "Try to talk to Fox. See if you can get him to eat or rest."

Walter sighed. "I’ll try." He had no hope that any words would move him from her side, but Maggie was right. He needed to at least lie down a few minutes. Mulder didn’t even acknowledge his presence, continuing to caress Scully’s face murmuring to her in too low a voice for Walter to hear. After a couple of attempts he retreated back to Maggie shaking his head.

Langly arrived shortly after and Byers hurried to him to take the precious blood he brought.

"Mulder? We’ve got it, why don’t you leave? We’ll call you." The look on Mulder’s face froze any further comments. He looked over at Langly and inserted the container of blood into the shunt Beth had placed in her arm.

It took an agonizingly long time watching the blood make its way into her system. Beth kept a close watch on her vitals and Mulder tried to keep from asking for details every two minutes.

Finally Beth looked up, "Her temperature’s down half a degree." Walter and Byers exchanged glances, that could be from the icy water in which she was still submerged, but they could hope.

After thirty minutes her temperature had dropped nearly three degrees. "Mulder, she’s doing better. You need to lie down for a while, before you fall down."

"I’m fine, and I’m not leaving." He didn’t bother to look over at Walter.

"What if we bring a cot in here. You’ll be right here, I’m not asking you to sleep, just rest a little. Beth and Byers will watch her." When Mulder didn’t protest, Walter motioned for Kevin to bring in the cot. They wedged it in at the side of the tub so that Scully could be accessed, and like an automaton he lay down. Maggie placed a blanket over him.

He did fall asleep clutching her hand. When Scully's temperature had dropped another degree Byers approached Walter and Maggie who were dozing on the couch.

"I want to remove her from the tub. We need to know what’s bringing down her fever – the tub or the transfusion."

"But what if her fever goes back up?"

"I just want to lift her out of the tub. We don’t have to move her away. We just need to monitor her vitals out of the ice."

"Walter?"

"We need to do it Maggie."

"Should we wake Fox?"

"No. It won’t help either one of them. Let’s run the test, try not to disturb him."

They were careful. She was lifted from the tub and wrapped in another dry sheet. Langly and Kevin held her as Beth began monitoring her temperature and pulse constantly.

Finally she looked up and smiled, "It’s continuing to drop. Let’s move her to a bed. Make sure Mulder doesn’t wake up and discover her gone. He’ll lose it for sure then."

No one tried to dispute that. The men carried her to a bed in the infirmary while Walter bent over Mulder. "Mulder, she’s better." Not even bothering with niceties. He needed the essential information to wake up to. "Mulder, did you hear me? Scully’s improving. We’ve moved her to a bed. Wake up."

The word Scully penetrated wherever he was and he jerked awake. Walter’s hand was on his shoulder. "She’s improving Mulder. We moved her to a bed so that Beth could look after her easier. Do you understand?" Mulder’s eyes were still glassy.

"She’s not dead."

"No, Mulder. She’s better. Come on, I’ll show you." Walter helped him to his feet and walked him to other room. Mulder’s grip didn’t loosen until he saw her in the bed, an IV in one arm and breathing.

"Mulder, come over here." Beth beckoned him to the bed they had pushed up to her bed and he lay back down, Mulder’s fingers intertwined with hers and he was asleep again.

"Beth?" She looked up at Walter. "Did you slip him something?"

She blushed but her head came up. "Yes. He needed to slip away for awhile; especially if she died and that’s what I thought was going to happen. It won’t last long and if you don’t say anything, he won’t ever know."

"You’re probably right, but let’s discuss it next time. Okay?" She nodded, abashed until he smiled at her. "It was a good idea."

No one knew what to expect in the way of a recovery. As far as they knew she was the only person ever to recover from the virus. If Mulder was suspicious that he had been taken out of the game it was never mentioned.

Scully opened her eyes finally several hours after being moved to the bed. Beth noted the time and realized that Mulder was probably the only one that had slept in nearly 36 hours. She commandeered Mary and Anne at that point to watch over her patient and sent everyone else, including herself off to sleep. They’d learned so much, but for now they needed to rest

*****