This is my story for the AOL X-Files creative board. These characters are
not used with permission, yadda yadda yadda, you know the line by now. This
story is copyrighted by the author. Me.
I find this story really confusing, and I wrote it. But that's just me.
Maybe you, reading it from a reader's perspective will understand it better
then I do. 

Here goes nothin'.....

Thunder 
By: Anna Adler
(AnnaX45@aol.com)
12/26/94
  
  Fox Mudler stared out the window at the rain pouring down. He heard a
great crash of thunder and jumped a little. Reflexes, Mulder assured
himself... He sighed, and spun a ball point pen around on his desk
absent-mindedly, waiting for his partner to return. Hopefully, with good
news.
  "I've got bad news, Mulder" Dana Scully said walking back into their
office. "The flight has been canceled, due to an impending storm." 
  "Impending? It looks like it's already here." Mulder said, clearly
disappointed.
  "Well, it's going to get worse. I sure don't want to be up in the air
during this." She said. Mulder said nothing, he only continued to stare
out the window. "I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted this one."
  "Damn it Scully, we were this close! I had this guy, I had him..." Mulder
said, looking at his shoes.
  "It's always 'Damn it Scully, we were this close' this lead could've
turned out to be nothing and you know it."
  "Not this time. I had conformation from this guy, I don't think he would
pull one on me."
  "Mulder, they all give you conformation. You had no name, no phone number,
and no description. All you got was a call and an order to meet you at some
cafe in the middle of nowhere for papers concerning the cover-up of a UFO.
It could be a trap Mulder, and he could be setting you up. Just stay in DC
and maybe something good will come out of it. You never know."
  "No," Mulder muttered "You never know."
  "I'm going home now. We're the only people left here at this ungodly hour."
  "I'll walk you to your car" he offered.
  Mulder and Scully took the elevator from their office to the lobby. It
seemed like Scully was right, everyone had left, before the storm hit. Frank
Johnson, the head of FBI security rushed up to them in a hurry. Mulder
didn't especially like Frank. "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, the storm is
awful outside. Why don't you just wait in your office for it to calm down.
I don't recommend you driving in that. I wouldn't want to see you get hurt,
Agent Scully. Oh. You either Mulder."
  "I think we'll be fine really, Frank." Scully said "If we stay here any
longer, we'd have spent all night at the office."
  "Well, it wouldn't be a first for you Mulder." Frank said. Just then there
was an immense crash of thunder and the light in the lobby of the national
FBI headquarters went out for a moment, then flickered back on. Scully
noticed that Mulder looked a little shaken.
  "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to stay, at least until the storm
lets up." Scully said finally. Mulder shrugged.
  "Whatever." he said, secretly glad that he wasn't going to have to go
home and bear the storm out by himself.
  
******

  The same storm that seemed to be directly over the FBI building, had just
moved from what had seemed to be over the NSA building. It had downed trees
and made everything unbearably soaked.
  Her jeans were covered in mud, and the plain gray t-shirt was drenched
with a combination of sweat and blood, but mostly rain. She fell again, this
time tripping over a tree trunk and splitting her lip on a limb. She ignored
the pain, righted herself and ran on into the darkness.
  
******

  "Men, this is a situation we've got here. Every moment we spend talking
is a moment we lose, at a time where those moments are critical." National
Security Agent Jack Huston paused to wonder if what he just said made any
sense, and decided that he didn't care. "The girl, as you know, has escaped
and was sighted by security post 6 heading north-northeast. Because of the
storm we can only assume that she will reach the road before we can reach
her, however, in this type of situation we cannot afford to assume. Alpha
team, you will comb the woods and Beta team will take the jeeps and get out
on the road and surrounding areas. We can't let her get away, men. We take
her alive tonight, or we shoot to kill."
  This was enough to arise some suspicion from the teams. "Sir," one man
spoke up, "Shoot to kill? The kid's only seventeen."
  "Well this seventeen year old 'kid' is a national security risk. If you
see her and she's getting away, if you don't think you can take her, kill
her. This is a special situation, and we can't injure her. I don't feel like
explaining why right now. Is this understood?"
  "Yes sir." the teams said, without much enthusiasm. They didn't want to
be chasing after a scared kid in the middle of the night. Even if she was
a security risk, they couldn't see why killing her would be an option. As
the teams moved out, Agent Huston himself wondered why they would consider
killing her. His job was basically to give the orders, not understand them.
  
******

  She heard the engines of the jeeps start up not far from her. She must not
be far from the main road, she reasoned, since the garage for the jeeps was
not far from the main road. She let that thought sink in, and processed it.
She had a plan. The girl caught her breath and began running again. She saw
lights ahead of her, lights that lit the main road, coming through the trees.
She ran even faster until she realized something was wrong. Wasn't there a
fence around here somewhere? Her question was answered, as she ran right
into it. Without hesitation she began climbing the fence, she climbed fairly
high before she felt the entwine of barbed wire at the top. She pulled
herself over the barbed wire carefully, but still cut her upper arm on it.
She managed to climb down the other side successfully. She was one step
closer to freedom.

******

  Dana Scully was not comfortable. She would have liked a couch, but instead
she was sitting on a pile of sport jackets that Mulder had been accidentally
leaving at the office. Mulder won the coin toss and the privilege of
lounging on both chairs. Scully thought that was unfair since it was his
fault they were stuck here, but she was in no mood to argue with Mulder
tonight. He had lectured her on the structure of the universe (which she
already knew but went along for the fun of it) and on black holes and time
travel and of course... the existence of extra-terrestrials. It now looked
like he was falling asleep. Scully was getting closer to that state when the
loudest clap of thunder that night jarred her awake. It did more than just
jar Mulder. He jumped a foot into the air and fell off the chairs that
rolled back just enough to let him land on the floor. Scully didn't know
what to say. She'd never seen him this shaken up before. Scully didn't think
it was the storm because he was never bothered by them before. "If you don't
mind my asking...Mulder are you okay?" Scully asked.
  "Yeah, fine." he replied, picking himself off the floor. "Why do you ask?"
  "You seem a little jumpy tonight. Is it the storm?"
  "Maybe. Do you want me to get you anything from the snack machine? I'm
gonna get some sunflower seeds myself." he said, changing the subject and
heading for the door.
  "Don't change the subject on me Mulder. We're friends. If somethings
bothering you, you can tell me."
  Mulder turned around. "I'll tell you when I get back. I'm really itching
for those seeds."
  "Why don't you get me some too." Scully suggested as he walked out the
door.
  
******

  "Beta team to Huston, repeat, Beta team to Huston. Huston, do you copy?"
  "Yes, damn it, I copy." Agent Huston said picking up his walkie talkie
from the floor in his office. "Huston here. Go ahead Beta team."
  "We've been driving around the area for two and a half hours sir and we
found no trace of the girl."
  "What about Alpha team?"
  "I don't know sir."
  "Well keep looking then. I don't want to lose this one, you understand."
  "Roger sir....out."
  Huston put down his walkie talkie to think. Just because Beta team hasn't
found her outside the fence doesn't mean the Alpha team isn't in pursuit of
her right now. Jack picked up his walkie talkie again. "Huston to Alpha
team."
  "This is Alpha team. Go ahead Huston."
  "Have you found her yet, have you found anything?" Huston inquired.
  "Well sir, you're not going to like this..."
  "Give it to me straight." Huston said, a bit more dramatic then it was
meant to be.
  "We found a piece of gray fabric, matching the girls shirt on the barbed
wire at the top of the perimeter fence."
  "Are you sure it's hers?"
  "We're quite sure."

******

  "I had a dream last night, Scully." Fox Mulder said. "I was in a forest,
but I wasn't really in the forest. I just saw what was going on in the
forest. There was a girl and she was running and she was very scared. I
don't know who she was running from, or why, but I could tell she was very
scared. For some reason, I keep seeing the dream in my mind and I've been
trying not to think about it. I just can't seem to forget about the dream."
  "Do you think it means something? Or was it just weird?"
  "Scully, the girl reminded me of my sister. I thought she was my sister."
  
******

  The girl was running along the side of the road now. She had made it off
the main road and now she figured she was at least a mile away from the NSA
housing facility. There was a gas station up ahead and she slowed to a jog
as she got close to it. She felt self-conscious walking into the mini-mart
looking the way she did. The man behind the counter stared at her.
  "What happened to you?" he asked.
  "My car broke down." she answered. "I need to find my..um, cousin. He's
at the FBI building, could you tell me where it is?"
  "It's a little late to be roaming the streets of DC alone isn't it?
Besides nobody's going to be at the FBI building at this hour."
  "I just need to pick up something of his."
  "Like the FBI is gonna let some muddy teenager in to get something off
her cousins desk in the middle of the night."
  "Are you going to give me the directions or not?" she asked. He did
eventually give her directions and offered her a ride which she turned
down. The man had a point though. She hadn't thought about how she was
going to get into the building to see her "cousin". She decided she'd wait
outside the front doors until he came into work the next morning and then
talk to him. That was a good enough plan for now.

******

  "What are you saying, Mulder? That you are seeing your sister in dreams
and that she is alive and running through the woods?"
  "I don't know. Maybe. That's why I'm confused. I couldn't really identify
her as Samantha but I had an sense that it was her."
  "Are you sure that you didn't just want to think it was her?" Scully asked.
  "I might have. I don't know what to think tonight. I just...." Mulder
trailed off. "Last night was the twenty third anniversary."
  "Oh Fox," she said, "I didn't know. I'm sorry."
  "Don't apologize, it's not your fault." Mulder said, wiping his eyes with
the back of his hand. "Hey. You called me Fox."
  "Yeah, I guess I did."
  "Do I get to call you Dana?"
  "Yes." Scully said, "But only once."
  "Okay." Mulder said grinning. "Dana, do you think we can go home now?
The storm appears to have let up." He was right, outside it was only
drizzling.
  "I think we can go now." Scully agreed. "Are you still going to walk me
to my car?"
  "Why? You don't think you can make it on your own?" Mulder joked.
  "Never mind," Scully said reaching for her briefcase. "I'll see you
tomorrow Mulder."
  "Hey wait a second. I was joking. Sure, I'll walk you to your car." he
said. Mulder and Scully walked out into the rainy night. Scully's car was
the only one in this section of the parking garage. She put her briefcase
on the roof of her car and fished around in her pocket for her keys. Mulder
watched her do all this under the fluorescent lights of the parking garage.
Scully waved at him through the window and drove away. Mulder turned away
and began walking when he heard a thump. He turned around and noticed that
Scully had forgotten to take her briefcase in the car. She had driven away
with it on the roof. He picked it up off the pavement and decided to go
back up to the office, to put it on her desk. It was too late to drive over
to her apartment.

******

  The girl saw the building across the street. The words "J. Edgar Hoover"
were lit up on the front. "This must be the place" she said to herself. The
rain started again, it went from a light drizzle to a downpour. She ran for
the shelter of the closest parking garage and discovered that there was only
one car there. She sat down next to it, glad to be out of the rain. Maybe
the owner of the car could give her some money. She was cold and now she was
wet again. The girl decided to think. How was she going to find Fox Mulder?
She had no idea what he looked like. Sitting outside the doors to the
building wouldn't help if she didn't know who she was looking for. Perhaps
the person who owned the car knew Fox Mulder. The girl was getting tired,
she yawned and leaned up against the cold cement wall of the garage and
closed her eyes. She was resting for less then a minute when she heard
footsteps. They were coming closer to the car. She sat up and tried to get
her hair out of her face.

******

  Fox Mulder saw somebody sitting by his car. It looked like a female, but
a young one, maybe a teenager. He decided not to draw his gun yet. He kept
walking towards his car and pretended that he didn't see the girl. When he
finally got around fifteen feet from his car, he realized that the girl was
covered in mud and soaking wet. "Hi," he said cautiously "You look a little
wet." he continued, for lack of anything else to say.
  "Yeah," she said "I am."
  "Are you okay? You like you got beat up. Your lip's bleeding, you know."
Mulder said. She put her finger to her lip, it was swollen.
  "Yeah. I know. I'm okay, I guess. I could really use your help though.
Do you work here?"
  "Yes." Mulder said.
  "I was wondering if you could help me find somebody else who works here."
  "Okay. Who?"
  "His name is Fox Mulder. I'm pretty sure he works here." the girl said.
  "He works here," Mulder said "What do you need to see him for?"
  "I really can't tell you that. It's a matter of...national security."
  "Okay," Mulder said, amused "I'll help you find him. Do you have a place
to stay?" the girl shook her head, no.
  "Do you want to go back to my apartment and take a shower or something
and then I'll find him for you?"
  "I don't know." The girl said, "I don't know you. How do I know that you
are really even in the FBI. Let me see your badge."
  Mulder felt around for his badge in his coat pocket. If he showed it to
her, she would know who he was. He wondered what she needed to tell him, he
was curious about the matter of national security. He handed her the badge.
  The girl studied it closely. "Hey." she said. "You're Fox Mulder."
  "Okay. You know my name, now what's yours."
  "Karen." she said.
  "Karen." Fox repeated. He looked at her for a moment before he realized
that he knew the girl. "Oh my god.." he said.
  "What is it?"
  "I know you." he said.
  "You do? I don't know you." Karen said.
  "You're from my dream, you're the girl from my dream." Mulder said. He
opened the car door, dazed. "Why don't you get cleaned up, and then we can
talk. Okay?" he offered.
  "Okay." Karen said, getting in the car. "Fox?" she said "Could you not
tell anybody about this?"
  "Sure." Mulder said, still confused, not bothering to ask her not to call
him Fox.

******

  Agent Huston had been pacing his office for the last twenty minutes
wondering what to do. He has already put out reports to local police
departments and to the Washington branch of the FBI. It was hard for him
to explain why finding Karen James was so important when he really didn't
know that himself.

******

  While Karen was in the shower, Mulder tried to look for something she
could wear. The mud on her clothing had probably left permanent stains on
the upholstery in his car, and he didn't want the same to happen to his
apartment. She could wear sweat pants and his FBI Training Academy t-shirt
until her clothes got out of the wash. He was looking for something she
could eat when he heard the shower turn off. Karen opened the door a crack
and stuck her head out. "Um, I don't have any clothes..." Mulder closed his
eyes and tossed her the stuff.
  Mulder had been unsure before but now he could tell that Karen was
definitely the girl from his dream. Now that she got the mud off her face,
it was easy to see.
  She sat across from him at the kitchen table drinking hot chocolate. She
seemed much more relaxed then when Mulder had first found her in the parking
garage. "So." Mulder began, "Why did you need to talk to me?"
  "You're assigned to the X-Files right?"
  "Yeah..." he said.
  "Well, I've got one for you. I saw a UFO."
  "So have a lot of people."
  "Well I saw it kill somebody and there were a bunch of other people there
too. The NSA got involved and they took us all for questioning, like it was
a real big deal they locked us up for a few days. While I was there I would
sneak around because those NSA guys aren't too bright and I took information
from someone's desk and it practically confirmed that the UFO killed that
guy. I mean, they were denying the whole thing happened, they told us we
were crazy. Anyway, I didn't think they knew I took the stuff because they
let me go out somewhere and I hid the papers. They let everybody else leave
but I had to stay. They never said anything about the papers but I know
that's what they're after me for. The thing is, that everybody else who saw
it and got to go home, got killed."
  "Are you sure?"
  "Yeah. I'm sure."
  "Can I ask where your parents are during all this?"
  "My parents were in a plane crash before I was even two weeks old. I lived
with fourteen different sets of foster parents ever since."
  "What about the ones you were living with when you saw the UFO?"
  "They were there, they got killed in a fire."
  "Oh." Mulder said, and was quiet for a minute. He had to sort things out.
"Karen," he said, "What kind of information was in these documents?"
  "Well, there was the report papers of the sighting, but by accident I also
got a few other classified files."
  "Did you read them?"
  "Yes."
  "Do you remember what they said?"
  "Yes."
  "Can you tell me?"
  "No, I don't think that I should."
  "How come?"
  "I mean, I'll tell you." she assured him "But not right now, it really
isn't the right time. I'm going to tell you now though, that your name was
on some of those documents and that's why I came to look for you."
  "My name was on the documents?"
  "Yes."
  "Can you tell me why?"
  "Not right now, I can't."
  "Okay, well you knew I was assigned to the X-Files. Did the documents
tell you that?"
  "No. I overheard a lot of conversations about you at the NSA. They always
joked about Fox Mulder, the UFO chaser."
  "Everyone always does..." Mulder said, more to himself. Karen yawned.
Mulder looked at his watch. "Karen, it's three-thirty in the morning. I have
to get up in three hours to go to work. I think that I'm going to bring you
with me. I'd like for you to meet my partner."
  "Dana Scully?" Karen asked.
  "Yes. I think she'd like to here what you had to say. Why don't you take
the bedroom and I'll get the couch?"
  "Are you sure?" Karen said, "I'll sleep on the couch."
  "No, I like the couch better anyway." Mulder said, smiling.
  
******

  FBI Agent Chris Donalds was looking at a message that was posted at every
level by the NSA. A girl, around seventeen had escaped from a minimum
security housing center. It was imperative that she be found immediately.
Chris laughed. The NSA was always making a fuss over nothing. He tossed the
notice on his desk and did not show it to anybody.

******

  Fox Mulder was already in the office when Scully arrived. He was sitting
at his desk looking over the report on their latest case. Karen was sitting
in the corner, listening to Mulder's walkman, oblivious to everything.
Scully did not notice her when she came into the office.
  "Mulder, did you see my briefcase anywhere?" she asked. Mulder pointed to
her desk.
  "Gosh Scully, you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached." he said.
  "Funny Mulder. Watch out or you might be the one losing their head. Who's
your friend?" she asked, motioning towards Karen.
  "That's a very interesting question Scully."
  "Well, who is she?"
  "Last night, I found her sitting outside my car." he leaned close to
Scully, "She's wanted by the NSA." he whispered.
  "Mulder!" Scully exclaimed, "What for?"
  "Theft of official documents and threats of exposure."
  "She's only a kid Mulder."
  "Yeah, but Scully, she's a smart kid."
  "Mulder, I hope you haven't gotten yourself into something..."
  "My name is on those documents." Mulder said. "I have to know. We need
to get her to show us those documents"
  "If we see those documents, in fact, now that we even know about the
documents, we're also national security risks."
  "Good." Mulder said, "I've always wondered what is was like..."
  "Mulder! I need the whole story. Now."

******

  "I think Mulder is fathering illegitimate children." Frank Johnson joked.
  "What makes you think that?" Agent Chris Donalds said, pouring himself a
cup of coffee, not interested in whatever gossip Johnson was spreading about
Mulder.
  "He came in here real early with a teenage kid."
  "And that makes him a father of an illegitimate child because..."
  "Look at the facts, it plain to see."
  "Goodbye Frank," Donalds said, leaving "I have work to do."
  Chris Donalds walked to his desk and pulled the file on his latest case,
moving the message he got earlier from the NSA. Escaped national security
risk, seventeen year old girl, must be found immediately. He laughed to
himself, that was almost as stupid as the thought of Mulder fathering
illegitimate kids.
  
******

  "And now," Karen said, concluding her story, "I'm the only one alive."
  "Okay." Dana Scully said, "Let me get this straight, you and a bunch of
other people saw a UFO kill a guy. You got taken by the NSA, you stole
official documents, now everybody but you is dead, and you escaped and are
now a fugitive."
  "Yeah, I guess that's about it."
  "Are you going to show us the documents?" Mulder asked.
  "I don't know, I don't want to put you in any danger."
  "But if my name is on those documents, I need to know what they say."
Fox said.
  "I know." Karen said "Okay. I'll tell you what they said."
  "Mulder," Scully said, "Lets not talk here."
  "Why?" he asked.
  "I don't know. I just don't think we should talk here."
  "Okay...why don't we go to my apartment."
  
******

  Chris was having trouble concentrating today. He had a new baby at home
that cried for hours on end and it was his night on duty. He was lucky if
he got three hours of sleep last night. He didn't really feel like working
on the case, it would help if his partner was here but he was on vacation.
Chris rearranged the papers on his desk for a while and was trying to find
a place for the NSA bulletin. He finally decided on the trashcan when Fox
Mulder and his partner walked by with a teenage girl, Mulder's illegitimate
child. Chris realized the girl looked strangely familiar. He looked back
to the bulletin... she looked exactly like the girl from the photo. He was
sure it was the same girl. He quickly dialed up the NSA.

******
  
  After making a stop at the place where Karen had hidden the documents,
the three of them went to Mulder's apartment. Karen had last minute doubts
as to whether or not to show them the papers but Fox convinced her that he
needed to see them. They sat in silence for a moment while he read them.
When he was done, he placed them on the coffee table and stared at a point
on the wall, somewhere to the left of Scully's head. She picked them up and
skimmed the contents. Most of it was stuff that Mulder would be jumping
with joy for, and then she found one paragraph:
  "...One member we should especially be keeping a close eye on is one Fox
Mulder. He works for the FBI in the "X-Files" which puts him closer to us
then we would like. We feel that he has reason to believe that we are in
possession of information regarding his sister, one Samantha Mulder. Had
the case been that we had no such information regarding her, this would be
no means for alarm. However this is not the case. The girl, Samantha, came
into our care after she was recovered from a UFO salvage mission early in
1990. She claims that she was abducted in 1972 and records prove that she
disappeared that date. However, one notes that this girl is only around 15.
Her exact age has yet to be determined. She has not been given any
information regarding her brother or family and all of her requests for
meeting them have been denied. At the present, Samantha Mulder is being held
at the highest security possible and only three people actually know all the
details in this matter. Their identities at this time, are not being
disclosed. In all reality, Fox Mulder will not find out about his sister's
whereabouts or even the fact that she is alive. However, it remains
imperative that this stays a high security matter...."
  Scully looked up from the paper. "Mulder..." she said, and didn't know
what to say after that. "I really don't know what to say."
  "Neither do I." Mulder said. He got up and walked over to the phone. He
picked up the receiver and was about to dial when he heard a clicking sound.
He hung up the phone and went over to the window. There was a van outside,
right under his window.
  "Who were you trying to call?" Scully asked.
  Mulder ignored her question. "We have to leave. I think we're being
watched."
  "What?" Scully said.
  "Let's leave. I think we're being watched." he said again.
  
******

  The phone rang in Jack Huston's office. Huston had slept in his office
overnight, and somebody had called this morning and told him that he knew
where the girl was. She was with Mulder at the FBI building and they had
left for his apartment about an hour and a half ago. He put a stakeout team
outside his apartment to watch them. He answered the phone on the third
ring.
  "Hello?"
  "Agent Huston, this is the stakeout team."
  "Okay. Go ahead."
  "They are leaving his apartment and getting into Mulder's car."
  "I'd like you to follow them," Huston directed, "I want you to take the
girl alive, or I want you to kill her. There's no in-between."
  "But sir..."
  "Those are your orders."
  "What about Mulder and Scully?"
  "Try not to hurt them, they don't really matter. I'd like you to bring
them back here, if you can."
  "Okay sir. They're leaving now."
  "Follow them." Huston said and hung up. Hopefully, this would be the end
of this stupid chase. He still didn't understand the orders he was giving,
and he didn't like that.

******

  Fox Mulder pulled out of his parking space and looked in the rear view
mirror at the van, which pulled out too. He slowly turned out of the complex
and made a left turn, not quite knowing where he was going, but he knew he
was being followed. "We're being followed." he said.
  "By that blue van?" Scully asked.
  "Yes."
  "Where are we going?"
  "I don't know." Mulder said. "Where do you want to go?"
  "I'm not sure." Scully said. "Make a right here." she suggested.
  "Why?"
  "Just go off somewhere stupid and try to lose them." Scully said.
  "Somewhere stupid? Like a field?"
  "Wherever. Make another right." she instructed. They drove, taking every
turn they could, trying to lose the van. Mulder began to speed up as they
got on a empty road through a field. Mulder was totally lost and the van was
still following them. It started to speed up and switched into the other
lane, since there were no oncoming cars.
  "Fasten your seatbelts." Mulder said, as the speedometer pushed a hundred.
The van sped up and soon was next to them. It was trying to edge them off
the road but Mulder kept going faster.
  "Can we go any faster?" Karen asked.
  "Not really, I don't think I'll be able to control the car." Mulder said,
as the van continued to tap on the side of the car. It put on a great burst
of speed and turned directly in front of Mulder's car, forcing them to turn
off the road into the field. Six men jumped out of the van, and ran over to
Mulder's car. They all had guns out already.
  "Turn off your engine!" one of them yelled at Mulder, who turned it off.
"Get out of the car, all of you!" he yelled.
  Mulder looked at Scully. "Let me talk to them." she said. "You stay here."
  Scully got out of the car and closed the door behind her. "Yes?" she
asked the men.
  "Will you please ask them to get out of the vehicle too?" the man said.
  "Not until you tell us who you are and why you're following us."
  "My name's Rob Wilson, I'm with the NSA and you're traveling with a
national security risk. She escaped from us earlier and we need to take her
back."
  "Well I'm sorry. I'm Dana Scully, with the FBI and I can't hand her over
without at least knowing why she's a national security risk."
  "Ma'am, the girl has stolen documents from us and therefore she is aware
of information that is of national security."
  "What would you do if I said that I had read those documents too?" Scully
asked.
  "Then I'd have to say that you've become a national security risk also.
And Agent Mulder as well, if he read the documents too."
  "I see, and what would that mean?"
  "Ms. Scully, I don't understand why you're asking these questions because
as a federal agent, you know this. I need to ask you whether or not you and
Agent Mulder have read the documents as well."
  "We have."
  "Then, I am going to have to ask you to leave the car."
  "And if we don't?" Scully asked, trying to stall the inevitable.
  "We will have to remove you by force."
  Fox Mulder had been listening to this conversation and could not
understand why Scully was asking so many stupid questions. He did
understand though, that if he did not get out of the car, he would be
removed by force. Mulder looked back at Karen. She had an interesting
look on her face. She was scared, visibly, but there was something else on
her face. Something he couldn't identify. Something that reminded him
greatly of his sister. He shook this thought off immediately, there wasn't
any time for it. "Karen," he asked, "Do we want to go out with honor?"
  "Yeah." she said, "I don't want to go back without a fight. Um, I wanted
to thank you for trying to help me out and all, and I'm sorry that you're
in trouble now."
  "Hey look, this isn't over yet. It could take a turn for the better, you
know." Mulder said, encouragingly.
  "I've learned not to get my hopes up lately."
  "I know. So have I... Karen?"
  "Yeah?"
  "Will you tell me if my sister's alive?"
  His question caught Karen off guard. She didn't expect him to ask that now.
  "Samantha's alive." she said finally.
  "Tell me everything you know."
  "I met Samantha once. This was before I found the stuff so I didn't know
who she was. Like the paper said, there was a UFO salvage operation. It
crashed, Samantha said, trying to return her. She was really upset, she said
she would've gotten to go home and see her brother and parents and now she
was stuck in this place and couldn't leave. She hated the guys at the NSA
because they're a bunch of jerks. Everybody hates them. She talked a lot
about you. Of course, I didn't know it was you at the time. Anyway, she
missed you a great deal and wanted to leave."
  Karen looked up for the first time and saw Fox staring straight ahead,
tears running freely down his face. He made no effort to wipe them away,
even though six NSA agents and Dana were watching him.
  "Fox," Karen said, not sure if she should tell this part. "If it wasn't
for this one thing that Sam told me, I never would have come looking for
you. I know I said that it was because your name was on the papers, but
it was this."
  Fox turned around. "What is it?" he said, in barely a whisper.
  "She said that if I were to ever get out of there, would I please find
her brother Fox Mulder and tell him that she loves him."
  "Why was it so important to you?"
  "Because, I don't know that I don't have a brother out there too, and if
I did, I'd want somebody to tell him that I love him." By now Karen was in
tears also and the NSA agents were getting impatient. Rob Wilson openened
Mulder's door.
  "Please, Agent Mulder, get out of the car."
  As if out of instinct, Mulder reached for his gun. That was enough
incentive for Wilson to jump towards him and try to pull him out of the car.
Two other agents joined in the struggle until Mulder was disarmed. Another
agent was standing next to Scully, holding her arm, should she try to run.
One grabbed Karen out of the car. She kicked at him, but he was bigger that
her, and stronger. They all stood there for a minute, with nothing to say.
Until Wilson spoke up. "Agent Mulder and Agent Scully, I want you to get in
your car, and drive away, and forget this ever happened."
  "I'm afraid I can't do that" Mulder said, "I'm cursed with a photographic
memory."
  "It would be in your best interest to forget, we have our ways to make
you, if you choose not to cooperate."
  "What are you planning on doing with Karen?" Scully asked.
  "Karen will return with us to the NSA until such time as she decides to
cooperate with our demands." Wilson said.
  What happened next, to Mulder seemed to be in slow motion.
  Karen somehow managed to break free from the agent who was watching her.
She ran to her right. Towards the car. He pulled out his gun and aimed it
at her. Mulder, with all his strength, pulled away and lunged at him trying
to get his gun. The agent who was holding Mulder pulled his gun out and
tried to aim it at him but shot to soon, and it swerved to the right.
Towards the car.
  Mulder was on the ground with his eyes shut when he heard a soft thump.
He was afraid to open his eyes.

******

  Fox Mulder sat at his desk, staring out the window at the pouring rain.
He was tearing a sheet of paper into tiny pieces and putting them in his
coffee mug, still half full. He was waiting for his partner Dana Scully to
return, hopefully with good news.
  "I have good news Mulder," she said, "But I also have bad news."
  "Good news first." he requested.
  "Okay, they agreed to conduct an investigation on our complaint under
the grounds of mistreatment of suspects," she said, eyeing Mulder's bruised
cheek, "and also of phone tapping without a written warrant."
  "What about murder?"
  "That's the bad part. Since there was no record of Karen ever being born,
and of course no record of her ever dying, she can't be murdered because she
doesn't exist. And the NSA is denying it all to."
  "What? She said she lived with fourteen sets of foster parents, they must
remember her."
  "I'm sure they do, but the social service department says that although
they remember her, her name has been erased form their computer and all her
paper files are gone. Someone's very carefully made sure that Karen James
never existed."
  "Damn."
  "Mulder, it's been a long day, I'm going to go home. I think you need
some sleep."
  "I'll leave in a little while. Have a good night Scully."
  "You too Mulder." she said, walking out the door.
  Fox Mulder was alone again. He stared out the window at the pouring rain.
He wanted time to think about things alone. He wanted to think about his
sister.

******

  After he and Scully were escorted to the NSA building, they spent twelve
hours talking to them, telling them to forget what they knew. Mulder was
resistant and that is probably why they were there so long. They had to sign
what seemed like hundreds of documents saying that if they mentioned this to
anybody, there would be trouble.
  Mulder kept asking about his sister, he wanted to see his sister. No,
they kept saying, your sister is not here, we have no record of a Samantha
Mulder. What about the documents? he kept asking. No, they would say, there
are no documents. The NSA had, of course, taken the documents and destroyed
them immediately.
  As Mulder and Scully were escorted back to their car, Agent Jack Huston
apologized to them. Then he informed them that they were being watched very
closely, not only by the NSA but by the FBI and probably the CIA as well.
"Don't try and find your sister," he warned "It could get you, and perhaps
Agent Scully, killed."

******

  So Fox Mulder sat in his office, listening to the rain and thunder, and
for the second time in his life, he felt completely helpless.
  
The End
