Got 'till it's Gone.

Meisler Residence

Tuesday 11:51pm

The lace curtains blew gently in the wind. The house was blanketed in darkness. Inside the room, beyond the curtains, lies a small young girl sleeping through dreams of happiness. With each rise and fall of her chest, the quilt that covers her slowly falls away from her tiny body. Outside, a shadow creeps across the front yard and up the ivory lattice that covers the far side of the double story house. Inside the room, the wind has stopped. The curtains no longer move in the breeze. In her bed, the child sits bolt upright and looks around the room in a daze. Before she knows it, a blanket is being thrown over her head and she is being moved from her bed. She tries to scream, but the blanket muffles her cries. With grace and speed, agility and strength, the shadow is down in the yard within seconds, making it's way down the street holding the struggling girl and preventing her from escape. He's saved another one, or so he thinks. He has her in him arms, now she needed to be set free.

FBI Headquarters

Wednesday 8am

The basement door opened and Dana Scully entered the rather clutted office. Fox Mulder, sitting behind his desk, stands to greet his partner and waves a white invitation at her. "Did you get an invite to the big birthday bash?".

"Not exactly a birthday bash", she replies, "no 'bash' could ever be as formal as this will be. Do you even know what they have planned for this thing?"

"Don't tell me, let me have a few guesses". He stops and mimics the thinker statue. "Stripper? Live band? Dead Poets Society? How about the local comedy club?"

"Wishful thinking Mulder, but they're going to spoil your fun. It's somewhere along the lines of a formal dress awards ceremony. All in honor of Mr. Hoover himself. Followed by an 'in honor of' dance, just the thing to let your new shoes give you a dozen blisters to bear as their token of gratitude".

"Ouch", he muses.

"And what's more, they won't let you attend unless you have an escort for the night. I guess that phone number you got off Frohike will come in handy", she smirks.

"How did you know about that?"

"I just know", she says as she sits down opposite Mulder.

"So are you going Scully?"

"Maybe, why do you ask?"

"Oh well, if you wanted to go, but couldn't find anyone to go with, not that I'm suggesting you can't, I'm free".

She grins, "are you asking me to be your date?"

"Escort sounds more professional".

"You being professional? Well I guess you should know what's professional and what's not".

"Hey give me a break ok? It's great to see you are on my side", he cries.

"Sorry. So what did you call me in for so early?" she asks.

"I wanted to talk to you before you went up to see Skinner. He wants to see you about something. I..."

She cut him off, "Skinner wants to see me?"

"Yeah about..." He looks at his watch. "About 12 minutes ago".

"Mulder!" she cried as she jumped up and headed out of the office.

Skinner's Office 8:12am

"You're late Agent Scully", Skinner responded as the agent entered his office.

"I know Sir, I'm sorry. Agent Mulder only just told me you wanted to see me". She sat down.

"Yes, well, I'm not the only one who has been kept waiting".

"Sir?"

"Another Agent has come to us. He has been transferred from Cleveland. I've called you in here because I'd like you to assist him for the next few weeks. Help him to learn the ropes of D.C", Skinner informed her.

"When you say a few weeks, how long exactly do you mean?"

"About 5 weeks, is that a problem Agent Scully?"

"No Sir, no problem". Inside she was screaming. She would have liked a little bit of notice.

"And another thing I would like to ask of you Agent Scully", Skinner began," try to help him fit in. Try to get him to socialise with the other agents, so he can get to know them, and they can get to know him".

"Sir what exactly do you want me to do, organise a welcome party?"

Skinner took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Did you receive an invite to the Hoover Ceremony next week?"

"Yes I did".

"I hope you don't mind, but I'd like you to take this agent with you as your escort. Just so he can get to know everyone, it is no secret that you know many people here at the bureau".

"Sir, I don't even know if I'm going yet", Scully cried.

"I would consider it a big favor if you did go with him".

"I know nothing about this man, and you want me to escort him next Friday evening?"

"He's waiting downstairs for you in the lobby. His name is Mark Dale and he is currently at agent status. Do hurry along, he's already waited for you long enough". Skinner placed his glasses back on his head and Scully knew this was the end of their discussion on the matter.

FBI lobby 8:39am

He stood by the window. He watched as an attractive red head came towards him. "You must be Agent Dale", she said warmly.

"No I'm sorry, you have the wrong person", he replied.

"Oh I am sorry", she apologised as she turned a light shade of red. She began to walk off. He walked briskly after the woman. "Please wait", he began, "I'm sorry to say that. Really, I am Agent Dale".

She turned around, "why did you say that you weren't?"

"Well I had no idea who you were. Hasn't anyone ever told you to trust no one?"

Scully smiled to herself. "Yes, actually, my partner lives by that saying".

"Then you of all people should be the first to understand my predicament. I'm new in town, in the city of D.C, I know no one and suddenly a lovely looking woman approaches me and asks if I am Agent Dale. Shall we start over? My name is Mark Dale from Cleveland. And you are?"

"I'm Agent Scully. I've, I guess you could say, I've been assigned to work with you". And within that small moment, she realised that those were the first words she had said to Mulder, a long 7 years ago.

"Do you have a first name?"

"Ah, yes, it's Dana".

"See, now that wasn't hard was it? Now that we've introduced ourselves, we can get to work". He began to walk towards the car park doors on the far side of the lobby.

Scully caught up with him. "So what is it we are off to work on?"

"In the past two weeks, four girls, all under the age of five, have been taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Last night, a fifth girl was taken. All of these abductions have happened here in D.C".

"Don't you mean kidnappings?"

"You say po-tay-toe, I say poh-tah-toe".

Scully felt so strange, all these things that Dale was saying sounded so familiar, yet they were coming from a total stranger, someone she had never met before. "You don't by any chance know a Fox Mulder do you?"

"No should I?"

Scully smiled sadly to herself, "no I was just wondering". They reached the car and got in.

Meisler Residence 9:05am

"So can you tell me when you last saw her?" Scully asked. She was sitting in the sunroom of Mary and Mike Meisler's double story home in the outskirts of Washington.

"I woke up at about 11pm to go to the toilet. I checked on Joannie then, and she was sound asleep. We have had a very busy week", Mike informed her.

"So you didn't hear or see anything unusual?" Scully questioned.

"No, the house was very quiet, everything seemed in order", he replied.

"Why would someone want to take our little Joannie, she's only four years old, why would they do this?" Mary sobbed sadly.

"That is what we are trying to find out Mrs. Meisler", Scully reassured her. She was wondering why Agent Dale wasn't talking much. Perhaps it was just first day, D.C nerves. "We are doing the best we can to find your daughter. We won't give up", Scully added. She hoped they believed her.

"We've seen the papers Agent Scully. We know that our Joannie is the fifth girl to be taken. None of the others have been found, alive or dead", Mike murmured.

"Like Agent Scully said, we are doing everything we possibly can to find your girl", Dale said finally, "but yes, there is a chance that we may not find her".

----------------------------

Half an hour later Scully was driving Dale back to headquarters. "You can't go getting their hopes up! We can't promise we'll find their little girl", he replied.

"Yes well you can't be so negative. You at least need to place a little hope in their minds", she cried.

"Well at least I didn't promise to find the girl".

"I had to say something! You just sat there and watched the whole thing. The reason why I was there was to help you out, to back you up. But instead, I do all the talking. The point of partnership is to help each other out. The fact still remains that you hardly said a word!" Scully was fuming; he was being so damn difficult. Then suddenly she remembered Mulder; she needed to tell him what was going on. She pulled out her cell phone, dialed his number and waited. There was no answer. "Shit", she murmured.

"What?" Dale asked, "can't you just settle for driving the car?"

"Forget it okay?" she replied. Scully shoved her phone back in her pocket.

FBI Headquarters Saturday 6:15pm

"So when Mrs. Meisler rang back with his name, I took it straight to my friend Holly, she's checking it as we speak", Scully informed Agent Dale. They were sitting in his office. They were reviewing the notes that they had formed on the case. Scully was beginning to worry about two things. The first was that they wouldn't find young Joannie Meisler. Yesterday, the body of the first girl had been found in a dumpster in an alley beside the D.C Club. She had been burnt, and most likely was alive when it happened. Was this how they would find Joannie Meisler?

From this case, Scully had begun to think about the loss of her own daughter, Emily. How she had died so young and for a very wrong reason. The second thing was that she hadn't heard from Mulder since Wednesday morning. She had tried calling him many times, but in the end, she went to Skinner. "He's away on a case" was all he had told her. He hadn't been much help. She needed to talk to Mulder and tell him about what was going on with Agent Dale. From what she knew, Mulder had no idea that her and Dale had been partnered up.

"Agent Scully? Are you ok?"

Scully blinked once, then twice and again a third time before speaking. "Pardon?"

"Are you all right, you seem a million miles away".

"Yeah, I was just thinking, I have a few things on my mind".

Agent Dale put down the folder he was holding. "Anything you want to share?"

Scully smiled politely, "No it's okay. Now where were we?"

"Um.you were telling me about your friend Holly. She was searching around on our suspect".

"Oh yeah, well, he's not a suspect at the moment, just a lead. Mary Meisler was telling me that the new priest seemed to show a little more interest in Joannie last Sunday at church. His name is Father Brian Williamson".

Dale stood up and began to pace around the office. Scully watched him, she could see he was deep in thought. "Okay so just for the moment, let's just say that Father Williamson is the kidnapper. He spots the girls at church on Sunday, then takes them two days later on the Tuesday. Would that fit the MO.?" he says.

Scully picks up a file, "yes, all the girls have vanished on a Tuesday".

"Right", he begins, "we need to find out when Father Williamson arrived in Washington and where he was before he came here".

"I'm already a head of you, I told Holly to get us the works".

He eyed her suspiciously. "You got some kind of personal vendetta or something?"

"I beg your pardon?" Scully demands.

"You seem to want to get this case solved in a hurry. You are going full steam ahead, not consulting me. Do you have some kind of personal attachment to these people?"

Scully closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she had become too involved personally.

Dale sat down in his seat, "you wanna tell me about it?"

"I just know how these people feel. I lost a daughter myself several years ago. She would be six now". Scully swallowed a lump that was in her throat, "I'm sorry".

"No, it's okay. If this case is making you feel uncomfortable then you should..."

She cut him off, "no, I want to help these people".

He nodded in agreement, "Then help them we will".

Skinner's Office Monday 8:23am

"Are you positive this is your man?" Skinner asked.

"We don't have solid proof that he is the murderer, we are going by what we know about him", Dale informed the Assistant Director.

"Before he came to D.C he lived in Sioux City, Iowa, where about three months ago, the same thing was happening. Nine girls went missing in a period of six weeks. Each girl vanishing on a Tuesday, just like it is now", Scully continued.

"The families of the girls here in Washington all agree that they remember the priest directing their attention to the fact that their little girl was very special. Tomorrow is Tuesday", Dale concluded.

The Assistant Director leaned back in his chair. Dale and Scully exchanged glances. "So you want to bring him in for questioning, with the hope that you'll be able to keep him in custody until Wednesday, am I correct in assuming that is what you hope to do?" he said.

"Yes Sir", Dale replied, "if another girl goes missing then we will know that it's not him. Other than Mr. Williamson, we have no other suspects".

"Well then, you better contact the local PD, and have him brought in".

"Thank you Sir, we will be on our way", Dale said as he stood up.

"Actually, I need to have a word to AD Skinner, I'll be there in a minute", Scully answered.

"Oh okay then, I'll meet you down in the car in....10 minutes, okay?"

"Yes that's fine", she replied. Dale turned and left. Scully waited until the door had closed fully before she spoke.

"Sir, I would like to know something".

"Would this have something to do with Agent Mulder?"

She nodded, "I want to know where he is. I haven't heard from him, I just need to know he's okay".

"Agent Scully, I know you were not only Agent Mulder's partner, but a good friend as well, but I cannot tell you where he is. Nor can I say when he will be back, because I don't know myself. But seeing as you are worried about him, when I see him next, I'll tell him you were asking about him".

"But Sir".

"There is little more to be said Agent Scully. You have a job to do, now go and do it".

Washington PD Wednesday 4:58pm

"I can't believe this guy!" Scully cried, "he is just so off. I mean, how could he say that?" She was standing outside the interrogation room at the local PD's office. "He can't be a priest", she fumed

"Hey calm down. That's why he's saying the things he is, he knows you're gonna get up on your high horse about it", Dale reassured her, "and besides, no matter what he says, he's not going to get away, we've got him".

"Yeah I know we've got him, but we still have four girls out there alive, shut away somewhere. How can he just torture them for three weeks, then kill them? What kind of priest is he?"

"A very sick one", Dale replied. They had held Father Brian Williamson for the past 52 hours and he had finally confessed to taking the girls. His reason for doing so was that he wanted to free their souls of life's sins. He told them the cleansing process meant three weeks locked in a cellar with no light and minimal amounts of food. Scully couldn't believe what this man was saying. She felt sickened at the thought of those poor little girls locked away.

She rubbed her temples and sighed.

"Are you feeling okay?" Dale asked.

"Yeah, I've just got a bit of a headache, I think its too much tension. Not only that, I think I'm going to be sick".

"Why don't you go home and rest, I can clear up around here".

"No, we have paperwork to complete and we need to make sure Mr. Williamson gets to his cell safely. I also need to ring the families of the missing girls".

Dale reached forward and gently grabbed Scully's elbow and began to escort her to the car. "I can get Mr. Williamson to his cell and I'll ring the families personally. As for the paperwork, well, we'll do it later on. I'll come over to your place later on, about 8pm?"

"Well I, you don't know where I live".

"Well if you tell me, I'll know", he said sarcastically.

She didn't know what to say. He handed her a pen and Scully just looked at it. "Okay, do you have some paper?"

He pulled out his notepad. She took it and scribbled her address on it. "Agent Scully, I know AD Skinner asked you to escort me to the formal event on Friday night. I just would like to know if he hadn't have asked you to do that, would I have been able to ask you myself. As a friend, I want to know if you'll be my escort".

Scully gave Dale back his notepad and pen. "To be completely honest with you, I don't even know if I want to go yet". She saw his face drop and quickly added, "but I'll think about it and let you know later".

A smile reappeared on his face, "thank you Agent Scully, now you better go home, take some aspirin". He turned and left her standing there wondering why she always got stuck with the weird ones.

Scully's Apartment Wednesday 8:57pm

"So anyway, I get him in there and he goes 'God will punish you for your sins' and I say 'that's why you're the one behind bars'. He just looks at me and I wink at him. He throws his brass crucifix at me and it just misses my ear. I say 'there's no need to get cross Father Williamson' and I left". Dale was sitting on the couch next to Scully with a mug of coffee in his hand. On the table directly in front of them sat the file on Father Williamson and the paperwork they needed to fill in.

"Is your ear all right?"

"Yeah, 2cm to the left and I'd be missing an ear", he chuckled to himself.

"I don't see what's so funny about losing an ear", Scully said.

"Neither do I, but I just felt like laughing".

"Oh okay then". They sat in silence for a while.

"Do you like jokes?" Dale asked.

"Yes I do, most people do, I am yet to find someone who doesn't. Why?"

"I heard a joke on the radio on the way over. I'm going to tell it to you, but I don't want you to get the wrong idea okay? I'm not suggesting anything, I just thought it was funny".

"Sure, go ahead".

Outside, Mulder pulled up and exited his car. He hadn't heard from Scully for a while and Skinner had said that she had been looking for him. He wanted to ask her to be his escort on Friday night. He entered the building and headed to Scully's apartment. Just as he went to knock on the door, he stopped and listened to the voices inside.

"Right. Superman is board because Spiderman and Batman have gone to the beach and he's been left alone. So Superman decides to go for a fly. While he's flying along, he spots Wonder Woman lying naked on top of a building. Now Superman had always fancied her so he thinks to himself 'I can go down and give her a quickie and be gone before she knows what has happened'. So he fly's down, does the dirty and fly's off again. On the building, Wonder Woman goes 'what was that?'. 'I don't know', replies the Invisible Man, 'but what ever it was, it sure did hurt'."

Mulder could hear Scully burst out laughing. His eyes widened. Was Scully with another man, was it a males voice? "That was good", Scully laughed.

"Really? You liked it?"

Mulder didn't know whether to knock or not. The words that followed answered his question.

"Mark, I thought about what you said this afternoon. If I am to go to the celebrations on Friday night, I'd rather go as your friend, not an escort sent by someone".

Mulder lowered his head and turned away from the door. Why did he always get stuck with being the loser, a lonely person searching for something non- important? Why did he always miss the girls?

He jumped into his car and stared down the street. He loved Scully with all his heart, how could she ever feel the same? Could she ever feel the same?

Lincoln Memorial Friday 9:49pm

"Ladies and gentleman, now that the formal part of the evening is over, you are probably wondering why we are standing here in Lincoln Memorial. Well since the evening has become quite lovely, we have moved all the food and as much lighting as we could manage out here so we can all dance around out here in the evening sky in honor of Mr. Hoover himself. I'm sure being the fine man he was, he would agree that a night like this is one in a million, so please, gentlemen, find your partner and help us dance the night away". A makeshift stage had been assembled for the M.C to stand on; he wasn't exactly the brightest of people.

On the far side of the crowd stood Dale and Scully talking. Scully was wearing a sleek black evening gown with shoestring straps. Her hair had been loosely curled and was swept up in a half french roll. Agent Dale was in a black suit and a royal blue tie. "I don't actually see why we're out here, I mean is it any different from dancing inside a building?" Dale commented.

"It makes a change, and besides, the stars are out and the moon is full, no clouds to be seen anywhere. So why be crammed inside a building when you could be..." She stopped.

"What's wrong?" Dale asked.

"Wait here a minute will you, I need to see someone". Scully disappeared into the crowd.

---------------------------------

Mulder bypassed the dance floor and wandered over to the lake. The moon's reflection rippled in the water. So many things were going through his mind. He so badly wanted his father and sister back. He also wanted Scully back. She had been taken from him without warning. It should be him dancing with Scully, no one else. But he knew she wouldn't be bothered about him, she had her 'Mark'. He kicked a stone as hard as he could. "Why does life have to be so screwed up!" he cursed loudly.

"Because it just is", a voice said from somewhere behind him.

He spun around, it was Scully, she looked magic.

"Mulder, where have you been for the past week, I've been worried sick", she said. As she stepped forward, he saw the worry in her eyes; the moonlight made them glisten more than usual.

"I came back on Wednesday night", he replied.

"Why didn't you come and tell me that you were back?"

"I did, I went around to your apartment Wednesday night".

"I was home, why didn't you come in and see me?"

"Because you seemed contented with Mark and his Superman joke. Because I came to ask if you'd be my escort for tonight, but I guess Mark beat me to it". He managed a small, unconvincing smile.

Scully smiled in return; "do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice Mulder?"

He couldn't look at her. "Yes. Maybe you do".

She slid her hand into his; "do you even know who Mark is?"

He shook his head, "no I don't".

"He's the new man on campus", she replied.

Mulder just looked at her, "he's not your, your aren't..." The words wouldn't come out. She laughed softly; it was like music to his ears, a music he found he had missed.

"No, he's not my boyfriend. His name is Mark Dale; he's joined us from Cleveland. Skinner has partnered me with him, just while he settles in. Skinner also wanted me to escort Agent Dale to the party tonight. When Dale found out, he said he'd rather me come as a friend, not just because Skinner wanted me to".

"Oh", was all Mulder said. They stood in silence, looking up at the stars. "So how did the case go?" he finally asked. "You knew about the case we were working on?"

"Yeah, I did some checking up, but all I found was that you were working on a case. I just assumed you were working solo, it didn't mention a partner".

"Well the second girl was too far gone when we found her, but the other three were in fairly good condition under the circumstances. I was really happy we found them, especially Joannie Meisler, her parents were over the moon to have her back. Father Williamson had been keeping them in an abandoned building down in the Lockerby Estate. They were down in the cellar. God Mulder, it was sickly, how could he do that?"

"Did you think about Emily? Is she the reason why you worked so hard and so quickly to find the girls?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yes. I did think about her. I always think about her, she would be six this year", Scully stammered.

"Next Friday Scully, next Friday", he reminded her sadly. He watched as she composed herself and looked back at the stars, he knew the subject had been closed. He sighed deeply.

"So getting back to life being screwed", Scully began, "it can't be that bad".

He looked down at Scully. "No it's not, it possibly just became better".

Scully felt a tingle serge through her body. Going against what her instinct was telling her, she looked up at Mulder and found him looking back at her. Their eyes locked together, both of them seeing the eyes as a window to the other's heart. Mulder reached across and placed his hand on Scully's cheek. She drew him closer; she could feel the warmth of his body.

A chill of realisation surged through Mulder. This was it, this was his moment of chance, it was now or never. He gently pulled her face closer to his and as their lips touched in that single moment of fleeting passion, he realised he didn't know what he had until it was gone. She was all he had left to keep on going for. They slowly parted. He noticed Scully's eyes were still closed, as if to save the moment, to bring it back when ever she needed to. He softly pushed her eyelids up and her beautiful eyes shined back.

"You know, I am yet to be danced", she whispered.

"Well then, may I have the first dance?"

She smiled at him with her heart, "you most certainly can".

He held the hand of his beloved partner and led her to the dance floor. He took the opportunity before it was gone forever.

---------------------------------------------------

The End.