Title:  All Things Again (1 of 2)
Author:  Vickie Moseley vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com
Summary:  Post Monday, Scully confronts another 
lifetime and Mulder is on the receiving end.
Category:  AU MT MSR A
Rating:  PG13
Archive:  Yes
Disclaimer:  Kudos to Gillian Anderson for all 
things (basically for the character of Daniel 
Waterson) and Vince Gilligan and John Shiban for 
Monday.  Oh yeah, and Chris Carter for dreaming 
up the universe in which I like to play, for no profit.  
No copyright infringement intended.
Authors notes:  OK, this is not exactly your 
standard post ep.  It's more of a post ep remix.  I 
took some stuff from all things, mixed it with some 
stuff from Monday and even though they are from 
two different seasons, I put the whole concoction in 
S7 probably where all things would go.  If that's not 
confusing enough, I'll try harder next time.
Hugs to Obfusc8tor for lightning fast beta service 
and the addition of a scene that was missing.  Hope 
you like what I added.

Craddock National Bank
Eighth Street Branch
Monday, 8:45 am

The air in the bank crackled with fear and tension.  
Scully held Mulder in her lap, cradling him, 
pressing her hand against his bare chest as blood 
oozed through her fingers.  She blinked back tears 
to look at his face; his eyes were glazed and dull.  
She bit her lip and lifted her head to look at the man 
towering above her.

"They aren't going to call.  What's your name?"

The man, a straggly bearded guy not out of his 
twenties just snorted and cast a glance down at her 
before staring at the other customers all lying on the 
marble floor.  "Yeah," he chuckled bitterly.

"Look, I have to call you something.  How about 
Steve?  Steve is a nice honest name," Scully choked 
out, barely making the words pass her lips.  She had 
to get him talking, had to make him realize that this 
situation was not hopeless, for any of those present, 
including her partner.

"Bernard."

She never would have pictured him a Bernard, but it 
was a start in the conversation.  "Bernard.  I have to 
get my partner out of here."  It was becoming harder 
and harder to control her voice.  She could feel 
Mulder's life slipping through her hands and she 
knew it was all up to her, but God, she didn't know 
if she was up to it.

"I am blowing this freakin' place right off the map if 
they come in here," Bernard yelled at her, his finger 
going to the detonation switch attached to the sticks 
of dynamite strapped to his chest.  He was staring at 
her when his eyes went wide and small hole 
appeared in his forehead.  Two heartbeats later, she 
heard the report of the gun, just a few feet behind 
her.  She jerked her head and looked over her 
shoulder to see the security guard on the floor, gun 
in hand, determined expression on his face.  When 
she looked back at Bernard, he was in the process of 
falling to the floor, already dead. 
 
"I couldn't let that happen," the guard said in a 
shaky voice as he rose to stand.  

"Thank you," she said in a rough whisper.  "Please, 
get the EMTs in here," she begged.

"Yes ma'am," the young guard said, running to the 
door.  Soon the bank was invaded by dozens of men 
in flak jackets.  Scully searched the sea of faces and 
uniforms before finally spotting a woman and two 
young men in light blue carrying a gurney between 
them.  

"Thank God," Scully said in an exhale as the trio 
made their way over to her and Mulder.  "He's been 
shot, in the chest.  No exit wound.  Pulse is 
thready."

"We've got him.  Marcy, help the lady up.  Jake, call 
base, this one looks bad."  As the woman helped 
Scully stand and tried to lead her away from where 
the two men worked on Mulder, Skinner stepped 
forward and took her sleeve.

"I'm her boss.  I have her," he told Marcy, who 
nodded and went back to work with her teammates 
to save the wounded agent.  "Scully, what the hell 
happened here?"

She looked up at him in a daze.  "Mulder needed to 
deposit his pay check," she said simply and dragged 
her gaze over to where the EMTs were frantically 
working on her partner.  "There was a robbery.  It 
was in progress when I got here.  Apparently, 
Mulder tried to stop it and the . . ."  She couldn't go 
on, it was finally all crashing down on her.

To his credit, Skinner realized he was asking a bit 
too much of her and put his arm around her 
shoulder, turning her away from the view of Mulder 
on the floor.  "It's OK.  We can get a statement later.  
Are you hurt?" he asked gently.

She shook her head.  "No.  It's all Mulder's . . ."  
This time she couldn't stop the tears, but she only 
allowed them to fall for a few brief seconds.  "The 
blood is all Mulder's," she said, forcing her self to 
remain calm.

"Ma'am, do you know the next of kin?" Marcy 
asked and Scully turned to find that Mulder was 
loaded on the gurney, oxygen mask and IVs in 
place.  "We're taking him to Washington National 
Hospital.  They can meet us there."

"I'm the next of kin," Scully said, her chin 
trembling, but her resolution to remain calm 
keeping her voice steady.

Marcy nodded.  "We'll be there in about 10 minutes.  
You can ask for him in the ER."  She ran to catch 
up to her teammates, who were already out the door 
and headed for the waiting ambulance.

Scully was frozen to her spot until she felt Skinner 
touching her shoulder.  "My car is parked right 
outside.  If we hurry, we should get there right after 
him."

She nodded in gratitude and allowed him to guide 
her to the car.  As they hurried down the street, she 
caught sight of a young woman with stringy 
bleached hair collapsing into the arms of a 
policewoman as two men loaded Bernard's body 
into the back of the Medical Examiner's wagon.

Washington National Hospital
9:05 am

The Emergency Room entrance was next to the 
ambulance bay and Scully saw the driver closing 
the back doors of the vehicle that had carried 
Mulder.  She swallowed hard and headed for the 
sliding door.  Pulling her badge, she addressed the 
receptionist.

"I'm Dana Scully, I'm an agent with the FBI.  My 
partner was just brought in with a gunshot wound -- 
Fox Mulder.  Can you tell me where he was taken?"  
It sounded tinny and far away to her own ears, but 
she hoped it sounded detached and professional to 
the young woman behind the counter.

Efficiently, the receptionist typed a few letters on 
her keyboard.  "He's been taken to trauma room 3.  
If you step over to the cubicles to the right, 
someone will be with you shortly."  She smiled up 
at Scully and then turned her attention to the next 
person in line.

"No, please, I have to go back there," Scully 
interrupted the woman again, but Skinner was once 
more at her side and steered her over to the 
cubicles.

"Scully, I know you want to be back there, but there 
is paperwork, procedure to follow," he said gently 
as he pulled out a chair for her.

"Damn procedure," she spat out.  "I want to know 
what is going on back there!"

"As do I, but we can't get anywhere this way.  
Please, just give them his information and then 
we're more likely to get what we want."

Trauma Room 3
Emergency Department 
Washington National Hospital
9:08 am

"What have we got?" the attending physician asked 
as she strolled into the already crowded trauma 
room.

"Gunshot wound to the chest, no breath sounds on 
the left, b/p 70 over 40 and falling," called out a 
nurse standing near the patient's head.

The doctor did a quick exam and looked at the 
automatic blood pressure cuff monitor.  "There's a 
nicked artery somewhere.  We need to get him a 
scan and up to surgery."  She looked over at one of 
the nurses.  "Better put in a call to the old man."

The nurse grimaced.  "I thought he was on 
vacation."

"He didn't leave town.  He never does.  Call his 
service, he'll be here.  And tell him to hurry, he 
hates it when they go sour before he gets a chance 
to slice and dice."  An orderly and a nurse pushed 
the gurney out of the room and down the hall to the 
nearby X ray department.

Another nurse touched the doctor's sleeve.  "Dr. 
Patterson, his partner is out in the waiting room.  Do 
you want to speak with her?"

"Partner?"

"He's FBI.  He was trying to stop a bank robbery," 
the nurse replied.

"Shit.  This is what he got for his trouble.  Sure, I'll 
speak with her.  What's her name?"

The nurse quickly consulted the computer screen in 
the corner of the room.  "Dana Scully."

Dr. Patterson nodded and went over to the sink, 
stripping off the latex gloves and washing her 
hands.  "Let me know when the old man gets here."

It wasn't a long walk to the ER waiting room, but 
the noise level increased dramatically.  After a few 
minutes, Patterson caught sight of a young woman 
and an older man in business attire sitting in the far 
corner of the room.  The woman looked like she'd 
been crying.  The doctor squared her shoulders and 
walked over to them.

"Dana Scully?" she asked softly, but loud enough to 
be heard over the din.

"Yes, I'm Dana Scully.  Do you have word on Fox 
Mulder?"  Scully was on her feet before the words 
had left her mouth.

"I'm Janet Patterson, I was the ER doctor who saw 
your partner."

"How is he?  Is he . . ."

Patterson reached out her hand and rested it on 
Scully's shoulder.  "He's being taken to surgery.  
I've called the best cardiac surgeon in the DC area.  
Your partner will be in excellent hands.  Now, if 
you want to go up to the sixth floor, you can wait in 
the surgical waiting room.  Just give them the 
patient's name at the desk and someone will be out 
to give you regular updates."

"But how is he?  Mulder, I mean," Scully insisted.

"We're doing everything we can," Patterson hedged.  
Just then, her pager went off.  She glanced down at 
the screen and nodded to herself.  "I have to get 
back there.  We are blessed with an excellent staff 
here, please take comfort in that."  Before Scully 
could object, the doctor was gone. 

"C'mon, Agent.  Let's go find this waiting room."  
Skinner was holding her elbow again, leading her 
toward the bank of elevators just down the hall.  For 
a moment, Scully imagined that she was dreaming.  
It felt so surreal, so unnatural.  Mulder should be 
walking next to her, his hand on the small of her 
back.  She'd seen him, talked to him just a few 
hours ago.  When had he gotten a waterbed?  He'd 
been staying at her place on the weekends, but only 
because she refused to try and dig a path through 
the mess of his apartment.  Wouldn't a waterbed be 
the kind of thing she would dream?

The elevator doors opened and she stumbled as she 
stepped out, Skinner quick to take her elbow again.  
She was grateful for the support, but annoyed that 
she seemed to need it.  She wanted to walk straight, 
to think straight.  What if they needed her to make a 
decision for Mulder's treatment?  She blinked her 
eyes and tried to think of mundane thoughts.  
Wasn't it Monday?  Already the week was shot to 
hell, she mused and couldn't stop the near hysterical 
giggle that bubbled up her throat.

Skinner gave her a concerned look, but refused to 
comment.  She got herself a little more under 
control and even managed to walk unaided into the 
tasteful waiting room just down from the elevators 
on the sixth floor.  Spotting the desk at the front of 
the room, Scully went up to the counter and gave 
them Mulder's name.  The older woman smiled at 
her and told her to make herself at home and let the 
desk know if she needed anything.  

She said nothing as she sat down on a comfortable 
armchair next to Skinner.  CNN was on the 
television and the bug running at the bottom flashed 
a line about an aborted bank robbery in Washington 
DC, suspect dead, one man injured.  She turned her 
eyes to the table next to her and fished through the 
'Woman's Days' and 'Ladies Home Journals' before 
settling on 'Southern Living'.  It was just something 
to hold in her hands to keep them from trembling.

"Scully?  Do you think you should call your 
mother?"  Skinner's voice came to her from a long 
distance away, but she turned her head toward the 
sound and saw her boss looking at her 
sympathetically.

"Mom?" she asked.

"I just . . . I mean shouldn't you call her.  Just to let 
her know where you are, that you're OK?"

Scully nodded dully and started to pull out her cell 
phone.  Skinner caught her hand and directed her 
attention to the blue and white sign on the wall near 
the door.  "No cell phone usage allowed on the 
cardiac ward."  

"I think I saw a payphone near the elevators, just on 
the other side of the hall," Skinner offered.  Armed 
with that information, she forced herself to rise and 
find the reported payphone.

The phone rang five times before the answering 
machine picked up.  Scully couldn't believe she was 
talking to her mother's machine, but there wasn't 
much she could do about it.  "Mom, um, it's me, 
Dana.  Uh, there's . . . there's been a shooting.  
Mom, I'm at Washington National . . . Mulder -- "  
She had to stop because sobs were clogging her 
throat.  After a few seconds, she started again.  
"Mom, if you get this, don't try to call me back, they 
don't allow cell phones.  We're on the sixth floor, 
cardiac surgery unit.  If you can, please come up.  I . 
. . I need some fresh clothes, there was a lot of . . . 
blood.  Mom, please, hurry."  She hung up the 
phone, but couldn't make her hand release the 
receiver until the sweat from her palm caused her 
grip to slip.  

She pushed herself away from the wall and started 
toward the waiting room.  As she took a step, the 
walls of the hallway started to dim and waver 
before her eyes and as her vision grayed at the 
edges she hoped she wouldn't hit the floor too hard 
when she fell.

"Scully?  C'mon, Scully.  Time to wake up.  You're 
starting to scare me here."

At first, she thought it was Mulder, that she'd slept 
past the alarm again as she often did on nights when 
he stayed over.  But then she realized it wasn't 
Mulder's voice, just Mulder's words that she 
recognized.  She opened her eyes and stared directly 
at the Assistant Director.  "Sir?" she asked, unsure 
of what he was doing leaning so close to her.

"She's awake," Skinner said quickly to someone just 
outside her vision and a pert young nurse came into 
view, smiling at her.  

"There you are!  Just needed a little glucose and 
some rest.  Are you feeling better?"

"What happened?  Why am I lying down?" she 
asked, struggling to get up.

"You passed out in the hallway," Skinner told her.  
"I came to look for you when you didn't come back 
from calling your mother and found you 
unconscious on the floor.  The doctor who checked 
you out said you were suffering from shock after 
everything that happened this morning.  Scully, I'm 
so sorry I didn't see the signs.  I had no idea -- "

She waved him off as she finally attained a sitting 
position.  "I'm fine, sir," she insisted, although the 
IV in her left hand said otherwise.  "Mulder!  How 
is he?  Has there been any word?"

Skinner fought back a smile.  He knew her first 
thoughts on waking would be her partner.  "One of 
the nurses came out just a couple of minutes after 
you went to the payphone.  She said the cardiologist 
found a tear in the aorta and was repairing that.  The 
nurse figured Mulder would be in surgery another 
couple of hours and then the doctor who performed 
the procedure would be out to talk to you.  That's 
why I went to find you, I wanted to see if you had 
any questions before she went back in the operating 
room."

"Yes, I have all kinds of questions," Scully said 
tersely.  "But get this thing out of my arm," she 
directed to the nurse.  If the nurse was put off by 
Scully's brusque manner, she didn't let on.  In a 
moment, Scully was free from the IV and looking 
around for her shoes.  Skinner found them on a 
chair and handed them to her.

"Where are we?" she asked, noting they were in a 
cubicle of some kind.  Now that her attention wasn't 
focused on news of her partner she could pick up 
sounds and noises.

"Emergency.  They wheeled you down here.  You 
were out for about 40 minutes, Scully," Skinner 
said, matching her terse tone.  

"Has my mother shown up?" she asked, sliding on 
her shoes and taking a tentative step off the gurney.  
To her relief, the room didn't spin and she stayed 
standing.

"I don't know.  I've been down here with you."

"We better get up there, Mulder might be out of 
surgery and the cardiologist won't wait if I'm not 
there."  Skinner had to hustle to catch up with her at 
the elevators.

Scully was all but running when she made it to the 
cardiac waiting room.  As she entered the door, she 
heard her name being called and turned to find her 
mother sitting in the seat she'd vacated not quite an 
hour before.

Maggie Scully stood up and put her hand out to her 
daughter.  "Honey, where were you?"

"Long story, Mom.  Has there been any word on 
Mulder?" Scully asked, trying to deflect her 
mother's concern to the appropriate person, her 
partner.

"I asked at the desk when I got here.  There was 
some confusion as to where you were.  Someone 
thought you might have been down in the 
emergency room.  What happened, Dana?"

"I'm fine.  I fainted in the hall, but it was nothing, 
Mom.  Just . . . don't worry about it.  I'll explain 
later.  What did they say about Mulder?  Is he out of 
surgery?"

"They told me it would be another half hour or so 
before the doctor could come out to talk to us.  I 
didn't know what to do, so I decided to wait here.  I 
figured you would show up eventually," she said 
with a raised eyebrow and a disdainful expression.  
"Now, what do you mean you fainted?"

"The doctor said it was shock, Mrs. Scully," 
Skinner interrupted, since Scully seemed reluctant 
to give the incident more thought.  "There was a 
hostage situation at a bank robbery down the street 
from our office.  Agent Mulder was shot by the 
suspect and both he and your daughter were held 
hostage for a short time."

Maggie's eyes widened in dismay.  "I heard that on 
the radio this morning.  Craddock Marine Bank, 
right?  What was Fox doing at a robbery?  You 
don't work on robberies, do you, Dana?"

"No, Mom, it was just bad timing.  He was at the 
bank to deposit his pay and he was at the wrong 
place at the wrong time."

Maggie shook her head and sighed.  "Poor Fox.  He 
does seem to find trouble."

"I'll have to remember to have Kim put him on 
direct deposit after this," Skinner muttered.

"At least I didn't miss the cardiologist," Scully said 
and sat down in a chair near her mother.  

Skinner glanced at his watch.  "Agent Scully, I 
really need to call the office.  The meeting is on 
hold right now and I think I should have Kim cancel 
it for today and reschedule."

Scully shook her head, amazed that the wheels of 
bureaucracy could continue to grind even while her 
partner was fighting for his life.  "Of course, sir.  
Whatever you need to do."

Scully and her mother sat in silence for a few 
minutes.  "I still don't quite understand what 
happened, honey," Maggie spoke softly.

Taking in a deep breath, Scully looked over at her 
mother.  She knew she'd be telling the police this 
story sometime in the near future.  It would help to 
get the facts straight in her mind.

"Mulder came to work late this morning, his 
waterbed sprung a leak and damaged the apartment 
below his.  We were paid today so he had to run 
down to the bank and deposit the check before the 
check cleared that he'd written the landlord to cover 
the damages.  He was just going to be gone a 
minute.  When it appeared that he'd been gone too 
long, I went down to find him.  I walked in on the 
robbery.  When the gunman's attention was on me, 
Mulder drew his gun.  Mulder ordered the gunman 
to drop his weapon, but the kid fired instead, hitting 
Mulder in the chest.  He dropped to the floor and I 
ran over to him.  The gunman then revealed that he 
had a bomb strapped to his chest.  While he was 
telling me he was going to blow us all to kingdom 
come the bank security guard shot him.  It was over 
in a matter of minutes."

"Well, not quite over," Maggie corrected.  She 
reached over and pulled her daughter to her.  "I'm so 
sorry, sweetheart.  Fox is in God's hands, we just 
have to trust that things will turn out for the best."

Scully melted into her mother's embrace and let the 
sobs overtake her again.  "I'm just so scared, Mom.  
I couldn't help him, I couldn't do anything to get 
him out of there.  If that guard hadn't taken his shot 
when he did, we might all have been . . ."

"No what if's, Dana.  That part is all over.  We have 
to concentrate on the here and now and how we're 
going to help Fox recover.  Maybe this time we can 
convince him to come stay with me for a while.  I'll 
promise him my famous meatloaf and mashed 
potatoes."

That brought a smile to Scully's face.  "Toss in your 
German chocolate cake and a sweet potato pie once 
in a while and you'll never get him to leave," she 
said with a chuckle and wiped the tears from her 
eyes.  

Skinner was standing at the door, looking like he 
wanted to be anywhere else.  "Scully, I just talked 
to Kim.  The DC police are crawling up the 
Director's -- well, I need to get back to the office.  
I'll hold them off, but you'll have to make your 
statement sometime today."

"I understand, sir.  Just let me hear how he's doing 
and I'll be able to talk to them," she answered with 
shoulders squared.  

"Good.  I'll head back to the office.  Please, call me 
with updates?"

"Certainly.  As soon as I know anything, I'll call.  
And sir?  Thanks for everything."

Skinner just nodded once and left.  Maggie started 
to say something when a nurse came to the far door 
of the waiting room, next to the desk and called for 
the family of Fox Mulder.

The nurse smiled at Scully and Maggie, then led 
them through the door and out into a small hallway.  
"Just this way," she said as they passed doors on 
either side.  Finally, they came to the end of the hall 
and she opened the door into a small office, 
furnished with four chairs similar to the waiting 
room and a computer.  Boxes of tissues were on the 
two tables separating the chairs.

"Make yourself comfortable.  The doctor will be 
right in," the nurse said and left, closing the door 
behind her.

Scully noticed her mother fidgeting in her seat.  "It's 
OK, Mom.  This is more 'personal' than talking to 
us in the waiting room.  Lots of hospitals are doing 
this as they upgrade their surgical and cardiac 
units."

Maggie shot her an icy scowl.  "Oh, I remember, 
dear.  This is a perfect replica of the room they 
brought me to when you were injured in New 
York."

Open mouth, insert foot, Scully silently chided 
herself.   She was saved further faux pas by a knock 
on the door.  A thin man in his late forties wearing 
clean scrubs and carrying a file folder stepped into 
the room.  "Mrs. Mulder?" he asked, extending his 
hand to Scully.

"Dana Scully," she corrected.  "I'm Agent Mulder's 
partner.  This is my mother, Margaret Scully."

The doctor seemed confused for a moment, 
consulted his chart and then made a note.  "OK, 
well, I'm Dr. Tanner, I assisted in Agent Mulder's 
surgery."

"How is he?  When can I see him?" Scully 
interrupted and Maggie reached over to place her 
hand on her daughter's arm.

"Well, right now he's in recovery.  He came through 
the surgery without complication.  It was fairly 
intricate, the bullet nicked the aorta, a large valve at 
the top -- "

"I'm a medical doctor," Scully interrupted again.  
"My specialty is forensic pathology."

Tanner absorbed that information and made another 
note in the file.  "Well, then, let's skip the 
explanations and I can show you the film."  He 
pulled several x rays out of the folder and held them 
for both Scully and Maggie to see.  Using his pen, 
he pointed to the film as he spoke.  "You can see 
here the trajectory of projectile.  Here is the 
resulting effusion," he circled an area of darkness 
next to the more recognizable heart.  "Time was of 
the essence, of course and Fox had lost a full unit of 
blood before he arrived."

"We were being held hostage," Scully said in a near 
whisper.  Tanner looked at her sympathetically.

"I heard it was an attempted bank robbery," he 
replied.  "Well, the good news is we were able to 
induce DHCA and repair the tear in the aortic wall."

Scully bit hard on her lip.  "You ensured 
oxygenation?" she asked quickly.

"Yes, there should be minimal chance of brain 
damage.  The aorta is fully repaired and Fox 
responded well to rewarming."

"Dana?" Maggie asked, obviously lost in the jargon 
being exchanged between the two medical 
professionals.

"It's called deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, 
Mom.  They brought his core temperature down to 
about 76 degrees.  That allowed them to stop his 
heart for the period of time it took to repair the 
damage caused by the bullet.  Then, when they were 
finished, they brought his temp back up to 98.6."

"Exactly," Tanner said with a smile.

"How many of these procedures have you 
performed, Dr. Tanner?" Scully asked, sitting back 
in her seat.

He smiled again.  "Only 4, but luckily, I wasn't the 
driver.  Our chief cardiac specialist actually 
performed the operation.  You might have crossed 
paths with him if you studied in the DC area.  
Daniel Waterson?" 

Scully closed her eyes and her fingers tightened 
their grip on her slacks.  When she opened them, 
her guards were fully in place.  "Yes, I know him.  
He was my instructor."

"Well, he would be here himself but he got called in 
another operating room just as we were finishing 
up.  I'm sure he'll be up to your partner's room later 
for rounds."

"I'd like to see him now.  My partner," Scully 
clarified.

"We'll be moving him to a room in cardiac intensive 
care in about half an hour.  The unit is on this floor, 
just go straight past the elevators then turn at the 
end of the hall and follow it to the double doors.  
The nurse at the desk will have the visitation policy, 
but I'll make a note that you're also a medical doctor 
and you shouldn't have any trouble staying as long 
as you wish."

Scully was grateful for the man's kindness.  "Thank 
you," she said sincerely.  

Tanner patted her shoulder.  "He's young, in good 
health and he had the best surgeon on the east coast.  
He's very lucky he was brought here.  Just make 
sure he follows orders and he'll recover from this in 
no time."

Scully found nothing to say at that point.  She 
nodded and followed Tanner out of the room with 
Maggie bringing up the rear.

end of part 1