[For Disclaimer stuff, see Part 1] Games of the Mind (Part 5) by Christina Shuy cshuy@netcom.com She found herself in a place that felt unearthly. Unearthly, yet familiar at the same time. She also noted that her backpack was still slung over one shoulder. "If I may ask, what is going on?" Christina heard herself ask. "We need you to get a message to someone who has been looking for his sister for a very long time. We must let him know we are on the trail of those who do have her, and we must do so without putting ourselves in danger. Your people do not yet take alien presenses kindly, which is unfortunate." the strange voice in her mind was resonating again. It was the same voice as before, only she realized it sounded like a bass violin... or, at the very least, a cello. "Okay..." she heard herself answer. There was, however, still doubt in her voice, and in her mind. There was the sense of an image burned into her mind and knew that the image would fade once she actually found the person, as well as alerting the people who needed to pass on the message. "We want to help him get his sister back. The ones who have abducted her have no remorse of what they do to your people." the voice said, though she noticed there was a sympathetic tone to it. Before anything else could be said, the scene faded. ----- "Come back to me, love..." she heard a soft voice whisper... a soft, *familiar*, and very warmly loving voice. She felt a hand on her cheek, caressing gently. Her head hurt and she opened her eyes just a little, seeing Chris smile with relief, though she was a little puzzled as to why he was so near. The last she recalled seeing him was when she'd left after visiting him what seemed to her like about five months before... only something else seemed to be telling her it was longer than five months... a LOT longer. <<<'Will someone tell me what the *hell* he's doing here?'>>> an angry voice declared. Another flash. This time, it was of emotional pain. And the sense that there had been lies and betrayal traded. As she pursued that line of thought, she noticed Chris wince. He was also holding her very close and she could feel more than just the warmth of his body against hers. There was something being traded emotionally as well. Momentarily leaning into it, she took comfort in knowing that he felt the same way. "Christina, are you ok?" Chris asked, touching her face gently. She could see that there were tears in his eyes and she was wondering exactly what was going on. "Uh... I don't know. What happened? Where am I?" The confusion in her mind was overwhelming and she was so dizzy she didn't try to get up from the floor, but she wished the dizziness away. "Washington, DC. In my office, in the headquarters of the FBI." Mulder answered quietly. "What the hell am I doing in Washington... more importantly, Chris, what are YOU doing here? You are supposed to be in Digby recovering from knee surgery... or something... At least you were the last time we spoke... Or is it that you just broke up with-" "Ah...love, what's the date?" Chris asked, softly, squeezing her hand and gently caressing her cheek a little more. He looked uncomfortable, and it also seemed to her as though the only thing he wanted to do was to take her in his arms and away from everyone and everything so they could be alone together.... away from the messy situation they were in. His eyes pleaded with her *not* to go where her line of thought was taking her. Naturally, for her, it was already too late. When Christina thought carefully about it, three different dates clashed in her mind, the first approximately twelve months later than the second, and then the third was about ten months after that. Thinking about the time period between the first two dates made her heartsick. There was still the question of the ten months she went missing, but... "Ummm... March 31, 1997?" she chanced it, the memory gradually returning. She struggled slowly to sit up and Chris assisted after lightly brushing her lips with his own. Christina still held one hand to her head as it seemed to throb with a furious intensity. Chris kissed her lightly on her forehead and she smiled. "Sorry to have scared you for a moment. Memory slips have happened before, but never with a headache this bad." she sighed. Scully knelt down with a pen-light in one hand. "I'm a doctor. Could I take a look at you? I want to see if you've got a concussion or some other neurological damage." she asked softly, knowing loud noise only made headaches worse. She nodded and Scully put one hand on Christina's shoulder to stablise herself before she flashed the light in her eyes. She did the only natural thing she could. She blinked and flinched. "Sorry." Christina whispered softly. "It's quite alright. I think that was about one of the most normal reactions I've seen." Scully smiled in understanding. "Switching headaches can get to be that severe for some people, Scully." Mulder stated. "They could be said to be on level of migraines or something similar." "But it wasn't just a switching headache, Agent Mulder. I..." she sighed in frustration, trying to explain what she saw and heard. "I saw an image of your sister..." "I was hoping you were just hallucinating." Mulder looked more than slightly downcast. "Mulder, you believe everything else, and yet you think I'm hallucinating when I told you I saw an image of your sister? You aren't making any sense." "Neither are you. Headaches have been known to cause hallucinations of all kinds." Mulder retorted, almost scathingly. Scully frowned, and Christina half-wondered what she'd said to offend him and half-wondered why he wasn't believing her. "Mulder, one of my Others-" <<<'*YOUR Others? I beg your pardon!'>>> several of them protested. She paused, rubbing at her face before continuing. "One of my Others, which is what I call them, was out a few moments ago. One who hasn't been out since before I disappeared... or should I say before I was abducted?!" The words were seemingly pushed out of her mouth before she was aware of exactly what it was she was saying. Then, the realization hit her. Valerie was suddenly deciding to be honest with what happened during their disappearance. That fact suddenly made all the Others very suspicious. There was a moment of tense silence before anyone said anything. <<<'You're not serious, Valerie... are you?'>>> Marie asked. <<<'I am! We were taken by aliens... only, they wanted to show me what kind of damage we were doing to this planet of ours, not run any sort of tests or put implants in this body. I swear they only showed me what they were observing and nothing more.'>>> Valerie answered, finally glad she didn't have to keep quiet now. <<<'Then why did they keep us for ten months? Or have you forgotten that ten months is a little over the time needed for them to have gotten us pregnant and given birth as well as having the child taken away?'>>> Lisa asked. <<<'Lisa, why are you so obsessed with maybe having been pregnant?'>>> Christina asked, to which Lisa refused to answer. "Are you saying you were abducted by aliens?" Scully asked, quietly alarmed, interrupting Christina's internal debate. A flicker of memory causing some fear. "Either that or I'm going totally out of my mind, which might also be possible..." she shrugged. "I'm not ruling anything out right now." Chris' thought flashed into Christina's mind, and they looked at each other, both trying hard not to laugh. "What can you tell me about these aliens?" Mulder asked. "It seems these aliens are different. They don't want to take over the planet, they want to help save us from what we've done to it... to our home." Christina said, though she realized she wasn't making much sense to herself. "I'll believe it when I see it." Mulder grumbled. Everyone nodded agreement. In actuality, she was pulling the information from Valerie, who was still hesitant. "And they're also looking for Mulder's sister, Samantha. >From the impression I'm getting from Valerie, she thinks that they're looking for her to return her and because they believe the race that does have her, as well as others taken from this planet, has no right to abduct anyone they way they have and run tests on them. Apparently, the race that has her has no remorse for what they do to humans they take." "That doesn't exactly explain their own abduction of you, though, love." Chris stated, gently. <<<'Will someone please explain to me why Chris is calling us 'love'?'>>> Julia demanded. <<<'It's been a long time since he's said anything of the sort and I think he wants something.'>>> <<<'That is a good question, and a good point, Julia. Why *is* he calling us 'love'? He hasn't done that in far too long. There has to be a reason...'>>> Christina answered. <<>> Julia spat back. <'How about *because I love you*?'> Chris' mental voice answered, and she looked at him. 'I love you.' His mouth moved, but no sound came out. SHe looked at him in shock. He nodded and smiled. "Maybe not, but the fact that Valerie did let them flash Mulder's image into our mind after they told us he was someone we needed to find indicates that there is some truth to this particular line of reasoning. They don't seem malevolent. Besides, which, Valerie doesn't remember any tests being run on us." <<<'Like that means anything...'>>> Lisa spoke up. <<<'They could have blanked that part of our memory... they had enough time.'>>> <<<'They could have killed us too, Lisa. That doesn't mean anything!'>>> Christina protested. <<<'Besides, there are a lot of things we don't remember... or have you forgotten *that* little detail? Wouldn't that be something? And we don't need aliens to blank our memories. Especially considering we do that just fine on our own.'>>> <<<'Speak for yourself!'>>> Lisa's tone was scathing. <<<'As if you'd be happier if Scott had done that? Especially considering what he very nearly DID?'>>> "That's an interesting thought." Mulder said, as he watched Chris help Christina to her feet. Christina reached over and picked up the file folder again, studying it carefully. There was various pieces of information which had been gathered for the case over the time span of several years. Christina noticed one pattern, then another, as she flipped through the pages of medical and psychological evaluation. Evaluations which had been present in each of the reported abductees files. Even *before* their periods of disappearance. Those very evaluations had been done both before and after the abduction. "That's it! It's the link-" she started. Right then, Mulder's phone rang. "Hold that thought." Mulder said, reaching over to answer it. "Mulder." Chris and Christina studied each other in silence as Mulder continued his conversation with whomever it was who was on the phone. Christina was actually feeling more than slightly relieved to be looking into Chris' dark blue eyes again after what had been an excruciating time apart. His eyes were as comforting as she'd remembered many months ago. She leaned on his shoulder and sighed heavily. He reached up and touched her cheek gently. Then, she leaned in and kissed him. "Agent Scully, could you try telling my mother I'm back again? Maybe this time she'll believe you, and then, maybe, I can go home to Los Angeles. If need be, I'll even talk to her and convince her I'm back for certain." Christina half-murmured, putting her head on Chris' shoulder. In truth, she really didn't feel like talking or going anywhere, and her tone of voice made that all too clear to everyone in the office. "She won't have to." Mulder replied, hanging up the phone. "Apparently your mother called Skinner... the Bureau's assistant director, and she was quite irate. Your find will have to wait. He wants to see all of us in his office. Now." End Part 5.