The Loop

Chapter Fourteen

There's a bright white light shining in her eyes. That's the first thing Scully notices. She brings up her arm to shield her eyes as her senses start to come back to her, beginning to function properly. The second thing she notices is a steady beeping noise coming from somewhere close by. Confusion settling over her, Scully begins to sit up, rubbing her eyes. The third thing she notices is that she was lying down. Why was she lying down? Finally getting to open her eyes, Scully looks around, taking in her surroundings. She was in some sort of room. Looking down, she noticed that she was in a bed, in a gown, with IVs and cords hooking her up to some machines that were by her side, one of which was making the beeping noise she had heard. She appeared to be in the hospital. But why? Why wasn't she at the horse racing track? Why wasn't she still trying to solve the suicide? Why wasn't she with Mulder? As she thought, the memories of everything that had happened began to come back her; her and Mulder at the race track, her and Mulder witnessing the man commit suicide, her and Mulder figuring out that they were in a loop, her and Mulder figuring out why they were in a loop and how to stop it, then her stopping the man, and Mulder having a heart attack... The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. Mulder had suffered a heart attack. Actually, he had suffered two heart attacks. She began to panic, starting to fidget with the cords and IVs, trying to unhook herself from the machines.

"Mulder," she said, her voice a bit groggy. She had to find Mulder. As she continued to unhook herself from the machines, there was suddenly a person next to her, grabbing her hands and pulling them away from her arms.

"Miss Scully, I need you to calm down." the person said. Scully looked up, seeing a women standing there with a look of concern as she held onto her wrists. She must be a nurse. She'd know where to find Mulder.

"Mulder, I need to see Mulder." Scully said. The nurse froze, her face going pale as she stared at Scully. Confused, Scully furrowed her eyebrows. "Miss-" she read the nurse's badge. "Wheeler. I need to see Mulder. Now." Scully said again, a bit more strongly. Why wouldn't she answer her?

Nurse Wheeler continued to stare at Scully, before swallowing and building up her posture, standing a bit more straight. She let go of Scully's wrists and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Miss Scully, I..." Nurse Wheeler began, but trailed off. Scully looked up at her, desperate for her to finish her sentence.

"What?" Scully asked. Nurse Wheeler looked down as she drew in a breath, licked her lips, and then brought her gaze back to Scully.

"Miss Scully, you and Mr. Mulder were in a terrible car accident." she responded. Scully sighed, a bit exasperated.

"Yes, I know that. I just want to see Mulder." Scully replied. Nurse Wheeler stared hard at Scully, looking for the right words to say.

"Well, there was a lot of damage done, and you two were both brought here." Nurse Wheeler continued, skipping over what Scully said, which was starting to make Scully angry. She decided to keep quiet for now though and see if Nurse Wheeler would finally get to the part where she would let her see Mulder. "You were a miracle. Just a broken ankle and a lot of scratches and bruises." she continued. At hearing this, Scully looked down, seeing the slight bulge on her left ankle coming from under the sheets. She hadn't even noticed it. "Mr. Mulder, however, was a different case." Nurse Wheeler said, quickly catching Scully's attention back. What did she mean he was a different case? "The semi-truck that hit you guys hit the driver's side of the car. It mostly hit the hood, but the impact still caused the car to crumple up across his side. The rolls that the car did didn't help either. He was a lot more beaten up then you, by far." she said.

"So, what then? Is he in the ICU or surgery or something?" Scully asked, not able to help herself. Nurse Wheeler went quiet. She looked down at the bed sheet, not knowing what to say, then looked back up at Scully with a horribly sad look in her eyes. Scully's breath hitched in her throat. That wasn't what she wanted as a response. Her brain began to reel. All she wanted was Mulder, to see him, to be by his side, to hug him to herself at this very moment.

"Miss Wheeler, where is Mulder?" Scully asked, trying to keep an authoritative tone, but the shakiness in her voice breaking it slightly. Nurse Wheeler drew in a breath, then looked away as though she were ashamed. After a few seconds, she slowly brought her gaze back to Scully.

"Miss Scully, I-"

"Tell me where he is." Scully cut her off. Nurse Wheeler looked at her sadly, swallowing another lump in her throat. Panic began to rise in Scully, a lump beginning to form in her throat as well. She opened her mouth to talk, letting it sit open for a few second as she tried to figure out to say. "Tell me that he's okay." she finally let out, in a breathy, pleading voice. "Please." she added, her voice squeaky and breaking as tears began to pool in her eyes, falling quickly down her cheeks as she stared up at Nurse Wheeler, who looked as though she was about to start crying as well. Scully's arms were up at her chest, her hands wrapped around each other so tightly that her knuckles were turning white, though she didn't notice.

Nurse Wheeler swallowed again and blinked a few times before looking down at Scully, drawing in a quiet, deep breath.

"Mr. Mulder died about two hours ago. He went into cardiac arrest twice and it proved to be fatal." she finally said, and that was the last thing Scully heard before silence.

The ringing sound of pure silence in her ears, Scully stared down at the bed sheets, her eyes wide with horror and disbelief, her mouth agape with shock. All she could think about was Mulder. Just Mulder. Mulder was... dead. Gone. Not coming back. But how? He can't be dead, he was just here. She just saw him. They were just talking not too long ago. Yeah, he went into cardiac arrest, but that wasn't real. They hadn't really been stuck in a loop. That's not possible.

Scully's mind was reeling. She didn't know what to think. How to think. What to do. There was one thing she knew for sure now though, and it was that Fox Mulder, her partner in work and in life, was dead.

The ringing in her ear stopped as she realized this, and the next thing she knew her body was convulsing and she had vomited onto the floor next to her. Once she had done that, her body began to shake and she began to cry, tears flowing down her cheeks as she stared at the wall with her mouth wide open, letting out a silent scream. She drew in a deep breath, and the next thing she knew, there was a loud wailing noise emitting from her throat. Scully bent forward bringing her knees up to her chest, ignoring the pain that was coming from her ankle and random spots around her body in protest of her movement. She hugged her knees and fell to the side, burying her face in her legs as she curled into a ball and cried. Nurse Wheeler sat down next to her, rubbing her back in soothing circles, trying calm her down, but it didn't help. What use did her small back rubs have to the fact that Fox Mulder was now dead?

Scully sat there in her hospital bed for what seemed like hours, crying, her head throbbing with pain from it, though she didn't stop as her wails continued to echo horribly throughout the room. Eventually her voice went hoarse and gave away, and her head throbbed so badly that she couldn't think. Her eyes were swollen and aching as well, and soon enough, she fell into a dark, dreamless sleep.