Title: Alone in the World Author: spookycc Rating: PG 13 +/-. Classification: V A Doggett-friendly. Summary: Fill-in-the-blanks for "Alone", Doggett POV. Spoilers: Specifically, for "Alone". To be safe, for S8 so far. Disclaimer: No characters, human or canine, are mine. And no dogs were harmed in the making of this fanfic. :)~ Feedback welcomed at spookycc@earthlink.net Archive: I'll take care of ephemeral and Gossamer - anyone else feel free - please drop me a line to let me know where it'll be living. Dedication: As ever, to Doggett's Bitch (f/k/a "Fox's Vixen" :). My soulmate, always. The person who hooked me on The Big Dawg. Sigh.... And for girlassassin, most loyal fan, and great friend. Keep that chin up as your life returns to what passes for "normal" for you, and would still be "phenomenal" for old me. :) No beta-reader was used. All typos are my own. **** Another day at the X-Files... I wonder how many more of them I'll be sharing with Agent Scully, before her pregnancy forces her to take leave? As I enter the basement office, I see a thoughtful Agent Scully looking at a small article in her hand. I see a winsome smile, before she places the object in a small cardboard box on her desk. I have a bad feeling here... "Can I take your coat?" I offer, as I hang my own up. I hope my voice doesn't betray my fear that the time for her leaving is here. "I'm not staying, Agent Doggett." Her comment is not unexpected, but I have to fight to keep the disappointment from showing. Her doctor has ordered her to take her maternity leave now. I pick my chin up off the floor. "That's not bad, Agent Scully," I lie. Then I add a truth: "You could use some time for yourself." She holds another object in her hand, turning it over as memories play across her features. "What is it?" I find that genuine curiosity has replaced my sense of foreboding, just for the moment, anyway. "It's a medallion, commemmorating the Apollo 11 space flight," she replies. Seems more like somethin' *Mulder* would have. "I'd like to give this to you, Agent Doggett." She hands me the keychain. "Thanks," I offer a weak smile and read the inscription on the face. I wonder why she wants *me* to have it, so I ask. "Because..." Her expression grows a bit more serious. "Agent Mulder gave it to me a few years back. It symbolizes teamwork, partnership..." Her eyes meet mine. "It means no one gets there alone. And after this past year and... everything that we've been through, I just... I wouldn't be here without you." I look straight into her eyes. I wouldn't be here without *her*, either, truth be told. I don't know what to say. Something inside me pulls me toward her. As always, I tamp it down. Then Scully takes a step that closes the distance between us, and reaches tentatively around me with one arm, the other holding her box of momentos. I hesitate not for a moment in returning the hug, stepping into her embrace and closing my arms around her. It feels like I *belong* here. I can't explain my feelings, and I don't waste this precious moment trying to. The warmth I have felt in her presence, almost since the beginning, envelops me and I linger as long as I can, in her arms. I feel whole. Like this is where I *should* be, though I've never been here before. I don't want this to end. It does, of course, all too quickly. Scully gazes up at me, with what looks like regret in her eyes. She nods to herself a couple times, and then heads for the door. I bite back a nagging worry - this doesn't feel like a "see you later". It feels like a "goodbye forever". 'Dana' hangs on my tongue, but of course that's not what I hear myself say. "Agent Scully. This pregnancy leave - it's just a "leave", right? I mean, you *are* comin' back, eventually?" That sad look again, and then a slight smile. And she's gone. I feel like she's taken a piece of me with her. I gaze around the office, wander over to Mulder's "I Want To Believe" poster, deep in my own sad thoughts. This place will never be the same without her presence... Then I hear heels in the hallway. She probably just forgot something, but it doesn't matter. For this instant, it doesn't matter *what* brings her back, only that she *is* back. A feel a smile creep onto my face. "You're not gone five minutes, Agent Scully, and already I'm startin' to feel like a stranger in my own off-" I stop, dead silent, dead in my tracks. It's not Scully at all. It's a woman, FBI. About Scully's height, with blonde hair. She says she's here to help me, and hands me a casefile for an X-File in upstate New York. Agent Scully's presence is still *here*, for crissakes, just as if she were in the room. But here is Agent Harrison in front of me. I'm sure I look as puzzled as I feel. Finally I just ask her. "I'm sorry, Ms. Harrison. Who are you?" She looks embarrassed, and says as much. I haven't been told. She's my new partner... I can't even begin to sort out my feelings on this. Scully *hasn't* been gone five minutes. I didn't assume I'd be working alone, but I'm not ready for another partner this soon. I haven't let go of Scully yet, not inside. **** We arrive at the crime scene, and I let the "feel" of the place tell me where to start looking. The way I always have, ever since I was a cop. We look inside the house first. I find some slime on a window sill and on the floor, and she's excited to realize that this *is* an X-File. Turns out this is her first time in the field. DD Kersh gave her this job. She's bein' used, just like me. But not unwillingly. She knows the X-Files from her work in accounting, and she can't wait to get her feet wet. She doesn't understand why I don't share her excitement. Great. Another freakin' believer... Naive in the political Bureau workings, and a newcomer to field work. I'm searching the main house of the estate when I "feel" something behind me. I can't explain it - it's not scientific - but I don't disregard the feeling. It's saved my ass more than a few times in the field. As I draw my weapon and approach the upstairs hall, I walk right into my new "partner", who wandered into the house after me. I send her outside, so I can try to flush it out. I even hafta remind her to take the safety off her gun. I got a bad feelin' about this case. As I make my way downstairs, I hear shots out front. I rush to the front porch, and find Agent Harrison gone. I follow drag-tracks in the grass, into a small clearing. I hear a creaking noise, and the ground swallows me... **** I don't know how long I've been layin' here, when I finally come to. I make sure all my joints are working correctly before I sit up. Damn, my head hurts like hell. I get the feeling that's not the worst of my problems, either. I find my gun and pull my flashlight out, to explore this *whatever* that I fell into. My first concern is to find Agent Harrison, but she's nowhere in sight. My cell phone says "No Service". Swell... I find a battered old metal door, and push it open to find myself in a wine cellar. With my flashlight playing toward the floor, I see an animal skull - looks like a dog's. I'm turning it over in my hands when I get that feeling again - that someone or something is down here with me. I look behind me - nothing - and turn back around. A shadow flies at me, from straight ahead, and sprays my eyes with something, before flying back the other way. I shoot without seeing, hitting only the walls. Then I try to wipe my eyes clear of whatever it sprayed. My vision is cloudy. I aim my gun at the next thing I hear. But it's Agent Harrison, who seems to be in the same shape as I am. She's found what she believes to be the caretaker's son, in an even more advanced state of whatever the hell state we're in... She brings up a case that Mulder and Scully pursued in Florida once - something about subterranean men. I remind her this isn't a *man* we're looking for. Does *everything* have to relate to one of Scully's cases with Mulder? I'm guessing Agent Harrison and I are lunch and dinner for whatever lives down here, but I don't plan to stay around that long. We can both make out a light, well above us. I can't tell how high up it is, but I start climbing. I hafta do something... Climbing a sheer rock face isn't easy under the best circumstances. And I can hardly see where I'm going - where the next handhold or foothold is. I travel by feel, and it's slow going. Finally the light above me grows brighter. I reach up and push a manhole cover aside, trying to gather what little strength I have left to pull myself out of the hole. I see someone above me - blurry, but it's a man. Thank God something finally went my way on this case. "I need a hand." He gives me, instead, a *foot*. *On* my hand. Shit! I hang on for as long as I'm able, and them tumble back down the way I came. When I regain my senses, Agent Harrison leans worriedly over me. In my blurred vision, I could see Scully there, if I tried. God, I want to. I explain the man upstairs helped me lose my grip, and I stand to see him sliding a solid manhole cover over the light above. I yell that I'm a federal agent, but it doesn't worry him, apparently. The light is gone. Amazingly, I haven't broken anything - *yet*, I remind myself. "I don't understand," Agent Harrison wonders out loud. "Why would he want to keep us down here?" I know exactly why - (lunch and dinner) - but I just tell her this is her chance to face the unknown... She starts into another "Mulder and Scully" story, and, well, I've heard enough of those on this trip. "Mulder and Scully aren't *here*, Agent Harrison. *We* are," I interrupt as gently as my blaring headache will allow. "And wild speculation isn't gonna help us find a way out." If I could really see her, I think I'd see a hurt expression. I sure *hear* hurt in her voice. "You think I'm pretty foolish, don't you?" It's not really that... I pull my voice down another level, and step closer to her, so I can almost see her eyes. "I appreciate your enthusiasm," I give her half a truth. "But you wanna take leaps that aren't supported by the facts." I leave her my gun and tell her to stay with Gary. Shoot if the creature appears again. She interrupts my departure from the cavern. Gary is gone. The creature must have taken him... So we head off together, me leading - I can see a *little* better than she can. "Talk about the blind leadin' the blind," I try to lighten the mood. She wants to apologize, says I was right - she's not qualified. I tell her she's doing fine, to hang tough, but there is more worry in her voice. I turn to face her, and she explains that she's completely blind. We better damn sure find a way out while *I* can still see, or we'll be on tonight's menu... We hear - more than see - the creature hovering over something in front of us. My shots scare it off, and we kneel to find a body. Probably Gary. I beat on the door the creature left through. Tight, locked, unbreakable. I leave Agent Harrison to sit and catch her breath for a minute while I try the door again... When I return to her, I startle her - Damn. She can't see me. I let her know it's ok. While we're trying to figure our next move, we hear a pounding from the other side of the closed door. It's Mulder. And another man. I help Agent Harrison to her feet and we meet them halfway across the room. The other man who looks disturbingly familiar. Even with blurred vision. I bet I have his damned shoeprint on the top of my hand. Mulder explains it's the man who lives here. I tell Mulder that man's been protecting this thing. Agent Harrison takes it a step further. She thinks he *is* the creature, even though she can't see. Mulder turns to find the man gone, and the door locked once more. He wants my gun, but before he can reach me, he sees the the creature crawling on the ceiling above us. Mulder wants me to shoot at his voice. I can't do that. He's damned insistent - but I can't shoot Mulder, even accidentally. I'm paralyzed, almost totally blind, when I realize that a leap needs to be taken. By me. Here. Now. When Mulder says "Fire!" I do - at the sound of his voice. Five shots. Then silence. I have no idea if I hit the creature. I have no idea if I hit Mulder. "Agent Mulder..." "Agent Mulder!" I feel a hand on my shoulder. "I'm right here, Agent Doggett." I sag with relief, letting my weapon hang, my eyes closed. **** <> "Agent Doggett!" I sit up - too fast - dizzy - and fall back against... pillows. "Agent Doggett, relax. It's me. Agent Scully." How many times has that sweet voice pulled me from horrors both real and imagined in the past year? But this - this is *too* real. Everything is *still* black! "Agent Scully - I can't see!" "Relax - you have bandages on your eyes. They'll come off later today." My hands are grasping for life at the bedrails, until she lays a gentle hand on my arm. Relief floods me, and I relax a bit into the bed beneath me. "What happened? Is Agent Harrison ok?" I have more questions than breath. "We think she'll be fine. What do you remember?" I have no recollection of being helped out of the catacombs. I think I'd been running on adrenaline for too many hours, and I just shut down. Probably better off, since I couldn't see a damned thing anyway. Scully explains about the anti-venin treatment that I'm receiving. "The doctor should be here in a little while to check your eyes again. He said he's hopeful you'll regain normal vision." I heave a sigh, slowly acclimating myself to the darkness, clinging to the promise of impending light by focusing on Scully's touch on my arm. Then that touch is gone. I hear her pouring water into a cup, feel her holding it to my lips. Gratefully, I drink a few sips. "Thanks." "So," her tone is light. "I'm not gone five minutes and you're in deep shit already, huh?" I smile despite everything that's happened. I can hear Scully's smile in her voice. A knock on the door announces the doctor's arrival. Scully introduces him, and moves to let him into her place. I reach for where her arm should be - it's there - and close a hand around it. "Please. Stay." "I'm not going anywhere, Agent Doggett. I'm right here." She takes my hand in both of hers, and my heart rate drops back into normal range. The doctor is methodic, explaining what he's doing, what to expect, what *not* to expect. Then he removes the bandage from my right eye. I blink rapidly, my eye not used to the air hitting its surface yet. When I attempt to focus, I'm rewarded with a slightly fuzzy picture - but far better than I had toward the end, in the caverns. The doctor shines a penlight into the eye, and removes the other bandage. Same feelings, same level of sight. "I think you're going to be fine," the doctor smiles - I think. "We'll continue treatment for the next day or so. If your vision is fully restored, you can go home tomorrow." "How about Agent Harrison?" I ask. "She was further advanced in her exposure to the venom," he answers. "But we think she'll be ok as well. She'll probably need an extra day or two, but we're hopeful her progress will be as positive as yours." "Thanks, Doctor." He nods and leaves the room, and I turn to see - to *see* - Scully sit back down beside my bed. **** Two days later, I'm spending the afternoon with Agent Harrison. I got discharged yesterday, but I wanna hang around, to make sure she's doin' ok, too. It's coming on dinnertime - time to leave - and I finally thank her for her help. She almost laughs. "Some help *I* was." "*You* knew what that creature was, Agent Harrison. I'd say you did pretty damned good for an agent on her first case in the field." She smiles, and her eyes shine with almost their normal enthusiasm. "Thank *you*. For putting up with me, with my wild speculations." I linger for a few more moments, and then I head into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind me. When I look up, Agents Scully and Mulder are right in front of me. Immediately I think of the baby. Is it time already? It's too early. I hope everything is ok. "Is this it?" I point in the general direction of Scully's 8+ month bulge. "No," she smiles. They're here to check in on Agent Harrison. I bring them up to speed - Scully pretty much knew what was going on, but Mulder might not have. Scully's look grows serious. "Skinner said she won't be returning to the X-Files." "That was her choice. It's just gonna be me for awhile." Jeez, did that sound pitiful, or what? Agent Mulder pulls something from his pocket. "I want to return something to you, that I think you deserve to keep." I know what it is. And I know who *should* have it. "I appreciate the gesture, but if it's all the same to you, there's someone else who should have it." Mulder smiles - he knows who I have in mind - and starts to lay the keychain in my hand, to give to Agent Harrison. But she's probably the president of the Mulder and Scully fan club, so I shake my head. "I think it'd mean more comin' from you." A few minutes later, I stand outside Agent Harrison's room. I could almost hear the conversation inside, if I tried. But I'm not listening. I'm too lost in my own feelings. Talking to an animated Agent Harrison, they stand side by side. Mulder and Scully. They fit together. They belong together. Anyone could see that. I nod to myself, before I head off down the hallway. All's right with the world... Except that now I'm alone in it... ~fini~ Author's Note: I know the episode made it sound like Scully was unaware of Doggett's treatment at the hospital, when she asked about Harrison. I just choose not to believe that she never came to see Doggett while he was still in the hospital.