From: Mulder6758@aol.com
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 20:41:50 EST
Subject: Sharp Edges by C. Charlotte
Source: direct

Sharp Edges
By C. Charlotte
Mulder6758@aol.com
Rating: PG-PG13
Keywords: UST, X-File, MT
Spoilers: None, i think.
Disclaimer: M and S belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, Fox, etc...
Summary: Mulder and Scully go to the mountains to chase an elusive being when 
trouble ensues.

~~~~xxx~~~~

Special Agent Dana Scully, as much as she loved the outdoors, hated the 
mountains of Virginia. As far as she could see, all she was rewarded with 
were tall snowcapped peaks, which, presumably, Mulder and herself would be 
climbing shortly.

Why, in God's name, he'd insisted on their coming to the mountains remained a 
mystery. He'd been particularily evasive as to the cause of their coming up 
here. 

Which meant that she wouldn't like it. 

Turning around, she spotted Mulder over by the black Explorer. Throughly 
enjoying himself. 

"Mulder, why, in God's name have you dragged me into the mountains?"
"I thought you liked the outdoors?"
"When there's a toilet in sight. Mulder?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are we out here?"
"We're chasing after something."
"What is this something?"
"..."
"Mulder?!!!!!!!"
"Uh......someone reported seeing Big Foot."
"WHAT THE.....!!!!!!!!!!!"

~~~~xxx~~~~

Mulder cringed at the sight of Scully. Her face was the same color as her 
hair. 

True, he hadn't told her that they'd be looking for Big Foot but he WAS 
planning on telling her. Just not now, not when she could still turn around 
and leave.....

He watched her slip back into the passenger side and breathed a sigh of 
relief. As long as she was there he felt all right.

"I don't believe this......."
"I was planning on telling you."
"When? When we were up on the mountains?"
"I didn't want you to turn around and leave."
"I wouldn't have."
"Well I couldn't take that chance."
"Now that I'm here mind filling me in?"
"Big Foot. Two campers reported seeing a shadowy figure about 300 meters from 
their camp. Apparently he took some food. One of them followed him into the 
woods, got a picture."
"Can I see it?"

He handed her the shadowy picture, knowing the response he'd get. Even he 
himself had doubts. It was a foggy night and they were up on the mountains. 
The campers could have seen anything.

"Mulder, this could be a bear. The photo's not even clear."
"It's a little bigger than a bear, don't you think?"
"It could be rearing."
"Look at the figure, its pretty human."
"It could be a tree, hell, it could have been another person."
"......."
"Mulder?"
"It's hard to see up here."

And it was. The tendrils of fog drifting off the moutains interfered with the 
car headlights and turned everything into a kind of yellow soup light. 

"How far are we from camp?"
"Camp?"
"Please tell me we're staying in a camp."
"Uh..... we're staying in tents at the top of Pike's Bluff."
"Pike's Bluff?"
"It's at the base of one of the mountains."
"Shit."

~~~~xxx~~~~

Two hours later the two blue tents had been pitched and the fire was going. 
Scully sat inside her tent, her gun within reach of her hand and her eyes and 
ears wide open. 

Mulder was outside, eating smoors and enjoying the nightlife that comes out 
when one builds a fire in the mountains. He'd already seen a small fox, a 
brown bear with her cubs and dozens of owls, not that'd he tell Scully any of 
that. 

Her blue eyes were wide with fear of the things that she knew creeped just 
beyond the trees. As much as she hated to admit it, she wished Mulder would 
insist they sleep in the same tent for safety's sake. 

She pulled the sleeping bag closer to her and placed the gun next to her 
pillow. She checked the zips to see if they were all the way down again and 
checked the battery in her flashlight. 

She lay her head against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling of the tent, 
at the blue diagonal lines, wondering how strong the material was......

She was startled out of the reverie by the zips being pulled up. She grabbed 
her gun, trained it on the entrance and jumped out of the sleeping bag.

"Stay where you are!"

The hand continued to unzip and pulled the two pieces of fabric apart. She 
shivered and forced herself to remain calm.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"
"Scully! Jeez....its me."
"Mulder?"
"Calm down."

~~~~xxx~~~~

He looked in on her from the outside of the tent with a shocked expression. 
She'd been about to shoot him!

"Sorry."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You had a gun on me."
"..."
"Scully?"
"Yes Mulder?"
"......never mind."

He rezipped the tent and crawled into his own. She was definetely on edge. 
More so than usual. Usually when they were out in the woods she was fine, 
calm. Maybe it was because these areas were known for bears. And an 
occasional wolf or two. 

And the occasional Big Foot.

Maybe that was it. 

~~~~xxx~~~~

She awoke with a start later on that night, needing to relieve herself. She 
crept out to the edge of the woods, did what she had to do and turned around 
to start back to her tent. 

A big brown grizzly bear was blocking her way. Her eyes widened and she felt 
the ground move underneath her. 

And then blackness.

~~~~xxx~~~~

Mulder was so startled by a high feminine shriek, sounding exactly like 
Scully, that he was out of his tent in three seconds flat.

He saw the frightened bear cub and he saw Scully about 15 feet away, 
haphazardly fallen on the ground. Upon seeing Mulder, the bear took off into 
the woods and Mulder ran over to Scully. 

Lifting her as gentley as he could, he carried her back to his tent and lay 
her out on his sleeping bag. Fainting from fright was something he wasn't 
familiar with and something he doubted Dana was either. 

~~~~xxx~~~~

Slowly the world began to reappear around her and she regained consciousness 
to see an anxious Mulder peering down at her. Thought flooded back to her and 
she let a single tear trace its way down her face. 

"Scully?"
"Mu-Mulder."
"It's ok. He's gone."
"He was huge."
"He's gone now."

She buried her hands in her face as Mulder propped her up against him and she 
fought to regain her composure. This wasn't a side of her she wanted Mulder 
to see.

"Shit, he was huge."
"He was a cub, Scully."
"It might have been the shadows then."
"Probably. Maybe an overactive imagination. You okay now?"
"I don't have an overactive imagination, that's your problem.Yeah, I'm fine, 
I'm gonna go back to my tent."
"Want to sleep in here tonight?"
"No thanks."

She pushed herself out of Mulder's arms reluctantly and walked back to her 
own tent, her hand placed upon her gun. She zipped the tent and lay down on 
the sleeping bag, still fighting for composure. 

~~~~xxx~~~~

Mulder could hear her gentle sobs from his tent even though the night was 
noisy and the tents were pretty far apart. He felt like he ought to go to 
her, but he didn't want to make her any more nervous or embarrassed. Scully 
wasn't used to being the weak one, depending on him.

He reached for a soda, and carelessly popping it open, spilled half of it on 
himself. Swearing, he realized that Scully had his duffle bag and he had 
her's.

He ran over to her tent, careful to knock before going in. 

"What is it Mulder?"
"I have your bag, you've got mine."
"And that couldn't wait until morning?"
"I need another shirt."
"Is it safe to ask why?"
"I spilt soda on myself, can I just have the bag please?"
"Here."

She threw the bag at him and he caught it with one hand, dropping her's to 
the floor at the same time. He zipped up her tent again and went back to his 
own to change. 

~~~~xxx~~~~

The following morning Scully was up and dressed before a somewhat disoriented 
Mulder pulled himself out of his tent. 

"Ready?"
"Huh?"
"Did you have a little drinky last night Mulder?"
"Oh.....no."
"We should leave."
"Give me two minutes to change."
"One."

Mulder hurried off back to his tent and Scully packed her stuff up and loaded 
it into the back of the Explorer.
  
"Ready."
"Maybe I should drive......"
"I'm fine Scully."
"Did you sleep at all last night?"
"A bit."
"What's a bit? An hour or two?"
"Half an hour."
"Jesus."
"C'mon."

Mulder swung himself into the Explorer and started the ignition as Scully 
climbed in the other side. 

"So......where are we sleeping tonight?"
"Wherever we end up."
"What?"
"We're gonna climb the mountain Scully. There are no laidout places to sleep. 
We stop when it gets dark and sleep where we end up."
"I can't believe you're enjoying this."
"Who said I'm enjoying it?"
"Please Mulder. You get to be a big, manly man AND chase Big Foot at the same 
time."
"Are you saying I'm not usually a big manly man?"
"Watch the road Mulder, its pretty curvy."
"You're avoiding the subject Scully."
"I'm trying to avoid our deaths!"
"Relax, I can see where we're going."
"Really, Mulder. Pull over, I'm driving."
"Scully I've got it!"
"Sure. Fine. Whatever."

~~~~xxx~~~~

The hike up the beginning part of the nearly-not-there trail was easy and 
actually fun. The scenery at the bottom of the trail was teaming with life 
and the path up the hill wasn't steep. 

But now, four hours after hiking they were nearing the middle of the moutain 
with no Big Foot in sight and the trail was getting steeper and steeper. 

And harder to follow.

And Mulder was wishing it would start getting dark. He was really in need of 
a rest right about now. 

A cold breeze got in between his sweatshirt and coat, he shivered 
involutarily and pulled the coat more securely to his body. 

"Cold?"
"No."
"You look it."
"Well I'm not."
"Want to stop?"
"It's only.......6:55."
"So?"
"So we still have two hours of sunlight, we can get a lot further up."
"Not if you collapse."
"I'm not going to collapse."
"You're so bad at lying...."

~~~~xxx~~~~

Scully watched Mulder carefully as she trudged up the trail behind him. 

Each step he took seemed to be with great effort, she was afraid he'd end up 
losing his footing and tumble down one of the many cliffs and hills and 
dropoffs they kept passing.

Mulder stopped short and Scully bounced off him.

"Why'd you stop?"
"Looks like we'll have to climb up and then we'll stop at the flat area above 
it for the night." he murmered.
"Okay."
"Want me to take some of your pack?"
"Naw, mine's light. What about your's? Should I take some of it?"
"Nope, I got it. Watch your hands on the shards of rock."
"Got it." she confirmed.
"Go up the side of me. I can see you better."
"Here?" she asked.
"Yeah."

Scully pushed her arms into the rocks and used the strength of her legs to 
shimmy up the rock wall a ways. Craning her neck up, she noticed the top was 
far away. At least a ten minute climb.....

Moving her head to the right, she was Mulder straining about twenty feet 
above her.

"You okay Mulder?"
".....yeah."
"Okay."

She pushed up a few more feet and saw Mulder nearing the top. A few pebbles 
rained down on her and she looked up to see Mulder scrambling for purchase on 
the surface, dangling precariously off the edge.

"Mulder?!?"
"Shit...."

She looked up at the explisitive and saw his fingers leave the surface, his 
body fall and heard the bone-cracking sound of his hitting the ground some 
forty to fifty feet below her.

~~~~xxx~~~~

The world was black for a long time. But slowly, and painfully, it began 
reapeering. First in muted colors, then pastels, and finally real true 
colors. Bright and dark. 

He kept his eyes closed, somewhere in the background he could hear Scully's 
frenzied voice calling him back from where he currently was. Somewhere 
between being conscious and unconscious. 

"Mulder? Hey, can you hear me? You gotta wake up for me.....c'mon Mulder. I'm 
begging here. I'll never complain about another case again.....pl-please just 
c-c-come back."

Tears, he could feel them against his skin. They were soothing, pleasant. The 
coolness did wonders. He could feel himself beginning to approach the 
brighter end of the scale, consciousness. 

Pain flooded in the crevices and he worked hard to keep from crying aloud. 

"Mulder?"
"Oh.....god."
"Mulder? Hey, c'mere. Look up at me."
"Up? I think you mean down."

He smiled painfully and opened his eyes. Testing the waters. He peered up at 
Scully, her eyes glazed over with tears.

"Hey, its ok."
"You scared me Mulder."
"I only fell a few-damn, that hurt-feet."
"About fifty or sixty feet."
"So what's the diagnosis Agent Scully?"
"Grim. We're camping here. One tent, your's is pretty smashed up. Its the 
only reason you didn't break your back in the fall."
"It took it for me."
"You bet, not to that say you didn't hurt yourself bad enough though."
"Details, Scully. I need details......"
"Broken collarbone, shoulder and arm, all on the right side."
"That's not so bad."
"Possible broken ribs, definetely bruised badly."
"Mmm hmm."
"Broken wrist, right side."
"Did I land on my right side?"
"Yeah. And shock."
"What about it?"
"It'll set in soon. Which is why I want to move you to the tent. I need to 
make sure, I only did I quick check so I did to confirm my.....suspicions."

Turning his head slowly, his noticed her tent set up about five feet away 
from him.

"I couldn't move you myself. You're gonna have to stand up for me."
"Okay."
"Think you can handle it?"
"We're about to find out. I don't see what choice I have."

~~~~xxx~~~~

Careful to avoid his right side, she gently lowered him onto the sleeping bag.

Surveying him, he was a mess. His hair had leaves in it, his face was smudged 
with dirt in spots. 

And his whole right side was bruised and swollen.

"Mulder?"
"Yeah?"
"I have to examine you."
"Do what you must."
"I need to cut your shirt off."
"Okay."
"We have others so don't worry about it."

She pulled the sissors out of the First Aid kit and cut his shirt off gently, 
the skin underneath puffed and almost black.

"Oh my god. Mulder, this is going to hurt."
"'K."

She pressed down gently on his collarbone.

"Damn!"
"Sorry."

Then his shoulder.

"Oh god, Scully....."
"Yep, I was right."

Then the arm.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh, shit."
"Same."

She scooted down to his waist and tested each rib, deducing three bruised and 
two broken, all on the right side.

"Ya broke just about everything on the right side Mulder."
"Can you do anything about the pain?"
"I can give......you........a shot of morphine."
"I'm allergic."
"That's all I've got. The only other thing that may possibly-no that won't 
work. Your injuries are too serious"
"Did you try calling for help?"
"The mountains are blocking the signal. Damn!"
"You ok?"
"Yeah, got my finger caught in the zipper."
"Oh."
"Mulder I want you to stay awake, stay talking to me."
"Hi Scully."
"Just like that. I have to go outside for a minute, keeping talking to me 
anyway."
"You know, I really hope that someone finds us soon. This sucks. It sucks 
very much."

~~~~xxx~~~~

White-hot streaks of pain made their way down Mulder's side and he fought to 
keep tears back. His eyes glazed, he continued talking to Scully until she 
returned with four blankets and two shirts. 

She changed, helped Mulder to change and placed three blankets over him, 
placed one over herself and cuddled up next to him.

"Here, Scully. Have one more."
"I'm fine."
"You're not. You're blue, its got to be like ten degrees below zero out here."
"I'm fine, really. I'm warming up just laying next to you."

He grabbed her hand with his good one and squeezed it, offering her 
reassurance if nothing else.

"I don't like the look of your ribs Mulder."
"What do you mean?"
"Your whole side is black! You could have internal injury and I can't set the 
broken bones without more tools anyway. Your shoulder and arm are out of 
place, the collarbone is alright."
"That explains why they're so painful......"
"You can try Advil but I'm not going to give you Morphine."
"I don't think Advil will work."
"I don't feel comfortable giving it to you but you being in this much pain 
I'm not comfortable with either."

He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying the momentary painlessness of it. He'd 
love to pass out, escape it all, but he knew Scully wanted him to stay awake.

And so he would. Or at least he'd try to.

~~~~xxx~~~~

Scully knew she needed to get help soon. They were in the middle of the 
moutains with night descending rapidly on them with only their clothes sacks, 
a meager first aid kit, a sleeping bag and a tent.

Not the best situation to be in.

And shock would come soon. He was already starting to shiver and she was 
worried about his breathing. Each breath took more effort than the last.  

Not being in control scared her. And right now she was petrified. She hated 
seeing Mulder like this. She turned away and controlled the tears welling up.

"Scully?"
"Yes Mulder?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Everything's fine."
"...oh."
"How about you? You okay?"
"As good as I can be."

She let out a sigh. She felt like she was slipping deeper and deeper into a 
bottomless abyss.......

~~~~xxx~~~~

Meanwhile, Mulder was busy trying to figure out how to help Scully and not 
cause himself any more pain at the same time.

"Mulder?"
"Mmm hmm?"
"How are we gonna get out of here?"
"...."
"Mulder?!?"
"I don't know......"
"What is that?"
"What's what?"
"That sound....."

Mulder listened hard, hearing only the splash from the nearby river and the 
chorus of crickets.

And then faintly, barely there, was a beating pulsating noise that caused to 
ground to tremor slightly.

"That?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know......"


Across the hills, the blades of a helicopter became visible and Scully jumped 
up, shouting and screaming, trying to summon it down.

The helicopter, passing overhead, made a sharp turn and began its descent, 
landing about 200 yards away.

Scully ran to it and opened the door.

"My name is Agent Scully, I'm with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I 
have an agent injured. Can you transport us to the nearest hospital?"
"Yes maam. Hop in."

Scully, with the help of the two pilots, moved Mulder into the spacious seat 
in the back of the helicopter. 

Buckling herself in, she breathed a sigh of relief. They were rescued, she 
was in control again.

With a rough start, the helicopter took off into the velvety night.....

END

"I'm done here. You seem to have invalidated your own work. Have a nice 
life." ~Scully, Patient X

"I can't take you anywhere..."~Scully, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose

"Mr Yappi, read this thought---"~Mulder, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose