Burden of Proof
MsBrooklyn


Part Eleven

 Dr. Stern counted the money once more.  It made the ethical dilemma of
drugging a man who didn't need it less of a dilemma and more of an
interesting chore.  His benefactor was clear on the matter.  Don't ask
questions, just do as you're told.  He was told to keep Mulder on Thorazine
and Valium and he did.  The reward was a nice chunk of change that would make
early retirement worth considering.  
 And so what if Mulder spent his days sedated?  Mulder was a trouble maker
with a holier-than-thou attitude.  How holy did he feel now that he couldn't
even feed himself?  
 As for that annoying lawyer-woman, well, she would have to file a complaint
like everybody else and if she did, she was going to have a long wait before
anyone ever got around to reading it.  His benefactor promised as much.
 Stern began to hum softly.  It was nearly time to discover if it was indeed
better in the Bahamas.


 Ellen's visitor shrugged as though it was perfectly natural to walk into
somebody's home and awaken them in the bathtub.  Two sets of stares locked
for what seemed like an eternity and Ellen was acutely aware of how naked and
vulnerable she was in the now-cold water.
 "I was worried about you," Scully said, finally, breaking the silence.  She
held out a towel.  "We agreed to stick together, remember?"
 Ellen accepted the towel and studied the other woman for a minute,
considering the sudden one hundred and eighty degree reversal of mood.
Finally, she offered Scully a small smile.  "Apology accepted."
 "What apology?"
 "The one you'd never say out loud."
 Scully busied herself by picking non-existent lint from her immaculate black
wool blazer, but there appeared to be a gleam in her eyes. 
 "You should get some sleep now," Scully instructed, walking into Ellen's
bedroom fixing her with a sanctimonious-doctor-look.  "I recommend at least
six hours, uninterrupted."
 "I'm not tired," Ellen lied, throwing on a robe and dragging herself back
into the living room.  Getting to a law library would have been an impossible
task, so she invested some of the Senator's money in  a set of
used-but-still-expensive volumes about the practice of criminal law in
Virginia and a current set of CD-Roms of Virginia statutes and cases.
 With a stifled yawn, she switched on her computer, prepared to research the
remaining three counts against Mulder.  Scully turned the computer off.
 "You're not going to do him any good this way."
 "I have to get it done before my morning visit.  I have to talk to him about
something very important and ---"
 "You're not going to be coherent if you don't get any sleep.  And if you
keep going this way, you'll be visiting him in there for a long time."  With
that, she took the smaller woman's arm and pulled her away from the desk.
"I'm a doctor.  Don't argue with me."
 "Fine, but you're not tucking me in."

(continued)
end part 11