-Title: Dark Canada
-Author: Amatia
-Email: violinst@pitnet.net
-Rating: PG-13
-Category: Scully/other semi-UST, XO w/ due South, Angst, semi-XF.
-Disclaimer: X-Files characters belong to FOX and 1013. due South
characters belong to Alliance Communications. I don't own Fraser, but
prophets, I wish I did.
-Spoilers: X-Files: "Unrequieted", "Lazarus", "Ascension", "Paper Clip" (I
think), and "The Field Where I Died". due South: "Victoria's Secret" (both
parts), and "Letting Go".
-Timeline notice: I think I kind of had to mess with the timeline a bit in
order to get the "Unrequieted" references in but keep the real Ray Vecchio
and not use Kowalski. At least, if "Unrequieted" was set in 1997 like I
think it was. dS watchers know what I mean with the Kowalski/Vecchio stuff.
So this is set after XF's "Unrequieted" but before dS's "Burning Down the
House". Non-dS watchers, don't worry about it. :-)
-Summary: Scully and Fraser are kidnapped for a couple hours. A disjointed
conversation and lots of Fraser-angst ensue.
-Author's note: Uhm, if this story feels kind of non-climactic, I won't
argue. It's really more a setup piece to what's coming in the epilogue
story. A big thanks to Kalynn W. for discussing dS (esp. "Victoria's
Secret") with me. Here's your birthday present, Kaly! :-)

And no, it's not really set in Canada.

***

Dark Canada
by Amatia

	"I would be the one, to hold you down..."
					- Sarah MacLachlan, "Possession"

	It was like any other joint stakeout, except that for once they'd
switched partners. Mulder had gone with Vecchio in the Riv, presumably to
get some fashion tips, and Fraser had gone with Scully in her and Mulder's
car, having some hundred questions to ask her about various medical things.

	A thermos of coffee sat between them, and they each held a
styrofoam cup between their hands. "God, it's cold," Scully said.

	"I agree," Fraser said, adjusting his plaid flannel scarf. "Thank
you for bringing the coffee. You knew how I like it."

	"I asked your partner," Scully said. "Cream, no sugar."

	"He's not technically my partner. But we work together often,"
Fraser replied, sipping his coffee. His eyes scanned the landscape.

	The radio crackled. Mulder's voice came through. "Anything by you?
Over."

	Fraser depressed the button. "Nothing here, Agent Mulder. You? Over."

	"Nothing. It's as still as a ghost town on our side, over."

	"Very funny, Mulder," Scully said. "I'm sure Detective Vecchio
appreciates your paranormal sense of humor. Over."

	"Especially in Chicago in February," Vecchio replied wryly. "Next
check-in, twenty minutes. Over."

	"Talk to you then, Ray. Team two out." Fraser said. The radio fell
silent. "Agent Scully..."

	"Yes, Constable?" Scully sipped her coffee.

	"I get the impression that Agent Mulder isn't on this case for
because he wants Tank to get some ordinary federal charge."

	Scully sighed. "I figured you'd ask sooner or later."

	"Then I'm correct?"

	"In a way. We do want to catch Tank, he's wanted on suspicion of
six dual kidnappings in the D.C. area, six in the Indianapolis area, and
four in greater Chicago so far. Kidnaps them, holds them hostage for a
week, then releases them. Mulder has this crazy theory that Tank is going
for 6-6-6. And then he'll stop, and kill the last pair of victims in some
satanic ritual. Mulder thinks witchcraft, something like that. I just think
he's psycho. But we want to catch him before he gets the fifth pair of
victims."

	"That's not a crazy theory, per se."

	"Oh, it's not all of it. You see, Mulder thinks that Tank hasn't
been caught yet because he has the ability to disappear. Like a case I saw
a few years back. Former soldier could literally disappear. He'd learned it
in Vietnam."

	"Does Mulder know Tank is a Vietnam vet?" Fraser asked.

	Scully nodded, then took a drink of her coffee. She swallowed, then
said, "Mulder wrote the profile on Tank. Part of it was based on a previous
profile he wrote on Nathaniel Teager, the invisible soldier. Tank and
Teager were in the same battalion in Vietnam. But Teager had been MIA since
the war had ended. Tank was MIA for three months after the war came to an
end. Teager wanted to kill top military brass in revenge for all the MIAs
and POWs, but Tank's ulterior motive is something much more sinister,
according to Mulder."

	"You think he's going to show up?" Fraser gestured toward the dark
house in front of them.

	"No," Scully replied, "I don't. But it was a lead we had to follow,
at least for the reports."

	Fraser was watching something in the distance. "There's something
out there."

	Scully picked up her binocs. "I don't see it, Constable."

	"No, there's something out there. I'm going to go see," he said,
opening the car door.

	"I'm coming with you," Scully said, and exited the car. "Wait,
Fraser, we need to radio Mulder and...Fraser?"

	He was already jogging away. Scully noted his direction, then
picked up the radio. "Mulder, you there?"

	"Yeah?"

	"Constable Fraser spotted something in the weeds. I didn't see it,
but I'm going with him. Over."

	"I read you. You want us to back you up? Over."

	"No, it's probably just a cat. Scully out." She put the radio back
in the car, and moved quickly in the direction Fraser had gone.

	He was laying in the weeds, not moving. Scully dropped to her knees
beside him, and felt for a pulse. It was slow, but he was definately alive.
She made a visual examination. There were no wounds. "Constable?"

	Fraser didn't stir. "Fraser?" she said, lightly slapping his cheek.
Something pricked her neck. "Ouch!"

	She looked behind her, but there was nothing there. The weeds kept
swaying...she blinked, trying to clear her vision, but it didn't help.
"What the..." her voice trailed off as she slumped over Fraser's body,
unconscious.

	***

	Fraser awoke with a start. It was dark where he was. There was
someone beside him. He traced their features with his hand. It was Scully,
and she was unconsious, but alive. He dropped his hand to the floor,
rubbing the particles he found between his fingertips. Dirt mixed with
sand. They were presumably in a cellar. One with no heat. He reached over,
and gently pulled Scully into the circle of his arms. Her coat was thinner
than his, and her body weight was less.

	Gradually, she awoke. Her body twisted in his arms. "Wha..."

	"Sssh. It's okay."

	"Fraser?"

	"Yeah."

	"Where are we?"

	"In a cellar."

	"Why are you holding me?"

	"Because it's cold, and your coat is not very warm," he replied.

	She was quiet for a moment. "Thank you."

	"There is no need for thanks. I didn't want to have you freeze on
the ground."

	"It's...what, below zero in here?"

	"It's six degrees in here. Well below freezing. Do you have
gloves?" he asked.

	"Yeah." Scully raised her hands. "It's pitch black in here. I can't
see four inches in front of my face."

	"It's just a huge hole in the ground. I'm assuming that we are the
fifth pair of victims," Fraser said.

	He felt her nod. "According to the profile, we'll be released in a
week, if we're not found first. Every cop and Fed in the city is probably
looking for us already."

	"We were unconscious for an hour," Fraser said. "He injected
whatever it was into our necks."

	"Heavy sedative that has a short-term effect, most likely. Using to
calm super-hysterical patients in hospitals. But how'd he get to us?"

	She heard Fraser take a breath, felt it exhaled into her hair.
"Sorry," he apologized.

	"Don't be."

	"It sounds like Agent Mulder is correct in his theory that Tank has
the ability to disappear."

	He heard her chuckle. "You should be on the X-Files, Fraser."

	"Call me Ben, if we're going to be trapped together."

	"Then you have to call me Dana."

	"Agreed," Fraser replied. He felt her shiver in his arms, and
tightened his grip. "Chilled?"

	"Yeah."

	He ran possible remedies through his head. "I have an idea."

	"I'm game."

	"Turn around so that you're facing me, and sit on my lap. I know
how it sounds, Dana, but maybe if we button our coats together we can
conserve some heat."

	She obliged, and they made short work of adjusting the coats. Their
breath mingled. Scully raised her knees to that they were under his arms,
and he raised his so that she was sitting fully on his body. "Are you
uncomfortable?" she asked him.

	"No," Fraser replied with a chuckle. "I'd rather have you sit on me
than Ray, or Agent Mulder. You weigh much less." He raised a hand to the
back of her neck, and brought her head to his shoulder, then adjusted the
scarf so that it benefited both of them. "Warm now?"

	"Yeah," she whispered, her breath hot on his neck. "Thanks."

	"Don't fall asleep," he said quietly. "Just remember that, Dana,
don't fall asleep."

	"Then one of us is going to have to talk," she replied.

	"I remember the last time I was in a situation like this...except
that was much worse. All we had for shelter was a lean-to that I'd made
from my rifle and my coat, and there was a storm raging."

	"Up in the Yukon?"

	"Yes, in a place called Fortitude Pass. I'd tracked her...she was
an accomplice to a bank robbery...her name was Victoria." Fraser could not
supress the long shudder that went though him.

	"Ben, what is it?"

	"It hurts to talk about," he whispered.

	"We can talk about something else," Scully said softly.

	"No...I need to talk about it, if you don't mind playing
psychiatrist for a while."

	"I want to hear about it," was her reply.

	"By the time I found her, I had lost all of my supplies, my pack.
All I had was my coat and my rifle. She was huddled...in a crag, on the lee
side of a mountain. We were both almost frozen, and she was very near
death. So I used my rifle and my coat to make a lean to, and for two days
we held each other while a storm raged outside, each keeping the other from
falling asleep. I talked...until I couldn't talk anymore, and then I took
her fingers, and I put them in my mouth to keep them from freezing. I lost
consciousness after that, I don't remember when, but I remember being
aware...of the fact that I was dying. And then I heard her voice, she was
reciting a poem. I couldn't make out the words, but she had the most
beautiful voice...it kept me alive."

	"After the storm cleared, we started out. We found my pack, and ate
everything I had. And it took us four days to reach the nearest outpost. We
camped that night just outside the town, and I held her in my arms. I held
her in my arms, Dana, and she asked me to let her go. No one know I had
found her, the police didn't even know her name. I could have let her go
that night, and she could have walked away, and I would have spared myself
the pain of losing her a second time. But I turned her in, as was my duty,
and she was tried, and given a ten year sentance for her role in the
robbery."

	"When she got out, she came to Chicago, and I ran into her in a
diner. I took her home with me, and we made dinner and watched a television
that didn't have any sound. She'd placed lit candles all around the room,
until the whole place glowed. We sat, and talked, until I took her back to
her hotel. Not an hour later, she was back at my apartment, and we were
making love. We made love all night, and I didn't go to work the next day
so that I could be with her. Ray came to my apartment that night, I had
missed the pool game he'd been planning all week with the Lieutenant and
the other two detectives. He was upset that I hadn't come because I was
with Victoria, and I ran out of the apartment after him. I caught him in
his car, and I was apologizing when I heard a gunshot. We raced back to the
apartment. Victoria was gone, and my wolf, Diefenbaker, had been shot."

	"You see, the money that Victoria and the other two robbers had
stolen had never been recovered. The assumption was that the robber who'd
died had known where it was, but hadn't told anyone. Jolly, the other man,
came to Chicago following Victoria, thinking she knew where it was. Part of
the money was buried under the floorboards in my father's cabin. I don't
know how it got there. They'd found it a week before when the place had
burned down. Victoria went to stay at Ray's house, but Jolly knew where she
was. He followed her to the zoo, where she was supposed to meet with Ray
and me, and she shot him, and escaped."

	"She shot him with my .38, which I hadn't reported missing afterthe
investigation into Dief's shooting. He survived the wound, and it was
determined that he too had been shot with my .38. It cast suspicion on me,
and indirectly on Ray, who was suspended in conjunction with the case.
Victoria had planted money from the robbery on both me and Ray, so it
looked as if we were the ones who had the money. Then Lieutenant Welsh came
to me with Gardino and Hewey, and asked if it was my gun. I said yes, and
they arrested me for first degree-murder. Ray got me out that same day on
bail, and we set about trying to prove that Victoria had murdered Jolly in
self-defense. But Victoria was craftier than that. When her sister had died
in a car accident a month after she got out of jail, she'd identified the
body as her own. So by all accounts, Victoria Metcalfe was dead."

	"She then used me to exchange a briefcase of stolen money for a
pouch of diamonds before she took a train to wherever she was going next. I
assume the airport, then she was flying Texas, that's where she'd said she
wanted to go. She said if I didn't do it, she would call Internal Affairs
and tell them that I had the money, and I was the culprit. She called
anyway, even before I went to make the diamond exchange, but I didn't know
it. Ray and I got to the train station just before her train left. He
stayed behind to pick up the briefcase of money that she'd thrown down. You
see, she'd had it in a station locker, and I had switched the keys on her
while I was putting the diamonds in her purse. Her plan was to have the key
to the money locker found at Ray's house, implicating Ray and me. But she
had the wrong key, so she couldn't get her real suicase, only the briefcase
full of money."

	"I ran after her out onto the platform. When I caught her, her
purse flew out of her grasp and all the diamonds scattered. She pointed a
gun at me and told me to pick them up, but I refused. I took the gun away
from her, and she jumped on the train, and asked me to come with her. I
stood there while the train began to pull away. I heard Ray and the other
detectives run out of the station house, and I began to run after Victoria.
She held out her hand to me, and I guess it looked to Ray like she had a
gun pointed at me. Just as I stepped on the train to go with her, he pulled
the trigger, and shot me in the back. He was aiming for Victoria, but she
got away. And I collapsed to the platform."

	"I spent the next month recovering from my wounds, both physical
and mental. While at the hospital, my physical therapist and I discovered
that one of the doctors had been having an affair with an intern. She tried
to kill him, and I stood between her and her lover. Ray jumped in front of
me just as she pulled the trigger, and he himself was shot in the shoulder."

	Fraser didn't realize that he was crying until he stopped speaking.
Scully held on to him tight, rocking, letting his tears slip through her
hair. "Ssssh," she whispered. "Let it all out. You always feel so much
better when you do..."

	She held him closely for what felt like forever as he cried,
knowing that the hot tears would wash away his pain. And what they could
not wash away, they would cool to a dull ache. "Oh, Ben," she murmured
against his neck. "You have to forgive yourself before you can reach any
kind of closure."

	"I know," he whispered back. "I know."

	"If it makes you feel any better, I have a stranger story to tell."
She felt him nod, and continued. "My former lover was shot by a bank robber
and then his body was possessed by the robber's spirit."

	"That's impossible."

	"It's also true. I was there when Jack died, and when he came back
to life as someone else. I found him holed up in a house with the robber's
wife, and when I got inside she handcuffed me to the radiator so that I was
trapped in there with them. She called Mulder and remanded a ransom. I was
her ticket to money, or so she thought. She didn't give a damn about Jack,
and it cost him his life. He was diabetic, and even though she went out and
stole insulin for him, she wouldn't let me administer it. By the time
Mulder and the other agents found us, he'd gone into insulin shock, and
died from it. Lula had never loved her husband, all she wanted was the
money he'd stolen from the banks."

	Fraser was quiet for a moment, then asked. "Do you think that
Victoria loved me, Dana?"

	"In her own way."

	He tightened his arms around her. "Are you warm enough?"

	"I could do with a nice vacation to the Caribbean, but it's warm
enough, considering we're in a six-degree cellar. Are you okay?"

	"Yeah."

	"A person could do a lot worse than being trapped with a Mountie,"
Scully chuckled.

	"Or a doctor," Fraser added. "With our combined experience, we have
a very good chance of survival. This is practically balmy compared to
Fortitude Pass."

	"You ever been somewhere warm?"

	"Chicago is the warmest."

	"You should try Texas in June. I have never sweated so much in my
life."

	Fraser laughed. "Maybe I should use up those 80 or so sick days I
have left."

	"You'd look even better with a tan," Scully replied. She raised a
gloved hand, and touched his face. "I hate not being able to see you. Or
see anything, for that matter."

	"I can just make out the line of your shoulder," Fraser replied.
"Guess my night vision is better than yours."

	"Guess so. I don't care much for the dark."

	"It's beautiful up in the Territories at night," Fraser sighed.
"Dark, but the snow sparkles under the starlight. The sky is so clear you
can make out almost every constellation." He paused for a moment. "Here
there's so many streetlights that it's hard to make out any stars at all."

	"Try D.C. It's almost like having constant daylight," Scully said
wryly. "It's been a long time since I looked up at the stars. A long time.
Mulder is always chastizing me for not observing the skies but I find it
hard to look up after my abduction."

	"Abduction?"

	"Yeah. I was kidnapped by an escaped mental patient who believed he
was an alien abductee. He thought they were coming for him again, and that
he could trade me for himself. I was missing for three months and I don't
remember any of it, except in little bits and pieces. Mulder...Mulder would
have prevented it, except that all his attempts were sabotaged by his new
partner, Alex Krycek, who was working for the people who abducted me."

	"I thought you and Mulder have been on the X-Files since '92,"
Fraser said, confused.

	"They split us up after a government official was killed trying to
aid us in our pusuit of the men who would later abduct me. It's very
complicated. The X-Files were reopened with Mulder and me running them
after I recovered from my abduction."

	"What do you remember about the abduction?"

	"Bright light. Men...performing tests of some type." She paused for
a moment, shaken. "I had an implant in my neck when I returned."

	"So no aliens?"

	"No aliens."

	"Did you have the implant removed?"

	"Yes."

	There was more silence for a while. "Fraser," Scully said finally.
"How long have we been missing?"

	"No more than four hours, Dana."

	"You sure I can't sleep? I'm not cold at all. And I'm a doctor,
remember?"

	"I remember," he chuckled. "I'll wake you up in a little while."

	Scully adjusted her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes.
Fraser held her close and listened as her breathing evened out into the
slow inhalations and exhalations of someone asleep.
In...out...in...out...he flexed his hand in the thick gloves he wore to
keep his circulation going, and blinked several times to rid himself of the
tears that still lingered from talking about Victoria.

	It had been over a decade now since he'd tracked her to that pass.
Over a decade since he'd first held her in his arms. Over a decade since
she'd asked him to let her go, and he'd refused. Would I have saved myself
a decade of pain, he thought to himself, if I had let her go that night? It
was a question he had asked himself many times before, on many sleepless
nights when he'd lain awake aching to be with her.

	***

	Fox Mulder knew they were near. He could feel it, feel Scully's
nearness. He thought back to the field in Apison, about how the door to the
bunker had been hidden under the grass. His eyes swept the ground as he
walked. They'd disappeared so fast that Tank couldn't have gotten far. He'd
had a twenty minute window between check ins, that was all. Mulder's eyes
focused on a small patch where the stalks of the grass were bent.
"Detective Vecchio!" he called.

	Vecchio jogged up beside him. Mulder pointed at the spot. "There's
your bunker, Detective."

	Vecchio raised his arm and waved the SWAT team over. Mulder watched
as they uncovered the wooden trapdoor, cleverly hidden underneath a piece
of sod. "How'd you know it was there?" Vecchio asked.

	"I've seen one like it before," was Mulder's reply. He and Vecchio
followed behind the SWAT team as they went down the wooden ladder that led
down from the door. They lit a flare, and looked at their surroundings. A
wall of dirt stood before them, to their left was a metal door. He nodded
at the team leader in approval, and the door was opened. The team streamed
down the inside hallway. There was a shot, and the sound of a falling body.

	Vecchio looked at Mulder. "It's not them. It's Tank."

	"They're here." Mulder placed a hand on the dirt wall in front of
them, then began to rip away the dirt. "It's wet. He must have just
finished building it when we found the trapdoor."

	"What are you doing?" Vecchio asked in amazement.

	"Shut up and help me," Mulder growled. Vecchio holstered his gun,
and began to dig. Mulder's hunch soon proved correct, and they found
another door. "Scully?" he shouted though it.

	"We're in here!" Fraser's voice yelled back. Mulder stepped back,
and kicked the door open. Fraser and Scully were huddled together against
the wall. He lit another flare, and stepped inside. "You all right?" he
asked Scully and Fraser, who were unbuttoning their joint coat. He helped
Scully to stand.

	"I'm fine, really," she said, looking at Fraser, who nodded. "You
found us quickly."

	"We knew you had to be close. He only had a twenty-minute window to
pull it off. If I didn't know better, I'd say that he wanted to get caught."

	"Sir?" It was the SWAT team leader. He held a dirt covered,
handcuffed Tank by the elbow.

	"Take him away," Mulder ordered. "Anyone hurt?"

	"No, his shot missed," the team leader replied. "We found some
heroin, as well as whatever he injected Agent Scully and Constable Fraser
with, in the other room."

	"Thank you," Mulder replied, turning back to Scully and Fraser.

	"Benny, you okay?" Vecchio asked from behind Mulder.

	"I'm fine, Ray," Fraser replied.

	"Good." Vecchio turned to the SWAT team. "Come on, come on, let's
go! Let's get this jerk downtown," he said, gesturing at them to leave. "No
disappearing," he said to Tank as they went up the ladder.

	"You sure you're okay?" Mulder asked Scully worriedly. "No frostbite?"

	"No frostbite," she assured him. "Please, can we get out of there?
I just want to go somewhere warm."

	"You know that both you and Constable Fraser will have to file
official reports with the Chicago PD?"

	"We're aware of that," Fraser replied. "Do we need to stay down
here any longer?"

	Mulder tore his eyes away from Scully to glance at Fraser. "No."

	Scully was already at the base of the ladder. "Then let's go, all
right?"

	They went up the ladder, and Scully and Fraser got into the back of
the squad car. "I'll see you at the station," Mulder said to Scully, then
shut the door.

	Scully looked at Fraser, who smiled comfortingly. "You sure you're
all right? You don't have to lie to me."

	"I don't think I'll be able to sleep without a light on for a  few
nights, but I'll be fine. What about you?"

	He knew she was inquiring about his mental state as well as his
physical. "It was good for me to talk about her," he said softly. "Thank
you."

	"I wanted to listen," Scully replied, smiling softly. "Thank you
for sharing it with me."

	The car started up, with Detective Hewey behind the wheel. "You
guys want some coffee?" he asked.

	"I want a shower," Scully said wryly.

	Hewey chuckled. "I don't think it should take too long at the
station unless they want to give you a medical exam. My guess is they'll
just want blood samples. Since you and Constable Fraser are both government
employees, they'll probably just give you the forms to fill out and send
you home."

	Scully flexed her gloved hands where they lay in her lap. Fraser
noticed, and raised his eyes to hers. "You cold?"

	"A little."

	"Could you turn the heat up a little, Detective?"

	"Sure, Fraser." Hewey did as asked. "Better?"

	"Yeah, thanks," Fraser said. He leaned over to whisper in Scully's
ear. "If you really wanted to see him squirm, we could always assume our
former position." His tone was serious, but his eyes were laughing.

	Scully chuckled softly. "And have him crash the car? I think not."

	They talked softly about nothing all the way to the station.


	***

	<end Dark Canada>