TITLE: Falling Snow, Chapter 6/10
AUTHOR: Snark
E-MAIL: snark_911@yahoo.com
CLASSIFICATION: SA (Story, Angst) plus some UST
KEYWORDS: NONE
RATING: PG-13 
SPOILERS: This story is set before the Two Fathers/
One Son episodes. While there are no true pre-requisites 
for this story, allusions are made to at least the 
following episodes: Sleepless, Red Museum, Detour, 
Triangle, Shapes, Alpha, Bad Blood, Clyde Bruckman's 
Final Repose, and Tithonus. 
DISTRIBUTION: OK to forward to ATXC newsgroup and to
Gossamer. Please ask permission before archiving anywhere
else, please. Or at least let me know that you have 
archived it, so that I can keep track of where it's listed.
DISCLAIMER: The characters of The X-Files universe belong
to Chris Carter, the FOX network and 1013 Productions.
No infringement is intended and no money is being made by
the existence of this story. (Unfortunately.) However, 
the characters of Khi Shaolin and Mobaje are my own creation. 
These characters are not for use by any other fanfic author 
without my express, written consent.
FEEDBACK: Mail comments to snark_911@yahoo.com.
AUTHOR HOMEPAGE: http://www.smartania.com/snark/index.html
SUMMARY: Mulder, Scully and a mysterious woman from Mulder's
past crash in the snowy landscape of the Colorado winter. 









------------
Chapter 6
------------

As the tiny match burned out, Khi assured Scully she had an 
entire box. "But we need to move Mulder first, so I can build the 
fire near the center," she explained. Scully could hear her 
movements as Khi put the pack down and tried to stand up. 
 
"I couldn't get snow on the very top of the shelter, does that 
matter?" Scully asked.

"Actually, no, that's fine," Khi replied. "The smoke will need to 
escape out the top anyway. Move to Mulder's feet, we're going to 
lift him up onto the boughs where you are now."

Scully felt her way across the floor, swearing at herself under her 
breath as she accidentally bumped Mulder's injured leg. She half-
stood over him, reaching down to wrap her hands under his 
ankles.

"Set?" Khi asked. "On three. One... two... three."

They lifted together, picking Mulder up just enough to move him 
across and up onto the bed of boughs. Setting his shoulders down 
gently, Khi moved across to the dead wood she had brought 
inside. Scully heard the snapping as Khi broke the larger 
branches into kindling sticks. 

"Damn," Khi muttered, pausing for a moment. "I need to go back 
outside for a minute, before I start the fire."

"Why? What do you need?" Scully asked, trying to imagine what 
Khi was after.

"Bark." 

With that, Khi quickly removed the pine bough door and went 
through it. Once outside, Scully heard her prop the bough back 
up against the doorway, and then Khi was gone.

What the hell, Scully wondered. Bark? What did they possibly 
need bark for, with the twigs and branches Khi had already 
gathered?

Assuming there was little sense in trying to figure it out, Scully 
resigned herself to waiting for Khi's return. She checked Mulder 
again, a quick rush of joy coursing through her as she felt his 
pulse beneath her fingers. 

"We'll get you warm in no time, Mulder," she whispered, running 
her hand lightly down his body. She spoke to him simply, as she 
would to reassure a child--she didn't allow herself to 
acknowledge she was trying to reassure herself. "Khi's got 
matches, we've got some wood for the fire and this nice little 
shelter, soon it'll be toasty and warm."

She was still murmuring quietly, gently stroking his arms and 
chest, when she heard Khi return. Even if she'd been deaf, the 
quick swirl of wind that swept through the shelter as the doorway 
opened would have announced Khi's return just as conclusively.

"OK, we're set now," Khi said as she brushed herself off slightly.

Scully listened as Khi first dug out a depression in snow, then 
piled a small amount of twigs at the bottom. A pause of a few 
moments, then the rasp of a match against the box. The tiny 
flame was born again out of nothingness.

Khi slowly coaxed the fire to life, slowly adding branches only 
after the previous ones had completely caught. It seemed like an 
eternity, but in actuality, it was only a few minutes before a small 
fire was burning nicely. The flames danced brightly, throwing 
shadows onto the walls. Scully could see that Khi was now 
working with one of the birch bark strips she had harvested 
outside.

"What-... what are you doing?" Scully asked, unable to decipher 
Khi's motions. 

"Making a bowl to heat snow in," Khi said, following her 
comment with a short laugh as she caught sight of Scully's 
expression. "No, I'm not crazy. The bark won't burn, because the 
heat is transferred to the snow and water inside. It's a trick 
Mobaje taught me a long time ago."

Sure enough, Khi was soon melting snow in the large bowl, 
setting it right on top of the small fire. The flames lapped up 
around the edges of the bowl, but the bark did not burn. Khi kept 
adding snow as it melted, stopping only when the water 
threatened to spill over the sides.

"OK, that's going to take about five minutes or so to get heated to 
a good temperature," Khi said, adding a couple more small sticks 
to the fire. She stood as best she could, working her fingers 
through the roof and opening up a smoke hole between the 
boughs. "Strip Mulder down as needed, check him for wounds 
and get that branch out of his leg. We'll use the water to bathe the 
wound."

"We're going to need bandages for him--that wound will most 
likely bleed heavily when the branch is removed," Scully said as 
she knelt down beside Mulder, easing his head out of the helmet. 
She gently brushed a lock of hair off his forehead, smiling 
slightly as it immediately fell back to its original location.

Starting with his head, Scully slowly and methodically felt her 
way over every inch of Mulder's body. She was thankful his 
helmet had stayed on--without it, she had no doubt that his skull 
would have been cracked open from the pounding hail. His arms 
and chest were beginning to bruise, as she knew her own were, 
but the joints moved freely with no signs of broken bones. The 
ribcage seemed strong, without evidence of cracked ribs or 
internal bleeding.

Scully paused for a moment as she reached Mulder's lower body. 
Until now, she had been able to feel his ribcage and chest by 
reaching through the zip-front of the suit and working her hands 
up underneath his sweaters. But that wouldn't work for the lower 
part of him--the suit fit too tightly across the waist. 

She also knew the right legs of Mulder's suit and jeans would 
have to be cut away at least partially anyway to allow access to 
the wound. She didn't want to slice away any more than was 
necessary, however--he would need as much insulation from the 
cold as possible, even with the fire. 

Scully acquired the knife from Khi, receiving a cautionary word 
that the blade was extremely sharp. Lifting the suit fabric up 
from Mulder's body, she sliced it from his left hip across to just 
past the wound, peeling it to the sides to expose the clothing 
underneath. 

Her face went ashen at what she saw, at what she felt as she ran 
her hands across him. Mulder's right leg was drenched in blood, 
the fabric clinging to his body. Scully saw the jump suit was 
lined with a very thin plastic layer--it had prevented the blood 
from soaking through the fabric. Prevented her from learning just 
how heavily he had initially bled. She set the knife down next to 
Mulder as she gathered her thoughts a bit, glancing down as she 
did so.

Glancing at her hands soaked in crimson blood. At a black-
handled knife lying next to her. At Mulder's motionless form, his 
blood finally escaping the torn suit to seep into the snow beneath 
him. She gasped in realization...

Her vision had come true.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

At the sharp intake of air, Khi was at Scully's side immediately. 
"What is it?" Khi asked, reaching out to place a steadying hand 
on Scully's shoulder.

"It can't be, it was just a dream, it was just a dream," Scully 
whispered.

"What was just a dream," Khi said. "What did you see?"

"This. I saw this," Scully motioned at Mulder, at the knife, at her 
hands. "The same sequence, over and over. Every night for three 
nights, and several times during the day, I've seen exactly this--
each time the same."

"But never past this?" Khi's tone was intense, searching, but far 
from disbelieving. "You never saw anything beyond this point?"

"No, I either woke up or passed out from the pain each time," 
Scully said--Khi saw the remembrance of that pain was nearly as 
agonizing as the pain itself must have been. "But it was just a 
dream. It doesn't mean anything."

"But it does," Khi said, pulling Scully around so that they faced 
each other. "Visions are real, Scully. I believe they exist and I 
believe you had one. You gained knowledge of the future, you 
accessed this moment as reality. But that you never saw past it, 
that you didn't see the outcome of this moment... That means we 
can still form the future for ourselves."

Whether or not Khi's words convinced Scully to believe in 
visions, the resolve behind them served to lessen her rising panic. 
She focused on Khi's strength, finding that it provided a path to 
her own. She breathed deeply, closing her eyes as she searched 
for herself amidst the chaos within. 

Finally, Scully was able to stop her body from shaking. She 
opened her eyes and nodded to Khi that she was all right. 
Turning back to Mulder, she inspected the wound more closely, 
her clinical skills surfacing above everything else.

"OK, all right. If he bled that heavily when the branch went in, 
we can only assume he's going to bleed heavily again when it 
comes out," Scully said. "It must have hit the major femoral 
artery, or at least nicked it. Just bandaging him isn't going to be 
enough--he'll just bleed himself to death."

"So we either need to find something to sew him up with or we'll 
need to cauterize the would closed," Khi finished the thought. 
Scully remembered that Khi had mentioned medical training 
during the incident at the airport. "Burning it would be tougher, 
considering the size of the entry and exit wounds."

"Agreed. And it would leave one hell of a nasty set of scars," 
Scully pointed out. "But unless you've got a sewing kit in that 
pack of yours, it may be our only choice."

"Let me see what we've got," Khi said as she crawled back over 
to the other side. "Cut away his jeans and use some water to 
wash away some of that blood."

Scully split the jump suit further towards Mulder's knee, cutting 
it so it fell flat against the snow. As carefully as she could, she 
slipped the edge of the knife under his jeans at the branch exit 
point. Turning the blade outwards, she executed a quick 'letter 
opener' maneuver to slit the denim all the way to his hip. She 
then repeated the motion in the other direction. She was able to 
tear the Spandex running pants underneath with just her hands--it 
tore away cleanly, finally leaving Mulder's leg bare. 

Leaning over to look more closely, Scully was thankful to see a 
minimal amount of shredding around the branch. It had broken 
off the tree at a relatively straight angle, allowing the branch to 
push right through the tissue somewhat cleanly. She lifted his 
thigh up a bit, gently feeling the underside.

"I'm going to have to pull this from the other side," Scully said as 
Khi came back across the shelter. "The branch is thicker at the 
back, since it splintered at the tree. If I pull it through from the 
front, it'll do even more damage."

Scully saw that Khi had stripped off one of her thick shirts and 
was ripping it to form long bandages. Scully took one and folded 
it a few times. She then soaked it into the bark bowl on the fire, 
which was just beginning to steam. As Khi turned to add more 
snow to the bowl, Scully used the cloth to wash away most of the 
blood on Mulder's leg.

"I couldn't find anything even remotely similar to a needle, 
Scully," Khi said as she tore the remaining portion of the shirt in 
two. "Not even close. You'll have to burn him."

"Damn," Scully breathed. She'd been hoping that Khi would find 
something, anything, that would work as a suturing implement--
cauterizing such a large set of wounds would be difficult work, 
with no guarantee of success.

"All right, here's what we do," Scully said, thinking through the 
steps as she spoke. "We roll him up on his left side so you can 
hold him. That'll give me access to both sides of his leg 
simultaneously. I pull the branch through, wash the wounds, 
inspect for embedded wood in the tissue, you then clamp 
pressure. Hard. We heat the knife blade and cauterize the tissue, 
then bandage him."

Khi nodded her understanding at each step. "Go ahead and cut 
his jeans away completely around that part of his leg now--you 
won't want to bandage over any existing material," she said as 
Scully paused. Scully quickly sliced through the small piece of 
remaining material around Mulder's leg, easing it out from 
underneath him.

"The whole process is going to have to be as quick as possible," 
Scully warned. "But I can't heat the blade until I know I won't 
need it to remove any broken wood in his musculature. So you're 
going to holding his leg for at least a couple minutes."

"Understood," Khi said. 

They spent the next few moments preparing what they needed--
Khi used a few pieces of wood to create a platform on which to 
heat the knife while Scully folded the various 'pad' bandages 
which would be bound against the wounds. She had Khi move 
the bowl of water so that it rested near Mulder, placing an entire 
bandage strip in it to soak completely in the steaming liquid. 
Finally, supplies readied and waiting, they looked across Mulder 
at each other.

"Let's do it," Scully said. "Come around here to his left side, I'll 
go over to the right. We'll roll him towards you. You're going to 
need to hold him on his side while keeping yourself away from 
his legs. When I tell you to clamp down, you need to apply 
steady and strong pressure over each wound, as tightly as 
possible."

Khi nodded her readiness as she took position next to Mulder. 
She sat with her back to him, so that his body would lean against 
her and be prevented from rolling over completely--she 
demonstrated to Scully she would be able to twist and apply 
pressure easily when directed.

Scully went to the other side and, together, they leveraged 
Mulder up onto his left side. Scully carefully lifted the right leg 
as they rolled him, making sure it was supported entirely by the 
left.

"Set?" she asked, knowing once they started, there would be no 
stopping.

"Go," Khi said simply.

Grasping the back end of the branch with her right hand, 
steadying herself against Khi with her left, Scully pulled the 
branch from Mulder's leg in one swift motion. Blood began to 
flow, but not nearly as heavily as she had feared. Tossing the 
branch aside, she retrieved the soaked bandage from the bowl. 
She held it above the thigh as she twisted slightly, letting the 
water drain onto his leg. She folded it a few times and brushed it 
over the wounds. 

Finally cleared of blood and dirt, she felt the wounds for 
evidence of wood still embedded, but found nothing. If there was 
anything still in there, it was too small to worry about now. 

"Clamp him," Scully said. Khi twisted at the waist, placing one 
hand over each wound and then pressing them towards the other. 

Scully immediately grabbed up the knife and swiped a bandage 
across the blade, clearing it of any dirt. She then set the handle 
across the small platform, the blade inserted directly into the fire 
itself. 

As the minutes crawled by, Scully tried desperately to think of 
another solution. She had cauterized wounds before, but only 
with a laser--never with a heated piece of steel. She knew the 
possibility for infection would be much greater, and that the 
scarring would be horrible. At least he's unconscious for it, she 
told herself. He won't feel the pain until it's already over. 

At five minutes, Khi told her that the blade was probably as hot 
as it was going to get, cautioning Scully to wrap her hand in a 
bandage before picking up the knife. "The heat will have 
transferred throughout the handle as well by now, though not to 
the same level," Khi said. "But you're not going to be able to 
hold with a bare hand."

Scully took the longest strip of bandage available, wrapping her 
hand and then her fingers individually. She wanted to have the 
fullest range of mobility possible, so simply wrapping her fingers 
to each other would impede her motion. 

"All right, we'll do the entry wound first, since it's bigger and 
most likely to bleed," Scully said. At an acknowledging nod from 
Khi, Scully picked up the knife. She could feel the heat working 
its way through the bandage, but it didn't become overwhelming. 

"Release him," Scully directed. As Khi pulled her hand away 
from the back of Mulder's thigh, Scully immediately pressed the 
widest part of the blade against the wound. The skin sizzled, the 
smell of burning hair and flesh filling the air. Slightly nauseated, 
Scully rocked the blade slightly, making sure the entire surface 
area of the wound received the burning effects of the blade. 

After perhaps 15 seconds, she pulled the knife away, shifting to 
return it to the fire to reheat. She bent close to the wound, trying 
to see the effects of the cauterization in the flickering light of the 
fire. The skin was burned and blistered where the knife had 
pressed, but she was thrilled to see that the bleeding had been 
virtually stopped--the small amount seeping from the upper part 
of the wound would be stopped easily by a tight bandage.

Giving Khi a quick 'looks good' nod, Scully turned back to the 
fire and picked up the knife again. She came around to the other 
side of Mulder this time, not wanting to be leaning over him. Khi 
shifted slightly, still maintaining pressure on the exit wound as 
she moved.

Scully positioned herself as needed, kneeling close to Mulder's 
legs. As before, she told Khi to release her hold and immediately 
pressed the blade against the wound.

But this time, another sound soon overpowered the sickening 
sizzle of flesh against the blade. A wordless scream tore through 
the night, threatening to fracture the walls of the shelter in its 
sheer agony.

Mulder had woken up.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

"Shit!" 

Khi and Scully would not have been able to tell who said the 
word first, and neither of them cared. As Mulder bucked his body 
against the pain, he came smashing forward into Khi. Because of 
his position against her, his efforts to reach his leg succeeded 
only in wrapping himself around Khi's body. 

As his knees drew up in an instinctive attempt to reach the source 
of his pain, Scully lost her grip on the knife. As it slapped up 
against her chest, it was pure reflex to reach out with her other 
hand and knock it away from her body. She immediately realized 
her mistake, though, as the unprotected flesh came in contact 
with the heated blade. But she did succeed in pushing the knife 
off her body, where it tumbled harmlessly into the snow beneath 
her.

She immediately focused on her patient. "Mulder! Mulder! Calm 
down, hey! Calm down," Scully yelled as she wrapped her arms 
around his legs to restrain them. Even though she was fairly 
certain he had no broken bones in his lower body, she didn't want 
him contracting his abdominal muscles to try and bring his legs 
up. She knew his convulsions would seriously aggravate any 
cracked or bruised ribs--she had felt no obvious broken rib 
bones, but she was not so naïve as to assume that meant no 
hairline fractures. 

Scully had forgotten just how strong Mulder could be. Weak 
from blood loss, in severe pain from his injuries, probably near 
delirium from the cold--none of these made a single bit of 
difference to Mulder as he screamed and writhed.

Khi turned towards Mulder's torso, threading her left arm 
through his right and then applying pressure against his chest and 
neck with her forearm. The action virtually immobilized 
Mulder's upper body, since his left arm was trapped beneath him. 
Khi could still feel his hips bucking against her back, though, and 
knew the choke hold wasn't going to be enough. 

Scully felt Mulder's knee smash against her as she tried to loop 
her arms around his thighs. She hooked her leg up over his, 
positioning herself right on top of his calves--she hoped her 
weight would be enough to hold him still. 

But just as she tightened her knees against him, she saw Khi raise 
her right hand slightly and bring in down at Mulder's jaw in a 
sharp blow. Scully felt Mulder go slack beneath her as quickly as 
if someone had thrown a switch.

"What... what the hell... did you do to him?" Scully asked, 
slightly breathless. 

"He's still alive, Scully, don't worry," Khi said as she unhooked 
her other arm from Mulder's. "I just knocked him unconscious, 
figuring he was going to risk seriously hurting himself before we 
could get him calm any other way."

Once Scully moved off of Mulder's legs, she could not resist the 
need to move up and feel his throat. Stronger than before, but 
still weaker than it should be, his pulse beat beneath her fingers. 

But he was still exceptionally cold. She knew his core 
temperature would have dropped by at least a couple of degrees 
by now, and they needed to get him warmed up before it dropped 
any further.

"OK, heat's next," Khi said, her words echoing Scully's thoughts. 
"Check the second wound, make sure you got it burned enough 
before he woke up. If it's sufficient, bandage him." 

As Khi turned to attend to the fire, Scully inspected Mulder's leg. 
Had the exit would been as large as the entry, the few seconds of 
burn time would not have completely cauterized the tissue. As it 
was, she saw that the bleeding had been stopped, the flesh 
blistered and raw but successfully sealed. 

She immediately began bandaging the wounds. She placed two 
thick pad bandages against the burned skin, binding them tightly 
with several long strips of material. She was careful to use only 
enough to accomplish the task--no one knew how many times 
they would need to change the bandages before they were found.

If they were found...

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Scully stopped the train of thought before it even got started. She 
practically felt the barricade drop into place across her mind as 
she continued bandaging Mulder's leg. Focus on him, right here 
and right now, she told herself. Anything else is just a waste. 

Finishing the wound bandages, Scully wondered what to do 
about covering Mulder's exposed leg. Earlier, she had sliced 
completely through the layers of fabric surrounding the wound--
now she had to figure out how to bind them closed again to 
protect his skin from the cold. 

Well, if Khi can give up a shirt, so can I, she thought. Standing, 
she peeled down her jumpsuit, slipping her arms out of its 
sleeves. Looking down to jog her memory as to what she was 
wearing, she sighed when she realized the best one to give up 
was also the first one she'd slipped on over her T-shirt. Son of a 
bitch...

As quickly as she could, Scully stripped off the heavy fleece 
pullover and the first of the turtlenecks as one unit. She then 
pulled off the second, much longer turtleneck, leaving only the 
T-shirt still on her upper body. Seeing its new prey, the cold air 
pounced on her immediately--the fire had not been in existence 
long enough to really heat the interior of the shelter. She felt her 
skin crawl with goosebumps as she began to shiver.

Scully tossed the turtleneck onto Mulder's body, threading her 
arms back through the pullover and yanking it down over her 
head in one swift motion. She knew it was mostly an illusion, but 
the extra weight of the clothing made her feel warmer 
immediately. Zipping up the jump suit again, she quickly pulled 
the edges of Mulder's severed clothing together and wrapped his 
leg with the stripped-off turtleneck.

"Get over here by the fire, Scully, and get warm," Khi said. 
Scully turned to see that the fire was considerably larger than it 
had been before, though still small enough to be contained safely 
within the shelter. 

"We have to get Mulder warm first," Scully objected. Her own 
comfort could wait--Mulder was dangerously close to 
hypothermia, if he hadn't in fact suffered a bit of it already.

"That's what we're doing. You need to get warm to keep him 
warm," Khi said as she stood up and headed over towards 
Mulder.

"What?" Scully asked, confused. "What does my being warm 
have to do with heating Mulder?"

"One of the best ways to heat a human body is to wrap it up with 
something that's already warm, in this case another body," Khi 
said, beginning to spread the chute out to a much larger surface 
area. "You're going to get warm, we're going to strip both of you 
to the waist, and then I'll wrap you together in the chute."

"Wait, wait, wait," Scully said, holding out a hand as if directing 
traffic. "Wouldn't it quicker to just bring him close to the fire, 
heat him that way?"

"Transferring heat by air is not as effective, especially for 
someone who is unconscious," Khi said. "He or she cannot 
regulate their own 'closeness' to the heat source. Direct source 
contact, the transfer of heat by actual physical interaction, is far 
superior. Your body will provide the heat Mulder needs to get his 
core temperature back up."

"But how can-" Scully started to say.

"No, Scully. No objections, just do it. Trust that I know what I'm 
talking about, OK?" Khi cut her off, straightening to look Scully 
straight on. Khi gestured slightly at the fire and the shelter itself 
as she spoke. Scully glanced around, realizing that she would 
have been long dead by now had it not been for Khi. She simply 
nodded as she moved over next to the fire, standing as close as 
she could and holding her hands out over the flames. 

"In the pack, there's a small metal cylinder," Khi said after a 
minute. "Find it and use it to drink some of the heated water. It'll 
help keep you warm from the inside as well."

Rummaging through the pack, Scully found the cylinder. It 
contained a variety of wire strips. She dumped them out into a 
side pocket of the pack, then used a bit of the water to wash out 
the interior of the cylinder. Finally, she began dipping it into the 
bowl and drinking the hot water, surprised at how good it felt 
going down. Even if it tastes like I'm licking a flagpole, she 
thought, a slight smile appearing briefly. Her brothers had caught 
her just once on that particular winter dare, but she had always 
remembered that metallic, almost salty flavor.

Following Khi's earlier example, Scully kept feeding the bowl 
with fresh snow as she dipped out water. They would need to 
keep it full at all times, since they would each benefit from 
drinking the heated liquid as the night wore on. If Mulder didn't 
reawaken within an hour, she would try to drip some down his 
throat as well to try and rehydrate him. 

After perhaps ten minutes, Scully was actually beginning to feel 
warm--feeling had returned almost completely to her hands and 
feet and she was no longer shivering. She could really feel the 
slight burn on her hand where she had knocked aside the heated 
blade. A red line tracked its way across her palm, extremely 
painful to the touch now, but not a serious burn. She could still 
grip things as necessary, still use the hand as needed.

"How are you feeling? Warm now?" Khi asked. She had been 
working over the chute for a while, but now stood to add some 
small pieces of wood to the fire.

"Well, not fully heated, but acceptably warm, I guess," Scully 
said. "I can feel my feet for the first time in hours."

"All right, then. Let's get you wrapped in with Mulder. First, we 
need to lift him and get him onto the chute," Khi directed, 
indicating that Scully should take his legs. Khi explained that she 
wanted to put Mulder just off of center on the chute. As she lifted 
and moved with Khi, Scully noticed that Khi had torn several 
long strips off one edge of the chute. She had placed several of 
them underneath the chute, stretched to their full length. Several 
more were lying on top of the chute, somewhat shorter.

"To do this right, we have to do it in stages," Khi explained. 
"First, I will strap you and Mulder directly together. Then, I'll 
wrap the chute around you both and strap that around you again. 
You're not claustrophobic, are you?"

"Not that I've ever been aware of," Scully answered. Any past 
panic or fear she had ever felt was always caused by the situation 
itself, not by the physical closeness of the surroundings. 

"Good, because you're going to feel like a sardine in there. Once 
you're wrapped, I'll nudge you guys as close to the fire as 
possible, Mulder towards the flames," Khi said. 

"How long will we need to stay like that?" Scully asked. She 
didn't allow herself to distinguish whether she wanted the answer 
to be a short or a long period of time. 

"With any luck, about an hour," Khi answered. "I'm hoping 
Mulder will wake up in that timeframe--once he's conscious, 
things will go much easier. But even if he doesn't, an hour should 
be long enough to pull him back up to an acceptable range." Khi 
took a moment to check what Mulder was wearing on his upper 
body, then stood and checked Scully's attire as well. 

"We need to get you chest to chest, bare skin, but we also need to 
make sure that your body heat is not lost to any location except 
Mulder," Khi explained. "His top-layer sweater is huge, so we're 
going to slip it over both of you, once you've stripped. I'll cut the 
neckline a bit so that you both fit through it. I'll then wrap all the 
other clothing pieces around all sides, drawing the suits up 
against your backs, cinching the whole set tight against you. 
With the chute wrapped over everything as a whole, it should be 
sufficient." Khi turned, looking for the knife.

"It should be sleeping bags," Scully murmured, thinking back to 
a much warmer Florida night. A night that seemed light years 
away now.

"What was that?" Khi asked, putting a hand to her ear.

"Nothing... nothing," Scully said, shaking her head slightly. Khi 
seemed to understand completely, though, the barest of smiles on 
her face as she turned to go get the knife.
 
Scully looked down at Mulder, smiling a bit herself as she 
remembered all the times each of them had used a variation of 
the sleeping bag comment in the past months. A jab here, a tease 
there, they had tossed it back and forth between them as a father 
plays a game of catch with his sons.

As the fire crackled behind her, the flames moving across 
Mulder's face in a thousand flickering shadows, Scully cast a 
plea up to the heavens.

Please let us continue the game... 

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Khi crouched next to Mulder. "Do you have reason to believe 
Mulder has broken ribs, or any other upper torso injury?" she 
asked as she motioned for Scully to join her.

"No, I think he's sound through the chest and cage. Why?" Scully 
asked.

"We're going to prop him up into a sitting position, then, rather 
than trying to do this while he's lying down," Khi answered, 
performing the deed as she spoke it. She quickly had Mulder 
propped in front of her, his back to her chest as she knelt behind 
him.

"When I say go, I'll strip Mulder, you strip yourself. Everything 
off, including the bra. Lay each piece flat against the chute near 
me. Sit in between Mulder's legs, twisted so that your legs hang 
over his injured thigh. Be careful not to bump him too much, 
though," Khi said as she pantomimed each step. "Be as close to 
him as you possibly can, chest to chest, arms up. I'll slip the 
sweater onto both of you, with your arms through the sleeves. As 
soon as it's on, wrap your left arm around him tight, leave your 
other arm somewhat free--you're going to want to use your right 
arm as the pillow. I'll wrap everything around you, cinch it, lay 
you both down and strap the chute around you."

"Understood," Scully nodded, visualizing each instruction as Khi 
spoke.

"It has to be quick, start to finish, or you're going to just freeze 
yourself up again, OK?" Khi said. "Minute and a half, max."

"Got it, let's do it," Scully said. She knelt in front of Mulder, 
watching Khi set the knife down and get prepared. As they made 
eye contact, each nodded in silent agreement they were ready.

"Go."

Scully peeled down the jump suit, leaving it gathered around her 
waist. Pullover, turtleneck, T-shirt, bra--each was stripped off as 
Scully quickly fell into a mumbling cadence of 'son of a bitch' as 
the cold closed in around her. Khi stripped Mulder just as 
quickly, finally grabbing up the knife and slitting the neck of the 
sweater slightly.

At 15 seconds, Scully was seated between Mulder's legs, raising 
her arms towards the roof. As Khi pushed Mulder forward, 
Scully felt their skin come together. She had to fight the 
instinctive reaction to jerk backwards--his cold skin was like an 
electrical shock straight to her heart. A chill swept through her 
body instantly and she began to shiver. It was only a second, 
though, before Khi flashed the sweater down over her arms. 
Another couple of seconds passed as Khi threaded the sweater 
over both their heads and down to their waists.

Scully quickly grabbed Mulder around the back and held him 
close, freeing Khi to begin wrapping the stripped off clothing 
around them. Scully could not have explained how Khi managed 
it, but within another 30 seconds, she was completely enveloped 
by the clothing. Khi had tucked sleeves here and edges over 
there, tied the opposing sleeves of the jumpsuit together around 
them, and somehow managed to cinch everything tight without 
the whole set slipping down to the ground. 

"All right, I'm lifting you up and over Mulder's uninjured leg as I 
tip you guys down," Khi said. Scully felt herself lifted off the 
ground, then felt Mulder's leg being pushed underneath her. They 
tipped to her right, slowly, as Khi repositioned Mulder's injured 
leg as needed on top of his left. Scully straightened her own legs 
out as needed, moving as close to Mulder's body as she could.

"Get your arm out, hooked underneath your head and his," Khi 
cautioned as they neared the prone position. "You don't need to 
add a neck injury to everything else."

Scully used her free arm to position Mulder against her more 
comfortably—she turned him so his cheek rested against her 
collarbone as her chin moved across the top of his head. As they 
reached the ground, she crooked her upper bicep under her own 
head and cradled Mulder's head in her elbow, wrapping her hand 
around to grasp his other shoulder.

She felt the chute being wrapped up and around them, left side 
first, followed by the right. Each 'flap' was tucked underneath 
them, Khi rolling them slightly to the other side to shove the 
chute underneath them before rolling them back. At each 
movement, Khi pushed them against each other as closely as 
possible--their bodies were in continuous contact from Scully's 
feet to the top of Mulder's head. Sardines indeed, she thought as 
Khi tied them together, strap after strap.

The chute material hung over their heads by at least a foot. Only 
a meager amount of firelight managed to seep through the nylon 
fabric. Scully experienced a brief flash of memory, seeing herself 
as a child trying 'hide' from her brothers as she pulled the covers 
of her bed over her--she had figured if she couldn't see them, 
they couldn't see her. The theory hadn't worked, of course, as 
they would quickly find her and snap the covers back, tickling 
her until they were all laughing uncontrollably. She could only 
wish that they would come find her and come to her rescue 
now...

"All right, you're set," Khi broke into her memory, her voice 
slightly muffled from the nylon. Scully felt herself being moved 
towards the fire, Khi dragging the pine boughs themselves rather 
then trying to scoot Mulder and her across them. "I let the chute 
overhang your heads to trap just that much more heat inside with 
you. I'm going to prop on edge of the fabric on a stick to let air 
move freely. But if you feel claustrophobic at any time, or think 
you aren't getting enough air, just yell out and I'll peel the chute 
back for you."

"Got it," Scully said, surprised at how loud her voice now 
sounded to her own ears. She felt the chute lift slightly from her 
head as Khi positioned a stick under the excess material. The 
interior became slightly brighter, although there wasn't much for 
Scully to see except the other side of the chute. For some reason, 
though, it made her feel a little better.

Seconds passed, Scully becoming aware of a muffled noise 
coming from above her. She realized it was the sound of stifled 
chuckling.

"Whaaat?" she asked, drawling out the word. She knew Khi had 
something to say and figured she might as well hear it now.

"Well, considering you *are* both officers of the law, it just kind 
of dawned on me how appropriate the phrase 'pigs in a blanket' is 
in this case," Khi said, her end words trailing away as she began 
laughing outright.

At that comment, Scully realized that it had been too long, that 
there was only one response possible.

"Yeah, whatever, shut up."

Scully's own laughter soon joined Khi's, spiraling out into the 
night as one. 


      *** 30 *********  Section End  *********** 30 ***
 

Continued in Section Seven, Chapter 7/10...

http://members.tripod.com/~koosn/falling_snow-7.txt