Title: One Armed Hearts Author: Lioness...aka RatGurl uh, that's all for nicknames, and according to you, I don't have a real name. E-Mail: boxengirl@hotmail.com Rating: PG, shippiness and skippiness and one bad word...shame on Mulder! Spoilers: Umm...not much. "En Ami". Maybe if you insist "Sixth Extinction/Amor Fati". Disclaimer: Krycek, Mulder, Scully, Skinner, the WMM, the CSM, or any other X-Files related stuff that I didn't make up don't belong to me, they are property of 1013 productions The FOX Network and Most importantly Chris Carter. All of the *NEW* characters belong to me though. Either way, I'm just trying to write a story here, so get in the mood for it, aye? ~~*~~*~~*~~ Scully wept. She cried into the lifeless body. She had killed her closest friend and partner. She made excuses in her mind, but the realism haunted her. She pulled his body onto her lap and wept. She thought of how minutes before...he was so full of life. Full of passion. She thought until it almost flashed back to her. 36 HOURS EARLIER Mulder sat hunched over his desk. Scully walked in. "Mulder? What are you doing?" she asked with much reason. He looked up at her. "Hey, Scully, check this out. It's newspaper from 1964. It's talking about an alien abduction in Lawson, Indiana. I looked it up in the X-files, but it wasn't there...so I looked in the general FBI case files and there it was. But it's password protected. I can't get to it." Scully looked at him. "What are we going to do about it" she asked with a hint of annoyance hidden in the back of her voice. Mulder noticed it, but didn't comment. "We're gonna go to Lawson, Indiana. That's really the only thing we can do" "Mulder! We don't have enough information to go and search for aliens. If we could get into the file it would be different, but we can't. we cannot go out alien hunting. I'm sorry Mulder, but that just isn't possible." "Well, Scully if we could get into the sacred file, would you go?" "Mulder, this case has probably been closed for years. That's why it's not in the X-Files. Those are the unfinished, unexplained cases. I'm sure the people of Lawson, Indiana are sick of hear about aliens, and sick of nosy FBI agents." Mulder smiled at his partner of 7 years. He trusted her with his life. But still there were always disagreements. Always things that were never resolved between the two of them. He could read he thoughts, and in this case her could tell that she was just being Scully instead of just making it hard for him. Which he had realized very quickly in their career and friendship together, she liked to do. So he just agreed with her "Okay. Scully we'll stay here...oh, there is this case that may need out attention." "What is it?" she reached for the file that Mulder pulled out of his desk. She opened it up and began to read as she sat down in the chair across from him. After reading for a few seconds something about it clicked. "Mulder, this is in Indiana...not anywhere near Lawson is it?" He smiled "You caught me. It's about 4 miles outside of Lawson. I suppose you're gonna tell me that we can't go because of that aren't you?" "Mulder, from the sound of this right here," she held up the file "these people need help. They don't have the peace of mind that they are safe at night. This 'monster' that they claim to see is obviously a work of fiction. It sounds like the plot to a bad horror film. Let's pack and go." ON A PLANE TO INDIANA "Anything else for you, sir?" asked Marianne the flight attendant. The shadowy man in the seat took his alcoholic beverage. "No thank you" he said with a soft accented voice. Marianne got a strange feeling from him, but was overwhelmed by his good looks. She had only been at this job for 5 weeks. She had met some strange people already, but she had never gotten this feeling about any of the passengers, or anyone she had ever met. He looked like the type of man that you would see playing the bad guy in an action film. Dreamy and exciting. The kind of man women dream of having but know that is impossible. Just the trance he put her in with his soft voice was enough to make her knees weak. It was the first time any person had done that to her. He does that to people. KREAGON, INDIANA FOUR MILES FROM LAWSON Mulder pulled a bag of sunflower seeds from his bag before he even began to unpack. He sat down on his bed with the newspaper from 1964. He sat there reading it again. Then the phone rang. He reached over and picked it up. "Mulder." "Mulder, I have some news." "Good or bad?" "Well...that is questionable. The sheriff of Kreagon phoned me. He said that what was killing the people is gone. It has been for months...Mulder, exactly how old was that file?" "Well...about six months. And don't lecture me on it." "I wasn't going to. I'm just glad that whatever it was is gone." "Scully. I hope you didn't unpack, you know...since we're here...why not go to Lawson. Just for a day. No one will have to know. They won't even know." "Mulder you just can't take a day trip on the FBI. You know it doesn't work that way." "I know, but Scully, this is important. I know you'll understand, when you see the scene of the crime." "Crime? Mulder, this is a supposed alien abduction. There is no crime here. Which is why I say we go home." "Scully, if you read the article. It says that the alien abductees were hospitalized. Each had the same symptoms. Convulsions, excessive babbling -" "Are you saying that we should hospitalize you?" Scully joked. "Ha ha...can I continue?" "Go ahead" she said with a smile. "wait, just give me a second...I'll come on over." She hung up the phone and walked out the door and over to his. She knocked and waited patiently while he opened it. "Hey, Scully. Can I continue now?" She smiled and said "Of course" "Okay, they each had the same symptoms. Including the convulsions, excessive babbling, and violence toward everyone they come in contact with, or just the opposite silence, not eating, and suicidal tendencies. All were put into hospitals. I want so go see if any of them are still there. You never know. A lot of people who are in conditions like that spend their entire lives in hospitals." Scully thought on this for awhile "Alright, Mulder, you win. We'll stay for one day and that's it." "Great...we'll move on and get a room in Lawson." LAWSON, INDIANA Scully walked down a hallway to the room where she was staying. She unlocked the door, walked in and shut the door behind herself. She flipped the light switch. There, sitting in a chair was Alex Krycek. "Hello, Scully. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" She reached for her gun. Krycek stood up and his hoarse whisper he said, "Are you going to shoot me, Scully? Is my death really that important to you? Think of all the information I hold. The things that Mulder or the Smoking Man can't give you." "You killed my sister, you rat. Do you think your information will stop me?" Scully's voice was full of rage and pure hatred. She cocked her gun. "Scully...the world needs me. Obviously you don't but since when has Dana Scully gone with the flow? Agreed with the crowd? Not in...about seven years. You don't even know why you're here. That old newspaper is a fake. I had Skinner plant it for Mulder. The password protected file? All set up. None of it is real. Except what I'll tell you. You the one that is more than Mulder. More than me. More than them all. The one who will really save us." Scully stood firm. "You leave me out of this. This is about you and your evil ways. The way you can just go off and kill someone's mother, brother, sister or father." "What you don't seem to realize, Scully is that it is all about you. Ever since the focal point went off of Mulder. They've focused on you. The things you could do for them. You could get into places Mulder can't. Mulder wouldn't know what do in a hospital." His voice rose "Scully, why do you think the Smoking Man had you go with him this spring? Mulder is his own flesh and blood. Yet he chose you. Don't you realize...Mulder is the one who will save us all. You are the one who won't die in the process. Mulder dies now. It's all over. You die. We all die after he does." "What are you saying? That Mulder's going to die?" "Scully, think back to when you were at the church. You stood there for hours just looking at the crucifix and crying and you didn't know why. You just stood there and wept. Why do you think that was?" Scully put down her gun "what are you telling me?" "Mulder's going to die for all of us. Not for some god. But for the them, who are the higher beings. Why do you think Mulder believes in them so passionately?" "If Mulder represents Jesus, and the Smoking man is his father that mean that he represents God?" "Far from it, Scully. He is the devil. The root of all evil. That's where it isn't like the stories you learned in Sunday school. The Smoking Man...he created all of this. He made this little world that no one can escape from. He just sucks us all in. We can't get away from it. We can't run. We can't hide. We can't go anywhere. Hide under your blankets if you'd like...it won't help. We are all pawns in his game, Scully. You, me, Mulder, anyone you know is part of it. Melissa. She was another pawn... She was the pawn that never should have been played." Scully softened for a moment when he said that last part. He said it with compassion and real true sincerity. But that was just for a moment. "So, you say we all represent something. What about you? Me?" "You are the comforter, Scully. The one they go to. The one who will keep us from dying after Mulder...well you know. Me...I am Barabbas." Scully gave him a blank look "Forgotten what you learned in Sunday school already?" Krycek smiled eerily "And there was one named Barabbas which lay bound with them that he had made insurrection with him, who had murdered in the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done to them. But Pilate answered them saying 'Will you that I release unto you the King of the Jews?' For he knew the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said again unto them 'What will you say that I do to this one you call the King of the Jews?' and they cried out 'Crucify him!' then Pilate said unto them 'why? What evil has he done?' And they more exceedingly cried out 'Crucify him!' And so Pilate willing to content the people released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him to be crucified." "What are you saying, Krycek? That you should be the one who dies, but it's Mulder?" "Basically, Scully...you see, if I die, I save no one but myself." He then moved toward the door. "Wait...I still don't understand. Why are they killing him? I mean, what is the whole plain reason of why Mulder has to die?" Krycek gave her along look "So the world now, and the world to come won't die. So they can live in freedom from them...them above." "The aliens?" "To put it that way, yes...Mulder will save us all from them. I will commit the crimes and live. You will comfort the people of Mulder's return." "Mulder's return?" "Of course...in three days Mulder will return from the dead...and not for the first time if I remember correctly." "But how is that possible?" "How did Jesus do it?" Scully paused. "He was Jesus. There was no way he couldn't do it" "Exactly my point." Krycek walked for the door. As he passed Scully he gently touched her face before leaving, closing the door behind himself. It took Scully about three seconds to recover. Then she ran to Mulder's room. She opened the door without knocking. Mulder sat on his bed, his hair still wet, in his pajama pants, reading "The Magic Bullet". He looked up when the door opened suddenly. "Scully?" Scully began to cry, and she didn't know why. "Mulder...it was awful." Was all she was able to blubber out. The tears were coming at a speed she never thought possible. She sat down next to him on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and just comforted her for along time. When the tears slowed she began her story. "I got to my room and Krycek was there." "Krycek? Like Alex Krycek?" "What other Krycek do you know?" He shrugged and reached for a T-Shirt that was on top of his open suitcase. "So what happened next?" he asked while pulling on the shirt. Scully told her story from the beginning to the end. Mulder gave her an tentative look. "Scully...are you sure that's what happened?" She jumped off of the bed. "Mulder! Don't you, of all people, believe me?" her voice lowered. "Mulder, he quoted the Bible to me. That's something you don't forget, and certainly nothing that I could make up. And he said you would die. Why would I say that if it didn't happen? Do you think I want you to die, Mulder?" He stood up and hugged her. "I'm sorry I doubted you, Scully." She hugged him back. "Mulder, I wish with all I have that it didn't happen. That it wasn't true. But the strangest thing is that I think I believe him. After all I've been through with you, the only one I trust, and I'm believing the word of a murderer, a liar and a thief. What's happening to me?" He pulled her from his embrace and looked her in the eyes. "Scully, it's not you. It's the company you keep." She smiled at him. Then she looked around the room. Her eyes set onto the second bed. "Mulder, could I stay here? I just can't sleep in a room by myself." He nodded quickly. " Yeah, of course. I'll walk back with you to get your things." They walked to Scully's room and back. She went into the bathroom to change into her silk pajamas. Mulder waited in the room. She walked out and Mulder, well, gave her a second look. He began to laugh a bit. "What?" she asked as she sat down in the bed she was going to sleep in. "I was just thinking that we're fraternizing in the same room." Scully smiled and said "I think the circumstances will allow this...just this once." He grinned. "I'm happy to hear you say that." He crawled under the covers of his bed an flipped the switch on the lamp. "Night, Scully" She could tell he got a kick out of telling her good-night in the dark. She smiled into the darkness "Good-night, Mulder." THE NEXT MORNING Mulder woke up at six am...long before Scully. He grabbed a clean towel from under the sink. He walked into the bathroom for his shower. When he was finished he walked out, in his clean towel, to see Scully standing there with clothes, shampoo, and her other, personal products. He had forgotten about her being in his room. If he had remembered... maybe he would have brought in some clothes with him. She looked at him "Mulder, I suggest you put on some clothes before we leave. And maybe comb your hair? If that's not too much to ask." He grinned at her. "You want some of this, don't you?" "Mulder, I want to take a shower." "Ah, the shower I was just in." She pushed him out of her way. "In your dreams alien boy." She closed the door behind her. As Mulder dressed he realized that the conversation between them was wrong. It was just...out of character. He thought about this the entire time while Scully showered. He snapped out of it when she came out. But, his conclusions were that Scully felt too serious about the night before and wanted to lighten things up some. And he just wanted her to feel comfortable while staying with him. The most interesting thing about all of that is that Scully, in the shower was thinking the exact same thing, and came to the same conclusions. THE REDBLOOM CAFÉ Mulder and Scully walked into the Redbloom Café for coffee and maybe a doughnut. Their plane left at seven o clock pm that day, so they had time to kill. They sat in a booth and ordered from the waitress. They talked about things...mostly anything that didn't have to do with the night before. The waitress came back with their orders. Scully sipped at her coffee and looked out the window. She watched the cars go by. She watched the cars pull in and out. Then a new car pulled in. A black sedan looking car. Scully really didn't know, but that wasn't the important part. What really mattered was who got out. She grabbed Mulder's arm "Look who it is!!" she whispered loudly. He looked out the window and coming toward the café was Krycek with a woman neither of them had seen before. "Well, looks like Alex got it all together" Mulder said when Krycek wrapped his arm the woman and kissed her. Scully gave him a skeptical look and said too him lowly "I don't think that's what I meant when I said 'look who it is.'" He smiled at her and watched Krycek and the woman walk into the café. "Let's go see what's up." The woman chose a booth while, Krycek walked toward the restrooms. Mulder caught his eye as he walked in. Krycek kept cool. He knew how to handle such situations...without actually using his gun. He was ridding himself of morning coffee when Mulder walked in. "Krycek" "Mulder" "I hear you stopped in for a visit with Scully last night...don't want your friend there to hear word of that, now do you?" "She knows why I spoke with Scully. So I could warn her of events to come. So she won't fear your upcoming death to such proportions that she can't do her part." Mulder spun him around. "The only upcoming death you have to think about is your own." Krycek laughed. "Mulder, I don't think that I should be your utmost concern...you have lives to save from colonization of the aliens. And don't worry, if you had a religion you'd have some idea what I'm speaking of, now wouldn't you? And you'd realize that you won't die forever. Just for a little while. Prepare to meet your maker, Mulder." He threw Krycek to the ground and pulled out his gun. "Give me one good reason not to shoot you here and now." "It would do you no good. Sure, I've killed people...including your father, well, the father you knew of until just recently. But, Mulder, my friend, killing me would just be one more thing that you don't want on your record. One more thing, that really isn't worth it." "You think your death is something I don't want on my record? I'd be proud to say that I'm the one who took down the legend Alex Krycek. You seem to get do you? I'm not going to die if I kill you. From what Scully told me, for your visitation last night, that if you die, I won't." Krycek slowly stood up with both hands raised slightly. "It doesn't work that way, Mulder. I die, I'm just another obituary, but if you die. Civilization as we know it will live on." Mulder put his gun down. He turned around and walked out. The information sunk into his brain. Krycek walked out behind Mulder. He went over to his booth. After a brief discussion with his new friend, the two of them walked over to the table of the FBI agents. "Mind if we join?" Scully looked at him, with that hatred again. The word "no" was on the tip of her tongue, but she declined to her first reaction. "Of course you can...Mulder, come sit on this side of the booth." As he stood up Mulder's brain went into fifth gear. It was moving as fast as it could go without crashing. He sat down next to Scully with a smile. A smile that said "What are you doing???" Scully gave him a firm, but friendly look that basically said "Don't sweat it...I know what I'm doing." They sat for a few minutes when the woman Krycek was with spoke up. She said, "Hi, I'm Jaclyn Reynolds." She extended her hand and both Mulder and Scully shook it. Krycek wrapped his arm around her waist and she put her head on his shoulder. He looked genuinely happy. It made Scully almost wonder if he was actually doing something good for once in his life. But that thought didn't last long. She thought of the awful things he had done to her and Mulder. Jaclyn spoke again. "So, Alex told you the prophecies." "Uh, yeah. Exactly on what are those 'thoughts' based on?" Scully asked, with a sip of coldish coffee. "The word given by a very respected man." said Krycek. Mulder shook his head. "What? The word of the Cancerman?" "Of course not...going on what he says...Well, you just don't do that. I've gotten in lots of trouble by listening to that man." Krycek said. Jaclyn wrapped her arms around him tightly, like she knew what he had gone through due to the word of the Smoking Man. "Well, then who was it?" asked Mulder impatiently. "Even you wouldn't believe me, Mulder. You watched this man die. Of course I saw him only days ago, alive and well. You wouldn't believe the amount of alive people out there. So many, presumed dead, when there is always a way. I'm sure you though I'd be dead by now." "Just tell me who the hell it was!" Scully put her hand on his arm. "Mulder." Krycek smiled. "A colleague of the Smoking Man. A respected man...on who brought greatness to what was left of the shambles. The man you know of as the Well Manicured Man." Both Mulder and Scully gasped. Scully was the first to speak. "Are you saying that he is not only alive, but is now prophesying things of the entire..." "Conspiracy?" Krycek helped. Scully nodded quickly "I'm sorry to say that's the only word springing to mind." "Don't be sorry, Scully, that is the word most used." Krycek said while looking into Jaclyn's eyes. Jaclyn nodded and then engaged Krycek in a long kiss. Mulder gave them one look and said, "Come on Scully, there should be a better way to spend our day." Scully paid for their food and the two of them left, leaving Krycek and Jaclyn still kissing. About five minutes after Mulder and Scully left, Krycek and Jaclyn stopped kissing. She wiped her mouth and took a long drink of the orange juice she had ordered. "Oh my. I'm sorry, Alex, but kissing you isn't my idea of pleasure." He nodded. "The feeling is mutual. But I think we fooled them. And that's all that matters. Jaclyn...you can go home now. I don't suppose that you have anymore work to do here. Just tell old Smokey to stop spreading lies about the dead." She smiled, "It's really to bad that Mulder is going to die. I mean, that one frikin truth keeps me from so much." He smiled at her, like a brother would his sister "Get outta here. You don't want Mulder. He's in love with Scully anyhow, everyone knows it...or at least assumes it." "Yes, but does she love him back?" "I don't think in the way that he wants her to...she needs a stronger man for that." "I'm supposing a stronger man with say...one arm?" She smiled at him and then put on her coat and reached for the door. "You do realize that she is too good for you." "That makes the struggle for the top all more worth my while." He said back. THAT AFTERNOON 4:39 PM Scully packed the bag that sat in Mulder's room. It felt strange packing their things up in the same room. She couldn't recollect a time when this had happened before. It just wasn't supposed to be this way. Mulder on the other hand, felt perfectly fine about this. Nothing bothered him about it. It was like, it was supposed to be that way. They walked outside to their rental car. Scully opened the trunk and put her bag in. She thought of what had happened in the café that morning. Something about that seemed wrong. It was almost like the entire day was wrong. Like a day stuck in time, that shouldn't of happened. Like out of the "Twilight Zone" or something. But that was silly. There were no such things as days that "shouldn't exist". Each day was just another day toward...what was it all toward? Life? Death? The search for happiness? Whatever it was, each day was just another day and nothing more. Mulder stuffed his suitcase in on top of hers. He closed it and walked for the driver side of the car, noticing the sky was getting darker. Scully got in on the other side and closed the door. She pulled out her laptop to begin her report. She sat there while Mulder started up the car and pulled out of the motel parking lot. She looked over at him and said "What am I going to write in my report?" "Report? What did we do that deserves a report?" "We came out here. They know it was all on government money. We have to have a report. Both of us." "You know, Scully, I don't think that Krycek really told the truth about one thing. How can the Well Manicured Man still be alive. I saw him die." "Well, he did specify that, Mulder. He said that. Of course we aren't just dealing with a shadowy informant or something. This is Krycek we're dealing with. And, Mulder, that scares me. We're believing his word. The word of a dead man, and the word of a liar and murderer. There is something missing here." "Yeah, and what about that girlfriend of his? She seemed legit, but still, there was something there too...why was she there? A distraction for us?" "Or maybe just for you..." "Heh. Anyway, it doesn't seem to be making sense. Usually in a case like this something makes sense." "Mulder do you really think you're going to die? And even if you do, from what Krycek said, you'll resurrect or something." "Are we believing his word again?" "Mulder, it's hard not to. They way he would say it. It was all too convincing." "Too convincing?" Mulder pulled off to the side of the road in front of some woods. "Mulder? What are you doing?" "Scully, we need to seriously talk about this." "Talk? Can't we talk while the car is moving and on our way to the airport?" Scully sounded a bit annoyed by this, but Mulder knew she was just frustrated and confused. It began to rain. The sky was the color of ripe eggplants. Scully raised her eyebrows. "Maybe this is sign, Mulder...I sign that we should..." Her voice trailed off after seeing a figure move into the woods. I figure with a rather stiff left arm. "Mulder! I think Krycek is moving into the woods." "What?" Scully pointed to the figure and Mulder agreed it was Krycek. After two times they had the chance to apprehend him, they were going to do it. In the dark. In the rain. A great combination. They got out of the car and followed him into he woods. Slowly at first, then he began to moved faster, so did they. It was a cat and rat chase. Krycek heard them coming long before he went into the woods...it was the exact plan. He knew that they would go after him after the two times he had come in contact with them. It was going to be perfect. It was all going to happen here and now. Mulder ran ahead of Scully, (longer legs) but she kept up fairly well. She saw Krycek stop. "Mulder!!! Get him now!" she screamed. But it seemed that he had disappeared. All she could see was the vague outline of Krycek a few yards ahead of her. She extended her gun and aimed it at Krycek. She felt all of her personal hatred toward this man run through her body, going faster than she was. She fired her gun. He dropped. From behind her, she heard a voice. Startled that it wasn't Mulder. "I told you it would happen" She spun around. It was Krycek standing before her. "Oh my god...what have I done?" She ran to the body she had shot. It was Mulder. Blood was all over him, but there was no pressure to make it come out. Blood smeared over his mouth and nose. She checked for a pulse, but there was none. Krycek came up behind her. The darkness and the rain, made him scarier than he actually was. Scully was determined not to ever let him know that she feared him. But that wasn't her biggest concern at the moment. "Why didn't you tell me it was going to be me??" She was barely understandable from her screaming, crying and the pouring rain. "You barely believed that he was going to die. I just figured it would be all in due time, that you would learn the truth." "What truth? You said there was no truth!" Krycek stopped. "You never knew that the truth can have many different meanings." With that he walked away. Scully wept. She cried into the lifeless body. She had killed her closest friend and partner. She made excuses in her mind, but the realism haunted her. She pulled his body into her lap and wept. She thought of how minutes before...he was so full of life. Full of passion. She thought until it almost flashed back to her. She then realized that someone would like to know what's going on. She pulled out her cell phone. She carefully laid Mulder's head onto her knee. she dialed 911. soon there were ambulances surrounding her. It was like there were fifteen different bodies to be examined instead of just one...whom there was no hope for. Once she got to the hospital, where they examined her, made sure she was alright...she was crying hard. Nothing really stopped her tears. After that, when the tears slowed down some, she picked up a pay phone and called Assistant Director Skinner at his house...something that isn't done on a regular basis. "Skinner" he answered the phone, like he was at work. When she heard his voice the tears began to flow harder again. "Agent Scully?" She nodded her head and then realized that wouldn't help. "Yes, Sir." "What's wrong?" "Sir, Agent Mulder is dead. He was shot." "I'm so sorry." Skinner wondered if he was actually dead, this time, but didn't ask. What if this was the real thing? "Who shot him? Or do you know?" Scully took a deep breath. "I was the one who shot him, Sir." "Scully?" "Yes, Sir?" "You must have done what you did for a reason. I'm not going to question your judgment." "Uh, Sir, no...it wasn't anything like that. It was dark, raining and we were after Krycek. I mistook Mulder for being him, and well, it wasn't. I'm sorry." She apologized as the tears disrupted her talking and slurred her speech. "Scully, take a deep breath. Breathe. We don't want you dying on us too. Scully? Agent Scully?" Skinner asked for her. She had dropped the phone. All that Krycek had said to her began to come together. How could she comfort the people if she wasn't comforted herself? That's what Skinner was there for. She picked the phone back up. "I'm sorry, Sir, just a bit of a shock." "That's understandable, agent. When are you coming back to DC?" "Today. I'm taking the late flight out of Indianapolis. That's at eleven thirty tonight. Could you send a cab to pick me up, Sir?" Skinner agreed to that. They spoke for a few more minutes, then they hung up. She felt much better about the whole thing. Then the thought that Mulder was dead came back to her. Then it was all over. She sat down on a waiting room chair and cried.