Weak in the Knees; chapter twenty-three
Title: Weak in the Knees
Author: Dhamphir
Fandom: X-Files
Pairing: Scully/OFC
Rating: NC-17
Please see previous posts for disclaimer/summary/notes. As always, thanks to celievamp for the beta!
Chapter 23
As soon as Morgan stepped through the door, a heavy object came down on the back of her head. When she came to, she was tied to a wooden chair with her hands tied behind the back of the chair. Her feet were also tied to the legs of the chair. Suddenly cold water was thrown in her face. She sputtered a little and raised her head. She was rewarded with a fist to her left cheek.
She tasted blood where the inside of her cheek was cut. And she was dizzy.
“Hey! I said not to do anything until she woke up!”
“She is awake.”
Footsteps marked the approached of a second man. “Well, well. What have we here?”
Morgan glared at the second man.
“You are a feisty one, aren’t you? Well, that’s why we’re here.”
“I’m gonna love teaching you a lesson or two, bitch,” smirked ‘the hulk’ just before he smashed the side of her face again.
Morgan spit some blood onto his shoes. She then looked back up at the second man. He was clearly the brains of the duo, but that also made him the more dangerous. “Look... if I’m supposed to be learning something here, wouldn’t it better if I knew what the hell the lesson was?”
She received a blow to the opposite cheek for her impertinence.
“Gag her.” The second man walked away as ‘the hulk’ gagged her.
Even with Morgan’s strength, it was difficult to break the bindings on her hands without good leverage. But since it was obvious these two wanted to beat her rather than kill her, she knew she could last long enough for Bobby to realize something was wrong.
***
Bobby was a patient man. Too many undercover cases taught him that to act too soon could blow someone’s cover. But his instincts were telling him it was time to check on Morgan; she’d been gone too long.
Unfortunately, as soon as he made his decision to go check on her, a bar fight broke out - in seconds it encompassed the entire place. He jumped right in - in an attempt to work his way to the back. He also got his phone out and hit the memory dial for his partner.
“Frank, got a problem here. Send some ba-” His call was cut short when someone smashed a particularly heavy liquor bottle over his head, knocking him out.
***
Scully had waited exactly ten minutes after Morgan left. She then tucked her weapon in the small of her back, slipped on her blazer, and headed to the door.
“Um, Agent Scully? Where are you going?”
She gave Det. Franco a determined look. “To back up my partner. You can either stay here or come with me.” She opened the door and walked out of the hotel room.
Det. Franco was on her heels doing his best to stop her, but finally saw there was no way to sway the redhead from her course of action. He indicated he’d drive his car so she didn’t have to hail a cab. He did get her to agree to wear one of the Kevlar vests in his trunk and to his plan to park a certain distance from the bar so that they weren’t obvious in the parking lot. He assured Scully that his partner would call him if there was a problem he felt he and Morgan couldn’t handle.
They’d been sitting in the car for a quite a long time when Frank’s phone rang. “Franco... Bobby?... Bobby?” He slapped his phone shut.
“What’s going on?” Scully demanded.
Instead of answering her directly, he picked up the mike to his radio and called in, requesting backup. Since he wasn’t starting the car and getting them there, Scully started to open her door to get out and cover the two blocks on foot. Frank caught hold of her arm barely in time to keep her in the car as he turned the key in the ignition. Quickly pulling up short of the front door of the bar they both jumped out of the car.
Frank reached to open the door, but before he could a body came crashing out of a painted over window. Scully and Frank exchanged a look and headed inside with determination. What greeted them was one of the biggest and roughest melee’s either had ever encountered. When Frank spotted his partner unconscious on the floor he pushed and shoved their way to him. Scully knelt down next to Bobby and checked him out. He was alive and his pulse was strong. But he had a bleeding wound on the back of his head.
“He should be alright. He’s bleeding but it’s not a bad wound. Head wounds always bleed a lot.”
Frank took off his over shirt, folded it up and pressed it against Bobby’s head wound. Scully stood up to try to find her partner.
“Where’s Jess?”
Bobby came to. “Back...”
“What?” Frank asked.
“Morgan... back room...”
Scully tried to work her way to the back of the bar, but the fighting around her threatened to engulf her as well. She found an overturned chair, set it upright, stood on top of it, and fired three quick shots into the ceiling. The noise level dropped dramatically and nearly every head in the place turned toward her. “Everyone settle down, sit down, and shut up!!” Several objections started but she fired another shot. “Now!!”
The battlers, for the most part, obeyed. She looked at Bobby and Frank who indicated they would take charge of the room. She quickly made her way to the back of the bar. She was not, even in the most remote way, prepared for what she found when she entered the back room.
***
Morgan realized that something had gone very wrong. Bobby wasn’t coming. It was solely up to her to deal with the situation she was in. Despite the blows she’d taken to her face and body, she continued to try to break the bindings holding her arms and hands behind the back of the chair. Finally they gave. Morgan didn’t waste any time. She surged up, surprising both men. Her features shifted in an instant. She kicked her legs free as she ripped off her gag. A very hard and well placed punch knocked out the ‘brains’ of the duo. That left the hulk.
The change in Morgan’s features may have stunned Jerry (the hulk), but he quickly recovered while she focused her rage on his partner. After knocking Bill out, she turned back to him. He met her with a fist to her face. But it wasn’t enough to stop her. She lunged at him. Jerry met her lunge, grabbing one of her arms and yanking it behind her with all his strength. They both heard the pop when it dislocated.
Morgan let out a yell when her arm was twisted and her shoulder dislocated. It also caused her already high adrenalin levels to spike even higher. With a roar she spun, landed a punch to his jaw which she followed up with physically shoving him into the wall with her own body. She grabbed his throat with her right hand, lifted and squeezed. Suddenly the door flew open.
***
Scully froze as she took in the appearance of her partner. Morgan’s face was bruised; she had blood running down her face from the corner of her left eye and below her broken nose; her left arm hung useless at her side; and her wrists were chafed raw from being tied up. All that was a shock, but wasn’t what gave her pause.
What rooted Scully to the spot were Morgan’s black eyes and fangs! And she was holding a 225 pound man a couple of inches off the floor with one hand around his throat!
While the newly arrived redhead distracted Morgan, Jerry saw his chance and took it. He broke the grip Morgan had on his throat and threw as hard a right as he could to her body, following it up with a left to her head.
All three heard the snap of ribs breaking and the forceful expulsion of air from her lungs. The blow to her head stunned her. Morgan dropped to her knees. As Jerry raised a broken chair leg, preparing to bring it down on her head, Scully was finally spurred into action.
“FBI! Freeze!”
He didn’t.
A shot rang out.
The bullet struck Jerry in the chest knocking him back... but he didn’t go down. With a yell he still attempted to attack Morgan. A second bullet ended his life.
Morgan was on the floor. Scully moved toward her. Pain was clearly written in her features. It was with grey eyes she looked up at her partner. Before she could say anything Bobby and Frank appeared in the room.
“Fuck!” growled Bobby while Frank stepped out and called for a couple of the EMTs that had just arrived. Bobby knelt next to Morgan while Scully checked on the unconscious man on the floor. “Take it easy, Morgan. You’re going to be okay.”
Scully sat down on a couple of stacked boxes. She simply didn’t know what to think or say. Did she really see what she thought she did? Could Jess really be a monster in disguise? What did it mean?
***
Once Morgan was able to catch her breath and answer the EMTs’ questions, she was helped up from the floor and, at her own insistence, walked out of the back room, through the bar, and out to one of the ambulances.
Bobby went with her, still holding a cloth to back of his head. “I’m sorry, Morgan. I got blindsided.”
Morgan sat on the gurney in the back of the ambulance and the EMT began to check her out more closely and prepared her for transport.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Did you find out what you needed to?”
She let out a sigh. “The guy I’m after wasn’t here, but apparently I was being taught a lesson, punished.”
“For what?”
“They wouldn’t say.” She winced a bit when the EMT gently examined her nose. “I still have to question the second one in the morning.”
“Sorry, Agent Morgan. I’m going to put you on some oxygen and start an I.V. Then we’ll get you both to the hospital.”
***
At the hospital Morgan was quickly examined and x-rayed. She was given a muscle relaxant and pain medication before her shoulder was manipulated back into place.
As soon as Bobby got a few stitches in the back of his head, he joined Morgan. “You look like shit,” he said with a smile.
“Thanks a lot.” Morgan looked around making sure no one was currently paying attention or listening to them. “She saw me, Bobby,” she said softly.
He sat on the gurney next to her feet with a sigh. “I’m sorry. If I’d been more careful it wouldn’t have happened.”
“It’s not your fault. I knew I was taking a risk agreeing to the meeting. And she agreed to let me go without her.”
“Frank said she waited ten minutes before leaving the hotel. He couldn’t stop her so they parked a couple of blocks down the road.”
She shook her head. “I should have known. It’s not like her to back off.”
“So now what?”
“I’ll continue to work the case and move on when it’s over.”
Bobby placed on a hand on her leg and gave it a supportive squeeze.
***
When Scully finally arrived at the hospital she once again flashed her credentials. She inquired about the condition of Morgan, but didn’t go back to see her. She took a seat in the waiting room.
Frank on the other hand, went back to check on his partner. He, of course, found Bobby with Morgan. After making sure they were both going to be okay, he left and returned to the precinct to help process the three dozen, or so, people arrested at the bar.
Scully sat in the ER waiting room, trying to sort out her thoughts and feelings. What the hell had she seen? What was Jess? What did it mean for their partnership?
What did it mean for them on personal level?
Chapter 24...
prologue| ch 1| ch 2| ch 3| ch 4| ch 5| ch 6| ch 7| ch 8| ch 9| ch 10|
ch 11| ch 12| ch 13| ch 14| ch 15| ch 16| ch 17| ch 18| ch 19| ch 20|
ch 21| ch 22|