From: Erinstone1@aol.com

Shrink - Chapter 10
ErinStone1@AOL.com
Rated: R
Spoilers: none
Category: Scully/Slash
Archive: Yes-please make me aware of any final posts to a site.
Feedback: Any/all is welcome
Disclaimer: Scully and Mulder are not mine. I make no profit from this story.

Summary:  Scully decides she needs to take responsibility for her unhappiness.





Dr. Aris held his file on her lap. She read and re-read the entries she'd 
made throughout his therapy sessions over the last three months. 

'Doesn't make sense.' She thought to herself. 'We were progressing; he didn't 
seem to be delusional or manic. What the hell happened?'

She closed the file and dropped it onto the cushion next to her. She laced 
her fingers, turned her hands inside out and stretched out her arms.

The cat strode past her legs, brushing up against her.

"Sailboat, no mice tonight. I'm serious. If you can make it through the 
weekend without a delivery I'll keep you. Otherwise·"

He walked away with an erratic flip of his tail.

She watched him walk lazily across the warehouse floor, weaving in and around 
furniture and potted plants. Her thoughts went back to the file on the couch 
next to her.

'So I was wrong. He totally played me. He had me thinking that he was 
depressed·'

She tapped the cover of the file absent mindedly. 'When really he's 
schizophrenic. He should be on medications. He should be under the care of a 
psychiatrist.'

'Every time I tried empathetic listening I was actually escalating his 
paranoia.'

She thought back to her first conversation with the older man. 'Bob, what I'm 
hearing is that you're concerned about your job. That you think you're not 
good enough to do well even though your work record, that you yourself have 
seen is spotless. Is that true?'

His response was a nod of the head. His mental illness, however, would have 
read her statement as, 'Bob, I agree with your manager. You're ineffective at 
your job and everyone is aware of it. The work record they show you is 
spotless, but the real one they don't show you has every minor infraction 
you've ever made. It's all in black and white. Sooner or later they'll have 
to fire you Bob. It's inevitable.'

She let out a bitter laugh. It seemed overboard but she knew it was true. 
Every statement she'd ever made to him had been misconstrued and twisted. 
She'd become his surrogate accuser. He saw her as the one who set voice to 
what everyone thought were his inadequacies. She was a culmination of all the 
people he imagined were whispering behind his back, plotting against him to 
ruin him.

He was delusional, paranoid.

And she'd missed it.

Completely.

Now he was no longer showing up for appointments. He called her at home 
sometimes as many as six times a day. He left messages at work that made 
Marlene pale. He was close to an episode; probably off his medication, if he 
was ever on any.  And getting dangerously close to taking action.

It was her fault. Now in hindsight she realized that there were signs early 
on but she'd had too much professional egotism to face the fact that she 
couldn't help him. So she kept on with his therapy.

She took his explanation of no mental health history at face value. 

'Never needed a shrink Dr. Aris. But then again I've never been this 
depressed before. You think it's my age?'

'So fucking stupid Gail', she chastised herself, 'really stupid'.

The punishment for her over confidence came in the form of the phone calls. 

And she hated especially that Marlene was involved. She hated that Marlene 
was frightened. It made her stomach burn.

'I have to do something. But what? Have the police pick him up? That's 
classic doctor/patient breach. I could refer him to a psychiatrist, but he 
won't listen to me anymore, won't show up for appointments.'

So she sat and waited for her phone to ring. Every time Bob called she'd try 
to get through to him. He never listened to her, never cared to do anything 
but spout threats. But she kept trying, hoping that she might get through if 
he had a moment of clarity. So far he hadn't. The threats were getting 
progressively worse.

Her phone rang.

She took a deep breath and reviewed her newest strategy to try to get him to 
listen. She picked up the hand-held phone and answered.

"Hello?"

"Dr. Aris?" 

"Yes? Who's this?" Her friends called her Gail. She was worried that yet 
another patient had somehow gotten her unlisted number.

"Dana Scully. Doctor, I'm at Georgetown medical. Marlene was assaulted 
tonight."

Dr. Aris' heart sunk. Her arms felt suddenly heavy, "Is she alive?" She knew 
she'd asked the question aloud but she couldn't hear her own voice. There was 
a roaring in her ears.

"Yes. She's critical, but she's hanging on."

"Hanging on? What does that mean, HANGING ON?"

"I've sent a car to pick you up Dr. Aris. I encourage you not to drive. The 
car will be there any minute. I'll tell you more when you get here."

Dr. Aris hung up the phone, tossing it onto the couch as she scrambled to get 
her keys and wallet. She cursed the old elevator and nearly broke the old 
wooden slat door when she got to the bottom floor. Right outside the entry 
was a police car with it's engine running. A uniformed officer held the back 
door open for her and she got in quickly. He slammed the door behind her and 
jogged to the driver's side. Flicking two buttons, one for lights, the other 
for sirens, the officer pulled onto Bridge Street and sped toward the 
hospital.




Dr. Aris walked through the emergency door and into the sterile bright 
hospital lights. She approached the check-in desk and opened her mouth to 
demand Marlene's room number but was whisked away by the arm. She glanced at 
the nurse who was towing her roughly.

"What·"

"Dr. Aris, this way please." The woman loosened her grip some but still had 
the doctor in a healthy grasp as she rushed her down the hallway. "Dr. Scully 
is waiting for you."

The nurse released her and opened a door with the placard 'Critical Care 
Unit' on it. She nodded and Dr. Aris walked into the darkened room. It took a 
moment for her eyes to adjust. Through a glass window in the back of the room 
she could see someone in a hospital bed. She approached the window and looked 
at the person's face. It was Marlene. Her head was wrapped and her eyes 
appeared to be taped shut. She had a tube in her mouth and another in her 
nose. Machines worked all around her. 

Scully walked up behind her. "Dr. Aris?"

Dr. Aris turned to face her. "Is she going to be alright?" Tears glistened in 
her eyes and Scully's heart wrenched in her chest.

"She's got a serious head injury. She's hemorrhaging internally. Currently 
her doctor's are trying to stabilize her. Once she's stable they'll do a 
brain scan to determine the extent of the damage."

Dr. Aris' let out a shuddering sigh. "Is she going to live Ms. Scully?"

Scully looked at Marlene through the window. "I think so, yes. But there's a 
risk of brain damage."

Dr. Aris stared through the glass. "Can I go in?"

"I wouldn't advise it, not yet. They're trying to cut out any brain 
stimulation until they can figure out what's going on. The sound of your 
voice might make her react. We can't risk any further damage. I'm sorry."

"Is she comatose?"

"There's evidence of that, yes. To what extent we don't know. If it's shallow 
she could be easily revived. But at this point they want to keep her as quiet 
as possible."

Scully lifted her arm and motioned to the door. Dr. Aris walked out of the 
room with Scully behind her. Once in the hallway Dr. Aris turned to her 
again, "What happened?"

"Someone broke into her house, through a bathroom window, and assaulted her. 
I found her on her kitchen floor at about 7:45 p.m. I had talked to her on 
the phone at around 7:00 so the assailant must have gotten to her in that 45 
minute window. He or she was probably already hiding in the house when 
Marlene got home from work today."

Scully watched the doctor's face carefully before continuing.

"The police speculate that she took one blow behind the left ear with a blunt 
object. They seem to think it was a flashlight."

"Oh my god."

"Dr. Aris, can you think of anyone who'd want to hurt Marlene?"

"No· yes· I mean· they would to get to me. He would to get my attention."

Scully put her arm around the doctor's shoulders and walked her down the 
hall. "It's time to talk to the police."

 

The ride in the officer's car to the police station was a blur. Gail was 
aware of Ms. Scully sitting next to her but it was an insignificant fact. Her 
mind was concentrating solely on Marlene.

Once there they were deposited into a small room with one table and four 
chairs. She stared at the table top until someone addressed her.

"Dr. Aris?"

She looked up at the detective. He was an overweight middle aged man with a 
drinker's nose. It was bright red and bulbous. He had a fine sheen of sweat 
across his forehead. His sleeves were rolled up and his tie hung loose around 
his neck.

"My name is Johns, Detective Johns." 

She stared at him for a beat and then stated plainly, "Bob Pickett."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The man who went after Marlene. His name is Bob Pickett. He's a patient of 
mine. Or at least he used to be."

The detective scribbled the name down on a sheet of paper and got up from the 
table. He opened the door and handed it to an officer who was waiting there. 
He mumbled something about running a check of priors on the name and shut the 
door, then resumed his seat at the table.

"You seem very sure about the assailant."

"I'm positive. I know it was him."

"I must say doctor that I'm a little taken aback. Doesn't the doctor/patient 
privilege require you to withhold the names of your clients?"

She stared at him with cold eyes. 

Scully took over, "Detective, Dr. Aris will need some kind of protection. 
Possibly relocation until the suspect is apprehended."

"Why's that?" The detective looked agitated.

"Because Dr. Aris is ultimately his intended target."

Detective Johns raised his voice, "We don't have those kinds of resources 
Agent Scully. Unlike the FBI we're forced to work with a limited amount of 
man power. I can't afford to post even one officer at her door."

Gail looked at Scully, "I'll be fine at home Ms. Scully. There's no need for 
that."

The detective looked at Scully, "This theory that he's going after Dr. Aris 
next, I assume you're referring to the phone calls?"

"Yes." Scully replied curtly. "He's escalating. Marlene was an attempt by him 
to get Dr. Aris' attention. We've got to assume he'll make a move toward the 
doctor."

Gail shook her head, "He can't get to me. I've got a security system, I'm on 
the second floor·"

Scully looked at Gail, "He will get to you Dr. Aris. If he wants to, if the 
desire is there he'll find a way. Believe me."

The detective sat back in his chair, "Let's assume that Mr. Pickett isn't 
sitting at home waiting for us to pick him up." Sarcasm oozed off of the man, 
"We need to flush him out. We need her at home." He gestured toward Gail. "It 
could be the only way to get at him. He's got to know we're going to be 
looking for him. He might be crazy but he's probably not stupid."

"He's a genius, most schizophrenics are." Gail replied.

"So if we keep you at home long enough he'll eventually come to you. You call 
us and we come and pick him up. That simple."

"That's moronic." Scully snapped. "He could get at her a hundred times over 
before you could get a squad car down there."

The detective stood. "Then I suggest that you post your own ass there Agent 
Scully."

Scully looked at the doctor. Dr. Aris' mouth was open in immediate protest 
but when she saw the look in Scully's eyes she went quiet. It occurred to her 
that Ms. Scully had probably never mentioned to the police that she was also 
a client of hers. 

"This is not an FBI matter detective." Scully said simply, looking at him.

"You seem to think it is Agent. You've had your hands all over this thing 
from the beginning. For Christ's sake, YOU found the body. I'd say that makes 
this every bit an FBI MATTER."

Scully opened her mouth to launch further protests but he continued to talk.

"Now we're going to need to take a full statement for the record. I want to 
know every detail, down to what he said in each phone call. We'll handle the 
criminal investigation Agent Scully. We don't need you for that. But you WILL 
be handling the security."

Scully glared at him.

And he added, "or she won't have any."

 
-end-