Subj: Shadows Return Chapter 5
Date: 5/6/99 9:26:57 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Kim Monroe

At the Old House, Willie awaited the arrival of Michael McGuire. His nerves were shot and had there been any hard liquor in the house, he would have been drunk. He often wondered about all that brandy. It had to be a Collins Family religion.

Two cars pulled up then, a white Festiva he knew was Michael's and a '98 green Taurus. Although Michael had dark glasses over his brown eyes, Willie could see the
discomfort in the man's mannerisms and behavior. The other car's inhabitants emerged. A tall man, with dark hair and a woman with shoulder length red hair got out.

Willie mused that they both looked like traveling salesmen.

The man walked up to Willie and introduced himself. "I'm special agent Fox Mulder, and this is special agent Dana Scully."

"Dr." Scully added, nudging Mulder."We're with the F.B.I."

Michael nearly choked in his attempt not to laugh at the way Willie paled.

Scully was awestruck by the Old House. "It's very impressive." She observed.

"Yeah, well, Collinwood's this way, we can walk over and get introduced," Willie said, getting ready to leave.

"I'd like to look around," Scully said.

Willie gave her instructions to get to the Old House. The men left for Collinwood and Scully walked around the house. She didn't feel comfortable with going into the house by herself. She was soon straying far from the house, and the light drizzle was picking up. Scully found herself on the edge of the sea, on Widow's Hill. She wanted to turn back, the drizzle had become an all out downpour. The wind was howling and lighting crashed. All of her sensibility screamed at her to leave, but her instincts told her to go onward. She turned a corner and found a man, kneeling on the ground She noted that he was wearing an Inverness cape and held clasped in his hand a cane with what looked like a wolf's head and a photo of a red-haired woman. As difficult as it seemed, the man seemed completely oblivious to the drenching rain and the wind's horrible howling. Scully walked up to him and gently laid her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I am quite alright, You shouldn't be out here, it is a very dangerous spot."

Scully smiled, "Yes, but I can imagine the view here at sunset. It must be fantastic."

"May I escort you to my home? It is just a short distance from here. You must be freezing."

"You seem to have been out in this longer than I have," Scully stated.

Barnabas lead her to the Old House. He seemed surprised to find the vehicles parked in front. Scully, observing the immense shock, explained their prerehearsed excuse for their arrival. They entered the Old House where they each found each other saying things they hadn't even admitted to themselves. Barnabas made some apple cider and offered Scully a brandy until it was done. She declined. As the storm raged outside the Old House was a warm, cozy sanctuary. Scully and Barnabas spent the remainder of the storm talking. After hearing about Julia, Scully smiled. "You really had someone who cared so much for you," Scully smiled. "That was better than a romance novel." Barnabas had told her portions of his life, leaving out any details pertaining to the occult. Then he realized he'd done most of the evenings talking.

"Scully," he prompted, "Tell me about yourself."

"I met Fox Mulder in 1993. I had a vicious break up with my boyfriend who happened to be my boss. To make a long story short, I was put on the X-files to keep an eye on my partner, a man we jokingly called Spooky Mulder." as Scully
went into farther detail, Barnabas began to compare her and Mulder to himself and Julia in 1967. Scully was a doctor, same as Julia, and the occult had lodged itself into the lives of the men. Where the women tried to solve their occult problems. The love that hadn't been acknowledged was trapped within them. Scully, noticing the storm had lightened, rose to leave. Barnabas said goodnight and as Scully was halfway out the door she turned and called out, "Did Julia's cure ever work?" She darted out to the rental car and drove to Collinwood, leaving Barnabas to contemplate the evenings events.

***********************************************************

Willie and Carolyn emerged from her room the following morning. They could imagine the look on Maggie's face when she found out that Willie had spent the night. Carolyn was only concerned that Kristen Collins, David and Amy's oldest child, had overheard them last night. As Willie awaited to hear what Michael and Mulder had schemed up between them, he noticed Carolyn admiring the engagement ring on her right hand. Willie's sister, when she died, had wanted Willie to keep it for his wife. It was an antique, and a very impressive chunk of diamond.

Willie learned that Michael was pretending he was Fox Mulder's brother, Michael Mulder and Scully was Fox's girlfriend. After breakfast, Scully excused herself, she had to find Barnabas and speak with him.

*******************************************************

Blair House

Jacob Blair held a small teddy bear that once been his sister's. He held it against a bloodstone. In a hypnotic voice, he intoned a dream spell to his sister. "Callista Blair, you are about to have a dream. A dream in which you shall see the price for your disgrace to our family."

Callista Blair had taken a room at a Holiday Inn. Despite the 3 frappacinos, the young woman found herself suddenly very sleepy. She began to dream almost instantly. She was in the Old House, "Barnabas," she called out, "Barnabas?"

The door suddenly burst open. A bat larger than any other she'd ever seen flew into the room. Barnabas emerged from the drawing room. The ferocious bat attacked Barnabas in a matter of minutes, then disappeared. She heard the cruel laughter echoing throughout the house, the cruel laughter she recognized as her brother's. She could tell Barnabas was dead, at the same moment she moved closer to him, a red haired woman entered the house..

The room changed again, to a sight, Callista never thought she'd ever see.