TITLE: BELLYACHE
by Mulderache

SPOILERS: THROUGH SEASON SEVEN EXCEPT REQUIEM

DISCLAIMER: NOT MINE.THEY BELONG TO CHRIS CARTER AND 1013 
PRODUCTIONS. I JUST LIKE TO PLAY WITH THEM.

ARCHIVE: ANYWHERE, JUST LET ME KNOW SO I CAN VISIT.

SUMMARY: MULDER HAS A BELLYACHE.

FOXMULDER'S APARTMENT /HEGAL PLACE



Mulder awakened to his alarm clock buzzing. He reached over 
to click off the insistent buzzing and felt a twinge in his 
stomach. He reached down to his mid abdomen and held on 
tight a few minutes thinking that he had pulled a muscle. 
After a few minutes the pain went to a mild ache and he 
rolled over. A few more minutes and he would feel better. He 
closed his eyes and fell back to sleep. He was awakened 
again but this time by the persistent ringing of his phone. 
He again reached over and picked up the phone feeling the 
ache still present in the pit of his stomach. " Mulder." He 
answered drowsily.

"Mulder, where are you?" Scully asked as she sat at his desk 
leaning back in the old comfortable chair. She had become 
worried when he had not been there when she arrived and had 
become more concerned when he had not shown up by ten 
o'clock.

He glanced over to his clock and threw his head back when he 
saw the time, eleven fifteen. " I'm sorry Scully. Must have 
over slept. I'll be there in an hour." He hung up the phone 
and tried to roll out of the bed but was stopped by the pain 
in his gut. The pain paralyzed him for a few minutes. He 
tried to straighten out but was having a difficult time 
doing any type of movement. Maybe I should call Scully back 
he thought to himself but hesitated at the thought of being 
dragged to the hospital.

He lay still for a few minutes and tried the motion again to 
remove himself from the bed but again was unable to move due 
to the now very sharp pain in his gut. "Dammit!" he called 
out to nobody in particular. He was frustrated at the 
thought of having to call his partner for assistance. He 
might as well just pull out his health insurance card and 
have it ready when she arrived. He picked up the phone and 
hit speed dial.

She had sounded worried over the phone and told him that she 
would be there in thirty minutes. The nausea was getting 
overwhelming and if she did not get there soon he would 
vomit all over himself and the bed. He heard a sound coming 
from the living room and within a few seconds his red headed 
partner entered the room with a medical bag in hand. " 
What's wrong Mulder?" He shook his head and held on to his 
stomach and to his stomach contents.

She pulled out a thermometer and seeing that he was having a 
hard time trying not to vomit she slid it underneath his 
arm. "Mulder did you eat something that was left in the 
refrigerator for a while?" he shook his head and whispered 
through the pain," Not food poisoning, didn't feel like 
eating last night, stomach just didn't feel right." His 
facial grimaces where starting to worry her medical mind. 
She pulled the thermometer out after four minutes and read 
the numbers of one hundred point one. She then placed her 
cool hand on his forehead and felt the heat.

"Mulder I need to get you to an emergency room, do you think 
you can make it to my car parked out front? He rolled his 
eyes and thought about refusing but if he opened his mouth 
right now he would only vomit. He tried to rise up on the 
bed and doubled over in pain. The pain had gone from a sharp 
pain to a stabbing pain and this time it went straight 
through into his back. "Can't Scully." He mumbled weakly. " 
I need to vomit." She ran into the bathroom and retrieved 
the trashcan and held it under his chin as he emptied the 
contents of his stomach. Soon the vomiting turned into dry 
heaves and he held on tight to his stomach.

She reached over and grabbed the phone and dialed '911' and 
gave them the address to his apartment. As she hung the 
phone she looked down at the emesis and saw a small amount 
of blood. He could have brought it up from throwing up so 
hard. She placed the pan at the bedside and grabbed a 
washcloth and placed it under the cool tap water in the 
bathroom and brought it back and placed it on his head." 
Don't feel good." He murmured, with eyes closed and his 
right arm wrapped around his stomach. She rubbed his arm 
gently," I know Mulder, help is on the way."

She heard the knocking at the door and went to answer; the 
EMT's pulled in the gurney and medical equipment. They 
quickly found the patient curled up in fetal position on he 
bed. Scully stood in the doorway watching them do their job. 
She turned to find several people staring into the hallway 
door. She figured that people were use to him having 
problems. Her attention quickly went back to her partner who 
was calling her name. "Scully!" She walked over to the bed 
and held his hand as the paramedic was attempting to try to 
start an intravenous line but having a little bit of a 
difficult time. He turned around to look at his partner and 
Scully knew what would happen next. They pulled back the 
covers and placed a tourniquet on his ankle and pulled out 
another angiocath and slid the needle into the vein. Mulder 
screamed in pain as the needle hit the sensitive skin. 
Scully held on to his hand as the paramedics apologized for 
the pain they were causing. The message that they were 
bringing in a thirty nine-year old male abdominal pain was 
made to the hospital and Mulder was carefully slid to the 
awaiting gurney and hurried out the door.Scully followed the 
ambulance in her car to Alexandria Hospital emergency 
entrance.

She got out her car and ran to the admitting desk." I'm 
looking for Mr. Mulder. He was just brought in by ambulance. 
The receptionist looked at the petite lady and then glanced 
down to the emergency room log. "He just went back to 
cubicle seven. Are you his family? " She asked, her job was 
to prevent any non family members from entering the 
emergency area. Scully knew the routine and she nodded, 
feeling a little guilty for the lie. She walked back and 
noted that the room was buzzing with activity. A nurse 
walked out with a large syringe of blood, which she knew had 
to hurt. She walked over to the bedside sliding her hand 
into Mulder's as the doctor barked out orders. When the xray 
machine arrived she exited out into the hallway.

When the xray was done she slipped back into the room and 
found Mulder dozing off. The doctor must have given him 
something for his pain. She thought he was asleep when she 
heard, "Scully, I want to go home now. I'm feeling a lot 
better." His voice low, almost in a whisper. She looked down 
and his eyes were still closed and his body was still curled 
around his stomach. " Mulder, you are feeling better because 
of the pain meds. You are not ready to go home yet." She 
answered in her most authoritative tone. He opened his eyes 
and looked up at her with that puppy dog look but it never 
worked on her but he always tried it anyway. A few seconds 
later he was vomiting again.

The doctor entered the cubicle again with a syringe and 
another man in tow." Mr. Mulder, this is Dr. Andrews, he is 
a surgeon that I've asked to take a look at your stomach." 
He pulled up the IV tubing and rubbed the port and placed 
the needle into the rubber stopper and slowly pushed the 
medicine. " This is something for your nausea." Mulder 
nodded as he lay his head into the flat pillow. The surgeon 
started asking a barrage of questions concerning surgeries 
in the past, did he still have his appendix, had he been in 
any recent accidents or received any blows to the abdomen. 
Mulder continued to shake and nod his head drowsily to the 
questions. When he placed the cold stethoscope to his 
abdomen he flinched away but the surgeon approached again 
and was successful in keeping in intact to listen.

The surgeon left to look at the films. The nurse entered and 
was carrying a thermometer. Mulder looked up and opened his 
mouth but the nurse shook her head and made him roll over. 
She gave Scully a piercing look and she turned her head and 
the nurse proceeded to place the thermometer into his 
rectum. He felt embarrassed but at least Scully turned her 
head, he thought to himself. When she pulled it out it read 
one hundred point three. She then proceeded to hold his hip 
in place and she pushed something up inside him that was 
cold. " This is for your fever Mr. Mulder, I will be back in 
a few minutes. Don't push out the tylenol suppository." He 
nodded and she left. He hated hospitals and he hated being 
sick. "Take me home Scully. I really am feeling better." She 
walked back across the room and picked up his too warm hand, 
" Mulder, the doctor wants to check you out first. If he 
says I can take you home then you will go back to my place. 
" Mulder lifted up his all too sleepy eyes to look at his 
partner," Agent Scully are you taking me home to put me to 
bed?" he leered at her with weak eyes. She smiled and looked 
down at Mulder, "Yes, Because you are way too sick to try 
anything." He shook his head " Don't underestimate my 
healing powers Scully." He closed his eyes and got really 
quiet. The combination of pain medication, fever medication 
and the antiemetic had made him very sleepy.

Scully stood at his bed stroking his head and smiled while 
he dozed off to sleep. He was awakened by the sounds of 
voices in the room and when he opened his eyes he saw Scully 
and the ER physician talking. He could not hear their words 
but evidently Scully was agreeing with him on something. A 
few seconds later Scully was by his side and she was rubbing 
his head. "What's wrong." His words were low and his voice 
was raspy from all the meds. She shook her head; they are 
going to put you in observation. The surgeon thinks that you 
have symptoms that need to be watched over the next twenty 
-four hours. Since your appendix has been removed they are 
going to just watch your symptoms. He nodded weakly and then 
he knew that he had to move fast, the feeling of needing to 
have diarrhea hit hard and he raised up quickly but Scully 
pushed him back down. " I got to go Scully, now!" his voice 
was desperate and she grabbed a bedpan and in his urgency he 
slid onto it quickly.

He felt like crap and he wanted to go to sleep but everytime 
he closed his eyes he had to go to the bathroom. The bedpan 
satunder his covers for convenience. Scully went to look at 
his lab work again. He wanted to go home. The IV in his hand 
had started hurting and it was starting to get redder and 
redder at the site and his bottom felt as red as the IV 
site. He also was starting to itch everywhere and he felt 
that he was going to puke at any moment. Basically he felt 
that he was going to die. Well, he was closer to the morgue 
here than he was at home. He tried to get comfortable and 
wait for Scully.

Mulder had finally fallen asleep but he was restless. She 
had checked the lab results but they looked fine. Basically 
what Mulder diagnosis was: ABDOMINAL PAIN WITH FEVER OF 
UNKNOWN ORIGIN. She walked over and touched his hand and 
felt the fever radiating off his body. She then noticed the 
IV and the redness at the site. She pushed the call light 
and awaited the nurse. She then noticed a very red and very 
angry rash.

When he awakened again he was greeted by the awesome smile 
of his partner but he felt different. He was now sporting a 
nasogastric tube and a foley catheter. He was itching head 
to toe and he felt as if someone had put a fire underneath 
his bottom. " What is going on Scully?" he asked noticing 
that his voice was a mere whisper.

"SHH, Mulder everything is fine. The doctor felt that you 
needed a relief from trying to do everything yourself. He 
placed the tubes to give you some relief." He shook his head 
and tried to roll over, "I'm itching all over Scully." Then 
something else dawned on him and he pulled up the covers and 
saw that he was wearing a diaper. " What the hell is this 
Scully? I'm not a baby!" his face was one of pure shock. She 
shook her head and lowered the covers and took his hand. " 
Mulder, you have a fever rash, that's what is causing the 
itching. Also the diaper is for the diarrhea, you've been 
out for a while." He looked at her with sad eyes," I'm not a 
baby Scully." She took his hand and held it firmly,"You are 
definitely not a baby Mulder. When you feel better then we 
will let you be more independent but for now you need to 
rest." He nodded reluctantly and turned over to face the 
wall. Her feelings weren't hurt because she knew that he was 
exerting some kind of control in a helpless situation.

He fell back to sleep after his bout of disapproval of all 
the tubes and paraphenalia. She sat by his bed awaiting his 
diagnosis. When the physician entered she expected him to 
diagnose her partner with poisoning or some type of alien 
bug but was surprised at he gave her the diagnosis. " Mr. 
Mulder has the stomach flu. A pretty bad case actually and I 
want to keep him here for a few days due to his high fevers 
and his hydration status. Scully agreed and waited for her 
partner to awaken.

When he awakened hours later his mood was not much better 
and she thought he was going to get up and try to walk out 
of the hospital. "What did the doctor say Scully?" he was 
irritable and craby and he did not want to be bothered with 
half truths. She looked down on her red spotted partner," 
The doctor says you have the stomach flu. You'll need to 
stay here for a few days. He shook his head and looked 
upset. " What's wrong Mulder?" he turned and looked at his 
partner, "I can't even do a simple bellyache simple Scully. 
Why can't anything be simple?" She shook her head and 
shrugged, "Because it's just you Mulder, it's just the way 
it is and we get through it and move onward," He closed his 
eyes and snuggled down into the pillow, holding her hand 
tight. " Only because I have you Scully. Only because I have 
you." She kissed his forehead and watched him fall back to 
sleep." She nodded and whispered, "You will always have me 
Mulder, always."