untitled
'THE
KING OF PAIN'
By: Waddles52
Spring
was definitely in the air. The cherry trees were blooming and the
tourists were flocking to the capital city in droves. During a
noon walk on the mall, Scully felt that familiar itch begin and
there was only one way to scratch it. No, it wasn't an allergy,
although Mulder might think so. It was an annual thing with only
one remedy, spring-cleaning.
Scully thought about hiring a cleaning crew and just turning it
over to them, but a clean house was important to her and that
feeling of accomplishment when everything was finished and
sparkling clean just couldn't be replaced. She chose the first
weekend in April as her target date.
Mulder hoped for a long, complicated out-of-town case. Since he
practically lived with Scully now, he was expected to help with
the yearly ritual. Why couldn't she have an annual softball game,
or a hiking trip? Well, staying in her good graces was essential
to him these days. His lover could be very generous in the
bedroom when she was pleased with him, and he felt the need to
receive a bit of her generosity. Now, what had she asked him to
pick up from the store?
He took the list from his shirt pocket and unfolded it. He could
tell it was going to be a hellish weekend. The list started with
ammonia and ended somewhere near the bottom of the page with
window cleaner. Wait, the instructions said to turn the list
over. He promptly obeyed and smiled at the next request, which
was wine. Red and white! There might be a pot of gold at the end
of this rainbow after all.
Mulder was awakened at the crack of dawn Saturday morning. Scully
handed him a cup of coffee as he entered the kitchen. When his
eyes finally started to focus, he noticed that she was dressed in
an old pair of sweats and a t-shirt. "Mulder, you are
seriously underdressed for this party," she grinned, noting
that a pair of boxers was all he had on. Put on the clothes I
laid out for you. They're on the foot of the bed."
"Those? I thought they were rags." He took a swig of
the strong coffee in hopes that it would jump- start him into
consciousness.
"Don't worry. I'm sure they will be rags by the time we get
finished. Hurry up and finish your coffee. Daylight's burning,
agent." She gave him a swat on the butt and busied herself
by gathering cleaning materials.
If it hadn't been for the swat on the butt, Mulder might have
opened an X-File right then and there. It sounded like Scully was
channelling Skinner. He yawned loudly, scratched his hind end and
shuffled back to the bedroom to put on his work clothes.
After only an hour, Mulder knew that it was going to be the
longest day of his life. He had already taken down all of the
mini-blinds to soak in a bathtub full of acrid smelling cleaning
solution, swept the ceiling for cobwebs, dusted the top of all of
the cabinets and his next assignment was to clean the light
fixtures. He could tell that he would have a very sore neck by
the end of the day. "Scully, where's the step ladder?"
"I'm using it right now." She was humming a happy tune
as she washed the walls in the bathroom. "Just grab one of
the kitchen chairs."
"Sheesh, how can anyone sound so thrilled to be scrubbing
walls?" he grumbled as he passed by one of the exposed
windows and noted the beautiful spring day he was missing.
"Might as well start in the kitchen." He sighed loudly
as he made his way there. At least, the view wasn't as nice in
there. It wouldn't remind him so much of what he was missing.
He positioned the chair under the ceiling fan and hopped onto the
seat. As he began to remove the light bulbs, he noted that the
paddles of the fan could use a good dusting. That was actually
the first sign of dirt that he had seen all morning. He reached
for his trusty dust rag in the back pocket of his jeans and began
to clean the fan. Dust began to filter down directly into his
eyes. "Damn it!"
He tried to swipe the annoying particles away from his sensitive
eyes but it was too late to prevent the dust from settling in his
left eye. Both eyes clamped shut as tears began to flow due to
the irritation. He needed to get to the sink and wash his eyes.
Disoriented due to the stinging pain, he misjudged the boundary
of the chair. He took a step back and met thin air. Managing to
utter a few expletives, he landed on the floor----hard!
His tears continued to flow, effectively washing out the dust.
Even more tears flowed as he fought to control the pain in his
right shoulder and ankle. Did he hit the counter on the way down?
He wasn't sure, but one thing was certain, Fox Mulder was through
cleaning for the day.
Scully heard the chair scoot and the sound of Mulder's body
hitting the floor. She hastily climbed down from her perch on the
ladder and was by his side in a flash. "Mulder, don't try to
move!"
Move? Was she serious? He managed to get his right eye open and
just stared at her unable to do anything other than let his
involuntary muscles do their job. Pain was in charge right now
and it wanted his full attention. Good thing, because that's all
he could handle at the moment.
After a few seconds, Pain eased off enough to let him move his
mouth. He tried to say, "Scully," but it sounded like a
gurgle and drool ran from the right side of his mouth. Pain
didn't like relinquishing any part of its hold on its newest
victim. It clamped down on Mulder again, allowing him a tiny
grunt before taking over completely.
Scully was on her knees beside him trying to judge his level of
consciousness. He squeezed his right eye shut again as the tears
continued to fall. He felt his partner gently wipe them away as
he fought with Pain for control of his voice.
"Mulder, can you hear me?"
Pain was a formidable foe, but he kicked it aside long enough to
grunt an answer. "Mmph."
Pain charged right back and almost kept him from hearing Scully's
next question. "Are you injured or did you just get the wind
knocked out of you?"
Did she really expect an answer? Pain laughed. It would win this
round easily. To its surprise, Mulder blurted out,
"Hurt!" causing Pain to scramble for complete control
once again. Although still strong, Pain had lost its overwhelming
edge. With one last try, Pain realized that his victim was
stronger at the moment. It decided to linger in the background
and wait for another chance to rule the day.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Right shoulder, ankle."
"What about your neck or back?"
"No."
"Okay, let's have a look." Scully felt along his
collarbone and then his shoulder joint.
"Oh! Stop! Hurts!"
"I imagine it does, Mulder. Did you hit the counter on your
way down?"
"Not sure. Why?" He gritted his teeth as Pain tried to
surge in and take over again.
"Your shoulder is dislocated."
"Damn!"
"Just relax. We'll get you to the ER and they'll put it back
in place in no time." She smiled. "It won't be that
bad. I promise."
Mulder looked at her warily. Something told him it wouldn't be
that easy.
"Now, let's check out your ankle. It's probably just a
slight sprain. I assume it's your right one?"
"Uh-huh."
Pain saw an opportunity to show its dominance once again as the
woman began to unlace the victim's sneaker. Yes, it would
definitely be large and in charge again by the time his sock was
off.
"Son of a bitch, Scully! You trying to tear my foot
off?"
"Sorry, there's already a lot of bruising and swelling. I've
got to move your foot a little bit to check out that ankle joint.
It could be fairly painful depending on how badly your ankle is
injured," she warned.
"Go ahead," he gasped. "Couldn't hurt any worse
than it does now."
Pain nearly went into convulsions of laughter. What an idiot!
Well, Fox Mulder was just about to find out just how much more it
could hurt. Although the woman was being as gentle as she
possibly could, Pain couldn't be happier. The slightest movement
of the injured joint caused the victim to cry out, and in just a
few seconds his discomfort would multiply exponentially.
"When Scully rotated his ankle, Mulder felt a little click
in the joint. The ensuing pain overloaded his senses. Scully was
shocked when his eyes rolled back into his head and he lost
consciousness. Pain laughed loudly.
Mulder came to a few seconds later, surprising Pain who had
stepped into the background again. "What happened?"
"You passed out on me! It was just for a few seconds but you
gave me a good scare. Don't do that again!" she warned him,
a weak smile on her face letting Mulder know that she wasn't
really mad. "How are you feeling now?"
"Not so good," he sighed.
"I'm going to call 911. We need to get you to the
hospital."
"No, you drive me." Pain cheered him on. That would be
wonderful. Even getting him off the floor would feed its need for
quite some time.
"Mulder, your ankle is broken and there's no way I could
support you. Your shoulder will make it difficult to get in the
car and I'm not 100% sure that I could even help you to get off
the floor."
"What about your neighbor? You know, the trainer with the
Redskins? Couldn't he help?"
"I'm sure he would if he was at home, but he's on
vacation."
"Damn!" Pain was sneaking back in from its hiding
place. Although it was disappointed that the woman was going to
call an ambulance, it could still get in a few good licks until
they got there. Mulder felt a twitch in his nose signaling only
one thing. He was going to sneeze. He had to stop it! He raised
his left hand and placed it under his nose. Too late! The sneeze
caused his entire body to convulse, making his injured shoulder
jerk. The resulting pain almost made him lose consciousness
again.
Pain giggled. Yes, that would do nicely until the paramedics came
to move him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Pain was absolutely delighted. Even though it was resting in the
background once again, it knew that it would create quite a stir
when they reached the hospital. The paramedics had been very
cooperative at first. Just as the victim had started to relax,
they arrived and began their own examination. Pain had put on a
stellar performance and the paramedics rewarded the victim with a
hefty dose of morphine. Pain just shrugged its shoulders and
grinned wickedly, realizing that it was only a temporary setback.
At the hospital, Mulder dozed through his transfer from the
ambulance stretcher to the hospital gurney. Pain was a bit
disappointed but realized that the morphine was beginning to lose
its effect. It would be show time soon enough.
The doctor arrived within a few minutes. The ER wasn't yet busy.
They were expecting an onslaught of sports injuries later in the
afternoon, but for the time being things were pretty quiet. The
MD did a quick exam, enough to make Mulder squirm, but he was
still rather heavily sedated from the morphine. The patient was
on his way to radiology before the drug really started to fade
away. Pain began to prepare for its re-entry. X-rays could be
such fun!
The technician was nice and tried to be gentle, but Pain made the
process a living hell. Each time one of his injured joints had to
be positioned for a different view, Mulder cried out in agony.
The only thing that kept him going was the promise of seeing
Scully and getting more pain medication once he was back in the
examining room. The technician even called ahead to let the ER
know he was coming back.
The nurse was waiting when he returned and quickly injected
additional pain relief. Pain was also ready for a little rest.
The patient torture in x-ray had been a real hoot, but it knew it
would have to return full force very soon. Mulder's enemy
realized that it would have to put on quite a show when the
doctor tried to put the shoulder back in place. "Yeah, hang
in there, Mr. Mulder. We both need our rest," Pain giggled.
"The best is yet to come."
After half an hour, Mulder was awakened from his comfortable
slumber when the orthopedic surgeon on call came in to look at
the x-rays and give Mulder and Scully the low down. Thankfully,
the ankle fracture wasn't serious but the doctor expressed
concern because Mulder would not be able to use crutches.
"You really need to stay off of that ankle for about two
weeks. We'll put you in a cast before you leave, but it will not
be a walking cast. You'll need to secure a wheelchair."
Mulder groaned his disappointment and Scully gave his left hand a
squeeze to show that she sympathized. Pain was a bit
disappointed. It had planned to linger while Mulder was on
crutches. Oh well. The most intense pain was still waiting in the
wings.
"Now, as you so painfully know, your shoulder is dislocated.
I'm going to add a little more medicine to your IV so that you'll
be really relaxed. I'm going to find one of my residents to
assist me while you're getting relaxed and we should have that
shoulder back in place in no time. When we're finished we'll have
to completely immobilize it for a couple of weeks to give those
ligaments a chance to heal. Do you have any questions?"
"Why can't you just knock me out?" Mulder asked.
"It's going to hurt no matter how relaxed I am."
"True, but I'm trying to prevent an overnight stay. If we
give you a general anesthetic we'll have to take you to surgery,
intubate you, and keep an eye on you for a while. I'm just trying
to do what will be easiest for you and your wallet."
"We appreciate your concern," Scully put in. "How
long before you can get started?"
"I'll write the order for the meds right now and round up
some help. We should get started in less that 30 minutes."
Pain was delighted. Getting that shoulder back into place was
really going to be entertaining. It couldn't resist digging in
just a bit.
"Ow!" Mulder exclaimed.
"Are you okay? Should I get the doctor back in here?"
Scully jumped up and was at his side immediately.
"No, just had a really sharp pain in my shoulder. It's
better now."
"Probably a muscle spasm. The meds you're going to get
should relax you enough so that you won't have any more."
"Meds indeed!" Pain chortled. There wasn't a medicine
on earth short of general anesthesia that would mask the pain
Mulder would feel when they tried to put his shoulder back into
place. "Oh, this is what I've been waiting for these past
few hours. Bring it on, doctor! I'm more than ready to defeat
your medication."
The additional medication sent Mulder off to dreamland. He laid
on the gurney with a contented smile on his face. He didn't even
notice when the two doctors entered the exam room and put a
rolled up sheet under him.
Scully had seen the procedure done several times during her
training, but had never taken part in one mainly because the
doctors needed someone pretty strong to keep the patient in
place. She moved to a corner of the room to give the specialist
plenty of room to maneuver. She wanted to stay by Mulder's side
but knew that she would only be in the way. She hoped that the
medication would be strong enough to keep him fairly comfortable.
She knew that the procedure was going to be painful no matter how
much medication he had on board.
The resident pulled on the sheet as his supervisor began to
manipulate the joint. Mulder's eyes shot open immediately and he
almost bit through his lip as he tried to keep from screaming.
Whatever the doctor was doing was killing him! He kept waiting
for the joint to go back into place, signaling the end of his
torture, but it didn't happen.
The doctors stopped to take a break and to allow Mulder to catch
his breath. Scully urged her partner to slow his breathing down.
Pain was ecstatic! If they gave awards for this sort of thing, it
would have a mantle full from this injury alone. Even so, it felt
the need to push on and do an even better job the next time the
doctors tried to manipulate the joint. That poor man was such fun
to torture. His victim tried so hard not to give into to the
excruciating pain. Even though Mulder had gained the respect of
his torturer, Pain decided it would not be satisfied until he was
a quivering, defeated human, begging for mercy.
The doctors were ready to try again. "We're going to give it
another go, Mr. Mulder. Try to relax as much as you possibly can.
Ready?"
No! He'd never be ready, but he still managed to grunt out an,
"Okay."
Pain gave the performance of a lifetime. Mulder was perspiring
with the effort of trying to cope with the agony in his shoulder.
Finally, he decided he'd reached his limit. "Stop! No more!
Put me to sleep! I don't care if I have to stay overnight! I'll
pay anything!"
Pain took a bow for the best performance yet. By the time the
doctors tried a third time, he'd have Mulder right where he
wanted him. He was so close! If they thought he'd been begging
for relief before, that was nothing! The best was yet to
come."
Pain stopped patting itself on the back to listen in on the
doctor's conversation with the patient. "All right, Mr.
Mulder. I agree. You're in too much pain to even consider going
on. I'll arrange for an OR and an anesthesiologist and we'll get
this taken care of."
"I'm sorry. I tried." Mulder was close to tears.
Somehow he felt like he'd let everyone down, especially Scully.
He was such a wimp.
"You did just fine, Mr. Mulder. Your muscles are in spasm
and we just can't work around that. It's not your fault. Just
hang in there for a few more minutes and we'll get you upstairs
and make you comfortable."
"Thanks."
Scully found herself back at Mulder's side, grateful that she
wouldn't have to see him suffer through another attempt.
Pain was stunned. Doctors always tried three times before giving
up and going to surgery. It felt cheated. One more try would have
satisfied its need for complete dominance. Pain looked back on
everything that had happened and decided that his performance had
been outstanding. Perfect! It couldn't have been any better!
Then, Pain realized that it had been too good!
Pain was so busy congratulating itself that it didn't notice that
Mulder was moving to the OR, room 8. It barely had time to get in
one last lick when the patient was transferred from the gurney to
the table.
As the anesthesia began to enter Mulder's body, Pain told him
farewell. It had been a good, satisfying couple of hours, but it
needed a new victim. It was sure that Mulder would be in its
clutches once again in the not too distant future, but it needed
something to do until then. This was a hospital after all. A
visit to post-op should begin to satisfy its needs.
Several hours later, Mulder was lying in his hospital bed glad
that the worst was behind him. Damn! He couldn't remember ever
hurting that much! It was actually pretty scary when he looked
back on it. He didn't like losing control like that, but he would
have done just about anything to rid himself of the all-consuming
agony that had set up in his right shoulder. If it hadn't been
for Scully helping him work through it . . .where was she anyway?
Mulder couldn't move very well due to the shoulder immobilizer,
but he did the best he could to look around the room. Scully
chose that moment to return. He visibly relaxed.
She made her way over to his bed and leaned over the railing.
"I've been making arrangements for a wheelchair rental and
talking to Mom. Since the apartment's pretty much a mess right
now we're going to spend a few days at her house."
Mulder perked up. If he was going to be forced into a period of
recuperation from these stupid injuries, the thought of Scully's
mom and her mouth-watering meals made it a lot easier to take.
"I've also decided to hire a cleaning service to finish up
the apartment. I decided I'd rather spend every minute with you
instead of worrying about that apartment."
"Thanks, Scully. I know how important cleanliness and order
is to you." He thought to himself that it was quite a big
step that she had taken.
"You're more important than that apartment any day. By the
way, I booked the cleaning crew for your place too. I hope you
don't mind."
Mulder groaned silently and considered telling her to cancel. He
wouldn't be able to find a thing once they finished. Suddenly he
realized that he felt the same as Scully. She was much more
important than his apartment. "Thanks, that'll give us lots
more time together since I won't have to worry about clearing a
path through the clutter every time you come over. If I like
their work I may get them to come regularly."
Scully was surprised, but thrilled that he hadn't put up a fuss.
"How are you feeling?" she asked warily, afraid that he
was too high on pain meds to realize what he was saying.
"I'm okay. I'm a little tired but the pain is much better. I
haven't had to use the pump since I woke up."
Scully breathed a sigh of relief. Things were looking up. This
recuperation period should go rather smoothly since her partner
seemed so cooperative right from the start.
Mulder held his left hand out to her. She took it gently so she
wouldn't disturb the IV, then settled into the chair by his bed.
She was glad that her part in spring-cleaning was over, and was
looking forward to the next few days at her mom's where she could
give Mulder the TLC he deserved.
Mulder felt a slight twinge in his shoulder but it faded fast. He
was thankful that his pain was so much better. He wouldn't wish
that on anyone. Well, maybe Krycek and Spender were deserving,
but he certainly wouldn't want a friend to go through what he had
just experienced.
In another part of the hospital, Pain had found the perfect place
to camp out. Labor and delivery was the greatest find! The
champion of torture could make lots of women miserable for a few
hours and then move to another area if things got slow. It
thought of giving its old friend Mulder a visit but a new patient
came in, already in considerable pain and screaming her head off.
Ooh, she was going to be a great victim. She seemed to have a
very low tolerance for pain and she still had several hours to go
before she could have an epidural.
"Thanks, Mr. Mulder. We had a great time but I think I'll
leave you alone for a while. I'll be back if you ever decide to
help your girlfriend with her spring-cleaning again," Pain
cackled as it approached its newest victim.
THE END
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