Title: Water Author: Rotem Shahar Feedback: LaughsR@prodigy.net Rating: PG Category: V Keywords: Missing Scene Spoilers: Small Potatoes Summary: Mulder is found. Disclaimer: The characters from The X-Files are not mine. They belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and FOX. No money is being made and no infringement is intended. Notes: Written for the After_the_Fact Small Potatoes Challenge. ~~~~ The water pressure has gone down again. Not a good thing for a hospital to be having problems with. I sigh as I open the door and walk down the stairs into the basement. The damp air in the stairwell makes it difficult to breathe, and the lack of lighting sends me fumbling down the stairs, my footsteps echoing all the way down. Reaching the bottom, I take a breath and brush myself off. As I walk through the maze of pipes, I remember my first time down here about a month ago, when the water trouble first started. ~~~~ I was nervous. I'd never been here before and didn't know where anything was. I hate basements and anything underground. Subways, ants, ...I can't stand them. Unfortunately, my job requires it sometimes. I just wanted to get down there and back out as fast as I could, but with my luck, I was sure it wouldn't happen. As I walked through the tangled web of pipes, I heard banging and yelling. Thinking it was something in the pipes, I kept searching for the correct valve. "Is someone down there?" I thought I heard a voice yell. But I ignored it, thinking it was my imagination. Stranger things have happened to me in basements before. But when the same voice called "Help! I'm over here!" my curiosity was peaked. I followed the voice, putting the missing valve out of my mind for the moment. Walking around, over, and under the pipes, I finally found the source of the voice. "Hello?" I asked, knocking on the door. "Hey! Can you let me out of here?!" the man desperately asked. Searching the key ring I was given, looking for any indication of which key belonged to which lock, I soon gave up. None of the keys were labeled, and it was a miracle that I found the key after just three tries. "Thank you," the man said, rushing past me in the general direction of the staircase. "You're welcome!" I called after him, unsure of whether or not he heard me. Wondering how long he'd been down here, and why he was here in the first place, I peeped my head into the room. A half-eaten apple sat on the table, next to a partially eaten sandwich and an open soda can. I reached over to pick up the soda can. Mostly full. He couldn't have been down here for too long I surmised. Shrugging, I continued the game of find that missing valve. I finally found it after another twelve minutes of searching, and then tightening it and finding my way back out of the ridiculous tangle down here took me another twenty minutes. ~~~~ This time, I know where everything is and I let my mind wander back to that man I found down here as I make my way to the valve, easily maneuvering around the maze. I wonder where he went, why he was in such a hurry to go. Was he late for a meeting? Late for a date? Or if he just had a strong dislike of the underground like I do. I wonder where he is now as I tighten the valve and make my way back to the stairwell and into the light of the hospital. ~~~~ The End.